TSE:MTY MTY Food Group Q1 2023 Earnings Report C$40.08 -0.39 (-0.96%) As of 04/17/2025 04:00 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast MTY Food Group EPS ResultsActual EPSC$0.75Consensus EPS N/ABeat/MissN/AOne Year Ago EPSN/AMTY Food Group Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$286.00 millionExpected Revenue$282.70 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$3.30 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AMTY Food Group Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2023Date4/12/2023TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, April 12, 2023Conference Call Time8:30AM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress ReleaseEarnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by MTY Food Group Q1 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrApril 12, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:02Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MT White Foot Group Inc. Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Operator00:00:14Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. For operator assistance at any time. Before turning the meeting over to management, please be advised that this conference call will contain statements that are forward looking and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, Wednesday, April 1, 2023. Operator00:00:52I would now like to turn the call over to Herr Diefer, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:59Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for MTY's Q1 conference call for fiscal 2023. The press release and MD and A with complete financial statements and related notes were issued earlier this morning and are available on our website as well as on SEDAR. During the call, we will be referring to forward looking statements and to certain numbers that are non IFRS measures. You can refer to our MD and A for more details. Speaker 100:01:23I also remind you All figures presented on today's call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. We're pleased with the robust operational and financial performance realized in the Q1 of 23 highlighted by normalized adjusted EBITDA of $64,000,000 and a record high system sales of $1,400,000,000 We're particularly proud of that organic growth complemented our business acquisitions with year over year organic growth of 20% in consolidated normalized adjusted EBITDA and 14% and system sales. During the Q1, the average unit volume of our restaurants was 39.6% higher than it was during the Q1 of 2020, which was the last quarter before the pandemic. This organic growth reflects the impact of numerous initiatives put in place many months ago that are now bearing fruit. The key performance indicators are flashing green across our management dashboard, but we're not yet satisfied and we will keep pushing for more. Speaker 100:02:21That being said, the acquisitions of Wetzel's Pretzels and Sauce Pizza and Wine during the quarter, along with the Barbecue Holdings transaction, which closed last fall, largely contributed to the year over year growth in EBITDA and system sales. Wetzel's pretzels, which added over 3 60 locations to MTY's network delivered strong results during the holiday season in December. We expect this deal to be accretive to MTY's earnings, EBITDA and free cash flow per share in 2023. On the Canadian side, our network generated 32% system sales growth in the Q1 as the business continued on its strong momentum compared to a quarter marked by pandemic related restrictions last year. Digital sales for the Q1, meanwhile, increased 17% year over year to $246,200,000 including the positive impact of acquisitions and foreign exchange rate. Speaker 100:03:14Our digital sales, which consists mostly of takeout orders and delivery sales benefit from the increased focus of our team put on digital marketing and sales channel, emphasizing the growing importance of the customer experience when they are away from our restaurants. Looking deeper at normalized adjusted EBITDA, our consolidated margins declined to 22% in Q1 2023 due to the higher weight of corporate stores following recent acquisitions. However, taken individually, our segment margins are all trending favorably compared to last year with the exception of the U. S. Franchising, which is mostly flat at just above 50% when excluding acquisition costs. Speaker 100:03:56Turning to our network, we ended the Q1 with a total of 7,128 locations, of which approximately 97% were franchised. We acquired 3 79 locations during the quarter, opened 76 and closed 115 others in what we consider a typical turnover for the 1st quarter of any period. Both openings and closings were slightly better than our 10 year average in proportion of our network, which is in line with our objective of reducing Enclosures and Increasing the Pace of Openings. Construction and supply chain issues have largely subsided early in 2023, but we're still experiencing significant delays to obtain permits and final inspections in many jurisdictions. Despite these temporary issues, our management team remains dedicated to delivering healthy organic growth and maximizing the assets in our portfolio. Speaker 100:04:47Finally, looking ahead to capital allocation priorities for 2023, we will continue to opportunistically seek acquisitions, reduce debt, invest in our business and reward shareholders with dividends. I will now turn the call over to Renee, who will discuss MTY's financial results in greater details. Speaker 200:05:05Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. As previously mentioned by Eric, MTY delivered record breaking normalized adjusted EBITDA of $64,000,000 in the Q1 of 2023, which excludes $1,100,000 in acquisition related expenses. The 79% year over year increase in normalized adjusted EBITDA is largely due to the acquisition The Barbecue Holdings, Wetzel Pretzels and Soft Pizza and Wine, which positively impacted our U. S. And International segment in the Q1 of 2023, generating $13,000,000 in EBITDA when excluding the impacts of IFRS 16. Speaker 200:05:41This is a 63 improvement to the U. S. And International segment over prior year and is a strong early indicator of the strength of the brands we just acquired. The Canadian segment also generated a 52% year over year growth in normalized adjusted EBITDA with a return to pre pandemic market conditions in Canada. Organic growth in the Canadian segment accounted for 96% of the total improvement generated primarily by our franchising segment. Speaker 200:06:10In terms of net income attributable to owners, it amounted to $18,400,000 or $0.75 per diluted share in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $16,600,000 or $0.68 per diluted share in the same period last year. Net income in the Q1 was negatively affected by a few factors, including higher interest on long term debt caused by our increased borrowings as well as higher borrowing rates, increases in the depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right of use assets due to the higher number of corporate stores in our portfolio, additional unrealized foreign exchange losses and acquisition related transaction expenses linked to the Wetzel pretzels and soft pizza and wine deals in the amount of $1,100,000 Although we know that some of these items are non recurring in nature, We expect some of these increases such as the increase in our interest expense and amortization of tangible assets to remain for the foreseeable future. Looking at our revenues, the company saw growth of 104% year over year to $286,000,000 in the Q1 of 2023. Revenues more than doubled, driven by the barbecue holdings, weto pretzels and soft pizza and wine transactions that raised revenues for franchise operations and corporate store restaurants in the U. Speaker 200:07:34S. And International segment by $14,100,000 $110,000,000 respectively. In Canada, franchise operations, corporate restaurants as well as food processing, distribution and retail revenue improved 33%, 31% and 5%, respectively, as the overall business recovered from government imposed restrictions related to the pandemic in the Q1 of 2022. Turning to liquidity and capital resources, Cash flow from operations totaled $36,700,000 in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $38,800,000 in the Q1 of 2022, While free cash flows amounted to $29,200,000 or $1.19 per diluted share in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $36,100,000 or $1.47 per diluted share in the Q1 of 2022. Both our cash flows from operations and free cash flows were impacted by higher interest rates as well as two one time non recurring payments totaling $10,400,000 during the Q1 of this year. Speaker 200:08:41Excluding the impact of those non recurring payments, the conversion of EBITDA into cash flow is in line with the potential of MTY to turn EBITDA into cash flows in this higher interest environment. Excluding variations in non cash working capital items, income taxes, interest paid and other, operations generated $63,300,000 in cash flows in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $36,000,000 in the same period last year. In the Q1 of 2023, we also reimbursed $29,600,000 of long term debt and paid $6,100,000 in dividends to our shareholders. At the end of the Q1, MTY had a healthy cash on hand balance of $58,700,000 and long term debt of $839,700,000 mainly in the form of bank facilities and promissory notes on acquisition. Our net debt to normalized adjusted EBITDA ratio stood at 3.6 times at quarter end, which is at the higher end of our comfort level. Speaker 200:09:43The company has a revolving credit facility of $900,000,000 of which CAD609 1,000,000 or CAD827.1 has been drawn. A hedging strategy with interest swaps has been implemented to provide additional financial flexibility as well as minimize interest payments during a time when market rates are extremely high and volatile. And with that, I thank you for your time and we will now open the line for questions. Operator? Operator00:10:15Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and Your questions will be posted in the order they are received. If you are using a speakerphone, please leave the handset before pressing any One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Jon Samparo from CIBC. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:10:55Thank you very much. Good morning. I wonder if you could start on your latest deals and I wonder if you could provide some color On the same store sales, but also unit growth at Wetzel's and BBQ in the quarter? Speaker 100:11:09Yes, sure. So, I'll start with the more recent with Wet Souls. Sales are going strong. We had a really good month of December, which is an important month for Wetsolls given the mall presence. So all things are trending well for Wetsolls. Speaker 100:11:25In terms of unit growth, I think it's a little bit It's premature for us to comment on unit growth. It's only 3 months of business. So I mean, we're working on a very healthy pipeline that was there when we acquired the business. So we are opening stores and we will be opening stores in the future. So It's not a business that we acquired with no pipeline and where we had to build it. Speaker 100:11:49It's a business that already had some really good momentum. It was doing a lot of good things and Starting off with a healthy pipeline is always good. So we should expect some unit growth in the next few months. For barbecue, yes, it's a little bit of more of a struggle in terms of sales. December, we had the We had some really bad weather event in the 2 weeks leading to New Year's that helped that It didn't help with our sales performance. Speaker 100:12:22And January February were fine, but those 2 weeks really hurt us. And that's not the only brand that was hurt by these weather events that were a little bit unusual. But other than that, barbecue is doing really well. We're happy with the performance of the brand. We acquired some really good brands there and a good group of also franchisees. Speaker 100:12:47So we're doing the right thing and the sales are going to come. In terms of pipeline for barbecue, the pipeline was empty when we acquired. So this is something we're building. It takes a few months for us to build the pipeline and then another few months for us to build the stores. So we're going to have to be a little bit more patient there, but that was something that we expected. Speaker 100:13:07So no surprise there. Speaker 300:13:11Okay. That's helpful. Thanks for that. On the outlook, you continue to call out the labor environment And I wonder if you can frame that versus prior quarters. Is it improving? Speaker 300:13:22Is it worsening? And are there specific regions or formats that are disproportionately impacted? Speaker 100:13:31Yes, it's improving. There's no question about that, but it Still remains a challenge. There are areas that are more difficult than others, and sometimes they can vary. But yes, the labor is still a challenge for us and for our suppliers as well. So sometimes we if we do We have the labor, sometimes our suppliers are running short. Speaker 100:13:53So I mean, this is an environment we're going to have to get used to. I don't see that getting Dramatically better in the future. We already had some labor issues before the pandemic and the pandemic didn't help. So, I mean, this is something we're going to have to live with probably for the next decade. So, it's up to us to be more attractive and make sure that we solve our and labor problems and help our suppliers and business partners to solve their labor problems so that we have a pretty seamless operation. Speaker 300:14:30Okay, understood. And then a couple of housekeeping questions. The commentary on malls and office towers, I think you said that was up 49% year over year, correct me if I'm wrong, but are those at pre pandemic levels yet or can you quantify The gap to pre pandemic for that format? Speaker 100:14:49Yes. Well, office towers are we have very Few restaurants and office towers. So I mean this is hit and miss. We have some that are up, but we have for the vast majority of them, they're down dramatically still. But it's a very minute portion of our restaurants. Speaker 100:15:06As far as malls are concerned, the good malls are up in traffic versus pre pandemic. So the good malls are doing really well. I would say that the B and C malls are struggling a little bit more to attract traffic now. And the Good news is we don't have that many stores in those B and C malls, but we do have some and sales are not coming back the way they are for the really malls which are firing and all cylinders now. Speaker 300:15:34Right. Okay. And then lastly, CapEx. I mean, this is kind of new to MTY, which has historically been a really low level of CapEx intensity, but because of the corporate presence of BBQ, you've got A more meaningful number there. The $8,000,000 or so in the quarter, is that a reasonable run rate? Speaker 300:15:52Was there anything kind of one time in there? Speaker 100:15:55No, it's on the high side. We have when we acquired both Wetzel's and BBQ, we had some 3 deal commitments that we have to honor. So we are building some stores. We are building our first street Stores have been called Twisted by Wetzel's that by Wetzel's. For Wetzel's pretzels, we're building a new Barrio Queen and Surprise For the barbecue division, we have some renovations going on, on the Village Inn. Speaker 100:16:24We also have some stores that are being built now that That will probably be sold as we get closer to opening in various brands. So I would say the $8,000,000 is on the high side, Not a lot of that is maintenance CapEx. A lot of that is related to pre deal transactions that we have to honor and that will probably They continue for Q2, but I expect that after Q2, it should go down to a more normal level. Speaker 300:16:54Okay. I appreciate the color. I'll pass it on. Thank you. Operator00:17:02Thank you. Your next question comes from Richard Sugar from National Bank. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:17:11Thanks for taking my questions. Just on the acquisition backdrop, I want to get management's sense On how willing it is to close on acquisitions? Are we thinking about smaller ones? How should we think about balance sheet? And where would leverage top out where management I feel that it's a level that they don't want to exceed. Speaker 400:17:33How should we think about that? Yes. Speaker 100:17:37Well, at the moment, if I mean, there's always ways if we find a real great transaction To find capital and do what we need to do if it's right for the business, I'd say if we wanted to look at acquisitions today Realistically, it would probably be smaller or medium sized acquisitions. I don't see MTY extending the leverage much past where it is now. So if we wanted to do acquisitions, I mean, we are producing good cash flows and we will be paying down our debt and creating some wiggle room for future acquisitions. But we don't know what the market is going to throw at us. If We have small acquisitions, we'll make small acquisitions, but if the market has very large acquisitions that we consider our No, can't miss. Speaker 100:18:26We're going to go forward. We'll be creative and we'll find a way to raise the required capital. But Realistically, we should expect smaller and medium sized acquisitions for now as our leverage is on the high side now. Speaker 400:18:40And how about the acquisition backdrop? Is there anything that you're noticing changing? Is it are there still attractive deals out there? Speaker 100:18:49Well, you know what, it's the market is a little bit volatile now. So we're seeing some deal flow. It's not a super active market. I think a lot of the sellers are seeing that The multiples are depressed and there are not that many buyers out there. We've seen what happened with Subway. Speaker 100:19:13No, they're trying to get high value for their asset and if a brand like Subway can't do it then maybe other people are I think about it, but it's up to us to maintain our relationships and we this is what we do when we're not acquiring, we're nurturing relationships And we're making sure that we stay top of the list for attractive companies to call us when they want to sell their business. But right now the deal flow is there. It's certainly not a seller's market now. So what we're seeing is multiples becoming a A bit more reasonable, but people being a little bit more cautious about maybe waiting for a few months So a few years to see how the market evolves before the seller companies. Speaker 400:19:59Okay. And how would you characterize The backdrop right now, obviously results were strong in the quarter and management gave you gave us that color about its initiatives It's flashing green. So it seems fairly constructive from what we're seeing, but just wondering if you could add any perspective to that. Speaker 100:20:20Yes. Well, Noah, we're really happy with the performance of the company in general. Our brands are doing a lot of good things. Our teams are Amazing and we have a lot of initiatives going for each of our brands and some brands are doing fantastic, some brands are turning around. And as you know, it takes a few months for anything to really gain traction. Speaker 100:20:41But in general, it's all flashing green on the dashboard. We're really happy. But we don't want to stop because we know once you lose momentum, it's harder to regain it. So we're pushing hard to Keep our momentum and accelerate, so the teams are all hands on deck and everybody is pretty happy with the performance. It's really encouraging. Speaker 100:21:03So the vibe is very positive in the company and everybody is happy with where we're going. Speaker 400:21:09Thank you. Operator00:21:15Thank you. Your next question comes from George Doumet from Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:21:21Yes. Good morning, Erik. I just wanted Speaker 500:21:23to get your prognosis on the consumer in general. Maybe how that can relate to restaurant sales, I I guess given the higher inflation and recessionary concerns, it feels that everything internally is going really well, but maybe From a macro perspective, just kind of your view there. Speaker 100:21:43Yes. I don't know if it's fair to ask me for Our view on the macro environment, I can talk about our restaurants. I mean, people are coming to our restaurants. People are Happy to gather socially and enjoy our food and we're trying to do the right things to make sure that we're top of the list when people want to consume food in restaurants. As far as the customer is concerned, all I know is the MTY customer is still showing up to our restaurants. Speaker 100:22:10I can't necessarily talk for the others. But For the moment, people talk about inflation, people talk about a lot of different things. I don't know if it's a fad. I don't know if it's No flavor of the week until we talk about something else. But for the moment, it's affecting us for sure, but customers are there. Speaker 100:22:29So we're happy with the situation. Speaker 500:22:32Okay. That's helpful. On your earlier comments on the 40% AUV growth versus pre pandemic, How much of that is pricing? And if you exclude Papa Murphy from that, like can you maybe call out some banners that you think saw the more impressive growth? Speaker 100:22:52Yes. Well, there's some pricing in every brand for sure. It's not a very large portion of the increase though. Our pricing is not up by anything close to that proportion. Some brands have increased prices by 15%, some brands have increased prices by 6% or 7%, but no brands have increased their prices by 40%. Speaker 100:23:18So I mean It's hard for me to give you an exact answer given the number of brands we have. But as far as brands performing really well, I mean, most of our brands are performing really well and for most of our brands, the AUVs not significantly. So I don't necessarily want to pinpoint one brand and forget about all Speaker 300:23:39the others. Speaker 100:23:41So, yes, I would say in general, it's going really well AUV is increasing for most of our brands. Speaker 500:23:48And the corporate restaurants saw EBITDA margins in the mid-9s this quarter. Just wondering, is there a room for continued improvement there? Maybe how should we see that margin evolving for the rest of the year? Speaker 100:24:02Yes, that number is a pretty strong number. So I think in terms of margins, we're always working to improve the margins, but We need to be realistic also. It's a pretty strong number when you consider that there are some stores also that are underperforming in that portfolio. So pretty strong number. So our primary focus is to work on top line and increase sales. Speaker 100:24:25There are opportunities in a lot of our restaurants to jack up the top line. And if we can maintain those margins with higher top line, it's going to be better for our shareholders. So I don't see much margin expansion there. There's going to be variations up and down depending on seasonality, but where we're focusing the most is on top line. Speaker 500:24:47Okay. One last one from me, Eric. I feel like I always ask you this question. But Taco Murphy, how did it do in the quarter? I mean, are you seeing at all maybe a pronounced slowdown at all or a slowdown in the takeout delivery part of that business? Speaker 100:25:00I'm happy you asked the question because it's doing fantastic. Yes, we're finally gaining traction with a lot of the initiatives we had put in place and last year you asked me that question and I was like, yes, we have a lot of initiatives on the go, but they take time to get traction. And now we're seeing we're getting traction. Our sales are up. System sales, comp sales are up. Speaker 100:25:22Traffic is up also. Check average is up. A lot of our metrics are pointing up also online ordering is up. So we have a lot Question of our sales going up and the good news is after the quarter ended, we continued to see that momentum continue to pick up. December was good, January was slightly better, February was slightly better and then March was even better than those previous months. Speaker 100:25:51So we're on to something with Papa Murphy's. We're not it's a small sample. It's been doing much better in the past 5, 6 months. And hopefully we'll be able to keep that momentum growing and keep picking up the pace. Speaker 500:26:07Great. Thanks for answers. I'll get back in queue. Operator00:26:13Thank you. Your next question comes from Michael Graham from Raymond James. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:26:20Yes. You highlighted the $10,000,000 on the free cash number. You indicated the $10,000,000 of Check payments there. What I didn't see those. Where do I see those in the cash flow or in the financial statements? Speaker 100:26:37Yes, there are disbursements that are out of accounts payable. So if you look at the working capital, This is one of the large items that affected working capital. They're both related to transactions. 1 is related to the payable we had following the The Kahala transaction in 2016, so it was a relatively old one and one is related to the Wetzel's pretzel payment that were done after the transaction. Speaker 600:27:05So were those earn outs then? Speaker 100:27:07No, they're not earn outs. They're amounts that are payable at the transaction at the time of transaction and that are paid after the transaction. Okay. Action and that are paid after the transaction. Speaker 600:27:16Okay. And then the other item on the cash flow, the lease payments line, It was about $10,500,000 Does that include everything that for Q1? Should that be at that level through the balance The year all else equal? Speaker 100:27:34Yes. This is what we expect. Speaker 600:27:37Okay. And just going back to the corporate stores, The CapEx moderation in the back half of the year, like can you describe like what does the renovation cycle look like on those corporate stores? Speaker 100:27:51Yes, we're renovating our village ends at the moment. So the refresh is we're going to do half the refresh this year, After refresh next year, we're showing some really good ROIs on those refreshes. So it's a good investment of our money. And then there's always a few stores that need to be refreshed. Sometimes it's just a fresh coat of paint. Speaker 100:28:13So it's relatively Inexpensive and not necessarily a CapEx item, but sometimes it needs to be a little bit more. No, you should expect renovations between 7 10 years for every store depending on traffic and depending on the type of store. But for most of the stores, it's relatively inexpensive to renovate. Speaker 600:28:34And Eric, as you work through this higher level of corporate stores, I know that you've I think you've said on prior conference calls, you're you would keep these stores, but is there any evolving thought process there as to whether there could be a divestment of these corporate stores at some point down the road? Speaker 100:28:58No, we're happy with our corporate stores. We have As long as we're we have a group now that's wired to do corporate store performance. This is something we did not have before and with the critical mass we have, it's worth it to have these people and they're doing a fantastic job. It's a large part of profitability. So for me to go out and sell our corporate stores for maybe 4 or 5 times EBITDA doesn't necessarily bring value to the company or to the shareholders. Speaker 100:29:27So I'd rather keep them and maximize their performance and work on them. We're not necessarily Looking to build more corporate stores and we might divest the store here and there, if it makes sense geographically, Clearly, because it's out of the way or something. But other than that, we intend on keeping the stores for now. Speaker 600:29:49Okay. And I think you said leverage was 3.6 times. Do you have like a pro form a figure? Is that the LTM EBITDA or is that a pro form a number? Speaker 100:30:02No, that's based on LTM. Operator00:30:05LTM, do you have a pro form a number handy? Speaker 100:30:08No, but we do, but we don't share guidance as you know. Speaker 400:30:13Okay. Okay, thanks. Operator00:30:20Thank you. Your next question comes from Douglas Broussard from TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:30:34Yes, thanks. Good morning, everybody. Congratulations on the results. Couple of questions for me. Eric, I just wanted to kind of come back to what you're seeing in terms of pricing and volume. Speaker 700:30:46I think you mentioned some brands were pushing through prices. And if I'm looking at the industry data, I would suggest that menu inflation is up high single digits. Does that imply that your volumes would be down, particularly if you're looking at the U. S. With 4% organic growth? Speaker 100:31:10No, our pricing is certainly not up in around 10% for the last 12 months. Maybe there's Some elements that are up 10%, but we're nowhere close to that for most of our brands. So no, traffic is good for most of the brands. I'm not saying 100% of the brands have traffic going up, but For most of our brands, the traffic is up and there is some food inflation, but nowhere close to the number you mentioned. Speaker 600:31:43Okay. Speaker 700:31:45And maybe could you just talk about where what you're seeing on the competitive front and sort of promotional activity as you would expect some consumers maybe pulling back on the purse strings? Speaker 100:32:02Yes. You know what, it's not bad at the moment. We don't know there is Always some value proposition. There's always some discounting. But we're not seeing some of the crazy stuff that we see In other times, we have seen some competitors go very aggressively to try to get traffic up. Speaker 100:32:23But In general, I would say the environment is a good one to operate in for restaurant operators. So Yes, it's everybody wants to get their traffic up, but everybody is also realizing more than ever that we're working on 10 margins. And If you discount something too much, you might run into trouble. So we'd rather keep our prices where They are at the normal level and make sure our franchisees realize the right margins for their businesses and make money and get a return on their investment. Speaker 700:33:02Okay. I've got a slow start to spring here in Quebec. Just wondering if that impacted you at all early on and was The slower Quebec spring here represented of what you're seeing in other regions and maybe just on the If you expected any impact on the, I guess, the electricity outage in Quebec last week? Speaker 100:33:26Yes, we're looking forward for patio season to start, to be honest with you, not only in Quebec, but you look at Ontario, you look at Our stores that we have in Minnesota, for example, it's still I think it was minus 25 early this week Still so, I mean, we need patio season to start for our sales to go up in some of our concepts. So you're right, it's a slow start of the spring. So far, we're not seeing some any dramatic impact because there's ups and downs at this time of the year, Yes, but we'll need a good patio season like we always do. Hopefully this week is going to cure that and we're going to be To open patios and customers are going to be happy to be outside. As far as the power outage in Quebec is concerned, A lot of our restaurants were affected, some very positively, some very negatively. Speaker 100:34:16We had some restaurants that were closed for 4 or 5 days. And we also had restaurants that didn't lose power that crushed it during the weekend and ran out of food, which is a good problem to have. So we had a little bit of both extremes. All in all, we lost a little bit, but it shouldn't be anything material and it's not something that it's shown in our sales results for Q2. Speaker 700:34:40Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just one housekeeping for me. You did fix interest rates on about $230,000,000 or so. Do Could you give us an indication of what you fixed those interest rates at? Speaker 100:34:58Yes. It's Not necessarily something we want to discuss in exact figures, but we got a pretty favorable deal. Yes, we got a pretty favorable deal from our banks. We disclosed it in subsequent events notes. So if you want to refer to it Just to get a little bit more specific, but we believe that time is right, the curve is inverted. Speaker 100:35:21We We don't necessarily want to speculate about rates, but it's also a favorable environment for us to lock a certain portion of our borrowing. Okay. Thanks, Eric. Thanks, everybody. Operator00:35:38Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallMTY Food Group Q1 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release MTY Food Group Earnings HeadlinesFY2025 EPS Estimate for MTY Food Group Decreased by AnalystApril 18 at 2:39 AM | americanbankingnews.comMTY Food Group (TSE:MTY) Price Target Lowered to C$50.00 at Raymond JamesApril 16 at 1:15 AM | americanbankingnews.comTrump to unlock 15-figure fortune for America (May 3rd) ?We were shown this map by former Presidential Advisor, Jim Rickards, one of the most politically connected men in America. Rickards has spent his fifty-year career in the innermost circles of the U.S. government and banking. And he believes Trump could soon release this frozen asset to the public. April 18, 2025 | Paradigm Press (Ad)MTY Food Group Inc: MTY Reports First Quarter Results for Fiscal 2025April 11, 2025 | finanznachrichten.deMTY Food Group reports Q1 profit down on foreign exchange losses, revenue upApril 11, 2025 | msn.comMTY Food Quarterly Profit Falls With Currency Hit, Sales Held Back by Winter WeatherApril 11, 2025 | marketwatch.comSee More MTY Food Group Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like MTY Food Group? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on MTY Food Group and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About MTY Food GroupMTY Food Group (TSE:MTY) operates and franchises quick-service, fast-casual, and casual dining restaurants in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It also sells retail products under a multitude of banners. The company was formerly known as iNsu Innovations Group Inc. and changed its name to MTY Food Group Inc. in July 2003. MTY Food Group Inc. was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Canada.View MTY Food Group ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Archer Aviation Unveils NYC Network Ahead of Key Earnings Report3 Reasons to Like the Look of Amazon Ahead of EarningsTesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:02Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MT White Foot Group Inc. Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Operator00:00:14Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. For operator assistance at any time. Before turning the meeting over to management, please be advised that this conference call will contain statements that are forward looking and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded today, Wednesday, April 1, 2023. Operator00:00:52I would now like to turn the call over to Herr Diefer, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:59Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for MTY's Q1 conference call for fiscal 2023. The press release and MD and A with complete financial statements and related notes were issued earlier this morning and are available on our website as well as on SEDAR. During the call, we will be referring to forward looking statements and to certain numbers that are non IFRS measures. You can refer to our MD and A for more details. Speaker 100:01:23I also remind you All figures presented on today's call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. We're pleased with the robust operational and financial performance realized in the Q1 of 23 highlighted by normalized adjusted EBITDA of $64,000,000 and a record high system sales of $1,400,000,000 We're particularly proud of that organic growth complemented our business acquisitions with year over year organic growth of 20% in consolidated normalized adjusted EBITDA and 14% and system sales. During the Q1, the average unit volume of our restaurants was 39.6% higher than it was during the Q1 of 2020, which was the last quarter before the pandemic. This organic growth reflects the impact of numerous initiatives put in place many months ago that are now bearing fruit. The key performance indicators are flashing green across our management dashboard, but we're not yet satisfied and we will keep pushing for more. Speaker 100:02:21That being said, the acquisitions of Wetzel's Pretzels and Sauce Pizza and Wine during the quarter, along with the Barbecue Holdings transaction, which closed last fall, largely contributed to the year over year growth in EBITDA and system sales. Wetzel's pretzels, which added over 3 60 locations to MTY's network delivered strong results during the holiday season in December. We expect this deal to be accretive to MTY's earnings, EBITDA and free cash flow per share in 2023. On the Canadian side, our network generated 32% system sales growth in the Q1 as the business continued on its strong momentum compared to a quarter marked by pandemic related restrictions last year. Digital sales for the Q1, meanwhile, increased 17% year over year to $246,200,000 including the positive impact of acquisitions and foreign exchange rate. Speaker 100:03:14Our digital sales, which consists mostly of takeout orders and delivery sales benefit from the increased focus of our team put on digital marketing and sales channel, emphasizing the growing importance of the customer experience when they are away from our restaurants. Looking deeper at normalized adjusted EBITDA, our consolidated margins declined to 22% in Q1 2023 due to the higher weight of corporate stores following recent acquisitions. However, taken individually, our segment margins are all trending favorably compared to last year with the exception of the U. S. Franchising, which is mostly flat at just above 50% when excluding acquisition costs. Speaker 100:03:56Turning to our network, we ended the Q1 with a total of 7,128 locations, of which approximately 97% were franchised. We acquired 3 79 locations during the quarter, opened 76 and closed 115 others in what we consider a typical turnover for the 1st quarter of any period. Both openings and closings were slightly better than our 10 year average in proportion of our network, which is in line with our objective of reducing Enclosures and Increasing the Pace of Openings. Construction and supply chain issues have largely subsided early in 2023, but we're still experiencing significant delays to obtain permits and final inspections in many jurisdictions. Despite these temporary issues, our management team remains dedicated to delivering healthy organic growth and maximizing the assets in our portfolio. Speaker 100:04:47Finally, looking ahead to capital allocation priorities for 2023, we will continue to opportunistically seek acquisitions, reduce debt, invest in our business and reward shareholders with dividends. I will now turn the call over to Renee, who will discuss MTY's financial results in greater details. Speaker 200:05:05Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. As previously mentioned by Eric, MTY delivered record breaking normalized adjusted EBITDA of $64,000,000 in the Q1 of 2023, which excludes $1,100,000 in acquisition related expenses. The 79% year over year increase in normalized adjusted EBITDA is largely due to the acquisition The Barbecue Holdings, Wetzel Pretzels and Soft Pizza and Wine, which positively impacted our U. S. And International segment in the Q1 of 2023, generating $13,000,000 in EBITDA when excluding the impacts of IFRS 16. Speaker 200:05:41This is a 63 improvement to the U. S. And International segment over prior year and is a strong early indicator of the strength of the brands we just acquired. The Canadian segment also generated a 52% year over year growth in normalized adjusted EBITDA with a return to pre pandemic market conditions in Canada. Organic growth in the Canadian segment accounted for 96% of the total improvement generated primarily by our franchising segment. Speaker 200:06:10In terms of net income attributable to owners, it amounted to $18,400,000 or $0.75 per diluted share in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $16,600,000 or $0.68 per diluted share in the same period last year. Net income in the Q1 was negatively affected by a few factors, including higher interest on long term debt caused by our increased borrowings as well as higher borrowing rates, increases in the depreciation of property, plant and equipment and right of use assets due to the higher number of corporate stores in our portfolio, additional unrealized foreign exchange losses and acquisition related transaction expenses linked to the Wetzel pretzels and soft pizza and wine deals in the amount of $1,100,000 Although we know that some of these items are non recurring in nature, We expect some of these increases such as the increase in our interest expense and amortization of tangible assets to remain for the foreseeable future. Looking at our revenues, the company saw growth of 104% year over year to $286,000,000 in the Q1 of 2023. Revenues more than doubled, driven by the barbecue holdings, weto pretzels and soft pizza and wine transactions that raised revenues for franchise operations and corporate store restaurants in the U. Speaker 200:07:34S. And International segment by $14,100,000 $110,000,000 respectively. In Canada, franchise operations, corporate restaurants as well as food processing, distribution and retail revenue improved 33%, 31% and 5%, respectively, as the overall business recovered from government imposed restrictions related to the pandemic in the Q1 of 2022. Turning to liquidity and capital resources, Cash flow from operations totaled $36,700,000 in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $38,800,000 in the Q1 of 2022, While free cash flows amounted to $29,200,000 or $1.19 per diluted share in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $36,100,000 or $1.47 per diluted share in the Q1 of 2022. Both our cash flows from operations and free cash flows were impacted by higher interest rates as well as two one time non recurring payments totaling $10,400,000 during the Q1 of this year. Speaker 200:08:41Excluding the impact of those non recurring payments, the conversion of EBITDA into cash flow is in line with the potential of MTY to turn EBITDA into cash flows in this higher interest environment. Excluding variations in non cash working capital items, income taxes, interest paid and other, operations generated $63,300,000 in cash flows in the Q1 of 2023 compared to $36,000,000 in the same period last year. In the Q1 of 2023, we also reimbursed $29,600,000 of long term debt and paid $6,100,000 in dividends to our shareholders. At the end of the Q1, MTY had a healthy cash on hand balance of $58,700,000 and long term debt of $839,700,000 mainly in the form of bank facilities and promissory notes on acquisition. Our net debt to normalized adjusted EBITDA ratio stood at 3.6 times at quarter end, which is at the higher end of our comfort level. Speaker 200:09:43The company has a revolving credit facility of $900,000,000 of which CAD609 1,000,000 or CAD827.1 has been drawn. A hedging strategy with interest swaps has been implemented to provide additional financial flexibility as well as minimize interest payments during a time when market rates are extremely high and volatile. And with that, I thank you for your time and we will now open the line for questions. Operator? Operator00:10:15Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and Your questions will be posted in the order they are received. If you are using a speakerphone, please leave the handset before pressing any One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Jon Samparo from CIBC. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:10:55Thank you very much. Good morning. I wonder if you could start on your latest deals and I wonder if you could provide some color On the same store sales, but also unit growth at Wetzel's and BBQ in the quarter? Speaker 100:11:09Yes, sure. So, I'll start with the more recent with Wet Souls. Sales are going strong. We had a really good month of December, which is an important month for Wetsolls given the mall presence. So all things are trending well for Wetsolls. Speaker 100:11:25In terms of unit growth, I think it's a little bit It's premature for us to comment on unit growth. It's only 3 months of business. So I mean, we're working on a very healthy pipeline that was there when we acquired the business. So we are opening stores and we will be opening stores in the future. So It's not a business that we acquired with no pipeline and where we had to build it. Speaker 100:11:49It's a business that already had some really good momentum. It was doing a lot of good things and Starting off with a healthy pipeline is always good. So we should expect some unit growth in the next few months. For barbecue, yes, it's a little bit of more of a struggle in terms of sales. December, we had the We had some really bad weather event in the 2 weeks leading to New Year's that helped that It didn't help with our sales performance. Speaker 100:12:22And January February were fine, but those 2 weeks really hurt us. And that's not the only brand that was hurt by these weather events that were a little bit unusual. But other than that, barbecue is doing really well. We're happy with the performance of the brand. We acquired some really good brands there and a good group of also franchisees. Speaker 100:12:47So we're doing the right thing and the sales are going to come. In terms of pipeline for barbecue, the pipeline was empty when we acquired. So this is something we're building. It takes a few months for us to build the pipeline and then another few months for us to build the stores. So we're going to have to be a little bit more patient there, but that was something that we expected. Speaker 100:13:07So no surprise there. Speaker 300:13:11Okay. That's helpful. Thanks for that. On the outlook, you continue to call out the labor environment And I wonder if you can frame that versus prior quarters. Is it improving? Speaker 300:13:22Is it worsening? And are there specific regions or formats that are disproportionately impacted? Speaker 100:13:31Yes, it's improving. There's no question about that, but it Still remains a challenge. There are areas that are more difficult than others, and sometimes they can vary. But yes, the labor is still a challenge for us and for our suppliers as well. So sometimes we if we do We have the labor, sometimes our suppliers are running short. Speaker 100:13:53So I mean, this is an environment we're going to have to get used to. I don't see that getting Dramatically better in the future. We already had some labor issues before the pandemic and the pandemic didn't help. So, I mean, this is something we're going to have to live with probably for the next decade. So, it's up to us to be more attractive and make sure that we solve our and labor problems and help our suppliers and business partners to solve their labor problems so that we have a pretty seamless operation. Speaker 300:14:30Okay, understood. And then a couple of housekeeping questions. The commentary on malls and office towers, I think you said that was up 49% year over year, correct me if I'm wrong, but are those at pre pandemic levels yet or can you quantify The gap to pre pandemic for that format? Speaker 100:14:49Yes. Well, office towers are we have very Few restaurants and office towers. So I mean this is hit and miss. We have some that are up, but we have for the vast majority of them, they're down dramatically still. But it's a very minute portion of our restaurants. Speaker 100:15:06As far as malls are concerned, the good malls are up in traffic versus pre pandemic. So the good malls are doing really well. I would say that the B and C malls are struggling a little bit more to attract traffic now. And the Good news is we don't have that many stores in those B and C malls, but we do have some and sales are not coming back the way they are for the really malls which are firing and all cylinders now. Speaker 300:15:34Right. Okay. And then lastly, CapEx. I mean, this is kind of new to MTY, which has historically been a really low level of CapEx intensity, but because of the corporate presence of BBQ, you've got A more meaningful number there. The $8,000,000 or so in the quarter, is that a reasonable run rate? Speaker 300:15:52Was there anything kind of one time in there? Speaker 100:15:55No, it's on the high side. We have when we acquired both Wetzel's and BBQ, we had some 3 deal commitments that we have to honor. So we are building some stores. We are building our first street Stores have been called Twisted by Wetzel's that by Wetzel's. For Wetzel's pretzels, we're building a new Barrio Queen and Surprise For the barbecue division, we have some renovations going on, on the Village Inn. Speaker 100:16:24We also have some stores that are being built now that That will probably be sold as we get closer to opening in various brands. So I would say the $8,000,000 is on the high side, Not a lot of that is maintenance CapEx. A lot of that is related to pre deal transactions that we have to honor and that will probably They continue for Q2, but I expect that after Q2, it should go down to a more normal level. Speaker 300:16:54Okay. I appreciate the color. I'll pass it on. Thank you. Operator00:17:02Thank you. Your next question comes from Richard Sugar from National Bank. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:17:11Thanks for taking my questions. Just on the acquisition backdrop, I want to get management's sense On how willing it is to close on acquisitions? Are we thinking about smaller ones? How should we think about balance sheet? And where would leverage top out where management I feel that it's a level that they don't want to exceed. Speaker 400:17:33How should we think about that? Yes. Speaker 100:17:37Well, at the moment, if I mean, there's always ways if we find a real great transaction To find capital and do what we need to do if it's right for the business, I'd say if we wanted to look at acquisitions today Realistically, it would probably be smaller or medium sized acquisitions. I don't see MTY extending the leverage much past where it is now. So if we wanted to do acquisitions, I mean, we are producing good cash flows and we will be paying down our debt and creating some wiggle room for future acquisitions. But we don't know what the market is going to throw at us. If We have small acquisitions, we'll make small acquisitions, but if the market has very large acquisitions that we consider our No, can't miss. Speaker 100:18:26We're going to go forward. We'll be creative and we'll find a way to raise the required capital. But Realistically, we should expect smaller and medium sized acquisitions for now as our leverage is on the high side now. Speaker 400:18:40And how about the acquisition backdrop? Is there anything that you're noticing changing? Is it are there still attractive deals out there? Speaker 100:18:49Well, you know what, it's the market is a little bit volatile now. So we're seeing some deal flow. It's not a super active market. I think a lot of the sellers are seeing that The multiples are depressed and there are not that many buyers out there. We've seen what happened with Subway. Speaker 100:19:13No, they're trying to get high value for their asset and if a brand like Subway can't do it then maybe other people are I think about it, but it's up to us to maintain our relationships and we this is what we do when we're not acquiring, we're nurturing relationships And we're making sure that we stay top of the list for attractive companies to call us when they want to sell their business. But right now the deal flow is there. It's certainly not a seller's market now. So what we're seeing is multiples becoming a A bit more reasonable, but people being a little bit more cautious about maybe waiting for a few months So a few years to see how the market evolves before the seller companies. Speaker 400:19:59Okay. And how would you characterize The backdrop right now, obviously results were strong in the quarter and management gave you gave us that color about its initiatives It's flashing green. So it seems fairly constructive from what we're seeing, but just wondering if you could add any perspective to that. Speaker 100:20:20Yes. Well, Noah, we're really happy with the performance of the company in general. Our brands are doing a lot of good things. Our teams are Amazing and we have a lot of initiatives going for each of our brands and some brands are doing fantastic, some brands are turning around. And as you know, it takes a few months for anything to really gain traction. Speaker 100:20:41But in general, it's all flashing green on the dashboard. We're really happy. But we don't want to stop because we know once you lose momentum, it's harder to regain it. So we're pushing hard to Keep our momentum and accelerate, so the teams are all hands on deck and everybody is pretty happy with the performance. It's really encouraging. Speaker 100:21:03So the vibe is very positive in the company and everybody is happy with where we're going. Speaker 400:21:09Thank you. Operator00:21:15Thank you. Your next question comes from George Doumet from Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:21:21Yes. Good morning, Erik. I just wanted Speaker 500:21:23to get your prognosis on the consumer in general. Maybe how that can relate to restaurant sales, I I guess given the higher inflation and recessionary concerns, it feels that everything internally is going really well, but maybe From a macro perspective, just kind of your view there. Speaker 100:21:43Yes. I don't know if it's fair to ask me for Our view on the macro environment, I can talk about our restaurants. I mean, people are coming to our restaurants. People are Happy to gather socially and enjoy our food and we're trying to do the right things to make sure that we're top of the list when people want to consume food in restaurants. As far as the customer is concerned, all I know is the MTY customer is still showing up to our restaurants. Speaker 100:22:10I can't necessarily talk for the others. But For the moment, people talk about inflation, people talk about a lot of different things. I don't know if it's a fad. I don't know if it's No flavor of the week until we talk about something else. But for the moment, it's affecting us for sure, but customers are there. Speaker 100:22:29So we're happy with the situation. Speaker 500:22:32Okay. That's helpful. On your earlier comments on the 40% AUV growth versus pre pandemic, How much of that is pricing? And if you exclude Papa Murphy from that, like can you maybe call out some banners that you think saw the more impressive growth? Speaker 100:22:52Yes. Well, there's some pricing in every brand for sure. It's not a very large portion of the increase though. Our pricing is not up by anything close to that proportion. Some brands have increased prices by 15%, some brands have increased prices by 6% or 7%, but no brands have increased their prices by 40%. Speaker 100:23:18So I mean It's hard for me to give you an exact answer given the number of brands we have. But as far as brands performing really well, I mean, most of our brands are performing really well and for most of our brands, the AUVs not significantly. So I don't necessarily want to pinpoint one brand and forget about all Speaker 300:23:39the others. Speaker 100:23:41So, yes, I would say in general, it's going really well AUV is increasing for most of our brands. Speaker 500:23:48And the corporate restaurants saw EBITDA margins in the mid-9s this quarter. Just wondering, is there a room for continued improvement there? Maybe how should we see that margin evolving for the rest of the year? Speaker 100:24:02Yes, that number is a pretty strong number. So I think in terms of margins, we're always working to improve the margins, but We need to be realistic also. It's a pretty strong number when you consider that there are some stores also that are underperforming in that portfolio. So pretty strong number. So our primary focus is to work on top line and increase sales. Speaker 100:24:25There are opportunities in a lot of our restaurants to jack up the top line. And if we can maintain those margins with higher top line, it's going to be better for our shareholders. So I don't see much margin expansion there. There's going to be variations up and down depending on seasonality, but where we're focusing the most is on top line. Speaker 500:24:47Okay. One last one from me, Eric. I feel like I always ask you this question. But Taco Murphy, how did it do in the quarter? I mean, are you seeing at all maybe a pronounced slowdown at all or a slowdown in the takeout delivery part of that business? Speaker 100:25:00I'm happy you asked the question because it's doing fantastic. Yes, we're finally gaining traction with a lot of the initiatives we had put in place and last year you asked me that question and I was like, yes, we have a lot of initiatives on the go, but they take time to get traction. And now we're seeing we're getting traction. Our sales are up. System sales, comp sales are up. Speaker 100:25:22Traffic is up also. Check average is up. A lot of our metrics are pointing up also online ordering is up. So we have a lot Question of our sales going up and the good news is after the quarter ended, we continued to see that momentum continue to pick up. December was good, January was slightly better, February was slightly better and then March was even better than those previous months. Speaker 100:25:51So we're on to something with Papa Murphy's. We're not it's a small sample. It's been doing much better in the past 5, 6 months. And hopefully we'll be able to keep that momentum growing and keep picking up the pace. Speaker 500:26:07Great. Thanks for answers. I'll get back in queue. Operator00:26:13Thank you. Your next question comes from Michael Graham from Raymond James. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:26:20Yes. You highlighted the $10,000,000 on the free cash number. You indicated the $10,000,000 of Check payments there. What I didn't see those. Where do I see those in the cash flow or in the financial statements? Speaker 100:26:37Yes, there are disbursements that are out of accounts payable. So if you look at the working capital, This is one of the large items that affected working capital. They're both related to transactions. 1 is related to the payable we had following the The Kahala transaction in 2016, so it was a relatively old one and one is related to the Wetzel's pretzel payment that were done after the transaction. Speaker 600:27:05So were those earn outs then? Speaker 100:27:07No, they're not earn outs. They're amounts that are payable at the transaction at the time of transaction and that are paid after the transaction. Okay. Action and that are paid after the transaction. Speaker 600:27:16Okay. And then the other item on the cash flow, the lease payments line, It was about $10,500,000 Does that include everything that for Q1? Should that be at that level through the balance The year all else equal? Speaker 100:27:34Yes. This is what we expect. Speaker 600:27:37Okay. And just going back to the corporate stores, The CapEx moderation in the back half of the year, like can you describe like what does the renovation cycle look like on those corporate stores? Speaker 100:27:51Yes, we're renovating our village ends at the moment. So the refresh is we're going to do half the refresh this year, After refresh next year, we're showing some really good ROIs on those refreshes. So it's a good investment of our money. And then there's always a few stores that need to be refreshed. Sometimes it's just a fresh coat of paint. Speaker 100:28:13So it's relatively Inexpensive and not necessarily a CapEx item, but sometimes it needs to be a little bit more. No, you should expect renovations between 7 10 years for every store depending on traffic and depending on the type of store. But for most of the stores, it's relatively inexpensive to renovate. Speaker 600:28:34And Eric, as you work through this higher level of corporate stores, I know that you've I think you've said on prior conference calls, you're you would keep these stores, but is there any evolving thought process there as to whether there could be a divestment of these corporate stores at some point down the road? Speaker 100:28:58No, we're happy with our corporate stores. We have As long as we're we have a group now that's wired to do corporate store performance. This is something we did not have before and with the critical mass we have, it's worth it to have these people and they're doing a fantastic job. It's a large part of profitability. So for me to go out and sell our corporate stores for maybe 4 or 5 times EBITDA doesn't necessarily bring value to the company or to the shareholders. Speaker 100:29:27So I'd rather keep them and maximize their performance and work on them. We're not necessarily Looking to build more corporate stores and we might divest the store here and there, if it makes sense geographically, Clearly, because it's out of the way or something. But other than that, we intend on keeping the stores for now. Speaker 600:29:49Okay. And I think you said leverage was 3.6 times. Do you have like a pro form a figure? Is that the LTM EBITDA or is that a pro form a number? Speaker 100:30:02No, that's based on LTM. Operator00:30:05LTM, do you have a pro form a number handy? Speaker 100:30:08No, but we do, but we don't share guidance as you know. Speaker 400:30:13Okay. Okay, thanks. Operator00:30:20Thank you. Your next question comes from Douglas Broussard from TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Speaker 700:30:34Yes, thanks. Good morning, everybody. Congratulations on the results. Couple of questions for me. Eric, I just wanted to kind of come back to what you're seeing in terms of pricing and volume. Speaker 700:30:46I think you mentioned some brands were pushing through prices. And if I'm looking at the industry data, I would suggest that menu inflation is up high single digits. Does that imply that your volumes would be down, particularly if you're looking at the U. S. With 4% organic growth? Speaker 100:31:10No, our pricing is certainly not up in around 10% for the last 12 months. Maybe there's Some elements that are up 10%, but we're nowhere close to that for most of our brands. So no, traffic is good for most of the brands. I'm not saying 100% of the brands have traffic going up, but For most of our brands, the traffic is up and there is some food inflation, but nowhere close to the number you mentioned. Speaker 600:31:43Okay. Speaker 700:31:45And maybe could you just talk about where what you're seeing on the competitive front and sort of promotional activity as you would expect some consumers maybe pulling back on the purse strings? Speaker 100:32:02Yes. You know what, it's not bad at the moment. We don't know there is Always some value proposition. There's always some discounting. But we're not seeing some of the crazy stuff that we see In other times, we have seen some competitors go very aggressively to try to get traffic up. Speaker 100:32:23But In general, I would say the environment is a good one to operate in for restaurant operators. So Yes, it's everybody wants to get their traffic up, but everybody is also realizing more than ever that we're working on 10 margins. And If you discount something too much, you might run into trouble. So we'd rather keep our prices where They are at the normal level and make sure our franchisees realize the right margins for their businesses and make money and get a return on their investment. Speaker 700:33:02Okay. I've got a slow start to spring here in Quebec. Just wondering if that impacted you at all early on and was The slower Quebec spring here represented of what you're seeing in other regions and maybe just on the If you expected any impact on the, I guess, the electricity outage in Quebec last week? Speaker 100:33:26Yes, we're looking forward for patio season to start, to be honest with you, not only in Quebec, but you look at Ontario, you look at Our stores that we have in Minnesota, for example, it's still I think it was minus 25 early this week Still so, I mean, we need patio season to start for our sales to go up in some of our concepts. So you're right, it's a slow start of the spring. So far, we're not seeing some any dramatic impact because there's ups and downs at this time of the year, Yes, but we'll need a good patio season like we always do. Hopefully this week is going to cure that and we're going to be To open patios and customers are going to be happy to be outside. As far as the power outage in Quebec is concerned, A lot of our restaurants were affected, some very positively, some very negatively. Speaker 100:34:16We had some restaurants that were closed for 4 or 5 days. And we also had restaurants that didn't lose power that crushed it during the weekend and ran out of food, which is a good problem to have. So we had a little bit of both extremes. All in all, we lost a little bit, but it shouldn't be anything material and it's not something that it's shown in our sales results for Q2. Speaker 700:34:40Okay. That's helpful. And then maybe just one housekeeping for me. You did fix interest rates on about $230,000,000 or so. Do Could you give us an indication of what you fixed those interest rates at? Speaker 100:34:58Yes. It's Not necessarily something we want to discuss in exact figures, but we got a pretty favorable deal. Yes, we got a pretty favorable deal from our banks. We disclosed it in subsequent events notes. So if you want to refer to it Just to get a little bit more specific, but we believe that time is right, the curve is inverted. Speaker 100:35:21We We don't necessarily want to speculate about rates, but it's also a favorable environment for us to lock a certain portion of our borrowing. Okay. Thanks, Eric. Thanks, everybody. Operator00:35:38Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.Read morePowered by