“This has been led by Australia and New Zealand where customers are rewarding us with more frequent orders and a higher ticket and, as a result, the business improvement has been fastest. Many of the same approaches are showing positive signs in Europe.

“Our franchisee partners in ANZ and Europe are improving average unit economics, but there is more work to do, and this will remain an ongoing focus in all markets into the 2025 financial year.”

Meij told investors on a call on Thursday that the company’s technology advantage against its competitors had evaporated in recent years. Domino’s has long leaned on technological innovations to stand out, including drone delivery, and voice ordering through smart-home speakers.

“There’s no question that’s been neutralised compared to where we were a number of years back,” he said of Domino’s tech edge. “It’s still really important and we’re still constantly impressed with what we can do with conversion and execution.

“There’ll still be a lot of energy and investment [in technology] because it does matter and it is material. But many of our competitors have now caught up to that.”

The Domino’s current competitive advantage and growth lies in delivery, according to Meij.

“Everything we do is designed to be delivered, and that’s how we’re differentiating today. We think we have a significant advantage in delivery.”

Broker Goldman Sachs reiterated its “sell” rating on Domino’s shares and said the results were below consensus forecasts. Jefferies cut its rating to underperform and Citi trimmed it to “neutral”.

“This profit downgrade supports our thesis that Japan’s elevated competition post-COVID is a more structural headwind,” Goldman Sachs analyst Lisa Deng said in a note. “We expect the market to take this news negatively.”

Domino’s will release its interim results on February 21.

Meij said that as chief executive, he took full responsibility for the disappointing set of numbers across Europe and Asia.

“Where we’ve disappointed, it’s been in an executional area of the business,” he said. “Ultimately I’m held responsible for that as head of management. This is a team effort and in good times I get undue credit... And right now when things are going bad I take full responsibility.

“These are executional issues I’m accountable to and that we need to deliver upon.”

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.