Surge in online orders boosts Domino's Irish pizza delivery sales by 3% 

Domino's said it also saw a benefit from an increase in staycations and the return of live sport on television. File picture.

Pizza delivery giant Domino’s has said sales across its operations in the Republic grew by over 3%, year on year, in the third quarter of 2020 as more consumers ordered in during Covid restrictions.

Online sales in the Republic rose by 18% during the three months to the end of September, Domino’s said.

The UK and Ireland are now its core geographic regions following last year’s decision to quit its wider European business which has covered Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.

The company said it also saw a benefit —  in both Ireland and the UK — from an increase in staycations and the return of live sport on television.

Domino’s said a recent “encouraging” performance across its core UK and Irish operations continued, with combined sales rising by 18.7%. The UK market accounts for 95% of its sales.

Covid restrictions have accelerated Domino’s transformation to a digital business across both markets.

For the full year, Domino’s expects to report pre-tax profits of between £93m and £98m (€103m-€108m).

"We are confident that we have operational plans in place to adapt to different levels of lockdown that may arise in the coming months," said Dominic Paul, group chief executive.

Mr Paul said Domino’s is continuing to work on a detailed long-term strategic plan for the business.

“At the heart of this is realignment with our franchisee partners and we are having detailed discussions on a sustainable way forward, although we continue to expect that these discussions will take some time,” he said.

"We are keen to establish a framework which would drive growth of the overall size of the system, sales, and profits for both our business and for franchisees. We would expect that the key elements of such a framework would include enhanced incentives for both order volume and new store growth," he said.