Eric Langan
Analyst · Sidoti
Thanks. Thank you for joining us today. This is our first conference call since February, and we've got a lot to cover.
Please turn to Slide 5 to review today's news. We filed our second and third quarter 10-Qs. There were no changes to any of the preliminary income and cash flow statements we published in July and August. Approximately $1.1 million of notes receivable on the preliminary balance sheets were moved to current assets, increasing total current assets and reducing long-term notes receivable by corresponding amounts. All other balance sheet items remained the same.
Looking at the fourth quarter, sales trends for the first 2 months look good. Nightclub business continues to be strong. The Bombshells same-store sales rebound has continued for 3 months in a row. New clubs and restaurants are doing very well. We are currently marketing properties with asking prices totaling approximately $14 million, most of them non-income producing. About $6 million of it is under contract or letter of intent.
Looking at free cash flow and dividends. As of the first 9 months of fiscal '19, we hit our full target -- full year target of $26 million of free cash flow and, in August, increased our cash dividend per share, 8.3% on an annualized basis.
Please turn to Slide 6. The internal review has been completed. We're now in the process of implementing the recommendations to enhance corporate governance. To date, we have named 2 independent members to the Board of Directors and Audit Committee. Elaine Martin founded 2 successful companies in Houston. She's our first female director. And Allan Priaulx is a communications executive and former publisher of American Banker. We welcome them both.
With regard to the SEC matter, the company has and is continuing to cooperate throughout the process. Shortly after we announced the departure of BDO in July, we engaged Friedman as our independent auditing firm. We have filed our second, third quarter Qs, and now Friedman will move on to work on -- to move on to working on our fiscal 2019 10-K.
Please turn to Slide 7. Rather than going through separate slides for the second and third quarters, we thought it would be easier to just review the 9 months. Nightclub revenues were up more than 6% due to our early fiscal 2019 and late fiscal 2018 club acquisitions as well as a modest same-store sales growth. Bombshells revenue grew more than 20% as new locations more than made up for the same-store sales declines at a few of our older units. While small, other segment revenues were up 50% with revitalizations of our Robust Energy drink business now that we are in control.
GAAP operating income increased more than 20% or $5.4 million. Most of that was a result of a net reduction of $5 million and other charges that reflected a combination of gains on the sale of assets, lower impairments and lower costs related to settling lawsuits. On a non-GAAP basis, operating income increased more than 2% or $638,000. Higher revenues and margins from our improved portfolio of Nightclubs more than offset lower contribution from Bombshells and higher corporate auditing and related legal costs associated with the internal review.
Please turn to Slide 8 to review sale/lease of non-income producing assets to date this fiscal year. There are 2 key points I'd like to make. In total, we have proved the value of our assets. We've generated close to $7 million in proceeds for more than a 30% gain and paid down close to $4 million in related debt. In particular, our strategy of buying and developing assets laying around our new Bombshells locations is paying off. To date, we have sold 2 such properties at gains, enabling us to significantly reduce debt used to acquire the land and develop new restaurants.
Please turn to Slide 9 to review our consolidated revenues and margin trends. Quarterly revenues have continued to set new records. Nightclub operating margin has been expanding, more than offsetting what we believe is temporary decline in Bombshells same-store sales and preopening costs. We did not, however, achieve the increase in operating leverage we had hoped for in the fiscal '18 and '19. That was primarily due to higher auditing costs and costs related to the internal review. Going forward, we should start to change.
Looking at the fourth quarter revenues through August. Nightclub total revenues are up 6% with small improvement in same-store sales. Bombshells' total revenues were up more than 50% with same-store sales of about 20%. We believe Bombshells' margins should expand in fiscal '20 with all the new units opened and a continued rebound in same-store sales. In addition, fiscal '20 corporate overhead as a percentage of revenue should start to decline in the second half, especially with no extraordinary auditing fees and reduction in legal fees related to the internal review.
Please turn to Slide 10. Profit growth at Nightclubs is being driven by higher revenue per location and higher overall margins. This is a direct result of our capital allocation strategy. Over the last few years, we have been more aggressive in replacing poor performing clubs with premier acquisitions. At the same time, we have focused on generating continuous improvement at the clubs we retained.
Going forward, our acquisition focus will be on larger cash flowing clubs in major metropolitan areas. This is based on our recent success we've had in Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and South Florida. This is not to say we're ruling out small club -- smaller club acquisitions if they fit our expertise and capital allocation strategy, but bigger clubs is the direction we like to go.
Regarding last week's flooding in Houston area, a small club in Beaumont was closed for a night and a small property we leased out have some damage. Meanwhile, renovations are in full swing at our St. Louis area club, where we had a small fire in May. We anticipate a grand reopening for Halloween. All are covered under our insurance.
Please turn to Slide 11. The turnaround at Bombshells is beginning to take shape. The 4 new Houston locations are doing well. The 2 final -- the final 2 should be open soon. June same-store sales rebound has continued through July and August. Altogether, we anticipate that the 10 locations should generate $40 million to $50 million in total revenue in fiscal '20. At the same time, operating margin should begin to recover with same-store sales growth and minimal preopening costs. None of our Houston area Bombshells were affected by last week's flooding. They were some of the few restaurants in Houston that remained open on the night or 2.
Please turn to Slide 12. Cash generation has continued to do well. As of June 30, we had $11 million in cash on the balance sheet. For the first 9 months of fiscal '19, adjusted EBITDA increased 3.4% and, as a percentage of revenues, expanded 130 basis points. Free cash flow increased 28%, and the free cash flow conversion rate expanded 300 basis points to 19.4% of total revenue. While we haven't bought a lot of shares this year, weighted average shares outstanding are down 7% as of this 9 months of fiscal '19 compared to the end of fiscal '15 before we began the implementation of our capital allocation strategy, enhancing our growth of free cash flow per share.
Please turn to Slide 13. Long-term debt has continued to decline as we paid down loans through planned amortizations and asset sales partially offset by construction costs to complete the new Bombshells locations. As of June 30, long-term debt fell $3.2 million from March 31, which was down $3.3 million from December 31.
Please turn to Slide 14. Debt continues to be very manageable. In April, we paid off the $5 million Centennial installment loan used to help finance the real estate portion of the Chicago and Pittsburgh acquisitions. As of September, we have paid $82 million Centennial real estate loan down to the 65% LTV. As a consequence, amortization on this loan going forward falls $3 million annually. Combined with the 8 -- combined with $8 million left in amortization on Centennial loans in fiscal '20, this gives us a lot of financial flexibility.
Our ratio of long-term debt is trailing 12 months, adjusted EBITDA improved in the third quarter. This is a function of lower debt and higher adjusted EBITDA. We'd like to see the ratio below 3%. It fell from 3 -- it fell to 3.22% from 3.31% in the second quarter and from 3.38% in the first quarter.
Occupancy costs as a percentage of total revenues also fell. This was a function of higher revenues with 7.5% in the third quarter, the lowest level to date this year. This should continue to fall as we open the next 2 Bombshells locations and continue to pay down our debt. We are happy with any number under 9%.
Please turn to Slide 15 for our capital allocation strategy. Our strategy remains the same. We've adjusted our graph on this slide to take into account the slightly lower share count due to the share buybacks. The general parameter is that $27 continues to be the breaking point for buying shares at our current free cash flow run rate. We plan to update our free cash flow run rate when we announce fourth quarter results.
Please turn to Slide 16. We wanted to show you some noticeably improved results as we -- we have achieved since we implemented the capital allocation strategy in fiscal 2016. As you can see, in almost every category, we have improved. In particular, operating margin has improved more than 15%. ROE is up close to 80% and ROA more than 90% while leverage, calculated as assets to equity, has remained about the same.
Please turn to 17. To conclude, our financial goals continue to be the same. Our overall objective is to grow free cash flow at an average of 10% to 15% annually on a per share basis. One strategy for doing this is simply using excess capital to buy back shares. The second is to continue to buy back more great clubs in the right markets on average. We have made more than one acquisition per year. Third, as we mentioned, Bombshells is opening its 2 remaining units under construction. When we have all 10 open, we plan to review our progress to ensure we are maximizing our cash-on-cash returns. We also will continue to focus on improving same-store sales. To that end, we are pleased to see the progress we have made the last 3 months.
Thanks to all of our investors for supporting us and our people for doing a great job. It is truly appreciated. Operator, let's start the Q&A. I can talk about all aspects of the business, but I appreciate if you would understand that I'm limited in what can I say when it comes to any legal matters.