Tag Archives: Brown Forman

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

General Manager of Jack Daniel's Production to Retire; Veteran Brown-Forman Executive Named as Succe

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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General Manager of Jack Daniel’s Production to Retire; Veteran Brown-Forman Executive Named as Successor

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Brown-Forman Corporation (NYS: BFA) (NYS: BFB) announced today that Tommy Beam, senior vice president and general manager of Jack Daniel‘s Production Operations in Lynchburg, Tennessee, is retiring from the company after 48 years of service. His official retirement date is July 31, 2013.

“Tommy Beam has had a truly remarkable career in one of the top jobs not only within Brown-Forman but in our entire industry,” said Jane Morreau, senior vice president and chief production officer. “For the last eleven years he has led our entire Jack Daniel‘s production operations while overseeing several expansion projects during a time of significant growth for the brand. Tommy has been a great leader and we wish him nothing but the best during his retirement.”

Beam joined the Jack Daniel Distillery in 1965 as an accountant and served in a succession of roles with increasing responsibility until being named general manager of all Jack Daniel‘s production operations in 2002. During this time, Beam led a team of 435 employees to record levels of production, reaching shipments of about 11 million nine liter cases of Jack Daniel‘s Tennessee Whiskey worldwide during fiscal 2012.

Brown-Forman also announced that Larry Combs has been named to succeed Beam as senior vice president and general manager of Jack Daniel‘s operations. Combs joined Brown-Forman in 1992 and has been involved in nearly every aspect of the company’s production operations over the last two decades. For the last three years, he led Brown-Forman’s Technical Services group, including Quality Assurance, R&D, Engineering, Packaging and Environmental, with outstanding results. In addition, he has guided our European Operations and External Manufacturing Operations globally. Combs will continue to oversee external manufacturing operations in addition to his new role as general manager of all Jack Daniel‘s production operations.

“Larry has demonstrated excellent leadership ability and we believe is the ideal person to take on the responsibility of managing the productions operations of our largest and most important brand,” stated Morreau.

For more than 140 years, Brown-Forman Corporation has enriched the experience of life by responsibly building fine quality beverage alcohol brands, including Jack Daniel‘s Tennessee Whiskey, Southern Comfort, Finlandia, Jack Daniel‘s & Cola, Canadian Mist, Korbel, Gentleman Jack, el Jimador, Herradura, Sonoma-Cutrer, Chambord, New Mix, Tuaca, and Woodford Reserve. Brown-Forman’s brands are supported by nearly 4,000 employees and sold in approximately 160 countries worldwide. For more information about …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Brown-Forman's Earnings May Not Be So Hot

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By Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool

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Although business headlines still tout earnings numbers, many investors have moved past net earnings as a measure of a company’s economic output. That’s because earnings are very often less trustworthy than cash flow, since earnings are more open to manipulation based on dubious judgment calls.

Earnings’ unreliability is one of the reasons Foolish investors often flip straight past the income statement to check the cash flow statement. In general, by taking a close look at the cash moving in and out of the business, you can better understand whether the last batch of earnings brought money into the company, or merely disguised a cash gusher with a pretty headline.

Calling all cash flows

When you are trying to buy the market’s best stocks, it’s worth checking up on your companies’ free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That’s what we do with this series. Today, we’re checking in on Brown-Forman (NYS: BF.B) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Data is current as of last fully reported fiscal quarter. Dollar values in millions. FCF = free cash flow. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over the past 12 months, Brown-Forman generated $455.5 million cash while it booked net income of $582.3 million. That means it turned 16.3% of its revenue into FCF. That sounds pretty impressive. However, FCF is less than net income. Ideally, we’d like to see the opposite.

All cash is not equal
Unfortunately, the cash flow statement isn’t immune from nonsense, either. That’s why it pays to take a close look at the components of cash flow from operations, to make sure that the cash flows are of high quality. What does that mean? To me, it means they need to be real and replicable in the upcoming quarters, rather than being offset by continual cash outflows that don’t appear on the income statement (such as major capital expenditures).

For instance, cash flow based on cash net income and adjustments for non-cash income-statement expenses (like depreciation) is generally favorable. An increase in cash flow based on stiffing your suppliers (by increasing accounts payable for the short term) or shortchanging Uncle Sam on taxes will come back to bite investors later. The same goes for decreasing accounts receivable; this is good to see, but it’s ordinary in recessionary times, and you can only increase collections so much. Finally, adding stock-based compensation expense back to cash flows is questionable when a company hands out a lot of equity to employees and uses cash in later periods to buy back those shares.

So how …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Brown-Forman Reports Strong Third Quarter Results and Updates Full Year Outlook

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Brown-Forman Reports Strong Third Quarter Results and Updates Full Year Outlook

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Brown-Forman Corporation (NYS: BFA) (NYS: BFB) today reported financial results for its third quarter and the first nine months of fiscal 2013 ended January 31, 2013. Reported net sales increased 7% in the quarter1 to $1,027 million (+8% on an underlying basis2). Reported net sales growth was negatively impacted by the absence of Hopland-based wines, offset by favorable foreign exchange. Reported operating income increased 15% in the quarter to $237 million (+14% on an underlying basis). Diluted earnings per share in the quarter increased 18% to $0.73 compared to $0.62 in the prior year period.

For the first nine months of the year, reported net sales increased 4% (+8% on an underlying basis), reported operating income increased 13% (+13% on an underlying basis), and diluted earnings per share increased 18% to $2.22 compared to $1.89 in the prior year period.

Paul Varga, the company’s chief executive officer said, “We continue to be pleased with our top-tier results in this well-performing industry. Our third quarter and year-to-date results reflect the excellent geographic breadth of our company, as well as improved portfolio and volume/margin balance. Given the momentum we observe today for the North American whiskey category, emerging markets, and premium-priced spirits generally, we believe Brown-Forman is positioned well for continued strong growth.”


Year-to-Date 2013 Highlights

  • Underlying net sales increased 8%, driven by broad-based geographic gains and brand strength, with constant currency net sales3 up 5%
    • Price/mix contributed three points to net sales growth
    • Jack Daniel’s family of brands grew net sales 10%
    • The company’s super and ultra-premium whiskey brands grew net sales 19%
    • El Jimador‘s family of brands grew net sales 7%
    • Finlandia’s family of brands grew net sales 5%
  • Underlying operating income increased 13%, driven by strong top-line growth, gross margin expansion, and operating expense leverage


Year-to-Date 2013 Performance

The …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Brown-Forman Earnings: An Early Look

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Earnings season is winding down, with most companies already having reported their quarterly results. But there are still some companies left to report, and Brown-Forman is about to release its quarterly earnings. The key to making smart investment decisions with stocks releasing their quarterly reports is to anticipate how they’ll do before they announce results, leaving you fully prepared to respond quickly to whatever inevitable surprises arise. That way, you’ll be less likely to make an uninformed knee-jerk reaction to news that turns out to be exactly the wrong move.

The spirits business is generally seen as recession-proof, and Brown-Forman is a big player in the space. But can the company keep up with the rapid pace of consolidation in the industry? Let’s take an early look at what’s been happening with Brown-Forman over the past quarter and what we’re likely to see in its quarterly report on Wednesday.

Stats on Brown-Forman

Analyst EPS Estimate

$0.70

Change From Year-Ago EPS

13%

Revenue Estimate

$1.03 billion

Change From Year-Ago Revenue

7.3%

Earnings Beats in Past 4 Quarters

2

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Will Brown-Forman make investors feel happy this quarter?
Analysts have stood their ground on Brown-Forman over the past few months, keeping their earnings estimates stable on the company. But the stock hasn’t been as fortunate, having lost 6% since early December.

Brown-Forman isn’t a name most people know, but its Jack Daniel‘s brand is the fifth largest spirits brand and has the highest sales volume of any American whiskey in the world. The company also has other premium spirits, including Finlandia vodka, which has enjoyed strong growth in emerging markets and is the top imported vodka in Russia.

Brown-Forman has tried to promote growth through new product innovations, especially in areas like flavored whiskey, where the company has dominant market share over competitors Diageo and Beam despite their having introduced their own flavored-spirits variants. But merger and acquisition activity has also risen in the industry, with Anheuser-Busch seeking to find a way to make its buyout of Grupo Modelo pass regulatory muster that will involve spirits and beer maker Constellation Brands.

What makes Brown-Forman stand out is its attitude toward not just its investors but all of its stakeholders. The company made the Fool’s list of the 25 best companies in America in part because of its spurring of responsible drinking initiatives, corporate giving, and positive employee experience.

In its quarterly report, watch closely for Brown-Forman to discuss the impact of growth moves like its decision to establish a distribution company in France as of the beginning of 2014. Signs that Europe may be rebounding would only be good news for Brown-Forman in its quest for faster global growth.

The best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool’s free report “3 …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance