New Look Eyewear Inc. Announces Record Revenues for Both the Fourth Quarter and the Year Ended December 27th of 2014 and Its Quarterly Dividend
(firmenpresse) - MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 03/16/15 -- New Look Eyewear Inc. (TSX: BCI) ("New Look") announced today that revenues for the fourth quarter ended December 27, 2014 reached a record of $ $40.8 million, an increase of 59.4% over the corresponding period of last year. This increase was due to a comparable store(1) orders increase of 4.4%, additional revenues generated by 122 stores opened or acquired over the past 24 months including the acquisition of the assets and the business of Vogue Optical (65 stores) in December 2013 and the acquisition of the assets and business of the Greiche & Scaff banner (49 stores) last October. Adjusted EBITDA(2) for the fourth quarter was $7.5 million, compared to an adjusted EBITDA of $ $4.4 million last year, an increase of 69.4%.
Net earnings attributed to shareholders of $2.0 million for the quarter were up 81.9% from last year. This included acquisition-related and restructuring costs of $1.0 million. This is in line with the EBITDA increase following the Vogue Optical acquisition and reflects additional depreciation, amortization and financial expenses, as well as acquisition costs and restructuring costs related to Greiche & Scaff. In spite of these additional expenses and the issuance of shares, mainly pursuant to the financing of both the Vogue Optical and Greiche & Scaff acquisitions, net earnings per share(3) for the quarter increased to $0.15 from $0.11 last year. Net earnings per share adjusted to remove the impact of acquisition- related costs and restructuring increased to $0.21 from $0.17 last year.
Cash flows from operating activities (before changes in working capital) reached $6.5 million or $0.47 per share(3) in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to $3.5 million and $0.29 per share last year.
Year-to-date results
Year-to-date revenues and adjusted EBITDA reached a record $140.2 million and $27.0 million respectively, which represent increases of 54.2% and 71.3% respectively over last year. Expressed as a percentage of revenues, adjusted EBITDA represented 19.3% in 2014 as compared to 17.3% in 2013. Net earnings attributed to shareholders of $7.8 million were up 24.6% from last year, including acquisition-related and restructuring costs of $2.3 million. Net earnings per share were $0.59 compared to $0.58 last year, thus reflecting additional depreciation, amortization and financial expenses, acquisition and restructuring costs related to Greiche & Scaff as well as the issuance of shares over 2013 and 2014. Net earnings adjusted to remove the impact of acquisition-related and restructuring costs increased to 9.4 million from 7.0 million last year, an increase of 34.3%. Same store orders year-to-date were up 1.7% over last year.
Cash flows from operating activities (before changes in working capital) increased significantly to $24.3 million or $1.83 per share from $14.5 million or $1.34 per share last year.
More details on the financial performance of the fourth quarter and the total year are available in the attachments.
Antoine Amiel, the Vice-Chairman of New Look, stated that: "The successful acquisition of Greiche & Scaff in the fourth quarter of 2014, following the acquisition of Vogue Optical in December 2013, has moved the New Look group to a new level. We are now the second largest optical retail chain in Canada and are well positioned to continue to grow and become a national player off of a strong base in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces."
Martial Gagne, the President of New Look, commented: "We are pleased to report a strong operating and financial performance in the fourth quarter. As a result, 2014 was a record year for revenues and adjusted EBITDA for the company, reaching $140.2 million and $27.0 million respectively. Same store sales for the year were stable at 1.7% while cash flow from operations was very strong, reaching $24.3 million ($1.83 per share). All of these and other positive operating and financial factors are concrete evidence of the success of our growth strategy in the past several years, both generic and by acquisition. We now own three of the leading optical retail banners in Eastern Canada, which is our base for future growth in our existing markets and across the country."
Change at the direction of New Look
Mr. Jean-Luc Deschamps, CPA, CA, senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer will be leaving New Look at the end of the second quarter of 2015 to pursue other interests. New Look expects to announce the appointment of his successor prior to his departure.
Dividend approval
Following the approval of the results of the fourth quarter of 2014 and taking into account the solid cash inflows from operations in the quarter, the Board of Directors of New Look approved the payment of dividends totalling $0.15 per Class A common shares payable on March 31st, 2015 to the shareholders of record as of March 25th, 2015. One dividend, in the amount of $0.139 per share, has been designated as "eligible dividend", that is a dividend entitling shareholders who are Canadian resident individuals to a higher dividend tax credit.
Shareholders residing in Canada are allowed to elect to re-invest their cash dividends into New Look shares, without any brokerage commissions, fees and transaction costs through the dividend reinvestment plan implemented in 2014. Until any further announcement, shares will be issued from treasury at 95% of the weighted average trading price for the five days preceding the dividend payment date. Any shareholder wishing to benefit from this opportunity only has to make the election through his or her broker.
Attachments
As of February 28, 2015, New Look had 13,312,684 Class A common shares issued and outstanding. New Look is a leader in the eye care industry in Eastern Canada having a network of 192 corporate stores mainly under the New Look, Vogue Optical and Greiche & Scaff banners and laboratory facilities using state-of-the-art technologies. Tax information regarding payments to shareholders is available at in the Investors section.
All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial position, business strategy, projected costs and plans and objectives of, or involving New Look. Readers can identify many of these statements by looking for words such as "believe", "expects", "will", "intends", "projects", "anticipates", "estimates", "plans", "may", "would" or similar words or the negative thereof. There can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which these forward-looking statements are based will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although management of New Look believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Some of the factors which could affect future results and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements contained herein include: pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments, competition from established competitors and new market entrants, technological change, interest rate fluctuations, general economic conditions, acceptance and demand for new products and services, and fluctuations in operating results, as well as other risks included in New Look's current Annual Information Form (AIF) which can be found at . The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and New Look undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise, except as provided by law.
For additional information please see our Web site .
Contacts:
New Look Eyewear Inc.
Lise Melanson
(514) 877-4299, ext. 2234
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Datum: 17.03.2015 - 01:37 Uhr
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