Lehman Bankruptcy Weighing On Domino's Capital Needs
After reporting disappointing sales and a drop in third-quarter profit Tuesday, Domino's Pizza also said its ability to draw upon its variable funding notes had been sharply reduced from $90 million to an estimated $21.7 million after Lehman Brothers, the primary provider of those funding notes, declared bankruptcy. Despite the fact that operating margins remain under pressure from higher commodity (from wheat to dairy), labor, and delivery (fuel) costs, CEO David Brandon said in a conference call with analysts that management "was losing no sleep, had no concern about its liquidity, and had significant cash balances" and ample ongoing cash flow from operations to fund its day-to-day operations for the forseeable future.
Yet an analysis of the company's third-quarter 10-Q filing for the period ended September 7 shows a leveraged company struggling to maintain liquidity and capital spending needs:
"Historically, we have operated with minimal positive or negative working capital, primarily because our receivable collection periods and inventory turn rates are faster than the normal payment terms on our current liabilities. We generally collect our receivables within three weeks from the date of the related sale and we generally experience 40 to 50 inventory turns per year. In addition, our sales are not typically seasonal, which further limits our working capital requirements. These factors, coupled with significant and ongoing cash flows from operations, which are primarily used to service our debt obligations, invest in our business and repurchase common stock, reduce our working capital amounts. As of September 7, 2008, the Company had approximately $34.9 million of cash held for future interest payments, $26.4 million cash held in interest reserves, and $10.0 million cash held for capitalization of certain subsidiaries for a total of $71.3 million of restricted cash."
- Domino's preference would be to keep its relationship with franchisees focused on being the franchiser rather than their bank, but given the current lending environment has effectively shut down, Brandon admitted that the company would consider making short-term capital available to top-tier franchisees looking to purchase faltering operations.
- Free cash flow, defined as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures, fell 49 percent year-on-year to $26 million, at nine-months ended September 7. Going forward, liquidity could deteriorate further, due to an expected $1.0 million hit to fourth-quarter earnings from a stronger U.S. dollar on foreign operations (41% of aggrgate sales), continued volume weakness in the domestic market, and a higher effective tax rate.
- The company services about $1.7 billion in debt.