Papa Murphy’s year is off to a little fresher start, but the pizza company continues to watch sales shrink.
The Vancouver take-and-bake pizza company posted $1.5 million in net income for its first fiscal quarter ending April 2. That’s an improvement from a $5.2 million loss last year.
Those profits are owed to shedding expenses. First-quarter spending dropped nearly 35 percent — from about $48 million to $31 million — to lift the quarter into profitability.
Meanwhile, sales at franchise stores and company-owned stores dropped. Revenues fell 13 percent, from $40 million to nearly $35 million.
CEO Weldon Spangler was confident in a statement to investors. He touted new, technology-driven changes — a new online ordering platform and a third-party delivery service — that could stabilize the business in the long-term.
Spangler also mentioned progress on its strategy to sell off company-owned stores. The company is vying to sell most of its 145 stores in order to focus more on collecting fees and royalties from franchise owners. Papa Murphy’s sold an undisclosed number of its Colorado stores and now expects to have fewer than 60 by the end of the year.
The rest of its more than 1,300 locations are owned by franchisees.
“We are pleased with the progression of our strategic initiatives that we believe will stabilize near-term results and return this system to profitable growth,” he said.
Papa Murphy’s stock closed at $5.52 in Wednesday Nasdaq trading, up 14 cents.
