Domino's gets larger slice of Irish market as sales rise 3%

Food sectorIrish sales at British pizza delivery firm Domino's rose 3 per cent in the first half of this year, results show.

The company, which operates the British, Irish and German franchises, said profit before tax for the six months to the end of June rose 13.2 per cent to £21.5 million (€27.5 million). UK sales rose by 5.7 per cent and online sales were up by 43.4 per cent.

The pizza chain says the wet summer as well as the Euro 2012 soccer championships helped lift profits as people chose to stay home and order pizzas.

“We must be one of the few people every day who come in and do rain dances at work. We love the rain because it keeps people in their homes,” Domino’s chief financial officer, Lee Ginsberg, said.

The company has a total of 748 stores, 49 of which are in the Republic, with 20 stores in Northern Ireland.

Domino’s says it is confident of hitting its target of 60 new UK stores and 12 German stores by the end of the year. It hopes the German business will grow to twice the size of its UK operation and will be profitable by 2015. JOANNE HUNT