Lance Mitchell
Analyst · Goldman Sachs
Hello everyone. I'm happy to introduce Reynolds Consumer Products during our first call as a public company after our successful IPO and debt offering in January. But first, I'd like to take a moment to address coronavirus, which is at the forefront of our minds and a primary concern globally. Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to those affected by the coronavirus and our top priority at Reynolds is keeping our employees, customers, suppliers and their families safe during this time.The situation continues to evolve on a local and global level and we're taking guidance from relevant authorities to stand ready to act accordingly. At Reynolds we believe that our focus on durable long-term demand and expectation of stable growth with extremely high brand awareness positions us well to deliver growth in 2020 and beyond.Since the inception of Reynolds Consumer Products almost a decade ago, the teamwork of our organization and our alignment to the RCP focus, which is essentially our vision, mission and values, is how we achieved the growth that has enabled us to move to the next chapter for our company. My sincere appreciation and congratulations to all the employees of our company for this achievement and on behalf of our employees, I'd like to welcome all of our new investors. You could rest assured that we’ll continue to work hard to build our business sustainably and responsibly for all of our stakeholders over the long-term as we've always done.I am pleased that our fourth quarter and our fiscal year 2019 financial results were in-line with the estimates we provided during the IPO roadshow. We continued to champion our categories and grow with our customers as consumer products preferences evolve. By remaining focused on durable long-term demand, we continue to expect stable growth and extremely high brand awareness as we aim to drive future growth in 2020 and beyond.I'll spend some time providing an overview of Reynolds to help you get acquaint with our story and discuss the key reasons we believe we're well positioned in the long-term. Michael will then discuss our Q4 and 2019 financial results in detail, as well as guidance for 2020. After that, we'll open up the call for questions.We formed Reynolds Consumer Products in 2011 by combining legacy consumer businesses from both Alcoa which includes Reynolds and Presto products and [indiscernible], which included the Hefty and Tableware businesses. Building a new company on the foundation of these established consumer products companies has given us the platform to create a successful brand that fosters an environment of consumer loyalty. Our mission since day one has been to simplify daily life by providing convenient products so that users can spend time focused on things that matter.Reynolds is a leader in the stable household products market across three broad categories, Cooking products, Waste & Storage, and Tableware. Across these categories, we've achieved the number one or number two product sales position in a majority of categories that we participate in. We have a unique competitive advantage in that we provide Reynolds brands and store brands.I'll now review the four segments in which we operate. The first is Reynolds Cooking & Baking, which includes our flagship Reynolds Wrap and numerous cooking products, like parchment paper and slow cooker liners. Hefty Waste & Storage includes our food bags, using slider closures and both Hefty branded and store brand waste bags. Hefty Tableware includes our disposable tableware products like dishes, bowls, plates and cups. And the Presto Product segments includes our store brand food bags, using a Presto closed closure and shorter runs store brand waste bags.At Reynolds, our focus is growth and continuous cost improvement. In order to accelerate these improvements, we formalized our plan known as revolutions in 2017. The goal of revolution is to continually reinvent and optimize the business to drive revenue growth, market share gains and margin expansion. Our innovation driven culture is focused on solving consumer pain points, increasing use educations, sustainability and the needs of the consumer. What started three years ago as a plan to implement disruptive growth and productivity initiatives has now evolved into a disciplined process that continues to achieve quantifiable results.Through meticulous project management, we have approximately 85 projects that are resourced and on track to achieve their respective goals. We hold weekly calls and reviews led by Michael Graham and myself to assess the progress of revolution and the objectives set in place are bottom up throughout the organization. For the two years ended December 31, 2019, revolution contributed $195 billion to adjusted EBITDA.Our culture of innovation is the epicenter of how we run our business. As consumer preferences evolve, our position as the category leader continues to enable our success. The ability to adapt to a changing consumer environment is the lifeblood of a CPG company, and our strategic partnerships with other leaders in the industry facilitate innovation and new product development. While we are based on the foundation of longstanding CPG companies, we've always done at this way mentality has no place at Reynolds. We constantly listen and learn from consumers and our team members in order to reevaluate what can be improved.Additionally, adjusted EBITDA growth that we've enjoyed is directly attributable to the consistency with which we keep safety at the forefront of everything that we do at Reynolds. Families buy rentals brands because they trust us to deliver dependable safe products. Our products have been on the shelves of retailers for generations and are integral to the household aisle, as well as the America family kitchens. 95% of us households have at least one of our products and not many companies can say this. We have extremely high brand awareness and third party ratings of our brand put its best in class across consumer satisfaction, loyalty and attempt to repurchase. All our products are used across all ages and households. Families purchase our products the most. And we're focused on growing as new households continue to form.As I mentioned earlier, our competitive advantage is our broad portfolio of branded and store brand products. In comparison to our competitors, we’ve only focused on one or two products in the category and we are one stop shop for waste and storage cooking and tableware products. By streamlining purchasing for retailers, we've achieved supply chain economics at scale through having a variety of products on a single truckload. For example, we're able to combine Reynolds Wrap, Hefty trash bags and store brand of products, all in the same truckload to a customer.Because we make it easier for retailers and we align with their strategies, we enjoy trusted long-term partnerships with retail senior leadership for joint business planning. And we have deep consumer insights across the aisle and the ability to offer the retailer support if they choose to expand our categories. No one else in household products aisle approaches the retailer the way that we do.As a result of our efforts, we're pleased to have recently won two major awards at the Walmart Supplier Summit in February. Reynolds received the honors of both the consumables supplier of the year and the consumables private brand supplier of the year. It is a privilege to be recognized by Walmart as a top supplier, and we're truly humbled. The awards are real testimony to the depth of our relationship with the largest retail company in North America, as well as the strength of both our brands and store brands as we collaborate with our retail partners to grow the categories we operate in together.At Reynolds, it is an utmost priority to treat people with respect and operate ethically. At town hall meetings, I emphasize that no one should ever make a decision of Reynolds that they would not be proud to share with their family at dinner at night. We maintain a goal oriented culture across the company and for all salaried employees compensation is tied directly to profitability and cash flow metrics.As a consumer staples business, we believe we're well positioned in the categories in which we participate. Our historical results have demonstrated overtime that the purchasing behavior of Reynolds Consumer generally remains consistent throughout the ebb and flow of economic cycles. He hope that the efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus will gain traction as quickly as possible. We're closely monitoring the impact on the broader economy and on our business.Fortunately for Reynolds, all of our manufacturing facilities are located in North America, 16 in U. S. and one in Canada. 99% of our net revenues comes from U. S. and Canada and a significant majority of our Tier 1 suppliers are also North America based. We are aware that the trajectory of our business in the near term is dependent on how the virus could cause consumer behaviors to change, which could mean self-hoard [indiscernible] and stockpiling.Recently, we've seen some retailers increasing orders and higher than normal consumer takeaway. We believe this inventory and pantry load to be temporary, possibly shifting some volume into the near-term and then reversing before year end. Therefore, we don't expect a material impact from the coronavirus at this time. We will continue to monitor the developing situation and are developing plans should it escalate in North America as the virus could have an impact on our operations and supply chain.As we continue to think about ways to adapt to changing consumer preferences, e-commerce is a primary focus for Reynolds. Our products are shelf stable and are cost effective to ship directly to consumers, which makers well positioned for growth in the e-commerce channel. In our role as a leading CPG company, it is essential that we affect change to establish sustainable business practices.For years, we've been focused on sustainability and have created a broad line of eco-friendly products that are better for the year. We have a team dedicated developing products made with recycled, renewable and compostable materials, including glass paper sandwich bags, compostable paper plates and food bags made from resin using sugarcane as a feedstock. 43% of the products we sell in the U. S. are recyclable and are made from recyclable material. And while we're proud that we've achieved this level, we continue to strive for improvement.Our goal is to reduce 80% of our solid waste in the U. S. operations and design all packaging for recycling by 2025. Furthermore, our commitment to environment goes beyond products. We've been focused on packaging and freight optimization. And as a result, there are fewer trucks on the road. Through partnering with Dow on the Hefty energy bag program, this creates the way to collect otherwise hard to recycle plastics right at curbside, and we're diverting more materials from landfill and convert them into valuable resources like fuel.Going forward, our strategy is to continue doing what we have been doing, because we've proven it works. And we continue to champion our categories with our customers, drive growth through new and innovative products and drive shareholder returns through balanced capital allocation. Michael will provide the details regarding our 2020 guidance. And I'd like to highlight that we expect to continue our upward earnings momentum that we've historically achieved and our 2020 guidance is consistent with what we anticipated during the IPO roadshow. Because of our resilient economic cycles loyalty from families across the U. S. and the suitability for growth in e-commerce, Reynolds is well positioned for continued stable growth.I'd now like to turn it over to Michael.