Maureen M. Putman
Analyst · Mitch Pinheiro
Thank you, Irwin. Hello, everyone. I'm going to talk about Hain Celestial U.S. Q4 was another very strong quarter for Hain Celestial U.S. and a great finish to FY '13. Key highlights of the quarter include Q4 net sales of $285.2 million, up 17.6% versus year ago, with base business growth in the high single digits. Our latest 12-week Nielsen AOC consumption growth was up 6.7%, which is 4x higher than total AOC channel growth. During this period, our growth was achieved even as we lapped double-digit Q4 year-ago growth of 15.5%, resulting in a 2-year stack consumption growth of over 24%. These results were driven by gains across the portfolio, including 16 brands that had double or high single-digit increases. Also in Q4, our gross profit margin was up over 168 bps as we were able to offset $7 million in inflation with improved mix, productivity savings, pricing and trade efficiency. And our Q4 U.S. operating income was $42 million, up 14.4% versus year ago. Now as we turn to full year FY '13 performance, we see our Q4 results top off another strong year for Hain Celestial U.S. Our U.S. business model, strong portfolio of brands and focused strategy enabled us to deliver FY '13 top line sales of over $1 billion, I have to pause at that, up 11% versus year ago driven by accelerated consumption growth, and operating income of $177 million or 16.2% of sales. This is up 18% and 108 bps versus year ago, respectively, and it's driven by strong top line growth and gross margin expansion. The U.S. business model continues to deliver against 4 key financial objectives, and I know, John, you're listening: first, mid to high-single-digit top line growth; second, margin improvement of 50 to 100 bps; third, double-digit operating income growth; and fourth, increased operating cash efficiency. And as we look to FY '14, we continue to be optimistic about the U.S. business. Yes, we have tough comps to beat and some commodity headwinds, but we're well prepared with a full line of innovation: a proven productivity process, plenty of distribution whitespace with only 1/3 of distribution points in AOC and we're just in the third inning of the game. So with that, I'd like to turn it over to my teammate, Jim Meiers.