Chobani's earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 were much weaker than expected, reflecting higher packaging and logistics costs, as well as lower capacity utilization. In addition, elevated capital expenditures (capex) for an innovation center and an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system will pressure free cash flow and debt repayment capacity over the next several quarters. We are affirming our ratings on the company, including the 'B' issuer credit rating, and revising the outlook to negative from stable. The negative outlook reflects our expectation for negligible free cash flow in 2018 and the risk that EBITDA margins and credit measures may not be restored to our previous expectations if operating execution does not improve. On Sept 26, 2018, S&P
