Bloomin’ Brands Reports Strengthening Sales Trends

Significantly Outperformed Industry Comp Sales Benchmarks
Generating Consistent Positive Cash Flow with Enhanced Liquidity Position
Announces 2020 Q3 Financial Results

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2020-- Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the third quarter 2020 (“Q3 2020”) compared to the third quarter 2019 (“Q3 2019”).

Statement from David Deno, Chief Executive Officer

Our priorities remain unchanged as we are focused on taking care of our people and serving food in an environment that protects both team members and customers. Maintaining a motivated, well trained, and engaged employee base that is committed to providing a safe dining experience is critical to our long-term success. The decision not to furlough any employees during the pandemic reinforced this principle. This decision is paying off and has been a big part of our success in driving results throughout the pandemic.

It is clear that customers want to come back to restaurants and they are confident in our ability to provide a safe and welcoming dining experience. Our dining rooms across the country continue to maintain elevated safety measures, including additional sanitation and disinfecting practices, as well as contactless payment options for consumers. Across the U.S. portfolio, we experienced consistent weekly sales momentum throughout the third quarter as we adapted to this evolving environment. In-restaurant sales continue to improve and our off-premises business remains robust as we are retaining approximately 50% of the incremental volume achieved while our dining rooms were closed. Off-premises remains a priority and we will leverage our strong capabilities to capitalize on this important and growing channel.

We are dedicated to growing sales while improving value. In September, we launched a new menu at Outback Steakhouse designed to reinforce our steak leadership through more accessible premium cuts and larger portions while also lowering menu prices. This efficient menu design reduces complexity, which improves execution and consistency that results in an improved customer experience.

This past year we have learned even more about the business and rethought how we manage expenses. These learned efficiencies provide optimism about the ability to grow margins, once we exit the pandemic. Our third quarter sales and profits were above expectations with U.S. comp sales exceeding Knapp trends by over 850 basis points. In addition, our improved sales recovery, coupled with disciplined cost management, enabled us to generate positive cash flow in the quarter while paying down debt.

We are becoming a better, stronger, operations-focused company. Even though a challenging environment remains, I am more convinced than ever of the important role that full-service restaurants will continue to play in the lives of our customers and communities.

Third Quarter Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS

The following table reconciles Diluted (loss) earnings per share attributable to common stockholders to Adjusted diluted (loss) earnings per share for the third quarter 2020 (“Q3 2020”) compared to the third quarter 2019 (“Q3 2019”).

Third 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 net impact of restaurant closures and openings and (iii) the effect of foreign currency translation of the Brazil Real relative to the U.S. dollar.

• GAAP and Adjusted 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 are partially offset by: (i) reduced advertising, utilities and operating expenses, (ii) a reduction in prep labor hours and (iii) cost savings from waste reduction initiatives.

• GAAP operating 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 depreciation and amortization and general and administrative expense and (iii) certain costs in connection with our transformation initiatives. These costs in connection with transformation initiatives were excluded from our adjusted operating income margin.

Third Quarter Comparable Restaurant Sales

2020 Financial Outlook

As announced on March 20, 2020, the Company withdrew its 2020 financial guidance for the fiscal year ending December 27, 2020. Due to the current global market and economic conditions as a result of COVID-19, the Company will not provide guidance for the remainder of the year.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today, October 23, 2020 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 (loss) income from operations and the corresponding margin, (iii) Adjusted net (loss) income, (iv) Adjusted diluted (loss) earnings 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, Puerto Rico, 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 “Statement from David Deno, Chief Executive Officer” 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 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; 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; 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.