At the group's AGM chief executive Stephen Hemsley revealed to shareholders that system sales - which are the sales of all stores in the Domino's system in the UK and Republic of Ireland - rose 24% to £86.8m in the 16 weeks to 22 April. Like for likes for the 404 mature stores versus 357 last time jumped a hefty 14.6%.
The strong growth was driven by successful product and marketing and further improvement in speed of service. Notable product successes include the Meateor pizza.
While management is naturally encouraged by the robust start to the year, it is mindful of the very strong comparatives last year as a result of the football World Cup in June /July 2006 and the strong product launch/marketing campaign in the last quarter of 2006.
'Whilst prospects for 2007 are excellent, we are unlikely to be able to maintain the like-for-like growth rate achieved in the first 16 weeks of the year,' cautions Hemsley.
The store opening programme remains on track, meanwhile, with a total of 14 opening so far this year and the group on track to reach its target of 50 store openings for the year.
Currently there are 464 Domino's Pizza stores open and trading in the UK and Ireland and the group believes the market continues to offer strong growth opportunities, reiterating that there is the potential for up to 1,000 stores in these territories.
Despite the upcoming tough comparatives in the second half, Domino's reckons the strong trading momentum coupled with the impact of new openings will enable it to deliver full year results that are ahead of current market expectations.
The results and outlook for full year outturn pleased Numis analyst Richard Carter Bearing in mind the strong comparatives to come in the second half, Carter has conservatively increased his 2007 like-for-like sales growth forecast from 6% to 8.5%. This results in the 2007 pretax profit forecast increasing by 3.2% to £17.0m, giving earnings per shares of 24.6p.
For 2008, Carter has increased the pretax profit forecast by 2.4% to £19.5m (EPS 28.7p). He is now forecasting a dividend per share of 12.3p in 2007 rising to 14.3p in 2008.
Carter says it worth noting the continuing improvement in delivery times by Domino's. Its outlets consistently deliver in under 30 minutes, compared to an under 45 minute delivery time for 90% of the orders at Pizza Hut, its largest competitor.