CA - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MLFNF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

2024-02-22 17:03:04 ET

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (MLFNF)

Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call

February 22, 2024, 08:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Janet Craig - IR

Curtis Frank - President, CEO & Director

David Smales - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Irene Nattel - RBC Capital Markets

Luke Hannon - Enstoa

Michael Van Aelst - TD Securities

Mark Petrie - CIBC Capital Markets

George Doumet - Scotiabank GBM

Tamy Chen - BMO Capital Markets

Presentation

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Maple Leaf's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference call over to Janet Craig Investor Relations at Maple Leaf Foods. Please go ahead, Ms. Craig.

Janet Craig

Thank you, Laura. Good morning, everyone. Speaking on the call this morning will be Curtis Frank, President and Chief Executive Officer, and David Smales, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some statements made on today's call may constitute forward-looking information and our future results may differ materially from what we discussed.

Please refer to our Q4 full year 2023 MD&A and other information on our website for broader description of operations and risk factors that could affect the company's performance. We've also updated our Q4 Investor Deck to our website, which includes support material for the quarter.

As always, the Investor Relations team will be available after the call for any follow-up questions you might have.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Curtis Frank. Curtis?

Curtis Frank

Thank you, Janet, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you here again today. Right off the top, I want to welcome and introduce our new CFO, David Smales, who joined Maple Leaf in late January. David is an accomplished Executive Leader with over 30 years of diverse experiences, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have him as part of our team. I'm sure many of you will be connecting with David separately. If you haven't already, I welcome David.

We're likely seen in our materials. We've got a lot to share this morning. In addition to announcing our Q4 and 2023 results, we've also unveiled the next evolution of our strategic blueprint, along with the new business and organizational structure that will propel us into an exciting chapter ahead.

And so, with that, I'm going to jump right in with a recap of our year before turning it over to David for a deeper dive into our financial results. And then I'll spend a few minutes towards the end of my remarks to provide some color on our new blueprint. And of course, we'll leave some time for your questions online.

Over the full year of 2023, we delivered year-over-year top-line sales growth of 2.7% and adjusted EBITDA of $428 million, a $155 million or 57% improvement from 2022. Our business and our people demonstrated exceptional resilience in the face of a post-pandemic economy headlined by dislocated pork markets, hyperinflation, disrupted supply chains, and a consumer increasingly under stress.

And we took meaningful steps forward to position ourselves for success in 2024 and beyond. We met our goal to achieve adjusted EBITDA neutral or better in our plant protein business, which was accomplished this past quarter in Q4. This is a material pivot, and we are confident that there is more success to follow. ...

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