Ranpak Holdings Corp. (NYSE:PACK) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

But I believe the strategy we’re taking in terms of taking care of the customers, making sure they have the right equipment for €œnormalized levels€, I think that’s a strategy that’s going to be a wise strategy that’s frankly no different than the strategy we took in the second half of last year of not passing all price increases despite the pressure that we were facing in order to protect our customer base and to make sure that they stay with us and as the world reverses, hopefully that will accrue to our benefit. So I think the short answer to your question is just watching the next couple of quarters.

Adam Samuelson: Okay. That’s very helpful. And if I could just sneak a couple quick modeling ones in, what’s the SG&A assumed in the constant currency EBITDA guidance and what’s the expectation for CapEx for 2023?

William Drew: So for CapEx we’re looking at about $55 million this year, Adam. So I think about $25 million of that is related to the real estate infrastructure investments, as well as some other one time projects, such as some palletizing robots, things like that that can help us improve efficiency within the operations. And then call it the other $30 million of that is going to be related to just converters.

Adam Samuelson: Okay, and then the SG&A?

William Drew: And then on the G&A, so I would assume, call it operating SG&A to be, call it 24%, 25% of sales, right? So that would exclude, call it the LTIP and cloud amortization expense.

Adam Samuelson: Okay. All right, that’s very helpful. I’ll pass it on. Thanks

Operator: Your next question will come from the line of Greg Palm with Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Greg Palm: Yes, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Just diving a little bit deeper on what you’re seeing January and February, can you give us some sense on what volumes were in those two months either, maybe relative to 2021 levels would be helpful?

William Drew: Sure, I can take that. So, from a top line perspective, right, Omar mentioned that we’re in line with 2021 levels. Obviously we’ve taken some price right since 2021, so call it in the second half of 2021 throughout 2022 we did take a good amount of price to keep up with the kraft paper cost increase. So volumes versus 2021 through the first couple months were down, call it about 23 points, but if you look at it kind of by a different geography, in North America they’re up versus 2021, but where you see the decline would be in the, the Europe and APAC region, which obviously had massive demand and that’s really when a lot of it started in 2021. But overall, just from a volume standpoint in that region, right, it’s still above obviously last year and the years prior to 2021.

Greg Palm: Got it. Okay and just thinking about the guidance for the year and all the puts and takes, I’m just kind of curious, maybe you can just give us some sense in what exactly the underlying assumptions are. I mean, are you assuming that what you’re seeing in January and February continues, meaning it gets better since seasonality should suggest that? Are you thinking that what you’re seeing in January and February is maybe just a little bit of a benefit from push outs in Q4 and maybe it doesn’t improve as much throughout the year? I’m just trying to get a sense for what the guidance really assumes.