Burger King Holdings, Inc. Announces Impact of Weather on Comparable Sales for January and February 2010
Burger King Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BKC) today announced that U.S. and Canada segment comparable sales were severely impacted during the months of January and February 2010 by adverse weather conditions in the Central and Eastern portions of the U.S., where over 75 percent of this segment’s company- and franchise-owned restaurants are located. The U.S. and Canada segment reported comparable system sales of negative 8.2 percent in the two-month period ended February 28, 2010, compared to positive 3.1 percent in the same period last year. Based on its analysis, the company believes inclement weather negatively impacted January and February U.S. and Canada company comparable sales by approximately 3.0 percentage points during the period. Therefore, the company expects third-quarter fiscal 2010 U.S. and Canada total revenues, company restaurant margin and income from operations to be lower than the prior year period.
Worldwide comparable sales for the two-month period ended February 28, 2010, were negative 5.4 percent, partially offset by positive results in the EMEA/APAC business segment, compared to worldwide comparable sales of positive 2.5 percent in the prior year period.
“As we mentioned during our second quarter earnings call, U.S. and Canada January sales were impacted by adverse weather conditions, which worsened in February, resulting in lower than anticipated sales,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John W. Chidsey. “However, we have seen improvement in sales with positive traffic at our company-owned restaurants in the U.S. and Canada during the first week of March, compared to January and February, as the impact of weather has become less significant.”
A challenging consumer environment is expected to continue as unemployment levels are forecasted to remain high throughout 2010. As such, the company will continue to feature its robust value menu including the new Buck Double beginning in April while flexing the indulgent side of its barbell menu with offerings such as the Steakhouse XTTM burger.
“We are pleased with the consumer response to the new Steakhouse XTTM burger and are looking forward to the launch of bone-in ribs at the end of May,” Chidsey said. “The innovative products coming off our game-changing broiler are expected to satisfy our guests’ indulgent tastes at affordable prices while building higher check.”
Later this month, BKC will introduce its BK® Breakfast Muffin sandwich priced at no more than one dollar and BKTM Breakfast Bowl to enhance its breakfast offerings. These product introductions are in advance of a new U.S. comprehensive breakfast platform launching later in the year and includes Seattle’s Best Blend® coffee made from 100-percent arabica beans.
The company will provide additional information on its third quarter fiscal 2010 results and an outlook for the full fiscal year as part of its quarterly earnings release and Web cast tentatively scheduled on April 29, 2010.
ABOUT BURGER KING HOLDINGS, INC.
The BURGER KING® system operates more than 12,000 restaurants in all 50 states and in 73 countries and U.S. territories worldwide. Approximately 90 percent of BURGER KING® restaurants are owned and operated by independent franchisees, many of them family-owned operations that have been in business for decades. In 2008, Fortune magazine ranked Burger King Corp. (BKC) among America’s 1,000 largest corporations and in 2010, Standard & Poor’s included shares of Burger King Holdings, Inc. to the S&P MidCap 400 index. BKC was recently recognized by Interbrand on its top 100 “Best Global Brands” list and Ad Week has named it one of the top three industry-changing advertisers within the last three decades. To learn more about Burger King Corp., please visit the company’s Web site at www.bk.com.
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