News

El Pollo Loco posts 3.9% Q4 comp sales gain

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March 6, 2020

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. said its Q4 financial results for the 13 weeks that ended Dec. 25, 2019 showed marked improvement over the numbers from a year earlier at that time. Total revenue grew from $106.3 million the previous year's quarter to $107.5 million this past quarter, while system-wide comp sales grew 3.9%, including a 4.3% increase for company-operated restaurants, and a 3.6% increase for franchised restaurants, a news release said.

Other key Q4 results include: 

• $3.5 million net income (10 cent per diluted share) compared to net loss of $23.4 million (60 cents per diluted share) the prior year's quarter due to a $36.3 million pre-tax expense related to multiple class action suit  legal settlements.
• $6.2 million pro forma net income (18 cents per diluted share) versus $6.1 million (16 cents per diluted share) last year's quarter.
• $14.5 million adjusted EBITDA was flat from last year's quarter. 

"We closed 2019 on a high note, with our strongest system-wide comparable restaurant sales growth of the year at 3.9% during the quarter, driven by a 2.4% increase in transactions," President and CEO Bernard Acoca said in the release. "This not only marked our sixth consecutive quarter of system-wide comparable restaurant sales growth, but it was achieved in a tough industry environment and against a challenging 4.4% sales comparison from 2018. 

"In addition, our full year 2019 system sales comp result represents our best performance in three years."