Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:LWAY) Q1 2023 Results Conference Call May 15, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Julie Smolyansky - President and Chief Executive Officer

Conference Call Participants

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Lifeway Foods First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call with me today is Julie Smolyansky, President and Chief Executive Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the press release that went out this morning. If you have not received the release, it is available on the Investor Relations portion of Lifeway's website at www.lifewayfoods.com. A recording of this call will be available on the Company's website.

Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that the prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. The words believe, expect, anticipate and other similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements do not see future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on them. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. Lifeway assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking projections that may be made in today's release or call.

All of the forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date of this call. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Lifeway's Chief Executive Officer, Julie Smolyansky.

Julie Smolyansky

Thank you, Anna Kate, and good morning to everyone joining us today. As always, we greatly appreciate your interest in Lifeway Foods. I'm pleased to be speaking with you today and thrilled to report that the momentum from our record-breaking fiscal year 2022 has continued to flow into 2023.

Before diving into results, I'd like to thank the entire Lifeway team for the incredible efforts and execution they consistently put forth, which enable us to deliver for all of our customers and clients and further progress us towards our goal of increasing access to our best-in-class better-for-you offering.

Now I will review our first quarter 2023 results, highlighted by our 14th consecutive quarter of strong year-over-year net sales growth and driven by the continued dominance of our core Lifeway Kefir assortment of offerings.

Net sales were $37.9 million for the period ended March 31, 2023, an increase of $3.8 million or 11.2% compared to the first quarter in 2022. The net sales increase was primarily driven by higher volumes of our branded drinkable kefir and the impact of price increases implemented during the fourth quarter of 2022. It is worth noting that we are lapping quite a strong first quarter in 2022.