National restaurant, hotel and casino company Landry's Restaurants Inc. said Friday it posted a higher second-quarter profit on stronger sales and a smaller loss from discontinued operations.
Profit rose to $13.9 million, or 90 cents per share, from $6.9 million, or 33 cents per share, last year.
Excluding items, earnings from continuing operations were 79 cents per share in the most recent quarter, compared with 75 cents a year ago.
The loss from discontinued operations for the quarter was $200,000, or a penny per share, compared with a loss of $2.3 million, or 11 cents per share, in the prior year.
Total revenue rose to $311.4 million from $308 million, helped by sales from the Golden Nugget properties.
Analysts had expected earnings of 59 cents per share.
Same-store restaurant sales declined 2.5 percent in the quarter, hurt by a shift in the Easter holiday. Same-store sales were flat in July, Landry's said.
Same-store sales are a key indicator of restaurant performance because they measure growth at existing locations rather than newly opened ones.
In June, Landry's Restaurants allowed Chief Executive Tilman J. Fertitta to buy the remaining 61 percent of the company he doesn't already own. Under terms of the deal, Fertitta Holdings Inc., a private equity firm formed by Fertitta to buy the company, will buy Landry's for $21 per share in cash.
Landry's said it is working with Fertitta to complete the sale on time.
Shares of the company rose $1.32, or 8.4 percent, to $17.07 in afternoon trading.
Terms & Conditions
RSS Headlines
Fool UK