Not only were flat adjusted pre-tax profits of £93.4m in line with Domino’s Pizza (DOM) January guidance, but strong profitability in the UK and Ireland – a market that accounts for 90 per cent of Domino’s entire business – managed to prompt a share price bounce on results day. System sales grew by 7 per cent to £1.16bn, driven by a 4.6 per cent improvement in UK like-for-like sales and a 4 per cent improvement across the Republic of Ireland. Operating profits across the UK and Ireland also mirrored this, rising 8.4 per cent.
But a resilient domestic performance didn’t disguise spiralling losses abroad, which resulted in a £14.1m non-cash impairment charge – which helps explain the slump in statutory profits. As for current trading, analysts admit that investors are mostly in the dark, although broker Numis notes that the group faces a particularly tough first-quarter comparative. For now, analysts there still expect pre-tax profits of £99.7m in 2019, giving EPS of 17.3p, compared with £93.4m and 16.1p in 2018.
| DOMINO'S PIZZA (DOM) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 242p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.12bn | |
| TOUCH: | 241-242p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 390p | LOW: 220p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.9% | PE RATIO: | 23 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 0.6p* | NET DEBT: | £203m | |
| Year to 30 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014** | 289 | 62.1 | 9.9 | 5.8 |
| 2015** | 317 | 73.2 | 11.9 | 6.9 |
| 2016 | 361 | 82.5 | 13.1 | 8.0 |
| 2017 | 475 | 81.4 | 13.8 | 9.0 |
| 2018 | 534 | 61.9 | 10.3 | 9.5 |
| % change | +13 | -24 | -25 | +6 |
| Ex-div: | 21 Mar | |||
| Payment: | 25 Apr | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £107m, or 23p a share | ||||
| **EPS and DPS figures adjusted for three-for-one share split in June 2016 | ||||
