San Francisco  - US coffee house giant Starbucks reported sharply higher earnings Thursday as it benefited from cost cuttings and a return of customers to its deluxe caffeinated offerings.

The Seattle-based chain said it earned 150 million dollars in its fourth fiscal quarter, compared to 5.4 million dollars a year ago as the company closed stores and cut staff to reduce costs by 580 million dollars. Sales fell by 3.7 per cent to 2.42 billion dollars.

"We are seeing broad-based improvement across our global business, and are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming holiday period," said Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz.

Starbucks said that it had 11,128 US stores at the end of the quarter and 5,507 internationally. Store count in the US fell by 439 in the latest year, while Starbucks opened a net 394 abroad. (dpa)