Burger King Sizzles on a Whopping First Quarter

is sizzling Friday after posting a successful first quarter. The Miami-based firm's EPS soared 54.5 percent to $0.17, matching the Wall Street consensus. Revenue nosedived 42.5 percent year-over-year to $327.7 million, but topped estimates by approximately $9 million.

Comparable store sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew most for the world's second-largest hamburger chain, rising 2.7 percent. Growth was driven by positive results in Australia and Korea and partially offset by weak demand in Japan and New Zealand. The company also experienced modest growth in the EMEA region, climbing 0.8 percent. The “king of the day” promotions in the United Kingdom, the “trial weeks” value promotion and demand for gold premium steakhouse burgers in Germany and strong performance in the burger giant's expanding Russian market drove success in this regard. Meanwhile, sales in Latin America and the Caribbean fell slightly, dropping 1.3 percent after rising nearly 10 percent in Q1 2012. Burger King faulted weakness in Mexico and Puerto Rico for the decline. The Home of the Whopper performed worst on its own turf, with sales in the US and Canada falling three percent due to a “challenging macroeconomic environment and heightened competitive activity.”

Burger King lost a net of 28 restaurants in the US and Canada during the first quarter and 40 over the past year. Its dwindling restaurant count and reduced comparable store sales are in line with a growing domestic trend toward healthy eating. According to the CDC, there was a 1.5 percent decline in fast food calorie intake from 2003-2006 to 2007-2010. Meanwhile, BK gained restaurants in all other regions both during the quarter and last 12 months. It netted 32 new restaurants outside the US and Canada in the first quarter and over 500 since the end of Q1 2012, with double-digit percentage growth in Latin America & the Caribbean as well as the Asia-Pacific region.

On April 11,

current CEO Bernard Hees will step down by July 1 to become the CEO of

. He'll remain as vice chairman of the board and on the company's executive committee. Current CFO Daniel Schwartz will replace Dees and there will be several other major moves in upper management, as reported in the original story.

After peaking at nearly $20 on March 20, Burger King has embarked on a fairly steady decline through late April. The stock closed just above $18 on Thursday, its lowest point in nearly two months. As of this writing, trading has not commenced on Friday. However, given its successful quarter, Burger King will likely rise to round out the week.