Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| So the actions in Ice Cream really should come from a much stronger execution, a new look at the total supply chain and transforming our distribution and our network into a very competitive set |
| market, continued to deliver double-digit volume-led growth |
| First, we returned to positive volume growth of 1.8% in Q4 and gross margin expansion of 330 basis points in the second half |
| Second, we tightened grip on operations and working capital leading to strong free cash flow |
| The results for last year confirmed that we have pockets of real strength, which yield some great returns |
| But overall, the performance of Hair Care has improved significantly in the last couple of years, and we believe that this strength will continue going forward |
| The plan has given rise to a huge amount of activity in the company, but the principles and the objectives underpinning it on which I am totally focused are very clear: a switch to net activity to drive gross margin and thereby boost our volume performance, a greater operational grip to drive our competitiveness and this all leading ultimately to a more consistent delivery |
| I am excited to partner Hein in embedding the Growth Action Plan to improve our financial performance, our competitiveness and drive significant value creation |
| Look, I mean, if you think about it, in Q4, we realized a 1.8% volume growth, 3 out of 5 business groups are now in positive volume territory, so that's a good thing |
| Price contributed strongly at 6.8% and volume returned to positive territory at 0.2% |
| And I would say, yes, I'm seeing a really improved momentum in the company |
| And we've made good progress on both |
| I see a renewed momentum, a renewed level of energy in the company |
| Regarding Hair Care, good performance, positive volume, Latin America and South Asia with double-digit growth |
| But I'm very positive on the momentum that we have, but of course, much more to do and that's what we're working on every day |
| Beauty & Wellbeing delivered a strong full year performance with good balance between volume and price growth |
| So we're actually very excited about that |
| In the fourth quarter, we saw a strong acceleration in volume growth to 6.3%, underpinning sales growth of 7.9% |
| Second, our Power Brands will also benefit from an equally new and distinctive approach that we are taking to the way that we think about and systematize innovation |
| I mean, we've had some good improvements on gross margin in the second half |
| Hair ended the year with good momentum and positive volume growth, reflecting strong performances from Sunsilk, TRESemmé and Nexxus, our masstige proposition in the U.S |
| The core skin businesses saw a strong performance for Vaseline, now EUR 1 billion brand, on the back of the Gluta-Hya innovation |
| And these include network optimization of the kind that we've undertaken recently in Beauty & Wellbeing in the U.S.; vertical integration of some of our key materials; further cost per tonne improvements through operating discipline, such as tight waste management; and investing a higher proportion of CapEx behind net productivity savings; and importantly, pursuing further improvements in working capital |
| Personal Care also had a strong year, driven by mid-teens growth from the Deodorants |
| All digital, very strong growth, similar growth rates that we're seeing in North America |
| However, we want to make sure that we put them on a very solid footing and the United States is -- or North America is a very significant market |
| The global rollout of our 72-hour nonstop protection technology across Dove, Rexona and Axe has given us significant product superiority and strong growth in all 3 brands |
| And our integrated operations delivered significant working capital improvements |
| Skin Cleansing grew well with positive volumes despite the slowdowns in India and Indonesia to which I will come back shortly |
| Dove benefited from the Dove Body Wash improved deep moisture innovation and Dove Men+Care enjoyed strong double-digit growth |
| Statement |
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| And the third thing and probably the most important is that we are disappointed with our competitive performance in the footprint in which we operate |
| In Indonesia, we saw a double-digit sales decline in the fourth quarter as sales of several multinational companies were impacted by geopolitically focused consumer-facing campaigns |
| Carver's performance was weak given a necessary reset of our Chinese route to market |
| Despite the strong financial performance of our Personal Care business, we are disappointed with the erosion of competitiveness in the U.S., where we have been too slow in responding to the consumer shift to an emerging super-premium segment |
| It has been a very disappointing year for Ice Cream with price elasticity in the in-home channel much more negative than that seen in other categories and with a strong consumer down-trading to private label |
| And the fact is we have been too slow in recovering the gross margin that we lost during the pandemic, which has constrained volume growth and depressed our bottom line |
| Can you put some numbers around that in Indonesia? And also in India, I mean, it seems to be Indonesia and India in 2023, pretty disappointing for both geographies |
| Ice Cream was down 90 points, reflecting the gross margin impact from continued cost inflation and volume deleverage |
| A key feature of the financial statements in 2023 is the negative impact of currency, both at top and bottom line |
| With a large exposure to Nutrition and Ice Cream, we suffer from the consumer down-trading to value |
| Turnover-weighted market share is the true measure of our competitive performance within the footprint in which we operate, and we are disappointed with a 75 basis point share decline |
| That obviously suggests that profitability was still too high and pricing needs to be adjust |
| And the second is that in the last 5 years, our profit in hard currency -- in current currency have stagnated, and we know that we need to fix these 2 things |
| And I do know and I listen that you say you're disappointed in that |
| The fourth quarter saw underlying sales growth of minus 0.4% with price growth slowing to 0.4% and a volume decline of 0.8% |
| dollar also saw a negative impact |
| So how should we think about it at this stage? I mean, more pressure on price growth this year meaning that we could actually see some pockets of negative pricing development here and there |
| Firstly, on your pricing outlook, if you could shed some light on your expectations for 2024 because we've seen already some negative development in India, Indonesia |
| Currency had a negative impact of 5.7% on turnover |
| Tax was a drag of 1.6% on underlying EPS |
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