High Liner Foods improves sales in 2021
Private label and branded seafood provider High Liner Foods shared its Q4 and full-year report from 2021, reporting improved financial results compared to 2020.
The Canada-based company sells branded products under the High Liner, Fisher Boy, Mirabel, Sea Cuisine, and Catch of the Day labels, and are available in most grocery and club stores. High Liner’s private label brands include High Liner, Mirabel, Icelandic Seafood and FPI.
"We are pleased, despite the multi-headwind environment, that we grew sales, increased our profitability and, for the third successive year, delivered on our goal of generating year-over-year EBITDA improvement," said Rod Hepponstall, president and CEO of High Liner Foods. "This is the result of executing against our branded, value-added strategy, strong execution across our organization, and excellent work by our supply chain team to maximize our product availability by mitigating the impact of major global issues."
In Q4 of 2021, sales increased by $29.5 million, or 14.9%, to $227.9 million compared to $198.4 million in the same period a year earlier. Gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased to 21.3% compared to 21.9% and gross profit increased by $5.1 million, or 11.7%, to $48.6 million.
Adjusted EBITDA decreased by $0.6 million, or 2.8%, to $20.6 million compared to $21.2 million and Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Sales decreased to 9.0% compared to 10.7%. Net income decreased by $0.2 million, or 2.7%, to $7.2 million compared to $7.4 million and diluted earnings per share decreased to $0.20 per share compared to $0.21 per share.
For the full fiscal year of 2021, sales increased by $47.9 million, or 5.8%, to $875.4 million compared to $827.5 million and sales volume decreased by 7.2 million pounds, or 3.0%, to 233.7 million pounds compared to 240.9 million pounds in 2020. Gross profit as a percentage of sales increased to 22.7% compared to 21.5% and gross profit increased by $20.6 million, or 11.6%, to $198.5 million compared to $177.9 million.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by $2.4 million, or 2.7%, to $90.4 million compared to $88.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Sales decreased to 10.3% compared to 10.6%. Net income increased by $13.4 million, or 46.5%, to $42.2 million compared to $28.8 million and diluted earnings per share increased to $1.20 per share compared to $0.83 per share.
"We continue to benefit from our early action on supply chain diversification, however given the extent of the global supply chain challenges, we were unable to fully satisfy demand for our products in the fourth quarter, impacting overall volumes,” added Hepponstall. “We will continue to pursue all potential avenues to satisfy the strong demand and build inventory in the face of supply challenges that we anticipate will prevail for the first half of 2022."