Wendy's Strategy Includes IPO

Along with the IPO plans, the company said it expects to complete the sale of 40 to 45 underperforming Wendy's restaurants and the sale of certain real estate assets in the fourth quarter, for which it anticipates recording a pretax gain of $60 million to $70 million and about $200 million in cash proceeds. Wendy's plans to launch the IPO in March and to list the shares on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol THI.

The Wendy's properties that will be sold is expected to be approximately 200. In addition to the pre-tax gains, the company expects to record approximately $23 million to $28 million in pretax charges for the closing of the underperforming restaurants. It said the locations were "negatively impacting profits and returns."

Other steps that the chain plans include the closing of five Tim Hortons restaurants in the US by the end of the year and the openings of other Tim Hortons in the fourth quarter. "Tim Hortons remains committed to the New England market and the brand's future success there," Wendy's said Thursday in announcing its strategic moves. Ultimately, Wendy's expects to operate 500 Tim Hortons restaurants in the US, but it now says that it will reach that number at the end of 2008 instead of 2007 as previously expected. The Tim Hortons count stood at 272 US restaurants as of the latest tally.

The moves that were detailed Thursday follow strategic initiatives that the company announced earlier this year. Wendy's chairman and CEO Jack Schuessler said that overall, the company expects pretax charges for its financial moves to total $79 million to $95 million in the fourth quarter, with the charges to be partially offset by the gains from the sale of real estate and restaurants.