Microwave Burgers Help Bridgford to Beef Up Its Sales

ANAHEIM — With sales of its microwave cheeseburgers and other sandwiches heating up, Bridgford Foods Corp. said Thursday that its earnings rose 12% to $3.9 million last year, up from $3.5 million a year earlier.

Completing four years of sales and earnings growth, the Anaheim manufacturer of convenience-food products posted sales of $84.3 million for its fiscal year ended Nov. 2, up 16% from $72.6 million in the previous fiscal year, which was a week longer.

“Sales are up across the board,” said Robert E. Schulze, Bridgford’s executive vice president. An important new product line for the company, he said, is its microwave frozen sandwiches, including cheeseburgers, roast beef and ham and cheese.

Bridgford is “doing everything right,” said Ronald L. Strauss, an analyst for William Blair & Co., a Chicago investment firm. In addition to the growing popularity of its microwave sandwiches, the company also is reporting strong sales of its traditional products, such as sausage and frozen bread dough.

Strauss said Bridgford has been able to improve its profit margins “by generating good sales volume gains, moving prices up reasonably aggressively and keeping operating costs down.” For the fourth quarter, the company earned $1.1 million on sales of $22.7 million, contrasted with earnings of $1.1 million on sales of $20.56 million in the year-earlier quarter.

The company also announced a 3-for-2 stock split that will be distributed to company shareholders today.