Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (BPFUN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Boston Pizza's First Quarter Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded on May 11, 2022. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Michael Harbinson, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to the call. We'll be discussing the 2022 first quarter results for both 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 first quarter materials that were 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 and 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?

Thank you, Michael, and welcome, everyone, to Boston Pizza's first quarter investor conference call. Today, I'll be discussing our first quarter 2022 results, and then will share 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. We are pleased to see our sales performance improve compared to the same period 1 year ago. With the easing of dining restrictions near the end of the first quarter, we saw an increase in guest traffic to our restaurants and are excited to welcome our guests while ensuring we continue to safely operate the dining rooms, sports bars and patios of Boston Pizza restaurants across Canada. Turning to our financial results. The Fund posted franchise sales from restaurants in the Royalty Pool of $178.6 million for the quarter, representing an increase of 38.5% versus the same period 1 year ago. Same restaurant sales or SRS was positive 39.1% for the quarter. Positive results for the quarter were principally due to increases in restaurant guest traffic, mainly due to the easing of dining restrictions during the quarter. 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 results allows investors to gauge Boston Pizza's current sales levels against the sales levels on a pre-pandemic basis. If SRS on a franchise sales basis were calculated by comparing to the same period in 2019, SRS would be negative 10.5% for the first quarter. SRS for April 2022 was approximately 84% when compared to the same period in 2021 and approximately 70% when compared to the same period in 2019. Total franchise sales and the resulting royalty and distribution income for April 2022 increased by approximately 82% compared to April 2021 and approximately 3% compared to April 2019. From a marketing standpoint, we began the first quarter of 2022 with our Budweiser NFL playoff meal deal campaign and our popular new winter feature menu. These promotions paired perfectly with the lineup of sporting events during the first quarter. February saw our popular Valentine's Day promotion on February 14, where $1 from each heart-shaped pizza and mint chocolate cake sold go to help local charities. We'd like to thank our generous customers for supporting the Valentine's Day promotion during these challenging times. The Boston Pizza foundation raised over $300,000 this year to help local charities and communities across Canada. The first quarter concluded with a strong kids eat free national promotion for the month of March, which saw positive increases to both guest traffic and to sales. Turning to restaurant development. Boston Pizza opened no new restaurants during the first quarter, and we permanently closed 2 restaurants during the quarter. BPI continues to focus on the safety of our guests and restaurant staff serving our communities with take-out, delivery and on-premise dining as permitted and helping our franchisees effectively manage through the next phase of the pandemic. I'll now pass it to Michael for a review of The Fund's financial performance. Michael?

Thank you, Jordan. The Fund posted royalty income of $7.1 million for the quarter compared to $5.2 million for the same period 1 year ago. The Fund posted distribution income of $2.4 million for the quarter compared to $1.7 million for the same period 1 year ago. Royalty and distribution income for the quarter were based on 383 Boston Pizza Restaurants in the Royalty Pool that reported franchise sales of $178.6 million for the quarter. In the same period in 2021, royalty and distribution income were based on the Royalty Pool of 387 Boston Pizza restaurants reporting franchise sales of $129 million. The Fund's net and comprehensive income was $12.9 million for the quarter compared to net and comprehensive income of $11.6 million for the first quarter of 2021. The $1.3 million increase in The Fund's net and comprehensive income for the period compared to the first quarter of 2021 was primarily due to an increase in royalty and distribution income of $2.6 million and an increase in fair value gain of $0.8 million, partially offset by an increase in income tax expense of $1.9 million and an increase in interest expense on Class B units of $0.2 million. The Fund's cash flow generated from operating activities was $6.7 million for the period compared to $5.9 million for the first quarter of 2021. This increase of $0.7 million was due to an increase of royalty and distribution income of $2.6 million, partially offset by a decrease in changes in working capital of $1.3 million and an increase in income tax paid of $0.6 million. While net and comprehensive income or loss and cash flows from operating activities are measures under international financial reporting standards or IFRS, The Fund is of the view that net income or loss and cash flows from operating activities do not provide the most meaningful measurement of The Fund's ability to pay distributions. Net income contains noncash items that do not affect us on cash flow whereas cash flow from operating activities is not inclusive of all The Fund's required cash outflows and therefore is not indicative of cash available for distribution to unitholders. Noncash items include the fair value adjustments on the investment in Boston Pizza Canada Limited Partnership, 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 investors with, in The Fund's opinion, more meaningful information regarding The Fund's ability to pay distribution to unitholders. The Fund generated distributable cash of $4.7 million for the period compared to $3.7 million for the first quarter of 2021. That increase in distributable cash of $1 million or 28.1% was primarily due to an increase in cash flow generated from operating activities of $0.7 million and a decrease in repayments of long-term debt of $0.5 million, partially offset by increased BPI Class B unit entitlement of $0.2 million. The Fund generated distributable cash per unit of $0.218 for the period compared to $0.17 per unit for the first quarter of 2021. The increase in distributable cash per unit of $0.048 or 28.2% was primarily due to the increase in distributable cash outlined above. The Fund's payout ratio for the period was 116.8% compared to 231.8% in the first quarter of 2021. The decrease in The Fund's payout ratio for the period was due to distributions paid decreasing by $3 million or 35.4% and distributable cash increasing by $1 million or 28.1%. Payout ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of distribution paid during an applicable period by the distributable cash for that period. Accordingly, the payout ratio for the first quarter of 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 fiscal 2020. If the special distribution was excluded in the calculation of payout ratio for the first quarter of 2021, the payout ratio would have been 114.5%. 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 9.2% as of March 31, 2022. On May 10, 2022, the trustees of The Fund approved a cash distribution for the period of April 1, 2022 to April 30, 2022, of $0.085 per unit, which will be payable on May 31, 2022, to unitholders of record on May 21, 2022. The trustee's 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 continued volatility and economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19. While COVID-19 persists, the trustees expect that the franchise sales, same-restaurant sales and the resulting royalty and distribution income along with distributable cash available for distribution to unitholders will continue to be adversely affected. With that, I will now turn the call back over to Jordan for more on the outlook. Jordan?

Thank you, Michael. We continue to be extremely pleased with the efforts of our team and our franchisees during these challenging times. During the second quarter of 2022, we have a specially priced burger and a beer promotion, featuring a pint of beer and a burger for just $17.99. Also in the second quarter, we look forward to opening our patios to guests and to the launch of our summer patio campaign, introducing new food and drink menus on our summer feature menu. BPI management continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation and modify the operating procedures of Boston Pizza Restaurants to ensure the safety of our guests and staff. We are pleased with the improving COVID case counts and easing of government restrictions. Our top priority is to responsibly and safely operate the dining rooms, sports bars and patios of Boston Pizza restaurants across Canada. We'll continue to maximize our take-out and delivery business while also adapting other areas of the business to responsibly address the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19. With that, I'd like to begin the question-and-answer session. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Nick Corcoran with Acumen Capital.

You provided an indication of system sales in April. Can you maybe provide some color on how system sales grew through the quarter and into April and what they might look like in May?

So Michael, do you want to take that one?

Yes, for sure. Maybe I'll speak to it from a same-restaurant sales perspective. So just to recap the results that we've published so far. So when we look at same restaurant sales and -- on a franchise sales basis for Q1 2022 and compare that back to the pre-pandemic baseline of 2019, we were negative 10.5% in the quarter, and it was really the second half -- roughly second half of the first quarter that we just completed that saw the majority of the strength within the quarter. So the first half of the quarter was characterized by the typical pandemic impact of us being negatively impacted by COVID just due to the government restrictions that were in place. And as the quarter progressed, the government restrictions have started to ease. And so we definitely saw a strong trend -- positive trend towards the end of the first quarter, and that really carried into April. So we reported in April same restaurant sales as being approximately positive 7% compared to the 2019 baseline. So again, comparing that to a pre-pandemic benchmark. And we took that to be very kind of strong and positive results. As Jordan said, that was really underpinned by the easing of government restrictions and to some degree, just kind of pent-up demand getting released and coming to Boston Pizza as well as just very kind of favorable kids eat free promotion in March that had some positive momentum into April. So -- and then in terms of how this plays out into May, we're only, I guess, just a week or so into May. But the positive momentum that we saw in April appears to be kind of continuing on. But -- yes, without getting into anything too forward-looking, it's been a nice trend so far.

Good. And then have you seen any impact from the network from either labor or supply chain issues?

Yes. Jordan, go ahead.

Yes. Thanks, Michael. So yes, those would be the 2 primary pressure points right now as well as rising operating costs. Those would be the 3 big ones. Labor is an issue that goes back in the hospitality industry in Canada to pre-pandemic times. There was a shortage of available staff members. And we have been developing a number of strategies to attract and more quickly train and onboard and retain staff in our restaurants, particularly the heart of house, which is the kitchen area. Just very difficult to find workers in certain markets, and that's only been exacerbated through the last 24 months of disruption during the COVID period. So labor -- definitely, supply chain continues to be a challenge. And we did have some pre-pandemic challenges like transportation strikes and the blockages and the occasional disruption, but really nothing like the last 24 months where farmers, food producers, manufacturers and shipping have all been greatly disrupted and are still in the process of all recovering back to pre-pandemic levels and beyond. So yes, supply chain, labor and as I mentioned, just the rising input costs right now that are all affected by labor and by other costs like transportation, gasoline, things like that, that have a factor in pricing that affects our cost of goods sold. So definitely, those are 3 areas as we're coming out of the pandemic era that we're keeping a very close eye on and doing our best as an organization to help the franchisees of Boston Pizza to navigate the recovery period over the months ahead.

And has -- labor, supply chain issues or rising input costs, have those impacted your franchisee economics?

I think yes. To some extent temporarily, we believe that all 3 of those items have had an impact. So the supply chain, as an example, at times when we were unable to get certain items in certain regions of the country, we will have replacement products, and those can occasionally be more expensive than the core. Labor at times, you -- when there's a scarcity of anything, the price of that item goes up. And with labor, that's what we're seeing now, is that whether it's to retain people or to attract people, it's not just the rising minimum wage as dictated by provincial governments, but it's just the price that you need to pay in the market in order to have stable, reliable skilled labor in your restaurant. So there has been a disruption to both supply chain and labor, which are 2 of the major categories of input costs, and it has had a headwind impact on restaurant-level profitability. I think that, that would be quite common in the industry right now. However, as we recover back to pre-pandemic sales levels and beyond and once we see, I believe, a recovery and stabilization of some of the disruption that we've been through economically over the last 2 months, that we'll get back to the levels of restaurant profitability that we're accustomed to.

And then there were 2 restaurants that were closed in the quarter. Do you think there's any other restaurants that might be at risk of closing? And what's your pipeline for new restaurants look like?

Sure. So the -- we did have 2 permanent closures. We historically have had a very low closure rate in the Boston Pizza system. That's a testament to the business model of Boston Pizza, having essentially 4 concepts under 1 roof. We have our dining rooms, our sports bars, our take-out and delivery. And increasingly, our patios are becoming kind of that fourth component of sales opportunity and then a strong menu and food cost advantage with the pizza and pasta. So the model, the commitment of the franchisees have always given us a low closure rate relative to full-service restaurant brands that we're aware of. In the COVID period, we have seen a few closures just due to the disruption and the financial challenges and also really the real estate. Real estate does have a life of its own and it changes. And sometimes it makes sense to let a restaurant close and move or to shift the sales to a nearby location, if that's a better strategy. So we did have 2 closures in the first quarter. Every closure is a very unique situation and requires an analysis of what's the -- in many instances, it involves lease economics or the relationship with the landlord. We know that there were subsidy programs in place during the pandemic, but things are recovering and those programs have gone away. And so that's often the linchpin, is getting a financial structure that works for our franchisees so that they can hit their rate of sales estimates and also their bottom line profitability. So in terms of pipeline, we are continuing to look at new locations for Boston Pizza. Our priority through the pandemic has really been the protection of the existing restaurants. However, we do have both sites and individuals in our pipeline across the country looking at developing new Boston Pizza Restaurants or converting existing restaurants into Boston Pizzas. This week, for example, we're at the Restaurants Canada show in Toronto. We have our franchise sales team in force there to talk to people about either locations or opportunities that we have for development, and we'll continue to do that. And in keeping with Boston Pizza's heritage, a lot of those new development locations tend to be in smaller towns. Rural communities is where we kind of built our bread and butter of 380-plus restaurants across the country. And so I can't give you the list right now, but we have a few in mind for this year. And whether they get done this year or next year is less important to us than that they open up strong and that they are sustainable restaurants in those communities when they do open.

Great. That's good color. And then the last question for me, how is take-out and delivery?

Yes. Maybe I'll start and then turn this one over to Michael as well. So I mean take-out and delivery has been a part of the Boston Pizza model for over 50 years. We're 58 years old this year. So we have a lot of experience with take-out and delivery in our restaurants particularly in Western Canada. The brand started in Edmonton in 1964. So lots of very high levels of take-out and delivery in our system. Nationally, when we were coming into the pandemic, we had about 18% of total sales being done through take-out and delivery, about 10% through delivery and 8% through the take-out or pick-up. In the early days of the pandemic when our dining rooms and bars were closed nationally due to COVID restrictions across the country, we were able to quickly double the level of sales through our take-out and delivery channels. And we continued and continue to this day to push very strongly on take-out and delivery to keep our kitchens open, to keep our staff engaged, our sales levels up in the restaurants as much as we can and also the continued connections in serving the communities where we operate. Many of them have really needed prepared food options through the pandemic, and Boston Pizza has used take-out and delivery stronger than ever before. In terms of the ongoing trend, Michael, do you want to comment on take-out and delivery?

Yes. I think that -- I think you've covered most of it, but it has been kind of a strong part of our business. It's really been almost a silver lining to the pandemic, which is we've kind of built up that side of our business in a way that hopefully sticks with us to some extent going forward. Like if we look at the components of our take-out and delivery business, whether it be phone orders or website orders or even the partnerships that we have with Uber Eats and Skip and DoorDash, in each case, the business has grown compared to pre-pandemic levels. So I think we take that as a very positive indicator, and hopefully, some of that remains with us as we exit COVID over the next whatever period that's going to be.

There are no more questions in the queue. I'd like to hand the call back over to Jordan for closing remarks.

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 today. We continue to safely welcome back more guests to our restaurants, and we look forward to speaking with you all again at our second quarter conference call in August 2022. Thanks, everyone.

Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.