Earnings call transcript: Post Holdings Q4 2025 beats EPS expectations

In its fourth-quarter earnings report for fiscal year 2025, Post Holdings Inc. (POST) surpassed earnings expectations but fell short on revenue. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.09, exceeding the forecast of $1.87. However, revenue came in at $2.2 billion, slightly below the anticipated $2.25 billion. Following the announcement, Post Holdings’ stock saw a decline, with shares dropping 4.01% to $106.64 in after-hours trading. For the full year, the company achieved $8.16 billion in revenue with diluted EPS of $5.51, according to InvestingPro data.

Key Takeaways

• Post Holdings exceeded EPS expectations by 11.76%.
• Revenue fell short of forecasts by 2.22%.
• Stock price decreased by 4.01% in after-hours trading.
• Company highlighted strong performance in foodservice and strategic investments.
• Ongoing challenges in the cereal and pet food segments were noted.

Company Performance

Post Holdings demonstrated resilience in a challenging market environment, driven by strategic acquisitions and diversified product offerings. The company’s acquisition of Eighth Avenue contributed to a 12% increase in sales. Despite facing declines in the cereal category, Post Holdings has maintained a strong position in the foodservice sector, particularly with high-value egg products.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $2.2 billion, up 12% year-over-year.
• Adjusted EBITDA: $425 million for Q4.
• Full-year free cash flow: Nearly $500 million.
• Net leverage remained flat at 4.4x.

Earnings vs. Forecast

Post Holdings reported an EPS of $2.09, significantly surpassing the forecast of $1.87, representing an 11.76% positive surprise. However, revenue missed expectations by 2.22%, coming in at $2.2 billion compared to the projected $2.25 billion.

Market Reaction

Despite the EPS beat, Post Holdings’ stock fell 4.01% in after-hours trading to $106.64. This decline reflects investor concerns over the revenue miss and ongoing challenges in key market segments. The stock is trading closer to its 52-week low of $100.44, indicating cautious sentiment among investors.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking ahead, Post Holdings provided guidance for fiscal year 2026, projecting adjusted EBITDA between $1.50 billion and $1.54 billion, indicating 1-4% growth. The company plans capital expenditures of $350-$390 million and expects favorable performance in the second half of the year, focusing on normalized growth across its segments.

Executive Commentary

CEO Rob Vitale emphasized the company’s strategic focus, stating, "We expect the benefits of our diversification will allow us to navigate an environment of continued uncertainty." He also highlighted the company’s investment strategy, saying, "We look at M&A and buybacks as a risk-return adjusted way to use our capital."

Risks and Challenges

• Continued decline in the cereal category and volume challenges in the pet food segment.
• Economic pressures affecting consumer sentiment and spending.
• Potential supply chain disruptions impacting operational efficiency.
• Competitive pressures in the foodservice sector.
• Uncertainty in global markets affecting strategic planning.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about Post Holdings’ M&A strategy and the rationale behind its share buybacks. The company explained its focus on targeted opportunities and capital management. Additionally, discussions included segment-specific challenges and the potential impact of structural versus cyclical market changes.

Full transcript - Post Holdings (POST) Q4 2025:

Conference Operator: Thank you for your continued patience. Your meeting will begin shortly. If you need assistance at any time, please press star zero, and a member of our team will be happy to help you. Thank you for your continued patience. Your meeting will begin shortly. If you need assistance at any time, please press star zero, and a member of our team will be happy to help you. Please stand by, your meeting is about to begin. Welcome to the Post Holdings Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star one on your telephone keypad.

If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star two. So others can hear your questions clearly, we ask that you pick up your handset for best sound quality. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to turn the call over to Daniel O’Rourke, Investor Relations for Post.

Daniel O’Rourke, Investor Relations, Post Holdings: Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Post’s Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Call. I’m joined this morning by Rob Vitale, our President and CEO; Jeff Zadoks, our COO; and Matt Mainer, our CFO and Treasurer. Rob, Jeff, and Matt will make prepared remarks, and afterwards we’ll answer your questions. The press release that supports these remarks is posted on both the investors’ and the SEC filings portions of our website and is also available on the SEC’s website. As a reminder, this call is being recorded, and an audio replay will be available on our website at postholdings.com. Before we continue, I would like to remind you that this call will contain certain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that should be carefully considered by investors, as actual results could differ materially from these statements.

These forward-looking statements are current as of the date of this call, and management undertakes no obligation to update these statements. This call will discuss certain non-GAAP measures. For reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP measure, see our press release issued yesterday and posted on our website. With that, I will turn the call over to Rob.

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: Thanks, Daniel, and good morning, everyone. We had a good fiscal year 2025, and we ended with a strong quarter. It was an interesting year as we navigated regulatory changes, tariffs, avian flu, and uncertain consumer sentiment. Despite this challenging environment, our portfolio of businesses displayed resilience and delivered strong results.

We expect that the benefits of our diversification will allow us to navigate an environment of continued uncertainty. We expect to continue volume growth in our foodservice business, especially in our highest value products. In retail, we remain disciplined in the face of a very challenging volume landscape, keeping our focus on cost reduction and profitable brand investments. Jeff and Matt will provide detail on our FY 2026 outlook, but we will focus on what we can control, and from that perspective, I like our positioning. I expect foodservice to provide volume growth and our retail businesses to generate considerable cash flow to fund both organic and inorganic opportunities. In that vein, a highlight of FY 2025 was our strong operating cash flow, which allowed us to maintain flat net leverage while making key capital investments, completing two tactical acquisitions, and buying back over 11% of the company.

With a step down in capital spending and the benefits from the new tax law, we expect a meaningful increase in FY 2026 free cash flow. Coupled with our long-dated debt maturity ladder, we can be opportunistic with our capital allocation decisions. We continue to review M&A opportunities, and we benchmark them against buying back our own shares. I would like to thank all of our employees for another successful year. The strength and diversification of our operating model, combined with dedicated employees, give me a great deal of confidence in continuing our track record of value creation. Before I turn the call over to Jeff, I want to make a personal comment. Bill has been a mentor, business partner, and friend for nearly 30 years, and I expect that to continue regardless of titles. Jeff.

Jeff Zadoks, COO, Post Holdings: Thanks, Rob, and good morning, everyone. We delivered strong consolidated results in Q4. Our cold chain businesses did a fantastic job in navigating HPAI. In addition, across the entire portfolio, cost reductions and manufacturing execution combined to more than offset the impact of lower retail volumes. At Post, consumer brands, our branded and private label cereal businesses experienced consumption declines resulting from challenging category dynamics. In pet, our volume consumption was down versus a flat category, driven primarily by Nutrich. As a reminder, we are adjusting the value proposition and messaging for this brand, with changes to be in market by the end of fiscal Q2. A bright spot in pet was Kibbles ’n Bits, which had a strong consumption volume versus the prior year.

In spite of the volume challenges, we were successful in growing our consumer brand’s EBITDA margin, excluding Eighth Avenue, by 100 basis points, driven by improved mix in cereal and strong cost management across the segment. Our upcoming cereal plant closures will further help to alleviate the impact of cereal category declines. Setting aside HPAI, foodservice had strong underlying performance driven by growth in both egg and potato volumes. While a portion of Q4 egg volume growth was related to timing from improved egg availability and customer inventory replenishment, we continue to see strong demand, in particular for our higher value-added products. Volumes for these higher margin egg products grew nearly 9% in the quarter and approximately 6% for the full year. Our HPAI impacted egg supply came back online as expected in Q4, allowing us to continue gradually winding down pricing adders.

As we enter fiscal 2026, we are well positioned to continue the normalized growth trend in this business. In refrigerated retail, dinner sides grew volumes in the quarter, driven by targeted promotions and new private label offerings that began shipping toward the end of the quarter. Private label offerings are expected to contribute low single-digit volume growth in fiscal 2026. Segment profitability had some continued tailwinds from HPAI pricing adders again this quarter. At Weetabix, our flagship Yellowbox product consumption performed in line with the improving cereal category, which was down less than 1%. The noticeable improvement in the U.K. cereal category over recent quarters is an encouraging trend. Meanwhile, we continue to execute against our identified cost-out opportunities as we consolidate our private label production, resulting in a plant closure in mid-fiscal year.

Turning to FY 2026, we have planned for a more normalized environment in our cold chain businesses as we begin the year with egg supply back in balance, allowing us to focus on driving volume growth in both foodservice and refrigerated retail. For the balance of our portfolio, we’re projecting some improvement in the cereal category as we lapse certain FY 2025 pressures. However, we do not expect a full return to historical trends. To support volumes across the entire company, we will make targeted investments, including innovation, where we see profitable opportunities. However, as Rob mentioned, we remain focused on protecting margins and our strong cash flow. With that, I’ll turn the call over to Matt.

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Fourth quarter consolidated net sales were $2.2 billion, and adjusted EBITDA was $425 million. Sales increased 12%, driven by our acquisition of Eighth Avenue. Excluding the acquisition, net sales declined, driven by lower pet food and cereal volumes, partially offset by avian influenza-driven pricing and egg volume growth. Turning to our segments, Post’s consumer brands net sales, excluding the contribution from Eighth Avenue, decreased 13%, driven by lower volumes in both grocery and pet. Cereal volumes decreased 8% due to category and competitive dynamics. At pet, our volumes declined 13%, driven by lost private label business we mentioned last quarter, and we are continuing to experience consumption declines as we reset our Nutrich brand. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased 2%, which includes a $20 million contribution from Eighth Avenue.

Excluding Eighth Avenue, adjusted EBITDA decreased 8% versus prior year as the impact of lower volumes was partially offset by improved cost management, especially in SG&A. Moving to foodservice, net sales increased 20% on both pricing and an 11% volume increase. Excluding the impact of our PPI acquisitions, volumes increased 9% on higher egg, potato, and shake volumes. The increased volumes and avian influenza-driven pricing drove the revenue increase. Adjusted EBITDA increased 50%, driven by avian influenza-driven pricing and the previously mentioned volume growth in our value-added egg and potato products. Refrigerated retail net sales were flat, and volumes, excluding the impact of PPI, fell 4%. The volume decline was driven by sausages and eggs, which experienced elasticities due to pricing to offset input costs. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased 44%, benefiting from avian influenza pricing adders and lapping some elevated SG&A costs in the prior year.

Weetabix’s net sales increased 4% versus the prior year. Foreign currency represented a tailwind of 360 basis points. Overall, volumes decreased 3% as our core Yellowbox product volumes declined by 6%, offset by volume growth in UFID, which was up 41% versus the prior year. Segment adjusted EBITDA increased 1% versus prior year due to currency tailwinds, partially offset by lower volumes and increased inflation-driven costs. Turning to cash flow in the quarter, we generated $301 million from operations. Our free cash flow for the quarter was approximately $150 million as we invested in key projects in both PCB and foodservice businesses. Free cash flow for the full year was nearly $500 million, driven by strong operating cash flow, net of elevated CapEx. In the quarter, we repurchased 2.6 million shares, bringing our fiscal 2025 total repurchases to 6.4 million shares.

We were active in share repurchase following the end of quarter, buying back approximately 1 million shares. Net leverage, in accordance with our credit agreement, ended the fiscal year at 4.4 times, relatively flat to how we began the year. Before we get to Q&A, I have a few comments on our fiscal 2026 guidance. As stated in our earnings release last night, including two months of pasta contribution, we expect our FY 2026 adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $1.50 billion-$1.54 billion. This range reflects approximately a 1%-4% growth rate to a normalized FY 2025. Relative to FY 2025 Q4, we expect Q1 adjusted EBITDA to decrease meaningfully, driven by HPAI normalization and seasonality declines in U.S. and U.K. cereal, partially offset by seasonality benefits in refrigerated retail. For the full year, we expect second-half favorability to the first half.

Finally, our CapEx guidance of $350 million-$390 million is down notably from FY 2025 as we completed key investments within PCB and foodservice. FY 2026 will continue to see elevated spending in foodservice as we invest behind growth for both pre-cooked and cage-free. Thank you for joining us today, and I’ll now turn the call over to the operator.

Conference Operator: The floor is now open for questions. At this time, if you have a question or comment, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question is answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star two. Again, we ask that you pick up your handset when posing your questions to provide optimal sound quality. Thank you. Our first question comes from Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Andrew Lazar, Analyst, Barclays: Morning. Thanks so much. Maybe, Rob, to start off, we’ve certainly seen industry volume remain sort of challenged. We can see some of that reflected in your PCB segment and cereal and pet. You’ve been aggressively buying back your own shares in lieu of, I guess, more interesting portfolio opportunities. The last time valuations in the group were really under this much pressure was sort of the late 1990s, and the group got out of it through larger scale M&A. Perhaps this time is different. I think some investors maybe see the current weakness as maybe more structural rather than cyclical. I guess I’m curious how this dynamic sort of informs your capital allocation decisions. Is M&A still the right approach, given how cheap assets are?

Is buying back stock at these levels more sensible if one believes the terminal growth rate of potential acquisition candidates is simply lower going forward? I guess what I’m asking is whether this represents another buying opportunity in the space, like the late 1990s, or is it somewhat different?

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: If the ultimate question is it structural or cyclical, I think you have to tell us how long the cycle will last. I think it’s different in the following manner. I think the big difference is the cost of capital has changed dramatically. We’ve been in a long-term decline, and now we’re in what could be an inflection point where we see more increased pressure than decrease. I think that starts to develop the strategy. I think in lieu of a reflexive position of, "We’re just going to use M&A to get bigger," it needs to be a little more thoughtful and perhaps a little bit more focused around focus so that we can look at opportunities to be better rather than just bigger. That sounds a little bit cliché, but I think it’s true.

Where we have opportunities to be more focused in some area that I think we should take them, and where there are opportunities to be more efficient in other areas, we should take them. From our perspective, we do not necessarily differentiate between M&A and buybacks. What we try to do is compare them from a potential return perspective and a risk perspective, and then compare them. We really do not look at it and say, "If we buy back shares, we are going to shrink or look at our multiple different." We look at that and say, "What is the best risk-return adjusted way to use our capital?

Andrew Lazar, Analyst, Barclays: Right. Thank you for that. I know on the last earnings call, I think you talked about all the asset optimization efforts that you’re undertaking in ready-to-eat cereal and that those could kind of get plant utilization maybe back up to around the mid-80s. If the cereal category continued to be weak or below its historic rate of decline, maybe further actions on the cost side sort of would need to be considered. I guess I’m curious, what sort of actions could we be talking about? Maybe are you considering any additional ones, given, I think, your comments in the preparatory remarks that we do not see the category in fiscal 2026 necessarily getting back to what has been its longer or historical rate of decline? Thanks so much.

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: Sure. Certainly, there are additional opportunities we can take on cost reduction, but I think the magnitudes start to get smaller as the bigger things like plant closure have occurred. We are looking at things like line optimization rather than plant optimization. They continue to be good opportunities, but we’ve obviously taken the larger ones first.

Andrew Lazar, Analyst, Barclays: Yeah. Thank you.

Conference Operator: We will move next to Tom Palmer with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: Hey, good morning, and thanks for the question. You have normalized growth outlooks you’ve given for your segments. I guess maybe thinking through those segments for fiscal 2026, which ones do you kind of see as being more consistent with that normalized outlook after we adjust for M&A and avian flu? Maybe which ones are light? I mean, I know there was the PCB commentary, but kind of curious, I guess, in the other areas. Thank you.

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Sure. I think from what you look at, the PCB legacy business, we see that as more flat. Not growing the 2% we have in our algorithm this year, given what we have got going on in cereal, but also the Nutrich reset that will not take place till mid-year. In the balance of the portfolio, honestly, we see in line with those algos.

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: Okay. Thank you for that. I guess to follow up on the algos, a quarter ago you talked about in foodservice around $115 million EBITDA being a normalized run rate. We have seen real volume strength in that segment. I appreciate the past year had some avian flu, but why is $115 still the right number? Should we be thinking about something maybe a bit higher to start out the year?

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: No, I mean, we think $115 is the right number. That was really a benchmark we put last quarter. That is how we think about fiscal 2025. I think fair to assume that grows in line with algo for fiscal 2026. By the end of the year, it would be obviously something more like $120. I think we talked about it last quarter as well. We would like to have a quarter or two of some normalcy so we can get a better read on that. As you pointed out, there is a lot of noise with avian influenza. We definitely had some catch-up this past quarter with customer inventory levels, given some of the challenges with AI. We really do see the base business continue to perform quite well. I think we will revisit in another quarter.

How we benchmark normal and normalized run rate was against that $115 and then growing 5% in fiscal 2026.

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: Great. Thank you.

Conference Operator: We’ll go next to Matt Smith with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Hi, good morning. I wanted to ask about the performance in refrigerated retail. You had a nice 20% EBITDA margin in the quarter, but you called out some AI pricing benefits there. As we look forward, is this a business that’s on solid footing to maintain kind of a high-teens EBITDA margin in a normal environment?

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Sure. We definitely, similar to foodservice, but on a much smaller scale, had some pricing benefits that fell away at the end of the quarter. That was a little bit inflated because of that. We are seeing better performance and better volume performance around private label, which is improving capacity utilization. I think with that said, in the holiday season for them, we’ve always had significant seasonality. I think high teens is reasonable. When you talk about those periods in our slower part of the year, you’re going to return to more, call it 16% or so margins. It’s not going to be a high teens.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Thanks, Matt. Rob, as a follow-up to some of the commentary about the industry, we are seeing private label trends vary across Post categories, gaining some share in pet categories while having a softer performance in the cereal category currently. Is there anything to read through in terms of category by category how consumers are trading down into private label? Any observation you have, whether it’s price gap dependent or really category dependent? Thank you.

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: You took the words right out of my mouth. It’s really price gap dependent. We’re starting to see consumers be a little bit more drawn to promotional activity. It moves inversely to that.

Conference Operator: Our next question comes from Scott Marks with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Hey, good morning. Thanks so much for taking our questions. First thing I wanted to ask about in the prepared comments, you mentioned making targeted investments in 2026 with some innovation potential. Just wondering if you can kind of share some details about how you’re thinking about some of those investments and maybe what categories you would like to invest in and anything else you can comment on that. Thanks.

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: It’s the typical type of investment for brand innovation that you have seen historically. We took a pause on some of those during the pandemic, and it’s been something that we haven’t been quick to renew in the last couple of years. It is going to be line extensions in really every retail category. In cereal, as an example, we are going to be bringing some protein products. We are going to be bringing some granola products, which are areas of the category that are growing better than the rest of the category. You are going to see that sort of thing in our refrigerated retail business as well. In pets, a lot of that is directed towards the Nutrich relaunch, although we will see some smaller innovations in some of the other brands as well.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Got it. Thanks for that. Next question for me, just as we look at the foodservice business and some of the demand for some of those value-add products, it sounds like you’re expecting some of that momentum to sustain as we get into next fiscal year. Maybe what gives you confidence that some of your operator partners will continue to demand these products at these high levels? Any comments you can share about the overall backdrop for your operators right now?

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: There are a couple of things we would point to. One is really a long history of that business moving customers up the value chain. Starting from lower value-added products, moving them up to higher value-added products, and the value proposition that they see when doing so. It is a function of the labor dynamic in their operations when they move up the value chain. That has been a multi-year, almost decade-long, maybe multi-decade-long trajectory of the category, which we do not see any slowdown in happening. The one more perhaps unique situation with avian influenza and the pricing dynamic that has been caused by that in shell eggs has caused some customers to convert to liquid eggs, the ones that are able to convert, because over this period of time, liquid eggs have been less expensive than shell eggs.

What we have seen in the past, probably on a smaller scale than what we’ve seen this last cycle, is that there’s some stickiness to people who have converted to liquid eggs initially just for the pure price play because they find that the efficiency in their operations is such that even if the prices are more competitive with one another between liquid and shell eggs, that they find efficiencies in remaining with liquid eggs. We have some belief that, given what we’ve seen over the last 12 to 18 months, that the stickiness of those customers that have converted will continue.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Thanks so much. We’ll pass them out.

Conference Operator: We’ll go next to Michael Lavery with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Thank you. Good morning.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Hey, Mike.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Just on pet, can you maybe unpack some of the key moving parts there and maybe just remind us the cadence of some of the private label cuts and distribution losses or the command cuts and when you lap those and just how to think about the puts and takes through the year?

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Sure. A year ago, we were working our way through fiscal 2025 through some profit-enhancing decisions we had made. We fully lapped those as we exited 2025. In 2026, what we have yet to lap then as we developed during 2025 is we lost some private label business. We continue to pursue opportunities there, but we will not lap that until we get to the midpoint of the fiscal year. I think as we think about the business and the volume trajectory, the first half of the year sees really more down mid to high single digits. As we get to the midpoint of the year and Nutrich is on shelf and we lap that private label loss, we would be back to more flat to maybe some slight growth year over year.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay. Great. That’s helpful. You touched on some of the price gaps. Maybe just specifically for cereal, can you help us understand what you’re seeing there? How rational does pricing seem? Maybe any sense of why you’re not seeing a little bit more benefit from trading down?

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: We’ve had some pretty competitive pressure and promotional activities over the last several months. They seem to be changing. I think it’s no more complicated than that as some of our competitors have been more promotional. The private label offering has been less competitive.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay. Thanks so much.

Conference Operator: We’ll go next to Marc Torrente with Wells Fargo Securities. Please go ahead.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Hey, good morning. Thank you for the questions. I guess first on the EBIT upgrade into 2026, any changes to your underlying assumptions for the GO4 and the Eighth Avenue business? I think you previously called out $45 million-$50 million EBITDA annualized plus the $15 million synergies exiting the year. Any color on contribution baked in for the Post Holdings business for the first quarter top line and the EBITDA?

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Sure. No change to the outlook. $45 million-$50 million is how we think about the contribution in fiscal 2026. We do have confidence in getting to a run rate and synergies by the end of the year. It is going to take some time given all that is going on there. In terms of the pasta business in Q4, we called out about $20 million contribution from Eighth Avenue, so a little under the run rate, obviously. About half of that was pasta. We are expecting just two months of pasta contribution this fiscal year, so two-thirds of $10 million before we close on the transaction in December.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay. Thank you. Just a little more on the volume trends in core grocery. Any color on progress through the quarter and how things have trended into the first quarter? Have you seen any incremental pressure, perhaps from SNAP? Just what’s factored into your outlook for this year?

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Yeah. I think what we factored in is fairly conservative. Again, I think we believe we’ll see some category improvement as we lap some challenges in the back half of next year, given some of our fiscal 2026, I should say, given that some of the challenges we saw with MAHA and some other things that happened in the spring. We’re not calling for a category getting back to normal in the back half of the year. Some marginal improvement year over year is really what we have. I think Q1 and Q2 looking a lot like what we saw in Q3 and Q4, and then seeing some improvement in Q3 and Q4 is what’s baked in our guidance.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Okay. Thank you.

Conference Operator: If you do have a question, you may press star one on your telephone keypad at this time. We’ll go next to John Baumgardner with Mizuho Securities. Please go ahead.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Good morning. Thanks for the question.

Scott Marks, Analyst, Jefferies: Hi, John.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: I wanted to go back, Rob, to some of your comments around strategy and cyclical versus structural. Over the years, Post has built this portfolio that’s tilted more to value, whether it’s cereal, pet food, the Eighth Avenue business here again. I mean, value has held up well against the macro over time. It’s been prudent. I’m curious, given the headwinds now for lower middle-income consumers, higher debt, SNAP reductions, and you’re seeing the consistency from the premium eggs, does it maybe warrant more initiatives in terms of addressing premium products, higher-income households? Just how do you think about that in terms of future M&A or organic innovation and the capacity to tilt the portfolio differently going forward?

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: I think I would disagree that the portfolio is built around value. I think the portfolio is built around choice because if you look at each line we are in, we have an array of price points. That is true of eggs, cereal, potatoes. What we really like to do is appeal to an array of consumers. I think that the trends that you’re raising, rather than dictating the construct of the portfolio in total, really dictate the direction of innovation. I think in that context, it does suggest if we have the opportunity to do so to innovate more towards higher or middle-income consumers.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Okay. Maybe just building on that in the refrigerated retail business, thinking about some of the side dishes, I think that’s been an area where private label has been a little bit of a challenge the last year or two. As we look forward now, supply chain issues have been cleared away. How do you think about investing in that business in terms of a vehicle for innovation, taking the convenience angle for consumers, expanding distribution growth? Where does your plan sort of sit for that side dishes business going forward now?

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: John, you’ve got a long history with us. We went through a period of time when we first acquired the business that it was in private label and branded. To Rob’s comment, we were participating up and down the value of that segment, different price points. We went through a period of time when we did not have enough capacity to meet our branded demand. We exited private label so that we could focus on the brand. In the meantime, some competitive private brand products got some traction. We have now gotten to the point where we have our capacity better aligned to the point where we have capacity that can meet both private label and branded demand.

Because of that, we’re choosing to pick and choose where we go, but to go after attractive private label opportunities in that category while also maintaining the brand and continuing to invest in the brand. The longer-term or medium-term goal in that category would be to do exactly what Rob said, play at the multiple price points, not to be the omnipresent party in private label, but to be the party that wins where private label is most relevant at those retailers.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Gotcha. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks, Rob.

Tom Palmer, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you.

Conference Operator: Our last question comes from Carla Casella with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: Hi. We talked a lot about the M&A as part of the strategy over the past. I’m just wondering how that environment looks today and if there are a lot of opportunities. Also, if you’re focused more on opportunities within any of your key segments, or would you add another leg to the stool?

We tend to be entirely optimistic on the last part of your question. I think in order to have a successful transaction, we obviously need a counterparty. I think with the multiples where they are today, we’ve seen some reluctance to transact. We don’t necessarily look at M&A as an objective in and of itself. We look at it as something, an allocation of capital choice that we can use compared to buying our shares back or paying down debt.

Okay. Given the Eighth Avenue is behind you, any thoughts on coming to market to refinance some of the draw on the revolver that you used for Eighth Avenue?

Matt Mainer, CFO and Treasurer, Post Holdings: Yeah. We continue to monitor, Carla. Obviously, we keep a close eye on that and the bond market, but we’ll continue to look for the right pocket to do that.

Rob Vitale, President and CEO, Post Holdings: Okay. Great. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s question and answer session as well as Post Holdings’ fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. Please disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.

Matt Smith, Analyst, Stifel: Thanks.

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