ATCHISON, KAN. —Sales increased by more than 12% in the Ingredient Solutions segment of MGP Ingredients, Inc. to reach $24 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, which was up from $21.3 million in the previous year’s third quarter. Gross profit in Ingredient Solutions increased 18% to $6.9 million from $5.9 million.

“Specialty wheat starch sales grew 5.4% this quarter while our specialty wheat protein sales grew 11.4%, both primarily driven by increased volume,” said David J. Colo, president and chief executive officer, in a Nov. 3 earnings call. “We feel very good about the robust project pipeline for these products as well as our recently rebranded ProTerra line of textured proteins and remain confident that they will drive long-term growth for this segment.”

Companywide, Atchison-based MGP Ingredients achieved net income attributable to the company of $23.9 million, or $1.08 per share on the common stock, which was more than double the net income of $10.4 million, or 61¢ per share, in the previous year’s third quarter. Third-quarter sales jumped 72% to $176.6 million from $103 million.

In the Distillery Products segment, sales increased 15% to $91 million, up from $79.2 million, and gross profit rose 70% to $27 million, up from $15.9 million. In the Branded Spirts segment sales reached $61.6 million, up from $2.4 million, and gross profit increased to $23.2 million from $1.4 million. The acquisition of Luxco, Inc. drove the growth in Branded Spirits.

“Each of our business segments showed top-line growth over the prior year, and as a result, our consolidated sales and profitability for the quarter achieved record levels,” Mr. Colo said.

MGP Ingredients in the quarter recorded a $6.4 million partial settlement from its insurance carrier related to a dryer fire at the Atchison facility in the fourth quarter of 2020, said Brandon M. Gall, vice president of finance and chief financial officer

“We are on track to start up a replacement drying system in November and expect it to be fully functional later in the quarter,” he said. “We anticipate a portion, if not all, of the gross profit impacts incurred during the downtime will be offset by our business interruption insurance coverage, similar to the past four quarters. The timing of any insurance recovery, despite best efforts, is outside of our control and may not occur in the same period as the recognized loss.”

Year to date, MGP Ingredients achieved net income attributable to the company of $59.4 million, or $2.91 per share, which was up 107% from $28.5 million, or $1.68 per share, in the same time of the previous year. Nine-month sales increased 56% to $459.9 million from $294.6 million. In the Ingredient Solutions segment, sales over the first nine months jumped nearly 17% to $67.3 million from $57.8 million.

For the full fiscal year MGP Ingredients projects sales in the range of $570 million to $615 million, adjusted EBITDA in the range of $125 million to $135 million, and adjusted earnings per share in the range of $3.75 to $4.05.