Advertising, promotional and selling.
Advertising, promotional and selling expenses increased by $20.6 million, or 8.5%, to $262.4 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, as compared to $241.8 million for the thirty-nine weeks
ended September 29, 2018. The increase was primarily due to increased investments in local marketing, media and production, higher salaries and benefits costs, increased freight to distributors due to higher volumes and the addition of Dogfish Head brand related expenses beginning July 3, 2019.
Advertising, promotional and selling expenses were 27.7% of net revenue, or $64.87 per barrel, for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, as compared to 31.4% of net revenue, or $72.66 per barrel, for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018. This decrease per barrel is primarily due to shipments growing at a higher rate than advertising, promotional and selling expenses. The Company invests in advertising and promotional campaigns that it believes will be effective, but there is no guarantee that such investments will generate sales growth.
General and administrative.
General and administrative expenses increased by $15.6 million, or 23.7%, to $81.6 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, as compared to $66.0 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018. The increase was primarily due to
non-recurring
Dogfish Head Transaction-related fees of $5.6 million, increases in salaries and benefits costs and the addition of Dogfish Head general and administrative expenses beginning July 3, 2019.
Impairment of assets decreased by $0.3 million for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, as compared to the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018. This decrease was primarily due to lower write-downs of brewery equipment at the Company’s Pennsylvania and Cincinnati breweries in 2019.
During the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, the Company recorded a net income tax expense of $30.6 million which consists of $34.5 million income tax expenses partially offset by a $3.9 million tax benefit related to stock option exercises in accordance with ASU
2016-09.
The Company’s effective tax rate for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, excluding the impact of ASU
2016-09,
increased to 27.2% from 23.4% for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018, primarily due to the
one-time
favorable impact of tax accounting method changes in 2018 and no similar
one-time
favorable impacts in 2019.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Cash decreased to $27.1 million as of September 28, 2019 from $108.4 million as of December 29, 2018, reflecting cash used for the Dogfish Head Brewery Transaction and purchases of property, plant and equipment, partially offset by cash provided by operating and financing activities.
Cash provided by operating activities consists of net income, adjusted for certain
non-cash
items, such as depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation expense, other
non-cash
items included in operating results, and changes in operating assets and liabilities, such as accounts receivable, inventory, accounts payable and accrued expenses.
Cash provided by operating activities for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019 was $142.7 million and primarily consisted of net income of $96.3 million and
non-cash
items of $68.4 million, partially offset by a net increase in operating assets and liabilities of $22.0 million. Cash provided by operating activities for the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018 was $108.1 million and primarily consisted of net income of $70.9 million and
non-cash
items of $59.3 million, partially offset by a net increase in operating assets and liabilities of $22.1 million.
The Company used $232.1 million in investing activities during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, as compared to $38.6 million during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018. Investing activities primarily consisted of $165.5 million of investment in Dogfish Head, net of cash acquired, and capital investments made mostly in the Company’s breweries to drive efficiencies and cost reductions, and support product innovation and future growth.
Cash provided by financing activities was $8.2 million during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019, as compared to $66.2 million used by financing activities during the thirty-nine weeks ended September 29, 2018. The $74.4 million increase in cash provided by financing activities in 2019 from 2018 is primarily due to a decrease in stock repurchases under the Company’s Stock Repurchase program, partially offset by a decrease in proceeds from the exercise of stock options.
During the thirty-nine weeks ended September 28, 2019 and the period from September 29, 2019 through October 20, 2019, the Company did not repurchase any shares of its Class A Common Stock. As of October 20, 2019, the Company had repurchased a cumulative total of approximately 13.8 million shares of its Class A Common Stock for an aggregate purchase price of $840.7 million and had approximately $90.3 million remaining on the $931.0 million stock repurchase expenditure limit set by the Board of Directors.