Domino’s Pizza in Britain slices foreign shops: ‘We're not the best owners’
The British-based Domino’s Pizza Group, a franchise of the U.S. chain, is exiting its money-losing international operations.
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“Although the financial results have stabilized, the performance of our international business remains disappointing,” CEO David Wild said in a statement.
The pizza chain reported system sales in its core U.K. and Ireland markets rose 3.9 percent to 288.2 million pounds ($370.3 million) amid a challenging market. Domino’s opened nine new stores in the U.K. during the three months through September, one corporate and eight franchised, bringing its annual net new store count in Britain to 15. It has opened four new stores in Ireland this year.
But its international business is a different story. Sales in that unit were flat on an annual basis in local currency and down 2.7 percent.
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Sales fell 6.6 percent in Switzerland, 8.2 percent in Iceland and 16.5 percent in Norway; Sweden ticked up 1 percent.
“Over the past six weeks we have completed a review with external consultants, assessing each of our four international markets and the future prospects for our businesses," Wild said. "We have concluded that, whilst they represent attractive markets, we are not the best owners of these businesses. The board has therefore decided to exit the markets in an orderly manner.”