BJ's Restaurants has reported a net income of $17.2m for the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, a surge of more than 44% from $11.9m in the same period of 2023.
For the quarter ended 2 July 2024, the company's revenues improved marginally to $349.9m from $349.7m a year previously.
The company’s restaurant operating costs, excluding depreciation and amortisation, stood at $336.7m as against $339.5m in Q2 2023.
The cost of sales also saw a decrease, coming in at $89.8m compared to $90.6m in the same quarter of the previous year.
Occupancy and operating costs followed this downward trend, reported at $79.6m against the previous year's $81.9m.
The income from operations for the second quarter experienced a boost, increasing to $13.2m from $10.2m in Q2 2023.
During the first half (H1) of 2024, BJ's Restaurants reported a net income of $24.9m, a notable increase from $15.4m in the first half of 2023.
However, total revenues for the six months ending 2 July 2024 declined to $687.3m from $691m in the corresponding period of 2023.
The company's total costs and expenses for H1 2024 were $665.8m versus $678.1m reported in the first half of 2023.
BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse president and CEO Greg Levin said: “Our second quarter results demonstrate continued success with the growth and productivity initiatives that we outlined during last year’s Investor Day.
“After a softer sales start in April, comparable restaurant sales improved throughout the second quarter as guests chose BJ’s for their most important celebrations. Approximately half of our restaurants set sales records during the quarter, particularly around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and graduations.
“The improving sales trend, coupled with our productivity initiatives, drove restaurant-level operating margins higher by 100 basis points to 15.5% and adjusted EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation] higher by $4.3 million, or 13%, on a year-over-year basis.”
BJ's Restaurants continued its expansion by opening one new restaurant in H1 2024 and plans to open two more in the latter half of the year.
The company is also implementing a new restaurant prototype that is projected to cost approximately $1m less than the previous design.
By the end of 2024, half of BJ's Restaurants will either be operating with this new prototype or will have been recently remodelled.
In addition to these developments, BJ's Restaurants has been active in its share repurchase programme.
In Q2 2024, the company repurchased and retired 255,000 shares for approximately $8.8m.
The company still has $52m available under its sizeable $550m share repurchase programme.
