Image source: The Motley Fool.
Newell Brands Inc. (NWL 12.46%)
Q2 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Aug. 6, 2018, 8:30 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good morning, and welcome to the Newell Brands Second Quarter 2018 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After a brief discussion by management, we will open up the call for questions. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. A live webcast of this call is available at newellbrands.com on the Investor Relations home page under Events & Presentations. A slide presentation is also available for download.
I will now turn the call over to Nancy O'Donnell, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. O'Donnell, you may begin.
Nancy O'Donnell -- Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for attending our call today. I'm Nancy O'Donnell, and on the call with me are Mike Polk, our President and CEO, and Ralph Nicoletti, our Chief Financial Officer.
Before we get started, I would like to point out that we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that providing insights on these measures enables investors to better understand and analyze our ongoing results of operations. Reconciliation with the most directly comparable financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP can be found in our earnings release and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
I would also remind you that today's discussion contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may be materially different due to risks, uncertainties, and other factors. The company undertakes no obligation to update any such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please review our most recent filings with the SEC for a description of important risk factors that could contribute to these differences.
I would now like to turn the call over to Mike for his comments.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Nancy, and thanks to everyone for joining the call. On our last earnings call, I unveiled the details of our Accelerated Transformation Plan. In the second quarter, we began to drive the plan into action. Our industry is changing much faster than most have anticipated. As has always been the case, the consumer is driving these changes. She is considering her category and brand choices differently, receiving brand messages and being influenced to purchase in different ways, and clearly is shopping differently. Her new path to purchase has yielded the rapid development of new channels and is driving major change in retailer and manufacturer business models. Given the nature of our categories and our channel footprint, we're on the leading edge of many of these changes. We're acting decisively and with speed as we look to create competitive leverage in this moment of inflection.
The Accelerated Transformation Plan is designed to focus and reposition the company to succeed in this rapidly emerging new landscape. We expect to come through an intense period of change in 2018 and 2019 as a $9 billion consumer goods company, well positioned to both leverage a set of competitively advantaged capabilities in product design, innovation, marketing, and e-commerce, and positioned to gain market share in our home geographies while fast-tracking our international growth and portfolio deployment.
We'll right-size our organization from the top down to align with our more focused footprint, and when coupled with the dramatic reduction in our complexity that comes through portfolio simplification, we'll begin to operate more efficiently for improved financial performance. At the completion of our transformation, no brands will be simpler, faster, and stronger.
In the second quarter, we began to execute significant changes in our portfolio, our organization, and our business system. We announced and completed the divestitures of Waddington and Rawlings. We were pleased with both the multiples and the after-tax proceeds of $2.5 billion in these transactions, and we've begun to put the proceeds to work, prioritizing deleveraging the balance sheet. Gross debt in Q2 2018 was $900 million below prior year, and plans are already in motion to delever by an additional $900 million by the end of Q3.
Marketing processes for the remaining held-for-sale businesses are in full flight. We continue to expect to generate around $10 billion in after-tax proceeds from the divestiture program. With the next tranche of proceeds, we will deleverage further, as maintaining our investment grade rating is a key priority for the company. While deleveraging is the early priority for proceeds, we expect to allocate significant capital to share repurchase over time.
In the second quarter, we took the initial steps to right-size our organization with changes announced in action between May and August. These actions included changes on the top team, in our corporate functions, and in marketing and R&D. Our change program is designed to offset the retained costs associated with the divestitures and right-size the cost structure to our new portfolio, while also increasing the connectedness and responsiveness of the organization for greater impact in the marketplace.
We also took steps to simplify our operations, closing five distribution centers and implementing two SAP cutovers with a third under way right now on our large North America appliances business. The impact of these actions will benefit the back half of the year and be fully reflected in next year's financial results. We have further work to do on costs, the positive impact of which will build over time.
In the context of these changes, we delivered second quarter results generally in line with our expectations. As a total company, we made progress on margins and they were well ahead of our expectations, driven by strong savings and overhead programs. For reference, we placed supplemental information on the company's website that provides an illustrative total company P&L for Q2.
Our net sales were a bit below our expectations as foreign exchange worsened and the late start to spring impacted our outdoor and fresh preserving businesses. We successfully navigated through an important phase of the Toys 'R' Us liquidation on Baby and the inventory reset that our traditional writing customers are driving. We also were pleased with the strong innovation-driven growth on Crock-Pot and Calphalon, and distribution driven growth on First Alert, WoodWick, and Yankee Candle.
Despite the absence of the Toys 'R' Us large online baby registry e-commerce platform, our overall e-commerce business grew mid-single digits percent. Excluding the impact of Toys 'R' Us, our e-commerce business grew double-digit percent. While there is much more to do to drive the Accelerated Transformation Plan into action and to ignite the underlying performance in the business, we're pleased with the first half progress we've made, driving the necessary changes to our portfolio and our cost structure, while simultaneously overcoming some of the most difficult retailer issues we'll have to face this year.
Let me pass the call to Ralph to walk through a more in-depth review of Q2 results, and then I'll return to provide perspective on the balance of the year. Over to you, Ralph.
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Mike, and good morning everyone. As I go through the financial results, please note that the discussion of the income statement metrics reflect our continuing operations. I'll remind you that under GAAP, all overhead costs and interest expense not directly related to discontinued operations are allocated to continuing operations, which burdens margins and profitability in both 2018 and restated 2017 results. The company has initiated cost action plans to fully offset the retained cost over time and interest expense will decline through our planned deleveraging.
Reported net sales from continuing operations were $2.2 billion, down 12.8% versus last year, due to the headwind from 2017 divestitures, adoption of the 2018 revenue recognition standard, and a decline in core sales, which more than offset a tailwind from currency. Total company core sales were down 6.2% during the second quarter, largely reflecting the anticipated retailer disruption within the Baby business as Toys 'R' Us liquidated all of its remaining US stores, and our continuation of inventory destocking on the Writing business within office superstore and distributive trade channels as well as difficult comparison on Elmer's. We also experienced softness in our Coleman and fresh preserving businesses related to the late start to spring across the US.
Reported gross margin improved 50 basis points versus last year to 35.2%, while normalized gross margin contracted 50 basis points year-over-year to 35.1% as the headwind from higher input costs, unfavorable mix reflecting lower sales in Writing, and reduced fixed cost absorption as we managed inventories more than offset the favorable impact of synergies and productivity.
Reported SG&A expense of $614 million represented 27.9% of sales as compared to 27.5% in the year-ago period. Normalized SG&A expenses were $535 million or 24.3% of sales versus last year at 23.2%, while expenses were reduced year-over-year by approximately $52 million due to cost savings and lower trade promotional spending.
Reported operating margin of 3.8% was roughly flat to the year-ago margin of 3.7%. Normalized operating margin was 10.9% as compared to 12.4% last year. Net interest expense was $121 million compared to last year's $115 million, and reported tax expense was $53 million versus a benefit of $71.5 million in the year-ago period, with that change stemming from the tax benefits associated with the integration of certain legal entities. The normalized tax rate was 4.6% compared with 5.5% in the prior year, reflecting continued tax planning initiatives. We now expect our total company normalized tax rate to be in the low double digits for the year.
At the end of the quarter, we had 487 million diluted weighted average shares outstanding. For 2018, we now expect a weighted average diluted share count of about 480 million shares. Reported diluted earnings per share for the total company were $0.27 as compared to $0.46 in the year-ago quarter. Normalized diluted earnings per share were $0.82 versus $0.87 in the prior year.
Now, before discussing our segment results, I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that effective in the second quarter, the company has announced new operating segments for continuing operations; Food & Appliances, Home & Outdoor Living, and Learning & Development. We will maintain another segment for businesses held for sale in 2017, which includes our tools and winter sports businesses. You can refer to our IR website for a detailed review of the new segments and an unaudited recast of 2017 quarterly data by segment.
Our new Food & Appliances segment, which includes the Food division and the Appliance & Cookware division, generated net sales of $621 million, representing an 11.9% decline versus the prior year. Core sales declined 8.2% as innovation-driven growth on Calphalon Space Saving Cookware and Crock-Pot Express Crock was offset by a decline in Latin America sales related to an SAP implementation pull-forward by customers into Q1, and softness in food with a late start to spring in the US, negatively impacting the fresh preserving category.
The Home & Outdoor Living segment, comprised of the Outdoor & Recreation, Home Fragrance, and Connected Home & Security divisions, posted net sales of $742 million, down 6.7% year-over-year. Core sales decreased 6.4%, reflecting softness in Home Fragrance in EMEA in the independent gift store channel, and in Outdoor & Recreation, lost distribution on certain camping items in the US, and weakness on tents and coolers related to the late spring. Those headwinds were partially offset by strong growth on First Alert and Yankee Candle in the US mass channel.
Learning & Development segment, including the Baby and Writing divisions, delivered net sales of $839 million, which represents a 15.3% decline year-over-year. We expected the second quarter to be very challenging for both the Writing and Baby businesses with the former being impacted by inventory destocking in the office superstore and distributive trade channels, as well as the difficult comparisons stemming from the significant pipeline fill on Elmer's Slime.
We made good progress on reaching the reduced inventory targets established by our major Writing customers earlier this year and expect the Writing results to improve in the back half of 2018. The revenue decline in the Baby division was in line with our expectations as the bankruptcy of Toys 'R' Us and the full liquidation of its remaining stores in the US weighed on its performance. We believe that we are through the worst period and expect a recovery in the back half.
Reported income from discontinued operations was $208 million versus $206 million last year. The reported results include a $598 million gain on the sale of Waddington, which is offset against the $136 million loss on the sale of Rawlings, and an impairment charge of $454 million taken against Process Solutions. Normalized income from discontinued operations was $286 million versus $236 million last year. Remember, discontinued operations benefit from the fact that there is no allocation of overhead costs and no interest expense. The second quarter also mixes up from a strong seasonal result from Jostens.
Operating cash flow in the quarter came in as expected, generating $11 million versus $57 million in the prior year, as favorable working capital movements, lower cash restructuring, and tax expenses were offset by reduced operating income and loss contribution from businesses that were sold in 2017 and 2018.
We made progress during the second quarter on delevering the balance sheet, which is a key priority for the company as we remain committed to maintaining an investment grade rating. At the end of the second quarter, upon close of the Waddington and Rawlings transactions, we repaid $829 million of our accounts receivable facility. We expect to reduce debt by an additional $900 million in the third quarter. As you may have seen in our recently filed 8-K, we have already paid off our term loan balance of $300 million.
Given our priority to reduce leverage, we are allocating the vast majority of the proceeds from the deals that were completed in second quarter toward debt repayment, although we have been in the marketplace repurchasing shares as well during Q3, which is reflected in our share count guidance.
We continue to expect that we'll generate approximately $10 billion in net proceeds from divestitures over the course of the Accelerated Transformation Plan, including the $2.5 billion already received. That in combination with cash from operations should enable us to delever to ensure maintaining our investment grade rating, and still have sufficient cash to repurchase significant shares over the next 12 to 18 months.
I'll now turn the call back to Mike.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Ralph. Reigniting core performance in our continuing business is a critical priority, and we expect sequential improvement in our operating results in the back half of 2018 despite increased inflation, worsening foreign exchange, and the negative impact of the currently proposed and implemented tariffs. While we expect the retail landscape to remain difficult, the second half impact will be less severe than the first. We expect consumer macros to remain generally good with US market growth in line with first-half levels at about 1%. We expect core sales in our continuing businesses to sequentially improve through the back half, recovering to growth by the fourth quarter, driven by strengthened innovation, positive price as the year progresses, increased brand support versus the first half of the year, and generally easier comps in the fourth quarter.
Back half launches include Calphalon premium appliances, Onelink Safe & Sound system from First Alert, Oster DuraCeramic Air Fryer, Baby Jogger Space Saving City View car seat, and Yankee Candle Elevation, the first new vessel from Yankee in many years. And we have big activation platforms at back-to-school with the Ooey Gluey Slime Games, and through holidays with Crocktober and many other brand initiatives in November and December. We expect margins to sequentially improve as a result of strong savings programs and broad-based price increases, partially offset by higher A&P. We've adjusted our 2018 full-year outlook for discontinued operations and the divestiture of Waddington and Rawlings. We expect full year net sales of between $8.7 billion and $9 billion. This range only includes sales from our continuing operations.
We expect normalized EPS of $2.45 to $2.65, reflecting a $0.20 adjustment for the impact of Waddington and Rawlings. We expect operating cash flow of $900 million to $1.2 billion, reflecting a $250 million adjustment for the impact of Waddington and Rawlings, including the incremental cash taxes on the transactions. While we don't usually provide quarterly guidance, the company does expect second half normalized operating margins of 12% to 12.4% in core sales growth to sequentially improve from down low-single digits in Q3 to up low-single digit percent in Q4.
Three factors could influence our delivery within these guidance ranges. The first factor is the performance of the Baby business in the second half of the year. Despite strong double-digit sales declines on Baby in the first half of the year, our point-of-sale growth is up high single digits and market share is up over 300 basis points. The team has done an excellent job navigating the turbulence of the Toys 'R' Us liquidation, driving the desired share shift from TRU to our other customers.
Our guidance assumes we successfully shift the vast majority of the prior year TRU business to other customers and that some of the Q2 purchases that were made at liquidation price points were actually bought earlier than they would have otherwise been purchased, reading a drag on normal dynamics in the second half of the year. In this context, we expect Baby core sales growth rates to improve in the second half of the year, but to still run below their historical run rate levels, with 2019 being a key inflection point in return to normalcy. Baby has been one of our fastest growing businesses over the last six years, and we will exit this year stronger than ever in our key US market. Clearly, we believe the long-term outlook for our Baby business is bright.
The second factor that could influence our delivery is the performance of our Writing business. In Writing, we're making significant progress. We expect to exit the first half of 2018 well on our way to the revised inventory targets, set by new leadership and new ownership in the office superstore channel and traditional Writing channel. In the first half of 2018, we chose to accelerate the delivery of their revised inventory targets in order to get the Writing business back into a normal rhythm of delivery in the back half of the year. We are on track to do that, and our guidance assumes success.
We've also now lapped the large 2017 pipeline on Slime from Elmer's. Our back-to-school selling has been solid in this context with the season just kicking into high gear and we're well staged with strong displays set virtually everywhere. In 2018, we're focused on striking the right balance between driving profitable sales and winning share in the back-to-school window. Our guidance assumes continued improvement in margins through the second half of the year and a return to growth on Writing in the fourth quarter.
The third factor that could influence delivery in the second half of the year is the impact of the new US tariffs on China-sourced goods and the retaliatory tariffs imposed by the EU in Canada in response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. As the tariffs currently stand, the annualized impact on Newell Brands could be as much as $100 million. Our 2018 guidance contemplates this impact. While we've announced incremental pricing, we're simultaneously appealing the application, the bulk of these tariffs to the US Trade Representative Office and are considering, where possible, alternative sourcing options. Virtually every business has been impacted with the greatest exposure on Baby, Appliances, and Food.
Two uncertainties could influence the ultimate impact, the first being our ability to land the incremental pricing; the second thing, the recent escalation of rhetoric regarding a potential increase in the Chinese tariff percent from 10% to 25%, and the most recent round of tariffs announced a few weeks ago. Our current pricing and guidance assumes a 10% tariff. If the China tariffs are raised to 25%, we will amend our price increases upward to reflect the full impact of the tariff.
So let me end where we started. We're living through an incredible period of change. The disruptions we're experiencing present challenges, but as importantly, new opportunities for our businesses and our people. Through this turbulence, our strategy remains unchanged. We're in the business of building leading brands; brands valued by consumers because they play an important role in consumers' lives, and valued because the products themselves are designed to perform better than competition, differentiated on the basis of their function, their form, and their finish. With these superior brands, we believe we can build leading market share positions in any country in the world because we have the scale and know-how to establish superior commercial operations designed to reach consumers where they shop.
The Accelerated Transformation Plan will focus and simplify our company around the businesses best positioned to leverage our core capabilities of product design, innovation, marketing, and e-commerce. The plan will also radically simplify the company, generating more efficient operations and improved financial outcomes. The proceeds from the portfolio transformation will both de-risk the balance sheet through deleveraging and generate tremendous value through share repurchase.
This plan is in action today and will accelerate through 2018 into 2019. As I've said, probably our most critical priority is that we reignite the core performance in the business, and we expect sequential improvement through the balance of the year and into 2019. Of course, this is only achievable through the incredible efforts of our people. We've demonstrated unbelievable resilience and determination over the last year in the face of some quite difficult circumstances.
With that recognition established and a hearty thank you to our teams, hopefully heard, let's go to Q&A.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Stephen Powers with Deutsche Bank.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Steve.
Steve Powers -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Great. Good morning. Hey, hey, Mike. So I'm sorry if I missed it, and I know you've given us the numbers to calculate it, but maybe just quickly, just to clarify upfront, what -- can you clarify what the core sales growth was for just the continuing ops in the first and second quarters? And while I appreciate the carve out of continuing ops on the sales line for the year, I guess I was hoping in the release today to get your perspective on operating cash flow and normalized EPS for the underlying business as well. So if you can articulate on that, that would be great as we look forward.
My real question is just for what you have disclosed in the release. Does the back half improvement that you're looking to achieve, both on the sales line, but also on the operating margin line, in the first half, it looks like the continuing ops margins were down about 250 basis points almost and now you're looking for those to reverse and improve year-over-year in the back half. So again, the comps get easier, but just to build on what you said in your prepared remarks, just can you expand a bit on some of the larger factors behind that second half improvement, especially given the tariff uncertainty that you called out? Thank you very much.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So continuing ops core sales in the first half of the year, I think, the numbers were minus 86 [ph], and that was a stronger -- slightly stronger Q2 and -- Q1 and a worse Q2 based on the Baby liquidation issues at Toys 'R' Us. So as you recall, Toys 'R' Us operated a large chunk of stores in the first quarter through about March 20th, and from that point forward, liquidated their entire fleet and their web platform. So the front half was about minus 86. It's actually pretty close to where we expected it to be. Quite frankly, Baby and Writing in the second quarter were slightly ahead of our forecasts, with Baby a little bit better than we had hoped, and then the softness on outdoor and fresh preserving were the things that were the bit of new news. But in general, core sales was where we expected it to be, given the two big things we were planning to deal with in the first half, including the TRU issue and including the issue on Writing channel -- traditional channel inventory reset. And so -- other than the weather-related stuff on fresh preserving and on the outdoor category, which contributed to a late spring, there weren't many other underlying surprises in the quarter. And we -- as I said, we expect that to sequentially improve through the back half of the year and return to growth in the fourth quarter.
On margins in the first half, given the -- Writing is a very profitable business for us, as you know; gross margins, 50% plus, operating margins well into the 20%s, and given the inventory dynamics in the first half of the year, you had a big mix negative in the continuing businesses, which explains sort of the year-over-year margin softness in the first half of the year. There are other factors that contributed to that, including inflation beyond what we had expected, and so -- but I think the big factor was the fact the Writing business was down double-digits related to us pulling all that inventory out of the office channel and the distributive trade and given the 50% plus margins at gross and 20% plus margins at operating income, the flow-through of that mix effect.
So that is largely behind us. I didn't make these comments in the script, but we laid out in Q1 what the shift in weeks on-hand inventory targets were for each of the top four customers, and that three of the four will be at those targets by the end of the year with the impact moderating as we go through the balance of the year, and the fourth one will get there in 2019. So we're generally on track that obviously has a flow-through effect to every line of the continuing ops P&L. Remember, our Writing business is 30% plus of the total EBITDA of the company. So it can have a really material impact if you've got big swings like the ones we're talking about.
Steven, on your desire for us to guide continuing ops EPS, we're not quite to the point where we're ready to do that, and so I'd rather hold the fire on that one until we get into 2019 -- the 2019 outlook, but we are giving you a number of metrics that could help you back into that number. Clearly, all the interest expense and all the overhead now comes to the continuing ops P&L. I gave you operating income guidance for the second half of the year for continuing ops. We gave you the net sales guidance on the full year, which, when you have a chance to go through all the supplemental tables, you'd be able to back out the first half and you should be able to come up with an operating income and an interest expense set of assumptions, and the share count, based on what Ralph communicated to you and --
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
We included in the release.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, and it's all in the release. You should be able to kind of come to a view of the continuing ops EPS, but rather than guide that, I'd rather have you guys kind of come to your own conclusions. It's a little bit too precise at this point.
Steve Powers -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Okay. That's fair enough. I appreciate the color. Thank you.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah.
Operator
Your next question comes from Bonnie Herzog of Wells Fargo Securities.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Bonnie.
Joe Lachky -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
It's actually Joe Lachky on for Bonnie. Hi, Mike.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Doesn't sound like Bonnie.
Joe Lachky -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Thanks. Hey, so I was -- I just wanted to talk a little bit about your cash priorities and kind of curious how you're balancing deleveraging versus share repurchases, and obviously how aggressive you'll be with share repurchases, given you're buying back your stock in Q3. And I think you talked a little bit about some deleveraging looking forward in Q3, but longer term, can you talk about how long you think it will take to get to your 3 to 3.5 times leverage target? And obviously you're committed to maintaining your investment grade debt rating, but are the rating agencies on board with your deleveraging plans? Thanks.
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. Hi, it's Ralph. To your question, first, our cash priorities haven't changed. We want to support the base business with good investments there. Want to ensure the dividend stays kind of in the range that we've articulated, between 30% and 35% on a payout ratio, and deleveraging to get to the -- to maintain an investment grade rating is the priority use of cash. As I mentioned in my remarks, the vast majority of the proceeds that were just received from Waddington and the sale of Waddington and Team Sports are being applied that way. So that's our priority.
Within the context of the Accelerated Transformation Plan, there is a significant amount of cash that we're going to be generating with the proceeds and we'll far exceed what we'll need to deploy to deleverage. And we'll have the excess cash to make significant repurchases, but the first priority is to get our leverage ratio in the zone that we needed to get it to. So we're going to be -- we're over 4 right now, although on a net basis -- on a net basis this quarter, we're significantly below that. We're below 4, almost at 3.7 on a net basis, and we're going to proceed into the -- toward the 3.5 range as we move toward the end of the year and going past that, and we've been in a lot of dialog with the rating agencies on that.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Joe, some of this will depend on how quickly deals get completed and how proceeds flow. So we have -- as I said, all of our processes in flight and Goody is well on its way, US Playing Cards is in the midst with some processes, Jostens well on its way, and these things will play out over the next couple of months. And depending on whether we're able to complete those deals before the end of the fourth quarter and get the cash in the bank, we'll be able to do different things. So a lot of this is really going to be a function of when cash is in hand. And clearly, we -- as we stated, we're prioritizing deleveraging upfront, but we have significant proceeds that are going to go to share repurchase over time. And we can flex that as we go depending on where we stand with respect to the underlying performance of the business and the line of sight we have to delivery of the 3.5, and then at some point into the future lower.
So I think we're going to have all the room to navigate. We're prioritizing upfront deleveraging, but very quickly we get into repurchasing, and again, timing will determine exactly how this year plays out. But as you know, we're going to -- our intention is to get all these deals done in cash in hand in early 2019. And so we're going to have a lot of flexibility on how to play this, and our original guidance around the balance between repurchase and deleveraging is likely to be how the story plays out.
Operator
Thank you. Your next question comes from Bill Chappell with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hey, Bill.
Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Good morning. Hey, Mike, just one clarification and another question. On the commentary on tariffs, I just want to make sure I understand, the $100 million of incremental kind of costs, your pricing, you think you can price all that away, so just trying to understand how much of that is in your back half guidance. I mean, how much of the growth or sales --
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
-- growth will come from incremental pricing.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. There is less than a third of that is in the back half of the year -- roughly a third in the back half of the year. And we don't know yet, how much of the pricing will stick and how much we will land. I think that's one of the bits of uncertainty, but we've announced pricing ahead of the effective date of the -- or our view of the effective date of this most recent round of tariffs in order to start the clock on customer lead times. So I think we will be effective very, very close to the implementation timetable. And I think if we're in a position where we need to amend the increase for the 25% rate versus the 10% rate, that'll be tricky and that'll be a source of conversation that we'll have to manage through with our customers. But the answer to your question is, roughly about a third of the cost hits this year, and we're hoping we can cover it dollar for dollar through pricing. But we've given ourselves some room and cushion within our guidance to deal with the probability of some conflict around that.
Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Got it. And then just follow-up on Coleman, I know that's an area you've been focused on and trying to turn around stabilize for probably about 18 months, but I guess the comment that you had lost some listings for camping, and so maybe just an update on --
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
-- where we stand there.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, the losses on listings were related to the air mattress business from Coleman at one particular retailer. I think we're coming through the worst of that phase on the brand as we continue to innovate. We -- if you go back in history, and Bill, you know this brand really well from your time covering the legacy companies, but this brand has been on a really tough slide at one of our customers. And I think we're really at the point now where we're beginning to bottom that out. There were a couple of vulnerabilities coming into the year, but I do think that we're going to be in a healthier position at that particular customer going forward, as we continue -- as we start to innovate on the brand and premiumize it. So I feel better about that particular interface and relationship than I had for a long while. We've made great progress at a couple of other big players, one in club and one in mass. And we clearly have made terrific progress on our own D2C businesses on Marmot, and I think there is an opportunity on Coleman going forward.
And so I think the brand's forward-looking view is better than it's been in a long while, but there is still a fair amount of work to do here. We're not spending a lot of money communicating around the brand at this point, and we have to do more work on the margin structure in order to give ourselves room in the P&L to be able to do that. And so I think this is a longer-term project. Of course, we've got a great business in Europe with -- under Campingaz; we've got a great Coleman business in Japan; we've got a really good business in other parts of the world both from a margin and a growth perspective, but this one cell is the one that is troubling and it's a big one. But we've got the right energy, people, and program focused on strengthening that over time.
Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Okay. Thanks.
Operator
Your next question comes from Priya Ohri-Gupta with Barclays Capital. Please go ahead.
Priya Ohri-Gupta -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Okay. Thank you so much for taking the call. I guess, just one point of clarification in response to the prior call -- question. So we should assume that the original split of proceeds that you had spoken to with about 55% going toward share repurchase should largely hold intact? And then secondly, Ralph, I was hoping you could speak a little bit to how we should think about commercial paper balances in the context of your debt reduction plans over the course of what happened in second quarter as well as what's planned for third quarter, and sort of how we should think about any possible need for a debt tender versus possibly just accelerating some of the maturities that you have in late 2018 and early 2019. Thank you.
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
Okay. A few different questions in there. Let me take the back part and then I'll come back to the front part. In terms of our debt and the ability to deleverage and take out certain tranches, we'll look at a mix of either taking a make-whole approach or a tender. The good news is kind of where the interest rate environment moved relative to our issue costs. So we're seeing very, very little to frankly no breakage costs on much of the debt. So we're going to be able to retire -- we expect to be able to reduce the debt without much breakage costs at all. And again, the tactic of a tender or a make-whole will come into play, but most everything in front of us that we're looking to reduce is on the short end of the curve. So it'll be pretty inexpensive. So we are confident we could execute that cost effectively.
As it relates to thinking about commercial paper, frankly right now we actually have none issued. We paid off some of that in the third quarter. And we'll take a look at the need on commercial paper as we move into the front half of 2019 because we'll have some more seasonal needs on -- as we build inventory. But I think importantly, we also have $1.250 billion revolver that's in place that backstops our commercial paper program. So plenty of liquidity, if you think about it, because we're going to be retiring debt on the short end of the curve and we have a revolver in place as well as a good accounts receivable securitization program. So we're set on that front.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
And then on the balance of repurchase to debt.
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
Okay.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, the answer is yes. That's the right number to use, and we have really a significant amount of flexibility to tweak that one way or the other. Our orientation will be to get the leverage ratios down to where we said we were going to be and the commitments we've made. And then there are all kinds of other tasks to repurchase. We -- remember, the business is generating a fair amount of operating cash flow. We're not carrying any short-term debt now. So we're going to -- and we get tons of proceeds in from December through probably March. So we're going to have all kinds of flexibility to play this in multiple ways, but I think the right planning stance, as you build out your models and try to figure out EPS dilution, if that's what you're trying to navigate, is that the original guidance is what we expect to be able to execute.
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
And our execution plans have the flexibility to flex that number depending on the business environment. So that could modify. So like, for instance, right now we're putting the majority of the proceeds -- the vast majority of the proceeds are being used toward debt repayment. In an aggregate, the ratio that Mike alluded to is what we're looking at over the total program. But the significant amount of proceeds coming in give us the flexibility to ensure that we hit the leverage targets that we have and have than the ability to repurchase shares in the market or deploy to M&A at some future point in time.
Priya Ohri-Gupta -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Great. That's very helpful. And if I can just ask a quick follow-up on that. So given that you've repaid your CP balance entirely, that's about $700 million or so from the end of the first quarter, should we include that in the debt reduction number that you've articulated or should we view that as sort of separate from that? Thank you.
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah. The amount that we repaid from the beginning of the quarter, I wouldn't -- beginning of the year, I wouldn't include because we paid some of that down sort of naturally through cash flows in the business. So I would just say that the -- we've paid a little over $800 million already against the accounts receivable securitization, as I mentioned, and then we're expecting $900 million in the third quarter, and the CP will be included in that. And then we'll see how -- we'll see how the balance of the year flows, but we're not expecting to issue anymore CP beyond the -- beyond what we currently exited the second quarter with.
Priya Ohri-Gupta -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Nik Modi of -- with RBC Capital. Please go ahead.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Nik.
Russell Miller -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Hey, good morning. Hey, good morning, Mike, this is Russ Miller on for Nik.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hey, Russ.
Russell Miller -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
We want to ask on tariffs. Appreciate the color you shared in your prepared remarks. And following up on Bill's question, wondering if you could share any additional details on the puts and takes here, how confident you are on the appeal you mentioned or being able to shift production versus taking pricing. Any additional color on the timing of having an even better understanding of the situation. And then I have a follow-up, if you don't mind.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Well, the answer to your question is very different business by business. We have some businesses that will be very, very difficult to shift production. Something like baby gear, we wouldn't want to do that because of compliance and safety-related issues. We've got a 33-plus year relationship with our supply partner. So we're less likely to do that on something -- on a business like that. On some of our other businesses, there is flexibility to move sourcing relationships. The ability to do that in the moment is a little bit difficult. So there is likely a lagged effect. So I wouldn't think that there is major opportunity in 2018 to accommodate the tariffs that have been put in effect as of July and the ones that are coming as of September, but beyond that time zone, into 2019, there are some possibilities on some of the businesses. With respect to pricing, I think it's too early to know exactly how much of the pricing will land, but we're not going to hesitate to take the price up.
Russell Miller -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
That's helpful. And then as a follow-up, if you don't mind, on Writing destocking, can you share some more details on where the pressure is coming from? And what would the implications be on the potential deal of Staples acquiring Essendant? We understand (inaudible). Thank you.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. This is not -- the inventory destocking in Writing is not the classic type of inventory destocking that you might hear people talk about, you might have even heard us talk about. This is a function of new ownership and new leadership coming into virtually every one of the big office superstore customers and into virtually every one of the big distributive trade customers, in that new leadership and new ownership, resetting their core metrics and how they're going to measure success. And that has created a set of inventory metrics and weeks on-hand targets that they've set for their total businesses that we need to now shift and adapt to.
And so that began last year, and we're in the midst of it. We accelerated the big hits associated with pulling inventory out of their networks in the first half of the year to try to get as close to those targets at the inflection point between Q2 and Q3. We got a long way there. We've got more work to do in 2018, but as I said, at three out of the four customers, big customers, we should be at their targeted levels by the end of 2018 with the fourth trailing into 2019.
With respect to Staples and Essendant, we'll see how that plays out, but clearly, that will create some more headwinds, I would expect, but not insurmountable. The big change is the one we're dealing with now where some of these -- some of our partners are taking 10 weeks of supply out of their targets. So it's a huge inventory shift. And that, as I said, is largely behind us, and as we go forward, we'll deal with the normal dynamics associated with the consolidation of -- potential consolidation of players like Staples and Essendant store closures, all sorts of other things that contributed -- contribute on an ongoing basis to inventory pressure.
Russell Miller -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Thank you very much, Mike.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Operator
Your next question comes from Lauren Lieberman with Barclays Capital.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Lauren.
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Great. Thank you. Good morning. So I was curious if we could just talk a little bit about the go-forward strategy for the businesses that you're going to continue to play in. If you just maybe go through like the big ones. What, as you look forward, do you think about doing differently than you've done to date? So whether it's from an innovation agenda standpoint, whether it's interactions with retailers, just there is a -- we talked a lot about the kind of what you're exiting and we've talked about simplifying the overall organization, but I still feel a little bit unsure about what if anything --
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
-- might be changing and kind of the businesses that you're going to stay the course on. That would be really helpful.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Well, look, I think it's grounded in a couple of core beliefs. We believe the brands and innovation matter more today than they ever have before. I know there is a number of theories out there about the fact that brands have less leverage. I don't think that's the case. I think it really is as -- as is important as it's ever been to strengthen our brands both in terms of positioning, communication, and product design and the presentation and activation of those brands through all of our channels, whether it's brick and mortar or e-commerce. And so that is really, really important.
Given the pace of change, we need to operate more efficiently as we bring ideas to market and effectively as we bring ideas to market. So there is, within the company, a need to strengthen the connectedness and the alignment around the outcomes we seek in the market between those that are responsible for the strategic development of our businesses and those that are responsible for commercial activation. And we've made changes in our design coming out of the second quarter into the third quarter to address some of those opportunities.
So we are going to continue to lean our shoulder into our brand agenda, our innovation agenda, and our product design agenda, and that will matter more and more over time. How we activate that, Lauren, through the different channels we compete in is really important because more and more of our business is shifting online. Today, in the continuing operations globally, roughly 15% of our business globally is e-commerce-based. So that's either direct-to-consumer, that's pure-play, or that's through our retail.com platforms. And I think that probably understates it a bit because there are dynamics out there that get measured as brick and mortar sales that are really e-commerce sales. An example of that at an Amazon would be 3P sales or third-party sales. And so I think our 15% is probably a little bit understated.
And so how we bring our ideas to market and to the consumer has to change a lot. That's why we've created an enterprisewide e-commerce capability, and that's why our marketers are shifting more and more of their spending and energy to try to prompt consideration in the way consumers are receiving messages today, which is typically online, and they're trying to learn different tactics to drive that consideration and convert it to purchase. And so there is a whole new space and sphere of marketing activities and skills required to unlock the consumer connection to brands. And that's going to continue to change and evolve, and our investment profile, both our overhead and our programming, is going to continue to shift to that area. And so that's something we've been on for the last year and a half or so, but it's really beginning to get traction and we're going to continue to measure return on investment in those spaces, relative to return on investment in our more traditional marketing channels to ensure we're maximizing the revenue yield on the programming dollars that we're spending.
So clearly brands and innovation continues. We've got to get greater commercial impact through the investments we're making and maximize the return on investment on those R&D dollars and brand marketing dollars; our return on investment measured as growth yield for dollars spent. And we've got to shift both our infrastructure and our skill set and our programming to this new space where the tactics and approaches to marketing are changing. And that's an investment in people, that's an investment in capabilities, and that is a lot of work shifting the infrastructure of the company toward those activities and away from the more traditional activities as the channel shift continues to unfold.
And then the big opportunity for the company longer term is international deployment. And while we've done a good job in Latin America in a number of our businesses, and we're doing a reasonable job in Europe, we really haven't fully deployed the portfolio as broadly as we could, and that's a future opportunity once we come through this period of change with portfolio and org.
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Okay. And that international piece, Mike, I was actually going to ask about that, you're seeing that as like a 2020 and forward? Is that something that starts to accelerate in 2019 (Multiple Speakers) --
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, we've got -- yeah, I think it's not a big play for us in 2019. I think it's more 2020 onward. We're doing things in India and in China right now on the Writing businesses. We have obviously a huge appliance business in Latin America, but we actually don't play in every Latin country. There is sort of the fill-in geographies in certain of these businesses, and then there is whitespace [ph] work to be done in 2019 to set up 2020. Big businesses that have lot of potential are Writing, Baby, and to a lesser degree, the appliance businesses where there are unique propositions that we can bring to market.
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Okay. And what happened with Home Fragrances in EMEA this quarter? That was something that was called out. And there's been some significant infrastructure investments in that business historically for the legacy companies and so just kind of any update on that in particular.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure. I think that's right. I mean, obviously we've built -- prior to the acquisition, the Prague [ph] factory was built, and we've got a good and big business there. There is a series of things we're doing to ensure that our tactics across the UK and continental Europe are profitable tactics. We've made choices to pull back on certain things that just weren't sustainable, and that's had a consequence to our performance in Europe, but it's one of those things that is the right thing to do to set up the brand for the long term. We're very bullish about the business in Europe. We're going to bring -- we're bringing WoodWick to Europe next year. So we have lots of opportunity there. We're just in an inflection period. Last actually couple of quarters have been tough quarters as we pulled back on tactics that weren't really sustainable.
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Okay. Thank you so much, Mike.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah.
Operator
Your next question comes from Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.
Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer & Co. -- Analyst
Good morning and thanks --
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Rupesh.
Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer & Co. -- Analyst
Thanks for taking my questions. Hey, Mike. So first, I was hoping to understand what you're seeing from a POS growth perspective, and also what your market share performance was during the quarter. And then the category growth at 1% seems soft to me, I think, at least versus what you guys saw last year in the categories. So I was curious what's weighing on the categories you compete in.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So category growth was pretty much in line with what we saw in Q1, but you're right, slowed versus what we saw in the back half of last year. I think part of that is our spending levels are more conservative this year, and we -- we're pulling back on a number of different tactics that were less profitable for the sake of margin development. And so as the leader in the markets, that can have an impact on category growth.
In terms of market share, we've got really very different outcomes by business. As I told you, we got over -- we delivered over 300 basis points of share growth on the baby gear business in the first half of the year and that was even stronger in the quarter; we've got very good growth on -- share growth on Home Fragrances. We moved from our retail store footprint to a more wholesale-based model with triple-digit share growth in Home Fragrance; we've got good momentum on our Food's market share performance, and then some weaker spots. Appliances has been weak in cooking where we're playing from behind in express cooking. We launched Crock-Pot Express last year, but InstaPot came to market in 2010. And so we're playing on the back foot there, but the innovation levels are increasing. We're launching a four-quart and an eight-quart version of Crock-Pot Express in the fourth quarter and that should help.
Cookware shares have been really strong. The stackables launched last year has been a positive. So within the Appliances & Cookware, Cookware strong, cooking appliances weak, coffee weak, blending a little bit better, and we have a whole series of other beverage appliances that are doing quite well. So I mean, it's a very different profile by business. The POS tracks to those share numbers. And in aggregate, POS was probably a little bit weaker, although -- I've decided not to be quoting those numbers anymore because everybody tries to triangulate specifically on them, but POS, based on the share performance, is probably a little bit weaker in the second quarter than the first.
Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer & Co. -- Analyst
Okay. Great. Thank you.
Operator
Your next question comes from Olivia Tong with Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Okay. Thanks. Good morning. One --
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Olivia.
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Hi, three questions actually. First, on brand support. Just if you could give us an idea in terms of order of magnitude of the increase that you're expecting -- that you're putting in place in the second half, particularly which categories, brands it's most concentrated in.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Sure.
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
And then -- and then second, I guess, can you just give us what the core sales comps looks like -- look like for Q3 and Q4?
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Sure. So I think maybe -- Nancy, you'll kick me under the table, but I'll just give you another metric. Sophie is probably in the other room about to come charging and then telling me not to do this, but I think it's helpful for you as you think about the continuing business going forward. Our advertising promotion ratios, you've heard me historically talk about the fact that we want to spend between 4% and upward of about 5% of revenue in A&P. On the continuing businesses in the back half of the year, we're sort of in the mid-4%'s as a percent of revenue. And you should expect us to be in that general zone as we go forward with a desire to increase A&P ratios in 2019, 2020 and 2021, depending on the progress we make on margin delivery. But we're in the mid-4%s on the continuing operations and mid to high 4%s actually in the back half of the year.
Our advertising dollars are going to be focused on the news. We've learned over time that you don't get as high a return on investment when you spend on anthematic campaigns, but you can get a pretty big impact behind new ideas. So Yankee Candle Elevations, which is this new premium vessel that we're launching, that's going to get advertising support. Our FoodSaver business, which is really responsive to advertising, is getting advertising support in the back half of the year. Elmer's Slime, which is a big -- we've got this Ooey Gluey Slime Games initiative, that's getting advertising support in the back half of the year. Calphalon appliances, which is a big launch of a line of premium appliances, that will get advertising support in the back half of the year. So our money flows to ideas, is sort of the core principle that underpins how we allocate A&P.
And obviously our goal is to get more money behind the brands over time. I'm happy with the A&P ratios and the continuing businesses in the back half of the year, but as our innovation funnel begins to materialize in the market, we're going to have the appetite to spend more, but we've got to give ourselves room in the P&L to be able to afford to do that. And our capacity to spend will be limited by the speed with which we get the cost out of the business and get the gross margins up.
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Got it. And then just the core sales comps in Q3 and Q4, and then when it comes to contribution from pricing, does your outlook assume you're successful at implementing all the price increases that you're looking for, are there some challenges in full implementation baked into your expectations?
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Let me answer your first one. I'm sorry I didn't answer that question. I wasn't ignoring it. Comp sales actually get easier as we go through from Q3 to Q4. Q3 is about the same as what we've been experiencing up until now, a little bit softer comp versus Q2 2017, but Q4, things get easier and Q1, Q2 obviously will be even easier than Q4. So Q3 is sort of a -- there is not a lot of benefit to be had relative to prior year in Q3, but Q4 starts to -- start -- the pressure starts to ease on the comps in Q1 and Q2 the same, so -- of 2019. So I think that's how you should think about the next four quarters; Q3 more competitive; Q4, Q1, Q2, a little easier and more breathing room. What was your second -- your added questions, Olivia?
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
On pricing, just in terms of what you guys are thinking.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Oh, pricing.
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Yeah.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. So our divisions are always very bullish on their ability to land price, and so we price dollar-for-dollar to the cost moves, whether it's inflation or whether it's -- or whether it's something like tariffs. And obviously we're doing a lot of work on core productivity, and if there is a competitive issue, we won't screw up our price -- our relative price points versus competition through pricing. But the divisions are always quite bullish about their ability to land pricing. We tend to hedge some of that back at headquarters, and our guidance contemplates a bit of an offset at headquarters versus what the divisions are assuming for the back half of the year.
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Mike.
Operator
Your next question comes from Kevin Grundy with Jefferies.
Kevin Grundy -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Thanks. Good morning, everyone.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Hi, Kevin.
Kevin Grundy -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Hey, Mike. I wanted to pick up on some of the channel dynamics, so you don't have to be sort of repetitive and repeat to the earlier question with respect to some of the issues with kitchen appliances at Walmart, but with respect to Walmart though, the Nielsen data, which you and I have had conversations in the past and the view has been that it's not very representative of the business, but I guess like more recently maybe it has to some degree, and understanding it's not picking up particularly online where you guys are doing very well, but it does seem to be more representative, I guess, more recently. Can you talk about some of the challenges there? Because it seems more broad-based, Mike, than just what's going on in kitchen appliances where maybe you guys are a little bit slow with some of the innovation, but the Writing business is struggling, some of the food storage business is struggling, and it's been pretty broad-based. And naturally retailers want to grow in all channels as you do, not just online. So can you talk about some of the dynamics there, maybe where you guys need to be a little bit sharper, a little bit quicker? Is Walmart de-emphasizing some of these categories, leaning more in on private label? And how do you feel like you're positioned here going forward with your biggest customer? Thank you.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Well, Kevin, you got to win with Walmart, they're our biggest customer, as you said, and we are winning with Walmart in certain categories and having a tougher time in others, appliances being an example of that. I mentioned coffee earlier, and I'd mentioned the express cooking arena. So I don't think it's a question of being late. We're playing -- we were playing catch up; as I said, InstaPot launched in 2010, long before we got involved in the appliance business. Our choice to accelerate Crock-Pot into express cooking was done last year, having owned the business for about a year. So I thought our reaction time was pretty darn quick and -- but it's never good to play from behind. You always want to be the first mover.
In food storage, we're doing fine, and fresh preserving, we're doing fine. In Writing, we're doing fine. In Home Fragrance, we're doing great. In Baby, we're doing fine. So I think your characterization of how we're doing at Walmart isn't representative of how we see the data, and with the exception of -- I think your observations about appliances are right on. And as I said, in outdoor, where Coleman lost the brand advantage to Ozark Trail probably 2009-2010 again, again, you're playing -- we're playing from behind. But as I said, I think the view forward is healthier than it's been in a while.
So I think you've got to win at Walmart. You're right about that. I hope you are not hearing my comments and inferring from them that I'm not committed to brick and mortar, that would be sort of absurd, if you were, because 85% of our revenue is still brick and mortar based, and the vast majority of our infrastructure is still brick and mortar based, and we're doing a fine job in many brick and mortar customers. So you've got to win in both and you've got to win share everywhere irrespective of the category dynamics.
So that's the only measure of success, and I'd say we're -- we've got very positive outcomes in certain categories and on appliances and outdoor, in the one customer that you are focused on, which is an important one for us, our largest, not so good. But these things don't turn overnight and they will be addressed over time through brand work and through the innovation agenda. And until you've got the right ammunition and the right arrows in the quiver, you're going to be vulnerable. And that is certainly how we've been since the Jarden acquisition in those two businesses that you've mentioned.
Kevin Grundy -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Okay. Thanks, Mike. Good luck.
Operator
This concludes our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back to Mr. Polk for closing remarks.
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Well, I'd just like to close the way I always do, which is with a thank you to our team. As I said in the script, I'm always amazed at how resilient and determined you are to deliver through what has been a difficult period of time and a difficult set of circumstances, but your determination, your drive, and your readiness to prevail through these tough moments are one of the core assets of the company, and I just want to thank you for your passion and your support.
Operator
A replay of today's call will be available later today on our website, newellbrands.com. This concludes our conference. You may now disconnect.
Duration: 73 minutes
Call participants:
Nancy O'Donnell -- Senior Vice President of Investor Relations
Michael Polk -- President & Chief Executive Officer
Ralph Nicoletti -- Chief Financial Officer
Steve Powers -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Joe Lachky -- Wells Fargo Securities -- Analyst
Bill Chappell -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst
Priya Ohri-Gupta -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Russell Miller -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Lauren Lieberman -- Barclays Capital -- Analyst
Rupesh Parikh -- Oppenheimer & Co. -- Analyst
Olivia Tong -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- Analyst
Kevin Grundy -- Jefferies -- Analyst
This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability.
