Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund

Hello, this is the course call conference operator. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Boston Pizza's first quarter conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded on May 9th, 2025. After the presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Participants on the call may also pose their questions via email to Boston Pizza's Investor Relations Department at InvestorRelations at BostonPizza.com. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star then zero on a telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Michael Harbinson, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, and welcome to the call, everyone. Today, we'll be discussing the 2025 first quarter results for both Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund, or the fund, and for Boston Pizza International, or BPI. For complete details on our financial results, please see our first quarter materials filed earlier today on CDAR+, or visit the Fund's website at bpincomefund.com. Should you require additional information after the call, you can reach us via the Investor Relations phone number that is listed in our press release. The Fund is a limited-purpose, open-ended trust established under the laws of British Columbia to acquire, indirectly, certain trademarks and trade names used by BPI, in its Boston Pizza restaurants in Canada. BPI pays royalty income and distribution income to the fund based on franchise revenues of royalty pool restaurants. For a complete description of the fund and its business, please see the annual information form dated March 28, 2025, which was filed on cdarplus.ca. Before I turn the call over to Jordan Holm, President of BPI, I would like to note that certain information in the following discussion may constitute forward-looking information. For a more complete definition of forward-looking information and the associated risks, please refer to the Fund's Management Discussion and Analysis issued earlier today. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this call and, except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances. And with that, I will now turn the call over to Jordan. Jordan?

Thank you Michael and welcome everyone to Boston Pizza's first quarter 2025 investor conference call. Today I'll be discussing our first quarter results and share a brief outlook. Michael will then summarize our key financial highlights and as usual we'll leave time for your questions at the end of today's call. In the first quarter Boston Pizza achieved record high first quarter total franchise sales and delivered strong same restaurant sales results. Our engaging promotions was focused on day parts and late night sectors, clearly resonated with guests, bringing excitement and energy into our restaurants across Canada. Additionally, sustained momentum in our takeout and delivery business contributed meaningfully to our strong same restaurant sales performance. The fund posted franchise sales from restaurants in the royalty pool of $231.1 million for the first quarter, representing an increase of 4.1% versus the same period one year ago. Same restaurant sales was 4.4% for the first quarter and was principally due to the positive performance of promotional initiatives, sustained momentum in the takeout delivery business, and the benefit of being compared to softer performance in the first quarter of 2024. From a marketing perspective, we kicked off the first quarter with Boston Pizza's past the Tuesday all month long promotion in January. where guests enjoyed pastas every day of the week starting at just $11.99 with gourmet pastas available for $15.99. The promotion paired perfectly with the winter lineup of sporting events as we continued our partnership with Hockey Night in Canada throughout the full regular NHL season. To celebrate the NFL playoff season, we introduced an exciting NFL Pepsi promotion offering guests special pricing on six-packs and a chance to win exclusive NFL prizes, including a trip to the Super Bowl. On February 14, 2025, we celebrated one of our most cherished traditions at Boston Pizza, Valentine's Day with heart-shaped pizzas. For every pizza sold, $1 was donated to support local charities across our communities. Thanks to the generosity of our guests, this meaningful promotion raised over $600,000 for the Boston Pizza Foundation and local charities across Canada. In terms of restaurant development, the first quarter saw no new restaurants opened or closed, and six restaurants have undergone renovations. We have an array of exciting initiatives lined up for the second quarter of 2025 designed to drive sales and attract more guests. I'll share more details with you shortly after we first hear from Michael about the fund's financial performance. Michael?

Thank you, Jordan. The fund posted royalty income of $9.2 million for the first quarter, compared to $8.9 million for the same period one year ago. The fund posted distribution income of $3 million for the first quarter, compared to $2.9 million for the same period in prior year. Royalty income and distribution income for the first quarter were based on 372 Boston Pizza restaurants in the royalty pool that reported franchise sales of $231.1 million. For the same period in 2024, royalty income and distribution income were based on the royalty pool of, again, 372 Boston Pizza restaurants, reporting franchise sales of $222 million. The fund's net and comprehensive income was $6.3 million for the first quarter compared to $8.5 million for the first quarter of 2024. The decrease in the fund's net and comprehensive income for the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024 was primarily due to a $3.2 million increase in fair value loss and a $0.1 million increase in current income tax expense, partially offset by a $0.7 million increase in deferred income tax recovery and a $0.5 million increase in royalty income and distribution income. The fund's cash flows generated from operating activities for the first quarter was $9.3 million compared to $9.1 million in the first quarter of 2024. The increase of $.2 million was primarily due to an increase in royalty income and distribution income of $.5 million, partially offset by a decrease in changes in working capital of $.3 million. While net and comprehensive income or loss and cash flows from operating activities are both measurements under IFRS accounting standards or IFRS, the Fund is of the view that net income or loss and cash flows from operating activities do not provide the most meaningful measurement of the fund's ability to pay distributions. Net income contains non-cash items that do not affect the fund's cash flows, whereas cash flows from operating activities is not inclusive of all of the fund's required cash outflows, and therefore is not indicative of cash available for distribution to unit holders. Non-cash items include the fair value adjustments on the investment in Boston Pizza Canada Limited Partnership, the Class B unit liability, interest rate swaps, and changes in deferred income taxes. Consequently, the fund reports the non-IFRS metrics of distributable cash and payout ratio to provide investors with, in the fund's opinion, more meaningful information regarding the fund's ability to pay distribution to unit holders. The fund generated distributable cash of $7.3 million for the first quarter compared to $7.3 million for the same period and prior year. The nominal increase in distributable cash of 0.1% was primarily due to an increase in cash flows generated from operating activities of $0.2 million, partially offset by SIFT tax on units adjustment of $0.1 million. The fund generated distributable cash per unit of 34.4 cents for the first quarter unchanged compared to the first quarter of 2024. The funds payout ratio for the first quarter was 100.2%, compared to 96.8% in the first quarter of 2024. The increase in the funds payout ratio was due to distributions paid increasing by $0.3 million, or 3.6%, partially offset by distributable cash increasing by a nominal amount, or 0.1%. The funds payout ratio fluctuates quarter to quarter, depending on the amount of distributions paid during a quarter. and the amount of distributable cash generated during that quarter. On a trailing 12-month basis, the fund's payout ratio was 100.7% as at March 31st, 2025. On May 8th, 2025, the trustees of the fund approved a cash distribution for the period of April 1st, 2025 to April 30th, 2025 of 11.5 cents per unit, which will be paid on May 30th, 2025 to unit holders of record at the close of business on May 21st, 2025. The trustees' objective in setting a monthly distribution amount is that it be sustainable. The trustees will continue to closely monitor the funds available cash balances given the fluctuating economic outlook. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Jordan for more on the outlook. Jordan.

Thank you, Michael. Boston Pizza kicked off the second quarter of 2025 with our playoff promotion, timed with the start of the hockey and basketball playoffs. This campaign features two new pizza flavors and several new shareable menu items, supported by national TV and digital media advertising as part of our If We Plan It, We Will Win campaign. Designed to elevate every aspect of Boston Pizza's sports bar experience, this promotion aims to maximize guest enjoyment during the playoff season. In June, we'll also launch an updated main menu, introducing new recipes across multiple categories available every day for guests to enjoy. We had strong franchise sales in the first quarter, underscoring the resilience of our business. However, we remain vigilant in monitoring the evolving landscape, trade landscape, and its potential impact on Boston Pizza restaurants and adapting the business accordingly. We remain focused on enhancing guest experiences, supporting our franchisees, and driving sustainable long-term growth through innovation and operational excellence. With that, I'd like to turn it back to the operator for the question and answer session. Operator?

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star then one on your touchtone phone or send the question via email to InvestorRelations at BostonPizza.com. Please note those questions that we do not get to during the call will be answered via email immediately following the end of the Investor Relations conference call. The first question comes from Nick Corcoran from Acumen Capital. Please go ahead.

Hey guys, a couple questions for me. The first is there's a good sales trend, maybe the sales trend in the first quarter and how it's developed in the second quarter.

Well, thanks, Nick.

So we won't comment on the specifics, but we're obviously pleased with the start of the first quarter. And if you look back at the fourth quarter of 2024 we had that momentum to end that year last year a record quarter for us in the fourth quarter and it flowed into the first quarter with a record quarter for our first as well and some of the things that I talked about just at the end of the call there with you know the promotional attraction that we have around sports in general it's part of the Boston Pizza DNA and we certainly have leaned in to sports throughout our history, but probably never as strongly as in the last few years. And we are seeing good crowds turning out. We had five Canadian teams going into the playoffs starting in mid-April. We have three fighting it out still in the playoffs there. And I will say the NBA and other sports are continuing to attract guests in who want to have a social experience connected with their sports viewing. So We feel good about the momentum, again, starting kind of in the fourth quarter of last year, flowing into the first quarter results that we shared and feel that we want to obviously keep that going throughout the second quarter and into the back half of the year as well.

That's helpful. And with the GSD holiday coming off midway through the first quarter, was there any meaningful maybe change in either guest traffic or sales after that?

Michael, do you want to comment on impact of the GST holiday?

Yeah, so the GST holiday would have been just conceptually a positive for the restaurant industry overall. For us, we believe it was a positive, but in terms of the magnitude of how positive it was, it was certainly hard to quantify, but it wasn't the main driver of our positive results for this first quarter. And we could see that by when the holiday ended. our results kind of continued in the same range as when the holiday was in place. So it was certainly helpful, and it was a positive, but it wasn't the main contributor to the positive quarter for us.

And with three teams still in the playoffs, have you seen an uptick in traffic and sales from that?

We do, and I've commented on the playoffs before. We love the energy and the excitement, and certainly on game nights we get a sales benefit from people showing up to watch the games. We're encouraging fans to support Canadian teams, regardless of whether your team is still in it. Mine is not. But that helps to bring people out, and that's a positive thing. I will also acknowledge that on non-game nights, because we are drawing people in on, you know, call it Thursday and Saturday for games, that the Friday can be dampened because people have just been out the night before or are planning to go out the night after. So there is some moderation, but overall it's a net positive for us, and we definitely like to lean into our sports, part of our brand's DNA, and at this time of year it's particularly important you know, helpful to bring people in and to be the destination for these big sporting events.

Great. And the number of restaurants remain flat quarter over quarter. Any indication what the pipeline for new restaurants is like?

Yeah, so we're pleased that last year we were able to open four new Boston Pizza restaurants across the country. We have irons in the fire for more development, more BP restaurants. There are underserviced, full-service restaurant marketplaces across the country that would be very suitable for Boston Pizza locations. We have our development team working on real estate, working on franchising and bringing those opportunities to life. And like I said, for last year, we have some in the works for this year as well. We don't give the exact number because it does depend on approvals, construction timelines, permitting. There are some variations there, but overall, we're just really pleased to, after a period during COVID and just following COVID where we suspended development for obvious reasons, We're pleased not only with the four that we opened last year and the projects that we have in the pipeline for this year and beyond, but we're also pleased with the renovation activity. I mentioned during the first quarter of this year, we completed six restaurant renovations. That is a requirement in the Boston Pizza Franchise Agreement that restaurants are fully renovated to the updated standards every seven years. We fell a bit behind on that. Again, because of COVID, we had to suspend construction projects for a little bit of time, but we had 28 completed for the full year 2024. We had six already this year. We have a bunch planned. I would imagine we'd be in kind of the mid-30s range in terms of total renovations completed, and those are hundreds of thousands of dollars each, and it's really encouraging to see franchisees um you know moving forward with their renovations in some cases going beyond the required scope because they want to deliver a great guest experience get get updated put in audio visual components or patio investments so that's another part of development that we don't talk about as much but it certainly affects um you know a large portion of the bp restaurants over time so

Thanks, Nick. Thanks, Dave. Once again, if you have a question, please press star 1.

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jordan Holm for closing remarks.

Thank you, operator. As there are no further questions, we'd like to thank you for joining us today. As a proud Canadian restaurant, we appreciate your continued interest and support. We look forward to reconnecting with you during our second quarter conference call in August 2025. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your day.

This brings an end to today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.