Papa John’s reports Q3 EPS 53c, consensus 57c

Reports Q3 revenue $522.8M, consensus $530.5M.”Despite this strong sales growth in North America, our adjusted operating income was just in line with the third quarter last year due to the dilutive impact of our recently acquired restaurants in the UK,” continued Lynch. “Importantly, our North America company-owned restaurant margins improved approximately 130 basis points and revenues from our North America franchise segment grew 4%. We have a resilient business model that can thrive in all economic cycles and we’re confident we’ll build sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders.” Commenting on its North America Commissary segment, Lynch said, “Papa Johns is uniquely positioned in the QSR industry with a vertically integrated supply chain that operates on a fixed operating margin basis. Although the margins on this business are lower than our other revenue channels, it is a consistent way for us to provide our system with the fresh ingredients necessary to deliver the level of quality that we demand. This channel is our largest source of company revenue and, as our business continues to scale, we believe there are additional margin expansion opportunities for both Papa Johns and our growing North American franchisees. Our goal is to deliver profitable growth and overall supply chain productivity that drives cost savings and incremental profit for our system, without compromising our best-in-class quality.” “As we evolve our commissary business model, we will be increasing our fixed operating margin by 100 basis points in each of the next four years, from 4% in 2023 to 8% in 2027. Concurrently, we will be offering new opportunities for our franchisees to earn annual incentive-based rebates as they increase volume and open new restaurants, which will drive even more continued productivity for our system.”