U.S. restaurant chain Jersey Mike’s (JMKE) has announced a special dividend payment to stockholders along with its latest financial results.
The chain of sub sandwich restaurants said that it will pay a one-time dividend of $0.35 U.S. per share.
The company said that the special distribution will be paid by year’s end but did not provide details on the ex-dividend date or payment date in its earnings release.
The special dividend payout is part of Jersey Mike’s plan to return up to $200 million U.S. to shareholders, including a $100 million U.S. stock buyback program.
Jersey Mike’s went public in the U.S. on July 30 of this year. The company does not currently pay a regular quarterly dividend to shareholders.
This is the second quarterly financial report from Jersey Mike’s since its initial public offering (IPO) at the end of July.
The special dividend and share repurchase appear to be an effort by Jersey Mike’s to convince investors to buy its stock, which has slumped since the IPO.
JMKE stock debuted on the New York Stock Exchange at $21 U.S. a share. Since then, the share price has fallen to $16.96 U.S. a share.
As for its latest financial results, Jersey Mike’s reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23 U.S., which beat the $0.16 U.S. expected on Wall Street.
Revenue in the company’s fiscal third quarter totaled $209 million U.S., which narrowly beat the $208.5 million U.S. consensus forecast of analysts.
However, the company’s same-store sales grew 3% year-over-year in the period, coming in at the low end of expectations for 3.4% growth.
The sandwich chain opened 80 new restaurants during the third quarter, up from 54 a year earlier and bringing its store count to 3,456 locations.
In terms of guidance, Jersey Mike’s maintained its full-year forecast for earnings growth of at least 20%, along with net restaurant growth of 8%.
However, the restaurant chain now expects same-store sales growth of 2.5%, down from a previous range of 2.5% to 3% growth.
JMKE stock was down 5% in premarket trading on Oct. 28 after its latest financial results and trading at $16.15 U.S. per share.
