Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (APD) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning (technical difficulty) 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（技術問題）財報發布電話會議。應 Air Products 要求，今日電話會議將進行錄音。請注意，本簡報以及代表 Air Products 所發表之評論均受 Air Products 著作權保護，並保留一切權利。

Beginning today's call is Megan Briit. You may begin.

現在開始今日會議的是 Megan Briit。您可以開始。

Hello, and welcome to the third-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings conference call for Air Products. Our prepared remarks today will be led by Eduardo Menezes, Chief Executive Officer; and Melissa Schaeffer, Chief Financial Officer. We have prepared presentation slides to supplement our remarks during the call, which are posted on the Investor Relations section of the Air Products website.

各位好，歡迎參加 Air Products 2026 會計年度第三季財報電話會議。今日的預先準備發言將由執行長 Eduardo Menezes 與財務長 Melissa Schaeffer 主持。我們已準備簡報投影片以補充本次電話會議中的說明，投影片已張貼於 Air Products 官網投資人關係專區。

During this call, we'll make forward-looking statements, which are our expectations about the future. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could materially differ from these statements due to these risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those discussed on this call and in the forward-looking statements and risk factors sections of our reports filed or furnished with the SEC. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

在本次電話會議中，我們將作出前瞻性陳述，亦即我們對未來的預期。這些陳述係基於目前的預期與假設，並可能受到各種風險與不確定性影響。由於上述風險與不確定性（包括但不限於本次電話會議以及我們向 SEC 提交或提供之報告中「前瞻性陳述」與「風險因素」章節所討論者），我們的實際結果可能與這些陳述存在重大差異。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述之義務。

Please note in today's presentation, we will refer to various financial measures, including earnings per share, capital expenditures, operating income, operating margin, the effective tax rate, ROC, and net debt to EBITDA on a total company basis. Unless we specifically state otherwise, statements regarding these measures refer to our adjusted non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found on our investor website in the relevant earnings release section.

請注意，在今日簡報中，我們將提及多項財務衡量指標，包括每股盈餘、資本支出、營業利益、營業利益率、有效稅率、ROC，以及以全公司口徑計算之淨負債對 EBITDA 比率。除非我們另有明確說明，關於上述指標的陳述均指我們調整後的非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。上述指標與最直接可比之 GAAP 財務衡量指標的調節表，可於我們投資人網站相關財報新聞稿專區查閱。

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Eduardo.

現在很高興把電話會議交給 Eduardo。

Thank you, Megan. Hello, and thank you for joining our call today. Now please turn to slide three. Earlier today, we reported results for the third quarter of fiscal 2026. In the quarter, we managed volatile marketing dynamics to deliver a 9% increase in operating income compared to the same period last year.

謝謝你，Megan。各位好，感謝今天加入我們的電話會議。現在請翻到投影片三。今天稍早，我們公布了 2026 會計年度第三季的業績。本季我們在波動的市場環境下妥善因應，營業利益較去年同期成長 9%。

Our operating margin of 25.6% was also up compared to the same period last year, largely from volume and price improvement, partially offset by higher costs. Earnings per share were $3.47, up 12% compared to the same period last year. This was above our guidance range, largely due to improved volume and higher contributions from our equity affiliates.

我們的營業利益率為 25.6%，亦較去年同期提升，主要來自銷量與價格改善，但部分被成本上升所抵銷。每股盈餘為 3.47 美元，較去年同期成長 12%。此結果高於我們的財測區間，主要因銷量改善以及權益法投資公司貢獻提高。

Volume improvement was led by higher on-site results, new assets on streams and HyCo. The helium headwind in the quarter was 2%, which was better than expected, largely on electronics momentum in Asia. Return on capital of 11.7% was up relatively to prior year and improved sequentially.

銷量改善主要由現場供氣（on-site）業務表現提升、新資產投產以及 HyCo 帶動。本季氦氣的不利影響為 2%，優於預期，主要受惠於亞洲電子相關動能。資本報酬率（ROC）為 11.7%，較去年同期上升，且較前一季改善。

Moving to slide four, we remain focused on three key priorities for 2026. On earnings growth, EPS are up 14% year-to-date. With another quarter of strong performance, we are raising our full-year earnings guidance, which now implies an improvement of 11% to 12% for the full fiscal year. We continue to expect EPS growth to be achieved primarily through volume growth from new asset contributions, pricing actions and continued productivity.

接著看投影片四，我們仍聚焦於 2026 年的三項關鍵優先事項。在獲利成長方面，年初至今 EPS 成長 14%。在另一季強勁表現之後，我們上調全年獲利指引，新的指引意味著本會計年度全年將改善 11% 至 12%。我們仍預期 EPS 成長主要來自新資產貢獻帶動的銷量成長、定價措施以及持續的生產力提升。

Next, we continue to make progress on optimizing our large project portfolio. On June 30, we announced our decision to exit the Louisiana project, the Casa Grande, Arizona project and other smaller scale clean energy distribution projects. As a result, we recorded a pre-tax charge of $2.9 billion this quarter. We are working on opportunities to redeploy the industrial gas assets and sell the ammonia production assets associated with the Louisiana project.

其次，我們持續在大型專案組合的最佳化方面取得進展。6 月 30 日，我們宣布決定退出路易斯安那專案、亞利桑那州 Casa Grande 專案，以及其他較小規模的潔淨能源配送專案。因此，我們於本季認列稅前費用 29 億美元。我們正尋求機會重新配置與路易斯安那專案相關的工業氣體資產，並出售其相關的氨生產資產。

On the green ammonia project in Saudi Arabia, or NGHC, we have now finalized a marketing and distribution agreement with Yara. I will speak to this more in a moment.

在沙烏地阿拉伯的綠色氨專案（NGHC）方面，我們現已與 Yara 最終敲定行銷與配送協議。我稍後會再多談一些。

Finally, on our third priority, maintaining capital discipline, the cancellation of the Louisiana project will allow us to reduce our capital expenditures. While we expect to reduce capital expenditures overall, we will remain focused on investing in our backlog of traditional industrial gas projects, especially in the electronics end market.

最後，第三項優先事項是維持資本紀律；取消路易斯安那專案將使我們得以降低資本支出。雖然我們預期整體資本支出將下降，但仍將專注投資於我們既有的傳統工業氣體專案儲備（backlog），尤其是電子終端市場。

In addition to investing in our traditional industrial gas projects, we remain committed to continue our strong track record of returning cash to our shareholders. Year-to-date, we have returned $1.2 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends.

除投資傳統工業氣體專案外，我們也持續致力於延續向股東回饋現金的優良紀錄。年初至今，我們已透過股利形式向股東回饋 12 億美元。

Please turn to slide five. I'm pleased to share that Air Products and Yara have signed a marketing and distribution agreement for renewable ammonia from the NEOM green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia. Under the agreement, Yara will transport and commercialize renewable ammonia that will be acquired by Air Products from NGHC that is not used by Air Products to produce green hydrogen in Europe.

請翻到投影片五。我很高興分享，Air Products 與 Yara 已就沙烏地阿拉伯 NEOM 綠氫專案所產生的再生氨簽署行銷與配送協議。依據協議，Yara 將運輸並商業化由 Air Products 自 NGHC 取得、且未被 Air Products 用於在歐洲生產綠氫的再生氨。

This model creates the first fully integrated value chain for renewable ammonia by enabling products from the world's first large-scale green ammonia plant to be sold and delivered through Yara's existing global supply chain. As a final note, we do not expect this project to have a material financial impact in fiscal year '27.

此模式透過 Yara 既有的全球供應鏈，使全球首座大型綠色氨工廠的產品得以銷售並交付，從而建立首條完全整合的再生氨價值鏈。最後補充一點，我們預期該專案在 2027 會計年度不會產生重大的財務影響。

Please turn to slide six for a summary of our current project backlog and an update of our capital expenditure forecast. Before I go into details, I want to provide some context on how to think about our backlog. To be included in the backlog, a project must have reached a final investment decision on FID following a robust review process to ensure we have adequate returns relatively to the risks of the project.

請翻到投影片六，以了解我們目前的專案儲備摘要以及資本支出預測更新。在我進入細節之前，我想先提供一些關於如何看待我們 backlog 的背景。要納入 backlog，專案必須在嚴謹的審查流程後完成最終投資決策（FID），以確保相對於專案風險，我們能取得足夠的報酬。

Our backlog will include investments in projects with long-term contracts with a strong customer and in few cases, production facility to grow our liquid bulk and packaged gases business. With this criteria, we currently have a traditional industrial gas backlog of approximately $3 billion in projects.

我們的 backlog 將包含與優質客戶簽訂長期合約之專案投資，並在少數情況下包含用以擴大我們液體散裝與瓶裝氣體業務的生產設施。依此標準，我們目前的傳統工業氣體 backlog 約為 30 億美元的專案。

A significant portion of the capital projected for the backlog will support electronic customers. This includes over $1.5 billion in project wins for air products in the last six months.

backlog 所預估資本投入的相當大一部分將用於支援電子客戶。其中包括過去六個月 Air Products 取得超過 15 億美元的專案得標。

Translating our backlog into a view of capital expenditures, on the right-hand side of this slide, we are targeting to invest approximately $1.5 billion per year going forward into additional industrial gas projects. These are air separation and hydrogen projects of varying sizes and there are new projects being added and completed projects being removed from the list.

將 backlog 轉換為資本支出的觀點，在本投影片右側，我們的目標是未來每年投入約 15 億美元於新增的工業氣體專案。這些專案涵蓋不同規模的空氣分離與氫氣專案，且名單中會持續新增新專案並移除已完成的專案。

The CapEx figures for fiscal year '27 are preliminary and represent the committed spend for traditional industrial gas projects based on our current backlog. As we continue to build our backlog, our focus will be on opportunities that meet our risk-adjusted return thresholds.

2027 會計年度的資本支出數字仍屬初步，代表依據我們目前 backlog 對傳統工業氣體專案的已承諾支出。隨著我們持續擴充 backlog，我們將聚焦於符合我們風險調整後報酬門檻的機會。

As we previously disclosed, we are also moving forward with several underperforming projects given our commercial obligations and product status. Although these projects are not expected to contribute materially to our future operating income, we continue to work to improve their results through commercial negotiations, operational improvement, and productivity.

如我們先前所揭露，基於我們的商業義務與產品狀態，我們也正推進數個表現不佳的專案。儘管預期這些專案不會對我們未來的營業利益作出重大貢獻，我們仍持續透過商業協商、營運改善與生產力提升來改善其成果。

After we bring these projects on stream, we expect total CapEx expenditure of roughly $2 billion to $2.5 billion per year, which can sustain both our future growth and ongoing maintenance.

在這些專案投產後，我們預期每年的資本支出（CapEx）總額約為20億至25億美元，可同時支撐未來成長與持續維護需求。

Again, I want to thank their products team for delivering the results this quarter. Now, I will turn the call over to Melissa to discuss those results in greater depth and review our 2026 outlook. Melissa?

再次感謝他們的產品團隊在本季交出成果。現在我將把電話交給Melissa，請她更深入地討論這些結果並回顧我們對2026年的展望。Melissa？

Thank you, Eduardo. Please move to slide seven for a high-level summary of our third quarter financial results. Sales were up 5%, while operating income grew 9% on volume, currency and price, overcoming higher costs from fixed cost inflation. Volume growth was led by our on-site business, driven by contributions from new assets coming on stream in Asia and Americas, as well as higher production from US refinery assets.

謝謝你，Eduardo。請翻到第七張投影片，查看我們第三季財務結果的高層次摘要。銷售成長5%，而營業利益在銷量、匯率與價格的帶動下成長9%，克服了固定成本通膨帶來的較高成本。銷量成長主要由我們的現場供氣（on-site）業務帶動，來自亞洲與美洲新資產投產的貢獻，以及美國煉油廠資產更高的產量。

Pricing was up, primarily in Europe and the Americas. With this underlying business performance, operating margin of 25.6% improved over 100 basis points compared to the prior year. Earnings per share of $3.47 increased 12% from the prior year due to the base business growth as well as strong equity affiliate contributions. Return on capital of 11.7% was up 60 basis points on strong base business performance and large project optimization.

價格上升，主要發生在歐洲與美洲。在此基礎業務表現下，營業利益率25.6%較去年提升逾100個基點。每股盈餘（EPS）3.47美元，因基礎業務成長以及權益法投資關聯企業的強勁貢獻，較去年增加12%。資本報酬率11.7%，在強勁的基礎業務表現與大型專案最佳化帶動下，上升60個基點。

Please turn to slide eight. Our-third quarter earnings per share of $3.47 increased $0.38 or 12% from the prior year. We saw a 2% headwind from helium this quarter, which was better than our guidance of 3%, driven by improved volume and pricing in Asia, supporting our electronic customers, partially offset by the lower space volume in the Americas.

請翻到第八張投影片。我們第三季每股盈餘3.47美元，較去年增加0.38美元或12%。本季氦氣帶來2%的逆風，優於我們先前3%的指引；此改善來自亞洲銷量與價格提升、支援我們的電子客戶，但部分被美洲較低的航太（space）銷量所抵銷。

Currency was favorable 2%, and in line with our third quarter guidance. The base business improvement was driven by on-site volume, including new assets and pricing. We also saw strong contributions from equity affiliates in Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Despite higher costs in the quarter, driven by fixed cost inflation, we remain on track with our headcount reduction plan for the year, having recognized approximately $75 million in the savings year-to-date.

匯率帶來2%的正面影響，與我們第三季指引一致。基礎業務改善主要由現場供氣銷量帶動，包括新資產與價格因素。我們也看到來自墨西哥與沙烏地阿拉伯權益法投資關聯企業的強勁貢獻。儘管本季成本上升（主要由固定成本通膨所致），我們仍按計畫推進年度人力精簡方案，年初至今已認列約7,500萬美元的節省金額。

Moving now to slide nine. I will provide an overview of our results by segment. You can find additional details of the quarterly segment results in the appendix.

接著請看第九張投影片。我將按事業部門概述我們的業績。您可在附錄中找到各部門季度業績的更多細節。

In the Americas, operating income improved 6%, primarily driven by on-site volume, including contributions from our HyCO existing facilities and a new asset in our Gulf Coast hydrogen pipeline. The volume improvement, along with pricing, was partially offset by higher costs, including fixed cost inflation, distribution, and dislocation costs.

在美洲，營業利益提升6%，主要由現場供氣銷量帶動，包括我們HyCO既有設施的貢獻，以及墨西哥灣沿岸氫氣管線中的一項新資產。銷量改善與價格因素，部分被較高成本所抵銷，包括固定成本通膨、配送以及調度/搬遷成本。

Asia operating income grew 18%, primarily due to benefits from the gasification assets held for sale, new assets on stream, and helium.

亞洲營業利益成長18%，主要受惠於列為待售的氣化資產、新資產投產，以及氦氣。

In Europe, operating income increased 2%, primarily driven by pricing actions, which more than offset higher power costs. This benefit, along with a currency tailwind of 2%, more than offset higher costs, including fixed cost inflation.

在歐洲，營業利益增加2%，主要由價格措施帶動，且其增益超過較高的電力成本。此項效益加上2%的匯率順風，亦超過較高成本（包括固定成本通膨）的影響。

In our Middle East and India segment, operating income was relatively flat, while equity affiliate income increased from our joint ventures in Saudi Arabia.

在中東與印度事業部門，營業利益大致持平，而權益法投資收益因沙烏地阿拉伯合資企業而增加。

Lastly, the corporate and other segment benefited from productivity as we continue to reduce our corporate SG&A. This improvement was partially offset by lower sale of equipment activity.

最後，公司與其他部門受惠於生產力提升，因我們持續降低公司層級的銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A）。此改善部分被設備銷售活動減少所抵銷。

Please turn to slide 10. Year-to-date, we are free cash flow positive as strong operating cash flow exceeded the capital that we spent on maintenance and executing the backlog. We have also returned $1.2 billion in cash to our shareholders in the form of dividends in fiscal 2026.

請翻到第10張投影片。年初至今，我們自由現金流為正，因強勁的營運現金流超過我們在維護與執行在手訂單（backlog）上所投入的資本。在2026會計年度，我們也以股利形式向股東返還12億美元現金。

As it relates to our leverage, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is 2.1 times, which considers our proportionate ownership of the NGHC joint venture assets under construction. We remain committed to bring the company back to an A/A2 rating over the long-term.

就槓桿而言，我們的淨負債對EBITDA比率為2.1倍，並已納入我們按持股比例計入的NGHC合資企業在建資產。長期而言，我們仍致力於使公司信用評等回到A/A2。

Moving now to slide 11. We expect our fourth-quarter earnings per share will be in the range of $3.55 to $3.65, up 5% to 8% from the prior year. We expect to achieve this growth through continued benefits from new asset contributions, pricing actions and progress on our productivity initiatives.

接著請看第11張投影片。我們預期第四季每股盈餘將落在3.55至3.65美元區間，較去年成長5%至8%。我們預期透過新資產貢獻的持續效益、價格措施，以及生產力計畫的進展來達成此成長。

However, we remain cautious given our macroeconomic uncertainties. We expect helium to continue to be a headwind due to lower price despite some volume and price improvement in Asia.

然而，鑑於總體經濟不確定性，我們仍保持審慎。我們預期氦氣仍將是逆風，原因是價格較低，儘管亞洲的銷量與價格有所改善。

With this, our fiscal full-year guidance is now in the range of $13.39 to $13.49, which correlates to an 11% to 12% growth from prior year. For capital expenditures, we now expect to spend approximately $3.5 billion this fiscal year. We have reduced the capital outlook to reflect payment timing adjustments, lower expected maintenance, and canceled projects.

因此，我們目前對本會計年度全年指引為13.39至13.49美元，對應較去年成長11%至12%。就資本支出而言，我們目前預期本會計年度約支出35億美元。我們已下調資本支出展望，以反映付款時點調整、較低的維護需求，以及已取消的專案。

We will now open the call up for questions. Operator?

接下來我們將開放提問。接線員？

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Duffy Fisher, Goldman Sachs.

Duffy Fisher，高盛。

Good morning, just a couple of questions around your asset at Jazan, given the attack that happened there. So one, I think when you brought that online, it was supposed to contribute about $1.35 of EPS per year, is that still a good number?

早安，我有幾個關於你們在Jazan資產的問題，考量到那裡發生的攻擊事件。第一，我記得你們當初讓該資產上線時，預期每年可貢獻約1.35美元的每股盈餘，這個數字仍然合理嗎？

Two, in your Q4 guide, how much taken out, I guess, for what's happening there or does it take a while for that to flow through?

第二，在你們第四季指引中，針對那邊正在發生的事情，大概扣除了多少？或者這需要一段時間才會反映出來？

And then just the third one, do you have any third-party insurance for that, if that conflict escalates and it becomes somewhat impaired?

第三，如果衝突升級並導致資產出現某種程度的受損，你們是否有任何第三方保險保障？

Yes, as you know, we've seen the news and of course, we have information from the site. But I hope you understand for contractual reasons with Aramco, we cannot give you a lot of comments on the project. I can tell you only that the numbers that you have in terms of contribution are in the ballpark, probably a little lower than that, but the numbers are in the ballpark, and we do not expect any financial impact for our products in the -- coming from these events.

是的，如你所知，我們已看到相關新聞，當然也從現場取得資訊。但我希望你能理解，基於與Aramco的合約原因，我們無法就該專案提供太多評論。我只能告訴你，你提到的貢獻數字大致在合理範圍內，可能略低一些，但仍在同一量級；而且我們不預期這些事件會對我們的產品帶來任何財務影響。

But as you know, Saudi Aramco is not commenting on the fact yet, so we need to wait until they do that to provide more information. But again, the most important thing for us, there are no injuries to our employees or to the JV employees and we do not expect the financial impact.

但如你所知，Saudi Aramco目前尚未就此事發表評論，因此我們需要等他們先行說明後，才能提供更多資訊。不過再次強調，對我們而言最重要的是，我們的員工以及合資企業員工都沒有受傷，我們也不預期會有財務影響。

And if I could just incrementally add one thing, Duffy, if you remember the contributions for Jazan are a financing receivable, so they do decrease over the life of the agreement. But again, as Eduardo said, you are in the ballpark of contributions for '26.

如果我可以再補充一點，Duffy，如果你還記得，Jazan 的出資屬於融資應收款，因此會在協議期間逐步下降。但同樣地，如 Eduardo 所說，'26 年的出資大致就在那個範圍內。

John McNulty, BMO Capital Markets.

John McNulty，BMO Capital Markets。

So I wanted to just understand, I guess, one of your comments on NEOM and then just get your kind of high-level view there. So I think you said with the ERA contract, there's no impact on 2027. Does that mean you don't foresee any drag on your fiscal earnings from Neom or benefit for that matter?

所以我想先理解一下，我想是你對 NEOM 的其中一個評論，然後請你給我們一個高層次的看法。我記得你說，依 ERA 合約來看，對 2027 年沒有影響。這是否表示你不預期 Neom 會對你們的會計年度盈餘造成任何拖累，或就此而言也不會帶來任何好處？

And then again, I guess stepping back, can you speak to your level of confidence at this point as to whether or not Yara and yourself, you're going to be able to find a buyer for that volume in calendar '27 that at least clears your offtake agreement? If you can give us any color on that would be great.

另外再退一步，你能否談談你目前的信心程度：Yara 與你們是否能在 2027 年曆年為那個量找到買家，至少能滿足你們的承購（offtake）協議？如果能提供一些資訊會很有幫助。

Yes, I can confirm that our expectations to have no gain or loss in 2027, I cannot go much beyond that, again, because of the T and C of the agreements we have of the joint venture and the confidentiality obligations that we have. But we do not expect an impact in '27. and what we expect going forward is before the beginning of each year, we can give you some more clear picture of what the expectations are.

是的，我可以確認，我們的預期是在 2027 年不會有收益或損失；我無法再多說，因為我們與合資企業所簽協議的條款與條件，以及我們所承擔的保密義務所限。但我們不預期在 '27 年有影響。至於往後，我們預期在每年年初之前，可以給你們更清楚的預期圖像。

But as you know, this is an agreement for a product that we're going to need to market in the globally now with Yara. And it will evolve with time depending on the market conditions. But for 2027, we are confirming no impact for our products.

但如你所知，這是一項針對產品的協議，我們現在需要與 Yara 一起在全球進行行銷。它會隨著時間、並依市場狀況而演變。但就 2027 年而言，我們確認對我們的產品沒有影響。

Jeff Zekauskas, JPMorgan.

Jeff Zekauskas，JPMorgan。

You talked about how the penalty from helium this year is lower than you originally expected. Maybe it's a little bit more than $100 million pre-tax rather than $150. If you had to distribute the, I don't know, the $105 million or $110 million penalty through your business segments, how would you allocate it geographically?

你提到今年氦氣的罰款低於你們原先預期。可能稅前略高於 1 億美元，而不是 1.5 億美元。如果你必須把這筆，我不知道，1.05 億或 1.1 億美元的罰款分攤到你們各業務部門，你會如何按地理區域分配？

Well, Jeff, we look at this in a global basis. I would say that what we are doing in the helium business is really remarkable. I know when we talk about externally that the impact is 2% or 3%, it's difficult for you for everyone to understand what is behind that. But just to give you a picture, I think 40% of all the volume we sold during this quarter came from our cabin in Texas.

Jeff，我們是以全球角度來看這件事。我會說，我們在氦氣業務上所做的事情其實非常了不起。我知道當我們對外談到影響只有 2% 或 3% 時，大家很難理解背後代表什麼。但為了讓你有個概念，我想本季我們售出的總量中，有 40% 來自我們在德州的裝置。

So gives an idea of in June was even more than that percentage but gives an idea of how much we are exercising our system to keep our customers supplied and to make sure that we keep our position as a reliable supplier that can sign long-term agreements in this business. So our impact is mostly in price and didn't come from this quarter, comes from an year of negotiations that were more than a year of negotiations that we have from a moment where the market was very short.

所以這能讓你理解：在 6 月這個比例甚至更高，也顯示我們為了持續供應客戶、並確保我們維持作為可靠供應商的地位（能在這個業務簽長期合約），我們的系統運轉得有多吃緊。因此，我們的影響主要反映在價格上，而且不是本季才發生，而是來自一整年、甚至超過一年的談判；當時市場供給非常吃緊。

So I would say that today, that impact is migrating more to Europe and North America because of the type of customers that we have mostly in the healthcare space and the MRI sector. But we're very optimistic about the future in the helium side and we have been really gaining a lot of new commitments for volumes in the long-term, especially in the electronics area and especially in Asia.

所以我會說，現在這個影響更多地轉移到歐洲與北美，因為我們的客戶型態主要在醫療保健領域與 MRI 產業。但我們對氦氣業務的未來非常樂觀，而且我們確實在長期方面取得了許多新的量的承諾，特別是在電子領域，尤其是在亞洲。

Okay, thank you for that. And in the Mideast, equity income was up over $100 million. And I think in the second fiscal quarter, it was closer to $80 million. So are the joint ventures operating at a new level of profitability or this was just an unusual jump that had to do with transitory items?

好的，謝謝你的說明。另外在中東，權益法收益增加了超過 1 億美元。我記得在第二會計季度時更接近 8,000 萬美元。所以這些合資企業是否正處於新的獲利水準，還是這只是與短期項目相關的異常跳升？

Yes, Jeff, I'll take that one. In the Middle East, we are seeing improvements in our equity affiliate income. The improvement in equity affiliate income, though, globally was split amongst multiple joint ventures. One thing I do want to note, we did have an especially strong quarter this quarter in our Middle East joint venture. But that was largely contractually structural, and it's driven on a preferred dividend to our joint venture partners and that's just the timing. So we will see the normal run rate reconfigured in Q4 this year.

是的，Jeff，這題我來回答。在中東，我們看到權益法關聯企業收益有所改善。不過，全球的權益法關聯企業收益改善，是分散在多個合資企業之間。我想特別指出的是，本季我們在中東合資企業確實表現特別強勁。但那主要是合約結構性的因素所致，驅動因素是我們對合資夥伴的優先股利（preferred dividend），這只是時間點的問題。因此，我們會在今年第四季看到正常的運行水準重新調整。

Chris Parkinson, Wolfe Research.

Chris Parkinson，Wolfe Research。

You've had a nice little bump up in your backlog from various electronics projects, one officially with Samsung and then two others, so I think we can all presume who the partners are. Could you just offer a little bit of color on, first of all, how long those projects were being assessed in terms of you becoming CEO or those longstanding being assessed for multiple years? Were they relatively new?

你們因為多個電子相關專案，未完成訂單（backlog）有不錯的小幅上升；其中一個正式公布是與 Samsung，另外兩個，我想大家都能推測合作夥伴是誰。你能否先提供一些背景：首先，這些專案在你成為 CEO 前評估了多久？是長期、評估了好幾年的案子嗎？還是相對較新的？

And then, whether or not that you'd further expect some of those even some of the smaller projects to continuously trickle in over the next, let's say, 12 or 18 months or so?

另外，你是否預期其中一些、甚至一些較小的專案，會在接下來大約 12 到 18 個月持續陸續進來？

Yeah, I would say that on this backlog, we have one very large project that started in 2022, I believe. That is a product in Taiwan that was multiple phases that were building more than five large separation plants. We have now three done and we still have two to go. Other than that, all these products, they are basically coming in the last 12 months.

是的，我會說，就這個 backlog 而言，我們有一個非常大型的專案，我相信是從 2022 年開始。那是在台灣的專案，分成多個階段，要建置超過五座大型空分廠。目前我們已完成三座，還有兩座要做。除此之外，其他這些專案基本上都是在過去 12 個月內進來的。

I would like to create credit for that on my presence here, but the reality is the market is going through a super cycle, and we have been working very hard to get our fair share of that. So we announced two very large projects, one in Korea, one in Taiwan. We have other projects that we are going to announce this quarter that we are talking to the counterparts about issuing the final announcement.

我很想把這歸功於我到任，但事實是市場正處於超級循環（super cycle），而我們一直非常努力去爭取我們應得的份額。所以我們宣布了兩個非常大型的專案，一個在韓國，一個在台灣。我們還有其他專案將在本季宣布，目前正與對方就發布最終公告進行溝通。

And when we look at our list of opportunities, I would say that the list is long today and it is skewed to the electronic side. So probably, close to two-thirds of our opportunities or more than that are in the electronic space. So that's not by -- that's where the market is today. I would say that the traditional market in chemicals and steel.

當我們看我們的機會清單時，我會說目前清單很長，而且偏向電子領域。所以大概接近三分之二、甚至更多的機會都在電子領域。這不是我們刻意為之——而是市場目前就在那裡。我會說，傳統的化工與鋼鐵市場……

There is a lot of capacity in the world, not to say that there are no opportunities, but they are mostly coming from replacement of old assets and one project here there. But the electronics is really where the growth is and I think we're very fortunate that we kept that capability in the company that we have been executing projects in Asia for a long time and that fits well with where the market is now.

全球有很多產能；並不是說沒有機會，但多半來自老舊資產的汰換，以及零星的一兩個專案。但電子領域才是真正的成長所在；我認為我們很幸運，公司保留了這項能力——我們長期以來一直在亞洲執行專案，而這也很符合目前市場的走向。

And just as a quick follow up, NGHC has indicated there are over 90% completes on the facility, the primary facility, and then about 95% plus complete on the solar farming wind garden, plus or minus. I think that update was actually from a few months ago. As that relates to slide 18, just getting away from the actual agreement with Yara, but as the ramp of those facilities begins, can you reconcile the exact timing and how we should think about how that affects slide 18 in terms of the net debt adjustments?

另外快速追問一下，NGHC 已表示該設施（主要設施）完工進度已超過 90%，而太陽能農場與風能園區的完工進度約為 95% 以上，正負一些。我認為那次更新其實是幾個月前的。就第 18 頁投影片而言，先不談與 Yara 的實際協議，隨著這些設施開始爬坡投產，您能否釐清確切時點，並說明我們應如何理解其對第 18 頁投影片中淨負債調整的影響？

And then also, in your 10-K, the debt was listed, I believe, and forgive me if I missed something, but around $4.7 billion in this slide, you have roughly $5.25 billion. I was wondering what that extra half a billion represents or if I'm just missing something. Thank you so much.

另外，在你們的 10-K 裡，我記得負債列示約為 47 億美元；若我有遺漏也請見諒，但在這張投影片上你們顯示約 52.5 億美元。我想請問多出來的約 5 億美元代表什麼，或是我是否漏看了什麼。非常感謝。

So as mentioned before, the consolidation of NEOM is in fact because of the EPC arrangement during construction, right? And so, the deconsolidation will happen once that plant is up and on stream. So after commissioning, we will deconsolidate. That is on slide 18, what you're seeing here is the deconsolidation and back down to a net debt of around [$11.5 billion].

如先前所提，NEOM 之所以需要合併報表，確實是因為施工期間的 EPC 安排，對吧？因此，一旦該工廠建成並開始投產後，就會進行去合併。也就是在試車完成後，我們會去合併。在第 18 頁投影片上，你們看到的是去合併後，淨負債回落至約[$115 億美元]。

The difference between the $5.2 million and debt here, there is no difference. That is our carrying value of the NGHC net debt. The proportional may be just our proportion of that 33%. So there is no difference between of the joint venture after the construction is completed and we've commissioned.

這裡所說的 520 萬美元與負債之間沒有差異。那是我們對 NGHC 淨負債的帳面價值。所謂按比例的數字，可能只是我們持股 33% 的比例份額。因此，在合資案施工完成並完成試車後，兩者之間沒有差異。

And just as one point, when Melissa talks about commissioning, meaning being at full production capacity and this is a first of a kind plant with a lot of new technologies. So we're expecting a long commissioning process and that's one of the reasons why we cannot precise exactly when this change in that consolidation can happen. And also, our full obligation to buy the product.

補充一點，Melissa 提到的 commissioning（試車）是指達到滿載產能，而這是一座首創型工廠，採用了許多新技術。因此我們預期試車期會很長，這也是我們無法精準判定何時會發生合併範圍變動的原因之一。另外，還有我們對產品的全面採購義務。

Vincent Andrews, Morgan Stanley.

Vincent Andrews，摩根士丹利。

First, I just want to clarify on NEOM, the comments on no material financial impact for fiscal 2027, does that -- is that for both the income statement and the cash flow statement? And then also, I think, Eduardo, I heard you just say that as it relates to the consolidation, you said something about when there will be a trigger in terms of when you're obligated to buy the product. Is it potentially the case that you don't have to buy product in fiscal 2027? So if you could clarify that, I'd appreciate it.

首先，我想釐清關於 NEOM 的部分：你們提到 2027 財年不會有重大財務影響，這是同時指損益表與現金流量表嗎？另外，Eduardo，我想我剛剛聽到你提到，關於是否合併，你說到某個觸發點與你們何時有義務購買產品有關。是否有可能在 2027 財年你們不需要購買產品？如果可以請你釐清一下，謝謝。

And then my follow-up would be on the CapEx reduction for the target year, I think you brought it down by about $500 million. If you just talk about what's driving that and what you think the alternative use of that capital might wind up being?

接著我的追問是關於目標年度的資本支出（CapEx）下調，我想你們把它下修了約 5 億美元。能否談談是什麼因素驅動，以及你們認為這筆資金最終可能會有哪些替代用途？

Yeah, on NEOM, we cannot discuss the details of our agreements, but as I said, the process for commission will take some time for the facility to get to full production. And we're going to need to keep you informed during this period, but we are absolutely confirming no impact on the income statement. And on the cash flow statement, I don't know exactly how to qualify that with Melissa.

是的，關於 NEOM，我們無法討論協議細節；但如我所說，試車流程需要一些時間，設施才能達到滿載生產。在此期間我們會持續向各位更新，但我們可以明確確認對損益表沒有影響。至於現金流量表，我不確定該如何精準界定，這部分要請 Melissa 補充。

Sure, absolutely, so since we are in commissioning, a large portion of the spend and any distributions that we put into the joint venture are largely complete. If you remember, this is 73% project financed. And our contributions to the joint venture, again, are largely behind us. So again, no financial impact both to the P&L and no large impact to the cash flow statements.

當然可以。由於我們正處於試車階段，我們投入合資企業的大部分支出以及任何分配（出資）基本上都已完成。如果各位記得，這個專案有 73% 是以專案融資方式籌資。而我們對合資企業的出資，同樣也大致已經在過去完成。因此，對損益表沒有財務影響，對現金流量表也不會有重大影響。

From the CapEx perspective, we did reduce our CapEx forecast for this year by about $500 million. That's largely just timing associated to the execution and the payments of all of our backlog under execution, so nothing material there. We continue to be able to invest in our underlying industrial gas projects and the distribution to those will be against what we've already talked about, really the electronics wins that we're executing right now and projects that we continue to bring on our backlog in outside electronics space as well.

就資本支出而言，我們把今年的 CapEx 預測下調了約 5 億美元。這主要只是與執行進度及我們在手訂單（backlog）執行中的付款時點相關，因此沒有實質性變化。我們仍能持續投資於基礎的工業氣體專案；相關資金配置會依照我們先前談過的方向，主要是目前正在執行的電子產業訂單，以及我們在非電子領域也持續納入 backlog 的專案。

James Hooper, Bernstein.

James Hooper，Bernstein。

Can I start on the Louisiana project in Darrow, can you go through a little bit more detail on what happens to the kit and the land and how you're thinking about it and any discussions that you've had there, please?

我想先從路易斯安那州 Darrow 的專案開始，你能否更詳細說明設備與土地會如何處理、你們的思考方向，以及你們目前已進行過哪些討論？謝謝。

Yeah, but what happened too, I didn't get it. (multiple speakers)

是的，但發生了什麼我沒聽清楚。(多位講者)

Yeah, no worries. The Darrow, what we're going to be doing is on the equipment.

好的，沒問題。關於 Darrow，我們接下來會處理的是設備部分。

Yeah. This is a product we started probably six, seven years ago. So the project was in a seven stage that we have a lot of the equipment already purchased in hand in warehouses and, mostly in the US, but some in Europe and in China. So it is a little very different situation from what we had last year when we canceled the world energy project. These are high, let's say world class assets, the air separation plants, the hydrogen purification, the ammonia loop.

是的。這是一個我們大概在六、七年前就開始的專案。因此該專案已進行到某個階段，我們已經採購了大量設備，並存放在倉庫中，主要在美國，但也有一些在歐洲與中國。所以這與我們去年取消 World Energy 專案時的情況很不一樣。這些是高品質、可說是世界級的資產，包括空氣分離裝置、氫氣純化設備、以及合成氨迴路（ammonia loop）。

And we see a lot of value for these assets in the market, as you can see in the transactions that were announced recently when people buying ammonia plants and so forth. So we are in the process of taking all the data and making sure that we maximize the value that we can recover from these projects by basically using part of this equipment in our own operations like the air separation and some other equipment related to industrial gases.

我們認為這些資產在市場上具有很高價值；從近期公布的交易也可看出，例如有人收購合成氨工廠等。因此我們正在彙整所有資料，確保能將可回收價值最大化；做法基本上是把部分設備用於我們自身營運，例如空氣分離以及其他與工業氣體相關的設備。

And on the case of the ammonia loop, which is a very important asset, making sure that we can commercialize that as a full unit and in some cases, if possible, to generate projects for our products. I think we became public that one of the products that we executed was a similar ammonia plant that we did in Texas in terms of capacity was 3,600 tonnes per day.

至於合成氨迴路這項非常重要的資產，我們會確保能將其作為完整單元商業化；在某些情況下，若可行，也會用來帶動我們產品的專案機會。我想我們已對外公開過，我們曾在德州執行過一座類似的合成氨工廠，產能為每日 3,600 噸。

Those two assets that we have from there are 4,000 tonnes per day using the same technology. So they have desirable assets and the market is showing that they have significant value and we can attach, if possible, possibility of supplying hydrogen and nitrogen to disasters. So this is the objective. We are going to work on that in the next few months.

而我們在那邊的兩項資產是每日 4,000 噸，採用相同技術。因此它們是具吸引力的資產；市場也顯示其具有顯著價值，而且若可行，我們也可以把供應氫氣與氮氣的可能性一併納入相關方案。這就是我們的目標。接下來幾個月我們會推進這項工作。

We have a team here in our products, in engineering, business development, working dedicated to this to recover as much wine as we can and generate new business.

我們在產品、工程與業務開發方面都有一個團隊專責投入，目標是盡可能回收更多價值並創造新業務。

And just as a follow-up on that, Eduardo, if you do see a bit of a windfall with leverage starting to get below 2 times, how are you thinking about capital allocation and projects or potentially starting a buyback?

再追問一下，Eduardo，如果你確實看到槓桿率開始降到 2 倍以下而帶來一些意外之財，你對資本配置以及專案投資，或是可能啟動庫藏股回購，是怎麼思考的？

Yes, if we get any money, it will be a non-GAAP income on top of what we initially forecast and it will only going to go through our pool and it will be allocated as we do with the rest of the cash uses and sources that we have and Melissa can give more color on that.

是的，如果我們拿到任何資金，那將是超出我們最初預測的非 GAAP 收入，而且只會進入我們的資金池，並會像我們對其他現金用途與來源一樣進行配置；Melissa 可以再補充更多細節。

Yes, absolutely, so as we've talked about cash flow neutrality. Focused on that this year and moving forward. We do have share buybacks in our capital allocation waterfall. We have a line of sight of being able to start that program towards the end of 27, beginning of '28, but that obviously depends on the projects that we have coming down the pipeline. So we will want to invest in high return projects first and foremost, dividend and share buybacks will become part of program as we move forward.

是的，當然。如同我們談到的現金流中性。今年以及未來我們都會聚焦在這點。在我們的資本配置瀑布中確實包含股票回購。我們有望在 27 年底、28 年初左右啟動該計畫，但這顯然取決於我們管線中即將落地的專案。因此我們會優先投資高報酬專案；隨著我們往前推進，股利與股票回購將會成為計畫的一部分。

David Begleiter, Deutsche Bank.

David Begleiter，德意志銀行。

Eduardo, back on NEOM, if the project was at full production capacity in 2027, hypothetically? What would the financial impact be on our products?

Eduardo，回到 NEOM，假設該專案在 2027 年達到滿產能？對我們產品業務的財務影響會是什麼？

David, as I think we said that many times this project -- product has an obligation to buy the ammonia as a fixed price, and we are exposed to the market conditions on the other side. So again, we will work to be able to provide forecast at the beginning of each year of what the impact will be. It would be premature for us to go much further than that.

David，如同我們多次提到的，這個專案——產品端有義務以固定價格購買氨，而另一端我們則暴露在市場條件之下。所以我們會努力在每年年初提供對影響的預測。在此之前，我們現在就把話說得更深入會言之過早。

So what I can tell you is that for '27, the expected impact is zero and then we're going to have another one for '28. So you're basically asking the same question in a different way. I understand the curiosity and the objective of getting this information. But unfortunately, the situation is, as I report, not different from the situation that you have from another player in the ammonia market, with the exception that our fixed cost is fixed and it's not a function of fluctuations in natural gas price.

我能告訴你的是，對於 27 年，預期影響為零，然後我們會再針對 28 年提供另一個預測。所以你基本上只是用不同方式問同一個問題。我理解你想取得這些資訊的好奇心與目的。但不幸的是，情況如我所報告的，與你從氨市場其他業者那裡看到的情況並無不同；唯一的例外是，我們的固定成本是固定的，不會隨天然氣價格波動而變動。

Understood and just wanted to try. Just on the Americas, on the cost side, do you need additional price increases to offset these higher costs you're incurring in the Americas?

了解，只是想試著問問。再就美洲地區而言，在成本端，你們是否需要進一步調漲價格來抵消在美洲承擔的較高成本？

So we are seeing some increase in costs in the Americas, largely associated to some project costs and some dislocations driven by maintenance. And of course, we are seeing fixed costs and inflation as everybody is. We don't have a significant packaged gas business in the Americas, as you know. So our ability to increase pricing is limited to our liquid-bulk product. But we do look to continue to overcome price with price in the Americas and in all of our regions. And of course, we're looking to drive productivity as well to off-site those cost increases.

我們確實看到美洲地區成本有所上升，主要與一些專案成本以及由維修保養所驅動的供應/營運錯位有關。當然，跟大家一樣，我們也看到固定成本與通膨的影響。如你所知，我們在美洲並沒有很大的包裝氣體（packaged gas）業務。因此我們調漲價格的能力主要限於我們的液體/散裝產品。但我們會持續在美洲以及所有區域以「以價制價」的方式來克服成本壓力。同時，我們也在推動生產力提升，以抵消這些成本上升。

Lawrence Alexander, Jefferies.

Lawrence Alexander，Jefferies。

Just two quick ones. One, could you give a quick update on what you're seeing on the merchant volumes by region?

兩個很快的問題。第一，能否簡要更新一下你們按區域看到的商售（merchant）銷量情況？

And secondly, on NEOM, if the strategy, the original strategy worked out and the green premium evolves and the green ammonia market establishes itself as a separate market with a much higher value, is there products obligated or constrained to keep NEOM in the portfolio or if there was a higher or better strategic owner, are you allowed to explore that five or 10 years down the road?

第二，關於 NEOM，如果策略、原始策略奏效，綠色溢價逐步形成，綠色氨市場建立成為一個獨立且價值更高的市場，那麼產品端是否有義務或限制必須把 NEOM 留在投資組合中？或者如果五到十年後出現更高或更合適的策略性持有人，你們是否被允許去探索那種可能性？

Well, starting with the first question on the merchant side, I would say that we see the market in the Americas progressing relatively well, still growing. Europe as a whole is a difficult market today. I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that the industrial market in Europe is not growing. And in Asia, it's a little bit of a different scenario. China is still a little better than it was, I would say, a few months ago, but it's still a difficult market with a lot of overcapacity that we need to overcome. And the other markets suffering other than electronic side in Taiwan, South Korea, they are suffering a little bit with high energy costs.

先回答第一個關於商售的問題：我會說我們看到美洲市場進展相對良好，仍在成長。歐洲整體而言目前是個困難的市場。我想對任何人來說都不意外，歐洲的工業市場並沒有成長。而在亞洲，情況稍有不同。中國比起我認為幾個月前的狀況仍稍微好一些，但仍是個困難的市場，存在大量過剩產能需要消化。而其他市場（台灣、南韓的電子產業除外）則因高能源成本而承壓。

We don't have a big exposure outside of electronics, but the little exposure we have in the merchant business there, it's flattish from that perspective, so that would be on the merchant question.

我們在電子以外的曝險不大，但就我們在那邊商售業務的少量曝險而言，從這個角度看大致持平；以上是商售問題的回答。

On the NEOM question is there are two different things. One is the products participation in the joint venture that is subject to like any joint venture agreement to rules on if you decide to any partners decide to leave the partnership that there are specific rules on how the process works. It works for us, for our partners in every joint venture, so that's.

至於 NEOM 的問題，有兩個不同面向。第一是產品端在合資企業中的參與，這和任何合資協議一樣，若你決定或任何夥伴決定退出合作，都有特定規則規範流程如何運作。這對我們、以及我們在每個合資案中的夥伴都一樣適用，所以就是這樣。

And I would say that everything is possible, but that's a joint venture that we did with intent to be on the long-term. The other position is the position as an offtaker of the product that we already talked about that. It's a 30-year contract. And again, this is a commercial operation that, of course, we could at some point, having a back-to-back or even work in the agreement, although I would expect the project company, the joint venture to expect their products to stay as the off-taker and that we would need to go more in a back-to-back agreement to move a large volume.

我會說一切皆有可能，但我們成立這個合資的初衷是長期持有。另一個面向是我們作為產品承購方（offtaker）的角色，這點我們已經談過。那是一份 30 年合約。同樣地，這是一個商業運作；當然在某個時間點，我們可能會做背對背（back-to-back）安排，或在協議中運作，儘管我預期專案公司、也就是合資企業，會希望其產品仍由我們作為承購方，而若要移轉大量供應量，我們就需要更多採用背對背協議。

But frankly, this is not different from what we are doing today with this agreement with where they will. With their marketing capability and their distribution capability, their ships, they will go to the market and the intend is to sign long-term agreements. They are not going to be as long as the 30-year deal that we have, but we don't want them to be as long as that because the expectations that, as we said several times, our price to buy the product from the JV is basically fixed.

但坦白說，這與我們今天在這份協議下所做的並沒有不同。憑藉他們的行銷能力與配送能力、以及他們的船隊，他們會走向市場，目標是簽訂長期協議。那些協議不會像我們的 30 年合約那麼長；我們也不希望那麼長，因為如同我們多次提到的，我們向合資企業購買產品的價格基本上是固定的。

And we expect in the long-term the market to evolve, the prices for money to evolve with the energy prices. So we are looking to initially to have agreements that will be long-term agreements, but very far from the 30-year period that we have with our obligations.

而我們預期長期來看市場會演變，氨的價格也會隨能源價格而演變。因此我們一開始希望簽的是長期協議，但會遠短於我們義務所對應的 30 年期間。

Kevin McCarthy, Vertical Research Partners.

Kevin McCarthy，Vertical Research Partners。

I wanted to follow-up on the helium discussion maybe with a two-part question. Can you elaborate on the source of incremental goodness in the earnings function in helium? It's my understanding you have quite a large percentage under contract. So did that come from new or modified contracts or perhaps the spot market, albeit a smaller exposure there or perhaps both?

我想就氦氣的討論追問一下，可能是個兩段式問題。你能否說明一下氦氣在獲利函數中增量利多的來源？我的理解是你們有相當高比例是簽約在合約之下。所以這是來自新的或修改過的合約，或是現貨市場（雖然曝險較小），或兩者皆有？

And then on the supply side, there have been sort of unpleasant goings on in the country of Qatar recently, as you are well aware. So can you provide an update on any impact to air products they're from and also efforts to procure helium from other places in the world.

接著在供給端，如您也很清楚的，最近卡達國內出現了一些令人不愉快的動態。因此，您能否更新一下這對 Air Products 的供應來源可能造成的任何影響，以及從世界其他地方採購氦氣的努力進展？

Yes, Kevin, it's a long question that would need a long answer here. But I would say that on the new agreements that we have signed, a lot of that is new electronic projects that are being built, especially in Asia, some in the US. So I think we, with our system and this information that I provided with the cabin that we have and the diversification of sources.

是的，Kevin，這是一個很長的問題，在這裡需要很長的回答。但我想說，就我們已簽署的新協議而言，其中很多是正在建置的新電子相關專案，特別是在亞洲，也有一些在美國。所以我認為，憑藉我們的系統，以及我提到的我們所擁有的儲存洞庫（cavern）與來源多元化。

I think we make clear to the customers that products is a very reliable solution, and we have been fortunate to sign a lot of new agreements for products that some of these products will start in a year, two years, in three years. But they are longer-term agreements than we normally would see in the merchant side. So some of them are connected to these large exploration plans projects that we are signing, and they have the same term of our large on-site contracts.

我想我們已向客戶清楚表明，Air Products 是非常可靠的解決方案；而我們也很幸運簽下了許多新的產品協議，其中一些將在一年、兩年、三年後開始供應。但這些協議的期限比我們在散裝（merchant）業務通常看到的更長。因此，其中一些與我們正在簽署的這些大型勘探計畫專案相連結，其期限也與我們大型現場供氣（on-site）合約相同。

I would say on the source side, we have for many years a strategy to diversify our sources between the US, Qatar, Algeria and we continue to do that. It's very hard to predict when the situation in Qatar will improve. I think there were some loads that were able to be fueled by Qatar Energy. But frankly, today you would need to cross to the Red Sea side to ship. And the volumes coming out of the Middle East from the source, they have been very deep.

我想就來源端而言，多年來我們一直採取策略，在美國、卡達、阿爾及利亞之間分散來源，而且我們會持續這麼做。卡達的情勢何時改善非常難以預測。我認為有一些貨載能夠由 Qatar Energy 進行加注燃料。但坦白說，今天你需要繞到紅海那一側才能出貨。而來自中東來源端的供應量，一直都非常吃緊。

On our forecast for now, and as I said, we are taking a lot of products out of our cavern, and we are in a position that we can continue to do that for many quarters. So I would say that that has been our strategy and I'm very happy that we have (inaudible) today. It's something that our position as an industrial gas company in the heating chain with the end of the BLM became more and more like a middleman position.

就我們目前的預測而言，如我所說，我們正從我們的洞庫中提取大量產品，而我們有能力在許多個季度持續這麼做。所以我會說，這一直是我們的策略，我也很高興我們今天有（聽不清）。隨著 BLM 結束，我們作為工業氣體公司在氦氣供應鏈中的定位，越來越像是一個中間商的角色。

But a middleman with a lot of strength based on the supply chain and the number of containers we have and so forth, but it's still subject to be squeezed when the market is long by our customers and to be squeezed when the market is short by our suppliers and having the cabin and having this ability to draw product for many quarters help us on both sides to negotiate and to have a more stable business.

但這個中間商是有很強實力的，基於供應鏈、我們擁有的容器數量等等；不過當市場供過於求時，我們仍可能被客戶擠壓；當市場供不應求時，也可能被供應商擠壓。而擁有洞庫、並具備可在多個季度提取產品的能力，能在兩端都幫助我們談判，並讓業務更穩定。

Thank you for that. If I may, a second question on the Yara deal. I appreciate you may not be able to get into specifics, but conceptually, should investors think of that deal as fully hedging air products as offtake risk or partially hedging it? Are there scenarios where you would be obligated to offtake but not able to move the products through Europe?

謝謝你的說明。如果可以的話，我想再問第二個關於 Yara 交易的問題。我理解你可能無法談太多細節，但從概念上，投資人應該把這筆交易視為對 Air Products 的承購（offtake）風險做了完全避險，還是部分避險？是否存在某些情境下，你們有承購義務，但卻無法把產品在歐洲運輸流通？

No, I would say that you should see that as a way to eliminate the volume risk. We still retain the price base. We talked about that before. I think some people underestimate the volume risk. And our products, we could not do that. So we have an obligation to lift all the tones are produced by the joint venture and it's ammonia is a product that it's not like an air separation plan that you can send the product, so you cannot take the risk of shutting down the plan because you have a [thankful event].

不，我會說你應該把它視為一種消除數量風險的方法。我們仍然保留價格面的風險。我們之前談過這點。我認為有些人低估了數量風險。而對我們的產品而言，我們無法承擔那種風險。因此，我們有義務承購合資企業所生產的所有噸數；而氨是一種產品，它不像空分裝置那樣可以把產品送出去，所以你不能因為發生一個[感謝事件]就冒著關停裝置的風險。

So this deal with a counterpart like Yara that owns their own distribution network, that owns multiple ships, eliminate that risk. The price risk is still there. Most of the price risk will sit with us. We have a scheme, a commission scheme with Yara that they will share the upside with. And they will have -- they will be incentivized to commercialize this product as green product as much as possible.

所以，與像 Yara 這樣的交易對手合作——他們擁有自己的配送網路、擁有多艘船——就能消除那個風險。價格風險仍然存在。大部分價格風險將由我們承擔。我們與 Yara 有一個機制／佣金方案，他們會分享上行收益。而且他們會——被激勵盡可能把這個產品以綠色產品的方式商業化。

So I would say that that was the objective from the beginning and they are very happy with the agreement that we have, and I think this relationship is became very important for us. And hopefully, it will grow as you guys seen on the GCA announcement as well.

所以我會說，這從一開始就是目標；他們對我們的協議也非常滿意，我認為這段關係對我們變得非常重要。而且希望它會成長，正如各位在 GCA 公告中也看到的那樣。

John Roberts, Mizuho.

John Roberts，瑞穗（Mizuho）。

Thank you. Last quarter, you gave us an end market breakdown for Aero Products. Maybe could you talk about the volume growth in three buckets, semiconductors, refining and basic petrochemicals or I think what you call energy and then all other. Were we double-digit percent in electronics and mid-single digit percent in refinery and petrochems and maybe down low-single digit percent in all other?

謝謝。上個季度，你們給了我們 Aero Products 的終端市場拆分。也許你可以談談三個區塊的量成長：半導體、煉油與基礎石化（或我想你們稱為能源），以及其他所有。我們在電子是否是兩位數百分比、在煉油與石化是中個位數百分比，而在其他所有可能是低個位數百分比下滑？

Hey, John, how are you? Thanks for the question. So we actually don't usually externally break it down as far as growth by area. I will tell you, though, we continue to see some really strong returns and ramping up in the electronic space, both from a backlog as well as supply. We had new assets coming on stream this year, and you are seeing the contributions of those assets in the electronic space.

嗨，John，你好嗎？謝謝你的問題。我們其實通常不會對外把各領域的成長拆得那麼細。不過我可以告訴你，我們在電子領域持續看到非常強勁的回報與爬坡（ramping up），不論是來自在手訂單（backlog）或供應端。我們今年有新資產投產，你也正在看到這些資產在電子領域的貢獻。

In the refinery space, I would say it's a little bit more of a mixed bag. In Europe, we're not seeing great volume improvements, but we are seeing great volume improvements in our HyCo business in the Americas. The rest, again, you can see in our volumes, we've seen some improvements in the Americas and in Asia, but not great improvements in Europe.

在煉油領域，我會說情況比較參差不齊。在歐洲，我們沒有看到很好的量改善，但在美洲的 HyCo 業務，我們看到很好的量改善。其他部分，同樣地，你可以從我們的量看出來：美洲與亞洲有一些改善，但歐洲沒有太大的改善。

So again, we see good improvements in electronics in our new assets and ramping up as well as our backlog, refineries in the Americas, and the rest is again a mixed bags as you see in our underlying results.

所以再說一次，我們在電子領域看到良好改善，來自新資產與爬坡，以及我們的在手訂單；煉油在美洲表現較好；其餘部分則如你在我們的基礎結果中看到的，仍是比較混合的情況。

Josh Spector, UBS.

Josh Spector，瑞銀（UBS）。

I just had two quick follow-ups. I mean, one, if you're able to disclose on the Yara offtake from NEOM, is the commission structure fixed or is it variable?

我只有兩個快速追問。第一，如果你能揭露 NEOM 對 Yara 的承購（offtake）安排，這個佣金結構是固定的還是浮動的？

And then second, just on the Americas pricing, I mean, down sequentially, again, I understand the point around packaged gases. Just curious if you characterize that as helium-related or if there's something else underlying impacting that? Thank you.

第二，關於美洲的定價，我是說，環比又下降了；我理解你提到包裝氣體（packaged gases）的觀點。只是好奇你會把它描述為與氦氣相關，還是有其他更底層的因素在影響？謝謝。

Yeah, I would say on the first question, I think I just explained that the scheme that we have, of course, they incentivize to place more product as green, which implies that it is a higher price product, so it is a variable structure, not a fixed structure. And on the Americas medicine --.

是的，關於第一個問題，我想我剛剛已經解釋過，我們的機制當然會激勵他們把更多產品以綠色產品的方式銷售，這意味著它是更高價格的產品，所以這是一個浮動結構，而不是固定結構。至於美洲的醫療--。

Yes, absolutely. Thank you. So you do see a topside 1% decrease, but I could tell you actually from an underlying, we saw some price improvement in the Americas actually. So price was actually an improvement in the non-merchant pricing. This was more than offset, though, by our headwinds in healing and pricing. And that really largely was a slow quarter in the space sector. So we do want to see that hopefully rebound in the next quarter as we see launches increase.

是的，完全正確。謝謝。所以你確實看到表面上有 1% 的下降，但我可以告訴你，實際上從基本面來看，我們在美洲確實看到一些價格改善。因此在非商業客戶定價方面，價格其實是有所改善的。不過，這些改善被我們在醫療與定價方面的逆風所抵消。而這在很大程度上是因為航太領域本季表現偏慢。因此，我們希望隨著發射次數增加，下一季能看到這部分回升。

Patrick Cunningham, Citi.

Patrick Cunningham，花旗。

I think just a quick question on Debro, I think in the past you said that you were able to monetize something about a billion dollar, I think. I'm just wondering if that still holds true and what the timeline could be expected.

我想就 Debro 簡單問一個問題。我記得你們過去曾說可以變現大約 10 億美元左右的東西。我只是想確認這點是否仍然成立，以及預期的時間表可能會是什麼。

And then as a follow-up, I'm wondering if you could provide some update on the Edmonton project.

另外作為追問，我想請你們更新一下 Edmonton 專案的情況。

Yeah, on Debro, I think the number that we gave to you in the past was, we qualified them as estimate. We're working on that. I wish we had a very clear timeline for that, but we'll take the time that we need to take to maximize the value. And you know, as I explained the value will come from someone that wants to use these units as a whole not selling piece by piece so it will take some time to get there, and we will update you as the job develops

好的，關於 Debro，我想我們過去提供給你們的數字，我們當時有說明那是估算值。我們正在推進這件事。我希望我們能有非常明確的時間表，但我們會花需要的時間來把價值最大化。而且如我所解釋，價值會來自於有人希望整體使用這些單元，而不是一件一件拆開賣，所以要達到那一步需要一些時間；我們也會在進展過程中向你們更新。

Regarding, Edmonton, we have no updates from what we had before. We continue to work on the project, and we do not have news in terms of startup dates or costs beyond what we shared with you before.

至於 Edmonton，我們沒有比之前更多的更新。我們仍持續推進該專案，至於投產日期或成本方面，沒有超出先前與你們分享內容的新消息。

Arun Viswanathan, RBC Capital Markets.

Arun Viswanathan，RBC 資本市場。

I guess I just had a question there. I think you started the year expecting 9% EPS growth, and you're now getting to 11% to 12%. Is it right to assume that most of that was mainly volume upside?

我想我有個問題。我記得你們年初預期 EPS 成長 9%，現在提高到 11% 到 12%。是否可以理解為，這當中大部分主要來自於銷量（volume）的上修？

And I guess as you look into fiscal '27, could you provide some maybe some initial thoughts on what portion of earnings growth would maybe trail off because of maybe you're further along in the restructuring actions, but maybe what you pick up because of backlog and maybe some volume upside from helium or any other sources?

另外，當你們展望 2027 財年時，能否提供一些初步想法：哪些獲利成長的部分可能會因為重整行動已進入較後期而逐漸減弱，但又有哪些部分可能會因為在手訂單（backlog）以及氦氣或其他來源帶來的銷量上行而補上？

Yes, thanks for the question and let's go through this outlook. So we did, in fact, increase to 11% and 12% year-over-year improvement. Very proud of the team for all their efforts to focus in on both the volume growth as well as productivity and pricing.

是的，謝謝你的問題，我們來談談這個展望。我們確實把年增改善幅度上調到 11% 到 12%。我們為團隊的努力感到非常自豪，他們同時聚焦在銷量成長以及生產力與定價。

So as we look forward, the largest driver of our improvement is in fact market volumes. We do expect market volumes to continue to improve largely as we've talked about in the America. We are seeing some green shoots in Asia, specific in the electronic space, and we do expect those to continue.

展望未來，我們改善的最大驅動因素確實是市場銷量。我們預期市場銷量會持續改善，主要如我們先前談到的，在美洲地區。我們也在亞洲看到一些回溫跡象，特別是在電子相關領域，並且預期這些趨勢會延續。

However, we do have some concerns over the macroeconomic environment largely in Asia and Europe that we are building into a no significant market growth because of that uncertainty moving forward. We did have some contributions on new assets. So as we talked about, both the Americas and Asia, we had a 3% year-on-year benefit from those new assets. And we continue to focus on price and productivity.

不過，我們對宏觀經濟環境仍有一些擔憂，主要在亞洲與歐洲；基於這種不確定性，我們在規劃中假設未來市場不會有顯著成長。我們也有一些新資產的貢獻。如我們所談到的，在美洲與亞洲，新資產帶來約 3% 的年增效益。同時我們也持續聚焦在價格與生產力。

We will have some comp headwind because of our productivity actions, having a year-over-year comp impact, but we do continue to want the team to focus on and continue to find productivity as we move forward.

由於我們的生產力行動在年對年比較上會形成一些不利因素（comp headwind），因此會有同比的比較壓力；但我們仍希望團隊持續專注並在未來繼續挖掘生產力。

Thanks for that. And given that you now do have less spending committed to Darrow as you move forward, what is the opportunity? I think you did address this earlier but is there an opportunity to potentially pull forward the buyback capabilities or even potentially pursue some M&A? Thanks.

謝謝。另外，鑑於你們未來對 Darrow 的承諾支出已經減少，機會在哪裡？我想你們先前有提到，但是否有機會把庫藏股回購能力提前，或甚至可能進行一些併購（M&A）？謝謝。

As you know, this is very much of an opportunistic industrial gas market, right? And so as projects come forward, we will continue to be very disciplined on our capital deployment. We're looking for risk-adjusted returns on all projects that we enter into.

如你所知，工業氣體市場非常講求機會性，對吧？因此當專案出現時，我們會在資本配置上持續保持高度紀律。我們尋求所有參與專案的風險調整後報酬。

But we do have the share buyback in our waterfall. So as we continue to improve our cash positions, take advantage of any opportunistic M&A and new projects, then we would look to have any additional investable capital into a share buyback program. And as I mentioned, that will likely come into a line of sight towards the end of '27, early '28.

但我們的資金配置瀑布（waterfall）中確實包含股票回購。因此，隨著我們持續改善現金部位、把握任何機會性的併購與新專案之後，我們會考慮把額外可投資資本投入到股票回購計畫中。如我提到的，這很可能會在 2027 年底、2028 年初左右進入可見範圍。

Mike Harrison, Seaport Research Partners.

Mike Harrison，Seaport Research Partners。

I was looking to ask about the gasification assets in Asia. If you can give us any sense for how much better the earnings contribution is this quarter versus a year ago. And also, just wondering how the sale process for those assets is going, if you could give us any sense of the timing of that process and what we might expect in terms of the magnitude of any proceeds.

我想問一下亞洲的氣化（gasification）資產。你們能否讓我們了解一下，本季相較一年前，獲利貢獻大概好多少？另外也想請問這些資產的出售流程進展如何；你們能否提供一些時間點的概念，以及我們可能預期的處分款項規模大概會是什麼？

Sure. We do continue to collect against those gasification assets held for sale. So from a total company perspective, about a percent to a percentage and a half is the accounting around the depreciation. So the stopping of the depreciation as those assets are put into the asset held for sale category, and about a 1% to 1.5% from a contribution on the past due collections for those gasification assets.

當然。我們確實仍在就那些列為待售的氣化資產進行應收款回收。因此從公司整體角度來看，約有 1% 到 1.5% 來自折舊的會計處理影響。也就是當這些資產被歸類為待售資產後停止提列折舊；另外，約有 1% 到 1.5% 來自於針對這些氣化資產逾期應收款的回收貢獻。

Now, addressing your questions on the timing for the sale, we are working very closely with both international and local banks to be able to market those assets. We are having ongoing conversations with good strategic purchasers of those assets and when we have an update on that timing, we will let you know.

至於你問到出售時程，我們正與國際及當地銀行非常密切合作，以便推廣行銷這些資產。我們也正與優質的策略性買家就這些資產進行持續對話；一旦我們對時程有更新，就會通知你們。

And this concludes today's question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back to Eduardo for any closing remarks.

以上為今天的問答環節。我現在把電話交回 Eduardo，請他做結語。

Well, thank you for joining our call today. We look forward to discussing our results with you again next quarter. Have a good day. Thank you.

好的，感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議。我們期待在下個季度再次與各位討論我們的業績結果。祝各位有美好的一天。謝謝。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以掛線。