Whole Earth Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:FREE) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And the big thing is, yes, the leverage is high. Interest rates have gone up. We’ve paid close to $70 million more in interest this year. But we do believe interest rates will come down. We’ve fixed half of our debt. But one of the biggest things is inventories and dealing with that. So, I think the big thing is everybody want to get it right and what’s the right value and what’s the right thing for shareholders.

Alexander Arnold: Great. Thanks –

Irwin Simon: And the most important thing is, we feel good about the management team in place running this on a day-to-day basis.

Alexander Arnold: Great. Good luck. Thanks guys.

Irwin Simon: Thank you.

Operator: I will now turn the call back to our presenters for closing comments.

Irwin Simon: Yeah I guess I’ll take that. I want to thank everybody for joining the call today. And as you can see, there’s a lot of good headway made that the team is doing at Whole Earth, in regards to the margin improvement, in regards to paying down debt, in regards to free cash. In regards to taking costs out of this business, if you see what the cost that we just took out the last two quarters and annualize that out and going into next year, there’s a lot of good cost savings that’s going to come across this business. The categories, the licorice ingredient business, I think Jeff and team have done some great job in really expanding that ingredient and licorice into multiple categories and done a great job there, great free cash business.

Rajnish and Nigel have done a great job in regards to moving to our co-packers, getting the de-pack closing that down. At the same time, we’re purchasing sugar out there and not taking it at a bond and paying the higher excise tax just to get sales. At the same time, we’ve had to deal with higher interest rates, which we have. So, the good news is, we’re absolutely able to pay all our debt. We’re good on our covenants. We’re good on growth here, and there’s a real good plan and team in place. But I think the most important thing is, I want to reassure you that we are looking out there for shareholders, how we make sure that we’re making sure we’re creating and if shareholder value is taken care of here. So, I want to really congratulate and thank the management team.

I’d like to – our shareholders that are out there supporting us and look forward to our next call and showing even better results. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today’s program. You may now disconnect.