Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining the Haleon 2024 Q3 Trading Statements Call. My name is Becky, and I will be your operator today. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to your host, Rakesh Patel, investor relations director, to begin. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Becky. And good morning, everyone, and welcome to Haleon's conference call for our third quarter trading statement. I'm Rakesh Patel, Director, Investor Relations. And with me today is Tobias Hestler, our CFO. Just to remind listeners on the call that, in the discussions today, the company may make certain forward-looking statements, including those that refer to our estimates, plans and expectations. Please refer to this morning's announcement and the company's U.K. and SEC filings for more details, including factors that could lead actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by any such forward-looking statements. Today, we will focus on revenue performance. And we have also provided group profit and margin detail on both a reported and an adjusted basis, with a full reconciliation, including organic revenue and profit growth, in the appendix. Following Tobias's remarks, we will take your questions. [Operator Instructions] With that, over to Tobias.

Thanks, Rakesh. And good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to report another strong quarter of consistent delivery driven by continued share gains from our portfolio of exceptional brands, combined with strong in-market execution. Organic revenue growth was 6.1%, balanced between price and volume/mix. Our Power Brands grew 5.4%, with broad-based growth across all regions. Our developed markets grew 4%, and encouragingly, North America saw an improved performance. In emerging markets, we delivered 11% growth, with China up double digit. Equally important, our growth algorithm continued to deliver. Operating leverage, particularly from organic gross margin expansion, together with strong investment into our brands, resulted in organic profit growth of 7.4%. This takes us to 9.7% organic profit growth for the first 9 months. In the quarter, we continued to make good progress against our capital allocation priorities. We announced an agreement to increase our stake in the China joint venture by 33%, [ so ] we will own 88%, with a clear pathway to full ownership. This comes after successful divestment of ChapStick and the nicotine replacement therapy business outside the U.S. Together, these transactions demonstrate our commitment to optimize the portfolio through active brand management. We also completed our GBP 500 million share buyback allocation for the year through an off-market purchase from Pfizer. As a result, we have now returned over GBP 1 billion of capital back to shareholders this year. Finally, during the quarter, we raised around GBP 900 million in bonds at attractive rates with strong demand. The proceeds will be used to refinance the $1.75 billion bond we have maturing in March next year. Our numbers today are evidence that we're well on track to meet our full year guidance, which I'll remind you is to grow organic revenues by 4% to 6% and organic profit…

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Guillaume Delmas.

Well, first of all, Tobias, congrats on an absolutely fantastic job over the years at Haleon. And thank you very much for your kindness; your insights; and also when it comes to me, your patience dealing with me and my questions. And so on to my 2 questions: The first one is on your outlook for 2024. I mean, in the press release, I think Brian indicates that you are well on track to deliver your FY '24 guidance. Should we interpret this as you being quite comfortable with current consensus expectations that are for almost 5% organic sales growth and 22.5% operating margin for the year? And related to that, with only 2 months left, what are the key sources of uncertainty? I mean, is it mostly cough and cold and foreign exchange? Or any other factors we should take into account? And then my second question. It's on your VMS business. There was a bit of a slowdown in the third quarter. Can you just confirm this deceleration is entirely down to a tough comparator for Centrum and therefore that we should expect some sequential pickup as early as Q4? And also if you could shed some light on current category growth for VMS, particularly in the U.S.; and against that, your market share development. As in, do you continue to gain shares, thanks particularly to Centrum Silver?

Thanks, Guillaume. Only 2 questions from you -- picking on you. Thanks...

[indiscernible].

So I'm -- good, cool. So let me start with the '24 outlook, so look. I think, as you pointed out right, you read in Brian's quote -- he said we're well on track. I think we're really confident about the year and where we are. I think the Q3 results you have seen balanced between price, volume; 6% growth, I think, bodes well for the future. You've also seen we continue to gain market share, so I think we're doing well against the market as well. And we're also investing heavily in the business. So high single-digit growth in A&P, so we're investing behind our brands. We're investing behind the growth, so I think, overall, I think I would say, very confident in our ability. And you will understand I'm not commenting on where the consensus sits overall, but I think these words were all very, very carefully chosen. And you pointed them out very rightly so. Now you asked about uncertainties for the rest of the year, so look. I mean we're guiding to organic, so FX isn't a consideration. I can't plan FX. If I could, I wouldn't be working here. So I think that's -- it's going to be what it's going to be. From what we said on FX is very, very clear. We put in the aide-mémoire 4% on the top, 6% to 6.5% on the bottom. That is unchanged, so no concerns here from that perspective. And of course, we'll update you with what happened then, compared to October 3 rates, as we put out the next aide-mémoire at the beginning of the year. So what are the uncertainties against the organic growth? I think cold and flu is an up and down. It could be a bit better. It could be a…

Our next question is from David Hayes from Jefferies.

I'll just go for 2, I guess, as well. So just firstly, on the FX leverage effect. In the quarter, obviously, it was running at about 2x the sales effect at the operating profit level. At the full year, you're guiding to about 1.5 effectively, so I just want to -- I know we've kind of been through this before a little bit, but just to understand: Is there anything specific in the third quarter that accentuates that fall-through, or is it just the absolute numbers being bigger? Or should the effect on the operating profit level be small in the fourth quarter for some specific reason? And then the second question, just on the China OTC changes. Does anything change in terms of your visibility and running of that business? And I guess what I'm getting at there is have you got visibility on levels of inventory in the market at the moment. And is that something that you may have to look at as you get more control or maybe run that at a leaner level [ so we get ] some destocking early next year? Anything like that at all that you'd flag is going on in terms of sort of ongoing due diligence in that process?

Thanks, David. So on FX, you're correct. The multiplier was about 2x. I mean, first of all, I think you should view that as an outlier; and I'll explain in a moment why that is. So then ultimately the multiplier reflects a bit the geographic mix of the translation; and that, of course, against where the mix of costs sits as well. And what made Q3 a bit unusual is -- probably is 3 things, right? One is, in Q3 and particularly in the September month, you had -- when you look at sort of the biggest exchange rate pair we have, which is the dollar against the sterling, you had last year the lowest points reached in Q3 and actually in the month of September. And this year, you -- we reached pretty much the highest points. You have about a 10% FX difference on the dollar between that. And then what makes this particularly painful for us is that our sales are weighted to September. So we sell a lot of the cold and flu in the September month, so we get an overproportionate impact on that. And of course, these cold and flu sales are profitable sales. And then you add to that, that there's no A&P against that because we're shipping that stuff being ready for the season, but then we're advertising for it in Q4. And that's also, as a result, Q3 has the highest profitability in the year. So you get higher sales from shipping in. You get better profitability, but you don't get the cost protection from it because you're not advertising in it. And I think that's what's, I think, particular to Q3, so I would see it as a bit of an [ outlier ]. Because normally you get in the…

Our next question is from Iain Simpson from Barclays.

Just to echo those comments about, thanks for all your help and support over the years. And I very much hope that you have a fantastic time doing something a little bit different in the years to come. 2 questions from me, if I may: I wondered if there was anything systemic happening with Panadol because it just seems to be struggling a little bit in quite a few markets. I think you called out Middle East, Africa; some bits of Europe, Australia; I think, maybe somewhere in Asia Pac. I was just wondering if there's anything kind of competitors turning up the dial or whatever or if it's just a coincidence that a lot of Panadol markets seem to turn south at the same time. And then my second question is around Eroxon, where clearly that's launched pretty recently, so I'm guessing you don't have much in the way of sell-out data yet, but fascinating to hear what you do have. But are you able to share anything on retailer uptake of Eroxon? How broadly distributed is it in U.S. stores versus your expectations for this point in the launch?

Great, Iain. Thanks very much. So let me start with Panadol. So Panadol, the good news is, in the vast majority of markets, we're gaining or maintaining share. So that number is well above the 80% mark, so I think -- from a competitive standpoint, I think we're doing fine, so I think -- not worried about that. What we have -- did not get right as we were planning for this year is we expected -- we didn't realize that there was still more use of Panadol last year because there was still a tripledemic or -- and the RSV was going around in some places. COVID was still going around and cold and flu was going around. And there was more use of those products than we thought there was, so we got a bit surprised by that dynamic this year because we sort of had underestimated that. I think that has normalized now, so I think that's now out of the base. And ultimately the data point on us gaining and maintaining share tells you it's a market dynamic that hits the overall market and not just us. And then look. There were some niggles here or there about Middle East with some shipping delays given the geopolitical and some shipping lanes being blocked, so smaller things like that. And in Australia, we had one of the retailers destock a bit, but I think these are small, tiny points, so no concerns on Panadol and its performance, more a normalization that has happened this year and admittedly a bit bigger than we thought it was going into the year. On Eroxon. So yes, we launched. We started shipments pretty much the first of the quarter, day. And we prelaunched it for e-com a few days earlier, but…

Our next question is from Rashad Kawan from Morgan Stanley.

Congrats, Tobias, on everything you've done. Thanks for all the help through the last few years. And wishing you all the best going forward. Just a couple from me, please: on the U.S. So in the slides, you mentioned the overall market in North America improving. Can you speak about what you've been seeing there in terms of underlying trends and what's driving the improvement? And then the second, just on cold and flu. I know, Tobias, you touched on it a little earlier. It seems early reads are suggesting a slightly weaker trend versus last year and especially kind of if you look at one of the slides that you guys put through. I know it's still too early to make a call on the season, but what have you seen in terms of retailer purchase patterns in Q3? What type of season are you guys planning for internally?

Good. Thanks, Rashad. So the U.S. market overall. You remember the last few quarters. I said the market is in volume decline and is showing small value growth given the pricing that was rolling through. That has improved. The market on a year-to-date basis is now flat in volume. So it has come back to flat, which means that more -- in the more recent weeks, it's gotten to volume growth because the volume decline is offset. So I think that's positive. So we're coming back to volume growth, so people are probably beyond the destocking on their pantries. And again, our products are bought on a need basis, so I think we're seeing that supporting the market. And of course, you still have price growth, but of course, that price growth is moderating as we're starting -- we and all -- I think the -- most of the competitors are starting to roll off the price increases they took. And also in the U.S. price increases are usually taken at different points in the year, usually aligned to shelf resets they -- so you don't have sort of this once annual pricing that you have in Europe. So in the U.S., it takes a few quarters to sort of stepwise roll it off. So I think overall, I think, a -- still the market is flat in volume but on an improving trend, which is positive. And we've outgrown the market both in volume terms and, well, of course, in value terms as well. So we've been gaining share in the U.S. on a vast majority of our portfolio, so I think again that is positive. So I think the Q3 numbers, I think, also put sell-out and sell-in in the same -- sort of the same range with…

Our next question is from Celine Pannuti from JPMorgan.

Congrats, Tobias, on all your career. And best of luck to you. My first question is on this volume/mix balance that you are mentioning. As we look into the fourth quarter, I'd just like to understand a bit the moving parts. So it seems that you are flagging that pricing will normalize from Q4. Am I right in thinking that? And then it means therefore that probably we should see a step-up in volume in the fourth quarter. And that's what I would like to -- if you could help us understand the key driver. Because I -- from what you just said, it seems that there was what, a 40 bps, a 40 basis point benefit on volume in Q3 from that sell-in, the non-PE sell-in product, so could you help us understand where the volume step-up will come from? And especially, as I look at Europe, trying to understand why the volume was quite low versus expectation. My second question may be a bit related, but it's on the margin outlook for the year. In the first half, your organic margin was up 160 basis points. In Q3, it was up 30 bps. You are flagging more A&P, I believe, in the fourth quarter, in terms of the flu and Eroxon side. I was wondering whether we should expect a similar path in margin for the fourth quarter on an organic basis versus what you delivered in H1.

Thanks, Celine. Happy to go through those. So what are the moving parts of price and volume? So I think my comments on pricing coming down are probably more for '25, right? So I don't think there is a -- there's anything -- there's a stepping stone in price expectation for Q4, right? So I think -- and the reason is Europe has been very stable, right? The step down in Europe was Q1, where you still have the rollover from prior year. Then all the pricing is largely set for the rest of the year, so you should expect that to be stable going forward. Asia has been pretty stable on it, and I think also in the U.S. it's fairly stable. You always have -- for bigger markets, you might have 1 point up or down, which depends on the mix you do. It depends on the gross-to-net you have running through, so I think, small moves quarter-by-quarter, I wouldn't get overly excited about, but I think the most important message for me is about you've seen us coming back to a balance between price and volume. It's exactly what we predicted, that volume growth comes and picks up; and that has happened. And we will -- and we see that trajectory continuing into Q4, so -- and that's why I've also, in my slide, given you a bit of the history and -- as we've entered the year. And then I would expect going into '25 much more balanced between price and volume. And look: balanced, again 40-60, 60-40. It's not exactly a 50-50, but we're getting back to that longer-term algorithm that we think there is. But for '25, look. Prices -- and look. If you go back into history longer term, pricing usually was around…

Can I just ask on Eroxon?

Yes, yes...

So what kind of a number are we looking at for the first quarter where you're launching? Are we looking at a run rate of 100 million for 12 months? Is it like 25 million per quarter we should be thinking about?

So Celine, it -- I would wish it would be simple to model, right? I mean I think -- and I think the answer is simply I don't know, right? I think the good news is the retailers have taken the product and it's on shelves, so you get the shelf build that we've done in October. And that's positive, right? So that gives you a nice distribution and the first pop in sale. Now it's a question of are we seeing the reorders. Are we seeing the repeats? Is that coming back? And it's a new category that we're building, and that's what is the piece that is hard to estimate, right? So from my perspective, I think, way too early to indicate that. We'll tell you in Q4 what happens, or in the full year results, but I don't think this is one that you can exactly guide on and model, yes. So now -- I mean I said before in investor meetings and with you guys that the reason we're doing this is because it's an unmet consumer need. And we believe it's worth building a single market brand to do that, yes. And we would only do this if we believe there's a potential of $100 million-plus in revenue, but that doesn't mean it's going to come tomorrow or in the first quarter. This will be a slow build because you're not going to build a new U.S. brand for 20 million or 30 million of revenue. That's not enough what you need to sustain a brand in the long run, right? So I think we have an ambition that it's $100 million or more, but that's what we have to see as we execute on our plans, yes. And I think the execution, so far, has been good. If you have time, look a bit of the advertising that's out there. I think it is -- I think the team has done a really good job in starting to land that, but I think it's a new category for us, for the retailer and for the consumer. And that will just take a little bit of time, yes. Thanks.

Our next question is from Victoria Petrova from Bank of America.

Tobias, all the best to you. And thank you for all your help. I have a couple of small clarification questions. First is on Pain Relief outside of what we already discussed. First of all, are you happy with your Advil market share? Who are you gaining against, specifically in the U.S.? Is there any more dynamics to expect? And how should we think about market share in Voltaren? It's the performance is mixed. Is there anything in the base just to keep in mind? Or maybe Advil topical launch impacts it as well. And my clarification question is about this benefit of a tax credit in North America. How much was it? I'm not sure I could find it in your, last year, press release. How should we adjust for it in the third quarter? What's the adjusted number would be. And you said it's not material for the full year, but again, does it suggest like some incremental basis points in Q4 versus Q3 on operating margin side?

Good. Thanks a lot. Thank you. So look. On Advil in the U.S. I mean you might remember, a year ago, we had a bit of issues. And we said we needed to reinvest the brand, reignite it and get to a turnaround. And that's what the team has done, right, so I think, over the last 12 months, this has happened. On a year-to-date basis, we're gaining share. And initially, going into the year, we're still losing share, which is actually really good because that means in Q3 we're actually outgrowing the market, right? So the pain relief market in the U.S. is healthy and we're growing against it. And by the way, that, of course, goes against the powerhouse in the U.S., which is Tylenol by Kenvue, so it is highly competitive. And I think we're winning, again, with Advil, which is important. And yes, there's new launches coming like topical which we need to land, but I mean ultimately the most important thing was getting the core brand back to share growth. And that's what has happened, right? And I think, if you then pull it up to -- and then you asked about Voltaren. Yes, there, Germany, not going well right now, but I think that's what you always have, right? It's a little bit what happened with Advil last year. We turned it around. In a portfolio like ours, you always have a brand in a market or a brand in a couple of markets here or there where you have something happening that's either specific to the market or specific to a few markets that then you have to fix. Sometimes it's your own execution. Sometimes it's competitive pressures, so -- or a combination of these. And I think that's totally normal, but the…

Our next question is from Karel Zoete from Kepler.

Thanks, Tobias, for all the help over the years. I have 2 questions. The first one is coming back to the currency impact. And we know it's difficult, but what prevents you from basically building up more fixed-cost structures outside U.S., Europe and China, where the bulk of your fixed costs are? Recently again a big investment project in oral business in England. Then why not somewhere else? Is Haleon less able to find the right talents in these markets? Is it infrastructure? What prevents you from having a more global footprint in other markets? And then the other question is on Digestive Health. That seems to be much more predictable and robust than historically, at least in the most recent quarters. Why is this? And how much is Digestive Health in that business? Or in other way, are the bigger core brands becoming a bigger part of this business unit?

Look. I now -- I lost you on the last one. So you said, "On Digestive Health." Can you just repeat that...

Yes. The -- you have the line digestive and other. And that was always quite choppy.

Yes, yes...

And now it seems robust and more predictable. We know you've sold some Lower Growth brands, so in relation to that, is it more predictable? How much are the core brands between brackets of that unit nowadays?

That's fine. Then -- thank you. Now I try. So on your currency question, you're asking about sort of longer-term strategic where the footprint is. So first of all, we're doing exactly that, right? I think, as we -- part of our -- part of the efficiency program is building up structures, for example, in India, where we shift and we've shifted already quite a few head counts from the central markets there. So -- and just to bring that to life: I mean, when we spun out of GSK, our capability center in India had a head count of about 100 people. We're up to 700 now, so I think -- so we're doing exactly that, but these things, of course, take time. You're not doing that overnight, yes. So for us, in the FX footprint, I think the biggest block is clearly you have the sterling fixed-cost block that is stable. And we're addressing that with efficiency program along the way, yes. On your question on the oral care facility. I think -- look. This is the crown jewel of our portfolio. This is about know-how and this is about stability, right, so -- and I think you want to have that in one place. And I think, when we looked at renewing this facility -- and by the way, the facility is 60 years old and is in absolute need -- it's not fit for the crown jewel that it is in our portfolio. We made a very conscious decision that this stays in the U.K. given the know-how and the expertise we have and it was not worth risking that, yes. Outside that, in the U.K., we have a headquarter, but I think our cost base in the U.S. -- in the U.K. isn't that high.…

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from Tom Sykes from Deutsche Bank.

I appreciate it's a long call, [ so I'll try and get through ] quickly. Just on EMEA & LatAm, respiratory has been a substantial growth driver within the division. Would you be able to just explain where you've had the most success in respiratory? It looks like, in the last couple of years, it's probably been close to 40% of growth in a very high-margin category, so where does the growth come from, please? And then in your accounts you released that you've had previously reversals of prior year write-downs of inventory. And I think, last year, it was about 74 million. I was just wondering. What categories has that tended to be in? And is that normally a Q4 phenomenon, please?

All right, thanks, Tom. So first of all, I think, on EMEA, LatAm -- so maybe just to clarify, right? I said -- I didn't say 40% of the growth. I said 40% of the business in the U.S., right? So I think our geographic mix on respiratory is skewed to outside the U.S., right? And I think the reason I said this is that there's a lot of U.S. market data coming through on cold and flu trends because you get pretty much daily data rolling through from that. And I think you shouldn't take, at least for our business, sort of a read-across from what the U.S. is doing on a daily or monthly -- on a monthly basis, right? So for us, respiratory is -- it's a core part of the portfolio everywhere. It's a core part of the pharmacy business, which is very big in EMEA, LatAm because the pharmacists need to have these products on shelves. Similar to pain relief products, you need all the respiratory products on the shelf. And in Europe, we're focusing here on 2 brands. One is Theraflu, which is sold in the markets under the brand [ NeoCitran ]; and then on -- Otrivin, yes. And on Otrivin, we had a major innovation with nasal mist. So I mean you all probably know from your childhood how we all hated nasal drops and nasal sprays because it's like shooting a gun up your nose. And we did this new innovation which is a mist, so -- which is much easier to take and actually should sort of take this barrier of using a spray that we all experienced as kids and growing up away. I think that innovation is rolling out across EMEA & LatAm, right, so -- and then on -- so -- and that's where the focus is on EMEA & LatAm. I think sell-in was quite normal. We sold-in ahead of the season, as we always do. And now we're ready to -- we're now ready to go and look how the season will -- evolved, right? And then I think, on your reversal, I'm not sure about inventory risk. I mean we reversed a ChapStick impairment because that -- we had impaired this -- we had this impaired a bit more last -- prior year. And then we got a bit more money for it as we divested it, if that's the one you referred to. If that's not the one, maybe we follow up with Rakesh afterwards, Tom, and we clarify that question for you, yes.

Okay.

We currently have no further questions. I'll hand back to Tobias for closing remarks.

Thank you very much. So thanks a lot for your interest. So before we close out the call, I want to formally welcome Dawn Allen to Haleon. She officially starts as CFO tomorrow. She's been listening to this call. And look: Please give her the same warm welcome you gave me when I started as CFO a few years ago. And also Dawn will be with us at the analyst drinks later today. And also she will be joining me in upcoming investor conference and meetings, so we're both looking forwards to seeing you all. So for this, today, goodbye. And see you all soon. Thank you very much.

This concludes...