Fried Chicken (Bermuda) Ltd., the company announced it was closing the Burnaby St. outlet.

The company (KFC) stated in a Press release that the outlet had operating losses of $172,000 from July 1, 1996 to January 31, 1997, excluding any provision for a share of accounting, overhead and other expenses. The losses continue to accumulate at a rate of $2,000 a month. Closing the outlet will cost the company about $170,000, the company estimates.

"It is clear that this outlet, which had been unprofitable from the beginning, is unlikely to be made profitable for it has inadequate facilities, parking and other amenities and as it is located just one block from the main store on Queen Street,'' the release stated.

The outlet's last day of operation is today. The company stated that the outlet's seven full time staff will be reassigned to the Queen St. outlet. KFC has 50 employees in total. The store's manager had previously left the company and found employment elsewhere, the release stated.

The company also stated it had "modest'' operating profits for February, March and April.

"We are very hopeful that as a result of this further step in reengineering the company and in cost containment, we should see significant improvement in earnings in the months to come,'' the release stated.

KFC was baled out in February by a Lines Overseas Management Ltd. sponsored rights offering to existing shareholders. The move raised $828,000 in new capital. KFC had losses of about $900,000 spanning the two-and-one-half years from June 30, 1994 to the end of 1996. Before the rights offering it had debts of about $650,000 to a variety of creditors plus $900,000 to the Bank of Bermuda Ltd. and to landlord Regina Via Ltd.

The share price of KFC on the Bermuda Stock Exchange fell from a high of $17 in May 1996 to $3 in March. KFC last traded at $4 on May 9.