Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Josh Chan: Okay. That’s great color and thanks for the time guys.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from sorry – our last question comes from Stephanie Moore with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Stephanie Moore: Hi, good morning. Thank you.

John Zillmer: Morning.

Tom Ondrof: Good morning.

Stephanie Moore : Just wanted to touch on the guidance outlook for fiscal ‘24. It’s a pretty tight range, but I was just curious as you look at both ends of the range whether you pick AOI growth or EPS growth. Maybe you could talk about some of the factors that would contribute to hitting either – either kind of assumptions around the macro, inflation, pricing, etc. Just to provide some guardrails there? Thank you.

Tom Ondrof: Yes. I think it’s the same components we just talked about, with inflation being sort of the big factor. I think the sharper it would decline and become a non factor I think that creates upside. If it ticks back up over the levels John just ran through, I think that becomes a little bit of a headwind. Again, we talk about huge increases in new wins, we’ve got good progression baked into the plan and we expect that there was a lot of oversized wins, that’s a bit of a headwind if unfortunately which we don’t want at all. We underperformed on new business that would probably be a margin help. So, you can go down each of the lines and sort of work through a plus and minus scenario on each, I think with inflation being the overarching theme in there as to what may help us, over achieve or present a bit of a headwind.

John Zillmer: Yes, I would – I would second that I think if there is one key driver that I would call out as being a potential risk or benefit to the range, it would be that inflation number and the expectations around it. And I think we’re all very hopeful based on what we see in the marketplace today and based on the actions that the team has taken in terms of pricing recovery. We’re very hopeful that – that will lead to improvement so that we can be trending towards the upper end of the ranges, too early to make that call and but that would be the one key driver I would focus on. I think all the rest of them whether its new business maturity, SG&A, supply chain, those I think we’re going to be very consistently delivered against those objectives. And so that would be the one variable I would – I would be most focused on.

Stephanie Moore: Got it. I appreciate the time. Thank you.

John Zillmer: Thank you.

Operator: I’ll now turn the call back to Mr. Zillmer for any closing remarks.

John Zillmer: Perfect. Well, thank you very much everybody. Really appreciate the time and attention this morning and the support of the company. As we’ve said we are very confident in the performance. We’re very pleased with the year end and very confident in our performance for ‘4 and in the expectations that we’ve set for ‘25 and ‘26 as well. We are committed to this strategy. We’re going to grow this business and deliver improved earnings and improved margins over time. And we’re here to deliver on the commitments we’ve made not only to our shareholders, but to ourselves as well. So we’re all the big believers in this strategy and big believers in this company and we’re going to go deliver. So thank you very much.

Operator: Thank you for participating. [Operator Closing Remarks]

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