Monster Beverage Corp — Call Transcript 2026

All right. Thank you, everybody. Welcome to the next session. For this session, I'm thrilled to welcome for the first time, the Monster Beverage Corporation to the conference. With us today from Monster are Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Hilton Schlosberg, Chief Executive Officer of EMEA and Oceania South Pacific, Guy Carling, and President of Asia-Pac, Philippe Buche. Thank you guys for joining us. Before we start, we're going to have Mark Astrachan from Investor Relations address the safe harbor statement. It is not. It's not. Okay. I think it might be. It's good. No. You want me to read it? Hmm? You want me to read it? No, that's what. With that in for him. I think that's cool. Awesome. All right, great. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this conversation may constitute forward-looking statements. Management cautions that these statements are based on its current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainty that may affect its performance. Very good. Thank you, Mark. Okay, with that, let's dive in. I guess, Hilton, thanks again for doing this. I think it's been evident to everybody who's observed Monster for a long time, but especially, coming into this year, the just exceptionally strong growth. Lots of both category momentum, but also company specific momentum, not only in the U.S., but globally. I guess for everybody, including for those less familiar with the story, I guess, what do you think are the key pillars of that growth story today? Is there anything that investors you think underappreciate, that'd be interesting to hear? Sure. Before we start, I'd just like to talk about the category, generally the size of the category, because we always try and talk about the opportunities. This is from GlobalData. The energy drink category in the U.S. is estimated to be about $26.9 billion. Globally, you talk about $89.4 billion. That's a percentage of 31%. That's the energy drink category in the U.S. relative to the global market. If we look at it internationally, we've got Guy here from EMEA and OSP. You're talking about the energy drink category as a percentage of NARTD, which is a non-alcoholic ready-to-drink business. You've got in EMEA, you've got 13%. In LATAM, you've got 8%. In APAC, you've got 9%. In the U.S., we're talking about a percentage of 19%. What's interesting is as we look forward and as we address the consumer, which is something that we're very passionate about and that we focus on, we can see that there are opportunities not only in the U.S., but also very much internationally. The group today is in 160 countries worldwide. It's something that we, again, very passionate about. The percentage of sales in the last quarter on international was actually 45%, which is a very significant number relative to other consumer goods industries. We're growing and we're expanding internationally, and I believe we've got the organization to be able to equip and deal with the growth. One of the pillars that's very key to us, as I mentioned earlier, is the consumer. The consumer has really an insatiable need for energy. They're always looking for energy, they need energy, and we are supplying that energy. Against that factor, we are an image-related brand that serves a real function to a consumer. As the pricing mechanisms in the market have taken place since COVID, we're actually very favorably and economically priced relative to ready-to-drink coffees from coffee houses, and in fact, CSDs as well. You put all that together, you've got a category that's driven by need, with an image that consumers aspire to. We've got distribution through the Coca-Cola system, which is probably the best distribution system in the world, and great relationships with the Coca-Cola bottlers and also with The Coca-Cola Company. We could talk about that maybe later if there's time. All in all, you have a consumer that's motivated to buy the product that we giving, I believe, the product at the right price. Overall, we have a range of different products today and different offerings from the mainstream offerings, the Monster through our strategic brands, some of the brands we acquired from The Coca-Cola Company at the time we did the deal in 2015, the redirection of the restructuring of interests. We have that, and we also have our affordable brands, which are really geared towards those countries where the consumers cannot afford a Monster drink, and we've tailor-made affordable brands to service that market. Affordable brands are now in about 39 countries in the world. They're growing as well as the market develops. I really believe we're in our infancy. There's a lot of runway for us, and we're doing what we can to continue to achieve growth. We had great growth in the first quarter. As those of you who read the first quarterly statement saw, all regions were in double-digit growth. Some regions, like Guy, was in, I don't know, multi times that, which is something we're really proud of because the category in EMEA is a lot older than the category in the U.S. Maybe Guy could talk a little bit about that and get his sentiments on what he sees as the opportunities in the business and the pillars that are important to our consumers. Thank you, Hilton. The category is older in EMEA, not across the board, but has been around for longer. I think what's exciting about the category is it continues to evolve structurally from a consumer perspective. Essentially, energy drinks have become an everyday beverage. There's a strong value proposition, there's strong brand equity, there's functionality, and there's innovation across zero sugar and sugar energy drinks. That's taking energy into a multi-occasion, multi-daypart kind of beverage. We see energy drinks increasingly consumed across all the dayparts, but also by consumers in multi-dayparts, not just one time of day. Across occasions, the basic, I need energy, but also from relaxing at home. Energy is now 30% of consumers drink it as a treat, as well as for sport, as well as on the go, as well as the kind of generic pick me up. Across the piece, the category's just broadened its kind of profile. That means it's able to recruit consumers, both male and female, across all age groups. I think in EMEA at the moment, we've got 30% of consumers coming into the category on an annual basis. It's a huge amount of recruitment into the category. I think the product offerings enable, and the kind of relevance of the products to people's daily lives, enable people to stay in the category, and then ultimately increase their consumption. Through the offerings, we're seeing 20% of energy consumers are buying more energy than they were a year ago. There's more consumers buying more and staying in the category through dayparts and through the age group. Yeah. Very good. Philippe, let's talk a little bit about your region as well, because it's the region with significant per capita headroom, where affordable energy is really laying the groundwork for what I think can be very explosive category growth and development. How are you positioning the business against those opportunities and how do you frame the opportunities? Okay. You are very right, if we look at South Asia, Southeast Asia, East China, you have more than 4 billion people in that part of the world. It's half of the world's population which is living over there, and the category is underdeveloped. Okay. Hilton told you about the U.S., Guy about Europe. In the U.S., the per capita consumption is 54. In Europe, it's 38. On average, in Asia, it's 12. Okay. It's just showing you have half of the population, which is only drinking 12 serving per person per year on average, which is showing the size of the opportunity. The category is underdeveloped, but now growing. We have seen in a place like India, where the category is even less developed, the consumption per person in India is only five. Okay? It was less than one five years ago. Okay. It is showing that in all these countries, when we find the right product at the right price, in the right pack, in the right channel, for the right occasion, we are able to unlock the potential of the category. Asia is very complex because you have a country that is diverse as Japan or India, if I take the other side of the spectrum. We really now segmented East Asia in two different segment, what we looked at the developed market, your Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, which are more premium market where we are very happy with Monster. We are now leader in the vast majority of this market with significant shares. The other category is very similar to what you have heard from Guy. Okay. Category is already developed, is premium. We continue to innovate, continue to develop new occasion, continue to chase every distribution opportunity. For instance, in Japan, we are distributed by Asahi. Okay? Which is the last country where we are not with the Coke system. On the back of that, we just agreed with CCBJI, which is the main Coca-Cola bottler system, to be in their vending machine because they see the category as an incremental opportunity for them. In the developed market, it's continued innovation, distribution, making our brand more relevant to more people. In the developing market, your South Asia, your Southeast Asia, China, it first is maximizing the Monster opportunity. There are 4 billion people. We believe there are dozens of millions of people who can afford Monster, who like the lifestyle of Monster, who like the taste of Monster, and first is maximizing the opportunity for them. It will not be everyone. Now in every of these countries, we found a way to recruit new consumer with Monster. Okay, we'll talk about China and India a bit later, we now for instance launched Monster in Thailand. Monster was not in Thailand. We launched with Swire in Thailand in Q1, because we adjusted some of our proposition, our distribution. We found the right consumer for Monster in Thailand. On the developing, or the more affordable side, we have been adjusting our proposition. Okay. First, Asia is a vast majority of what consumer are drinking South Asia and China is non-carbonated, which need a different taste, needs a different packaging to reach the right price point. We have been learning over the past years to say, how do we complement Monster with the right proposition, which is helping us to enter a full new segment where we never offer the right product to the right consumers. In the part where it is carbonated, it's a matter of finding out to have the right price and the right pack. We just launched Pakistan two weeks ago, where you have now 250 million consumers we're not serving until now, and we are unlocking these type of opportunities in the more developing part of Asia. Very good. Very good. Hilton, Philippe kind of makes an interesting observation. I mean, the company over time has become more and more a portfolio of brands, within energy. Obviously, Monster's still at the core. In order to address different consumer needs, the company's evolved the portfolio to introduce brands to serve those needs. As you think about the growth opportunities over time, how much of those opportunities is Monster able to serve? How far can that brand go without diluting the magic that represents this core to the brand, versus how much of growth is going to be reliant on kind of satellite brands that you've developed in support of Monster? That's a great question because the Monster demographic is very clearly 28 to 35-year-old males. That's the demographic. What's happened is the demographic has broadened as some of our consumers have got older. Also, women are huge participants in the energy category today. We're in discussions, we had meetings with CCI and Hellenic and CCEP here in Paris. The numbers in the European markets, almost 45/55, which is very different to how the brand started. In the U.S., we see that there are big opportunities to address the woman consumer. Traditionally, we've had a 16-ounce can, which is 473 mL, and that's been the can that we've used extensively other than for some new products, which I'll talk about. We're now directing 12-ounce size cans really to address a more female-forward market. The research that we've done, is that people don't want waste, women don't want waste, and they'd rather get a product that's a size that's convenient for them to drink. That's something we're addressing. That'll be in the Monster Ultra line because we're still very passionate about Monster, and we believe that Monster can gravitate into other parts of the new consumers in the energy drink category. I mean, what have we done already? We've got Rehab, which is tea. We've got Java Monster, which is our coffee line that we've had for many years. We have regular Monsters, we have Juice Monster, we have Monsters that are zero sugar, the Ultra line. Which today, the Ultra line, if it stood on its own, it would be the third-biggest category in the United States. It's the third-biggest energy group of brands in the U.S. after Monster and Red Bull. Monster and Red Bull are always kind of neck and neck. Last week, we were exactly the same in the U.S. This week, if those of you read Weekly Nielsen, we're ahead of them. Next week, I don't know. I hope we'll stay ahead of them. That's the way the U.S. market has emerged. We do performance energy. That we do under a very different brand. It's called Reign. We do that under a different brand. We have other brands for wellness, called Storm. Other brands for particular parts of the market. Affordable, we use Predator and Fury, depending on trademarks. We have a great brand that we bought as a result of the Bang collapse. Bang is a really good brand, and we're using that to test. We sell it in the U.S., and we're doing that to test as affordable in some markets internationally and in Europe and in fact, in Asia. I think that we believe we have the ability to use Monster in a particular fashion, but then we also have the ability to create new brands to address particular markets that we don't think will resonate well with the Monster brand. One brand you didn't mention is the brand you've just recently introduced, FLRT, in the U.S. Yeah, that's directed to a female-forward consumer. We're testing that in certain markets where that demographic shops. We've spoken about it on our calls, and we're keeping a very close eye on it. We're monitoring its progress. It launched a month or so ago. The media is about to kick off, and it's very much directed. We've got a total woman structured management team that's running that brand. They've just kicked off the media. I don't want to talk too much about it until we know the green shoots are actually growing. We do, we have this brand called FLRT, which I think should do well. Again, it's in the hands of the consumer and the brand's just been launched. Great. Guy, as we think about that theme as it relates to your markets, as you mentioned, in some ways, the original energy drink markets here in Europe. At the same time, the market is maybe less developed in some of the zero sugar, fitness-oriented brands that we've seen disrupt the category in the U.S. How do you think about positioning the portfolio here in EMEA to maybe get ahead of those trends and make sure that Monster is at the lead? I think it's been interesting to see how the energy category, whilst being older in Europe than the U.S., has developed in slightly different ways over time. I think one of the things we see in Europe especially is less segmentation than is in the U.S., I think that Red Bull and Monster that have been around for a long period of time occupy a large piece of consumer consumption in some of those segments. We've seen, you've all heard, and the phenomenon that's been on social media, white Monster, but Ultra White, which, just even this year, according to Nielsen, is growing over 50%. It's a 12-year-old SKU. It's one of our lead SKUs and is growing over 50%. When we first took brands like Reign into gyms, we've discovered Ultra was already there. Ultra, as a brand platform, and again, here would be the number two brand in Europe, is 50% female and is 50% male. It's actually bringing in female consumers in line with the category. I think we see a strong role for our core business in Monster. Our fantastic relationship with the bottling partners, again, we met with CCEP, with Coca-Cola HBC this week, are taking our existing Monster SKUs into more and more channels of distribution, especially away-from-home food service, and it's giving the fan favorites a platform in channels and occasions that it wasn't previously available. We're also increasing our multi-pack business of those core foundation SKUs, the fan favorites, so people can take four packs, nine packs, 12 packs home, ready for a treat, ready to relax at home. We're getting half of our growth, and I think that's what we're excited about, from our base business. That is different from the rest of the category. Yeah. The category as a whole is in a decent double-digit growth. Outside of Monster, it's predominantly through innovation. Yeah. We're actually growing in line with the category from that existing base Monster business and SKUs, and then we're getting an extra double-digit growth from our innovation. Yes. The innovation is coming in sugar. This year we talked on the call, our Viking Berry product was the best innovation launch, most successful we've ever had in Europe. Full sugar. We've got a really strong consumer base that wants full sugar. About 47% of our consumers only drink sugared energy, sort of deliberately so. We've got innovation there. We've got innovation in the Ultra line. Innovation last year, Lando Norris, Zero Sugar, was brilliant. 25% of its consumers were new to the category, 25% were new to the brand, 25% were drinking more as a result of the innovation. Obviously tied in with a wonderful asset, a hero people could sort of hold in their hand as they were consuming. Innovation is a huge part of what we do. I think growing our business 55% through the existing SKUs and 45% through innovation to grow ahead of the category is a real kind of foundation for the future. The portfolio, the strategic brands that we've had since the Coke deal, over time, Relentless in U.K., Nalu in Belgium, Burn across countries, play a really important role. It's a different consumer looking for a different lifestyle, different price point, different personality. The affordable business we have with Predator and Fury in Africa, I think is really important. It's affordable vis-à-vis European pricing, but in Africa, it is just mainstream energy. Yeah. The pricing compared to CSD matches that from Monster in Europe, and it plays that same role. It has equity, it has a value proposition, it has fans. We do marketing to support it. Across Africa, we've seen Predator and Fury turn into the most valuable brand in Africa from a Nielsen sales perspective. Yeah. Different things for different places and different consumers. Yeah. Each of you have mentioned partnership with Coke, so let's spend a minute there, because I think from the outside, that partnership has, well, partnerships both with Coke and the bottlers, seems to have only strengthened over time. It's at a time when we just talked about, there are more brands that are being activated within the Monster portfolio. There's more innovation. We'll talk about that in a bit. There's more packages, there's more sophisticated revenue growth management, all of which is not able to be accomplished by you alone, right? It's in partnership with the Coke system. Yeah, we could never operate without the Coca-Cola system. In the U.S. it was somewhat easy, but internationally, it is an issue because when we started off internationally, we had to find distributors. It was tough to find them. There were a lot of trademark issues, a lot of issues dealing with competitors. The one good thing that we've achieved with the Coca-Cola organization, and particularly with the bottlers, is a seamless manner of operating a business where they are the distribution partner. We haven't had to go and look for distribution partners. We haven't had to analyze the better and the worst. This is a long-term relationship, and it's worked really well with the bottlers. With the company, we have a great relationship with Enrique coming on board, and John Murphy, and we're working together to build a great business. Okay. I mentioned more innovation. Guy talked a little bit about it in EMEA, but in the U.S. you've got limited time offers coming into the market really for the first time. You've added some splashes of flavor, strawberry to the core Monster. These are things we haven't seen Monster do before. At the same time, there's a big push right now on more sophisticated price pack architecture, RGM. Maybe talk about how that evolved, why now is the right time, and how much runway you see on those initiatives. Well, RGM, we always had an RGM department. Lately we've built it up and we're working more aggressively with that department on the basis of looking at the opportunities to increase price, opportunities for different packages, for different sizes. What Guy said earlier about EMEA is 100% true of the U.S. We've been in 4 packs for a long time. We've been in eight packs, we've been in 16 packs, we've been in 24 packs. The skills that this group is able to deliver to the organization is exactly what it should be doing, that is advising which packages, which sizes. For example, I spoke earlier about the 12 ounce. We've got a 12 ounce, 24 ounce 12 ounce, 24 pack, I'm sorry, that's going, for example, into the club channel. These are all initiatives that have been moved by the RGM department. The increase in price in November 1 was very much structured by that department, or advised by that department, because it wasn't a one-size-fits-all. It was a mix, and we said that on our calls, of different kind of structures for different markets. Some with promotional allowances, reduction promotional allowance, some with increases in prices. It's a kind of mix of the two. We've always had an aggressive innovation pipeline. As Guy mentioned, innovation, it always for us is incremental to the core. Our core grows, our sugar products grow. Our non-sugar products grow more than the sugar products. Overall we move ahead with innovation. We've always had good innovation. This year has been exceptional. We have the America's 250 celebration. We have a number of SKUs that are limited time offers that are addressing that particular situation, which is something very special in the U.S. We're really privileged to be able to offer products across the board to satisfy that kind of opportunity. We have limited time offers. We have a Monster Juice. We have Red, White, and Blue, which is an ultra line. If you look at the recent Nielsen, it's screamed right up near the top of the charts in the Nielsen SKUs. We have limited time offers for our Bang line, for our Reign line, and we also have a limited time offer, which we may keep as a permanent offer for one of our other brands that we acquired from The Coca-Cola Company, which is Full Throttle. There's a lot of great things that are happening this year. We've had a full calendar of innovation. Yes, we did, and have launched what we call our flavor shots. Initially, they were launched with strawberry in both regular and zero sugar variants, and actually are doing really nicely. In the autumn, we're coming with vanilla shots, which will be the traditional classical Monster Energy drink and the zero sugar drink with a shot of vanilla. It really does make a difference to the drink and gives the consumer an additional reason to purchase a product. Your confidence in the pipeline, one of the concerns is that there's so much this year, that so much incremental innovation that it'll be hard to cycle. How do you feel about that? We've got a good calendar for uncertain. I won't talk much about it. There's a good innovation calendar for uncertain. Some of these LTOs, we may be bringing back as LTOs in uncertain, as well. These LTOs for the America's 250 could very well sit as a Fourth of July promotion. There's a lot of great things that are happening and we just got to stay true to our course and run our business, run our play, which is what we've always been. That's why we've never attended these conferences. We've been running our business. We have Mark Astrachan now, wherever he is, IR head. Oh, there he is at the back. He makes us come and do these conferences. Well, we all thank Mark. Philippe, maybe pivoting back to your markets and really focusing in on India and China. You mentioned just the huge theoretical runway for growth, which has been there for a long time, but it really feels like we're seeing inflection. I think India doubled essentially in the first quarter. To what do you attribute that spike? Do you think this is the moment where you can really start to scale those businesses? I guess some of the key initiatives you have in place to do so? Definitely we see these two markets as gigantic opportunities. You have more than 1 billion consumers in both, categories under developing both. They are two very different stories. If I start with China, we've been in China nearly for 10 years. When we got into China, we realized that we had to have two challenges we didn't have in most of the countries. One is we had to create the sparkling energy drink category. It was not existing in China. Red Bull Austria was not existing in China. The product which was giving the energy was a small, traditional, non-carbonated product that the Chinese are naming flavored vitamin drinks. There was no so-called energy drinks. All of it was non-carbonated. Bringing Monster was very different from anything they've tried before, it was not only that challenge. In the rest of the world, when we brought Monster to Europe, we had already some equity built from our global asset, from our presence in social media. China is behind a great digital wall. Okay. The number of Chinese who had heard about Monster brand, who would recognize a claw, was very small. We had to create new category and build a brand nearly from scratch. Okay. Therefore, we took the time to say who are the consumer who will be open to an international brand, who would be liking a carbonated drink which is not tasting like anything else they've had in China, and then build it step by step with the bottlers. We have two great bottlers in China, COFCO and Swire, and they've been very committed to the energy drink category because they've seen the opportunity in the rest of the world. Yes. Step by step, we found the right consumer with the right marketing approach, sampling our product to the right people. We are much more focusing on the tier 1 cities instead of going to the factories. We are much more focusing on the universities, where the Coke system has great access to the thousands of mega universities you have in China, and step by step, we are building the recruitment. We believe we have now built a very healthy foundation. Our product are growing, our distribution is ticking, and therefore, we are able to build on what we believe is solid. Now we have built a good base for Monster, we are able to say, "How do we start addressing the other opportunity, which is a non-carbonated drink?" We launched Predator in China two years ago, and we are learning, because they're very different consumers. It's a consumer which is not speaking any English, which is drinking non-carbonated, which is living in factories, or what they name the factory villages. Where we were with Hilton two years ago in Foxconn. In that plant, you have 120,000 people who are living in the plant, and that's where the traditional energy drink is big. We are working on building Monster, where we believe we have a strong foundation, on learning how to get into that more traditional factory, blue-collar segment in China. We see both as great opportunity. One, we have to create the category, and the other one, we have to learn how to get share in what is already a big enough category. India is a very different story. Red Bull has been in India for a long time. We have been in India for nine years. People knew what energy drink was. They are following the social media. They have heard about it. The price of a soft drink is very low in India. Yes. It's even lower than China. It's selling for INR 20, which is $0.23, for the price of a soft drink. When we launched Monster and Red Bull, we sold it at six times the price of a CSD. Okay. You have 1.4 billion people, so some people can afford a Monster, but we could not go everywhere. We had to find where to go specifically to target the right consumer. Doing mass advertising would be very inefficient. Now we have done that work. Same thing, the Coke bottlers have been great partners. We have been able to cluster India to be very segmented to say, "Where's the dozens of millions of people who can afford a Monster?" Trying to be available to people who cannot afford it is a waste of space and a waste of time. Once we did that, we said, now we can complement Monster, and we created a price pack architecture which is unique to India, where we have Monster at 6x the price of a CSD. We have Predator in a can at 3x the price of a CSD because we believe there is an emerging middle class. The people who are working in all the call centers in Bangalore, all the tech part, cannot afford a Monster, but they can afford a Predator at INR 60. Over the past two years, we have been complementing that with a PET, which is still premium to CSD because we believe the functionalities, the taste, the lifestyle can justify a premium. Now we have this 3-tier price architecture, which is helping us to go with the right product, with the right consumer, with the right taste, with the right marketing. We have Monster, for instance, very focused on gaming, which we have seen an association with people who can afford to spend on gaming as people who can afford to spend on a Monster can. While Predator is going more after the people who are following cricket, but who are going to street cricket, to make sure that we build a lifestyle which is very close to what they are doing. We have now that price pack architecture with very clear portfolio to help us unlock the opportunity of India. Again, we believe we have now a good foundation to go after that market. Very interesting. All right. Hilton, I spared you. We're almost at time, and I haven't even talked about aluminum. I'm going to ask you the requisite question on aluminum and costs, what you're seeing on that front, your confidence in being able to manage through it, and as we think about holistic profitability and margins, I'd also love a little bit of insight, if you would, on how you think about SG&A management, SG&A leverage, as we realize some of the growth we're talking about. Let's start with the second point, SG&A management. We're very careful with the way that we operate and the way we spend, particularly on marketing dollars. Our business is focused not on advertising in the classical sense per se, but in establishing relationships with athletes, and endorsing opportunities like Formula 1, UFC, and all of those things, they have a cost to them. There's some other ones that we've been working on that we're really excited about. The point is that we believe in our brands. We're a growth company and we need to support the brands with marketing. You've seen what's happened with SG&A. It's kind of, I think, been well managed up till now and I don't see why it wouldn't be well managed going forward. As I say, we take opportunities when we see a need. For example, with the relaunch of Storm. It requires marketing dollars. With the launch of FLRT, you can't just drop a product in a market and hope for the best. The business is growing, the revenues are growing. SG&A I think is well managed and will continue to be well managed. Then just very quickly on aluminum. We have a very active hedging program in place in the company and we've spoken about this on our calls. We hedge on a ladder basis, something that we're involved from the top down, from me to our CFO, our deputy CFO, our head of treasury. We're very focused on doing the very best we can with aluminum. As I mentioned in the first quarter, we had a 1% hit to gross margin from aluminum and in the U.S. we have this Midwest Premium which I still don't understand but it's kind of expensive and goes up year-over-year. I'm kidding but it's a difficult financial metric that we have to pay for. We've been able to manage aluminum in what we called a modest sense and our pricing, the increased price that we took in November actually offset that increase in aluminum in the first quarter. As we go forward, we believe that it will continue to be modest and one of the reasons is that when you look at the cost of a can, aluminum is a small portion of that cost because you have the can, you have the ingot, which is aluminum, ingot to sheet to can. It goes on and because our margins are good, you don't see the same impact that you would ordinarily in a company that had lower margins. Great. I hope that answered the question. It does. Sorry to end on aluminum but we're out of time. I thank you all for your time and thanks for joining us everybody. Yeah. Thank you.

Speaker 4: All right. Thank you, everybody. Welcome to the next session. For this session, I'm thrilled to welcome for the first time, the Monster Beverage Corporation to the conference. With us today from Monster are Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Hilton Schlosberg, Chief Executive Officer of EMEA and Oceania South Pacific, Guy Carling, and President of Asia-Pac, Philippe Buche. Thank you guys for joining us. Before we start, we're going to have Mark Astrachan from Investor Relations address the safe harbor statement. It is not. It's not. Okay. I think it might be. It's good. No. You want me to read it? Hmm? You want me to read it? No, that's what. With that in for him. I think that's cool. Awesome. All right. all right Thank you, everybody. thank you everybody Welcome to the next session. welcome to the next session For this session, I'm thrilled to welcome for the first time, the Monster Beverage Corporation to the conference. for this session i'm thrilled to welcome for the first time the monster beverage corporation to the conference With us today from Monster are Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Hilton Schlosberg, Chief Executive Officer of EMEA and Oceania South Pacific, Guy Carling, and President of Asia-Pac, Philippe Buche. with us today from monster are chief executive officer and vice chairman hilton schlosberg chief executive officer of emea and oceania south pacific guy carling and president of asia-pac philippe buche Thank you guys for joining us. thank you guys for joining us Before we start, we're going to have Mark Astrachan from Investor Relations address the safe harbor statement. before we start we're going to have mark astrachan from investor relations address the safe harbor statement It is not. it is not It's not. it's not Okay. okay I think it might be. i think it might be It's good. it's good No. no You want me to read it? you want me to read it Hmm? hmm You want me to read it? you want me to read it No, that's what. no that's what With that in for him. with that in for him I think that's cool. i think that's cool Awesome. awesome

Speaker 3: All right, great. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this conversation may constitute forward-looking statements. Management cautions that these statements are based on its current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainty that may affect its performance. All right, great. all right great Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this conversation may constitute forward-looking statements. before we begin i would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this conversation may constitute forward-looking statements Management cautions that these statements are based on its current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. management cautions that these statements are based on its current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties many of which are outside of the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainty that may affect its performance. please refer to the company's filings with the sec for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainty that may affect its performance

Speaker 4: Very good. Thank you, Mark. Okay, with that, let's dive in. I guess, Hilton, thanks again for doing this. I think it's been evident to everybody who's observed Monster for a long time, but especially, coming into this year, the just exceptionally strong growth. Lots of both category momentum, but also company specific momentum, not only in the U.S., but globally. I guess for everybody, including for those less familiar with the story, I guess, what do you think are the key pillars of that growth story today? Is there anything that investors you think underappreciate, that'd be interesting to hear? Very good. very good Thank you, Mark. thank you mark Okay, with that, let's dive in. okay with that let's dive in I guess, Hilton, thanks again for doing this. i guess hilton thanks again for doing this I think it's been evident to everybody who's observed Monster for a long time, but especially, coming into this year, the just exceptionally strong growth. i think it's been evident to everybody who's observed monster for a long time but especially coming into this year the just exceptionally strong growth Lots of both category momentum, but also company specific momentum, not only in the U.S., but globally. lots of both category momentum but also company specific momentum not only in the u.s but globally I guess for everybody, including for those less familiar with the story, I guess, what do you think are the key pillars of that growth story today? i guess for everybody including for those less familiar with the story i guess what do you think are the key pillars of that growth story today Is there anything that investors you think underappreciate, that'd be interesting to hear? is there anything that investors you think underappreciate that'd be interesting to hear

Speaker 2: Sure. Before we start, I'd just like to talk about the category, generally the size of the category, because we always try and talk about the opportunities. This is from GlobalData. The energy drink category in the U.S. is estimated to be about $26.9 billion. Globally, you talk about $89.4 billion. That's a percentage of 31%. That's the energy drink category in the U.S. relative to the global market. If we look at it internationally, we've got Guy here from EMEA and OSP. You're talking about the energy drink category as a percentage of NARTD, which is a non-alcoholic ready-to-drink business. You've got in EMEA, you've got 13%. In LATAM, you've got 8%. In APAC, you've got 9%. In the U.S., we're talking about a percentage of 19%. Sure. sure Before we start, I'd just like to talk about the category, generally the size of the category, because we always try and talk about the opportunities. before we start i'd just like to talk about the category generally the size of the category because we always try and talk about the opportunities This is from GlobalData. this is from globaldata The energy drink category in the U.S. is estimated to be about $26.9 billion. the energy drink category in the u.s is estimated to be about $26.9 billion Globally, you talk about $89.4 billion. globally you talk about $89.4 billion That's a percentage of 31%. that's a percentage of 31% That's the energy drink category in the U.S. relative to the global market. that's the energy drink category in the u.s relative to the global market If we look at it internationally, we've got Guy here from EMEA and OSP. if we look at it internationally we've got guy here from emea and osp You're talking about the energy drink category as a percentage of NARTD, which is a non-alcoholic ready-to-drink business. you're talking about the energy drink category as a percentage of nartd which is a non-alcoholic ready-to-drink business You've got in EMEA, you've got 13%. you've got in emea you've got 13% In LATAM, you've got 8%. in latam you've got 8% In APAC, you've got 9%. in apac you've got 9% In the U.S., we're talking about a percentage of 19%. in the u.s we're talking about a percentage of 19% What's interesting is as we look forward and as we address the consumer, which is something that we're very passionate about and that we focus on, we can see that there are opportunities not only in the U.S., but also very much internationally. The group today is in 160 countries worldwide. It's something that we, again, very passionate about. The percentage of sales in the last quarter on international was actually 45%, which is a very significant number relative to other consumer goods industries. We're growing and we're expanding internationally, and I believe we've got the organization to be able to equip and deal with the growth. One of the pillars that's very key to us, as I mentioned earlier, is the consumer. The consumer has really an insatiable need for energy. What's interesting is as we look forward and as we address the consumer, which is something that we're very passionate about and that we focus on, we can see that there are opportunities not only in the U.S., but also very much internationally. what's interesting is as we look forward and as we address the consumer which is something that we're very passionate about and that we focus on we can see that there are opportunities not only in the u.s but also very much internationally The group today is in 160 countries worldwide. the group today is in 160 countries worldwide It's something that we, again, very passionate about. it's something that we again very passionate about The percentage of sales in the last quarter on international was actually 45%, which is a very significant number relative to other consumer goods industries. the percentage of sales in the last quarter on international was actually 45% which is a very significant number relative to other consumer goods industries We're growing and we're expanding internationally, and I believe we've got the organization to be able to equip and deal with the growth. we're growing and we're expanding internationally and i believe we've got the organization to be able to equip and deal with the growth One of the pillars that's very key to us, as I mentioned earlier, is the consumer. one of the pillars that's very key to us as i mentioned earlier is the consumer The consumer has really an insatiable need for energy. the consumer has really an insatiable need for energy They're always looking for energy, they need energy, and we are supplying that energy. Against that factor, we are an image-related brand that serves a real function to a consumer. As the pricing mechanisms in the market have taken place since COVID, we're actually very favorably and economically priced relative to ready-to-drink coffees from coffee houses, and in fact, CSDs as well. You put all that together, you've got a category that's driven by need, with an image that consumers aspire to. We've got distribution through the Coca-Cola system, which is probably the best distribution system in the world, and great relationships with the Coca-Cola bottlers and also with The Coca-Cola Company. We could talk about that maybe later if there's time. They're always looking for energy, they need energy, and we are supplying that energy. they're always looking for energy they need energy and we are supplying that energy Against that factor, we are an image-related brand that serves a real function to a consumer. against that factor we are an image-related brand that serves a real function to a consumer As the pricing mechanisms in the market have taken place since COVID, we're actually very favorably and economically priced relative to ready-to-drink coffees from coffee houses, and in fact, CSDs as well. as the pricing mechanisms in the market have taken place since covid we're actually very favorably and economically priced relative to ready-to-drink coffees from coffee houses and in fact csds as well You put all that together, you've got a category that's driven by need, with an image that consumers aspire to. you put all that together you've got a category that's driven by need with an image that consumers aspire to We've got distribution through the Coca-Cola system, which is probably the best distribution system in the world, and great relationships with the Coca-Cola bottlers and also with The Coca-Cola Company. we've got distribution through the coca-cola system which is probably the best distribution system in the world and great relationships with the coca-cola bottlers and also with the coca-cola company We could talk about that maybe later if there's time. we could talk about that maybe later if there's time All in all, you have a consumer that's motivated to buy the product that we giving, I believe, the product at the right price. Overall, we have a range of different products today and different offerings from the mainstream offerings, the Monster through our strategic brands, some of the brands we acquired from The Coca-Cola Company at the time we did the deal in 2015, the redirection of the restructuring of interests. We have that, and we also have our affordable brands, which are really geared towards those countries where the consumers cannot afford a Monster drink, and we've tailor-made affordable brands to service that market. Affordable brands are now in about 39 countries in the world. They're growing as well as the market develops. I really believe we're in our infancy. All in all, you have a consumer that's motivated to buy the product that we giving, I believe, the product at the right price. all in all you have a consumer that's motivated to buy the product that we giving i believe the product at the right price Overall, we have a range of different products today and different offerings from the mainstream offerings, the Monster through our strategic brands, some of the brands we acquired from The Coca-Cola Company at the time we did the deal in 2015, the redirection of the restructuring of interests. overall we have a range of different products today and different offerings from the mainstream offerings the monster through our strategic brands some of the brands we acquired from the coca-cola company at the time we did the deal in 2015 the redirection of the restructuring of interests We have that, and we also have our affordable brands, which are really geared towards those countries where the consumers cannot afford a Monster drink, and we've tailor-made affordable brands to service that market. we have that and we also have our affordable brands which are really geared towards those countries where the consumers cannot afford a monster drink and we've tailor-made affordable brands to service that market Affordable brands are now in about 39 countries in the world. affordable brands are now in about 39 countries in the world They're growing as well as the market develops. they're growing as well as the market develops I really believe we're in our infancy. i really believe we're in our infancy There's a lot of runway for us, and we're doing what we can to continue to achieve growth. We had great growth in the first quarter. As those of you who read the first quarterly statement saw, all regions were in double-digit growth. Some regions, like Guy, was in, I don't know, multi times that, which is something we're really proud of because the category in EMEA is a lot older than the category in the U.S. Maybe Guy could talk a little bit about that and get his sentiments on what he sees as the opportunities in the business and the pillars that are important to our consumers. There's a lot of runway for us, and we're doing what we can to continue to achieve growth. there's a lot of runway for us and we're doing what we can to continue to achieve growth We had great growth in the first quarter. we had great growth in the first quarter As those of you who read the first quarterly statement saw, all regions were in double-digit growth. as those of you who read the first quarterly statement saw all regions were in double-digit growth Some regions, like Guy, was in, I don't know, multi times that, which is something we're really proud of because the category in EMEA is a lot older than the category in the U.S. some regions like guy was in i don't know multi times that which is something we're really proud of because the category in emea is a lot older than the category in the u.s Maybe Guy could talk a little bit about that and get his sentiments on what he sees as the opportunities in the business and the pillars that are important to our consumers. maybe guy could talk a little bit about that and get his sentiments on what he sees as the opportunities in the business and the pillars that are important to our consumers

Speaker 1: Thank you, Hilton. The category is older in EMEA, not across the board, but has been around for longer. I think what's exciting about the category is it continues to evolve structurally from a consumer perspective. Essentially, energy drinks have become an everyday beverage. There's a strong value proposition, there's strong brand equity, there's functionality, and there's innovation across zero sugar and sugar energy drinks. That's taking energy into a multi-occasion, multi-daypart kind of beverage. We see energy drinks increasingly consumed across all the dayparts, but also by consumers in multi-dayparts, not just one time of day. Across occasions, the basic, I need energy, but also from relaxing at home. Energy is now 30% of consumers drink it as a treat, as well as for sport, as well as on the go, as well as the kind of generic pick me up. Thank you, Hilton. thank you hilton The category is older in EMEA, not across the board, but has been around for longer. the category is older in emea not across the board but has been around for longer I think what's exciting about the category is it continues to evolve structurally from a consumer perspective. i think what's exciting about the category is it continues to evolve structurally from a consumer perspective Essentially, energy drinks have become an everyday beverage. essentially energy drinks have become an everyday beverage There's a strong value proposition, there's strong brand equity, there's functionality, and there's innovation across zero sugar and sugar energy drinks. there's a strong value proposition there's strong brand equity there's functionality and there's innovation across zero sugar and sugar energy drinks That's taking energy into a multi-occasion, multi-daypart kind of beverage. that's taking energy into a multi-occasion multi-daypart kind of beverage We see energy drinks increasingly consumed across all the dayparts, but also by consumers in multi-dayparts, not just one time of day. we see energy drinks increasingly consumed across all the dayparts but also by consumers in multi-dayparts not just one time of day Across occasions, the basic, I need energy, but also from relaxing at home. across occasions the basic i need energy but also from relaxing at home Energy is now 30% of consumers drink it as a treat, as well as for sport, as well as on the go, as well as the kind of generic pick me up. energy is now 30% of consumers drink it as a treat as well as for sport as well as on the go as well as the kind of generic pick me up Across the piece, the category's just broadened its kind of profile. That means it's able to recruit consumers, both male and female, across all age groups. I think in EMEA at the moment, we've got 30% of consumers coming into the category on an annual basis. It's a huge amount of recruitment into the category. I think the product offerings enable, and the kind of relevance of the products to people's daily lives, enable people to stay in the category, and then ultimately increase their consumption. Through the offerings, we're seeing 20% of energy consumers are buying more energy than they were a year ago. There's more consumers buying more and staying in the category through dayparts and through the age group. Across the piece, the category's just broadened its kind of profile. across the piece the category's just broadened its kind of profile That means it's able to recruit consumers, both male and female, across all age groups. that means it's able to recruit consumers both male and female across all age groups I think in EMEA at the moment, we've got 30% of consumers coming into the category on an annual basis. i think in emea at the moment we've got 30% of consumers coming into the category on an annual basis It's a huge amount of recruitment into the category. it's a huge amount of recruitment into the category I think the product offerings enable, and the kind of relevance of the products to people's daily lives, enable people to stay in the category, and then ultimately increase their consumption. i think the product offerings enable and the kind of relevance of the products to people's daily lives enable people to stay in the category and then ultimately increase their consumption Through the offerings, we're seeing 20% of energy consumers are buying more energy than they were a year ago. through the offerings we're seeing 20% of energy consumers are buying more energy than they were a year ago There's more consumers buying more and staying in the category through dayparts and through the age group. there's more consumers buying more and staying in the category through dayparts and through the age group

Speaker 4: Yeah. Very good. Philippe, let's talk a little bit about your region as well, because it's the region with significant per capita headroom, where affordable energy is really laying the groundwork for what I think can be very explosive category growth and development. How are you positioning the business against those opportunities and how do you frame the opportunities? Yeah. yeah Very good. very good Philippe, let's talk a little bit about your region as well, because it's the region with significant per capita headroom, where affordable energy is really laying the groundwork for what I think can be very explosive category growth and development. philippe let's talk a little bit about your region as well because it's the region with significant per capita headroom where affordable energy is really laying the groundwork for what i think can be very explosive category growth and development How are you positioning the business against those opportunities and how do you frame the opportunities? how are you positioning the business against those opportunities and how do you frame the opportunities

Speaker 5: Okay. You are very right, if we look at South Asia, Southeast Asia, East China, you have more than 4 billion people in that part of the world. It's half of the world's population which is living over there, and the category is underdeveloped. Okay. Hilton told you about the U.S., Guy about Europe. In the U.S., the per capita consumption is 54. In Europe, it's 38. On average, in Asia, it's 12. Okay. It's just showing you have half of the population, which is only drinking 12 serving per person per year on average, which is showing the size of the opportunity. The category is underdeveloped, but now growing. Okay. okay You are very right, if we look at South Asia, Southeast Asia, East China, you have more than 4 billion people in that part of the world. you are very right if we look at south asia southeast asia east china you have more than 4 billion people in that part of the world It's half of the world's population which is living over there, and the category is underdeveloped. it's half of the world's population which is living over there and the category is underdeveloped Okay. okay Hilton told you about the U.S., Guy about Europe. hilton told you about the u.s guy about europe In the U.S., the per capita consumption is 54. in the u.s the per capita consumption is 54 In Europe, it's 38. in europe it's 38 On average, in Asia, it's 12. on average in asia it's 12 Okay. okay It's just showing you have half of the population, which is only drinking 12 serving per person per year on average, which is showing the size of the opportunity. it's just showing you have half of the population which is only drinking 12 serving per person per year on average which is showing the size of the opportunity The category is underdeveloped, but now growing. the category is underdeveloped but now growing We have seen in a place like India, where the category is even less developed, the consumption per person in India is only five. Okay? It was less than one five years ago. We have seen in a place like India, where the category is even less developed, the consumption per person in India is only five. we have seen in a place like india where the category is even less developed the consumption per person in india is only five Okay? okay It was less than one five years ago. it was less than one five years ago Okay. It is showing that in all these countries, when we find the right product at the right price, in the right pack, in the right channel, for the right occasion, we are able to unlock the potential of the category. Asia is very complex because you have a country that is diverse as Japan or India, if I take the other side of the spectrum. We really now segmented East Asia in two different segment, what we looked at the developed market, your Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, which are more premium market where we are very happy with Monster. We are now leader in the vast majority of this market with significant shares. The other category is very similar to what you have heard from Guy. Okay. Category is already developed, is premium. Okay. okay It is showing that in all these countries, when we find the right product at the right price, in the right pack, in the right channel, for the right occasion, we are able to unlock the potential of the category. it is showing that in all these countries when we find the right product at the right price in the right pack in the right channel for the right occasion we are able to unlock the potential of the category Asia is very complex because you have a country that is diverse as Japan or India, if I take the other side of the spectrum. asia is very complex because you have a country that is diverse as japan or india if i take the other side of the spectrum We really now segmented East Asia in two different segment, what we looked at the developed market, your Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, which are more premium market where we are very happy with Monster. we really now segmented east asia in two different segment what we looked at the developed market your japan korea taiwan hong kong singapore which are more premium market where we are very happy with monster We are now leader in the vast majority of this market with significant shares. we are now leader in the vast majority of this market with significant shares The other category is very similar to what you have heard from Guy. the other category is very similar to what you have heard from guy Okay. okay Category is already developed, is premium. category is already developed is premium We continue to innovate, continue to develop new occasion, continue to chase every distribution opportunity. For instance, in Japan, we are distributed by Asahi. Okay? Which is the last country where we are not with the Coke system. On the back of that, we just agreed with CCBJI, which is the main Coca-Cola bottler system, to be in their vending machine because they see the category as an incremental opportunity for them. In the developed market, it's continued innovation, distribution, making our brand more relevant to more people. In the developing market, your South Asia, your Southeast Asia, China, it first is maximizing the Monster opportunity. There are 4 billion people. We believe there are dozens of millions of people who can afford Monster, who like the lifestyle of Monster, who like the taste of Monster, and first is maximizing the opportunity for them. We continue to innovate, continue to develop new occasion, continue to chase every distribution opportunity. we continue to innovate continue to develop new occasion continue to chase every distribution opportunity For instance, in Japan, we are distributed by Asahi. for instance in japan we are distributed by asahi Okay? okay Which is the last country where we are not with the Coke system. which is the last country where we are not with the coke system On the back of that, we just agreed with CCBJI, which is the main Coca-Cola bottler system, to be in their vending machine because they see the category as an incremental opportunity for them. on the back of that we just agreed with ccbji which is the main coca-cola bottler system to be in their vending machine because they see the category as an incremental opportunity for them In the developed market, it's continued innovation, distribution, making our brand more relevant to more people. in the developed market it's continued innovation distribution making our brand more relevant to more people In the developing market, your South Asia, your Southeast Asia, China, it first is maximizing the Monster opportunity. in the developing market your south asia your southeast asia china it first is maximizing the monster opportunity There are 4 billion people. there are 4 billion people We believe there are dozens of millions of people who can afford Monster, who like the lifestyle of Monster, who like the taste of Monster, and first is maximizing the opportunity for them. we believe there are dozens of millions of people who can afford monster who like the lifestyle of monster who like the taste of monster and first is maximizing the opportunity for them It will not be everyone. Now in every of these countries, we found a way to recruit new consumer with Monster. Okay, we'll talk about China and India a bit later, we now for instance launched Monster in Thailand. Monster was not in Thailand. We launched with Swire in Thailand in Q1, because we adjusted some of our proposition, our distribution. We found the right consumer for Monster in Thailand. On the developing, or the more affordable side, we have been adjusting our proposition. Okay. First, Asia is a vast majority of what consumer are drinking South Asia and China is non-carbonated, which need a different taste, needs a different packaging to reach the right price point. It will not be everyone. it will not be everyone Now in every of these countries, we found a way to recruit new consumer with Monster. now in every of these countries we found a way to recruit new consumer with monster Okay, we'll talk about China and India a bit later, we now for instance launched Monster in Thailand. okay we'll talk about china and india a bit later we now for instance launched monster in thailand Monster was not in Thailand. monster was not in thailand We launched with Swire in Thailand in Q 1, because we adjusted some of our proposition, our distribution. we launched with swire in thailand in q 1 because we adjusted some of our proposition our distribution We found the right consumer for Monster in Thailand. we found the right consumer for monster in thailand On the developing, or the more affordable side, we have been adjusting our proposition. on the developing or the more affordable side we have been adjusting our proposition Okay. okay First, Asia is a vast majority of what consumer are drinking South Asia and China is non-carbonated, which need a different taste, needs a different packaging to reach the right price point. first asia is a vast majority of what consumer are drinking south asia and china is non-carbonated which need a different taste needs a different packaging to reach the right price point We have been learning over the past years to say, how do we complement Monster with the right proposition, which is helping us to enter a full new segment where we never offer the right product to the right consumers. In the part where it is carbonated, it's a matter of finding out to have the right price and the right pack. We just launched Pakistan two weeks ago, where you have now 250 million consumers we're not serving until now, and we are unlocking these type of opportunities in the more developing part of Asia. We have been learning over the past years to say, how do we complement Monster with the right proposition, which is helping us to enter a full new segment where we never offer the right product to the right consumers. we have been learning over the past years to say how do we complement monster with the right proposition which is helping us to enter a full new segment where we never offer the right product to the right consumers In the part where it is carbonated, it's a matter of finding out to have the right price and the right pack. in the part where it is carbonated it's a matter of finding out to have the right price and the right pack We just launched Pakistan two weeks ago, where you have now 250 million consumers we're not serving until now, and we are unlocking these type of opportunities in the more developing part of Asia. we just launched pakistan two weeks ago where you have now 250 million consumers we're not serving until now and we are unlocking these type of opportunities in the more developing part of asia

Speaker 4: Very good. Very good. Hilton, Philippe kind of makes an interesting observation. I mean, the company over time has become more and more a portfolio of brands, within energy. Obviously, Monster's still at the core. In order to address different consumer needs, the company's evolved the portfolio to introduce brands to serve those needs. As you think about the growth opportunities over time, how much of those opportunities is Monster able to serve? How far can that brand go without diluting the magic that represents this core to the brand, versus how much of growth is going to be reliant on kind of satellite brands that you've developed in support of Monster? Very good. very good Very good. very good Hilton, Philippe kind of makes an interesting observation. hilton philippe kind of makes an interesting observation I mean, the company over time has become more and more a portfolio of brands, within energy. i mean the company over time has become more and more a portfolio of brands within energy Obviously, Monster's still at the core. obviously monster's still at the core In order to address different consumer needs, the company's evolved the portfolio to introduce brands to serve those needs. in order to address different consumer needs the company's evolved the portfolio to introduce brands to serve those needs As you think about the growth opportunities over time, how much of those opportunities is Monster able to serve? as you think about the growth opportunities over time how much of those opportunities is monster able to serve How far can that brand go without diluting the magic that represents this core to the brand, versus how much of growth is going to be reliant on kind of satellite brands that you've developed in support of Monster? how far can that brand go without diluting the magic that represents this core to the brand versus how much of growth is going to be reliant on kind of satellite brands that you've developed in support of monster

Speaker 2: That's a great question because the Monster demographic is very clearly 28 to 35-year-old males. That's the demographic. What's happened is the demographic has broadened as some of our consumers have got older. Also, women are huge participants in the energy category today. We're in discussions, we had meetings with CCI and Hellenic and CCEP here in Paris. The numbers in the European markets, almost 45/55, which is very different to how the brand started. In the U.S., we see that there are big opportunities to address the woman consumer. Traditionally, we've had a 16-ounce can, which is 473 mL, and that's been the can that we've used extensively other than for some new products, which I'll talk about. We're now directing 12-ounce size cans really to address a more female-forward market. That's a great question because the Monster demographic is very clearly 28 to 35-year-old males. that's a great question because the monster demographic is very clearly 28 to 35-year-old males That's the demographic. that's the demographic What's happened is the demographic has broadened as some of our consumers have got older. what's happened is the demographic has broadened as some of our consumers have got older Also, women are huge participants in the energy category today. also women are huge participants in the energy category today We're in discussions, we had meetings with CCI and Hellenic and CCEP here in Paris. we're in discussions we had meetings with cci and hellenic and ccep here in paris The numbers in the European markets, almost 45/55, which is very different to how the brand started. the numbers in the european markets almost 45/55 which is very different to how the brand started In the U.S., we see that there are big opportunities to address the woman consumer. in the u.s we see that there are big opportunities to address the woman consumer Traditionally, we've had a 16-ounce can, which is 473 mL, and that's been the can that we've used extensively other than for some new products, which I'll talk about. traditionally we've had a 16-ounce can which is 473 ml and that's been the can that we've used extensively other than for some new products which i'll talk about We're now directing 12-ounce size cans really to address a more female-forward market. we're now directing 12-ounce size cans really to address a more female-forward market The research that we've done, is that people don't want waste, women don't want waste, and they'd rather get a product that's a size that's convenient for them to drink. That's something we're addressing. That'll be in the Monster Ultra line because we're still very passionate about Monster, and we believe that Monster can gravitate into other parts of the new consumers in the energy drink category. I mean, what have we done already? We've got Rehab, which is tea. We've got Java Monster, which is our coffee line that we've had for many years. We have regular Monsters, we have Juice Monster, we have Monsters that are zero sugar, the Ultra line. Which today, the Ultra line, if it stood on its own, it would be the third-biggest category in the United States. The research that we've done, is that people don't want waste, women don't want waste, and they'd rather get a product that's a size that's convenient for them to drink. the research that we've done is that people don't want waste women don't want waste and they'd rather get a product that's a size that's convenient for them to drink That's something we're addressing. that's something we're addressing That'll be in the Monster Ultra line because we're still very passionate about Monster, and we believe that Monster can gravitate into other parts of the new consumers in the energy drink category. that'll be in the monster ultra line because we're still very passionate about monster and we believe that monster can gravitate into other parts of the new consumers in the energy drink category I mean, what have we done already? i mean what have we done already We've got Rehab, which is tea. we've got rehab which is tea We've got Java Monster, which is our coffee line that we've had for many years. we've got java monster which is our coffee line that we've had for many years We have regular Monsters, we have Juice Monster, we have Monsters that are zero sugar, the Ultra line. we have regular monsters we have juice monster we have monsters that are zero sugar the ultra line Which today, the Ultra line, if it stood on its own, it would be the third-biggest category in the United States. which today the ultra line if it stood on its own it would be the third-biggest category in the united states It's the third-biggest energy group of brands in the U.S. after Monster and Red Bull. Monster and Red Bull are always kind of neck and neck. Last week, we were exactly the same in the U.S. This week, if those of you read Weekly Nielsen, we're ahead of them. Next week, I don't know. I hope we'll stay ahead of them. That's the way the U.S. market has emerged. We do performance energy. That we do under a very different brand. It's called Reign. We do that under a different brand. We have other brands for wellness, called Storm. Other brands for particular parts of the market. Affordable, we use Predator and Fury, depending on trademarks. We have a great brand that we bought as a result of the Bang collapse. It's the third-biggest energy group of brands in the U.S. after Monster and Red Bull. it's the third-biggest energy group of brands in the u.s after monster and red bull Monster and Red Bull are always kind of neck and neck. monster and red bull are always kind of neck and neck Last week, we were exactly the same in the U.S. last week we were exactly the same in the u.s This week, if those of you read Weekly Nielsen, we're ahead of them. this week if those of you read weekly nielsen we're ahead of them Next week, I don't know. next week i don't know I hope we'll stay ahead of them. i hope we'll stay ahead of them That's the way the U.S. market has emerged. that's the way the u.s market has emerged We do performance energy. we do performance energy That we do under a very different brand. that we do under a very different brand It's called Reign. it's called reign We do that under a different brand. we do that under a different brand We have other brands for wellness, called Storm. we have other brands for wellness called storm Other brands for particular parts of the market. other brands for particular parts of the market Affordable, we use Predator and Fury, depending on trademarks. affordable we use predator and fury depending on trademarks We have a great brand that we bought as a result of the Bang collapse. we have a great brand that we bought as a result of the bang collapse Bang is a really good brand, and we're using that to test. We sell it in the U.S., and we're doing that to test as affordable in some markets internationally and in Europe and in fact, in Asia. I think that we believe we have the ability to use Monster in a particular fashion, but then we also have the ability to create new brands to address particular markets that we don't think will resonate well with the Monster brand. Bang is a really good brand, and we're using that to test. bang is a really good brand and we're using that to test We sell it in the U.S., and we're doing that to test as affordable in some markets internationally and in Europe and in fact, in Asia. we sell it in the u.s and we're doing that to test as affordable in some markets internationally and in europe and in fact in asia I think that we believe we have the ability to use Monster in a particular fashion, but then we also have the ability to create new brands to address particular markets that we don't think will resonate well with the Monster brand. i think that we believe we have the ability to use monster in a particular fashion but then we also have the ability to create new brands to address particular markets that we don't think will resonate well with the monster brand

Speaker 4: One brand you didn't mention is the brand you've just recently introduced, FLRT, in the U.S. One brand you didn't mention is the brand you've just recently introduced, FLRT, in the U.S. one brand you didn't mention is the brand you've just recently introduced flrt in the u.s

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's directed to a female-forward consumer. We're testing that in certain markets where that demographic shops. Yeah, that's directed to a female-forward consumer. yeah that's directed to a female-forward consumer We're testing that in certain markets where that demographic shops. we're testing that in certain markets where that demographic shops We've spoken about it on our calls, and we're keeping a very close eye on it. We're monitoring its progress. It launched a month or so ago. The media is about to kick off, and it's very much directed. We've got a total woman structured management team that's running that brand. They've just kicked off the media. I don't want to talk too much about it until we know the green shoots are actually growing. We do, we have this brand called FLRT, which I think should do well. Again, it's in the hands of the consumer and the brand's just been launched. We've spoken about it on our calls, and we're keeping a very close eye on it. we've spoken about it on our calls and we're keeping a very close eye on it We're monitoring its progress. we're monitoring its progress It launched a month or so ago. it launched a month or so ago The media is about to kick off, and it's very much directed. the media is about to kick off and it's very much directed We've got a total woman structured management team that's running that brand. we've got a total woman structured management team that's running that brand They've just kicked off the media. they've just kicked off the media I don't want to talk too much about it until we know the green shoots are actually growing. i don't want to talk too much about it until we know the green shoots are actually growing We do, we have this brand called FLRT, which I think should do well. we do we have this brand called flrt which i think should do well Again, it's in the hands of the consumer and the brand's just been launched. again it's in the hands of the consumer and the brand's just been launched

Speaker 4: Great. Guy, as we think about that theme as it relates to your markets, as you mentioned, in some ways, the original energy drink markets here in Europe. At the same time, the market is maybe less developed in some of the zero sugar, fitness-oriented brands that we've seen disrupt the category in the U.S. How do you think about positioning the portfolio here in EMEA to maybe get ahead of those trends and make sure that Monster is at the lead? Great. great Guy, as we think about that theme as it relates to your markets, as you mentioned, in some ways, the original energy drink markets here in Europe. guy as we think about that theme as it relates to your markets as you mentioned in some ways the original energy drink markets here in europe At the same time, the market is maybe less developed in some of the zero sugar, fitness-oriented brands that we've seen disrupt the category in the U.S. at the same time the market is maybe less developed in some of the zero sugar fitness-oriented brands that we've seen disrupt the category in the u.s How do you think about positioning the portfolio here in EMEA to maybe get ahead of those trends and make sure that Monster is at the lead? how do you think about positioning the portfolio here in emea to maybe get ahead of those trends and make sure that monster is at the lead

Speaker 1: I think it's been interesting to see how the energy category, whilst being older in Europe than the U.S., has developed in slightly different ways over time. I think one of the things we see in Europe especially is less segmentation than is in the U.S., I think that Red Bull and Monster that have been around for a long period of time occupy a large piece of consumer consumption in some of those segments. We've seen, you've all heard, and the phenomenon that's been on social media, white Monster, but Ultra White, which, just even this year, according to Nielsen, is growing over 50%. It's a 12-year-old SKU. It's one of our lead SKUs and is growing over 50%. When we first took brands like Reign into gyms, we've discovered Ultra was already there. I think it's been interesting to see how the energy category, whilst being older in Europe than the U.S., has developed in slightly different ways over time. i think it's been interesting to see how the energy category whilst being older in europe than the u.s has developed in slightly different ways over time I think one of the things we see in Europe especially is less segmentation than is in the U.S., I think that Red Bull and Monster that have been around for a long period of time occupy a large piece of consumer consumption in some of those segments. i think one of the things we see in europe especially is less segmentation than is in the u.s i think that red bull and monster that have been around for a long period of time occupy a large piece of consumer consumption in some of those segments We've seen, you've all heard, and the phenomenon that's been on social media, white Monster, but Ultra White, which, just even this year, according to Nielsen, is growing over 50%. we've seen you've all heard and the phenomenon that's been on social media white monster but ultra white which just even this year according to nielsen is growing over 50% It's a 12-year-old SKU. it's a 12-year-old sku It's one of our lead SKUs and is growing over 50%. it's one of our lead skus and is growing over 50% When we first took brands like Reign into gyms, we've discovered Ultra was already there. when we first took brands like reign into gyms we've discovered ultra was already there Ultra, as a brand platform, and again, here would be the number two brand in Europe, is 50% female and is 50% male. It's actually bringing in female consumers in line with the category. I think we see a strong role for our core business in Monster. Our fantastic relationship with the bottling partners, again, we met with CCEP, with Coca-Cola HBC this week, are taking our existing Monster SKUs into more and more channels of distribution, especially away-from-home food service, and it's giving the fan favorites a platform in channels and occasions that it wasn't previously available. We're also increasing our multi-pack business of those core foundation SKUs, the fan favorites, so people can take four packs, nine packs, 12 packs home, ready for a treat, ready to relax at home. Ultra, as a brand platform, and again, here would be the number two brand in Europe, is 50% female and is 50% male. ultra as a brand platform and again here would be the number two brand in europe is 50% female and is 50% male It's actually bringing in female consumers in line with the category. it's actually bringing in female consumers in line with the category I think we see a strong role for our core business in Monster. i think we see a strong role for our core business in monster Our fantastic relationship with the bottling partners, again, we met with CCEP, with Coca-Cola HBC this week, are taking our existing Monster SKUs into more and more channels of distribution, especially away-from-home food service, and it's giving the fan favorites a platform in channels and occasions that it wasn't previously available. our fantastic relationship with the bottling partners again we met with ccep with coca-cola hbc this week are taking our existing monster skus into more and more channels of distribution especially away-from-home food service and it's giving the fan favorites a platform in channels and occasions that it wasn't previously available We're also increasing our multi-pack business of those core foundation SKUs, the fan favorites, so people can take four packs, nine packs, 12 packs home, ready for a treat, ready to relax at home. we're also increasing our multi-pack business of those core foundation skus the fan favorites so people can take four packs nine packs 12 packs home ready for a treat ready to relax at home We're getting half of our growth, and I think that's what we're excited about, from our base business. That is different from the rest of the category. We're getting half of our growth, and I think that's what we're excited about, from our base business. we're getting half of our growth and i think that's what we're excited about from our base business That is different from the rest of the category. that is different from the rest of the category

Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: The category as a whole is in a decent double-digit growth. Outside of Monster, it's predominantly through innovation. The category as a whole is in a decent double-digit growth. the category as a whole is in a decent double-digit growth Outside of Monster, it's predominantly through innovation. outside of monster it's predominantly through innovation

Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: We're actually growing in line with the category from that existing base Monster business and SKUs, and then we're getting an extra double-digit growth from our innovation. We're actually growing in line with the category from that existing base Monster business and SKUs, and then we're getting an extra double-digit growth from our innovation. we're actually growing in line with the category from that existing base monster business and skus and then we're getting an extra double-digit growth from our innovation

Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 1: The innovation is coming in sugar. This year we talked on the call, our Viking Berry product was the best innovation launch, most successful we've ever had in Europe. Full sugar. We've got a really strong consumer base that wants full sugar. About 47% of our consumers only drink sugared energy, sort of deliberately so. We've got innovation there. We've got innovation in the Ultra line. Innovation last year, Lando Norris, Zero Sugar, was brilliant. 25% of its consumers were new to the category, 25% were new to the brand, 25% were drinking more as a result of the innovation. Obviously tied in with a wonderful asset, a hero people could sort of hold in their hand as they were consuming. Innovation is a huge part of what we do. The innovation is coming in sugar. the innovation is coming in sugar This year we talked on the call, our Viking Berry product was the best innovation launch, most successful we've ever had in Europe. this year we talked on the call our viking berry product was the best innovation launch most successful we've ever had in europe Full sugar. full sugar We've got a really strong consumer base that wants full sugar. we've got a really strong consumer base that wants full sugar About 47% of our consumers only drink sugared energy, sort of deliberately so. about 47% of our consumers only drink sugared energy sort of deliberately so We've got innovation there. we've got innovation there We've got innovation in the Ultra line. we've got innovation in the ultra line Innovation last year, Lando Norris, Zero Sugar, was brilliant. 25% of its consumers were new to the category, 25% were new to the brand, 25% were drinking more as a result of the innovation. innovation last year lando norris zero sugar was brilliant 25% of its consumers were new to the category 25% were new to the brand 25% were drinking more as a result of the innovation Obviously tied in with a wonderful asset, a hero people could sort of hold in their hand as they were consuming. obviously tied in with a wonderful asset a hero people could sort of hold in their hand as they were consuming Innovation is a huge part of what we do. innovation is a huge part of what we do I think growing our business 55% through the existing SKUs and 45% through innovation to grow ahead of the category is a real kind of foundation for the future. The portfolio, the strategic brands that we've had since the Coke deal, over time, Relentless in U.K., Nalu in Belgium, Burn across countries, play a really important role. It's a different consumer looking for a different lifestyle, different price point, different personality. The affordable business we have with Predator and Fury in Africa, I think is really important. It's affordable vis-à-vis European pricing, but in Africa, it is just mainstream energy. I think growing our business 55% through the existing SKUs and 45% through innovation to grow ahead of the category is a real kind of foundation for the future. i think growing our business 55% through the existing skus and 45% through innovation to grow ahead of the category is a real kind of foundation for the future The portfolio, the strategic brands that we've had since the Coke deal, over time, Relentless in U.K., Nalu in Belgium, Burn across countries, play a really important role. the portfolio the strategic brands that we've had since the coke deal over time relentless in u.k nalu in belgium burn across countries play a really important role It's a different consumer looking for a different lifestyle, different price point, different personality. it's a different consumer looking for a different lifestyle different price point different personality The affordable business we have with Predator and Fury in Africa, I think is really important. the affordable business we have with predator and fury in africa i think is really important It's affordable vis-à-vis European pricing, but in Africa, it is just mainstream energy. it's affordable vis-à-vis european pricing but in africa it is just mainstream energy

Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: The pricing compared to CSD matches that from Monster in Europe, and it plays that same role. It has equity, it has a value proposition, it has fans. We do marketing to support it. Across Africa, we've seen Predator and Fury turn into the most valuable brand in Africa from a Nielsen sales perspective. The pricing compared to CSD matches that from Monster in Europe, and it plays that same role. the pricing compared to csd matches that from monster in europe and it plays that same role It has equity, it has a value proposition, it has fans. it has equity it has a value proposition it has fans We do marketing to support it. we do marketing to support it Across Africa, we've seen Predator and Fury turn into the most valuable brand in Africa from a Nielsen sales perspective. across africa we've seen predator and fury turn into the most valuable brand in africa from a nielsen sales perspective

Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: Different things for different places and different consumers. Different things for different places and different consumers. different things for different places and different consumers

Speaker 4: Yeah. Each of you have mentioned partnership with Coke, so let's spend a minute there, because I think from the outside, that partnership has, well, partnerships both with Coke and the bottlers, seems to have only strengthened over time. It's at a time when we just talked about, there are more brands that are being activated within the Monster portfolio. There's more innovation. We'll talk about that in a bit. There's more packages, there's more sophisticated revenue growth management, all of which is not able to be accomplished by you alone, right? It's in partnership with the Coke system. Yeah. yeah Each of you have mentioned partnership with Coke, so let's spend a minute there, because I think from the outside, that partnership has, well, partnerships both with Coke and the bottlers, seems to have only strengthened over time. each of you have mentioned partnership with coke so let's spend a minute there because i think from the outside that partnership has well partnerships both with coke and the bottlers seems to have only strengthened over time It's at a time when we just talked about, there are more brands that are being activated within the Monster portfolio. it's at a time when we just talked about there are more brands that are being activated within the monster portfolio There's more innovation. there's more innovation We'll talk about that in a bit. we'll talk about that in a bit There's more packages, there's more sophisticated revenue growth management, all of which is not able to be accomplished by you alone, right? there's more packages there's more sophisticated revenue growth management all of which is not able to be accomplished by you alone right It's in partnership with the Coke system. it's in partnership with the coke system

Speaker 2: Yeah, we could never operate without the Coca-Cola system. In the U.S. it was somewhat easy, but internationally, it is an issue because when we started off internationally, we had to find distributors. It was tough to find them. There were a lot of trademark issues, a lot of issues dealing with competitors. The one good thing that we've achieved with the Coca-Cola organization, and particularly with the bottlers, is a seamless manner of operating a business where they are the distribution partner. Yeah, we could never operate without the Coca-Cola system. yeah we could never operate without the coca-cola system In the U.S. it was somewhat easy, but internationally, it is an issue because when we started off internationally, we had to find distributors. in the u.s it was somewhat easy but internationally it is an issue because when we started off internationally we had to find distributors It was tough to find them. it was tough to find them There were a lot of trademark issues, a lot of issues dealing with competitors. there were a lot of trademark issues a lot of issues dealing with competitors The one good thing that we've achieved with the Coca-Cola organization, and particularly with the bottlers, is a seamless manner of operating a business where they are the distribution partner. the one good thing that we've achieved with the coca-cola organization and particularly with the bottlers is a seamless manner of operating a business where they are the distribution partner We haven't had to go and look for distribution partners. We haven't had to analyze the better and the worst. This is a long-term relationship, and it's worked really well with the bottlers. With the company, we have a great relationship with Enrique coming on board, and John Murphy, and we're working together to build a great business. We haven't had to go and look for distribution partners. we haven't had to go and look for distribution partners We haven't had to analyze the better and the worst. we haven't had to analyze the better and the worst This is a long-term relationship, and it's worked really well with the bottlers. this is a long-term relationship and it's worked really well with the bottlers With the company, we have a great relationship with Enrique coming on board, and John Murphy, and we're working together to build a great business. with the company we have a great relationship with enrique coming on board and john murphy and we're working together to build a great business

Speaker 4: Okay. I mentioned more innovation. Guy talked a little bit about it in EMEA, but in the U.S. you've got limited time offers coming into the market really for the first time. You've added some splashes of flavor, strawberry to the core Monster. These are things we haven't seen Monster do before. At the same time, there's a big push right now on more sophisticated price pack architecture, RGM. Maybe talk about how that evolved, why now is the right time, and how much runway you see on those initiatives. Okay. okay I mentioned more innovation. i mentioned more innovation Guy talked a little bit about it in EMEA, but in the U.S. you've got limited time offers coming into the market really for the first time. guy talked a little bit about it in emea but in the u.s you've got limited time offers coming into the market really for the first time You've added some splashes of flavor, strawberry to the core Monster. you've added some splashes of flavor strawberry to the core monster These are things we haven't seen Monster do before. these are things we haven't seen monster do before At the same time, there's a big push right now on more sophisticated price pack architecture, RGM. at the same time there's a big push right now on more sophisticated price pack architecture rgm Maybe talk about how that evolved, why now is the right time, and how much runway you see on those initiatives. maybe talk about how that evolved why now is the right time and how much runway you see on those initiatives

Speaker 2: Well, RGM, we always had an RGM department. Lately we've built it up and we're working more aggressively with that department on the basis of looking at the opportunities to increase price, opportunities for different packages, for different sizes. What Guy said earlier about EMEA is 100% true of the U.S. We've been in 4 packs for a long time. We've been in eight packs, we've been in 16 packs, we've been in 24 packs. The skills that this group is able to deliver to the organization is exactly what it should be doing, that is advising which packages, which sizes. For example, I spoke earlier about the 12 ounce. We've got a 12 ounce, 24 ounce 12 ounce, 24 pack, I'm sorry, that's going, for example, into the club channel. Well, RGM, we always had an RGM department. well rgm we always had an rgm department Lately we've built it up and we're working more aggressively with that department on the basis of looking at the opportunities to increase price, opportunities for different packages, for different sizes. lately we've built it up and we're working more aggressively with that department on the basis of looking at the opportunities to increase price opportunities for different packages for different sizes What Guy said earlier about EMEA is 100% true of the U.S. what guy said earlier about emea is 100% true of the u.s We've been in 4 packs for a long time. we've been in 4 packs for a long time We've been in eight packs, we've been in 16 packs, we've been in 24 packs. we've been in eight packs we've been in 16 packs we've been in 24 packs The skills that this group is able to deliver to the organization is exactly what it should be doing, that is advising which packages, which sizes. the skills that this group is able to deliver to the organization is exactly what it should be doing that is advising which packages which sizes For example, I spoke earlier about the 12 ounce. for example i spoke earlier about the 12 ounce We've got a 12 ounce, 24 ounce 12 ounce, 24 pack, I'm sorry, that's going, for example, into the club channel. we've got a 12 ounce 24 ounce 12 ounce 24 pack i'm sorry that's going for example into the club channel These are all initiatives that have been moved by the RGM department. The increase in price in November 1 was very much structured by that department, or advised by that department, because it wasn't a one-size-fits-all. It was a mix, and we said that on our calls, of different kind of structures for different markets. Some with promotional allowances, reduction promotional allowance, some with increases in prices. It's a kind of mix of the two. We've always had an aggressive innovation pipeline. As Guy mentioned, innovation, it always for us is incremental to the core. Our core grows, our sugar products grow. Our non-sugar products grow more than the sugar products. Overall we move ahead with innovation. We've always had good innovation. This year has been exceptional. These are all initiatives that have been moved by the RGM department. these are all initiatives that have been moved by the rgm department The increase in price in November 1 was very much structured by that department, or advised by that department, because it wasn't a one-size-fits-all. the increase in price in november 1 was very much structured by that department or advised by that department because it wasn't a one-size-fits-all It was a mix, and we said that on our calls, of different kind of structures for different markets. it was a mix and we said that on our calls of different kind of structures for different markets Some with promotional allowances, reduction promotional allowance, some with increases in prices. some with promotional allowances reduction promotional allowance some with increases in prices It's a kind of mix of the two. it's a kind of mix of the two We've always had an aggressive innovation pipeline. we've always had an aggressive innovation pipeline As Guy mentioned, innovation, it always for us is incremental to the core. as guy mentioned innovation it always for us is incremental to the core Our core grows, our sugar products grow. our core grows our sugar products grow Our non-sugar products grow more than the sugar products. our non-sugar products grow more than the sugar products Overall we move ahead with innovation. overall we move ahead with innovation We've always had good innovation. we've always had good innovation This year has been exceptional. this year has been exceptional We have the America's 250 celebration. We have a number of SKUs that are limited time offers that are addressing that particular situation, which is something very special in the U.S. We're really privileged to be able to offer products across the board to satisfy that kind of opportunity. We have limited time offers. We have a Monster Juice. We have Red, White, and Blue, which is an ultra line. If you look at the recent Nielsen, it's screamed right up near the top of the charts in the Nielsen SKUs. We have limited time offers for our Bang line, for our Reign line, and we also have a limited time offer, which we may keep as a permanent offer for one of our other brands that we acquired from The Coca-Cola Company, which is Full Throttle. We have the America's 250 celebration. we have the america's 250 celebration We have a number of SKUs that are limited time offers that are addressing that particular situation, which is something very special in the U.S. we have a number of skus that are limited time offers that are addressing that particular situation which is something very special in the u.s We're really privileged to be able to offer products across the board to satisfy that kind of opportunity. we're really privileged to be able to offer products across the board to satisfy that kind of opportunity We have limited time offers. we have limited time offers We have a Monster Juice. we have a monster juice We have Red, White, and Blue, which is an ultra line. we have red white and blue which is an ultra line If you look at the recent Nielsen, it's screamed right up near the top of the charts in the Nielsen SKUs. if you look at the recent nielsen it's screamed right up near the top of the charts in the nielsen skus We have limited time offers for our Bang line, for our Reign line, and we also have a limited time offer, which we may keep as a permanent offer for one of our other brands that we acquired from The Coca-Cola Company, which is Full Throttle. we have limited time offers for our bang line for our reign line and we also have a limited time offer which we may keep as a permanent offer for one of our other brands that we acquired from the coca-cola company which is full throttle There's a lot of great things that are happening this year. We've had a full calendar of innovation. Yes, we did, and have launched what we call our flavor shots. Initially, they were launched with strawberry in both regular and zero sugar variants, and actually are doing really nicely. In the autumn, we're coming with vanilla shots, which will be the traditional classical Monster Energy drink and the zero sugar drink with a shot of vanilla. It really does make a difference to the drink and gives the consumer an additional reason to purchase a product. There's a lot of great things that are happening this year. there's a lot of great things that are happening this year We've had a full calendar of innovation. we've had a full calendar of innovation Yes, we did, and have launched what we call our flavor shots. yes we did and have launched what we call our flavor shots Initially, they were launched with strawberry in both regular and zero sugar variants, and actually are doing really nicely. initially they were launched with strawberry in both regular and zero sugar variants and actually are doing really nicely In the autumn, we're coming with vanilla shots, which will be the traditional classical Monster Energy drink and the zero sugar drink with a shot of vanilla. in the autumn we're coming with vanilla shots which will be the traditional classical monster energy drink and the zero sugar drink with a shot of vanilla It really does make a difference to the drink and gives the consumer an additional reason to purchase a product. it really does make a difference to the drink and gives the consumer an additional reason to purchase a product

Speaker 4: Your confidence in the pipeline, one of the concerns is that there's so much this year, that so much incremental innovation that it'll be hard to cycle. How do you feel about that? Your confidence in the pipeline, one of the concerns is that there's so much this year, that so much incremental innovation that it'll be hard to cycle. your confidence in the pipeline one of the concerns is that there's so much this year that so much incremental innovation that it'll be hard to cycle How do you feel about that? how do you feel about that

Speaker 2: We've got a good calendar for uncertain. I won't talk much about it. There's a good innovation calendar for uncertain. Some of these LTOs, we may be bringing back as LTOs in uncertain, as well. These LTOs for the America's 250 could very well sit as a Fourth of July promotion. There's a lot of great things that are happening and we just got to stay true to our course and run our business, run our play, which is what we've always been. That's why we've never attended these conferences. We've been running our business. We have Mark Astrachan now, wherever he is, IR head. Oh, there he is at the back. He makes us come and do these conferences. We've got a good calendar for uncertain. we've got a good calendar for uncertain I won't talk much about it. i won't talk much about it There's a good innovation calendar for uncertain. there's a good innovation calendar for uncertain Some of these LTOs, we may be bringing back as LTOs in uncertain, as well. some of these ltos we may be bringing back as ltos in uncertain as well These LTOs for the America's 250 could very well sit as a Fourth of July promotion. these ltos for the america's 250 could very well sit as a fourth of july promotion There's a lot of great things that are happening and we just got to stay true to our course and run our business, run our play, which is what we've always been. there's a lot of great things that are happening and we just got to stay true to our course and run our business run our play which is what we've always been That's why we've never attended these conferences. that's why we've never attended these conferences We've been running our business. we've been running our business We have Mark Astrachan now, wherever he is, IR head. we have mark astrachan now wherever he is ir head Oh, there he is at the back. oh there he is at the back He makes us come and do these conferences. he makes us come and do these conferences

Speaker 4: Well, we all thank Mark. Philippe, maybe pivoting back to your markets and really focusing in on India and China. You mentioned just the huge theoretical runway for growth, which has been there for a long time, but it really feels like we're seeing inflection. I think India doubled essentially in the first quarter. To what do you attribute that spike? Do you think this is the moment where you can really start to scale those businesses? I guess some of the key initiatives you have in place to do so? Well, we all thank Mark. well we all thank mark Philippe, maybe pivoting back to your markets and really focusing in on India and China. philippe maybe pivoting back to your markets and really focusing in on india and china You mentioned just the huge theoretical runway for growth, which has been there for a long time, but it really feels like we're seeing inflection. you mentioned just the huge theoretical runway for growth which has been there for a long time but it really feels like we're seeing inflection I think India doubled essentially in the first quarter. i think india doubled essentially in the first quarter To what do you attribute that spike? to what do you attribute that spike Do you think this is the moment where you can really start to scale those businesses? do you think this is the moment where you can really start to scale those businesses I guess some of the key initiatives you have in place to do so? i guess some of the key initiatives you have in place to do so

Speaker 5: Definitely we see these two markets as gigantic opportunities. You have more than 1 billion consumers in both, categories under developing both. They are two very different stories. If I start with China, we've been in China nearly for 10 years. When we got into China, we realized that we had to have two challenges we didn't have in most of the countries. One is we had to create the sparkling energy drink category. It was not existing in China. Red Bull Austria was not existing in China. The product which was giving the energy was a small, traditional, non-carbonated product that the Chinese are naming flavored vitamin drinks. There was no so-called energy drinks. All of it was non-carbonated. Bringing Monster was very different from anything they've tried before, it was not only that challenge. Definitely we see these two markets as gigantic opportunities. definitely we see these two markets as gigantic opportunities You have more than 1 billion consumers in both, categories under developing both. you have more than 1 billion consumers in both categories under developing both They are two very different stories. they are two very different stories If I start with China, we've been in China nearly for 10 years. if i start with china we've been in china nearly for 10 years When we got into China, we realized that we had to have two challenges we didn't have in most of the countries. when we got into china we realized that we had to have two challenges we didn't have in most of the countries One is we had to create the sparkling energy drink category. one is we had to create the sparkling energy drink category It was not existing in China. it was not existing in china Red Bull Austria was not existing in China. red bull austria was not existing in china The product which was giving the energy was a small, traditional, non-carbonated product that the Chinese are naming flavored vitamin drinks. the product which was giving the energy was a small traditional non-carbonated product that the chinese are naming flavored vitamin drinks There was no so-called energy drinks. there was no so-called energy drinks All of it was non-carbonated. all of it was non-carbonated Bringing Monster was very different from anything they've tried before, it was not only that challenge. bringing monster was very different from anything they've tried before it was not only that challenge In the rest of the world, when we brought Monster to Europe, we had already some equity built from our global asset, from our presence in social media. China is behind a great digital wall. In the rest of the world, when we brought Monster to Europe, we had already some equity built from our global asset, from our presence in social media. in the rest of the world when we brought monster to europe we had already some equity built from our global asset from our presence in social media China is behind a great digital wall. china is behind a great digital wall Okay. The number of Chinese who had heard about Monster brand, who would recognize a claw, was very small. We had to create new category and build a brand nearly from scratch. Okay. Therefore, we took the time to say who are the consumer who will be open to an international brand, who would be liking a carbonated drink which is not tasting like anything else they've had in China, and then build it step by step with the bottlers. We have two great bottlers in China, COFCO and Swire, and they've been very committed to the energy drink category because they've seen the opportunity in the rest of the world. Okay. okay The number of Chinese who had heard about Monster brand, who would recognize a claw, was very small. the number of chinese who had heard about monster brand who would recognize a claw was very small We had to create new category and build a brand nearly from scratch. we had to create new category and build a brand nearly from scratch Okay. okay Therefore, we took the time to say who are the consumer who will be open to an international brand, who would be liking a carbonated drink which is not tasting like anything else they've had in China, and then build it step by step with the bottlers. therefore we took the time to say who are the consumer who will be open to an international brand who would be liking a carbonated drink which is not tasting like anything else they've had in china and then build it step by step with the bottlers We have two great bottlers in China, COFCO and Swire, and they've been very committed to the energy drink category because they've seen the opportunity in the rest of the world. we have two great bottlers in china cofco and swire and they've been very committed to the energy drink category because they've seen the opportunity in the rest of the world

Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 5: Step by step, we found the right consumer with the right marketing approach, sampling our product to the right people. We are much more focusing on the tier 1 cities instead of going to the factories. We are much more focusing on the universities, where the Coke system has great access to the thousands of mega universities you have in China, and step by step, we are building the recruitment. We believe we have now built a very healthy foundation. Our product are growing, our distribution is ticking, and therefore, we are able to build on what we believe is solid. Now we have built a good base for Monster, we are able to say, "How do we start addressing the other opportunity, which is a non-carbonated drink?" We launched Predator in China two years ago, and we are learning, because they're very different consumers. Step by step, we found the right consumer with the right marketing approach, sampling our product to the right people. step by step we found the right consumer with the right marketing approach sampling our product to the right people We are much more focusing on the tier 1 cities instead of going to the factories. we are much more focusing on the tier 1 cities instead of going to the factories We are much more focusing on the universities, where the Coke system has great access to the thousands of mega universities you have in China, and step by step, we are building the recruitment. we are much more focusing on the universities where the coke system has great access to the thousands of mega universities you have in china and step by step we are building the recruitment We believe we have now built a very healthy foundation. we believe we have now built a very healthy foundation Our product are growing, our distribution is ticking, and therefore, we are able to build on what we believe is solid. our product are growing our distribution is ticking and therefore we are able to build on what we believe is solid Now we have built a good base for Monster, we are able to say, "How do we start addressing the other opportunity, which is a non-carbonated drink?" We launched Predator in China two years ago, and we are learning, because they're very different consumers. now we have built a good base for monster we are able to say "how do we start addressing the other opportunity which is a non-carbonated drink?" we launched predator in china two years ago and we are learning because they're very different consumers It's a consumer which is not speaking any English, which is drinking non-carbonated, which is living in factories, or what they name the factory villages. Where we were with Hilton two years ago in Foxconn. In that plant, you have 120,000 people who are living in the plant, and that's where the traditional energy drink is big. We are working on building Monster, where we believe we have a strong foundation, on learning how to get into that more traditional factory, blue-collar segment in China. We see both as great opportunity. One, we have to create the category, and the other one, we have to learn how to get share in what is already a big enough category. India is a very different story. Red Bull has been in India for a long time. We have been in India for nine years. It's a consumer which is not speaking any English, which is drinking non-carbonated, which is living in factories, or what they name the factory villages. it's a consumer which is not speaking any english which is drinking non-carbonated which is living in factories or what they name the factory villages Where we were with Hilton two years ago in Foxconn. where we were with hilton two years ago in foxconn In that plant, you have 120,000 people who are living in the plant, and that's where the traditional energy drink is big. in that plant you have 120,000 people who are living in the plant and that's where the traditional energy drink is big We are working on building Monster, where we believe we have a strong foundation, on learning how to get into that more traditional factory, blue-collar segment in China. we are working on building monster where we believe we have a strong foundation on learning how to get into that more traditional factory blue-collar segment in china We see both as great opportunity. we see both as great opportunity One, we have to create the category, and the other one, we have to learn how to get share in what is already a big enough category. one we have to create the category and the other one we have to learn how to get share in what is already a big enough category India is a very different story. india is a very different story Red Bull has been in India for a long time. red bull has been in india for a long time We have been in India for nine years. we have been in india for nine years People knew what energy drink was. They are following the social media. They have heard about it. The price of a soft drink is very low in India. People knew what energy drink was. people knew what energy drink was They are following the social media. they are following the social media They have heard about it. they have heard about it The price of a soft drink is very low in India. the price of a soft drink is very low in india

Speaker 4: Yes. Yes. yes

Speaker 5: It's even lower than China. It's selling for INR 20, which is $0.23, for the price of a soft drink. When we launched Monster and Red Bull, we sold it at six times the price of a CSD. Okay. You have 1.4 billion people, so some people can afford a Monster, but we could not go everywhere. We had to find where to go specifically to target the right consumer. Doing mass advertising would be very inefficient. Now we have done that work. Same thing, the Coke bottlers have been great partners. We have been able to cluster India to be very segmented to say, "Where's the dozens of millions of people who can afford a Monster?" Trying to be available to people who cannot afford it is a waste of space and a waste of time. It's even lower than China. it's even lower than china It's selling for INR 20, which is $0.23, for the price of a soft drink. it's selling for inr 20 which is $0.23 for the price of a soft drink When we launched Monster and Red Bull, we sold it at six times the price of a CSD. when we launched monster and red bull we sold it at six times the price of a csd Okay. okay You have 1.4 billion people, so some people can afford a Monster, but we could not go everywhere. you have 1.4 billion people so some people can afford a monster but we could not go everywhere We had to find where to go specifically to target the right consumer. we had to find where to go specifically to target the right consumer Doing mass advertising would be very inefficient. doing mass advertising would be very inefficient Now we have done that work. now we have done that work Same thing, the Coke bottlers have been great partners. same thing the coke bottlers have been great partners We have been able to cluster India to be very segmented to say, "Where's the dozens of millions of people who can afford a Monster?" Trying to be available to people who cannot afford it is a waste of space and a waste of time. we have been able to cluster india to be very segmented to say "where's the dozens of millions of people who can afford a monster?" trying to be available to people who cannot afford it is a waste of space and a waste of time Once we did that, we said, now we can complement Monster, and we created a price pack architecture which is unique to India, where we have Monster at 6x the price of a CSD. We have Predator in a can at 3x the price of a CSD because we believe there is an emerging middle class. The people who are working in all the call centers in Bangalore, all the tech part, cannot afford a Monster, but they can afford a Predator at INR 60. Over the past two years, we have been complementing that with a PET, which is still premium to CSD because we believe the functionalities, the taste, the lifestyle can justify a premium. Once we did that, we said, now we can complement Monster, and we created a price pack architecture which is unique to India, where we have Monster at 6x the price of a CSD. once we did that we said now we can complement monster and we created a price pack architecture which is unique to india where we have monster at 6x the price of a csd We have Predator in a can at 3x the price of a CSD because we believe there is an emerging middle class. we have predator in a can at 3x the price of a csd because we believe there is an emerging middle class The people who are working in all the call centers in Bangalore, all the tech part, cannot afford a Monster, but they can afford a Predator at INR 60. the people who are working in all the call centers in bangalore all the tech part cannot afford a monster but they can afford a predator at inr 60 Over the past two years, we have been complementing that with a PET, which is still premium to CSD because we believe the functionalities, the taste, the lifestyle can justify a premium. over the past two years we have been complementing that with a pet which is still premium to csd because we believe the functionalities the taste the lifestyle can justify a premium Now we have this 3-tier price architecture, which is helping us to go with the right product, with the right consumer, with the right taste, with the right marketing. We have Monster, for instance, very focused on gaming, which we have seen an association with people who can afford to spend on gaming as people who can afford to spend on a Monster can. While Predator is going more after the people who are following cricket, but who are going to street cricket, to make sure that we build a lifestyle which is very close to what they are doing. We have now that price pack architecture with very clear portfolio to help us unlock the opportunity of India. Again, we believe we have now a good foundation to go after that market. Now we have this 3-tier price architecture, which is helping us to go with the right product, with the right consumer, with the right taste, with the right marketing. now we have this 3-tier price architecture which is helping us to go with the right product with the right consumer with the right taste with the right marketing We have Monster, for instance, very focused on gaming, which we have seen an association with people who can afford to spend on gaming as people who can afford to spend on a Monster can. we have monster for instance very focused on gaming which we have seen an association with people who can afford to spend on gaming as people who can afford to spend on a monster can While Predator is going more after the people who are following cricket, but who are going to street cricket, to make sure that we build a lifestyle which is very close to what they are doing. while predator is going more after the people who are following cricket but who are going to street cricket to make sure that we build a lifestyle which is very close to what they are doing We have now that price pack architecture with very clear portfolio to help us unlock the opportunity of India. we have now that price pack architecture with very clear portfolio to help us unlock the opportunity of india Again, we believe we have now a good foundation to go after that market. again we believe we have now a good foundation to go after that market

Speaker 4: Very interesting. All right. Hilton, I spared you. We're almost at time, and I haven't even talked about aluminum. I'm going to ask you the requisite question on aluminum and costs, what you're seeing on that front, your confidence in being able to manage through it, and as we think about holistic profitability and margins, I'd also love a little bit of insight, if you would, on how you think about SG&A management, SG&A leverage, as we realize some of the growth we're talking about. Very interesting. very interesting All right. all right Hilton, I spared you. hilton i spared you We're almost at time, and I haven't even talked about aluminum. we're almost at time and i haven't even talked about aluminum I'm going to ask you the requisite question on aluminum and costs, what you're seeing on that front, your confidence in being able to manage through it, and as we think about holistic profitability and margins, I'd also love a little bit of insight, if you would, on how you think about SG&A management, SG&A leverage, as we realize some of the growth we're talking about. i'm going to ask you the requisite question on aluminum and costs what you're seeing on that front your confidence in being able to manage through it and as we think about holistic profitability and margins i'd also love a little bit of insight if you would on how you think about sg&a management sg&a leverage as we realize some of the growth we're talking about

Speaker 2: Let's start with the second point, SG&A management. We're very careful with the way that we operate and the way we spend, particularly on marketing dollars. Our business is focused not on advertising in the classical sense per se, but in establishing relationships with athletes, and endorsing opportunities like Formula 1, UFC, and all of those things, they have a cost to them. There's some other ones that we've been working on that we're really excited about. The point is that we believe in our brands. We're a growth company and we need to support the brands with marketing. You've seen what's happened with SG&A. It's kind of, I think, been well managed up till now and I don't see why it wouldn't be well managed going forward. As I say, we take opportunities when we see a need. For example, with the relaunch of Storm. Let's start with the second point, SG&A management. let's start with the second point sg&a management We're very careful with the way that we operate and the way we spend, particularly on marketing dollars. we're very careful with the way that we operate and the way we spend particularly on marketing dollars Our business is focused not on advertising in the classical sense per se, but in establishing relationships with athletes, and endorsing opportunities like Formula 1, UFC, and all of those things, they have a cost to them. our business is focused not on advertising in the classical sense per se but in establishing relationships with athletes and endorsing opportunities like formula 1 ufc and all of those things they have a cost to them There's some other ones that we've been working on that we're really excited about. there's some other ones that we've been working on that we're really excited about The point is that we believe in our brands. the point is that we believe in our brands We're a growth company and we need to support the brands with marketing. we're a growth company and we need to support the brands with marketing You've seen what's happened with SG&A. you've seen what's happened with sg&a It's kind of, I think, been well managed up till now and I don't see why it wouldn't be well managed going forward. it's kind of i think been well managed up till now and i don't see why it wouldn't be well managed going forward As I say, we take opportunities when we see a need. as i say we take opportunities when we see a need For example, with the relaunch of Storm. for example with the relaunch of storm It requires marketing dollars. With the launch of FLRT, you can't just drop a product in a market and hope for the best. The business is growing, the revenues are growing. SG&A I think is well managed and will continue to be well managed. Then just very quickly on aluminum. We have a very active hedging program in place in the company and we've spoken about this on our calls. We hedge on a ladder basis, something that we're involved from the top down, from me to our CFO, our deputy CFO, our head of treasury. We're very focused on doing the very best we can with aluminum. It requires marketing dollars. it requires marketing dollars With the launch of FLRT, you can't just drop a product in a market and hope for the best. with the launch of flrt you can't just drop a product in a market and hope for the best The business is growing, the revenues are growing. the business is growing the revenues are growing SG&A I think is well managed and will continue to be well managed. sg&a i think is well managed and will continue to be well managed Then just very quickly on aluminum. then just very quickly on aluminum We have a very active hedging program in place in the company and we've spoken about this on our calls. we have a very active hedging program in place in the company and we've spoken about this on our calls We hedge on a ladder basis, something that we're involved from the top down, from me to our CFO, our deputy CFO, our head of treasury. we hedge on a ladder basis something that we're involved from the top down from me to our cfo our deputy cfo our head of treasury We're very focused on doing the very best we can with aluminum. we're very focused on doing the very best we can with aluminum As I mentioned in the first quarter, we had a 1% hit to gross margin from aluminum and in the U.S. we have this Midwest Premium which I still don't understand but it's kind of expensive and goes up year-over-year. I'm kidding but it's a difficult financial metric that we have to pay for. We've been able to manage aluminum in what we called a modest sense and our pricing, the increased price that we took in November actually offset that increase in aluminum in the first quarter. As we go forward, we believe that it will continue to be modest and one of the reasons is that when you look at the cost of a can, aluminum is a small portion of that cost because you have the can, you have the ingot, which is aluminum, ingot to sheet to can. As I mentioned in the first quarter, we had a 1% hit to gross margin from aluminum and in the U.S. we have this Midwest Premium which I still don't understand but it's kind of expensive and goes up year-over-year. as i mentioned in the first quarter we had a 1% hit to gross margin from aluminum and in the u.s we have this midwest premium which i still don't understand but it's kind of expensive and goes up year-over-year I'm kidding but it's a difficult financial metric that we have to pay for. i'm kidding but it's a difficult financial metric that we have to pay for We've been able to manage aluminum in what we called a modest sense and our pricing, the increased price that we took in November actually offset that increase in aluminum in the first quarter. we've been able to manage aluminum in what we called a modest sense and our pricing the increased price that we took in november actually offset that increase in aluminum in the first quarter As we go forward, we believe that it will continue to be modest and one of the reasons is that when you look at the cost of a can, aluminum is a small portion of that cost because you have the can, you have the ingot, which is aluminum, ingot to sheet to can. as we go forward we believe that it will continue to be modest and one of the reasons is that when you look at the cost of a can aluminum is a small portion of that cost because you have the can you have the ingot which is aluminum ingot to sheet to can It goes on and because our margins are good, you don't see the same impact that you would ordinarily in a company that had lower margins. It goes on and because our margins are good, you don't see the same impact that you would ordinarily in a company that had lower margins. it goes on and because our margins are good you don't see the same impact that you would ordinarily in a company that had lower margins

Speaker 4: Great. Great. great

Speaker 2: I hope that answered the question. I hope that answered the question. i hope that answered the question

Speaker 4: It does. Sorry to end on aluminum but we're out of time. I thank you all for your time and thanks for joining us everybody. It does. it does Sorry to end on aluminum but we're out of time. sorry to end on aluminum but we're out of time I thank you all for your time and thanks for joining us everybody. i thank you all for your time and thanks for joining us everybody

Speaker 2: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. yeah Thank you. thank you