Hain Celestial is refocusing its lineup around protein and wellness trends while continuing to evaluate what assets to sell next. CEO Alison Lewis said on 11 May that the company remains in the "execution phase" of its strategic portfolio review, which began last year. The Nasdaq-listed firm sold its North American snacks operations in February but has kept quiet on future targets for disposal.
A Focused Product Push
The company is rolling out protein-heavy products across multiple brands to drive growth. Earth's Best, Hain's baby and toddler brand, is entering what it calls a "high-density nutrition" segment for older children with Earth's Best Big Kids Finger Food, which contains protein and fibre. The Greek Gods yogurt brand launched a high-protein variant in April. Celestial Seasonings is also expanding into wellness with new gut-health products set for launch this month, which Lewis described as part of a broader trend where "wellness tea remains a bright spot".
The Underlying Pressure
Despite these launches, Hain reported another quarter of falling sales and net losses. Lewis acknowledged that "sales pressure in the quarter was largely confined to select smaller brands and included the impact of portfolio simplification actions". She noted, however, that the core business is stable across yogurt, tea, baby and kids, finger foods, and cereal. The international business saw an 8% decline in organic sales, with Lewis citing "industry-wide volume softness in wet baby food, ongoing challenges in spreads and drizzles, as well as a decline in branded soup from a challenging year-ago comparison and strong private-label competition".
What Comes Next
Lewis declined to name which international assets might be on the block, saying only that Hain is "making bold moves with a robust end-to-end transformation of the Hartley's brand" while UK soup brands Covent Garden, Yorkshire Provender and Cully & Sully "span distinct propositions". Finance chief Lee Boyce said the company is almost finished with its restructuring programme, having taken impairment charges of $108 million to date out of the $115 to $125 million envisaged. Looking ahead, Boyce said Hain expects the go-forward North American portfolio to have gross margin above 30% and EBITDA margin in the low double digits. Boyce added that the company remains "actively engaged with our lenders while we evaluate potential strategic transactions" but did not provide annual guidance, citing "the uncertainty around the outcome and timing of the completion of our strategic review".