The Domino’s Pizza (LON:DOM) bandwagon rolled on in the first half of the year, with dough-boys (and girls) increasingly using the online ordering option.
Sales placed via mobile device apps have overtaken those placed from desktop computers for the first time, the company revealed, and now represent 51.6% of online sales.
Domino’s said its app has been downloaded more than 10mln times.
Like-for-like (LFL) sales in the UK in the first half of the year were up 10% year-on-year to £378.8mln, while in the Republic of Ireland (ROI); LFL sales were up 6.5%. E-commerce sales in the UK rose 24.4%.
The firm, famed more for its marketing and efficiency than the taste of its pizzas, clocked up revenue of £157.33mln, versus revenue of £145.6mln in the first half of last year.
Profit before tax ballooned to £32.0mln from £25.0mln, while the company has spiced up the interim dividend, raising it 15% to 9p from 7.81p.
While the UK and ROI remain the engines of growth for Domino’s, chief executive David Wild noted the international operations have also shown improvements compared to last year; Germany’s LFL sales were up 3.0% while Switzerland’s LFL sales grew 2.8%, which represents a slowdown from year-on-year LFL sales growth of 2.9% in the same period of last year.
“The 21 new stores opened in the period are performing better than ever. Our roll-out is well supported by our franchisees, who are benefiting from increased profitability and are seeing a good reaction from the UK consumer to our bundle deals and other initiatives,” Wild said.
“Whilst we are pleased with our performance in the first half, we face tougher comparators in the rest of the year. We have a continued programme of e-commerce initiatives and other marketing campaigns. The UK new store pipeline is solid and we are well-positioned for the future," he added.
Investors tucked into the shares, which rose 29p to 832.5p in the first hour of trading.