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Area company’s subsidiary buys two yogurt chains

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. announced Tuesday that its wholly owned subsidiary, U-Swirl Inc., recently purchased two self-service frozen-yogurt chains.

U-Swirl acquired CherryBerry Enterprises LLC and Yogli Mogli LLC. The purchases closed Friday, the company disclosed in its quarterly investor release Tuesday.

The purchases totaling $7.75 million were financed largely by a $7 million Wells Fargo loan, the company said.

“We believe U-Swirl is well-positioned to become a leading consolidator in the self-serve frozen yogurt segment of the $6 billion away-from-home frozen desserts industry,” Bryan Merryman, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, wrote in a news release.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory reported a 7.5 percent revenue increase to $9.3 million in the quarter that ended Nov. 30. That was up from $8.6 million a year earlier.

Same-store sales at domestic Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory franchises were unchanged, the company said.

The company saw a 4.9 percent drop in same-store pounds of factory product purchased by stores. The company attributed the decline to the shorter post-Thanksgiving shopping period in 2013.

The company’s stock jumped 3 percent on the news, closing at $12.01 per share Tuesday. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol RMCF.