MIAMI Completing its first full year as a public company, Burger King Holdings Inc. cited early morning and late night sales, as well as large year-earlier charges from its initial public offering, as drivers behind its latest quarter’s reversal of a year-earlier loss.
For the company’s fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, Burger King earned $36 million, or 26 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $10 million, or 8 cents per share. The latest quarter’s results included 3 cents a share in lease-termination costs, and the year-earlier period included expenses totaling 26 cents per share from the company’s May 2006 initial public offering.
Corporate revenue for the parent company of the No. 2 burger brand increased 11 percent in the fourth quarter to $590 million. Worldwide same-store sales increased 4.4 percent, driven by a same-store sales gain of 4.8 percent in the United States and Canada. Burger King operates or franchises more than 11,200 namesake quick-service restaurants.
Sales during breakfast and the chain’s new late-night service “are growing at a faster pace than overall sales,” chief executive John Chidsey said in a statement. Since May, units of the Miami-based chain are expected to stay open until at least midnight. In February, Burger King rolled out a breakfast value menu amid fierce early-morning competition from segment-leader McDonald’s and other chains. McDonald’s recently indicated that its domestic units will try to raise its breakfast business by opening at 5 a.m.
For the full year, Burger King recorded profit of $148 million, or $1.08 per share, on revenue of $2.23 billion. In fiscal 2006, the company posted profit of $27 million, or 24 cents per share, on revenue of $2.05 billion.
