London, Oct 1 - Britain's biggest pizza home delivery chain Domino's Pizza said trading in the third quarter had continued strongly, as it benefited from customers saving money by choosing a takeaway meal rather than eating out.
Chief Executive Chris Moore described the performance as "particularly encouraging" given that the company was coming up against strong comparatives from the previous year.
Domino's, which operates the UK and Ireland franchise of the global brand, said like-for-like sales in the 449 stores it has owned for a year or more increased by 8.8 percent in the quarter, bringing total like-for-like sales growth for the 39 weeks to Sept 28 to 10.5 percent.
Total sales for the quarter rose by 17.8 percent to 83.3 million pounds ($148.6 million), bringing total sales for the nine month period to 253.5 million.
"We are very pleased with the momentum in the business and the resilience of our business model during these more challenging times," said Moore.
The company, which this year sponsored TV reality show 'Britain's Got Talent', said it had opened nine new stores during the quarter, giving it 535 outlets in total.
It said it is on track to achieve its target of 50 new store openings this year.
Shares in Domino's have outperformed the FTSE All Share Food Producers Index 53 percent since the start of the year with analysts saying they are likely to be a beneficiary of customers trading down in the consumer downturn.
The shares closed yesterday at 195-1/4 pence, valuing the business at 318 million pounds.