Burger King Holdings the world’s second-largest burger chain, said Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings jumped 82%, due to North American growth driven by sales of Value Menu items and the Stacker sandwich and new restaurant openings.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, earnings totaled $40 million, or 30 cents a share, up from $22 million, or 19 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding costs related to management fees, franchise system distress and the tax effects of unusual items, net income was 26 cents a share in the latest period.
Revenue rose 8% to $546 million from $508 million last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 26 cents a share on revenue of $538.1 million.
Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least one year, a widely used industry gauge of performance, grew 2.6% in North America and 2.4% worldwide.
North America sales were driven by the BK Stacker, a type of bacon cheeseburger, and BK Value Menu items.
Chief Executive John W. Chidsey said the results “speak to the resurgence of the Burger King brand and its underlying reach to consumers.” Burger King is second in the U.S. burger business behind McDonald’s (MCD).
For the fiscal year, the company expects revenue growth between 6% and 7% and adjusted earnings growth between 10% and 12%.
Burger King, which went public in May, also reported $50 million in retired debt using cash it generated from operations and said it aimed to continue to reduce debt. The fast food chain said it has retired $435 million in debt, a 30% reduction in debt since its initial public offering.
The company has reported 11 straight quarters of worldwide same-store sales growth. Its net income includes $17 million in unusual items in the prior year, including $13 million in costs related to early debt retirement.
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