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Text: As Joanne mentioned, I'm Christine Cannella, Vice President, Global Corporate Communications and Investor Relations with Fresh Del Monte Produce.
Joining me in today's discussion are Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Eduardo Bezerra, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
You may also visit the company's website at freshdelmonte.com for a copy of today's release as well as to register for future distributions.
With that, I am pleased to turn today's call over to Mohammad.
It has been a very difficult few months for the world.
Our thoughts go out to all the heroes working to keep people safe and healthy during this unprecedented evolving global pandemic.
I want to extend my best wishes to you and your families that you stay safe and healthy.
I also want to extend my gratitude to our frontline team members for their commitment to providing healthy convenient fresh and prepared food products during this crisis.
I will go directly to what is likely top of mind for all of us, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions we have taken to support our team members and their families, customers, suppliers and our local communities.
At the outback of the pandemic, we immediately activated our global and regional executive crisis management teams to respond accordingly.
At our production facilities where food safety has always been top of mind, we introduced additional operating procedures and safety protocols to include social distancing, thermal screenings and increase cleaning cycles to protect our production teams.
We activated our supply chain contingency plans to mitigate any disruptions in our ability to service our customers.
Most recently we voluntary closed the distribution and fresh-cut facility in Boston, Massachusetts for 10 days, due to team members being diagnosed with the COVID-19.
We shifted inventory and production from our Boston facilities and continued to meet demand and deliver uninterrupted service to our customers in the Northeastern US.
As of today our Boston facility is back in operation.
Other preventive actions included having as many global employees as possible working remotely.
Our worldwide team members have rallied around maintaining business continuity during this critical time.
And I am pleased with how quickly they adapted to the circumstances, especially our frontline teams that have kept our farms, plants and distribution centers running, allowing us to maintain our commitment to providing healthy convenient and safe Del Monte branded products around the world.
We are also collaborating in a number of ways with our local communities during this time of uncertainty, adding support wherever we can.
Regarding our business, while we saw an increase in demand in our banana business, we did experience reduced demand for fresh-cut, for Fresh and value-added products, as stay at home orders impacted the restaurant and foodservice industry.
We anticipate this trend continuing in the near future as consumer adapt social distancing.
Households manage unprecedented economic hardships and unemployment rates soar.
I would like to add that our Mann Packing subsidiary had shown improved results in January and February as they are recovering from their fourth quarter 2019 voluntary recall.
However the COVID-19 impact to the foodservice channel also reduced demand for Mann's meals and snacks and fresh-cut vegetables product lines.
We expect the trend to continue in the second quarter of 2020 if conditions remain the same.
Over the coming three months we will be moving our operations to our new Gonzales, California facility, which will allow us to streamline and improve our production capabilities, customer service and reduce costs.
In addition, earlier in the quarter we saw a reduction in our business in Asia as a result of supply and demand imbalances brought about by the closures and restrictions put in place in China logistics operations.
This plan turned around in March as the Asia region showed signs of recovery and we began to see demand increase, especially for bananas.
While we did experience a number of challenges in the quarter that softed top line sales, we took several actions to fortify our business and conserve liquidity, including halting our share repurchase program, reducing our dividend by 50%, postponing non-critical capital investments for the second half of 2020 and establishing measures to reduce selling, general and administrative expenses going forward.
All of these measures, give me confidence that we will come out of this crisis stronger than ever.
What will the new normal be?
I believe we will see behavior changes in the market.
One such example is the surge in e-commerce category sales, while online grocery shopping grows at rapid pace during the pandemic, I believe, consumer usage has just begun.
Which is why in April of 2020 we broadened our distribution channels by introducing our online store in the United Emirates with plans, sort of the concept to other countries soon now.
I want to begin with a few words regarding the confidence we have in our cash and our current debt positions as we renewed our credit facility.
As you're aware, we have a considerable variability in our $1.1 billion credit line.
Our leverage ratio for the first quarter of 2020 was below 3.2 times EBITDA.
In addition to our variability on our credit line, the decision to halt our share repurchase program reduced the interim cash dividend and postponed non-critical capital investments, we strengthened our cash flow position for the second quarter.
In terms of liquidity, we were assured from our lenders we have no issues with drawing down if needed.
We generated cash this quarter and kept our level almost flat to the end of fiscal year 2019.
So these speak to the strength of our business.
We continue to focus on reducing our debt while we continue to invest in critical high margin capital projects to drive efficiency in our operations and expand our value-added business.
While we see pressure on revenue and earnings in the short-term, we see much opportunity for us to be ready for future growth when this crisis has passed.
Given all of our capabilities as Mohammad declared, I am confident Fresh Del Monte will weather these difficult times and emerge stronger from this challenge.
With that I will now get into the results for the first quarter of 2020.
Adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.34 compared with adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.46 in 2019.
Net sales were $1,118 million compared with $1,154 million in first quarter 2019, with unfavorable exchange rates negatively impacting net sales by $8 million.
We estimate that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted net sales during the first quarter of 2020 by approximately $27 million.
Adjusted gross profit was $77 million compared with $95 million in 2019.
Adjusted operating income for the quarter was $24 million compared with $41 million in the prior year and adjusted net income was $16 million compared with $23 million in the first quarter of 2019.
In regards to the product lines for the first quarter of 2020, in our fresh and value-added business segment, net sales decreased $29 million to $661 million compared with $690 million in the prior year period.
And gross profit decreased $19 million to $43 million compared with $62 million in the first quarter of 2019.
The decrease in net sales was primarily the result of lower net sales of fresh-cut vegetables, pineapples and meals and snacks, partially offset by higher net sales of avocados.
As compared with our original expectations, the COVID-19 pandemic affected our net sales of fresh and value-added products by an estimated $21 million during the quarter.
Also the continuing effect of November's Mann Packing voluntary product recall affected our net sales in the first quarter of 2020.
In our pineapple category, net sales were $102 million compared to $111 million in the prior year period, primarily due to lower sales volume in North America, Asia and Europe as a result of lower production in our Costa Rica and Philippines operations, primarily due to unfavorable growing conditions.
Also contributing to the decrease in net sales was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in lower demand for pineapples across all of our regions.
Partially offsetting this decrease were higher selling prices in North America and Europe and higher sales volume in the Middle East as a result of expanded sales to existing markets and additional shipments from our Kenya operation.
Overall volume was 16% lower.
Unit pricing was 9% higher and unit cost was 6% higher than the prior year period.
In our fresh-cut fruit category, net sales were $118 million in line with the prior year period.
Net sales were impacted by lower demand in our foodservice distribution channel as a result of social distancing measures imposed by government around the world.
Overall volume and unit pricing were in line with the prior year period and unit cost was 1% higher than the first quarter of 2019.
In our fresh-cut vegetable category, net sales were $103 million compared with $119 million in the first quarter of 2019.
The decrease in net sales was due to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, which -- a significant reduction of our foodservice business during the month of March, mainly in our Mann Packing subsidiary.
We also faced the continuing effect of our voluntary product recall announced in November 2019.
Volume was 12% lower.
Unit pricing was 2% lower and unit cost was 5% higher than the prior year period.
In our avocado category, net sales increased to $94 million compared with $89 million in the first quarter of 2019, primarily due to higher selling prices in North America as a result of lower industry supplies from Chile.
Also contributing to the increase in net sales were higher sales volume and selling prices in Asia, due to increased demand.
Partially offsetting this increase were lower sales volume in North America.
Pricing was 33% higher and unit cost was 44% higher than the prior year period, impacted by start-up costs from our new processing facility in Europe and Mexico.
In our vegetables category, net sales decreased to $39 million compared with $42 million in the first quarter of 2019, primarily due to lower sales volume and selling prices as a result of Mann Packing voluntary product recall and lower sales as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unit price was in line with the prior year period and unit cost was 9% higher.
In our non-tropical category, which includes our grape, berry, apple, citrus pear, peach, plum, nectarine, cherry and kiwi product lines, net sales increased to $62 million compared with $61 million in the first quarter of 2019.
Volume increased to 9%.
Unit pricing decreased to 7% and unit cost was 8% lower.
In our prepared for the product line, which includes the company's prepared traditional products and meals and snacks product lines, net sales decreased primarily due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, product rationalization in our Mann Packing business and the continued impact of the 2019 voluntary product recall.
The decrease in net sales was partially offset by higher net sales in the company's prepared traditional product line.
Gross profit was impacted by lower sales volume in our meals and snacks product line.
In our banana business segment, net sales decreased to $5 million to $427 million compared with the $432 million in the first quarter of 2019, primarily due to lower net sales in Asia, Europe and North America, partially offset by higher net sales in the Middle East.
Asia was impacted by lower sales volume and port closures in China related to the COVID-19.
Europe banana net sales decreased due to lower industry supply in the beginning of 2020 and the impact of COVID 19 selling prices in March.
As compared with our regional expectations the COVID-19 pandemic affected banana net sales by an estimated $6 million during the quarter.
North America was also impacted by lower supplies from our Central America production area.
Overall volume was 1% higher than last year's first quarter.
Worldwide pricing decreased 2% over the prior year period.
Total worldwide banana unit cost was 1% higher and gross profit decreased to $25 million compared to $35 million in the first quarter of 2019.
Now moving to selected financial data.
Selling, general, administrative expenses during the quarter were $53 million compared with $54 million in the first quarter of 2019, mainly due to lower advertising and administrative expenses.
We expect our recent actions to reduce selling, general and administrative expenses to have a positive impact beginning in the second quarter.
The foreign currency impact at the gross profit level for the first quarter was unfavorable by $6 million compared with an unfavorable effect of $3 million in the first quarter of previous year.
In the month of March we entered in several fuel hedges that extend through the end of 2021 to take advantage of lower fuel prices to reduce the exposure of our shipping cost in the Americas and Asia.
Similar to our foreign currency hedges we have in place to reduce our exposure in different countries that we market our products.
These fuel hedges are intended to minimize our financial exposure to volatility in the market.
Interest expense net for the first quarter was $5 million compared with $7 million in the first quarter of 2019 due to lower debt levels and interest rates.
Income tax expense was $300,000 during the quarter compared with income tax expense of $9 million in the prior year.
The decrease in the provision for income taxes was primarily due to lower earnings in certain taxable jurisdictions.
The tax provision for the first quarter of 2020 also includes a $2 million benefit related to net operating losses carry back provision allowed through the recently enacted Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act, the CARES Act.
For the first three months of 2020, our net cash provided by operating activities was $2 million compared with a net cash used in operating activities of $7 million in the same period of 2019.
The increase in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily attributed to higher balances of accounts payable and accrued expenses, partially offset by lower net income.
Our total debt increased from $587 million at the end of 2019 to $599 million at the end of the first quarter of 2020.
As it relates to capital spending, we invested $17 million on capital expenditures in the first quarter of 2020 compared with $34 million in the same period of 2019.
This concludes our financial review.

user
q1 adjusted earnings per share $0.34.
expects volatility in supply & demand,reduced demand in foodservice distribution will adversely impact q2.

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