NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, April 9 (Reuters) - California Pizza Kitchen is seeking buyers for the restaurant chain, according to a source familiar with the situation.
California Pizza, whose shares were up 17.2 percent, including the after-hours rise, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the closing share price of $20.74 the company had a market capitalization of $503 million.
Rumors that the Los Angeles-based purveyor of Thai Chicken and Barbecue Chicken pizzas was for sale have been swirling for weeks.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that California Pizza has been soliciting interest from potential buyers, including private-equity firms.
California Pizza Kitchen, which operates more than 250 full-service restaurants, also has a frozen pizza business that could make it attractive at a time when high unemployment is forcing diners to eat at home instead of restaurants.
The company had total 2009 revenue of $664.7 million, $7.7 million of which came from royalties from its licensing agreement with Kraft Foods Inc, which handles sales of its frozen pizzas in grocery stores.
In February, the company forecast earnings of 68 cents to 73 cents per share, below analysts' average estimate of 77 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It also said it expected 2010 same-store sales to be flat to down 2 percent.
The company's stock closed up $2.56, or 14 percent, on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Megan Davies and Michele Gershberg in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: CALIFORNIAPIZZA (megan.davies@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646 223 6112; Reuters Messaging: megan.davies.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
California Pizza, whose shares were up 17.2 percent, including the after-hours rise, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the closing share price of $20.74 the company had a market capitalization of $503 million.
Rumors that the Los Angeles-based purveyor of Thai Chicken and Barbecue Chicken pizzas was for sale have been swirling for weeks.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that California Pizza has been soliciting interest from potential buyers, including private-equity firms.
California Pizza Kitchen, which operates more than 250 full-service restaurants, also has a frozen pizza business that could make it attractive at a time when high unemployment is forcing diners to eat at home instead of restaurants.
The company had total 2009 revenue of $664.7 million, $7.7 million of which came from royalties from its licensing agreement with Kraft Foods Inc, which handles sales of its frozen pizzas in grocery stores.
In February, the company forecast earnings of 68 cents to 73 cents per share, below analysts' average estimate of 77 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It also said it expected 2010 same-store sales to be flat to down 2 percent.
The company's stock closed up $2.56, or 14 percent, on Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Megan Davies and Michele Gershberg in New York and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: CALIFORNIAPIZZA (megan.davies@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646 223 6112; Reuters Messaging: megan.davies.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.