PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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And as you would expect, behave more like a consumer discretionary purchase. So we took the opportunity to look at the numbers going forward on that, and the investment posture, we were going to have in that business. And as a result, we wrote down a piece of that business as well. So I think we put ourselves in a spot now we’re in a, in a higher interest rate world, we’re in a better position in terms of where we’ve marked those assets to.

Ramon Laguarta: Yes, Lauren, strategically SodaStream continues to be a very central to the transformation of the beverage category. We’ve seen that there is a huge opportunity to enable consumers to personalize their drinks and have a type of consumption where there’s no plastics and where there’s a lot of convenience for consumers at home or in offices or even on the go. So it continues to be very central. Hugh was saying there was obviously a situation, especially in Europe, with inventories and the discretionary consumption that we took this opportunity to reassess the value of the asset.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Andrew Teixeira with JPMorgan. Your line is open.

Andrew Teixeira: Thank you. Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. If you can talk about how to think about operating leverage, you have historically been able to use about 1 billion per year in productivity, to offset inflation. And now coming in to these year on top of like a very strong inflation, but also really healthy carryover from pricing. How should we be thinking in terms of like the ability to flex your P&L? Any particular unique you invested? I think we all appreciate that you invested a lot more in A&P, strong double-digit growth in the last quarter. How to think about A&P investments into 2023? Thank you.

Hugh Johnston: Yes, I’ll take care of that one Andrew. I have a couple of comments on that. Number one, obviously, inflation is still out there is as a factor for us partly, the fact that inflation is still high, it’s not as high as it was before. But then the numbers are still relatively high. Number two, in terms of the way that we were approaching the year, we’re looking to drive a lot of productivity this year. And at the same time, we’re looking to continue to put investments back into the business because we think that’s what’s driving the top line, and consumers are clearly responding positively to it. So if you net all of that out, my expectation is that our gross and operating margins will be at least in line with where we were in 2022. And perhaps a little bit better.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Bryan Spillane with Bank of America. Your line is open.

Bryan Spillane: Hey, thanks, operator. Good morning, guys. Hugh, I wanted to ask you a question about cash flow and capital allocation. And I guess in terms of cash flow, just the free cash flow this year stepped down versus last year. So if you could talk a little bit about just what’s happening in cash from operations, is it a timing thing? It looks like working capital as ticked up a bit? And then second, the dividend going up 10% this year? Or just what you announced today. So can you just remind us again, just how you’re thinking about capital allocation as part of a total shareholder return model? And, and just how that factors into decision making in terms of capital allocation going forward?

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