Alto Ingredients Inc (ALTO) 2006 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Pacific Ethanol year-end earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. For opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Gregory Pettit of Hill and Knowlton, Pacific Ethanol's Investor Relations representative. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加太平洋乙醇公司年終收益電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。關於開場白，我想將電話轉給 Hill and Knowlton 的 Gregory Pettit 先生，他是 Pacific Ethanol 的投資者關係代表。請繼續，先生。

Thank you. Good morning and thank you for joining us today for Pacific Ethanol's conference call discussing the Company's fourth quarter and full-year results. With me today are Neil Koehler, President and Chief Executive Officer, and John Miller, Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你。早上好，感謝您今天參加 Pacific Ethanol 電話會議，討論公司第四季度和全年業績。今天和我在一起的還有總裁兼首席執行官尼爾·科勒和首席運營官兼代理首席財務官約翰·米勒。

Before we highlight and discuss the Company's performance, I need to remind you that a large proportion of our discussion will involve forward-looking statements, including areas of future development, future financial performance, future financial strength and commodity markets. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including general market conditions, government regulations, demand for our product, technology used in our industry and general economic conditions that may cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied on this call.

在我們強調和討論公司業績之前，我需要提醒您，我們的大部分討論將涉及前瞻性陳述，包括未來發展領域、未來財務業績、未來財務實力和商品市場。這些前瞻性陳述受到許多風險和不確定因素的影響，包括一般市場條件、政府法規、對我們產品的需求、我們行業中使用的技術和一般經濟條件，可能導致實際結果與所述或暗示的結果存在重大差異在這個電話上。

We refer you to our press release issued after market yesterday, which contains a bit more detailed description of our forward-looking statements, which should be applied to the call we're about to have.

我們向您推薦我們昨天在市場後發布的新聞稿，其中包含對我們的前瞻性陳述的更詳細描述，這些陳述應適用於我們即將召開的電話會議。

Financial details included in the press release and discussed on this call are available on our website at www.PacificEthanol.net. This conference call is also being webcast and as such is open to the general public and the media. Webcast links and access to the accompanying visuals are also available on the Company's website. Beginning approximately one hour after the conclusion of this call, a replay of this call will be available through the Company's website for one week. The call in numbers and access codes are provided on the website and in the text of our earnings release.

新聞稿中包含並在本次電話會議中討論的財務細節可在我們的網站 www.PacificEthanol.net 上找到。本次電話會議也進行了網絡直播，因此向公眾和媒體開放。公司網站上還提供網絡廣播鏈接和對隨附視覺效果的訪問。在本次電話會議結束後大約一小時開始，將通過公司網站重播本次電話會議，為期一周。電話號碼和訪問代碼在網站上和我們的收益發布文本中提供。

We will start the call with some prepared remarks and end with a brief question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to Neil Koehler.

我們將以一些準備好的評論開始電話會議，並以簡短的問答環節結束。我現在想把電話轉給 Neil Koehler。

Thank you, Gregory, and good morning to all of you on the call and welcome to Pacific Ethanol's first investor conference call to discuss our fourth quarter and full-year 2006 financial results.

謝謝你，Gregory，大家早上好，歡迎參加 Pacific Ethanol 的第一次投資者電話會議，討論我們 2006 年第四季度和全年的財務業績。

We are very pleased to report record results for our Company. In the fourth quarter we posted record quarterly sales of over $80 million on sales volume of nearly 32 million gallons. For the fiscal year 2006, we posted record annual sales of over $226 million on sales volume of over 100 million gallons. Our gross profit margin for the quarter was nearly 15% and over 10% for the full year.

我們很高興為我們公司報告創紀錄的業績。在第四季度，我們公佈了創紀錄的季度銷售額超過 8000 萬美元，銷量接近 3200 萬加侖。在 2006 財年，我們公佈了創紀錄的年銷售額超過 2.26 億美元，銷量超過 1 億加侖。我們本季度的毛利率接近 15%，全年毛利率超過 10%。

Our adjusted EBITDA was $2.7 million in the fourth quarter and $5.4 million for fiscal year 2006. On a net income basis we had a near breakeven year, even when considering large non-cash and nonrecurring expenses. These results exceeded our own internal expectations.

第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 270 萬美元，2006 財年為 540 萬美元。即使考慮到大量非現金和非經常性開支，按淨收入計算，我們也接近收支平衡年。這些結果超出了我們自己的內部預期。

John will be providing more detail on these numbers, but before he does that, I'd like to highlight our major accomplishments of 2006.

John 將提供有關這些數字的更多詳細信息，但在他這樣做之前，我想強調一下我們在 2006 年取得的主要成就。

We successfully started up our first ethanol production facility in Madera, California. We commenced production in Madera in November and I am pleased to announce that this facility is now running at over the nameplate capacity of 35 million gallons per year.

我們在加利福尼亞州馬德拉成功啟動了我們的第一個乙醇生產設施。我們於 11 月在馬德拉開始生產，我很高興地宣布，該工廠現在的年產能已超過 3500 萬加侖。

In the middle of 2006, we broke ground on our second facility, a 35 million-gallon per year production plant in Boardman, Oregon. We are on-track to commence production at Boardman in the middle of this year.

2006 年年中，我們在俄勒岡州博德曼的第二個工廠破土動工，該工廠的年產量為 3500 萬加侖。我們有望在今年年中在 Boardman 開始生產。

We have now broken ground on our third facility, a 50 million-gallon per year plant in Burley, Idaho and we'll be breaking ground on two additional 50 million-gallon per year facilities in California over the next several weeks.

我們現在已經在愛達荷州伯利的第三個工廠破土動工，一個年產 5000 萬加侖的工廠，接下來幾週我們將在加利福尼亞州另外兩個年產 5000 萬加侖的工廠破土動工。

Our development and construction team has done a remarkable job at initiating these projects and keeping them on schedule in an environment where project delays and even project cancellations are now common.

我們的開發和建設團隊在啟動這些項目並在項目延遲甚至項目取消現在很普遍的環境中保持它們按計劃進行方面做得非常出色。

With these first five greenfield biorefineries, we are on track to achieve our previously stated goal of 220 million gallons of annual ethanol production by the middle of 2008. With our development pipeline of additional projects, we are also on track to achieve our previously stated goal of 420 million gallons of annual production by the end of 2010.

通過這五個新建的生物精煉廠，我們有望在 2008 年年中實現我們之前設定的每年 2.2 億加侖乙醇產量的目標。通過我們的其他項目的開發管道，我們也有望實現我們之前設定的目標到 2010 年底，年產量將達到 4.2 億加侖。

Also in 2006, we demonstrated our ability to move on the M&A front by acquiring a 42% interest in Front Range Energy, a 40 million gallons per year production facility in Windsor, Colorado. This plant operates consistently above nameplate capacity, is a very efficient and well-run operation and expands our production and marketing presence in the West.

同樣在 2006 年，我們通過收購位於科羅拉多州溫莎市的年產 4,000 萬加侖的生產設施 Front Range Energy 42% 的股權，展示了我們在併購方面前進的能力。該工廠的運營始終高於銘牌產能，是一個非常高效且運行良好的運營，並擴大了我們在西方的生產和營銷影響力。

We are achieving these objectives by building a very strong balance sheet. In 2006, we raised $222 million of equity and just this week closed on a $325 million debt facility.

我們通過建立一個非常強大的資產負債表來實現這些目標。 2006 年，我們籌集了 2.22 億美元的股權，而就在本週，我們完成了 3.25 億美元的債務融資。

Finally, I would like to identify the four competitive strengths that we believe differentiate us in the marketplace and position Pacific Ethanol for strong and profitable growth in 2007 and for many years to come.

最後，我想確定我們認為使我們在市場上脫穎而出的四大競爭優勢，並使太平洋乙醇公司在 2007 年和未來許多年實現強勁和盈利的增長。

The first would be a strong and growing market position in the Western United States. Through our marketing company, Kinergy and predecessor companies, we have been marketing ethanol in the West for over 20 years. We have established long-standing relationships with both ethanol suppliers and major and independent oil company customers that have allowed us to build this market position. We continue to expand our marketing infrastructure and customer base. We differentiate our company in the marketplace by providing full-service ethanol delivery that includes complete logistics management and inventory control.

首先是在美國西部的強大且不斷增長的市場地位。通過我們的營銷公司、Kinergy 和前身公司，我們在西方市場營銷乙醇已有 20 多年。我們與乙醇供應商以及主要和獨立的石油公司客戶建立了長期的關係，這使我們能夠建立這一市場地位。我們繼續擴大我們的營銷基礎設施和客戶群。我們通過提供包括完整物流管理和庫存控制在內的全方位乙醇交付服務，使我們的公司在市場上脫穎而出。

Our second competitive strength is our strategic production locations. We have very carefully chosen our production sites at the intersection of large markets for both the fuel and the feed that we produce. This destination production and marketing model generates significant transportation and energy cost savings that lead to a sustainable low-cost production advantage.

我們的第二個競爭優勢是我們的戰略生產地點。對於我們生產的燃料和飼料，我們在大型市場的交匯處非常謹慎地選擇了我們的生產地點。這種目的地生產和營銷模式可顯著節省運輸和能源成本，從而帶來可持續的低成本生產優勢。

Our third competitive strength is our experienced management team. We have assembled a dream team of professionals with many years of experience in all the important disciplines affecting our business, including construction, operation, finance, marketing, risk management and legal. A key business strategy of ours is to internalize all of this expertise on our team, rather than contract on the outside for these services.

我們的第三個競爭優勢是我們經驗豐富的管理團隊。我們組建了一支夢寐以求的專業團隊，他們在影響我們業務的所有重要領域擁有多年經驗，包括建築、運營、財務、營銷、風險管理和法律。我們的一項關鍵業務戰略是將我們團隊的所有這些專業知識內化，而不是外包這些服務。

Our fourth competitive strength is our focus on advanced technology. We employ state of the art design at our production facilities to achieve significant operational efficiencies. Our owner-construct model has afforded us the opportunity to utilize our internal expertise to modify off the shelf technology designs to improve our plant performance. We are exploring means to further drive down the cost of production and diversify into other raw materials and processes for ethanol production.

我們的第四個競爭優勢是我們對先進技術的關注。我們在生產設施中採用最先進的設計，以實現顯著的運營效率。我們的業主自建模式使我們有機會利用我們的內部專業知識來修改現成的技術設計，以提高我們的工廠性能。我們正在探索進一步降低生產成本的方法，並在乙醇生產的其他原材料和工藝方面實現多元化。

With that, I'd like to now turn it over to John to run through the financial and operating details of our fourth quarter and fiscal year results.

有了這個，我現在想把它交給約翰來介紹我們第四季度和財政年度業績的財務和運營細節。

Thank you, Neil. If you're following along with our slides, starting on the slide 1 summary this morning, I'd like to cover some of our financial highlights for the quarter and for the year, starting with the income statement and then the balance sheet.

謝謝你，尼爾。如果您正在關注我們的幻燈片，從今天早上的幻燈片 1 摘要開始，我想介紹一下我們本季度和年度的一些財務亮點，從損益表開始，然後是資產負債表。

Then I'd like to discuss briefly some of the non-operating and non-cash items that have impacted our results for the quarter and for the year. I will talk about our capital spending over the past year and our plans for the coming year. Then I would like to make a couple of comments from my COO perspective to talk about our operations and highlight some areas where we are performing well and some that need attention.

然後，我想簡要討論一些影響我們本季度和本年度業績的非經營性和非現金項目。我將談談我們過去一年的資本支出和來年的計劃。然後我想從我的首席運營官的角度發表一些評論，談談我們的運營，並強調我們表現良好的一些領域和一些需要關注的領域。

On slide 2, we have data from the income statement, which for 2006, continued to be dominated by our marketing operations. If you look first at the quarterly comparisons, the impact of our entry into ethanol production, even for less than the full quarter, had an immediate impact on our revenues, volumes and margins.

在幻燈片 2 中，我們有來自損益表的數據，2006 年，我們的營銷業務繼續佔據主導地位。如果您首先查看季度比較，我們進入乙醇生產的影響，即使不到整個季度，也對我們的收入、銷量和利潤率產生了直接影響。

Net sales for the fourth quarter were a record for the Company at over $80 million, 123% greater than our net sales for the same quarter in 2005. Of that $80 million, $25.9 million came from the sale of ethanol and co-products at Madera and our share of the Front Range results. Our ethanol sales volume rose over 65% to 31 million gallons. Gross margin for the quarter rose to 14.6% compared to 3.7% last year and total gross profit amounted to 11.7 million.

公司第四季度的淨銷售額達到創紀錄的 8000 萬美元以上，比 2005 年同一季度的淨銷售額高出 123%。在這 8000 萬美元中，2590 萬美元來自馬德拉的乙醇和副產品的銷售以及我們在 Front Range 結果中的份額。我們的乙醇銷量增長了 65% 以上，達到 3100 萬加侖。本季度毛利率從去年的 3.7% 上升至 14.6%，總毛利達到 1170 萬。

Due to an unusually high SG&A line and some non-cash compensation costs I will address in just a moment, the Company posted a net loss of $3.1 million and loss available to common stock holders of $4.1 million or $0.11 per common share.

由於異常高的 SG&A 線和一些我將在稍後解決的非現金補償成本，公司公佈淨虧損 310 萬美元，普通股持有人可獲得 410 萬美元或每股普通股 0.11 美元的損失。

For the year as a whole, net sales were $226.3 million, up over 158% from sales in 2005. Sales volumes for the Company were about 102 million gallons of ethanol, nearly double the volume of 2005. Net loss for the year was just below breakeven at $142,000 compared with a net loss in 2005 of $9.9 million. Net loss for the year included $6.2 million of non-cash compensation expenses.

全年淨銷售額為 2.263 億美元，比 2005 年的銷售額增長 158% 以上。公司的乙醇銷量約為 1.02 億加侖，幾乎是 2005 年的兩倍。當年的淨虧損略低於盈虧平衡點為 142,000 美元，而 2005 年的淨虧損為 990 萬美元。該年度的淨虧損包括 620 萬美元的非現金補償費用。

The Company posted a loss available to common stockholders of $87.1 million or $2.50 per share, of which $84 million represents the non-cash deemed dividend in respect of preferred stock acquired by Cascade in the second quarter of 2006.

公司公佈普通股股東可獲得的損失為 8710 萬美元或每股 2.50 美元，其中 8400 萬美元是 Cascade 在 2006 年第二季度收購的優先股的非現金視為股息。

Looking at slide 3, adjusted EBITDA for the year was $5.4 million of which $2.7 million was posted in the fourth quarter. This illustrates the positive impact ethanol production will have on our operating profitability going forward.

從幻燈片 3 來看，今年調整後的 EBITDA 為 540 萬美元，其中 270 萬美元是在第四季度公佈的。這說明乙醇生產將對我們未來的運營盈利能力產生積極影響。

Slide 4 shows our commodity price performance. During the quarter, the Company's average ethanol price increased year-over-year to $2.26 a gallon, 19.5% higher than the $1.89 per gallon we averaged in the fourth quarter of 2005.

幻燈片 4 顯示了我們的商品價格表現。本季度，公司的乙醇平均價格同比上漲至每加侖 2.26 美元，比 2005 年第四季度的平均每加侖 1.89 美元高出 19.5%。

Our average corn price, the delivered cost of corn for the time we were in production during Q4, was $2.95 per bushel. Our average basis was $0.51, which translates to a CBOT equivalent of $2.44 per bushel, which compares very favorably to an average CBOT market price during the period of $3.42.

我們的平均玉米價格，即我們在第四季度生產期間的玉米交付成本，為每蒲式耳 2.95 美元。我們的平均基差為 0.51 美元，相當於 CBOT 相當於每蒲式耳 2.44 美元，與 3.42 美元期間的平均 CBOT 市場價格相比非常有利。

Our co-product return was 33.4%. For the year, we achieved an average ethanol price of $2.28 per gallon, 36.5% higher than the average of $1.67 we got in 2005.

我們的聯產品回報率為 33.4%。這一年，我們實現了每加侖 2.28 美元的平均乙醇價格，比 2005 年的平均價格 1.67 美元高出 36.5%。

I mentioned our SG&A earlier. It grew to $24.6 million on the year, from $12.6 million in 2005. The growth is attributable to a number of factors, including a $6.2 million in non-cash compensation and a big effort to install business processes and our SOx compliance activities.

我之前提到了我們的SG&A。它從 2005 年的 1,260 萬美元增長到當年的 2,460 萬美元。增長歸因於多種因素，包括 620 萬美元的非現金補償以及安裝業務流程和我們的 SOx 合規活動的巨大努力。

Moving on to slide 6 and the balance sheet, it is obviously a lot stronger than it was at the end of 2005, with over $109 million in cash, restricted cash and marketable securities. Without summarizing our cash flow statement, which you will be able to study in a couple of days in our 10-K, this strong balance sheet comes after a year in which we made substantial investments in construction and startup at Madera and the ongoing construction at the Boardman plant and the investment made in Front Range.

繼續看幻燈片 6 和資產負債表，它顯然比 2005 年底要強大得多，擁有超過 1.09 億美元的現金、受限現金和有價證券。在沒有總結我們的現金流量表的情況下，您可以在幾天內在我們的 10-K 中研究該表，這份強勁的資產負債表是在我們對 Madera 的建設和啟動以及正在進行的建設進行了一年之後的一年。 Boardman 工廠和對 Front Range 的投資。

Our sources of funds included $82.5 million from Cascade and $138 million netted from our pipe offering. As many of you will have noted, we announced earlier this week that we concluded our previously announced secured credit agreement for $300 million for project construction and $25 million for working capital. This agreement replaces the $34 million debt deal we announced last spring. This new credit facility, along with the positive cash flow from our existing production, should satisfy all of our CapEx needs for the coming year.

我們的資金來源包括來自 Cascade 的 8250 萬美元和從我們的管道產品中淨賺的 1.38 億美元。正如你們中的許多人會注意到的那樣，我們本週早些時候宣布，我們完成了之前宣布的擔保信貸協議，項目建設資金為 3 億美元，營運資金為 2500 萬美元。該協議取代了我們去年春天宣布的 3400 萬美元的債務協議。這項新的信貸額度，以及我們現有生產的正現金流，應該可以滿足我們來年的所有資本支出需求。

In regard to the debt facility, I'd like to highlight an important aspect about it. The credit facility enables us to act as our own general contractors, which gives us greater design flexibility, a shorter time to market and lower cost for the plants that are under construction at Boardman and Burley and also for the two yet to be announced California plants. We believe this arrangement is an important element in our drive to be the low-cost producer.

關於債務工具，我想強調一個重要方面。信貸額度使我們能夠充當我們自己的總承包商，這為我們在 Boardman 和 Burley 正在建設的工廠以及尚未宣布的加利福尼亞工廠提供了更大的設計靈活性、更短的上市時間和更低的成本.我們相信這種安排是我們成為低成本生產商的重要因素。

Addressing some of our operating activities, I'd like to start by mentioning an area where we've got some shortcomings. You will recall that Neil had some strong words at the time of our third quarter announcement, that our financial and accounting capabilities has not kept pace with the growth of the rest of the Company and that this situation was unacceptable and would be made a top priority of Management.

談到我們的一些經營活動，我想首先提到我們存在一些不足的領域。您會記得，尼爾在我們第三季度發佈公告時曾說過一些強硬的話，我們的財務和會計能力沒有跟上公司其他部門的增長，這種情況是不可接受的，將被列為重中之重的管理。

We have made good progress on some of the material weaknesses mentioned in our last 10-Q. While we still have some material weaknesses that will be outlined in our 10-K, we have made considerable progress in organizing and directing our resources and completing the installation of processes needed to make us not only SOx compliant, but most importantly, to preserve our low-cost profile. We have invested a good bit of time and resources on the effort and it remains ongoing. But our progress is evident in that we are reporting our financial results in a timely fashion today for both the quarter and the year.

我們在上一個 10-Q 中提到的一些重大缺陷方面取得了良好進展。雖然我們仍然存在一些將在 10-K 中概述的重大弱點，但我們在組織和指導我們的資源以及完成所需的流程安裝方面取得了相當大的進展，這些流程不僅使我們符合 SOx 合規，而且最重要的是，保護我們的低成本配置文件。我們在這項工作上投入了大量時間和資源，並且仍在繼續。但我們的進步顯而易見，因為我們今天及時報告了季度和年度的財務業績。

In addition, the Board, the Audit Committee and the Management team have been working to identify candidates for several key positions, including that of the CFO. We are confident we have narrowed a list of several highly qualified candidates for the CFO post and after the current earnings season we expect to be able to hire and announce the person who will occupy this chair at the next conference call.

此外，董事會、審計委員會和管理團隊一直在努力物色幾個關鍵職位的候選人，包括首席財務官的職位。我們相信，我們已經縮小了 CFO 職位的幾位高素質候選人名單，在當前的財報季過後，我們希望能夠在下一次電話會議上聘用並宣布擔任該職位的人選。

We would also expect to have several other key positions filled by that time to ensure during the coming year that our financial reporting and controls are operating at the same excellent level as the rest of the Company.

我們還預計屆時將填補其他幾個關鍵職位，以確保在來年我們的財務報告和控制在與公司其他部門同樣出色的水平上運作。

As for other areas of operation, we continue our efforts to promote greater acceptance and demand for ethanol in our target markets in the West. We have expanded our public affairs and lobbying activities and have developed working and conversant relationships with State governments across the Western US. Our marketing operations continue to perform very well, as evidenced by our results last year. To achieve those results, we made good progress in growing our customer base and expanded in to two new states.

至於其他經營領域，我們將繼續努力提高西方目標市場對乙醇的接受度和需求。我們擴大了公共事務和遊說活動，並與美國西部的州政府建立了工作和熟悉的關係。正如我們去年的業績所證明的那樣，我們的營銷業務繼續表現良好。為了取得這些成果，我們在擴大客戶群方面取得了良好進展，並將業務擴展到了兩個新州。

In the area of co-products, we successfully built an organization to market WCG from the Front Range facility. Our risk management programs are run by professionals who have continued to show great talent and expertise during theses volatile times. We can say we have a very active hedging and risk management program and policy. However, we regard the details of our risk management activities as proprietary and so we will not discuss any of those details now or in the future.

在聯產品領域，我們成功地建立了一個從 Front Range 工廠推銷 WCG 的組織。我們的風險管理計劃由專業人士負責，他們在這些動盪時期繼續展現出卓越的才能和專業知識。我們可以說我們有一個非常積極的對沖和風險管理計劃和政策。但是，我們將風險管理活動的細節視為專有信息，因此我們現在或將來不會討論任何這些細節。

Our development team is working on an exciting pipeline of projects and opportunities with the strategic criteria of looking for greenfield sites and production assets where we can sustain a long-term economic and competitive advantage consistent with our destination models.

我們的開發團隊正在開發一系列令人興奮的項目和機會，其戰略標準是尋找綠地和生產資產，我們可以在這些地方保持與我們的目的地模式一致的長期經濟和競爭優勢。

Our construction activities remain on schedule and on budget. If you look at our last slides, you can see some pictures, also available on our website, which show our completed Madera plant, our Boardman, Oregon plant, currently under construction, and the groundbreaking ceremony that took place in early February for our Burley, Idaho plant.

我們的建設活動按計劃進行並按預算進行。如果您查看我們最後的幻燈片，您可以看到一些圖片，這些圖片也可以在我們的網站上找到，這些圖片展示了我們已完工的馬德拉工廠、目前正在建設中的俄勒岡州博德曼工廠，以及 2 月初為我們的白肋煙舉行的奠基儀式，愛達荷工廠。

We are pleased with the startup and current operations at our Madera plant, which made first ethanol on November 1st of last year. In this month we expect to test successfully at a run rate of 40 million gallons a year, 14% above its nameplate capacity.

我們對馬德拉工廠的啟動和當前運營感到滿意，該工廠於去年 11 月 1 日生產了第一批乙醇。在本月，我們預計將以每年 4000 萬加侖的運行速度成功進行測試，比其銘牌容量高出 14%。

On that note, I'll turn the call back to Neil before we start taking questions.

關於這一點，在我們開始提問之前，我會將電話轉回給 Neil。

Thank you, John. I'd like to conclude our prepared remarks by saying that we're very pleased with our progress launching this Company over the last two years. We're excited about the growth opportunities ahead of us and are very committed to building growing and lasting shareholder values.

謝謝你，約翰。我想結束我們準備好的評論，說我們對過去兩年推出這家公司的進展感到非常高興。我們對擺在我們面前的增長機會感到興奮，並非常致力於建立不斷增長和持久的股東價值。

With that, I'd like to turn it over to the operator to open the line for questions.

有了這個，我想把它交給接線員來打開問題線。

[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Mike Judd of Greenwich Consultants.

[操作員說明] Greenwich Consultants 的 Mike Judd。

A few questions here. Why don't we start off with something simple. The tax rate's been running around 0% here. What is your outlook for '07, in terms of what sort of tax rate we should be using, excluding special items?

這裡有幾個問題。我們為什麼不從簡單的事情開始。這裡的稅率一直在 0% 左右。您對 07 年的展望是什麼，我們應該使用什麼樣的稅率，不包括特殊項目？

We have a number of net operating losses that are coming forward. We have not completed our tax planning for the next year or two. We are in the process of doing that right now. But we expect that those net operating losses will continue to protect our income at this point.

我們有一些即將出現的淨經營虧損。我們還沒有完成未來一兩年的稅收籌劃。我們現在正在這樣做。但我們預計，此時這些淨經營虧損將繼續保護我們的收入。

Right, but I'm just talking about from a reported EPS perspective. I understand with the NOLs you probably don't pay any cash taxes, but in terms of the clean numbers that would end up on First Call and Thompson, excluding special items, is there a tax rate that we should be using?

是的，但我只是從報告的每股收益的角度談論。我了解 NOL 您可能不支付任何現金稅，但就 First Call 和 Thompson 最終得到的干淨數字而言，不包括特殊物品，是否有我們應該使用的稅率？

For 2007 it would be 0.

對於 2007 年，它將是 0。

Okay. And could you provide a little bit more detail about the increase in the SG&A? You said there was an additional $6.2 million that was included in 2006, right? And can you help us understand what would be an ongoing run rate on a quarterly basis for SG&A, maybe the next quarter or two? I realize that you're in the process of building out your strategic plans.

好的。您能否提供更多關於 SG&A 增加的細節？您說 2006 年還額外增加了 620 萬美元，對嗎？您能否幫助我們了解 SG&A（可能是下一季度或兩個季度）的季度持續運行率是多少？我意識到你正在製定你的戰略計劃。

The $6.2 in 2006 was a one-time event, designed to attract and motivate and retain a key group of employees. Going forward, we expect that the overall compensation plan for base, short-term and long-term incentive will meet the market standards. So I think you can look at what the typical kinds of costs are and we will be at those numbers.

2006 年的 6.2 美元是一次性活動，旨在吸引、激勵和留住關鍵員工群體。展望未來，我們預計基礎、短期和長期激勵的整體薪酬計劃將符合市場標準。因此，我認為您可以查看典型的成本類型，我們將採用這些數字。

Okay, but just to dig into that a little bit more, do you have a target in terms of SG&A as a percentage of revenues? For instance, if we even look at the December quarter, $11.3 million in SG&A, is that sort of the right run rate going forward?

好的，但只是再深入一點，您是否有一個目標，即 SG&A 佔收入的百分比？例如，如果我們看一下 12 月季度的 1130 萬美元的 SG&A，那麼未來的運行率是否合適？

I would say that we feel that we have developed an organization here and built a Company that is really geared up to be $1 billion or higher. So, our expectation is that if you look at our annualized SG&A that it should be no higher in '07. In fact, we think it's possible that we could even reduce that to some degree.

我想說的是，我們覺得我們在這裡發展了一個組織並建立了一家真正準備達到 10 億美元或更高的公司。因此，我們的預期是，如果您查看我們的年度 SG&A，它在 07 年應該不會更高。事實上，我們認為我們甚至可以在一定程度上減少這種情況。

Annualized SG&A, meaning that the absolute number for SG&A should be the same?

年度化 SG&A，意味著 SG&A 的絕對數量應該相同？

Correct. That is our current objective.

正確的。這是我們目前的目標。

Okay. And then just a little bit more on the fundamentals side, could you talk about some of the hedges that you have in place, please?

好的。然後在基本面方面再談一點，你能談談你已經到位的一些對沖嗎？

As John mentioned, we consider our corn position to be proprietary. I think if you look at it on a go-forward basis. But we take risk management extremely seriously. We have a risk management team that meets literally on a daily basis, with regular meetings on a weekly basis. We have policies that have been set in place, approved by the Board, that regulate our activities around our commodity exposure. And I think that if you look at the performance in the fourth quarter, you can see that we've done a very good job of managing our commodity risk and we'll continue to do so on a go-forward basis.

正如約翰所說，我們認為我們的玉米頭寸是專有的。我認為，如果您在前進的基礎上看待它。但我們非常重視風險管理。我們有一個風險管理團隊，每天開會，每周定期開會。我們制定了經董事會批准的政策，以規範我們圍繞商品風險敞口的活動。而且我認為，如果您查看第四季度的表現，您會發現我們在管理商品風險方面做得非常好，我們將繼續這樣做。

Okay. So, unlike perhaps some of the other players in the industry, VeraSun and Aventine, which has actually been quite open with the investment community in terms of what they're doing, your position is that you would just prefer not to share that information?

好的。因此，與行業中的其他一些參與者，VeraSun 和 Aventine 不同，它們實際上對投資界在他們所做的事情方面非常開放，你的立場是你寧願不分享這些信息？

That is correct. We take more the view that ADM did in their business strategy and conference calls, that we consider that to be very proprietary.

那是對的。我們更多地採納了 ADM 在其業務戰略和電話會議中所做的觀點，我們認為這是非常專有的。

Ian Horowitz of Soleil Securities.

太陽證券的伊恩霍洛維茨。

Can you give me a little bit of gallons breakdown between Madera and the Front Range? Even if you just give me what Front Range was running at and I can back into it.

你能告訴我馬德拉和前線之間的加侖數嗎？即使你只給我 Front Range 的運行情況，我也可以回到它。

The nameplate capacities on these are well known and we're not breaking out any of the information by unit. As you know, we have a number of plants coming on line. We look at this on a pool basis and we're not reporting individual results.

這些銘牌上的容量是眾所周知的，我們不會按單元分解任何信息。如您所知，我們有許多工廠即將上線。我們在池的基礎上查看這一點，我們不報告個別結果。

I guess all I'm trying to do is figure out how the pool moves versus how you move from the equity [specialties], the breakdown between the two.

我想我要做的就是弄清楚池如何移動與你如何從權益 [專業] 移動，兩者之間的細分。

You have the total gallons that were sold and Front Range did run at above 40 million gallons per year rate and as we did say, that the Madera plant is now operating above nameplate as well. There was some ramp into the end of the year, but for the full month of December it actually ran at nameplate.

您擁有已售出的總加侖數，Front Range 確實以每年超過 4000 萬加侖的速度運行，正如我們所說，馬德拉工廠現在也在銘牌之上運行。到年底有一些斜坡，但在 12 月的整個月裡，它實際上是在銘牌上運行的。

And so, can I say that the pool was flat sequentially in terms of volumes?

那麼，我可以說池在數量方面是持平的嗎？

Yes, that would be a fair statement.

是的，這將是一個公平的聲明。

Okay. So then I can just back into that number. The other thing, can you talk a little bit, Neil, about co-products and are you going to give a tonnage sold or an average selling price for your co-products?

好的。所以我可以回到那個數字。另一件事，尼爾，你能談談副產品嗎？你打算給出你的副產品的銷售噸位還是平均售價？

We've disclosed what our return was, which was pretty standard industry on the 33% on a net corn basis and we think that's pretty good for coming into the market with a new product. We think there's opportunity to improve upon that.

我們已經披露了我們的回報是多少，在淨玉米基礎上 33% 是相當標準的行業，我們認為這對於帶著新產品進入市場非常有利。我們認為有機會對此進行改進。

As you know, it's a key part of our strategy, the local distribution of wet distiller's grain, which we think is a very premium product from a protein standpoint and fed to premium users of the product, the dairy sheds that we operate in. So it's a very very important part of our strategy and we have a team that is well equipped to make sure that we're extracting the highest value possible in that market.

如您所知，這是我們戰略的關鍵部分，濕酒糟在當地的分銷，從蛋白質的角度來看，我們認為這是一種非常優質的產品，並提供給該產品的優質用戶，即我們經營的奶牛棚。所以這是我們戰略中非常非常重要的一部分，我們擁有一支裝備精良的團隊，可以確保我們在該市場上獲得盡可能高的價值。

Neil, I've been asking this to everyone and would love to hear your opinion. We saw, in the fourth quarter, a little bit of a price disconnect between the corn and the co-products, primarily on the dry side. First quarter we've seen a rebound in that.

尼爾，我一直在問每個人，很想听聽你的意見。我們看到，在第四季度，玉米和副產品之間的價格有點脫節，主要是在乾燥方面。第一季度我們看到了反彈。

When you look out from a macro level--and you've always been pretty good at doing this macro stuff--when you look out and see the amount of this national capacity coming on line and the amount of cold products, when you look out at the corn price, do you see the correlations continuing to de-link or do you think that that marries back up as corn comes back into some sort of normalized pricing level?

當你從宏觀層面看——而且你一直很擅長做這個宏觀的事情——當你看這個國家產能的數量和冷產品的數量時，當你看從玉米價格來看，您是否看到相關性繼續脫鉤，或者您認為隨著玉米價格回到某種標準化定價水平，這種相關性又會重新出現？

I think it's a very good question. I would say actually that the two have remained fairly well linked, that just as in the ethanol market where you have a product tied to the price of gasoline and you see some volatility around that, but that has remained relatively steady. I think the same is true with distiller's grain related corn. So we have seen what has in the last two years been a doubling of ethanol volumes, yet we still see very strong distiller's grain pricing.

我認為這是一個非常好的問題。實際上，我想說的是，兩者之間的聯繫相當好，就像在乙醇市場中，你的產品與汽油價格掛鉤，你會看到一些波動，但一直保持相對穩定。我認為與酒糟相關的玉米也是如此。因此，我們看到過去兩年乙醇產量翻了一番，但我們仍然看到酒糟價格非常強勁。

We've heard it discussed by many that there's opportunity to use distiller's grain. It's underutilized, frankly, even in the dairy industry, where it has a very high value application. We're also seeing additional opportunities in swine and poultry. The export market is very underdeveloped.

我們聽到很多人討論過有機會使用酒糟。坦率地說，即使在乳製品行業，它也沒有得到充分利用，因為它具有非常高的應用價值。我們還在豬和家禽領域看到了更多的機會。出口市場非常不發達。

At a certain point, if distiller's grain were to be depressed, these markets have a way of working things out. There's a minimum energy value distiller's grain has. We saw when there was a disconnect last year at one point, that some distiller's grain was even being used as a source of fuel. We're working out ways to add value, to extract some additional products, such as the corn oil, from the distiller's grain, as well as use the wet distiller's grain as the carrier for other feed commodities.

在某個時候，如果酒糟低迷，這些市場有辦法解決問題。酒糟有一個最低能量值。我們看到去年曾一度斷線，一些酒糟甚至被用作燃料來源。我們正在想辦法增加價值，從酒糟中提取一些額外的產品，例如玉米油，以及使用濕酒糟作為其他飼料商品的載體。

So, we're very active in our own business to manage that risk, because it is a risk. And we feel confident that will continue to be a very valuable part of our product mix.

因此，我們在自己的業務中非常積極地管理這種風險，因為這是一種風險。我們相信這將繼續成為我們產品組合中非常有價值的一部分。

Can I read that by saying your first quarter correlations are kind of becoming a little bit more normalized?

我可以通過說您的第一季度相關性變得更加規範化來閱讀嗎？

Well, Ian, I think they were quite normal in the fourth quarter.

好吧，伊恩，我認為他們在第四節很正常。

Okay, so the 30% range is a good number for the wet to corn?

好的，所以 30% 的範圍對於濕玉米來說是一個很好的數字嗎？

Our assumption has always been that on a dry matter basis, the wet distiller's grain would sell at least at parity. We do think over time there's an opportunity to enhance that value. But that's our operating assumption, is that wet distiller's grain maintains the same value, relative to corn in the dried distiller's grain and that 30-35% is pretty typical in the industry.

我們的假設一直是，在乾物質的基礎上，濕酒糟至少會以平價出售。我們確實認為隨著時間的推移有機會提高這種價值。但這是我們的操作假設，濕酒糟相對於乾酒糟中的玉米保持相同的價值，並且 30-35% 在行業中非常典型。

Okay. Neil, can you just talk a little bit about the environment in California? There's been a lot of talk between the Governor and the Governor's Coalition and the [carb] predictive model, questions that are out right now. I don't think the predictive model situation has been settled, has it?

好的。尼爾，你能談談加利福尼亞的環境嗎？州長和州長聯盟以及 [carb] 預測模型之間進行了很多討論，這些問題現在已經出現。我不認為預測模型的情況已經解決了，是嗎？

No, it has not, but it's a very active process with all the stakeholders. And what I would say is that in all the years I've been in this business, we have built the largest single market for ethanol in the world here in California, in spite of State government.

不，它沒有，但這是一個所有利益相關者都非常積極的過程。我想說的是，在我從事這項業務的這些年裡，我們在加利福尼亞建立了世界上最大的乙醇單一市場，儘管有州政府。

And what we have now is a State government with the leadership of Governor Schwarzenegger, that is extremely positive and proactive in trying to increase the amount of ethanol that is used. There are some very aggressive policies related to CO2, related to economic development, related to petroleum independence, that have really coalesced with a series of policy moves, both at the Governor level, at the regulatory level and at the legislative level.

我們現在擁有的是一個由施瓦辛格州長領導的州政府，它在嘗試增加乙醇的使用量方面非常積極和主動。有一些與二氧化碳有關的非常激進的政策，與經濟發展有關，與石油獨立有關，這些政策確實與州長層面、監管層面和立法層面的一系列政策舉措結合在一起。

And it is our expectation that that will result in this 1 billion-gallon per year market migrating to a 1.7 to 2 billion. In fact, the Governor himself has talked about over the next 5 to 10 years that the market for renewable fuels in the State of California should be between 3 and 4 billion gallons.

我們預計，這將導致這個每年 10 億加侖的市場遷移到 1.7 到 20 億加侖。事實上，州長本人曾在未來 5 到 10 年談到，加利福尼亞州的可再生燃料市場應該在 3 到 40 億加侖之間。

But as it relates to the next 12 to 18 months, we do expect that possibly as early as the end of this year, that we will see a migration from the current 6% blends in California, to 10% blends.

但由於它與未來 12 到 18 個月有關，我們確實預計最早可能在今年年底，我們將看到加州目前的 6% 混合物向 10% 的混合物遷移。

And one last question and then I'll get back in queue. We've seen some states that albeit are at much higher development rates, kind of start backing off in terms of permitting new construction. How is the municipal and local appetite for California development right now?

最後一個問題，然後我會回到隊列中。我們已經看到一些州雖然發展速度要高得多，但在允許新建築方面開始退縮。目前，市政和地方對加州發展的興趣如何？

I'd say it's very positive. If you look at where we build these plants in California and other states--we're doing it in rural regions that are desperate for economic development. Our plants have a very small footprint in terms of their overall environmental impacts. We've gone to great lengths to minimize energy inputs, minimize water inputs and be a good local citizen in these communities that we are serving.

我會說這是非常積極的。如果你看看我們在加利福尼亞和其他州建造這些工廠的地方——我們是在迫切需要經濟發展的農村地區建造的。就整體環境影響而言，我們的工廠佔地面積非常小。我們竭盡全力減少能源投入，減少水資源投入，並在我們服務的這些社區中成為一名優秀的當地公民。

So many thought you couldn't permit plants in California, we obviously have shown that you can. We're uniquely qualified to continue to bring these plants into operation out here in California and other Western states. The local climate, we think is very positive.

很多人認為你不能在加利福尼亞種植植物，我們顯然已經證明你可以。我們有獨特的資格繼續讓這些工廠在加利福尼亞和其他西部各州投入運營。我們認為當地的氣候非常積極。

To your point on some of the other locales and backing off, I think there is an overall rationalization in the growth of this industry to make sure that the rate of construction and growth of this industry is moderated in such a way that we can make sure to maintain reasonable supply/demand balances.

就您對其他一些地區的觀點而言，我認為該行業的增長總體上合理化，以確保該行業的建設和增長速度以我們可以確保的方式放緩維持合理的供需平衡。

Okay. How's the buy versus bill going in your mind? You did the Front Range transaction. Are you seeing opportunities still out there in terms of a purchase [that you feel]?

好的。在您的腦海中，購買與賬單的關係如何？您進行了 Front Range 交易。在購買方面，您是否看到了[您認為的]機會？

We're seeing opportunities. We did move on the Front Range. We're always open to opportunities. It has certainly been that our first round of emphasis has been on building. By definition, if you look at where we're building plants, it's where there really are no plants.

我們看到了機會。我們確實在前線範圍內移動。我們總是對機會持開放態度。毫無疑問，我們的第一輪重點是建設。根據定義，如果你看看我們在哪裡建造植物，那是真的沒有植物的地方。

So the acquisition opportunities in our core markets are relatively limited, but as we expand our scope and look at other areas and other opportunities where we can sustain a low-cost advantage, certainly the opportunity acquires something that we are looking at.

因此，我們核心市場的收購機會相對有限，但隨著我們擴大範圍並尋找其他領域和其他可以保持低成本優勢的機會，這個機會肯定會獲得我們正在尋找的東西。

Eitan Bernstein of Friedman, Billings & Ramsey.

弗里德曼、比林斯和拉姆齊的 Eitan Bernstein。

Congratulations on this first conference call. Neil, I understand your position on corn price hedges, but can you provide us with any general directional commentary on either ethanol price realizations or corn price costs for the next quarter or two?

祝賀第一次電話會議。尼爾，我了解您對玉米價格對沖的立場，但您能否就下一季度或兩個季度的乙醇價格實現或玉米價格成本向我們提供任何一般性的方向性評論？

I really can't at this time. We're taking the position, Eitan, that that is proprietary, but again, I can point to the fact that you look at our fourth quarter performance, I think we stack up very nicely in terms of relative to the market price for corn. We've always taken a view that it's important to hedge our positions on both the ethanol sales side and the corn side and that continues.

這個時候我真的做不到。 Eitan，我們正在採取專有的立場，但我可以再次指出一個事實，即您查看我們第四季度的表現，我認為我們相對於玉米的市場價格而言非常好。我們一直認為，對沖我們在乙醇銷售方面和玉米方面的頭寸很重要，而且這種情況仍在繼續。

Okay. One clarifying question on the SG&A. So we should expect all-in SG&A for '07 to be comparable to '06, or should we net out some of that $6.2 million incremental?

好的。關於 SG&A 的一個澄清問題。因此，我們應該期望 07 年的 SG&A 與 06 年的總金額相當，還是應該從 620 萬美元的增量中扣除一些？

I think with the growth that we're expecting this year, that using the same number is probably going to be in the right ballpark.

我認為隨著我們今年預期的增長，使用相同的數字可能會在正確的範圍內。

Okay, great. The Cascade convertible preferreds, I think they're not in the current diluted share count. Should we expect them to be for first quarter of '07?

好，太棒了。 Cascade 可轉換優先股，我認為它們不在當前的稀釋股數中。我們是否應該期望它們出現在 07 年第一季度？

They would be out of that. So no, they would not be included.

他們不會那樣做的。所以不，他們不會被包括在內。

Okay. Any guidance on why they wouldn't or when they might be included in that share count?

好的。關於他們為什麼不這樣做或何時可能包含在該份額計數中的任何指導？

Hang on just one second and we'll get an answer to that. They are antidilutive, so they would not be included.

稍等片刻，我們就會得到答案。它們具有抗稀釋性，因此不包括在內。

But for 2007, assuming profitability, would those incremental shares come in?

但對於 2007 年，假設盈利，這些增量份額會進來嗎？

It's possible, Eitan, but at this point, Cascade has a very long view of their investment, and so it really hasn't even been addressed as an issue in terms of what that impact might be.

有可能，Eitan，但在這一點上，Cascade 對他們的投資有著非常長遠的看法，因此就其影響可能產生的影響而言，它甚至還沒有被作為一個問題來解決。

Okay. And one last question, if I could. The Dutch financing facility, are there going to be associated costs as far as administrative and agency costs with that and would they be capitalized or expensed?

好的。最後一個問題，如果可以的話。荷蘭的融資機制，是否會產生行政和代理成本等相關成本，它們會被資本化還是費用化？

There will be. Some will be capitalized as part of the cost of the plant.

將有。有些將作為工廠成本的一部分資本化。

Mark Manley of Ardour Capital.

Ardor Capital 的馬克·曼利。

I think you've broken out specific revenues in the past. Might you be doing that?

我認為你過去已經列出了具體的收入。你可能會這樣做嗎？

I'm not aware that we did, but we certainly have no plans to do it in the future.

我不知道我們這樣做了，但我們當然沒有計劃在未來這樣做。

And maybe just some more general comments. Neil, I think in the past I think you might have mentioned that your view on corn prices is that in order to support the demand, but that prices do need to be in the--couldn't say at what price, but fairly high. Any thoughts on, is that still true? To get farmers to grow corn, do we still need high prices?

也許只是一些更一般的評論。尼爾，我想過去我想你可能提到過你對玉米價格的看法是，為了支持需求，但價格確實需要在--不能說是什麼價格，但相當高.任何想法，這仍然是真的嗎？為了讓農民種玉米，我們還需要高價嗎？

Clearly, until we see the planning intentions and the report at the end of March out of USCA, I will note that I think we're already seeing that response. We've seen estimates that were starting out in the 6 to 7 million-acre range of new corn acres. We're now hearing estimates that are drifting closer to the 10 and even higher. In fact, USCA this morning came out with a new number, where they're projecting 9 million. That's up from their own number of 7.5 acres just a few weeks back.

顯然，在我們看到 USCA 的計劃意圖和 3 月底的報告之前，我會注意到我認為我們已經看到了這種反應。我們已經看到了從 6 到 7 百萬英畝的新玉米種植面積開始的估計。我們現在聽到的估計值越來越接近 10 甚至更高。事實上，USCA 今天早上公佈了一個新數字，他們預計 900 萬。這比幾週前他們自己的 7.5 英畝還要多。

So, I think we are seeing exactly what we have expected to see and what markets do is for price signals to send that very strong indication to farmers that this is product that they should be growing. And so, if you look at all of the demand figures, and it's not just ethanol, it's feed, it's export. I mean, we do have a very strong demand for corn, both here domestically and internationally. We're not of the view that corn is necessarily going to drop right back down to $2.00 a bushel. We have built a business and have a focus on low-cost production so that we can make sure that we're able to absorb higher prices.

因此，我認為我們看到的正是我們所期望看到的，而市場所做的就是讓價格信號向農民發出非常強烈的信號，表明這是他們應該種植的產品。因此，如果您查看所有需求數據，不僅是乙醇，還有飼料，還有出口。我的意思是，無論是在國內還是在國際上，我們對玉米的需求確實非常強勁。我們不認為玉米必然會回落至每蒲式耳 2.00 美元。我們已經建立了一個業務並專注於低成本生產，這樣我們就可以確保我們能夠吸收更高的價格。

I would also point out the fact that one of the promises of the whole ethanol industry is that we could raise the price of corn to the farmer, so it's not all bad that we're putting more income into the pockets of the American farmer and that we're actually saving the federal government money in dollars that they're not paying out as direct payments to farmers.

我還要指出一個事實，整個乙醇行業的承諾之一是我們可以提高農民的玉米價格，所以我們將更多的收入放入美國農民的口袋裡，這並不是一件壞事。我們實際上是在以美元的形式為聯邦政府節省了他們沒有直接支付給農民的錢。

So you disagree with some of your competitors [thinking the price may go down]--?

所以你不同意你的一些競爭對手[認為價格可能會下降]--？

I do believe that if you look at the technicals, it's reasonable to argue that we possibly have peaked and that we should see some moderation on price, but I think that until we really see what those acres are that have been planted and we get past the concerns about weather, that this is a very volatile situation.

我確實相信，如果你看一下技術面，有理由認為我們可能已經見頂，我們應該看到價格有所放緩，但我認為，直到我們真正看到已經種植了多少英畝並且我們過去了對天氣的擔憂，認為這是一個非常不穩定的情況。

I think there is more upside. I think there certainly is downside. Once we see that that 10-11 million acres, if that really is the number, we would expect that corn prices would moderate.

我認為還有更多的好處。我認為肯定有缺點。一旦我們看到 10-11 百萬英畝，如果這真的是這個數字，我們預計玉米價格將會放緩。

Great. Just a little more clarity on how you guys look at Front Range. Are Front Range sales reflected in your net sales since Kinergy markets their ethanol?

偉大的。讓你們更清楚地了解你們如何看待 Front Range。自 Kinergy 銷售乙醇以來，Front Range 銷售額是否反映在您的淨銷售額中？

Yes, it is. We consolidate Front Range into our results and then back out the interest that's owned by others. So that from a global standpoint, that's the way to look at it.

是的。我們將 Front Range 整合到我們的結果中，然後退出其他人擁有的利益。所以從全球的角度來看，這就是看待它的方式。

Okay, even though it's only 42%?

好吧，即使它只有 42%？

Even though it's only 42%, it's been deemed a variable interest entity, so we consolidate it entirely and then back out in the P&L and the balance sheet, the portion that we do not own.

儘管它只有 42%，但它被視為一個可變利益實體，因此我們將其完全合併，然後在損益表和資產負債表中退出，這部分我們不擁有。

That helps. Did you sell all your wet distiller grain in the quarter?

這有幫助。你在這個季度賣掉了所有的濕酒糟嗎？

Yes, we did. In fact, we typically have both the Front Range plant, where we market all the wet distiller's grain, as well at our plant in Madera, the pad is nearly empty every day.

是的我們做了。事實上，我們通常有 Front Range 工廠，我們在那裡銷售所有濕酒糟，以及我們在馬德拉的工廠，墊子幾乎每天都是空的。

Great. And then just trying to back out kind of an implied yield that you guys are getting, gallons per bushel. It looks a little lower than the industry 2.8. Any comment on that?

偉大的。然後只是試圖取消你們獲得的隱含產量，每蒲式耳加侖。它看起來比工業2.8低一點。對此有何評論？

I think what you're seeing is the impact of the startup last year there. In our most recent performance test that we're conducting right now, we're where we want it to be.

我想你看到的是去年創業公司在那裡的影響。在我們目前正在進行的最新性能測試中，我們正處於我們想要的位置。

Which is?

哪個是？

Which is in and around the industry standard, 2.8.

這符合行業標準 2.8。

Preeti Dubey of Thomas Weisel Partners.

Thomas Weisel Partners 的 Preeti Dubey。

My question relates to Front Range Energy and I see on the balance sheet that good will have gone up by a significant amount and also the property planting equipment is up quite a bit. Also, in addition I see another line item on the liability side non-controlling interests and variables of interest equity. Can you just explain to me why these numbers are so high and is there any significance that we should attach to these numbers?

我的問題與 Front Range Energy 有關，我在資產負債表上看到商品將大幅上漲，而且房地產種植設備也大幅上漲。此外，除此之外，我還看到了關於負債方非控制性權益和權益變量的另一行項目。您能否向我解釋為什麼這些數字如此之高，我們應該賦予這些數字任何意義嗎？

Again, the way to look at that is that after the purchase, of course the purchase price was reflected in our balance sheet, so the goodwill that came with the company was recorded on our balance sheet. And then we turn around and take out of our balance sheet the 58% that we don't own. So those are the numbers that you're seeing.

同樣，看待這一點的方式是，購買後，購買價格當然反映在我們的資產負債表中，因此公司帶來的商譽記錄在我們的資產負債表上。然後我們轉身從我們的資產負債表中取出我們不擁有的 58%。這些就是你看到的數字。

All right. And can you tell me what was the CapEx in the quarter?

好的。你能告訴我本季度的資本支出是多少嗎？

The CapEx for the last quarter. I don't have that right at hand. It mainly consists of the completing the construction of Madera and the ongoing construction at Boardman.

上一季度的資本支出。我手頭沒有那個。它主要包括完成馬德拉的建設和博德曼的正在進行的建設。

Can you tell me the amount, what it was?

你能告訴我多少錢嗎？

I don't have that right here with me.

我這裡沒有那個。

Just to give you a sense of capital expenditures on a general basis, which would help for any analysis or modeling purpose, the cost of construction in these facilities are in or around $2.00 per annual gallon of capacity. What we've done, and this really was very important in allowing us to leverage a very strong debt facility, was that we prefunded debt with equity. So if you look at the Madera and the Boardman plants, we funded all of the construction to date with equity. And we now, with this debt facility, are going back and levering these plants up to something that we think is a prudent, not an excessive amount of debt, but in and around between 50 to 60% of the overall capitalization will be debt with the balance being equity.

只是為了讓您大致了解資本支出，這將有助於任何分析或建模目的，這些設施的建設成本為每加侖每年 2.00 美元或大約 2.00 美元。我們所做的，這對於讓我們能夠利用非常強大的債務工具非常重要，那就是我們用股權預先為債務提供資金。因此，如果您查看 Madera 和 Boardman 工廠，我們以股權資助了迄今為止的所有建設。而我們現在，有了這個債務工具，我們正在回過頭來，將這些工廠槓桿化到我們認為是謹慎的，而不是過多的債務，但總資本的 50% 到 60% 左右將是債務餘額為權益。

That's helpful. And one clarification that I needed. You mentioned in your press release that revenues from Madera and Front Range Energy were $25.9 million. I just want to get a clarification, does that $25.9 million include 42% of the revenues of Front Range or 100% of the revenue from Front Range?

這很有幫助。還有一個我需要的澄清。您在新聞稿中提到 Madera 和 Front Range Energy 的收入為 2590 萬美元。我只是想澄清一下，這 2590 萬美元是包括 Front Range 收入的 42% 還是 Front Range 收入的 100%？

That includes 100% of the Front Range activity.

這包括 100% 的 Front Range 活動。

Pavel Molchanov of Raymond James.

雷蒙德詹姆斯的帕維爾莫爾查諾夫。

A question about some potential M&A activity. Obviously following the Front Range deal, would you perhaps look to increase your interest in that plant if possible? And then secondly, would you look at similar types of transactions with privately held companies in the future?

關於一些潛在併購活動的問題。顯然，在 Front Range 交易之後，如果可能的話，您是否會尋求增加您對該工廠的興趣？其次，您是否會考慮將來與私營公司進行類似類型的交易？

As I said before, yes, we certainly look at the whole calculation between build versus buy and evaluate that and are open to all opportunities. So that is one that certainly can't prejudge at this point in time, but it is something that our team is focused on.

正如我之前所說，是的，我們當然會考慮構建與購買之間的整個計算並對其進行評估，並對所有機會持開放態度。因此，目前當然不能預先判斷，但這是我們團隊關注的事情。

Jonathon Lichter of Sidoti & Company.

Sidoti & Company 的 Jonathon Lichter。

Question, it looks like the Kinergy gallons sold was up only marginally sequentially. Is there any reason that might have slowed a little bit, the growth there?

問題，看起來 Kinergy 加侖的銷售量僅略有增加。是否有任何原因可能會放緩一點，那裡的增長？

You're looking at what?

你在看什麼？

If you back out some of the other numbers there.

如果您退出那裡的其他一些數字。

We were in a contract period, so there was growth in the gallons. I don't have the exact percentage in front of me right now, but we definitely did continue to grow the gallons fourth quarter over third quarter.

我們處於合同期，所以加侖數有所增長。我現在沒有確切的百分比，但我們確實確實在第四季度比第三季度繼續增長了加侖。

It wasn't an issue because you became the producer of that?

這不是問題，因為你成為了它的製作人？

There is going to be a--you can't just, when we come on line with 5 million gallons, part of our whole program is to develop the market and now we're also building in the production. So, we will continue to expand our overall market. We will continue for as far out, if we project the net buyer of ethanol from both our alliance partners and other facilities that we have longstanding relationships with, so we do expect that to continue to be a very important part of the business is to sell significantly more ethanol than we produce.

將會有一個——你不能只是，當我們達到 500 萬加侖時，我們整個計劃的一部分是開發市場，現在我們也在進行生產。因此，我們將繼續擴大我們的整體市場。如果我們從我們的聯盟合作夥伴和與我們有長期合作關係的其他設施中預測乙醇的淨買家，我們將繼續盡可能遠，所以我們確實希望繼續成為業務的一個非常重要的部分是銷售乙醇比我們生產的多得多。

But if you look in the fourth quarter when we came on line, both at the Front Range facility and with our Madera facility, the outside gallons, it's not unexpected to see that those sales were relatively flat.

但是，如果您查看我們上線時的第四季度，無論是在 Front Range 工廠還是在我們的 Madera 工廠，外部加侖數，看到這些銷售額相對持平也就不足為奇了。

Okay. And what are your thoughts on when the company might be able to be producing cellulose?

好的。您對公司何時能夠生產纖維素有何看法？

That's a very good question. We are focused on that. We do not define ourselves as a technology company. But we are talking to everybody in that space to figure out what sorts of partnerships and development efforts make sense. There are, whether it's a material handling or the actual conversion process, the capital cost, the economics, there are very significant hurdles that still need to be cleared before cellulose ethanol is going to be cost competitive with corn ethanol.

這是一個非常好的問題。我們專注於此。我們並不將自己定義為一家科技公司。但我們正在與該領域的每個人交談，以弄清楚什麼樣的伙伴關係和發展努力是有意義的。無論是材料處理還是實際轉化過程、資本成本、經濟性，在纖維素乙醇與玉米乙醇的成本競爭力之前，仍然需要清除非常重要的障礙。

I think we have a view that is similar to many, which is in the 20-plus years I've been in this business, there's always been the technology that was five years off. I think now we truly are within that five-year timeframe and with some of the concerted effort on the part of both public and private entities to accelerate that, we may see that timeframe contract. Certainly the higher price of ethanol and the higher cost of corn also figures into helping to accelerate that development.

我認為我們的觀點與許多人相似，在我從事這項業務的 20 多年中，總是有五年後的技術。我認為現在我們確實處於那個五年的時間範圍內，並且在公共和私人實體的一些協同努力下加速這一進程，我們可能會看到這個時間框架合同。當然，更高的乙醇價格和更高的玉米成本也有助於加速這一發展。

Paul Resnik of Dutton Associates.

Dutton Associates 的 Paul Resnik。

Two questions. One, as you have been a general contractor, that $2.00 a gallon construction cost, does that go in the target for new plants are you trying to do a little better than that?

兩個問題。第一，由於您是總承包商，每加侖 2.00 美元的建設成本，這是否符合新工廠的目標，您是否試圖做得比這更好一點？

Of course, we hope to do a little better than that, but I think that's a good number to use going ahead. There are other benefits that we see, other than price, which of course are very important. But the ability to move quickly into these projects and cut the overall time to market down by as much as 6 months, we think is one of the main features of this and the ability to design the plants in a way that we can make changes during the process as we move through the operating scenarios at one plant, we can design them into subsequent plants a lot easier. So those are features. But using the $2.00 number for right now, given the volatility in several of the markets that impact us generally in construction costs, is a good number to use.

當然，我們希望做得比這更好，但我認為這是一個很好的數字，可以繼續使用。除了價格之外，我們還看到了其他好處，這當然非常重要。但是能夠快速進入這些項目並將整體上市時間縮短多達 6 個月，我們認為這是其中的主要特徵之一，並且能夠以我們可以在期間做出改變的方式設計工廠當我們在一個工廠移動操作場景時，我們可以更容易地將它們設計到後續工廠中。所以這些是特徵。但是，考慮到幾個市場的波動性通常會影響我們的建築成本，現在使用 2.00 美元的數字是一個很好的數字。

Paul, I would add to that that what we are seeing with the costs, whether it's land, whether it's permitting, whether it's steel, whether it's concrete, we don't think that we see in the end increases in overall construction costs in ethanol and that I would agree with John that we think that we can hold in that construction number of in and around $2.00 per annual gallon capacity and that's really in part, our owner construct model helping us moderate what we still see as increasing cost.

保羅，我要補充一點，我們所看到的成本，無論是土地，是否允許，是否是鋼鐵，是否是混凝土，我們認為最終我們不會看到乙醇的總體建設成本增加我同意約翰的觀點，我們認為我們可以保持每年每加侖 2.00 美元左右的建設數量，這實際上是部分原因，我們的業主構建模型幫助我們緩和了我們仍然認為增加的成本。

[Inaudible] Secondly, I don't think California will ever be confused with the Corn Belt. On the other hand, corn prices are pretty high. Do you see any potential for increasing corn production in your market?

[聽不清] 其次，我認為加利福尼亞永遠不會與玉米帶混淆。另一方面，玉米價格相當高。您認為您的市場有增加玉米產量的潛力嗎？

We absolutely do see that. We are literally talking to California farmers on a daily basis about the opportunity for them to grow corn. I will say that California agriculture is the most capable, resourceful agricultural system in the world and if the price were right, California farmers could grow 100% of the corn we needed.

我們絕對看到了。我們每天都在與加州農民談論他們種植玉米的機會。我會說加州農業是世界上最有能力、資源最豐富的農業系統，如果價格合適，加州農民可以種植 100% 我們需要的玉米。

The options to California have always been such that the other higher-value commodities, the nuts and the fruits and the cotton and those sorts of things have always given a better net back to the farmer and that's why the whole corn system in California has been a Midwest dominated supply chain.

加州的選擇一直是這樣的，其他更高價值的商品，堅果和水果，棉花和那些東西總是給農民一個更好的網，這就是為什麼加州的整個玉米系統一直中西部主導的供應鏈。

But with these sorts of prices and with some of the net-backs on the other commodities, in some cases declining year-over-year, it's a different look. So we do feel that where California historically has provided about 10% of its own demand, 10 to 15% of its demand for corn, that that number could increase. And if you look historically, in 1996, after the last significant run up in corn prices, California farmers doubled the amount of corn they grew in the next year.

但隨著這些價格和其他商品的一些淨回升，在某些情況下同比下降，情況就不同了。因此，我們確實認為，在加州歷史上提供了約 10% 的自身需求、10% 到 15% 的玉米需求的地方，這個數字可能會增加。如果你回顧歷史，在 1996 年，在玉米價格上一次大幅上漲之後，加州農民在第二年種植的玉米數量翻了一番。

So we see that as an opportunity. We think that's just one more of the options that gives us a competitive advantage. We also potentially see an opportunity to even bring corn from other countries and the ability to import it, again, if the price sustains itself at these sorts of levels. I think you might see all sorts of innovations in terms of bringing corn to the marketplace.

所以我們認為這是一個機會。我們認為這只是給我們帶來競爭優勢的另一種選擇。如果價格維持在這種水平，我們也可能看到甚至從其他國家進口玉米的機會以及進口玉米的能力。我想你可能會看到將玉米推向市場的各種創新。

[Ronan Wolfsdorf] of Cowen & Company.

Cowen & Company 的 [Ronan Wolfsdorf]。

Further questions about the E10 that you mentioned in California, that sounded very interesting. Could you elaborate on that?

關於你在加利福尼亞提到的 E10 的進一步問題，聽起來很有趣。你能詳細說明一下嗎？

Absolutely. California is a net short state and very extremely, in terms of its ability to produce and even import the gasoline and the additives that are necessary to meet California's very strict environmental and technical specifications for gasoline.

絕對地。加利福尼亞州是一個淨短缺州，就其生產甚至進口汽油以及滿足加利福尼亞非常嚴格的汽油環境和技術規範所必需的添加劑而言，它的能力非常極端。

Ethanol as a very clean volume, high-octane component, provides very significant value to California refiners. The reason that California aggregated around a 6% was a number of factors, but as much as anything it was that there was a concern given how large the California market was at 16 billion gallons per year, that there was not adequate supply of ethanol to blend what is a more efficient use of the product at 10%.

乙醇作為一種非常乾淨、高辛烷值的成分，為加州煉油廠提供了非常重要的價值。加州總量約為 6% 的原因有很多，但考慮到加州每年 160 億加侖的市場規模，人們擔心乙醇供應不足以 10% 的比例混合更有效地使用產品。

That picture has changed dramatically, as we've seen the increase in production, both here in California and elsewhere in the country and it's also now been underlined by the fact that every year with a 2 to 3% growth in demand and no new refinery having been built in California since 1969, California needs incremental supplies of fuel. So from a refiner's perspective, ethanol is a very attractive way to meet the demand.

情況發生了巨大變化，因為我們已經看到加利福尼亞和該國其他地方的產量增加，而且現在也強調了每年需求增長 2% 到 3% 並且沒有新煉油廠的事實自 1969 年以來在加利福尼亞建造，加利福尼亞需要增加燃料供應。因此，從煉油廠的角度來看，乙醇是滿足需求的一種非常有吸引力的方式。

Also, from the environmental perspective with what now is the world's first ever low-carbon fuel standards, the Governor is implementing through his Executive Order, there is to its [chi], the 10% reduction in CO2 emission by 2012, which the Governor has outlined. Not only do we need to move to 10% ethanol, we need to do more looking at higher level blends at 12%-13%-20% E85 and look at other ways of using fuel more efficiently.

此外，從環境角度來看，現在是世界上第一個低碳燃料標準，總督正在通過他的行政命令實施，到 2012 年將二氧化碳排放量減少 10%，總督已概述。我們不僅需要轉向使用 10% 的乙醇，還需要更多地研究 12%-13%-20% E85 的更高水平的混合物，並研究更有效地使用燃料的其他方法。

So we think that the quickest way to meet the growing demand for gasoline in the State of California and the quickest way to meet these very ambitious environmental goals is to increase the amount of ethanol that is used here in the State of California and we feel that the refiners are agreeing with us on that, as well as the regulators and policy makers.

因此，我們認為滿足加利福尼亞州對汽油日益增長的需求以及實現這些雄心勃勃的環境目標的最快方法是增加加利福尼亞州使用的乙醇量，我們認為煉油廠以及監管機構和政策制定者都同意我們的觀點。

Thanks. And just a quick follow-up. What level of interest are you seeing as far as other market participants pursuing permitting and plant in California itself? From what I've looked at, there has not been a lot of activity there.

謝謝。只是一個快速的跟進。就其他市場參與者在加利福尼亞州本身尋求許可和工廠而言，您看到了何種程度的興趣？從我所看到的情況來看，那裡並沒有很多活動。

There's not been a lot of activity. I'd like to say that it has something to do with the fact that we blanket the State pretty well and there is a real first mover advantage. It is about that local integration into market. And whereas in the Midwest it's a little more viable for plants to be literally across the street from one another when products are being shipped out on the market, in our model and to be a low-cost producer and to be able to compete successfully, it's all about that local market integration. So once we've built a plant in an area, it's very difficult for another facility to be financed.

沒有太多的活動。我想說的是，這與我們很好地覆蓋了整個州以及存在真正的先發優勢這一事實有關。這是關於本地融入市場。而在中西部，當產品在我們的模型中運出市場時，工廠彼此隔街相望更可行，成為低成本生產商並能夠成功競爭，這一切都與當地市場的整合有關。因此，一旦我們在一個地區建立了工廠，就很難為另一個設施融資。

That being said, we do see some other one-off plants being developed in the state and we welcome that. This is an industry that's large enough to support other participants in California and other Western states.

話雖如此，我們確實看到該州正在開發一些其他一次性工廠，我們對此表示歡迎。這是一個足以支持加利福尼亞州和其他西部州的其他參與者的行業。

Eric Brown of Banc of America.

美國銀行的埃里克布朗。

Can you talk about your marketing margins during Q4, especially as they compare to Q3, and where do you expect those marketing gross margins to be, going forward?

您能否談談您在第四季度的營銷利潤率，尤其是與第三季度相比時，您預計這些營銷毛利率會在哪裡？

Eric, again, we're not breaking that out right now and we're not talking about our marketing margin specifically. You certainly saw the performance of the Company when we were not a producer and saw that our margins were very strong. We did take some positions in the marketplace that benefited us.

埃里克，再一次，我們現在沒有打破這一點，我們也沒有專門談論我們的營銷利潤。當我們不是生產商時，您當然看到了公司的表現，並且看到我們的利潤率非常高。我們確實在市場上佔據了一些讓我們受益的職位。

On a go-forward basis, the way we look at it, we have these marketing agreements and as we continue to work with other plants and signup other contracts that are more in and around that 1% gross profit margin that is typical in the industry, we think that certainly is a reasonable target. But we've been able to trade in and around and take positions that, if anything, allow us to lever that up.

在前進的基礎上，我們看待它的方式，我們有這些營銷協議，隨著我們繼續與其他工廠合作並簽署其他合同，這些合同更多地接近行業中典型的 1% 毛利率，我們認為這當然是一個合理的目標。但是我們已經能夠進行交易和交易，並持有可以讓我們利用這一點的頭寸。

But looking at it from a conservative point of view, we look at the marketing business and say it's there to support the growing market, support our production and that a 1% type number is reasonable.

但從保守的角度來看，我們看營銷業務，並說它在那裡支持不斷增長的市場，支持我們的生產，1% 的類型數字是合理的。

Okay. Then you listed the basis for your corn at $0.51 and I assume that is a blended average of the Madera and Front Range. Can you talk a little bit about how that broke down between the two facilities?

好的。然後你列出了 0.51 美元的玉米基差，我假設這是 Madera 和 Front Range 的混合平均值。你能談談這兩個設施之間的問題嗎？

No. You're right. It is a blended average and no, we look at all of this, as Neil just pointed out, on a pool basis and that's how we intend to report it. We do not break those out separately.

不，你是對的。這是一個混合平均值，不，正如尼爾剛剛指出的那樣，我們會在池的基礎上查看所有這些，這就是我們打算報告它的方式。我們不會將它們分開。

But Eric, I would say that it is all pretty transparent. You can look at the tariff rates on bringing corn from--we look at Nebraska Group, too. That's essentially the pool. We pull from other places, but day in, day out, that's a very good place for us to be pulling corn from and you can look at the tariff rates on both the UP and the BM website for shuttle service and you can ascertain what the cost to transport corn from the Midwest to Windsor and to California is. And so obviously it's higher.

但是埃里克，我想說這一切都非常透明。你可以看看從進口玉米的關稅稅率——我們也看看內布拉斯加州集團。這基本上就是游泳池。我們從其他地方拉，但是日復一日，那是我們拉玉米的好地方，你可以在 UP 和 BM 網站上查看穿梭服務的關稅率，你可以確定什麼是將玉米從中西部運輸到溫莎和加利福尼亞的成本是。所以顯然它更高。

We can buy below the basis and then we pay more to get it to California than we do to Colorado and that's why, you know, if you look at historically in California, the basis probably is in that $0.51 if you look at what a reasonable basis is today, to California with the higher rates on corn, it's closer to $0.70 to $0.75 to California. And again, that all can be determined by looking at these websites and it's obviously less to go to Colorado.

我們可以在基差以下購買，然後我們支付更多的費用將其運往加利福尼亞而不是科羅拉多，這就是為什麼，你知道，如果你從歷史上看加利福尼亞，如果你看看合理的價格，基差可能是 0.51 美元以今天為基礎，對於玉米價格較高的加利福尼亞，它接近加利福尼亞的 0.70 美元至 0.75 美元。再一次，這一切都可以通過查看這些網站來確定，去科羅拉多州顯然更少。

So that is why that basis number is certainly lower than you would expect for California deliveries, because it's blended.

這就是為什麼這個基數肯定低於你對加州交付的預期，因為它是混合的。

Mark Manley of Ardour Capital.

Ardor Capital 的馬克·曼利。

Just wondering if you might breakout what percent of your cost of goods sold was offset by hedges?

只是想知道您是否可以突破銷售成本的百分之幾被套期保值抵消？

Again, if you look at the performance, I think that's fully addressed by if we had not hedged, it was reasonable to expect that we would pay that on the normalized CBOT number that we had in the chart, we would have been paying $1.00 more per bushel.

再一次，如果你看一下表現，我認為如果我們沒有對沖，我們可以根據圖表中的標準化 CBOT 數字支付這筆費用，我們會多支付 1.00 美元。每蒲式耳。

So it is reasonable to answer that question by saying we would have paid $1.00 more per bushel.

因此，通過說我們會為每蒲式耳多支付 1.00 美元來回答這個問題是合理的。

That's the best way to get a view of where we're going, is to probably look at our results. That's hopefully where you can have people directed. If you continue to look at that, you'll have some idea of where we might be, going forward.

這是了解我們前進方向的最佳方式，可能是查看我們的結果。希望那是您可以指導人們的地方。如果你繼續看下去，你就會對我們未來的發展方向有所了解。

We have time for about one more question.

我們有時間再回答一個問題。

Can I just make one quick follow-up? Your competitors were alluding recently that the destination model is less favorable and I wonder how you might respond to that?

我可以快速跟進嗎？你的競爭對手最近暗示目的地模式不太受歡迎，我想知道你會如何回應？

Mark, we obviously feel very confident that we have a model here that will make us a low-cost producer and a very valuable supplier to the marketplace. So, we've laid down presentations on why we think that's the case and quantified that from a generic model standpoint and we stand behind that.

馬克，我們顯然非常有信心，我們有一個模型可以使我們成為低成本生產商和市場上非常有價值的供應商。因此，我們已經就我們為什麼認為是這種情況進行了演示，並從通用模型的角度對其進行了量化，我們支持這一點。

We don't think it's a matter of if it's better to do it in the destination or better to do it in the origin. This is an industry where we think we should have ethanol plants in every county--every county and every state in the United States. There's room for ethanol plants everywhere.

我們認為這不是在目的地做更好還是在原點做更好的問題。在這個行業，我們認為我們應該在美國的每個縣——每個縣和每個州都有乙醇工廠。到處都有乙醇工廠的空間。

We think that there's room to build more ethanol plants in the Midwest. We certainly think there's tremendous opportunity to build ethanol plants at the destination and that is our business model, to be the leader in the destination ethanol production in the marketing model.

我們認為在中西部有建造更多乙醇工廠的空間。我們當然認為在目的地建立乙醇工廠有巨大的機會，這就是我們的商業模式，在營銷模式中成為目的地乙醇生產的領導者。

Howard Norowitz of Bear Stearns.

貝爾斯登的霍華德·諾羅維茨。

Just a quick question on the other side of the transportation equation. Delivering the ethanol to the market itself, are you finding any difficulties in getting that delivered? Has the pricing gone up? Do you have the infrastructure and the availability of transportation resources to get it to market?

只是關於運輸方程式另一邊的一個快速問題。將乙醇運送到市場本身，您是否發現運送乙醇有任何困難？價格漲了嗎？您是否擁有將其推向市場的基礎設施和運輸資源？

Yes, we absolutely do and it's been a focus of ours for many years, to build the terminal network, the trucking network, the logistic support to make sure that we are a supplier. We are the only supplier in California that within 24-hour notice we can deliver ethanol to any terminal in the State of California and that is a signature part of our business and our reputation.

是的，我們絕對這樣做，並且多年來一直是我們的重點，建立碼頭網絡、貨運網絡、物流支持，以確保我們是供應商。我們是加利福尼亞州唯一一家可以在 24 小時通知內將乙醇運送到加利福尼亞州任何碼頭的供應商，這是我們業務和聲譽的標誌性部分。

So we're very focused on that and have definitely been bulking up that part of our business to make sure that we're there.

因此，我們非常關注這一點，並且肯定一直在擴大我們業務的這一部分，以確保我們在那裡。

On the rail side, we do bring in ethanol by rail from our partners and we've seen the rates of that go up. We do see issues with the rail logistics, but when you balance that with our ability to produce locally and if we don't have railcars show up, we have the inventory in California to make sure that we're still there as a reliable supplier.

在鐵路方面，我們確實通過鐵路從我們的合作夥伴那裡引進了乙醇，而且我們已經看到這種速度上升了。我們確實看到鐵路物流存在問題，但是當您平衡我們在當地生產的能力時，如果我們沒有鐵路車出現，我們在加利福尼亞有庫存，以確保我們仍然是可靠的供應商.

So, we think that service element is an absolutely critical part of who we are and where we'll be.

因此，我們認為服務元素是我們是誰以及我們將在哪裡的絕對關鍵部分。

Okay. Can you give us some idea in terms of pricing per delivery?

好的。你能給我們一些關於每次交貨定價的想法嗎？

If you're talking about our local delivery, and it's a very good point, because it really is part of the whole competitive advantage is that even though ethanol can be shipped in some places--there's one facility in California that can receive unit trains, none of the ethanol that's shipped in the unit train facilities is typically blended with the gasoline and it has to be redistributed by truck to the blending terminal that typically don't receive ethanol by rail. And so, as the cost of trucking goes up, as the cost of rail goes up, that affects the whole market.

如果您在談論我們的本地交付，這是一個很好的觀點，因為它確實是整個競爭優勢的一部分，即使乙醇可以在某些地方運輸——加利福尼亞有一個設施可以接收單元火車，在單元火車設施中運輸的乙醇通常不會與汽油混合，並且必須通過卡車重新分配到通常不通過鐵路接收乙醇的混合終端。因此，隨著卡車運輸成本的上漲，隨著鐵路成本的上漲，這會影響整個市場。

What we do is try to position our plants in areas where we can sell all the ethanol, particularly in California, within a 50-mile radius. So it's anywhere from $0.015 to as much as $0.05-$0.06 a gallon typically to get it to our market, our end-user. But if you consider that on average, the in-state trucking cost for Midwest ethanol to ship to California is actually higher than that, when you consider the cost of [terminaling] plus the cost of truck transportation to get it to those same terminals.

我們所做的是嘗試將我們的工廠定位在我們可以銷售所有乙醇的地區，特別是在加利福尼亞州，半徑 50 英里以內。因此，通常每加侖 0.015 美元到 0.05 至 0.06 美元不等，才能進入我們的市場，即我們的最終用戶。但是，如果您考慮到平均而言，當您考慮 [終端] 的成本加上將其運送到相同終端的卡車運輸成本時，中西部乙醇運往加利福尼亞的州內卡車運輸成本實際上高於此。

So we have not only what we call our national transportation advantage if you look at the moving corn, our finished products as corn and shuttle trains, compared to moving finished products, we also then are closer in a cents per gallon basis to the end-user than that Midwest ethanol as well.

因此，如果您查看移動的玉米，我們不僅擁有我們所謂的國家運輸優勢，我們的成品如玉米和穿梭列車，與移動成品相比，我們也更接近最終的每加侖美分 -用戶比中西部乙醇還要好。

John Roy of Hambrecht.

漢布雷希特的約翰·羅伊。

Just one final question. On the non-controlling interest and variable entities, is that going to be something we're going to probably see every quarter from now on?

最後一個問題。關於非控制性權益和可變實體，從現在開始，我們可能會在每個季度看到這種情況嗎？

It's something that we're going to look at on an annual basis, but for the next few quarters I think you can plan on it being there. But it is something that we will be looking at on an annual basis.

這是我們每年都會考慮的事情，但在接下來的幾個季度中，我認為你可以計劃在那裡進行。但這是我們每年都會關注的事情。

Due to time constraints, that will conclude today's question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Neil Koehler for any additional or closing remarks.

由於時間關係，今天的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 Neil Koehler 先生，以獲得任何補充或結束語。

Again, thank you very much, all of you, for participating in our first investor conference call. We are looking forward to the growth of this company and look forward to providing additional input to the market and additional conference calls in the future. Thank you very much for your time today.

再次，非常感謝你們所有人參加我們的第一次投資者電話會議。我們期待這家公司的發展，並期待在未來為市場提供更多的投入和更多的電話會議。非常感謝您今天的時間。

Thank you for your participation. That does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect at this time.

感謝您的參與。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開連接。