Brian D. Goldner
Analyst · Stifel, Nicolaus
Thank you, Debbie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. In 2011, we continued to develop and execute our branded play strategy. We invested in growing our capabilities to deliver innovation globally across our brands and our business. We invested in creating new teams to deploy our brands around the world adding new immersive experiences through entertainment, digital media and licensing. While these investments enabled us to deliver very strong growth in our International business during 2011, and overall solid revenue growth for the fourth quarter and full year, we did not meet our expectations for growth in the U.S. and Canada including in the Games & Puzzle business. When we look to our success in both mature and emerging markets internationally, we know and you can see that our innovation, marketing and brands are very successful. It is clear we can do better in the U.S. and Canada. In both this business and in gaming, we have taken steps to deliver more innovation and growth through the direction of new leadership and the implementation of new plans. I will speak to this more in detail shortly, but let's first review a number of successes from 2011. Revenue grew 7%, reaching $4.29 billion for the year, ahead of our 5% compound annual growth rate target for revenue. As a result of our expanded global footprint, marketing and brand innovation, the International segment grew 19% or 16% without the benefit of the foreign exchange impact. Revenue grew in every major territory internationally, in both mature and emerging markets, and we gained share in 9 of the 10 countries for which we have third-party data. As we indicated and planned, we are growing in Latin America, posting 19% growth during 2011 and at Asia Pacific, where we continue to have strong growth, up 24% in 2011 as we establish our presence in emerging markets and grow our business in mature markets. In 2011, Hasbro was the fastest-growing major toy company in Western Europe. We gained 1.4 percentage points in market share, and have achieved market share leadership in 3 European countries. Through the successful implementation of our branded play strategy, which at the core, focuses on the innovation and invention of Hasbro brands worldwide, we are building bigger and more global brands. In 2011, several brands were more than $400 million of annual revenue including Transformers, which posted $483 million in revenue growing more than 85% year-over-year. Beyblade delivered $477 million in revenues on strong growth in the U.S. and international markets. And Nerf, which has grown fourfold over the past 5 years, was $410 million in revenue in 2011, essentially flat with 2010 and driven by strong growth overseas. The Nerf team continues to deliver great innovation for the brand and we have 2 major new initiatives planned for 2012. In addition to innovation within our core brands, we are inventing new global brands. In 2011, we successfully launched key initiatives including KRE-O and Sesame Street. Beginning in July 2011, KRE-O launched in 10 markets globally, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue and good early market share. In 2012, we will add 15 new markets by year end, as well as expand the line to include Battleship supported by our major motion picture with Universal. 2011 was also our first year with Sesame Street and marked a great first step toward building a year-round global brand. To do this, we are creating play experiences around a number of Sesame Street characters, which engage children and help them to learn. We are very excited about the potential of this brand over the coming years. Hasbro's inventory levels at year end are down 8%. In the U.S., retail inventory was essentially flat and of better overall quality than last year. Given the growth in our business internationally, retail inventories grew in many countries, but we are comfortable with the quality and level of inventory. In 2011, we also funded important investments, which expanded our global capabilities in sales, marketing, licensing, entertainment and infrastructure. And finally, we grew EPS for the 11th consecutive year while returning $577 million to shareholders through our stock buyback and quarterly dividend programs. Last week, the board voted to increase our quarterly dividend 20% to $0.36 per share, marking the third year in a row we have grown our dividend 20% or more. In total, there were a number of things that worked well for Hasbro in 2011. However, despite these significant accomplishments, the year did not meet our performance expectations. Our U.S. and Canada segment declined 2%, weakening most notably post-Thanksgiving when the positive point of sale trends we had seen early in the quarter did not continue. This decline was in line with the industry decline in the U.S., reflecting a challenging economic environment but was not up to our expectations. As a result, we made some strategic moves in the leadership of our business. Wiebe Tinga, who many of you heard from at our Investor Day in November, has taken over as President of the U.S. and Canada business. He is a 24-year veteran of Hasbro, most recently serving as President of Asia-Pacific and Latin America and has been instrumental in the company's expansion in key emerging markets. In this role, Wiebe has built a strong team both in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and the heads of these regions are now reporting directly to David Hargreaves, Hasbro's COO. Wiebe brings a tremendous track record of strong performance, and I'm delighted to have someone with his experience, passion and financial discipline to step in and lead our U.S. and Canada teams. He and the team are focused on returning the business to historical levels of profitability and rebuilding our share in the region by capitalizing on the strength of Hasbro innovation, marketing and brands as he has done successfully around the world. Additionally, our Games & Puzzle category performance in 2011 was disappointing, contributing to the weakness in U.S. We have already outlined for you a multi-year plan that is designed to drive innovation and excellence in gaming, stabilizing this business in 2012 and delivering growth in 2013 and beyond. We have a new team with a lot of talent from outside the traditional board game arena. We've invested in this team establishing the new Gaming Center of Excellence, and they are innovating, creating new technologies and inventing new brands. We continue to believe that through a combination of face-to-face, off-the-board, and digital gaming, there's an opportunity to grow our gaming business. We had a good foundation upon which to build as Hasbro has 8 of the top 10 game brands in the U.S. last year. At Toy Fair, we'll unveil a number of new gaming initiatives, which we are excited about and set the stage for the types of innovation we seek to bring to market go forward. Before I move on from gaming, let me speak to the continued success of Magic: The Gathering. The team at Wizards of the Coast has done a tremendous job of taking this brand, which totaled less than $100 million in revenues in 2008, and was on the decline to where it is today, the largest brand in our Games & Puzzle category, the largest game brand in the U.S. and more than double the size it was just 3 years ago. It proves that with new leadership, strong consumer insights, innovative game play and the integration of face-to-face and digital play, gaming brands can thrive. We need to do more of this. In 2012, the team at Wizards of the Coast will unveil a completely new brand initiative, which you will learn more about at Toy Fair. Looking at the rest of our business in 2011, our Boys category had a tremendous year, growing 35% on the strength of Transformers and Beyblade, as well as the launch of KRE-O, significant sales of Nerf and growth in Super Soaker. Transformers revenue grew by more than 85% year-over-year and came in at the low end of our targeted revenue range for the brand. As the fourth highest grossing film of all time, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was extremely successful at the global box office, and we recently began airing Transformers Prime television animation around the world. In 2012, we have the benefit of global television programming, an innovative line with new characters and play patterns and several new digital gaming introductions behind the Transformers brand. Beyblade exceeded our expectations and was an incredible success globally. When we began to work on Beyblade with our partners, Nelvana, d-rights and Takara Tomy, we set out to manage it as a long-term battling brand, with continuous innovation beyond the core tops. We are entering the next phase of that strategy this year. In fall 2012, we are introducing an all-new play pattern supported by Nelvana's television entertainment and digital play called Beywheels [ph]. In addition, we have other new innovation in the line for 2012, which we will unveil at Toy Fair that will help the continued momentum in the brand. In 2012, we believe in our Marvel opportunity with Marvel and Sony's reinvention of The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as Marvel Studios' The Avengers. We're also looking forward to new Ultimate Spider-Man animation and continuing Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animation. These films and television series help make up a tremendous entertainment slate we are supporting in 2012, which also includes Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in 3-D, which hits theaters this Friday; Battleship with Universal; and G.I. Joe: Retaliation with Paramount; as well as the global television programming behind Transformers; continued television animation and innovation in Beyblade. Now turning to our Girls category. Although overall, the category did not grow in 2011, My Little Pony through a coordinated entertainment, merchandise and retail program, as well as Baby Alive, which is growing in the U.S. and internationally, both posted year-over-year gains. FurReal Friends, after doubling revenues in 2010, remained essentially flat in 2011. This brand is a great success story. Created just 10 years ago, it is now a very significant growth brand for Hasbro. In 2012, FurReal Friends brings new play with the all new Dizzy Dancers line and an exciting new feature pet for the holidays. In fall 2012, Littlest Pet Shop will get a new look at its own Hasbro Studios television series set to air in the U.S. on The Hub. Similar to how we are successfully reigniting My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop television will tell stories, which engage the Littlest Pet Shop consumer and carry through our merchandise and retail presence. Finally, our Preschool category grew 4% in 2011 supported by the successful introduction of Sesame Street and innovation in core PLAYSKOOL. As I mentioned earlier, 2011 marked the first year we had product on shelf in our 10-year alliance with the Sesame Workshop. We are delighted to be working together, and last year was the beginning of building a year-round global brand for Sesame Street. We're off to a good start in 2011. Sesame Street was the #1 dollar growth property within the plush category. Within Preschool, we also successfully introduced the all-new Playskool Heroes line based on Transformers, Star Wars and Marvel. In 2012, this line will benefit from theatrical releases for Star Wars and Marvel properties. Additionally, Transformers Rescue Bots television programming will premiere on The Hub on February 18. We're also excited that Marvel Super Hero Squad programming began airing on The Hub on January 30. In conjunction with this, Marvel is expanding its licensing business behind Super Hero Squad, which Hasbro will support with an expanded line of product. Turning to Hasbro television. Our global initiatives are making real progress with Hasbro Studios programming now airing globally in over 140 countries this year. In the U.S., we are one year into the launch of the all-new Hub Television Network, and the ratings trends continue to be positive. The fourth quarter is the first quarter we have year-over-year comparisons for The Hub. And during the quarter, The Hub posted 31% gains in total day against kids 2 to 11. The network posted growth throughout 2011, and Hasbro Studios series accounted for 5 of the top 10 series for the year. In respect to our movie deals, Stretch Armstrong is scheduled for release on April 11, 2014, and we are partnering with Relativity to bring this film to global audiences. I've described to you before the value of reinventing a brand like Stretch Armstrong. Remember, we have not actively marketed Stretch Armstrong for nearly 20 years. While it is a vault brand, the reinvention and reimagination of this brand will deliver incremental revenues and profits as we activate the entire brand blueprint globally in 2014 and beyond. With Candy Land, we're pleased to expand our relationship with Sony. We are also looking forward to be working with Adam Sandler and his production company, Happy Madison, for the first time. The creative talent on board for Candy Land is amazing, and we're excited to see the world of Candy Land come alive for kids and families everywhere. In 2012, we have 2 films based on Hasbro brands. First, in partnership with Universal, Battleship will debut on the big screen in April, internationally and in May, domestically. And together with Paramount, the second G.I. Joe film, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, will hit theaters in June. We are now working with 4 major studio partners: Sony, Relativity, Universal, and Paramount, which provides us access to amazing talent and tremendous resources. As we look ahead to this year, we believe absent the impact of foreign exchange, we can again grow revenues and earnings per share in 2012. Our focus is on the core tenets of our branded play strategy. This is centered on creating the most innovative play experiences in the industry, inventing new brands, keeping momentum in our International businesses while delivering new immersive brand experiences for our consumers. Our plan includes a return to historical profitability levels in the U.S. and Canada business and a drive for growth while creating innovative gaming experiences globally through newly created and reinvented Hasbro brands. I believe we have the right teams in place to make this happen. We have invested in the infrastructure to move from global aspirations to global execution and are positioned to capitalize on the innovation in our line all around the world. Our branded play strategy is working even as there are areas of improvement we need to make in our execution. We look forward to speaking with you later this week at our investor event in Toy Fair in New York, where we'll update you on our business and provide visibility to a number of new and exciting Hasbro brand initiatives. We hope you're able to join us. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Deb. Deb?