Freshpet net sales grow by 41.5% in first quarter of 2022
The New Jersey dog and cat food manufacturer presents a long-term capacity expansion plan to grow its potential sales by 20% amid sharp increase of e-commerce.
The company’s sales reached $132.2 million (€125.8M) in the period. In the first trimester of 2021, sales accounted for $93.4 million (€88.9M).
The company said that the increase in sales was driven by “velocity, pricing, distribution gains and innovation.”
Gross profit was $44.8 million (€42.6M) in Q1 2022 compared to $36.3 million (€34.5M) the previous year.
“Our Q1 results demonstrate that we are a much more resilient company today than we were one year ago. The investments we made in our workforce and buffer capacity enabled us to overcome the challenges presented by Omicron and industry-wide supply chain disruptions,” said Freshpet’s CEO Billy Cyr.
The company said that on a total brand dollar sales basis, Freshpet is the leading brand in the grocery channel. Although 85% of the sales are done through brick-and-mortar, the e-commerce channel increased by 79%.
Freshnet products were present in 22,890 stores in 2021 and the company expects to reach the 23,931 points of sales by the end of the year.
The pet food company expects to achieve net sales of $575 million by the end of 2022, an increase of 35% against 2021. Freshpet posted last year net sales of $425.5 million (€372M), a bit less than projected.
Boosting sales
The company also announced that it is implementing a plan to provide greater capital efficiency and approximately 20% growth in potential net sales capacity of up to $2.9 billion (€2.76B).
The plan includes a realignment of Freshpet’s manufacturing operations to specific products and reinforcing Freshpet’s leadership position through a commitment to innovation. “This will ensure that Freshpet continues to fulfill its mission of changing the way people nourish their pets forever,” added Cyr.
The company will also start the construction of a new state-of-the-art Innovation Kitchen in Lehigh County (Pennsylvania). The 99,000 square foot facility is set to open in the second half of 2023 and will house some of its new innovative manufacturing operations.