Sonic Gives Disappointing Annual Guidance

By Maria Armental 

Fast-food chain Sonic Corp. expects the weak consumer spending and competitive pressure that led to a sharp sales slowdown in the most-recent period to carry into the current fiscal year.

Shares, down 18% this year, fell 12% to $23.39 in after-hours trading, below its 52-week low.

The Oklahoma City-based company said Monday it projects adjusted per-share profit for its current fiscal year to be flat to down as much as 7% from the previous fiscal year ended Aug. 31, with comparable sales, which Sonic defines as sales at stores open for at least 15 months, between flat and down 2%.

For the year ended Aug. 31, comparable sales rose 2.6%, a sharp deceleration from the 7.3% increase it reported the year before.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected per-share adjusted profit to increase further this year with comparable sales improving 0.9%.

Sonic, which targets 14% to 20% per-share profit increases, is pushing to convert about 95% of its stores to franchises by the end of the current business year.

Over all, Sonic's fourth-quarter profit fell 3% to $25.4 million, or 53 cents a share. Excluding certain items, profit rose to 45 cents a share from 43 cents a year earlier. The results, at the high end of preliminary earnings the company released last month, are based on 9% fewer shares outstanding.

Revenue, which includes franchise royalties and fees, fell 7.5% to $162.1 million, short of the $167.2 million projected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Meanwhile, comparable sales fell 2%, compared with a 2% increase in the previous quarter and 4.9% in the year-before period.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 24, 2016 19:03 ET (23:03 GMT)

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