Domino's Pizza shares up as first half profit beats expectations

28th Jul 2015 09:45

(ShareCast News) - Shares in fast food chain Domino's Pizza were up 3.73% to 833.50p by 0853 BST after the company said system sales were up 14% for the half, to £426.7m from £375.0m. Domino's Pizza posted strong like-for-like sales up 10% to £378.8m from £343.4m, and boosted basic earnings per share up 32% from 11.6p to 15.3p.The UK market continued to underpin growth, Domino's Pizza said, noting e-commerce sales were up 24.4% of which app sales made up more than half. Cost reduction in Germany had also contributed to better earnings, Domino's Pizza said.Domino's Pizza chief executive David Wild said the company faced tougher comparator in the rest of the year.Numis kept a 'buy' rating on the stock and raised its target price to 1000p from 985p.Analysts said the pre-tax profit figure was ahead of expectations, and upgraded its future forecasts.Numis expected 6% like-for-like sales for the UK across the full year, and forecast 2015 year pre-tax profit to come in at £64m.