The Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Kevin Jacobsen : Yes, I’m sorry, you would ask that question. Well, it really varies by commodities. In some cases, we hedge. And so in those cases, you may have nine to 18 months before we see the impact of a changing commodity environment play through our cost structure. In other cases, we have contractual relationships with our suppliers that delays those changes. So it’s really hard to give you an enterprise answer how quickly that plays through. It is a commodity-by-commodity discussion based on how we set up those relationships with our suppliers.

Operator: And our next question will come from Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank.

Stephen Powers : On the household penetration topic, I guess the question is how much recovery at this point is anticipated within the remainder of your outlook for fiscal ’23. Is that something you expect to see some sequential progress rebuilding in the next few months and quarters? Or is that more of a fiscal ’24 and beyond objective?

Linda Rendle : Yes, Steve, on household penetration, that is definitely a more mid- to long-term goal for us to get back to household penetration given the fact that the December price increase is just starting to take a hole now, we would expect to have to go through an entire cycle of that. And we haven’t even lapped the July price increase, which was our big one coming up here. So that will be something that we’re focused on now to ensure that we are investing and that we’re keeping as many consumers in as we possibly can. But that work will be rebuilding over ’24 and beyond.

Stephen Powers : Yes. Okay. I mean is there an assumption that you — you may go backwards sort of as we get into calendar ’23 before you go forward again? Or is it more holdable line?

Linda Rendle : Yes. I think that’s very possible, Steve, based on the fact that we just took that pricing, we could see a bit more of a reduction in household penetration. And again, we think that is the right trade-off to make to get that balance right between top line and bottom line. But yes, it’s possible as we go through we could see some additional household penetration erosion.

Stephen Powers : Okay. Okay. And then you talked about promotional intensity in the category. And right now, it seems pretty rational benign, constructive. I guess is there at all in the base plan, an element of increased promotion as you go through the next couple of quarters? Or is that also more steady state as a base case?

Linda Rendle : The base case is more steady state, Steve. As we talk about promotions being a more strategic part of our portfolio than something that we just do to drive volume on a quarterly basis. That’s the approach that we’re taking for the back half of the year. We have good innovation plans. We want to make sure that we hit consumers on key pulse periods to remind them about the category and the value that we drive. So that’s our approach. Again, being what it is, we will look to ensure that we have the right value and that we are competitive. And so if there were to be a change in what we’re seeing in the category today, which is slightly higher, like I said earlier, promotion than last year, but still less than in pandemic, we could potentially adjust our plans and we’re ready to do that. But we would expect just a more normalized promo environment. That’s how we’re treating it for the back half, and that’s what we’ve seen so far in Q2.

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