Domino’s has reported like-for-like system sales in the UK up 11.7% for the year to 27 December.
The company also said UK like-for-like sales in the first nine weeks of this financial year had risen 10.5%.
During 2015 the company grew to 869 stores in the UK, up from 813 the year before, and delivered system sales growth of 16.8%. Like-for-like order volumes were ahead by 9% whilst average order value grew by 2.4%, helped by an increased proportion of bundle deals.
Five stores were closed in 2015. The company said four of these were non-traditional formats, which had initially been launched as a trial in 2013 but did not generate sufficient volumes to make them viable.
New store average weekly unit sales were 15% ahead of last year with store EBITDA performance up from 13.6% to 15.5%,6 driven by lower food prices.
Domino’s said e-commerce sales now represent 77.7% of all delivered sales, up from 70.8% in 2014, with app-based sales accounting for 48.6% of online sales. Online orders in the UK were 28.6% ahead and average order value was 1.7% ahead of last year. App-based orders were 41.1% ahead and order value was 2.0% ahead. 11.5m customers have downloaded the Domino’s app.
On a like-for-like basis, pizza volumes are 8.1% ahead, side orders are 12.1% ahead, and dessert and drink volumes are 14.8% and 32.7% ahead of 2014 respectively.
In terms of pizza development the company introduced the Tikka Pizza and reintroduced the hot dog stuffed crust. In stores oven speeds were slowed to allow for a longer cook time and to increase the quality of the finished product across the range.
Chief Executive Officer David Wild, said: “2015 was a terrific year for Domino’s Pizza Group; the UK performance was outstanding, reflecting continued investment in our e-commerce platform. This underpins both our like-for-like results and the success of our new store programme. Digital continues to be at the heart of our business, driving more customers and higher frequency of orders. Our cash conversion is strong and we have today announced that we are ready to resume share buy backs alongside a dividend that is up 18.6%. We have made an encouraging start to 2016, although we are conscious of increasingly tough comparatives through the rest of the year. I would like to thank the DPG team for their hard work. I also want to pay tribute to our franchisees whose tireless endeavours ensure that our customers continue to enjoy great pizzas at great prices every day - whether ordered online or by phone, delivered to the door or collected in store.”
