Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call February 7, 2024 8:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Wendy Davidson - President & CEO
Lee Boyce - CFO
Alexis Tessier - VP, IR
Conference Call Participants
Jim Salera - Stephens, Inc.
Andrew Lazar - Barclays
Andrew Wolf - C.L. King & Associates
Ken Goldman - J.P. Morgan Chase
Michael Lavery - Piper Sandler
Matt Smith - Stifel Financial Corp.
John Baumgartner - Mizuho Securities
Jon Andersen - William Blair
Anthony Vendetti - Maxim Group
Operator
Greetings. Welcome to The Hain Celestial Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I’ll now turn the conference over to your host, Alexis Tessier, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.
Alexis Tessier
Good morning, and thank you for joining us on Hain Celestial's second quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. On the call today are Wendy Davidson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Lee Boyce, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
During the course of this call, we may make forward-looking statements within the meanings of federal securities laws. These include expectations and assumptions regarding the company's future operations and financial performance. These statements are based on our current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Please refer to our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other reports filed from time-to-time with the SEC, as well as the press release issued this morning for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause our results to differ from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement made today. We have also prepared a presentation, inclusive of additional supplemental financial information, which is posted on our website at Hain.com under the Investors heading. Please note that remarks made today will focus on non-GAAP or adjusted financial measures. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP results, are available in the earnings release and the slide presentation accompanying this call. This call is being webcast and an archive will be made available on the website.
And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Wendy.
Wendy Davidson
Thank you, Alexis, and good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. I will begin today's call by first reviewing our second quarter results, and then provide an update on the progress with our Hain Reimagined strategy to return the business to profitable growth. Lee will then review our financial results in more detail, along with our outlook for the year. We are pleased that our second quarter delivered sequential improvement from our first quarter as anticipated in revenue, gross margin, and adjusted EBITDA. Our international business segment continued its strong growth, led by pricing, distribution, and currency benefits, and our North American business segment improved revenue trends compared to our first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the first half came in ahead of our plan, but was down versus prior year due to lower volume and increased investments in marketing and SG&A, offset by both pricing and productivity. Lee will provide greater detail in his remarks.