Wendy's (WEN) Misses Q1 EPS by 1c, Revenues Miss
Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN) reported Q1 EPS of $0.09, $0.01 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.10. Revenue for the quarter came in at $405 million versus the consensus estimate of $415.54 million.
Note from President and CEO, Todd Penegor
At Wendy's, the health, safety and well-being of our teams and customers has always been, and will continue to be, our top priority. We are focused on actions where we can make a positive difference to advance public health goals, safeguard our team members and customers from the spread of COVID-19, maintain essential access to high quality, affordable food, and support our franchisees and employees around the world.
I am very proud of the significant momentum our business generated in 2019 and carried into March of 2020 prior to the negative impact of COVID-19. Our U.S. breakfast launch in early March exceeded our initial expectations and the breakfast daypart continues to perform well in today's environment, which is encouraging. We believe that we have a breakfast business that is built to last. We have also seen strong growth in our U.S. digital business to approximately 5.5% of sales currently, with the addition of two new delivery partners in the first quarter to meet increasing consumer demand for this offering.
Delivering high quality food at an affordable price is more important than ever and I am humbled by the stories of how our system continues to support our communities. From delivering breakfast and hot meals to our much appreciated first responders and healthcare workers, to modifying procedures to enable truck drivers and others with large vehicles who are unable to access our drive-thru to continue to get their favorite Wendy's food through temporary curbside procedures, to volunteering personal time to local causes and charitable organizations, I am very proud of how we collectively strive to do the right thing and give something back.
Wendy's is a people business, and the spirit of our Wendy's people remains strong during this challenging time. Our restaurants are essential to feeding our communities, and we could not do this without great leadership and support from our dedicated General Managers and restaurant teams who are on the frontlines. We have taken steps to help protect our team members and customers during these uncertain times, including utilizing no-contact and limited-contact ordering options and focusing on social distancing practices at our restaurants. We have invested in training across our system to ensure employee and customer safety in areas such as handwashing and hygiene re-certifications, social distancing, and proper mask utilization. We also instituted an Emergency Paid Sick Leave policy for our Company hourly employees to provide additional support for employees affected by COVID-19 and have implemented Restaurant Recognition Pay in which hourly crew members, shift managers, and assistant General Managers in Company restaurants receive a 10% increase in hourly pay. We recently announced that we are extending both programs through the end of May.
We have worked diligently with our franchisees to ensure that they are set up in the best position possible to navigate through this disruption, both operationally and financially. On the operational front, we have worked to ensure that our teams are receiving the supplies they need, made changes to evolve and simplify our menu, and updated staffing and procedures to continue to run great restaurants through the drive-thru and with delivery during this time. Financially, we have worked to help franchisees preserve cash flow with royalty, advertising, and rent payment deferrals, we have extended our new build and reimaging requirements by a year and we have worked directly with our largest franchise lenders on behalf of our system to move to interest only loans for a period of time.
At the corporate level, we have taken several steps to ensure financial flexibility during this unprecedented time. We have fully drawn our Variable Funding Senior Secured Notes revolving financing facility, suspended all share repurchase activity, reduced our second quarter dividend, and identified approximately $30 million of savings in 2020 within capital expenditures and non-people related general & administrative expenses. As a result of these efforts, our cash balance remains strong at approximately $365 million as of May 3, 2020.
I continue to be amazed and humbled at how well our team is working together during this challenging time. We are getting things done and finding new ways of working which will make us even more nimble and stronger as an organization into the future. Most important, we are supporting our restaurant teams and, our communities the only way we know how, The Wendy's Way.
I could not be more proud of the work being done by our employees, franchisees and supplier partners across the globe during this difficult time, and I know that we will get through this and will emerge stronger on the other side. I am more confident than ever that we will achieve our long-term vision of becoming the world's most thriving and beloved restaurant brand.
Outlook
As previously announced, due to the current unprecedented global market and economic conditions, the Company withdrew its outlook for the 2020 fiscal year that was issued on February 26, 2020 and its 2021-2024 long-term outlook that was provided at its Investor day in October 2019. The Company intends to provide an updated financial outlook when it can reasonably estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and changing market conditions.
For earnings history and earnings-related data on Wendy's (WEN) click here.