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Starbucks
Accelerates Growth
From GlobeSt. Retail
SEATTLE-Starbucks
Inc. will accelerate the pace of store openings for the rest of this year and
in 2007, the coffee house chain said Wednesday in reporting its financial
results for the fiscal third quarter ended July 2. Starbucks, which operates
nearly 12,000 stores worldwide, said it would open 2,000 new locations this
year, an increase from its previous target of 1,800. For 2007, the chain now
expects to open 2,400 new locations.
In the
For 2007, the 2,400 stores will include approximately 1,000 company-operated
and 700 licensed locations in the
The quarterly results, which company officials discussed in
conference call with financial analysts, included record quarterly consolidated
net revenue of $2 billion, an increase of 23% from the third quarter of last
year. Net earnings climbed 16% to $145 million, up to 18 cents a share from 16
cents per share, and comparable store sales rose 4%.
New stores figured significantly in the financial
results that Starbucks reported Wednesday, according to Jim Donald, the
company's president and CEO. Donald pointed out that Starbucks opened 559 new
locations worldwide, the highest number of new stores that the chain has ever
opened in a third fiscal quarter. The Starbucks CEO also noted that July marked
the chain's 175th consecutive month of comparable store sales growth and said,
“We remain comfortable” with the company's previously stated estimate that
comp-store sales will rise 3% to 7% for the rest of the fiscal year.
Commenting on international markets during the
conference call, Donald said that Starbucks reached “significant milestones”
during the third quarter in a number of foreign countries. In
Starbucks expected to open a maximum of only 50
stores in the
