Blog

By Wendy Davidson
President and Chief Executive Officer

September 13th marks the one-year anniversary of our ambitious journey to reimagine Hain Celestial. When we introduced our multi-year strategy at Investor Day, our mission extended beyond enhancing financial performance. It was about redefining our potential, broadening our addressable market, and solidifying our right to win as a globally integrated enterprise.

Focusing and Fueling For Growth

Fiscal 2024 was the foundational year of our strategy where we prioritized efforts to focus and fuel the business:

• We streamlined our portfolio in five categories to strengthen and expand core brands with stronger velocities;
• We exited non-strategic businesses and streamlined our operational footprint in five geographies to reduce complexity within our supply chain;
• We aimed to generate $165 million in net working capital by FY27 and achieved one-third of that in the first year;
• We set a productivity goal of $61M and exceeded it by delivering $65M;
• And we surpassed cash flow expectations, significantly paid down debt, reduced leverage, and drove gross margin expansion.

“We closed out our fiscal year with 85% of our business in growth and with positive momentum in snacks, baby/kids and beverages, our leading growth categories.”

Becoming One Hain Team

For 30 years, Hain Celestial grew through strategic acquisitions of better-for-you (BFY) brands, which operated as separate, siloed entities. Over the last 12 months, we integrated our business globally, creating functional centers of excellence across innovation, quality, supply chain, technology, communications, people resources, and finance. We globalized back-end systems, adopted a unified communication platform, and simplified our operations to drive better capacity utilization and a distribution footprint that brings our products closer to our customers for a faster route to market. Through these efforts we have realized synergies and scale, delivered SG&A savings, and improved accountability and faster decision-making. 

“We’ve embraced the philosophy of ‘out-smalling the big and out-bigging the small’ leveraging our global scale with speed, agility, and an entrepreneurial spirit.”

Building & Investing Key Capabilities

As we unlocked fuel, we made strategic investments across people, brand building, processes, and technology. We introduced a refreshed purpose, mission, and values, building and embedding a values- and performance-based culture. We invested in brand-building to ensure we are first to mind and first to find wherever consumers are shopping. And we expanded our footprint in new channels, particularly e-commerce and away from home. In FY24, we expanded our footprint in C-Store to 48,000 locations and improved our online digital availability. 

Living our Purpose of Inspiring Healthier Living

Our purpose is to inspire healthier living for people, communities, and the planet through better-for-you brands. We’ve remained committed to driving impact by investing in decarbonization technologies to lower greenhouse gas emissions in our facilities and focusing on packaging redesign that helps to reduce our environmental footprint.

“We are a fundamentally different and stronger company today than we were one year ago, and we’ll be even stronger in the year to come.”

Looking Ahead in Fiscal 2025

Our priority this year is stronger execution to enable the pivot to growth. With 85% of our business growing, we will focus on stabilizing the remaining 15% and unlocking the full potential of our brands to drive strong topline growth. We will continue to simplify and streamline the business by optimizing our operating model, leveraging synergies, and driving the focus to deliver consistent quarter-by-quarter results.

Embracing Transformation

Transformation is challenging, but our team has demonstrated remarkable adaptability, resilience, and a commitment to winning together for the long term. I’m incredibly proud of our team’s dedication to Hain Reimagined and our values. We are challenging one another to live our values to drive accountability, foster an inclusive culture, and remain curious about how we can continuously improve. Our Hain Reimagined transformation is happening in a dynamic external environment, and our ability to adapt while remaining steadfast and focused on our goals is a testament to our strength.

In the first year of our strategy, we laid a strong foundation, made strategic choices, and remained committed to our strategy. As we look ahead, we’re poised to continue this journey with a focus on sustainable, profitable growth and making a positive impact on our organization, our brands, and the planet.