Brown-Forman Corp (BF.B) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Brown-Forman Corporation first quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'll now hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Sue Perram, Vice President, Director of Relations. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Brown-Forman Corporation 2025 財年第一季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於僅聽模式。演講者演講結束後，將進行問答環節。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在，我將把會議交給今天的第一位發言人，副總裁兼關係總監 Sue Perram。請繼續。

Thank you and good morning, everyone. I'd like to thank each of you for joining us today for Brown-Forman's first quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings call. Joining me today are Lawson Whiting, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Leanne Cunningham, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝大家，早安。我要感謝你們今天參加 Brown-Forman 2025 財年第一季財報電話會議。今天與我一起出席的還有總裁兼執行長 Lawson Whiting 和執行副總裁兼財務長 Leanne Cunningham。

This morning's conference call contains forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. Numerous risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in these statements. Many of the factors that will determine future results are beyond the company's ability to control or predict.

今天早上的電話會議包含基於我們目前預期的前瞻性陳述。許多風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與這些聲明中預期或預期的結果有重大差異。許多決定未來結果的因素超出了公司的控製或預測能力。

You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. And except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of these statements, whether due to new information, future events or otherwise.

您不應過度依賴任何前瞻性陳述。除法律要求外，本公司不承擔更新任何這些聲明的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。

This morning, we issued a press release containing our results for the first quarter fiscal year 2025 in addition to posting presentation materials that Lawson and Leanne will walk through momentarily. Both the release and the presentation can be found on our website under the section titled Investors, Events and Presentations.

今天早上，我們發布了一份新聞稿，其中包含 2025 財年第一季的業績，此外還發布了 Lawson 和 Leanne 將立即瀏覽的簡報資料。新聞稿和簡報均可在我們網站的「投資者、活動和簡報」部分找到。

In the press release, we have listed a number of the risk factors you should consider in conjunction with our forward-looking statements. Other significant risk factors are described in our Form 10-K and Form 10-Q reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

在新聞稿中，我們列出了您應結合我們的前瞻性陳述考慮的一些風險因素。我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格報告中描述了其他重大風險因素。

During this call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures, a reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and the reasons management believes they provide useful information to investors regarding the company's financial condition and results of operations are contained in the press release and investor presentation.

在本次電話會議中，我們將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些衡量標準與最直接可比的公認會計準則財務衡量標準進行了協調，管理層認為這些衡量標準為投資者提供了有關公司財務狀況和經營業績的有用信息，這些信息均包含在新聞稿和投資者介紹中。

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Lawson.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給勞森。

Thank you, Sue, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to speak to you today about Brown-Forman's first quarter fiscal 2025 results. In June, we shared our outlook for fiscal '25 with the expectation that it would be a year of two halves. As you'll recall, we anticipated the second half of our fiscal year would be stronger than our first half on a year-over-year basis.

謝謝你，蘇，大家早安。今天很高興與您談論 Brown-Forman 2025 財年第一季的業績。 6 月，我們分享了對 25 財年的展望，預計這將是一個分為兩半的一年。您可能還記得，我們​​預計本財年下半年的年比情況將強於上半年。

As in the first half, we are comparing against strong shipments in a few emerging international markets related to the replenishment of inventory and also lapping stronger shipments that occurred prior to planned price increases. The first quarter results we're sharing with you today are in line with our expectations, and we're confident in reaffirming our full year growth outlook for fiscal '25.

與上半年一樣，我們正在與一些新興國際市場與庫存補充相關的強勁出貨量進行比較，並與計劃提價之前發生的強勁出貨量進行比較。我們今天與您分享的第一季業績符合我們的預期，我們有信心重申 25 財年的全年成長前景。

As we move into the details of the quarter, I'll provide an overview of the top line from a brand perspective and share a few insights on gross profit and margin. Then I'll turn it over to Leanne, who will share additional insights on our geographic performance as well as other financial highlights.

當我們詳細介紹本季時，我將從品牌角度概述營收情況，並分享一些關於毛利和利潤率的見解。然後我會將其交給 Leanne，她將分享有關我們的地理業績以及其他財務亮點的更多見解。

Our fiscal 2025 reported net sales declined 8%, with organic net sales decreasing 4% after adjusting for the divestitures of Finlandia and Sonoma-Cutrer in the prior fiscal year. The negative effect of foreign exchange and a change in how we manage our Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails business with Pabst Brewing Company.

我們的 2025 財年淨銷售額下降了 8%，在對上一財年芬蘭迪亞和索諾瑪-卡特勒的剝離進行調整後，有機淨銷售額下降了 4%。外匯的負面影響以及我們與帕布斯特釀酒公司管理傑克丹尼鄉村雞尾酒業務的方式的變化。

We haven't talked about Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails for a while. So let me take a few moments to explain that last point. As you may recall, in fiscal '21, we entered into a partnership with the Pabst Brewing Company for the supply, sales and distribution of Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails in the United States. At that time, Brown-Forman continued to produce certain formats of this refreshing ready-to-drink beverage.

我們有一段時間沒有談論傑克丹尼鄉村雞尾酒了。因此，讓我花一些時間來解釋最後一點。您可能還記得，在 21 財年，我們與 Pabst Brewing Company 建立了合作夥伴關係，在美國供應、銷售和分銷 Jack Daniel's 鄉村雞尾酒。當時，Brown-Forman 繼續生產這種清爽的即飲飲料的某些規格。

But during fiscal '24, we transferred production of all Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails products to Pabst Brewing Company, and as a result, our sales related to Brown-Forman produced Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails products are significantly lower compared to the prior year period.

但在 24 財年，我們將所有 Jack Daniel's 鄉村雞尾酒產品的生產轉移到了 Pabst Brewing Company，因此，我們與 Brown-Forman 生產的 Jack Daniel's 鄉村雞尾酒產品相關的銷售額與去年同期相比顯著下降。

In the quarter, Diplomatico Rum, Old Forester and Woodford Reserve, along with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Apple were the largest positive contributors to organic net sales. This growth was more than offset by a decline for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.

本季度，外交朗姆酒、Old Forester 和 Woodford Reserve，以及 Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey 和 Jack Daniel's Tennessee Apple 是有機淨銷售額的最大積極貢獻者。這一增長被傑克丹尼田納西威士忌的下滑所抵消。

First, to our most recent acquisitions. Diplomatico Rum delivered very strong results in the first three months of the year, largely related to the timing of ordering patterns in the prior year period, which created an easier comparison. Gin Mare was also impacted by the timing of ordering patterns in the prior year period, but this created a tougher comparison and led to a slight decrease in organic net sales.

首先，我們最近的收購。外交朗姆酒在今年前三個月取得了非常強勁的業績，這很大程度上與去年同期的訂購模式時間有關，這使得比較變得更容易。 Gin Mare 也受到上一年期間訂購模式時間的影響，但這造成了更嚴格的比較，並導致有機淨銷售額略有下降。

Naturally, there is a higher level of volatility in the trends as the trend only reflects three months of data. Importantly, in the first quarter of fiscal '25, shipments are largely in line with depletions, and we continue to believe that we'll benefit from having a full year of growth from these outstanding super-premium brands in our portfolio.

當然，趨勢的波動性較高，因為趨勢僅反映了三個月的數據。重要的是，在 25 財年第一季度，出貨量基本上與消耗量一致，我們仍然相信，我們將受益於我們投資組合中這些出色的超高端品牌的全年增長。

Old Forester, our founding brand delivered strong double digit organic net sales growth as the brand benefited from increased volume and our pricing strategy. The brand continues to be incredibly popular with whiskey consumers, as evidenced by the over 100,000 entries that were received on the first day of the Old Forester birthday Bourbon sweepstakes, which gives participants a chance to purchase one bottle at $199.99 at the Old Forester distillery in Louisville, Kentucky.

我們的創始品牌 Old Forester 受益於銷售量的增加和我們的定價策略，實現了強勁的兩位數有機淨銷售成長。該品牌仍然深受威士忌消費者的歡迎，老森林人生日波本抽獎活動第一天就收到了超過 100,000 份參賽作品，參與者有機會在老森林人釀酒廠以 199.99 美元的價格購買一瓶。路易斯維爾。

The demand is so high for this special release, we were fortunate to be able to increase the number of bottles available, which is probably welcome news to anyone that has been trying to add a bottle of birthday Bourbon to their home bar. For more than 150 years, we've aspired to uphold George Garvin Brown's founding promise that there's nothing that are in the market. I want to wish good luck to everyone who entered the sweepstakes as I think they will announce winners in downtown Louisville today.

對這款特別酒的需求如此之高，我們很幸運能夠增加可用瓶數，這對於那些一直試圖在自己的家庭酒吧添加一瓶生日波本威士忌的人來說可能是個好消息。 150 多年來，我們致力於恪守喬治·加文·布朗 (George Garvin Brown) 的創始承諾：市場上沒有任何東西。我想祝所有參加抽獎的人好運，因為我認為他們今天將在路易斯維爾市中心宣布獲獎者。

I'm also pleased to report that organic net sales growth continued for Woodford Reserve, the number one super-premium American whiskey globally. This performance was driven by higher volume in the United States, even when total distilled spirits trends remained well below historical levels. Of the top 20, total distilled spirits brands in the United States, only two are growing in the past 13-week takeaway results and Woodford Reserve is one of them.

我還很高興地報告，全球排名第一的超優質美國威士忌 Woodford Reserve 的有機淨銷售額持續成長。這一業績是由美國銷量增加所推動的，即使蒸餾酒總量趨勢仍遠低於歷史水準。在美國排名前 20 名的蒸餾酒品牌中，只有兩個在過去 13 週的外賣業績中實現增長，Woodford Reserve 就是其中之一。

This speaks to the strength of the brand and also the challenges many in our industry are facing in the current environment. Both Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Apple delivered mid-single digit organic net sales growth led by Brazil as well as Turkiye, even as Tennessee Apple was lapping its prior year launch in Korea. In Brazil, we continued our strategic geographic expansion efforts, investing more efficiently with bolder and bigger activities and high engagement content for the consumer.

這說明了品牌的實力，也說明了我們產業中許多人在當前環境下面臨的挑戰。傑克丹尼的田納西蜂蜜和傑克丹尼的田納西蘋果都實現了中等個位數的有機淨銷售額增長，其中巴西和土耳其帶動了增長，儘管田納西蘋果在韓國推出的產品剛剛好於去年。在巴西，我們繼續進行策略性地域擴張，透過更大膽、規模更大的活動以及為消費者提供高參與度的內容，更有效地進行投資。

Turning now to Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Organic net sales declined 6%, driven by lower volumes led by the United States, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom, partially offset by an increase in volume in Japan following the transition to own distribution and higher prices in Turkiye. As I mentioned in my opening comments, this decline was expected.

現在轉向傑克丹尼爾田納西威士忌。由於美國、阿拉伯聯合大公國和英國引領的銷量下降，有機淨銷售額下降了 6%，但部分被日本轉向自營分銷後銷量的增加以及土耳其價格上漲所抵消。正如我在開場白中提到的，這種下降是可以預料的。

In the year-ago period, the United States and the United Kingdom experienced a shift in ordering patterns as inventory was purchased ahead of a price increase in the US and an excise tax increase in the UK. In addition, in the United Arab Emirates, we faced a tough comparison against the strong shipments in the year ago period due to the replenishment of inventory.

去年同期，美國和英國的訂購模式發生了轉變，因為在美國價格上漲和英國消費稅增加之前購買了庫存。此外，在阿拉伯聯合大公國，由於庫存補充，我們面臨與去年同期強勁出貨量的嚴峻對比。

As you'll recall, with supply chain disruptions we experienced, the emerging markets were among the last of the markets to be replenished. We continue to believe that Jack Daniel's has a significant runway for long-term growth despite the recent short-term headwinds. We continue to invest behind the brand and have strategies and plans in place to engage a new generation of legal drinking age consumers while retaining our core consumers, including the Make It Count global campaign, the McLaren Formula 1 sponsorship and the Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola RTD.

您可能還記得，由於我們經歷了供應鏈中斷，新興市場是最後補充的市場之一。我們仍然相信，儘管近期出現短期阻力，傑克丹尼仍擁有重要的長期成長空間。我們繼續在品牌背後進行投資，並製定策略和計劃來吸引新一代合法飲酒年齡的消費者，同時留住我們的核心消費者，包括「Make It Count」全球活動、麥克拉倫一級方程式贊助以及傑克丹尼和可口可樂-可樂 RTD。

We're also investing more in short-term activations within the on and off-premise channels and events such as music festivals and McLaren races, globally. Music has been an important part of the Jack Daniels relevance and pop culture and was recently featured in the mega hit, a bar song, also known as Tipsy by singer Shaboozey. The song was released in April and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and other countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

我們也在全球的內部和外部管道和活動（例如音樂節和麥克拉倫比賽）中加大對短期活化的投資。音樂一直是傑克丹尼 (Jack Daniels) 相關性和流行文化的重要組成部分，最近在熱門酒吧歌曲（歌手 Shaboozey 的《Tipsy》）中得到了體現。該歌曲於四月發行，並在美國以及澳大利亞、加拿大、愛爾蘭、挪威和瑞典等其他國家的公告牌百強單曲榜上排名第一。

Our global sponsorship of McLaren racing is also on display with a top three finished for McLaren and 12 of the 15 races held in calendar 2024, with the cars, race suits and the team garage featuring increased branding for Jack Daniel's. There are two upcoming races in the United States: one in Austin in October, and then Las Vegas in November. We'll be cheering on team McLaren to victory.

我們對麥克拉倫賽車的全球贊助也得到了展示，麥克拉倫獲得了前三名，並在2024 年舉行的15 場比賽中佔據了12 場，賽車、賽車服和車隊車庫都增加了Jack Daniel's的品牌形象。美國即將舉行兩場比賽：一場於 10 月在奧斯汀舉行，另一場於 11 月在拉斯維加斯舉行。我們將為麥克拉倫車隊的勝利歡呼。

In addition, we're continuing the geographic expansion of the Jack Daniel's family of brands and are well positioned to capture the global growth of American whiskey as evidenced by our share growth in markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Mexico and Brazil.

此外，我們正在繼續傑克丹尼品牌系列的地域擴張，並處於有利地位，可以抓住美國威士忌的全球成長趨勢，我們在英國、澳洲、波蘭、墨西哥和巴西等市場的份額成長就證明了這一點。

Before moving on, I'll provide a brief update on the continued expansion of the Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola RTD. While growth in the Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola launch continued to be offset by the planned declines in Jack & Cola, which makes it difficult to evaluate the brand from an external perspective, but we are very pleased as we enter our 2nd year.

在繼續之前，我將簡要介紹傑克丹尼和可口可樂 RTD 的持續擴張情況。雖然傑克丹尼和可口可樂的銷售成長繼續被傑克可樂的計劃下降所抵消，這使得從外部角度評估該品牌變得困難，但我們對進入第二年感到非常高興。

We continue to add new markets expanding further throughout Europe as well as launching in South Africa and additional Latin American markets, and plan to launch in India in September and expect to be in more than 30 markets by the end of calendar '24.

我們繼續增加新市場，進一步拓展整個歐洲，並在南非和其他拉丁美洲市場推出，並計劃於 9 月在印度推出，預計到 24 月底將進入 30 多個市場。

In addition to geographic growth, we're also innovating. In the US, the first displays of Jack and Coke Cherry are beginning to appear. Jack and Coke Cherry will be a limited time offering intended to generate interest and intention for the family of Jack Daniel's RTDs as well as the full-strength family of brands. We will also be introducing a variety pack, as package formats and flavors are vital to the ready to drink category and further address the consumer trends of convenience and flavor.

除了地域成長之外，我們還在創新。在美國，Jack 和 Coke Cherry 的首次展示開始出現。 Jack and Coke Cherry 將是限時產品，旨在激發 Jack Daniel 的 RTD 系列以及全實力品牌系列的興趣和意圖。我們還將推出多種包裝，因為包裝形式和口味對於即飲類別至關重要，並進一步迎合便利性和風味的消費趨勢。

The Jack Daniel's and Coca Cola RTD has been a great addition to our portfolio, which is, as you know, we have been very strategically reshaping over the past couple of decades to focus on premium and super-premium brands.

傑克丹尼和可口可樂 RTD 是我們產品組合的重要補充，正如您所知，我們在過去幾十年中一直在策略性地重塑，以專注於高端和超高端品牌。

Before turning the call over to Leanne, I'd also like to provide some additional perspective on our gross profit and margin. In the first quarter of fiscal '25, our reported gross profit decreased 13% and organic decreased 8%, resulting in a gross margin of 59.4%. This gross margin contraction is largely due to timing. As we have shared previously, following the divestitures of Finlandia and Sonoma-Cutrer, we entered into a transition service agreement with the buyers to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.

在將電話轉給 Leanne 之前，我還想就我們的毛利和利潤率提供一些額外的觀點。在 25 財年第一季度，我們報告的毛利下降了 13%，有機利潤下降了 8%，毛利率為 59.4%。毛利率下降主要是因為時機所致。正如我們之前所分享的，在芬蘭迪亞和索諾瑪-卡特勒剝離之後，我們與買家簽訂了過渡服務協議，以確保平穩有序的過渡。

These agreements had a negative effect on our overall reported gross margin as the gross margin for these services agreements was significantly lower than the sale of finished goods. This was the main driver of the 140 basis point negative impact from A&D. Overall costs negatively impacted reported gross margin by 440 basis points, largely influenced by inventory levels and the timing of input cost fluctuations.

這些協議對我們報告的整體毛利率產生了負面影響，因為這些服務協議的毛利率明顯低於成品銷售的毛利率。這是 A&D 造成 140 個基點負面影響的主要驅動因素。總體成本對報告的毛利率產生了 440 個基點的負面影響，這主要受到庫存水準和投入成本波動時間的影響。

In the first quarter of fiscal '25, we continued to reduce our finished goods inventories on a year-over-year basis. The finished goods that supported our first quarter sales were at a higher cost compared to the year ago period due to the timing of input, cost fluctuations, particularly for our tequila brands as we work through the higher cost inventory. Leanne will share more details regarding our outlook. But I'll share now that we do anticipate the headwinds in the first half will become tailwinds in the second half of the year.

在 25 財年第一季度，我們繼續同比減少製成品庫存。由於投入時間和成本波動，支持我們第一季銷售的製成品成本高於去年同期，特別是對於我們的龍舌蘭酒品牌來說，因為我們正在處理成本較高的庫存。 Leanne 將分享有關我們前景的更多細節。但我現在要分享的是，我們確實預計上半年的逆風將在下半年變成順風。

Favorable product mix with price mix contributed 200 basis points in the first quarter. There was also a positive impact to reported gross margin of 70 basis points from the recent business model change for Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails. This is an example of how we continually look for efficiencies and opportunities to improve our production and supply chain. And these tailwinds, though, are more than offset by the headwinds from A&D and the timing of costs.

有利的產品組合和價格組合在第一季貢獻了 200 個基點。 Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails 最近的業務模式變化也對報告的毛利率產生了 70 個基點的正面影響。這是我們如何不斷尋求效率和機會來改善生產和供應鏈的一個例子。然而，這些有利因素被航空航太與國防和成本時機的不利因素所抵消。

In summary, the start to our fiscal '25 was as we expected, and we believe we're positioned to achieve our full year guidance. We're still operating in a highly dynamic environment yet our portfolio remains well positioned, our geographic reach is broad, and our team members are immensely talented and highly dedicated to growing our business. This has enabled us to navigate short-term volatility and uncertainty as we focus on the long-term growth of our business.

總之，25 財年的開局符合我們的預期，我們相信我們有能力實現全年指引。我們仍然在一個高度動態的環境中運營，但我們的產品組合仍然定位良好，我們的地理覆蓋範圍廣泛，我們的團隊成員才華橫溢，並高度致力於發展我們的業務。這使我們能夠在專注於業務的長期成長的同時應對短期波動和不確定性。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Leanne and she'll provide more details on our first quarter results.

這樣，我會將電話轉給 Leanne，她將提供有關我們第一季業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, Lawson, and good morning, everyone. As Lawson mentioned, I will provide additional details on our geographic performance, other financial highlights as well as our fiscal 2025 outlook. From a geographic perspective, organic net sales for our developed international markets collectively declined 6% in the first quarter, as growth in Japan was more than offset by declines in the United Kingdom and Germany.

謝謝勞森，大家早安。正如 Lawson 所提到的，我將提供有關我們的地理業績、其他財務亮點以及 2025 財年展望的更多詳細資訊。從地理角度來看，第一季我們已開發國際市場的有機淨銷售額總體下降了 6%，因為日本的成長被英國和德國的下降所抵消。

As expected, Japan returned to growth following our route-to-consumer change to own distribution on April 01, 2024. We are now recognizing the benefits of owning our distribution, including the execution of our pricing strategy. We are very pleased with the transition and want to thank all of our dedicated team members for their contribution to this success.

正如預期的那樣，在我們於 2024 年 4 月 1 日將面向消費者的路線改為自有分銷之後，日本恢復了增長。我們對這一轉變感到非常高興，並感謝我們所有敬業的團隊成員為這項成功做出的貢獻。

For the UK and Germany, lower volumes of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey had the largest impact on performance. In the UK, the results of this quarter compared against higher volumes in the year ago period related to purchases ahead of the excise tax increase. And in Germany, annual pricing negotiations lasted longer than its typical but have now been completed as of the end of June.

對英國和德國來說，傑克丹尼田納西威士忌銷量下降對業績的影響最大。在英國，本季的業績與去年同期相比，與消費稅上調前的購買量有關。在德國，年度定價談判的持續時間比通常情況要長，但現已於 6 月底完成。

In the United States, organic net sales decreased 4% as lower volumes of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey were partly offset by growth of Woodford Reserve and Old Forester, with both of these brands having takeaway trends that are outperforming the American whiskey category. As Lawson has already highlighted the drivers of these brands in his remarks, I will provide a few additional comments on the inventory and consumer environment.

在美國，有機淨銷售額下降了 4%，原因是 Jack Daniel 田納西威士忌銷量的下降被 Woodford Reserve 和 Old Forester 的成長所部分抵消，這兩個品牌的外送趨勢都優於美國威士忌類別。由於勞森已經在演講中強調了這些品牌的驅動因素，我將就庫存和消費環境提供一些額外的評論。

Just a quick reminder. From our June call, distributor inventory levels were largely at normal levels throughout fiscal 2024, with movement to the low end or just below the normal range in our fourth quarter. Consistent with our expectations, distributors are continuing to target the low end of their normal range as higher inflation and interest rates are impacting the consumer and trade.

只是一個快速提醒。從我們 6 月的電話會議來看，整個 2024 財年經銷商庫存水準基本上處於正常水平，第四季則降至低端或略低於正常範圍。與我們的預期一致，由於通膨和利率上升正在影響消費者和貿易，分銷商將繼續瞄準正常範圍的低端。

From a takeaway perspective, trends for total distilled spirits as well as Brown-Forman remain below the long-term historical rates of growth. While rates of growth are moderating, the premiumization trend continues to persist with higher price tiers continuing to grow value and maintain share as value price brands are losing share to RTDs. The growth in the $40 and above price tiers are driven largely by the US whiskey and tequila categories.

從外賣的角度來看，全蒸餾酒和布朗福曼的趨勢仍然低於長期歷史成長率。雖然成長率正在放緩，但高端化趨勢持續存在，較高價格層的價值持續成長，並保持份額，而高價品牌的份額正在被 RTD 奪走。 40 美元及以上價位的成長主要是由美國威士忌和龍舌蘭酒類別所推動的。

Collectively, organic net sales for our emerging international markets, which lapped a 32% increase in the year ago period, declined by 5% driven by a decline in Mexico, led by new mix in our tequila portfolio, as the economic environment is decelerating, and consumers are trading down. Despite the decelerating conditions, we continue to outperform and gained market share across the channels, driven by strong takeaway in RTDs and whiskey.

總體而言，我們新興國際市場的有機淨銷售額去年同期成長了 32%，但由於經濟環境正在減速，墨西哥的銷售下降（以龍舌蘭投資組合的新組合為首），下降了 5%。消費者的交易量也在下降。儘管經濟形勢放緩，但在即飲飲料和威士忌的強勁外賣推動下，我們的表現繼續優於大市，並在各個通路中獲得了市場份額。

We also had lower volumes of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey in the United Arab Emirates as we lap the strong shipments from the replenishment of inventory in the year-ago period. These declines were partially offset by growth in Turkiye, driven by higher prices as well as Brazil, where Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Apple and Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey are benefiting from the growth of the premium plus whiskey category, geographic expansion and the launch of an additional package size for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.

我們在阿拉伯聯合大公國的傑克丹尼田納西威士忌銷量也有所下降，因為我們去年期間補充庫存帶來了強勁的出貨量。這些下降被土耳其和巴西的增長所部分抵消，後者受到價格上漲的推動，巴西的傑克丹尼田納西威士忌、傑克丹尼田納西蘋果和傑克丹尼田納西蜂蜜都受益於優質威士忌品類的增長、地理擴張和推出額外包裝尺寸的傑克丹尼田納西威士忌。

And lastly, organic net sales in the travel retail channel decreased 8% as the channel compared against the strong growth from our super-premium brands, particularly Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel's Single Barrel in the year ago period. Growth of Diplomatico along with our Single Malt Scotchs partially offset the decline. Importantly, consumer takeaway remains strong and global travel retail accounts.

最後，與我們的超高端品牌（尤其是去年同期的 Woodford Reserve 和 Jack Daniel's Single Barrel）的強勁成長相比，旅遊零售通路的有機淨銷售額下降了 8%。 Diplomatico 和我們的單一麥芽蘇格蘭威士忌的成長部分抵消了下降的影響。重要的是，消費者外送和全球旅遊零售帳戶依然強勁。

Lawson had shared the details of our gross profit and margin for the quarter. So I will now turn to our operating expenses and operating income. In the first quarter, organic advertising expenses decreased 1% as we lapped a 14% increase in the year ago period. As a reminder, the increased spend in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 was largely due to the timing of our spend to support the launch of the Jack Daniel's and Coca-Cola RTD, which was skewed to the first few months of the fiscal year.

勞森分享了我們本季毛利和利潤率的詳細資訊。現在我將談談我們的營運費用和營運收入。第一季度，有機廣告費用下降了 1%，而去年同期成長了 14%。提醒一下，2024 財年第一季支出的增加主要是由於我們為支持 Jack Daniel's 和可口可樂 RTD 的推出而支出的時間安排，這一時間偏向於本財年的前幾個月。

And our organic SG&A investment decreased 5% as we compared against a 12% increase in the year ago period, which reflected higher compensation related expenses related to organizational changes, including our route to consumer expansions. In total, reported and organic operating income decreased 14% and 13%, respectively in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. These results led to a 14% and diluted earnings per share decrease to $0.41 per share.

與去年同期成長 12% 相比，我們的有機 SG&A 投資下降了 5%，這反映出與組織變革（包括我們的消費者擴張路線）相關的薪酬相關費用增加。總體而言，2025 財年第一季的報告營業收入和有機營業收入分別下降了 14% 和 13%。

And finally, to our fiscal 2025 outlook, which we are reaffirming. We anticipate a return to growth for organic net sales and organic operating income in fiscal 2025, driven by gains in international markets and the benefit of normalizing inventory trends on a year-over-year basis. This outlook is tempered by our belief that the operating environment ahead will remain challenging and volatile with global macro economic and geopolitical uncertainties.

最後，我們重申了 2025 財年的展望。我們預計，在國際市場成長以及庫存趨勢年正常化的推動下，2025 財年有機淨銷售額和有機營業收入將恢復成長。我們相信，由於全球宏觀經濟和地緣政治的不確定性，未來的經營環境將仍然充滿挑戰和波動，因此這一前景受到了影響。

In this environment, we are not forecasting significant changes in the level of trade inventories as the impacts from inflation and higher interest rates on the consumer and trade are expected to continue. We also continue to forecast that fiscal 2025 will be a year of two halves. In our first quarter, on a year-over-year basis, we compared against the strong shipments in a few emerging international markets as well as lapping stronger shipments associated with the execution of our pricing strategy.

在這種環境下，我們預計貿易庫存水準不會發生重大變化，因為通膨和利率上升對消費者和貿易的影響預計將持續。我們也繼續預測 2025 財年將是分為兩半的一年。在第一季度，與去年同期相比，我們與一些新興國際市場的強勁出貨量以及與執行我們的定價策略相關的強勁出貨量進行了比較。

In the second quarter, with the majority of the movements in inventory across the distributor, retailer and consumer supply chain behind us, we believe our results will more closely reflect total distilled spirits trends. We expect the second half of the year to be stronger as we anticipate that we will benefit from having a full year of growth from our outstanding new brands of Gin Mare and Diplomatico. And we will begin to compare against the softening of total distilled spirits trends in the year ago period.

在第二季度，隨著經銷商、零售商和消費者供應鏈的大部分庫存變動過去，我們相信我們的業績將更密切地反映蒸餾酒的整體趨勢。我們預計今年下半年會更加強勁，因為我們預計我們將受益於我們出色的新品牌 Gin Mare 和 Diplomatico 的全年成長。我們將開始與去年同期蒸餾酒總量趨勢的疲軟進行比較。

We remain confident in the strength of our portfolio, along with our pricing strategy and the further globalization of our entire portfolio across vast geographies. Therefore, we continue to expect organic net sales growth in the 2% to 4% range, driven by our emerging and developed international markets.

我們對我們的投資組合的實力、我們的定價策略以及我們整個投資組合在廣大地區的進一步全球化充滿信心。因此，在新興和已開發國際市場的推動下，我們繼續預期有機淨銷售額成長在 2% 至 4% 範圍內。

We also continue to expect reported gross margin expansion in fiscal 2025 with sequential improvement as we believe we will benefit from price mix that the evolution of our portfolio, which includes the addition of two super premium brands, Gin Mare and Diplomatico and the divestiture of lower margin brands, Finlandia and Sonoma-Cutrer.

我們也繼續預計2025 財年的毛利率將有所成長，並持續改善，因為我們相信我們將受益於我們產品組合演變的價格組合，其中包括增加兩個超高端品牌Gin Mare 和Diplomatico 以及剝離較低的品牌邊緣品牌，Finlandia 和 Sonoma-Cutrer。

Price mix should also continue to benefit from our revenue growth management activities. In addition, transition services agreements typically last approximately 12 months. So they should come to an end in our second half, which will remove the A&D headwind that Lawson highlighted in his remarks. And while costs were higher in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 compared to the year ago period, this is largely due to the timing of input cost fluctuations particularly for our tequila brands.

價格組合也應繼續受益於我們的收入成長管理活動。此外，過渡服務協議通常持續約 12 個月。因此，它們應該在我們的下半場結束，這將消除勞森在演講中強調的 A&D 逆風。雖然 2025 財年第一季的成本高於去年同期，但這主要是由於投入成本波動的時間，特別是我們的龍舌蘭酒品牌。

For these brands, we still expect to benefit from lower agave prices for the full year as we work through our higher cost inventory. As we previously shared, we continue to expect that the benefit will be more than offset by the impact of inflation on our input cost and lower production volumes.

對於這些品牌，我們仍預計將受益於全年較低的龍舌蘭價格，因為我們正在處理成本較高的庫存。正如我們之前分享的那樣，我們仍然預計，通膨對我們的投入成本和產量下降的影響將足以抵消這一收益。

Our outlook for organic operating expenses reflects continued investment behind our brands and our team to unlock future growth leading to growth generally in line with our top line growth. Based on the above, we continue to forecast organic operating income growth in the 2% to 4% range.

我們對有機營運費用的展望反映了我們對品牌和團隊的持續投資，以釋放未來的成長，從而實現與我們的營收成長基本一致的成長。基於上述所述，我們繼續預測有機營業收入成長在 2% 至 4% 範圍內。

We also expect our effective tax rate to be in the range of approximately 21% to 23% and that our estimated capital expenditures will be in the range of $195 million to $205 million for the full year as we continue to fully invest behind our business to meet what we believe will be the future consumer demand for our brands over the long term.

我們也預計，我們的有效稅率將在約 21% 至 23% 的範圍內，隨著我們繼續全力投資於我們的業務，我們預計全年的資本支出將在 1.95 億美元至 2.05 億美元之間。滿足我們認為未來消費者對我們品牌的長期需求。

And lastly, as a reminder, in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, we will begin to reflect our equity shares of the Duckhorn portfolio's earnings or losses as a line item below the operating income line of our P&L based on the equity method one quarter in arrears.

最後，提醒一下，在 2025 財年第二季度，我們將開始根據 2025 財年第二季度的權益法，將 Duckhorn 投資組合收益或虧損中的權益份額作為一個項目反映在損益表營業收入線下方。欠款。

In summary, our fiscal 2025 started off as we expected. The first quarter results reflect the current consumer demand environment, along with a few remaining unusual comparisons against the very strong shipments in the year ago period. While our short term organic results in the quarter were below our historical trends, we believe our brands and our business are healthy.

總而言之，2025 財年的開局符合我們的預期。第一季的業績反映了當前的消費者需求環境，以及與去年同期非常強勁的出貨量進行的一些不尋常的比較。雖然我們本季的短期有機業績低於歷史趨勢，但我們相信我們的品牌和業務是健康的。

Lawson. I would again like to thank all of our team members for their continued dedication and contributions in navigating the dynamic operating environment that continues to normalize from the historic manner in which we started this decade.

勞森。我要再次感謝我們所有團隊成員在駕馭充滿活力的營運環境方面所做出的持續奉獻和貢獻，該環境從我們本十年開始的歷史性方式繼續正常化。

As we look ahead to our fiscal year, we remain confident in our ability to deliver our near term goals as we continue to focus on executing our long-term strategy and building Brown-Forman for generations to come.

展望本財年，我們對實現近期目標的能力仍然充滿信心，因為我們將繼續專注於執行長期策略並為子孫後代建立 Brown-Forman。

This concludes our prepared remarks. Please open the line for questions.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。請打開提問專線。

(Operator Instructions) Peter Grom, UBS.

（操作員說明）Peter Grom，UBS。

Thanks, operator. Good morning, everyone. So you both mentioned, and you guys touched on it in the release that 1Q was in line with your expectations. But just in the context of a challenging start to the year, organic sales down 4%, can you maybe just speak to the confidence or visibility you have in achieving the full year target? I totally understand the comparisons get easier and you always anticipated growth being stronger in the second half. But just any thoughts on kind of just the key building blocks from maybe from a category perspective or whatnot?

謝謝，接線生。大家早安。所以你們都提到，你們在發布中提到了第一季符合你們的預期。但在今年開局充滿挑戰、有機銷售額下降 4% 的背景下，您能否談談您對實現全年目標的信心或能見度？我完全理解比較變得更容易，而且您總是預期下半年的成長會更加強勁。但是，從類別角度或其他角度來看，對關鍵建置模組有什麼想法嗎？

And then just Leanne, you mentioned 2Q growth will be more in line with category trends. At least in the data that we can see, they still seem pretty challenged. So is the expectation you would still expect organic sales to be down in the second quarter with a return to growth in the second half or it might -- or should we expect maybe better performance in the second half versus maybe what I just outlined? Thanks.

Leanne，您提到第二季的成長將更符合類別趨勢。至少從我們看到的數據來看，他們似乎仍然面臨很大的挑戰。那麼，您是否仍預計第二季的自然銷售會下降，而下半年會恢復成長，或者我們是否應該期望下半年的表現可能會比我剛才概述的更好？謝謝。

All right. Great. Thanks, Peter. Again, I'll just start with reiterate a few things of this. We do expect this to be the year of two halves. We do expect to see sequential improvement through the rest of the fiscal year. With our first quarter results, were as expected. The second quarter, as you said, we mentioned, we do believe they more closely reflects the total distilled spirits and where they are. That's more from the -- if you look at the US trends, that's kind of where we are.

好的。偉大的。謝謝，彼得。再次，我將首先重申其中的一些事情。我們確實預計今年將是兩半的一年。我們確實預期在本財年剩餘時間內會持續改善。我們第一季的業績符合預期。正如您所說，我們提到第二季度，我們確實相信它們更準確地反映了蒸餾酒的總量及其所在位置。這更多來自——如果你看看美國的趨勢，那就是我們所處的位置。

And for the second half, we're going to benefit from the full year impact of Gin Mare and Diplomatico. Importantly, a few other things we will begin to compare against the softening of the total distilled spirits in the year ago period, which was significant in our second half last year. Our costs from a cost perspective, we will continue to move through a higher cost inventory early in the year. That's largely related to our tequila business as our cost of agave is actually falling faster than we can move through our inventory, but we'll get to that benefit.

下半年，我們將受益於 Gin Mare 和 Diplomatico 的全年影響。重要的是，我們將開始將其他一些事情與去年同期蒸餾酒總量的疲軟進行比較，這在去年下半年很重要。從成本角度來看，我們將在今年年初繼續調整成本較高的庫存。這在很大程度上與我們的龍舌蘭酒業務有關，因為我們的龍舌蘭成本實際上下降的速度快於我們的庫存移動速度，但我們將獲得這一好處。

And then I think we have to remind ourselves of where -- there are some absence of some unusual one-time items, which for F '24 would have been the negative impact of the transition of Jack & Cola out of our system into the Coca-Cola system in the UK, lapping the impact of transitioning of Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails production as well as in F '25, it's about the return of our organic growth in Japan with our own distribution, and also lapping some other emerging international markets such as the UAE -- now that they've got their inventories at more normal levels.

然後我認為我們必須提醒自己 - 缺少一些不尋常的一次性物品，對於 F '24 來說，這可能是傑克可樂從我們的系統過渡到可口可樂的負面影響-英國的可樂系統，吸收了傑克丹尼鄉村雞尾酒生產轉型的影響以及F '25，這是關於我們通過自己的分銷在日本的有機增長的回歸，並且還吸收了其他一些新興國際市場，例如作為阿聯酋- 現在他們的庫存已達到更正常的水平。

And in the year ago period, as we look at our innovation pipeline, the impact that would have, I think is important to note that -- and we were intentional about saying we believe our growth will come from international markets. And when we look at how we're thinking about that, all of them are below what we would consider our long-term growth algorithm.

在一年前的時期，當我們審視我們的創新管道時，我認為值得注意的是，我們有意表示我們相信我們的成長將來自國際市場。當我們審視我們的想法時，所有這些都低於我們認為的長期成長演算法。

Great. Thank you so much, and I'll pass it on.

偉大的。非常感謝你，我會把它轉達給你。

Andrea Teixeira, JPMorgan.

安德里亞·特謝拉，摩根大通。

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. I just want to follow up in terms of like the cadence and how the inventory levels have been flowing through? I guess you mentioned on the press release and now also the fact that some of your wholesalers have been more cautious and keeping inventory levels well. What are you seeing on the trade? And also, what are you seeing from an on-premise and off-premise perspective, right?

謝謝接線員，大家早安。我只想跟進節奏以及庫存水準如何流動？我想您在新聞稿中提到過，現在也提到您的一些批發商更加謹慎並保持良好的庫存水準。您在交易中看到了什麼？而且，您從內部和外部的角度看到了什麼，對吧？

So part of the inventory buildup is also in the pantry. So can you talk about how you felt the quarter evolved as you get into the fiscal second quarter, and the balance of the year, how we should be thinking of those dynamics from a consumer takeaway standpoint? Thank you.

因此，部分庫存積壓也存在於食品儲藏室。那麼，您能否談談，隨著進入第二財季以及今年的剩餘時間，您認為該季度的演變如何，我們應該如何從消費者外賣的角度來考慮這些動態？謝謝。

Yeah, I'll start with the first part of your question, Andrea. And we believe in general, again, our distributors are continuing to target the low end of their normal range, and that retailers have adjusted their inventory levels in response to the consumer takeaway remaining below its historical ranges, and of course, in the high-interest rate environment.

是的，我將從你問題的第一部分開始，安德里亞。我們再次相信，總體而言，我們的分銷商將繼續瞄準正常範圍的低端，並且零售商已經調整了庫存水平，以應對消費者外賣仍然低於其歷史範圍，當然，在高位 -利率環境。

You can see on our schedule B. For us, our depletions are in line with our shipments. So really now, we've continued to say that this is really about consumer demand, as they pull the inventory through from supplier to distributor, to retailer. Will say in the US, we have been, and we continue to work really, really closely with our distributor partners.

您可以在我們的時間表 B 上看到。所以現在，我們繼續說這實際上與消費者需求有關，因為他們將庫存從供應商轉移到分銷商，再到零售商。可以說，在美國，我們一直並將繼續與我們的經銷商合作夥伴進行非常非常密切的合作。

And then as we said, we're not forecasting any significant changes in the level of trade inventories as we expect the impact on the consumer and the trade to continue as it has been.

正如我們所說，我們預計貿易庫存水準不會發生任何重大變化，因為我們預計對消費者和貿易的影響將持續下去。

I'll just finish out on inventory. As in Europe, we own the greatest part of our own distribution. So our stock levels there are normal, and we feel good with where we are also in Latin America.

我將完成庫存。就像在歐洲一樣，我們擁有自己發行版的最大部分。所以我們的庫存水準是正常的，我們對拉丁美洲的情況也感覺良好。

From a Brown-Forman internal perspective, on a year-over-year basis, we have made progress in reducing our finished goods whip and raw material on a year-over-year basis, inventory levels.

從 Brown-Forman 內部的角度來看，與去年同期相比，我們在減少成品鞭子和原材料庫存水平方面取得了進展。

Yeah. We had on a little bit through obviously inventory levels, particularly at the consumer level have been jumping around and we spent a lot of time last quarter talking about that. And I know, I remember, you wrote about it. But where we are today, I think is interesting. So I'm going to talk about -- this is about the US first and then we can go down Europe path if you want to.

是的。我們的庫存水準明顯有所上升，特別是在消費者層面，我們上個季度花了很多時間討論這個問題。我知道，我記得，你寫過這件事。但我認為我們今天所處的位置很有趣。所以我要談談——首先是關於美國，然後如果你願意的話，我們可以沿著歐洲的道路走下去。

So total distilled spirits in the US. Right now, Nielsen and NABCA are both flat, essentially. This time last year, Nielsen was at plus 5.7. So it has gone from 5.7. It got to zero. It felt like overnight last fall and contributed to what was the very weak Christmas that the industry and Brown-Forman had last year. But it is still interesting how quickly it fell off. In our last call, we talked a lot about why, and we went through the big three, the cannabis, the GLP-1s and Gen Z, and why we feel those are not the key drivers that these are not structural changes.

美國的蒸餾酒都是如此。目前，尼爾森和 NABCA 基本上都持平。去年這個時候，尼爾森的評分為+5.7。所以它已經從5.7開始了。它歸零了。去年秋天的感覺就像是一夜之間，導致了去年該行業和布朗福曼公司的聖誕節非常疲軟。但有趣的是它脫落的速度有多快。在上次電話會議中，我們討論了許多原因，我們討論了大麻、GLP-1 和 Z 世代這三巨頭，以及為什麼我們認為這些不是結構性變化的關鍵驅動因素。

But it really comes down to consumer spending and consumer inventories. And we still believe those are the two biggest factors that have impacted what has happened over the last year. Now as far as Brown-Forman takeaway in the US, I do think there's kind of so many unusual things in this quarter. But one of them is Nielsen and BABCA, I said they're flat in the industry. Brown-Forman is essentially flat to down one in NABCA. But Nielsen looks much worse, more like down mid-single digits.

但這實際上取決於消費者支出和消費者庫存。我們仍然認為，這是影響去年發生的事情的兩個最大因素。現在就美國的 Brown-Forman 外賣而言，我確實認為本季有很多不尋常的事情。但其中之一就是尼爾森和BABCA，我說他們在業界表現平平。布朗-福爾曼在 NABCA 的得分基本持平甚至下降 1 分。但尼爾森看起來更糟，更像是下降了個位數。

The primary reason for that is the launch of Jack and Coke last year in Q1. So when we launched Jack and Coke in the US, it was a huge chain launch. Control stakes, which would have been the NABCA that obviously was much slower. And so you've got this big push that happened right at the beginning of Q1 with Jack and Coke and that factor alone is about half the difference, that five-point difference between Neilsen and NABCA, half of it is just Jack and Coke.

主要原因是去年第一季傑克可樂的推出。因此，當我們在美國推出傑克可樂時，這是一次大規模的連鎖推出。控制權，這本來就是 NABCA，顯然要慢得多。因此，在第一季度初，傑克和可口可樂就發生了巨大的推動，光是這個因素就大約是差距的一半，尼爾森和 NABCA 之間的 5 分差距，其中一半只是傑克和可口可樂。

The other half, which is much more positive and interesting is in the NABCA data, which captures on premise, the other half of that delta is driven by Woodford and Old Forester in the on-premise, which from -- honest, I didn't expect to see that. But both Woodford and Old Forester are really having strong runs in the on-premise right now., well, above sort of in a total distilled spirits in the on-premise, which is pretty weak. It's down between 1 and 2. So we are bucking the trend there. And with two of our strongest brands that are actually moving the needle and making a difference.

另一半，更積極和有趣的是 NABCA 數據，該數據捕獲了本地數據，該三角洲的另一半是由本地的 Woodford 和 Old Forester 驅動的，老實說，我沒有指望看到這一點。但伍德福德和老森林人現在在本地的運行確實很強勁。它下降了 1 到 2 之間。我們擁有兩個最強大的品牌，它們實際上正在推動並做出改變。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Eric Serotta, Morgan Stanley.

艾瑞克‧塞羅塔，摩根士丹利。

Great. Thanks for taking the question. Leanne and Lawson. Hoping you can give a little bit more color into the comments Leanne made earlier that you've made some progress year on year in reducing your finished goods and raw material inventories. Does that mean that there's further reduction still to come as you look at the second half? How are you looking at the impact in terms of that in terms of gross margins?

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。莉安和勞森。希望您能對 Leanne 早些時候發表的評論給予更多的支持，即您在減少成品和原材料庫存方面逐年取得了一些進展。這是否意味著下半年還會進一步減少？您如何看待毛利率方面的影響？

The second question sort of related to inventories, but longer term would be, Lawson, any update in terms of your thinking about the level of inventories, maturing stocks out there for the industry, the 12 point-something-million barrels aging in Kentucky. And I'm sure a lot in Tennessee. How are you thinking in terms of how the market absorbs that as it reaches maturity over the next few years?

第二個問題與庫存有關，但從長遠來看，勞森，您對庫存水平、該行業成熟庫存、肯塔基州 12 點左右的百萬桶陳釀情況的看法是否有任何更新。我確信田納西州有很多事情。您如何看待市場在未來幾年成熟時如何吸收這一點？

Yes, Eric, I'll start with the first part of your question. So from barrel whiskey, like we always talk about, that's about our future growth expectation of our aged product. So, you know, as we look out, we continue to see demand in the future. We should always expect that to grow.

是的，艾瑞克，我將從你問題的第一部分開始。因此，就像我們經常談論的那樣，從桶裝威士忌來看，這關係到我們對陳年產品的未來成長預期。所以，你知道，當我們展望未來時，我們將繼續看到需求。我們應該始終期望它會成長。

But to my comment on finished goods whip and raw material on a year-over-year basis, with the volatility that was created by the COVID cycle and strong demand and the supply chain constraints, we've been intentional, and we shared that on our last call to reduce our finished goods whip and raw material inventory levels on a year-over-year basis, we have accomplished that. There is one piece, though. If you look at from April 30, our year end, our finished goods is up a bit. And that is all about us proactively preparing for a variety of tariff related scenarios.

但就我對成品鞭子和原材料同比的評論而言，由於新冠病毒週期、強勁需求和供應鏈限製造成的波動，我們是有意為之的，我們在我們上次呼籲同比減少成品鞭打和原材料庫存水平，我們已經做到了這一點。不過，還有一件。如果你從我們的年終 4 月 30 日開始看，我們的成品有所增加。這就是我們積極為各種關稅相關場景做好準備的全部內容。

And then to your point on how it related to gross margin. Again, we talked about that -- as we think about our cost for the full year and where we kind of expect it to be. What's happening in the first couple of quarters of the year is more related to timing as we move through some inventory. But that we were specific to say that we would still have, and that would be offset by the impact of inflation on our input costs and our lower production volumes, as we are continuing to focus on returning to more normal levels of our working capital. So I hope -- that is all factored into our gross margin guidance for the year.

然後談談它與毛利率的關係。當我們考慮全年的成本以及我們的預期時，我們再次討論了這一點。今年前幾季發生的事情與我們處理一些庫存的時機更為相關。但我們明確表示，我們仍然會這樣做，這將被通貨膨脹對我們的投入成本和產量下降的影響所抵消，因為我們將繼續專注於恢復到更正常的營運資本水準。所以我希望——這一切都被納入我們今年的毛利率指引中。

Yeah. So the question around industry supplies and the performance supplies. First of all, to back up a year ago, the conversation was all about, do we have enough? So the conversation has gone 180 in the period of a year. So I tend to not sort of overreact to those because it's so sensitive to demand and just a little bit of change, obviously can -- makes the industry supply go up and down pretty drastically.

是的。所以問題圍繞著工業用品和性能用品。首先，回到一年前，談話的主題是，我們有足夠的錢嗎？一年之內，對話量就增加了 180 次。因此，我傾向於不會對這些反應過度，因為它對需求非常敏感，只要一點點變化，顯然就可以使行業供應大幅上下波動。

So a few things, though. We're talking American whiskey for the most part here. We feel pretty good about it right now. The big suppliers are the ones who still control the vast majority of the sales of American whiskey. And while everyone has been building their inventories, they're still building for sales growth rates that seem pretty reasonable and we think are going to work its way out.

不過，有幾件事。我們在這裡談論的大部分是美國威士忌。我們現在對此感覺很好。大型供應商仍然控制著美國威士忌的絕大多數銷售。儘管每個人都在增加庫存，但他們仍在為銷售成長率而努力，這似乎相當合理，我們認為這將會解決問題。

Look, there are levers that we can pull when things get long and short, and we've been doing this for 154 years of managing supply. And I think we've gotten pretty good at figuring all that stuff out. So I just don't consider the whiskey supply to be one of the bigger risks and we're not seeing it in terms of pricing and the promotional environment. You're not seeing that flow through either in the United States at all. So as I say, I think we feel pretty good about the supply situation.

看，當事情變得多頭和空頭時，我們可以使用一些槓桿，我們在管理供應方面已經這樣做了 154 年。我認為我們已經非常擅長解決所有這些問題。因此，我只是不認為威士忌供應是更大的風險之一，而且我們在定價和促銷環境方面也沒有看到它。在美國，你根本看不到這種流動。正如我所說，我認為我們對供應狀況感覺良好。

Great. And then just one more shorter term follow up. On one of my favorite quotes from last year from you, Lawson was Christmas stunk seems a little silly to be asking about the holiday period with Labor Day weekend fast approaching, but the holiday sell-in will certainly be approaching as well. So how are you thinking about -- I know there's various comps and inventory movements and things like that. But how are you thinking about and planning for demand for this holiday season?

偉大的。然後再進行一次短期跟進。去年我最喜歡的一句話是，勞森說聖誕節很臭，隨著勞動節週末的臨近，詢問假期期間似乎有點愚蠢，但假期銷售肯定也會臨近。那麼你是如何考慮的——我知道有各種比較和庫存變動以及類似的事情。但您如何考慮和規劃這個假期的需求？

Well, look, I mean, yeah, that is a tough question. The same old, the comps seems to be the answer to everything because the comps are going to be much, much easier on this Christmas than they were last year. Last year's really was a -- I'll say it was a surprise. Not just for Brown-Forman, I mean, the industry was surprised at how rapidly everything seemed to fall off.

嗯，聽著，我的意思是，是的，這是一個很難回答的問題。還是老樣子，比賽似乎是一切問題的答案，因為今年聖誕節的比賽將比去年容易得多。去年確實是一個——我會說這是一個驚喜。我的意思是，不僅僅是布朗福曼公司，整個產業都對一切事物的衰退速度如此之快感到驚訝。

So but we've already said that the second half of the year is going to be our stronger and even Q2 should incrementally be stronger than Q1. And so that includes a better Christmas than last year. But I'm really nervous to try to lay out a prediction on how good it's going to be.

所以，但我們已經說過，今年下半年將會更加強勁，甚至第二季也應該逐漸強於第一季。因此，這包括比去年更好的聖誕節。但我真的很緊張嘗試對它會有多好做出預測。

And I think one thing we can build on that is, one thing that we know is while we do continue to see a stretched consumer that is seeking to stretch their discretionary income, premiumization trends are continuing. And we feel like our portfolio is incredibly well positioned for that premiumization trend to continue, which I think you can see by the strong performance of Woodford Reserve and Old Forester in first quarter.

我認為我們可以在此基礎上建立的一件事是，我們知道的一件事是，雖然我們確實繼續看到捉襟見肘的消費者正在尋求擴大他們的可自由支配收入，但高端化趨勢仍在繼續。我們覺得我們的投資組合非常有利於這種高端化趨勢的持續，我想你可以從 Woodford Reserve 和 Old Forester 第一季的強勁表現中看到這一點。

Great. Thanks so much for your insights. I'll pass along.

偉大的。非常感謝您的見解。我就過去吧

Nadine Sarwat, Bernstein.

納丁·薩爾瓦特，伯恩斯坦。

Hi. Thank you very much. Lawson, maybe if I ask my first question, you're putting the lumpiness of the distributor inventories to one side that we've had over many quarters now. And I look at what the implied underlying net sales growth was. I think it's the weakest now that we've seen in probably about four years. So well below that median term growth algo, I fully appreciate your comment on sort of this being a year to half. But could you help us understand what you believe are the underlying drivers of that weakness and how you expect that to develop over the remainder of the fiscal year, again, focusing on that underlying number rather than inventories.

你好。非常感謝。勞森，也許如果我問我的第一個問題，你會把經銷商庫存的混亂狀態放在一邊，而我們已經有很多個季度了。我還研究了隱含的潛在淨銷售額成長是多少。我認為這是我們可能四年來見過的最弱的一次。遠低於中期成長演算法，我完全感謝您對這一年到半年的評論。但您能否幫助我們了解您認為造成這種疲軟的根本原因是什麼，以及您預計這種疲軟在本財年剩餘時間內將如何發展，再次專注於基本數字而不是庫存。

And then second question related to that, what are you assuming in terms of the health of the American consumer in your guidance versus, you know, perhaps what are you observing today in terms of the health of that consumer? Thank you.

與此相關的第二個問題是，您在指導中對美國消費者的健康狀況有何假設，而您今天觀察到的消費者健康狀況又如何？謝謝。

Okay. So if we focus on what are the factors in Q1 and as I said, I'll leave inventory out of it. Maybe, I don't know if it's stuck out from our comments that we made earlier, but the price increases last year, which hit August 01 of last summer, so that we buy it in June, July, ahead of that, that's not immaterial. And the same thing with the UK. Same timing, but it was tax increases, and you had the commensurate buying ahead of that.

好的。因此，如果我們專注於第一季的因素，正如我所說，我將把庫存排除在外。也許，我不知道這是否與我們之前的評論相符，但去年的價格上漲，即去年夏天的 8 月 1 日，所以我們提前在 6 月、7 月購買，這不是無關緊要的。英國也是如此。同樣的時間，但稅收增加了，而且在此之前你已經有了相應的購買。

So some of this is timing of all this kind of stuff that impacts depletions and things like that. But if we're focused on the US consumer himself, I mean, look, obviously the consumer is weaker. TDS is down there at zero, both the NABCA and Nielsen that as we said, that's a pretty steep drop-off. But I do think that things are going to improve.

因此，其中一些是影響消耗等的所有此類因素的時間安排。但如果我們關注美國消費者本身，我的意思是，你看，消費者顯然更弱。 TDS 降至零，無論是 NABCA 還是尼爾森，正如我們所說，這是一個相當陡峭的下降。但我確實認為情況將會改善。

This business has gone through these cycles where it drops off and then it comes back very, very pretty quickly. And we're not betting on quickly necessarily in our guidance, but we are saying that we think it will be sequentially better from each quarter from this point out.

這項業務經歷了這些週期，先是下降，然後很快又回來。在我們的指導中，我們不一定會很快押注，但我們說，我們認為從現在開始每季都會連續改善。

And then some of other things we'll talk about here, Nadine, is, as we look forward, in the first quarter, we know like France and Germany were impacted by the lengthy price negotiations that we have that have now closed. We're continuing to -- in the short term, we were losing share there as we look out. We think we'll continue to be more competitive as we have closed those negotiations.

然後，納丁，我們將在這裡討論的其他一些事情是，正如我們所期望的那樣，在第一季度，我們知道法國和德國受到了我們現已結束的漫長價格談判的影響。我們將繼續——短期內，我們正在失去那裡的份額。我們認為，隨著這些談判的結束，我們將繼續更具競爭力。

In the UK, we continue to work to gain share versus the year ago period, even while the consumers seeking value, they're brand loyal. They are waiting for their brand to go on promotion and they're looking for deals online. And then again, another markets like Brazil, we are gaining share. We've got strong double digit growth with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey as well as Apple and Honey and Fire through our geographic expansion that we have there are shift.

在英國，與去年同期相比，我們繼續努力提高市場份額，即使消費者尋求價值，但他們對品牌忠誠。他們正在等待自己的品牌繼續促銷，並在網路上尋找優惠。然後，在巴西等其他市場，我們的份額正在增加。透過我們的地理擴張，我們的傑克丹尼田納西威士忌以及蘋果和蜂蜜與火取得了強勁的兩位數增長。

We are strategically shifting from grocery to cash and carry to be where the consumer is. And we've launched a new pack size that connects with that consumer. And also in Mexico, it's a decelerating market, but we're gaining value share there across whiskeys in our RTDs even in an environment where we've got weaker consumer confidence.

我們正在策略性地從雜貨店轉向現金自運，以適應消費者的需求。我們也推出了適合該消費者的新包裝尺寸。同樣在墨西哥，這是一個減速的市場，但即使在消費者信心較弱的環境下，我們的即飲威士忌也正在獲得價值份額。

So I can throw in Australia. We're continuing to gain share with Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. So in a lot of these markets, we are continuing to see pockets where even with the changing dynamics of the market, we are gaining share in a lot of our international markets, and that's why we make the comment as we look into the year to go where we're looking for that growth from our international markets.

所以我可以把它丟到澳洲。我們正在繼續擴大傑克丹尼田納西威士忌的市場份額。因此，在許多這樣的市場中，我們繼續看到即使市場動態不斷變化，我們也在許多國際市場中獲得份額，這就是為什麼我們在展望這一年時發表評論的原因去我們正在尋找國際市場增長的地方。

Yeah. Let me add on what we understood about France and Germany too because those are two very large markets for Brown-Forman. We have been in the proverbial penalty box in a while. But it's a sign that we continue to be persistent in our goal of getting low and slow price increases and Europe has always been the challenge with the big retailers in pricing.

是的。讓我補充一下我們對法國和德國的了解，因為這對 Brown-Forman 來說是兩個非常大的市場。我們已經在眾所周知的禁區裡待了一段時間了。但這表明我們繼續堅持降低價格並緩慢上漲的目標，而歐洲一直是大型零售商在定價方面面臨的挑戰。

But through different revenue growth management techniques and different negotiations, you stick it out. It hurt the quarter. But the nice thing is that stuff should come back in Q2 and beyond. And so that's just one more reason to believe that we can accelerate from this point forward.

但透過不同的收入成長管理技巧和不同的談判，你就能堅持下去。這傷害了這個季度。但令人高興的是，這些東西應該會在第二季及以後回歸。因此，這只是我們相信我們可以從現在開始加速前進的另一個理由。

And then just on what you're assuming in terms of the health of the American consumer in your guidance. Are you expecting that to pick up in the second half of the year? Or is your guidance assuming the status quo from here?

然後是您在指導中對美國消費者健康狀況的假設。您預計下半年情況會有所改善嗎？或者您的指導意見是假設目前的現狀嗎？

Yeah. Overall, we're not -- and for the US consumer specifically, we are not expecting a significant change in the consumer trends or behavior.

是的。總的來說，我們沒有——特別是對於美國消費者來說，我們預期消費者趨勢或行為不會發生重大變化。

FIlippo Falorni, Citi.

菲利波·法洛尼，花旗銀行。

Hi, everyone. I wanted to ask two follow-ups on the gross margin. Maybe, Leanne, first can you break down the cost impact 4.4 points on gross margin from commodities versus what you actually saw from an inventory revaluation impact with kind of higher cost inventory flowing through?

大家好。我想問兩個關於毛利率的後續問題。 Leanne，也許您首先可以將商品毛利率的成本影響 4.4 個點與您實際看到的庫存重估影響（較高成本庫存流過）進行比較？

And then looking forward, should we expect that inventory impact to continue in Q2, and then the margin expansion to be really weighted to the second half for the full year or could see some improvement already in the second quarter? Thank you.

然後展望未來，我們是否應該預期庫存影響將在第二季度持續，然後利潤率擴張將真正加權到全年下半年，還是可能在第二季已經看到一些改善？謝謝。

Yes. So specifically on the 440 basis points of cost. Again, it's like we said, it's largely timing hitting largely in the first quarter. If you remember, last year, our gross margins started higher and we kept trying to guide others down to where we inevitably landed at [60.5]. This year is going to kind of be the inverse as we have higher cost in this period due to those inventory cost fluctuations, again related largely to our tequila brands.

是的。具體來說就是 440 個基點的成本。再說一遍，就像我們說的，它的時機主要發生在第一季。如果你還記得，去年我們的毛利率開始更高，我們一直試圖引導其他人下降到我們不可避免的 [60.5]。今年的情況將會相反，因為由於庫存成本波動，我們在此期間的成本較高，這又主要與我們的龍舌蘭酒品牌有關。

As we kind of work through that higher cost inventory, we do think that was largely in the first quarter. We'll get some of that in the second quarter as well. So it's really the second half, which we'll see the absence of that impact or will be to the benefit of our lower cost inventory. Impact from inflation on our input costs and our lower production volumes will for the full year still. When we're thinking about cost in total, and we're kind of in that low single digit range, low to low mid-single digit range for our full year.

當我們處理成本較高的庫存時，我們確實認為這主要是在第一季。我們也會在第二季得到一些。所以這實際上是下半年，我們將看到這種影響的消失，或者將有利於我們較低成本的庫存。通貨膨脹對我們的投入成本和產量下降的影響仍將持續全年。當我們考慮總成本時，我們全年的成本處於低個位數範圍，低到中低個位數範圍。

And maybe -- just a quick follow-up on the transition service agreements. Is that -- should continue to expect that headwind in Q2 from the agreement and then that to go away or to potentially turn to a tailwind in the second half?

也許——只是過渡服務協議的快速後續行動。是否應該繼續預期第二季協議帶來的逆風，然後這種逆風會消失或可能在下半年轉為順風？

Correct. They are planned to end as we go into our second half. So again, that's part of our tale of two halves from a gross margin perspective. We expect those to be absent as we go into the second half.

正確的。他們計劃在我們進入下半場時結束。再說一次，從毛利率的角度來看，這是我們的兩半故事的一部分。我們預計下半場他們將缺席。

Got it. Thank you. I'll pass it on.

知道了。謝謝。我會把它傳遞下去。

Robert Moskow, TD Cowen.

羅伯特·莫斯科，TD·考恩。

Hi. Thanks for the question. I wanted to ask about just the marketing efforts on Jack Daniel's in general. You talked at your Investor Day about a lot of plans to improve the trends, boost the image of the brand. How do you think it's going? Because you look at the tracking data and it indicates continued declines. Do you feel like these efforts are strong enough to reacquaint the brand or strengthen the brand in a mainstream manner and offset what I think is happening, which is more shifts to premium offerings?

你好。謝謝你的提問。我想問一下傑克丹尼的整體行銷工作。您在投資者日談到了許多改善趨勢、提升品牌形象的計劃。你認為進度如何？因為你查看追蹤數據，它表明持續下降。您是否認為這些努力足以重新認識該品牌或以主流方式強化該品牌並抵消我認為正在發生的事情，即更多地轉向高端產品？

Yes, well look, I mean, the Jack Daniel's brand, still one of the largest and strongest brands in the world. And we very much believe that we've gotten creative out there that McLaren racing partnership that we have and everything we're doing there. I mean, getting back -- not back into, but continuing our efforts in pop culture is one of the most important things that we can possibly do. We talked a little bit about Shaboozy. But that type of thing, and I can tell you, the brands is in lots and lots of particularly country music these days but staying relevant in that pop culture and being able to recruit new consumers every years is kind of what we get paid for.

是的，好吧，我的意思是，傑克丹尼品牌仍然是世界上最大和最強的品牌之一。我們非常相信，我們與麥克拉倫賽車的合作夥伴關係以及我們所做的一切都具有創造力。我的意思是，回歸——不是回歸，而是繼續我們在流行文化方面的努力，是我們能做的最重要的事情之一。我們討論了一些關於 Shaboozy 的事情。但我可以告訴你，這些品牌如今出現在許多鄉村音樂中，但與流行文化保持相關性並每年能夠招募新消費者是我們獲得報酬的原因。

I mean that's (technical difficulty) so while it is challenging, I would site that one, if you step back and look beyond anything beyond one year, the Jack Daniel's brand has remained very, very healthy. Over the last five years, the Jack trademark has delivered somewhere between 4% and 5% sales growth.

我的意思是，這就是（技術難度），所以雖然它具有挑戰性，但我會指出這一點，如果你退後一步，看看一年後的事情，傑克丹尼的品牌仍然非常非常健康。在過去五年中，Jack 商標實現了 4% 至 5% 的銷售額成長。

And so if we can replicate that 4% or 5% sales growth, say over the next 5 or 10 years, this company is very locked and loaded for the at least those medium and long longer-term algorithms that we've used where because the rest of the portfolio has so much strength and was for the most part in double-digit growth mode until COVID and all the chaos of the last few years.

因此，如果我們能夠複製 4% 或 5% 的銷售成長，比如說在未來 5 到 10 年裡，這家公司至少在我們使用的那些中長期演算法方面就處於非常鎖定和負載狀態，因為投資組合的其餘部分擁有如此強大的實力，並且在新冠疫情和過去幾年的所有混亂之前，大部分都處於兩位數增長模式。

So we do think the math overall works, and we're going to continue to grow the Jack Daniel's brand in the way that we've done for many, many, many years. So as part of that, though, we are -- is it last quarter, we talked about the super-premium Jack Daniel's extensions. They were actually one of the bigger contributors to our sales growth last year.

因此，我們確實認為整體上是有效的，我們將繼續以我們多年來所做的方式發展傑克丹尼品牌。因此，作為其中的一部分，我們在上個季度討論了超優質傑克丹尼的延期。他們實際上是我們去年銷售成長的最大貢獻者之一。

So we continue to unveil those. They're unique. They're strong. They speak to the whiskey geeks as we like to call them, but they do form an umbrella over the entire trademark. I'm going to help us to continue to grow. So we really are looking at these trends over the last 12 months to be a bit of an exception to the rule a little bit.

所以我們繼續揭曉這些內容。他們是獨一無二的。他們很堅強。他們與我們喜歡稱呼的威士忌極客交談，但他們確實為整個商標形成了保護傘。我將幫助我們繼續成長。因此，我們確實將過去 12 個月的這些趨勢視為規則的例外。

And as I said earlier on one of the other questions, don't really want to predict when the month that that's going to turn. But we feel like you're going to start to see some improvements. And in fact, to be fair with you, the US numbers, Jack is off the bottom. We're starting to get a little bit better. Slow, but it is getting, but it is improving.

正如我之前就其他問題之一所說的那樣，我真的不想預測什麼時候會發生這種情況。但我們覺得您將開始看到一些改進。事實上，公平地說，從美國的數據來看，傑克已經跌入谷底。我們開始好一點了。緩慢，但正在進步，但正在改善。

So kind of a follow-up, Lawson, like you mentioned, you kind of nailed it there that the key here is to get younger consumers to engage with the Jack Daniel's brand, bring new consumers to that brand. What metrics do you follow to see if those younger consumers are watching these ads that the message is resonating with them and that it's starting to change their perception of the brand?

這是後續行動，勞森，就像您提到的那樣，您把它釘在那裡，關鍵是讓年輕消費者與傑克丹尼品牌互動，為該品牌帶來新消費者。您遵循哪些指標來判斷這些年輕消費者是否正在觀看這些廣告，這些廣告所傳達的訊息是否引起了他們的共鳴，並且是否開始改變他們對品牌的看法？

Yes, look, I mean as you would expect, we have a very full set of consumer insights and data that we track literally monthly, I think I can probably say that. So -- and we can break that down by age, and we do spend a lot of time debating the recruitment versus retention debate that basically all big brands have.

是的，我的意思是，正如您所期望的，我們有一套非常完整的消費者洞察和數據，我們每月都會追蹤這些數據，我想我可以這麼說。所以——我們可以按年齡細分，我們確實花了很多時間來討論基本上所有大品牌都有的招募與保留的爭論。

And look, and so this new campaign, we believe, the one that back in black is kind of what we call it internally, but having that song is more relevant. Everybody kind of knows it. And so we think we know we're making progress there, and it indeed does show up in our statistics.

看，所以我們相信，這個新的活動，黑色的回歸是我們內部所說的，但擁有那首歌更相關。每個人都知道這一點。因此，我們認為我們知道我們正在這方面取得進展，而且它確實顯示在我們的統計數據中。

Something I forgot about to mention a minute ago, it came through in our prepared remarks, but I find it -- if you look at the US and you look at the 20 largest brands in the US, the fact that only two of them are growing, to me, is pretty incredible, and we said on the call, Woodford is one of the two.

一分鐘前我忘記提到的事情，在我們準備好的發言中已經提到了，但我發現——如果你看看美國，看看美國 20 個最大的品牌，事實上只有其中兩個是對我來說，成長是非常令人難以置信的，我們在電話中說，伍德福德是兩者之一。

But you look at the biggest brands in the US, they are the ones who look the worst in these Nielsen trends, which speaks to the argument we made last quarter, which is the biggest brands were the ones that everybody was buying during COVID and the post-COVID boom years, those are the ones that are sitting in the consumer's cabinet and have taken a while to move through.

但你看看美國最大的品牌，它們是在尼爾森趨勢中看起來最糟糕的品牌，這證實了我們上個季度提出的論點，即最大的品牌是每個人在新冠疫情和疫情期間購買的品牌。在新冠疫情爆發後的繁榮時期，消費者的櫃子裡就藏著這些東西，需要一段時間才能完成。

So I think it just provides a little more evidence that, that -- to some extent, we don't really know the extent. It's a very hard number to pin down, but it contributes to why you're seeing such slowdown in trends on the very biggest brands.

所以我認為它只是提供了更多的證據，在某種程度上，我們並不真正了解其程度。這是一個很難確定的數字，但它解釋了為什麼你會看到最大品牌的趨勢如此放緩。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Nik Modi, RBC.

尼克莫迪，加拿大皇家銀行。

Yes, thank you. Good morning everyone. Lawson, I was hoping you can just share your perspective. I mean, feedback from the trade in August would suggest a pretty steep drop off at the industry level. And just curious kind of what you guys are observing just broadly why there could have been such a precipitous drop from July to August?

是的，謝謝。大家早安。勞森，我希望你能分享你的觀點。我的意思是，八月的交易回饋顯示行業層面的跌幅相當大。只是好奇你們普遍觀察到了什麼，為什麼從七月到八月會出現如此急劇的下降？

And then just kind of piggybacking on that. I mean -- the more we hear about the delta-9 on cannabis beverages and how fast they're selling out when they're on display. And I know you kind of dismissed it last quarter, but I'm just curious, like have you seen some traction for some of those products and maybe infringing on some of the beverage alcohol occasions? Thanks.

然後就順勢而為。我的意思是——我們對大麻飲料中的 Delta-9 的了解越多，以及它們在展示時售罄的速度有多快。我知道你上個季度有點忽略了它，但我只是很好奇，例如你是否看到其中一些產品有一些吸引力，並且可能侵犯了一些飲料酒精場合？謝謝。

All right. Well, the first one, July to August, I mean I -- to be honest, I don't know. I have not heard that. I've not heard that from our own teams either. So I'm not sure what the source is or I don't know, I really can't comment on it.

好的。嗯，第一個，七月到八月，我的意思是──說實話，我不知道。我沒聽過。我也沒有從我們自己的團隊那裡聽過這樣的消息。所以我不確定消息來源是什麼或我不知道，我真的無法評論。

But on the cannabis and specifically beverages and cannabis, I mean I think I've said this in a few different times on these calls. Cannabis has been around for a long time, just because it's going from illegal to legal hasn't -- I mean, I know it's gummies and all that kind of stuff are certainly exploding compared to where it was. But I just -- I don't believe it has much of anything to do with the current trends. I do not see cannibalization say, between a cannabis beverage and a spirit brand.

但關於大麻，特別是飲料和大麻，我想我已經在幾次不同的電話會議上說過這一點。大麻已經存在很長時間了，只是因為它還沒有從非法變為合法——我的意思是，我知道它是軟糖，所有這些東西與以前相比肯定會爆炸式增長。但我只是——我不認為這與當前的趨勢有太大關係。我不認為大麻飲料和烈酒品牌之間存在著相互蠶食的情況。

So now people have said and studied this stuff that beer is much more apt to getting if there is some cannibalization between cannabis and beverage alcohol, the beer is the one that's at risk. And I kind of can believe that. I mean it makes logical sense, I think, and spirits, in particular, would be the least affected by that. So we'll have to see.

因此，現在人們已經說過並研究過，如果大麻和飲料酒精之間存在一定程度的相互蠶食，那麼啤酒更容易獲得這種物質，那麼啤酒就是面臨風險的物質。我有點相信這一點。我的意思是，我認為這是合乎邏輯的，尤其是烈酒，受其影響最小。所以我們得看看。

I just -- I still can't picture beverages, cannabis beverages -- look, it was just my opinion. So others may differ from it, but I just don't see that being a big business. There's just too many other ways you can -- you don't need to sit and sip it. And there's only so much you can sip anyway. It's not like it's -- you're going to sit there and drink a 6-pack of the stuff. So I just think it is a business opportunity. I'm in the camp but it's pretty limited.

我只是──我還是無法想像飲料、大麻飲料──看，這只是我的意見。所以其他人可能會有所不同，但我只是不認為這是一門大生意。還有太多其他方法可以實現——您不需要坐下來喝它。無論如何，你只能啜飲這麼多。事實並非如此——你要坐在那裡喝六罐裝的東西。所以我只是認為這是一個商業機會。我在營地裡，但它非常有限。

And then the only thing I'll add to that from a consumer research perspective, we were -- our findings are that spirits are the preferred alcoholic beverage type among the individuals who use cannabis in the past month. So that's what our consumers are telling us.

然後，從消費者研究的角度來看，我唯一要補充的是，我們的發現是，烈酒是過去一個月使用大麻的個人中首選的酒精飲料類型。這就是我們的消費者告訴我們的。

Okay, thank you very much for your perspective.

好的，非常感謝您的觀點。

Steve Powers, Deutsche Bank.

史蒂夫鮑爾斯，德意志銀行。

Hey guys, good morning. Thanks. So in the quarter, we saw distributor inventories tick up 3 points in the US and 4 points in developed international. And just relative to your comments that you're not really expecting much improvement in the consumption run rate, especially in the US, I mean is there a risk there, that, that kind of one quarter build unwinds as we go into 2Q or the remainder of the year? How are you thinking about that?

嘿夥計們，早安。謝謝。因此，在本季度，我們看到美國經銷商庫存增加了 3 個點，而已開發國家的經銷商庫存則增加了 4 個點。相對於您的評論，即您並不真正期望消費運行率有太大改善，尤其是在美國，我的意思是，當我們進入第二季度或第二季度時，是否存在這種四分之一的成長放緩的風險？你覺得怎麼樣？

Our comments really is about a year-over-year perspective, and it's about lapping the softening of the total distilled spirits trends that we saw in the year ago period. So when we think about our year to go, and again, we'll have the largest benefit of that lapping in our second half. That was really a year-over-year comment because, again, with distributors and our outlook of their inventory levels, it continues to be that we are not forecasting an outlook that has significant change. We're continuing to believe that the trade and consumer behavior will be similar to what it is now.

我們的評論實際上是針對逐年的觀點，是關於我們在一年前看到的蒸餾酒總量趨勢的疲軟。因此，當我們再次思考即將過去的一年時，我們將在下半年從這一圈中獲得最大的好處。這確實是一個逐年的評論，因為，對於經銷商和我們對其庫存水準的展望，我們仍然沒有預測前景會發生重大變化。我們仍然相信貿易和消費者行為將與現在相似。

Right. Okay. I just mean consumption is down versus year ago inventory levels that sequentially came down to reflect deteriorating consumption. And now consumption isn't improving and inventory levels are going up. So it just seems like there's some risk built in there, but we can -- I can follow up later.

正確的。好的。我只是說，與去年同期相比，消費量有所下降，庫存水準連續下降，反映出消費量的惡化。現在消費並沒有改善，庫存水準卻在上升。所以看起來似乎存在一些風險，但我們可以——我可以稍後跟進。

The second question would be, you talked about France and Germany being headwinds in the quarter, but sort of normalizing as we go forward as you've gotten through those retailer negotiations as a benefit to the remainder of the year. You also talked about full year contributions of growth on Gin Mare and Diplomatico as kind of being a notable contributors to the -- especially the second half improvement in your outlook. Is there a way to quantify the impact of those dynamics as you move from 1Q into 2Q and then 2H?

第二個問題是，您談到法國和德國在本季度面臨逆風，但隨著我們的進展，隨著您已經完成了這些零售商談判，這對今年剩餘時間來說是一種好處，因此在某種程度上正在正常化。您還談到了 Gin Mare 和 Diplomatico 的全年成長貢獻，這對您的展望尤其是下半年的改善做出了顯著貢獻。當你從第一季進入第二季度，然後進入第二季度時，有沒有辦法量化這些動態的影響？

I mean I think we can say that they are all implied in our guidance and what we've said first half, second half. From an organic perspective, again, with the shipment base for Gin Mare and Diplomático compared to where we were last year, we believe we're going to have a benefit in this year. We are not quantifying that specifically or quantifying the benefit that we believe that's in our year-to-go period now that we have concluded our pricing negotiations in Germany and France.

我的意思是，我認為我們可以說，它們都隱含在我們的指導以及我們上半場、下半場所說的內容中。再次從有機角度來看，與去年相比，Gin Mare 和 Diplomático 的發貨基地，我們相信今年我們將受益。我們並沒有具體量化這一點，也沒有量化我們認為在未來一年內所帶來的好處，因為我們已經結束了在德國和法國的定價談判。

But again, we believe that we had the biggest impact from those negotiations, specifically with Germany and France in the first quarter that now will not be present as we go forward.

但我們再次相信，這些談判對我們產生了最大的影響，特別是第一季與德國和法國的談判，但現在隨著我們的前進，這些影響將不再存在。

Okay. And I don't know if I could squeeze in a third here, if you're generous, thank you in advance. But tequila, notably weak this quarter, it was soft last quarter as well. Can you expand on why it was just before that, we were talking about tripling tequila as we look out into the future? I'm sure that's still the ambition. But just trying to understand why the softness so acutely in these past couple of quarters? And how do I think about that as we go forward?

好的。我不知道我是否可以在這裡擠三分之一，如果你慷慨的話，先謝謝你了。但龍舌蘭酒本季尤其疲軟，上季也很疲軟。您能否詳細解釋為什麼就在那之前，我們在展望未來時正在談論將龍舌蘭酒增加三倍？我確信這仍然是我們的抱負。但只是想了解為什麼過去幾季的疲軟程度如此嚴重？當我們前進時我如何看待這個問題？

Yeah. Okay. I'll take that. A couple of things. One, before I hit our own. I just -- I find these two statistics pretty interesting -- is an IWSR thing. But they said that in this calendar year in 2024, tequila is going to surpass vodka as the largest value category in the United States, which for anybody that's been in this business for a few years, that to me is pretty incredible as to how rapidly that has grown.

是的。好的。我會接受的。有幾件事。一，在我擊中我們自己之前。我只是——我發現這兩個統計數據非常有趣——是 IWSR 的事情。但他們表示，在2024 年這個日曆年，龍舌蘭酒將超越伏特加，成為美國最大的價值類別，對於任何在這個行業工作了幾年的人來說，這對我來說是相當令人難以置信的，其速度如此之快那已經增長了。

The other part of it are contributing to that, I guess, is that 22- to 24 year olds are just as likely to be drinking tequila as they are beer, which that also floors me a little bit that, that has grown that much. So a lot of our tequila weakness, one is a lot of it's Mexico. We are pushing price very, very hard down there. Now we're pushing price in the United States, too, and that is a competitive thing we're doing right now.

我想，造成這種情況的另一部分原因是 22 至 24 歲的人喝龍舌蘭酒的可能性和喝啤酒的可能性一樣，這也讓我有點驚訝，這種情況已經增長了這麼多。我們的龍舌蘭酒有很多弱點，其中之一就是墨西哥。我們正在非常非常努力地壓低價格。現在我們也在美國提高價格，這是我們現在正在做的一項有競爭力的事情。

But while the US total distilled spirits pricing is still holding together, it's very, very low single digit. Tequila has actually gone a little bit negative, not massively, but I think it's down a point or something like that. So -- and now we're up like 3 points. And so we're sort of keeping our head down a little bit and continuing to push the price button whenever a lot of other brands are going the other way.

不過，儘管美國蒸餾酒的總定價仍然保持不變，但仍處於非常非常低的個位數。龍舌蘭酒實際上有點負面，但不是很大，但我認為它下降了一個點或類似的東西。所以——現在我們領先了 3 分。因此，當許多其他品牌採取相反的做法時，我們會保持低調，繼續按下價格按鈕。

Now I don't -- I mean, look, the category is still one of the strongest categories out there in spirits. And we've -- while we've not kept up with some of the famous brands that are out there. Herradura in particular, is one of the sort of core, most important brands in our portfolio. We haven't done great. But I can tell you, over the last -- not the last two quarters, but our growth rates in the last few years have all been kind of double digit or very high single digit.

現在我不 - 我的意思是，看，該類別仍然是烈酒中最強的類別之一。我們已經—雖然我們還沒有跟上一些著名品牌的腳步。 Herradura 尤其是我們產品組合中最核心、最重要的品牌之一。我們還沒有做得很好。但我可以告訴你，在過去——不是過去兩個季度，但我們過去幾年的成長率都是兩位數或非常高的個位數。

And so while we're a bit critical these days of the tequila trends right now, you got to remember, they haven't been a drag on the company's growth rate. They've actually been a net positive. So it's a very, very competitive category now. There's a lot of brands in there. We have one of the best, we still believe it, and we're going to continue to push forward.

因此，雖然我們現在對龍舌蘭酒的趨勢有點批評，但你必須記住，它們並沒有拖累公司的成長率。他們實際上是淨積極的。所以現在這是一個競爭非常非常激烈的類別。裡面有很多品牌。我們擁有最好的之一，我們仍然相信這一點，我們將繼續前進。

The other -- there's been a fair amount of talk, I guess, about the internationalization of the category. And el Jimador is actually pretty well positioned to be able to go after that. It's one of the biggest brands in a bunch of markets like the UK, like Australia, like Brazil, some others. So it's kind of -- people don't really know that or follow that, but it is a growth opportunity for us.

另一個——我想，關於該類別的國際化已經有相當多的討論。事實上，el Jimador 完全有能力實現這一目標。它是英國、澳洲、巴西等一系列市場中最大的品牌之一。因此，人們並不真正了解或遵循這一點，但這對我們來說是一個成長機會。

Thank you. This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn it back to Sue Perram for closing remarks.

謝謝。問答環節到此結束。現在我想請蘇·佩拉姆 (Sue Perram) 發表結束語。

Thank you, Marvin, and thank you, Lawson and Leanne, and thank you to everyone for joining us today for Brown-Forman's First Quarter Fiscal Year 2025 Earnings Call. If you have any additional questions, please contact us.

謝謝 Marvin，謝謝 Lawson 和 Leanne，謝謝大家今天參加 Brown-Forman 的 2025 財年第一季財報電話會議。如果您還有任何其他問題，請與我們聯絡。

We look forward to participating in the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference next week, and hope to see many of you. For those of you unable to attend, our fireside chat will be made available as a webcast accessible via the Brown-Forman corporate website under the section titled Investors, Events and Presentations.

我們期待參加下週的巴克萊全球消費必需品會議，並希望見到你們中的許多人。對於無法參加的人，我們的爐邊談話將以網路廣播的形式提供，可透過 Brown-Forman 公司網站的「投資者、活動和演示」部分進行存取。

We wish everyone an enjoyable weekend, particularly those in the United States that are celebrating the Labor Day holiday. And on Monday, September 2, we hope you will join us in raising a glass as we say happy birthday to our founder, George Garvin Brown, and good luck, again, to those of you who entered into the Birthday Bourbon Sweepstakes.

我們祝福每個人都有一個愉快的週末，特別是那些正在慶祝勞動節假期的美國人。 9 月2 日星期一，我們希望您能與我們一起舉杯，向我們的創始人喬治·加文·布朗(George Garvin Brown) 表示生日快樂，並再次祝參加波本威士忌生日抽獎活動的人們好運。

With that, this concludes our call.

我們的通話到此結束。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。