Despite the adverse weather conditions that blighted the areas in which many of its stores operate, Dave and Buster’s has reported strong financial results for the third quarter 2017 compared to the same period last year.
The US-based operator of family entertainment centres reported that total revenues had increased by 9.3 per cent to US$250m, up from $228.7m. While comparable store sales decreased 1.3 per cent, comparable store sales in amusements increased 1.1 per cent and decreased 4.2 per cent in food and beverage.
Net income was reported as $12.2m versus last year’s $10.8m and EBITDA increased 9.8 per cent to $45.6m.
All this was despite Mother Nature. The quarter saw stores in the Texas markets affected by hurricane Harvey and in the Florida markets affected by hurricane Irma. They remained closed for several days. In addition, the opening of its Puerto Rico store was delayed by hurricane Maria. The company estimates that the hurricanes had an unfavourable impact of approximately $2m on total revenue and $0.7m on EBITDA. Separately, wildfires had a negative impact on its California stores.
Steve King, CEO for the group, said: “Our team pulled through remarkably well in the face of unprecedented weather-related challenges in the quarter and difficult comparisons to last year. We continue to believe that the primary growth driver for the business is opening new stores with great returns. Our 2016 class of stores is trending very well, with returns close to 50 per cent, in line with the first year returns for our recent classes of stores. While it is still early, we are also pleased with the results from our 2017 store openings, which reaffirms the concept’s broad based appeal. We continue to expect to open fourteen new stores this year, representing 15 per cent unit growth. In addition, we are excited to announce a new smaller store format that expands our brand potential and extends our growth runway.”
