TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE:THS) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Patrick O’Donnell: Yeah we think that pipeline really starts to deliver in Q3 and Q4. So, you’ll see it in both and so we’ve been very active from that standpoint. I think the environment is very much set up now. We are having very constructive conversations with our retailers there [ph]. Steve made reference to what we’re seeing more broadly in the marketplace in terms of our largest customers continuing to invest in private label. So we’re encouraged by that.

Andrew Lazar : Thanks very much.

Operator: The next question comes from Matt Smith of Stifel. Your line is now open.

Matt Smith : Hi good morning. When you first provided guidance for the year, you talked about the disruption in the broth plant being about a $20 million drag on EBITDA. Is it still trending towards that level and can you give us an idea of how the costs were phased or are phased between the first quarter and the second quarter?

Patrick O’Donnell: Yeah Matt. So, I think you know as we’ve looked at broth, I don’t think it’s materially different from that. We probably are a few million dollars more than what we had anticipated and as we continue to do the work there’s probably a little bit of Q1, Q2 timing we didn’t get quite right, but I would say materially it was on line with what we thought. Given what we were doing in the ramp curve, there was probably a little bit more impact to Q1 than Q2, but that that ramp will continue throughout Q2. We are making product today and so we’re we believe we’re on our glide path as we work through the rest of the quarter, but that’s in terms of how we thought about it and what’s happening today.

Matt Smith : Thank you. And just one more for me. Last quarter you talked about the lift that retailers see when they promote private label as being very positive for their profitability. Are you seeing or are you hearing from your partners that they will become more promotional with private label in the second half of the year, maybe during the seasonal time frame? Thank you.

Steven Oakland: You know Matt, I think we’ll see that in some of the high seasonal categories. Things like refrigerated dough, we’ll see that with coffee. Those kinds of things in the back half and it’s really driven, yes, they want to do it for the margin, but I think they’re more confident in the supply chain this year. Last year they were still a little bit of uncertainty on some ingredients and packaging things etc. I think the fact that that we’ve returned to service will drive a little more promotional activity in the fourth quarter.

Matt Smith : Thanks, Steve. I’ll pass it on.

Operator: Our next question comes from Carla Casella from J.P. Morgan & Chase. Your line is now open.

Carla Casella : Thanks. I have a follow-up on cocoa. With all the bigger movement there is that a category where you could see it going with the way of coffee, where you go into more pass-through contracts or is it still you think better managed through just hedging?

Steven Oakland: Carla hi, I think we will have to see volatility. I think coffee is pass-through because of the volatility. One weather event in Brazil swings the market dramatically. So, the retailers like pass-through because they feel like that’s the truest way for them to participate in both sides of that. If we saw that kind of volatility it appears from what we see now, is there some structural issues that maybe just step change the cost of cocoa. If that in fact is the case, I don’t know that it would be as functional as the pass-through we use for volatile commodities.

Carla Casella : Okay great. Then Walmart announced a big new private label expansion across a bunch of categories. I’m just wondering if you’re seeing any other or if you could just talk to sort of trends. You did give some good — in your slides explanations on private label and how it’s gaining share. But any other key wins or losses you can talk to even if you can’t. [Cross Talk].

Steven Oakland: I think we touched on a couple of them in the prepared remarks. There are a combination of two things. I would take it back one step, and I’d say that 18 months ago we sold 40% of the company right. So for the last year or so the organization’s been focused on you know TSA and reorganization just to run this new business and separate. That was all intertwined in our distribution systems etc. We now have the organization focused solely on building that pipeline and focused on our capabilities and our capacity, and aligning those with the best opportunities for both sales and margins across the industry. So, things like what you saw that announcement of new private label, I think one of the hard discounters had an article in the Wall Street Journal as well.

There’s been a lot out lately, but our team, we are really pleased we can now focus and align that team on those opportunities rather than on the administration of the divestiture. That’s where we see the biggest opportunity and why we think the pipeline is so solid right now.

Carla Casella : Okay, and just one balance sheet — on the working capital side, you talked about the use of cash this quarter. But your payable days were also lower, is that just a decision that you’re making to capture better terms or do we see those kind of expand back to more normal levels in the next few quarters?

Patrick O’Donnell: I think, there was nothing different decisions that we’ve made really on that. So, I think that’s probably just a function of timing, and so we’ll continue to see those be at historical levels. We’re not seeing any pressure on vendor terms or anything as we move forward.

Carla Casella : Okay, and did you – I’m sorry, did guide the working capital for the year like, whether it be a source of use?