SOLID QUARTER OF EARNINGS FOR HIGH LINER FOODS

Solid quarter of earnings for High Liner Foods

High Liner Foods Incorporated (TSX: HLF) (“High Liner Foods” or “the Company”), a leading North American value-added frozen seafood company, has announced financial results for the fifty-two weeks ended December 31, 2022.

“We ended the year with another solid quarter of earnings, including higher sales, gross profit and Adjusted EBITDA, supporting our delivery of the fourth consecutive year of Adjusted EBITDA growth,” said Rod Hepponstall, President and Chief Executive Officer of High Liner Foods. “This is a tremendous result that stands out in our corporate history and reflects the significant transformation of our business and the talent and hard work of our team.”

“Our success during 2022 and in the fourth quarter was driven by strong operational performance, ongoing business improvements, efficiencies, investment in inventory and in key customer, supplier and distributor relationships. This strengthened our ability to deliver solutions for our customers and consumers based on quality, convenience and value and helped further our competitive positioning in the market.”

Mr. Hepponstall, added, “In the year ahead, we will continue to execute against our branded and value-added strategy to innovate across our portfolio and inspire innovation in the category.”

Key financial results, reported in U.S. dollars (“USD”), for the fifty-two weeks ended December 31, 2022, or Fiscal 2022, are as follows (unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are relative to the fifty-two weeks ended January 1, 2022, or “Fiscal 2021”):

• Sales increased by $194.3 million, or 22.2%, to $1,069.7 million compared to $875.4 million and sales volume increased by 17.2 million pounds, or 7.4%, to 250.9 million pounds compared to 233.7 million pounds;
• Gross profit increased by $31.4 million, or 15.8%, to $229.9 million compared to $198.5 million, while gross profit as a percentage of sales decreased to 21.5% compared to 22.7%;
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹ increased by $13.5 million, or 14.9%, to $103.9 million compared to $90.4 million, while Adjusted EBITDA as a Percentage of Sales⁽¹⁾ decreased to 9.7% compared to 10.3%;
• Net income increased by $12.5 million, or 29.6%, to $54.7 million compared to $42.2 million and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) increased to $1.56 per share compared to $1.20 per share;
• Adjusted Net Income⁽¹ increased by $6.9 million, or 15.4%, to $51.7 million compared to $44.8 million and Adjusted Diluted EPS⁽¹⁾ increased to $1.48 per share compared to $1.28 per share; and
• Net Debt to Rolling Twelve-Month Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ was 3.7x at December 31, 2022 compared to 3.0x at the end of Fiscal 2021 due to increased investment in inventory.

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