Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) increased $59.9 million versus the prior year quarter to $176.2 million, and included $4.0 million of LW EMEA integration and acquisition-related expenses ($3.0 million after-tax, or $0.02 per share), $4.4 million ($3.3 million after-tax, or $0.02 per share) of unrealized losses related to mark-to-market adjustments associated with currency hedging contracts, and $7.4 million ($5.5 million after-tax, or $0.04 per share) of foreign currency exchange losses. The prior year quarter included $1.0 million ($0.7 million after-tax, with no per share impact) of foreign currency exchange losses.
Excluding these items, SG&A increased $45.1 million to $160.4 million, primarily due to incremental expenses attributable to the consolidation of the financial results of LW EMEA and higher expenses related to improving the Company’s information systems and enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) infrastructure.
Income from operations increased $166.3 million to $323.3 million, up 106 percent versus the prior year quarter. Adjusted Income from Operations(1), which excludes foreign currency exchange and unrealized mark-to-market derivative gains and losses and items impacting comparability, increased $167.9 million to $329.9 million, up 104 percent versus the prior year quarter. The increases were driven by higher sales and gross profit, partially offset by higher SG&A.
Net income was $234.8 million, up $2.9 million versus the prior year quarter, and Diluted EPS was $1.60, which is the same as the prior year quarter. Net income in the current quarter included a total net loss of $4.7 million ($6.6 million before tax, or $0.03 per share) of foreign currency exchange and unrealized mark-to-market derivative gains and losses and items impacting comparability. Net income in the prior year quarter included a total net benefit of $118.6 million ($154.6 million before tax, or $0.82 per share), including $104.2 million ($140.5 million before tax, or $0.72 per share) in unrealized mark-to-market adjustments associated with commodity and currency hedging contracts (primarily at LW EMEA), $0.7 million ($1.0 million before tax) in foreign currency exchange losses, and a $15.1 million gain (before and after-tax, or $0.10 per share) recognized in connection with the LWAMSA Acquisition, which related to the remeasuring of the Company’s previously held 50 percent ownership interest to fair value.
Adjusted Net Income(1) was $239.5 million, up $126.2 million versus the prior year quarter, and Adjusted Diluted EPS(1) was $1.63, up $0.85 versus the prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA(1) increased $178.2 million to $412.8 million, up 76 percent compared to the prior year quarter. Higher income from operations, which includes the benefit of incremental earnings from LW EMEA, drove the increases.
The Company’s effective tax rate(2) in the first quarter was 22.9 percent, versus 24.1 percent in the prior year quarter. Excluding foreign currency exchange and unrealized mark-to-market derivative gains and losses and items impacting comparability in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 and 2023, the Company’s effective tax rate was 23.1 percent in the current quarter, and 25.0 percent in the prior year quarter. The Company’s effective tax rate varies from the U.S. statutory tax rate of 21 percent principally due to the impact of U.S. state taxes, foreign taxes and currency, permanent differences, and discrete items.
Q1 2024 Segment Highlights
Effective May 29, 2023, in connection with the Company’s Acquisitions and to align with its expanded global footprint, management, including the Company’s chief executive officer, who is its chief operating decision maker, began managing the Company’s operations as two business segments based on management’s change to the way it monitors performance, aligns strategies, and allocates resources. This resulted in a change from four reportable segments to two (North America and International), effective the beginning of fiscal 2024. Beginning with this first quarter of fiscal 2024, all summary financial information is presented under the new reportable segments and corresponding prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with current period classification.
North America Summary
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| | | | | Year-Over-Year | | | | |
| | | Q1 2024 | | Growth Rates | | Price/Mix | | Volume |
| | | (dollars in millions) | | | | | | |
Net sales | | $ | 1,135.4 | | 19% | | 24% | | (5%) |
Segment Adjusted EBITDA | | $ | 379.4 | | 64% | | | | |