Companies: DOM   

Domino's is a top-ranking Aim company, having delivered consistently impressive results over the past few years. Another positive trading update, reporting a like-for-like sales increase of 6.3% in the last five weeks of 2002, caused KBC Peel Hunt's Paul Hickman to increase his pre-tax profits forecast for the year just passed from £3.8m to £4.1m, the latest in a string of upgrades for the takeaway pizza specialist. Its growth plan is predicated on nothing less than attempting to replicate MacDonalds' success, with a current target of having 440 stores open across the UK and Ireland by the end of 2006. The infrastructure is there to achieve this after a new food 'commisary' was established in the North of England. So continued success looks reasonably assured, given past success in the South. Domino's also picked its trading update as the time to release details of a report from the Future Foundation which concluded that the 'decline in the traditional family structure' and other social, economic and demographic factors, are likely to boost the take-out and home-delivered food market by 2.5% per year over the next five years. With 44% earnings growth expected to be reported in February's finals, a rating of 14 times new house broker Numis's 2003 forecasts (for £6.9m pre-tax) is well warranted.