Chanticleer Holdings, Inc. reported a decline in financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2019.

The company’s revenue for the third quarter was $9.7 million, 4 percent less than the third quarter of 2018. Net loss increased by $2.6 million to $3.9 million, or 39 cents per share, for the third quarter. For the first nine months, net loss reached $9.1 million compared to $4.7 million for the same nine months of 2018.

Operating costs for the third quarter rose to $4.2 million compared to $670,000 for the same quarter 2018, primarily driven by non-cash impairment charges related to underperforming locations. The company said it expects operational improvements from its investments for the fourth quarter of 2019 and into 2020.

Chanticleer opened three new Little Big Burger locations and a concession area in the Charlotte Motor Speedway. They plan on opening another location in late 2019 or early 2020.

“During the third quarter, we streamlined operations to focus on our core burger brand segments by selling off non-burger brand locations and closing several unprofitable locations. As a result, we incurred substantial impairment charges which impacted the third quarter results,” said Fred Glick, President of Chanticleer.

The company entered into a definitive merger agreement with Sonnet BioTherapeutics, Inc., a New Jersey corporation, and Biosub, Inc., a Delaware corporation. The shareholders of Sonnet will become the majority owners of Chanticleer’s outstanding common stock upon closing the merger. Sonnet will pay $6 million to Chanticleer, a portion which is intended to repay Chanticleer’s outstanding indebtedness.

Chanticleer Holdings, Inc. owns and operates restaurants and is a franchisee owner of restaurants in international markets. Chanticleer Holdings shares were trading at 79 cents on Friday, down 1 cent.