Okay. Welcome, everyone. Welcome back. I am thrilled to welcome Nomad Foods back to the Consumer Conference. I am especially thrilled to welcome back both Stefan Descheemaeker, Chief Executive Officer, and Ruben Baldew, Chief Financial Officer. Together, Stefan and Ruben are going to run us through a presentation, probably for the first 20 or so minutes of the session, and then we will use the balance of time for some Q&A. With that, I am going to turn it over to Stefan.
Thank you, Steve. I'll try to go fast and do this together with this damn thing. Let me start with, I think, the key messages. Messages are quite simple. I think we have a category advantage. That is one thing. When you think, you know, we had this series of conversations today about, you know, Europe versus the U.S. Europe is not a bad place to be right now. I think, let's say, the consumers are still a bit, you know, thereabout, but that is, I think, it is moving the right way. That is one thing. Overall, by the way, frozen food, when you take a longer distance, you know, it is something that has been doing extremely well over the last 10 years. Oat paste, you know, food overall. We intended to keep it that way as a leader. Second is portfolio.
We have a portfolio advantage when you think about it, when you know we are in all the categories that matter in frozen food between, obviously, fish, vegetable, chicken, but also things that are more indulgent. You know, we also are in ice cream. We are in pizza. We are also in potatoes. We have a lot, but 2/3 of our business, and I'll come back on that later, is definitely protein and then it's vegetable, which is a good starting point if you think that the food is going to increasingly be polarized between, let's say, health and the rest of it. However, taste is the big thing. The strategy is working. I think we put this together, you know, years ago. It's a strategy of resource allocation. We passionately believe that, you know, market share matters in everything we do.
That is where we put our money behind the mushroom battles, what we call mushroom battles, and increasingly so. New categories, very selected, you know, country by country. That is working. It has been, obviously, you know, back from crisis 2022, 2023, 2024. It is a bit choppy, but we are making, you know, progress. Sometimes it is a bit down, but overall, the direction is moving the right way. That one is, it must have been, you know, just a bit of ego, just a second. It is one I like. It is an every year, you know, we can add, you know, another year. Which is, it has been, you know, probably the worst decade of food and beverage.
Despite this, you know, over the last nine years, we've been able to increase every year. Sales a bit down, and with a little exception of EPS two years ago with a change in terms of interest rate, EPS as well. You have seen the numbers, 6%, 7%, 10%. That is what we've been delivering despite all, obviously, the crisis we've been through. Next one is, I'm not going to spend too much time. I think it is all about, let's say, market share and where we are. We are a pure play. We like it. We did not like the idea of being some sort of food conglomerate. Being focused is one of our values. I think it is working. Next one is a bit of a journey. You know, from the start, nobody was here at that time.
Obviously, when, let's say, frozen food was invented, we really started in 2015. We put together, you know, the big brands like Birds Eye in the U.K., Iglo in many other countries, Findus in countries like this country, for example, Spain, or the Nordics. You know, after two, three years, we added, you know, some other things, which was very much, you know, non-shiny objects, but very much, you know, focused on frozen food and great add-ons. We did, you know, Goodfella's. We did Aunt Bessie's in the U.K., which basically we took the brand, we put them together with Birds Eye, and obviously we're coming with a better solution for the retailers. We added at some stage Findus, and then we did also something you probably don't know the brands, but these are fantastic brands in the country, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia.
It is a combination of frozen food, by the way, and ice cream, and probably our best deal. Quickly, again, great brands, leading market share. As we said, you know, we love this concept of what we call the mushroom battles. Market share is not only something in terms of frozen food, but also in every category where we are. We have seen it. It is very clear in food and beverage. Market share matters if you want to obviously grab, you know, the highest part of the margin pool. That is exactly what we are doing. 46% is the average market share we have for the 25 mushroom battles, which represents around 37% and probably 45% in terms of net sales. You see the difference compared to the others, and then in terms of brand awareness.
So definitely we love our brands, and we intend to keep it that way, and we're investing behind the brands as well. This one is, again, a reminder of what frozen food is. As we said, you know, it's a good category. Don't expect something like a high single digit, you know, year after year. It has been a good category for the last 10 years, and we think that facts are proving themselves. It's going to remain that way. Convenience, obviously, value, it's very affordable. Sustainability is one, but I think the biggest piece is taste. It's starting with taste. You know, all our products are very tasty, and food has to remain, at the end of the day, quite simple. It's about taste. It's about health, increasingly so. Also it's about value, and we're ticking all the boxes with frozen food.
One example is air fryer as well. I think it does extremely well with frozen food. So definitely, you know, it's a category, it's something we want to further leverage, and we're going to do this. We don't think it's something that is going to lead to disappear at some stage. You can see that it's not only people are buying air fryers, but they're using air fryers. The combination with the frozen food is, in terms of quality, in terms of convenience, is really a perfect match. It's really something that I believe that we haven't fully leveraged yet, and it's something that's going to come in the coming months and years. The next one is just back to category. Frozen food, that's something like a bit more than, well, 10 years ago, 10 years of trends.
You can see that overall, you know, we're doing slightly better than food. Nothing, you know, extravagant, but overall, you know, whether it's crisis or no crisis, you can see that we're doing better. It hasn't changed, and we don't think it's going to change anytime soon, quite the contrary. We believe that frozen food plus what we have, which is 2/3 of healthy food, and also a bit of indulgence, which makes sense, by the way, we're going to, it's going to go the right way. We believe that there is still, you know, some, let's say, wrong ideas around, you know, frozen food, and it's our job, by the way, as category leader to explain the difference. We're doing this, but not enough, probably. Something that I think we have a lot of opportunities.
Long runway of growth, and we could just comparing, you know, let's say, consumption per capita between the U.S. and all the countries, most of the countries where we are. You see that, you know, it's a lot of runway ahead of us. Not only in countries like Bosnia, you can see, but also, let's say, in countries like France, like Italy, U.K. is halfway. A lot ahead of us, which obviously also makes a bit of a difference with what the category is all about in the U.S. Portfolio, now the second piece. As I said, you know, more than 40% is protein. Fish has always been a big thing for us. We can see that poultry now is really moving the right way, which is, by the way, not by chance.
You see that whether it's chilled or fresh or it's frozen, basically poultry is on the way up, and we have all the intent to go that way. That's exactly what's happening right now. You're adding another 25% vegetable, so 2/3 of our business is really about, let's say, vegetables and protein. Then we have a bit of meals, and then you have others. What we have in others, simple. It's things that people like, by the way. It's pizza. It's about ice cream in some countries, and it's about, obviously, also potatoes. That's growing as well. In other words, yes, we like the idea that, you know, frozen food is healthy food and all these things, but at the same time, we are pragmatic. Taste, and obviously what consumers think and they want to consume is obviously paramount for us.
A&P, I think we know we've always been very, very, very clear. We want to feed our brand. The concept of mushroom battles, which is really where we invest all our money together with the growth platform, which is the new categories. A&P is in the middle of this. We obviously have, as anybody else, we have limited resources, but I think what makes us different is the rigor at which, you know, we apply, you know, A&P. A&P is really behind our mushroom battles, is behind our growth platforms. The rest, quite frankly, we don't invest. That's absolutely acceptable because you will see that obviously the growth profile is very different. The margin is very different. That's the kind of things we're doing.
At some stage, you know, back in 2022, we reduced a bit like everybody else, by the way, A&P, and I think we're on the way back right now. We think that 4% is probably a good number. It might be more at some stage, but 4% is a good starting point for us. In the meantime, we're also making sure that, you know, the return on investment is going to increase and is increasing year after year after year. In terms of mix, we're also having changed like anybody else, by the way. Five years, six years ago, it was 80% TV. Now it's going to be something like around 50%. You are talking about product, which is really the key piece compared to our competitors like the private label. Innovation is a big thing.
This year, we're probably going to be in the region of 6.5% of innovation. And it's really about, you know, different pieces. I think what makes us different compared to other people is we have a huge, very rich assortment across all the countries. And then when we know that something is working well in a country, we believe that, you know, that it has the potential to go to be an innovation in another country. And the best example is chicken. Chicken is a really fantastic category for us in the U.K. And we started from there to build the foundations of chicken in Italy and Germany. So we'll show you some examples. But that's obviously what we like is at the end of the day, it's innovation in the country, but it's also lower risk innovation because we know it's working in other countries.
We're not starting from scratch. We have other examples and we come with other examples, but that piece, which is really lift and launch, is a big thing for us. That one is, I would put it that way. I like it and I hate it. I hate the fact that, you know, in 2023, we're only, you know, we have a very rigorous process with key brands or key products to see where we stand in terms of superiority with the other guys. In terms of, it's a blind test and it's also a second test with the brands in mind. We need to be superior as the one that delivers on both. The rest is parity. In 2023, we only had 36%. Must admit that probably during the crisis, we really didn't go a little. We're not very proud of that.
Then, you know, we decided, okay, we need to get them to something like 80% in 2027. And we are on our way. We're going to get there. Pizza is a good example. I think some of our pizzas were, quite frankly, in our quest to have something very healthy, non-high in fat, salt, and sugar. We probably, the taste was not good enough. We have changed in this. When it is going to be launched, the new Goodfella's in the U.K. is going to be launched week 36. Quite frankly, the taste is fantastic. Again, I think as we do not need to over-intellectualize food. Food is starting with good food and with taste. That fits the bill, absolutely. That is what we have. We have other examples.
We need to, obviously, in some countries, we need also to raise the bar with fish fingers, which is a big thing for us. Our consumers are telling us it needs to be a bit more crispy. Color needs to be a bit less pale. So we're working on this. Seems to be obvious, but you need to make sure that you're doing this without obviously changing what fish fingers is all about. It is going to come probably in 2026, but it is a never-ending process for us right now. We're thinking in terms of innovation and renovation. This combination of the two, overall, you know, we're in the region of 15%-17%, of which, you know, renovation is the bigger part. That is absolutely fundamental. If we want to keep, you know, let's say the gap between us and private label.
The last thing you want to do with private label is to underestimate these guys. They're doing well. They're doing a good job. We as brands, we need to come with product which is superior. That's absolutely fundamental for us. Where are we going to invest? As I said, mushroom battles is one thing. Growth platforms, which is 10% of our business right now, but growing faster, is the second piece. That's where we're focusing our A&P. That's where we're focusing on innovation. That's where we're focusing our renovation. An example, as I said, is chicken. Started from scratch in Italy. In other words, Italy is all about chilled chicken, but nothing in terms of almost nothing in frozen food, in frozen chicken. We started, we adapted some of the recipes coming from the U.K.
We came with a local player of this, which is this chameleon, which is extremely popular in Italy. Quite frankly, it's on fire. It's really on fire in Italy. It's on fire also in Germany. Different business model. It's a very big, let's say, category in Germany, but it's a category which is today owned by private label. We believe that we have a superior product and we'll come with that and we'll demonstrate to the market. Yes, we can come with some premium. Even in Germany, it's been proven in other categories, so we're going to make it work. We're very impressed by what's happening right now. By the way, the idea is the concept is also to come with something which is margin accretive. Another one is potatoes, which is obvious for us when you think about it.
You know, we have the fish finger, we have the fish, and we have the chips. And then we can come up with fish and chips. That is definitely kind of lift and launch that we are doing right now. It is one example. We have many other examples. Again, it is a category that is doing well. It is a category you can see, for example, in Belgium, which is a big market in terms of French fries, as you say, and they say Belgian fries there. It is the category leader. We overtook, you know, it is not that we are only dealing with private label. We are dealing also with people like McCain, and we have taken the number one position. It can be done. We insisted on, obviously, the local part of the Belgian fries, and it is really working.
It is definitely the kind of things where we want to facilitate, you know, best practice from one country to another, as opposed to come with new innovation. We have obviously some new innovations. One example is it is natural for us. It is basically high protein. It is there, you know, we see this, you know, nobody knows yet exactly whether it is going to be a long-term trend or it is something which is more fad, but we want to be there because we have all the facts behind us. That is going to be, let us say, in the market in the U.K., something like, I think, week 37. It is great in terms of taste. It is great in terms of number of grams. It is also great in terms of number of ingredients compared to competition. It is the kind of things that we think is going to work.
It's new, so it's not like a lift and launch, but if it's working well, obviously, then we're going to make it work with other countries. Fish, as you may remember, is a big thing for us. It's something like around more than EUR 1 billion overall across the board. And then we have three different things. One is I mentioned renovation of fish fingers. That's one thing, which is a big thing. Fish fingers is around EUR 400 million for us. Then we're coming also with improved taste. So that's an example. Again, it's available right now in the market. It's doing well so far. Too early to say, but at least, you know, it's new varieties, a bit more, obviously, flavor. And it's, well, it's based on what the things we know how to do best. So that's the second piece of innovation.
The third one is about this, which is basically an interesting point, which is people believe that, you know, let's say, snacking doesn't work with fish. And yeah, it does. It does. We just have never done it, you know, in the other way. We are probably very, I mean, we are overwhelmingly in the middle of the family mealtime, but we believe that, you know, that can work. This is nothing new, by the way. All these products are not new at all. They're just, we put them together to create a new category in Italy. It is doing extremely well. Interestingly enough, it also comes with new consumers, younger, which is exactly what we need to be able to go with snacking and new generation and also higher disposable income. High margin as well. That is a good example.
I can tell you some of the countries are now looking at the Italian example and want to go the same way. One example is, I think I need to—
Sta iniziando!
That is an example of what we are doing in Italy.
My Patience. Prova il Fish Burger nei Nuggets di Merluzzo. Fish Bar Capitan Findus, un mare di gusto per la tua serata.
It is very simple, by the way, but very different from a fish finger, which is about, you know, children and all the rest of it. That is also where we demonstrated it can work, obviously, above and beyond chicken. Chicken, obviously, we are there as well. Another example, again, chicken. We are talking a lot about innovation at this stage in the U.K. U.K., it is the biggest category for us.
It has, you know, it was half the size of what it is today, but it has done extremely well. What we're doing is we're just copying the QSR guys. We're checking what they do. We're very unapologetic about it. We believe, you know, it is working already very nicely. Again, it's probably going to be at some stage, one or two years down the road, some good, you know, lift and launch for other countries. Doing extremely well. That's another example.
Ooh, not winning at Friday night, are we? Bang Bang Birds Eye. Wow, legend. Now, get a load of this. The chicken bursting with flavor. Try our new loaded burgers. The Chicken Shop from Birds Eye.
Again, very different kind of consumers for us.
That is definitely the kind of thing, the challenge and the opportunity for us is to obviously go to more, you know, this kind of consumers as opposed to older people or more, you know, children. We never mentioned, you know, ice cream. I do not know why, by the way, but ice cream is really a great category for us in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia. First, as I said, it is a great acquisition. I think the combination of frozen food and ice cream works well. It is basically you have the same freezers. In a nutshell, you know, we own the freezers during the winter with frozen food, and we own the freezers during summertime with ice cream. That is exactly what it is all about. The team is doing an extremely good job, you know, in these countries with new concepts.
We have a great market share, not only in convenience, but definitely in these kind of, you know, categories, which is more family-driven. Here, it's a new innovation. The team is coming with something around 11% market, let's say, innovation per year. They're doing extremely well, high nice margin. So it's a very good, it's a very good example. Again, a new ad.
Novi Quattro Colori! Voćna i čoko kombinacija. Jednim lakim potezom uzmi sva četiri ukusa i doživi neviđen užitak. Quattro, u svakom ima nešto posebno.
I can see that it's coming from Serbia because it's Frikom, otherwise I would have been absolutely incapable of saying whether it's Croatian or Serbian. That's a bit, you know, what we're doing. As I said, you know, it's back to the category, it's back to the portfolio, it's back to the strategy, and it's working.
We're going to make it work, you know, crisis time or no crisis time in the future. With this, you know, I'm leaving you with Ruben, who is going to start with market share.
Thank you, Stefan. Let me indeed turn it over to the market share. What you can see here is a market share over the last, let's say, 16-18 months. Let us recall what we did in 2022-2023. We had to price ahead of the market for the heavy inflation. We did that to protect the margin. With that pricing ahead of the market, we saw the impact of market shares, and you see the carryover of that in the first half of 2024. By protecting the margin, we have also been able to reinvest in our brands, to reinvest in our products, to reinvest in shop floor activities.
You see that happening in the second half of 2024, where actually the MAT of the 12-week share loss became smaller, and we saw on a monthly base share gains. You have then seen in the first quarter this year a bit of a decline. There is some phasing of seasonal timings in P1 and P13, but overall, it is mainly because of phasing of activities. We do see, however, the recovery of market share in the last period. You see P4 shares are going up again, and we have the first read of P5, where we are also recovering our shares. If you now would look at P5, the last 12 months, we are roughly stable in volume share, and we are stabilizing our value share. Actually, stable share in this category is not a bad thing. On the left, you see the category growth.
You see in the beginning of 2024, still the aftermath of pricing. You see value and volume, a higher value because of the carryover of pricing, and that is coming closer to each other from the second half in 2024. If we now look year to date, P4, the category is growing 2%, with it then volume is growing 1%. There is a bit of a dip in P4, and also if we look at P5, and we do not see that as a structural dip. We see a bit of softness in the U.K., and a big part of that, and we do not like to talk about excuses, but a big part of that is a bit of slowness because people were barbecuing. It was good weather and a bit less of frozen food consumption. We do not see that as a structural issue.
Again, year to date, category is 2%. It is also when you look and compare the last 12 months versus the other categories, frozen is growing 1.5%, food is growing at 0.5%, which links to what Stefan showed. If you look at the last 10 years, frozen food has outpaced the total food category by 70 bps . This is a good category to play in. If you then look at our numbers, and these are the year-on-year reported volume growth numbers, you see 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, we were struggling in volume. That also links to the share losses, and we have been able to recover share in quarter two 2024, quarter three, quarter four 2024. We knew quarter one would be more tricky, some phasing because of the seasonal effect with Easter, some activities, and we saw the destocking.
If you take the four quarters, last four quarters in aggregate, we've been growing 1% in volume. If you then look at the guidance, I spoke about a category which is growing 2% year to date in value, which is growing 1% in volume. You've seen on the long term the category growth. You've seen that we are growing over the last four quarters, 1% in volume. That also links to the midpoint of our organic revenue growth, which is between 0% and 2%. The absolute EBITDA growth this year, our guidance is between 0% and 2% growth, and the two elements there. We expect this year a suppression of the gross margin. I'll come back to that. Compensated versus prior year by savings and overhead. The dampening and the suppression of the gross margin is not a structural issue. We see this year basically two effects.
One is in the course of quarter one, we saw more inflation coming up, mainly in protein, so mainly around chicken. It's not as big as we've seen in 2022, 2023 that you would open all your contracts with retailers and take in your pricing. So we've made a conscious choice not to reopen the negotiation. There's a timing lag. There are one or two markets where we will do the pricing, but not across. That therefore has a temporary lag and an impact on the gross margin. Secondly, we've seen a bit of a slower start of the ice cream season. Ice cream runs at higher margin, and that also has a temporary negative mix effect. Now, looking at that EBITDA growth, and you then look at the other lines of the P&L up until net profit, we expect 2% to 6% growth in adjusted EPS.
In euro amount, EUR 1.82 to EUR 1.89, and at the latest exchange rate, $2.07 to $2.15, and adjusted cash flow conversion, 90% and more. We know, and you know, that this company has been able to deliver cash, and this is the cash we have delivered between 2017 and 2024. More than EUR 2 billion of adjusted free cash flow. You see in 2021, 2022, it has been a bit lower, and that has been a conscious consequence of a decision to take a bit more inventory because there was more kind of supply constraint element there. The last two years, our adjusted free cash flow has been between EUR 275 million and EUR 300 million.
If you would also look at the years ahead and you look at our growth targets, that would imply roughly EUR 850 million of adjusted free cash flow, which is around 1/3 of our market cap. How will we deploy that cash? What is our capital deployment? If you look at 2018, 2021, you've seen that this company has done M&A and has been quite diligent in M&A. You see the M&As in 2015, the one in Switzerland in 2020, and the one more recently in Stefan just showed some of the advertising of the business, the one in Southeastern Europe, which is doing very well for us. That's something we have been doing. If you look more recently, and you also take a close look at our valuation, we've chosen to do a bit more cash allocation in terms of buybacks.
You see that in 2023. In large, we choose an element of a bit of buyback and a bit of also cash return in total, almost generating EUR 200 million of cash for shareholders. We will continue to drive right shareholder return. With that, I would like to close and open up for questions. Many thanks.
Great. Thanks for that. I think the presentation was helpful. It's great to see the innovation, you know, in person and also some of the advertising. Thank you for that. I guess first question is sort of the early returns on some of the commercial investments you've been making. When you talk about or think about your must-win battles today, what percentage of them are we winning today? What kind of near-term milestones have you set as targets?
I think the milestone is we want to make sure that they're going to all to going to win. I think, you know, in the last two years, it's been a bit of on the, you know, it was a bit of on the back burner. I think on the penetration, when more than 50% are growing right now, and we have every intent, obviously, to make sure that it's going to increase. It's going to increase basically with simple. It's back to innovation. It's back to renovation. I think 2022, let's say definitely 2023, 2024 were really price years, which were a great opportunity for private label because it was all about, you know, price as opposed to anything else. It's all game now, starting basically in the second half of 2024, and now obviously more and more.
The second part will be very important, obviously, to come back with something which is more than price, which is value, which is obviously taste, which is all the things that the brand should deliver. Starting obviously with almost battles.
Okay. How have competitors responded to your accelerated investments? Where you're competing with private label, the responses are more limited, arguably. As you, you know, you highlighted the, you know, the fish and chips. As you move into, you know, other branded territory, what has been the competitive response?
I think, you know, you should never underestimate the private labels. That's the first thing. So, and then we not. When we're coming with a new, something new, you could say that two, three years down the road, they're going to come with something.
That's been the game for the last whatever number of years. If you stop, if you forget that, you know, obviously you have a bigger issue. It's mostly, you know, that's, I think that's, when we think about us, you know, all competitors are private label, and then here and there is some brand, you know, in some region with some categories. We just focus more on the private label. It's been, I think during the crisis, the price crisis, they came late with price, probably a bit later than we thought it would. Now obviously it has stabilized. The game is back to what it should be.
Okay. Ruben, I think last quarter, you saw some inventory destocking in results. Apologies if I missed it.
I do not think you talked about it in the presentation. Where are we on that today? Is that carried over into Q2 or is that now behind us?
Yeah, that is now behind us. We had indeed, to your point, seen inventory destocking at retail. We saw throughout 2024 a gradual increase. I also want to be clear, it is not that we had big debates with retailers, that they are seeing something like a different consumer sentiment. You are probably at a level where they say, look, service levels are now at a better level, so we can actually allow to take a bit of a step back. Some of that was expected, let us be clear. We always said there would be a bit of phasing between quarter four and quarter one, but we have seen a bit more in quarter one.
The fast amount is now behind us, like we said at the time as well. There is still a little bit in the U.K., but not material.
Okay. You know, one thing you did talk about in the presentation, but I want to, I want to expand on it, is just the quarter to quarter volatility. There is a lot going on as we go through the year. You know, 2Q benefits from Easter, but also specific challenges related to year-ago comparisons. You know, 3Q comparisons ease as you lap last year's ERP related to disruption. Just maybe walk us through the puts and takes of year-ago.
No, I get that. The answer is, you know, well, there is our underlying growth rate and also, you know, are we competitive?
I think first of all, if you take a step back and again, P5, and by the way, we say P5 with period, you know, period of May, but it is not fully till the end of May. We have most of the shares coming in, and we see a further recovery of shares. If you take a step back and you say, okay, let's look at the last 12 months, we are kind of flat in volume share. Are we satisfied? No. Can we do more? Yes. Is that a kind of stabilization? Yeah, we are seeing that. We are happy with that. A category which is now in that period around 1.5%, maybe towards 2%. That is not bad.
Within that, in quarter two, specifically to your question, we do have the advantage of Easter because we had the shift from Easter kind of quarter one to quarter two. That will help us. Having said that, the start so far of ice cream has been a bit disappointing with bad weather. We've seen in the U.K. a bit more softness because it was warm weather there. Now, we're not a weather company, right? That has not helped. Is that a structural issue? Not at all. To your point, EUP last year, quarter three was around EUR 25 million-EUR 30 million impact. That's 1% on the full year. That's 2% on the H2. That's where we see the recovery of growth.
Okay. Move ice cream to the U.K. is what you get.
Yeah, maybe.
Right now, the good thing is, you know, the weather is bad in the right countries. The weather is good in the right countries.
Back to normal.
Yeah. Okay. Maybe, you know, maybe both of your perspectives on this. You closed your session or your slides with cap allocation, but you know, M&A has been a big part of the Nomad story from the inception.
Yeah.
You know, I do not think things have structurally changed, fundamentally changed, but maybe update us, Stefan, kind of how you see the landscape today and your appetite and the opportunity set for M&A and then, Stefan, the kind of the financing opportunities.
I have a very non-emotional view of M&A. That might be my background as well in M&A potentially.
I think for the first three years, we did not do any M&A because, quite frankly, we did not have anything to offer. I think you need to, the worst thing is when the model is not working well is to go to M&A and thinking it is going to help you because M&A is only working if you are coming with a superior model that is going to, obviously, and you have to demonstrate that you are the right investor. We did not do anything. Then we started, things started starting really 2017, 2018, started really to go the right way. We started with obvious things. First, we said no to a lot of non-frozen food. We like this focus. It is really part of our values, by the way. While it came to two deals, you cannot plan, obviously, but that is a big lesson. You cannot plan. It is coming.
It came with two additional brands in the U.K. It was a no-brainer because we could add them and the synergy level was very high. We came with other deals. The period of M&A was actually really focused on between 2018 and 2021. You have the crisis. Quite frankly, the last thing I had in mind was let's go to M&A. By the way, all the private guys, you know, thought that the multiple was still the multiple they had because they're not confronted every day with the multiple. That's easy, obviously, when you're thinking it's 14, it's 14 because you don't have something, you don't see the screen every day. It's obviously something you don't like to accept.
It's the same thing in real estate, by the way, when you have to buy or sell your house, you don't like this kind of bad news. We didn't do anything that was no time lost. Things now are starting to get back, but we will be rigorous anyway. We're not going to go to the shiny object. We like the idea of going to new categories that we can expand in the countries. We're taking the whole organization. We need two or three people, maybe a bit more, sometimes. Obviously, we're going to present this to all retailers and they will love it. That's the kind of deals. Not a high multiple, a lot of synergies. By the way, with the multiple of around even less than eight, I'm not going to buy something at 12 times, I can tell you.
I mean, it's not crazy. Unless there is something fantastic that comes with a huge level of synergy, but the math does not work. That's the kind of things. Are there still, you know, targets? Absolutely. Can I tell you that we're going to buy something? Absolutely not. Because you need to obviously be disciplined and make sure that the other guys are going to be reasonable as well.
Yeah. For you, best use of cash is your own shares.
Yeah. Look
this is a good M&A.
That's not a bad M&A at all. We've had a leverage year-end around three, quarter one, 3.2%. Look at cash every day. It's pretty stable cash flow. That allows us to indeed buy our shares.
Okay. You don't need due diligence, by the way. Right. A couple of minutes left.
I guess, Stefan, early on your presentation, you showed the long-term financial. So obviously a good long-term, you know, phasing and trajectory. As you think back, Nomad's about 10 years old as a public company. I guess more strategically, what would you say the biggest successes are? And then in terms of as you look forward over the next five, ten years, what are the most, what are the biggest opportunities?
I think the strategic logic of focusing behind the best and brightest categories, the best and brightest products was huge. And then obviously focusing, not spreading your money everywhere and all your people everywhere. That was, I think we distilled some sort of rigor behind within this company, which is not only financial result, but also in terms of culture. I'm quite proud of what we've been achieved. It's a company where people are delivering without crisis.
Nine years in a row, it's not bad. People are proud of that. I think people are also proud of we've built a real company of something which was a combination of financial constructs. Also, we've built a real portfolio in a category. I think we can do better. Back to your point, we can do better with the category. We haven't spent enough time behind, you know, delivering, explaining what great is with frozen food. I think, you know, we were talking about 1.5%. Can it go for more? I don't know, but definitely, you know, there is potential with this.
That's the aspiration.
I think that's the big aspiration. I think we also need to increase our level of innovation, renovation. You've seen the numbers, you know, in 2023. I don't like this number. I'm not proud of this number.
We are going to keep that well. We are going to make sure that it is not going to happen again. We are the guardian of the quality and the brands we have. We expect, we intend to go that way. M&A will come. Again, I think we are not going to have a strategy of M&A per se. You know, if there is a great combination at some stage, it might happen. You know, there are some interesting combinations, but we are not going to go to something big for the sake of going to something big. We are not obsessed by that.
Very clear. With that, we are right at time. Yeah. Stefan.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ruben.
Thank you.
Thank you all for joining us and look forward to seeing you again. Thank you for having us.