Universal Corporation (NYSE:UVV) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call November 2, 2023 5:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Jennifer Rowe - AVP
George Freeman - Chairman, President and CEO
Airton Hentschke - COO
Johan Kroner - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Ann Gurkin - Davenport & Co.
Operator
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Universal Corporation Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded, Thursday, November 2, 2023.
And I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Jennifer Rowe, AVP of Capital Markets. Thank you. Please go ahead.
Jennifer Rowe
Thank you for joining us. George Freeman, our Chairman, President and CEO; Airton Hentschke, our Chief Operating Officer; and Johan Kroner, our Chief Financial Officer, are here with me today and will join me in answering questions after these brief remarks.
This call is being webcast live and will be available on our website and on telephone taped replay. It will remain on our website through February 2, 2024. Other than the replay, we have not authorized and disclaim responsibility for any recording, replay or distribution of any transcription of this call. This call is copyrighted and may not be used without our permission.
Before I begin to discuss our results, I caution you that we will be making forward-looking statements that are based on our current knowledge and some assumptions about the future and are representative as of today only. Actual results could differ materially from projected or estimated results, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For information on some of the factors that can affect our estimates, I urge you to read our 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2023.
Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, impacts of pandemic, customer-mandated timing of shipments, weather conditions, political and economic environment, government regulation and taxation, changes in exchange rates and interest rates, industry consolidation and evolution and changes in market structure or sources.
Finally, some of the information I have for you today is based on unaudited allocation and is subject to reclassification. In an effort to provide useful information to investors, our comments today may include non-GAAP financial measures. For details on these measures, including reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures, please refer to our current earnings press release.
Our fiscal year 2024 is developing very well with operating income for the six months and quarter ended September 30, 2023, up 30% and 46%, respectively, compared to the six months and quarter ended September 30, 2022. Gross profit margins also rebounded nicely in the first half of fiscal year 2024 compared to the same period in fiscal year 2023 with our Ingredients companies making a positive contribution. Our Tobacco Operations segment delivered strong performance in the first half of fiscal year 2024 on robust demand for leaf tobacco from our customers.