(RTTNews) - Thursday, quick-service restaurant operator Wendy's/Arby's Group, Inc. (WEN: News ) reported a profit for the third quarter compared with a loss a year ago. The results included the effect of the merger between Triarc and Wendy's. The company also said it benefited from lower commodity costs and expects this trend to continue in the fourth quarter.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based Wendy's/Arby's posted third-quarter net income of $14.69 million or $0.03 per share, compared with a loss of $12.15 million or $0.13 per share a year ago. Net income for the latest quarter included after tax special charges of $12.8 million or $0.03 per share including integration-related expenses and impairment charges.

Results for the third quarter ended September 27, 2009 included the effect of the September 29, 2008 merger between Triarc and Wendy's, while the results for year ago quarter only include results for Triarc.

For the preceding second quarter, the company had reported profit of $14.9 million or $0.03 per share, compared to a loss of $7 million or $0.07 per share in the same quarter last year.

For the quarter under review, Wendy's/Arby's generated consolidated revenues of $903.22 million, substantially up from $310.37 million in the prior year period. Sales revenues advanced to $806.04 million, up from $287.64 million a year ago, while franchise revenues grew to $97.18 million from $22.73million last year.

Wendy's/Arby's adjusted earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA, excluding pre-tax integration-related costs of $5.0 million, was $124.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 9.1% from pro-forma third quarter 2008 adjusted EBITDA of $114.0 million.
Segment wise, Wendy's total revenues slipped to $613.5 million from the pro-forma revenues of $624.7 million in the third quarter a year ago. The company noted that the decrease in revenues was primarily due to lower company same-store sales resulting from the reduction in the number of company-operated restaurants serving breakfast, the negative effect of foreign exchange rates and fewer overall restaurants.

Meanwhile, Wendy's North America franchise same-store sales increased 0.4%, as franchise sales were not materially impacted by changes in the number of restaurants serving breakfast.

Wendy's company-operated restaurant margin was 16.5% for the quarter, compared to 12.5% in the prior year period, reflecting a 400 basis point improvement.

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