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

These are the brands we are talking about with Kenvue. I’ll give you a couple of proof points. If you look at our key segments of Self Care and Skin Health and Beauty, again, excluding the intentional discontinuations we made ourselves, volumes are up in both segments. Another proof point is the fact that we don’t see private label penetration – we see private label penetration stable this quarter, which is in line with the history of private label. We have seen that in the past, even when times are tough, private label penetration doesn’t tend to fluctuate very much. And the last proof point I would give you is what we are seeing as we speak in the summer season in Sun Care, where Neutrogena range is doing extremely well. We are a market leader in the U.S. We have a premium positioning.

We launched premium innovation. All of that is extremely well received by consumers, and we are gaining share in the U.S. with Neutrogena Sun. So we are aware of consumer dynamics. We make sure that our products are accessible at different price points to cater for different needs of different consumers. But we are also very confident in the robustness of our portfolio and our ability to serve consumers with the products and solutions they need. That’s what we have been doing for 135 years and that’s what we intend to continue to do.

Andrea Teixeira: Thank you. Just a follow-up, if I may, in terms of like the other categories that are not so health-oriented, for example, Listerine and some of the other categories within Adhesives and Wound Care, is that applied to that as well?

Thibaut Mongon: So we – in Essential Health, you – as Paul mentioned, the – we are pleased with the performance of the segment at 3.8%, 10.7% of value realization. When you exclude discontinuations, it’s mid-single-digit volume decline. So I would say volume held up pretty well in this area. Wound Care had another good quarter with strong customer partnership, good innovation with Band-Aid. Listerine is – we are pleased with the performance of our gum therapy product, which – in the U.S., which is the number one new code in the U.S. this quarter. The Listerine gum therapy gives you 4x healthier gums in 3 weeks and consumers are responding very well to this offering. We saw soft softness in the category in Asia, but we continue to gain share there. So that’s how I would summarize the performance of Essential Health.

Andrea Teixeira: Thank you to both. I will pass it on.

Operator: Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Peter Grom with UBS. Please proceed with your question.

Peter Grom: Thanks operator and good morning everyone. So, I was actually hoping to get some more color on the gross margin performance. So, I know you mentioned headwinds from FX, standup costs and inflation, but value realization was strong, and you also mentioned productivity as a tailwind. So, can you maybe just help us bridge the decline in the quarter, which I think was a bit weaker than we were expecting? And then second part to this question, as we look through the balance of the year, is there any color you could share on these moving pieces? And how maybe specifically we should be thinking about gross margin progression? Thanks.

Paul Ruh: Yes. Good morning peter and thank you for the question. We are in fact navigating a volatile environment for a couple of years now, but I am actually very proud of the way we have been doing it consistently with our experience. In the case of the quarter, we still see some elevated inflation and ForEx, transactional ForEx was also a headwind However, we have an arsenal of tools to be able to offset partially the gross margin pressures. Particularly, we use supply chain efficiencies, and we constantly do that as part of our discipline. Premiumization, innovation and RGM and value realization, as Thibaut, is a big component, of course. As we look into the second half of the year, we believe that these levers will continue to be utilized.