carrols restaurant group inc issued preliminary results for the fourth quarter saying that sales rose about 7 as the fastfood restaurant operator pulled back on discounting as we lapped tougher comparisons in november and december we saw continued benefit from reduced discounting with limited discernible impact on our traffic interim chief executive anthony hull said sales rose 7 to 4451 million topping wall street expectations of 4332 million according to factset comparable restaurant sales rose 62 and 92 respectively at the companys burger king restaurants and at its popeyes restaurants carrols is the largest burger king franchisee in the us the company didnt provide preliminary profit results but mr hull said the company is still grappling with cost pressures labor inflation was roughly as expected during the quarter he said while commodity costs remained elevated both are continuing to see moderation from levels experienced earlier in the year he said mr hull was named interim ceo of the company earlier this month after former ceo paulo pena died suddenly at age 50 write to will feuer at willfeuerwsjcom