THOMASVILLE, Ga.--Flowers Foods, Inc. (NYSE: FLO), the nation’s second-largest producer and marketer of fresh packaged bakery foods, today reported results for its 13-week fourth quarter and 53-week fiscal year ended January 3, 2015.
Fourth Quarter Highlights
- For the 13-week fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, sales increased 4.4% compared to the 12-week fourth quarter last year. This increase reflected the impact of the additional week, which increased sales by 7.5%, negative net price/mix of 0.5%, and decreased volume of 2.6%.
- Adjusted earnings before income taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter improved to 10.6% of sales as compared to 10.3% of sales during last year’s fourth quarter.
- Sales of the acquired bread brands – Wonder, Home Pride, Merita, and Butternut – continued to grow sequentially, driving sales in our expansion markets, which contributed 1.6% to overall sales growth during the quarter (1.1% excluding week 53).
- During the quarter, the company: (i) recognized a previously announced pension settlement charge of $15.4 million, or $0.05 per diluted share; (ii) revised net sales due to the classification of certain immaterial discounts; and (iii) recorded an asset impairment charge of $5.8 million or $0.02 per diluted share, related to the sale of certain acquired Hostess bread assets. The pension settlement charge and the asset impairment are excluded from the discussion that follows. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures are included in the financial schedules at the end of this release.
- The company generated $93.7 million of cash flow from operations, paid down debt by $51.1 million, and repurchased 1,000,000 shares of common stock for $19.1 million during the fourth quarter.
The company’s board of directors increased the annual dividend rate by 10.4%, to $0.53 per share. Additionally, the board increased the company’s share repurchase authorization by 7.1 million shares to 74.6 million shares. At the end of the fiscal year, there were 14.0 million shares remaining under the increased authorization.
Fiscal 2014 Highlights
- For the 53-week fiscal 2014, sales increased 0.4% compared to the 52-week prior year. This increase reflected positive net price/mix of 1.1%, decreased volume of 2.8%, contribution from the Sara Lee California acquisition of 0.4%, and the impact of the 53rd week, which increased sales by 1.7%.
- Nature’s Own posted estimated retail sales of $1.1 billion during fiscal 2014.
- Adjusted EBITDA for the year improved to 11.4% of sales as compared to 11.3% of sales in the prior year.
- For the full year, expansion market growth increased total sales by 2.1% (2.0% excluding week 53).
During the year, the company paid down debt by $167.9 million, paid dividends totaling $102.3 million, and repurchased 2,014,610 shares of common stock for $38.9 million. View full report here.
