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

We can start the -- sharing the presentation, Jen. Good morning to all 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 third quarter and 9 months ending January 2022. Representing Del Monte in this call, are Cito Alejandro, Group Chief Operating Officer of Del Monte Pacific and President of Del Monte Philippines. Parag Sachdeva, Group CFO of DMPL; Greg Longstreet, President of Del Monte Foods in the U.S.; and I am Iggy Sison, Chief Corporate Officer of DMPL. Parag Sachdeva will now present our results.

Good morning to everyone in Asia, and afternoon or evening for those joining from the U.S. Pleased to share with you our third quarter and year-to-date month 9 results for the DMPL Group. On Slide 5, starting with the key highlights; for the quarter ending January, our sales grew by 4.9% to $659.4 million, and that was on account of higher sales in the U.S. and fresh pineapple exports also had a pretty strong quarter. Our consumption and sales continues to be strong in the U.S. Commodity headwinds and transportation costs did impact our profitability in the third quarter. When it comes to 9 months, the key highlights would entail DMPL growing sales by 6.5% to $1.8 billion on the back of higher sales in the U.S., S&W fresh and packaged products. Our U.S. subsidiary, Del Monte Foods, net profit tripled to $35.2 million, while Del Monte Philippines increased by 14.6% to $81.5 million. Our Group net profit increased by 64.2% to $80.1 million. Improved debt-to-EBITDA to 4.2x from 4.5x last year. DMFI achieved a credit rating upgrade to B2 from Moody's and an upgrade to positive outlook from S&P. On Slide 6, we will share the outlook for the Group; and our strategy continues 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 e-commerce or dollar stores, convenience stores continues to be an important element of our strategy. DMPL expects to offset the impact of higher costs. We are proactively addressing the inflationary impact from commodity headwinds and increased transportation costs, through revenue optimization initiatives and cost optimization drivers, including driving efficiencies and productivity across operations. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we expect to generate higher net profit in fiscal '22, building on our strong performance in the first 9 months. On Slide 7, we'll share some additional data points on our Group results. As communicated, sales up 4.9% for the quarter. U.S. sales up 6.3%; Philippines lower by 0.7% in dollar terms, but higher by 4.2% in local currency. S&W brand in Asia grew by 11.2%, driven by exports of fresh pines. JV in India decreased by 4.5% in local currency, driven by modern trade sales. EBITDA of $91 million, lower by 8% from $99 million, due to commodity headwinds, transportation costs and also normalized trade promotions in the U.S. Operating profit of $70.1 million, lower by 5.7% from $74.3 million, whereas net profit of $25.9 million, down from $30.2 million last year. On Slide 8, we'll share a bit more color around our results for Q3. Third quarter sales at $659.4 million, up 4.9% versus last year, and that was driven by higher branded sales in the U.S. and export of S&W branded fresh pine sales in Asia, will be explained more in the turnover analysis. Our gross profit at $163.2 million, lower by 3.4% due to increased costs in the U.S. from higher fiscal '22 pack costs. Our higher fiscal year '22 pack costs were driven by raw produce, commodity headwinds and weather-related events, impacting yields and volume for some of our crops. Though products sourced from international copackers is less than 10% of DMFI's total volume, the unprecedented increases were experienced when it comes to ocean freight. Our gross margin at 24.7% was lower by 220 basis points, led by increased costs as explained. Our margin for DMFI at 20.9% declined by 350 basis points, whereas margin for the base business improved by almost 90 basis points during the same period, driven by price increases taken across all businesses and improvements that we particularly saw in international business, including Fresh. EBITDA of $91 million, as mentioned, was down from $99 million, mainly due to lower gross profit and increased transportation costs. Net debt at $1.449 billion higher by $124 million, due to inventory build in the U.S. at higher costs, which ultimately does help improve our customer service levels and drive the strong sales growth that we have been experiencing in the first 9 months. Gearing ratio at 2.1x, an improvement of 0.1, mainly driven by higher profits and retained earnings. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA improved to 4.2x, driven by higher trailing 12 months EBITDA. On Slide 9, we'll share a bit more context on the turnover or revenue of the business for the third quarter. Americas constituted 71% of total Group sales, higher by 6.3% in the third quarter to $471.3 million, mainly driven by higher volume of branded products from distribution gains and a successful holiday season. The branded retail sales grew by 2.5%, offsetting reduced sales of noncore private label as we continue to -- as we continue to deprioritize. Our volume share growth outpaced category growth across 4 of the major categories, and we increased market share. Greg will talk a lot more about it, in his update. New products contributed 5.8% to DMFI's net sales in the third quarter. When it comes to Asia-Pac, the sales grew by 4.1% to $181.5 million. The growth was driven by strong sales of S&W fresh pineapple, due to higher volume in North Asia and Singapore and also price increases that we have taken to mitigate the inflation. In the Philippines, sales were marginally lower in dollar terms but grew by 4.2% in peso terms. We did see some growth across all categories despite continued lockdown and lower foot traffic due to the pandemic, which was also experienced in the third quarter. The Beverage segment grew 6.9% during the quarter, while innovation delivered a 36% growth. In addition to a stronger performance in the grocery and retail channel. Our foodservice business also continued to have a strong momentum and grew by 11.4%, as hotels and restaurant business recover from the pandemic-induced closures. But it is yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels, and is down 10.3% versus 2 years ago. Europe, which is a very small part of our business, decreased by 38.1% to $6.7 million, and that's mainly attributed to timing of supply, which was very evenly skewed this year as compared to last year. Now on 9 months results on Slide 11. Sales of $1.8 billion grew by 6.5%. It has been a very strong year for us from a sales and consumption perspective overall for the Group. U.S. sales up 7.4%, Philippines lower by 1.6% in dollar term, but flat in local currency, following a very high baseline in fiscal '21. S&W brand in Asia grew by 15.6%, driven by fresh pine and packaged exports. Our JV in India increased by 6% in local currency, driven by recovery of B2B sales and continued growth of e-commerce channel. E-commerce has been growing at 25% in India. EBITDA of $273 million is up 16%, driven by higher sales, better sales mix in the U.S. and incremental price increases, that have been taken to offset inflation. We were also helped by lower fiscal year 2021 pack costs in the U.S., but that was partly offset by the cost headwinds that impacted us in Q3, and which were explained in the previous slides. Our operating profit of $210 million, up 29% from $163 million and consequently, net profit of $80.1 million, up 64% from $49 million last year. More details on Slide 12 when it comes to our 9-month results. Sales of $1.8 billion, up 6.5% from higher sales in U.S. and international market sales, including S&W business in Asia. We'll cover more in the turnover analysis on Slide 13. Our gross profit at $475.1 million, higher by 12.4%, driven by higher branded sales in the U.S. favorable impact of pricing and trade spend optimization, both in the U.S. and base business, and continued benefit that we are getting from execution of asset-light strategy, partly offset by the impact of commodity headwinds and increased transportation costs. That impacted P&L in Q3. Our gross margin at 26.8%, higher by 140 basis points led by pricing, offsetting inflation and favorable sales mix in the U.S. and significant improvement in fresh sales to North Asia, again, partly offset by some cost headwinds facing the base business as well. Margin for DMFI at 23.6% was an improvement of 140 basis points and margin for base business improved by almost 70 basis points, as I mentioned, driven by international business, and pricing taken across all markets, in line with inflation. So to sum up, our gross margin performance on a 9-month basis is extremely strong, in both our base business and the U.S. operations. EBITDA of $273.3 million, up 16%, driven by increased gross profit, as well as controlled fixed costs. Net profit up 64.2% at $80.1 million, driven by EBITDA, and also lower tax cost in Philippines, as corporate income tax rate was lowered from 30% to 25% in March 2021. We already covered the debt-related KPIs in the Q3 results. On Slide 13, we'll cover the turnover analysis in more detail for the first 9 months, and just in line with Q3, America constituted around more than 70% of Group sales, and was higher by 7.4%, at $1.25 billion. This was mainly driven by a higher volume of branded products in retail, which was from distribution gains and higher foodservice sales behind strong fruit sales and support of schools and restaurants reopenings. Our branded retail sales grew by 9%, offsetting reduced sales of non-core private label as planned. In Americas, branded retail accounts for almost 73%, while private label is around 5% of sales. New products contributed 5.3% to DMFI's net sales, and Greg will provide a lot more color in his update. Asia Pac sales in the 9 months increased by 4.1% to $496.4 million, mainly due to strong sales of S&W packaged pineapple, mixed fruit and S&W fresh pineapple in North Asia. Exports of fresh -- also recovered in fresh, and also, we benefited from expanded distribution coverage, which is -- which stands somewhere between 1,500 to 3,000 stores in China. Coming from a higher base a year ago, the Philippine market sales in peso terms was in line with last year, and just to remind you, the COVID-19 restrictions have been the longest in Philippines and have impacted most of the supermarkets in the country, and that has also led to softer sales for us in the retail business. Compared to the same period 2 years ago, sales in the Philippines increased by 11.6%, while retail sales improved by 17.3%. New products launched in the past 3 years have contributed 6% to total retail market sales. Foodservice channel, as mentioned before, has begun to recover and expanded by 32.2% in the first 9 months, but yet to fully recover to pre-pandemic levels and is down 22.5% versus 2 years ago. Europe sales, as I mentioned, pine volume has been more, even throughout -- increased by 7.9% to $23.2 million, driven by both higher packaged fruit and beverage sales. Let me hand over to Greg for a more comprehensive update on the U.S. business.

Thank you, Greg. If you turn to the next slide, 15, I will give some highlights from the third quarter for the Del Monte Foods USA business. We reached $468.4 million in revenue in the third quarter, which comprised 71% of Group sales. Sales were up on our higher-margin branded retail business, which is critical. That's a critical part of our strategy, and we saw the biggest growth within our canned vegetable and fruit -- packaged fruit businesses, which is our core business. So very encouraged by the continued growth, even at higher pricing, that we're experiencing with those businesses. They more than offset the planned reduction of low-margin private label business, which we have now exited within our traditional vegetable business. Looking at our canned vegetable business, which is our primary business and our largest business, we saw a 4-point market share increase in the quarter and continue to see very strong health for this business, and that's been driven by a very good commercial execution by our sales organization and marketing organization, an increase in total distribution points and an increase in sales across new channels, and we've had particular success with the items that are featured in the top right corner, are multi-pack products. Here, we feature 8-packs and 12-packs, but we've also launched a line of 4 packs that have done quite well with retailers like Walmart, Costco, Sam's Club and now Kroger. That, in addition to what Parag mentioned, we have stronger stocks and inventory this year than we did a year ago, and it's really been an advantage for us. We invested in our supply chain. We added more automation. We added more packaging capacity, and we've really been able to outserve our competition. It's been a big part of our success, not just in the third quarter, but on a year-to-date basis. Foodservice, as Parag mentioned, has also -- continues to be a success story, as the economy continues to slowly reopen in the U.S. We've had great success building out our book of business with our branded portfolio, and I'll talk more about that in the coming slides. New products reached 5.8% of total sales for the company, and continued on a very good path forward with a lot of momentum in some of our biggest success stories yet, regarding innovation. Gross margins did decrease, as Parag mentioned, in the quarter. We were hit by significant inflation in the third quarter. That inflation came across a number of areas. It's very consistent with what the industry is seeing from raw product to metal packaging to transportation. So that wave did catch up with us in the third quarter. We have taken pricing action in the third quarter, that has been successfully implemented, and that will help our business to help get our margins restored in the fourth quarter, and as we head into the new year. So our pricing actions continue to be a very logical and very successful way for us to offset inflation, combined with a series of cost savings initiatives across the supply chain, across the organization. So looking forward on the next slide, Slide 16, we'll talk about 9-month performance. So year-to-date performance for the Group, we've reached $1.2 billion in sales, which is about 70% of Group sales. Sales up 8% and driven by really positive increases across all of our major segments, led again by vegetable and fruit, and that distribution strategy, our supply strategy is really working. It's helping us grow these businesses, which are our most profitable businesses, it's helping us really perform the competition and gain significant market share. Branded retail and foodservice sales were up 9% and 44%, respectively. That's very strategic for us. Those are core areas of growth that we're investing a lot of time and energy in. New products on a 9-month basis were at 5.3%, and I'll talk more about that here in some coming slides. Gross margin on a year-to-date basis, up to 23.6%, due to this better sales mix and our focus on our branded goods, along with the price increases that I've mentioned. EBITDA rose 20% to $155.8 million. Net profits were tripled to $35.2 million. As Parag alluded to, the asset-light strategy that was implemented, is that we're now in year 2 of the benefits of that asset-light strategy. We continue to see more and more enhancements, more and more efficiency, lower cost to operate better overhead absorption, and a more nimble and agile organization that's able to focus on our core business, our branded business. Pleased to report, that we did receive another credit rating upgrade this quarter to a B2. It's a very significant move for us from Moody's and also received a positive outlook from S&P. And further commentary, this really reflects the strengthening of our operating performance, our lowered leverage and the success of last year's recapitalization and all the major operational restructuring that we've gone through the past couple of years. So we continue to add a very positive path in terms of top line growth and bottom line growth, and we believe that we will continue throughout the next 12 to 24 months, even in the face of headwinds we're facing, obviously, with inflation. Also pleased to report, that we syndicated a new $600 million term loan. This will close on May 16, when our senior notes become callable. This new loan has a materially lower interest rate, that will help recover the onetime cost of redemption of the senior notes, and result in net savings for the company. Next slide, 17. I mentioned the market share success. This is on a 12-month rolling basis, so this is a look at each of our core business segments where we're -- in which we're strong leaders in the U.S. marketplace, #1 in our vegetable business. It's a very large mature category that we keep driving growth within, and having success. So very significant, again 4.3 share points in a very large and mature business. The same goes with our canned fruit business, 2 share points there, really seeing a sharp rise in our fruit cut business, our snacking business, that business is doing quite healthy, particularly in the most recent months. We're having a lot of success with our multi-pack strategy in that business as well, as well as our channel expansion strategy. Continue to see flat growth in our tomato business and our broth business, realized that we had incredible years, the prior 2 years and particularly the last year. That business was up double digits. So we've been able to maintain here and continue to find pockets of success in both of those businesses. So our long-term growth plan really involves Del Monte investing and bringing in differentiated and innovative products to market, expanding distribution and building our brands. We're fortunate to have such strong brands, and they've definitely won throughout our first 9 months of this year, and they're going to help us continue to win throughout the remainder of '22, as we head into '23. The next slide. Just want to show you some of our marketing highlights. We continue to invest in marketing, and it's an omnichannel approach. We're reaching consumers through social media, online during their path to purchase, as well as through traditional methods. Our fruit snack business was supported by some return-to-school activity, and that really has helped to spur some of those growth -- market share growth numbers that you saw, continue to do -- our focus on health-wellness [ scheduled ] a lot of events in January around New Year New You. And then we've launched some very interesting and strategic line extensions within parts of our core business, like the summer crisp line of products and our very important corn business that we've been supporting, particularly in store with success. The next slide, 19, here is a look at -- we did a -- for the first time in several years in January, we did a national kind of like mono-brand, multi-brand event that supported all of our Del Monte products. And we did this as a cause-driven, choose good, do good promotion, as part of our Growing Great partnership, and as part of our overall philosophy around ESG and really doing good as an organization. So got a lot of good receptivity from that. In the middle, you'll see some of the PR support that we received through some influencers on a national basis through this program, and I'm pleased to report on the top right, we've recently been acknowledged in several different ways, as part of our marketing success in our overall commercial strategy. We just received 2 more new Product of the Year Awards, this is the fourth year in a row now, that we've been acknowledged. The products recognized this year were our Joyba Bubble tea line of products, which is our new beverage business as well as our wellness infusions, those fruit infusion products that we fortify with enhanced nutritional benefit, have been quite well received. And we also just recently received a Clean Eating Clean Choice award for our vegetable rice products, that are very clean and simple and pure, very limited ingredients and a really nice convenient solution for consumers looking for healthy, on-the-go convenience and quick meal preparation. Then we look at Joyba on the bottom right, continue to get different types of acknowledgment. This example is a graphic design award for our new packaging, which really does a nice job on shelf and in store for us. Slide 20 is another look at some of the holiday activity that we were successful with. Our College Inn broth and stock business does incredibly well during the winter months, when it's in its highest seasonality, and we invest before, during and at the tail end of that season, to keep supporting consumption and promoting our brand. College Inn is the #2 brand of broth and stock. It's a very important business for us. So continue to see success through our marketing investments there. A lot of that's recipe-driven and usage driven. Our Green Bean Casserole business continues to be a staple with U.S. consumers. So probably our best year yet, in terms of the performance, in terms of execution of in-store displays, co-marketing with Campbell Soup and French's Onions, as well as just an overarching omnichannel promotion of these products. That really drove our market share on our vegetable business to record highs over the past 5 to 10-year periods this past holiday season. So very pleased, and we're going to keep doing that program bigger and better, as we head into next year. On Slide 21, wanted to give a call out to our foodservice success. As Parag and I both mentioned, really pleased with the strong growth last year and again this year in our foodservice business, we're finding lots of success in our pineapple business. We have some very good both pineapple and Number 10 cans and also in pouches that we're having success with, with some big names like Darden and a new success for us was a chain called Tropical Smoothie, which is almost 915 units in the U.S. as well as pizza chains like Pieology, which are very fast-growing chains in the U.S. marketplace. On the right, you'll see some of our non, kind of commercial business. We also focus on hotels, on schools and any type of away from home consumption we can find for our products. So rice cauliflower is being well received, being put on more and more menus across the U.S. They're even now serving them in places like Chipotle. So we had some success this quarter with this [ Morris and Group ] as well as Foodbuy and Compass becoming a preferred supplier of this rice cauliflower, which is a rapidly growing business in the U.S. Slide 22. I wanted to give you just a brief look at innovation. So we've been on an innovation journey. We started it 4 years ago. We created new resources, new focus and new strategy around innovation. We're focusing on consumer trends in the U.S. like closest to fresh, plant-based goodness, culinary meal hoppers, really trying to upgrade our offerings for all of the increased at-home consumption that's occurring. Purposeful snacking and then importantly, everyday value. As the country heads into recession driven by inflation, we have a strong value proposition. This is a brand that consumers love and trust, the Del Monte brand in the U.S., and we're finding ways to provide that in more and more value-based forms and more and more channels, like our multi-pack business. So across the top row, you can see what we launched in FY '22 this year, with success from corn to rice -- frozen rice vegetables to more premium tomatoes and broth, to our new line of boba, Joyba based Bubble Tea, and then some of our Classics business, which is really more of our everyday value business. Down below is what we're launching right now for the year ahead. So we're out talking to customers and getting acceptances right now on more line extensions for corn, an exceptional veg initiative, where we're actually taking over a large part of the entire vegetable aisle with more offerings. We're going into the mushroom business, the artichoke business and several of the pockets that we think our brand will resonate with consumers and our largest retail partners agree with us, and we're having success there. We're launching an exciting new line of frozen handheld sandwiches that are pizza based, that are plant-based and very excited about the test results there and rolling those products. Those products have been shipping in August. Vegetable Pasta, which is a chickpea-based frozen pasta, very healthy, very good for you, very good tasting, excited to launch that product this year. We have a new line of organic tomatoes that we're currently launching. -- more broth and stock products. This Joyba product has been an incredible success for us in the U.S., we're going to sell over $30 million of this in the coming fiscal year, and that's going to complement our over $10 million in frozen food business that we've created just in the past couple of years. So we're really getting scale. The next slide talks about that. So this is -- I want to give you kind of a visual review of our growth trends on '23, that kind of put some dimension to -- Slide 23. So on this slide, what we've documented is, just kind of from the inception of this 4 years ago, what we monitor is our trailing 3-year revenue base, driven by our new products. And our trajectory has us on pace to ship and sell over $150 million of new products next year, which will help us reach about 8.5% of our total sales. Our goal is to be at 10%, that's really what the best-in-class, highly innovative CPG companies do in the U.S., but off of a base of zero, 4 years ago, really pleased with our progress. So I'll now hand it over to Mr. Cito Alejandro.

Thank you, Greg. Good morning and good evening to all of you. I will now report on Del Monte Philippines, which covers the Philippine market, as well as international. So Del Monte Philippines achieved sales of $197 million in the third quarter, plus 5% in peso terms. For the 9-month period of the fiscal year, sales increased by 9% in peso terms to $559 million. Sales in the Philippines recovered after 2 quarters of decline coming off a very high prior year base. Beverage sales is now up 7%, packaged pineapple market shares have increased, and I'll talk more about that in the coming slides. New products now account for about 5% of sales in the Philippines, and on the Del Monte Vinamilk products, consumer acceptance has been very high, particularly repurchase or retrial rates. E-commerce is also fast gaining traction, and we expect exponential growth next fiscal year. In International, sales were driven by higher fresh pineapple exports to North Asia. EBITDA and net profit performance were commendable. For the 9-month period, EBITDA was up 10% and net profit 15%. Next slide, please. We were able to maintain our leadership shares across all our core categories, notable market share gains in packaged pineapple and mixed fruits. We lost shares in beverage, due to competitive activity. We know why and we are moving swiftly to recorrect the situation. Okay. Next slide. In the food category, our marketing program centered on in-home celebration during the high consumption holiday system. Our digital media has also been very effective, in reaching our target homes and building consumption and usage of our products. Next slide. In beverage, we continue to reinforce the core strength and uniqueness of the entire beverage product portfolio. The multi-serve 1-liter Tetra format of 100% pineapple juice, as well as our delicious variety of juice drinks, were clear winners with consumers, who found more value for money in a larger size. Next slide, going now to our culinary products, as in the case of fruits. Culinary likewise took center stage during the holiday season. Nearly every home serves spaghetti or cooks tomato-based meals every Christmas and New Year. And Del Monte has become synonymous to Christmas celebration to most Filipinos. Next slide. Just a quick update on some of our new products. Mr. Milk on its second year continues to grow profitably, as we expand distribution. Marketing and sales activities are also fueling the expansion and growth of our biscuits line. Next slide. So from the depths of COVID in 2020, we are pleased to report that our foodservice business has started to regain vitality. 9-month sales were up 32% versus prior year. It's now at the level of 70% of pre-pandemic level. Operating profit has also risen by 85%, due to improved sales and better gross margin. We have managed to retain our core customers, and we will continue to grow with them, as we recover this year and approach pre-pandemic levels by the second half of next year. Next slide. Moving now to S&W. Pleased to report that we continue to grow our fresh pineapple exports, that has now reached a 53% leadership share in China. Importantly, we have remained among the top 3 choice of consumers in Japan, Korea and the Middle East. Also, e-commerce and digital business have accelerated, especially in North Asia, where we are present in nearly all major portals. Next slide. So S&W has done well in the third quarter and in the 9-month period. 9-month sales grew strongly by 16% behind fresh pineapple, packaged pineapple and fruit juices. There are 2 major developments in fresh worth highlighting. First is in China, the expansion of our distribution in both core cities, as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Second is the successful launch of our extra sweet, ripened to perfection S&W deluxe premium variant. That's on the top right of the page, and we have introduced this in North Asia, and it's become an instant hit, an instant success among consumers. So we're doing good business in this new variant. That's all I have. And I now turn you over to Iggy.

Thank you, Cito. Improving sustainability is one of Del Monte Pacific's 5 strategic pillars supporting our vision, nourishing families, enriching lives every day. We continue to work on applying agricultural practices that are good for the environment and our people, strive for responsible sourcing, saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions, by improving transport efficiency, providing nutrition to marginalized communities and frontline workers. On Slide 34. Slide 34, Jen. Diverting waste from landfill to upcycling and reducing waste. Reducing carbon emissions by expanding renewable energy, specifically solar, conserving water resources and innovating packaging to make them recyclable, reusable or compostable. We are working on a broad range of sustainability initiatives, both in the U.S., the Philippines and rest of Asia. And finally, on Slide 35, to recap our outlook, 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 we reduce our non-strategic business. Improved product availability through better distribution and expanded sales channels. We are well positioned in this environment, given our product portfolio, as explained by Greg and Cito earlier. And DMPL is proactively addressing the inflationary impact from commodity headwinds, and increased transportation costs, through revenue optimization and cost drivers, including driving efficiencies and productivity. And building on our strong performance in the first 9 months, DMPL expects to generate a higher net profit in FY '22. We would now like to open the floor to questions. You can click the raise hand icon at the bottom of your screen. Please post your questions in the Q&A box, and not in the chat box. So we can monitor them well. Our colleague, Jennifer Luy, who is responsible for IR, will read the questions. Jen, you can start reading some of the questions in the Q&A box.

Our first question is from [ Vivian ]. Could you share more on weather-related events and commodity headwinds? Also, could you provide more color on the extent of increase of ocean freight costs? Do you see the growth in freight costs slowing?

Yes. Parag, why don't you start and I'll add some color commentary?

Absolutely. Thank you, Greg. So on this one, yes, we did face impact from weather-related events, when it comes to a couple of crops. One is tomatoes, where we had some impact from the drought conditions in California. And we also had some impact in our Washington business or plant, when it comes to peas and corns, again, due to some excessive heat. But overall, we -- our volume in these 2 businesses was down between 10% to 15% versus expectations, which also had an unfavorable impact on our conversion cost. When it comes to commodity headwinds, we saw a majority of the impact coming from transportation and freight, more on the international sourcing side, though it is just 10% of our business, as I mentioned. And we do expect the freight costs to continue impacting us, though we are really in much more control, through better planning, and also making sure that we have minimal shipments on spot basis, particularly when it comes to ocean freight. In terms of other commodity headwinds, yes, we are seeing metal packaging go up, had some impact on our fiscal year '22 results, and more to come in fiscal year 2023 as well. Greg, anything else to add?

Yes. I would just say, I think there's a common theme around inflation, and we we've managed it well throughout this year. We've offset a significant amount of inflation and remain confident in our outlook for the year. Pricing has been, what we call revenue optimization, revenue has been the key for us pricing, through a list pricing action and reduced trade spending, has helped offset as our primary vehicle. And we haven't seen a slowdown in sales or demand, because what we're seeing in the U.S. is, there's lots of pricing occurring in all of our categories and throughout the grocery store business. So the consumers are paying a little bit more for groceries, and it has not impacted our outlook -- our current demand scenario and our outlook for demand. And I think you covered the weather-related results very well, Parag, and we're not sure when ocean freight is going to restore to more normal terms. But our strategy is to pursue more contracted business and only ship business that we absolutely need, and avoid the spot market.

I'm going to ask all the cost-related questions first. Greg mentioned further price increase in the third quarter. Is it possible to share more color on the extent of the increase, compared to the higher costs? And another one on that is -- gross margin in the third quarter decreased to 21% from 24%. We had some price actions in the third quarter, which presumably has not been in effect for the entire quarter. So what would have been the gross margin, had the pricing actions been in effect for the entire quarter. What would be the gross margin, that management is expecting for the fourth quarter, and for the financial year as a whole?

Okay. I can go first, Parag, and then please add some commentary. We faced -- it's not just a third quarter issue. We have faced inflation all year long to run this business, whether it's packaging and materials, labor, utilities, transportation, we faced it all year. And what we've done is we've surgically and strategically taken pricing action across our portfolio and taken some pretty strong cost-cutting measures, to help keep us on track to deliver a 24% gross margin. And that's ahead of plan. We set an ambitious goal to be at 24% this year, which is a material increase over history. We remain committed to that outlook in terms of gross margins for the business. So the pricing action we took in the third quarter, was in the 7% range in total across our portfolio, and that will get us back to those margin targets that we've established, and enable us to finish in very strong footing for the year, back at that 24% range of gross margins. Anything to add there, Parag?

Yes. I mean, just to clarify, the pricing, though it was executed in Q3 had no benefit in Q3, and we would get the benefit of that from March and April. We expect our gross margins to be in the range of 24% to 25%, which is in line with the full year average that Greg mentioned of, we expect to achieve 24%, which is 160 basis point -- 140 basis point improvement versus last year. So we stay on course with that. And we will -- so this is just a temporary blip that we are seeing in our Q3 results, and we will restore the margins in Q4.

And as we look forward in time, inflation is not stopping anytime soon. So as we look into the year ahead, we'll continue to use that same approach proactively and strategically taking pricing where necessary, along with our cost savings measures to keep our gross margins intact and keep our profit outlook intact.

Yes.

Moving on to how will the war between Russia and Ukraine impact our business? What's the strategy of the company to mitigate the impact? There's one more on this. Since the Ukraine conflict, what is the feedback from raw material suppliers on higher prices?

So great question. Let me start, and I'm sure Greg and Cito would add to it. When it comes to -- on the revenue side, we have no revenue impact when it comes to both our Asian operations, as well as the U.S. We have no assets in both these countries. Of course, the impact of oil is evolving very quickly, and we would be also impacted by the oil prices. The good news is, we did hedge 40% of our diesel requirements in the U.S. at a very favorable rate, that was done in August 2021. Rest is obviously something that we would need to cover and determine at the right timing, with current circumstances, obviously, being very volatile. In terms of sourcing, we do source some paper-related items from Russia, but we have alternative sources and a number of multiple choices and sourcing options. So we do not expect that to be impacting us at all. In terms of oil, it does transcend and lead to cost impact and inflationary trends across many items. It would be resin based, would be plastic-based would be the first one. But as you all know, most of our business is in metal cans. And therefore, the impact of oil through plastic-based packaging item increase, should not be significantly material to our business, both in the U.S. and Asia. Let me pause and see if Greg and Cito would like to add anything?

No, I think you covered that very well, too. I think we're just keeping an eye on what the impact is, here in the U.S. on fuel. Our fuel rates are rising, and that drives -- our rate of transportation costs. But again, we'll take the same approach to how we mitigate inflation. One very successful measure that we've taken this year, is increasing the use of rail transport versus truck or intermodal transport. So our rail utilization will almost double this year, and we're planning a similar increase next year, as a much more efficient, lower cost way to move our products around the country, that's one tactic we put in place. But I think you covered it well, Parag.

You know, I think for the Philippine market, both on local and international local. As you know, our biggest operation is our pineapple operation, and that is very energy intensive. So we're moving fast in order to optimize our energy consumption and likewise, related to this, is we've got waste-to-energy infrastructure in our country, in Mindanao, and we are also going into solar energy, not only for our manufacturing, but even in our plantation operations. On the revenue side, we're not yet seeing much of an effect, but we think that the fuel costs will have an impact on us, given that we are an importer of oil. Nevertheless, we have kept our market shares in good shape. We continue to increase our distribution. We -- our pack sizes are very friendly to both those who need low cash outlay sizes and those who would benefit from multipacks as we offer them in the modern trade now. In fresh, not much effects -- not yet now. Our consumption remains high. Demand is higher than what we can provide. The ocean freight has not been that significant so far compared to the high freight cost going to the U.S.. Most of the markets of fresh are in North Asia and transport costs so far has been under control. But of course, we foresee some increases as the cost of oil goes up. Go ahead, Jenny.

Thank you, everyone. And just to round up on costs, so we discussed about price increases and some of the operational savings. How about changes in the volume or the mix of the products, and also on trade promotion? Are these some things that we can -- we're working on to help with the cost increases?

Yes. Revenue mix, as Greg alluded to, does comprise of both pricing and favorable sales mix. We have continued on our strategy to lower the contribution from private label business or other low-margin businesses. And our branded retail business continues to outperform and grow ahead of the total company sales growth. So that's clearly helping us in addition to the pricing actions that we have been taking.

Okay. What percentage is packaging costs to our total cost of goods sold?

From higher export sales? Higher export sales of fresh, which is much more profitable than our process business. So that's clearly helping us as well and is a good example of favorable sales mix in addition to price.

What's the percentage of packaging cost to our total COGS?

Our total packaging cost to total COGS is in the range of 25% to 30%.

And for U.S., are labor cost going to be a major issue impacting gross margins?

It's an interesting question. Yes, labor costs are going up and labor shortage is something that we are proactively addressing. But in our overall plan with the investments that we are making in all our plants and including our D.C. network as well. We are actually looking at getting more productivity from labor-related initiatives and automation-related initiatives that will offset the inflation impact in the coming year. In fact, on cost-saving initiatives, our investments are a good $10 million to $12 million.

So those capital investments help us reduce our reliance on labor, increase automation for the plants, increase the speed of our production and our labeling and deployment of finished goods. So, yes, it's not going to be a major impact on our business model.

Moving on to the loans. On the new $600 million term loan closing on May 16, it was stated that the new loan has a materially lower interest rate that will recover the one-time cost of redemption of the senior notes and result in net savings starting FY 2024. Kindly share more details on this one-time cost of redemption and why the savings will only start in FY 2024 and not FY 2023 when the senior notes are to be redeemed in May 2022?

So there are 2 components of the cost. It's a great question. From a cash perspective, the -- when we -- the high-yield bonds are callable in May and the cost related to the redemption is to the tune of $45 million. That's what we expect to pay to redeem the bonds. And the savings that we are expecting on a cash basis is anywhere between $25 million to $30 million. The loan that we are going for is at a floating rate. And with the interest coverage, we expect the savings to be in that range. And hence, the payback is around 18 months on a cash basis. On a P&L basis, the one-time costs are expected to be an additional $25 million as we would be also taking a restructuring charge on deferred financing fees. So that's another $25 million. But we would also save going forward on deferred financing fee as our new refinancing is much more efficient as compared to the last one. So overall, P&L savings are expected to be $30 million, whereas one-time costs on a cash basis are $45 million, P&L basis $70 million.

And I just -- I would just add, in terms of the material difference in the interest rates, we -- more than half. We've taken our largest tranche of debt from a note that was close to 12% down to something that's going to be 4.25% over [ silver ]. So it's very attractive for us. As Parag mentioned, the end game is that, we're going to save $25 million to $30 million each year now in interest payments.

With the credit rating of DMFI, we mentioned of the improved credit rating, right? Are we expecting this to help us get lower interest rates?

Yes. It helped in this transaction quite a bit.

And it also helped when we extended our ABL, which was in April of 2021. So these credit upgrades immediately are giving us the right result.

Moving on to preference shares. Can you give us an update on the refinancing of the $200 million preference shares redeemable in April 2022, which is soon? I know that the company has previously raised $90 million 3-year notes at 3.75%. How about the remaining $110 million? How is the company going to refinance this portion?

We expect to do it through bridge loans from our banking partners, and that would be used to redeem the pref shares, which are falling due in April.

Will the absolute amount of debt refinanced remain the same?

From an overall Group perspective, the pref shares that we would redeem would be then replaced by the debt that we would get to redeem the pref shares. So, to that extent, our debt would increase at -- from a Group level perspective, if the question is in relation to pref shares.

Yes, the question was in relation to the Group. So I think for U.S., we're getting a $600 million term loan to cover a $500 million secured note. Is that right?

If the question is in relation to that, then the Group level loans would remain the same. Yes, because partly out of $600 million, there would be some settlement of intercompany payables also expected in the short term in less than a year. So that would make sure that, from an overall Group perspective, the loan amount is not expected to increase.

Okay. So George is asking that the holding company will be borrowing to redeem the preference shares. What are the benefits? And then there are other questions related to IPOs, which I'm going to read as well. And from Jose Maria [indiscernible], may we have an update on the previously planned IPO of DMPI, where proceeds are expected to partially reduce existing debt level? Is this still on the table? Can we get an idea on when it may happen? And there's also another question on whether there's -- I mean, shed more light on the potential listing of DMPI and DMFI?

If I understood the question correctly, the first one is in relation to the benefit of redeeming pref shares through debt? That's the first question.

Yes.

Right, Jen? And the response to that is, yes, we would have cash savings of at least $4 million to $5 million, if not more, even if we have to consider that we will continue to pay the same rate that we pay today of 6.5% to 6.6% of pref shares versus the refinancing that we are planning through the bank loans. So that's the first part. Would you mind repeating the second part?

May we have an update on the previously planned IPO of Del Monte Philippines where proceeds are expected to partially reduce existing debt level? Is this still on the table? And can we get an idea on when it may happen?

Definitely on the table, but it depends on market conditions. And we currently have no line of sight in the short term to go for an IPO.

And Parag, that would be the same for the U.S., too, because I see some questions there around the U.S.

Okay. Absolutely. Not in fiscal '23 for the U.S.

Okay. We have a question of -- with Lee Pineapple as a shareholder, can Del Monte explore into palm oil plantation business with the help of Lee Pineapple?

Cito?

I don't think there are any plans for that at this time. I think we're pretty much focused on what we have with pineapple.

Okay. Next is, can we -- can you share on the number of new distribution stores in China and the percentage increase on a year-on-year basis?

Yes. Okay. Let me share some data on that. So as far as the stores are concerned, we have about 12,000 to 14,000 core stores in China. And to this number, we have added an additional 3,000. And we have not -- we are still just entering Tier 2 right now. So we're really looking at -- you're looking at about 17,000 stores that we are into at this point in time. And if you take a look at the growth of the business, though, if you look at the growth over the past 2 years, it has been at 17%. And the 5-year CAGR in China has been growing about 20% to 30%.

Okay. Aside from Mr. Milk and Potato Crisps, will Del Monte consider adding other products like coffee through white label rebranding or repackaging to take full advantage of the strong Del Monte brand? Or do some co-branding like Tipco Del Monte? Also, how about exporting papaya or coconuts? I have seen how factories in Hainan province maximize and convert every part of the coconut fruit to something useful.

First is on the coconut and papaya. Yes. Well, first on the coconut and papaya. Right now, we are not exporting any of those. We do not have plans to do that because most of the papaya that we have are pretty much used in supporting the growth of our tropical fruit cocktail, and that has grown tremendously over the past several years. On the new categories, we are always open to new opportunities as they come. But for the time being, I think what we want to do is maximize our dairy business, we're still -- we have been in that category only for 2 years, and we just launched the products from the Del Monte Vinamilk joint venture. So we will keep to that. But rest assured that we have a pipeline of new initiatives that we are now looking at and qualifying, that will take us over the next 3 to 5 years.

For you [indiscernible] why Del Monte Foods has managed to continue increasing its market share in the States?

Well, it's through a number of initiatives. I mean, our market share growth is rooted in our investment in marketing activity to build brand equity and brand awareness and drive trial and consumption. It's driven by a very strategic approach to building out more distribution points and rationalizing our competition. So we've successfully been able to reduce the distribution points and share of our nearest branded competitors every year through that strategy. We've also taken our brands into other channels where we weren't before. So the value channel that Parag mentioned, dollar channel, the club store channel, the convenience channel, these are all new pockets of growth, and we have a long runway of future growth within those channels. So, it's a multipronged attack. And just our focus and investment and attention to our brands and growth is really what's driving that performance.

Next is, what's the Group sales split across channels from pre-COVID compared to now foodservice versus retail?

When it comes to our U.S. business, foodservice has been contributing stably to around 5% to 6% of the Group sales. So no major shift when it comes to the split, particularly in the context of foodservice business. But when it comes to [ PHL ] business, our foodservice business pre-pandemic used to contribute around 14%. It went down to 8%, and it's back to around 10% to 11%. This is as a percentage to PHL business sales.

Yes. And, I guess, for the States, our private label contribution has come down a lot.

[ To 5% ].

Yes, the private label.

That was intentional.

Yes. Okay. On the pricing strategy, when does the Group decide to increase prices? Is it only done in the face of inflationary pressures? Or is it a regular exercise every year?

It's been a regular exercise every year. I think, for Cito and Parag and I, we've been taking pricing every year over the past 4 years. So it comes in different ways and different forms, and it's not just driven by inflation. It's driven by the -- what the consumer will pay for our products, and we try to maximize value but also maximize margin and monitor elasticity. So it's something we consistently monitor. Anything to add there, Parag?

No, absolutely. I mean, considering the strength of our brands, we absolutely do take it annually, but it is -- we do make sure that it's in line with the inflation levels that are prevailing in both the economies.

I think the most important message here is the strength of the Del Monte brand because it gives us pricing power. When you lose pricing power, then I think that is the most concerning part of our business. But here, both in the U.S. and both in the Philippines and also S&W in the markets where we compete, we have been able to build brand equity and build consumer acceptance of our products, and that has allowed us to hold onto our business and do pricing because we've not only kept the portfolio, but we've kept very close to our quality promise to our consumers.

Okay. And next is, how does Del Monte decide which product lines to target? Noticed that the Group is involved in dairy products as well. And I'm not sure if the Group is involved in dairy production as well.

Well, first on dairy, dairy came out of our regular screening of potential opportunities in new categories that we would like to penetrate. So our first [indiscernible] to this was the Mr. Milk product. That was our trial period, trial product to see whether we can succeed and we have proven that we could. And that has led to a follow-up with our joint venture with Vinamilk of Vietnam. So the first order right now is to maximize our joint venture with Vinamilk, with the products coming from Vietnam. So far, they have been cost-friendly. And if in the future, there is an opportunity for dairy production, then we will, of course, consider that to. And that will be -- that will likely be in our area -- in our plantation area, where we have vast of lands where dairy operations can -- are well suited.

Going back to the U.S. term loan, what type of materially lower rates? So he's asking for, I guess, the range of the rates that we're expecting for the $600 million term loan compared to the 12% that we have now.

So our current rates on high-yield bonds are 11.9%. That goes down to 5% to 6% depending on the interest rates as to how they will pan out in the next year or 2 because our term loan would be on a floating basis. But on a current basis, our interest cost goes down from 12% to 5%.

For the preference shares bridge loan, what would be the next step? Do you intend to issue long-term debt?

We would definitely consider and also settling the bridge loan through an IPO at some stage would be on the cards.

Okay. The company has not tapped into the equity market and mainly focusing on bank loans, bonds and issuance of preference shares. Is that being looked into to bring in specific strategic shareholders?

Not necessarily. Our current thought process is to generally take the IPO route as we look at refinancing and lowering our leverage from a mid- to long-term perspective.

Can we know what are the specific factors that Del Monte Philippines is waiting for the IPO to push through? And to clarify, and from another shareholder, for the IPO of Del Monte Philippines. So you said based on market conditions, so this is not for this year calendar 2022.

Sorry, I couldn't completely get the question, Jen.

Okay. So the first question was because we said based on market conditions, so they're asking if -- what are the factors you're waiting for to push through with an IPO? So what needs to change in the market condition? The second one is that, are we saying it's not going to happen this year, 2022?

I won't say it won't happen in 2022. But, I mean, the market conditions are in front of everybody. They are very volatile currently across the globe. And also, we would be prudent to wait for the elections to be completed in Philippines before we take a position on our next steps with the IPO.

There's a follow-up on that preference shares, regarding the refinancing of bridge loans, do you mean IPO of Del Monte Philippines or DMFI?

Del Monte Philippines.

Okay. With the refinancing of the preference shares, would you mind to give us an estimate of the resulting Group debt equity ratio? And another shareholder related to this is asking. So also if the company is refinancing all the $300 million of prefs through debt. So after the refinancing, the equity will go down by $300 million and our net debt will go up. So based on her calculations, the net DER will go up to 5x, and the net debt/EBITDA is also about 5x. Is that in the right track? This seems to be very high. Would it violate any debt covenant, as well as potentially cause Del Monte to be derated by credit agencies?

I don't think it goes up to 5x. Her thought process is right. In the short-term, our debt-to-equity would be more than 3x as we refinance our pref shares through debts and bonds. But long-term, we plan to bring our debt-to-equity back to 1.5% to even less than 1.5x debt-to-equity levels.

And would we be violating any debt covenant at the 3x level and derating of the agencies?

No, we would be in communication with our banks, and we would be adjusting the debt-to-equity covenant accordingly.

Are we looking to increase prices some more in the balance of the year?

Yes, in the balance of the calendar year, yes.

Calendar year, yes.

Yes. Okay. What is the profit guidance for Q4 compared to Q4 last year? And related to that, taking into consideration everything, war, inflation, yes, it's the same earnings forecast for Q4. Yes, it's the same question. So it's the guidance for Q4.

We expect to improve on our profitability versus Q4 of last year from a Group perspective. So we could do better than $14.5 million in Q4.

Does the Group still expect that DMFI legacy receivables of $45 million be collected in May 2022? Sorry.

Yes. That is the plan. We expect to collect or settle $45 million of the $90 million plus on legacy payables in May 2022.

Okay. There's a question on depreciation. Depreciation appears to have declined Q-on-Q. What's the expectation for depreciation because CapEx has jumped significantly? The jump in CapEx appears to be for bearer plants. Is there a major planting program? And also, what is construction in progress?

Yes, as our business expands in both processed and fresh, our planting program is increasing, and that's what is leading to a higher capital spend on bearer plants. One of the reasons for depreciation expense to go down is that, our fixed assets are continuing to be fully depreciated. For example, in the U.S., our IT investments that we made 6 or 7 years back and SAP is now fully depreciated. So we get the benefit of that. Similarly, all our investments -- some of our investments in the plants are also getting to a stage where we would not have to incur any depreciation charge as they would be fully depreciated. So we would see this trend in the coming 3, 4 years, even though we would continue to invest in our plants for cost savings, capacity expansion and sustainability.

There's a follow-up question on price increase. Has Del Monte recently marked up the prices of its products? If so, will marking up prices again affect the brand's reputation and market share?

No, we don't believe so and realize that all grocery prices are rising. So we're very consistent at this point with what the category is doing and what our competition is doing. Although we always have to be proactive in pricing, we also monitor what our competition is doing. So we don't fear any damage in terms of demand or share resulting from our latest round of pricing actions.

Follow-up on the profit guidance. This is from Vivian. Thank you, Parag, for the guidance. If we are looking at better profitability in Q4 versus a year ago, am I right to say that would mean almost a 50% increase in net profit for FY '22?

Her computation is right.

Okay. She's our analyst covering us. From George, can you quantify the expected benefit to ordinary shares from the refinancing of preference shares with debt since interest expense is tax deductible?

Okay. George, you do come up with some very complicated questions. It is not tax deductible for us at the DMPL level because, as you know, at the Group level, we don't incur any tax cost. So no benefit from that. But to your point, the savings in interest versus pref dividend would obviously be a benefit to the ordinary shareholders.

This is going to be our last question. Can you give us an estimate of how much prices will be increased by for products across the board in both U.S. and the Philippines?

6% to 7% on an average in the U.S. And in terms of Philippines, you could assume the same on an average between the pricing that has been taken last year and what would be taken in the coming quarters.

Okay. So that's it for the questions and answers. Thank you so much our panelists. That's a lot of questions today, and you've answered all of them quite well.

Okay. Thank you for joining us in our briefing. And this concludes our results briefing. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Greg. Take care. Thank you, Parag.

Thank you Parag.

Thank you.

Thank you.