Operator
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Papa John's Second Quarter 2016 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session with instructions following at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Now, I'll turn the conference over to your host, Lance Tucker, CFO. Please begin. Lance F. Tucker - Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Chief Administrative Officer: Thank you, Tyrone. Good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call today are our Founder, Chairman and CEO, John Schnatter; and our President and COO, Steve Ritchie, as well as other members of our senior management team. After the financial update, John and Steve will have comments about our business, and the management team will then be available for Q&A. Our discussion today will contain forward-looking statements that may involve risks related to future events. Actual events may differ materially from the projections discussed today. All forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings press release, and the risk factors included in our SEC filings, and all statements made on this call are as of today. Please refer to our earnings press release in the Investor Relations section of our website for a reconciliation and other disclosures related to our discussion of non-GAAP financial measures on this call. Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are versus the comparable periods from a year ago. This call is being taped, and a replay will be available for a limited time on our website and in downloadable podcast format. Now for a discussion of our second quarter operating results, EPS in the second quarter was $0.61, up 30% over 2015. All areas of the business performed well, driven primarily by strong global comp sales, global unit growth, and favorable commodity trends. Second quarter revenues were up 6%, mostly driven by 5.6% higher comp sales in our domestic corporate restaurants. In addition, domestic franchised revenues were up due to 4.5% comp sales and higher units. And international revenues were up for the same reasons with 5.3% higher comp sales and a greater number of restaurants versus the prior year. We opened 32 net global units in the second quarter, 20 on the international side and 12 in North America. On a business segment basis, operating income for domestic company-owned restaurants increased $700,000 due mainly to 5.6% comp sale increases and lower commodity costs, partially offset by higher non-owned auto insurance expenses. Operating income for the North America franchising segment was up $2.4 million due primarily to increased units, 4.5% comps, and lower sales and development incentives. Operating income for our domestic commissary segment increased by approximately $1 million due primarily to higher volumes. Second quarter operating results for our international segment increased approximately $600,000 due primarily to 5.3% comps and increased units. Foreign currency exchange rates negatively impacted operating results by approximately $500,000. Our unallocated corporate expenses decreased $600,000 due mainly to lower legal expenses. Our effective tax rate was 31.5%, up 2.6% versus the prior year due mainly to the impact of the legal settlement in the second quarter of 2015, which lowered taxable income and, therefore, lowered the effective income tax rate last year. We repurchased $30 million of stock during the quarter and currently have over $107 million of remaining share repurchase authorization. Our free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure we define as cash flow from operations less capital expenditures, was approximately $51 million for the first half of 2016, down versus 2015 due primarily to unfavorable working capital changes associated with the payment of a previously disclosed legal settlement of $12 million as well as higher capital expenditures. Moving onto the remainder of 2016. As noted in our press release, we are updating the following guidance: diluted EPS has increased to a range of $2.35 to $2.45 from the previous range of $2.30 to $2.40, North America comparable sales are increased to a range of 3% to 5% from the previous range of 2% to 4%, and capital expenditures are increased to a range of $55 million to $65 million from the previous range of $55 million to $60 million. We reaffirm all other previously issued 2016 guidance. Now I'd like to turn the call over to our Founder, Chairman and CEO, John Schnatter. John? John H. Schnatter - Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer: Hey, thanks, Lance. And good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us on the call today as we discuss our second quarter 2016 results. I'm pleased with our solid second quarter results with strong comp sales leading to another quarter of excellent earnings growth. Our strong digital platform, commitment to quality and our consistent approach to growing our global footprint have us well positioned to maintain our momentum throughout the back of 2016 and well into the future. A few highlights from the quarter include the following. EPS in the first quarter was $0.61, up 30% over 2015. These results were driven primarily by the strong domestic and international comp sales and unit growth and favorable commodity trends. In terms of international unit growth, in the second quarter, we announced the opening of our first Dutch store in the Netherlands. It opened July 18 in Amsterdam. We also opened stores in Madrid, Spain and Northeastern France. The new openings show continued momentum behind our expansion strategy in Europe and add to our current base of over 4,900 restaurants in over 40 countries and territories and over 300 units in the United Kingdom. At Papa John's, it all comes down to better ingredients and our most important ingredient is our people. We take care of our people who in turn go above and beyond to take care of our customers. This simple yet winning formula works because we are never satisfied with good enough. But don't take it from us. Papa John's ranked number one in customer satisfaction and product quality among QSR pizza chains in the 2016 American Customer Satisfaction Index. Our Clean Label initiative and our commitment to better ingredients have never been stronger. Last December, we made a promise to never ever serve grilled chicken pizza toppings and poppers raised with human or animal antibiotics by the summer of 2016. And earlier this month, we announced that we have fulfilled that promise by going antibiotic-free. This change was fully implemented on July 1 and reinforces our unwavering commitment to quality and follows through on our promise to deliver better ingredients. As part of that announcement, we also shared our intent to convert to cage-free eggs by the end of 2016. Our commitment to quality guides us in every area, including humane treatment of animals. And we believe this is an important promise to make to ourselves as well as our customers. Papa John's industry-leading efforts in financial investment over $100 million a year to improve our ingredients is very, very clear. We are the first national pizza delivery chain to announce the removal of MSG, preservatives like BHA, BHT, cellulose and partially hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors and synthetic colors and the removal of high fructose corn syrup across the entire food menu. Marketing. In addition to our sports partnerships with MLB and NFL, continuing to drive growth on the local and national levels, we're always exploring ways to connect with new audiences and specifically the Millennials. In July, we teamed up with Sony Pictures on a reboot of the iconic film Ghostbusters. It's done really well. To wrap it up, I'm excited to finish our Q2 strong and carry that momentum to Q3. With that, I'll turn it over to our President, Steve Ritchie, for his comments. Steve? Steve M. Ritchie - President & Chief Operating Officer: All right, thank you, John. And good morning, everyone. I'd like to start by thanking our franchisees and operators around the world for delivering yet another outstanding quarter. As John stated, in the second quarter our domestic comp sales were a strong 4.8% for North America, marking our 23rd consecutive quarter of positive comp sales. We are confident the sales momentum produced in Q2 will continue and have therefore raised our full year comp sales guidance to 3% to 5%. During the quarter, we introduced another national sports partnership, becoming the official pizza of Major League Baseball. With our featured promotion, Papa Slam, where the day after any player hits a Grand Slam, all of America can enjoy any Papa John's pizza for 40% off. We have been very pleased with the Papa Slam promotion, as it is being effectively communicated to consumers through our digital and social channels. The fully integrated promotional campaigns during the quarter included our new bundle deal, with two medium two topping pizzas for $6.99 each; Pepperoni Rolls, a new featured side item; and an LTO reintroduction of our infamous Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza coupled with our new Mushroom and Swiss Burger Pizza. With the NFL season nearly upon us, I am proud to announce we signed a new multi-year partnership deal as the official pizza sponsor of the NFL and the Super Bowl. The NFL has been a great partner for many years and Papa John's continues to be the pizza of choice among avid NFL fans. With the league partnership renewal and our 23 club deals, we look forward to continuing to bring better pizza and better experiences to NFL fans for many years to come. We will continue to leverage our MVP lineup of NFL stars including J.J. Watt and Peyton Manning in conjunction with our NFL sponsorship across our TV, digital, and social marketing channels. But one of the biggest reasons for our success for over three decades has been our focus on delivering not only better pizza, but a better experience to our customers. Our people-powered strategy has developed a passionate culture throughout the brand that has inspired our team members to strive for excellence with each and every customer interaction. As John mentioned earlier, Papa John's was recently ranked number one in customer satisfaction by the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the 15th time in the past 17 years. This is a tremendous accomplishment validating our brand promise and unwavering focus on quality and consistency. I am proud of our franchisees, corporate operators, and in particular our front-line restaurant level team members who consistently deliver day-in and day-out to ensure the best experiences for our customers. This is another proof point to why we continue to invest and develop in our internal culture. Because we know our restaurant level team members will be the next-generation of leaders and a key ingredient to being one of the world's most admired brands. But our work to get better is not done. We will continue to leverage our recently launched customer advocacy program to improve our experience and to set the bar even higher. The 2016 ACSI survey also ranked Papa John's number one in product quality. This is a direct testament to not only our financial investment of over $100 million a year in better ingredients, but also the thousands of hours our R&D, QA, and supply chain team members put in annually to improve the quality of our menu across the globe. Speaking of global, our Q2 international comps were a strong 5.8%, representing our 26th consecutive quarter of positive comp sales. We continue to see robust sales growth in the United Kingdom, Latin America, the Middle East, and across Europe. The overall portfolio continues to produce strong comps quarter-after-quarter and we are excited about the continued expansion of digital ordering capabilities. In fact, we have made a strategic decision to ensure that every new country opening will now have digital ordering capability on day one. This highlights our ability to consistently execute our brand strategy in over 4,900 locations around the world. This leads me to the business development. We opened 20 net global units in the second quarter and reaffirmed our full year guidance of 180 to 210. We've had several new country openings in Western Europe and North Africa and are excited to hit a growth milestone of 5,000 stores before the end of this year. The international business is really taking shape and I am more optimistic than ever about our future growth potential. Our customer-centric approach also extends to our technology efforts. I announce last quarter that we were the first pizza chain to reach 55% online sales mix and are continuing to push even higher. As a leader in the category, we are exploring new digital opportunities from new payment solutions, to new ways for customers to order, to improving our existing platforms, all with the goal of enhancing our overall digital customer experience and driving for growth and efficiency. You will continue to hear more about these efforts over the next few quarters. In closing, we are very proud of our strong Q2 comp sales results and robust earnings growth. Our big ACSI win validates that we are on the right track with our customer-obsessed culture and that our front-line team members remain our key ingredient to long-term success. With that, I'll turn it back over to Lance for questions. Lance F. Tucker - Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer & Chief Administrative Officer: Okay. Tyrone, we're ready for questions.