Peak pizza? Domino’s profit dips amid weak sales
Domino’s Pizza has suffered a 15 per cent profit slice as it contended with weak sales and a “challenging consumer backdrop”.
While total turnover at the FTSE 250-listed pizza chain increased 1.5 per cent to £1.6bn, the like-for-like figure – excluding variables like VAT – inched up only by 0.2 per cent in the year to December 2025.
The group says its “Chick ‘N’ Dip” range is not distracting from its core offering, as 80 per cent of orders for the new range during a trial included a pizza.
The group’s share price bounced on Tuesday’s market open despite the drop in profits, up 3.8 per cent to 193p, leaving shares up more than 11 per cent in the year so far.
Domino’s is currently led by both an interim chief executive and an interim finance director, following the abrupt departure of former boss Andrew Rennie in November after just two years at the helm.
Underlying profit before tax slumped down from £107m to £91m, while revenue climbed by 3.1 per cent to £685m and the group’s share of the takeaway market grew by 0.3 per cent.
The chain’s share of the takeaway pizza market grew by 7.5 per cent to 52.6 per cent.
Domino’s opened 31 new stores in 2025, which was slightly ahead of expectations, but saw total orders fall by 0.9 per cent.
The new openings bring the group’s total franchise to 1,399 stores in the UK and Ireland.
Pizza chain bets on fried chicken
The pizza chain was the UK’s most-shorted company in October last year, as investors like Blackrock and Citadel bet that the group would take a hit from rising labour costs and anemic consumer confidence.
Though the feeding frenzy around the firm has eased, leaving it the twelfth-most shorted company, shares are down 34 per cent in the last year.
Dan Lane, analyst at Robinhood, said the group will be pinning its hopes on its new “Chick ‘N’ Dip” menu as it sees greener grass on the territory of fried chicken heavyweights KFC and Popeyes.
He said: “We might not be at “peak pizza” but the company will certainly have to find a way to turn innovation into profit growth if it wants to give up its place as one of the most shorted stocks on the UK market.”
Interim chief executive Nicola Frampton stuck by the new products, saying: “We are excited about a number of strategic and operational initiatives to drive sustainable growth, including the successful system-wide launch of Chick ‘N’ Dip.”
The fried chicken range, which Domino’s departing chief executive had described as a “bold new chapter,” will be followed up by a “pipeline” of new products, Frampton said.