Dean Foods company reported first quarter 2015 results. For the third consecutive quarter, operating results improved, primarily due to price realization, and solid execution within an easing commodity environment.
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Q1 net loss per share was $0.78 and adjusted net income per share was $0.24. The first quarter 2015 average Class I Mover, a measure of raw milk costs, was $16.79 per hundred-weight, a 29% sequential decrease from the fourth quarter of 2014 and a decrease of 25% from the first quarter of 2014.
Total volume across all products was 662 million gallons for the first quarter of 2015, a 3% decline compared to total volume of 685 million gallons in the first quarter of 2014. Based on the USDA's recently published category data, fluid milk volumes improved sequentially from a 3.7% decline in the third quarter to a 3.4% decline in the fourth quarter.
For the month of January 2015, fluid milk volumes declined approximately 3.1% year-over-year, on an unadjusted basis. On this same basis, Dean Foods' share of U.S. fluid milk volumes decreased to 35.5%, from 35.7% in the first quarter of 2014.
Consolidated net cash provided by continuing operations for the three months ended March 31, 2015, totaled $158 million. Free cash flow provided by continuing operations, which is defined as net cash provided by continuing operations less capital expenditures, was $138 million for three months ended March 31, 2015. Free cash flow for the quarter includes $56 million of federal tax refunds.
During the first quarter, the company completed its debt refinancing. In February, the company issued 6.5% senior unsecured notes due 2023 with an aggregate principal amount of $700 million.
The company used a portion of the net proceeds of the offering to finance the redemption of its outstanding senior unsecured 7% notes due 2016 and used the remaining net proceeds to repay a portion of the outstanding borrowings under the company's senior secured credit facility and receivables-backed facility.
In March, the company entered into a new 5-year $450 million senior secured revolving credit facility. Concurrently, the company amended and restated its existing $550 million receivables securitization facility to extend the maturity through March 2018, and conform the covenants to the new senior secured revolving credit facility.
Total debt at March 31, 2015, net of $30 million cash on hand, was approximately $823 million. The company's maximum senior secured net leverage ratio calculated in accordance with the new $450 million senior secured revolving credit facility, which for purposes of calculating indebtedness deducts up to $50 million of cash on hand and excludes borrowings under the receivables securitization facility, was zero times as of the end of the first quarter of 2015.
While no longer a financial covenant under the company's senior secured credit facility, the company's funded net debt to EBITDA ratio improved over a full turn from December 31, 2014 to 3.35 times at the end of the first quarter of 2015.
The company expects second quarter adjusted diluted earnings of between $0.20 and $0.30 per share. ■