Volume growth drives Freshpet’s first months of 2024

The American pet food manufacturer witnessed a “very strong” net sales growth of 33.6% to $223.8 million (€207.8M) in Q1 2024, compared to $167.5 million (€155.5M) during the same period last year. This growth has been attributed to volume gains of 30.6%.

Freshpet also reports a net income of $18.6 million (€17.2M), compared to a net loss of $24.8 million (€23M) last year.

Gross profits also rose to $88.2 million (€81.9M) compared to $50.8 million (€47.1M) in 2023. The firm notes that this increase was due to “improved leverage on plant expenses, reduced quality costs and lower input cost as a percentage of sales.”

“The strength of the Freshpet business model and consumer proposition continues to drive the robust net sales growth investors have come to expect from us, and our intense focus on operational improvements is delivering the margin expansion we knew we could achieve with additional scale,” says Freshpet’s CEO Billy Cyr.

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In Q1 2024, Freshpet improved household penetration by 24% on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. The company claims this is comparable to levels from before the inflationary environment that started 2 years ago.

As of 31 March 2024, the company’s products were in 27,097 stores, compared to 26,777 in the first three months of 2023.

According to NielsenIQ data shared by the company, Freshpet accounts for a 3% market share of dog food in the US.

Freshpet’s net sales guidance for 2024 remains unchanged, as the company expects to hit $950 million (€875.5M).