Third-quarter sales slip at Domino's

Domino’s Pizza Group reported a slide in third-quarter sales on Thursday, after demand weakened year-on-year.

The London-listed firm, a franchisee of US Domino’s Pizza, reported an 8% fall in sales, to £344.7m, or by 9% on a like-for-like basis.

The firm said both July and August had suffered from tough year-on-year comparisons, after the third quarter in 2021 was boosted by the men’s UEFA European Football Championship and more people holidaying in the UK, because of ongoing Covid restrictions.

The increase in the VAT rate during the period, to 20% from 5% a year ago, also weighed on sales. Once stripped out, underlying sales sparked 2.4%

Domino’s said that September had proved stronger, however, with that momentum continuing into the fourth quarter.

It also gained UK takeaway market share during the quarter, moving to 7.2% from 6.4% a year previously, helped by a successful Just Eat trial. The company said it would now roll out Domino’s on the Just Eat deliver platform across the UK and Ireland by the end of 2022.

Domino’s left forecasts for full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation unchanged, at between £125m and £135m.

Elias Diaz Sese, interim chief executive, said: "We continued to take market share and grew underlying sales in the quarter, despite the tough comparator.

"As we look ahead to next year, we are well placed to succeed.

"Combined with the benefit of recent new store openings and the Just Eat platform rollout, further product innovation and continued alignment with our franchise partners, we remain confident that our resilient, asset-light business model will deliver market share gains…and increased returns for shareholders."