Utz Brands, Inc. (NYSE:UTZ) Q3 2024 Management Session Earnings Conference Call October 31, 2024 6:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Kevin Powers - Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Howard Friedman - Chief Executive Officer
Ajay Kataria - Chief Financial Officer

Kevin Powers

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our pre-recorded discussion of our Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Results. On the call today are Howard Friedman, CEO; and Ajay Kataria, CFO. In addition, later this morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, we will host a live question-and-answer session, which you can access via webcast on our Investor Relations website.

Please note that some of our comments today will contain forward-looking statements based on our current view of our business and actual future results may differ materially. Please see the forward-looking statement disclaimer in the earnings materials and our recent SEC filings, which identify the principal risks and uncertainties that could affect future performance.

Today, we will discuss certain adjusted or non-GAAP financial measures, which are described in more detail in this morning’s earnings materials. Reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures and other associated disclosures are contained in our earnings materials and posted on our Investor Relations website.

Finally, the company has also posted presentation slides and additional supplemental financial information on our Investor Relations website.

And now, I’d like to turn the call over to Howard.

Howard Friedman

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. I’m pleased with our year-to-date progress and financial performance as we execute against the strategies we laid out at our 2023 Investor Day. This year, we are: driving branded volume growth led by our Power Four Brands; gaining volume and value share in our Expansion geographies, and volume share in our Core geographies; delivering accelerated productivity cost savings and optimizing our network, which are fueling margin expansion; developing our capabilities and building out a robust analytics platform; and improving our balance sheet flexibility ahead of our original targets.

Our progress demonstrates that we are on track to deliver, or in certain cases exceed, the 3-year targets we introduced at our Investor Day. Let’s begin with a few key messages. In the third quarter, we delivered organic net sales growth of 1.9% led by branded volume growth supported by increased distribution and marketing investments.

We maintained a disciplined pricing strategy and gained volume share in the Salty Snack category for the 5th consecutive quarter. Our combination of brand building, innovation, execution, and distribution gains are helping to sustain our volume market share trends in a more competitive environment.