American Vanguard Reports Fourth Quarter & Full Year 2020 Results

American Vanguard Corporation (NYSE: AVD) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.

Fiscal 2020 Fourth Quarter Financial Highlights – versus Fiscal 2019 Fourth Quarter:

• Net sales were $141 million in 2020, compared to $131 million in 2019
• Net income was $7.9 million in 2020, compared to $3.4 million in 2019
• Earnings per diluted share of $0.26 in 2020, compared to $0.12 in 2019
• EBITDA¹of $17.1 million in 2020, compared to $12.0 million in 2019

Fiscal 2020 Full Year Financial Highlights – versus Fiscal 2019 Full Year:

• Net sales were $459 million in 2020, compared to $468 million in 2019
• Net income was $15.2 million in 2020, compared to $13.6 million in 2019
• Earnings per diluted share of $0.51 in 2020, compared to $0.46 in 2019
• EBITDA¹ of $47.6 million in 2020, compared to $48.9 million in 2019

Eric Wintemute, Chairman and CEO of American Vanguard, stated: "2020 proved to be a very challenging year as the world coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Global implementation of restrictive public health protocols resulted in conservative distribution channel procurement behavior, significant sales and marketing customer access limitations, and dramatic adaptation to remote work processes in many operational and administrative functions. Throughout the year, we maintained very strict health and safety regimens and thankfully have been able to keep AMVAC manufacturing facilities fully functioning and our workforce largely free of serious illness.”

Mr. Wintemute continued: "Despite a difficult and somewhat depressed revenue global environment, our 2020 year-over-year bottom-line performance has increased significantly. This resulted from pandemic restrictions affecting travel activities, lower interest expenses primarily due to reduced federal base lending rate, the benefit of securing a biological technology acquisition at a favorable purchase price, and other non-operating income. Recent product acquisitions continue to broaden our traditional portfolio and company acquisitions have expanded the footprint of our international business. This diversification along with our financial discipline allowed us to achieve reasonable revenue, strong profitability and a de-levered balance sheet despite the difficult business circumstances of this past year.”

Mr. Wintemute concluded: "Looking forward, we believe that our Company is situated well in both domestic and international markets and are consequently optimistic about the prospects for low double-digit revenue growth in 2021. This optimism is driven by the belief that global economies are poised to start re-opening, higher commodity prices will encourage crop protection procurement, the expectation of larger corn acreage in the U.S., continued steady supply availability of key raw and intermediate materials, greater AMVAC product participation in the soybean segment, and the continued expansion of our international business. Looking forward, we expect gross profit margins to remain strong and operating expenses will be tightly managed as we return to more normal operations during the middle to later part of 2021. Further, we will continue to develop our innovative Envance, biological and SIMPAS technologies which collectively represent an integrated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) platform. We look forward to giving you a more detailed presentation during our upcoming earnings call.”

Conference Call

Eric Wintemute, Chairman & CEO, Bob Trogele, EVP & COO and David T. Johnson, VP & CFO, will conduct a conference call focusing on the financial results and strategic themes…at 4:30 pm ET on March 11, 2020. Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing (201) 493-6744. Please call in 10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin and ask for the American Vanguard call. The conference call will also be webcast live via the News and Media section of the Company’s web site at www.american-vanguard.com. To listen to the live webcast, go to the web site at least 15 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. If you are unable to listen live, the conference call will be archived on the Company’s web site.

About American Vanguard

American Vanguard Corporation is a diversified specialty and agricultural products company that develops and markets products for crop protection and management, turf and ornamentals management and public and animal health. American Vanguard is included on the Russell 2000® and Russell 3000® Indexes and the Standard & Poor’s Small Cap 600 Index. To learn more about American Vanguard, please reference the Company’s web site at www.american-vanguard.com.

The Company, from time to time, may discuss forward-looking information. Except for the historical information contained in this release, all forward-looking statements are estimates by the Company’s management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ from management’s current expectations. Such factors include weather conditions, changes in regulatory policy and other risks as detailed from time-to-time in the Company’s SEC reports and filings. All forward-looking statements, if any, in this release represent the Company’s judgment as of the date of this release.

¹ Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is not a financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), operating income (loss) or any other financial measure so calculated and presented, nor as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. The items excluded from EBITDA are detailed in the reconciliation attached to this news release. Other companies (including the Company’s competitors) may define EBITDA differently.

² EBITDA is not a financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), operating income (loss) or any other financial measures so calculated and presented, nor as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. The items excluded from EBITDA are detailed in the reconciliation attached to this news release. Other companies (including the Company’s competitors) may define EBITDA differently.

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