Domino serves up the dough

Domino’s Pizza, which has a sizeable UK presence, reported a 42 percent rise in quarterly profit yesterday and comfortably beat analysts’ samestore sales estimates as the pizza company earned higher royalties and fees from its franchisees.

On Wall Street, the company’s shares rose as much as 8 per cent to $252 in premarket trading, setting it up for a record high.

Same-store sales at its company-owned outlets in the United States rose 6.4 per cent and franchise stores posted an 8.4 per cent growth, both well above Wall Street expectations.

Analysts on average were expecting same-store sales to rise 4.93 per cent at companyowned US stores and 5.63 percent at its franchise stores.

Comparable store sales in its international business rose 5 per cent, beating the average analyst estimate of 4.1 percent.

Domino’s benefits from the royalty fee it charges its franchise stores and the revenue it gets from ingredients and equipment it supplies to them.

Supply chain revenue from its franchisees rose 13.3 per cent to $440.1 (£314.7m) in the quarter.

Net income at the pizza giant rose to $88.8m, or $2.00 per share, in the first-quarter ended 25 March, from $62.5m, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding exceptional oneoff items, Dominos earned $2.00 per share, above the $1.77 analysts on average had estimated, according to Thomson Reuters.

Total revenue rose about 26 per cent to $785.4 million, whereas the consensus forecast among Wall Street analysts had been $691.9m.

One analyst commented: “A good all-round highly resilient performance from Domino’s. They have delivered in every sense.”