Oatly Group AB (NASDAQ:OTLY) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Daniel Ordonez: My build on that will be simple – there is a significant mechanical growth to be gotten in the Americas when it comes to distribution, so think about three buckets: distribution within existing doors, as I said to one of your colleagues before, new doors, but also food service. Now with available capacity, we are going to expand ambitiously as well in that channel, and those three things combined should drive volume growth.

Rob Dickerson: Okay, super. Then I guess the follow-up then, clearly the past couple years in the U.S., you’ve been kind of operating with your hands tied behind your back, others have been able to enter the market a little more quickly and take share but consumer demand still seems high, so as we think about this progression on the margin side, specifically in the Americas, is there an opportunity here such that you’re really just kind of in-filling demand, you’re kind of working with those retailers that have probably been asking for product for two years, like you can finally give them that product, but maybe there isn’t such a need to really promote and increase materially trade spend, what have you. I’m just trying to figure out, is there a nice little margin upside potential given you’ve been lagging demand, and now you’re just in-filling without necessarily having to push on the brand as much as we might think you need? That’s it, thanks.

Daniel Ordonez: Thank you – Daniel again. Well yes, the reality is, as you said, now we can unleash the power of the brand and the velocities that you see now picking up in the Americas had no help from promotions, right, so we managed that equalizer very wisely and in a very disciplined manner, so what you will see as of quarter two in that uptake of TDPs, because we are going to be focused in existing doors and existing customers first, in a disciplined manner will be more on brand building, so you will see the voice of the brand heard again in the U.S. That’s our priority, more than be heavy hitting on promotions.

Rob Dickerson: Super, thank you.

Operator: Our next question is from Kaumil Gajrawala with Credit Suisse. Please proceed.

Kaumil Gajrawala: Hi, good morning. I want to talk a bit more about distribution and velocity, I think. First from a distribution perspective, it’s the middle of March, maybe anything you can add on April shelf space resets and perhaps some of what you’re talking about, maybe you can give some more color because these–or at least some context on how those resets have gone. On velocity, I just want to make sure as maybe the year goes by, or as time goes by, we’re thinking about it appropriately in that typically what we see when there’s notable expansion of distribution, we often also see a slowdown in velocity which is normal, because you’re selling over a much wider base. A lot of the conversation so far has been on accelerating velocity – I get that, given where we’re coming from, but I just want to make sure as we’re thinking maybe a little bit further along, is that something we should watch for or, perhaps said differently, something we shouldn’t worry about if we start to see it in the data.

Thanks.

Daniel Ordonez: Thank you how you phrase that, as we. Of course we will be looking at that, and we–just to give you some color on the first part of your question, we have significant total distribution points to be gained in existing doors, so let me ask you–give you some color there. As of quarter two, we believe that more than 10% of our current distribution base can be increased in the Americas in the existing doors. We have–let me repeat, we have a range of four and we have two units per store in average today, and that will enhance also our share of shelf physically, our muscle on shelf, and then the second bucket of distribution gains will be on new doors within existing customers. What you describe obviously in the resets is new customers, and that will be coming.