CKE: Sales rise, loss narrows in 1QCKE: Sales rise, loss narrows in 1Q

Lisa Jennings

CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent of the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s quick-service chains, narrowed its losses in the first quarter on strong same-store sales, including Hardee’s best quarterly result in seven years, the company said Tuesday.

For the quarter ended May 23, CKE reported a net loss of $2.6 million, compared with a net loss of $3.1 million for the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue fell 8 percent to $400.6 million, which the company attributed to the sale of the Carl’s Jr. distribution business in July last year. Excluding the distribution center’s revenue in the prior year, corporate revenue would have increased 7.3 percent for the latest quarter.

Same-store sales for corporate locations were positive for both brands, with Hardee’s up 9.6 percent for the quarter and Carl’s Jr. up 2.1 percent, the company reported.

“Hardee’s continued to generate strong same-store sales results during the first quarter,” Andrew Puzder, CKE’s chief executive, said in a statement. “The 9.6-percent increase is Hardee’s best quarterly same-store sales result in seven years.”

CKE, formerly a publicly traded restaurants stock, was acquired a year ago by an affiliate of Apollo Management VII LP.

At the end of the quarter, CKE operated, franchised or licensed 1,262 Carl’s Jr. units and 1,909 Hardee’s restaurants.

Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
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