EVANSVILLE - Berry Global Group has posted increases in both sales and net income for its second quarter, helped by market growth and supported by organic investments in its Health, Hygiene, & Specialties and Consumer Packaging segments.
For the second fiscal quarter, Berry reported record revenue of $3.8 billion, an increase of 31% on a two-year basis, as underlying demand for its products remained resilient. Net income was $205 million, up from $181 million in the same period in 2021.
“As we navigate the current environment, we remain highly focused on cost productivity and are continuing to increase prices to offset rising input costs," Berry’s Chairman and CEO Tom Salmon said. "We continue to prudently invest in each of our businesses to maintain and grow our world-class, low-cost manufacturing base, with an emphasis on organic growth and key growth markets and regions.
"The continued positive momentum from our investments in areas such as health and wellness, e-commerce, and food safety drive our business toward more sustainable packaging solutions and provide us with a path to deliver long-term, consistent, volume and earnings growth.”
Publishing its results, the current period quarter has been compared to the pre-COVID-19 quarter two years ago, the March 2020 quarter, and is referred to on a two-year basis.
The net sales growth was primarily attributed to increased selling prices of $576 million due to the pass through of inflation. This increase was partially offset by an organic volume decline of 2%, a $64 million unfavorable impact from foreign currency changes, extra shipping days in the prior quarter of $19 million, and prior quarter divestiture sales of $14 million.
In the Health, Hygiene, & Specialties segment, net sales growth was primarily attributed to increased selling prices of $82 million due to the pass through of higher costs, partially offset by a 3% volume decline, and a $10 million unfavorable impact from foreign currency changes.
Looking ahead for 2022, Berry reaffirmed its fiscal 2022 guidance of adjusted earnings per share of $7.20 to $7.70. The updated range assumes lower operating EBITDA, primarily due to the timing lag of recovering higher costs and foreign currency headwind from the strengthening US dollar, along with some expected volume weakness in the European and Chinese markets partially offset by a lower tax rate and the benefit from share repurchases.
“We are confident we will continue to recover inflation, continue to see supply chain improvements and see new business and capital investments ramp up in the back half of this year," Salmon added. "We will continue to focus on driving organic growth, supplemented by inorganic opportunities, while providing more consistent return of capital to create maximum value for shareholders.”
