The Hershey Company (HSY) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Prepared Remarks

Questions and Answers

Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Greetings. And welcome to The Hershey Company Second Quarter 2023 Question-and-Answer Session. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I’d now like to turn the call over to your host, Ms. Melissa Poole, Vice President of Investor Relations for The Hershey Company. Thank you. You may begin.

Melissa Poole

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for The Hershey Company’s second quarter 2023 earnings Q&A session. I hope everyone has had the chance to read our press release and listen to our prerecorded management remarks, both of which are available on our website. In addition, we have posted a transcript of the prerecorded remarks. At the conclusion of today’s live Q&A session, we will also post a transcript and audio replay of this call.

Please note that during today’s Q&A session, we may make forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These statements include expectations and assumptions regarding the company’s future operations and financial performance.

Actual results could differ materially from those projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based on subsequent events. A detailed listing of such risks and uncertainties can be found in today’s press release and the company’s SEC filings.

Finally, please note we may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe will provide useful information for investors. The presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations to the GAAP results are included in this morning’s press release.

Joining me today are Hershey’s Chairman and CEO, Michele Buck; and Hershey’s Senior Vice President and CFO, Steve Voskuil.

With that, I will turn it over to the Operator for the first question.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first questions come from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please proceed with your questions.

Andrew Lazar

Great. Thanks so much, and good morning, everybody.

Michele Buck

Good morning, Andrew.

Andrew Lazar

Good morning. I want to ask a bit about the pricing versus volume commentary regarding the full year sales growth outlook. And the comments sounds like you expect price to be a bit better in the second half and maybe volume is a bit worse than originally planned. So just two questions on this. First, how do we think about the balance between the two in the second half and could volume be down year-over-year in 2H? And then more specifically on volume, is the weaker than anticipated volume fully due to just the new pricing actions or are you reflecting a tougher consumer or a competitive environment in that outlook or both? Thanks so much.