B&G Foods Inc (BGS) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the B&G Foods Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Today's call, which is being recorded is scheduled to last about 1 hour, including remarks by B&G Foods management and the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to A.J. Schwan, Associate, Corporate Strategy and Business Development for B&G Foods. A.J.?

美好的一天，歡迎參加 B&G Foods 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。今天的電話會議正在錄音，預計持續約 1 小時，包括 B&G Foods 管理層的演講和問答環節。我現在想把電話轉給 A.J. Schwan，B&G Foods 企業策略與業務開發助理。 A.J.？

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Casey Keller, our Chief Executive Officer; and Bruce Wacha, our Chief Financial Officer. You can access detailed financial information on the quarter and the earnings release we issued today, which is available at the Investor Relations section of bgfoods.com.

下午好，感謝您加入我們。今天與我在一起的有我們的執行長凱西凱勒 (Casey Keller)；和我們的財務長 Bruce Wacha。您可以在 bgfoods.com 的投資者關係部分獲取有關本季度的詳細財務資訊以及我們今天發布的收益報告。

Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of the discussion today includes forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer you to B&G Foods' most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact our company's future operating results and financial condition.

在我們開始正式發言之前，我需要提醒大家，今天討論的一部分包括前瞻性陳述。這些陳述並不是對未來績效的保證，因此，不應過度依賴它們。我們建議您參閱 B&G Foods 最新的 10-K 表格年度報告以及隨後向 SEC 提交的文件，以更詳細地討論可能影響我們公司未來經營業績和財務狀況的風險。

B&G Foods undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. We will also be making references on today's call to the non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share and base business net sales. Reconciliations of these financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided in today's earnings release.

B&G Foods 不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因。我們也將在今天的電話會議上提及非公認會計準則財務指標、調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨利潤、調整後的稀釋每股盈餘和基本業務淨銷售額。在今天的收益報告中提供了這些財務指標與最直接可比較的公認會計準則財務指標的調整表。

Casey will begin the call with opening remarks and discuss various factors that affected our results, selected business highlights and his thoughts concerning the outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2023. Bruce will then discuss our financial results for the third quarter of 2023 and our guidance for fiscal 2023. I would now like to turn the call over to Casey.

凱西將以開場白開始電話會議，並討論影響我們業績的各種因素、選定的業務亮點以及他對2023 財年剩餘時間前景的想法。然後布魯斯將討論我們2023 年第三季度的財務業績以及我們對2023 年第三季的指導。2023 財年。我現在想將電話轉給凱西。

Good afternoon. Thank you, A.J., and thank you all for joining us today for our third quarter 2023 earnings call. B&G's third quarter results continued strong margin recovery with adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales increasing 80 basis points versus last year to 16%. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales, excluding items affecting comparability, increased 230 basis points versus last year to 22.7%, demonstrating continuing recovery of higher inflationary costs through pricing and productivity efforts. During the third quarter, we lapped most of the pricing actions taken in 2022.

午安.謝謝 A.J.，也謝謝大家今天參加我們的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 B&G 第三季業績持續實現利潤率的強勁復甦，調整後的 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比比去年增加了 80 個基點，達到 16%。毛利佔淨銷售額的百分比（不包括影響可比性的項目）比去年增加了 230 個基點，達到 22.7%，這表明透過定價和生產力努力，較高的通膨成本持續恢復。第三季度，我們完成了 2022 年採取的大部分定價行動。

Turning to sales performance. Base business net sales, which excludes the divested Back to Nature business, were down 3% versus last year, but slightly up or roughly flat without the Crisco brand, where we proactively reduced pricing to reflect lower soybean oil commodity costs while maintaining gross profit. Overall, many of our brands delivered solid performance despite the uncertain environment of higher pricing and pandemic normalization. The exception was the Green Giant business across frozen and canned vegetables, which was down significantly versus last year. Excluding Green Giant and Crisco, the remaining businesses increased net sales plus 4.7% versus third quarter of last year.

轉向銷售業績。基礎業務淨銷售額（不包括剝離的回歸自然業務）比去年下降了3%，但在沒有Crisco 品牌的情況下略有上升或大致持平，我們主動降低定價以反映較低的豆油商品成本，同時保持毛利。整體而言，儘管價格上漲和疫情正常化的不確定環境，我們的許多品牌仍表現穩健。例外的是綠巨人冷凍和罐裝蔬菜業務，與去年相比大幅下降。除 Green Giant 和 Crisco 外，其餘業務淨銷售額較去年第三季成長 4.7%。

Some more detail on the business performance across brands and categories. Spices & seasonings, the high-margin spices & seasonings portfolio increased net sales plus 6.1% versus last year. Trends were particularly strong on the food service and member's mark Sam's label business, which largely serve out-of-home and small business customers.

有關跨品牌和類別業務績效的更多詳細資訊。香料和調味料，高利潤香料和調味料產品組合的淨銷售額比去年增加了 6.1%。 Sam's 的食品服務和會員品牌業務的趨勢尤其強勁，該業務主要為戶外和小型企業客戶提供服務。

The core retail branded trends, Dash, Weber, Spice Islands, et cetera, were mixed, impacted by temporary service and production issues in our Ankeny spices & seasonings factory, which have now been resolved. We also launched new seasoning and grilling blends under the Buffalo Trace, Fireball and Southern Comfort brands in select customers, which are performing very well in initial distribution.

核心零售品牌趨勢 Dash、Weber、Spice Island 等受到我們 Ankeny 香料和調味料工廠臨時服務和生產問題的影響，這些問題現已解決。我們還在 Buffalo Trace、Fireball 和 Southern Comfort 品牌下向特定客戶推出了新的調味料和燒烤混合物，這些產品在初始分銷中表現非常出色。

Crisco. The Crisco net sales decline resulted from a 15% list price reduction in August, consistent with our commodity pricing model on the brand. Soybean oil costs are down significantly, about $0.20 per pound versus Q3 last year, which we pass through to consumers while maintaining gross profit dollars. Crisco oil peak bottle size unit price is now largely below the key $5 and $6 thresholds in market, and we are seeing healthy unit volume increases in recent week scanner data.

克里斯科。 Crisco 淨銷售額下降是由於 8 月標價下降 15%，這與我們對該品牌的商品定價模型一致。與去年第三季相比，豆油成本大幅下降，每磅約 0.20 美元，我們將其轉嫁給消費者，同時保持毛利美元。 Crisco 石油高峰瓶裝尺寸單價目前很大程度上低於市場關鍵的 5 美元和 6 美元門檻，而且我們在最近一周的掃描儀數據中看到單位數量的健康增長。

Green Giant. Green Giant cans and frozen vegetable trends were the weakest in the portfolio during Q3. Canned vegetables price promotion activity has increased with excess industry-wide supply prior to the new season pack, and we have increased trade spend to remain competitive. The frozen vegetable category has been impacted by a compression of price differential between frozen and fresh vegetables as the result of improved fresh supply and cost. Further, although the Green Giant frozen portfolio has improved product margins and mix, the rice, vegetable SKUs face increased competition and price pressure from private label entrants.

綠巨人。 Green Giant 罐頭和冷凍蔬菜趨勢是第三季投資組合中最弱的。由於新季包裝之前全行業供應過剩，罐頭蔬菜價格促銷活動增加，我們增加了貿易支出以保持競爭力。由於新鮮供應和成本的改善，冷凍蔬菜和新鮮蔬菜之間的價差被壓縮，從而影響了冷凍蔬菜類別。此外，儘管 Green Giant 冷凍產品組合提高了產品利潤和產品組合，但大米、蔬菜 SKU 面臨著來自自有品牌進入者的日益激烈的競爭和價格壓力。

Supply and service. On a company-wide basis, customer service and fill rates continue to improve, averaging 97% during the quarter. The 1 exception was spices & seasonings with some temporary disruption. We are on track to deliver a 97% to 98% CFR, our long-term target before year-end.

供應和服務。在全公司範圍內，客戶服務和填充率持續改善，本季平均達到 97%。第一個例外是香料和調味料，有一些暫時的中斷。我們預計在年底前實現 97% 至 98% 的 CFR，這是我們的長期目標。

Inventory. Turning to inventory. As of the end of the third quarter compared to the end of the third quarter of last year, total inventory decreased by $79 million to $726 million before the impact of the reclassification to assets held for sale and partial impairment of Green Giant U.S. shelf stable inventory. We are well on track to deliver lower inventories year-on-year at the end of Q4. The major drivers are unit efficiencies, lower soybean oil costs and a smaller seasonal pack on Le Sueur stable versus last fall.

存貨。轉向庫存。截至第三季末，與去年第三季末相比，在重新分類為待售資產以及綠巨人美國貨架穩定庫存部分減損影響之前，庫存總額減少了7,900萬美元，至7.26億美元。我們預計在第四季末實現同比較低的庫存。主要驅動因素是單位效率、豆油成本下降以及 Le Sueur 穩定版與去年秋季相比季節性包裝的減少。

Cash flow. Cash generation continued to be strong in Q3. Net cash from operations was $23.3 million in Q3, increasing from negative $59.5 million or a use of cash last year with year-to-date net cash from operations of $155.7 million. Pro forma adjusted net leverage was 6.52x, down from 6.74x at the end of Q2. We are on track to continue to reduce our leverage ratio by the end of 2023, driven by adjusted EBITDA recovery, lower working capital inventory needs and debt reduction from available cash flow. Year-to-date, we have reduced net debt by over $210 million.

現金週轉。第三季現金產生持續強勁。第三季營運淨現金為 2,330 萬美元，較去年的負 5,950 萬美元或現金使用增加，今年迄今營運淨現金為 1.557 億美元。預計調整後淨槓桿率為 6.52 倍，低於第二季末的 6.74 倍。在調整後 EBITDA 復甦、營運資本庫存需求降低以及可用現金流債務減少的推動下，我們預計在 2023 年底前繼續降低槓桿率。今年迄今為止，我們已減少淨債務超過 2.1 億美元。

For the full year, we remain on track to deliver within the previously communicated guidance range of adjusted EBITDA between $310 million to $330 million inclusive of the divestiture of the Green Giant U.S. can product line. For fiscal year net sales, we are revising guidance to remove November to December Green Giant U.S. can sales, recognize lower Crisco oil pricing, as well as reflect a slower recovery on the Green Giant frozen business. Bruce will provide more specifics on sales guidance.

全年，我們仍有望在先前傳達的調整後 EBITDA 指引範圍內實現 3.1 億至 3.3 億美元之間的目標，其中包括剝離 Green Giant 美國罐頭產品線。對於本財年淨銷售額，我們正在修訂指導意見，取消 11 月至 12 月 Green Giant 美國罐頭銷售，承認 Crisco 石油定價較低，並反映 Green Giant 冷凍業務復甦較慢。布魯斯將提供有關銷售指導的更多細節。

Finally, pertaining to Green Giant, we announced the sale and divestiture of the U.S. Green Giant canned vegetable product line to Seneca Foods earlier today. The sale does not include Green Giant frozen, Green Giant Canada or the Le Sueur brand, and we are retaining the Green Giant trademarks, which we will license to Seneca for use with the divested product line. This divestiture is a critical step in our efforts to focus the portfolio on categories and brands where we can drive valuation growth, consistent with our choices, resources and capabilities. Canned vegetables are a mature category with high working capital needs. The seasonal crop inventory is packed and held for the entire year.

最後，關於 Green Giant，我們今天稍早宣布將美國 Green Giant 罐裝蔬菜產品線出售並剝離給 Seneca Foods。此次出售不包括 Green Giant freeze、Green Giant Canada 或 Le Sueur 品牌，我們將保留 Green Giant 商標，並將其授權給 Seneca，用於剝離的產品線。此次剝離是我們努力將投資組合集中在可以根據我們的選擇、資源和能力推動估值成長的類別和品牌的努力中的關鍵一步。罐裝蔬菜是成熟的類別，營運資金需求較高。季節性作物庫存已打包並保存一整年。

The can business required us to increase debt to finance even inventory build with almost no synergies with the Green Giant frozen portfolio. We expect that the Green Giant U.S. canned vegetable divestiture will modestly increase overall margins and modestly reduce leverage. Beyond this transaction, we continue to evaluate existing businesses that have lower margin and cash flow, higher working capital complexity or do not fit with our core capabilities and business unit structure.

罐頭業務要求我們增加債務，甚至為庫存建設提供資金，而與綠巨人冷凍投資組合幾乎沒有協同效應。我們預計綠巨人美國罐頭蔬菜剝離將小幅提高整體利潤率並小幅降低槓桿率。除本交易外，我們還將繼續評估利潤率和現金流較低、營運資金複雜性較高或不適合我們的核心能力和業務部門結構的現有業務。

The divestitures of Back to Nature and Green Giant U.S. canned vegetables are critical steps on that journey. We have a target list being actively worked to reshape and focus the portfolio with the expectation that the proceeds from any divestitures would primarily be used to reduce long-term debt.

剝離 Back to Nature 和 Green Giant U.S. 罐裝蔬菜是這趟旅程中的關鍵步驟。我們正在積極制定目標清單，以重塑和集中投資組合，並期望任何資產剝離的收益將主要用於減少長期債務。

Thank you, and I will now turn the call over to Bruce for more detail on the quarterly performance and outlook for the year.

謝謝，我現在將把電話轉給布魯斯，以了解有關季度業績和今年前景的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, Casey. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our third quarter 2023 earnings call. As you can see, we had another strong quarter, actually our fourth consecutive quarter of increased year-over-year adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales when compared to the prior year quarter. As we told you when we began the year, we expected to see a large year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales in the first 2 quarters of this year, followed by a more modest increase in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales in the third quarter. And that is pretty much where we stand today through the first 9 months of the year.

謝謝你，凱西。大家下午好。感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。正如您所看到的，我們又經歷了一個強勁的季度，實際上，與去年同期相比，我們的調整後 EBITDA 同比增長以及調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比連續第四個季度增長。正如我們在年初時告訴您的那樣，我們預計今年前 2 季調整後 EBITDA 和調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比將同比大幅增長，隨後將出現較為溫和的增長。調整後EBITDA 以及調整後EBITDA 佔第三季淨銷售額的百分比。這幾乎就是我們今年前 9 個月的處境。

In the third quarter of 2023, we generated $502.7 million of net sales, $80.4 million in adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales of 16% and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.27. Base business net sales, which excludes the Back to Nature brand, decreased by approximately $15.6 million or 3% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the year ago period. Base business net sales, excluding Crisco, where we have lowered price due to decreases in soybean oil costs were up $0.6 million or 0.2%.

2023 年第三季度，我們的淨銷售額為 5.027 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 8,040 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 16%，調整後稀釋每股收益為 0.27 美元。 2023 年第三季度，基礎業務淨銷售額（不包括 Back to Nature 品牌）與去年同期相比減少了約 1,560 萬美元，即 3%。基礎業務淨銷售額（不包括因豆油成本下降而降低價格的 Crisco）增加了 60 萬美元，即 0.2%。

Our base business net sales remained robust despite the year-over-year declines, and we are essentially flat to the third quarter of 2021. We have now lapped many of the larger price increases while also reducing price on our Crisco vegetable oil and shortening products, and increasing trade spend on Green Giant and Le Sueur canned vegetable products. As a result, the impact of pricing was a reduction to net sales of $1.1 million. FX added another $1.3 million reduction and volumes contributed to the remaining $13.2 million of the decrease.

儘管同比下降，我們的基礎業務淨銷售額仍然強勁，並且與 2021 年第三季度基本持平。我們現在已經經歷了許多較大的價格上漲，同時還降低了 Crisco 植物油和起酥油產品的價格，並增加Green Giant 和Le Sueur 罐裝蔬菜產品的貿易支出。結果，定價的影響導致淨銷售額減少了 110 萬美元。 FX 又減少了 130 萬美元，成交量導致了剩餘的 1320 萬美元的減少。

Our pricing strategy for both Crisco and Green Giant shelf-stable appears to be working as both of the businesses saw increased volumes in the back half of the quarter, driven in large part by our previously executed pricing initiatives and a moderation in the pace of inflation, our third quarter 2023 adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales increased by approximately 80 basis points to 16% compared to 15.2% in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA increased slightly to $80.4 million in the third quarter of 2023 from $80.2 million in the prior year period.

我們對Crisco 和Green Giant 貨架穩定的定價策略似乎正在發揮作用，因為這兩家公司的銷量在本季度後半段均有所增加，這在很大程度上是由我們之前執行的定價舉措和通膨步伐放緩所推動的2023 年第三季度，我們調整後的 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比增加了約 80 個基點，達到 16%，而去年同期為 15.2%。 2023 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 從去年同期的 8,020 萬美元小幅增至 8,040 萬美元。

Net sales were mixed across the portfolio. Clabber Girl has continued its strong showing this year as we head into the baking system with some really incredible momentum. Clabber Girl increased net sales by approximately $8.1 million or 31.5% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the prior year period.

整個投資組合的淨銷售額參差不齊。 Clabber Girl 今年繼續保持強勁表現，我們以令人難以置信的勢頭進入烘焙系統。與去年同期相比，Clabber Girl 2023 年第三季的淨銷售額增加了約 810 萬美元，即 31.5%。

New York Style is continuing to have an excellent year and was up by $1.2 million or 18.5% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the prior year period.

New York Style 今年繼續表現出色，2023 年第三季與去年同期相比成長了 120 萬美元，即 18.5%。

Our spices & seasonings business is off to a strong start in the second half of the year and was up $5.3 million or 6.1% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the year ago period. Improving fill rates and strong demand have been drivers of performance in our spices & seasonings business, and we have now lapped some of the noise in the early portion of this year. We are back to basics in our core spice business with strong execution across the portfolio while also generating some real excitement in the category throughout our new licensed brand launches such as Einstein's avocado toast, Texas Roadhouse, Sazerac Weber flavors, Buffalo Trace, Fireball and Southern Comfort. Stay tuned as we look to build off this momentum with additional launches in 2024.

我們的香料和調味料業務在今年下半年開局強勁，2023 年第三季年增 530 萬美元，成長 6.1%。填充率的提高和強勁的需求一直是我們香料和調味料業務業績的推動因素，現在我們已經克服了今年年初的一些噪音。我們回歸了核心香料業務的基礎，在整個產品組合中擁有強大的執行力，同時在我們新的授權品牌推出中也產生了一些真正的興奮，例如愛因斯坦酪梨吐司、德克薩斯路屋、薩澤拉克韋伯口味、水牛蹤、火球和南方舒適。我們希望在 2024 年推出更多產品，以鞏固這一勢頭，敬請關注。

Victoria had a strong second quarter in a row and increased net sales by $0.6 million or 4.7% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the prior year period. Net sales of Maple Grove Farms were up by approximately $0.5 million or 2.4% in the third quarter compared to the prior year period.

維多利亞連續第二季表現強勁，2023 年第三季的淨銷售額與去年同期相比增加了 60 萬美元，即 4.7%。 Maple Grove Farms 第三季的淨銷售額比去年同期成長了約 50 萬美元，成長 2.4%。

Net sales of Cream of Wheat were down $0.6 million or 3.5% in the third quarter compared to the prior year period, but were up $2.5 million or 16.1% compared to the third quarter of 2021. Ortega was down $1.7 million or 4.3% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to last year after being up in the first half of the year. Ortega is 1 of our marquee brands, and we expect better for this business.

與去年同期相比，Cream of Wheat 第三季度的淨銷售額下降了60 萬美元，即3.5%，但與2021 年第三季度相比，增長了250 萬美元，即16.1%。Olytega 第三季度的淨銷售額下降了170 萬美元，即4.3%。繼上半年成長後，2023年第三季與去年同期相比。 Ortega 是我們的知名品牌之一，我們期望這項業務能有更好的發展。

Net sales of Crisco were down $16.1 million or 16.4% in the third quarter compared to the prior year, but were up $11.2 million or 15.7% compared to the third quarter of 2021. As a reminder, extreme input cost increases led to large price increases for Crisco during 2022. Although this led to increased sales for Crisco during the first 3 quarters of 2022, including a 38.3% increase in net sales for Crisco during the third quarter of last year. Those large price increases eventually led to decreases in net sales for Crisco beginning earlier this year. However, we were able to reduce prices for Crisco during the back half of the third quarter, which led to increased volumes in the month of September for Crisco. More importantly, despite the decrease in net sales, Crisco remains on pace to achieve prior year and target profitability, which is really what this business is all about.

Crisco 第三季的淨銷售額與去年同期相比下降了1,610 萬美元，即16.4%，但與2021 年第三季相比增長了1,120 萬美元，即15.7%。需要提醒的是，投入成本的極端成長導致價格大幅上漲Crisco 在 2022 年期間的銷售額成長。儘管這導致 Crisco 在 2022 年前 3 季的銷售額增加，其中去年第三季 Crisco 的淨銷售額成長了 38.3%。這些大幅價格上漲最終導致 Crisco 從今年稍早開始淨銷售額下降。然而，我們在第三季後半段降低了 Crisco 的價格，這導致 Crisco 9 月的銷售增加。更重要的是，儘管淨銷售額下降，但 Crisco 仍有望實現去年和目標獲利能力，這才是這項業務的真正意義所在。

Net sales of Green Giant were down $13.2 million or 10.7% in the third quarter compared to the prior year. Increased promotions for the holidays led to improved volumes for our shelf-stable Green Giant and Le Sueur businesses with just a $1.5 million decrease in net sales compared to the prior year period. Meanwhile, the frozen vegetable set continues to be a challenge for our Green Giant frozen business as well as our competitors.

Green Giant 第三季淨銷售額比去年同期下降 1,320 萬美元，成長 10.7%。節日促銷活動的增加導致我們貨架穩定的 Green Giant 和 Le Sueur 業務的銷量增加，與去年同期相比，淨銷售額僅減少了 150 萬美元。同時，冷凍蔬菜套裝仍然對我們的綠巨人冷凍業務以及我們的競爭對手構成挑戰。

Base business net sales of all other brands in the aggregate increased by $0.5 million or 0.6% for the third quarter of 2023 as compared to the third quarter of 2022. Gross profit was $113.8 million for the third quarter of 2023 or 22.6% of net sales. Excluding the negative impact of $0.3 million of acquisition/divestiture-related expenses and nonrecurring expenses included in cost of goods sold during the third quarter of 2023, the company's gross profit would have been $114.1 million or 22.7% of net sales.

與2022 年第三季相比，2023 年第三季所有其他品牌的基礎業務淨銷售額總計增加了50 萬美元，即0.6%。2023 年第三季毛利為 1.138 億美元，佔淨銷售額的22.6% 。排除2023年第三季銷售成本中包含的30萬美元收購/剝離相關費用和非經常性費用的負面影響，該公司的毛利將為1.141億美元，佔淨銷售額的22.7%。

Gross profit was $105.8 million for the third quarter of 2022 or 20% of net sales. Excluding the negative impact of $2.2 million of acquisition/divestiture-related expenses and nonrecurring expenses included in cost of goods sold during the third quarter of 2022, the company's gross profit would have been $108 million or 20.4% of net sales. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales, excluding the impact of acquisition, divestiture related in nonrecurring expenses was up by approximately 230 basis points in the third quarter of 2023 compared to last year's third quarter. The improved margins were largely driven by a moderation in input costs and logistics inflation represented a continued turnaround compared to the first half of fiscal 2022, where we suffered from the severe input cost inflation that was seen industry-wide and which led to declines in our gross profit and margins.

2022 年第三季毛利為 1.058 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 20%。排除2022年第三季銷售成本中包含的220萬美元收購/剝離相關費用和非經常性費用的負面影響，該公司的毛利潤將為1.08億美元，佔淨銷售額的20.4%。與去年第三季相比，2023 年第三季毛利潤佔淨銷售額的百分比（不包括收購、剝離相關的非經常性費用的影響）增加了約 230 個基點。利潤率的提高主要是由於投入成本的緩和，而物流通脹與 2022 財年上半年相比持續好轉，2022 財年上半年，我們遭受了全行業嚴重的投入成本通脹，導致我們的利潤下降。毛利潤和利潤率。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $0.7 million or 1.4% to $48.2 million for the third quarter of 2023 from $47.5 million for the third quarter of 2022. The increase was composed of increases in general and administrative expenses of $3.2 million and consumer marketing expenses of $0.3 million, partially offset by decreases in warehousing expenses of $1.3 million, acquisition/divestiture-related and nonrecurring expenses of $1.2 million, and selling expenses of $0.3 million. Expressed as a percentage of net sales, selling, general and administrative expenses increased by 60 basis points to 9.6% for the third quarter of 2023 as compared to 9% for the third quarter of 2022.

2023 年第三季的銷售、一般和管理費用增加70 萬美元，即1.4%，從2022 年第三季的4,750 萬美元增至4,820 萬美元。這一增長包括一般和管理費用增加320 萬美元，以及消費者行銷費用增加320 萬美元。30 萬美元，部分被倉儲費用減少 130 萬美元、收購/剝離相關費用和非經常性費用減少 120 萬美元以及銷售費用減少 30 萬美元所抵銷。以佔淨銷售額的百分比表示，2023 年第三季的銷售、一般和管理費用增加了 60 個基點，達到 9.6%，而 2022 年第三季為 9%。

As I mentioned earlier, we generated $80.4 million in adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter of 2023 compared to $80.2 million in the third quarter of 2022. The increase in adjusted EBITDA is primarily attributable to a moderation in industry-wide input cost inflation, and logistics inflation that began in the fourth quarter of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales was 16% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 15.2% in the third quarter of 2022, an increase of approximately 80 basis points.

正如我之前提到的，我們在2023 年第三季的調整後EBITDA 為8,040 萬美元，而2022 年第三季為8,020 萬美元。調整後EBITDA 的成長主要歸因於全產業投入成本通膨的放緩和物流的影響。通貨膨脹始於 2021 年第四季。2023 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 16%，而 2022 年第三季為 15.2%，成長約 80 個基點。

Net interest expense was $35.9 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to $31.9 million in the third quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to higher interest rates on our variable rate borrowings, partially offset by a reduction in our average debt outstanding and a $0.6 million gain on extinguishment of debt as a result of the senior note repurchases. Interest expense was $35.8 million in the second quarter of 2023.

2023 年第三季的淨利息支出為3,590 萬美元，而2022 年第三季為3,190 萬美元。這一增長主要歸因於我們的浮動利率借款利率上升，部分被我們的平均未償債務減少和優先票據回購帶來的債務清償收益為 60 萬美元。 2023 年第二季利息支出為 3,580 萬美元。

Depreciation and amortization was $17.3 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to $20.8 million in the third quarter of last year. We generated $0.27 in adjusted diluted earnings per share in the third quarter of 2023 compared to $0.31 last year.

2023 年第三季的折舊和攤提為 1,730 萬美元，而去年第三季為 2,080 萬美元。 2023 年第三季度，我們的調整後稀釋每股收益為 0.27 美元，去年為 0.31 美元。

We remain very encouraged by the progress we have made over the past year in terms of restoring our P&L. And in addition to our P&L improvements, we are also continuing to make progress in the improvement of our cash flows and our balance sheet. We generated $23.3 million in net cash from operations in the third quarter of 2023 and $155.7 million in net cash from operations during the first 3 quarters of 2023 compared to net cash used in operations of $69.5 million in the third quarter of 2022 and net cash used in operations of $48.4 million in the first 3 quarters of 2022.

我們對過去一年在恢復損益方面取得的進展感到非常鼓舞。除了損益表的改善之外，我們還在現金流量和資產負債表的改善方面繼續取得進展。我們在2023 年第三季產生了2,330 萬美元的營運淨現金，在2023 年前三個季度產生了1.557 億美元的營運淨現金，而2022 年第三季營運所使用的淨現金為6,950 萬美元，2023 年第三季營運所使用的淨現金為6,950 萬美元。2022 年前 3 季營業額為 4,840 萬美元。

Increased operating profits, improved margins and more favorable working capital were the primary drivers of the improved cash from operations performance, which was offset in part by increased interest expense. As a reminder, the third quarter is typically a seasonal drag in third quarter cash from operations as we build inventory in the pack season and head of the baking and dry sweet businesses, for example. So we are very happy with the net cash from operations so far this year and especially in the third quarter.

營業利潤的增加、利潤率的提高和更有利的營運資本是經營業績現金改善的主要驅動力，但利息支出的增加部分抵消了這一影響。提醒一下，第三季通常是第三季營運現金的季節性拖累，因為我們在包裝季節以及烘焙和乾甜業務負責人建立庫存。因此，我們對今年迄今為止，尤其是第三季的營運淨現金感到非常滿意。

We have also reduced net debt by $67.3 million during the third quarter and by $212.5 million in the first 9 months of the year to $2.1 billion. We reduced our pro forma adjusted net leverage ratio as defined by our credit agreement to approximately 6.5x at the end of the third quarter 2023, compared to 7.6x at the end of fiscal 2022 and 7.8x at the end of the third quarter of 2022. We expect to continue to reduce our net leverage and our pro forma adjusted net leverage ratio throughout the remainder of the year as we work toward achieving our long-term target of 4.5 to 5.5x.

我們也在第三季將淨債務減少了 6,730 萬美元，在今年前 9 個月減少了 2.125 億美元，達到 21 億美元。到 2023 年第三季末，我們將信貸協議定義的預期調整後淨槓桿率降低至約 6.5 倍，而 2022 財年末為 7.6 倍，2022 年第三季末為 7.8 倍我們預計將在今年剩餘時間內部繼續降低淨槓桿率和預計調整淨槓桿率，努力實現4.5 至5.5 倍的長期目標。

During the third quarter, we completed 2 important financing transactions. The first was the issuance and sale of approximately $75 million of equity before fees and expenses through our ATM program at an average price of $11.90 per share. The second was the issuance of $550 million principal amount of senior secured notes due 2028 at a coupon of 8%. The equity issuance funded the repurchase of approximately $20 million of our senior unsecured notes due 2025 in the open market during the quarter at an average price of 96.9% of face value and was also used to reduce other long-term debt.

第三季度，我們完成了兩筆重要的融資交易。第一個是透過我們的 ATM 計劃以每股 11.90 美元的平均價格發行和出售約 7500 萬美元的未計費用和開支的股權。第二項是發行本金額為 5.5 億美元、於 2028 年到期的優先擔保票據，票面利率為 8%。此次股票發行為本季在公開市場上回購約 2,000 萬美元 2025 年到期的優先無擔保票據提供了資金，平均價格為面額的 96.9%，同時也用於減少其他長期債務。

Subsequent to the close of the quarter, we redeemed approximately $555 million of our senior unsecured notes due 2025, which leaves a remaining balance of $300 million of the 2025 notes. And now with just 1 quarter remaining in the year, we feel very good about the progress that we've made in terms of improving our P&L, our margin profile and our capital structure. We have reduced our net debt and our pro forma adjusted net leverage ratio despite many industry-wide challenges that we are facing.

本季末後，我們贖回了約 5.55 億美元的 2025 年到期優先無擔保票據，這使得 2025 年票據的餘額為 3 億美元。現在，今年只剩下一個季度了，我們對在改善損益表、利潤率狀況和資本結構方面取得的進展感到非常滿意。儘管我們面臨許多全行業的挑戰，但我們已經減少了淨債務和預期調整後的淨槓桿率。

Our reaffirmed adjusted EBITDA guidance and revised net sales and adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance include the impact of the sale of the U.S. Green Giant canned vegetable product line. The U.S. Green Giant can product line was on pace to generate approximately $75 million to $85 million in net sales for 2023. We have adjusted our net sales target to $2.05 billion to $2.07 billion for fiscal 2023. Through 9 months, our base business net sales are down approximately 1.4%.

我們重申的調整後 EBITDA 指引、修訂後的淨銷售額和調整後的稀釋每股收益指引包括出售美國 Green Giant 罐裝蔬菜產品線的影響。美國Green Giant 罐頭產品線預計在2023 年實現約7,500 萬至8,500 萬美元的淨銷售額。我們已將2023 財年的淨銷售額目標調整為20.5 億至20.7 億美元。過去9 個月，我們的基礎業務淨銷售額下降約1.4%。

Our updated guidance reflects base business, which excludes Back to Nature in the final 2 months of the year or about $23.5 million of U.S. Green Giant canned vegetable net sales. Excluding the impact of the divestitures, we expect fourth quarter net sales to be between flat and down 4% compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

我們更新的指導反映了基本業務，其中不包括今年最後 2 個月的「回歸自然」或美國 Green Giant 罐裝蔬菜淨銷售額約 2,350 萬美元。排除資產剝離的影響，我們預計第四季淨銷售額與去年第四季相比將持平或下降 4%。

And as a reminder, the recently divested Back to Nature brand contributed approximately $10.2 million of net sales in the third quarter of 2022 and $11.9 million of net sales in the fourth quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, we are reaffirming our adjusted EBITDA guidance of $310 million to $330 million.

提醒一下，最近剝離的Back to Nature 品牌在2022 年第三季貢獻了約1,020 萬美元的淨銷售額，在2022 年第四季貢獻了1,190 萬美元的淨銷售額。同時，我們重申調整後EBITDA指引為3.1 億美元至 3.3 億美元。

Adjusted diluted earnings per share is somewhat dependent on movements in interest rates and we are adjusting our fiscal year guidance for the adjusted diluted earnings per share range of $0.93 to $1.13, largely driven by the equity issuance described earlier. The majority of the heavy lifting in our adjusted EBITDA margin and dollar recovery has already happened this year. And as we mentioned on our previous calls, we expect improvements in the fourth quarter of the year to be somewhat more modest.

調整後的稀釋每股收益在一定程度上取決於利率的變動，我們正在將調整後的稀釋每股收益調整為0.93 美元至1.13 美元的財政年度指引，這主要是由前面描述的股票發行推動的。我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率和美元復甦的大部分重大提升已經在今年發生。正如我們在先前的電話會議中提到的，我們預計今年第四季的改善將更加溫和。

For full year fiscal 2023, we also expect interest expense of $145 million to $150 million, including cash interest of $138 million to $143 million. Depreciation expense of $47.5 million to $52.5 million; amortization expense of $20 million to $22 million; an effective tax rate of 26.5% to 27.5% and CapEx of approximately $35 million to $40 million.

對於 2023 財年全年，我們也預期利息支出為 1.45 億至 1.5 億美元，其中現金利息為 1.38 億至 1.43 億美元。折舊費用為 4,750 萬美元至 5,250 萬美元；攤銷費用為2,000萬至2,200萬美元；有效稅率為 26.5% 至 27.5%，資本支出約為 3,500 萬美元至 4,000 萬美元。

Now I'll turn the call back over to Casey for further remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回凱西以徵求進一步意見。

Thank you, Bruce. In closing, Q3 results demonstrated strong year-over-year improvement with pricing covering inflationary costs, improved margins and a reduction in leverage. We remain on track to achieve fiscal year '23 guidance of adjusted EBITDA. We've also made significant progress against reshaping the portfolio with today's announced divestiture of Green Giant U.S. canned vegetables.

謝謝你，布魯斯。最後，第三季業績顯示出強勁的同比改善，定價覆蓋了通膨成本、提高了利潤率並降低了槓桿率。我們仍有望實現 23 財年調整後 EBITDA 的指導。今天宣布剝離 Green Giant 美國罐頭蔬菜，我們在重塑投資組合方面也取得了重大進展。

This concludes our remarks, and now we would like to begin the Q&A portion of our call. Operator?

我們的演講到此結束，現在我們要開始電話會議的問答部分。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Michael Lavery with Piper Sandler.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Michael Lavery 和 Piper Sandler。

Can you give some of the color on the sales run rate for the Green Giant shelf-stable or the canned. Can you -- I know you're not disclosing the terms of the deal, but can you just help us figure out what some of the proceeds would look like for debt repayment? I know you paid $765 million for that business. And it looks like from our data, the can piece at the time might have been around 1/3 of that. Would that $265 million sort of allocation to can be a starting point. And if we took the $133 million of impairment that you recorded in the conjunction with the sale, about half that's left is the 130-something proceeds. Is that about the right way to think about it? Or is...

您能否對綠巨人貨架穩定或罐裝產品的銷售運行率進行一些說明？我知道你沒有透露交易條款，但你能幫我們弄清楚一些收益將用於償還債務嗎？我知道您為這項業務支付了 7.65 億美元。從我們的數據來看，當時的罐頭部分可能只有其中的 1/3 左右。 2.65 億美元的撥款是否可以作為一個起點？如果我們扣除您在出售時記錄的 1.33 億美元減值，那麼剩下的大約一半就是 130 多美元的收益。這是正確的思考方式嗎？或者是...

Yes. So like you said, we didn't disclose what the terms of the transactions were. This business is about $75-plus million of net sales out of a total of $500 million plus for Green Giant. So it's a small piece. So I wouldn't suggest that this is a significant portion of what we paid for the business.

是的。正如您所說，我們沒有透露交易條款。 Green Giant 總銷售額超過 5 億美元，其中該業務的淨銷售額約為 75 億美元以上。所以它是一小塊。因此，我不認為這是我們為該業務支付的很大一部分費用。

So as a reminder, within Green Giant, we've got -- in the U.S., the Green Giant frozen business. We've got this Green Giant can business, which has just been under pressure for years. We also have a nice business Le Sueur, which is a premium canned vegetable business. And then we've got our Green Giant frozen business and can business in Canada. So this is just the Green Giant can business. In the U.S.

提醒一下，在綠巨人內部，我們在美國有綠色巨人的冷凍業務。我們擁有綠色巨人罐頭業務，多年來一直面臨壓力。我們還有一家不錯的 Le Sueur 企業，這是一家優質罐裝蔬菜企業。然後我們在加拿大擁有綠色巨人冷凍業務和罐頭業務。所以這只是綠巨人可以做的事。在美國。

You keep it in Canada as well, right?

你也把它放在加拿大，對嗎？

Yes.

是的。

And just a quick housekeeping one on the share count with -- I know you've mentioned some of the proceeds from the ATM in the 3Q. Would the timing of that mean that even without doing any further issuances we should bump up the share count for 4Q? Or put another way, what was the share count at the very end of 3Q?

我知道您已經提到了第三季 ATM 機的一些收益。這個時機是否意味著即使不進行任何進一步的發行，我們也應該增加第四季的股票數量？或者換句話說，第三季末的股票數量是多少？

So you'll see it on our Q when it's filed, I think it was approximately 78.6 million shares.

所以當它提交時，你會在我們的 Q 上看到它，我認為大約有 7860 萬股。

The next question comes from William Reuter with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 William Reuter。

This is Rob Rigby on for Bill. So I guess, are you guys thinking about pursuing additional asset sales and kind of how we should be thinking about that in terms of size? Do you think that they're going to be more transformative in nature or smaller? And then if you can speak to just the general divestiture market and what that looks like.

這是為比爾發言的羅布·里格比。所以我想，你們是否正在考慮尋求額外的資產出售以及我們應該如何從規模角度考慮這一點？您認為它們在本質上會更具變革性還是更小？然後，您是否可以談談一般剝離市場以及它的情況。

Yes, sure. So Part 1, we've now divested Back to Nature and this Green Giant U.S. can business, which -- as we laid out sort of vision, business unit strategy go forward from an M&A standpoint, the divestiture strategy, including identifying businesses that we didn't think we were positioned to win over the long term potentially a growth challenge, margin challenge in this case, working capital. And so we've now divested 2 of those businesses. We haven't really talked publicly about other brands that we may be considering, although we've identified things internally nor do we typically talk about things from a brand standpoint that we're going to sell. So we're going to continue to evaluate that.

是的，當然。因此，第1 部分，我們現在已經剝離了「回歸自然」和這家綠色巨人美國罐頭業務，正如我們制定的願景一樣，業務部門戰略從併購的角度出發，剝離戰略，包括確定我們要收購的業務。不認為我們能夠贏得長期潛在的成長挑戰，在這種情況下是利潤率挑戰，即營運資本。因此，我們現在剝離了其中兩項業務。我們還沒有真正公開談論我們可能考慮的其他品牌，儘管我們已經在內部確定了一些事情，我們通常不會從我們要銷售的品牌角度談論事情。所以我們將繼續評估這一點。

And again, this is 2 of others probably to come. Casey has talked recently in the past of looking to divest between 10% and 15% of our total net sales. And so for context, I think that maybe that could help you out. As far as the overall M&A environment, it's been relatively quiet over the last 2 years, but it has shown spurts of some big deals getting done and some other deals like this transaction getting done. And so we're going to continue to monitor and act at the appropriate time, and then also very much stick to a process from what we think fits in our portfolio and what we think someone else is a better owner of.

再說一遍，這可能是另外兩個。 Casey 最近曾表示希望剝離我們總淨銷售額的 10% 到 15%。因此，就上下文而言，我認為這也許可以幫助您。就整體併購環境而言，過去兩年相對平靜，但出現了一些大型交易的井噴式完成以及像本次交易這樣的其他交易的完成。因此，我們將繼續監控並在適當的時間採取行動，然後也非常堅持我們認為適合我們的投資組合以及我們認為其他人更適合的流程。

The next question comes from Hale Holden of Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的黑爾霍爾頓。

Bruce, congrats on the sale. That can business has always been kind of a working capital hog, I think, in our view, particularly as you're coming to 3Q and 4Q. So maybe you could talk about what this says for cash efficiency. And if you're looking into the next year, what kind of working capital swings you wouldn't have with the can business, I think would be helpful.

布魯斯，恭喜成交。我認為，在我們看來，罐頭業務一直是一種營運資金消耗大戶，特別是在進入第三季和第四季時。所以也許你可以談談這對現金效率意味著什麼。如果你正在考慮明年，罐頭業務不會有什麼樣的營運資金波動，我認為會有所幫助。

Yes. So you highlighted it. Over time, this business is -- it's a very competitive market with high private label. We are not the manufacturer of this business. So our counterpartners transaction, Seneca, with the manufacturer that they're a great owner for this business. And as you pointed out, this is a seasonal working capital business where you are basically buying at least a year in advance of all of your sales, that inventory during the period between July and October, which means that you're planning is starting some 18 months before that pack season, which puts a lot of pressure. And so as we've owned this business, virtually every year has been either a high working capital or low working capital as we've tried to adjust to the right size pack.

是的。所以你強調了它。隨著時間的推移，這項業務是一個競爭非常激烈的市場，具有很高的自有品牌。我們不是這項業務的製造商。因此，我們的交易對手 Seneca 與製造商進行了交易，他們是這項業務的偉大所有者。正如您所指出的，這是一項季節性營運資金業務，您基本上是在所有銷售之前至少提前一年購買，即 7 月至 10 月期間的庫存，這意味著您計劃開始一些庫存距離狼群組季節還有18 個月，這給我們帶來了很大的壓力。因此，當我們擁有這項業務時，幾乎每年都會出現高營運資本或低營運資本的情況，因為我們試圖調整到合適的規模。

We just haven't gotten it right. It's just a challenging business. It's closer to the agricultural chain than a lot of our other businesses. Even though it is a canned -- packaged food business, it's just tough. We're not in the agricultural food game. There's a better owner for it, and this is really going to simplify our business going forward.

我們只是還沒做對。這只是一項具有挑戰性的業務。它比我們的許多其他業務更接近農業鏈。儘管這是一家罐頭包裝食品企業，但它的處境卻很艱難。我們不參與農業食品遊戲。它有一個更好的所有者，這確實會簡化我們未來的業務。

And the reality is this was a very, very high inventory intensity business. So we bought the entire year supply at 1 time during the year and held it for the entire year. So you think about the intensity of that on the sales profile, it's pretty high. So we obviously will not have to finance that additional kind of inventory going forward in the future, particularly in the Q3, Q4 time frame.

現實情況是，這是一項庫存強度非常非常高的業務。所以我們在一年中一次性購買了全年供應量並持有全年。所以你想想銷售情況的強度，它是相當高的。因此，我們顯然不必為未來的額外庫存提供資金，特別是在第三季、第四季的時間範圍內。

Will you guys see your working capital out of it before the sale closes or is that kind of baked into the proceeds? Is there proceeds plus the invested working capital because you should have an outright in the next quarter.

你們會在銷售結束之前看到你的營運資金嗎？還是將其納入收益中？是否有收益加上投資的營運資金，因為您應該在下個季度獲得徹底的收益。

Yes. Everything will come out. So we sold the business and all of the inventory.

是的。一切都會出來的。所以我們賣掉了生意和所有庫存。

The next question comes from Robert Dickerson of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的羅伯特·迪克森 (Robert Dickerson)。

Just a couple of quick ones for me, very easy. So I guess in the quarter, organic volumes were down 2.5%. Seemed like they were doing -- tracking a little bit worse in all the tracked channel data that you all look at. So maybe just kind of simplistically, just explain what the delta is. I'm not sure if you're clearly selling in non-tracked channels? Or there was any inventory dynamic or what have you?

對我來說只有幾個快速的，非常簡單。所以我猜本季有機銷量下降了 2.5%。看起來他們正在做的事情——在你們看到的所有追蹤通道資料中追蹤得有點差。所以也許只是簡單地解釋一下增量是什麼。我不確定您是否明確在非追蹤管道進行銷售？或有任何庫存動態或什麼？

So our track channel that we see, and I think it's pretty similar for most of the analysts. I know there are a couple that were way, way off in terms of what they were seeing what's going on in consumption versus what we actually saw. But I think we were down about 3.5% in consumption with the data that we see. And that compares to being down 3% in net sales for the quarter. So we do have some nontrack channels. So our Canadian business is obviously not tracked here, that's a little bit less than 10% of our business, and we've got some food service.

所以我們看到的追蹤頻道，我認為對於大多數分析師來說非常相似。我知道有些人他們所看到的消費情況與我們實際看到的情況相差甚遠。但我認為根據我們看到的數據，我們的消費量下降了約 3.5%。相比之下，本季淨銷售額下降了 3%。所以我們確實有一些非軌道頻道。所以我們的加拿大業務顯然沒有在這裡被追踪，這略低於我們業務的 10%，而且我們有一些食品服務。

Foodservice and members Mark and Sam's wouldn't necessarily be tracked in internal data. So there are some differences. And we've seen strength in our kind of out-of-home business, particularly in spices & seasonings.

餐飲服務和會員 Mark and Sam's 不一定會在內部數據中進行追蹤。所以存在一些差異。我們已經看到了戶外業務的優勢，特別是在香料和調味料方面。

That's helpful. And then I guess just Q4, is -- I think you said sales will be down 0% to 4%. I mean, [you touched] I'm assuming that's organic. And then secondly is just like working you to flat or continue down like with 2 months left on that fall from variables.

這很有幫助。然後我想第四季度，我想你說過銷售額將下降 0% 到 4%。我的意思是，[你觸摸]我假設那是有機的。其次，就像讓你保持平穩或繼續下降，就像在變數下降的情況下還剩下兩個月一樣。

Yes. That's a base business sales calculation. So we exclude the divestitures in that fourth quarter period. Honestly, the main thing that we're watching -- we know what the Crisco price decline is. So the price decline is depressing sales. But again, with much lower oil costs we're doing just fine on the gross profit line. So it's really a matter of, I would say, how we come to our seasonal kind of merchandising period and how well are we getting left in the kind of the November and December time period on our holiday merchandising, particularly in the baking season.

是的。這是基本的業務銷售計算。因此，我們排除了第四季的資產剝離。老實說，我們關注的主要事情是——我們知道 Crisco 的價格下跌是什麼。因此，價格下跌抑制了銷售。但同樣，由於石油成本大幅降低，我們的毛利也表現良好。因此，我想說，這實際上是一個問題，即我們如何進入季節性銷售週期，以及我們在 11 月和 12 月的假期銷售週期（尤其是烘焙季節）中的表現如何。

So -- and then I think it's just do we start to see some recovery in our frozen portfolio as we've taken some actions to compress the price premium to -- on our rice, vegetables and some other places where we needed to act on that portfolio. So -- we're -- that range is kind of what we're just -- we have out there now. We'll watch it obviously pretty carefully and see where our trends are, but I feel pretty comfortable that we're in the middle of that range right now.

因此，我認為我們開始看到我們的凍結投資組合有所復甦，因為我們已經採取了一些行動來壓縮大米、蔬菜和其他一些我們需要採取行動的地方的溢價那個投資組合。所以 - 我們 - 這個範圍就是我們現在所擁有的。我們顯然會非常仔細地觀察它，看看我們的趨勢在哪裡，但我對我們現在處於該範圍的中間感到非常滿意。

All right. And then, I guess, also with respect to your share issuance in the ATM capital structure, you kind of went through a lot in the call. I mean do you feel at this point, you're just clearly a much better position with respect to capital structure, such that like we shouldn't really expect more kind of opportunistic issuance or that kind of to be determined?

好的。然後，我想，關於您在 ATM 資本結構中發行股票的問題，您在電話會議中也經歷了很多事情。我的意思是，您是否認為在這一點上，您在資本結構方面顯然處於更好的位置，因此我們不應該真正期望更多的機會主義發行或那種待確定的發行？

The biggest thing from our capital structure over the last 2 years or maybe the biggest 2 things have been leverage and then this first tranche of 2025 notes. Certainly, we would love to go back in time to 2021 and refinance something at like sub-5% or crazy like that. Knowing the environment that we've been in, we've been very focused on solving that maturity and then also bringing our leverage down. So the equity issuance this quarter or third quarter really helped accelerate our debt reduction. I think these 2 asset sales will help bring debt down marginally beneficial from a leverage standpoint. But all in, we think we solve that capital structure issue. And so things are improving dramatically. But certainly if there are questions around capital structure earlier this year or mid-summer, we think those should be largely answered.

過去兩年我們資本結構中最重要的事情，或者說最重要的兩件事是槓桿，然後是第一批 2025 年票據。當然，我們很想回到 2021 年，以低於 5% 或瘋狂的利率進行再融資。在了解我們所處的環境後，我們一直非常專注於解決成熟度問題，然後降低我們的影響力。所以這個季度或第三季的股票發行確實幫助我們加速了債務削減。我認為，從槓桿的角度來看，這兩項資產出售將有助於略微降低債務。但總而言之，我們認為我們解決了資本結構問題。所以事情正在顯著改善。但當然，如果今年稍早或仲夏出現有關資本結構的問題，我們認為這些問題應該在很大程度上得到解答。

The next question comes from Carla Casella from JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的卡拉·卡塞拉。

This is [Mike Dunn] for Carla. Two quick ones from us. The first being is that, it's in the balance sheet for this quarter, $69 million assets held for sale. Is that the right way to assume what the proceeds are for the sale of Green Giant cans? And then better yet, is the -- as a second part to that, the FY guide, you guys held EBITDA. Does that kind of imply that EBITDA for this business that you sold was kind of minimal this year so there's minimal impact? Or is it just better improvement in the base business that's offsetting that?

這是卡拉的[麥克鄧恩]。我們的兩個快的。第一個是，在本季的資產負債表中，有 6,900 萬美元的待售資產。這是假設銷售綠巨人罐頭收益的正確方法嗎？更好的是，作為財政年度指南的第二部分，你們持有 EBITDA。這是否意味著您今年出售的這項業務的 EBITDA 很小，因此影響也很小？或者只是基礎業務的更好改善抵消了這一點？

Yes. So on the EBITDA part, just a reminder that this is $75 million, $85 million of annual net sales. There's 2 months left in the year that we won't have this business for. So that's 10 months that we had the business. So it will impact what our EBITDA is by a few million bucks, but we're largely through the year. We'll come back next year when we give our fourth quarter and full year update to talk more detail about the full year impact. And then as far as the other piece, we didn't disclose the transaction details.

是的。因此，在 EBITDA 部分，請注意，這是 7500 萬美元，年淨銷售額為 8500 萬美元。今年還有兩個月我們就沒有這項業務了。這就是我們開展業務的 10 個月。因此，這將對我們的 EBITDA 產生數百萬美元的影響，但我們基本上已經度過了這一年。我們將在明年提供第四季度和全年更新時回來討論有關全年影響的更多細節。至於另一塊，我們沒有透露交易細節。

The bottom line is that this is -- the shelf stable -- the U.S. -- the Green Giant U.S. can business is lower margin than our average. And so we feel like we can cover -- within our EBITDA guidance range, we can cover the 7-week impact of that coming out. On a sales basis, that's obviously a little bit larger. So we're disclosing here -- we're kind of adjusting that in terms of our sales guidance.

最重要的是，這是——貨架穩定——美國——​​綠色巨人美國罐頭業務的利潤率低於我們的平均水平。因此，我們覺得我們可以在 EBITDA 指導範圍內涵蓋該報告發布後 7 週的影響。從銷售額來看，這個數字顯然要大一些。所以我們在這裡披露——我們正在根據我們的銷售指導進行調整。

The next question comes from Karru Martinson from Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Karru Martinson。

Just in regard -- the asset has been divested. We're not waiting on any kind of approval or...

就這一點而言——該資產已被剝離。我們不會等待任何形式的批准或...

No, it's complete. (inaudible) complete to Seneca base -- today.

不，已經完成了。 （聽不清楚）今天已完成塞內卡基地的興建。

Okay. And with the sale, like when we look at Le Sueur or Canada canned, does this just change anything in terms of having a more difficult time going to market with scale, more difficult time with sourcing product? Or how do you look at the remaining can side of the business?

好的。隨著銷售的進行，就像我們看到 Le Sueur 或加拿大罐頭食品一樣，這是否會改變我們進入規模化市場變得更加困難、購買產品變得更加困難的情況？或者您如何看待剩餘的罐頭業務？

I mean, honestly, the can business in Canada is a completely different business, not the same supplier, not the same products, not the same formulas. So it has really nothing to do with the U.S. business. We have a Canadian supplier that supplies everything labeled differently, packaged differently. There's no synergies between our U.S. and Canadian can business.

我的意思是，老實說，加拿大的罐頭業務是完全不同的業務，不是相同的供應商，不是相同的產品，也不是相同的配方。所以這與美國業務確實沒有任何關係。我們有一家加拿大供應商，提供不同標籤、不同包裝的所有產品。我們的美國和加拿大罐頭業務之間沒有協同效應。

Le Sueur is a different business. We actually source that from Seneca who bought the Green Giant can business. So we'll continue to manage and market that. That's actually a nice margin business. It's very differentiated and has held up very nicely. So we'll keep that business for now. I mean, in the future, maybe that's something that we could divest, but it's a reasonably good business that I think we can run and continue to source.

Le Sueur 是一家不同的公司。實際上，我們是從購買了綠巨人罐頭業務的塞內卡那裡購買的。因此，我們將繼續管理和行銷它。這實際上是一項不錯的利潤業務。它非常與眾不同並且保持得非常好。所以我們暫時保留這項業務。我的意思是，在未來，也許我們可以剝離這部分業務，但我認為這是一項相當不錯的業務，我們可以經營並繼續採購。

The next question comes from David Palmer of Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

Congrats on the sale. Casey, I'd love to get your thoughts about how your strategic vision on Green Giant has maybe changed over time. It sounds like you're thinking Frozen is a bigger part of your future than maybe you might have been thinking in the past. And that's leading to this more selective sale. So any thoughts about your future with the category and maybe how you might have warmed up to the Green Giant frozen side. And I thought it was an interesting point made before about the -- maybe perhaps the smoothing out on inventory effects to your free cash flow from this part of the Green Giant being sold. So any -- can you maybe give us a sense about how much your free cash flow might be smoothed out versus what it was prior.

恭喜出售。凱西，我很想聽聽您對綠色巨人的戰略願景如何隨著時間的推移而變化的看法。聽起來你認為《冰雪奇緣》在你的未來中所佔的比重可能比你過去想像的更大。這導致了這種更有選擇性的銷售。那麼關於你在這個類別中的未來的任何想法，以及你可能如何熱身到綠巨人冰凍方面。我認為這是之前提出的一個有趣的觀點，也許是為了平滑庫存對綠巨人出售部分的自​​由現金流的影響。那麼，您能否讓我們了解一下您的自由現金流與之前相比可能會平滑多少。

On that last question, we should see a significant impact from smoothing our cash flows without having to finance the inventory. As Bruce said, it's gone up and down with how much we bought each year. And sometimes we end up buying a lot, sometimes we end up buying a little, but this will make our inventory profile to be a lot smoother. We'll still have some seasonal build to our inventory in Q3, just thinking about moving into the seasonality of Crisco oil -- for Crisco [surely] for baking. Bear Creek dry soup will still have some build. But we won't have this inventory from having to buy everything on a seasonal pack once a year. That impact was largely in the can business.

關於最後一個問題，我們應該會看到在無需為庫存融資的情況下平滑現金流所產生的重大影響。正如布魯斯所說，它隨著我們每年購買的數量而上下波動。有時我們最終會購買很多，有時我們最終會購買一點，但這將使我們的庫存狀況更加平滑。我們在第三季的庫存中仍然會有一些季節性的增加，只是考慮進入 Crisco 油的季節性——對於 Crisco [肯定] 用於烘焙。熊溪乾湯仍然會有一些味道。但我們不會有這樣的庫存，因為我們必須每年購買季節性包裝上的所有東西。這種影響主要集中在罐頭業。

I'm -- this doesn't imply a change in my view of Green Giant frozen. This implies an opportunity to divest the Green Giant can business that I don't think was a good fit with us long term where we had to carry all this inventory, we had -- in a high interest rate environment, in a category that kind of mature and slightly declining and we were the second branded player.

我——這並不意味著我對冰凍綠巨人的看法改變了。這意味著有機會剝離綠色巨人罐頭業務，我認為從長遠來看，這不適合我們，因為我們必須攜帶所有這些庫存，我們在高利率環境下，在一個類別中成熟但略有衰退，我們是第二個品牌玩家。

I still have the same questions that we've talked about on frozen business going forward. I believe that we're going to have to fix the economics, which we are making some progress doing. Right now, the category overall is a little soft, as you've heard from other frozen players. And we need scale in distribution logistics in a frozen network to make this work because our costs are going to market right now are probably a little bit higher than people who have larger scale. And you need that scale to make it efficient.

我仍然對我們討論過的關於未來凍結業務的問題抱有同樣的疑問。我相信我們必須解決經濟問題，我們正在這方面取得一些進展。目前，正如您從其他凍結玩家那裡聽到的那樣，該類別總體上有點疲軟。我們需要在凍結網路中擴大配送物流規模才能實現這一目標，因為我們現在進入市場的成本可能比規模更大的人高一點。你需要這樣的規模來提高效率。

So I haven't changed my view on frozen, honestly. I mean just to me was the natural buyer for this business, made sense -- made our balance sheet a little bit cleaner, gave us a little bit stronger focus on trying to fix some of the fundamentals in frozen in the meantime.

所以說實話，我對《冷凍》的看法並沒有改變。我的意思是，對我來說，這是這項業務的自然買家，這是有道理的——讓我們的資產負債表更乾淨一些，讓我們更加專注於嘗試同時修復一些凍結的基本面。

But look, I've been pretty clear that where we're driving right now is, first and foremost, the focus on spices & seasonings, where you see higher-margin business with good trends. You saw us we're innovating. We're driving that business. We've got good sales growth this quarter. Good margins. I think we've got good plans to keep going on that business. So that's the first place that we want to focus as a company.

但是，我已經非常清楚地表明，我們現在的首要目標是專注於香料和調味料，您會看到利潤率更高且趨勢良好的業務。你看到了我們正在創新。我們正在推動這項業務。本季我們的銷售成長良好。良好的利潤。我認為我們已經制定了繼續開展這項業務的良好計劃。所以這是我們作為一家公司首先要關注的地方。

The second place I talked about is the meals category and specifically kind of Mexican meals behind the Ortega brands, the Las Palmas brand, driving that, getting stronger innovation. We've kind of upgraded our focus on that business now that Bruce talked about. That's the second place [I really] want to focus on. And then third is the specialty business, which I define as businesses that we can run with good, stable cash flows, stabilizing kind of margins and top line. The Green Giant can business did not fit that model. So keeping those kind of businesses and running well.

我談到的第二個地方是膳食類別，特別是奧爾特加品牌、拉斯帕爾馬斯品牌背後的墨西哥膳食，推動了這一趨勢，獲得了更強大的創新。既然布魯斯談到了這一點，我們就已經升級了對這項業務的關注。這是[我真的]想要關注的第二個地方。第三是專業業務，我將其定義為我們可以以良好、穩定的現金流、穩定的利潤率和營收營運的業務。綠色巨人罐頭業務不適合這種模式。因此，保持此類業務並保持良好運營。

Crisco is part of that, but we're managing that for kind of gross profit and stability over time, and I think doing a good job at that, but it looks a little bit different. But the specialty business, we would look at that as how do we run those efficiently and well and maybe even acquire some more of those businesses that we can plug in and run efficiently with good, stable cash flow in a high-leverage environment.

Crisco 是其中的一部分，但我們正在管理它，以實現毛利和長期穩定性，我認為在這方面做得很好，但看起來有點不同。但對於專業業務，我們會考慮如何有效率、良好地經營這些業務，甚至可能收購更多我們可以插入的業務，並在高槓桿環境中以良好、穩定的現金流高效運作。

The question mark for me is frozen, it's frozen. Because I think we have to improve the funnel economics on the business. We have to figure out how to improve our distribution in frozen network and get a little bit more efficient in order for me to say that's a long-term focus for the company. So hopefully, that's clear. If we kind of implied to anything else, maybe that kind of helps you think about the way we drive the portfolio.

對我來說，問號已經凍結了，已經凍結了。因為我認為我們必須改善業務的漏斗經濟學。我們必須弄清楚如何改善我們在冷凍網路中的分銷並提高效率，以便我說這是公司的長期重點。希望一切都清楚了。如果我們暗示其他任何事情，也許這可以幫助您思考我們推動投資組合的方式。

That is super helpful. I think I was piecing together some comments you made at the conference previously in the fall, and then ran with this -- what you're doing here and thought maybe you were shifting a little bit more than you were. So my apologies for misinterpreting those 2 things.

這非常有幫助。我想我正在將您在秋季之前的會議上發表的一些評論拼湊在一起，然後討論您在這裡所做的事情，並認為您的轉變可能比現在多了一點。所以我為誤解這兩件事道歉。

I just wanted to ask Bruce and Casey, is there any early read for 2024 that you feel like sharing with us in terms of the key gross margin drivers, pricing, productivity inflation? Anything that we should be thinking about for our models, particularly in the first half?

我只是想問 Bruce 和 Casey，您是否願意與我們分享 2024 年主要毛利率驅動因素、定價、生產力通膨方面的早期讀物？對於我們的模型，特別是在上半年，我們應該考慮什麼？

Yes. I mean, I think we'll give you more formal guidance after the -- with the fourth quarter release. But I would say right now, there are some signs that we're picking up already. So 1 is that our read on inflation right now is like 1% to 2%, which I mean I'm almost doing backlists because given the last 2 years, that's quite an improvement. So we have now 1% to 2% inflation. We don't think we'll have a lot of pricing, but there may be some tactical pricing on certain commodities that might be disproportionately going up. But broadly, I don't think we'll have a ton of pricing.

是的。我的意思是，我認為我們將在第四季度發布後為您提供更正式的指導。但我現在想說的是，有一些跡象表明我們已經開始復甦。所以 1 是我們現在對通膨的解讀大約是 1% 到 2%，我的意思是我幾乎要重新列出，因為考慮到過去 2 年，這是一個相當大的進步。所以我們現在的通貨膨脹率為 1% 到 2%。我們認為不會有太多定價，但某些商品可能會有一些戰術性定價，這些定價可能會不成比例地上漲。但總的來說，我認為我們不會有太多的定價。

We will, a little bit, as I said, on the places where we need to and we have good justification. I personally -- we will also have good -- we are ramping up our productivity, so we're getting much stronger cost savings. We kind of started that formally last year to really track and measure how much we're driving. We're stepping up our expectations next year, and we're getting good delivery on that. So I expect to see some margin improvement from productivity, and I expect to see productivity offset some of that 1% to 2% inflation that we can't cover with pricing.

正如我所說，我們會在我們需要的地方做一點，而且我們有充分的理由。我個人 - 我們也會有好處 - 我們正在提高生產力，因此我們可以節省更多的成本。我們從去年開始正式開始這項工作，以真正追蹤和測量我們的駕駛時間。我們明年將提高預期，並且我們將取得良好的成果。因此，我預計生產力會帶來一些利潤率的提高，而我預計生產力會抵消部分我們無法透過定價來彌補的 1% 至 2% 的通貨膨脹。

Honestly, I feel pretty good about the track of our businesses, most of our businesses. Crisco, honestly, I don't know how to call it because it depends on how much oil goes up or down, which is where we'll price accordingly. I would say the only place we got to see kind of improvement in the business to get good, solid kind of top line progress where we want to be in the kind of that 1%, 2% range. We need to kind of get the frozen business performing at better than it is now. But that's kind of what I'm seeing.

老實說，我對我們的業務、我們大部分業務的發展軌跡感覺還不錯。 Crisco，老實說，我不知道該如何稱呼它，因為這取決於石油上漲或下跌的程度，這就是我們相應定價的地方。我想說的是，我們唯一能看到業務有所改善，從而獲得良好、穩定的營收進展，我們希望達到 1%、2% 的範圍。我們需要讓凍結的業務表現比現在更好。但這就是我所看到的。

I'm seeing kind of a more steady state environment that we're heading into next year. Inflation monitoring down to 1% to 2%. More limit -- much more limited pricing actions, getting back to kind of the fundamentals of driving some of our brands in the portfolio and doing the right things to drive cost savings in the business.

我看到明年我們將進入一個更穩定的環境。通膨監測降至1%至2%。更多限制——更有限的定價行為，回到推動我們的一些品牌進入產品組合的基本原理，並做正確的事情來推動業務成本節約。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Casey Keller for any closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給凱西·凱勒（Casey Keller）發表閉幕詞。

Thank you all for joining us today and appreciate your attention to the Q3 results and the announcement of our divestiture of the U.S. Green Giant canned vegetable business. Thank you, and we'll talk to you next quarter.

感謝大家今天加入我們，並感謝大家關注第三季業績以及我們宣布剝離美國 Green Giant 罐裝蔬菜業務。謝謝您，我們將在下個季度與您聯繫。

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您有個愉快的一天。