Vending

Flowers Foods Q4 and FY 2021 sales, earnings dip

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February 11, 2022

Flowers Foods Inc., which owns Mrs. Freshleys, Tastykake and other brands, reported lower sales and earnings for Q4 and FY 2021 during a challenging operating environment, but expects improvement in 2022, according to an earnings release.

• Sales decreased 3.9% from $1.02 billion in Q4 2020 to $983.49 million for the quarter ending Jan. 1, 2022. Excluding the additional week in the prior year period, sales increased 3.8%.
• Net income decreased 29.6% from $55.8 million to $39.3 million in the comparative quarters.
• Adjusted net income decreased 29.1% from $59.1 million to $41.9 million.
• Diluted EPS decreased from 26 cents to 18 cents. Adjusted diluted EPS decreased from 28 cents to 20 cents.
• Sales decreased 1.3% from $4.38 billion in 2020 to $4.33 billion for the 12 months ending Jan. 1, 2022. Excluding the additional week in the prior year, sales increased 0.4%.
• Net income increased 35.4% from $152.3 million to $206.2 million. Adjusted net income decreased 5.3% from $277.9 million to $263.1 million.
• Diluted EPS increased 25 cents to 97 cents. Adjusted diluted EPS(1) decreased $7 cents to $1.24.

Shares traded Thursday at $28.09 against a 52-week range of $21.72-$29.73.

The quarterly revenue of $983.49 million missed analyst projections by $7.63 million, while the non-GAAP EPS of 20 cents missed projections by two cents, according to Seeking Alpha.

"Flowers' strong financial results in a year of unique challenges demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy and the resiliency of our team," Ryals McMullian, Flowers Foods' president and CEO, said in the press release. "Our leading brands continue to gain market share, and we are focused on improving efficiencies through programs like our digital transformation initiative. Although the operating environment remains challenging, our early 2022 results have been promising and we expect to maintain that momentum."

For fiscal 2022, the company projects sales in the range of approximately $4.6 billion to $4.69 billion, representing an increase of approximately 7.6% to 8.4% compared to the prior year period.
Adjusted EPS is projected in the range of approximately $1.25 to $1.35.