Natura &Co Holding S.A. (NYSE:NTCO) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So, as we said in Q1 last year, right, we can expect to see some volatility in gross margin, not necessarily every quarter. We’ll continue to report gross margin growth of 500 bps versus the previous year. But again, we’re confident with the strategy that we started taking one year ago, and we are happy with the results so far. And again, as our revenue continues to stabilize, especially outside LatAm, we should see the flow-through of that gross margin falling to EBITDA more and more in the next few quarters. On Argentina, again, I think you saw what we disclosed, right, in terms of the margin, excluding Argentina. Of course, we’re following very closely the events in the country. I just want to highlight, and Joao will talk more, that Argentina is a very important country for us, has been part of our strategy for a while.

We have a big network there, committed network to both Natura and Avon. And of course, in Latin America, we’re not operating in volatile environment, this not news for the team, right? So I’m going to pass the word Joao so he can add anything on the case of Argentina.

Joao Paulo Ferreira: So, a few additional remarks on our Argentinian operation. First of all, we are by far the number one player in CFT there. Our brands are beloved by our consumers and consultants. And more important, we have a very talented team managing the operation there. And that’s the reason why we were able to achieve such leadership amongst very volatile times there. So going forward, of course, that we had planned for currency devaluation only that we didn’t know exactly when that would happen with such an intensity. And by the way, it could happen even more in the near future. So because of that, we have prepared for some volatility. We have inventories there. We are able to adjust prices on real-time, which are associated with the quality of our management there tells us that we’re going to get through it. I mean there might be noise in the transition. But I’m pretty confident that we will stabilize in a period of time and defend our leadership.

Operator: Our next question comes from Robert Ford with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Robert Ford: How are you thinking about The Body Shop and the weakness there? And how much of that is by choice as you make the changes in the channel efforts as well as economic and competitive environment? And when it comes to Home & Style in Brazil and Latin America, how big is that as a percentage of revenue? And where do you expect that to stabilize? And JP, you mentioned slow-moving inventory in Home & Style. How should we think about clearing that? And then lastly, can you discuss competitive dynamics in Brazil and Latin America as well as maybe discuss how the business is trending so far in the third quarter?

Fabio Barbosa: Well, let me take just the TBS, and then I’ll pass it on. But as was mentioned here by Gui on the previous question, I mean, Ian is coming through a very deep analysis on what are the issues that we have to be touching, and I think some of these points were listed there. We did not expect that I think it took over — it was in February, March, it’s very early. So a very short period of time for any result to be seen. But what we are glad to see is that we are touching the points which we thought were not the ones that should have been emphasized. So we’re looking to costs. Again, we’re looking to channels. We are revisiting. I mentioned several times that there’s — after the COVID and the pandemic, we see different behavior and different locations and so on.

So we are reassessing all those things, okay? So we are looking at the plants and so on. We’re not promising anything here. But I think the concrete message here that — concrete results that we’ll see will be much more beginning on cost and some adjustments on store location then on revenues picking up immediately. Okay. Gui?