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Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (SPB)

Q2 2017 Earnings Call· Tue, May 2, 2017

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning. My name is Matthew, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Spectrum Brands Fiscal 2017 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, this conference is being recorded today, Tuesday, May 2. Thank you. I would now like to introduce Mr. David Prichard, Vice President of Investor Relations for Spectrum Brands. Mr. Prichard, you may begin your conference.

David A. Prichard - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Good morning, and welcome to Spectrum Brands Holdings fiscal 2017 second quarter earnings conference call and webcast. I'm Dave Prichard, Vice President of Investor Relations for Spectrum Brands, and I'll be your moderator for this morning's call. To help you follow our comments, we have placed the slide presentation on the Event Calendar page in the Investor Relations section of our website at spectrumbrands.com. This document will remain there following our call. Now, if we start with slide 2 of the presentation, you will see that our call will be led by Andreas Rouvé, our Chief Executive Officer; and Doug Martin, our Chief Financial Officer. Andreas and Doug will deliver opening remarks, and then conduct the Q&A session. If we turn now to slides 3 and 4, our comments today include forward-looking statements including our outlook for fiscal 2017 and beyond. These statements are based upon management's current expectations, projections, and assumptions and are, by nature, uncertain. Actual results may differ materially. Now due to that risk, Spectrum Brands encourages you to review the risk factors and the cautionary statements outlined in our press release dated today, May 2, 2017, and our most recent SEC filings and Spectrum Brands Holdings' most recent 10-K. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. Also, please note that we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures in this call. Reconciliations on a GAAP basis for these measures are included in today's press release and 8-K filing, which are both available on our website in the Investor Relations section. With that, I am very pleased now to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Andreas Rouvé. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Thanks, Dave, and thank you, all, for joining us. Turning to slide 6. Overall, our second quarter performance was…

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Thanks, Andreas, and good morning, everyone. Turning to slide 10, let's review Q2 results beginning with net sales. Second quarter reported net sales of $1.17 billion decreased 3.3% versus last year. Excluding the negative impact of $9.7 million of foreign currency, organic sales declined 2.5% against strong organic growth of 4.9% last year, and also including the negative impact of planned unprofitable business exits of approximately $11 million or 0.9%. Reported gross margin of 38.9% increased 60 basis points from 38.3% last year primarily due to improved mix and strong productivity, partially offset by the negative impact of foreign exchange; reported SG&A expense of $286.8 million, or 24.5% of sales compared to $285.1 million or 23.6% last year. And reported operating margin of 12.3% was unchanged compared to last year. On a reported basis, Q2 diluted EPS of $1 decreased compared to $1.55 last year primarily due to a lower effective tax rate last year relating to the adoption of a new accounting standard for stock compensation. Adjusted EPS of $1.19 improved 2.6% versus $1.16 last year primarily as a result of lower interest costs and share count, partially offset by the negative impacts of foreign exchange. The Q2 reported tax rate of 36.1% increased from a 2.8% benefit last year primarily due to the absence of a valuation allowance and accounting standard's change benefit. Turning to slide 11, our initiatives to improve working capital, not only absolute improvement year-over-year, but also systemic improvement throughout the year to reduce working capital seasonality and to continues to show good progress. For the first half of fiscal 2017, we delivered positive adjusted free cash flow of $7 million, a $190 million improvement versus last year driven mostly by working capital. While you should expect full-year improvement, some of the first half gains…

David A. Prichard - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Thanks very much, Andreas and Doug. With that, operator, you may now begin the Q&A session, please.

Operator

Operator

Certainly Your first question comes from the line of Faiza Alwy with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is open

Yes. Thank you. Good morning. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Good morning.

Faiza Alwy - Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Deutsche Bank. Your line is open

So, Andreas, I wanted to just talk about your outlook on overall category growth. So, you mentioned category softness this quarter. Do you view that as just temporary or has your – I think before you had mentioned that you still expect sort of low-single digit category growth in the year? And then just a second question for Doug. I noticed that you change the commentary around being a regular U.S. federal cash tax payer. It was previously next few years, and now it's next couple of years. So, has anything changed around that? Thanks. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Yeah. Thank you very much. I think if we look at the categories, again, let me start with the two most seasonal, which is Home & Garden and Auto Care. In Home & Garden, it is really a pure timing of retailers taking inventory in. It was last year that they deviated from the norm. And in the meantime, if you look at our three biggest customers in the U.S., which are both in the mass channel and the home improvement channel, all three have significantly improved their inventory management. If we look, for instance, at our inventory at the biggest retailer of the world, the inventory is down by more than 20% year-over-year, but at the same time, the in-stock is at a similar rate of about 98%. That means we have simply to admit those retailers are doing a great job in managing their inventory better and pulling the orders and the goods just in time for the season. Also, if we look, for instance, at our POS in Home & Garden, we are actually now in April up 7% ex that biggest retailer of the world. So, we are performing very well, and therefore we…

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Yeah. I think you did, Andreas. And the second question, Faiza, related to a couple of years versus few years. When we entered the year, we did have a few years left on our NOLs, and that's few is, three or so. We're now halfway through the year, and we're closing in on two or so. So, it was just an appropriate time during the year to change that. As you'll recall, we were a little bit longer than that prior to the Global Auto Care acquisition, but virtually -most, anyway, of its profit is in the U.S., and that's a very profitable business in the U.S. So, we're using NOLs a little faster than we would have before that acquisition.

David A. Prichard - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Operator?

Operator

Operator

Certainly. And your next question comes from the line of Olivia Tong with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open.

Olivia Tong - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Olivia Tong with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open

Great. Thank you. Good morning. Just staying on the category growth, just if you could give us your expectations for what you think actually underlying category growth is right now? You, obviously, said your sales are down about a point for the first half on an organic basis, but seemed pretty bullish in terms of the flip back on a couple of the more seasonal categories. And then in terms of the U.S., can you talk about the cadence of this quarter, specifically the March quarter, and then if you've seen anything different since quarter-end or are you seeing better replenishment, particularly in the non-seasonal businesses? Thanks. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Good. Let me just start with the second question on how April is doing. We see POS trending nicely. I mentioned it earlier. Home & Garden, Auto Care, we see a really nice pickup, partly linked to the weather. Yes, last week, the weather was bad again, but overall, for the month of April, POS is going in the right direction. However, retailers are not – again the biggest retailer of the world, their quarter-end is end of April. So, we don't see a big spike now that they are suddenly reversing that trend of the previous quarter. They continue to pull in time. And as you may know, they have implemented a scheme, which they call OTIF, on-time in-full, where they are working with all their suppliers and where they are actually implementing a kind of fine system, if their suppliers are not delivering on time. So therefore, they are simply improving their inventory management and now doing a great job. So in-stocks continue, good, POS continues strong, but really the shipments continue to follow. This is also why we have mentioned, we are not seeing the entire impact of the second quarter revert in Q3. It will be Q3 and Q4, because the fourth quarter is still a very important part of the top season, and therefore, the retailers last year were sitting on huge inventories in the fourth quarter, which they then drained down towards the end of the season. And this year, we expect a more normal kind of trend. Now, help me again, the first part of the question was, what that again?

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Category growth rate. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Yeah, the category growth rate. Really, this is difficult to answer across the board. We believe it is, category-by-category different. Starting with the most positive is the hardware and home improvement. Here, we believe that the total market continues to grow over somewhere 4%-plus. And also, if you look at our growth in the last quarter in the U.S. market or in North American market, we were up more than 5%. So that trend, we believe, is going to continue. If we look at batteries where we had also very strong quarter, yes, we are seeing a slight tick-up in the category growth, but still it's somewhere slightly in the 1% range or even slightly less than that. So here, we are really gaining market share in different parts of the world, so therefore, we continue to grow that very nicely. In Home Appliances category, globally is down. We expect it to be down somewhere in the 3% to 4% range until some new innovation is going to hit the market. We target to exceed that growth rate, what Doug mentioned earlier, by expanding into adjacencies. That means launching, for instance, more brands, which we have already in our portfolio, like for instance, Black+Decker. We have been working with Black+Decker only in the Americas in the past. Now we are launching it as a second more competitive brand also in the UK. We have been using George Foreman in the past only in the UK and now we are rolling it out into Continental Europe so that we can go again after several price points, do a nice channel differentiation and so on. So therefore, we see there's some kind of growth above category, but it is going to be a low growth rate. And Personal Care, modest growth, Pet, modest growth. So I think those will continue to grow, let me call it, in the GDP range.

Olivia Tong - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Olivia Tong with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open

Great. Thank you so much. And then in terms of just the exits that you guys have done. Obviously, conditions have become a bit more challenging particularly in the U.S. Are you getting any additional – or are you putting any additional scrutiny on your businesses? And could we potentially see more product line exits as time progresses? And how much more is there on the existing exits that what you already announced? And how much more is flowing through from that? Thank you. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: We have very different element and if we start, for instance, in Pet. There, we have exited private label business in the U.S. and this has now anniversaried. So, that effect is over. So, here we have comped now the impact that was more recent last April. So, that's done. Whereas in the Europe, we are exiting a tolling agreement related to dog and cat food, and that would have typically gone into 2018, and there we are seeing now an acceleration of that tolling agreement or exit of that tolling agreement. And we expect to complete that by the end of this fiscal year. So that from next year on, it would be pure organic. Now, looking at the other categories, if we look at HHI, there we have exited in Mexico, the FANAL business and there again, we are going to anniversary the impact in September. So, there's still another six months to go. So, overall, for this year, we expect the impact of those exits to be about $40 million.

Olivia Tong - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Olivia Tong with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open

Thanks so much.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Okay, operator... Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Can we have the next question, please?

Operator

Operator

Certainly. Your next question comes from the line of Bob Labick with CJS Securities. Your line is open.

Bob J. Labick - CJS Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Bob Labick with CJS Securities. Your line is open

Good morning. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Hi, Bob.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Hi, Bob.

Bob J. Labick - CJS Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Bob Labick with CJS Securities. Your line is open

Hi. I wanted to just talk a little bit about retailer traffic and can you talk about which categories you are more impacted by declining traffic of retailers versus where you're kind of avoiding it? And then, more specifically, what are you doing strategically in those categories where retailer traffic has been a little bit weaker and tie it into your – obviously faster move to e-commerce – so, tie it into your e-commerce strategy as well if you could. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: I think the retailer traffic if you talk generically, we had – and there are two stand-outs. So, first one is in the U.S. and there really January and early part of February was very weak and this is probably linked to what have been communicated earlier the delayed in the tax refund, which especially has impacted lower kind of income groups and, accordingly also, that delayed a little bit that demand in the opening price point ranges where the higher price point product still continue to perform very well. The second point is on the kind of more strategic shift. Here, we really see a channel shift occurring where it is that a brick and mortar is declining and e-commerce is growing rapidly. However, even in the brick and mortar, there are very different trends and if you look at the different retailers. Our top customers, be it the leading home improvement centers or also the biggest retailer of the world, continues to perform very well. And therefore, we see actually they're having a very positive trend where some more of the traditional other retailers are challenged in their foot traffic. What we are also seeing is that also those brick and mortar retailers are stepping up their initiative to drive their multichannel strategy, that means also pushing their e-commerce including order online, pickup in-store, which is performing very well. And overall, our growth is exceptionally strong. It is in the high-double digit range. So, that is the kind of – but it's also kind of multichannel strategy where we see consumers looking online and then still buy in-store or ordering online and picking up store. So, it is really becoming increasingly a multichannel strategy.

Bob J. Labick - CJS Securities, Inc.

Analyst · Bob Labick with CJS Securities. Your line is open

Terrific. I appreciate that. I'll get back in queue. Thank you.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Thanks, Bob. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Okay. Next question please, operator?

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Grundy with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Kevin Grundy - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Kevin Grundy with Jefferies. Your line is open

Thanks. Good morning, guys. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Hi, Kevin.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Good morning, Kevin.

Kevin Grundy - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Kevin Grundy with Jefferies. Your line is open

I just wanted to pick up on the top line a bit. So, it seems like, Andreas, it's based on sort of the category growth rate you are outlining. And to get to sort of like a 2% sort of growth rate for the year, it would imply that somewhere in the ballpark of like a 4% to 5% kind of organic sales growth rate. And understanding that the comp is an easy one, particularly in 4Q, is that how you sort of see things trending given some of the benefit that you get from some of the sales that were sort of pushed into the third quarter? Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Yes. That is pretty accurate. So, I think that's a good assumption.

Kevin Grundy - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Kevin Grundy with Jefferies. Your line is open

Okay. And I just wanted to come back to the U.S. piece because it's been sort of an ugly earnings season in HPC, particularly U.S. results. But I just want to make sure I'm understanding you clearly, you don't really seem to see it that way in your business with the exception of, maybe, home appliances which was weak in calendar 4Q already, and I think there's been discussion, a lot of it about Walmart destocking there. But it sounds like you don't really see it that way, Andreas, although some of the weakness here, you're going to pick up in fiscal 3Q. You seemed relatively comfortable with the dynamic with retailers, absent some of the destocking. And it sounds like things are a little bit better in April. Just want to get your perspective to make sure I understand that clearly because there is a lot of sort of gloom and doom commentary out there. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: I think, overall, the demand is there. I think, A, you mentioned it correctly, there is a delay in the intake. However, the second element, which we also have to take very serious and we are addressing it also is that there is a shift in the opening price point more to private label. That means that in the category, an extreme, let me call it, margin pressure. And that's why, again, we are investing so much focus on innovation because that's the only way to differentiate and therefore to avoid that pure price play which can, as I mentioned earlier, in a lot of cases, Black Friday promotions are at negative margin and that simply are games where we are walking away, where we believe that doesn't make any sense.

Kevin Grundy - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Kevin Grundy with Jefferies. Your line is open

Okay. Thanks. One more, Doug. On M&A, is it still safe to say that larger scale M&A is still off the table until we get greater clarity on what the HRG transactions will look like?

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

I think those are two separate issues, Kevin, but I do think on the first question, larger scale M&A now that we have PetMatrix in front of us, and we're actively involved in planning for integration and closing that transaction, that will be our focus. But any kind of M&A, whether it's bolt-ons or transformative, we can't really pick the timing on it. So, if something really attractive came up, I don't think that what's going on at the HRG level would impact our appetite or ability.

Kevin Grundy - Jefferies LLC

Analyst · Kevin Grundy with Jefferies. Your line is open

Okay. Very good. Thank you. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Operator, next question.

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jason Gere with KeyBanc. Your line is open.

Jason M. Gere - KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc.

Analyst · Jason Gere with KeyBanc. Your line is open

Okay. Thanks. Good morning, guys. I guess one question with two parts. You talk about some of the investments that you're making this year. Certainly, that's in the changing retail environment to more e-commerce and even to kind of tackle the more, more, more strategy that you have. So, I guess the first question is, are the investments really geared towards this year? Do you see that continuing next year? And then the second part is that where – you've done a really good job leaning on some of the productivity initiatives, some of the manufacturing changes out there, whether it's in Ohio or St. Louis. Just wondering, what other type of projects do you see out there that can kind of drive more productivity savings to kind of, I guess, insulate the EBITDA as you make more of these investments in growing channels? Thanks. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Yeah. Let me first answer the question on the investments this year versus next year. It really is both, and let me take some examples the more, more, more, which I mentioned the example for Pet, Home & Garden going with Nature's Miracle in more channels, going with Rapid Repel into Latin America. This is impacting already this year. And the Nature's Miracle will be – I would say, will probably have a six-month impact this year with the second six-month impact coming next year because that is going very rapidly, well accepted by those other channels. Rapid Repel into Latin America, that's more going to be a kind of step-by-step process. We need to gain the local registrations, we have to gain market share, the listings in retail. That's going to be more kind of multiyear strategy where we adjust we have made the homework, the groundwork is prepared, and we are rolling it out. Now, looking at some of the other divisions, and you may have seen on one of the charts where I was talking about those investments, that in our Auto Care division, we are, for instance, also working on developing adjacencies. Like for instance, in STP, expanding into lubricants and oil for small garden equipment. And those are being developed this year, but in all fairness that impact is going to be earlier in 2018. So, a lot of those initiatives will really pay back next year. I think on the productivity, let me pass that on to Doug.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Sure. Thanks, Andreas. Jason, on the productivity elements, some of the things that you've heard us talked about very overtly have been the HHI and DC consolidation project and the Dayton DC and manufacturing consolidation. And those are going well and those will contribute a little bit this year, but those will, from a working capital and cost savings perspective, fully flow into next year. But we've also talked about our global transformation initiative across HHI, which is streamlining and chassis harmonization and automation across our manufacturing footprint there, and there's plenty of headroom, that's a multi-year project, it's a planned project. We've added – or are in the process of adding battery capacity in both hearing aid and alkaline to serve demand that we see in those categories, especially in our European environment. And then we've got other parking lot items, a nice robust list that we have out there that we haven't talked about publicly and it's – some are big items in there, meaningful items in there across the businesses, and some are just a normal productivity culture that this company has. We're always planning for productivity improvements. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Okay. Next question?

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Ian Zaffino with Oppenheimer. Your line is open. Ian Zaffino - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: Hi. Great. I just wanted to touch on batteries. What was the price versus volume on that revenue increase? And I have a follow-up. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: I think this is a tough question because if you look at batteries, we actually have those – big chunk is alkaline, second biggest category within batteries is hearing aid, but then you have also flashlight. You have rechargeable, power pack, specialty battery. And our growth is really driven mainly by alkaline and hearing aid where – which we produce in-house. Accordingly, we have the highest margins. We see in flashlights a similar trend like at the opening price point in electric appliances that big retailers are moving increasingly to private label. And therefore, we are actually declining in flashlight. Our growth is driven really by those in-house produced alkaline and hearing aid. And that is driving a favorable mix effect. But overall, let me be blunt, the market is still extremely competitive, and the competitive pressure remains strong. Ian Zaffino - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: Okay. And then just a follow-up on the hearing aids. I know the FDA was taking some steps maybe to improve what they said hearing aid accessibility. I don't know what you're hearing there or what you're seeing there or if you can maybe give us a little commentary surrounding that, how that might affect you, whether or not it happens – just any color you could give would be great. Thanks. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: So, as you may know, we are also member of the Hearing Industries Association, and I can tell you openly that of course if you make hearing aids more accessible, that it can increase the demand, and accordingly it may be beneficial for us, for instance, as a hearing aid manufacturer. However, at the same time, we have to realize it is a medical device. And if you have patients trying to do a self diagnosis, then they may also be wrong, and therefore, they may also then pick an equipment where they are unhappy and they may not be satisfied with it, and also the safety and effectiveness of some of those products are wrong. So, therefore, we as an association, are not necessarily supporting that even if at the surface it may look as if it may benefit the consumer. We see there are serious risks for the consumer, and therefore we believe that the role of the professional channel is so very important. Ian Zaffino - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: All right. Thank you very much. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Next question, please?

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Joe Altobello with Raymond James. Your line is open. Joseph Nicholas Altobello - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Thanks. Hey, guys. Good morning. First question on Pet, if you look at the decline this quarter, it seemed to accelerate from last quarter. I know you guys have talked about an acceleration or an improvement in organic sales in the second half, it sounds like this morning you're a bit less optimistic on that, maybe a little more clarity on what you're expecting for the Pet segment in the second half. And then my second question sort of goes back to Kevin's question on HRG. To the extent that you can this morning talk about what your outlook is and timing is of a resolution until they've given that the FGL sale looks like it's hit a snag here. Thanks. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Yes. Let me just answer the question on Pet. I think there are a couple also of seasonal impact which impacted the second quarter, like for instance, in aquatics as part of our business is the outdoor pond. That means fish food for outdoor pond. And again, with the colder weather in both in Europe and also in the U.S. in our fiscal second quarter, some of the retailers delayed the intake and also the consumer demand is slipping a little bit back. So, therefore, there's also some seasonality, we have not flagged it because it's not close to be in the same range as for Home & Garden. Now, the second point which is really getting a little bit more competitive is in the dog and cat food category in Europe where we have struggled and where we are stepping up now our level of initiative driving more innovation, also going to invest more into marketing. So therefore, that is the challenge where we still need to address and we don't see the turnaround happening in this year, that's more going to be a kind of 2018 impact.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

So, on HRG, that's all happening above us. So, we really don't have any comment or any insight that you don't have into the situation. Joseph Nicholas Altobello - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Okay. Thank you, guys. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Next question please, operator?

Operator

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jim Chartier with Monness, Crespi, Hardt. Your line is open. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Good morning.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Hi, Jim. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Hi. In a slide that you mentioned, you now expect modest deleveraging this year given the PetMatrix acquisition. Just give us some more color around that? Is that adjusted EBITDA margin down year-over-year? And if so, can you tell us what the sales and EBITDA contribution from PetMatrix should be this year?

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Yeah. I can tell you a little bit of that anyway. It's very straightforward. My reference was simply to the absolute dollars of deleveraging. It didn't have to do with multiples or anything like that. We're paying a headline cash number for PetMatrix of $255 million. And that business, the way it's structured, is a flow-through. So, there are significant tax benefits that we inherit. We get full basis in these assets. So, the net present value of the purchase price then goes down to slightly below $200 million, and that's within the purchase multiple range that we target and execute against. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Okay. So, there's nothing to do with leveraging of expenses? Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: No. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Okay. And then, in terms of the sales benefit from PetMatrix this year, is that incorporated into your expectation to grow above category rate this year? Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: No. We haven't closed the transaction yet. The only thing we're signaling on this call is the impact on leverage for the year. I didn't want to reiterate a number that has a contemplated acquisition. Nothing else has been factored in at this point. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Okay. And then on batteries, yeah, very strong growth in the first half of this year. Is that driven by strength in kind of the core channels and geographies or is it benefiting yet from your expansion into the under-indexed channels and new geographies? Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: It is really both. We are seeing both in the countries where we are already strong and even at the retailers where we are already listed, we're gaining more shelf space. But second, we are also making nice progress in that country expansion into the channel expansion. So the more, more, more strategy is also applying to batteries, and we are seeing nice growth. In this context, I should flag that of course, the more, more, more always has a certain lead time. And of course, batteries is the segment where we are doing it already longer, and therefore, the momentum is also stronger in that strategy. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Great. Thanks and best of luck.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Thanks, Jim. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Thank you. Okay. Operator, we're near the top of the hour, so why don't we take one more question before closing down the call, please?

Operator

Operator

Certainly. And your last question comes from the line of Shannon Coyne with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Shannon Coyne - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Hi, Shannon.

Shannon Coyne - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open

Hi. Sounds like you've begun to see the impact from Walmart pushing its private label strategy in the opening price point products and small appliances. Do you expect that to get worst from here? And then what are the other categories you're most vulnerable to this? And so – and then what percentage of your business is in that opening price point range and where do you expect that to move to, given your investments and innovation, how long will that take? Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: I think the private label strategy, if you take kind of step back and look at it from the long range, it is really partly also a kind of competition with other retailers. And as for instance, the dollar channel, as you know, the discount from Europe are coming to the U.S. We believe that at the opening price point, the competition between retailers is going to get stronger, and accordingly that the retailers are going to utilize private labels to capture those price points so that they can compete against those discounted and dollar channels. However, at the same time, the retailers are not only looking for a one-to-one price matching, they also are looking for their absolute margins. And therefore, they are looking to have a kind of more complete assortment, where, yes, at OPP, they fight with their private labels, but as we go into the higher price points, they have a very strong need for innovation and for brands. And that's exactly the strategy which we are playing. So, we will continue to see that positive mix effect going to higher price point product. Sorry, I didn't get your second question. Or did I answer that?

Shannon Coyne - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open

I think so, yeah. So, secondly – sorry. Can I have one more? I was looking at – your free cash flow was better than what I expected again this quarter despite missing on the EBITDA line. Can you talk about your working capital expectations for the rest of the year? And so, maintaining your guidance, how much of that is continued improvement in working capital versus an improvement in EBITDA? That's it. Thanks.

Douglas L. Martin - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.

Management

Sure, Shannon. This is Doug. We have, as you know, been working on systemic improvements to – or systematic improvements to managing working capital for a couple of years now, and it's really beginning to flow through the balance sheet, and it began in the first quarter of this year. There were significant improvement year-over-year there, and that improvement has been maintained and even expanded just a little bit in the second quarter. And you should really think about it as taking seasonality or some of the seasonality out of our working capital cycle. So, what we've done in the first half is significantly better than last year, and we will hold that basic construct and performance throughout the year, but we obviously give back in quarters three and four some of what we had historically delivered in the back half in prior years. So, there will be a little benefit on the whole year – some meaningful benefit on the whole year, but that's included in our $575 million to $590 million guidance.

Shannon Coyne - BMO Capital Markets

Analyst · BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open

Thanks. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: All right. Thank you. Andreas Rouvé - Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.: Okay. Thank you and with that, we have reached the top of the hour. So we will now conclude our conference call. I certainly want to thank both Andreas and Doug. And on behalf of all of us here at Spectrum Brands, we thank you for participating in our fiscal 2017 second quarter earnings call. Have a good day.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.