Lamb Weston reports 8% increase in net sales during first quarter
Lamb Weston Holdings reported an 8% net sales increase year-over-year for the first quarter of its 2019-20 fiscal year. Sales totaled $989 million.
“We’re pleased with our solid start to our fiscal year, with each of our core business segments driving volume, price/mix and earnings growth,” said Tom Werner, President and CEO. “We continue to leverage our sales and innovation capabilities to support customers’ growth, as well as to support pricing actions and improve product mix. We’re making good progress on our new ERP system, while also continuing to integrate our recent acquisitions in Australia. And our new Hermiston, Oregon french fry line is fully operational, providing us with flexibility to service and upgrade other production lines that have been operating at peak capacity.
“We remain on track to deliver our fiscal 2020 targets, reflecting our continued focus on execution and a generally favorable current operating environment. In North America, demand for frozen potato products is solid behind positive restaurant traffic trends, while manufacturing capacity remains relatively tight. In addition, on a preliminary basis, we believe the potato crop in our growing regions will be in line with long-term averages. In Europe, we anticipate that our joint venture’s performance will gradually improve as we put the challenges from last year’s poor potato crop behind us. In our key international markets, french fry demand continues to grow in line with recent trends. Nonetheless, while current global french fry demand is strong, we are monitoring signs of softening macroeconomic conditions. Although these conditions may temper the frozen potato category’s demand growth towards more normalized rates, we believe we are well-positioned to deliver our financial objectives for the year, and remain focused on creating value for our stakeholders over the long term.”
Lamb Weston’s foodservice revenue saw a 3% rise to $305.4 million, while retail sales jumped 11% to $129.3 million.
Lamb Weston is headquartered in Eagle, Idaho. The company’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It is the only major potato processor that is publicly traded.
