Brinker International Reports Second Quarter Results

DALLAS - Jan. 25, 2017 // PRNewswire // - Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT) today announced results for the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 28, 2016 and updated its fiscal 2017 outlook.

Highlights include the following:

"We are not satisfied with our second quarter results. While we believe our initiatives can deliver share gains, our overall performance was hurt by a much weaker-than-expected casual dining category," said Wyman Roberts, chief executive officer and president. "We are taking actions to sharpen our focus on more impactful innovation and execution designed to create long-term value for our shareholders."

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Quarterly Operating Performance

CHILI'S second quarter company sales decreased 2.9 percent to $632.1 million from $651.0 million in the prior year primarily due to a decline in comparable restaurant sales. As compared to the prior year, Chili's restaurant operating margin1 declined. Restaurant labor, as a percent of company sales, increased compared to the prior year due to higher wage rates and employee health insurance expenses. Restaurant expenses, as a percent of company sales, increased due to deleverage, higher advertising and repairs and maintenance expenses. Cost of sales, as a percent of company sales, decreased due to increased menu pricing and favorable commodity pricing primarily related to poultry, burgers and prime rib, partially offset by unfavorable menu item mix and commodity pricing primarily related to avocados.

MAGGIANO'S second quarter company sales increased 1.7 percent to $116.6 million from $114.7 million in the prior year primarily due to an increase in restaurant capacity, partially offset by a decline in comparable restaurant sales. As compared to the prior year, Maggiano's restaurant operating margin1 improved. Cost of sales, as a percent of company sales, was positively impacted by favorable commodity pricing and increased menu pricing, partially offset by unfavorable menu item mix. Restaurant expenses, as a percent of company sales, decreased due to lower preopening expenses, partially offset by higher supervision expenses. Restaurant labor, as a percent of company sales, increased due to higher manager bonuses and increased employee health insurance expenses.

1Restaurant operating margin is defined as Company sales less Cost of sales, Restaurant labor and Restaurant expenses and excludes Depreciation and amortization expenses. (See non-GAAP reconciliation below)

FRANCHISE AND OTHER revenues decreased 2.6 percent to $22.3 million for the second quarter compared to $22.9 million in the prior year. Brinker franchisees generated approximately $320 million in sales2 for the second quarter of fiscal 2017.

2Royalty revenues are recognized based on the sales generated and reported to the company by franchisees.

Other

Depreciation and amortization expense increased $0.2 million for the quarter compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2016 primarily due to depreciation on asset replacements and new restaurant openings, partially offset by an increase in fully depreciated assets and restaurant closures.

General and administrative expense increased $1.6 million for the quarter compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2016 primarily due to higher stock compensation and payroll expenses, partially offset by lower performance-based compensation.

On a GAAP basis, the effective income tax rate decreased to 28.2 percent in the current quarter from 30.1 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. Excluding the impact of special items, the effective income tax rate decreased to 28.1 percent in the current quarter compared to 31.3 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2016. The effective income tax rates decreased in the current quarter primarily due to lower profits and the impact of tax credits.

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 operating results. Non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for operating 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.

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Fiscal 2017 Outlook Update

"While we believe our initiatives are gaining traction and plan to enhance our focus to improve performance, we are reducing our full-year adjusted EPS guidance primarily to reflect lower category sales than originally planned," said Tom Edwards, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The company is updating guidance for fiscal 2017 due to changes in our performance expectations and recent reorganization activities. We continually examine our business model to identify efficiencies and react to changes in the business environment. We have reorganized Chili's restaurant operations team and certain positions at the Restaurant Support Center to streamline our staffing to align with our current management strategy. We estimate that this action will result in severance and other separation related charges of approximately $6.0 million. These amounts will be recorded in the third quarter of fiscal 2017 in the Other gains and charges caption of our consolidated statements of comprehensive income. We anticipate that this reorganization will result in pre-tax savings of over $5 million in fiscal 2017 and approximately $12 million on an annualized basis.

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 adjusted earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, to US GAAP earnings per diluted share.

The company estimates that earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, will be in the range of $3.05 to $3.15. Our updated earnings expectations are based on the following assumptions:

The company believes providing fiscal 2017 earnings per diluted share, excluding special items, guidance provides investors the appropriate insight into the company's ongoing operating performance.

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 statements of comprehensive income and will only provide updates if there is a material change versus the original guidance.

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 Web site at 9 a.m. CST today (Jan. 25) –

http://investors.brinker.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=119205&p=irol-EventDetails&EventId=5246124

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 Web site until the end of the day Feb. 22, 2017.

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 Web site under the Financial Information section of the Investor tab.

Forward Calendar

About Brinker

Brinker International, Inc. is one of the world's leading casual dining restaurant companies. Founded in 1975 and based in Dallas, Texas, as of Dec. 28, 2016, Brinker owned, operated, or franchised 1,658 restaurants under the names Chili's® Grill & Bar (1,606 restaurants) and Maggiano's Little Italy® (52 restaurants).

Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act 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 are, in many instances, beyond our control. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, general business and economic conditions, financial and credit market conditions, credit availability, reduced disposable income, the impact of competition, the impact of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions, franchisee success, the seasonality of the company's business, increased minimum wages, increased health care costs, adverse weather conditions, future commodity prices, product availability, fuel and utility costs and availability, terrorist acts, consumer perception of food safety, changes in consumer taste, health epidemics or pandemics, changes in demographic trends, availability of employees, unfavorable publicity, the company's ability to meet its business strategy plan, acts of God, governmental regulations, inflation, technology failures, and failure to protect the security of data of our guests and teammates, as well as the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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SOURCE Brinker International, Inc.

Contacts:

Joe Taylor
Investor Relations
(972) 770-9040

Aisha Fletcher
Media Relations
Media.requests@brinker.com
(800) 775-7290

About Brinker International

Brinker International, Inc. is one of the world's leading casual dining restaurant companies.

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