Sonic 2007 Annual Report Download - page 5

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Our drive-in level retrofit program also
contributes to the freshness of our brand and the
growth of our sales. The last similar program,
finished in the late 1990s, provided a significant
boost to same-store sales, and with more than
600 retrofits complete – 499 in fiscal 2007 – we
expect this program to create comparable
excitement for Sonic over a number of years.
These multi-layered growth strategies have
translated not only into direct benefits for our
company and its stockholders through top-line
growth and higher earnings, but they have also
continued to benefit our franchisees through
increasing average unit volumes and drive-in
level profits. These franchisee benefits are
powerful incentives for future expansion,
resulting in a healthy development pipeline.
They also are among the many reasons why a
June 2007 franchisee survey of 18 leading QSR
brands gave Sonic top franchisor scores – for the
second consecutive year.
As you know, we customarily have taken
advantage of our strong balance sheet and cash
flows to repurchase our common stock as part of
our capital management strategy and to
enhance earnings per share growth. Fiscal 2007
was no exception to this practice as we
accelerated those efforts by repurchasing more
than 25 million shares, valued at $578 million
and representing approximately 30% of our
outstanding stock at the beginning of fiscal 2007.
In closing, I believe it is appropriate to come
back to the concept of our multi-layered growth
strategies. As you "drill down" through the
various layers that drive our business and see
how each relates to and reinforces the others,
it's easy to see that their importance lies not just
in what they have meant for Sonic's past success,
but also the potential they hold for extending
that success into the future. I find it gratifying
to know that we have so many ways to grow our
business, and it's exciting to anticipate how
these layers will continue to generate added
momentum for our operations for years to come.
Sincerely,
Clifford Hudson
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President
Pg. 3
GROWTH
GROWTH