Wendy's International Inc., the international chain of fast food restaurants which has been seeking a purchaser since April, announced that its sales fell for the first time in the past seven quarters. Its shares also dropped the most in the last year.

The Dublin, Ohio-based company, the third largest hamburger fast food chain with approximately 6,700 locations after McDonald's (31,000 locations) and Burger King (11,200 locations), said that its returns in the fourth quarter which ended on December 30th has dropped 0.8 percent at the company stores and rose 0.2 percent at franchise outlets.

The company founded by Dave Thomas in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio, has increased its prices in some markets in order to match competitors, but this has hurt customer traffic.

Wendy’s toughest competitor is McDonald’s Corp which said its same-store sales have increased for 55 months on income from coffee and an expanded U.S. discount menu.

“Part of Wendy's challenge right now is McDonald's is just hitting on every cylinder. Wendy's could use some successful new products,'' said Dennis Lombardi, executive vice president of foodservice strategy at WD Partners in Dublin, Ohio.

Wendy’s board of directors appointed in April 2007 a committee with the purpose of exploring a possible sale of the company. This move came after the fast food chain spun off its Tim Hortons coffee-and-doughnut chain, Wendy's biggest money maker in recent years.

“Although we made progress during the fourth quarter, I am not satisfied by our same-store sales results,'' CEO Kerrii Anderson said.

Wendy's shares dropped $1.52, or 6.1 percent, to $23.34 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest fall since November 2006. The shares dropped 22 percent last year.