International Flavors & Fragrances Q4 2021 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
February 10, 2022

There are 12 speakers on the call.

Operator

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the IFF Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen only mode until the formal question and answer portion of the call. I would now like to introduce Michael DeVoe, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, everyone. Welcome to IFF's 4th quarter and full year 2021 conference call. Yesterday, we issued a press release announcing our Q4 and full year 2021 financial results and outlook for 2022. A copy of the release can be found on our IR website at ir.

Speaker 1

Iff.com. Please note that this call is being recorded live will be available for replay. I ask that you please take a moment to review our forward looking statements. During the call, we will be making forward looking statements about the company's performance and outlook based on the current state of the business. These statements contain elements of uncertainty, which we have laid out on Slide 2 under the cautionary statement.

Speaker 1

For additional information concerning the factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from our forward looking statements, Please refer to our cautionary statement and risk factors stated in our press release. Today's presentation will include non GAAP financial measures, exclude those items that we believe affect comparability. A reconciliation of these non GAAP financial measures to their respective GAAP measures is available on our website. Please note that we will be using combined historical results for the Q4 to find us 3 months of legacy IFF results and 3 months of NMB results and for the full year defined as 12 months of legacy IFF, January to December at 11 months of NMB February to December in both 2020 2021 periods to allow comparability in light of the merger completion on February 1, 2021. With me on the call today is our Chairman and CEO, Andreas Fibig and our Executive Vice President and CFO, Glenn Richter.

Speaker 1

We will begin today's call with our prepared remarks and then take any questions you have at the end. I I would now like to turn the call over to Andres.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mike, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Before we dive into our results for the Q4 and full year 2021, I think it's important to acknowledge that this has been a transformational year for IFF. We continue to make tremendous progress amid the global the complex global operating environment. With a world class team and an unmatched portfolio, IFF has become a global leader in high value ingredients and solutions for the global food, beverage, home and personal care and health and wellness markets.

Speaker 2

IFF is a significantly larger, stronger and more diversified organization than when we began our transformation several years ago. The enhanced scale gained through our combination with NNB makes us an even more powerful innovator and trusted partner to our customers. On a personal level, I must also reflect on what has been a tremendous and highly satisfying journey leading IFS. Together, we have taken a number of strategic actions that have transformed IFF into the category defining leader it is today. And I'm also incredibly optimistic about IFF's future.

Speaker 2

The company's leadership team going forward has the right expertise to lead IFF's next chapter are in the position

Speaker 3

of the company. I and

Speaker 2

the entire IFF team are pleased that Frank Clyburn will join IFF are our Chief Executive Officer, effective February 14. Frank brings extensive experience leading complex global businesses and overseeing large scale integrations. He is a proven operator and will enhance the team's focus on execution to benefit our customers, teams and shareholders. It has been a privilege to lead such a talent deployable team, and I know that with the recent appointment of both Frank and Glenn, IHAB will be in good hands. We also recently announced the appointment of Barry Brunel to IFF's Board of Directors as an independent director.

Speaker 2

Barry is a welcome addition to our Board, as he has significant experience leading innovative consumer brands that will benefit all of IFF's stakeholders as the company executes its strategic and operating priorities. Berry joins the Board, 8 of which are new to the IFF Board, within the past year when Frank begins next week. That consists of proven executives with deep experience leading global organizations are now over the course of the year. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.

Speaker 2

Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. On today's call, I will begin with providing an overview of IFS full year 2021 performance And discussing the progress we have made so far on our integration.

Speaker 2

I will then turn the call over to Glenn, will provide a detailed look at our Q4 financial results. Before we conclude today's call with a question and answer session, Ben will also speak I'd like to begin on Slide 6 by reflecting on our strong performance for the full year 2021. Ivers' financial results in 2021 reflect the strength and durability of our expanded portfolio and the exceptional dedication of our teams. Within the challenges of today's global operating environment, we delivered strong sales growth across our business divisions, including meaningful recoveries in the segments most affected by the pandemic. For the full year 2021, IFS delivered $11,700,000,000 in sales, representing 10% growth or 8% on a currency neutral basis, consisted of very strong volume growth and modest pricing contributions.

Speaker 2

Like so many companies now, Persistent inflation and global supply chain challenges pressured our profitability margin, yet we achieved 3% growth in our combined adjusted operating EBITDA. Glenn will cover these topics in greater depth, but I want to note here that we are taking significant IFAV continues to operate with a very strong financial foundation, having delivered $1,040,000,000 in free cash flow or approximately 9% of our sales, driven by robust cash generation. Given our strong financial position, We continue to make significant progress towards meeting our deleveraging target, having already reduced net debt to credit adjusted EBITDA to 4.1 times. We also delivered meaningful synergies in connection with our integration initiatives. Importantly, we have outperformed our cost synergy targets for year 1 In 2021, we also made significant strides to optimize our portfolio, including the successful divestiture of our food in the prepared remarks are now in the Q2 of 2022.

Speaker 2

Once our microbial control sale is complete, the combination of all of these two transactions will generate approximately €1,400,000,000 and gross proceeds. Growing IFF to more rapidly delever the balance sheet. As we continue to progress with our integration objectives, Frank and team will explore additional opportunities to optimize our portfolio, driving greater focus on the core parts of the business And enhancing shareholder value through rapid deleveraging. For IFF, 2021 was filled with exciting achievements and meaningful change that continue to propel us forward and solidify the importance of our business within the global supply chain. Our business is delivering strong growth as an indispensable partner to our customers.

Speaker 2

And while we are operating in a challenging environment, Our leadership team is taking the right action to position our business for the future. We are delivering on our commitment to boldly reinvent, deliver consistent execution and transform our ability to reach and partner with more customers around the world. 2021 was a foundational year and one that I have no doubt that the company will build on as it accelerates into the future. Now turning to Slide 7, I would like to walk through the regional sales dynamics underpinning our results for the full year 2021. I'm pleased to share that we saw strong growth in all four of our key operating regions.

Speaker 2

In North America, we achieved 8% growth across nearly all segments, led by high single digit growth in Health and Bioscience. In Asia, Sales increased by 9%, led by continued double digit growth in India and China. Nourish, Sand and Pharma Solutions all performed particularly well in Asia with strong growth and momentum throughout 2021. IFS achieved 11% growth in Latin America region with double digit growth across nearly all countries. Our Nourish division delivered strong double digit growth with Health and Bioscience and Scent businesses are growing in the high single digits.

Speaker 2

Our EMEA region also delivered strong sales results with 9% sales growth, driven by the double digit growth in Fine Fragrance Business. EMEA was also bolstered by strengths in our Nourish business, which saw significant growth led by Foodservice. Moving now to Slide 8. I would like to discuss our sales performance across IFF Business segments have contributed to our overall strong growth for the year. For the full year, Noche achieved currency noodle sales growth of 9% with broad based strength in our Flavors, Ingredients and Food Design Businesses.

Speaker 2

Health and Bioscience delivered 6% currency neutral growth in 2021, primarily driven by strong performance in Home and Personal Care, Animal Nutrition and Culture and Food Enzymes. Scent also delivered strong 8% currency neutral growth, led by Fine Fragrance, Consumer Fragrance and Ingredients. Pharma Solutions achieved 2% currency neutral growth, driven by demand in our Industrial business. While we continue to see headwinds related Now on to Slide 9. I would like to focus on the underlying dynamics driving segment performance.

Speaker 2

For Nourish, consistent strong performance included double digit growth in ingredients, While our margins were impacted by higher costs of raw materials, EBITDA increased 8% from strong volume growth, Pricing actions and a continued focus on cost management. In Health and Bioscience, strong growth in Home and Personal Care, Grain Processing and Cultures and Food Enzymes were key drivers. Higher costs for raw materials and logistics remains a challenge with an adjusted operating EBITDA margin of 26.8% in the segment. Our scent division benefited by particularly strong rebound from last year in fine fragrances, in addition to continued solid performance in Consumer Fragrances and double digit growth in cosmetic actors. Adjusted operating EBITDA grew 11% as margin expanded 30 bps, led by volume growth, favorable mix and higher productivity.

Speaker 2

And finally, In Pharma Solutions, we saw significant customer demand and double digit growth in the segment's industrial business. Global supply chain issues, however, remain in overhang for 2021 margin performance. Moving now to Slide 10. I'm very pleased to share that our full year sales result exceeded pre COVID levels, which is particularly encouraging for the year ahead. As previously outlined, sales growth was consistent across our business segments, reflecting the strength and resilience of our expanded portfolio IFF continues to deliver enhanced value to our customers as a result of our merger with NMB and the work We are doing to strategically integrate our businesses and focus on execution.

Speaker 2

Simply put, we are a stronger business today and our customers recognize Let's move to Slide 11. I would like to reiterate our strong progress to deliver synergies in connection with the NNB combination. In 2021, we exceeded our year 1 target of are €45,000,000 to deliver approximately €60,000,000 in cost savings. This includes approximately €20,000,000 in savings in the 4th quarter. Revenue synergies also were a modest contribution to top line performance with the projected pipeline continuing to develop.

Speaker 2

Execution and operating discipline remain the top priority for our leadership team, and I'm pleased to see results that reflect this commitment. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Glenn.

Speaker 4

Thank you, Andreas, and welcome, everyone. Thank you again for being with us today. As Andreas highlighted, 2021 was a strong year for sales growth, including a strong 4th quarter finish. Looking more closely at our consolidated 4th quarter results, IFF generated greater than $3,000,000,000 in sales, Representing a 10% year over year increase on a currency neutral basis, our 3rd consecutive quarter of double digit growth, Primarily driven by double digit growth in our Health and Biosciences division as well as high single digit growth across our Nourish, Scent and Pharma divisions. As with our full year results, our 4th quarter margin performance continued to face inflationary pressures, much like our entire industry, Which offset positive volume growth, solid price increases and the benefits of synergies and productivity.

Speaker 4

Early in the Q4, we recognized a significant escalation in inflationary pressures. And as a result, we quickly mobilized I'll discuss these actions as well as our efforts to accelerate productivity and operational excellence when I discuss our 2022 outlook. On the next several slides, I will briefly dive deeper into the Q4 financials of each of our 4 business segments. Turning to Slide 13, I'll begin with our Nourish segment, which experienced both a solid quarter and overall performance in 2021. In the Q4, Nourish achieved 9% year over year sales growth on a currency neutral basis, Driven by strong volume growth and price increases.

Speaker 4

Our flavors business in particular realized strong growth with increased sales across all regions. Ingredients grew by strong double digits due to increasing customer demand and both food design and food service also drove growth for Nourish in the 4th quarter. Adjusted operating EBITDA declined slightly due to inflationary pressures. Pressure on profitability occurred despite strong volume growth, increased productivity and strategic price increases in this segment. On Slide 14, our Health and Biosciences division delivered 4th quarter year over year sales growth of 13% on a currency neutral basis, led by double digit growth in health, microbial control, animal nutrition and grain processing.

Speaker 4

Additionally, Cultures and Food Enzymes and Home and Personal Care each grew at a high single digits against strong year over year comparisons. Our adjusted operating EBITDA increased to 4% due to volume growth and higher productivity, Our scent division continued to perform well and achieved strong growth in the 4th quarter, delivering 6% year over year growth 4% growth on a currency neutral basis. This performance was supported by a continued rebound in fine fragrances, which saw double digit growth driven by new wins and increased volume. Our consumer fragrances category delivered single digit growth against a strong are high single digit year ago comparison. The ingredients business continues to contribute to the success of the overall segment with double digit growth in Fragrance Ingredients.

Speaker 4

Despite solid volume growth and favorable mix in the business, SaaS adjusted operating EBITDA growth was affected by higher cost of raw materials, which we continue to take action to mitigate. On Slide 16, our Performance Solutions segment delivered year over year currency neutral sales growth of 9% from 2020 as a result of volume strength and price increases. Both our core pharma and industrials categories contribute to our strong performance in the quarter. For Pharma Solutions adjusted operating EBITDA and margin was also impacted by higher raw material and energy costs. We recognize the challenges the segment is experiencing due to the current market environment and macro supply chain constraints And are optimistic that as a global situation recovers, we will recognize the full potential of Pharma Solutions.

Speaker 4

Now on Slide 17, I would like to review our cash flow position and progress in deleveraging. For the full year 2021, we delivered strong cash flow of over $1,000,000,000 and are on track to meet our deleveraging goals. 2021 CapEx was $393,000,000 or approximately 3.4 percent of sales, as we made strategic investments in the most attractive segments of our portfolio. Overall, our capital expenditures were lower than originally planned, in part due to slower implementation of projects due to some vendor delays and a continuation of the COVID environment. We also paid out $667,000,000 in dividends to our shareholders in 2021.

Speaker 4

From a leverage perspective, we continue to make substantial progress toward achieving our deleveraging target, Finishing 2021 with 4.1 net debt to credit adjusted EBITDA ratio. IFF reduced gross debt by $124,000,000 to $11,400,000,000 versus Q3, and we finished 2021 with cash and cash equivalents of 716,000,000 We remain confident that IFF is on track to achieve our deleveraging target of 3x net debt to credit adjusted EBITDA Turning to Slide 18, I'd like to provide commentary on our business outlook for 2022. For fiscal year 2022, we expect revenue between $12,300,000,000 and $12,700,000,000 With adjusted operating EBITDA in the range of $2,500,000,000 to $2,600,000,000 We also are forecasting Foreign exchange rates will be a headwind in 2022. Approximately 2 percentage point headwind to our revenue And a 4 percentage point headwind to adjusted operating EBITDA in 2022. As you are all well aware, we continue to operate in a Complex market environment with ongoing uncertainties from pandemic, global political tensions and supply chain challenges.

Speaker 4

IFF and our industry at large have been impacted by these issues, and we expect and have planned for that these challenges will remain entered 2020 2. As I shared on our Q3 call, we expect inflationary pressures to be significant in 2022 As we see large cost increases in raw materials, energy and logistics. As a result, We are taking significant pricing actions to fully offset our dollar cost exposure, which we expect will result in strong sales and profit Growth, but will depress margin. Longer term, we remain confident in our ability to recover margin to pre inflation levels As we are focused on improving returns to generate strong value creation for our shareholders, we also remain intently focused on driving We are increasing CapEx in 2022 to approximately 5% of sales as a result of 2021 CapEx carryover and increased investments in capacity expansion in key technologies, which will help support growth will also lowering logistics costs. Finally, we will also be increasing inventory by approximately $300,000,000 Slide 19, I would like to focus more specifically on the cost inflation trends that we saw in 2021 and now forecast to see in 2022.

Speaker 4

Heading into 2022, we expect certain costs, including raw materials, energy and logistics will continue to rise much as they did in 2021. Overall, we expect 'twenty two cost increases to be double digits, call it approximately 10%. We are seeing most of these increases related to inflation in raw materials, With double digit increases in hydropolytes, oils, cellulose, pulp, turpentine, aroma chemicals, petrochemicals, Fragrance, Specialty Chemicals, Savory Ingredients, Specialty Chemicals, Agriculture, Grains and Sweeteners. The inflationary pressures manifest themselves differently between the legacy N and B and IFF businesses. Most of the higher energy and logistics costs in 2022 are related to legacy NMB.

Speaker 4

With added capacity coming online later this year, We hope to start to mitigate some of the logistics headwinds we have been facing due to an imbalance in supply and demand. If you look at legacy IFF portfolio, we are seeing high single digit raw material inflation similar to our flavor and fragrance peers. Recognizing these challenges, we have been aggressively pursuing broad based pricing actions and accelerating synergy and productivity efforts. Turning to Slide 20, I will provide a bit more insight into our sales guidance for 2022. Our $12,300,000,000 to $12,700,000,000 sales expectation represents continued momentum on top of our Strong 2021 results.

Speaker 4

To get a more comparable revenue base, you must add back approximately $500,000,000 of sales related to NMB in January of 2021 as NMB results were not part of ISS until February 1, 2021. Our sales guidance also accounts for the removal of June to December 2021 Revenue results following the anticipated completed sale of our microbial control business as well as the first 9 months of 'twenty one sales for the fruit prep divestiture, which we closed in October of last year. That gets you to our comparable 2021 revenue base of $11,850,000,000 as indicated on the slide. As I said earlier, we are significantly increasing our prices in order to fully offset the dollar cost exposure of our inflation for 2022. With that in mind, we anticipate pricing to be significantly larger contributor to the top line in 2022.

Speaker 4

This pricing impact, plus more modest volume growth following a strong 'twenty one, will be central to our overall sales performance in 'twenty two, We expect our to grow approximately 6% to 9% year over year on a comparable currency neutral basis. Now in terms of our guidance on the adjusted operating EBITDA front, we also have to make adjustments for comparability. If you add back EBITDA related to N and B's January results and subtract the EBITDA related to 7 months of EBITDA as a result of the anticipated divestiture of our Macroga Patrol business as well as the EBITDA related to the fruit prep business for the 1st 9 months of 2021, you get to a comparable 2021 base of approximately 2,500,000,000. As mentioned, implementing broad based pricing actions to offset deflationary pressures is critical to our 2020 plan. Over the last 3 plus months, each of our business has executed pricing actions across essentially our entire customer base.

Speaker 4

As a result, we anticipate to completely offset projected 22 inflationary pressures with pricing actions. The majority of these actions will be implemented in the 1st and second quarter. I would also note that we anticipate that 2023 will benefit from an additional $200,000,000 of net pricing benefit due to the full annualization of our pricing actions, which will be equal to 100% capture of the combined 20212022 inflation impact on our business. Importantly, we also continue to closely monitor the global supply chain environment and will be prepared to execute additional price actions as appropriate. By adding anticipated volume leverage plus synergies and productivity, we expect Comparable EBITDA growth in 2022 to be strong, up approximately 4% to 8%.

Speaker 4

It should be noted that the synergy and productivity contribution here is a net number, where it is a combination of the benefits of synergy and productivity, Net of cost of living increases and reinvestments in the business, our guidance implies that our adjusted operating EBITDA margin will be down modestly versus 2021, principally due to our net dollar cost recovery, Which equates to approximately 100 basis points. Over the course of 2021 2022, We will see more than $1,000,000,000 of total inflation. And while we are working rapidly to cover via price increases, It has impacted margins significantly. To give you a perspective of the magnitude, our margin for Full year 2022 on an inflation adjusted basis will be approximately 300 basis points higher were approximately 23.5%. In terms of margin cadence throughout 2022, We expect the first half to be down year over year with expansion coming in the second half.

Speaker 4

While sales are expected to be strong in the first quarter, Year over year adjusted operating EBITDA margin performance will be the most challenged of the year, Down over 300 basis points versus our reported Q1 2021 margin, with each quarter after that improving. Much of this will be driven by price to total inflation, where we expect to turn positive starting the Q3. As I conclude, I want to highlight our 4 key areas of focus for 2022 and provide further color into our detailed Our 6% to 9% targeted 2022 currency neutral sales growth anticipates that we will continue to maintain volume growth are consistent with overall industry growth rates. We believe that our exceptional R and D pipeline and scaled global commercial teams, including targeted 'twenty two investments, will allow us to continue to deliver superior customer solutions and support strong growth. In addition, as I mentioned previously, we are making substantial investments to increase capacity Lastly, we will be sharpening our focus on our revenue synergy opportunities as we are behind our original planned pace.

Speaker 4

As much of last year was focused on addressing near term supply chain issues. That said, we are confident that the breadth and depth of our platform will allow us to build meaningful revenue synergies over time. 2nd, as previously outlined, we are currently focused on broad based pricing actions to offset inflation. And importantly, as the macro environment evolves, We are prepared to quickly execute additional pricing actions throughout the year as needed. To enhance our ability to react more quickly to the dynamic environment, over the last several months, we have undertaken a comprehensive end to end review of our procurement processes, implemented new pricing tools and established core pricing teams for each one of our businesses.

Speaker 4

Our focus has been to compress the time between inflation signals and customer pricing actions, ensuring we optimize product segment and customer specific pricing actions can closely monitor the level and pace of pricing utilization. Going forward, we are focused on further enhancing our procurement processes and pricing programs. 3rd, we are determined to accelerate our synergy utilization and more broadly our productivity efforts in 2022. For your reference included in our 'twenty two guidance, we are targeting approximately $200,000,000 of cost reductions from synergies, yield enhancements and reformulations, logistics efficiencies and other operational improvements, net of wage inflationary pressures and targeted investments to help drive top line growth, we are targeting net cost efficiencies of approximately $100,000,000 for the year. While we feel this is good progress, we also recognize that there is more work to do.

Speaker 4

Consequently, in addition to the end to end review of procurement, accelerate the scope and scale of our global shared service capabilities and developing a detailed technology and digital integrated roadmap, All with the goal of driving meaningful efficiencies, while also ensuring we provide superior customer solutions and service. 4th, we are actively working to accelerate our non core divestitures. As we have discussed, we are on track to successfully complete the sale of our microbial control business, which will enhance the efficiency and profitability of our portfolio. We're also targeting additional portfolio optimization to further delever our balance sheet and focus on core growth opportunities. Over the coming quarters, we will proceed with marketing a handful of non strategic businesses, call it 3 or 4, Where we believe that over the next 18 months, we can generate expected proceeds of approximately $1,500,000,000 to $1,700,000,000 Similar to our Food Prep and the Probuil Control businesses, These are non strategic and the transactions will be accretive to our go forward growth rate and margin profile.

Speaker 4

With this action plan together with our current sales momentum and strength of our leading portfolio, I am confident that IFF will deliver strong results in 2022. With that, I would like to turn the call back to Andreas.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Glenn. I thought transformation has been deeply personal to me, and I know This company is stronger today than it has ever been. I'm proud of the solid year we had in 2021 with significant year over year sales and profit growth As well as steady progress towards our integration with NNB. So all of my time at IFF, I've been consistently impressed by the thousands of employees have dedicated their time and talent to make our company the category defining leader it is today. I want to thank them for their contributions over this year At the time, I have led the company and also for their passion about IFF and the commitment to our customers.

Speaker 2

The path ahead for the company and its new leadership team is clear. I'm confident that IFF enters its next chapter with the right team, A best in class portfolio, innovative spirit, significant financial flexibility and a unified sense of purpose to drive long term growth and benefit our shareholders, employees, customers and communities. With that, I would now like to open the call for questions. Thank you.

Operator

And we will take our first question from Arthur Zechmann with Bernstein. Your line is now open.

Speaker 5

Hi, good morning everyone. Hi Andreas. Hi Glenn. Thanks for taking my question. Can I start with 2?

Speaker 5

The first one is on the Top line guidance for the year. Can you just outline to us what's required to get to the higher Or the lower end of the range, respectively, please. And the second one is, you're pushing through quite a lot of price increases already ahead of Some of your key peers in F and F. What's the volume elasticity that you expect or have already seen on the price

Speaker 4

for the question. Your two questions are highly related, because relative to the top line, we'd say the variable that's likely to be the bigger Indicator of the range is whether it's going to be more volume than price. If anything, frankly, we feel very good about what we've implemented from price, What's coming through, if there's additional inflationary pressures, we may in fact push additional pricing. But volume to some extent, I think is the bigger question mark for us. We had a 2% to 3% assumption relative to volumes.

Speaker 4

That's probably a point lower than historically the market from a standpoint. And that will probably drive the difference in terms of the top line. To your second question, we've actually have not seen Much elasticity, I. E, as you know yourself sort of picking up on the consumer product companies have been releasing recently, Volumes generally have been sticking in the market. We have 1 month, by the way, the month of January results.

Speaker 4

Generally, volumes are sort of holding in there to Q4. So we're not seeing sort of a drop yet. That being said, when we put the plan together, recognizing this It's going to be a very abnormal year given the sheer degree of pricing. We thought it prudent to plan accordingly, and we actually expect And what we've seen from an awful lot of our competitors is everybody is basically implementing the same range of pricing in the market.

Operator

And we will take our next question from Mark S. Trachman with Stifel, your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Yes, thanks and good morning everyone. I wanted to follow-up Sort of related to the last question. So in the 'twenty two guidance, I guess, both top line and adjusted EBITDA expectations is Really strongly predicated on this pricing. So how do you think about this in kind of broader longer term Strokes, if you go back years ago, competitors ebbed and flowed in terms of the ability to take price and how quickly they took So how do you think about how your competitors react? Because if you go back through those Nobody is really talking about specifics, but you just laid out specifics.

Speaker 6

So how do you think about or what's embedded in what your competitors are going to do from a pricing standpoint and how quickly can you adapt if your competitors don't directly follow how much you're taking at this point? And just a related point, how do we think about it beyond 2022 in terms of how much pricing is given back versus what you're taking this year?

Speaker 4

Sure. Great question, Mark. The reality is we're well to midstream on pricing actions. We signaled in our Q3 call with heavy inflation on the horizon. We reacted very quickly.

Speaker 4

So we spent the latter part of the Q4 and then sort of every working day this year of executing broad based pricing across the entire customer base. That actually has been quite effective. So based on the read of that, I. E, we've implemented most of that pricing already, which will kick in So over largely over the 1st and second quarter, it appears to be sticking. We also know from observing our competitors is they're under similar Inflationary pressures, we're also seeing the same thing, and there's they also are passing pricing through.

Speaker 4

So we feel like we're sort of neck to neck terms of what we're doing in the market, we are being surgical. There are certain categories that are slightly more elastic or price competitive, if you will, and are being thoughtful That's sort of where we price and there are other areas that typically are less elastic for a host of reasons and sort of making sure that we sort of price appropriately in those segments. But we do believe that actually more than believe that we've seen it, a lot of our pricing is in fact now and being implemented over the coming months and we have not As I mentioned, a big significant change in terms of volumes and the amount of customers that we've lost has been relatively small, Directly related to our pricing actions. Relative to the longer term, as we mentioned on the script, We had about $400,000,000 of inflation last year. We're anticipating about $600,000,000 so all in $1,000,000,000 between the 2 years.

Speaker 4

We implemented $200,000,000 last year and we're planning on matching the $600,000,000 this year. So we're still $200,000,000 short. We do fully anticipate to capture that additional $200,000,000 as we move into 2023. And very The market continues to ebb and flow, although we haven't seen a lot of movement on raw materials recently. There's been some ups and downs, but we are prepared to react.

Speaker 4

If there are additional stationary pressures, we're positioned to go to market very rapidly.

Operator

And we'll take our next question from Mike are Sison with Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.

Speaker 7

Hey, good morning. Good end to the year and Andreas, it's been great working with you. I guess my question is, when you think about when the deal is put together, You seem to be on track to hit your top line growth goals through 2023. If you're going to do 2.5 to 2 6 this year. It does seem like sort of a tall order to get to over $3,000,000,000 by 2023.

Speaker 7

So just curious, do you think the Salute EBITDA goal in 2023 is still doable or maybe it's delayed a year. And I know if you get to $200,000,000 in pricing next year, that a lot. So just curious, you can sort of walk us through what happens in 'twenty three relative to the original goals for the deal.

Speaker 5

Thank you.

Speaker 4

I think it is the question in some sense how we think about our longer term goals. Obviously, Frank joins us next week, and we will be working very aggressively over the coming months to review our longer term targets. That being said, I would say 2 things. Certainly, going from 2526 to call it 3,233 is a big number for next year. As you pointed out, I think we have a clear line of sight to $200,000,000 of incremental pricing, at least another $100,000,000 of synergy productivity.

Speaker 4

I actually would hope for more, Quite frankly, but we have $100,000,000 left on the expense synergy side. That gets us directionally to 2.85 to 9% range from a standpoint, so we're beginning to close the gap, but there's still a gap there. And we have work to figure that out. I think on a qualitative basis, I am optimistic this last year because of the operating environment has been very challenging. Again, we would have anticipated the level of inflation and what we had to deal with.

Speaker 4

On top of that, the global supply chain issues, but we do feel a combination of the strength of the platform in terms of revenue opportunities for growth. And in addition, the more time I spend here, the more I'm convinced that there are meaningful opportunities to enhance our overall performance In terms of productivity and operating margin, so until Frank has arrived and sort of go through that very detailed process, we can't provide a number, But there's a clear line to call it 2829 next year based on pricing and productivity, and I think we have additional opportunities on top of that.

Operator

And we'll take our next question from John Roberts with UBS. Your line is now open.

Speaker 8

Thank you and best wishes, Andreas. You're guiding to a 4% headwind from currency to EBITDA are in 2022 and that's more than the 2% impact on sales. This is our first time going through an FX headwind with the new portfolio. So Maybe help us with how much your costs are in dollars relative to the revenues in foreign currencies. And you cited the euro continues to be the key currency, but has the overall basket Of important currencies change with the new portfolio.

Speaker 4

The basket has changed actually with The combination of NMB is actually slightly more U. S. Based than it is non U. S. Based.

Speaker 4

Roughly around 50% of our revenues are U. S. Are in the range of currencies for the residual. From In earnings perspective, while the euro is 25% in revenues, it's about 20% in terms of our earnings from a cash flow standpoint because we have a higher cost base It's European denominated. So it is a significant portion.

Speaker 4

It's the one that's what we focused on from a risk standpoint. As you know, the euro dropped from Circle 118 on average last year, it's been in sort of the 113, 114 range. We were planning a 113, so that's how we sort of think about the year.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Operator

And we will take our next question from Adam Samuelson with Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. I was hoping to maybe dig in a little bit more just on the cost synergy capture and the assumptions that are embedded in the 'twenty two guidance, just where kind of what and what's left to capture post 22 and I guess the corollary to that and this is kind of addressed a little bit in some of the other conversations, but as we think about where we are exiting 2022 with some of the pricing carryover, just relative to the original N and B merger plan, kind of The margin EBITDA potential in 'twenty three and beyond.

Speaker 4

Yes, sure, Adam. Thanks for the question. Relative to the synergies we identified, as a reminder, we did $60,000,000 $21,000 Our commitment was to get to 180 this year and to ramp up to 300. We're actually going to be short of that. We're actually posting another 90,000,000 this year.

Speaker 4

I would note that our total productivity basket is $200,000,000 So we're thinking more broadly than just synergies. Frankly, a year past the deal, it's important that we just figure out how to cut costs across the enterprise as opposed to just focus on the narrow combination areas. Now of that shortfall, if you will, this year, it's all in the procurement arena. Just given what's going on with global supply chain, it wasn't realistic to sort of count on The synergy impacts of 60 plus, the 90 gets us basically to the 150. And as I mentioned, fully confident we're going to get the residual 150 in synergies through other areas and we'll continue to focus on productivity above that.

Speaker 4

So if you think about the carryover for next year between pricing of $200,000,000 and then another 150, That's how you get to the $2,800,000 to the $2,900,000 from sort of a carryover standpoint into 2023.

Operator

We will take our next question from Jeffrey Zekauskas with JPMorgan. Your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Thanks very much. You generated $1,400,000,000 in cash flow on an EBITDA base of $2,400,000,000 Or a little less than 60%. Is that the ratio that you expect for 2022, that is your operating cash flow will be about 1.5. Or do you think you can make improvements in this ratio? What

Speaker 4

We have some more work to do to figure out sort of where we're going to be longer term relative to cash generation. We're going to be are actually making slightly higher investments in 2 areas this year. I think net of these investments will be sort of about equal on a cash flow basis. One is we're going to be adding inventories building, I should say inventories of about $300,000,000 As a reminder, when the deal was closed a year ago. We were at artificially low inventory levels about 111 days.

Speaker 4

Historically, the combined entity was in the 125 range. We built some of that back at the end of the year. We were but we're still sort of short of where we need to be. The second thing is our CapEx spending will increase This year has worked well relative to last year. Those increases are twofold.

Speaker 4

We ended the year less than $400,000,000 Some of the CapEx we were unable to implement last year, that was a byproduct of suppliers, basically being delayed in terms of supplying steel and other products and in addition just we operate in COVID environment, so the speed at which we were able to implement the slowed as well. So we're ramping up and we're also ramping up to address some capacity constraints, supply chain, which will actually achieve help us achieve higher demand levels as well as lower costs on the logistics side. So Net net, there it's about a combination of $500,000,000 increase between inventories and higher CapEx year over year, But the overall cash flow from the business to be relatively neutral after that's done. Longer term, as I mentioned previously, We really have some work to do to think about our longer term sort of goals relative to the cash generation of the enterprise.

Operator

And we will take our next question from Lauren Lieberman with Barclays. Your line is now open.

Speaker 9

Great, thanks. So I know you commented on there being in that your residual $200,000,000 benefit on pricing once we get into 2023. But I did think it was worth just referencing the fact that some of your competitors talk about it taking 18 months to 24 months for inflation to be covered with pricing. So I'm just curious why that would be such a shorter timeframe for you? So that's kind of point 1.

Speaker 9

And point 2 is just I think the in N and B Businesses, there are components of them. My understanding, they're a little bit more commodity esque in nature where switching costs would be low for your customers versus more and there's certainly plenty of very value add and that's not true at all. But just any thoughts or the degree you have visibility on elasticity for those portions of the portfolio. I don't know how what the data was like at NNB and so on, if there's visibility into some history on that piece of the business as well that's informing your elasticity thoughts for this year. Thanks.

Speaker 4

Thanks for the question. In general, as I mentioned, we haven't seen much volume drop off relative to our pricing So, there are certain categories that are slightly more competitive, but in the environment where demand is still relatively high, We've been able to push through pricing. So nowhere have we seen sort of great pockets of sort of softness across any of the businesses. That's point 1. Point 2, There is a lag and that's why the $200,000,000 will kick in late this year and roll into next year from an overlap standpoint.

Speaker 4

And there's two reasons for that. There's contractual relationships that despite actually in this environment, it's been easier to open up renegotiations to the level of inflation. It takes time to renegotiate and put it in place, so just a timing element. And then some of the contracts are more industry based or Certain indexes that are applied as well. So recall, we had $400,000,000 last year.

Speaker 4

So we're basically implementing all that and then we have another $600,000,000 to catch up. So by that $1,000,000,000 we will catch up $800,000,000 of it within literally sort of Five quarters and then we will kick in for the residual into 'twenty three, which is right in that same window for the 18 months, thinking about sort of full implementation.

Operator

And we will take our next question from David Beletier with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.

Speaker 10

Thank you. Good morning. Going back to the volume guidance this year of 2% or 3%, it seems a little bit low given you are gaining share, you might have some beginnings of initial call at revenue synergies. Is there anything limiting that volume growth assumption for this year that you can point out? Thank you.

Speaker 4

I think we have been appropriately prudent in our planning process given the sheer level Pricing that we have in the plan, we didn't want to sort of push the envelope, if you will, from a volume standpoint. As I mentioned previously, it's going to depend upon the consumer. Certainly, in the very, very early days of the year, that seems to be holding up, but we have a lot of year ahead of us as well. From a capacity standpoint, as we've mentioned in the past, we are making very meaningful investments, a combination of CapEx as well as inventory To allow us to address some of the legacy issues we had last year. Those issues were principally in the legacy N and B businesses, so we feel better about having the capacity to meet demand if it continues, but it's largely a function of just being prudent in this sort of a very, very unprecedented market

Operator

And we will take our next question from Ghansham Panjabi with Baird. Your line is now open.

Speaker 1

Thanks. Good morning, everybody. Congrats again, Andreas. I guess, maybe a follow-up to the last question in terms of Your characterization of channel inventories, if you can, I'm looking at 2 subcategories on Slide 9, ingredients and fine fragrance has obviously had a very, very big year. Are Are you assuming some sort of meaner version as the year unfolds just from a demand standpoint as channel inventories comp against pretty healthy comps from 2021?

Speaker 1

And then also, I'm sorry if I missed this, but did you break out the sequencing of inflation in terms of what you're assuming the inflation trajectory as the year unfolds? I know you made comments on 1Q.

Speaker 4

Yes, let me hop. I'll answer the second question really just to give you some perspective on margin, sort The margin change year over year progression through the year, so that reflects sort of the combination of inflation and the pricing actions. Interestingly enough, Because we've been in 2 years of COVID, it's difficult to look at any of the businesses on a given quarter, and it's better to look on currency neutral results in our businesses actually tightened up quite a bit and they come very close together. So as it relates to this year, From our planning standpoint, we don't have big differences planned per se across our different business units. There are much more tighter distribution in volume, in part because we have a 2% to 3% volume in general and in part because we think we're in a more normalized environment and some of the capacity issues are also being effectively addressed.

Speaker 4

So we don't expect to have A wide range of impact a wide range of differences between the businesses as it relates to volumes. From a progression on the Pricing actions and inflation and how we're offsetting that. We do expect that the first half, principally the Q1 will be the most challenged. We expect that the Q1 is likely to have margin down year over year a little over 300 basis points. We expect that that will soften to around 150 ish in the Q2 and then in the back half of the year, we'll basically be up to get to the full year.

Speaker 4

The full year guidance is sort of directionally down 80 basis points year over year from a combination. So that basically is a reflection of how we see the sort of the pricing kicking in relative to the inflation.

Operator

And we'll take our next question from Chris Parkinson with Mizuho Securities. Your line is now open.

Speaker 11

Great. Thank you so much. So when I look across your portfolio, you had pretty solid results in Nourish, Sun, etcetera. When you kind of take a step back and look at the portfolio right here, right now, can you just comment on 2 things? The first, just where you feel incrementally more positive on the potential for revenue synergies and then also just any further color on smaller portfolio pruning?

Speaker 11

Thank you so much.

Speaker 4

Yes. Good question. So maybe Andres can add a little bit more on the revenue synergy. We feel very good about the longer term prospects on revenue synergies. We admit that we're behind.

Speaker 4

We basically are not on the original plan relative to the timing or the pace of the revenue synergies. That in our view is simply a function of how we spent the last year. The last year because of the nature of supply chain issues, inflation issues, We ended up dedicating resources more than the here and now from the standpoint. It's actually also allowed us for our commercial teams, our R and D teams To basically spend more time working together and it's a byproduct of that. We do feel like there's a very, very strong pipeline of opportunities

Speaker 2

are going forward. So Andreas? You will see basically the majority of the opportunities within our Nourish division, because by the nature of the products and the customer, it just goes very nicely together if you just take all The plant based protein products where we basically can offer almost a total solution on in many, many cases even a total solution to our customers. So That's one example. The other example is and we had just one of the big customer meetings on the American Cleaning Institute Congress this month, Where you see that the enzyme business for Household Care Products and the Fragrance business are going hand in hand.

Speaker 2

So these are Certainly the biggest opportunities for us going forward. And then something which we should not underestimate is that we have Opportunities on the R and D side as well. And I'll give you just one very concrete example. Everybody is looking now for these, the capsules where you put the and to produce a green capsule. And now with our enhanced capabilities, we have many more programs running to come up with really good solutions.

Speaker 2

They are already in generation 2 and 3, and that is a synergy by themselves as well on the R and D area, which probably takes a little bit more time. And then, Paul, again, you should comment on the portfolio. Yes.

Speaker 4

It's a great question on portfolio. As I mentioned in my comments, I think we've done a very, very good job of being thoughtful about these non core businesses. Non core, those are basically are sort of dilutive are top line and bottom line and just simply strategically don't have a great fit. As you know, we have sold through PrEP. We will be closing the Q2 on microbial control.

Speaker 4

That's basically $1,400,000,000 of gross. We have 3 or 4 other businesses that are being teed up. We will be going to market in the coming months quarters. We fully anticipate to have them executed, I. E, the transactions closed and the cash in hand within 18 months.

Speaker 4

We think that range is $1,500,000,000 to $1,700,000,000 relative to the 3 to 4 entities. And very importantly, our goal is to use those proceeds to get us to the 3 times or lower leverage ratio. So that actually have been working very well. We have a dedicated set of teams that do nothing but sort of focus on that to get that done. The markets have been good Relative to interest in certain properties, so we're very encouraged by that.

Operator

And

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you very much for the participation and the good questions and take in consideration. That's my last IFS meeting here. Thank you for all the good and constructive work and have a good day. Thank you.

Operator

This does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time and have a wonderful day.

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Earnings Conference Call
International Flavors & Fragrances Q4 2021
00:00 / 00:00