Del Monte Pacific Limited (D03) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning to our participants in Asia, and good evening to our participants in the U.S. Thank you for joining Del Monte Pacific's Results Briefing for the First Quarter ending July 2021. Representing Del Monte in this briefing are Cito Alejandro, Group Chief Operating Officer of Del Monte Pacific, DMPL; Parag Sachdeva, Group CFO of DMPL; Greg Longstreet, CEO of Del Monte Foods in the U.S.; and I am Iggy Sison, Chief Corporate Officer of DMPL. Next slide, please. We will discuss our results for about half an hour or so and then open the floor to Q&A. Parag Sachdeva will now present our results.

Thank you, Iggy. Good morning to everyone in Asia, and good evening to all in the U.S. Very pleased to share that following a turnaround performance in fiscal '21, DMPL Group is off to a very good start in Q1 of fiscal year '22. On Slide 5, we'll share with you the highlights from the first quarter. Group EBITDA rose 77% to $75 million. Net profit, following the strong EBITDA performance, ended at $18.3 million for the quarter, which is a significant improvement from a loss of $3.2 million in prior year quarter. Our U.S. subsidiary, Del Monte Foods increased its EBITDA to $37.5 million from $10.4 million in prior year and delivered a net profit of $4.8 million from a loss of $14.3 million following a turnaround performance in fiscal '21. DMPL significantly improved its gross margin by 610 basis points to 28.9% on the back of DMFI's higher branded sales and lower costs as well. Del Monte Philippines grew its EBITDA by 19% to $39.9 million and net profit by 37% to $25.6 million. The Group continues to improve the leverage profile and its debt-to-adjusted EBITDA now is at 3.8x from 5.4x last year. DMPI and Vinamilk also established a joint venture to enter the growing dairy sector in the Philippines. Slide 6, our outlook remains very buoyant. Our strategy is to strengthen the core business, expand the product portfolio in line with market trends for health and wellness, and grow our branded business while reducing non-strategic business segments, particularly in the U.S. More product availability through better distribution and expanded sales channel, including emerging channels such as e-commerce or dollar stores, convenience stores, et cetera, continues both in Asia, as well as the U.S. DMPL Group is well positioned to build on momentum that we have achieved in fiscal '21 and offset the impact of commodity and transportation headwinds just as we have sort of shown a glimpse in the first quarter. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the DMPL Group expects to generate higher net profit in fiscal year 2022. On Slide 7, we'll take you through a summary of our first quarter Group results. Sales of $462 million is an increase of 12%. U.S. sales are up 10%. Philippines is also higher by 2.3% in dollar terms but lower by 1.8% in local currency following a very high baseline in fiscal '21. S&W brand in Asia grew by 20%, driven both by fresh pine and packaged exports. Our JV in India also increased in sales by 37% in local currency, driven by retail and e-commerce sales. EBITDA, as explained in the key highlights at $75 million, up 77% due to higher sales, significantly improved sales mix in the U.S., as well as lower costs. Our operating profit, in line with EBITDA of $56.8 million is up 175% from $20.7 million. On Slide 8, we'll take you through more detailed results. Again, starting with sales. Our first quarter sales at $462 million, up 11.9% from higher branded sales in the U.S. and international market sales also doing very well, including S&W business in Asia. We'll talk about it more in the turnover analysis. Our gross profit at $133.4 million, higher by 42%, driven by increased branded sales in the U.S., significant improvement in fresh sales to North Asia and lower cost from execution of asset-light strategy in the U.S. Gross margin at 28.9%, higher by 610 basis points, led by lower costs, mainly in the U.S. from the sale of fiscal '21 pack, which is lower cost inventory as compared to fiscal '20. Margin for DMFI at 25.9% is an improvement of 830 basis points. Our margin for the base business at 30.8% also improved by almost 50 basis points during the same period, driven by improvements in international business, particularly fresh. EBITDA of $75 million, up 77%, mainly due to increase in gross profit and lower G&A. OI, as explained, absolutely followed the same direction. Net finance expense at $24.7 million, just marginally higher due to lower FX gain in the U.S. from strengthening of Mexican peso. DMPL share in FieldFresh joint venture in India was a loss of $0.7 million as the business continued to be impacted by the second wave of COVID surge in April, May of 2021. Margins in India also have been under pressure due to the commodity headwinds such as significant increase in the cost of soy oil. The higher tax expense mainly reflects DMFI returns -- DMFI returning to profitability, but we are seeing favorable tax cost for DMPI driven by reduction in regular income tax rate from 30% to 25% and also, higher profits from international business that has a lower tax cost. Net debt at $1.3 billion, higher by $63 million as we build inventory ahead of the season to improve customer service levels, which were significantly impacted last year due to supply chain disruption caused by significant increase in demand of all shelf-stable products. Gearing ratio at 2.1x, an improvement of 0.1x, mainly driven by higher profits and retained earnings. Net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA or gearing further lower than 4x and a significant improvement versus last year, driven by stronger profit performance. On Slide 9, I would like to provide a little bit more context to our revenue buildup. Starting with Americas, which constitutes 65% of our total Group sales. It was an increase of 10% to $299.9 million and mainly driven by higher volume of branded products from distribution gains resulting from improved supply. Both 52- and 13-week volume share growth outpaced category growth across 2 of our major categories. New product contribute -- new products are contributing consistently, and it was 5.7% to DMFI's retail and foodservice sales in the first quarter. Asia-Pac sales in the first quarter increased double-digit by 14.7% to $155.8 million from $135.9 million, mainly due to strong sales of S&W fresh pineapple coming off a low base in the prior quarter, which was impacted by the pandemic in China, as well as expanded distribution coverage in the fruit stores. In the Philippines, sales rose by 2.3% in dollar terms but declined by 1.8%. We saw strong growth behind packaged fruit, our culinary business, particularly tomato sauce and spaghetti in both retail and foodservice, but it was offset by a slowdown in beverage coming off an exceptional quarter in the previous year. Compared to the first quarter 2 years ago, our sales in the Philippines grew by close to 25% in dollar terms. New products that have been launched in the last fiscal year, such as Mr. Milk and Potato Crisp Biscuits, they also are now providing an incremental source of revenue in the first quarter. Sales from the adjacent categories of dairy and snacking are contributing to 2.7% of total Philippine sales in the first quarter. Europe, which is the smallest geography for us, it also increased by 37% to $6.4 million, driven by higher packaged fruit and beverage sales as we had very good supply in the first quarter. With that, for more in-depth market updates, I will hand it over to Greg.

Thank you, Parag. On the next slide, we'll review Q1 performance for Del Monte Foods USA. As Parag mentioned, Q1 sales for Del Monte Foods were $298.1 million or 65% of Group sales. Branded retail and foodservice sales, our most profitable highest margin business grew by 17% following our strategy and our keen focus on our brands and building our brands in all channels and consumer touch points. Overall sales were up 11% as we did see a planned decline and decrease in non-branded sales. Those were the margin-dilutive non-strategic sales that we decided to exit in pursuit of branded business. We continue to innovate our portfolio and are pleased with our progress. Our new line of Del Monte Fruit Infusions are a line -- very much on trend with U.S. consumers, delicious and energizing fruit cups infused with antioxidants and other healthy functional ingredients, really encouraged by the customer acceptance and early-stage consumer acceptance of this new product line. We launched our first beverage product in the U.S. this year, Joyba Bubble Tea. It's a new brand targeting millennials and Gen Z consumers, really building off the success and the interest in boba shop-inspired beverages. So these are made with real brewed tea infused with vibrant fruit flavors and colors and bursting boba. Incredible launch for this product line. We have exceeded expectations and done extremely well in our test markets along parts of the West Coast with Costco and Target, and are now entering C-stores with partners across the West Coast. So really encouraged by the success of this fun, innovative new product line. It's something that's very unique within the grocery trade in the U.S. Also Frozen. Frozen is a very important initiative for us. It's one of our core strategies is to build scale and presence in Frozen Foods. The brands that we own belong in Frozen Foods, Frozen foods are very much on trend with U.S. consumers and continue to outpace overall grocery sales. Very pleased with the launch of Veggieful Riced Veggies, really seeing this as a logical extension of our brand into this flavorful blend of vegetables that really are a great alternative to regular rice products. So very much on trend and very good distribution. I'll talk about that more here in a little bit. But also encouraged in Frozen by our Pocket Pie launch. That's a kind of a healthier line of handheld sandwiches that are frozen. We're in year 2 with that launch and have had a lot of success with expanding that business this year with key customers like Walmart. We'll deliver over $10 million in new sales this year in Frozen Foods with a path to -- and a goal to reach $50 million as a Frozen Food company here in the U.S. New products launched over the past 3 years, almost 5% of sales in the first quarter. Really pleased with the gross margin change and surge. Obviously, remarkable improvement. Right on strategy. This is all about focusing on our brands through better sales mix, exiting dilutive non-branded business and focusing on lowering our costs. Asset-light has driven more and more benefits across our supply chain. We're maximizing our plants and our distribution centers, achieving better utilization, better absorption. We've taken a lot of cost out of our supply chain, whether it comes to transportation and logistics, labor and overall efficiency in terms of uptime and our OE measurements. So really encouraged by cost management and our branded sales mix leading to 25.9%, really on track with our goal to become something even higher. Long-term our perspective and goals are to reach a gross margin in line and better than our peer group close to 30%. EBITDA surged in the quarter to $37.5 million from $10.4 million, generating our first positive first quarter of net income since the time of acquisition. So a lot of hard work has gone into turning around this business. We have great momentum here in the U.S. and are really positioned well for the remainder of this year and on a sustainable basis as we look ahead. The next slide looks at market share. This is a look at our 52-week market share. We're seeing some positive growth in our core businesses, which is the bulk of our business. Obviously, canned vegetables is our flagship business, up 1.1 points. I'm pleased to report that even within the 3-month period, this most recent quarter, we saw a substantial growth in that canned vegetable business. Our share is actually at 5.9 points in the first quarter. Due to our ability to serve our customers better than the competition, manage our supply chain and proof of the power of our brands through expanded distribution points and expanded support from our retail partners. Seeing some great growth as well in canned fruit and our fruit cup snack products in the 3-month period exceeding these results here, up 3.1% in canned fruit and consistent in fruit snacks up a point. So really pleased with this core business. The tomato business is seeing a slight decline. We had an incredible first quarter last year, where our business was up over 30%. We benefited from some of our competition struggling and some early pantry loading. So we're lapping some of that data. And now it's a very competitive landscape in the U.S. and we're focused on building that share back here in the second quarter and the remainder of the year. But we're really pleased with the outperformance of our brands across categories. Consumers are flocking and gravitating towards brands that they trust right now in the U.S. We are doing a nice job of differentiating ourselves, getting closer to our customers, expanding distribution, finding new channels and new categories where our brands can play and that's certainly benefiting the overall enterprise. The next slide. We're going to jump into some of our marketing highlights. I mentioned earlier the Pocket Pie success story. This is a frozen line of handheld sandwiches. We got the support of Walmart this quarter to do an end cap display program, and we've put a lot of investment around social media and digital media, including shopper marketing events behind this and had great success. Really pleased with the events, the performance, and that has enabled us to establish permanent distribution at Walmart on Pocket Pies, and we are seeing tremendous growth in this product line across the U.S. Also pleased with the support that we're generating on Riced Veggies in our launch. We have acceptance by some of the most important retailers in the U.S., including Kroger, Publix and HEB using our Veggieful Growers of Good brand campaign to support this new product line and really doing a nice job of reaching consumers on their path to purchase and in-store. The next Slide 14, is just another look at some of the marketing highlights here in the U.S. Really encouraged by back-to-school. This campaign led to an over 1 point of share growth in the first quarter for us in our fruit cup snack business, really working hard to making sure these brands and product lines are relevant and on target in reaching consumers and reaching households that are looking for healthier snacks for their families. Fruit Infusions, I mentioned this earlier, really encouraged by what this line is doing. It's a very innovative product line within packaged fruit. There really isn't a product quite like this, building on consumer interest for fortification, really coming up with some interesting varieties that are incorporating things like prebiotics, coffee extract, guava and flavored juice with aloe, pomegranate juice and elderberry extract, some very much on-trend nutritional fortifications that we think fit very well into these products and with our brand. So encouraged by the early results with that line. Next, on Slide 15, is a look at some of the PR efforts. And I mentioned Joyba earlier, but this is a fun new product, and it's really taken off. We're getting an incredible amount of feedback on social media about the item. It's unique. It's one-of-a-kind in terms of having a packaged ready-to-drink product of this nature inside of grocery stores. I mentioned the success at places like Costco, where we're selling 4x to 5x what our goals are for the product and what expectations are. Also getting a lot of great PR around back-to-school, healthy snacks for kids with our frozen sandwiches, continue to see interest in our lines of ketchup. Really encouraged by our overall efforts to drive media placement and create awareness around our new products. Getting some great coverage as well in terms of our ESG initiatives, spending a lot of time focusing around -- on social purpose and promoting our diversity and inclusion, as well as our sustainability platform. So really taking a leadership role in sustainability in the U.S., much like DMPL has done and DMPI has done in Asia. Slide 16. And then lastly, just to highlight on foodservice. As the economy is reopening slowly here in the U.S., we are seeing pockets of really nice growth in foodservice. Foodservice had double-digit growth for us in the first quarter. And we're picking up some really interesting wins. This is a success story, almost $400,000 of revenue with our line of College Inn branded broth and stock products. So a lot of good momentum in the U.S., a good first quarter. Outlook for the second quarter and the year is quite positive for us. Really pleased with our ability to execute on our strategy and deliver results. So with that, I will hand it off to Mr. Cito Alejandro.

Thank you, Greg, and good morning and good evening to all of you. I will now talk about Del Monte Philippines, our second largest and most profitable subsidiary. We achieved sales of $176 million, up 20% versus prior year. Our international sales did very well. Sales rose by 40% to $67.8 million behind premium fresh fruit and packaged food and beverage sales. Sales in the Philippines grew by 2% to $92.1 million. While convenience cooking and dessert grew solid at 11% versus a year ago, this was a bit offset by the slowdown in healthy beverages and stacks category. And as Parag mentioned earlier, beverage is coming off an exceptional quarter in the previous year. However, if you compare our results to the first quarter 2 years ago, sales in the Philippines grew by 25% in dollar terms. Gross margin increased to 30.1% from 29.7% on higher volume and lower cost. Pleased to report that pineapple operations is doing very well this first quarter, and we are very optimistic that this will continue in terms of productivity, fruit quality and cost management. And we achieved EBITDA of $39.9 million, up 19% and net profit of $25.6 million, up 37%. Next slide, please. Happy to report that we continue to strengthen market leadership share across categories. Nearly all categories we compete in registered market share gains. This indeed is a good foundation to extend our favorable position last year, through this our new fiscal year. Next slide, please. In the fruit category, our marketing program centered on in-home meal preparations and home celebrations as people spend more time at home. We also took advantage of our increasing direct coverage universal stores to broaden distribution of our products, particularly in downline stores using low-cash outlay packs and [ promotional value ] packs. Next slide. In beverage, we continue to push health and wellness, which has become more relevant in these times. One of our more resilient offerings is our one liter Tetra Pak. You can see our fast-selling by variants at the bottom of the page. With this multiple use one liter tetra, we have been able to increase home penetration and equally important, family consumption of our juices. Next slide, please. Last month, we relaunched Fit 'n Right featuring a new lineup of weight management products that suit unique health needs. Pleased to report that initial trade and consumer response to these products have been positive. Next slide. Quick update on our one-year-old Mr. Milk. It is our maiden entry to the dairy category. It continues to do well. In fact, after 13 months in the market, it generated sales of close to $10 million already. And this year, we look to further accelerating growth with increased sales and marketing activities. Next slide. In the culinary category, it was all about maximizing opportunities with the rise of home cooking, Again, as people spend more time at home. Importantly, we have expanded our presence in 2 distribution channels that have grown tremendously over the pandemic period. These are downline market stores and e-commerce. Next slide. More news in culinary. Left side, you will see the new Asian flavors of our popular Quick 'n Easy meal mixes, very popular among millennials. Right side, our initiatives to expand usage occasions of our products to build business. In spaghetti sauce, for example, we featured special family occasions beyond Christmas and birthdays. Just a quick summary for our entry into the biscuits and snacking category. Left side is Potato Crisp. We introduced last February. And on the right side is our latest entry, we just went in last month with Fruity Munchsters. These are delicious greenfield fruit cookies. Next slide. We recently announced Del Monte's joint venture with Vinamilk of Vietnam. Vinamilk or Vietnam Dairy is among the Top 40 largest daily companies globally, $2.6 billion in sales, with a solid 45-year track record in the industry. The JV combines the strength of Vinamilk's technical and manufacturing expertise in the dairy category with that of Del Monte's excellence in brand management and sales operations in the Philippine market. We are very optimistic with this joint venture, and we believe that we have the wherewithal to succeed in the dairy category. Next slide. This is the product portfolio of the JV. Just wanted to show this to you. Yogurt is our entry in the drinkable yogurt category, targeted against the young population. IQ Smart is our entry in the flavored milk category, targeted against children. Then we have fresh milk and also milk tea, very popular and a big hit among millennials. Just to let you know that this product lineup has undergone extensive, very extensive consumer testing, both in concept and actual product usage. And we won against benchmarks, primarily leading competitors in each of our categories. Next slide. Moving now to S&W. Pleased to report that we have managed to turn around our fresh pineapple business in the first quarter compared to same period a year ago. As you know, we had a very, very bad first quarter a year ago because of the pandemic, particularly in our main market, China. S&W continues to be the leading fresh pineapple brand in China and the strong Top 3 in Japan and Korea. Next slide. First quarter sales of S&W branded business grew by 20% on higher sales of fresh pineapple in China and Korea. In China, we increased our distribution coverage in food stores. In Korea, S&W fresh cut has become the best seller among various fresh cut pineapple, especially in the country's largest e-commerce platform, and that's Coupang. Next slide. Del Monte India was severely impacted by COVID for most of the first quarter of this year. However, I must say that we've managed the business pretty well despite numerous challenges and obstacles. Our share of profit/loss didn't really deteriorate. We were able to keep -- to hold on to it, same as last year. And we look to continuing improving our results in the coming months as the economy opens up. With periodic lockdowns of retail stores, we pivoted [ a majority towards ] e-commerce and the growth has so far been phenomenal. With that, I turn it over to Iggy. Thank you.

Thank you, Cito. On Slide 31, sustainability is one of our 5 strategic pillars supporting our vision: Nourishing Families. Enriching Lives. Every Day. We published our fourth Sustainability Report since 2018, Sustaining our Future, where we aligned our sustainability pillars and priorities with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Del Monte Foods reclaimed pineapple juice from tidbits, which were added to Fruit Infusion cups to prevent food waste. DMFI's Growing Great initiative partnered with large school districts and museums in the U.S. to promote healthy eating. Our renewable energy generated 1.4 megawatts, close to 20% of Bugo cannery's electricity in DMPI. And our solar project for this facility is underway. The Del Monte Foundation's mobile clinic served over 23,800 patients in 50 local communities. And during the pandemic, we have to date, partnered with over 400 non-government organizations and local government units to help marginalize communities and medical frontliners in around 60 hospitals and medical facilities. On Slide 32, to recap our outlook for FY'22, we will continue to strengthen our core business, expand the product portfolio, in response to consumer preference for health and wellness, and grow our branded business, as explained by Cito and Greg earlier in our market updates. We're working on more product availability through better distribution and expanded sales channels, including e-commerce. DMPL is well positioned in this environment given its nutritious and long shelf-life products, which enable consumers to prepare nutritious meals and snacks. And we are well placed to build on the momentum achieved in FY 2021, as explained by Parag earlier, and we expect to offset the impact of commodity and transportation headwinds. The DMPL Group expects to generate a higher net profit in FY 2022, with continued margin improvement across our markets and leverage reduction from higher profitability. We would now like to open the floor to questions. Jennifer Luy, our Investor Relations Senior Manager, will moderate our Q&A. You can click the resend icon at the bottom of your screen or post your questions in the Q&A box.

Hi. Morning, everyone. I'll just read the first comment from Wi Tng, which is in a chat box. Good to see the U.S. business is doing well, as well as offering more healthy choice. Hope we contribute more towards reducing obesity in the U.S., at least that's a comment from Wi. And now, I'm going to go through the Q&A. The first 2 questions are related. So first is from George. Fiscal year '21 net income was $76.5 million. First quarter was $21.5 million higher than last year quarter. So is it safe to assume this fiscal year '22 net income will be at a minimum of $98 million, assuming the next 3 quarters of this year will be at the same level as the last 3 quarters of FY '21? From [ Chi Kuo ], the higher profitability for this year, do you have a guidance or target by how much?

Just to clarify and correct, fiscal year '21 was $63 million in net income. But considering the momentum we have in Q1, we are nicely positioned to achieve our growth in net income of more than 30% to 40%. And the estimates that have been shared are comparable to our goals internally.

The next question, Del Monte Foods gross profit margin is 25%. Can it match Del Monte Philippines gross margin of 30%? And what's the timeline to reach this?

Greg, do you want to take that?

Yes. Yes, absolutely. As we look at our peer group, CPG -- like CPG companies in the U.S. market, we do see that range of 25% to 30% gross margins to be the right range to operate within. And we do see a path to approaching 30% gross margins. To give you an example, our core business, our vegetable business generates margins substantially better than 30%. And as we look to focus more and more of our resources against branded growth, you'll see that gross margin improve every year.

Our next question is that -- okay, for Vinamilk in Philippines, how much revenue or profit can it add to Del Monte Philippines this year?

So in terms of sales, as we would be launching during the middle of the year, we expect the revenue to be anywhere between $5 million to $7 million. But considering that it's a significant launch for us, it would definitely require more investments, too, in terms of marketing and also listing the product in the marketplace. So we would not expect to make a profit in the first year of the launch. We expect to be breakeven by year 3.

We have some more questions for the U.S. market, okay. From Paul, number one, what percent of the first quarter sales in the States came from private label and other margin-dilutive businesses? And second, if you exclude the new products, how fast is branded products growing? Is it around 5%? The impact of pantry loading in the U.S. was not evident this quarter since sales is higher.

So in terms of private label contribution, specifically, the contribution is around 5% to 6% only to the total sales. But if you talk about margin-dilutive businesses in totality, I would say, the contribution is roughly around 10%.

And that's what we're really working to address. So Parag and I have a plan and we're converting those cases that raw material, that inventory to branded products. And you'll see a further decline throughout the rest of this year as we head into F 2023.

And most of the sales growth in branded business has come from the core. So out of the 17% that Greg outlined during his presentation, we can safely assume that contribution from new products was definitely there, but it wasn't very significant if you look at on a year-to-year basis.

And our goal for the year is approximately $100 million in new product sales. And that's a double-digit increase versus last year, and we're on track to deliver that.

And what would be the target growth rate for the branded retail, is 5% a going rate for branded?

Yes, we think the overall business has the ability to grow at 5% annually. So the CAGR that we've built into our long-range plan, which will help us grow from $1.5 billion last year to $2 billion in sales, has a planned 5% top line growth each year. So that's very much achievable. And this year, we're ahead of that goal.

And did you see any impact of pantry loading in the first quarter?

We're seeing some impacts. We're seeing certainly with sort of the work it as variants in certain parts of the U.S., we are seeing more consumers decide to eat at home and shop their grocery stores, I wouldn't call it pantry loading yet, but we are certainly seeing behavior that's driving our grocery store business. And the good news is, the hard work we did this off-season to invest in our supply chain has enabled us to produce label and deploy inventory much faster. So we have 25% more finished goods this year at this time than we did a year ago through the hard work of our supply chain. So our product is out where our customers are, and we're able to respond to growth and deliver on their needs. So pantry loading, we'll keep an eye on it. We'll watch the holiday season. We are anticipating a very big holiday in the U.S. Our largest customers, Walmart, Costco and Kroger have all told us to anticipate that, and we're seeing early orders and signs that it's going to be a very successful holiday.

We have another question for you from [ Hetal ]. The new products launched in the last 3 years are at 4.5% of sales. Would you know how does that compare with peers? And where would you like to see that number go in the future?

Yes, that is commensurate with our peer groups. We'd like to see new products reach 10% of sales once we have established our base in Frozen Foods, our base of beverage business and the other categories that we're having success and including refrigerated produce. So as we create a pipeline of innovation, we do see the potential to see a run rate of about 10% of sales driven by new products and innovation. But right now, we're quite pleased with 5%.

Let's go to the Philippines from Paul. How did COVID-19 impact the domestic sales in the Philippines? Can you remind us what international sales refer to, like which countries? I'll start with those 2 first.

Cito, do you want to take it?

Yes, I'll take that. So as far as international sales is concerned, you're really talking of our fresh pineapple business in North Asia and the Middle East, and that has recovered behind increased demand, particularly in China, where the demand came back because last year's same quarter, there was really no demand because of the lockdown and everything. And China was still recovering from COVID. So this time around, it has normalized. Another thing that also helped us was the supply. The supply has normalized, and we hope that will continue through the balance of the year. So that's the #1 factor behind our improved international sales. The second one is packaged goods, packaged pineapple and packaged beverages. That also took off very fast. We had very strong demand going into the year, and we were able to produce the supply for that. As I mentioned earlier, we had a very good first quarter operations in our pineapple operations, very good productivity and cost management. So we benefited a lot from having the right supply. So that pretty much wraps up our international business. But as far as COVID impact is concerned, in the Philippine market, we did not see the same level of pantry loading as what we had perhaps last year. It has stabilized. Of course, the past 2 lockdowns that we've had past, I guess, starting from back in Holy Week, there was a 30-day lockdown. And now we're still on lockdown, and hopefully, we will get out of this by the middle of the month. In a way, has had a dampening effect on consumer demand, particularly in Metro Manila, which has been broadly affected. But even that, the economic forecasts have it that the economy should be able to grow towards the back half of the year, closer to 5%. And if you look at the Philippine market, we have proven in the past that we can pretty much grow, at least in line with the GDP growth. So I hope I answered your question.

We have a number of questions relating to costs. So I'm going to bunch them up. First is, can we talk about the material cost pressures? And how successful has the Company been in passing on the cost through price increases? And specifically on container cost that has this impacted margins and has shipment delay impacted -- delayed or impacted deliveries? Next specific cost is on tin plate. Tin prices have surged to record highs. Has it affected margins and its availability of supply and issue? Are there alternatives to using tin or cans as alternative packaging?

So first of all, focusing on fiscal year '22. We are expecting that the impact of inflation is around 3% to 4% of our sales on an incurred basis. And we have taken all measures, both on the revenue side, as well as cost side to mitigate and offset the impact of the inflation that we are seeing on the business, both in the U.S., as well as in Philippines. Just to give you an example, in the U.S., we are looking at impact from inflation on an incurred basis to be around $60 million to $65 million on our fiscal year '22 pack, and that includes raw produce, labor rate increases, metal packaging increase as well. As against that, we have cost efficiencies of approximately $50 million, as well as revenue-generating initiatives that give us another $15 million to $20 million completely offsetting the impact of inflation that we are seeing in fiscal year 2022. And the same applies to Philippines, too. We have the ability to take pricing in Philippines because of such a strong branded play that we have locally, as well as on our fresh business that we have a dominant market share in North Asian markets. So we are nicely positioned to protect our margins as we grow the profitability of the Company and the sales as well in fiscal year 2022.

Let's move on to the debt-related questions, okay, from Hetal. The level of indebtedness constraints the strategic options for the Company makes the Company vulnerable to any macro shocks as witnessed last year? Can you talk about the Company's focus on reducing debt and financing costs and leverage goals one, 2, 3 years down the line? Why is the Company not giving priority to debt reduction over dividend payments?

I think just to build on that, we are definitely giving a lot of focus on debt reduction. And I think that's reflected in our leverage profile. If you look at our debt-to-equity, it used to be 2.4x to 2.5x. That's now down to 2x. So it is definitely evident that the Company is giving a strong focus to making sure that our leverage continues to go down. Not only our debt-to-equity has improved over the last 12 to 18 months, but also our debt-to-EBITDA has significantly improved as we have highlighted in our presentation from -- going down from 5.4x to 3.8x. That's a very strong indication that our leverage profile from a Group perspective has improved. Now, is there an opportunity? Absolutely. We are looking at -- as our performance improves, we are definitely committed to reducing our financing cost. To give you an example, at the beginning of this fiscal year, we were able to extend our ABL in the U.S. and bring it in line with the high-yield bonds and also reduce our interest rates that give us a benefit of approximately $1.5 million to $2 million annually. In addition to it, we are now also looking at establishing options to refinance our high-yield bonds, which are at a cost of 11.8% to 11.9%. We will be definitely working towards and establishing a clear plan to refinance the same in 12 to 24 months.

That covers Ramesh question as well on the plan for refinancing the loans in the U.S. Okay. Let's move on to the IPO-related questions. When is the -- when will you commence listing of DMPI? So updates on the timeline? Second thing, is there any plan to list Del Monte Foods in the States following the footsteps of Del Monte Fresh and what would the timeline be?

The Company will definitely provide an update on the new timeline. At such time when the Company has assessed the market conditions are favorable for the assumption of the offering. The Company and its bankers are continuously watching and reviewing the market. And we will be looking at doing this in the short- to mid-term. It's not -- I cannot give a very definitive answer. But absolutely, this is top of mind when it comes to our Board, as well as the leadership team. That's on DMPI. Now, on Del Monte Foods, as we look at our turnaround and improved business performance as part of looking at options to really improve our capital structure in the U.S., an IPO of some sorts is also being considered. Now, in terms of timelines, that's somewhere between 18 to 24 months and the plans have to be conceptualized. It's in an early stage as we look at various options to refinance our capital requirements, as well as the expense of that we talked about.

There is a follow-up on debt from Hetal. What are the leverage goals, the absolute debt levels, as well as net DER 1, 2, 3 years down the line?

Our long-term goal are -- as we look at improving our capital structure is to have a debt-to-equity of 1x to 1.2x. That's the goal we are striving for. And in terms of net debt-to-EBITDA, we would like to see it below 3x.

Okay. Next will be the dividend-related questions. Del Monte does not give dividend in the first and third quarter. Any plans to provide dividends in the first half of this year? Second from George is, with management's guidance of a 30% to 40% increase for this year's net profit, can we expect cash dividends to be raised by the same amount?

So on the first one, that would be subject to Board approval. So we would only be able to comment on it if there is direction from the Board. We won't be able to mention anything about that at this call. In terms of dividend increase, our policy is 33%, and that stays.

Okay. From Ramesh, can you advise how SEA Diner, which is a DMPI's key partner has helped the Asian market penetration?

We continue to work with SEA Diner on a number of fronts, including the strategic direction. And SEA Diner has been pretty helpful, particularly in looking at options in terms of improving our business, particularly on e-commerce and growing our fresh business in China. So those are the key areas where we are focused on it and the -- from time to time, we also get very useful leads from them in terms of inorganic growth.

Moving on to the States, a follow-up from Paul. I believe U.S. raised prices in May for some canned products. Sales volume appear not to be impacted. Is there any need to raise prices to meet gross margin goals?

Yes. We did take a fairly significant price increase in May, and we took additional price increases in September, and we're taking more in November. We're doing that to pass through inflationary cost pressure, primarily, but also to make sure that our gross margin objectives are met. And the proof of the power of our brands is that, we've kept growing at these higher price points. We've actually gained share from our competition. And we do intend to keep using pricing as a mechanism to pass through inflationary pressure, and we feel confident in our ability to do that.

Follow up on dividends, given that the stock is undervalued versus peers, why doesn't the Company consider share buybacks over dividends?

We would be looking at various options, and we would be definitely open to it. There are no sort of areas that we are having a closed thought process on. So definitely, we will consider that.

Going back to Philippines. Do you expect sales to surge by the fourth quarter this year? And what are the upcoming seasonal product launches?

Cito, do you want to take that?

I'll take that. I think as far as the fourth quarter, if you're referring to the fourth quarter being October, November, December, yes. If this lockdown eases up and everybody is back to work, back to the economy, I think the fourth quarter will be good for us because, as you know, October, November, December, that season is very important to us. So we believe that we will be able to get more mileage and traction in that fourth quarter. But if you're referring to our fiscal year fourth quarter, which is next year, definitely, by then, I'm very -- I'm positive that a significant part of the population would have been vaccinated in the Philippines. And that will further spur growth. As far as what our priorities are to date, first is, in the Philippine market, we have a lot of new products and the name of the game is to make -- get them settled down, execute the marketing plan, execute the sales plan and get the growth out of this. So we're into the snack business. Mr. Milk is still growing, and we have high hopes for that one. We just launched Fit 'n right. And finally, we're in the dairy business. I think we have a lot in our plate right now to be able to grow this business this fiscal year. So for now, I think I would think that we're in good shape as far as initiatives are concerned, not only the new products, but as we speak, even renovation is being handled in the core business. So we will move in both direction of innovation and renovation. I hope I answered the question.

There's a follow-up question on gearing from Hetal. When does the Company expect to reach long-term target of 1:1 in net debt-to-equity?

It would be, to some extent, dependent on a successful IPO of one of our businesses. So we expect to achieve that in 2 to 3 years' time.

Okay. This from George, a recent disclosure mentioned retirement funds of associated companies buying Del Monte or DMPL shares. Is there any plan of Company stock buyback given the share undervaluation of the stock price? I think this has been answered. Okay. There was another question, but I'm not very clear about this from Oliver. What is the impact of the 25,000 per hectare annual minimum rent in Bukidnon? Do you understand it?

The impact is not significant as we are only required to pay the market rates for the land, which is due for renewal. And we have included the new commercial rates that are prevailing in our long-range plan. So we do not expect that to be a significant issue from a commercial perspective.

Next from Harry. In terms of distribution channels, downline foodservice, e-commerce, how do you see the mix evolving going forward in the States and the Philippines? And are there any differences in margins?

So when it comes to our Philippines business, foodservice is contributing to around 8% to 9% to our total revenue. It obviously declined post pandemic. So we are expecting foodservice sales to gain momentum, and we are seeing a higher increase coming from foodservice as compared to retail. But we do not expect that to be margin dilutive when it comes to our Philippine business, especially because you are not incurring a lot of cost below gross profit when it comes to that part of the business. So on an EBIT basis, we expect that to be profit-neutral when it comes to growth through foodservice. On U.S., let me request Greg to provide a bit of color on our foodservice plans, but can confirm that is not expected to be EBIT or EBITDA. It's not expected to negatively impact the profitability of the Company, too. Greg, would you like to add on the U.S. plans?

Absolutely. The business that we inherited at DMFI was primarily retail grocery-driven. We have been focused on building a bigger foodservice business, as well as other channels. We're encouraged by the growth in the club store channel, the dollar and value channel, the natural food channel, convenience, mass and drug channels. So we see quite a few levers to pull to see growth for the Company. These are all going to be branded channels of growth for us, so they are not margin-dilutive or profit-dilutive. It's really going to depend in terms of the mix, where the economy goes in the U.S. As we see more of a recessionary environment, we're seeing some very strong growth in the dollar and value channels. As we see some hesitancy on the economy reopening, we're seeing stronger grocery sales growth and foodservice growth, obviously, right now. So we're positioned to go where the consumer is in the U.S., and that's our strategy. So as long as we focus on building our brands and driving branded growth across a number of channels, we'll be ready to meet that consumer and drive profitable growth.

And how big is this channel opportunity for the club, dollar and natural stores? And how large is this as a proportion of sales now and the long-term goal?

Yes, it's one of our biggest areas of growth. As we talked about becoming a $2 billion Company in the U.S. growing from $1.5 billion to $2 billion over the next few years with a CAGR of 5% top line, a lot of that growth is coming from club, dollar and natural. These, what we call, emerging channels are big pockets of growth for us and will be critically important to us. So several hundred million dollars of top line growth will be generated from this mix of emerging channels and branded growth opportunities.

Moving to the Philippines for Parag. What is the tax savings in dollars on the profits on Del Monte Philippines in the first quarter from the reduction in the tax rate? So he's referring to the [ create bill ]. Is the savings tax [ rate ] 5% from the reduction in the tax rate and the profits of DMPI?

The savings in tax is roughly to the tune of $1 million in the first quarter.

Okay. And from Ramesh, what's the reason India has not taken the Del Monte's brand the way it has in other nations? Are there ground hindrances that impede growth?

No, I think to answer Ramesh's question, we do think in India as well, Del Monte brand is very well recognized. I mean, to be able to build the business from absolute scratch to where it is today, we think the local team has done a very good job. Definitely, in terms of focus, we are now shifting our strategy to growing the retail business. And that is a shift, and we say that because, so far, a significant part of our business and focus was from foodservice. So with this strategy, we would absolutely expect the brand -- the importance of the brand and brand recognition to be even more important going forward.

We have 2 last questions, so we will close the Q&A after this, as our management has another meeting. Second to the last question is regarding the IPO. If the IPO pushes through, this is for Philippines, SEA Diner will be disposing majority of their shares. Can we expect them to continuously help push Del Monte products?

We do think so because they would continue to be important shareholders of Del Monte Philippines.

And last one on Del Monte Foods, what's the gross margin difference between branded consumer, foodservice and low-margin private label and others?

Well, I can tell you, ranking in priority, the way that they're structured branded consumer is #1 for us. That's margin-accretive business that drives the Company. Number 2 is foodservice. And #3, are strategic channels like Latin America for us. Down at the bottom of our margin tier is private label. We struggled to make margin in private label. It's a very competitive segment in the U.S. with lots of low-priced operators. So we are focused on branded consumer as our growth priority because of the margin delivery it provides.

Okay. Thank you so much, Greg. Thank you to all our panelists. That ends our Q&A portion. So if the participants have more questions, feel free to e-mail me, and we'll take it from there.

I noticed some questions in the chat box. We will just respond to them by e-mail. They were posted in the chat instead of the Q&A. But we'd like to thank all of you for joining us. And we'll respond to the rest and the recording of this results briefing will be uploaded on our website as well. So this concludes our briefing. Thank you for joining us today.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.