McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mike Smith: Well, Rob, I think there’s possibly two different questions there. I’ll make an attempt at what I think you are getting at, which is what we’re seeing in our business, and we read our business through Circana, and that’s a much broader, more refined view of our categories, and so we are reflecting that kind of data in our performance as we talk about it. Compared to what Nielsen might be reporting, I think traditionally over time we’ve seen differences in that reporting. We don’t really reconcile that on the call or do anything of that nature, but there have been at times a difference in what Nielsen might be reporting in terms of how they are capturing the category versus the more refined, higher level, broader view as we look at spices and seasonings in our category.

So that might address part of your question. Now, the other half of that could be, it’s about unmeasured channels, etc., and I would go back to the comments that I made earlier that we largely see everything pretty much being in line between shipments and consumption. We are getting a lot of strong growth in e-commerce, as I called out earlier in the call. So that certainly is something that could create a difference in the numbers and the metrics, and obviously good performance in Canada and Latin America. I’m going to pause to see if maybe we thoughtfully addressed, I think.

Rob Dickerson: Yeah, no, I think that’s fair. That’s fair. That’s fair. Totally get it. I just thought I’d ask one last time. And then just quickly on the Mexico business, the JV, I know guidance is for mid-teens. I think its mid-teens growth for the year. You put up like 50% in Q1. So maybe just kind of, if you could just discuss kind of what actually did occur to drive that growth in Q1. And then given what we saw in Q1 should – like why do you think you’d still grow mid-teens if you are already so ahead?

Brendan Foley: No, our McMex’s [ph] joint venture had a great first quarter. I mean it’s comping against a weaker first quarter too, so there’s some of that in there. It’s a little bit too early to call it the year. Just like here, there’s the economy in Mexico. There’s a lot of price volume things that are going through also as they’ve managed the year. So again, strong underlying business and we’re really happy with it, but yes, we’re hoping the rest of the year is just as strong as the first quarter, but it’s a little bit too early to call on that one.

Rob Dickerson: Okay. Alright, alright, fair enough. And then just quickly, Mike.

Brendan Foley: I’m glad you asked that question, because we don’t get a lot. I mean, it’s such a large part of our portfolio. It gets ignored because it’s below operating profit, but very profitable business. We have dominant – well, not dominant, but we have real strong brand positions down there across a couple of categories. And we export into the U.S., too, mayonnaise and other things too. So it’s really, really good business for us.

Rob Dickerson: Yeah, and it was actually a core driver of net income. Anyway, and then I guess just Mike, quickly. I don’t think I heard you speak to interest expense guidance, but you do frequently provide that. So I don’t know if you have that, and that’s all I have.

Brendan Foley: The fact that we didn’t provide it means it’s not really that material. We only – I think last year was the first year we provided it, but it was roughly equal for the first quarter, so I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of change for the year.

Rob Dickerson: Cool. Thank you so much. Perfect.

Operator: Thank you. That concludes our question-and-answer session. I’ll turn the floor back to Ms. Freiha for any final comments.

Faten Freiha: Thank you, and thanks to all for joining today’s call. If you have any further questions regarding today’s information, please feel free to contact me. This concludes our conference call.

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