Profits at Domino's Pizza UK and Ireland fell by 28 per cent last year, the company said today.

Net income for the 52 weeks ended December 26th declined to £24 million, or 14.85 pence a share, compared with £33.5 million, or 20.95 pence a share, a year earlier.

Sales climbed 21 per cent to £188 million.

The UK's biggest pizza-delivery company, said online system sales jumped 63 per cent to £128 million during the period as more UK customers stayed home. Sales in 553 stores open at least a year rose 11.9 per cent, the company said.

"We have had a solid start to 2011, with like-for-like sales for the first seven weeks up 4.7 per cent and are encouraged by the recent strength in like-for-like sales growth," chief executive Chris Moore said in the statement. "This figure comes against the backdrop of exceptional comparatives from the same period in 2010 and the current difficult economic climate."

Domino's may pass on a 1 per cent to 2 per cent increase in food costs to franchises this year, Lee Dale Ginsberg, chief financial officer said.

Bloomberg