An 18% increase in Boston Pizza restaurants and a 6.6% rise in same store sales helped Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (TSX:BPF.UN) deliver record quarterly sales for its third quarter ending September 30.
Franchise sales of restaurants in the income fund's royalty pool rose to $156.1 million in the third quarter from $128.3 million in the same period last year.
As a result, the fund's quarter-to-quarter royalty income rose 21.6% to $6.2 million from $5.1 million.
Net income for unitholders increased to $4.5 million from $3.8 million.
As a result of the fund's strong quarterly results, it will increase its monthly cash per-unit distributions to $0.115 from $0.113.
Boston Pizza reported a positive outlook for future quarters with continued expansion into Ontario and Quebec despite delays in five new restaurant openings that will likely reduce the number of new restaurants in 2007 to 35 from the previous estimate of 40.
Boston Pizza's unit price range during the past week: between $14 and $14.20; 52-week high: $17.01; 52-week low: $13.06.