SCOTTSDALE Ariz. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. reported Wednesday that cost-cutting efforts helped the company book improved second-quarter earnings despite a continued decrease in sales.
The company also increased its full-year earnings expectations.
For the quarter ended June 28, P.F. Chang’s earned $11.6 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with earnings of $9.4 million, or 39 cents per share. Latest-quarter total revenue fell 0.6 percent to $301.4 million. Same-store sales fell 6.8 percent at the company’s P.F. Chang’s casual-dining concept and declined 0.1 percent at its Pei Wei Asian Diner fast-casual brand.
The company, which operates 351 restaurants under both brands, said it was able to boost earnings mainly through reduced costs. Its pre-opening expenses, for example, were slashed to $461,000 from $1.8 million a year ago. The drop is a result of P.F. Chang’s slowed development schedule, which includes plans for the opening of eight P.F. Chang’s and seven Pei Wei locations during this fiscal year. Last year the company opened 42 restaurants.
P.F. Chang’s also booked lower costs on labor, operating and occupancy expenses.
The Scottsdale-based company has been hard hit by declining guest traffic as consumers dine out less, and it was worked to reformat back-of-house operations, re-engineer menu items and change price points at both brands to offset declining sales.
While P.F. Chang’s said it expects a negative sales environment for the rest of the year, it upped its earnings guidance by 15 cents per share to between $1.60 and $1.65 from continuing operations, mainly because of its cost containment efforts.
Average weekly sales for fiscal 2009 are expected to fall as much as 7 percent at P.F. Chang’s and as much as 4 percent at Pei Wei, the company reported.
Contact Sarah E. Lockyer at [email protected].
