VANCOUVER — A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund (TSX:AW) increased its payment to unit holders Tuesday as it reported an improved second-quarter profit compared with a year ago.
The burger chain said it will now pay a monthly cash distribution of 12.1 cents per unit, up from its previous payment of 11.7 cents. Based on the fund's unit price, it will now yield about 5.8 per cent.
The increase came as the fund reported a profit of $7.2 million for the three months ended June 14, up from a profit of $4.2 million a year ago.
Distributable cash per unit for the quarter totalled 37.8 cents, up from 33.6 cents in the same quarter last year.
Sales in the quarter by restaurants in the royalty pool totalled $249.1 million, up from $220.9 million a year ago, while same store sales improved 8.9 per cent compared with 7.0 per cent last year.
The fund had 814 restaurants in the royalty pool during the quarter, up from 790 last year.
"Our results are especially noteworthy given our strong results from the same quarter last year," said Paul Hollands, president and chief executive of A&W Food Services.
