Carrols Restaurant reports Q4 adjusted EPS (5c), consensus (21c)

Reports Q4 revenue $445.058M, consensus $438.69M. Anthony Hull, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Carrols, commented, "We are pleased with our strong top-line momentum during the fourth quarter, with comparable sales growth of 6.2% at our Burger King restaurants and 9.2% at our Popeyes restaurants. The initiatives we began implementing in 2022 to strengthen our restaurant operations contributed to both sequential and year-over-year restaurant margin expansion. We also achieved continued improvement in our guest experience, as demonstrated by gains in our customer satisfaction scores of approximately 25% at our Burger King restaurants." Hull concluded, "As we look into 2023, we are excited by the trends we are seeing, both on the top-line and with input costs, and believe we are on track to deliver continued gradual margin improvement over time. We are also encouraged by Burger King’s "Reclaim the Flame" plan to increase sales and drive franchisee profitability. Our balance sheet continues to provide us with significant liquidity, a long runway with respect to debt maturities, and stable and manageable debt service obligations. Overall, we believe that the operational improvements we continue to make, combined with the potential positive impacts from Burger King’s multi-faceted plan to strengthen the brand, put us in a strong position heading into 2023."