Kenvue Inc. (NYSE:KVUE) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Filippo Falorni: Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on reporting the first quarter as a public company. I have two questions on top line. The first at the total company level, just how you’re thinking about the evolution of price and volume in the second half of the year and whether you have additional pricing actions that you’re contemplating?

Thibaut Mongon: Yes. Good morning, Filippo, thank you for your question. So regarding the back half of the year, I would remind you a couple of things. First of all, we are going to comp a higher base than we had in the back half of ‘22 as we started recovering service levels. Second, we had, in the first half of 2023, two items that we would not expect to repeat in the back half of the year. The first one is the fact that in the first quarter, we saw retailers restocking our products significantly knowing that they had exited 2022 with extremely low inventory levels. The second thing is that we have seen a very strong incidence in the past winter season. For this coming winter season, we are planning with a more normal season.

So that’s what we expect in – for the back half of the year. The back half will continue to see a mix of value realization and volume. Distribution gains will play a role, we talked about it with, Anna a minute ago. Value realization, price and mix will continue to play a role as well with targeted price actions to cover continued elevated input costs, but also premium innovation, innovative solutions and favorable mix. So all of that will lead to our guidance of an organic growth comprised between 5.5% and 6.5% growth.

Filippo Falorni: Got it, thank you. And then just a follow-up, a second question, particularly Self Care. As you mentioned, very strong cough and cold season, you’re expecting a more normal one. Are you – do you think there was also a little bit of pull forward in demand in the first half of the year as you think about the segment half? Have you contemplated maybe like a bit more destocking at the retailer but also at the consumer level embedded in your guidance for the Self Care segment, particularly?

Paul Ruh: Filippo, good morning. This is Paul. Thank you for the question. We did not see a pull-through. Our inventory – retail inventory or inventory are in balance. And in the case of Self Care, seasonalities are normalizing as that’s what we have contemplated in our forecast. So we did not see a pull-forward in demand for the second year. Expect a normalized season in the balance of the year.

Filippo Falorni: Great. Thank you, guys. I will pass…

Operator: Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Andrea Teixeira with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question.

Andrea Teixeira: Thank you. Good morning. I just want to follow-up a bit on the commentary regarding the consumer environment and just see if you can speak to the consumer behavior towards the end of the quarter. If you’re still seeing, in general, consumers being not on trading or how you’re seeing price elasticity coming along? And then also, as you just mentioned, regarding the cold season, but any word on how we should be thinking of puts and takes of retail inventory, pantry inventory and consumer demand? Thank you.

Thibaut Mongon: Yes, Andrea, thank you for your question. So as I mentioned, we live in the consumer health space, which might behave in a different manner compared to other consumer staple categories. Our world is really about bringing efficacious solutions to cater for real needs of consumers around the world. So we are operating in less discretionary categories. And we have a very strong portfolio of brands that are very often synonymous with our categories. So when we – when you combine these two factors, you see that consumers continue to be focused on their health and wellness. They want to trusted solution, trusted products that they know, that they trust, that are recommended by the healthcare professionals that they have seen their household for a very long time.