By Kim Khan
Investing.com – Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) said Thursday that comparable store sales in China sank 78% due to store closures because of the novel coronavirus.
The company said comparable sales in China will be down about 50% in the fiscal second quarter.
Shares fell 0.5% in after-hours trading.
The company had already announced that more than half its China stores were closed due to Covid-19 as of Jan. 28. More than 90% are open in China now, operating under “elevated safety protocols,” it said.
Overall, Starbucks expects a hit of $400 million to $430 million to China second-quarter revenue.
“Given the early stage of these (virus) developments, we are currently unable to forecast business impacts in markets outside of China with reasonable accuracy,” the coffee retail giant said.