Bloomin’ Brands Announces 2024 Q1 Financial Results

Q1 Diluted EPS of $(0.96) and Q1 Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.70

Retired $83.6M of Convertible Notes

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the first quarter 2024 (“Q1 2024”) compared to the first quarter 2023 (“Q1 2023”).

CEO Comments

“The first quarter was a solid start to the year, as sales and profit met our expectations,” said David Deno, CEO. “After a slower start, sales trends strengthened throughout the quarter. Our sales performance is well ahead of the casual dining industry as our marketing and operations initiatives are paying off, especially at Outback.”

Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS

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

First Quarter Financial Results

• As described in the table below, our Q1 2024 fiscal calendar began one week later than Q1 2023. This shift impacts the comparability of the two periods. Q1 2023 includes several high-volume days between December 26^th and December 31^st. Q1 2024 excludes these high-volume days. This shift had a negative impact of approximately $16.5 million on comparable restaurant sales and $0.06 on adjusted diluted earnings per share.

• The decrease in Total revenues was primarily due to: (i) lower comparable restaurant sales including the impact of the one-week shift in the fiscal calendar, (ii) the net impact of restaurant closures and openings and (iii) the impact of the Brazil value added tax exemptions during 2023. The decrease was partially offset by the effect of foreign currency translation.

• GAAP operating income margin decreased from Q1 2023 primarily due to: (i) a decrease in restaurant-level operating margin, as detailed below, (ii) the impacts of the 2023 Closure Initiative, (iii) higher depreciation and amortization expense and (iv) the impact of lapping the Brazil value added tax exemption.

• Restaurant-level operating margin decreased from Q1 2023 primarily due to: (i) lower comparable restaurant sales including the impact of the one-week shift in the fiscal calendar, (ii) higher labor, other operating expenses, and commodity costs driven by inflation, and (iii) higher advertising expense. These decreases were offset by an increase in average check per person and the impact of certain cost saving and productivity initiatives.

• Adjusted income from operations excludes impairment and closure costs in connection with the 2023 Closure Initiative.

First Quarter Comparable Restaurant Sales⁽¹⁾

Dividend Declaration, Share Repurchases and 2025 Notes Retirement

On April 23, 2024, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share, payable on May 31, 2024 to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 20, 2024.

On February 13, 2024, our Board of Directors canceled $57.5 million of remaining authorization under our prior share repurchase program and approved a new $350.0 million authorization. The 2024 Share Repurchase Program includes capacity above our normal share repurchases activity to provide flexibility in retiring our convertible senior notes at or prior to their May 2025 maturity (the “2025 Notes”). The 2024 Share Repurchase Program will expire on August 13, 2025.

On February 29, 2024, we entered into exchange agreements with certain holders of our 2025 Notes. We delivered an aggregate of approximately 7.5 million shares of common stock and $3.3 million in cash, in exchange for $83.6 million in aggregate principal amount of the 2025 Notes.

On March 1, 2024, the Company entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement (the “ASR Agreement”), in connection with the 2024 Share Repurchase Program to repurchase $220 million of the Company’s common stock.

Under the ASR Agreement, the Company made an aggregate payment of $220.0 million and received an aggregate initial delivery of approximately 6.5 million shares of common stock on March 4, 2024, representing approximately 80% of the total shares that were estimated to be repurchased under the ASR Agreement based on the price per share of common stock on that date. On April 23, 2024, the Company received 1.4 million additional shares of common stock in connection with the final settlement of the ASR Agreement.

2023 Closure Initiative

In Q4 2023, we made the decision to close 36 predominantly older, underperforming restaurants and three U.S. and two international Aussie Grill restaurants. We have completed all restaurant closures under the 2023 Closure Initiative and incurred severance and closure charges of $13.0 million during Q1 2024.

Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook

The table below presents our updated expectations for selected 2024 financial operating results. We are reaffirming all other aspects of our full-year financial guidance as previously communicated in our February 23, 2024 earnings release.

Q2 2024 Financial Outlook

The table below presents our expectations for selected fiscal Q2 2024 operating results.

Reviewing Strategic Alternatives for Brazil Operations

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

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, May 7, 2024 at 8:00 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.

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 owns and operates more than 1,450 restaurants in 46 states, Guam and 13 countries, some of which are franchise locations. For more information, please visit www.bloominbrands.com.

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: (i) Restaurant-level operating income, adjusted restaurant-level operating income and their corresponding margins, (ii) Adjusted income from operations and the corresponding margin, (iii) Adjusted segment income from operations and the corresponding margin, (iv) Adjusted net income and (v) Adjusted diluted earnings per share.

Restaurant-level operating margin is a non-GAAP financial measure widely regarded in the industry as a useful metric to evaluate restaurant-level operating efficiency and performance of ongoing restaurant-level operations, and we use it for these purposes, overall and particularly within our two segments.

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, Six and Seven included later in this release for descriptions of the actual adjustments made in the current period and the corresponding prior period.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein, including statements under the headings “CEO Comments”, “Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook” and “Q2 2024 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; increases in labor costs and fluctuations in the availability of employees; increases in unemployment rates and taxes; competition; interruption or breach of our systems or loss of consumer or employee information; price and availability of commodities and other impacts of inflation; our dependence on a limited number of suppliers and distributors; political, social and legal conditions in international markets and their effects on foreign operations and foreign currency exchange rates; the impact of the strategic review process for our Brazil operations or any resulting action or inaction; our ability to address corporate citizenship and sustainability matters and investor expectations; local, regional, national and international economic conditions; changes in patterns of consumer traffic, consumer tastes and dietary habits; the effects of changes in tax laws; costs, diversion of management attention and reputational damage from any claims or litigation; government actions and policies; challenges associated with our remodeling, relocation and expansion plans; our ability to preserve the value of and grow our brands; consumer confidence and spending patterns; the effects of a health pandemic, weather, acts of God and other disasters and the ability or success in executing related business continuity plans; the Company’s ability to make debt payments and planned investments and the Company’s compliance with debt covenants; the cost and availability of credit; interest rate changes; and any impairments in the carrying value of goodwill and other assets. 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.

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

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