Domino's completes acquisition of major German pizza chain

AUSTRALIAN pizza chain Domino's (ASX: DMP) has completed its acquisition of the 170-store Hallo Pizza chain in Germany as part of its push into the European market.

Hallo Pizza is the largest independent pizza chain in Germany, and includes a wholly owned procurement and logistics business, Chrisa.

The deal was funded via a mix of cash and debt, but the company says it is interested in spending more to ensure the German business increases efficiency.

The $A48.1million deal will expand Domino's store count in Germany to between 300 and 340.

The cost to integrate the 170 Hallo Pizza stores into Domino's network will bring the net spend on the deal to between $52.6 million and $63.1 million.

The deal was originally flagged in October and although the deal has been formally completed it will not contribute much to Domino's FY18 underlying earnings.

Domino's Pizza chief executive Don Meij (pictured) says the deal is part of its major expansion plan for Germany.

"The acquisition of Hallo Pizza strengthens our leading market position and assists Domino's Pizza Deutschland to accelerate towards achieving its target of operating 1000 stores in Germany," says Meij.

Meanwhile, Domino's has struck a new wage deal with one of its employees' unions which will see part-time workers trade regular working hours for a 2 cents an hour pay rise.

DMP and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association struck the deal and it's believed that entry level workers will be now paid a base rate of $20.10 an hour.

It represents a 2 cents an hour pay rise, but it means part-time workers will give up fixed start and finish times on their regular days of work and instead find out what hours they will work on a weekly roster with up to five days' notice.