Bloomin’ Brands Announces 2023 Q4 Financial Results

Q4 Diluted EPS of $0.45 and Q4 Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.75

Announces $350 Million Share Repurchase Authorization

Provides Full Year 2024 Financial Outlook

Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the fourth quarter 2023 (“Q4 2023”) and fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (“Fiscal Year 2023”) compared to the fourth quarter 2022 (“Q4 2022”) and the fiscal year ended December 25, 2022 (“Fiscal Year 2022”). In 2023, the fourth quarter and fiscal year included an additional operating week (“53rd week”) compared to Fiscal Year 2022.

CEO Comments

“The fourth quarter was a good finish to 2023, especially the holiday season,” said David Deno, CEO. “As we head into 2024, we remain focused on elevating the guest experience that in turn will drive sales and profit growth at Outback Steakhouse and all of our brands.”

Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS

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

Fourth Quarter Financial Results

• The increase in Total revenues was primarily due to: (i) restaurant sales during the 53rd week of 2023, (ii) the effect of foreign currency translation and (iii) the net impact of restaurant openings and closures. This increase in Total revenues was partially offset by the benefit of Brazil value added tax exemptions during Q4 2022.
• GAAP operating income margin decreased from Q4 2022 primarily due to impacts of the 2023 Closure Initiative, as detailed below.
• Restaurant-level operating margin improved slightly from Q4 2022 primarily due to: (i) an increase in average check per person, (ii) the impact of certain cost saving and productivity initiatives, (iii) the favorable settlement of certain collective action wage and hour lawsuits and (iv) lease remeasurement gains in connection with the 2023 Closure Initiative. These increases were partially offset by: (i) commodity and labor inflation and (ii) higher advertising expense.
• Adjusted income from operations excludes: (i) impairment and closure costs in connection with the 2023 Closure Initiative, net of lease remeasurement gains, (ii) the benefit of the favorable settlement of certain collective action wage and hour lawsuits and (iii) other costs not correlated to our core operating performance. Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin excludes the benefits of the lawsuit settlements and lease remeasurement gains.

Fourth Quarter Comparable Restaurant Sales⁽¹⁾

Dividend Declaration and Share Repurchases

On February 13, 2024, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share, payable on March 20, 2024 to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 6, 2024.

On February 13, 2024, our Board of Directors canceled $57.5 million of remaining authorization under our existing 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 2024 Share Repurchase Program will expire on August 13, 2025.

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. In connection with these closures, we recognized asset impairments and net closure charges of $32.3 million during Q4 2023. We expect to complete these closures during Q1 2024 and incur charges of between $8 million and $11 million.

In 2024, we plan to open 40 to 45 system-wide restaurants.

Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook

Please note, fiscal 2024 adjusted diluted earnings per share will exclude the Brazil tax legislation benefit and the 53rd week that were included in the 2023 financial results.

The tables below present our expectations for selected 2024 financial and operating results.

The following table is a comparable view of our 2023 adjusted diluted earnings per share to our 2024 adjusted diluted earnings per share outlook.

Q1 2024 Financial Outlook

The table below presents our expectations for selected fiscal Q1 2024 operating results.

Please note, Q1 2024 results will be impacted by the following factors:

• Due to the 53rd week in Fiscal Year 2023, our financial statement comparisons will be one week different year over year. Q1 2024 does not include the December holiday week, including New Year’s Eve. We estimate this shift in weeks to be worth approximately $0.06.
• The first three weeks of the quarter were negatively impacted by weather. We estimate this impact to be approximately 1.3% to our U.S. comparable sales for the quarter, and $0.05 to our adjusted earnings per share.
• We will be lapping the Brazil tax legislation benefit, which is a $0.08 headwind.

We will report our financial statements for 2024 on a Fiscal Calendar Basis. Due to the 53rd week in Fiscal Year 2023, our financial statement comparisons will be one week different year over year. We expect the largest impacts from this shift to occur in Q1 2024 as well as Q4 2024.

We will report our comparable restaurant sales on a Comparable Calendar Basis. The following table provides a comparison of the calendar days included in both our 2024 fiscal and comparable restaurant sales calendars. We believe this will provide the most accurate assessment of comparable sales.

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call today, February 23, 2024 at 8:00 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.

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 47 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 “Q1 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; 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 income adjustments: