Coffee shop operator Starbucks has announced plans to close 300 stores after the company revealed that its international revenue decreased by 8 per cent during the last three months of 2008.

The news of further store closures comes just six months after the company said that it would be closing approximately 600 stores across the US, as well as 61 in Australia in light of declining consumer confidence. Starbucks said that most of the additional store closures – around 200 – will be based in the US, with the remaining 100 stores to be axed from its international operations.

Expansion plans for the US market have also been scaled back, with the number of planned new stores reduced from 200 to 140 in a bid to meet the company's target to save $400m (£280m) during the current financial year. Howard Schultz, Starbucks chief executive, said: "These are very challenging times for everyone at Starbucks. We are working hard to navigate both a deteriorating global economy and the restructuring of our business. And we do so with the ever-present priority to preserve the culture and guiding principles of our company."

The company has blamed the strength of the US dollar against the pound and the Canadian dollar for the fall in international revenue, as well as a "softening of traffic" in both Britain and Canada.