Cosi says soft sales will lead to greater 1st-Q net loss

Nation's Restaurant News,  April 30, 2007  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

DEERFIELD, ILL. -- Cosi Inc., operator of 113 Cosi fast-casual sandwich and salad restaurants and franchisor of 19 others, said lower-than-expected same-store sales in the first quarter would lead to a net loss of 11 cents per share for the period. That would be one cent per share more than the prior year's first-quarter loss and nearly double the loss expected by analysts.

Total revenues for the quarter, which ended April 2, increased 8.3 percent to $32.1 million, aided by the opening of nine Cosi restaurants. Same-store sales decreased 2.4 percent, which the company blamed on "unusually severe weather" and a difficult comparison to a same-store sales gain of 5.3 percent a year earlier.

Cosi said its expected quarterly loss excludes stock-based compensation expense. On average analysts had expected a loss of 6 cents per share.

The company expects to report full results May 10.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning