Business
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund Announces April Distribution and Strong Quarterly Sales Results
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund Announces April Distribution and Strong Quarterly Sales Results.
About this update from Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nTORONTO, April 17 /CNW/ - Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund (the "Fund")\n(TSX: PZA.UN) today announced a cash distribution of $0.073 per unit for the\nmonth of April, 2007. The distribution will be payable to unitholders of\nrecord at the close of business on April 30, 2007, and will be paid on May 15,\n2007.\n\n\nBusiness activities underlying the Fund continued to be solid in the\nfirst quarter ended March 31, 2007 as Pizza Pizza Limited ("Pizza Pizza")\nexperienced a 5.5% same-store sales growth over the same period last year.\nSystem Sales for the quarter, generated by the restaurants in the Fund's\nRoyalty Pool, increased by $7 million or 8% to $89.5 million compared to $82.5\nfor the same quarter in the prior year. The increase in sales reflects the\nimpact of sales generated by new restaurants in the Royalty Pool and an\nincrease in same store sales.\n\n\nPizza Pizza's total system sales for the 13 weeks ended April 1, 2007\nwere $90.8 million compared to $84.5 million for the 13 weeks ended April 2,\n2006, an increase of $6.3 million or 7%. The increase in sales is a result of\na 5.5% increase in year-to-date same store sales plus a net of 31 restaurants\nadded since January 1, 2006.\n\n\nAbout the Fund, a publicly-traded entity\n\n\nThe Fund is a limited purpose, open-ended trust established under the\nlaws of Ontario to indirectly acquire the trademarks and trade names used by\nPizza Pizza in its restaurants. The trademarks were licensed to Pizza Pizza in\n2005 for 99 years, for which Pizza Pizza pays the Fund a royalty equal to 6%\nof the system sales of its Pizza Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool. As of\nJanuary 1, 2007, there were 531 Pizza Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool.\n\n\nA key attribute of the Fund is that it is based on top-line, system sales\nof the Royalty Pool restaurants and not on the profitability of either Pizza\nPizza or the restaurants in the Royalty Pool. The success of the Fund depends\nprimarily on the ability of Pizza Pizza to maintain and increase system sales\nof the Royalty Pool and to meet its royalty obligations.\n\n\nThe Fund's trust units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the\nsymbol PZA.UN.\n\n\nAbout Pizza Pizza Limited, the privately-owned operating company\n\n\nPizza Pizza Limited, a privately-held Canadian corporation, is one of\nCana...