UK’s Domino’s Pizza expects profit at lower end of market view

(Reuters) -Britain’s Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:) Group on Tuesday forecast its annual profit to be at the lower-end of market expectations, pressured by a slowdown for its products at the start of the year amid a cost-of-living crisis.

Analysts, on average, in a company-compiled consensus forecast annual profit to come in at 147.1 million pounds ($187.80 million).

The company, which operates and franchises Domino’s stores in the UK and Ireland, raised prices of its products and curbed its marketing spend to focus on the launch of its loyalty programme and other initiatives in an effort to attract customers.

“We have continued to support the growth of the system through passing on food cost deflation to our franchise partners,” CEO Andrew Rennie said in a statement.

The company said orders have swung back to growth in the second quarter, helped by strong demand for its pizzas during the European soccer championship.

($1 = 0.7833 pounds)