MIAMI Burger King Holdings Inc. said Wednesday that traffic in foreign markets dipped sharply in March, impacting its third-quarter sales.
The nation's No. 2 burger chain said it expects revenue in the March 31-ended to be $600 million, up about 1 percent from $594 million in the same period last year. However, it falls short of the $625 million in revenue that analysts on average had expected, according to Thomson Financial.
The company said it expected third-quarter earnings to be 33 cents to 35 cents a share, which meets analysts' targets. A year ago, the company earned 30 cents a share.
Burger King said it would report full earnings April 29.
Systemwide same-store sales were up 1 percent in the third quarter, the company said, but margins in Germany and Mexico were weak on lower traffic numbers. Same-store sales in the United States and Canada rose 1.6 percent.
The company said it was increasing value promotions in Germany and boosting advertising spending in Mexico. Germany is the company’s second largest company-owned market, and Mexico is its only company-owned market in Latin America.
Burger King said its administrative costs improved in the quarter because of budget initiatives and the favorable impact of currency exchange rates.
Miami-based Burger King has more than 11,800 restaurants worldwide, about 90 percent of which are franchised.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].