Canadian coffee chain Second Cup reports improved second quarter results

Canadian coffee chain Second Cup has reported a net income of C$577,000 (about US$439,000) for the second quarter of 2018, an improvement compared to its net loss of C$315,000 for the same period last year. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of C$537,000, compared with its EBITDA of C$230,000 in the second quarter of 2017, also represents a continuing positive trend for Second Cup. Despite a higher net income, same store sales saw a 1.0 per cent decrease, compared to an increase of 0.7 per cent in the same quarter of 2017. The decline was attributed to reduced transactions. The expansion of Pinkberry frozen yoghurt in Second Cup cafés across the country continues and Pinkberry is now in 77 cafés. Second Cup describes Pinkberry as “a strong contributor to overall sales”. “The continued improvement in profitability is encouraging. I am pleased with the Pinkberry roll-out, now in one third of the available locations in the chain,” says Garry Macdonald, Second Cup President & CEO. “Growing same store sales remains a key priority and new initiatives recently introduced including UberEats have demonstrated strong potential to deliver incremental sales.” Second Cup's clean label beverage menu will be extended to include the Canadian seasonal favourite line of Pumpkin Spice beverages – latte, white hot chocolate and cold brew. At the start of the year Second Cup moved to clean label beverages, which now represent approximately 85 per cent of the beverage menu. Clean label products contain no artificial colours, flavours, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup.