Mr. George Paleologou reports

PREMIUM BRANDS HOLDINGS CORPORATION REPORTS RECORD THIRD QUARTER SALES AND ADJUSTED EBITDA, ACQUISITION OF MENU-MER AND DECLARES FOURTH QUARTER DIVIDEND

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

Third quarter highlights:

• Record third quarter revenue of $1.64-billion representing a 1.3-per-cent, or $21-million, increase as compared with the third quarter of 2022;
• Record third quarter adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $158.8-million representing a 12.5-per-cent, or $17.6-million, increase as compared with the third quarter of 2022;
• A 9.7-per-cent adjusted EBITDA margin, up from 8.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2022;
• Specialty foods segment's adjusted EBITDA margin continues to normalize reaching 11 per cent for the quarter, a 300-basis-point improvement as compared with the third quarter of 2022;
• Third quarter adjusted EPS (earnings per share) of $1.27 per share representing a 7.3-per-cent, or 10-cent-per-share, decrease as compared with the third quarter of 2022;
• Specialty foods set to complete five capacity expansion projects in the coming quarters with three of them coming on-line in the fourth quarter -- a major headwind for specialty foods sales growth in the quarter was a lack of capacity to support its United States-based growth initiatives;
• Solid progress made on reducing leverage ratios with the company's senior debt to EBITDA ratio decreasing to 3.1:1 from 3.3:1 at the end of the previous quarter;
• Declared a dividend of 77 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2023;
• Announced acquisition of Quebec-based food distributor Menu-Mer.

Questions-and-answers session

The company will hold a Q&A session on its third quarter 2023 results today at 10:30 a.m. Vancouver time (1:30 p.m. Toronto time). Management's prerecorded remarks and an investor presentation that will be referenced on the conference call are available by navigating through the company's website.

Access to the Q&A session may be obtained by calling the operator at 416-764-8646 or 888-396-8049 (conference ID: 60488678) 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 11:50 p.m. Toronto time on Dec. 14, 2023, at 877-674-7070 (passcode: 488678 followed by pound key). Alternatively, a recording of the conference call will be available at the company's website.

"We are pleased to report another quarter of record sales and adjusted EBITDA as we continue to make solid progress on our long-term value creation strategies, a clear indication of which is the 300-basis-point improvement in our specialty food segment's adjusted EBITDA margin," said George Paleologou, president and chief executive officer.

"Our results for the quarter were, however, tempered by an unusually poor Maine lobster catch and some largely third-quarter-specific impacts on our sandwich and protein businesses, including delays in a cooked protein capacity expansion project coming on-line," added Mr. Paleologou.

"Looking forward, we expect to see significant acceleration in our organic growth rate as five major capacity expansion projects get commissioned over the next several quarters, all of which are focused on supporting our very successful U.S.-based growth initiatives in premium frozen sandwiches, cooked protein, meat snacks and artisan baked goods," stated Mr. Paleologou.

"We are also pleased to announce the acquisition of Menu-Mer, a Quebec-based food distributor. Menu-Mer, whose market focus complements the geographical reach of our Quebec-based Viandex and C&C businesses, will be leveraging access to our ecosystem to enhance their buying power and expand the portfolio of products they can offer their customers," said Mr. Paleologou.

"Our acquisitions pipeline remains very robust and we are in active dialogues with many small and large businesses. Correspondingly, we are well positioned to complete more transactions in 2024," added Mr. Paleologou.

Fourth quarter 2023 dividend

The company also announced that its board of directors approved a cash dividend of 77 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2023, which will be payable on Jan. 15, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 29, 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.

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.