Domino’s Pizza online sales boost full-year profits

Domino’s Pizza has announced creation of 1,500 jobs this year following a 10.8% rise in pre-tax profits to £46.7 million, on sales 12.8% higher at £598.6m. The restaurant chain sold 61 million pizzas this year in comparison with 56 million sold last year. Domino’s Pizza also announced that it had opened 69 new stores in 2012, compared to 62 in 2011 and at the end of 2012 it had 805 stores in four countries. The fast food chain also wishes to cross the 1,200 outlets mark this year.

The pizza delivery chain reported bumper sales for the full-year with online sales increasing by 46.3% to £268.6m, with 19.7% of all online orders made using a mobile device. The company’s online sales accounted for 55.7% of UK delivered sales in 2012, up from 44.3% in 2011.

Poor weather and heavy snow had hit Domino’s Pizza progress at the start of 2013 with 498 UK stores forced to close at some point. But underlying sales were up 1.6% in the first seven weeks, compared with 3.8% a year before. Domino’s Pizza promotion-led offers and popular online ordering service went down well with cash-strapped Brits, who preferred cheaper nights in to expensive dining out.

Domino’s Pizza has been expanding in Europe in recent years, acquiring franchise rights to operate in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. It also has an option to open in Austria in 2014. The company claimed that it was progressing in Germany, predicting the growth to be twice the size of its British operations, adding that it expects to hit profit there by the end of 2015. Shares in Domino’s Pizza closed at 537.5 pence on Friday, up 17% on a year ago, valuing the business at around £880m.