Jamba Inc., the parent of the Jamba Juice smoothie chain, narrowed its losses in the fourth quarter, finishing more than a year of positive same-store sales, the company said Wednesday.
With Jamba’s turnaround completed in 2011, company officials said, efforts to grow the smoothie chain into a global healthy lifestyle brand will move forward this year with a new Blend 2.0 plan that includes accelerated retail growth through new and existing formats, building a more global consumer-packaged goods business and increasing productivity while reducing costs.
“Fiscal 2011 was a year of significant progress for Jamba,” said James White, Jamba Inc. chair, president and chief executive. “We had our first fiscal year of positive same-store sales at the company and franchisee level since the end of fiscal 2007. We also expanded our beverage and food portfolio across all dayparts, extended our CPG distribution to 30,000 outlets, and completed our refranchise initiative, while accelerating the development of franchise and non-traditional stores.”
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For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 3, Jamba reported a net loss of $9.8 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with a loss of $12.2 million, or 21 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter rose 5.4 percent to $44.3 million, in part due to a 13th week in the fourth quarter, although that benefit was offset by the reduction of company-owned locations as a result of refranchising.
Systemwide same-store sales increased 5.7 percent, reflecting an increase of 7.7 percent at company-owned stores and a 4-percent hike at franchised locations.
Two new franchised units opened during the quarter and four units closed, including three company locations and one franchise.
International franchise partners opened nine locations overseas.
For the year, Jamba recorded a net loss of $8.3 million, or 16 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $16.7 million, or 35 cents per share.
Franchise and other revenue increased 42 percent to $11.6 million, driven by the increase in franchisee-operated store and $1.1 million in revenue from licensed consumer packaged good products. This year, licensed CPG revenue is expected to almost triple to $3 million.
Systemwide same-store sales were up 3.7 percent for the year on revenue that decreased 13.8 percent to $226.4 million, largely because of ongoing refranchising efforts.
For fiscal 2012, Jamba expects to see same-store sales at company locations grow by 3 percent to 4 percent. An estimated 40 to 50 new locations are expected to open in the U.S., with another 10 to 15 internationally, excluding the growing self-service JambaGo concept.
Emeryville, Calif.-based Jamba Juice ended the year with 769 locations, of which 307 were company owned.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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