A&W reports same-store sales down 4% due to COVID-19 pandemic

VANCOUVER — A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund reported same-store sales in its first quarter were down 4.0 per cent as the COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate impact on its restaurants.

The burger and root beer chain says about 200 restaurants primarily in shopping centre food courts and street front locations are temporarily closed, while sales at its remaining restaurants are restricted to drive thru, delivery and mobile ordering.

As a result, it says that starting March 13, total sales of A&W restaurants in the royalty pool are about 42 per cent of sales before that date, including the impact of closed restaurants.

The comments came as A&W reported its profit for the quarter ended March 22 totalled $5.5 million compared with nearly $5.7 million in the same period a year earlier. Net income, excluding non-cash items, totalled $7.7 million, up from $6.3 million a year ago.

Gross sales at A&W restaurants in the royalty pool totalled $308.7 million compared with $308.8 million in same quarter last year, as the number of restaurants grew to 971 compared with 934 a year ago.

A&W announced earlier this month that it would temporarily suspend its monthly distributions to unitholders in an effort to preserve cash during the pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2020.

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The Canadian Press