Magnera Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 6, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: We delivered Q3 sales of $839 million and adjusted EBITDA of $91 million, confirming our original guidance.
  • Positive Sentiment: We launched Project CORE to optimize global capacity and efficiency, targeting approximately $20 million in annual cost savings for fiscal 2026, funded by equivalent one-time costs.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Our strategic priority remains shifting toward a higher mix of differentiated, high-value products to improve margin profiles and utilization rates across our footprint.
  • Negative Sentiment: While volumes in North America and Asia were stable, South America faced significant import competition and volume declines, driving a $9 million drop in Americas adjusted EBITDA.
  • Positive Sentiment: We ended the quarter with net debt at 3.9× pro forma adjusted EBITDA and $570 million in available liquidity, with a near-term aim to reduce leverage to approximately 3×.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Magnera Q3 2025
00:00 / 00:00

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Speaker 5

Today, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Magnera Third Quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one-one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one-one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Robert Weilminster. Please go ahead.

Operator

Thank you, Operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining Magnera's Third Fiscal Quarter 2025 earnings call. Joining me, I have Magnera's Chief Executive Officer, Kurt Begley, and Chief Financial Officer, Jim Till. Following our prepared remarks, we will have a question-and-answer session. To allow everyone the opportunity to participate, we ask that you limit yourself to one question with a brief follow-up, then fall back into the queue for any additional questions. A few things to note before handing over the call. On our website at magnera.com, you can find today's press release and earnings call presentation under Investor Relations. You can also go directly to ir.magnera.com to review the investor presentations from our recent conference attendance. As referenced on slide two during the call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures.

Operator

These measures are reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings press release and in the appendix of the presentation available on our website. Additionally, a reminder that we will make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made based upon management's expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the company and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause the results or outcomes to differ are in the company's latest SEC filings and our news releases. These statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them. I will now turn the call over to Magnera's CEO, Kurt Begley.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Robert. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. During our previous quarterly updates, we spent time describing Magnera's unique position in advanced specialty materials, enabled by a global position as an innovative leader with scale and a favorable geographic footprint. Last quarter, we discussed our plans to win in the market as we expand our product penetration in chosen areas of consumer experiences. Our value creation is simple: accelerate attractive revenue growth through innovation pipelines, execute targeted optimization initiatives, and deliver on our synergy commitments. We are confident in our ability to drive long-term sustainable growth. Moving to the third quarter headlines, we are pleased to confirm our original free cash flow guidance as well as the range of adjusted EBITDA communicated during our second quarter earnings call.

Speaker 3

Our team was able to deliver sales of $839 million and an adjusted EBITDA of $91 million in the quarter. Looking forward, we remain steadfast in our strategic priorities. Central to our outlook is the ongoing shift towards a growing mix of high-value, differentiated products. This strategy is designed to deliver improved margin profiles and strengthen our competitive differentiation as we enhance utilization rates across our manufacturing footprint, ultimately leading to improved operational efficiency and a more cost-effective chassis. As we optimize the company for earnings growth, we have evaluated the business thoroughly and determined additional structural cost actions are appropriate to support sustainable profits. We have launched Project Core, Capacity Optimization and Resource Efficiency Program, which will accelerate capacity rationalization plans, including operational consolidation to more cost-efficient platforms. Jim will provide more details on the actions we're taking and the net financial impacts targeted in executing Project Core.

Speaker 3

Before I turn the call over, I'd like to review some key highlights on our progress in the first nine months as Magnera. First, the dedication and spirit of teamwork displayed by Magnera team members are resulting in great outcomes in integration, commercial excellence, and cost synergies. Additionally, we have made meaningful strides in the strategic evaluation of our enterprise and solidifying priorities for our future state. The commercial excellence plan was centered on our go-to-market foundation by leveraging our wide array of product solutions versus our peer set. Through these efforts, the team has already captured some great wins, including successfully leveraging a 20-year relationship with a core hygiene account. By introducing the full suite of our air-laden feminine care solutions, we achieved a new 2026 business award.

Speaker 3

A second example comes from the expansion of our food and beverage offerings by developing an advanced food protection solution, increasing the shelf life of the final product. My last example is tied to another long-term U.S.-based global customer where we have been trusted to expand our wipes business with them in Europe. We continue to build momentum in our combined commercial and innovation teams to drive strategic portfolio growth. Our information technology system migration, led by our CIO and cross-functional teams, is executing the required conversions to exit our transition service agreement on schedule. In fact, there are areas of this effort already completed for certain tasks. The focus of a seamless conversion is our guiding light. We have not wavered from our net synergy commitment of $55 million in savings through 2027.

Speaker 3

Our procurement and operational task forces continue to make progress in executing alternate raw material qualifications with a priority to build flexibility in our supply base. We expect procurement and operations to deliver value this year and further accelerate cost reductions in 2026. A thorough product portfolio evaluation with a focus on identifying the technologies and product offerings that support our long-term right to win and grow profitable shares is underway and will cement the appropriate actions required to enhance value creation. It will serve as a foundation for our longer-term strategic plans. By actively engaging with our customers in supporting their supply requirements and leaning in with our innovation efforts, we are better aligned to meet their desired product enhancement requirements. Operating with agility to navigate the near-term challenge of macro demand uncertainty and tempered consumer spending will be key to delivering long-term sustainable growth.

Speaker 3

Now, I will turn the call over to Jim, who will review Magnera's financial results. Jim?

Speaker 6

Thank you, Kurt. Before we dive deeper into the results, I want to take a moment to remind everyone that when we present our performance in comparison to the prior year quarter, we adjust the prior period figures on a constant currency basis to eliminate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. In addition, our prior year results incorporate full-year impact of our merger. For those interested in the detailed breakdown, the reconciliations between the adjusted EBITDA and reported results can be found in the appendix of our earnings presentation. Turning now to slide 12, as Kurt highlighted earlier, our total sales for the June quarter reached $839 million. Notably, we experienced consistent demand in our Americas consumer solutions and Asia's personal care segments, areas where strategic investments and innovation efforts continue to deliver positive results.

Speaker 6

These results validated the effectiveness of our targeted product development and customer engagement strategies, which continue to create differentiated value for our customers. While we faced headwinds in our South America region and general softness in our European markets, reflecting ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, the overall performance demonstrates the resilience of our portfolio in an otherwise complex global environment and challenging economic backdrop. Our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $91 million, a reflection of a disciplined execution and synergy capture. This figure benefited from continued contributions stemming from our merger-related synergies, recent acquisitions, and rigorous cost reduction initiatives implemented across the business, which were offset by pressures due to softer volumes and unfavorable product mix. Moving to the operating segments in greater detail, as outlined on slide 13, the Americas division delivered year-over-year revenue of $473 million.

Speaker 6

Within the division, volumes in our consumer solutions category remain stable, highlighting the ongoing demand for our core offerings in North America. However, competitive pressures from imports continue to impact our South America operations. We have responded proactively by implementing strategic pricing actions and enhancing our customer engagement and focusing on operational efficiencies to mitigate these pressures. Adjusted EBITDA in the division declined by $9 million for the quarter. This decrease was primarily driven by volume and product mix challenges, most notably in South America. Nonetheless, we remain confident that our ongoing improvement initiatives and synergy realization efforts will contribute to margin recovery over the coming quarters, supported by our commitment to continuous operations. Shifting our attention to slide 14, our Rest of World division, encompassing our European and Asian operations, reported revenues of $366 million.

Speaker 6

Despite general demand softness, the division delivered flat adjusted EBITDA, a testament to the proactive measures taken within the region, which included the recovery of elevated inflation, operational efficiencies, and rigorous cost reduction programs. The stable profitability underlines the resilience of our business model and the effectiveness of our global operational discipline. Expanding on Kurt's comments regarding our capacity rationalization plans, we expect Project Core to generate annual cost savings of approximately $20 million as we enter fiscal 2026. This program represents a significant step forward in optimizing our global capacity, cost reduction, and positioning us to deliver improved financial performance over the medium to long term. As we close the quarter, the net debt to pro forma adjusted EBITDA was 3.9 times and approximately $570 million of available liquidity, providing a solid financial foundation to support our strategic initiatives.

Speaker 6

In the near term, we'll continue to prioritize strengthening our balance sheet, preserving liquidity, and maintaining operational agility. These priorities are critical as we navigate an evolving global market landscape characterized by both uncertainty and opportunity. We confirmed our post-merger adjusted free cash flow and our adjusted EBITDA range, which reflects a prudent and realistic assessment of the near-term environment. This confidence is driven by our intense focus on capital expenditure management and rigorous working capital initiatives, both of which continue to yield positive results. Our teams have demonstrated outstanding commitment and discipline to integrating the business and drive cost efficiencies. We are proud of the progress made to date, encouraged by the pipeline of further cost reduction programs that will support sustained performance improvements. This concludes my financial overview, and I'll hand it back over to Kurt.

Operator

As Jim Till highlighted in the 2025 year-end outlook, we will remain action-oriented and disciplined to deliver long-term shareholder value by prioritizing repayment of debt with a target to reduce our leverage to approximately 3 times. In summary, our path to success is underpinned by the actions of right now in the categories to stabilize, optimize, and grow. Our number one imperative is working safely, followed by servicing our customers with mission-critical products. We will continue to leverage our scale, unique value proposition, and reliability to deliver for our stakeholders. I will finish my comments by extending my appreciation to all 9,000-plus Magnera employees for their passion, tenacity, and accountability. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Speaker 5

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one-one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one-one again. We ask that you please limit yourselves to one question and one follow-up. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Gabe Hajde from Wells Fargo.

Speaker 4

Kurt, Jim, good morning.

Speaker 6

Morning.

Speaker 4

I wanted to ask, I'll go with the easy one first. There's a pretty wide range. I'm assuming $360 million to $380 million is the adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year. We've got, you know, we're a little over a month into the quarter, and we have a $20 million range. I appreciate there's some uncertainty out there, but can you give us maybe a sense for what's driving that range and then maybe where you're tracking with, I guess, volumes or visibility through August?

Speaker 6

Sure. Thanks for the question, Gabe. We've been, throughout the fiscal year, roughly $90 million a quarter, which we think is directionally correct for Q4. When you look at that, that puts us within the range, albeit at the lower end. We went ahead and confirmed. On the cash flow guide, and you didn't ask about it, on the cash flow guide, the actions that the teams are making related to working capital initiatives and the CapEx discipline gave us comfort to confirm our original free cash flow guide, which midpoints roughly $85 million. That's where we landed in terms of the guidance. On volumes, what I would say is last quarter we said sort of sequentially flat, first half, second half to first half, which would have put us sort of minus 3% in the back half. Obviously, this quarter we were minus 5%.

Speaker 6

We think that 3% to 5% is also directionally correct for Q4.

Speaker 5

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Kevin McCarthy from Vertical Research Partners.

Speaker 1

Yes, thank you, and good morning, everyone. I was wondering if you could provide perhaps a little bit more color on Project Core. I heard an expected benefit of $20 million, so perhaps you could talk about the timing or flow-through realization of those projected savings. Is there a cash cost outlay that's associated with achieving those savings?

Speaker 3

Hey, Kevin. Thanks for the question. As we talked about in the last quarter, we continue to find ways to evaluate the business. I would say at this point, we've had a very thoughtful and thorough evaluation of the portfolio and identified areas of opportunity from a capacity optimization standpoint and actions that, again, ultimately will bring in more competitiveness and a differentiation in our portfolio. Those actions that we communicated today really just represent a portion of the program that we've already launched and identified. As we move through the bid cycles over the next few quarters, we'll continue to evaluate and make the appropriate actions if we need to add to that or make changes along the way. I'll let Jim speak to the cash and the EBITDA benefit for 2026.

Speaker 6

Yeah. Kevin, thanks for the question. Just as a heads up, Project Core represents about 5% of our global capacities, and it's impacting both categories, but predominantly the personal care side. We communicated the $20 million of savings benefits in fiscal 2026, primarily benefiting 2026, and the costs are going to be about a one-to-one, so about $20 million of costs also reflective from that program.

Speaker 1

Very good. As a follow-up, I think your Americas volume was -6%. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I was wondering if you could compare and contrast what you're seeing in the United States versus the trends in South America, where I think you cited some import pressure. Maybe just kind of frame out the glide path into 2026 by region, if possible.

Speaker 3

Yeah, in terms of the outlook for 2026, we'll hold off on that until we get into next quarter and give our outlook for 2026. Just in terms of the overall volume decline, it was primarily in the South America region, as we highlighted, with the U.S., Americas, North America market being much more stable and slightly positive.

Speaker 1

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Gabe Hajde from Wells Fargo.

Speaker 1

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the follow-up. I guess dig a little bit deeper on this core initiative and maybe on the last question. Volume weakness kind of seems to be most pronounced down in South America. I'm assuming profitability is probably challenged down there as well. Is it safe to assume that maybe some of your initial core actions would be down there? Flipping gears to Europe, profitability actually was pretty good there. I know you kind of intimated we're not sure exactly how tariff things play out. Have we yet to see impacts there in terms of product moving around, or can you maybe talk about how the quarter unfolded in Europe specifically?

Speaker 3

Yeah. Just to start with your first question, we've identified, you know, Project Core opportunities in all regions. Obviously, there's some that are further ahead in terms of our actions than others, but all of them have been initiated and we've activated, and we're doing that really across the entire portfolio across the globe. Where we see the greatest opportunity now is running through contracts with various pieces of business and understanding where we can identify the best platforms inside of our operation to service our customers in the most cost-effective manner. That will be a journey that we'll continue on. You commented on Europe. I would say I go back to some of the comments and really the strategic value that we bring as a supplier. We have tight relationships with local relationships with our accounts. We have stickiness within them.

Speaker 3

I would say the one thing that I'm most excited about is finding the commercial excellence opportunities where we can bring in the full suite of other products where we've had longstanding relationships, not necessarily a product in our toolbox historically, but being able to introduce those products and, again, grow where we want to grow. In terms of what we're seeing from supply shifts and things like that, we're really honing in on our local supply and just-in-time quality forecast. As it relates to Europe, we talked about some of the synergies, and Jim can touch on this a little bit. They are being positively impacted in those, in Europe, probably a little bit more so than what you would see in other parts of the world. Jim, if you have any follow-up comments on that, feel free.

Speaker 6

Yeah. No, Gabe, I appreciate the question. As you can imagine, there's some sensitivity to giving region by region. Again, all regions are in play and will communicate with the market as appropriate in terms of where those actions are going to hit.

Speaker 4

Understood. I hope you guys can appreciate this question. Two things. One is, on a more positive note, can you help us understand, maybe quantify in percentage terms, the revenue opportunities in aggregate, maybe that you're talking about, Kurt, for 2026? Just sort of given the leverage profile, I know it's early to talk about 2026, maybe on EBITDA terms, but just cash flow metrics, if we think about this year, directionally, should there be a little bit of benefit on the CapEx side from maybe some of these footprint consolidation efforts? Taking into account the $20 million of one-to-one spend, would we expect kind of free cash flow next year to be directionally higher or flat with this year? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Yeah, the question was related to some of the new business wins that we're seeing on the commercial excellence side. That's the first part of your question, Gabe?

Speaker 4

Yes.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that's what we continue to build inside of the pipeline and really helping to give us that line of sight as to where we're going to shift some of our production around, where we can see some of the value-added opportunities and really driving some of those programs to the innovation bucket. Given the timeframe for which these will launch, that'll be part of our 2026 guide. To give you some specifics on that, I'm hesitant to provide some of the details just due to the sensitive nature of the customer relationships that we have going on.

Speaker 6

Yeah. Just related to the 2026 guide, obviously, Gabe, we're not giving 2026 right now. What I would say is, you know, excluding Core, that would have been, yes, it would have been higher. We obviously, you know, we're anticipating higher earnings and cash flows because, as a reminder, the October period isn't included in our guide. Offsetting that is going to be some of these cost-out actions that we communicated here today. Next quarter, we'll communicate the full walk for the market.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Edlain Rodriguez from Mizuho Securities.

Speaker 2

Good morning, everyone. Quick question, guys. Looking at the South American business, clearly, it's very challenged. How should we think of your portfolio in that region? Is there anything that you can do to fix what's going on over there? How should we think of your presence there?

Speaker 3

Yeah, thanks, Edlain. It's been a longstanding great business with a great team and very strong facilities in the region, primarily the personal care markets that we serve in the region. That's where we've had the greatest challenge in terms of import products coming in. From a pricing standpoint, there's been share shifts that have taken place in the region, but I would say, for us, if you look at the overall profitability and their ability to generate cash, it's been one of those things that we've been experiencing over the course of the last couple of years, and it's certainly hit its head coming into this half of the year.

Speaker 3

We believe, from our positioning and what we're doing from a cost-competitive standpoint, some of the intentional actions that we're making from pricing and price volume trade-offs in some respects, that that region will stabilize and we'll feel much better moving forward. I think, from a competitive landscape, that's been the biggest shift, is some of the import redirection of some products.

Speaker 4

Okay, thank you.

Speaker 5

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one-one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one-one again. Our next question comes from the line of Kevin McCarthy from Vertical Research Partners.

Speaker 1

Yes, thanks, and I appreciate you taking the follow-up. Perhaps for Jim, I was wondering if you can just elaborate on the near-term outlook for free cash flow. If I look at the statement in your press release, it looks like cash from operations through the first nine months was marginally positive, and maybe your CapEx profile hasn't changed very much. How are you thinking about kind of the cadence of the cash harvest in the fourth quarter and beyond, and what do you think the important swing factors are in determining whether or not you can increase the cash flow within your targeted range?

Speaker 6

Sure. Thank you for the question. No, what I would say is when you look at Q2, I mean, we're at $45 million right now of post-merger adjusted free cash flow. When you look at Q2, we generated roughly $42 million. I think Q4 is going to look a lot, it's going to look similar to Q2. Again, we're working through the initiatives that we highlighted in the script and a couple of the questions related to the working capital and the CapEx discipline. How I think about it is I think that is, I think that's well within the range. We're obviously very comfortable with our original guide. The teams are doing an excellent job.

Speaker 6

Just a factor, if you think about this quarter, if you were to exclude the working capital kind of swings that happen from quarter to quarter, we would have been sort of $24 to $25 million, even within this quarter in terms of cash generation. The business is doing a nice job in terms of generating cash just organically. We feel very comfortable with the $85 million, and obviously, we're going to do the best we can to overachieve.

Speaker 1

Very good. I was wondering if you could just elaborate or provide a little bit more color on the synergy execution. My impression is that you've been hard at work with your customers, obtaining additional qualifications, perhaps over varying timelines. How is all of that going? Is your confidence the same or higher or lower relative to prior quarters as you have all of those discussions?

Speaker 3

Yeah, thanks. Kevin, this is Kurt. We've been very pleased with the work that the team has done. The SG&A side has certainly been exactly what we had expected and really lifting up certain parts of the organization where people have taken on some additional responsibilities. Inside of the procurement bucket, we talked about the progress we were making on the qualifications and then the timing of that flow-through in our balance sheet and inventories. We feel very, very good about where we stand today. As I said before, I said in the script, $55 million is very much, that's outside of Core, by the way. $55 million is still very much what we expect to achieve and what we will achieve through 2027.

Speaker 1

Okay, thank you so much.

Speaker 5

Thank you. At this time, I would now like to turn the conference back over to Kurt Begle for closing remarks.

Speaker 3

Thank you again, everybody, for joining us today, and especially for your interest in Magnera. We look forward to speaking to many of you at upcoming conferences and phone calls, and look forward to continuing to drive forward the business. Thank you very much.

Speaker 5

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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