Domino's Pizza sees 4.5% rise in Irish sales despite Covid and supply chain disruptions

CEO emphasises the strong relationships the pizza giant enjoys with key wheat suppliers in UK and Germany

Pizza delivery giant Domino’s generated revenues of £28m (€34m) in Ireland last year, 4.5% more than in 2020, despite Covid and supply chain disruptions.

Domino’s has exited its mainland Europe locations and now sees the UK and Ireland as its core markets. 

It has 55 outlets in the Republic — and around 86 in total on the island of Ireland — and plans to expand here over the next few years.

On a group-wide basis, Domino's reported an 11% jump in revenue to £560.8m and a 12.5% rise in underlying pre-tax profit to £113.9m.

Firm has hedged against surging prices

Domino's is expecting more cost inflation this year and has hedged itself against wheat prices which have soared in response to the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine account for 29% of the world's wheat exports and their conflict has driven wheat prices to multi-year highs on supply concerns.

Domino's also unveiled a £46m share buyback programme. The pizza company also said 2022 earnings should fall in line with current market expectations, adding that its first-quarter trading had "started well".

Domino's sources its wheat from the UK and Germany.

"We buy [wheat] in scale, which means we already have good, strong relationships with our key suppliers," chief executive Dominic Paul said. 

"I think we are better able than most to mitigate some of those inflationary pressures," Mr Paul said.

• Additional reporting Reuters