Tue 3rd Oct 2017 - Papa John’s UK reports record profit and turnover Papa John’s UK reports record profit and turnover: Papa John’s, the US pizza business with more than 350 franchised stores in the UK, has reported turnover in the UK rose 11.9% to £56,539,000 for the year ending 25 December 2016 compared with £50,530,000 the previous year. The company opened 34 stores during the period taking the total of UK sites to 353. Pre-tax profit increased to £5,268,000 compared with £3,897,000 the year before, according to accounts filed at Companies House. Papa John’s stated: “Turnover has increased through a combination of store growth and increased like-for-like sales from continuing operations in the franchised Papa John’s store network. For the 11th consecutive year, underlying comparable sales of our UK outlets grew. The pizza market does however remain intensely competitive with significant promotional discounting continuing to take place in 2016 as in prior years. Given that the company has a period of sustained profits and continues to forecast profits, the company has recognised a deferred tax asset of £503,000 (2015: £1,207,000).” Papa John’s said it remained the third largest pizza delivery business in the UK with online sales continuing to be a “significant and ongoing area of growth for both Papa John’s and the industry as a whole”. Of total turnover, £1,610,000 derived from its operations in Ireland, which was up from £1,058,000 the previous year. The company still had total trading losses from its UK operation of £1,034,000 as of December 2016 to carry forward, which was a reduction from £6m the previous year. Papa John’s takes head leases on sites for between ten and 25 years and sub-lets to franchisees for ten years, with an option to renew for a further five years. The company added: “The focus for the forthcoming year is to continue our strong growth in the underlying outlets and significantly grow the number of outlets trading under the Papa John’s brand, thus increasing geographical coverage.”