BPE

CALGARY, Nov. 6, 2013 /CNW/ - BrightPath Early Learning Inc. ("BrightPath" or the "Company" (renamed from Edleun Group, Inc. on August 7, 2013) (TSXV: BPE), the leading Canadian provider of quality early childhood education and care announced today its operational and financial results for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2013.

In the latest quarter, the Company continued to successfully implement its vision for a new standard of child care in Canada.

Portfolio performance highlights for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and trailing twelve months include:

• Overall occupancy levels improving year over year during the seasonally slower summer months by 4.7% to 79.0% with occupancy at stabilized centres increasing to 87.7%, a year over year improvement of 5.7%;
• Portfolio wide revenue of $11.2 million increased 27% compared to the same period in the prior year bringing the trailing twelve month revenue to $45.2 million;
• Centre margin of $2.6 million increased 23% over the previous year quarter, representing 23.1% of revenue. Trailing twelve month centre margin is $11.7 million;
• Adjusted EBITDA increased $0.30 million to $0.23 million compared to a small loss a year earlier; with Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter absorbing $0.41 million for non-recurring costs including rebranding; Adjusted EBITDA for the trailing 12 months is $2.71 million; and
• Funds From Operations ("FFO") of $(0.16) million or $(0.001) per share compared to $(0.029) million or $(0.002) per share a year earlier, and Adjusted Funds From Operations ("AFFO") of $(0.11) million or $(0.001) per share compared to $(0.40) million or $(0.003) per share. FFO and AFFO for the trailing 12 month period is $1.47 million and $ 1.62 million, respectively.

Significant events for the third quarter of 2013 and subsequent thereto:

• Management successfully negotiated an increase of $15 million to its credit facility; the new limit being $42 million.  These funds are designated to develop additional greenfield centres in Alberta similar to the Company's highly successful developments in the McKenzie Towne and Chestermere areas of Calgary.  Including cash on hand, the Company now has more than $28 million of capital available to pursue its growth strategy;
  
  
• In September, the Company completed implementation of the principal modules of its Enterprise Resource Planning Systems ("ERP"), which tools have already begun to, and will further, assist in the management of labour hours and billing;
  
  
• The Company undertook a thorough business review including process reengineering as it pertains to centre operations and overhead costs and as a result thereof will relocate the accounting function from Calgary to Toronto;  will relocate the Toronto office from the downtown core to a suburban location and, seek to relocate the Calgary office to more cost efficient premises in Calgary;
  
  
• The McKenzie Towne expansion of licensed spaces within the existing building envelope was completed increasing the number of spaces by 39 and bringing the total to 286.  The increase in capacity has involved minimal capital outlay for equipment and the Company anticipates that the additional spaces will be absorbed by the end of 2013 by the existing wait list;
  
  
• The Company announced a long term lease agreement for a newly-developed child care centre in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, British Columbia.  This brand new facility will provide the community with 207 additional child care spaces in a 18,207 square foot child care centre which is anticipated to open in September 2014;
  
  
• New centre developments and redevelopments continued to show strength during their first year of operation demonstrating the pent up demand for quality child care which underpins the Company's growth strategy.  As noted in the table below, occupancies range from 72% to 93% even though these properties have been only open for approximately one year;

• Recent announcements in Alberta, in particular the expansion of oil sands production and a positive outlook for transportation of gas, oil and bitumen, lends support to the Company's intention that near term growth will be focused in western Canada.  The support of the Company's bank has enabled BrightPath to advance its pipeline of greenfield and other new centre locations in the Calgary and Edmonton markets which it anticipates commencing over the next two quarters;
  
  
• The Company announced plans for the expansion of its child care centre in the Calgary suburb of Airdrie, Alberta.  The expansion is expected to cost approximately $0.6 million and will increase the licensed child care spaces by 95, bringing the total to 145.  Work is expected to begin in April 2014 for completion in August 2014;
  
  
• The Company changed its name effective August 7, 2013 from Edleun Group, Inc. to BrightPath Early Learning Inc. and its principal operating subsidiary Edleun, Inc. to BrightPath Kids Corp.  This new name better reflects what the Company does, is more understandable to parents and investors, and, accordingly, provides a superior branding opportunity;
  
  
• The Company launched a pilot program for enhanced recreational programs for children enrolled at the centres and from the broader community. The classes for 2 ½ to 12 year olds include dance, music, yoga and sports instruction; and
  
  
• Three development centres underwent the accreditation process in Alberta.  Under the Alberta accreditation program, child care centres that are awarded this recognition exceed provincial licensing standards and represent a greater attraction to the child care workforce in the province.

The Company continues to deal directly and effectively with regional operational challenges that have impacted its financial performance.  In British Columbia, the Company closed one centre and transferred the enrolled children to another BrightPath centre in the area.  With the recent announcement of the development of a 207 licensed space centre in Surrey, the Company is moving to consolidate its portfolio in the BC Lower Mainland in larger centres that provide better space to improve the quality of programming, and generate enhanced profitability resulting from economies of scale.

In Ontario, the province wide roll out of full day kindergarten ("FDK") caused a reduction of enrollments of children in that age group as compared to the end of the second quarter. The Company's licensed child care spaces for this age group represent approximately 4% of its system wide capacity.  Changes underway to reconfigure the FDK spaces to other age groups are anticipated to meet increasing levels of demand for infant care and out of school care. In addition, repositioning of certain centres between Montessori and traditional child care is under consideration.

In contrast, the performance of the Company's Alberta operations and the market opportunity are strong. Licensed child care spaces in Alberta represent 60% of the Company's capacity and generate 75% of centre margin, due in part, to an emphasis on new, larger developments that have performed well in their first year of operations. While it is typical in the child care industry for newly developed centres to anticipate a 24 month stabilization period, as noted previously the Company has delivered an average of 83% occupancy in its four newly developed centres in the past 12 months.

Financial Review
($000's except where otherwise noted and per share amounts)

Notes:

1. During the fourth quarter of 2012, an error in the previously reported results for the first, second and third quarters of 2012 was identified. This error resulted in Salaries, Wages and Benefits under Centre Expenses for those quarters being understated by $62, $184 and $14, respectively. All amounts reported in this MD&A have been amended to correct the error. This error has no impact on the annual financial statements at December 31, 2012.

Mary Ann Curran, Chief Executive Officer of the Company commented, "While pleased with the progress we have made with respect to both the delivery of excellent quality, comprehensive care and programming and optimizing the cost of delivering it, with the tools we now have in place, and the discipline we are implementing in our management framework, we will continue to improve quality and leverage our scale to do so at reduced cost".

For the three months ended September 30, 2013, the Company generated revenue of $11,211 (September 30, 2012 - $8,818) and centre margin of $2,592 (September 30, 2012 - $2,108). The year over year increase in revenue was due to a higher number of spaces available for enrollment and higher occupancy rates combined with fee increases in certain centres.  Centre margin as a percentage of revenue declined slightly to 23.1% compared with 23.9% a year earlier; the difference attributed mainly to accreditation costs at new centres and enrollment decreases associated with FDK in Ontario.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, revenue was $34,636 (September 30, 2012 - $25,832) and centre margin was $8,967 (September 30, 2012 - $7,292).  The year over year revenue increase was due to the increased capacity in centres acquired and developed subsequent to the third quarter of 2012, fee increases at certain centres and higher overall occupancy levels.

Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2013 was $226 compared to $(74) in the third quarter of 2012.  Non-recurring costs incurred in connection with the Company's ERP, rebranding and initial expense for relocation were $411 during the quarter. General and administrative expense for the three months in 2013 was $1,610, which absent the above noted costs would have been significantly lower than prior periods. Excluding the impact of non-recurring costs as indicated, growth in Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of growth in revenue was 25%, a strong indicator of the benefits of scalability which the Company intends to pursue further in 2014.

Adjusted EBITDA, AFFO and FFO -Amounts Amended For Correction

AFFO for the third quarter of 2013 was $(113) compared to $(400) for the third quarter of 2012 primarily due to increased centre margin and lower maintenance capital expenditures partially offset by increased depreciation expense, finance costs and operating lease expense.

AFFO per share for the third quarter of 2013 was $(0.001) compared to $0.005 for the second quarter of 2013 and $(0.003) for the third quarter of 2012.

FFO for the third quarter of 2013 was $(161) compared to $646 for the second quarter of 2013 and $(285) for the third quarter of 2012, the trends for which were substantially the same as AFFO.

FFO per share for the third quarter of 2013 was $(0.001) compared to $0.005 for the second quarter of 2013 and $(0.002) for the third quarter of 2012.

Child Care Centre Portfolio Overview

The Company's child care centre locations, number of licensed spaces and average occupancy rates are as shown in the table that follows.  Average occupancies exhibit lower levels of attendance July through August.

Deferred Share Units ("DSU's")

For the three months ended September 30, 2013, five members of the board of directors of BrightPath elected to receive 173,956 DSU's in lieu of cash otherwise payable for board fees, representing $52.  The DSU's were issued on October 11, 2013.

Outlook

"The outlook for BrightPath is increasingly favourable as we conclude 2013 and prepare to enter 2014," said Dale Kearns, President and Chief Financial Officer.  "We have strong leadership and enhanced systems with tools in-place to manage this business. We are positioned to drive operating leverage, which we anticipate resulting in significantly increased thresholds of profitability for the Company next year. We believe that this profitability will be enhanced materially through the Company's execution of its pipeline of new centres  in Alberta which we are actively pursuing".

NON- IFRS PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The Company uses "centre margin" as a performance indicator of child care centre operating results.  Centre margin does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable with the calculation of similar measures by other entities.  Centre margin is determined by deducting centre expenses from revenue.  Centre expenses exclude net rents due under leases for leasehold properties and mortgage interest, if any, on those properties owned by the Company.

BrightPath utilizes a number of key measures, such as Adjusted EBITDA, FFO, AFFO, occupancy and centre margin, that in its opinion are critical to measuring the progress of the Company towards its strategic goals. The Company uses "stabilized centre results" to measure performance. Acquired centres in Alberta are deemed to be stabilized 12 months following their acquisition.  Acquired centres in Ontario and British Columbia and new development centres in all provinces are deemed to be stabilized after 24 months.

Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by deducting from centre margin: general and administrative expenses, operating lease expense and taxes other than income taxes. FFO is calculated by adjusting the net loss to add back acquisition costs expensed as incurred, depreciation and certain other non-cash items. AFFO is calculated by adjusting FFO to add back stock based compensation and deduct maintenance capital expenditures.  Maintenance capital expenditures consist of capital expenditures that are capitalized for accounting purposes but are considered to represent recurring costs such as facilities and leasehold maintenance and the replacement of toys, appliances and other equipment.

Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and AFFO do not have standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS.  The Company's method of calculating Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and AFFO may be different from other entities and, accordingly, may not be comparable to such other entities. Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and AFFO: (i) do not represent cash flow from operating activities as defined by IFRS; (ii) are not indicative of cash available to fund all liquidity requirements, including capital for growth; and (iii) are not to be considered as alternatives to IFRS based net income for the purpose of evaluating operating performance.

Net income / loss is impacted by, among other items, accounting standards that require child care centre acquisition and transaction costs to be expensed as incurred.  As the Company executes its consolidation and development strategy in the Canadian child care market, it will routinely incur such expenses which will negatively impact the Company's reported net income / loss, but not Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and AFFO.

QUARTERLY CONFERENCE CALL

BrightPath's quarterly results conference call is scheduled for Thursday, November 7th 2013 at 10:00 am EST.  The call details are as follows:

To access the conference call by telephone, dial +1 (647) 427-7450 or +1 (888) 231-8191. Please connect approximately 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call. The conference call will be archived for replay until Thursday, November 14th, 2013 at midnight. To access the archived conference call, dial +1 (416) 849-0833 or +1 (855) 859-2056 and enter the reservation password 97080244.

A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at: http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/detail/1254261/1382119. Please connect at least 10 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to join the webcast. The webcast will be archived at the above website for 90 days.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

Certain statements in this Release which are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements or forward- looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements related to BrightPath's projected revenues, earnings, growth rates, revenue mix, staffing and resources, and product plans are forward looking statements as are any statements relating to future events, conditions or circumstances. The use of terms such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "budget", "scheduled", "estimate", "forecast", "anticipate" or "does not anticipate", "believe", "intend", "inferred", "potential" and similar terms are intended to assist in identification of these forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not promises or guarantees of future performance and involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance, achievements or developments of BrightPath to differ materially from the results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions. Except as required by law, BrightPath does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change.

The Company undertakes no obligation, except as required by law, to update publicly or otherwise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, or the above list of factors affecting this information. Many factors could cause the actual results of BrightPath to differ materially from the results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE BrightPath Early Learning Inc.