American Vanguard Announces Preliminary Unaudited Full Year 2022 Financial Highlights - Seite 2

Mr. Wintemute added, “Both suppliers are now up and running. Further, we are now producing Aztec and will continue over the next 75 days as we look to fill the large book of orders that are in-hand in time for planting. As a leading supplier of corn soil insecticides, we are also working closely with our customers to address grower needs through the increased sale of other products in this portfolio, including Counter, Force, SmartChoice, Index and Xpedient. In short, during the first half of 2023, we expect to largely recoup Aztec sales that we had anticipated in the final quarter of 2022; this, in turn, will further enhance our 2023 performance.”

Mr. Wintemute continued, “We otherwise are well positioned for greater growth and profitability in 2023. Our balance sheet is strong. In fact, even after the repurchase of $34 million of our common stock during 2022, our debt, net of cash, as of the end of 2022, improved to $31 million as compared to $36 million at the end of 2021. Further, we expect to benefit from strong demand, low inventory of our products in the distribution channel, improved supply chain for raw materials and lower freight costs.”

2022 FY Metrics	Target	Estimate
Revenue Growth	8-11%	~10%
Gross Profit Margin	38-40%	~40%
Opex as % of Sales	31-33%	~33%
Interest Expense	$3.7M	$3.9M
Tax Rate	Mid 20%	TBD
Debt-to-adj EBITDA	<1.0X	~0.7X
Adj EBITDA Increase	24-28%	15-18%
Net Income Increase	60-70%	TBD

Mr. Wintemute concluded, “In the final column of the accompanying table, we are providing updated full-year 2022 performance metrics to the extent that we can calculate them as of today, based upon preliminary, unaudited financial data. We will give a full account of our financial performance in our Form 10-K and, during our year-end conference call currently scheduled for March 13, 2023, will provide further detail on our 2023 outlook and multi-year performance targets.”