Chairman's Statement - Replacement
Domino's Pizza UK & IRL PLC
17 April 2000
The issuer has made the following amendment to the 'Chairman's Statement'
announcement released today at 11:32 under RNS No 1948J.
In paragraph 6 the percentage figure should read 2 1/2% and not 2=% as
previously shown.
All other details remain unchanged.
The full corrected version is shown below.
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Domino's Pizza UK&IRL plc
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING STATEMENT
Domino's Pizza UK&IRL plc, the AIM listed pizza delivery
company, held its Annual General Meeting at 11.00 today.
Colin Halpern, Chairman, updated the meeting on current
trading and the outlook for the year saying:
'Sales in the first fifteen weeks of the year to 9 April
2000 were 13.1% up on the previous year. As the year has
progressed sales have improved such that like-for-like
sales are almost up to the level achieved in the strong
start to 1999. We look forward to forthcoming
initiatives including the Euro 2000 football championship
and new e-commerce partnerships to provide strong growth
in like-for-like sales.
Six new stores were opened in the first quarter of the
year, which was ahead of budget. Of these, one will be
operated corporately and five by franchisees. One of the
franchise stores was opened in the Republic of Ireland,
bringing the total to five. Two stores were closed. The
total number of stores now stands at 205. The outlook for
store openings in 2000 remains very positive with a good
portfolio of stores at various stages of construction and
planning.
The number of corporate stores has grown this quarter
from 13 to 15. A number of new corporate openings and
the acquisitions of several groups of stores from
franchisees are planned. The staffing to manage a
significant increase in the number of corporate stores
has imposed additional costs on this part of our business
in the early part of the year. This is expected to be
recovered in the second half of the year as the new
stores are opened or acquired.
E-commerce initiatives continue to grow rapidly. In
February we reported that within eighteen weeks of the
start-up of our e-commerce ordering, sales had reached 2%
of delivery sales in the UK. This has since grown to 2 1/2%.
An important initiative announced last week was Domino's
move into e-fulfilment' or last mile delivery, by using
up to 2000 delivery staff across our current 205 store
system to deliver products ordered via the internet and
interactive television. The first such initiative is an
association with 'gameplay', a leading games retailer,
and we will be delivering a computer game together with a
pizza and Coke the night before the game's official
launch.
The 'gameplay' initiative has understandably attracted
high levels of media attention, given that this is the
first time Domino's has delivered any product other than
the traditional pizzas and side orders. We anticipate
that 'gameplay' will be the first of many successful
ventures of a similar nature in our expanding last mile
fulfilment activity.
The 'Second Wave' of e-commerce partnerships is now
finalised, and involves a number of key platforms. Our co-
promotion with 'Yahoo!' will create a dual-branded site
offering a unique promotion to 'Yahoo!' users from 17th
April until 4th June. Building on our success with
'Open...', Domino's will go live nationally on Cable and
Wireless interactive from May 2nd, and on a rolling basis
in 11 Telewest regions from March to August. The company
that helped us deliver the world's first interactive TV
order, Yes TV, is rolling out into three major London
areas and Domino's will have the same brand leading
position on the Yes TV platforms in these areas.
A deal has been finalised with BT Easicom, giving
Domino's an exclusive presence in the Easicom walled
garden from May, and negotiations are well underway with
a number of mobile communications service providers with
a view to launching Domino's WAP ordering in the next few
months.'
The Directors expect that the balance between the two
halves of the year will more strongly favour the second
half in the current year than in previous years and
remain confident of producing a result in line with
expectations for the year. They remain confident that the
strategy of using e-commerce as another means of growing
store sales, increasing the coverage of the system by the
accelerated roll-out of new stores, and the growth in the
number of stores operated corporately will deliver
shareholders the anticipated growth in value.
Contact:
Domino's Pizza
Stephen Hemsley, Finance Director 01908 580000
Tom Gadsby
Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000
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