DALLAS, April 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) today announced results for the fiscal third quarter ended March 27, 2019.

Highlights include the following:

• Earnings per diluted share, on a GAAP basis, in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 28.4% to $1.31 compared to $1.02 in the third quarter of fiscal 2018
• Earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 16.7% to $1.26 compared to $1.08 in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 (see non-GAAP reconciliation below)
• Brinker International's Company sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 2.7% to $811.6 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Total revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 3.3% to $839.3 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018
• Chili's company-owned comparable restaurant sales increased 2.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018. Chili's U.S. franchise comparable restaurant sales increased 2.0% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018
• Maggiano's company-owned comparable restaurant sales increased 0.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018
• Chili's international franchise comparable restaurant sales decreased 3.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018
• Operating income, as a percent of Total revenues, was 8.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to 8.9% in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 representing a decrease of approximately 50 basis points
• Restaurant operating margin, as a percent of Company sales, was 14.3% in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 which included the impact of the sale leaseback transactions and adopting the new revenue accounting standard ("ASC 606"), compared to 16.1% in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 (see non-GAAP reconciliation below). Excluding the impact of the sale leaseback transactions and ASC 606, Restaurant operating margin would have been flat year-over-year
• Cash flows provided by operating activities in the thirty-nine week period ended March 27, 2019 was $150.6 million and capital expenditures totaled $128.0 million resulting in free cash flow of $22.6 million (see non-GAAP reconciliation below) which was reduced by $75.0 million in cash tax payments related to the gain on the sale leaseback transactions. Proceeds from sale leaseback transactions of $468.8 million are included in Cash flows provided by investing activities
• The Company's Board of Directors approved a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share on the common stock of the Company. The dividend will be payable June 27, 2019 to shareholders of record as of June 7, 2019

"Brinker posted strong comp sales growth and industry leading traffic again in the third quarter," said Wyman Roberts, CEO and President. "This marked our 5th consecutive quarter of significantly outperforming the category in traffic. Our focus continues to be on elevating our guest experiences and providing true every day value to increase the frequency and loyalty of our guests."

QUARTERLY OPERATING PERFORMANCE

Company Sales and Company Restaurant Expenses

Chili's Company sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 3.0% to $709.8 million from $688.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to an increase in comparable restaurant sales. As compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018, Chili's restaurant operating margin⁽¹⁾ declined. Chili's Restaurant expenses, as a percent of Company sales, increased compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to higher rent expense associated with the new operating leases entered into as part of the sale leaseback transactions and the impact of adopting ASC 606, partially offset by sales leverage. Cost of sales, as a percent of Company sales, increased compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to unfavorable menu item mix and commodity pricing, partially offset by increased menu pricing. Restaurant labor, as a percent of Company sales, increased compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018 due to higher wage rates and incentive compensation, partially offset by sales leverage and lower employee health insurance expenses.

Maggiano's Company sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 0.2% to $101.8 million from $101.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to an increase in comparable restaurant sales. As compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018, Maggiano's restaurant operating margin⁽¹⁾ declined. This was primarily driven by Restaurant expenses, as a percent of Company sales, that increased compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018, primarily due to higher rent and repairs and maintenance expenses. Cost of sales, as a percent of Company sales, also increased compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to unfavorable menu item mix and commodity pricing, partially offset by increased menu pricing. This was partially offset by a decrease in Restaurant labor, as a percent of Company sales, primarily due to lower incentive compensation, partially offset by higher wages.

Franchise and Other Revenues

Franchise and other revenues in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 25.9% to $27.7 million from $22.0 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to the adoption of ASC 606 during the first quarter of fiscal 2019. Please refer to "REVENUE RECOGNITION UPDATE" section below for more details on the new revenue standard. Brinker franchisees generated approximately $335.0 million in sales⁽²⁾ in the third quarter of fiscal 2019.

Other

Depreciation and amortization expense in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 decreased $1.1 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to an increase in fully depreciated assets, sale leaseback transactions and restaurant closures, partially offset by additions for existing restaurants primarily related to Chili's remodels and new restaurants.

General and administrative expense in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 increased $4.1 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018 primarily due to higher incentive compensation and stock compensation expenses.

Income Taxes

On a GAAP basis, the effective income tax rate in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 decreased to 10.3% compared to 20.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2018. The Tax Act lowered the federal statutory tax rate from 35.0% to 21.0% effective January 1, 2018. Additionally, our fiscal 2019 effective income tax rate is further lowered due to an increase in the FICA tax credit benefit, partially offset by the impact of sale leaseback transactions.

Guidance Policy

Brinker provides annual guidance as it relates to comparable restaurant sales, earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, and other key line items in the consolidated statements of comprehensive income and will only provide updates if there is a material change versus the original guidance. We are unable to reliably forecast special items such as restaurant impairments, restaurant closures, reorganization charges and legal settlements without unreasonable effort. As such, we do not present a reconciliation of forecasted non-GAAP measures to the corresponding GAAP measures. If special items are reported in the remainder of fiscal 2019, reconciliations to the appropriate GAAP measures will be provided.

COMPARABLE RESTAURANT SALES

The table below presents the percent change in company-owned and franchise comparable restaurant sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2018, and the third quarter of fiscal 2018 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2017:

NON-GAAP MEASURES

Brinker management uses certain non-GAAP measures in analyzing operating performance and believes that the presentation of these measures in this release provides investors with information that is beneficial to gaining an understanding of the Company's financial results. Non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for financial results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are included in the tables below.

Reconciliation of Net Income and Earnings Per Share Excluding Special Items

Brinker believes excluding special items from its financial results provides investors with a clearer perspective of the Company's ongoing operating performance and a more relevant comparison to prior period results. The following reconciliation is presented in millions, except per share amounts.

Reconciliation of Restaurant Operating Margin

Restaurant operating margin is not a measurement determined in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered in isolation, or as an alternative to operating income as an indicator of financial performance. Restaurant operating margin is widely regarded in the restaurant industry as a useful metric by which to evaluate restaurant-level operating efficiency and performance of ongoing restaurant-level operations. This non-GAAP measure is not indicative of overall company performance and profitability in that this measure does not directly accrue benefit to the shareholders due to the nature of costs excluded. We define Restaurant operating margin as Company sales less Company restaurant expenses, including Cost of sales, Restaurant labor and Restaurant expenses. We believe this metric provides a more useful comparison between periods and enables investors to focus on the performance of restaurant-level operations by excluding revenues not related to food and beverage sales at company-owned restaurants, corporate General and administrative expense, Depreciation and amortization, and Other (gains) and charges.

Restaurant operating margin excludes Franchise and other revenues which are earned primarily from franchise royalties and other non-food and beverage revenue streams such as banquet service charges, digital entertainment revenues and gift card breakage. Depreciation and amortization expense, substantially all of which is related to restaurant-level assets, is excluded because such expense represents historical costs which do not reflect current cash outlays for the restaurants. General and administrative expense includes primarily non-restaurant-level costs associated with support of the restaurants and other activities at our corporate offices and is therefore excluded. We believe that excluding special items, included within Other (gains) and charges, from Restaurant operating margin provides investors with a clearer perspective of the Company's ongoing operating performance and a more useful comparison to prior period results. Restaurant operating margin as presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies in our industry.

The adoption of the new revenue standard, ASC 606, in first quarter of fiscal 2019 changed the presentation and recording of certain items contained within Franchise and other revenues, Operating income, and Restaurant operating margin. The adoption did not have a significant impact. For more details about the impact of adopting the new revenue standard please refer to the "REVENUE RECOGNITION UPDATE" section below. The following reconciliation is presented in millions, except percentages.

Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow

Brinker believes presenting free cash flow provides a useful measure to evaluate the cash flow available for reinvestment after considering the capital requirements of our business operations (in millions).

During the thirty-nine week period ended March 27, 2019, Cash flows provided by operating activities - GAAP were reduced by $75.0 million of cash tax payments related to the gain on the sale leaseback transactions. The cash proceeds received from the sale leaseback transactions of $468.8 million are recorded in Cash flows provided by investing activities during the thirty-nine week period ended March 27, 2019.

WEBCAST INFORMATION

Investors and interested parties are invited to listen to today's conference call, as management will provide further details of the quarter. The call will broadcast live on Brinker's website today, April 30, 2019 at 9 a.m. CDT:

http://investors.brinker.com/events/event-details/q3-2019-brinker-international-earnings-conference-call

For those who are unable to listen to the live broadcast, a replay of the call will be available shortly thereafter and will remain on Brinker's website until the end of the day May 28, 2019.

Additional financial information, including statements of income which detail operations excluding special items, franchise and other revenues, and comparable restaurant sales trends by brand, is also available on Brinker's website under the Financial Information section of the Investor tab.

FORWARD CALENDAR

• SEC Form 10-Q for the third quarter of fiscal 2019 filing on or before May 6, 2019; and
• Fourth quarter earnings release on August 13, 2019.

ABOUT BRINKER

Brinker International, Inc. is one of the world's leading casual dining restaurant companies. Based in Dallas, Texas, as of March 27, 2019, Brinker owned, operated, or franchised 1,676 restaurants under the names Chili's^® Grill & Bar (1,623 restaurants) and Maggiano's Little Italy^® (53 restaurants).

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements and tables contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are based on our current plans and expectations and involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical results or from those projected in forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are, in many instances, beyond our control. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the impact of competition, changes in consumer preferences, consumer perception of food safety, reduced disposable income, unfavorable publicity, increased minimum wages, governmental regulations, the impact of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions, the Company's ability to meet its business strategy plan, loss of key management personnel, failure to hire and retain high-quality restaurant management, the impact of social media, failure to protect the security of data of our guests and team members, product availability, regional business and economic conditions, litigation, franchisee success, inflation, changes in the retail industry, technology failures, failure to protect our intellectual property, outsourcing, impairment of goodwill or assets, failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, actions of activist shareholders, adverse weather conditions, terrorist acts, health epidemics or pandemics, and tax reform, as well as the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our fiscal 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K and future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

REVENUE RECOGNITION UPDATE

Effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, we adopted ASC 606 and did not elect to restate the prior year financial statements to reflect the application of the standard. The primary impact of the adoption is the change in presentation of advertising fees received from franchisees and the timing of recognition for franchise related revenues and gift card breakage. Under ASC 606, advertising fees are now presented on a gross basis as a component of Franchise and other revenues. Under the previous revenue accounting guidance ("Legacy GAAP"), the advertising fees were recorded as a reduction to advertising expenses within Restaurant expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income. The recognition timing change for franchise related fees and gift card breakage, both recorded in Franchise and other revenues, did not have a significant impact to our results of operations during the third quarter of fiscal 2019.

The following table presents a comparative view of the thirteen and thirty-nine week period ended March 27, 2019 results prepared in accordance with ASC 606 versus Legacy GAAP.

 

 

 

 

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SOURCE Brinker International, Inc.

MIKA WARE, INVESTOR RELATIONS, investor.relations@brinker.com; AISHA FLETCHER, MEDIA RELATIONS, media.requests@brinker.com; (800) 775-7290, 3000 OLYMPUS BOULEVARD, DALLAS, TEXAS 75019