Domino’s takeaway: Pizza chain announces £20m share buyback as UK sales soar
UK consumers shrugged off inflation and a cost of living crisis to order more pizza, according to UK and Irish-based chain Domino’s.
The fast food chain said sales increased to £386.6m across its branches, up 5.6 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Quarterly orders at Domino’s Pizza group grew 2.8 per cent to 18 million, while orders for collection — a means of keeping orders up despite wage inflation and labour shortages — grew by 23 per cent, the company said.
The results come as cash-strapped consumers cut back spending on restaurants, pubs and takeaways to cut costs due to inflationary pressure, 27 per cent of UK consumers said they planned to stop spending on takeaway food as a result of economic turbulence, according to a NatWest survey in March.
Domino’s ‘well placed’ for next quarter
The chain’s interim chief executive, Elias Diaz Sese, said there “continues to be uncertainty in the economic environment” with customers more likely to cutdown on takeaway food as household budgets are squeezed.
Sese added that the pizza chain was “well placed” to succeed in the next quarter.
The chain also increased its market share of the UK takeaway market to 7.8 percent in the quarter, up from 6.4 per cent in the same period last year.
Domino’s also announced a £20 million share buyback on the back of stronger results.
Domino’s Pizza Group holds the master franchise Domino’s stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and has associate investments in Germany and Luxembourg, it operates 1,274 stores in the UK and Ireland.