WAYNE, NJ, 2015-7-28 — /EPR Retail News/ — Toys“R”Us, Inc. today announced that it will host an investor meeting on Thursday, July 30 to formally introduce Dave Brandon, the company’s new Chairman and CEO. He and the management team will discuss the company’s Fit for Growth initiative, as it transitions from cost reduction to growth generation.
The meeting will include a discussion of the company’s financial performance, including EBITDA growth and an improved balance sheet. As of May 2, 2015, the company delivered $685 million in Last Twelve Months Adjusted EBITDA, had no significant debt maturities until 2017 and more than $1.1 billion in liquidity. Additionally, the company will address a recent news report that implied there is a lack of support from trade insurers and the erroneous statement that it is seeking to hire a restructuring advisor.
Further details and dial-in information will be forthcoming.
About Toys“R”Us, Inc.
Toys“R”Us, Inc. is the world’s leading dedicated toy and baby products retailer, offering a differentiated shopping experience through its family of brands. Merchandise is sold in 865 Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam, and in 735 international stores and 245 licensed stores in 37 countries and jurisdictions. In addition, it exclusively operates the legendary FAO Schwarz brand and sells extraordinary toys atFAO.com. With its strong portfolio of e-commerce sites including Toysrus.com, Babiesrus.com and FAO.com, it provides shoppers with a broad online selection of distinctive toy and baby products. Headquartered in Wayne, NJ, Toys“R”Us, Inc. employs approximately 66,000 associates annually worldwide. The company is committed to serving its communities as a caring and reputable neighbor through programs dedicated to keeping kids safe and helping them in times of need. Additional information about Toys“R”Us, Inc. can be found on Toysrusinc.com. Follow Toys“R”Us, Babies“R”Us and FAO Schwarz on Facebook at Facebook.com/Toysrus, Facebook.com/Babiesrus and Facebook.com/FAO and on Twitter at Twitter.com/Toysrus, Twitter.com/Babiesrus and Twitter.com/FAOSchwarz.
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For more information please contact:
Lenders and Note Investors:
Chetan Bhandari, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance & Treasurer at 973-617-5841 orChetan.Bhandari@toysrus.com
Media:
Kathleen Waugh, Vice President, Corporate Communications at 973-617-5888, 646-366-8823 or waughk@toysrus.com
Non-GAAP Disclosure of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors because it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. Investors in the Company regularly request Adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental analytical measure to, and in conjunction with, the Company’s financial data prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). We understand that investors use Adjusted EBITDA, among other things, to assess our period-to-period operating performance and to gain insight into the manner in which management analyzes operating performance.
In addition, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful in evaluating our operating performance compared to that of other companies in our industry because the calculation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA generally eliminates the effects of financing and income taxes and the accounting effects of capital spending and acquisitions, which items may vary for different companies for reasons unrelated to overall operating performance. We use the non-GAAP financial measures for planning and forecasting and measuring results against the forecast and in certain cases we use similar measures for bonus targets for certain of our employees. Using several measures to evaluate the business allows us and investors to assess our relative performance against our competitors.
Although we believe that Adjusted EBITDA can make an evaluation of our operating performance more consistent because it removes items that do not reflect our core operations, other companies, even in the same industry, may define Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do. As a result, it may be difficult to use Adjusted EBITDA or similarly named non-GAAP measures that other companies may use to compare the performance of those companies to our performance. The Company does not, and investors should not, place undue reliance on EBITDA or Adjusted EBITDA as measures of operating performance.
A reconciliation of Net loss attributable to Toys “R” Us, Inc. to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for Toys “R” Us, Inc. is as follows:
(a) Represents the fees expensed to Bain Capital Partners LLC, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. and Vornado Realty Trust (collectively, the “Sponsors”) in accordance with the advisory agreement.
(b) In fiscal 2014, we revised our definition of Adjusted EBITDA to include non-officers’ severance.
(c) Represents store closure costs, net of lease surrender payments. In fiscal 2014, we revised our definition of Adjusted EBITDA to include lease surrender payments.
(d) Represents the incremental compensation expense related to certain one-time awards and modifications, net of forfeitures of certain officers’ awards. In fiscal 2014, we revised our definition of Adjusted EBITDA to include the impact of forfeitures of certain officers’ awards.
(e) Represents the unrealized gain on foreign exchange related to the re-measurement of the portion of the Tranche A-1 loan facility due fiscal 2019 attributed to Toys “R” Us (Canada) Ltd. Toys “R” Us (Canada) Ltee.
(f) Represents an incremental gain on previously identified clearance inventory. In fiscal 2014, we also revised our definition of Adjusted EBITDA to include third party fees associated with our clearance efforts.
(g) Represents property losses and insurance claims recognized.
(h) Represents certain litigation expenses and settlements recorded for legal matters.
(i) Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA (earnings (loss) before net interest income (expense), income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and amortization), as further adjusted to exclude the effects of certain income and expense items that management believes make it more difficult to assess the Company’s actual operating performance including certain items which are generally non-recurring. We have excluded the impact of such items from internal performance assessments. We believe that excluding items such as Sponsors’ management and advisory fees, asset impairment charges, restructuring charges, impact of litigation, noncontrolling interest, net gains on sales of properties and other charges, helps investors compare our operating performance with our results in prior periods. We believe it is appropriate to exclude these items as they are not related to ongoing operating performance and, therefore, limit comparability between periods and between us and similar companies.