Irish decline eats into Domino's Pizza sales
Domino's Pizza revealed a further slowdown in sales growth after a double digit plunge in Ireland offset gains elsewhere.
Sliced: Domino's separated UK and Ireland sales figures to show investors UK business is growing
While like-for-like sales increased by 5.5% in the UK, in its 48 stores in the Irish Republic they fell 10.5% in the 13 weeks to March 27.
Domino's shares consequently dropped 8% after the group said overall sales growth had fallen to 4.2% from 10.5% a year ago.
Earlier this year Domino's revealed sales in the first seven weeks of its financial year slowed to 4.7%, bringing an end to its run of double digit growth. Today's figures represent a further worsening in trading.
The group, which has 672 stores in the UK and Ireland, also warned future growth is likely to be impacted as it comes up against tougher comparatives in the next quarter.
Its Ireland business is being hit by a clampdown in consumer spending as the country suffers amid tough economic woes.
Today's results are the first time it has provided separated sales figures for the UK and Ireland in a bid to show investors that the UK business, which represents 93% of sales, is still in growth. Total store sales increased 11.2% to £132.3m.
But Domino's claimed it was well placed to deal with the challenging environment, with plans to open new stores and fresh marketing initiatives up its sleeve. The group opened eight stores in the quarter and said it is on target to open 60 in the full-year.
The group's strong growth last year was helped by the introduction of its Two For Tuesday buy-one-get-one-free promotion a year ago.
It also benefited from the World Cup last summer, as football fans ordered a pizza to watch the game in front of the TV, while the snow and hit shows such as The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing provided a boost to takeaway demand at the end of 2010.
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