CANTON, Mass., U.S. — Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., the parent company of Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins (BR), yesterday reported results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 29, 2018.
“In 2018 we made substantial progress with our Blueprint for Growth designed to evolve Dunkin’ U.S. into a beverage-led, on-the-go brand. Along with making an unprecedented investment into the business, we implemented a deliberate sequencing of strategic initiatives including simplifying our menu nationwide, making our first foray into national value, debuting our NextGen new store design, unveiling our new Dunkin’ brand identity, and successfully relaunching our espresso beverages served at the speed of Dunkin’,” said David Hoffmann, Dunkin’ Brands Chief Executive Officer and President of Dunkin’ U.S.
“While we did not drive consistent traffic momentum for the full year, we laid the foundation for future growth and, most importantly, along with our franchisees, are unified and well-positioned to capitalize in 2019 on our brand promise of ‘great coffee, fast.'”
“We are pleased to have delivered our revenue, operating income, and earnings per share targets for 2018,” said Kate Jaspon, Dunkin’ Brands Chief Financial Officer. “We also achieved our Dunkin’ U.S. net development goal for the year, including delivering more than double the expected number of NextGen restaurants and exceeding our first-year sales goals for new restaurants. Additionally, we announced this morning that the Board of Directors increased our quarterly dividend by nearly 8 percent over the prior quarter.”
Fiscal year 2018 highlights include:
- Dunkin’ U.S. comparable store sales growth of 0.6%
- Baskin-Robbins U.S. comparable store sales decline of 0.6%
- Added 392 net new restaurants worldwide, including 278 net new Dunkin’ locations in the U.S.
- Revenues increased 3.6%
- Diluted EPS of $2.71, a decrease of 7.8% driven by the impact of tax reform in the prior year
- Diluted adjusted EPS increased 40.1% to $2.90
Fourth quarter highlights include:
- Flat Dunkin’ U.S. comparable store sales
- Baskin-Robbins U.S. comparable store sales decline of 3.7%
- Added 148 net new Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins locations globally, including 106 net new Dunkin’ locations in the U.S.
- Revenues increased 1.5%
- Diluted EPS of $0.64, a decrease of 56.5% driven by the impact of tax reform in the prior year
- Diluted adjusted EPS increased by 41.7% to $0.68.
