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Tag: Pyxus International

  • Pyxus International Posts ‘Solid’ Quarter

    Pyxus International Posts ‘Solid’ Quarter

    Photo: AOI

    Pyxus International announced results for its fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, 2024.

    “We are pleased to report a solid first half, establishing the necessary foundation to achieve strong full-year results,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.

    The company reported second-quarter sales and other operating revenues of $566.3 million compared to $624.3 million for the prior fiscal year’s second quarter. The change versus the prior year primarily reflects a shift in timing of certain shipments, a portion of which were accelerated into the company’s first quarter of the current fiscal year, with shipments being delayed out of the second quarter being expected to benefit second-half results.

    The 9.3 percent reduction in second-quarter revenue compared to the prior-year second quarter was the result of a volume decline of 23 percent, partially offset by a 14.5 percent improvement from pricing driven by cost increases.

    The company’s reported gross profit was $75.4 million in the second quarter compared to $88.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2024. This reduction was associated with the shipment of inventory purchased during El Nino market conditions in South America.

  • Pyxus Retires Debt

    Pyxus Retires Debt

    Photo: Pyxus Internationall

    Pyxus International has retired the remaining $20.4 million aggregate principal amount of its 10 percent senior secured notes due 2024 at maturity. This payment, along with the company’s recently completed discounted repurchases under a privately negotiated agreement with Monarch Alternative Capital of its 8.50 percent senior secured notes and its senior secured Pyxus term loans both due in 2027, completes the planned elimination of $142.9 million of long-term debt from Pyxus’ capital structure, as announced March 25, 2024.

    “We are pleased our sustained, disciplined approach to working capital management has resulted in the completion of our planned elimination of approximately a quarter of our long-term debt,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.

    “These efforts have enabled us to steadily strengthen our business, improve our balance sheet and reinforce our position in the global marketplace. We remain focused on reducing our borrowing costs and believe the ongoing improvement in our credit profile positions us to decrease financing costs through our global lending partners, as well as evaluate a range of opportunities to deliver a more cost-effective capital structure.”

    The retired notes are the remainder of an original $280.8 million principal amount of 10 percent Senior Secured Notes due 2024 that were issued in 2020. As part of the company’s debt exchange transactions completed in February 2023, it successfully exchanged 92.7 percent of the then-outstanding principal amount of those notes for its 8.50 percent senior secured notes due Dec. 31, 2027.

  • Pyxus Appoints Chief Legal Officer

    Pyxus Appoints Chief Legal Officer

    Photo: RerF

    Pyxus International has appointed David Singer as senior vice president, chief legal officer and secretary. Singer will report to Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel and join the company’s executive management team.

    Singer, who served on Pyxus’ legal team from August 2018 to May 2022, rejoins the company with nearly 20 years of experience, most recently serving as chief administrative officer and general counsel for Kymera International, a global specialty materials company. His previous roles include senior in-house counsel positions and experience as a litigation, corporate and regulatory attorney.

    “We are pleased to welcome David back to Pyxus in this new capacity,” said Sikkel in a statement. “Given our diverse global footprint and the regulatory complexities of our operations, David’s legal expertise, strategic insight and deep understanding of our business are invaluable. His leadership will help us uphold a culture of responsibility and compliance as we pursue our strategic goals and drive stakeholder value.”

    Singer succeeds Will O’Quinn, who has been senior vice president, chief legal officer and secretary since 2011. O’Quinn will remain a key member of the company’s leadership team, assuming the position of senior vice president of special projects, and will continue reporting to Sikkel.

    “We thank Will for his contributions to grow the company’s legal function to what it is today and appreciate his enthusiasm to leverage his legal expertise and company-specific business acumen to deliver success in his new role while positioning Pyxus for the future,” stated Sikkel.

  • Profitability and Revenue up at Pyxus

    Profitability and Revenue up at Pyxus

    Photo: Pyxus International

    Pyxus International reported sales of $634.9 million for the first quarter of 2025, up 33.1 percent from the comparable 2024 quarter. Operating income grew to $40.5 million, and net income was $4.6 million.

    Pieter Sikkel

    “We are pleased with our strong first-quarter results, which are underscored by gains in revenue and profitability, as well as the significant growth of shipments for the period,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.

    “Earlier leaf purchasing compared to the prior year remained a theme in the first quarter, particularly in South America and Africa. This trend was driven by a highly competitive market environment, which was influenced by reduced crop sizes due to El Nino and sustained, strong demand.

    “Our crop purchases in South America were completed early in the quarter, and we are nearing completion of our buying activities across Africa. We are pleased with our teams’ ability to navigate the competitive market to successfully secure leaf volumes on an expedited crop purchasing schedule.

    “As mentioned last quarter, we do expect some margin pressure in coming quarters, particularly related to shipments out of South America. This is mainly due to impacts on this crop from El Nino on volume and margin, as well as shipping container shortages, primarily from Asia.”

    For fiscal year 2025, Pyxus continues to expect sales in the range of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $165 million to $185 million.

  • Pyxus Emission Targets Validated

    Pyxus Emission Targets Validated

    Photo: chaylek

    The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Pyxus International’s near-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.

    As part of the in-depth review and approval process, the SBTi classified Pyxus’ scope 1 and 2 near-term target as in line with a 1.5 degrees Celsius trajectory—a pathway to limit the warming of Earth’s average surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels—consistent with the Paris Agreement. SBTi also evaluated and approved the company’s scope 3 near-term target.

    By 2030, Pyxus aims to reduce its direct (scope 1) and indirect (scope 2) emissions by 42 percent compared to its 2020 base year. It has also committed to the reduction of its indirect value chain-related emissions from purchased goods and services (scope 3) by 25 percent within the same timeframe.

    “The SBTi’s approval of our science-based emissions reduction targets is a significant milestone for the Company and further confirms our commitment to and the validity of our approach to GHG reduction,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.

    “Since our base year, we have reported a 9 percent decrease in our absolute emissions—largely attributable to the utilization of alternative fuel sources—and we will continue to implement improvements that generate operational efficiencies, mitigate risks and reduce our environmental impact going forward.”

    The SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature that provides companies with a clear pathway to set science-based targets and align emissions reduction efforts with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

  • Pyxus Completes Strong Fiscal 2024

    Pyxus Completes Strong Fiscal 2024

    Photo: Pyxus International

    Pyxus International reported sales and other revenue of $2 billion in fiscal year 2024, up 6.1 percent over its 2023 results. The company attributed this growth to “consistent execution” and an increase in average pricing of 10.5 percent, partially offset by slightly lower volume of 4.4 percent compared to fiscal 2023. Operating income increased 46.3 percent to $137.2 million, reflecting a more favorable business mix as well as improved operating efficiencies.

    “We achieved strong fiscal year 2024 results through our continued identification and capture of opportunities for growth, acceleration of our operating cycle times, improved working capital efficiency and increased availability of our total liquidity,” said Pyxus’ President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement.

    “Our discipline is enabling a significant reduction of long-term debt that strengthens our capital structure and demonstrates our ability to achieve near-term operating and financial objectives while ensuring that the business remains positioned for long-term success.”

    For fiscal 2025, Pyxus anticipates sales to range between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA to range between $165 million and $185 million. The company believes it is well positioned to successfully navigate an industry operating environment for fiscal 2025 that, due to the El Niño weather phenomenon, is generally expected to have a short-term negative impact on margins. 

  • Pyxus Retires Debt

    Pyxus Retires Debt

    Photo: Jade

    Pyxus Holdings has signed a repurchase agreement with certain holders of the company’s 8.50 percent senior secured notes due 2027 and its senior secured Pyxus term loans due 2027.

    “We are pleased our strategy has resulted in the growing strength of our operational and financial performance. Combined with our disciplined approach to working capital management, we have realized a significant opportunity to materially reduce our long-term debt,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement. “These retirements improve our overall capital structure, directly enable lower annual interest costs and reinforce our ability to pursue ongoing opportunities to lower our cost of borrowing and drive future profitability.”

    Pursuant to the repurchase agreement, as of March 29, 2024, the company will have paid approximately $60 million in cash plus certain customary fees and expenses and accrued and unpaid interest to repurchase from the holders approximately $78 million of aggregate principal amount of the 2027 notes, a 23 percent discount to par value.

    Under the repurchase agreement, the company has also acquired the right, which it expects to exercise at its sole discretion and subject to certain timing and other considerations, to repurchase from the holders up to an additional $34.2 million of aggregate principal amount of the 2027 notes for $26.3 million, at the same discount to par value, and $10.3 million aggregate principal amount of the 2027 loans for $9.1 million, a 12 percent discount to par value.

    All repurchases, including associated accrued and unpaid interest through their respective repurchase dates as well as certain fees and expenses, are expected to be primarily funded from cash on hand.

    In addition to the $122.5 million reduction in aggregate principal amount of long-term debt from these actions, the company expects to retire, at maturity, the remaining outstanding $20.4 million aggregate principal amount of 10 percent senior secured notes due Aug. 24, 2024. As a result of these anticipated actions, the aggregate principal amount of the company’s long-term debt outstanding at $600.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2023, would be reduced by $142.9 million. The annual interest cost reduction associated with this elimination of long-term debt is $12.9 million per year.

  • Pyxus Recognized as Environmental Leader

    Pyxus Recognized as Environmental Leader

    Image: blacksalmon

    Pyxus International has been recognized as a leader in climate change transparency and performance by the environmental nonprofit CDP. CDP ranked Pyxus among the top tier of responding companies in the climate change category, earning the business “Leadership” status, the highest level of achievement.

    “Achieving CDP’s Leadership status is a testament to our global teams’ hard work, ingenuity and commitment to growing a better world,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement. “We are pleased that our unified approach to sustainable action and core belief in transparency has earned us this coveted recognition, and as we move forward in our net-zero journey, it will serve as a reminder that our efforts, large and small, make an impact.”

    Pyxus’ A- score for its actions to mitigate climate change ranked higher than the industry, North America and global averages of B, C and C, respectively, and reflects the company’s 11 percent year-over-year reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as reported in its FY2023 Sustainability Report and its CDP disclosure. Additionally, the company earned a B score in both the water security and forestry categories, which indicates it has addressed the environmental impacts of the business and has implemented good environmental management practices specific to water and forestry.

    Pyxus’ scores reflect data compiled from its family of companies and brands, and were determined by CDP-accredited scoring partners on a scale ranging from A to D- and then measured against more than 21,000 entities as part of the 2023 process.

    Pyxus began reporting its greenhouse gas emissions to CDP in 2009, its water data in 2014 and its forestry data in 2020.

  • Pyxus Reports Strong Results

    Pyxus Reports Strong Results

    Photo: Pyxus International

    Pyxus International reported sales and other operating revenues of $1.6 billion for the nine months that ended Dec. 31, 2023, up by 8.2 percent over the figures posted for the comparable 2022 period. The company reported positive net income in each of the first three quarters of fiscal 2024 to reach a total of $12.7 million compared to a net loss of $18.5 million in the same period of fiscal 2023. Average gross profit per kilogram increased by 28.3 percent to $0.77.

    “Our teams around the world continue to demonstrate their ability to drive broad-based improvement, leveraging our business momentum and strong position in the current market to produce solid third-quarter and year-to-date results,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement. “This success positions us to increase our full-year guidance as we remain focused on concluding an outstanding fiscal year.”

    The company attributed its improved sales and operating revenues to consistent execution, an inventory mix well matched to specific customer demand and an increase in average pricing of 10 percent. This growth was slightly offset by a 1.9 percent reduction in volume.

    Sales and other operating revenues in the third quarter of $529.8 million were lower as compared to $655.6 million in the same period of the prior year. The decrease was principally due to a 22.7 percent decrease in volume, which primarily reflects a difficult comparison to the year-ago quarter, which benefited from the inclusion of previously delayed shipments as well as acceleration of shipments from the current-year quarter into the first half of the fiscal year, according to Pyxus. The impact of the volume decline was partially offset by an average market sales price increase of 3.7 percent in this year’s third quarter.

    Third quarter net income improved to $3.8 million as compared to a net loss of $2.3 million in the prior year’s third quarter despite the inclusion of a noncash expense of $12 million related to a pension termination in the United Kingdom.

    “Our operational discipline, improved working capital efficiency and geographic diversification enabled us to purchase more tobacco even as we accelerated our repayment of outstanding lines of credit,” said Sikkel. “We believe these attributes enable the company to deliver significant and sustainable value to its financial stakeholders and support further potential improvements in our operational results and working capital.”

  • Pyxus Publishes 2023 Sustainability Report

    Pyxus Publishes 2023 Sustainability Report

    Image: narawit

    Pyxus International published its Fiscal Year 2023 Sustainability Report detailing the company’s progress toward its global environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, contributions to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the measurable impacts of its sustainability initiatives around the globe.

    “Fiscal year 2023 marked our 150th year of business, a significant milestone that highlights the strength and sustainability of our company,” said Pyxus President and CEO Pieter Sikkel in a statement. “While we have a long history of driving impactful actions, this year’s report is a testament to our decision to integrate the company’s business and sustainability strategies and the positive results that stem from that decision.”

    During FY23, the company surpassed its global target to reduce total water withdrawal by 10 percent by 2030, achieving a reduction of 12.87 percent. This was accomplished despite the expanded scope of the target, which previously encompassed only groundwater consumption.

    Pyxus reduced its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 9.39 percent and Scope 3 emissions by 11.17 percent when compared to the prior reporting year. The company planted trees on 48 percent more acreage compared to the prior year, as the company continued its work with stakeholders, including its contracted farmers, to reduce deforestation linked to crop production.

    While we have a long history of driving impactful actions, this year’s report is a testament to our decision to integrate the company’s business and sustainability strategies and the positive results that stem from that decision.

    Pieter Sikker, president and CEO, Pyxus International.

    In its processing operations, Pyxus recycled, reused or repurposed 40.8 percent of waste generated.

    The company exceeded its annual community support target by more than four times, benefiting over 600,000 individuals, a total that comes on top of the support the company provides to its contracted growers. Pyxus maintained a lost-time injury (LTI) rate of less than 0.5 per 100 employees over 200,000 hours worked for the second year in a row with an LTI rate of .41.

    The company also achieved a 99.5 percent Code of Business Conduct training completion rate among eligible employees.

    “I am proud of our teams around the world who contributed to our FY23 results. In addition to surpassing two of our ESG targets—water and community support—we successfully navigated challenges and mitigated risks to deliver stakeholder value while strengthening our position as a forward-thinking company as we chart our path through the next 150 years,” stated Sikkel.

    The sustainability report outlines Pyxus’ performance during the period of April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.