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| Statement |
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| To summarize, our 2023 adjusted earnings per share expectations reflect strong underlying business growth of 14% to 16%, above our prior projection of 10% to 12% |
| We have been seeing some nice growth and gains in that part of our business |
| So really strong performance there |
| We drove another quarter of strong performance, reflecting sustained demand and effective execution of our growth strategies, across our Consumer and Flavor Solutions segments |
| Let me start with the highlights for the third quarter: we delivered solid constant currency sales growth; we continued to realize effective price realization, and importantly, volume performance, excluding China, has improved each quarter throughout the year; we continued to see top-line momentum in our business, positioning McCormick for sustained growth; we drove meaningful year-over-year margin expansion, underscoring our focus on profit realization; year-to-date cash flow from operations more than doubled relative to the prior year due to higher operating income and working capital improvements |
| Our performance demonstrates the strength of our business fundamentals and the effective execution of our proven strategies while leveraging the sustained demand for flavor |
| In the third quarter, we drove 6% sales growth in constant currency, demonstrating the strength of our broad global portfolio |
| Our constant currency growth reflected strong business performance, with an 8% contribution from pricing and a 2% decline in volume and product mix |
| This year, we are doing great and coming through incentive comp |
| We drove strong gross margin improvement year-over-year, reflecting continued recovery of the cost inflation our pricing lagged last year, and cost savings from our CCI and GOE programs |
| Within our regions, the mix of our regional underlying strength of Americas and EMEA region did drive it a bit more NIV -- excuse me, incentive comp, but also the great working capital performance |
| And the package is 50% post-consumer recycled plastic, so it also has a big sustainability benefit |
| But where we know it has, there's really been an improvement in velocity overall |
| And things like we've done with GOE, which we see continuing and wrapping into next year; the dual running costs, we're having it primarily in our Flavor Solutions business in the UK manufacturing facility, that goes away partially next year and the year after it's totally gone, which is great; continued TCI |
| These results, combined with the strong demand we continue to expect across our portfolio and our focused approach to optimizing our cost structure, reinforce our confidence in our growth trajectory during the fourth quarter and beyond |
| The other thing, too, is, as you think of it, when Brandon was talking a little bit about the strong -- our underlying performance in things like spices and seasonings, when you look at our performance in other markets, we've had really good portfolio -- really good portfolio mix, and some of the things we're doing on portfolio optimization with pruning low-margin business does help grow these margins also, and will help us as we go into the future |
| We are reaffirming our operating income outlook, which highlights stronger than originally expected profit realization on our business, excluding China |
| Demand is strong |
| We are driving improvement in our margin profile and are optimizing our cost structure effectively |
| We saw solid results across the Americas and EMEA, which were tempered by our APAC region due to China, as I mentioned earlier |
| Notwithstanding China, we are pleased with our underlying performance |
| The third quarter was up 8% and it was the highest dollar amount we've ever spent in the third quarter |
| Importantly, our categories remain advantaged in terms of growth relative to overall macro trends, and we are well positioned to drive future growth |
| The fundamental strength of the spices and seasonings category is evident as cooking at home has remained elevated since pre-COVID and consumers have an increasing demand for flavor |
| As far as raising for the year, as you know, we've had good performance year-to-date |
| These margin improvements are happening both in the Consumer and Flavor Solutions side, which is really -- which is great |
| We have made progress and shown improvement relative to the beginning of the year |
| You think about the things we're doing with the cost recovery through our pricing, which we've really been successful at this year |
| We also continue to be pleased that our assortment on shelf is more productive than pre-COVID |
| We had a strong third quarter |
| Statement |
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| This decline in volume was driven by two factors: a 1% volume decline attributable to the impact of a slower-than-expected economic recovery in China; and a 1% decline related to the divestiture of Kitchen Basics, the exit of our Consumer business in Russia, and the pruning of low-margin business to optimize our portfolio |
| Constant currency Consumer sales in the APAC region decreased 11%, driven by a 15% volume decrease, primarily due to a slower-than-expected recovery in China |
| Included in this volume decline are: a 2% decline due to a lower-than-expected recovery in China; and a 2% decline attributable to the Kitchen Basics divestiture, our business exit in Russia, and the Hispanic product DSD exit to optimize margins |
| China's growth, however, is expected to be less than originally anticipated, which, when combined with its year-to-date performance, has led to a lower full year 2023 benefit than we originally expected |
| As Brendan already mentioned, there were impacts of volume related to the slower-than-expected recovery in the China Consumer business, the divestiture of Kitchen Basics, the exit of our Consumer business in Russia, and strategic decisions we made related to optimizing the profitability of our portfolio |
| This impact is also a headwind to our full year results |
| We continue to restore distribution, which was lost because of supply issues |
| We still expect some softness in Flavor Solutions demand that will persist, that will certainly be there, but we will also lap the impact of the Kitchen Basics divestiture, as well as the Consumer business exit in Russia |
| COVID has been -- and the cost related to that have really been a big challenge to us and a headwind, and also the huge cost increases that have hit Flavor Solutions |
| Outside of this product discontinuation, volumes declined due to softness in some of our customers' volume within their own businesses |
| I think our sales growth back in 2022 was down about 1.7%, I think, on sales |
| Consumer spending is just soft right now overall in China, and we're seeing that play out |
| And remember last year's third quarter was way down |
| So, we still see a little bit of pressure on overall volumes there |
| The interesting thing is if you look at the map on the pricing dilution that has happened, it's been -- it's over 500 basis point headwind to us, which you can see, we're down 300 basis points |
| In constant currency, adjusted operating income in the Consumer segment, which was impacted by the slower China recovery and brand marketing investments, declined 5%, and in the Flavor Solutions segment, adjusted operating income increased 42% |
| So, yeah, we're disappointed that the pace of recovery wasn't what we expected it to be, but nevertheless, we are growing sales year-over-year |
| And then even when we try to look at that on a four-year basis, just using like 2019 as the base, it's again, a big decline |
| But these are categories like frozen or the Asian category where we see more volume decline like we've seen in the rest of center of store in that part of our business |
| Also contributing to the decline was the impact of lapping strong China demand in the prior year following significant extended lockdowns during the second quarter of last year |
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