Starbucks on Wednesday reported robust gains in sales last quarter, which it said was a sign that the coffee giant’s turnaround plan was progressing faster than expected.
Sales at stores open for at least a year in the United States were up 4 percent in the quarter ending Dec. 28, versus the prior year, surpassing analysts’ forecasts.
Brian Niccol, the chain’s chief executive, said in the earnings release that the company’s results demonstrated that the turnaround was “working and we believe we’re ahead of schedule.”
The company recorded gains in foot traffic and the average amount that customers spent per visit. Some of the gains in traffic may have come from the release of a limited holiday-themed cup that became a viral sensation. The bear-shaped cup sold out nearly immediately, resulting in backlash from customers upset they couldn’t get their hands on one.
Ahead of the earnings release, some Wall Street analysts said it was likely that U.S. same-store sales would get a lift from the company’s closure late in the previous quarter of more than 600 underperforming stores. The closures not only reduced the drag in overall sales but also probably resulted in a transfer of sales as customers went to other locations for their caffeine fixes.
Starbucks said it opened 128 more stores last quarter.
During the quarter, revenues rose 5 percent, to $9.9 billion. But profit was down more than 60 percent, to $293 million, with expenses rising sharply as the company hired more workers in stores to get orders to customers faster as part of its turnaround effort.
Overall, global same-store sales rose 4 percent from a year ago, with sales from international markets climbing 5 percent. There, China stood out, with gains of nearly 7 percent.
In early November, Starbucks said it had agreed to sell up to 60 percent of its retail operations in China to Boyu Capital, a private equity firm, in a deal valued at $4 billion.
Under the agreement, Boyu and Starbucks would operate its nearly 8,000 stores there under a joint venture. Starbucks would own and license its brand and intellectual property to the new entity.
Shares of Starbucks jumped 9 percent in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Julie Creswell is a business reporter covering the food industry for The Times, writing about all aspects of food, including farming, food inflation, supply-chain disruptions and climate change.
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