Companies: DOM   

Faced with increasing royalty contributions to its American originator, Domino's is aggressively expanding its number of group-operated outlets. In the six months to June 2000, the number of these stores rose from 13 to 19, and eight have since been added. The bulk of the 206 stores are still run by franchisees. The UK's leading pizza delivery outfit further demonstrated good progress, topping up adjusted pre-tax profits by 37.5% to £1.02m on turnover ahead 20.6% to £14.5m. Adjusted earnings per share, stripping out exceptional costs in the comparative period, rose a mere 1%, due to an extra 8.5m shares in issue following November's flotation. Its e-pizza initiatives, whereby customers can order on the internet and through interactive television, have generated 3% of sales. Finance director Stephen Hemsley allayed fears of cannibalisation by emphasising that, although 22% of on-line customers migrate from telephone ordering, the average value of an e-commerce order is 35% higher. With deals signed with all the major cable operators, and plans to offer a WAP service, he expects e-pizza sales to account for a third of total orders by 2006. One of the main pillars of Domino's strategy continues to be expansion. Forty new stores are currently in the pipeline. Hemsley, claiming 20% of a growing pizza takeaway market, is confident that the market can accommodate 600 to 800 outlets.