Utz Brands to Introduce Long-Term Growth Strategy at 2023 Investor Day

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE: UTZ) ("Utz" or the "Company"), a leading U.S. manufacturer of branded salty snacks, will host its 2023 Investor Day at the New York Stock Exchange.

Howard Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of Utz.:
 

"Utz has some of America’s favorite snack brands, and over the past several years, we have simplified our portfolio and fundamentally evolved the business through capacity, distribution and capability investments."

"We have laid a solid foundation for growth and see significant opportunities to increase value through geographic expansion, supply chain transformation initiatives and other productivity improvements. As the third-largest Salty Snack platform in the U.S., and the only one focused solely on Salty Snacks, we have a compelling long-term growth opportunity, and we believe we have the right team and strategy in place to continue to win."

"As we look to the future, we will lean into the strength of our Power Brands, which include Utz®, Zapp’s®, Boulder Canyon®, and On The Border®, with increased marketing, cross-category innovation and market expansion across the U.S. In doing so, we expect our top-line growth to outpace the Salty Snack category and our bottom-line growth to generate outsized shareholder returns. We look forward to sharing more details around our long-term value creation plans at our Investor Day today."

Topics covered at the Investor Day include:
 

• Focused Portfolio Strategy: Utz has further focused its brand portfolio, which is diversified and clearly defined to meet various consumer needs. The Company will be accelerating investments in marketing and innovation to drive top-line growth and achieve share gains in the attractive Salty Snack category.
• Further Penetration of Expansion Geographies and Untapped Channels and Customers: There is a significant distribution opportunity outside the Company’s Core geography. Utz will outline efforts to further expand its Power Brands in Expansion geographies, as well as efforts to hold share in its Core geographies.
• Supply Chain Transformation: The Company will detail efforts to transform its supply chain into a more cost-efficient and flexible system. As a result of continuous improvement projects and network optimization initiatives, the Company expects to deliver $135 million in cost savings1 over the next three years while deploying capital efficiently to achieve these cost savings and to provide capacity for growth, the details of which will be discussed in the Company’s presentation.
• Leading Capabilities Utz has a dynamic, hybrid go-to-market model, which achieves broad distribution across channels and customers. The Company will be enhancing its independent operator Direct Store Distribution system to further improve execution and generate higher returns. Other organizational capabilities will be further strengthened while driving out costs.
• Improved Balance Sheet Flexibility. The Company will lay-out its plans to accelerate cash generation and to maintain a disciplined capital allocation approach which will reduce leverage. Acquisitions will continue to be pursued opportunistically.

Reaffirms Fiscal Year 2023 Outlook

The Company reaffirmed its previously issued full-year fiscal 2023 financial outlook announced on November 9, 2023:
 

• Net sales growth of 2% to 3% and Organic Net Sales growth of 3% to 4%
• Adjusted EBITDA growth of 8% to 11%
• Net Leverage Ratio below 4.5x by year-end fiscal 2023

For projected fiscal 2023 Adjusted EBITDA, a quantitative reconciliation is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the high variability, complexity, and low visibility for certain items that are excluded from Adjusted EBITDA. They expect the variability of these items to have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on their future financial results.

New Three-Year Financial Targets

At the event, Utz introduced the following three-year financial targets:
 

• 4% to 5% Organic Net Sales growth (CAGR FY 2023 – FY 2026)
• ~16% Adjusted EBITDA margin in FY 2026
• Double digit annual Adjusted Earnings per Share growth (CAGR FY 2023 – FY 2026)
• Net Leverage Ratio of ~3X by year-end 2026

For projected fiscal 2026 Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted Earnings per Share growth (CAGR FY 2023 – FY 2026), and Net Leverage Ratio, a quantitative reconciliation is not available without unreasonable efforts due to the high variability, complexity, and low visibility for certain items which are excluded from Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Earnings. They expect the variability of these items to have a potentially unpredictable, and potentially significant, impact on their future financial results.