Genomma Lab Intl Sab Ord

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining Genoma Lab's fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. As a reminder, this meeting is being recorded and will be available for replay from the investor relations section of Genoma's website following the call. I'll now turn the call over to Barbara Cano of the INSPIRE Group. Please, go ahead.

Welcome, everyone. On today's call are Marcos Barrieri, Chief Executive Officer, and Antonia Zamora, Chief Financial Officer. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that the remarks today will include forward-looking statements, such as the company's financial guidance and expectations, including long-term objectives and forecasts, as well as expectations regarding Genoma's business, assets, products, strategies, demand, and markets. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. They're also based on assumptions as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update them as a result of new information or future events. Let me now turn the call over to Mr. Marcos Barbieri.

Thank you, Barbara. Good morning, everybody. Okay, in essence, the sudden devaluation of the Argentine peso in late December necessitated the recording of a non-cash negative impact on our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings, as dictated by accounting standards. However, it is crucial to emphasize that setting aside this exceptional accounting occurrence, the foundation of our core business remains robust with promising prospects for the future. We have proactively and transparently communicated the situation to our investors, ensuring that they are fully aware that this is an isolated incident. not reflective of any underlying operational challenges. Our commitment to deliver shareholder value is unwavering, supported by the strength and continued growth of our business. This approach underscores our dedication to maintaining investors' confidence and tranquility, even in the face of unforeseeable market dynamics. Let's now talk about the results. Overall, 2023 was a robust year for Genoma Lab. Top line grew plus 16.7%, expressed in like-for-like constant currency, excluding Argentina. When expressed in Mexican pesos, sales grew plus 10%, despite of the strong revaluation of the Mexican peso, and declined minus 2.1% when Argentina is included. Our EVDA margin improved, reaching 20.8% in Q4 and 21% for 2023, an increase of 50 basis points over 2022. The cash conversion cycle also saw a notable improvement, ending at 83 days in 2023, which is minus 17 days shorter than the previous year. Achieving a monumental milestone for the company, our free cash flow soared to an unprecedented 2.2 billion Mexican pesos, marking a remarkable increase of 338 million Mexican pesos year over year. This record-setting performance underscores our financial powers and operational excellence, setting a new benchmark for our company's success. 53% of our business grew share in 2023, and 80% grew ahead of inflation. Key market performances in 2023 included Mexico at plus 15%, the USA at plus 19%, Colombia at plus 20%, and Brazil at plus 10%. Our focus on core brands continued to paid off. In 2023, core brands like Analgesics, grew plus 24%, Coffin Cold plus 19%, Suerox plus 42%, Grumman plus 36.5%, Tio Nacho plus 23.2%, and Novamil plus 44%, performed exceptionally well. Cicatricure showed promising signs of a turnaround in Q4 with a growth of plus 14.7%. However, Assepsia faced challenges, declining by minus 17.1% in 2023. We remain on track with our productivity goals, aiming for 1800 million by 2027. In Q4, the San Cayetano plant realized COG savings of 2.2 million, contributing to a total of 23.8 million for the year. Additionally, we completed four core productivity projects, yielding 196 million in total annual savings. These include raw material negotiations for annual savings of $101 million, new capex for Tio Nacho bottles saving $12 million, and a Suerox packaging redesign saving $83 million annually. In 2023, we executed a total of 673 million, approximately 3.9 points of EVDA margin in annual productivity savings. These savings will impact the business in 2024. In conclusion, fiscal year 2023, excluding Argentina's impact, demonstrated strong financial health, consistent growth in key markets and brands. and a significant progress in our productivity initiatives. Our strategy moving forward is to further enhance our core brands, strengths, and continue executing productivity projects to reach our 1800 million target by 2027. In fiscal year 2023, our company achieved remarkable milestones, underscoring our strategic excellence and robust market presence. We are proud to report a significant 16.7% increase in sales, adjusted for currency fluctuations and excluding Argentina. This underscores the exceptional performance of our brands and markets, affirming the solid foundation of our business operation. Our EVDA experienced a notable raise of 50 basis points year over year, aligning us with our ambitious target of achieving a 23% to 24% margin by the end of 2024. Demonstrating the effectiveness of our strategic focus on core brands, we observed double-digit sales growth in seven out of our nine primary categories throughout each quarter of the year. This strategy has not only been effective, but also significantly contributed to our financial health. with a record cash conversion cycle of 83 days, reflecting our streamlined brand portfolio and intensified productivity initiatives. An impressive 80% of our business operations have outpaced inflations, and 53% gain market share within their respective categories, illustrating the resilience and competitiveness of our operations. Our commitment to productivity in 2023 was unparalleled, culminating in $673 million in annual productivity savings. This significant figure represents close to 3.9 percentage points of EBITDA, setting a strong foundation for continued impact in 2024. We plan to elaborate on the specific projects contributing to this substantial saving figure in this presentation. Our dedication to fostering a dynamic and engaging work environment has positioned us as an industry benchmark for employee engagement, with a commendable score of 79% as measured by Mercer. This achievement reflects the unparalleled quality of our leadership and the collective skills of what we confidentially call the best team in the industry. Capping off these achievements, we reached a record-setting free cash flow of 2.2 billion Mexican pesos, an increase of 338 million over the previous year, a testament to our unwavering commitment to operational excellence. These accomplishments not only illustrate our strong performance in 2023, but also set a vibrant tone for continued success and investor confidence in the coming years. This chart vividly illustrates the success of our strategic focus on core brands. It represents a quarter by quarter and full fiscal year 2023 performance analysis of each core category. The data compellingly demonstrates robust growth across all categories with the singular exception of skincare. Highlighting the effectiveness of our strategy, the chart also reveals a significant shift in our business composition. Core categories now account for 90% of the company's sales, up from 73% just a year ago. This dramatic increase not only underscores the efficacy of our focused efforts, but also signals our core brands increasing dominance and contribution to the company's overall success. I would like to now revisit our dual focus strategy. As we discussed back in February, we have outlined two main objectives for the forthcoming years. Firstly, our aim is to concentrate our efforts on our flagship brands with the goal of achieving an additional 10 billion in sales. Concurrently, we'll be offloading or parting with brands that aren't central to our mission. By adopting this approach, we anticipate sharpening our managerial and operational focus as well as liberating working capital. Secondly, our emphasis is on productivity. We are embarking on a plan set to yield $1.8 billion through specific productivity initiatives. These endeavors have been pinpointed, and our dedicated team is actively working on bringing them to fruition. Let's pivot to a discussion about our portfolio's performance. Referring to the chart, it's evident that a majority of our primary brands have posted remarkable outcomes, especially when we view it in like-for-like currency terms, excluding Argentina. Our strategy of directing resources and emphasis on these primary brands is indeed paying dividends. Additionally, it is encouraging to note that Cicatricure is being to curb its downturn. with the rollout of recent innovations already introduced in the markets. I am optimistic that we'll see this negative trend reversed by the next quarter. However, asepsia still requires our attention and efforts. Turning our attention to the market's performance, the news is encouraging. The chart illustrates that all our main markets have reported robust sales for Q4. It's worth emphasizing that each of our leading countries, Mexico, the USA, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, are experiencing growth in the high-teens percentage range. Nonetheless, Chile continues to pose challenges. Let's now talk a little bit about our brands. We are delighted to announce another outstanding quarter for Suerox, achieving a remarkable year-on-year growth of 87% in Q4 and 42.4% in fiscal year 2023. This success is driven by robust performance in Mexico and our expansion into Peru, Chile, Argentina, Central America, the USA, and Brazil. Tio Nacho also demonstrated significant growth, with year-on-year increase of 18% in Q4 and 23% for fiscal year 2023. Expanding market share in all markets. This growth is largely due to the successful launch of our innovation and the new 950 ml size, surpassing our target of reaching at least 60% of the market leader size in key markets like Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. Let's take a closer look at the chart on the screen, which showcases the success of our anti-gray hair care version. As you can see, this variant has become one of our top sellers for the brand, rapidly gaining popularity among our customers. Now, let's turn our attention to another achievement, the significant success of our 950 ml size variant. As deep stated in the chart, the 950 ml size has experienced outstanding sales growth, becoming a standout performance for our brand and the portfolio. This larger size has struck a chord with our consumers. providing them with added value and convenience, leading to its rapid adopting in the market. Its success is a testament to our ability to identify and cater to our customers' preferences effectively. Grumman also reported strong growth, with 34% year-on-year in Q4 and 36.5% for fiscal year 2023. The brand achieved positive share growth in both Mexico and Chile, driven in Mexico by the launch of disposables and cartridges SKUs in Walmart. The analgesics category saw a robust year-on-year growth of plus 23% in Q4 and plus 24% for fiscal year 2023. This was propelled by the success of X-Ray and Dino in Colombia, gaining a 9.7 market share and solidifying our position as the third leading brands in the category. In Mexico, Aliviax, particularly Alitriple, showed positive results. In Argentina, despite some challenges, Tafirol continues to hold plus 15 points versus pre-pandemic share. Let's take a closer look at the chart, which vividly illustrates the phenomenal growth of X-Ray in Colombia. In just a few years, X-Ray has achieved remarkable progress, consolidating its position as the third player in the category. It's worth noting that a short while ago, X-Ray barely existed in this market. This achievement reflects our brand's strong performance, effective strategies, and the strong acceptance of X-Ray by Colombian consumers. We are proud of the team's dedication and the brand's rapid ascent to a prominent position in the market. Our cough and cold category experienced a growth of plus 4.2% in Q4 and 19% in fiscal year 2023. This success is due to gaining market share, particularly in Mexico, with the cold and our focus on value-added segments like antiviral and health caps. We also implemented a comprehensive 360-plan targeting seasonality, including prepacks, in-store programs, expert recommendations, and expanding our presence in the traditional trade. The gastro category grew by 6.8% in Q4 and 12% in fiscal year 2023. Despite initial challenge, the Primo de un Amigo campaign in Brazil and the relaunch of Genoprasol in Mexico have reversed the trend, resulting in significant sell-out growth. The DERMA ODC category grew by 5.1% in Q4 and 4.6 in fiscal year 2023 with positive results in SILCA plus 20% plus 1.3 points of market share via the portfolio expansion of silica nail in the USA and silica spray. Mexico relaunched silica spray during the summer season of 2023, achieving leadership in the market with 29.3 points of market share, plus 5.7 points versus a year ago. The innovation contributed with plus three points of market share, Medicasp continues to suffer from supply issues not related to the brand health. In the infant nutrition category, we continued our strong performance with a year-on-year growth of plus 46% in Q4 and 44% in fiscal year 2023. Novamil has seen robust growth across all core variants, capturing more market share in their respective segments. Finally, in skincare, Cicatricure is showing promising signs of a turnaround, growing plus 15% in Q4 and 1.7% in fiscal year 2023. The introduction of new innovations like porcelana across all markets is reflected in our impressive Q4 2023 results. Assepsia continues to struggle, declining minus 17.1% in 2023. Okay. Let's now switch gears to productivity and margin improvement. We are delighted to highlight substantial strides in our productivity initiatives. Having set a goal in February 2023 of $1,800 million in productivity savings by 2027, we have already secured $673 million, approximately 3.9 points of EBITDA margin in annual savings in fiscal year 2023. Let me now get into the specific productivity projects that add up to the 673 million in the chart I just showed. Our San Cayetano plant is progressing as expected, delivering co-savings year-to-date. In 2023, the plant has delivered a total of 23.8 million Mexican pesos. In the fourth quarter, we successfully completed a project aimed to redesigning the structure of our Xerox bottle. This initiative was carefully executed to ensure no impact on the consumer experience while optimizing the bottle cap and label for efficiency. This strategic optimization has yielded substantial financial benefits, generating annual savings of 82.7 million Mexican pesos. The majority of these savings are expected to positively impact our business in 2024, reflecting our commitment to operational excellence and cost-effectiveness. In December 2023, we reached a significant milestone with the completion of a project initiated a year prior aimed at in-house production of our Tio Nacho bottles. This strategic move culminated in December with the commissioning of a bottle blowing machine set to commence operations in January 2024. This forward-thinking implementation is projected to generate substantial annual savings of $12 million, underscoring our commitment to innovation, efficiency, and cost reduction. In November 2023, we successfully completed a strategic initiative to renegotiate the procurement of raw material, ingredients, and active pharmaceutical ingredients APIs. By leveraging our significant scale, we meticulously selected suppliers who met our stringent criteria for both quality and cost effectiveness. This strategic negotiation process culminated in achieving remarkable annual savings of 101 million Mexican pesos. This accomplishment reflects our proactive approach to cost management and our commitment to maximizing efficiency without compromising the quality of our customers that our customers expect. Throughout 2023, our commercial team embarked on a comprehensive mission to enhance productivity across all go-to-market expenses. This involved renegotiating terms with our customers, optimizing the costs associated with our programs, including merchandisers and sales expenses, fully leveraging the acquisition of Frog, our own in-store display manufacturing facility, and refining the cost efficiency of our in-store programs. The diligent efforts spread across all countries culminating in substantial total savings of 207 million pesos. This achievement underscores our team's dedication to operational excellence and our strategic commitment to improving profitability and efficiency on a global scale. Over the last three quarters, our team has undertaken a sophisticated project to refine the logistics cost related to customer shipments. This encompassed road optimization, the establishment of stringent purchase order guidelines to streamline transportation costs, enhanced truck loading mixing, among other improvements. With this program now in action, we anticipate an annual saving of 45 million pesos. As a reminder from our last call, I am thrilled to share that during Q2, we achieved a significant milestone with the successful commissioning of a new Xerox line. This expansion has blustered our manufacturing capacity by an additional plus 96 million bottles per year. Not only has the new Xerox line increased our production capacity, but it has also played a pivotal role in our cost optimization efforts. The expansion has led to a remarkable reduction of 63 million pesos in Xerox COX, resulting in substantial annual savings. Also, in Q2, we successfully concluded a project aimed at optimizing our product labels, and the results have been noting short of remarkable. Through this initiative, we achieved a significant cost reduction of minus 55%, translating to impressive annual savings of 25 million pesos. In Q1, we generated close to 30 million in annual savings by reducing the number of packaging suppliers from 23 to two and the number of SKUs from 23 to 12. And finally, just a reminder of the vertical integration of an arts manufacturing that will deliver a total of 93 million in annual saving. That's it from a business review point of view. Let me know, pass it on to Tonio.