MONTREAL, Oct. 18, 2021 /CNW Telbec/ - MTY Food Group Inc.
("MTY" or the "Company") (TSX: MTY) announced today that one of its
wholly-owned subsidiaries has signed an agreement to acquire the
assets of Küto Comptoir à Tartares (www.kuto.ca), a rapidly growing
tartare restaurant chain.
The Küto network currently has 31 restaurants in operation, all
franchised and all in the province of Quebec. Thirteen of these locations have
opened in the past 12 months. On an annualized basis, the network's
system sales is between $20 million
and $25 million.
Eric Lefebvre, CEO of MTY, said:
"Küto is a young innovative brand that stands out for the quality
of its products. It relies on a network of committed franchise
partners who are just as dynamic. Küto benefits from a loyal
customer base who are passionate about high-end tartares and
novelty menu items. It offers significant growth potential for the
years to come."
The transaction is expected to be finalized within the next 30
days but remains subject to several conditions customary for a
transaction of this nature. There can be no assurance that the
transaction will be completed as described above, or that the
expected closing date will materialize.
Jean-Michel Paquet, current owner
of Küto, will remain at the helm of the brand, which will also keep
its head office and central kitchen in Delson, Quebec. "I am very proud to have built
a strong, successful network, filled with potential and
opportunities for growth. A network made up of proud, passionate
and enthusiastic colleagues and franchise partners where human
values are respected and where the pleasure of eating is the
priority ", testifies Mr. Paquet. "100% of our team remains in
place, which will keep the focus on Küto's quality mission and on
the values of this company; Quality, respect, customer orientation,
innovation, consistency and pleasure".
Financing
Total consideration for the transaction will be financed using
MTY's cash on hand and existing credit facilities.
Non–IFRS Measures
This News Release makes reference to certain non–IFRS measures.
These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have
a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore
unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other
companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional
information to complement those IFRS measures by providing further
understanding of the Company's results of operations from
management's perspective. Accordingly, they should not be
considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the
Company's financial information reported under IFRS. The Company
uses non-IFRS measures including "System Sales" to provide
investors with supplemental measures of its operating performance
and thus highlight trends in its core business that may not
otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial
measures. The Company also believes that securities analysts,
investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS
measures in the evaluation of issuers. The Company's management
also uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating
performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual
operating budgets, and to determine components of management
compensation.
"System Sales" represents the net sales received from restaurant
guests at both corporate and franchise restaurants including
take-out and delivery customer orders. System Sales includes sales
from both established restaurants as well as new
restaurants. Management believes System Sales
provides meaningful information to investors regarding the size of
MTY's restaurant network, the total market share of the Company's
brands and the overall financial performance of its brands and
restaurant owner base, which ultimately impacts MTY's consolidated
financial performance.
Forward looking information
Certain information in this News Release constitutes
"forward-looking" information that involves known and unknown
risks, uncertainties, future expectations and other factors which
may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the
Company to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information. When used in this News Release,
this information may include words such as "anticipate",
"estimate", "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan" or
variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or
phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may,
could, would, or might occur or be achieved. In particular,
this News Release contains forward-looking information regarding:
the completion of the acquisition, the potential closing date of
the acquisition and the potential impact of the acquisition on the
Company's future operations; opportunities, growth and expansion;
the suitability of the acquisition by the Company; the effect of
the acquisition on Küto stakeholders; the potential retention of
Küto management team; the expected EBITDA, revenue, system sales
and potential growth of the combined entity.
Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual
results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the
Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied
by such forward-looking information.
A description of additional assumptions used to develop such
forward-looking information and a description of additional risk
factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from
forward-looking information can be found in the disclosure
documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Readers are
further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
information as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions
or expectations upon which they are placed will
occur. Forward-looking information contained in this News
Release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to
update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events
or circumstances. Financial outlooks contained in this News
Release were approved by management of the Company on October 18, 2021. The purpose of this
information is to provide a potential financial outlook of the
combined entity and this information may not be appropriate for
other purposes. Additional information is available in the
Company's Management Discussion and Analysis, which can be found on
SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of
MTY Food
Group Inc.
_____________________________________
Eric Lefebvre, Chief Executive
Officer
SOURCE MTY Food Group Inc.