MARKHAM - Pet Valu Holdings Ltd. ('Pet Valu' or the 'Company') (TSX: PET), the leading Canadian specialty retailer of pet food and pet-related supplies, announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended January 1, 2022.
Fourth Quarter Highlights
System-wide sales(1) were $288.5 million, an increase of 11.7%, or 18.2% excluding the 14th week in the prior year, primarily driven by same-store sales growth(1) of 16.7%.
Revenue was $223.1 million, up 9.7%, or 18.6% excluding the 14th week in the prior year.
Adjusted EBITDA(2) grew 11.5% to $53.3 million, representing 23.9% of revenue, up 40 basis points versus the prior year. Operating income was $41.3 million, up 19.4% versus the prior year.
Net income was $26.7 million, up from $13.8 million in the prior year.
Adjusted Net Income(2) was $29.3 million or $0.41 per diluted share.
Opened 12 new stores in the quarter, increasing the network by 28 stores in the last 12 months.
The Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.06 per common share.
Fiscal Year Highlights
System-wide sales were $998.1 million, an increase of 18.6%, or 20.6% excluding the 53rd week in 2020, primarily driven by same-store sales growth (1) of 17.8%.
Revenue was $776.0 million, up 19.7%, or 22.6% excluding the 53rd week in 2020.
Adjusted EBITDA grew 26.2% to $182.3 million, representing 23.5% of revenue, up 120 basis points versus the prior year. Operating income was $129.4 million, up 26.0%.
Net income was $98.8 million, up from $28.6 million in the prior year.
Adjusted Net Income was $73.0 million or $1.02 per diluted share.
About Pet Valu
Pet Valu is Canada's leading retailer of pet food and pet-related supplies with 700 corporate-owned or franchised locations across the country. For more than 40 years, Pet Valu has earned the trust and loyalty of pet parents by offering knowledgeable customer service, a premium product offering and engaging in-store services. Pet Valu's neighbourhood stores offer more than 7,000 competitively-priced products, including a broad assortment of premium, super premium, holistic and award-winning proprietary brands. To learn more, please visit: www.petvalu.com.
Basis of Presentation - Carve-out Financial Information
Prior to the Offering, the Company was not operating as a stand-alone entity and as a result, the financial information for periods prior to June 30, 2021 are presented on a carve-out basis that includes only legal entities representing the Canadian operations of Pet Valu Holdings Ltd. (referred to as the 'Group', prior to the distribution of its U.S. operations to its shareholder). For more information, see the Company's audited consolidated financial statements and related MD&A for the 52-week and 53-week periods ended January 1, 2022 and January 2, 2021, respectively.
Non-IFRS Measures and Supplementary Financial Measures
This press release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS and do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. They are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Rather, these measures are provided as additional information to complement IFRS measures by providing further understanding of the Company's results of operations from management's perspective. Accordingly, they should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the Company's financial information reported under IFRS. Pet Valu uses non-IFRS measures, including 'EBITDA', 'Adjusted EBITDA', 'Adjusted Net Income', Adjusted Net Income per Diluted Share' and 'Free Cash Flow'. This press release also makes reference to certain supplementary financial measures that are commonly used in the retail industry, including 'System-wide stores', 'System-wide sales', 'Same-store sales', and 'Same-store sales growth'. These non-IFRS measures and supplementary financial measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of Pet Valu's operating performance and thus highlight trends in its core business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS financial measures. The Company also believes that securities analysts, investors and other interested parties frequently use non-IFRS measures and these supplementary financial measures in the evaluation of issuers. Management uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and to determine components of management compensation. Refer to the MD&A for the fourth quarter ended January 1, 2022 for further information on non-IFRS measures and industry metrics, including for their definition and, for non-IFRS measures, a reconciliation to the most comparable IFRS measure.
Forward-Looking Information
Some of the information contained in this press release is forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this press release and is based on management's opinions, estimates and assumptions in light of its experience and perception of historical trends, current trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that management believes appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances. Pet Valu does not undertake to update any such forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws in Canada. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information as a result of various factors. Particularly, information regarding our expectations of future results, targets, performance achievements, prospects or opportunities is forward-looking information, which is based on the factors and assumptions, and subject to the risks, as set out herein and in the Company's annual information form ('AIF') dated March 8, 2022. Often but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'may', 'will', 'expect', 'believe', 'estimate', 'plan', 'could', 'should', 'would', 'outlook', 'forecast', 'anticipate', 'foresee', 'continue' or the negative of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology.
Many factors could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, the factors discussed in the 'Risk Factors' section of the AIF. A copy of the AIF and the Company's other publicly filed documents can be accessed under the Company's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ('SEDAR') at www.sedar.com.
The Company cautions that the list of risk factors and uncertainties described in the AIF is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect its results. Readers are urged to consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating forward-looking information and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information.
Contact:
E: investors@petvalu.com
PET VALU HOLDINGS LTD. 
