LONDON -- Domino's Pizza Group (DOM 0.12%) this morning released its preliminary results for the 53 weeks to Dec. 30, 2012. The company reported system sales -- that's sales made to the public in all stores in the U.K., Republic of Ireland, Germany, and Switzerland -- had increased 13%, to 598.6 million pounds, with a record pre-tax profit of 46.7 million pounds, up almost 11% on 2011.
Another record was set with the opening of 69 new stores. With only two closures in the same period, the group now has 805 stores in four countries.
Online sales surged by over 46% during 2012, accounting for almost 56% of U.K. delivered sales, with almost 20% of online orders being submitted via a mobile device.
Basic earnings per share rose 14% to just over 22 pence, and the company reports that the final dividend has been increased by just over 16%, to 7.9 pence per share, giving a total dividend for the year of 14.5 pence, up just shy of 18% on 2011.
Domino's chief executive officer, Lance Batchelor, commented:
Despite a very challenging economic environment, our people and our franchisees have delivered another impressive set of results. This performance further demonstrates the resilience of the Domino's Pizza home delivery market.
We are making encouraging progress in Germany. This market has good demographics for our business and we are seeing improving trading performances from these stores. I look forward to reporting further progress in due course.
I am optimistic about the future and, with the support of our franchisees, we will continue to grow this outstanding business by focusing on opening new stores, testing new store formats and developing new products while always ensuring the customer is at the heart of everything we do.
Although currently down 1.3% since opening, Domino's share price is up 2.4% since the start of the year, and has delivered almost 20% growth since this time last year.
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