Mr. George Paleologou reports

PREMIUM BRANDS HOLDINGS CORPORATION REPORTS RECORD FIRST QUARTER SALES AND ADJUSTED EBITDA AND DECLARES SECOND QUARTER DIVIDEND

Premium Brands Holdings Corp. has released its results for the first quarter of 2023.

First-quarter highlights:

• Record first-quarter revenue of $1.43-billion, representing a 14.3-per-cent, or $179.3-million, increase as compared with the first quarter of 2022;
• Record first-quarter adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $110.7-million, representing a 15.6-per-cent, or $14.9-million, increase as compared with the first quarter of 2022;
• First-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 64 cents, representing a 27.3-per-cent, or 24-cent-per-share, decrease as compared with the first quarter of 2022;
• Declared a dividend of 77 cents per common share for the second quarter of 2023;
• Purchased 17,500 common shares under a normal course issuer bid for $1.4-million, representing an average per-share cost of $82.60;
• Sales and adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2023 was reaffirmed.

Conference call

The company will hold a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2023 results today at 10:30 a.m. PT (1:30 p.m. ET). An investor presentation that will be referenced on the conference call is available through the company's website.

Access to the call may be obtained by calling the operator at 416-764-8646 or 888-396-8049 (conference ID 594941184) up to 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. For those who are unable to participate, a recording of the conference call will be available through to 12 a.m. ET on May 29, 2023, at 877-674-7070 (passcode 494184 followed by the pound key). Alternatively, a recording of the conference call will be available at the company's website.

"As we emerge from the challenges of the past several years, we continue to gain momentum, posting another quarter of record sales and adjusted EBITDA. Looking forward, we expect the steady improvement in our performance to accelerate through the year, as many of our businesses have recently completed or are near completing major capacity expansions that will support a variety of new product launches as well as expansion into additional markets and channels. Correspondingly, we are very well positioned to meet or exceed our 2023 sales and adjusted EBITDA targets," said George Paleologou, president and chief executive officer.

Mr. Paleologou added: "While higher interest costs resulted in our earnings for the quarter being down from last year, we expect this to be an anomaly resulting from the first quarter being our seasonally slowest. As we head into our busier second and third quarters, we are very well positioned to generate another year of record earnings.

"Subsequent to the quarter, our sandwich group commissioned a new, 67,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art sandwich plant in Edmonton, Alta. The ramp-up is going very well, and the plant should be fully operational by the end of this month. On the acquisitions front, we didn't complete any transactions during the quarter; however, our pipeline remains full, and we are working on several exciting opportunities that we expect to complete in the coming quarters."

Second quarter 2023 dividend

The company's board of directors has approved a cash dividend of 77 cents per share for the second quarter of 2023, which will be payable on July 14, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30, 2023.

Unless indicated otherwise in writing at or before the time the dividend is paid, each dividend paid by the company in 2023 or a subsequent year is an eligible dividend for the purposes of the enhanced dividend tax credit system.

Revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook

The company's 2023 guidance for sales of between $6.4-billion and $6.6-billion as well as adjusted EBITDA of between $590-million and $610-million remains unchanged. These estimates are based on a range of assumptions, including: (i) reasonably stable economic environments in Canada and the United States, with inflation rates in both countries continuing to moderate; (ii) stable raw material costs; and (iii) modest appreciation in the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar.

The company's sales and adjusted EBITDA outlooks for 2023 do not incorporate any provisions for potential future acquisitions; however, the company remains very active on this front and expects to complete several transactions during the year.

About Premium Brands Holdings Corp.

Premium Brands owns a broad range of leading specialty food manufacturing and differentiated food distribution businesses, with operations across Canada and the United States.

We seek Safe Harbor.