Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLMN) today reported results for the second quarter 2024 (“Q2 2024”) compared to the second quarter 2023 (“Q2 2023”).

CEO Comments
“In the second quarter, the casual dining industry was softer than anticipated,” said David Deno, CEO. “While our comparable sales growth outpaced the industry in Q2, we did not meet our expectations. We are very focused on developing a path to sustainable growth at Outback and are making progress in improving the guest experience, providing meaningful value, and enhancing customer and digital capabilities. Our full year guidance has been updated to reflect current industry trends and our teams remain focused on delivering long-term sustainable growth.”

Diluted EPS and Adjusted Diluted EPS
The following table reconciles Diluted earnings per share to Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the periods indicated (unaudited):

Second Quarter Financial Results

• The decrease in Total revenues was primarily due to: (i) lower comparable restaurant sales, (ii) the net impact of restaurant closures and openings, and (iii) the benefit from the Brazil value added tax exemptions during 2023.

• GAAP operating income margin decreased from Q2 2023 primarily due to: (i) a decrease in restaurant-level operating margin, as detailed below, (ii) higher impairment and closure costs, and (iii) higher depreciation and amortization expense.

• Restaurant-level operating margin decreased from Q2 2023 primarily due to: (i) lower restaurant sales, as discussed above, (ii) higher labor, operating and commodity costs, primarily due to inflation, (iii) unfavorable product mix and (iv) higher advertising expense. These decreases were offset by an increase in average check per person and the impact of certain cost-saving and productivity initiatives.

• Adjusted income from operations primarily excludes impairment and closure costs primarily in connection with the decision to close nine restaurants in Hong Kong and the Q4 2023 decision to close 36 older, predominately underperforming restaurants.

Second Quarter Comparable Restaurant Sales⁽¹⁾

Dividend Declaration and Share Repurchases
On July 23, 2024, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per share, payable on September 4, 2024 to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 20, 2024.

Year to date through August 2, 2024, we repurchased 9.9 million shares for a total of $263.1 million during 2024 and had $99.4 million of share repurchase authorization remaining under the 2024 Share Repurchase Program.

Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook
The table below presents our updated expectations for selected 2024 financial operating results. We are reaffirming all other aspects of our full-year financial guidance as previously communicated.

Q3 2024 Financial Outlook
The table below presents our expectations for selected fiscal Q3 2024 financial operating results.

Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call today, August 6, 2024 at 8:15 AM EDT. The conference call will be webcast live from the Company’s website at http://www.bloominbrands.com under the Investors section. A replay of this webcast will be available on the Company’s website after the call.

About Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.
Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. is one of the largest casual dining restaurant companies in the world with a portfolio of leading, differentiated restaurant concepts. The Company has four founder-inspired brands: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. The Company owns and operates more than 1,450 restaurants in 46 states, Guam and 13 countries, some of which are franchise locations. For more information, please visit www.bloominbrands.com.

Non-GAAP Measures
In addition to the results provided in accordance with GAAP, this press release and related tables include certain non-GAAP measures, which present operating results on an adjusted basis. These are supplemental measures of performance that are not required by or presented in accordance with GAAP and include: (i) Restaurant-level operating income, adjusted restaurant-level operating income and their corresponding margins, (ii) Adjusted income from operations and the corresponding margin, (iii) Adjusted segment income from operations and the corresponding margin, (iv) Adjusted net income and (v) Adjusted diluted earnings per share.

Restaurant-level operating margin is a non-GAAP financial measure widely regarded in the industry as a useful metric to evaluate restaurant-level operating efficiency and performance of ongoing restaurant-level operations, and we use it for these purposes, overall and particularly within our two segments.

We believe that our use of non-GAAP financial measures permits investors to assess the operating performance of our business relative to our performance based on GAAP results and relative to other companies within the restaurant industry by isolating the effects of certain items that may vary from period to period without correlation to core operating performance or that vary widely among similar companies. However, our inclusion of these adjusted measures should not be construed as an indication that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or infrequent items or that the items for which we have made adjustments are unusual or infrequent or will not recur. We believe that the disclosure of these non-GAAP measures is useful to investors as they form part of the basis for how our management team and Board of Directors evaluate our operating performance, allocate resources and administer employee incentive plans.

These non-GAAP financial measures are not intended to replace GAAP financial measures, and they are not necessarily standardized or comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. We maintain internal guidelines with respect to the types of adjustments we include in our non-GAAP measures. These guidelines endeavor to differentiate between types of gains and expenses that are reflective of our core operations in a period, and those that may vary from period to period without correlation to our core performance in that period. However, implementation of these guidelines necessarily involves the application of judgment, and the treatment of any items not directly addressed by, or changes to, our guidelines will be considered by our disclosure committee. You should refer to the reconciliations of non-GAAP measures in Tables Four, Five, Six and Seven included later in this release for descriptions of the actual adjustments made in the current period and the corresponding prior period.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained herein, including statements under the headings “CEO Comments”, “Fiscal 2024 Financial Outlook” and “Q3 2024 Financial Outlook” are not based on historical fact and are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, these statements can be identified by the use of words such as “guidance,” “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “on track,” “feels,” “forecasts,” “seeks,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would” and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: consumer reaction to public health and food safety issues; increases in labor costs and fluctuations in the availability of employees; increases in unemployment rates and taxes; competition; interruption or breach of our systems or loss of consumer or employee information; price and availability of commodities and other impacts of inflation; our dependence on a limited number of suppliers and distributors; political, social and legal conditions in international markets and their effects on foreign operations and foreign currency exchange rates; the impact of the strategic review process for our Brazil operations or any resulting action or inaction; our ability to address corporate citizenship and sustainability matters and investor expectations; local, regional, national and international economic conditions; changes in patterns of consumer traffic, consumer tastes and dietary habits; the effects of changes in tax laws; costs, diversion of management attention and reputational damage from any claims or litigation; government actions and policies; challenges associated with our remodeling, relocation and expansion plans; our ability to preserve the value of and grow our brands; consumer confidence and spending patterns; the effects of a health pandemic, weather, acts of God and other disasters and the ability or success in executing related business continuity plans; the Company’s ability to make debt payments and planned investments and the Company’s compliance with debt covenants; the cost and availability of credit; interest rate changes; and any impairments in the carrying value of goodwill and other assets. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of the Company and its forward-looking statements is included in its most recent Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as may be required by law. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

Note: Numerical figures included in this release have been subject to rounding adjustments.

Following is a summary of the financial statement line item classification of the net income (loss) adjustments:

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