Milling & Baking News Corporate Profiles - 2017 - 116

Company Overview

Post Holdings Inc.
International footprint expands as portfolio aligns

Chief executive officer -
Robert Vitale

116 \ October 2017

Post Holdings,Inc.
net income (loss)
in millions
fiscal years ended in Sept.

Post shifted its Attune Foods cereal and granola business to Post Consumer Brands, which
was formed in 2015 when Post Foods and MOM
Brands came together, an integration that
stretched into 2017.
Weetabix and Attune both target the health
and wellness segment.
"This will allow each business to share best
practices, manage costs on a combined basis
and leverage the capabilities and strengths of
the combined business," Mr. Vitale told analysts in a May 9 conference call.
Post gained ownership of five manufacturing
plants in the deal, three in the U.K. and two in
North America.
In the first quarter of 2018, Post will look to
complete a $1.5 billion acquisition of Bob Evans Farms, a producer and distributor of refrigerated potato, pasta and vegetable side dishes, pork sausage, and refrigerated and frozen
products under the Bob Evans, Owens, Country
Creek and Pineland Farms brands.
Post plans to combine its existing Michael
Foods Group refrigerated egg, potato and
cheese business with Bob Evans to establish
a refrigerated retail business within the company. The Michael Foods platform, purchased
by Post in 2014, will take on Bob Evans' food
service business.
"Combining with Bob Evans expands our portfolio of top brands and gives Post a leading position in the perimeter of the store," Mr. Vitale said.
Post Holdings' third-quarter adjusted EBITDA was just more than $244 million. The third
quarter was the first of the fiscal year in which
EBITDA declined in the Michael Foods Group,
which Mr. Vitale said was offset by growth in
the balance of the portfolio.
"We expect more of the same in the fourth
quarter," Mr. Vitale told investors during an
Aug. 4 third-quarter earnings conference call.
"We're pleased with the results on the balance
of the portfolio, and we remain confident that
we will end the year with growth in our legacy
business and an attractive outcome from Weetabix. We're quite excited as we move forward
and are looking ahead in '18." CP

-$3.3

2016

2015

2014

-$115.3

-$343.2

Post Holdings,Inc.
net sales
in millions
fiscal years ended in Sept.

ost Holdings, Inc., St. Louis, has its
sights set on integration and alignment
of its portfolio of brands after buying
Weetabix and announcing the acquisition of
Bob Evans Farms in 2019.
Post widened its international footprint with
the July purchase of United Kingdom-based Weetabix Ltd. for approximately $1.9 billion, incorporating Weetabix North America into Post Consumer Brands. The expanded portfolio now includes
the Weetabix brand, top muesli brand Alpen and
health-and-wellness-focused Barbara's.
Robert Vitale, chief executive officer of Post
Holdings, said Weetabix fulfills Post's longstanding international expansion plan.
"We wanted to make that leap through a
transaction in which we had category knowledge and had some North American connectivity" to best manage natural risk of international
expansion, Mr. Vitale told shareholders.
The 85-year-old Weetabix, the No. 2 U.K.
manufacturer of ready-to-eat cereals, holds the
No. 1 brand position. The company introduced
Weetabix to Canada in 1967 and entered the
U.S. market a year later.
"It is rare to be able to acquire a brand with
this level of market share and awareness in a
large mature market," Mr. Vitale said.
Concurrent with the Weetabix integration,

2016

2015

2014

$5,026.8

$4,648.2

$2,411.1

Post Holdings,Inc.
share price

per share
$89

$83

$77

$71
Sept. Dec. Mar. June Sept.
2016
2017

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