A Yield to Caution

Article Excerpt

BOSTON PIZZA ROYALTIES INCOME FUND $17 (Toronto symbol BPF.UN; Units outstanding: 21.5 million; Market cap: $365.5 million; Dividend yield: 7.2%; www.bpincomefund.com) holds certain trademarks and trade names used by Boston Pizza restaurants in Canada. Those exclusive names are licensed to Boston Pizza for 99 years. In return, it pays the royalty fund 4% of the revenues from its pizza restaurants. There are currently about 377 Boston Pizza outlets across this country. Boston Pizza cut its monthly distribution in March 2020 by 36.3% at the start of the pandemic. It has raised it a total of 56.9% since then—most recently with a 2.0% rise in January 2023 to $0.102. The fund also paid a special distribution of $0.085 in December 2022. The units now yield a high 7.2%. But most important for investors is that restaurant royalty trusts, in general, come with drawbacks. For one thing, this is a type of derivative. Rather than putting your money in a business, you are buying a stream of…