Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund

Hello, this is the Coors Call conference operator. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Boston Pizza's second quarter 2025 conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded on August 14th, 2025. After the presentation, there will be a question and answer session. Participants on the call may also post their questions via email to Boston Pizza's Investor Relations Department at InvestorRelations.com. at bostonpizza.com. Should you need assistance during the conference, you may reach an operator by pressing star then zero on your phone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Michael Harbinson, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Very good. Thank you and welcome to the call. Today, we'll be discussing the 2025 second quarter results for 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 second quarter materials filed earlier today on CDAR Plus, or visit the fund's website at thebpincomefund.com. Should you require additional information after the call, you can reach us via the investor relations phone number that's 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 and 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 cdrplus.ca. Before I turn the call over to Jordan Holm, President of BPI, I'd 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 funds management discussion and analysis that was 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 Peets' second quarter investor conference call. Today, I'll be discussing our second quarter results and share a brief outlook. Michael will summarize our key financial highlights. And as usual, we'll leave time for your questions at the end of today's call. In the second quarter, Boston Pizza achieved the strongest same restaurant sales growth since the first quarter of 2012, excluding COVID recovery quarters. These results show that the continuing effectiveness of our ongoing promotions and sustained momentum in our takeout delivery business have made a significant impact on our guests. The fund posted franchise sales from restaurants in the royalty pool of $251.8 million for the quarter and $483.0 million year to date, representing an increase of 6.3% and 5.3%, respectively, versus the same periods one year ago. Same restaurant sales or SRS was 6.4% for the second quarter, and 5.5% year to date. SRS for the second quarter and year to date was principally due to effective promotional initiatives, continued momentum and takeout delivery, and favorable comparisons to a softer performance in the same period in the prior year. Strong SRS enabled the trustees of the fund to increase the monthly distribution rate on the units by 4.3% from the previous rate of 11.5 cents per unit to 12 cents per unit, commencing with the July distribution, which is payable on August 29th, 2025, to unit holders of record on August 21st, 2025, as Michael will describe in more detail later. From a marketing perspective, we began the second quarter of 2025 with a dynamic promotion during the hockey playoffs. This initiative featured a variety of innovative menu items supported by extensive media advertising on digital video, television, social media, and other channels centered on Boston Pizza's Manifest a Win campaign. Our efforts enhanced every aspect of the Boston Pizza Sports Bar experience, ensuring maximum enjoyment for our guests, and the presence of a Canadian team in contention into the finals of the hockey playoffs boosted sales during the second quarter. Additionally, June was marked by a historic update of the Boston Pizza brand, including only the second rondelle design in our 61-year history. The updated Boston Pizza brand launched on June 25th, 2025, alongside a rejuvenated main national menu, and both have been positively received by guests. Synergizing with these initiatives, we announced an exciting new partnership with Live Nation to increase brand engagement with our younger guest demographic. Turning to restaurant development, during the second quarter, nine restaurants were renovated and 15 restaurants have been renovated year to date. We have an array of exciting initiatives lined up to drive sales and maintain the strong guest engagement in the third quarter of 2025, which I'll discuss shortly. But first, I'll hand the call back to Michael for a review of the fund's financial performance.