e425
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Filed by Diamond Foods, Inc.
Pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and deemed filed pursuant to Rule 14a-12
under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Subject Company: The Procter & Gamble Company
Commission File No: 001-00434
The following is a transcript of an investor conference call and web cast hosted by Diamond
Foods, Inc. on June 2, 2011.
DIAMOND FOODS, INC.
Moderator: Linda Segre
June 2, 2011
3:30 pm CT
Operator: The conference is about to begin. Good afternoon. My name is Cynthia and I will be your
conference operator today. Todays call is being recorded.
At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Diamond Foods Third Quarter Fiscal
2011 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background
noise.
After the speakers remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like
to ask a question during this time, simply press star 1 on your telephone keypad.
At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Linda Segre, Senior Vice
President of Corporate Strategy. Please go ahead maam.
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Linda Segre: Thank you Cynthia and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Diamond Foods Investor
Conference Call and Webcast to review the financial results of our third quarter fiscal 2011,
which ended April 30.
Before we get started, lets cover a few housekeeping items. A printed copy of our prepared
remarks will be available on our Web site, diamondfoods.com, under the section titled
Investor Relations followed by earnings releases within one hour after the calls
conclusion.
Weve arranged for a taped replay of this call to be available via telephone beginning about
two hours after the calls conclusion until 7:30 pm Eastern Time on June 9, 2011. Please
refer to our press release for the dial-in numbers. In addition, this call is being webcast
live, and a replay will be available on the Web site.
During the course of todays call, we will make forward-looking statements as defined by the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including projections of our results.
Since actual results may differ materially from these projections, please review our risk
factors in our SEC filings.
Our forward-looking statements are based on factors that are subject to change and speak
only as of the date they are given. We do not undertake to update forward-looking
statements.
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Since we incurred integration and acquisition-related costs this quarter associated with the
Kettle Foods acquisition and announced Pringles merger, we will focused our prepared remarks
on non-GAAP results. A reconciliation to GAAP can be found in the press release.
Now Id like to turn the call over to Michael Mendes, our Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer.
Michael Mendes: Thanks Linda. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us. Steve Neil,
our Chief Financial and Administrative Officer will also be on our call today.
Today we are pleased to report strong third quarter results and are increasing our outlook
for the full fiscal year. The addition of Kettle and double-digit organic growth of our
snack portfolio grew 72% growth in snack revenue for the period and 61% growth in total
revenue. The profit structure of the business is strengthened as we continue to shift our
mix to more value-added consumer retail products.
Despite increasing commodity costs, earnings for the period were up 91%. Earnings per share
for the third quarter increased 73% to 52 cents, exceeding the top end of our guidance
range. Strong operating cash flow for the period helped fund a significant increase in new
product and advertising investment as EBITDA of $31 million was more than double the same
period last year.
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Based on these results, we are raising our full year net sales guidance. For the year, we
are now projecting net sales of between $943 million to $953 million, which reflects growth
of approximately 40% over last year. We are also raising full year EPS guidance to $2.48 to
$2.52 cents per share, which represents approximately 31% growth above last year, despite a
roughly 20% increase in our share count.
We continue to be focused on expanding the breath and the depth of our distribution and
increasing the sales velocity of our snack portfolio. We have expanded the distribution of
Pop Secret in the mass channel and are demonstrating high shelf efficiency for traditional
retailers with Pop Secret representing four of the top six selling items in U.S. grocery.
Pop Secret kernels, which were launched last year, continue to grow and have reached an 11%
share of the popcorn kernel market. Kettle continues to deliver revenue growth through
expanded distribution, especially in the mass and convenience channels. We are outperforming
the category despite production capacity constraints that will be easing over the next
quarter.
Kettle TIAS!, our natural tortilla product, has been growing five times faster than the
category. This extension of the Kettle trademark is approaching an 8% share of the natural
tortilla market. In the U.K., the Kettle Ridge Crisp line was designed to capture a broader
demographic and has performed as planned, with 57% of Ridge consumers being new to the
Kettle brand franchise.
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Emerald Snack Nuts grew 7% in the most recent 12-week period, three times faster than the
category. The brand hit a record snack nut market share in grocery of 12.8% in April as a
result of improved velocity and an additional 200 basis points of new distribution. The
total Emerald retail platform grew 21% when including the successful extension into the
convenient breakfast category.
As we look to the future integration of Pringles, we believe the key to a successful
acquisition is determined largely by companys ability to effectively integrate the
business. If we can combine the best attributes of Diamond and Pringles, we will form a
truly distinct global snack food company whose potential can far exceed the capabilities of
the two companies alone.
We recognize the need to continue to build and enhance our base business, particularly
during the period preceding the close of the transaction. Reflecting this intent, most of
our organization is focused on driving strong growth from our base business with a select
group working closely with P&G on the Pringles integration plan.
Our integration strategy is to utilize a small, focused Diamond team supported by
experienced world class external consulting resources to enable early stages of the
integration. Since the announcement, weve increased our understanding of the business and
are extremely pleased by the caliber of the employees and the quality and capabilities of
the manufacturing assets.
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At this time, Ill turn the call over to Steve Neil.
Steve Neil: Good afternoon everyone. Please note that our earnings press release and 10Q were
both filed today.
As Michael indicated, one of the main drivers of our 61% sales growth this quarter came from
our snack portfolio, which was up 72% over the prior year. Additionally, non-retail sales
were up significantly over the third quarter last year and were approximately the same as
last quarter.
Gross margin, as reported in the quarter was 26.7%. But excluding a favorable out-of-period
adjusted to input costs, it would have been 26.0%. Retail sales mix, greater scale in snacks
and manufacturing efficiencies in the quarter offset some commodity price pressure and
increased slotting and promotion for Breakfast on the go!
As we discussed last quarter, we are experiencing increases in some of our input costs and
are effectively managing these through hedging and long positions as well as executing
operating efficiencies within our supply chain and manufacturing operations.
We are increasing price on certain items in our retail portfolio where input costs have
exceeded our operating efficiencies. These price increases are due to take effect in the
latter part of the fourth quarter.
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Our investment and advertising increased 57% this quarter compared to the third quarter last
year. While advertising was up significantly versus the same period last year, we were able
to realize some cost efficiencies in our media spend by effectively utilizing a higher mix
of 15-second commercial spots for the Breakfast on the go! launch.
As a result, we are tightening the range for the full fiscal year and now expect advertising
spend to be between $43 million and $44 million or $10 million more than the last fiscal
year. This reflects a year-over-year increase on the fourth quarter spending of over 30%.
Our effective tax rate on a non-GAAP basis was 33% in the quarter and year-to-date, while
our GAAP effective tax rate, which includes discreet items, was 33.4% in the quarter and
33.8% year to date.
Overall, our non-GAAP EPS, excluding integration and transaction costs, was 52 cents for the
quarter, an increase of 73% over the third quarter last year, while net income grew 91%,
reflecting the greater share count from the equity offering associated with the Kettle
acquisition.
We continue to realize strong EBITDA growth, generating $32 million in the quarter and $141
million in the four full quarters we have owned Kettle, compared to EBITDA generation of $73
million in the previous four quarters.
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Working capital increased $35 million in the quarter, reflecting seasonal commodity
payments. Our net debt increased $24 million as a result. We expect a decline in both
working capital and net debt in the fourth quarter as inventory is reduced.
Our net leverage ratio was 3.9 at quarter end, and we expect to exit fiscal 2011 with a net
leverage ratio between 3.6 and 3.8. Now Id like to comment on fourth quarter and full year
guidance.
We expect fourth quarter sales to range from $210 million to $220 million compared to $177
million last year. We anticipate fourth quarter EPS of 40 cents to 44 cents per share
compared to 34 cents last year. Note that we plan on spending around $3 million more on
advertising in the fourth quarter this year, so this EPS growth represents a meaningful
improvement in earnings over last year.
For the full year we are increasing our sales guidance to $943 million to $953 million, up
from $925 million to $950 million previously. Our gross margin guidance range of 200 to 300
basis points above 2010 remains unchanged. Note, however, that gross margin in the fourth
quarter is expected to approximate the margin in the fourth quarter last year at around 25%,
reflecting anticipated sales mix in the quarter as well as higher corn, oil and packaging
costs, which wont be offset with a price increase until the latter part of the quarter.
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Our operating margin expectations of 11% to 12%, excluding transaction and integration
costs, remain unchanged from our previous guidance. We expect our tax rate for the year will
be approximately 33%. Overall, we are increasing our EPS guidance to $2.48 to $2.52 cents
per share. This represents growth of 52% to 55% in net income. We are increasing our EBITDA
guidance to $142 million to $145 million as we continue to generate strong cash flow from
operating activities.
With regard to capital expenditures, since the acquisition of Kettle, we have announced
three significant capital programs to help us expand the Kettle franchise in the future.
Our Salem facility expansion, which added 12% to U.S. capacity, went live in April, one
month ahead of schedule and below budget. Our Beloit expansion, which will add another 50%
to U.S. capacity, is on track to be completed in the first calendar quarter next year.
Our packaging and multi-pack capacity expansion in Norwich, England, is on plan and is
scheduled for completion in the fall in advance of the important holiday selling season.
While our estimated fiscal year 2011 capital investments remain unchanged at $35 million to
$45 million, we have entered into favorable, long-term operating leases to finance some of
the expenditures. Thus, we expect to report $30 million to $33 million in capital
expenditures with the balance of our capital investments being funded with operating leases.
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Now Id like to comment on long term guidance. Last September, we projected the company to
deliver more than $4 per share by 2015. With a better understanding of the opportunities for
the new combined business, we now believe we can achieve greater than $4 of EPS in 2014, a
full year earlier.
Let me now turn it over to Linda to provide more details about our approach on the Pringles
integration.
Linda Segre: Thank you Steve. As mentioned, we have a small core team from Diamond supported by
global experts with extensive, relevant experience on merger integrations of this magnitude.
Our collective Diamond resources are working very closely with an integration team from P&G
As you can imagine, there are numerous work streams that are required and each with
different deadlines. We are focusing on the most important aspects of the business and the
activities that Diamond will assume at the close. We are planning to leverage a number of
transition service agreements, or TSAs, as required to effectively transition the business
from P&G to Diamond. The benefit of the long closing period is time available to plan and
prepare for the integration.
Following the merger announcement in April, the executive team from Diamond visited several
Pringle sites and plants around the world. We continue to be very impressed by
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the capabilities and talent of the Pringles employees and the quality of the manufacturing
and brand assets.
At this time, our top two priorities for integration planning are optimizing go-to-market
strategies and providing a smooth and seamless transition of our new employees at the close
of the transaction. We are trying to optimize the best aspects of the two businesses to
create a highly effective and financially compelling organization for the future.
Our go-to-market approaches in various geographies around the world will reflect the needs
of the brands and customers in each market. Our supply chain, back office and IT work
streams will closely follow to enable our go-to-market strategy.
For many of these functions, we will initially be utilizing a TSA, which we are structuring
with P&G. The other critical area of focus for us right now is to ensure that Pringles
employees will transition smoothly over to Diamond at the close of the transaction. As with
the go-to-market work stream, we are working with experts who not only have Reverse Morris
Trust experience but also specific experience working with P&G on other similar
transactions. Our focus here is to align the organization and provide a positive work
environment for our employees.
Diamond is a learning organization, and we have learned from every acquisition we have done.
We are looking forward to the Pringles employees joining Diamond so that our portfolio of
brands can benefit from the shared experiences of the combined team.
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The most important thing for us is to ensure that we are capitalizing on the brain power of
the experienced people running the businesses and the expertise in our external resources to
ensure a smooth transition to the new Diamond.
At this time, we will conclude our formal comments and open the call for questions.
Operator: I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, press star 1 on your
telephone keypad. If at any time youd like to be removed, press star 2. We will pause for
just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.
Your first question comes from the line of Tim Ramey with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.
Steve Neil: Hi Tim.
Tim Ramey: Hi. Good afternoon and congratulations on a great quarter. Couple of questions.
Steve, you mentioned Beloit would be live in the 1Q next year. Are you thinking calendar or
fiscal?
Steve Neil: Calendar.
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Tim Ramey: Okay. Thats what I was thinking too. And then on the top two priorities for the
go-to-market, have you been able to think more about some of the sales dis-synergies that
could occur? You mentioned that when the deal was announced, there could be some markets where
its just too far of a supply chain to service. Is there any more work that you can talk about
there?
Michael Mendes: Well maybe Ill start on that Tim. We are quite focused on the go-to-market
front. Were quite early in the process of thoroughly evaluating the current go-to-market
structure and how consumers are serviced.
I would say that in these early days, were encouraged that we have identified some
effective ways to service that consumer, and I think broadly we feel that weve identified
some effective and cost-efficient paths to service the trade that serves those consumers.
Were now going to the next level of understanding how to orient the supply chain and some
of those elements.
The business still is fully owned by Proctor & Gamble, so were somewhat limited with our
visibility in some areas. But I would say that early on weve not identified major
dis-synergies that are concerning us, and were actually quite pleased by what we see as
some benefits of the combined portfolio on a go-forward basis.
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So I would say we see no red flags, but were still pretty early in the process Tim.
Tim Ramey: Good. And one more quick one for Steve. It sounded like there may be an adjustment
to the walnut cost accrual in the quarter when you mentioned that gross margin might have been
26% without a favorable adjustment. Am I reading that correctly?
Steve Neil: Yes, we estimate some of our input costs, including walnuts, and there was a small
adjustment. Year to date, I think its around $300,000, so very small. But we did have a small
adjustment impact going one way in the second quarter and offsetting it in the third quarter.
Tim Ramey: Okay terrific. Thanks so much.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Bryan Spillane with Bank of America. Please go
ahead.
Bryan Spillane: Hi. Good afternoon.
Michael Mendes: Hello Bryan.
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Bryan Spillane: Just a couple of questions. One, on Kettle, you mentioned the supply constraints
in the quarter. Did you have customers on allocation? Or would sales have been better if you
couldve produced more?
Michael Mendes: Bryan, I think that the practical limitation is because of the shorter shelf life
of a flat chip product like Kettle, when were looking to build demand and new distribution,
we need to be able to supply that quite readily. Its not a situation such as in some cases
with popcorn or snack nuts where we might be able to forward build inventory. We really dont
have that luxury.
So part of the challenge is that you need to have the capacity pretty much imminently live
before you can be pushing for new elements of distribution. So we have to go a bit more hand
in hand with pursuing opportunities.
So weve been measured in our growth trajectory and were looking forward to having that
additional capacity. I would say that we are preparing the markets for what we hope is going
to be a nice stage of growth when that capacity comes online.
Bryan Spillane: Okay great. And then in terms of price increases, you talked a little bit about
the rise in input costs and youd actually begun talking about that last quarter. And so the
pricing that youre planning for the fourth quarter, does that help capture what youre
expecting into 2012 as well on your base business?
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I guess youre starting to get a pretty good look at what your cost basket is going to look
like next year. And do you think that the actions youre taking now are going to adequately
support or start to cover some of the cost inflation for 2012?
Michael Mendes: Were coming at it from a couple of approaches. In some cases, our pack size might
have more volume than the competitive set for a certain tier. In those cases, we are
adjusting the weight to be more in line with the competitive set as a way of not having to
raise the retail price. And in other cases, were passing price in certain items.
All in, were hoping to get our price levels so that we cover some of that projected
commodity cost pressure going into the new fiscal year.
Bryan Spillane: You talked a little bit about the steps youve taken to make sure that the
Diamond organization remains focused on the core business as you head into the transition
period.
How are you comfortable with what Proctor and Gamble has done on the other side to make sure
that the Pringles organization is also focused on maintaining, the normal business momentum
as you go into the exchange?
Michael Mendes: They have had a good track record historically of how they handled brands during
the transition period. We have had very open dialogue about that and we feel that they have
created the right structure to help accommodate that.
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One bit of good news in this process is that the people who are running the business today
will be coming forward and joining Diamond in the future. So theyre quite incented to have
a strong, healthy business that theyre going to be helping focus and grow in the future.
Our interests are mutually aligned, and it is something that we talk about constantly.
Bryan Spillane: Okay great. Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Bill Chappell with SunTrust. Please go ahead.
Bill Chappell: Good afternoon.
Michael Mendes: Hello Bill.
Bill Chappell: Just digging into the fourth quarter expectation on gross margin, I think Im
right in saying you had always expected to be somewhat in line with last year, just with the
walnut business and how that affects the mix.
Can you walk through that again and give a little color on whats going on in the fourth
quarter? And then maybe some clarity of how much thats impacting gross margin versus the
offset of cost versus the timing of the price increase?
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Steve Neil: This is the first quarter in a while that we have comparability between the two
years, because we bought Kettle at the end of March last year. So its a very comparable sales
mix.
I think the one thing thats a little bit different, if you recall from the last call, the
nature of our non-retail business and the nature of the crop that came in were going to be
heavier on our non-retail business here in the fourth quarter than last year.
Then whats also a little bit different this year is we do have some costs that were not
able to cover until we have the price increase. Offsetting that is operating efficiencies
that we realize during the year. We have a number of moving parts, but it ends up netting
out to what we expect to be a very similar gross margin. Thats why weve indicated sales
mix as well as the size of the non-retail sales and the efficiencies.
Bill Chappell: Okay. And so this is kind of a normal kind of blowing out of that inventory also
that you knew kind of the start of the year?
Steve Neil: Correct, selling through that inventory, and again its a little bit of that
non-retail piece. Its just a little bit different this year than it wouldve been last year
just because of the nature of the crop.
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Bill Chappell: Okay. And then moving to the pricing thats going for next year. Are you typically
looking to price for penny profit or to maintain your margins going into next year?
Michael Mendes: The reality is that we are clearly looking to preserve penny profit. And as our
ability to create value enables us to preserve margin profit, we will strive to do that. I
think that the competitive set will somewhat be a factor.
At times like this were very happy that were a branded company and have differentiated
products. We tend to be in the more premium end of the spectrum of the products that we
offer, which allows us to have a better chance to do perhaps a bit better than just cover
the penny profit. As a growth company, were trying to strive to gain new distribution. On
an apples-to-apples comparison, this is critical for us to enable our growth, not only to
only preserve penny profit. So, hopefully our organic growth, our new products and our
improvement in our mix will help contribute to margin.
Bill Chappell: Great. And then just one last housekeeping item. In doing the math on the tax rate
in the fourth quarter will you be around 291/2 % to 30% to get you to that full year 33%?
Steve Neil: No. year to date, were 33% as well. If our estimates are right, it should be about
33% in the fourth quarter as well.
Bill Chappell: Okay. Thanks so much.
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Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mitch Pinheiro with Janney Capital Markets.
Please go ahead.
Mitch Pinheiro: Good afternoon.
Michael Mendes: Hello Mitch.
Mitch Pinheiro: So could you quantify the price increase that youre taking?
Michael Mendes: We cant because were making small adjustments across a spectrum of our products.
Theres an adjustment taking place in snack nuts, popcorn and the potato chips, so its hard
to quantify, but I would say its fairly modest.
Mitch Pinheiro: Okay. So if you look at it across the entire portfolio, what does modest mean?
Low single digit?
Michael Mendes: Low single digit.
Mitch Pinheiro: Okay. How would you describe, your input cost inflation rate for next year?
Michael Mendes: For next year?
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Mitch Pinheiro: For next year.
Michael Mendes: Im going to give a little bit of a longer answer, but I think the component parts
are whats important to answer your question. I think when you look at the nut segment, were
looking at some input cost pressure there. Its important to note that most of the tree nuts
and even peanuts are pricing at near or at historically high prices, with the exclusion of
almonds. I dont think that there will be much relief in the fall, but in the back half of the
year, there could be some offsets based on the crop sizes. We can give more detail on that in
a moment.
When it comes to an area like popcorn, its pretty well chronicled whats happened in the
Midwest with some of these grain belt crops. Corn also is being influenced by ethanol
demand and the aggregate effect on corn prices. So, I think that therell be a little more
pressure on corn year-over-year. I would say that our pricing actions are intended to be
consistent to that cost movement.
On the potato chip front, more of the cost pressure is associated with oil. I would say
that on the out periods, oil is at a higher than historical average cost. We do use an
expeller pressed oil for our Kettle products. Thats a distinct product thats a bit more
expensive. I do think that thats a question mark on the out periods for oil.
All in, we feel like were in good shape going into the first half of the
fiscal year, and well be monitoring closely. Well make adjustments to either
our pricing or promotional
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strategy if we see some additional headwind. We feel reasonably confident about what weve modeled for next year and our ability to
preserve our profits in context of that commodity cost pressure.
Mitch Pinheiro: So thats very helpful. In terms of the non-tree nut business, how far out are
you hedged roughly, for next year at this point?
Steve Neil: It depends on the product. In the U.S., we are locked in through the fiscal year for
potatoes as well as corn for most of the year. We are now locked in for natural gas on the
chip side, which is a significant input cost.
In the U.K., were locked in for potatoes for the full fiscal year and part of the year on
oil. So we are reasonably long there. On some nut commodities were longer than others.
Mitch Pinheiro: Okay thats helpful. Looking at Emerald, if you back out your distribution gain
benefits, how would you characterize same store sales?
Michael Mendes: Obviously for competitive reasons we dont want to give too much granularity
within the business, but were quite pleased with how our core premium nuts are trading, such
as our deluxe mix nuts, cashew and almond products. Id say thats a core part of our line.
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Weve elected to reduce some of the promotional activity that we used to help introduce
peanuts, and so were right-sizing that volume on a more normalizing promotional
environment. So we feel good about the base.
Weve introduced this new line of sweet and salty mixed nuts, which we feel is a way to give
mixed nut users who like peanuts a premium offering. I would say that thats not going to
be as large of a business in proportion to the regular mix nut business, but itll be a
profitable business. I think that the engineering of our snack nut business improves when
we look at what the consumer needs and find out how we canaddress that in a profitable way
as a differentiated branded product.
So were pretty pleased with our core. Our deluxe mixed nut business is probably our
flagship item along with our almond products, and theyre doing quite well.
Mitch Pinheiro: Are you making progress in gaining SKU per store?
Michael Mendes: Our retail partners have been quite explicit with us in terms of their desire for
us to not share news before product hits the shelf, but I would say that were working very
hard on gaining new distribution. The best thing that helps us drive new distribution is the
performance of the prior period, and were feeling good about our prospects to build out
distribution, particularly in some of the non-scanned channels that were somewhat
underdeveloped going into next year.
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Mitch Pinheiro: Okay. And just one last question. Just looking at your 2014 target of $4, what is
the implied tax rate on that goal?
Steve Neil: Thirty to 33%. We think that some jurisdictions will be lower than our average today
that will be influenced by the Pringles business. But we are just now working with P&G on the
jurisdictions that were actually going to receive and then putting that together in
combination with Diamond.
But we think that theres a possibility to be slightly favorable to where we are today,
given the geographic mix that were inheriting with Pringles.
Mitch Pinheiro: Okay. Thank you very much.
Operator: Your next question comes from Ed Aaron with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Ed Aaron: Thanks. Good afternoon everybody.
Michael Mendes: Hi Ed.
Ed Aaron: I wanted to ask about implied Q4 snack guidance. You have a pretty wide snack sales
guidance range, considering theres only one quarter left in the year, and Im just
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wondering if theres potential for some unusual variability in the fourth quarter that we
should be considering.
Michael Mendes: We have not changed our full year snack number. Were feeling good about our full
year range, so really no noise there. Theres always a lot of moving parts, and we are
constantly launching new products and expanding distribution. The timing of slotting is a bit
harder to project. What we dont want to do, which we wont do, is back into a number and
manage our business because of some prescribed guidance number that we made too narrow. That
is part of the reason why we keep the range broad so that we can run the business as we
appropriately should.
Ed Aaron: Okay. And then the moving up the $4 plus guidance by a year, thats something that
you didnt do when you had your initial call about the Pringles deal. Was there anything that
came out of your additional diligence process that gave you some extra confidence to do that
now, that you didnt at the time when you first discussed the transaction?
Michael Mendes: As we learn more and we build confidence and understanding, were going to be
revealing more of a sense of the future. And in the spirit of being transparent with our
shareholders and our stakeholders, we want to give visibility as we have more visibility and
more confidence. Id say its just another step in the process. Once the transaction closes
and we are quite intimate with the day-to-day running of the business, well be able to give
that much more granularity.
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Ed Aaron: Okay great. And one last one, if I could. On the snack nut business, peanut costs
have just really exploded in the last few months, and I think you have less exposure to that
particular nut than your primary competitor, so Im wondering if, theres, in your mind, a
potential to perhaps gain some share if your price points on shelf dont go up as much. What
might ultimately happen with your competitive set in that category?
Michael Mendes: I dont know if youd heard a little more of the detail behind that. One of the
issues around peanuts this year is that people who use peanuts for peanut butter who normally
dont have to blanche peanuts are doing so this year due to an issue in the crop this year.
This has really compacted and limited the availability for blanching. So actually the total
amount of raw material is not really the issue, but its the amount of blanched material
available that directly affects snack peanuts. I think that issues going to be there for the
foreseeable future, particularly until we get to the next crop.
And whats happening in our world is that we have moderated our promotional spending. I
think that our average price points will reflect a bit of a higher price versus our
historical average, but we are going with our no MSG product now, which is a nice consumer
attribute that we didnt have before, and our merchandising keeps improving.
I think other people are probably taking a little more pricing than we are on peanuts, which
could give an opportunity. Well be interested to see how that works, but were planning to
promote the full line, and, I think the aggregate of the opportunity in the tree
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nut area still may be larger for us than the peanut segment. Well just have to evaluate
that as were going through the fall.
Ed Aaron: Thanks for taking the questions.
Michael Mendes: Thanks Ed.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Akshay Jagdale with KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Please go ahead.
Akshay Jagdale: Good afternoon. Congratulations on a good quarter.
Michael Mendes: Thanks Akshay.
Akshay Jagdale: Michael, just wanted to understand what changed since these trips that you took to
various manufacturing facilities such that, your view about EPS has changed favorably? I
understand the tax issue, but fundamentally, what has changed? Was it your view on sales
synergies? Was it your view on the margin profile? Im just trying to understand what changed
there.
Michael Mendes: When we announced the transaction, we did talk about some accretion that were
projecting the first year, and a lot of people were trying to fill the gap on the out periods.
Candidly, I think we were quite positive in terms of our prospects for the long
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term, but I think that we sense thered be some benefit if we could try to ground that with
a number that people could work with in an out period.
And so weve analyzed the business even further. We have more closely evaluated the brands
performance, particularly in a number of the international markets. Weve evaluated some of
the opportunities related to marketing the combined portfolio and the benefits of sales
synergies of marketing a combined portfolio, and I would say we feel more confident and more
positive about that than we felt Day 1 of the acquisition. So I would say that in
aggregate, Akshay, we feel even better about our prospects today than the day we announced,
when you take all of the puts and takes of the challenge ahead of us.
Akshay Jagdale: Thats helpful. Just to follow up, on your trip, what were you most impressed by?
And was there anything that concerned you? What Ive heard about Pringles strategy in Asia
is that they have manufacturing plants, but price points there were not as good as they would
want them to be. But even though thats been the case, the performance, like you have
highlighted in the international markets, has been pretty decent.
So what if you can just answer, what was most positive thing that you got out of the trip?
Anything that concerns you? And specific to their strategy on international? Anything you
can say would be helpful.
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Michael Mendes: I would say that the proprietary nature of their manufacturing assets and the
aggregate benefit of the R&D work has helped craft these quite distinct products, which have
benefits that are very nuanced, and I think it is quite difficult for the competition to try
to duplicate this, which was very encouraging for us. I think that the fundamental DNA
benefits of Proctor and Gamble, which always looks to create new products that are distinct
and that have an ownable difference versus the marketplace, is very exciting. I would also
say that theres a very strong discipline about trying to build brands that will last, that
have distinct attributes, that are validated by consumers, and that can largely be owned
versus the competition.
The thing that concerns us in reality is these are two different companies. If the best
attributes of Diamonds current business and employees and the best attributes of the
Proctor and Gamble employees and those assets come forward, this is going to be a phenomenal
combination. Obviously, the challenge is going to be that we will need to effectively
demonstrate that we can manage the larger portfolio business and maintain the
entrepreneurial fast-to-market disposition thats helped us be successful to date.
As we bring some of the new Proctor and Gamble employees into our much more entrepreneurial,
perhaps somewhat faster-moving environment, to build comfort and confidence and help people
perhaps more broadly use their skill set here, versus a large organization where you may
have a little more narrow scope, I would say that the early discussions have been be very
positive.
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But, theres going to be change, and we need to socialize the cultures. We are trying to be
prudent and keep our eye on the issues that we need to manage so that we can have success.
So, the clear thing for me is that we are going to have challenges. When you try to
identify them early and make a point to work through those and minimize those challenges,
that is when you have the best chance of success. And so thats what were doing right now.
Akshay Jagdale: Thats great. And on Kettle in the U.S. specifically, can you explain the 5% sales
growth in measured channels and twice the category. I wasnt sure if, when you mentioned the
category, if it was overall chips or Kettle chips. What Im really looking for from you is
whats going on in the Kettle chip category today from your point of view from a competitive
landscape, how Kettles doing and perhaps how you think this merger with Pringles could help
Kettle over the next two or three years?
Michael Mendes: We were referring to the 52-week period numbers, and the reason that we were doing
that on total chips is because there have been a number of weight changes that a lot of
competitors are dealing with due to the commodity cost issue. It has been throwing some noise
in the shorter term data periods. What is happening is that some people are addressing the
commodity cost issue in a series of ways, many by downsizing packs, some by taking price. And
I think that youll probably see some volume pressure
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as a result of those higher price points. Well have to see. I think that therell be more
pressure on regular flat chips than from premium Kettle chips. Time will tell.
As far as the combined portfolio, one thing weve learned on the global outlook outside of
the U.S. is in many of the international markets, people who are distributing chips dont
actually have a stacked chip offering and a flat chip offering in their portfolio. From our
early diligence, it appears that our go-to-market team on the Pringles side can really see a
benefit of having a two-format offering that can help better serve that greater snack
category. And so I do think that thats going to be beneficial.
They are quite distinct products. They are generally in snacks, but theyre very distinct
products. Fortunately, they are generally merchandised in many cases in a similar area.
This will hopefully allow us to get some synergies from the combined benefits of the two
brands, which should make us more important to the snack trade.
So again early days, but were pleased by the prospect. I think that with the scale of the
volume of product being shipped into the foreign destinations, we will definitely benefit
from Pringles volume in some of those more remote destinations where Pringles has to take
volume first to sell some of our other snack offering.
Akshay Jagdale: Great. Thank you. Ill get back in line.
Michael Mendes: Thanks Akshay.
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Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Heather Jones with BB&T Capital Markets.
Please go ahead.
Heather Jones: Hello.
Michael Mendes: Hello Heather.
Heather Jones: Hi. Nice quarter.
Michael Mendes: Thank you.
Heather Jones: Just going back to the pricing question. And you may have said this and I missed
it, but when you were referring to a low single digit price increase blended across the
portfolio, is that going to be a combination of weight-outs and list price increases? Or is
that your target for actual list price increases?
Michael Mendes: No that would be a combination of weight and price. Yes.
Heather Jones: Okay. And this capacity that youre adding in Kettle, both here and in the U.K.,
how long do you think that is going to last you, particularly given that youre going to add
50% in Beloit? Just wondering how long you think before youre going to need to add additional
capacity?
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Michael Mendes: Well I hope it doesnt last us long Heather. You know, but I would say that if you
ask, wheres our next opportunity for Kettle it would probably be frying capacity in Europe,
which would be the next place that we would be need it.
In fact, I think that were going to be in good shape in North America with what weve done
in Salem and Beloit, but I do think that in the U.K., given our opportunity to serve the
greater European market, that I could see us in the next 12 to 18 months evaluating our
frying capacity. I think were in pretty good shape in North America in the medium term.
Heather Jones: So add frying capacity in the U.K. to service mainland Europe? Or actually build
capacity in mainland Europe?
Michael Mendes: Well I think that we have got a fantastic facility in Norwich, England. We have a
great operational leadership team. The supply chain works well for us there. Its a pretty
good location to source potatoes. I think that one thing Ive learned from 20-plus years in
the food industry is all the things it takes around managing a manufacturing facility and some
of the distinct elements around Kettle-cooked chip versus some other products. I would say
that out the gate, we probably would leverage Norwich a bit more. Weve got more land there. I
think weve got the capacity to do more there. But we would obviously be open-minded to
evaluating alternatives if theres a better choice.
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Heather Jones: And going back to your comment in the press release about your gross margin
benefiting from increased scale in nuts and clearly sales growth helps but I was
wondering, if you could give a sense of increased penetration at existing accounts 18 months
or so, you gave us an update on how many average SKUs per store, and the goal was to increase
that. And I believe you all have, which clearly has a disproportionately positive benefit
impact on gross margins.
So I was wondering if you could update us on where you all stand with regards to that in the
Emerald line.
Michael Mendes: On our end-of-year call, Im looking to have Andrew Burke and Lloyd Johnson join
that call, and well be looking to give a little more color on that Heather. Ill just say,
speaking to it broadly, that were making progress. Sometimes the best work we do, however,
is to also look at weaker parts of our line and to make sure that were rationalizing out any
of our non-performing SKUs and putting better performing line items in.
Take our Emerald Harmony line. Weve been reformatting that line to a focused product line
that is more within our core capabilities, more profitable for us as a company and is
probably more consistent with a single brand definition. But as a result, were selling
fewer items in that case.
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So if you were to do the puts and the takes, I would say that we want to do more with less
with Emerald Harmony, be very focused with that produce line and to get more focused items
that have greater turns that leverage the capability that we have, particularly from our
Emerald heritage. Then we can look to get new distribution with our new items on the
Emerald line.
As far as our new offering in traditional snack I had mentioned the sweet and salty
products, which have had a very nice reception. We also introduced an all-natural almond in
an Emerald format that well be presenting to the market. We think that is going to be a
product thats going to really appeal to where theres a need and is going to be a natural
addition to our portfolio and not compromise our current set. So thats where our efforts
are focused, along with the Breakfast on the Go expansion. We will try to get you a little
more granularity on that on the next call, but hopefully that answered your question
broadly.
Heather Jones: It does. And my final question is on Breakfast on the go!, specifically. You
referenced slotting, and I know thats impacted results from much of the year. And just trying
to get a sense for, more qualitatively, the magnitude of impacts this quarter versus Q1 and
Q2, and when do you expect that impact to dissipate?
Michael Mendes: Last quarter, we had much more of an impact. We are actually having positive sales
in Breakfast on the go! this quarter, but we are still having slotting. So last quarter,
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for example, we actually had negative sales because of the timing of the slotting. Were
actually showing positive sales this quarter.
Well see that slotting diminish as a proportion even more, because in some cases, weve
have display programs going in and were shipping in display shippers where we dont have
permanent distribution in Q1 of next year. If those dont perform well, we will pay a little
bit of slotting.
So I think well still see a little bit of slotting going into Q1 of next year and maybe for
Q2, because we have two new items that are going to expand out the offering. These are our
Breakfast on the go! fun packs. These are designed for a younger consumer in mind. One is a
berry-flavored product, one is a chocolate-based product, and theyre portion packs that
have less than 200 calories.
But the fun pack positioning is designed to appeal to that younger snacker to give them an
alternative to things like bars. So those are two new items that are coming out, and we will
be slotting those items next year. So hopefully thats helpful.
Heather Jones: Thats very helpful. Thank you.
Michael Mendes: Thank you.
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Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Alton Stump with Longbow Research. Please go
ahead.
Alton Stump: Yes, thank you. Good afternoon. I think most of what I was going to ask has been
asked ready. I guess I was a bit surprised to how big the Breakfast on the go! is in the
quarter and contributed to growth. Could you just maybe kind of walk through, as to what the
ballpark, long-term opportunity is with that brand? Obviously, you are in the process of
taking it to quite a few more retail customers. Is there any long-term sales growth in our
dollar number for that brand?
Michael Mendes: Well Im just going to give you a broad metric. The current business today, based
on its performance in the mass and grocery channel, we believe that the run rate on this
business for retail sales is about a $25 million to $30 million business. So thats retail
sales run rate based on this current period. So obviously its meaningful for a company with
a snack brand our size. Its a great start. We are very focused on building turns on that
business, and I think weve been careful to craft it from day 1 to be a business that will
yield a commensurate level of profitability for the level of investment we plan to put behind
it.
So we like the structure of business. It performed great out the gate. Its a different
segment, and it is a shelf-stable item, but it is also in the convenient breakfast segment,
which is an area that we dont traditionally service.
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It felt like it was a bit of Back to the Future with where we started with Emerald Snack
Nuts in terms of the challenge of getting the optimal shelf location that wed like. Its
unfolding a lot like Emerald did in our early introduction. In markets where were already
very strong, weve been able to secure quite ideal locations. In some markets where were
not as strong, the location and the number of facings is not as optimal.
Were trying to augment that with secondary placement. Were supporting with television, and
were really pleased to have our national television support the product. We think that our
national television campaign was quite functional and quite helpful in bringing some
visibility and recognition for that brand. Were going to continue to support the brand, and
I think its got a good future.
But again, with todays run rate this is a $25 million to $30 million retail business, so
its been a good start, but we have ambitions for it to do more in the future.
Alton Stump: Okay great. Thats all I had. Thank you.
Michael Mendes: Thanks.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jane Gelfand with Barclays Capital. Please go
ahead.
Jane Gelfand: Hi. Good afternoon.
Page 39
Michael Mendes: Hi Jane.
Jane Gelfand: Just a question. We talked a lot and then you gave some nice detail around some of
the opportunities you see on the international side, potentially with Kettle in the mix along
with Pringles. Just wondering, for those of us who are closer to Pringles domestic business
and some of the developed markets where growth has admittedly been somewhat more spotty, can
you maybe talk about some of the learnings you got there in reviewing those businesses and
meeting those people? What are some of the specifics that kind of either hope to get more or
less comfortable with the potential of even accelerating growth from the previous run rate?
Michael Mendes: Well, the equity of the Pringles brand in North America is very strong and the
capabilities of the people who are going to be moving into the Diamond team we are very
excited to have them join our organization.
The Jackson manufacturing facility I would characterize as one of the best food facilities
in the world. I am very excited to work with our team to effectively leverage that business
against our food portfolio. And a very experienced team leading that manufacturing facility
and the R&D and engineering group bring a lot of years of experience, a lot of excitement,
and also bring the benefit of many of the efforts that have been made historically that
perhaps werent fully baked for reasons that might change
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today in the current market environment, or perhaps given the focus and the needs of our
company.
So, in the North American business, we think that the opportunities are significant. I do
think that the lead time will be longer. Its a big business and to sustain its fundamental
profitability and then to grow it is going to take some base work on the organic growth
front.
But were very encouraged by what were seeing there and I think that well be able to give
a lot more granularity again, once the people are in scope. Because this is a structured
transaction, we are required to let the business run independently so we are being very
cognizant to not interfere with that ongoing business.
But were encouraged there, Jane. I will say that the Jackson facility was a food facility
for Proctor and Gamble for a lot of products other than just Pringles in the past. We have a
vision of leveraging that vision and that manufacturing facility in a broader capacity in
the future. And so it will be interesting to see what it can bring for us.
Jane Gelfand: Perfect, thank you very much for that.
Taking a broader look, whats the potential for cost savings once Pringles comes on board?
And maybe could you offer some visibility on earnings that gets built in as a result. But as
you think about updating us in September or what not, around the longer
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term, I dont know whether you can provide any more detail on what youre thinking about
that top line. I think people have a better sense of the earnings piece, and any color you
can give on the top line guide, even over a multi-year period of time would be helpful.
Michael Mendes: Our thought process is once we close the transaction in the end of the year, then
perhaps in February we would like to have an investor meeting, as we have historically in the
past in New York, where we can speak with a bit more granularly about the opportunities, and
well try to speak more to the top line.
I think that weve been relatively successful in meeting our guidance targets because
theyve been built very granularly, very purposefully, with great content knowledge. That
last thing I just mentioned, content knowledge, were lacking a bit right now, because of
where we are in this process. So, Id like to give you a little more color about that. I
feel quite confident about that earnings trajectory we talked about. Were excited about
getting more visibility into the top line. But its probably a little early for us to give
that to you right now.
Jane Gelfand: I understand. Thank you very much.
Operator: Your next question comes from Eric Katzman with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Eric Katzman: Hello everybody.
Page 42
Michael Mendes: Hello Eric.
Eric Katzman: A couple of quick questions. I guess for Steve, first of all, I think I missed
parts of the conference call because I got dropped, but the working capital, I think you said
it should decline in the fiscal fourth quarter, with input costs going up seemingly for
everything, I mean, why should that happen?
Steve Neil: Yes, the decline, Eric, is more due to the timing of some of the commodities that we
generally buy long.
So generally if you look at our fiscal year, we make more commodity payments so thats
the cash going out in the first and third quarter, and much less in the fourth quarter,
and a little bit less in the second quarter.
So this is an opportunity for us basically to utilize the inventories that were long, pull
that down without basically having to replenish them until the new crop comes on in the
fall. So thats the biggest piece thats going to allow us to reduce working capital and
correspondingly reduce debt.
Eric Katzman: Okay. And I dont know if youll be able to answer this one but in terms of the
non-cash amortization that youre going to have to absorb with the Pringles deal, is there any
I mean I assume that that doesnt have anything to do with pulling the $4 number
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forward, but even of itself, is there any consensus to, or any guidance you can give us as
to what kind of that, non-cash hits going to be?
Steve Neil: Yes, the subject has nothing to do with the $4 number, by the way. What you have to
use fair market value accounting, which will value both assets at fair market value, tangible
and intangible. The biggest amortization on the tangible side is the value you attach to
customer relationships.
So its going to be a significant number compared to what we have now, but it would be a
little early for me to give you that number, because thats going to change. Because the two
main things that are going to happen is well write assets up, or down, for that matter, to
their fair market value place of value on the balance sheet for that customer relationship.
And thats what youre talking about, that non-cash amortization and its a little bit
early. We have to get appraisals done, etc. So its a significant number though, compared to
what we have.
But the guidance that we would give you is take a look at and this is just approximate so
dont put it in pen but take a look at how we allocated the Kettle purchase price, and
you can probably get an idea on how that Kettle purchase price was allocated to get a guess
on how much that customer relationship component, the amortization piece of intangibles,
might be in this transaction. But again, thats a real rough guide until we do the
evaluations.
Page 44
Eric Katzman: Okay, and then a last thing, to Michael I guess. The $4 pull forward, I dont know
whether this question again was asked. But the you know it seems to me that in this
environment cost, maybe in some respects is harder to predict than revenue. You know, the
input side of things is so volatile.
So do you think that the pull forward is really more, given that were talking about a
couple years out, is that just more confidence on the revenue side of things, because it
seems like investors would have, lets say, more faith in something thats revenue driven
than cost driven, again given the macro backdrop.
Michael Mendes: I think that if you look at our specific products, and the thing about us is were
not just one item, but were not broadly exposed like many multi-national food companies. On
our particular items, if you were to look through the main input cost drivers, many of those
elements are at or near some of the historical highs.
Our belief is that in aggregate we perhaps have less upside pressure potential from where we
are right now versus perhaps the aggregate basket of food inputs across all food companies.
So the bad news of that is what were living with now. The good news of that in out periods
I feel like we have a little less risk of the aggregate upside potential.
Secondly, were a virtually all branded company. And having branded products allows us to
pass on pricing, which will enable us to better preserve our margin structure for our
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more differentiated products versus some of our competitors. So that speaks a little to our
confidence on the out period.
In addition, it is sustaining our trajectory in organic top line. So Id say its a mix of
both. But I do feel that we have ability to preserve our margin structure despite the risks
of commodity inflation.
Eric Katzman: Okay, I appreciate that, Ill pass it on. Thank you.
Michael Mendes: Thanks Eric.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ken Zaslow with BMO Capital Markets. Please go
ahead.
Ken Zaslow: Hey good afternoon. Just to be clear, the $4 number in 2014, that doesnt include
any more acquisitions, is that fair?
Steve Neil: Are you asking if were working on them Ken?
Ken Zaslow: Im asking if that $4 number if you need to make more acquisitions to get that $4
number.
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Michael Mendes: Historically weve always said its a build or buy model. I would say that, given
the scale of the integration of Pringles, the likelihood would be that organic growth would be
the largest driver, but I would not preclude acquisitions if that makes sense, or some small
acquisitions, if that made sense.
As we have said, we never want to be saying that were precluding acquisitions as being a
part of our growth strategy if the build or buy decision dictates that it makes more sense
for us to acquire something versus building something organically. I think that the
likelihood given whats facing us in that intermediate period with the Pringles integration
is that the higher likelihood would be that it would be all organic.
Ken Zaslow: Okay. Assuming that you reach your, and probably exceed your cost savings, what type
of projects would you invest in, either in the Pringles, or in the legacy Diamond foods
business, of the excess cost savings if there were any?
Michael Mendes: One key would be building more manufacturing assets closer to our terminal
customer base. I think thats an opportunity that exists in Pringles and that would help us
succeed. Thats something that would probably enable Diamond to be more successful.
How that manifests itself, were still determining. Pringles has been very successful with a
bit of a hybrid approach. They have two main high-speed manufacturing facilities in
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Mechelen, Belgium and Jackson, Tennessee. Then they have a number of local investment lines
that are closer to terminal markets.
So were going to be evaluating that. I definitely believe were going to be putting in more
capacity. I think when it comes to the base Diamond business there is some real opportunity
for us to do more automation, as Steve talked about what we have done with our single-serve
and 100-calorie packs, Breakfast on the go!, club packs and Pop Secret. I think we will look
to add more automation, which is an opportunity that were going to want to continue to
pursue.
Were also going to be looking to invest more on the brand and distribution. We think our
products fundamentally are under-distributed and under-marketed. This is coming from a
company that works hard trying to be good at distribution and good at marketing.
We think theres so much more we can do, and I think that humility and that focus on driving
growth and putting dollars against the retail trade and against the consumer is going to
help drive that growth. So we will definitely be looking to put dollars at the point of
action to help build out the brand.
Ken Zaslow: Okay, the next question, Im just trying to figure out the sustainability of the
international growth, I think, something like 36%, and thats kind of driving our model a
little bit higher sales growth.
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Is that something we should expect in 2012 and 2013, that this is the right run rate for
international, or is it just fortuitous in terms of the timing and the pricing environment
and the pull through from, I think probably Asia and all that? How do we think about that
going forward?
Steve Neil: Yes. The primary international improvement that weve seen this year is the fantastic
performance by Kettle UK. The launch of the Ridge Crisps, the launch in the impulse channel,
etc. has really helped. Thats been a great benefit for us on the branded side. So thats
something that I think has been significant.
And then what youve seen this year with the crop that we have, principally walnuts, is that
non-retail piece of our business has grown quite significantly and has enabled us to grow
that international piece.
But on the branded side its definitely Kettle. As we look forward, certainly the
opportunity to take advantage of the distribution channels with Pringles will make the
international markets continue for us to be strong drivers of growth. So it could be just
Pringles as well as with Kettle.
Michael Mendes: On the last call I think Steve had commented about the front half and the back
half approximating a similar volume.
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Michael Mendes: As far as next year, it might not be the case. Part of the reason that happened
this year was because of the size of the crop. There was smaller size on the in-shell
qualifying product, which reduced availability for produce sales in the first two quarters of
the year. That product got shelled and was sold more in the back half, particularly in the
third quarter. So I think that it will be interesting to see if that is going to be permanent
in the crop because of the variety shipped, but that would be historically an anomaly.
Ken Zaslow: And then when you said the international brand, thats not part of the $31 million,
right? The $31 million is the non-retail only?
Steve Neil: Thats correct.
Ken Zaslow: Okay, but that is something we should probably not think about for 2012? We should
probably use 2010, to take growth off that, or, because it sounds like 2011 could be a pretty
big year in total international?
Steve Neil: Right. I think the more normalized mix, if Mother Nature goes back to normal, and who
knows in todays world, would be the mix of quarters in non-retail 2010 versus 2011.
Ken Zaslow: Okay. And my last question is, when you think about 2012 internal EPS, you think
about it as growth rate or an absolute EPS number?
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And the reason Im asking is trying to figure out, obviously this year seems like its
coming in a little bit ahead of your numbers, and it might be a little bit because of the
non-retail business, but do you think of like 2012 internal growth as growth, or thats an
EPS, absolute number?
Michael Mendes: Right now, I would say that the 2012 view is an EPS-based view. In that is a more
full-year, commodity cost pressure that were probably seeing this year, for example, on the
oil side.
Ken Zaslow: Is there anything youve outperformed this quarter, again a little bit, at least in
my eyes because of the non-retail side, but does anything in this quarter give you more
confidence, less confidence, or no change in confidence to 2012 internal EPS growth?
Michael Mendes: No, I would say that for 2012, there are a lot of moving parts, and I think that
our previous EPS guidance holds at this time, all things considered.
Ken Zaslow: Okay, great, thank you.
Operator: There are no further questions. Ms. Segre, well turn the conference back over to you.
Linda Segre: Thank you Cynthia. Thank you for joining us. This will conclude our call.
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Operator: That concludes todays conference call. You may now disconnect.
END
Note regarding forward-looking statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including projections of Diamond Foods, Inc. (Diamond) and the
combined companys results and the expected benefits of the transaction. Forward-looking
statements necessarily depend on assumptions, data or methods that may be incorrect or imprecise
and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from
projections made in this communication. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ
from our expectations include the timing of closing the transaction and the possibility that the
transaction is not consummated, risks of integrating acquired businesses and entering markets in
which we have limited experience, availability and pricing of raw materials, impact of additional
indebtedness, loss of key suppliers, customers or employees, and an increase in competition. A
more extensive list of factors that could materially affect our results can be found in Diamonds
periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They are available publicly
and on request from Diamonds Investor Relations department.
Additional Information
In
connection with the proposed transaction between Diamond and The
Procter & Gamble Company
(P&G), Diamond will file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC. This registration
statement will include a proxy statement of Diamond that also constitutes a prospectus of Diamond,
and will be sent to the stockholders of Diamond. Stockholders are urged to read the proxy
statement/prospectus and any other relevant documents when they become available, because they will
contain important information about Diamond, Pringles and the proposed transaction. The proxy
statement/prospectus and other documents relating to the proposed transaction (when they are
available) can be obtained free of charge from the SECs website at www.sec.gov. The documents
(when they are available) can also be obtained free of charge from Diamond upon written request to
Diamond Foods, Inc., Investor Relations, 600 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, California 94111 or
by calling (415) 445-7425, or from P&G upon written request to The Procter & Gamble Company,
Shareholder Services Department, P.O. Box 5572, Cincinnati, Ohio 45201-5572 or by calling (800)
742-6253.
This communication is not a solicitation of a proxy from any security holder of Diamond. However,
P&G, Diamond and certain of their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be
participants in the solicitation of proxies from shareholders in
Page 52
connection with the proposed transaction under the rules of the SEC. Information about the
directors and executive officers of Diamond Foods, Inc. may be found in its 2010 Annual Report on
Form 10-K filed with the SEC on October 5, 2010, and its definitive proxy statement relating to its
2011 Annual Meeting of Shareholders filed with the SEC on November 26, 2010. Information about the
directors and executive officers of The Procter & Gamble Company may be found in its 2010 Annual
Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 13, 2010, and its definitive proxy statement
relating to its 2010 Annual Meeting of Shareholders filed with the SEC on August 27, 2010.