Pizza on the menu as Dominos reports robust sales

Pizza delivery firm Domino's Pizza said it would hit full year earnings targets as it reported a robust final quarter of the year.

The company said online sales continued to be 'the star of the show' as the group opened a record number of stores in 2012.

In the 14 weeks to 30th December sales grew by 20% to £174.5m, with like-for-like sales in its 612 UK 'mature' stores growing by 5%.

However, like-for-like sales in the Republic of Ireland were down in Euros by 3.8%, following a 0.9% drop the previous year.

Across the whole year sales increased by 12.7% to £598.6m, with like-for-like sales in UK stores growing by 5.0%.

Stores in the Republic of Ireland again took a hit, with sales down in Euros by 0.2%, although this was an improvement on the 4.4% drop in 2011.

Like-for-like sales for the year in the firm's two mature Berlin stores increased by 19.3% and 24.1%.

Total e-commerce sales for the period in the UK and the Republic of Ireland increased by 56.6% to £84.1m and online sales for the year were £268.6m, an increase of 46.3% on the previous year.

Online sales for the year accounted for 55.7% of UK delivered sales, up from 44.3%, with the company noting it had its first £2m e-commerce day in the UK and Republic of Ireland markets.

Sales for the year from mobile devices rose by 187% and now account for 19.7% of all online orders, up from 10.1% in 2011.