CKE Restaurants Inc., parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, announced its first fiscal quarter financial results for the period ended May 23, which included a narrowed loss from last year. CKE posted a loss of $2.6 million, compared to the prior year's loss of $3.1 million.
The improvement is the result of an increase in same-store sales at both Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. Blended stores were up 5.5 percent, with Hardee's same-store sales increasing 9.6 percent and Carl's Jr. same-store sales rising 2.1 percent.
This is compared to a decline of 3.9 percent for blended same-store sales in Q1 '11. Hardee's numbers were the brand's strongest results in seven years.
Revenue continued to be affected by the sale of the Carl's Jr. distribution center last summer. CKE reported a total revenue of $400.6 million for Q1 '12, a decrease of $34.6 million, or 8 percent, compared to Q1 '11. Excluding the distribution center revenue, however, total revenue increased by $27.3 million, or 7.3 percent.
"Hardee's continued to generate strong same-store sales results during the first quarter. Including period four, Hardee's has now had sixteen consecutive periods of positive same-store sales. Carl's Jr. also performed well, posting a 2.1 percent increase in same-store sales for the quarter," said Andrew F. Puzder, CEO, CKE Restaurants.
Company-operated restaurant-level adjusted EBITDA margin was flat when compared to the prior year quarter at 17 percent. Food and packaging costs increased 130 basis points as a result of higher commodity costs for beef, cheese, pork and oil. This increase was offset by an 80-basis point decrease in labor costs primarily due to the impact of sales leverage as well as 30 basis point decreases in both occupancy and other expense and advertising expense.
Adjusted EBITDA was $51.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, a $4.4 million improvement over the prior year quarter, which represents a 9.3 percent increase.
Capital expenditures for the fiscal 2012 first quarter were $13.6 million, of which $8 million related to new store openings, dual-branding and remodeling projects. For fiscal 2012, the company expects capital expenditures to be between $60 million and $70 million.
