Bloomin’ Brands Reports Strengthening Q1 2021 Sales Trends

Generating Strong Cash Flow with Enhanced Liquidity Position

Announces 2020 Q4 Financial Results

Provides Selective 2021 Financial Guidance

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2021-- Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the fourth quarter 2020 (“Q4 2020”) and fiscal year ended December 27, 2020 (“Fiscal Year 2020”) compared to the fourth quarter 2019 (“Q4 2019”) and fiscal year ended December 29, 2019 (“Fiscal Year 2019”).

CEO Comments

“Our priorities and focus remain on taking care of our people and providing a great and safe experience for guests in the restaurant or in the convenience of their home,” said David Deno, Chief Executive Officer. “The fourth quarter showed our continued resilience in navigating through a rapidly changing environment. We are making great progress across key initiatives to improve margins, increase cash flow, and pay down debt, while taking market share. Thus far in 2021 we have seen sales momentum and volume increases relative to Q4 with U.S. comp sales of (12.9)% through the first seven weeks of the fiscal year.”

Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS

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

Fourth Quarter Financial Results

• The decrease in Total revenues was primarily due to: (i) significantly lower comparable restaurant sales and franchise revenues principally attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, (ii) the effect of foreign currency translation of the Brazil Real relative to the U.S. dollar and (iii) the net impact of restaurant closures and openings.

• Restaurant-level operating margin decreased due to: (i) significantly lower comparable restaurant sales and costs incurred in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, including incremental delivery related costs and (ii) higher labor costs. These decreases were partially offset by: (i) reduced advertising expense, (ii) a reduction in prep labor hours and (iii) cost savings from waste reduction initiatives. COVID-19 related charges are excluded from Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin.

• GAAP operating (loss) income margin decreased due to: (i) a decline in restaurant-level operating margin discussed above, (ii) sales deleveraging in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic across general and administrative expense, depreciation and amortization and (iii) asset impairment charges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 related charges are excluded from Adjusted operating income margin.

Fourth Quarter Comparable Restaurant Sales

Liquidity Update and Recent Sales Results

As of this morning, our total available liquidity was $675 million. Our liquidity position has improved over the last several weeks due to increased sales performance, holiday gift card sales and working capital inflows.

As of February 14, 2021, approximately 99% of our U.S. restaurants are open with limited in-restaurant dining capacity (vs. 85% as of December 27, 2020) in accordance with local mandates.

The following table includes quarter-to-date U.S. company-owned comparable restaurant sales for the seven-week period ended February 14, 2021:

2021 Financial Outlook

The Company remains committed to making decisions to achieve its long-term growth framework and maximize shareholder value. However, ongoing uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving in-restaurant dining capacity restrictions across the country have made it difficult to forecast sales. Despite this uncertainty, we are focused on the following initiatives to emerge a better, stronger, operations-focused company:

• Pursue previously announced transformational cost savings initiatives representing $40 million over two years. We achieved $25 million of these cost savings in 2020 and expect approximately $15 million of these savings to be realized in 2021

• Capitalize on additional margin opportunities learned during the pandemic

• Prioritize capital allocation towards debt pay down while maintaining flexibility to reinvest back in the business

The following table presents our expectations for selected fiscal 2021 financial reporting and operating results:

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today, February 18, 2021 at 8:30 AM EST. 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 and (vi) Adjusted segment income (loss) from operations and the corresponding margin.

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, six and seven 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 20 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 heading “CEO Comments” 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 unfavorable (favorable) 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:

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

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

Source: Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.