(Reuters) – Wendy’s Co
Shares of the burger chain, one of the very few companies to pay dividends during the health crisis, rose about 5% before the bell.
Wendy’s, like most restaurants, has taken a hit as stay-at-home, social-distancing and lockdown orders during the end of the first quarter kept customers from dining out.
But strong demand for its latest breakfast menu offset damages from lower first-quarter sales due to limited services. Wendy’s reported flat quarterly U.S. same-store sales, which included about a 20% fall towards the end of the quarter.
“Our U.S. breakfast launch in early March exceeded our initial expectations and the breakfast daypart continues to perform well in today’s environment, which is encouraging,” Chief Executive Officer Todd Penegor said.
The strong performance was despite closing hundreds of restaurants, only weeks after it had launched its breakfast menu for the fourth time, hoping to take share in the competitive segment as customers are more loyal to their morning routine.
The company said same-store sales declined 24.9% for the week ended April 12 and fell 2.1% in the week ended May 3 during the current quarter.
Net income fell to $14.4 million, or 6 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $31.9 million, or 14 cents per share.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 9 cents per share, a cent lower than Wall Street expectations, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
For the first quarter, Wendy’s paid a dividend of 12 cents per share.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
