Papa Murphy’s Holdings Inc., the Vancouver-based parent of Papa Murphy’s take-and-bake pizza chain, said Tuesday it posted a fourth-quarter profit of $2.8 million. That compares with a net loss of $2.9 million in the same October-to-December period a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the company recorded total revenue of $28.26 million in the fourth quarter, up 24.8 percent from $22.65 million in the year-ago period.
For all of 2014, the company reported revenue of $97.39 million. That’s up 21 percent from revenue of $80.49 million in 2013. Papa Murphy’s’ profit for all of last year: $1.2 million. That compares with a net loss of $2.6 million in 2013.
Papa Murphy’s also saw an increase of 8.4 percent in domestic comparable store sales. It was the company’s 16th consecutive quarter of comparable store sales growth.
During the company’s earnings conference call Tuesday, Ken Calwell, president and CEO of Papa Murphy’s, said part of the company’s long-term strategy is to acquire existing stores from franchisees so that it eventually “owns around 10 percent of our store base.”
The company will then carry out its key growth initiatives, including product and customer-service improvements and an online sales system, at its company-owned stores. In this way, Papa Murphy’s’ company-owned stores will “lead by example,” Calwell said. “We feel it’s important to have a set of company stores in different places across the country in order to be able to execute the very same strategy that we’re presenting to our franchisees.”
From the beginning of the fourth quarter of last year through March 17, the company has acquired a total of 30 existing Papa Murphy’s stores from franchisees in both established markets, including Seattle and Portland, and in its “frontier,” or emerging markets, including Knoxville, Tenn., and Jacksonville, Fla.
In the fourth quarter, the company opened 38 stores, including 37 in the U.S. As of the three months ended Dec. 29, Papa Murphy’s had a total of 1,461 stores — 1,370 operated by franchisees, 91 owned by the company.
The company has a lot of opportunity “to grow in existing and frontier markets,” Calwell said. “That is our focus.”
Founded in 1981, the company went public in May 2014, making its costs and profits public for the first time. It operates in 38 states, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
The company’s stock, which trades as FRSH on the Nasdaq exchange, closed up 80 cents Tuesday, at $14.70 per share.
