CARLSBAD Calif. Rubio's Restaurants Inc., parent to 166 Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill units, said its fourth-quarter net loss nearly doubled from a year earlier on charges from a lawsuit settlement that offset the company's 19.8-percent revenue gain to $41.3 million.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Rubio's posted a loss of $4.7 million, or 48 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $2.4 million, or 26 cents per share. In the latest quarter, Rubio's booked a charge of $4.8 million, or 49 cents per share, for the settlement of a class-action lawsuit by its workers over their alleged misclassification as exempt from overtime-pay entitlement. In the settlement, Rubio's, which reiterated its denial of the allegations, said it would pay a total of $7.5 million to the plaintiffs.
The company's fourth-quarter revenue increase was driven by a same-store sales gain of 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter, as well as an extra operating week versus a year earlier.
For the full year, Rubio's posted a net loss of $3.5 million, or 36 cents per share, versus a fiscal 2005 net loss of $228,000, or 2 cents per share. Fiscal 2006 included the $4.8 million, or 49 cents per share, charge for the lawsuit settlement.
Revenues rose 8.2 percent to $152.3 million, which reflected a same-store sales jump 2 percent.