Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE:GPK) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 10 of 11

Mike Doss: Sure. So, a couple of questions there. Relative to Chick-fil-A, our overall trials are going as planned. We are ramping up towards that 10% number that we talked about in terms of the number of stores that our products are being sold in or distributed to. And their feedback to-date has been solid. They have been – as you can imagine, it’s a bit of an iterative process. I mean we learn things together as we go along. But overall, the general consumer reaction has been very positive, and I would expect that to continue to be the case. We will continue to work with them through the course of the summer and into the fall. If they really do all their work and studies associated with this, it’s – as you know, Chick-fil-A is a very well-run company.

They do their homework. They make sure that they have materials that are going to resonate with their customers, and they don’t move quickly until they know exactly that everything is going to meet their quality expectations. So, I would expect this situation to be no different. Relative to what’s going on with other competitors of theirs, I am going to refrain from commenting on that, just that one to be appropriate for me to comment on a call like this. But I will tell you that the conversion of our Chick-fil-A into our cups, an important one is the vast majority of our people in the food service market really look up to Chick-fil-A and what they have been able to accomplish, it’s been quite remarkable. And so in that regard, this is a very important initiative for us.

In regards to mailers, yes, we are learning in that space. And we still got some work to do there. It’s early days for us, but that was a key consideration in terms of the acquisition of Bell because that’s a market we didn’t have, and we didn’t have a position in. So, this allows us to actually have a little bit more of an e-commerce position with paperboard, if you will. And this is all going to recycled paperboard. So again, it fits right into our wheelhouse with the investments that we have made in both Kalamazoo and now Waco. So, we really like that a lot.

Unidentified Analyst: Great. Thank you very much.

Operator: Our last question comes from Gabe Hajde from Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Gabe Hajde: Mike and Steve, thanks for taking my questions. I have three, hopefully, I can get them out quick. The first one on Slide 14, I think you talked about, Steve, the net productivity number, $15 million being related to under-absorbed fixed overhead. On one hand, I would think to myself, well, normally, you guys deliver productivity. So, the under-absorbed fixed overhead number was actually bigger than that. But even if I just take the $15 million and the 30,000 tons of downtime that you talked about of EDT, I get $500 a ton of under-absorbed fixed overhead. I know it’s kind of putting a finer point on that. But is that maybe due to things sneaking up on you and you are not being able to plan around that a little bit better, or is there something unique about the mills and what you are taking the downtime that impacted that number?

Steve Scherger: Yes. Gabe, it’s Steve. I think that minus $15 million, you are roughly right in terms of the impact of the 30,000 tons in there, the positive Kalamazoo is in there. And then keep in mind, the actual impact of minus 4% organic sales volume flows through productivity as well. And so that’s kind of the combination. I think we don’t think about it the way you just suggested. I mean this obviously destocking happened over a relatively short period of time. We took 30,000 tons out in the quarter. And then as Mike mentioned, in the timeline that really works for us, in July, we took 80,000 tons, which matches up extremely well with our teammates, the mills, the right time to do it, leveraging a holiday. So, no, we actually move with the sense of urgency. It just fell just outside the quarter relative to the timeline around which we were actively addressing this short-term destocking.

Page 10 of 11