Restaurant Brands International Inc. saw the pandemic take a big bite out of earnings last quarter, with sales down 31 per cent year over year despite a rebound during the past month as commuters return to the roads.
The absence of morning coffee consumers and afternoon snack seekers for much of the second quarter pushed down profits at the parent of Tim Hortons and Burger King by 37 per cent compared with a year earlier, the company said.
“The pandemic has had an especially pronounced impact on routine-based visits, including on the morning commute and afternoon snack occasions, which each represent a significant part of our business,” RBI chief executive Jose Cil said on a conference call with analysts Thursday.
Nonetheless, he said system-wide sales have climbed back to 90 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 levels.
Most RBI locations in Canada and the U.S. remained open during the outbreak, but the company shifted heavily toward drive-thru and delivery as patrons shied away from bricks-and-mortar locations and dining areas became no-go zones.
Drive-thru sales — some 12,000 of RBI’s roughly 15,000 storefronts in Canada and the U.S. sport drive-thru windows — rose at least 10 per cent at Tim Hortons by June, 20 per cent at Burger King and 100 per cent at Popeyes, mitigating the larger revenue plunge.
The company has added nearly 3,000 more restaurants to its delivery network in Canada and the U.S. since February, bringing the total to nearly 10,000.
In spite of the boost in off-premise service, the pandemic drove a steep revenue decline at RBI’s two biggest brands, with sales at Tim Hortons and Burger King shrinking by one-third and one-quarter, respectively.
“It’s been a tremendous challenge for folks in our company, at the headquarters as well as our franchisees and the folks in the restaurants that are working every day to service through drive-thru and delivery,” Cil said in an interview.
A sales surge at Popeyes helped soften the blow, and RBI said virtually all 27,000 restaurants across the three brands are now open again.
Net income fell to $163 million US in the quarter ended June 30, down from $257 million US a year earlier, RBI said.
The Toronto-based company, which reports in U.S. dollars, said revenues fell 25 per cent last quarter to $1.05 billion US from $1.4 billion US in the previous year.
On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings plunged to 33 cents per share from 71 cents per share, nonetheless exceeding analysts’ expectations of 31 cents per share, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
