TOP STORIES

 

Shake Shack Forecasts Weaker Same-Store Sales For New Fiscal Year

Shake Shack Inc. said Monday it expects growth from its fleet of hamburger restaurants to slow down this year.

Comparable sales at Shake Shack, or those from locations open at least two years, may decrease by the low single digits during its 2020 fiscal year.

 

Dine Looks to Slow Closures of Applebee's Restaurants

Dine Brands Global Inc. expects fewer closures of Applebee's restaurants this year and said the casual-dining chain may return to sales growth.

Applebee's has struggled to draw in diners as consumers seek out what they perceived are healthier meals and opt for so-called fast casual chains over traditional casual dining. As a result, Applebee's has been shrinking in the U.S.

 

STORIES OF INTEREST

 

AB Foods Expects 1H FY 2020 Group Sales, Adjusted Operating Profit Ahead

Primark-owner Associated British Foods PLC said Monday that it expects sales growth for the group and adjusted operating profit for the first half of its fiscal 2020 to be ahead of the prior year, but that it expects adjusted earnings per share in the period to decline.

For the six months ended Feb. 29, the U.K. food-processing and retail company said that on a reported basis, it expects the dilutive effect of adopting the IFRS 16 accounting method will result in a small reduction in adjusted earnings per share.

 

BBQ Holdings Says Court Approves Granite City Deal

BBQ Holdings Inc. said Monday the District of Minnesota bankruptcy court approved the company's purchase of the assets of Granite City Food & Brewery.

BBQ Holdings, the parent company of Famous Dave's, said it expects to close the deal March 9. The company said earlier this month that it agreed to acquire casual dining company Granite City.

 

FUTURES MARKETS

 

Cattle to Trade With Expanded Limits Tuesday -- Market Talk

16:34 ET - Live cattle futures on the CME will be traded at an expanded limit of 4.5 cents per pound Tuesday, following the limit close down 3 cents per pound early Monday. Cattle futures traded off 2.5% at $1.1525 per pound. With coronavirus spreading globally, managed money firms still have room to close more of their positions on cattle. "Funds still remain long 30,000 fat cattle contracts which gives them plenty of ammunition to sell if they decide to keep selling," says Jeff French of Top Third Ag Marketing. "This sell-off is nothing to do with supply or demand but rather money-flow and money-flow with Trump fundamentals every day of the week." Meanwhile, hog futures closed down 3.6% at 64.625 cents per pound. (kirk.maltais@wsj.com; @kirkmaltais)

 

CASH MARKETS

 
Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Feb 24 
 
Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations 
All figures are on a per-head basis. 
 
Date     Standard Margin       Estimated margin 
         Operating Index         at vertically - 
                             integrated operations 
 
Feb 24       +$ 29.93            +$  6.80 
Feb 21       +$ 25.65            +$  4.22 
Feb 20       +$ 23.93            +$  3.34 
 
* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production. 
A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of 
production of the animals. 
 
Beef-O-Meter 
This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite 
values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices. 
 
                                 Beef 
          For Today             Choice   94.4 
      (Percent of Year-Ago)     Select   95.3 
 
USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports 

Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Monday rose $1.98 per hundred pounds, to $207.07, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 67 cents per hundred pounds, to $202.37. The total load count was 98. Wholesale pork prices rose $1.20, to $64.90 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2020 17:34 ET (22:34 GMT)

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