Bloomin’ Brands Announces 2019 Q3 Diluted EPS of $0.11 and Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.10

Q3 GAAP Operating Margin Expansion of 100 bps and 60 bps on a Comparable Adjusted Basis

Reaffirms Full-Year 2019 Guidance for Adjusted Diluted EPS and Adjusted Operating Margin

Company Exploring Strategic Alternatives to Maximize Shareholder Value

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 6, 2019-- Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the third quarter 2019 (“Q3 2019”) compared to the third quarter 2018 (“Q3 2018”).

Highlights for Q3 2019 include the following:

• Comparable restaurant sales increased 0.2% at U.S. Outback Steakhouse, representing its 11th consecutive quarter of positive comparable restaurant sales
  
  
• Comparable restaurant sales increased 11.2% for Outback Steakhouse in Brazil
  
  
• Opened eight new restaurants, including five international franchise locations

Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS

Our Q3 2019 results include the impact of the new lease accounting standard adopted in Q1 2019. Among its impacts, we no longer recognize the benefit of deferred gains on sale-leaseback transactions, resulting in an increase to Other restaurant operating expense which represents a two cent reduction in earnings per share on the quarter. The following table includes both a reported and a comparable basis that adjusts for this lease accounting change.

The following table reconciles Diluted earnings per share to Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the periods as indicated below.

CEO Comments

“Q3 earnings per share increased 25% on a comparable adjusted basis as we focus on building healthy traffic and improving profitability,” said David Deno, CEO. “U.S. comp sales were flat with traffic significantly outperforming the industry. We have intentionally moderated our average check increases to further strengthen our value relative to competition across the portfolio. This pricing discipline combined with sales momentum from investments in the customer experience and off-premises is building, with October trends significantly out-pacing the industry. This strategy combined with disciplined cost management, drove operating margins higher by 60 basis points on comparable adjusted basis versus last year. We remain well positioned to finish the year strong and achieve our earnings commitments.”

Third Quarter Financial Results

As described above, our Q3 2019 results include the impact from adopting the new lease accounting standard, which reduces operating margins by 30 basis points. The following table includes both a reported and a comparable basis that adjusts for the lease accounting change:

• The increase in total revenues was primarily due to higher comparable restaurant sales in Brazil and the net impact of restaurant openings and closures, partially offset by the impact of domestic refranchising.

• The increase in reported GAAP operating income margin was primarily due to higher comparable restaurant sales in Brazil, the impact of certain cost savings initiatives, and gains on the sale of certain U.S. surplus properties. This increase was partially offset by commodity, operating and labor inflation, delivery rollout costs, and the impact from adopting the new lease accounting standard as described above.

• The primary difference between GAAP and Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin is that Q3 adjusted restaurant-level operating margin excludes the benefit related to gains on the sale of certain U.S. surplus properties.

Dividend Declaration

On October 24, 2019, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share to be paid on November 27, 2019 to all stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 18, 2019.

Fiscal 2019 Financial Outlook

We are updating our 2019 financial outlook for U.S. comparable restaurant sales, commodity inflation, capital expenditures, and our tax rates. Although U.S. comparable restaurant sales across the portfolio have improved in October, we remain cautious on industry sales trends given industry declines in the third quarter. All other aspects of our previously provided full year financial outlook remain unchanged. See the table below for more details.

Company Exploring Strategic Alternatives

The Company also announced that it is exploring and evaluating strategic alternatives that have the potential to maximize value for our shareholders, including but not limited to, a possible sale of the Company. The Board of Directors has retained BofA Securities, Inc. as its financial advisor.

“Over the past few years Bloomin’ Brands has made significant progress towards its long term objectives to elevate the customer experience, capitalize on the emerging off-premises segment, expand the rapidly growing international business, and improve operating margins. These efforts have created significant market share gains and enhanced profitability,” said David Deno, Chief Executive Officer of Bloomin’ Brands. “However, despite this continued progress, we believe the current stock price does not reflect the value of the Company. That is why the time is right to explore strategic alternatives that have the potential to maximize value for our shareholders. Our Board of Directors is committed to fully evaluating appropriate strategic alternatives while simultaneously supporting the Company’s ongoing progress against our business plan.”

The Company plans to proceed in a timely manner, but has not set a definitive timetable for completion of this process. There can be no assurance that this review will result in a transaction or other strategic alternative of any kind. The Company does not intend to make any further public comment regarding the review unless it determines that disclosure is appropriate or necessary.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today, November 6^th at 9:00 AM EST. The conference call can be accessed live over the telephone by dialing (855) 327-6838 or (604) 235-2082 for international participants. A replay will be available beginning two hours after the call and can be accessed by dialing (844) 512-2921 or (412) 317-6671 for international callers. The replay will be available until Wednesday, November 20, 2019. The conference ID for the live call and replay is 10007953. The call will also be webcast live from the Company’s website at http://www.bloominbrands.com under the Investors section. A replay of this webcast will be available on the Company’s website after the call.

Non-GAAP Measures

In addition to the results provided in accordance with GAAP, this press release and related tables include certain non-GAAP measures, which present operating results on an adjusted basis. These are supplemental measures of performance that are not required by or presented in accordance with GAAP and include the following: (i) Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin, (ii) Adjusted income from operations and the corresponding margin, (iii) Adjusted net income, (iv) Adjusted diluted earnings per share, (v) Adjusted segment restaurant-level operating margin and (vi) Adjusted segment income from operations and the corresponding margin. For purposes of improving comparability, we have also presented Adjusted diluted earnings per share and Adjusted operating income margin excluding the impact of the new lease accounting standard in the table above.

We believe that our use of non-GAAP financial measures permits investors to assess the operating performance of our business relative to our performance based on GAAP results and relative to other companies within the restaurant industry by isolating the effects of certain items that may vary from period to period without correlation to core operating performance or that vary widely among similar companies. However, our inclusion of these adjusted measures should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or infrequent items or that the items for which we have made adjustments are unusual or infrequent or will not recur. We believe that the disclosure of these non-GAAP measures is useful to investors as they form part of the basis for how our management team and Board of Directors evaluate our operating performance, allocate resources and administer employee incentive plans.

These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to replace GAAP financial measures, and they are not necessarily standardized or comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. We maintain internal guidelines with respect to the types of adjustments we include in our non-GAAP measures. These guidelines endeavor to differentiate between types of gains and expenses that are reflective of our core operations in a period, and those that may vary from period to period without correlation to our core performance in that period. However, implementation of these guidelines necessarily involves the application of judgment, and the treatment of any items not directly addressed by, or changes to, our guidelines will be considered by our disclosure committee. You should refer to the reconciliations of non-GAAP measures in tables four, five, and six included later in this release for descriptions of the actual adjustments made in the current period and the corresponding prior period.

About Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. is one of the largest casual dining restaurant companies in the world with a portfolio of leading, differentiated restaurant concepts. The Company has four founder-inspired brands: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. The Company operates more than 1,450 restaurants in 48 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and 21 countries, some of which are franchise locations. For more information, please visit www.bloominbrands.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein, including statements under the headings “CEO Comments,” “Fiscal 2019 Financial Outlook” and “Company Exploring Strategic Alternatives” are not based on historical fact and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, these statements can be identified by the use of words such as “guidance,” “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “on track,” “feels,” “forecasts,” “seeks,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the outcome of our review of strategic alternatives, including the impact on our ongoing business, our stock price and our ability to successfully implement any alternatives that we pursue; consumer reaction to public health and food safety issues; competition; increases in labor costs; government actions and policies; increases in unemployment rates and taxes; local, regional, national and international economic conditions; consumer confidence and spending patterns; price and availability of commodities; the effects of changes in tax laws; challenges associated with our remodeling, relocation and expansion plans; interruption or breach of our systems or loss of consumer or employee information; political, social and legal conditions in international markets and their effects on foreign operations and foreign currency exchange rates; our ability to preserve the value of and grow our brands; the seasonality of the Company’s business; weather, acts of God and other disasters; changes in patterns of consumer traffic, consumer tastes and dietary habits; the cost and availability of credit; interest rate changes; compliance with debt covenants and the Company’s ability to make debt payments and planned investments; and our ability to continue to pay dividends and repurchase shares of our common stock. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of the Company and its forward-looking statements is included in its most recent Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as may be required by law. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Note: Numerical figures included in this release have been subject to rounding adjustments.

Restaurant-level Operating Margin Adjustments - Following is a summary of unfavorable (favorable) restaurant-level operating margin adjustments recorded in Other restaurant operating expense for the following activities, as described in table five of this release:

Following is a summary of the financial statement line item classification of the net income adjustments:

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Source: Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.

Mark Graff
Group Vice President, IR & Finance
(813) 830-5311