Essity AB (publ) ($ESSITYB)

Ready to start now, everyone. Pleasure to start the session with Ulrika Kolsrud, the CEO of Essity. Ulrika, good morning, and thank you very much for joining us here in Paris.

So Ulrika, you've been at Essity and SCA before that for over 30 years. And prior to becoming CEO, you were President of the Health and Medical division. When you were made CEO, what was the process you went through to refine the recently announced strategy? And how would you describe currently the strengths of Essity? And which are the areas that Essity hadn't previously optimized?

Well, thank you. That was many questions in one, right? But let's try to take one at a time then. So when I started, obviously being in the company for 30 years, you come in with some perspectives and some views and so on. But I really took the time to take a step back and reassess the full business. So capturing external views, internal views and so on to enrich my own thinking and doing a full assessment of both our strategy and how we execute on our strategy. And speaking then about our strengths, from my perspective, I reconfirmed many of the strengths that we do have. One being that we have leading brands with very strong positions, which puts us in a very good place to capture the growth opportunities that we have in attractive hygiene and health markets. Another one being that we have superior offers and also that our superiority, meaning how big share of our products that is the first choice among customers and consumers, that KPI that we follow very closely is increasing and is on record levels. So that's very clearly a strength for us as well as our innovation engine and our demonstrated brand-building capabilities, also a strength. And one that we don't necessarily talk about a lot, which I believe is really a competitive advantage for us is our ability to combine scale benefits with local relevance and do that in a very good way. So many of those advantages and strengths that we have. Also not to forget that we have a very strong balance sheet. So of course, then the financial flexibility to both invest in our own business to give back to shareholders and pursue value-creating M&As if we want to do that. Also, I would say, from a strategic standpoint, the strategy that we have in place, I found very relevant for what we want to achieve in our financial targets, which also I concluded were ambitious enough and at the same time, realistic. So all of that, all good, right? But then we are not delivering on our financial targets yet. And I think our progress towards our financial targets have been slower than it has to be. So I think there is potential to accelerate that progress towards our financial targets and unlock the full potential of our portfolio. So my conclusion was that we should take actions in order to accelerate progress and execute in a more focused and disciplined way on our strategy and also take some actions to unlock the full potential of our portfolio. So that is what I've been focused on. Was that answering all the questions?

It was. Sorry, I do hate it when people ask multiple questions at one go and I did exactly the same thing. So I do apologize. So if we -- let's look at some of those near-term actions, which you've taken, which include creating a more decentralized organizational structure, a savings program to generate funds for investment and a review of the portfolio composition. Firstly, on the decentralized structure, in practice, what does that mean sort of compared to before the changes? And what is that due to unlock?

And I think it's -- what we're doing then is that we are basically moving away from our matrix organization that we've had -- and then instead making every business unit or business area leader responsible end-to-end, which drives end-to-end accountability. Also with the 4 different business units that we now have with Health & Medical, Personal Care, Consumer Tissue and Professional Hygiene, we allow each of the businesses to be optimized based on their specific business drivers. And it also enables us to focus most of our efforts in the most attractive categories and segments. But I think the most important, and we have one of our strengths that I don't think I mentioned was that we have a lot of committed and engaged employees. And I want to unleash the full power of those employees in a more simplified structure. And also, most importantly, we become faster in decision-making, faster in execution and faster in responding to evolving consumer and customer needs. And that is the end-to-end accountability that is the answer to that.

Okay. Fantastic. Thank you. And you mentioned the portfolio composition. One of the outcomes of this process has been the announcement of a strategic review of the Consumer Tissue business. This is approximately 30% of sales and a little under of EBITA. What is the rationale for the strategic review? And why would Essity excluding Consumer Tissue, be better than Essity including Consumer Tissue? And indeed, why would consumer tissue be better as a stand-alone business?

Yes. No. So one of the initiatives or one of the things that I did coming in as new was to really intensify our work with our portfolio and our portfolio composition because we've had for a long period of time, we've had the strategy to shift the portfolio towards our most value-creating and our highest yielding categories and segments. So I think for me, it was more about how can we intensify and work even more with that. And one of the results of that was the strategic review. And it's, I think, important to be clear about that. Consumer Tissue is a strong business, and it's cash generating, and we have improved the business quite considerably over the past years. And looking at the plans that we have ahead, it's also more potential for value creation. Then we have, to my point, the strategy to shift the portfolio to the most value-added segments and categories and the highest yield segments and categories. And when then you look at that together, the conclusion is that we want to find a way to create the best possible conditions, both for Consumer Tissue as well as for the rest of the company to develop to their full potential. And that is the aim, and that's why we are looking into different options for how to make that happen. And it's quite simple. If we then look at should we come to a conclusion because no decision is taken, but should we come to the conclusion to separate consumer tissue from the rest, then the big benefit, of course, for the rest of the company would be that we would put all our focus and efforts on these higher-yielding and value-added segments and categories. I mean we want to work -- we want to be in categories where branding and innovation matters a lot, right, where we have high value add. So that would allow us to put full focus on that. And then Consumer Tissue, having quite different fundamentals being capital intense and so on could then be in a situation where you have full focus on the business drivers for Consumer Tissue business?

Thank you very much. That's clear. I think on the industrial logic, I guess people have focused a little bit on if the business is separated, would you see any significant stranded costs at all? Or is there any perceived loss of scale advantages that you'd have in procurement to the smaller group.

Well, I think one thing, and we've talked about the rationale, the commercial rationale for us to have the composition we have today, and that is still true. The fact that we have synergies in the front line when we go together as one sales force with Personal Care and Consumer Tissue. We have some synergies on the back end with Professional Hygiene on the supply chain side. And those, of course, we need to take into account in this assessment. And obviously, if we would proceed with the separation, then we would be a smaller business unless we don't outgrow that again, and we would have to cater for those costs. But that is something we would have to do in that case. When it comes to procurement specifically, I would say it's a much smaller effect than maybe what people would think because also with the other 3 business units, we have sufficient scale for leverage in procurement. And you should also remember when it comes to purchase of pulp, that in Professional Hygiene, it's a high share of recycled fibers. In consumer tissue, it's a high share of virgin fibers. So there is not that much scale benefit between the 2. So on procurement specifically, I would say it's not any significant impact. But again, all of what I'm talking about now, the details of that is exactly what this analysis and assessment is going to answer.

Okay. Thank you. And looking at the near-term prospects for consumer tissue before we move through the other divisions in the group, the business is 50% owned brands, 30% larger retailer brands and 20% smaller retail private label. What impact of commodity increases do you see at the moment? And what impact on elasticity are you expecting in consumer tissue specifically.

Well, what we see is now following the Middle East crisis is that we have the impacts on energy costs and fuel costs and eventually over time also oil-based raw materials. That is not so much in Consumer Tissue, but a bit on materials, generally speaking. And that will happen as we move along in the year, more over the year, but things happen every day, right? So the quantification of that is not so easy to see at this point in time. What we will do and what we already do, as we always do is to then compensate those cost increases with price increases. And considering the fact that -- I mean, we are in a different situation now than we were in the last cycle, we have become more agile, not the least within consumer tissue. So we compensate quite quickly with price increases. And we also know that it's -- for consumers, it's not a big -- it's something that is essential. It's not a big part of what -- of your wallet. So there is room for those price increases.

And I mean, I think you've answered a little bit across the group, but you obviously have some productivity measures in place. But should we expect price increases across all the divisions as we move through the year.

Generally speaking, yes. But of course, to a different magnitude and different timing depending on category and markets.

Okay. Thank you. Now moving on to Professional. And I had to double check this because since 2019, your volumes are flat organically in the business, but your EBITA is up by over 40% and your operating margin is up by 320 basis points. So to your point about focusing on higher-yielding categories and parts of the business, how have you managed to increase the operating profit by so much when you haven't seen volume leverage. And I guess, how has the mix changed in that business over time?

Well, it is -- to a big extent, it is mix driven then. I mean, partly this is more organically driven and partly it's deliberate restructuring. So we have taken actions to move out of some low-margin business in the past years, a very conscious decision to do that. And that has, of course, had -- that is the reason why we have not had volume growth as well because we have moved out of those areas. And then we have had underlying volume growth elsewhere, but that you don't see because of this restructuring that we have done. So that is one part and that has then helped the margins. But then also, we are focusing a lot on the strategic systems. The strategic systems that are more sticky in terms of customer loyalty and so on, but also that has a higher margin and it's important for the future. So that is also an organic mix shift towards more strategic systems.

Okay. And when we think obviously at a higher level of profitability, but you want to be growing volume and the gross profit now. Where is the biggest opportunity in Professional? I mean maybe you've answered it with the systems one. And how would you assess the cyclicality of that business?

Well, the biggest opportunity remains to be in strategic systems if we look at from a portfolio standpoint. That said, now when we have that nice profitability that we were talking about, we are also looking at sustaining the base. So also the areas that is more of our base assortment, we will continue to make sure that, that is staying where it is or at least growing with the market while we really double down -- continue to double down on our strategic systems. Also, there are big opportunities geographically speaking, in D&E markets where the penetration of these type of solutions is still an opportunity for us. The -- yes, well, we -- you were talking about how cyclic the business is and so on. We are working across different segments. So I mean something we have talked about in the past quarters have been that HoReCa segment in the U.S. has been a bit under pressure because of consumers not going to restaurants and so on. But that is only one segment. And we are also present in the industrial segment and in -- also in public segments, commercial segments and so on. So that diversification is, of course, derisking us when it comes to cyclicity.

Okay. Thank you. So moving on now to Health and Medical. Where here do you see the largest volume or gross profit opportunity? And maybe are there any comments on the tendering environment at all currently?

Well, here, we have opportunities across many areas, but I would say Wound Care is where we have the biggest potential and also where we put a lot of focus. Then in Incontinence Care, I mean, we have a growing aging population and incontinence care is, if you look at both retail and health care channels, it's 20% of our business. There's still so much growth opportunities in this category that we drive across the different sales channels. And then if you look even broader, I would say, a smaller part of our business, but a high potential is to treat lymphedema, which is an underdiagnosed condition that -- where we have fantastic products. So, so many different opportunities, but maybe Wound Care and Incontinence Care are the ones that have the biggest magnitude impact on our performance.

And Wound Care is -- it's a very high operating margin business. Are you comfortable that those margins are sustainable within the...

Yes, I am. For 2 reasons, I would say. One is that even if health care budgets are under pressure and that we face, of course, reimbursement challenges across different categories. And that is something we have done over many, many years, and we are used to operating in that environment. Even if that is the case, when we have differentiated and unique technologies, when we have clinical evidence and we can prove health economic benefits, we will always have some protection against that because that, of course, is something that our customers and our society needs. So that is an important part of it. Also, we have still plenty of opportunities to get leverage from volume in Wound Care in order to also drive margins.

Profitability. Okay. Thank you. So looking now at Personal Care, how does the level of innovation compare to previous years? And this is obviously an area you've been allocating incrementally more A&P. Are you seeing the benefits of that increased A&P spend.

Yes. And I think if we go back to your first question, maybe something to mention is that one of my conclusions when it comes to execution of our strategy is that we have really so much great opportunities to invest behind with the strong brands, with the leading positions, with the superior products that we have and the innovation engine. So that is really something that was important for me when assessing the business that we free up resources so that we can invest behind these opportunities that we have. And that goes across our business, but especially so in Personal Care. I would say, innovation-wise, it's not that we are investing more in innovation today than what we did a year or 2 years ago, but we are becoming more mindful in prioritization. So fewer, bigger, better. I mean we want to drive innovations that have real impact. And there you go back to the organizational change and unleashing the power of the organization because that's an example of where the organization makes a difference. When you have the innovation as a direct responsibility and accountability of the business unit leader, then you can be more precise in your prioritization. So it's about prioritizing innovation in a more focused way. But then when it comes to A&P, yes, we are increasing our investments because of the attractive opportunities we have to invest behind, and we see the effect of that. So we have good return on investments.

Okay. Fantastic. And you've seen strong growth in inco retail. You obviously mentioned the opportunity in inco, but there's been potentially budgetary pressures in Health and Medical. You're obviously seeing, as I said, the high growth in the retail side. What is really driving that? And that switch of Inco from health care to retail, is that gross margin positive for you as a company?

Well, if we start with the growth, I think what we see and back to this that what's important for us is that we capture the growth from a total category perspective. Whether it ends up in the Health and Medical P&L or in the Personal Care P&L doesn't really matter for us. It's important to drive that. And actually, we have this, I would say, really key competitive advantage that we are present across the channels, gives us scale benefits, but it also means that we can move with where the demand is moving. And in most cases, to your point, the channel shift is going more towards retail. There are some exceptions for that where there is channel shift in the other direction. But in most cases, it is going to retail. And the reason for that is many. One is that when -- if you look at the starting point of incontinence care and when we drive awareness of incontinence, then it's in the lighter end that, that has an effect. If you have -- if you are in the nursing home and you are incontinent, you will get products. It's not so much about awareness, right? But if you have a lighter issue, then if you're aware of that there are help to be found with some high-quality products that support you, then that drives growth in that end of the area. So it's not only about the budgetary pressure, but that is, of course, one thing as well, where if there is pressure on the health care budgets, then they cannot fund incontinence products to the same extent, then the demand is still there. So then the consumers or patients or caregivers, they go and buy the products in retail instead or in the pharmacy or online. So that's why you see that shift. But for us -- and that's back to your third point there. For us, that doesn't matter because generally speaking, the margins are quite similar.

Not quite similar. Okay. Fantastic. And how would you characterize the competitive environment in Personal Care currently? And there's obviously large competition that we know about and we'll be attending the conference as well. But from the point of view of smaller brands in maybe Asia, China and emerging markets, are you seeing an emergence of smaller brands at all in the categories you operate.

I think the competitive -- I mean, it is a competitive market, and we have been in that competitive market for decades. So I don't see that there is any major changes in that dynamic. It continues to be competitive. And yes, there are new players coming in, but there have been new players coming in earlier as well. when it comes to Asian suppliers, we see some of that in developing and emerging markets, but it's no big shifts from that perspective.

Okay. So one of the criticisms perhaps has been that whilst the gross margin has improved, the conversion rate of that gross profit into EBITA hasn't increased as much due to rising SG&A costs. You're going through a cost-saving program now, which is targeting SEK 1 billion of cost savings by the end of this year. How much of that do you expect to benefit the EBITA margin? And how much -- and I guess, what are the priorities you have for investment.

Well, our intention is to reinvest those savings into growth opportunities and supporting with A&P could be also selective price adjustments and other sales driving activities. So directly, it would not benefit the profit margin. Indirectly, it will because with growth, we will drive volume and get operating leverage.

Okay. And if we now look at the capital investment and M&A, we've obviously spoken about the strategic review of Consumer Tissue. But what are the areas that you'd like to invest more capital into? And are you likely to push M&A more than perhaps your predecessor.

Well, the -- if I start with what we prioritize, I think it's no difference actually based on where we prioritize organic growth. So it's in the highest yielding segments and most attractive markets. So we will prioritize feminine care, incontinence care, wound care, strategic segments in Professional Hygiene. And from a geographical standpoint, North America remains interesting as well as D&E markets. And we use M&A. I would say, first and foremost, for us, M&A is a vehicle to create scale and presence like with the recent acquisition in North America in feminine. But also, we see an opportunity to use M&A to gain channel -- expanding channel presence and bring new solutions into our portfolio. So all of the above. The -- when it comes to -- if I would drive this more than my predecessor, I would say we have a very strong balance sheet. And of course, that gives us the financial flexibility. But that doesn't change our approach to M&A. We have an active portfolio and look very actively on identifying targets, on assessing targets. But in the end of the day, it's about value creation. Strategic fit, obviously, but also value creation. So it's not a difference in approach. It could be a difference in if we have the opportunity -- if we find the right opportunities or not, but not in approach. It's very disciplined.

I suppose in addition to that sort of price sensitivity of the parameters, I guess, similar for you there or more holistic about the longer term.

No, but it is the same. Of course, we want to make sure that it's value creative. So then you have to take that into account.

Okay. Thank you. We're coming towards the end of our time now, and we'll also open to the room if there are any questions. But perhaps you could give your views as we come towards the end on overall consumer demand as how you see it as a company? And how are you expecting Essity's portfolio to perform this year in that macro backdrop?

Yes, I wish I had the crystal ball, right? I wish I had the crystal ball. But I think what is important for us is to make sure that we can win in spite of environment. So we are ready to capture the growth when the tide turns, right? But we're also operating in the current environment where consumer demand remains depressed, right, from what's happening around in the world. And how we do that is a lot about making sure that we continue to drive premiumness, but we also make sure that we have an attractive offer in different value segments so that we can meet the demand where it's at. And for us, I mean, we have -- we are providing essential products that you need every day. So from that standpoint, we are resilient. And also depending on what happens in the world and so on, we -- of course, our operational flexibility is a big advantage that we have local and regional supply chains that we are agile in pricing and so on. So that resilience means a lot in this environment. So irrespective of how the consumer will act in the coming quarters.

Yes. Well, thank you very much indeed for that insight, Ulrika. If anybody has some questions from the floor, then very happy to take them. If not, then we'll close there. But thank you very much, we covered an awful lot of ground quite quickly. So thank you very much indeed for your answers.

Thank you.