"The best way to improve financial performance is tofocus on top-line sales, and we believe our newproduct strategy has been a major reason for ourstrong 2005 results to date," said the chain'spresident and CEO Nigel Travis during the its thirdquarter earnings conference call.

Papa's Perfect Pan, a new crust which was launched in October,boosted the chain's same-store sales by 3.9% duringthe quarter, which included an 8.7% increase atcompany-owned restaurants and a 2.3% increase atfranchised restaurants, Travis noted. And same-storesales for October increased 5.9%, growing despite 30restaurant closures, including seven closures relatedto Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were estimated to negatively impact comp sales by roughly 0.4% for the quarter.

Also during the quarter, 27 domestic and 21 international restaurants were opened. The new pizza, which is said to feature a tastier crust, pushed revenues to $236.3 million, an increase of 3.7% from $227.8 million for the same period in 2004. Net income for the third quarter of 2005 was $10.8 million, or 62 cents per share. The earnings include an 11 cent gain per share associated with the consolidation of BIBP Commodities Inc.

"We're really, really delighted with the results,"Travis said, adding that the chain hopes to continueto introduce new products such as Papa's Perfect Panin hopes of increasing sales and driving profit.