Not for distribution to U.S. News wire services or dissemination in the U.S.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Keg Royalties Income Fund (the “Fund”) (TSX:KEG.UN) is pleased to announce its financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ended December 31, 2017. Royalty Pool sales, royalty income and distributable cash all increased from the prior year to reach new record levels.
The Royalty Pool sales reported by the 100 Keg restaurants in the Royalty Pool increased by $5,802,000 or 3.9% to $153,639,000 for the fourth quarter, and by $24,018,000 or 4.2% to $600,969,000 for the year. The increase in Royalty Pool sales during the quarter and year to date, reflect the sales of the new Keg restaurant added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2017, and same store sales increases of 4.8% for the quarter and 4.7% for the year.
The Keg’s same store sales (sales of restaurants that operated during the entire period of both the current and prior years) increased by 5.1% in Canada and by 6.5% in the United States for the 13-week period ended December 31, 2017. For the 52-week period ended December 31, 2017, same store sales increased by 5.1% in Canada and by 4.3% in the United States. After translating the sales of the U.S. restaurants into their Canadian dollar equivalent, consolidated same store sales increased by 4.8% for the 13-week period and by 4.7% for the 52-week period. The average exchange rate moved from 1.3356 to 1.2710 in the comparable 13-week period, and from 1.3250 to 1.2976 in the comparable 52-week period, significantly reducing the Canadian dollar equivalent of the U.S. restaurant sales.
Royalty income increased by $295,000 or 5.0% from $5,931,000 in the three months ended December 31, 2016 to $6,226,000 in the three months ended December 31, 2017. For the year ended December 31, 2017 royalty income increased by $1,193,000 or 5.2% from $23,101,000 to $24,294,000.
Distributable cash before SIFT tax decreased by $30,000 from $4,053,000 (35.7 cents/Fund unit) to $4,023,000 (35.4 cents/Fund unit) for the quarter and increased by $522,000 from $17,127,000 ($1.509/Fund unit) to $17,649,000 ($1.554/Fund unit) for the year. Distributable cash available to pay distributions to public unitholders decreased by $80,000 from $2,940,000 (25.9 cents/Fund unit) to $2,860,000 (25.2 cents/Fund unit) for the quarter and increased by $322,000 from $12,807,000 ($1.128/Fund unit) to $13,129,000 ($1.156/Fund unit) year to date.
The Fund remains financially well-positioned with cash on hand of $2,490,000 and a positive working capital balance of $2,726,000 as at December 31, 2017. The Fund’s payout ratio was 123.5% for the fourth quarter of 2017 and 98.3% for the year.
“We are very pleased with the financial performance of the Fund during 2017, particularly the increase in cash available for distribution to Fund unitholders,” said David Aisenstat, President and CEO of Keg Restaurants Ltd. “In addition, strong same store sales growth of 4.7% during 2017, helped drive annual Royalty Pool sales over $600,000,000."
On February 22, 2018 Cara Operations Limited (“Cara”) and Keg Restaurants Ltd (“KRL”) announced the successful completion of their previously announced merger. The Trustees of the Fund would like to confirm that this merger does not in any way involve the operations or the units of the Fund. The Fund will remain in its current form and will continue to receive royalties from Keg restaurants based on the gross sales from Keg restaurants included in the Royalty Pool. There are no changes to the documents or the contractual relationship between the Fund and KRL and/or The Keg Rights Limited Partnership arising out of the completion of the Cara and KRL merger.
Cara and KRL have announced that The Keg restaurants will continue to be run under the leadership of Mr. Aisenstat following the merger and that the Trustees of the Fund will not change as part of the merger.
“The Fund will continue to look out for the unitholders’ interests in the same manner as it did prior to the completion of the transaction between The Keg and Cara,” said Kip Woodward, Chairman of the Fund’s Trustees. “We look forward to maintaining our long-standing relationship with The Keg, and to the continued growth in new store openings and top line, revenue sales growth.”
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
| Oct. 1 | Oct. 1 | Jan. 1 | Jan. 1 | ||||||||||||||
| to Dec. 31, | to Dec. 31, | to Dec. 31, | to Dec. 31, | ||||||||||||||
| ($000’s except per unit amounts) | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | |||||||||||||
| Restaurants in the Royalty Pool | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | |||||||||||||
| Royalty Pool sales (1) | $ | 153,639 | $ | 147,837 | $ | 600,969 | $ | 576,951 | |||||||||
| Royalty income (2) | $ | 6,226 | $ | 5,931 | $ | 24,294 | $ | 23,101 | |||||||||
| Interest income (3) | 1,082 | 1,076 | 4,283 | 4,279 | |||||||||||||
| Total income | $ | 7,308 | $ | 7,007 | $ | 28,577 | $ | 27,380 | |||||||||
| Administrative expenses (4) | (96) | (98) | (379) | (384) | |||||||||||||
| Interest and financing expenses (5) | (127) | (108) | (463) | (436) | |||||||||||||
| Operating income | $ | 7,085 | $ | 6,801 | $ | 27,735 | $ | 26,560 | |||||||||
| Distributions to KRL (6) | (2,517) | (2,408) | (9,969) | (9,485) | |||||||||||||
| Profit before fair value gain (loss) and income taxes | $ | 4,568 | $ | 4,393 | $ | 17,766 | $ | 17,075 | |||||||||
| Fair value gain (loss) (7) | 2,013 | 2,185 | 3,991 | (11,408) | |||||||||||||
| Income taxes (8) | (1,284) | (1,142) | (4,700) | (4,399) | |||||||||||||
| Profit (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) | $ | 5,297 | $ | 5,436 | $ | 17,057 | $ | 1,268 | |||||||||
| Distributable cash before SIFT tax (9) | $ | 4,023 | $ | 4,053 | $ | 17,649 | $ | 17,127 | |||||||||
| Distributable cash (10) | $ | 2,860 | $ | 2,940 | $ | 13,129 | $ | 12,807 | |||||||||
| Distributions to Fund unitholders (11) | $ | 3,531 | $ | 3,468 | $ | 12,911 | $ | 12,591 | |||||||||
| Payout Ratio (12) | 123.5% | 118.0% | 98.3% | 98.3% | |||||||||||||
| Per Fund unit information (13) | |||||||||||||||||
| Profit before fair value gain (loss) and income taxes | $ | .402 | $ | .387 | $ | 1.565 | $ | 1.504 | |||||||||
| Profit (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) | $ | .467 | $ | .479 | $ | 1.502 | $ | .112 | |||||||||
| Distributable cash before SIFT tax (9) | $ | .354 | $ | .357 | $ | 1.554 | $ | 1.509 | |||||||||
| Distributable cash (10) | $ | .252 | $ | .259 | $ | 1.156 | $ | 1.128 | |||||||||
| Distributions to Fund unitholders (11) | $ | .311 | $ | .305 | $ | 1.137 | $ | 1.109 | |||||||||
Notes:
| (1) | Royalty Pool sales are the gross sales reported by Keg Restaurants included in the Royalty Pool in any period. As of December 31, 2017, the Royalty Pool includes 100 Keg restaurants, 46 of which are owned and operated by KRL and its subsidiaries, (36 in Canada and 10 in the United Sates), and 54 Keg restaurants which are owned and operated by Keg franchisees (all of which are in Canada). As of December 31, 2017, four corporate and three franchised restaurants, as well as one relocated franchise restaurant (all opened subsequent to October 2, 2016), are not yet included in the Royalty Pool, while two permanently closed restaurants (closed subsequent to December 31, 2016) remain in the Royalty Pool and require Make-Whole payments. | ||
| (2) | The Fund, indirectly through the “Partnership”, earns royalty income equal to 4% of gross sales of Keg restaurants in the Royalty Pool. | ||
| (3) | The Fund directly earns interest income on the $57.0 million Keg Loan, with interest income accruing at 7.5% per annum, payable monthly. | ||
| (4) | The Fund, indirectly through the Partnership, incurs administrative expenses and interest on the operating line of credit, to the extent utilized. | ||
| (5) | The Fund, indirectly through The Keg Holdings Trust (the “Trust”), incurs interest expense on the $14.0 million term loan and amortization of deferred financing charges. | ||
| (6) | Represents the distributions of the Partnership attributable to KRL during the respective periods on the Class A, entitled Class B, and Class D Partnership units (“Exchangeable units”) and Class C Partnership units held by KRL. The Exchangeable units are exchangeable into Fund units on a one-for-one basis. These distributions are presented as interest expense in the financial statements. | ||
| (7) | Fair value gain (loss) is the non-cash decrease or increase in the market value of the Exchangeable units held by KRL during the respective period. Exchangeable units are classified as a financial liability under IFRS. The Fund is required to determine the fair value of that liability at the end of each reporting period and adjust for any increase or decrease, taking into consideration the sale of any Exchangeable units and Additional Entitlements during the same period. | ||
| (8) | Income taxes for the three months ended December 31, 2017, include SIFT tax expense of $1,163,000 (three months ended December 31, 2016 – $1,113,000) and non-cash deferred tax expense of $121,000 (three months ended December 31, 2016 – $29,000. Income taxes for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017, include SIFT tax expense of $4,520,000 (twelve months ended December 31, 2016 – $4,320,000) and a non-cash deferred tax expense of $180,000 (twelve months ended December 31, 2016 – $79,000). | ||
| (9) | Distributable cash before SIFT tax is defined as the periodic cash flows from operating activities as reported in the IFRS condensed consolidated financial statements, including the effects of changes in non-cash working capital, plus SIFT tax paid (including current year instalments), less interest and financing fees paid on the term loan, less the Partnership distributions attributable to KRL through its ownership of Exchangeable units. Distributable cash before SIFT tax is a non-IFRS financial measure that does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. | ||
| (10) | Distributable cash is the amount of cash available for distribution to the Fund’s public unitholders and is calculated as distributable cash before SIFT tax, less current year SIFT tax expense. Distributable cash is a non-IFRS financial measure that does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. However, the Fund believes that distributable cash, both before and after SIFT tax, provides useful information regarding the amount of cash available for distribution to the Fund’s public unitholders. | ||
| (11) | Distributions to Fund unitholders include all regular monthly cash distributions paid to Fund unitholders during a period and any special distributions, either declared or paid, to Fund unitholders in the same period. | ||
| (12) | Payout ratio is computed as the ratio of aggregate cash distributions paid during the period plus any special distributions declared or paid during the same period (numerator) to the aggregate distributable cash of the period (denominator). | ||
| (13) | All per unit amounts are calculated based on the weighted average number of Fund units outstanding, which are those units held by public unitholders during the respective period. The weighted average number of Fund units outstanding for the three months ended December 31, 2017 were 11,353,500 (three months ended December 31, 2016 – 11,353,500), and for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 were 11,353,500 (twelve months ended December 31, 2016 – 11,353,500). | ||
The Fund (TSX:KEG.UN) is a limited purpose, open-ended trust established under the laws of the Province of Ontario that, through The Keg Rights Limited Partnership, owns certain trademarks and other related intellectual property used by Keg Restaurants Ltd. (“KRL”). In exchange for use of those trademarks, KRL pays the Fund a royalty of 4% of gross sales of Keg restaurants included in the royalty pool.
Vancouver-based KRL is the leading operator and franchisor of the Keg steakhouse restaurants in Canada and has a substantial presence in select regional markets in the United States. KRL continues to operate The Keg restaurant system and expand that system through the addition of both corporate and franchised Keg steakhouses. KRL has been named one of the “50 Best Employers in Canada” for the past fifteen years by Aon Hewitt. For more information on our brand, visit www.kegsteakhouse.com.
This press release may contain certain "forward looking" statements reflecting The Keg Royalties Income Fund's current expectations in the casual dining segment of the restaurant food industry. Investors are cautioned that all forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the Keg’s ability to continue to realize historical same store sales growth, changes in market and existing competition, new competitive developments, and potential downturns in economic conditions generally. Additional information on these and other potential factors that could affect the Fund's financial results are detailed in documents filed from time to time with the provincial securities commissions in Canada.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, which may be made only by means of the prospectus, nor shall there be any sale of the Fund units in any state, province or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any state, province or jurisdiction. The Keg Royalties Income Fund units have not been, and will not, be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an application for exemption from the registration requirement under U.S. securities laws.
The Trustees of the Fund have approved the contents of this press release.
For further information:
Ryan Bullock, Vice President of Marketing
Tel: (416) 646-4960
ryan.bullock@kegrestaurants.com www.kegincomefund.com