Oct 13 - Central European Distribution Corporation announced that it is revising full year 2009 net sales guidance from $1.55-$1.68 billion to $1.58 - $1.70 billion and full year comparable fully diluted earnings per share guidance from $2.40 - $2.65 to $2.35 - $2.50.
The revised 2009 guidance takes into account the Company's acquisition of additional equity interests in Parliament and the Russian Alcohol Group, which are being consolidated beginning at the end of the third quarter 2009, as well as dilution from the Company's public offering of common stock in July, and recent exchange rate movements. Management's assumptions regarding the full year 2009 average exchange rates used in preparing this guidance have decreased from 3.20-3.30 PLN/USD to 3.10-3.20 PLN/USD and from 32.00-33.00 RUR/USD to 31.50-32.50 RUR/USD.
The Company also announced full year 2010 net sales guidance of $1.80-$2.00 billion and full year comparable fully diluted earnings per share guidance of $3.00-$3.15. This guidance takes into account expected issuances of common stock to Lion Capital LLP in the year 2010 in connection with the Company's acquisition of additional equity interests in the Russian Alcohol Group from Lion, current exchange rates, as well as management's expectations regarding underlying business performance, which includes management's expectations regarding synergies from the integration of the Company's Russian businesses in 2010.
William Carey, President and CEO, commented: "The Company has continued to focus on its key objectives of increasing margins, gaining market share as well as improving working capital to continue to reduce our financial leverage. We believe that with the addition of two new lower mainstream brands that we are launching this quarter to our already leading portfolio in Russia, we are well positioned for a strong year in 2010."
Mr. Carey continued: "We expect that the Company should continue to see further improvements in its gross and operating margins in 2010, which we estimate should be in the range of approximately 200 basis points. This improvement would highlight the Company's continued drive to optimize is operating efficiency and product mix. With our recent acquisition of the remaining outstanding minority equity interests in Parliament, we are starting to move forward on our plans for integrating certain segments of our Russian business in the first quarter of 2010. We have been encouraged that we have seen our markets stabilize over the summer and expect an uptick in consumer demand as we head into our peak sales period and into the year 2010."
CEDC has reported net income and fully diluted net income per share guidance on a non-GAAP basis, referred to in this release as comparable non-GAAP net income. CEDC's management believes that the non-GAAP reporting giving effect to the adjustments shown in the attached reconciliation provides meaningful information and an alternative presentation useful to investors' understanding of CEDC's core operating results and trends. CEDC discusses results and guidance on a comparable basis in order to give investors better insight into underlying business trends from continuing operations. CEDC's calculation of these measures may not be the same as similarly named measures presented by other companies. These measures are not presented as an alternative to net income computed in accordance with GAAP as a performance measure, and you should not place undue reliance on such measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures can be found in the section "Unaudited Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures" at the end of this press release.