Lancaster Colony reports Q4 EPS 33c, consensus $1.29

Reports Q4 revenue $454.66M, consensus $481.12M. Fourth quarter net income was $0.33 per diluted share versus $1.06 per diluted share last year. Impairment charges reduced fourth quarter net income by 70c per diluted share. Last year’s restructuring and impairment charges reduced net income by 29c per diluted share. CEO David A. Ciesinski commented, “We reported another quarter of record sales. In addition to inflationary pricing, the $3.1M increase in Retail segment net sales was driven by our licensing program, including incremental growth from the new products, flavors and sizes we added to the program throughout the year. Circana data, which tracks consumer purchases, showed that consumption for our Retail segment’s branded products, measured in pounds, was up 4.7% in the quarter, led by our licensing program. In the prior-year quarter, Retail sales benefited from an estimated $11 million in advance customer orders ahead of our ERP go-live. The modest $0.8M decline in Foodservice segment sales compares to a significant increase of 28.1% last year which included an estimated $14 million in advance customer orders. Foodservice segment sales were also unfavorably impacted by slower traffic for some of our national chain restaurant account customers.” “The fourth quarter gross profit results fell short of our expectations as we experienced some transitory costs associated with our long-term strategic investments in production capacity and our ERP network. These issues have now been remedied, and we look forward to the many benefits these investments will provide our business in the years ahead.”