Mondelez International, Inc. Class A Barclays 19th Annual Global Consumer Conference

It has been a few years that have been quite eventful, I would say, but we learn a lot of things along the way. The first thing we learn is that we compete in categories that are very resilient. I would have never thought that we would have taken post-COVID all the pricing we took, and with minimal, I would say, in the big scheme of things, volume implications. That's really the first learning. We continue to see snacking as a great trend in food, particularly in emerging markets. Snacking is the place to be. Within snacking, I personally believe chocolate is one of the best categories. It's not the best because I think there is a special bond between our brands and consumers in general, and it is tough to see for consumers to switch from chocolate to something else. Biscuit is another big opportunity.

For us, it's a great category. When we step back and we look at both chocolate and biscuit, A, on chocolate, we have tremendous opportunities in terms of growing penetration of our brands. In emerging markets, we have clear examples of what chocolate can be, but we are not consistently developed across all emerging markets. When you take aside India and Brazil, you see plenty of opportunities in establishing chocolate consumer behaviors. Biscuits, on the other side, we are blessed with a brand like Oreo, which is $5 billion globally. Reality is, again, in many places, we have share opportunities that are tremendous, so ample runways. How we do that is through the muscle of distribution in emerging markets.

In developed markets, I think in places like Europe, chocolate has shown us with Biscoff that there is a space between where we play in mainstream and in upper mainstream, where we have the right to play with our brands, call it Milka or Cadbury. The premiumization trend is a clear one. Elevating indulgence is a clear trend that we see. Again, Mondelez has the right to play in there. Finally, the U.S., where, yes, there are some challenges, particularly driven by the fact that there is some economic strains in the consumer environment. Reality is, again, brands like Oreo, Ritz, belVita, et cetera, we have tremendous opportunity. We are starting to play more in channels that are beyond the food and mass.

When we put all of this together, we couple with the fact that we are investing heavily in our brands, in capabilities, in route to market, in digital. I believe Mondelez has what it takes to really deliver that algorithm. To complete the analysis, I would say from a profitability standpoint, big initiatives like the supply chain program that we have for the U.S. and part of Europe will deliver incremental earnings and fuel for growth.

Yeah. We've been consistent that we are going to invest the upside back into the business, into areas that are working. We see a lot of opportunities, a number of opportunities, where we can fuel more investment. I think it's also important to note that we've absorbed all the incremental costs related to the Middle East conflict within our guide, and those costs are not insignificant. We've absorbed that. I think in terms of opportunities, we want to invest back into areas that are working. So emerging markets where we've got momentum, increased distribution, investment behind our big brands, investment in innovation. In specific areas like growth channels, Luca was mentioning we have an opportunity in growth channels in the U.S. So investing there, to get the opportunity. Investing in innovation that's working. The Biscoff partnership is working really well, both across chocolate and biscuits.

Innovation, Milka Croissant in Europe, Top Hat Chews in the U.S., Kam in Latin America. So, really fueling the innovation that's working in the marketplace, and scaling that up. Then finally, I think investing back in A&C behind our big brands in the big markets. So really our view is these reinvestments will drive volume-led top line growth across multiple years.