Springdale / AR. (tsn) Tyson Foods Inc., one of the world’s largest food companies and a recognized leader in protein with leading brands, reported the following results for the first quarter 2018 ended December 30, 2017.
First Quarter Highlights
- Record GAAP EPS of USD 4.40, up 177 percent from last year; Record Adjusted EPS of USD 1.81, up 14 percent from last year
- GAAP operating income of USD 927 million; Adjusted operating income of USD 950 million
- Total Company GAAP operating margin at 9.1 percent; Adjusted operating margin at 9.3 percent
- Record Prepared Foods GAAP operating margin of 11.4 percent; Record Adjusted operating margin at 11.9 percent
- Reduced debt over USD 500 million
- Realized USD 37 million of Financial Fitness Program cost savings
Tax Reform Impact
- Lower enacted tax rates positively impacted the first quarter Adjusted EPS by USD 0.21 and we expect a fiscal 2018 benefit of approximately USD 0.85 on an adjusted basis
- We expect the adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 24 percent in fiscal 2018 and 25 percent in fiscal 2019
- Incremental tax reform cash flow in fiscal 2018 expected to exceed USD 300 million, which we intend to invest in our frontline team members and to sustainably grow our businesses
- More than USD 100 million in one-time cash bonuses to be paid to eligible frontline employees in the second quarter of fiscal 2018
Guidance
- Including the benefit of lower enacted tax rates but excluding the one-time cash bonuses, Adjusted1 EPS guidance for fiscal 2018 is USD 6.55- USD 6.70, which represents an approximate 23-26 percent increase from fiscal 2017 Adjusted EPS
«At Tyson Foods, we’re creating a modern food company focused on protein», said Tom Hayes, Tyson Foods president and chief executive officer. «Building on our momentum from a record year in fiscal 2017, we’re off to a strong start in fiscal 2018. We delivered record adjusted EPS and our second-strongest quarter of operating income in Q1, with operating cash flows of more than USD 1.1 billion.
«The strength and diversity of our portfolio are evident. We drove solid results in each of our segments – beef, pork, chicken and prepared foods. We grew topline sales, with our retail and food service sales both outpacing the industry. We’re encouraged by the position we’re in today.
«As we look to the long-term, we’re confident in our ability to continue growing the business. Demand for protein continues to rise, and we’re well-positioned to take advantage of that opportunity – and to fulfill our aspiration of sustainably feeding the world.”
Summary of Segment Results
- Beef – Sales volume increased due to improved availability of cattle supply, stronger demand for our beef products and increased exports. Average sales price increased as demand for our beef products and strong exports outpaced the increase in live cattle supplies. Operating income remained strong, although below prior year’s record results, as we continued to maximize our revenues relative to the higher live fed cattle costs, partially offset by increased labor and freight costs.
- Pork – Sales volume decreased as a result of balancing our supply with customer demand during a period of margin compression. Average sales price increased due to price increases associated with higher livestock costs. We were able to maintain strong operating margins, although below prior year’s record results, by maximizing our revenues relative to the live hog markets due to operational and mix performance, which were partially offset by margin compression and higher labor and freight costs.
- Chicken – Sales volume was up due to strong demand for our chicken products along with the incremental volume from the AdvancePierre acquisition. Average sales price increased due to sales mix changes. Operating income benefited from USD 14 million of Financial Fitness Program cost savings, the positive incremental impact of AdvancePierre and slightly lower feed costs, partially offset by increased labor, freight and growout expenses.
- Prepared Foods – Sales volume increased primarily from incremental volumes from the AdvancePierre acquisition. Average sales price increased from higher input costs of USD 45 million and product mix which was positively impacted by the acquisition of AdvancePierre. Operating income increased due to USD 24 million of Financial Fitness Program cost savings, improved mix and the positive incremental impact of AdvancePierre, partially offset by higher input and freight costs.
Outlook
In fiscal 2018, USDA indicates domestic protein production (beef, pork, chicken and turkey) should increase approximately 3 percent from fiscal 2017 levels, but stronger export markets should partially absorb the increase. As previously announced, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, our Board of Directors approved a multi-year restructuring program (the «Financial Fitness Program»), that is expected to contribute to the Company’s overall strategy of financial fitness through increased operational effectiveness and overhead reduction. Through a combination of synergies from the integration of AdvancePierre and additional elimination of non-value added costs, the program is estimated to result in net savings of USD 200 million in fiscal 2018, USD 400 million in fiscal 2019 including new savings of USD 200 million, and USD 600 million in fiscal 2020 including additional savings of USD 200 million. The majority of these savings, which are focused on supply chain, procurement, and overhead improvements, are expected to be realized in the Prepared Foods and Chicken segments. The following is a summary of the outlook for each of our segments, as well as an outlook for sales, capital expenditures, net interest expense, liquidity, tax rate impact due to tax reform and share repurchases for fiscal 2018.
Adjusted operating margin guidance is provided below on a non-GAAP basis. The Company is not able to reconcile its full-year fiscal 2018 adjusted operating margin guidance to its full-year fiscal 2018 projected GAAP operating margin guidance because certain information necessary to calculate such measure on a GAAP basis is unavailable or dependent on the timing of future events outside of our control. Therefore, because of the uncertainty and variability of the nature of the amount of future adjustments, which could be significant, the Company is unable to provide a reconciliation of this measure without unreasonable effort. Adjusted operating margin should not be considered a substitute for operating margin or any other measure of financial performance reported in accordance with GAAP. Investors should rely primarily on the Company’s GAAP results and use non-GAAP financial measures only supplementally in making investment decisions.
- Sale of Non-Protein Businesses – On April 24, 2017, we announced our intent to sell three non-protein businesses, Sara Lee® Frozen Bakery, Kettle and Van’s®. Additionally, in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, we made the decision to sell a relatively small non-protein business. All of these non-protein businesses are part of our Prepared Foods segment and are being sold as part of our strategic focus on protein brands. We completed the sale of our Kettle business on December 30, 2017, and received net proceeds of USD 125 million which were used to pay down debt. We anticipate we will close the remaining transactions in the back half of fiscal 2018.
- Beef – We expect industry fed cattle supplies to increase approximately 2-3 percent in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017. We expect ample supplies in regions where we operate our plants. We believe our Beef segment’s adjusted operating margin in fiscal 2018 should approach 6 percent.
- Pork – We expect industry hog supplies to increase approximately 1-2 percent in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017. For fiscal 2018, our Pork segment’s adjusted operating margin should be around 9 percent.
- Chicken – AdvancePierre contributed approximately USD 85 million of revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, and we expect incremental revenue of approximately USD 230 million in fiscal 2018 for a total of approximately USD 330 million in the first full fiscal year as part of our operation. We expect to capture Financial Fitness Program net savings of approximately USD 75 million in fiscal 2018, which is a combination of AdvancePierre net synergies and reduction of non-value added costs. USDA projects an increase in chicken production of approximately 2 percent in fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017. Based on current futures prices, we expect similar feed costs in fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017. For fiscal 2018, we believe our Chicken segment sales will grow with more than 4 percent volume growth, and adjusted operating margins should improve to around 11 percent.
- Prepared Foods – AdvancePierre contributed approximately USD 325 million of revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, and we expect incremental revenue of approximately USD 900 million in fiscal 2018 for a total of approximately USD 1.3 billion in the first full fiscal year as part of our operation. We expect to capture Financial Fitness Program net savings in excess of USD 125 million in fiscal 2018, which is a combination of AdvancePierre net synergies and reduction of non-value added costs. We currently expect input costs to be flat for fiscal 2018 as compared to fiscal 2017. For fiscal 2018, we expect our Prepared Foods segment sales to grow and adjusted operating margin should be around 11 percent. We will continue to evaluate the range as we complete the sale of the remaining non-protein businesses held for sale and further integrate AdvancePierre.
- Other – Other includes our foreign operations related to raising and processing live chickens in China and India, third-party merger and integration costs and corporate overhead related to Tyson New Ventures, LLC. We expect Other operating loss should be approximately USD 50 million in fiscal 2018, excluding the impact of merger and integration expense from the acquisition of AdvancePierre and restructuring and related costs.
- Sales – We expect fiscal 2018 sales to grow 6-7 percent to approximately USD 41 billion which is attributed to incremental AdvancePierre sales of USD 1.1 billion, an increase in sales volume in our legacy businesses and an improvement in mix predominantly in our Chicken segment.
- Capital Expenditures – We expect capital expenditures to approximate USD 1.4 to USD 1.5 billion for fiscal 2018, which includes USD 100 million incremental tax reform investment. Capital expenditures will include spending for production growth, safety, animal well-being, infrastructure replacements and upgrades, and operational improvements that will result in production and labor efficiencies, yield improvements and sales channel flexibility.
- Net Interest Expense – We expect net interest expense to approximate USD 335 million for fiscal 2018, which includes estimates regarding the timing and net proceeds from the divestitures of our Sara Lee® Frozen Bakery, Van’s® and additional non-protein businesses as we intend to use the net sales proceeds to pay down debt.
- Liquidity – We expect total liquidity, which was approximately USD 1.1 billion at December 30, 2017, to remain in line with our minimum liquidity target of USD 1.0 billion.
- Tax Rate – On December 22, 2017, the President of the United States signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. While we continue to assess the impact of this legislation on our business and consolidated financial statements, the legislation reduced the U.S. corporate tax rate from the current rate of 35 percent to 21 percent. We expect our adjusted effective tax rate to approximate 24 percent in fiscal 2018 and 25 percent in fiscal 2019.
- Share Repurchases – We currently do not plan to repurchase shares other than to offset dilution from our equity compensation programs. We will consider additional share repurchases when our net debt to EBITDA ratio is around 2x, which we currently anticipate will occur in the third quarter of fiscal 2018.
