´óÏó´«Ã½

Starbucks said global sales increased 18% to $4.9bn in the quarter to 28 June - its highest ever quarterly revenue.

"Among the strongest and most remarkable quarters in our over 23 years as a public company," is how boss Howard Schultz has described its third quarter performance.

The rise was mostly thanks to it buying out its previous Japanese partner Starbucks Japan and new store openings.

The world's largest coffee chain opened 431 new stores in the period.

Like-for-like sales - which strip out the effect of new store openings - increased by 7%.

And total net profit rose 22% to $626.7m.

Mr Schultz said the sales increase meant it had served 23 million more customers in the quarter compared to the same period last year. Of those 18 million were from the US.

It said its loyalty programme had helped to drive its strong performance. The chain has worked with other firms such as ride-sharing service Lyft and music streaming firm Spotify.

Both firms give their customers a chance to earn Starbucks "starts" which can be used in the coffee chain's shops.

Shares rose more than 3% in after hours trading.