Air Products and Chemicals Inc (APD) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Air Products' First Quarter Earnings Release Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded at the request of Air Products. Please note that this presentation and the comments made on behalf of Air Products are subject to copyright by Air Products and all rights are reserved. Beginning today's call is Mr. Sid Manjeshwar. Please go ahead.

早上好，歡迎來到空氣產品公司第一季度收益發布電話會議。今天的通話是應 Air Products 的要求進行錄音的。請注意，此演示文稿和代表 Air Products 發表的評論受 Air Products 版權保護，並保留所有權利。開始今天的電話會議的是 Sid Manjeshwar 先生。請繼續。

Thank you, Kalie. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Air Products' First Quarter 2023 Earnings Results Teleconference. This is Sid Manjeshwar, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Treasurer. I am pleased to be joined today by Seifi Ghasemi, our Chairman, President and CEO; Dr. Samir Serhan, our Chief Operating Officer; Melissa Schaeffer, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Sean Major, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; and Simon Moore, our Vice President of Investor Relations, Corporate Relations and Sustainability who, as previously announced, will be retired at the end of March.

謝謝你，凱莉。大家，早安。歡迎參加空氣產品公司 2023 年第一季度收益結果電話會議。我是投資者關係副總裁兼公司財務主管 Sid Manjeshwar。我很高興今天有我們的董事長、總裁兼首席執行官 Seifi Ghasemi 加入；我們的首席運營官 Samir Serhan 博士；我們的高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Melissa Schaeffer； Sean Major，我們的執行副總裁、總法律顧問兼秘書；以及我們負責投資者關係、企業關係和可持續發展的副總裁 Simon Moore，正如之前宣布的那樣，他將於 3 月底退休。

After our comments, we will be pleased to take your questions. Our earnings release and slides for this call are available on our website at airproducts.com. This discussion contains forward-looking statements. Please refer to the forward-looking statement disclosure that can be found in our earnings release and on Slide #2.

在我們發表意見後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。我們的收益發布和本次電話會議的幻燈片可在我們的網站 airproducts.com 上獲取。本討論包含前瞻性陳述。請參閱我們的收益發布和幻燈片 #2 中的前瞻性聲明披露。

In addition, throughout today's discussion, we will refer to various financial measures. Unless we specifically state otherwise, when we refer to earnings per share, operating income, operating margin, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, the effective tax rate and ROCE, both on a total company and segment basis, we are referring to our adjusted non-GAAP financial measures. Adjusted earnings per share, adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted effective tax rate and adjusted return on capital employed.

此外，在今天的整個討論中，我們將提到各種金融措施。除非我們另有特別說明，否則當我們提到每股收益、營業收入、營業利潤率、EBITDA、EBITDA 利潤率、有效稅率和 ROCE 時，無論是在整個公司還是在分部基礎上，我們指的是我們調整後的非 GAAP財政措施。調整後的每股收益、調整後的營業收入、調整後的營業利潤率、調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率、調整後的有效稅率和調整後的已動用資本回報率。

Reconciliations of these measures to our most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found on our website in the relevant Earnings Release section.

這些措施與我們最直接可比的 GAAP 財務措施的調節可以在我們網站的相關收益發布部分找到。

Now I'm pleased to turn the call over to Seifi.

現在我很高興將電話轉給 Seifi。

Thank you, Sid, and good day to everyone. Thank you for taking time from your very busy schedule to be on our call today. I am proud to say that the people at Air Products delivered great results this quarter despite the significant macroeconomic headwinds. I would like to thank each of our talented, dedicated and motivated employees for their hard work.

謝謝你，Sid，祝大家有美好的一天。感謝您今天從百忙之中抽出時間來接聽我們的電話。我很自豪地說，儘管宏觀經濟面臨重大逆風，空氣產品公司的員工本季度仍取得了不錯的成績。我要感謝我們每一位才華橫溢、敬業和積極進取的員工的辛勤工作。

Now please turn to Slide #3, our safety performance, which is always our highest priority. As you can see, we have made significant progress since 2014, but we always work hard to do better. Our goal is to achieve 0 incidents and 0 accidents.

現在請轉到幻燈片 #3，我們的安全性能，這始終是我們的重中之重。如您所見，自 2014 年以來我們取得了重大進展，但我們始終努力做得更好。我們的目標是做到0事故，0事故。

Now please turn to Slide #4. For the first quarter of our fiscal year 2023, our earnings per share was $2.64, an improvement of $0.16 per share or 6% versus last year. But our underlying performance versus last year was much better than that. The items that you need to consider to make a fair comparison versus last year are a $0.15 negative impact from currency and a one-time gain of $0.20 in the first quarter of last year from the finalization of the Jazan ASU joint venture. I would like to point out also that our guidance for the first quarter was to deliver earnings per share of $2.60 to $2.80. Our actual EPS is $2.64, which is within our guidance, but at the lower end. The principal reason is that the Chinese and European economies were weaker than our expectation in early November when we gave you the forecast.

現在請轉到幻燈片#4。 2023 財年第一季度，我們的每股收益為 2.64 美元，比去年同期增長 0.16 美元或 6%。但我們的基本表現與去年相比要好得多。為了與去年進行公平比較，您需要考慮的項目是貨幣帶來的 0.15 美元的負面影響，以及去年第一季度 Jazan ASU 合資企業的最終確定帶來的 0.20 美元的一次性收益。我還想指出，我們對第一季度的指導是實現每股收益 2.60 美元至 2.80 美元。我們的實際每股收益為 2.64 美元，在我們的指導範圍內，但處於較低端。主要原因是中國和歐洲的經濟比我們11月初給大家預測時的預期要弱。

Now please turn to Slide #5. We are committed to reporting our shareholders while pursuing our long-term growth strategy. I am pleased to say that we have again raised our quarterly dividend this time by 8% to $1.75 per share per quarter or $7 a share on an annual basis, extending our record of more than 40 consecutive years of dividend increase. We expect to pay out more than $1.5 billion to our shareholders in 2023, reflecting our commitment at -- to return cash to our shareholders.

現在請轉到幻燈片#5。我們致力於在追求長期增長戰略的同時向股東報告。我很高興地說，我們這次再次將季度股息提高 8% 至每季度每股 1.75 美元或每年每股 7 美元，延續了我們連續 40 多年增加股息的記錄。我們預計在 2023 年向股東支付超過 15 億美元，這反映了我們向股東返還現金的承諾。

Now please go to Slide #6. (inaudible) which shows our EBITDA margins. While energy costs remain high, our margin improved this quarter. Our team has worked hard on increasing prices to offset the higher energy costs in our merchant business, and we continue to work on productivity. I would also like to point out that 3 quarters of the margin decline since the peak margin of around 42% is due to higher energy cost pass-through in our on-site business, which increases our sales but does not impact our profit.

現在請轉到幻燈片 #6。 （聽不清）這顯示了我們的 EBITDA 利潤率。儘管能源成本居高不下，但本季度我們的利潤率有所提高。我們的團隊一直在努力提高價格以抵消我們商業業務中更高的能源成本，我們將繼續致力於提高生產力。我還想指出，自 42% 左右的峰值利潤率以來，有 3 個季度的利潤率下降是由於我們現場業務的能源成本轉嫁率較高，這增加了我們的銷售額，但不會影響我們的利潤。

Now please turn to Slide #7. In addition to delivering strong results, we also achieved several significant project milestones during the quarter. In December 2022, we were very excited to announce our $4 billion green hydrogen project in the United States. This project will be located in Northern Texas and is our latest megascale 0 carbon, which means green hydrogen project since the announcement of our revolutionary NEOM green hydrogen project in 2020, and it is the by far the largest green hydrogen project in the United States.

現在請轉到幻燈片#7。除了取得強勁業績外，我們還在本季度實現了幾個重要的項目里程碑。 2022 年 12 月，我們非常高興地宣佈在美國投資 40 億美元的綠色氫能項目。該項目將位於德克薩斯州北部，是我們自2020年宣布革命性的NEOM綠氫項目以來最新的超大型0碳綠色氫項目，也是迄今為止美國最大的綠色氫項目。

The information about this project and the recording of our December 8 webcast is on the -- for this project are available on our website.

有關此項目的信息和我們 12 月 8 日網絡廣播的錄音在我們的網站上提供。

Now please turn to Slide #8. We were pleased to announce on January 19 the completion of the second phase of the $12 billion Jazan gasification and power project, which is 51% majority owned by Air Products, and it is 60% project finance.

現在請轉到幻燈片#8。我們很高興地在 1 月 19 日宣布完成耗資 120 億美元的 Jazan 氣化和發電項目的第二階段，該項目由 Air Products 持有 51% 的多數股權，60% 為項目融資。

During the first quarter -- with the first phase of this project, which was completed in October of 2021, Air Products contributed (inaudible) for the purchase of $7.1 billion of assets from Saudi Aramco. In the second phase, which was just completed, Air Products contributed an additional $900 million for the purchase of $4.2 [billion] of additional assets. Our total cash contribution for this project is $2.5 billion. As expected, the first phase of the project at end was $0.80 to $0.85 per share on an annual basis, which significantly contributed to our results in fiscal year 2022.

在第一季度——該項目的第一階段於 2021 年 10 月完成，空氣產品公司出資（聽不清）從沙特阿美公司購買了 71 億美元的資產。在剛剛完成的第二階段，Air Products 額外出資 9 億美元用於購買 42 [billion] 美元的額外資產。我們對該項目的現金捐助總額為 25 億美元。正如預期的那樣，該項目的第一階段結束時每股收益為 0.80 美元至 0.85 美元，這對我們 2022 財年的業績做出了重大貢獻。

With the completion of the second phase, we now expect about a total of (inaudible) per share of earning contribution on an annual basis. This is fully in line with what we announced to investors more than 3 years ago.

隨著第二階段的完成，我們現在預計每年每股收益貢獻總額約為（聽不清）。這與我們三年多前向投資者宣布的完全一致。

Now please turn to Slide #9. Today, I wanted to provide you with an update on our great NEOM green hydrogen project, which is appropriate to give you an update since we are very close to completing a major milestone, which is signing the definitive project financing agreements for this project. And therefore, we wanted to give you an update before you read about that in the next few weeks. We have been making excellent progress on this world-scale project to bring energy to the world.

現在請轉到幻燈片#9。今天，我想向您介紹我們偉大的 NEOM 綠色氫項目的最新情況，因為我們非常接近完成一個重要的里程碑，即簽署該項目的最終項目融資協議，所以向您提供最新情況是合適的。因此，我們想在接下來的幾週內在您閱讀之前向您提供更新。我們在這個為世界帶來能源的世界級項目上一直取得了出色的進展。

The engineering is now about 30% complete. All major subcontracts for the project have been awarded, including the electrolyzers and the power plant and all that. Land preparation is completed and construction has started, and the joint venture team is in place and executing the projects.

工程現已完成約 30%。該項目的所有主要分包合同都已授予，包括電解槽和發電廠等等。土地整理已開工，合資團隊已就位並正在執行項目。

Now please turn to Slide #10. As you know, Air Products has a [one-time] ownership position of the NEOM production joint ventures. But importantly -- and this is very important, we remain the sole off-taker of 100% of the green hydrogen produced in the form of green ammonia produced at this facility under an exclusive 30-year contract. We continue to see significant opportunities to use this green ammonia to bring green hydrogen to consumers around the world.

現在請轉到幻燈片 #10。如您所知，Air Products 擁有 NEOM 生產合資企業的 [一次性] 所有權。但重要的是——這非常重要，我們仍然是該設施根據 30 年獨家合同以綠色氨的形式生產的 100% 綠色氫的唯一承購商。我們繼續看到利用這種綠色氨為世界各地的消費者帶來綠色氫的重要機會。

And as I said, we are the sole off-taker and distributor of this product. Then I want to emphasize that the offtake price for this green ammonia remains the same as when we negotiated the original project in the summer of 2020 when we announced the project. This is a very key point that the fact that now you're project -- financing this project, and as a result, we are absorbing all of the financing charges and so on. That has not changed the offtake price.

正如我所說，我們是該產品的唯一承購商和分銷商。然後我想強調的是，這個綠色氨的承購價格與我們在2020年夏天宣布該項目時談判原始項目時的價格保持不變。這是一個非常關鍵的點，即現在你正在為這個項目融資，因此，我們正在承擔所有的融資費用等等。這並沒有改變承購價格。

Then, now please turn to Slide 11. Initially the 3 partners plan -- which are Air Products, NEOM, which is owned by PIF and ACWA Power, we intended to use our own cash to fund the project -- the total project. Over the past 2 years, we have seen significant interest from the global financial institutions who see tremendous value proposition on this project. Therefore, we got tempted and reconsidered, and we decided that the best course of action to minimize our cash contribution and maximize the return on the cash is to do nonrecourse project financing on this project.

然後，現在請轉到幻燈片 11。最初計劃的 3 個合作夥伴是 Air Products、PIF 和 ACWA Power 擁有的 NEOM，我們打算用我們自己的現金為項目提供資金——整個項目。在過去的 2 年裡，我們看到全球金融機構對這個項目產生了巨大的興趣，他們看到了巨大的價值主張。因此，我們受到誘惑並重新考慮，我們決定將我們的現金貢獻最小化並最大化現金回報的最佳行動方案是對該項目進行無追索權項目融資。

The partners will contribute 25% cash and the remaining 75% in the nonrecourse project financing. And obviously, if you are doing nonrecourse project financing, you want to maximize the amount of money that you can borrow. Therefore, you put a lot of your ongoing cost and you bring it forward to the real present value and borrow against that. I would explain this a little bit more when we get to the detailed chart.

合作夥伴將出資 25% 現金，其餘 75% 用於無追索權項目融資。顯然，如果您正在進行無追索權項目融資，您希望最大限度地提高可藉貸金額。因此，您投入了大量的持續成本，並將其提前到實際現值並以此為抵押借款。當我們看到詳細的圖表時，我會稍微解釋一下。

This means that Air Products -- this project financing means that now our cash contribution to this project will be $800 million -- less than $800 million, which is significantly less than the $1.7 billion that we originally expected. That is what you would expect us to do -- that is the whole point of project financing.

這意味著空氣產品公司——這個項目融資意味著現在我們對這個項目的現金貢獻將是 8 億美元——不到 8 億美元，這大大低於我們最初預期的 17 億美元。這就是您希望我們做的——這就是項目融資的重點。

Now please turn to Slide #12. I am pleased to say that the non-recourse financing is well underway and we are more than 2x oversubscribed from what we want to borrow. We have received commitments from over 20 global financial institutions, demonstrating their confidence in this project.

現在請轉到幻燈片#12。我很高興地說，無追索權融資正在進行中，我們的借款超額認購了 2 倍多。我們已經收到超過20家全球金融機構的承諾，顯示了他們對這個項目的信心。

Later this month, we expect to complete what we call the dry close, which is the signing of the definitive financing agreements, and we expect the full financial close to be completed a few months later. We will obviously let you know as we make progress on the project financing.

本月晚些時候，我們預計將完成所謂的干式交割，即最終融資協議的簽署，我們預計將在幾個月後完成全面的財務交割。當我們在項目融資方面取得進展時，我們顯然會通知您。

Now please turn to Slide #13 so that I can provide you with an overview of the total project capital needs. First, the original $5 billion that we have mentioned before, for the capital required to build the facility, we have increased that, it has increased by about $0.5 billion due to inflationary pressure that everybody expects. Then in addition, we have further increased the project investment by $1.2 billion to include items that we were going to provide service from other people.

現在請轉到幻燈片 #13，以便我可以為您提供項目總資本需求的概覽。首先，我們之前提到的最初的50億美元，對於建設該設施所需的資金，我們增加了，由於大家預期的通脹壓力，它增加了大約5億美元。此外，我們還進一步增加了 12 億美元的項目投資，以包括我們將要從其他人那裡提供服務的項目。

But now we want to provide those services ourselves in order to make the project totally self-contained, and we wouldn't be dependent on others. These include power transmission (inaudible) and other infrastructure that was needed for the project. This increases the capital cost or it decreases the operating cost, and we decided that was a better trade-off. But the key point was to make sure that the project is not dependent on other people doing servicing and people will have control over the whole thing so that when we come on (inaudible) we have everything that we need for the project to be operated.

但現在我們想自己提供這些服務，使項目完全獨立，我們不會依賴他人。其中包括輸電（聽不清）和項目所需的其他基礎設施。這會增加資本成本或降低運營成本，我們認為這是一個更好的權衡。但關鍵是要確保該項目不依賴於其他人提供服務，並且人們將控制整個事情，以便當我們開始（聽不清）時，我們擁有項目運營所需的一切。

Now the other item that I'm sure will be a subject of questions from people is the $1.8 billion for project financing costs. That is a big number. But it is well explained why that is. Again, as I said, if you have project financing, you want to put and borrow as much money as you can.

現在，我肯定會引起人們質疑的另一個項目是 18 億美元的項目融資成本。這是一個很大的數字。但它很好地解釋了為什麼會這樣。同樣，正如我所說，如果你有項目融資，你會想盡可能多地存錢和借錢。

First of all, about $1 billion of that $1.8 billion is the interest during construction. So we are spending money. We want to borrow that money. There is an interest to that borrowing. Therefore, that adds up for the net total length of the project to about $1 billion. We want to finance that and borrow against that. Then we are using the land instead of leasing the land for 50 years, we decided to pay for the land upfront that reduces our ongoing cost, and we can project finance that. That is a [few] hundred million dollars, spares for the project. Usually you buy the spares as you go forward, we decided to buy all the spares upfront and finance it.

首先，這18億美元中約有10億美元是建設期間的利息。所以我們在花錢。我們想藉那筆錢。那筆借款是有利息的。因此，該項目的淨總長度加起來約為 10 億美元。我們想為此提供資金並以此為抵押借款。然後我們使用土地而不是租賃土地 50 年，我們決定預先支付土地費用以降低我們的持續成本，並且我們可以為此提供融資。那是 [幾] 億美元，用於該項目的備件。通常你在前進的過程中購買備件，我們決定預先購買所有備件並為其提供資金。

So those are the kind of costs that comprise the $1.8 billion. It makes a lot of sense, and that is the beauty of project finance that you can -- you have the flexibility of bringing forward a lot of your costs that will save you operating costs in the future. So all together, the total funding needed for the product is $8.5 billion.

所以這些就是構成 18 億美元的成本。這很有道理，這就是項目融資的美妙之處——你可以靈活地提前支付大量成本，這將在未來節省運營成本。因此，該產品所需的總資金總額為 85 億美元。

Now please turn to Slide 14, which is the overview of the funding. As I described before, the $8.5 billion is made up $6.2 billion of nonrecourse debt, which we wanted to maximize and $2.3 billion of cash from the 3 partners. Therefore, obviously, the Air Products cash contributions is (inaudible) which is less than $800 million. And this is as compared to the $1.7 billion that we originally expected.

現在請轉到幻燈片 14，這是資金的概述。正如我之前所述，這 85 億美元由 62 億美元的無追索權債務和來自 3 個合作夥伴的 23 億美元現金組成，我們希望將其最大化。因此，顯然，Air Products 的現金貢獻（聽不清）不到 8 億美元。這與我們最初預期的 17 億美元相比。

So overall, we are very pleased with where we are. We are very pleased with the fact that we are project financing this thing, minimizing our cash flow, and we are very pleased that the price that we are paying for the ammonia has stayed the same as it was in 2020. We are very optimistic about projects and the prospects for a good return for the total supply chain as we go forward.

所以總的來說，我們對我們所處的位置感到非常滿意。我們很高興我們正在為這個項目融資，最大限度地減少我們的現金流，我們很高興我們為氨支付的價格與 2020 年保持不變。我們非常樂觀隨著我們前進，整個供應鏈的項目和良好回報的前景。

Now please turn to Slide #15. I would like to summarize the discussion by sharing thoughts about our strategy. As I have mentioned before, there are 2 pillars for growth strategy of Air Products and sustainability is the foundation for both of them. Through our core industrial gas business, we supply customers in dozens of industries with critical products and services that lower emissions and increase efficiency and productivity. Through our Blue and Green hydrogen megaproject of the future, we will commit more than $15 billion by 2027 to deliver clean hydrogen at a scale helping to drive the energy transition and moving humanity forward. These 2 pillars, which support each other for success put us in the heart of solving the Board's needs for -- the Board's needs for sustainable energy and environmental solutions. I'm proud to say that the people of Air Products have continued to drive results in the near term and make excellent progress in executing our growth project as we move forward.

現在請轉到幻燈片 #15。我想通過分享對我們戰略的想法來總結討論。正如我之前提到的，Air Products 的增長戰略有兩個支柱，而可持續性是這兩個支柱的基礎。通過我們的核心工業氣體業務，我們為數十個行業的客戶提供關鍵產品和服務，以減少排放並提高效率和生產力。通過我們未來的藍色和綠色氫大型項目，我們將承諾到 2027 年投入超過 150 億美元用於大規模提供清潔氫，以幫助推動能源轉型和推動人類向前發展。這兩大支柱相互支持以取得成功，這使我們成為解決董事會需求的核心——董事會對可持續能源和環境解決方案的需求。我很自豪地說，Air Products 的員工在短期內繼續推動業績，並在我們前進的過程中在執行我們的增長項目方面取得了出色的進展。

The Slide #16 summarizes our management principles, which I reiterate every quarter. These principles are critical to Air Products' success and will continue to guide us in the future. Now I'm pleased to turn the call over to Melissa, our Chief Financial Officer. Melissa?

幻燈片 #16 總結了我們的管理原則，我每個季度都會重申這些原則。這些原則對 Air Products 的成功至關重要，並將在未來繼續指導我們。現在，我很高興將電話轉給我們的首席財務官 Melissa。梅麗莎？

Thank you, Seifi. As Seifi mentioned earlier, we've delivered another set of impressive results this quarter even with significant macroeconomic headwinds. Our commercial teams across the region continue to execute price actions and their efforts paid off. Price drove the 25% operating income improvement despite a significant negative currency impact, and operating margin was also 300 basis points higher compared to last year.

謝謝你，賽菲。正如 Seifi 之前提到的，即使在宏觀經濟逆風的情況下，我們在本季度也取得了另一組令人印象深刻的業績。我們在該地區的商業團隊繼續執行價格行動，他們的努力得到了回報。儘管受到顯著的負面貨幣影響，但價格推動了 25% 的營業收入增長，營業利潤率也比去年高出 300 個基點。

I also would like to thank the team at Air Product for their continued outstanding efforts.

我還要感謝 Air Product 團隊一直以來的出色努力。

Now please turn to Slide 17 for a review of our first quarter results. In comparison to last year, sales, volume and price were up nearly 10%. The 7% gain in price for the total company equaled a nearly 20% improvement in merchant price compared to last year, the fifth quarter in a row of double-digit increase. Volumes were up 2% higher, driven by better on-site in merchants, but partially offset by lower sales of equipment activities. Volumes were strong in America and Asia, but weaker in Europe. Currency translation from the strengthening U.S. dollar reduced sales by about 6% and lower operating income by 8%. Despite this headwind, operating income is up 25% and operating margin was 300 basis points higher, primarily driven by strong pricing. Operating income was higher across the region and particularly strong in America and Europe.

現在請轉到幻燈片 17，回顧我們第一季度的業績。與去年相比，銷售額、數量和價格均上漲了近 10%。與去年相比，整個公司 7% 的價格上漲相當於商家價格上漲近 20%，連續第五個季度實現兩位數增長。銷量增長了 2%，這主要是受商家現場銷售情況改善的推動，但部分被設備活動銷售額的下降所抵消。美洲和亞洲的銷量強勁，但歐洲較弱。美元走強導致銷售額下降約 6%，營業收入下降 8%。儘管存在這種不利因素，營業收入仍增長了 25%，營業利潤率提高了 300 個基點，這主要是受到強勁定價的推動。該地區的營業收入較高，尤其是美國和歐洲。

Improvements in EBITDA and EBITDA margins were not as significant as operating income and operating margins due to the prior year onetime items primarily related to the Jazan ASU joint venture finalization. ROCE has climbed steadily over the last 6 quarters, reaching 11.3%, which is 120 basis points higher than last year. We expect ROCE to further improve as we bring new projects on stream and continue to put our cash on the balance sheet to work.

EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率的改善不如營業收入和營業利潤率顯著，這是由於上一年的一次性項目主要與 Jazan ASU 合資企業的最終確定有關。 ROCE 在過去 6 個季度穩步攀升，達到 11.3%，比去年高出 120 個基點。我們預計 ROCE 會進一步改善，因為我們將新項目投產並繼續將我們的現金投入資產負債表。

Adjusting for cash, our ROCE would have been 13.3% this quarter. Sequentially, volume was weaker following a strong prior quarter, which also benefited from cost sales and a favorable contract [addendum]. Price continues to gain strength across the region. Merchant price improved 3% versus last quarter. EBITDA was down 5%, primarily due to weaker volumes, while EBITDA margin was up 200 basis points as positive price and energy cost pass-through more than offset the lower volume.

調整現金後，本季度我們的 ROCE 為 13.3%。隨後，繼上一季度表現強勁之後，銷量有所下降，這也得益於成本銷售和有利的合同 [附錄]。整個地區的價格繼續走強。與上一季度相比，商品價格上漲了 3%。 EBITDA 下降了 5%，主要是由於銷量下降，而 EBITDA 利潤率上升了 200 個基點，因為積極的價格和能源成本轉嫁抵消了較低的銷量。

Now please turn to Slide 18 for a discussion of our earnings per share results. Our first quarter adjusted EPS was $2.64 per share this year, up $0.60 or 6% compared to last year. Strong price drove the improved results. Price, net of variable costs contributed over $0.70 this quarter as our price actions more than offset the higher variable cost increases. Cost was $0.11 unfavorable primarily due to inflation and higher maintenance. Price, volume and cost together added $0.63 or a 25% increase compared to last year.

現在請轉到幻燈片 18 討論我們的每股收益結果。我們今年第一季度調整後的每股收益為 2.64 美元，比去年增加 0.60 美元或 6%。強勁的價格推動了業績的改善。本季度扣除可變成本的價格貢獻超過 0.70 美元，因為我們的價格行動抵消了較高的可變成本增長。成本為 0.11 美元，不利的主要原因是通貨膨脹和更高的維護費用。與去年相比，價格、數量和成本加在一起增加了 0.63 美元或 25%。

However, the negative $0.15 from currency and a roughly $0.20 of prior year onetime benefit associated with the finalization of the Jazan ASU joint venture moderates a strong underlying result. The Jazan item accounted for much of the $0.14 decline in equity affiliates' income and an unfavorable $0.10 in noncontrolling interest. The effective tax rate of 19.1% was 210 basis points unfavorable due to less tax benefit this year.

然而，與 Jazan ASU 合資企業的最終確定相關的貨幣負 0.15 美元和前一年約 0.20 美元的一次性收益緩和了強勁的潛在結果。 Jazan 項目佔股權附屬公司收入下降 0.14 美元和非控股權益不利的 0.10 美元的大部分原因。由於今年的稅收優惠減少，19.1% 的實際稅率為 210 個基點。

We expect an effective tax rate of 19% to 20% in FY 2023. For the quarter, a non-service component of our defined benefit plans were favorable $0.04 last year and unfavorable $0.07 this year. As I shared with you last quarter, we now exclude the component from our adjusted results.

我們預計 2023 財年的有效稅率為 19% 至 20%。本季度，我們固定福利計劃的非服務部分去年有利 0.04 美元，今年不利 0.07 美元。正如我上個季度與您分享的那樣，我們現在從調整後的結果中排除了該組件。

Now please turn to Slide 19. Our distributable cash flow continued to climb, driven by improving EBITDA. While cash expenses included interest, cash tax and maintenance CapEx remains relatively stable over the last 3 years. Over the last 12 months, we generated close to $3.1 billion of distributable cash flow or almost $14 per share. From our distributable cash flow, we paid over 45% or over $1.4 billion as dividends to our shareholders while still having almost $1.7 billion to invest for growth. Our ability to grow distributable cash flow, especially in challenging conditions demonstrates the strength and stability of our business. It enabled us to continue to create shareholder value by increasing dividend and deploying capital for high-return projects.

現在請轉到幻燈片 19。在 EBITDA 改善的推動下，我們的可分配現金流量繼續攀升。雖然現金支出包括利息、現金稅和維護資本支出在過去 3 年中保持相對穩定。在過去的 12 個月裡，我們產生了近 31 億美元的可分配現金流或每股近 14 美元。從我們的可分配現金流中，我們向股東支付了超過 45% 或超過 14 億美元的股息，同時仍有近 17 億美元用於增長投資。我們增加可分配現金流的能力，尤其是在充滿挑戰的條件下，證明了我們業務的實力和穩定性。它使我們能夠通過增加股息和為高回報項目部署資本來繼續創造股東價值。

Slide 20 provides an update of our capital deployment. As you can see, we have over $36 billion of capital deployment potential through fiscal 2027. The $36 billion includes over $8 billion of cash, additional debt capacity available today, about $17 billion, we expect to be available by 2027 and almost $12 billion already spent. We still believe this capacity is conservative given the potential for additional EBITDA growth, which would generate additional cash flow and additional borrowing capacity.

幻燈片 20 提供了我們資本部署的最新情況。如您所見，到 2027 財年，我們有超過 360 億美元的資本部署潛力。這 360 億美元包括超過 80 億美元的現金，今天可用的額外債務能力約為 170 億美元，我們預計到 2027 年將可用，並且已經接近 120 億美元花費。我們仍然認為，考慮到 EBITDA 額外增長的潛力，這將產生額外的現金流和額外的借貸能力，這種能力是保守的。

As always, we continue to focus on managing our debt balance to maintain our current targeted A/A2 rating. So you can see our backlog of nearly $20 billion will provide a substantial amount of growth in the future. However, please note this figure still includes the second phase of Jazan project that was completed in January as well as the capital required for NEOM at its original higher value as we work through the finalization of project financing.

一如既往，我們繼續專注於管理我們的債務餘額，以維持我們目前的目標 A/A2 評級。所以你可以看到我們近 200 億美元的積壓訂單將在未來提供大量增長。但是，請注意，該數字仍包括 1 月份完成的 Jazan 項目的第二階段以及 NEOM 所需的原始較高價值的資金，因為我們正在努力完成項目融資。

Moreover, we will include the $4 billion Texas green hydrogen project when the project reaches final investment decision. We have already spent over 30% and committed 74% of the updated capacity we show on this slide. We have made great progress and still have substantial investment capacity remaining to invest in high-return projects. We believe that investing in these high-return projects is the best way to create shareholder value for the long run. We continue to evaluate our capital deployment options and determine the best way to use available cash and trusted to us by our shareholders. Now to begin the review of our business segment results, I'll turn the call back over to Seifi.

此外，當項目做出最終投資決定時，我們將包括 40 億美元的德克薩斯綠色氫能項目。我們已經花費了超過 30% 並承諾了我們在這張幻燈片上顯示的更新容量的 74%。我們已經取得了很大進展，並且仍有大量投資能力可以投資於高回報項目。我們認為，投資這些高回報項目是為股東創造長期價值的最佳方式。我們繼續評估我們的資本配置方案，並確定使用可用現金和股東信任我們的最佳方式。現在開始審查我們的業務部門業績，我將把電話轉回給 Seifi。

Thank you, Melissa. Now please turn to Slide #21 for our Asia first quarter results. Our businesses were able to deliver positive volume and price despite the negative COVID impact in certain parts of China. Volume improved 7% supported by new assets. This quarter, we benefited from more than 25 new small to midsized traditional industrial gas plants which came on stream across the region over the last years. Price was up 1% in total, which is -- which translates to 3% in our merchant business. Although underlying sales grew 8% versus last year and energy pass-through was a positive 2%. Overall, sales (inaudible) offset by a 10% weaker currency, which is obviously translation.

謝謝你，梅麗莎。現在請轉到幻燈片#21 了解我們亞洲第一季度的業績。儘管 COVID 在中國某些地區產生了負面影響，但我們的業務仍能夠提供積極的數量和價格。在新資產的支持下，銷量增長了 7%。本季度，我們受益於過去幾年在該地區投產的超過 25 家新的中小型傳統工業氣體工廠。價格總共上漲了 1%，也就是說——這意味著我們的商業業務上漲了 3%。儘管基本銷售額與去年相比增長了 8%，並且能量傳遞為正 2%。總體而言，銷售額（聽不清）被貨幣貶值 10% 所抵消，這顯然是換算。

Negative currency also reduced operating income and EBITDA each by about 10%. Operating income and EBITDA both improved versus prior year as better volume and price more than offset the negative COVID impact. Higher price and volume also drove margin improvement. Although China's government has relaxed its rules related to COVID, their subsequent high infection rates have impacted business activity. We expect economic recovery in China to take time. We anticipate power cost across the region to continue to rise, and we are taking action, which I mean pricing action, to mitigate the impact. Sequentially results compared unfavorably to last quarter, which benefited from some specific spot sales.

負貨幣還使營業收入和 EBITDA 各減少了約 10%。營業收入和 EBITDA 均較上年有所改善，因為更好的銷量和價格抵消了 COVID 的負面影響。更高的價格和銷量也推動了利潤率的提高。儘管中國政府放寬了與 COVID 相關的規定，但隨後的高感染率已經影響了商業活動。我們預計中國的經濟復甦需要時間。我們預計整個地區的電力成本將繼續上升，我們正在採取行動，我的意思是定價行動，以減輕影響。環比結果與上一季度相比不利，上一季度受益於一些特定的現貨銷售。

At this point, I would like to turn the call over to Sid to discuss our European results. Sid?

在這一點上，我想把電話轉給 Sid 來討論我們的歐洲結果。希德？

Thank you, Seifi. Now please turn to Slide 22. As the chart shows, power costs for Europe moderated sequentially this quarter, but are still at a historically elevated level. Our commercial team has executed significant price actions to compensate to these costs in our merchant business and their hard work has paid off. Although we have fully recovered the higher power costs for the quarter, we are keeping a close eye on the dynamic power market in this region.

謝謝你，賽菲。現在請轉到幻燈片 22。如圖所示，本季度歐洲的電力成本環比下降，但仍處於歷史高位。我們的商業團隊已經採取了重大的價格行動來補償我們商家業務中的這些成本，他們的辛勤工作得到了回報。儘管我們已經完全收回本季度較高的電力成本，但我們仍在密切關注該地區的動態電力市場。

As a reminder, power costs in our merchant business is the primary focus when managing the escalating energy costs in Europe. Our on-site business has contractual pass-through, which enables us to pass energy cost to our customers and almost all our national gas usage is for on-site hydrogen production.

提醒一下，在管理歐洲不斷上升的能源成本時，我們商業業務的電力成本是主要關注點。我們的現場業務有合同傳遞，這使我們能夠將能源成本轉嫁給我們的客戶，幾乎我們所有的國家天然氣使用都用於現場製氫。

Now please turn to Slide 23 for a review of our Europe results. Successful price actions, we have worked hard to implement the last few quarters, drove the significant improvement in Europe's results. Compared to prior year, price increased 14% for the regions corresponding to a 24% improvement in merchant pricing. Volume declined 6%, reflecting challenging conditions in the region. Demand for our hydrogen was weaker as customers continued to optimize their own hydrogen operations.

現在請轉到幻燈片 23 查看我們在歐洲的結果。成功的價格行動，我們在過去幾個季度努力實施，推動了歐洲業績的顯著改善。與上一年相比，該地區的價格上漲了 14%，相應的商戶價格上漲了 24%。銷量下降 6%，反映出該地區充滿挑戰的環境。隨著客戶繼續優化自己的氫氣運營，對我們氫氣的需求減弱。

Our merchant business was lower, partly due to the divestment of our business in Russia. Energy cost pass-through was up 9% due to higher natural gas costs although it had no impact in profit. Operating income jumped nearly 50%, while EBITDA was up almost 30%, primarily due to strong price. Although unfavorable currencies reduced operating income and EBITDA, each by more than 10%. Price primarily drove more than 400 basis point, EBITDA margin increase. This was net of the higher energy cost pass-through, which lowered the margin by about 200 basis points.

我們的商業業務較低，部分原因是我們在俄羅斯的業務撤資。儘管對利潤沒有影響，但由於天然氣成本上漲，能源成本轉嫁率上升了 9%。營業收入增長近 50%，而 EBITDA 增長近 30%，這主要是由於價格強勁。儘管不利的貨幣使營業收入和 EBITDA 均減少了 10% 以上。價格主要推動了超過 400 個基點的 EBITDA 利潤率增長。這扣除了較高的能源成本轉嫁，後者將利潤率降低了約 200 個基點。

Compared to the prior quarter, volume was unfavorable due to weaker merchant this quarter and a favorable contract amendment in the prior quarter.

與上一季度相比，由於本季度商家疲軟以及上一季度有利的合同修訂，銷量不利。

Now I would like to turn the call over to Dr. Serhan for a discussion of our other segments.

現在我想把電話轉給 Serhan 博士來討論我們的其他部門。

Thank you, Sid. Now please turn to Slide 24 for a review of our Americas results. Underlying sales increased 15% despite the adverse effect of severe weather in December. Price improved further by 9%. This is equivalent to a 26% increase in the merchant business. Our team in the Americas has successfully raised the prices to cover the higher energy cost. Volume grew 6% due to better merchant and on-site, volume also benefited from a new short-term agreement, which will benefit Americas results for the next few quarters.

謝謝你，希德。現在請轉到幻燈片 24 查看我們在美洲的結果。儘管 12 月受到惡劣天氣的不利影響，但基礎銷售額仍增長了 15%。價格進一步上漲了 9%。這相當於商戶業務增長了26%。我們在美洲的團隊已成功提高價格以彌補更高的能源成本。由於更好的商家和現場，銷量增長了 6%，銷量也受益於新的短期協議，這將有利於未來幾個季度美洲的業績。

Operating income was up to almost 30% over last year. And operating margin improved 300 basis points, driven primarily by the strong price. Volume also contributed to profits, but costs were unfavorable. EBITDA improved less than operating income because of our lower equity affiliate income due to unfavorable onetime items and lower medical oxygen volume in Mexico as the COVID impact subsided.

營業收入比去年增長近30%。主要受強勁價格的推動，營業利潤率提高了 300 個基點。銷量也對利潤做出了貢獻，但成本不利。由於 COVID 影響消退，不利的一次性項目和墨西哥醫用氧氣量減少導致我們的股權附屬公司收入減少，因此 EBITDA 的改善低於營業收入。

Sequentially, the price continued to gain strength. Merchant price was up 7%, but volume was down 3%, following a strong previous quarter. EBITDA margin improved by around 400 basis points, primarily due to lower energy cost pass-through which accounted for three-quarters of that. We expect our planned maintenance activity to increase next quarter in parallel with our customers' plan turnaround.

隨後，價格繼續走強。繼上一季度的強勁表現之後，商品價格上漲了 7%，但銷量下降了 3%。 EBITDA 利潤率提高了約 400 個基點，這主要是由於較低的能源成本轉嫁（佔其中的四分之三）。我們預計我們計劃的維護活動將在下個季度與客戶的計劃周轉同時增加。

Please now turn to Slide 26 for our corporate segment. This segment includes our -- I'm sorry.

現在請轉到我們公司部門的幻燈片 26。該部分包括我們的 - 對不起。

Samir, you need to describe (inaudible) Slide #25, please?

薩米爾，你需要描述一下（聽不清）幻燈片 #25，好嗎？

I'm sorry, review the Middle East results and India before going to that. So please -- lets go to Slide 25 first for review of our Middle East and India segment. Sales and operating income in this segment are modest since our Middle East and India wholly owned operations are smaller in size. However, the segment's EBITDA is significant, it includes the equity affiliate income related to the Jazan gasification and power joint venture, our India joint venture, (inaudible) Air Products and other joint ventures.

抱歉，在開始之前先回顧一下中東和印度的結果。所以請 - 讓我們先轉到幻燈片 25 來回顧我們的中東和印度部分。由於我們在中東和印度的全資業務規模較小，因此該部門的銷售和營業收入不大。然而，該部門的 EBITDA 很大，它包括與 Jazan 氣化和電力合資企業、我們的印度合資企業、（聽不清）Air Products 和其他合資企業相關的股權附屬收入。

For the quarter, an acquisition benefited sales and operating income versus last year but was partially offset by land maintenance activities.

在本季度，與去年相比，一項收購使銷售和營業收入受益，但被土地維護活動部分抵消。

Although our share of the ongoing Jazan gasification and power joint venture net profit added to the region's results, the equity affiliate income declined by $28 million primarily due to the onetime benefit associated with the Jazan ASU joint venture finalization in the first quarter of last year. As Seifi mentioned before, we have successfully completed the second phase of the Jazan gasification and power project, and we have begun to receive additional income in the second quarter.

儘管我們在正在進行的 Jazan 氣化和電力合資企業淨利潤中所佔的份額增加了該地區的業績，但股權附屬公司收入下降了 2800 萬美元，這主要是由於與去年第一季度 Jazan ASU 合資企業最終確定相關的一次性收益。正如Seifi之前提到的，我們已經成功完成了Jazan氣化發電項目的二期工程，我們已經開始在第二季度獲得額外收入。

Now please turn to Slide 26 for our Corporate segment. This segment includes our sales of equipment businesses as well as our centrally managed functions and corporate costs. For our sale of equipment activities, our LNG business historically has been the anchor, but our non-LNG related project activities have also grown in recent years to become major contributors to this segment. The cadence of project activities and timing of sales and profit recognition can vary the segment results. Our ongoing effort to support our growth strategy has also increased the centrally managed functions and corporate costs.

現在請轉到我們公司部門的幻燈片 26。該部門包括我們的設備業務銷售以及我們集中管理的職能和企業成本。對於我們的設備銷售活動，我們的液化天然氣業務歷來是支柱，但我們的非液化天然氣相關項目活動近年來也有所增長，成為該部門的主要貢獻者。項目活動的節奏以及銷售和利潤確認的時間可以改變分部結果。我們為支持我們的增長戰略所做的持續努力也增加了集中管理的職能和公司成本。

For the quarter, the segment sales and profits were lower than last year, primarily due to lower sale of equipment project activities. We also continue to add resources to support our growth strategy. As mentioned before, inquiries for potential LNG projects have picked up recently. However, these projects take time to develop. We're excited, however, that we have signed 1 new agreement in the quarter and working hard to sign additional new projects.

本季度，該部門的銷售額和利潤低於去年，這主要是由於設備項目活動的銷售額下降。我們還繼續增加資源以支持我們的增長戰略。如前所述，最近對潛在液化天然氣項目的詢價有所增加。然而，這些項目需要時間來開發。然而，令我們興奮的是，我們在本季度簽署了 1 項新協議，並努力簽署更多新項目。

At this point, I would like to return the call back over to Seifi to provide his closing [comment.] Seifi?

在這一點上，我想將電話轉回 Seifi 以提供他的結束[評論]。Seifi？

Thank you, Dr. Serhan. Now please turn to Slide #27. The outlook for the global economy remains uncertain. However, we remain confident in Air Products and the prospects that we have in the future and the stability of our business which is supported by our robust capital deployment strategy as you have seen. Therefore, for fiscal year 2023, we have left our guidance unchanged despite the significant uncertainties that exists in the world.

謝謝你，Serhan 博士。現在請轉到幻燈片 #27。全球經濟前景仍不明朗。然而，我們對空氣產品公司以及我們未來的前景以及我們業務的穩定性仍然充滿信心，正如您所看到的，我們強大的資本部署戰略支持我們的業務穩定性。因此，對於 2023 財年，儘管世界存在重大不確定性，但我們仍保持我們的指導不變。

For the second quarter of fiscal year '23, which is usually our weakest quarter. Our earnings per share guidance is $2.50 to $2.70, up 7% to 15% over last year. We still see our CapEx at $5 billion to $5.5 billion for the year, including the approximately $1 billion for the completion of the Jazan project that we just talked about.

對於 23 財年的第二季度，這通常是我們最疲軟的季度。我們的每股收益指引為 2.50 美元至 2.70 美元，比去年增長 7% 至 15%。我們仍然看到我們今年的資本支出為 50 億至 55 億美元，包括我們剛才談到的 Jazan 項目完成的大約 10 億美元。

Now please turn to Slide #28. We include this slide in all our earnings call presentations. It describes very clearly my view that an enterprise can only be successful for the long term when the people in the enterprise are motivated and committed to emission. And Air Products are higher pipes. Our mission as a company is to bring people together so that they can collaborate and innovate solutions to the world's most significant energy, environmental and sustainability challenges. We continue to build a diverse and inclusive culture. There are more than 21,000 people, feel they belong and matter and are motivated to achieve our goals. I believe Air Products is uniquely positioned to help the Board transition to a cleaner and better future, and we are putting our efforts toward that each and every day.

現在請轉到幻燈片#28。我們將這張幻燈片包含在我們所有的收益電話演示中。它非常清楚地描述了我的觀點，即只有當企業中的人有動力並致力於排放時，企業才能長期成功。而 Air Products 是更高的管道。作為一家公司，我們的使命是將人們聚集在一起，以便他們能夠協作並創新解決方案，以應對世界上最重大的能源、環境和可持續發展挑戰。我們繼續建立多元化和包容性的文化。有超過 21,000 人感受到他們的歸屬感和重要性，並有動力實現我們的目標。我相信 Air Products 具有獨特的優勢，可以幫助董事會過渡到更清潔、更美好的未來，我們每天都在為此努力。

Now we are very pleased to answer your questions. Operator, we are ready for questions.

現在我們很高興回答您的問題。接線員，我們準備好提問了。

(Operator Instructions) We'll go first to Christopher Parkinson with Mizuho.

（操作員說明）我們將首先與 Mizuho 一起去克里斯托弗帕金森。

Great. Seifi, just given all the macro uncertainty that's prevailing across the globe, can you just give us your current assessments of where you think you stand as well as the operating rates for the regional merchant businesses?

偉大的。 Seifi，考慮到全球普遍存在的所有宏觀不確定性，您能否給我們您目前對您認為自己所處位置的評估以及區域商業業務的開工率？

Thank you very much, Chris. Right now, obviously, it's very difficult under the current circumstances to predict what is going to happen in the next few quarters. But we feel very confident about our own operations and about our ability to keep our plants running and service our customers.

非常感謝你，克里斯。很明顯，在當前情況下很難預測未來幾個季度會發生什麼。但我們對我們自己的運營以及我們保持工廠運行和服務客戶的能力充滿信心。

And as I look around the world, we obviously saw the Chinese economy a little bit weaker in the first quarter than we expected. Right now, my view on the Chinese economy is we have to wait and see how it comes out after the Chinese New Year. We don't expect any kind of disaster or any bad news, but it's just a question of the rate of improvement, how would that be? We are very well positioned there. We have taken action to increase prices. And most important, as I said, we are benefiting from the fact that we have 20, 25 smaller projects that we usually don't announce, but they are standard industrial gas projects, they are coming on stream, and they are contributing. So we feel that we will be able to deliver on Asia in general.

當我環顧世界時，我們顯然看到第一季度的中國經濟比我們預期的要弱一些。目前，我對中國經濟的看法是，我們必須拭目以待，看看農曆新年過後它的表現如何。我們不期待任何災難或任何壞消息，但這只是改善速度的問題，那會怎樣？我們在那裡的位置非常好。我們已採取行動提高價格。最重要的是，正如我所說，我們受益於這樣一個事實，即我們有 20、25 個我們通常不會宣布的較小項目，但它們是標準的工業氣體項目，它們正在投產，並且正在做出貢獻。因此，我們認為我們將能夠在整個亞洲取得成功。

In Europe, the economy, again, was weaker than we expected in the first quarter. But right now, energy prices seem to have a stabilized -- power prices have stabilized. Natural gas prices have not yet. But overall, we think that we should be okay in Europe.

在歐洲，第一季度的經濟再次弱於我們的預期。但現在，能源價格似乎已經穩定——電力價格已經穩定。天然氣價格還沒有。但總的來說，我們認為我們在歐洲應該沒問題。

And in the U.S., you saw our actions in respect to pricing. Last quarter, we got overall 7% -- overall for the whole company, we got 7%. But in the U.S., we got almost 14% price increase, which translates to almost 19% -- 20% price increase on the merchant side.

在美國，你看到了我們在定價方面的行動。上個季度，我們總體上獲得了 7%——整個公司的總體上，我們獲得了 7%。但在美國，我們的價格上漲了近 14%，這意味著商家方面的價格上漲了近 19% - 20%。

Latin America is always very big, so we don't talk about it too much. So overall, we feel pretty confident that we should be able to deliver forecast that we have given you for the year.

拉丁美洲總是很大，所以我們不談太多。所以總的來說，我們非常有信心我們應該能夠提供我們今年給你的預測。

That's helpful. And just as a quick follow-up, just given now that investors and your team has had an opportunity to digest the IRA, is there any key opportunity that's, let's say, specific to Air Products that you believe investors are missing? Is there something on the HyCO facility retrofits? Is there just anything else in terms of that materialization over the next several years that we all should be paying attention to?

這很有幫助。作為快速跟進，鑑於現在投資者和您的團隊有機會消化 IRA，是否有任何關鍵機會，比方說，您認為投資者錯過了特定於 Air Products 的機會？有關於 HyCO 設施改造的內容嗎？就未來幾年的具體化而言，還有什麼我們都應該關注的嗎？

Chris, that's a very, very good question. I don't want to comment too much about the IRA benefits because the law is that everybody can read that. But the opportunities for Air Products that we will definitely follow through is, number one, we did put carbon capture on our existing facilities. There is 2 benefits on that: Number one, we reduced our CO2 emissions; and number two, that gives us an opportunity to have a lower carbon hydrogen that we can sell at higher prices. We will definitely do that.

克里斯，這是一個非常非常好的問題。我不想過多評論 IRA 福利，因為法律規定每個人都可以閱讀。但是，我們肯定會把握住 Air Products 的機會，第一，我們確實在現有設施上進行了碳捕獲。這樣做有兩個好處：第一，我們減少了二氧化碳排放量；第二，這讓我們有機會獲得可以以更高價格出售的低碳氫。我們一定會那樣做。

Then we are benefiting from the IRA on a [project] that we had announced before the IRA, which was the project in Louisiana. We did that project with the economic space on -- no IRA benefit on $85 for CO2 capture. We were counting on about $50. So that additional $35 enhances the returns on that project. And then we will do significant amount of green projects in the United States. We did announce a project in Northern Texas and the -- definitely are working on other mega projects to produce green hydrogen in the United States.

然後，我們在 IRA 之前宣布的一個 [項目] 中受益於 IRA，這是路易斯安那州的項目。我們在經濟空間上進行了該項目 - 85 美元的 CO2 捕獲沒有 IRA 收益。我們指望大約 50 美元。因此，額外的 35 美元可以提高該項目的回報。然後我們將在美國做大量的綠色項目。我們確實在德克薩斯州北部宣布了一個項目，並且 - 肯定正在開展其他大型項目以在美國生產綠色氫氣。

The IRA credits for $3 for green hydrogen production. Plus, the fact that if you make an integrated facility, you also get credit for the renewable power that you generate makes it very attractive to make these investments in the U.S. We are extremely well positioned with our pipeline in the Gulf Coast and with our know-how and with our distribution capabilities to do things that other people cannot do because anybody can already take advantage of the credit if you can do something with the hydrogen.

IRA 將 3 美元用於綠色制氫。此外，如果您建立一個綜合設施，您還可以獲得您產生的可再生能源的信用，這使得在美國進行這些投資非常有吸引力。我們在墨西哥灣沿岸的管道和我們的知識非常有利-如何以及利用我們的分銷能力來做其他人無法做的事情，因為如果你能用氫做點什麼，任何人都可以利用信用。

I mean people can run around and say, okay, I'm going to build a plant to produce green electricity and produce hydrogen. But then what do you do with the hydrogen? Air Products is one of the very few companies who knows what to do with the hydrogen. We are a hydrogen company. Therefore, we are in a very unique position to take full advantage of the IRA registration. We are very pleased with that. That was a very significant step forward in the United States. And then the very good news for us is that, that has prompted other countries to take action.

我的意思是人們可以跑來跑去說，好吧，我要建一個工廠來生產綠色電力和氫氣。但是你用氫做什麼呢？空氣產品公司是為數不多的知道如何處理氫氣的公司之一。我們是一家氫氣公司。因此，我們處於一個非常獨特的位置，可以充分利用 IRA 註冊。我們對此感到非常高興。這是美國向前邁出的非常重要的一步。然後對我們來說非常好的消息是，這促使其他國家採取行動。

And I think yesterday or the day before that, you saw an announcement from the European Union that they are going to have a program of about EUR 280 billion to promote the same kind of things, which would, obviously, be very good for us because we are a global company. Okay, Chris?

我想昨天或前一天，你看到歐盟宣布他們將有一個約 2800 億歐元的計劃來推廣同樣的事情，這顯然對我們非常有利，因為我們是一家全球性公司。好的，克里斯？

We'll take our next question from David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

我們將接受來自德意志銀行的 David Begleiter 的下一個問題。

This is Anthony Mercandetti on for David. Seifi, you mentioned in your slides your new capital structure and the changes on the capital costs and contributions to NEOM. What is the return on this project versus what you were expecting when you first announced the project in July of 2020?

這是大衛的安東尼梅爾坎德蒂。 Seifi，你在幻燈片中提到了你的新資本結構以及資本成本的變化和對 NEOM 的貢獻。與您在 2020 年 7 月首次宣布該項目時的預期相比，該項目的回報是多少？

Well, the thing is that I have 3 partners, and I don't want to speak for them and disclose the return on the project. But the thing that you have to take a look at is that we don't look at the return on the project because we are going to take the offtake and sell that and make money on that, and that is how we take a look at the return on the total investment. So on that front, the return on that is going to be in accordance with what they have given you a guidance, which is for every dollar that we invest, you should expect about $0.10 of operating income. So you have to look at total supply chain from Air Products' point of view.

好吧，問題是我有 3 個合作夥伴，我不想代表他們發言並透露項目的回報。但是你必須要看的是，我們不看項目的回報，因為我們要承購併出售它並從中賺錢，這就是我們看的方式總投資回報率。所以在這方面，回報將與他們給你的指導一致，即我們投資的每一美元，你應該期望大約 0.10 美元的營業收入。所以你必須從 Air Products 的角度來看整個供應鏈。

In terms of the specific return on the project, that is up to my partners to decide whether they want to disclose that or not. I don't want to disclose that because for us, that doesn't mean anything. It's the total supply chain. The important thing that you need to focus on is the fact that we are offtaking the ammonia at the same price that it was negotiated in 2020. Okay?

至於項目的具體回報，那是我的合作夥伴決定要不要公開的。我不想透露這一點，因為對我們來說，這沒有任何意義。這是整個供應鏈。您需要關注的一件重要事情是，我們正在以與 2020 年談判的價格相同的價格購買氨。好嗎？

Yes. Understood. And as a follow-up on the green ammonia, if you did not lock in this price to purchase, how much higher do you think it would be today versus when the project comes on stream?

是的。明白了。而作為綠氨的後續，如果你沒有鎖定這個價格購買，你認為今天比項目投產時高多少？

Well, it depends on what you would have negotiated with our partners. I don't expect it to have been significantly different. But -- because -- I mean you talked about additional capital cost, but as I said, a lot of the operating costs is being capitalized. So that necessarily doesn't affect the return on the project. But again, I just don't -- I have 2 other partners, and I respect them. And I don't want to disclose their financials. But as I said, please, from an Air Products' point of view, you need to look at the total supply chain.

好吧，這取決於您與我們的合作夥伴談判的內容。我不希望它有很大的不同。但是——因為——我的意思是你談到了額外的資本成本，但正如我所說，很多運營成本都被資本化了。所以這不一定會影響項目的回報。但同樣，我只是不——我還有另外兩個合作夥伴，我尊重他們。我不想透露他們的財務狀況。但正如我所說，請從 Air Products 的角度來看，您需要查看整個供應鏈。

We'll take our next question from John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets.

我們將從 BMO Capital Markets 的 John McNulty 那裡回答下一個問題。

Seifi, you seem excited about the price of the offtake for NEOM basically remaining flat. So I guess why is that? Are you seeing interest from buyers right now that are higher than what you thought they would be at the time that you originally signed into this contract? I guess how should we be thinking about that?

Seifi，你似乎對 NEOM 的承購價格基本持平感到興奮。所以我想這是為什麼？您現在是否看到買家的興趣高於您最初簽署此合同時的預期？我想我們應該如何考慮？

Well, I think that's one way of putting it. The thing that we see is significant interest in the product. And obviously, as a businessman, we would like to offtake anything that we buy at the most favorable price that we can get. But I'm particularly interested -- the reason I keep mentioning that, because I just want to make sure that people don't think that, well, these guys said $5 billion, now it's $8.5 billion. Therefore, this -- the price of ammonia must have gone up. It did not.

好吧，我認為這是一種表達方式。我們看到的是對產品的極大興趣。很明顯，作為一名商人，我們希望以我們能得到的最優惠的價格出售我們購買的任何東西。但我特別感興趣——我一直提到這一點的原因，因為我只是想確保人們不這麼認為，好吧，這些人說 50 億美元，現在是 85 億美元。因此，氨的價格肯定上漲了。它沒。

And it just -- look, one other thing, John. You know this better than I do. We are project financing this thing with some of the biggest banks in the world giving us money. They have looked at this project. They have looked at the return of the project, and they are willing to finance it. So I guess they all think this is a good project and a good prospect, and they were going to get their money back. You know what I mean?

它只是 - 看，另一件事，約翰。你比我更了解這一點。我們正在為這個項目融資，世界上一些最大的銀行給了我們錢。他們看過這個項目。他們已經看到了項目的回報，並且願意為其提供資金。所以我猜他們都認為這是一個好項目，前景好，他們會收回他們的錢。你知道我的意思？

Yes. No, for sure. I guess maybe looking at it from a slightly different angle. So when you think about -- like when I think about project financing, the benefit of it is it tends to juice the returns a little bit more, but it does take out some of the EPS on the -- tied to the equity that's being put to work because there's less equity involved. I guess when you think about the total capital of the project overall, the distribution side as well as the actual production side and the economics around that. I guess how has that changed relative to what you thought originally with the project financing now in place?

是的。不，當然。我想也許從一個稍微不同的角度來看它。因此，當您考慮 - 就像我考慮項目融資時，它的好處是它往往會提高回報率，但它確實會減少一些 EPS - 與正在投資的股權相關聯投入工作，因為涉及的股權較少。我想當你考慮整個項目的總資本時，分配方面以及實際生產方面和周圍的經濟。我想這與您最初對項目融資的看法相比有何變化？

John, it has obviously improved because I'm putting less cash on the production side. So we are better off. And as long as the price of ammonia is the same. So we have made an improvement. We have another $1 billion that we were going to invest to do other things.

約翰，它明顯有所改善，因為我在生產方面投入的資金減少了。所以我們過得更好。而且只要氨的價格是一樣的。所以我們做了改進。我們還有 10 億美元打算投資做其他事情。

We'll go next to John Roberts with Credit Suisse.

我們將與瑞士信貸一起去約翰·羅伯茨旁邊。

ExxonMobil recently announced a blue hydrogen project in the Gulf Coast that includes ammonia as well. And it looks like it has merchant ambitions here. Since refiners are a large customer for Air Products, help us understand, would you have bid for that project as well? Or how do we think about how your customers might play in the hydrogen and potentially ammonia market?

埃克森美孚最近在墨西哥灣沿岸宣布了一項藍氫項目，其中也包括氨。看起來它在這裡有商業野心。由於煉油廠是空氣產品公司的大客戶，請幫助我們理解，您是否也會競標該項目？或者我們如何考慮您的客戶如何在氫氣和潛在的氨市場中發揮作用？

Well, I mean I can't comment on the strategy of Exxon and what they're going to do. But this is a competitive Board. If Exxon decides that they want to get into the merchant ammonia business and make blue ammonia to sell, then we will have an extra -- an additional competitor. Hydrogen that they are going to produce a significant amount of that, from what I understand, is going to be used to replace the natural gas that they are using because the whole purpose of the project is to reduce their carbon emissions. So if they do that, now are they going to make so much hydrogen that they have extra amount to do merchant? I don't know. I don't have any visibility on that and all of that. That's up to them to do what they want to do. We would have (inaudible). You know what we are doing.

好吧，我的意思是我不能評論埃克森美孚的戰略以及他們將要做什麼。但這是一個競爭激烈的董事會。如果埃克森美孚決定他們想要進入商業氨業務並生產藍色氨來銷售，那麼我們將有一個額外的 - 一個額外的競爭對手。據我了解，他們將生產大量的氫氣，將用於替代他們正在使用的天然氣，因為該項目的全部目的是減少他們的碳排放。因此，如果他們這樣做了，現在他們是否會製造出如此多的氫氣，以至於他們有多餘的錢來做生意？我不知道。我對此一無所知。這取決於他們做他們想做的事。我們會（聽不清）。你知道我們在做什麼。

And as I said, I'm sure other people will get attracted to these projects. But it's one thing talking about these things (inaudible) actually doing the details. They just announced they're doing a fee. They have to wait until they do the fee, then they add the costs, and then they find out what the total cost is and all of that. But it's entirely up to them. (inaudible) they decided to do it themselves, which is fine.

正如我所說，我相信其他人也會被這些項目所吸引。但談論這些事情（聽不清）實際上是在做細節是一回事。他們剛剛宣布他們正在收取費用。他們必須等到他們支付了費用，然後他們加上成本，然後他們才知道總成本是多少等等。但這完全取決於他們。 （聽不清）他們決定自己做，這很好。

Okay. And then since the Alberta blue hydrogen plant will be the first really big project up online, do you think you'll get a premium on all of the hydrogen out of that plant? Or do you think some of the hydrogen is going to be sold with the existing gray hydrogen market.

好的。然後，由於阿爾伯塔藍氫工廠將成為第一個真正意義上的在線大型項目，你認為你會從該工廠生產的所有氫氣中獲得溢價嗎？或者你認為一些氫會與現有的灰色氫市場一起出售。

The interesting thing that you mentioned with Exxon are projects in Canada. The customer for that project is Exxon. We are, right now, almost sold out of that project, and we are getting a significant premium, yes. Because Exxon, through their subsidiary, which we have announced this publicly, so I'm not putting anything new out, through their subsidiary, which is the [Inferior Chemicon Limited], they are going to use the blue hydrogen we give them to produce renewable diesel that they're going to sell in California at premium prices. And as a result, they are giving us a significant premium for the blue hydrogen that they are buying from us in Canada.

你和埃克森美孚提到的有趣的事情是在加拿大的項目。該項目的客戶是埃克森美孚。我們現在幾乎賣完了那個項目，我們得到了可觀的溢價，是的。因為埃克森美孚通過他們的子公司，我們已經公開宣布了這一點，所以我不會通過他們的子公司 [Inferior Chemicon Limited] 發布任何新消息，他們將使用我們提供給他們的藍色氫來生產他們將在加利福尼亞以高價出售的可再生柴油。結果，他們為我們在加拿大從我們這裡購買的藍色氫氣提供了可觀的溢價。

We'll take our next question from Steve Byrne with Bank of America.

我們將接受來自美國銀行的史蒂夫伯恩的下一個問題。

Yes. You had some pretty hefty merchant price increases in Europe and Americas. My question for you is, how much of that had a surcharge in it given gas costs have dropped in both regions? Could you see some sequential decline in pricing in those regions?

是的。歐洲和美洲的商家價格大幅上漲。我的問題是，考慮到這兩個地區的天然氣成本都下降了，其中有多少附加費？你能看到這些地區的價格連續下降嗎？

Well, the question that you're asking, Steve, is very relevant. We obviously have increased the prices in order to recover the power cost. Obviously, at some point in time, if the power costs go down, then some of the customers would expect us to decrease those prices. And we listen to that and we will make a decision based on supply-demand situation as we always do.

好吧，史蒂夫，你問的問題非常相關。我們顯然提高了價格以收回電力成本。顯然，在某個時間點，如果電力成本下降，那麼一些客戶會希望我們降低這些價格。我們聽取了意見，我們將一如既往地根據供需情況做出決定。

So it is possible. But if the price declines in the future, then that would be -- as a result of power price declining, therefore, theoretically, there shouldn't be an impact on our bottom line.

所以這是可能的。但如果未來價格下降，那將是——由於電價下降，因此，理論上，不應該對我們的底線產生影響。

Okay. And just a follow-up on NEOM. Has the design of it changed? Is it still a couple of gigawatts of electrolyzer capacity? Or has this changed? Could you produce more than the 1.2 million tons of ammonia? It seems like you could for battery backup. Is that also enabling you to lead -- to have an unchanged ammonia price from this project?

好的。並且只是對 NEOM 的跟進。它的設計有變化嗎？它仍然是幾千兆瓦的電解槽容量嗎？或者這已經改變了嗎？你能生產超過 120 萬噸的氨嗎？看來您可以使用備用電池。這是否也使您能夠領導 - 從該項目中獲得不變的氨價格？

Steve, you're asking a very good question, which is subjective in general discussion quite a bit. We are -- this is the first significant project that we are doing for green. We are obviously installing a significant amount of wind and solar capacity, and we are installing a significant amount of electrolyzer capacity.

史蒂夫，你問了一個很好的問題，在一般性討論中這個問題相當主觀。我們 - 這是我們為綠色所做的第一個重要項目。我們顯然正在安裝大量的風能和太陽能容量，並且我們正在安裝大量的電解槽容量。

What these electrolyzers and the wind and the solar will do actually might end up giving us the capability of making a lot more than the $1.2 billion. But I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. I don't want to promise that. But you are on the right track that there might be an upside in that side. And I personally think there could be an upside, but we have to wait and see.

這些電解槽、風能和太陽能的作用最終可能會讓我們有能力賺到比 12 億美元更多的錢。但我不想超越自己。我不想這樣承諾。但是你走在正確的軌道上，那方面可能有好處。我個人認為可能會有好處，但我們必須拭目以待。

We'll take our next question from Mike Leithead with Barclays.

我們將接受來自巴克萊銀行的 Mike Leithead 的下一個問題。

First question on NEOM. On the new $8.5 billion kind of all-in CapEx number, can you just give us some comfort or framework around how locked in that number is? Obviously, there's still about 70% or so of the engineering work left. Just any comfort around kind of what you're doing to make sure that number is not going to move again, say, in the next 3 years.

關於 NEOM 的第一個問題。關於新的 85 億美元的總資本支出數字，您能否就該數字的鎖定程度給我們一些安慰或框架？顯然，還有大約 70% 左右的工程工作還剩下。只是對你正在做的事情感到安慰，以確保這個數字不會再次移動，比如說，在未來 3 年內。

At this point, I can say that we have enough contingency there, and we have done enough work that I think that's a pretty good number. But nothing is 100%, but I feel pretty good about that number at this stage. I have Dr. Serhan on the line who is in charge of our -- all of our engineering and all of that. But I think (inaudible) pretty comfortable that, that is a good number. We spend a lot of time making sure that when we are doing project financing, that we don't have to go back for additional financing. But we feel pretty good about the number at this stage.

在這一點上，我可以說我們在那裡有足夠的偶然性，我們已經做了足夠的工作，我認為這是一個很好的數字。但沒有什麼是 100%，但在這個階段我對這個數字感覺很好。我有 Serhan 博士在線，他負責我們所有的工程和所有這些。但我認為（聽不清）很舒服，這是一個很好的數字。我們花了很多時間來確保在進行項目融資時，我們不必回去尋求額外的融資。但我們對現階段的數字感覺還不錯。

Beside the engineering, we haven't made the major orders on the project. So basically, that's also back then for like (inaudible) and even for the construction for the green element that's also being placed.

除了工程之外，我們還沒有在該項目上獲得主要訂單。所以基本上，那也是為了類似（聽不清），甚至對於同樣被放置的綠色元素的構造。

Yes. And just as a quick follow-on. With the new capital structure, that obviously can sometimes come with some level of covenants or restrictions around distribution. So just how should we think about the cash dividends from the project? Should they generally match income? Or are there some constraints or restrictions around the cash you can get back to Air Products?

是的。就像快速跟進一樣。對於新的資本結構，顯然有時會伴隨一定程度的分配契約或限制。那麼我們應該如何看待項目的現金分紅呢？他們通常應該與收入相匹配嗎？還是您可以退還給 Air Products 的現金有一些約束或限制？

Well, the cash income from the project itself, obviously, the project will have a cash flow that will go to servicing the debt. And if there is any extra of that, which I hope there is, that will come back to the shareholders. That's the way it is structured.

好吧，項目本身的現金收入，顯然，該項目將有現金流用於償還債務。如果有任何額外的東西，我希望有，那將回到股東手中。這就是它的結構方式。

We'll take our next question from Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research Partners.

我們將與 Vertical Research Partners 一起回答 Kevin McCarthy 的下一個問題。

With regard to Asia, you had healthy volume growth of 7%. But in the prepared remarks, I think you made a comment that you started 25 new assets in the region over the past year, which sounds like a fairly large number. So I was hoping you might be able to put that into context for us. Looking ahead, would you expect the contributions from those start-ups to remain elevated or regressed by some amount? How would you describe the shape of that profile in Asia?

關於亞洲，你們的銷量增長了 7%。但在準備好的發言中，我認為你發表評論說你在過去一年裡在該地區啟動了 25 項新資產，這聽起來是一個相當大的數字。所以我希望你能為我們把它放在上下文中。展望未來，您是否預計這些初創企業的貢獻會保持高位或有所下降？您如何描述亞洲的形象？

Kevin, quite honestly, that's a very good question. I really think this is a good opportunity for me to make a comment. A lot of times, people think that Air Products, the only thing we do is make our project. We have our base business, and we are making good progress in our base business. We are getting our share of all of these small projects. We don't announce it every time we have a $50 million nitrogen generator, but these things do add up.

凱文，老實說，這是一個很好的問題。我真的認為這是我發表評論的好機會。很多時候，人們認為 Air Products 唯一做的就是做我們的項目。我們有我們的基礎業務，我們在基礎業務方面取得了良好的進展。我們正在獲得所有這些小項目的份額。我們不會在每次擁有價值 5000 萬美元的氮氣發生器時都宣布它，但這些事情確實加起來了。

We had about 25 of them coming on stream in Asia. What they are doing is that they are helping us to deliver the volume increases despite the fact that you know that economic activity in China was almost -- it has gone from 6%, 7%, back to about 2%, 3%. So we are getting the benefit of that. And these things will help us in the future to make up for any weakness and, therefore, continue to help us to deliver good results for that region despite the fact that China might be flat or slowing down. So these are the good things. They are going to contribute, and we are very excited about it.

我們有大約 25 個在亞洲投產。他們正在做的是，他們正在幫助我們實現銷量增長，儘管你知道中國的經濟活動幾乎 - 它已經從 6%、7% 回到大約 2%、3%。所以我們正在從中受益。這些事情將幫助我們在未來彌補任何弱點，因此，儘管中國可能持平或放緩，但仍將繼續幫助我們為該地區取得良好成果。所以這些都是好事。他們將做出貢獻，我們對此感到非常興奮。

And then secondly, if I may. In North America, you made a comment that volume benefited from a new short-term agreement. Can you elaborate on that? What impact did that have? And how long might it persist?

其次，如果可以的話。在北美，您發表評論說銷量受益於新的短期協議。你能詳細說明一下嗎？這有什麼影響？它會持續多久？

Well, I don't want to disclose the name of the customer and so on, but we did get an opportunity because we could serve customers that other people couldn't serve, so we did get that benefit. But I would like to turn it over to Melissa to expand on that. Melissa?

好吧，我不想透露客戶的名字等等，但我們確實得到了一個機會，因為我們可以服務其他人無法服務的客戶，所以我們確實得到了那個好處。但我想把它交給 Melissa 來進一步闡述。梅麗莎？

Yes. So -- thank you. So from a volume perspective in the Americas, that agreement was about 3% of the increase in the volume. Now we will see that over the next 4 quarters be pretty consistent. So that's what we would see attributed to 2023.

是的。所以謝謝。因此，從美洲的數量角度來看，該協議約佔數量增長的 3%。現在我們將看到在接下來的 4 個季度中非常一致。這就是我們將看到的歸因於 2023 年的情況。

We'll take our next question from Jeffrey Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

我們將接受 JPMorgan 的 Jeffrey Zekauskas 的下一個問題。

In the NEOM ammonia production project, did the net present value of your 1/3 ownership stake, in your mind, change, that is you had a net present value assessment? Is it different now? Or is it the same or lower or higher?

在 NEOM 氨生產項目中，您心目中的 1/3 股權的淨現值是否發生了變化，即您進行了淨現值評估？現在不一樣了嗎？還是相同或更低或更高？

Jeff, we were saying that we had a net present value, which was the discounting of all of the cash flows that we expect in the few years. And now with the project financing is that higher or lower, I think it should be about the same or even better because we are doing project financing, Jeff.

傑夫，我們說我們有一個淨現值，這是我們在幾年內預期的所有現金流量的貼現率。而現在項目融資是更高或更低，我認為它應該大致相同甚至更好，因為我們正在做項目融資，傑夫。

Right. Because you're using more capital or the whole -- there's more capital that's going in. The second question is, have you determined how much ammonia you're going to make in your Louisiana project? And does that project -- is it necessary for there to be a substantial amount of ammonia for that project to go forward?

正確的。因為你正在使用更多的資本或全部 - 有更多的資本投入。第二個問題是，你是否確定了你將在路易斯安那項目中生產多少氨？那個項目 - 是否需要大量的氨來推進該項目？

Jeff, that's a very good question. We have disclosed publicly that, that project will produce about 1,850 ton a day approximately of hydrogen. That project is literally next to our pipeline. So we are assessing how much of that we can put to the pipeline and sell. Because 1,850 tons of hydrogen is not that huge compared to the total sale of hydrogen that we have on our pipeline. Because our pipeline over there can do significantly more than that, significantly more than that.

傑夫，這是一個很好的問題。我們已經公開披露，該項目將每天生產約1,850噸氫氣。該項目實際上就在我們的管道旁邊。因此，我們正在評估我們可以將其中的多少投入管道並出售。因為與我們管道中的氫氣總銷量相比，1,850 噸氫氣並不算多。因為我們那邊的管道可以做的遠不止於此，遠不止於此。

Therefore, one scenario is that all of the customers on the pipeline, due to environmental regulations or registration develops and so on, decide, hey, I'm want blue hydrogen. Then we can just (inaudible) all of the hydrogen into the pipeline. Then it is possible that not all of them would convert.

因此，一種情況是管道上的所有客戶，由於環境法規或註冊的發展等等，決定，嘿，我想要藍色氫。然後我們就可以（聽不清）所有氫氣進入管道。那麼有可能不是所有的人都會皈依。

Some of them would say, no, I'm still okay with gray hydrogen. Then we did have excess hydrogen to put and make it into ammonia. Therefore, what we are doing is that in terms of the actual building of the plant, we are building the plant to have ammonia facility, that means you can build the ammonia plants. And then we will have ultimate capacity to -- and ultimate flexibility to use as much of the hydrogen in the pipeline, and whatever we can use, we make into ammonia.

他們中的一些人會說，不，我仍然可以接受灰色氫氣。然後我們確實有多餘的氫氣可以轉化為氨氣。因此，我們正在做的是，就工廠的實際建設而言，我們正在建設擁有氨設施的工廠，這意味著你可以建造氨工廠。然後我們將擁有最終的能力 - 以及最終的靈活性來使用管道中盡可能多的氫氣，無論我們可以使用什麼，我們都會將其製成氨。

The ammonia plants themselves, Jeff, in the context of the overall, don't cost that much. The ammonia plant, once you have the infrastructure, putting a 1.2 million-ton ammonia plant by itself is only $250 million. So we are not going to lose anything significant by having -- basically, it's like a spare capacity. And then the other thing is, obviously, how the demand for blue ammonia developed as we go forward in the next few years.

傑夫，合成氨廠本身的整體成本並不高。合成氨廠，一旦有了基礎設施，光是建一個120萬噸的合成氨廠才2.5億美元。所以我們不會因為擁有而失去任何重要的東西——基本上，它就像一個備用容量。然後另一件事顯然是，隨著我們在未來幾年的發展，對藍色氨的需求是如何發展的。

So we are building a plant to give us the flexibility, and this is the beauty of the situation that Air Products has that nobody else has, is that we can make blue hydrogen, and we have total flexibility, that we can sell it as hydrogen or we can sell it as ammonia. Because of the unique situation, because we have the pipeline, as a result of that, I think we can maximize the profitability of that better than anybody else possibly can.

所以我們正在建造一個工廠來給我們提供靈活性，這就是空氣產品公司所擁有的其他人所沒有的美妙之處，我們可以製造藍色氫氣，而且我們擁有完全的靈活性，我們可以將其作為氫氣出售或者我們可以將其作為氨出售。由於獨特的情況，因為我們有管道，因此，我認為我們可以比其他任何人都更好地最大化盈利能力。

So you haven't determined how much ammonia you're going to make yet?

所以你還沒有確定你要製造多少氨？

I said we haven't determined how much ammonia we are going to sell. But we haven't determined how many ammonia plants we are going to build.

我說我們還沒有確定我們要賣多少氨水。但是我們還沒有確定要建造多少個合成氨廠。

We'll take our next question from P.J. Juvekar with Citi.

我們將接受花旗 P.J. Juvekar 的下一個問題。

Seifi, on the NEOM project, you had inflation and then you also had that $1.2 billion of increased sort of financing costs, et cetera. What is it -- that is -- not the financing cost, I'm sorry, the additional cost -- additional scope, I should say, and you're going to build transmission lines yourself, et cetera. What does that mean? Does that additional scope mean that the project could get delayed? Or do you think it's still on time for 2027?

Seifi，在 NEOM 項目中，你遇到了通貨膨脹，然後你還增加了 12 億美元的融資成本，等等。這是什麼 - 也就是說 - 不是融資成本，對不起，額外成本 - 額外範圍，我應該說，你要自己建造傳輸線，等等。這意味著什麼？額外的範圍是否意味著項目可能會延遲？或者你認為它仍然準時到 2027 年？

We will be still on time for 2027. The additional scope is something that we have been thinking of and planning on it. And then -- the progress on this project is that at the beginning, you go over there and you say, okay, I'm going to build the plant. All of the infrastructure is already there or is going to be there, and therefore, we can draw on that. As the project goes forward, you will start getting a little bit concerned about the ability of other people to build teams that you need. Therefore, with the project finance, we decided that we are going to do all of that. That increases the capital, but it saves us operating costs, as I mentioned before.

我們將在 2027 年準時完成。額外的範圍是我們一直在考慮和計劃的。然後——這個項目的進展是，一開始，你去那邊，然後說，好吧，我要建工廠。所有基礎設施已經存在或將存在，因此，我們可以利用它。隨著項目的推進，您將開始有點擔心其他人構建您需要的團隊的能力。因此，通過項目融資，我們決定要完成所有這些工作。這增加了資本，但它節省了我們的運營成本，正如我之前提到的。

Okay. And there was earlier discussion about hydrogen price. The IRA gives $3 per kilogram benefit to green hydrogen. But how much of that you think you and the industry will have to pass it on to customers, so they get lower hydrogen price? And I think that's the ultimate goal of the government is to lower the hydrogen price. So do you have any thoughts on how the industry -- or the hydrogen price evolves over time?

好的。之前也有關於氫氣價格的討論。 IRA 為綠色氫提供每公斤 3 美元的收益。但是你認為你和整個行業有多少必須將其傳遞給客戶，這樣他們才能獲得更低的氫氣價格？我認為政府的最終目標是降低氫氣價格。那麼，您對行業或氫氣價格如何隨時間演變有任何想法嗎？

Thank you, P.J. Obviously, that will be the case because if you are building a plant and we are going to get $3 for the green hydrogen, and as I said, that $3 is actually more because if you build an integrated facility plant we are doing, that means that the wind and the solar is part of the project. You also get a benefit for the wind and solar. So the total translated to per kilogram of hydrogen is more than $3.

謝謝你，P.J. 顯然，情況會是這樣，因為如果你正在建造一個工廠，我們將獲得 3 美元的綠色氫氣，正如我所說，這 3 美元實際上更多，因為如果你建造一個綜合設施工廠，我們是做，這意味著風能和太陽能是項目的一部分。您還可以獲得風能和太陽能的好處。因此，轉化為每公斤氫氣的總和超過 3 美元。

So we obviously -- when we do projects, we expect a return. If you are getting the subsidy, that improves the returns. So we will pass through some of that to the customer and we will achieve the goal of the government, which is the goal -- is to fundamentally reduce the price of hydrogen so that people can convert. That is exactly the goal, and that is exactly what will happen, P.J.

所以我們顯然 - 當我們做項目時，我們期望得到回報。如果你得到補貼，那會提高回報。因此，我們將把其中的一些傳遞給客戶，我們將實現政府的目標，即從根本上降低氫的價格，以便人們可以轉換。這正是目標，也正是將要發生的事情，P.J.

We'll take our next question from Mike Sison with Wells Fargo.

我們將從 Mike Sison 和 Wells Fargo 那裡回答下一個問題。

So on Slide 30, you talk about downstream hydrogen supply chain is about $2 billion between '25 to '28. Is that $2 billion a number that could go up as new projects -- or you look for new opportunities in the supply chain? And any thoughts in terms of the timing between '25 and '28?

所以在幻燈片 30 上，你談到下游氫氣供應鏈在 25 到 28 年間約為 20 億美元。這個 20 億美元的數字是否可以作為新項目增加——或者您在供應鏈中尋找新的機會？關於 25 年和 28 年之間的時間安排有什麼想法嗎？

Well, that was our estimate before about the $2 billion. But that number could be less, could be more. And let me just explain. It depends on the customers. It is possible that you can -- because when you look at the customers, there are some customers that are not mobility, where you need a lot of infrastructure to serve it. You have to bring the hydrogen to a port, have an ammonia tank, crack it, liquefy it, have the trucks to go and deliver to the gas stations and sell it today. That is one way of selling the hydrogen.

好吧，這是我們之前的估計，約為 20 億美元。但這個數字可能更少，也可能更多。讓我解釋一下。這取決於客戶。您有可能可以——因為當您查看客戶時，有些客戶不是移動性的，您需要大量基礎設施來為其提供服務。你必須把氫氣運到港口，有一個氨罐，裂解它，液化它，讓卡車運到加油站並在今天出售。這是出售氫氣的一種方式。

Another way is that somebody develops ships that can use ammonia and they want green ammonia. And in that case, there is no infrastructure because the ship can dock in NEOM, put ammonia in it and then use it as fuel. Then there is no infraction cost. Another customer could be somebody that you bring ammonia to a port, you crack it and then you put it in a pipeline, and that goes into a chemical plant or some other kind of a plant, and they use all of that. Then you don't have to liquefy, you don't have to build the infrastructure for trucks and so on.

另一種方法是有人開發了可以使用氨的船，他們想要綠色氨。在那種情況下，沒有基礎設施，因為船可以停靠在 NEOM 中，將氨放入其中，然後將其用作燃料。那麼就沒有違章成本。另一個客戶可能是將氨運到港口，將其裂解，然後將其放入管道中，然後進入化工廠或其他類型的工廠，他們使用所有這些。這樣你就不必液化，也不必為卡車建造基礎設施等等。

So the cost of that infrastructure is very much dependent on the exact kind of customers. Right now, our best estimate is that with the $2 billion, we will be able to build an office infrastructure to use the capacity of NEOM. But that could be significantly less or it could be more depending on exact infrastructure. But if it is more, then that means that the infrastructure needed for the trucking is obviously more expensive, which means that the price of hydrogen at the pump is a lot higher than the price of selling it if you didn't have to be qualify it. So it will all adjust for itself. That okay?

因此，該基礎設施的成本在很大程度上取決於具體的客戶類型。目前，我們最好的估計是，有了 20 億美元，我們將能夠建立一個辦公基礎設施，以利用 NEOM 的能力。但這可能要少得多，也可能更多取決於具體的基礎設施。但如果更多，那麼這意味著卡車運輸所需的基礎設施顯然更昂貴，這意味著如果您不必具備資格，泵中的氫氣價格會比出售氫氣的價格高很多它。所以它會自行調整。那好嗎？

We'll take our next question from Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.

我們將與摩根士丹利一起接受文森特安德魯斯的下一個問題。

This is Steve Haynes on for Vincent. Just wanted to ask a quick one on the other cost line, and your EPS bridge, it was about $0.11 of headwind in the quarter. How should we kind of be thinking about that going forward?

這是文森特的史蒂夫海恩斯。只是想在另一條成本線上快速詢問一個問題，以及您的 EPS 橋樑，本季度的逆風約為 0.11 美元。我們應該如何考慮未來的發展？

Well, the other cost, I'd like to have Melissa comment on that. Melissa?

好吧，其他費用，我想請 Melissa 對此發表評論。梅麗莎？

Yes, absolutely. So the other cost line, we had a number of components this quarter play into there. We had a sizable maintenance, both in the Americas as well as in our India joint venture -- or India segment. So that added additional costs this quarter. We should see that go down the next quarter. Fixed cost inflation, however, is a driver in that $0.11, and that will be consistent throughout this fiscal year.

是的，一點沒錯。因此，在另一個成本線中，本季度我們有一些組件在那裡發揮作用。我們在美洲以及我們的印度合資企業或印度分部進行了大規模的維護。因此，本季度增加了額外成本。我們應該會看到下個季度下降。然而，固定成本通脹是這 0.11 美元的驅動因素，並且在本財年將保持一致。

We'll take our next question from Josh Spector with UBS.

我們將接受來自瑞銀的 Josh Spector 的下一個問題。

Just on the near term, when I look at your next quarter guidance, (inaudible) close, based on your math, maybe to add $0.12 or so sequentially. I would think there's maybe some merchant benefit as energy prices come down, maybe those volumes down a little bit, but December quarter wasn't super strong from a demand perspective. So I guess why wouldn't earnings be up sequentially given some of the tailwinds? What am I missing?

就短期而言，當我查看你的下一季度指導時，（聽不清）關閉，根據你的數學，可能會連續增加 0.12 美元左右。我認為隨著能源價格的下降，可能會有一些商家受益，也許這些數量會下降一點，但從需求的角度來看，12 月季度並不是非常強勁。所以我猜為什麼在一些順風的情況下收益不會連續增加？我錯過了什麼？

I don't think you're missing anything. Your logic is very correct. The only thing is that when we make guidance, we have to kind of be cautious to make sure that we deliver it. The part that we are very concerned about and we don't have any visibility is what is going to happen in the Chinese and European economy. I don't know how the Chinese economy is going to come out of the New Year holiday. And we don't have much visibility (inaudible) and how energy prices are going to develop in Europe. That is why we are a little bit cautious. And you are very correct to kind of say, maybe you're being conservative. Maybe you are, but we just wanted to make sure that we don't get ahead of ourselves.

我認為你沒有遺漏任何東西。你的邏輯非常正確。唯一的問題是，當我們制定指導時，我們必須謹慎以確保我們提供它。我們非常關心但我們沒有任何能見度的部分是中國和歐洲經濟將會發生什麼。我不知道中國經濟將如何度過新年假期。而且我們沒有太多的能見度（聽不清）以及歐洲的能源價格將如何發展。這就是為什麼我們有點謹慎。你說得很對，也許你是保守的。也許你是，但我們只是想確保我們不會超前。

Sorry. If you had more, go ahead, but I was going to ask a second quickly. The Canada project financing, was that expected, that anticipated in your economics? Does that change your cash (inaudible) at all?

對不起。如果您還有更多，請繼續，但我很快就要問了。加拿大項目融資，這是預期的，在你的經濟學中預期的嗎？這會完全改變您的現金（聽不清）嗎？

I'm sorry, I didn't understand.

對不起，我沒聽懂。

So thank you for asking that. So just to be clear, on our Alberta project, we have no project financing associated with that project.

謝謝你這麼問。所以要明確一點，在我們的艾伯塔省項目中，我們沒有與該項目相關的項目融資。

Exactly. On the project financing, we do decide project by project. There's I think the -- because it's a very complicated project and so on, difficult to finance. NEOM was pretty easy because there's an uptake price and so on, and we can calculate that.

確切地。在項目融資上，我們是逐項決定的。我認為 - 因為這是一個非常複雜的項目等等，很難融資。 NEOM 非常容易，因為有一個吸收價格等等，我們可以計算出來。

Now with our project in Texas, the $4 billion project that we announced, we will most probably look at project finance on that. But we make the decision step by step. The options that Air Products has, which is a lot, is that we have the option of using our own cash because we have the cash. We have the option of raising money by going to the market as Air Products and raising bonds. And then we have the option of project finance.

現在我們在德克薩斯州的項目，我們宣布的 40 億美元項目，我們很可能會考慮項目融資。但是我們是一步步做決定的。 Air Products 有很多選擇，我們可以選擇使用我們自己的現金，因為我們有現金。我們可以選擇以 Air Products 的身份進入市場並籌集債券來籌集資金。然後我們可以選擇項目融資。

So we take everything into consideration and come up with the best possible solution. So with NEOM, with the partners and so on, we decided project finance was the best thing. Obviously, for project finance, we are going to pay a higher interest than if we have gone and increased bonds, but that was a joint decision with other partners.

因此，我們會考慮所有因素並提出最佳解決方案。因此，對於 NEOM、合作夥伴等，我們認為項目融資是最好的選擇。顯然，對於項目融資，我們將支付比我們增加債券更高的利息，但這是與其他合作夥伴的共同決定。

Now for the project in Texas, we will probably do project finance. For the project in Louisiana, we probably wouldn't. It depends -- and this is something that keeps our finance department and our treasury department busy trying to assess all of these things. And we do ask all of those questions, and we make the most optimum decision.

現在德克薩斯州的項目，我們可能會做項目融資。對於路易斯安那州的項目，我們可能不會。這取決於 - 這讓我們的財務部門和財務部門忙於評估所有這些事情。我們確實會問所有這些問題，然後做出最優化的決定。

We'll take our next question from Laurent Favre with BNP.

我們將接受 BNP 的 Laurent Favre 的下一個問題。

My question is on inflation for the rest -- inflation risk for the rest of the backlog. So if we take out NEOM from the $19.4 billion, there's about $15 billion left. I was wondering if you could talk about the risk out there. We also see $1 billion or $1.5 billion of extra costs. And whether you have flexibility on selling prices to adjust for that to maintain returns.

我的問題是關於其餘部分的通貨膨脹——其餘積壓工作的通貨膨脹風險。因此，如果我們從 194 億美元中剔除 NEOM，還剩下大約 150 億美元。我想知道你是否可以談談那裡的風險。我們還看到了 10 億美元或 15 億美元的額外成本。以及您是否可以靈活調整售價以維持回報。

Well, thank you. The rest of our projects, obviously, some of them are -- a lot of the other projects that we have announced are actually in a much more advanced stage than NEOM. So we have a pretty good feel for their cost and all of that. But I don't want to here deny the fact that there is inflation. But we just don't think that the inflation thing is something that we cannot manage or it will significantly cause a struggle.

嗯，謝謝。我們的其他項目，顯然，其中一些是——我們宣布的許多其他項目實際上處於比 NEOM 更先進的階段。所以我們對他們的成本和所有這些都有很好的感覺。但我不想在這裡否認存在通貨膨脹的事實。但我們只是不認為通貨膨脹是我們無法控制的事情，或者它會嚴重引發一場鬥爭。

Because with some of the projects -- I mean let's take a project in Louisiana. The project in Louisiana, if there is inflation and our capital cost goes up, then we will price the ammonia and the hydrogen out of that facility accordingly. So this is not the kind of project that we have committed to a sales price for the product and now we have to keep the additional project costs. (inaudible) but most of those things are just about (inaudible). So that's why we think we can manage that.

因為對於一些項目——我的意思是讓我們在路易斯安那州進行一個項目。路易斯安那州的項目，如果出現通貨膨脹並且我們的資本成本上升，那麼我們將相應地為該設施中的氨和氫定價。所以這不是我們承諾產品銷售價格的項目，現在我們必須保留額外的項目成本。 （聽不清）但其中大部分都是（聽不清）。所以這就是為什麼我們認為我們可以做到這一點。

We'll take our final question from Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

我們將與 Jefferies 一起接受 Laurence Alexander 的最後一個問題。

This is Kevin Estok on for Laurence. I'm just giving a forecast that we'll be likely entering a recession. I just wanted to get a sense of how merchant volumes and pricing fared during the last recession. If you can give me an overview of that, I would appreciate it.

這是勞倫斯的凱文·埃斯托克。我只是給出一個預測，我們可能會進入衰退。我只是想了解一下上次經濟衰退期間商家的交易量和定價情況。如果你能給我一個概述，我將不勝感激。

Well, that's a good question. The good thing is I can answer that very definitely because we -- you have seen our results during the last recession. The last recession obviously was in 2008, 2009, and the second one was during COVID. And you saw what we have always said, that industrial gases business, we have a lot of resiliency because half of our business is (inaudible). That doesn't get really affected by recession because (inaudible) contracts. And our [mixture] volumes usually go down, but they do not go down significantly. We take action to control our costs, and therefore, you can take a look at our actual results during 2009 and 2010 and 2008 over our results in 2020 and 2021, and you'll see that we held up pretty well.

嗯，這是個好問題。好消息是我可以非常肯定地回答這個問題，因為我們——你已經看到了我們在上次經濟衰退期間的結果。上一次衰退顯然是在 2008 年、2009 年，第二次是在 COVID 期間。你看到了我們一直說的話，工業氣體業務，我們有很大的彈性，因為我們一半的業務是（聽不清）。這並沒有真正受到經濟衰退的影響，因為（聽不清）合同。我們的[混合]量通常會下降，但下降幅度不會很大。我們採取行動控制我們的成本，因此，你可以看看我們在 2009 年、2010 年和 2008 年的實際結果，而不是我們在 2020 年和 2021 年的結果，你會發現我們表現得很好。

Well, thank you very much. And this is (inaudible). I would like to thank everyone for joining our call today. We appreciate your interest, and we look forward to discussing our results with you again next quarter. As I said earlier, please stay safe and healthy, and all the best to all of you. Thank you.

好的，謝謝。這是（聽不清）。我要感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。感謝您的關注，我們期待在下個季度再次與您討論我們的結果。正如我之前所說，請保持安全和健康，祝大家一切順利。謝謝。

Thank you. That will conclude today's call. We appreciate your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。