Greif (GEF) Investor Day 2024 summary

Strategic Vision and Growth Targets

• Aims to double company size, targeting $1B+ EBITDA by 2027, >18% EBITDA margin, and >50% free cash flow conversion, focusing on less cyclical, higher-margin polymer markets and operational excellence.

• New structure with seven SBUs and four reporting segments, shifting from geographic to technology-based organization, enhances customer focus, accountability, and growth potential.

• Optimizing cost base with a $100M savings target by 2027 through SG&A rationalization, network optimization, and efficiency gains, leveraging the modernized Greif Business System (GBS 2.0).

• Disciplined, programmatic M&A remains a key accelerator, with $150M synergized Adj. EBITDA acquired since 2022 and recent acquisitions and divestitures aligning the portfolio toward strategic priorities.

• Focus on sustainability, circularity, and customer service as differentiators, with a Net Promoter Score of 70 and broad, diversified customer base.

Operational Excellence and Digital Transformation

• GBS 2.0 standardizes processes globally, emphasizing safety, quality, engineering, Lean Six Sigma, and Gemba practices for continuous improvement and scalability.

• Digital initiatives include the Greif Plus customer portal, global rollout of AI tools, and modernization of business systems to enhance efficiency and customer engagement.

• Supply chain modernization focuses on integrated planning, strategic sourcing, logistics optimization, and leveraging analytics for working capital and cost management.

• Enhanced commercial organization with a One Greif approach, centralized pricing, and account planning to drive revenue and margin growth.

• Building global centers of excellence in supply chain and digital to enhance customer service and operational scale.

Financial Discipline and Performance Management

• Weekly cross-functional reviews monitor margins, volumes, collections, and KPIs, enabling agile responses to market and operational challenges.

• Incentives for sales and plant managers are margin-based, with additional rewards for strategic projects and cross-selling initiatives.

• Quadrant analysis classifies plants by profitability and strategic fit, guiding actions to close, fix, maintain, or invest, with a focus on deploying capital to high-performing operations.

• Return on invested capital is targeted to return to low-to-mid teens as margins and volumes recover, with disciplined capital allocation prioritizing debt reduction and opportunistic M&A.

• Balanced capital allocation: 20% to shareholders, 30% to maintenance/debt, 50% to growth (M&A and organic investments).