Pyxus Exceeds Guidance for 2023

Pyxus International reported sales and other operating revenues of $1.91 billion in 2023, up 16.8 percent from the prior fiscal year. Average gross profit per kilo increased 13 percent primarily due to product mix in Asia and customer mix in North America. Operating income increased $52.1 million to $93.8 million from the prior year. Net loss attributable to Pyxus International was $39.1 million, improving 52.4 percent from the prior fiscal year.

“Our teams achieved strong results for the fiscal year as we exceeded our most-recent adjusted EBITDA guidance, improved our leverage ratios, and aggressively managed our working capital to improve both our operating and free cash flow,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.

“We experienced the third consecutive year of La Nina weather patterns, which limited tobacco supplies and increased tobacco costs by as much as 50 percent in some of our markets. Inflationary tobacco costs, increasing interest rates, and lingering geopolitical issues added to a complicated crop year. We successfully overcame these challenges.”

“We offset reduced production in certain markets by sourcing tobacco from our global network of farmers around the world to meet our customers’ demand for sustainably grown compliant leaf in a short crop year. Uncommitted inventory at year-end was $19 million, which reflects the short-supply and high-demand environment we operated in during fiscal 2023.

Pyxus said it expects the momentum created this year to continue through fiscal year 2024. Current projections reflect a partial recovery of the tobacco supply compared to last year and continued strength in demand and pricing. For the full 2024 fiscal year, Pyxus expects sales to be between $1.9 billion and $2.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA to be between $155 million and $180 million.