Starbucks halts 2-year sales slide, but costly improvements hurt its profits

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Starbucks halted a long sales slide in its fiscal fourth quarter as pumpkin drinks and improved service brought customers back to its stores.

The Seattle coffee giant said Wednesday that its global same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, rose 1% over last year in the July-September period. It was the first time in nearly two years that the company posted an increase in same-store sales.

That increase was largely due to international markets, where same-store sales rose 3%. In the U.S., same-store sales were flat; spending per transaction was up 1% but transactions were down 1%. Still, that was an improvement from the third quarter, when U.S. same-store sales fell 2%.

Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said the results indicate the company’s