FAT Brands (NASDAQ: FAT) reported Q1 EPS of ($0.20), versus ($0.06) reported last year. Revenue for the quarter came in at $4.4 million versus the consensus estimate of $5.86 million.

Fiscal First Quarter 2020 Highlights

• Total revenues of $4.4 million compared to $4.9 million in the first quarter of 2019. Excluding advertising revenues, revenues were $3.5 million, down from $3.9 million in the first quarter of 2019.
  • System-wide sales were down 10.5% y/y
    • System-wide sales (excluding Ponderosa & Bonanza) declined 1.6% y/y
    • United States sales decline of 13.7% y/y
    • Canada sales decline of 0.3% y/y
    • Other International(1) sales were down 1.8%
  • System-wide same-store sales decline of 10.5% y/y
    • System-wide same-store sales decline (excluding Ponderosa & Bonanza) of 12.1% y/y
    • United States same-store sales decline of 10.0% y/y
    • Canada same-store sales decline of 10.2% y/y
    • Other International(1) sales decline of 13.1% y/y
  • Seven new franchised store openings during the first quarter 2020
    • Store count as of March 29, 2020: 374 stores system-wide
• Net loss of $2.4 million or $0.20 per share on a basic and fully diluted basis, as compared to net loss of $710,000 or $0.06 per share on a basic and fully diluted basis in the first quarter of 2019
• EBITDA(2) of ($362,000) as compared to $820,000 in the first quarter of 2019
• Adjusted EBITDA(2) of $283,000 as compared to $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2019. The reconciliation of EBITDA to Adjusted EBITDA can be found in the accompanying financial tables.

Andy Wiederhorn, President and CEO of FAT Brands, commented, “The first five months of 2020 have been unprecedented, and our mission has been steadfast - to guide our franchisees and their employees through these challenging times as safely as possible so they may best serve their communities and guests. As we are now moving into the re-opening phase in many locations both domestically and internationally, our operations teams have worked tirelessly with our franchisees to prepare – from operating practices and procedures that align with local, state and federal regulations; to overall safety, sanitation and social distancing measures to provide comfort to guests; and finally to redesigned menu and serving options. As we look forward to the second half of the year, I am confident that our franchisees will be in a position to navigate successfully through this new landscape.”

Wiederhorn continued, “During the first quarter, we closed the whole business securitization which has provided us with a significantly lower cost of capital as well as a platform to fuel growth not only through our strong development pipeline but also through the execution of our acquisition strategy.”

COVID-19 Business Update

With the re-opening of many domestic and international jurisdictions, our franchisees are moving from the to-go only model to modified in-store dining with certain capacity or other restrictions. As of today, approximately 90 locations remain temporarily closed worldwide.

As our franchisees have re-opened their stores, we have been providing guidance and assistance with the procurement of PPE for employees, updates to seating plan layouts including the utilization of non-traditional dining areas such as outdoor space, and the reconfiguration of the buffet concept in our Ponderosa and Bonanza brands to either table service or cafeteria-style buffets.

Our development pipeline remains strong with the opening of seven locations through March 29, 2020 and another three locations subsequent to the end of the period.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on FAT Brands (FAT) click here.