Berry Global Group, Inc. (NYSE:BERY), a leading supplier of sustainable packaging solutions for consumer goods and industrial products, today reported its first fiscal quarter 2021 results, referred to in the following as the December 2020 quarter.
First Quarter Highlights (all comparisons made to the December 2019 quarter)
*Net sales of $3.1 billion; 7 percent organic volume growth
*Operating income up 53 percent to $304 million
*Operating EBITDA up 20 percent to $539 million
*Net income per diluted share up 174 percent to $0.96
*Increased fiscal 2021 organic volume growth assumption by 2 percent, now targeting 4 percent
*Raised fiscal 2021 operating EBITDA guidance range by $25 million to $2.175 – $2.225 billion
*Reaffirmed cash flow from operations and free cash flow guidance
Berry’s Chairman and CEO Tom Salmon said, “Berry’s fiscal 2021 is off to an exceptional start with record first quarter financial results exceeding our expectations. Consumer demand for our products remains consistent and certain markets which previously experienced COVID-19 headwinds are rebounding quicker than we expected. All segments delivered strong volume growth, collectively finishing the quarter with 7 percent organic volume growth, while operating EBITDA increased 20 percent in the quarter. The organically driven outperformance in this first fiscal quarter gives us confidence to raise our fiscal year 2021 outlooks for both operating EBITDA and organic volume growth.
“Our businesses, across the globe, are clearly capitalizing on our strategy to drive profitable and sustainable organic volume growth. The continued positive momentum from our investments in areas such as health and wellness, food safety, and e-commerce along with the focus on growing our emerging market exposure, provide us the path to realize long-term consistent volume growth. Couple these drivers with our numerous efforts to drive more sustainable packaging and you have a lot to be excited about in the upcoming years here at Berry.
“With normalized free cash flow of over $1 billion, we have a clear line-of-site to leverage in the 3.8 to 3.9 times range by the end of fiscal 2021. Once within our targeted leverage range of 3.0 to 3.9 times, our consistent and growing cash flow provides substantial capacity to create shareholder value with a balanced capital allocation approach that includes: reinvesting in the business to support continued organic growth, returning capital to shareholders, pursuing bolt-on acquisitions and further debt reductions while staying within our committed range.”
details at: https://ir.berryglobal.com/news-releases/news-release-details/berry-global-group-inc-reports-strong-first-quarter-2021-results