Revenue during the quarter grew 5.84 percent to $215.70 million from $203.80 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 394 basis points over the previous year period to 84.24 percent. Total expenses were 47.21 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 78.67 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 3146 basis points in operating margin to 52.79 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $113.88 million, compared with $43.48 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted operating income for the quarter stood at $119.28 million compared to $103.94 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted operating margin improved 429 basis points in the quarter to 55.30 percent from 51 percent in the last year period.

“This past year was one of significant achievement for Dunkin’ Donuts U.S. We began executing against a six-part strategy to drive growth by positioning Dunkin’ as a to-go, coffee beverages brand, and while much work remains, we made considerable progress with our plan, in particular with utilizing digital technology to drive customer loyalty and store traffic. We now have more than 6 million Perks members, have launched On-The-Go ordering nationally, have grown mobile payments by nearly 70 percent, and had nearly $1 billion in systemwide sales on the Dunkin’ Gift Card, the backbone of our digital ecosystem, as a form of payment,” said Nigel Travis, Dunkin’ Brands Chairman and Chief executive officer. “We also made considerable progress with our efforts to increase consumption of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee through our consumer packaged goods initiative and last summer signed an agreement with The Coca-Cola Company, along with its bottling partners, to manufacture, distribute and sell Dunkin’ Donuts branded ready-to-drink bottled iced coffee beverages. Between retail sales of Dunkin’ bottled iced coffee, K-Cups, bagged coffee and in-restaurant system-wide sales of ready-brewed coffee, we expect consumers to drink nearly 5 billion cups of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee globally in 2017.”

Cash flow from investing activities was $1.34 million from investing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $35.47 million in the last year.

The company has spent $176.34 million cash to carry out financing activities during the year as against cash outgo of $96.86 million in the last year period.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $361.42 million as on Dec. 31, 2016, up 38.78 percent or $101 million from $260.43 million on Dec. 26, 2015.

Working capital increases sharply
Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc has recorded an increase in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $182.16 million as at Dec. 31, 2016, up 31.02 percent or $43.12 million from $139.03 million on Dec. 26, 2015. Current ratio was at 1.43 as on Dec. 31, 2016, up from 1.33 on Dec. 26, 2015.

Days sales outstanding went down to 19 days for the quarter compared with 29 days for the same period last year.

At the same time, days payable outstanding went down to 18 days for the quarter from 21 for the same period last year.