07:58 AM EST, 11/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Premium Brands Holdings ( PRBZF ) , a producer, marketer and distributor of branded specialty food products, on Wednesday said a problem at its Sandwich group took a bite out of its third quarter earnings and revenue, while it moved to sell two assets and insisted it still sees a "clear path" to achieving 2027 targets.

The company reported third quarter adjusted EPS of $1.11 per share, representing a 12.6%, or $0.16 per share, decrease as compared to the third quarter of 2023 and also marking a big miss against a consensus mean forecast at Capital IQ of $1.37.

PHB had record third-quarter revenue of $1.67 billion, but it still missed a Capital IQ forecast of $1.74 billion. It said Specialty Foods' U.S. growth initiatives in sandwiches were impacted by consumer demand related challenges faced by a major foodservice customer.

PBH also announced the sale of a vacant property for $26 million, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter. And it announced the signing of a non-binding letter of intent to sell and lease back a recently expanded production facility located in the State of Washington for US$68.0 million.

It declared a dividend of $0.85 per common share for the fourth quarter of 2024.

"Despite temporary headwinds faced by our Sandwich group in the quarter, we remain on course and continue to make steady progress towards achieving our short and long-term strategic objectives," said George Paleologou, President and CEO. "Our results for the third quarter were generally in line with our expectations except for a material shortfall in sales to a key customer of our Sandwich group. We believe that this challenge is temporary, and sales to this customer will recover and eventually return to their historic growth rates."

PBH was down $0.66 at $84.73.