Michael T. Lawton
Analyst · Michael Kelter with Goldman Sachs
Thank you, Lynn, and good morning, everyone. We're very pleased with the results for the fourth quarter and our fiscal 2013. During the quarter, we continued to build on the positive results we posted during the first 3 quarters of the year, and we delivered another solid quarter for our shareholders. We opened a significant number of new stores, both domestically and internationally. Our international and domestic divisions posted strong same-store sales growth, and our EPS grew by 21.9% over the prior-year quarter. Now I'll start my review of the quarter by looking at our system-wide sales, which are also known as global retail sales. And these are the total retail sales at franchise and company-owned stores worldwide. Global retail sales grew 7.2%. Foreign currency was the headwind again this quarter. And when you exclude the adverse impact of foreign currency, global retail sales grew by 9.9%. Drivers of this growth included domestic same-store sales, which rose 3.7% in the quarter lapping a positive 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2012. This was comprised of franchisee same-store sales, which were up 4% and company-owned stores, which were up 1.2%. Although we don't provide specifics of order account and ticket for competitive reasons, we did drive an increase in order counts and ticket this quarter. Also we're pleased to report that we opened 47 net domestic stores in the quarter consisting of 62 store openings and 15 closures. For the year, we've opened a net 58 stores in the United States. This represents the most domestic openings we have completed in the recent past, and we plan to remain focused on growing our store count in the United States in the future. Now our international division had another solid quarter as same-store sales grew 7%, lapping a strong prior-year quarter increase of 5.2%. Our international division also grew by 273 stores this quarter, made up of 286 store openings and 13 closures. For the full year, we had a record international growth of 573 net new stores. Turning to revenues. Total revenues were up 26.9% or 5% from the prior year. This increase was primarily a result of 3 factors: First, higher supply chain revenues resulting mainly from favorable mix, an increase in commodity prices, and an increase in equipment sales resulting from the initial reimaging of our stores; second, higher international royalty and supply chain revenues due to an increase in same-store sales growth and store count growth; and third, higher domestic royalty revenues due to same-store sales growth and the positive impact of increase in our store count over the past year. Moving on to operating margin. As a percentage of revenues, consolidated operating margin for the quarter improved to 30.5% from 29.8% in the prior-year quarter. Some of the drivers of this improvement included the following: A change in our mix of revenues positively impacted our operating margins as a percentage of our revenue came from franchise royalties -- a higher percentage came from a franchise royalties, which have no cost of sales; company-owned store operating margins improved as a percentage of revenues due to favorable product mix and a slightly higher ticket. Our supply chain margin percentage increased from 10.3% to 10.8% due to both lower insurance costs and lower repairs and maintenance cost, offset in part by an increase in commodity cost. Now the average cheese block price in the fourth quarter was $1.83 per pound versus $1.93 per pound in the same period of last year. Changes in other commodities more than offset this decrease as our overall market basket increased 1.6% during the quarter. As a reminder, food commodities are generally priced on a constant dollar markup to our franchisees, therefore, higher commodity prices did not impact our supply chain dollar profit. They do, however, negatively impact our supply chain margin as a percent of revenues. Now as I stated on our Investor Day in January, we currently expect that the commodities we use in our system will be flat to down 2% in 2014 versus the 2013 levels. Now despite the fact that we have diversified monetary risk, currency exchange risk negatively impacted us this quarter by $1.9 million versus the prior-year quarter due to the dollar strengthening against most currencies. And if the dollar remains at current levels, our comparisons to prior years will continue to be a headwind for us. Turning to G&A expenses. G&A increased by $2.2 million or 3.1% quarter-over-quarter. The increase was primarily due to e-commerce and technology support, an increase in non-cash compensation expense, as well as investments to expand our international team. Our G&A for the full year of 2013 was $235.2 million. As we look to 2014, we expect to have increases for e-commerce and technology support, international support team and other strategic initiatives, and these will be offset by lower non-cash comp expense. The result is an expected increase of $5 million to $9 million over our 2013 reported levels. Keep in mind that our G&A expense can vary up or down by among other things, our performance versus our plan, as that affects variable performance-based compensation expense. Regarding income taxes, our reported effective tax rate was 36.7% for the quarter, which is slightly below our expected range. We currently expect our effective tax rate for the foreseeable future to be in the 37% to 38% range. Our fourth quarter net income was up $7.1 million or 18.9%. This increase was primarily driven by higher domestic and international same-store sales, international store growth and a lower effective tax rate, offset in part by higher G&A expenses and a negative impact of foreign currency exchange rates. Our fourth quarter diluted EPS was $0.78 versus $0.64 in the prior-year quarter. The $0.78 is a $0.14 or 21.9% increase from the 64% -- $0.64 in the fourth quarter of last year. Here's how that $0.14 difference breaks down: first, our foreign currency exchange rates negatively impacted us by $0.02; our lower diluted share count primarily due to our share repurchases benefited us by $0.015; lower interest expense benefited us by $0.01; a lower effective tax rate benefited us by $0.01; and importantly, our improved operating results benefited us by $0.125. Now turning to our use of cash. During the fourth quarter, we repurchased and retired approximately 297,000 shares for $20.2 million at an average price of $68 per share. We also returned over $11 million to our shareholders in the form of a $0.20 per share quarterly dividend. We ended the quarter with $14.4 million of unrestricted cash, but I want to point out that we posted $42.3 million of cash as collateral for our letters of credit during the quarter. While that cash is classified as restricted cash, we do have the ability to access that cash quickly if needed. Looking forward, we believe that we will continue to generate cash over and above what we need to reinvest in our business. When considering this excess free cash flow, we have 3 options. We can pay dividends, we can buy back stock or we can pay down debt. Based on our historically consistent free cash flow and our strong performance over the past year, the Board of Directors has increased our quarterly dividend to $0.25 per share from their previous level of a $0.20 per share. This is a 25% increase, which reflects our increasing free cash flow and commitment to return value to our shareholders. We also will continue to use some of our excess free cash flow to repurchase stock. Already in the first quarter, we have repurchased 221,000 shares. We anticipate meeting the threshold where we are no longer required to make principal amortization payments in the first quarter of 2014. Regarding our capital expenditures. In 2013, we invested over $40 million in capital expenditures, primarily in our stores, our supply chain centers and our technology initiatives. We will continue to have low capital expenditures relative to our earnings, but are increasing our spend as we see continuing opportunities to invest in our industry-leading technology platform, the reimaging of our corporate stores and other initiatives to grow our brand. Going forward, we have raised our long-range outlook on capital spending to approximately $35 million to $45 million a year annually, as we will invest capital into reimaging our corporate stores and also invest in our technology platforms. Overall, our strong fourth quarter continued our consistent performance throughout 2013. Our focus remains on improving our operating performance, growing our global store base and utilizing our free cash flow to drive shareholder value. Thank you for your time today, and now I'll turn it over to Patrick.