Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the ADM Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I'd now like to introduce your host for today's call, Megan Britt, Vice President, Investor Relations for ADM. Ms. Britt, you may begin.

早上好，歡迎參加 ADM 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在錄音。現在我想介紹一下今天電話會議的主持人，ADM 投資者關係副總裁梅根·布里特 (Megan Britt)。布里特女士，您可以開始了。

Hello, and welcome to ADM's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Our prepared remarks today will be led by Juan Luciano, our Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer; and Ismael Roig, our Interim Chief Financial Officer. We've prepared presentation slides to supplement our remarks on the call today, which are posted on the Investor Relations section of the ADM website and through the link to our webcast. Some of our comments and materials may constitute forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results. These statements and materials are based on many assumptions and factors that are subject to risks and uncertainties. ADM has provided additional information in its reports on file with the SEC concerning assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in this presentation. To the extent permitted under applicable law, ADM assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

您好，歡迎參加 ADM 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。我們今天準備好的演講將由我們的董事會主席兼執行長胡安·盧西亞諾 (Juan Luciano) 主持；以及我們的臨時財務長 Ismael Roig。我們準備了簡報幻燈片來補充我們今天在電話會議上的發言，這些幻燈片發佈在 ADM 網站的投資者關係部分以及我們的網路廣播連結上。我們的一些評論和資料可能構成前瞻性陳述，反映管理層對未來經濟狀況、行業狀況、公司業績和財務表現的當前看法和估計。這些陳述和材料是基於許多存在風險和不確定性的假設和因素。 ADM 在向 SEC 提交的報告中提供了有關可能導致實際結果與本簡報中的結果有重大差異的假設和因素的更多資​​訊。在適用法律允許的範圍內，ADM 不承擔因新資訊或未來事件而更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

I'll now turn the call over to Juan.

我現在將電話轉給胡安。

Thank you, Megan, and good morning to all who have joined for today's call. I realize we're holding this call later than we have in the past and we appreciate your patience as we have managed through our internal investigation and work expeditiously to complete our 10-K filing. Before we start the business update, I want to provide some perspective on the additional release that we issued this morning on the progress we have made in our internal investigation, which is being led by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. ADM has historically disclosed in the footnotes to our financial statements that intersegment sales have been recorded at amounts approximating market. In connection with our internal investigation, we corrected certain intersegment sales that occurred between our Nutrition reporting segment and our Ag Services and Oilseeds and Carbohydrate Solutions reporting segments that were not recorded at amounts approximating market. The adjustments have no impact on our consolidated balance sheet, statement of earnings, comprehensive income or loss or cash flows.

謝謝梅根，也向所有參加今天電話會議的人早安。我意識到我們召開此電話會議的時間比過去要晚，我們感謝您的耐心等待，因為我們已經完成了內部調查並迅速完成了 10-K 備案。在我們開始更新業務之前，我想就我們今天早上發布的有關內部調查進度的附加新聞稿提供一些看法，該調查由董事會審計委員會領導。 ADM 歷來在我們財務報表的註腳中揭露，部門間銷售額的記錄金額接近市場水準。根據我們的內部調查，我們糾正了營養報告部門與農業服務和油籽和碳水化合物解決方案報告部門之間發生的某些部門間銷售，這些銷售的金額未按接近市場的金額記錄。這些調整對我們的合併資產負債表、損益表、綜合收益或損失或現金流量沒有影響。

In addition, we determined that the adjustments are not material to our consolidated financial statements taken as a whole for any period. We also confirmed that these adjustments did not change the achievement levels under our incentive plans. Further details is included in the Form 10-K we filed this morning. Throughout this process, we have continued to operate the business and drive our strategic priorities forward. While our internal investigation is substantially complete, we continue to cooperate with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice, and we hope you understand that we will not be taking questions related to these matters on the call today. We will provide updates on this matter in the future as appropriate.

此外，我們確定這些調整對我們任何期間的整體合併財務報表都不重要。我們也確認，這些調整不會改變我們激勵計畫下的成就水準。更多詳細資訊包含在我們今天早上提交的 10-K 表格中。在整個過程中，我們繼續經營業務並推動我們的策略重點向前發展。雖然我們的內部調查已基本完成，但我們將繼續與證券交易委員會和司法部合作，我們希望您理解，我們不會在今天的電話會議上回答與這些事項相關的問題。我們將在未來酌情提供有關此事的最新資訊。

Please turn to Slide 4, where we have captured our fourth quarter and full year financial highlights. Today, ADM reported fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.36 and adjusted segment operating profit of $1.4 billion. Our full year adjusted earnings per share were $6.98, the second best EPS in our history, and our adjusted segment operating profit was $6.2 billion. Our trailing fourth quarter adjusted ROIC was 12.2%, making another year of ROIC performance above our 10% target.

請參閱投影片 4，我們在其中記錄了第四季度和全年的財務亮點。今天，ADM 報告第四季度調整後每股收益為 1.36 美元，調整後部門營運利潤為 14 億美元。我們全年調整後每股收益為 6.98 美元，是我們歷史上第二好的每股收益，調整後部門營業利潤為 62 億美元。我們在第四季度調整後的投資報酬率 (ROIC) 為 12.2%，這使得投資報酬率 (ROIC) 表現又高於我們 10% 的目標。

Our full year operating cash flow before working capital was $4.7 billion. Our strong cash flow and disciplined management of our balance sheet continues to allow us to invest in our business and return cash to shareholders. In total, we returned $3.7 billion to our shareholders in the forms of dividends and share repurchases in 2023. In January, with the expectation of continued strong cash flows in 2024, we announced an 11% increase in our quarterly dividend, raising our dividend to $0.50 per share which marks 92 years of uninterrupted dividends and over 51 consecutive years of annual dividend increases.

我們全年不計營運資本的營運現金流為 47 億美元。我們強勁的現金流和嚴格的資產負債表管理使我們能夠繼續投資於我們的業務並向股東返還現金。 2023 年，我們以股息和股票回購的形式總共向股東返還了 37 億美元。1 月份，基於 2024 年現金流持續強勁的預期，我們宣布季度股息增加 11%，將股息提高至每股0.50 美元，標誌著92 年不間斷派息和連續51 年以上年度股利增加。

Today, we also announced that our Board has authorized the additional repurchase of up to $2 billion in shares in 2024 under ADM's existing share repurchase program. Our performance for 2023 shows the overall effectiveness of our strategy where our broad portfolio of business is combined to deliver resilient results for the year. Despite a more challenging operating environment, we maintained strong earnings and ROIC while delivering key strategic accomplishments across the enterprise. Next slide, please.

今天，我們也宣布，董事會已授權根據 ADM 現有的股票回購計畫在 2024 年額外回購最多 20 億美元的股票。我們 2023 年的業績顯示了我們策略的整體有效性，我們廣泛的業務組合相結合，為今年帶來了富有彈性的業績。儘管營運環境更具挑戰性，我們仍維持了強勁的獲利和投資回報率，同時在整個企業範圍內取得了關鍵的策略成就。請下一張投影片。

To put our 2023 results into perspective, at the end of 2021, we provided the road map to create value and growth returns by getting closer to customers and highlighted where we expect it to perform on several important strategic metrics by 2025. As I look at our 2-year track record over these 2025 objectives, we have delivered adjusted earnings per share at the top end of our $6 to $7 per share EPS objective. We have also continued to deliver ROIC above our 10% target. Through our strong performance, we have been able to fund the strategic investments in our businesses while returning cash to shareholders. These strategic efforts and investments have positioned ADM even closer to the customer. Whether that connection is through our growing regenerator agriculture programs and partnerships, the growth of our renewable fuels partnerships as seen in our Green Bison JV with Marathon or the expansion of our Marshall, Minnesota starch facility to serve customer needs across food and industrial products.

為了正確看待 2023 年的業績，我們在 2021 年底提供了透過更貼近客戶來創造價值和成長回報的路線圖，並強調了我們預計到 2025 年它在幾個重要策略指標上的表現。根據我們對這些2025 年目標的2 年追蹤記錄，我們已經實現了每股6 至7 美元每股收益目標的上限。我們也持續實現高於 10% 目標的投資報酬率。透過我們強勁的業績，我們能夠為我們業務的策略投資提供資金，同時向股東返還現金。這些策略努力和投資使 ADM 更加貼近客戶。無論這種聯繫是透過我們不斷發展的再生農業計劃和合作夥伴關係、我們與Marathon 的Green Bison 合資企業所見的可再生燃料合作夥伴關係的發展，還是我們明尼蘇達州馬歇爾澱粉工廠的擴建來滿足客戶對食品和工業產品的需求。

These investments and others like them not only support our current strategy, they will be the wase for our -- for us to break through the $6 to $7 per share EPS range as we move beyond 2025.

這些投資和其他類似投資不僅支持我們當前的策略，而且在 2025 年之後，它們將成為我們突破每股 6 至 7 美元每股收益範圍的浪費。

Let's turn to Slide 6, which I summarize our priorities for value creation in 2024. We continue building a stronger company for the future. And to support this, we have identified 3 key priorities for 2024, 1, managing the cycle; 2, nutritional recovery and 3, enhanced return of cash to shareholders. Let's take a closer look at each of these areas of focus. We know that 2024 will be a more challenging year that we faced in 2022 and 2023. We see tailwinds that supported a portion of our performance over the past few years, changing direction, making our continued progress on our strategic metrics more reliant than ever on our productivity and innovation agenda.

讓我們轉向投影片 6，我在其中總結了我們 2024 年價值創造的優先事項。我們將繼續為未來打造更強大的公司。為了支持這一目標，我們確定了 2024 年的 3 個關鍵優先事項，1，管理週期； 2、營養恢復和3、增強股東現金回報。讓我們仔細看看每個重點領域。我們知道，2024 年將是我們在2022 年和2023 年面臨的更具挑戰性的一年。我們看到了過去幾年支持我們部分業績的順風車，改變了方向，使我們在戰略指標上的持續進展比以往任何時候都更依賴我們的生產力和創新議程。

In 2024, we will continue to focus on those strategic initiatives that provide strong growth prospects. Our destination marketing efforts continue to bring us closer to our customers and enable us to serve them in a differentiated capacity, and we continue to expand. In 2023, we added 3 new offices across Asia and the Middle East. And in 2024, we plan to add 2 to 4 more. Through this ongoing expansion, we expect to achieve 6% growth in our destination marketing volumes. Direct farmer buying has been steadily increasing over the past several years and provides ADM, an opportunity to maximize value for both sides by creating efficiencies through working directly together.

2024年，我們將持續關注那些提供強勁成長前景的策略性舉措。我們的目的地行銷工作繼續拉近我們與客戶的距離，使我們能夠以差異化的能力為他們提供服務，並且我們繼續擴張。 2023 年，我們在亞洲和中東新增了 3 個辦事處。到 2024 年，我們計劃再增加 2 到 4 個。透過持續的擴張，我們預計目的地行銷量將實現 6% 的成長。過去幾年，農民直接購買一直在穩步增長，這為 ADM 提供了一個透過直接合作提高效率來實現雙方價值最大化的機會。

We plan to take this even further in 2024, leveraging our network of more than 200,000 farmer relationships to grow direct origination volumes year-over-year by about 10% and as our customers strive to decarbonize their own products and services, we are seeing a steady increase in the financial returns generated by our own decarbonization efforts. From Regen Ag partnerships to lowering the carbon footprint of our operations. The pace of this is accelerating as we move into 2024.

我們計劃在 2024 年更進一步，利用我們由超過 200,000 名農民組成的關係網絡，將直接來源量同比增長約 10%，並且隨著我們的客戶努力使自己的產品和服務脫碳，我們看到我們自己的脫碳努力所產生的財務回報穩定成長。從 Regen Ag 合作夥伴關係到降低我們營運的碳足跡。進入 2024 年，這一速度正在加快。

Tied to these strategic initiatives, we continue to build capacity to serve growing customer demand. I mentioned earlier the opening of our Green Bison soy processing facility as well as the expansion of our Marshall, Minnesota starch facility. This capacity addition support growing demand for a wide variety of sustainable products and solutions from renewable fuels to industrial products. And connected to our productivity efforts, we have formally launched a 2024 program we call the drive for execution excellence within the organization. Over the years, we have consistently encouraged our ADM colleagues to identify and execute both cost saving and cash generation ideas. We've developed processes and systems through our prior transformation programs and now those are ramping up for another cycle.

結合這些策略舉措，我們持續建立能力來滿足不斷增長的客戶需求。我之前提到過我們的 Green Bison 大豆加工廠的開幕以及明尼蘇達州馬歇爾澱粉工廠的擴建。這種產能的增加支持了從再生燃料到工業產品的各種永續產品和解決方案不斷增長的需求。與我們的生產力工作相關，我們正式啟動了 2024 年計劃，我們稱之為組織內卓越執行驅動力。多年來，我們一直鼓勵我們的 ADM 同事找出並執行節省成本和創造現金的想法。我們透過先前的轉型計畫開發了流程和系統，現在這些流程和系統正在進入另一個週期。

As part of this, we have already commissioned more than 300 projects and plan to see $500 million in traceable cost savings over the next 2 years across all aspects of our enterprise from operations to supply chain to corporate costs. Now let's discuss our plans within the Nutrition business. We're calling this section, of course, Nutrition recovery for a reason. Nutrition had a very difficult year with results well below our expectations, and we have been working aggressively to change this and return to growth. For Nutrition, 2023 representing a combination of challenging market forces, some specific nonrecurring events and some misses on demand fulfillment. And when market forces such as customer destocking as well as softer demand for plant-based proteins are not within our control.

作為其中的一部分，我們已經委託了 300 多個項目，並計劃在未來 2 年內在我們企業的各個方面（從營運、供應鏈到企業成本）節省 5 億美元的可追蹤成本。現在讓我們討論一下我們在營養業務方面的計劃。當然，我們將這一部分稱為「營養恢復」是有原因的。營養產業度過了非常困難的一年，結果遠低於我們的預期，我們一直在積極努力改變這種狀況並恢復成長。對於營養品而言，2023 年是充滿挑戰的市場力量、一些特定的偶發事件以及一些需求滿足缺失的綜合體。當客戶去庫存以及對植物蛋白的需求疲軟等市場力量不在我們的控制範圍內。

We're already taking action on the areas we can improve. Many of the supply issues are the result of the complexity built into the Nutrition business over time. In our zeal to meet our customers' needs, we have created one of the strongest pantries in the industry. This added complexity in our operations and supply chain that at times impacted our ability to efficiently fulfill demand.

我們已經在可以改進的領域採取行動。許多供應問題是營養業務隨著時間的推移而變得複雜的結果。為了滿足客戶的需求，我們創建了業界最強大的食品儲藏室之一。這增加了我們的營運和供應鏈的複雜性，有時會影響我們有效滿足需求的能力。

To address this, we have made important changes to drive simplification across the Nutrition business that will ease the pressure on our overall supply chain and dramatically improve our demand fulfillment performance. First, we have created a stronger division of duty across operations leadership and added new leaders with a strong expertise in supply chain management. We have also taken steps to build our COE expertise back into the core business, helping make our overall supply chain capabilities more agile and responsive to commercial demand signals.

為了解決這個問題，我們做出了重要的改變，以推動整個營養業務的簡化，這將減輕我們整個供應鏈的壓力，並顯著提高我們的需求滿足績效。首先，我們在營運領導層之間建立了更強有力的職責分工，並增加了在供應鏈管理方面擁有豐富專業知識的新領導者。我們也採取措施將我們的 COE 專業知識重新融入核心業務，幫助我們的整體供應鏈能力更加敏捷，能夠更快地回應商業需求訊號。

We have also engaged third-party experts to help identify further opportunities for operational excellence improvements across our largest facilities. We have also greatly simplified the product and production landscape to further achieve operational and supply efficiency, reducing the brands we are presenting to customers by 2/3 and downsizing about 17% of our SKUs, alongside the strategic production line simplification. A recent example of this is the closure of more than 20 Animal Nutrition production lines in 2023. Now better serving the product mix and supply chain efficiency of the business.

我們還聘請了第三方專家來幫助確定在我們最大的設施中進一步改進卓越營運的機會。我們還大大簡化了產品和生產環境，以進一步實現營運和供應效率，將我們向客戶展示的品牌減少了 2/3，並縮小了約 17% 的 SKU，同時也簡化了策略性生產線。最近的一個例子是2023年關閉20多條動物營養生產線。現在更好地服務企業的產品組合和供應鏈效率。

We're also optimizing our Nutrition business portfolio. Leveraging our experience in both large-scale and bolt-on acquisitions, we have enhanced our approach to M&A integration to increase value creation as we focus more on the integration of recent acquisitions than new targets. We continue to assess our portfolio for strategic fit, making surgical decisions to achieve the returns target we expect. For example, during Q4, we took action on 2 JVs that were not expected to meet our returns criteria. We're proud to see how the team with new leadership has rallied around this recovery plan, which is already showing signs of improvement as we move through the first quarter of the year. Recent trends suggest that destocking impacts in beverages are subsiding, and we are well positioned to capture recovering demand in 2024 as evidenced by the strong demand we are seeing in flavors. After heightening our operational efficiency, we've seen a steady increases in shipping volumes and production throughout the course of the last month.

我們也正在優化我們的營養業務組合。憑藉我們在大規模收購和補強收購方面的經驗，我們加強了併購整合方法，以增加價值創造，因為我們更專注於近期收購的整合而不是新目標。我們繼續評估我們的投資組合的策略契合度，做出外科決策以實現我們預期的回報目標。例如，在第四季度，我們對 2 家預計不符合我們回報標準的合資企業採取了行動。我們很自豪地看到新領導層的團隊如何圍繞這項復甦計畫團結起來，隨著​​我們進入今年第一季度，該計畫已經顯示出改善的跡象。最近的趨勢表明，飲料去庫存的影響正在消退，我們處於有利位置，可以抓住 2024 年需求復甦的機會，我們看到的口味需求強勁就證明了這一點。在提高營運效率後，我們看到上個月的運輸量和產量穩定成長。

And in Animal Nutrition, we have seen another quarter of sequential improvement in the base of the business, which excludes amino acid and pet solutions. And early indications in the first quarter of 2024 suggest that this will continue. Importantly, our nutrition value proposition continues to be well received by customers, as evidenced by our robust opportunity pipeline and industry-leading win rates across key categories like flavors, dietary supplements and pet. ADM's customer centricity and agile innovation capabilities supported through our creation, design and development expertise differentiates us. We continue to believe that Nutrition has an important role in ADM's integrated business model. Beyond adding value to the ingredients produced by our AS&O and carbohydrate solution businesses, Nutrition is innovating to address evolving consumer needs and is connecting us more closely with a growing customer base.

在動物營養領域，我們看到業務基礎又連續改善了一個季度，其中不包括胺基酸和寵物解決方案。 2024 年第一季的早期跡象表明這種情況將持續下去。重要的是，我們的營養價值主張繼續受到客戶的好評，我們在調味品、膳食補充劑和寵物等關鍵類別中強大的機會管道和行業領先的勝率就證明了這一點。 ADM 以客戶為中心，透過我們的創作、設計和開發專業知識支援的敏捷創新能力使我們脫穎而出。我們仍然相信營養在 ADM 的綜合業務模式中發揮著重要作用。除了為我們的 AS&O 和碳水化合物解決方案業務生產的成分增加價值外，營養還不斷創新，以滿足不斷變化的消費者需求，並將我們與不斷增長的客戶群更緊密地聯繫起來。

Finally, I'll turn attention to the capital allocation strategy that continues to guide our strategic cash deployment decisions. As noted, we announced today that the Board has authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $2 billion in shares through the remainder of the year, including $1 billion in shares to be executed through an accelerated share repurchase program as soon as practical. This will total $6.4 billion in repurchases executed since 2022 and coupled with the already announced 11% dividend growth. This is aligned with our commitment to a balanced capital allocation approach. So combined, we believe these 3 areas of focus set ADM to perform well in a challenging external operating environment in 2024.

最後，我將把注意力轉向繼續引導我們策略性現金部署決策的資本配置策略。如前所述，我們今天宣布，董事會已授權在今年剩餘時間內額外回購最多 20 億美元的股票，其中包括將盡快透過加速股票回購計畫執行的 10 億美元股票。加上已宣布的 11% 的股息成長，自 2022 年以來執行的回購總額將達到 64 億美元。這與我們對平衡資本配置方法的承諾是一致的。因此，我們相信這 3 個重點領域將使 ADM 在 2024 年充滿挑戰的外部營運環境中表現良好。

I would now like to turn the call over to Ismael for more detail on the results of the operations. Ismael?

我現在想將電話轉給伊斯梅爾，以了解有關行動結果的更多詳細資訊。伊斯梅爾？

Thank you, Juan. Let's start on Slide 7, which provides overall segment operating income and EPS for 2023. Overall, we delivered the second highest earnings in company history, overcoming a challenging operating environment. Adjusted segment operating profit was $6.2 billion for the full year, a 6% decrease versus the prior year. At a high level, operating profit was primarily down year-over-year in Ag Services and Oilseeds and Nutrition. In the other segment, which includes ADMIS and captive insurance, we had a significant increase in operating profit.

謝謝你，胡安。讓我們從幻燈片 7 開始，它提供了 2023 年的整體部門營業收入和每股收益。總體而言，我們克服了充滿挑戰的經營環境，實現了公司歷史上第二高的利潤。全年調整後分部營業利潤為 62 億美元，較上年下降 6%。在較高水準上，營業利潤主要是農業服務以及油籽和營養品領域的年減。在包括 ADMIS 和自保保險在內的其他部門，我們的營業利潤顯著增加。

Adjusted earnings per share were $6.98 for the year. Improved pricing in Carbohydrate Solutions and Nutrition as well as positive impacts from mark-to-market timing in AS&O more than offset the impact of lower crush margins, leading to a $0.70 per share improvement versus the prior year. Volume improvement in AS&O was more than offset by volume declines in Carbohydrate Solutions & Nutrition, resulting in a $0.29 per share reduction in EPS versus the prior year.

本年度調整後每股收益為 6.98 美元。碳水化合物解決方案和營養品的定價改善以及 AS&O 的按市價計價時機帶來的積極影響遠遠抵消了壓榨利潤率下降的影響，導致每股收益比上年提高 0.70 美元。 AS&O 銷售的成長被碳水化合物解決方案和營養品銷售的下降所抵消，導致每股收益比前一年減少 0.29 美元。

Higher manufacturing costs partially related to unplanned downtime at the Decatur complex led to a $0.41 per share decrease versus the prior year. Lower equity earnings, primarily related to Wilmar, attributed a $0.46 per share decrease versus the prior year. Increased corporate costs related to higher interest rates and the One ADM implementation, partially offset by higher ADMIS results drove a $0.30 per share versus the prior year. For other, benefits from share repurchases were more than offset by negative impacts related to a higher adjusted income tax rate and cycling onetime benefits from the legal recovery and biofuel producer recovery program, leading to an $0.18 per share decrease versus the prior year.

製造成本上升部分與迪凱特工廠的計劃外停機有關，導致每股價格較前一年下降 0.41 美元。股本收益下降（主要與豐益國際有關）導致每股收益較上年減少 0.46 美元。與較高的利率和 One ADM 實施相關的企業成本增加，部分被較高的 ADMIS 業績所抵消，導致每股收益較上年上漲 0.30 美元。另一方面，股票回購帶來的好處被調整後所得稅率提高以及合法恢復和生物燃料生產商恢復計劃帶來的一次性好處所帶來的負面影響所抵消，導致每股收益比上年減少0.18 美元。

Moving to Slide 8. Let's look at our segment performance for AS&O. For the full year, AS&O delivered $4.1 billion in segment operating profit, 8% lower than the record level in 2022. Ag Services segment operating profit was 15% lower versus the prior year as reduced origination volume and margins in North America were partially offset by record South American origination volumes. In Global Trade, destabilization of trade flows led to lower results compared to an exceptional 2022. Crushing segment operating profit for the full year was $346 million lower versus the prior year as improved process volumes were more than offset by lower crush margins and higher manufacturing costs.

前往投影片 8。讓我們看看 AS&O 的部門績效。全年，AS&O 實現了41 億美元的分部營運利潤，比2022 年的創紀錄水準下降了8%。農業服務分部的營運利潤比前一年下降了15%，原因是北美的發起量和利潤率下降部分抵消。創南美原產地產量紀錄。在全球貿易方面，與出色的2022 年相比，貿易流的不穩定導致業績下降。全年破碎部門營業利潤比上年減少3.46 億美元，因為加工量的提高被破碎利潤率下降和製造成本上升所抵消。 。

Refined Products and Other results were $469 million higher, resulting in a record year. Results were driven by higher volumes and margins in biodiesel. Market volatility drove positive timing impacts of approximately $235 million compared to negative timing impacts of $90 million in the prior year. Equity earnings for Wilmar were $303 million in '23, approximately 45% lower than the prior year.

成品油及其他業績成長 4.69 億美元，創下歷史新高。結果是由生物柴油產量和利潤的增加所推動的。市場波動帶來了約 2.35 億美元的正面時機影響，而前一年的負面時機影響為 9,000 萬美元。 2023 年，豐益國際的股本收益為 3.03 億美元，比上年下降約 45%。

Now let's move to Slide 9 and look at Carbohydrate Solutions. For the full year, Carbohydrate Solutions segment operating profit was $1.4 billion, 3% lower versus the record prior year. In the Starches and Sweeteners segment, higher pricing and mix were offset by weaker volumes and lower corn co-product values. The teams executed well in a dynamic environment, posting a record year in wheat milling. In Vantage Corn processing, strong exports and steady domestic demand and blending rates supported ethanol production and robust margins. The prior year also included onetime benefits of $50 million, related to the USDA Biofuel Producer Recovery Program. We also continue to make significant progress on our BioSolutions strategic initiative, delivering revenue growth well ahead of our 15% plus target.

現在讓我們轉到投影片 9，看看碳水化合物溶液。碳水化合物解決方案部門全年營業利潤為 14 億美元，比前一年創紀錄的水準下降 3%。在澱粉和甜味劑領域，較高的定價和產品組合被銷售下降和玉米副產品價值下降所抵消。這些團隊在充滿活力的環境中表現出色，在小麥加工方面創造了創紀錄的一年。在 Vantage 玉米加工領域，強勁的出口以及穩定的國內需求和混合率支撐了乙醇生產和強勁的利潤率。上一年還包括與美國農業部生物燃料生產商恢復計畫相關的 5,000 萬美元一次性福利。我們也持續在 BioSolutions 策略計畫上取得重大進展，營收成長遠遠超過我們 15% 以上的目標。

Please now turn to Slide 10. In Nutrition, revenues of $7.2 billion for the full year were 6% lower versus the prior year. Demand headwinds and destocking impacts, coupled with operational challenges related to the ERP systems integration pressured volumes. This more than offset price and mix benefits as well as positive currency impacts. In Human Nutrition, volumes declined due to lower market demand for plant-based proteins, destocking impacts in beverages and operational challenges related to the ERP system implementation. This was partially offset by improved price and mix and flavors and texturants pricing in Specialty Ingredients.

現在請翻到投影片 10。在營養領域，全年收入為 72 億美元，比前一年下降 6%。需求逆風和去庫存影響，加上與 ERP 系統整合相關的營運挑戰，給銷售帶來了壓力。這不僅抵消了價格和混合效益以及積極的貨幣影響。在人類營養領域，由於市場對植物蛋白的需求下降、飲料去庫存的影響以及與 ERP 系統實施相關的營運挑戰，銷售量下降。這部分被特殊成分的價格、組合以及口味和質地定價的改善所抵消。

In Animal Nutrition, lower complete feed and premix volumes, the normalization of amino acid markets and demand fulfillment challenges in pet solutions led to lower revenue versus 2022.

在動物營養領域，全價飼料和預混料產量下降、胺基酸市場正常化以及寵物解決方案的需求滿足挑戰導致收入較 2022 年下降。

Now please turn to Slide 11. For the full year, Nutrition segment operating profit was $427 million, 36% lower versus the prior year. Human Nutrition results of $417 million were 25% lower than the prior year as weaker volumes as well as increased costs related to operational challenges from the ERP implementation and unplanned the cater -- downtime at the catteries were partially offset by higher pricing. Animal Nutrition results of $10 million were 91% lower compared to the prior year, primarily driven by lower volumes and the normalization of amino acid pricing. When bridging from 2022, our performance can be characterized in 3 buckets: market forces, onetime items and operational challenges. Market forces accounted for a majority of the deterioration in 2023 and as previously mentioned this was mostly related to lower demand and plant-based proteins, destocking impacts in beverages and lower premix and completed demand, which impacted volumes across the industry.

現在請翻到投影片 11。全年營養部門營業利潤為 4.27 億美元，比前一年下降 36%。人類營養表現為 4.17 億美元，比上年下降 25%，原因是銷量下降以及 ERP 實施和計劃外餐飲造成的運營挑戰相關的成本增加——貓舍的停機時間被較高的定價部分抵消。動物營養表現為 1000 萬美元，比上年下降 91%，主要是由於銷售下降和氨基酸定價正常化所致。從 2022 年開始，我們的表現可以分為 3 個面向：市場力量、一次性專案和營運挑戰。市場力量是2023 年惡化的主要原因，正如之前提到的，這主要與需求和植物蛋白的下降、飲料去庫存的影響以及預混料和成品需求的下降有關，這些都影響了整個行業的銷量。

Secondly, onetime items amounted to $64 million during the year, accounting for over 1/4 of the total segment decline in operating profit. $45 million of the onetime impacts was related to underperforming joint ventures in SAVAN and PlantPlus Foods. The remaining $19 million of the onetime impacts was related to investment valuation losses in health and wellness.

其次，年內一次性專案達6,400萬美元，佔該部門營業利潤下降總額的1/4以上。其中 4500 萬美元的一次性影響與 SAVAN 和 PlantPlus Foods 合資企業表現不佳有關。其餘 1,900 萬美元的一次性影響與健康和保健領域的投資估值損失有關。

Lastly, we also had our own operation struggles that impacted our ability to deliver on the strong demand that we have created. The implementation of ERP systems over the course of the year led to complications in shipping and production -- product -- producing products, negatively impacting both volumes and manufacturing costs. Over the past month, we have seen a steady improvement in operations and are confident that we will see volumes lost in '23 come back in '24.

最後，我們自己的營運也遇到了困難，影響了我們滿足所創造的強勁需求的能力。 ERP 系統在這一年的實施導致運輸和生產（產品）的複雜化，對產量和製造成本產生了負面影響。在過去的一個月裡，我們看到營運情況穩步改善，並且有信心看到 23 年損失的銷量在 24 年恢復。

Now please turn to Slide 12. For the full year, other segment operating profit was $375 million, up 125% compared to the prior year. ADM Investor Services result improved on higher net interest income. Higher captive insurance results on new program premiums were partially offset by higher claim losses. In corporate, for the full year, net interest expense increased year-over-year on higher short-term interest rates. Unallocated corporate costs increased versus the prior year on higher global technology spend to support digital transformation efforts. Other corporate was unfavorable compared to the prior year due to onetime investment valuation losses of approximately $57 million.

現在請翻到投影片 12。全年其他部門營業利潤為 3.75 億美元，比上年成長 125%。 ADM 投資者服務績效因淨利息收入增加而改善。新計劃保費較高的自保保險業績被較高的索賠損失部分抵銷。在企業方面，全年淨利息支出因短期利率上升而較去年同期增加。由於支援數位轉型工作的全球技術支出增加，未分配的企業成本較前一年增加。由於一次性投資估值損失約 5,700 萬美元，其他公司的表現與前一年相比較差。

Please turn to Slide 13. Over the last 2 years, the company has generated significant cash flow that have bolstered our balance sheet and provided us with financial flexibility to drive long-term growth. In 2023, we again had strong cash flow of $4.7 billion, which were actualized in line with our balanced capital allocation framework. 30% or approximately $1.5 billion of cash flows were reinvested in the business to support growth and modernize our assets, including investments in new capacity and the digitization of our existing asset footprint. Our cash flows also supported significant capital return in 2023 with nearly 30% earnings going to dividends and nearly 60% of cash flows or about $2.7 billion going to shareholders via share repurchases.

請參閱投影片 13。在過去 2 年中，公司產生了大量現金流，增強了我們的資產負債表，並為我們提供了推動長期成長的財務靈活性。 2023年，我們再次擁有47億美元的強勁現金流，這是根據我們的平衡資本配置框架實現的。 30%（約 15 億美元）的現金流被再投資於業務，以支持成長和資產現代化，包括對新產能的投資和現有資產的數位化。我們的現金流也支持 2023 年的巨額資本回報，近 30% 的收益用於股息，近 60% 的現金流（約 27 億美元）透過股票回購返還給股東。

In 2024, we expect to hold capital expenditures to a level aligned with depreciation and amortization with focused spend around the safety and reliability of assets. We also intend to manage working capital needs prudently, limiting M&A beyond previously announced transactions and focusing our team on cost savings and cash generation initiatives through the drive for execution excellence.

到 2024 年，我們預計將資本支出控制在與折舊和攤銷相一致的水平，並將支出重點放在資產的安全性和可靠性上。我們還打算謹慎管理營運資金需求，將併購限制在先前宣布的交易範圍之外，並透過推動卓越執行力，將我們的團隊重點放在成本節約和現金產生計劃上。

As Juan mentioned earlier, our priorities for cash deployment in 2024 will remain focused around the shareholder. We finished the year with strong momentum in terms of returning cash, and nearly 330 million of shares so far in Q1. Over the course of the year, we intend to actualize $2 billion of additional share repurchases with $1 billion being executed through an accelerated share repurchase program as soon as practical.

正如胡安之前提到的，我們 2024 年現金部署的優先事項將仍然以股東為中心。我們以強勁的現金回饋勢頭結束了這一年，第一季迄今已返還近 3.3 億股股票。在這一年中，我們計劃實現 20 億美元的額外股票回購，其中 10 億美元將盡快透過加速股票回購計畫執行。

Now let's transition to a discussion of guidance for 2024 on Slide 14, please. In 2024, global grain and oilseed supply is expected to increase as anticipated improvements in weather should support larger production levels in key South American countries. Assuming commodity prices ease for recent highs and trade flows adjust to the dislocations created over the past 2 years, we anticipate global soybean crush margins will moderate in 2024, likely moving into a range of $35 per metric ton to $60 per metric ton.

現在，請讓我們轉向討論幻燈片 14 上的 2024 年指南。 2024 年，全球穀物和油籽供應預計將增加，因為預期天氣改善將支持南美洲主要國家提高產量。假設大宗商品價格回落至近期高位，且貿易流量根據過去兩年造成的混亂進行調整，我們預計 2024 年全球大豆壓榨利潤率將放緩，可能會進入每噸 35 美元至 60 美元的範圍。

From the demand side, we continue to expect vegetable oil demand growth from renewable diesel and low single-digit soybean meal demand growth to support structural margin improvement. We expect adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $5.25 per share to $6.25 per share representing an 18% decline from prior year at the midpoint.

從需求方面來看，我們繼續預期再生柴油帶來的植物油需求成長和低個位數的豆粕需求成長將支持結構性利潤率改善。我們預計調整後每股收益將在每股 5.25 美元至 6.25 美元之間，較去年中位數下降 18%。

Now breaking down our expectations by segment for 2024. Let's turn to Slide 15. In AS&O, we anticipate the first quarter to be lower and the full year to also be lower versus comparable prior periods as increased global commodity supply and normalization of margins will weigh on the segment. We anticipate global soy crush margins within the range of $35 per metric ton to $60 per metric ton as the market balances better soybean availability against increased crush and renewable diesel capacity.

現在按細分市場細分我們對2024 年的預期。讓我們轉向幻燈片15。在AS&O 中，我們預計第一季的業績將較低，全年的業績也將低於前期可比較的水平，因為全球大宗商品供應增加和利潤率正常化將帶來壓力在該段上。我們預計全球大豆壓榨利潤將在每噸 35 美元至 60 美元之間，因為市場在更好的大豆供應與壓榨和再生柴油產能增加之間取得平衡。

Our operational excellence efforts and the ramp-up of our Green Bison facility should lead to mid- to high single-digit improvement in our process volumes. We expect significantly lower biodiesel margins in 2023 timing gains to reverse as contracts are executed. In Carbohydrate Solutions, we anticipate the first quarter to be lower versus the prior year. For the full year, we anticipate another strong year, but slightly lower than 2023 as the improved volumes and margins in sweeteners and starches could be offset by weaker ethanol.

我們卓越營運的努力和 Green Bison 工廠的擴建應該會導致我們的處理量實現中到高個位數的改進。我們預計 2023 年生質柴油利潤率將大幅下降，隨著合約的執行，收益將出現逆轉。在碳水化合物解決方案中，我們預計第一季的銷售量將低於去年同期。就全年而言，我們預計又是一個強勁的一年，但略低於 2023 年，因為甜味劑和澱粉銷售和利潤的提高可能會被乙醇疲軟所抵消。

For nutrition, the first quarter is expected to be lower versus the prior year as we faced headwinds from a normalizing texturants market, fixed costs associated with operational challenges related to the Decatur East and protein volumes. However, for the full year, we expect Nutrition to begin its path to recovery. We anticipate conversion of our significant pipeline opportunities in Human and Animal Nutrition to yield mid-single-digit revenue growth. We assume market normalization in texturants to be a headwind in '24. We do not anticipate a significant onetime events of 2023 to recur. Back to Juan.

在營養方面，預計第一季的產量將低於去年，因為我們面臨紋理劑市場正常化、與迪凱特東和蛋白質產量相關的營運挑戰相關的固定成本的阻力。然而，我們預計全年營養將開始復甦。我們預計人類和動物營養領域的重要管道機會將實現中個位數收入成長。我們假設質構劑市場正常化將成為 24 年的阻力。我們預計 2023 年發生的重大事件不會再發生。回到胡安。

Thank you, Ismael. Please turn to Slide 16. In summary, let me once again share the 3 priorities for our year ahead. We will continue our efforts across the business to drive our productivity and innovation portfolio of projects, taking advantage of capacity gains we have made and ensure that our teams are generating and executing on our drive for execution excellence. We continue to take aggressive actions in the Nutrition business to ensure that it can deliver on the areas of growth that we have continued to build into our opportunity pipeline. This includes supporting the operational changes we have introduced, driving simplification through our products and brands and ensuring that our business portfolio is tuned to best achieve our return expectations. And we're also actively managing our balanced capital allocation strategy, both prudently investing in the business while growing our dividends and accelerating our share repurchase program to return more to shareholders in the near term.

謝謝你，伊斯梅爾。請參閱投影片 16. 總之，讓我再次分享我們未來一年的 3 個優先事項。我們將繼續在整個業務範圍內努力提高我們的生產力和專案創新組合，利用我們所取得的產能增益，並確保我們的團隊在我們的推動下產生和執行卓越的執行力。我們繼續在營養業務中採取積極行動，以確保其能夠實現我們繼續在機會管道中建立的成長領域。這包括支持我們引入的營運變革，透過我們的產品和品牌推動簡化，並確保我們的業務組合得到調整以最好地實現我們的回報預期。我們也積極管理平衡的資本配置策略，在增加股利的同時謹慎投資業務，並加快股票回購計劃，以便在短期內向股東回報更多。

I believe strongly in the powerful role ADM plays as a leader in the agricultural supply chain and that our ability to bring partners together across the value chain will be critical to driving future transformation in the food, feed, fuel and industrial markets we serve. I want to express my gratitude to the ADM team for their dedication, hard work and resourcefulness. I'm confident in our ability to deliver solid results as we move into 2024 and continue to pay a path for long-term profit growth. Operator, please open the line for questions.

我堅信 ADM 作為農業供應鏈領導者所發揮的強大作用，並且我們將整個價值鏈的合作夥伴聚集在一起的能力對於推動我們所服務的食品、飼料、燃料和工業市場的未來轉型至關重要。我要對 ADM 團隊的奉獻、辛勤工作和足智多謀表示感謝。我相信，隨著我們進入 2024 年，我們有能力取得紮實的成果，並繼續為長期利潤成長付出代價。接線員，請開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Adam Samuelson of Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指令）我們的第一個問題來自高盛的 Adam Samuelson。

I guess my question is really around framing the go-forward outlook in terms of the cyclical versus the pieces that ADM controls. And you had the targets in the 2021 Investor Day still on the slides of returns and earnings per share. The outperformance in the last couple of years has been largely cyclically driven in AS&O, whereas some of the investments and the items under your own control, particularly Nutrition have not performed up to expectations. As we think about '24, that's at least the cyclical parts are reversing, at least in part. Can you want to put a little bit more finer point on how you think about 2024 versus normalized earnings for the business? And maybe quantify the path forward in Nutrition beyond this year as you work to earn a return on the substantial investments you've actually made in that business?

我想我的問題實際上是圍繞週期性與 ADM 控制的部分來建立未來前景。 2021 年投資者日的目標仍然是回報和每股盈餘。 AS&O 過去幾年的優異表現很大程度上是週期性驅動的，而您自己控制的一些投資和項目，特別是營養品，表現卻沒有達到預期。當我們想到 24 世紀時，至少週期性部分正在逆轉，至少部分逆轉。您能否更詳細地闡述一下您對 2024 年企業獲利與正常化獲利的看法？當您努力從您在該業務中實際進行的大量投資中獲得回報時，也許可以量化今年之後營養領域的前進道路？

Thank you, Alan. So let's take the businesses -- each of the businesses in the portfolio. So when we think about Ag Services and Oil Seeds, as you said, we had spectacular performance over the last couple of years taking full advantage of the opportunities in the market. But we forecasted in 2021 that margins were going to moderate although they were going to stay higher than historical averages, and we are seeing that. We see the moderation, and we see even crush margins 35% to 60% that we are forecasting are higher than average. We have not stayed quiet, waiting for the cycle to reverse. We have been adjusting our business model. You heard me saying about destination marketing, something we didn't have a few years ago and we continue to grow that. That gives us extra margins. And now we are forecasting that we continue to expand, and we're going to grow those volumes 6% this year. And that program continue as we expand into new geographies in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

謝謝你，艾倫。讓我們以業務為例——投資組合中的每一項業務。因此，當我們考慮農業服務和油籽時，正如您所說，我們在過去幾年中充分利用市場機會，並取得了令人矚目的業績。但我們預測 2021 年利潤率將放緩，儘管它們將保持高於歷史平均水平，我們也看到了這一點。我們看到了這種放緩，甚至我們預測的壓榨利潤率為 35% 至 60%，也高於平均值。我們並沒有保持沉默，等待週期逆轉。我們一直在調整我們的商業模式。你聽到我談到目的地行銷，這是我們幾年前沒有的東西，我們將繼續發展它。這給了我們額外的利潤。現在我們預測我們將繼續擴張，今年我們的銷量將成長 6%。隨著我們擴展到中東和東南亞的新地區，該計劃仍在繼續。

When you think also about the Regen program -- Regen Ag program that we have with our customers, we are helping our CPG customers with their Scope 3 emissions. And we're working together with the farmers and that program is the leading program in the industry and continues to grow. We are also doing everything in the value chain. We're looking at farmer direct that's an ability for us to get efficiencies between us and the producer, the way we buy grain. So of course, we get an advantage with that as the producer as well. And we're planning to increase our volumes 10%, leveraging on the 200,000 farmer relationships we have around the world.

當您還想到我們與客戶合作的 Regen 計劃——Regen Ag 計劃時，我們正在幫助我們的 CPG 客戶解決範圍 3 排放問題。我們正在與農民合作，該計劃是業內領先的計劃，並且仍在不斷發展。我們也在做價值鏈上的一切。我們正在尋找直接農民，這是我們與生產者之間提高效率的能力，也是我們購買穀物的方式。當然，身為製作人我們也能獲得優勢。我們計劃利用我們在世界各地擁有的 20 萬名農民關係，將產量增加 10%。

Of course, we have expanded capacity. We are expanding crush in Latin America. We are expanding crush in North America with Spiritwood. So I would say, when you take that plus our operational improvements, if you will, what we call the push for excellence, that was going to be the productivity and innovation agenda that we're going to help us navigate through this. We see '24 still as a strong year for Ag Services and also is going to be lower, but is still going to be a strong year. Of course, the market has price a lot of the extra capacity and the higher Argentine crop into the crush margins, but we still see the ability of the market to absorb all that capacity with a strong mill growth and with a strong demand for oil. So that's on the Ag Services and Oilseeds side.

當然，我們已經擴大了產能。我們正在拉丁美洲擴大壓榨規模。我們正在透過 Spiritwood 擴大北美的壓榨業務。所以我想說，當你把它加上我們的營運改進時，如果你願意的話，我們所說的追求卓越，這將是我們將幫助我們渡過難關的生產力和創新議程。我們認為 24 年對於農業服務業來說仍然是強勁的一年，而且也會有所下降，但仍將是強勁的一年。當然，市場已將大量額外產能和較高的阿根廷產量計入壓榨利潤，但我們仍然看到市場有能力吸收所有產能，因為工廠強勁成長，對石油需求強勁。這是農業服務和油籽方面的情況。

On the Carb Solutions side, this business has been very stable over the last few years. It has had a very good '22 and '23. We are expecting a very good 2024, maybe slightly lower, but it's still very, very good. We had a good program for a good contract renewals in 2024. We had -- we are happy with the margins. We have maintained margins for the most part, and we have gained some volumes. So volumes are strong. The milling business has been going, had a record year last year, and it continues to drive very strong. I think both business has a little bit of a lower contribution from feed products where margins have decreased a little bit. But Biosolutions, as Ismael mentioned, continues to grow, it's growing beyond 15% per year. And all the decarbonization things that we're saying, we see more and more demand for everything that card solutions can bring to the table in that area. So we feel very good about that. Always the question mark in the year maybe is ethanol. But we're seeing right now, Adam, ethanol -- the arbitrage to exports from the U.S. is open to everywhere in the world.

在碳水化合物解決方案方面，該業務在過去幾年中一直非常穩定。它有一個非常好的'22和'23。我們預計 2024 年會非常好，也許會稍微低一些，但仍然非常非常好。我們有一個很好的計劃，可以在 2024 年續約良好的合約。我們對利潤率感到滿意。我們在很大程度上保持了利潤，並且增加了一些銷量。因此成交量強勁。銑削業務一直在進行，去年創下了紀錄，並且繼續強勁成長。我認為飼料產品對這兩項業務的貢獻都較低，利潤率也略有下降。但正如 Ismael 所提到的，Biosolutions 仍在繼續增長，每年增長超過 15%。我們所說的所有脫碳問題，我們看到對卡片解決方案可以在該領域帶來的一切的需求越來越大。所以我們對此感覺非常好。今年的問號也許是乙醇。但我們現在看到，亞當，乙醇——美國出口的套利對世界各地都是開放的。

So it's just a matter of adjusting our capacity and the U.S. capacity to get more dehydrated ethanol, if you will, to be able to export to adjust the humidity content, if you will. So I think with export well north of maybe 1.5 million, 1.6 billion gallons for this year that should bode well for recovery of margins as we go into the year. And then you take Nutrition. Nutrition has been a growth story for many years, and we certainly stumble in 2023.

因此，這只是調整我們的產能和美國獲得更多脫水乙醇的能力（如果你願意的話）的問題，以便能夠出口以調整濕度含量（如果你願意的話）。因此，我認為今年的出口量可能會超過 150 萬至 16 億加侖，這對於進入今年的利潤率復甦來說是個好兆頭。然後你服用營養。多年來，營養一直是一個成長的故事，但我們肯定會在 2023 年遭遇挫折。

I mentioned some of the reasons -- some of the reasons where there was a big destocking after all the COVID and all the supply chain issues that the industry had, the industry stopped, and now we went through lower inflation and destocking about that. So we had to go that in beverages, which is -- which drives flavors, which is our biggest engine for growth, if you will. Of course, we knew into the year that plant-based proteins, we have moderated our expectations for growth on that. We'll still grow, but it's not going to be beyond 10%. So there is still going to be an attractive mid-single-digit growth, if you will.

我提到了一些原因——在新冠疫情和行業出現的所有供應鏈問題之後，行業出現了大規模去庫存的一些原因，行業停止了，現在我們經歷了較低的通膨和去庫存。所以我們必須在飲料領域做到這一點，這會推動口味，如果你願意的話，這是我們最大的成長引擎。當然，今年我們知道植物蛋白的出現，我們已經降低了對其增長的預期。我們仍然會成長，但不會超過 10%。因此，如果你願意的話，仍然會出現有吸引力的中個位數成長。

We knew that. And then we had continued good demand in Pet and Health and Wellness and Animal Nutrition has been improving their P&L, doing a lot of self-help from -- the June P&L has been improving all the year. So unfortunately, we get to the Q4, and we had several events in Q4. We have several one-offs we needed to take action on a couple of joint ventures, and we addressed that. We needed to take a revaluation of an investment because of the yen devaluation and we took that in the Q4 and then we have some issues on our own performance that we needed to implement One ADM, but as much as we prepare for that. We had some problems with some of the modules. It was a successful implementation, but some of the modules were about shipping products gave us trouble during the last quarter of the year.

我們知道這一點。然後，我們對寵物和健康以及動物營養的持續良好需求一直在改善他們的損益，做了很多自助——六月的損益全年都在改善。不幸的是，我們進入了第四季度，我們在第四季度發生了幾件事。我們需要對幾個合資企業採取一些一次性行動，我們已經解決了這個問題。由於日圓貶值，我們需要對一項投資進行重估，我們在第四季度進行了重估，然後我們自己的業績出現了一些問題，我們需要實施 One ADM，但我們會為此做好準備。我們的某些模組存在一些問題。這是一次成功的實施，但一些與運輸產品相關的模組在今年最後一個季度給我們帶來了麻煩。

So when you have all that combination, it gave us a very bad quarter. We continue to see 2024 a year of growth for -- or recovery, if you will from the 2023 value. And from there, we should continue to march on our commitment to nutrition, our ability to fulfill or to deliver the value proposition that resonates with customers continue to be evidenced by our growing pipeline, both in Animal and Human Nutrition. And our conversion rate, we have benchmarked this is industry-leading conversion rate. So we know we are winning. We need to adjust our own internal processes to make sure we deliver that. And we have done that heavily in the last -- second half of last year, and we have seen that during January and February that we are delivering much better than we did last year.

因此，當你擁有所有這些組合時，它給了我們一個非常糟糕的季度。我們繼續認為 2024 年是成長的一年，或者說是復甦的一年，如果你願意從 2023 年的價值來看的話。從那時起，我們應該繼續履行我們對營養的承諾，我們在動物和人類營養領域不斷增長的產品線繼續證明我們有能力實現或提供與客戶產生共鳴的價值主張。我們的轉換率，我們已經進行了基準測試，這是業界領先的轉換率。所以我們知道我們正在獲勝。我們需要調整我們自己的內部流程以確保我們能夠實現這一目標。我們在去年下半年做了很多工作，我們看到在一月和二月期間我們的表現比去年好得多。

So with that, I still look confident at the numbers and the overall number for the company that we gave you for 2025. As I said at the onset, we are ahead and what we schedule from an EPS perspective, we are above 10% in ROIC, and we have purchased already more than the $5 billion of share that we have estimated for 2025. So it's never going to be a straight line from here to 2025, but we have a resilient portfolio that can help us see that those numbers for the overall portfolio are still positive -- possible as it was in December '21. Sorry for the long answer. It's a large company.

因此，我仍然對我們為您提供的2025 年公司數據和整體數據充滿信心。正如我一開始所說的，我們處於領先地位，從每股收益的角度來看，我們的計劃是，我們在2025年的業績成長超過 10%。ROIC，我們已經購買了超過我們預計2025 年50 億美元的股票。因此，從現在到2025 年，它永遠不會是一條直線，但我們擁有一個有彈性的投資組合，可以幫助我們看到這些數字整體投資組合仍然樂觀——可能就像 2021 年 12 月一樣。抱歉回答太長。這是一家大公司。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Tom Palmer of Citi.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Tom Palmer。

I wanted to dig in a bit more on crush margins and your $35 to $60 global soybean crush outlook. Maybe just to frame it, where were global crush margins last year, where are crush margins currently when we consider different regions of the world? And then as we think about the items that could drive to the upper or lower end of this year's range, what are kind of the key items you're looking at?

我想進一步深入了解壓榨利潤以及 35 至 60 美元的全球大豆壓榨前景。也許只是為了框架一下，當我們考慮世界不同地區時，去年的全球壓榨利潤在哪裡，目前的壓榨利潤在哪裡？然後，當我們考慮哪些項目可能會達到今年範圍的上限或下限時，您正在關注哪些關鍵項目？

Thank you, Tom. So as we said before, Ismael mentioned in his remarks, we expect crush margins between $35 and $60 for this year, they were about $70 per ton maybe last year. I think it's fair to say that the market has completely priced or baked all the bad news into the crush margins that we have in today. So I would say, board crush has moved significantly lower in the last month as the market probably gained more confidence in the availability of products, especially soybean meal, particularly when you think about Argentina now having sites on a crop that may be 50 million tons and the U.S. crush industry also has performed very well. And the market continue to look forward to the second quarter of the year when they're going to have basically 3 offers for mill that hasn't happened last year. So if you remember last year, after Brazil finishing export in the U.S. became the only global -- only game in town, if you will. And that increased soybean meal values around the world, which makes soybean meal expensive, if you will, for the ration.

謝謝你，湯姆。正如我們之前所說，伊斯梅爾在他的演講中提到，我們預計今年的壓榨利潤將在 35 至 60 美元之間，去年可能約為每噸 70 美元。我認為可以公平地說，市場已經完全消化或消化了所有壞消息，導致我們今天的利潤率下降。因此，我想說，上個月紙板壓榨量大幅下降，因為市場可能對產品的供應（尤其是豆粕）信心增強，尤其是考慮到阿根廷目前的農作物產量可能達到 5000 萬噸。美國壓榨業也表現出色。市場繼續期待今年第二季度，屆時他們將向工廠發出基本上 3 個去年未曾出現過的報價。所以，如果你還記得去年，巴西完成對美國的出口之後，就成為了全球唯一的遊戲——如果你願意的話。這增加了全球豆粕的價格，如果你願意的話，這使得豆粕的配給價格變得昂貴。

We see that in the U.S. we saw, at least for ADM, we saw 5 consecutive months of record exports for soybean meal in the U.S. and the U.S. industry. So similar situation. So now with the correction in this, we expect that soybean meal will gain back into the rations. Of course, feeding without -- with [meat pros] and not soybean meal, it's not the optimal way to feed. So now that soybean meal has corrected, we expect that to happen.

我們看到，在美國，至少對 ADM 來說，我們看到美國和美國工業的豆粕出口連續 5 個月創紀錄。如此類似的情況。因此，隨著目前的調整，我們預期豆粕將重新進入配給量。當然，不加[肉類專家]而不是豆粕來餵養，這不是最佳的餵養方式。因此，現在豆粕已經回調，我們預計這種情況會發生。

At the end of the day, Tom, the way I think about where crush is going to happen in the world is going to happen in both places where you have been availability and where you have a domestic oil market. If you think of Brazil, Brazil is having B14 started in March, and that has helped with the margins of domestic oil for us in Brazil. And of course, you have a big crop. So you're going to have the bean availability and the domestic market. And then it will be the U.S. in which you have all the need of soybean oil to go into renewable green diesel and biodiesel. And we have, of course, bean availability. So we think that crush will favor those 2 places.

湯姆，歸根結底，我對世界上哪些地方將發生壓榨的看法是，無論是在有石油供應的地方，還是在擁有國內石油市場的地方，都會發生壓榨。如果您想到巴西，巴西將於 3 月啟動 B14，這有助於提高巴西國內石油的利潤。當然，你會有大豐收。因此，您將獲得豆類供應和國內市場。然後在美國，您將需要大豆油來生產再生綠色柴油和生質柴油。當然，我們還有豆子供應。所以我們認為美眉會青睞這兩個地方。

Our next question comes from Andrew Strelzik of BMO.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 的 Andrew Strelzik。

I guess, ultimately, my question is about 2025 and whether you view 2024 as kind of the trough year from an earnings perspective in terms of the cycle? And if I just follow up on maybe you made some comments at the end of the response to Adam about 2025, I didn't know if that was specific to the metrics around Nutrition or the prior earnings guidance that you had talked about. If you could just kind of clarify the way that you're thinking about that. Is this 2024 an earnings number from which you would expect to grow? And then the 2025 comments with that.

我想，歸根結底，我的問題是關於 2025 年的，從收益角度來看，您是否認為 2024 年是周期的低谷年？如果我只是跟進您在對 Adam 的有關 2025 年的回復結束時發表的一些評論，我不知道這是否特定於營養指標或您之前談到的盈利指引。如果你能澄清一下你的想法就好了。您預計 2024 年的獲利數字會有所成長嗎？然後是 2025 年的評論。

Yes, Andrew. Yes, first of all, my comment before to Tom's question was the overall number that we gave for the company for 2025 in 2021, we still believe that number is there. I think that, that number was never going to be a destination for ADM, was a milestone, if you will. And as we are reviewing our 5-year plan that we do every year, we see us breaking through that number. So in that sense, I expect 2024 to be a down year versus 2023, hopefully, 2025 will be a positive year versus 2024. There is a cycle here that needs to happen, Andrew, that I describe below. Soybean meal will get cheaper. .

是的，安德魯。是的，首先，我之前對湯姆的問題的評論是我們為公司2025年和2021年給出的總體數字，我們仍然相信這個數字是存在的。我認為，這個數字永遠不會成為 ADM 的目標，如果你願意的話，它是一個里程碑。當我們每年回顧我們的五年計劃時，我們看到我們突破了這個數字。因此，從這個意義上說，我預計 2024 年將比 2023 年有所下降，希望 2025 年將比 2024 年有所增長。這裡需要發生一個週期，安德魯，我將在下面描述。豆粕會越來越便宜。 。

All the oil activities related to B14 or RGD needs to grow. All that needs to happen and how long that adjustment takes, how long it takes for meal to be low enough to increase demand. And for flat prices to be low enough to maybe make the farmer correct a little bit their planting and all that process we know historically happens. When exactly it's going to happen, does it happen in the calendar year, does it happen in 6 months, does it happen in a year is hard to say. But we continue to build a company that have more optionality, that's more resilience for the future. So as the cycle moderates, we continue to have more ability to bring more to the P&L.

所有與 B14 或 RGD 相關的石油活動都需要成長。所有這些都需要發生，調整需要多長時間，膳食需要多長時間才能足夠低以增加需求。如果統一價格夠低，也許可以讓農民稍微調整一下他們的種植方式，而我們知道歷史上發生的所有過程。具體什麼時候會發生，是在日曆年發生，還是在 6 個月後發生，還是在一年內發生，很難說。但我們將繼續打造一家擁有更多選擇、對未來更具彈性的公司。因此，隨著週期的緩和，我們將繼續有更多的能力為損益帶來更多收益。

So we think with that, I'm optimistic about '25 being better than '24.

所以我們認為，我對 25 年比 24 年更好持樂觀態度。

Our next question comes from Ben Bienvenu of Stephens.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens 的 Ben Bienvenu。

I want to ask as we think about 2024 for the Nutrition segment. You noted that you expect mid-single-digit revenue growth, operating profit to be higher over a year. I think the natural inference would be that the operating profit growth is up by less than 5% or mid-single-digit revenue growth. Is that true? And then as you referenced kind of the cadence in your expectations for the first quarter, this is a trajectory of recovery that will build throughout the year in 2024. You talk about pipeline conversion. Are there residual headwinds discontinuities from the Decatur complex still in the first quarter? Help us think through the sequencing of the development of return to growth in Nutrition.

當我們考慮 2024 年營養領域時，我想問一下。您指出，您預計一年內收入將實現中個位數成長，營業利潤將更高。我認為自然的推論是營業利潤成長不到 5% 或中等個位數的收入成長。真的嗎？然後，正如您提到的對第一季的預期節奏一樣，這是一條將在 2024 年全年建立的復甦軌跡。您談到了管道轉換。第一季迪凱特綜合體是否仍有殘餘阻力？幫助我們思考營養恢復成長的發展順序。

Yes. Good question, Ben. Let me give you the puts and takes, if you will, on Nutrition, as we look at 2024. So as Ismael said in his remarks, about half of the headwinds that we faced last year were market. That means that half of them were in the other 2 buckets, the nonrecurring events, if you will. And those by nature, we hope that we're not going to have going forward. And then -- and I think Ismael qualify them about $60-something million, give or take, and then the other ones were like some of the demand fulfillment issues that I explained how we have worked aggressively to correct, and we have seen good indication of that over the first 2 months of this year. So I would say those are the positive that we don't expect all that to happen again in 2024. You put on top of that a single-digit revenue growth -- mid-single-digit revenue growth because of the pipeline that we have and the conversion of that pipeline and that tends to happen every year.

是的。好問題，本。如果您願意的話，讓我向您介紹我們對 2024 年營養的看法。正如伊斯梅爾在演講中所說，我們去年面臨的阻力大約有一半來自市場。這意味著其中一半位於另外兩個桶中，即非重複事件（如果您願意的話）。從本質上講，我們希望我們不會繼續前進。然後- 我認為伊斯梅爾給他們提供了大約60 百萬美元的資格，無論給予還是接受，然後其他問題就像一些需求滿足問題，我解釋了我們如何積極努力糾正，我們已經看到了良好的跡象今年前兩個月的情況。所以我想說，這些都是正面的，我們預計所有這些都不會在2024 年再次發生。除此之外，你還可以看到個位數的收入成長——中個位數的收入成長，因為我們擁有的管道以及該管道的轉換，而且這種情況每年都會發生。

Then as you described, we have to -- we have to face a correction of texturizing prices that were exceptionally high last year. We're not going to have that. So that will be part of the negative side, if you will. And certainly, as we go through the year, we still need to bring the Decatur plant back into operations. And that we have -- that will have a tail of the cost. So I would say the year will be driven by a strong recovery in Animal Nutrition, in flavors and hopefully, Pet with some tailwinds in the Specialty Ingredients. That's how we see.

然後，正如您所描述的，我們必須進行——我們必須面對去年異常高的組織化價格的調整。我們不會那樣的。如果你願意的話，這將是負面方面的一部分。當然，隨著這一年的過去，我們仍然需要讓迪凱特工廠重新運作。我們所擁有的——這將產生成本的尾部。因此，我想說，今年將受到動物營養、口味和寵物特種成分強勁復甦的推動。我們就是這樣看的。

Our next question comes from Ben Theurer of Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Ben Theurer。

I wanted to follow up on Carbohydrate Solutions because that obviously as you've highlighted, has been a very solid performer last year. Even the outlook looks very promising still in comparison to maybe some of the other segments for 2024. And I wanted to understand where you are within your different asset bases, be it on the ethanol side, but also particularly starches and sweeteners to -- for the need to invest into the business. Where are you in terms of capacity and what do you need to potentially allocate money to in order to keep that business up where it is or potentially further grow it as it has gained significance within the consolidated ADM results?

我想跟進碳水化合物解決方案，因為顯然正如您所強調的那樣，該解決方案去年表現非常出色。與 2024 年的其他一些細分市場相比，即使是前景看起來仍然非常有希望。我想了解您在不同資產基礎中的位置，無論是乙醇方面，還是特別是澱粉和甜味劑 - 對於投資業務的需要。您的能力處於什麼水平？您需要將資金分配到哪些方面，才能使該業務保持在現有水平，或者隨著它在合併的 ADM 結果中變得越來越重要，可能會進一步發展該業務？

Yes, Ben I'm glad you're highlighting Carb Solutions. They had a spectacular year. They deserve recognition. And they've done a fantastic job of transforming their business into a very resilient and stable business. The assets, let me take it by pieces. The milling business, milling is an old business. So that has some old assets and over the last few years, we have been doing -- the team has been doing a terrific job of shutting down some assets and consolidating those in new facilities like Mendota that we launched last year, that is the best and the newest with milling plant in the world. So we are happy with the way they have done that, they continue to do so. So that business is in good shape. When we look at the wet mills, we continue to invest in part of the wet mill, unlikely that we're going to build a new wet mill, as you can understand, but business continues to be reinvested in, is a business that is a large business, has a large asset footprint. And at the moment, there is a lot of capital being associated with the path to decarbonize all these assets.

是的，本，我很高興你強調碳水化合物解決方案。他們度過了輝煌的一年。他們值得被認可。他們在將業務轉變為非常有彈性和穩定的業務方面做得非常出色。資產，讓我一塊一塊地拿走吧。銑削生意，銑削是一門古老的生意。因此，有一些舊資產，在過去的幾年裡，我們一直在做 - 該團隊一直在關閉一些資產並將其整合到我們去年推出的 Mendota 等新設施中，這是最好的工作以及世界上最新的銑床。因此，我們對他們所做的事情感到滿意，他們將繼續這樣做。因此，該業務狀況良好。當我們看濕磨機時，我們繼續投資部分濕磨機，我們不太可能建造一個新的濕磨機，正如你可以理解的，但業務繼續進行再投資，是一項業務企業規模大，資產規模大。目前，有大量資本與所有這些資產脫碳的路徑有關。

So as you heard, we have a lot of efforts in trying to get pipelines, to try to monetize some of our CO2 that come from the biogenic CO2 that comes from the ethanol plant. So -- and I would say we have expanded Marshall because Biosolutions is growing at north of 15% per year. So we needed capacity. So the Marshall expansion is about 50% expansion to the final starch capacity that we have there and that will help a lot with that. I would say the year is exciting as it is developing. It has solid margins. It has so far solid volumes. It had a little bit of a rough January because of the bad weather. We have ice in the plants and freezing weather and -- but February, March things look good. And we think that, that business has the opportunity to get some tailwinds from lower energy costs and maybe chemicals cost as the year go by and that's a big energy hog, that business. So that could be an advantage and a tailwind coming later in the year.

正如您所聽到的，我們付出了很多努力來嘗試獲得管道，試圖將來自乙醇工廠的生物二氧化碳的一些二氧化碳貨幣化。所以——我想說我們已經擴大了 Marshall 的規模，因為 Biosolutions 每年的成長率超過 15%。所以我們需要容量。因此，馬歇爾擴張大約是我們最終澱粉產能的 50% 擴張，這將有很大幫助。我想說這一年是令人興奮的，因為它正在發展。它有堅實的利潤。到目前為止，它的銷售量已經很穩定了。由於天氣惡劣，一月份的情況有些艱難。我們的植物裡有冰，天氣很冷——但是二月、三月的情況看起來不錯。我們認為，隨著時間的推移，該業務有機會從較低的能源成本和化學品成本中獲得一些順風車，這是一個巨大的能源消耗者，該業務。因此，這可能是今年稍後的優勢和推動力。

Our next question comes from Manav Gupta of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬納夫·古普塔。

I just had a quick question. When we look at the Carb recent proposals and then we look at the 45Z, it looks both at the federal level and at some state levels, there is a desire to lower the amount of renewable diesel being produced from vegetable oil, and I'm just trying to understand, do you see that as some kind of a headwind whereby eventually, the demand for soybean oil from the renewable diesel or biodiesel industry would actually decline versus what we are seeing? Or you think this is just passing and the demand eventually will rise again as we move along.

我只是有一個簡單的問題。當我們查看 Carb 最近的提案，然後查看 45Z 時，無論是在聯邦層面還是在某些州層面，都希望降低由植物油生產的可再生柴油的數量，我認為只是想了解一下，您是否認為這是某種逆風，最終可再生柴油或生質柴油產業對豆油的需求實際上會比我們所看到的下降？或者您認為這只是過去，隨著我們的前進，需求最終會再次上升。

Thank you, Manav, for the question. Listen, I think the path is clear for RGD, that RGD will need vegetable oils. When you think about how Europe is doing? Europe not having a (inaudible) that. Europe needs cooking oil, waste oils and they will capture that. The U.S. will have to be fed with soybean oil, canola oil, and we see that commitment to be firm over the years. All these capacity is being built, it cannot be filled with anything else. So we feel that is a strong trend ahead of us.

謝謝馬納夫提出的問題。聽著，我認為 RGD 的道路是明確的，RGD 將需要植物油。當你想到歐洲表現如何？歐洲沒有（聽不清楚）這一點。歐洲需要食用油、廢油，他們會抓住這些。美國將必須使用大豆油、菜籽油，我們看到這項承諾多年來一直是堅定的。所有這些能力都在建設中，無法用其他任何東西來填補。因此，我們認為這是我們面前的強勁趨勢。

Our next question comes from Salvator Tiano of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的薩爾瓦托·蒂亞諾。

I just want to go back to the 2025 target of $6 to $7 in EPS. I mean that is obviously double-digit EPS growth and understand buybacks play a role into that. But given the comments about controllables versus cyclicals, it seems really past your margin getting back there. Can you provide a little bit some of the key components and key buckets that you think will get you there in terms of each segment and specific numbers as detailed as possible?

我只想回到 2025 年 EPS 6 至 7 美元的目標。我的意思是，這顯然是兩位數的每股收益成長，並且了解回購在其中發揮了作用。但考慮到有關可控因素與週期性因素的評論，你似乎真的無法再回到那裡了。您能否提供一些您認為能夠幫助您實現目標的關鍵組件和關鍵部分，以及盡可能詳細的具體數字？

Yes, Salvator. A little bit of what I explained early on, on Alan's question. I think that we will see how the cycle plays in AS&O. As I said, I think that lower prices have this ability to incentivate demand. At this point in time, if you think about soybean meal demand, we are forecasting a very strong soybean meal demand, maybe higher than USDA levels, higher than GDP. When you think about Southeast Asian economy is recovering and with inflation moderating, purchasing power is improving, tourism is improving in all those areas. You have, at the moment, very high prices of beef that's favoring pork and chicken. You have protein -- protein margin for chicken being better at that. .

是的，薩爾瓦托。我早些時候就艾倫的問題解釋過一些內容。我想我們將會看到 AS&O 中的循環是如何進行的。正如我所說，我認為較低的價格有能力刺激需求。目前，如果考慮豆粕需求，我們預測豆粕需求將非常強勁，可能高於美國農業部的水平，高於 GDP。當你想到東南亞經濟正在復甦、通膨放緩、購買力正在提高、所有這些地區的旅遊業都在改善時。目前，牛肉價格非常高，有利於豬肉和雞肉。你有蛋白質——雞肉的蛋白質餘裕在這方面做得更好。 。

So we think that soybean meal will gain in the ration. So when we look at all that, we see the soy oil demand very strong in domestic consumption, but also for biofuels. And then we see the meal demand very strong. We think that this correction should be probably short term for crush and that should come back. Again, I cannot make a prediction on the timing of that, but we know how the cycle plays. So whether it's calendar year this or 6 months later or a quarter earlier, I mean, it's not for me to venture into those guesses. I think that Carb Solutions between the exceptional job they are doing and managing their mature businesses and the growth that they are getting through decarbonization and BioSolutions you will see that ahead of us.

因此我們認為豆粕的配給量將會上漲。因此，當我們審視這一切時，我們發現國內消費對豆油的需求非常強勁，生物燃料的需求也非常強勁。然後我們看到膳食需求非常強勁。我們認為，這種調整可能是短期的，並且應該會回來。同樣，我無法預測其發生的時間，但我們知道這個週期是如何進行的。因此，無論是今年還是 6 個月後或早一個季度，我的意思是，我不適合冒險進行這些猜測。我認為 Carb Solutions 所做的出色工作和管理其成熟業務以及他們透過脫碳和 BioSolutions 所取得的成長，您將在我們面前看到這一點。

Again, we just bring in the Marshall expansion. That's not something that it was in our forecast last year. So we're going to have it more in the next 3 quarters, if you will, of the year. Spiritwood, again, and some of the crush capacity we brought in Brazil. And then you see Nutrition that Nutrition was not a contributor, certainly a big contributor to growth in 2023, but we expect it to be back to growth in 2024 and 2025. So those are kind of the buckets, if you will, that I see at the moment.

再次強調，我們只是引進了馬歇爾展開式。這不是我們去年的預測。因此，如果您願意的話，我們將在今年接下來的三個季度推出更多產品。再一次，精神木，以及我們在巴西帶來的一些壓榨能力。然後你會看到營養，營養不是一個貢獻者，當然是2023 年增長的一個重要貢獻者，但我們預計它會在2024 年和2025 年恢復增長。所以，如果你願意的話，我認為這些都是桶。眼下。

Our next question comes from Steven Haynes of Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的史蒂文·海恩斯。

Maybe just to come back to Nutrition. I think in your prepared remarks, you talked about some portfolio refreshment going on there. And I was wondering if you could maybe size the scope of that. Are you thinking more kind of product line oriented here? Or is this kind of more at the business level where you might be looking to monetize something.

也許只是回到營養問題。我認為在您準備好的演講中，您談到了那裡正在進行的一些作品集更新。我想知道你是否可以確定其範圍。您是否正在考慮以更多類型的產品線為導向？或者這更多是在業務層面，你可能希望透過某些東西來貨幣化。

Yes, Stephen. Listen, let me give you my thinking on that and the way we approach these things. So we're always looking -- every time we do our 5-year plan, we take a look at those units that whether they are not returning -- given our return expectations today, we're not forecasting it to do it in the medium term. And those are the ones that we tend to take action. So we took action with a couple of joint ventures, as I mentioned. And then we look at every unit that is underperformed. What we do first is we try to bring them to performance.

是的，史蒂芬。聽著，讓我告訴你我對此的想法以及我們處理這些事情的方式。因此，我們一直在尋找 - 每次我們制定五年計劃時，我們都會查看那些單位是否不會返回 - 考慮到我們今天的回報預期，我們預計不會在未來幾年內實現這一目標中期。這些是我們傾向於採取行動的。因此，正如我所提到的，我們與幾家合資企業採取了行動。然後我們查看每一個表現不佳的單位。我們首先要做的就是嘗試讓它們發揮作用。

So we make sure that if there are some things that are self-inflicted, if you will, we correct those things. Once we correct those things and then we have visibility to what could happen over the next 2 or 3 years, then we decide as a part of portfolio, whether they belong in nutrition or they belong in another part of ADM or they belong outside ADM. So that's a regular process we've done. We've done it in the past with fertilizers in Latin America. We've done it in the past. We divested Bolivia, we divested cocoa and chocolate. So we've done this, and now we've done it with a couple of joint ventures.

因此，我們確保如果有一些事情是我們自己造成的，如果您願意的話，我們會糾正這些事情。一旦我們修正了這些問題，我們就可以了解未來 2 或 3 年可能發生的情況，然後我們決定作為投資組合的一部分，它們是屬於營養領域，還是屬於 ADM 的另一部分，或者屬於 ADM 之外。這是我們所做的常規流程。我們過去在拉丁美洲就曾用化肥做到這一點。我們過去已經做到了。我們剝離了玻利維亞，我們剝離了可可和巧克力。所以我們已經做到了這一點，現在我們已經與幾家合資企業一起做到了這一點。

We've done it -- also Ismael has done in his previous job as an animal nutrition leader with some of the lines in Animal Nutrition that we cut like 20 lines around the world. So sometimes, we have exited countries. So it's a regular process that at times, maybe when you have a stumble like we had in Nutrition, you look a little bit deeper because now all of a sudden you have more businesses at lower performance. So we really want to see is it worth investing in some of those. So we're in that process. So nothing to announce today, but we continue to look at that very deeply.

我們已經做到了——伊斯梅爾在他之前作為動物營養領導者的工作中也做到了這一點，我們在世界各地削減了大約 20 條動物營養生產線。所以有時，我們會離開一些國家。所以這是一個常規過程，有時，也許當你遇到像我們在營養領域那樣的挫折時，你會看得更深一點，因為現在突然間你有更多的業務但績效較低。所以我們真的想看看其中的一些是否值得投資。所以我們正在這個過程中。因此，今天沒有什麼可宣布的，但我們將繼續深入研究這個問題。

Just a couple of complementary comments because not only have we had some experience historically, as Juan correctly mentioned with coca and fertilizer. But certainly, the Animal Nutrition was a good precursor to some of the thinking that we have now in mind for the whole of our Nutrition business in the sense that usually when you acquire these businesses, they come with footprint allocations, labs, farms in our cases and warehouses that when you aggregate them, start aggregate them across a number of different acquisitions, you realize that they're overlaps. And what we noticed is that there was a significant opportunity in Animal Nutrition to significantly simplify the portfolio by reducing the number of labs, reducing the number of SKUs of plants.

只是一些補充評論，因為我們不僅有一些歷史經驗，正如胡安正確提到的古柯和肥料。但當然，動物營養是我們現在對整個營養業務的一些想法的一個很好的先驅，因為通常當你收購這些業務時，它們會在我們的足跡分配、實驗室、農場。案例和倉庫，當您聚合它們時，開始在許多不同的採購中聚合它們，您會意識到它們是重疊的。我們注意到，動物營養領域存在一個重大機會，可以透過減少實驗室數量、減少植物 SKU 數量來顯著簡化產品組合。

And we've seen those benefits they've been occurring since the second half of 2023. And I think some of that thinking as we have built this organization by a multiplicity of acquisitions lend itself now to a pause and reflection in light of the successes that we've had with this to apply it more broadly to all of the portfolio. So that's where our capital prudence is going to come in by focusing on ensuring that we improve our asset base while returning cash to our shareholders.

我們已經看到了自 2023 年下半年以來出現的這些好處。我認為，我們透過多次收購建立這個組織時的一些想法現在可以讓我們停下來，根據所取得的成功進行反思我們已經將其更廣泛地應用於所有投資組合。因此，這就是我們的資本審慎性的作用所在，重點是確保改善我們的資產基礎，同時向股東返還現金。

Our next question comes from Dushyant Ailani of Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Dushyant Ailani。

I just wanted to quickly talk about biodiesel margins and going forward your thoughts there -- just around the system, both in the U.S. and internationally, just how do we frame our thoughts around that and capacity as well?

我只是想快速談談生物柴油的利潤率並提出您的想法 - 圍繞系統，無論是在美國還是在國際上，我們如何圍繞該系統和產能來構建我們的想法？

Thank you Dushyant. Well, oil used for biofuel production is, as I said, is expected to grow in Brazil. We're going to go to B14. So there are many countries that are increasing their mandates, whether it's Indonesia and all that. When you look at the overall balances around the world, you see plantations in Southeast Asia getting older, the trees getting older, so maybe less production of palm oil. So you're going to see biodiesel mandates increasing around the world and less competitive pressure, if you will, for palm oil. So you're going to see the pressure on vegetable oil. So we think that, that will continue to be a strong leg of the crush. Biodiesel, in particular, biodiesel margins are better right now for us in Europe. They have moderated significantly in the U.S. and I will -- we expect them to be good, but not as good as they used to be in the U.S. So there will be a little bit of a headwind for us in 2024, but margins are better in Brazil and in Europe.

謝謝杜希揚特。正如我所說，巴西用於生物燃料生產的石油預計將成長。我們要去B14。因此，許多國家都在增加其授權，無論是印尼還是其他國家。當你觀察世界各地的整體平衡時，你會發現東南亞的種植園越來越老，樹木越來越老，因此棕櫚油的產量可能會減少。因此，您將看到世界各地對生質柴油的要求不斷增加，如果您願意的話，棕櫚油的競爭壓力也會減少。所以你會看到植物油面臨的壓力。所以我們認為，這將繼續成為美眉的一大優勢。生質柴油，尤其是生質柴油，目前我們在歐洲的利潤率更高。美國的情況已經顯著放緩，我會——我們預計它們會很好，但不會像以前在美國那麼好。因此，2024 年我們將面臨一些阻力，但利潤率會更好在巴西和歐洲。

With that, we have no further questions. So I'll hand back to the management team for any closing remarks.

至此，我們沒有其他問題了。因此，我將把任何結束語交還給管理團隊。

Thank you for joining us today. Please feel free to follow up with me if you have any other questions. Have a good day, and thanks for your time and interest in ADM.

感謝您今天加入我們。如果您還有其他問題，請隨時與我聯絡。祝您有美好的一天，感謝您的時間和對 ADM 的興趣。

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

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。