Kona Grill, Inc. (Nasdaq:KONA), an American grill and sushi bar, today released preliminary financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010.
For the fourth quarter of 2010, restaurant sales increased 11.2% to $22.2 million from $20.0 million a year ago, including an increase in comparable restaurant sales of approximately 6.4%. Based upon these preliminary sales results, net loss is now expected to be $0.5 million to $0.6 million, or $0.05 to $0.07 per share.
During its third quarter conference call, the Company had previously guided to restaurant sales of $20.6 million to $21.6 million and a net loss of $0.6 million to $1.1 million, or $0.07 to $0.12 per share. The quarterly comparable restaurant sales increase of approximately 6.4% compares to an 8.1% decrease in the prior year period and flat during the third quarter of 2010.
For the full year of 2010, restaurant sales increased 8.0% to $87.6 million compared to $81.1 million for 2009. Comparable restaurant sales increased approximately 0.9% during 2010, compared to a decrease of 9.3% during 2009.
“Fourth quarter sales exceeded expectations driven by strong traffic throughout the quarter and higher average ticket particularly during December. The success of our increased marketing spend and menu improvement efforts over the past year are reflected in our fourth quarter comparable sales results, and we are optimistic that we can build on this success in 2011,” said Marc Buehler, President and Chief Executive Officer of Kona Grill.
As a reminder, the Company will be presenting at the 13th Annual ICR XChange Investor Conference at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, January 13, 2011. The presentation will begin at 10:20 am Pacific Time. Investors and interested parties will be able to listen to the investor presentation via webcast from the investor relations portion of the Company’s website at www.konagrill.com.