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Text: Today's call will feature commentary from Chief Executive Officer, Ritch Allison; and Chief Financial Officer, Stu Levy.
Both of those documents are available on our website.
Actual results or trends could differ materially from our forecasts.
We're excited to share our strong first-quarter results with you today.
Overall, Domino's team members and franchisees around the world generated impressive operating results, leading to a diluted earnings per share of $3 for the first quarter.
Global retail sales grew 16.7% in Q1 as compared to Q1 2020.
As a reminder, global retail sales growth includes both comp growth and unit growth, which I'll break down for you in a moment.
When excluding the positive impact of foreign currency, global retail sales grew 14%.
Breaking down that global retail sales growth, our US retail sales grew 15.3% and our international retail sales grew 18%.
When excluding the positive impact of foreign currency, international retail sales grew 12.8%.
We continued to see positive momentum in both our US and international businesses in Q1, leading to both strong same-store sales performance and net unit growth.
During Q1, we continued to lead the broader restaurant industry with 40 straight quarters of positive US comparable sales and 109 consecutive quarters of positive international comps.
Same-store sales in the US grew 13.4% in the quarter, lapping a prior year increase of 1.6%.
Same-store sales for our international business grew 11.8%, rolling over a prior year increase of 1.5%.
Breaking down the US comp a bit further.
Our franchise business was up 13.9% in the quarter, while our Company owned stores were up 6.3%.
We observed a larger spread than we've historically seen between the top line performance of our franchise stores and our company-owned stores, which we believe was primarily a result of the heavily urban and higher income footprint of our company-owned stores relative to a more diverse mix across our franchise base.
The corporate store comp was also disproportionately impacted by store splits resulting from our fortressing efforts as we opened more new corporate stores as a percent of the total corporate store base than we did franchise stores in 2020.
The US comp this quarter included a healthy mix of both ticket and order growth.
The ticket growth was driven by both an increase in items per order and a higher delivery mix, which also includes a transparent delivery fee.
The 11.8% international comp was driven by ticket growth.
Similar to our US business, that ticket growth was driven by a higher delivery mix and an increase in items per order.
Shifting to unit count.
We and our franchisees added 36 net stores in the [Technical Issues] US during the first quarter, consisting of 37 store openings and the closure of one of our corporate stores.
Our international business added 139 net stores, comprised of 160 store openings and 21 closures.
We're very pleased with our net unit growth during Q1, which was an increase over the prior year quarter.
Turning to revenues and operating margins.
Total revenues for the first quarter were approximately $984 million and were up approximately $111 million or 12.7% over the prior year quarter.
The increase was driven by higher global retail sales, which generated higher revenues across all areas of our business.
Changes in foreign currency exchange rates positively impacted our international royalty revenues by $2.1 million in Q1 2021 as compared to prior year.
Our consolidated operating margin as a percent of revenue increased to 39.6% in Q1 2021 from 39% in the prior year, due primarily to higher revenues from our US franchise business.
Company-owned store margin as a percent of revenues increased to 23.9% from 22.4%, primarily as a result of strong sales leverage.
This was also up sequentially from 21.9% in Q4 2020, driven by lower labor cost as a percent of revenue in Q1 2021.
Supply chain operating margin as a percent of revenues decreased to 10.5% from 11.5% in the prior year quarter.
As a reminder, in 2020, we opened two new supply chain centers in South Carolina and Texas, respectively, as well as a new press product line in New Jersey, which increased our overall fixed operating costs as a percent of revenue.
G&A expenses increased approximately $2.8 million in Q1 as compared to Q1 2020 resulting from a combination of higher advertising expenses and labor costs, partially offset by travel.
Net interest expense increased approximately $0.9 million in the quarter, primarily the result of lower interest income.
As previously disclosed, in Q1 2021, we invested an additional $40 million in Dash brands, our master franchisee in China, following their achievement of previously established performance conditions.
Accordingly, we remeasured the original $40 million investment we made in Q2 of last year due to the observable change in price from the valuation of the additional investment.
This $2.5 million gain was recorded in other income in the first quarter of 2021.
Our effective tax rate was 21.3% for the quarter as compared to a negative 3.7% in Q1 2020.
The effective tax rate in Q1 2021 includes a 0.6 percentage point positive impact from tax benefits on equity-based compensation as compared to a 26 percentage point positive impact in Q1 2020.
This decrease was due to significantly fewer stock option exercises in Q1 of this year and we expect to see continued volatility in our effective tax rate related to these equity-based compensation tax benefits.
Combining all of these elements, our first quarter net income was down $3.8 million or 3.2% versus Q1 2020.
On a pre-tax basis, income before provision for income taxes was up $32.3 million or 27.6%.
Our diluted earnings per share in Q1 was $3 versus $3.07 in the prior year, a decrease of 2.3%.
Breaking down that $0.07 decrease, most notably, our improved operating results benefited us by $0.61.
The gain on the Dash brands investment benefited us by $0.05.
Net interest expense negatively impacted us by $0.02.
A lower diluted share count driven by share repurchases over the trailing 12 months benefited us by $0.03.
And finally, our higher effective tax rate resulting from lower tax benefits on equity-based compensation, as I mentioned previously, negatively impacted us by $0.74.
Our economic model continued to generate significant cash flow throughout the quarter.
During Q1, we generated net cash provided by operating activities of approximately $153 million.
After deducting for capex, we generated free cash flow of approximately $136 million.
Regarding our capital expenditures, we spent approximately $17 million on CapEx in Q1, primarily on our technology initiatives.
As previously disclosed, during Q1, we also repurchased and retired approximately 66,000 shares for $25 million.
As a reminder, in February, our Board approved a new $1 billion authorization for future share repurchases.
We also paid a $0.94 quarterly dividend on March 30.
Subsequent to the end of the quarter, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share to be paid on June 30.
As it relates to our capital structure, on April 16, we refinanced our debt to keep pace with our growing business.
We're very pleased with our gross issuance of $1.85 billion, which includes $850 million of seven-and-a-half-year to 2.662% fixed-rate notes and $1 billion of 10-year 3.151% fixed-rate notes.
We used a portion of the proceeds to retire our 2017 floating rate notes in our 2017 five-year fixed-rate notes to pre-fund certain interest payable and to pay transaction fees and expenses.
We expect to use the remaining proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include distributions to holders of our common stock, other equivalent payments, and/or stock repurchases.
This recapitalization will reduce our weighted average borrowing rate from 3.9% as of the end of the first quarter to approximately 3.7%.
And it will return our leverage to approximately 6 times EBITDA, consistent with our leverage model following previous recapitalizations.
Since the onset of the pandemic, in previous earnings calls, we've provided updates on the impact of Covid19-related expenses, including safety and cleaning equipment, enhanced sick pay, and other compensation for our team members, and support for our franchisees, and our communities.
The estimated impact of these items in the first quarter of 2021 was not material.
In closing, our business continued its strong performance during the first quarter.
And while we continue to closely monitor all aspects of our operations in these ever-changing times, we're confident in the strength and resilience of the Domino's brand, and of the Domino's franchisees, their team members, and our corporate teams worldwide.
Our results would not be possible without their tireless efforts each and every day and we sincerely appreciate them.
Overall, I am very pleased with our results this quarter and our strong start to 2021.
We are now more than one year into the Covid pandemic, the most challenging operating environment we've ever experienced as a Brand.
I continue to be extremely proud of our global franchisees and their extraordinary efforts around product, service, image, and day-to-day execution.
We remain focused on providing outstanding food through safe and reliable delivery and carryout experiences.
And as a brand, we are also proud to continue our position as an industry leader on value at a time when our customers need it the most.
Today, I'll keep my comments rather brief as I highlight the first quarter results for our US and our international businesses.
Let's start with the US business.
Our US business performed extremely well during the quarter, highlighted by 15.3% retail sales growth and a 13.4% comp.
This marked our 40th consecutive quarter of positive US same-store sales growth.
We continue to see strong growth across our business in the first quarter and we did not witness any material differences between those markets that have largely reopened versus those that have remained more restricted.
We certainly saw some sales benefits from the federal government stimulus at the beginning and at the end of Q1, which were partially offset by the negative impact of the significant winter storms in February that impacted such a large portion of the country.
Due to the positive sales impacts from the stimulus, we elected not to run any of our aggressive boost week promotions during the quarter, but instead, we remain focused on providing great service and offering great value to our customers every day.
Now, like many of you, we are also watching the two-year stack on US same-store sales.
At 15% for the first quarter, we saw a slight sequential improvement of the two-year stack when compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
Given the Covid overlaps, we will continue to look at the business through both the one-and-two-year lenses as we report to you throughout 2021.
Now, beyond the comps, when you look at the absolute dollars, our first quarter same-store average weekly unit sales in the US exceeded $26,000.
I am also quite pleased with our performance in the first quarter on the other critical component of our retail sales growth that's new store openings.
Our addition of 36 net stores was a nice improvement over Q1 of 2020 and we anticipate a strong pipeline of future openings.
I want to highlight that we had only one corporate store closure in the US during Q1, and we had zero-zero US franchise store closures, an impressive testament to the continued health of our US system.
On many occasions, you've heard me say that net unit growth and by extension store closures are one of the most important ways to measure a brand's health within our industry.
A single store closure in the quarter, on a base of over 6,000 units, demonstrates the elite economic proposition that we offer to our franchisees.
And on that note, I'm thrilled to report yet another record-setting year of franchisee profitability, with our final 2020 estimated average EBITDA number for US franchise stores coming in at just over $177,000; the highest in our history.
While this result was certainly aided by the Covid demand tailwind, it clearly demonstrates not only the power of the Brand, but also the incredible work of our US franchisees and operators, and their relentless efforts throughout an incredibly busy 2020.
Our fortressing strategy continues to build best-practice case study showcasing franchisee enterprise growth and ROI, which is a big part of the momentum and excitement behind the strategy.
But equally, as important, it sets us up extremely well to compete in 2021 and beyond, as we continue to drive lower relative costs, better service, higher runs per hour, and therefore, better economics for drivers, along with meaningful, incremental carry-out within our stores in fortress territories.
While our carry-out order count remained pressured in Q1 as it was throughout the last year, we continue to grow awareness of Domino's car-side delivery.
This has created a new option to serve our customers effectively during Covid and will remain an important part of our strategy as we continue to evolve the carry-out experience; not only to enhance the loyalty of our current carry-out customers, but also to reach a new, different, and largely untapped drive-through oriented customer, going forward.
On the advertising front, I'm excited about the national TV campaign we launched this week, highlighting our very exciting partnership with Nuro.
We are delivering a true autonomous pizza delivery experience to select customers in Houston today, demonstrating our forward-thinking approach to innovation as we build and evolve the brand for the future.
We also brought back our old nemesis, the NOID, in this ad campaign, and it is already generating some incredible buzz around the Domino's Brand.
The combination of Covid, strong sales, the broader economy reopening, and the high level of government stimulus, it's creating one of the most difficult staffing environments that we've seen in a long time.
This puts pressure on our operators to meet demand while continuing to deliver great service to their customers.
As we close out our discussion on the US business, I would simply highlight that the Domino's brand is as strong as it has ever been and I remain confident in our ability to drive long-term growth.
Let's move on now to the international business.
It was an outstanding quarter of performance for our international business.
Our 12.8% retail sales growth was supported by a very strong 11.8% comp, continuing the momentum we saw toward the end of last year.
Q1 also marked our 109th consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales and international; a tremendous accomplishment by our international franchise partners.
And, in fact, the Q1 comp was the strongest result we've seen in more than a decade in that business.
As I discussed earlier with our US business, we are also watching the two-year comp stacks for international and we'll continue to do so throughout 2021.
Q1 represented a 13.3% two-year stack, which was a 430 basis point improvement versus the fourth quarter of 2020.
We also continue to build momentum on store growth in our international business.
Our 139 net stores in Q1 was a 100-store improvement versus the first quarter of 2020.
We expect that Covid will continue to have a significant impact on many of our international markets for some time to come and will bring ongoing challenges to new store openings.
But this acceleration in growth speaks to our outstanding unit-level economics and to the perseverance and commitment of our international master franchisees.
We continue to have temporary store closures around the world, but those have come down dramatically over the last few quarters and were below 100 at the end of the first quarter.
Now, I'd like to highlight a few markets that drove terrific growth during the quarter.
India, China, and Japan, once again, led our system in net unit growth.
And I'd like to highlight another market, Guatemala, that also delivered terrific store growth.
China, Japan, Turkey, Colombia, Germany, and France, all drove impressive retail sales growth during the quarter.
So, once again, I am very proud of our master franchisees and their operators for a great start to 2021.
They are the best in the business and that's why I continue to be bullish about our international retail sales growth opportunity over the long term.
So, in closing, I'm very pleased with our quarter one results.
Our incredible base of franchisees and operators, combined with outstanding unit-level economics place us in an enviable position of strength within our industry.
Q1 reinforced our position as the global leader in QSR pizza, but there is still so much opportunity ahead of us to drive global retail sales growth and to capture additional meaningful share within the category.
As we look ahead to the rest of 2021 and beyond, we will, as always, stay focused on winning the long game.
And we remain confident in our two-year to three-year outlook of 6% to 8% annual net store growth and 6% to 10% annual global retail sales growth.

user
qtrly u.s. same store sales growth of 13.4%.
qtrly international same store sales growth of 11.8%.
revenues increased $110.6 million, or 12.7%, in q1 of 2021.
global retail sales increased 16.7% in q1.

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