Berry Plastics Group – BERY – Pleased with our overall performance, achieved record earnings

Berry Plastics Group, Inc. (NYSE:BERY) reported results for the September quarter and fiscal year 2012:

• Net sales decrease of 2 percent versus September 2011 quarter
• Adjusted free cash flow of $159 million for the September 2012 quarter
• Fiscal year 2012 Adjusted EBITDA of $803 million with the leverage ratio (net debt/Adjusted EBITDA) at 4.9x (pro forma for the IPO), a reduction of 1.2x from fiscal year 2011
• Operating EBITDA increased 13 percent and Operating EBITDA margin increased to 17.6 percent from 15.3 percent in the September 2011 quarter
• Adjusted net income (loss) per share of $0.34 for the quarter compared to ($0.04) in September 2011

“Berry’s improved product mix, aggressive cost reduction initiatives, and lower costs for raw materials, coupled with higher prices in certain of our product segments, allowed us to achieve record earnings and reduce our leverage,” said Jon Rich, Chairman and CEO of Berry Plastics. “While we are pleased with our overall performance, the weakening global economic environment will present challenges to our industry and to Berry.”

BERY – September Quarter and Fiscal Year 2012 Results

For the quarter ended September 2012, the Company’s net sales declined by 2 percent to $1,204 million from $1,229 million. The decrease in sales was related to the pass through of lower raw material costs and our decision to exit certain low margin business partially offset by sales from acquired businesses and a slight market share gain in certain segments.

Capital Structure and Adjusted Free Cash Flow

In October 2012 the Company used the proceeds from its IPO to repurchase its 11 percent Senior Subordinated Notes due in September 2016. The ratio of net debt of $3,958 million to the Adjusted EBITDA for the four quarters ended September 29, 2012 of $803 million was 4.9x at the end of the September 2012 quarter when factoring in the impact from the IPO. The actual ratio at the end of September 29, 2012 quarter was 5.5x. Adjusted free cash flow was $159 million for the September 2012 quarter and $279 million for fiscal year 2012.

BERY – Outlook

“Our strategic actions are allowing us to continue to strengthen the Company’s balance sheet, maintain significant liquidity, and generate substantial free cash flow,” said Rich. “Going forward, we will continue to execute on our strategies to further reduce our overall debt leverage, pursue innovative organic growth opportunities, identify value adding acquisitions that can be accretive to shareholder value, and take steps to grow our business internationally.”

About Berry Plastics – BERY

Berry Plastics Group, Inc. (BERY) is a leading provider of value-added plastic consumer packaging and engineered materials delivering high-quality customized solutions to our customers with annual net sales of $4.8 billion in fiscal 2012. With world headquarters in Evansville, Indiana, the Company’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BERY.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.