Papa John’s International, Inc. (Nasdaq: PZZA) today announced domestic systemwide comparable sales for the four weeks ended November 24, 2002 increased 1.5% (composed of a 4.7% increase at company-owned restaurants and a 0.4% increase at franchise restaurants). Total systemwide international sales increased 5.7%, on a constant U.S. dollar basis, over the comparable period last year.
November comparable sales were favorably impacted by the inclusion of the Thanksgiving holiday in Period 11 last year versus Period 12 this year. The company estimates that this timing difference favorably impacted November 2002 domestic systemwide comparable sales by approximately 3.7%. December comparable sales will be negatively impacted by this timing difference, but because the dollar impact will be spread over 5 weeks in December versus 4 weeks in November, the negative impact on December comparable sales is estimated to be approximately 2.9%.