US-based Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which franchises gourmet chocolate and confection stores and manufactures an extensive line of premium chocolates and other confectionery products, today reported its operating results for the third quarter and first nine months of the financial year 2010.

For the three months ended 30 November 2009, total revenues declined 7.6% to approximately $6.9 million (€4.8m), compared to the third quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Retail sales increased 79.6% from last year’s third quarter due to an increase in the average number of company-owned stores in operation, from five in the quarter ended 30 November 2008 to nine in the quarter ended 30 November 2009.

Net income for the quarter decreased 10.9%. “The decrease in third quarter revenues was primarily due to the widely-reported declines in customer traffic that regional shopping malls recorded during calendar 2009, along with a tendency for franchisees to emphasise store-made products over factory-made products during periods of economic uncertainty,” states Bryan Merryman, COO and CFO of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

He continues, “During the first nine months of the fiscal year, franchisees opened 20 new stores, including nine Cold Stone Creamery co-branded locations. With an additional 7 to 9 new stores scheduled to come on line in January and February, we now expect 31 to 33 new store openings for the fiscal year ending February 28, 2010, which is consistent with our previously stated goal of 30 to 40 store openings.

For the nine months ended November 30, 2009, total revenues declined 5.6 percent to approximately $19.6 million (€13.7m), versus revenues of approximately $20.8 million in the first nine months of the prior year.