Britain's Domino's Pizza Group announced a £70 million (€81 million) share buyback programme on Tuesday and raised its annual profit forecast range helped by higher orders and sales in the first half of the year.
Resilient customer spending has helped the UK hospitality slowly recover from pandemic lows amid pressures from high costs.
'Many Opportunities'
"While we continue to face a challenging and uncertain macroeconomic environment, we remain confident in the many opportunities we see for Domino's in 2023," interim chief executive Elias Diaz Sese said in a statement.
In the first half of the year, total orders increased 2.8% to 35.4 million, helping the company to post an 8.2% rise in underlying core profit.
Underlying Core Profit
The company, a franchisee of US-based Domino's Pizza Inc, said it now expects an underlying core profit of about £132 million (€154 million) - £138 million (€161 million) for the year.
Analysts on average had expected £127.6 million (€149 million), according to a company-compiled consensus.
Second Quarter
In July, Domino's Pizza missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue, as elevated delivery fees and higher prices to boost margins hurt demand for its pizzas and chicken wings.
Shares of the world's largest pizza chain dropped 4% in pre-market trading on 24 July, as Domino's said it saw lower order volumes during the quarter.
Higher labour and raw material costs have forced restaurant chains, even the biggest names including McDonald's, to jack up menu prices and delivery fees, which hurt cost-conscious consumers whose budgets are already squeezed by inflation.
Uber Partnership
In a bid to boost its sluggish delivery business, the pizza maker partnered with Uber earlier in July, which will allow its customers to place order on the ride-sharing company's food delivery apps Uber Eats and Postmates.
The service will be rolled out in four pilot markets in the US in the fall.
"Over two-thirds of our stores around the world will have the ability to take orders from Uber Eats," Domino's CEO Russell Weiner said in a statement on Monday 24 July.
Additional reporting by Hospitality Ireland
