CHICAGO Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc., owner and operator of 81 namesake steakhouses, posted Wednesday a first-quarter net loss as sales fell by double digits, which the company said was a result of the “continuing global recession.”
For the quarter ended April 5, Morton’s recorded a net loss of $2.0 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with earnings of $2.4 million, or 14 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Latest-quarter revenue fell 19.7 percent to $75.9 million and same-store sales decreased 24.1 percent.
“The recession affects convention business,hotel occupancy and air travel, which all have a direct correlation on our business at Morton’s,” Thomas Baldwin, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. “Difficult economic cycles are a fact of life, and we have managed through several over the past few decades. Our company is working to meet the current challenge head on.”
Morton’s also revised downward its expectations for the year. It now expects full-year revenue to total between $316.0 million and $325.0 million, an estimate that reflects a decrease in same-store sales of between 13 percent and 16 percent. Originally the company had expected same-store sales to fall as much as 9 percent and revenues to total as much as $342.0 million.
Fiscal 2009 per-share earnings are expected to total between 14 cents and 19 cents, down from the original guidance of earnings between 20 cents and 25 cents. Those estimates include the impact of additional interest expense and the write-off of financing costs from the company’s new credit facility, which was amended last month, the company said.
Contact Sarah Lockyer at [email protected].