SEC Company Response from HAIN CELESTIAL GROUP (HAIN) — Mar 31, 2020
HAIN CELESTIAL GROUP INC
Date: March 31, 2020 · CIK: 0000910406 · Accession: 0000910406-20-000031
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 000-22818
Referenced dates: March 23, 2020
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm Document March 31, 2020 VIA EDGAR United States Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Corporation Finance Office of Manufacturing 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549 Attn: Ernest Greene, Staff Accountant Martin James, Senior Advisor Re: The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. Form 10-K for the Year Ended June 30, 2019 Filed August 29, 2019 File No. 000-22818 Dear Messrs. Greene and James: Set forth below is the response of The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (“Hain Celestial”) to the comment of the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission in its letter dated March 23, 2020 regarding Hain Celestial’s Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2019. Form 10-K for the Year Ended June 30, 2019 Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures to U.S. GAAP Measures Adjusted EBITDA, page 48 Staff Comment 1.We note that the subtotal labelled EBITDA in your reconciliation on page 49 reflects adjustments for items other than interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Please revise your presentations in future filings to use a title that clearly distinguishes these amounts from EBITDA, as described in Exchange Act Release No. 47226, or alternatively to present an EBITDA measure that is calculated consistent with that description. Refer to Question 103.01 of the Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations on Non-GAAP Measures. Hain Celestial Response Hain Celestial acknowledges the staff’s comment and will remove the reference to “EBITDA” as a Non-GAAP measure in all future filings. While Hain Celestial expects to continue to disclose “Adjusted EBITDA”, it will instead reconcile “Adjusted EBITDA” to Net Income (Loss) From Continuing Operations or Net Income (Loss), as applicable. As an example of how Hain Celestial proposes to revise its “Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA in the Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures to U.S. GAAP Financial Measures” section within future filings, please see Appendix A to this letter, subject to any changes resulting from then-current events. ***** Should you require additional information with respect to this response, please do not hesitate to contact me at (516) 587-5076 or javier.idrovo@hain.com. Sincerely, /s/ Javier H. Idrovo Javier H. Idrovo Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Appendix A Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures to U.S. GAAP Measures We have included in this report measures of financial performance that are not defined by U.S. GAAP. We believe that these measures provide useful information to investors and include these measures in other communications to investors. For each of these non-U.S. GAAP financial measures, we are providing below a reconciliation of the differences between the non-U.S. GAAP measure and the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure, an explanation of why our management and Board of Directors believes the non-U.S. GAAP measure provides useful information to investors and any additional purposes for which our management and Board of Directors uses the non-U.S. GAAP measure. These non-U.S. GAAP measures should be viewed in addition to, and not in lieu of, the comparable U.S. GAAP measure. … Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net (loss) income before income taxes, net interest expense, depreciation and amortization, impairment of long-lived and intangible assets, equity in the earnings of equity-method investees, stock-based compensation, Project Terra costs and other, and other non-recurring items. The Company’s management believes that this presentation provides useful information to management, analysts and investors regarding certain additional financial and business trends relating to its results of operations and financial condition. In addition, management uses this measure for reviewing the financial results of the Company and as a component of performance-based executive compensation. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-U.S. GAAP measure and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. We do not consider Adjusted EBITDA in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The principal limitation of Adjusted EBITDA is that it excludes certain expenses and income that are required by U.S. GAAP to be recorded in our consolidated financial statements. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is subject to inherent limitations as this metric reflects the exercise of judgment by management about which expenses and income are excluded or included in determining Adjusted EBITDA. In order to compensate for these limitations, management presents Adjusted EBITDA in connection with U.S. GAAP results. A reconciliation of net (loss) income to Adjusted EBITDA is as follows: Fiscal Year Ended June 30, (amounts in thousands) 2019 2018 2017 Net (loss) income $ (183,314) $ 9,694 $ 67,430 Net (loss) income from discontinued operations (133,369) (72,734) 1,889 Net (loss) income from continuing operations $ (49,945) $ 82,428 $ 65,541 Benefit for income taxes (2,697) (887) 22,466 Interest expense, net 32,970 24,339 18,391 Depreciation and amortization 56,914 60,809 59,567 Equity in net loss (income) of equity-method investees 655 (339) (129) Stock-based compensation, net 9,503 13,380 9,658 Stock-based compensation expense in connection with Chief Officer Succession Agreement 429 (2,203) — Goodwill impairment — 7,700 — Long-lived asset and intangibles impairment 33,719 14,033 40,452 Unrealized currency (gains)/losses (850) (2,027) 12,570 Project Terra costs and other 39,958 20,749 9,694 Chief Executive Officer Succession Plan expense, net 29,727 — — Proceeds from insurance claims (4,460) — — Accounting review and remediation costs, net of insurance proceeds 4,334 9,293 29,562 Warehouse/manufacturing facility start-up costs 17,636 4,179 — SKU rationalization 12,381 4,913 5,360 Plant closure related costs 7,457 5,513 1,804 Litigation and related expenses 1,517 1,015 — Gain on sale of business (534) — — Losses on terminated chilled desserts contract — 6,553 2,583 Co-packer disruption — 3,692 — Regulated packaging change — 1,007 — Toys "R" Us bad debt — 897 — Recall and other related costs — 580 809 Machine break-down costs — 317 — UK deferred synergies due to CMA Board decision — — 918 Realized currency loss (gain) on repayment of international loans 2,706 — (14,290) Adjusted EBITDA $ 191,420 $ 255,941 $ 264,956