CA - Saputo Inc. (SAPIF) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

2024-06-07 12:21:02 ET

Saputo Inc. (SAPIF)

Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

June 07, 2024, 08:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Nick Estrela - IR

Lino Saputo - Chairman, President and CEO

Maxime Therrien - CFO and Secretary

Carl Colizza - President and COO, North America

Leanne Cutts - President and COO, International and Europe

Conference Call Participants

Irene Nattel - RBC Capital Markets

Michael Van Aelst - TD Cowen

Chris Li - Desjardins

Tamy Chen - BMO Capital Markets

Rob Dickerson - Jefferies

Mark Petrie - CIBC

Vishal Shreedhar - National Bank

Presentation

Operator

Thank you for standing by. My name is Jeannie and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Saputo, Inc. Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results 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. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nick Estrela. You may begin.

Nick Estrela

Thank you, Jeannie. Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter and fiscal 2024 earnings call. Our speakers today will be Lino Saputo, Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Maxime Therrien, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. For the question-and-answer session, Lino and Maxime will be supported by Carl Colizza, President and Chief Operating Officer, North America, and Leanne Cutts, President and Chief Operating Officer, International and Europe. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this webcast and conference call are being recorded and the webcast will be posted on our website along with the fourth quarter investor presentation.

Please also note that some of the statements provided during this call are forward-looking. Such statements are based on assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. We refer to our cautionary statements regarding forward-looking information in our annual reports, press releases, and filings. Please treat any forward-looking information with caution as our actual results could differ materially. We do not accept any obligation to update this information except as required under securities legislation.

I will now hand it over to Lino.

Lino Saputo

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. Before we jump into our fiscal 2024 financial results, I'd like to comment on the recently announced leadership transition. Effective August 9th, I will be transitioning to the role of Executive Chair and Carl Colizza will become our President and CEO. This succession is the result of a careful and thoughtful planning process led by the Board of Directors to ensure a rigorous candidate review and seamless CEO transition. Carl joined the team in 1998 and has held key leadership positions in engineering, operations, business development, and strategy. He has served as President and COO, North America, since 2019. Over the past 25 years, he has played an integral role in both building and executing our strategic vision. Carl and I have worked in close collaboration for many years and I'm confident he is the ideal successor to lead Saputo for the next chapter. Carl's leadership style exemplifies our culture and values. He's passionate about the business and his collaborative approach and long-term vision inspires our team. I look forward to continuing to work closely with him and our strong leadership team as Executive Chair. While I move away from day-to-day, I'm excited with my new role, more focused on strategic oversight and continuing to promote the Saputo vision and values.

Now, turning to our financial results. Fiscal 2024 was a year of resilience. Our financial performance throughout the year reflects our ability to stay the course in a dynamic macroeconomic environment, including commodity price volatility, a challenged consumer, and ongoing inflationary pressures. If you look past the market noise, our core business performed very well. Our teams remain focused on the elements within our control to accelerate growth once market dynamics begin to improve. Case in point, we generated over $1.1 billion of cash from operating activities, a testament to our diversified global platform....

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