The Simply Good Foods Company

Greetings. Welcome to Simply Good Foods Company's third quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings call. This time, all participants will be in listen-only mode. The question and answer session will follow today's formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero from your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. At this time, I'll turn the conference over to Joshua Levine, Vice President of Investor Relations. Joshua, you may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning and welcome to the Simply Good Foods Company's third quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings call for the 13-week period ended May 31st, 2025. Today, Jeff Tanner, President and CEO, and Chris Beeler, CFO, will provide you with an overview of our results, which were provided in our earnings release issued earlier this morning at approximately 7 a.m. Eastern Time. Our prepared remarks will then be followed by a Q&A session. A copy of the release and accompanying presentation are available on the Investors section of the company's website at www.thesimplygoodfoodscompany.com. This call is being webcast, and an archive of today's remarks will be made available. During the course of today's call, management will make forward-looking statements which are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based on subsequent events. A detailed listing of such risks and uncertainties can be found in today's press release and the company's SEC filings. Note that on today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe provide useful information for investors. Due to the company's asset-light, high cash flow business model, we evaluate our performance on an adjusted basis as it relates to EBITDA and diluted EPS. Please refer to today's press release for reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. The acquisition of Only What You Need Inc., or OWEN, was completed on June 13, 2024. Therefore, the company's a year ago performance for the 13 weeks ended May 25, 2024 does not include results of the OWEN business. References during this call to Organic or Legacy Simply Good Foods refers to Simply Good Foods' business excluding OWEN. As we have now lapped the anniversary date of the Owen acquisition for future calls, the use of organic will refer to year-over-year growth for brands we have owned for more than 12 months. For Q4, that will include the growth of Simply Good Foods, excluding Owen for the first few weeks of the quarter, and growth for the entire company for the balance of the quarter. Finally, all retail takeaway data included in our discussion today, unless otherwise noted, is for the 13 weeks ended June 1, 2025 – and reflects a combination of CIRCON's NULO++-C and company estimates for unmeasured channels as compared to the prior year. I will now turn the call over to Jeff Tanner, President and CEO.

Thank you, Josh. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll start by reviewing our Q3 performance before turning it over to our new CFO, Chris Beeler, who will discuss our financial results and our updated fiscal year 2025 outlook. We will then be available to take your questions. Momentum continued in Q3 with net sales up 14% year over year, driven by the acquisition of Owen and approximately 4% organic growth. Consumption was once again up double digits for both Quest and Owen, more than offsetting the anticipated declines for Atkins. As a reminder, Quest and Owen, in aggregate, make up approximately 70% of our net sales today. Growth for the nutritional snacking category remained robust in Q3, up double digits again, reflecting the continued mainstreaming of consumer demand for high-protein, low-sugar, and low-carb food and beverage options. Simply Good is at the forefront of this generational shift with an attractive portfolio of three uniquely positioned brands powered by leading sales and marketing capabilities and a talented R&D and supply chain teams. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter grew approximately 3% year over year. While our margins remained strong overall, they were under pressure during the quarter as we realized higher levels of inflation, most notably from cocoa and whey. As we discussed on prior calls, we expected inflation to impact our margins as we moved into the second half. In response to these headwinds, we substantially stepped up our productivity and cost management efforts, and we've started to realize the contribution from pricing we've taken on select items. We expect to realize the full benefit of productivity and pricing actions over the next 12 to 18 months. Cash flow generation remains a hallmark of this organization. In the year since we acquired Owen, we have repaid essentially all of the $250 million we borrowed to finance the purchase. And during Q3, we repurchased over $24 million worth of our common stock. At only half a turn of leverage today, our balance sheet gives us optionality going forward. Finally, considering our top and bottom line performance year to date and trends to begin the fourth quarter, we are tightening our ranges for full year net sales and adjusted EBITDA. I want to commend our teams for the tenacity amidst the dynamic operating environment and delivering a year where we expect to generate approximately 3% organic growth, and mid-single-digit total adjusted EBITDA growth, as well as to successfully integrate OWIN. Turning to our largest brand, Quest, which represents approximately 60% of our net sales today, the brand delivered another quarter of double-digit retail takeaway and net sales growth. Consumption in Q3 grew 11%, with household penetration up 120 basis points, year over year to 18.3%. As Quest approaches a billion dollars in net sales, we see a long runway of opportunity driven by a framework for growth based on disruptive innovation, expanding physical availability, and increasing brand awareness. Our Salty Snacks platform embodies this strategy. Salty Snacks retail takeaway grew 31% this quarter and is on pace to become the largest platform on the Quest business. we continue to successfully launch exciting new flavors and sizes, expand distribution and merchandising in and out of our aisle, as well as in new channels, and we remain focused on building awareness through award-winning marketing. As we work to expand physical availability of chips, we're particularly excited about the support we're getting from retailers who see the growth and incrementality of the segment. As an example, at a large mass merchant, Quest recently secured incremental shelf space within our core aisle during their upcoming reset later this year. In addition, at the same customer, Quest gained multiple placements outside our aisle, including on their highly visible health and wellness wall, as well as near their heavily trafficked grocery section. Shifting to bars, consumption grew 3% this quarter, led by growth from our Hero Crispy line and our new overload bars. Initial distribution and velocities for overload continue to build in line with our plan, and both consumer and retailer feedback has been positive. The recent launch of our 45 gram Quest milkshake is also progressing nicely, building ACV and awareness. We're supporting this new platform with activations across the country focused on driving trial. Similar to overload, ATV is expected to build through the rest of the calendar year. We're also seeing solid contributions from our Bakeshop platform, which continues to be a highly incremental basket builder for us and retailers. We're excited about the innovation we have coming on this platform in fiscal 2026. To wrap it up on Quest, we're pleased with our Q3 performance and execution. As we enter Q4, we remain committed to driving growth and investing in the brand, positioning Quest continue its growth trajectory into fiscal 26. Moving to Atkins, consumption in the third quarter was down 13% versus prior year, consistent with our forecast. As we discussed last quarter, declines accelerated due to broader distribution losses at a key customer and from not repeating high volume merchandising events from a year ago. These two drivers accounted for most of the Q3 decline. We're on a journey towards a more focused and sustainable Atkins business. Importantly, the core skews of the Atkins portfolio perform above category velocity benchmarks. However, the brand does have a long tail of skews, many of which turn at below category average levels. Therefore, our approach continues to be to drive towards an optimized assortment for the brand, including bringing to market improved innovation like we've done with the 30-gram Act and Strong Shed. In channels like e-commerce, where we do not have space constraints, we continue to grow nicely with retail takeaway at a key customer up 7% this quarter. Part of the rationale in proactively pruning Act and shelf space is working with retailers where possible to more effectively utilize the total shelf space allocated to Simlica Foods. As an example, during upcoming resets, we expect Atkins to see a significant decline in distribution at a large mass retailer. However, we will offset a majority of Atkins space losses with gains for Quest and Owens SKUs that are higher turning and, in the case of Quest, more profitable. Our commitment to supporting the brand and confidence in the long-term vitality of the business is underpinned by the strength of the core SKUs. Consumer research and customer conversations continue to reinforce a strong need for a science-based brand and products that help consumers with their weight loss journey, including those using or coming off GLP-1 drugs. We remain committed to our revitalization plan, again, in support of building a healthier, more profitable, and more sustainable business. Moving to Owen. Retail takeaway increased 24% in Q3. with strong contribution across channels. Owen's ready-to-drink shakes retail takeaway grew over 20% in the quarter. Distribution increased 18%, benefiting from recent gains made during the spring recess. Reflecting on Q3 consumption growth, we fully anticipated that trends would slow relative to the first half as we were lapping some sizable wins from the prior year. As we enter Q4, despite a slightly slower start in June, we expect retail takeaway trends to remain strong, benefiting from incremental distribution wins as well as planned merchandising activities across several retail partners. Stepping back, we continue to see a long runway of growth for the brand due to strong velocities and category incrementality that position Owen to continue to expand distribution, household penetration and awareness, which remain well below peers, and leveraging Simply's R&D team to fill key portfolio gaps across flavors and sizes in even new formats. At approximately 10% of our net sales today, and with integration work nearly complete, we remain confident in our ability to drive strong double-digit growth. We have the team, capabilities, and insurgent mindset to enable Owens to contribute to Simply's top and bottom line growth for years to come. To summarize, I'm pleased with the momentum in our business, our fiscal year-to-date performance, and our outlook as we work to close the year. Simply Good is uniquely positioned as a leader in the fast-growing nutritional snacking category with a portfolio and team built to lead the generational shift of demand towards high-protein, low-sugar, and low-carb food and beverage products. We will do this by introducing delicious innovations, expanding physical availability of our products, and building brand awareness. With approximately 70% of our portfolios through Quest and Owens driving strong top and bottom line growth, as well as an agile culture, flexible supply chain, and a talented team, we are confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth and create meaningful shareholder value. I will now turn the call over to Chris who will provide you with the details of our financial results and outlook.

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. Total Simply Good Foods third quarter net sales of $381 million increased 13.8% versus last year, driven by the contribution from Owen of $33.6 million, or 10%, as well as 3.8% organic growth. Organic net sales growth was driven by Quest, which grew 15% in Q3. The brand benefited mainly from strong retail takeaway, as well as a modest improvement in retailer trade inventory to ensure operational continuity during a warehouse transition early in Q4. Net sales for Atkins declined 12.7% in line with consumption. And Owen had another solid quarter with retail takeaway up double digits versus prior year. Gross profit of $138.5 million increased 3.7% from the year-ago period, driven mainly by the inclusion of Owen. Gross margin was 36.4%, a decline of 350 basis points versus prior year, driven mainly by elevated input costs, most notably cocoa and whey, that were only partially mitigated by productivity and pricing. The inclusion of Owen in our results was also a headwind in the quarter. Selling and marketing expenses of $33.8 million were down modestly versus prior year, with declines on the legacy business partially offset by the inclusion of Owen to the portfolio. G&A expenses were $41.2 million, an increase of $9.7 million versus last year, primarily due to integration expenses and the inclusion of Erwin. Excluding stock-based compensation and one-time integration costs, G&A increased $4.8 million to $31.4 million, driven mainly by the addition of Erwin to the portfolio. As a result, adjusted EBITDA of $73.9 million increased 2.8% from the year-ago period. Net interest expense of $4.2 million was up modestly versus the prior year, while the effective tax rate was 25.2%, up slightly versus last year. Net income was $41.1 million, down from $41.3 million last year. On a fiscal year-to-date basis, net sales are up 13.2%, supporting gross profit and adjusted EBITDA growth of 9.2% and 10.6% respectively. Margins have compressed mainly as a result of the inclusion of Owen in our results. Third quarter reported EPS was 40 cents per diluted share versus 41 cents in Q3 last year. Adjusted diluted EPS was 51 cents compared to 50 cents in the year-ago period. On a fiscal year-to-date basis, the company generated reported diluted EPS of $1.14, up 4.6% versus the prior year, whereas adjusted diluted EPS of $1.46 increased 9.8% versus the comparable prior year period. I want to commend the team for their hard work and strong execution on delivering our results so far this year and their perseverance amidst a dynamic environment. Note that we calculate adjusted diluted EPS as adjusted EBITDA, less interest income, interest expense, and income taxes divided by diluted shares outstanding. Please refer to the press release for an explanation and reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow, as of May 31st, 2025, the company had cash of $98 million and an outstanding principal balance on its term loan of $250 million, bringing our net debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA to approximately 0.5 times. Fiscal year-to-date cash flow from operations was $133 million compared to approximately $167 million last year. The decline was primarily due to higher uses of working capital, principally inventory. Capital expenditures were approximately $3 million. During the quarter, the company repaid $50 million of its term loan debt, bringing fiscal year-to-date repayments to $150 million. In the 11 months since we've acquired Boeing, the company has now repaid $240 million of the $250 million borrowed upon purchase. In addition, during the quarter, the company used $24 million to repurchase nearly 700,000 shares. The company has nearly $50 million remaining on its current share repurchase authorization. Moving on to our outlook, as you saw in this morning's press release, we are updating the ranges of our full year net sales and adjusted EBITDA guidance. Specifically, we expect the following. Total company reported net sales are expected to increase 8.5% to 9.5%, with organic net sales growth driven primarily by volume. Embedded within that, we anticipate OIN net sales to finish the year at approximately $145 million, which is the midpoint of our previously provided range. Total company adjusted EBITDA is expected to increase 4% to 5%, which continues to include an assumption that gross margins will find 200 basis points on a full year basis. Please note that our outlook includes the 53rd week in fiscal year 2024, which represents an approximately two percentage point headwind to full year growth for net sales and adjusted EBITDA in fiscal year 2025. As it relates to the fourth quarter, I would like to highlight a few items. First, we expect Q4 organic net sales to grow around 3% at the midpoint, which as a reminder will include Owen within the organic net sales growth calculation for most of the quarter. Second, our implied gross margin outlook for Q4 reflects an increase in realized inflation, as well as the impact of tariffs which are beginning to flow into our P&L. Please note that both of these drivers are expected to continue for some time. As Jeff said earlier, we are stepping up our productivity and other mitigation efforts, but these offsets will take time to be fully realized. And third, our updated full-year adjusted EBITDA growth outlook implies a low double-digit decline at the midpoint in Q4, or a mid-single-digit decline excluding the extra week. Finally, I would note that our outlook assumes current economic conditions and consumer purchasing behavior will remain generally consistent over the balance of the company's fiscal year. For a comprehensive summary of our four-year outlook and details on certain below the line items, please see slide 16 in our presentation. That concludes our prepared remarks. Thank you for our interest in our company. We are now available to take your questions.

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question at this time, please press star 1 from your telephone keypad and a confirmation tone to indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to withdraw your question from the queue. For participants that are using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. One moment, please, while we poll for questions.

Thank you.

Thank you, and the first question today is from the line of Matt Smith with Stiefel. Please receive your questions.

Hi, good morning. Jeff, you call that distribution expectations across the portfolio for the upcoming fall shelf reset, including what sounds like significant losses for Adkins. Can you expand on how much of a distribution head when you expect for the brand and product segments and how you expect that to impact sales through the channel, kind of help bridge the comments between significant distribution loss against consolidating distribution behind the hardest-working SKUs?

Yeah, thanks, Matt. I appreciate the question. So the double-digit decline on Atkins that we're seeing right now, obviously a headwind to total company growth. I do want to credit the team, though, for actively addressing it head-on with retailers and with their revitalization efforts. As As we approached the full reset conversation with buyers, we had very productive conversations with them about the best use of space for the category and for Simply. And those conversations acknowledged that Atkins has a strong core of SKUs, but certainly a long tail of lower velocity SKUs. So in conversations with those retailers, The net result is that we're expecting additional cuts for Atkins that we do expect to offset with gains from Quest and Owen. While we're early in our planning cycle for 26, but more specifically to your question, we do expect to see continued double-digit declines on the Atkins business in 26, driven almost entirely by these distribution cuts. But again, it's part of our strategy with Atkins to build a more sustainable, more profitable, and more efficient business. And if you step back a little bit, as I mentioned, the core of the Atkins portfolio, representing the majority of sales, turn above category benchmarks. And so primarily what we're dealing with with Atkins is a space issue. And I would point to e-commerce where there is no space constraint, there are no space constraints, and the business is up high single digits. So I think this underscores the health of the Atkins brand, the job it does for consumers, But we're being, you know, eyes wide open and realistic about the space challenge and having very productive conversations with retailers about how to offset those challenges with games with Quest and Owen.

It's very helpful. And as a follow-up, you talked about still expecting double-digit declines on Adkins as you look out to fiscal 26. I think there was an aspiration for the total company to grow towards its long-term algorithm, call it 4% to 6%. Are your expectations for Quest and Owen such that you think that's still reasonable, or do you think the Adkins decline at this point is a little above what you had previously expected as you look out to next year?

Yeah, Matt, it's Chris. I'll take that question. Look, it's still very early in our planning process, and we'll give it obviously a full guide in October. What I can say on the top line, we'll expect to see similar consumption trends on Quest and Owen as we've seen in recent times. We do expect Atkins trends to get slightly worse than 25, as Jeff just said. So I think we'd still be looking at growth, but like Jeff said, Atkins would definitely be a slight headwind the total company growth.

Matt, when you strip out the merchandising cuts and distribution losses on Atkins, brands are actually performing essentially flat. Even in a large club customer, we've lost distribution. We've been very clear about that. We were growing slightly. It's just that the space constraints, particularly in that limited skew environment, have led us to losing on Atkins. And again, even if you look at e-commerce, where there's no space constraints, we're growing. So our plan moving forward with the business with Atkins and into 26 is to proactively address those challenges with retailers. And obviously that will flow through into 26 with Atkins.

Thank you. I'll pass it on.

The next questions are from the line of Peter Grant with UBS. Please receive your questions.

Thanks, operator. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask on Owen a bit of a slowdown in the tract data, and I think it was a bit weaker than we had modeled in the quarter. So would you just love some perspective on how the brand is performing relative to your expectations? Was this slowdown largely contemplated as you think about the guidance? And then, Chris, I just wanted to make sure I understand your response to Matt's question. I think you said you would expect growth similar to what we've seen recently. So can you maybe put some guardrails in terms of what that might mean for Owen as we think about fiscal 26?

Yeah, I'll take the first question and then hand it off to Chris. We remain very confident in the Owen business and believe it has a very long runway to staying gross. To your question, we fully anticipated the deceleration in the second half. It was always in our plans and reflected in our guidance. The key driver here, as I've said before, is we've had significant TDP gains, particularly at a large club and mass customer. And given when the brand is in its maturity curve, though, we're very confident that distribution gains are going to re-accelerate. As we look into Q4, we have very clear line of sight to those gains coming over the summer and into the fall. Q3 was just we were lapping a period when we didn't... distribution growth from last year. I would highlight that Owens ACV today is in the low 60s, which is about 20 to 30 points below leading ready-to-drink peers, so it has significant opportunity to add more breadth on shelf and in customer conversations, they're very bullish on this brand and we will be seeing meaningful gains starting in the summer. and into the fall, and even looking beyond that, I'm excited about additional platform innovation that should keep that distribution engine going. I'll turn it over to Chris, second question.

Yeah, then, maybe just to clarify, what I was saying is if you look at Quest and Olin, recent consumption trends, we expect those to continue into FY26. So just to specify a couple of points, on O and in Q3, we had, you know, let's call it 24, roughly 24% consumption growth. We'd expect something similar to that in FY26 on a four-year basis. And what that's going to do... Okay, that's how... As you think about the portfolio, what that's going to do is it's going to continue... It's going to continue mixing Quest and Owen larger in the portfolio and Atkins smaller in the portfolio, given the numbers that Jeff's already laid out earlier.

Okay, that's really helpful. And I guess my second question just is on the 4Q exit rate and how we should be thinking about that in the context of 26. And you kind of called out top line 3% at the midpoint. It's a little bit below the long-term algo. profit down to single digits excluding the extra week and, you know, as mentioned, these costs are going to continue with maybe the offset likely to take some time. So, I know you're still early in the planning process here, but just any thoughts in terms of how we should be thinking about or how this exit rate should inform our view on the path forward?

I wouldn't think too much about the exit rate. I would really say that it is a bit too early to give guidance on EBITDA. We'll do that in October. We've got a lot of moving parts, so we're still waiting, like everyone else, for clarity on tariffs, which as you know and as we've seen this week, that continues to shift. We generally do have good visibility to our input costs through the end of the calendar year, and we're working to build coverage through more of fiscal 26. We're also working to quantify the benefits and timing of our productivity program that we talked about in the script, and on pricing actions. What I can say on EBITDA is while we're working to land the plan, we can see already that the shape of the year is going to be more challenged in the first half than the second half as we get the higher cost into our base and the benefits of productivity and other mitigants will build as they are slightly on the lag.

Yeah, and I just want to build up to that. We are still early in our planning cycle. I do want to remind the strength of the category. 17 quarters now of high single low double digit growth. The generational shift towards high protein, low carb, low sugar is not slowing down. It's accelerating. When you look at our portfolio through Quest and Owen that represents 70% of our net sales, growing very nicely double digit. When you look at the top line for us, the primary issue that we're working through is action space and losing some of the tail, which was to Matt's question. If you just go one click lower, I really would point to Quest, which continues to put up high single, low double digits week to week. underpinned by a salty business that is on pace to be a large segment. And then if you look more broadly across Quest, every part of the portfolio is growing. So we're early in the cycle. There are some headwinds we're working through, but I do want to remind that the fundamentals of our category and of our business remain very strong.

Great. Thanks so much. I'll pass it on. Thanks, Pete. The next question is from the line of Jim Solera with Stevens.

Please proceed with your question.

Hi, Jeff. Hey, Chris. Good morning. Thanks for taking our question. Good morning. I wanted to start and see if you guys could give us an update just on the number of average SKUs Quest has across retail, and particularly with kind of a focus on if you need to expand the portfolio and Salty becomes a bigger mix, what should we think about as being kind of a target or a goal number of SKUs? Because I imagine if you're getting into other placements outside of kind of your traditional aisles, that should probably increase, you know, the overall number of placements you have. So any thoughts on that to start off?

I don't really think about a brand having a target number of SKUs, particularly in the case of Quest. which has proven its ability to expand well beyond the core bar. I would point that there's very few brands that I've seen in my career that can do that. I see continued distribution growth in our aisle on Quest, particularly on Salty, despite the size of

The salty business request, it's clear we're still in the very early innings on salty.

And every new flavor that we've brought to market under salty has been highly incremental. I think that reflects the size of the addressable market, which is $50 billion. And Quest is the disruptor in that space and clear market leader. And then you have to imagine we're working on additional forms of salty that will continue to drive distribution. So I don't so much have a target number of skews. I think the addressable market on salty is significant. We're going after it. What I would then go to is we're making a concentrated effort to drive distribution out of our eyes. on our aisle. But as we see the demand for high-protein, low-carb sugar mainstream, there's clearly an opportunity for us to drive greater physical availability outside of our aisle. And we've made that a key priority and focus for the organization moving forward. I've made a lot of investments in that area that I expect to pay off in 26 and beyond. whether that be secondary placement in mainline aisles where we have some tests going on, whether that be additional merchandising around the store, or whether it be a new channel such as away from home in places we're not today. So I don't really view Quest having a particular target per se. It's just Meaning the demand is clearly there for the business, both in our aisle and across the store and beyond.

Okay. Well, I appreciate the thoughts there. And then, Chris, I can ask a question on gross margin. If you're able to kind of quantify, I know we have the cocoa headwinds, but you mentioned tariffs starting to throw through the P&L. On a go-forward basis, and just as we think about where 26 might land, is it fair to assume kind of gross margin more in a range of, you know, 36 to 37 versus kind of the upper 30s if we still assume kind of tariff impact is around where it's at today?

Yeah, good question.

I'm not going to specifically talk about a specific range on gross margin. Like I said earlier, one of the We've got good visibility to our cost in the first, you know, for the rest of this calendar year. We're looking to lock in some more coverage and to get better visibility to the second half of the year. We've also got a moving, all the moving reasons on tariffs that frankly we don't have a lot of clarity on given the recent extension, second extension of the tariff deadline. And like I said, the second half, The second half gross margin challenges we have this year, we're going to see those flowing into the first half as I talked about earlier. We do expect to have a better gross margin picture in the second half of FY26 as the high costs get into our base and the productivity and pricing benefits build, as I said earlier on.

Our target as a company continues to be high foodies, gross margin, ideally higher, and that That's something that we remain very committed to. Obviously, that will cycle up and cycle down over time, but it's something that we believe is extremely important because that gross margin is where we fuel our investment in innovation and brand building. Obviously, with We've seen that come under pressure right now. As Chris said, that will flow through over the second half. But this is also why we've materially stepped up our productivity efforts as an offset and why we've executed some pricing. And right now we're contemplating additional pricing where it makes sense. So we remain very committed to getting those gross margins back we think about 26, probably a lag to that, but that's just a fundamental tenant to our company and how we trade value and build brands.

Great. I appreciate the detail. I'll back it to you. Thanks, Jim.

The next questions are from the line of Camille Garguala with Jefferies. Please, Steve, your question.

Hi, Ron. Good morning. One just, I guess, quick clarification and then a question on Quest, which is on the clarification, is Atkins double-digit declines next year just as simple as the distribution cuts sort of lapping over the course of next year, or do you think on a sort of distribution-adjusted, the brand is also declining? I think you said so far at the moment it's flat. Just curious on that comment. And then on Quest, sort of the real question is, As you talked about capacity expansion, if you can maybe just dig into that a little bit, you know, how much, how fast, is that maybe the biggest limiting factor, you know, for growth at Quest? And then the commentary on entering other parts of the store, where is it going? So, you know, outside of its own aisle, but what are the sort of target locations?

Yeah. So to your first question on, I think your question's really the fundamental health of Atkins. I think it was Matt's question, a follow-up. When you strip out distribution losses and merchandising cuts, Atkins is ostensibly flat. And again, that underscores two things. One, the health of the brand the consumer demand for a brand that helps them with weight wellness, how trusted the brand is, and how the credibility that Atkins has in that space. But we were obviously acknowledging that Atkins has a large footprint and that it has a tale of skews. that turn below category averages, and that we're proactively working with retailers to rebalance that across the Simply portfolio. But that will lead to Atkins continuing to have distribution cuts. To your question on Quest and Salty, we continue to be, as I said, very encouraged by the growth we're seeing on Salty. Week to week, it's 25% to 30% consumption growth, week in, week out. We continue to be very encouraged by the support we're getting from retailers with additional merchandising. I called out in the script a large mass customer on the wall of wellness. We've got a test going on with a dedicated section in our aisle. And we've got additional display around the store. And that has necessitated us to pull forward our capacity planning because we see no sign of the business slowing down. And we want to make sure that we are ahead of this and that we can service the market and service consumers with our products for years to come. So we want to get ahead of that. And then I think you asked about we're driving additional distribution. So the key elements of that are, firstly, in channels where we're not. So we've been transparent about a very important test that we ran at a large club customer where we did very well. We're in conversations about expanding on that as we move into 26th. We've got some tests going on in the mainline salty aisle that we're very encouraged about. And then on top of that, a big focus for me is putting our products within arm's reach of consumers around the store. So we've amped up our retail execution capabilities, just getting secondary placements, as well as away from home. So when you think about increased physical availability is a significant growth factor for us in the coming years. We're very focused on driving that. So yes, winning in our aisle, but driving availability of quests everywhere.

Got it. Thank you. That's useful. No follow-up. I think I asked you three questions at once.

Thank you. Got it. Thanks, Bill.

Thank you. So, we may address questions from as many participants as possible. We ask you to please name yourself to one question. The next question comes from the line of Robert Moscow with TD Cowen. Please receive your question.

Hi. Thank you. Jeff, I was wondering if you have any color for us on the fight for distribution space in the ready-to-drink protein shake category. I would imagine more new entrants are coming in, more capacity is being built. How has that influenced your ability to get your new Quest shake on the shelf? And do you foresee any change in the fight for shelf space going forward?

Yeah, good morning, Rob. It's not a surprise to me that we're seeing stepped-up levels of competition in the ready-to-drink space. I think that's a reflection of the state of the Santa store. It's a reflection of the strength of our category, which as I mentioned, now 17 quarters of double-digit growth. Particularly in ready-to-drink, which is seeing outside growth even within nutritional snacking. It's not a surprise to me that there's been some recent entrants. So far, when it comes to Quest beverage, we've been very pleased with our ability to gain distribution. Right now, we're in the early innings of that launch. Our ACVs are around about 22%, 23%, but that will build as we get into the four resets. So we've been able to secure great distribution, not just within our aisle, but more broadly, targeting coolers, for example. where I've been very pleased, and it's leveraging the new capabilities we've put in place to drive distribution out of our aisles. What that reflects is that we've got a 45-gram protein shake that is performing early, but performing very well. So people obviously trust the brand, putting a lot of support behind it. It's a competitive space. I want to be cautious with our projections for this business. However, three or four months into the launch year, despite the competitive environment, which you referenced, I'm pretty optimistic about what I'm seeing out of this milkshake launch and increasingly optimistic about what a sizable beverage business could mean for the Quest business.

Can you be more specific? Do you think it'll get into club stores, the new Quest item, or is it focused on different channels initially?

It's a little early.

Ideally, Rob, would want to build the business outside of clubs before taking in the $30, $40 price point to Club, typically how you'd want to launch a new product like this. If we have the ability to test in Club, we might do that. But as we think about getting to market, particularly with the higher price point that this product has, ideally we want singles distribution, some four packs. We build the business. We would then take it to club environment where you're talking 12 to 15 packs. That's typically how I would want to bring a product like this to market.

Great. Thank you.

Our next question is from the line of John Anderson and William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for the question. I have a two-parter. You've talked about pricing that you've executed some excuse me, and are considering more across the portfolio. Can you provide a little bit more color around, you know, the pricing you've implemented to date and how you're thinking about that going forward? And then I wanted to kind of shift gears and ask about capital allocation priorities. You know, you've paid down some debt and bought back some stock in the quarter. Leverage ratio is in great shape, but well below a turn. How are you thinking about – you know, where you want to apply capital, you know, going forward, you know, to best use. Thank you.

Yeah, I'll take the price question. I'll turn it over to Chris for the capital allocation. So we did take pricing recently on our Atkins Shakes business, reflecting higher input costs. So that's been in market now for over a quarter. And to your point, we are evaluating additional pricing as we see COCO remain somewhat stubbornly high. And we are looking at tariffs, as Chris said, TBD ultimately on where that lands. But we need to, as mentioned earlier when we talked about gross margin, we need to recover our costs to support our gross margin that enables us to support investment in our business. So we are, unsurprisingly, evaluating pricing more broadly across the portfolio, exactly how the levels, you could look at prices increases or trade reductions, but we're right now in the middle of figuring out how best to go execute that as we look at input costs remain stubbornly high. So I'll turn it over to Chris for capital allocation.

Thanks for the question, John. So look, as you said, cash generation for this business is very strong. And yes, our net debt is down to 0.5. Our cash and capital allocation priorities have not changed. So we are constantly evaluating best ways of using excess cash. We use a structured framework. Our main use of cash that is in excess of operations, our main use is M&A. And we do see some interesting M&A things in the pipeline. Second priority would be debt pay down. Obviously we've said on the call that, you know, we've paid down now it's about 250 million and we're pretty happy with that debt level. And then the last or the third capital use is going to be on buybacks if it makes sense and when it makes sense. But as we've said before, we're, you know, we're a high margin asset line model. We do convert a lot of annual EBITDA to cash. And as we said on the call, we have about $100 million of cash today. And we talked again on the call about things we've used that cash for over the last 12 months. But yeah, priorities would be number one, M&A, number two, debt pay down, and then lastly, any buybacks.

That's helpful. Can I squeeze in one more? I apologize. I know you're not ready to comment specifically on 2026, but you have said that You're running 70% of the business now in the two high-growth brands, Quest and Owen. You expect those to kind of continue to grow consumption in the double-digit range or better. And then a bit of a drag from Acton's kind of carrying over into fiscal 26. It seems like if you kind of do the math, you could still see top-line growth, you know, add algorithm next year. Is that a fair assessment, or do you think that the drag from Atkins is a little bit bigger than initially anticipated? Thanks.

Yeah, no, I just want to reiterate, we're early in the cycle for 26. You know, as we build the plan, both on the top and bottom line, you know, to your point, We've got 70% of the portfolio growing double-digit, which is very encouraging. The category is at 17 quarters of double-digit growth. With that being said, it will be a drag as we go into 26, and we're just working through exactly how that is going to mix through. What I would point out, and Chris referenced this earlier, as you go through 26 and even looking further ahead, Atkins does start to mix down very materially in the portfolio. And then that obviously has inflection implications on total company. But 26 will be a year where we will have to address the Atkins distribution headwind. Thank you.

The next question comes from the line of Alexia Howard with Bernstein. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning everyone. Can I ask a slightly different question around the legislation that's just been passed in Texas requiring warning labels to go on to foods containing 44 additives by 2027? I'm just curious about how much of your portfolio might be affected, whether you can take steps over the next 18 months to actually eliminate a lot of those additives. Is that going to be a major challenge for you? And which specific ingredients might be most challenging? What we've heard from others is that things like preservatives and antioxidants are actually much more challenging because of shelf life than the original list of artificial dyes that have been wandering around the media for the last few months. Thank you.

I appreciate the question. I'd say at a high level we feel much better insulated than many of our large-cap food peers as it relates to food regulations. That's obviously underpinned by our category and our products, high-protein, low in sugar, low in carbs. We don't have the profile. of many other categories and products where these regulations are centered on. We've obviously assessed our portfolio as we look at where some of the regulations are going. What I would say is that the current impact to our portfolio is very small. There are a few skews that we'll probably have to do some reformulation, but nothing material and nothing that we can't execute, and I wouldn't anticipate any material cost implications from that. I think that's a reflection of the strength of our R&D team as well. And then where I was reminded... The recent acquisition of Owen, only what you need, clean label, plant-based, avoids the top nine allergens, not just safe but extremely well positioned against this shift. That's something that we're going to continue to focus on with the brand as we turn on marketing and we continue expanding that brand into additional platforms. Not really an issue for us, Alexia. As a general statement, our products are on the right side of this. In particular, Owen, we're going to really run hard with this trend on that brand.

Great. Thank you very much, and good to hear it. I'll pass it on. Thanks, Alexia.

The next question is from the line of Brian Holland with DA Davidson. Please proceed with your questions.

Quest protein bars have seen a nice inflection here relative to the past few quarters. Obviously, you had the overload rollout, which I presume has some, if not all, of the contribution there. But just kind of curious what you're hearing, seeing with respect to the response to that launch, how it informs sort of your go-forward and what is still your biggest category under that Quest banner today, and maybe just some sense of what the innovation pipeline, how that's forming for that specific line.

Yeah, and I'm very pleased with returning our BART business to growth, which has been a key focus of mine, the organization BART. over the last year. We've seen growth plus re-consumption in the last 13 weeks versus flat in Q2. The two drivers that we mentioned in the script are the continued growth of our crispy or hero line. I think the new news is overload. We're in the early innings of overload. What I'll remind is the ACV are not overloaded just because of the timing of the resets. We're still in the low 20s on ACV. That will build moving forward. But where we have overload in distribution, it is performing extremely well. And I always look to the C-Store channel. There's a little bit of a barometer on bars. And overload bars have risen to some of the top turning skews in all of our bar portfolio. And if you look at the reviews on Amazon, 4.6 was the last time I checked it, which is one of the highest reviews we've ever had. I think what that is a reminder is that there's no such thing as a mature category or business if you continue to bring disruptive innovations. And so you're seeing the category and now our business respond to when we bring out great innovation. And I think I've been transparent over the last year or so that we kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit on buyer innovation, both on Quest and Atkins. And that has been a big focus moving forward as to reignite our barter innovation, bring exciting new forms and flavors to market. I obviously see the pipeline on the business, and it is now very, very exciting to me. And the performance of Overload is just a proof point that when we bring great innovation to market, the business responds, and we're going to continue to do that.

Thank you.

The next question is from the line of John Baumgartner with Mizufo. Please proceed with your questions.

Good morning. Thanks for the question.

Hi, John.

Jeff, I wanted to come back to Atkins. You mentioned the strength of the core SKUs, and I'm curious if you could speak to innovation for the brand going forward. You know, this class of 24 that launched back in August, the truffles, the gummy bears, Those are nicely accretive to sales. Would you consider those types of products included among the core at this point? Have they proven themselves? And how aggressive do you plan on being with innovation at Atkins moving forward?

Yeah, thanks for the question, John. Yeah, innovation is just fundamental to doing well in this category. And as I mentioned in the last question, we had fallen off innovations. I've been very candid, I've been transparent about that. We dropped the ball on bringing great innovation, particularly on the bar business and in our core. So we have ramped up those efforts. I'm thrilled about the pipeline, not just on Quest but on Ankins and Olin. To drill down more specifically to your question, The 30 gram ActumStrong platform that we brought to market is doing very well. It's really helped drive the growth of the Ready to Drink portfolio. The confection innovation that you referenced, some of it's doing well and some of it isn't and that's pretty par for the course. The focus for us, the next wave of focus is going to be on BaaS and bringing more innovative, more disruptive BaaS innovation to Atkins. Innovation is critical. It's the lifeline of the category. Where we've turned it back on, it's helping drive the business. On Atkins in particular, the next wave of it has to be on BaaS. Thanks, Jeff.

Thanks.

Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you. At this time, we've reached the end of the question and answer session. I'll turn the call over to Jeff Towner for closing remarks.

I just want to thank everyone for joining the call, and we look forward to seeing you on October.

This will conclude today's conference. Let me disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. Have a wonderful day.