The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

John Baumgartner: Carlos, you highlighted consumer stress as a theme. And I wanted to ask in North America where the volume declines are still more pronounced, things like Mac & Cheese you just detailed for Andrew, but also catch-up in juices. These are categories where private label has been underpenetrated historically, and now you’re seeing volumes growing a bit. Are you seeing anything different, whether it’s new merchandising by retailers or new price sensitivity among consumers that’s changing the dynamic in these categories at all? So I’m curious for your take on the pockets of private label share growth. And then maybe a follow-up, are there any specific categories in U.S. Retail where you’re expecting material benefits from joint business plans or reinvestment for the duration of this year?

Carlos Abrams-Rivera: Let me thank you for the question. First on the private label, first of all, we are fortunate that we have such an iconic and beloved brands in our portfolio. And I think what you’re seeing is that really, we haven’t seen much of a change in terms of our overall gaps versus private label. And I think for us, the benefit that we have had is that over the last two years, we have spent a significant amount of energy and continue to renovate our portfolio. And today, we certainly have, in the U.S., renovated almost 100% of our portfolio to make sure that it continues to be relevant for today and tomorrow. And I think that, that along with the fact that we are also very much focused on delivering great value to consumers.

We have to make sure that as we think about value, that is not just about the price point, it’s also about it’s worth paying for it. So that’s why our focus on driving quality products in a way that is affordable and giving more consumer choices, that is also driving the overall value equation for consumer. So what you’re seeing in the data is private label have been gaining share, but really they have stabilized and they’re taking more share from other branded players. In terms of our JBP, that continues to be a strength of ours. That frankly, it comes out with the fact that we have been building this trust and partnership with our key retailers that allows us to truly leverage the scale of our total portfolio in a way that help us to both drive our distribution of innovation as well as improve our overall performance and execution in store.

Because of this partnership, we can do things in store that probably the other peers cannot do. Whether that’s when you think about the holiday season coming up now in the summer, we have the range of a portfolio that allows us to create through differentiating and unique value promotions that other people cannot do. So it’s something that we continue to elevate and we continue to build on as we strengthened our portfolio and the partnership we have with the key retailers.

John Baumgartner: Thanks, Carlos.

Carlos Abrams-Rivera: Thanks for the question.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank. You may proceed.

Stephen Powers: Yes. Good morning, guys. Thanks. Carlos, in the prepared remarks, you talked about the unplanned maintenance that you had to take on one of your Away From Home plants. It seems that you’ve resolved that issue and you expect the impacts to be isolated to the second quarter. But maybe just a little bit more detail on what transpired there. Any kind of root cause diagnostic? And then just do you expect that to be a pretty quick bounce back in recovery in 3Q? Or is the recovery going to be more spread across the back half? Thank you.

Carlos Abrams-Rivera: Yes. Thank you for the question, Steve. Yes, listen, it’s not – I wouldn’t give you that much more information than already shared. It was a temporary shutdown in our plant for that unplanned maintenance. Now that particular factory was very much focused on our Away From Home business. And so those continents are places that we can outsource from other places and much within our network of factories. So that’s why, in particular, it created a little bit of a dissonance in the Q2 only. And Andre, if you want to give a little more details on the impact in our – what we see in the range of the portfolio for Q2?

Andre Maciel: Yes. So as we said in prepared remarks, production has resumed and is gradually going back towards the prior level. Not there yet, but production has resumed. And that’s why I expect the impact to be – we do expect production to be fully back on track within the quarter. And then the impact on topline, as we said, will be in the range of 50 to 100 bps to the total company growth, which is a function of how fast you can really bring the production fully up to speed.

Carlos Abrams-Rivera: Thanks for the question, Steve.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from David Palmer with Evercore ISI. You may proceed.

David Palmer: Two questions. Thanks. First, a follow-up on Foodservice. What is your general Foodservice assumption going forward that underlines your mid-single-digit organic growth that you have planned for the year? Is that, that you basically expected that current trends industry-wide and globally will remain similar level that you saw in the first quarter or improving from there? And then secondly, just Oscar Mayer and the beverage business, both were declining maybe mid-single digits or so in measured channels in the first quarter. Could you maybe talk about the challenges and general plans and prospects for improvement for each of those? Thanks very much.

Carlos Abrams-Rivera: Thank you. Maybe, Andre, if you can comment on Away From Home and maybe I can build on the Oscar Mayer and beverage business.

Andre Maciel: Yes. So first, if you think about our second half, as we said, we expect to be on algo throughout the entire second half. And if you think about our three pillars of growth, first, on Emerging Markets, as we said, Q1 came in line with what we said will happen mid-single digit, primarily because of the shipment phasing in Brazil. So as we head into Q2, we do expect Emerging Markets to be now very close at our long-term algo, and in the second half fully on the long-term algo. So that’s a point comes from that roughly, maybe a little more. On the U.S. Retail business, as a function of industry improving gradually, volume continues to improve. All the innovation, renovation, Carlos mentioned a few examples. We do expect to be, if not on algo, at least approaching algo, so that will be a big contributor for the improvement as we head into the second half.