Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE:EAT) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2022 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Mika Ware - VP of Financial and IR

Wyman Roberts - CEO and President

Joe Taylor - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Alex Slagle - Jeffries

Jared Garber - Goldman Sachs

Joshua Long - Piper Sandler

John Ivankoe - JPMorgan

David Palmer - Evercore ISI

Brett Levy - MKM Partners

Dennis Geiger - UBS

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Brinker International Q3 F’22 Earnings Conference. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be opened for questions and comments after the presentation.

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Mika Ware, VP of Finance and Investor Relations. Ma’am, the floor is yours.

Mika Ware

Thank you, Paul, and good morning everyone. With me on today’s call are Wyman Roberts, Chief Executive Officer and President; and Joe Taylor, our Chief Financial Officer.

Results for the quarter were released earlier this morning and are available on our website at brinker.com. Wyman and Joe will make prepared comments related to our operating performance and strategic initiatives. Then we will open the call for your questions.

Before beginning our comments, it’s my job to remind everyone of our safe harbor regarding forward-looking statements. During our call, management may discuss certain items, which are not based entirely on historical facts. Any such items should be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include factors more completely described in this morning’s press release and the company’s filings with the SEC. And of course, on the call, we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that management uses in its review of the business and believes will provide insight into the company’s ongoing operations.

And with that said, I will turn the call over to Wyman.

Wyman Roberts

All right. Thanks, Mika, and thank you all for joining us this morning. Last time we talked with you at the beginning of February, we’re just emerging from the Omicron wave, which while thankfully with a short live stream had a whipsaw effect on January staffing and sales. We got back on track quickly and generated positive progression in February and March. Brinker ended the third quarter in a good position with an adjusted EPS of $0.92 which is up significantly from last year is $0.78. Considering all the noise in the results and comparisons, we believe average weekly sales may be a clear guide to the growth of the business. Chile’s average weekly sales accelerated throughout the quarter, with February and March reaching for your highs.