Wendy's Company (WEN) has reported a 544.65 percent jump in profit for the quarter ended Oct. 02, 2016. The company has earned $48.89 million, or $0.18 a share in the quarter, compared with $7.58 million, or $0.03 a share for the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, earnings per share from continuing operations were at $0.11 for the quarter compared with $0.09 in the same period last year.

Revenue during the quarter dropped 21.66 percent to $364.01 million from $464.63 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 1150 basis points over the previous year period to 48.75 percent. Total expenses were 70.86 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 87.96 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 1710 basis points in operating margin to 29.14 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $106.09 million, compared with $55.94 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations for the quarter was almost stable at $100.18 million, when compared with the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 606 basis points in the quarter to 27.52 percent from 21.46 percent in the last year period.

"Our solid third-quarter results demonstrate the positive benefits of our brand transformation efforts," president and chief executive officer Todd Penegor said. "Despite the ownership of 433 fewer Company-operated restaurants relative to last year, we were able to deliver high quality earnings, with franchise revenues contributing a higher amount to the bottom line. Driven by our balanced marketing approach and a continued focus on profitable customer count growth, the North America system accelerated same-restaurant sales in the third quarter. We have now recorded 15 consecutive quarters of positive same-restaurant sales."

For financial year 2016, Wendy's Company projects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.40 to $0.41 on adjusted basis.