Sydney, Oct 16 - Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd, the Australian franchise of the U.S. pizza chain, will add at least 35 stores in Europe each year until it hits a target of 1,000 stores, betting on rising demand for home delivered food.
Domino's, which serves over 60 million pizzas such as "Meatosaurus" and "Double Bacon Cheeseburger" each year, also said its European operations, which account for less than a quarter of total sales, could overtake its home market.
"We would be thinking that 35 stores a year would be our minimum target," Domino's chief financial officer Richard Coney told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
"Ultimately, Europe will be bigger than Australia and New Zealand from sales to store numbers to profits," he added, though he did not give a timeframe.
Domino's currently operates 667 stores, including 404 in Australia, 65 in New Zealand and a total of 198 in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Australia contributed A$169.5 million ($153 million) in sales in fiscal 2007, or 73.7 percent of total sales. Europe accounted for 21.6 percent, with the rest coming from New Zealand.
Coney said that Europe's fragmented pizza market offers big growth opportunities for Domino's.
"The home delivery segment is a growing market in Europe because of the convenience and there is not a lot of supply. It's not something that has been developed because you haven't got any of the big chains making a big push into the market."
Coney said in France there are about 12,000 small, independent pizza stores. Competitors in France include Speed Rabbit Pizza, which has about 100 stores.
Domino's, which has a market value of about A$206 million, posted a net profit of A$9.1 million in the year to June 2007, down 30 percent from A$13 million in the previous year.
For fiscal 2008, Domino's forecasts net profit to increase by about 25 to 30 percent to between A$11.4 million and A$11.8 million.
Six analysts polled by Reuters Estimates forecast Domino's net profit in fiscal 2008 to rise 35 percent to A$12.3 million.
In Australia, Domino's key rivals include Pizza Hut, owned by Yum Brands Inc, and as well as the privately owned Eagle Boys Pizza.