Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ:IEP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Andrew Berg : Okay. Great. And then lastly, just looking at the asset values that you guys provide, there were sort of three big areas where we saw that indicative value change, 1 of which was in automotive-owned real estate. And you mentioned on the call that there were certain write-downs that were taken. Can you quantify those write-downs? And given the Auto Plus have happened subsequent to quarter end, I just want to understand that decline in value that you show in automotive a little bit better as we think about it from 3Q to 4Q.

David Willetts : Sure. I mean I think the biggest move that is represented there, we’ll separate it into what I consider the operating companies in the real estate. The NAV is a valuation-based approach, which is obviously non-GAAP. And real estate we value once a year. And given the movement in cap rates, which has been relatively significant, we adjusted our net asset values down in the real estate sector. It doesn’t really change any of the underlying economics for that sector for our ability to get market rents that we’re getting in the past. But the reality is when you do an independent valuation, then you look at cap rates, you as much as you may not wish to, you have to recognize that based on our methodology. So that was the single biggest change in the automotive real estate sector.

I’d say in terms of the operations, there were a number of items that I would characterize as stemming from a new leadership team particularly in the services. We’ve been focused on a full balance sheet review, cleaning up processes, ensuring that controllership is where it needs to be. And as we really looked back, we saw a number of items that were not to our liking. And so several additional reserves were posted which I would characterize some of them as methodology change. For example, let’s post an excess and obsolete inventory methodology. Let’s reevaluate some of the capitalized items yield for inventory. Those are just reevaluation of methodology. And then frankly, there are other items that we had to recognize that should have been recognized perhaps a little bit more promptly than they have been between Q4 and Q1, Q2 and Q3.

Andrew Berg : Okay. So it’s pretty much new management coming in and a bit of a cleanup. That makes sense.

David Willetts : It’s a bit of a cleanup.

Andrew Berg : Got it. Thanks, guys.

David Willetts : We’re really focused on the integrity of the numbers there.

Andrew Berg : Okay. Helpful.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And it comes from the line of Bruce Monrad with Northeast Investor Group.

Bruce Monrad : Hi, guys, can you hear me okay?

David Willetts : Yes, we can.

Bruce Monrad : Okay. Great. Thanks as always for hosting the call and hopefully, okay. Food packaging question. And nice to see the improvement at this case and both the EBITDA and the marking up of the value, that’s great. A question on sort of what inning or how is it going with production there? What inning are you in, in that would you say? Maybe that’s the first question.