For the entirety of 2004, Domino's domestic same-store sales increased 1.8%, comprised of a franchise same-store sales increase of 2.1% and a company-owned same store sales increase of 0.1%. The majority of U.S. Domino's are franchise operations, with only about 580 company-owned stores currently in the U.S. Mirroring the trend in the fourth quarter, however, international same-store sales were considerably stronger, increasing 5.9% on a constant dollar basis.
Despite the sluggish Q4 U.S. comps, David Brandon, chairman and CEO of the chain, said during Tuesday's earnings conference call that the company "met or exceeded all of our long-term guidance in 2004. We're off to a creditable start." Domino's has only been a public company since July 2004, when it made an IPO at $14 per share. As of the end of the day yesterday, it was trading at $17.67.
Regarding the quarter's numbers, Brandon urged investors "not to be preoccupied with quarter-to-quarter performance because of the variations occur as a result of media buys and promotional match-ups on the calendar and the like. We're a company and a business model that should be evaluated over the course of a year, and I can report that 2004 was the eleventh consecutive year since Domino's had a negative same-store sales performance."
Future growth, he noted, would be both domestic and international. Worldwide, store counts increased by a net 330 stores during the year, which the company says represented the largest increase in store growth since 2000. In the coming years, growth may not be quite that brisk, but Brandon expects it to be steady. "We anticipate net annual unit growth of about 200 to 250 stores, about a third domestic and a third international," he said.
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