American Vanguard Corp (AVD) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the American Vanguard Corporation First Quarter 2023 Financial Results.

歡迎閱讀美國先鋒公司 2023 年第一季度財務業績。

I will now turn the call over to Bill Kuser, Director of Investor Relations. You may begin.

我現在將把電話轉給投資者關係總監 Bill Kuser。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Misty, and welcome, everyone, to American Vanguard's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Review. Our speakers today will be Mr. Eric Wintemute, the Chairman and CEO of American Vanguard; Mr. David Johnson, the company's Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Scott Hendrix, Senior Vice President in charge of the U.S. and Canadian crop sales and our application technology initiatives; Mr. Jim Thompson, Director of Portfolio Strategy and Business Development, the one who is guiding our Green Solutions Initiative. Also available to assist in answering your questions, Mr. Robert Trogele, the company's Chief Operating Officer.

謝謝米斯蒂，歡迎大家閱讀美國先鋒集團 2023 年第一季度收益回顧。今天我們的演講嘉賓是 American Vanguard 董事長兼首席執行官 Eric Wintemute 先生；公司首席財務官David Johnson先生； Scott Hendrix 先生，高級副總裁，負責美國和加拿大作物銷售以及我們的應用技術計劃； Jim Thompson 先生，投資組合戰略和業務開發總監，負責指導我們的綠色解決方案計劃。該公司首席運營官 Robert Trogele 先生也可以協助回答您的問題。

Before beginning, let's take a moment for our usual cautionary reminder. In today's call, the company may discuss forward-looking information. Such information and statements are based on estimates and assumptions by the company's management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from management's current expectations. Such factors can include weather conditions, changes in regulatory policy, competitive pressures, supply chain disruptions and other types of risks as detailed in the company's SEC reports and filings. All forward-looking statements represent the company's best judgment as of the date of this call, and such information will not necessarily be updated by the company.

在開始之前，讓我們花點時間進行一下我們通常的警告提醒。在今天的電話會議中，該公司可能會討論前瞻性信息。此類信息和陳述基於公司管理層的估計和假設，並受到各種風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與管理層當前的預期不同。這些因素可能包括天氣條件、監管政策的變化、競爭壓力、供應鏈中斷以及公司向 SEC 報告和文件中詳細說明的其他類型的風險。所有前瞻性陳述均代表公司截至本次電話會議之日的最佳判斷，公司不一定會更新此類信息。

With that said, we turn the call over to Eric.

話雖如此，我們將電話轉給埃里克。

Thank you, Bill. For those of you who are joining us for the first time, just a quick slide, we're traded on the New York Stock Exchange as American Vanguard founded in '69. We've got about 800 employees. We're fully integrated ag company. We do basic R&D as well. And our business model has largely been to acquire branded products from the majors. We have 2 growth initiatives on top of that, that we'll be talking about in a moment.

謝謝你，比爾。對於那些第一次加入我們的人，請快速瀏覽一下，我們在紐約證券交易所上市，名稱為 American Vanguard，成立於 69 年。我們有大約 800 名員工。我們是完全一體化的農業公司。我們也進行基礎研發。我們的商業模式主要是從各大公司收購品牌產品。除此之外，我們還有兩項增長計劃，我們稍後將討論。

As you will have read from our earnings release, and we have highlighted on that on the Slide 5, our Q1 sales of Aztec and IMPACT were lower than expected due to the supply chain delays in China, in the case of Aztec, and a glut of large volume herbicides, specifically glyphosate and glufosinate in the U.S. market in the case of IMPACT. However, with unusually low channel inventory of our domestic crop products, we expect strong sales for the balance of the year.

正如您從我們的財報中所讀到的那樣，我們在幻燈片 5 中強調了這一點，我們的 Aztec 和 IMPACT 第一季度銷售額低於預期，原因是中國的供應鏈延遲（就 Aztec 而言）以及供過於求。就 IMPACT 而言，美國市場上大量除草劑，特別是草甘膦和草銨膦。然而，由於我們國內作物產品的渠道庫存異常低，我們預計今年剩餘時間銷售強勁。

In fact, even with the Q1 performance, while well below our original forecast, our 2023 full year outlook will improve upon our '22 year with the ranges of revenue up 5% to 7%, adjusted EBITDA up 14% to 18% and net income up 17% to 25%.

事實上，即使第一季度的業績遠低於我們最初的預測，我們的 2023 年全年展望仍將比我們 22 年的預期有所改善，收入範圍將增長 5% 至 7%，調整後的 EBITDA 增長 14% 至 18%，淨利潤將增長 14% 至 18%。收入增長17%至25%。

So let's start with Q1 and move forward to the full year and beyond. There are 2 main reasons for our Q1 shortfall, Aztec, our leading insecticide; and IMPACT, our leading herbicide. And in both cases, the drivers were unique.

因此，讓我們從第一季度開始，展望全年及以後。我們第一季度的短缺有兩個主要原因，我們的領先殺蟲劑 Aztec；以及我們的領先除草劑 IMPACT。在這兩種情況下，驅動程序都是獨一無二的。

Let's begin with Aztec. There are several raw materials needed to make Aztec, but our issues were with 2. Let me walk you through Slide 6. First is an intermediate called DAPRO that has been historically made by a European supplier. Last year, our supplier advised us that they would not be able to produce again until 2024.

讓我們從阿茲特克人開始。製造 Aztec 需要多種原材料，但我們的問題是 2。讓我帶您瀏覽幻燈片 6。首先是一種名為 DAPRO 的中間體，歷史上由歐洲供應商生產。去年，我們的供應商告訴我們，他們要到 2024 年才能再次生產。

Accordingly, we successfully [demoed] a DAPRO source in China, which successfully commenced production last year.

因此，我們在中國成功[演示]了DAPRO源，並於去年成功投產。

DAPRO is used to make another key intermediate required for Aztec production called Sodium HP. Historically, we've relied upon a domestic producer of Sodium HP. However, in June of '22, that supplier informed us that they could not produce until the end of the '22 year. Since this would not be in time to meet our Q4 Aztec demand, we engaged our new Chinese DAPRO toller to convert the DAPRO that they produce into Sodium HP.

DAPRO 用於製造 Aztec 生產所需的另一種關鍵中間體，稱為鈉 HP。從歷史上看，我們一直依賴國內一家 HP 鈉生產商。然而，在 22 年 6 月，該供應商通知我們，他們要到 22 年底才能生產。由於這無法及時滿足我們第四季度 Aztec 的需求，我們聘請了新的中國 DAPRO 委託商將他們生產的 DAPRO 轉換為鈉 HP。

Initial production was to begin in October of '22, but due to a series of issues, people, equipment, shutdown and COVID, their production did not commence until the last week of December '22. Steady production, however, did not really begin until the middle of February of '23, and daily output levels did not optimize until April. Adding to the issue, our domestic producer of Sodium HP was unable to produce until March of '23.

最初的生產原定於 22 年 10 月開始，但由於人員、設備、停工和新冠疫情等一系列問題，直到 22 年 12 月最後一周才開始生產。然而，直到23年2月中旬，生產才真正開始穩定，日產量水平直到4月份才達到優化。更糟糕的是，我們國內的HP鈉生產商直到2023年3月才能夠生產。

As a result, we were able to produce only 1/3 of the Aztec demand in time for the '23 season. We attempted to substitute our other corn soil insecticides, but had limited success. That said, we have positioned both suppliers for full production and plenty of lead time in advance of the 2024 season.

結果，我們只能及時生產 23 年季節阿茲特克需求的 1/3。我們嘗試替代其他玉米土壤殺蟲劑，但成效有限。也就是說，我們已讓兩家供應商在 2024 年產季之前實現全面生產並有充足的交貨時間。

For additional color on Aztec with respect to Q1 and market conditions for the coming year, I turn to Scott Hendrix. Scott?

有關阿茲特克第一季度和來年市場狀況的更多信息，我向斯科特·亨德里克斯求助。斯科特？

Thank you, Eric.

謝謝你，埃里克。

On Slide 7, you will see that our 2023 demand forecast for Aztec was approximately 7 million pounds. As we assessed and prepare for the 2023 Aztec supply challenge, it was critical that we understood our supply position at distribution and retail. Through our analysis of grower point-of-sale data and distributor reported inventory, we calculated that we had over 2.8 million pounds of Aztec in customer inventories. We use this data to develop extensive supply planning by customer for the 2.28 million pounds we sold to ensure historical Aztec users as much as possible.

在幻燈片 7 上，您將看到我們對 2023 年阿茲特克的需求預測約為 700 萬磅。在我們評估和準備應對 2023 年阿茲特克供應挑戰時，了解我們在分銷和零售方面的供應狀況至關重要。通過對種植者銷售點數據和分銷商報告的庫存的分析，我們計算出我們的客戶庫存超過 280 萬磅阿茲特克。我們使用這些數據為客戶制定廣泛的供應計劃，為我們銷售的 228 萬磅產品提供盡可能多的阿茲特克歷史用戶。

Also, we were able to secure additional Force 10G that equated to approximately 430,000 pounds of Aztec. Therefore, through a combination of channel inventory, in-season production and product substitution, we were able to provide 5.54 million pounds of Aztec 4.67 equivalent for the 2023 growing season. This was a very fluid and dynamic scenario as we had daily and weekly supply updates that our commercial team overlay with geographic market dynamics to confirm proper product placement in the market.

此外，我們還獲得了額外的 10G 力量，相當於大約 430,000 磅的阿茲特克人。因此，通過渠道庫存、當季生產和產品替代相結合，我們能夠在 2023 年生長季提供 554 萬磅阿茲特克 4.67 當量。這是一個非常流動和動態的場景，因為我們每天和每週都有供應更新，我們的商業團隊將其與地理市場動態相結合，以確認產品在市場上的適當佈局。

As we have continued to monitor the season, we calculate that channel inventory has declined to less than 5% of the annual demand as compared to our historical inventory levels of approximately 30%. As a result, we anticipate strong demand for our customers in Q4 of 2023 in preparation for the '24 growing season.

隨著我們繼續監測季節，我們計算出渠道庫存已降至年度需求的不到 5%，而我們的歷史庫存水平約為 30%。因此，我們預計 2023 年第四季度客戶的需求將會強勁，為 24 年的生長季節做好準備。

Thank you, Scott. To cap off this subject, it is worth noting the effect that Aztec sales have had on our overall profitability. As you can see from Slide 8, we estimate that missing Aztec sales of about $30 million in revenue is roughly equivalent to reducing earnings per share by $0.38. That would largely have been recognized over both Q4 and Q1. In the first quarter alone, it's caused a drop in EPS of about $0.20 a share.

謝謝你，斯科特。為了結束這個主題，值得注意的是阿茲特克銷售對我們整體盈利能力的影響。正如您從幻燈片 8 中看到的，我們估計 Aztec 銷售額損失約 3000 萬美元的收入大致相當於每股收益減少 0.38 美元。這在第四季度和第一季度基本上都得到了認可。僅第一季度，每股收益就下降了約 0.20 美元。

Now Scott, let's circle back to you for a better understanding of IMPACT.

現在，斯科特，讓我們回到您這裡來更好地了解影響力。

As Eric pointed out and as you will see on Slide 9, the market dynamics for the 2023 season are much different than 2022. It is important that we understand our customers' buying behavior. Working capital over the last several years has not been a challenge as the cost of money was inexpensive and channel inventory have been running historically low as the supply chain has been under stress.

正如 Eric 指出的以及您將在幻燈片 9 中看到的那樣，2023 年季節的市場動態與 2022 年有很大不同。了解客戶的購買行為非常重要。過去幾年的營運資金並不是一個挑戰，因為資金成本低廉，而且由於供應鏈一直面臨壓力，渠道庫存一直處於歷史低位。

According to early estimates, the U.S. crop protection market surpassed $15 billion in 2022, which is $3 billion more than 2021. Eric previously mentioned, increased supply of glyphosate and glufosinate in 2022. The channel ended the 2022 season with higher inventories across all crop protection segments. If you combine increased ending inventories with increased prices and higher interest rates, customers had significant capital outlay in inventory entering the 2023 year.

根據初步估計，2022年美國植保市場將超過150億美元，比2021年增加30億美元。Eric之前提到，2022年草甘膦和草銨膦的供應量增加。該渠道在2022年收尾時，所有植保產品的庫存都增加了段。如果將期末庫存增加與價格上漲和利率上升結合起來，那麼進入 2023 年，客戶將在庫存方面支出大量資本支出。

Furthermore, those large volume molecules, along with a range of fertility products began devaluing as supply increase and demand decrease by all channel levels. Distribution and retail customers are now focused on reducing inventories and driving cash flow, which has influenced our impact sales in Q1 of '23.

此外，隨著所有渠道水平的供應增加和需求減少，這些大體積分子以及一系列生育產品開始貶值。分銷和零售客戶現在專注於減少庫存和推動現金流，這影響了我們 23 年第一季度的影響銷售。

Turning to Slide 10. Our lead IMPACT brand drove our upside in 2022 and are used primarily in mid- to late-season applications by itself or combined with nonselective herbicides that are in trait enabled to manage difficult-to-control weeds. We anticipate retail agronomists will continue to exhibit best practices for weed resistance, but they will have a focus on exhausting existing inventories as dictated by their current financial needs.

轉向幻燈片 10。我們的領先品牌 IMPACT 在 2022 年推動了我們的增長，主要單獨用於中後期施用，或與非選擇性除草劑結合使用，這些除草劑具有控制難以控制的雜草的特性。我們預計零售農學家將繼續展示抗雜草的最佳實踐，但他們將重點關注根據當前財務需求耗盡現有庫存。

IMPACT inventories are normal, and this puts us in a positive position for the '23 season and full year performance. We anticipate this is a short-term performance challenge with our lead IMPACT brand and will not continue as customers work through their surplus inventories of nonselective herbicides.

IMPACT 庫存正常，這使我們對 23 季和全年業績處於積極的位置。我們預計，這對我們領先的 IMPACT 品牌來說是一個短期的績效挑戰，並且隨著客戶耗盡非選擇性除草劑的過剩庫存，這種挑戰不會持續下去。

Lastly, I want to highlight our continued formulation innovation with our IMPACT RAM family. We now have 4 brands that have expanded our historical use pattern in corn and across strategic customer bases. Furthermore, our innovation pipeline continues to grow in rice and soybeans. In fact, we launched our latest herbicide solution, (inaudible) that contains our ProLease technology. The power of ProLease optimizes weed control and stability, and to date, we are almost sold out of that brand.

最後，我想強調我們 IMPACT RAM 系列的持續配方創新。我們現在擁有 4 個品牌，它們擴大了我們在玉米和戰略客戶群中的歷史使用模式。此外，我們在大米和大豆方面的創新渠道持續增長。事實上，我們推出了最新的除草劑解決方案（聽不清），其中包含我們的 ProLease 技術。 ProLease 的強大功能優化了雜草控制和穩定性，迄今為止，該品牌的產品幾乎已售罄。

Thank you, Scott. As you can see from Slide 11, during the first quarter of '23, IMPACT sales were about $10 million less than those in Q1 of '22. This shortfall alone would have accounted for another $0.12 in earnings per share. Thus, taken together, the Q1 EPS effect on Aztec plus IMPACT was $0.32 a share. In short, had we not had these 2 unprecedented conditions, our quarterly EPS would have been $0.39 per share, not the $0.07 that we have reported.

謝謝你，斯科特。從幻燈片 11 中可以看出，23 年第一季度，IMPACT 銷售額比 22 年第一季度減少了約 1000 萬美元。僅這一缺口就導致每股收益再增加 0.12 美元。因此，總的來說，Aztec 加上 IMPACT 對第一季度 EPS 的影響為每股 0.32 美元。簡而言之，如果沒有這兩個前所未有的情況，我們的季度每股收益將為 0.39 美元，而不是我們報告的 0.07 美元。

At this point, let me ask David to make a few comments, and then I will return to give an update on our growth initiatives and to further talk about the balance of the year. David?

現在，讓我請大衛發表一些評論，然後我將回來介紹我們的增長計劃的最新情況，並進一步討論今年的餘額。大衛？

Thank you, Eric. With regard to our public filing, we plan to file our Form 10-Q later today.

謝謝你，埃里克。關於我們的公開備案，我們計劃今天晚些時候提交 10-Q 表格。

On Slide 13, you will note the first quarter of 2023 has seen a challenging operating performance for the company, with overall revenues down about $25 million or 17% as compared to the same period of 2022 for the reasons that Eric has already outlined. The other main sales drivers for our business performed in a more usual manner with quarter-over-quarter increases of 4% in our non-crop business and 2% for the international business.

在幻燈片 13 上，您會注意到該公司 2023 年第一季度的運營業績充滿挑戰，總體收入比 2022 年同期下降了約 2500 萬美元，即 17%，原因埃里克已經概述了。我們業務的其他主要銷售驅動力表現較為平常，非農作物業務環比增長 4%，國際業務環比增長 2%。

Moving to Slide 14. As we indicated at the time of the last call, this is the first quarter that we are presenting our results in a manner that we think more closely parallels our market peers. We have moved our outbound freight and logistics costs, which are substantially variable and tracked closely with sales performance to cost of sales rather than operating expenses. This change results in an equal reduction of both gross margin percentage and operating expenses as a percentage of net sales. It has no impact on operating income or net income.

轉到幻燈片 14。正如我們在上次電話會議時指出的那樣，這是我們以我們認為與市場同行更接近的方式展示我們的業績的第一個季度。我們已將出境貨運和物流成本（這些成本變化很大且與銷售業績密切相關）轉移到銷售成本而不是運營費用。這一變化導致毛利率和營業費用占淨銷售額的百分比均等減少。它對營業收入或淨利潤沒有影響。

For the first quarter of 2023, under our new accounting approach for freight and logistics, on Slide 15, you see that our gross margin percentage ended at 31% of net sales as compared to 34% in 2022. The lower overall gross margin performance is driven by the reduction -- the reduced sales of U.S. crop products, which are some of our best gross margin performance, and by reduced factory overhead recovery driven primarily by our inability to manufacture Aztec in the volumes we planned as a result of material shortages. As Eric detailed in his opening remarks, missing sales of these U.S. crop products had a direct and significant impact on our gross margin performance.

對於 2023 年第一季度，根據我們新的貨運和物流會計方法，在幻燈片 15 上，您會看到我們的毛利率占淨銷售額的 31%，而 2022 年為 34%。總體毛利率表現較低的是其驅動因素是美國農作物產品銷量的減少（這是我們毛利率表現最好的產品之一），以及工廠管理費用回收減少，這主要是由於材料短缺導致我們無法按計劃生產阿茲特克產品。正如埃里克在開場白中詳細介紹的那樣，這些美國農作物產品的銷售缺失對我們的毛利率表現產生了直接而重大的影響。

Further to my remarks regarding the new presentation of our statement of operations, on Slide 16, you can see our operating expenses are presented here without costs associated with outbound logistics. Typically, those costs amount to about 7% to 8% of sales. For the 3 months ended March 31, 2023, operating expenses reduced by 4% from the same period of 2022. This was driven by lower administrative costs associated with short-term incentive compensation as a result of the lower financial performance and the benefit of some positive exchange rate movements across our global business. As something of an offset, the Board agreed to pay cruise capitals, proxy contest fees resolving all outstanding matters.

除了我在幻燈片 16 上對我們的運營報表的新表述所做的評論之外，您可以看到這裡列出了我們的運營費用，不包括與出庫物流相關的成本。通常，這些成本約佔銷售額的 7% 至 8%。截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的三個月，運營費用較 2022 年同期減少 4%。這是由於財務業績下降以及部分企業的利益導致與短期激勵薪酬相關的管理成本降低所致。我們全球業務的積極匯率變動。作為補償，董事會同意支付郵輪資本和代理競賽費用，以解決所有未決問題。

In summary, on Slide 17, our net sales declined by 17% and gross profit ended at 31% versus 34% in the prior year. Operating expenses were reduced by 4%, mainly driven by lower accruals for short-term incentive compensation.

總之，在幻燈片 17 中，我們的淨銷售額下降了 17%，毛利潤為 31%，而上一年為 34%。運營費用減少了 4%，主要是由於短期激勵薪酬的應計費用減少。

Our cash management performance was good, and we ended with debt at about the same level as this time last year, notwithstanding spending $27.3 million to repurchase approximately 1.4 million shares of the company's stock during the last 12 months.

我們的現金管理表現良好，儘管在過去 12 個月中花費了 2,730 萬美元回購了大約 140 萬股公司股票，但我們最終的債務水平與去年同期大致相同。

Interest expense is up significantly, driven primarily by interest rates, which averaged 6.8% during the quarter as compared to 1.9% for the same period of the prior year, a more than 3.5-fold increase.

利息支出大幅上升，主要是由利率推動的，本季度平均利率為 6.8%，而上年同期為 1.9%，增幅超過 3.5 倍。

We continue to follow a disciplined approach to planning our factory activity, including balancing overhead recovery with demand forecast and inventory level. On the graph on Slide 18, you can see that at the end of the first quarter of 2023, our inventory increased to $219 million as compared to $168 million at the same point in 2022.

我們繼續遵循嚴格的方法來規劃工廠活動，包括平衡間接費用回收與需求預測和庫存水平。在幻燈片 18 的圖表中，您可以看到，到 2023 年第一季度末，我們的庫存增加至 2.19 億美元，而 2022 年同期為 1.68 億美元。

This increase was driven by a few factors, including increased inventories of raw materials necessary to manufacture Aztec, comparatively higher inventories of impact and generally across our business, an expectation that we are looking at strong sales growth in the second half of 2023. And based on that forecast, we need to have higher inventories to meet related customer demand.

這一增長是由幾個因素推動的，包括製造 Aztec 所需的原材料庫存增加、影響整個業務的庫存相對較高，預計我們預計 2023 年下半年的銷售將強勁增長。根據該預測，我們需要有更高的庫存來滿足相關客戶的需求。

The graph on Slide 19 shows that debt ended at $97 million at the end of the first quarter of 2023 as compared to $98 million at the same point in 2022. Essentially, debt remained flat despite the fact that we've spent $27.3 million repurchasing the company's stock over the last 12 months.

幻燈片 19 上的圖表顯示，截至 2023 年第一季度末，債務為 9700 萬美元，而 2022 年同期為 9800 萬美元。從本質上講，儘管我們花費了 2730 萬美元回購了公司過去 12 個月的股票。

Moving to Slide 20. During the first quarter of 2023, we have made some additional share repurchases and, as a result, shares outstanding have produced slightly. The share price remained relatively flat during the period. Debt increased, which is normal for the start of the company's annual cycle and cash remained about flat at December. Enterprise value increased by 7.6% during the period. Finally, the leverage remains low, but increased from 0.72x bank adjusted EBITDA at December 31, 2022, to 1.63x at March 31, 2023, reflecting the company's annual cycle.

轉向幻燈片 20。在 2023 年第一季度，我們進行了一些額外的股票回購，因此，流通股略有增加。期內股價保持相對平穩。債務增加，這對於公司年度週期的開始是正常的，12 月份現金基本持平。期內企業價值增長7.6%。最後，槓桿率仍然較低，但從 2022 年 12 月 31 日銀行調整後的 EBITDA 的 0.72 倍增至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的 1.63 倍，反映了公司的年度週期。

With that, I will hand back to Eric.

說到這裡，我將把事情交還給埃里克。

Thank you, David. Having heard Scott's color on the major elements of our core business, let me turn next to 2 other important business drivers: SIMPAS and Green Solutions. This review will give us a foundation for our full year '23 and '25 performance targets.

謝謝你，大衛。聽完 Scott 對我們核心業務主要要素的看法後，讓我談談另外兩個重要的業務驅動因素：SIMPAS 和綠色解決方案。此次審查將為我們 '23 和 '25 全年績效目標奠定基礎。

For an update on SIMPAS, I turn it back to Scott.

有關 SIMPAS 的最新信息，我將其返回給 Scott。

Thanks, Eric. Our focus for 2023 has and is to continue to innovate within our SIMPAS technology platform by introducing several hardware and software upgrades to deliver the targeted SIMPAS experience. We launched our Phase 3 SIMPAS technology, which includes units that will be equipped with liquid sensors. This technology will enable the grower to monitor and measure how much liquid material is prescriptively applied by the equipment.

謝謝，埃里克。我們 2023 年的重點是通過引入多項硬件和軟件升級來繼續在 SIMPAS 技術平台內進行創新，以提供目標 SIMPAS 體驗。我們推出了第三階段 SIMPAS 技術，其中包括將配備液體傳感器的裝置。該技術將使種植者能夠監控和測量設備按規定施用了多少液體材料。

Further, we have enhanced our tracing capability by installing a dedicated modem that communicates all SIMPAS data points to our Ultimus platform. Taken together, these advancements will enable users to measure, record and verify what they are applying where and when, whether it's granule or liquid.

此外，我們還通過安裝專用調製解調器將所有 SIMPAS 數據點傳輸到我們的 Ultimus 平台來增強我們的追踪能力。總而言之，這些進步將使用戶能夠測量、記錄和驗證他們在何時何地施用的物質，無論是顆粒還是液體。

We have sold 15 new SIMPAS systems domestically. We're estimating that this will treat approximately 100,000 acres based on the prescriptions that have been defined. Our domestic total SIMPAS revenue outlook is unchanged at $12 million to date.

我們已在國內銷售了 15 套新的 SIMPAS 系統。根據已確定的處方，我們估計這將治療大約 100,000 英畝的土地。迄今為止，我們的國內 SIMPAS 總收入展望保持在 1200 萬美元不變。

Slide 22 identifies the key financial drivers for SIMPAS commercialization. Our treated acre growth with our SIMPAS SOLO technology has grown almost 3x since 2021, while average revenue per use grew 56%. We now have 161 SIMPAS technology systems being used domestically that treat approximately 350,000 acres annually.

幻燈片 22 確定了 SIMPAS 商業化的關鍵財務驅動因素。自 2021 年以來，我們採用 SIMPAS SOLO 技術處理的面積增長了近 3 倍，而每次使用的平均收入增長了 56%。目前，我們在國內使用了 161 個 SIMPAS 技術系統，每年處理約 350,000 英畝的土地。

To that end, we are currently adding a dedicated sales and marketing team to identify the biggest players in precision ag to forge alliances with those companies and to call upon distribution, retail and growers to embrace this technology. At the same time, we're meeting with regulatory authorities to keep them apprised of the capabilities of this technology that we believe answers USDA's call for digital agriculture.

為此，我們目前正在增加一個專門的銷售和營銷團隊，以確定精準農業領域最大的參與者，與這些公司建立聯盟，並呼籲分銷、零售和種植者接受這項技術。與此同時，我們正在與監管機構會面，讓他們了解這項技術的功能，我們相信這項技術響應了美國農業部對數字農業的號召。

After having spent about $27 million over the past 5 years developing this technology, we are now focusing on attaining broader markets as well. In fact, we plan to sell 15 to 20 units in Brazil, which is the largest ag producer in the world.

在過去 5 年里花費了約 2700 萬美元開發這項技術後，我們現在也致力於開拓更廣闊的市場。事實上，我們計劃在世界上最大的農業生產國巴西銷售 15 至 20 台。

With that, I turn it back to Eric.

說完，我又把話轉回給埃里克。

Thank you, Scott. And I'd say that 15 to 20 systems is for the September '23 season. So it's still to come yet.

謝謝你，斯科特。我想說 23 年 9 月的賽季有 15 到 20 個系統。所以它還沒有到來。

Next, let's turn to our Green Solutions. To cover that business, we'll have Jim Thompson. So Jim?

接下來，讓我們轉向我們的綠色解決方案。為了報導這項業務，我們將邀請吉姆·湯普森 (Jim Thompson)。那麼吉姆？

Thank you, Eric.

謝謝你，埃里克。

As we move to Slide 23, we wanted to highlight the key financial performance indicators and commercial achievements for Q1 of 2023. In terms of our financial performance for Q1, we generated Green Solutions revenues of $13.7 million, which was an increase of 39% as compared to Q1 2022 and in line with our growth estimates of 40%.

當我們轉向幻燈片 23 時，我們希望重點介紹 2023 年第一季度的關鍵財務績效指標和商業成就。就第一季度的財務績效而言，我們的綠色解決方案收入為 1,370 萬美元，同比增長 39%與 2022 年第一季度相比，符合我們 40% 的增長預期。

With a strong start to the year, we can reaffirm our Green Solutions guidance of $70 million for fiscal year 2023, with Q2 and Q3 generally being the highest selling quarters for biologicals throughout the year. The performance in Q1 was led by strong organic growth by our Latin American team and strong sales of our Bsure product in the U.S. market.

憑藉今年的強勁開局，我們可以重申 2023 財年綠色解決方案目標為 7000 萬美元，其中第二季度和第三季度通常是全年生物製品銷售最高的季度。第一季度的業績得益於我們拉丁美洲團隊的強勁有機增長以及 Bsure 產品在美國市場的強勁銷售。

On the commercial front, we successfully launched our BioWake brands for corn and soybean and the U.S. seed lubricant market. We view this market as an incremental value-add platform for AMVAC and its channel partners. And we will expand the BioWake product line into new crops in the future.

在商業方面，我們成功推出了針對玉米和大豆以及美國種子潤滑劑市場的 BioWake 品牌。我們將該市場視為 AMVAC 及其渠道合作夥伴的增量增值平台。未來我們將把 BioWake 產品線擴展到新作物領域。

Our AMGUARD team also executed a new supply agreement with NewLeaf Symbiotics in the first quarter, where both parties will collaborate to launch new products in AMVAC's non-crop segment. This further strengthens the relationship between NewLeaf and AMVAC in the United States.

我們的 AMGUARD 團隊還在第一季度與 NewLeaf Symbiotics 簽署了一項新的供應協議，雙方將合作在 AMVAC 的非作物領域推出新產品。這進一步加強了NewLeaf與美國AMVAC之間的關係。

Our AMGUARD team also recognized first sales of the American Biosystems products in the first quarter, which stemmed from the acquisition made at the end of 2022. We continue to grow our Green Solutions segment in our international markets. We received regulatory approval for the greenhouse products via our Latin American team in Costa Rica, which opens the door for increased sales of our proprietary family of products acquired from Agrinos in 2020.

我們的 AMGUARD 團隊還確認了 American Biosystems 產品在第一季度的首次銷售，這源於 2022 年底的收購。我們繼續在國際市場上發展我們的綠色解決方案部門。我們通過哥斯達黎加的拉丁美洲團隊獲得了溫室產品的監管批准，這為 2020 年從 Agrinos 收購的專有產品系列的銷量增加打開了大門。

Lastly, the business development and M&A landscape continues at a feverish pace. The recent changes in capital markets have caused more companies to seek partnerships with larger companies, accelerated financing events or potential M&A transactions, all of which increased the potential for incremental growth in the Green Solutions business. AMVAC is working diligently to evaluate all new growth opportunities with an intense focus on bolstering our green solutions portfolio.

最後，業務發展和併購格局繼續快速發展。最近資本市場的變化導致更多的公司尋求與更大的公司建立合作夥伴關係，加速融資事件或潛在的併購交易，所有這些都增加了綠色解決方案業務增量增長的潛力。 AMVAC 正在努力評估所有新的增長機會，重點關注加強我們的綠色解決方案組合。

On Slide 24, we wanted to tell a little bit more about our BioWake market opportunity. BioWake launched in Q1, and we view the market opportunity as very large, in excess of 150 million treatable acres for corn and soybean in the U.S. alone. We showed strong sales in Q1 and a good pace of sales in Q2. We're happy with the progress on the line, given the accelerated launch window and the fact that BioWake is our first product in the seed lubricant space.

在幻燈片 24 上，我們想詳細介紹一下我們的 BioWake 市場機會。 BioWake 於第一季度推出，我們認為市場機會非常大，僅在美國，玉米和大豆的可處理面積就超過 1.5 億英畝。我們第一季度的銷售強勁，第二季度的銷售速度良好。鑑於加速的發射窗口以及 BioWake 是我們在種子潤滑劑領域的第一個產品，我們對生產線的進展感到滿意。

We developed a BioWake product pipeline that focuses on crop expansion into peanuts, cotton, wheat and other broad acre crops, while also expanding the product line to include additional biological products such as bioherbicides, bioinsecticides and micronutrients.

我們開發了 BioWake 產品線，重點將作物擴展到花生、棉花、小麥和其他大面積作物，同時還擴展產品線以包括生物除草劑、生物殺蟲劑和微量營養素等其他生物產品。

BioWake is showing yield increases of 4.4 bushels per acre for soybean and 5.3 bushels per acre on corn, providing a very attractive return on investment for our growers.

BioWake 顯示，大豆產量每英畝增加 4.4 蒲式耳，玉米產量每英畝增加 5.3 蒲式耳，為我們的種植者提供了非常有吸引力的投資回報。

As we move to Slide 25, we wanted to show a short video clip that demonstrates the ease of use of the BioWake products for our farmers. We felt it would be very valuable for you to see our new product system at work. The video will follow shortly.

當我們轉到幻燈片 25 時，我們想展示一段簡短的視頻剪輯，展示 BioWake 產品對我們的農民的易用性。我們認為，看到我們的新產品系統投入使用對您來說非常有價值。該視頻將很快發布。

(presentation)

（推介會）

And lastly, Slide 26 shows the continued strong guidance that we are targeting in our Green Solutions business. The bulk of the growth in 2023 will come from the organic growth of our existing portfolio as we continue to integrate and market key products from our acquisitions.

最後，幻燈片 26 顯示了我們在綠色解決方案業務中所針對的持續強有力的指導。隨著我們繼續整合和營銷收購的關鍵產品，2023 年的大部分增長將來自我們現有產品組合的有機增長。

In addition, we're adding new products such as BioWake and the American Bioproducts. AMVAC's International business continues to be a strong driver for growth in all of our geographic areas in 2023. In 2024 and 2025, we expect to generate incremental revenue by new partnerships, geographic market expansion and M&A transactions.

此外，我們還添加了 BioWake 和 American Bioproducts 等新產品。到 2023 年，AMVAC 的國際業務將繼續成為我們所有地理區域增長的強大推動力。在 2024 年和 2025 年，我們預計將通過新的合作夥伴關係、地理市場擴張和併購交易產生增量收入。

Thank you, Jim. At this point, we can turn to our 2025 performance targets.

謝謝你，吉姆。至此，我們可以轉向 2025 年的績效目標。

As you can see on Slide 27, with our revised Q1 performance, our upward trajectory has been moderated in the middle of the graph. However, the upward curve is otherwise unchanged for the years '24 and '25. In other words, we remain on track to meet our midterm targets.

正如您在幻燈片 27 中看到的那樣，隨著我們修改後的第一季度業績，我們的上升軌跡在圖表中間有所緩和。然而，24 年和 25 年的上升曲線在其他方面沒有變化。換句話說，我們仍有望實現中期目標。

Our final important topic is the full year 2023 outlook. Even after factoring in lower-than-expected Q1, as you can see from Slide 27, we are still expecting that our '23 performance will exceed that of '22 and are targeting the following: net sales between $640 million to $652 million, which would be 5% to 7% above '22; gross profit margins in that 33% to 35% range, which is similar to '22; operating expenses as a percent of sale 25% to 27%, which is in line with last year; adjusted EBITDA between $84 million and $86 million, representing an improvement of 14% to 18%; net income of between $32 million and $34 million, which would be 17% to 25% improvement over '22.

我們最後一個重要主題是 2023 年全年展望。即使考慮到低於預期的第一季度（如幻燈片 27 所示），我們仍然預計我們 '23 的業績將超過 '22 的業績，並目標如下：淨銷售額在 6.4 億美元至 6.52 億美元之間，其中比 22 年高出 5% 到 7%；毛利率在 33% 至 35% 範圍內，與 22 年類似；運營費用佔銷售額的比例為25%至27%，與去年持平；調整後的 EBITDA 在 8400 萬美元至 8600 萬美元之間，提高了 14% 至 18%；淨利潤在 3200 萬美元至 3400 萬美元之間，比 22 年提高 17% 至 25%。

In closing, following a first quarter setback, I see strong performance for the balance of '23. Given the conditions of our core business, the trend line for Green Solutions portfolio and our focused approach on gaining further adoption of SIMPAS, we are positioned to drive growth and profitability in both the short and midterm.

最後，在經歷第一季度的挫折之後，我認為 23 年餘下的時間將表現強勁。考慮到我們的核心業務狀況、綠色解決方案組合的趨勢線以及我們進一步採用 SIMPAS 的重點方法，我們有能力在短期和中期推動增長和盈利。

With that, I'll turn it over to the operator to take any questions you may have. Misty?

這樣，我會將其轉交給接線員來回答您可能有的任何問題。濛濛？

(Operator Instructions) It looks like we have a question from Chris Kapsch from Loop Capital.

（操作員說明）Loop Capital 的 Chris Kapsch 向我們提出了一個問題。

I have a couple of questions. Look, on the mix sales and let's focus on maybe on, let's see, the Aztec soil insecticides. I'm just curious if -- so the $0.20 in the quarter, was that fully attributable to revenues that you think you would have had orders for and delivered? Or is there also an impact from not having the inputs and, therefore, getting adverse factory absorption variances and, therefore, affecting the gross margin for the rest of the business? Or is that $0.20 exclusively attributable to the mix sales?

我有一些問題。看，關於混合銷售，讓我們關註一下，讓我們看看，阿茲特剋土壤殺蟲劑。我只是很好奇，本季度的 0.20 美元是否完全歸因於您認為您會收到訂單並交付的收入？或者是否也會因為沒有投入而產生影響，從而導致工廠吸收差異，從而影響其他業務的毛利率？或者這 0.20 美元完全歸因於混合銷售？

That $0.20 is to the sales. There's a factory performance. Again, we're running the factory at about 33% of capacity during that first quarter. And in fact, actually, over the quarter, probably even less than that. But once we're beginning manufacturing, we can't shut down and do something else because we've got a 3-week or 4-week turnaround. So we basically had a plant that was running well below capacity. And that's the particular unit at Aztec. We have other units there, but that's our main unit.

這 0.20 美元屬於銷售額。工廠裡有演出。同樣，第一季度我們的工廠產能利用率約為 33%。事實上，實際上，在本季度，可能甚至比這個還要少。但一旦我們開始生產，我們就不能停下來去做其他事情，因為我們有 3 週或 4 週的周轉時間。所以我們基本上有一個工廠的運行遠遠低於產能。這就是阿茲特克人的特殊單位。我們那裡還有其他單位，但那是我們的主要單位。

Okay. And then just so I understand that, obviously, you were not able to deliver to the channel. But as of the end of the quarter, I think corn planting is normally 2% end of April, just 26% maybe yesterday from the USDA, it's up to half the acreage. But is -- so the question is, are you -- were you able to recoup any of this lost sales in the first quarter, in the second quarter as corn plantings are progressing?

好的。然後我就明白了，很明顯，你無法交付到頻道。但截至本季度末，我認為 4 月底玉米播種面積通常為 2%，昨天美國農業部的數據可能僅為 26%，達到了種植面積的一半。但是，問題是，隨著玉米種植的進展，你們能否在第一季度、第二季度彌補銷售損失？

Yes. We did sell more in the second quarter than we did in the first quarter. And -- but I think, Scott, we probably were done about April, somewhere between April 15 and April 20. We did continue to produce, and we do have additional tech, and we've got some formulation. But basically, the channel really kind of shut down on this in that -- by that third -- end of the third week maybe of April. Scott?

是的。我們第二季度的銷量確實比第一季度多。而且 - 但我認為，斯科特，我們可能在 4 月左右完成，即 4 月 15 日到 4 月 20 日之間。我們確實繼續生產，我們確實擁有額外的技術，並且我們已經有了一些配方。但基本上，到了第三週，也許是四月的第三週末，該頻道確實在這方面關閉了。斯科特？

Yes, I would confirm that, Eric. There's an optimum planting window for most of the producers. And as we were getting close to the middle to the end of April, understanding there is time, logistics to get product to the market. And customers at that point, made a decision that it was going to be too late for the market.

是的，我會確認這一點，埃里克。對於大多數生產者來說，都有一個最佳的種植窗口。隨著我們接近四月中旬到月底，我們了解到有時間和物流將產品推向市場。那時，客戶做出了一個決定：對於市場來說為時已晚。

Got you. And then on the -- sorry, on the IMPACT. So I thought of this is not sort of post-emergent broad spectrum purpose side, but more one that complements some of those workhorse herbicides like obviously glyphosate and glufosinate. But -- so I don't -- it's a little counterintuitive that just the surplus availability of those. I get that there's a downward pricing pressure on those molecules, given the normalization of the supply chain. But to the extent that those are more available to the extent that your product was to complement those especially in areas where resistance was an issue, I would have thought that demand would be okay for those. So can you just reconcile that difference?

明白你了。然後是——抱歉，關於影響。所以我認為這不是一種芽後廣譜用途，而是補充一些主力除草劑（例如明顯的草甘膦和草銨膦）的一種。但是——所以我不這麼認為——僅僅這些過剩的可用性有點違反直覺。我知道，鑑於供應鏈的正常化，這些分子存在定價下行壓力。但就這些產品的可用性而言，您的產品是對這些產品的補充，特別是在存在阻力的領域，我認為這些產品的需求是可以接受的。那麼你能調和這種差異嗎？

I'll take the first one at that, but Scott or Bob. But -- so what we saw and Scott alluded to was that both -- I mean, distributors and dealers are sitting on good quantities of both glyphosate and glufosinate carried over. And each of them, they charge their units for cash management. And so from a buying standpoint, totally unlike what we saw for the '22 season where people were just buying everything they can get their hands on. At this point, they're saying, okay, we're going to move through our inventory, some of which is upside down in terms of cost versus where the market is. And then we'll -- and then once we've accomplished that, then we'll look to later.

我會選擇第一個，但斯科特或鮑勃。但是，我們看到和斯科特提到的是，我的意思是，分銷商和經銷商都坐擁大量的草甘膦和草銨膦。他們每個人都向其單位收取現金管理費用。因此，從購買的角度來看，這完全不同於我們在 22 賽季看到的情況，當時人們只是購買他們能拿到的所有東西。此時，他們說，好吧，我們將清理庫存，其中一些庫存的成本與市場情況是相反的。然後我們會——一旦我們完成了這一點，我們就會在以後考慮。

So Scott, maybe any color you might want to add on that.

斯科特，也許你想添加任何顏色。

Yes, Eric, I'll try to build upon it. '22 performance was outstanding. We were able to position impact in substitute for a lot of the large nonselective molecules that were trade enabled glyphosate and glufosinate being primarily 2 of them. Most of the supply that we've referenced in our commentary came in the second half -- middle to the second half of last year, which was too late for the season. So a lot of the upside that we took advantage of in '22 by increase in rates as the market prepared or was preparing for 2023, we still seek best practices from a weed resistance management is going to take place. Impact is very complementary to both of those molecules. We just want to have the same opportunity because of the surplus that's in the market today of both glyphosate and glufosinate that we had in '22.

是的，埃里克，我會盡力以此為基礎。 22年的表現非常出色。我們能夠將影響定位為許多可進行貿易的大型非選擇性分子的替代品，草甘膦和草銨膦主要是其中的兩種。我們在評論中提到的大部分供應都來自下半年——去年下半年，這對於本季來說已經太晚了。因此，隨著市場準備或正在為 2023 年做準備，我們在 22 年通過提高費率利用了很多優勢，但我們仍然尋求雜草抗性管理的最佳實踐。 Impact 與這兩種分子非常互補。我們只是想擁有同樣的機會，因為今天市場上的草甘膦和草銨膦與 22 年一樣過剩。

But as a brand, too, we've got the 3 other combination of products that we see the brand building and in addition to our overall herbicide portfolio with what we've got now in soybeans and (inaudible). So we were really herbicides was a weak spot for us back maybe 3 or 4 years ago other than IMPACT. And since then, we've built out a nice portfolio. So...

但作為一個品牌，除了我們目前在大豆和（聽不清）的整體除草劑產品組合之外，我們還擁有我們看到的品牌建設的其他 3 種產品組合。所以，也許三四年前，除了 IMPACT 之外，除草劑確實是我們的一個弱點。從那時起，我們已經建立了一個不錯的產品組合。所以...

Well, let me -- just last one on this subject, and then I can jump back in the queue. But so given this normalization of the sort of these major herbicides, Roundup in particular, is -- so pricing is way down for those products. Is that -- to the extent that there is upward pressure on pricing, as the supply chain was challenged and that provided an umbrella for other suppliers of herbicide to lift their prices with the normalization is that creating pressure on your sales of IMPACT for your pricing for impact or other herbicides?

好吧，讓我——就這個主題講最後一篇，然後我就可以跳回隊列了。但考慮到這些主要除草劑（尤其是農達）的正常化，這些產品的定價大幅下降。就定價存在上行壓力而言，由於供應鏈受到挑戰，並且為其他除草劑供應商在正常化的情況下提高價格提供了保護傘，這會對您的 IMPACT 銷售造成壓力對於影響或其他除草劑？

You can take first one, go ahead. .

你可以拿第一個，繼續。 。

Yes, really good question. What I'd share with you, the complementary nature of impact and really the proprietary nature of what it delivers to help control some of the most difficult weeds in the marketplace today. So that's Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, ragweed, those molecules are either resistance, meaning glyphosate or glufosinate or resistant or the performance is very low. So IMPACT is complementary in helping manage and to control those difficult weeds.

是的，確實是個好問題。我想與您分享的是，影響力的互補性以及它所提供的幫助控制當今市場上一些最困難的雜草的真正專有性。這就是長芒莧、水麻、豚草，這些分子要么是抗性的，即草甘膦或草銨膦，要么是抗性的，或者性能非常低。因此，IMPACT 在幫助管理和控制那些棘手的雜草方面是互補的。

So the value proposition is completely different than glyphosate or glufosinate. And so we feel good about our current pricing position despite what's happening with pricing dynamics on the other molecules.

因此，其價值主張與草甘膦或草銨膦完全不同。因此，儘管其他分子的定價動態發生了變化，但我們對當前的定價狀況感到滿意。

Our next question is going to come from Gerry Sweeney from ROTH Capital.

我們的下一個問題將來自羅斯資本的格里·斯威​​尼。

So I wanted to start with Aztec, right, and actually take a step back. This sounds like with Aztec, it was a long lead time sort of supply chain issue. It had started, it sounded though last year, developed through December into this year. And then really the gist of the question is, does this change how you view your supply chain or how you can manage it or track it, so we don't necessarily have issues like this in the future?

所以我想從阿茲特克人開始，對吧，然後實際上退一步。這聽起來就像阿茲特克人一樣，這是一個交貨時間較長的供應鏈問題。聽起來好像是從去年開始的，從十二月一直發展到今年。問題的實質是，這是否會改變您看待供應鏈的方式，或者您管理或跟踪供應鏈的方式，因此我們將來不一定會遇到這樣的問題？

Yes. So again, when COVID hit, we shifted dramatically our focus on supply chain. And we looked at those areas where we were so sourced, we had a huge challenge in phosphorus when Pakistan shut down, people clear force majeure, and China was no longer going to export phosphorus. And that put a monumental strain on us. But we were able to steer our way through that and really not miss sales in any material way.

是的。因此，當新冠疫情來襲時，我們再次將重點轉移到供應鏈上。我們研究了那些我們採購的地區，當巴基斯坦關閉、人們清除了不可抗力以及中國不再出口磷時，我們在磷方面面臨著巨大的挑戰。這給我們帶來了巨大的壓力。但我們能夠引導我們渡過難關，並且確實不會以任何實質性方式錯過銷售。

This one did kind of hit us. We -- this product DAPRO, when we got hit with that, we said, okay, we set somebody up to manufacture. They did a good job at manufacturing, but we did have just one source of our Sodium HP, and it was domestic. They had issues, and we're -- and pushed back what we thought was going to be a June '22 campaign. And it went to -- as it started moving towards September, we engaged our Chinese supplier of DAPRO to convert the DAPRO into the Sodium HP. And with that, we felt also that our domestic supplier was going to come on stream.

這確實有點打擊我們。我們——這個產品 DAPRO，當我們遇到這個問題時，我們說，好吧，我們安排人來製造。他們在製造方面做得很好，但我們的鈉 HP 確實只有一個來源，而且是國內。他們遇到了問題，而我們卻推遲了我們原定於 22 月 22 日舉行的競選活動。到了 9 月，我們聘請了 DAPRO 的中國供應商，將 DAPRO 轉換為 Sodium HP。由此，我們也感覺到我們的國內供應商即將投入運營。

So even though we knew we were going to be, at some point, we figured we'd have some challenges making all the demand we needed for fourth quarter, we were pretty sure we would have product available through first quarter to meet the demand, which was, again, 7 million pounds, very, very strong.

因此，即使我們知道我們會在某個時候，我們認為我們在滿足第四季度所需的所有需求方面會遇到一些挑戰，但我們非常確定我們將在第一季度提供產品來滿足需求，這又是 700 萬英鎊，非常非常強大。

As we kind of got through, they had start-up problems at the Chinese producer in manufacturing this new product that we've never made before. And it just got coupled with China with the COVID shutdowns. They had the New Year's, they had a park shutdown for the whole industrial part. There were a whole series of things that just kind of kept going forward. And they initially had expected to be able to produce around 3,500 kilos a day. But for quite a while, it was down to 1,000 kilos per day.

當我們度過難關時，中國生產商在製造我們以前從未生產過的新產品時遇到了啟動問題。而且它剛剛與中國因新冠疫情而關閉的情況聯繫在一起。他們過新年，整個工業園區都關閉了。有一系列的事情一直在繼續進行。他們最初預計每天的產量約為 3,500 公斤。但有很長一段時間，每天減重到1000公斤。

We were air freighting every 3 days, everything that we could get. Our U.S. producer who was going to be fourth in December then got pushed into March. And so each week, we just kept seeing it getting tougher and tougher.

我們每三天空運一次，我們能得到的一切。我們的美國製片人原定在 12 月獲得第四名，但後來被推遲到了 3 月。所以每週，我們都看到事情變得越來越艱難。

So that being said, we did construct with the 2 manufacturers to make sure we have plenty of material going into fourth quarter when we'll do our next campaign with Aztec. Overall, I would say, we have -- before, I think previously, as we got into the latter part of '21 going into '22, we talked about positioning in advance of needs to make sure that we didn't get squeezed.

話雖這麼說，我們確實與兩家製造商合作，以確保我們在第四季度與阿茲特克進行下一次活動時有足夠的材料。總的來說，我想說，我們之前，我認為之前，當我們進入 21 世紀後期進入 22 世紀時，我們討論了在需求之前進行定位，以確保我們不會受到擠壓。

So we -- if you look at our inventory, you see it's gone up considerably over where it was first quarter last year. A number of those things are raw materials to use another word is packaging, labels, intermediates. We didn't manufacture all of the campaign for the other half of the Aztec molecule we made at the access facility. So I guess as far as changing, I think for the foreseeable future, until we see something different, we will be bringing materials in advance to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

因此，如果您查看我們的庫存，您會發現它比去年第一季度大幅增加。其中許多東西都是原材料，換句話說就是包裝、標籤、中間體。我們沒有為我們在訪問設施中製造的另一半阿茲特克分子製造所有的活動。所以我想就改變而言，我認為在可預見的未來，在我們看到不同的東西之前，我們將提前帶來材料，以確保這種情況不會再次發生。

And then even taking a step further, I mean, not necessarily, I mean, maybe are there any other sort of intermediary products that are sort of sole sourced that are key ingredients or intermediate ingredients that are larger revenue products, right? So outside of Aztec, right, maybe you give up a couple of points of margin, but you have -- and go out to a couple of different producers or set up a couple of different producers. Have you sort of reviewed the supply chain to understand what's going on from that perspective?

然後甚至更進一步，我的意思是，不一定，我的意思是，也許還有其他類型的中間產品是唯一來源的，是關鍵成分或中間成分，是收入較大的產品，對嗎？因此，在阿茲特克之外，對吧，也許你放棄了幾個點的利潤，但你已經 - 並且去找幾個不同的生產商或建立幾個不同的生產商。您是否審查過供應鏈以從這個角度了解正在發生的事情？

Yes, we have. And we've gone through our supply chain, has basically chartered out every product that we're sole-sourced on and the path on, and we've been doing that for the last 2.5 years, the path to dual source. And we're pretty well complete on that. We have one herbicide that we have a second source that we're able to use for outside the U.S., but we're in the process of getting EPA to improve that source for U.S. as well.

是的我們有。我們已經檢查了我們的供應鏈，基本上已經制定了我們獨家採購的每一種產品以及我們所走的道路，在過去的 2.5 年裡我們一直在這樣做，即通往雙源的道路。我們在這方面已經相當完成了。我們有一種除草劑，我們有第二個來源，可以在美國境外使用，但我們正在讓美國環保署改善美國的這一來源。

We've had our Bromacil herbicide was sole-sourced after we lost our supplier in China that got shut down, but we have also backed that up with the source out of Malaysia. So we're pretty well focused on that, that we would not be sole-sourced on a product again. And that being said, to your point, do we -- if to keep 2 suppliers alive, we have a blended cost that is potentially higher than one producer, yes, we're going to do that. And so far, we've been able to factor those increases into our pricing program. So...

在我們失去了中國的供應商並被關閉後，我們的除草劑是唯一來源的，但我們也有來自馬來西亞的來源來支持這一點。因此，我們非常關注這一點，我們不會再單一採購產品。話雖這麼說，就您的觀點而言，如果要維持兩家供應商的生存，我們的綜合成本可能會高於一家生產商，是的，我們會這樣做。到目前為止，我們已經能夠將這些增長因素納入我們的定價計劃中。所以...

Got it. That's helpful. I appreciate that. What -- do you have a sort of projection of maybe your EBITDA to sort of free cash flow conversion? Or what would potential free cash flow would be this year? And then the follow-up with that would be any changes sort of to your investment schedule with the reduced cash flow from this year extensively from the Q1 miss?

知道了。這很有幫助。我很感激。什麼——您是否對 EBITDA 與自由現金流轉換進行了某種預測？或者今年潛在的自由現金流是多少？那麼接下來的事情將會是您的投資計劃是否會發生任何變化，因為今年第一季度的失誤導致現金流量大幅減少？

David?

大衛？

We have -- given the forecasted range for EBITDA from a cash flow perspective, we are a little bit behind in the first quarter, but anticipate our annual cycle is to expand our working capital in the first 3 quarters or quarters and then start to come down at the end. And I don't see any difference in our profile for 2023 at this time.

我們從現金流的角度考慮了 EBITDA 的預測範圍，我們在第一季度有點落後，但預計我們的年度週期是在前三個季度或幾個季度擴大我們的營運資本，然後開始到來到最後。目前我認為 2023 年的情況沒有任何不同。

Okay. Got it. Sorry, go ahead. .

好的。知道了。抱歉，請繼續。 。

I don't think there's any change in our strategy with regard to investments. I mean we're looking at all sorts of different things all the time. And yes, we're not planning to change that.

我認為我們的投資策略沒有任何變化。我的意思是我們一直在關注各種不同的事情。是的，我們不打算改變這一點。

Our next question is going to come from Wayne Pinsent with Gabelli.

我們的下一個問題將由韋恩·平森特和加貝利提出。

Most of my questions have been answered. But just to expand a little on the Aztec supply issue when you guys got back online with that, I thought that was pretty well resolved when you guys reported the Q4 in March. But then you mentioned the selling season going through late April. I know prior, you guys had mentioned that you were anticipating getting a lot of those missed sales from Q4 into the first half. Just if you walk through the cadence there just -- is it just that those few weeks, it was just -- it came on a little too late to be able to make those sales? And then you mentioned some going into Q2, like what percentage of that $0.20 miss in Q1 do you think shifted into Q2 and we might see recovered?

我的大部分問題都得到了解答。但是，當你們重新上線時，我想稍微擴展一下阿茲特克供應問題，當你們在三月份報告第四季度時，我認為這個問題已經得到很好的解決。但你隨後提到了四月下旬的銷售季節。我知道之前，你們曾提到，你們預計上半年會出現很多第四季度錯過的銷售。如果你仔細看看那裡的節奏——只是那幾週，只是——它來得太晚了，無法實現這些銷售嗎？然後您提到了進入第二季度的一些情況，比如您認為第一季度 0.20 美元的虧損中有多少百分比會轉移到第二季度，我們可能會看到恢復？

So as far as the shift, yes, we did have higher sales in Q2 than Q1. And year-over-year, I think we were a little higher in Q2 than Q2 of '22. But on the $0.20, if you take -- I'm talking about what we actually did sell and what Scott's numbers reflected on the 2.3 million pounds out of the 7 million, that includes second quarter sales, which were about 1.3 million, and I think we had about 1 million in Q1 of Aztec equivalent.

就轉變而言，是的，我們第二季度的銷售額確實高於第一季度。與去年同期相比，我認為我們第二季度的業績略高於 22 年第二季度。但就 0.20 美元而言，如果你考慮一下——我說的是我們實際銷售的產品以及斯科特的數字所反映的 700 萬英鎊中的 230 萬英鎊，其中包括第二季度的銷售額，約為 130 萬英鎊，我我認為第一季度我們有大約 100 萬個阿茲特克當量。

So that miss of $0.38 was, I would say, the difference between the 2.3 million and the 7 million. So I don't know if that was -- did you have a second part of the question, I'm not sure if I answered it.

所以我想說，0.38 美元的失誤就是 230 萬美元和 700 萬美元之間的差額。所以我不知道你是否有問題的第二部分，我不確定我是否回答了。

Yes. Just because that's from the Q4 into Q1, like you said that sales have picked into Q2, you may have sold a little more, but the selling season sort of ended there. Can you just quantify how much -- was there any shift there from what you missed in Q1 into Q2?

是的。僅僅因為這是從第四季度到第一季度，就像您所說的，銷售已進入第二季度，您可能銷售了更多一些，但銷售季節就此結束了。您能否量化一下從第一季度到第二季度錯過的情況是否有任何變化？

Well, as I said, we were just -- we were a little ahead of sales in Q2 of '23 versus Q2 of 2022. So I would say those are kind of more natural. But the bottom line is that of the 7 million pounds, which was a bigger demand than what we had for the '23 season, of that -- of actual sales of Aztec, we did about 2.3 million pounds. And this is equivalent to the 4.67% materially granular.

嗯，正如我所說，我們只是——我們 23 年第二季度的銷售額比 2022 年第二季度的銷售額略高一些。所以我想說這些更自然。但底線是 700 萬英鎊，這比我們 23 年賽季的需求更大，在阿茲特克的實際銷售額中，我們做了大約 230 萬英鎊。這相當於4.67%的物質顆粒。

So I mean, the $0.38 I'm reporting is the difference between the 7 million pounds and the 2.3 million. So there'll be a marginal pickup in Q2 of what we missed, but the total combined leaves us 4.7 million pounds short on the Aztec. But as Scott alluded, we did pick up additional sales of a substitute product, which was equivalent to another 400,000 pounds.

所以我的意思是，我報告的 0.38 美元是 700 萬英鎊和 230 萬英鎊之間的差額。因此，我們錯過的第二季度將會略有回升，但總的來看，我們在阿茲特克方面還缺少 470 萬英鎊。但正如斯科特提到的，我們確實獲得了替代產品的額外銷量，相當於另外 40 萬英鎊。

And then I know it's different dynamics with the impact, but just the missed sales there, the ability to make those up? Or is it just that inventories are looking good going forward and we should just see more normalized demand?

然後我知道影響的動態是不同的，但只是錯過了銷售，有能力彌補這些嗎？或者只是庫存看起來不錯，我們應該看到更多正常化的需求？

Go ahead, Scott.

來吧，斯科特。

Yes. I think we'll see more normalized demand. We've had growth in our Impact brand family for the last 3 years. '22 was significant for the dynamics that we described earlier. We anticipate to continue to grow our portfolio through the 4 brands that I referenced in my comments, and then we're continuing to innovate in this space. So you'll see at least 1, maybe 2 brands to come in that -- within our pipeline.

是的。我認為我們會看到更多正常化的需求。過去 3 年裡，我們的 Impact 品牌系列不斷發展。 '22 對於我們之前描述的動態來說意義重大。我們預計將通過我在評論中提到的 4 個品牌繼續擴大我們的產品組合，然後我們將繼續在這個領域進行創新。因此，您會在我們的渠道中看到至少 1 個，也許 2 個品牌。

And it looks like we have a follow-up question from Chris Kapsch.

看起來克里斯·卡普什（Chris Kapsch）提出了一個後續問題。

I have a follow-up on -- focused on Green Solutions and maybe just focused on biologics first. So when you sort of established a beachhead in that niche, if you will, sort of via M&A and now is the time when the rest of the industry, at least the big guys were sort of going through a wave of consolidation, so weren't maybe as focused on it. But now fast forward to today, it's viewed as a -- one of the -- I mean, Corteva's highlight is probably the single largest growth area within crop protection. It seems like the big guys are more focused on this. They're more development efforts, maybe committing more resources to developing the market.

我有一個後續行動——專注於綠色解決方案，也許首先專注於生物製品。因此，當你在這個利基市場建立灘頭陣地時，如果你願意的話，可以通過併購的方式，現在是行業其他公司（至少是大公司）經歷一波整合浪潮的時候，所以沒有。也許不那麼專注於它。但現在快進到今天，它被視為——其中之一——我的意思是，Corteva 的亮點可能是作物保護領域最大的單一增長領域。看來大佬們更注重這個。他們需要付出更多的開發努力，也許會投入更多的資源來開發市場。

Obviously, the sustainability characters gets more interesting. So just curious about how you've seen this affect your positioning there? Has it become more competitive? Or conversely, given the awareness that these big guys might be bringing to the marketplace and the commercial portion that's beneficial to where you are with your product, just wondering how do you see that playing out as we focus on delivering your growth goals in that sector?

顯然，可持續發展的角色變得更加有趣。所以只是想知道這對你在那裡的定位有何影響？它變得更有競爭力了嗎？或者相反，考慮到這些大公司可能會帶入市場以及對您的產品有利的商業部分，只是想知道當我們專注於實現您在該領域的增長目標時，您如何看待這種情況？

Chris, Bob here. That question is a good question. It's a space which is growing very fast, very profitable, better margins than the, I would say, mature crop protection chemical business. We feel that we're outpacing the market today with a 40% growth rate versus a growth rate of, let's say, 15% in most of the segments.

克里斯，鮑勃在這裡。這個問題是個好問題。這是一個增長非常快、利潤非常高、利潤率比成熟的作物保護化學品業務更好的領域。我們認為，我們今天以 40% 的增長率超越了市場，而大多數細分市場的增長率為 15%。

We feel that we have established good, solid foundation in manufacturing with the 2 plants we acquired through the Agrinos acquisition. We have good research capabilities, both in RTP and also in India. So we're -- we've got an excellent pipeline. We've got great market access throughout the market access structure in the Americas, China and India. And we have dedicated people in selling that.

我們認為，通過收購 Agrinos 收購的兩家工廠，我們已經在製造方面建立了良好、堅實的基礎。我們在 RTP 和印度都擁有良好的研究能力。所以我們——我們有一個優秀的管道。我們在美洲、中國和印度的整個市場准入結構中都獲得了很好的市場准入。我們有專門的人員來銷售它。

I think -- so from a business model, we're about as advanced as anybody in the business. And therefore, as you were shown today that BioWake, for example, is an opportunity for us where companies are coming to us because they see that know-how, they see that structure. NewLeaf, which we also announced, is another company, which is coming to us with their technology. So we have not only in-house technology, but we're also getting licensing opportunities. So we're actually -- we feel we're very well positioned to be competitive in that space. That space is only going to grow, and we're going to grow with it.

我認為，從商業模式來看，我們與業內任何人一樣先進。因此，正如今天向您展示的那樣，BioWake 對我們來說是一個機會，公司之所以來找我們，是因為他們看到了這種技術，他們看到了這種結構。我們也宣布了 NewLeaf 是另一家公司，它正在向我們提供他們的技術。因此，我們不僅擁有內部技術，而且還獲得許可機會。所以我們實際上 - 我們覺得我們在該領域處於非常有利的競爭地位。這個空間只會增長，我們也會隨之增長。

So I don't know if you have a follow-up question to that, Chris.

所以我不知道你是否還有後續問題，克里斯。

No, I appreciate that color, Bob. And maybe the follow-up would also be maybe for you because I know SIMPAS is near and dear to you. And when you joined the company, it was something that you were pretty enthusiastic about the progress that we -- and the opportunity there.

不，我喜歡這種顏色，鮑勃。也許後續行動也可能適合您，因為我知道 SIMPAS 對您來說很親近。當您加入公司時，您對我們的進步以及那裡的機會非常熱情。

The question focused on SIMPAS is I think it was you that mentioned that the infrastructure around delivering that was also going to provide a data platform for -- with which growers could measure and capture their or measure and keep track of, I guess, their carbon avoidance, if you will. And given the momentum behind sort of decarbonizing our economy, it seems like ag is certainly in focus in that regard. And this is a platform which may enable that. So I'm just wondering if there's still a play for SIMPAS in that regard? Or is it really just more focused right now on delivering the inputs in a more precision planting manner?

關於 SIMPAS 的問題是，我認為您提到了圍繞交付的基礎設施也將提供一個數據平台，種植者可以通過該平台測量和捕獲他們的碳，或者測量並跟踪他們的碳。迴避，如果你願意的話。考慮到我們經濟脫碳背後的動力，農業似乎肯定是這方面的焦點。這是一個可以實現這一點的平台。所以我只是想知道 SIMPAS 在這方面是否還有機會？或者它現在真的只是更專注於以更精確的種植方式提供投入？

Well, SIMPAS, as you say, is the perfect delivery mechanism for any biorational products or nutritional products at plant. So we're developing that range. You've seen the announcements that we -- the partnership we have with (inaudible) on the nutritional side. We're delivering those products. The partnerships we have with other companies that are coming to us. We have actually more opportunities than we can process right now.

嗯，正如您所說，SIMPAS 是工廠中任何生物合理產品或營養產品的完美輸送機制。所以我們正在開發這個系列。您已經看到了我們與（聽不清）在營養方面的合作夥伴關係的公告。我們正在提供這些產品。我們與其他來找我們的公司建立了合作夥伴關係。實際上，我們擁有的機會比我們現在能夠處理的要多。

The holdup is really the -- getting those products registered through the EPA. You're going to see a lot more announcements coming in the future. But we also, through the Agrinos range, I just want to just remind everyone that we bought 4 products, and 3 of those were for soil health, with one of them that we're seeing now that we're getting good results in our trial work for nitrogen fixation, which goes right into the carbon market. And that's a tremendous opportunity for us going forward as the soil health market develops.

真正的阻礙是——讓這些產品通過美國環保署註冊。未來您將會看到更多的公告。但我們也通過 Agrinos 系列，我只想提醒大家，我們購買了 4 種產品，其中 3 種用於土壤健康，其中一種我們現在看到我們在我們的土壤中取得了良好的成果固氮試點工作，直接進入碳市場。隨著土壤健康市場的發展，這對我們來說是一個巨大的機遇。

And I think it's, again, part of the system that we wound up developing because of wanting to be able to trace and measure what goes into the soil. It's the ultimate system, right, which is where we're talking about being able to measure, validate and record. And so that -- as we're implementing that through the SIMPAS system, that winds up giving the grower the ability to have a third-party validation of his practices.

我認為這也是我們最終開發的系統的一部分，因為我們希望能夠追踪和測量進入土壤的物質。這是最終的系統，對吧，這就是我們所說的能夠測量、驗證和記錄的系統。因此，當我們通過 SIMPAS 系統實施該系統時，最終使種植者能夠對其實踐進行第三方驗證。

So what we're really looking to do is capture his practices as far as nitrogen reduction, let's say, and our -- the biologicals that Bob mentioned as far as we're going to help with nutrient uptake. So that's the platform that we'll be using that we talked about before.

因此，我們真正想做的是捕捉他在減少氮方面的做法，以及鮑勃提到的我們將幫助營養吸收的生物製品。這就是我們之前討論過的我們將使用的平台。

(Operator Instructions) Okay. It doesn't look like there are any more questions. So I'll turn it back over to our speakers for any closing remarks.

（操作員指示）好的。看起來沒有更多問題了。因此，我將把它轉回給我們的發言人做結束語。

Okay. Well, I appreciate everybody that participated on the phone today and listened in. Obviously, yes, we were disappointed with the first quarter, but we do see that we will have a strong recovery over the balance of the 3 quarters and ultimately report very positive results for the year. And more importantly, that we continue to be on track with our next 2-year goals and targets. And also, we're making good progress on all 3 of our growth platforms.

好的。嗯，我感謝今天參加電話會議並收聽的每個人。顯然，是的，我們對第一季度感到失望，但我們確實看到我們將在第三個季度的剩餘時間裡強勁復甦，並最終報告非常積極的結果今年的結果。更重要的是，我們繼續朝著未來兩年的目標和具體目標邁進。此外，我們在所有 3 個增長平台上都取得了良好進展。

So with that, thank you, and we will have another discussion with the shareholders' meeting on June 7, I believe.

所以，謝謝大家，我相信我們將在 6 月 7 日的股東大會上再次進行討論。

All right. Thank you, everybody.

好的。謝謝大家。

And this concludes your call. You may now disconnect.

您的通話到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。