MGP Ingredients reports third quarter sales surged 71.% to $176.6 million and its net profit more than doubled, soaring 129% to $23.7 million, or $1.08 a share.
“The record consolidated quarterly results reflect the progress our team has made toward executing our long-term strategic plan,” said David Colo, president and CEO of MGP Ingredients. “Sales of premium beverage alcohol increased 32.5%, primarily driven by brown goods sales growth of 33.4% from last year, which was due to both higher aged whiskey and new distillate sales. Our Ingredient Solutions business also maintained its positive trajectory, growing sales by 12.5% from the prior year period, as it continues to align with favorable consumer trends.
“Integration of our recently completed acquisition of Luxco remains on track, including achievement of the synergy expectations we shared earlier in the year,” continued Colo. “As evidenced in our recent results, this additional platform is improving our gross profit and cash flow generation profile, and provides long term growth opportunities for the company.”
In the third quarter of 2021, sales for the Distillery Products segment increased 15.0% to $91.0 million. Gross profit increased to $27.0 million or 29.6% of segment sales, compared to $15.9 million, or 20.1% of segment sales in the third quarter 2020.
“We posted another solid quarter in the Distillery Products segment, primarily driven by strong aged whiskey sales, as a result of the continued robust consumer demand for our premium beverage alcohol offerings,” said Colo. “The macro consumer trend supporting the ongoing growth of the American Whiskey category remains robust, which is confirmed by the demand we’re experiencing from new and existing brown goods customers. White goods sales also experienced significant growth of 30.7% from the prior year period, primarily due to improved prices and volume.”
In the third quarter of 2021, sales for the Branded Spirits segment totaled $61.6 million, primarily due to the Luxco acquisition. Gross profit increased to $23.2 million or 37.7% of segment sales.
“Our Branded Spirits segment results continued to exceed expectations this quarter,” commented Colo. “Ongoing consumer demand for our brands has been a major catalyst for growth, which was reflected in the strong performance by our American Whiskey and Tequila brands, as well as the continued return of on-premise demand. We remain focused on improving our portfolio profitability by optimizing gross profits and margins, as well as the marketing mix across all of our brands.”