McCormick has announced its first quarter 2024 results, which showed net sales were $1.602.7 billion, as compared to $1.565.5 billion in the previous year. This represents a 3% increase.
Operating income was $234 million, as compared to $199 million in the previous year. Gross profit was $599.3 million, as compared to $562.9 million in the previous year.
Flavor Solutions Segment
Net sales for the segment were $681.2 million, as compared to $656 million in the previous year.
In the Americas, flavor solutions sales rose 5% compared to the first quarter of 2023.
2024 Outlook
McCormick expects sales to range between (2)% to 0% compared to 2023.
Operating income in 2024 is expected to grow by 8% to 10% from $963 million in 2023.
Brendan M. Foley, president and CEO, said:
We are pleased to start the year with strong first quarter performance, which reflects the early success of our prioritized investments to drive impactful results. We drove sequential improvement in volumes in our Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments. We remain confident in the sustained trajectory of our business, and in our ability to deliver on our 2024 outlook and our long-term financial objectives.
Our commitment to deliver on our long-term objectives is underpinned by our proven track record, our broad and advantaged global portfolio, our focus on high growth, profitable categories, our alignment with consumer trends, as well as our differentiated heat platform. We continue to prioritize investments in key categories and executing on the initiatives within our growth levers, including brand marketing, new products and packaging, category management, and proprietary technology. We are well positioned with our cost savings programs to fuel investments as well as generate operating margin expansion.
As we look ahead, we are pleased with the momentum we are seeing in the business and continue to expect improved volume performance, which will build throughout the year. Our results for the quarter coupled with our growth plans, give us confidence in achieving the mid to high-end of our projected constant currency sales growth for 2024. Our business fundamentals are strong, and we are confident we will continue to deliver long-term profitable growth and drive value for shareholders.
Lastly, I want to recognize McCormick employees, as they remain the cornerstone of our success. I am grateful for and energized by both their ongoing contributions and the results that they are driving. Importantly, we remain committed to elevating our power of people culture and to building the next generation of leaders and capabilities that will drive our success well into future years.
