CJ CheilJedang Corp

KRX:097950

Ladies and gentlemen, I am Jun Seong Head of IR at CJ Cheiljedang Finance. We will now begin the Q4 2024 business results report for CJ Cheiljedang. Today's session will be interpreted simultaneously into English for foreign investors.

Let me first introduce the CJ team. We have Mr. Kyoung Shik Sohn, CFO and Head of Finance; Mr. [indiscernible], representing Food Korea; Mr. [indiscernible], representing Food Overseas; Mr. Kim Jang Young, representing BIO; and Mr. [indiscernible], representing Feed & Care.

Mr. Kyoung, the CFO, will first walk you through the business results, followed by progress on key strategy execution and outlook by respective presenters. We will then move on to Q&A.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am Kyoung Song, CFO of CJ Cheiljedang. Today's presentation includes Q4 earnings highlights, analysis by each business unit, key index analysis, progress on key strategies, and outlook for 2025.

Please now flip to Page 5. Amid a challenging business environment, thanks to biased profit growth and F&C's turnaround, Q4 operating profits improved year-over-year. In Korea Processed Food, online growth offset weakness at offline. Coupang 1P sales in Q4 exceeded previous record high in Q3 of 2022 and online sales was up 26% year-over-year. And Food Overseas grew 7% year-over-year, achieving the highest quarterly record, both in terms of sales and share in total sales of food.

Thanks to expansion in mainstream and new categories, Europe saw continued growth. And with inventory adjustment and GST growth, including Mandu, Japan has succeeded in turning to growth for the first time in 7 quarters. And for Feed & Care, livestock price stabilization, productivity improvement and feed optimization led to increase in profitability.

Let us now turn to the next page. The next is Q4 2024 results, excluding CJ Logistics. For sales, despite decline in Feed & Care, growth in Food and BIO contributed to growth of 2% to KRW 4.475 trillion. And for OP, OP increase at BIO and Feed & Care led to growth of 39% to KRW 219.9 billion. The net profits recorded in the negative of KRW 261.9 billion due to the impact of nonoperating losses. For 2024 annual sales is KRW 17.871 trillion on par with last year, and OP grew 26% to KRW 1.0323 trillion.

Please now turn to Page 7. And now Q4 results, including CJ Logistics. Sales recorded KRW 7.4902 trillion, up 3%, thanks to growth in Logistics, along with Food and BIO. OP recorded KRW 377.3 billion, up 27% with contribution from BIO, Feed & Care and Logistics. And net profits recorded in the negative of KRW 152.8 billion due to nonoperating losses equivalent to their results when excluding CJ Logistics. And for 2024 annual sales grew 1.2% year-over-year to KRW 29.3591 trillion and OP grew 20% to KRW 1.553 trillion.

Let us now turn to Page 9. We'll now move on to the results of each business. First up is Food. Sales grew 3% year-over-year. Despite weakness in Korea and China, sales grew driven by a turnaround in Japan and growth of pizza and Mandu sales in the U.S. and expanded mainstream entry in Europe and Australia. And OP declined 4% year-over-year to KRW 138.4 billion due to increased pressure on fixed costs from a short-term high supply issue in the U.S.

Let's now turn to the next page. We have some details on food sales. So for Food Korea, it declined 1% year-over-year to KRW 1.3656 trillion. In Packaged Food, suspension in seaweeds trading sales at [indiscernible] for the sake of profitability and slowdown in demand were offset by growth in online and sales of Lunar New Year seasonal products. In Food Ingredients or FI, reduction in soybean meal sales was balanced by early shipment of gift sets and improvement in cooking oil market conditions. And for Food overseas, it grew 7% year-over-year to KRW 1.4787 trillion. First, in the U.S., despite decline in dessert sales, other key products continued their growth.

And outside the U.S., in China, sales declined affected by efforts to streamline for better margin, but Europe grew, thanks to expansion in new mainstream channel and categories. And Oceania also continued its growth with new listings at mainstream retail such as Coles. Japan also shifted to growth in sales led by Micho and Mandu with price normalization. GSPs, including Mandu, Rolls, Frozen rice, Ambient rice and Kimchi recorded robust growth of 18% overseas.

If you look at the bar graph on Slide 11, Q4 food OP margin stands at 4.9%.

Let us now move on to Slide 12. Next is BIO. With expansion in sales of key products such as line, threonine, tryptophan, and arginine for Feed and improvement in SPC market position, BIO was able to offset decline in major amino acid product sales and recorded sales growth of 2% year-over-year. And for OP, expansion of sales volume for key products enabled by market position and base effect from recovery of Selecta SPC market condition led to 3% increase year-over-year to KRW 58.4 billion. And if you flip to the next page, Q4 OP margin of BIO recorded 5.5% and share of specialty products and sales stood at around 18%.

Let us now move on to Page 14. Next is Feed & Care. Decline in feed volume and price led to 2% reduction in overall sales to KRW 568.6 billion. The stabilization in livestock prices and improvement in price/cost spread enabled a turnaround to a surplus in OP compared to previous year, coming in at KRW 23.1 billion. And for feed, intense competition and price decline from stabilization in grain prices led to a reduction in sales. But thanks to improved OP from tech sales and improved competitiveness in Indonesia aqua business, we had seen OP expansion.

And for livestock in Vietnam, stable supply is leading to recovery in livestock prices and with operational excellence and productivity boost, cost of goods manufactured improved, resulting in OP increase. And for livestock in Indonesia, decline in quota for grandparent stock and the new government's proposed free meal policy led to a rise in livestock prices. And through optimization of breeder scale, F&C secured cost competitiveness of broilers leading to improvements in OP.

Let us now turn to Page 16. And this is the performance of CJ Logistics. And thanks to strong growth in warehouse and distribution business and tech-based cost competitiveness, Q4 sales jumped 3% year-over-year and OP grew 7% to KRW 154.4 billion.

Let us now turn to Page 19 for SG&A and nonoperating items, excluding CJ Logistics. If you first look at SG&A, labor and transportation costs increased KRW 36.8 billion and KRW 11.2 billion, respectively, and advertising declined by KRW 10.8 billion. Consequently, SG&A to sales ratio was up 90 basis points. And nonoperating loss stood at KRW 430.5 billion, additional gap of KRW 335.2 billion from the previous year due to impact from impairment of both tangible and intangible assets.

And next, we have details, including CJ Logistics, I'll skip the details.

Next is on key strategy execution and outlook. First is the update on overseas food business performance. This is the update on global food business key performance. First, U.S. Mandu, pizza and other key products positioning continued growing in 2024. For B2C grocery Mandu brands market share, bibigo Mandu was 41%, up 3.5 percentage points year-on-year. In pizza, our Red Baron market share was 20.8%, up 0.8 percent points year-on-year, widening the gap further against competing brands.

Our global strategic categories, the GSP products continued strong growth in 2024 with Kimchi, Frozen rice, Mandu and Ambient rice, they have seen 2-digit global sales growth. Also, as seen in bulgogi gimbap and Kimchi in U.S., rice ball, Bung-O-Pang, hot dog in Australia, our categories are expanding in each country's mainstream channels. We are also expanding in other global markets. In 2024, combined sales in Europe and Australia grew by 41%, reaching KRW 150 billion, with Europe sales alone surpassing KRW 100 billion.

In Q4 2024, we entered Coles in Australia, the second largest retailer in Australia. And in Q1 2025, we expanded into IGA, the fourth largest. We are now present in 80% of major retail chains in Australia. Also, sales of Mandu, Gim and Sauce have significantly increased in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia with 114% growth year-over-year. This shows strong growth in new APAC regions.

Next is on food business strategies. We are expanding the lineup and sales regions of hit products in Korea. We launched new Sobaba Sweet and Spicy version, the flavor extension. Last year, in November, Sobaba was listed in the U.S. Costco. In December, this was launched in Japan and Europe. We're expanding its market footprint. Late 2023, whole shrimp Mandu was a big success. So its new extension, whole squid Mandu was launched late 2024, and we plan to explore its launch in promising overseas markets. In new categories, we are targeting the global noodle market with cup udon in Europe, stir-fried noodle in Thailand, and Ambient pasta in China, offering diverse products catered to the country and consumers' needs.

On manufacturing strategy, on top of existing global manufacturing sites, we are responding to expanding GSP demand by adding new plants in U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., by 2030, Mandu and Roll are expected to grow twofold. Therefore, for steam Mandu and egg roll production, large-scale high-tech Asian food plant is being built in South Dakota, ready to be operated in 2027. In Europe, on top of the existing plant in Germany, we will build another plant in Hungary to respond to rising GSP demand.

And leveraging Vietnam and other global sites with cost competitiveness, we will export Roll, whole ingredient Mandu and others to large markets through C2C business model that we are currently developing. As such, in the various countries, we have built an organic global manufacturing footprint. With this competitive edge, we will effectively and efficiently respond to heightening uncertainties in the global market.

We will now discuss the trends and outlook for key products in BIO. First is the outlook on key products of Feed Amino acid. For lysine, Europe's antidumping duties against Chinese products is implemented in January, and this will drive market recovery. Also in North America, general tariffs and key players exit will improve market conditions. Our company holds lysine manufacturing facility in the U.S., Indonesia and South America. So with this stable source of supply, liquid and other high-profit formats will be operated, which is expected to boost performance.

Our high-profit product, tryptophan, expanding vertically integrated large pig farms and other positive environments for mid- to long-term can serve as a leverage for us to use our strong positioning, pushing strategic pricing against latecomers. For Specialty Amino Acid, amid group proteins decline, we will focus on promoting product functions such as stress reduction and BCAA balance, reinforcing technical marketing and strategic pricing to expand ourself.

Next is on Taste & Nutrition, the items. For nucleotide, we will tap into other K-food potentials like ramen and drive technical marketing to identify demands in high-growth markets, expanding the sales space. We'll also run strategic pricing to address new entrants. And as economic stimulus measures in China drives its economic recovery, demand may also recover. Lastly, for TasteNrich, recovery of demand for clean label and plant-based food will serve as our advantage to continue developing customized solutions and expanding portfolio. Also, we will boost global sales by entering large-scale clients in new markets.

Next is key sustainability initiatives. Our company was selected in DJSI Asia Pacific Index 10 years in a row, while ranking in the 99th percentile in global food business, proving the fruit of our ESG management. In Korea, we were included in the UNGC Lead Group and awarded the Global Standard Business Award 6 consecutive times; therefore, inducted in the Hall of Fame. Also, in Korea Sustainability Index or KSI, we were ranked #1 in general food segment for 3 consecutive years, establishing ourselves as a leading player in ESG management. Also, our company is involved in the shared growth programs to establish a healthy food business ecosystem with our partners. And in Shared Growth Index, we were selected as the top honor company for 3 consecutive years in 2023.

We're also operating various programs for SME support, seeing excellent results in fair trade and shared growth evaluations. We plan to offer interest-free loans and low interest shared growth funds for financial support to our partners. In 2025, we plan to reinforce partners' quality management, ESG training and support programs.

Next is the 2025 key strategies by business. Core Food Korea Hetbahn, whole ingredient Mandu, Sobaba, and 1-Minute Boil Ring and other core categories will be scaled up. Health and Wellness and new categories will be fostered to address market changes. Also, we will reinforce online growth engine, while in B2B, we will drive strategies focusing on frozen food and processed meat. For overseas food in the U.S., we will focus on expanding sales volume, securing outstanding position for core products and improve short- to long-term capacity for better profitability and respond to rising demand with the new manufacturing sites in the U.S.

In China, we will select and focus on high profit core categories for transition to growth and locally produced items like Mandu and pasta will help us expand sales regions. In Japan, we will expand Micho's coverage to enhance profitability and incorporate local needs for Mandu to optimize portfolio and boost sales with pricing strategy. In Europe and Australia, we will enhance bibigo's awareness with advertisements and promotions entering mainstream and expanding category and foster the B2B channel.

For BIO, as tariff disputes on bulk amino acid intensifies, we will leverage our competitiveness and global footprint to effectively respond to the market change. And with tryptophan's outstanding position, we will respond to competitors through strategic pricing by region and volume expansion. For arginine, we will stress on its stress relief functions to expand its global sales. For valine and isoleucine, we will focus on profit. For nucleotide, we will consider the economic situation and the competition in China for strategic pricing.

For F&C business, we will incorporate last year's seed portfolio optimization and secure core competencies for livestock, streamlining the business and improving profitability. For Feed, we will improve technical consulting services and expand customers and species boosting volume. For livestock, we will reinforce vulnerable value chains and maintain cost advantage and improve quality through breeding. And to expand value-chains, we will develop the distribution business and secure business foundation for animal health care business.

Next is the 2025 outlook. First, for food in Korea, the sluggish consumption in the first half and difference in timing of Lunar Year gift set shipment may cause setback in recovery. But in the second half, we will expand sales of core products, speed of shift to online, expand ingredient volume and alleviate fixed cost burden, which is expected to improve performance. For our Overseas Food, production setback of some products in the U.S. may slow growth in the first half, but we will expand sales of core products like pizza and Mandu as well as GSP categories, driving strong sales growth in the second half.

In Japan and China, while efforts to improve profits are showing results, we will keep with select and focused strategy to return to growth and improve margins. In Europe and Australia, new mainstream entry, the expansion of listed categories, B2B entry and other efforts to tap into new areas are expected to drive growth. In BIO, strategic pricing of tryptophan and specialty amino acids will drive volume-based sales growth. And amid protectionism, lysine and other amino acids with strong global competitiveness is expected to drive performance recovery.

Lastly, for Feed & Care, stable supply will ensure solid livestock prices. Also, feed sales expansion will drive sales recovery. And with top-tier cost structure of livestock, we can address price fluctuations. So all in all, the corporate sales growth is expected to be low single digits and operating profit 6%.

Last is on our new dividend and shareholder return policy. For the fiscal years of 2024 to 2026, our payout ratio has been set at 25% or more, higher than the previous level. It's based on net income, excluding nonrecurring items. Also, we aim to raise the quarterly dividend ratio to about 75% of the annual dividend. For the fiscal year of 2024, the year-end dividend per common share is KRW 3,000. When combined with KRW 3,000 of quarterly dividends that have already been paid, this amounts to KRW 6,000 per share in 2024, up KRW 500 year-on-year. Over the past decade, the average annual growth rate of dividends has been a strong 12%.

Now this concludes our presentation based on the materials. Next is the Q&A session.

For Korean, simultaneous interpretation will be provided, while English questions will be interpreted consecutively, so we ask you to speak slowly for a more accurate interpretation.

[Operator Instructions] We have the first question from Mr. Jung Wook Kim of Meritz Securities.

I have 3 questions. First, regarding U.S. profitability, it seems like it's dropping from the past year. So it may come from the supply disruptions on desserts, but are there any other factors leading to this results? And do you feel that this dessert issue is likely to continue in the first half of the year? So if we compare between '24 and '25, we would like some guidance on the direction of profitability in the U.S.

And my second question has to do with BIO. For BIO, you mentioned that the major amino acid products have been weak. So in Q4, there has been decline quarter-over-quarter. So could you please elaborate as to why? I mean, there has been less share -- declining share of specialty amino acids, so I would like to know as to why? And third, my question is on Feed. You mentioned that there is intense competition and price issues. And for Feed, it seems like -- I mean, compared to last year and this year, we would like more elaboration on the profitability of feed as well.

So as to the first question on food and the high supply disruptions and its fallout, so in the fourth quarter, as to the reason for the fall in Q4, in November last year, there had been a tornado in the region. So there has been temporary disruption in pie supply. So right now it's going to have an impact until the first half of the year. We will be shutting down these sites for a repair and maintenance, and we want to get it done by the end of the first half. We want to make sure that we can minimize this impact. And for desserts, the share in total sales is not very big. You are focusing more on pizza and Mandu as well as other GSPs and their growth is quite robust.

So based on their performance, we would like to continue growth in the U.S. And of course, there is increased fixed cost pressure and rise in ingredient costs, but we would be making efforts to further lower cost to make sure that we can maintain operating margin at high single level. Just to add on to the -- what has just been mentioned. So of course, because of the pie disruption, we are now repairing the site. And of course, the impact of that is going to be about low to mid-single-digit impact in sales. And that's going to have an adverse impact in sales in that regard. And as for OP, it's going to be higher and if you think about the annual profitability of the U.S., it's going to go down compared to past year in the short run.

And on to the question on BIO. As for the weakness in major amino acid products, I mean, in Q4, there has been the antidumping provisional duty announcement on Chinese imports by Europe. So there has been a lot of flow of Chinese products in Europe. So there has been some temporary issue there, and that has been announced in December. And the tariff, which is pretty high is likely to be slapped pretty soon. So in the first quarter, the market position compared to the previous quarter, the price has increased by 30%. So that's what's happening in the market right now. For us, we don't have any exports to China. We have the exports for the U.S. and Brazil.

So this is likely to work to our advantage, and we believe that we can expect a lot of profits from lysine in 2025. As far as specialty amino acids and as to its share, -- and in the first -- in the fourth quarter of 2024, tryptophan and specialty amino acids had been leading growth -- a profit-led growth, but sales from Selecta is also factored in here. So there has been a relative decline in the share in the total mix. And on to Feed & Care, in the fourth quarter of 2024, there had been increase in imports, so there has been some price adjustments for hogs. And right now compared to the fourth quarter, the profitability has been normalized and the volume has -- I mean -- I'm sorry, imports has been normalized.

And as to the diseases, there has been some spread of that as we move towards the end of the monsoon season. So there's going to be a decline in supply in the first quarter. So if we look at January and February, the hog prices compared to the fourth quarter, there has been some rebound. And if we compare between Q4 and Q1, livestock profitability is likely to be improved with recovery in prices. And just to add on to that, going back to the U.S. sales and regarding pie supply, there are some adverse factors. But in the second half of the year, we will continue growth, and we are likely to see robust sales growth throughout the year with our key products like pizza, Mandu as well as other GSPs. So we would be continuing sales growth in the U.S. as we move towards the year.

I will now take the next question. The next question is from Mr. Sang-Jun Park of Kiwoom Securities.

I also have 3 questions. And because of production issues, there's a lot of one-off cost. And of course, there are incentives factored into Q4. So we would like to know more about these -- the impact of these one-off costs. And second, compared to last year's CapEx plans, we would like to know how much has been executed. And we would also like to know your CapEx guidance for this year. That's my second question. And finally, if we look at the market share trend, we feel that it's actually weaker than previous year. So we would like to know why that is the case and how you're going to respond to this apparently -- apparent drop in your market share?

As to the first question on losses and impairments, so there has been KRW 255.3 billion of intangible and tangible asset losses. And we have -- so we have 2 factors here. So we have Batavia and we acquired that in the second half of 2021, and there had been some goodwill impairment, and that's about KRW 99.8 billion. And there's another factor. We have a BIO entity in Malaysia producing methionine, and there has been impairment of about KRW 155.5 billion. But both the factors do not have any cash leakage and everything had been based on conservative projections for accounting purposes. And for Batavia, there has been some delays in clinical trials during the pandemic season. So we have been making some revisions and that led to losses.

But in the long run, we believe that CGT CDMO market has bright projections and we are expecting growth in that sector. There has been some delays because of the pandemic, but we do believe that the growth is likely to continue. So we have factored in the conservative revisions this time around for that loss. And as for methionine and the Malaysian entity for BIO, there has been weak methionine market. So we have revised our outlook in a more conservative manner, and that is why this resulted in one-off losses. And as for methionine performance, it was below our expectation. Tryptophan and arginine, the products that have been nurtured during the same period as well as other specialty products have now become a high-margin product for us.

So in the long run, we believe that Batavia with utilization of new plant, we would be able to expand exports. And for Malaysia, by leveraging their facilities, we are looking into shifting the production to other high-margin products to make sure that we can make up for this round of losses. And for other one-off factors, there has been some incentives factored in. So all in all, compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year, there has been an increase in incentives of about KRW 20 billion. So considering all these factors, we believe that we have been on target with the market has been expecting. And I mean, of course, that's the effect -- base effect from the previous year, especially from BIO and also some from F&C.

As for the CapEx guidance, just to give you some details, in 2024, our CapEx was about KRW 800 billion. We executed about KRW 800 billion. Earlier last year, we announced around KRW 1 trillion in CapEx guidance. But of course, there is the worsening macroeconomic environment. So we've had a strict CapEx discipline. So compared to the guidance, it was actually below KRW 1 trillion, and it stood at around KRW 800 billion. And for this year, we are expecting somewhere around KRW 1 trillion. And we have high portion for new investment. That's about KRW 0.6 trillion, and the remaining would go for repairs and maintenance.

And your final question on market share of Korea Food. So there has been a confluence of factors at play here. And just to give you some details on the indicators for Korea market share. And if we look at the offline -- I mean, the market share is based on offline data. And during that time, for Mandu and Kimchi, there has been a lot of increase in demand at online led by Coupang. And we had focused on shifting that demand to online and our resources have been dedicated there as well. And during the same period, there has been less traffic to offline stores, and we felt that our promotions have not been as effective as our investment. So we had streamlined our promotion costs.

And finally, we had to manage the prices for both online and offline. And we wanted to make sure that our pricing strategies are profitability driven. So we had made sure that we had efficiency in resource allocation, and it may seem like the market share has gone down in offline. But from the first -- after the first quarter, we believe that this is going to normalize, and we will continue to focus on raising our efficiencies moving forward.

All right. We will receive another question. Next question is from Sanghoon Cho Shinhan Securities.

This is Cho, Sanghoon from Shinhan Securities. I have 3 questions in total. First of all, in Korea Processed Food, we can see that there will be a significant recovery in Coupang IP -- direct transaction. And how do you think that's going to be an upside? And it seems like SPC Selecta, I think, this has made a lot of improvement in Q4. So compared to the sales of Q4, how do you think that this is going to look like? In BIO, it seems like there are some positive factors that are at play this year. But currently, in terms of M&A, maybe we have to relook into your plans for an M&A. So could you please tell us more about the M&A investing?

As to your first question on Coupang -- our recovery with Coupang, as for the specific numbers, we are somewhat mindful of that because the online landscape is changing on a daily basis. So we are closely monitoring the numbers. And as far as Coupang goes, I mean, especially at digital, we are looking at how well the products preferred by consumers and online are moving, and we're also looking into what kind of -- I mean, which -- how the products are matched with the platforms that are popular among the consumers. So we're trying to make sure we have the optimal balance and mix in our portfolio operations. So we're expecting much as we move -- as we go throughout this year.

And on to your question on Selecta performance. And for 2024 year round, there has been sales decline of low single and OP margin is about mid-singles. And as for your third question on potential sales of BIO and regarding our BIO business and relevant strategic decisions, everything is done on a long-term horizon. And of course, we are reviewing diverse strategic options, but nothing has been decided at this point in time. .

We'll now take the next question. There are no questions in waiting. [Operator Instructions] And we have the next question from Sang-Jun Park of Kiwoom Securities.

So just one more question. So if we think about Selecta, you decided to sell Selecta business. And I understand that you have worked on deal closing until the end of last year. You have been waiting for the deal closing. So we would like to know the latest updates on Selecta and what your projections are for the actual closing date for your Selecta deal?

As for the Selecta deal closing, and for certain countries, we have to report on consolidation, and we're now waiting for some remaining approval. So it's taking some time, but there are any particular factors for delaying the process.

We'll just take one more question. But if there are no more questions, we will wrap up here. So we have the final question from Mr. Kim Jung Wook of Meritz Securities.

So my question is on food. So you talked about the suspension of trading business at seaweed. So we would like to know how much impact that's going to have? And as for the China performance, we would like to know how that's going to fare in 2025.

As for the seaweed trading sales and its impact, that was for the sake of improving profitability structure. And that impact, if we look at Q4 alone, -- so if we look at the packaged food sales, that's about 3 percentage points and compared to food, it's slightly less 2 percentage points in the negative. So excluding such impacts for Packaged Food and Food Korea, we had seen growth in sales. And in Q4 and 2024, there has been some base effects. And from the first quarter and the third quarter, there has been very small sales coming out of [indiscernible], so we feel that we're not going to have any continuing lasting impact from this change.

And the next question on Food China. So in Q4 of 2024, DASIDA, one of the products, we had been working on clearing its inventory. So there has been a slight decline in sales because of that. And we have been making a lot of efforts to improve our profit structure. And we believe that we are going to see improvement in both profits and sales in China. And as for Mandu and DASIDA, in addition to these key products, we have pasta as well. So we are expecting a turn to growth in the first quarter.

We have one more question in waiting. So we'll take that question before we conclude for today. So we'll now wrap up the Q4 2024 earnings call. Thank you, everyone, for your time.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]