Advantage Solutions reaffirms full-year 2024 guidance; charts progress on strategic transformation

Advantage Solutions today reported second-quarter revenues of $873 million, a 1% increase over the same period a year ago excluding the impact related to the deconsolidation of its European joint venture, bolstered by continued strength of its sampling and demonstration business.

Company executives reaffirmed financial guidance for the full year, with revenues and adjusted earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) projected to grow low single digits.

While acknowledging uncertainty surrounding the retail sector and the economy as a whole, CEO Dave Peacock said Advantage is poised for a strong finish to the fiscal year.

"We are energized by the progress of our strategic initiatives to transform this business," Peacock told Wall Street analysts and investors on a call. "We are doing this by focusing on our core capabilities, operating with excellence, strengthening our balance sheet and investing in leading-edge technologies and talent."

The company, a leading business solutions provider to consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, reported a second-quarter operating loss from continuing operations of $91.3 million, largely due to a noncash goodwill impairment related to a recent divestiture. Adjusted EBITDA was $89.9 million, up slightly from the year-ago quarter.

The company also said it reduced debt in the quarter by $27 million and repurchased $9 million of its outstanding shares.

Since Peacock took the helm in 2023, he and his executive team have worked to simplify and energize the business, transforming Advantage from a holding company with fragmented businesses to a unified enterprise with interconnected service offerings and solutions under one umbrella.

Peacock said today that the simplification of the business is largely complete. With the recent divestiture of Jun Group at the end of July, Advantage has divested more than 10 largely non-core businesses within the past 18 months - refining its portfolio to focus on areas of the retail business where the company believes it has a competitive advantage.

Advantage has used proceeds from the divestitures largely to pay down debt and reinvest in its core capabilities. On Wednesday's call with investors, Peacock detailed highlights in Advantage's three new business segments - Branded Services, Experiential Services and Retailer Services:

• Branded Services. Advantage's investments in technology will continue to enhance the company's ability to serve its CPG partners and deliver results, Peacock said. For example, a collaboration with a retail technology company specializing in image recognition and AI will enable Advantage to provide high-speed analytics on inventory tracking for brands in seconds - a process that would take days with other providers.He also noted a new partnership with L.A. Libations, a company with emerging beverage brands. The collaboration is intended to get innovations and insurgent brands onto more shelves and into more retailers nationwide, allowing them to scale with speed.
• Experiential Services. Advantage continues to grow this robust part of the business, which connects brands with shoppers through in-store and online sampling experiences, live events and digital engagement, Peacock said. Average event count for sampling and demonstration grew 11% in the quarter, compared with last year, and Advantage expects the number of events it holds per day to continue to grow in the second half of the year."Our digital sampling capabilities are another way we help clients generate consumer demand (and our) clients are looking for omnichannel marketing solutions as part of their overall strategy," Peacock said. Advantage continues to grow its relationship with the world's largest retailer, Amazon, and was recently honored with the company's inaugural Gold Tier award, which recognizes excellence in providing on-time, accurate delivery.

• Retailer Services. Advantage partners with most of the largest North American retailers, serving more than 100,000 stores annually to provide shoppers with the products that delight and enrich their lives.Here, too, Peacock pointed out recent investments in technology, including a partnership with a Seattle-based company called Swiftly, which connects shoppers to targeted promotions and discounts on their mobile devices. The collaboration expands the company's retail media network capabilities to include targeted solutions that put brands in front of new audiences and drive more people to stores.

With a combination of investments made to strengthen the company, new business wins and favorable seasonality factors in the months ahead, "we expect improved performance," he said.

"We are at a point in our transformation where we are aligning the unified organization with our business priorities to fuel long-term, profitable growth," Peacock said. "We expect these efforts to begin delivering financial benefits in the back half of this year and beyond."

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