Rubio's Restaurants Inc. is ending its third quarter debt free, positioning the company well from a liquidity standpoint as it begins the fourth quarter.
"Under the current economic conditions, we continue to seek financial flexibility and pursue ways to improve our cost structure," said Rubio's CFO, Frank Henigman.
For the third quarter ended Sept. 27, 2009, comparable-store sales decreased 2.7 percent versus a decrease of 2.1 percent reported in the same quarter last year. The impact of decreased transaction volume more than offset an increase in the average check per customer.
Revenues in the third quarter of 2009 totaled $48.4 million, an increase of 3 percent from $47 million reported in the same year-ago quarter. Revenue for the first 39 weeks of 2009 totaled a record $143.4 million, up 7 percent from $134.3 million in the same period last year. Net income was $487,000 or 5 cents per basic and diluted share in the third quarter, a decrease of 38 percent from $789,000 or 8 cents per basic and diluted share, for the same period last year.
For the first 39 weeks of 2009, net income was $1.2 million, or 12 cents per basic and diluted share, an improvement from net income of $379,000, or 4 cents per basic and diluted share in the same year-ago period.
For the quarter, average unit volume was slightly more than $1 million, which was virtually unchanged from the same year-ago quarter.
Restaurant operating margins were 16.1 percent, as compared to 17.7 percent in the same year-ago quarter.
Rubio's opened two restaurants in the third quarter of 2009, as compared to three in the same period last year, increasing the total to nine units opened during 2009. Pre-opening expenses in the third quarter of 2009 were $63,000, a decrease of 52 percent from $130,000 in the same quarter last year.
