(Alliance News) - Domino's Pizza Group PLC on Thursday reported higher third quarter sales as new store openings progress, despite an "uncertain" market.

Domino's Pizza, a Milton Keynes, England-based pizza delivery group, is the UK franchise of US based

fast food company, Domino's Pizza Inc.

Domino's said like-for-like sales grew more than 3.7% in the third quarter, while its total sales increased 5.5%.

These figures were marked by 45 new store openings, Domino's explained, adding that it was on track to open at least 60 new stores by the end of the year.

The pizza chain also noted digital progress, citing a 55% increase in app customers to 8.7 million.

Despite this, total orders fell 1.2% in the quarter to 16.2 million despite being up 1.5% overall in the year-to-date.

Looking ahead, Domino's continues to expect a full year underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation range of between GBP132 million to GBP138 million, a slight increase from GBP130.1 million a year ago.

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Rennie said: franchisees, suppliers and colleagues I'm even more excited about the opportunities ahead for Domino's and our outstanding franchisees. I look forward to providing an initial outline on these growth opportunities for the business on 11 December."

"Our franchisees are performing well in an uncertain market, and we are all benefitting from an aligned system. We remain focused on giving our customers great tasting food, exceptional service and great value, every single time. Together, our store openings are ahead of plan and trading well, collections are continuing to grow, our digital strategy is powering ahead, and we are bringing exciting menu innovation to our customers focused on different parts of the day."

"We've continued to make great strategic progress to drive sustainable growth. As we look into next year, we see inflation stabilising and our focus will be on continued customer and order growth, as well as franchisee profitability. We remain confident that our resilient, asset-light business model will deliver further financial and strategic progress, and increased returns for our shareholders."

Shares in Domino's Pizza fell 7.1% to 345.40 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter

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