Companies: DOM   

Pizza delivery group Domino consistently delivers solid figures - and its latest results for the year to January proved to be no exception. Revenues soared 15.4% to £77.3m and pre-tax profits leapt 35% to £8.8m. Chief executive Stephen Hemsley stated he was disappointed that only 40 sites were opened during the period, bringing the total number of sites operated to 357, rather than its annual target of 50, but this was due to what he terms as a classic issue of having sites available in some areas but no suitable franchisees and vice versa. Like-for-like sales were up 6.6% and the trend has continued post year-end. Net debt remained flat at £4.2m. Domino's is the dominant player in the UK pizza delivery market, estimating its turnover is higher than the second, third and fourth largest competitors - including Pizza Hut - combined, and that it delivers one in ten home-delivered meals. One thing that will please investors is the company's policy to return spare cash to shareholders. In the year it bought back £1.6m worth of shares and the total dividend increased 50% to 5.25p. The market is forecasting pre-tax profits of £10.7m in 2006. Although the prospective p/e of 16.9 is slightly above the sector average, its a stock worth sticking with. Hold.