Mission Produce Inc (AVO) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Mission Produce Fiscal First Quarter 2022 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Jeff Sonnek, Investor Relations at ICR. Sir, Please go ahead.

下午好，歡迎參加 Mission Produce 2022 年第一季財政電話會議。 （操作員說明） 現在，我想將會議轉交給 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.

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。

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. 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.

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。除歷史事實陳述外的所有陳述均被視為前瞻性陳述。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。

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 the Investor Relations website, investors.missionproduce.com, for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures.

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。

With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve Barnard, CEO.

現在，我想將電話轉給執行長史蒂夫·巴納德 (Steve Barnard)。

Thank you for joining us for our fiscal 2021 (sic) [2022] first quarter earnings call. Our first quarter results were disappointing and do not demonstrate the level of execution that has defined our business in its founding. On November 1, 2021, we implemented a new ERP system that impacted our entire marketing and distribution segment. As every company who has undergone an ERP implementation knows this is a highly complex exercise that requires extensive planning and testing, all of which is designed to mitigate implementation risks.

感謝您參加我們的 2021 財年（原文如此）[2022] 第一季財報電話會議。我們第一季的業績令人失望，沒有反映出我們業務創立之初的執行水準。 2021 年 11 月 1 日，我們實施了新的 ERP 系統，影響了我們的整個行銷和分銷部門。每家實施過 ERP 的公司都知道，這是一項高度複雜的工作，需要進行廣泛的規劃和測試，所有這些都是為了降低實施風險。

However, despite the countless hours we spent planning and preparing for this conversion, we nevertheless experienced significant challenges with the implementation. As a result, we were unable to drive the per unit margins in the first quarter that we have historically delivered. While we believe we've addressed the most acute issues that we faced in the first quarter, there's more work to be done before we get back to the level of efficiency and execution that we have come to expect of ourselves.

然而，儘管我們花了無數時間來規劃和準備這次轉換，但我們在實施過程中仍然遇到了重大挑戰。因此，我們無法在第一季提高我們歷史上實現的單位利潤率。雖然我們相信我們已經解決了第一季面臨的最尖銳的問題，但在我們恢復到我們對自己的期望的效率和執行水平之前，還有更多的工作要做。

And perhaps most importantly, despite the challenges, our team was able to quickly adjust to the disruption and largely protect our customers for any extended impact. It is our commitment to customer service that has been Mission's hallmark for nearly 4 decades. As we've stressed time and again, our greatest competitive advantage is our ability to provide a diverse customer base with a year-round supply of avocados from our vertically integrated farms and global network of growers while also providing customized value-added services that precisely fit their needs.

也許最重要的是，儘管面臨挑戰，我們的團隊仍能夠快速適應中斷，並在很大程度上保護我們的客戶免受任何長期影響。近 4 年來，我們對客戶服務的承諾一直是 Mission 的標誌。正如我們一再強調的那樣，我們最大的競爭優勢是我們有能力為多元化的客戶群提供全年供應的牛油果，這些服務來自我們的垂直一體化農場和全球種植者網絡，同時還提供客製化的增值服務，適合他們的需求。

As simple as it sounds, it is anything but when you consider the sheer volume of fruit, we are moving through the supply chain on any given day. On a weekly basis, we can move between 240 and 300 truckloads of fruit through our network. And to move that kind of volume, you need extensive operational capabilities, which is precisely what we have. Our network covers 4 packing houses in California, Mexico and Peru and 12 forward distribution and ripening centers with operations across 9 countries on 4 different continents to serve customers in over 25 different countries.

聽起來很簡單，但當你考慮到水果的絕對數量時，我們每天都會在供應鏈中移動。每週，我們可以透過我們的網路運輸 240 至 300 卡車的水果。要移動這種數量，您需要廣泛的營運能力，而這正是我們所擁有的。我們的網路涵蓋加州、墨西哥和秘魯的 4 個包裝廠以及 12 個遠期配送和催熟中心，業務遍及 4 個不同大洲的 9 個國家，為超過 25 個不同國家的客戶提供服務。

Mission has built a set of unique capabilities over the last 38 years, piece by piece, asset by asset to become the global leader we are today. But growth has complexities. For many years, it has been apparent that our organization would need to upgrade our ERP infrastructure to be able to execute on our strategic growth plans. The new ERP system provides the necessary infrastructure for our growing business and establishes a security and control environment we need now that we are a public company. It was also designed to enhance our operational visibility so that we can scale our businesses to support an even greater breadth of customers across larger geographies while maintaining our unparalleled standard of service.

Mission 在過去 38 年裡一點一滴、資產一項一項地積累了一系列獨特的能力，最終成為我們今天的全球領導者。但成長是複雜的。多年來，我們的組織顯然需要升級 ERP 基礎設施，以便能夠執行我們的策略性成長計畫。新的 ERP 系統為我們不斷成長的業務提供了必要的基礎設施，並建立了我們作為上市公司所需的安全和控制環境。它還旨在提高我們的營運可見性，以便我們能夠擴展業務，為更大地域的更廣泛的客戶提供支持，同時保持我們無與倫比的服務標準。

While we weren't naive to the risk of disruption to the business, the extent and magnitude was greater than we anticipated. I'll provide a few examples how the ERP implementation impacted our operations in the first quarter. First, there was a lack of sufficient visibility into on-hand inventory, which resulted in considerable fruit that was moved at below average returns or not fit for sale. In addition, due to the struggles with visibility on inventory, we sourced a disproportionately large amount of fruit from third-party providers where we typically do not recognize meaningful margins in order to fulfill customer commitments.

雖然我們對業務中斷的風險並不天真，但其程度和程度比我們預期的要大。我將提供一些範例，說明 ERP 實施如何影響我們第一季的營運。首先，對現有庫存缺乏足夠的了解，導致大量水果的退貨率低於平均或不適合出售。此外，由於庫存可見性方面的困難，我們從第三方供應商那裡採購了過多的水果，而我們通常不會在這些第三方供應商那裡獲得有意義的利潤來履行客戶承諾。

Separately, first quarter results were also negatively impacted by the smaller Mexican harvest and difficulties with sourcing the needed size curve and grades, which led to significant use of expensive copacker fruit to meet commitments. Although we largely met our commitments to our customers, which is our first priority, the product of these operational complexities was exceptional margin erosion and working capital inefficiencies. So what are we doing about it? As I noted at the top of my remarks, we believe the worst is behind us. As part of our preparation for the ERP conversion, we hired a third-party firm to work with us on the implementation.

另外，第一季的業績也受到墨西哥收成減少以及採購所需規格曲線和等級的困難的負面影響，這導致大量使用昂貴的代加工水果來履行承諾。儘管我們基本上履行了對客戶的承諾，這是我們的首要任務，但這些營運複雜性的結果是利潤率大幅下降和營運資金效率低下。那我們正在做什麼呢？正如我在演講開頭指出的那樣，我們相信最糟糕的時期已經過去。作為 ERP 轉換準備工作的一部分，我們聘請了一家第三方公司與我們合作實施。

They remain actively engaged with our teams on a daily basis to identify and remediate remaining issues. Additionally, we have activated additional protocols and developed new processes to enhance the needed functionality and reporting capabilities that provide visibility and insight into key aspects of the business. At the same time, we deployed our operational excellence teams to our distribution centers to assist with training and execution. Importantly, we have also heavily ramped up our cross-functional communication and collaboration so that the entire enterprise is on the same page and moving in the same direction at an accelerated pace.

他們每天仍然積極與我們的團隊合作，以發現和修復剩餘的問題。此外，我們還啟動了其他協議並開發了新流程，以增強所需的功能和報告功能，從而提供對業務關鍵方面的可見性和洞察力。同時，我們向配送中心部署了卓越營運團隊，以協助培訓和執行。重要的是，我們也大力加強了跨職能的溝通和協作，以便整個企業達成共識，並加速朝著同一方向前進。

We are making progress. During the month of February, our per-box margins have returned to historical levels. Despite the challenges, the fundamentals of our business remain intact, the trends supporting the industry and our business continue to be decidedly favorable. The demographics are advantageous and our ability to help retailers and foodservice customers capture demand for avocados will be a key element of driving consumption trends in growth markets such as Europe and Asia that are at fractions of what we experienced here in North America.

我們正在取得進展。在二月期間，我們的每箱利潤已恢復到歷史水準。儘管面臨挑戰，我們業務的基本面仍然完好無損，支援產業和我們業務的趨勢仍然明顯有利。人口結構具有優勢，我們幫助零售商和餐飲服務客戶抓住酪梨需求的能力將成為推動歐洲和亞洲等成長市場消費趨勢的關鍵因素，而這些市場的消費趨勢只是我們在北美經歷的一小部分。

Strategically investing in our own production to ensure year-round global sourcing is the key to maintaining long-term organic growth and is a key component of our long-term growth plans. In summary, we and our business remain resilient despite the challenges we faced with the ERP implementation. We continue to believe that the ERP conversion was a necessary step as we further scale our global footprint. We are focused on our long-term strategy of generating consistent growth and enhancing market share by increasing capabilities and capacities while continuing to mitigate and adapt to industry dynamics. We are excited about what's ahead, and we believe we have an undisputed advantage with our global network of value-added assets that will drive sustainable long-term shareholder value.

對我們自己的生產進行策略性投資以確保全年全球採購是維持長期有機成長的關鍵，也是我們長期成長計畫的關鍵組成部分。總之，儘管我們在 ERP 實施方面面臨挑戰，但我們和我們的業務仍保持彈性。我們仍然相信，隨著我們進一步擴大全球足跡，ERP 轉換是必要的一步。我們專注於透過提高能力和容量來實現持續成長和提高市場份額的長期策略，同時繼續緩解和適應行業動態。我們對未來感到興奮，我們相信我們的全球增值資產網絡擁有無可爭議的優勢，將推動可持續的長期股東價值。

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 first quarter performance ended January 31, 2022, and touch on some of the drivers within our 2 operating segments. Then I'll provide a snapshot of our financial position and conclude with some thoughts on some of the current industry conditions that we are seeing and how performance is tracking in February.

謝謝你，史蒂夫，祝所有參加電話會議的人下午好。我將首先簡要回顧截至 2022 年 1 月 31 日的第一財季業績，並談談我們兩個營運部門的一些驅動因素。然後，我將簡要介紹我們的財務狀況，最後對我們所看到的一些當前行業狀況以及 2 月份的業績跟踪情況提出一些想法。

Total revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 increased 25% to $216.6 million as compared to $173.2 million for the same period last year. Growth was driven by a 50% increase in average per unit avocado sales prices due to lower industry supply out of Mexico as well as inflationary pressures. Partially offsetting price gains was an 18% decrease in avocado volumes sold, which was primarily driven by lower supply. In the first quarter, industry supply was negatively impacted by the smaller Mexican harvest. Our estimates indicate that Mexican supply to the U.S. market was approximately 10% lower than prior year, which was consistent with the reduction we experienced in our own domestic volumes.

2022 財年第一季的總營收成長 25%，達到 2.166 億美元，去年同期為 1.732 億美元。由於墨西哥的行業供應減少以及通貨膨脹壓力，每單位酪梨的平均銷售價格上漲了 50%，推動了成長。酪梨銷量下降 18%，部分抵消了價格上漲，這主要是由於供應量減少所致。第一季度，產業供應受到墨西哥收成減少的負面影響。我們的估計表明，墨西哥對美國市場的供應量比去年減少了約 10%，這與我們國內供應量的減少是一致的。

In addition, the industry continued to experience challenges with abnormal grading and sizing of harvested fruit. To provide further perspective on the Mexican supply situation, approximately 97% of U.S. distributed volume was Mexican fruit in the first quarter. While Mission's global footprint provides sourcing advantages relative to the industry as a whole, there are not ample sources of fruit available at this time of the year to meaningfully offset the impact of Mexico supply shortages. This is an example of why Mission has been proactive in investing in global supply sources to fill these supply gaps and reduce industry volatility.

此外，該行業繼續面臨收穫水果分級和尺寸異常的挑戰。為了進一步了解墨西哥的供應情況，第一季美國分銷量中約 97% 是墨西哥水果。雖然 Mission 的全球足跡提供了相對於整個行業的採購優勢，但每年這個時候沒有足夠的水果來源來有效抵消墨西哥供應短缺的影響。這就是為什麼 Mission 一直積極投資全球供應源以填補這些供應缺口並減少產業波動的一個例子。

As previously mentioned, the lack of supply drove per unit pricing substantially higher during the first quarter, indicating that demand for avocados remains strong. The lower supply and higher pricing had a larger impact on the volume of food that we were able to sell in international markets, where demand is more sensitive to pricing than we typically see in the domestic market due to lower levels of consumption per capita in those international markets. As such, year-over-year volume reductions in international markets were more significant than those experienced in the U.S. market.

如前所述，供應不足導致第一季的單位價格大幅上漲，顯示對酪梨的需求仍然強勁。供應量減少和價格上漲對我們能夠在國際市場上銷售的食品數量產生了更大的影響，由於這些國家的人均消費水平較低，國際市場的需求對價格比我們通常在國內市場上看到的更加敏感。國際市場。因此，國際市場銷量較去年同期下降幅度比美國市場更為顯著。

So while ERP was the overwhelming variable in our first quarter performance, I wanted to be clear on how the market is influencing the business and provide a reminder of the impact that volume has on our ability to generate per unit margin. In other words, when industry conditions limit our volume, we have less ability to absorb fixed costs. First quarter gross profit was $0.5 million versus prior year period where we generated $22.7 million. As Steve shared, we experienced extreme margin erosion due to temporary and unforeseen challenges created by the company's ERP implementation.

因此，雖然 ERP 是我們第一季業績的壓倒性變量，但我想清楚市場如何影響業務，並提醒我們銷售對我們產生單位利潤的能力的影響。換句話說，當產業條件限制我們的產量時，我們吸收固定成本的能力就會減弱。第一季毛利為 50 萬美元，而去年同期毛利為 2,270 萬美元。正如 Steve 所分享的，由於公司 ERP 實施帶來的臨時和不可預見的挑戰，我們經歷了利潤率的極度侵蝕。

These challenges limited our ability to effectively manage our supply chain during the first quarter of 2022. Inventory management problems and unusually large freight disposals, coupled with the low industry volume resulted in a high reliance on both third-party fruit and co-packer fruit, which have higher price points relative to fruit we source directly in the field and packing our facilities. This unfavorable sourcing mix, combined with transportation inflation and lower fixed cost absorption resulted in a significant increase in per box costs, eroding gross profit.

這些挑戰限制了我們在 2022 年第一季有效管理供應鏈的能力。庫存管理問題和異常大量的貨運處置，加上產業產量低，導致對第三方水果和代加工水果的高度依賴，與我們直接從田間採購並包裝我們的設施的水果相比，它們的價格更高。這種不利的採購組合，加上運輸通膨和較低的固定成本吸收，導致每箱成本大幅增加，從而侵蝕了毛利。

SG&A for the first quarter increased $4.1 million to $18.7 million due primarily to noncapitalizable costs associated with the implementation of our new ERP system in the Marketing and Distribution segment, which included approximately $1 million of consulting costs incurred during the quarter. Importantly, I'd note that we expect this to be peak spend on the consulting component, and we foresee a more rational amount of spend as we move through the second quarter and beyond.

第一季的銷售管理費用增加了410 萬美元，達到1,870 萬美元，主要是由於在行銷和分銷部門實施新ERP 系統相關的不可資本化成本，其中包括本季產生的約100 萬美元的諮詢成本。重要的是，我要指出的是，我們預計這將是諮詢部分的支出高峰，隨著我們進入第二季及以後，我們預計支出金額將更加合理。

Additionally, we incurred higher professional fees, travel expenses and certain transaction costs. Higher professional fees were primarily related to our change in SEC filer status from an emerging growth company to a large accelerated filer on October 31, 2021. I'd note that these cost increases will ease in the fiscal second half as we anniversary the step-up in spending associated with those items. Net loss for the first quarter was $13.4 million or $0.19 per diluted share compared to net income of $2.2 million or $0.03 per diluted share for the same period last year.

此外，我們也產生了更高的專業費用、差旅費和某些交易成本。較高的專業費用主要與我們於2021 年10 月31 日將SEC 申報人狀態從新興成長型公司轉變為大型加速申報人有關。我要指出的是，隨著我們邁入這一步驟的周年紀念日，這些成本增加將在本財年下半年有所緩解。與這些項目相關的支出增加。第一季淨虧損為 1,340 萬美元，即稀釋後每股虧損 0.19 美元，去年同期淨利為 220 萬美元，即稀釋後每股虧損 0.03 美元。

Adjusted net loss was $12.2 million or $0.17 per diluted share compared to adjusted net income of $7.9 million or $0.11 per diluted share for the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $10.4 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to a positive $12.5 million for the same period last year, driven primarily by the lower gross margin and higher SG&A costs described previously. In terms of our segments, our Marketing & Distribution segment net sales increased 25% to $212.3 million for the quarter, and segment adjusted EBITDA was negative $7.7 million. The drivers for the Marketing & Distribution segment are similar to those that I described for the consolidated results.

調整後淨虧損為 1,220 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.17 美元，而去年同期調整後淨利為 790 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.11 美元。 2022 財年第一季調整後 EBITDA 為負 1,040 萬美元，而去年同期為正 1,250 萬美元，這主要是由於前述毛利率較低和 SG&A 成本較高所致。就我們的部門而言，我們的行銷和分銷部門本季淨銷售額成長了 25%，達到 2.123 億美元，部門調整後 EBITDA 為負 770 萬美元。行銷和分銷部門的驅動因素與我為綜合結果所描述的驅動因素類似。

Our International Farming segment primarily represents our owned farms that we manage in Peru. As a reminder, the avocado harvest season for our Peruvian farms typically runs from April through August of each year. And as a result, you see the International Farming segment emerge in third and fourth quarters and contribute to adjusted EBITDA in a significant fashion. For the first quarter, International Farming segment net sales increased 19% to $4.3 million. Segment sales growth was driven by higher third-party service revenues. Segment adjusted EBITDA was negative $2.7 million, primarily due to higher costs associated with strategic initiatives and farming maintenance and operations that are intended to drive yield enhancements.

我們的國際農業部門主要代表我們在秘魯管理的自有農場。請注意，我們秘魯農場的酪梨收穫季節通常是每年四月至八月。因此，您會看到國際農業部門在第三和第四季度出現，並以顯著的方式為調整後的 EBITDA 做出貢獻。第一季度，國際農業部門淨銷售額成長 19%，達到 430 萬美元。第三方服務收入的增加推動了該部門銷售的成長。部門調整後的 EBITDA 為負 270 萬美元，主要是由於旨在提高產量的戰略舉措以及農業維護和運營相關的成本較高。

Shifting to our financial position. Cash and cash equivalents were $25.3 million as of January 31, 2022, compared to $84.5 million as of October 31, 2021. Net cash used in operating activities was $41.4 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to $9.7 million in the same period last year. The company's 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2022年1月31日，現金及現金等價物為2,530萬美元，而截至2021年10月31日為8,450萬美元。2022財年第一季經營活動使用的現金淨額為4,140萬美元，而上年同期為970萬美元年。該公司的經營現金流本質上是季節性的，並且可能會暫時受到因不同來源地區種植者的付款條件不同而導致的營運資金變化的影響。

In addition, the company is building its growing crops inventory in its international farm segment during the first half of the year for ultimate harvest and sales that will occur during the second half of the fiscal year. The $31.7 million change reflects the net loss in the first quarter and an unfavorable net change in working capital. Within working capital, unfavorable changes in inventory and accounts receivable were partially offset by favorable changes in grower payables. Changes in inventory were driven by higher per unit cost to Mexican fruit on hand and the buildup of growing crop inventory in Peru compared to the prior year.

此外，該公司正在今年上半年在其國際農場部門建立其種植作物庫存，以便在本財年下半年實現最終收穫和銷售。 3,170 萬美元的變化反映了第一季的淨虧損和營運資本的不利淨變化。在營運資金方面，庫存和應收帳款的不利變化被種植者應付帳款的有利變化部分抵消。與前一年相比，墨西哥現有水果的單位成本增加以及秘魯種植作物庫存的增加推動了庫存變化。

The growing crop increases were due to higher per acre farming costs and higher productive acreage. Changes in accounts receivable and grower payables were correlated with the pricing factors noted previously. Additionally, increases in accounts receivable were due to delayed customer payments related to automated invoicing challenges in our new ERP system. While we are still working through these accounts receivable challenges, we have seen a noticeable reduction in our days sales outstanding during February and early March. Capital expenditures were $20.9 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to $22.4 million in the same period last year.

作物產量的增加是由於每英畝耕作成本的增加和生產面積的增加。應收帳款和種植者應付帳款的變化與前面提到的定價因素有關。此外，應收帳款的增加是由於新 ERP 系統中的自動發票挑戰導致客戶付款延遲。雖然我們仍在應對這些應收帳款挑戰，但我們發現 2 月和 3 月初的應收帳款週轉天數明顯減少。 2022 財年第一季的資本支出為 2,090 萬美元，而去年同期為 2,240 萬美元。

Current year expenditures were concentrated in the purchase of farmland in Peru as well as land improvements in Orchard development in Peru, Guatemala. In terms of our near-term outlook, similar to prior practice, we are providing some context around our expectations for industry conditions to help inform your modeling assumptions, but are not providing formal guidance due to the fluidity of the market at this point in the year. We are expecting Mexico industry volumes to remain lower than prior year during our second quarter by amounts comparable to those experienced in the first quarter as we move through the remainder of the current year crop.

本年度支出主要用於購買秘魯農田以及秘魯、瓜地馬拉果園開發的土地改良。就我們的近期前景而言，與之前的做法類似，我們正在提供一些有關我們對行業狀況的預期的背景信息，以幫助您為建模假設提供信息，但由於目前市場的流動性，我們不會提供正式的指導。年。我們預計墨西哥第二季的工業產量將繼續低於去年，與第一季的產量相當，因為我們正在經歷今年作物的剩餘時間。

Further, our current expectations are for pricing to be steady to slightly higher on a sequential basis to fiscal first quarter, which would imply a year-over-year increase of approximately 10% to 15% compared to the $1.42 per pound average we experienced in the second quarter of the prior year. From a profitability perspective, absent the ERP challenges that we described today, which we feel we have a handle on, we are battling the same inflationary pressures that have been well documented. These include freight, labor and packaging, among others, and we are driving mitigating actions to help contain them.

此外，我們目前的預期是，與第一財季相比，定價將穩定至略高，這意味著與我們去年每磅 1.42 美元的平均價格相比，同比增長約 10% 至 15%。去年第二季。從獲利能力的角度來看，如果沒有我們今天描述的 ERP 挑戰（我們認為我們已經能夠應對），我們正在應對同樣有據可查的通膨壓力。其中包括貨運、勞動力和包裝等，我們正在推動緩解行動來幫助遏制這些問題。

However, we are also absorbing other costs as well, including higher public company costs and our Laredo facility, which, in a lower volume environment create a headwind to our ability to drive per unit margins and adjusted EBITDA. During the month of February, our avocado volumes sold totaled approximately 42 million pounds. These figures were nominally impacted by the USDA shutdown of Mexican avocado imports during the middle of the month. As Steve mentioned earlier, our February per-box margins have returned to historical levels, though the higher cost noted above will continue to pose some headwinds over the near term.

然而，我們也在吸收其他成本，包括更高的上市公司成本和我們的拉雷多工廠，在銷售較低的環境下，這對我們推動單位利潤率和調整後 EBITDA 的能力產生了不利影響。 2 月份，我們的酪梨銷量總計約 4,200 萬磅。這些數字名目上受到美國農業部本月中旬關閉墨西哥酪梨進口的影響。正如史蒂夫之前提到的，我們二月份的每箱利潤已恢復到歷史水平，儘管上述較高的成本將在短期內繼續帶來一些阻力。

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) We have a first question from the line of Ben Bienvenu with Stephens.

（操作員說明）我們有來自 Ben Bienvenu 和 Stephens 的第一個問題。

I want to ask as it relates to the ERP challenges that you faced, when you think about the kind of the go-forward from here, you described it as you've got your arms around it. Maybe there's still some lingering issues. There are advisory consulting costs that you're paying. Is there any way to quantify kind of what sort of lingering impact we should see either as a result of expenses you're paying to fix the issue or lingering issues associated with the ERP system that we should see in the subsequent quarter? And then should we expect it to extend beyond this? That would be helpful. Is my first question.

我想問的是，因為這與您面臨的 ERP 挑戰有關，當您考慮從這裡開始的前進方式時，您將其描述為您已經抓住了它。也許還有一些懸而未決的問題。您需要支付諮詢費用。有什麼方法可以量化我們應該看到什麼樣的揮之不去的影響，無論是由於您為解決問題而支付的費用還是我們在下個季度應該看到的與ERP 系統相關的揮之不去的問題？那麼我們是否應該期望它會超出這個範圍呢？那會有幫助的。這是我的第一個問題。

Sure thing, Ben. I think that the issues that caused us to lose gross margin have substantially been resolved at this point. I think that there's things that we still need to do to improve efficiency in how the system is being used. But we've got our arms around the day-to-day problems that caused the losses we had before. And I don't anticipate that we'll continue to see erosion of gross margin as a result of inability to make quick decisions with information that's at hand.

當然可以，本。我認為導致我們毛利率下降的問題此時已基本解決。我認為我們仍然需要做一些事情來提高系統的使用效率。但我們已經解決了導致我們之前遭受損失的日常問題。我預計，由於無法利用現有資訊快速做出決策，毛利率不會繼續下降。

I do think we will continue to incur some costs or we will certainly continue to encourage some costs with outside consultants to get us through. We made reference on the call that we incurred about $1 million during Q1. That number will taper off in Q2. It will be less than that and then should continue to taper down thereafter. We are beginning to scale back the level of support effort that we're getting from that group at this point as we're transitioning more of that work to in-house resources and getting many of those issues resolved.

我確實認為我們將繼續承擔一些費用，或者我們肯定會繼續鼓勵外部顧問承擔一些費用以幫助我們度過難關。我們在電話會議中提到，我們在第一季產生了約 100 萬美元。這個數字將在第二季逐漸減少。它將小於該值，然後應繼續逐漸減少。目前，我們正在開始縮減從該團隊獲得的支持力度，因為我們正在將更多工作轉移到內部資源，並解決其中許多問題。

Okay. Great. My second question is related to your comment around February per box margins returning to historical average. Is that a function -- when you look at the market as it's presented to you now, would you continue to expect margins to remain in that range? And as you think about that commentary about February, was the suspension of imports from Mexico a net positive such that maybe it buoys that number that you described in February and maybe the underlying number is a little weaker than that? Or is that maybe off base? How should we think about kind of how back to equilibrium we are relative to the market that you're navigating right now?

好的。偉大的。我的第二個問題與您對二月每箱利潤恢復到歷史平均水平的評論有關。這是一個功能嗎？當您觀察現在呈現給您的市場時，您會繼續期望利潤率保持在這個範圍內嗎？當您思考有關 2 月份的評論時，暫停從墨西哥進口是否是一個淨利好因素，因此可能會提振您在 2 月份描述的數字，而潛在數字可能會比這個數字弱一些？或者這可能是錯的？我們應該如何思考我們相對於您現在正在航行的市場如何回到平衡？

Ben, I would say that there was probably towards the back end of the month a bit of a pickup that resulted from the higher pricing environment. I don't think it was -- it wasn't significant, but it certainly helped. I would say that when we say it return to a range, we're looking at -- we probably came in a little bit above our historical range as a result of that for the month of February alone. I don't -- I mean I believe that the -- as we look at March and April that the -- it's hard to say whether the margin will stay elevated at that level, but I do believe that we feel confident that margins will stay somewhat close to the range that we've worked within historically.

本，我想說的是，由於定價環境較高，月底可能會出現一些回升。我不認為這是——這並不重要，但它確實有幫助。我想說的是，當我們說它回到某個範圍時，我們正在考慮——僅由於二月的情況，我們的價格可能略高於我們的歷史範圍。我不認為——我的意思是我相信——當我們看到三月和四月時——很難說利潤率是否會保持在這個水平，但我確實相信我們對利潤率會保持在較高水平有信心保持在某種程度上接近我們歷史上工作的範圍。

I think the bigger challenges to us going forward are going to be volume. Until we get through the current Mexico crop, which has been down in Q1 and will continue to be -- have an impact in Q2, we're going to have issues with volume and the issues that, that creates around cost absorption. We talk about the investments we've made in capacity in our network over the last year, particularly at the border for Mexican fruit and then having the first year come around and actually see volume declines for fruit that are coming into the U.S. market have certainly created headwinds for us.

我認為我們未來面臨的更大挑戰將是數量。在我們度過目前的墨西哥作物（第一季產量下降並將繼續對第二季產生影響）之前，我們將遇到產量問題以及由此產生的成本吸收問題。我們談論去年我們在網路容量方面所做的投資，特別是在墨西哥水果邊境，然後第一年到來時，實際上看到進入美國市場的水果數量下降給我們帶來了阻力。

That being said, we don't feel like it changes or really has an impact on the long-term decision of why Laredo is going to be important for our business. We just have to work through kind of this current harvest season where you kind of had this abnormal decline in volumes is something we really haven't seen to this magnitude during my time at Mission. Yes, go ahead, Steve.

話雖如此，我們認為它不會改變或真正影響拉雷多對我們業務的重要性的長期決定。我們只需要努力度過當前的收穫季節，產量出現異常下降，這是我在 Mission 期間從未見過的如此嚴重的情況。是的，繼續吧，史蒂夫。

I was going to say, Ben, they are alternate bearing. So keep in mind, they kind of go in cycles, so take Mexico as an example. A year ago, July, the supply dried up slightly and it drove those prices up, and that has continued. And as we get into the back half of '22, you'll see it go the other way because the crop is larger as last year's late crop was light this year's late drop is heavier. So it's going to shift and go the other way here in a few months.

我想說，本，它們是備用軸承。所以請記住，它們有點循環，所以以墨西哥為例。一年前的七月，供應略有枯竭，導致價格上漲，而且這種情況仍在持續。當我們進入 22 年下半年時，您會看到情況發生了相反的變化，因為去年後期產量較少，今年後期產量下降較多，因此產量較大。因此，幾個月後，情況將會發生轉變並走向另一個方向。

Yes, I would agree with Steve there. I think some of the things in the past, some of that's been buffered by the fact that there's been a lot of new acreage coming online. I think that that's kind of muted the impact of some of that off bearing nature. So -- but yes, they typically do have that feature to be similar to what we see in California.

是的，我同意史蒂夫的觀點。我認為過去發生的一些事情，其中​​一些已經被大量新面積上線這一事實所緩衝。我認為這有點減弱了一些不自然的影響。所以——但是，是的，他們通常確實具有與我們在加利福尼亞州看到的類似的功能。

(Operator Instructions) We have next question from the line of Tom Palmer with JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）我們有來自摩根大通的 Tom Palmer 的下一個問題。

I guess just to start off, maybe talking on the sourcing environment. At what point do you start to move past the current Mexico crop? Is it not really until the third quarter? Is there flexibility to maybe push that up a little bit and sourcing maybe an early harvest from other areas? Just trying to get a picture of maybe how long this supply overhang might last?

我想這只是開始，也許談談採購環境。您從什麼時候開始超越目前的墨西哥作物？難道真的要等到第三季嗎？是否有彈性，可以將其推高一點，並從其他地區採購早期收穫？只是想了解這種供應過剩可能會持續多久？

Yes. Well, what we're looking at now is the Peru crop more than we are in Mexico. Mexico is pretty well set, I think, on their schedule. But we've got some pretty good amount of hectares up in the north of Peru that could start coming off around the 1st of April. I'm not sure exactly what week it is because we haven't started testing yet, but there is that possibility that would help complement the supply base up here a little earlier than just waiting on Mexico at this time.

是的。嗯，我們現在看到的是秘魯的產量比墨西哥的產量多。我認為墨西哥的日程安排得很好。但我們在秘魯北部有相當多的公頃土地可能會在 4 月 1 日左右開始消失。我不確定具體是哪週，因為我們還沒有開始測試，但有可能比此時等待墨西哥早一點幫助補充這裡的供應基地。

Yes. I think that -- it will probably be Q3 before we see a substantial impact. I think in Q2, we're looking at areas like California, we do believe that there'll be an earlier harvest, we'll look for opportunities to accelerate Peru and look for other countries of origin. But when we -- in the big scheme of things, the magnitude of Mexico just overwhelms it. So I think we'll see increases in these other markets during Q2, but a 10% decline in Mexico will wipe out a 30% or 40% increase in some of these other areas.

是的。我認為，我們可能要到第三季才能看到實質影響。我認為在第二季度，我們正在關注加州等地區，我們確實相信會有更早的收穫，我們將尋找機會加速秘魯並尋找其他原產國。但當我們從宏觀的角度來看，墨西哥的幅員遼闊卻壓倒了它。因此，我認為第二季我們會看到其他市場的成長，但墨西哥 10% 的下降將抵消其他一些地區 30% 或 40% 的成長。

Yes. Understood. And then I just want to confirm, you've really talked on the supply side about volume headwinds. What are you seeing on the demand side? It seems like that wasn't mentioned as much in the prepared remarks, but you mentioned internationally some price sensitivity. But is domestic demand making up for that? It sounds like you have seen pricing rising here in recent months.

是的。明白了。然後我想確認一下，您確實在供應方面談到了銷售逆風。您在需求方面看到了什麼？準備好的發言中似乎沒有提到太多，但您提到了國際上的一些價格敏感度。但國內需求能彌補這一點嗎？聽起來近幾個月來這裡的價格上漲了。

Well, let's just take the U.S. here for a minute. Mexico, after the stoppage there for a week and even beforehand, we're shipping between 50 million and 55 million pounds a week into the U.S., plus what California was picking, which I don't know the exact number there, but it was probably 5 million or 7 million at very high prices. I mean, the prices today are around $60 or better. So I mean, it's showing that there's increased demand for product with numbers of that magnitude on volume to still have a high price level as a $60 bill compared to -- not sure where we were about a year ago, but it's probably in the 30s. So we are seeing growth in the space in the category, but just trying to even it out with the supply is the trick. And that's why we continue to invest in vertical integration around the world to help have options when certain crops are down or up in certain spots.

好吧，讓我們先以美國為例。墨西哥，在停運一周之後，甚至在此之前，我們每周向美國運送 5000 萬至 5500 萬英鎊的貨物，加上加州正在採摘的貨物，我不知道那裡的確切數字，但它是可能500萬或700萬，價格很高。我的意思是，今天的價格約為 60 美元或更高。所以我的意思是，這表明對數量如此龐大的產品的需求有所增加，與 60 美元的鈔票相比，價格水平仍然很高——不確定大約一年前的情況，但可能是 30 多歲。因此，我們看到該類別的空間正在增長，但只是試圖透過供應來平衡它是訣竅。這就是為什麼我們繼續投資全球範圍內的垂直整合，以幫助在某些地區某些作物產量下降或上升時有選擇。

Definitely, areas like Colombia and Guatemala would have filled in the calendar at this time of the year. That's their harvest window. So I think the investments we're making there, not only will support international markets will -- but over time, will -- should be able to support the U.S. market as well. But I did want to make a quick comment on the international. I think what tends to happen is that the U.S. market, it's more of a fact that the U.S. market is more inelastic. The demand is more inelastic that they'll continue to pay higher pricing here.

當然，哥倫比亞和危地馬拉等地區每年的這個時候都會填滿日曆。那是他們的收穫窗口。因此，我認為我們在那裡進行的投資不僅會支持國際市場，而且隨著時間的推移，也應該能夠支持美國市場。但我確實想對國際比賽做出快速評論。我認為美國市場往往會發生的情況是，美國市場更缺乏彈性。需求更加缺乏彈性，他們將繼續在這裡支付更高的價格。

So a larger proportion of the Mexico crop just ends up coming into the U.S. market, and it leaves less fruit available to go into those international markets. That probably has -- it has a greater impact on a company like Mission that has a global reach and has a bigger international or export program with Mexico product than it does with some of the other marketers that maybe are focused solely on the U.S. So I think what we're trying to say is that programs that we had in the prior year to say, South America or Asia were cut back dramatically because of where the price points are at, and that fruit ended up coming to the U.S. market instead.

因此，較大比例的墨西哥作物最終進入美國市場，而進入這些國際市場的水果則減少了。這可能對像 Mission 這樣的公司產生更大的影響，這些公司具有全球影響力，並且與墨西哥產品有更大的國際或出口計劃，而不是其他一些可能只專注於美國的營銷商，所以我我想我們想說的是，由於價格點的原因，我們去年在南美洲或亞洲的項目被大幅削減，而這些水果最終進入了美國市場。

We have next question from the line of Ben Bienvenu with Stephens.

我們有來自 Ben Bienvenu 和 Stephens 的下一個問題。

Just a follow-up question for me. You alluded to in your press release some customer wins and the addition that might contribute to volume as we move forward. Can you put any magnitude or quantification around what sort of contribution that looks like, the duration of it if it is bound by a term? And then if you could talk about either who it is or which end markets they come from, that would be helpful.

只是我的後續問題。您在新聞稿中提到贏得了一些客戶，並且隨著我們的前進，可能會增加銷售量。你能對什麼樣的貢獻進行任何大小或量化嗎？如果它受術語約束的話，它的持續時間是什麼？然後，如果您可以談論它是誰或它們來自哪些終端市場，那將會有所幫助。

(inaudible), I don't want to tell you the name, but they're major retailers that we have been doing business with before, but we've just picked up added distribution centers. Actually, it started during that shutdown in Mexico. I mean, we've been working on them to add to our list and we picked those up because we actually had product and are able to ripen and distribute to it. The good thing about this, too, these 3 distribution centers we picked up, again, are major retailers, and they want a Peru program on top of that. So it was a double win for us. They're on the East Coast.

（聽不清楚），我不想告訴您名字，但他們是我們以前與之開展業務的主要零售商，但我們剛剛增加了配送中心。事實上，它是在墨西哥停擺期間開始的。我的意思是，我們一直在努力將它們添加到我們的清單中，我們之所以選擇它們，是因為我們實際上擁有產品並且能夠成熟並分發給它。這也有一個好處，我們選擇的這 3 個配送中心都是主要零售商，他們希望在此基礎上推出秘魯計畫。所以這對我們來說是雙贏。他們在東海岸。

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 call back over to the management for closing remarks. Over to you, gentlemen.

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，並將電話轉回管理階層進行結束語。先生們，交給你們了。

Well, thanks, everyone, for your interest in Mission. Obviously, we had a challenging quarter, but we'll get this thing turned around and be back in the game soon. Thanks for your interest. Thank you for your time.

好的，謝謝大家對宣教的興趣。顯然，我們度過了一個充滿挑戰的季度，但我們很快就會扭轉局面並重返賽場。感謝您的關注。感謝您的時間。

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

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