Starbucks Corp. recently posted its first quarter of same-store sales growth in over a year, since the end of 2008 that is, mainly on the back of unexpected success of the company's Via instant coffee across America, in addition to strong holiday coffee sales across all international markets.

The coffee chain's American same-store sales hiked by 4%, mainly on the back of a 4% rise in customers' average ticket that has been attributed mostly by the company to Via.

"We expected a contribution from Via, but it was even more than we expected. We knew it fit perfectly for people on the go, but there was much bigger single-serve, at-home usage than we anticipated or hoped we could get in these early days", said Starbucks Chief Financial Officer Troy Alstead.

In all its international locations, Starbucks posted a 4% growth in same-store sales, mainly on the back of better-than-expected holiday season sales across Canada, and strong traffic gains in the UK. Across China as well, the company recorded a stable growth.

For the fiscal first quarter up-to December 27, 2009, the company posted earnings of $241.5 Million, or 32 cents per share, a substantial rise to the figure of $64.3 Million posted for the same period last year. Revenue rose 4.1% to $2.72 Billion.

The successful numbers have encouraged Starbucks to hike its earnings guidance for the complete year to between $1.05 to $1.08 a share.