Gabe Hajde: I appreciate that there’s been a lot of ground cover here, but maybe just because we don’t have access to the industry data anymore and a perfect, I guess, lens into what the market is. Can you parse out the maybe 8.5% decline in the second quarter and sort of, what’s embedded in the second half. I mean, between share shift between the market being soft and then maybe the kind of what’s going on with the beer disruption? And then another volume related question in Europe. I think volume decelerated in the second quarter. I’m curious if that’s a function of not having the capacity that you need. You talked about obviously the UK and the Czech facility ramping up. So, I’m just curious if that’s what’s driving your optimism for the second half to recover.
You talked about your largest energy customer maybe being a little bit weak based on sell through in North America. They’re a pretty big customer over in Europe. Is that part of what’s driving the optimism or just help me understand because I’m assuming the business in Europe is sort of contracted.
Dan Fisher: Yes, maybe let me start with Europe. Everything is coming in line with what we anticipated heading into the year. Inclusive of the large energy player. The one area that’s softer is beer. I think that’s related to the macro environment there. So the higher single digits that we anticipated having the year are going to be closer to mid single digits, but still nice growth. And it’s not a function of bringing on the capacity. The capacity that’s being brought on is in the growth areas. It’s going to be the capacity that’s a little less utilized in the beer space. That’s what’s happening in Europe. Relative to North America, we had a decline, as you mentioned, of roughly 5% in the first quarter. We are in that eight and a half range for decline in the second.
We will see declines in the third with a return to some volume momentum in the fourth. What happens in the mass beer space will be the indicator of is it growth? Is it flat? But that’s fundamentally, it is the mass beer impact and it is the fact that we’re overweight in the beer space and overweight to one customer within that space. So that’s the delta.
Gabe Hajde: Okay. Maybe I didn’t ask the question explicitly. Do you have any sense for what the market was down in North America? And then last one, if I can flip it in. I think there was $20 million of year-over-year improvement embedded in for the Cup’s business, I think there was some basketball championship, that was a good thing for that product. Can you talk about sort of how that business is evolving and maybe expectations going into 2024?
Dan Fisher: Yes, I think the overall marketplace in North America down slightly, 1%. And so the delta between that and our customer mix is really the delta there. And then on the Cup side, we’re seeing incremental improvements. I think an LA Boston Series versus a Denver Miami Series would have helped the cup a little better, believe it or not, but making good ground and good traction in the food service space, things are breaking our way in terms of the regulatory environment as well on that product with Hawaii and now the mid-Atlantic’s either banning or contemplating banning single-use plastic cups. So we’re looking for trajectory over the second half of the year. I would not say that we will make a $20 million improvement in that business year-over-year, but we will continue to improve against it more in the $10 million range.
Gabe Hajde: Thank you, Dan.
Dan Fisher: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And at this moment, I’m seeing no further question on the phone lines.
Dan Fisher: All right. Thank you very much. We will look forward to talking to you again in the third quarter. Everybody enjoy the rest of your summer.
Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today’s call. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a good day.
