According to a recent press report, an analysis of payment data for Beyond Meat collected by Creditsafe suggests delays in paying vendors with extensions beyond 90 days.  In July, one third of invoices were between 1 to 30 days late for payment and 13 percent were 30 to 60 days late.

This indicates inadequate cash flow and is consistent with successive quarterly reports including Q2 of 2024.  The report on the company published in the August edition of CHICK-NEWS noted that management is currently negotiating a restructuring of the balance sheet given impending maturity of bonds. The Company is once more offering optimistic projections of revenue and profitability based on reformulation of products and rationalization of manufacturing.

As at the end of Q2 FY 2024, ending June 29^th the Company recorded a 12-month trailing operating margin of -36 percent and a profit margin of -99 percent. Market capitalization on September 3^rd was $395 million down from $619 a year ago, reflecting a concurrent decline in share price from $12.12 to $5.13. Institutional shareholding has sunk to 40 percent with 39 percent of outstanding shares short.

Failure to pay vendors according to accepted time periods, will have negative effects on the cash flow of their suppliers and may impact sourcing of ingredients by Beyond Meat.

The success or otherwise of the “health and wellness” marketing initiative that forms the basis of a program to reverse a sales decline will be evident in results posted for Q3 and beyond.