Helen of Troy Limited (HELE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us here at ICR. Today, we have with us Helen of Troy. And with us, we have CEO, Noel Geoffroy; and CFO, Brian Grass. Noel, maybe if you want to just open it up with some opening remarks and tell us about how you've seen the company since you've taken the reins and where you see the company going.

Happy to do that. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. Great to be back at ICR. I just thought I would give you a little bit of an overview of the company. Some of you may be very familiar with Helen of Troy and others may be not so familiar, so I'll just kind of start big picture. It's a diversified house of brands. We're about 75% in North America, about 25% international across various different regions. We have many #1 and #2 positions in our brands across our 2 business units, Home & Outdoor and Beauty & Wellness. When you think about the drivers of growth for our business, it's what you'd expect for a consumer products company: it's brand relevance, it's innovation, it's availability and distribution and great retail execution, it's key seasonal periods for some of our brands that really matter in very key seasonal periods. Our purpose is elevating lives in moments that matter everywhere, every day. It's a 55-year-old company, many people are surprised to hear that. It's been around for a long time, and it really started in -- in our Beauty business. That was really the legacy of the company. And over the course of time, the founder started to do various different acquisitions, which diversified the company. And then the most recent 10 years was called the transformation era where there was still more acquisitions that happened as well as some divestitures, and that kind of brings us roughly to where we are today. Important to note, we're a fairly asset-light company. It's 100% contract manufacturing, and as a result, fairly employee-light as well. We've got about 1,900 employees globally. I was appointed CEO on March 1, 2024, so I'm less than a year into the CEO role. Brian, our CFO, came back to the company. He has a long history with the company. He rejoined in September of 2023 and has a 20-year history with the company. We've also made several other leadership changes, I would say, in the last couple of years, 6 or so in fairly senior level positions, including most recently a new Head for our Beauty & Wellness business unit; first-ever Global Chief Marketing Officer, a Head of North American sales. So some pretty big new rules and new leadership in the company. You might hear -- if you look at Helen of Troy, you might hear about Project Pegasus. This was a global restructuring program that we put in place in 2022. It was both to make us more effective and efficient, but importantly, to generate fuel to reinvest back in the brands. And that's one of the most important things that I've been really looking to do since I joined the company is get our investment in our brands for both marketing and innovation to a much higher level than what we've had in the past. And we've been successful in doing that as well as putting in data and analytics so that when we're making that investment, we have a much better understanding with data and analytics of where the ROI is, what's working, what's not working so that we can shift accordingly. We recently reported our quarter 3 earnings just last week on January 8. I would say we're continuing to see good progress on the initiatives that we've put in place. We've called fiscal year '25 that we're in right now a Reset and Revitalize period where we're really trying to get back to some of the fundamentals, both in terms of our brands, but also in terms of some of our internal operations. We've got a new distribution center in Tennessee. We had some speed bumps as we brought that up in quarter 1, so we've really been focused on getting that behind us, which we've successfully done in quarter 3. We grew our Home & Outdoor sales in quarter 3. All 3 brands growing, international growing. Beauty & Wellness was hindered by a weak global cough/cold flu season. We've got a lot of products in that part of the business that are susceptible to cough/cold. And our Beauty business is still, I would say, a work in progress from a revitalization standpoint. And then the last thing I'll mention is we recently closed a new acquisition, Olive & June, which is a very fast-growing, high-margin nail care company that we've added. And we're excited about the growth potential for that. We're excited about how accretive it immediately is to the company. So that's a little bit of an overview on Helen of Troy.

That's a great overview. Maybe if we can dig in a little bit deeper on the brand investment that you're making and the investment in innovation and merchandising. And maybe if you could touch on what brands you've invested in so far, how that's worked out and then what you see touching down the road?

Yes. So one of the key strategies we've put in place is consumer obsession and really understanding for each of our categories, we are quite diverse, we play in a lot of different categories, is really understanding our consumer at a deep level and making sure that we're focusing our innovation, our marketing efforts, our marketing content to delight and really reach that consumer in a meaningful way. So that's been a big focus for us. I would say one of the other big changes that we made is a portfolio classification process so that we could allocate our resources, whether it's the innovation and the growth investment or the marketing investment, in the brands where we thought we had the most potential for growth and the best potential for ROI. And we've used data and analytics to help us get under that so that we're very clear on not only what brands we should invest in, but importantly, which tactics within the brand to invest behind. I would say we're pleased. I think we're seeing some of the fruits of our labor there as we specifically look at Home & Outdoor. Those 3 brands, Hydro Flask, Osprey and OXO, all grew in the quarter and they were the recipient of some of these incremental funds, both on the innovation side so we've got some great innovation that's working hard for us there as well as on the marketing side.

Great. And then you mentioned your recent acquisition, Olive & June, which is exciting. Maybe if you could tell the audience about that acquisition, the brand, where you see the opportunity there? Is it with growth, is it with synergies and just how you're thinking about the long aspect of that brand.

Yes, I'll start and I'll let Brian build, but we're very excited about the acquisition. As I mentioned in my opening, it is a kind of a nail care brand that spans all of the different parts of nail care. So there's traditional polish; a new gel polish platform; artificial nails, which is growing quite quickly. And so we really like how broad it captures the full consumer market. Nail care from a consumer, like do-it-at-home standpoint, is growing quite rapidly. It saw a nice boost during the pandemic as people couldn't -- as women couldn't get to salons, and it's really stuck. I think many women realized just how far a lot of the products, especially the artificials, had come and have adopted the habit and kept the habit. And so we see a lot of continued potential there. In terms of growth opportunities for us, we see distribution as a big one, and that's a lot of where they see Helen of Troy bringing scale to them. They're currently in distribution at Target, Walmart and Walgreens. So obviously, they're not in Amazon. They're not in CVS and I think there's even still more upside where they are. They're also not in any of the prestige beauty channels. So a lot of upside from a distribution standpoint. What they do really well is branding. The brand is exceptionally strong. They do a very good job of knowing their consumer, innovating against known consumer pain points in really differentiated ways, connecting with consumers with incredible online education. And so there's a lot of things that they do well, that they'll continue to do, the leadership team and the management team is going to stay with, with the acquisition and continue to run the business for us. And I think we'll learn a lot from that on the rest of our portfolio on how they do what they do so well. I'm excited about that opportunity. Brian, you might want to talk financially?

Sure. I'd say it's more of a growth story than it is a synergy story. There are synergies to be had and we have identified potential for those. On the other hand, we're going to make we're going to be choiceful in terms of how we approach those and when we do it. We did not build any synergies into the economics, and it's still highly accretive. But things like distribution, fulfillment, we think we can do those much more cost efficiently and we'll look to do that in the future. And then sourcing as well. We think we can bring value to their sourcing and reduce costs in that way. So I think there's opportunities. We're just going to be choiceful in terms of how we approach those and really focus on improving the core business of Helen of Troy, and then we'll look to make some of those synergy moves.

Great. Maybe if we can dig into some of the brands a little bit. So first, maybe we can touch on Hydro Flask in the insulated beverage category. It's been a very competitive category. There's been several entrants pop up into the space and then also the existing players. Maybe if you could talk about what you've done differently there, how you've innovated and really kind of kept that brand growing and then talk about the recent space gains that you achieved, too.

Yes. insulated beverage has been a fascinating category and Hydro Flask has played a meaningful role for quite some time. I would say the category really was rooted and started in the outdoor kind of athletic enthusiast consumer. And as many of us probably know in your own household, it's really grown quite a bit to be well beyond that. Of course, that's still an important segment, but also Gen Z, soccer moms, et cetera. And this format that I'm holding here really kind of took off, especially because it fits in a cup holder, it's easier to have on the go if you're driving around and that sort of thing. And so we really had to go to school in the category, really get clear on our brand-building framework and who our consumer is, what our brand stands for and then innovate and market against that. And so we've evolved the brand quite a bit. We've brought a lot of new form factors like this one. And we studied the pain points of some of the competitors that were in the space and really designed this to prevent some of the leakage that happens at the cap, to bring easier cleaning and some of those sorts of things that the consumer gives us a lot of credit for. Also innovated a lot in colorways, a lot more that appeals not only to the sports and athletic enthusiasts, but also to women with pink and different kind of custom colors. We've also brought a lot of new capabilities when it comes to customization or personalization. You see here mine is engraved. This happens to be one with the Olive & June logo that we did for the acquisition. But a lot of ability to customize colors, customize the engraving, which brings a lot of interest from a consumer standpoint. And then we've evolved our content accordingly. A lot more engagement in social media. We've recently sponsored Charli XCX in her SWEAT tour. We've really been out there with the right kind of content, product, colors, shapes. We've also got another new shape that Brian has with him, our travel bottle that kind of brings the best of both worlds. It has the slender bottom that you can use for the cup holder, but also some of the facets of a bottle that people like with the leakproof cap, the carrying handle fits in the side of a backpack, et cetera, which is a little more difficult with this format. So those are some of the things that we've done. Distribution, I would say, is the other one as we've really leaned into distribution beyond the typical sports and outdoor channel and into channels like Costco. We've recently just started in Target. So being where this shopper shops is a critical part of winning with Hydro Flask.

Great. And then maybe if we could touch on the other two big ones in the Home & Outdoor category. So Osprey I know you guys just rolled out travel pack there, which are doing a great job. And then also the OXO brand has been very amazing, just rolled out into Walmart and then also some new products there as well.

Yes. Osprey is -- its legacy is in technical packs and it's, by far, the leader there and we continue to be a really key player in the technical packs segment. What we're really doing to continue to grow Osprey is broaden beyond that into adjacent relevant categories like day packs, like everyday lifestyle packs. And we're seeing really strong growth in those subsegments, more growth there, honestly, than what we have in the core technical pack area from a category standpoint. And we're able to bring the quality, the commitment to sustainability, really the legacy that we have in Osprey to those other segments and those are enjoying really nice growth internationally for us, which has been terrific. And then OXO also continues to be a very strong brand for us. It's a brand, I'd like to say, that has broad shoulders. It's in a lot of different categories. It seems like most of the categories that OXO goes into is able to use sort of the universal design and the innovative and creative capabilities that, that brand has in order to go into these new areas in really successful ways. We've seen new distribution in Walmart, which has been really successful for us with our core kitchen gadgets. We've just expanded with our POP containers into home organization. We've got some tests with tot, infant. And so we see that brand as one that can continue to grow and innovate. Coffee has been a really great extension for us, OXO Brew. One of our successful innovations here over the holiday period was the Rapid Brewer, which is a new product that you can brew either -- you brew concentrate and you can either use it for hot coffee or cold brew. And the real, I think, exciting use case is cold brew because you can do cold brew in under 5 minutes. And most -- anyone who likes cold brew knows typically you have to do it overnight, and this makes great cold brew in a really short period of time. So it's a great extension of our Brew line. And you might want to talk about just the margin mix on Home & Outdoor as it grows.

Right. Anyone who's paid attention to us has seen steady gross profit improvement, both through Project Pegasus, which unlocked a lot of value out of our supply chain and cost of goods sold. And then as Home & outdoor continues to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the business, that's a sweeter margin mix coming from Home & Outdoor, so that should be a tailwind for our margin as we go forward.

Great. And then, I guess, moving on to Beauty & Wellness. So in the Beauty category, you have hair tools and then you have hair liquids, which I believe have been doing pretty well. Hair tools have been a little bit more of a struggle. Maybe if you could talk about the 2 brands there, Drybar and Curlsmith and then hot tools as well, I guess, and how those have been trending and what you see there going forward.

Of course. So when it comes to the hair tools, we really see the category bifurcating into 2 areas. There's the hair tools that sell for above $100 and then there's the hair tools that sell below $100. And from a category standpoint, the growth is really coming in the higher price point tools. And that's where Drybar for us plays. And that's the areas I talked about earlier where we've got some more work to do from a revitalization standpoint. The category is performing well. Some new competitors have come in and done well. We've got some new innovation coming on Drybar in the fourth quarter that we're excited about, that we kind of -- like I talked about on Hydro Flask, went to school on some of the pain points that are in the category right now and designed this product to really address some of those. So that's sort of the play at the above $100. Below $100, the category isn't as strong. This is the part of the category targeting kind of the mid- to lower-income consumer who's a little bit stretched right now, not maybe spending as much on discretionary. But our Revlon brand is what plays there. And the Revlon One-Step Volumizer was really the pioneer or the innovator in the hot air styling category a few years ago and is still the #1 unit seller in the hot air styling tool category. So it's still a really meaningful part of that category just at a lower, more accessible price point and in the mass channel. That brand I'm seeing sequential improvement on. I think we've done a lot of work on value reframing, really helping that mid- to low-end consumer understand that while they might want something that's more expensive at the over $100, we're able to offer something at 1/10 of the cost. It's a bit of a beauty hack that you can get a Revlon Volumizer that does the same job but for significantly less, and we're seeing good progress. We also saw really good uptake from our holiday pallets at Walmart on Revlon. So that's a little bit of the kind of the difference in the hair tools side. On the liquids side, Curlsmith is, before Olive & June, was our newest acquisition. Very high-margin, very high-growth brand. It's targeted at women like me with textured hair. And it's unique in the category in that it really helps define curly hair from a wash standpoint, but also a refresh in-between standpoint. We have a new product that's designed very specifically for refreshing hair in-between wash days. That brand is growing. It's doing well. And I think the opportunity there is to continue to drive awareness and distribution. Drybar Also plays in liquids, and we've got a couple of areas there that are doing quite well. Our Big Brew thickening line is doing quite well, as well as our Liquid Glass, which is part of the system that you're using to get kind of that ideal blowout.

Great. And then you mentioned a weaker cold/cough season this year. Brian, maybe if you could talk about just how that's going to impact the business the rest of the year. And if you see any better trends there or not as we head into January. And then, I guess, just going forward, how are you seeing retailer inventory out there within that cold/cough category since maybe it's been weak, but then in the other areas of the business, too.

So the estimated impact, we have experienced a weak cough/cold/flu season. I don't know your experience with that. It's ramped up just a little bit lately. But overall, the season is at an 8-year kind of low if you take out the COVID year, which there was basically no illness because people were staying indoors. So it's at an 8-year low, which has a meaningful impact to the part of our business that benefits from cough/cold/flu at about a $10 million impact in Q3 from a revenue perspective and then a $15 million to $20 million estimated impact in Q4 we are expecting. And then as it relates to go-forward, Susan, I think it really depends on how the rest of the season plays out. I think, if the season strengthens, it likely won't mean more replenishment orders for us, but what it will do is lower the inventory in the retail channels, which should set us up for success going into next year.

Okay. Great. And then maybe if you could just talk about the consumer a little bit post-holiday, how do you think he or she is feeling? Do you think that we're going to go into another year of decent spending. And then also just on the promotional landscape, do you guys feel that post-holiday has there been any more pressure than what you saw over holiday.

Yes. I would say we continue to watch the consumer and it continues to be kind of somewhat difficult to predict. I would say we were seeing some improvement in some of the consumer confidence and industry publications recently said that took -- the confidence levels took a step back in December. The expectations of sort of where they would be, took pretty precipitous step back in December. Yet, on the other hand, we hear that holiday spending year-on-year was up. We believe a lot of that increase in spending was kind of at that higher-end, higher-income consumer, more so than the mid- to low-income consumer, buying kind of more of the higher price point goods. So I think that's sort of what's happening there. I also look at retail as another kind of harbinger of what's happening with the consumer. We've seen just in the last handful of months, 3 retailers, specialty retailers, declare bankruptcy. One, The Container Store is a meaningful customer for us on OXO. And so that kind of special ones. But yet, on the other hand, we see Walmart, Amazon performing quite well. So I think the consumer is still under pressure, particularly at that mid, low level. And I think, particularly with discretionary goods, they're really being very choiceful on what they're purchasing. It doesn't mean that they're not purchasing. They are, if you can be compelling, like the Revlon value reframing that I mentioned earlier. We've done a lot of value reframing on PUR as well and seeing some uptick there. So I think when you get the message right and understand where the consumer is from a mindset standpoint, the consumer will purchase. You just have to really study that and get it right. Promotion environment-wise, I would say, was around what we expected over the holidays. Deep -- fairly deep on Black Friday, kind of per typical, but then rebounded and was fairly normal through the rest of December. A few pockets here and there, maybe especially in Beauty of a little bit more promotion. But I haven't seen anything hugely out of the ordinary.

Okay. Great. And then, Brian, maybe if you could talk about capital allocation priorities. With the acquisition of Olive & June, I guess, where is your leverage ratio going to be at? And where do you want to be longer term?

So at the time of closing, we're about 3x leverage and looking to come down off of that pretty quickly. I think a priority for us will be working capital efficiency as we look forward, generate as much cash as possible and really get back to kind of more of a steady-state leverage run rate. And then as we do that, I think, that would be first priority, kind of pay down debt. Second priority would be to evaluate share repurchase, that's on our minds. Don't want to do it coming right off of an acquisition most likely. But we think the price is attractive, so we definitely want to get to a place where we can do share repurchase. And then we're always in the market with respect to acquisitions. You -- even though we wouldn't want to make one right now at our leverage level, you got to put the work in and build the pipeline to be able and be in a good position to do one when the time comes. And so we continue to do that work. But likely wouldn't expect acquisition in the next year or as we look to pay down debt first and then make share repurchase.

Yes. And I guess, how are you seeing the M&A landscape? How are you seeing prices and just the willingness of brands to sell or not sell or how are you thinking about that?

Yes, I'd say it's maybe not the best environment. But I think in a world where interest rates are high and I think more of the financial buyers, that will be a limitation for them. That's less of a limitation for us. Of course, we have to be aware of interest costs and returns and those type of things, but I think we get more value out of the strategic aspects and the synergy aspects of acquisitions. And I think that allows us to differentiate ourselves in a market like this against a more financial buyer.

Great. And then maybe last question. You mentioned Project Pegasus in your opening remarks. Maybe if you can just talk about where you're at with that. It's a cost-saving and efficiency program, where you're at and kind of what's left there.

Yes, I'll start and I'll let Brian kind of finish up. I would say Project Pegasus was really quite all-encompassing. It was a global restructuring program focused on both effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness-wise, we did some organizational changes and that's where we created a North American sales organization for the first time that's really scaling across the entire portfolio. So that was really an effectiveness play more so than an efficiency play. But there were also many different work streams around cost of goods sold, freight, that sort of thing that was around generating fuel to reinvest back in the business. The project is on track. It takes a while, especially for the cost of goods projects, not only to happen, especially if you're moving suppliers, then also to cycle through our inventory. And so we're seeing the fruits of that labor now. We'll see some into next year. And Brian, you can maybe touch on the specifics.

So we realized just under $30 million -- or we expect to by the full year, $30 million, just under, of savings for fiscal '25. And then we're expecting a further $20 million in fiscal year '26. One of the things we're looking -- and hopefully, you see that in our kind of continued gross profit margin expansion. And then we're really looking now to kind of set the next level of productivity initiatives that we'll layer on top of Project Pegasus. Doesn't mean we're doing another restructuring program, it just means it's part of our normal operating cadence. We're going to develop productivity initiatives to layer kind of on top of what we've already started.

Great. Thank you for joining us.

Great. Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us.