Air Products and Chemicals Inc (APD) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Air Products' Second 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.

早安，歡迎參加空氣產品公司第二季財報發布電話會議。應空氣產品公司的要求，我們對今天的通話進行了錄音。請注意，本簡報和代表空氣產品公司發表的評論受空氣產品公司版權保護，並保留所有權利。

Beginning today's call is Mr. Sidd Manjeshwar, please go ahead.

今天的電話會議由 Sidd Manjeshwar 先生開始，請繼續。

Thank you, Katie. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Air Products' second quarter 2024 earnings results teleconference. This is Sidd Manjeshwar, Vice President of Investor Relations. 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 Chief Financial Officer; and Sean Major, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. After our comments, we will be pleased to take your questions. Our earnings release and the slides for this call are available on our website at airproducts.com.

謝謝你，凱蒂。大家，早安。歡迎參加空氣產品公司 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。我是投資者關係副總裁 Sidd Manjeshwar。我很高興今天能與我們的董事長、總裁兼執行長 Seifi Ghasemi 一起出席會議。 Samir Serhan 博士，我們的營運長； Melissa Schaeffer，我們的財務長；以及我們的執行副總裁、總法律顧問兼秘書 Sean Major。在我們提出意見後，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 上取得。

Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements, including those about earnings and capital expenditure guidance, business outlook and investment opportunities. Please refer to the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements that is provided in our earnings release and on Slide #2. Additionally, throughout today's discussion, we will refer to various financial measures, including earnings per share, operating income, operating margin, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, the effective tax rate and ROCE both on a total company and segment basis. Unless we specifically state otherwise, statements regarding these measures are referring to our adjusted non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to our most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found on our website in the relevant earnings release section.

今天的討論包含前瞻性陳述，包括有關收益和資本支出指導、業務前景和投資機會的陳述。請參閱我們的收益報告和投影片 #2 中提供的有關前瞻性陳述的警示說明。此外，在今天的討論中，我們將參考各種財務指標，包括每股收益、營業收入、營業利潤、EBITDA、EBITDA 利潤率、有效稅率和公司整體和部門的 ROCE。除非我們另有明確說明，否則有關這些措施的聲明指的是我們調整後的非公認會計準則財務措施。這些指標與我們最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的調整可以在我們網站的相關收益發布部分找到。

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

現在，我很高興將電話轉給 Seifi。

Thank you, Sidd, and good day to everyone. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to be on our call today. As you know, I always start with safety, which is our top priority at Air Products. Slide #3 includes our employee lost time injury rate and recordable injury rates in the first half of fiscal year 2024. Both of these rates were at their lowest levels since 2014 and the best in the industry. This is great progress, but our ultimate goal will always be 0 accidents and 0 incidents.

謝謝你，西德，祝大家有美好的一天。感謝您今天在百忙之中抽空接聽我們的電話。如您所知，我始終從安全開始，這是空氣產品公司的首要任務。第 3 張投影片包括 2024 財年上半年我們的員工誤工工傷率和可記錄工傷率。這是巨大的進步，但我們的最終目標永遠是0事故和0事件。

Slide #4 outlines our management philosophy. We believe strongly in these principles, and they will continue to guide us as we move Air Products forward like we have done in the past 10 years.

投影片 #4 概述了我們的管理理念。我們堅信這些原則，並且它們將繼續指導我們推動空氣產品公司向前發展，就像我們過去 10 年所做的那樣。

Now please turn to Slide #5. Our second quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.85 exceeded the upper end of our previous guidance range and improved 4% compared to last year on strong results in Americas and Europe. We continue to effectively manage our current business while simultaneously executing our growth projects. We are focused on reducing costs and improving pricing in this inflationary environment. Our industrial gases business and broad scale low-carbon hydrogen projects are driving sustainability, enabling customers to decarbonize and generating a cleaner future for our world.

現在請翻到投影片#5。我們第二季調整後每股收益為 2.85 美元，超出了先前指導範圍的上限，並且由於美洲和歐洲的強勁業績，與去年相比增長了 4%。我們繼續有效地管理我們目前的業務，同時執行我們的成長項目。我們致力於在通膨環境下降低成本並改善定價。我們的工業氣體業務和大規模的低碳氫化合物項目正在推動永續發展，使客戶能夠脫碳並為我們的世界創造一個更清潔的未來。

Now please turn to Slide #6 for a review of our third quarter and full year guidance. For the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, our adjusted earnings per share guidance is $3 to $3.05. Our earnings are generally higher in the second half of our fiscal year. We are maintaining our full year guidance of $12.20 to $12.50 per share as we continue to monitor economic uncertainties, including China's economy and activities in the electronic industry throughout Asia. We continue to expect our CapEx to be in the range of $5 billion to $5.5 billion in fiscal year 2024.

現在請轉到幻燈片#6，回顧我們的第三季和全年指導。對於 2024 財年第三季度，我們調整後的每股盈餘指引為 3 至 3.05 美元。我們財年下半年的收入普遍較高。我們維持每股 12.20 美元至 12.50 美元的全年指導，同時繼續監控經濟不確定性，包括中國經濟和整個亞洲電子產業的活動。我們仍預期 2024 財年的資本支出將在 50 億至 55 億美元之間。

Now please turn to Slide #7. Our adjusted earnings per share has improved an average of more than 10% annually since 2014, a trend we are committed to continue.

現在請翻到投影片 #7。自 2014 年以來，我們的調整後每股收益平均每年增長超過 10%，我們致力於繼續保持這一趨勢。

Now please turn to Slide #8. We take a balanced approach to determine our dividend, considering various factors including yield, payout and peer benchmarks while investing for growth and maintaining our A/A2 credit rating. In January, we again increased our dividend to $1.77 per share per quarter, extending our record of 42 consecutive years of dividend increase. We expect to return approximately $1.6 billion to our shareholders through dividends in 2024.

現在請翻到投影片 #8。我們採取平衡的方法來確定股息，考慮各種因素，包括收益率、派息和同業基準，同時投資於成長並維持我們的 A/A2 信用評級。一月份，我們再次將股息提高至每季每股 1.77 美元，延續了連續 42 年股息成長的記錄。我們預計 2024 年將透過股利向股東返還約 16 億美元。

Slide #9 shows our EBITDA margin trend, always my favorite slide. Our margins have again climbed above 40%, leading the industry and reflecting our commitment to creating shareholder value. At this point, I would like to remind our shareholders that almost 10 years ago, on my first call as Chairman and CEO of Air Products, I promised you that we would make Air Products the safest and most profitable industrial gas company in the world, and we have delivered on that. On the same call 10 years ago, I also promised we would increase our earnings per share on the average by 10% every year. And as you see on Slide 7, we have delivered on that too for the last 10 years.

幻燈片 #9 顯示了我們的 EBITDA 利潤率趨勢，這始終是我最喜歡的幻燈片。我們的利潤率再次攀升至 40% 以上，處於行業領先地位，反映了我們對創造股東價值的承諾。在此，我想提醒我們的股東，大約十年前，在我作為空氣產品公司董事長兼首席執行官的第一次電話會議上，我向你們承諾，我們將使空氣產品公司成為世界上最安全、最獲利的工業氣體公司，我們做到了這一點。在10年前的同一個電話會議上，我還承諾我們每股盈餘平均每年增加10%。正如您在幻燈片 7 中看到的那樣，我們在過去 10 年裡也實現了這一點。

So today, I want to set the goal for the next 10 years. Air Products will continue to be the safest, most diverse and most profitable industrial gas company in the world and, as we have done before, deliver earnings per share growth of at least 10% per year on the average for the next 10 years. We have done it before, and we will do it again. I have total confidence, and I want to stress this, I have total confidence in the ability of the talented, dedicated, motivated and committed people of Air Products to execute our bold and forward-looking strategy and deliver significant value to our shareholders. I want to thank every one of them for their hard work, commitment and dedication. I'm very proud to be part of this team.

所以今天，我想設定下一個10年的目標。空氣產品公司將繼續成為世界上最安全、最多元化和最盈利的工業氣體公司，正如我們之前所做的那樣，未來 10 年每股收益平均每年至少增長 10%。我們以前已經這樣做過，我們還會再這樣做。我完全有信心，我想強調這一點，我完全相信空氣產品公司才華橫溢、敬業、積極、忠誠的員工有能力執行我們大膽和前瞻性的策略，並為我們的股東創造巨大的價值。我要感謝他們每一個人的辛勤工作、承諾和奉獻。我很自豪能成為這個團隊的一員。

Now I would like to turn the call over to Melissa, our Chief Financial Officer, to make remarks about the second quarter. Melissa?

現在我想把電話轉給我們的財務長梅麗莎，就第二季發表評論。梅麗莎？

Thank you, Seifi. Now please turn to Slide 10 for a review of our second quarter results. Compared to last year, on-site activities were robust driven by higher demand for hydrogen and contributions from new assets. The volume was down 2% primarily due to lower demand for merchant products. Price contributed 1%. The combined impact of pricing and lower power costs across most regions resulted in strong contribution margins. The declining natural gas prices in Europe and North America resulted in lower energy cost pass-through, which has no impact on profit but contributed to higher margins.

謝謝你，賽菲。現在請翻到投影片 10，回顧我們第二季的業績。與去年相比，由於對氫氣的需求增加和新資產的貢獻，現場活動更加活躍。銷售量下降 2%，主要是因為對商業產品的需求下降。價格貢獻了1%。大多數地區定價和電力成本降低的綜合影響帶來了強勁的邊際貢獻。歐洲和北美天然氣價格下降導致能源成本轉嫁降低，對利潤沒有影響，但有助於提高利潤率。

EBITDA improved 4% as higher contribution margin and lower costs more than offset lower affiliate income. EBITDA margin exceeded 40%, with lower energy cost pass-through contributing about half of the nearly 500 basis point improvement. ROCE of 11% was relatively flat. Adjusted for cash, our ROCE would have been about 13%. Sequentially, results improved driven primarily by favorable pricing and lower costs despite the seasonal slowdown due to the Lunar New Year in Asia and planned maintenance outages.

EBITDA 提高了 4%，因為更高的邊際貢獻和更低的成本足以抵消聯營公司收入的下降。 EBITDA 利潤率超過 40%，能源成本轉嫁降低貢獻了近 500 個基點改善的一半左右。 ROCE 為 11%，相對持平。根據現金調整後，我們的 ROCE 約為 13%。隨後，儘管亞洲農曆新年和計劃中的維護停電導致季節性放緩，但業績的改善主要是由於有利的定價和較低的成本。

Now please turn to Slide 11 for a discussion of our earnings per share. Our second quarter GAAP earnings per share was $2.57, which included a $0.20 charge for productivity actions. Our adjusted earnings per share was $2.85, up $0.11 or 4% compared to last year, primarily due to favorable pricing and costs, partially offset by unfavorable volume and equity affiliate income.

現在請翻到投影片 11，討論我們的每股盈餘。我們第二季的 GAAP 每股收益為 2.57 美元，其中包括 0.20 美元的生產力行動費用。我們調整後的每股收益為 2.85 美元，比去年增長 0.11 美元，即 4%，這主要是由於有利的定價和成本，但部分被不利的銷售和股權附屬公司收入所抵消。

Overall, volume was down $0.07 on lower merchant demand and planned maintenance outages. Price, net of variable cost contributed $0.16 this quarter driven by both pricing actions and lower power costs. Other costs were $0.12 favorable, demonstrating the team's commitment to managing costs, while we continue to support our growth strategy. Currency impact was negative $0.03, mainly due to a weaker Chinese RMB. Equity affiliate income was $0.08 unfavorable, driven by lower contributions from affiliates in Europe and the Middle East, partially offset by higher income in America.

總體而言，由於商家需求下降和計劃中的維護中斷，成交量下降了 0.07 美元。受定價行動和電力成本下降的推動，扣除可變成本後的價格本季貢獻了 0.16 美元。其他成本優惠為 0.12 美元，這表明團隊致力於管理成本，同時我們將繼續支持我們的成長策略。貨幣影響為負 0.03 美元，主要是由於人民幣疲軟。股權附屬公司收入為 0.08 美元，不利的原因是歐洲和中東附屬公司貢獻減少，但部分被美國收入增加所抵消。

We successfully issued $2.5 billion of green bonds in February to help fund our growth projects. This additional debt contributed to higher interest expense of $0.07. The remaining items, including favorable noncontrolling interests, the tax rate and nonoperating expense together had a positive $0.08 impact.

我們在 2 月成功發行了 25 億美元的綠色債券，為我們的成長項目提供資金。該額外債務導致利息支出增加 0.07 美元。其餘項目，包括有利的非控制權益、稅率和營業外支出，總共產生了 0.08 美元的正面影響。

To echo Seifi's statement, I would like to express my appreciation to the entire Air Products team for their commitment to our company. Now to begin the review of our business segment results, I'll turn the call to Dr. Serhan.

為了呼應 Seifi 的聲明，我要對整個空氣產品公司團隊對我們公司的承諾表示感謝。現在，為了開始審查我們的業務部門業績，我將把電話轉給 Serhan 博士。

Thank you, Melissa. Please turn to Slide 12 for a review of our Americas segment results. Compared to last year, underlying sales were positive with price and volume together up 4%. Merchant pricing was 6% higher, which corresponded to a 3% overall price improvement for the region. Volumes grew 1% as a strong demand for hydrogen more than offset weaker merchant volume. EBITDA was up 15% driven by higher price, volume and equity affiliates' income. Of the 1,000 basis point improvement to the EBITDA margin, roughly half was attributable to lower energy cost pass-through. Sequentially, EBITDA was 5% higher, mainly due to higher price and equity affiliate income.

謝謝你，梅麗莎。請參閱投影片 12 查看我們的美洲分部業績。與去年相比，基本銷售情況良好，價格和銷量合計增加了 4%。商家定價上漲 6%，相當於該地區整體價格上漲 3%。由於對氫氣的強勁需求抵消了商業銷量的疲軟，銷量成長了 1%。由於價格、銷量和股權附屬公司收入的提高，EBITDA 成長了 15%。 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 1,000 個基點，其中大約一半歸因於能源成本轉嫁降低。隨後，EBITDA 成長了 5%，主要是由於價格和股權附屬收入上漲。

Now please turn to Slide 13 for a review of our Asia segment results. Compared to last year, volumes were roughly flat as higher on-site volumes, including new assets were offset by lower demand for merchant products while price remained stable. As Seifi mentioned, we continue to see challenging economic conditions in China. However, we are beginning to see some potential improvement in the electronics market. Currencies were up -- were 4% unfavorable, primarily attributable to the weaker Chinese RMB. EBITDA and EBITDA margin were unfavorable, primarily driven by business mix. Sequentially, volume was 2% lower due to the Lunar New Year slowdown. However, EBITDA was flat as a result of lower cost and higher equity affiliate income.

現在請參閱投影片 13，回顧我們的亞洲分部表現。與去年相比，交易量大致持平，因為包括新資產在內的現場交易量增加被商業產品需求下降所抵消，而價格保持穩定。正如 Seifi 所提到的，我們仍然看到中國的經濟狀況充滿挑戰。然而，我們開始看到電子市場出現一些潛在的改善。貨幣上漲 4%，主要是因為人民幣疲軟。 EBITDA 和 EBITDA 利潤率均不利，這主要是由業務組合驅動的。隨後，由於農曆新年放緩，成交量下降了 2%。然而，由於成本降低和股權附屬公司收入增加，EBITDA 持平。

Please turn to Slide 14 for a review of our Europe segment results. Sales declined 11% compared to last year with lower energy cost pass-through and volume shortfall each contributing about half of the total. Weaker merchant demand and planned maintenance outage drove lower volume, partially offset by contribution from our Uzbekistan project. Merchant pricing was stable, and combined with declining power cost, it drove improved contribution margin. EBITDA was up 5% as the improved contribution margin and lower cost more than compensated for lower equity affiliate income. EBITDA margin improved over 600 basis points. Approximately half of this was due to the impact of lower energy cost pass-through. Sequentially, results were stable as favorable contribution margin and cost offset the planned maintenance volume impacts and lower equity affiliate income.

請參閱投影片 14 查看我們的歐洲部門業績。與去年相比，銷售額下降了 11%，原因是能源成本轉嫁減少和銷售短缺各佔總銷售額的一半左右。商業需求疲軟和計劃中的維護中斷導致銷售下降，但部分被烏茲別克斯坦項目的貢獻所抵消。商家定價穩定，加上電力成本下降，帶動了貢獻利潤率的提升。 EBITDA 成長了 5%，因為貢獻率的提高和成本的降低足以彌補股權附屬公司收入的下降。 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 600 個基點以上。其中約一半是由於能源成本轉嫁降低的影響。因此，業績穩定，因為有利的邊際貢獻和成本抵消了計劃維護量的影響和較低的股權附屬公司收入。

Now please turn to Slide 15 for a review of our Middle East and India segment results. Despite lower sales volume, operating income improved compared to last year due to lower costs. Equity affiliate income from the Jazan joint venture was lower due to higher interest and other operating costs.

現在請翻到投影片 15，回顧我們的中東和印度業務表現。儘管銷量下降，但由於成本下降，營業收入較去年有所改善。由於利息和其他營運成本較高，來自 Jazan 合資企業的股權附屬公司收入較低。

Please now turn to Slide 16 for our Corporate and Other segment results. This segment includes our sale of equipment businesses as well as our centrally managed functions and corporate costs. Sales were down primarily due to lower non-LNG sale of equipment activities. However, lower cost and contribution from LNG resulted in a stable EBITDA. Our activities related to the LNG equipment and technology business are robust, and we expect our LNG-related projects to improve the results of this segment moving forward.

現在請翻到投影片 16，了解我們的企業和其他部門的結果。該部門包括我們的設備業務銷售以及我們的集中管理職能和企業成本。銷售額下降主要是由於設備活動的非液化天然氣銷售減少。然而，較低的成本和液化天然氣的貢獻導致了穩定的 EBITDA。我們與液化天然氣設備和技術業務相關的活動非常強勁，我們預計液化天然氣相關項目將改善該部門的表現。

Before I turn the call back to Seifi, I also would like to say thanks to our teams around the world. We're continuing to improve our results. Now I would like to turn the call back to Seifi to provide his closing remarks. Seifi?

在我把電話轉回給 Seifi 之前，我還想對我們世界各地的團隊表示感謝。我們正在繼續改善我們的成果。現在我想把電話轉回 Seifi，讓他發表結束語。賽菲？

Thank you, Dr. Serhan. Now please turn to Slide #17, Air Products has a great business model and continues to operate from a position of financial strength. While we execute our bold growth strategy in this challenging and continuously changing macroeconomic and geopolitical environment, our organization must remain flexible and agile. On a daily basis, our employees are committed to taking action that improves our safety performance, simplifies work and reduces costs so that together we can deliver productivity to the bottom line and continue to earn the right to grow as we pursue our strategy.

謝謝你，塞爾漢醫生。現在請轉到幻燈片#17，空氣產品公司擁有出色的商業模式，並繼續憑藉雄厚的財務實力運營。當我們在這個充滿挑戰且不斷變化的宏觀經濟和地緣政治環境中執行大膽的成長策略時，我們的組織必須保持靈活性和敏捷性。我們的員工每天都致力於採取行動，提高我們的安全績效、簡化工作並降低成本，以便我們能夠共同提高生產力，實現盈利，並在我們追求戰略的過程中繼續贏得增長的權利。

We appreciate the dedicated service of all the people who are contributing to Air Products' success and the people in our leadership who continue motivating and developing our people. As I always say, our real competitive advantage is the degree of motivation and commitment of the people in the company. I am honored every day to be working alongside this team as we focus on delivering near-term results while executing our long-term growth strategy.

我們感謝所有為空氣產品公司的成功做出貢獻的人們以及不斷激勵和發展我們員工的領導層人員的熱忱服務。正如我常說的，我們真正的競爭優勢是公司員工的積極性和承諾程度。我很榮幸每天與這個團隊一起工作，因為我們專注於交付短期成果，同時執行我們的長期成長策略。

At this point, we obviously will be delighted to answer your questions. Operator, we are ready for questions.

此時，我們顯然很樂意回答您的問題。接線員，我們準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) We'll go first to John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們首先請 BMO 資本市場部的約翰·麥克納爾蒂 (John McNulty)。

So I think the first one is just on how you're thinking about the cadence of the earnings as it progresses through the year. Obviously, 2Q came in pretty solidly, 3Q, maybe a little bit below what we and the Street were looking for, which kind of makes for a really steep ramp in the fourth quarter. I guess, can you help us to think about what drives that ramp, whether it's some of the projects or the Corporate line coming off, I guess, can you help us to think about the cadence for the year?

因此，我認為第一個問題只是關於您如何看待全年收益的節奏。顯然，第二季的表現相當穩定，第三季的表現可能略低於我們和華爾街的預期，這使得第四季的成長非常陡峭。我想，你能幫助我們想想是什麼推動了這一成長，無論是一些專案還是公司產品線的退出，我想，你能幫助我們想想今年的節奏嗎？

John, excellent question. I would like to answer it in the following way. First of all, there is a question about the -- our guidance for the quarter. The guidance for the quarter is a little bit lower than what people expect. And that is because we have some major turnarounds that we have to do on our plants in Europe and in the United States that is driving our maintenance costs for the quarter, and that is why we have given a lower guidance than what we would have liked to do. So that is the -- for the third quarter.

約翰，很好的問題。我想透過以下方式來回答。首先，有一個關於我們本季指導的問題。該季度的指引略低於人們的預期。這是因為我們必須對歐洲和美國的工廠進行一些重大周轉，這增加了我們本季的維護成本，這就是為什麼我們給出的指導低於我們的預期去做。這就是第三季的情況。

As far as -- we are committed to the year, because in the fourth quarter, although it looks like [hardly a stake], we expect to bring significant number of smaller plants onstream. We've brought in about 20 of them in the last -- in the first half, and we expect to have a number of clients coming onstream that will contribute.

就我們而言，我們致力於今年，因為在第四季度，儘管看起來[幾乎沒有股份]，但我們預計將有大量小型工廠投產。我們在去年上半年引進了大約 20 個客戶，我們預計會有許多客戶加入並做出貢獻。

Secondly, we have taken significantly productivity actions that should result in better numbers for the fourth quarter. In addition, as you know, our business is seasonal, and the fourth quarter is just about every year our strongest quarter. And the fourth thing is that we are seeing a very strong performance by our LNG business and a lot of that will ramp up in the fourth quarter. So those are the fundamental reasons, John, I hope that answers your question.

其次，我們採取了顯著的生產力行動，這應該會導致第四季的數據更好。此外，如您所知，我們的業務是季節性的，第四季度幾乎是每年我們最強勁的季度。第四件事是，我們看到我們的液化天然氣業務表現非常強勁，其中很大一部分將在第四季度有所成長。這些就是根本原因，約翰，我希望能回答你的問題。

Yes. No, that's hugely helpful. Yes, it definitely helps to bridge in a reasonable amount. And I guess, maybe to that, as the follow-up or my second question, you had alluded to in some of the prepared remarks cost reduction actions and things that were starting to help on the margin side. And then -- and actually just in your last answer, you gave maybe -- you intimated that there's there is some help there. I guess can you help us to think about some of the actions that you're taking and if it's any specific division or how we should be thinking about that.

是的。不，這非常有幫助。是的，它確實有助於以合理的量進行橋樑。我想，也許對此，作為後續問題或我的第二個問題，您在一些準備好的發言中提到了降低成本的行動以及開始在利潤方面有所幫助的事情。然後——實際上就在你最後的回答中，你可能給出了——你暗示那裡有一些幫助。我想您能否幫助我們考慮您正在採取的一些行動，以及是否有任何特定的部門，或者我們應該如何考慮。

We look at the company across the board. And by productivity we mean that we try to do things in a more efficient and more simplified way, which means that we don't have as many costs. That is the action that is normal for productivity. It just means that you are trying to do more with less -- with the same number of people you have or with less people. So those are the specific actions we have taken.

我們全面審視公司。我們所說的生產力是指我們嘗試以更有效率、更簡化的方式做事，這意味著我們沒有那麼多成本。這是提高生產力的正常行為。它只是意味著你試圖用更少的資源做更多的事情——用同樣數量的人或更少的人。這些就是我們採取的具體行動。

We'll go next to Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

接下來我們將討論摩根大通的傑夫‧澤考斯卡斯 (Jeff Zekauskas)。

In the Louisiana project, you'll bring on 3.5 million tons of ammonia. Some consultants think that the Japanese market is only 3 million tons of ammonia by 2030. Your competitors have begun to have memorandum of understanding and procuring volume. When your plant comes on in 2027, is there 3.5 million tons of demand for blue ammonia? And where might it come from?

在路易斯安那州計畫中，您將產生 350 萬噸氨。有顧問認為，到2030年日本市場氨只有300萬噸。 2027年你們工廠投產時，藍氨需求量是否為350萬噸？它可能來自哪裡？

Jeff, very good question as usual. Jeff, first of all, the number that you're saying, 3.5 million tons of ammonia, that assumes that we will take all of the hydrogen that we produce at that plant, all of the deep blue hydrogen that we produce will be turned into ammonia. That is not necessarily the case. As you know, we have a huge pipeline that goes all the way across the Gulf Coast of the United States. There is significant demand for blue hydrogen, for real blue hydrogen, not fake blue hydrogen. And therefore, we expect that a significant amount of the hydrogen we produce will be used as hydrogen through our pipeline to serve the customers that we have because they would be in need of that.

傑夫，像往常一樣，這是一個很好的問題。傑夫，首先，你所說的數字，350萬噸氨，假設我們將使用該工廠生產的所有氫氣，我們生產的所有深藍色氫氣將轉化為氨。情況不一定如此。如您所知，我們有一條巨大的管道，一直穿過美國墨西哥灣沿岸。藍氫的需求很大，是真正的藍氫，而不是假藍氫。因此，我們預計我們生產的大量氫氣將透過我們的管道用作氫氣，為我們擁有的客戶提供服務，因為他們需要氫氣。

So the breakdown of the ammonia and hydrogen is not finalized yet. We are installing 2.8 million tons of capacity to make ammonia. So that is the maximum amount of ammonia that we will be making. But we might make less than that depending on what we do with the hydrogen.

因此氨和氫的分解尚未最終確定。我們正在安裝 280 萬噸氨生產裝置。這就是我們將生產的最大氨量。但我們的產量可能會低於這個數字，這取決於我們對氫氣的處理方式。

So then the question that you have is, okay, even at 2.8 million, whatever you make, where is it going to be used? I understand that people are making -- announcing letters of intent and all of that. But that is people who don't have a product, selling it to people who don't have a use for it. There is -- we are making real blue ammonia, real blue ammonia, 95% of the CO2 taken. We have a place to sequester that. Therefore, our project is real. We are not having an imaginary or a fake project here. And therefore, we believe strongly that there will be demand for the product.

那麼你的問題是，好吧，即使是 280 萬，無論你生產什麼，它會用在哪裡？我知道人們正在製作、宣布意向書等等。但那是那些沒有產品的人，將其賣給沒有用處的人。我們正在製造真正的藍色氨，真正的藍色氨，吸收了 95% 的二氧化碳。我們有一個地方可以隔離它。因此，我們的項目是真實的。我們這裡沒有一個想像的或虛假的項目。因此，我們堅信該產品將會有需求。

Where it is going to go, we have always said that it is going to go mainly for decarbonization of the power plants in Japan and in Korea. But another significant demand that is being developed, and I think there are significant signs that, that is real, is ammonia as a fuel for ships. I'm sure you're familiar that starting January of 2025, in 6 months, every ship that goes to Europe, no matter where it starts from, if it gets to a port in Europe, they have to pay a tax on this carbon emissions that they released since they left their port of origin. We believe this will generate significant amounts of interest in ammonia as a direct fuel for ships. And you can check that people have already ordered ships that will use ammonia as a fuel, and some of them will actually be on the water in 2026.

它的去向，我們一直說它主要用於日本和韓國電廠的脫碳。但另一個正在開發的重要需求，我認為有明顯的跡象表明，這是真實的，那就是氨作為船舶燃料。我相信你很熟悉，從2025年1月開始，6個月後，每艘前往歐洲的船隻，無論從哪裡出發，如果到達歐洲的港口，他們都必須繳納碳稅自離開始發港以來排放的排放量。我們相信，這將引起人們對氨作為船舶直接燃料的巨大興趣。你可以檢查一下，人們已經訂購了使用氨作為燃料的船隻，其中一些實際上將在 2026 年下水。

And the other thing that I'd like to just stress, we have not said that our Louisiana plant in terms of timing is going to be fully commissioned and onstream in 2028. Okay, Jeff?

我想強調的另一件事是，我們還沒有說過我們的路易斯安那工廠將在 2028 年全面調試並投產。

Okay. And then for my follow-up, the -- in the quarter, what seems surprising was the weakness in equity affiliates' income in Europe and in the Mid-East. And in the script, there was some talk of higher interest costs in the Mid-East. And it's difficult to know if that's a onetime event or if that's a sustainable event. Could you comment on that?

好的。然後，對於我的後續行動，在本季度，令人驚訝的是歐洲和中東的股權附屬公司收入疲軟。在劇本中，有人談到中東的利息成本更高。很難知道這是一次性事件還是可持續事件。你能否對此發表評論？

And I think European volume was down 6% in the quarter and maybe in the previous quarter, it was up 9%. And maybe if you can touch on what caused that change.

我認為本季歐洲銷量下降了 6%，而上一季可能成長了 9%。也許您能談談導致這種變化的原因。

Okay. I will try to have Melissa answer the -- I got excited, I lost my voice, Jeff. But I'd like Melissa to answer the first question and Dr. Serhan to answer the second question. Melissa?

好的。我會嘗試讓梅麗莎回答——我很興奮，我失聲了，傑夫。但我希望梅莉莎回答第一個問題，塞爾漢博士回答第二個問題。梅麗莎？

Yes. Thank you, Seifi. So Jeff, what you're seeing in equity affiliate income is a little bit of timing, but we did see a bit of a decline in our Jazan joint venture. This is really a onetime item from the previous year and some higher interest expense for this quarter. So again, it's primarily timing, not an underlying business issue and a prior year onetime issue.

是的。謝謝你，賽菲。所以傑夫，你所看到的股權附屬公司收入有點時機，但我們確實看到我們的 Jazan 合資企業略有下降。這實際上是去年的一次性項目，本季的利息支出較高。再說一遍，這主要是時間問題，而不是潛在的業務問題和前一年的一次性問題。

And just following up on Jazan, I mean, again, Jazan is delivering $1.35 for earnings per share, and we expect really the project to continue to deliver this amount on an annual basis. I mean, there will be some seasonality depending on operating cost, maintenance.

就 Jazan 的後續情況而言，我的意思是，Jazan 的每股收益為 1.35 美元，我們預計該項目將繼續每年實現這筆金額。我的意思是，根據營運成本和維護，會有一些季節性。

When it comes to the volume in Europe, the volume is lower because of the planned maintenance outage we had in the second quarter and a significant outage for our air separation units and SMR in the Rotterdam area. So that really drove the volume down and also what we highlighted before, the weaker merchant volumes in general, especially the liquids. The Uzbekistan project continue to ramp up, and that definitely helped in this area. So...

就歐洲的銷售而言，由於第二季度計劃內的維護停電以及鹿特丹地區的空分裝置和 SMR 的嚴重停電，因此銷售量較低。因此，這確實導致了成交量的下降，也是我們先前強調的，商家成交量整體疲軟，尤其是液體產品。烏茲別克斯坦計畫繼續推進，無疑對這一領域有所幫助。所以...

We'll go next to Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley. I'm sorry. We'll go next to Steve Byrne with Bank of America.

接下來我們將討論摩根士丹利的文森特安德魯斯。對不起。接下來我們將討論美國銀行的史蒂夫·伯恩 (Steve Byrne)。

Just curious about the business mix that was unfavorable in Asia. Was that primarily helium? And can you provide an update on how that business is going in Asia? Are you adjusting to the Russian source product coming in, in your outlook in the next couple of quarters?

只是對亞洲不利的業務組合感到好奇。那主要是氦氣嗎？您能否提供該業務在亞洲的最新進展？您對未來幾季的展望是否正在適應即將到來的俄羅斯來源產品？

Thank you for the question. We are adjusting -- I think that's a very good word. We are adjusting to the helium condition -- business conditions in China. And that situation has stabilized, and we expect a stable situation on that for the balance of the year.

感謝你的提問。我們正在調整——我認為這是一個非常好的詞。我們正在適應氦氣條件——中國的商業條件。這種情況已經穩定下來，我們預計今年剩餘時間這種情況會保持穩定。

And a question about the Alberta project. Are you still expecting that blue hydrogen project up there to start up sometime in late 2025? And just curious, how much of the volume of that plant would you say has now been committed? Can you provide any update on that?

還有一個關於艾伯塔省專案的問題。您是否仍然期待那裡的藍色氫計畫將於 2025 年底啟動？只是好奇，您認為該工廠的體積現在已經投入使用了多少？你能提供任何最新情況嗎？

The answer to your -- first part of your question is yes. And the second part is that I would like to say, that's just about all of it.

你的問題第一部分的答案是肯定的。我想說的是第二部分，這就是全部。

And you have contracts on that, Seifi?

Seifi，你有這方面的合約嗎？

We believe that we'll [be all sold] up. We do have it, okay? Thank you.

我們相信我們會[被全部賣掉]。我們確實有，好嗎？謝謝。

We'll go next to David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

接下來是德意志銀行的 David Begleiter。

Seifi, on NEOM, have you signed any offtake agreements for any portion of the production from that project?

Seifi，在 NEOM 上，您是否對該專案的任何部分產品簽署了任何承購協議？

David, no, we have not signed any contracts that we are in a position to announce for that project yet.

大衛，不，我們還沒有簽署任何我們可以宣布的該項目的合約。

Understood. And the same question for Louisiana. Has any portion of that contract been contracted for?

明白了。路易斯安那州也有同樣的問題。該合約的任何部分是否已簽訂？

Not yet. And we have been very specific about this thing. That is not by accident. That is by design. We are not going to sign any contract for either 1 of these 2 projects until we get to the stage that we can get the price that we expect. We have taken the risk of being the first mover in this area of green and blue, and therefore, we deserve returns which are more than a plain vanilla, going and building an air separation unit. So we are going to wait until we can extract the right price.

還沒有。我們對這件事非常具體。這並非偶然。這是設計使然。在達到我們預期價格的階段之前，我們不會為這兩個項目中的任何一個簽署任何合約。我們冒著成為綠色和藍色領域先行者的風險，因此，我們應該獲得比普通的、建造空氣分離裝置更多的回報。因此，我們將等待，直到能夠得出合適的價格。

We'll go next to Duffy Fischer with Goldman Sachs.

接下來我們將討論高盛的達菲費雪 (Duffy Fischer)。

First question, just on Europe. Could you take out the Uzbek impact and just let us know what volumes did in Europe excluding that? And then what was the split of that number between your turnarounds and the weak merchant business?

第一個問題，關於歐洲。您能否排除烏茲別克的影響，讓我們知道除此之外歐洲的銷售量是多少？那麼，您的扭虧為盈與疲軟的商業業務之間的比例是多少？

All right. Duffy, you know that that's a very detailed question and very sensitive competitively. But I'll turn it over to Dr. Serhan to see what he wants to disclose.

好的。達菲，你知道這是一個非常詳細的問題，而且在競爭中非常敏感。但我會將其轉交給 Serhan 博士，看看他想透露什麼。

Yes. I would emphasize what you mentioned, Seifi. We would really not like to get into those details. I mean...

是的。我想強調你提到的，Sefi。我們真的不想討論這些細節。我是說...

Thank you. That's the right answer. Absolutely. Sorry, Duffy. Another question...

謝謝。這是正確的答案。絕對地。對不起，達菲。另一個問題...

But we've highlighted before that the Uzbekistan project is expected to really produce around $0.35 per year of earnings.

但我們之前已經強調過，烏茲別克斯坦計畫預計每年真正產生約 0.35 美元的收益。

Okay. And then the difference between GAAP and non-GAAP, there's $0.20 of charges that are called out as business and asset actions. Can you detail what exactly those are and call out a few of the bigger items to that number?

好的。然後，GAAP 和非 GAAP 之間的差異是，有 0.20 美元的費用稱為業務和資產行動。您能詳細說明這些具體是什麼，並列出一些與該數字相符的較大項目嗎？

Melissa, do you want to answer that?

梅麗莎，你想回答這個問題嗎？

Sure, Seifi, sure will. So thanks for the question. So as we mentioned, we continue to focus on our cost productivity and have taken discrete actions that are reflected in that business and asset action line item. For the vast majority of these, that is severance costs that we're recognizing in that $0.20. And just for your awareness, the full year run rate of that savings is about $75 million.

當然，塞菲，一定會的。謝謝你的提問。正如我們所提到的，我們繼續關注我們的成本生產力，並採取了反映在業務和資產行動行項目中的離散行動。對於其中絕大多數，我們將 0.20 美元視為遣散費。請注意，全年節省的營運費用約為 7500 萬美元。

We'll go next to Michael Leithead with Barclays.

接下來我們將與巴克萊銀行的麥可萊特海德一起討論。

Great. First question for Seifi. I think this morning, the European Commission announced the first winning bids for their green hydrogen subsidy auction. I think most of the winning bids were under $0.50 per kilo of hydrogen. I guess, does that outcome surprise you at all? Would you have expected higher subsidy bids? Or just -- is that roughly consistent with the bidding activity you would have expected?

偉大的。第一個問題是 Sefi。我想今天早上，歐盟委員會宣布了綠色氫補貼拍賣的第一個得標。我認為大多數中標價格都低於每公斤 0.50 美元。我想，這個結果讓你感到驚訝嗎？您預計會有更高的補貼出價嗎？或者只是——這與您預期的投標活動大致一致嗎？

I have no idea what you're talking about in terms of $0.50. It is impossible to have $0.50 hydrogen. To make hydrogen, you make -- you must have the unit -- to make hydrogen, you need about at least 50 to 60-kilowatt hours of power, and even the cost of power at $0.05, that's $3 a kilogram for hydrogen, excluding your capital costs and excluding your running costs. So I'm not familiar with that number. I don't know what you are referring to.

我不知道你所說的 0.50 美元是什麼。 0.50 美元的氫氣是不可能的。為了製造氫氣，你必須擁有裝置來製造氫氣，你需要至少 50 到 60 千瓦時的電力，甚至電力成本為 0.05 美元，即每公斤氫氣 3 美元，不包括您的資本成本，不包括您的營運成本。所以我對這個數字並不熟悉。我不知道你指的是什麼。

Apologies. I was referring to the European Union's European Hydrogen Bank auction results this morning, referring to kind of the bid prices that were awarded to 7 different projects under $0.50 per kilogram of what they were awarded in terms of subsidy. But again...

道歉。我指的是今天早上歐盟歐洲氫銀行的拍賣結果，指的是授予 7 個不同項目的投標價格，其補貼價格低於每公斤 0.50 美元。但又...

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Now I understood your question. Yes. They are -- those are not that they are buying hydrogen at that price, sorry, about that. They are giving subsidies for people to use hydrogen. Some countries are giving $0.50 a kilogram. Some countries are giving as high as $8 a kilogram. It depends on the country, and it depends on which tranche and all of that. But whatever subsidies they give, it's welcomed because that encourages use. My apologies at the beginning, I thought that they were buying hydrogen at $0.50. No, no, those are subsidies in terms of -- yes.

對不起，對不起。現在我明白你的問題了。是的。抱歉，他們並不是用這個價格買氫氣。他們為人們使用氫提供補貼。有些國家每公斤給予 0.50 美元。有些國家的捐贈高達每公斤 8 美元。這取決於國家，也取決於哪一部分以及所有這些。但無論他們提供什麼補貼，都會受到歡迎，因為這會鼓勵使用。一開始我很抱歉，我以為他們以 0.50 美元的價格購買氫氣。不，不，這些是補貼——是的。

No worries. Then again, it came out this morning. So I know it's a quick...

不用擔心。話又說回來，今天早上又出來了。所以我知道這很快...

Yes.

是的。

And then second question related to Jazan, maybe for Melissa. Can you just remind us, again, you've talked about the EPS impact. But can you just remind us on the cash portion, are you receiving cash commensurate with your earnings per share? Or how should we think about the cash from the joint venture relative to the EPS impact?

第二個問題與吉贊有關，也許是針對梅莉莎的。您能否再次提醒我們，您已經談到了每股盈餘的影響。但您能否提醒我們關於現金部分，您收到的現金是否與每股盈餘相稱？或者我們應該如何考慮合資企業的現金相對於每股盈餘的影響？

Melissa, you want to go ahead and answer that?

梅麗莎，你想繼續回答這個問題嗎？

Yes, I sure will, Seifi. So yes, we do get regular dividends from the joint venture in commensurate with the earnings. Sometimes in our cash flow statements, you will see a little bit of timing of when those distributions do occur. But yes, absolutely, we are getting the dividends as expected.

是的，我一定會的，賽菲。所以，是的，我們確實從合資企業中獲得了與收益相稱的定期股息。有時，在我們的現金流量表中，您會看到這些分配確實發生的時間。但是，是的，絕對，我們正在按預期獲得股息。

We'll go next to Marc Bianchi with TD Cowen.

接下來我們將和 TD Cowen 一起去 Marc Bianchi。

On the earlier discussion around Louisiana, Seifi, you mentioned that there'll be a market for your blue hydrogen into the pipeline network. Investors have asked if that could cannibalize some of your existing gray hydrogen volumes. Can you talk about how we should think about that dynamic?

在之前關於路易斯安那州的討論中，Seifi，您提到藍色氫氣進入管道網路將會有一個市場。投資者詢問這是否會蠶食現有的部分灰氫產量。您能談談我們應該如何看待這種動態嗎？

Well, it will eventually cannibalize that because I think, eventually, everybody will be using blue hydrogen. I mean, 10 years from now, I don't think anybody will be using gray hydrogen. So -- but the thing is that we expect volumes to grow. The volumes, as you saw even this quarter on our pipeline system is, we are totally sold out. And if we had any more hydrogen today, we could sell it. So we expect that there will be significant growth in addition to what is in the pipeline. And in the long term, we are going to make only blue hydrogen. I mean, 15 years from now, we will not have any SMRs running.

好吧，它最終會蠶食這一點，因為我認為最終每個人都會使用藍氫。我的意思是，十年後，我認為沒有人會使用灰氫。所以，但問題是我們預期銷量會成長。正如您在本季在我們的管道系統上看到的那樣，我們的銷售已經完全售空。如果我們今天有更多的氫氣，我們就可以出售它。因此，我們預計，除了正在開發的產品之外，還將出現顯著的成長。從長遠來看，我們將只生產藍色氫。我的意思是，15 年後，我們將不會再有任何小型反應器在運作。

Okay. And Dr. Serhan made a comment in your prepared remarks about the electronics market outlook. It sounded like maybe looking a little bit better. I was hoping you could expand on that and maybe help us understand how much your earnings are being held back by that. So once the electronics market recovers what sort of uplift in EPS should we expect?

好的。 Serhan 博士在您準備好的有關電子市場前景的評論中發表了評論。聽起來也許看起來好一點。我希望你能詳細說明這一點，也許可以幫助我們了解你的收入因此受到了多少影響。那麼，一旦電子市場復甦，我們應該預期每股盈餘會出現什麼樣的提升呢？

Dr. Serhan, you want to comment on that?

Serhan 博士，您想對此發表評論嗎？

Yes. We do see signs of the electronic businesses picking up, but really, we're not counting on any of that upside in our outlook for the second half of the year. So we're being conservative in this regard. But we do -- especially in Asia, I mean, with our major customers, their volumes are picking up across nitrogen, argon, helium, especially helium.

是的。我們確實看到了電子業務復甦的跡象，但實際上，我們並不指望下半年的前景有任何上升空間。所以我們在這方面持保守態度。但我們確實如此——尤其是在亞洲，我的意思是，我們的主要客戶的氮氣、氬氣、氦氣，尤其是氦氣的銷售量正在增加。

We'll go next to Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.

接下來我們將討論摩根士丹利的文森特安德魯斯。

And I apologize. I fell off the call before. So if this has been asked, please move on. Seifi, I wanted to ask you, you did better in the second quarter. You were above the high end of your guidance. It seems to me that maybe that was a function of costs coming in on the power, and maybe nat gas side, a little bit lower than maybe what you thought 3 months ago. So one, is that the case?

我道歉。我之前就掛斷了電話。因此，如果有人問這個問題，請繼續。 Seifi，我想問你，你在第二季做得更好。您超出了指導的上限。在我看來，這可能是電力成本的函數，也許是天然氣方面的成本，比你三個月前想像的要低一點。那麼一說，是這樣嗎？

And then two, just given those costs have indeed come down, whether it was more than you expected or not. But how are you thinking about that on a go-forward basis? Just because we've seen price be nicely sticky despite the deflationary environment. And obviously, many things can happen that could cause those costs to go back up. So if they do go back up, do you think you'll be able to reprice for it? Or should we just assume that there could be a little bit of a give back over the next, let's say, 12 months if we do see some reflation.

然後是兩個，考慮到這些成本確實下降了，無論是否超出您的預期。但您如何看待未來的發展？只是因為我們看到，儘管在通貨緊縮的環境下，價格仍然具有很好的黏性。顯然，許多事情都可能發生，導致這些成本回升。因此，如果價格確實回升，您認為您能夠重新定價嗎？或者我們是否應該假設，如果我們確實看到一些通貨再膨脹，那麼在接下來的 12 個月內可能會出現一些回饋。

Vincent, the thing is that your comment about our second quarter coming out better than we expected is because obviously we have taken -- we are seeing better volumes in U.S. and Europe. U.S. and Europe were very strong for us in the quarter, which was not what we expected. So that was the good news. The addition is that we are taking cost actions.

文森特，問題是，您對我們第二季度業績好於我們預期的評論是因為顯然我們已經採取了 - 我們看到美國和歐洲的銷量有所增加。本季美國和歐洲對我們來說非常強勁，這超出了我們的預期。這就是好消息。另外，我們正在採取成本行動。

In terms of pricing, I think that right now, with the inflation the way it is, I'm sure everybody is paying attention that consumer price index is up 30% in the last 4 years. So we are having serious inflation, and that is giving us the ability to go to the customers and ask for higher prices. And as you saw in the U.S., our merchant pricing was up 6% in the quarter versus quarter of last year. So we -- as I've said in my prepared remarks, our focus is on two things: cost, pricing. Those are the things that affects our short-term results and obviously executing our projects.

在定價方面，我認為目前，隨著通貨膨脹的情況，我相信每個人都在關註消費者物價指數在過去 4 年裡上漲了 30%。因此，我們面臨嚴重的通貨膨脹，這使我們有能力去找客戶並要求更高的價格。正如您在美國看到的那樣，本季我們的商家定價比去年同期上漲了 6%。因此，正如我在準備好的演講中所說，我們的重點是兩件事：成本和定價。這些都是影響我們短期績效並明顯影響我們專案執行的事情。

But we have always -- in the last 10 years, Vincent, you know us very well, we have always reacted to the environment. As I said in my prepared remarks, these are the times when the organization needs to be very agile. And that's what Air Products is about. We can adapt. We are not very big, but we can adapt. I mean, as they say, the dinosaurs died. They were very big, but they were not agile and they are extinct. So hopefully, we are the agile ones who are going to survive for the long term, no matter what.

但我們一直——在過去的十年裡，文森特，你非常了解我們，我們總是對環境做出反應。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，現在是組織需要非常敏捷的時候。這就是空氣產品公司的宗旨。我們可以適應。我們不是很大，但我們可以適應。我的意思是，正如他們所說，恐龍死了。它們很大，但不敏捷，已經滅絕了。因此，希望我們是能夠長期生存的敏捷者，無論如何。

We'll go next to Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research Partners.

接下來我們將邀請垂直研究合作夥伴的凱文·麥卡錫 (Kevin McCarthy)。

Seifi, congratulations for the results that you outlined over the last decade, and it's nice to see the 10% earnings growth goal moving forward. Unfortunately, one thing that has changed over the last 15 months or so is Air Products' trading multiple of EBITDA. And so I'm wondering, to the extent that the company's hydrogen projects and investor anxiety around that issue may be weighing on the multiple, might Air Products be interested in establishing a market value for its hydrogen business through an IPO and/or a spin-off, for example? Is that something you would consider, if not today, then perhaps in 2025 or '26 when we move closer to sustaining cash flows from the various project startups?

Seifi，恭喜您在過去十年中概述的成果，很高興看到 10% 的獲利成長目標向前推進。不幸的是，在過去 15 個月左右的時間裡，空氣產品公司的 EBITDA 交易倍數發生了變化。因此，我想知道，鑑於該公司的氫項目和投資者對該問題的焦慮可能會影響倍數，空氣產品公司是否有興趣通過首次公開募股和/或分拆來確定其氫業務的市場價值- 關閉，例如？如果不是今天，也許是在 2025 年或 26 年，當我們更接近維持各個專案新創公司的現金流時，您是否會考慮這一點？

Kevin, Air Products is right now involved in not only trying to deliver short-term results that meet the expectations of our investors and our own goal of 10% per year increase and, at the same time, executing $20 billion of projects. I don't think this is the time to try to do any kind of a financial engineering and all that because that would be significantly distracting to the management and to our people. We should continue doing what we are doing. And when the investor anxiety has disappeared once we have signed 20-year, 30-year contracts for the 2 big projects that we have underway. And once our hydrogen business, blue and green hydrogen business becomes reality and produces EBITDA and producers returns and all of that, that is at the time that one can talk about those kind of things. This is not the time.

Kevin，空氣產品公司現在不僅致力於提供滿足投資者期望的短期業績和我們自己每年增長 10% 的目標，同時還執行價值 200 億美元的項目。我認為現在不是嘗試進行任何類型的金融工程之類的時候，因為這會嚴重分散管理層和我們員工的注意力。我們應該繼續做我們正在做的事情。一旦我們為正在進行的兩個大項目簽署了 20 年、30 年的合同，投資者的焦慮就會消失。一旦我們的氫氣業務、藍色和綠色氫氣業務成為現實並產生 EBITDA 和生產商回報等等，那就是人們可以談論這些事情的時候了。現在還不是時候。

So right now, trying to put any value on the hydrogen business, it all depends on what is the assumption on the price of blue hydrogen and price of green hydrogen. And you talk to people. Some people say green hydrogen is worth $5, some people say it's $10, blue hydrogen the same thing. And obviously, we have other people, our competitors running around and saying, "Well, there is no demand for these things anyway." So how would you value a business like that? I would be very concerned about any effort in that direction because of the distraction that it will cause with especially the management and the team.

因此，目前，試圖對氫業務賦予任何價值，這完全取決於對藍氫和綠色氫價格的假設。你和人們交談。有人說綠色氫值 5 美元，有人說值 10 美元，藍氫也一樣。顯然，我們還有其他人，我們的競爭對手跑來跑去說：“好吧，無論如何，對這些東西沒有需求。”那麼您如何評價這樣的企業呢？我會非常擔心朝這個方向的任何努力，因為這會導致特別是管理階層和團隊的分心。

So as they say, there is a time for everything. This is not the time for doing that kind of financial engineering on Air Products. And by the way I did obviously read your thoughtful memo on this. Appreciate that.

正如他們所說，凡事都有時機。現在不是對空氣產品公司進行此類金融工程的時候。順便說一句，我顯然讀過你對此深思熟慮的備忘錄。感謝。

And I appreciate the feedback regarding timing, hence my reference to future years. But perhaps to follow-up on the logic, if I may. It sounds as though the game plan is to enter into multi-decade long-term contracts and with greater clarity on counterparties and terms, perhaps the pressure on the multiple will be alleviated, as I understand what you're saying.

我很欣賞有關時間安排的回饋，因此我提到了未來幾年。但如果可以的話，也許是為了跟進邏輯。聽起來好像遊戲計劃是簽訂數十年的長期合同，並且對手方和條款更加明確，也許倍數的壓力會減輕，正如我理解你所說的那樣。

And so I guess a follow-up would be, what is the timeline that you have in your mind to lift the veil and put forth these sort of agreements to the Street? Is it 6 months or 24 months or some other period of time? How would you think about starting that disclosure process?

因此，我想後續行動是，您心目中揭開面紗並向華爾街提出此類協議的時間表是什麼？是 6 個月還是 24 個月還是其他時段？您如何考慮啟動該揭露流程？

Well, Kevin, this is a very fluid situation. It can be any time. It depends on -- as I said, our criteria is not to run and announce something so that the stock would go up $50. Our criteria is how do we extract the real value that we deserve for these projects for the next 30 years? That is our criteria.

嗯，凱文，這是一個非常不穩定的情況。可以是任何時間。這取決於——正如我所說，我們的標準不是運行並宣布某件事，從而使股價上漲 50 美元。我們的標準是如何在未來 30 年內從這些項目中獲得我們應得的真正價值？這是我們的標準。

And now if somebody steps forward and say, "Gee, I'm going to start paying taxes tomorrow in 2027, in 2028 because of the regulation. And I desperately need this stuff and I want to secure it before somebody else does it, and I want to sign a contract 3 months from now." We'll do that. If it is 20 months from now, then we'll do it 20 months from now. These clients are not coming onstream until 2027, 2028. The part that I can confidently tell the investors, believe me, there is demand. Do not buy into this business that there is no demand. There is demand.

現在，如果有人站出來說：「哎呀，由於監管規定，我明天將在 2027 年、2028 年開始納稅。我迫切需要這些東西，我想在其他人這樣做之前獲得它，並且我想在三個月後簽一份合約。我們會這麼做的。如果是20個月後，那麼我們會在20個月後做。這些客戶要到2027年、2028年才會投產。不要買這個沒有需求的業務。有需求。

The issue is at what point in -- and not only there is demand, but Air Products is the only company who is going to have real products being made. We have a real green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia being built. I can show you the picture of the wind turbines installed. Nobody else has that. Therefore, 3 years from now when people need this product, where are they going to get it? Therefore, we having taken the risk and losing a lot of the, as you said, our market value because we have taken the risk, we deserve a better return on these projects than running around and trying to panic about the fact that our multiple is, instead of being a 30x EPS, it is 20x EPS. But the value of the company hasn't changed.

問題在於什麼時候——不僅有需求，而且空氣產品公司是唯一一家能夠生產真正產品的公司。我們在沙烏地阿拉伯正在建造一個真正的綠色氫計畫。我可以給你看安裝的風力渦輪機的圖片。其他人都沒有這個。那麼，3年後，當人們需要這個產品時，他們從哪裡得到它？因此，正如您所說，我們承擔了風險，並損失了很多我們的市場價值，因為我們承擔了風險，我們應該在這些項目上獲得更好的回報，而不是四處奔走，並試圖對我們的市盈率的事實感到恐慌。但公司的價值並沒有改變。

Our base business is the most profitable with the highest margin business than anybody else. So if anybody's business is trading at 30x, ours should be trading at that, too. And now people are worried about these big projects. There is demand. Please take a look at the regulations in Europe, regulations at California, take a -- regulations that are coming in Japan, Korea. There is demand.

我們的基礎業務是最賺錢、最利潤的業務。因此，如果有人的業務以 30 倍的價格進行交易，那麼我們的業務也應該以 30 倍的價格進行交易。現在人們對這些大項目感到擔憂。有需求。請來看看歐洲的法規、加州的法規，以及日本、韓國即將推出的法規。有需求。

So it is obviously a great deal of pressure, but I am absolutely willing to stick my neck out and take the heat because I think my job is to create long-term value for shareholders, not try to panic on a short-term basis. Sorry for the long answer to your question.

所以這顯然是一個很大的壓力，但我絕對願意冒險，因為我認為我的工作是為股東創造長期價值，而不是試圖在短期內恐慌。很抱歉回答你的問題很長。

We'll go next to Patrick Cunningham with Citi.

接下來我們將與花旗銀行的 Patrick Cunningham 會面。

You cited major turnarounds in Europe and Americas potentially dragging on 3Q. Can you give us a sense of the volume and margin impact and what are those turnarounds there?

您提到歐洲和美洲的重大轉變可能會拖累第三季。您能否讓我們了解一下銷售量和利潤率的影響以及這些轉變是什麼？

Dr. Serhan, you want to take that?

Serhan 博士，你想要那個嗎？

Can you please repeat the question again, if you don't mind...

如果您不介意的話，可以再重複一次這個問題嗎？

Yes, on the major turnarounds in Americas and Europe.

是的，關於美洲和歐洲的重大轉變。

You're talking about the third quarter? Yes. I mean, we have 3 major turnarounds basically in the Americas in the third quarter. And that's why really our maintenance expense for the quarter is pretty significant. And they're also finishing a major turnaround in Europe, that's also going to contribute to basically significant increase in our maintenance costs for the third quarter. And these are mainly for like hydrogen plants...

你說的是第三季吧？是的。我的意思是，第三季我們基本上在美洲發生了 3 次重大轉變。這就是為什麼我們本季的維護費用非常高的原因。他們還在歐洲完成了重大轉變，這也將導致我們第三季的維護成本基本上顯著增加。這些主要用於氫工廠…

Got it. And then do you have an update on permitting and preliminary engineering for the North Texas project? And when do you anticipate FID there?

知道了。那麼您有北德州專案許可和初步工程的最新情況嗎？您預計什麼時候會進行 FID？

I'd like to take that. We have done a significant amount of engineering on the North Texas project. But we are not going to make a commitment on FID on that project until the rules for the implementation of IRA are finalized. There is a significant impact. And as you know, there is significant amount of controversy about how those rules should be interpreted.

我想接受這個。我們在北德克薩斯州專案上完成了大量工程工作。但在 IRA 實施規則最終確定之前，我們不會對該專案做出 FID 承諾。有重大影響。如您所知，關於如何解釋這些規則存在大量爭議。

Currently, the way the rules have been stated, they are fine with us. And if that was final thing, we would commit to FID. But they are not finalized yet and we expect those to be finalized by June, July. But we will wait. We are not going to make FID on that project until those rules of what is the definition of green hydrogen is final on the books and on which basis one can count on the tax credit.

目前，就規則的表述方式而言，我們覺得沒問題。如果這是最終決定，我們將承諾最終投資決定。但它們尚未最終確定，我們預計將在六月、七月之前完成。但我們會等待。在綠氫的定義最終確定下來並且在此基礎上人們可以依靠稅收抵免之前，我們不會對該項目進行最終投資決定。

We'll go next to Chris Parkinson with Wolfe Research.

接下來我們將討論沃爾夫研究中心的克里斯·帕金森。

Great. Can you just quickly take us for a trip around the world in terms of the merchant operating rates and what you're seeing? I think those on the Street are hearing a few varying kind of takes on what's happening with the global economy. So we'd love to hear yours.

偉大的。您能否帶我們快速帶我們環遊世界一圈，看看商家的開工率和您所看到的情況？我認為華爾街人士正在聽到一些關於全球經濟正在發生的事情的不同看法。所以我們很想聽聽您的意見。

Thank you very much, Chris. If I may just -- in general terms, China has been weak for us in the first half. Right now, there is stock. We haven't seen any evidence yet. But there is stock and some actions taken that might indicate that China's economy will improve in the second half. We are waiting to see that, and we have not included any improvement on that in our forecast.

非常感謝你，克里斯。總的來說，中國隊在上半場對我們來說表現很弱。目前，還有庫存。我們還沒有看到任何證據。但有庫存和採取的一些行動可能表明中國經濟將在下半年有所改善。我們正在等待看到這一點，並且我們的預測中沒有包含任何改進。

When it gets to Europe, Europe is no change in the -- as compared to the last few quarters. Actually, European economy is growing a little bit better than we expected, as I said before. And the U.S. economy is doing better than we expected. And then Latin America is not material to our business. I hope that covers what you were looking for, Chris.

當談到歐洲時，與過去幾個季度相比，歐洲沒有變化。事實上，正如我之前所說，歐洲經濟的成長比我們預期的要好一些。美國經濟的表現比我們預期的還要好。而且拉丁美洲對我們的業務並不重要。我希望這能滿足您的需求，克里斯。

Sure. And just a quick follow-up, just given all the puts and takes, I'm sure you've seen, but in various public appearances, a lot of your competitors and peers, whether it's been Exxon or Shell or Aramco or Total, they've had, let's just characterize it as a very mixed commentary on a lot of the initiatives that you've been saying -- in terms of your potential offtakers over the next 3, 4, 5 years, do you think their comments during present day affects your positioning in terms of being a potential partner of choice on many of these projects? Or how should we interpret that industry rhetoric versus your own?

當然。只是一個快速的跟進，考慮到所有的投入和採取，我相信你已經看到了，但在各種公開露面中，你的很多競爭對手和同行，無論是埃克森美孚、殼牌、沙特阿美還是道達爾，他們已經有過，讓我們將其描述為對您所說的許多舉措的非常複雜的評論 - 就您未來 3、4、5 年的潛在承購商而言，您認為他們的評論在目前的情況會影響您作為許多此類專案的潛在合作夥伴的定位嗎？或者我們應該如何解釋產業言論與您自己的言論？

Chris, the products that we are going to make, the potential users for green hydrogen are steelmaking, refineries, shipping, using green ammonia as fuel for ships to meet the very stringent requirements in Europe and hydrogen for mobility. Those are the 4 areas that will eventually -- the offtakers for the product. And we are obviously talking to people in all of those 4 sectors. We don't have anything to announce. And if we are talking to anybody, we are under NDA, therefore, we cannot announce anything or give any details. But those are the sectors that we will be using green hydrogen.

克里斯，我們要生產的產品，綠氫的潛在用戶是煉鋼、煉油廠、航運，使用綠氨作為船舶燃料，以滿足歐洲非常嚴格的要求，以及氫用於交通。這些是最終的 4 個領域——產品的承購商。顯然，我們正在與所有這四個領域的人們交談。我們沒有什麼要宣布的。如果我們與任何人交談，我們都會遵守保密協議，因此，我們無法宣布任何內容或提供任何細節。但這些是我們將使用綠氫的領域。

On the blue hydrogen side, the developments, the way I see, it is still using blue hydrogen as a fuel to -- using blue hydrogen as a replacement of coal to decarbonize power plants. Blue hydrogen can also be used -- as I mentioned before, I think a significant use will be as fuel for ships. And blue hydrogen will be used in our pipeline for decarbonizing refineries and chemical operations along the Gulf Coast. Those are the sectors that we are talking to.

在藍氫方面，在我看來，它的發展仍然是使用藍氫作為燃料——使用藍氫取代煤炭來使發電廠脫碳。藍氫也可以使用——正如我之前提到的，我認為一個重要的用途將是作為船舶燃料。藍氫將用於我們的管道，用於墨西哥灣沿岸煉油廠和化工廠的脫碳。這些就是我們正在討論的行業。

We'll go next to Josh Spector with UBS.

接下來我們將討論瑞銀集團的 Josh Spector。

Just a couple of quick follow-ups. Just to follow up on the turnaround and maintenance side of it, are you able to size the EPS impact that you think -- in 3Q since you called that out as a bridging item for second half? And would you characterize this year as a heavier maintenance year versus normal? I mean, obviously, there's turnarounds going on all the time but we're maybe not talking about them typically as much as we are today.

只需幾個快速跟進。只是為了跟進週轉和維護方面的情況，您是否能夠衡量您認為的第三季度 EPS 影響，因為您將其稱為下半年的過渡項目？您是否認為今年是維護工作比正常情況更頻繁的一年？我的意思是，顯然，轉變一直在發生，但我們可能不會像今天那樣經常談論它們。

Serhan, do you want to take that?

Serhan，你想要那個嗎？

Yes. Sure, Seifi. I mean, definitely, our hydrogen -- our portfolio of hydrogen plant is really getting more and more which basically again, you need to maintain these units like every for 4 years -- around 4 years, you have to do a major turnaround. This year, without really mentioning a specific number, it is at a record high especially in the U.S. with our U.S. Gulf Coast, our assets in California, our assets in Canada. Basically, we have a significant amount of expense when it comes to maintaining our facilities. So -- and also coincided this year, we also -- we have our 4-year turnaround for our major facilities in Rotterdam in Europe. So...

是的。當然，賽菲。我的意思是，我們的氫氣——我們的氫氣工廠的投資組合確實越來越多，基本上，你需要像每四年一樣維護這些裝置——大約四年，你必須進行重大周轉。今年，雖然沒有提及具體數字，但它創下了歷史新高，尤其是在美國，我們在美國墨西哥灣沿岸、我們在加州的資產、我們在加拿大的資產。基本上，我們在維護設施方面需要花費大量費用。因此，今年也恰逢我們在歐洲鹿特丹的主要設施進行了四年的周轉。所以...

Okay. All right. And if I could just ask then on Asia with helium specifically, you commented earlier that it stabilized. But I think from the last call you were talking about lowering pricing and regaining margins -- or regaining volume, sorry. Has that played out? Has it stabilized lower? Or have you regained any volumes? Where is that?

好的。好的。如果我能具體問一下亞洲的氦氣情況，您早些時候評論說它已經穩定下來。但我認為從上次電話會議中你談論的是降低價格和恢復利潤——或者恢復銷量，抱歉。就這樣玩完了嗎？已經穩定下來了嗎？或者你恢復了一些卷嗎？哪裡是？

We have lowered prices in order to stabilize the situation.

我們降低了價格以穩定局勢。

We'll go next to Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

我們將和傑弗里斯一起去勞倫斯·亞歷山大旁邊。

Just two very quick ones. Just on the pricing -- merchant pricing in North America, is there any quirkiness in the end market mix where you're seeing pricing? Or is this 6% across the board? And then secondly, how much capital do you have invested in gray hydrogen currently?

只有兩個非常快的。就定價而言—北美的商家定價，您看到的定價在終端市場組合中是否有任何奇怪的地方？或者說這個比例是6%？其次，目前你們在灰氫方面投入了多少資金？

I would like to have Dr. Serhan answer the first question. And the second question, I'm not sure we want to disclose that in detail.

我想讓 Serhan 博士回答第一個問題。第二個問題，我不確定我們是否想詳細透露這一點。

I mean, when it comes to the merchant, it's really across the board. It's -- I mean, it's nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium. It's really across the board that we really have pricing discipline there in this inflationary environment. So -- and I just also want to highlight in the Americas, I mean, we've mentioned it before in the prepared comments that again on-site -- hydrogen on-site has been really doing very well. I mean -- and that's helping the volume for the year. And we continue to see this going for some extended amount of time because of the refining activities.

我的意思是，當談到商家時，它確實是全面的。我的意思是，它是氮氣、氧氣、氬氣、氦氣。在這種通膨環境下，我們確實有全面的定價紀律。因此，我還想強調在美洲，我的意思是，我們之前在準備好的評論中已經提到過，再次在現場，現場氫氣確實表現得非常好。我的意思是——這對今年的銷量有所幫助。由於煉油活動，我們繼續看到這種情況持續很長一段時間。

We'll go next to Mike Sison with Wells Fargo.

接下來我們將與富國銀行一起去邁克·西森（Mike Sison）。

Nice quarter. In terms of the fourth quarter, what volume growth do you need to hit the range that you have? I know you gave us a lot of -- 3 or 4 different reasons why it's going to be a lot stronger than the prior quarters. But any thoughts on what type of volume growth you need?

不錯的季度。就第四季而言，您需要多少銷售成長才能達到現有範圍？我知道你給了我們很多——三四個不同的理由來解釋為什麼它會比前幾季強勁得多。但對於您需要哪種類型的銷售成長有什麼想法嗎？

We have really not -- volume growth, not on the base business. But we will have volume growth based on new plants coming onstream. But most of it -- yes, sir.

我們確實沒有——銷量成長，而不是基礎業務。但我們的銷售成長將基於新工廠的投產。但大部分——是的，先生。

Got it. And then just a -- yes, sorry. But yes, just a quick follow-up on your NEOM and Louisiana. I know you can't really or want to tell us what price, but what is the return premium that you're looking for to sign the offtake? Is there a certain way for us to look at it at -- from that standpoint?

知道了。然後只是——是的，抱歉。但是，是的，只是對 NEOM 和路易斯安那州進行快速跟進。我知道您不能真正或想要告訴我們什麼價格，但是您希望簽署承購合約的回報溢價是多少？我們是否有某種特定的方式來看待它——從這個角度來看？

As high as we can get. Because if we have a product that nobody else has, then why should we be satisfied with a specific return? And I, obviously, do not want to disclose that, but -- any kind of a return. We are -- we have a product that is going to come onstream that people are going to need. Nobody makes that product today. So what is the price for that? The price for that is not calculated on the basis that this is my capital, this is the return, and therefore, we do that. When you have somebody that people need, you extract the maximum price.

我們能達到的最高水準。因為如果我們擁有別人沒有的產品，那麼我們為什麼要對特定的回報感到滿意呢？顯然，我不想透露這一點，但——任何形式的回報。我們－我們有一款即將推出的人們所需要的產品。今天沒有人生產這種產品。那麼它的價格是多少呢？其價格並不是根據這是我的資本、這是回報來計算的，因此我們這樣做。當你找到了人們需要的人時，你就會提取最高價格。

We all go to the gas station and pay what we are paying for the gas station. The cost of taking oil out of the ground in the Middle East is $5 a barrel. If you sit down and calculate it based on the return, we should be paying $0.25 a gallon for gas. But people are sitting there saying, "I have it. You need it. It's $80 today. It might be $200 another day or it might be another price another day." So we are not basing the pricing from our products based on return. We are basing it on what we can get out of the market because there is significant value that we bring to the market for the investor.

我們都去加油站並支付我們在加油站支付的費用。中東從地下開採石油的成本為每桶 5 美元。如果你坐下來根據回報計算一下，我們應該支付每加侖 0.25 美元的汽油費。但人們坐在那裡說：“我有。你需要它。今天是 80 美元。改天可能是 200 美元，或者改天可能是另一個價格。”因此，我們的產品定價並非基於退貨。我們以我們可以從市場中獲得的東西為基礎，因為我們為投資者帶來了巨大的價值。

Right now, if you have deep blue hydrogen that you can give to somebody where they can make renewable diesel to sell it in California, there is a significant premium for that. So that's how we look at it.

現在，如果你有深藍色的氫，你可以把它送給可以製造再生柴油並在加州出售的人，那麼就會有很大的溢價。這就是我們的看法。

And if you allow me, Seifi, I just wanted to highlight, today, we already have 3 major on-site blue hydrogen contracts for 15-plus years with a premium for the blue product.

如果你允許的話，Seifi，我只是想強調一下，今天，我們已經擁有 3 個主要的現場藍色氫合同，為期 15 年以上，並且藍色產品具有溢價。

Right. Obviously, we haven't disclosed some of that yet. But we know what is going on in the marketplace, and our goal is to get the maximum return for our investors, not to sit down. And if it was just a matter of saying, "This is my investment and this is a 10% return and this is the [price]." Then you don't need to pay somebody $15 million to be CEO of Air Products. Then anybody can do that.

正確的。顯然，我們還沒有透露其中的一些內容。但我們知道市場正在發生什麼，我們的目標是為投資者獲得最大回報，而不是坐以待斃。如果只是說「這是我的投資，這是 10% 的回報，這就是[價格]」。那麼你就不需要付給某人 1500 萬美元來擔任空氣產品公司的執行長。那麼任何人都可以做到這一點。

We'll go next to John Roberts with Mizuho.

接下來我們將和瑞穗一起去約翰羅伯茲。

Seifi, did you say 15 years from now, Air Products will not have any SMRs running? Did you mean not running without carbon capture? Or -- can you talk about the average useful life left on the SMRs?

Seifi，您是否說過 15 年後，空氣產品公司將不再運行任何 SMR？您的意思是沒有碳捕獲就不能跑步嗎？或者—您能談談 SMR 的平均使用壽命嗎？

Yes. I very much appreciate you bringing up the point. I should have mentioned that we will not have any SMRs running without carbon capture. That is correct. I'm glad you clarified that.

是的。我非常感謝你提出這一點。我應該要提到的是，如果沒有碳捕獲，我們不會讓任何小型反應器運作。那是對的。我很高興你澄清了這一點。

On the lower natural gas feedstock cost for hydrogen, besides the pass-through impact on margin, I think you also get to key the benefit of efficiency improvements. And those efficiency improvements, I guess, are worth a lot less when gas is low. Is that a meaningful headwind? Or is that immaterial right now?

由於氫氣的天然氣原料成本較低，除了對利潤率的傳遞影響之外，我認為您還可以關鍵提高效率的好處。我認為，當天然氣含量較低時，這些效率提升的價值就會大大降低。這是一個有意義的逆風嗎？或者現在這並不重要？

Well, I wouldn't want to say it's meaningful, but it is a hit, and I really appreciate you picking up on that. That is exactly right. When natural gas price is at $12 a 1,000 cubic feet, those bonuses are significant. Now the natural gas is $3, $2.5, the bonus has become a lot smaller.

好吧，我不想說它很有意義，但它很受歡迎，我真的很感謝你能接受這一點。這是完全正確的。當天然氣價格為每 1,000 立方英尺 12 美元時，這些紅利非常可觀。現在天然氣是3美元、2.5美元，獎金變小了許多。

At this time, there are no additional questions in queue. I'd like to turn the call back over to our speakers for any additional or closing remarks.

目前，隊列中沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給我們的發言人，請其發表補充或結束語。

Well, thank you very much. I would like to again thank everyone for joining our call today. We appreciate your interest in Air Products, and we look forward to discussing our results with you again next quarter. Please stay safe and healthy, and all the best. And thank you for your very good questions today, everybody. We really appreciate that.

好的，謝謝。我想再次感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。我們感謝您對空氣產品公司的興趣，我們期待下季再次與您討論我們的業績。請保持安全、健康，一切順利。謝謝大家今天提出的好問題。我們真的很感激。

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。我們感謝您的參與。