New York, February 18, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") upgraded
Edgewell Personal Care Co.'s ('Edgewell') Corporate Family Rating
(CFR) to Ba3 from B1 and Probability of Default Rating to Ba3-PD
from B1-PD. Concurrently, Moody's upgraded the ratings
on Edgewell's senior unsecured notes to Ba3 from B3. Moody's
also withdrew the ratings on the company's proposed senior secured
credit facility, including the secured revolver and term loans,
that were part of the funding for the now cancelled acquisition of Harry's.
The rating outlook is stable.
The upgrade reflects Edgewell's much lower leverage position following
termination of the company's $1.4 billion acquisition
of Harry's after the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC")
filed a lawsuit to prevent the transaction. Excluding the acquisition,
debt to EBITDA financial leverage will remain at about 3.4x (including
Moody's adjustments) for the twelve month period ended December 31,
2019 instead of increasing to roughly 5.7x pro-forma for
the Harry's transaction. The upgrade also reflects Moody's
expectation that the company will be able to refinance its upcoming debt
maturities at a cash interest cost that does not meaningfully affect free
cash flow. Moody's believes that the global wet-shave
category will continue to face challenges reflecting declining trends
in men's shaving, as well as intense competitive pressures
from Edgewell's large and diversified peers. The entry of new startup
brands will also heighten competition in the segment amid flat to declining
global sales. Moody's expects Edgewell's sizable free cash
flow-to-debt of 11% provides flexibility to invest
in products with better growth prospects and to reduce debt if necessary
to maintain debt-to-EBITDA leverage in a 3-4x range
if EBITDA pressure persists.
Ratings Upgraded
Edgewell Personal Care Co.:
Corporate Family Rating to Ba3 from B1;
Probability of Default Rating to Ba3-PD from B1- PD;
$500 million Senior Unsecured Notes to Ba3 (LGD4) from B3 (LDG5)
$600 million Senior Unsecured Notes to Ba3 (LGD4) from B3 (LDG5)
Ratings Downgraded:
Speculative Grade Liquidity to SGL-3 from SGL-1
Ratings withdrawn:
Edgewell Personal Care Co.:
$425 million senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility expiring
2024 at Ba2 (LDG 2);
$575 million senior Secured First Lien Term loan A due 2024 at
Ba2 (LDG 2);
$600 million senior Secured First Lien Term loan B due 2026 at
Ba2 (LDG 2);
The rating outlook is stable.
RATINGS RATIONALE
Edgewell's Ba3 CFR reflects the company's challenging industry operating
environment. Edgewell will continue to face intense competition
from much larger, well diversified competitors in its wet shave,
skin care and feminine care businesses. This will lead to weak
earnings growth and debt to EBITDA sustained around 3.8x over the
next 12 months. The rating also reflects the company's concentration
in mature, highly-promotional categories that present a strategic
growth challenge. Moody's believes that the company will
continue to utilize cash and debt to fund acquisitions to spur growth
and share buy backs. Moody's expects Edgewell's financial
strategy to maintain debt-to-EBITDA leverage within a 3.0-3.5x
range (based on the company's calculation) will help sustain solid
free cash flow. The rating is supported by the company's portfolio
of well-known consumer product brands including Schick, Playtex,
and Banana Boat. The company also generates good free cash flow.
The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Edgewell will continue
to generate flat to negative organic growth in its wet shave category.
The stable outlook also reflects the rating agency's expectation that
Edgewell will continue to generate solid free cash flow and proactively
refinance the 2020 revolver expiration and 2021 and 2022 note maturities
at a manageable interest cost.
A downgrade could occur if Edgewell fails to stabilize operating performance,
or if liquidity deteriorates. Moody's could also downgrade if debt
to EBITDA is sustained above 4.0x. Other factors that could
contribute to a downgrade include debt financed acquisitions or share
repurchases.
Edgewell's ratings could be upgraded if the company improves its scale
and diversification, and it sustains solid organic growth with a
stable to higher EBITDA margin. An upgrade would also require improved
credit metrics such that Moody's expects debt/EBITDA to be sustained below
3.0x.
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Consumer Packaged
Goods Methodology published in February 2020. Please see the Rating
Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this
methodology.
Edgewell Personal Care Co., based in Shelton, CT manufactures,
markets and distributes branded personal care products in the wet shave,
skin and sun care, feminine care, and infant care categories.
The company has a portfolio of over 25 brands and a global footprint in
over 50 countries. Edgewell is publicly traded and generates annual
revenue of about $2.1 billion.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of
debt or security this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures
in relation to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the
same series, category/class of debt, security or pursuant
to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing
ratings in accordance with Moody's rating practices. For ratings
issued on a support provider, this announcement provides certain
regulatory disclosures in relation to the credit rating action on the
support provider and in relation to each particular credit rating action
for securities that derive their credit ratings from the support provider's
credit rating. For provisional ratings, this announcement
provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional
rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may
be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each
case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior
to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have
affected the rating. For further information please see the ratings
tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this credit rating action,
and whose ratings may change as a result of this credit rating action,
the associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
The rating has been disclosed to the rated entity or its designated agent(s)
and issued with no amendment resulting from that disclosure.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Chedly Louis
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
John E. Puchalla, CFA
Associate Managing Director
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 1 212 553 0376
Client Service: 1 212 553 1653