Earnings Call Transcript - STKL Q2 2025

Operator, Operator

Greetings and welcome to SunOpta's Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Conference Call. This conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Reed Anderson with ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

Reed Alan Anderson, Host

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on SunOpta's Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Brian Kocher, Chief Executive Officer; and Greg Gaba, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the earnings press release that was issued earlier this afternoon and is available on the Investor Relations page of SunOpta's website. This call is being webcast, and its transcription will also be available on the company's website. The investor presentation referenced during this call and webcast is also posted to the company's Investor Relations website. As a reminder, please note that the prepared remarks which follow contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer you to all risk factors contained in SunOpta's press release issued this afternoon, the company's Annual Report filed on Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projections and any forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly correct or update the forward-looking statements made during the presentation to reflect future events or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Finally, we would like to remind listeners that the company may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures during this teleconference. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures was included with the company's press release issued earlier today. Also, please note in the prepared remarks that follow, unless otherwise stated, the company will be referring to the continuing operations portion of the business and all figures are in U.S. dollars, occasionally rounded to the nearest million. Now I'll turn the call over to Brian to begin. Brian?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. I'm excited to share our second quarter '25 financial results as well as the operational progress delivered during the quarter across multiple fronts. Slide 3 serves as an agenda for the scripted comments we will share today. In order, I will cover our second quarter 2025 performance, accelerating investment in our fruit snacks business and our overall confidence in our outlook. Greg will then cover our 2Q financial results and our outlook in more detail. Following our scripted comments, we'll take your questions. We are thrilled with our second quarter performance. Our business momentum continues to build, giving us significant confidence in the future. We are executing well and doing what we said we would do, growing revenue, growing adjusted EBITDA, improving gross margins and allocating capital with discipline to drive ROIC. Importantly, we are doing all of that on schedule. Slide 5 provides a summary of the impressive numbers we achieved in the second quarter. We delivered year-over-year revenue growth of 13%, driven by 14% volume growth that was broad-based across our portfolio. Our 14% year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA is especially impressive considering we incurred $1.6 million of tariff headwinds on gross profit due to a timing lag of pass-through pricing. We'll talk more about our management of tariff exposure shortly. Our Q2 results were achieved despite ongoing consumer and tariff uncertainty, demonstrating both the resilience of our business model and the strength of our execution. The key takeaway from Q2 is very similar to Q1. We did what we said we would do, and we are advancing the objectives we outlined for 2025. While the second quarter was full of notable accomplishments, I want to highlight 3 that I'm particularly proud of. First, our revenue growth engine delivered again. Fueled by the capacity we are creating each and every day in our production facilities, we continue delivering unit volume growth that is among the highest of all publicly traded companies in the food and beverage space. Secondly, we successfully implemented pass-through pricing on substantially all known tariff impacts in effect as of July 31. Every one of our customers accepted some form of tariff upcharge, and we are billing them now. As the tariff landscape remains fluid, we will continue passing along tariff costs similarly to how we pass through raw material price changes. Importantly, our customers understand that these upcharges will remain in place until we've recovered any timing differences, even in the event of reductions or elimination. Greg will cover tariffs in more detail in his section. Finally, I'm confident in our ability to continue driving operational efficiency and gross margin improvements. Adjusted gross margin was 15.2% despite absorbing a 90 basis point impact due to the previously mentioned timing lag of tariff pass-through pricing. After considering that 90 basis point impact, we are on pace with the sequential margin improvement we outlined last quarter. Let's dive deeper into a few factors propelling our operational success during the quarter. The diversity of our revenue streams across categories, customers and channels remains a fundamental strength. During the first half of 2025, every product category, every go-to-market format and every channel grew year-over-year. In fact, each of our top 10 customers grew in the first 6 months of the year. In the second quarter, our foodservice category continued growing in mid-single digits with oats performing the best. The growth is driven by both menu assortment across customers and share gain in coffee chains. Our club channel business is thriving, up well over 25% as consumers seek quality products along with great value. Broth continues to perform well across both retail and club channels, up well over 25%. In better-for-you fruit snacks, we achieved our 20th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, and fruit snacks now comprise 20% of our total revenue, roughly double the share it had 5 years ago. Margin expansion is a major focus for us, and we made substantial progress on the initiatives we outlined last quarter. We continue to unlock additional capacity from our existing asset base. Beverage and broth unit production increased 16% year-over-year, while fruit snack production rose 22%. When you look at our operational progress in the second quarter, we are approximately 1/3 of the way to achieving our targeted 300 basis points of gross margin expansion in Q4 as compared to Q1. Turning to better-for-you fruit snacks on Slide 6. The second quarter marked our 20th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year increases in this category. Put plainly, this category continues to grow faster than our capacity can currently support. We are committed to serving growth through 2026 with our existing assets. Fortunately, the growth in demand in the better-for-you fruit snacks category has exceeded our expectations. We are pushing our equipment to the limit. Output increased 22% in 2Q '25 over the prior year, but the category and our customers will need more supply than we can offer. In response, we are announcing an investment in a new manufacturing line that will enable us to increase output by approximately 25%. I'm even more pleased to announce that the new Omak, Washington-based capacity is already oversubscribed. Greg will cover this investment in more detail in his section. As we look ahead on Slide 7, we remain very excited about our future. We are highly confident in our ability to execute and are enthused about our opportunities to create significant long-term value. Our new business pipeline has never been stronger, and we are exceptionally well positioned to drive sustainable growth and profitability. All of the categories in which we participate continue to exhibit strong unit volume growth. The customers we serve continue to gain share and are generally outperforming their respective markets. Contrary to what you may see in tracked channel data, industry growth rates have accelerated from prior years in the shelf-stable plant-based beverage category. Based on industry data and our internal estimates, the growth rates remain in the high single digits, and we expect this trend to continue. In closing, we're operating in an environment where consumers are increasingly focused on better-for-you products as well as value, and our portfolio is perfectly situated to capitalize on these trends. With our operational initiatives on track, strong momentum across our key growth platforms and clear line of sight to additional capacity expansion, we're well positioned to continue delivering strong results consistent with our growth algorithm. If you consider our revenue and volume growth rates, gross margin expansion target, adjusted EBITDA growth rate and improving ROIC, our results are clearly differentiated and among the top performers within the food and beverage space today. Now I'll turn the call over to Greg to highlight our key financial metrics, our 2025 outlook and discuss our tariff response plan and capital allocation priorities.

Greg Gaba, CFO

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. We had another strong quarter. As shown on Slide 9, revenue of $191 million was up 13% compared to last year, entirely driven by volume growth within our diverse portfolio. Gross profit increased by $7.2 million or 34% to $28.4 million compared to $21.2 million in the prior year. Gross margin increased by 230 basis points to 14.8% compared to 12.5%. Adjusted gross margin was 15.2% compared to 16% in the prior year. The 80 basis point decrease in adjusted gross margin is due to the timing lag on the pass-through of incremental tariff costs, investments in labor and infrastructure made over the past 2 quarters to improve long-term margins and incremental depreciation related to assets recently placed in service. These factors were partially offset by higher sales and production volumes for beverages, broth and fruit snacks, driving improved plant utilization. Earnings from continuing operations increased 198% to $4.4 million compared to a loss of $4.4 million in the prior year period. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations was $4.4 million or $0.04 earnings per diluted share compared to $2.2 million or $0.02 earnings per diluted share in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA increased 14% to $22.7 million compared to $20 million in the prior year period. Turning to our balance sheet. At the end of the second quarter, net debt was $271 million and net leverage was 2.9x, flat to the first quarter and down from 3x at the end of the fourth quarter. Cash provided by operating activities of continuing operations for the first 2 quarters was $17.8 million compared to $2 million in the first 2 quarters of the prior year. Cash used in investing activities of continuing operations was $18.6 million in the first 2 quarters of fiscal 2025 compared to $13.9 million in the first 2 quarters of fiscal 2024. Now turning to our outlook on Slide 10. We are revising our outlook for the year to reflect the strong performance in Q2 and the impact of tariffs. The revised outlook includes an increase of approximately $8 million in revenue and $10 million in cost of goods sold in the second half of the year for expected tariff expense, related pass-through pricing to our customers and the timing lag in the third quarter on implementing the pricing of the revised tariffs announced on August 1. Now we expect revenue in the range of $805 million to $815 million, growth of 11% to 13% versus 2024 compared to our prior guidance of 9% to 11%. From a profit perspective, we are reaffirming adjusted EBITDA of $99 million to $103 million, which represents growth of 12% to 16% as we expect operational improvements to offset the timing lag of the pass-through of incremental tariff costs. From a pacing standpoint, we expect revenue and adjusted EBITDA to improve sequentially each quarter with a 47% Q3 and 53% Q4 split for revenue and 42% Q3 and 58% Q4 split for adjusted EBITDA. We also continue to expect interest expense of $24 million to $26 million, capital expenditures on the cash flow statement of approximately $30 million to $35 million and free cash flow of $25 million to $30 million. Please note, essentially all of the free cash flow in 2025 is allocated for mandatory debt and notes payable repayments, which is reflected in our 2.5x net leverage target that we continue to expect to achieve by the end of 2025. Our long-term growth algorithm on Slide 11 is unchanged. We continue to target annual revenue growth of 8% to 10%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 13% to 17% and expect to deliver approximately the midpoint of these ranges in 2026. In addition, we expect ROIC of 16% to 18% by the end of 2026, gross margin of 18% to 19% for fiscal 2026 and gross margin of approximately 20% for fiscal 2027. Turning to Slide 12. As it relates to tariffs, while the situation remains fluid, as Brian mentioned, when we completed our pricing adjustments as of the middle of July, 100% of the incremental tariff impact was covered at that time. While we expect a lag of a month or two related to the pass-through of the revised tariffs announced on August 1, we anticipate recovery of substantially all additional costs. Finally, on Slide 13, our capital allocation priorities are unchanged. Our first priority continues to be delevering to 2.5x by the end of 2025. Our second priority is investing in our business, primarily through CapEx expansion to meet the significant demand growth we are seeing from our categories and customers. And the third priority is returning excess capital to shareholders. As we were tracking slightly ahead of our plan of achieving our year-end net leverage target of 2.5x and not envisioning needing significant growth CapEx in 2025, we took advantage of excess cash of approximately $1 million to return capital to shareholders by repurchasing 163,227 common shares in the second quarter. Additionally, as Brian mentioned, we are in a great position to announce the next phase of our capacity for our fruit snacks operations. Our execution in the fruit snacks category has been outstanding, delivering 20 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, and our customer demand continues to accelerate faster than we expected. With a total investment of approximately $25 million, primarily occurring within 2026, we will be able to increase our capacity by 25% and the new capacity is already oversubscribed. We anticipate that the new equipment will come online in late 2026 and will be a key component to delivering our growth algorithm for 2027 and beyond. We remain committed to driving shareholder value and believe maximizing our cash generation and ROIC opportunities are the best way to deliver on this commitment over the long term. By maintaining reasonable debt levels, we ensure we are consistently in a strong position to fund our growth strategies with projects that deliver high rates of return on invested capital. We believe our capital allocation priorities will generate long-term value. Before opening the call for questions, just a reminder that for competitive reasons, we do not provide detailed commentary regarding customer or SKU level activity.

Operator, Operator

Your first question comes from Andrew Strelzik with BMO.

Andrew Strelzik, Analyst

My first one is about the new fruit snacks plant. And I was just curious for some more detail around that. I was curious if those are new customers, existing customers, a mix and how we should think about kind of the ramp of that once it opens. And then kind of thinking about what that might mean for your capacity needs on the plant-based side. Obviously, this is going to open and facilitate growth in '27. Should we assume that, that means you are covered either into '27 or beyond '27 on the plant-based side from a capacity perspective?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Thank you for the call, Andrew. I appreciate it. Just to clarify, we're planning to add a manufacturing line rather than a new plant, which will be integrated into an existing facility. We're fortunate that we've been able to optimize our assets, achieving a 22% growth in unit production output at our fruit snacks facilities in the second quarter of 2025, which is impressive. The category continues to grow even more rapidly than we anticipated, driven mostly by our existing customers who are asking for more. While there may be some new opportunities, the demand on this line primarily comes from our current customers. The investment required is reasonable at $25 million, and we have a record of quickly translating such investments into unit growth, as seen in our last line expansion, which significantly enhances our return on invested capital aligned with our long-term goals. The demand from the category and our customers is clear, and it would be unwise not to proceed. Since this project has a long life cycle, we need to act now to have something ready by the end of 2026, but it will certainly factor into our 2027 plans. Regarding aseptic, I want to reiterate that we believe we have sufficient capacity now or can create it in the near future to support our growth for 2026. As we look toward 2027, we may need to consider additional capital expenditures for growth, specifically another line or filler, rather than new greenfield or brownfield plants. The only factor that could alter this strategy is if growth in the categories outpaces our expectations. It's also important to highlight that any future investment related to the fruit snack line will allow us to maintain our leverage ratios and return on invested capital guidelines, so I feel confident about our current position.

Andrew Strelzik, Analyst

And then I just wanted to ask about the adjusted gross margin progression in the back half of the year. You've talked about your initiatives gaining traction in the back half. It sounds like another 90 basis point headwind from the tariffs in the third quarter, if I'm not mistaken. And can you confirm that you'll fully restore the margins relative to the tariffs, I guess, in the fourth quarter? And is there anything else that we should be aware of in the back half of the year as we think about the gross margin progression?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Yes. Let's go over that. We encountered some timing delays, which are typical. All of our raw product pricing has been managed this way for years. In situations where raw product prices are rising, there's a delay in adjusting our pricing, and the same applies when prices are falling. Over time, our raw product pricing balances out, and we expect tariffs to follow that pattern as well. In the second quarter, the tariff impact was reflected in our EBITDA, which performed well. Without that impact, this could have been an excellent quarter. We are a third of the way through our three-quarter plan and have seen a 100 basis points improvement despite the tariff challenges. We are still focused on increasing capacity and have made incremental progress in yield compared to last year and sequentially from the first quarter. Labor adjustments across seven plants and 28 shifts are challenging, but we anticipated that small improvement for margin enhancement. Overall, we are on track with our margin improvement goals. Based on our current understanding of tariffs, we expect a 30 to 35 basis point impact on margins in the back half, but we can accommodate that in adjusted EBITDA. I also want to mention that I haven't checked the latest updates on the tariff situation, but we will remain open and transparent with our customers, who have been very supportive.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jim Salera with Stephens Inc.

James Ronald Salera, Analyst

Brian, I wanted to talk about something you mentioned in your prepared remarks, just understand that there's a disconnect between the syndicated data. But I think the strength in shelf-stable plant-based milk really is encouraging to continue to see. And I was hoping you might be able to give us some details around, are you seeing in terms of what's driving your growth continued share gains among your customers, I guess, in the category? Or are there incremental brands that are coming into the category and that's what's contributing those gains? And as new brands come to the category, they want to work with you given your leadership position on the co-man. side. Any thoughts about the dynamics there would be helpful.

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Yes, Jim, let’s discuss the overall category of shelf-stable plant-based beverages. Firstly, the tracked channel is the only publicly available metric we have, but it shows little to no correlation with our unit volume growth. This is largely because the tracked channel comprises less than 20% of the overall category. The foodservice and club segments make up a significant portion and are experiencing strong growth. To illustrate how small the tracked channel segment is, we know of one club channel customer whose shelf-stable plant-based sales exceed the entire volume of the tracked channel. Foodservice is on the rise for several reasons, including the expansion of our products on menus and the introduction of limited-time offers that feature our ingredients. We also notice overall growth in the foodservice sector, with various chains reporting substantial year-over-year increases in both foot traffic and sales, and we’re growing alongside them. In summary, the foodservice segment is thriving, as is the club channel, driven by consumers' search for both value and quality. However, the tracked channel metric does not correlate with our revenue growth. We are gaining market share, but more importantly, the entire category is growing, and we've seen accelerating growth in the high-single digits since the last quarter.

James Ronald Salera, Analyst

And then just tying off the second part of my question. Looking at the growth that you see among your customers, is it that they're gaining share in these untracked channels, and that's what's flowing through to the strong results that we see? Or is it that there's kind of new brands or new entrants into the category, just given the overall category strength and you're winning, I guess, what we would call like new accounts or new clients?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

I believe it's a combination of both factors, but it's primarily our customers gaining market share. Many of our customers consistently outperform their categories by 300 to 700 basis points, which indicates they are indeed gaining share. Whether it's new customers or existing ones, the key point is that we succeed together. When we provide effective solutions for them, we succeed, and that's how our unit volume growth is achieved and sustained. Additionally, while we often focus on plant-based beverages, it's important to highlight our diverse portfolio. For example, our fruit snacks have experienced double-digit growth for 20 consecutive quarters, and our broth sales are outpacing the category. We're also witnessing growth in the tea segment and our ready-to-drink protein shakes. This overall performance is a strong indication that contributes positively to our revenue figures.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jon Anderson with William Blair.

Jon Robert Andersen, Analyst

Can I return to the gross margin and its progression in the second half of the year? I believe Greg stated that in the second quarter, the tariff headwind was 90 basis points, and there would be some carryover into the third quarter. Could you provide a bit more detail on that? What kind of timing-related headwind to gross margin do you anticipate in the third quarter? And considering the pass-through pricing, will that completely negate the headwind in the fourth quarter?

Greg Gaba, CFO

Yes, sure, Jon. So we did have in Q2 over 90 basis points of tariff timing lag of passing through that pricing. That price and those tariffs have been fully passed through to customers now, no impact going forward. The impact that we will have in Q3 is for the new changes that just occurred here on August 1. And we anticipate that there'll be roughly a $2 million impact to Q3. By the time we get to Q4, we should have those fully passed through. So that's reflected in our guide. We feel that for the year, we reaffirm that we'll be able to make this up with operational efficiencies, and we'll be able to still hit our plan for the year.

Jon Robert Andersen, Analyst

Regarding the pipeline, Brian, you mentioned in your prepared comments that it's never been stronger, which you highlighted last quarter as well. Could you provide us with a current update on the pipeline? When you say it's never been stronger, how do you define that? As these projects move toward commercialization, do they lean more toward one of your categories or go-to-market strategies?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Yes, sure. So Jon, the way that I would look at that is we talked a lot last quarter about our pipeline reaching essentially almost 25% of our overall annual volume. We don't stop selling, and we don't stop trying to create demand. And so what we've seen over the last quarter is more items have come into the top of that funnel. Certainly, fruit snacks would be one of those. Our better-for-you fruit snacks, we've seen even more acceleration in the category, more need, more desire. It's growing faster than, frankly, we thought or estimated, and it continues to do so. So certainly, we've seen more volume come in for fruit snacks. That being said, as I mentioned, our view of the shelf-stable plant-based beverage category is an accelerating growth trajectory. So foodservice continues to grow. Club channel continues to grow. Private label continues to grow. And that gives us a chance to enter more and more projects into the pipeline. So I don't know that I would necessarily want to get into the habit of saying today, it's 25% or 24% or 26%. But the fact of the matter is the more items that go in the top of the funnel, the greater chance you have something significant coming out of the bottom of the funnel. It also ultimately leads into why we're really confident in our long-term growth trajectory. As a matter of fact, when we talked about our long-term growth algorithm being in the 8% to 10% range, with the growth we're having in '25 and what we can see in '26 and '27, I would think that's probably closer to 10% already with what we see. So again, Jon, it's a lot of different things that are in the mix, certainly more heavily tilted towards existing customers. But there's a fairly robust pipeline of new customers and new opportunities that we're trying to push through the system. So hopefully, that helps.

Jon Robert Andersen, Analyst

Yes, it does. I also wanted to ask a couple more things. Broth has obviously been performing very well for you, growing over 25% in the quarter. However, you have limited aseptic resources, and I'm trying to understand how you balance that capacity when considering plant-based milk, protein shakes, and the broth business. Are all these businesses treated equally, or how should we approach that? Additionally, is the strength in broth a strategic focus for you going forward?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Jon, that's a great question, and thanks a lot for asking it. You want to know how we balance the aseptic choices that we have to make with pipeline and growth and customer demand, it is with broth, in fact. It serves as a wonderful opportunity because you can prebuild your broth season. It's very seasonal. Most of the sales are going on between Halloween and New Year's Day, so it's very seasonal. But broth gives us the opportunity to really take advantage of ebbs and flows in the production environment. And so I love the fact that we have broth. We've been able to take advantage of some opportunities in the market. It gives us a chance to produce it when we want to produce it as opposed to necessarily when maybe we have to. And I'm really excited. I mean, if you look at our broth prebuild position now versus a year ago, we're probably closer to 75%, 80% of our broth business that's already built and sitting in inventory. So that gives me great confidence heading into the third and fourth quarter for our broth business. I think the one thing that I would say is, although we wouldn't treat everything equal, there are certain advantages and opportunities to broth during a certain part of the year or potentially plant-based or potentially tea or protein shakes. I do think it is an opportunity for us to always look to optimize. And we do that as a matter of regular course. The key for us, expand the capacity, expand the gross margin, use that to fuel our unit volume growth. And then when the time is right, be prudent and disciplined in growth capital and do that by making sure we use our leverage target and our return on invested capital target as guardrails for how we pace growth investment. So hopefully, that helps as well.

Jon Robert Andersen, Analyst

Yes. I have a quick follow-up. Did you mention how much you expect to invest in the new line in Omak to support the significant growth in better-for-you fruit snacks and when that capital expenditure would likely be allocated? Also, regarding the leverage ratio, it seems like you're on track to reach about 2.5x. How do you plan to approach capital as you head into 2026? Will you focus on paying down more debt, increasing share repurchases, or something else? I would appreciate any insights on that.

Greg Gaba, CFO

Sure, Jon. I'll address your first question first. The new capital expenditure for fruit snacks will be around $25 million, primarily occurring in 2026 as we expect that production line to be operational by the end of '26, primarily for growth in 2027 and beyond. This is a project with a very high return on invested capital, and we're excited to be oversubscribed for it. Regarding leverage, you're right that we are on track to meet our 2.5x leverage target by the end of this year, which remains our top priority. Following that, as evidenced by this expansion of growth capital and the high returns, we plan to invest in support of our growth in '27 and beyond. However, we don't need that spending immediately, Jon; that's more of a future consideration. We will continue to invest prudently, aiming for a strong balance sheet that meets our leverage goals while adhering to the previously disclosed guidelines of achieving a return on invested capital target of 16% to 18% by the end of '26 and into the future.

Operator, Operator

Your next question comes from the line of John Baumgartner with Mizuho Securities.

John Joseph Baumgartner, Analyst

First off, Brian, I wanted to ask about the new business pipeline and your bullish commentary there. Can you discuss a bit in terms of the sentiment from your partners, foodservice and retail, to what extent are you seeing any degree of heightened uncertainty in terms of launch timing given the volatility we're seeing from consumers in terms of traffic and spending? How are your customers approaching the macro environment?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

John, that's a great question. I want to remind everyone that our mission is to be a supply chain solutions provider. To achieve this effectively for our customers, we meet with our top 15 clients on a weekly basis, and at the very least, monthly. During these discussions, we focus on future sales forecasts, their inventory positions, assortment strategies, innovations, limited-time offers, and promotions. All of this information helps shape our understanding of the market and informs our outlook based on factual insights rather than hopes. This data is critical. Based on our conversations with customers, we believe our pipeline is expanding. These discussions also explain why we haven't yet experienced any slowdown or negative effects from the broader economic environment. Consequently, we remain optimistic about our long-term category. We see a favorable growth trajectory and benefit from structural trends. Consumer demands related to dietary, health, and wellness are fundamental for many, which is advantageous for our category. We're excited that we can provide better-for-you value products that cater to consumers wherever they shop, whether that's high-end foodservice or quick-service restaurants, discount mass merchants, or traditional and natural retail stores, whether branded or private label. We meet consumers where they prefer to buy.

John Joseph Baumgartner, Analyst

And then in terms of the supply chain, the aseptic, the Tetra Pak, that's been the standard in your categories for some time. But you look at some of these newer products out there in aluminum cans and plastic bottles, I'm curious the extent to which you may also need to augment your existing capabilities with different packaging formats and maybe that helps inform how you build future capacity for new growth opportunities, maintain max flexibility to service your customers. How do you think about changing the packaging mix kind of pull versus push with your customer base and your categories?

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

John, I think we always evaluate packaging format. We are always evaluating packaging format. But when I look at our pipeline, at least on our aseptic pipeline, that's all in Tetra format. So I guess the message I would say back to you is we're always looking at it. We're always trying to evaluate it. We're always trying to help shepherd our customers and them us so that we're addressing the consumer need. But the fact of the matter is our pipeline, our aseptic pipeline is an aseptic pipeline built on our Tetra capacity, and I think we've got a lot of runway in the Tetra product.

Operator, Operator

That concludes our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Brian Kocher for closing remarks.

Brian W. Kocher, CEO

Thank you very much. Thank you all for joining us today. We really appreciate your time, your interest, your questions. As usual, I'd really like to try to summarize these calls and make sure we have a couple of key takeaways. If you remember 3 things from this call, please remember these 3. One, I'm really proud of the progress we've made as an organization. We had a really good quarter that could have been even better. So I'm really proud of the progress. At the beginning of the year, we laid out some pretty ambitious operationally focused growth plans, and our Q2 results demonstrate progress on increasing production capacity, on improving margin, on growing the top line, on building an operational foundation that's set for multiyear success. The short of all of that is, we are on track. So take away, we're on track. Secondly, I'm really energized about our unique opportunity to provide supply chain solutions in fast-growing, on-trend categories. Let me repeat some comments from earlier in the call. We continue delivering unit volume growth that is among the highest of all publicly traded companies in the food and beverage space. We have line of sight to multiple years of growth via our solutions and our capabilities. And so that would be a point that I'd take away. And then third and finally, I'm really confident in our path forward. Our operational improvement plan is on track. Our new business pipeline has never been stronger. Our categories are growing and in fact, some are accelerating. And the channels and customers we serve continue to outperform within those categories. Furthermore, our consumers' preference for better-for-you value-focused options are structural, long-term growth tailwinds. So please remember that as well. Before we end the call, I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to all the SunOpta employees. Your passion and commitment have made SunOpta stronger and better and provide a trajectory for sustained success. I'm proud of what we've achieved so far, not satisfied, but proud. And I'm really excited to keep moving forward alongside each of you. So thanks for your support. That will end our call today. We appreciate your time. Look forward to updating you when we report next quarter as well. Thank you all.

Operator, Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.