Irwin Simon
Analyst · Wolfe Research. Sir, your line is now open
Thank you, Mary, and good morning, everyone. Our global teams continued to make significant progress across key areas of our business in fiscal 2018 second quarter. We remain committed to the four-point plan we laid out in June of last year which includes investing in our top brands and capabilities to grow globally; delivering on Project Terra cost savings and productivity; enhancing our leadership team to deliver to our strategic plan; and last but not least, returning value to Hain Celestial shareholders. Hain Celestial remains uniquely positioned in the growing organic, natural and better-for-you products industry. Across the U.S., UK, Rest of the World, we have 24 of the leading brands that are number one and number two in their respective categories. And our most significant brand building investments to-date started this fiscal year. With regards to the quarter’s performance, our worldwide net sales reached $775 million, a 5% increase compared to $740 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA increased 19% to $83 million from $70 million in the prior year. And adjusted EPS increased 28% to $0.41 compared to $0.32 in quarter two of last year. Our second quarter results reflect the strength of our diversified businesses. Our international business segments generate solid growth year-over-year. UK and the Rest of the World, which includes Europe, Canada, Cultivate were up mid single digits in constant currency net sales. Our UK net sales growth primarily reflects 13% growth from Tilda, 15% growth from our Ella’s business and 12% growth from Hain Daniels brands, with strong brand performance from Hartley’s, Linda McCartney and the Cully & Sully brand. Net sales growth for Hain Celestial Canada was driven by the Yves Veggie Cuisine, Sensible Portions and Live Clean brands. Hain Celestial Europe had strong growth from Natumi, the Joya brand, the Dream brand, and their own labels. In the U.S., we continued to execute on our strategic plan to drive growth of our top 11 brands and top 500 SKUs. We have made significant brand building investments and identified numerous opportunities to drive improved growth and profitability. While the U.S. business is not yet growing at the level of our international business or my expectations, we expect these investments to pay significant returns in the future period. The results of some of our brand building investments are evident in this quarter. Celestial Seasonings net sales were up 13%, a significant turnaround. Net sales for MaraNatha increased 8%, a significant turnaround. Earth’s Best increased 6%. And in snacks, Terra and Garden grew low single digits. Our personal care portfolio also continued to outperform with Alba Botanica’s Avalon Organics, Live Clean brands, all up solid double digits. We also got ones that had issues and declined, and Gary will discuss the plans to grow them in the future. We are also very pleased with Hain Pure Protein’s improved results during the most important quarter of the year, for the protein business. Plainville Farms, net sales increased 15%; FreeBird brand net sales increased 17%; and our Empire Kosher brand net sales increased 7%, which was partially offset by a decrease in private label and the discontinuation of our Round Hill conventional brand. Hain Pure Protein remains one of the leading 100% organic and antibiotic-free, fresh poultry producers in the U.S. For Q2, we had a very strong finish to the holiday season, delivering well over 1.4 million turkeys to our customers and consumers. While we incurred incremental costs to meet the strong demand, our profitability tripled compared to the prior year. In addition, we are pleased to report that everybody got their turkey for Thanksgiving and our services levels are 99%. Now, moving on to an important project called Project Terra, global cost savings and worldwide productivity initiatives. We delivered approximately $35 million of savings in the first half of 2018, in line what we said out to achieve, as we move forward our target of $100 million. As we have told, most of these savings are backend loaded. During the quarter, to help achieve this number, we engaged Alix Partners, a leading consultant firm that specializes in implementing cost savings initiatives to work with us, to ensure we drive that is much non-value added costs out of the business as possible. Alix Partners is supporting our efforts to accelerate and amplify our savings initiative, especially in procurement-related areas by consolidating resources around direct product costs such as ingredients, packaging and co-manufacturers. We’re also addressing general administration costs across our operations as we execute on our $350 million Project Terra plan. Today, we announced, we’re exploring a divestiture of Hain Pure Protein, as we look to reduce complexity and drive the greater efficiencies across our businesses, simplify our brand portfolio. The category for fresh, organic, antibiotic-free protein remains strong. While we continue to believe this is a highly attractive business with very good growth potential, as you saw in our numbers last quarter, we have determined, it is not core to our go-forward strategy. We have received a tremendous amount of interest in this business. We believe this strategic move will enhance shareholder value as we position Hain for future growth. Before I turn the call over to Gary, let me share a few thoughts on the direction of the industry and how Hain is uniquely positioned to benefit from where the industry is headed. In my 25 years at Hain Celestial, I haven’t seen an industry change as much it has over the last couple of years. During our meetings with major retail partners, we have a seat at the table, and they are focused on three key areas, brick and mortar, click and pick, and e-commerce. They are collaborating with our teams on organic natural products that resonate with their consumers, particularly as we position ourselves for the shift that continues to increase the move to e-commerce. Today, a solid part of Hain Celestial business occurs via e-commerce. In the United States alone, we have approximately $80 million in net sales. Three years ago, we had minimal sales. We expect to double or even triple that over the next two to three years. According to IRI, e-commerce could represent 10% of grocery sales by 2022. In addition, it is estimated that 70% of shoppers will be buying their groceries online within five to seven years according to projections from the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen; total online grocery spending could reach $100 billion. So, we’d be moving where the consumers are moving to. Organic products have three times greater share of sales online than conventional products, and we continue to position Hain to win with our leading organic natural products. Other investment areas include international. We expect our business in India, Middle East and Africa to grow nearly $100 million by the end of fiscal 2021. At the same time, in China, we see tremendous e-commerce opportunities for our Earth’s Best brand, particularly in infant formula. We believe we’re making the right strategic changes and investments in our go-to-market strategy with particular emphasis in the U.S., to support the shifting consumer purchasing dynamics and evolving retail landscape. We acknowledge these efforts will take some time to yield results but we are encouraged with what we are seeing in our business. As I mentioned earlier, a key piece of creating stronger and more profitable Hain Celestial is simplifying our business. Part of this strategy requires us to walk away from overly complex and low-margin SKUs. As a result, our team remains intensely focused on the growth and investment behind our top 11 brands and our top 500 SKUs in the U.S. And last but not least, always to keep expanding on our Project Terra cost savings and productivity initiatives. These efforts are creating an even stronger Hain Celestial for the long-term. Gary will discuss his U.S. business wins, challenges and an update on their transformational strategic initiatives in more detail in a few minutes. I also want to touch on tax reform. James will review it in greater detail. But, I am really excited about the opportunities for Hain, as we go from an effective tax rate of 30%, to a much lower rate in the mid 20s. This will provide a significant opportunity to use these savings to fuel incremental investments into our brands, to grow the top line to drive awareness and household penetration as well through invest in our people and infrastructure, which we’ve already started. Over the last 25 years, we’ve created an incredible company at Hain Celestial. We’ve been a visionary in the organic natural products industry and we are still leading the way. We have made a lot of progress on our business transformation with our greatest opportunities still ahead. With that, I will now turn over to Gary, to take you through his U.S. business. Thank you.