Domino's Pizza enjoys excellent start thanks to bad weather

The poor weather, new product launches and hungry football fans have all helped Domino’s Pizza deliver an “excellent” first half of the year.

The company, has 470 sites across the UK, saw like-for-like sales in the six months to July 1 rise by 14.9% on 12 months ago. The year-on-year growth is all the more significant, said Domino's, as 2006 was a very strong trading period itself thanks to a sales boost from thefootball World Cup competition in Germany.

Stephen Hemsley, chief executive of Domino’s, said new launches such as the Meatoer pizza had boosted orders, while poor weather had also been “very helpful”.

Domino’s like-for-like sales in June alone were 16.1% higher.

Chris Moore, finance director, said: “From April onwards weather becomes important for the business and as this April was very hot our biggest competitor, the garden barbecue, came into play. But in May and June it has gone our way.”

Moore said Domino’s had also enjoyed its highest ever orders on the night of the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan in May. Sales were up 70% on a year ago, when Arsenal were beaten by Barcelona.

Hemsley admitted the group may struggle to reach its target of opening 50 this year because of planning setbacks, but said it was on track to deliver 40-45 new stores.

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By Daniel Thomas

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