Robert S. Sands
Analyst · D.A
Thank you, Patty. And good morning, and welcome to our call. Before we begin our year-end review of fiscal 2013, I would like to mention that I am very excited about the fact that we have reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice, the finalization of which will allow Constellation to proceed with the acquisition of the remaining 50% interest in Crown Imports as well as the Piedras Negras brewery in Mexico and the perpetual brand rights for the Modelo portfolio in the U.S. Earlier this week, we received unanimous approval from the Mexican Antitrust Commission, which further paves the way to completion of the revised deal between ABI and Constellation. This transaction represents a significant milestone for Constellation, as it is the most transformational acquisition in the history of our company. It will solidify our place in the U.S. beer market for the long term as the perpetual brand owner and producer of the iconic Modelo beer portfolio, which includes Corona Extra, the best-selling imported beer; Corona Light, the leading imported light beer; and Modelo Especial, the third-largest and one of the fastest-growing major imported beer brands. Overall, this deal will allow us to nearly double the sales of our company, diversify our profit stream, significantly enhance our earnings and free cash flow and provide new avenues for growth. It will also reestablish Constellation's position as the largest multi-category supplier for beer, wine and spirits. We will not only be the third-largest total beverage alcohol company in the U.S. but the #3 brewer and supplier of beer for the U.S. market. I would like to reiterate that there are 3 key components of the new beer transaction: number one, Constellation will purchase the remaining 50% of Crown that we do not already own, giving us complete independent control of distribution, marketing, promotion and pricing as the new brand owner in the U.S.; number two, Constellation will be granted a perpetual, non-terminable license for the import and distribution of the Modelo brands that Crown currently sells in the U.S., with exclusive rights to the brands and freedom to develop brand extensions and innovations for the U.S. market; number three, Constellation will acquire one of the world's largest and most state-of-the-art brewing facilities in Piedras Negras, Mexico, as well as the full profit stream associated with all sales of the Modelo brands in the U.S. Now the Piedras Negras brewery is the crown jewel of production for Modelo. The brewery is self-sufficient, utilizes state-of-the-art technology and was built to be readily expanded to increase production capacity. Constellation's purchase of the Piedras Negras brewery provides independence of supply for Crown and complete control of the production of the Modelo brands for marketing and distribution in the U.S. Current capacity for this facility is approximately 10 million hectoliters, or about 120 million cases, with scalability to 30 million hectoliters. Our goal within the next 3 years is to expand Piedras Negras' capacity from 10 million hectoliters to 20 million hectoliters, which we project will be more than enough to supply 100% of the U.S. market into the foreseeable future. During this 3-year time frame, Constellation and ABI will enter into an interim supply agreement. This is intended to ensure continuity of supply and quality of products, with the expectation that Constellation will become fully self-sufficient thereafter. During this period, Constellation will purchase product at a fixed price per case, subject to annual adjustment based on the U.S. consumer price index. In addition, Constellation and ABI will enter into a Transition Services Agreement, primarily to provide Constellation with brewery operations and general management assistance, brewery expansion consulting and technical support and brewery procurement and logistics services. For nearly 2 decades, Constellation, either directly or through Crown, has imported, marketed and sold the Modelo brands in the U.S. During this time, the Crown team has successfully built the Modelo portfolio into an enviable position of leadership and growth driven by their strength in brand building and the strong relationships they have established with our distributors and retailers. And now, I would like to focus our discussion on Constellation's year-end fiscal 2013 sales and earnings results. I am very, very pleased with our results for fiscal 2013, and we executed against all of our key strategic goals and initiatives for the year. As you know, the fiscal 2013 -- fiscal 2013 represented a year of investment in new products and brand-building activity, particularly for our U.S. wine and spirits business. We launched approximately 50 new items, including new brands, pipeline extensions and packaging innovations. Many of these activities represented existing brand extensions, where we leveraged the equity of our Focus Brands to capture opportunities that were designated or designed to meet changing consumer taste preferences for more fruit-forward and easier-drinking wines. We targeted hot categories experiencing significant growth, like Moscato, Malbec and Sweet Red blends, launching brands like Rex Goliath, Free Range Red, which won the 2012 best red wine under $8 from the World Value Wine Challenge competition. We also increased national advertising support for certain key brands like Kim Crawford, which launched its Undo Ordinary media print campaign centered on art and fashion lifestyles. I am proud to announce that Kim Crawford recently surpassed the 1 million case mark in global sales, which is a great new milestone for this popular brand. From a TV advertising perspective, we aired commercials supporting our fast-growing Black Box, Simply Naked and SVEDKA Vodka brands, as well as our largest brand, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi. We purchased Mark West, a top-selling pinot noir brand and a fabulous addition to our portfolio, which posted double-digit sales, depletion and SymphonyIRI growth trends for the year. Overall, throughout fiscal 2013, our U.S. wine and spirits business benefited from ongoing consumer trade-up trends, positive mix, distribution gains at retail and great consumer response to our new product introductions in the marketplace. Collectively, these activities helped to drive excellent marketplace momentum, including market share gains and above-market depletion trends of nearly 4% across our entire U.S. wine and spirits portfolio, while our collection of Focus Brands grew at almost double that rate for the year. As a result of our efforts, we are garnering more awards and recognition than ever before from prominent industry publications, particularly for our new products and our Focus Brands. They include the following: constellation had 9 brands on this year's SymphonyIRI list of Top 30 Momentum Table Wine Brands for 2012; we won 11 2012 Hot Brand Awards from Impact magazine; and several of our new brands landed on Beverage Information Group's list of 2013 Growth Brand awards. Our Focus Brands that received these awards included Kim Crawford, Clos du Bois, Mark West, SVEDKA, Ruffino, Rex Goliath and Woodbridge, just to name a few. And our new product offerings included on the awards list included Simply Naked, The Dreaming Tree, Primal Roots and Thorny Rose. From a spirits perspective, for fiscal 2013, SVEDKA posted double-digit consumer takeaway trends in SymphonyIRI channels in addition to gaining volume and dollar share of the vodka category. SVEDKA is currently the #2 imported vodka brand and a top 10 spirits brand in the United States. During the fourth quarter, we launched and added 2 new unique flavors, Strawberry Colada and Orange Cream Pop, to SVEDKA's flavor lineup. For the year, Black Velvet grew double digits in SymphonyIRI channels, driven by the popularity of Black Velvet Toasted Caramel, which recently received a 90-point rating from the Wine Enthusiast magazine and a gold medal from Beverage Testing Institute's International Review of Spirits award. Now in addition, we are on the cusp of launching the new Black Velvet Cinnamon Rush as we continue to build on the momentum of Toasted Caramel with a new flavor innovation. Heading into fiscal 2014, the overarching strategy for our wine and spirits business includes 3 key tenets: number one is keep our big brands healthy; and number two, continue our focus on innovation and new products; and lastly, number three, plan to drive those key Focus Brands that have the greatest growth potential, although this will require some additional marketing investment in 2014. In a few minutes, Bob will provide additional details regarding how this factors into our wine and spirits growth model for the year. Overall, our goal is to maintain our strong marketplace momentum and pursue market share gains for our wine and spirits business in fiscal 2014. Now moving to the Crown Imports joint venture. Crown had another exceptional year, driving record sales for Modelo Especial, Corona Light, Negra Modelo and Pacifico while posting positive depletion trends for all major Modelo brands. Corona Extra exceeded the 100 million case mark for the year and was the only imported brand to achieve this sales milestone. Calendar year 2012 marked the 16th consecutive year that Corona Extra remained the leader in the imported beer category. Corona Extra continues to blaze new trails through marketing investments with sports properties that are strategic for the brand like the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and NCAA basketball. As for Corona Light, it continues to strengthen its own identity with its new advertising campaign that is driving consumers to trade up from domestic lights. Overall, this brand is outpacing the premium light category and is growing across all major geographies. One of the gems the Crown portfolio, Modelo Especial, achieved a new milestone in calendar 2012 by surpassing 40 million cases in depletions. The brand almost -- also became the #2 import beer in the U.S. convenience store channel on a volume basis. While draft represents only a small part of the Crown overall volume, depletions grew almost 60% for this format, increasing brand recognition for the Corona Light, Negra Modelo and Pacifico brands throughout fiscal 2013. I'm also very proud of Crown's long list of achievements for fiscal 2013, which include the following: Corona was named one of the best global brands by Interbrand and was only 1 of 3 brands to be recognized. Market Watch not only recognized Modelo Especial as a Hot Brand Award winner for the 19th consecutive year but also awarded this brand its Leaders Choice Beer Brand of the Year Award. In addition, Modelo Especial ranked as the #1 momentum beer brand in 2012 in SymphonyIRI channels. And finally, Impact magazine announced that Modelo Especial, Corona Light and Pacifico were all Blue Chip Brand Award winners in 2012. Collectively, the initiatives I have just outlined contributed to Crown's strong marketplace performance as the business grew depletions in the 3% to 4% range in fiscal 2013. Overall, this is the third consecutive year that Crown has outperformed the import and total U.S. beer categories, which demonstrates the strength of the Crown brand portfolio and its marketing programs and execution at retail. I am excited about Crown's organic growth prospects for fiscal 2014, as we are once again targeting sales and depletion trends to exceed the U.S. beer industry and import trends. Although it's premature to discuss the entirety of our plans for the upcoming year, some of the initiatives that we have underway include the following: Crown plans to launch Modelo Especial Chelada by early fall, which is expected to build on the brand strength of Modelo Especial. This product will tap into a new occasion for this brand's core Hispanic consumer. Modelo Especial also added a broadcast sponsorship of the Gold Cup, a soccer tournament of 25 matches in 13 U.S. cities, which will help to build the brand's awareness and trial. Crown is planning draft format market expansions for Corona Light, Negra Modelo and Pacifico. Corona Extra will debut new TV advertising under its Find Your Beach campaign while launching new ads for the Hispanic market. Crown's new advertising for Corona Light beginning this spring will be supplemented by a combined TV, digital and social media campaign. Corona Light will also sponsor Kenny Chesney's 2013 U.S. tour, leveraging Kroger as a strategic retail partner through its Rhythm & Brews program. Pacifico will debut its first TV ads in Southern California. The new Pacifico, Discovered in Baja, Imported by Surfers campaign includes several TV ads that tell the Pacifico story in an emotional way. And finally, during 2014, Chef Rick Bayless will work with Crown to promote Negra Modelo, Pacifico and Victoria, creating recipes and unique food pairing options for each brand that can be leveraged at retail. In closing, we had a great year, driving above-market depletion growth and market share gains across our beer, wine and spirits businesses. I am very excited about the Crown deal, as Constellation's full ownership of this great beer business provides an additional strategic lever for driving profitable, organic growth. I look forward to meeting with you in New York on June 5 to discuss the future strategy for our business. I would now like to turn the call over to Bob for a financial discussion of our year-end business results and our outlook for fiscal 2014.