Business
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund announces third quarter 2006 results
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund announces third quarter 2006 results.
About this update from Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nTORONTO, Oct. 31 /CNW/ - Today, Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund (the\n\"Fund\") reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30,\n2006.\nSystem sales for the 501 restaurants in the Fund's Royalty Pool were\n$90.8 million for the three months ended September 30, 2006 and were\n$259.2 million for nine months ended September 30, 2006. Same store sales\ngrowth, the key driver of yield growth for unitholders of the Fund, increased\n4% in the third quarter and has increased 4.5% for the nine months ended\nSeptember 30, 2006 compared with the same periods in 2005.\nThe latest industry statistics released by the Ontario Ministry of\nTourism reported U.S. border crossings to Ontario decreased by 12.2% in July\n2006 over July 2005 and by 9.3% in the first seven months of 2006 over the\nsame period in 2005. A decrease in Ontario tourism, both U.S. and\ninternational, has negatively impacted sales at a select number of our\nrestaurants during the current quarter and year-to-date. Particularly affected\nduring the summer months were sales at some of our outdoor-themed,\nnontraditional locations.\nThe Fund's net earnings for the quarter were $4.1 million or $0.23 per\nunit and earnings from operations for the nine month period were $11.7 million\nor $0.65 per unit. The payout ratio for the third quarter was 93% and 97%\nyear-to-date.\nTotal system sales at Pizza Pizza restaurants have increased 5%\nyear-to-date over the prior year with sales rising to $264.1 million from\n$250.1 million. The increase in sales is a result of a 4.5% increase in\nyear-to-date same store sales plus a net of 12 restaurants added since\nSeptember 30, 2005.\nPizza Pizza's system sales for the quarter ended December 31 have\ngenerally been the strongest quarter and the March 31 quarter system sales\nhave been the softest due to seasonality of the business.\nAs previously announced during the quarter, the Fund increased its July\n2006 distribution by 2.1%, from $0.0695 to $0.071 per unit as a direct result\nof the consistent same store sales growth. This was the third increase since\nthe Fund's initial public offering on July 6, 2005.\nPizza Pizza Limited (\"Pizza Pizza\"), the operating company, opened four\nnontraditional restaurants during the third quarter and closed three\nnontraditional; 18 restaurants have opened in the nine months...