CORAL GABLES, FL - Fresh Del Monte Produce recently reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended December 29, 2023. While the company was pleased with several aspects of the report, Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, noted in a release that strategic changes may be up ahead.

"During the fall of this year, we conducted a strategic review and assessed our operational priorities of our North America operations, including Mann Packing,” Abu-Ghazaleh noted in the report. “Preliminary findings of this review were finalized in the fourth quarter. As a result of this strategic review and other factors, we recorded a non-cash impairment of $131.2 million in the quarter, primarily related to our Mann Packing operation. We are exploring strategic alternatives for this business while continuing to focus on improving profitability in all areas of our business, including innovations and strategic partnerships, in addition to controlling our costs this next fiscal year."

Currently, there are no plans in regard to the Mann Packing operation.

"We are pleased with many aspects of our full year 2023 results, including our strong gross margins and cash flow which enabled us to have strong full year adjusted earnings per share growth, reduce our long-term debt by $140 million to end the year with an adjusted leverage ratio of 1.7x and continue to return value to shareholders by increasing our dividend 25 percent for the second year in a row,” Abu-Ghazaleh explained. “Our ability to control costs and sell underutilized assets for $120 million in 2023 allowed us to achieve the company's highest full-year gross profit and margin since 2016.”

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