SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top coffee chain operator Starbucks Corporation Thursday said its consolidated net revenues grew 9 percent to 6.63 billion U.S. dollars, a better-than-expected result in its fiscal first quarter (Q1).
Releasing financial results for its 13-week 2019 fiscal first quarter, Starbucks said it earned a net income of 760.6 million dollars, or 61 cents per share, for the period.
It said its Q1 net revenue was stronger than the estimate of 6.49 billion dollars expected by market analysts.
The coffeehouse giant said its global same-store sales rose 4 percent over the year-ago quarter, driven by a 3 percent increase in average ticket. Its transactions in U.S. same-stores remained flat, but the sales rose 4 percent.
The company opened 541 net new stores in Q1, bringing the total number to 29,865 stores at the end of the quarter, which represented a 7 percent increase over the prior year.
"Starbucks delivered solid operating results in the first quarter, demonstrating continued momentum in our business, as we drive our growth-at-scale agenda with focus and discipline," said Kevin Johnson, Starbucks president and chief executive officer.
Johnson said his company will continue to focus on key strategic initiatives to accelerate growth in its targeted markets of the United States and China, as well as to expand the global reach of the Starbucks brand.
It reported that net revenues for the China/Asia Pacific segment grew 45 percent over Q1 period of fiscal 2018 to 1.2 billion dollars in the same quarter of fiscal year 2019, which was primarily driven by the ownership change in East China at the end of 2018 Q1 period.
"With this solid start to the fiscal year, we are on track to deliver on our full-year commitments," Johnson added.
Starbucks expects its same-store sales to grow between 3 percent and 4 percent for fiscal 2019 globally, and its revenues to rise between 5 percent and 7 percent during the fiscal year.
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