Bloomin’ Brands Announces 2021 Q2 Financial Results and Strong Operating Margin Expansion

Q2 Diluted EPS of $0.75 and Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.81

Q2 Comparable Restaurant Sales Growth of 65.8% at Outback Steakhouse and 84.6% Combined U.S.

Strengthening Third Quarter-to-Date U.S. Comp Sales Trends on a 2-Year Basis

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 30, 2021-- Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the second quarter 2021 (“Q2 2021”) compared to the second quarter 2020 (“Q2 2020”).

CEO Comments

“Q2 represented another quarter of strong results. We are well positioned to grow sales and capture additional market share,” said David Deno, Chief Executive Officer. “We are making great progress improving margins, increasing cash flow and retaining off-premises sales as dining rooms have reopened. Our sales momentum has continued through the first four weeks of the third quarter with U.S. comp sales up 15.2% on a two-year basis versus 2019.”

Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS

The following table reconciles Diluted earnings (loss) per share attributable to common stockholders to Adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share for the periods indicated:

Second Quarter Financial Results

• The increase in Total revenues was primarily due to: (i) higher comparable restaurant sales from in-restaurant dining and strong retention of off-premises sales, (ii) higher franchise revenues and (iii) the net impact of restaurant openings and closures.

• GAAP restaurant-level operating margin increased due to higher comparable restaurant sales and lower advertising expense. These increases were partially offset by the 2020 benefit of employee retention credits from relief pay and higher management bonus. Charges related to the COVID-19 pandemic were excluded from our 2020 Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin.

• GAAP operating income margin increased due to: (i) an increase in restaurant-level operating margin as described above, (ii) 2020 asset impairment charges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and (iii) favorable court rulings in Brazil related to value-added taxes recorded in other revenues. These increases were partially offset by an increase in incentive compensation expense. Adjusted operating income excludes the impact of charges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, benefits from value-added tax court rulings in Brazil and expenses from restructuring and transformational initiatives.

Second Quarter Comparable Restaurant Sales

The following table includes Company-owned comparable restaurant sales for the second quarter ended June 27, 2021 as well as performance relative to 2019 for improved comparability due to the impact of COVID-19:

Recent Sales Results - U.S.

Third quarter-to-date U.S. comparable restaurant sales results have continued to strengthen on a two-year basis due to our sales building initiatives, pent up consumer demand and additional stimulus.

The following tables include quarter-to-date U.S. Company-owned comparable restaurant sales for the four-week period ended July 25, 2021 and weekly U.S. comparable average unit volumes for the periods indicated:

Recent Sales Results - Brazil

Brazil’s second quarter sales were impacted by a rise in COVID-19 cases that resulted in significantly reduced in-restaurant dining capacity for a majority of the country. In recent weeks as the vaccine rollout increased, we have seen in-restaurant dining capacity increase which has resulted in rapidly improving weekly sales volumes. In São Paulo, which represents our largest market with 46% of stores, in-restaurant dining capacity increased to 60% on July 7, 2021, providing optimism about the continued recovery.

The following tables include Brazil third quarter-to-date Company-owned comparable restaurant sales for the eight-week period ended July 25, 2021 and weekly comparable average unit volumes for the periods indicated:

Q3 2021 Financial Outlook

The table below presents our expectations for selected fiscal Q3 2021 financial operating results. Our outlook assumes no significant business interruptions related to COVID-19 and contemplates the following considerations:

• Continuing momentum in U.S. sales trends and includes a level of traditional Q3 seasonality; and
• Achieving ongoing operating efficiencies from simplification efforts, waste reduction and lower advertising.

Fiscal 2021 Financial Outlook

We are updating our 2021 financial outlook for the following items:

• Increased commodity inflation reflects increases in protein costs, primarily chicken and seafood, as we acquired additional supply outside of our contracted terms due to higher sales volumes;
• Higher general and administrative expenses from additional incentive compensation as a result of strong financial performance; and
• A reduction in capital expenditures due to raw material constraints delaying relocations, remodels and new restaurants into 2022.

All other aspects of our previously provided financial outlook remain unchanged. See the table below for more details.

We are not providing any additional sales or profit guidance for the full-year due to the ongoing uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today, July 30, 2021 at 8:30 AM EDT. The conference call will 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 (loss) from operations and the corresponding margin, (iii) Adjusted net income (loss), (iv) Adjusted diluted earnings (loss) per share, (v) Adjusted segment restaurant-level operating margin, (vi) Adjusted segment income (loss) from operations and the corresponding margin and (vii) Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”).

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 five, six, seven and ten 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 47 states, Guam and 19 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”, “Q3 2021 Financial Outlook” and “Fiscal 2021 Financial Outlook” 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: consumer reaction to public health and food safety issues; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainties about its depth and duration, as well as the impacts to economic conditions and consumer behavior, including, among others: the inability of workers, including delivery drivers, to work due to illness, quarantine, or government mandates, temporary restaurant closures and capacity restrictions due to reduced workforces or government mandates, the unemployment rate, the extent, availability and effectiveness of any COVID-19 stimulus packages or loan programs, the ability of our franchisees to operate their restaurants during the pandemic and pay royalties, and trends in consumer behavior and spending during and after the end of the pandemic; 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; and compliance with debt covenants and the Company’s ability to make debt payments and planned investments. 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 (favorable) unfavorable adjusted restaurant-level operating margin adjustments recorded in Other restaurant operating expense (unless otherwise noted below) for the following activities, as described in table six of this release for the periods indicated:

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