CANTON, MASS. — Dunkin’ Brands Group (NASDAQ: DNKN) reported a total decrease in revenue of 20 percent during the second quarter and announced that it will close about 350 stores worldwide during the second half of the year. These closures follow the company’s announcement to shutter about 450 stores that are housed in Speedway gas stations and convenience marts. Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’, which also owns Baskin-Robbins, reported that approximately 90 percent of its international locations for both Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins were open as of July 25. Dunkin’s stock price opened at $68.61 per share on Friday, July 31, down from $81.58 per share a year ago.
CHICAGO AND BRENTWOOD, TENN. — Ventas, a Chicago-based REIT, has restructured its master lease with Brookdale in response to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ventas owns 120 Brookdale-managed communities totaling 10,174 units. As part of the restructuring, Brookdale sold five communities that it both owned and operated to Ventas. Brentwood-based Brookdale will continue to operate those properties. Terms of the agreement include a reduction in rents totaling $500 million over the remaining lease term, which ends Dec. 31, 2025. Brookdale surrendered its $47 million security deposit and agrees to pay $115 million in cash to Ventas. In addition, Brookdale issued a $45 million unsecured, interest-only, pre-payable note to Ventas, with an initial interest rate of 9 percent per annum and maturing at the same time as the lease expiration. Lastly, Brookdale issued 16.3 million shares of its stock to Ventas at a value of $3 per share. The transaction represents approximately 8 percent of all Brookdale shares. Centerview Partners served as financial advisor to Ventas. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP are serving as legal counsel to Ventas.
SEATTLE — Seattle-based Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) reported that the company’s U.S. comparable store sales declined 40 percent, with comparable transactions down 52 percent through its 13-week fiscal third quarter ending June 28. Additionally, the company reported a consolidated net revenue of $4.2 billion, representing a 38 percent decline from last year primarily due to lost sales related to the COVID-19 outbreak. On the shareholder side, the company experienced a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) loss per share of 58 cents, down from earnings per share of $1.12 in the prior year. Despite decreased sales and a decline in net revenue, Starbucks opened 130 net new stores in the third quarter, resulting in 5 percent year-over-year unit growth and ending the period with 32,180 stores globally. The company currently operates or licenses 15,243 locations in the United States. As of July 28, approximately 97 percent of Starbucks’ global company-operated stores are open, with 96 percent of U.S. locations and 99 percent of China locations open. Currently 87 percent of the company’s global licensed store portfolio is open, with temporary closures predominantly in airport, college and university locations within the United States and Canada. Starbucks’ stock price closed at $77.42 per …
TORONTO — Slate Retail REIT has reported during its second quarter earnings call that it experienced the best quarter of leasing since its founding in 2014. The Toronto-based company, which owns and operates 46 grocery-anchored shopping centers in the Southeastern United States, reports that it completed 464,326 square feet of lease renewals and 54,365 square feet of new leasing at its 70 total locations. The 518,691 square feet total is a 60 percent jump over second-quarter 2019. The REIT’s portfolio occupancy rate dropped 0.6 percent in the three months ending June 30 to 92.2 percent. Slate also reported that 62 percent of its tenant portfolio is deemed “essential” during the pandemic. These tenants include grocery stores, medical services and financial institutions. Slate was able to collect 89 percent of contractual rent for the second quarter. The company collected 91 percent of rent checks in July. The REIT expects to substantially collect outstanding billings through immediate cash collection or deferral programs. Furthermore, pending approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), the company will rebrand to Slate Grocery REIT.
HOUSTON —Midway has launched a commercial leasing and advisory services division. The Houston-based developer has hired Lacee Jacobs to run the new branch of the company, which will focus on creating strategic leasing initiatives for the company’s portfolio of mixed-use properties. Jacobs began her career at Midway and has since worked at CBRE, EDGE Realty and Waterman Steele. Midway is the developer behind mixed-use projects in Houston such as CityCentre and Buffalo Heights.
MAHWAH, N.J. — Ascena Retail Group (NASDAQ: ASNA), the parent company of clothing brands Ann Taylor, Justice, Loft, Lane Bryant, Catherines and Lou & Grey, has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Mahwah-based company has reopened 95 percent of its stores since the COVID-19 outbreak, though Ascena cited the pandemic as “severely” disrupting the company’s financial foundation. The exact number of permanent store closings was not disclosed, but the company said it will close a “significant” number of Justice stores, as well as a select number of Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant and Lou & Grey stores. Additionally, the company will permanently close all stores across all brands in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada. “The meaningful progress we have made driving sustainable growth, improving our operating margins and strengthening our financial foundation has been severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Carrie Teffner, interim executive chair of Ascena. “As a result, we took a strategic step forward today to protect the future of the business for all of our stakeholders.” Ascena also announced it will close all Catherines stores and has entered into an agreement with City Chic …
Parent Company of Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank to Shutter Up to 500 Stores, Cut Staff by 20 Percent
FREMONT, CALIF. — Tailored Brands, the parent company of professional menswear retailers Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank, has announced a corporate restructuring that entails closing up to 500 stores. The Fremont-based firm says the “unprecedented and industry-wide” disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak was the catalyst behind the move. Tailored Brands has identified the 500 stores but did not disclose the retailers, locations or timing of those closures. Other brands in Tailored’s umbrella include K&G and Moores Clothing for Men. The company had 1,445 U.S. stores as of May 2, 2020 totaling 9.1 million square feet. Additionally, Tailored Brands (NYSE: TLRD) plans to cut expenses by reducing its staff by 20 percent by early August. The company expects severance payments and other termination costs to total $6 million. The economic harm stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic is having an outsized impact on the company’s revenue stream. In its first-quarter fiscal business update, Tailored Brands reported that for the period between Feb. 1 and May 2, net sales were down 60.4 percent year-over-year. Its e-commerce revenue, which includes rental services, was down 31.9 percent during the same period. Going forward the company will focus on its e-commerce platform and revised …
BOCA RATON, FLA. — Office Depot, a wholly owned subsidiary of The ODP Corp., is providing $1.5 million to Feeding America, a domestic hunger-relief organization, in support of its COVID-19 Response Fund to help local food banks across the country distribute more than 1.3 billion pounds of food to communities in need. Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund enables its network of 200-member food banks to secure the resources they need to serve the most vulnerable members of their communities. According to a recent survey by Feeding America, nearly 40 percent of those served by the network are seeking food assistance for the first time. Households with children are more likely to experience food insecurity, with a report by Feeding America finding that the number of food-insecure children could escalate to 18 million, an all-time high, due to the COVID-19 health crisis. “We are proud to support the Feeding America network of food banks as it works tirelessly to address the increased demand for food assistance resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Gerry Smith, CEO for Boca Raton-based Office Depot and The ODP Corp. “Now more than ever, we are committed to strengthening local communities and hope that this donation will help to provide relief for …
DALLAS — Younger Partners, a Dallas-based full-service real estate firm, has launched a new division for the acquisition of retail properties throughout the metroplex. Micah Ashford, a 20-year industry veteran and former partner at retail investment and brokerage firm Dunhill Partners, will lead the new division. Younger Partners considers the creation of a retail acquisitions team to be a critical part of its long-term strategy and believes that opportunities to buy distressed assets and create value will present themselves in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
SAN RAMON, CALIF. — Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) has agreed to acquire Houston-based exploration firm Noble Energy (NASDAQ: NBL) in an all-stock transaction valued at $5 billion, or $10.38 per share. Under the terms of the agreement, Noble Energy shareholders will receive 0.1191 shares of Chevron common stock for each share of Noble Energy stock they own. Inclusive of debt, the deal carries a total enterprise value of $13 billion. The price represents a premium of roughly 12 percent on the weighted average of Noble Energy’s closing stock prices for the 10-day period ending July 17. Following the closing of the deal, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter, Noble’s shareholders will own about 3 percent of the new entity. Executives at San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron cited access to Noble’s assets in key domestic production sites like Colorado’s D-J Basin and Texas’ Permian Basin, as well as its international facilities in Israel and West Africa, as major incentives behind the acquisition. For example, Noble’s portfolio includes nearly 92,000 contiguous acres for drilling and exploration in the Permian Basin . In addition, in June, the company was awarded exploration rights to 800,000 acres of drillable land in the Western …