Domino's Pizza lines up Lance Batchelor as next chief executive

The pizza specialist Domino’s Pizza UK has lined up Lance Batchelor, the head of Tesco Mobile, as its next chief executive.

Tesco this week confirmed that Mr Batchelor, who is also chief executive of the grocery giant’s telecoms business, will leave at the end of February to pursue “an amazing, brilliant opportunity for himself”. But the Tesco spokeswoman declined to give any details of which company he was joining or his new role.

Mr Batchelor, who is already a non-executive at Domino’s Pizza UK, will join the pizza company in an unspecified senior role before eventually stepping up to become its new chief executive at a later date.

It is unclear what will be the next move for Chris Moore, the highly-regarded current chief executive of Domino’s Pizza UK, who has overseen a surge in Domino’s share price, profits and sales since he took the helm in 2007.

On 5 January, Domino’s Pizza UK and Ireland posted a 17.8 per cent uplift in sales to £132.5m for the 13 weeks to 26 December and said it will deliver “full year profits ahead of current City expectations”.

Domino’s Pizza UK and Mr Batchelor declined to comment today.