DALLAS — Brinker International, Inc. sustained a loss of $21,764,000 in the second quarter ended Dec. 24. This compared with income of $54,480,000, equal to 53c per share on the common stock, in the same period a year ago. In December, the company completed the sale of Romano’s Macaroni Grill for $88 million in cash but will maintain a 19.9% continuing ownership interest. Excluding the sale of Macaroni Grill and other one-time charges, Brinker said it earned 27c per share in the second quarter.

Total revenue for the quarter was $949,425,000, down 8% from $1,029,785,000 during the same quarter of the previous year.

Overall, the company had a 5.4% decline in comparable restaurant sales in the second quarter as a result of decreases across all brands. In addition, sales were adversely affected by a net decline in capacity of 3.3% due to 47 restaurant closings (26 of which were Macaroni Grills) and the sale of 198 restaurants since the second quarter of fiscal 2008 (189 of which were Macaroni Grills).

For the first six months of fiscal 2009, net income was $2,017,000, or 2c per share, which compared with $92,080,000, or 88c per share, in the first half of fiscal 2008. Net sales were $1,933,832,000, down from $2,084,471,000.