-=Hain Celestial (HAIN) reported earnings on Thur 7 Feb 2019 (b/o)

Hain Celestial misses by $0.12, misses on revs; slashes FY19 outlook

• Reports Q2 (Dec) earnings of $0.14 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 worse than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $0.26; revenues fell 5.2% year/year to $584.16 mln vs the $611.18 mln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
• Gross margin of 19.6%, a 210 basis point decrease over the prior year period; adjusted gross margin of 20.3%, a 240 basis point decrease over the prior year period as a result of planned higher trade and promotional investments and increased freight and commodity costs in the United States.
• EBITDA of $19.2 million compared to $53.3 million in the prior year period; Adjusted EBITDA of $44.9 million compared to $67.7 million in the prior year period.
• "Although we are not satisfied with our near-term performance, we are starting to see sequential improvement in our numbers and are working diligently to restore profitable growth in the United States, while continuing our profit momentum in the United Kingdom and Europe. My team and I have been in similar situations during our previous roles, which gives us confidence in our abilities to execute Hain Celestial's business transformation. We believe we have a core set of high margin brands, with mainstream potential, competing in fast-growing categories, and we plan to simplify our business in order to focus more resources towards these high potential opportunities to seek to deliver attractive returns to stockholders."
• Co lowers guidance for FY19, sees EPS of $0.60-0.70 (Prior $1.21-1.38), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.12 S&P Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY19 revs of $2.32-2.35 bln (Prior $2.5-2.56 bln) vs. $2.45 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.