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Seneca Foods (SENEA) Q1 Earnings Decline Y/Y, Gross Margin Down

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Seneca Foods Corporation (SENEA - Free Report) reported earnings per share of $1.80 in the first quarter of fiscal 2025, which decreased 40.2% from the year-ago figure of $3.01.

Revenues in Detail

Seneca Foods registered revenues of $304.7 million in the fiscal first quarter, up 2% year over year.

The uptick resulted from higher sales volumes contributing favorability of $11.2 million to net sales, partially offset by product mix and lower selling prices, which had an unfavorable impact of $5.2 million year over year.

Segment Details

Seneca Foods derives revenues from five sources — Canned vegetables, Frozen vegetables, Fruit products, Snack products and Other.

For the quarter under review, Canned vegetables revenues were $253.7 million, up 1.1% from the year-ago quarter. Frozen vegetables revenues were $25.3 million, up 17.6% year over year.

Net sales of canned and frozen vegetables increased over the prior-year quarter, driven by higher sales volumes in each of these product categories, which outpaced decreases related to the pricing and product mix.

Fruit products revenues during the fiscal first quarter were $18.8 million, up 12.6% year over year. The category benefited from both increased pricing in response to material cost pressures and increases in sales volumes.

Snack products revenues were $2.9 million, down 7.5% year over year.

Revenues in the Other category totaled $3.9 million, down 37.9% year over year. The decline was primarily due to the result of lower demand compared with the prior-year quarter for seed, cans and ends, which are ancillary to the company’s main operations.

Seneca Foods Corp. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Seneca Foods Corp. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Seneca Foods Corp. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Seneca Foods Corp. Quote

Seneca Foods Gross Margin

In the quarter under review, Seneca Foods’ gross margin was 14% compared with 18.5% in the year-ago period. The decrease in gross margin for the three months ended Jun 29, 2024 was mainly due to continued elevated costs.

Operating Expenses Analysis

Selling, general, and administrative expenses declined 11.9% to $17.5 million.

Profitability

Operating profit totaled $25.4 million, which decreased 28.3% from the prior-year quarter.

In the fiscal first quarter, Seneca Foods’ net income was $12.7 million, down 45.2% from the year-ago quarter.

FIFO EBITDA during the reported quarter was $36.3 million, down 23.9% from the year-ago quarter.

Liquidity & Debt Management

Seneca Foods exited first-quarter fiscal 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $5.5 million compared with $4.5 million at the fiscal 2024-end. Total debt at the end of the fiscal first quarter was $580.5 million compared with $615.9 million at the fiscal 2024-end.

Net cash provided by operating activities at the end of the fiscal first quarter was $50.3 million compared with $25 million a year ago.

Our Take

Seneca Foods exited the first quarter of fiscal 2025 with encouraging top-line results. Strength in the majority of its revenue sources was also impressive.

However, the company reported dismal bottom-line results and lower revenues from two of its revenue sources, which is discouraging. During the reported quarter, the gross margin contracted, which did not bode well.


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