PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Hugh Johnston: Yes, happy to, Bryan. Let me start broad and then I’ll sort of narrow it in. Very broadly, the capital allocation principles we have are no different than what we’ve had in the past, who are the four basics of make sure we invest in the business, pay the dividend, tuck in acquisitions and share repurchase. If I zero within a little bit more for the environment that we’re in right now, with some of the changes, I think our biggest priorities right now we’re going to be continuing to invest in the business and growing the dividend. And that’s not a just a today’s statement, although obviously 10% dividend growth is a pretty, pretty healthy growth in in our current environment. But I think those are our bigger priorities, relative to perhaps tucking in there and relative to perhaps share repurchase.

If the 10% dividend growth is bigger than what we’ve done in a number of years, and I think you’ll see us prioritize that a bit more over time. So I’m sorry. And then the last piece is about working capital. Yes, the time — we basically had a timing issue one that we’re doing some IT implementations. And in terms of the IT implementations, essentially we paid for it about two weeks’ worth of payables, just to take some pressure off the IT systems because we had some freezes at the beginning of the year. So that’s what pulled that number down. That was probably worth about 500 or so million dollars right at the end of the year. It’s not a material change in cash flow. It’s a two week timing issue. So I think you’ll see that bounce back as we get to the end of 2023.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. The next question comes from Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Bonnie Herzog: Hi, thank you. Good morning. So you’ve worked out a new and improved Pepsi, Zero Sugar. So just hoping for some more color behind this initiative? And really how incremental you think this can be? I mean, maybe you guys could give us a sense of how big your Zero platform is currently? And what percentage of your portfolio this could be in the next few years? And then finally, just maybe some insight in terms of how big of a push you plan to be making behind the rollout in terms of marketing spend, activation etcetera? Any color on these initiatives would be helpful? Thank you.

Ramon Laguarta: Yes, Bonnie. Yes, listen. Yes, Zero is, is clearly a segment of the beverage category that is growing much faster than kind of full sugar all over the world. And Pepsi Zero has a Pepsi Max, as we call it in some markets has been very strategic product for us in Europe, and in other parts of the world. In the U.S., we were investing in other parts of the Pepsi brand. Now, this is going to be the center of the strategy for the Pepsi brand. We think that the non-sugar segment of Colas will continue to grow very fast in this country. We’re seeing consumers pivoting. I think the R&D in our company has done a great job in giving consumers Zero sugar choices that are as good as full sugar choices or better from the taste point of view.

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