Darling Ingredients Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter And Fiscal 2016 Financial Results: Executed De-Levering and Growth Strategy

IRVING, Texas, March 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Darling Ingredients Inc. (NYSE: DAR), a global developer and producer of sustainable natural ingredients from edible and inedible bio-nutrients, creating a wide range of ingredients and customized specialty solutions for customers in the pharmaceutical, food, pet food, feed, industrial, fuel, bioenergy, and fertilizer industries, today announced financial results for the fiscal 2016 fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2016.

Fourth Quarter 2016 Overview

• Net income of $40.5 million, or $0.25 per GAAP diluted share
• Revenue of $887.3 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $112.8 million
• Strong global raw material volumes
• Global fats pricing steady while ample protein supplies pressured prices

Fiscal 2016 Overview

• Net income of $102.3 million, or $0.62 per GAAP diluted share
• Consolidated revenue of $3.4 billion
• Food segment normalized led by Rousselot while Fuel Segment margins improved on strong performance.
• Feed segment supported by strong global fat demand and pricing while global proteins remained weak
• Commissioned four new facilities
• Solid cash flow generation with full year debt reduction of $169.7 million

For the fourth quarter of 2016, the Company reported net sales of $887.3 million, as compared with net sales of $809.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2015.  Net income attributable to Darling for the fourth quarter was $40.5 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $84.4 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2015.  The decrease in net income for the fourth quarter 2016 is primarily attributable to the inclusion of the blenders tax credit all in the fourth quarter of 2015, whereas for fiscal 2016, the blenders tax credit was reported each quarter as earned.

Net Income attributable to Darling for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 was $102.3 million, or $0.62 per diluted share, as compared to a net income of $78.5 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2016. The increase is primarily attributable to increased margins and production in both the Food and Fuel Ingredients segments, higher raw material volumes in the Feed and Food Ingredients segments and lower selling, general and administrative expense.

Randall C. Stuewe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Darling Ingredients Inc., said, "We closed out 2016 with a solid performance across all product lines.  We executed on our strategy of de-levering and growing, paying down $169.7 million in debt while commissioning four new factories and expanding five others.  We carry nice momentum and a larger platform into 2017."

• Feed Ingredients – Fiscal Year 2016 compared to Fiscal Year 2015: EBITDA $294.6 million (up 4.4 percent); Revenue $2.1 billion (up 0.7 percent); Gross margin $464.3 million (up 0.7 percent); Raw material processed up 7.0 percent.
• Food Ingredients -- Fiscal Year 2016 compared to Fiscal Year 2015: EBITDA $131.3 million (up 2.5 percent); Revenue $1.1 billion (down 3 percent); Gross margin $227.5 million (down 1.7 percent); Raw material processed up 0.9 percent.
• Fuel Ingredients – Fiscal Year 2016 compared to Fiscal Year 2015: EBITDA $57.7 million (up 31.4 percent); Revenue $247.1 million (up 8.3 percent); Gross margin $64.6 million (up 26.4 percent); Raw material processed up 0.9 percent.
• Diamond Green Diesel Joint Venture – Solid execution and strong earnings. Facility expansion completion expected in Q2 2018. EBITDA at entity level $174.4 million, $87.1 million Darling's share.