Utz Brands Provides Business Update at 2024 Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference

Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE: UTZ) (“Utz” or the “Company”), a leading U.S. manufacturer of branded Salty Snacks and a small-cap value and growth Staples equity, today provided a full-year 2024 financial outlook update in conjunction with its participation at the 2024 Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference.

"We experienced a strong start in the first half of the year, thanks to our continued focus on our growth strategies and value creation initiatives,” said Howard Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of Utz. “Further, we are executing well on our distribution growth opportunities, which we expect will continue into 2025 and beyond. However, our consumption trends in the third quarter to date moderated more than we expected due to a more competitive promotional environment primarily in response to consumer value-seeking behavior. We will continue to make appropriate adjustments to our promotional activities to meet consumer value expectations but will remain disciplined and focused on building sustainable long-term demand. As a result, today we are revising our 2024 Organic Net Sales growth outlook.”

Friedman continued, “Our accelerated productivity cost savings give us the flexibility to expand our margins and increase investments in our brands to support our geographic expansion. We remain confident that we are well-positioned to deliver the 2026 targets that we introduced at our Investor Day in December 2023, and that we will successfully navigate this dynamic environment.”

For the full year fiscal 2024, Utz is reaffirming its outlook for Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Earnings per Share growth and Net Leverage Ratio, and revising its Organic Net Sales growth outlook⁽¹⁾:

• Organic Net Sales are now expected to grow between 2% - 2.5% compared to its previous expectation of approximately 3%. The revised outlook is primarily due to the expectation for a more competitive promotional environment in the second half of 2024.
• Adjusted EBITDA is expected to grow 5% - 8%, which is consistent with the Company’s prior expectation.
• Adjusted Earnings per Share are expected to grow 28% - 32%, which is consistent with the Company’s prior expectation.
• Net Leverage Ratio is expected to be approximately 3.6x at year-end fiscal 2024, which is consistent with the Company’s prior expectation.

The Company’s full year fiscal 2024 outlook is based on the following expectations that all remain unchanged: