Domino's Pizza is confident of building on its stellar earnings growth as it prepares to open 185 new stores in Australia and overseas.
The pizza chain made a $42.3 million profit in the 2013/14 financial year, up almost 50 per cent on the prior year.
The company's "best ever" result sent its shares to record highs, adding $2.78, or 13.5 per cent to $23.39.
Domino's announced it would open up to 185 new stores this financial year, and expects underlying earnings to rise by 20 per cent.
That forecast comes after strong sales in the first five weeks of the 2014/15 year, including in its troublesome European business, where same store sales have increased by 15 per cent.
OptionsXpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said investors were particularly pleased to hear of improvement in the European business.
"Europe was expected to be a real drag and expected to undo a lot of the positive work that had been seen in Japan," he said.
"Europe was, I think, a complete shoot-the-lights-out story.
"That's where a lot of the excitement is."
The company is hoping store relocations, new products and increased advertising will take its Japanese business, acquired in August, to the top of that country's pizza market.
"Both France and Japan have the ability to be bigger than the Australian/New Zealand markets just based on the total volume of consumption," Chief executive Don Meij said.
Australia and New Zealand, where 300 new stores are expected to open before 2020, would remain the company's star performer for at least two decades, he said.
Same store sales across the group increased 5.8 per cent in the year to June 30, with total sales up 47 per cent to $1.25 billion, thanks in part to the expansion in Japan.
DOMINO'S DISHES UP A HEALTHY PROFIT
* Net profit of $42.3m, up 47 pct from $28.7m in 2012/13
* Revenue of $588.7m, up 100 pct from $294.9m
* Final dividend of 19 cents per share, up from 15.4 cents
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