(a)Represents financial assistance provided to the entire North America system in the form of royalty reductions.
(b)Represents marketing fund investments as part of our support package to our franchisees.
(c)Represents advisory and legal costs primarily associated with the review of a wide range of strategic opportunities that culminated in Starboard’s strategic investment in the Company by affiliates of Starboard.
(d)Represents a one-time mark-to-market adjustment of $5.9 million related to the increase in the fair value of the Starboard and franchisee options to purchase Series B Preferred Stock that culminated in the purchase of an additional $52.5 million of preferred stock in late March 2019.
(e)The tax effect was calculated using the Company’s full year marginal rate of 22.6%, excluding the mark-to-market adjustment on the Series B Preferred Stock option valuation, which was not tax deductible
(2) | The refranchising losses in 2018 are primarily associated with the June 2018 refranchise of our China operations, which included 34 restaurants and a quality control center, and the related tax impact. The additional tax expense is primarily attributable to the required recapture of China operating losses previously taken by the Company. |
The non-GAAP adjusted results shown above should not be construed as a substitute for or a better indicator of the Company’s performance than the Company’s GAAP results. Management believes presenting the financial information excluding these Special items is important for purposes of comparison to prior year results. In addition, management uses these metrics to evaluate the Company’s underlying operating performance and to analyze trends.
Results of Operations
Review of Consolidated Operating Results
Revenues. Domestic Company-owned restaurant sales decreased $17.7 million, or 9.8%, and $46.2 million, or 12.4%, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. These decreases were primarily due to reductions of 6.8% and 7.9% in comparable sales and reductions of 5.5% and 6.5% in equivalent units for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. The decrease in equivalent units, and corresponding reduction in Company-owned restaurant sales, is primarily due to the refranchising of 62 stores in the Denver and Minneapolis markets during 2018. “Comparable sales” represents the change in year-over-year sales for the same base of restaurants for the same fiscal periods. “Equivalent units” represents the number of restaurants open at the beginning of a given period, adjusted for restaurants opened, closed, acquired or sold during the period on a weighted average basis.
North America franchise royalties and fees decreased $4.2 million, or 17.4%, and $11.4 million, or 23.5%, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. The decreases were primarily due to negative comparable sales of 5.3% and 5.7% for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. Additionally, the three- and six-month periods of 2019 include royalty reductions of $2.5 million and $7.3 million, respectively, granted to the entire North America system as part of the franchise assistance program, which is included in Special charges. North America franchise restaurant sales decreased 5.1% to $512.1 million, and 5.3% to $1.0 billion for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. North America franchise restaurant sales are not included in Company revenues; however, our North America franchise royalties are derived from these sales.
North America commissary sales decreased $6.3 million, or 4.1%, and $19.1 million, or 6.1%, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. The decreases were primarily due to lower sales volumes attributable to lower restaurant sales.
International revenues decreased $3.6 million, or 12.3%, and $8.0 million, or 13.5%, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. These decreases were primarily due to reduced revenues from the refranchising of Company-owned stores and the quality control center in China, which occurred during the second quarter of 2018, and the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange rates of approximately $1.3 million and $3.0 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively. The decreases were partially offset by higher royalties due to increases in equivalent units.
International franchise restaurant sales increased 9.6% to $229.9 million and 10.0% to $464.0 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2019, respectively, excluding the impact of foreign currency, primarily due to increases in