Kraft Heinz Reports First Quarter 2021 Results

• Q1 net sales increased 3.9% and Organic Net Sales⁽¹⁾ increased 2.5%
• Q1 gross profit increased 18.5%
• Q1 operating income increased 41.3%, net income increased 49.0%, and diluted EPS increased 48.4%
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ increased 11.6% and Adjusted EPS⁽¹⁾ increased 24.1%

The Kraft Heinz Company (Nasdaq: KHC) (“Kraft Heinz” or the “Company”) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2021 that reflected solid net sales growth, favorable product mix, and lower general corporate expenses versus the year-ago period, with strong performance across all business segments.

“Our first quarter was better than expected, with our team delivering strong results on top of exceptional growth last year,” said Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio. “Looking forward, we will continue to focus on leveraging our tremendous scale by investing to improve our capabilities and overall agility. As we do, we believe we will come out of this period much stronger, operationally and financially, than we entered.”

Q1 2021 Financial Summary

• Net sales increased 3.9 percent versus the year-ago period to $6.4 billion, including a favorable 1.4 percentage point impact from currency, and increased 7.3 percent versus the comparable 2019 period, including a favorable 0.5 percentage point impact from currency. Organic Net Sales increased 2.5 percent versus the prior year period and increased 8.7 percent versus the comparable 2019 period with positive contributions from all reporting segments, and despite a negative impact from exiting the McCafé licensing agreement. Pricing was up 1.5 percentage points versus the prior year period reflecting a combination of reduced retail promotions and revenue management gains that were partially offset by unfavorable trade expense timing versus the year-ago period. Volume/mix was up 1.0 percentage points versus the year-ago period, driven by favorable changes in retail inventory levels, particularly in developed markets where retail consumption remained strong, as well as continued growth in emerging markets. This growth was partially offset by ongoing foodservice declines, the negative impact from exiting the McCafé licensing agreement, and lower retail takeaway versus the prior year period that benefited from strong, COVID-19-related consumer demand.
• Net income/(loss) of $568 million increased 49.0 percent versus the year-ago period driven by strong gross profit growth, which included favorable changes in unrealized losses/(gains) on commodity hedges, and a lower effective tax rate that more than offset unfavorable changes in interest expense due to one-time extinguishment costs, as well as unfavorable other expense/(income) as compared to the prior year period. Net income/(loss) increased 40.6 percent versus the comparable 2019 period. Adjusted EBITDA of $1.6 billion increased 11.6 percent versus the year-ago period and 10.4 percent versus the comparable 2019 period. Excluding a favorable 1.2 percentage point impact from currency, year-over-year Adjusted EBITDA growth was driven by favorable pricing and product mix, as well as lower general corporate expenses versus the prior year period that more than offset supply chain inflation and increased spending behind strategic investments.
• Diluted EPS increased to $0.46, up 48.4 percent versus the prior year, driven by the net income/(loss) factors discussed above. Adjusted EPS increased to $0.72, up 24.1 percent versus the prior year, driven by Adjusted EBITDA growth, a lower effective tax rate, and lower depreciation and amortization costs that more than offset unfavorable changes in non-cash other expense/(income) and higher non-cash equity award compensation relative to the year-ago period.
• Net cash provided by operating activities increased to $810 million, up 281.8 percent versus the year-ago period. This reflected favorable changes in trade receivables, largely due to the timing of receipts, Adjusted EBITDA growth, and favorable changes in cash related to commodity margin requirements and inventories versus the prior year period. These impacts were partially offset by higher cash outflows for variable compensation versus the year-ago period. Free Cash Flow⁽¹⁾ for the first quarter of 2021 increased to $583 million, up 619.4 percent versus the comparable prior year period as net cash provided by operating activities was partially offset by higher capital expenditures versus the prior year period.

Outlook

The Company continues to expect it will deliver 2021 financial performance ahead of its strategic plan.

For the second quarter of 2021, and based on performance to date, the Company currently expects a mid-single-digit percentage increase in both Organic Net Sales⁽²⁾ and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ versus the comparable 2019 period. The Company views comparison to the 2019 period to be more meaningful than the comparable 2020 period given the exceptional, COVID-19-related consumer demand changes experienced in the 2020 period. This outlook is, therefore, equivalent to a low-single-digit percentage decline in Organic Net Sales⁽²⁾ and a mid-single-digit percentage decline in Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA⁽²⁾ versus the comparable 2020 period.

End Notes

Earnings Discussion and Webcast Information

A pre-recorded management discussion of The Kraft Heinz Company's first quarter 2021 earnings is available at ir.kraftheinzcompany.com. The Company will host a live question and answer session beginning today at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. A webcast of the session will be accessible at ir.kraftheinzcompany.com.

ABOUT THE KRAFT HEINZ COMPANY

We are driving transformation at The Kraft Heinz Company (Nasdaq: KHC), inspired by our Purpose, Let’s Make Life Delicious. Consumers are at the center of everything we do. With 2020 net sales of approximately $26 billion, we are committed to growing our iconic and emerging food and beverage brands on a global scale. We leverage our scale and agility to unleash the full power of Kraft Heinz across a portfolio of six consumer-driven product platforms. As global citizens, we’re dedicated to making a sustainable, ethical impact while helping feed the world in healthy, responsible ways. Learn more about our journey by visiting www.kraftheinzcompany.com or following us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains a number of forward-looking statements. Words such as “plan,” "believe," "anticipate," "reflect," "invest," "see," "make," "expect," "deliver," "drive," “improve,” “intend,” "assess," "remain," "evaluate," “establish,” “focus,” “build,” “turn,” “expand,” “leverage,” "grow," "will," and variations of such words and similar future or conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's plans, impacts of accounting standards and guidance, growth, legal matters, taxes, costs and cost savings, impairments, dividends, expectations, investments, innovations, opportunities, capabilities, execution, initiatives, and pipeline. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and beyond the Company's control.

Important factors that may affect the Company's business and operations and that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the impacts of COVID-19 and government and consumer responses; operating in a highly competitive industry; the Company’s ability to correctly predict, identify, and interpret changes in consumer preferences and demand, to offer new products to meet those changes, and to respond to competitive innovation; changes in the retail landscape or the loss of key retail customers; changes in the Company's relationships with significant customers or suppliers, or in other business relationships; the Company’s ability to maintain, extend, and expand its reputation and brand image; the Company’s ability to leverage its brand value to compete against private label products; the Company’s ability to drive revenue growth in its key product categories or platforms, increase its market share, or add products that are in faster-growing and more profitable categories; product recalls or other product liability claims; the Company’s ability to identify, complete, or realize the benefits from strategic acquisitions, alliances, divestitures, joint ventures, or other investments; the Company's ability to successfully execute its strategic initiatives; the impacts of the Company's international operations; the Company's ability to protect intellectual property rights; the Company's ownership structure; the Company’s ability to realize the anticipated benefits from prior or future streamlining actions to reduce fixed costs, simplify or improve processes, and improve its competitiveness; the Company's level of indebtedness, as well as our ability to comply with covenants under our debt instruments; additional impairments of the carrying amounts of goodwill or other indefinite-lived intangible assets; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; volatility in commodity, energy, and other input costs; volatility in the market value of all or a portion of the commodity derivatives we use; compliance with laws, regulations, and related interpretations and related legal claims or other regulatory enforcement actions, including additional risks and uncertainties related to any potential actions resulting from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) ongoing investigation, as well as potential additional subpoenas, litigation, and regulatory proceedings; failure to maintain an effective system of internal controls; a downgrade in the Company's credit rating; the impact of future sales of the Company's common stock in the public market; the Company’s ability to continue to pay a regular dividend and the amounts of any such dividends; unanticipated business disruptions and natural events in the locations in which the Company or the Company's customers, suppliers, distributors, or regulators operate; economic and political conditions in the United States and in various other nations where the Company does business; changes in the Company's management team or other key personnel and the Company's ability to hire or retain key personnel or a highly skilled and diverse global workforce; risks associated with information technology and systems, including service interruptions, misappropriation of data, or breaches of security; increased pension, labor, and people-related expenses; changes in tax laws and interpretations; volatility of capital markets and other macroeconomic factors; and other factors. For additional information on these and other factors that could affect the Company's forward-looking statements, see the Company's risk factors, as they may be amended from time to time, set forth in its filings with the SEC. The Company disclaims and does not undertake any obligation to update, revise, or withdraw any forward-looking statement in this press release, except as required by applicable law or regulation.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The non-GAAP financial measures provided should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, results prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) that are presented in this press release.

To supplement the financial information provided, the Company has presented Organic Net Sales, Adjusted EBITDA, Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EPS, and Free Cash Flow which are considered non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP financial measures presented may differ from similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures presented by other companies, and other companies may not define these non-GAAP financial measures in the same way. These measures are not substitutes for their comparable GAAP financial measures, such as net sales, net income/(loss), diluted earnings per share, net cash provided by/(used for) operating activities, or other measures prescribed by GAAP, and there are limitations to using non-GAAP financial measures.

Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to assist in comparing the Company's performance on a consistent basis for purposes of business decision making by removing the impact of certain items that management believes do not directly reflect the Company's underlying operations. Management believes that presenting the Company's non-GAAP financial measures (i.e., Organic Net Sales, Adjusted EBITDA, Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EPS, and Free Cash Flow) is useful to investors because it (i) provides investors with meaningful supplemental information regarding financial performance by excluding certain items, (ii) permits investors to view performance using the same tools that management uses to budget, make operating and strategic decisions, and evaluate historical performance, and (iii) otherwise provides supplemental information that may be useful to investors in evaluating the Company's results. The Company believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when considered together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations to those measures, provides investors with additional understanding of the factors and trends affecting the Company's business than could be obtained absent these disclosures.

Organic Net Sales is defined as net sales excluding, when they occur, the impact of currency, acquisitions and divestitures, and a 53rd week of shipments. The Company calculates the impact of currency on net sales by holding exchange rates constant at the previous year's exchange rate, with the exception of highly inflationary subsidiaries, for which the Company calculates the previous year's results using the current year's exchange rate. Organic Net Sales is a tool that can assist management and investors in comparing the Company's performance on a consistent basis by removing the impact of certain items that management believes do not directly reflect the Company's underlying operations.

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income/(loss) from continuing operations before interest expense, other expense/(income), provision for/(benefit from) income taxes, and depreciation and amortization (excluding restructuring activities); in addition to these adjustments, the Company excludes, when they occur, the impacts of restructuring activities, deal costs, unrealized losses/(gains) on commodity hedges, impairment losses, and equity award compensation expense (excluding restructuring activities). The Company also presents Adjusted EBITDA on a constant currency basis. The Company calculates the impact of currency on Adjusted EBITDA by holding exchange rates constant at the previous year's exchange rate, with the exception of highly inflationary subsidiaries, for which it calculates the previous year's results using the current year's exchange rate. Adjusted EBITDA and Constant Currency Adjusted EBITDA are tools that can assist management and investors in comparing the Company's performance on a consistent basis by removing the impact of certain items that management believes do not directly reflect the Company's underlying operations.

Adjusted EPS is defined as diluted earnings per share excluding, when they occur, the impacts of restructuring activities, deal costs, unrealized losses/(gains) on commodity hedges, impairment losses, losses/(gains) on the sale of a business, other losses/(gains) related to acquisitions and divestitures (e.g., tax and hedging impacts), nonmonetary currency devaluation (e.g., remeasurement gains and losses), debt prepayment and extinguishment costs, and U.S. Tax Reform discrete income tax expense/(benefit), and including when they occur, adjustments to reflect preferred stock dividend payments on an accrual basis. The Company believes Adjusted EPS provides important comparability of underlying operating results, allowing investors and management to assess operating performance on a consistent basis.

Free Cash Flow is defined as net cash provided by/(used for) operating activities less capital expenditures. The Company believes Free Cash Flow provides a measure of the Company's core operating performance, the cash-generating capabilities of the Company's business operations, and is one factor used in determining the amount of cash available for debt repayments, dividends, acquisitions, share repurchases, and other corporate purposes. The use of this non-GAAP measure does not imply or represent the residual cash flow for discretionary expenditures since the Company has certain non-discretionary obligations such as debt service that are not deducted from the measure.

See the attached schedules for supplemental financial data, which includes the financial information, the non-GAAP financial measures and corresponding reconciliations to the comparable GAAP financial measures for the relevant periods.

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