Shares in Australia-based Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (DMP.AX) slumped more than 7% on Wednesday after the franchise operator flagged a weak start to fiscal 2025. Rising costs and cautious consumer spending have weighed on profitability, impacting the company’s performance across its markets.
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises operates the largest master franchise of the U.S. pizza giant (DPZ.N) in 12 countries across Asia, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with a total of 3,767 stores. Japan, which accounts for over a quarter of those stores, has been particularly affected by high living costs, the normalization of work and social life post-pandemic, and rising operational expenses.
Despite increased advertising, sales in Japan have slowed, leading to the closure of around 80 low-volume stores. Group-wide sales were also below expectations, with like-for-like growth down 1.3%. Visible Alpha consensus expects a 10% underlying net profit growth in the first half of fiscal 2025, but Citi analysts have expressed skepticism, calling the performance “still less than optimal.”
Domino’s shares fell as much as 7.3% to A$30.970, marking their biggest intraday drop since August 2, and placing them among the top 10 losers in the benchmark (.AXJO) as of 0135 GMT. The company reported an 8% drop in underlying profit to A$120.4 million for the year ended June 30, meeting Visible Alpha consensus, while sales grew 4.6% to A$4.19 billion but missed the A$4.22 billion consensus.