Shares in Domino’s Pizza Group staged a small recovery this week as the London-listed fast-food chain returned focus to its core business following a period of turmoil.
Investors overlooked a 15% drop in underlying pre-tax profits to £91.2m in the year to 28 December 2025, alongside dwindling order numbers and like-for-like sales growth of just 0.2%.
Domino’s battled a challenging consumer backdrop and rising costs to claim “a solid finish” to the year over the Christmas trading period. That positive momentum had carried over into the first nine weeks of 2026, the group said.
While deliveries were down 1.7% last year, collections returned to growth following Domino’s first-ever national advertising campaign promoting the value of picking up pizza in person.
And Domino’s also made market share gains in 2025, with its share of the takeaway market nudging up 0.3 percentage points to 7.3% and its share of the UK pizza takeaway market rising 7.5ppts to 52.6%.
Interim CEO Nicola Frampton said she was pleased with the strong momentum going into 2026.
“In 2026, we are focused on strengthening our core business and driving disciplined execution across the organisation,” she added.
Frampton temporarily took charge following the resignation of Andrew Rennie in November, with the embattled former CEO exiting not long after spooking investors with his claims in an interview with The Financial Times that there not “massive growth” left in the UK pizza market. Rennie signalled Domino’s would look to cash in on the popularity of fried chicken to turn around the group’s fortunes.
Frampton said this week Domino’s was particularly excited about several strategic and operational initiatives to drive growth, including the system-wide launch of its chicken concept Chick ‘N’ Dip, a wider pipeline of NPD and the development of a loyalty program.
Domino’s shares were up as much as 5% in early trading on Tuesday before settling back to 1% higher at 188.2p. The group is now up 11% so far in 2026 but remains 33% lower over a 12-month period after its shares ended 2025 trading at the lowest levels in more than a decade.
Wayne Brown of Panmure Liberum, which holds a ‘buy’ rating for the stock and target price of 450p, thinks the shares are grossly undervalued.
He said the renewed focus on the core business only should “hopefully” underpin an outlook of better trading. “The strategy of menu innovation, improved service levels, being more data-led will soon be bolstered by a loyalty scheme that should make the offer more dynamic for consumers,” he added.
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould remained less convinced. He said a few nuggets of good news and a small share price bounce doesn’t mean the market is fully convinced the group had a much brighter future.
Mould added, with profits in reverse and barely any like-for-like sales growth, it was no wonder the group was pivoting to chicken as a potential second business line, given the core operations weren’t “hitting the spot”.
“These results signal a business in a state of flux. Consumer tastes are changing, both in terms of what they eat and portion size. A greasy slice of pizza no longer cuts the mustard for health-conscious individuals, so Domino’s is having to adapt to survive.
“On the face of it, Domino’s should be doing incredibly well. It has millions of customers who order more than four times a year on average. The brand is well known, it has an efficient delivery service, and the business makes decent money. What’s troubling is the loss of momentum in recent years. It is running hard just to stand still.”
No comments yet