Burger King 1st-Q profit soars 23%; owners to sell shares

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 19, 2007  

Tags: Burger King Corp.

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MIAMI -- Burger King Holdings Inc. reported a 23-percent jump in first-quarter profit over the same period a year earlier, on total revenue that rose 10 percent to $602 million for the three months ended Sept. 30.

The operator or franchisor of 11,290 restaurants said same-store sales rose 5.9 percent globally and 6.6 percent in the United States and Canada. Sales were driven by the chain's value menu and items including the Spicy Chick'N Crisp and Tendercrisp sandwiches, BK said. Late-night hours, a breakfast value menu, and movie tie-ins with "The Simpsons Movie" and "Transformers" also were credited as sales drivers.

The parent to the nation's No. 2 burger brand said its majority owners would sell almost one-third of their stake in a secondary offering that could gross $712.6 million. Burger King would not receive any of the proceeds.

Private-equity firms TPG Capital, Bain Capital Partners and the Goldman Sachs Funds, which currently own about 79 million Burger King shares, are slated to offer 23 million shares and an overallotment of up to an additional 3.45 million shares. After completion of the deal, the three firms would have reduced their ownership stake from about 58 percent to between 38 percent and 41 percent, depending on the exercise of overallotments.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Burger King's net income was $49 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with year-earlier profit of $40 million, or 30 cents per share.

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