Business
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund - October Distribution & Sales Growth
Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund - October Distribution & Sales Growth.
About this update from Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\nTORONTO, Oct. 17 /CNW/ - Pizza Pizza Royalty Income Fund (the "Fund")\n(TSX: PZA.UN) today announced a cash distribution of $0.076 per unit for the\nmonth of October 2007. The distribution will be payable to unitholders of\nrecord at the close of business on October 31, 2007, and will be paid on\nNovember 15, 2007.\n\n\nBusiness activities underlying the Fund continued to be solid in the\nthird quarter ended September 30, 2007 as Pizza Pizza Limited reported 5.1%\nquarterly same-store sales growth ("SSSG") and 5% year-to-date compared to the\nsame periods last year.\n\n\nOn July 24, 2007, the Fund and Pizza Pizza announced the acquisition of\nPizza 73, Inc. and its affiliated companies (together, "Pizza 73"). As a\nresult, 41 Pizza 73 restaurants were added to the Fund's Royalty Pool bringing\nthe total to 572 restaurants in the Pool.\n\n\nThe third quarter sales of the 572 restaurants increased by 19.9%, or\n$18.1 million, to $108.9 million compared to $90.8 million for the same\nquarter in 2006. Sales from the 531 Pizza Pizza restaurants were $95 million\nand sales from the 41 Pizza 73 restaurants added to the Pool on July 24, 2007\nwere $13.9 million.\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. The Fund, through a subsidiary, has acquired the trademarks\nand trade names used in Pizza Pizza and Pizza 73 branded restaurants. The\nPizza Pizza trademarks were licensed to Pizza Pizza Limited in 2005 for 99\nyears, for which it pays the Fund a royalty equal to 6% of the system sales of\nits Pizza Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool. Effective July 24, 2007, the\nFund acquired the Pizza 73 trademarks and trade names and licensed them to\nPizza Pizza Limited, for which it pays the Fund a royalty equal to 9% of the\nsystem sales of the 41 Pizza 73 restaurants added to the Royalty Pool. By\nadding these 41 Pizza 73 restaurants to the 531 Pizza Pizza restaurants\nalready in the pool, the Fund's Royalty Pool is 572 restaurants for the\nremainder of 2007.\n\n\nA key attribute of the Fund is that revenues are based on top-line,\nsystem sales of the Royalty Pool restaurants and not on the profitability of\neither Pizza Pizza Limited or the restaurants in the Royalty Pool. The success\nof the Fund depends pri...