Boyd Group Income Fund Reports First Quarter 2015 Results

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- Acquisitions and same-store sales growth continue to deliver strong results -

WINNIPEG, May 12, 2015 /CNW/ - Boyd Group Income Fund (TSX: BYD.UN) ("the Fund", "the Boyd Group" or "Boyd") today reported its financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2015. The Fund's first quarter 2015 financial statements and MD&A have been filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). This news release is not in any way a substitute for reading the Boyd Group's financial statements, including notes to the financial statements, and Management's Discussion & Analysis. 

Q1 2015 Highlights 

• Sales increased by 53.4% to $281.8 million from $183.6 million in 2014, including same-store sales increases of 5.5%.
• Added 3 single locations since December 31, 2014.
• Acquired Craftmaster Autobody, with 6 locations in Florida.
• Adjusted EBITDA¹  increased 40.8% to $21.2 million, compared with $15.0 million in 2014.
• Adjusted net earnings¹ increased to $8.3 million compared with $7.3 million in 2014.

"We are very pleased with our results in the first quarter in 2015 which reflect the successful application of our growth strategy along with operational execution," said Brock Bulbuck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boyd Group. "It's important to note that severe winter weather conditions in the first quarter of last year very positively impacted our 2014 results, and surpassing them in Q1 2015 demonstrates the effectiveness of our business model and our ability to execute to achieve growth."

Financial Results

For the three months ended March 31, 2015

Total sales increased by 53.4% to $281.8 million, compared with sales of $183.6 million for the same period last year.  The $98.2 million increase was due to the contributions from acquisitions of $69.4 million as well as incremental sales from the acquisition of Netcost. Same-store sales excluding foreign exchange increased $9.8 million or 5.5%, and increased a further $20.8 million due to the translation of same-store sales at a higher U.S. dollar exchange rate.

Earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for the fair value adjustments related to the exchangeable share liability and unit option liability, convertible debenture conversion features and non-controlling interest put option, as well as acquisition, transaction and process improvement costs ("Adjusted EBITDA")¹ totaled $21.2 million or 7.5% of sales compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $15.0 million or 8.2% of sales in the prior year. The $6.2 million increase was primarily the result of incremental EBITDA contribution from acquisitions and new locations, combined with improvements in same-store sales. Changes in U.S. dollar exchange rates in 2015 partially offset by the closure of underperforming stores increased Adjusted EBITDA by $2.2 million.

Net Loss for the three months ended March 31, 2015 was $8.4 million or 3.0% of sales compared to $1.7 million or 0.9% of sales last year. The loss in 2015 resulted from the fair value adjustments to financial instruments of $16.0 million which are primarily due to the increase in unit price during the quarter, acquisition, transaction and process improvement costs of $0.2 million and accelerated amortization of acquired brands of $0.5 million. Excluding the impact of these adjustments, net earnings would have increased to $8.3 million or 2.9% of sales. This compares to adjusted earnings of $7.3 million or 4.0% of sales for the same period in 2014 if the same items were adjusted. The increase in the adjusted net earnings for the year is the result of the contribution of new acquisitions and new location growth as well as increases in same-store sales offset by higher interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

During the quarter, the Fund generated adjusted distributable cash of $20.7 million and declared distributions and dividends of $2.1 million, resulting in a payout ratio based on adjusted distributable cash of 9.9% for the quarter.  This compares with adjusted distributable cash of $10.6 million, distributions and dividends of $1.8 million, and a payout ratio of 17.3% a year ago. On a trailing four-quarter basis at March 31, 2015, the Fund's payout ratio stands at 13.7%.

Outlook

"Going forward, Boyd's three-pronged growth strategy remains central to the Fund's approach to growing the business and we are confident that we are well-positioned to achieve our goals for the year," added Mr. Bulbuck. "Our goal continues to be to achieve single location growth of 6 to 10% annually, which gives us a target of 19 to 32 new single locations in 2015.  Additionally, we will remain opportunistic for multi-shop acquisitions.  While competition to acquire multi-shop operations in the U.S. remains intense, we will remain disciplined and patient to only invest in those opportunities that are accretive. In January, we were successful with this approach when we acquired Craftmaster Autobody with its six locations in eastern Florida. These two growth strategies continue to be bolstered by same-store sales growth in excess of industry levels."

2015 First Quarter Conference Call & Webcast

Management will hold a conference call on Wednesday, May 12, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) to review the Fund's 2015 first quarter results. You can join the call by dialing 888-231-8191 or 647-427-7450.  A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through www.boydgroup.com.  An archived replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days.  A taped replay of the conference call will also be available until Tuesday, May 19, 2015, at midnight by calling 1-855-859-2056 or 416-849-0833, reference number 33109256.

(¹) EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, distributable cash, adjusted distributable cash and adjusted net earnings are not recognized measures under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Management believes that in addition to revenue, net earnings and cash flows, the supplemental measures of distributable cash, adjusted distributable cash, adjusted net earnings, EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are useful as they provide investors with an indication of earnings from operations and cash available for distribution, both before and after debt management, productive capacity maintenance and non-recurring and other adjustments. Investors should be cautioned, however, that EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, distributable cash, adjusted distributable cash and adjusted net earnings should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of the Fund's performance. Boyd's method of calculating these measures may differ from other public issuers and, accordingly, may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers. For a detailed explanation of how the Fund's non-GAAP measures are calculated, please refer to the Fund's MD&A filing for the period ended March 31, 2015, which can be accessed via the SEDAR Web site (www.sedar.com).

About The Boyd Group Income Fund
The Boyd Group Income Fund is an unincorporated, open-ended mutual fund trust created for the purposes of acquiring and holding certain investments, including a majority interest in The Boyd Group Inc. and its subsidiaries. The Boyd Group Income Fund units trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol BYD.UN. For more information on The Boyd Group Inc. or Boyd Group Income Fund, please visit our website at http://www.boydgroup.com.

About The Boyd Group Inc.
The Boyd Group Inc. (the "Company") directly and through subsidiaries, is the largest operator of non-franchised collision repair centres in North America in terms of number of locations and one of the largest in terms of sales. The Company operates locations in five Canadian provinces under the trade name Boyd Autobody & Glass (www.boydautobody.com), as well as in 17 U.S. states under the trade names Gerber Collision & Glass (www.gerbercollision.com) and Champ's Collision Centers. The Company is also a major retail auto glass operator in the U.S. with locations across 29 U.S. states under the trade names Gerber Collision & Glass, Glass America, Auto Glass Service, Auto Glass Authority and Autoglassonly.com. The Company also operates a third party administrator, Gerber National Claims Services ("GNCS") that offers first notice of loss, glass and related services. GNCS has approximately 5,500 affiliated glass provider locations and 4,600 affiliated emergency roadside services providers throughout the U.S. For more information on The Boyd Group Inc. or Boyd Group Income Fund, please visit our website at www.boydgroup.com.

To view Boyd Group Income Fund's Q1 2015 financial statements and notes, please click here: http://files.newswire.ca/698/BGIF_Q1_2015.pdf

Caution concerning forward-looking statements

Statements made in this press release, other than those concerning historical financial information, may be forward-looking and therefore subject to various risks and uncertainties. Some forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "may", "will", "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "intend", or "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements, as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Factors that could cause results to vary include, but are not limited to: dependence upon The Boyd Group Inc. and its Subsidiaries; cash distributions not guaranteed; inability to successfully integrate acquisitions; economic downturn; operational performance; rapid growth; loss of key customers; brand management and reputation; insurance risk; quality of corporate governance; tax position risk; risk of litigation; acquisition risk; credit & refinancing risks; dependence on key personnel; employee relations; decline in number of insurance claims; market environment change; reliance on technology; weather conditions; expansion into new markets; fluctuations in operating results and seasonality; increased government regulation and tax risk; Canadian tax related risk; execution on new strategies; operating hazards; energy costs; U.S. health care costs and workers compensation claims; low capture rates; key supplier relationships; capital expenditures; competition; potential undisclosed liabilities associated with acquisitions; foreign currency risk; margin pressure; acquisition and start-up growth and ongoing access to capital; environmental, health and safety risk; interest rates;  unitholder liability limitation and the Fund's success in anticipating and managing the foregoing risks.

We caution that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive and that when reviewing our forward-looking statements, investors and others should refer to the "Risk Factors" section of the Fund's Annual Information Form, the "Risks and Uncertainties" and other sections of our Management's Discussion and Analysis of Operating Results and Financial Position and our other periodic filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. All forward-looking statements presented herein should be considered in conjunction with such filings.

SOURCE Boyd Group Income Fund

PDF available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/media/2015/05/12/20150512_C8864_PDF_EN_16521.pdf

Brock Bulbuck, President & CEO, Tel: [phone], [email protected]; Pat Pathipati, Executive Vice President & CFO, Tel: [phone] (ext. 33841), [email protected]; Craig MacPhail, Investor Relations, Tel: [phone] or toll free 1-800-385-5451 (ext. 290), [email protected]; Dan Dott, Senior Vice President, Finance, Tel: [phone], [email protected]