Starbucks Reports Weak Quarter

Starbucks Corp. (Seattle) reported same-store sales fell 8 percent in the second quarter, attributed to a 5 percent drop in the number of transactions and a 3 percent drop in the average value per transaction. The company’s net revenues fell to $2.3 billion from $2.5 billion a year earlier.

“During the second quarter, we began to see signs of traction from the cost reduction and customer-facing initiatives we’ve undertaken over the past year,” ceo, chairman and president Howard Schultz said in a statement.

As announced earlier this year, the coffee company is continuing to close about 800 company-operated U.S. stores and, so far, has closed 507 locations. For fiscal 2009, Starbucks plans to add 20 stores globally, while closing 425 company-operated stores in the U.S. and adding 60 new international stores. The company also plans to open 65 new licensed stores in the U.S. and about 320 stores internationally.