WorldPoultry: Cal-Maine egg sales up in Q4

LAYERS

US egg producer Cal-Maine Foods has reported fourth quarter net sales of $371.6 million compared with net sales of $325.9 million for the fourth quarter a year ago.

The Company also reported net income of $31.5 million, compared with a net loss of $3.8 million, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013.

For the fiscal year 2014, net sales were $1,440.9 million compared with net sales of $1,288.1 million for fiscal 2013. The Company reported net income of $109.2 million, or $4.54 per basic share and $4.52 per diluted share, for fiscal 2014 compared with net income of $50.4 million, or $2.10 per basic and diluted share, in fiscal 2013.

Commenting on the results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2014, Dolph Baker, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., said, "We are pleased with our financial and operating performance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 with sales up 14.0% over the same period a year ago. These results reflect both higher volumes and higher average selling prices compared with the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. Total dozens produced increased 8.1%, total dozens sold increased by 2.5%, and our average selling price per dozen was up 12.0% over the same period last year.

"For the year, we were pleased to exceed our previous year's sales record with $1.4 billion in sales in fiscal 2014," Baker noted. "As previously announced, we also reached another significant milestone when we achieved over one billion dozen fresh eggs sold for fiscal 2014, a record for Cal-Maine Foods and for our industry. These results reflect strong demand for shell eggs throughout the year from all the major market segments including retail, egg product and exports.

"Sales of specialty eggs accounted for 17.2% of our total number of shell eggs sold and 24.3% of our shell egg sales revenue for the year," added Baker. "Specialty egg sales have been an important area of strategic focus for Cal-Maine Foods. Our latest joint venture, Southwest Specialty Eggs, LLC, will further expand our market reach in specialty egg sales in the southwestern United States. We expect specialty eggs, which have a higher retail selling price, will continue to gain market share over regular eggs as more consumers are willing to pay for these premium products. Overall, our average selling prices were up 4.7% in fiscal 2014, reflecting a higher percentage of specialty egg sales."

Baker noted, "Our operations continued to run well in fiscal 2014. We were able to benefit from lower and less volatile feed costs compared with the previous year. For fiscal 2014, our average feed costs were 49.3 cents per dozen, down 8.7% from fiscal 2013. Throughout our operations, our management team continued to execute on all the fundamental aspects of making Cal-Maine Foods an efficient, low-cost producer. We were pleased to report operating income of $146.1 million for fiscal 2014 compared with $59.6 million for fiscal 2013. Our expansion projects for our operations in Florida, Texas and Kentucky are on schedule, and we expect to benefit from the additional capacity and improved efficiencies in fiscal 2015 with less dependence on outside egg purchases.

"Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic about the good start to this year's growing season for corn and soybean crops. The current USDA projections for harvested acres and yields for both crops should be favorable for end users and help reduce our feed costs in fiscal 2015."

Baker concluded, "Overall, we are very pleased with Cal-Maine Foods' performance in fiscal 2014 and our ability to execute our strategy with favorable results. We will remain focused on this same strategy for continued growth in the year ahead."

by WORLD POULTRY Jul 30, 2014