Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Chuck Magro: Yes. Dave maybe just a couple more minutes on this topic. Look, when we, Dave and I look at the free cash flow conversion, it is obviously a focus for the company. So if you think about what we’ve done as an organization, we started with the portfolio and the strategy and then the operating model for Corteva. And I think we’ve made a lot of progress in 12 months in those areas. So now the next level of focus, obviously, is looking at the cash conversion. It is a high priority for the management team. It’s a complete focus for us. And as we make the structural changes to the portfolio, I mentioned we still have some country exits, some AI exits. That’s going to be looked at through the lens of earnings of margin but also of cash generation.

And that was always the plan. So what I’d say is we’re very comfortable with the path that we’re on and by the time we get to the end of 2023 from a margin and EBITDA perspective, we’re going to be halfway through this journey. And we believe that there’s a pathway to get free cash flow conversion sort of north of where it is today as well and that will be a primary focus as we look through the rest of the portfolio changes that we’re planning to make.

Operator: And moving on to Adam Samuelson with Goldman Sachs.

Adam Samuelson: Yes. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to maybe come into the some of the market assumptions that you have both at the industry level and at the Corteva level for 2023 and just maybe on the Crop Protection side. And I know there’s some noise related to the portfolio exits, but mid-single-digit kind of market CPC growth. Help me think about Corteva volumes organically for Corteva in that context? And any maybe differentiation by region? And along those lines kind of where you see channel inventories kind of going into 2023 in your key kind of operating regions?

Robert King: Adam, thanks for the question of what’s going on in the market. It’s going to be a dynamic year. But as we look at it it’s €“ we’re expecting the market organic growth to be in the mid-single digits call it 4% to 7% with biologicals outstripping that. It will be the fastest-moving segment. Overall, the demand continues very strong across all regions. And again, it’s €“ growers are chasing yield and that’s where we €“ that’s our sweet spot I guess is what I would say with the products we have. You asked about channel inventory, and right now we see inventory to be about normal across all regions with a few hotspots around some pockets that we’re going to have to watch. One being, we talked about earlier the fungicide in Latin America is elevated a bit.

To a lesser extent Europe not near as much but in a couple of areas in Europe. And then insecticide in Asia is elevated as well because it’s just been vet not have pest pressures. But if you roll all that together, those inventory levels from what we see in the channels is very manageable across the year, across the seasons. No issues there from a standpoint of will it work itself out. We do see that the pace of price for the year flattening as compared to a year-over-year comparison. But we €“ like we said before, mid-single-digit inflation we’re still expecting for crop protection. Again more weighted towards the first half. I think the thing to watch is the global supply chain. So all things are trending in the right direction. If you look at all the key indicators for the global supply chain market.

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