Domino's Pizza half-year results 2026: cash flow jumps 75%

Domino's Pizza Group PLC has delivered a positive first half, with higher sales, orders, earnings and cash generation supporting confidence in its full-year expectations.

The standout number is underlying free cash flow, which rose 74.9% to £50.2 million. Trading also remained healthy, although profit growth was more modest than the sales performance might initially suggest.

Domino's first-half figures

Metric	H1 2026	H1 2025	Change
System sales	£825.3 million	£777.8 million	6.1%
Group revenue	£353.6 million	£331.5 million	6.7%
Underlying EBITDA	£66.2 million	£63.9 million	3.6%
Underlying profit before tax	£44.1 million	£43.7 million	0.9%
Statutory profit before tax	£40.6 million	£40.5 million	0.2%
Underlying basic earnings per share	8.8p	8.4p	4.8%
Underlying free cash flow	£50.2 million	£28.7 million	74.9%
Interim dividend per share	3.7p	3.6p	2.8%

System sales represent customer spending across both franchised and company-operated stores. Domino's considers this a particularly useful measure of the network's overall health.

Underlying EBITDA, meaning earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and excluding selected non-underlying items, increased to £66.2 million.

Sales and orders are moving in the right direction

Like-for-like sales increased by 4.9%, while like-for-like orders rose by 1.6%. Like-for-like figures compare established stores on a broadly consistent basis.

Domino's attributed the performance to continued pizza growth, the early contribution from CHICK 'N' DIP and a World Cup trading uplift. Positive trading continued into July, again supported by the tournament.

The group also said it gained market share across pizza, chicken and the wider quick-service restaurant category. Delivery times remained below 25 minutes throughout the period, an important operational measure in a market where speed and reliability matter.

Eleven stores opened during the half, including the group's 1,400th location in Largs. Domino's had 1,410 stores across the UK and Ireland at the period end.

This builds on the positive momentum reported in the group's first-quarter 2026 update.

Why did profit grow more slowly than sales?

There is a clear difference between the top-line performance and the rate of profit growth.

Group revenue increased by 6.7%, but underlying profit before tax rose by just 0.9%. Statutory profit before tax was broadly flat, increasing by 0.2% to £40.6 million.

Higher royalties, supply chain profits and corporate-store earnings supported EBITDA. Corporate-store revenue increased by £14.3 million to £52.5 million, partly reflecting a full period of contribution from Victa, which was acquired in March 2025.

However, these benefits were partly offset by higher costs and lower investment contributions. Supply chain margins were also slightly lower because of increased labour and project implementation costs.

Net finance costs rose by £0.9 million to £10.3 million. The average interest rate paid by the group, excluding lease liabilities, increased from 6.2% to 6.5%.

In short, customer demand was encouraging, but this did not translate pound-for-pound into pre-tax profit growth.

Cash generation was the main financial highlight

Underlying free cash flow rose from £28.7 million to £50.2 million. Free cash flow is the cash generated after operating requirements and selected financing and lease payments, before capital allocation decisions.

The improvement reflected higher EBITDA, a £3.2 million working capital inflow and lower corporation tax payments. A year earlier, working capital had produced a £12.1 million outflow.

Investors should note that some of this improvement came from timing differences in online receipts and payments, alongside lower debtors, inventory and prepayments. It is still a strong result, but the full increase should not automatically be treated as recurring.

After non-underlying cash items, capital expenditure, dividends and the additional Victa investment, net debt ended the period at £290.1 million. That was up from £284.6 million at the 2025 year end, although down from £306.6 million at the comparable half-year point.

Leverage remained at 2.3 times underlying EBITDA. This is within Domino's target range of 1.5 to 2.5 times, but it is towards the upper end. Management's current preference is to reduce debt and leverage rather than pursue acquisitions.

Chicken and loyalty could broaden the growth story

Domino's is focusing on four growth initiatives: chicken, loyalty, aggregators and supply chain productivity.

CHICK 'N' DIP was launched nationwide in February. Chicken now represents around 9% of total sales, compared with approximately 7.5% before the launch. Domino's currently has a 4.2% share of the chicken market and wants to increase that significantly over the next few years.

The appeal is straightforward. Domino's can use its existing kitchens, delivery network and supply chain to enter a new food category with minimal capital outlay and limited operational complexity.

The loyalty pilot has attracted around 2.2 million subscribers, representing a 27% UK sign-up rate. Participating customers have demonstrated higher order frequency and improved retention. A full business-wide launch is planned for the final quarter of 2026.

Aggregator partnerships are also bringing in new and reactivated customers, while the new Avonmouth supply chain centre adds capacity equivalent to approximately 1,000 deliveries per week.

Dividend and full-year outlook

The interim dividend increased by 2.8% to 3.7p per share. It is payable on 25 September 2026 to shareholders on the register on 14 August 2026.

Domino's maintained its full-year earnings expectations, which remain in line with current market expectations. The exact market forecast was not disclosed.

Management said all major cost lines are hedged for 2026, with some costs also hedged into 2027. This provides useful near-term visibility, although it does not remove pressures from labour costs, interest expenses or project implementation.

Technical guidance includes approximately £25 million of underlying depreciation and amortisation, £21 million of underlying interest, a roughly 25% effective tax rate and capital investment of approximately £35 million.

The original company announcement contains the complete financial statements and accompanying notes.

What investors should watch next

The positives are broad-based sales growth, higher order volumes, market share gains and substantially improved cash generation. CHICK 'N' DIP and the loyalty programme also offer credible routes to increase customer frequency without changing the core business model dramatically.

The less impressive feature is profit conversion. Revenue grew strongly, but underlying profit before tax was almost flat as costs and finance charges absorbed much of the benefit.

For the second half, the key tests will be whether Domino's can maintain order growth after the World Cup boost, turn its supply chain investment into margin improvements and begin reducing leverage while continuing to invest and pay a progressive dividend.