Sensient Technologies Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
February 9, 2024

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Sensient Technologies Corporation 2023 4th Quarter and Year End Earnings Conference Call. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Steve Rolfes. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Good morning. Welcome to Sensient's earnings call for the Q4 and Full year of 2023. I'm Steve Rolfs, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Sensient Technologies Corporation. I am joined today by Paul Manning, Sensient's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Yesterday, we released our 20 During our call today, we will reference certain non GAAP financial measures, which remove the impact of currency movements, cost of the company's portfolio optimization plan, income related to an earn out payment received in 2022 in connection with the divestiture of our yogurt Group Preparations business and other items as noted in the company's filings.

Speaker 1

We believe the removal of these items provides investors with additional information to evaluate the company's performance and improves the comparability of results between reporting periods. This also reflects how management reviews and evaluates the company's operations and performance. Non GAAP financial results should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information calculated in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is available in our press release. We encourage investors to review these reconciliations in connection with the comments we make today.

Speaker 1

I would also like to remind everyone that comments made during this call, including responses to your questions, may include forward looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied due to a wide range of factors, including those set forth in our SEC filings. We urge you to read Sensient's previous SEC filings and our forthcoming 10 ks for a description of additional factors that could potentially impact our financial results. Please keep these factors in mind when you analyze our comments today. Now we'll hear from Paul Manning.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Steve. Good morning and good afternoon. Yesterday, we reported our 4th quarter and full year results. As predicted, we continue to experience destocking throughout the 4th quarter as many of our customers continue their efforts to reduce their inventory and right size their balance sheet by year end. During the quarter, destocking was most pronounced in the Color Group, while the Flavors Group experienced sequential improvement.

Speaker 2

Now turning to our results. For the company, local currency revenue was down low single digits in the quarter and was about flat for the full year of 2023. Revenue in the flavors and extract group was flat in the 4th quarter and the color group was down high single digits in local currency. Local currency revenue in both color and flavor improved sequentially in the Q4 of 2023 from the Q3. Revenue in the Asia Pacific group was down mid single digits in the 4th quarter, primarily due to destocking.

Speaker 2

Overall, the impact of destocking in the Asia Pacific group has not been as pronounced as the impact in the flavor and color groups. As I mentioned previously, the impact quarter to quarter in Asia Pacific has been more volatile due to the order patterns of certain multinational customers. For the full year 2023, Asia Pacific reported mid single digit local currency revenue growth. Our consolidated adjusted local currency EBITDA was down 5.9 percent for the full year of 2023. As mentioned throughout 2023, the volume declines due to destocking have had an outsized impact on our operating profit, especially when you compare our 2023 results to our outstanding results in 2022.

Speaker 2

Both Color and Flavor reported local currency operating profit declines of about 16% in the Q4 of 2023. The Asia Pacific Group reported a local currency operating profit decline of 12%. 2023 has been a transitional year and we expect 2024 to be a more normal year. During 2023, customers were focused on reducing their inventory positions and rightsizing their working Capital. As we begin 2024, we are already seeing an improvement in customer order patterns.

Speaker 2

We expect sequential improvement in our volumes throughout 2024, and I expect a much improved financial picture, including solid sales volume growth, local currency revenue growth and local currency adjusted operating profit growth. Our focus remains on the things that we can control. We continue to win new business across all three groups. Our sales win rate remains at a high level We are generating incremental sales wins across most of our product lines and geographies. We continue to be focused on retaining our existing business and working with our customers on new development activities.

Speaker 2

Our focus on customer service and on time delivery are a direct contributor to our high sales win rate. In the Q4, we also initiated a portfolio optimization plan. This plan is designed to right size our cost base and to optimize our organizational structure with a focus on driving improved productivity in certain businesses and functions and delivering significant cost improvement. The plan will look to optimize our production operations in both colors and flavors and to centralize and eliminate SG and A redundancies activities in certain functional areas within both groups. The objective of this plan is to deliver annual cost savings of approximately 8 to $10,000,000 once fully implemented by the end of 2025.

Speaker 2

Including the costs incurred in the Q4 of 2023, We expect to incur pre tax charges of approximately $40,000,000 of which approximately $30,000,000 will be non cash. We are carefully managing this process to ensure our ability to meet customers' needs and to minimize the disruption to the business. We are also beginning the consultation process with certain European employee groups in connection with our plan. We're also announcing that we are increasing our Board of Directors from 9 seats to 10. We are nominating Brett Brueggemann for election to the Board of Directors at our 2024 Annual Meeting in April.

Speaker 2

Brett is the Chief Operating Officer at Land O'Lakes and brings over 30 years of food industry and agricultural experience. Brett's insights will be invaluable as we continue our expansion in natural colors and flavors across many of our businesses. Now turning to 2024, I expect Sensient to return to sales volume growth and I expect consolidated annual revenue to grow at a low to mid single digit rate on a local currency basis with low single digit pricing. I expect good operating leverage margin improvement across our groups as we experience improved fixed cost coverage and a lower inflationary environment. As revenue and volume growth resume, profit improvement will trail sales improvement by a quarter or so.

Speaker 2

On a consolidated basis, I expect Sensient to deliver lowtomidsingledigitadjustedlocalcurrency EBITDA growth for the year. Within our flavors and extracts group, our new sales win rate is robust. The group delivered a high level of new sales wins in 2023, and we expect strong new sales wins in 2024. Customer service remains at a high level and continues to be a top priority. The group has seen a reduction in certain raw material costs.

Speaker 2

However, many raw material costs such as citrus and various agricultural inputs remain elevated. The impacts of destocking improved each quarter in 2023 and we believe our customers have substantially completed destocking. Therefore, I expect the flavor group to have a much improved 2024 with low to mid single digit local currency revenue growth. The Color Group also had an outstanding new sales win rate in 2023, particularly in natural colors and we expect an equally robust new sales win rate 2024. Customers accelerated their destocking in the back half of last year, especially in the 4th quarter.

Speaker 2

Most of the impact of destocking is over. However, we do anticipate a modest amount in the Q1 of this year. Overall, I expect the Color Group to deliver lowtomidsingledigitlocalcurrencyrevenuegrowthin 2024. Asia Pacific's focus on sales execution, customer service and broadening its product portfolio has positioned the group nicely for 2024. The group continues to deliver a high level of new sales wins throughout 2023.

Speaker 2

These new wins will continue to benefit 2024 I expect the group will deliver new sales wins at a high rate again in 2024. The group has been impacted by destocking at certain larger multinational companies. As mentioned earlier, this has produced some volatile swings in the Asia Pacific Group order patterns and results. That will be the case again during the Q1 of this year. Overall, I expect the Asia Pacific Group to deliver mid single digit revenue growth in 2024.

Speaker 2

I'm optimistic about 2024. As I said earlier, we're focused on the things we can control. Our focus on sales execution, customer service and our innovative technologies are contributing to the high level of new sales wins we are generating across the company. Our sales pipelines remain strong and we continue to work on new product applications with our customers. We expect this focus on new sales in an overall moderation in destocking to drive volume growth in 2024 compared to 2023.

Speaker 2

Our portfolio optimization plan will improve our manufacturing footprint and improve our overall cost structure. We expect this plan will generate modest profit improvement in 2024. Once fully implemented by the end of 2025, We expect that it will generate annual savings of approximately $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 We also continue to strategically manage our inventory positions and we expect our overall inventory levels to decline in 2024. We have seen strong improvement to our cash flow in 2023 and we expect continued improvement in 2024. In this elevated interest environment, we remain focused on reducing our debt and our interest expense.

Speaker 2

Our product portfolio is strong and remains focused on our key customer markets of food, pharmaceutical and personal care. Our strategy remains sound, and we are well positioned for future growth. Steve will now provide you with additional details on the 4th quarter results.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Paul. In my comments this morning, I will be explaining the differences between our GAAP results and our adjusted results. The adjusted results for 2023 removed the cost of the portfolio optimization plan and the adjusted results for 2022 remove the income related to an earn out payment received in connection with the divestiture of our Yogurt Fruit Prep business. We believe that the removal of these items provides a more clear picture to investors of the company's performance. This also reflects how management reviews the company's operations and performance.

Speaker 1

Sensient's revenue was $349,300,000 in the Q4 of 2023 compared to $348,700,000 in the Q4 of 2022. Sensient's operating income was $8,100,000 in the Q4 of 2023 compared to $41,200,000 of in the comparable period last year. Operating income in the Q4 of 2023 includes $27,800,000 approximately $0.65 per share of portfolio optimization costs, which are primarily non cash. Operating income in the Q4 of 2022 included income of $2,500,000 or approximately $0.04 per share related to the post closing earn out payment received from the sale of our Yogurt Fruit Prep business in 2020. Excluding the items just mentioned, adjusted operating income was $35,900,000 in the Q4 of 2023 compared to $38,700,000 in the prior year period.

Speaker 1

Interest expense was $6,500,000 in the Q4 of 2023 compared to 4 point $8,000,000 in the Q4 of 2022. The company's consolidated adjusted tax rate was 26.5% in the Q4 of 2023 compared to 19.7% in the comparable period of 2022. Adjusted local currency EBITDA was down 8.5% in the Q4 of 2023. Foreign currency increased revenue and adjusted operating income by approximately 2%. Cash flow from operations was $170,000,000 in 2023 compared to $12,000,000 in 2022.

Speaker 1

Capital expenditures were $88,000,000 in 2023 compared to $79,000,000 in 2022. Total debt was $658,500,000 as of December 31, 2023. Sensient's improving cash flow allowed us to reduce debt by $13,000,000 in the 4th quarter and by $43,000,000 in the second half of twenty twenty three. Our net debt to credit adjusted EBITDA is 2.6 as of December 31, 2023. Overall, our balance sheet remains well positioned to support our capital expenditures, sensible M and A and our long standing dividend and any excess cash will be used to pay down debt.

Speaker 1

At this time, we expect 2024 capital expenditures to be around 65,000,000 Regarding our 2024 guidance, we expect our 2024 local currency revenue, local currency adjusted EBITDA our local currency adjusted EPS to be up low to mid single digits in 2024. In considering our GAAP earnings per share in 20.24, we expect approximately $0.15 of portfolio optimization costs in 2024. We expect our GAAP EPS in 20.24 to be between $2.80 $2.90 compared to our 2023 GAAP EPS of $2.21 In 2024, our EPS will be impacted by continued higher interest expense. Based on current interest rates, we expect our interest expense increase by approximately $3,000,000 compared to our 2023 full year interest expense of $25,200,000 Also, we expect our 2024 full year adjusted tax rate to be in the range of 24% to 25%. On a quarter to quarter basis, our tax rate will fluctuate, and therefore, we continue to believe our local currency adjusted EBITDA growth is an important measure of our performance.

Speaker 1

Thank you for participating in our call today. We will now open the call for questions.

Operator

And our first question will come from Ghansham Panjabi of Baird. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Guys. Good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning, Ghansham.

Speaker 3

Good morning. Maybe just first off, kind of thinking back to the 4th quarter, Just give us a sense as to what surprised you from a volume standpoint in the Q4 kind of looking back and maybe you can give us a sense as to how the quarter progressed And also what you're seeing what you saw, I should say, in January?

Speaker 2

So I would tell you the thing that surprised me the most With the acceleration of the destocking in Color, we had as we were going through 2023, Flavors really started destocking, you could say in late 2022 and that continued pretty well throughout the year. Color lagged that though. You may recall last year Q1, Color had a pretty good I think it was something like about 9% or 10% top line growth. So the color destocking really didn't begin until about Q2 in earnest with our customers. And so all along, we had kind of projected that flavors would be done largely by the end of 2023 with destocking.

Speaker 2

And I think we could say that that is the case. But we also felt Color would lag by really a full quarter that destocking impact. I think with the acceleration in destocking that we saw in Q4, I think we could now say that To the extent there would be destocking in the Color Group in Q1 of 2024, it would be rather modest. So that was probably single biggest surprise. But I suppose in retrospect, as customers are trying to kind of clear the decks, so to speak, on the balance sheet and working capital and just right size things that they would have attempted to do that across each of their ingredients and other raw materials.

Speaker 2

So That would have really been the only one from a surprise standpoint on volume. As we look to January, as you kind of Scott, from my comments in the opening, we're kind of cautiously optimistic. There's a lot of positives that we're seeing right now. I think January was a pretty good month for us. Let's see though, right?

Speaker 2

There's a lot of we're coming off probably one of the most unusual markets in the last 50 years, which was what I would call 2023, as our customers transitioned out of COVID inventory positions And they changed their focus with respect to developmental opportunities in some cases. So I think 2024, we'd like to all believe that it is a back to normal year. Early signs would suggest that that is the case. But I think that The plot will continue to unfold as the year progresses. But I would say we're cautiously optimistic following the results we saw in January.

Speaker 3

That's helpful. And then in terms of the new wins that you cited, any specific segments, any new products that you want to highlight As we sort of think about 2024, just from a customer appetite for new innovation and kind of kick start velocity, if you will, at the end market retailer level?

Speaker 2

Yes. So the new win rate, I was very, very happy with that in each of the groups throughout 2023. That is one of key metrics that we measure in the business. The size of your sales pipeline that could be a good metric. But really the reality is it's points on the board that's best represented by wins, which is to say a customer now gives you a purchase order for that project you've been working on.

Speaker 2

And so we had record RINs in 2022 across each of the groups. And we came We exceeded that in some in 2023 and we came very, very close in others. But overall, still very strong new win rate across each of the groups. Lots of new wins within the realm of natural colors. So as our strategy has been focused in the food color business on Accelerating our innovation there, our supply chain and our production capacity, we were able to really leverage all three of those in developing some very, very unique applications and technologies for a number of customers, not only for new to the market launches, But actually, some compelling and very interesting conversions from synthetic colors.

Speaker 2

So those are some very exciting wins there. We have a number of very exciting wins on the flavor front, high quality flavor wins that not only would utilize a traditional flavor, but could also incorporate an extract. They could also incorporate some dimension of a taste modulation technology, whether this is sweetness enhancement or sodium reduction. And so we had a number of very, very interesting wins across not only beverage and sweet, but in some of our savory segments as well. The Pharmaceutical business, we continue to make very, very good progress there, not only with respect to natural colors in these over the counter nutraceutical applications, but also in flavors.

Speaker 2

And so we have uncovered some very good Opportunities there generated some very interesting wins on that front. And then of course, our S and I business, part of our flavor group, We had a series of very, very interesting and significant wins in our onion and our garlic business. So Lots to be very, very excited about in 'twenty four. These wins that we generated in 'twenty three, many of them carry over into 'twenty four. But the pace of our wins right out of the gate in January, I'm quite excited about.

Speaker 2

So yes, pretty broad based set of wins, which speaks to the investments we made in our sales force, in our innovation platforms and in overall just customer service and responsiveness.

Speaker 3

Okay. And then just finally on your guidance, it looks like it's low to mid single digits throughout sales, EBITDA, EPS. Why wouldn't operating leverage be higher in context of what you're doing in terms of portfolio optimization, etcetera? And then just separately, Steve, congrats on your retirement announcement. Best wishes for the future.

Speaker 3

Thanks so much.

Speaker 1

Thank you. So I

Speaker 2

would say maybe the guidance is a little bit conservative. When we say low single digits and mid single digit, there's a bit of a range implied within each one of those. And I think after the Q1 as has been our practice, we will kind of give you an update and a sense of things as the year progresses. But I'd like to set kind of the floor where we're going to be and I feel very confident that unlike 2023 where there was a tremendous amount of volatility and destocking and all these other factors, our guidance kind of signals that we believe that that is over. And the magnitude of our new wins would be able to overcome any market dynamics.

Speaker 2

The degree of that ability to overcome, Let's see how the year progresses. Many of our customers are very much driving for volume growth. That would be a really nice development. The new wins generate lots of volume. Pricing is a fairly nominal thing for 2024.

Speaker 2

So Yes, the volume comes and to your point, we should have really nice operating leverage in the businesses. But With respect to the portfolio improvement plan, much of that benefit will be obviously spread out over 2024 and We endeavor to get those things done as quickly as possible. But I'm realistic enough to realize that You can screw those up if you're not very, very thoughtful and particular about how you do those. So we have a lot of experience here. We have a lot of lessons learned, Ghansham, as well going back to sort of 2017.

Speaker 2

So I'm feeling very, very confident that this one will be executed quite smartly, and I don't anticipate any issues there. But the savings will flow in over that, say, 2 year period. But yes, I'd like to be able to tell you next quarter, you know what, things are looking even better than I thought. But for right now, I think this is a pretty good start to the year and a pretty good guidance that I think we could all feel very committed to achieving.

Speaker 4

Got it.

Speaker 3

Thanks so much.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thanks, Ghansham.

Operator

The next question comes from Nicola Tang of BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. Hi, Nicolas. Hi, Nicolas. Hi there.

Speaker 5

You're just starting to touch on one of the topics I wanted to ask about, which is the portfolio optimization plan and you referenced your learnings from 2017. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about that and What gives you confidence that the portfolio optimization plan will run more smoothly this time? And also just in terms of the areas that you identified, how did you sort of make that assessment around which specific plants or production sites to shut down? And just to tie another one on the same topic, can we should we kind of take an even split in terms of the cost savings across flavors and colors?

Speaker 2

Okay. So number 1, this we will periodically Review sites, business units, we look at different dimensions of the business and we see what part is running well and has an optimized production footprint, for example, or we're able to achieve good synergies. So I think as we looked at the overall portfolio, we came up with the one that we did. It's quite a bit smaller than anything we've done previously. So I suppose to your question about how do we think this going to go and do you think we'll do well here?

Speaker 2

I think it's much smaller. In one instance, we're moving a plant In Europe, we've begun the consultation process there. And so that is a plant that's very similar to one that we successfully consolidated in the past. So that gives me a great deal of confidence. In fact, most of the folks who were involved with that are running this one as well.

Speaker 2

So that is a That would probably be the biggest component of the project is that one plant in Europe that we would consolidate into the Americas. I think the other thing is just There were lots of lessons learned from the previous restructuring. And I was the CEO then, And I'm responsible for the screw ups then. And so I know what all the screw ups are. And so we've made a very concerted effort to plan differently and evaluate those differently.

Speaker 2

And so I think we've put more resources towards this project. And again, we can anticipate with a great deal of confidence that where the trouble areas would be on such a move. Beyond that one plant that produces product, most of the other activities are really SG and A related. So they don't Specifically involved the production of our product, the movement or the transition of one product from another. That was the most complicated and problematic our previous restructuring is trying to requalify products in other plants.

Speaker 2

It's a decidedly complex and difficult thing. There's a lot less of that. In fact, I would almost say very little of that associated with this restructuring versus, say, some of the previous activities that we had. How do we assess the site? Who makes money?

Speaker 2

Who doesn't make as much money? It's pretty much how you'd evaluate any stock or any other investment portfolio. And so it is in fact a portfolio optimization program from that sense. These two facilities were the 2 lowest probably the 2 lowest returning facilities in the company. And so I think we've addressed that.

Speaker 2

We've made an effort, but There is such thing as a sunk cost fallacy and we're not going to fall for it. In terms of the split, it's probably about fifty-fifty. I don't know Steve, do you want to give more details on the split in terms of the savings?

Speaker 1

Yes. No, it is about fifty-fifty, maybe a little bit more by the end with flavors and Some of the activities in flavors will take a little longer, but at the end of the program, it will be about fifty-fifty flavors and colors.

Operator

Thank you. That's helpful with all the detail. Can I ask a question about pricing? I think in

Speaker 5

the opening remarks, you mentioned for 2024, you expect low single digit pricing. Is this are you implementing new pricing as of today? Or is this carryover from previous pricing And then I suppose tied onto that, could you talk a little bit about your expectations for input costs this year? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Yes. So that's right. So low single digit is what we would expect the impact to be if you were to add up all the pricing and divided by the total revenue of the company, it would be in that low single digit range. And that's principally Pricing that was put into effect January 1, I would say if there was carryover, it was fairly modest. We are more than likely back into a world where we negotiate pricing annually.

Speaker 2

Traditionally in this ingredient space, it would be kind of a January 1st anniversary date for the majority of your customers. But there may be others who have an April 1st or July 1st. But in general, think January 1st. And so this was I think we're back to that more traditional we negotiate once per year with an effective date of January 1. And so that low single digit is sort of the culmination of that 4th quarter activity with the January 1 effective date.

Speaker 2

With respect to input costs, as I mentioned, many have moderated, some of them linger. But I think by and large The low single digits gets us to where we need to be with respect to recovering any of the inflation on those input costs. But On the negative side, right, there's still elevated energy costs in parts of the world. Labor is still an elevated dimension of input costs. We do have agricultural products.

Speaker 2

We talked about that on the last call. You grow those in a previous year where fertilizers were and water was expensive and land was expensive and there was a lot of run up to that. And now we're in the world of selling those products that had the elevated previously elevated costs. And so we have a little bit of that going on from the agricultural side of the business. But I think by and large, the market is moving in the right direction with respect to input costs.

Speaker 5

Thanks. And then maybe a final one. On the Asian business, you mentioned that there's quite a lot of volatility linked to kind of the order volatility of the multinational customer base. With that in mind, what gives you confidence in the mid single digit growth outlook for Asia in 2024?

Speaker 2

The new win rates that they have, Their execution of pricing increases and very, very clear communications with our customer as to what they see in the market when they believe their order patterns would resume, which is to say this year. So I think those three factors come together. And I think again, we have a little bit of a choppy Q1 owing to that destocking, but not as a result of a poor win rate or poor pricing or out of control inflation. Those factors, the ones again that we can control, I think are well in hand. And it's just a matter of kind of working through the last of this patchy destocking.

Speaker 2

But yes, I think that we're through that in Q1 and Asia is back on track. They've been on a nice tear for the last say 4 or 5 years. So I think they're back on track largely after Q1 here.

Operator

That's great. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2

Okay. Thanks, Nicola.

Operator

And our next question comes from David Green of Boethaven.

Speaker 4

Just an initial question regarding the Guidance, which you have alluded to, Paul, anyway. The narrative this year in terms of the headwind from the destock has been very much along the lines of destock running at high single digit, but The win rates or underlying growth running at a similar amount. And so net net, you're kind of in the middle of sort of like flattish growth. So I'm just sort of trying to understand as we go through 2024 and the destock Fully unwinds. Why would we not be seeing a more significant improvement in top line come through in 2024?

Speaker 2

Well, we could is the short answer. So I've guided low to mid. And as I said, let's see how your math is correct. I mean, destocking did have a negative high single digit impact from a revenue standpoint. New wins more than eclipsed that.

Speaker 2

So sure, that could definitely happen. But then again, if I'm wrong, I'm in big trouble. So let's Start with low to mid and let's see how things go from there.

Speaker 1

Yes. And

Speaker 4

I guess just in terms of understanding color specifically in the destock there and then the sort of trajectory as we go into sort of Q1 and the rest of the year. Has that been focused on any specific areas still? Is that still mainly cosmetics where There's a destock that is needing to come through. And then I guess thinking more about what kind of top line you can deliver In Colors, should we expect to sort of return to sort of positive organic growth within Colors within the first half?

Speaker 2

So the color destocking, it was food colors and cosmetics. So you're right about that. It would appear as we look back at this and conduct somewhat of an autopsy, although we were seeing this as it was going as well. Customers very much started with destocking at the highest value items they had on their balance sheet, which is a fairly logical approach. Flavors and colors, whether derived for food products or in the case of colors cosmetic products, Those tend to be lower valued items on a balance sheet, right?

Speaker 2

They're just not nearly as expensive as some of the ingredients and input costs that our customers have. So as they went down the list and focused on the highest value, eventually they got to flavors and then they got to colors. And so I think that's largely why you saw the progression that you did. And then of course with Colors being somewhat after Flavors, but still with the desire to kind of clear the decks by the end of the year, you saw that Q4 acceleration of destocking in colors not only for food but for cosmetics. The underlying growth in the food industry In North America continues to be as well in Q4 of 2023, it was negative.

Speaker 2

It was actually a decline of 1% or 2% in the overall market. Europe, we believe it was about flattish and then in other parts of Asia, it was up. So with respect to cosmetics though, you have somewhat of a mixed bag. At the prestige level, the high end level, We see good volume growth and we see good volume opportunities. At the mass market level, that's where there was a considerable degree of destocking and perhaps even a reduction in consumer demand.

Speaker 2

That though is very good for our business because In terms of the product that we develop and the portfolio that we have, it can not only serve the mass market, but in particular can serve the prestige market quite successfully. So I think that as you look at Q1 here, Yes, there'll be a touch of destocking in both food and cosmetics. But there's you can only get your inventory levels so low you have to start ordering and that's obviously what we started to see here with many of these customers. But to go back to your previous question a little bit, Again, 2023 was sort of a once in a century dynamic in the Food and Personal Care space. Nothing like that has ever happened.

Speaker 2

So anybody's ability to predict, if anybody is going to tell you this is exactly what's going to happen, they're making it up in my opinion. Nobody is there is no wise old man here. And so we're going to go with what our customers are telling us, what they're projecting, but it's what they're projecting. So we're going to focus on our pricing, we're going to focus on our service levels and we're going to focus on our win rate. And That's low to mid single, but longer term, we should be right back on track with our mid single digit revenue where we were in 2020 2021 2022.

Speaker 2

So I'm confident in the long term. It's just a question of when do we get to the long term. Is it Q2? Is it Q3? Maybe at the end of Q1.

Speaker 2

We'll see.

Speaker 4

Right. And then just thinking about the momentum that you're seeing in Flavors and Extracts. It sounds like there are some really sort of solid wins there. Should we expect those to

Speaker 3

be coming through pretty quickly in terms of the top line?

Speaker 2

Yes, I think Flavors will kind of be faster out of the gate than Colors. And again, they've also they very, very strong win rate and they got they're kind of out of the destocking now. So I think those two things conspire to make for a good start to the year for Flavors.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back over to the company for any closing remarks.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you, everyone, for participating in our call today. That will conclude our call. Thank you.

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