MCCORMICK & CO INC — Call Transcript 2026

Good morning. This is Faten Freiha, VP of Investor Relations. Thank you for joining today's second quarter earnings call. To accompany this call, we've posted a set of slides on our IR website, ir.mccormick.com. With me this morning are Brendan Foley, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Marcos Gabriel, Executive Vice President and CFO. During this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. The nature of those non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations to the GAAP results are included in this morning's press release and slides. In our comments, certain percentages are rounded. Please refer to our presentation for complete information. Today's presentation contains projections and other forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or other factors. Please refer to our forward-looking statement on slide 2 for more information. I will now turn the discussion over to Brendan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Our strong second quarter performance demonstrates the underlying strength and resilience of our business. We delivered robust sales growth, expanded underlying margins, and increased earnings. Our total results were supported by the McCormick Mexico transaction. Organic growth was driven by the accelerated momentum in Flavor Solutions, with growth across flavors and branded food service customers, highlighting the benefits of our diversified flavor-focused portfolio. Looking ahead, we expect to sustain the momentum in Flavor Solutions and increase reinvestment to improve Consumer volume trends in organic sales. Our enhanced margin profile and operational rigor position us well to deliver a virtuous cycle of growth through continued investment in our brands, capabilities, and innovation that drive long-term value creation. Our fundamentals remain strong, supported by our advantaged categories and disciplined execution, giving us confidence in our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook. Turning now to our results on slide four. In the second quarter, total sales grew by 14% in constant currency, reflecting acquisition contribution from McCormick Mexico of 12% and organic sales growth of 2%. As expected, organic growth was driven by pricing. In global Consumer, volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps in the Americas. Looking to the second half, we are implementing targeted actions to strengthen performance. We expect sequential volume improvement in the third quarter and volume growth in the fourth quarter, supported by refined revenue growth management initiatives, expanded distribution, targeted value-focused marketing, and innovation. In EMEA and Asia Pacific, we delivered sustained volume growth during the quarter, and we expect that momentum to continue for the remainder of the year. In Global Flavor Solutions, volume growth exceeded expectations, driven primarily by the Americas. We benefited from growth across the Flavor Solutions customer base, including large CPG, private label, and high-growth innovators. In branded food service, growth was balanced across channels, supported by distributor volume recovery, sustained demand in non-commercial channels, and strong e-commerce performance. Overall, the quarter reflects solid execution and strengthening fundamentals. Let's move to slide five and let me highlight for the quarter some of the key areas of success. Starting with global Consumer. Across key markets, food categories continued to soften. Against this backdrop, we saw good consumption trends. In spices and seasonings, share gains in Canada, France, Poland, and China continued to support global performance. In recipe mixes in the U.K., we drove unit and dollar share gains for the last three quarters, supported by expanded distribution and customer wins. In Poland, new recipe mix launches under our Kamis brand are performing well. Most recently, we expanded our recipe mix portfolio in France with the Ducros brand, further strengthening our presence in the category. In mustard, U.S. unit share gains were driven by enhanced distribution, and we delivered the sixth consecutive quarter of dollar share gains in Poland. In hot sauce in the U.S., we delivered dollar and unit share gains for the third consecutive quarter, supported by expanded distribution and innovation, including new Cholula sauces. We also drove share gains in the U.K. and Australia, reflecting strong execution and continued brand momentum across key international markets. We expanded total distribution points across the Americas, led by spices and seasonings, with incremental gains in condiments and sauces. Moving to Flavor Solutions. In Flavor Solutions, innovation plans across our customer base started to commercialize, leading to strong growth across large CPGs, private label, and high-growth innovators. Innovation activity remains strong, particularly in cereals, soft drinks, sports nutrition, and snacking. We are capitalizing on these tailwinds in beverage innovation, protein and better-for-you growth, premiumization, and continued customer diversification. In branded food service, improving foot traffic drove both volume and sales growth. We continue to see momentum across non-commercial channels, retail food service, and independent operators. Importantly, we delivered tabletop and front of house share gains across Frank's, Cholula, and McCormick. Let me now touch on some areas where we are seeing pressure, starting with global Consumer. In U.S. spices and seasonings, the category grew, but at a lower rate, reflecting consumers using more of what's in their pantry. Our consumption lagged the category within certain segments due to increased price sensitivity and increased competition, both private label and branded. We are responding with focused actions to drive growth, including disciplined promotional and assortment strategies across channels, refined revenue growth management actions. Targeted brand investment and expanded precision marketing to reinforce McCormick's quality and differentiation and consumer insight-driven innovation. We navigated a similar environment two years ago, and we have a clear understanding of the factors that impacted performance. We believe our initiatives position us to improve consumption trends and return to driving category growth. In recipe mixes, we have a strong core portfolio that spans multiple segments. We see opportunity to accelerate growth in Mexican flavors, one of the faster-growing segments in the category. We plan to realize this opportunity with innovation, expanded distribution, and focused brand investment behind authentic Mexican brands like Cholula. Moving to Flavor Solutions. In Asia Pacific, primarily outside of China, and in EMEA, QSR customer volumes were pressured by softer foot traffic. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we expect volume trends to improve in Asia Pacific, driven by customers' new products and limited time offers. Let me provide some more context on the state of the consumer. Geopolitical volatility, elevated fuel costs, and persistent inflation continue to weigh on consumer confidence. While affordability has been a consistent theme, the key shift this quarter, particularly given rising gas prices impacting budgets, was a more pronounced move towards value as consumers became increasingly selective and focused on maximizing their budget. At the same time, a majority of consumers claim that they save for small premiums or indulgences, which includes flavor exploration. Health and wellness trends continue to shape behavior, driving sustained growth in perimeter categories, at-home cooking, protein, and broader better-for-you categories across retail and food service. Within this environment, flavor remains a powerful constant. At-home cooking continues to benefit from consumers seeking affordable, healthier meal solutions, and flavor is the primary driver of purchase across occasions. As a result, spices and seasonings remain the top performer in terms of center store growth. The continued convergence of value-seeking behavior and health trends reinforces the central role of flavor and underscores our advantaged position across our flavor-focused, diversified portfolio. Let's turn to slide six and to our growth plans for the remainder of the year that support our confidence in our ability to deliver on our top-line expectations. Starting with Consumer, we expect second half organic growth to be supported by improving volume trends. This improvement will be driven by expanded distribution, sustained renovation, refined revenue growth management to address increased price sensitivity in specific segments, including optimized price pack architecture. In addition, we will accelerate innovation and increase brand marketing, including precision marketing designed to drive purchase intent and velocity across our core categories. Let me highlight some examples. We relaunched our seasoning blends line. Beyond new flavor introductions, we are optimizing price pack architecture to enhance value perception and improve accessibility at shelf, an important lever in today's value-focused environment. In addition, we continue to scale newer platforms, including our finishing sugars and finishing salts, with strong promotional tie-ins to globally recognized franchises including Bridgerton, Harry Potter, and Paris Hilton. These partnerships expand household penetration, engage younger consumers, and reinforce the role of flavor as an affordable way to elevate everyday meals. For French's Mustard, we have activated a promotional partnership tied to the release of the new Minions movie, turning the mustard green using all-natural colors because of one of the key characters in the movie. This type of culturally relevant activation brings excitement to the category and drives incremental traffic. In Flavor Solutions, we expect the momentum from the second quarter to be sustained for the remainder of the year. Our flavors customer pipeline remains healthy, and we are seeing growth across all customers. We are leveraging expertise in regulatory, R&D, and product development to help customers navigate growing health and wellness demands with innovation. We're partnering with large and emerging brands as well as private label customers to flavor energy, hydration, and protein-based beverages, as well as protein and fiber snacks and zero sugar drinks. Our win rate on health and wellness briefs remains strong, and we're focusing resources where we have the greatest opportunity to win across our four taste competencies: savory, heat, naturally sweet, and citrus and fruit. In fact, in the second quarter, a majority of the briefs were tied to health and wellness innovation and renovation. Reformulation projects are increasing, particularly with large CPG customers, and we are beginning to see the benefit of this project activity launched to the marketplace. Finally, in branded food service, we expect to sustain the momentum from this quarter. The environment remains competitive and value conscious. Targeted investments in menu placements, innovation, and disciplined execution are expected to drive pockets of growth across customer channels. Before turning it over to Marcos, I'd like to provide a brief update on the Unilever Foods transaction on slide seven. Since the announcement on March 31st, we have made strong progress on integration planning. We have established a dedicated integration management office led by Andrew Foust, supported by 20 functional teams, to ensure a seamless transition. Andrew previously helped successfully lead our RB Foods, Cholula, and FONA integrations. Unilever has established parallel teams. Altogether, there is more than 200 individuals fully dedicated to working across integration streams. From a separation standpoint, approximately 80% of Unilever Foods operates as a standalone organization, which reduces complexity. In addition, we are mapping integration plans country by country. This includes focusing on the 10 markets that represent nearly 75% of combined sales, where we have direct operational overlap in the top six. We expect TSA agreements generally up to two years post-close to ensure continuity across IT, distribution, and back-office functions. In addition, we are entering a second phase of detailed synergy planning. Based on the work completed to date, we remain confident in our previously announced targets for sales growth, operating margin, and adjusted EPS accretion. We expect mid to high single-digit adjusted EPS accretion within the first 12 months post-close and mid to high teens accretion in year three. Looking ahead, we expect to deliver several key milestones in the coming months. By the end of July, we expect to announce the location of a secondary listing on a European exchange. By the end of September, we expect to share further detail on the operating model, cost synergies, and growth plans, and the scope of the transition services agreements. At the same time, we will continue to advance parallel work streams to support separation financial reports and regulatory filings. Importantly, we are advancing integration planning with rigor while maintaining disciplined execution in our base business. Now, over to Marcos. Thank you, Brendan, and good morning, everyone. Let's start on slide nine and review our top-line results for the second quarter. Total net sales grew 14% in constant currency and included a 2% inorganic growth, with the balance driven by acquisition contribution. Moving to our Consumer segment on Slide 10, constant currency sales increased 20%, including a 1% increase in organic sales, with the remaining growth driven by acquisition contribution. Consumer organic sales in the Americas were flat, with pricing contribution of 3% offset by volume decline. Volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps. Looking ahead, we expect volumes to improve in the third quarter and to deliver volume growth in the fourth quarter. In EMEA, we grew Consumer organic sales 3%, driven by a 2% increase in volume and a 1% contribution from pricing related to targeted actions taken as a result of increased commodity costs. We're pleased with the sustained volume growth for the tenth consecutive quarter in EMEA. Consumer organic sales in the Asia Pacific region increased by 3%. The increase was driven primarily by volume and reflects the continued gradual recovery in China. In addition, we delivered strong results outside of China, primarily in Australia. Turning to our Flavor Solutions segment on Slide 11, second quarter constant currency sales grew by 6%, reflecting a 3% acquisition contribution and 3% organic growth, driven equally by volume and price. In the Americas, Flavor Solutions organic sales increased 4%, reflecting a 2% price contribution and 2% volume growth. Volumes for the quarter were driven by strong performance across our flavors portfolio, including large CPGs and high-growth innovators, as well as robust growth in branded food service. In EMEA, organic sales were flat, driven by lower volume, reflecting soft QSR customers' volumes due to a decline in food traffic, particularly in the U.K. In the Asia Pacific region, Flavor Solutions organic sales were flat as 1% volume growth was fully offset by price, with strength in China tempered by softer QSR volumes in Australia. Moving to Slide 12, gross profit margin expanded 270 basis points in the second quarter, driven by accretion from McCormick de Mexico, the benefit of a tariff refund, surgical pricing, and savings from our comprehensive continuous improvement program, or CCI, partially offset by increased commodity costs. This tariff refund reversed tariffs the business absorbed in prior periods. For this quarter, it drove 140 basis points of margin expansion year-over-year. Underlying gross profit margin expanded 130 basis points, demonstrating the resilience of our business and the strength of our brands in a dynamic environment. Selling, general, and administrative expenses, or SG&A, increased relative to the second quarter of last year, driven by the impact of consolidating McCormick de Mexico and increased investments in technology and brand marketing. As a percentage of sales, SG&A was unfavorable by 90 basis points compared to the prior year. For the quarter, adjusted operating income increased by 30%, or 27% in constant currency. This increase was driven by strong top line and gross margin expansion, partially offset by higher SG&A. Our second quarter-adjusted effective tax rate was 22.5% compared to 24.1% in the prior year, driven by a greater level of favorable tax items in the current period. Turning to segment operational results on Slide 13, Consumer-adjusted operating income increased 33%, or 31% in constant currency, with adjusted operating margins expanding by 140 basis points. This expansion was driven by acquisition accretion and the tariff refund, which primarily benefited the Consumer segment. These benefits were partially offset by increased inflation and higher logistic costs, driven by the Middle East conflict and tighter freight capacity, resulting from recent changes to U.S. federal regulations. Flavor Solutions adjusted operating income increased by 26%, or 22% in constant currency, and adjusted operating margin expanded by 210 basis points, reflecting our volume-driven top line and our continued focus on improving Flavor Solutions profitability in line with our 2024 Investor Day commitment. At the bottom line, as shown on slide 14, second quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share was $0.80, an increase of 16% compared to the year-ago period, driven primarily by increased adjusted operating income, partially offset by non-controlling minority interests. The tariff refund contributed approximately $0.07 per share. On slide 15, we've summarized highlights for cash flow and balance sheet. Cash flow from operations for the first half was $431 million compared to $161 million in the prior year, driven primarily by higher profitability and improved working capital. We returned $258 million of cash to shareholders through dividends and used $75 million for capital expenditures to expand capacity, advance digital transformation, and optimize our cost structure. We continue to expect strong performance in our cash flow from operations for the fiscal year. Our capital allocation priorities remain balanced. This means funding investments to drive growth, returning cash to shareholders through dividends, and maintaining strong balance sheet. We remain committed to a strong investment-grade rating. At the end of this quarter, our leverage ratio was approximately 2.9 times, reflecting de-levering from the first quarter following the close of McCormick in Mexico. We expect to continue to make progress in paying down debt, positioning us well ahead of the Unilever Foods close. As previously noted, at close of Unilever Foods, we expect to have industry-leading operating margins of 21% and working capital benefits that support 100% free cash flow conversion from net income before any synergies. Post-close, we expect to continue investing in the business while driving margin expansion and delevering. Based on current estimates, after brand investments, costs to achieve synergies and dividends, we anticipate having $1.5 billion-$2 billion available to pay down debt within the first two years and delever two to three times. Longer term, we will target a leverage ratio of two to three times. Turning to slide 16 to review our 2026 financial outlook, which remains broadly consistent with what we shared on our last earnings call. A few call-outs. Starting with organic growth, we expect our Consumer Business volume to improve, driven by refined revenue growth management plans, new products, packaging renovation, expanded distribution, and increased brand marketing investments. In Flavor Solutions, we anticipate the volume momentum to continue, and for this segment to drive total volume growth for the year. Across both segments, we expect pricing to contribute more to organic sales growth this year compared to prior year. Our tariff cost assumptions, primarily related to the global 10% tariff, remain consistent based on the latest developments and our current knowledge. While we anticipate incremental year-over-year cost pressure in 2026, we remain focused on mitigating the majority of the impact. In addition to the $28 million tariff refund in the second quarter, we expect an additional $3 million in the second half. For the full year, this benefit will largely help offset heightened inflationary pressures, including costs related to the Middle East conflict, which will continue to impact us for the remainder of the year. Turning to gross margin, first half performance exceeded our implied guidance and included most of the full-year tariff refund. This is a dynamic environment, and we continue to navigate several cost uncertainties. However, based on what we know today, we expect gross margins to expand by 100 to 120 basis points for the year relative to 2025. For the third quarter, adjusted operating income is expected to grow in the high single to low double digits year-over-year, supported by continued gross margin expansion. This will be partially offset by SG&A expenses due to the timing of ERP-related technology investments, the build-back of incentive compensation, and significant increase in brand marketing investments. Adjusted EPS is also expected to be impacted by the same items, as well as the lapping of a favorable tax rate in the prior year. Moving to slide 17, this slide summarizes the cost headwinds for 2026 and how we plan to offset them. Our guidance reflects strong underlying base business performance and growth from acquisition. To close, we remain confident in the long-term strength of our business and our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook. Through disciplined execution, focused strategic investments, and continued productivity gains, we're driving sustained net sales and operating income growth, as well as generating strong cash flows to support our balanced capital allocation priorities. Thank you, Marcos. I would like to close with three key takeaways on slide 18. Our fundamentals remain strong, supported by resilient long-term category trends, healthy and flavorful cooking, flavor exploration, and trusted brands, as well as the strength of our diversified flavor focus portfolio. In the second quarter, accelerated momentum in Flavor Solutions more than offset consumer trends. We delivered strong organic growth, expanded underlying margins, and increased profitability driven by disciplined execution and productivity initiatives, the McCormick de Mexico acquisition, and effective cost management in a dynamic environment. We are also taking focused actions to improve consumer volume trends, sustain Flavor Solutions momentum, and invest in innovation, brand building, and digital capabilities. We remain confident in our long-term value creation plans, including delivering our 2026 outlook and advancing integration planning for the Unilever Foods combination, which accelerates our growth strategy and reinforces our continued focus on flavor, one of the most advantaged categories in CPG. The incremental growth is supported by industry-leading margins and a strong cash profile. To wrap up for the quarter, our performance reflects the power of our balanced portfolio, our leadership and flavor, and the agility of our teams around the world. I want to recognize all McCormick employees for their dedication and contributions. Their commitment and passion continue to drive our success. Now for your questions. Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please proceed with your question. Great. Thanks so much. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. The one key area, obviously, you highlighted in terms of weakness in the quarter was U.S. spices and seasonings, where I guess you experienced softening consumption trends and widening price gaps. I think McCormick went through something maybe somewhat similar several years ago and addressed it in some very specific ways. I guess my question is this time around any different than the last time? If so, how so? How does your approach several years ago inform how you plan to deal with this issue this time around? Thanks for the question, Andrew. Our approach is broadly very similar to what we did over the last two to three years. I think, the broad theme or the sort of headline answer to your question would be that we're taking very much the same type of approaches that we did before. I think there might be one or two things that's a little bit different today than might have been different back in the last two to three years, that is what we're seeing in the pressure that we've talked about. It's happening in some very specific segments. It's not broadly across what is a category with many segments in herb, spices, and seasonings. We're seeing just more specificity in terms of some things that we have to go address overall. I would say the second thing that's different today is that the consumer pressure is even higher. We've just seen inflation upon inflation layered into the consumer. In this particular moment, in the second quarter, we definitely saw quite a spike, I think, particularly from sort of a non-food standpoint, from inflationary pressure on the consumer. Is that temporary? I think most might think it is, but I think it's kind of a little bit different than what we would have seen before, which is more sustained pressure on the consumer. I think what's the same is what we've done in the past informs us to a very high degree on what we're going to do moving forward here. Many of the segments in which we implemented these programs continue to benefit even today, even in the second quarter, with the types of strategies that we've implemented. The strategic approach to solve these particular segments is going to be the same. I would say more of that on the difference is, if you think about the digital landscape, it's really evolved a lot, even in the last two years. Our A&P gets even more targeted as we think about the solutions that we put in place to make sure that we're winning with the consumer and meeting them where they are. I would say, this time period, if I could reflect back on it just continues to reinforce the importance of speed and agility and response. I really like how our team's responding in this environment, especially when we see such inflation and change. We're starting to read early results. We like what we see. It's having the impact that we would expect it to have. Really helpful. Thanks for that. It might be hard to sort of parse this out, but of the $31 million full-year expected tariff refund benefit, I guess, what portion of that do you think is being used for this sort of reinvestment behind the more competitive environment versus covering some of the higher, hopefully what will be temporary cost inflation that you're facing? Thanks so much. Yeah, I'll answer that one, Andrew. I think it's important to note that the Middle East conflict is really driving more inflation that we had not contemplated before. If you think about our guide, which is mid-single digit cost inflation, we're tracking towards the high end of that number, which is about 6% right now. We are going to use the majority of the tax refund to offset these higher costs. These tariffs, they hurt us last year. We're going to use it now to offset the majority of these costs. Also, it's important to note that our underlying gross margin is really healthy. This is the second quarter in a row that we're driving incremental gross margin of about, even if you strip out the tariff refund, our gross margin was about 130 basis points up. It's healthy. It talks about the resilience of our business, and then it gives us the room to invest back in the business and continue to drive top-line growth in the back half of the year. Great. Thanks so much. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Peter Galbo with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Hey, good morning. Thanks for the questions. Hey. Brendan, if I can ask a variation on Andrew's question. Just obviously within America's Consumer, you've been faced with a bit of a game of macro Whac-A-Mole, I guess, is how I would describe it. You're taking actions, you're using the playbook that you've used in the past. Just how do we all gain confidence that this is sustainable, right? That the actions you're putting in place are going to work this time around, will be somewhat sustainable, and that you can kind of, I don't know, help to dampen some of this volatility that's been coming at you for what should be a relatively resilient category. Just seems like there's been one thing after another you've had to contend with, and I think that's really thrown us and investors kind of for a loop as we contemplate kind of the core of your business. Just would appreciate any additional thoughts on that. I'm happy to do that, Peter. I think you all gave us a new term, which we'll use internally, of macro Whac-A-Mole. That's a new one for us, but we like it. I think if you look back at the last two years when we were dealing with this before, kind of building off of the previous question, we were able to demonstrate sort of sustained improvement during that period of time. Those conditions were, as I described earlier, largely very similar in nature. I think that is one aspect I would share with investors, is that we have a motivation to make sure that we continue to perform in a very healthy way, a volume-driven way within this part of our portfolio. We will work hard to make sure that we create even more resilience if it's needed. I think that's what you're seeing throughout our performance right now, whether it's the underlying performance in terms of gross margin or thinking about how we drive even continued increase in A&P up against our business. Also the continued focus around innovation, which is performing even more strongly this year than last year. I think those are the indicators that we have sustained focus and momentum across this portfolio. We're going to go through periods where we get sharp inflections like we saw in the second quarter, there was a reasonable shift in the consumer behavior. If you look at it over more of a longer-term period, I think we demonstrate the resiliency that we have been calling out overall. To be clear, the external environment is presenting us new challenges, and as I've asked my organization at the beginning of this fiscal year, is just one of our areas of strategic focus is just to continue building in resilience into the business. Not knowing where or how we're going to need to use it, but just knowing that resiliency is really important to us and also investors. Okay. Thanks for that. Marcos, if I could just ask a clarification question as well. I believe you provided pretty explicit guidance for the third quarter on operating income. Maybe you can help us bridge a little bit more explicitly down to the EPS line. I know there's some below-the-line items, obviously, that are different this year versus last year. If you could put any sort of guardrails around the EPS rate of decline kind of for three Q, I think that would be helpful. Thanks very much. Yeah. Peter, on Q3, we provided some specifics on my prepared remarks. Just to reiterate some of them. From the net sales perspective, we believe we'll have solid net sales, continued momentum in Flavor Solutions, in Consumer, continued good momentum in the EMEA and APAC, and in the Americas improving the performance. Gross margin expansion will continue, as I said as well in the call. What is really driving the operating profit to be high single digit to low double digit is really timing of expenses within SG&A, the ERP timing, as well as incentive compensation brand marketing. That is the OP line. To your question about EPS, the biggest element in addition to the elements that I just mentioned is really the tax. The tax was about 16%, I think, last year. Now if you think about the normalization of that tax in line with the full year guide of about 24%, that creates 700 to 800 basis points, roughly speaking, of a headwind. That is really the key element that you should think about in terms of the EPS and the below-the-line items. Okay. Thank you very much. Sure. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tom Palmer with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question. Good morning, and thanks for the question. I wanted to start off maybe following up on Pete's question on third quarter expectations. I think maybe there's kind of two pieces I want to break this into. One is when we think about the organic sales growth, or, sorry, the operating profit growth coming in maybe lighter than consensus estimates, how much was maybe mismodeling on our part, where you had expectations the whole time that some of these SG&A items might have been greater pressure points than we previously expected, versus maybe some incremental costs to consider, including even on the inflationary side? Thanks. Well, on the SG&A side, that's how we've been modeling, Tom, in terms of the cadence of our spend in the back half of the year, each one of the quarters. Obviously, we don't provide quarterly guidance. It is shifting more expenses into Q3 in terms of more brand marketing you will see, as I said. The ERP program is also hitting Q3 versus a year ago. Incentive compensation, as we talked about it before. I don't think there's a change there in terms of what our internal expectations were. What we're seeing is definitely more inflation coming through, as I mentioned before, due to the Middle East conflict. That is we're using the tariff refund to offset most of it. It's still driving gross margin expansion, which is what I like about the balance of the year, which is we upgraded the call on gross margin to be 100 to 120 basis points for the full year, and you can take the inline. The implied guidance for the second half, it should be the number that you take on. Overall, I would say in line with our expectations. It's just a matter of the phasing of the SG&A expenses, really. Okay. Thanks for that. On Flavor Solutions, I know sales growth can be lumpy from quarter to quarter. Brendan, in your prepared remarks, you noted a variety of tailwinds for the segment. One that stood out was reformulations. I think you previously expected it to be more of a fiscal 2027 driver. Two questions in here. First, any lumpiness we need to keep in mind when thinking about the strength of the second quarter? Second, what's driving the faster pace of reformulations, and should we think about that continuing to build in future periods? Thanks for the question, Tom. Flavor Solutions, by the way, we're really pleased with the quarter. As we look at the rest of the year, I think if I recall what I said at the beginning of the year when we laid out the guide, we thought that some of that improvement that we would expect to see come through, certainly start to layer in as we went progressively through the year. I think what we saw here in the second quarter is obviously just even more strength come through, in terms of our overall performance, and it was broad-based. Hopefully, you got that from my prepared remarks. In terms of the drivers, I think what we're seeing right now is we're really encouraged by the scope of the pipeline that we're seeing. It's very healthy across a lot of our customer segments. It's clear that that activity had amplified. I think that's a little bit of an insight into part of the spirit of your question. Reformulation projects are increasing, particularly around from large CPG customers. I think what's starting to come through in the numbers, we're starting to see them commercialize maybe a little bit faster than what we had initially predicted. I think there's another element to this, which is not just simply large CPG manufacturers driving reformulation. I think there's an element of just a market acceleration of health and wellness innovation. You heard me comment in my prepared remarks about where we're seeing that, and we're just seeing more activity there. I think that's also coming through in terms of the trends that we're seeing through private label customers and high-growth innovators. That seems to be sustained, if not continue to drive some really strong growth on top of what we're seeing as large CPG manufacturers also seeing more activity in market. There was another element for us, and that is, just we saw more beverage innovation come through in the away-from-home market this quarter, which is more of an enduring trend. I think you'll see is that we definitely see more continued beverage innovation. That came through in the away-from-home market this quarter, and I would expect that to continue to carry forward. Overall, though, we think we're gaining share in this part of our business. It could be, is it an insight into where the broad food industry is going? We think it's more of an insight into our ability to gain share in this area. I think that that is the context that I have around our performance. Let's not forget branded food service. Branded food service is operating in an environment where we're seeing some nice small traffic growth. We know the segments that are performing well. We see consumers moving towards small indulgences and still going out to eat to treat themselves. In that environment also, we're gaining share. That's the context around our branded food service performance. Overall, the food industry is innovating and we're benefiting from it. Great. Thanks for all the detail. Very helpful. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question. Hey, great. Thank you, and good morning, both Brendan and Marcos. Good morning. Brendan, maybe just following up on Tom's question there and your answer. I guess when you stack up that reformulation, innovation, health and wellness activity, for how long would you expect that to translate into what seems to be a favorable spread between how that's impacting Flavor Solutions and I think what we're all seeing and gleaning from end market consumption? Do you view that favorability more as a particular moment in time that has duration, or is it something that should prove more durable into the future? Well, because a lot of this is aligned with consumer trends, Steve, I go there first. What supports the activity and is it aligned with where the consumer's going? I believe it indicates more durability and broadly within the marketplace. As you know, I've said before, I think the food industry has always been really good at innovating around meeting the consumer with where they are, and I think this is a good example of just pipelines starting to materialize as we think about the marketplace. Great. Thank you. Then, you spoke to some of the anticipated outcomes of the integration planning work that you're doing over the next few months, including the announced location of the secondary listing by the end of July and further details on the operating model and synergies and the scope of TSAs by the end of September. I guess, maybe you could shed a little bit more light, if you could, on the work that's going on behind the scenes to get to those outcomes and how that day-to-day work is being organized alongside general business operations. Thank you. Well, as we noted in the prepared remarks, we certainly have a lot of dedicated resources, both at McCormick and at Unilever Foods, to really prosecute, obviously, this whole integration planning and everything else. To give you just more context, more subjectively, and before we start to report more detail as we get to the third quarter, I'm very encouraged by just the level of collaboration. I would almost call it esprit de corps between both integration teams in terms of how they're operating and working together. It is, I would say, very disciplined and rigorous. There are multiple work streams all organized by function or by specific actions and activity that have to happen, and they're all sort of progressing in parallel, and everyone has a timetable that they need to hit, and we're hitting those timetables. We did a checkup in this last week, and we're very encouraged by sort of that first three months, if you will. We're right where we want to be in terms of the timeline. I don't expect everything's going to be perfect throughout the entire integration planning, but so far, we really like how we started off, and it leaves us even more encouraged. I know that my counterparts over at Unilever Foods would say the same thing. I think the other thing that I'm walking away with, too, after sort of the first three months after our announcement, is just I'm even more excited about the combination than I was before. I think a lot of that's driven also by just being able to interact also with Unilever Foods employees and just really see the energy and the passion for the business from their perspective, just only leaves us even more excited about the future of this combination and what it's going to deliver. We still believe very much in what we said back in late March, and it's still true today. It's now starting to really feel like it'll begin to come to life. We can't wait to really share more details on our milestones. I just would step back and say the operational clarity and rigor with which the base business is operating versus the integration teams are operating, I think is really clear. That gives me confidence that we can continue to do this as we go through up until close. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Our next question comes from line of Robert Moskow with TD Cowen. Please proceed with your question. Hi. Thanks for the question. Brendan, you've definitely been in this position before, navigating price gaps and trying to regain market share in spices and seasoning. What I remember from last time is that it took longer than just a couple of quarters to regain some competitiveness and to execute the volume-led strategy. It was multifaceted, price gap changes and packaging changes as well. The guidance implies a sequential improvement in volume in the back half. Is there enough time here to execute the things that you want to execute to get volume back to positive in the Americas? A quick follow-up. Well, thanks for the question, Rob. I think you're right. It did take us a little bit longer when we were in this position before. I think that's a reasonable point to call out. Back then, Rob, we were implementing programs and layering them in sort of every other month, et cetera. I think it was more of a sort of a broader program we were implementing at the time. There was a lot more to execute in that regard back then. Also, we were getting into making sure that from a customer relationship standpoint, they were aligned with the strategy of really driving the category this way. That takes a lot of dialogue with customers back then. We really got through that in a really positive way. I think as you now sort of accelerate or fast-forward into where we are today, the dialogue that we have with customers is far more faster, a recognition of what we need to go course correct. Our ability to kind of implement quickly with our team with more speed and agility. I think also, as I mentioned earlier in a previous question, sort of that digital landscape provides us even more capability to be able to do this. That is, I think, an important element of our ability to execute. Now, it's also important to know that we also have more gross margin sort of flexibility in which to make sure that we can drive investments in the right areas. I'm really encouraged by sort of the speed of our response, and we're starting to see it in the marketplace right now. I think that those are the differences between now and maybe when we did it before is a much greater understanding of those levers and how they're going to operate and work, and we have a lot of confidence when we implement them. Okay. My follow-up is on the seasonings subcategory. If you really drill down here, brands of yours like Grill Mates and Lawry's are losing share, and it's to some up-and-coming emerging brands. When you talk about price gaps, is that related to that at all? Is there something else here in terms of the positioning of your brands relative to theirs that you'd like to address as well? Yeah. As I mentioned, that there were specific segments that we felt like we needed to address. That's not inconsistent with what you just called out. I think price gaps can be a part of it. I would say what we're seeing now in our category, it's a reflection of everything that we've been saying. These are really attractive categories. They're advantaged, they're structurally sound, so it attracts more competition and certainly, even a lot more interest from private label. That should not necessarily be surprising. As we saw, especially in the second quarter, we saw a lot more competitive promotional activity. I think that probably reflected in the results overall. It also, I think there's a consumer component there. I think we have a handle on it, and we know what we need to do. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Alexia Howard with Bernstein. Please proceed with your question. Good morning, everyone. Can we start by just kicking the tires a bit on the operating margin outlook for the combined McCormick-Unilever deal? 21% at close is already fairly high relative to other food companies around the world. Obviously then getting up into the sort of 23%-25% range is even higher. I think we're sort of looking from the outside and saying, well, obviously, the marketing spend is healthy at 7%-8% and if, and this is a hypothetical, if the growth margins are sort of somewhere in the low 40s, that implies that the remaining SG&A outside of marketing spend is surprisingly low, and we're trying to figure out if that's sustainable for the long term. Can you sort of give us confidence that this is actually something doable and it's not that the belt has been tightened so much on the remaining SG&A that it's going to be problematic as we get into the combined era next year? I have a follow-up. Thank you for the question, Alexia. I'm going to address a couple of thoughts there. I may turn over to Marcos to see, but he can tell me if I missed anything important. Thanks for unpacking all of that. I think as we look at sort of the future margin profile of the business, we think about the ability of continuing to invest in it. Thank you for calling out that these are also being done at what are industry-leading, sort of healthy investment rates behind A&P and brand marketing and everything else. We had to make sure that investors understand that we want to continue supporting the business at increasing levels every year. Its impact on SG&A, I have to tell you, we don't see that as being unusually low in a future state. I think what we'll have to do is probably, as we go through this process and we go through this integration, is provide more context around that. I can't really, right now, today, give you the level of detail that I think maybe you're looking for. As we looked at it and modeled it internally on the McCormick side and even through conversations with our counterparts over there, this is not coming at the sort of some unusual profile on SG&A. Yeah, I think you hit the key points, Brendan. I mean, operating margin has really been driven by gross margin expansion over the last few years. Right. Right. The team has continued to invest in brand marketing, as you pointed out, Alexia. We don't feel like the SG&A is at a low range or low place to be right now. Obviously, the 21% operating margin is the starting point of the combined company before any synergies. As when you layer synergies on top, you get to the range of 23%-25%. We do feel pretty confident about that profile. Great. That's helpful. Just as a quick follow-up, coming back to Flavor Solutions, you talked about the benefits of reformulation kicking in. Two other things. Can I ask, the branded food service channels that are seeing improved foot traffic, can you be more specific about which food service channels are seeing that recovery? Then you have a big snacking/beverage company in there that I think has been struggling, and that's been a headwind in that category or segment for the past year or two. You mentioned that all customers are now seeing growth. Does that mean that that headwind's gone away? Thank you, and I'll pass it on. Yeah, I think that specific about branded food service in your question, the segments in which we're seeing sort of more growth than the total food service industry would be, we're seeing some growth in QSRs, especially in the Americas, and we're seeing growth in fast casual dining. Also, I think one of non-commercial. Those four to five areas is where we are seeing right now, I think, most of the growth in traffic, et cetera. That's the area in which I think we're also finding that our brands certainly can play and resonate or our ability to sort of help with flavor will help there, too. I think overall, though, there certainly has been pressure on the food service marketplace. This element of, especially in the second quarter, just increased pressure on the consumer certainly coming through, not necessarily just food, but many other things that household budgets need. I think that did have an impact on food service to some degree because it did decelerate in the quarter from the first quarter, in our view. There was still growth, and the growth is happening in areas where we have been putting some focus. Thank you very much. I'll pass it on. Thank you. Our final question this morning comes from the line of Max Gumport with BNP Paribas. Please proceed with your question. Hey, thanks for the question. I just wanted to return quickly to the commentary on 3Q profit. After 1Q results, you had signaled that 3Q would be above the low end of your 2026 guidance range, at least 16% year-over-year. It does feel like a bit of a guide down with regard to 3Q now indicating high single digits to low double digits. You mentioned SG&A timing. I just wanted to clarify, was there a shift in your view of SG&A expenses, with a shift from 2Q into 3Q, maybe related to ERP and incentive comp timing relative to what was initially planned? Or is this also about incremental brand marketing investment versus what was initially planned? Thanks very much. Hey, Max. Two questions on there. The first one is in terms of when we put out the guide in the beginning of the year, we guide for the full year. We didn't guide by quarter. The ranges that we put out there, 15%-19% on constant currency was for the full year. The second point about the phasing. There's some phasing between Q3 and Q4. We're investing more heavily on brand marketing in Q3 than Q4, although Q4, we're going to still see brand marketing absolute dollars strong. Year-on-year, we also had a very strong brand marketing spend in the Q4 of 2025. Year-on-year is not going to be significant. I think I hit these two points and the other question was about I think those are two questions, right, Max? Anything else that I missed? Yeah, that covers it. Maybe I'm putting too fine a point of it, but. Yeah You did say 2Q would be at the low end of the 2026 guidance range, and you said 3Q would be better than 2Q. That's why I'm saying essentially it does look like there is a bit of a change in tone, but I think your commentary does help lots, so appreciate that. I just wanted to touch on cash flow quickly. It's obviously been a much better first half than last year. You talked about working capital improvements. Can you just expand a bit on what's generating those working capital improvements relative to last year and the sustainability of that? Thanks very much. Sure, Max. This is one area that we are very pleased about, which is the cash flow in the first half of the year for $131 million, very substantial. Also, the de-leveraging position that we are right now in terms of 2.9 times closing the quarter. Even after the acquisition of McCormick, that we incurred additional $750 million of debt. That talks about always our playbook about acquiring and paying down debt quickly. Working capital is also working our favor across all three levers of working capital, inventory days, payables and receivables. Primarily inventory days as well as payables are the two main drivers of working capital that we're seeing right now. Okay, great. Thanks very much. I'll leave it there. Sure. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Ms. Reha for any final comments. Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for joining today's call. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me. This concludes our conference call for this morning. Thank you. Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Speaker 4: Good morning. This is Faten Freiha, VP of Investor Relations. Thank you for joining today's second quarter earnings call. To accompany this call, we've posted a set of slides on our IR website, ir.mccormick.com. With me this morning are Brendan Foley, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Marcos Gabriel, Executive Vice President and CFO. During this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. The nature of those non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations to the GAAP results are included in this morning's press release and slides. In our comments, certain percentages are rounded. Please refer to our presentation for complete information. Today's presentation contains projections and other forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or other factors. Good morning. good morning This is Faten Freiha, VP of Investor Relations. this is faten freiha vp of investor relations Thank you for joining today's second quarter earnings call. thank you for joining today's second quarter earnings call To accompany this call, we've posted a set of slides on our IR website, ir.mccormick.com. to accompany this call we've posted a set of slides on our ir website ir.mccormick.com With me this morning are Brendan Foley, Chairman, President, and CEO, and Marcos Gabriel, Executive Vice President and CFO. with me this morning are brendan foley chairman president and ceo and marcos gabriel executive vice president and cfo During this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. during this call we will refer to certain non-gaap financial measures The nature of those non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations to the GAAP results are included in this morning's press release and slides. the nature of those non-gaap financial measures and the related reconciliations to the gaap results are included in this morning's press release and slides In our comments, certain percentages are rounded. in our comments certain percentages are rounded Please refer to our presentation for complete information. please refer to our presentation for complete information Today's presentation contains projections and other forward-looking statements. today's presentation contains projections and other forward-looking statements Actual results could differ materially from those projected. actual results could differ materially from those projected The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or other factors. the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements whether because of new information future events or other factors Please refer to our forward-looking statement on slide 2 for more information. I will now turn the discussion over to Brendan. Please refer to our forward-looking statement on slide 2 for more information. please refer to our forward-looking statement on slide 2 for more information I will now turn the discussion over to Brendan. i will now turn the discussion over to brendan

Speaker 3: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Our strong second quarter performance demonstrates the underlying strength and resilience of our business. We delivered robust sales growth, expanded underlying margins, and increased earnings. Our total results were supported by the McCormick Mexico transaction. Organic growth was driven by the accelerated momentum in Flavor Solutions, with growth across flavors and branded food service customers, highlighting the benefits of our diversified flavor-focused portfolio. Looking ahead, we expect to sustain the momentum in Flavor Solutions and increase reinvestment to improve Consumer volume trends in organic sales. Our enhanced margin profile and operational rigor position us well to deliver a virtuous cycle of growth through continued investment in our brands, capabilities, and innovation that drive long-term value creation. Our fundamentals remain strong, supported by our advantaged categories and disciplined execution, giving us confidence in our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. good morning everyone and thank you for joining us Our strong second quarter performance demonstrates the underlying strength and resilience of our business. our strong second quarter performance demonstrates the underlying strength and resilience of our business We delivered robust sales growth, expanded underlying margins, and increased earnings. we delivered robust sales growth expanded underlying margins and increased earnings Our total results were supported by the McCormick Mexico transaction. our total results were supported by the mccormick mexico transaction Organic growth was driven by the accelerated momentum in Flavor Solutions, with growth across flavors and branded food service customers, highlighting the benefits of our diversified flavor-focused portfolio. organic growth was driven by the accelerated momentum in flavor solutions with growth across flavors and branded food service customers highlighting the benefits of our diversified flavor-focused portfolio Looking ahead, we expect to sustain the momentum in Flavor Solutions and increase reinvestment to improve Consumer volume trends in organic sales. looking ahead we expect to sustain the momentum in flavor solutions and increase reinvestment to improve consumer volume trends in organic sales Our enhanced margin profile and operational rigor position us well to deliver a virtuous cycle of growth through continued investment in our brands, capabilities, and innovation that drive long-term value creation. our enhanced margin profile and operational rigor position us well to deliver a virtuous cycle of growth through continued investment in our brands capabilities and innovation that drive long-term value creation Our fundamentals remain strong, supported by our advantaged categories and disciplined execution, giving us confidence in our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook. our fundamentals remain strong supported by our advantaged categories and disciplined execution giving us confidence in our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook Turning now to our results on slide four. In the second quarter, total sales grew by 14% in constant currency, reflecting acquisition contribution from McCormick Mexico of 12% and organic sales growth of 2%. As expected, organic growth was driven by pricing. In global Consumer, volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps in the Americas. Looking to the second half, we are implementing targeted actions to strengthen performance. We expect sequential volume improvement in the third quarter and volume growth in the fourth quarter, supported by refined revenue growth management initiatives, expanded distribution, targeted value-focused marketing, and innovation. In EMEA and Asia Pacific, we delivered sustained volume growth during the quarter, and we expect that momentum to continue for the remainder of the year. In Global Flavor Solutions, volume growth exceeded expectations, driven primarily by the Americas. Turning now to our results on slide four. turning now to our results on slide four In the second quarter, total sales grew by 14% in constant currency, reflecting acquisition contribution from McCormick Mexico of 12% and organic sales growth of 2%. in the second quarter total sales grew by 14% in constant currency reflecting acquisition contribution from mccormick mexico of 12% and organic sales growth of 2% As expected, organic growth was driven by pricing. as expected organic growth was driven by pricing In global Consumer, volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps in the Americas. in global consumer volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps in the americas Looking to the second half, we are implementing targeted actions to strengthen performance. looking to the second half we are implementing targeted actions to strengthen performance We expect sequential volume improvement in the third quarter and volume growth in the fourth quarter, supported by refined revenue growth management initiatives, expanded distribution, targeted value-focused marketing, and innovation. we expect sequential volume improvement in the third quarter and volume growth in the fourth quarter supported by refined revenue growth management initiatives expanded distribution targeted value-focused marketing and innovation In EMEA and Asia Pacific, we delivered sustained volume growth during the quarter, and we expect that momentum to continue for the remainder of the year. in emea and asia pacific we delivered sustained volume growth during the quarter and we expect that momentum to continue for the remainder of the year In Global Flavor Solutions, volume growth exceeded expectations, driven primarily by the Americas. in global flavor solutions volume growth exceeded expectations driven primarily by the americas We benefited from growth across the Flavor Solutions customer base, including large CPG, private label, and high-growth innovators. In branded food service, growth was balanced across channels, supported by distributor volume recovery, sustained demand in non-commercial channels, and strong e-commerce performance. Overall, the quarter reflects solid execution and strengthening fundamentals. Let's move to slide five and let me highlight for the quarter some of the key areas of success. Starting with global Consumer. Across key markets, food categories continued to soften. Against this backdrop, we saw good consumption trends. In spices and seasonings, share gains in Canada, France, Poland, and China continued to support global performance. In recipe mixes in the U.K., we drove unit and dollar share gains for the last three quarters, supported by expanded distribution and customer wins. In Poland, new recipe mix launches under our Kamis brand are performing well. We benefited from growth across the Flavor Solutions customer base, including large CPG, private label, and high-growth innovators. we benefited from growth across the flavor solutions customer base including large cpg private label and high-growth innovators In branded food service, growth was balanced across channels, supported by distributor volume recovery, sustained demand in non-commercial channels, and strong e-commerce performance. in branded food service growth was balanced across channels supported by distributor volume recovery sustained demand in non-commercial channels and strong e-commerce performance Overall, the quarter reflects solid execution and strengthening fundamentals. overall the quarter reflects solid execution and strengthening fundamentals Let's move to slide five and let me highlight for the quarter some of the key areas of success. let's move to slide five and let me highlight for the quarter some of the key areas of success Starting with global Consumer. starting with global consumer Across key markets, food categories continued to soften. across key markets food categories continued to soften Against this backdrop, we saw good consumption trends. against this backdrop we saw good consumption trends In spices and seasonings, share gains in Canada, France, Poland, and China continued to support global performance. in spices and seasonings share gains in canada france poland and china continued to support global performance In recipe mixes in the U.K., we drove unit and dollar share gains for the last three quarters, supported by expanded distribution and customer wins. in recipe mixes in the u.k we drove unit and dollar share gains for the last three quarters supported by expanded distribution and customer wins In Poland, new recipe mix launches under our Kamis brand are performing well. in poland new recipe mix launches under our kamis brand are performing well Most recently, we expanded our recipe mix portfolio in France with the Ducros brand, further strengthening our presence in the category. In mustard, U.S. unit share gains were driven by enhanced distribution, and we delivered the sixth consecutive quarter of dollar share gains in Poland. In hot sauce in the U.S., we delivered dollar and unit share gains for the third consecutive quarter, supported by expanded distribution and innovation, including new Cholula sauces. We also drove share gains in the U.K. and Australia, reflecting strong execution and continued brand momentum across key international markets. We expanded total distribution points across the Americas, led by spices and seasonings, with incremental gains in condiments and sauces. Moving to Flavor Solutions. In Flavor Solutions, innovation plans across our customer base started to commercialize, leading to strong growth across large CPGs, private label, and high-growth innovators. Most recently, we expanded our recipe mix portfolio in France with the Ducros brand, further strengthening our presence in the category. most recently we expanded our recipe mix portfolio in france with the ducros brand further strengthening our presence in the category In mustard, U.S. unit share gains were driven by enhanced distribution, and we delivered the sixth consecutive quarter of dollar share gains in Poland. in mustard u.s unit share gains were driven by enhanced distribution and we delivered the sixth consecutive quarter of dollar share gains in poland In hot sauce in the U.S., we delivered dollar and unit share gains for the third consecutive quarter, supported by expanded distribution and innovation, including new Cholula sauces. in hot sauce in the u.s we delivered dollar and unit share gains for the third consecutive quarter supported by expanded distribution and innovation including new cholula sauces We also drove share gains in the U.K. and Australia, reflecting strong execution and continued brand momentum across key international markets. we also drove share gains in the u.k and australia reflecting strong execution and continued brand momentum across key international markets We expanded total distribution points across the Americas, led by spices and seasonings, with incremental gains in condiments and sauces. we expanded total distribution points across the americas led by spices and seasonings with incremental gains in condiments and sauces Moving to Flavor Solutions. moving to flavor solutions In Flavor Solutions, innovation plans across our customer base started to commercialize, leading to strong growth across large CPGs, private label, and high-growth innovators. in flavor solutions innovation plans across our customer base started to commercialize leading to strong growth across large cpgs private label and high-growth innovators Innovation activity remains strong, particularly in cereals, soft drinks, sports nutrition, and snacking. We are capitalizing on these tailwinds in beverage innovation, protein and better-for-you growth, premiumization, and continued customer diversification. In branded food service, improving foot traffic drove both volume and sales growth. We continue to see momentum across non-commercial channels, retail food service, and independent operators. Importantly, we delivered tabletop and front of house share gains across Frank's, Cholula, and McCormick. Let me now touch on some areas where we are seeing pressure, starting with global Consumer. In U.S. spices and seasonings, the category grew, but at a lower rate, reflecting consumers using more of what's in their pantry. Our consumption lagged the category within certain segments due to increased price sensitivity and increased competition, both private label and branded. Innovation activity remains strong, particularly in cereals, soft drinks, sports nutrition, and snacking. innovation activity remains strong particularly in cereals soft drinks sports nutrition and snacking We are capitalizing on these tailwinds in beverage innovation, protein and better-for-you growth, premiumization, and continued customer diversification. we are capitalizing on these tailwinds in beverage innovation protein and better-for-you growth premiumization and continued customer diversification In branded food service, improving foot traffic drove both volume and sales growth. in branded food service improving foot traffic drove both volume and sales growth We continue to see momentum across non-commercial channels, retail food service, and independent operators. we continue to see momentum across non-commercial channels retail food service and independent operators Importantly, we delivered tabletop and front of house share gains across Frank's, Cholula, and McCormick. importantly we delivered tabletop and front of house share gains across frank's cholula and mccormick Let me now touch on some areas where we are seeing pressure, starting with global Consumer. let me now touch on some areas where we are seeing pressure starting with global consumer In U.S. spices and seasonings, the category grew, but at a lower rate, reflecting consumers using more of what's in their pantry. in u.s spices and seasonings the category grew but at a lower rate reflecting consumers using more of what's in their pantry Our consumption lagged the category within certain segments due to increased price sensitivity and increased competition, both private label and branded. our consumption lagged the category within certain segments due to increased price sensitivity and increased competition both private label and branded We are responding with focused actions to drive growth, including disciplined promotional and assortment strategies across channels, refined revenue growth management actions. Targeted brand investment and expanded precision marketing to reinforce McCormick's quality and differentiation and consumer insight-driven innovation. We navigated a similar environment two years ago, and we have a clear understanding of the factors that impacted performance. We believe our initiatives position us to improve consumption trends and return to driving category growth. In recipe mixes, we have a strong core portfolio that spans multiple segments. We see opportunity to accelerate growth in Mexican flavors, one of the faster-growing segments in the category. We plan to realize this opportunity with innovation, expanded distribution, and focused brand investment behind authentic Mexican brands like Cholula. Moving to Flavor Solutions. In Asia Pacific, primarily outside of China, and in EMEA, QSR customer volumes were pressured by softer foot traffic. We are responding with focused actions to drive growth, including disciplined promotional and assortment strategies across channels, refined revenue growth management actions. we are responding with focused actions to drive growth including disciplined promotional and assortment strategies across channels refined revenue growth management actions Targeted brand investment and expanded precision marketing to reinforce McCormick's quality and differentiation and consumer insight-driven innovation. targeted brand investment and expanded precision marketing to reinforce mccormick's quality and differentiation and consumer insight-driven innovation We navigated a similar environment two years ago, and we have a clear understanding of the factors that impacted performance. we navigated a similar environment two years ago and we have a clear understanding of the factors that impacted performance We believe our initiatives position us to improve consumption trends and return to driving category growth. we believe our initiatives position us to improve consumption trends and return to driving category growth In recipe mixes, we have a strong core portfolio that spans multiple segments. in recipe mixes we have a strong core portfolio that spans multiple segments We see opportunity to accelerate growth in Mexican flavors, one of the faster-growing segments in the category. we see opportunity to accelerate growth in mexican flavors one of the faster-growing segments in the category We plan to realize this opportunity with innovation, expanded distribution, and focused brand investment behind authentic Mexican brands like Cholula. we plan to realize this opportunity with innovation expanded distribution and focused brand investment behind authentic mexican brands like cholula Moving to Flavor Solutions. moving to flavor solutions In Asia Pacific, primarily outside of China, and in EMEA, QSR customer volumes were pressured by softer foot traffic. in asia pacific primarily outside of china and in emea qsr customer volumes were pressured by softer foot traffic Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we expect volume trends to improve in Asia Pacific, driven by customers' new products and limited time offers. Let me provide some more context on the state of the consumer. Geopolitical volatility, elevated fuel costs, and persistent inflation continue to weigh on consumer confidence. While affordability has been a consistent theme, the key shift this quarter, particularly given rising gas prices impacting budgets, was a more pronounced move towards value as consumers became increasingly selective and focused on maximizing their budget. At the same time, a majority of consumers claim that they save for small premiums or indulgences, which includes flavor exploration. Health and wellness trends continue to shape behavior, driving sustained growth in perimeter categories, at-home cooking, protein, and broader better-for-you categories across retail and food service. Within this environment, flavor remains a powerful constant. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, we expect volume trends to improve in Asia Pacific, driven by customers' new products and limited time offers. looking ahead to the rest of the year we expect volume trends to improve in asia pacific driven by customers' new products and limited time offers Let me provide some more context on the state of the consumer. let me provide some more context on the state of the consumer Geopolitical volatility, elevated fuel costs, and persistent inflation continue to weigh on consumer confidence. geopolitical volatility elevated fuel costs and persistent inflation continue to weigh on consumer confidence While affordability has been a consistent theme, the key shift this quarter, particularly given rising gas prices impacting budgets, was a more pronounced move towards value as consumers became increasingly selective and focused on maximizing their budget. while affordability has been a consistent theme the key shift this quarter particularly given rising gas prices impacting budgets was a more pronounced move towards value as consumers became increasingly selective and focused on maximizing their budget At the same time, a majority of consumers claim that they save for small premiums or indulgences, which includes flavor exploration. at the same time a majority of consumers claim that they save for small premiums or indulgences which includes flavor exploration Health and wellness trends continue to shape behavior, driving sustained growth in perimeter categories, at-home cooking, protein, and broader better-for-you categories across retail and food service. health and wellness trends continue to shape behavior driving sustained growth in perimeter categories at-home cooking protein and broader better-for-you categories across retail and food service Within this environment, flavor remains a powerful constant. within this environment flavor remains a powerful constant At-home cooking continues to benefit from consumers seeking affordable, healthier meal solutions, and flavor is the primary driver of purchase across occasions. As a result, spices and seasonings remain the top performer in terms of center store growth. The continued convergence of value-seeking behavior and health trends reinforces the central role of flavor and underscores our advantaged position across our flavor-focused, diversified portfolio. Let's turn to slide six and to our growth plans for the remainder of the year that support our confidence in our ability to deliver on our top-line expectations. Starting with Consumer, we expect second half organic growth to be supported by improving volume trends. This improvement will be driven by expanded distribution, sustained renovation, refined revenue growth management to address increased price sensitivity in specific segments, including optimized price pack architecture. At-home cooking continues to benefit from consumers seeking affordable, healthier meal solutions, and flavor is the primary driver of purchase across occasions. at-home cooking continues to benefit from consumers seeking affordable healthier meal solutions and flavor is the primary driver of purchase across occasions As a result, spices and seasonings remain the top performer in terms of center store growth. as a result spices and seasonings remain the top performer in terms of center store growth The continued convergence of value-seeking behavior and health trends reinforces the central role of flavor and underscores our advantaged position across our flavor-focused, diversified portfolio. the continued convergence of value-seeking behavior and health trends reinforces the central role of flavor and underscores our advantaged position across our flavor-focused diversified portfolio Let's turn to slide six and to our growth plans for the remainder of the year that support our confidence in our ability to deliver on our top-line expectations. let's turn to slide six and to our growth plans for the remainder of the year that support our confidence in our ability to deliver on our top-line expectations Starting with Consumer, we expect second half organic growth to be supported by improving volume trends. starting with consumer we expect second half organic growth to be supported by improving volume trends This improvement will be driven by expanded distribution, sustained renovation, refined revenue growth management to address increased price sensitivity in specific segments, including optimized price pack architecture. this improvement will be driven by expanded distribution sustained renovation refined revenue growth management to address increased price sensitivity in specific segments including optimized price pack architecture In addition, we will accelerate innovation and increase brand marketing, including precision marketing designed to drive purchase intent and velocity across our core categories. Let me highlight some examples. We relaunched our seasoning blends line. Beyond new flavor introductions, we are optimizing price pack architecture to enhance value perception and improve accessibility at shelf, an important lever in today's value-focused environment. In addition, we continue to scale newer platforms, including our finishing sugars and finishing salts, with strong promotional tie-ins to globally recognized franchises including Bridgerton, Harry Potter, and Paris Hilton. These partnerships expand household penetration, engage younger consumers, and reinforce the role of flavor as an affordable way to elevate everyday meals. For French's Mustard, we have activated a promotional partnership tied to the release of the new Minions movie, turning the mustard green using all-natural colors because of one of the key characters in the movie. In addition, we will accelerate innovation and increase brand marketing, including precision marketing designed to drive purchase intent and velocity across our core categories. in addition we will accelerate innovation and increase brand marketing including precision marketing designed to drive purchase intent and velocity across our core categories Let me highlight some examples. let me highlight some examples We relaunched our seasoning blends line. we relaunched our seasoning blends line Beyond new flavor introductions, we are optimizing price pack architecture to enhance value perception and improve accessibility at shelf, an important lever in today's value-focused environment. beyond new flavor introductions we are optimizing price pack architecture to enhance value perception and improve accessibility at shelf an important lever in today's value-focused environment In addition, we continue to scale newer platforms, including our finishing sugars and finishing salts, with strong promotional tie-ins to globally recognized franchises including Bridgerton, Harry Potter, and Paris Hilton. in addition we continue to scale newer platforms including our finishing sugars and finishing salts with strong promotional tie-ins to globally recognized franchises including bridgerton harry potter and paris hilton These partnerships expand household penetration, engage younger consumers, and reinforce the role of flavor as an affordable way to elevate everyday meals. these partnerships expand household penetration engage younger consumers and reinforce the role of flavor as an affordable way to elevate everyday meals For French's Mustard, we have activated a promotional partnership tied to the release of the new Minions movie, turning the mustard green using all-natural colors because of one of the key characters in the movie. for french's mustard we have activated a promotional partnership tied to the release of the new minions movie turning the mustard green using all-natural colors because of one of the key characters in the movie This type of culturally relevant activation brings excitement to the category and drives incremental traffic. In Flavor Solutions, we expect the momentum from the second quarter to be sustained for the remainder of the year. Our flavors customer pipeline remains healthy, and we are seeing growth across all customers. We are leveraging expertise in regulatory, R&D, and product development to help customers navigate growing health and wellness demands with innovation. We're partnering with large and emerging brands as well as private label customers to flavor energy, hydration, and protein-based beverages, as well as protein and fiber snacks and zero sugar drinks. Our win rate on health and wellness briefs remains strong, and we're focusing resources where we have the greatest opportunity to win across our four taste competencies: savory, heat, naturally sweet, and citrus and fruit. This type of culturally relevant activation brings excitement to the category and drives incremental traffic. this type of culturally relevant activation brings excitement to the category and drives incremental traffic In Flavor Solutions, we expect the momentum from the second quarter to be sustained for the remainder of the year. in flavor solutions we expect the momentum from the second quarter to be sustained for the remainder of the year Our flavors customer pipeline remains healthy, and we are seeing growth across all customers. our flavors customer pipeline remains healthy and we are seeing growth across all customers We are leveraging expertise in regulatory, R&D, and product development to help customers navigate growing health and wellness demands with innovation. we are leveraging expertise in regulatory r&d and product development to help customers navigate growing health and wellness demands with innovation We're partnering with large and emerging brands as well as private label customers to flavor energy, hydration, and protein-based beverages, as well as protein and fiber snacks and zero sugar drinks. we're partnering with large and emerging brands as well as private label customers to flavor energy hydration and protein-based beverages as well as protein and fiber snacks and zero sugar drinks Our win rate on health and wellness briefs remains strong, and we're focusing resources where we have the greatest opportunity to win across our four taste competencies: savory, heat, naturally sweet, and citrus and fruit. our win rate on health and wellness briefs remains strong and we're focusing resources where we have the greatest opportunity to win across our four taste competencies savory heat naturally sweet and citrus and fruit In fact, in the second quarter, a majority of the briefs were tied to health and wellness innovation and renovation. Reformulation projects are increasing, particularly with large CPG customers, and we are beginning to see the benefit of this project activity launched to the marketplace. Finally, in branded food service, we expect to sustain the momentum from this quarter. The environment remains competitive and value conscious. Targeted investments in menu placements, innovation, and disciplined execution are expected to drive pockets of growth across customer channels. Before turning it over to Marcos, I'd like to provide a brief update on the Unilever Foods transaction on slide seven. Since the announcement on March 31st, we have made strong progress on integration planning. We have established a dedicated integration management office led by Andrew Foust, supported by 20 functional teams, to ensure a seamless transition. In fact, in the second quarter, a majority of the briefs were tied to health and wellness innovation and renovation. in fact in the second quarter a majority of the briefs were tied to health and wellness innovation and renovation Reformulation projects are increasing, particularly with large CPG customers, and we are beginning to see the benefit of this project activity launched to the marketplace. reformulation projects are increasing particularly with large cpg customers and we are beginning to see the benefit of this project activity launched to the marketplace Finally, in branded food service, we expect to sustain the momentum from this quarter. finally in branded food service we expect to sustain the momentum from this quarter The environment remains competitive and value conscious. the environment remains competitive and value conscious Targeted investments in menu placements, innovation, and disciplined execution are expected to drive pockets of growth across customer channels. targeted investments in menu placements innovation and disciplined execution are expected to drive pockets of growth across customer channels Before turning it over to Marcos, I'd like to provide a brief update on the Unilever Foods transaction on slide seven. before turning it over to marcos i'd like to provide a brief update on the unilever foods transaction on slide seven Since the announcement on March 31st, we have made strong progress on integration planning. since the announcement on march 31st we have made strong progress on integration planning We have established a dedicated integration management office led by Andrew Foust, supported by 20 functional teams, to ensure a seamless transition. we have established a dedicated integration management office led by andrew foust supported by 20 functional teams to ensure a seamless transition Andrew previously helped successfully lead our RB Foods, Cholula, and FONA integrations. Unilever has established parallel teams. Altogether, there is more than 200 individuals fully dedicated to working across integration streams. From a separation standpoint, approximately 80% of Unilever Foods operates as a standalone organization, which reduces complexity. In addition, we are mapping integration plans country by country. This includes focusing on the 10 markets that represent nearly 75% of combined sales, where we have direct operational overlap in the top six. We expect TSA agreements generally up to two years post-close to ensure continuity across IT, distribution, and back-office functions. In addition, we are entering a second phase of detailed synergy planning. Based on the work completed to date, we remain confident in our previously announced targets for sales growth, operating margin, and adjusted EPS accretion. Andrew previously helped successfully lead our RB Foods, Cholula, and FONA integrations. andrew previously helped successfully lead our rb foods cholula and fona integrations Unilever has established parallel teams. unilever has established parallel teams Altogether, there is more than 200 individuals fully dedicated to working across integration streams. altogether there is more than 200 individuals fully dedicated to working across integration streams From a separation standpoint, approximately 80% of Unilever Foods operates as a standalone organization, which reduces complexity. from a separation standpoint approximately 80% of unilever foods operates as a standalone organization which reduces complexity In addition, we are mapping integration plans country by country. in addition we are mapping integration plans country by country This includes focusing on the 10 markets that represent nearly 75% of combined sales, where we have direct operational overlap in the top six. this includes focusing on the 10 markets that represent nearly 75% of combined sales where we have direct operational overlap in the top six We expect TSA agreements generally up to two years post-close to ensure continuity across IT, distribution, and back-office functions. we expect tsa agreements generally up to two years post-close to ensure continuity across it distribution and back-office functions In addition, we are entering a second phase of detailed synergy planning. in addition we are entering a second phase of detailed synergy planning Based on the work completed to date, we remain confident in our previously announced targets for sales growth, operating margin, and adjusted EPS accretion. based on the work completed to date we remain confident in our previously announced targets for sales growth operating margin and adjusted eps accretion We expect mid to high single-digit adjusted EPS accretion within the first 12 months post-close and mid to high teens accretion in year three. Looking ahead, we expect to deliver several key milestones in the coming months. By the end of July, we expect to announce the location of a secondary listing on a European exchange. By the end of September, we expect to share further detail on the operating model, cost synergies, and growth plans, and the scope of the transition services agreements. At the same time, we will continue to advance parallel work streams to support separation financial reports and regulatory filings. Importantly, we are advancing integration planning with rigor while maintaining disciplined execution in our base business. Now, over to Marcos. We expect mid to high single-digit adjusted EPS accretion within the first 12 months post-close and mid to high teens accretion in year three. we expect mid to high single-digit adjusted eps accretion within the first 12 months post-close and mid to high teens accretion in year three Looking ahead, we expect to deliver several key milestones in the coming months. looking ahead we expect to deliver several key milestones in the coming months By the end of July, we expect to announce the location of a secondary listing on a European exchange. by the end of july we expect to announce the location of a secondary listing on a european exchange By the end of September, we expect to share further detail on the operating model, cost synergies, and growth plans, and the scope of the transition services agreements. by the end of september we expect to share further detail on the operating model cost synergies and growth plans and the scope of the transition services agreements At the same time, we will continue to advance parallel work streams to support separation financial reports and regulatory filings. at the same time we will continue to advance parallel work streams to support separation financial reports and regulatory filings Importantly, we are advancing integration planning with rigor while maintaining disciplined execution in our base business. importantly we are advancing integration planning with rigor while maintaining disciplined execution in our base business Now, over to Marcos. now over to marcos

Speaker 5: Thank you, Brendan, and good morning, everyone. Let's start on slide nine and review our top-line results for the second quarter. Total net sales grew 14% in constant currency and included a 2% inorganic growth, with the balance driven by acquisition contribution. Moving to our Consumer segment on Slide 10, constant currency sales increased 20%, including a 1% increase in organic sales, with the remaining growth driven by acquisition contribution. Consumer organic sales in the Americas were flat, with pricing contribution of 3% offset by volume decline. Volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps. Looking ahead, we expect volumes to improve in the third quarter and to deliver volume growth in the fourth quarter. Thank you, Brendan, and good morning, everyone. thank you brendan and good morning everyone Let's start on slide nine and review our top-line results for the second quarter. let's start on slide nine and review our top-line results for the second quarter Total net sales grew 14% in constant currency and included a 2% inorganic growth, with the balance driven by acquisition contribution. total net sales grew 14% in constant currency and included a 2% inorganic growth with the balance driven by acquisition contribution Moving to our Consumer segment on Slide 10, constant currency sales increased 20%, including a 1% increase in organic sales, with the remaining growth driven by acquisition contribution. moving to our consumer segment on slide 10 constant currency sales increased 20% including a 1% increase in organic sales with the remaining growth driven by acquisition contribution Consumer organic sales in the Americas were flat, with pricing contribution of 3% offset by volume decline. consumer organic sales in the americas were flat with pricing contribution of 3% offset by volume decline Volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps. volumes were impacted by shifting demand patterns and increased price gaps Looking ahead, we expect volumes to improve in the third quarter and to deliver volume growth in the fourth quarter. looking ahead we expect volumes to improve in the third quarter and to deliver volume growth in the fourth quarter In EMEA, we grew Consumer organic sales 3%, driven by a 2% increase in volume and a 1% contribution from pricing related to targeted actions taken as a result of increased commodity costs. We're pleased with the sustained volume growth for the tenth consecutive quarter in EMEA. Consumer organic sales in the Asia Pacific region increased by 3%. The increase was driven primarily by volume and reflects the continued gradual recovery in China. In addition, we delivered strong results outside of China, primarily in Australia. Turning to our Flavor Solutions segment on Slide 11, second quarter constant currency sales grew by 6%, reflecting a 3% acquisition contribution and 3% organic growth, driven equally by volume and price. In the Americas, Flavor Solutions organic sales increased 4%, reflecting a 2% price contribution and 2% volume growth. In EMEA, we grew Consumer organic sales 3%, driven by a 2% increase in volume and a 1% contribution from pricing related to targeted actions taken as a result of increased commodity costs. in emea we grew consumer organic sales 3% driven by a 2% increase in volume and a 1% contribution from pricing related to targeted actions taken as a result of increased commodity costs We're pleased with the sustained volume growth for the tenth consecutive quarter in EMEA. we're pleased with the sustained volume growth for the tenth consecutive quarter in emea Consumer organic sales in the Asia Pacific region increased by 3%. consumer organic sales in the asia pacific region increased by 3% The increase was driven primarily by volume and reflects the continued gradual recovery in China. the increase was driven primarily by volume and reflects the continued gradual recovery in china In addition, we delivered strong results outside of China, primarily in Australia. in addition we delivered strong results outside of china primarily in australia Turning to our Flavor Solutions segment on Slide 11, second quarter constant currency sales grew by 6%, reflecting a 3% acquisition contribution and 3% organic growth, driven equally by volume and price. turning to our flavor solutions segment on slide 11 second quarter constant currency sales grew by 6% reflecting a 3% acquisition contribution and 3% organic growth driven equally by volume and price In the Americas, Flavor Solutions organic sales increased 4%, reflecting a 2% price contribution and 2% volume growth. in the americas flavor solutions organic sales increased 4% reflecting a 2% price contribution and 2% volume growth Volumes for the quarter were driven by strong performance across our flavors portfolio, including large CPGs and high-growth innovators, as well as robust growth in branded food service. In EMEA, organic sales were flat, driven by lower volume, reflecting soft QSR customers' volumes due to a decline in food traffic, particularly in the U.K. In the Asia Pacific region, Flavor Solutions organic sales were flat as 1% volume growth was fully offset by price, with strength in China tempered by softer QSR volumes in Australia. Moving to Slide 12, gross profit margin expanded 270 basis points in the second quarter, driven by accretion from McCormick de Mexico, the benefit of a tariff refund, surgical pricing, and savings from our comprehensive continuous improvement program, or CCI, partially offset by increased commodity costs. This tariff refund reversed tariffs the business absorbed in prior periods. Volumes for the quarter were driven by strong performance across our flavors portfolio, including large CPGs and high-growth innovators, as well as robust growth in branded food service. volumes for the quarter were driven by strong performance across our flavors portfolio including large cpgs and high-growth innovators as well as robust growth in branded food service In EMEA, organic sales were flat, driven by lower volume, reflecting soft QSR customers' volumes due to a decline in food traffic, particularly in the U.K. in emea organic sales were flat driven by lower volume reflecting soft qsr customers' volumes due to a decline in food traffic particularly in the u.k In the Asia Pacific region, Flavor Solutions organic sales were flat as 1% volume growth was fully offset by price, with strength in China tempered by softer QSR volumes in Australia. in the asia pacific region flavor solutions organic sales were flat as 1% volume growth was fully offset by price with strength in china tempered by softer qsr volumes in australia Moving to Slide 12, gross profit margin expanded 270 basis points in the second quarter, driven by accretion from McCormick de Mexico, the benefit of a tariff refund, surgical pricing, and savings from our comprehensive continuous improvement program, or CCI, partially offset by increased commodity costs. moving to slide 12 gross profit margin expanded 270 basis points in the second quarter driven by accretion from mccormick de mexico the benefit of a tariff refund surgical pricing and savings from our comprehensive continuous improvement program or cci partially offset by increased commodity costs This tariff refund reversed tariffs the business absorbed in prior periods. this tariff refund reversed tariffs the business absorbed in prior periods For this quarter, it drove 140 basis points of margin expansion year-over-year. Underlying gross profit margin expanded 130 basis points, demonstrating the resilience of our business and the strength of our brands in a dynamic environment. Selling, general, and administrative expenses, or SG&A, increased relative to the second quarter of last year, driven by the impact of consolidating McCormick de Mexico and increased investments in technology and brand marketing. As a percentage of sales, SG&A was unfavorable by 90 basis points compared to the prior year. For the quarter, adjusted operating income increased by 30%, or 27% in constant currency. This increase was driven by strong top line and gross margin expansion, partially offset by higher SG&A. Our second quarter-adjusted effective tax rate was 22.5% compared to 24.1% in the prior year, driven by a greater level of favorable tax items in the current period. For this quarter, it drove 140 basis points of margin expansion year-over-year. for this quarter it drove 140 basis points of margin expansion year-over-year Underlying gross profit margin expanded 130 basis points, demonstrating the resilience of our business and the strength of our brands in a dynamic environment. underlying gross profit margin expanded 130 basis points demonstrating the resilience of our business and the strength of our brands in a dynamic environment Selling, general, and administrative expenses, or SG&A, increased relative to the second quarter of last year, driven by the impact of consolidating McCormick de Mexico and increased investments in technology and brand marketing. selling general and administrative expenses or sg&a increased relative to the second quarter of last year driven by the impact of consolidating mccormick de mexico and increased investments in technology and brand marketing As a percentage of sales, SG&A was unfavorable by 90 basis points compared to the prior year. as a percentage of sales sg&a was unfavorable by 90 basis points compared to the prior year For the quarter, adjusted operating income increased by 30%, or 27% in constant currency. for the quarter adjusted operating income increased by 30% or 27% in constant currency This increase was driven by strong top line and gross margin expansion, partially offset by higher SG&A. this increase was driven by strong top line and gross margin expansion partially offset by higher sg&a Our second quarter-adjusted effective tax rate was 22.5% compared to 24.1% in the prior year, driven by a greater level of favorable tax items in the current period. our second quarter-adjusted effective tax rate was 22.5% compared to 24.1% in the prior year driven by a greater level of favorable tax items in the current period Turning to segment operational results on Slide 13, Consumer-adjusted operating income increased 33%, or 31% in constant currency, with adjusted operating margins expanding by 140 basis points. This expansion was driven by acquisition accretion and the tariff refund, which primarily benefited the Consumer segment. These benefits were partially offset by increased inflation and higher logistic costs, driven by the Middle East conflict and tighter freight capacity, resulting from recent changes to U.S. federal regulations. Flavor Solutions adjusted operating income increased by 26%, or 22% in constant currency, and adjusted operating margin expanded by 210 basis points, reflecting our volume-driven top line and our continued focus on improving Flavor Solutions profitability in line with our 2024 Investor Day commitment. Turning to segment operational results on Slide 13, Consumer-adjusted operating income increased 33%, or 31% in constant currency, with adjusted operating margins expanding by 140 basis points. turning to segment operational results on slide 13 consumer-adjusted operating income increased 33% or 31% in constant currency with adjusted operating margins expanding by 140 basis points This expansion was driven by acquisition accretion and the tariff refund, which primarily benefited the Consumer segment. this expansion was driven by acquisition accretion and the tariff refund which primarily benefited the consumer segment These benefits were partially offset by increased inflation and higher logistic costs, driven by the Middle East conflict and tighter freight capacity, resulting from recent changes to U.S. federal regulations. these benefits were partially offset by increased inflation and higher logistic costs driven by the middle east conflict and tighter freight capacity resulting from recent changes to u.s federal regulations Flavor Solutions adjusted operating income increased by 26%, or 22% in constant currency, and adjusted operating margin expanded by 210 basis points, reflecting our volume-driven top line and our continued focus on improving Flavor Solutions profitability in line with our 2024 Investor Day commitment. flavor solutions adjusted operating income increased by 26% or 22% in constant currency and adjusted operating margin expanded by 210 basis points reflecting our volume-driven top line and our continued focus on improving flavor solutions profitability in line with our 2024 investor day commitment At the bottom line, as shown on slide 14, second quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share was $0.80, an increase of 16% compared to the year-ago period, driven primarily by increased adjusted operating income, partially offset by non-controlling minority interests. The tariff refund contributed approximately $0.07 per share. On slide 15, we've summarized highlights for cash flow and balance sheet. Cash flow from operations for the first half was $431 million compared to $161 million in the prior year, driven primarily by higher profitability and improved working capital. We returned $258 million of cash to shareholders through dividends and used $75 million for capital expenditures to expand capacity, advance digital transformation, and optimize our cost structure. We continue to expect strong performance in our cash flow from operations for the fiscal year. Our capital allocation priorities remain balanced. At the bottom line, as shown on slide 14, second quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share was $0.80, an increase of 16% compared to the year-ago period, driven primarily by increased adjusted operating income, partially offset by non-controlling minority interests. at the bottom line as shown on slide 14 second quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share was $0.80 an increase of 16% compared to the year-ago period driven primarily by increased adjusted operating income partially offset by non-controlling minority interests The tariff refund contributed approximately $0.07 per share. the tariff refund contributed approximately $0.07 per share On slide 15, we've summarized highlights for cash flow and balance sheet. on slide 15 we've summarized highlights for cash flow and balance sheet Cash flow from operations for the first half was $431 million compared to $161 million in the prior year, driven primarily by higher profitability and improved working capital. cash flow from operations for the first half was $431 million compared to $161 million in the prior year driven primarily by higher profitability and improved working capital We returned $258 million of cash to shareholders through dividends and used $75 million for capital expenditures to expand capacity, advance digital transformation, and optimize our cost structure. we returned $258 million of cash to shareholders through dividends and used $75 million for capital expenditures to expand capacity advance digital transformation and optimize our cost structure We continue to expect strong performance in our cash flow from operations for the fiscal year. we continue to expect strong performance in our cash flow from operations for the fiscal year Our capital allocation priorities remain balanced. our capital allocation priorities remain balanced This means funding investments to drive growth, returning cash to shareholders through dividends, and maintaining strong balance sheet. We remain committed to a strong investment-grade rating. At the end of this quarter, our leverage ratio was approximately 2.9 times, reflecting de-levering from the first quarter following the close of McCormick in Mexico. We expect to continue to make progress in paying down debt, positioning us well ahead of the Unilever Foods close. As previously noted, at close of Unilever Foods, we expect to have industry-leading operating margins of 21% and working capital benefits that support 100% free cash flow conversion from net income before any synergies. Post-close, we expect to continue investing in the business while driving margin expansion and delevering. This means funding investments to drive growth, returning cash to shareholders through dividends, and maintaining strong balance sheet. this means funding investments to drive growth returning cash to shareholders through dividends and maintaining strong balance sheet We remain committed to a strong investment-grade rating. we remain committed to a strong investment-grade rating At the end of this quarter, our leverage ratio was approximately 2.9 times, reflecting de-levering from the first quarter following the close of McCormick in Mexico. at the end of this quarter our leverage ratio was approximately 2.9 times reflecting de-levering from the first quarter following the close of mccormick in mexico We expect to continue to make progress in paying down debt, positioning us well ahead of the Unilever Foods close. we expect to continue to make progress in paying down debt positioning us well ahead of the unilever foods close As previously noted, at close of Unilever Foods, we expect to have industry-leading operating margins of 21% and working capital benefits that support 100% free cash flow conversion from net income before any synergies. as previously noted at close of unilever foods we expect to have industry-leading operating margins of 21% and working capital benefits that support 100% free cash flow conversion from net income before any synergies Post-close, we expect to continue investing in the business while driving margin expansion and delevering. post-close we expect to continue investing in the business while driving margin expansion and delevering Based on current estimates, after brand investments, costs to achieve synergies and dividends, we anticipate having $1.5 billion-$2 billion available to pay down debt within the first two years and delever two to three times. Longer term, we will target a leverage ratio of two to three times. Turning to slide 16 to review our 2026 financial outlook, which remains broadly consistent with what we shared on our last earnings call. A few call-outs. Starting with organic growth, we expect our Consumer Business volume to improve, driven by refined revenue growth management plans, new products, packaging renovation, expanded distribution, and increased brand marketing investments. In Flavor Solutions, we anticipate the volume momentum to continue, and for this segment to drive total volume growth for the year. Across both segments, we expect pricing to contribute more to organic sales growth this year compared to prior year. Based on current estimates, after brand investments, costs to achieve synergies and dividends, we anticipate having $1.5 billion-$2 billion available to pay down debt within the first two years and delever two to three times. based on current estimates after brand investments costs to achieve synergies and dividends we anticipate having $1.5 billion-$2 billion available to pay down debt within the first two years and delever two to three times Longer term, we will target a leverage ratio of two to three times. longer term we will target a leverage ratio of two to three times Turning to slide 16 to review our 2026 financial outlook, which remains broadly consistent with what we shared on our last earnings call. turning to slide 16 to review our 2026 financial outlook which remains broadly consistent with what we shared on our last earnings call A few call-outs. a few call-outs Starting with organic growth, we expect our Consumer Business volume to improve, driven by refined revenue growth management plans, new products, packaging renovation, expanded distribution, and increased brand marketing investments. starting with organic growth we expect our consumer business volume to improve driven by refined revenue growth management plans new products packaging renovation expanded distribution and increased brand marketing investments In Flavor Solutions, we anticipate the volume momentum to continue, and for this segment to drive total volume growth for the year. in flavor solutions we anticipate the volume momentum to continue and for this segment to drive total volume growth for the year Across both segments, we expect pricing to contribute more to organic sales growth this year compared to prior year. across both segments we expect pricing to contribute more to organic sales growth this year compared to prior year Our tariff cost assumptions, primarily related to the global 10% tariff, remain consistent based on the latest developments and our current knowledge. While we anticipate incremental year-over-year cost pressure in 2026, we remain focused on mitigating the majority of the impact. In addition to the $28 million tariff refund in the second quarter, we expect an additional $3 million in the second half. For the full year, this benefit will largely help offset heightened inflationary pressures, including costs related to the Middle East conflict, which will continue to impact us for the remainder of the year. Turning to gross margin, first half performance exceeded our implied guidance and included most of the full-year tariff refund. This is a dynamic environment, and we continue to navigate several cost uncertainties. Our tariff cost assumptions, primarily related to the global 10% tariff, remain consistent based on the latest developments and our current knowledge. our tariff cost assumptions primarily related to the global 10% tariff remain consistent based on the latest developments and our current knowledge While we anticipate incremental year-over-year cost pressure in 2026, we remain focused on mitigating the majority of the impact. while we anticipate incremental year-over-year cost pressure in 2026 we remain focused on mitigating the majority of the impact In addition to the $28 million tariff refund in the second quarter, we expect an additional $3 million in the second half. in addition to the $28 million tariff refund in the second quarter we expect an additional $3 million in the second half For the full year, this benefit will largely help offset heightened inflationary pressures, including costs related to the Middle East conflict, which will continue to impact us for the remainder of the year. for the full year this benefit will largely help offset heightened inflationary pressures including costs related to the middle east conflict which will continue to impact us for the remainder of the year Turning to gross margin, first half performance exceeded our implied guidance and included most of the full-year tariff refund. turning to gross margin first half performance exceeded our implied guidance and included most of the full-year tariff refund This is a dynamic environment, and we continue to navigate several cost uncertainties. this is a dynamic environment and we continue to navigate several cost uncertainties However, based on what we know today, we expect gross margins to expand by 100 to 120 basis points for the year relative to 2025. For the third quarter, adjusted operating income is expected to grow in the high single to low double digits year-over-year, supported by continued gross margin expansion. This will be partially offset by SG&A expenses due to the timing of ERP-related technology investments, the build-back of incentive compensation, and significant increase in brand marketing investments. Adjusted EPS is also expected to be impacted by the same items, as well as the lapping of a favorable tax rate in the prior year. Moving to slide 17, this slide summarizes the cost headwinds for 2026 and how we plan to offset them. Our guidance reflects strong underlying base business performance and growth from acquisition. However, based on what we know today, we expect gross margins to expand by 100 to 120 basis points for the year relative to 2025. however based on what we know today we expect gross margins to expand by 100 to 120 basis points for the year relative to 2025 For the third quarter, adjusted operating income is expected to grow in the high single to low double digits year-over-year, supported by continued gross margin expansion. for the third quarter adjusted operating income is expected to grow in the high single to low double digits year-over-year supported by continued gross margin expansion This will be partially offset by SG&A expenses due to the timing of ERP-related technology investments, the build-back of incentive compensation, and significant increase in brand marketing investments. this will be partially offset by sg&a expenses due to the timing of erp-related technology investments the build-back of incentive compensation and significant increase in brand marketing investments Adjusted EPS is also expected to be impacted by the same items, as well as the lapping of a favorable tax rate in the prior year. adjusted eps is also expected to be impacted by the same items as well as the lapping of a favorable tax rate in the prior year Moving to slide 17, this slide summarizes the cost headwinds for 2026 and how we plan to offset them. moving to slide 17 this slide summarizes the cost headwinds for 2026 and how we plan to offset them Our guidance reflects strong underlying base business performance and growth from acquisition. our guidance reflects strong underlying base business performance and growth from acquisition To close, we remain confident in the long-term strength of our business and our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook. Through disciplined execution, focused strategic investments, and continued productivity gains, we're driving sustained net sales and operating income growth, as well as generating strong cash flows to support our balanced capital allocation priorities. To close, we remain confident in the long-term strength of our business and our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook. to close we remain confident in the long-term strength of our business and our ability to deliver on our 2026 outlook Through disciplined execution, focused strategic investments, and continued productivity gains, we're driving sustained net sales and operating income growth, as well as generating strong cash flows to support our balanced capital allocation priorities. through disciplined execution focused strategic investments and continued productivity gains we're driving sustained net sales and operating income growth as well as generating strong cash flows to support our balanced capital allocation priorities

Speaker 3: Thank you, Marcos. I would like to close with three key takeaways on slide 18. Our fundamentals remain strong, supported by resilient long-term category trends, healthy and flavorful cooking, flavor exploration, and trusted brands, as well as the strength of our diversified flavor focus portfolio. In the second quarter, accelerated momentum in Flavor Solutions more than offset consumer trends. We delivered strong organic growth, expanded underlying margins, and increased profitability driven by disciplined execution and productivity initiatives, the McCormick de Mexico acquisition, and effective cost management in a dynamic environment. We are also taking focused actions to improve consumer volume trends, sustain Flavor Solutions momentum, and invest in innovation, brand building, and digital capabilities. Thank you, Marcos. thank you marcos I would like to close with three key takeaways on slide 18. i would like to close with three key takeaways on slide 18 Our fundamentals remain strong, supported by resilient long-term category trends, healthy and flavorful cooking, flavor exploration, and trusted brands, as well as the strength of our diversified flavor focus portfolio. our fundamentals remain strong supported by resilient long-term category trends healthy and flavorful cooking flavor exploration and trusted brands as well as the strength of our diversified flavor focus portfolio In the second quarter, accelerated momentum in Flavor Solutions more than offset consumer trends. in the second quarter accelerated momentum in flavor solutions more than offset consumer trends We delivered strong organic growth, expanded underlying margins, and increased profitability driven by disciplined execution and productivity initiatives, the McCormick de Mexico acquisition, and effective cost management in a dynamic environment. we delivered strong organic growth expanded underlying margins and increased profitability driven by disciplined execution and productivity initiatives the mccormick de mexico acquisition and effective cost management in a dynamic environment We are also taking focused actions to improve consumer volume trends, sustain Flavor Solutions momentum, and invest in innovation, brand building, and digital capabilities. we are also taking focused actions to improve consumer volume trends sustain flavor solutions momentum and invest in innovation brand building and digital capabilities We remain confident in our long-term value creation plans, including delivering our 2026 outlook and advancing integration planning for the Unilever Foods combination, which accelerates our growth strategy and reinforces our continued focus on flavor, one of the most advantaged categories in CPG. The incremental growth is supported by industry-leading margins and a strong cash profile. To wrap up for the quarter, our performance reflects the power of our balanced portfolio, our leadership and flavor, and the agility of our teams around the world. I want to recognize all McCormick employees for their dedication and contributions. Their commitment and passion continue to drive our success. Now for your questions. We remain confident in our long-term value creation plans, including delivering our 2026 outlook and advancing integration planning for the Unilever Foods combination, which accelerates our growth strategy and reinforces our continued focus on flavor, one of the most advantaged categories in CPG. we remain confident in our long-term value creation plans including delivering our 2026 outlook and advancing integration planning for the unilever foods combination which accelerates our growth strategy and reinforces our continued focus on flavor one of the most advantaged categories in cpg The incremental growth is supported by industry-leading margins and a strong cash profile. the incremental growth is supported by industry-leading margins and a strong cash profile To wrap up for the quarter, our performance reflects the power of our balanced portfolio, our leadership and flavor, and the agility of our teams around the world. to wrap up for the quarter our performance reflects the power of our balanced portfolio our leadership and flavor and the agility of our teams around the world I want to recognize all McCormick employees for their dedication and contributions. i want to recognize all mccormick employees for their dedication and contributions Their commitment and passion continue to drive our success. their commitment and passion continue to drive our success Now for your questions. now for your questions

Speaker 7: Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. if you'd like to ask a question please press star one on your telephone keypad A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. you may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. for participants using speaker equipment it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays. our first question comes from the line of andrew lazar with barclays Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 2: Great. Thanks so much. Good morning, everybody. Great. great Thanks so much. thanks so much Good morning, everybody. good morning everybody

Speaker 3: Good morning. Good morning. good morning

Speaker 4: Good morning. Good morning. good morning Good morning. The one key area, obviously, you highlighted in terms of weakness in the quarter was U.S. spices and seasonings, where I guess you experienced softening consumption trends and widening price gaps. I think McCormick went through something maybe somewhat similar several years ago and addressed it in some very specific ways. I guess my question is this time around any different than the last time? If so, how so? How does your approach several years ago inform how you plan to deal with this issue this time around? Good morning. good morning The one key area, obviously, you highlighted in terms of weakness in the quarter was U.S. spices and seasonings, where I guess you experienced softening consumption trends and widening price gaps. the one key area obviously you highlighted in terms of weakness in the quarter was u.s spices and seasonings where i guess you experienced softening consumption trends and widening price gaps I think McCormick went through something maybe somewhat similar several years ago and addressed it in some very specific ways. i think mccormick went through something maybe somewhat similar several years ago and addressed it in some very specific ways I guess my question is this time around any different than the last time? i guess my question is this time around any different than the last time If so, how so? if so how so How does your approach several years ago inform how you plan to deal with this issue this time around? how does your approach several years ago inform how you plan to deal with this issue this time around

Speaker 3: Thanks for the question, Andrew. Our approach is broadly very similar to what we did over the last two to three years. I think, the broad theme or the sort of headline answer to your question would be that we're taking very much the same type of approaches that we did before. I think there might be one or two things that's a little bit different today than might have been different back in the last two to three years, that is what we're seeing in the pressure that we've talked about. It's happening in some very specific segments. It's not broadly across what is a category with many segments in herb, spices, and seasonings. We're seeing just more specificity in terms of some things that we have to go address overall. Thanks for the question, Andrew. thanks for the question andrew Our approach is broadly very similar to what we did over the last two to three years. our approach is broadly very similar to what we did over the last two to three years I think, the broad theme or the sort of headline answer to your question would be that we're taking very much the same type of approaches that we did before. i think the broad theme or the sort of headline answer to your question would be that we're taking very much the same type of approaches that we did before I think there might be one or two things that's a little bit different today than might have been different back in the last two to three years, that is what we're seeing in the pressure that we've talked about. i think there might be one or two things that's a little bit different today than might have been different back in the last two to three years that is what we're seeing in the pressure that we've talked about It's happening in some very specific segments. it's happening in some very specific segments It's not broadly across what is a category with many segments in herb, spices, and seasonings. it's not broadly across what is a category with many segments in herb spices and seasonings We're seeing just more specificity in terms of some things that we have to go address overall. we're seeing just more specificity in terms of some things that we have to go address overall I would say the second thing that's different today is that the consumer pressure is even higher. We've just seen inflation upon inflation layered into the consumer. In this particular moment, in the second quarter, we definitely saw quite a spike, I think, particularly from sort of a non-food standpoint, from inflationary pressure on the consumer. Is that temporary? I think most might think it is, but I think it's kind of a little bit different than what we would have seen before, which is more sustained pressure on the consumer. I think what's the same is what we've done in the past informs us to a very high degree on what we're going to do moving forward here. Many of the segments in which we implemented these programs continue to benefit even today, even in the second quarter, with the types of strategies that we've implemented. I would say the second thing that's different today is that the consumer pressure is even higher. i would say the second thing that's different today is that the consumer pressure is even higher We've just seen inflation upon inflation layered into the consumer. we've just seen inflation upon inflation layered into the consumer In this particular moment, in the second quarter, we definitely saw quite a spike, I think, particularly from sort of a non-food standpoint, from inflationary pressure on the consumer. in this particular moment in the second quarter we definitely saw quite a spike i think particularly from sort of a non-food standpoint from inflationary pressure on the consumer Is that temporary? is that temporary I think most might think it is, but I think it's kind of a little bit different than what we would have seen before, which is more sustained pressure on the consumer. i think most might think it is but i think it's kind of a little bit different than what we would have seen before which is more sustained pressure on the consumer I think what's the same is what we've done in the past informs us to a very high degree on what we're going to do moving forward here. i think what's the same is what we've done in the past informs us to a very high degree on what we're going to do moving forward here Many of the segments in which we implemented these programs continue to benefit even today, even in the second quarter, with the types of strategies that we've implemented. many of the segments in which we implemented these programs continue to benefit even today even in the second quarter with the types of strategies that we've implemented The strategic approach to solve these particular segments is going to be the same. I would say more of that on the difference is, if you think about the digital landscape, it's really evolved a lot, even in the last two years. Our A&P gets even more targeted as we think about the solutions that we put in place to make sure that we're winning with the consumer and meeting them where they are. I would say, this time period, if I could reflect back on it just continues to reinforce the importance of speed and agility and response. I really like how our team's responding in this environment, especially when we see such inflation and change. We're starting to read early results. We like what we see. It's having the impact that we would expect it to have. The strategic approach to solve these particular segments is going to be the same. the strategic approach to solve these particular segments is going to be the same I would say more of that on the difference is, if you think about the digital landscape, it's really evolved a lot, even in the last two years. i would say more of that on the difference is if you think about the digital landscape it's really evolved a lot even in the last two years Our A&P gets even more targeted as we think about the solutions that we put in place to make sure that we're winning with the consumer and meeting them where they are. our a&p gets even more targeted as we think about the solutions that we put in place to make sure that we're winning with the consumer and meeting them where they are I would say, this time period, if I could reflect back on it just continues to reinforce the importance of speed and agility and response. i would say this time period if i could reflect back on it just continues to reinforce the importance of speed and agility and response I really like how our team's responding in this environment, especially when we see such inflation and change. i really like how our team's responding in this environment especially when we see such inflation and change We're starting to read early results. we're starting to read early results We like what we see. we like what we see It's having the impact that we would expect it to have. it's having the impact that we would expect it to have

Speaker 2: Really helpful. Thanks for that. It might be hard to sort of parse this out, but of the $31 million full-year expected tariff refund benefit, I guess, what portion of that do you think is being used for this sort of reinvestment behind the more competitive environment versus covering some of the higher, hopefully what will be temporary cost inflation that you're facing? Thanks so much. Really helpful. really helpful Thanks for that. thanks for that It might be hard to sort of parse this out, but of the $31 million full-year expected tariff refund benefit, I guess, what portion of that do you think is being used for this sort of reinvestment behind the more competitive environment versus covering some of the higher, hopefully what will be temporary cost inflation that you're facing? it might be hard to sort of parse this out but of the $31 million full-year expected tariff refund benefit i guess what portion of that do you think is being used for this sort of reinvestment behind the more competitive environment versus covering some of the higher hopefully what will be temporary cost inflation that you're facing Thanks so much. thanks so much

Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll answer that one, Andrew. I think it's important to note that the Middle East conflict is really driving more inflation that we had not contemplated before. If you think about our guide, which is mid-single digit cost inflation, we're tracking towards the high end of that number, which is about 6% right now. We are going to use the majority of the tax refund to offset these higher costs. These tariffs, they hurt us last year. We're going to use it now to offset the majority of these costs. Also, it's important to note that our underlying gross margin is really healthy. This is the second quarter in a row that we're driving incremental gross margin of about, even if you strip out the tariff refund, our gross margin was about 130 basis points up. It's healthy. Yeah, I'll answer that one, Andrew. yeah i'll answer that one andrew I think it's important to note that the Middle East conflict is really driving more inflation that we had not contemplated before. i think it's important to note that the middle east conflict is really driving more inflation that we had not contemplated before If you think about our guide, which is mid-single digit cost inflation, we're tracking towards the high end of that number, which is about 6% right now. if you think about our guide which is mid-single digit cost inflation we're tracking towards the high end of that number which is about 6% right now We are going to use the majority of the tax refund to offset these higher costs. we are going to use the majority of the tax refund to offset these higher costs These tariffs, they hurt us last year. these tariffs they hurt us last year We're going to use it now to offset the majority of these costs. we're going to use it now to offset the majority of these costs Also, it's important to note that our underlying gross margin is really healthy. also it's important to note that our underlying gross margin is really healthy This is the second quarter in a row that we're driving incremental gross margin of about, even if you strip out the tariff refund, our gross margin was about 130 basis points up. this is the second quarter in a row that we're driving incremental gross margin of about even if you strip out the tariff refund our gross margin was about 130 basis points up It's healthy. it's healthy It talks about the resilience of our business, and then it gives us the room to invest back in the business and continue to drive top-line growth in the back half of the year. It talks about the resilience of our business, and then it gives us the room to invest back in the business and continue to drive top-line growth in the back half of the year. it talks about the resilience of our business and then it gives us the room to invest back in the business and continue to drive top-line growth in the back half of the year

Speaker 2: Great. Thanks so much. Great. great Thanks so much. thanks so much

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Peter Galbo with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from the line of Peter Galbo with Bank of America. our next question comes from the line of peter galbo with bank of america Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 8: Hey, good morning. Thanks for the questions. Hey, good morning. hey good morning Thanks for the questions. thanks for the questions

Speaker 3: Hey. Hey. hey

Speaker 8: Brendan, if I can ask a variation on Andrew's question. Just obviously within America's Consumer, you've been faced with a bit of a game of macro Whac-A-Mole, I guess, is how I would describe it. You're taking actions, you're using the playbook that you've used in the past. Just how do we all gain confidence that this is sustainable, right? That the actions you're putting in place are going to work this time around, will be somewhat sustainable, and that you can kind of, I don't know, help to dampen some of this volatility that's been coming at you for what should be a relatively resilient category. Just seems like there's been one thing after another you've had to contend with, and I think that's really thrown us and investors kind of for a loop as we contemplate kind of the core of your business. Brendan, if I can ask a variation on Andrew's question. brendan if i can ask a variation on andrew's question Just obviously within America's Consumer, you've been faced with a bit of a game of macro Whac-A-Mole, I guess, is how I would describe it. just obviously within america's consumer you've been faced with a bit of a game of macro whac-a-mole i guess is how i would describe it You're taking actions, you're using the playbook that you've used in the past. you're taking actions you're using the playbook that you've used in the past Just how do we all gain confidence that this is sustainable, right? just how do we all gain confidence that this is sustainable right That the actions you're putting in place are going to work this time around, will be somewhat sustainable, and that you can kind of, I don't know, help to dampen some of this volatility that's been coming at you for what should be a relatively resilient category. that the actions you're putting in place are going to work this time around will be somewhat sustainable and that you can kind of i don't know help to dampen some of this volatility that's been coming at you for what should be a relatively resilient category Just seems like there's been one thing after another you've had to contend with, and I think that's really thrown us and investors kind of for a loop as we contemplate kind of the core of your business. just seems like there's been one thing after another you've had to contend with and i think that's really thrown us and investors kind of for a loop as we contemplate kind of the core of your business Just would appreciate any additional thoughts on that. Just would appreciate any additional thoughts on that. just would appreciate any additional thoughts on that

Speaker 3: I'm happy to do that, Peter. I think you all gave us a new term, which we'll use internally, of macro Whac-A-Mole. That's a new one for us, but we like it. I think if you look back at the last two years when we were dealing with this before, kind of building off of the previous question, we were able to demonstrate sort of sustained improvement during that period of time. Those conditions were, as I described earlier, largely very similar in nature. I think that is one aspect I would share with investors, is that we have a motivation to make sure that we continue to perform in a very healthy way, a volume-driven way within this part of our portfolio. We will work hard to make sure that we create even more resilience if it's needed. I'm happy to do that, Peter. i'm happy to do that peter I think you all gave us a new term, which we'll use internally, of macro Whac-A-Mole. i think you all gave us a new term which we'll use internally of macro whac-a-mole That's a new one for us, but we like it. that's a new one for us but we like it I think if you look back at the last two years when we were dealing with this before, kind of building off of the previous question, we were able to demonstrate sort of sustained improvement during that period of time. i think if you look back at the last two years when we were dealing with this before kind of building off of the previous question we were able to demonstrate sort of sustained improvement during that period of time Those conditions were, as I described earlier, largely very similar in nature. those conditions were as i described earlier largely very similar in nature I think that is one aspect I would share with investors, is that we have a motivation to make sure that we continue to perform in a very healthy way, a volume-driven way within this part of our portfolio. i think that is one aspect i would share with investors is that we have a motivation to make sure that we continue to perform in a very healthy way a volume-driven way within this part of our portfolio We will work hard to make sure that we create even more resilience if it's needed. we will work hard to make sure that we create even more resilience if it's needed I think that's what you're seeing throughout our performance right now, whether it's the underlying performance in terms of gross margin or thinking about how we drive even continued increase in A&P up against our business. Also the continued focus around innovation, which is performing even more strongly this year than last year. I think those are the indicators that we have sustained focus and momentum across this portfolio. We're going to go through periods where we get sharp inflections like we saw in the second quarter, there was a reasonable shift in the consumer behavior. If you look at it over more of a longer-term period, I think we demonstrate the resiliency that we have been calling out overall. I think that's what you're seeing throughout our performance right now, whether it's the underlying performance in terms of gross margin or thinking about how we drive even continued increase in A&P up against our business. i think that's what you're seeing throughout our performance right now whether it's the underlying performance in terms of gross margin or thinking about how we drive even continued increase in a&p up against our business Also the continued focus around innovation, which is performing even more strongly this year than last year. also the continued focus around innovation which is performing even more strongly this year than last year I think those are the indicators that we have sustained focus and momentum across this portfolio. i think those are the indicators that we have sustained focus and momentum across this portfolio We're going to go through periods where we get sharp inflections like we saw in the second quarter, there was a reasonable shift in the consumer behavior. we're going to go through periods where we get sharp inflections like we saw in the second quarter there was a reasonable shift in the consumer behavior If you look at it over more of a longer-term period, I think we demonstrate the resiliency that we have been calling out overall. if you look at it over more of a longer-term period i think we demonstrate the resiliency that we have been calling out overall To be clear, the external environment is presenting us new challenges, and as I've asked my organization at the beginning of this fiscal year, is just one of our areas of strategic focus is just to continue building in resilience into the business. Not knowing where or how we're going to need to use it, but just knowing that resiliency is really important to us and also investors. To be clear, the external environment is presenting us new challenges, and as I've asked my organization at the beginning of this fiscal year, is just one of our areas of strategic focus is just to continue building in resilience into the business. to be clear the external environment is presenting us new challenges and as i've asked my organization at the beginning of this fiscal year is just one of our areas of strategic focus is just to continue building in resilience into the business Not knowing where or how we're going to need to use it, but just knowing that resiliency is really important to us and also investors. not knowing where or how we're going to need to use it but just knowing that resiliency is really important to us and also investors

Speaker 8: Okay. Thanks for that. Marcos, if I could just ask a clarification question as well. I believe you provided pretty explicit guidance for the third quarter on operating income. Maybe you can help us bridge a little bit more explicitly down to the EPS line. I know there's some below-the-line items, obviously, that are different this year versus last year. If you could put any sort of guardrails around the EPS rate of decline kind of for three Q, I think that would be helpful. Thanks very much. Okay. okay Thanks for that. thanks for that Marcos, if I could just ask a clarification question as well. marcos if i could just ask a clarification question as well I believe you provided pretty explicit guidance for the third quarter on operating income. i believe you provided pretty explicit guidance for the third quarter on operating income Maybe you can help us bridge a little bit more explicitly down to the EPS line. maybe you can help us bridge a little bit more explicitly down to the eps line I know there's some below-the-line items, obviously, that are different this year versus last year. i know there's some below-the-line items obviously that are different this year versus last year If you could put any sort of guardrails around the EPS rate of decline kind of for three Q, I think that would be helpful. if you could put any sort of guardrails around the eps rate of decline kind of for three q i think that would be helpful Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 5: Yeah. Peter, on Q3, we provided some specifics on my prepared remarks. Just to reiterate some of them. From the net sales perspective, we believe we'll have solid net sales, continued momentum in Flavor Solutions, in Consumer, continued good momentum in the EMEA and APAC, and in the Americas improving the performance. Gross margin expansion will continue, as I said as well in the call. What is really driving the operating profit to be high single digit to low double digit is really timing of expenses within SG&A, the ERP timing, as well as incentive compensation brand marketing. That is the OP line. To your question about EPS, the biggest element in addition to the elements that I just mentioned is really the tax. The tax was about 16%, I think, last year. Yeah. yeah Peter, on Q3, we provided some specifics on my prepared remarks. peter on q3 we provided some specifics on my prepared remarks Just to reiterate some of them. just to reiterate some of them From the net sales perspective, we believe we'll have solid net sales, continued momentum in Flavor Solutions, in Consumer, continued good momentum in the EMEA and APAC, and in the Americas improving the performance. from the net sales perspective we believe we'll have solid net sales continued momentum in flavor solutions in consumer continued good momentum in the emea and apac and in the americas improving the performance Gross margin expansion will continue, as I said as well in the call. gross margin expansion will continue as i said as well in the call What is really driving the operating profit to be high single digit to low double digit is really timing of expenses within SG&A, the ERP timing, as well as incentive compensation brand marketing. what is really driving the operating profit to be high single digit to low double digit is really timing of expenses within sg&a the erp timing as well as incentive compensation brand marketing That is the OP line. that is the op line To your question about EPS, the biggest element in addition to the elements that I just mentioned is really the tax. to your question about eps the biggest element in addition to the elements that i just mentioned is really the tax The tax was about 16%, I think, last year. the tax was about 16% i think last year Now if you think about the normalization of that tax in line with the full year guide of about 24%, that creates 700 to 800 basis points, roughly speaking, of a headwind. That is really the key element that you should think about in terms of the EPS and the below-the-line items. Now if you think about the normalization of that tax in line with the full year guide of about 24%, that creates 700 to 800 basis points, roughly speaking, of a headwind. now if you think about the normalization of that tax in line with the full year guide of about 24% that creates 700 to 800 basis points roughly speaking of a headwind That is really the key element that you should think about in terms of the EPS and the below-the-line items. that is really the key element that you should think about in terms of the eps and the below-the-line items

Speaker 8: Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. okay Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 5: Sure. Sure. sure

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Tom Palmer with JPMorgan. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from the line of Tom Palmer with JPMorgan. our next question comes from the line of tom palmer with jpmorgan Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 11: Good morning, and thanks for the question. I wanted to start off maybe following up on Pete's question on third quarter expectations. I think maybe there's kind of two pieces I want to break this into. One is when we think about the organic sales growth, or, sorry, the operating profit growth coming in maybe lighter than consensus estimates, how much was maybe mismodeling on our part, where you had expectations the whole time that some of these SG&A items might have been greater pressure points than we previously expected, versus maybe some incremental costs to consider, including even on the inflationary side? Thanks. Good morning, and thanks for the question. good morning and thanks for the question I wanted to start off maybe following up on Pete's question on third quarter expectations. i wanted to start off maybe following up on pete's question on third quarter expectations I think maybe there's kind of two pieces I want to break this into. i think maybe there's kind of two pieces i want to break this into One is when we think about the organic sales growth, or, sorry, the operating profit growth coming in maybe lighter than consensus estimates, how much was maybe mismodeling on our part, where you had expectations the whole time that some of these SG&A items might have been greater pressure points than we previously expected, versus maybe some incremental costs to consider, including even on the inflationary side? one is when we think about the organic sales growth or sorry the operating profit growth coming in maybe lighter than consensus estimates how much was maybe mismodeling on our part where you had expectations the whole time that some of these sg&a items might have been greater pressure points than we previously expected versus maybe some incremental costs to consider including even on the inflationary side Thanks. thanks

Speaker 5: Well, on the SG&A side, that's how we've been modeling, Tom, in terms of the cadence of our spend in the back half of the year, each one of the quarters. Obviously, we don't provide quarterly guidance. It is shifting more expenses into Q3 in terms of more brand marketing you will see, as I said. The ERP program is also hitting Q3 versus a year ago. Incentive compensation, as we talked about it before. I don't think there's a change there in terms of what our internal expectations were. What we're seeing is definitely more inflation coming through, as I mentioned before, due to the Middle East conflict. That is we're using the tariff refund to offset most of it. Well, on the SG&A side, that's how we've been modeling, Tom, in terms of the cadence of our spend in the back half of the year, each one of the quarters. well on the sg&a side that's how we've been modeling tom in terms of the cadence of our spend in the back half of the year each one of the quarters Obviously, we don't provide quarterly guidance. obviously we don't provide quarterly guidance It is shifting more expenses into Q3 in terms of more brand marketing you will see, as I said. it is shifting more expenses into q3 in terms of more brand marketing you will see as i said The ERP program is also hitting Q3 versus a year ago. the erp program is also hitting q3 versus a year ago Incentive compensation, as we talked about it before. incentive compensation as we talked about it before I don't think there's a change there in terms of what our internal expectations were. i don't think there's a change there in terms of what our internal expectations were What we're seeing is definitely more inflation coming through, as I mentioned before, due to the Middle East conflict. what we're seeing is definitely more inflation coming through as i mentioned before due to the middle east conflict That is we're using the tariff refund to offset most of it. that is we're using the tariff refund to offset most of it It's still driving gross margin expansion, which is what I like about the balance of the year, which is we upgraded the call on gross margin to be 100 to 120 basis points for the full year, and you can take the inline. The implied guidance for the second half, it should be the number that you take on. Overall, I would say in line with our expectations. It's just a matter of the phasing of the SG&A expenses, really. It's still driving gross margin expansion, which is what I like about the balance of the year, which is we upgraded the call on gross margin to be 100 to 120 basis points for the full year, and you can take the inline. it's still driving gross margin expansion which is what i like about the balance of the year which is we upgraded the call on gross margin to be 100 to 120 basis points for the full year and you can take the inline The implied guidance for the second half, it should be the number that you take on. the implied guidance for the second half it should be the number that you take on Overall, I would say in line with our expectations. overall i would say in line with our expectations It's just a matter of the phasing of the SG&A expenses, really. it's just a matter of the phasing of the sg&a expenses really

Speaker 11: Okay. Thanks for that. On Flavor Solutions, I know sales growth can be lumpy from quarter to quarter. Brendan, in your prepared remarks, you noted a variety of tailwinds for the segment. One that stood out was reformulations. I think you previously expected it to be more of a fiscal 2027 driver. Two questions in here. First, any lumpiness we need to keep in mind when thinking about the strength of the second quarter? Second, what's driving the faster pace of reformulations, and should we think about that continuing to build in future periods? Okay. okay Thanks for that. thanks for that On Flavor Solutions, I know sales growth can be lumpy from quarter to quarter. on flavor solutions i know sales growth can be lumpy from quarter to quarter Brendan, in your prepared remarks, you noted a variety of tailwinds for the segment. brendan in your prepared remarks you noted a variety of tailwinds for the segment One that stood out was reformulations. one that stood out was reformulations I think you previously expected it to be more of a fiscal 2027 driver. i think you previously expected it to be more of a fiscal 2027 driver Two questions in here. two questions in here First, any lumpiness we need to keep in mind when thinking about the strength of the second quarter? first any lumpiness we need to keep in mind when thinking about the strength of the second quarter Second, what's driving the faster pace of reformulations, and should we think about that continuing to build in future periods? second what's driving the faster pace of reformulations and should we think about that continuing to build in future periods

Speaker 3: Thanks for the question, Tom. Flavor Solutions, by the way, we're really pleased with the quarter. As we look at the rest of the year, I think if I recall what I said at the beginning of the year when we laid out the guide, we thought that some of that improvement that we would expect to see come through, certainly start to layer in as we went progressively through the year. I think what we saw here in the second quarter is obviously just even more strength come through, in terms of our overall performance, and it was broad-based. Hopefully, you got that from my prepared remarks. In terms of the drivers, I think what we're seeing right now is we're really encouraged by the scope of the pipeline that we're seeing. It's very healthy across a lot of our customer segments. Thanks for the question, Tom. thanks for the question tom Flavor Solutions, by the way, we're really pleased with the quarter. flavor solutions by the way we're really pleased with the quarter As we look at the rest of the year, I think if I recall what I said at the beginning of the year when we laid out the guide, we thought that some of that improvement that we would expect to see come through, certainly start to layer in as we went progressively through the year. as we look at the rest of the year i think if i recall what i said at the beginning of the year when we laid out the guide we thought that some of that improvement that we would expect to see come through certainly start to layer in as we went progressively through the year I think what we saw here in the second quarter is obviously just even more strength come through, in terms of our overall performance, and it was broad-based. i think what we saw here in the second quarter is obviously just even more strength come through in terms of our overall performance and it was broad-based Hopefully, you got that from my prepared remarks. hopefully you got that from my prepared remarks In terms of the drivers, I think what we're seeing right now is we're really encouraged by the scope of the pipeline that we're seeing. in terms of the drivers i think what we're seeing right now is we're really encouraged by the scope of the pipeline that we're seeing It's very healthy across a lot of our customer segments. it's very healthy across a lot of our customer segments It's clear that that activity had amplified. I think that's a little bit of an insight into part of the spirit of your question. Reformulation projects are increasing, particularly around from large CPG customers. I think what's starting to come through in the numbers, we're starting to see them commercialize maybe a little bit faster than what we had initially predicted. I think there's another element to this, which is not just simply large CPG manufacturers driving reformulation. I think there's an element of just a market acceleration of health and wellness innovation. You heard me comment in my prepared remarks about where we're seeing that, and we're just seeing more activity there. I think that's also coming through in terms of the trends that we're seeing through private label customers and high-growth innovators. It's clear that that activity had amplified. it's clear that that activity had amplified I think that's a little bit of an insight into part of the spirit of your question. i think that's a little bit of an insight into part of the spirit of your question Reformulation projects are increasing, particularly around from large CPG customers. reformulation projects are increasing particularly around from large cpg customers I think what's starting to come through in the numbers, we're starting to see them commercialize maybe a little bit faster than what we had initially predicted. i think what's starting to come through in the numbers we're starting to see them commercialize maybe a little bit faster than what we had initially predicted I think there's another element to this, which is not just simply large CPG manufacturers driving reformulation. i think there's another element to this which is not just simply large cpg manufacturers driving reformulation I think there's an element of just a market acceleration of health and wellness innovation. i think there's an element of just a market acceleration of health and wellness innovation You heard me comment in my prepared remarks about where we're seeing that, and we're just seeing more activity there. you heard me comment in my prepared remarks about where we're seeing that and we're just seeing more activity there I think that's also coming through in terms of the trends that we're seeing through private label customers and high-growth innovators. i think that's also coming through in terms of the trends that we're seeing through private label customers and high-growth innovators That seems to be sustained, if not continue to drive some really strong growth on top of what we're seeing as large CPG manufacturers also seeing more activity in market. There was another element for us, and that is, just we saw more beverage innovation come through in the away-from-home market this quarter, which is more of an enduring trend. I think you'll see is that we definitely see more continued beverage innovation. That came through in the away-from-home market this quarter, and I would expect that to continue to carry forward. Overall, though, we think we're gaining share in this part of our business. It could be, is it an insight into where the broad food industry is going? We think it's more of an insight into our ability to gain share in this area. That seems to be sustained, if not continue to drive some really strong growth on top of what we're seeing as large CPG manufacturers also seeing more activity in market. that seems to be sustained if not continue to drive some really strong growth on top of what we're seeing as large cpg manufacturers also seeing more activity in market There was another element for us, and that is, just we saw more beverage innovation come through in the away-from-home market this quarter, which is more of an enduring trend. there was another element for us and that is just we saw more beverage innovation come through in the away-from-home market this quarter which is more of an enduring trend I think you'll see is that we definitely see more continued beverage innovation. i think you'll see is that we definitely see more continued beverage innovation That came through in the away-from-home market this quarter, and I would expect that to continue to carry forward. that came through in the away-from-home market this quarter and i would expect that to continue to carry forward Overall, though, we think we're gaining share in this part of our business. overall though we think we're gaining share in this part of our business It could be, is it an insight into where the broad food industry is going? it could be is it an insight into where the broad food industry is going We think it's more of an insight into our ability to gain share in this area. we think it's more of an insight into our ability to gain share in this area I think that that is the context that I have around our performance. Let's not forget branded food service. Branded food service is operating in an environment where we're seeing some nice small traffic growth. We know the segments that are performing well. We see consumers moving towards small indulgences and still going out to eat to treat themselves. In that environment also, we're gaining share. That's the context around our branded food service performance. Overall, the food industry is innovating and we're benefiting from it. I think that that is the context that I have around our performance. i think that that is the context that i have around our performance Let's not forget branded food service. let's not forget branded food service Branded food service is operating in an environment where we're seeing some nice small traffic growth. branded food service is operating in an environment where we're seeing some nice small traffic growth We know the segments that are performing well. we know the segments that are performing well We see consumers moving towards small indulgences and still going out to eat to treat themselves. we see consumers moving towards small indulgences and still going out to eat to treat themselves In that environment also, we're gaining share. in that environment also we're gaining share That's the context around our branded food service performance. that's the context around our branded food service performance Overall, the food industry is innovating and we're benefiting from it. overall the food industry is innovating and we're benefiting from it

Speaker 11: Great. Thanks for all the detail. Very helpful. Great. great Thanks for all the detail. thanks for all the detail Very helpful. very helpful

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from the line of Steve Powers with Deutsche Bank. our next question comes from the line of steve powers with deutsche bank Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 10: Hey, great. Thank you, and good morning, both Brendan and Marcos. Hey, great. hey great Thank you, and good morning, both Brendan and Marcos. thank you and good morning both brendan and marcos

Speaker 3: Good morning. Good morning. good morning

Speaker 10: Brendan, maybe just following up on Tom's question there and your answer. I guess when you stack up that reformulation, innovation, health and wellness activity, for how long would you expect that to translate into what seems to be a favorable spread between how that's impacting Flavor Solutions and I think what we're all seeing and gleaning from end market consumption? Do you view that favorability more as a particular moment in time that has duration, or is it something that should prove more durable into the future? Brendan, maybe just following up on Tom's question there and your answer. brendan maybe just following up on tom's question there and your answer I guess when you stack up that reformulation, innovation, health and wellness activity, for how long would you expect that to translate into what seems to be a favorable spread between how that's impacting Flavor Solutions and I think what we're all seeing and gleaning from end market consumption? i guess when you stack up that reformulation innovation health and wellness activity for how long would you expect that to translate into what seems to be a favorable spread between how that's impacting flavor solutions and i think what we're all seeing and gleaning from end market consumption Do you view that favorability more as a particular moment in time that has duration, or is it something that should prove more durable into the future? do you view that favorability more as a particular moment in time that has duration or is it something that should prove more durable into the future

Speaker 3: Well, because a lot of this is aligned with consumer trends, Steve, I go there first. What supports the activity and is it aligned with where the consumer's going? I believe it indicates more durability and broadly within the marketplace. As you know, I've said before, I think the food industry has always been really good at innovating around meeting the consumer with where they are, and I think this is a good example of just pipelines starting to materialize as we think about the marketplace. Well, because a lot of this is aligned with consumer trends, Steve, I go there first. well because a lot of this is aligned with consumer trends steve i go there first What supports the activity and is it aligned with where the consumer's going? what supports the activity and is it aligned with where the consumer's going I believe it indicates more durability and broadly within the marketplace. i believe it indicates more durability and broadly within the marketplace As you know, I've said before, I think the food industry has always been really good at innovating around meeting the consumer with where they are, and I think this is a good example of just pipelines starting to materialize as we think about the marketplace. as you know i've said before i think the food industry has always been really good at innovating around meeting the consumer with where they are and i think this is a good example of just pipelines starting to materialize as we think about the marketplace

Speaker 10: Great. Thank you. Then, you spoke to some of the anticipated outcomes of the integration planning work that you're doing over the next few months, including the announced location of the secondary listing by the end of July and further details on the operating model and synergies and the scope of TSAs by the end of September. I guess, maybe you could shed a little bit more light, if you could, on the work that's going on behind the scenes to get to those outcomes and how that day-to-day work is being organized alongside general business operations. Thank you. Great. great Thank you. thank you Then, you spoke to some of the anticipated outcomes of the integration planning work that you're doing over the next few months, including the announced location of the secondary listing by the end of July and further details on the operating model and synergies and the scope of TSAs by the end of September. then you spoke to some of the anticipated outcomes of the integration planning work that you're doing over the next few months including the announced location of the secondary listing by the end of july and further details on the operating model and synergies and the scope of tsas by the end of september I guess, maybe you could shed a little bit more light, if you could, on the work that's going on behind the scenes to get to those outcomes and how that day-to-day work is being organized alongside general business operations. i guess maybe you could shed a little bit more light if you could on the work that's going on behind the scenes to get to those outcomes and how that day-to-day work is being organized alongside general business operations Thank you. thank you

Speaker 3: Well, as we noted in the prepared remarks, we certainly have a lot of dedicated resources, both at McCormick and at Unilever Foods, to really prosecute, obviously, this whole integration planning and everything else. To give you just more context, more subjectively, and before we start to report more detail as we get to the third quarter, I'm very encouraged by just the level of collaboration. I would almost call it esprit de corps between both integration teams in terms of how they're operating and working together. It is, I would say, very disciplined and rigorous. There are multiple work streams all organized by function or by specific actions and activity that have to happen, and they're all sort of progressing in parallel, and everyone has a timetable that they need to hit, and we're hitting those timetables. Well, as we noted in the prepared remarks, we certainly have a lot of dedicated resources, both at McCormick and at Unilever Foods, to really prosecute, obviously, this whole integration planning and everything else. well as we noted in the prepared remarks we certainly have a lot of dedicated resources both at mccormick and at unilever foods to really prosecute obviously this whole integration planning and everything else To give you just more context, more subjectively, and before we start to report more detail as we get to the third quarter, I'm very encouraged by just the level of collaboration. to give you just more context more subjectively and before we start to report more detail as we get to the third quarter i'm very encouraged by just the level of collaboration I would almost call it esprit de corps between both integration teams in terms of how they're operating and working together. i would almost call it esprit de corps between both integration teams in terms of how they're operating and working together It is, I would say, very disciplined and rigorous. it is i would say very disciplined and rigorous There are multiple work streams all organized by function or by specific actions and activity that have to happen, and they're all sort of progressing in parallel, and everyone has a timetable that they need to hit, and we're hitting those timetables. there are multiple work streams all organized by function or by specific actions and activity that have to happen and they're all sort of progressing in parallel and everyone has a timetable that they need to hit and we're hitting those timetables We did a checkup in this last week, and we're very encouraged by sort of that first three months, if you will. We're right where we want to be in terms of the timeline. I don't expect everything's going to be perfect throughout the entire integration planning, but so far, we really like how we started off, and it leaves us even more encouraged. I know that my counterparts over at Unilever Foods would say the same thing. I think the other thing that I'm walking away with, too, after sort of the first three months after our announcement, is just I'm even more excited about the combination than I was before. We did a checkup in this last week, and we're very encouraged by sort of that first three months, if you will. we did a checkup in this last week and we're very encouraged by sort of that first three months if you will We're right where we want to be in terms of the timeline. we're right where we want to be in terms of the timeline I don't expect everything's going to be perfect throughout the entire integration planning, but so far, we really like how we started off, and it leaves us even more encouraged. i don't expect everything's going to be perfect throughout the entire integration planning but so far we really like how we started off and it leaves us even more encouraged I know that my counterparts over at Unilever Foods would say the same thing. i know that my counterparts over at unilever foods would say the same thing I think the other thing that I'm walking away with, too, after sort of the first three months after our announcement, is just I'm even more excited about the combination than I was before. i think the other thing that i'm walking away with too after sort of the first three months after our announcement is just i'm even more excited about the combination than i was before I think a lot of that's driven also by just being able to interact also with Unilever Foods employees and just really see the energy and the passion for the business from their perspective, just only leaves us even more excited about the future of this combination and what it's going to deliver. We still believe very much in what we said back in late March, and it's still true today. It's now starting to really feel like it'll begin to come to life. We can't wait to really share more details on our milestones. I just would step back and say the operational clarity and rigor with which the base business is operating versus the integration teams are operating, I think is really clear. That gives me confidence that we can continue to do this as we go through up until close. I think a lot of that's driven also by just being able to interact also with Unilever Foods employees and just really see the energy and the passion for the business from their perspective, just only leaves us even more excited about the future of this combination and what it's going to deliver. i think a lot of that's driven also by just being able to interact also with unilever foods employees and just really see the energy and the passion for the business from their perspective just only leaves us even more excited about the future of this combination and what it's going to deliver We still believe very much in what we said back in late March, and it's still true today. we still believe very much in what we said back in late march and it's still true today It's now starting to really feel like it'll begin to come to life. it's now starting to really feel like it'll begin to come to life We can't wait to really share more details on our milestones. we can't wait to really share more details on our milestones I just would step back and say the operational clarity and rigor with which the base business is operating versus the integration teams are operating, I think is really clear. i just would step back and say the operational clarity and rigor with which the base business is operating versus the integration teams are operating i think is really clear That gives me confidence that we can continue to do this as we go through up until close. that gives me confidence that we can continue to do this as we go through up until close

Speaker 10: Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Great. great Thank you very much. thank you very much Appreciate it. appreciate it

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from line of Robert Moskow with TD Cowen. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from line of Robert Moskow with TD Cowen. our next question comes from line of robert moskow with td cowen Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 9: Hi. Thanks for the question. Brendan, you've definitely been in this position before, navigating price gaps and trying to regain market share in spices and seasoning. What I remember from last time is that it took longer than just a couple of quarters to regain some competitiveness and to execute the volume-led strategy. It was multifaceted, price gap changes and packaging changes as well. The guidance implies a sequential improvement in volume in the back half. Is there enough time here to execute the things that you want to execute to get volume back to positive in the Americas? A quick follow-up. Hi. hi Thanks for the question. thanks for the question Brendan, you've definitely been in this position before, navigating price gaps and trying to regain market share in spices and seasoning. brendan you've definitely been in this position before navigating price gaps and trying to regain market share in spices and seasoning What I remember from last time is that it took longer than just a couple of quarters to regain some competitiveness and to execute the volume-led strategy. what i remember from last time is that it took longer than just a couple of quarters to regain some competitiveness and to execute the volume-led strategy It was multifaceted, price gap changes and packaging changes as well. it was multifaceted price gap changes and packaging changes as well The guidance implies a sequential improvement in volume in the back half. the guidance implies a sequential improvement in volume in the back half Is there enough time here to execute the things that you want to execute to get volume back to positive in the Americas? is there enough time here to execute the things that you want to execute to get volume back to positive in the americas A quick follow-up. a quick follow-up

Speaker 3: Well, thanks for the question, Rob. I think you're right. It did take us a little bit longer when we were in this position before. I think that's a reasonable point to call out. Back then, Rob, we were implementing programs and layering them in sort of every other month, et cetera. I think it was more of a sort of a broader program we were implementing at the time. There was a lot more to execute in that regard back then. Also, we were getting into making sure that from a customer relationship standpoint, they were aligned with the strategy of really driving the category this way. That takes a lot of dialogue with customers back then. We really got through that in a really positive way. Well, thanks for the question, Rob. well thanks for the question rob I think you're right. i think you're right It did take us a little bit longer when we were in this position before. it did take us a little bit longer when we were in this position before I think that's a reasonable point to call out. i think that's a reasonable point to call out Back then, Rob, we were implementing programs and layering them in sort of every other month, et cetera. back then rob we were implementing programs and layering them in sort of every other month et cetera I think it was more of a sort of a broader program we were implementing at the time. i think it was more of a sort of a broader program we were implementing at the time There was a lot more to execute in that regard back then. there was a lot more to execute in that regard back then Also, we were getting into making sure that from a customer relationship standpoint, they were aligned with the strategy of really driving the category this way. also we were getting into making sure that from a customer relationship standpoint they were aligned with the strategy of really driving the category this way That takes a lot of dialogue with customers back then. that takes a lot of dialogue with customers back then We really got through that in a really positive way. we really got through that in a really positive way I think as you now sort of accelerate or fast-forward into where we are today, the dialogue that we have with customers is far more faster, a recognition of what we need to go course correct. Our ability to kind of implement quickly with our team with more speed and agility. I think also, as I mentioned earlier in a previous question, sort of that digital landscape provides us even more capability to be able to do this. That is, I think, an important element of our ability to execute. Now, it's also important to know that we also have more gross margin sort of flexibility in which to make sure that we can drive investments in the right areas. I'm really encouraged by sort of the speed of our response, and we're starting to see it in the marketplace right now. I think as you now sort of accelerate or fast-forward into where we are today, the dialogue that we have with customers is far more faster, a recognition of what we need to go course correct. i think as you now sort of accelerate or fast-forward into where we are today the dialogue that we have with customers is far more faster a recognition of what we need to go course correct Our ability to kind of implement quickly with our team with more speed and agility. our ability to kind of implement quickly with our team with more speed and agility I think also, as I mentioned earlier in a previous question, sort of that digital landscape provides us even more capability to be able to do this. i think also as i mentioned earlier in a previous question sort of that digital landscape provides us even more capability to be able to do this That is, I think, an important element of our ability to execute. that is i think an important element of our ability to execute Now, it's also important to know that we also have more gross margin sort of flexibility in which to make sure that we can drive investments in the right areas. now it's also important to know that we also have more gross margin sort of flexibility in which to make sure that we can drive investments in the right areas I'm really encouraged by sort of the speed of our response, and we're starting to see it in the marketplace right now. i'm really encouraged by sort of the speed of our response and we're starting to see it in the marketplace right now I think that those are the differences between now and maybe when we did it before is a much greater understanding of those levers and how they're going to operate and work, and we have a lot of confidence when we implement them. I think that those are the differences between now and maybe when we did it before is a much greater understanding of those levers and how they're going to operate and work, and we have a lot of confidence when we implement them. i think that those are the differences between now and maybe when we did it before is a much greater understanding of those levers and how they're going to operate and work and we have a lot of confidence when we implement them

Speaker 9: Okay. My follow-up is on the seasonings subcategory. If you really drill down here, brands of yours like Grill Mates and Lawry's are losing share, and it's to some up-and-coming emerging brands. When you talk about price gaps, is that related to that at all? Is there something else here in terms of the positioning of your brands relative to theirs that you'd like to address as well? Okay. okay My follow-up is on the seasonings subcategory. my follow-up is on the seasonings subcategory If you really drill down here, brands of yours like Grill Mates and Lawry's are losing share, and it's to some up-and-coming emerging brands. if you really drill down here brands of yours like grill mates and lawry's are losing share and it's to some up-and-coming emerging brands When you talk about price gaps, is that related to that at all? when you talk about price gaps is that related to that at all Is there something else here in terms of the positioning of your brands relative to theirs that you'd like to address as well? is there something else here in terms of the positioning of your brands relative to theirs that you'd like to address as well

Speaker 3: Yeah. As I mentioned, that there were specific segments that we felt like we needed to address. That's not inconsistent with what you just called out. I think price gaps can be a part of it. I would say what we're seeing now in our category, it's a reflection of everything that we've been saying. These are really attractive categories. They're advantaged, they're structurally sound, so it attracts more competition and certainly, even a lot more interest from private label. That should not necessarily be surprising. As we saw, especially in the second quarter, we saw a lot more competitive promotional activity. I think that probably reflected in the results overall. It also, I think there's a consumer component there. Yeah. yeah As I mentioned, that there were specific segments that we felt like we needed to address. as i mentioned that there were specific segments that we felt like we needed to address That's not inconsistent with what you just called out. that's not inconsistent with what you just called out I think price gaps can be a part of it. i think price gaps can be a part of it I would say what we're seeing now in our category, it's a reflection of everything that we've been saying. i would say what we're seeing now in our category it's a reflection of everything that we've been saying These are really attractive categories. these are really attractive categories They're advantaged, they're structurally sound, so it attracts more competition and certainly, even a lot more interest from private label. they're advantaged they're structurally sound so it attracts more competition and certainly even a lot more interest from private label That should not necessarily be surprising. that should not necessarily be surprising As we saw, especially in the second quarter, we saw a lot more competitive promotional activity. as we saw especially in the second quarter we saw a lot more competitive promotional activity I think that probably reflected in the results overall. i think that probably reflected in the results overall It also, I think there's a consumer component there. it also i think there's a consumer component there I think we have a handle on it, and we know what we need to do. I think we have a handle on it, and we know what we need to do. i think we have a handle on it and we know what we need to do

Speaker 9: Okay. Thank you. Okay. okay Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Alexia Howard with Bernstein. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from the line of Alexia Howard with Bernstein. our next question comes from the line of alexia howard with bernstein Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 1: Good morning, everyone. Can we start by just kicking the tires a bit on the operating margin outlook for the combined McCormick-Unilever deal? 21% at close is already fairly high relative to other food companies around the world. Obviously then getting up into the sort of 23%-25% range is even higher. I think we're sort of looking from the outside and saying, well, obviously, the marketing spend is healthy at 7%-8% and if, and this is a hypothetical, if the growth margins are sort of somewhere in the low 40s, that implies that the remaining SG&A outside of marketing spend is surprisingly low, and we're trying to figure out if that's sustainable for the long term. Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone Can we start by just kicking the tires a bit on the operating margin outlook for the combined McCormick-Unilever deal? 21% at close is already fairly high relative to other food companies around the world. can we start by just kicking the tires a bit on the operating margin outlook for the combined mccormick-unilever deal 21% at close is already fairly high relative to other food companies around the world Obviously then getting up into the sort of 23%-25% range is even higher. obviously then getting up into the sort of 23%-25% range is even higher I think we're sort of looking from the outside and saying, well, obviously, the marketing spend is healthy at 7%-8% and if, and this is a hypothetical, if the growth margins are sort of somewhere in the low 40s, that implies that the remaining SG&A outside of marketing spend is surprisingly low, and we're trying to figure out if that's sustainable for the long term. i think we're sort of looking from the outside and saying well obviously the marketing spend is healthy at 7%-8% and if and this is a hypothetical if the growth margins are sort of somewhere in the low 40s that implies that the remaining sg&a outside of marketing spend is surprisingly low and we're trying to figure out if that's sustainable for the long term Can you sort of give us confidence that this is actually something doable and it's not that the belt has been tightened so much on the remaining SG&A that it's going to be problematic as we get into the combined era next year? I have a follow-up. Can you sort of give us confidence that this is actually something doable and it's not that the belt has been tightened so much on the remaining SG&A that it's going to be problematic as we get into the combined era next year? can you sort of give us confidence that this is actually something doable and it's not that the belt has been tightened so much on the remaining sg&a that it's going to be problematic as we get into the combined era next year I have a follow-up. i have a follow-up

Speaker 3: Thank you for the question, Alexia. I'm going to address a couple of thoughts there. I may turn over to Marcos to see, but he can tell me if I missed anything important. Thanks for unpacking all of that. I think as we look at sort of the future margin profile of the business, we think about the ability of continuing to invest in it. Thank you for calling out that these are also being done at what are industry-leading, sort of healthy investment rates behind A&P and brand marketing and everything else. We had to make sure that investors understand that we want to continue supporting the business at increasing levels every year. Its impact on SG&A, I have to tell you, we don't see that as being unusually low in a future state. Thank you for the question, Alexia. thank you for the question alexia I'm going to address a couple of thoughts there. i'm going to address a couple of thoughts there I may turn over to Marcos to see, but he can tell me if I missed anything important. i may turn over to marcos to see but he can tell me if i missed anything important Thanks for unpacking all of that. thanks for unpacking all of that I think as we look at sort of the future margin profile of the business, we think about the ability of continuing to invest in it. i think as we look at sort of the future margin profile of the business we think about the ability of continuing to invest in it Thank you for calling out that these are also being done at what are industry-leading, sort of healthy investment rates behind A&P and brand marketing and everything else. thank you for calling out that these are also being done at what are industry-leading sort of healthy investment rates behind a&p and brand marketing and everything else We had to make sure that investors understand that we want to continue supporting the business at increasing levels every year. we had to make sure that investors understand that we want to continue supporting the business at increasing levels every year Its impact on SG&A, I have to tell you, we don't see that as being unusually low in a future state. its impact on sg&a i have to tell you we don't see that as being unusually low in a future state I think what we'll have to do is probably, as we go through this process and we go through this integration, is provide more context around that. I can't really, right now, today, give you the level of detail that I think maybe you're looking for. As we looked at it and modeled it internally on the McCormick side and even through conversations with our counterparts over there, this is not coming at the sort of some unusual profile on SG&A. I think what we'll have to do is probably, as we go through this process and we go through this integration, is provide more context around that. i think what we'll have to do is probably as we go through this process and we go through this integration is provide more context around that I can't really, right now, today, give you the level of detail that I think maybe you're looking for. i can't really right now today give you the level of detail that i think maybe you're looking for As we looked at it and modeled it internally on the McCormick side and even through conversations with our counterparts over there, this is not coming at the sort of some unusual profile on SG&A. as we looked at it and modeled it internally on the mccormick side and even through conversations with our counterparts over there this is not coming at the sort of some unusual profile on sg&a

Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you hit the key points, Brendan. I mean, operating margin has really been driven by gross margin expansion over the last few years. Yeah, I think you hit the key points, Brendan. yeah i think you hit the key points brendan I mean, operating margin has really been driven by gross margin expansion over the last few years. i mean operating margin has really been driven by gross margin expansion over the last few years

Speaker 3: Right. Right. right

Speaker 5: Right. The team has continued to invest in brand marketing, as you pointed out, Alexia. We don't feel like the SG&A is at a low range or low place to be right now. Obviously, the 21% operating margin is the starting point of the combined company before any synergies. As when you layer synergies on top, you get to the range of 23%-25%. We do feel pretty confident about that profile. Right. right The team has continued to invest in brand marketing, as you pointed out, Alexia. the team has continued to invest in brand marketing as you pointed out alexia We don't feel like the SG&A is at a low range or low place to be right now. we don't feel like the sg&a is at a low range or low place to be right now Obviously, the 21% operating margin is the starting point of the combined company before any synergies. obviously the 21% operating margin is the starting point of the combined company before any synergies As when you layer synergies on top, you get to the range of 23%-25%. as when you layer synergies on top you get to the range of 23%-25% We do feel pretty confident about that profile. we do feel pretty confident about that profile

Speaker 1: Great. That's helpful. Just as a quick follow-up, coming back to Flavor Solutions, you talked about the benefits of reformulation kicking in. Two other things. Can I ask, the branded food service channels that are seeing improved foot traffic, can you be more specific about which food service channels are seeing that recovery? Then you have a big snacking/beverage company in there that I think has been struggling, and that's been a headwind in that category or segment for the past year or two. You mentioned that all customers are now seeing growth. Does that mean that that headwind's gone away? Thank you, and I'll pass it on. Great. great That's helpful. that's helpful Just as a quick follow-up, coming back to Flavor Solutions, you talked about the benefits of reformulation kicking in. just as a quick follow-up coming back to flavor solutions you talked about the benefits of reformulation kicking in Two other things. two other things Can I ask, the branded food service channels that are seeing improved foot traffic, can you be more specific about which food service channels are seeing that recovery? can i ask the branded food service channels that are seeing improved foot traffic can you be more specific about which food service channels are seeing that recovery Then you have a big snacking/beverage company in there that I think has been struggling, and that's been a headwind in that category or segment for the past year or two. then you have a big snacking/beverage company in there that i think has been struggling and that's been a headwind in that category or segment for the past year or two You mentioned that all customers are now seeing growth. you mentioned that all customers are now seeing growth Does that mean that that headwind's gone away? does that mean that that headwind's gone away Thank you, and I'll pass it on. thank you and i'll pass it on

Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that specific about branded food service in your question, the segments in which we're seeing sort of more growth than the total food service industry would be, we're seeing some growth in QSRs, especially in the Americas, and we're seeing growth in fast casual dining. Also, I think one of non-commercial. Those four to five areas is where we are seeing right now, I think, most of the growth in traffic, et cetera. That's the area in which I think we're also finding that our brands certainly can play and resonate or our ability to sort of help with flavor will help there, too. I think overall, though, there certainly has been pressure on the food service marketplace. Yeah, I think that specific about branded food service in your question, the segments in which we're seeing sort of more growth than the total food service industry would be, we're seeing some growth in QSRs, especially in the Americas, and we're seeing growth in fast casual dining. yeah i think that specific about branded food service in your question the segments in which we're seeing sort of more growth than the total food service industry would be we're seeing some growth in qsrs especially in the americas and we're seeing growth in fast casual dining Also, I think one of non-commercial. also i think one of non-commercial Those four to five areas is where we are seeing right now, I think, most of the growth in traffic, et cetera. those four to five areas is where we are seeing right now i think most of the growth in traffic et cetera That's the area in which I think we're also finding that our brands certainly can play and resonate or our ability to sort of help with flavor will help there, too. that's the area in which i think we're also finding that our brands certainly can play and resonate or our ability to sort of help with flavor will help there too I think overall, though, there certainly has been pressure on the food service marketplace. i think overall though there certainly has been pressure on the food service marketplace This element of, especially in the second quarter, just increased pressure on the consumer certainly coming through, not necessarily just food, but many other things that household budgets need. I think that did have an impact on food service to some degree because it did decelerate in the quarter from the first quarter, in our view. There was still growth, and the growth is happening in areas where we have been putting some focus. This element of, especially in the second quarter, just increased pressure on the consumer certainly coming through, not necessarily just food, but many other things that household budgets need. this element of especially in the second quarter just increased pressure on the consumer certainly coming through not necessarily just food but many other things that household budgets need I think that did have an impact on food service to some degree because it did decelerate in the quarter from the first quarter, in our view. i think that did have an impact on food service to some degree because it did decelerate in the quarter from the first quarter in our view There was still growth, and the growth is happening in areas where we have been putting some focus. there was still growth and the growth is happening in areas where we have been putting some focus

Speaker 1: Thank you very much. I'll pass it on. Thank you very much. thank you very much I'll pass it on. i'll pass it on

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our final question this morning comes from the line of Max Gumport with BNP Paribas. Please proceed with your question. Thank you. thank you Our final question this morning comes from the line of Max Gumport with BNP Paribas. our final question this morning comes from the line of max gumport with bnp paribas Please proceed with your question. please proceed with your question

Speaker 6: Hey, thanks for the question. I just wanted to return quickly to the commentary on 3Q profit. After 1Q results, you had signaled that 3Q would be above the low end of your 2026 guidance range, at least 16% year-over-year. It does feel like a bit of a guide down with regard to 3Q now indicating high single digits to low double digits. You mentioned SG&A timing. I just wanted to clarify, was there a shift in your view of SG&A expenses, with a shift from 2Q into 3Q, maybe related to ERP and incentive comp timing relative to what was initially planned? Or is this also about incremental brand marketing investment versus what was initially planned? Thanks very much. Hey, thanks for the question. hey thanks for the question I just wanted to return quickly to the commentary on 3Q profit. i just wanted to return quickly to the commentary on 3q profit After 1Q results, you had signaled that 3Q would be above the low end of your 2026 guidance range, at least 16% year-over-year. after 1q results you had signaled that 3q would be above the low end of your 2026 guidance range at least 16% year-over-year It does feel like a bit of a guide down with regard to 3Q now indicating high single digits to low double digits. it does feel like a bit of a guide down with regard to 3q now indicating high single digits to low double digits You mentioned SG&A timing. you mentioned sg&a timing I just wanted to clarify, was there a shift in your view of SG&A expenses, with a shift from 2Q into 3Q, maybe related to ERP and incentive comp timing relative to what was initially planned? i just wanted to clarify was there a shift in your view of sg&a expenses with a shift from 2q into 3q maybe related to erp and incentive comp timing relative to what was initially planned Or is this also about incremental brand marketing investment versus what was initially planned? or is this also about incremental brand marketing investment versus what was initially planned Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 5: Hey, Max. Two questions on there. The first one is in terms of when we put out the guide in the beginning of the year, we guide for the full year. We didn't guide by quarter. The ranges that we put out there, 15%-19% on constant currency was for the full year. The second point about the phasing. There's some phasing between Q3 and Q4. We're investing more heavily on brand marketing in Q3 than Q4, although Q4, we're going to still see brand marketing absolute dollars strong. Year-on-year, we also had a very strong brand marketing spend in the Q4 of 2025. Year-on-year is not going to be significant. I think I hit these two points and the other question was about I think those are two questions, right, Max? Anything else that I missed? Hey, Max. hey max Two questions on there. two questions on there The first one is in terms of when we put out the guide in the beginning of the year, we guide for the full year. the first one is in terms of when we put out the guide in the beginning of the year we guide for the full year We didn't guide by quarter. we didn't guide by quarter The ranges that we put out there, 15%-19% on constant currency was for the full year. the ranges that we put out there 15%-19% on constant currency was for the full year The second point about the phasing. the second point about the phasing There's some phasing between Q3 and Q4. there's some phasing between q3 and q4 We're investing more heavily on brand marketing in Q3 than Q4, although Q4, we're going to still see brand marketing absolute dollars strong. we're investing more heavily on brand marketing in q3 than q4 although q4 we're going to still see brand marketing absolute dollars strong Year-on-year, we also had a very strong brand marketing spend in the Q4 of 2025. year-on-year we also had a very strong brand marketing spend in the q4 of 2025 Year-on-year is not going to be significant. year-on-year is not going to be significant I think I hit these two points and the other question was about I think those are two questions, right, Max? i think i hit these two points and the other question was about i think those are two questions right max Anything else that I missed? anything else that i missed

Speaker 6: Yeah, that covers it. Maybe I'm putting too fine a point of it, but. Yeah, that covers it. yeah that covers it Maybe I'm putting too fine a point of it, but. maybe i'm putting too fine a point of it but

Speaker 5: Yeah Yeah yeah

Speaker 6: You did say 2Q would be at the low end of the 2026 guidance range, and you said 3Q would be better than 2Q. That's why I'm saying essentially it does look like there is a bit of a change in tone, but I think your commentary does help lots, so appreciate that. I just wanted to touch on cash flow quickly. It's obviously been a much better first half than last year. You talked about working capital improvements. Can you just expand a bit on what's generating those working capital improvements relative to last year and the sustainability of that? Thanks very much. You did say 2Q would be at the low end of the 2026 guidance range, and you said 3Q would be better than 2Q. you did say 2q would be at the low end of the 2026 guidance range and you said 3q would be better than 2q That's why I'm saying essentially it does look like there is a bit of a change in tone, but I think your commentary does help lots, so appreciate that. that's why i'm saying essentially it does look like there is a bit of a change in tone but i think your commentary does help lots so appreciate that I just wanted to touch on cash flow quickly. i just wanted to touch on cash flow quickly It's obviously been a much better first half than last year. it's obviously been a much better first half than last year You talked about working capital improvements. you talked about working capital improvements Can you just expand a bit on what's generating those working capital improvements relative to last year and the sustainability of that? can you just expand a bit on what's generating those working capital improvements relative to last year and the sustainability of that Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 5: Sure, Max. This is one area that we are very pleased about, which is the cash flow in the first half of the year for $131 million, very substantial. Also, the de-leveraging position that we are right now in terms of 2.9 times closing the quarter. Even after the acquisition of McCormick, that we incurred additional $750 million of debt. That talks about always our playbook about acquiring and paying down debt quickly. Working capital is also working our favor across all three levers of working capital, inventory days, payables and receivables. Primarily inventory days as well as payables are the two main drivers of working capital that we're seeing right now. Sure, Max. sure max This is one area that we are very pleased about, which is the cash flow in the first half of the year for $131 million, very substantial. this is one area that we are very pleased about which is the cash flow in the first half of the year for $131 million very substantial Also, the de-leveraging position that we are right now in terms of 2.9 times closing the quarter. also the de-leveraging position that we are right now in terms of 2.9 times closing the quarter Even after the acquisition of McCormick, that we incurred additional $750 million of debt. even after the acquisition of mccormick that we incurred additional $750 million of debt That talks about always our playbook about acquiring and paying down debt quickly. that talks about always our playbook about acquiring and paying down debt quickly Working capital is also working our favor across all three levers of working capital, inventory days, payables and receivables. working capital is also working our favor across all three levers of working capital inventory days payables and receivables Primarily inventory days as well as payables are the two main drivers of working capital that we're seeing right now. primarily inventory days as well as payables are the two main drivers of working capital that we're seeing right now

Speaker 6: Okay, great. Thanks very much. I'll leave it there. Okay, great. okay great Thanks very much. thanks very much I'll leave it there. i'll leave it there

Speaker 5: Sure. Sure. sure

Speaker 7: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Ms. Reha for any final comments. Thank you. thank you Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question and answer session. ladies and gentlemen that concludes our question and answer session I'll turn the floor back to Ms. Reha for any final comments. i'll turn the floor back to ms reha for any final comments

Speaker 4: Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for joining today's call. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me. This concludes our conference call for this morning. Thank you. Thank you. thank you Thank you, everybody, for joining today's call. thank you everybody for joining today's call If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me. if you have any additional questions please feel free to reach out to me This concludes our conference call for this morning. this concludes our conference call for this morning Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. Thank you. thank you This concludes today's conference call. this concludes today's conference call You may disconnect your lines at this time. you may disconnect your lines at this time Thank you for your participation. thank you for your participation