(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) SPARTANBURG, S.C., Nov. 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denny's Corporation (the "Company") (NASDAQ: DENN), owner and operator of Denny's Inc. ("Denny's") and Keke's Inc. ("Keke's") today reported results for its third quarter ended September 24, 2025 and provided a business update on the Company's operations. Kelli Valade, Chief Executive Officer, stated, "Our third quarter progress on strategic initiatives demonstrates our ability to remain agile and focused on what is within our control amid a choppy industry backdrop. These achievements are the direct result of our incredible teams and franchisees maintaining their unwavering commitment to our brands and our guests."
"Denny's is evolving its value offerings to meet the guest where they are, strengthening its brand relevance with an enhanced digital presence, a movie collaboration, and the launch of its highly-anticipated new loyalty program. Keke's is capitalizing on continued portfolio growth and exceptional guest satisfaction while maintaining its position as a brand leader in the fastest growing segment. We will remain agile and continue working closely with our franchisees to navigate this dynamic consumer environment."
Third Quarter 2025 Highlights
Total operating revenue was $113.2 million and total operating income was $10.4 million. Denny's domestic system-wide same-restaurant sales** were (2.9%) compared to the prior year quarter. Keke's domestic system-wide same-restaurant sales** increased 1.1% compared to the prior year quarter. Denny's opened one franchised restaurant. Denny's completed 10 remodels, including two at company restaurants. Keke's opened four new cafes, including three franchised locations. Keke's completed three remodels, including two at company cafes. Adjusted franchise operating margin* was $29.1 million, or 52.0% of franchise and license revenue, and adjusted company restaurant operating margin* was $7.8 million, or 13.5% of company restaurant sales. Net income was $0.6 million, or $0.01 per diluted share. Adjusted net income* and adjusted net income per share* were $4.2 million and $0.08, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA* was $19.3 million.
Third Quarter 2025 Results
Total operating revenue was $113.2 million compared to $111.8 million for the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily driven by additional Keke's company equivalent units and partially offset by the Company's previously communicated strategy to intentionally close lower volume Denny's franchised restaurants to improve the overall health of the brand.
Franchise and license revenue was $55.9 million compared to $59.1 million for the prior year quarter. This change was primarily due to fewer Denny's franchise equivalent units and softer Denny's same-restaurant sales**.
Company restaurant sales were $57.4 million compared to $52.7 million for the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily driven by additional Keke's equivalent units.
Adjusted franchise operating margin* was $29.1 million, or 52.0% of franchise and license revenue, compared to $30.1 million, or 50.9% for the prior year quarter. This margin change was primarily due to fewer Denny's equivalent units and softer Denny's same-restaurant sales**.
Adjusted company restaurant operating margin* was $7.8 million, or 13.5% of company restaurant sales, compared to $6.1 million, or 11.5% for the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily due to a $1.5 million benefit related to excess credit card fees charged by Visa and Mastercard between 2004 and 2019, partially offset by higher occupancy costs and inherent inefficiencies associated with new cafe openings.
Total general and administrative expenses were $22.6 million compared to $19.8 million in the prior year quarter. This change was primarily due to additional incentive compensation and transaction costs, partially offset by lower corporate administrative expenses.
The provision for income taxes was $1.3 million, reflecting an effective tax rate of 67.4% for the current quarter, compared to $1.5 million and an effective tax rate of 18.5% in the prior year quarter. The higher effective income tax rate for the current quarter included discrete items related to share-based compensation which were not comparable to the prior year quarter.
Net income was $0.6 million, or $0.01 per diluted share. Adjusted net income* was $4.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share.
The Company ended the quarter with $269.2 million of total debt outstanding, including $259.5 million of borrowings under its credit facility.
Capital Allocation
The Company invested $9.3 million in cash capital expenditures during the current quarter, which included Keke's new cafe development and remodels at both Denny's and Keke's company locations.
Conference Call and Business Outlook
The Company announced today it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by a group consisting of TriArtisan Capital Advisors LLC, Treville Capital Group, and Yadav Enterprises, Inc. The merger is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions, including approval by the Company's stockholders and satisfaction of regulatory approvals. Upon completion of the transaction, Denny's common stock will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq.
As customary during the pendency of such a transaction, the Company will not host a conference call or provide financial guidance for fiscal year 2025.
*Please refer to the Reconciliation of Net Income to Non-GAAP Financial Measures, as well as the Reconciliation of Operating Income to Non-GAAP Financial Measures included in the tables below.
** Same-restaurant sales include sales at company restaurants and non-consolidated franchised and licensed restaurants that were open during the comparable periods noted. Total operating revenue is limited to company restaurant sales and royalties, advertising revenue, initial and other fees and occupancy revenue from non-consolidated franchised and licensed restaurants. Accordingly, domestic franchise same-restaurant sales and domestic system-wide same-restaurant sales should be considered as a supplement to, not a substitute for, the Company's results as reported under GAAP.
About Denny's Corporation
Denny's Corporation is one of America's largest full-service restaurant chains based on number of restaurants. As of September 24, 2025, the Company consisted of 1,537 restaurants, 1,452 of which were franchised and licensed restaurants and 85 of which were company operated.
The Company consists of the Denny's brand and the Keke's brand. As of September 24, 2025, the Denny's brand consisted of 1,459 global restaurants, 1,397 of which were franchised and licensed restaurants and 62 of which were company operated. As of September 24, 2025, the Keke's brand consisted of 78 restaurants, 55 of which were franchised restaurants and 23 of which were company operated.
For further information on Denny's Corporation, including news releases, links to SEC filings, and other financial information, please visit dennys.
Non-GAAP Definition Changes
The Company has evolved its definition of non-GAAP financial measures to provide more clarity and comparability relative to peers. Denny's Corporation management uses certain non-GAAP measures in analyzing operating performance and believes that the presentation of these measures provides investors and analysts with information that is beneficial to gaining an understanding of the Company's financial results. Non-GAAP disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for financial results determined in accordance with GAAP.
The Company excludes certain legal settlement expenses not considered to be normal and recurring, pre-opening expenses, and other items management does not consider in the evaluation of its ongoing core operating performance from adjusted operating margin*, adjusted net income*, adjusted net income per share*, and adjusted EBITDA*. In addition, the Company no longer deducts cash payments for restructuring and exit costs, or cash payments for share-based compensation from Adjusted EBITDA*.
Reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are included in the tables of this press release and a recast of historical non-GAAP financial measures can be found on the Company's website, or its most recent investor presentation.
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Cautionary Language Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The Company urges caution in considering its current trends and any outlook on earnings disclosed in this press release. In addition, certain matters discussed in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements, which reflect management's best judgment based on factors currently known, are intended to speak only as of the date such statements are made and involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual performance of Denny's Corporation, its subsidiaries, and underlying restaurants to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements. Words such as“expect”,“anticipate”,“believe”,“intend”,“plan”,“hope”, "will", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Factors that could cause actual performance to differ materially from the performance indicated by these forward-looking statements include, among others: economic, public health and political conditions that impact consumer confidence and spending, commodity and labor inflation; the potential impacts of tariffs; the ability to effectively staff restaurants and support personnel; the Company's ability to maintain adequate levels of liquidity for its cash needs, including debt obligations, payment of dividends, planned share repurchases and capital expenditures as well as the ability of its customers, suppliers, franchisees and lenders to access sources of liquidity to provide for their own cash needs; competitive pressures from within the restaurant industry; the level of success of the Company's operating initiatives and advertising and promotional efforts; adverse publicity; health concerns arising from food-related pandemics, outbreaks of flu viruses or other diseases; changes in business strategy or development plans; terms and availability of capital; regional weather conditions; overall changes in the general economy (including with regard to energy costs), particularly at the retail level; political environment and geopolitical events (including acts of war and terrorism); and other factors from time to time set forth in the Company's SEC reports and other filings, including but not limited to the discussion in Management's Discussion and Analysis and the risks identified in Item 1A. Risk Factors contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 25, 2024 (and in the Company's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K).
The Company believes that, in addition to GAAP measures, certain non-GAAP financial measures are useful information to investors and analysts to assist in the evaluation of operating performance on a period-to-period basis. However, non-GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to, not a substitute for, operating income, net income, and net income per share, or other financial performance measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. The Company uses adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted net income per share internally as performance measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of annual operating budgets, and for compensation purposes, including incentive compensation for certain employees. These non-GAAP measures are adjusted for certain items the Company does not consider in the evaluation of its ongoing core operating performance. These adjustments are either non-recurring in nature or vary from period to period without correlation to the Company's ongoing core operating performance.
The Company believes that, in addition to GAAP measures, certain other non-GAAP financial measures are useful information to investors and analysts to assist in the evaluation of restaurant-level operating efficiency and performance of ongoing restaurant-level operations. However, non-GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to, not a substitute for, operating income, net income, and net income per share, or other financial performance measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. The Company uses restaurant-level operating margin, company restaurant operating margin and franchise operating margin internally as performance measures for planning purposes, including the preparation of annual operating budgets, and for compensation purposes, including incentive compensation for certain employees.
Restaurant-level operating margin is the total of company restaurant operating margin and franchise operating margin and excludes: (i) general and administrative expenses, which include primarily non-restaurant-level costs associated with support of company and franchised restaurants and other activities at their corporate office; (ii) depreciation and amortization expense, substantially all of which is related to company restaurant-level assets, because such expenses represent historical sunk costs which do not reflect current cash outlays for the restaurants; (iii) special items, included within operating (gains), losses and other charges, net, to provide investors with a clearer perspective of its ongoing operating performance and a more relevant comparison to prior period results.
Company restaurant operating margin is defined as company restaurant sales less costs of company restaurant sales (which include product costs, company restaurant level payroll and benefits, occupancy costs, and other operating costs including utilities, repairs and maintenance, marketing and other expenses) and presents it as a percent of company restaurant sales. Adjusted company operating restaurant margin is defined as company restaurant operating margin less certain items such as legal settlement expenses, pre-opening expenses, and other items the Company does not consider in the evaluation of its ongoing core operating performance.
Franchise operating margin is defined as franchise and license revenue (which includes franchise royalties and other non-food and beverage revenue streams such as initial franchise and other fees, advertising revenue and occupancy revenue) less costs of franchise and license revenue and presents it as a percent of franchise and license revenue. Adjusted franchise operating margin is defined as franchise operating margin less certain items the Company does not consider in the evaluation of its ongoing core operating performance.
Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin is the total of adjusted company restaurant operating margin and adjusted franchise operating margin and is defined as restaurant-level operating margin adjusted for certain items the Company does not consider in the evaluation of its ongoing core operating performance. These adjustments are either non-recurring in nature or vary from period to period without correlation to the Company's ongoing core operating performance.
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