Mission Produce Inc (AVO) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Mission Produce Fiscal Second Quarter 2023 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Jeff Sonnek, Investor Relations at ICR. Sir, please go ahead.

下午好，歡迎參加 Mission Produce 2023 年第二季財政電話會議。 （操作員說明）也請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。現在，我想將電話會議轉給 ICR 投資者關係部門的 Jeff Sonnek。先生，請繼續。

Thank you, and good afternoon. Today's presentation will be hosted by Steve Barnard, Chief Executive Officer; and Bryan Giles, Chief Financial Officer. The comments during today's call and the accompanying presentation contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are considered forward-looking statements.

謝謝你，下午好。今天的演講將由首席執行官 Steve Barnard 主持；和財務長 Bryan Giles。今天電話會議中的評論和隨附的演示文稿包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款含義內的前瞻性陳述。除歷史事實陳述外，所有陳述均被視為前瞻性陳述。

These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in the company's filings with the SEC. We'll also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures today. Please refer to the tables included in the earnings release, which can be found on our Investor Relations website, investors.missionproduce.com, for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures. With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve Barnard, CEO. Steve, go ahead.

這些陳述是基於管理層目前的預期和信念以及有關未來事件的一些假設。此類前瞻性陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中討論的結果有重大差異。其中一些風險和不確定性在該公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了識別和討論。今天我們也將提及某些非公認會計準則財務指標。請參閱收益報告中包含的表格，這些表格可以在我們的投資者關係網站 Investors.mission Produce.com 上找到，以了解非 GAAP 財務指標與其最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的對帳情況。現在，我想將電話轉給執行長史蒂夫·巴納德 (Steve Barnard)。史蒂夫，繼續吧。

Thank you for joining us for our fiscal 2023 second quarter's earnings call. We delivered a solid second quarter with revenue of $221.1 million and adjusted EBITDA of $7.6 million, driven by a 19% increase in sales volumes. These metrics also demonstrate a sequential improvement in both volumes and per unit margins relative to fiscal first quarter.

感謝您參加我們的 2023 財年第二季財報電話會議。在銷售成長 19% 的推動下，我們第二季業績強勁，營收為 2.211 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 760 萬美元。這些指標也表明，相對於第一財季，銷售量和單位利潤率均出現連續改善。

We realized increased market stability in the second quarter, which was a continuation of the conditions that returned to the industry in the first quarter earlier this fiscal year. We saw fairly consistent pricing through the Mexican season, and those conditions have continued into our current fiscal third quarter as well.

我們在第二季度實現了市場穩定性的增強，這是本財年早些時候第一季行業恢復狀況的延續。我們在整個墨西哥產季看到了相當穩定的價格，這些情況也持續到我們目前的第三財季。

Notably, this is a departure from the prior year where low industry volumes and inconsistent harvest timing led to significant price volatility. This prompted a swift and disproportionate increase in pricing to record levels, which in turn led to per box margins that were toward the high end of our normal historic ranges. While this year's stable market environment doesn't afford us the same opportunity to drive per unit margins in the short term, the more rational pricing environment is advantageous for long-term consumption growth and allows Mission to leverage our global distribution footprint to penetrate new growth markets.

值得注意的是，這與去年不同，去年行業產量低和收穫時間不一致導致價格大幅波動。這促使價格迅速且不成比例地上漲至創紀錄水平，進而導致每盒利潤接近我們正常歷史範圍的高端。雖然今年穩定的市場環境並沒有為我們提供相同的機會在短期內提高單位利潤率，但更合理的定價環境有利於長期消費成長，並使 Mission 能夠利用我們的全球分銷足跡來滲透新的成長市場。

As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, we continue to demonstrate how our world-class, vertically integrated model of sourcing, producing and distributing Hass avocados and other produce differentiates us from the competitors. Our focus remains on driving consumption growth globally by bringing consistent year-round diversified sourcing capabilities to new growth markets.

今年，在我們慶祝 40 週年之際，我們將繼續展示我們世界一流的採購、生產和分銷哈斯牛油果及其他產品的垂直一體化模式如何使我們從競爭對手中脫穎而出。我們的重點仍然是透過為新的成長市場帶來全年一致的多元化採購能力來推動全球消費成長。

On that note, we are excited about the opening of our forward distribution center in the U.K. in April. This facility is strategically located with direct access to major international ports and transportation networks and will strengthen Mission's expanding international footprint and optimize product distribution to our growing European customer base with direct access to our global source network.

在這一點上，我們對四月在英國開設的遠期配送中心感到興奮。該設施地理位置優越，可直接通往主要國際港口和運輸網絡，將加強 Mission 不斷擴大的國際影響力，並透過直接進入我們的全球來源網絡，優化向我們不斷增長的歐洲客戶群的產品分銷。

We are very excited about this facility. And although it is still early, we are pleased with the progress we are making in the U.K. and are committed to further developing our efficient and cost-effective model in this important long-term growth region. Our ability to support these global growth markets is bolstered by the vertical integration of our own farming operations in Peru. As we enter the Peruvian season and our owned production comes online in the second half of the fiscal year, Mission is very well positioned.

我們對這個設施感到非常興奮。儘管現在還為時過早，但我們對在英國取得的進展感到滿意，並致力於在這個重要的長期成長地區進一步發展我們高效且具有成本效益的模式。我們在秘魯的農業業務的垂直整合增強了我們支持這些全球成長市場的能力。隨著我們進入秘魯季節並且我們自己的生產在本財年下半年上線，Mission 處於非常有利的位置。

Despite the lower pricing, the combination of easing inflationary pressures relative to prior year and higher distribution volumes born from our own production, provides us the basis to continue improving our per unit margins on a sequential basis and support the seasonal step-up in adjusted EBITDA in the second half of the fiscal year.

儘管定價較低，但相對於上一年緩解的通膨壓力以及我們自己生產帶來的更高的分銷量，為我們提供了繼續提高單位利潤率的基礎，並支持調整後 EBITDA 的季節性增長在本財年下半年。

With that, I'll pass the call over to our CFO, Bryan Giles, for his financial commentary.

接下來，我會將電話轉給我們的財務長 Bryan Giles，聽取他的財務評論。

Thank you, Steve, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. I'll start with a brief review of our fiscal second quarter performance and touch on some of the drivers within our 3 reportable segments. Then I'll provide a snapshot of our financial position and conclude with some thoughts on the current industry conditions that we are seeing.

謝謝你，史蒂夫，祝所有參加電話會議的人下午好。我將首先簡要回顧我們第二季度的業績，並討論我們 3 個可報告部門中的一些驅動因素。然後，我將簡要介紹我們的財務狀況，並最後對我們所看到的當前行業狀況提出一些想法。

Total revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2023 was $221.1 million, a 20% decrease compared to the same period last year, driven by lower per unit avocado sales pricing. Our average per unit sales pricing decreased 36% during the quarter, the impact of which was partially offset by a 19% increase in avocado volumes sold. Both the higher volume and lower pricing were driven by higher industry supply out of Mexico relative to the limited supply in the same period last year that drove pricing to near-record levels.

2023 財年第二季的總營收為 2.211 億美元，較去年同期下降 20%，原因是單位酪梨銷售定價較低。本季我們的平均單位銷售價格下降了 36%，其影響被酪梨銷量成長 19% 部分抵銷。產量增加和價格下降都是由於墨西哥的工業供應量增加（相對於去年同期的有限供應量），導致價格達到接近歷史最高水準。

Gross profit decreased by $1.7 million to $18.1 million in the second quarter, while gross profit percentage increased 110 basis points to 8.2% of revenue. The decrease was driven by lower per unit margins on avocado sales, which was substantially offset by the higher volumes noted above. Per unit margins were negatively impacted by the mix of volume from source regions.

第二季毛利下降 170 萬美元，至 1,810 萬美元，而毛利佔營收的比例上升 110 個基點，達到 8.2%。下降的原因是酪梨銷售的單位利潤率下降，但上述銷售的增加大大抵消了下降。每單位利潤率受到來源地區銷售組合的負面影響。

Current year volumes were heavily concentrated in Mexico-sourced fruit, whereas the prior year period was advantaged by the positive influence from an accelerated California harvest brought about by high market prices. While per box margins did not match the elevated levels from the prior year, we experienced meaningful sequential improvement versus fiscal first quarter and ended the quarter at a high point.

今年的產量主要集中在墨西哥產的水果，而去年同期則受到了市場價格高企帶來的加州加速收成的正面影響。雖然每箱利潤率與前一年相比有所上升，但與第一財季相比，我們經歷了有意義的連續改善，並在本季度結束時達到了高點。

SG&A expense increased $0.6 million or 3% compared to the same period last year, primarily due to the consolidation of expenses from the Blueberry segment. Normalizing for this accounting dynamic, our core SG&A expenses were consistent with the prior year period, which is a positive signal amid this inflationary environment. Adjusted net income was $0.5 million or $0.01 per diluted share compared to $2.6 million or $0.04 per diluted share for the same period last year.

SG&A 費用與去年同期相比增加了 60 萬美元，即 3%，主要是由於藍莓部門的費用合併。考慮到這種會計動態的正常化，我們的核心銷售、管理及行政費用與去年同期保持一致，這在通膨環境下是一個積極的信號。調整後淨利為 50 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.01 美元，而去年同期為 260 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.04 美元。

Adjusted EBITDA was $7.6 million compared to $9.2 million for the same period last year. The decreases in both of these figures were primarily due to lower gross profit attributed to lower per unit margins. Turning to our segments. Our Marketing and Distribution segment net sales decreased 21% to $215.3 million for the quarter, and segment adjusted EBITDA decreased $3.1 million or 26% to $8.6 million. Net sales and adjusted EBITDA declines were due to the avocado pricing and volume dynamics previously described.

調整後 EBITDA 為 760 萬美元，去年同期為 920 萬美元。這兩個數字的下降主要是由於單位利潤率下降導致毛利下降。轉向我們的細分市場。我們的行銷和分銷部門本季淨銷售額下降 21%，至 2.153 億美元，部門調整後 EBITDA 下降 310 萬美元，即 26%，至 860 萬美元。淨銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 下降是由於前面描述的酪梨定價和銷售動態造成的。

Our International Farming segment operates orchards from which substantially all free produced is sold to our Marketing and Distribution segment. Production from this segment is currently derived from Peru. The operations are under development in other areas of Latin America.

我們的國際農業部門經營果園，幾乎所有免費產品都出售給我們的行銷和分銷部門。該部門的生產目前來自秘魯。拉丁美洲其他地區的業務正在開發中。

Segment revenues and EBITDA are concentrated in the second half of our fiscal year in alignment with the Peruvian avocado harvest season, which typically runs from April through August of each year. The segment's contributions in the first half of our fiscal year tend to be smaller on an absolute and relative basis.

部門收入和 EBITDA 集中在我們財年的下半年，與秘魯酪梨收穫季節（通常為每年 4 月至 8 月）一致。從絕對值和相對值來看，該部門在我們財年上半年的貢獻往往較小。

With this in mind, total segment sales in the International Farming segment were $6 million and decreased by 14% compared to the same period last year, due primarily to lower packet and cooling service revenue. Segment adjusted EBITDA improved $1.4 million to negative $1.1 million due primarily to the impact of lower losses generated at our early-stage mango farms during the quarter.

考慮到這一點，國際農業部門的總銷售額為 600 萬美元，與去年同期相比下降了 14%，這主要是由於包裝和冷卻服務收入下降。部門調整後的 EBITDA 增加了 140 萬美元，至負 110 萬美元，這主要是由於本季度我們早期芒果農場產生的損失減少的影響。

Activity in our Blueberry segment is concentrated in the first and fourth quarters of our fiscal year in alignment with the Peruvian blueberry harvest season, which typically runs from July through January. As a result, for the second quarter ended April, our Blueberry segment results were negligible with net sales of $1.7 million and segment adjusted EBITDA of $0.1 million.

我們藍莓部門的活動集中在本財年的第一和第四季度，與秘魯藍莓收穫季節（通常從七月到一月）一致。因此，截至 4 月的第二季度，我們的 Blueberry 部門業績可以忽略不計，淨銷售額為 170 萬美元，部門調整後 EBITDA 為 10 萬美元。

Shifting to our financial position. Cash and cash equivalents were $20.9 million as of April 30, 2023, compared to $52.8 million at October 31, 2022. As a reminder, our operating cash flows are seasonal in nature and can be temporarily influenced by working capital shifts resulting from varying payment terms to growers in different source regions.

轉向我們的財務狀況。截至2023 年4 月30 日，現金及現金等價物為2,090 萬美元，而截至2022 年10 月31 日為5,280 萬美元。請注意，我們的營運現金流量本質上是季節性的，可能會暫時受到因付款條件不同而導致的營運資金變化的影響給不同來源地區的種植者。

In addition, the company is building its growing crops inventory in its International Farming segment during the first half of the year for ultimate harvest and sale that will occur during the second half of the fiscal year. While these increases in working capital can cause operating cash flows to be unfavorable in individual quarters, it is not indicative of operating cash performance that management expects to realize for the full year.

此外，該公司正在今年上半年在其國際農業部門建立其正在種植的農作物庫存，以便在本財年下半年進行最終收穫和銷售。雖然營運資本的增加可能導致個別季度的經營現金流量不利，但這並不表示管理階層預計全年將實現的營運現金績效。

That said, net cash used in operating activities was $26.1 million for the 6 months ended April 30, 2023, compared to $37 million for the same period last year. The improvement was primarily driven by the effect of better operating performance, net of noncash items, combined with favorable net changes in working capital. During the current year period, our working capital position benefited from the impact of relatively stable per unit price points on Mexican fruit.

也就是說，截至 2023 年 4 月 30 日的 6 個月，經營活動使用的現金淨額為 2,610 萬美元，而去年同期為 3,700 萬美元。這一改善主要是由於扣除非現金項目後的經營業績改善以及營運資本淨變化的有利影響。在本年度期間，我們的營運資金狀況受益於墨西哥水果相對穩定的單位價格點的影響。

Stable prices limited the movement in accounts receivable, inventory and grower payable balances, whereas prior year working capital movement was negatively impacted by the rising price environment that we experienced during the first half of the year. Capital expenditures were $34.9 million for the 6 months ended April 30, 2023, compared to $29.1 million last year. Current year expenditures include $9.1 million of spend associated with irrigation installation and early-stage plant cultivation in our Blueberry segment, which was not consolidated in the prior year.

穩定的價格限制了應收帳款、庫存和種植者應付餘額的變動，而去年的營運資金變動受到我們上半年經歷的價格上漲環境的負面影響。截至 2023 年 4 月 30 日的 6 個月，資本支出為 3,490 萬美元，而去年為 2,910 萬美元。本年度支出包括與藍莓部門灌溉安裝和早期植物種植相關的 910 萬美元支出，該支出在上一年並未合併。

Capital expenditures in both years included avocado orchard development, preproduction orchard maintenance and land improvements in Peru and Guatemala. In addition, fiscal 2023 capital expenditures included construction costs on our new U.K. distribution facility that opened in April of this year.

這兩年的資本支出包括秘魯和瓜地馬拉的酪梨果園開發、預生產果園維護以及土地改良。此外，2023 財年的資本支出包括今年 4 月啟用的新英國分銷設施的建造成本。

For the full year fiscal 2023, we continue to expect CapEx related to our core avocado business to be lower than fiscal 2022. That being said, we will incur additional costs as we ramp up development of the Moruga blueberries project in the [almost] region of Peru. In terms of our near-term outlook, we are providing some context around our expectations for industry conditions to help inform your modeling assumptions.

對於2023 財年全年，我們仍然預計與核心酪梨業務相關的資本支出將低於2022 財年。話雖如此，隨著我們在[幾乎]地區加快莫魯加藍莓項目的開發，我們將產生額外成本秘魯。就我們的近期前景而言，我們將提供一些有關我們對行業狀況的預期的背景信息，以幫助您了解建模假設。

Pricing is expected to be consistent on a sequential basis, but lower on a year-over-year basis by approximately 35% to 40% compared to the $2.03 per pound average experienced in third quarter of fiscal 2022. The industry continues to expect volumes to be approximately 20% higher in the fiscal 2023 third quarter versus the prior year period, primarily due to the combination of California's harvest shifting to the third quarter versus the second quarter last year, a strong Peruvian harvest outlook and a larger off-blue Mexican harvest.

預計價格將環比保持一致，但與 2022 財年第三季度每磅 2.03 美元的平均價格相比，同比下降約 35% 至 40%。該行業繼續預計銷量將2023 財年第三季度較上年同期成長約20%，主要是由於加州的收成從去年第二季轉移到第三季、秘魯收成前景強勁以及墨西哥收成增加。

In terms of our own farm production in Peru, we anticipate volumes to be in the range of 125 million to 135 million pounds for the 2023 harvest season. We expect sales of our own fruit to be more heavily weighted to the fiscal fourth quarter, which should have a corresponding effect on the cadence of our adjusted EBITDA generation. Note that while the inflationary impact on our cost structure has peaked, those costs remain at elevated levels and remain a headwind to driving higher per unit margins and adjusted EBITDA, assuming pricing remains consistent with levels realized in the fiscal first half.

就我們秘魯自己的農場產量而言，我們預計 2023 年收穫季節的產量將在 1.25 億至 1.35 億磅之間。我們預計我們自己的水果銷售將在第四財季佔據更大的比重，這應該會對我們調整後的 EBITDA 產生的節奏產生相應的影響。請注意，雖然通膨對我們成本結構的影響已經達到頂峰，但假設定價與上半財年實現的水平保持一致，這些成本仍處於較高水平，並且仍然是推動單位利潤率和調整後EBITDA 提高的阻力。

That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, now over to you. Please open the call to Q&A.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。接線員，現在交給你了。請打開問答電話。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Benjamin Bienvenu with Stephens, Inc.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Benjamin Bienvenu 和 Stephens, Inc. 的線路。

So I want to first start with the volume growth story. Obviously, building momentum here in the year, you cited the strength in volumes in the industry having returned. Your 19% volume growth in the quarter, very strong, slightly below the industry growth that we saw. Can you talk about the puts and takes on kind of shoring up that differential? And then as you look forward, you talked about the industry expectation for growth. Can you talk a little bit about your relative performance to that industry growth?

所以我想先從銷售成長的故事開始。顯然，今年以來勢頭強勁，您提到了行業銷量的強勢回歸。本季銷售成長 19%，非常強勁，略低於我們看到的產業成長。您能談談看跌期權和看跌期權在某種程度上支撐了這種差異嗎？然後，當您展望未來時，您談到了行業對成長的預期。您能談談您與該行業成長的相對錶現嗎？

Yes, Ben. I think that we looked at the supply that came on to the second quarter. Again, very Mexico-centric as compared to the prior year. We do know that it's competitive, trying to obtain access to that fruit in Mexico, particularly when it's the only country of origin that has fruit available. We feel, particularly with our U.S., like our retail market base, which is our core customer base, that we've been building share over the last year, certainly higher than we were a year ago at this point in time. And that's really where we focus our primary attention to.

是的，本。我認為我們研究了第二季的供應情況。與前一年相比，再次以墨西哥為中心。我們確實知道，試圖在墨西哥獲得這種水果是有競爭力的，特別是當它是唯一有可用水果的原產國時。我們認為，特別是在美國，就像我們的零售市場基礎，也就是我們的核心客戶群一樣，我們在過去一年中一直在擴大份額，肯定高於一年前此時的水平。這確實是我們主要關注的地方。

I think we believe that, all in all, we've grown in tandem with the industry. Certainly, as we transition to the second half of the year, we're going to have sources from Peru, from California and some of our export markets will then grow more significantly as we have access to those countries of origin.

我認為我們相信，總而言之，我們已經與產業同步成長。當然，隨著我們過渡到今年下半年，我們將獲得來自秘魯、加州的貨源，隨著我們能夠進入這些原產國，我們的一些出口市場將出現更顯著的成長。

But I think in general, we're pretty pleased with the growth rates that we've seen. And I think within our core customer base, we feel like that we've either held or we've built share relative to where we've been historically.

但我認為總的來說，我們對所看到的成長率非常滿意。我認為，在我們的核心客戶群中，我們感覺我們要么持有，要么已經建立了相對於我們歷史記錄的份額。

Especially with some of the export markets, Europe in particular, and China, the numbers are way up compared to a year ago.

特別是在一些出口市場，尤其是歐洲和中國，這一數字與一年前相比大幅上升。

Got it. Okay. And then if I could just talk a little bit about the margins, you talked about some lingering elevated costs across your supply chain over the last year. And at the same time, you've had lower industry volumes that have pressured your fixed cost absorption of the business. Can you talk a little bit about the progress that you're seeing there and fixed cost absorption improvements as volume improves? And then what success are you having in maybe passing along some of those more permanent costs into higher pricing to customers?

知道了。好的。然後，如果我能談談利潤，您談到了去年整個供應鏈中一些揮之不去的高成本。同時，您的行業規模較低，這給您的固定業務成本吸收帶來了壓力。您能否談談您所看到的進展以及隨著銷售量的提高而固定成本吸收的改進？那麼，您在將一些更持久的成本轉嫁給客戶的更高定價方面取得了哪些成功？

Well, it -- one of the good things on the costs that are going down especially are the ocean freight. They're down levels of a couple of years ago, which is substantially improved. But I think when you have a crop like this, where we have a big Mexican crop, big Peruvian crop, California is pretty stable, you see consumption growth with lower prices like this. And you'll really notice it the year after when you have a slightly less size of a crop and the prices historically, and I'm not saying they're going to happen next year, but you'll usually see a step up as you go along in value.

嗯，成本下降的好處之一是海運。他們的水平比幾年前有所下降，現在已經有了很大的改善。但我認為，當你有這樣的作物時，我們有大量的墨西哥作物，大量的秘魯作物，加州相當穩定，你會看到消費成長，價格較低。後年你會真正注意到這一點，當時你的作物規模和歷史價格都略有下降，我並不是說明年就會發生這種情況，但你通常會看到一個台階你會遵循價值。

So it's like climbing a ledge. You get to the ledge and you regroup and then climb again. And that's what historically has happened, and I don't think it will change going on down the road here in the next year or so.

所以這就像是攀爬壁架。你到達壁架並重新組合，然後再次攀登。這就是歷史上發生過的事情，我認為在未來一年左右的時間裡，這種情況不會改變。

Yes. And specific to your question about capacity absorption, when we saw during the second quarter about a 20% increase in our North American volumes, which really -- that's what consumes capacity within our primary North American distribution network. So yes, we're seeing substantial improvements in how those costs are being absorbed through the network.

是的。具體到你關於產能吸收的問題，當我們在第二季度看到我們的北美銷量增長了約 20% 時，這確實是我們主要北美分銷網絡內產能的消耗。所以，是的，我們看到網路吸收這些成本的方式有了很大的改進。

If you look at cost in absolute terms, certainly, labor costs settled in at a higher level than where they were a few years ago. We think that it's stabilized now, but it's certainly at a higher point. To Steve's point, transportation costs, whether it be ocean or over-the-road freight, that's come back and off a little bit from its peaks in 2022. And back to a more normalized level.

如果你從絕對角度來看成本，那麼勞動成本肯定會比幾年前更高。我們認為它現在已經穩定下來，但肯定處於更高的水平。在 Steve 看來，運輸成本，無論是海運還是陸運，都從 2022 年的高峰有所回升，並回到了更正常化的水平。

I'd say ocean freight is still sitting at a level that's a little higher than where we were in 2021, but much closer to that level than where we were last year. And then we're even starting to see some reductions in some of our packaging costs as well. I think you can see signs that suppliers, vendors have more -- they have more capacity available. There's more competition out there. And I think we're starting, to a small degree, see some of the benefits of that in our results.

我想說，海運費仍處於比 2021 年略高的水平，但比去年的水平更接近。然後我們甚至開始看到一些包裝成本也有所下降。我認為你可以看到供應商、供應商擁有更多可用產能的跡象。那裡有更多的競爭。我認為我們已經開始在某種程度上看到我們的結果所帶來的一些好處。

Okay. Very good. And then one more, if I could. Just thinking about your own production, you talked about your expected range for own farm production, nice growth year-over-year. Can you talk about kind of the drivers there that you're seeing out of Peru? And then you also alluded to new sources of production out of Mission-owned farms down the road. Can you talk about kind of the development pipeline there and what we might expect?

好的。非常好。如果可以的話，然後再來一張。就您自己的生產而言，您談到了您對自己農場生產的預期範圍，同比增長良好。您能談談您在秘魯看到的司機類型嗎？然後你也提到了未來教會擁有的農場的新生產來源。您能談談那裡的開發流程以及我們可能的期望嗎？

Sure. Let's say Peru for first point. Last year, we had a big crop, and we also had a size problem on the fruit. It was too big. We had 70%, I think, last year that was 36, is larger, which is a large fruit, which is harder to sell than a midsized fruit because they sell them by the each not by the ton. I was there last week, and the size curve has much improved. It's only about 20% of large fruit versus 70%, which is a substantial improvement.

當然。第一點是秘魯。去年，我們獲得了大豐收，但我們也遇到了果實大小的問題。它太大了。我想，去年我們有 70% 的水果，即 36 個，較大，這是一種大型水果，比中型水果更難銷售，因為他們按每個而不是按噸出售。我上週去過那裡，尺寸曲線有了很大改善。大水果的這一比例僅為 20%，而大水果的比例為 70%，這是一個巨大的進步。

And the other thing that's very notable is that the crop is about 5 to 6 weeks later in maturity than it was last year as it is here because of the cold weather. Cool weather, El Nino, a lot of rain here and there. So it's a little bit -- it's not apples-to-apples here compared to a year ago. It's slightly tilted on the calendar, which can be hard to track if you don't know all of the variables. But crop's up, demand is good, especially overseas.

另一件非常值得注意的事情是，由於天氣寒冷，農作物的成熟期比去年晚了大約 5 至 6 週。天氣涼爽，厄爾尼諾現象，到處都有大雨。所以，與一年前相比，這有點不一樣。它在日曆上稍微傾斜，如果您不知道所有變量，則很難追蹤。但作物長得很好，需求良好，尤其是在海外。

China, as an example, is looking at triple their volume from last year as a country. They've got smoothies that the young kids are eating as fast as they can. And now we're coming out with a noodle soup/avocado dice promotion this summer with several retailers on across dice promotion. So we're playing offense over there, and we're seeing good results so far.

例如，中國的出口量預計將比去年增加三倍。他們有冰沙，小朋友可以盡快吃完。現在，我們今年夏天將與多家零售商一起推出麵條湯/酪梨骰子促銷活動。所以我們在那裡進攻，到目前為止我們看到了很好的結果。

Yes. I think to kind of follow up on Steve's point, the farms down in Peru, I think that those numbers equate to somewhere close to a 10% increase in production year-over-year. And if you take into account for the smaller size curve, in terms of piece count on the trees, it's actually much higher than -- the increase is even more significant year-over-year. I think some of this is continued maturity of existing farms.

是的。我認為，為了跟進 Steve 的觀點，秘魯的農場，我認為這些數字相當於產量同比增長了近 10%。如果你考慮到較小的尺寸曲線，就樹木的件數而言，它實際上要高得多——同比增長甚至更加顯著。我認為其中一些原因是現有農場的持續成熟。

While many of our farms are -- I mean, our oldest farms are up to about a little over 10 years now. Those ones have been mature, but we still have a number of other farms that are more in the 5- to 6-year range, where we're still seeing an uptick in yields per hectare each year. That number has started to level off, and I don't expect to see continued significant growth. But we did still see some benefits, some pick up this year.

雖然我們的許多農場——我的意思是，我們最古老的農場已經有大約 10 年多了。這些農場已經成熟，但我們還有許多其他農場的營運期限在 5 至 6 年範圍內，我們仍然看到這些農場的每公頃產量每年都在上升。這個數字已經開始趨於平穩，我預計不會繼續顯著成長。但我們仍然看到了一些好處，有些在今年有所回升。

And we had a little bit of new acreage, again, that was still coming into production. So that being said, I think we're pretty happy with where the yields are at, where the sizes are at. I think we had a better production off of our northern farms up in the [almost] region this year as well. So all in all, Peru's tracking well.

我們還有一點新的土地，仍然投入生產。話雖這麼說，我認為我們對產量和規模非常滿意。我認為今年我們在[幾乎]地區的北部農場的產量也有所提高。總而言之，秘魯的進展順利。

I think if you talk about some of our other farms, Guatemala, we have our farming assets down there. We are expecting. While none of those farms are actually going to move into a productive state and start generating profits in fiscal '24, we will start to see some fruit come off those trees that we will be marketing. I don't have -- they aren't meaningful amounts yet by any means, but this is just the beginning of kind of that transition into having year-round supply of our own production.

我想如果你談論我們的其他一些農場，危地馬拉，我們在那裡擁有我們的農業資產。我們在期待。雖然這些農場實際上都不會在 24 財年進入生產狀態並開始產生利潤，但我們將開始看到我們將要行銷的那些樹上結出一些果實。我沒有——無論如何，它們還不是有意義的數量，但這只是我們自己生產的全年供應過渡的開始。

I believe that this initial Guatemalan production will come off in Q1 of fiscal '24. Again, small quantities this year, and we'll supplement it with third-party sourcing that we're going to be doing out of Guatemala as well. And a lot of that fruit will go into European and/or Asian markets. Colombia, a similar situation there. We have the joint venture down in Colombia, about 900 hectares of trees that have been planted. We'll start to see a small amount of productivity this year with that ramping up little bit more in 2025 and probably 2026 before they reach full production.

我相信危地馬拉的最初產量將在 24 財年第一季完成。同樣，今年的數量很小，我們將透過第三方採購來補充它，我們也將從危地馬拉進行這些採購。其中許多水果將進入歐洲和/或亞洲市場。哥倫比亞也有類似的情況。我們在哥倫比亞有合資企業，已經種植了大約900公頃的樹木。今年我們將開始看到少量的生產力，並在 2025 年甚至 2026 年實現全面生產之前略有提高。

I think just the growing environment and the conditions are a little bit different in Colombia than in Guatemala. And therefore, like the cycle from tree planting to reach a maturity is likely to take a little bit longer there than what we're seeing in Guatemala.

我認為哥倫比亞的生長環境和條件與危地馬拉略有不同。因此，從植樹到成熟的週期可能比我們在瓜地馬拉看到的要長一些。

Our next question comes from the line of Tom Palmer with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自湯姆·帕爾默（Tom Palmer）與摩根大通的對話。

Maybe just follow up, and I really appreciate all the detail on the farming side. How does this net out, I guess, as we think about the year? And I know there are a lot of moving parts, but we see avocado prices are down meaningfully, but it sounds like quality is a lot better. The cost environment is better, harvest volumes are up, like, 10% and kind of the midpoint of your outlook.

也許只是跟進，我真的很欣賞農業方面的所有細節。我想，當我們回顧這一年時，這個結果如何？我知道有很多變動因素，但我們看到酪梨價格大幅下降，但聽起來品質好多了。成本環境更好，收穫量增加了約 10%，大約是您的前景的中點。

So I guess, how should we be thinking about maybe that EBITDA outlook for this year in the segment relative to what we've seen in recent years? I mean is it reasonable, for instance, to think about some degree of year-over-year step-up even with the lower pricing?

所以我想，相對於我們近年來所看到的情況，我們應該如何考慮今年該領域的 EBITDA 前景？我的意思是，例如，即使定價較低，考慮某種程度的逐年提升是否合理？

Tom, I would say that it's still premature for us to kind of lock in on a number at this point. I think you mentioned a lot of things that are accurate. I think we have a pretty good sense on where our production is going to land. We know input costs are lower than what they were last year. So we have a pretty good feel for what our cost per unit is going to be at this point in time.

湯姆，我想說，現在我們鎖定一個數字還為時過早。我認為你提到的很多事情都是正確的。我認為我們對我們的產品的落地方向有很好的了解。我們知道投入成本低於去年。因此，我們對此時的單位成本有充分的了解。

I think the wildcard is where pricing ultimately settles as we move through the season. We know we have a lower pricing environment this year than we did a year ago, at least in the early part of the season. So I mean when we looked at Q3 last year, we had very strong, like, contribution on per box margins because the price points were still extremely high. Prices are much lower this year. And that's going to create a more challenging environment from that perspective.

我認為通配符是隨著整個季節的推移定價最終確定的地方。我們知道今年的定價環境比一年前低，至少在季節初期是如此。所以我的意思是，當我們去年第三季時，我們對每盒利潤的貢獻非常強勁，因為價格點仍然非常高。今年的價格要低得多。從這個角度來看，這將創造一個更具挑戰性的環境。

But that being said, we have a better size curve. We have more commercial grade fruit this year that kind of fall within the sweet spot for retail promotion than we did last year. So there's a number of positives but there is the kind of that pricing, the market pricing condition, that's the big question mark at this point. We don't have a lot of our -- we have seasonal volume commitments that we've been working through with a number of our retail and food service customers, but we don't have a significant amount of pricing locked at this point in time.

但話雖這麼說，我們有更好的尺寸曲線。今年我們有更多的商業級水果，比去年更適合零售促銷。因此，有許多正面因素，但定價、市場定價狀況是目前的一個大問號。我們沒有太多的季節性銷售承諾，我們一直在與許多零售和食品服務客戶合作，但目前我們還沒有鎖定大量的定價。時間。

So it's just -- I'm hesitant to give any specific guidance as to where we may land there. But I do believe that we feel the overall, the pricing environment this year will be lower on average than what it was last year. It's just a matter of will those other favorable impacts offset it or not. I think you're thinking about it the right way, Tom. I just don't have enough info to give you at this point to tell you whether it's going to be worse or if it's going to be better when we net everything out.

所以，我對於是否要就我們可能降落的地點給出任何具體指導感到猶豫。但我確實相信，我們認為今年的整體定價環境平均將低於去年。這只是其他有利影響是否會抵消它的問題。我認為你的想法是對的，湯姆。我現在沒有足夠的資訊來告訴你，當我們把一切都排除掉時，情況是否會變得更糟或是否會變得更好。

But the freight savings from last year is significant we say that.

但我們說，去年的運費節省是顯著的。

Yes. And like I said, because of those savings, we have margin for pricing to be lower and still generate better margins than we did last year because of all the other things we talked about.

是的。就像我說的，由於這些節省，我們的定價利潤率較低，但由於我們討論的所有其他事情，我們仍然比去年產生更好的利潤率。

Okay. And then just maybe on the harvest timing. Because I know that, that's kind of how you allocate costs in that segment. How skewed is it going to be to the fourth quarter? Because you did make the note about the delayed harvest. I mean is it going to be a more balanced harvest than we typically see? Because I think it's pretty normally that, at least from a cost standpoint. And therefore, from a harvest volume standpoint, it's more skewed to that third quarter even if the sell-through typically occurs in 4Q.

好的。然後也許就是收穫時間。因為我知道，這就是您在該細分市場中分配成本的方式。到第四季會有多大的偏差？因為你確實記錄了延遲收穫的情況。我的意思是，這會是比我們通常看到的更平衡的收穫嗎？因為我認為這是很正常的，至少從成本的角度來看是這樣。因此，從收穫量的角度來看，即使銷售通常發生在第四季度，但它更傾向於第三季。

Yes. So what we typically see in a typical year, Tom, we see about 2/3 of the harvest taking place in the third quarter, but about 2/3 of the sell-through of the fruit happening in the fourth quarter. At this point, because of -- I think we came into this year thinking that we wanted to kind of try to balance that a little, actually sell-through a little more fruit earlier as opposed to having so much come off during the fourth quarter.

是的。 Tom，我們在典型年份中通常會看到，大約 2/3 的收穫發生在第三季度，但大約 2/3 的水果銷售發生在第四季度。在這一點上，因為——我認為我們進入今年時認為我們想要嘗試平衡這一點，實際上提前銷售了更多的水果，而不是在第四季度減少了這麼多水果。

I think what's going to happen in reality this year because of the maturity of the fruit, then it will probably be a breakdown that looks similar to what we've seen historically, where the sell-through in the third quarter, if I go back at the last 5 years, I think we've seen it as low as kind of 32%, 33%. We've seen it as high as like 44%, 45%.

我認為今年由於水果的成熟，現實中會發生什麼，那麼它可能會出現類似於我們歷史上看到的情況的細分，如果我回顧一下第三季度的銷售情況在過去5 年裡，我認為我們看到的比例低至32%、33%。我們看到它高達 44%、45%。

I think we'll probably be in that range, maybe towards the low end of it. But I don't think the mix on sell-through at this point is going to be dramatically different than what it was last year in terms of percentage breakdown.

我認為我們可能會在這個範圍內，也許接近它的低端。但我認為，就百分比細分而言，目前的銷售組合不會與去年大不相同。

Okay. Understood.

好的。明白了。

But yes, to keep -- to the point you made while we harvest a lot, like our bottom line, our EBITDA is really driven by the sell-through. And that's what we really focus more on than the harvest. And yes, that sell-through is probably -- like I said, it was around 32% last year. And I think the feeling is that it won't be meaningfully off from that this year.

但是，是的，為了保持——在我們收穫很多的同時，我們的 EBITDA 確實是由銷售驅動的。這才是我們真正關注的，而不是收穫。是的，正如我所說，去年的銷售率可能約為 32%。我認為今年的情況不會有太大變化。

And our final question comes from the line of Christian Junquera with Bank of America.

我們的最後一個問題來自美國銀行的 Christian Junquera。

This is Christian on for Bryan. We've briefly touched upon -- you guys briefly touched upon this in your prepared remarks and in one of your responses. But on consumption, so one potential positive is low pricing environment that should lead to higher consumption. You guys noticed, are retailers doing anything differently, setting up more displays, marketing more behind the category? Maybe consumers, who are priced out of the category last year, are you seeing those return if you have data on that? Just any color you could provide would be helpful.

這是克里斯蒂安為布萊恩做的。我們已經簡要地談到了——你們在準備好的發言和一份答覆中簡要地談到了這一點。但就消費而言，一個潛在的正面因素是低價格環境，這應該會導致更高的消費。你們注意到了，零售商是否採取了不同的做法，設置更多的展示，在品類背後進行更多的行銷？也許去年因價格過高而被排除在該類別之外的消費者，如果您有相關數據，您會看到這些人回歸嗎？您可以提供的任何顏色都會有幫助。

Well, I think we are seeing more displays. I'm not going to comment on the price because it depends where you look. But I know there's been some -- I know early on in the year, they were making great margins at retail, but I can't tell you that I've been in a store lately myself to look, but the movement is pretty good. Prices are reasonable. I think the throughput is an increase, obviously, over last year just because we have more fruit.

嗯，我認為我們會看到更多的展示。我不會評論價格，因為這取決於你在哪裡看。但我知道有一些——我知道今年早些時候，他們在零售業獲得了巨大的利潤，但我不能告訴你我最近自己去過一家商店，但動向相當不錯。價格合理。我認為吞吐量顯然比去年增加，因為我們有更多的水果。

But as I mentioned earlier, you get a secondary benefit of the following year because you have more consumers, which drives more demand and more supply and drives the price up proportionately. So I think we're in pretty good shape. Balance-wise, I think, as I mentioned earlier, we're seeing great growth in Europe and China.

但正如我之前提到的，你會在第二年獲得次要的好處，因為你有更多的消費者，這會推動更多的需求和更多的供應，並相應地推高價格。所以我認為我們的狀態非常好。從平衡角度來看，我認為，正如我之前提到的，我們看到歐洲和中國的巨大成長。

Just opened a big distribution center in the U.K. recently, and we've already exceeded our expectations. We've been open a month. So lots of good things happening there. The China numbers are substantially better than we forecasted because of trends of consumption with the young people over there. So there's good things happening in the industry.

最近剛在英國開設了一個大型配送中心，我們已經超越了我們的預期。我們已經開業一個月了。那裡發生了很多好事。由於那裡年輕人的消費趨勢，中國的數字大大優於我們的預測。所以這個行業正在發生一些好事。

Yes, Christian, definitely. About 90% of the product we sold in the second quarter came into North America. That's a little bit lower than what it was last year at this point in time. I think we're -- we saw strong growth in domestic consumption, again, driven by that ample supply out of Mexico. To Steve's point, the area where we saw -- another area we saw a big increase year-over-year was in our Asian markets.

是的，克里斯蒂安，絕對是。我們第二季銷售的產品約有 90% 銷往北美。這比去年此時的情況要低一些。我認為，在墨西哥充足供應的推動下，我們再次看到國內消費強勁成長。對史蒂夫來說，我們看到的另一個同比大幅成長的領域是亞洲市場。

Not back to where they were at 2021 levels yet. But certainly, last year, there was a lot of supply chain disruptions, and we're still dealing with COVID issues and just the lack of supply that was available in the market last year. So I think we're pleased. We've already begun to see kind of that ramp back up in Q2 in the Asian markets. And then as we transition into Q3, to Steve's point with our U.K. facility opened, we've got 1 full month under our belt now, and we're very pleased with the results we've seen thus far.

尚未回到 2021 年的水準。但可以肯定的是，去年出現了許多供應鏈中斷，我們仍在處理新冠疫情問題以及去年市場供應不足的問題。所以我想我們很高興。我們已經開始看到亞洲市場第二季的回升。然後，當我們過渡到第三季時，正如史蒂夫所說，我們的英國工廠開業後，我們已經度過了整整一個月的時間，我們對迄今為止所看到的結果感到非常滿意。

And ladies and gentlemen, at this time, I'm showing no further questions. I'd like to end the question-and-answer session and turn the conference call back over to management for any closing remarks.

女士們先生們，此時我不會再提出任何問題。我想結束問答環節，並將電話會議轉回管理階層進行總結演講。

Well, thank you for joining us today. We are very excited about the growth opportunities in front of us as we work toward penetrating new markets in Europe and Asia, as we've mentioned. We look forward to seeing many of you at our Investor Day event on June 26 and 27. For those of you that have an interest in joining us, please reach out to our Investor Relations contact, Jeff Sonnek at ICR. Have a great evening. Thank you for participating.

好的，謝謝您今天加入我們。正如我們所提到的，當我們努力滲透歐洲和亞洲的新市場時，我們對眼前的成長機會感到非常興奮。我們期待在 6 月 26 日至 27 日的投資者日活動中見到你們。對於有興趣加入我們的人，請聯繫我們的投資者關係聯絡人，ICR 的 Jeff Sonnek。祝您有個美好的夜晚。感謝您的參與。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. We do thank you for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。我們非常感謝您的出席。現在您可以斷開線路。