Chipotle Announces Second Quarter 2020 Results

NEWPORT BEACH, Calf., July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) today reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2020.

Second quarter highlights, which incorporate the impact of COVID-19, year over year:

• Revenue decreased 4.8% to $1.4 billion
• Comparable restaurant sales declined 9.8%
• Digital sales grew 216.3% and accounted for 60.7% of sales for the quarter
• Restaurant level operating margin was 12.2%, a decrease of 8.7%
• Diluted earnings per share was $0.29, net of a $0.11 after-tax impact from expenses related to restaurant asset impairment and closure costs, as well as corporate restructuring, a 91.0% decrease from $3.22. Adjusted diluted earnings per share excluding these charges was $0.40, a 90.0% decrease from $3.99.¹
• Opened 37 new restaurants including three relocations and closed three restaurants during the quarter; and about 30 restaurants remain temporarily closed because of COVID-19, mainly inside malls and shopping centers

¹ Adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share are non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to GAAP measures and further information are set forth in the table at the end of this press release.

"I want to thank all of our employees for delivering excellent guest experiences, supporting our restaurants, and supporting each other during these challenging times," said Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO, Chipotle. "Our investment in digital over the past few years has provided our customers with convenient access to Chipotle how and where they want it. We'll continue to invest in elevating the digital experience, including opening more Chipotlanes, while innovating with new culinary offerings such as cauliflower rice, organic beverages and quesadillas. I'm confident we will finish 2020 with good momentum and be well positioned for the long run."

COVID-19 and Liquidity Update:

Chipotle remains steadfast in our commitment to the health and well-being of our guests and employees while providing our safe, delicious, high-quality food made from real ingredients. Our top priorities for the rest of the year include safely running our restaurants and reopening dining rooms, using best practices to support alternate restaurant support center working arrangements, ensuring supply chain consistency, and strengthening our digital ecosystem. Within our restaurants, we have taken a number of steps to enhance our robust food safety protocols including the creation of the steward role which is focused on sanitization in high-touch and high-traffic areas, providing masks for all employees, and having a tamper evident packaging seal for all digital orders.

As of June 30, 2020, Chipotle continues to maintain a strong financial position with $934.6 million in cash, short-term investments and restricted cash, and no debt, along with a $600 million untapped credit facility with which to continue to navigate this crisis. This financial position improved sequentially from $909.2 million in cash, short-term investments and restricted cash, as of March 31, 2020. Furthermore, assuming the comparable restaurant sales improvement we are seeing continues, that gives us greater confidence in our potential to generate positive cash flow for the rest of this year, which will help support on-going strategic investments. That being said, our team remains focused on reducing non-essential controllable costs and judiciously spending on return generating projects to preserve liquidity.

Results for the three months ended June 30, 2020:

Revenue in the second quarter was $1.4 billion, a decrease of 4.8% compared to the second quarter of 2019 and includes a decline of 9.8% in comparable restaurant sales. Cadence of monthly comparable restaurant sales during the quarter was:

• April -24.4%
• May -7.0%
• June +2.0%

Comparable restaurant sales in July have continued to improve and are up 6.4% month to date including about a 1.4% positive impact from the July 4^th weekend and about a 2.7% negative impact due to under-performing restaurants in the Northeast and international markets, as well as restaurant closures due to COVID-19.

Digital sales grew 216.3% year over year to $829.3 million, the Company's highest ever quarterly level, and represented 60.7% of sales. Driving increased digital awareness via advertising, new delivery partnerships with Uber Eats and Grubhub, as well as expanding our digital capabilities into Canada are attracting new customers and helping reduce friction while increasing convenient access. Notably, partnering with all the major third-party delivery aggregators has led to an increase in orders, a reduction in delivery time and cancellations, and an improvement in overall customer ratings. Even with in-restaurant dining opening back up, our digital sales momentum remains strong in July with a mix of nearly 50%.

We opened 37 new restaurants including three relocations during the quarter and closed three restaurants, bringing the total restaurant count to 2,669. 21 of the 37 new restaurants included a Chipotlane and we recently announced a milestone with the opening of our 100^th Chipotlane. These formats continue to perform very well and are helping enhance guest access and convenience, as well as increase new restaurant sales, margins, and returns. We remain confident in the long-term opportunity to more than double the number of Chipotle restaurants in the US. In fact, our strong financial position, along with less competition for high quality sites as other businesses pull back, is allowing us to build a robust new unit development pipeline. As a result, we expect to see an acceleration in the number of units opened in 2021.

Food, beverage and packaging costs in the second quarter were 33.3% of revenue, a decrease of 40 basis points compared to the second quarter of 2019. The decrease was primarily due to lower avocado costs, the benefit of menu price increases in late 2019, and to a lesser extent, lower waste, freight, and paper costs. These decreases were partially offset by elevated beef prices, and increased incidence of steak, bottled beverages and burritos.

Restaurant level operating margin was 12.2%, a decrease from 20.9% in the second quarter of 2019 driven primarily by higher delivery expense associated with increased delivery sales, sales deleverage, as well as several temporary investments in our business as a result of COVID-19 including assistance pay and wage inflation, partially offset by lower avocado expense and benefits from menu price increases in late 2019. In addition, we offered free or discounted delivery throughout the quarter, which also increased restaurant operating costs.

General and administrative expenses for the second quarter were $102.6 million on a GAAP basis or $101.1 million on a non-GAAP basis, excluding $1.5 million related to transformation expenses. GAAP and non-GAAP general and administrative expenses for the second quarter of 2020 also include underlying general and administrative expenses totaling $75.6 million, $23.0 million related to non-cash stock compensation, $2.0 million related to payroll taxes on stock option exercises, and $0.5 million related to our All Manager Conference that was postponed due to COVID-19. 

The effective income tax rate for the three months ended June 30, 2020, was a benefit of 289.4%, a change from an effective income tax rate provision of 26.6% for the three months ended June 30, 2019, primarily due to excess tax benefits related to option exercises in the quarter, along with a decrease in income before tax.

Net income was $8.2 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, a decrease from $91.0 million, or $3.22 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2019. Excluding the impact of restaurant asset impairment and closure costs, as well as corporate restructuring, adjusted net income was $11.4 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.40.

More information will be available in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which will be filed with the SEC by the end of July.

Outlook

Given on-going uncertainty surrounding the future impact of COVID-19 on the broader US economy and any specific impact to our company, we are not providing fiscal 2020 guidance related to comparable restaurant sales growth, new restaurant openings, and effective full year tax rate.

Definitions

The following definitions apply to these terms as used throughout this release:

• Comparable restaurant sales, or sales comps, and comparable restaurant transactions, represent the change in period-over-period sales or transactions for restaurants in operation for at least 13 full calendar months.
• Average restaurant sales refer to the average trailing 12-month sales for restaurants in operation for at least 12 full calendar months.
• Restaurant level operating margin represents total revenue less direct restaurant operating costs, expressed as a percent of total revenue.

Conference Call Details

Chipotle will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2020 financial results on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, at 4:30 PM Eastern time. 

The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing 1-888-317-6003 or for international callers by dialing 1-412-317-6061 and use code: 8773093. The call will be webcast live from the company's website on the investor relations page at ir.chipotle.com/events. An archived webcast will be available approximately one hour after the end of the call.

About Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle had over 2,650 restaurants as of June 30, 2020, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants. With more than 91,000 employees passionate about providing a great guest experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable business practices. Steve Ells, founder and former executive chairman, first opened Chipotle with a single restaurant in Denver, Colorado in 1993. For more information or to place an order online, visit WWW.CHIPOTLE.COM.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about our future cash flow, new restaurant development plans and future long-term prospects. We use words such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "should", "may", "approximately", "estimate", "expect", "potential", "intend", "project", "target", and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions, to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on currently available operating, financial and competitive information available to us as of the date of this release and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the statements, including but not limited to: the ongoing adverse effect of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on our guest traffic, restaurant sales and operating costs as a result of actions we have taken in response to the coronavirus, including closing some restaurants, ending dine in service at some restaurants while continuing to offer only takeout and/or delivery, modifying work hours at some restaurants, extending enhanced benefits to employees working during and/or impacted by the coronavirus, increasing compensation for restaurant employees, purchasing masks, gloves and additional sanitation supplies and services and delaying the construction of new restaurant openings; risks that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic will continue for a long duration and may require a more drastic response, such as closing all or most restaurants; risks of food safety and food-borne illnesses and other health concerns about our food; risks associated with our reliance on certain information technology systems and potential failures or interruptions; privacy and cyber security risks related to our acceptance of electronic payments or electronic processing of confidential customer or employee information; the impact of competition, including from sources outside the restaurant industry; the increasingly competitive labor market and our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; the impact of federal, state or local government regulations relating to our employees, restaurant design and construction, and the sale of food or alcoholic beverages; our ability to achieve our planned growth, such as the availability of suitable new restaurant sites; increases in ingredient and other operating costs due to our Food With Integrity philosophy, tariffs or trade restrictions and supply shortages; the uncertainty of our ability to achieve expected levels of comparable restaurant sales due to factors such as changes in consumers' perceptions of our brand, including as a result of actual or rumored food safety concerns or other negative publicity, decreased overall consumer spending (including but not limited to the increase in unemployment caused by the coronavirus pandemic), or the inability to increase menu prices or realize the benefits of menu price increases; risks associated with our increased focus on our digital business, including risks arising from our reliance on third party delivery services, which are heightened during the pendency of government restrictions on dine in restaurant services as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; risks relating to litigation, including possible governmental actions related to food safety incidents and potential class action litigation regarding employment laws, advertising claims or other matters; and other risk factors described from time to time in our SEC reports, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, all of which are available on the investor relations page of our website at ir.Chipotle.com.

CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
(unaudited)

The following provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures presented in the text above to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Adjusted net income is net income excluding restaurant asset impairment, corporate restructuring, and certain other costs. Adjusted general and administrative expense is general and administrative expense excluding certain other costs and transformation expenses. We present these non-GAAP measures in order to facilitate meaningful evaluation of our operating performance across periods. These adjustments are intended to provide greater transparency of underlying performance and to allow investors to evaluate our business on the same basis as our management, which uses these non-GAAP measures in evaluating the company's performance. Our adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share, and adjusted general and administrative expenses measures may not be comparable to other companies' adjusted measures. These adjustments are not necessarily indicative of what our actual financial performance would have been during the periods presented and should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to, our results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Further details regarding these adjustments are included in the tables below.

SOURCE Chipotle Mexican Grill