MINNEAPOLIS - October 26, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) announced today financial results for the third quarter ended September 25, 2016. Highlights for the third quarter versus the same period a year ago were:
Sally Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Our focus is to return to industry-leading same-store sales. To advance these efforts and drive traffic, in the third quarter we implemented a 15-minute guarantee for FastBreak™ lunch and Half-Price Wing Tuesdays®. Both programs are seeing initial success. To deliver value to shareholders, we increased our credit facility to $500 million in October allowing us to execute against our expanded share repurchase authorization."
Ms. Smith concluded, "As we look forward to 2017, we remain committed to continued innovation in delivering a differentiated experience in casual dining and we're identifying areas of opportunity to improve margins. Our new menu launches next week and we are excited for our new burger launch. We're continuing to implement our Blazin' Rewards™ loyalty program and we have begun third-party delivery in 90 company-owned restaurants."
Total revenue increased 8.5% to $494.2 million in the third quarter, compared to $455.5 million in the third quarter of 2015. Company-owned restaurant sales for the quarter increased 9.0% over the same period in 2015, to $470.6 million, driven by 40 additional Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants at the end of the third quarter of 2016, partially offset by a same-store sales decrease of 1.8%. Franchise royalties and fees decreased 1.0% to $23.5 million for the quarter, versus $23.8 million in the third quarter of 2015. This decrease is attributed to a same-store sales decrease of 1.6% at franchised Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants.
Average weekly sales for company-owned Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants were $59,690 for the third quarter of 2016, compared to $61,831 for the same quarter last year, a 3.5% decrease. Franchised Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in the United States averaged $61,497 for the period, versus $62,819 in the third quarter a year ago, a 2.1% decrease.
Under the share repurchase authorization, 36,600 shares were repurchased during the third quarter of 2016 for a total of $5.9 million.
For the third quarter, net earnings increased 17.8% to $22.7 million, versus $19.2 million in the third quarter of 2015. Earnings per diluted share were $1.23, compared to third quarter 2015 earnings per diluted share of $1.00.
For 2016, the company expects the following new unit development:
For 2016, the company expects the following:
For 2017, the company expects the following new unit development:
Buffalo Wild Wings will be hosting a conference call today, October 26, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time to discuss these results. There will be a simultaneous webcast conducted at our investor website IR.BuffaloWildWings.com.
A replay of the call will be available until November 2, 2016. To access this replay, please dial 1-412-317-6671 password 2296003.
Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc., founded in 1982 and headquartered in Minneapolis, is a growing owner, operator and franchisor of Buffalo Wild Wings® restaurants featuring a variety of boldly-flavored, made-to-order menu items including its namesake Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings. The Buffalo Wild Wings menu specializes in 21 mouth-watering signature sauces and seasonings with flavor sensations ranging from Sweet BBQ™ to Blazin'®. Guests enjoy a welcoming neighborhood atmosphere that includes an extensive multi-media system for watching their favorite sporting events. Buffalo Wild Wings is the recipient of hundreds of "Best Wings" and "Best Sports Bar" awards from across the country. There are currently more than 1,200 Buffalo Wild Wings locations around the world.
To stay up-to-date on all the latest events and offers for sports fans and wing lovers, like Buffalo Wild Wings on Facebook, follow @BWWings on Twitter and visit www.BuffaloWildWings.com.
Various remarks we make about future expectations, plans, and prospects for the company constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the Safe Harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to our future financial and restaurant performance measures and growth goals, including but not limited to those relating to our fourth quarter trends, projected unit and net earnings growth rates, and projected share repurchase activity and capital expenditures. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements and are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology, including "anticipates," "believes," "can," "continue," "could," "estimates," "expects," "goal," "intends," "may," "plans," "potential," "predicts," "should," "scheduled," or "will" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Actual results may vary materially from those contained in forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to achieve and manage our planned expansion, the ability of our franchisees to open and manage new restaurants, market acceptance in the new geographic regions we enter (particularly international locations), success of acquired restaurants, success of investments in new or emerging concepts, unforeseen obstacles in developing nontraditional sites or non-U.S. locations, our ability to obtain and maintain licenses and permits necessary to operate our existing and new restaurants, our franchisees' adherence to our system standards, the cost of commodities such as traditional chicken wings and supply chain consistency, the success of our key initiatives and our advertising and marketing campaigns, our ability to control restaurant labor and other restaurant operating costs, the continued service of key management personnel, our ability to protect our name and logo and other proprietary information, economic conditions (including changes in consumer preferences or consumer discretionary spending), the impact of federal, state or local government regulations relating to our employees, the sale of food and alcoholic beverages, the effect of competition in the restaurant industry, and other factors disclosed from time to time in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the factors described under "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 27, 2015, as updated in subsequent reports filed with the SEC. Investors should take such risks into account when making investment decisions. Shareholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
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The following table expresses results of operations as a percentage of total revenue for the periods presented, except for restaurant operating costs which are expressed as a percentage of restaurant sales:
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Restaurant Count Rollforward:
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Restaurant-Level Profit and Restaurant-Level Margin
Restaurant-level profit and restaurant-level margin are neither required by, nor presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and are non-GAAP financial measures. Restaurant-level profit is defined restaurant sales less restaurant operating costs (cost of sales, labor, operating, and occupancy expense). Restaurant-level margin is defined as restaurant-level profit as a percentage of restaurant sales. Restaurant-level profit and restaurant-level margin have limitations as analytical tools, and should not be evaluated in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of results as reported under U.S. GAAP. Management believes the restaurant-level profit and restaurant-level margin are important tools for investors because they are widely-used metrics within the restaurant industry to evaluate restaurant-level productivity, efficiency and performance. Management uses restaurant-level profit and restaurant-level margin as key performance indicators to evaluate the profitability of company-owned restaurants.
A reconciliation of restaurant sales to restaurant-level margin is provided below:
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SOURCE Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc
Heather Pribyl
Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc.
Investor Relations
952-540-2095
Buffalo Wild Wings® restaurants features a variety of boldly-flavored, made-to-order menu items including its namesake Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings.