Dean Foods Company earned $0.48 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, a 129% increase over $0.21 per diluted share in first quarter 2008. Net income from continuing operations for the first quarter totaled $75.3 million, compared with $30.8 million in the prior year’s first quarter.
Net sales for the first quarter totaled $2.7 billion, a decrease of 12% from net sales in the first quarter of 2008. The net sales decrease in the quarter was due to the pass-through of lower dairy commodity costs and slightly lower net sales in the WhiteWave branded portfolio, offset by volume growth in the Fresh Dairy Direct and Morningstar businesses.
Consolidated operating income in the first quarter totaled $192.8 million, an increase of 42% from $136.1 million in first quarter 2008. Adjusted first quarter consolidated operating income totaled $202.8 million, a gain of 47% from $138.3 million in first quarter 2008.
“Clearly, the business was very strong in the first quarter, and we are off to a fast start in 2009,” said Gregg Engles, chairman and chief executive officer. “Both of our operating segments contributed to the strong results, and we continued to move forward on our strategic initiatives. The strong performance across the business drove consolidated adjusted operating income growth of 47% in the quarter. DSD Dairy, which has recently been renamed Fresh Dairy Direct, contributed to this strong result with operating income growth of 39% over the year ago period. WhiteWave-Morningstar also had a particularly strong quarter with operating income growth of 40% over the year-ago period.”
