Starbucks Reports Same-Store Sales Improve

Starbucks Corp. (Seattle) reported same-store sales dropped 5 percent during the third quarter, compared to an 8 percent drop during the previous quarter. It also posted its first quarter of earnings growth with a net income of $151.5 million, compared with a loss of $6.7 million in the period last year.

“The transformation of Starbucks business – including the success of our consumer-facing initiatives and the permanent changes to our cost structure – is delivering improvements in comparable store sales trends and is beginning to be reflected in our financial performance,” chairman, president and ceo Howard Schultz said in a statement.

Since announcing it would close about 800 stores last summer, the coffee chain has shuttered 676 locations in the U.S., 61 in Australia and 28 others in the world. Starbucks said it will complete the rest of the closings by late September.

The company’s revenues fell to $2.4 billion from $2.6 billion in 2008, related to the decreased numbers of U.S. stores. It reported $51.6 million in restructuring charges related to closing some of its stores.