LAKE FOREST, Calif. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - October 15, 2020 - Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. (“Del Taco” or the “Company”), (NASDAQ:TACO), the second largest Mexican-American quick service restaurant chain by units in the United States, today reported fiscal third quarter 2020 financial results for the 12-week period ending September 8, 2020 and provided a business update.
Management Commentary
John D. Cappasola, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Del Taco, commented, “As we continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities related to COVID-19, I am proud of our actions to stabilize our business as demonstrated by our strong third quarter performance. Positive third quarter comparable restaurant sales for company-operated and franchised restaurants reflects our value-oriented QSR+ positioning, expanding off-premise convenience and use of innovation with the very successful launch of new fresh Guacamole and our Crispy Chicken menu. We also drove operational efficiencies and maintained our cost discipline to help slightly expand our restaurant contribution margin after adjusting for the timing of advertising expense which will normalize during our fourth quarter.”
Cappasola concluded, “We are delivering great experiences and driving high overall guest satisfaction scores due to the exceptional work and dedication of our restaurant teams, franchisees and support center employees. Their efforts have established a solid foundation that we plan to leverage with continued innovation including the recent introduction of a new flavor to our Crispy Chicken menu through our partnership with Cholula. Looking ahead to 2021, we plan to elevate our brand engagement and transform our digital capability through a holistic CRM platform to incentivize and reward our fans, and launch our ‘Ultimate Convenience’ initiative to expand our access and convenience through new technology.”
Fiscal Third Quarter 2020 Highlights
* Adjusted net income, restaurant contribution, and adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measures and defined below under “Key Financial Definitions”. Please see the reconciliation of non-GAAP measures accompanying this release.
Liquidity
During the fiscal third quarter, the Company reduced its outstanding revolving credit facility borrowing by $21 million to $124 million from $145 million at the end of both the fiscal second quarter and last year’s fiscal fourth quarter. The Company currently has $108.7 million available under its revolving credit facility.
Review of Fiscal Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results
Total revenue increased 0.5% to $120.8 million compared to $120.2 million in the fiscal third quarter 2019. Comparable restaurant sales increased 4.1% system-wide, increased 2.0% at company-operated restaurants, and increased 6.5% at franchised restaurants.
Net income was $5.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $7.7 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, last year.
Adjusted net income*, which excludes sublease income for closed restaurants, impairment of long-lived assets, restaurant closure charges, loss on disposal of assets and adjustments to assets held for sale, and executive transition costs, was $6.0 million or $0.16 per diluted share compared to adjusted net income* of $3.7 million or $0.10 per diluted share last year.
Restaurant contribution* was $19.7 million compared to $18.6 million in the fiscal third quarter 2019. As a percentage of company-operated restaurant sales, restaurant contribution margin increased 120 basis points year-over-year to 18.0%. The increase was the result of an approximate 120 basis point decrease in food and paper costs and an approximate 30 basis point decrease in labor and related expenses, partially offset by an approximate 20 basis point increase in occupancy and other operating expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA* was $15.3 million compared to $14.5 million in the fiscal third quarter 2019.
Restaurant Development
During the fiscal third quarter 2020, one company-operated restaurant and four franchise-operated restaurants opened and two franchise-operated restaurants closed. There are two planned franchise restaurant openings in the fiscal fourth quarter 2020, including the first Del Taco restaurant opening in Ohio.
Fiscal Year 2020 Guidance Withdrawn
As a reminder, Del Taco previously withdrew guidance for the 52-week fiscal year 2020 ending December 29, 2020.
Conference Call and Webcast
A conference call and webcast is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET today. Hosting the conference call and webcast will be John D. Cappasola, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer; and Steven L. Brake, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Interested parties may listen to the conference call via telephone by dialing 201-689-8471. A telephone replay will be available shortly after the call has concluded and can be accessed by dialing 412-317-6671; the passcode is 13710596.
The webcast will be available at the Del Taco website under the investors section and will be archived on the site shortly after the call has concluded.
Key Financial Definitions
Comparable restaurant sales growth reflects the change in year-over-year sales for the comparable company, franchise and total system restaurant base. Restaurants are included in the comparable store base in the accounting period following its 18th full month of operations and excludes restaurant closures.
Restaurant contribution* is defined as company restaurant sales less restaurant operating expenses, which are food and paper costs, labor and related expenses and occupancy and other operating expenses. Restaurant contribution margin is defined as restaurant contribution as a percentage of company restaurant sales. Restaurant contribution and restaurant contribution marginare neither required by, nor presented in accordance with, GAAP. Restaurant contribution and restaurant contribution margin are supplemental measures of operating performance of restaurants and the calculations thereof may not be comparable to those reported by other companies. Restaurant contribution and restaurant contribution margin have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as substitutes for analysis of results as reported under GAAP. Management believes that restaurant contribution and restaurant contribution 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 contribution and restaurant contribution margin as key performance indicators to evaluate the profitability of incremental sales at Del Taco restaurants, to evaluate restaurant performance across periods and to evaluate restaurant financial performance compared with competitors.
Adjusted EBITDA* is defined as net income/loss prior to interest expense, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization, as adjusted to add back certain charges, such as impairment of goodwill, trademark and long-lived assets, stock-based compensation expense and restaurant closure charges, as these expenses are not considered an indicator of ongoing company performance. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure and should not be considered as an alternative to operating income or net income/loss as a measure of operating performance or cash flows or as measures of liquidity. Non-GAAP financial measures are not necessarily calculated the same way by different companies and should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. We believe Adjusted EBITDA facilitates operating performance comparisons from period to period by isolating the effects of some items that vary from period to period without any correlation to core operating performance or that vary widely among similar companies. These potential differences may be caused by variations in capital structures (affecting interest expense), tax positions (such as the impact on periods or changes in effective tax rates or net operating losses) and the age and book depreciation of facilities and equipment (affecting relative depreciation expense). We also present Adjusted EBITDA because (i) we believe this measure is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry and (ii) we use Adjusted EBITDA internally as a benchmark to compare performance to that of competitors.
Adjusted net income * represents company net income before impairment of goodwill, trademark and long-lived assets, restaurant closure charges, sublease income related to closed restaurants, other income, executive transition costs and loss on disposal of assets and adjustments to assets held for sale, net of tax. Adjusted diluted net income per share* represents company diluted net income per share before impairment of goodwill, trademark and long-lived assets, restaurant closure charges, sublease income related to closed restaurants, other income, executive transition costs and loss on disposal of assets and adjustments to assets held for sale, net of tax.
Del Taco (NASDAQ:TACO) offers a unique variety of both Mexican and American favorites such as burritos and fries, prepared fresh in every restaurant's working kitchen with the value and convenience of a drive-thru. Del Taco's menu items taste better because they are made with quality ingredients like fresh grilled chicken and carne asada steak, hand-sliced avocado, hand-grated cheddar cheese, slow-cooked beans made from scratch, and creamy Queso Blanco. The brand's campaign further communicates Del Taco's commitment to providing guests with the best quality and value for their money through cooking, chopping, shredding and grilling menu items from scratch. Founded in 1964, today Del Taco serves more than three million guests each week at its approximately 600 restaurants across 15 states. For more information, visit the Del Taco website.
Forward-Looking Statements
In addition to historical information, this release may contain a number of “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, information concerning Del Taco’s possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, competitive position, industry environment, potential growth opportunities and the effects of regulation. These statements are based on Del Taco’s management’s current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. When used in this press release, the words “estimates,” “projected,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “forecasts,” “plans,” “intends,” “believes,” “seeks,” “target,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “future,” “propose,” “preliminary,” “guidance,” “on track” and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside Del Taco’s management’s control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These risks include, without limitation, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand, our inability to successfully open company-operated or franchised restaurants or establish new markets, competition in our markets, our inability to grow and manage growth profitably, adverse changes in food and supply costs, our inability to access additional capital, changes in applicable laws or regulations (including minimum wage regulations), food safety and foodborne illness concerns, our inability to manage existing and to obtain additional franchisees, our inability to successfully execute our portfolio optimization strategy, our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel, our inability to profitably expand into new markets, changes in, or the discontinuation of, the Company’s repurchase program, and the possibility that we may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Additional risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in Del Taco’s reports filed with the SEC, including under Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and Part II., Item 1A. Risk Factors in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 16, 2020, and available at the SEC’s website and the Company’s website.
Forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date of this release. Del Taco undertakes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or otherwise.
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SOURCE Del Taco Restaurants, Inc.
At Del Taco, all menu items taste better because they are made to order with fresh ingredients.