Post Holdings, the US breakfast cereal-to-peanut butter group, has narrowed its forecast for annual adjusted EBITDA, alongside first-quarter results that included flat sales and earnings affected by one-off items.
The company now sees its full-year adjusted EBITDA hitting US$920-950m – compared to an earlier forecast of $910-950m – “with modest favourability” to the second half of the year.
In the first quarter to 31 December, Post’s net earnings were $97.6m, compared to $25.5m a year earlier. Post’s bottom line was helped by $144.5m of non-cash mark-to-market adjustments and cash settlements on interest rate swaps.
Post’s operating profit fell year-on-year, declining 42.7% to $76.2m. The company pointed to a provision of $74.5m in legal settlements related to egg anti-trust claims.
Net sales inched up 0.1% to $1.25bn. Post said its sales fell 2.2% on a comparable basis due to a drop in sales from egg-to-potato products business Michael Foods, where sales slid by almost 8%.
The company’s Post Consumer Brands arm, which includes its ready-to-eat cereal business, reported a 2.2% rise in sales despite a 0.5% dip in volumes. Better sales from brands including Malt-O-Meal offset lower volumes from its co-manufacturing and government-bid business.
Post’s Active Nutrition unit, which includes sports nutrition brands like Premier Protein, saw sales jump 32.9%.
The company’s Private Brands division, made up by products including peanut butter and granola, reported flat sales.
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