Energizer Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
May 7, 2024

Key Takeaways

  • Energizer delivered 13% adjusted earnings per share growth in Q2, driven by margin improvement, a robust auto care segment performance, and steady battery category recovery, enabling a $60 million debt paydown and targeting sub-5x leverage by year end.
  • Battery organic net sales declined ~4%, but global volume grew 3.5% and U.S. value share gains alongside disciplined pricing and promotions supported gross margin recovery, setting the stage for anticipated category growth in H2.
  • Auto Care posted >2% organic sales growth and expanded segment profit by 600 basis points, returning to pre-pandemic profitability; Project Momentum delivered $20 million in quarterly savings (total ~$96 million YTD) toward a $160–180 million three-year target.
  • For Q3, Energizer forecasts ~1% organic revenue growth, ~150 bps gross margin expansion, and ~20% adjusted EPS growth to $0.62–$0.68; full-year guidance is unchanged with flat to low-single-digit sales, 100 bps+ margin gain, $600–620 million EBITDA, and $3.10–$3.30 EPS.
  • Management is accelerating investments in e-commerce capabilities, advanced pricing analytics, broader distribution, international market expansion, and a strengthened innovation pipeline to drive sustained growth into FY2025.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Energizer Q2 2024
00:00 / 00:00

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning. My name is Luti, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Energizer's 2nd Quarter Fiscal Year 20 24 Conference Call. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to John Holden, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations.

Operator

You may begin your conference.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and welcome to Energizer's Q2 fiscal 2024 conference call. Joining me today are Mark Levine, President and Chief Officer and John Drabic, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. A replay of this call will be available on the Investor Relations section of our site, energizerholdings.com. In addition, a slide deck providing detailed financial results for the quarter is also posted on our website. During the call, we will make forward looking statements about the company's future business and financial performance, among other matters.

Speaker 1

These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. We do not undertake to update these forward looking statements. Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in reports we file with the SEC. We also refer in our presentation to non GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of non GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures is shown in our press release issued earlier today, which is available on our website.

Speaker 1

Information concerning our categories and estimated market share discussed on this call relates to the categories where we compete and is based on Energizer's internal data, data from industry analysis and estimates we believe to be reasonable. The battery category information includes both brick and mortar and e commerce retail sales. Unless otherwise noted, all comments regarding the quarter year pertain to Energizer's fiscal year and all comparisons to prior year relate to the same period in fiscal 2023. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mark.

Speaker 2

Good morning and welcome to our Q2 earnings call. While we are pleased to report on a solid second quarter, we are even more excited to discuss what's ahead. More on that in a moment as we will start with Q2. We once again made great progress on our priorities for the year, margin improvement, free cash flow generation and debt pay down. Our top line benefited from our continued recovery in the battery category and another strong performance in auto, which along with significant improvement in gross margin drove 13% adjusted earnings growth in the quarter.

Speaker 2

Strong free cash flow generation year to date has enabled us to pay down over $60,000,000 of debt in the quarter. Our success against these priorities has reduced our leverage, which we expect to be below 5 times by year end and fueled our growth initiatives, which will help deliver top line growth in the back half of the year. Let's review the current state of the businesses starting with batteries. Battery organic net sales were down roughly 4% in the quarter. The decline was consistent with our expectations with improving trends from the prior quarter, primarily driven by improving category dynamics and distribution gains.

Speaker 2

Looking at the category, global battery volume and value both showed growth in the latest 3 month data. Importantly, global battery volume grew nearly 3.5% during that period. This represents a significant improvement from the prior year where volume was down 5.5% in the comparable period. U. S.

Speaker 2

Category volume increased 2.8% in the latest 13 weeks. In addition to the healthy trends we are seeing in measured channels and online, we have also seen improving trends in non tracked channels as we lap softness which began in the spring of last year. Our performance within the category remains strong. Consumers are selecting our brand driving a value share gain in the U. S.

Speaker 2

In the quarter. Private label value and volume share declined globally in the quarter. And while private label is growing across many consumer categories in the U. S, we have seen battery private label value share declines in each of the last three quarters. Within our battery business, we have maintained a prudent approach pricing and promotion, ensuring that we engage with consumers and drive demand while improving overall gross margins.

Speaker 2

That discipline will continue as we leverage the strength we have reestablished in our P and L to drive future growth with ongoing margin improvement. As we look ahead, our improved margins, the inflection in category volume, the strength of our brands and a stable pricing environment reinforce our confidence in returning to growth in the back half of the year. Turning to Auto Care, which is another bright spot in the quarter. Organic net sales increased over 2% following a 5% organic increase in the prior year quarter. Our appearance business had a particularly strong quarter, increasing nearly 9% organically year over year.

Speaker 2

The investments we are making are working. Exciting innovation and increased investment to connect with consumers are driving much improved business performance. In the 2nd quarter, segment profit expanded by nearly 600 basis points. We have returned the Auto Care business back to pre pandemic profitability and expect further improvement going forward. The day to day execution by the teams has been outstanding, particularly when you take into account the progress also being made on project momentum.

Speaker 2

The program generated $20,000,000 in savings in the quarter, taking total program savings to nearly $100,000,000 to date, serving as a key factor in margin expansion and earnings growth in the quarter. We launched Project Momentum over 18 months ago to restore the health of our P and L and thus far it has exceeded the ambitious goals we set at the time. Even more encouraging, we have uncovered opportunities for additional savings. We now have both of our categories returning to pre pandemic levels of profitability with line of sight for ongoing improvement this year and next, providing us the flexibility to invest for future growth. The organization has worked tirelessly to reach this inflection point, and we have the business poised for growth, all while remaining focused on continued margin improvement, free cash flow generation and debt reduction.

Speaker 2

Beginning next quarter, we expect to see the combined benefits of top line growth and further margin expansion with Q3 adjusted earnings expected to increase 20% year over year at the midpoint of our range. While the work around project momentum has been at the forefront of much of our presentations in the past, we have been working to re energize what we do best, invest in innovation, build our brands and drive distribution gains across our categories around the world. Over the balance of the fiscal year, you will start to see the results of that effort. And as we approach FY 'twenty five, they should become even more evident. To provide some context around this confidence, let me break down the areas of focus.

Speaker 2

First, we have discussed our investments in e commerce capabilities many times in the past. And after assessing the current landscape and opportunities, we have made additional significant financial and organizational investments to ensure we capture the growth available to us in each of our categories, not only in the U. S. But in many other markets around the world. 2nd, the investments we have made in our digital transformation provide much improved data and analytics to our pricing and revenue management teams, which allow them to read and react in a more dynamic way to capture opportunities and mitigate risks in mix management and strategic pricing.

Speaker 2

3rd, improved visibility and distribution of our brands across major markets will drive top line growth in the back half of this year and beyond. 4th, we believe that we have strategic market expansion opportunities in attractive international markets. By leveraging our distributor market group, we gather insights into markets which may initially be too subscale to warrant significant investment. Ultimately, we are able to identify certain markets which we believe will allow us to accelerate growth further and faster. And 5th and finally, we have been investing our innovation pipeline and partnership opportunities to deliver exciting new products which meet consumer and customer needs better than anyone else.

Speaker 2

The innovation pipeline in both batteries and auto care is the strongest we have had in many years and we are excited to introduce many new and improved products to consumers over the next several years. These growth opportunities have been made possible by the tremendous work in restoring the margins in our business and now allow us to invest in a cycle of growth going forward. Having set the stage for what's ahead, let's take a step back and turn it over to John to talk about the progress made in the Q2 and provide some details around the balance of the year outlook.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Mark, and good morning, everyone. I will provide a more detailed summary of the quarter and update on project momentum and some additional color for our expectations for Q3 and the rest of fiscal 2024. For the quarter, net sales were down 3% with organic revenue down 2.7%. Volume improvement and distribution gains contributed to organic growth of 0.6%, offset by planned strategic pricing and promotional investments of 3.3%. The results were in line with the outlook provided on our Q1 call of an organic decline of between 2% and 3%.

Speaker 3

Adjusted gross margin increased 260 basis points to 40.5%, driven by project momentum savings of approximately $11,000,000 as well as lower input costs, including improved commodities pricing and lower ocean freight. These benefits were partially offset by the planned strategic pricing and promotional investments. Adjusted SG and A decreased $2,600,000 primarily driven by Project Momentum Savings. A and P as a percentage of sales was 3.2%, up from 2.7% in the prior year period and consistent with our focus on increasing investment behind our brands. Interest expense decreased 3,300,000 as we continue to focus on reducing our average debt outstanding year over year, offset by higher average interest rates.

Speaker 3

Our strong operational performances in both Battery and Auto Care, along with significant margin recovery over the last year, resulted in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted earnings per share of $142,500,000 $0.72 representing a 13% increase in adjusted earnings year over year. Throughout the 1st 6 months of fiscal 'twenty four, we have generated $163,000,000 of free cash flow or 11.8 percent of net sales. This is within our long term algorithm of between 10% 12%. Our strong free cash flow generation has allowed us to pay down $141,000,000 of debt during the 1st two quarters. We have also paid off $425,000,000 of debt in the previous 7 quarters and reduced our leverage by nearly a turn during that time.

Speaker 3

Our debt capital structure remains in great shape with a weighted average cost of debt of around 4.6%, which is 96% fixed and with no meaningful maturities until 2027. As Mark noted in his comments, project momentum continues to be a driver of significant efficiencies and benefits for our organization. As we announced last quarter, we expect a 3 year program to drive savings of between $160,000,000 $180,000,000 This quarter, we saw savings of approximately $20,000,000 taking total savings generated since the start of the program to $96,000,000 Lastly, I would like to provide some additional color for Q3 and the rest of the year. For Q3, we expect to return to growth on the top line with organic net sales up approximately 1%. We anticipate gross margin in the quarter to improve by roughly 150 basis points year over year and adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $0.62 to $0.68 up 20% at the midpoint.

Speaker 3

For the full fiscal year, we continue to expect project momentum savings of $55,000,000 to $65,000,000

Speaker 2

We expect to

Speaker 3

pay down between $150,000,000 $200,000,000 of debt and to end fiscal 'twenty four below 5 times net leverage. We are reaffirming our outlook for organic net sales to be flat to down low single digits, adjusted gross margin improvement of over 100 basis points, adjusted EBITDA in the range of $600,000,000 to $620,000,000 and adjusted earnings per share of $3.10 to $3.30 With that, I will turn it over to Mark for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, John. To summarize, this organization deserves a lot of credit for delivering a long term plan which started with an incredible effort to restore margins and enable us to invest for growth. Having reached that point, we very much look forward to delivering the return on those investments in the quarters ahead. With that, let's open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. And your first question comes from the line of Robert Ottenstein from Evercore. Your line is open.

Speaker 4

Great. Thank you very much and congratulations on the progress. Certainly hearing a lot of optimism on the Q3 and the second half of the year. I was wondering if you could just give us a little bit more details on your visibility into the Q3, what's driving your confidence in terms of returning to growth And maybe kind of put into perspective the role of promos both in this quarter and how that impacts the second half? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Good morning, Robert. I'll kick this off and then John can provide some color as well. We're really positive and optimistic about where we are in the year. We've over the last couple of years, we've really attacked the issues the right way with a long term view in mind. We started with restoring stability in the supply chain.

Speaker 2

We then moved to restore margins and working capital discipline and free cash flow generation. We've done that with the assistance of Project Momentum, which has been very successful for the organization and now it allows us to invest for growth. Having that flexibility allows us to deal with the external environment. I mean the external environment sort of is what it is and we're well positioned to manage our way through it. So it feels great for us and the organization to be turning the page to growth going forward.

Speaker 2

And we highlighted some of those areas in the prepared remarks in terms of areas that we would look to. But that visibility is really designed to reinforce the confidence and provide some visibility to you all for that low single digit algorithmic growth, which we expect going forward. The underlying category trends are healthy. We're seeing stability and improving trends in home center and in non track channels. The areas of growth that we highlighted in the prepared remarks around distribution, we're expecting distribution gains in the back half of the year in international as well as pretty broad based distribution gains in the U.

Speaker 2

S. E Commerce continues to be a source of growth going forward. Pricing and mix management is an increasingly sophisticated discipline we have in the organization allowing us to drive growth. You also have market expansion opportunities and we're really excited by some of the innovation that we're bringing to market both this year and next. Having multiple levers to pull really allows us to drive growth in the right way.

Speaker 2

It allows us to be choiceful about where we're going to drive that growth because then it will allow us to continue to expand margins along the way. So I think we're really well positioned in terms of going forward and confident in the back half of the year as well as heading into 2025. Anything I missed there Robert?

Speaker 4

No, that's great. I was just wondering if you could talk just a little bit about your thoughts around the promos both in the quarter and how that may play out in the second half of the year?

Speaker 2

You are seeing a slightly elevated promotional environment. It was one that we expected given the macro environment that we're in, given the pricing that's occurred over the last couple of years. I wouldn't say it's anything problematic. You're seeing a stable pricing environment, a healthy promotional environment. It's driving real volume growth in the category, both internationally as well as in the U.

Speaker 2

S. The depth of the promotion is up a little bit. The frequency is up slightly, but overall and on balance is consistent with what you would have seen pre pandemic 4 years ago. So nothing overly troubling from an unhealthy promotional environment.

Speaker 3

Yes. For the back half of the year, I think we're looking at kind of pricing and promotional levels consistent with what we saw in the Q2. So kind of offsetting some of the volume that we're seeing, but still ending up with about a 1% top line organic growth rate back half.

Speaker 4

Terrific. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Robert.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Lauren Lieberman from Barclays. Your line is open. Great. Thanks.

Operator

Good morning, guys. Good morning, Lauren.

Speaker 5

I wanted to talk a hey, just want to talk a little bit about auto care. I think at the lunch you guys posted in New York, you talked about the division getting back to pre COVID margins in fiscal 'twenty five and now you're there. So just kind of curious, I guess, just in the short term sequentially, is this a high watermark we can maintain and build from here? Is there anything just sort of timing wise to be aware of? And then also, I'll preempt my follow-up and just ask also about auto distribution gains.

Speaker 5

I'd just love to hear a little bit more color on that element of the growth strategy that you guys have had, but we're sort of stymied by the macro and the environment. Just what you can tell us kind of about the specifics on some of the distribution wins, it'd be great to get more color. Thanks.

Speaker 3

Yes. Lauren, we've done a really nice job recovering margins in that business. I know we said we were working to get there by 25% and this quarter was a testament to the hard work that a lot of people have done. So we were able to get segment profit up 600 basis points in the quarter. That really wasn't timing.

Speaker 3

It's input cost. It's taken cost out of the system. It's continuing to hold the pricing. So I would say that that has gotten us to a good run rate. We expect to continue that as we go forward throughout the rest of the year and into next.

Speaker 2

And Lauren on the distribution gains, as you know when we bought that business it was a fairly mature distribution set at the time, but we've been able to provide incremental distribution opportunities, expanding some of the distribution, our innovations being well received, some of our partnerships are being well received. It's not necessarily unique to this year, but in years past, we've had wins in home center as well as club, which those continue. On the international side, we continue to expand that business. And year to date, we're up 4.2% in that international business. So a lot of

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Bill Chappell from Tuohy Securities. Your line is open.

Speaker 6

Thanks. Good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning, Bill.

Speaker 6

Just first on batteries, maybe a little more detail of what you're seeing. It seems like the category is normalizing post COVID. And just trying to understand, I think you talked about private label was starting to recede. But what are you seeing on like premium on the lithium side? What are you seeing in terms of Rayovac?

Speaker 6

Is that gaining holding, losing share? Just kind of more color around the consumer as they're looking at the category today.

Speaker 2

So Bill, on the battery category globally, we're seeing volume and value growth globally. You're seeing volume growth in the U. S. As well, an important data point. You are seeing a little bit of value declines in the U.

Speaker 2

S. So that's related to the pricing and the promotion that John talked about in terms of our Q2 and Q3 results that we expect. All in all, seeing the positive volume growth is a great sign both globally in the U. S. Private label share you're seeing volume and value declines globally.

Speaker 2

So shares are stable overall. Our shares are roughly consistent with where they've been. So not a lot of disruption among trade down. Within Rayovac, you are seeing share gains in the U. S.

Speaker 2

It was up 0.3 value points in the latest reporting period. So that brand is playing its role within our portfolio and catching some of that demand as consumers may be looking for lower price points.

Speaker 6

Got it. And then on the lithium side, I'm sorry?

Speaker 2

In lithium, you're seeing some positive trends on lithium as consumers are settling into higher price points. I think with that one you're continuing to see maybe a bifurcation from consumers where sort of higher income consumers are continuing to spend more freely than middle to lower income consumers are. And I think as the macro environment cooperates and some of the pricing settles in, we continue to be optimistic in the role that lithium is going to play in our category.

Speaker 6

Got it. And then just one follow-up on Auto Care. I mean, what is kind of the March quarter tell us? I mean, you said appearances were up strong, but I thought appearance kind of segment was more of a midsummer type category. So and I assume that means if it was up 9% and the overall business was up 2% that something else lagged.

Speaker 6

So how does the setup look for the category as we're going into the key summer months?

Speaker 2

I would say, Bill, we're off to a good start. And I wouldn't take too much of a read in what happens in March in terms of April, May June. We're off to a good start. We've had good early shipments. Appearance is off to a strong start.

Speaker 2

Some of the innovation that we've launched is off to a good start. Refrigerants tends to be a little uneven in terms of its demand just because of the weather dynamics that it plays. Performance Chemicals is flat, fragrance was down a little bit. Yes. And just to tidy up

Speaker 3

a little bit on the Q3, I think we some of the volume that we planned in auto, we now expect to see hitting the 4th quarter and that is a little bit of an impact to our Q3 call top line consolidated.

Speaker 6

Got it. Thanks so much.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Bill.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Andrea Teixeira from JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Speaker 7

Thank you. Good morning. So my question is on the commodities outlook. I understand that you're still benefiting from pricing and commodities going in favor to you. But also how we should be thinking as we progress thinking of commodities, some of the commodities going the other way and how we can normalize and if you should normalize the 40% level or we should be seeing some reinvestment in the gross margin as we go forward?

Speaker 7

And then my follow-up is on the cadence, if I can, on the second half. Going back to your comment about 1 percent in the second half of organic sales growth, it seems that you're implying Q3 will be slightly above that and then potentially Q4 being negative. Just want to make sure that we understand the cadence given the puts and takes in comps last year. Thank you.

Speaker 3

I would say it's a little closer to 1.5 to 2 on both. So 1 to 1.5 kind of 3rd and 4th quarter, they're both positive.

Speaker 7

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Yes. And then it's going back to

Speaker 3

your question on input costs. So this was the Q1 in a while where raw material input costs actually turned positive for us and we're continuing to see that kind of as we finish out the back half of the year, Andrea. So big drivers of that would be lithium, steel, R134a and zinc. Those have all been pretty positive for us in the Q2 and we expect that to continue in the back half. So full year, we're expecting materials to be like 140 basis point positive driver to our gross margin.

Speaker 7

And then as we go ahead, do you see any of those trends shifting as you look at futures or what is to expect?

Speaker 3

Well, between inventory and sort of our visibility on what we've got fixed up, I don't think I'd see a lot of visibility in the back half of this year. Variability. Variability, I'm sorry.

Speaker 7

Okay. Now that's So

Speaker 3

we've got pretty good visibility to that. So no, I think that's in pretty good shape.

Speaker 7

That's great to hear. Thank you so much. I'll pass it on.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Dara Masanian from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Hey guys, good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning, Dara.

Speaker 3

Hi, Dara.

Speaker 8

So on batteries, you sounded fairly constructive on the category itself. It also sounds like some

Speaker 9

of the untracked channels are performing better sequentially.

Speaker 8

Can you just give us a

Speaker 9

bit more detail on the channel performance in the battery category,

Speaker 8

just given some

Speaker 9

of those untracked channels or at least in theory more economically sensitive in a tough consumer environment, Doesn't necessarily sound like you're seeing that impact, but I'd love a bit more detail there and thoughts on the next couple of quarters here, particularly as you cycle some easier comps in those channels? And then second, can you just touch on distribution gains in battery and your shelf space

Speaker 10

as

Speaker 9

you look at both the U. S. And international over the next few quarters here? Thanks.

Speaker 3

I'll start

Speaker 2

with the second one first, Dara. I mean, from a distribution wins we've had in different markets around the world, nice distribution wins that will continue to be set in the back half of the year. In the U. S. Really broad based, you're seeing some wins in dollar, you're seeing some wins in home center and specialty retailers.

Speaker 2

This is new distribution. It's expanded distribution. It's better placement in the planograms. So it's really a variety of different wins that we've been able to accomplish in the first half of this year, which will start to take effect in the back half of the year. In terms of the benefit of our business is the ubiquitous distribution that we have and so we are in all channels.

Speaker 2

You are seeing some channel shifting from consumers And fortunately, we can be there to meet consumers in whatever channel they choose to shop in. In the untracked channels that you mentioned, it was roughly this time last year when you started to see some of the softness in home center. We are seeing that continue to moderate a bit as we work our way through the comps year over year. We are seeing some signs of life in OEM and the B2B business and that's really encouraging to see going forward. So as of now the trends have played out about as we expected and we continue further improvement as we get in towards the end of fiscal 2024.

Speaker 2

Great. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Brian McNamara from Canaccord Genuity. Your line is open.

Speaker 8

Hey, good morning guys. Thanks for taking the question. While destocking appears to be largely behind us across most consumer categories, we have seen some hesitation pause from retailers in terms of restocking in certain categories. I'm curious if you're seeing any changes in your retail partners' behavior across batteries and auto care and how that impacts your confidence for return to growth in H2?

Speaker 2

I would say on balance, we were confident from where inventory level sit. We're confident in terms of how retailers are approaching investment in our categories from an inventory standpoint. The inventory discipline was something that occurred coming out of the pandemic, and we haven't seen a step change in either direction in the recent quarter. So I would say what we see in inventory today and our approach with retailers is built into the guide that we've provided. With Auto Care, it's early in the season, so a lot of that's going to depend on how does the season progress and how does the off take occur and that will drive a lot of the replenishment activity in Q3 and Q4.

Speaker 2

Got it. And then

Speaker 8

if you could point to 1 or 2 surprises either good or bad in H2 per results to materially deviate from the guidance you laid out, what would you point investors to in that regard?

Speaker 2

In terms of the go forward guidance or are you talking Q2? The second half. The second half? I mean I think a lot of It's

Speaker 8

basically H2 implied guidance.

Speaker 2

Yes. Look, I think we've tried to take a balanced approach in terms of risks and opportunities that exist in the balance of the year. I think we've expected the macro environment to continue. We've expected to continue to see improving trends in non track channels, which we've seen to date. We have distribution gains, which are under our control in terms of getting those in store and execute those with excellence.

Speaker 2

I think from and from a cost standpoint with the inventory levels that we have, we're largely locked. All right.

Speaker 8

Thanks a lot, guys.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Brian.

Operator

Next question comes from the line of Hale Holden from Barclays. Your line is open.

Speaker 11

Thank you. It's been a while since I've heard you guys talk about international expansion. And I was wondering if you could talk through what the opportunity set is in some of those smaller markets and how you make sure you don't get sort of bogged down in them?

Speaker 2

Yes, Hale. I think we have a great international footprint that was a strategic advantage for us with the Auto Care business to enable us to expand that business using the backbone that's been established with the battery business. We were off to a great start when we first acquired that business and then when the pandemic impacted margins, we took a deliberate step back. And so we're going to pause future aggressive expansion in order to restore margins in that business and then reaccelerate it from that point forward. That's exactly what we did.

Speaker 2

We've restored margins back in that business. We now have the ability to invest to grow going forward. And I would say there's a variety of markets we look to around the world, some of them in the modern markets like Australia and the U. K. But then there's also some opportunities in the developing markets where we have a stronghold on the battery category as well.

Speaker 2

So we can use that distribution muscle to drive the auto care business.

Speaker 11

And you also talked about expanding battery in the smaller markets, or did I miss that?

Speaker 10

No, you didn't

Speaker 2

miss that. So that was part of the in the prepared remarks. We did talk about we have we serve roughly 100 markets in our distributor market group globally. That gives us real insight into those markets, a lot of markets around the world and we can analyze that footprint that we have with distributors and determine if there are markets which we could drive additional growth that we were to serve directly. And there's a handful of markets we see an opportunity to do that with.

Speaker 2

Obviously, we don't want to get into which markets those are. But it is a bit of an incubation for us within the markets to be able to understand and learn and gain insights into those markets and determine which ones would be better served by us serving directly as opposed to a through distributor. So there will be market expansion in future growth going forward.

Speaker 11

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Stanley. Your line is open.

Speaker 5

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I appreciate all the color and work you guys have done on the balance sheet. I know you said you expect leverage to be below 5 times by the end of the year. I guess just maybe update and or refresh us on the longer term outlook of where you want that to be over time.

Speaker 5

If the right cadence is still about a half turn a year, maybe we see some acceleration on that. And any shifts or thoughts on debt that you want to target within the structure as you continue to bring that leverage point down? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yes. So we're making good progress against the debt reduction. We're still anticipating to get to below 5 times or below by the end of this fiscal year and half a turn is probably what we are targeting over time. I think that for us 4 times leverage probably makes more sense. We don't have a target per se, but I think we'll continue to keep pushing to get leverage down from here.

Speaker 3

As far as what we're targeting, I think we'll continue to balance. We have been focusing on term loan, but we'll look at term loan versus bonds and just look at the best economic decision depending on how those are trading.

Operator

Great. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Sean.

Operator

And your last question comes from the line of William Reuter from Bank of America. Your line is open.

Speaker 10

Good morning. I just have 2. The first is there are very few categories in the U. S. Where I think we're seeing volume growth.

Speaker 10

Do you think that this is expansion of the number of devices that are using batteries? It doesn't seem like the economic environment is getting better, so I wouldn't expect there to be a lot of restocking. And then kind of following on Jenna's question about leverage, I guess, what do you think that the bigger longer term strategy here is in terms of you've been so focused on debt reduction for the last several years. Now maybe you would consider some strategic options even though in the near term kind of it might be debt reduction? Thanks.

Speaker 2

I think on that last question, we'll continue to focus on debt reduction. As John said, I think we want to achieve the objective of getting below 5 times by the end of this fiscal year. Longer term getting that the leverage levels down below to 4 and below, then it opens up more strategic capital allocation decisions where you can create optionality going forward in terms of share repurchase, continue to pay down debt or strategic acquisitions that may pop up. But for now, the focus and the disproportionate effort is going to be on paying down debt. In terms of the volume growth, again, it's very positive.

Speaker 2

You had to work your way through a lot. You had the COVID normalization period. You had then had pricing increases. You've also had a pretty tough macro environment seeing that volume growth globally and in the U. S.

Speaker 2

Is really encouraging. You have a very large installed base of devices already in people's homes between, let's call it, between 50% 60% of the devices people have in their house take our batteries, new devices at roughly the same percentage. So that healthy installed base consumers are reengaging with the category. It also shows the balance that we're executing from a promotional strategy is keeping consumer engaged in the category. You're continuing to see consumers disproportionately migrate to the premium end of the category.

Speaker 2

The promotional strategy is working because we're able to drive volume growth. Going forward, we're going to drive sales growth and we're also going to drive margin improvement. So it's all about that calibration between those different variables that we're trying to optimize and drive the right result thus far. We've been really successful in doing that.

Speaker 10

Awesome. All right. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Bill.

Operator

Thank you. And that concludes our Q and A session. I'd like to turn it back to Mark Levine for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thanks everyone for joining us today and your interest in Energizer. Hope everyone has a great rest of the day.

Operator

Thank you, presenters. And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You

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