According to Nation’s Restaurant News, “Domino’s Pizza Inc. reported Tuesday a 77-percent surge in third-quarter net income despite a slowdown in sales, as a lower amount of debt, cost-cutting measures and a tax benefit drove the bottom line.”

“For the quarter ended Sept. 6, Domino’s earned $17.8 million, or 31 cents per share, compared with earnings of $10.1 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.During the latest quarter Domino’s retired $71.8 million of its fixed rate senior notes, which it said resulted in pre-tax gains of about $14.3 million. Through the first three quarters of the year, Domino’s has retired about $140.0 million in debt and booked pre-tax gains of about $48.4 million. Domino’s chairman and chief executive, David Brandon, also said that cost controls drove the pizza franchisor’s profit gain, although he did not detail the measures.”