Wingstop (WING) Q4 company-owned restaurant same store sales increased 4.6%

Wingstop Inc. (NASDAQ: WING) today released preliminary unaudited sales results for the fiscal fourth quarter and full year ended December 29, 2018.

Highlights for the fiscal fourth quarter 2018 as compared to the fiscal fourth quarter 2017:

• System-wide restaurant count increased 10.5% to 1,252 worldwide locations with 51 gross openings and 37 net openings, which reflects the previously announced exit of the Philippines market
• Domestic same store sales increased 6.0%
• Company-owned restaurant same store sales increased 4.6%
• System-wide sales increased 15.0% to approximately $328 million

Highlights for the fiscal year 2018 as compared to the fiscal year 2017:

• 119 net openings in fiscal year 2018
• Domestic same store sales increased 6.5% (15th consecutive year of same store sales growth)
• Company-owned restaurant same store sales increased 6.2%
• System-wide sales increased 16.0% to approximately $1.3 billion

As of December 29, 2018, there were 1,252 Wingstop restaurants system-wide consisting of 1,124 restaurants in the United States, of which 1,095 were franchised and 29 were company-owned, and 128 international franchised restaurants across nine countries.

“Our momentum continued in the fourth quarter with 51 gross openings, a healthy pipeline of 523 domestic restaurant commitments, and same store sales growth of 6.5% for the year, marking 15 consecutive years of same store sales growth,” said Charlie Morrison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Wingstop. “As we look to 2019, we remain focused on executing against our vision of building Wingstop into a top 10 global restaurant brand by increasing our brand awareness and continuing to innovate through technology, driving best-in-class unit economics, and expanding our global footprint.”

ICR Conference Participation

Beginning today, Monday, January 14th, Wingstop will be participating at the 21st Annual ICR Conference at the Grande Lakes Hotel & Resort in Orlando, FL.

The Company will host investor meetings on Monday, January 14th and Tuesday, January 15th as well as webcast its presentation beginning at 10:30 AM ET on Monday, January 14th. The presentation will be webcast live and later archived on the investor relations section of Wingstop's corporate website at ir.wingstop.com under the 'News & Events' section.The following definitions apply to these terms as used in this release:

Same store sales reflects the change in year-over-year sales for the comparable restaurant base. We define the comparable restaurant base to include those restaurants open for at least 52 full weeks. This measure highlights the performance of existing restaurants, while excluding the impact of new restaurant openings and closures.

System-wide sales represents net sales for all of our company-owned and franchised restaurants, as reported by franchisees.

You May Also Be Interested In

• NIO Inc. (NIO) Tops Q2 EPS by 33c; offers guidance
• Brad Hively to exit Starling Oncology board at 2027 annual meeting
• MongoDB (MDB) Tops Q2 EPS by 29c, Beats on Revenue; Offers FY37 Guidance