Vancouver / CA. (pbh) Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, a leading producer, marketer and distributor of branded specialty food products, announced its results for the first quarter of 2018. Highlights:
- Record revenue of USD 584.9 million representing a 22.3 percent or USD 106.7 million increase as compared to the first quarter of 2017. The Company’s organic volume growth rate for the quarter was 9.4 percent.
- Record adjusted Ebitda of USD 43.1 million representing a 12.2 percent or USD 4.7 million increase as compared to the first quarter of 2017.
- Adjusted earnings of USD 0.50 per share, which was down from USD 0.53 per share in the first quarter of 2017 primarily due to the seasonality of recently acquired businesses.
- The Company reaffirmed its 2018 outlook for its legacy businesses and increased its overall 2018 sales and adjusted Ebitda guidance by USD 330.0 million and USD 30.0 million, respectively, to reflect recent business acquisitions.
- Subsequent to the quarter the Company signed a definitive purchase agreement for the acquisition of Oberto Sausage Company, increased its investment in McLean Meats from 36.2 percent to 66.2 percent and acquired Penguin Meats Supply, a distributor of protein products to foodservice and retail customers in BC. The combined purchase price for these three investments is approximately USD 242.4 million.
- Also subsequent to the quarter the Company completed a USD 172.5 million convertible debenture offering and issued USD 172.7 million in common share subscription receipts that are contingent upon completion of the Oberto acquisition. The convertible debentures bear interest at 4.65 percent and mature in April 2025.
«Overall, we are pleased with our performance for the start of 2018. Despite various industry headwinds, we posted record first quarter sales and adjusted Ebitda and completed or signed definitive agreements for several significant business acquisitions that will be major drivers of future value creation», said George Paleologou, President and CEO.
«The first quarter can often be challenging due to it being our weakest for seasonal reasons. In particular, small scale anomalies can sometimes have an exaggerated impact and can distract from the favorable trends and strategies that are driving the growth of our business», said Paleologou. «We, however, remain confident that our strategy of creating long-term shareholder value by partnering with and empowering talented and successful entrepreneurs operating in the specialty food space will continue to drive growth and bottom line results.
«As we look forward to the balance of 2018 we are very excited about what lies ahead. We have several businesses that are just beginning to realize on recently made long-term investments, a number of our newly acquired businesses are already leveraging our resources to pursue new growth opportunities, and I have no doubt that we will be announcing more acquisitions as the year unfolds.
«We consider it both an honor and a privilege that an increasing number of talented and successful food entrepreneurs from across Canada and the U.S. consider us as their acquirer of choice. The combination of our unique culture, focus on long-term value creation and respect for the legacy of the businesses and entrepreneurs we partner with differentiates us from most, if not all, other major food companies in North America. It is for these reasons that the pace of our acquisitions activity has been accelerating and why our pipeline of potential opportunities remains very robust.
