Fast food czar Jack Cowin makes $170m in one day as pizzas reign supreme
The biggest investor in Brisbane-based Domino’s made so much dough on the sharemarket today that if he wanted to he could buy a pizza for every single person in Australia and New Zealand.
QLD Business
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Business. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Fast food czar Jack Cowin has seen his stake in Brisbane-based pizza empire Domino’s soar $170m to a whopping $2.42bn driven by rising home deliveries during COVID-19.
Domino’s, which reported a 32.8 per cent increase in half yearly profit to $96.2m, saw its shares climb to a record $105 on Wednesday after the results announcement.
The gains in 78-year-old Mr Cowin’s stake could buy 35 million of Domino’s $5 pizzas, enough to feed every man, woman and child in Australia and New Zealand.
Domino’s chief executive Don Meij’s 1.8m shares in the company climbed $13.3m to $189m with his daily gains enough to buy garlic bread for everyone in Brisbane.
The company, which has outlets in Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, cooked 209m pizzas last year, enough to circle the globe 1.5 times.
The company said it would boost investment in artificial intelligence that predicted customer behaviour online as well as new delivery technologies including robots and drones. The chain’s outlets in Europe and Japan – markets where COVID-19 has caused significant economic disruption – were among the best performers, with sales rising 42.6 per cent and 13.8 per cent respectively.
Mr Meij said COVID-19 had brought forward long-term demand for delivered food, with online sales accounting for the lion’s share of the growth.
“This online trend will continue past COVID-19,” Mr Meij said, adding online sales across the group expanded 25.4 per cent to $1.42bn in the first half.
Mr Cowin, who moved to Perth from Canada in 1969 to establish a KFC franchise after borrowing $10,000, said last year that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift by customers to ordering their burgers and fries online and being more comfortable with home delivery. Mr Cowin’s privately held Competitive Foods Australia has around 400 Hungry Jack’s franchises around the country
Fallen miner killed in workplace tragedy named
Loved ones of a miner killed in a work incident in Central Queensland are reeling in the wake of the tragedy, the latest in a series of incidents plaguing Queensland mines in 2024.
Has Qatar given Virgin’s Jayne Hrdlicka a second wind?
The Virgin boss is meant to be on the way out, but her landmark Qatar deal changes the equation with the airline’s private equity owners.