Domino’s Pizza Group, the leading pizza delivery company with stores in the UK, Germany, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, has issued its pre-close trading update covering the 13 weeks to 30 June 2013.
UK – sales up
The Company has continued the strong momentum established in quarter one with system sales rising by 11.7% to £147.6m (2012: £132.2m). Like-for-like sales were also strong, running at 6.1% (2012: 8.1%) for the quarter, and 6.4% (2012: 5.7%) for the first half. These results are particularly pleasing as they come on top of very strong comparatives from last year, highlighting the underlying strength of the core UK business.
Online ordering now 63.2% of sales
E-commerce continued its outstanding performance, now accounting for 63.3% (2012: 52.4%) of UK delivered sales for the first half. This figure is expected to rise further as the Company continues to develop its in-house web and digital marketing expertise and launches the latest version of the website in the second half.
15 new stores
Domino’s continues to open new stores across the UK – in both new and existing locations – with 10 opened during the quarter (2012: 13), making a total of 15 (2012: 19) in the first half of the year. As in 2012, the store opening programme is heavily weighted towards the second half of the year and the Company anticipates opening a comparable number of new stores to last year.
International
System sales in the Republic of Ireland have risen by 5.1% to €12.1m (2012: €11.6m) and the market has just seen its sixth month of positive like-for-like sales growth, leading to growing confidence that this market is now heading into clearer waters. Like-for-like sales for the second quarter were up a robust 4.9% (2012: 2.5%) and the first half like-for-like run rate is 6.5% (2012: 2.9%).
Switzerland continues to perform well, with system sales of CHF3.3m and like-for-like sales rising by 6.2% in the quarter and 7.8% for the first half of the year. This re-launched market is showing great potential. There are several stores still to be relocated and new ones to be opened – but the early progress is extremely encouraging.
The two year old German business has generated system sales of €2.4m (2012: €0.7m) and like-for-like sales in a small number of stores that are now mature (six stores) are growing fast with sales increasing by 11.1% for the quarter and 23.8% for the first half, albeit from a lower AWUS.
During the period, three stores were opened in Germany (2012: four), taking the half-year total to seven (2012: four). Another 12 stores are expected to open during the second half.
Lance Batchelor, Chief Executive Officer, comments:
“I am very pleased with the overall results for the first half – particularly with regards to the UK and Ireland like-for-like sales. Our system leads the leisure sector and, with the majority of our business coming via web and mobile platforms, we are now truly an online retailer.
“In Germany, as in the UK, our franchisees run great stores. Corporate stores have allowed us to test menus, develop marketing plans and understand the German consumer – but now that the ground work is done, it is time to drive our German expansion using our tried and tested franchise model. We know the best way to get great results from stores is to put them in the hands of franchisees – and with five world-class franchisees now operating stores in the German market and more arriving shortly, we are excited about the future in this fledgling territory.”