Wendy's/Arby's International Inc., a subsidiary of Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., has signed an agreement with Desarrollos Gastronomicos S.A. (DEGASA) to develop 50 Wendy's restaurants in Argentina throughout the next 10 years.
The first location under this agreement is slated to open this year in Buenos Aires.
DEGASA is a private investment company that controls D&G, which operates and franchises Havanna Café, a quick-service coffee chain with more than 180 outlets in Argentina. The chain, which is the largest coffee retailer in Argentina, has recently expanded to nine additional countries in Latin America and Europe, with 68 outlets.
"Argentina is the latest example of the meaningful progress that we are making in the acceleration of our international expansion efforts," said Roland Smith, Wendy's/Arby's Group president and CEO. "We are pleased to welcome DEGASA to our international system. As part of an organization with a proven track record running successful food service operations, our new franchisee has the strength and resources to rapidly build Wendy's presence in Argentina."
In addition to Argentina, since June 2009, Wendy's/Arby's Group subsidiaries have reached long-term development agreements with franchisees for the Middle East and North Africa, Singapore, Turkey, Russia and the Eastern Caribbean.
The company is aggressively pursuing potential opportunities in Japan, China, Brazil and other key international markets.
Wendy's/Arby's Group announces smaller 4Q loss
Parent company Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., on the heels of an announcement that it is shopping for Arby's buyers, reported a fourth quarter cash dividend of 2 cents per share, or $10.8 million, payable on March 15 to stockholders.
This financials report shows improvement from the same period last year, which yielded a loss of $14.7 million, or 3 cents per share.
As of Jan. 3, WAG had approximately 418 million shares of common stock outstanding.
