Lake Success, NY—The Hain Celestial Group reportedfinancial resultsfor the first quarter 2020 ended September 30, 2019, and announced their new CFO.

Highlights of the quarter include:
  • Net sales decreased 7% compared to the prior year period. When adjusted for Foreign Exchange and Acquisitions, Divestitures, SKU rationalization, and other items, net sales decreased 1%.
  • Adjusted gross margin of 20.9%, a 240 basis point increase over the prior year period.
  • Operating income of $2.5 million compared to an operating loss of $28 million in the prior year period.
  • Net loss of $5 million compared to a net loss of $23.1 million in the prior year period.
  • EBITDA of $17.7 million compared to a loss of $11.3 million in the prior year period.
  • EBITDA margin of 3.7%, a 590 basis point improvement over the prior year period.
In an investor call, Mark Schiller, President and CEO, expressed pride in the results: “Our progress is already showing… We’ve started executing our strategy, gross margins and EBITDA margins have expanded several hundred basis points. And in North America, where issues and opportunities were most evident, I’m very proud to report that EBITDA grew 55% this quarter, the first year-over-year growth in the last two years.”
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In a press release, the company announced that Javier H. Idrovo is joining Hain asEVP and CFO, effective December 2, 2019. He previously held leadership positions at The Hershey Company as CAO most recently; prior to that, he held the positions of SVP Finance and Planning, and SVP Strategy and Business Development. Before joining The Hershey Company, he worked at Dole Food Company, first as CFO and then as President of Dole Packaged Foods.

He will succeed James Langrock, who has served as Hain’s CFO for the past several years. Langrock will remain at the company through the end of the year.

Schiller said in the release: “I am excited to welcome Javier to Hain Celestial. He has a strong financial and strategic background and deep industry experience, which will help him make an immediate impact at Hain Celestial. He joins us at an ideal time as we accelerate our efforts to simplify our organization, standardize key processes and eliminate inefficient spending.

“James has been an integral member of our executive team, having led our financial team during our transformation. On behalf of our management team and Board of Directors, I would like to thank him for his many contributions in my onboarding and helping us to build a stronger foundation to pave the way for our successful turnaround.”