Papa John’s International, Inc. (Nasdaq:PZZA) announced January 31that its Board of Directors has approved an increase to $150 million in the amount of the company’s common stock which may be repurchased by the company from time to time through December 31, 2000. The authorization includes both open market purchases as well as private transactions.

The company announced that it has completed the $100 million in common stock repurchases previously authorized by its Board of Directors. After such repurchases, the company currently has approximately 27.3 million shares of common stock outstanding on a fully diluted basis.

The company also announced that its Board of Directors has authorized an increase of its existing credit availability to $200 million to fund the increased share repurchase and for general corporate purposes.

At January 31, 2000, there were 2,283 Papa John’s restaurants (591 company-owned and 1,692 franchised) operating in 47 states and six international markets. Papa John’s also owns or franchises 206 Perfect Pizza restaurants (15 company-owned and 191 franchised) in the United Kingdom.