Burger King Worldwide reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2012.
Third quarter results showed that organic revenue growth was 0.2 percent. On a reported basis, total revenues decreased 25.8 percent to $451.1 million, compared to $607.7 million in the prior year period due to refranchising transactions.,
System-wide comparable sales increased 1.4 percent, while system-wide sales increased 3.9 percent on a constant currency basis.
The U.S. and Canada delivered 1.6 percent comparable sales growth driven by the company's Summer BBQ and chicken offerings. However, the company experienced a deceleration in comparable sales growth due to more challenging prior-year comparisons and the loss of some value-based traffic.
Latin America and the Caribbean delivered comparable sales growth of 2.7 percent. Burger King Worldwide has implemented new value initiatives in Brazil and Mexico in October to balance its menu options and complement premium offerings such as the Picanha burger in Brazil. The brand is seeing initial signs of success in driving incremental traffic.
As part of Burger King's global refranchising strategy, the company refranchised 221 company-owned restaurants during the quarter, including 182 restaurants in the U.S. and 39 restaurants internationally. BK received cash proceeds of $31.6 million, developing commitments both domestically and internationally, and domestic reimaging commitments for 356 restaurants.
The company also announced that its board of directors has approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend. On October 28, the board declared the company's first quarterly cash dividend of $.04 per share, which will be paid on November 29, 2012, to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 9, 2012.
"We completed our first full quarter as a public company with continued positive momentum despite the challenging global economic environment," says Bernardo Hees, Burger King Worldwide CEO. "BKW is fortunate to have one of the most widely recognized and resilient brands in the global [quick-service restaurant] industry, and we are proud of the hard work and dedication of our employees and franchisees who are striving to deliver a strong finish to a critical year for the Burger King system.
"In the U.S. and Canada, we are executive on our four-pillar strategy, while internationally we complete additional refranchisings and development agreements that we believe will accelerate restaurant growth in the years to come," he adds.
Chief financial officer Daniel Schwartz says, "We are excited to begin returning cash to our shareholders with the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend, underscoring our confidence in BKW's business model and commitment to disciplined capital allocation."
