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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Keg Royalties Income Fund (the “Fund”) (TSX: KEG.UN) is pleased to announce its financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2023 (the “quarter”) and the nine months ended September 30, 2023 (“YTD”).
HIGHLIGHTS
- Royalty Pool Sales(1) down 1.5% to $176.1M for the quarter and up 8.5% to $539.2M YTD
- KRL Average Sales per Operating Week(1) down 1.1% to $130,000 per Operating Week for the quarter and up by 4.6% to $132,000 per Operating Week YTD
- Same Store Sales(1) up 0.2% for the quarter and up 9.7% YTD
- Distributable Cash(1) down 2.8% to $0.286/Fund unit for the quarter and up 13.2% to $0.921/Fund YTD
- Payout Ratio(2) was 99.3% for the quarter and 92.5% YTD
Royalty Pool Sales reported by the 107 Keg restaurants in the Royalty Pool were $176,091,000 for the quarter, a decrease of $2,772,000 or 1.5% from the comparable quarter of the prior year. Year-to-date, Royalty Pool sales increased by $42,249,000 or 8.5% to $539,181,000. The decrease in Royalty Pool Sales during the third quarter of 2023 was mostly due to the loss of sales at restaurants temporarily closed for renovation during that quarter. Management of KRL opted to temporarily close several restaurants for renovation during the third quarter of 2023, to capitalize on anticipated guest volumes during the fourth quarter of 2023. The YTD increase in Royalty Pool sales was primarily due to 130 more Operating Weeks(1) in the first nine months of the current year, than in the first nine months of the prior year. During the first quarter of the prior year, restaurants were closed for 218 Operating Weeks because of temporary government-mandated restaurant closures related to the Covid-19 pandemic, whereas in the current year there were no such closures.
Royalty income decreased by $111,000 or 1.6% from $7,155,000 in the three months ended September 30, 2022 to $7,044,000 in the three months ended September 30, 2023. For the first nine months of 2023 royalty income increased by $1,690,000 or 8.5% from $19,877,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 to $21,567,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2023.
Distributable Cash available to pay distributions to public unitholders decreased by $95,000 from $3,339,000 ($0.294/Fund unit) to $3,244,000 ($0.286/Fund unit) for the quarter, and increased by $1,215,000 from $9,236,000 ($0.813/Fund unit) to $10,451,000 ($0.921/Fund unit) year-to-date. During the third quarter of 2023 and 2022, distributions of $3,222,000 ($0.284/Fund unit) were paid to Fund unitholders. During the first nine months of both 2023 and 2022, distributions of $9,666,000 ($0.851/Fund unit) were paid to Fund unitholders. The Payout Ratio was 99.3% for the third quarter of 2023 and 92.5% year-to-date.
The Fund remains financially well positioned with cash on hand of $2,428,000 and a positive working capital balance of $3,722,000 as at September 30, 2023.
(1) This is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure. Please refer to the “non-GAAP and other financial measures disclosure (NI 52-112)” section of this press release.
(2) This is a non-IFRS ratio. Please refer to the “non-GAAP and other financial measures disclosure (NI 52-112)” section of this press release.
“We are satisfied with KRL’s sales performance during the third quarter of 2023,” said Nick Dean, President of KRL. “Same Store Sales grew by 0.6% in Canada, and declined by 4.5% in the United States, resulting in consolidated Same Store Sales of 0.2%. During the quarter, our locations in Texas and Arizona, where six or our eight U.S. locations reside, were negatively impacted by a prolonged heat wave, with extreme temperatures effectively eliminating outdoor-dining, and causing many guests to remain in the comfort of their homes.”
“We are very pleased with the financial results of the Fund during the third quarter of 2023,” said Kip Woodward, Chairman of the Fund. “We are particularly pleased with the number of restaurant renovations that are taking place, as historically a restaurant’s sales increase meaningfully following a renovation.”
NON-GAAP AND OTHER FINANCIAL MEASURES DISCLOSURE ("NI 52-112")
NI 52-112 prescribes disclosure requirements that apply to certain Non-IFRS measures known as "specified financial measures". This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures which provides important information regarding the Fund's financial performance and ability to pay distributions to unitholders. By considering these non-IFRS measures in combination with IFRS measures, the Fund believes that readers are provided with additional and more useful information about the Fund's financial performance as opposed to considering IFRS measures alone. The terms "Royalty Pool Sales", “System Sales”, "Same Store Sales", “Operating Weeks”, "Distributable Cash Before SIFT Tax", "Distributable Cash", "Payout Ratio" and “Average Sales per Operating Week” are non-IFRS measures and non-IFRS ratios. These non-IFRS measures reported by the Fund do not have standardized meanings as prescribed by IFRS, and the Fund's method of calculating these measures may differ and may not be comparable to similar measures reported by other issuers.
"Royalty Pool Sales" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure representing the total gross sales reported by Keg restaurants included in a specified Royalty Pool, for which the Fund receives a royalty of 4% on these reported gross sales in any period.
"System Sales" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure representing the gross sales of all corporate restaurants owned by KRL, and the gross sales reported to KRL by franchise restaurants without independent audit, in any period. The total System Sales of KRL are of interest to readers as it best reflects KRL’s overall sales performance.
"Same Store Sales" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure representing the overall increase or decrease in gross sales from a group of Keg restaurants (those restaurants that operated during the entire period of both the current and prior years), compared to gross sales for the same group of restaurants for the same period of the prior year.
"Operating Weeks" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure representing the number of weeks a restaurant is open for in-store dining, without significant capacity restrictions, during a respective period.
"Distributable Cash Before SIFT Tax" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure and is defined as the periodic cash flows from operating activities as reported in the IFRS 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" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure and is defined as 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.
"Payout Ratio" is a non-IFRS ratio and 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).
"Average Sales per Operating Week" is a non-IFRS supplementary financial measure and is defined as the sales generated by an average restaurant during those operating weeks when restaurants were fully open for in-store dining, during a respective period. This metric is calculated by dividing total System Sales for any financial period by the total Operating Weeks open during the same financial period.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
| Three months ended | Nine months ended | |||||||||||||||
| September 30, | September 30, | September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||
| ($000's expect per unit amounts) | 2023 | 2022 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||||||||||
| Restaurants in the Royalty Pool | 107 | 107 | 107 | 107 | ||||||||||||
| Royalty Pool Sales (1) | $ | 176,091 | $ | 178,863 | $ | 539,181 | $ | 496,932 | ||||||||
| Royalty income (2) | $ | 7,044 | $ | 7,155 | $ | 21,567 | $ | 19,877 | ||||||||
| Interest income (3) | 1,103 | 1,086 | 3,277 | 3,208 | ||||||||||||
| Total income | $ | 8,147 | $ | 8,241 | $ | 24,844 | $ | 23,085 | ||||||||
| Administrative expenses (4) | (119 | ) | (117 | ) | (374 | ) | (367 | ) | ||||||||
| Interest and financing expenses (5) | (269 | ) | (185 | ) | (760 | ) | (413 | ) | ||||||||
| Operating income | $ | 7,759 | $ | 7,939 | $ | 23,710 | $ | 22,305 | ||||||||
| Distributions to KRL (6) | (3,229 | ) | (3,253 | ) | (9,841 | ) | (9,295 | ) | ||||||||
| Profit before fair value gain (loss) and income taxes | $ | 4,530 | $ | 4,686 | $ | 13,869 | $ | 13,010 | ||||||||
| Fair value gain (loss) (7) | 13,135 | 1,118 | 13,735 | (3,096 | ) | |||||||||||
| Income tax recovery (expense) (8) | (1,214 | ) | (1,260 | ) | (3,652 | ) | (3,506 | ) | ||||||||
| Profit (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) | $ | 16,451 | $ | 4,544 | $ | 23,952 | $ | 6,408 | ||||||||
| Distributable Cash Before SIFT Tax (9) | $ | 4,450 | $ | 4,586 | $ | 14,153 | $ | 12,699 | ||||||||
| Distributable Cash (10) | $ | 3,244 | $ | 3,339 | $ | 10,451 | $ | 9,236 | ||||||||
| Distributions to Fund unitholders (11) | $ | 3,222 | $ | 3,222 | $ | 9,666 | $ | 9,666 | ||||||||
| Payout Ratio (12) | 99.3 | % | 96.5 | % | 92.5 | % | 104.7 | % | ||||||||
| Per Fund unit information (13) | ||||||||||||||||
| Profit before fair value gain (loss) and income taxes | $ | 0.399 | $ | 0.413 | $ | 1.222 | $ | 1.146 | ||||||||
| Profit (loss) and comprehensive income (loss) | $ | 1.449 | $ | 0.400 | $ | 2.110 | $ | 0.564 | ||||||||
| Distributable Cash Before SIFT Tax (9) | $ | 0.392 | $ | 0.404 | $ | 1.247 | $ | 1.119 | ||||||||
| Distributable Cash (10) | $ | 0.286 | $ | 0.294 | $ | 0.921 | $ | 0.813 | ||||||||
| Distributions to Fund unitholders (11) | $ | 0.284 | $ | 0.284 | $ | 0.851 | $ | 0.851 | ||||||||
Notes:
(1) Royalty Pool Sales are the gross sales reported by Keg Restaurants included in the Royalty Pool in any period. As of September 30, 2023, the Royalty Pool includes 107 Keg restaurants, 105 of which are currently operating and 2 of which are permanently closed and will be removed from the Royalty Pool on December 31, 2023. Of the 105 Keg restaurants currently operating, 49 are owned and operated by KRL and its subsidiaries, (42 in Canada and 7 in the United Sates), and 56 Keg restaurants which are owned and operated by Keg franchisees (55 of which are in Canada, and 1 in the United States).
(2) The Fund, indirectly through The Keg Rights Limited Partnership (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 include the Specified Investment Flow-through Trust tax (“SIFT tax”) expense, and either a non-cash deferred tax expense or deferred tax recovery. The deferred tax expense or recovery primarily results from differences in income recognition between the Fund’s accounting methods and enacted tax laws. It is also partially due to temporary differences between accounting and tax bases of the Keg Rights owned by the Partnership.
(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 and nine months ended September 30, 2023 were 11,353,500 (three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 – 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.
With approximately 10,000 employees, over 100 restaurants and annual System Sales approaching $700 million, Vancouver-based KRL is the leading operator and franchisor of 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 the number one restaurant company to work for in Canada in the latest edition of Forbes "Canada's Best Employers 2023" survey, securing third place in the overall ranking across all industries in the country.
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.
