Berry Plastics Group, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2013 Results

Berry Plastics Group, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2013 Results

EVANSVILLE, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Berry Plastics Group, Inc. (NYS: BERY) today reported results for its fiscal first quarter 2013 referred to below as the December 2012 quarter:

• Achieved a record for any first fiscal quarter with a December 2012 quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $176 million and LTM Adjusted EBITDA of $812 million with the leverage ratio (net debt/Adjusted EBITDA) at 4.9x, a reduction of 1.1x from the December 2011 quarter

• Operating EBITDA increased 5 percent and Operating EBITDA margin increased to 16.1 percent from 14.4 percent in the December 2011 quarter

• Announced the intention to obtain commitments for $1 billion of First Lien Senior Secured Term Loans to redeem the Company's Second Priority Senior Secured Floating Notes due 2014, First Priority Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2015, and 10¼% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2016

• Adjusted net income (loss) per share of $0.08 for the quarter compared to ($0.05) in the December 2011 quarter

• Adjusted free cash flow of $44 million for the December 2012 quarter

"Berry achieved an Operating EBITDA record for any December quarter, despite the continuation of challenges related to the overall state of the economy," said Jon Rich, Chairman and CEO of Berry Plastics. "The year-over-year improvements for the December quarter were achieved primarily through manufacturing improvements, aggressive cost reduction actions taken throughout 2012 and also in the current quarter, sourcing savings, and pricing actions taken to capture the value of our products."

December 2012 Quarter Results
For the quarter ended December 2012, the Company's net sales declined by 6 percent to $1,072 million from $1,137 million, primarily related to the pass through of lower raw material costs. Physical volumes were flat for the December 2012 quarter versus December 2011 quarter in spite of weak demand resulting from ongoing sluggish economic activity including some modest effects from Hurricane Sandy.

Capital Structure and Adjusted Free Cash Flow
During the December 2012 quarter the Company used the proceeds from its IPO to repurchase its 11 percent Senior Subordinated Notes due in September 2016. The ratio of net debt of $3,943 million to the Adjusted EBITDA for the four quarters ended December 29, 2012 of $812 million was 4.9x. The ratio at the end of September 29, 2012 quarter was 5.5x. Adjusted free cash flow was $44 million for the December 2012 quarter. In January the Company announced its intention to obtain commitments for $1 billion of First Lien Senior Secured Term Loans, to be structured as an incremental facility under Berry's existing term loan credit agreement. Berry intends to use the net proceeds from the borrowing to redeem its Second Priority Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2014, First Priority Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2015 and 10¼% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2016.

Outlook
"For our March 2013 quarter, we anticipate a modest improvement in Operating EBITDA versus the prior year assuming that volumes improve in line with GDP forecasts. We remain on track to achieve our financial performance goals for 2013. As we move forward, Berry will remain focused on innovation, productivity, free cash flow generation, and further reduction of our debt," said Rich.

Investor Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call on Friday, February 1, 2013, at 9:00 a.m. CST to discuss its First Quarter 2013 results. The telephone number to access the conference call is (866) 847-7864 (domestic), or (703) 639-1430 (international), and use conference ID 1602821. The call will last approximately one hour. Interested parties are invited to listen to a live webcast by visiting the Company's Investor Relations page at www.berryplastics.com. Replay of the conference call can also be accessed on the Investor Relations page of the website.

About Berry Plastics
Berry Plastics Group, Inc. is a leading provider of value-added plastic consumer packaging and engineered materials delivering high-quality customized solutions to our customers with annual net sales of $4.8 billion in fiscal 2012. With world headquarters in Evansville, Indiana, the Company's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BERY. For additional information, visit the Company's website at www.berryplastics.com.

Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this release that are not historical, including statements relating to the expected future performance of the Company, are considered "forward looking" and are presented pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "seeks," "approximately," "intends," "plans," "estimates," or "anticipates" or similar expressions that relate to our strategy, plans or intentions.All statements we make relating to our estimated and projected earnings, margins, costs, expenditures, cash flows, growth rates and financial results or to our expectations regarding future industry trends are forward-looking statements.In addition, we, through our senior management, from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning our expected future operations and performance and other developments.These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may change at any time, and, therefore, our actual results may differ materially from those that we expected.We derive many of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions.While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results.All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us on the date of this release.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, which we refer to as cautionary statements, are disclosed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, in conjunction with the forward-looking statements included in this release.All forward-looking information and subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or to persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements.Some of the factors that we believe could affect our results include:(1) risks associated with our substantial indebtedness and debt service; (2) changes in prices and availability of resin and other raw materials and our ability to pass on changes in raw material prices on a timely basis; (3) performance of our business and future operating results; (4) risks related to our acquisition strategy and integration of acquired businesses; (5) reliance on unpatented know-how and trade secrets; (6) increases in the cost of compliance with laws and regulations, including environmental, safety, and production and product laws and regulations; (7) risks related to disruptions in the overall economy and the financial markets may adversely impact our business; (8) catastrophic loss of one of our key manufacturing facilities, natural disasters, and other unplanned business interruptions; (9) risks of competition, including foreign competition, in our existing and future markets;(10) general business and economic conditions, particularly an economic downturn; (11) the ability of our insurance to cover fully our potential exposures; and (12) the other factors discussed in the under the heading "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors may not contain all of the material factors that are important to you.In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this release may not in fact occur.Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on those statements.We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.