Leading oat milk producer Oatly has published its financial results for the first quarter of 2024, revealing an “encouraging start to the year”. The results have boosted Oatly stock, which is up 3.42% and has risen above the 200-day line.
Compared to the same period last year, Oatly’s Q1 revenue rose by 1.8% to $199.2 million, while constant currency revenue increased by 1.2% due to growth in the North America and Europe & International segments. Gross margin reached 27.1%, up 9.7 percentage points.
First quarter net loss was $45.8 million, an improvement of $29.8 million compared to Q1 2023; meanwhile, adjusted EBITDA loss was $13.2 million, a $36.7 million improvement. These results indicate that Oatly is moving towards break-even.
For the remainder of 2024, Oatly anticipates constant currency revenue growth of 5% to 10%, adjusted EBITDA loss of between $35 and $60 million, and capital expenditures below $75 million.
“We are clearly making progress”
Oatly previously saw a stock surge of over 30% in November 2023, after announcing that its oat milk would be available at all 250+ Insomnia Cookies locations in North America. Earlier that year, the company had revealed it was moving towards an “asset-light supply chain strategy” with the aim of boosting profitability.
While Oatly stock subsequently leveled off again, it saw another boost in January of this year when the company announced a major partnership with classic US ice cream chain Carvel. Oatly has also recently become the exclusive oat milk partner for bakery café chain TOUS les JOURS in the US.
“I am pleased to report a solid start to the year,” said Oatly CEO Jean-Christophe Flatin. “In the first quarter, our brand remained strong, our volumes moved in the right direction, our costs structurally came down while also benefiting from timing, and our business became stronger. We are clearly making progress on the three strategic pillars we are focusing on in 2024: bring the Oatly magic to more people, continue our work on the calibration of resources, and focus on execution. Overall, we are off to an encouraging start to the year.”
He added, “While we are pleased with this progress to date, we recognize we are only one quarter into our year, and we know we need to continue driving results and gaining traction on our strategic actions as we drive toward structural, consistent profitable growth. Accordingly, our full-year guidance remains unchanged.”
