Cuts at Starbucks pay off
COFFEE chain giant Starbucks booked a rise in quarterly profit yesterday as it reaped the benefit of closing outlets and cutting costs.
Net income for the firm’s third quarter, ending 28 June, was $151.5m (£919m), or $0.20 per share, reversing a loss of $6.7m, or $0.01 per share, for the same period in the previous year, the firm’s first ever quarterly loss.
Excluding restructuring costs, the group, led by chairman, president and chief executive Howard Schultz, booked a profit of $0.24 per share, outstripping an analysts’ consensus forecast of $0.19 per share.
Revenue fell from $2.6bn to $2.4bn at the firm, which has slashed jobs, cut down on expenses and earmarked more than 1,000 stores for closure in a bid to shave $550m off annual costs.
Starbucks’ shares closed down 1.54 per cent on the Nasdaq, falling to $14.69 at the closing bell.