NEW YORK — Coffee chain Starbucks Corp. said Wednesday that weak sales in the U.S. and costs related to its closure of 600 underperforming stores led it to post a loss for its fiscal third quarter.
The company also cut its expected profit for the year and said it would open fewer stores in the U.S. and internationally, in both 2008 and 2009. But Starbucks kept its profit estimates intact for 2009, easing investors’ fears about the economy’s effect on the year ahead.
“I don’t think anyone’s really focused on the quarter,” said Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo. “Everyone is thinking of next year.”
Starbucks shares rose 59 cents, or 4 percent, to $15.26 in electronic after-hours trading. During regular trading they had fallen 2 percent.
The Seattle-based company reported a loss of $6.7 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with a profit of $158.3 million, or 21 cents per share, a year earlier. Starbucks said it earned 16 cents per share once the costs for restructuring and closing stores are excluded. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 18 cents per share on revenue of $2.61 billion.
Starbucks said revenue rose 9 percent to $2.57 billion from $2.36 billion in the third quarter of 2007.
Most of the increase was from sales at the company’s international locations and at newer stores in the U.S. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open for at least a year, fell in the mid-single digits in the U.S.
The decline, Starbucks said, was a “slight deceleration” from the second quarter, when it also reported a “mid-single-digit” decline in U.S same-store sales.
The company said the same-store sales drop offset a lift in brewed coffee sales from the launch of its Pike Place roast.
Sales jumped overall internationally, but growth slowed in Canada and traffic took a hit in Britain. Analysts and investors had largely been expecting sliding traffic in Britain, where consumer confidence in the economy has taken a hit.
Starbucks also cut its profit guidance for 2008 to the “mid- 70-cent” per-share range, excluding costs. Previously, the company had warned that its profit may fall below the 87 cents per share it earned a year ago.
Analysts are expecting 81 cents per share for the year.
Besides lowering its expected profits, the chain said it will open fewer U.S. and international locations in 2008. For 2009, Starbucks said it will open 165 new stores in the U.S. but will also close 225 locations. Internationally, the company said it will open about 900 new stores in 2009.
That news follows an announcement Tuesday that it would shut 61 stores in Australia. Starbucks also said Tuesday that it would cut another 1,000 office jobs — including 450 unfilled positions — to further reduce costs. Those actions came after the firm said earlier this year that it will close about 600 U.S. stores by the middle of fiscal 2009.
With fewer stores open, Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the traffic and sales at existing stores should increase.
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