Okay, I think we're going to kick off. Hopefully, everybody's caffeinated and fed post-lunch. Delighted again to welcome Reckitt to Boston. Thank you, Shannon. Thank you, Kris, for being here. I think we've got a video to roll first. If we roll the VT, then we'll have a nice chat. Thank you. Super. Let's get cracking. I'm trying to do this in two parts. Kris, I've got a few questions for you, then Shannon, and we'll kind of try and—
Sure.
—mix and match a little bit if we can. I want to start, Kris, with the most recent news, which is the unanimous win in the MDL litigation. I think it vindicates your position all along.
Yeah.
Are you able, as far as you can, to outline next steps? What does it mean for state cases and ultimately settlement?
Yeah. As you know, the litigation has been going on for some time now, over two years. We said at the very outset that we knew we were on the right side of this issue.
Yeah.
The science, the medical community, the federal authorities all said that pretty early on. So it's nice to see it come through. In a number of different jurisdictions, we have won every case that has been tried or won the appeal in one case. So, it's not entirely surprising, but it is very positive.
Yeah.
It's good for premature babies all across the U.S., and it is the right outcome. That being said, no single case determines how a litigation like this goes, and we will continue to press our views on this and pursue our defense. We don't have any cases that are scheduled near term.
I think it's November 27, isn't it? For the—
Yes. Now, that can all change. That's sort of subject to change. But I think the real point is that we have shown that we will win these cases—
Yeah.
—across lots of different jurisdictions and courtrooms, even the ones that are deemed plaintiff friendly. I think we are at an important juncture where it's becoming clear that we are right, and also that we win.
Yeah.
That's a positive step in the right direction. It is not necessarily the same as this is all done with.
Cool.
I have said before that we will be pragmatic about getting to an eventual resolution of this, and that stands. I think it's important for Reckitt to move forward with this process, and I am interested in finding a practical solution. At the same time, these things take the time they take, and I think we need to also remain a bit patient so that we get to the best outcome for shareholders.
I know it's not done, and it's not a line in the sand, but obviously, we look forward.
Yeah.
Investors will obviously naturally shift to the Mead Johnson business.
Yeah.
Are you able to set out your view about the quality of the Mead asset? Perhaps, can you say, I think you said before to me that there's been a fair amount of interest in—
Yeah.
—the asset. Are you able to—
Yeah.
—sort of reiterate that?
Sure. Fundamentally, Mead Johnson is a very good business with leading positions, very strong brands, number one recommended by doctors in the U.S. Actually, the emerging markets business is now trading really well, gaining market share across the board. We have a very experienced nutrition team running it.
Yeah.
We are investing very significantly in the business, strengthening the supply footprint, investing behind the brands, investing in innovation.
Yeah.
I think it is a good business. I think a lot of people over the years have seen that, and that is why we have had the inbound interest we have had from a whole range of stakeholders.
Yeah.
Some of which you would expect and some of which might be surprising.
Would you look at all options to create value? I am thinking about maybe would you consider splitting U.S. from non-U.S.? Would you consider a spin? Are you running a parallel? How are you thinking about it?
We have always said that we would consider all options, all strategic options.
Sure.
That was very deliberate. That was because we really genuinely will consider a whole range of permutations of that. I will also say that I think it is maybe an indication of how good of a business this is that we have had so many people come—
Sure.
—consistently, even through the litigation, without us actually running a process. We have not run a process. We are not running a process, and yet we have this level of inbound interest. I think that is positive, and hopefully, that means that we can get to a good exit.
Is there a price or a multiple that you wouldn't sell the business for because you might take the view it's either too dilutive or not reasonable value? I guess related to that, is there any kind of tax implications that investors should think about in terms of the net gross proceeds potentially?
It's a little early to talk about tax.
Sure.
I think I'll wait on that one—
Okay.
—until we know what we're actually talking about—
Sure.
—from a shape of transaction.
Yeah. Fair enough.
Or type of exit. I would say, of course, we will take views on value.
Yeah.
Like I said, it's a good asset. It generates a lot of cash, good margins. So it's something that we're thinking about. I'm probably not going to put a number on it right now.
No.
What I will also say is I don't think it's in the interest of Reckitt shareholders that we sort of take this to the extreme.
Sure.
I think we're going to be pragmatic, and we're going to get a good value for the asset, and I think that's how it's going to be.
Cough, cold, flu season, Kris, another big topic.
Yep.
A lot of us are looking at what's happening down under in Australia to try and see whether we can extrapolate anything—
Yeah.
—from that to what may happen. I know it's maybe a bit early. We probably—
Yeah.
—need a few more weeks to really know the shape of the cold and flu season. I guess your assumption is slightly better—
Yeah.
—year-on-year against a weak year—
Yeah.
—last year. Are you concerned at all that your assumption of slightly better year-on-year might be optimistic? Is there anything you can say about how cold and flu ordering patterns vary by kind of market and customer to try and get a bit of a sense—
Yeah.
—ahead of time? How are you thinking about it?
Look, I've worked on this cold and flu business for years, quite a few years. It's never wise to speculate too much on the shape of a season before it even starts.
Yeah.
As much as you really want to know, right? It would be very nice to know. It's a very complex thing to predict. Many of us oftentimes have looked at Australia and wondered if it was a good indicator of what's going to happen. Actually, it's not really great as an indicator. But you always look at things, right, to try to find out, and that's why you're looking at it, too.
Yeah.
What we do know is versus historical averages, last year's season was weak, just in unit terms, incidences, everything about it was weak.
Yeah.
Actually, the season prior was not weak. It was actually average in terms of units.
Yeah.
I have seen a lot of fluctuation. I do not have any facts, any indication that we would see this level continue, the one lower season that we just went through. And in fact, you asked about sell-in and orders. We have had the strongest sell-in in upper respiratory in North America that I have seen while I have been at the company. So in the last seven years, we have not sold in as strongly as we did this year.
Yeah.
And of course, some of that is on the back of 12HR Cold & Flu, which is exciting, but actually much of it is on the core. So retailers are very engaged in the category. They are very much supportive of us and of Mucinex, and I think we are set up for a good season.
You just need a season.
What's that?
You just need a season.
Well, we always need a season.
I guess the thing that I'm hearing from investors, some people are arguing about the GLP drugs and the Moderna flu vaccine and trying to argue that that's starting to negatively impact the upper respiratory category. They're trying to make the link between GLP and vaccine versus the category. What's your perspective on that? Do you see actually any evidence of that, or is it in fact the inverse?
I think those are two separate issues. If you just think about this idea that GLP-1s would have something to do with this, which I think is—
Yeah.
—extremely far-fetched.
Yeah.
Actually, in our work, because we have worked a lot on GLP-1s and tried to understand what it does for consumers, the overwhelming evidence that we have from all that research is that consumers that have a successful experience with GLP-1s become much more engaged in managing their own health—
Yeah.
—and living a healthy lifestyle. Actually, it pushes them into categories. They consume more. They are more interested in managing their health and preventative health, and that is good news. That is good for us, both in terms of OTC, but also VMS, where that will be a benign factor.
Yeah.
Then, of course, some of our brands like Gaviscon, which we do not own Gaviscon in the U.S., but we own Gaviscon outside of the U.S., is a brand that can be relevant for some of the side effects—
Yeah.
—that people can experience. So I do not think GLP-1 has much to do with this. I think, of course, it has a big impact on consumption in other consumer goods categories. That is obvious.
Yeah.
So maybe it is tempting to read across, but I think it is actually the other way around.
Sure.
On vaccines, look, vaccination rates are fluctuating in this country, and sometimes you see good vaccines, sometimes you see vaccines that actually miss the mark in terms of a season. It is also important to remember that flu is a very small portion of the incidences that we treat.
Yeah.
From a public health standpoint, it could be good to have a better flu vaccine.
Yeah.
Even if we get better flu vaccines and more people actually choose to get one, I don't think that'll meaningfully impact the units that we sell because we treat so many different things.
Shifting gear, Kris, we don't normally talk about your VMS business that much.
Not so much. Yeah.
But we've seen a lot of activity in the space—
Yeah.
—with P&G, Thorne, Unilever, [Grün], Nestlé exiting 40% of their VMS business. You've got Neuriva—
Yeah.
—and Airborne. How do you view your position in the space that seems to be consolidating, and how are you thinking about animating your VMS strategy? How will you differentiate, drive new innovations when you've got a lot of capital from big players coming into the space?
VMS is a very big space.
Yeah.
There is a lot of things inside VMS, and we put it all under one umbrella.
Yeah.
They are not all the same.
Yeah.
There are some really good businesses in the VMS space, and those businesses have good science behind them. They have efficacious products, and therefore they develop brand equities that are trusted and enduring. That is not the bulk of this space. The bulk of this space is more trend-driven. It is more faddish, and does not always have the proper scientific backing that you need to make the claims that people make and so forth. From our standpoint, strategically, we are happy with what we own. We have successful businesses that have good science, that have real credibility, efficacious products. But I am not looking to expand heavily into VMS. We have so many other things—
Sure.
—that are more interesting to do, where we can realize both greater growth, but also more profitable growth, and things that are strategically more important. I do note that many people are buying and some people are selling, and I am happy that we are not taking part in that.
Yeah. Shannon, maybe we can turn to you. Can I, with you, Shannon, maybe start on the pricing environment that you see? I think you talked about off-cycle pricing in developed markets, in the U.S. and Europe. Are you able to clarify whether that pricing that you were talking about has been landed? Have you actually put it into market and if so, what kind of volume elasticity are you seeing? Because we're all hearing that it's really tough to take pricing right now—
Sure.
—in developed markets. Maybe, where are you taking pricing and how happy are you that it's landing without blowing out the volume elasticity too much?
Sure. We've been super transparent since we saw the war in the Middle East break out and we saw oil prices rise significantly, that our expectation was to pull various levers to mitigate the cost headwinds. One of those being pricing. What we talked about at half year was the fact that in developing markets, we're able to do that more quickly. We actually had pricing that we took in developing markets that started landing on shelf back in April/May timing. We also showed the fact that in developed markets, just because of our contractual relationships with the trade, that takes longer, and so that has not yet hit the shelves. From an elasticity standpoint, in emerging markets, what we've seen has been really positive. I think we've all been pleasantly surprised by how resilient the developing market consumer has been.
We had a lot of conversations over were we going to see a significant impact on consumer demand as we took this pricing, and we've not seen that. We feel really good about that. If you think about U.S. and Europe, the price increases we're taking will start to land on shelf September/October timing, so it's a bit early to say what we're seeing, from an elasticity standpoint. I think it is important to note the level of analysis that goes into us taking this kind of pricing is incredibly high and very detailed. We go down to the SKU level to really understand what are those input costs that are going to hit our SKUs, at what level, how do we view the consumer value equation, and how do we land that pricing in a way that really minimizes the impact on volumes.
We feel confident as we head into Q3, end of Q3, early Q4, that that's when we'll really have a better read on the ultimate impact.
Maybe kind of related, Shannon, how are you feeling about the U.S.? I think you've said on the U.S., in terms of the cadence, we should expect Q3 to be a bit below Q2, and it depends on the sell out in Q4. Is that still the way to be thinking about the U.S. in terms of, because the sell out, the consumption data we can see still is a bit mixed, but it does look soft-ish, I would say.
Is that kind of all tracking in the way that you've been thinking?
Look, I think we're seeing it's a tough environment in the U.S. and it's a tough environment for the U.S. consumer. I'm sure I'm reading the same press all of you are every morning, gas prices, what's going on in the Middle East, so I think we continue to see that as a tough environment. You're absolutely right. Our expectation is that Q3 will look a little softer, Q4 will look better, and that really has more to do with what we're lapping from a sell-in of the upper respiratory season from the prior year. So we're going to be watching it closely. But I think we view both Europe and North America right now to be tougher environments.
You've kind of said that some of the destocking was kind of in the rear view mirror at the beginning of the second quarter in the U.S.
But we are hearing that U.S. retailers are taking a more cautious view about the U.S. consumer in the second half, and therefore they're pulling inventory. Can you be confident that the destocking is behind you? Or could it be possible that, with channel shifts and the more cautious view from retailers, that actually there might be a risk that the destocking continues for a bit longer into the back half? Or you think inventory levels are, in your inventory levels, are in good shape?
Yeah. Look, it's tough to predict the future, right?
Sure.
I think what I'd say is over the past sort of 18 months, we haven't talked a ton about destocking. Where we've seen destocking has been two places. One was in VMS. We saw a little bit of that in the front half of this year coming off just a very strong sell-in in Q4. Then we, of course, annually talk about it in upper respiratory. As we exited this historically weak season, we did see destocking in the front half of this year, because of the weak incidence and the fact that retailers needed to manage those levels back down. However, as we look forward into the upcoming season, we're not seeing any structural change in the level of inventory retailers want to carry in upper respiratory heading into the season.
With all of that, when I pull it together, I think we feel pretty good that for the time being, we are done talking about destocking, and then we will obviously see how the season plays out.
Long may it continue. Maybe Europe, because the other big geography where, I think it has been well documented, some of the challenges of the market and what is happening there. Do you still expect sequential improvement in Europe in the back half? Maybe, you are talking about executing better. What evidence, I suppose, do you have that the execution is improving in Europe, that you are getting better ROIs on promo spend, and you are driving innovation? You have got big innovation in the U.S., there is a lot of stuff going on EM, but in Europe.
Yep.
Is that sequential acceleration still coming, I guess?
Yeah. So we have seen a good trajectory with Europe. Obviously, we haven't flipped Europe back into growth. I think we called out at the half year that June was a positive month for Europe. Not intending that to predict that every month thereafter will be, but just to show that we're making progress there. Absolutely, my expectation is that in the back half, we'll get Europe back into growth mode. If you think about better execution, what we've really been talking a lot about over the past, probably nine months at this point, is auto dish in Europe, because we did see some real escalation, last Q4 in the competitive environment and in the depth of promo and frequency of promo in that category. I do think our teams have really sharpened their approach to how we're reacting to that, and we're seeing benefits of that.
And so it obviously varies region by region within Europe, but we're seeing more progress from a share standpoint. We're seeing that our teams have really figured out what's the necessary depth of promo, on what tier, at what frequency, on which pack sizes, that allows us to hold on to share as share leader in Europe, but not being in an environment where when we see 80% off, we're matching that—
Yeah.
—because we just don't think that makes sense.
Yeah.
We don't want to drain the value out of the category. We do have early indicators that we're seeing progress there, and that gives me optimism around the improvement in the back half, Warren.
Cool. We're going to continue with the world tour, Shannon.
Okay.
If you don't mind. Emerging markets, obviously 40%+ of core Reckitt. I think the big message is that growth overall in the second half will be similar to the first half.
Could you maybe be a little bit more precise, I suppose, around the moving pieces within that?
Sure.
Within China, India, and LatAm, just to give us a sense of how that builds up overall in the budget.
Sure. So emerging markets, we have spent the past six quarters, I think, trying to get expectations in the right place around the fact that we believe emerging markets should be growing high single digits quarter in and quarter out. I think that we have delivered a couple quarters recently that really should be strong proof points in building some conviction in our ability to do that. When you think of Q1 and Q2 in this year, where we were right in that range of high single digits, we did not have visibility to the war in the Middle East when we headed into this year. We have been facing headwinds in China on Durex from the implementation of VAT. We had Russia sanctions that played out very differently than any expectation.
Even amidst all those headwinds, we have been in that high single digit range, so we absolutely expect to deliver that in the back half as well. If you think about the composition of that growth, we also feel good around how broad-based it is becoming, so we do not want an emerging markets business where it is China and India are growing, and that is sort of the end of the story. We talked about the fact as we exited Q2 that Brazil was at mid-single digit growth. China is our largest business. We feel like we have a really long runway for growth in China. We have our three largest brands in China, although we have many others that are also growing, our Dettol, Durex, and Move Free, which is a VMS brand. Dettol has been growing incredibly strong behind a really strong pipeline of innovation.
When we review that pipeline, we see that continuing to come through. Durex, we have talked a lot about the headwinds in the front half, and we now feel like we are at a place where we are starting to see a positive growth trajectory in Durex, and we expect that to continue in the back half. VMS is really an interesting business, particularly our Move Free brand in China. That is one where in recent weeks and months, there were some sort of bad actors manufacturing other VMS brands that were claiming their products were imported into the market, and in fact, they were not. That has caused a little bit of a headwind in the VMS category in China.
Unfortunately, we have been impacted by that even though our products are imported, but we are working through really closely with our partner in China and with stakeholders in China on how to get the message out that our products are very efficacious and are truly imported. We will continue to manage through that, and I think that we will see tailwind coming from that business again as we look forward into the back half and into 2027. India as a market, we have routinely been hitting high single digit, low double digits. We just have an incredible execution engine in India and our ability to continue to get more and more reach. Again, it is broad-based growth across our India business. We are focused on LatAm and the other markets—
Yeah.
—and how we get those to continue in growth because we have been expanding the number of markets contributing to that EM success.
Now switching gears, Shannon, I have got to ask you about margins. Fixed cost guidance below 19% in 2027. I am not going to ask you how much below, don't worry.
Okay.
But I am interested in when you benchmark your costs against peers, can you maybe give us some KPIs on how much further opportunity you see on the cost base? Because clearly, it is going to be a smaller business eventually.
Yep.
You need to rightsize the business—
Yep.
—for that. But particularly through fully fledged global business services with AI, where is that gap versus peers on the cost base that you can really go after if you had to identify?
Yeah, it's a great question. So it was probably three years ago now when we had done our initial benchmarking. Our operating overheads were running around 22% of net revenue. Benchmarking got us to say, "Okay, we think we should get down to 19%." We were super transparent. 19% gets us in the ballpark. It does not get us best in class. I think if you fast-forward three years, our peers have not been sitting still. They have been making great progress.
Yeah.
I think that would lead you to believe, do we eventually need to get to better than below 19%, which is our revised target? Absolutely. I think operating overheads is a space where there is really no finish line. As soon as you get to a number, you are going to keep seeing and looking for opportunities to get further, and you called it out. The real enablers for us at this point and moving forward will be GBS, as we get that stood up. My experience in GBS says you sort of go into it thinking, "This is my universe of what work can move." When you actually get that engine running, the universe just becomes more and more broad of what work you can move in.
Then AI, and we actually see a lot of overlap in our ability to drive savings through AI within GBS. As you move processes into hubs and get a standard process, then your ability to layer on AI and make even more progress.
Sure.
I am not going to give you a number, but when we hit below 19%, yes, we will be shooting to do better.
Back to you, Kris.
A year ago, we talked about disruptive innovation being one of the most value-creative things that an FMCG company can do, and here we are with the Mucinex 12 Hour. Can you maybe update us also around some other things other than the Mucinex 12 Hour? I am thinking about things like the Dettol Activ-Botany that seems to be—
Yeah.
—quite interesting. Is there any others that you would sort of point out that you think can sort of move the needle or you are excited about?
Yeah, I would say we now have an innovation engine that is firing.
Yeah.
We have made a big deal out of Mucinex 12 Hour, but actually if you look at every one of our power brands, we have very significant innovation coming. It is just that the 12 HR Cold & Flu is—
So big.
—such a breakthrough. I think about Durex Intense, which is a first to the world condom that is consumer preferred, that has been very successful all across Europe, and that is an example of disruptive innovation that is landing in the marketplace and making a difference.
Yeah.
The success of our Dettol and Lysol franchise, which has grown double digit, it is unbelievably strong.
Yeah.
That is fueled by innovation. Dettol Activ-Botany is the platform that is driving a lot of the innovation in Dettol, a lot of the growth. Lysol, we have a track record of great innovation, and we have more coming.
Yeah.
As I look at our pipeline today, we have very meaningful innovation coming on all our power brands, and some of it is quite disruptive. That is fundamentally the place that we should be as a company, and we were not always in this position.
I do want to talk a little bit more about Intimate Wellness.
Yeah.
It's driven so much by China, and it's been well-documented what happened at the beginning of the year with VAT. When do you think that business will be back to a decent run rate?
It's actually generating a decent run rate in lots of places today.
Yeah.
It's just that China is a big business, and when that has a bit of a slow period, then it overwhelms that number a bit.
Yeah.
I fully expect Intimate Wellness to have a great year next year.
Is there any signs that China Durex will have a better second half? Have you got a lot of stuff coming down the pipe?
Yes. We get to see the everyday data, right?
Sure.
The current data, and it is recovering, and it will have a good second half. One of the important things that we look at is what channels are growing—
Yeah.
—and are we growing in the channels that matter? And we are growing well in the channels that matter. So, I fully expect it to continue to recover and do well in the second half.
And whilst we're on the topic of emerging markets, again, a year ago, you talked a lot about trying to export what works in China into other—
Yes.
—EMs.
Yes.
Particularly around social commerce.
Yes.
Can you maybe update us a year later, what is working?
Yeah.
Which markets you are going after, how they are doing?
There is two components to this. Social commerce is not as well developed in the rest of the world as in China.
Sure.
China is very far ahead. But we are seeing social commerce play a bigger role in Southeast Asia, and we are actually already succeeding in transferring those capabilities and driving growth in that geography, which is great.
Yeah.
And we will continue to do that as we see platforms emerge and become successful. We will continue that. The other aspect, though, is new forms of content driven demand creation, which we are also very good at in China, and that we are going to bring to the whole world.
Okay.
Because that is relevant everywhere.
Okay.
We are working on that at the moment. I am very excited about what that is going to lead to.
If you were to identify outside of China and India, the emerging markets, you have talked about lots of different countries. What are the three in EM outside the big two that you are most excited about? How would you force rank them?
Yeah, so I have six or seven, not three—
Okay.
—that I'm excited about. But that's just because these are exciting markets.
Yeah.
It's hard to pick. I would say Brazil and Mexico has a lot of inherent potential. Colombia is already performing really well for us. It has a lot of opportunity.
Yeah.
Malaysia is important. Vietnam is a really big and important opportunity for us, but we actually have a smaller business that we are now looking to accelerate very fast.
Okay.
Pakistan is an exciting market where we're growing fast. There's a lot of markets there, but I think there's these six or seven that I just mentioned. If you put them together, they are as big as an India or a China.
Yeah.
And they have the same growth potential. The idea here is to make sure that we get into a very consistent high single digit or better growth rate in those markets.
How do you figure out within those EMs which category or which brand to animate those countries with that will—
We are pretty clear on that. We have made a big change, actually.
Yeah.
We used to be very Dettol focused. It used to be that we would go in with Dettol or Harpic. We do not do that anymore.
Yeah.
We go in and say, "We're going to build a leading consumer health business, a leading Intimate Wellness business.
Yeah.
When we do that, which is actually working quite well in a number of these markets, it creates structural economics that allow us to grow the business much faster. That's a big change that we've made in the last four or five years, and I'm excited about it.
Can I ask you quickly about Russia?
Yeah.
Any update on timing of the Russia exit? I guess you're waiting for a signature in the U.K., so—
Yeah, we are just waiting for some closing approvals. We have all the approvals in Russia.
Okay.
I think it is not going to be long.
Okay. Shannon, on that, I guess the question I have been getting a little bit on the 4% to 5% core Reckitt guide is just to be clear, is not dependent on a Russia exit to help the Q4 organic. You think you can do that on a clean basis?
Yep.
Just clarify that point. Okay, cool. Kris, back to you. I think that you have said to me a few times that you want to make this business boringly consistent quarter after quarter.
Yeah.
To try and do the growth. Your guidance is quite a narrow band.
Yeah.
Four to five.
Yeah.
Most companies have a bit—
Wide band.
—of a wider band.
Yeah.
Can you maybe just outline why that is the case and how do you manage to keep within such a narrow band when it does seem to be quite dependent on the vagaries of cold and flu?
Yeah, I actually don't know that cold and flu has been the biggest impact. Look at all the things that are happening in the world that we've just touched on—
Yeah.
—that we're dealing with, right? It's a pretty dynamic environment, to say the least.
Yeah.
It's hard to be boringly predictable in the current environment, I'll be honest.
Yeah.
You can all see it. It's not easy with this many shocks to the economy, this many things happening geopolitically, seasonal variability. I don't think we necessarily need to be consistent quarter in, quarter out. We need to do what we say we will do.
Yeah.
But naturally, the shape of a year is it's not linear, and it's not flat.
Yeah.
Right? What I've said is I would like for us to be boringly predictable in terms of doing what we say we will do year in, year out. And that's the goal. Now, four to five. Why did we say four to five? That's our medium-term guide. We expected to be able to do that this year. It looks like we'll be able to hit it. So that's the reasoning for that. I do think that the volatility in the world and the things that we're going through, Shannon talked about the environment worsening a bit in North America. If we keep seeing this kind of volatility and headwinds, maybe we will widen the guide range.
Yeah.
I think that might be something we'll do.
Yeah.
We haven't made any decisions on that. But I think the environment could cause us to think about that, but we have made no calls on that.
But the one thing that I guess that's different with the Reckitt today, from the Reckitt I saw 10 years ago, is the supply chain, the CapEx, the investment—
Yeah.
—in the backbone—
Yes.
—of the company—
Fundamentally different.
—is so different, so that hopefully—
Yes.
—in a more volatile world.
Yeah.
Can you talk a little bit about that in terms of it doesn't completely shield you?
Right.
But it gives you a little bit more flex to have—
Yeah.
—a bit more kind of see-through.
No question. We have a far stronger supply chain already—
Yeah.
—from all the investments we've made in manufacturing, and we have years of continued investment and strengthening ahead of us.
Yeah.
I think it's already helping us. If you look at it, we are growing well, and we are able to mitigate these shocks in a better way than we historically did. I feel very passionate about that. I think as we strengthen and complete the play on building a world-class manufacturing network, we will be able to deliver more consistent performance.
Super. Well, we're on the buzzer, so thank you, Reckitt. They are doing a breakout, so if anybody wants to hear more from Reckitt, breakout will be next door. For those staying here, we've got Bayer Consumer Health up in five minutes. Thank you very much, Kris and Shannon.
Thank you.