Starbucks reports results for the fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 1, 2023 and closed with consolidated net revenues of up 8 percent to a record $ 8.7 billion. Global store sales increased 5 percent globally and 10 percent in the U.S. alone "thanks to a 9 percent increase in average receipt," the company's official release points out. International sales fell 13%, due to a "12% decline in transactions and a 1% drop in average receipt. Sales in China plummeted 29%: blamed, the report says, on "a 28% drop in transactions and a 1% drop in the average receipt."

The company opened 459 new stores in the first quarter, ending the period with 36,170 stores globally: 51 percent are company-operated and 49 percent are licensed: in the U.S. and China, stores now account for 61 percent of the global portfolio, with 15,952 stores in the U.S. and 6,090 in China. "The results demonstrate the strength and resilience of our business and the accelerating demand for Starbucks Coffee around the world -emphasizes Howard Schultz, interim ceo-. We achieved today's excellent results despite a difficult global consumer and inflation environment, an overall weak retail quarter, and unprecedented covid-related headwinds in China in the first quarter". "I am pleased to announce that our guidance for fiscal year 2023 remains unchanged, despite the headwinds from China", explains cfo Rachel Ruggeri. 

Net revenues in North America grew by 14 percent over Q1 FY2022 to $6.6 billion, mainly due to a 10 percent increase in sales: also in the U.S., operating income rose to $1.2 billion compared to $ 1.1 billion in Q1 FY2022. 

Internationally, on the other hand, net revenues declined 10 percent from twelve months ago to $1.7 billion: the decline was mainly due, the report says, "to a 13 percent decline in store sales, mainly attributable to lower mobility in China". Operating income also declines to $ 240.4 million compared to $ 299.6 million in the first quarter of 2022.