Trading and board changes

Domino's Pizza UK & IRL PLC
01 November 2007







                                                                   
                                                                   November 2007


                          DOMINO'S PIZZA UK & IRL plc

                TRADING UPDATE AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF BOARD CHANGES


Domino's Pizza UK & IRL plc ('Domino's Pizza' or 'the Company') today hosts a
site visit for analysts and will give the following update:


System sales for the 13 weeks from 2 July to 30 September 2007 ('the period')
were up 22.5% to £70.7m (2006: £57.8m). This brings total system sales for the
39 weeks to 30 September 2007 to £213.2m (2006: £196.2m), an increase of 23.5%.


Like-for-like sales in the 404 mature stores (2006: 357 mature stores) for the
period were up 14.2% (2006: 10.2%), bringing total like-for-like sales growth
for the 39 weeks to 30 September 2007 to 14.6% (2006: 8.9%).


Sales in the period were driven predominantly by the continued focus on service
excellence as well as a 'back to basics' marketing campaign that focussed on our
best-selling pizza, the 'Pepperoni Passion', and highlighted the Company's
ongoing commitment to sourcing premium quality ingredients. A second campaign in
the period, in support of a new pizza called 'The Scrummy', capitalised on
increased consumer interest in rugby throughout the World Cup.


The Company's e-commerce platforms www.dominos.co.uk and www.dominos.ie achieved
sales of £7.7m in the period, a year-on-year increase of 60.4%. After 39 weeks
e-commerce sales reached £21.3m (2006: £14.3m), a growth of 48.8% on last year.
This channel now generates 15.0% of our delivered sales in the UK (2006: 12.4%).


The Company continued its expansion programme with the opening of 10 new stores
in the period (2006: 7), bringing the total of new openings year to date to 30
(2006: 26). The store count at 30 September 2007 stood at 480 (2006: 434) and we
are now on track to open around 45 stores this year.

                                                                      

The current year has seen unprecedented increases in the prices of many raw
materials. Those that affect us and our franchisees most directly are
agricultural products, in particular milk and wheat.


To maintain price stability for our franchisees so they may, in turn, price
their local menus with certainty, we have always endeavoured to secure annual
price contracts with our suppliers. This approach has served us very well for a
number of years however, in March this year our cheese supplier went into
receivership. Whilst it was quickly taken over by another large international
company, our fixed price supply contract did not remain in place and we were
forced to renegotiate supply terms in a market environment of rapid price
inflation.


As a result, the cost to us of mozzarella cheese has increased by £1,060 per
tonne since June. Given that the lead time for our franchisees to change their
menu pricing is around eight weeks, your Company has chosen to bear most of this
additional cost so that our franchisees have the opportunity to decide whether
or not to reflect these cost increases in local pricing. With effect from 1st
November 2007, the pricing to franchisees now fully reflects our increased costs
and no further charges are anticipated. This cost of £450,000 will be incurred
in the second half of 2007. In the absence of further extreme market volatility
such a loss of cash margin is unlikely to recur in future years.


Our fixed price contract for the supply of flour is to be reviewed in January
2008. We are expecting a substantial cost increase however, as flour is just one
ingredient used in the proprietary manufacture of our fresh dough, the effect on
our franchisees will be significantly diluted. The likely impact has been
communicated to franchisees in ample time for them to adjust their local menu
pricing therefore, we do not anticipate any dilution of our cash margin.


The Company continues to generate strong cash flows and the model is proving to
be robust as profitability grows. During the second half of the year we have
continued our share buyback programme and have purchased 2,250,000 ordinary
shares at a total cost of £5.5m. This brings our year to date buybacks to
2,650,000 ordinary shares at a total cost of £6.3m. This has increased our
interest cost in 2007 by £0.2m and by an estimated £0.4m in 2008. However, the
cancellation of these repurchased shares will enhance earnings per share in
2008.

                                                                         
The Company is pleased to announce plans for management succession. Effective
from the start of the 2008 financial year (31 December 2007) Chairman, Colin
Halpern, will retire from his executive position and become Non-Executive Vice
Chairman.


His successor will be incumbent Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Hemsley, who
will become Executive Chairman. Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Chris Moore, has
been promoted to the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Stephen Hemsley commented,

'The strong sales momentum and good control of overheads has allowed us to
absorb the one-off cost arising from the extraordinarily rapid increase in the
cost of cheese. Whilst absorbing such costs is unwelcome, we must always be
mindful of the store-level economics and our long-term relationship with
franchisees who drive our future growth. Despite these costs and the additional
interest on the share buybacks, I am pleased to reconfirm that your Company
remains comfortably on track to meet the City consensus forecast for the year.


'Over the last five years we have been building a management team that is
capable of taking our business to 1,000 stores and beyond. As this process is
almost complete it gives me the opportunity to hand over responsibility for the
next stage of the Company's development to Chris Moore with whom I have worked
closely for almost ten years. His experience, vision for our business and close
relationships with our franchisees will help to ensure we reach and exceed our
ambitious plans.


'I would like to thank Colin Halpern for his service to the Company and his wise
counsel to myself and my fellow Board members. I am pleased that we will
continue to benefit from his wealth of industry expertise.'


Today's visit will include a presentation on Domino's current activities. This
will contain no new financial or strategic information. The presentation will be
uploaded at 1630h today at: http://ww7.investorrelations.co.uk/dominos/financial
/presentations.jsp

ENDS







For further information, please contact:

Domino's Pizza:
Lee Ginsberg - Chief Financial Officer                         01908 580611
Bernadette Ahmed - Corporate Communications Manager            07909 928016

Numis Securities Limited                                       020 7260 1000
David Poutney, James Serjeant

Hogarth Partnership Limited:
Fiona Noblet, Anthony Arthur                                   020 7357 9477


Notes to editors:


Domino's Pizza UK & IRL plc holds the exclusive master franchise to own, operate
and franchise Domino's Pizza stores in the UK and Ireland. The Group is the
leading player in the UK and Ireland's fast-growing pizza delivery market. The
first UK store opened in 1985 and the first Irish store opened in 1991.


There are 480 stores in the UK and Ireland. Of these, 383 stores are in England,
36 are in Scotland,17 are in Wales, 12 are in Northern Ireland and 32 are in the
Republic of Ireland.


Founded in 1960, Domino's Pizza is the recognised world leader in pizza
delivery. Through its primarily franchised system, Domino's Pizza operates a
global network of more than 8,000 stores in over 50 countries.


For photography visit www.dominos.uk.com/media or contact Hogarth on 00 44 20
7357 9477.






                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange