ACCO Brands Corp Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Joe Gomes - Noble Capital Markets - Analyst : Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions.

Question: Joe Gomes - Noble Capital Markets - Analyst : So, I want to kind of start out and big, real big picture here, you talk about, the primary focus moving forward about improving sales trends and some of the things you mentioned new product development, acquisitions, brand building. All that you guys have done in spades in the past, in brands, eight of your brands are number one in market share already. What is different this time that you haven't done in the past that you foresee that it is going to change the sales trajectory.

Question: Joe Gomes - Noble Capital Markets - Analyst : Okay, thank you for that. And on the gaming side, and you talked about previously, you had some partnerships, I think one was with Epic Games, another one getting distribution in Japan for Nintendo and Sony, and we haven't heard anything much about those efforts. I was wondering to give us maybe a little update on those.

Question: Joe Gomes - Noble Capital Markets - Analyst : Okay, great. And then one more if I may one of the things you talked about, throughout last year, was retailers and their inventory positions and them taking a, holding less inventory than normal, and I know it's very early days to talk about back to school for this year, but as you're sitting there today, kind of give us your view of what you think the retailers will do on the inventory front.

Question: Joe Gomes - Noble Capital Markets - Analyst : Great, thanks. I'll get back in cue.

Question: Gregory Burns - Sidoti & Company LLC - Analyst : Okay, morning, the remainder of the cost savings is $75 million that you expect to get over the next two years. What is the timing or the cadence of that, is that going to be kind of ridable over the next two-year period or you know back end weighted in [26] or this year? How should we think about modelling that in?

Question: Gregory Burns - Sidoti & Company LLC - Analyst : Okay. And when you Look at M&A opportunities. Is it going to be more focused in those kinds of near adjacent categories or might you do something, like the gaming acquisition getting into a whole new market? What is your preference when you look at M&A?

Question: Gregory Burns - Sidoti & Company LLC - Analyst : Okay, so you wouldn't be necessarily looking to lever up the balance sheet anymore than it currently is, with one of these transactions?

Question: Gregory Burns - Sidoti & Company LLC - Analyst : Okay, thanks, and then in Brazil, have you seen any change there? I know like this last quarter and the start of the back-to-school season was weak there. Have you seen any improvement or, any change in the outlook there for the first quarter.

Question: Joe Gomes - Noble Capital Markets - Analyst : All right, thank you.

Question: Kevin Steinke - Barrington Research Associates - Analyst : Good morning. Just starting off, I guess with more of a housekeeping question just in terms of the Sales outlook for both the first quarter and the full year 2025 you talked about comparable sales. Are you building any sort of currency impact into that or is that? Kind of would that be in addition to the comparable sales ranges that that you're talking about.

Question: Kevin Steinke - Barrington Research Associates - Analyst : Okay, thank you, that's helpful. And so, when we think about tariffs, can you just maybe just walk us through some of the scenario planning you're thinking through or going through to account for all the variances and possibilities that could potentially tap on that front.

Question: Kevin Steinke - Barrington Research Associates - Analyst : Okay, thank you. Yeah, I guess it's been a while since you, you've, done acquisitions, but can you talk about what you're doing internally to build that pipeline and you know how the pipeline is shaping up, competition for opportunities, valuations, etc. To the extent that you're, comfortable talking about some of those topics.

Question: Kevin Steinke - Barrington Research Associates - Analyst : Okay, well, thank you for taking the questions. I'll turn it back over.

Question: William Reuter - Bank of America - Analyst : Good morning. My first on the $40 million of savings in 2025, how will that break down between SG&A and COGS and what are maybe one or two of the largest buckets there?

Question: William Reuter - Bank of America - Analyst : Got it. That's helpful. And then, on the M&A front, it seems like the tone is slightly different this quarter, when you discuss it, maybe a little more either aggressive or optimistic. Is this something based upon what you've seen in the environment in terms of opportunities? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 21, 2025 / 1:30PM, ACCO.N - Q4 2024 ACCO Brands Corp Earnings Call Is it based upon some, behaviours and challenges in terms of kind of your organic business, I guess, am I reading it correctly that the tone may be a little bit more aggressive than it's been in the past and what are the reasons for that?

Question: William Reuter - Bank of America - Analyst : Got it. And then just lastly, in terms of clearly most acquisitions do bring some elevated leverage for a period of time, how high would you be willing to take leverage, immediately upon an acquisition and then, do lever from there.

Question: William Reuter - Bank of America - Analyst : Got it. All right, that's all for me. Thank you.