Final
Transcript
|
Thomson
StreetEventsSM
|
Conference
Call Transcript
ENR
-
Energizer Holdings, Inc. to Acquire Playtex Products,
Inc.
Event
Date/Time: Jul. 13. 2007 / 11:00AM
ET
|
CORPORATE
PARTICIPANTS
Jackie
Burwitz
Energizer
Holdings, Inc. - VP, IR
Ward
Klein
Energizer
Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Dan
Sescleifer
Energizer
Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
CONFERENCE
CALL PARTICIPANTS
Lori
Scherwin
Goldman
Sachs - Analyst
Bill
Chappell
SunTrust
- Analyst
Bill
Schmitz
Deutsche
Bank - Analyst
Reza
Vahabzadeh
Lehman
Brothers - Analyst
Mitchell
Spiegel
Credit
Suisse - Analyst
Linda
Bolton Weiser
Oppenheimer
- Analyst
Connie
Maneaty
BMO
Capital Markets - Analyst
Andy
Baker
Jefferies
& Co. - Analyst
Peter
Barry
Bear
Stearns - Analyst
Kathleen
Reed
Stanford
Financial - Analyst
Jason
Gere
A.G.
Edwards - Analyst
Dan
Sofsky
Credit
Suisse - Analyst
Scott
Middleman
Jefferies
- Analyst
Jim
Barrett
C.L.
King
& Associates - Analyst
PRESENTATION
Good
day and
welcome to today's Energizer conference call to discuss the Playtex acquisition.
Today's call is being recorded. At this time, for opening remarks and
introductions, I would like to turn the call to Jackie Burwitz, Vice President
of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Jackie
Burwitz - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - VP, IR
Good
morning, everyone, and welcome to our conference call. Joining me today
are Ward
Klein, Chief Executive Officer of Energizer, and Dan Sescleifer, our
Chief
Financial Officer. Ward is actually at Playtex Products' headquarters
in
Westport, Connecticut meeting with employees and Dan and I are here in
St.
Louis.
Before
getting
started, our attorneys would like me to inform you that any comments in
this
call that are not historical, particularly statements regarding growth
and
margin stability of the Feminine Care, Baby Care, and Sun Care categories,
the
compatibility of the Playtex and Energizer businesses, synergies and market
opportunities and the impact of the acquisition on earnings, may be considered
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking
statements. These factors are referred to in our joint press release issued
July
12 and in our 8-K filed today. There are also other factors that may affect
the
future results of Energizer which are set forth in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Such filings are available at the Investor
Relations section on our website at www.Energizer.com.
The
Company
cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements
that speak only as of the date made and should not be relied upon as
representing our views at any subsequent date. While we may elect to update
forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically
disclaim
any obligation to do so even if our estimates change, and therefore, you
should
not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views
as of any
date subsequent to today.
A
replay of this
call will be available. However, due to SEC filing requirements, the replay
will
not be available until 24 hours after the call has ended and will run through
the end of the day on July 31st. The replay dial-in is 1-888-203-1112 or
1-719-457-0820 and the pass code is 2184904. To access a replay of the
call,
please go to our Investor Relations portion of our website at
Energizer.com.
As
a reminder, we
are scheduled to release our third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, July 24
before
the market opens. As such, today's comments will be limited to the discussion
of
our acquisition of Playtex.
Now
I'd like to
turn the call over to Ward.
Ward
Klein - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Thank
you, Jackie
and good morning. By now, all of you have had a chance to read the press
release
announcing our agreement to purchase Playtex Products for approximately
$1.9
billion. As many of you know, conference calls are not the norm for us,
but we
thought one was warranted with this acquisition to discuss the rationale
and why
we feel it is the right move for Energizer and our shareholders.
As
you know,
Energizer has a history of delivering strong free cash flow. One of our
most
important decisions has been what to do with this free cash flow. As we
have
consistently stated, our preferred use of cash in order of priority has
been --
one, to fund internal opportunities; two, to fund acquisitions, such as
Schick
followed by; three, share repurchase when it was economically
justified.
Our
stated
acquisition strategy has been to find compatible companies, preferably
operating
in categories adjacent to our current product offerings in the household
products or personal care domains. Furthermore, we are most interested
in strong
brands that are either #1 or #2 in the categories in which they compete.
Playtex
Products is such a company.
We
are very excited
about bringing the world-class businesses and people of Playtex into the
Energizer family. Playtex offers a unique opportunity because it fits
strategically -- it is a fast-moving consumer goods company with many of
the
same customers and distribution channels as Energizer. It has strong brands,
many of which have number one or number two market positions in stable
or
growing personal care categories. By joining Energizer, we hope to provide
Playtex with added scale and increased resources to continue to thrive
in an
increasingly competitive environment.
We
see a number of
operating benefits from this acquisition, including one, the addition of
Playtex
to better balance Energizer Holdings' portfolio of products, specifically
Personal Care products currently consisting of the Schick business, will,
through the addition of Playtex, grow from 30% of total corporate sales
to over
40% of total corporate sales based on 2006 results. Two, the addition of
Playtex
will also add significantly greater scale to our North American Personal
Care
business. Specifically Energizer's North American Personal Care currently
consisting of Schick, will more than triple in size. And three, we will
also
have the opportunity to potentially expand part of the Playtex line from
the
dozen or so countries that it is currently operating in to some of the
over 150
countries Energizer does business in. Also important are Playtex's healthy
gross
margins as well as historically predictable and strong cash flows.
This
deal
constitutes both the purchase of Playtex's outstanding shares for $18.30
per
share and the assumption of 100% of its debt. We expect to finance the
transaction with a combination of available cash, available current borrowing
capacity, and new borrowings. Playtex's notes will be tendered in conjunction
with the deal closing and the terms of all new financing will be disclosed
once
the deal has closed. We expect our current private placements to remain
outstanding. Despite the substantial increase in debt, we expect to maintain
our
investment-grade credit profile and expect to deliver quickly with the
cash
flows from our combined businesses.
This
is our first
acquisition since Schick in 2003 and we expect it will be an equally important
and financially attractive proposition for our shareholders. As you may
recall,
we acquired Schick in 2003 when it delivered $625 million in sales. Now,
annual
sales in that business are nearly $1 billion. Given our successful experience
with the integration of Schick, we're very optimistic about an equally
successful integration of Playtex.
As
stated in our
press release, Playtex's sales for the last four quarters totaled $641
million
while earnings before interest and taxes and depreciation were $126 million.
These numbers exclude Playtex's recent acquisition of Hawaiian Tropic,
which had
2006 sales of approximately $112 million. Over 95% a Playtex's sales are
in
North America.
Now,
for an
overview of the three categories in which Playtex competes -- Skin Care,
Feminine Care, and Infant Care.
The
Skin Care
business is comprised of Sun Care and personal wipes with such brands as
Banana
Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Wet Ones, and Playtex Gloves. Prior to the acquisition
of
Hawaiian Tropic, the Skin Care business was 36% of Playtex's 2006 sales.
The
Banana Boat business is concentrated in North America with some international
operations primarily limited to Australia. Hawaiian Tropic is also primarily
a
North America-based business with additional presence in the United Kingdom,
Mexico, and Spain. With the acquisition of Hawaiian Tropic, Playtex now
has two
distinctive, well-positioned brands. Also included in Skin Care are Wet
Ones,
which is the market leader in the hand and face towelettes segment with
a 62%
dollar share.
Feminine
Care
accounted for 36% of 2006 net sales. Playtex currently has two brands in
its
plastic tampon portfolio -- Playtex Gentle Glide and Playtex Sport, launched
in
2006. In the United States, Playtex is the #2 player in tampons with a
25%
market share. Playtex's brand is perceived as friendly, down-to-earth,
trusted,
and more specifically known for comfort in feminine hygiene, as such, the
brand
loyalty is quite high. The Feminine Care business is mostly in North
America.
Playtex's
Infant
Care segment accounted for 28% of 2006 sales, Playtex Baby is a U.S. market
leader in feeding products with a full line, including disposable and reusable
bottles, children's drinking cups, pacifiers, nursing necessities and meal-time
products. Also included in the company's Infant Care segment is the #1
diaper
disposal brand, Diaper Genie, and the Playtex Hip Hammock child
carrier.
From
an earnings
per share standpoint, we expect this transaction to be accretive in the
first
year, excluding the impact of a onetime, non-cash inventory adjustment
required
by GAAP accounting rules. And, of course, we expect this transaction to
be
increasingly accretive in the out years.
Synergies
were an
important factor in our valuation of the Playtex business and are expected
to
come from a number of areas; the most obvious being corporate functions.
But
until our integration plans are more formalized and communicated internally,
we
will not disclose synergy dollar estimates. I realize that synergy numbers
are
important in evaluating this transaction, but for the reasons just stated,
we're
not going to provide estimates or guidance at this time.
I
want to emphasize
that while realizing synergies is an important aspect of this deal, the
most
important factor going forward is the continued investment in the world-class
brands of Playtex. We are most focused on continuing the momentum and strong
performance of Playtex as demonstrated consistently over the past recent
few
years.
In
closing, I would
like to emphasize again that we are excited about this acquisition and
the
quality brands that will be added to our portfolio. We believe this transaction
is an excellent use of capital and provides us with an opportunity to create
shareholder value.
Before
opening the
call up for questions, I would request that questions pertain only to the
Playtex announcement, as we are scheduled to release our third-quarter
results
next Tuesday, July 24 and are not prepared to discuss these results at
this
time.
With
that, I would
like to open the call up for questions. Operator?
QUESTION
AND ANSWER
Operator
(OPERATOR
INSTRUCTIONS). Lori Scherwin, Goldman Sachs.
Lori
Scherwin - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
Good
morning and
congratulations. Ward, can you talk about your thoughts on Playtex's categories
and plans for the business going forward? Clearly, Neil did a great job
of
improving trends recently, but how are you viewing the growth opportunity
and is
it more about potential international build-out or do you think there's
any
opportunity in stepping up marketing or R&D to drive sales in the U.S. as
well?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
We'll
be looking at
growth opportunities really in all the areas you just cited, Lori. Neil
has done
a great job of having the Playtex organization focused on building their
share
positions and their margin and top line.
I
would say the
three categories, the one with some of the most promising growth rates
right now
are probably in the Skin Care area. There's a lot of innovation taking
place.
Playtex has been a front-runner in leading that innovation and we see continuing
to do that with the great brands that Playtex has.
I
think in Fem Care
and Baby Care, there's some positive growth rates in categories there and
there's a very good focused marketing efforts at Playtex in terms of holding
or
growing share in those two businesses. And then on top of those opportunities,
really is the opportunities internationally that you commented on. For
those of
you who know Energizer, we have operations on the ground in about 50 countries
in the world. We do business in over 150 countries, a lot of that off the
battery backbone. And we see certain Playtex Products having potential
in a
number of those markets. Of course, that will take time for us to assess
and to
invest in and to bring to market properly. But all these are opportunities
that
we see.
Lori
Scherwin - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
Okay,
great. And on the synergy side, I know you're not going to be qualifying
that.
When do you think you might be in a better position to do that? And then
also,
if I remember correctly, with Schick, it took you awhile to consolidate
sales
forces and you ran them separately for quite some time. Do you think
you will
have the same game plan with Playtex or might you speed it up a little
bit?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Again,
I
really don't want to comment at all in terms of synergies or what we
might do
and when we might do it. Frankly, the first issue at hand right now is
for this
deal to close. Playtex needs to go to their shareholders with the proxy
and
solicit their support for this deal. And so we are hoping in the next
two to
three months, we can get through the various regulatory clearances and
other
clearances and close this deal. We will be working, the Schick organization
with
the Playtex organization in particular, I think during that time as much
as we
are allowed, to look at opportunities going forward in terms of what's
the
absolute best structure to go to market. That is going to take some time.
And
frankly, I think we are looking maybe towards an analyst conference in
February
if we are lucky enough to be invited to a Cagney, for example, maybe,
where we
could really lay that out in proper detail.
Lori
Scherwin - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
Okay,
great. And then just lastly, in the release, you mentioned using Playtex
as a
platform for other deals and I'm just wondering is this comment just
consistent
with your current strategy and what your strategy has been of being
opportunistic? Or do you now have some sort of larger game plan and blueprint
and target for how big you would like the Company to be one
day?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Honestly,
we don't
kind of peg where we want the company to be in terms of sales down the
road. We
really are focused on shareholder returns. And we will have obviously
a lot to
focus on here over the next year or two in terms of integrating the Playtex
brands and organization with the Schick organization to create the best
organization we can. I think we will be using free cash flows to pay
down some
debt that we have incurred as a result of this transaction certainly
over the
next year. I think that's where our focus is going to be. And then down
the
road, obviously it does create a great deal more optionality for us as
we look
at additional categories or businesses we might want to go into through
the
acquisition route.
Lori
Scherwin - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
Okay.
And then just you mentioned using cash to pay down debt. Does that mean
share
buybacks take a back seat until you delever?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I
think that's a
fair comment in terms of where our preferences are, but things can always
change. We have been opportunistic in the past. I think we will remain
somewhat
opportunistic, but our focus is going to be on debt pay down for the short
term,
anyway.
Lori
Scherwin - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
Okay,
great. Thanks very much.
Bill
Chappell - SunTrust - Analyst
Good
morning, congratulations. First question is on your -- the debt side,
you said
you could kind of roll Playtex's debt into your facility. Does that mean
consistent with kind of a 6.5% debt rate that you are carrying right
now?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I
tell
you what, I'm going to defer to Dan and we're in a separate location; so
Dan,
could you handle that?
Hello,
Dan? I don't
know if we've lost Jackie and Dan in St. Louis.
Bill
Chappell - SunTrust - Analyst
I'll
take that as a yes.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I
think
we have lost them. Let me take a stab at that. As you know, Bill, we
have
currently a great -- about I think $1.5 billion of debt fixed in private
placement at very favorable rates. We see that continuing and in terms
of the
debt to finance this transaction, we do have some excess cash sitting
on our
balance sheet right now. We do have some underutilized debt capacity.
Obviously,
we will be utilizing that for this transaction.
And
then, the
treasury folks are looking at how exactly we will go to market at the time
of
closing. We have certainly assurances that we can fund it and the ideal
way of
doing that, frankly, the details are yet to be worked out.
Bill
Chappell - SunTrust - Analyst
Okay.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I
think the public
listed -- I think the plan for the public listed debt that Playtex holds
is to
redeem that and basically bridge that into when we take over the
operation.
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Hey,
Ward, this is Dan. Jackie and I got dropped off. We are back on
now.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Okay,
well
hopefully I just -- what I said, Dan, was correct.
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Well
I
heard the end of it and it sounded good, but --
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Okay.
Bill, did that answer your question?
Bill
Chappell - SunTrust - Analyst
Yes,
Dan, just one other question and you may have answered this but I got
on late.
Can you maybe give us an idea in terms of how long this process has been
going?
Is there a breakup fee? And are there kind of details of what, why Playtex,
in
terms of [gavet]? You haven't seen a whole lot of other deals recently
or this
one just popped up?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I
will answer part
of that but I will defer to Dan for the rest of that. And I guess the important
part is we approached Playtex a few months ago in that we saw the great
job that
Neil and his team were doing. We saw our financial situation in a position
where
we can possibly go after something like this and retain our favorable private
placement debt and that was part of the initiative. Dan, do you want to
jump
in?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Yes,
and on the
breakup fee, we are filing our definitive agreement with our 8-K today.
It will
be $35 million and there are other typical standard deal protection provisions
in the contract as well.
Bill
Chappell - SunTrust - Analyst
Okay
great. Thank you.
Operator
Bill
Schmitz,
Deutsche Bank.
Bill
Schmitz - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
It's
really nice to hear from you guys. You should do these conference calls
more
often.
My
first question
is sort of along the lines of Schick as well, because when you watch Schick
and
you talk about that great growth trajectory, there were also two very big
kind
of game changing technologies in the pipeline. Is there similar stuff waiting
for you at Playtex?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
There
is
certainly a raft of innovation taking place in the different categories
here at
Playtex. I'm not sure it would be on the same scale. Obviously, the launch
of
those two razor systems, the Intuition Women's System followed six months
later
by the Quattro Men's Systems was a remarkable occurrence and which has
contributed greatly to that dramatic growth. I'm not sure I see immediate
innovation here to that same degree, frankly. But there's a lot of innovation
here and the focus is going to be bringing it to market as effectively
as
possible.
Bill
Schmitz - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Great.
And then,
sorry -- when you look at the -- because you guys are really good at kind
of
knowing what levels of trade inventories are. Have you had a hard look
at sort
of Playtex's inventory levels at retail and are you comfortable with kind
of
where they are? Because we're hearing a lot of noise in the marketplace
recently
and I don't want to get too close to the quarter, but a lot of retailers
are
starting to destock pretty aggressively.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I'm
not aware of
any inventory issues per se, honestly. We do, are cognizant of, and have
done
due diligence of, on especially the Sun Care area, trying to understand
how one
manages trade inventories on that business because of kind of some of its
unique
aspects. So I think we've gotten comfortable with that and frankly Playtex
has
done a great job these past three years in bringing returns, suntan lotion
turns
down year after year. We are starting to understand the process by which
they do
that. They look pretty sound to us.
Other
than that,
I'm not really aware of anything. Dan, I don't know from the due diligence
standpoint do you have anything to comment on?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
I
can't comment on
where they are currently, but we did look -- they turn their inventories
about
four times a year, and it's maybe a little bit longer than us. But that's
basically all we've done in terms of due diligence.
Bill
Schmitz - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Okay,
great. And then just finally, a housekeeping item. I think you said a
fall
closing. Does that mean September or does that mean December?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
We're
hoping September close and December we think we'll be long closed before
then.
Bill
Schmitz - Deutsche Bank - Analyst
Okay,
great. Thanks very much. Congratulations.
Reza
Vahabzadeh,
Lehman Brothers.
Reza
Vahabzadeh - Lehman Brothers - Analyst
Good
morning. On the prior question that was asked regarding the debt assumption
and
the redemption of Playtex's debt, does that mean that you would just
assume the
Playtex debt or you would have to repay and refinance the Playtex
debt?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
It's
actually the latter. We want -- and it's actually part of the agreement
is, the
Playtex debt will be refinanced prior to the closing of the transaction.
We will
probably have a bridge financing on our own prior to terming out the
debt that
we put in place, but then it will be our debt going forward.
Reza
Vahabzadeh - Lehman Brothers - Analyst
Okay,
thank you
much.
Mitchell
Spiegel,
Credit Suisse.
Mitchell
Spiegel - Credit Suisse - Analyst
My
question was just asked. Thank you.
Operator
Linda
Bolton Weiser, Oppenheimer.
Linda
Bolton Weiser - Oppenheimer - Analyst
Thank
you. The
projection for corporate expense for Playtex for '07 is about $69 million.
Do
you have any sense roughly what that, what's in that number? Like could
you
break it down roughly like admin and overhead, incentive compensation expense,
anything like that that you could shed some light on?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I
will
defer to Dan on that. I'm not sure how much Playtex is (multiple
speakers)
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
I
think
you probably ought to refer that to Playtex management. We can comment
on their
financials, but there's a lot in there, obviously. There is incentive
comp.
There's typical corporate expenses. There is office space, and I think
hopefully
the details they provide are sufficient. We can't really provide anything
more
than what has been publicly disclosed by them.
Linda
Bolton Weiser - Oppenheimer - Analyst
Do
you have a sense
early on here as to how much of that could be eliminated?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Well,
we've done
some exhaustive analysis of cost reductions, efficiencies, and potential
synergies, but as Ward has said, at this point in time, without the plans
being
final and really without us owning the business, we're really not at liberty
to
disclose anything externally.
Linda
Bolton Weiser - Oppenheimer - Analyst
Okay,
thank you very much.
Operator
Connie
Maneaty, BMO Capital Markets.
Connie
Maneaty - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst
As
you
look at the Playtex portfolio, there are a couple of very strong brands
and
there are some miscellaneous product lines, or that's what it appears,
in the
Infant Care business. As those products will be an even smaller percentage
of
Energizer going forward, is there the possibility that you would divest
some of
them or is everything you see at Playtex a keeper?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Again,
I kind of
hate to speculate. I think everything the right now is a keeper, but going
forward, there are always pruning of portfolios (technical difficulty)
to the
portfolios that one looks at. I would say that when we make those kind
of
decisions, we look at multiple factors rather than just wrought dollar
size. It
may be items in a portfolio that seem small but are strategically important.
It
may be items that are extraordinarily stable and profitable. These are
the kind
of more standard evaluations we do in the dollar portfolios and will continue
to
do that going forward.
Connie
Maneaty - BMO Capital Markets - Analyst
Okay,
congratulations. Looks great.
[Andy
Baker],
Jefferies.
Andy
Baker
- Jefferies & Co. - Analyst
Thank
you very much and congratulations on the deal. A couple of questions;
one on the
financing and one on the process I guess. The financing that you have
for this,
I know some of it is going to be coming from your current facilities
and your
cash, but on the outside part, do you have a guarantee from your bankers?
And
once you get your financing in place, do you have a target leverage?
And then
beyond that, in terms of the whole process, every time somebody seems
to
announce a deal these days, there seems to be a counteroffer coming in
like
[Alkoia, Alcan] yesterday. Can you tell us about the process? Was it
just a
two-way negotiation? You went to them and negotiated or did their Board
actually
go out there and look for the best possible offer and determine it was
you?
Thank you.
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Ward,
I
will answer the financing questions.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Yes,
I will take
care of the process one.
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Yes,
we
don't have committed financing per se, but we have some very loyal and
good
relationships with our banks and we do not anticipate financing being
an issue.
In terms of our leverage, we are committed to remaining investment grade.
With
this transaction, we will remain investment grade and we expect to delever
very
quickly.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
And
as for the
process, other than we took the initiative and contacted Playtex to kind
of
start this thing off, I really don't want to comment past that.
Andy
Baker
- Jefferies & Co. - Analyst
All
right, thank you.
Peter
Barry, Bear
Stearns.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
Dan,
could you give us a sense of what total debt will look like after the
deal?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Well,
it
will be in excess of $3 billion and from a covenant standpoint, it will
be under
4 times debt to EBITDA.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
And
your covenant
limitations are what? Can you share that with us?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Four
times debt to
EBITDA.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
Okay.
Allowing for how early you are in this process, have you looked at Playtex's
advertising and promotional outlays and deemed them to be appropriate,
too high,
too low, or haven't you gotten there yet?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
We
have
looked at their advertising and the consumer support outlays as a percent
of
sales on these businesses. We are fully aware of them, but I really don't
want
to comment other than that. They've done a great job and we want to continue
doing a good job.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
A
necessary
question to ask I think, Ward, could you speak to management
continuity?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
The
--
is it -- I think it's public, Dan, well, it is here, that Neil will retire
(technical difficulty) this transaction is completed.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
I'm
sorry, you just
broke up right at the key words.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Neil
has announced
that he will retire when the transaction is [consummated].
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
Okay,
and last one for me, is there any significance in terms of the logistics
between
Schick and Playtex?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
I'm
not exactly
sure of your question. I will comment on one very nice coincidence and
that is
that the Schick operation is headquartered in Milford, Connecticut and
Playtex
at Westport, Connecticut basically 20 miles apart on the same
interstate.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
That
was
my reference. I didn't know whether the plan was to eventually combine
the
two.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Again,
that kind of falls under the general issues we'll be looking at as we
go forward
as it relates to integration.
Peter
Barry
- Bear Stearns - Analyst
Thank
you very
much, gentlemen.
Operator
Kathleen
Reed,
Stanford Financial.
Kathleen
Reed - Stanford Financial - Analyst
Good
morning. Can you comment a little bit -- I think when you were giving
us a brief
description of Playtex's segments and brands, you mentioned that they
had two
tampon products, their Gentle Glide and Sport. They actually have a third
brand,
I believe, called Beyond that has been doing very poorly. Can you just
talk
about the future of that one or if that one has already been either sold
or
discontinued?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
On
those kind of
questions, I would frankly refer you back to Neil and the Playtex management.
They still run this business and I think maybe they've commented on that
particular brand and I would refer to them.
Kathleen
Reed - Stanford Financial - Analyst
Okay,
and I know you just answered another question somebody else had asked
about the
speculation that another suitor could come in and make a counter offer.
I guess,
can you just comment when your Board approved the date for that, if that
was
just yesterday or what the day that your Boards approved the transaction?
That
seems really fast.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Well,
we are too
fast, lean companies, frankly. And we had two Boards who unanimously,
both
Boards, approved this deal within the past week.
Kathleen
Reed - Stanford Financial - Analyst
Okay,
great. Thank
you very much.
Jason
Gere, A.G.
Edwards.
Jason
Gere
- A.G. Edwards - Analyst
Good
morning. Can
you just talk a little bit about I guess R&D. Obviously for you guys it's a
different type of technology and I guess maybe some initial comments about
Playtex's R&D efforts.
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
There
is
some overlap actually in the R&D areas between Schick and Playtex,
especially as it relates to Skin Care and especially as it relates to
work we do
particularly with Intuition, and we do shave props and some skin care
products
internationally. So frankly, I think both organizations have a great
opportunity
to learn from each other, especially in that particular area where it
overlaps,
and we are quite excited about that. Skin care is a hot area overall
globally
and there is great patents from both companies in this area and frankly,
some
very good people.
Jason
Gere
- A.G. Edwards - Analyst
And
then broadly
speaking, when you think about the synergies and I know you are not quantifying,
it would seem that cost savings are the majority, but obviously based on
your
just your last comment, there could be some revenue synergies from products.
Can
you just talk a little bit about your initial thoughts in a couple of years
out
from now?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
I
won't
as it relates to products. I will tell you this, that the folks at Schick,
especially in women's systems and disposable people, know women quite
well and
especially young women quite well. They are a very important consumer
for some
major product categories for Schick's side. Obviously, that's also the
case on
the Playtex side in terms of the importance of women, especially young
women. So
I think there's quite a bit of overlap and synergy opportunity, whether
it's
from R&D, from innovation, from comarketing, from cobranding; those are all
opportunities I think we will take a hard look at. That said, there's
certainly
no specific plans at this point in time since given where we are with
the nature
of this deal.
Jason
Gere
- A.G. Edwards - Analyst
And
then
lastly, and I'm not sure if you said this, when do you think the whole
integration would be completed?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
I
didn't say that
and I honestly don't know so I don't want to throw out a number or date
for
(technical difficulty) sake. The integration will be completed when it
makes
sense.
Jason
Gere
- A.G. Edwards - Analyst
Okay.
Thank you
very much.
Dana
[Sofsky],
Credit Suisse.
Dan
Sofsky
- Credit Suisse - Analyst
You
mentioned before that you don't have any "guarantees" from your bank.
Is there a
financing condition to closing on this deal?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
No,
there's no
financing condition.
Dan
Sofsky
- Credit Suisse - Analyst
And
I've seen a
report that has come out that says that your -- the breakup fee is $35
million;
can you confirm that?
Dan
Sescleifer - Energizer Holdings, Inc. - EVP, CFO
Yes,
that is the
number and again, that will be filed with our definitive agreement with
the 8-K
today.
Dan
Sofsky
- Credit Suisse - Analyst
But
you are
confirming it. Okay. All right, thanks a lot.
Scott
[Middleman],
Jefferies.
Scott
Middleman - Jefferies - Analyst
Thank
you for
taking my question, but it was just answered. So congratulations.
Jim
Barrett, C.L.
King & Associates.
Jim
Barrett
- C.L. King & Associates - Analyst
Hi.
A few years
ago, Playtex was publicly put on the auction block. Did Energizer look
at the
Company at that time? And if so, what was the thought process in reviewing
the
financials?
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
You
know, we really
can't comment on that. We are always subject to confidentiality with anything
we
look at and we just -- our standard response will always be no
comment.
Jim
Barrett
- C.L. King & Associates - Analyst
Thanks
anyway.
We
have no other
questions in the queue at this time.
Ward
Klein
- Energizer Holdings, Inc. - CEO
Okay.
Thank
you, everybody.
That
does conclude
our call today. We would like to thank everyone for their participation.
Have a
great day.
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