B&G Foods Reports Strong First Quarter 2011 Results

B&G Foods, Inc. (NYSE: BGS) today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2011, reporting strong net sales and earnings growth.

Highlights

• Net sales increased 5.0% year-over-year to $131.4 million from $125.2 million
• Net income increased to $13.3 million from $0.3 million
• Adjusted net income^* increased 27.1% to $13.2 million from $10.4 million
• Diluted earnings per share increased to $0.27 from $0.01 in prior year first quarter
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share¹ increased 22.7% to $0.27 from $0.22 in prior year first quarter
• EBITDA^* increased 10.0% year-over-year to $33.0 million from $30.0 million
• Fiscal 2011 EBITDA guidance raised to a range of $125.0 million to $128.0 million

David L. Wenner, President and Chief Executive Officer of B&G Foods, stated, "Despite the late Easter holiday, the business maintained strong top and bottom line momentum in the first quarter. Cost pressures continued to build throughout the quarter, but we continue to believe we are well-positioned to accommodate them, allowing us to increase EBITDA guidance for full-year 2011 to a range of $125.0 to $128.0 million.”

Financial Results for the First Quarter of 2011

Net sales for the first quarter of 2011 increased 5.0% to $131.4 million from $125.2 million for the first quarter of 2010. This $6.2 million increase was attributable to unit volume and sales price increases of $5.9 million and $0.3 million, respectively. Net sales of the Company’s Don Pepino and Sclafani brands, which were acquired during the fourth quarter of 2010, contributed $3.6 million to the overall unit volume increase for the first quarter.

Gross profit for the first quarter of 2011 increased 6.8% to $44.9 million from $42.0 million in the first quarter of 2010. Gross profit expressed as a percentage of net sales increased 0.5 percentage points to 34.1% for the first quarter of 2011 from 33.6% in the first quarter of 2010. The increase in gross profit was primarily attributable to a sales mix shift to higher margin products and slightly reduced input costs. Operating income increased 10.3% to $29.1 million for the first quarter of 2011, from $26.4 million in the first quarter of 2010.

Net interest expense for the first quarter of 2011 decreased $2.4 million or 22.9% to $8.2 million from $10.6 million for the first quarter of 2010. The decrease in net interest expense for the first quarter was primarily attributable to a reduction in the effective interest rate on $130.0 million of term loan borrowings from 7.0925% to 2.31% due to the termination of an interest rate swap described in more detail below.

The Company’s reported net income under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) was $13.3 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2011, as compared to reported net income of $0.3 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2010. The Company’s adjusted net income for the first quarter of 2011 was $13.2 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.27, as compared to adjusted net income of $10.4 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.22 for the first quarter of 2010.

For the first quarter of 2011, EBITDA increased 10.0% to $33.0 million from $30.0 million for the first quarter of 2010.

Guidance

B&G Foods has increased its full-year fiscal 2011 performance expectations. The Company now expects EBITDA for fiscal 2011 to be approximately $125.0 million to $128.0 million.

Interest Rate Swap Termination

As previously announced, the Company terminated an interest rate swap agreement during the first quarter of 2011 by making a payment of $12.4 million, including $1.0 million of accrued interest, to the counterparty. B&G Foods had entered into the six-year interest rate swap agreement in February 2007 in order to effectively fix at 7.0925% the interest rate payable for $130.0 million of term loan borrowings under the Company’s credit agreement through the life of the term loan borrowings, which mature in February 2013.

As a result of the termination, the Company’s interest obligations for the term loan borrowings through maturity in 2013 are now determined based upon a floating rate. The Company currently expects that this will reduce interest expense for the term loan borrowings by $6.2 million in each of fiscal 2011 and 2012 and by approximately $1.1 million in fiscal 2013, or a total of approximately $13.5 million through maturity of the term loan borrowings. However, any increase in LIBOR during that time period, will reduce the expected interest expense reduction.

The Company also expects to reclassify $3.7 million of accumulated other comprehensive loss to net interest expense through maturity of the term loan borrowings in 2013, with $1.7 million being reclassified during 2011.

Conference Call

B&G Foods will hold a webcast and conference call at 4:30 p.m. ET today, April 26, 2011. The call will be webcast live from B&G Foods’ website at www.bgfoods.com under "Investor Relations—Company Overview.” The call can also be accessed live over the phone by dialing (877) 741-4240 for U.S. callers or (719) 325-4751 for international callers.

A replay of the call will be available one hour after the call and can be accessed by dialing (877) 870-5176 or (858) 384-5517 for international callers; the password is 5796888. The replay will be available from April 26, 2011, through May 3, 2011. Investors may also access a web-based replay of the call at the Investor Relations section of B&G Foods’ website, www.bgfoods.com.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Items Affecting Comparability

"Adjusted net income,” "adjusted diluted earnings per share” and "EBITDA” (net income before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and loss on extinguishment of debt) are "non-GAAP financial measures.” A non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of financial performance that excludes or includes amounts so as to be different than the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in B&G Foods’ consolidated balance sheets and related consolidated statements of operations and cash flows. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The Company’s non-GAAP financial measures may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies.

The Company uses "adjusted net income” and "adjusted diluted earnings per share,” which are calculated as reported net income and reported diluted earnings per share adjusted for certain items that affect comparability. These non-GAAP financial measures reflect adjustments to reported net income and diluted earnings per share to eliminate the items identified below. This information is provided in order to allow investors to make meaningful comparisons of the Company’s operating performance between periods and to view the Company’s business from the same perspective as the Company’s management. Because the Company cannot predict the timing and amount of charges associated with unrealized gains or losses on the Company’s interest rate swap and gains or losses on extinguishment of debt, management does not consider these costs when evaluating the Company’s performance or when making decisions regarding allocation of resources.

A reconciliation of EBITDA to net income and to net cash provided by operating activities is included below for the first quarters of 2011 and 2010, along with the components of EBITDA. Also included below are reconciliations of the non-GAAP terms adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share to reported net income and reported diluted earnings per share.

About B&G Foods, Inc.

B&G Foods and its subsidiaries manufacture, sell and distribute a diversified portfolio of high-quality, shelf-stable foods across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. B&G Foods’ products include hot cereals, fruit spreads, canned meats and beans, spices, seasonings, hot sauces, wine vinegar, maple syrup, molasses, salad dressings, Mexican-style sauces, taco shells and kits, salsas, pickles, peppers and other specialty food products. B&G Foods competes in the retail grocery, food service, specialty, private label, club and mass merchandiser channels of distribution. Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, B&G Foods’ products are marketed under many recognized brands, including Ac’cent, B&G, B&M, Brer Rabbit, Cream of Rice, Cream of Wheat, Don Pepino, Emeril’s, Grandma’s Molasses, Joan of Arc, Las Palmas, Maple Grove Farms of Vermont, Ortega, Polaner, Red Devil, Regina, Sa-són, Sclafani, Trappey’s, Underwood, Vermont Maid and Wright’s.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute "forward-looking statements.” The forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, statements related to B&G Foods’ expectations regarding cost, the Company’s ability to accommodate cost increases, and EBITDA for fiscal 2011. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of B&G Foods to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes,” "belief,” "expects,” "projects,” "intends,” "anticipates” or "plans” to be uncertain and forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in B&G Foods’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under Item 1A, "Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2010 filed on March 1, 2011. B&G Foods undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

¹ Please see "About Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Items Affecting Comparability” below for definitions of the terms adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share and EBITDA, as well as information concerning certain items affecting comparability and reconciliations of the non-GAAP terms adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share and EBITDA to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

(1) Net interest expense in the first quarter of 2011 includes a benefit relating to the realized gain on an interest rate swap, and a charge for the reclassification of the amount recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss related to the swap. Net interest expense in the first quarter of 2010 includes a benefit relating to the unrealized loss on the interest rate swap and a charge for the reclassification of the amount recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss related to the swap. See B&G Foods’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on April 26, 2011 for additional details.

(2) During the first quarter of 2011, we did not extinguish any debt. Loss on extinguishment of debt for the first quarter of 2010 includes costs relating to our repurchase of senior notes and senior subordinated notes, including the repurchase premium and the write-off of deferred debt financing costs. See our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on April 26, 2011 for additional details.

(3) EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure used by management to measure operating performance. A non-GAAP financial measure is defined as a numerical measure of our financial performance that excludes or includes amounts so as to be different than the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP in our consolidated balance sheets and related consolidated statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity and comprehensive income, and cash flows. We define EBITDA as net income before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and loss on extinguishment of debt. Management believes that it is useful to eliminate net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and loss on extinguishment of debt because it allows management to focus on what it deems to be a more reliable indicator of ongoing operating performance and our ability to generate cash flow from operations. We use EBITDA in our business operations, among other things, to evaluate our operating performance, develop budgets and measure our performance against those budgets, determine employee bonuses and evaluate our cash flows in terms of cash needs. We also present EBITDA because we believe it is a useful indicator of our historical debt capacity and ability to service debt and because covenants in our credit facility and our senior notes indenture contain ratios based on this measure. As a result, internal management reports used during monthly operating reviews feature the EBITDA metric. However, management uses this metric in conjunction with traditional GAAP operating performance and liquidity measures as part of its overall assessment of company performance and liquidity and therefore does not place undue reliance on this measure as its only measure of operating performance and liquidity.

EBITDA is not a recognized term under GAAP and does not purport to be an alternative to operating income or net income as an indicator of operating performance or any other GAAP measure. EBITDA is not a complete net cash flow measure because EBITDA is a measure of liquidity that does not include reductions for cash payments for an entity’s obligation to service its debt, fund its working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions and pay its income taxes and dividends. Rather, EBITDA is a potential indicator of an entity’s ability to fund these cash requirements. EBITDA is not a complete measure of an entity’s profitability because it does not include costs and expenses for depreciation and amortization, interest and related expenses, loss on extinguishment of debt and income taxes. Because not all companies use identical calculations, this presentation of EBITDA may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. However, EBITDA can still be useful in evaluating our performance against our peer companies because management believes this measure provides users with valuable insight into key components of GAAP amounts.

(1) During the first quarter of 2011, B&G Foods did not extinguish any debt. Loss on extinguishment of debt for the first quarter of 2010 includes costs relating to the Company’s repurchase and redemption of $69.5 million aggregate principal amount of senior subordinated notes and $240.0 million aggregate principal amount of senior notes. See B&G Foods’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on April 26, 2011 for additional details.

(2) The first quarter of 2011 includes a realized gain on interest rate swap and a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive loss to interest expense, net on interest rate swap. The first quarter of 2010 includes an unrealized loss on interest rate swap and a reclassification from accumulated other comprehensive loss to interest expense, net on interest rate swap. See B&G Foods’ Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on April 26, 2011 for additional details.