Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ – News) today announced results for the first quarter ended March 22, 2009. Net income was up 68 percent versus the prior year, due primarily to a gain on the extinguishment of debt during the first quarter of 2009. Domestic same store sales were up 1.0 percent, and international same store sales grew 6.6 percent. The International division continued its strong performance, posting its 61st consecutive quarter of same store sales growth.

Diluted EPS was $0.41 on an as-reported basis for the first quarter, up $0.18 from the as-reported prior year period, due primarily to a gain on the extinguishment of debt. However, excluding items affecting comparability from the prior year period, diluted EPS declined $0.01, primarily due to the negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates on our international royalty revenues, offset in part by improvements in operating performance in our business units. (See the Items Affecting Comparability section and the Comments on Regulation G section.)

Global Retail Sales were down 4.6 percent in the first quarter, or up 5.6 percent when excluding the impact of foreign currency conversions.

“I am very satisfied with our operational performance during the quarter, and I am cautiously optimistic about our first half outlook,” says David A. Brandon, Domino’s chairman and CEO. “We are re-establishing our industry leadership position in the areas of product and technology innovation, marketing, and retail execution — and our domestic franchisees outperformed our Team USA stores in same store sales for the first time in many quarters. This is a very good sign, and a strong indication that our domestic franchise system is starting to regain some positive sales momentum. Our international business continued its long success streak of positive sales and store growth — although this strong growth was offset by the negative effect of foreign exchange.

“Using a combination of cash-on-hand and our bank revolver with a very low borrowing rate, we took advantage of opportunities to repurchase a portion of our debt at deep discounts. And we continue to generate cash that will be deployed to create additional shareholder value in the future.”