Denny’s Corporation Reports Results for First Quarter 2021

SPARTANBURG, S.C., May 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denny’s Corporation (NASDAQ: DENN), franchisor and operator of one of America's largest franchised full-service restaurant chains, today reported results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2021 and provided a business update on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s operations.

John Miller, Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We entered 2021 confident in the resilience of Denny's given the strength of our franchisees and team that continues to persevere and deliver a great experience to our guests. Our initial optimism is now being supported by sequential sales improvements, as our dining rooms have reopened in various capacities with the increase of vaccine distributions. The easing of dine-in restrictions, coupled with fiscal stimulus and the rollout of our new virtual brands, have resulted in our same-store sales trending toward pre-pandemic levels."

First Quarter 2021 Highlights

• Total Operating Revenue was $80.6 million.
• Domestic system-wide same-store sales** decreased 20.0% compared to the equivalent fiscal period in 2019.
• Domestic system-wide same-store sales** decreased 9.7% compared to the equivalent fiscal period in 2020.
• Opened three franchised restaurants, including two international locations.
• Operating Income was $5.5 million.
• Franchise Operating Margin* was $23.2 million, or 49.5% of franchise and license revenue, and Company Restaurant Operating Margin* was $3.4 million, or 10.1% of company restaurant sales.
• Net Income was $23.2 million, or $0.35 per diluted share.
• Adjusted Net Income* was $0.5 million, or $0.01 per diluted share.
• Adjusted EBITDA* was $11.8 million.
• Cash provided by operating, investing, and financing activities was $10.2 million, $0.2 million, and $0.2 million, respectively.
• Adjusted Free Cash Flow* was $5.2 million.
  

Current Trends

Domestic system-wide same-store sales** sequentially improved on a monthly basis during the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, compared to the equivalent fiscal periods in 2019. This is due to expanding vaccine deployment which has led to the easing of stay-at-home orders and capacity restrictions. As the number of Denny's restaurants operating with open dining rooms steadily improved to 98% of the domestic system, off-premise sales have remained strong.

Additionally, the Company began a phased rollout of its first virtual brand, The Burger Den, during the first quarter. In April 2021, the Burger Den rollout was substantially complete at over 1,100 domestic locations, and the Company began the phased rollout of its second virtual brand, The Meltdown. Transactions for these two virtual brands are highly incremental and leverage labor during underutilized dayparts.

Furthermore, subsequent to the end of the first quarter, the Company paid down an additional $15 million on its revolving credit facility bringing the outstanding balance as of April 30, 2021 to $200 million.

In an effort to provide greater transparency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Denny's is providing the following tables that present monthly results for 2021 compared to the equivalent fiscal periods in 2019:

Domestic System-Wide Same-Store Sales^** Compared to 2019 Fiscal Periods and Domestic Average Units for 2021 Fiscal Periods

First Quarter Results

Denny’s total operating revenue was $80.6 million compared to $96.7 million in the prior year quarter. Franchise and license revenue was $47.0 million compared to $54.4 million in the prior year quarter. Company restaurant sales were $33.6 million compared to $42.3 million in the prior year quarter. These changes were primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sales and fewer equivalent units.

Franchise Operating Margin* was $23.2 million, or 49.5% of franchise and license revenue, compared to $25.2 million, or 46.4%, in the prior year quarter. This margin decrease was primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sales and fewer equivalent units, partially offset by abatements and bad debt expense recorded in the prior year quarter.

Company Restaurant Operating Margin* was $3.4 million, or 10.1% of company restaurant sales, compared to $6.2 million, or 14.6%, in the prior year quarter. This change in margin was primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sales and fewer equivalent units.

Total general and administrative expenses were $16.9 million, compared to $7.7 million in the prior year quarter. This change was primarily due to increases in share-based compensation expense, market valuation changes in the Company's deferred compensation plan liabilities, and performance-based incentive compensation compared to the prior year quarter. These increases were partially offset by a $0.9 million improvement in corporate administrative expenses related to previous reductions in personnel due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other cost savings initiatives.

Denny’s ended the quarter with $229.9 million of total debt outstanding, including $215.0 million of borrowings under its credit facility.

The provision for income taxes was $8.1 million, compared to $2.3 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting an effective tax rate of 25.9%. Approximately $0.4 million in cash taxes were paid during the quarter.

Net income was $23.2 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, compared to net income of $9.0 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, in the prior year quarter. Adjusted Net Income* per diluted share was $0.01 compared to Adjusted Net Income* per diluted share of $0.17 in the prior year quarter.

Adjusted Free Cash Flow* and Capital Allocation

Denny’s Adjusted Free Cash Flow* in the quarter was $5.2 million after investing $1.6 million in cash capital expenditures, including maintenance capital.

Business Outlook

Given the dynamic and evolving impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations and uncertainty about the timing and extent of an anticipated recovery, the Company cannot reasonably provide a business outlook for the fiscal year ending December 29, 2021 at this time.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

Denny’s will provide further commentary on the results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 on its quarterly investor conference call today, Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Interested parties are invited to listen to a live broadcast of the conference call accessible through the investor relations section of Denny’s website at investor.dennys.com.

About Denny’s

Denny's Corporation is the franchisor and operator of one of America's largest franchised full-service restaurant chains, based on the number of restaurants. As of March 31, 2021, Denny’s had 1,649 franchised, licensed, and company restaurants around the world including 148 restaurants in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Philippines, New Zealand, Honduras, the United Arab Emirates, Costa Rica, Guam, Guatemala, El Salvador, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom. For further information on Denny's, including news releases, links to SEC filings, and other financial information, please visit the Denny's investor relations website at investor.dennys.com.

Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The Company urges caution in considering its current trends and any outlook on earnings disclosed in this press release. In addition, certain matters discussed in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which reflect management's best judgment based on factors currently known, are intended to speak only as of the date such statements are made and involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual performance of Denny’s Corporation, its subsidiaries, and underlying restaurants to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements. Words such as “expect”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “intend”, “plan”, “hope”, "will", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Factors that could cause actual performance to differ materially from the performance indicated by these forward-looking statements include, among others: the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, including the potential for further operational disruption from government mandates affecting restaurants; economic, public health, social and political conditions that impact consumer confidence and spending with respect to social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic; competitive pressures from within the restaurant industry; the level of success of the Company’s operating initiatives and advertising and promotional efforts; adverse publicity; health concerns arising from food-related pandemics, outbreaks of flu viruses or other diseases; changes in business strategy or development plans; terms and availability of capital; regional weather conditions; overall changes in the general economy (including with regard to energy costs), particularly at the retail level; political environment (including acts of war and terrorism); and other factors from time to time set forth in the Company’s SEC reports and other filings, including but not limited to the discussion in Management’s Discussion and Analysis and the risks identified in Item 1A. Risk Factors contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2020 (and in the Company’s subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K).

The Company believes that, in addition to GAAP measures, certain non-GAAP financial measures are appropriate indicators to assist in the evaluation of operating performance and liquidity on a period-to-period basis. The Company uses Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Free Cash Flow, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income Per Share internally as performance measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of annual operating budgets, and for compensation purposes, including incentive compensation for certain employees. Adjusted EBITDA is also used in the calculation of financial covenant ratios in accordance with the Company’s credit facility. Adjusted Free Cash Flow is also used as a non-GAAP liquidity measure by Management to assess the Company’s ability to generate cash and plan for future operating and capital actions. Management believes that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income Per Share and Adjusted Free Cash Flow provide useful information to investors and analysts about the Company’s operating results, financial condition or cash flows. However, each of these non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to, not a substitute for, operating income, net income, net cash provided by operating activities, or other financial performance and liquidity measures prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

The Company believes that, in addition to GAAP measures, certain other non-GAAP financial measures are appropriate indicators to assist in the evaluation of restaurant-level operating efficiency and performance of ongoing restaurant-level operations. The Company uses Restaurant-level Operating Margin, Company Restaurant Operating Margin and Franchise Operating Margin internally as performance measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of annual operating budgets, and these three non-GAAP measures are used to evaluate operating effectiveness.

The Company defines Restaurant-level Operating Margin as operating income excluding the following three items: general and administrative expenses, depreciation and amortization, and operating (gains), losses and other charges, net. Restaurant-level Operating Margin is presented as a percent of total operating revenue. The Company excludes general and administrative expenses, which include primarily non-restaurant-level costs associated with support of company and franchised restaurants and other activities at their corporate office. The Company excludes depreciation and amortization expense, substantially all of which is related to company restaurant-level assets, because such expenses represent historical sunk costs which do not reflect current cash outlays for the restaurants. The Company excludes special items, included within operating (gains), losses and other charges, net, to provide investors with a clearer perspective of its ongoing operating performance and a more relevant comparison to prior period results.

Restaurant-level Operating Margin is the total of Company Restaurant Operating Margin and Franchise Operating Margin. The Company defines Company Restaurant Operating Margin as company restaurant sales less costs of company restaurant sales (which include product costs, company restaurant level payroll and benefits, occupancy costs, and other operating costs including utilities, repairs and maintenance, marketing and other expenses) and presents it as a percent of company restaurant sales. The Company defines Franchise Operating Margin as franchise and license revenue (which includes franchise royalties and other non-food and beverage revenue streams such as initial franchise fees, advertising revenue and occupancy revenue) less costs of franchise and license revenue and presents it as a percent of franchise and license revenue.

These non-GAAP financial measures provide a meaningful comparison between periods and enable investors to focus on the performance of restaurant-level operations by excluding revenues and costs unrelated to food and beverage sales in addition to corporate general and administrative expense, depreciation and amortization, and operating (gains), losses and other charges, net. However, each of these non-GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to, not a substitute for, operating income, net income or other financial performance measures prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Restaurant-level Operating Margin, Company Restaurant Operating Margin and Franchise Operating Margin do not accrue directly to the benefit of shareholders because of the aforementioned excluded items, and are not indicative of the overall results for the Company.

Investor Contact:
Curt Nichols
877-784-7167

Media Contact:
Hadas Streit, Allison+Partners
646-428-0629