News

Sonic leadership: Q4 results below our expectations

September 28, 2016

Sonic today announced that its preliminary fourth fiscal quarter results were not as good as expected but showed growth, however.

System-wide, same-store sales fell about 2 percent with estimated same-store sales performance showing a drop of about 3 percent at company drive-ins and 1.8 percent at franchise locations during the quarter. Net income per diluted share is expected to fall between 51 and 53 cents, with adjusted net income per diluted share coming in at 43 to 45 cents for the fourth quarter, according to a company press release.

"While we delivered a solid overall fiscal 2016 performance with 2.6 percent system-wide same-store sales growth, the fourth quarter was below our expectations from both a sales and a profit perspective," said Sonic CEO Cliff Hudson. "The shortfall was largely driven by lower-than-expected traffic, reflecting lower consumer spending in restaurants and continued aggressive competitive activity."

Nineteen  drive-ins opened in the fourth quarter with at total of 53 new opening over the course of fiscal 2016. The chain increased it total sites by 31 drive-ins, an increase of about 1 percent system-wide. 

Final fiscal year and fourth quarter results for the chain will be released Oct. 24.