Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (OTC:BPZZF) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call November 10, 2022 11:30 AM ET
Company Participants
Michael Harbinson – Chief Financial Officer
Jordan Holm – President
Conference Call Participants
Nick Corcoran – Acumen Capital
Operator
Hello. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Boston Pizza’s Third Quarter Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded on November 10, 2022. After the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Participants on the call may also post their questions via email to Boston Pizza’s Investor Relations department at investorrelations@bostonpizza.com. [Operator Instructions]
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Michael Harbinson, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.
Michael Harbinson
Good morning, and thank you. Welcome to the call, everyone. Today, we’ll be discussing the 2022 third quarter results for Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund, or the Fund, and for Boston Pizza International, or BPI. For complete details on our financial results, please see our third quarter materials filed earlier today on SEDAR, or visit the Fund’s website at bpincomefund.com. Should you require additional information after the call, you can reach us via the Investor Relations phone number that is listed in our press release.
The Fund is a limited purpose, open-ended trust established under the laws of British Columbia to acquire indirectly certain trademarks and trade names used by BPI in its Boston Pizza Restaurants in Canada. BPI pays royalty and distribution income to the Fund based on franchise revenues of Royalty Pool restaurants. For a complete description of the Fund and its business, please see the annual information form dated February 9, 2022, which was filed on sedar.com.
Before I turn the call over to Jordan Holm, President of BPI, I would like to note that certain information in the following discussion may constitute forward-looking information. For a more complete definition of forward-looking information and the associated risks, please refer to the Fund’s management discussion and analysis issued earlier today. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this call and, except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances.
And with that, I will now turn the call over to Jordan. Jordan?
Jordan Holm
Thank you, Michael, and welcome, everyone, to Boston Pizza’s Third Quarter Investor Conference Call. Today, I’ll be discussing our third quarter results and sharing a brief outlook. Michael will summarize our key financial highlights, and as usual, we’ll leave time for your questions at the end of today’s call.
The third quarter of 2022 was the second consecutive quarter that exceeded pre-pandemic sales levels. In the quarter, we were pleased to see guests coming back to Boston Pizza restaurants, and our sales performance exceed pre-pandemic levels during this time of recovery.
Turning to our financial results. The Fund posted franchise sales from restaurants in the Royalty Pool of $229.8 million for the quarter and $627.8 million year-to-date, representing increases of 7.9% and 31.7%, respectively, versus the same periods one year ago. Same restaurant sales was 8.4% for the quarter and 32.6% year-to-date. The increases in same-restaurant sales for the quarter and year-to-date compared to the same periods in 2021 was principally due to increases in restaurant guest traffic mainly due to the easing and elimination of dining restrictions and increased average guest check.
COVID-19 first began to adversely affect Boston Pizza Restaurants in March of 2020. As a result, the Fund believes it’s useful to report additional sales metrics that compare sales in 2022 to sales in 2019. Comparing to 2019 allows investors to gauge Boston Pizza’s current sales levels against sales levels on a pre-pandemic basis. If SRS on a franchise sales basis were calculated by comparing to the same periods in 2019, SRS would be 7.4% for the quarter and 0.7% year-to-date. SRS for October 2022 was approximately 23% when compared to the same periods in 2021 and approximately 9% when compared to the same period in 2019. Total franchise sales and the resulting royalty and distribution income for October 2022 was approximately 24% compared to October 2021 and approximately 12% compared to October 2019.
From a marketing standpoint, we began the third quarter of 2022 by bringing back our popular summer patio campaign, which also highlighted new food and drink innovations. We ended the quarter by introducing our full feature menu, which includes two new pizzas and other indulgent food and beverage creations. Both promotions have been well received by our guests. Our Boston Pizza Kids Cards promotion started toward the end of the third quarter, and this promotion is always a favorite for families, where for a $5 donation, they can receive a card for five free kids’ meals. Over $850,000 was raised and donated to the Boston Pizza Foundation through the Boston Pizza Kids Cards promotion this year.
Turning to restaurant development. Boston Pizza opened no new restaurants during the quarter and closed one Boston Pizza restaurants during the quarter. We also completed five restaurant renovations during the period. Restaurants typically close entirely or partially for two to three weeks to complete a renovation, which incorporates updated design elements that result in a refreshed and more appealing restaurant.
We have some exciting initiatives planned to drive sales for the rest of 2022, which I’ll speak about in a moment. But first, I’ll turn the call back to Michael for a review of the Fund’s financial performance. Michael?
Michael Harbinson
Thanks, Jordan. The Fund posted royalty income of $9.2 million for the quarter and $25.1 million year-to-date compared to $8.5 million and $19.1 million, respectively, for the same periods one year ago. The Fund posted distribution income of $3 million for the quarter and $8.3 million year-to-date compared to $2.8 million and $6.3 million, respectively, for the same periods one year ago.
Royalty and distribution income for the Fund – for the quarter and year-to-date were based on 383 Boston Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool that reported franchise sales of $229.8 million for the quarter and $627.8 million year-to-date. For the same periods in 2021, royalty and distribution income were based on the Royalty Pool of 387 Boston Pizza restaurants reporting franchise sales of $213 million for the third quarter and $476.9 million year-to-date.
The Fund’s net and comprehensive income of $9.5 million for the quarter compared to $5.4 million for the third quarter of 2021. A $4.1 million increase in the Fund’s net and comprehensive income for the period compared to the third quarter of 2021 was primarily due to an increase in fair value gain of $3.7 million and an increase in royalty and distribution income of $0.9 million, partially offset by the increase in interest and financing expense of $0.2 million and an increase in income tax expense of again, $0.2 million.
The Fund’s net and comprehensive income was $24.2 million year-to-date, compared to $24.8 million year-to-date in 2021. The $0.6 million decrease in the Fund’s net and comprehensive income year-to-date compared to the same period in 2021 was due to a decrease in the fair value gain of $6 million, an increase in income tax expense of $2 million and an increase in interest and financing expense of $0.5 million, all partially offset by an increase in royalty and distribution income of $8 million.
The Fund’s cash flows generated from operating activities was $9.7 million for the period compared to $9.6 million for the third quarter of 2021. The increase of $0.1 million was due to an increase of royalty and distribution income of $0.9 million, partially offset by a decrease in changes in working capital of $0.8 million. The Fund’s cash flows generated from operating activities was $25.4 million year-to-date compared to $22 million for the same period in 2021. The increase of $3.4 million was due to an increase of royalty and distribution income of $8 million, partially offset by a decrease in changes in working capital of $2.8 million and an increase in income taxes paid of $1.6 million.
While net and comprehensive income or loss and cash flows from operating activities are both measures under International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, the Fund is of the view that net income or loss and cash flow from operating activities do not provide the most meaningful measurement of the Fund’s ability to pay distributions. Net income contains non-cash items that do not affect the Fund’s cash flows, whereas cash flow from operating activities is not inclusive of all the Fund’s required cash outflows, and therefore, it’s not indicative of cash available for distribution to unitholders.
Non-cash items include the fair value adjustments on the investment in Boston Pizza Canada Limited Partnership, the Class B unit liability, interest rate swaps and changes in deferred income taxes. Consequently, the Fund reports the non-IFRS metrics of distributable cash and payout ratio to provide the investors with, in the Fund’s opinion, more meaningful information regarding the Fund’s ability to pay distributions to unitholders.
The Fund generated distributable cash of $7.5 million for the period compared to $6.7 million for the third quarter of 2021. The increase in distributable cash of $0.8 million or 12% was primarily due to a decrease in repayments of long-term debt of $1 million and an increase of cash flows generated from operating activities of $0.1 million, partially offset by increased BPI Class B unit entitlement of $0.2 million and increased SIFT Tax on Units of $0.2 million.
The Fund generated distributable cash of $18.4 million year-to-date compared to $14.4 million for the same period in 2021. The increase in distributable cash of $4 million or 27.7% was primarily due to an increase in cash flow generated from operating activities of $3.4 million and a decrease in repayments of long-term debt of $1.6 million, partially offset by increased BPI Class B unit entitlement of $0.7 million and increased SIFT Tax on Units of $0.4 million.
The Fund generated distributable cash per unit of $0.347 for the period compared to $0.31 per unit for the third quarter of 2021. The increase in distributable cash per unit of $0.037 or 11.9% is primarily due to the increase in distributable cash, as previously described. The Fund generated distributable cash per unit of $0.853 year-to-date compared to $0.668 per unit for the same period in 2021. The increase in distributable cash per unit of $0.185 or 27.7% is primarily due to the increase in distributable cash, as previously described.
The Fund’s payout ratio for the period was 82% compared to 62.9% in the third quarter of 2021. The increase in the Fund’s payout ratio for the period was due to distributions paid increasing by $1.9 million or 46.2%, partially offset by distributable cash increasing by $0.8 million or 12%. The Fund’s payout ratio year-to-date was 93.2% compared to 117.6% year-to-date in 2021. The decrease in the Fund’s payout ratio year-to-date was due to distributable cash increasing by $4 million or 27.7%, partially offset by distributions paid increasing by $0.2 million or 1.3%.
Payout ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of distributions paid during the applicable period by the distributable cash for that period. Accordingly, the payout ratio for year-to-date in 2021 factors in the special distribution of $0.20 per unit that was paid on January 29, 2021, even though the cash generated to Fund that special distribution was generated during 2020.
If the special distribution was excluded in the calculation of payout ratio on a year-to-date basis for 2021, the payout ratio would have been 87.6%. The Fund’s payout ratio is typically higher in the first and fourth quarters compared to the second and third quarters since Boston Pizza restaurants generally experience higher franchise sales levels during the summer months when restaurants open their patios and benefit from increased tourist traffic.
The effects of COVID-19 may materially affect the Fund’s payout ratio. On a trailing 12-month basis, the Fund’s payout ratio was 92.5% as at September 30, 2022. On November 9, 2022, the trustees of the Fund approved a cash distribution for the period of October 1, 2022, to October 31, 2022, of $0.10 per unit for October 2022. The October 2022 distribution will be paid on November 30, 2022, to unitholders of record at the close of business on November 21, 2022. The trustees’ objective in setting a monthly distribution amount is that it be sustainable. The trustees will continue to closely monitor the Fund’s available cash balances, given the volatile economic outlook.
And with that, I will turn the call back to Jordan for more on the outlook. Jordan?
Jordan Holm
Great. Thank you, Michael. As we close out 2022, Boston Pizza has several exciting initiatives underway that we believe will continue to drive improved guest experience and sales performance.
With the NHL hockey season in full swing, we kicked off the fourth quarter of 2022 with our Hockey Night in Canada partnership. This promotion is supported by significant TV, digital and social media channels, along with in-restaurant promotions at participating Boston Pizza Restaurants across the country. And this partnership continues with Hockey Night in Canada throughout the full regular NHL season and offers guests access to a predictive hockey trivia game with every Molson [ph] purchase with many great prices up for grabs throughout the hockey season. This program will also provide guests at Boston Pizza restaurants across Canada with an enhanced and unique hockey-viewing experience.
In addition to this, our 2022 holiday campaign begins next week, and it features a selection of innovative menu items, along with a promotion card bonus offer. The holiday menu includes favorites from our full feature menu, such as the Ribeye Meatloaf Stack, and my personal favorite, the Hearty Jalapeño Popper Dip. For dessert, we have decadent Loaded Brownie S’mores. This year, our guests will also receive a free Ferrero Rocher 3 pack with the purchase of any qualifying holiday menu item.
Sharing a spotlight with our holiday menu at Hockey Night in Canada partnership is our annual holiday gift card incentive program. When a guest purchases at least $50 worth of gift cards, they will receive a promo card for $10 off their purchase, redeemable between January 3 and March 31, 2023.
We continue to be extremely pleased with the efforts of our team and our franchisees during the current recovery phase. The easing and elimination of government-imposed restrictions across Canada related to COVID-19 has been – and has enabled Boston Pizza to continue to drive improved performance and guest visitation.
However, with supply chain challenges, rising interest rates, increasing input costs and labor shortages impacting most of the restaurant industry, BPI’s management remains cautious. BPI’s management continues to adapt the business to mitigate these challenges and to capitalize on the recent sales momentum resulting from the elimination of COVID restrictions in the restaurant industry.
With that, I’d like to begin the question-and-answer session. Operator?
Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please note, those questions that we do not get during the call will be answered via e-mail immediately following the end of the investor conference call. The first question comes from Nick Corcoran with Acumen Capital. Please go ahead.
Nick Corcoran
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.
Jordan Holm
Good morning, Nick.
Nick Corcoran
Just my first question has to do with guest shop compared to 2019. Can you give any color on the levels in 2022?
Jordan Holm
Yes. So we don’t publish in our financial disclosures or public disclosures specific traffic numbers. It’s certainly something that we look at. I think Michael’s comments indicated that the sales recovery that we’re seeing sort of since the operating restrictions were lifted in most parts of the country, kind of February of this year, have been led by higher average guest check, which we believe is driven by the pent-up demand through the COVID period that people have a little bit of a higher savings rate and are getting back to some things that they really enjoyed that they weren’t able to do, like coming out and eating in restaurants and bars and patios, or ordering in.
Takeout delivery has continued to over-index as our part of our sales recovery. But visitation and total guest counts in our restaurants still lags the 2019 level. So it is an average guest check contribution or positive momentum, and we are seeing the numbers come back in terms of guest visitation, and that’s kind of why I talked a lot about some of the promotional activity, both in the second quarter – sorry, the third quarter and currently in the fourth quarter.
Nick Corcoran
That’s helpful. And labor was a challenge earlier in the year. Have you seen any sizable improvement?
Jordan Holm
I think there’s been some directional improvement, Nick. But the reality is that the hospitality sector, before the COVID period hit, had a considerable shortage of staff, and we were seeing that in hotels and restaurants and other parts of our economy, and it’s just been made much more challenging through two years of COVID. And also the challenges of having to close down many of our on-premise operations for periods of time across the country, which means you’re often not able to get shifts to staff and they move into other sectors of the economy, perhaps that are seen as more stable for them.
So we’re trying to draw those people back into our industry and certainly back into our Boston Pizza restaurants. But it is a challenge, and it is somewhat local as well where some – as you know, Boston Pizza has many restaurants across the country in smaller communities, and they have limited pools of employees to draw from. And it can be quite challenging, particularly what we refer to as the heart of house. So the kitchen roles, these days, it is something that we continue to work on as a top priority in terms of supporting our restaurants and continuing the sales recovery that we feel is underway right now.
Nick Corcoran
That’s helpful. And then where was the restaurant they shutdown in the quarter?
Jordan Holm
Michael, do you want to take that one?
Michael Harbinson
Sorry, Nick, I didn’t quite hear that one. Where was the restaurant that shutdown in the quarter?
Nick Corcoran
Yes, exactly.
Michael Harbinson
I can’t recall where the restaurant was – that had shutdown in the quarter. But I mean, from an activity standpoint in terms of the restaurant openings and closures overall, I think the one insight I’d offer up is that we had no new openings in the quarter and just one restaurant that did shutdown in the quarter. But compared to what we’ve been experiencing during the pandemic, the volatility of restaurant closures is now, at least for this period that we’ve just reported, started to really kind of taper off, and that’s a nice thing to see.
Nick Corcoran
And is there – what’s the pipeline for new franchisees, is there – or new restaurants?
Jordan Holm
So we’re encouraged because of the strong sales momentum that we’ve reported now for Q2 and then Q3 that there’s – again, renewed confidence that the full-service restaurant sector is rebounding from the difficulties of the last couple of years for COVID. There are still challenges that we highlighted, including labor, which we just talked about and inflation and other challenges, but we continue to see lots of opportunities, both from a location real estate perspective, underserved markets that Boston Pizza would be quite suitable moving into, and also investors looking at our franchise model, and almost 60 years of brand history. And putting those two things together is something that our – the national development team works on every day.
We do have some new openings in the pipeline for next year. Again, we don’t provide guidance on specific numbers, but we’re encouraged that investor confidence in small businesses and particularly in Boston Pizza franchisees has, I think, recovered in the same way that we see kind of the sales rebounding the guests returning to the restaurants. So we’ll obviously report on new development and new Boston Pizza openings when they occur in the year and years ahead.
But certainly, the feeling is brighter now than perhaps six months ago when we spoke with you about the prospects for both finding locations and also connecting that with investors that are qualified and ready to move forward, both financially and operationally and owning of Boston Pizza Restaurant.
Nick Corcoran
Great. And then just the last question for me. Looking at your debt, is it fixed or variable?
Michael Harbinson
I can take that one. So our Fund’s debt, which is about $90 million as it sits today, 89% of that is fixed through the use of interest rate swaps. And the way the Fund has structured its debt is to, as I said, have about 90% of it fixed and the rest will be floating. And then the swaps themselves are broken into kind of five separate tranches that each expire on a five-year term. And so what that serves to do is really kind of manage the Fund’s interest rate risk because the swaps and fixing the swaps on kind of a five-year staggered cycle really helps from the Fund’s perspective for us to kind of manage the volatility that does happen in the interest rate markets.
Nick Corcoran
Great. That’s all for me. Thanks for, again, taking my questions.
Jordan Holm
Thanks, Nick.
Operator
There are currently no more questions from the phone lines, and this concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to hand the call back to Jordan Holm for any closing remarks.
Jordan Holm
All right. Thank you, operator. And as there are no further questions, I’d like to thank everyone for taking the time to listen in. We look forward to speaking with you all again at our fourth quarter investor conference call in February of 2023. Thanks, everyone.
Michael Harbinson
Thank you, everyone.
Operator
This concludes today’s conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.
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