Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Jarrod Langhans: Yes. I mean, Canada will be from a build and an impact in ’24, it will be kind of inconsequential. We expect good growth. We expect to get in there and start capturing market share. We expect to put forth the investment that’s needed to really kind of seed it and grow fast in ’24. But it won’t be a huge driver of inventory or growth in Q4 or Q1. And the rollout will happen in Q1 but it won’t be a one, one launch.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Peter Grom with UBS. Please proceed with your question.

Peter Grom: Thanks, operator, and good morning everyone. So, I kind of wanted to follow up on that, just kind of the international expansion plan. You have Canada in 1Q. I think you mentioned a few other countries. Can you maybe just help us understand how you evaluate the various international opportunities? Which markets, timing, et cetera? Are these markets where you’re going to be fully aligned with PepsiCo and their partners? Or are there other partners you’re considering? And then I guess I would be curious from a profit perspective. As you start to expand further outside of the U.S., how should we think about the impact to margins?

Jarrod Langhans: Yes. Thank you, Peter. We’ve talked about this on a variety of other calls in the past as well. I mean, we’re looking at the largest energy drink markets in the world. So that’s — those are the biggest opportunities we see. When you look at those, you’re looking at the U.K., you look at Germany, you look at Japan, Australia, a lot of big opportunities out there, and Pepsi partnerships are really our priority. There will be other markets where we do see other opportunities with other partners, so we can evaluate those as we continue to move forward. The first market that we’re partnering with is in Canada so the teams are really focused on that. And we have spoken about other markets that we’re working on to further roll out into ’24 and ’25.

So, I think we’re a little bit too early to talk about a lot of those structures. There’s a lot involved to make sure you have the right value chain, the right opportunity for exactly what you’re talking about, the longevity of profitability as we go forward in these markets. So, we’re using Monster international structures and P&Ls as a guideline for us as we look forward to really partnering with our partners and expanding together in these new markets. But that’s — we have a variety of markets we’re looking at. But currently, we’re rolling out into, focused on Canada as the biggest opportunity at our hands at the moment.

Peter Grom: Got it. And then, Jarrod, I apologize, you were kind of running through some of these items a bit quickly. But I think you mentioned there was, call it, a $20 million benefit to 3Q revenue. Can you maybe just run through that again? Like how much was a promotional allowance? Did you build inventory ahead of what you were lapping a year ago? So yes, if you can just unpack that a little bit, I think that would be helpful. Thanks.

Jarrod Langhans: Yes. So, it was — if you look at Q1 — or sorry, Q3 of ’22 versus Q3 of ’23, we talked about there was a bit of a pipe fill from inventory last year. And then if you look this year, we had a bit of a pipe fill probably somewhere in between that $10 million to $15 million range. And so, it wasn’t a significant factor in terms of the year-over-year growth percentage from an apples-to-apples perspective. If you looked at Q2 to Q3, it was a benefit from Q2 to Q3 within the revenue figures. So that’s the inventory piece. I mean, we’re starting to see leverage come through the promo line. So, we did see a benefit and we have updated our estimates around promotional allowance. Just a lot that John mentioned is about the — we’ve had significant ACV growth.

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