has warned earnings will be “materially lower” in the first half, as the nation’s largest pizza chain battles inflationary headwinds on key ingredients like cheese, surging energy prices in Europe, and higher labour costs well into next year.
Mr Meij said while menu, pricing and service initiatives would allow stores to offset some inflationary pressures, earnings would be materially lower in the first half of fiscal 2023. One less week of sales, and currency fluctuations in Japan and Europe would also impact results. Growth in net profit after tax is still expected this year on the $166.7 million achieved in 2022 – excluding about $7 million in foreign exchange headwinds.
The company continues to expect store openings to increase in the second half, but only if franchisees can keep up with offsetting inflationary costs.