Checkers' 95 pretax loss falls deeper into red ink

Nation's Restaurant News, April 22, 1996

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- After a fourth quarter in which it was hit with the effects of severe winter storms and a $22.7 million accounting charge, Checkers Drive-in Restaurants Inc. reported a 1995 pretax loss of $42.1 million.

Performance at the double-drive-thru chain for the year continued to deteriorate in the face of aggressive competition from larger hamburger chains. Losses for the year ended Jan. 1 were even deeper than the negative $11.3 million pretax finish a year earlier.

While the company had not yet released its full 1995 financial data by April 12, it reported a pretax loss of $25.8 million for the fourth quarter. In the comparable year-ago period, pretax losses were $10.9 million.

Revenues for the quarter fell 20 percent, to $53.3 million, from $66.9 million in the 1994 fourth quarter.

Though Checkers has initiated drastic cost-cutting and new redesign programs, its revenues for the year were down 12 percent, to $195 million, from $221 million.

The company said results from operations in the fourth quarter before special charges brought a loss of $1.7 million vs. fourth-quarter 1994 gains of $1.9 million.