UPDATE 1-CKE Restaurants posts Q1 loss on charges, unemployment

* Q1 loss/shr $0.06 vs EPS $0.26, last year

* Q1 sales down 3 pct at $435.2 mln vs est $435.3 mln

* Restaurant margins down 320 basis points

June 22 (Reuters) - CKE Restaurants Inc CKR.N, owner of the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. hamburger chains, posted a first-quarter loss, weighed down by one-time costs and stung by high unemployment in its core California market and among its main customers.

For the quarter ended May 17, the company which in April accepted a $694 million takeover offer from affiliates of Apollo Management, reported a net loss of $3.1 million, or 6 cents a share, compared with a profit of $14.4 million or 26 cents, last year.

The net loss includes $20.9 million in transaction fees and costs.

Revenue fell 3 percent to $435.2 million. Same-store sales at company-operated Carl's Jr. restaurants fell 6.1 percent, while the Hardees chain saw a same-store sales decline of 1.2 percent on the same basis.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 18 cents on revenue of $435.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Company-operated restaurant margins narrowed 320 basis points to 16.7 percent on costs related to remodeling activities as well as higher commodity and labor costs.

Separately, the company also reported same-store sales for its period five ended June 14 fell 1.1 percent driven down by the Carl's Jr. chain.

Shares of the company, which, closed at $12.46 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)