NYSE:ACCO ACCO Brands Q1 2023 Earnings Report $5.66 +0.07 (+1.16%) Closing price 04/17/2025 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$5.71 +0.05 (+0.97%) As of 04/17/2025 06:20 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast Itaú Unibanco EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.09Consensus EPS $0.05Beat/MissBeat by +$0.04One Year Ago EPS$0.11Itaú Unibanco Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$402.60 millionExpected Revenue$391.88 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$10.72 millionYoY Revenue Growth-8.80%Itaú Unibanco Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2023Date5/5/2023TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateFriday, May 5, 2023Conference Call Time8:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsItaú Unibanco's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Monday, May 5, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Itaú Unibanco Q1 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 5, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ACO Brands First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Glenn, and I will be the operator for today's call. I will now hand you over to your host, Chris McGinnis, to begin. Chris, Speaker 100:00:20Please go ahead. Good morning and welcome to the Aqua Brands' Q1 2023 conference call. This is Chris McGinnis, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Speaking on the call today are Boris Elisman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AquaGrants Corporation, who will provide an overview of our Q1 results and an update on our 2023 priorities. Tom Kettler, President and Chief Operating Officer, We'll discuss the upcoming back to school season, new product innovation and provide an update on cost savings initiatives and Deb O'Connor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will provide greater detail on our Q1 results and the outlook for the Q2 and full year. Speaker 100:00:59Following this, we will open the line for questions. Slides that accompany this call have been posted to the Investor Relations section of accobrands.com. When speaking about our results, we may refer to adjusted results. Adjusted results exclude transaction, integration, amortization and restructuring costs, A non cash goodwill impairment charge, the change in fair value of the contingent consideration related to the Power A earnout And other non recurring items and reflect an adjusted tax rate. Schedules of adjusted results and other non GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these measures to The most directly comparable GAAP measures are in the earnings release and the slides that accompany this call. Speaker 100:01:39Due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts, We do not reconcile our forward looking non GAAP measures. Forward looking statements made during the call are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management based on information available to us at the time the statements are made. Our forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our earnings release and SEC filings for an explanation of certain risk factors and assumptions. Our forward looking statements are made as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them going forward. Speaker 100:02:14Following our prepared remarks, we will hold a Q and A session. Now I'll turn the call over to Boris Elisman. Speaker 200:02:21Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. We are pleased with our results for the Q1, which exceeded the high end of our guidance for sales and adjusted earnings per share. These results were led by the continued strength of our brands, the geographic balance of our portfolio and the strong execution by our team despite a challenging consumer and retail environment. We made significant progress Against our margin improvement efforts in the Q1, with gross margins growing by 250 basis points And adjusted operating margins improving 90 basis points year on year. Speaker 200:03:03Comparable sales We're down 6% versus near record Q1 sales last year. In North America, In addition to the weaker economy, we and many in our industry faced a difficult year over year comparison Due to last year's early shipments of back to school products due to supply chain constraints, which did not repeat in 2023. With normalization of supply chains, we're back to the typical cadence of back to school shipments, which normally occur in Q2 and Q3. This was a large component of comparable sales decline in North America. We also saw continued pressure in the gaming market and the industry wide slowdown in IT spending impact our technology accessory sales. Speaker 200:03:59North America did benefit in the quarter from improved price, our restructuring actions And strong SG and A cost controls. In EMEA, demand was impacted by the weak macroeconomic environment compared to a strong pre war quarter last year. Despite that, we made significant progress in restoring our margins Through pricing and cost actions, with adjusted operating margins improving by over 400 basis points And adjusted operating income growing by 50% in the Q1. Our market shares remain strong. Our International segment benefited from price and volume increases led by the recovery of in person education and return to office in our Latin American markets. Speaker 200:04:52Sales grew 17% year on year. Price, cost savings and benefits of scale led to adjusted operating margin expanding 4.90 basis points and adjusted operating income growing 90%. Before I update you on our 2023 key priorities, I want to provide color on our global technology accessory sales, which consists of our computer and gaming accessories products. Parts of the gaming market continue to be challenged due to the lack of availability of certain wireless chips for our controllers and supply chain constraints of a console. We expect great availability of chipsets in our supply chain beginning in the second quarter, which along with anticipated strong slate of new game releases and new product introductions should help improve our volumes going forward. Speaker 200:05:52We hold leading market share positions in 3rd party gaming accessories and expect this category to grow for the full year. Importantly, the expansion efforts in our EMEA and International segments are on track and we remain excited about the long term global growth opportunities for gaming accessories. Within computer accessories, After 5 years of growth, we've seen demand slow as businesses are being more cautious about their IT spending in response to the current macroeconomic environment. Our sales pipeline continues to grow And we are winning new business, but timing of purchases is being deferred. We expect computer accessories will show sequential improvement throughout the remainder of 2023, given the strength of the pipeline and our new product rollouts. Speaker 200:06:51In February, I shared with you 4 key priorities for 2023. Restoration of our gross margins is our top priority, Followed by profit of management of our top line, continued investment in our brands and new products And tight management of our expenses and inventory. We have made progress on all fronts in the Q1, which gives us confidence heading into the remainder of the year. We successfully implemented global price increases in January In combination with our cost savings actions, believe this year, we will be able to recover much of the lost profitability from the high levels of inflation we have experienced over the last 2 years. In the quarter, we made significant progress our EMEA and International segments and expect greater benefits from these actions in our North American segment as we enter our high volume quarters. Speaker 200:07:56We continue to manage our top line well in what is a slow economic environment. Given the strength of our brands, which hold leading market share positions and our service capabilities, we are the supplier of choice for many of our channel partners. We offer them and the consumer a complementary assortment of brands that occupy value to premium price points. This breadth of offerings with strong brands allows our partners to win across multiple categories in peak seasons like the upcoming North America back to school for the autumn European back to business seasons. We also did a good job with our expenses in the quarter management of headcount and closely watching discretionary spend. Speaker 200:08:47Both headcount and SG and A expenses were down year on year. Before I turn it over to Tom, I want to say I'm encouraged by the momentum we built in the Q1 and remain confident in our transformation to drive long term sustainable organic profitable revenue growth as global economies improve. We have the right team in place to weather difficult economic environment, a well capitalized with no debt maturities until 2026 and low fixed interest rates for over half of our outstanding debt. We will continue to generate consistent strong cash flow and will prioritize dividend payments and debt reduction in 2023. Now, I will turn the call over to Tom Tetford to discuss back to school, new product innovation and update you on our restructuring initiatives. Speaker 300:09:43Tom? Thank you, Boris, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin with a few comments about the upcoming back to school season. Back to school is an important seasonal business for ACCO Brands and represents a significant portion of our annual sales, particularly In our North America and International segments, we are a BTS market leader in the U. S, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Speaker 300:10:10The back to school market historically is very resilient in both good and bad economies, Which is important to understand with the current economic backdrop. The industry sales expectations for this year's North America back to school season Is to be roughly flat. Retailers are being cautious with loading back to scroll inventory and we believe our partners will rely on Q3 replenishment as product sales through. It is too early to give meaningful insights on the North America back to school season. However, orders are coming in as expected and weeks of supply at our retailers is at historic norms. Speaker 300:10:51Additionally, we expect growth in our back to school business in the International segment. With Mexico in Q2 and Q3 And Brazil later this year and into Q1 of 2024. Now a few comments about our team's good work developing meaningful product solutions for our consumers. We have upcoming product introductions across multiple categories and geographies that will help drive organic growth. The company's commitment to innovation is being recognized globally as we won numerous awards in 2022 And in 2023, for the last 2 years, ACCO Brands has been named one of Crane's Chicago Businesses' Most Innovative Company, A recognition we are very proud to have earned. Speaker 300:11:40Further, recognition has been by the Good Design and the Red Dot Design Awards. Both are internationally recognized and are highly desired endorsements for high quality design. In the past year, Red Dot recognized 5 ACCO Brands products, including 3 supporting the Kensington product range. In the EMEA segment, our light ergonomics offering was awarded Business Product of the Year at the European Office Product Awards. In North America, the Kensington Universal 3 in-one Pro Audio headset switch was awarded Best New Technology Product at the North American Office Product Awards. Speaker 300:12:20In gaming accessories, we recently introduced several products In conjunction with Universal Pictures' successful release of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, an animated adventure film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Speaker 200:12:37In our Speaker 300:12:37do it yourself tools category, the Repeat brand began a collaboration with Bosch In 2022, the partnership has expanded our product offering with the EMEA segment to include 18 volt rechargeable tools as a part of the Bosch Power For All battery initiative. Moving to restructuring. In the Q4 of 2022, we initiated restructuring plans in our North America and EMEA segments, intended to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs, With an expected annual cost savings of $13,000,000 In North America, we have actioned all plans, including the consolidation of supply chain operations and automating our sales support process. We saw $2,500,000 of benefits from these actions in our Q1 P and L and remain on track to deliver the full $13,000,000 during the year. In the Q1, we took a $3,300,000 restructuring charge, which was related to our footprint Rationalization project in EMEA. Speaker 300:13:45We are closing 1 manufacturing facility in Continental Europe and expect it to be completed by the end of the third quarter with the savings to come in 2024. We continue to analyze our global footprint for opportunities for further cost optimization and consolidation. We also remain on track to deliver another $15,000,000 of incremental savings from our ongoing productivity initiatives. I will now hand it over to Deb, and we'll come back to answer your questions. Deb? Speaker 400:14:16Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. When we last spoke to you in February, we highlighted the impact of last year's inventory destocking by retailers With their cautious approach to replenishment and slowing demand due to the macroeconomic environment. In the Q1, While the macroeconomic environment remains challenging, we did see a sequential improvement in retailers' inventory replenishment. This improvement helped us beat our sales guidance for the Q1. The stronger sales and the improvement in our margin profile Due to our pricing and cost actions, helped us deliver adjusted EPS above our outlook. Speaker 400:14:59In the Q1 of 2023, reported sales decreased 9% versus Q1 of 2022. Comparable sales excluding foreign exchange were down 6%. The decline was due to lower volumes in our North America and EMEA segments, more than offsetting global price increases And solid growth in our International segment. Gross profit for the Q1 was essentially flat at $119,000,000 Despite the sales decline, as gross margin improved 250 basis points to 29.6% from the cumulative effect of our pricing and cost actions. Adjusted SG and A expense of $95,000,000 Was down from $97,000,000 in 2022. Speaker 400:15:52Adjusted SG and A as a percent of sales Increased 160 basis points to 23.6 percent due to the lower level of sales. Adjusted operating income was $24,000,000 up 8% compared with the approximate $23,000,000 Last year, adjusted EPS was $0.09 versus $0.11 in 2022 As interest and non operating pension expenses increased, which we expect to be a headwind for the rest of the year. Now let's turn to our segment results. North America reported and comparable sales were down 15% as volume declines more than offset our cumulative pricing actions. This was slightly better than expected. Speaker 400:16:43As anticipated, we faced a difficult year over year comparison in the Q1 due to the early purchase of back to school product by retailers in 2022. Given normalization of supply chains, these purchases did not recur in the Q1 of 2023 to the same level as in the prior year period. Sales in the Q1 were also impacted by lower retailer demand Due to the macroeconomic environment as well as declines in technology accessories due to softening IT spending And a lack of wireless chips for our gaming accessories. We expect this to be the last quarter of difficult comparisons for gaming accessories as we expect sequential improvement in both availability and consumer demand. North America adjusted operating income margin in the Q1 decreased due to negative fixed cost leverage from the volume declines. Speaker 400:17:39We expect larger benefits from our pricing and cost actions as we progress throughout the year and move into higher volume periods. Now let's turn to EMEA. Net sales for the quarter were down 13% to $136,000,000 6% of this decline was due to FX. Comparable sales were down 7% to $145,000,000 mainly due to volume declines offsetting our price increases. Demand continues to be impacted by the overall macroeconomic environment in the region, especially as compared to the Q1 of last year before the impact of the Russia Ukraine war. Speaker 400:18:22Sales of technology accessories declined reflecting industry wide trends. In the Q1, EMEA posted adjusted operating income of $14,000,000 almost a 50% increase over the $9,000,000 a year ago. The margin rate improved 4 20 basis points from the prior year to 10%. The improvement in adjusted operating income was due to our pricing and cost actions taking hold. Moving to the International segment. Speaker 400:18:54Reported and comparable sales in the Q1 increased 17%. Growth was driven by price increases and strong demand in Latin America as resellers gain momentum from in person education and return to office. The International segment posted adjusted operating income of $12,000,000 up almost 90% versus the prior year's $6,000,000 The adjusted margin rate improved 4.90 basis points to 13% in the quarter due to the higher pricing and improved sales leverage. Switching to cash flows and balance sheet items. Due to seasonality, we generally use cash in the first half of the year And generate significant cash flow in the second half of the year. Speaker 400:19:43Free cash flow improved by $83,000,000 in the first quarter. We had a use of free cash flow of $25,000,000 versus a cash outflow of $108,000,000 a year ago. The improvement was driven by better working capital management as we lowered inventory levels and returned to a more typical product payment cycle as well as reduced incentive compensation payments. In 2021, we ended the year with higher levels of inventory, with much of it paid for in the Q1 of 2022. Reversing that trend, we ended 2022 with inventory that was significantly paid for. Speaker 400:20:25The change in timing of payments improved 1st quarter cash flow significantly. We ended the quarter with a consolidated leverage ratio of 4.3 times, Well below our 5 times covenant ratio and expect to end the year within a range of 3.5 times to 3.7 times. Longer term, we are still targeting 2x to 2.5x. At quarter end, we had $420,000,000 of remaining availability on our $600,000,000 revolving credit facility. As shown on our earnings slide, more than half of our debt is fixed and not impacted by interest rate increases, and we have no maturities until 2026. Speaker 400:21:11We ended the quarter with $127,000,000 in cash. Much of this cash, about $106,000,000 was held in Brazil. And in April, we took actions to repatriate $46,000,000 of this cash back to the U. S, which we then use to reduce borrowings on our revolver. The remaining cash balance in Brazil will be used to fund their inventory for back to school. Speaker 400:21:38Turning to our outlook. We are providing a second quarter outlook and reiterating our full year guidance for 2023. For the Q2 of 2023, we expect comparable sales to be down 4% to down 7% with adjusted EPS of $0.29 to $0.32 For the full year, we continue to expect comparable sales to be within a range of flat to down 3%. We expect our gross margins to increase over the prior year and be similar to our 2021 margin rate. Longer term, we continue to target a range of 32% to 33%. Speaker 400:22:23While we have reduced our overall cost structure from our restructuring actions, as we mentioned in February, The restoration of our annual incentive compensation as well as increases of merit and go to market spending will lead to higher SG and A levels in 2023. For the full year, we expect adjusted EPS to increase 4% to 8% The $1.08 to $1.12 as double digit growth in adjusted operating income is partially offset By higher net interest costs of about $10,000,000 and higher non cash non operating pension expenses of $5,000,000 The adjusted tax rate is expected to be approximately 29%. Intangibles amortization for the year It's estimated to be $43,000,000 which equates to approximately $0.32 of adjusted EPS. We are reiterating that we expect our free cash flow to be at least $100,000,000 after CapEx of $20,000,000 and to end the year with a consolidated leverage ratio within a range of 3.5 times to 3.7 times. Looking at cash uses in 2023, we expect to continue to prioritize dividends and debt reduction. Speaker 400:23:47Now let's move on to Q and A, where Boris, Tom and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator? Operator00:23:58Thank We have our first question comes from Greg Burns from Cytoni company. Greg, your line is now open. Speaker 500:24:18Good morning. Just dig into The decline you saw on the Kensington side of the business, how much was that down in the quarter? And your outlook for the rest of the year, Does that are you looking for that business to still grow this year? Or is it just going to Show improvement off of kind of the lower level you saw this quarter. Speaker 200:24:48Hi, Greg. Thanks for the question. Kensington sales were down low double digits in the quarter. We are important to point out that sales were down, but POS sell through at Kensington was up. It was up a little bit in the U. Speaker 200:25:08S. And it was up significantly more in Europe. Obviously there's a lot of inventory being taken out of the channel given the overall macro environment and especially what's happening on the Technology and IT side, and you see that from multiple companies' earnings reports. We still expect The Kensington business to grow for the year, last year that business grew about 13%. So Growth will not be as high this year. Speaker 200:25:40We don't anticipate it to be as high this year, but we still expect the business to grow. Speaker 500:25:46Okay. And you mentioned new product introductions is, I guess, your outlook for growth there around Maybe some new product introductions. And do you have a target for like revenue contribution from new products in any given year? Or How should we think about that layering in this year? Speaker 200:26:09I'll let Tom answer that question. Speaker 300:26:11Yes. So Greg, another great question. Thank you for it. Yes, annually we do have a target within our Kensington business specifically. I don't know that we would want to publish that target, but we do have a target, we track to it, we have a business cadence in which we measure it Each quarter and it gets set annually. Speaker 300:26:33So the shorter answer is yes, we have a growth target. And I think it's important to note over the last 5 years as Boris said in his prepared remarks, the Kensington business has grown. The CAGR is roughly low double digits on that and new product development and introductions is a big piece of that growth Over the years. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 200:27:01Thanks, Greg. Thank you. Operator00:27:07With our next question comes from Joe Gomez from NOBLE Capital. Joe, your line is now open. Speaker 600:27:15Good morning and thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 200:27:19Good morning, Joe. Speaker 600:27:22So I wanted to start out with last quarter you talked some about your SKU reduction efforts and just trying to get a little Speaker 300:27:38Joe, this is Tom Tedford. I'll take that question. Thank you for it. We are aggressively looking across our entire portfolio, but particularly in our mature markets At our SKU offering, as many companies have Felt the impact of the changes in consumer behavior over the last few years with the pandemic and then the inflationary pressures the consumer is feeling. Demand has changed in our portfolio and so our collective teams, our marketers and our supply chain teams are working closely together So that work is ongoing and we're making nice progress. Speaker 600:28:28Okay. Thank you for that. And on the Latin America business, I know it's been A quarter or 2 here where you've had some good performance driven by the return to in person education and In person office. How much more of that trend Speaker 700:28:46do you think is available? Speaker 600:28:49Or are we kind of past that? Are they all back Speaker 800:28:53To a Speaker 600:28:53more normal environment, at least on the school side and maybe on office getting to where We are there seems to be that blend of in office versus telecommuting. Speaker 200:29:08We still believe that there's a bunch left in Latin America. Latin America obviously has been recovering From the pandemic, schools are open, offices are open. But if I compare volumes, not revenue, but volumes are still below pre pandemic levels. So there's still market expectation and our Those volumes will continue to recover. There obviously been a lot of price Inflation in the market just given the cost inflation that all of us have experienced over the last couple of years. Speaker 200:29:45So with that, we expect Revenue growth to continue this year and both our Mexican business and our Brazilian business are expecting good Back to schools in their markets with significant growth over the prior year. Speaker 600:30:06Okay. And just if I could sneak in one more. I know the capital allocation you've talked about focus on dividends Debt repayment. But if we're looking at the stock here, it was down about 24% year to date, just off a 52 week low. You have the buyback authorization. Speaker 600:30:29At what point Boris, I guess, do you sit there and say, hey, it makes sense to start Repurchasing shares here. Speaker 200:30:41Yes. I would just reiterate, Joe, that the priority Yes, to fund the dividend and to pay down debt. We believe that in this environment, a lot of the pressure on our stock is coming from our leverage. And I think it will suit our shareholders very, very well if we Pay down debt and transfer that debt to equity by doing that. So that's the priority. Speaker 600:31:11Okay, great. Thank you. Speaker 200:31:13Thanks very much. Operator00:31:16Thank you, When we plan to ask your question, please ensure your phone is unmuted locally. Our next question comes from Kevin Stein from Barrington Tin Research. Kevin, your line is now open. Speaker 200:31:40Good morning, everyone. Hi, Kevin. Speaker 800:31:46Hi, Boris. I wanted to start out by asking about Gaming Accessories, you mentioned there how you expect growth in gaming accessories this year And sequential improvement as the year progresses, is that A positive update relative to what you expected before. Just trying to get a sense as to The improvement there and if it's kind of coming out of that Slow down that we had seen last year and if it's just trending maybe a little bit better than you had thought. Speaker 200:32:33It's a similar outlook that we had before. We expected to have a difficult Q1 due to the compares. We're still Selling a lot of product in Q1 of last year and then we mentioned we had some product availability issues due to Lack of some wireless chips in the last three quarters of this year sorry, of last year and it continued through Q1 of this year. So we knew we're going to have difficult compares. That's now behind us and we expect Growth in Q2 and in the second half of the year and overall growth for the full year, but that's consistent with our expectations that we had going Speaker 800:33:18Okay. Thank you. And similarly on the discussion around Slower IT spending and lower computer accessories sales, Yes. You did say you expect sequential improvement as we move throughout the year and grow through the full year. I mean, I was just wondering if that was Kind of a newer development, the slowdown or if that had kind of been baked into what you had already thought for the year. Speaker 800:33:47Obviously, you didn't Change your guidance or anything, but just kind of trying to get a sense as to how much of a change that is relative to prior expectations? Speaker 200:34:01I think versus a couple of months ago, the IT environment is a little bit slower Than we expected. So and again, you're seeing it from the public announcements from other companies in our space Also from large technology companies announced layoffs due to the specifically due to the IT environment. What we've seen though is we've seen better performance in other parts of the business, offsetting the a little bit of a slowness that we've seen on the technology side. So more specifically, our business products have performed better than we expected. So overall, as a company, we delivered better results Even now on the computer accessory side, it's a little bit slower than expectations. Speaker 800:34:55Okay. One last question for me. You had you mentioned there some areas of the business performing better than expected. And Deb, I think you mentioned that you saw some Improvement in inventory replenishment in the Q1 that helped you beat your sales guidance. Is there anything more to call out about that or elaborate on in terms of that being a trend or Yes. Speaker 800:35:28Just kind of wondering about the comments you made. Speaker 400:35:33Yes. I think, as Tom said in his remarks just on Back to school and kind of replenishment, we're at the same 10 weeks of supply as historical levels And as of prior year, so we feel pretty good set up for the back to school season. I don't really think there's much more to add. I mean, I think we are expecting, the sequential improvement as we go forward. Speaker 800:36:03Okay. Thank you for taking the questions. I'll turn it over. Speaker 200:36:07Thanks, Kevin. Operator00:36:10Thank you. Our next question comes from Hemant Coshan from BWS Financial. Hemant, your line is now open. Speaker 700:36:22Good morning. So the first question was just a follow-up on your expectations on back to school. Are you expecting that It will be the same kind of replenishment you've seen in prior years. It's just more coordinated in 1 or 2 quarters. And then as far as Your answer goes, are you getting any kind of feedback from your retailers right now as to what their ordering pattern would be? Speaker 200:36:48Tom, go Speaker 300:36:49ahead. Yes. So, I'll start with the last part of your question. We do a pretty good job with our retail partners in collaboration of planning out the season and when orders would flow into the And kind of work backwards from there all the way to our Asian factories on product that we import. Our domestic shipments tend to go later out of our domestic factories. Speaker 300:37:17So all of that is very well coordinated With our partners for BTS and I would say for the most part That is similar to what we have seen historically. Last year was very much an anomaly as retailers were trying to ensure Supply with the global supply chain crisis really apexing if you will at the time that their decisions were being made regarding Back to school inventory. So last year was more of anomaly versus this year being different than historic norms. I think we've kind of reverted back to more Kind of historic ways of the BTS cadence in North America playing out. Speaker 400:38:03I do think too, Tom, we probably are anticipating more retailers kind of chasing their POS and so Some shifting into the Q3 could also happen this year. Speaker 200:38:16Yes. And that's the normal behavior, Hamed. They typically Buy in Q2 for the 1st wave and then they replenish in Q3 as products sell through. As Tom mentioned last year, they didn't do that. There was an anomaly. Speaker 200:38:31And this year, we expect to revert back to normal typical performance. And overall to your first question, we expect a flat back to school and that's what the industry expects as well, roughly flat back to school. Speaker 700:38:48Okay. And my last question was just as far as the PowerA distribution goes in Europe, has that started? And What are your expectations for that product in the region? Speaker 300:39:02Yes. It has started. We started really in earnest in the Q1 of this year with our expansion efforts. Europe is a large addressable market for gaming accessories and specifically console gaming accessories and we have relatively small shares. Our business is primarily concentrated in 2 markets, the U. Speaker 300:39:24K. And Germany. So we have in the Q1 trained all of our sales people. We've Consolidated our operations from a 3PL into ACCO owned facilities and so all the back end work has largely been completed. Now we're just kind of working against some of the trends that Boris mentioned earlier. Speaker 300:39:44I think we're probably off to a bit of a slower start than we would have hoped, But we still have great optimism for the balance of the year. Speaker 200:39:56Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks, Hamed. Operator00:40:01Thank you. We have no further questions on the line. Speaker 200:40:27Thanks, Glenn. I'll just do the closing remarks. Thanks everybody for your interest in ACCO Brands. We had a stronger than expected start of the year and are encouraged about the remainder of 2023 as we stay focused on executing against our key priorities and keeping margin improvement at the forefront. We have managed well in difficult environments and are confident in our ability to navigate current economic challenges. Speaker 200:40:57We're confident we have the right strategy and believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver organic sales growth, compelling market performance Operator00:41:18Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallItaú Unibanco Q1 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Itaú Unibanco Earnings HeadlinesItaú Unibanco Reports Results of Extraordinary General MeetingApril 16, 2025 | tipranks.comMerchants Bancorp (NASDAQ:MBIN) and Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) Head-To-Head AnalysisApril 16, 2025 | americanbankingnews.comMy prediction is coming trueWe've developed a surprisingly effective way to see which stocks could double during massive shake-ups, by using a secret we tested against every horrible thing that's happened to our financial system since 1991.April 20, 2025 | InvestorPlace (Ad)Itaú Unibanco Issues Notice to Stockholders on April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 | tipranks.comItaú Unibanco Files Form 6-K with SECApril 3, 2025 | tipranks.comItaú Unibanco Releases Q4 2024 Risk and Capital Management ReportApril 1, 2025 | tipranks.comSee More Itaú Unibanco Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Itaú Unibanco? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Itaú Unibanco and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Itaú UnibancoItaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB) offers a range of financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Activities with the Market + Corporation. It offers current account; loans; credit and debit cards; investment and commercial banking services; real estate lending services; financing and investment services; economic, financial and brokerage advisory; and leasing and foreign exchange services. The company also provides property and casualty insurance products covering loss, damage, or liabilities for assets or persons, as well as life insurance products covering death and personal accident. It serves retail customers, account and non-account holders, individuals and legal entities, high income clients, microenterprises, and small companies, as well as middle-market companies and high net worth clients. The company was formerly known as Itaú Unibanco Banco Múltiplo S.A. and changed its name to Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. in April 2009. The company was incorporated in 1924 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. operates as a subsidiary of IUPAR - Itaú Unibanco Participações S.A.View Itaú Unibanco ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Archer Aviation Unveils NYC Network Ahead of Key Earnings Report3 Reasons to Like the Look of Amazon Ahead of EarningsTesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ACO Brands First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Glenn, and I will be the operator for today's call. I will now hand you over to your host, Chris McGinnis, to begin. Chris, Speaker 100:00:20Please go ahead. Good morning and welcome to the Aqua Brands' Q1 2023 conference call. This is Chris McGinnis, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Speaking on the call today are Boris Elisman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AquaGrants Corporation, who will provide an overview of our Q1 results and an update on our 2023 priorities. Tom Kettler, President and Chief Operating Officer, We'll discuss the upcoming back to school season, new product innovation and provide an update on cost savings initiatives and Deb O'Connor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will provide greater detail on our Q1 results and the outlook for the Q2 and full year. Speaker 100:00:59Following this, we will open the line for questions. Slides that accompany this call have been posted to the Investor Relations section of accobrands.com. When speaking about our results, we may refer to adjusted results. Adjusted results exclude transaction, integration, amortization and restructuring costs, A non cash goodwill impairment charge, the change in fair value of the contingent consideration related to the Power A earnout And other non recurring items and reflect an adjusted tax rate. Schedules of adjusted results and other non GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these measures to The most directly comparable GAAP measures are in the earnings release and the slides that accompany this call. Speaker 100:01:39Due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts, We do not reconcile our forward looking non GAAP measures. Forward looking statements made during the call are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management based on information available to us at the time the statements are made. Our forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our earnings release and SEC filings for an explanation of certain risk factors and assumptions. Our forward looking statements are made as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them going forward. Speaker 100:02:14Following our prepared remarks, we will hold a Q and A session. Now I'll turn the call over to Boris Elisman. Speaker 200:02:21Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. We are pleased with our results for the Q1, which exceeded the high end of our guidance for sales and adjusted earnings per share. These results were led by the continued strength of our brands, the geographic balance of our portfolio and the strong execution by our team despite a challenging consumer and retail environment. We made significant progress Against our margin improvement efforts in the Q1, with gross margins growing by 250 basis points And adjusted operating margins improving 90 basis points year on year. Speaker 200:03:03Comparable sales We're down 6% versus near record Q1 sales last year. In North America, In addition to the weaker economy, we and many in our industry faced a difficult year over year comparison Due to last year's early shipments of back to school products due to supply chain constraints, which did not repeat in 2023. With normalization of supply chains, we're back to the typical cadence of back to school shipments, which normally occur in Q2 and Q3. This was a large component of comparable sales decline in North America. We also saw continued pressure in the gaming market and the industry wide slowdown in IT spending impact our technology accessory sales. Speaker 200:03:59North America did benefit in the quarter from improved price, our restructuring actions And strong SG and A cost controls. In EMEA, demand was impacted by the weak macroeconomic environment compared to a strong pre war quarter last year. Despite that, we made significant progress in restoring our margins Through pricing and cost actions, with adjusted operating margins improving by over 400 basis points And adjusted operating income growing by 50% in the Q1. Our market shares remain strong. Our International segment benefited from price and volume increases led by the recovery of in person education and return to office in our Latin American markets. Speaker 200:04:52Sales grew 17% year on year. Price, cost savings and benefits of scale led to adjusted operating margin expanding 4.90 basis points and adjusted operating income growing 90%. Before I update you on our 2023 key priorities, I want to provide color on our global technology accessory sales, which consists of our computer and gaming accessories products. Parts of the gaming market continue to be challenged due to the lack of availability of certain wireless chips for our controllers and supply chain constraints of a console. We expect great availability of chipsets in our supply chain beginning in the second quarter, which along with anticipated strong slate of new game releases and new product introductions should help improve our volumes going forward. Speaker 200:05:52We hold leading market share positions in 3rd party gaming accessories and expect this category to grow for the full year. Importantly, the expansion efforts in our EMEA and International segments are on track and we remain excited about the long term global growth opportunities for gaming accessories. Within computer accessories, After 5 years of growth, we've seen demand slow as businesses are being more cautious about their IT spending in response to the current macroeconomic environment. Our sales pipeline continues to grow And we are winning new business, but timing of purchases is being deferred. We expect computer accessories will show sequential improvement throughout the remainder of 2023, given the strength of the pipeline and our new product rollouts. Speaker 200:06:51In February, I shared with you 4 key priorities for 2023. Restoration of our gross margins is our top priority, Followed by profit of management of our top line, continued investment in our brands and new products And tight management of our expenses and inventory. We have made progress on all fronts in the Q1, which gives us confidence heading into the remainder of the year. We successfully implemented global price increases in January In combination with our cost savings actions, believe this year, we will be able to recover much of the lost profitability from the high levels of inflation we have experienced over the last 2 years. In the quarter, we made significant progress our EMEA and International segments and expect greater benefits from these actions in our North American segment as we enter our high volume quarters. Speaker 200:07:56We continue to manage our top line well in what is a slow economic environment. Given the strength of our brands, which hold leading market share positions and our service capabilities, we are the supplier of choice for many of our channel partners. We offer them and the consumer a complementary assortment of brands that occupy value to premium price points. This breadth of offerings with strong brands allows our partners to win across multiple categories in peak seasons like the upcoming North America back to school for the autumn European back to business seasons. We also did a good job with our expenses in the quarter management of headcount and closely watching discretionary spend. Speaker 200:08:47Both headcount and SG and A expenses were down year on year. Before I turn it over to Tom, I want to say I'm encouraged by the momentum we built in the Q1 and remain confident in our transformation to drive long term sustainable organic profitable revenue growth as global economies improve. We have the right team in place to weather difficult economic environment, a well capitalized with no debt maturities until 2026 and low fixed interest rates for over half of our outstanding debt. We will continue to generate consistent strong cash flow and will prioritize dividend payments and debt reduction in 2023. Now, I will turn the call over to Tom Tetford to discuss back to school, new product innovation and update you on our restructuring initiatives. Speaker 300:09:43Tom? Thank you, Boris, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin with a few comments about the upcoming back to school season. Back to school is an important seasonal business for ACCO Brands and represents a significant portion of our annual sales, particularly In our North America and International segments, we are a BTS market leader in the U. S, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Speaker 300:10:10The back to school market historically is very resilient in both good and bad economies, Which is important to understand with the current economic backdrop. The industry sales expectations for this year's North America back to school season Is to be roughly flat. Retailers are being cautious with loading back to scroll inventory and we believe our partners will rely on Q3 replenishment as product sales through. It is too early to give meaningful insights on the North America back to school season. However, orders are coming in as expected and weeks of supply at our retailers is at historic norms. Speaker 300:10:51Additionally, we expect growth in our back to school business in the International segment. With Mexico in Q2 and Q3 And Brazil later this year and into Q1 of 2024. Now a few comments about our team's good work developing meaningful product solutions for our consumers. We have upcoming product introductions across multiple categories and geographies that will help drive organic growth. The company's commitment to innovation is being recognized globally as we won numerous awards in 2022 And in 2023, for the last 2 years, ACCO Brands has been named one of Crane's Chicago Businesses' Most Innovative Company, A recognition we are very proud to have earned. Speaker 300:11:40Further, recognition has been by the Good Design and the Red Dot Design Awards. Both are internationally recognized and are highly desired endorsements for high quality design. In the past year, Red Dot recognized 5 ACCO Brands products, including 3 supporting the Kensington product range. In the EMEA segment, our light ergonomics offering was awarded Business Product of the Year at the European Office Product Awards. In North America, the Kensington Universal 3 in-one Pro Audio headset switch was awarded Best New Technology Product at the North American Office Product Awards. Speaker 300:12:20In gaming accessories, we recently introduced several products In conjunction with Universal Pictures' successful release of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, an animated adventure film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Speaker 200:12:37In our Speaker 300:12:37do it yourself tools category, the Repeat brand began a collaboration with Bosch In 2022, the partnership has expanded our product offering with the EMEA segment to include 18 volt rechargeable tools as a part of the Bosch Power For All battery initiative. Moving to restructuring. In the Q4 of 2022, we initiated restructuring plans in our North America and EMEA segments, intended to improve operating efficiency and reduce costs, With an expected annual cost savings of $13,000,000 In North America, we have actioned all plans, including the consolidation of supply chain operations and automating our sales support process. We saw $2,500,000 of benefits from these actions in our Q1 P and L and remain on track to deliver the full $13,000,000 during the year. In the Q1, we took a $3,300,000 restructuring charge, which was related to our footprint Rationalization project in EMEA. Speaker 300:13:45We are closing 1 manufacturing facility in Continental Europe and expect it to be completed by the end of the third quarter with the savings to come in 2024. We continue to analyze our global footprint for opportunities for further cost optimization and consolidation. We also remain on track to deliver another $15,000,000 of incremental savings from our ongoing productivity initiatives. I will now hand it over to Deb, and we'll come back to answer your questions. Deb? Speaker 400:14:16Thank you, Tom, and good morning, everyone. When we last spoke to you in February, we highlighted the impact of last year's inventory destocking by retailers With their cautious approach to replenishment and slowing demand due to the macroeconomic environment. In the Q1, While the macroeconomic environment remains challenging, we did see a sequential improvement in retailers' inventory replenishment. This improvement helped us beat our sales guidance for the Q1. The stronger sales and the improvement in our margin profile Due to our pricing and cost actions, helped us deliver adjusted EPS above our outlook. Speaker 400:14:59In the Q1 of 2023, reported sales decreased 9% versus Q1 of 2022. Comparable sales excluding foreign exchange were down 6%. The decline was due to lower volumes in our North America and EMEA segments, more than offsetting global price increases And solid growth in our International segment. Gross profit for the Q1 was essentially flat at $119,000,000 Despite the sales decline, as gross margin improved 250 basis points to 29.6% from the cumulative effect of our pricing and cost actions. Adjusted SG and A expense of $95,000,000 Was down from $97,000,000 in 2022. Speaker 400:15:52Adjusted SG and A as a percent of sales Increased 160 basis points to 23.6 percent due to the lower level of sales. Adjusted operating income was $24,000,000 up 8% compared with the approximate $23,000,000 Last year, adjusted EPS was $0.09 versus $0.11 in 2022 As interest and non operating pension expenses increased, which we expect to be a headwind for the rest of the year. Now let's turn to our segment results. North America reported and comparable sales were down 15% as volume declines more than offset our cumulative pricing actions. This was slightly better than expected. Speaker 400:16:43As anticipated, we faced a difficult year over year comparison in the Q1 due to the early purchase of back to school product by retailers in 2022. Given normalization of supply chains, these purchases did not recur in the Q1 of 2023 to the same level as in the prior year period. Sales in the Q1 were also impacted by lower retailer demand Due to the macroeconomic environment as well as declines in technology accessories due to softening IT spending And a lack of wireless chips for our gaming accessories. We expect this to be the last quarter of difficult comparisons for gaming accessories as we expect sequential improvement in both availability and consumer demand. North America adjusted operating income margin in the Q1 decreased due to negative fixed cost leverage from the volume declines. Speaker 400:17:39We expect larger benefits from our pricing and cost actions as we progress throughout the year and move into higher volume periods. Now let's turn to EMEA. Net sales for the quarter were down 13% to $136,000,000 6% of this decline was due to FX. Comparable sales were down 7% to $145,000,000 mainly due to volume declines offsetting our price increases. Demand continues to be impacted by the overall macroeconomic environment in the region, especially as compared to the Q1 of last year before the impact of the Russia Ukraine war. Speaker 400:18:22Sales of technology accessories declined reflecting industry wide trends. In the Q1, EMEA posted adjusted operating income of $14,000,000 almost a 50% increase over the $9,000,000 a year ago. The margin rate improved 4 20 basis points from the prior year to 10%. The improvement in adjusted operating income was due to our pricing and cost actions taking hold. Moving to the International segment. Speaker 400:18:54Reported and comparable sales in the Q1 increased 17%. Growth was driven by price increases and strong demand in Latin America as resellers gain momentum from in person education and return to office. The International segment posted adjusted operating income of $12,000,000 up almost 90% versus the prior year's $6,000,000 The adjusted margin rate improved 4.90 basis points to 13% in the quarter due to the higher pricing and improved sales leverage. Switching to cash flows and balance sheet items. Due to seasonality, we generally use cash in the first half of the year And generate significant cash flow in the second half of the year. Speaker 400:19:43Free cash flow improved by $83,000,000 in the first quarter. We had a use of free cash flow of $25,000,000 versus a cash outflow of $108,000,000 a year ago. The improvement was driven by better working capital management as we lowered inventory levels and returned to a more typical product payment cycle as well as reduced incentive compensation payments. In 2021, we ended the year with higher levels of inventory, with much of it paid for in the Q1 of 2022. Reversing that trend, we ended 2022 with inventory that was significantly paid for. Speaker 400:20:25The change in timing of payments improved 1st quarter cash flow significantly. We ended the quarter with a consolidated leverage ratio of 4.3 times, Well below our 5 times covenant ratio and expect to end the year within a range of 3.5 times to 3.7 times. Longer term, we are still targeting 2x to 2.5x. At quarter end, we had $420,000,000 of remaining availability on our $600,000,000 revolving credit facility. As shown on our earnings slide, more than half of our debt is fixed and not impacted by interest rate increases, and we have no maturities until 2026. Speaker 400:21:11We ended the quarter with $127,000,000 in cash. Much of this cash, about $106,000,000 was held in Brazil. And in April, we took actions to repatriate $46,000,000 of this cash back to the U. S, which we then use to reduce borrowings on our revolver. The remaining cash balance in Brazil will be used to fund their inventory for back to school. Speaker 400:21:38Turning to our outlook. We are providing a second quarter outlook and reiterating our full year guidance for 2023. For the Q2 of 2023, we expect comparable sales to be down 4% to down 7% with adjusted EPS of $0.29 to $0.32 For the full year, we continue to expect comparable sales to be within a range of flat to down 3%. We expect our gross margins to increase over the prior year and be similar to our 2021 margin rate. Longer term, we continue to target a range of 32% to 33%. Speaker 400:22:23While we have reduced our overall cost structure from our restructuring actions, as we mentioned in February, The restoration of our annual incentive compensation as well as increases of merit and go to market spending will lead to higher SG and A levels in 2023. For the full year, we expect adjusted EPS to increase 4% to 8% The $1.08 to $1.12 as double digit growth in adjusted operating income is partially offset By higher net interest costs of about $10,000,000 and higher non cash non operating pension expenses of $5,000,000 The adjusted tax rate is expected to be approximately 29%. Intangibles amortization for the year It's estimated to be $43,000,000 which equates to approximately $0.32 of adjusted EPS. We are reiterating that we expect our free cash flow to be at least $100,000,000 after CapEx of $20,000,000 and to end the year with a consolidated leverage ratio within a range of 3.5 times to 3.7 times. Looking at cash uses in 2023, we expect to continue to prioritize dividends and debt reduction. Speaker 400:23:47Now let's move on to Q and A, where Boris, Tom and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator? Operator00:23:58Thank We have our first question comes from Greg Burns from Cytoni company. Greg, your line is now open. Speaker 500:24:18Good morning. Just dig into The decline you saw on the Kensington side of the business, how much was that down in the quarter? And your outlook for the rest of the year, Does that are you looking for that business to still grow this year? Or is it just going to Show improvement off of kind of the lower level you saw this quarter. Speaker 200:24:48Hi, Greg. Thanks for the question. Kensington sales were down low double digits in the quarter. We are important to point out that sales were down, but POS sell through at Kensington was up. It was up a little bit in the U. Speaker 200:25:08S. And it was up significantly more in Europe. Obviously there's a lot of inventory being taken out of the channel given the overall macro environment and especially what's happening on the Technology and IT side, and you see that from multiple companies' earnings reports. We still expect The Kensington business to grow for the year, last year that business grew about 13%. So Growth will not be as high this year. Speaker 200:25:40We don't anticipate it to be as high this year, but we still expect the business to grow. Speaker 500:25:46Okay. And you mentioned new product introductions is, I guess, your outlook for growth there around Maybe some new product introductions. And do you have a target for like revenue contribution from new products in any given year? Or How should we think about that layering in this year? Speaker 200:26:09I'll let Tom answer that question. Speaker 300:26:11Yes. So Greg, another great question. Thank you for it. Yes, annually we do have a target within our Kensington business specifically. I don't know that we would want to publish that target, but we do have a target, we track to it, we have a business cadence in which we measure it Each quarter and it gets set annually. Speaker 300:26:33So the shorter answer is yes, we have a growth target. And I think it's important to note over the last 5 years as Boris said in his prepared remarks, the Kensington business has grown. The CAGR is roughly low double digits on that and new product development and introductions is a big piece of that growth Over the years. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 200:27:01Thanks, Greg. Thank you. Operator00:27:07With our next question comes from Joe Gomez from NOBLE Capital. Joe, your line is now open. Speaker 600:27:15Good morning and thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 200:27:19Good morning, Joe. Speaker 600:27:22So I wanted to start out with last quarter you talked some about your SKU reduction efforts and just trying to get a little Speaker 300:27:38Joe, this is Tom Tedford. I'll take that question. Thank you for it. We are aggressively looking across our entire portfolio, but particularly in our mature markets At our SKU offering, as many companies have Felt the impact of the changes in consumer behavior over the last few years with the pandemic and then the inflationary pressures the consumer is feeling. Demand has changed in our portfolio and so our collective teams, our marketers and our supply chain teams are working closely together So that work is ongoing and we're making nice progress. Speaker 600:28:28Okay. Thank you for that. And on the Latin America business, I know it's been A quarter or 2 here where you've had some good performance driven by the return to in person education and In person office. How much more of that trend Speaker 700:28:46do you think is available? Speaker 600:28:49Or are we kind of past that? Are they all back Speaker 800:28:53To a Speaker 600:28:53more normal environment, at least on the school side and maybe on office getting to where We are there seems to be that blend of in office versus telecommuting. Speaker 200:29:08We still believe that there's a bunch left in Latin America. Latin America obviously has been recovering From the pandemic, schools are open, offices are open. But if I compare volumes, not revenue, but volumes are still below pre pandemic levels. So there's still market expectation and our Those volumes will continue to recover. There obviously been a lot of price Inflation in the market just given the cost inflation that all of us have experienced over the last couple of years. Speaker 200:29:45So with that, we expect Revenue growth to continue this year and both our Mexican business and our Brazilian business are expecting good Back to schools in their markets with significant growth over the prior year. Speaker 600:30:06Okay. And just if I could sneak in one more. I know the capital allocation you've talked about focus on dividends Debt repayment. But if we're looking at the stock here, it was down about 24% year to date, just off a 52 week low. You have the buyback authorization. Speaker 600:30:29At what point Boris, I guess, do you sit there and say, hey, it makes sense to start Repurchasing shares here. Speaker 200:30:41Yes. I would just reiterate, Joe, that the priority Yes, to fund the dividend and to pay down debt. We believe that in this environment, a lot of the pressure on our stock is coming from our leverage. And I think it will suit our shareholders very, very well if we Pay down debt and transfer that debt to equity by doing that. So that's the priority. Speaker 600:31:11Okay, great. Thank you. Speaker 200:31:13Thanks very much. Operator00:31:16Thank you, When we plan to ask your question, please ensure your phone is unmuted locally. Our next question comes from Kevin Stein from Barrington Tin Research. Kevin, your line is now open. Speaker 200:31:40Good morning, everyone. Hi, Kevin. Speaker 800:31:46Hi, Boris. I wanted to start out by asking about Gaming Accessories, you mentioned there how you expect growth in gaming accessories this year And sequential improvement as the year progresses, is that A positive update relative to what you expected before. Just trying to get a sense as to The improvement there and if it's kind of coming out of that Slow down that we had seen last year and if it's just trending maybe a little bit better than you had thought. Speaker 200:32:33It's a similar outlook that we had before. We expected to have a difficult Q1 due to the compares. We're still Selling a lot of product in Q1 of last year and then we mentioned we had some product availability issues due to Lack of some wireless chips in the last three quarters of this year sorry, of last year and it continued through Q1 of this year. So we knew we're going to have difficult compares. That's now behind us and we expect Growth in Q2 and in the second half of the year and overall growth for the full year, but that's consistent with our expectations that we had going Speaker 800:33:18Okay. Thank you. And similarly on the discussion around Slower IT spending and lower computer accessories sales, Yes. You did say you expect sequential improvement as we move throughout the year and grow through the full year. I mean, I was just wondering if that was Kind of a newer development, the slowdown or if that had kind of been baked into what you had already thought for the year. Speaker 800:33:47Obviously, you didn't Change your guidance or anything, but just kind of trying to get a sense as to how much of a change that is relative to prior expectations? Speaker 200:34:01I think versus a couple of months ago, the IT environment is a little bit slower Than we expected. So and again, you're seeing it from the public announcements from other companies in our space Also from large technology companies announced layoffs due to the specifically due to the IT environment. What we've seen though is we've seen better performance in other parts of the business, offsetting the a little bit of a slowness that we've seen on the technology side. So more specifically, our business products have performed better than we expected. So overall, as a company, we delivered better results Even now on the computer accessory side, it's a little bit slower than expectations. Speaker 800:34:55Okay. One last question for me. You had you mentioned there some areas of the business performing better than expected. And Deb, I think you mentioned that you saw some Improvement in inventory replenishment in the Q1 that helped you beat your sales guidance. Is there anything more to call out about that or elaborate on in terms of that being a trend or Yes. Speaker 800:35:28Just kind of wondering about the comments you made. Speaker 400:35:33Yes. I think, as Tom said in his remarks just on Back to school and kind of replenishment, we're at the same 10 weeks of supply as historical levels And as of prior year, so we feel pretty good set up for the back to school season. I don't really think there's much more to add. I mean, I think we are expecting, the sequential improvement as we go forward. Speaker 800:36:03Okay. Thank you for taking the questions. I'll turn it over. Speaker 200:36:07Thanks, Kevin. Operator00:36:10Thank you. Our next question comes from Hemant Coshan from BWS Financial. Hemant, your line is now open. Speaker 700:36:22Good morning. So the first question was just a follow-up on your expectations on back to school. Are you expecting that It will be the same kind of replenishment you've seen in prior years. It's just more coordinated in 1 or 2 quarters. And then as far as Your answer goes, are you getting any kind of feedback from your retailers right now as to what their ordering pattern would be? Speaker 200:36:48Tom, go Speaker 300:36:49ahead. Yes. So, I'll start with the last part of your question. We do a pretty good job with our retail partners in collaboration of planning out the season and when orders would flow into the And kind of work backwards from there all the way to our Asian factories on product that we import. Our domestic shipments tend to go later out of our domestic factories. Speaker 300:37:17So all of that is very well coordinated With our partners for BTS and I would say for the most part That is similar to what we have seen historically. Last year was very much an anomaly as retailers were trying to ensure Supply with the global supply chain crisis really apexing if you will at the time that their decisions were being made regarding Back to school inventory. So last year was more of anomaly versus this year being different than historic norms. I think we've kind of reverted back to more Kind of historic ways of the BTS cadence in North America playing out. Speaker 400:38:03I do think too, Tom, we probably are anticipating more retailers kind of chasing their POS and so Some shifting into the Q3 could also happen this year. Speaker 200:38:16Yes. And that's the normal behavior, Hamed. They typically Buy in Q2 for the 1st wave and then they replenish in Q3 as products sell through. As Tom mentioned last year, they didn't do that. There was an anomaly. Speaker 200:38:31And this year, we expect to revert back to normal typical performance. And overall to your first question, we expect a flat back to school and that's what the industry expects as well, roughly flat back to school. Speaker 700:38:48Okay. And my last question was just as far as the PowerA distribution goes in Europe, has that started? And What are your expectations for that product in the region? Speaker 300:39:02Yes. It has started. We started really in earnest in the Q1 of this year with our expansion efforts. Europe is a large addressable market for gaming accessories and specifically console gaming accessories and we have relatively small shares. Our business is primarily concentrated in 2 markets, the U. Speaker 300:39:24K. And Germany. So we have in the Q1 trained all of our sales people. We've Consolidated our operations from a 3PL into ACCO owned facilities and so all the back end work has largely been completed. Now we're just kind of working against some of the trends that Boris mentioned earlier. Speaker 300:39:44I think we're probably off to a bit of a slower start than we would have hoped, But we still have great optimism for the balance of the year. Speaker 200:39:56Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks, Hamed. Operator00:40:01Thank you. We have no further questions on the line. Speaker 200:40:27Thanks, Glenn. I'll just do the closing remarks. Thanks everybody for your interest in ACCO Brands. We had a stronger than expected start of the year and are encouraged about the remainder of 2023 as we stay focused on executing against our key priorities and keeping margin improvement at the forefront. We have managed well in difficult environments and are confident in our ability to navigate current economic challenges. Speaker 200:40:57We're confident we have the right strategy and believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver organic sales growth, compelling market performance Operator00:41:18Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.Read morePowered by