According to Nation’s Restaurant News, “Pizza Hut franchisee NPC International Inc. warned that the “sales environment remains extremely challenging” even while reporting higher profit and positive same-store sales for the first quarter.”

“The Overland Park, Kan.-based operator of 1,147 Pizza Hut restaurants said same-store sales grew 10.2-percent in the first quarter, helping to fuel a 57.1-percent spike in net income to $9.5 million, compared with profit of $6.0 million a year ago. Total sales grew 13.8 percent to $264.5 million for the March 30-ended quarter.  Jim Schwartz, NPC’s chief executive and president, cited Pizza Hut’s ‘$10 Any Pizza’ promotion as largely responsible for “our successful first quarter top-line results.’”

“He had projected the double-digit increase in first-quarter same-store results in March, suggesting that a sales turnaround might be in the works for the 7,500-unit domestic system of Pizza Hut, which a month later reported a 5-percent bump in same-store sales for the first quarter after suffering from negative sales trends throughout 2009.”

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