Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Ben Theurer: Okay, perfect. Thank you very much, Jim. And then, a quick follow-up for Jacinth on the guidance. Can you give us or share us your expectations as it relates to, one, CapEx, and two, just corporate expense in fiscal ’24? How we should think about these two items?

Jacinth Smiley: Yeah, good morning. So, from a CapEx perspective, CapEx will be in-line with prior year, and we’re expecting it to be around the $280 million mark, with some critical projects, including growth for Planters, our transformation and modernization initiative that that we’re undertaking would be some of the core tenants of the major projects that we’ll undertake for 2024. And then…

Jim Snee: I would just interrupt there, Ben, I think we did talk about this in our Investor Day is that, we’ve got, as I just mentioned for Foodservice, available capacity. So, some of the CapEx investments that we’ve been making over the last several years, we won’t have to make this year. And so, while the dollar amount remains the same, the mix of projects in there will be different.

Jacinth Smiley: Yeah. No, that’s exactly right. And I think as we think about how we are spending those dollars, I know year-over-year — and I’ve gotten the question before in terms of the expectation that we’ll spend more, and to Jim’s point, because we have made such an investment over the past few years, we do have that capacity. And now those assets that are currently working for us. From a corporate expense perspective, I mean, that will be a little bit — that’ll be increased definitely year-over-year. When we think about the labor agreement that we just entered into, we’re continuing to invest as well in our people. So that will increase our SG&A. And then, from just overall benefits and compensation also takes us up year-over-year.

Jim Snee: And the work that we’re going to do to support our brands, Ben, when we think about advertising and continuing to support the brands in the marketplace, that remains high, high priority for us.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes our Q&A session. I’d now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Jim Snee for final closing comments.

Jim Snee: Yes, thank you. And I want to thank all of you for joining us today. While 2023 didn’t play out quite like we had planned, there were a lot of great accomplishments that will set this company up for future success. I remain confident we have the right strategy, brands, people, and culture to deliver growth well into the future. Again, thank you for joining us today, and I hope you all have a happy holiday season.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating, and ask that you please disconnect your lines. Have a lovely day.