Oatly Group AB (NASDAQ:OTLY) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Toni Petersson : No. Thanks, Ken. I think that’s a great question here. So let me just elaborate a little bit here. So we are continuously adapting to our environment. And this is just one example of that. Fundamentally, we will need more capacity to support growth. This gives us flexibility to add capacity faster. There are a number of reasons why we’re taking this course. And if you allow me, just let me bring forward the three of them. So first of them is resource allocation decision. Now building multiple end-to-end factories is just a heavy lift, especially now hybrid enables us to put more focus on our proprietary on base production and other value-driving items such as innovation, branding, sales, et cetera. So we simplify and remove complexity.

Second, the availability of strategic co-packers is easier to find now than before since we have both scale and growth. So meaning that we have more qualified partners to work with in terms of food safety, quality and security of supply. Now because you are hitting on the finance here, we have the liquidity and are confident in our ability to raise capital going forward. But this does not drive the decision. This is a business strategic decision considering the macro environment. We want to drive innovation and sales aggressively and want to be focused about it. So it was difficult to do everything with this before, and it’s even hard now as you know. So we just want to make things easier on ourselves to simplify execution. So I know it was a long answer, but I just want to give the color.

Ken Goldman : That’s helpful. Thank you. And then I wanted to ask the departures of the Chief Supply Chain and EMEA head. Can you give us a little more color about the circumstances around that, places made by these individuals. Typically, we’ll hear a little more color than just the part of the company.

Toni Petersson : Well, we are continuously evaluating the skill set. As we grow, we’re a high-growth company. The capabilities of both JC Daniel and especially combined is really, really adding a lot of value to the company. And Jean-Christophe has a very solid background in building other companies rapidly, including the complete supply chain network on a global scale. And that is, of course, something that we want to benefit from. And besides that, Jean-Christophe is also, we’re seeing innovation in food science, supply chain, and people transformation functions. Daniel is focusing on supporting and leading the regional businesses here. But to your point, we are just an organization that is continuously evaluating various good sets across the organization.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer.

Erica Eiler: Good morning. This is actually Erica Eiler on for Rupesh. Thanks for taking our questions. So I guess I just wanted to hit on cost pressures really quickly. Just sort of the latest you’re seeing here, curious what remains the biggest pressure at this point and maybe where you see some things starting to ease? And then along those lines, some of your CPG peers have given some early reads in terms of what they’re expecting next year. If there’s any color you can provide there, that would also be helpful.

Christian Hanke : Yes. I mean in terms of inflationary pressure, what we’re expecting in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter is in terms of COGS inflation increase of around 3% to 4% across direct materials, converting costs, electricity, labor. So that’s what we’re seeing. And then going into 2023, it’s not at the same levels that we have experienced so far this year, which is in the high double digits. Currently, what we’re seeing is in the range of 6% to 7% on a consolidated level in 2023. And I think I also want to add in terms of what we will do is to continuously combat inflation with pricing actions.