Alan Matula Appointed Interim CEO
Company Provides Preliminary Estimates for
Fiscal Third Quarter 2022 Results; Will Report Final Fiscal Third
Quarter 2022 Results on August 15, 2022
Weber to Pursue Financial Transformation
Initiatives to Navigate the Sustained Challenging Macroeconomic
Environment
Weber Inc. (“Weber” or “the Company”) (NYSE: WEBR), the global
leader in outdoor cooking products, innovation, and technology,
today announced that Alan Matula, the Company’s current Chief
Technology Officer, has been appointed interim Chief Executive
Officer, effective immediately. Chris Scherzinger is departing from
his roles on the management team and Board of Directors. A search
for a permanent CEO will commence immediately.
Matula brings more than 40 years of experience to the role of
interim Chief Executive Officer. He has served as Chief Information
Officer at Weber since 2015 and was named Chief Technology Officer
in March of this year, leading the company’s R&D organization,
IoT, and digital initiatives, as well as global IT organization.
Prior to Weber, Matula served as Chief Information Officer for
Royal Dutch Shell plc.
“We are taking decisive action to better position Weber to
navigate historic macroeconomic challenges, including inflationary
and supply chain pressures that are impacting consumer confidence,
spending patterns, and margins,” said Kelly Rainko, Non-Executive
Chair of the Weber Board of Directors. “The management team is well
positioned to guide Weber through this transitional period and
execute a transformation of the Company’s cost base.”
Rainko continued, “Weber is the clear global category leader,
and our promise of quality and innovation lives at the center of
everything we do. We remain committed to delivering the very best
outdoor cooking experiences to our customers around the world. The
Board thanks Chris for his contributions to Weber over the past
four years.”
PRELIMINARY FISCAL THIRD QUARTER 2022 FINANCIAL
RESULTS
Weber has announced the below preliminary estimates for results
for the three months ended June 30, 2022. The Company’s unaudited
interim consolidated financial statements for the three and nine
months ended June 30, 2022, are not yet complete, and results may
vary from these preliminary estimates upon completion of closing
procedures.
- Net Sales of $525M to $530M. Net Sales performance was affected
by slower retail traffic, both in-store and online, in all key
markets, as well as continued foreign currency devaluations that
impact our reported results. Management believes that the slower
retail traffic patterns are the result of pressured consumer
shopping behaviors globally, due to rising inflation, supply chain
constraints, fuel prices, and geopolitical uncertainty. The Company
expects these market headwinds to continue into the fiscal fourth
quarter of 2022.
- The Company now expects Adjusted EBITDA to be marginally
profitable, which is materially lower than the internal budget
related to the previously announced fiscal year 2022 Adjusted
EBITDA guidance. The Company also expects to have a net loss in the
period ending June 30, 2022. Profitability was negatively impacted
by significant currency devaluations within the quarter,
promotional activity to enhance retail sell through, lower margin
country, and product mix, as well as substantial freight cost
increases.
Weber further announced that it is pursuing a number of
financial transformation initiatives, which may include workforce
reductions, reducing other COGS and SG&A expenses, as well as
tightening its global inventory levels and working capital
positions. The Company will provide additional detail, as well as
its final fiscal third quarter results, on its earnings call on
August 15, 2022.
OUTLOOK
As a result of the uncertainty created by the previously
referenced market factors, the Company is withdrawing its fiscal
year 2022 Net Sales and Adjusted EBITDA guidance.
The Weber Board of Directors has also suspended the quarterly
cash dividend and is committed to working with lending partners to
remain in compliance with the covenants in its credit
facilities.
ABOUT WEBER INC.
Weber Inc. headquartered in Palatine, Ill., is the world’s
leading barbecue brand. The Company’s founder George Stephen, Sr.,
established the outdoor cooking category when he invented the
original kettle charcoal grill 70 years ago. Weber offers a
comprehensive, innovative product portfolio, including charcoal,
gas, pellet and electric grills, smokers, and accessories designed
to help outdoor cooking enthusiasts discover what’s possible. In
2021, the Company acquired June Life Inc., a smart appliance and
technology company, to accelerate the development of its Weber
Connect® technology and digital products. In addition, Weber
recently launched 1952 Ventures, a subsidiary designed to
accelerate new growth platforms and brand extensions for the
Company in the areas of product, technologies, and partnerships.
Weber offers its barbecue grills and accessories, services, and
experiences to a passionate community of millions across 78
countries.
WEBER CONNECT® is a U.S. registered trademark of Weber-Stephen
Products LLC.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains various “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995, which represent Weber’s expectations or beliefs concerning
future events. In some cases, you can identify these statements by
forward-looking words such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “should,”
“expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,”
“predicts,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of these terms
and other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements,
which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about us,
may include projections of our future financial performance, our
anticipated growth strategies and anticipated trends in our
business. These statements are only predictions based on our
current expectations and projections about future events.
There are important factors that could cause our actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially
from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including
those factors discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in our
Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended September 30, 2021,
and in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.
Our future results could be affected by a variety of other
factors, including uncertainty of the magnitude, duration,
geographic reach, impact on the global economy and current and
potential travel restrictions of the COVID-19 outbreak, the
current, and uncertain future, impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on
our business, growth, reputation, prospects, financial condition,
operating results (including components of our financial results),
and cash flows and liquidity, risks relating to any unforeseen
changes to or effects on liabilities, future capital expenditures,
revenues, expenses, earnings, synergies, indebtedness, financial
condition, losses and future prospects, the ability to realize the
anticipated benefits and synergies from business acquisitions in
the amounts and at the times expected, the impact of competitive
conditions, the effectiveness of pricing, advertising, and
promotional programs; the success of innovation, renovation and new
product introductions; the recoverability of the carrying value of
goodwill and other intangibles, the success of productivity
improvements and business transitions, commodity and energy prices,
transportation costs, labor costs, disruptions or inefficiencies in
supply chain, the availability of and interest rates on short-term
and long-term financing, the levels of spending on systems
initiatives, properties, business opportunities, integration of
acquired businesses, and other general and administrative costs,
changes in consumer behavior and preferences, the effect of U.S.
and foreign economic conditions on items such as interest rates,
statutory tax rates, currency conversion and availability, legal
and regulatory factors including the impact of any product recalls;
and business disruption or other losses from war, pandemic,
terrorist acts or political unrest.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220725005478/en/
Investor Relations Contact: investors@weber.com Brian Eichenlaub
Media Contact: media@weber.com Kristina Peterson-Lohman
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