Domino’s Pizza swallowed an impairment charge of £10.4 million (€12 million) last year after its Irish operations took a hit driven by a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that found food delivery drivers are staff and not self-employed.
The group separately paid £1 million to the Revenue Commissioners in connection with settlement of the historical driver case in Shorecal.
The pizza chain, which has about 100 stores in the Republic and Northern Ireland, posted a 15 per cent drop in profit for the year ended December 28th, 2025.
The group, which operates under the umbrella of US-based Domino’s Pizza in the UK and Ireland, logged £91.2 million in underlying pretax profit for the year, below the £107.3 million posted a year earlier.
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The £10.4 million impairment charge was recorded over the group’s Shorecal operations, which is the largest Domino’s Pizza franchisee on the island of Ireland, operating about one third of its outlets here.
It said the charge was due to a “decline in expected performance”, driven by the “permanent change in labour structure” following the Irish driver case where the transition of drivers to employee status “changed the cost of delivery across the industry”.
The impairment charge was also blamed on weaker overall trading conditions in the Republic and Northern Ireland than that which was anticipated at the time of its acquisition of Shorecal for about €72 million in 2024.
Domino’s said it may also take longer than forecast for new store openings in Shorecal to reach the levels originally intended. It added however that Ireland remains a “strategic priority” for the group and that “significant opportunities for long term growth remain”.
The group’s underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation decreased by £9.5 million to £133.9 million, while group revenue increased 3.1 per cent to £685.4 million.
Revenue was £626.1 million in the UK and £59.3 million in the Republic, up from £51.1 million in 2024. Total orders were down 0.9 per cent compared to the year before.
On Ireland, it said the “attractive growth opportunity remains” due to “under penetration versus the UK”. Like-for-like system sales across Britain and Ireland were up 0.2 per cent, with the positive performance seen across the second half of the year.
Domino’s interim chief executive Nicola Frampton said the group “had a good finish to 2025, delivering full year results that were in line with guidance”.
“I’m grateful to our colleagues and franchisees for their focus and hard work to deliver this outcome, and I’m pleased with the strong momentum we are carrying into 2026,” she said.
“In 2026, we are focused on strengthening our core business and driving disciplined execution across the organisation.
“In particular, we are excited about a number of strategic and operational initiatives to drive sustainable growth, including the successful system-wide launch of Chick ‘n’ Dip; and a strong pipeline of wider product innovation.”
