Domino’s Pizza sees UK sales grow but cautions over writedowns

The British arm of the group said its under-pressure international business - which is being sold off as its beats a retreat from foreign markets - is expected to tumble to an operating loss of around £20m in 2019.

Domino’s also revealed full-year results are set to see a hit of around £20m in impairment charges for corporate stores and up to £40m for its international business.

David Wild, chief executive of Domino’s, said: “I am pleased with the performance of our core UK and Ireland markets, with system sales up 4.4 per cent and UK like-for-likes up 3.9 per cent, against a strong comparative and a competitive backdrop.

“This performance was driven by the power of our brand, our strong digital capabilities and the operational expertise of our franchisee partners.”

He added the group was “well advanced” in the hunt for a new chief financial officer after David Bauernfeind tragically died in a snorkelling accident while on holiday with his family in Mauritius.