Diversified Royalty Corp (DIV.TO)

A royalty company. He likes that business model. The CEO acquired a chain of royalty streams in an Alberta restaurant chain. The dividend is close to 10%, but it is not covered by cash. He recommends getting it with a DRIP program. It is not the safest dividend stock but it is interesting.

He really takes his hat off to Sean Morrison who was the one that structured the deals in some of the restaurant royalties. Their first royalty deal was Fran Works, and same-store sales declined quite dramatically because of their Alberta exposure, but he was able to sell that for more than what he had paid for it. He is now sitting on about $85 million, and is hunting for some more royalties. These things don’t happen fast. 8.5% dividend yield.

Of the 3 royalty businesses, this is the one that he would gravitate to if he were going to invest. It has a nice dividend yield which attracts investors. The one issue with these companies is finding good investments that are going to yield and feed that 10% dividend. In the last year, they have been divesting assets, but they have Mr. Lube as well as another real estate asset, which are good assets. He is on the sidelines until he sees something that they actually do. There are better places to get dividend growth.

They want to reduce their share capital. Had made their transformational move into the royalty business when they bought Fran Works. Recently announced a two-part transaction where Cara was buying that, and were effectively getting paid back for the royalty they have. When they initially bought it, they issued shares to the man who sold them Fran Works, so they were bringing those shares back and cancelling them, meaning that their share count would drop. This company has 2 royalty streams, Mr. Lube and Sutton Real Estate. They have cash now and are looking for new royalties. The dividend is fairly secure.

He owns this because he thinks it is a misunderstood dividend paying company that offers a pretty healthy dividend yield. About a month ago, they had 3 royalty streams with exposure to Western Canada, a market that has been under enormous pressure. The company is selling off the restaurant business, which they got a pretty good price. They will now be hugely reliant on Mr. Lube, which has had positive same-store sales for 20 years. Because they are selling off their restaurant, their payout ratio is in excess of 100%, but with the cash they are getting, they could overspend a minimum of about 5 years. Thinks they will make another acquisition. Feels the current cash flow is sustainable.

They just sold off an asset and got a huge amount of cash so their payout ratio, although over a 100 percent is okay. He feels the dividend is safe. He likes the management team. It has been a tough environment for them with assets in Alberta.

(A Top Pick Aug 12/15. Down 9.53%.) The trouble is that they have a royalty on a large group of restaurants in Western Canada, especially Alberta. Just sold their royalty stream to Cara Operations, so in a couple of months they are going to have $80 million in cash. He doesn’t think the dividend is in trouble, and has bought some more. Thinks the stock is going to do well.

A top 5 holding in his small-cap fund with a 9.2% yield. Payout ratio is around 100%, but they had to pay out $8 million due to a lawsuit. That is now over, so the next quarter will be the 1^st quarter where you don’t have those embedded costs, which should bring the payout ratio down. You also get a hidden exposure to an improvement in the oil price, because part of their revenue comes from a restaurant chain in Alberta. At the same time there is an underpinning of real estate across the country and a royalty stream on Mr. Lube.

It seems things are getting close to being finalized with the Bennett litigation. That will mean the company will no longer have to pay for Mr. Bennett’s legal bills. The company just released a pretty decent quarter. However, their payout ratio came out to less than 100%, and the stock price actually started to move up off of that. It looks like the Alberta economy is going to start to pick up, which will mean a bottoming in the Franworks Restaurant, and you could see same-store sale improvements. It looks like the dividend is sustainable at these levels. If you are a longer-term investor and can wait for Franworks to turn itself around, you will then get a nice yield and probably some capital appreciation. When that happens, management is probably scouting out for the next deal as they want to make this a multi-royalty company.

(Market Call Minute.) Very interesting business. Mr. Lube has got 4% same-store sales growth pretty consistently, but given the business structure, he is on the sidelines.

The market is obviously a little concerned about the dividend which is fairly high. However, overall he feels it is going to be fairly safe, because the CEO built this company to be a royalty stream company, and as a result knows that that dividend has to be sacred, so will do what he can to keep it and maintain it. There is some cyclicality to the business, especially in the Fran Works, a restaurant business mostly out in Alberta. The CEO is always working on new royalty streams. He wouldn’t be surprised to see him come up with something brand-new.

There is worry about their 10% dividend, but he is not worried about it being cut at this time. Likes management. This has been in a tough position, as some of their restaurants were in Alberta. Mr. Lube, which they own, has been doing very well. Also, have royalties on Sutton, a real estate play. He still likes this.

Very impressed with management. They have some good businesses and are just getting underway to build this business up. Expects them to do a couple of deals a year. Hasn’t bought this yet, but is following it very closely. The dividend might be in question if they have to keep paying legal fees.

Looked at this when it first came out, and was thinking about it as a Short. The main concern was their initial investment in Western Canada was essentially casual dining. When you look at the experience of others in the last downturn in 2008-2009, it had a big impact, particularly in Alberta. They have since diversified with 2 other investments including Mr. Lube and a realty company. He likes those 2 additions, but it has been dragged down by the casual dining business. Ultimately they are going to diversify into more than just 3 investments, so for the time being he is happy to stay on the sidelines. 9.8% dividend yield.

(Market Call Minute.) Alberta is getting better and there is a good yield on the stock.