Domino's suspends dividends, sees boost in delivery

The firm had since made contactless deliveries due to the pandemic.

Domino’s Pizza Group has suspended its final dividend payment that was announced as part of their full year results earlier this month.

The group explained that “the volatility of delivery sales” and “an uncertain outlook” had them take “a cautious and prudent approach.” The decision would be reviewed in the coming months.

The pizza delivery firm also said it had seen increased demand and would now only be making contactless deliveries has since stopped its collection service due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Domino’s said it has had to hire more delivery drivers with an increase in sales in the UK and Ireland over the last week.

It added that sales for the first quarter of the year had been “in line” with expectations, with its current net debt position being “slightly lower” than the £232m reported at the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, DP Eurasia, which runs Domino's in Turkey and Russia, reported a rise in its 2019 core profit, but said it could not provide an outlook for this year given uncertainty about the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

DP Eurasia had to shut its restaurants in both Russia and Turkey last week following authorities' orders aimed at containing the spread of the virus, which resulted in total sales falling by 10-15% over that period, company executives said.

DP Eurasia said it had also started contactless delivery last week and has not experienced any supply or transportation problems.