Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Nomad Foods First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Anthony Bucalo, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Hello, and welcome to the Nomad Foods first quarter 2022 Earnings Call. I am Anthony Bucalo, Head of Investor Relations, and I am joined on the call by Stefan Descheemaeker, our CEO; and Samy Zekhout, our CFO. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the disclaimer on slide two of our presentation. This conference call may include certain forward-looking statements that are based on our view of the company's prospects, expectations and intentions at this time. Actual results may differ due to risks and uncertainties, which are discussed in our press release, our filings with the SEC and this slide in our investor presentation, which includes cautionary language. We will also discuss non-IFRS financial measures during the call today. These non-IFRS financial measures should not be considered a replacement for and should be read together with our IFRS results. Users can find the IFRS to non-IFRS reconciliations within our earnings release and in the appendices at the end of the slide presentation available on our website. Please note that certain financial information within this presentation represent adjusted figures for 2021 and 2022. All adjusted figures have been adjusted for exceptional items, acquisition-related, share-based payment and related expenses as well as non-cash FX gains or losses. Unless otherwise noted, all comments from here on will refer to those adjusted numbers. With that, I will hand you over to Stefan.

Thank you, Tony, and welcome to the team for your first quarterly earnings. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining us on the call today. We're pleased to review our results for the first quarter and to report that we are executing well and remain on track to deliver the 2022 guidance we set back in February. Our business has been significantly disrupted by a difficult macro backdrop, and we see these results as a great achievement for our team. We're not entirely satisfied with our performance, but we are encouraged by the resilience of our business model, the strength of our brands and our ability to navigate difficult waters. With the war in Ukraine, we faced an unprecedented geopolitical challenge starting the first quarter of 2022. Our input costs have risen sharply year-on-year, while our consumers are coming under increasing pressure from high inflation across Europe. It is with this backdrop that we're focusing on performance and delivery, driving world-class retail execution and strengthening our consumer proposition, while further refining our supply chain through targeting investments and process improvements. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we are well hedged on input costs, and we expect at least one more round of price increases to help offset a significant portion of our cost inflation. Supported by our strong free cash flows, we plan to maintain our investment in brand and supply chain improvements, supporting us in 2022 and beyond. We're also investing in our latest acquisition in Adriatic [ph] we are well positioned for the future. With that, I'd like to recap our first quarter key financial metrics, beginning with reported revenues of €733 million, which increased by 3.6%, driven by the first year of inclusion of our newly acquired Adriatic business. Organic revenue declined by…

Thank you, Stefan, and thank you all for your participation on the call today. Turning to slide seven. I will provide more detail on our key first quarter operating metrics. We reported revenues of €733 million in the first quarter, a growth of 3.6% year-on-year, driven primarily by the acquisition of our Adriatic business, as a reminder that transaction was finalized in September 2021. Beyond M&A, first quarter revenues also benefited 1.4 percentage points from favorable FX translation. These growth drivers were offset by a 4.5% decline in organic revenues due to difficult lockdown comparisons, supply chain constraints in the U.K. and the loss of some promotional volume in key markets. Gross margins were 27.9% during the first quarter, reflecting a 250 basis point decline compared to the prior year and in line with our expectations. This was composed of a 200 basis point decline in our base business, as inflationary pressures impacted margins during the quarter. The remaining 50 basis points contraction was driven by the inclusion of the Adriatic's acquisition, whose gross margin are seasonally lower at this time of the year. Mitigating pricing follow at a lag with further price increase is expected to be implemented through 2022. Moving to the rest of the P&L. First quarter adjusted operating expenses of €94 million were stable year-over-year. Its year-on-year stability reflects a more normalized level of A&P spend. We remain committed to supporting our brands with appropriate level of spending. First quarter adjusted EBITDA of €132 million was down 4% versus the prior year, and our adjusted EPS of €0.43 reflected a 9% decline versus the prior year, reflecting the factors previously discussed. Turning to cash flow on slide eight. We generated €46 million of adjusted free cash flow in the first quarter, equating to 62% free cash…

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Robert Moskow with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you. I wanted to ask one question about the guidance. I think you said you might need a third wave of pricing if inflation persists. And I want to know, does that mean that if inflation keeps climbing from here, you'll need a third wave? Or does that mean that if costs stay as high as they are today, you'll need a third wave? And then I'd like a quick follow-up.

Hi, Robert. I mean, actually, what this means is that what we have seen is a steady increase in inflation. And now we're in the middle of, let's say, the execution of the current pricing, which is the second wave. And if effectively inflation keeps on creeping up, if you want, overall, then we would effectively consider third wave at this stage.

Okay. And then my next one, I wanted to make sure I understood your competitive positioning in fish. You've been very transparent about 50% of your supply coming from Russia. And that would seem like a logical thing to present to a retailer to raise price. But I was wondering if you knew whether your competitors in private label and other brands, are they facing the same challenges as you and therefore, they have to raise as well? Or do you think that you're the one who has to raise more than they do because of your sourcing?

[indiscernible] the question is very simple. Obviously, we don't have the full intelligence, but we have - it's a good intelligence. And our understanding is that our competitors, mostly some brand players, but mostly private label producers are exactly in the same situation if sometimes probably even more dependent on Russian fish. So it's for them. It's re-branding [ph] they're facing the same situation, I would put it that way. I think we're moving quite fast. I can't just for them. Then in terms of cost increase, I would put it that way, Robert. It's - well, it's broad-based. It's not limited to fish by the way. It's about cost of old [ph] But in terms of fish, well, I don't see why they would have a different situation in terms of price. The only question they're facing, but I'm not in their shoes is when they are going to decide, obviously, to pass the price, the cost increase, a, from the private label supplier to the retailer and b, from the retailer to the consumers. That is obviously something which is not in my remit. But it's going to come, no matter what. It's more a question of when than if.

Okay, I'll get back in the queue. Thanks.

I would even argue, if you don't mind, that as a private label, you're starting from a lower baseline in terms of price, but you're facing exactly in absolute terms the same kind of COGS increase, which means that in the relative terms, if you - if and when you're going to pass the COGS increase in relative terms, it's going to be a steeper increase.

Got it. Thank you.

The next question comes from Cody Ross with UBS. Please go ahead.

Hey. Good morning, folks. Thank you for taking our question. First question, I'm a little confused about your organic growth guidance for 2022. In your press release, you noted a modest organic revenue decline for the year. And in the slides in your commentary, you noted a low single-digit organic growth. Can you just help us put those two together?

Yeah, sure. I think there has been a corrected statement, I mean, be made in the press release, have just been informed. I mean right now, I think the correct version has been put there. There will be modest growth. The remarks I have put in the speech in the comments on the earnings are the correct ones. It is a modest organic growth for the year. That's what is intended at this stage.

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you for that. And then you held your full year EPS outlook. Many investors we speak with are concerned about the second half operating environment as it gets tougher. Can you just help us understand some of the assumptions underpinning your expectations for the second half, assuming organic sales growth sequentially build, gross margin declines moderate and then operating expense, should we expect that to decline in the back half. Is that the right way to think about it? Thank you.

Yes. I would say, overall, when you take the total map, what we see effectively is a bit of a steady inflation impact across the quarter, more or less, if you have a bit of a ramp-up of gradually, I mean, coming from, let's say, the end of last year getting into this year. At the same time, we have implemented the first wave of pricing in Q1, which is executed as we speak and where we see the impact, effectively, full-fledge impact as of probably the end of Q1, as we have mentioned. And then we are in the process of implementing the second pricing. So there is effectively when you look at point-to-point end of December to early January, you see this gradual development of pricing with quite a significant step-up in pricing in other four from an average standpoint to recover the totality of the inflation or at least to end up with an exiting picture, if you want, that would have compensated for the inflation. So when you take those two elements into consideration, there is an element of neutralization, that's the objective in order to preserve the cost structure and set the right base for 2023. At the same time, effectively, we continue to maintain our cost discipline, we continue to maintain effective to tighten the school [ph] We have made some discretionary intervention that are clearly not impacting the business there. And we still have some element of protection as we see at this stage in terms of in case effective inflation moves up a bit further. We have talked about the possibility of a third wave, and we do have as well some discretionary intervention that it could trigger should I think if the situation requires some more intervention. So at this very stage, under the hypothesis effect that we have, I mean, clearly, we feel comfortable with the guidance range that we have a 171 million to 1.75 per share EPS.

Thank you. I'll pass it on.

The next question comes from Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Yes. Hi, good morning. I was hoping you could give us a little bit more perspective on your raw materials expectations, less from a cost perspective, but more from an availability perspective. I'm most focused on fish, whitefish from Russia, but just more broadly, if relevant. I guess in the case where EU or U.K. relations with Russia continued to deteriorate and there's a tail risk of excessive tariffs or even importation bands on Russia whitefish. How do you size that risk? And then what are your mitigation strategies in the event that tail risk might actually play out?

Well, we've not been waiting for to materialize. At this stage, to be fair, I think at this stage, we just can be sourced in a normal way. So that's one thing. But at the same time, as we said repeatedly, we're taking step to reduce the volume purchase there. Again, it's not like you switch up and switch on the light. You're talking about fish and you need to breathe to obviously grow the fish on you to make sure that you have the right quality. It has to be MSC or ASC, so high quality standard, which is really what Nomad is all about. But with that constraint, which is a great constraint, yes, we have - we need to find - we are finding some ways to increase the purchase from outside of Russia. We're working with some replacement in terms of species like haite [ph] for example, which is very close in terms of flesh and taste. We're starting - and it's something that is going to be significant in the coming years. We're starting with farm fish used. Today, we are something like 98% is wild-caught. But definitely, the future lies also with farm fish provided again that we're dealing with the same kind of quality criteria. So in other words, instead of going to MSC, which is Marine Stewardship Council. We're going to ASC, which is Aquaculture Stewardship Council. And this is the kind of things we're going to develop together with the farms in - mostly it's in Southeast Asia. So we're taking appropriate steps to get there. And in the meantime, yes, obviously, you're also working with Green Cuisine, which is we have a fantastic product, which is called fishless fingers. And it's working very well, aside, by the way, from any…

That is extremely helpful. Thank you for that perspective. If I could ask one follow-up on a different topic. On the second and potentially third rounds of pricing that you're anticipating or contemplating. How - in your low single-digit organic growth guidance, how have you factored in potential retailer friction, as you saw in the first quarter on future waves of pricing? Is that something you've baked into the outlook?

We carry, I mean, of course, I mean, very much, let's say, observing that in the conversation we had. I mean, just to give you some perspective in the context of the first round, and I'll give you some perspective. At the same time, if you want for every price increase we have done historically, we had a number of tension points because this is an exercise that usually start in September, October of the prior year, and that ends up around end of February, depending on the market. And there has always been a point of, let's say, debate negotiation and so on. This year, we only had one and which had ended up actually in a positive way, which is quite unusual. But that tells you one thing, which is effectively retailers and manufacturers are in the same boat, I mean at this stage. I do think that the simple fact that there is a broad-based inflation, let's say, challenge that's hitting everybody. There is a matter of frankly preservation of margin even at their end, which they do understand. The question effectively is about talking about funding, if you want the whole pricing and who is going to be effective pricing by the most. At this very stage, if you want, we have gone pretty successfully in the world, first wave. And in the second wave, we are managing the mix. There are different variable that we have. I just want to highlight to you that pricing is pricing effectively price. But there's a number of other elements that we are looking at, such as promotion as an example, or potentially, if you want to work in a bit more on the mix working effectively as well on trade terms in order for us to boost the total mix. That's what we call our revenue growth management strategy. And we are clearly leveraging both sides with purely price and revenue growth management to circumvent some possible risk at this stage. But indeed, I mean, those risks are there, and it's our job to manage the totality of the portfolio of risk in order to deliver against the objective.

Very good. Thank you, both.

The next question comes from John Tanwanteng with CJS Securities. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions and nice quarter. You mentioned that you were 85% hedged on your supply. Where are you open ended at this point, either by feedstock or end market? And kind of what are the risks there that you're looking at?

To your point, I think we hedged 85% until the end of the year, and I think we're making progress moving forward in 2023. The 15% is really, I mean, where there are some categories where it's really difficult on some of our ingredients. It's impossible quasi-impossible to hedge. So we're pushing the system to the limit. But I'm coming from an environment where we like to hedge 100% on a 12-month basis. I think we're making progress from that standpoint. But when you also need to recognize there are some pieces of the business where it's almost impossible. Is it - there is nothing that I would like to pinpoint. I think it's more broad-based. But let's say, it's more ingredients, you can - let's say, we mentioned, for example, eggs, that kind of things are more difficult than some other categories, I would put it that way. You will just - I mean, I'm sure that you're familiar with all of the food business, but an institution like us where you have effectively fish pool free and veg and so on, it's not necessarily in the best interest even of the supplier to really lock in an entire year. I think the team has done an extraordinary job to get us to the 85% and really pushing even furthermore. But it's really a question of realigning with suppliers and making sure that we can benefit from their production in which other form it is in order for us to look completely for the year the price. And as Stefan said, there's an antagonism on this one, which is at the same time as we want to get the 85% higher, we need to plan the seeds to frankly get to a proper coverage as for 2023.

Okay. Great. Thank you. And I don't know if you addressed this, but how should we think of your capital allocation priorities, given valuations are down across the board in a number of sectors and assets and including your own shares? Are repurchases more of a priority now? Or is M&A still the focus for you guys?

The message, I mean, is still the same. I mean, clearly, it's all about frankly seeking for the best opportunity to maximize return at this stage. We have - and we've stated effectively that we have an opportunistic approach on that one, and we are in constant assessment of all of the options available, including those that you mentioned. And of course, I mean, porting the business. So that's frankly the view that we have.

Okay, great.

Yeah, sometimes also it's back [ph] by additional commodities by the way…

Okay. If I could ask one more, is your scale enabling you to take share and engage shelf space in a tough environment versus in which competitors are doing at this point?

Sorry, can you say, can you repeat the questions, so I'm not sure that we get it.

Yeah. Is your scale and those supply agreements enabling you to drive shelf space and market share gain in this environment?

Well, I think overall, I think the - all the supply chains have been obviously challenged. No, we're not the only ones. And I would say that in some categories where we have a significant position. Yes, scale is a positive, especially long-term agreements, people remember, especially in more challenging times.

I think I would say - I would call it, frankly, scale and if you know how and category captaincy, retailers are really looking at us clearly to help reshape the share if at some point, there are movements within food across the different sectors. So that clearly - it's not just scale, I think, in itself. The organization has developed a very deep knowledge, a very deep in-store knowledge and shareholding knowledge whereby the retailers are really looking at us to frankly help them design the shelf, while maximizing from their revenue at their end, and we clearly must say requested or ask to help them in that respect.

Understood. Thank you and good luck.

Thanks.

The next question comes from Ryan Bell with Consumer Edge Research. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Would you be able to discuss how the Fortenova integration is going? And then also maybe give a little bit of an understanding about the recovery on the on-premise broadly across your portfolio, but obviously, specifically for Fortenova in the regions that they operate in?

Well, overall, to make it simple, I mean, the Fortenova acquisition is doing - integration is doing extremely well. By the way, it's an interesting pattern because of all the acquisitions we've been through so far with a clear focus behind frozen food, which I keep believing that the focus is paying off in terms of obviously, Fortenova in terms of how to approach an acquisition, how to generate the synergies. And every time we're going through another acquisitions, we - I think, or let's say, a model is improving. And Fortenova is really in the middle of this. So first, the first thing is what we've seen after an extensive due diligence is no real surprise. By definition, you always have surprises. But let's say, at this stage, we have more good surprises and bad surprises. That's one thing. The team is extremely supportive, extremely excited to be part of being a core strategy of the organization, which is a big change for them. And I can tell you in terms of energy, it's a huge - it makes a huge difference. People also want to learn and I think we have, let's say, some interesting tools that they can take. And on top of that, to your point, I think we also have - back to on-premise. We think it's a great asset for ice cream, but also for frozen food. We have 120,000, let's say, freezers across the organization. It's part of our CapEx, by the way. It's something that we knew from the start that we need to obviously read, let's say, improve the quality of the assets is something we're doing right now just in the last piece of it right now for this year. And what we've seen at least so far is Easter has been extremely good for us. So we're starting to come back to a pre-COVID situations in terms of ice cream because this is obviously, let's say, out-of-home, imports was a bit on obviously has been, let's say, there were some issues during COVID. I think we can see it's improving big time. So we're quite confident that what was going to happen in the summer is going to be extremely helpful with a very good team, improve the infrastructure, new tools and post-COVID. So yeah, I think it's - we really like the acquisition. And by the way, we also love the margins, imports, ice cream, gosh, it's a great margin. We love it.

If I could just ask one more. You took phased pricing throughout 1Q, and you highlighted a significant portion of that actually came towards the back half or the back end of the quarter. Would you be able to talk about the depth of the price increases kind of as we got towards the end of the quarter, just to understand the magnitude of the full effect of those pricing?

Yeah. I think the comment was really just to talk more about the pricing impact on the sales and execution. The reality is that in the FMCG world, when you pass the list price, you have to support your business during transition time and you have to put in place the relevant level of promotions, together with the retailer in order to facilitate the transition from a given price point to another price point. So managing your promotion during the price increase is essential. So what happens is, just to pick an example, if you have a market that's technically raising prices on Jan 1, you rarely, if you want a net impact on your net sales of pricing, you start to see the effect after probably 45 days or so, 45, 50 days on average. So it's not that we have deferred the execution. I think what's really important was that we did execute the price, actually, even the U.K. started even earlier than that, but the majority of the markets have executed all of the pricing between Jan and February. But let's say, the ramp-up of the effect on a net basis after promotion is really hitting most as of March, let's say.

And would you be able to say kind of the size of that pricing on a percentage basis?

Yeah. I think it's quite bold. I think it's in the range probably of the mid single-digit level, I mean at this stage, depending on the market. Some of them was a bit on the high end of the, let's say, single-digit, the other one we're really closer to the mid-single, but the average is probably around the mid-single from the least price execution standpoint, not after promotions least price.

Thanks so much.

Welcome.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Robert Moskow with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.

Hi. Just a follow-up. The frozen category in Europe, the data looks pretty weak. Declines have continued. I thought it was due to increased mobility among consumers. How is the category doing compared to others in Europe? And has that influenced at all the retailer’s willingness to allow higher pricing to go through? Thanks.

Well, I think to start with the second part, I don't think it doesn't - I don't think it impacts the willingness to come up with prices because they also, by the way, as you know, I mean, they are private labels. So they're going through the same kind of COGS as us. So that would be a big mistake and they're not making this mistake. To your point, I think at this stage, yes, let's say, frozen is a bit weaker than the others. But you need also to remember that during the same period last year - I mean doing COVID, significantly over performed the other categories, ambient and perishable. So overall, and when you see on a two year basis, we're still doing very well. So I'm not concerned, but definitely, we want to see, obviously, things moving on. So that's one thing. So yes, that's - we very much you're taking a longer term approach of two years approach, three year approach. The numbers are very, very consistent. I also believe, by the way - and I don't know if you noticed that we've come up with an announcement in terms of sustainability and the LCA, which is life cycle assessment. We've come up with a study, a very thorough study, by the way, end-to-end in terms of, let's say, or 22 bigger SKUs. And we compared the carbon footprint end-to-end really from, let's say, the field to the fork with the equivalent in, let's say, in fresh or in ambient. And I think for most of them, we're doing eat [ph] or better than these guys. And the reason is most of the time its attributed to waste because the waste level at the store level is obviously much better for us, same thing for the consumers. So I think one thing what we need to probably communicate better is also waste is great in terms of sustainability or less waste, but it's even better for the disposable income. So in other words, if you - if you're going to save money on a full year basis, if you go to the same price with frozen foods because the waste level is just much lower, not only at the retailer level, but also the consumer. So that's the kind of things that we believe that the fundamentals of gross type age. And at this stage, as I said, yes, it's a bit weaker. But when you're taking the long-term expense, as I mentioned…

Okay. Thank you.

The next question comes from Cody Ross with UBS. Please go ahead.

Hey, there. Thank you for taking our follow up. Just a quick question. You only repurchased $27 million of shares, stock is down 30% this year, and you have nearly €400 million left in dry powder. At what point would you consider accelerating your share repurchase? Thank you.

Yeah, I'm going to repeat the message I gave you. I mean before we have made those repurchase effectively prior to the Ukraine war. And we made it very clear, actually, in our communication that the priority for us is to make sure that we clearly had access to supply in order to serve our consumers that was really important. And that's why effectively, we spent probably more money in inventory in building up. I mean, those things that were necessary to have our plan functioning, our full regime, I mean from that perspective. So from a general standpoint, if you want, as we generate cash, if you want, let's say, quarter-after-quarter, we're looking at effectively the best way to allocate this capital. And frankly, at this stage, frankly, there is no, let's say, sequel [ph] but there we're just after shareholder value maximization. And we are in a constant, let's say, look of that, taking into consideration, of course, the external environment, which is all about effective supply availability, the question was raised earlier. So I think it's - there's no magic formula. There's not going to be a threshold to say, but it's all about really what's affecting the right mix that's going to get us the maximization of shareholder value.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Stefan Descheemaeker for any closing remarks.

Thanks, operator, and thank you for your participation on today's call. 2022 has gotten off to a challenging start, but we're optimistic. Yes, the troubling war in Ukraine has presented us with a difficult set of hurdles, as it has for everyone around the globe. But we are encouraged by the great people working at Nomad, a fruitful partnership with our retail customers and our loyal consumers. We remain focused on delivering our business objectives even in these tumultuous conditions. Frozen food is, as I said, a healthy, nutritious, affordable option for all families, especially during difficult times like these. Our business is built to survive in tough conditions, and we expect to come out of this crisis stronger than before. We delivered a fifth consecutive of record financial performance in 2021, and we expect to do so again in 2022.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.