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Wendy's growth offsets soft Pizza Hut sales for NPC

NPC International Inc., the world’s largest Pizza Hut franchisee and operator of 143 Wendy’s units, reported results for Q1 ended March 31, 2015.

May 11, 2015

NPC International Inc., the world’s largest Pizza Hut franchisee and operator of 143 Wendy’s units, reported results for Q1 ended March 31, 2015.

Pizza Hut comparable store sales decreased 3 percent compared to a decrease of 4.7 percent last year. Wendy’s comparable stores sales increased 0.8 percent in the 87 stores acquired in fiscal 2013, the company said. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $32.3 million, an increase of $3.3 million or 11.5 percent from the prior year. Net income totaled $5 million, an increase of $2 million or 68 percent over the prior year, with cash at $23.7 million, an increase of $11.6 million from last quarter.

NPC’s President and CEO Jim Schwartz said in a statement, "A deflationary commodity environment and a growing Wendy’s business overcame continued soft sales in our Pizza Hut business resulting in an 11.5 percent increase in EBITDA compared to the prior year. In addition, we generated an increase of $11.6 million in cash balances primarily due to reduced capex spend resulting in improved free cash flow.

"Looking forward, we expect to continue to benefit from a deflationary commodity environment in our Pizza Hut business of approximately 3 percent to 5 percent, which we expect will provide us some operating and financial flexibility for the balance of the year as we work to improve Pizza Hut’s top line performance," Schwartz said.