The Middleby Corporation Reports Second Quarter Results

ELGIN, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 5, 2020--The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ: MIDD), a leading worldwide manufacturer of equipment for the commercial foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen industries, today reported net earnings for the 2020 second quarter of $21.2 million or $0.39 diluted earnings per share on net sales of $472.0 million. Adjusted net earnings were $30.4 million or $0.55 adjusted diluted earnings per share. A full reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP measures are provided at the end of this press release.

“While the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on our business, we moved swiftly to adapt, which required significant changes to our business processes and the workplace environment. We are proud to have maintained uninterrupted service and support to our customers given this sizable disruption. Our solid financial performance was a result of successfully reducing our cost structure and maintaining strong levels of profitability across all three of our business segments, despite revenue decreases. Most importantly, our priority is ensuring the continued safety of our employees. We are very grateful for the unwavering commitment of our employees around the world and for their extraordinary efforts during this difficult period,” said Middleby Chief Executive Officer Tim FitzGerald.

2020 Second Quarter Financial Results

• Net sales decreased 38.0% in the second quarter of 2020 over the comparative prior year period. Excluding the impacts of acquisitions and foreign exchange rates, sales decreased 39.8% in the second quarter, reflecting the impact of COVID-19. Recent acquisitions contributed 2.3% of an increase to the second quarter, while the impact of foreign exchange rates on foreign sales translated into U.S. Dollars decreased net sales by approximately 0.5%.

• Organic net sales declines were reported at all segments due to COVID-19 impacts and challenging market conditions. A reconciliation of reported net sales by segment is as follows:

• Adjusted EBITDA was $74.4 million, due to the impact of lower revenues as a result of COVID-19; however margins at all three segments were strong reflecting focus on cost control and profitability.

• Operating cash inflows during the second quarter increased to $77.6 million in comparison to $67.6 million in the prior year period. Operating cash inflows for the six months period ended June 27, 2020 increased to $164.8 million in comparison to $101.6 million in the prior year period. The leverage ratio per our credit agreements remained below 3.0x. Our trailing twelve month bank agreement pro-forma EBITDA was $597.1 million.

• Cash balances at the end of the quarter were increased to $649.7 million to provide liquidity protection during the global pandemic. Net debt, defined as debt less cash, at the end of the 2020 fiscal second quarter amounted to $1,747.2 million as compared to $1,778.6 million at the end of fiscal 2019.

“In Commercial Foodservice, we saw consistent improvement in orders from the initial April lows. As we progressed through the month of July, business activity across all of our foodservice segments demonstrated continual improvement. In particular, we have seen strong demand from quick-serve and pizza restaurants, as well as in the healthcare, convenience stores, and retail categories,” commented Mr. FitzGerald. "The steady improvement in orders was the result of continued growth in our customers' drive-through, delivery and pick-up businesses. Order trends have also been supported by varying levels of outdoor and indoor dining which since June and July have become available in every state. We will see volatility in our business as dining restrictions in high-risk states are re-enacted; however, we expect that order demand will remain improved from the second quarter. Our foodservice customers are evolving their operations to address employee safety issues, labor availability and operating challenges to support increasing delivery and drive-through business. We are well-positioned to address these near and longer-term emerging trends given technology investments we have made over the past year.”

“At our Residential Kitchen businesses in both the U.S. and U.K. markets, our order rates also improved as we progressed during the quarter and exceeded the prior year in the month of July. Although orders in July likely include some catch up from prior months, we expect the positive momentum to carry through the third quarter. New demand drivers from the rise of working, staying and eating at home have fueled purchases of both indoor and outdoor residential cooking and refrigeration equipment. Home sales have proven to be resilient, as new home starts in the U.S. in recent weeks are near prior year levels.”

“In the Food Processing Group, demand factors remain strong and we see positive momentum with our recent product innovations targeting both new and existing markets. A trend we are seeing more often is a requirement to increase food production automation and address employee safety and labor availability issues. Travel restrictions caused by COVID-19 have impacted project installations and equipment testing. We anticipate this disruption may impact orders in the near term; however, our backlog remains consistent with levels from the beginning of the year providing stability for upcoming quarters. The group is well-positioned for growth as market conditions stabilize.”

Mr. FitzGerald concluded, “While the current environment is subject to uncertainty, we remain confident in our ability to leverage the strength of our industry-leading business platforms while continuing to exercise our proven financial discipline. We are well-positioned across all three business segments to capitalize on emerging trends that will accelerate during this period and we are committed to maintaining the ongoing investments to support our strategic sales and technology initiatives.”

Conference Call

A conference call will be held at 10 a.m. Central Time on Wednesday, August 5, and can be accessed by dialing (888) 391-6937 or (315) 625-3077 and providing conference code 3298936#. The conference call is also accessible through the Investor Relations section of the company website at www.middleby.com. A replay of the conference call will be available two hours after the conclusion of the call by dialing (855) 859-2056 and entering conference code 3298936#.

Statements in this press release or otherwise attributable to the company regarding the company's business which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cautions investors that such statements are estimates of future performance and are highly dependent upon a variety of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Such factors include variability in financing costs; quarterly variations in operating results; dependence on key customers; international exposure; foreign exchange and political risks affecting international sales; changing market conditions; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the timely development and market acceptance of the company's products; the availability and cost of raw materials; and other risks detailed herein and from time-to-time in the company's SEC filings. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date hereof, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

The Middleby Corporation is a global leader in the foodservice equipment industry. The company develops, manufactures, markets and services a broad line of equipment used in the commercial foodservice, food processing, and residential kitchen equipment industries. The company's leading equipment brands serving the commercial foodservice industry include Anets®, APW Wyott®, Bakers Pride®, Beech®, BKI®, Blodgett®, Blodgett Combi®, Blodgett Range®, Bloomfield®, Britannia®, Carter-Hoffmann®, Celfrost®, Concordia®, CookTek®, Crown®, CTX®, Desmon®, Deutsche Beverage®, Doyon®, Eswood®, EVO®, Firex®, Follett®, frifri®, Giga®, Globe®, Goldstein®, Holman®, Houno®, IMC®, Induc®, Ink Kegs®, Jade®, JoeTap®, Josper®, L2F®, Lang®, Lincat®, MagiKitch'n®, Market Forge®, Marsal®, Middleby Marshall®, MPC®, Nieco®, Nu-Vu®, PerfectFry®, Pitco®, QualServ®, RAM®, Southbend®, Ss Brewtech®, Star®, Starline®, Sveba Dahlen®, Synesso®, Taylor®, Toastmaster®, TurboChef®, Ultrafryer®, Varimixer®, Wells® and Wunder-Bar®. The company’s leading equipment brands serving the food processing industry include Alkar®, Armor Inox®, Auto-Bake®, Baker Thermal Solutions®, Burford®, Cozzini®, CVP Systems®, Danfotech®, Deutsche Process®, Drake®, Emico®, Glimek®, Hinds-Bock®, Maurer-Atmos®, MP Equipment®, M-TEK®, Pacproinc®, RapidPak®, Scanico®, Spooner Vicars®, Stewart Systems®, Thurne® and Ve.Ma.C.®. The company’s leading equipment brands serving the residential kitchen industry include AGA® AGA Cookshop®, Brava®, EVO®, Fired Earth®, Heartland®, La Cornue®, Leisure Sinks®, Lynx®, Marvel®, Mercury®, Rangemaster®, Rayburn®, Redfyre®, Sedona®, Stanley®, TurboChef®, U-Line® and Viking®.

For more information about The Middleby Corporation and the company brands, please visit www.middleby.com.

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The company supplements its consolidated financial statements presented on a GAAP basis with this non-GAAP financial information to provide investors with greater insight, increase transparency and allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the information used by management in its financial and operational decision-making. The non-GAAP financial measures disclosed by the Company should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, and the financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP and reconciliations from these results should be carefully evaluated. In addition, the non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release do not have standard meanings and may vary from similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.

The company believes that organic net sales growth, non-GAAP adjusted segment EBITDA, adjusted net earnings and adjusted diluted per share measures are useful as supplements to its GAAP results of operations to evaluate certain aspects of its operations and financial performance, and its management team primarily focuses on non-GAAP items in evaluating performance for business planning purposes. The Company also believes that these measures assist it with comparing its performance between various reporting periods on a consistent basis, as these measures remove from operating results the impact of items that, in its opinion, do not reflect its core operating performance including, for example, intangibles amortization expense, impairment charges, restructuring expenses, and other charges which management considers to be outside core operating results. The Company believes that its presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is useful because it provides investors and securities analysts with the same information that Middleby uses internally for purposes of assessing its core operating performance.

The company believes that free cash flow is an important measure of operating performance because it provides management and investors a measure of cash generated from operations that is available for mandatory payment obligations and investment opportunities, such as funding acquisitions, repaying debt and repurchasing our common stock.