Farmer Brothers reports third quarter fiscal 2024 financial results and publishes quarterly shareholder letter

Fiscal Q3 2024 net sales of $85.4 million

Gross margin increase of 660 basis points year-over-year to 40.1%

NORTHLAKE, Texas, May 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Farmer Bros. Co. (NASDAQ: FARM) today reported its third quarter fiscal 2024 financial results for the period ended March 31, 2024. The company filed its Form 10-Q and published its quarterly shareholder letter, which contains additional details regarding the results. Both of those documents can be found on the Investor Relations section of the company’s website.

Financial results
Third quarter fiscal 2024 net sales were $85.4 million compared to $85.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023. Overall, net sales decreased slightly on a year-over-year basis due to a reduction in unit sales, offset by higher pricing.

Gross margins increased 660 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 40.1% compared to 33.5% for the third quarter of the prior year. Gross profit during the quarter increased $5.5 million to $34.2 million, or 19% on a year-over-year basis, compared to $28.8 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2023. The increase in gross margin was primarily due to improved pricing and a decrease in underlying commodity cost compared to the prior year period. While the company does not expect results to be linear quarter to quarter, it remains confident it is well positioned to sustain gross margins within this range over time.

Operating expenses decreased slightly from $35.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023 to $34.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024. This decrease was due to a $2.3 million increase in net gains associated with the sale of branch properties and other assets, but was partially offset by a $1.3 million increase in selling expenses and a $0.2 million increase in general and administrative expenses during the third quarter. The selling expense increase was primarily due to additional costs related to vehicle rent expense, healthcare benefits and other benefit-related expenses, partially offset by a decrease in advertising-related expenses.

Net income from continuing operations moved to a loss of $0.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2024 compared to a loss of $6.9 million during the prior year period, an improvement of approximately $6.2 million on a year-over-year basis.

Adjusted EBITDA¹ for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 remained positive for the second consecutive quarter at $0.3 million compared to a loss of $0.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2023.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity
As of March 31, 2024, Farmer Brothers had $5.5 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents and $0.2 million in restricted cash. The company had outstanding borrowings of $23.3 million, utilized $4.6 million of the letters of credit sub-limit and had $30.5 million of availability under its revolver credit facility. The company believes it is adequately capitalized to finance its operations in fiscal 2024 and expects to achieve its goal to be free cash flow² positive in early fiscal 2025.

“Farmer Brothers delivered another solid quarter of execution. Highlighted by year-over-year improvement in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA, our recent performance reflects the strides we have made and the early wins we have achieved related to the transformation of our direct store delivery (DSD) business,” said President and Chief Executive Officer John Moore. “There is still much work to be done though as we are just beginning to realize results associated with a number of our initiatives. Overall, we remain focused on streamlining production, realizing sustainable operational and cost efficiencies, and driving customer growth and retention. We are confident the foundation we are building will create long-term, sustainable growth and profitable value creation.”

Investor Conference Call
Farmer Brothers will publish its third quarter 2024 financial results for the period ended March 31, 2024, with the filing of its 10-Q and the issuing of its quarterly shareholder letter, both of which will be posted on the Investor Relations section of its website after the close of market Thursday, May 9, 2024.

The company will also host an audio-only investor conference call and webcast at 5 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, May 9, 2024, to provide a review of the quarter and business update. Callers who pre-register will be emailed dial-in details and a unique PIN to gain immediate access to the call and bypass the live operator. An audio-only replay of the webcast will be archived for at least 30 days on the Investor Relations section of the company’s website and will be available approximately two hours after the end of the live webcast.

_{¹ Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. Please refer to “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below for an explanation and reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA and other related non-GAAP measures to comparable GAAP measures.}

_{2 Free cash flow is a non-GAAP measure defined as net cash (used in) provided by operating activities less capital expenditures.}

About Farmer Brothers
Founded in 1912, Farmer Brothers is a national coffee roaster, wholesaler, equipment servicer and distributor of coffee, tea and culinary products. The company’s product lines include organic, Direct Trade and sustainably produced coffee, as well as tea, cappuccino mixes, spices and baking/biscuit mixes.

Farmer Brothers delivers extensive beverage planning services and culinary products to a wide variety of U.S.-based customers, ranging from small independent restaurants and foodservice operators to large institutional buyers, such as restaurant, department and convenience store chains, hotels, casinos, healthcare facilities and gourmet coffee houses, as well as grocery chains with private brand coffee and consumer branded coffee and tea products and foodservice distributors. The company’s primary brands include Farmer Brothers, Boyd’s, Cain’s, China Mist and West Coast Coffee.

Forward-looking statements
This press release and other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about us, our future performance, our financial condition, our products, our business strategy, our beliefs and our management’s assumptions. In addition, we, or others on our behalf, may make forward-looking statements in press releases or written statements, or in our communications and discussions with investors and analysts in the normal course of business through meetings, webcasts, phone calls and conference calls. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words, such as anticipates, estimates, projects, expects, plans, believes, intends, will, could, may, assumes and other words of similar meaning. These statements are based on management’s beliefs, assumptions, estimates and observations of future events based on information available to our management at the time the statements are made and include any statements that do not relate to any historical or current fact. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and they involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecast by our forward-looking statements due in part to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions set forth in this press release and Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors as well as Part II, Item 7. Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations, of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, filed with the SEC on Sept. 12, 2023, as amended by the Form 10-K/A filed with the SEC on Oct. 27, 2023 (as amended, the 2023 Form 10-K), as well as those discussed elsewhere in this press release and other factors described from time to time in our filings with the SEC.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, severe weather, levels of consumer confidence in national and local economic business conditions, the impact of labor market conditions, the increase of costs due to inflation, an economic downturn caused by any pandemic, epidemic or other disease outbreak, comparable or similar to COVID-19, the success of our turnaround strategy, the impact of capital improvement projects, the adequacy and availability of capital resources to fund our existing and planned business operations and our capital expenditure requirements, our ability to meet financial covenant requirements in our credit facility, which could impact, among other things, our liquidity, the relative effectiveness of compensation-based employee incentives in causing improvements in our performance, the capacity to meet the demands of our large national account customers, the extent of execution of plans for the growth of our business and achievement of financial metrics related to those plans, our success in retaining and/or attracting qualified employees, our success in adapting to technology and new commerce channels, the effect of the capital markets, as well as other external factors on stockholder

value, fluctuations in availability and cost of green coffee, competition, organizational changes, the effectiveness of our hedging strategies in reducing price and interest rate risk, changes in consumer preferences, our ability to provide sustainability in ways that do not materially impair profitability, changes in the strength of the economy, including any effects from inflation, business conditions in the coffee industry and food industry in general, our continued success in attracting new customers, variances from budgeted sales mix and growth rates, weather and special or unusual events, as well as other risks, uncertainties and assumptions described in the 2023 Form 10-K or otherwise described from time to time in our filings with the SEC.

Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not rely on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Any or all of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release and any other public statement made by us, including by our management, may turn out to be incorrect. We are including this cautionary note to make applicable and take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise, except as required under federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the SEC.

Investor Relations Contact
Ellipsis
Investor.relations@farmerbros.com
646-776-0886

Media contact
Brandi Wessel
Director of Communications
405-885-5176
bwessel@farmerbros.com

FARMER BROS. CO.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)

(In thousands, except share and per share data)

FARMER BROS. CO.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)

(In thousands, except share and per share data)

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to net loss determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we use the following non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our operating performance:

“EBITDA” is defined as net (loss) income from continuing operations excluding the impact of:

• income tax expense;
• interest expense; and
• depreciation and amortization expense.
  
  

“EBITDA Margin” is defined as EBITDA expressed as a percentage of net sales.

“Adjusted EBITDA” is defined as net (loss) income from continuing operations excluding the impact of:

• income tax expense;
• interest expense;

⁽¹⁾ depreciation and amortization expense;

• 401(k) stock match, ESOP and share-based compensation expense;
• gain on settlement with Boyd’s sellers;
• net (gains) losses from sales of assets;
• loss related to sale of business; and
• severance costs.

“Adjusted EBITDA Margin” is defined as Adjusted EBITDA expressed as a percentage of net sales.

For purposes of calculating EBITDA and EBITDA Margin and Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, we have not adjusted for the impact of interest expense on our pension and postretirement benefit plans.

We believe these non-GAAP financial measures provide a useful measure of the Company’s operating results, a meaningful comparison with historical results and with the results of other companies, and insight into the Company’s ongoing operating performance. Further, management utilizes these measures, in addition to GAAP measures, when evaluating and comparing the Company’s operating performance against internal financial forecasts and budgets.

We believe that EBITDA facilitates operating performance comparisons from period to period by isolating the effects of certain items that vary from period to period without any correlation to core operating performance or that vary widely among similar companies. These potential differences may be caused by variations in capital structures (affecting interest expense), tax positions (such as the impact on periods or companies of changes in effective tax rates or net operating losses) and the age and book depreciation of facilities and equipment (affecting relative depreciation expense). We also present EBITDA and EBITDA Margin because (i) we believe that these measures are frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry, (ii) we believe that investors will find these measures useful in assessing our ability to service or incur indebtedness, and (iii) we use these measures internally as benchmarks to compare our performance to that of our competitors.

EBITDA, EBITDA Margin, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA Margin, as defined by us, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. We do not intend for non-GAAP financial measures to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for other measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Set forth below is a reconciliation of reported net (loss) income from continuing operations to EBITDA (unaudited):

____________

(1) Excludes interest expense related to pension plans and postretirement benefit plans.

Set forth below is a reconciliation of reported net (loss) income from continuing operations to Adjusted EBITDA (unaudited):

____________

(1) Excludes interest expense related to pension plans and postretirement benefit plans.

(2) Result of the settlement related to the acquisition of Boyd Coffee Company which included the cancellation of shares of Series A Preferred Stock and settlement of liabilities.

(3) Result of the settlements related to the divestiture of Direct Ship business which included gains related to coffee hedges and settlement of liabilities.