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spk02: Greetings and welcome to the Whole Earth Brands Incorporated second quarter 2021 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Jeff Sonick of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.
spk01: Thank you and good morning. Today's presentation will be hosted by Albert Manzoni, Chief Executive Officer, and Andy Rusi, Chief Financial Officer. Executive Chairman Erwin Simon is also participating on the call and will be available for Q&A. The comments during today's call and the accompanying presentation contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts are considered forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in the company's filings with the SEC. We'll also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the tables included in the earnings release, which can be found on the investor relations website, investor.wholeearthbrands.com, for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures. With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Albert Manzoni, CEO.
spk03: Thank you, Jeff, and thanks to everyone for joining the call today. Whole Earth Brands is the global leader in the better for you sweetener and reduced sugar categories. Our vision is to grow Whole Earth Brands to a 1 billion plus revenue global food and beverage company by doing three things. One, disrupt the massive 100 billion total addressable markets dominated by refined sugar and penetrate large adjacent categories on a mission to make sweet healthy. Our diet is leading to a global health problem. Refined sugar is a concern for all generations. Hall of Friends is part of the solution by providing consumers with delicious sugar substitutes, baking solutions, and over-ready-to-eat, no-sugar added products. We believe that we are perfectly aligned with the powerful consumer macro trends toward health and wellness that are here to stay and are only accelerating with the shifting demographics and emergence of millennials and Gen Z. Two, drive category leadership through best-in-class innovation and brand building, expanding our global distribution, leveraging our exceptional supply chain capabilities, continuing to accelerate our growth through strategic F&A, as well as taking full advantage of the expertise of our world-class team with long experience at large global food companies. And three, evolve Whole Earth Brands from a mostly sweetener business to a holistic, better-for-you food company. In Q2, our business performed above expectations. consistent with our past three quarter performances since becoming a public company. Our branded CPG segment faced some headwinds in Q2 due to a tough prior year comparison due to the COVID led pantry loading last year. This resulted in a year over year decrease of 8% on an organic constant currency basis. That said, We believe a more appropriate measure of performance is looking through the lenses of our two-year stack growth. We're very pleased by our plus 15% increase in revenue on a constant currency basis versus the second quarter of 2019. This demonstrates the strength and momentum of our portfolio and our ability to generate long-term sustainable revenue growth. We delivered a company record adjusted EBITDA of 22 million, an increase of 9% versus Q2 2020, driven by revenue growth, contributions from the swerve and wholesome acquisitions, improved the margins, and productivity gains. I am also pleased to report that swerve and wholesome acquisitions, which almost doubled our revenue in our first year as a public company, had been fully integrated And we're now operating as one business. We are delivering on our synergies as planned. Our power of one with our retail partners has also been launched with very positive results to date. We are fortunate to have already been working on various optimization initiatives in what is now a decidedly inflationary environment. and we believe that we have several tools to help offset inflation with the implementation in the coming quarters and years. This includes the driving supply chain productivity, pricing, trade spend optimization, and overall productivity initiatives. As such, we remain comfortable reiterating our fiscal 2021 full-year guidance, Whether COVID goes away or remain, we fast a little longer. We have demonstrated over the past four quarters the strength and resilience of our business. As we look ahead, we're confident in our ability to deliver strong, sustainable growth and take advantage of the tremendous market opportunities I mentioned earlier. The basis of our confidence lies in our proven operating model built on five strategic pillars, brand building, innovation, distribution, supply chain, and our world-class team. Let me provide some Q2 highlights. On brand building, you can now discover new packaging design and campaigns consistent with each brand's distinct promise for equal, wholesome, and whole hearth. with each brand also showing a proudly part of Whole Earth brand's logo. We have already gotten a highly positive response to the changes we have made from consumers and our retail partners. Swerve connects with consumers seeking to reduce or eliminate sugar in their diets with a robust consumer digital marketing campaign, as well as partnership with Joy Bauer and the registered dietetician community. Whole Earth is rooted in plant-based sweeteners for beverages, baking, and more that open a world of goodness among the wellness community. And our wholesome portfolio of organic, fair trade sweeteners encourages consumers across the country to bake things better. On innovation, we are on track to meet our goal of 30 product launches this year in branded CPGs. and 15 in flavors and ingredients, as we focus on delivering on our commitment to having over 15% of our Branded CPG segment revenues derived from product innovation on a three-year rolling basis. Our innovation in Branded CPG is focused on high growth territories, baking, plant-based, keto-friendly zero sugar, functional benefits, organic and fair trade in current categories of sugar substitutes and base mixes, as well as expanding into adjacencies. Whole Earth's recent innovation is anchored in high-growth ingredients such as monk fruit, allulose, and collagen peptides, and incremental usage occasions with success across key retailers. Swerve and Wholesome new base mixes are being rolled out in North America and ready to disrupt the massive 1.8 billion base mix category with innovation in both card-conscious keto and premium scratch baking, capturing multiple locations with offerings ranging from scratch to ready-to-eat. Swerve's portfolio of base mixes in cake, cookie, brownie, and pancake, waffle are keto-friendly, no added sugar, gluten and grain-free, low glycemic, natural, and are suitable for individuals with diabetes. Wholesome is launching a new line of organic, fair trade, scratch-quality premium baked mixes, capturing the growth terrain of consumer convenience with scratch-quality premium ingredients. These baked mixes are sweetened with organic fair trade sweeteners, such as honey, agave, coconut sugar, brown sugar, and cane sugar that supports farmer communities. And we have introduced innovation in better-for-you chocolate, cake mixes, jams across our international markets. On growing distribution, as I said in our last earning call, Our expanded portfolio of brands significantly improves our shelf presence and visibility with retail customers. In North America, we have integrated our sales organization to expand our partnership with retailers and lead the category in sweeteners and baking. We call it the power of one. It is now underway with retailers and based on early results, we believe it will yield enormous benefits for the category and our business, similar to the success it has yielded across most other CPG categories. We are very pleased with our confirmed gains in distribution in North America and our expanding distribution breadth and depth across brands. As products get on the shelf of retailers in Q3 and Q4, we will share growth in ACV and number of stores in Nielsen and Mulow. Our e-commerce platform, which already contributes over 10% of our global sales, is well-positioned to benefit from the consumers' buying pattern shifts toward e-commerce purchasing. And we're very pleased with the resurgence of food service. We're leveraging the national distribution footprint of Equal, to drive placement of our expanded front-of-the-house sweetener portfolio and create culinary solutions and programs to capitalize on incremental back-of-the-house opportunities with beverage mixology and bakery ingredients. On manufacturing and supply chain, supply chain is undoubtedly a competitive advantage for whole-earth brands and continued supply chain improvements will allow us to mitigate inflation and drive top-line revenue growth, margin expansion, and free cash flow generation. We are progressing as planned on our branded CPG supply chain reinvention project to provide added scale and leverage our overhead costs beginning in the second half of 2021 through 2023 by optimizing the combined assets of Holder Friends, Swerve, and Wholesome. You can find more details about this initiative in our supplemental earnings presentation. Additionally, within our flavors and ingredients segment, our manufacturing footprint optimization resulted in the closing of our Camden production facility. We expect to deliver approximately 2 to 3 million savings in 2021 and an additional 2 to 3 million in 2022 consistent with our plans. With respect to our flavors and ingredients segments, we are very pleased with Q2 performance. Aside from favorable comparisons versus the second quarter of 2020, when orders were pulled forward into Q1 to prepare for COVID, our investments in R&D and sales are paying off, with good momentum in the business and significant new customer wins thanks to 15 product innovations launched in 2021. We expect the business to continue to produce strong free cash flow, driven by our global leadership position in liquorice and our diverse end markets. While in the near term, we're focused on our organic growth efforts and generating strong free cash flow in order to reduce our balance sheet leverage, M&A remains an important part of our growth strategy. We intend to continue to increase penetration in the better for you sweetener and adjacent sweets category through organic initiatives and M&A based on a strong pipeline of opportunities. These categories include baking mixes, chocolates, bars, jams, and spreads to name a few and represent over 30 billion in addressable market opportunity with a projected 8% CAGR in the coming years. Our ability to complete the integration of Swerve and Wholesome at a fast pace is evidence of M&A being a core competency based on the deep expertise and experience we have in our leadership team. With that, Andy will now take you through our financials and outlook for 2021.
spk06: Thank you, Albert, and good morning to everyone. As a reminder for those new to our company, Our consolidated financials reflect both predecessor and successor periods indicative of the June 25, 2020 business combination dates. The second quarter results that I'll discuss compare the successors' second quarter 2021 results into June 30th, 2021 to the combined second quarter 2020 results, which includes the predecessors' April 1st, 2020 through June 25th, 2020 results and the successors' June 26th, 2020 through June 30th, 2020 results. As a result, our reported GAAP financials may not be comparable to the prior year period. I'll call out some of the items that impact comparability where appropriate to enhance your understanding of our financial progress and also point you to our non-GAAP reconciliations at the end of the press release for additional detail. Also, I encourage you to view the supplemental earnings presentation on our investor relations website. Of note, we completed the acquisition of Swerve on November 10, 2020, and Wholesome on February 5, 2021. I will speak to reported results, which include Swerve and Wholesome, for the full second quarter period. Additionally, we will provide some select pro forma results as if we owned Swerve and Wholesome in 2021, 2020, and 2019 to assist in your analysis of the organic growth of the combined portfolio. For the second quarter into June 30, 2021, consolidated product revenues were $126.5 million, representing an 89.3% increase from $66.8 million for the prior year quarter. On a pro forma basis, including swerve and wholesome for the full quarter in both the current and prior year periods, organic product revenue declined 1.4%, compared to the prior year second quarter or declined 3.8% on a constant currency basis. Reported gross profit was $41.4 million compared to $26.6 million in the prior year second quarter and gross profit margin of 32.7% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to 39.8% in the prior year period. Results were positively influenced by $11 million of contributions from the Swerve and Wholesome acquisitions, revenue growth from the legacy branded CPG and flavors and ingredients segments, and productivity gains. Adjusted gross profit margin when adjusting for all adjustments was 34%, down from 41.2% in the prior year, driven primarily by the inclusion of Wholesome's private label business. Consolidated operating income was $6 million compared to an operating loss of $5.2 million in the prior year, and consolidated net income was $3.7 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared to a net loss of $6 million in the prior year. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 94.9% to $22 million driven by contributions from the Swerve and Wholesome acquisitions revenue growth and productivity gains, partially offset by public company costs. Now, shifting to segment results for Q2. Branded CPG segment product revenues increased $56 million, or 130%, to $99.1 million for the second quarter of 2021, compared to $43.1 million for the same period in the prior year. On a constant currency basis, product revenues increased 123.1%, driven by the addition of swerve and wholesome revenue, which was not comparable to the prior year period. Constant currency results reflect the strong growth in our natural brands. On a pro forma basis, including the impact of both acquisitions in the current year and prior year periods, organic constant currency product revenue decreased 8.1% compared to the prior year second quarter. On a two-year stacked basis, when comparing second quarter 2021 to second quarter 2019, branded CPG segment pro forma organic constant currency revenue increased 14.5%. Operating income for the branded CPG segment was $10.3 million in the second quarter of 2021 compared to operating income of $1.8 million for the same period in the prior year. The increase of $8.5 million was driven by contributions from the acquired swerve and wholesome businesses, revenue growth, and productivity gains within the segment. Flavors and ingredients segment product revenues increased 15.3% to $27.4 million for the second quarter of 2021, compared to $23.8 million for the same period in the prior year. The increase was driven by growth across most of the product lines, and a favorable comparison in the prior year, where the business realized a surge in product orders in March 2020 related to COVID-19, which reduced revenues in the second quarter of 2020. Operating income for the flavors and ingredients segment was $3.7 million in the second quarter of 2021, compared to operating income of $0.1 million in the prior year period. The increase was driven primarily by revenue growth. Operating expenses were flat at $2.8 million of facility closure and restriction costs and $0.9 million of amortization expenses were offset by transaction-related expenses of $3.8 million recorded in 2020 that did not reoccur. Finally, beginning with the first quarter of 2021, our corporate office functions are now reported and included under Corporate. whereas these associated expenses were previously reported within the company's branded CPG segment. Corporate is not a reportable or operating segment. Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current presentation. Operating expenses for corporate for the second quarter of 2021 were $8 million compared to $7 million of operating expenses in the prior year. Operating expenses per corporate increased $1 million, primarily driven by increased public company costs, stock-based compensation, partially offset by transaction-related expenses of $4.5 million in 2020. Now, let me briefly cover June year-to-date results. Consolidated product revenues were $232.3 million, representing an increase of 74.9% compared to June year-to-date 2020. also an increase of 71.1% on a constant currency basis. On a pro forma basis, including the impact of both acquisitions for the full six-month periods ended June 30, 2021 and 2020, organic product revenue increased 3% or increased 0.9% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior year. Branded CPG segment product revenues were $180.9 million and increased 117.2% compared to the prior year period, also an increase of 111% on a constant currency basis. Constant currency results reflect the acquisitions of Wholesome and Swerve and growth in our natural brands. On a pro forma basis, including the impact of both acquisitions, For the full six-month periods ended June 30, 2021 and June 30, 2020, organic constant currency product revenue increased 0.2% compared to the prior year period. On a two-year stacked basis, when comparing first half 2021 to first half 2019, branded CPG segment pro forma organic constant currency revenue was up 11.5%. Operating income was $20.4 million compared to an operating loss of $5 million in the prior year period. The increase was due to an $11.1 million goodwill asset impairment charge in the prior year, $7.9 million of contributions from the acquired Swerve and Holson businesses, revenue growth, and productivity gains. Flavors and ingredients segment product revenues were $51.4 million and increased 3.9% as compared to the prior year period. The increase was driven by growth in derivatives. Operating income for the six-month end of June 30, 2021 was $4.7 million compared to an operating loss of $23.9 million in the prior year period. The $28.6 million increase was primarily driven by asset impairment charges totaling $29.5 million recorded in the first quarter of 2020, transaction-related expenses of $3.8 million also recorded in 2020, and revenue growth partially offset by $4.5 million of facility closure and restructuring costs and a $1.9 million increase in amortization expense due to purchase accounting revaluations of intangible assets. Reported gross profit was $77 million, an increase of $24.5 million from $52.5 million in the prior year period, and gross profit margin was 33.1% in the six months ended June 30th, 2021, down from 39.5% in the prior year period. Adjusted gross profit margin when adjusting for all adjustments was 35.3%, down from 41.5% in the prior year, driven primarily by Holson's private label business. Consolidated operating income was $2.9 million compared to an operating loss of $38.5 million in the prior year period, and consolidated net loss was $8.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2021, compared to a net loss of $34.6 million in the prior year period. The improvement was largely due to the non-cash asset impairment charges recorded in 2020, the positive impact of acquisitions, and lower transaction-related costs. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased 64.9% to $39.4 million, driven by contributions from the acquired Swerve and Wholesome businesses, revenue growth, and productivity, partially offset by increased public company costs. Now, moving to cash flow and the balance sheet. Cash used in operating activities for June year-to-date was $9.5 million. That is net of $17 million of one-time cash costs. Our June year-to-date capital expenditures were $4.6 million. Free cash flow when excluding cash-related adjustments such as M&A transaction costs, restructuring, public company readiness, and other one-off items was $3 million. As of June 30th, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $24.1 million and $384.7 million of long-term debt, net of unamortized discounts and issuance costs. On February 5th, 2021, we entered into an amended and restated credit agreement in part to finance the acquisition of Wholesome Sweeteners. The new agreement provides for a $75 million revolving credit facility and a $375 million seven-year senior secured first lien term loan fee. Using our forecasted 2021 adjusted EBITDA, our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio on June 30th, 2021 was 4.5 times. Reducing balance sheet leverage is a corporate priority, and we estimate that we will achieve a ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA of approximately four times by December 31st, 2021. Now, shifting to our outlook, we are reiterating our full year 2021 guidance, which includes our recent acquisitions of Swerve and Wholesome. The outlook represents our expectations for growth on a pro forma organic basis and margins for the combined business. We define pro forma organic growth to be as if the company owned both Swerve and Wholesome for the full years 2020 and 2021. We continue to expect Consolidated product revenues to be in the range of $493 to $505 million, represented reported growth of greater than 78%, and pro forma organic growth of 3 to 5%. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA in the range of $82 to $85 million, representing reported growth of greater than 50%, and pro forma organic growth of 3 to 5%. We also expect adjusted EBITDA margins to be approximately 17% of consolidated product revenues. Adjusted gross profit will be 34% to 35% of product revenues, which again reflects the influence of our acquired assets, Folsom and Swerve. Total capital expenditures will be in the range of $10 to $12 million. Lastly, we expect a 2021 GAAP tax rate of approximately 7% for the year, reflective of discrete one-time favorable tax items. On balance and in relative terms, if you think about the seasonality or cadence for the year and with the added contribution from Swerve and Wholesome, we expect a sequential build from first half to second half of 2021 in terms of revenue and adjusted EBITDA dollar contributions. We expect the operational plan will be visible each quarter as we move through the year, with each sequential quarter being better than the other as we capture the benefits from product innovation, distribution gains, and enhance productivity from our footprint optimization project. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, now over to you. Please open the call to Q&A.
spk02: Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for your questions. Our first questions come from the line of Rob Dickerson with Jefferies. Please proceed with your questions.
spk05: Great. Thank you so much. Good morning, everyone. I guess the first question I have, Andy, is kind of where you ended, just in terms of that, you know, sequential build and kind of what's implied in guidance in the back half. Maybe if you could just, you know, and Alfred, if you want to jump into it, it's great. Just kind of provide some color, you know, in terms of, you know, visibility on, you know, potential distribution gains, I guess, you know, in Q3 and kind of as you get through year end. And I kind of circle back to some comments you had made last quarter when you suggested that full distribution or distribution on the core Whole Earth brand, at least, seems like that should be accelerating through the back half of the year. That's the first question.
spk03: Rob, good morning. And since you suggested to start with Andy, I will follow your request, and I'm happy to add after that.
spk06: Sure. Happy to jump in and good morning, Rob. You know, I think actually we've got a slide in our supplemental deck, page 21 of our supplemental deck, that kind of walks you through the first half, the second half guide, and how we bridge from our first half figures in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. You know, and what you'll see there basically are three defining factors there between the fact of owning wholesome for the whole period, some of the baking seasonality that exists within wholesome and swerve. And then to your point that you just asked, Rob, on the growth initiatives, that we have with distribution and innovation coming to coming to market here as we speak, as we go into third quarter and the fourth quarter coming into play. Maybe I'll let Albert talk a little bit more about those distribution gains, but the team's done a great job getting distribution. And, you know, we feel very, very comfortable. You know, we feel confident about that. So, I don't know, Albert, if you want to add anything else to that.
spk03: Yeah, thank you, Andy. And, Rob, I did talk the last quarter about our power of one, which, as you know, we consider this to be really important breakthrough initiative to improve the growth of the category even further, improve the shoppability on the shelf with our retail partners. And we are seeing very strong results coming out of Power of One in the brick and mortars. Numbers of distribution are secured and are going to find their way on the shelf in Q3 and Q4. What I'm excited is that you also see this Power of One, for example, coming through in food service, for example, where we're leveraging the power of equal to really drive power of one on the front of the house, providing an alternative and a very broad set of sweeteners, but also on the back of the house with a baking solution that are sugar-free or organic, as well as mixology. And this is new for us and really coming out of the power of one. So expect to see more of that happening in the second half with a number of those wins being already secured and in the bank.
spk05: Okay, super. And then, you know, if we kind of fast forward a bit to next year, and obviously I realize enough writing guidance for next year, but I would assume that some discussions you would be having with retailers as you go through part of the next few months, uh, you know, would be conversations, you know, directed at potential resets for next year. So, and given, you know, I think some of the distribution gains, hopefully in the back end for this year were delayed, right? So these would have been conversations had maybe even 2019. So I'm just curious as you, you know, are, are walking into those conversations now, kind of, you know, like the larger power of one strategy, um, Just kind of what's the general feel here on kind of overall timing of that optimization or that shelf optimization program, you know, for thinking through 22? And kind of the way, you know, I'd ask it more simplistically is just, you know, is it, you know, the hope here is we get a little distribution gain in Q3, and then there's some more in Q4, and then Kind of as you get to next year, it's the same thing, right? So it's the sequential build or, you know, kind of it's the feel more a little bit of a sequential build. But as we get some of these shelf resets, different parts of the year, there could be, you know, more material step up. Just trying to get a sense of kind of how this flows through the next 18 months, let's say.
spk03: Yeah, I would tell you, Rob, that in North America, most of, you know, in grocery, you may have those would be shelf reset or product making it to the planogram during the year. But by and large, a lot of those major reset do happen. Decisions are made. first out, and as you said, if anything, COVID has slowed down a little bit the number of shelf reset, which is usually once a year, or the timing of it, which they slid more into Q3 and Q4. So as you look forward and as we unfold the power of one, what obviously is going to make to the shelf in Q3 and Q4 is going to be overlapping, say, in Q1 and Q2 of next year. At that time, we will be already talking. about bringing more innovation. And as you know, this year we're on track to launch our 13 new product on branded CPG and we have more innovation coming and that will make its way through discussions in the first half of the year with a shelf reset a year on average, which is on the second half, you have slightly different, um, for example, in Europe, where the shelf reset do happen at the end of Q1 and the discussion starts in August as we speak. So Europe is a little bit off balance versus the US North American market, but I would say North America, that's that. And therefore, to your question, you are going to see incremental momentum building, of course, as we capture a bigger share of the shelf and help, importantly, the retailers and the consumers to find easy shoppability within the shelf.
spk05: Okay, cool. Makes sense. And then, Andy, just quickly, I just want to clarify on the offset cost inflation. You know, it sounds like the way, or let's say, you know, what the back-up supply guidance suggests in your comments that you do have enough levers to seems like almost fully offset the cost inflationary. I think the commentary is more, you know, working to offset. So I, I, I know, you know, up until now, I think still now had your cost inflation relative to a lot of other CPG companies seems a bit, you know, a bit lower. Uh, while at the same time, you know, everybody's talking about, you know, labor issues, supply chain kindness, what have you. you seem to be saying, you know, yes, there could be some incremental in there, but it's kind of given what we have in the portfolio and the levers that we can pull that it doesn't sound like you're very concerned about that cost inflation, at least for now. So I just want to clarify that.
spk06: Yeah, Rob, and I would reiterate what you just said. Yes, we're confident in our ability to offset inflation in 2021, given all the levers that we have to pull. And we've listed that out a little bit, too, some of those levers in our supplemental deck. But, no, we feel very confident. We've got a great supply chain team. We've got a great commercial team managing it as well. And in our ability to offset, we feel extremely confident in our ability to offset inflation this year.
spk05: All right, super. Thank you. I'll pass it off.
spk06: Yep.
spk02: Thank you. Our next question has come from the line of Bobby Burleson with Canaccord. Please proceed with your questions.
spk07: Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Yeah, I think just the first one would be going back to the kind of in-house versus food service environment and kind of what your distribution partners and retail partners are thinking. or seeing given, you know, the spike of Delta, whether or not there's any change in terms of, you know, we saw that big, obviously, stocking event last year. That was a tough comparison last quarter, year over year. Do you anticipate any, you know, stocking ahead of concerns over shutdowns or any changes in terms of what you're seeing downstream? as it relates to the dynamics and COVID right now?
spk03: Yeah, that's a great question, Bobby. And what I would tell you is I think we have demonstrated over the last one year that our business is balanced and we feel that it's very resilient. And so I will, as I have said in my opening comments, whether COVID is, and the new variant stays with us a little longer or less longer, I don't see a big change in trajectory in our business at all. And this is essentially predicated on the very favorable macro trends that are over this, which is, Again, if you look at coffee and tea consumption growing high single digits, that happens anywhere. If you look at baking, which really came to the forefront, and it's 50% of sugar consumption with new natural ingredients, with swerve, with wholesome, with whole earth, we do see that continuing, as we have said. And then we have a very balanced portfolio of brands and very well balanced across channels. Again, food service is 10% of our mix. We're very happy to see the resurgence, but we have 10% in e-commerce that is doing extremely well and 80% in brick and mortars. And then very well diversified geographically, depending on where any variants or the health concerns can hit the most. We're also well diversified. So I would say that what I take away is the resilience and that we consider this to be more or less neutral as far as we're concerned. Okay, great.
spk07: And then just onto the inflation topic. If inflation turns out to not be transitory, I'm curious kind of what the relationship is between your currency hedging and currency exposures and strength of the dollar. Just wanted to know kind of structurally what that relationship is. And then, you know, timing of you passing along some some of these cost increases in in the form of uh your own price increases maybe later this year early next year what the plans are or thoughts are around that topic thanks andy do you want to take the first piece and then uh depending uh i i may add to the second piece yeah sure absolutely uh bobby um so first on the on the currency part you know roughly um
spk06: Roughly a little bit less than 25% of our revenues ballpark wise are in foreign currencies. There are almost some natural hedges there inherently between currencies number one and number two just across the P&L. So our net exposure as a total company at the bottom line. call it kind of more internal hedges to help us balance out to not have any real significant exposure from an FX perspective at the bottom line. From the pricing perspective, you know, we're taking pricing now and we're looking at taking pricing into the future. Maybe I'll let Albert comment on that a little bit further.
spk03: I would just tell you, Bobby, that, you know, hats off to the team, which, as you know, is Workless Team. Hats off to Erwin, who is guiding us in terms of his invaluable experience. But I would say that we really started on the journey of productivity from the beginning. So we haven't waited for inflation. And I would say that the supply chain productivity, and as you know, we have talked previously about the supply chain reinvention on flavors and ingredients. We've been talking about supply chain reinvention on the branded CPG, the synergies that we get from Swerve and Wholesome together with great discipline in our trade spending and the pricing that we would say consistent with most other companies are positioning us very well. Of course, we need to be extremely diligent and that's what we're doing, but I think we have the team, the initiatives, and we started early enough to feel that we can at this point of set in this year and in the year ahead.
spk08: Okay, great.
spk02: Thank you. Thank you, Bobby. Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital. Please proceed with your questions.
spk08: Hi, guys. First question for me, just wondering if you can give us any more details on the sale at the Camden, New Jersey facility. And it sounds like the savings there are pretty immediate. But any other details you can give us would be great.
spk06: Good morning, Mark. Thank you, Randy, if you can address that. Yeah, good morning, Mark, and thanks. Obviously, the sale of the Camden facility was a big milestone for us. It was the kind of closure of our footprint optimization project on the flavors and ingredients segment that we've been speaking about for the past year or two. So that facility was sold in the second quarter. The production that was there is fully being done in our Richmond, Virginia facility, which is a much smaller footprint and a much more efficient operating structure. And so to your point, Mark, the gains for that are immediate. You'll see on our supplemental deck, you know, and consistent with The kind of pro forma benefits that we talked about a year ago, we'll expect margin accretion in the second half of the year, benefits that kick in of $2 million to $3 million in the second half of the year, and $2 million to $3 million in the first half of next year on a sequential basis. So, no, that's an immediate savings for us and a pure cash driver, too, as it goes forward. So, really excited. The team did a great job getting that facility closed. A lot of hard work with immediate benefits.
spk08: Okay. And then just as we look at new products and launches, it sounds like you're on pace now, but can you talk about kind of the initial consumer response to some of these new products?
spk03: Sure. The consumer products are, we have 45, as I said, about 30 are in our branded TPG and 15 are in our flavors and ingredients. This is really led by by your marketing and consumer insights together with R&D, which we do have across North America, Europe, and Asia. And I would tell you that our innovation is really starting from the consumer shift that we see away from sugar, the desire of consumers to really having product that tastes great, because as you know, consumers would never compromise on that, that are natural, And we have a number of innovations really coming into all the natural ingredients, cellulose, erythritol, xylitol, and so on and so forth, as well as consumer organization. We have a number of products in the baking, as well as baked mixes. We've swerved. We launched four SKUs in the baked mixes, in cake, cookie, brownies, and awesome. And I would tell you that the innovation Results so far on the Branded TPG are very strong. As we said earlier with Rob, we have secured distribution that is going to appear on shelf in the second half. So I would say that the reception is strong. Similarly, I'm very pleased by our flavors and ingredient performance. We have stepped up the R&D teams here. We have stepped up our sales organization and professionalized it more. And, uh, I think talking aside from the favorable comparison, the 15%, uh, versus you are going to, to is indicative of a momentum, uh, around the relatives or Magnus suite. And so I would say that innovation for us, um, is really one thing that I believe in. It's one of our five core operating pillars together with great brands and great distribution. And we have been able to deliver over 15% of our net sales coming from innovation on a three-year rolling basis for the last three years. So we see that continue. We are happy with where we are. And I look forward for you to see those products on the shelves coming in Q3.
spk08: Perfect. And then as we look at the new products and look at your mix of e-commerce sales, do some of these new products, especially baking mixes and other things, give you more opportunity in your e-commerce or are they products that maybe wouldn't do as well in e-commerce?
spk03: That's a great question. The great thing about e-commerce, and this is why I invested in it since 2018, and we're very happy to have now 10% of our global mix being e-commerce, is that the amount of SKU you can put there is limited. And so you have a much broader depth, broader in depth of products, and you get a very quick return from consumers, which is very helpful in terms of new innovation and very helpful also as we talk to retailers. So I would say that this is an opportunity, e-commerce, to put up more products and to have more consumers accessing them and then, you know, have this opportunity to then go forward with the over retail channels.
spk08: Okay. And retail growth is kind of my last question. Just as we look at, it looks like in the quarter, retail growth was maybe down a little bit. Can you talk about new customers and new retail partners that are up there?
spk03: I assume you're talking about quarter versus 2020 for brand TPG? Correct, yeah. Right. So this was really driven by the one-time pantry loading by and large. And I always say that in our case, further to that, which is something that everybody experienced, we did talk a lot during the COVID about our outstanding customer service. During the whole crisis of COVID, we were able to service at the 99, 98% level. What did happen is, And that's about 7 million of Q2. What did happen is that some of our competitors were not able to supply. And therefore, we had, in addition to the usual COVID pantry loading, we also had some retailers that came to us and say, competitor B cannot supply. Can you please jump in? So we had this additional one time, which is essentially driving the year on year comparison, which is why the way we like and we think it's more relevant to look at is really looking at the momentum versus Q2 2019 and they were very pleased with the 15% growth.
spk08: As far as your expansion and distribution with the new retail partners, how do you feel about how that's moving today?
spk03: As I said earlier, we're happy with where we are. We have a number of secured distributions. that are going to come through, which I cannot, for the obvious reasons, disclose. But we are happy in tracking as we plan.
spk02: Perfect.
spk08: Thank you.
spk02: Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Scott Mushkin with R5 Capital. Please proceed with your questions.
spk04: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. So I actually had a My first question was around, Andy, your comment about sequentially better EBIT margin, you know, each quarter. Did I get that right? Or maybe just a little clarity on what you said right when you stopped.
spk06: So we are expecting, Scott and Andy, I can jump in on that. Good morning. Good morning. and EBITDA in absolute figures, you know, quarter on quarter, so Q3 and Q4. I mean, we do have factors like the flavors and ingredients with the closure of the Camden that will help our back half of the year margins. But what we were guiding to more was the absolute sales and EBITDA. That's perfect.
spk04: Thanks for the clarity. The second question really is about the power of one initiative and how you guys are approaching it. Are you – looking at kind of flagship customers that you're growing. I was in the Fresh Market, I guess it was Thursday or Friday, and your set there is just terrific. And I would think maybe the wholesome baking products would be slotted in somewhere like that first, or is that not how to look at it?
spk03: Good morning, Scott, and that's a great question. Once you have put together your power of one, The timing on how you roll out really depends on your retailers. And that goes really back to the question of Rob before. Still, this is a year where, you know, doing meetings face-to-face, Zooms, et cetera, is always something we're managing with our retailers. And different retailers get at it at different times. So we are active. And we are essentially, to your point, putting it forward whenever the opportunity is, whenever the shelf reset is being done, whenever those discussions. We don't control the timing of it, but we also are able with the power of one to proactively reach out and do it. And again, let's remember all CPG shelves and categories do tend to have some level of category management. This is really probably one of the few I know where you don't have that. And therefore, we believe that the benefit to our retail partners and to the category and its shopability, to your point, and you spend a lot of time visiting the stores, and I thank you for that, I think is going to carry us for this year, but also for the years to come. Because as you know, this is an ongoing process. where you work with the retailers every single month to make it better in the direction that we have now set.
spk04: Okay, and then my final question really goes to, I'm going to put them together because it's really kind of two, but I'm going to put them together. So it looks like we talked about this last quarter, the placements on Amazon. It looks like you guys made a lot of progress there as far as when you do a search, you're coming up quick and there's an advertisement there. are you seeing lifts from that? And then in conjunction with that, with all the other things you're getting, this was touched on before, but should we think 22 is going to just grow faster because of everything that's going on versus kind of the long-term plan? And would that put some pressure on profits or not really, if that's correct?
spk03: I would like to Scott, Andy answer the second piece on the first piece of, um, of e-commerce. I will, I will tell you that, um, We are leveraging best practices and a team that works globally very closely together in Europe, in Asia, where we're very strong and in the US. And as you know, it's a funnel. And we are working to bring people in. We're working then to make sure that people do see opportunities to take on uh more and then we're working on people to come back and then we are also working on people going somewhere else to come to us and as you know this is this is a virtual circle which costs money but what we are seeing is that essentially this is an investment where you have very good return on the investment hey scott i'm going to jump in there when you ask about pressure on profits in 2022 um
spk06: You know, growth is a big part, you know, of our strategy here. And last year, this time, you know, we were just a $200 million company and you heard Andy's forecast, you know, between 475 and 505. I mean, the company, you know, in regards to, you know, public company costs, infrastructure costs and that, you know, I feel with the growth opportunities and where our ACV is today, and household penetration. And you also heard Andy talk before about the type of job we're doing in regards to controlling inflation, not taking pricing where we don't have to. So I don't see, you know, a pressure on profits with our growth. I think there is, as you know, for me, white space is a big, big opportunity for us. So, you know, and also on top of this here, we're not sitting by the sidelines and not looking at acquisition. So, you know, as the company looks for good organic growth, Albert talked about his new products before, and I'll tell you, we just recently had a board meeting. I saw some fantastic new products, some of the best I've ever seen. With the distribution opportunities and just even with our international opportunities, I don't see growth being an issue that's going to affect our profitability going forward. And Andy, you jump in here from a financial standpoint. Yeah, no, I echo everything that Erwin just said. And I think to your question, Scott, on the mix part of it, no, it would not have an impact on the bottom line from a channel mix perspective.
spk04: And then as far as the growth goes, should we expect a little faster growth in 2022, or is that too early to tell?
spk06: Hey, Scott, you know me. I will push them. But I think the big thing is without giving 2022 guidance in that, I think, as I said before, I want to come back and just commend what this team has done in a short period of time. And with that, as I said, we have plenty of new products. We have plenty of white space to go after. plenty of opportunities in e-commerce, ultimately acquisitions. So I think there is, you know, a lot of runway out there for this company to grow and to grow, you know, faster. Perfect. Thanks. And nice to talk with you, Erwin. Talking to you too, Scott.
spk02: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back over to Albert Manzoni for any closing remarks.
spk03: I just would like to thank everybody for joining the call today. We are looking forward to have discussions with all of you. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.
spk02: Thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Have a great day.
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