(Sharecast News) - Domino's Pizza lifted its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday as it announced a £70m share buyback and posted a jump in first-half profit.

In the 26 weeks to 25 June, underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 8.2% to £68.7m on revenue of £332.9m, up 19.6%. Domino's said revenue was driven by an increase in system sales volume, acceleration of store openings and the pass-through of food costs.

System sales were up 7.9% to £766.4m and total orders were 2.8% higher at 35.4m.

Chief executive Elias Diaz Sese said: "We have delivered a strong first half of 2023 with continued growth in orders and sales. Thanks to our alignment with our brilliant franchise partners, we have been able to accelerate our progress on the strategic initiatives set out at the beginning of the year, with a significant acceleration in store openings, greater app penetration and material improvements in delivery times."

The company said that as a result of the strong momentum seen in the first half, it now expects to deliver FY23 underlying EBITDA of between £132m and 138m, versus analyst expectations of £125m to £129.2m.

It also announced a new £70m buyback programme that will begin when the current £20m programme has completed.