Sonic says 4th-Q sales will propel EPS into high end of range

Nation's Restaurant News,  Sept 17, 2007  

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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Sonic Corp., the operator or franchisor of 3,300 namesake drive-ins, said this month that strong same-store sales in the August-ended fourth quarter have made the company confident it would hit the higher end of its fourth-quarter earnings target.

The chain's sales were driven by increased marketing expenditures, new menu items and a remodeling program underway throughout most of the system, the company said.

Sonic estimated the fourth-quarter increase in systemwide same-store sales to be within its 2-percent to 4-percent growth target, with results at joint-venture units "slightly above" that range. Sonic said it expected fourth-quarter, per-share profit to be at the higher end of its previously announced range of between 32 cents and 33 cents. A year earlier, Sonic posted profit of 29 cents per share. Sonic plans to report full results for fiscal 2007 in mid-October.

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