NIAGARA FALLS–A Town of Niagara resident was robbed of $120 early Saturday after giving a ride to an “old friend,” police said.
The victim, a Sunnydale Drive resident, met the man at a Niagara Falls Boulevard restaurant about 12:15 a.m. and agreed to give him a ride to 73rd Street.
When they reached the destination, the acquaintance grabbed the victim’s wallet from the center console of his car and fled down 73rd Street, police.
The victim was advised to seek a warrant for the man’s arrest.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he “repudiates” a PAC plan to attack President Obama’s link to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
JACKSONVILLE, FL — Mitt Romney convened a rare press conference Thursday to explicitly distance himself from a controversial, racially-charged ad campaign reportedly planned by a Republican super PAC.
His campaign subsumed by a political firestorm first sparked by a New York Times report on a proposed campaign attacking President Obama for his ties to the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Romney appeared on camera to disavow the strategy.
“I want to make it very clear that I repudiate that effort. I think it’s the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign,” Romney told reporters after his rainy event here today. “I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future and about issues and about a vision for America.”
The press conference — a rarity for those following the Romney campaign — reflected the urgency with which Romney and his advisers felt compelled to distance the candidate from the controversial proposal. Romney had initially passed on commenting this morning, saying he hadn’t seen the story, before taping a radio interview this morning condemning the proposal.
Mary Altaffer / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, speaks May 17 at the River City Brewing Company in Jacksonville, Fla.
The plan, which was presented by Strategic Perception and GOP ad man Fred Davis to Joe Ricketts, the owner of the Chicago Cubs, earned heavy backlash from the Obama campaign and many Republicans on Thursday. By mid-afternoon, Ricketts had disavowed the plan, and Strategic Perception had taken sole responsibility for the proposal, on which they said no action was taken.
Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning this afternoon in Pennsylvania, condemned the proposed ad campaign, saying its proponents “act like it’s 1942.”
“I think these guys like that so misunderstand the state of the nation,” he told reporters at an unscheduled stop at a Washington, PA BBQ restaurant. “They act like it’s 1942. I mean, I think the public is so far beyond that.”
Biden said that he’d heard reports that the proposed ad had been rejected by Ricketts.
“I mean look there are certain things that are sorta so morally clear and straight and straight-lined about it,” he said. “You almost don’t even wanna comment.”
But for as much as Romney’s press conference served ostensibly defensive purposes, the presumptive Republican nominee used the moment to go on the attack, as well.
Romney said he was “disappointed” in what he claimed was the president’s campaign of “character assassination,” complaining that ads recently released by the Obama campaign attacking Romney’s work at the helm of Bain Capital were inaccurate and unfair.
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty talks about a GOP Super PAC’s idea to bring back into the spotlight President Barack Obama’s link to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“There’s this fiction that some have that somehow you can be successful by stripping assets at an enterprise and walking away with lots of money and killing the enterprise. There may be some people that know how to do that. I sure don’t,” Romney said. “Our approach was always to try and make the enterprise more successful. And the purpose of the president’s ads are not to describe success and failure but to somehow suggest that I’m not a good person or not a good guy.”
But the controversy of the day largely overshadowed Romney’s bread-and-butter campaign speech about the economy. And for the political class, the Wright controversy also sidelined a more favorable story about the Romney campaign’s fundraising success last month.
In Jacksonville, Romney argued the election ought to turn on who has the best plan for “jobs and kids,” a catchphrase he was first heard using at a fundraiser last month in Palm Beach, where he will return later this evening for another fundraiser.
The Sunshine State has been good to Romney’s campaign financially. Pool reports from his fundraisers show he raised more than $2 million apiece at stops yesterday near Tampa Bay and Miami. Romney declined to say whether Florida was a “must win” for his campaign, but closed his press conference by saying it was a state he was “counting on to be successful in.”
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he “repudiates” a PAC plan to attack President Obama’s link to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
JACKSONVILLE, FL — Mitt Romney convened a rare press conference Thursday to explicitly distance himself from a controversial, racially-charged ad campaign reportedly planned by a Republican super PAC.
His campaign subsumed by a political firestorm first sparked by a New York Times report on a proposed campaign attacking President Obama for his ties to the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Romney appeared on camera to disavow the strategy.
“I want to make it very clear that I repudiate that effort. I think it’s the wrong course for a PAC or a campaign,” Romney told reporters after his rainy event here today. “I hope that our campaigns can respectively be about the future and about issues and about a vision for America.”
The press conference — a rarity for those following the Romney campaign — reflected the urgency with which Romney and his advisers felt compelled to distance the candidate from the controversial proposal. Romney had initially passed on commenting this morning, saying he hadn’t seen the story, before taping a radio interview this morning condemning the proposal.
Mary Altaffer / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, speaks May 17 at the River City Brewing Company in Jacksonville, Fla.
The plan, which was presented by Strategic Perception and GOP ad man Fred Davis to Joe Ricketts, the owner of the Chicago Cubs, earned heavy backlash from the Obama campaign and many Republicans on Thursday. By mid-afternoon, Ricketts had disavowed the plan, and Strategic Perception had taken sole responsibility for the proposal, on which they said no action was taken.
Vice President Joe Biden, campaigning this afternoon in Pennsylvania, condemned the proposed ad campaign, saying its proponents “act like it’s 1942.”
“I think these guys like that so misunderstand the state of the nation,” he told reporters at an unscheduled stop at a Washington, PA BBQ restaurant. “They act like it’s 1942. I mean, I think the public is so far beyond that.”
Biden said that he’d heard reports that the proposed ad had been rejected by Ricketts.
“I mean look there are certain things that are sorta so morally clear and straight and straight-lined about it,” he said. “You almost don’t even wanna comment.”
But for as much as Romney’s press conference served ostensibly defensive purposes, the presumptive Republican nominee used the moment to go on the attack, as well.
Romney said he was “disappointed” in what he claimed was the president’s campaign of “character assassination,” complaining that ads recently released by the Obama campaign attacking Romney’s work at the helm of Bain Capital were inaccurate and unfair.
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty talks about a GOP Super PAC’s idea to bring back into the spotlight President Barack Obama’s link to Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“There’s this fiction that some have that somehow you can be successful by stripping assets at an enterprise and walking away with lots of money and killing the enterprise. There may be some people that know how to do that. I sure don’t,” Romney said. “Our approach was always to try and make the enterprise more successful. And the purpose of the president’s ads are not to describe success and failure but to somehow suggest that I’m not a good person or not a good guy.”
But the controversy of the day largely overshadowed Romney’s bread-and-butter campaign speech about the economy. And for the political class, the Wright controversy also sidelined a more favorable story about the Romney campaign’s fundraising success last month.
In Jacksonville, Romney argued the election ought to turn on who has the best plan for “jobs and kids,” a catchphrase he was first heard using at a fundraiser last month in Palm Beach, where he will return later this evening for another fundraiser.
The Sunshine State has been good to Romney’s campaign financially. Pool reports from his fundraisers show he raised more than $2 million apiece at stops yesterday near Tampa Bay and Miami. Romney declined to say whether Florida was a “must win” for his campaign, but closed his press conference by saying it was a state he was “counting on to be successful in.”
Look at what you did, General Motors. You pulled a measly amount of money (relatively speaking) from Facebook’s pocketbook and said it was because you don’t think Facebook’s ads do what they’re supposed to do. Now it’s a great big, steamy pile-on for everybody’s favorite website.
Actually, that’s not exactly true. The reports coming out this week pointing out why ads on Facebook aren’t really that great have been in the works for a while, but it is monumentally bad timing for Facebook since that IPO of theirs is presumably set to crack off tomorrow. However, GM’s announcement, while having hardly any effect on Facebook’s overall value, (inadvertently?) caused a laser fury of scrutiny over the quality of performance of Facebook ads.
Although tons of people can’t get enough Facebook action, many of them aren’t paying attention to any of those pesky ads hanging off to the side. In the same Greenlight report that revealed a Facebook search engine could be a formidable challenge to Google’s search dominance, a different metric shows that most people really pay no mind to ads on Facebook.
When asked, “Do you click on advertisements or sponsored listings in Facebook?” an obstinate 44% said they never click on them. More, another 31% said they rarely click on Facebook ads. A middling 3% said they click them regularly and 10% said they often click the ads (13% haven’t gotten the memo to sign-up for Facebook).
Curiously enough, Greenlight points out in the report that it’s enjoyed some success with Facebook ads. “We saw our Facebook investment (client media spend) overtake both Yahoo and Bing collectively at the start of 2011, hinting the channel had constant growth and was delivering a strong enough return to invest more,” the authors wrote.
So… these ads are engaging at least some people out there in Facebooklands, right? Aside from the obvious finding that as many as 13% click the ads regularly, Greenlight isn’t the only company to admit that advertising on Facebook works for them. General Motors’ automotive rival, Ford, quickly tweeted a rebuke on Tuesday to the claim that Facebook advertising doesn’t work.
Ford wasn’t the only one to offer a rebuttal to GM. Jan Rezab, the CEO of SocialBakers, penned an open letter to GM in Forbes that finely details what others have hinted at: GM didn’t understand how to do Facebook ads effectively, so they prematurely took its ball and went home.
Despite Ford’s vote of confidence and Rezab’s compelling argument, Google’s Director of Product Management Jason Bigler couldn’t resist taking a poke or two at Facebook while the social networking site was still wearing some pie on its face:
The mystery of why Facebook ads work for some companies and perform atrociously for others may have something to do with the type of ad format these businesses are using. True, while the ad formats on Facebook are truly awful, according to a new study from WordStream, Greenlight found that the Sponsored Story format was the most popular and effective ad format. According to the authors, “the Sponsored Story format delivers, on average, a 32% decrease in cost per acquisitions (sales) and an increase in CTR (engagement).”
Perhaps it’s just a case of companies putting all their faith in the wrong type of ad format? Or, going back to Rezab’s point, maybe companies just haven’t quite picked up on the winning formula to create engagement via Facebook?
The disparity of success among businesses doesn’t appear to favor one over the other based on the size of the business, either. Yesterday, NPR reported on a marketing experiment it conducted recently where it followed the return on investment for a budding pizza restaurant in New Orleans. Ultimately, the restaurant owners earned $10 back on a $240 investment in Facebook ads and, perhaps worse, everybody they polled who visited the restaurant after the ads were deployed said they weren’t dining at the restaurant because they were persuaded by ads on Facebook.
Oh, and the $10 was just a donation – it wasn’t even from somebody eating at the joint.
So some ads work better than others, and ads on Facebook work better for some businesses than others. In other words, nobody exactly knows how Facebook ads work. Despite this confusion, people are still falling over themselves trying to get their hands on some Facebook shares despite the fact that there’s no clear sign how Facebook can or will pump up revenue through ad sales.
In the meantime, Facebook’s sitting at the bottom of the advertising melee biting its tongue because the company’s in a quiet period until the IPO when it comes to talking about financial goings-on.
Next week should prove to be a revealing week in the annals of Facebookdom when Zuckerberg and Co. can finally respond to this media mess.
CHONGQING, China, May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ — Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chain Co., Ltd. (CCSC) (“Country Style Cooking” or the “Company“), a fast-growing quick service restaurant chain in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2012.
First Quarter 2012 Financial Highlights
Revenues in the first quarter of 2012 were RMB285.2 million ($45.3 million), an increase of 28.1% from RMB222.6 million in the same quarter of 2011.
Comparable restaurant sales increased by 1.1% from the same quarter of 2011. There were 123 restaurants in the comparison.
Restaurant level operating margin was 11.3%, a decrease of 680 basis points from the same quarter of 2011.
Net income for the first quarter 2012 was RMB18.3 million ($2.9 million), an increase of 55.1% from RMB11.8 million in the same quarter of 2011. Adjusted net income (non-GAAP), which excludes share-based compensation expenses and a one-time tax income, was RMB5.0 million ($0.8 million), compared to adjusted net income (non-GAAP) of RMB14.5 million in the same quarter of 2011.
Diluted net income per American depositary share (“ADS”) was RMB0.69 ($0.11). Adjusted diluted net income per ADS(non-GAAP), which excludes share-based compensation expenses and a one-time tax income, was RMB0.19 ($0.03). Each ADS represents four ordinary shares of the Company.
Total number of restaurants increased by a net of 13 in the first quarter of 2012 to 212, covering 21 cities as of March 31, 2012, and up from 140 as of March 31, 2011.
Ms. Hong Li, chairman and chief executive officer of Country Style Cooking, commented, “I am pleased that in the first quarter of 2012, we grew revenues to RMB 285.2 million, representing an increase of 28.1% over the prior year period and beating our previous revenue guidance. During the quarter, we continued our restaurant network expansion, adding a net of 13 restaurants. For the remainder of 2012, we reiterate our plan to open around 70 new restaurants, with approximately 60% of the new restaurants to be located in our home markets of Southwest China and the other 40% of the new restaurants in other regions of China.”
Ms. Hong Li continued, “We managed to lower our operating expenses, bringing them down by 2.6% from the fourth quarter of 2011. We are still aiming for further operating expense reductions, recognizing that we have incurred an operating loss of RMB3.3 million, mainly due to impairment charges of RMB2.5 million. Going forward, we will continue our focus on bringing our operating costs in line with a tightened budget that supports both profitability and growth.”
Mr. Adam Zhao, chief financial officer of Country Style Cooking, added, “During the first quarter of 2012, the company faced significant cost control challenges, some lingering from previous quarters. Yet, our introduction of new key performance indicators and novel programs designed to improve operational profitability are beginning to show results, as evidenced by the quarter-on-quarter reduction of operating expenses combined with solid top-line growth.”
First Quarter 2012 Financial Performances
Revenues in the first quarter of 2012 increased by 28.1% to RMB285.2 million ($45.3 million) from RMB222.6 million in the same period in 2011. Revenue growth was primarily supported by the Company’s expanding restaurant network. During the first quarter 2012, Country Style Cooking opened a net of 13 restaurants, bringing the total restaurant count to 212 as of March 31, 2012, compared to its total restaurant count of 140 as of March 31, 2011. Comparable restaurant sales increased by 1.1% compared with the same quarter of 2011. There were 123 restaurants in the comparison.
Costs of food and paper increased by 35.0% to RMB134.3 million ($21.3 million) in the first quarter of 2012 from RMB99.5 million in the same quarter of 2011, primarily as a result of restaurant expansion and increased food costs. As a percentage of revenues, cost of food and paper increased to 47.1% in the first quarter of 2012 from 44.7% in the same quarter of 2011. Restaurant staff catering and welfare expenses were reclassified from food and paper and other restaurant operating expense to the category of restaurant wages and related expenses Prior period numbers have been reclassified accordingly to conform with the current presentation. For details, please refer to note 1 in Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.
Restaurant wages and related expenses increased by 38.6% to RMB57.8 million ($9.2 million) in the first quarter of 2012 from RMB41.7 million in the same quarter of 2011. The increase was attributable to increased headcount and wage levels. As a percentage of revenues, restaurant wages and related expenses increased to 20.2% in the first quarter of 2012 from 18.7% in the same period in 2011.
Restaurant rent expenses increased by 52.3% to RMB30.6 million ($4.9 million) in the first quarter of 2012 from RMB20.1 million in the same quarter of 2011. As with other expense categories, the increase primarily arose from expansion of the Company’s restaurant network. As a percentage of revenues, restaurant rental expenses increased to 10.7% in the first quarter of 2012 from 9.0% in the first quarter of 2011.
Restaurant utility expenses increased by 38.5% to RMB18.7 million ($3.0 million) in the first quarter of 2012 from RMB13.5 million in the same quarter of 2011. As a percentage of revenues, restaurant utility expenses were 6.6% in the first quarter of 2012, up slightly from 6.1% in the first quarter of 2011.
Other restaurant operating expenses increased by 58.8% to RMB11.7 million ($1.9 million) in the first quarter of 2012 from RMB7.4 million in the same quarter of 2011, primarily due to increased spending in warehousing, logistics and in-store promotions. As a percentage of revenues, other restaurant operating expenses increased slightly to 4.1% in the first quarter of 2012 from 3.3% in the first quarter of 2011.
Restaurant-level operating margin was 11.3% in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 680 basis points over the same period in 2011. The decrease was primarily driven by the large number of newly-opened restaurants, where operations take time to ramp up to higher levels of profitability.
Selling, general and administrative (SGA) expenses increased by 34.6% to RMB16.0 million ($2.5 million) in the first quarter of 2012, compared to RMB11.9 million in the same period in 2011, reflecting increased restaurant openings during the first quarter of 2012 and increased spending on administrative staff cost, including higher share-based compensation expenses. Share-based compensation expenses included in SGA amounted to RMB3.6 million ($0.6 million) in the first quarter of 2012, compared to RMB2.0 million in the first quarter of 2011. As a percentage of revenues, SGA expenses increased to 5.6% in the first quarter of 2012 from 5.3% in the same quarter of 2011.
Pre-opening expense for the first quarter of 2012 amounted to RMB3.3 million ($0.5 million), representing an increase of 116.5% as compared to RMB1.5 million in the same quarter of 2011, primarily because of the expansion in the Company’s restaurant network. As a percentage of revenues, pre-opening expense increased to 1.2% in the first quarter of 2012 from 0.7% in the same quarter of 2011.
Depreciation expense for the first quarter of 2012 amounted to RMB13.6 million ($2.2 million), representing an increase of 77.3% as compared to RMB7.7 million in the same quarter of 2011, primarily because of the increase in total fixed assets as a result of restaurant network expansion. As a percentage of revenues, depreciation expense increased to 4.8% in the first quarter of 2012 from 3.4% in the same quarter of 2011.
Impairment charges were RMB2.5 million ($0.4 million) in the first quarter of 2012, representing costs related to asset impairment costs with three underperforming restaurants.
Loss from operations for the first quarter of 2012 was RMB3.3 million ($0.5 million), compared to an income from operations of RMB18.3 million in the same period in 2011.
Interest income for the first quarter of 2012 was RMB5.2 million ($0.8 million), representing an increase of 101.3% as compared to RMB2.6 million in the same period in 2011.
Income tax benefit in the first quarter of 2012 was RMB17.2 million ($2.7 million), compared to income tax expenses of RMB5.1 million in the same period in 2011. As previously disclosed in the Company’s Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2011, filed with the SEC on April 25, 2012, the Company reversed its income tax liability of RMB11.4 million ($1.8 million) previously accrued in connection with income tax rate change for 2008 and 2010, as well as the additional income tax expense of RMB6.4 million ($1.0 million) for 2009.
Net income was RMB18.3 million ($2.9 million), representing an increase of 55.1% from RMB11.8 million in the first quarter of 2011. Adjusted net income (non-GAAP), which excludes share-based compensation expenses and a one-time tax income, was RMB5.0 million ($0.8 million) in the first quarter of 2012, compared to RMB14.5 million in the first quarter of 2011.
Diluted net income per ADS in the first quarter of 2012 was RMB0.69 ($0.11), compared to diluted net income per ADS of RMB0.44 in the first quarter of 2011. Adjusted diluted net income per ADS (non-GAAP), which excludes share-based compensation expenses and a one-time tax income, was RMB0.19 ($0.03) in the first quarter of 2012, compared to RMB0.55 in the first quarter of 2011. The Company had approximately 26.3 million weighted average diluted ADSs outstanding during the quarter ended March 31, 2012.
EBITDA (non-GAAP), defined as net income before interest, income tax expense/(benefit), depreciation and amortization, was RMB9.4 million ($1.5 million) in the first quarter of 2012, compared to RMB21.9 million from the same quarter of 2011. Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP), defined as EBITDA excluding foreign exchange loss, other income, impairment charges and share-based compensation, was RMB17.3 million ($2.7 million) in the first quarter of 2012, compared to RMB29.7 million in the same quarter of 2011.
As of March 31, 2012, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of RMB495.1 million ($78.6 million), compared to RMB517.5 million as of December 31, 2011.
Net cash provided by operating activities was RMB27.3 million ($4.3 million) in the three months ended March 31, 2012, down from RMB32.6 million in the same period in 2011.
Resignation of Mr. Caimin Zhong as President and Director
The Company also announced that its president and director, Mr. Caimin Zhong, is resigning from his positions at Country Style Cooking due to personal reasons, effective May 30, 2012. Mr. Zhong has served as director at Country Style Cooking since the Company’s initial public offering in September 2010. He was later appointed as president of the Company in May 2011 and has made significant contributions to the Company’s growth and development.
Outlook
For the second quarter of 2012, the Company currently estimates that its revenues will be between RMB285 million ($45 million) and RMB295 million ($47 million), representing a year-over-year growth of between approximately 22% and 26%.
These forecasts reflect the Company’s current and preliminary view, which are subject to change.
Definitions
The following definitions apply to these terms used throughout this release:
Comparable restaurants are defined as restaurants that were open throughout the periods under comparison. A restaurant is included in the comparison once it has been in operation for 12 full months before the start of the quarter. Comparable restaurants exclude (i) restaurants whose operational area has increased or decreased by more than 5% during the periods under comparison and (ii) restaurants that were closed for more than 5% of total days in any period under comparison.
Restaurant level operating margin represents total revenue less restaurant operating costs (including food and paper, restaurant wages and related expenses, restaurant rent expenses, restaurant utilities expenses and other restaurant operating expenses), expressed as a percent of total revenues.
Exchange Rate
This announcement contains translations of certain Renminbi amounts into US dollars at specified rates solely for the convenience of readers. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Renminbi to US dollars in this announcement were made at the noon buying rate of RMB6.2975 to US$1.00 on March 30, 2012 in the City of New York for cable transfers in Renminbi per U.S. dollar as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call at 8:30 pm, Eastern Time on May 17, 2012, which is 8:30 am, Beijing Time on May 18, 2012, to discuss first quarter 2012 results and answer questions from investors. Listeners may access the call by dialing:
A live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://ir.csc100.com
About Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chain Co., Ltd.
Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chain Co., Ltd. (CCSC) (“Country Style Cooking”) is a fast-growing quick service restaurant chain in China, offering delicious, everyday Chinese food to customers who desire fast and affordable quality meals. Country Style Cooking directly operates all of its restaurants and is the largest quick service restaurant chain in Chongqing municipality, home to Sichuan cuisine, one of the best-known Chinese regional cuisines. Additional information about Country Style Cooking can be found at http://ir.csc100.com.
Contact:
Country Style Cooking Restaurant Chain Co., Ltd.
Adam Zhao
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: +86-23-8866-8866
Email: ir@csc100.com
ICR Inc.
Rob Koepp
Phone: +86-10-6583-7516 or +1-646-328-2520
E-mail: robert.koepp@icrinc.com
Non-GAAP Disclosure
To supplement the unaudited consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”), the Company uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP measures by the SEC: adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per ADS, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. We define adjusted net income as net income excluding the one-time tax income and share-based compensation expenses. We define adjusted diluted earnings per ADS as diluted earnings per ADS excluding one-time tax income and share-based compensation expenses. We define EBITDA as earnings before interest, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization. We define adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA excluding foreign exchange gain or loss, other income or expense, impairment charges and share-based compensation. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned “Supplementary Metrics—Reconciliations of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” set forth at the end of this release.
The Company believes that in conjunction with GAAP financial measures, these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its operating performance and liquidity. The Company believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management’s internal comparisons to the Company’s historical performance and liquidity. Management uses both GAAP and non-GAAP information in evaluating and operating the business internally and therefore deems it important to provide all of this information to investors. Management also believes that these non-GAAP financial measures facilitate comparisons to the Company’s historical performance.
One of the limitations of using adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per ADS, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA is that they do not include all items that impact the Company’s net income for the relevant periods. A limitation of using these non-GAAP measures is that they exclude certain items including share-based compensation charges that have been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. It also excludes the one-time tax income that has a direct cash-flow impact on our business. In addition, the Company’s EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA or similarly titled measures utilized by other companies since such other companies may not calculate EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA in the same manner as the Company does. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying tables have more details on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, the outlook for the second quarter 2012, the new restaurant opening plan for full year 2012 and quotations from management in this announcement, as well as Country Style Cooking’s strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: uncertainties regarding our ability to open and profitably operate new restaurants and manage our growth effectively and efficiently; risks associated with changing consumer taste and discretionary spending; uncertainties regarding our ability to maintain and enhance the attractiveness of our restaurants and our brand and image; risks related to instances of food-borne illnesses, health epidemics and other outbreaks; uncertainties regarding our ability to respond to competitive pressures; and uncertainties associated with factors typically affecting the consumer food services industry in general. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in the Company’s reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Country Style Cooking does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Country Style Cooking undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Republican Mitt Romney is discouraging supporters from going forward with an advertising strategy that would highlight President Barack Obama’s ties to his controversial pastor.
Romney said Thursday he would “repudiate” efforts by a super PAC to spend at least $10 million to dredge up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary statements. Romney says he would prefer his allies focus on the economy, on getting people back to work and on seeing rising incomes and growing prosperity.
The likely Republican presidential nominee says Obama’s campaign has been focused on “character assassination” but that he would prefer to campaign on records.
Romney spoke in an interview with Townhall.com.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Republican Mitt Romney is discouraging supporters from going forward with an advertising strategy that would highlight President Barack Obama’s ties to his controversial pastor.
Romney said Thursday he would “repudiate” efforts by a super PAC to spend at least $10 million to dredge up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s incendiary statements. Romney says he would prefer his allies focus on the economy, on getting people back to work and on seeing rising incomes and growing prosperity.
The likely Republican presidential nominee says Obama’s campaign has been focused on “character assassination” but that he would prefer to campaign on records.
Romney spoke in an interview with Townhall.com.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
General Motors has announced that it will no longer advertise its cars and trucks on Facebook according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The poor performance of GM ads on the social network isn’t necessarily an indictment of Facebook advertising, though. It may just be the wrong thing to market on Facebook.
The beauty of Facebook–and Facebook marketing–is the social aspect of it all. A commercial like the post-apocalyptic Silverado ad GM ran during the 2012 Super Bowl has tremendous appeal…on television. However, a social network is a different medium entirely, and it takes a completely different strategy to conduct a successful marketing campaign.
Facebook is about word-of-mouth. The value of marketing on a social network is the sharing between friends and family. One person tries a restaurant and likes it, and shares that experience with the rest of their social network. Someone finds a pair of shoes that are comfortable, and posts it online for everyone to see. That type of interaction is less likely for big-ticket items like cars, but it’s a gold mine for small businesses that can’t afford Super Bowl ads.
One of my PCWorld peers shared research from a Wordstream research study indicating that the “click-through” rate of Google ads beats Facebook ten to one. Based on that information alone, it would seem that any business would be better off marketing with Google ads instead of Facebook.
Facebook is nowhere near as mature as Google–its primary rival–when it comes to online advertising. But, it has the audience, and that audience spends more of its online time engaged on the social network than doing anything else, so the potential is there. As Facebook evolves and expands its marketing options, it will be fertile ground for online advertising–just maybe not for General Motors.
Larger companies like General Motors, or Coca Cola, or McDonald’s can still benefit from marketing on Facebook or other social networks, but it should probably be viewed from the context of brand penetration and recognition as opposed to trying to measure sales resulting directly from the ads. Smaller businesses, on the other hand, can hit the jackpot with the right Facebook marketing campaign, and word-of-mouth advertising of the social network.
The $10 million account was a lucrative advertiser for the social network, and the ad revenue will be missed. But, the loss of GM as an advertiser won’t exactly break Facebook. Facebook generated $3.7 billion in revenue in 2011 from advertising, making GM a mere fraction of a percent of the overall pool.
Car giant General Motors has confirmed it will stop advertising on Facebook, after deciding that paid ads on the site have little impact on consumers’ car purchases.
Commenting on the news, which comes just days ahead of Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO), GM said it regularly reviews how it spends its marketing budget and adjusts its approach as needed.
“It’s not unusual for us to move our spending around various media outlets – especially with the growth of multiple social and digital media outlets,” a GM spokesperson said in a statement.
“In terms of Facebook specifically, while we currently do not plan to continue with advertising, we remain committed to an aggressive content strategy through all of our products and brands, as it continues to be a very effective tool for engaging with our customers.”
GM currently spends about $40 million on its Facebook presence, but only about $10 million of that is paid to Facebook for advertising, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported GM’s plans to drop Facebook ads.
GM will continue to promote its products on the social network via Facebook pages, which cost nothing to create, but will no longer pay for dedicated advertising space.
The news comes as Facebook prepares for an IPO that is expected to value the company at $85 billion to $95 billion (£53bn to £59bn). GM’s decision raises questions about Facebook’s dependence on advertising, and its ability to sustain the 88% revenue growth achieved in 2011.
According to Gartner analyst Andrew Frank, however, the size of Facebook’s audience and its level of engagement means that the social network will remain a strong player in the advertising world.
“The top tier of advertisers that spend more than $500 million a year on media probably have less need to buy social media because their brands are already well known, they attract fans and so forth,” said Frank.
“Facebook advertising works best for finding a good restaurant, or a good travel destination – things where word of mouth really is important and where people don’t already have brand awareness.”
Facebook is not entirely dependent on advertising. It also has an impressive gaming revenue stream, according to Frank, and the company confirmed this week that it is testing a new system that would allow users to pay for their posts to be prioritised in friends’ news feeds.
Frank said that the company could be forced to explore new revenue streams after going public.
“Facebook really hasn’t yet begun to optimise the treasure trove of data that they have about people for the benefit of advertisers. The kinds of targeting categories that they they offer today are fairly basic compared to what they could do in the future when they really start to dig into this,” said Frank.
“There’s a great deal of upside potential in Facebook’s data, and I really think that they haven’t got around to focusing on that particular problem because they’ve been more focused on creating and experience for their consumers.”
However, he added that the size and knowledge of Facebook’s audience is its main asset, suggesting that advertising is always going to be the biggest part of its revenue, even if it finds other ways to monetise.
