B&G Foods Inc (BGS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the B&G Foods fourth-quarter and fiscal 2023 earnings call. Today's call, which is being recorded, is scheduled to last about one hour, including remarks by B&G Foods management and the question-and-answer session.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 B&G Foods 第四季和 2023 財年財報電話會議。今天的電話會議正在錄音，預計持續約一小時，包括 B&G Foods 管理層的演講和問答環節。

I would now like to turn the call over to AJ Schwabe, Associate Corporate Strategy and Business Development for B&G Foods. AJ?

我現在想將電話轉給 B&G Foods 企業策略和業務開發助理 AJ Schwabe。阿傑？

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 full year in the earnings release we issued today, which is available at the Investor Relations section of b&gfoods.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。您可以在我們今天發布的收益報告中獲取有關本季度和全年的詳細財務信息，該信息可在 b&gfoods.com 的投資者關係部分找到。

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. 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.

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 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。

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, adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross profit percentage, 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.

我們還將在今天的電話會議上提及非公認會計原則財務指標、調整後的EBITDA、調整後的淨利潤、調整後的稀釋每股收益、調整後的毛利潤、調整後的毛利潤百分比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 fiscal 2024 and beyond. Bruce will then discuss our financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 and our guidance for fiscal 2024. 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 2024 財年及以後前景的想法。然後 Bruce 將討論我們第四季和 2023 財年的財務表現以及我們對 2024 財年的指導。我現在想把電話轉給凱西。

Good afternoon. Thank you, AJ, and thank you all for joining us today for our fourth-quarter and fiscal 2023 earnings call. B&G Foods' fourth-quarter results were solid, slightly exceeding expectations.

午安.謝謝 AJ，也謝謝大家今天參加我們的第四季和 2023 財年財報電話會議。B&G Foods 第四季業績穩健，略超預期。

Base business net sales, which exclude net sales of the divested Green Giant US canned vegetable and Back to Nature businesses were essentially flat, but for the impact of lower Crisco oil commodity pricing year over year. In addition, base business volume in the aggregate across the portfolio was slightly up for the quarter, stabilizing for the first periods and significant pricing actions in fiscal year '22.

基本業務淨銷售額（不包括已剝離的 Green Giant US 罐裝蔬菜和 Back to Nature 業務的淨銷售額）基本上持平，但受到 Crisco 石油商品定價同比下降的影響。此外，本季整個投資組合的基本業務量略有上升，第一個時期趨於穩定，並在第 22 財年採取了重大定價行動。

Profit margins also demonstrated steady progress. Adjusted gross profit percentage increased 130 basis points versus last year to 21.9%, reflecting pricing recovery of higher costs and productivity savings. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales was flat to last year at 15%, with adjusted gross profit improvement offset by the reinstatement of the short-term management incentive accrual in G&A expenses versus 0 in fiscal year '22.

利潤率也穩定提升。調整後毛利率較去年增加 130 個基點，達到 21.9%，反映出成本上升和生產力節省帶來的定價復甦。調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比與去年持平，為 15%，調整後毛利潤的改善被恢復一般管理費用中的短期管理激勵應計額所抵消，而 22 財年為 0。

With fourth-quarter results, B&G Foods delivered fiscal year '23 net sales of $2.062 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $318 million, well within our revised guidance, reflecting the divesture of Green Giant US canned vegetables in November. Bruce will provide more details on quarter four and fiscal year '23 results.

根據第四季業績，B&G Foods 23 財年淨銷售額為 20.62 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 3.18 億美元，完全符合我們修訂後的指引，反映了 11 月剝離 Green Giant US 罐裝蔬菜的情況。Bruce 將提供有關第四季度和 23 財年業績的更多詳細資訊。

Stepping back, we achieved several critical milestones in fiscal year '23 on the journey to reshape and strengthen B&G Foods. First, margin recovery. After historic inflation pressure in fiscal year '22, margins recovered strongly in fiscal year '23 behind pricing actions and productivity efforts.

退一步來說，我們在 23 財年重塑和強化 B&G Foods 的過程中實現了幾個重要的里程碑。首先，利潤率恢復。在經歷了第 22 財年歷史性的通膨壓力之後，在定價行動和生產力努力的推動下，利潤率在第 23 財年強勁復甦。

Adjusted gross profit percentage increased 280 basis points year over year from 19.4% to 22.2% in fiscal year '23. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales increased 150 basis points to 15.4% in fiscal year '23. Going forward, input cost inflation has moderated to low single digits and, in some cases such as soybean oil, has come down from historic highs.

23 財年調整後毛利率年增 280 個基點，從 19.4% 增至 22.2%。2023 財年調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比增加了 150 個基點，達到 15.4%。展望未來，投入成本通膨已放緩至低個位數，並且在某些情況下（例如豆油）已從歷史高點回落。

Number two, portfolio shaping. We divested the low margin working capital intensive businesses of Back to Nature cookie crackers and Green Giant US canned vegetables. Both did not fit with our future portfolio focus and were strained to deliver adequate cash flow against the leverage model. As previously disclosed, we expect to divest additional business and brands over the next year to focus the portfolio for future success and intend to use the proceeds to pay down debt.

第二，投資組合塑造。我們剝離了 Back to Nature 餅乾餅乾和 Green Giant US 罐裝蔬菜等低利潤營運資本密集業務。兩者都不符合我們未來投資組合的重點，並且難以根據槓桿模型提供足夠的現金流。如同先前所揭露的，我們預計將在明年剝離更多業務和品牌，以集中投資組合以實現未來的成功，並打算用所得收益來償還債務。

Third, cash flow and working capital. Net cash from operations improved dramatically increasing from $6 million last year to $248 million in fiscal year '23. These results were driven by better operating performance and margin recovery and critically by significant improvement in working capital. Inventories in fiscal year '23 declined by $157 million, down from $726 million last year to $569 million at year end, reflecting the divesture of the seasonal Green Giant US canned business, lower Crisco soybean oil costs, and efficiencies in base business inventory levels while delivering higher service.

第三，現金流和營運資金。營運淨現金顯著改善，從去年的 600 萬美元增加到 23 財年的 2.48 億美元。這些結果是由更好的經營績效和利潤率恢復以及營運資本的顯著改善所推動的。23 財年的庫存下降了1.57 億美元，從去年的7.26 億美元降至年底的5.69 億美元，反映出季節性Green Giant 美國罐頭業務的剝離、Crisco 豆油成本的降低以及基礎業務庫存水平的效率提高，同時提供更高的服務。

Fourth, debt and leverage. During fiscal year '23, B&G Foods reduced net debt by $335 million, primarily using improved cash flow and the proceeds from divestitures to pay down debt. As a result, B&G Foods' pro forma adjusted net leverage ratio as calculated per our credit agreement decreased from 7.62 times at fiscal year '22 and to 6.32 times by the end of fiscal year '23. We are making excellent progress towards returning to our long-term range of 4.5 to 5.5 times. The expectation is to further close that gap in fiscal year '24 through additional divestitures and paying down debt with excess cash flow.

第四，債務和槓桿。在 23 財年，B&G Foods 將淨債務減少了 3.35 億美元，主要利用改善的現金流量和資產剝離收益來償還債務。因此，根據我們的信貸協議計算，B&G Foods 的預期調整後淨槓桿率從 22 財年的 7.62 倍下降到 23 財年末的 6.32 倍。我們在回歸 4.5 至 5.5 倍的長期區間方面取得了巨大進展。預計透過額外的資產剝離和用過剩的現金流償還債務，在 24 財年進一步縮小這一差距。

Five, Crisco pricing model. During the first quarter fiscal year '23, we implemented a new commodity pricing model on Crisco with our customers. Prices for Crisco products move quarterly to reflect the volatility in soybean and vegetable oil inputs and match market pricing with actual oil costs. The result has been stable gross profit dollars and cash flow for Crisco in a volatile market, particularly over the past two years. As discussed, we do expect to see some up and down movement on Crisco net sales results based on changes in oil pricing without any impact on the bottom line.

五、Crisco定價模型。在 23 財年第一季度，我們與客戶在 Crisco 上實施了新的商品定價模型。Crisco 產品的價格每季變動一次，以反映大豆和植物油投入的波動性，並使市場定價與實際石油成本相符。結果是 Crisco 在動盪的市場中保持了穩定的毛利和現金流，尤其是在過去兩年。如同所討論的，我們確實預期 Crisco 淨銷售額結果會根據石油價格的變化而出現一些上下波動，而不會對利潤產生任何影響。

And last, spices and seasonings. Representing approximately 18% of our portfolio, the core high margin spices and seasoning business increased net sales by 2.2%. 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.

最後是香料和調味料。核心高利潤香料和調味料業務約占我們投資組合的 18%，淨銷售額成長了 2.2%。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, are improving and have recovered from temporary service and production issues in our Ankeny factory. We have also strengthened our innovation and new product pipeline, launching new license seasoning and grilling blends under the Buffalo Trace, Fireball, and Southern Comfort brands, which are performing very well in initial distribution.

核心零售品牌趨勢 Dash、Weber、Spice Island 等正在改善，並已從我們 Ankeny 工廠的臨時服務和生產問題中恢復過來。我們還加強了我們的創新和新產品線，在 Buffalo Trace、Fireball 和 Southern Comfort 品牌下推出了新的授權調味料和燒烤混合物，這些品牌在初始分銷中表現非常出色。

Overall, we are pleased with the performance in the fourth quarter and the recovery of the B&G Foods business in fiscal year '23. There's clearly more work to do, but our team has made significant progress toward creating a stronger, more valuable B&G Foods.

總體而言，我們對第四季度的業績以及 B&G Foods 業務在 23 財年的復甦感到滿意。顯然還有更多工作要做，但我們的團隊在打造更強大、更有價值的 B&G Foods 方面取得了重大進展。

Bruce will discuss specific guidance, but our focus in fiscal year '24 is to generate slight top line and low single digit bottom line growth on the base business, which excludes the divested Green Giant US canned vegetable business, further reshape the business through strategic divestitures to focus the long-term portfolio for higher margins and valuation growth. 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, reduce net debt and leverage through divestiture proceeds and strong excess cash flows.

布魯斯將討論具體指導，但我們在24 財年的重點是在基礎業務上產生輕微的收入和低個位數的底線增長，其中不包括剝離的Green Giant 美國罐頭蔬菜業務，通過戰略剝離進一步重塑業務專注於長期投資組合以獲得更高的利潤和估值成長。我們繼續評估利潤率和現金流較低、營運資金複雜性較高或不符合我們核心能力和業務部門結構的現有業務，透過剝離收益和強勁的超額現金流來減少淨債務和槓桿。

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

謝謝。我現在將把電話轉給布魯斯，以了解有關本年度季度業績和業績的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, Casey. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our fourth-quarter and fiscal year 2023 earnings call. As you can see, we had another strong quarter, and we finished the year largely in line with our guidance.

謝謝你，凱西。大家下午好。感謝您參加我們的第四季和 2023 財年財報電話會議。正如您所看到的，我們又經歷了一個強勁的季度，並且我們今年的業績基本上符合我們的指導方針。

As we explained at the outset of the year, we expected to see large year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales in the first two quarters of the year, followed by a more modest increase in adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales in the third quarter. And for the fourth quarter, we expected similar performance to the prior year before accounting for the divestiture of Green Giant US shelf-stable product line. This is essentially how the year played out for us.

正如我們在今年年初所解釋的那樣，我們預計今年前兩個季度調整後 EBITDA 以及調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比將同比大幅增長，隨後調整後 EBITDA 將出現較溫和的增長。EBITDA 和調整後EBITDA 佔第三季淨銷售額的百分比。對於第四季度，我們預計在考慮剝離 Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線之前，其業績將與前一年類似。這基本上就是我們這一年的表現。

In fiscal 2023, we generated $2.062 billion in net sales, $318 million in adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales of 15.4%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.99. Base business net sales, which excludes net sales from the Back to Nature brand and the Green Giant US shelf-stable product line decreased by approximately $30 million or 1.5% in fiscal 2023 compared to the year-ago period.

2023 財年，我們的淨銷售額為 20.62 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 3.18 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 15.4%，調整後稀釋每股盈餘為 0.99 美元。 2023 財年，基礎業務淨銷售額（不包括 Back to Nature 品牌和 Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線的淨銷售額）與去年同期相比下降了約 3,000 萬美元，即 1.5%。

Base business net sales include a benefit of $93.3 million from pricing and the impact of product mix. This was offset by negative impacts of $5.1 million from FX and $118.2 million from volumes. And the pricing helped, particularly in our results in the early part of the year.

基礎業務淨銷售額包括來自定價和產品組合影響的 9,330 萬美元收益。這被外匯 510 萬美元和交易量 1.182 億美元的負面影響所抵消。定價也起到了幫助作用，特別是對我們今年年初的業績而言。

For fiscal 2023, adjusted EBITDA increased by $17 million or 5.7% compared to $301 million for fiscal 2022. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales was 15.4% for fiscal 2023 compared to 13.9% for fiscal 2022. For the fourth quarter of 2023, we generated $578.1 million in net sales, $86.8 million in adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales of 15%, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.3.

2023 財年，調整後 EBITDA 增加了 1,700 萬美元，或 5.7%，而 2022 財年為 3.01 億美元。2023 財年調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 15.4%，而 2022 財年為 13.9%。2023 年第四季，我們的淨銷售額為 5.781 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 8,680 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 15%，調整後稀釋每股收益為 0.3 美元。

Base business net sales decreased by $13.3 million or 2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the prior year. The decrease in base business net sales in the fourth quarter was largely driven by a decrease in net pricing and the impact of product mix of $15.9 million or 2.8% of base business net sales. The decrease in pricing was in part a product of our Crisco commodity pricing model that we have instituted, coupled with modest increases in promotional trade spending in other areas of the portfolio where it made sense.

2023 年第四季基礎業務淨銷售額較前一年減少 1,330 萬美元，或 2.3%。第四季基礎業務淨銷售額下降的主要原因是淨定價下降以及產品組合的影響，產品組合減少了 1,590 萬美元，佔基礎業務淨銷售額的 2.8%。定價下降的部分原因是我們制定的 Crisco 商品定價模型，以及投資組合其他有意義領域的促銷貿易支出的小幅增加。

The impact of foreign currency was also a slight drag on net sales contributing to another $0.3 million of the decline. These were partially offset by an increase in unit volume of $2.9 million for the quarter. We are obviously encouraged by the improving volume story that we are now seeing, although we are closely monitoring the trade-off between pricing, promotional strategy, and volumes as well as the current consumption trends.

外匯的影響也對淨銷售額造成了輕微拖累，導致淨銷售額又下降了 30 萬美元。該季度單位銷售增加 290 萬美元，部分抵消了這些影響。儘管我們正在密切關注定價、促銷策略和銷售之間的權衡以及當前的消費趨勢，但我們現在看到的銷售不斷改善的情況顯然令我們感到鼓舞。

I will now highlight the performance of some of our larger brands. Clabber Girl had incredibly strong momentum coming into the holiday big season. And similar to its performance all year long, Clabber didn't disappoint. Net sales of Clabber increased by $8.2 million or 26.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Net sales of Clabber Girl benefited from both pricing and increased volumes during the quarter.

我現在將重點介紹我們一些較大品牌的表現。Clabber Girl 在進入假日旺季時有著令人難以置信的強勁勢頭。與全年的表現類似，Clabber 也沒有讓人失望。與 2022 年第四季相比，2023 年第四季 Clabber 的淨銷售額增加了 820 萬美元，即 26.3%。Clabber Girl 的淨銷售額受惠於本季的定價和銷售增加。

Net sales of Maple Grove Farms increased by about $0.7 million or 3.4%. Our spices and seasonings continue to benefit from improved supply chain performance and new product launches finishing the year with a solid quarter. Net sales of the company's spices and seasonings increased by $0.7 million or 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

Maple Grove Farms 的淨銷售額增加了約 70 萬美元，即 3.4%。我們的香料和調味料繼續受益於供應鏈績效的改善和新產品的推出，並以穩健的季度業績結束了這一年。與 2022 年第四季相比，2023 年第四季該公司香料和調味料的淨銷售額增加了 70 萬美元，即 0.8%。

As Casey mentioned earlier on the call, we are very excited about the prospects for these new partnership brand launches coming out of our spices and seasonings business, which include the license seasoning products, Einstein's Everything Bagel, Einstein's avocado toast; and Sazerac Weber flavor's Buffalo Trace, Fireball, and Southern Comfort. We also have a robust pipeline and expect to be able to announce additional new and exciting products.

正如凱西早些時候在電話會議上提到的，我們對香料和調味料業務推出的這些新合作品牌的前景感到非常興奮，其中包括許可調味品產品、愛因斯坦的Everything Bagel、愛因斯坦的酪梨吐司；以及 Sazerac Weber 風味的 Buffalo Trace、Fireball 和 Southern Comfort。我們也擁有強大的產品線，並期望能夠推出更多令人興奮的新產品。

While net sales of Crisco decreased by $10.6 million or 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2023 when compared to the prior year period, this was largely expected due to favorable input cost relief and the execution of our commodity pricing model, which allowed us to reduce pricing to our customers and still maintain profit dollars. As a result of the lower pricing, we are starting to see a nice recovery in Crisco volumes.

雖然Crisco 的淨銷售額在2023 年第四季與去年同期相比下降了1,060 萬美元，即8.7%，但這在很大程度上是預期的，因為有利的投入成本緩解和我們的商品定價模型的執行，使我們能夠減少向我們的客戶定價並仍然保持利潤美元。由於價格較低，我們開始看到 Crisco 銷售的良好復甦。

Increased volumes for Crisco contributed to $1.8 million to net sales or 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. We expect this trend to continue throughout 2024 with lower pricing leading to an improved volume recovery for Crisco throughout the year.

Crisco 銷量的增加為 2023 年第四季的淨銷售額貢獻了 180 萬美元，與 2022 年第四季相比成長了 1.5%。我們預計這一趨勢將持續到 2024 年，較低的價格將導致 Crisco 全年銷售恢復改善。

Our Green Giant business was not immune to the category-wide industry challenges seen throughout 2023 in the shelf-stable and frozen vegetable snacks. Net sales of Green Giant, including Le Sueur, but excluding the divested Green Giant US shelf-stable product line decreased by $5.2 million or 4.4%. We expect more favorable industry trends in the category during 2024. And quite frankly, we expect much more favorable trends for our business. The goal is to get this brand back to being the industry leader from an innovation perspective and to generate category-leading growth rates like we did before the pandemic.

我們的綠色巨人業務也未能倖免於 2023 年全年在耐儲存和冷凍蔬菜零食領域面臨的全品類行業挑戰。Green Giant（包括 Le Sueur）的淨銷售額（但不包括剝離的 Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線）下降了 520 萬美元，即 4.4%。我們預計 2024 年該類別的行業趨勢將更加有利。坦白說，我們預計我們的業務會出現更有利的趨勢。我們的目標是從創新的角度讓這個品牌重新成為行業領導者，並像我們在大流行之前那樣產生行業領先的成長率。

The hot breakfast bio is another category that is still seeing some normalization in its post-pandemic trends. Net sales of Cream of Wheat were approximately $78.5 million in 2023, which was well ahead of the pre-pandemic levels that had been consistently in the $60 million to $70 million range annually, although 2023 net sales were somewhat lower than fiscal 2022 annual net sales of $81.4 million. In the fourth quarter of 2023, net sales of Cream of Wheat decreased by $2.2 million or 9% compared to the prior year.

熱早餐生物是另一個在疫情後趨勢中仍呈現正常化趨勢的類別。2023 年，小麥奶油的淨銷售額約為7,850 萬美元，遠高於疫情前每年持續在6,000 萬至7,000 萬美元範圍內的水平，儘管2023 年淨銷售額略低於2022 財年的年度淨銷售額8140萬美元。2023 年第四季，小麥奶油的淨銷售額較前一年減少 220 萬美元，即 9%。

Net sales of Ortega decreased by $0.3 million or 1% in the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Ortega finished the quarter with some momentum despite a challenging year. While Q4 net sales were down 1%, they were up approximately 0.9% in the month of November and another 0.6% in December compared to the prior-year periods.

與 2022 年第四季相比，Ortega 2023 年第四季的淨銷售額減少了 30 萬美元，即 1%。儘管經歷了充滿挑戰的一年，奧爾特加仍以一定的勢頭結束了本季。儘管第四季淨銷售額下降 1%，但與去年同期相比，11 月和 12 月的淨銷售額分別成長了約 0.9% 和 0.6%。

Taco sauces, green chilis, and seasonings mixes led the way for the brand-driving positive performance in the back half of the fourth quarter. Taco shells and Taco kits continue to be somewhat challenged. Ortega began the year with a tough comp relative to prior year and some softness in shells and kits as well as pricing elasticity-driven volume declines and some skews where we took pricing.

塔可醬、青辣椒和混合調味料在第四季度後半段引領了品牌驅動的積極業績。炸玉米餅殼和玉米餅套件繼續受到一些挑戰。與去年相比，奧爾特加今年伊始的業績比較艱難，外殼和套件有些疲軟，定價彈性驅動的銷售下降，我們的定價也出現了一些偏差。

These factors combined with the general post-COVID category normalization help cause much of the declines. Total net sales for Ortega were $147.9 million in fiscal 2023, down from $154.3 million in fiscal 2022, but also up substantially from pre-pandemic 2018 net sales of $140.4 million.

這些因素與新冠疫情後類別正常化相結合，導致了大部分下降。Ortega 2023 財年的淨銷售額總額為 1.479 億美元，低於 2022 財年的 1.543 億美元，但也比 2018 年疫情爆發前的 1.404 億美元淨銷售額大幅增長。

Base business net sales of all other brands in the aggregate decreased by $4.6 million or 3.5% for the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Gross profit was $125.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 or 21.7% of net sales. Adjusted gross profit was $126.8 million or 21.9% of net sales. Gross profit was $126.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 or 20.2% of net sales. Adjusted gross profit was $128.6 million or 20.6% of net sales.

與 2022 年第四季相比，2023 年第四季所有其他品牌的基礎業務淨銷售額總計減少了 460 萬美元，即 3.5%。2023 年第四季毛利為 1.252 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 21.7%。調整後毛利為 1.268 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 21.9%。2022 年第四季毛利為 1.261 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 20.2%。調整後毛利為 1.286 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 20.6%。

Adjusted gross profit increased by approximately 130 basis points in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to last year's fourth quarter. The improvement in gross profit percentage was largely driven by a moderation in input costs and logistics inflation. This represents a continued turnaround compared to the first half of fiscal 2022, where we suffered from the severe industry-wide input cost inflation, which led to large declines in our gross profit and margins.

2023年第四季調整後毛利較去年第四季成長約130個基點。毛利率的改善主要是因為投入成本和物流通脹的放緩。與 2022 財年上半年相比，這代表著持續的好轉，當時我們遭受了嚴重的全行業投入成本通膨，導致我們的毛利和利潤率大幅下降。

Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by $1.3 million or 2.7% to $53.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2023 from $51.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase was composed of increases in general and administrative expenses of $5.8 million and consumer marketing expenses of $0.9 million, partially offset by decreases in warehousing expenses of $2.6 million, selling expenses of $2.3 million, an acquisition and divestiture-related and nonrecurring expenses of $0.5 million.

2023 年第四季的銷售、一般和管理費用增加了 130 萬美元，增幅為 2.7%，從 2022 年第四季的 5,190 萬美元增至 5,320 萬美元。這項成長包括一般及管理費用增加580 萬美元，消費者行銷費用增加90 萬美元，部分被倉儲費用減少260 萬美元、銷售費用230 萬美元、收購及剝離相關及非經常性費用減少0.5 美元所抵消。百萬。

Expressed as a percentage of net sales, selling, general, and administrative expenses increased by 90 basis points to 9.2% for the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to 8.3% for the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase in general and administrative costs was largely driven by modest inflation in wages, insurance, and other professional services, as well as an increase in short-term management incentive accruals as no annual bonuses were rewarded for fiscal 2022 due to the shortfall in performance in fiscal 2022.

以佔淨銷售額的百分比表示，2023 年第四季的銷售、一般和管理費用增加了 90 個基點，達到 9.2%，而 2022 年第四季為 8.3%。一般和行政成本的增加主要是由於工資、保險和其他專業服務的溫和通膨，以及由於業績不佳而沒有獎勵 2022 財年年度獎金，從而增加了短期管理激勵應計費用2022 財年。

As I mentioned earlier, we generated $86.8 million in adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $93.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Fourth-quarter 2023 adjusted EBITDA benefited from the moderation in industry-wide input cost inflation and logistics inflation that have plagued the industry since the fourth quarter of 2021, which were offset in part by the modestly higher G&A costs as well as the impact of divestitures. Fourth quarter of 2022 included a full quarter of profits from Back to Nature brand and the Green Giant US shelf-stable product line, while the fourth quarter of 2023 had no benefit from Back to Nature and approximately 5.5 weeks of benefit from Green Giant US shelf-stable business.

正如我之前提到的，我們 2023 年第四季的調整後 EBITDA 為 8,680 萬美元，而 2022 年第四季為 9,360 萬美元。2023 年第四季調整後 EBITDA 受益於自 2021 年第四季以來一直困擾該行業的全行業投入成本通膨和物流通脹的放緩，但一般管理成本小幅上漲以及資產剝離的影響部分抵消了這些影響。2022 年第四季包括 Back to Nature 品牌和 Green Giant 美國貨架穩定產品線的整個季度利潤，而 2023 年第四季度沒有 Back to Nature 的收益，以及 Green Giant 美國貨架約 5.5 週的收益- 業務穩定。

Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales was 15% in the fourth quarter of 2023, in line with the 15% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Net interest expense was $40.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $36.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to higher interest rates on our borrowings and a $0.5 million loss on extinguishment of debt, partially offset by reduction in our average debt outstanding.

2023 年第四季調整後 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比為 15%，與 2022 年第四季的 15% 一致。2023 年第四季的淨利息支出為 4,020 萬美元，而 2022 年第四季為 3,630 萬美元。這一增長主要歸因於我們的借款利率上升以及債務清償造成的 50 萬美元損失，但部分被我們平均未償債務的減少所抵消。

Depreciation and amortization were $17 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $19.5 million in the fourth quarter of last year. We generated $0.3 and adjusted diluted earnings per share in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to $0.4 last year. We remain very encouraged by the progress we have made over the past year in terms of restoring our P&L. And perhaps even more impressive than our P&L improvements was the progress that we made in the improvement of our cash flows and our balance sheet.

2023 年第四季的折舊和攤提為 1,700 萬美元，而去年第四季為 1,950 萬美元。2023 年第四季度，我們實現了 0.3 美元的每股收益和調整後的稀釋每股收益，而去年為 0.4 美元。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。也許比損益表的改善更令人印象深刻的是我們在改善現金流和資產負債表方面取得的進展。

We generated $92.1 million in net cash from operations in the fourth quarter of 2023 and $247.8 million in the full 12 months of fiscal 2023. This compares to $54.4 million in net cash from operations generated in the fourth quarter of 2022 and just $6 million during the full 12 months of 2022. Increased operating profits, improved margins, and a more favorable working capital were the primary drivers of improved cash flows from operations, which was offset in part by increased interest expense.

我們在 2023 年第四季的營運中產生了 9,210 萬美元的淨現金，在 2023 財年的整個 12 個月中產生了 2.478 億美元的淨現金。相較之下，2022 年第四季營運產生的淨現金為 5,440 萬美元，而 2022 年全年 12 個月的營運淨現金僅為 600 萬美元。營業利潤的增加、利潤率的提高和更有利的營運資本是營運現金流改善的主要驅動力，但利息支出的增加部分抵消了這一影響。

We finished the year with approximately $569 million in inventory in fiscal 2023 compared to $726.5 million in inventory at the end of last year. Approximately $90 million of the reduction was due to our focus on supply chain efficiencies and a moderation in input costs. The remainder came from the sale of the Green Giant US shelf-stable product line, which as we mentioned previously, was highly capital intensive and came with large seasonal swings in working capital.

2023 財年，我們的庫存約為 5.69 億美元，而去年底的庫存為 7.265 億美元。由於我們注重供應鏈效率和控制投入成本，因此減少了約 9,000 萬美元。其餘部分來自綠巨人美國耐儲存產品線的銷售，正如我們之前提到的，該產品線是高度資本密集的，營運資金季節性波動較大。

We reduced net debt by more than $335 million during the course of fiscal 2023 to $2.02 billion at the end of the year, down from $2.36 billion at the end of fiscal 2022. We also reduced pro forma adjusted net leverage ratio as defined in our credit agreement to approximately 6.3 times at the end of fiscal 2023 compared to 7.6 times at the end of fiscal 2022. We expect to continue to reduce our net debt and pro forma adjusted net leverage ratio throughout fiscal 2024 and beyond, as we diligently work toward achieving our long-term target 4.5 to 5.5 times.

我們在 2023 財年期間將淨債務減少了超過 3.35 億美元，從 2022 財年末的 23.6 億美元減少到年底的 20.2 億美元。我們也將信貸協議中定義的預期調整後淨槓桿率從 2022 財年末的 7.6 倍降低到 2023 財年末的約 6.3 倍。我們預計在 2024 財年及以後繼續減少淨債務和預期調整後的淨槓桿率，並努力實現 4.5 至 5.5 倍的長期目標。

Now as a reminder, before we get to our fiscal 2024 guidance, we are still living in a highly unpredictable times. We have two major military conflicts going on in the world that have far-reaching global implications. We also have separate but ongoing disruptions in both important Canal zones that impacted the global supply chain. Although we are not immune from the challenges that these issues present, we are happy to have a much simpler operational footprint than many of our larger packaged food peers.

現在提醒一下，在我們制定 2024 財年指導之前，我們仍然生活在一個高度不可預測的時代。世界上正在發生兩場具有深遠全球影響的重大軍事衝突。我們在兩個重要的運河區也發生了單獨但持續的中斷，影響了全球供應鏈。儘管我們無法免受這些問題帶來的挑戰，但我們很高興與許多較大的包裝食品同行相比，我們的營運足跡要簡單得多。

For B&G Foods, though, M&A will have an impact on our numbers. We have now fully lapped the sale of Back to Nature, but we still have to lap the sale of the Green Giant US shelf-stable product line. As we mentioned on our prior call, the Green Giant US shelf-stable product line had approximately $75 million to $85 million in annual net sales and low double digit contribution margins. The business had approximately $65 million in net sales under our watch in fiscal 2023 that we need to lap this year.

不過，對於 B&G Foods 來說，併購將對我們的業績產生影響。我們現在已經完全完成了 Back to Nature 的銷售，但我們仍然需要完成 Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線的銷售。正如我們在先前的電話會議中提到的，Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線的年淨銷售額約為 7,500 萬至 8,500 萬美元，貢獻利潤率較低，為兩位數。在我們的監管下，該業務 2023 財年的淨銷售額約為 6,500 萬美元，我們今年需要完成這一目標。

It is also worth noting that while the majority of the heavy lifting in our adjusted EBITDA margin and dollar recovery has already happened, we still do expect to see some modest improvements going forward in 2024. So based on what we know today, we expect 2024 net sales of $1.975 billion to $2.020 billion. Our net sales guidance is generally in line with our long-term guidance of 0% to 2% base business top-line growth after adjusting for the removal of the Green Giant US shelf-stable product line, which we sold in November, other nonrecurring sales, and an estimated $15 million reduction in net sales of Crisco due to anticipated lower oil input costs and a corresponding reduction in our Crisco net selling prices.

另外值得注意的是，雖然我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率和美元復甦的大部分已經發生，但我們仍然預計 2024 年會出現一些溫和的改善。因此，根據我們今天所知，我們預計 2024 年淨銷售額為 19.75 億美元至 20.20 億美元。我們的淨銷售額指導總體上符合我們的長期指導，即在取消我們於 11 月份出售的 Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線以及其他非經常性產品後，基礎業務營收增長 0% 至 2%由於預計石油投入成本下降以及Crisco 淨售價相應下降， Crisco 淨銷售額預計減少1,500 萬美元。

We expect adjusted EBITDA to be in a range of $305 million to $325 million. This range largely reflects the elimination of approximately $8 million to $10 million of adjusted EBITDA due to the recent sale of our Green Giant US shelf-stable product line. Based on this adjusted EBITDA guidance range, we expect adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales to remain at approximately 15%. And based on this guidance, we expect adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in a range of $0.8 to $1.

我們預計調整後 EBITDA 將在 3.05 億美元至 3.25 億美元之間。這一範圍在很大程度上反映了由於最近出售我們的 Green Giant 美國耐儲存產品線而消除了約 800 萬至 1000 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。根據調整後的 EBITDA 指導範圍，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 佔淨銷售額的百分比將維持在 15% 左右。根據這項指引，我們預計調整後的稀釋每股盈餘將在 0.8 美元至 1 美元之間。

Additionally, we expect for full year 2024 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% to 27%, and CapEx $35 million to $40 million. We expect to use a little bit less than 50% of our excess cash to pay our dividend and the remaining 50% to 60% to pay down debt.

此外，我們預計2024 年全年利息支出為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% 至 27%，資本支出 3,500 萬美元至 4,000 萬美元。我們預計將使用略少於 50% 的多餘現金來支付股息，剩餘的 50% 至 60% 來償還債務。

And now I will 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, our quarter four and fiscal 2023 results demonstrate strong progress with improved margins, stabilizing volumes, stronger cash flows and a reduction in leverage. We remain on track to further improve the business in fiscal 2024 and beyond.

謝謝你，布魯斯。最後，我們第四季和 2023 財年的業績顯示出在利潤率提高、銷量穩定、現金流強勁和槓桿降低等方面取得的強勁進展。我們仍有望在 2024 財年及以後進一步改善業務。

We have also made significant progress against reshaping the portfolio through our focused M&A strategy, including the divestiture of two businesses, the Back to Nature brand and the Green Giant US shelf-stable business that are not core to the B&G Foods of the future.

我們也透過重點併購策略在重塑投資組合方面取得了重大進展，包括剝離兩項業務，即「回歸自然」品牌和 Green Giant 美國耐儲存業務，這兩項業務並非 B&G Foods 未來的核心。

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) Andrew Lazar, Barclays.

（操作員指示）Andrew Lazar，巴克萊銀行。

Good afternoon, Casey and Bruce.

下午好，凱西和布魯斯。

How are you?

你好嗎？

Hi, Andrew.

嗨，安德魯。

Good, good. First off, I guess your base business growth expectation as you mentioned for '24, I think, is roughly flattish. And I'm trying to get a sense of how you see that playing out for the year both from a volume and a price standpoint. I think you mentioned another $15 million impact from negative pricing for the year for the Crisco pass through pricing model, if I got that right. So that's about maybe down 1%. So does that assume that volume is probably up a percent or so for the year? I just want to make sure I have that right.

好好。首先，我認為您提到的 24 年基本業務成長預期大致持平。我試圖從數量和價格的角度了解您如何看待今年的情況。我想您提到了今年 Crisco 直通定價模型的負定價帶來的另外 1500 萬美元的影響（如果我沒記錯的話）。所以大約下降了 1%。那麼，這是否假設今年的銷售量可能會成長百分之左右？我只是想確保我有這個權利。

Specific to Crisco.

具體到克里斯科。

Okay. So could there be some additional negative pricing activities such that -- I'm trying to get a sense of what you think pricing looks like and just how positive your volume expectation is?

好的。那麼是否會出現一些額外的負面定價活動，例如——我正在嘗試了解您認為的定價情況以及您的銷售預期有多積極？

Yes. So just let's address these separately. So for Crisco, as we've said over the past year or so, we put in place a pricing model where we interact with our customers quarterly and based on where input costs are, we adjust price. If we think about it last year played out, input costs were still high from the 2022 levels at the beginning of the year and overtime came down. And so quarterly, we were reducing price for Crisco.

是的。所以讓我們分別解決這些問題。因此，對於 Crisco 來說，正如我們在過去一年左右所說的那樣，我們建立了一個定價模型，我們每季與客戶互動，並根據投入成本的情況調整價格。如果我們考慮去年的情況，與年初的 2022 年水準相比，投入成本仍然很高，加班費也有所下降。因此，我們每季都會降低 Crisco 的價格。

We will be lapping those higher prices for Crisco for the first half to three quarters of this year, which will then mean assuming everything was perfect, margins would be the same from a dollar standpoint. Sales would be down, margins would be up from a percent standpoint, pricing would come down for Crisco. And we actually think we get a little volume elasticity benefit. That's what we're seeing for Crisco today.

我們將在今年上半年到三個季度為 Crisco 提供更高的價格，這意味著假設一切都很完美，從美元的角度來看，利潤率將是相同的。Crisco 的銷售量將會下降，利潤率將會上升，定價也會下降。事實上，我們認為我們獲得了一點體積彈性的好處。這就是我們今天在 Crisco 看到的情況。

But if you look at the base business, excluding the divestitures and excluding the impact of Crisco, we're basically saying we're going to be flat to slightly up, and that will be probably on both volume and pricing. So those two will be running more closely together. And if I think about the flow of that, we still are coming out of that, trends improving, but I would expect the -- expected the first half of the year is a little bit below that, and the second half is a little bit better than that. And that's how we see it playing out right now.

但如果你看看基本業務，排除資產剝離和 Crisco 的影響，我們基本上會說我們將持平或略有上升，這可能會體現在銷售和價格上。因此，這兩個人將會更加緊密地合作。如果我考慮一下流程，我們仍然會走出困境，趨勢正在改善，但我預計上半年會略低於這一水平，下半年會略低於這一水平。比那更好。這就是我們現在看到的情況。

And we are seeing new kind of volumes and pricing stabilize. And we don't have a lot of growth planned from pricing other than the movement of Crisco, which is irrelevant to the bottom line.

我們看到新的銷售和價格穩定。除了 Crisco 的變動之外，我們沒有計劃透過定價實現大量成長，這與利潤無關。

Got it. That's helpful. And then your guidance, obviously at the midpoint on EBITDA margin suggests, like you said, some additional modest improvement. And obviously there was a big jump up in margins in '23 versus '22. EBITDA margins, are those still below where they were just a couple of years ago?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，您的指導，顯然是 EBITDA 利潤率的中點，表明，正如您所說，還有一些額外的適度改善。顯然，23 年的利潤率比 22 年有了大幅提升。EBITDA 利潤率是否仍低於幾年前的水準？

So I'm trying to get a sense of maybe what would impede more significant EBITDA margin improvement as we go forward? Is it something just in the portfolio that's changed versus where you were a couple of years ago? Or what would it take to get back to those levels if that's even a reasonable expectation at some point?

因此，我試圖了解在我們前進的過程中，什麼可能會阻礙 EBITDA 利潤率的更顯著改善？與幾年前相比，是否只是投資組合中的某些內容發生了變化？或者，如果這在某個時候是合理的預期，那麼需要什麼才能回到這些水平？

Well, I mean, Andrew, our goal is to get back to 18% to 20%. So that's what we're driving to. And I think it's going to take a couple of things. So one is M&A, divesting businesses that are low margin, a lot of working capital intensity, continued productivity. So we've started on that productivity savings journey. We've got that going this is going to be our second year where we're really focused on it. So we see some improvement from that.

嗯，我的意思是，安德魯，我們的目標是回到 18% 到 20%。這就是我們的目標。我認為這需要做一些事情。其中之一就是併購，剝離利潤率低、營運資本密集、生產力持續的企業。因此，我們已經開始了生產力節省之旅。我們已經做到了這一點，這將是我們真正專注於此的第二年。所以我們看到了一些改進。

And then the third thing for me would be as Crisco oil pricing comes down, we will get some benefit on margin from that. Ironically, as sales come down, but the same gross profit, we're going to improve our margins on the Crisco business just because of that compression of oil pricing. So those three things together, we that's where we're trying to hit to get back to 18% to 20% but it's going to take those three things working together to get there.

然後對我來說第三件事是隨著 Crisco 石油價格的下降，我們將從中獲得一些利潤。諷刺的是，隨著銷售額下降，但毛利保持不變，我們將因為石油定價的壓縮而提高 Crisco 業務的利潤率。因此，這三件事加在一起，就是我們努力恢復到 18% 到 20% 的目標，但這需要這三件事共同努力才能實現。

And if you think about some of that drag, what Casey is describing on Crisco, bigger example for that brand. But to the same degree across a lot of the rest of our portfolio, when costs were rapidly rising, we took price to protect profit dollars, which just the algebra suggests lower margins as a percent. That's the math works.

如果你考慮一下其中的一些阻力，凱西在 Crisco 上所描述的，是該品牌的更大例子。但在我們投資組合的其他許多產品中，當成本迅速上升時，我們會採取價格來保護利潤，而代數表明利潤率較低。這就是數學工作。

Crisco being the most extreme example of that, yeah.

是的，克里斯科就是最極端的例子。

Right. Okay. Thanks so much. I'll pass it on.

正確的。好的。非常感謝。我會把它傳遞下去。

William Reuter, Bank of America.

威廉·路透，美國銀行。

Good afternoon. My first question, on the topic -- sorry, I've got an echo. On the topic of future additional asset sales, I wasn't aware that you were still actively pursuing these. I guess is this new or have you been continuing to pursue over the last handful of months and quarters? And I don't know if it's any sense of magnitude or what types of assets you're looking at?

午安.我的第一個問題是關於這個主題的——抱歉，我收到了迴響。關於未來追加資產出售的話題，我不知道您還在積極追求這些。我想這是新的還是你在過去幾個月和幾個季度一直在繼續追求的？我不知道這是否有任何規模感或您正在尋找什麼類型的資產？

Sure. So our M&A process, we tend, and we will tend to be a long-term net acquirer, but we are reshaping the portfolio. And as part of that, there's some things that are going to come out. So we've sold two businesses that we felt were not a fit to the portfolio that we want to run in the future and over the long term.

當然。因此，我們的併購流程傾向於成為長期的淨收購者，但我們正在重塑投資組合。作為其中的一部分，一些事情將會出現。因此，我們出售了兩項我們認為不適合我們未來長期經營的投資組合的業務。

There's probably a couple of other things. There's nothing that were active in the market in terms of running a process for right now. So there's a little bit of stay tuned. And when it's appropriate to talk about it, we'll talk about it. Likely what you will see is other things that maybe are not a good fit for us or that could be a better fit for other people.

可能還有其他一些事情。目前市場上沒有任何活躍的流程可以運作。所以還有一點要繼續關注。當合適的時候我們會談論它。您可能會看到其他可能不適合我們或可能更適合其他人的東西。

Got it. That's helpful. And then in the answer to a previous question, you mentioned that you weren't expecting to take much pricing this year. I don't know if I heard explicitly what your outlook is for input costs, and let's exclude Crisco since that's the pass-through model. But for the remainder of the products, what's your outlook on where they should be this year versus last year or any other sources of either inflation or deflation?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後在回答上一個問題時，您提到您預計今年不會採取太多定價。我不知道我是否明確聽到了您對投入成本的看法，讓我們排除 Crisco，因為這是傳遞模型。但對於其餘產品，您對今年與去年相比的預期或通貨膨脹或通貨緊縮的任何其他來源有何看法？

I think what we are seeing right now in our input costs, and obviously this is still early in the year, and we're still trying to project it fully, but I'm seeing something more in the 1% to 2% range, 1% to 2% high end in terms of input cost inflation. Probably on the lower end of that range right now, as I see it, but maybe a little bit in freight and transportation. But I think it's probably more in line with that range.

我認為我們現在在投入成本中看到的情況，顯然這還處於今年年初，我們仍在努力對其進行全面規劃，但我看到更多在 1% 到 2% 的範圍內，就投入成本通脹而言，高端為1% 至2%。在我看來，目前可能處於該範圍的下限，但在貨運和運輸方面可能會下降。但我認為它可能更符合這個範圍。

So I'm I feel like you know right now, our job is to get the business back, stabilize on volumes, not take as much pricing as we have over the past year, but drive productivity to offset that inflation. And then maybe give us a little bit of margin improvement. That's our focus right now.

所以我覺得你現在知道，我們的工作是讓業務恢復，穩定銷量，不要像過去一年那樣採取那麼多定價，而是提高生產力以抵消通貨膨脹。然後也許會為我們帶來一點利潤改善。這是我們現在的重點。

Got it, perfect --

明白了，完美--

There may be some select places where we're going to take price where we might have a big jump in one particular small commodity input, but that's going to be very, very selective.

可能在某些選定的地方，我們可能會在某種特定的小商品投入上大幅上漲，但這將是非常非常有選擇性的。

Got it. Very helpful. All right. That's all for me. Thank you.

知道了。很有幫助。好的。這就是我的全部。謝謝。

Karru Martinson, Jefferies Company.

卡魯馬丁森，傑富瑞公司。

Good afternoon. What has been the competitive response in terms of your peers? We constantly keep hearing about the consumer trading down to private label, the give back in pricing, the elasticity that you referenced. Are you seeing that sustained shift in terms of competing products for your categories?

午安.同行的競爭反應如何？我們不斷聽到消費者轉向自有品牌、定價回饋以及您提到的彈性。您是否看到您所在類別的競爭產品持續變化？

I mean, it really depends on the category, honestly, because we have the pass-through model on Crisco. We're actually seeing volumes increasing on that business. So we're seeing a pickup in our unit sales as a result of bringing the price back down to reflect the lower oil commodity cost pricing. So even though the percentage gap to private label might be the same, the absolute gap has come down, and the absolute price point has come down. So on that one we're kind of moving where we'd expect to in terms of our share performance.

我的意思是，老實說，這實際上取決於類別，因為我們在 Crisco 上有直通模型。我們實際上看到該業務的交易量正在增加。因此，由於價格回落以反映石油商品成本定價的降低，我們的單位銷售量有所回升。因此，即使與自有品牌的百分比差距可能相同，但絕對差距已經下降，絕對價格點也已經下降。因此，在這一方面，我們的股價表現正在朝著我們預期的方向發展。

I would say there's a couple of other places where we've seen inflation drive up pricing. And even though we tried to maintain our percentage gaps of private label at the higher absolute price points and maybe a couple of categories like -- well, canned vegetables will wear out of now, but that was one where we were seeing a little bit dynamic. But for the most part, we watch the gap to private label pretty closely, and we try and manage that so that we don't have a lot of pressure from trade down or we maintain the same relative position in the marketplace.

我想說的是，在其他一些地方，我們也看到通貨膨脹推高了價格。儘管我們試圖在較高的絕對價格點上保持自有品牌的百分比差距，也許有幾個類別，例如罐裝蔬菜現在會磨損，但這是我們看到有點動態的一個類別。但在大多數情況下，我們非常密切地關注與自有品牌的差距，並嘗試進行管理，以便我們不會因貿易下降而承受很大的壓力，或者我們在市場上保持相同的相對地位。

Okay. And when we look at the implied cash flow guidance here for the year with the $70 million or so for the dividend. When you have $300 million maturity in 2025, would it leave kind of $230 million that we would need to refinance? Is that to be paid off through the asset sales? Or how would you look at addressing that?

好的。當我們查看今年隱含的現金流指引時，股息約為 7000 萬美元。當 2025 年 3 億美元到期時，我們是否還需要再融資 2.3 億美元？是透過出售資產來償還嗎？或者你會如何看待解決這個問題？

So for the remaining stub on the 2025, the base case assumption is it's a combination of cash from operations and revolver drawn. Keep in mind, we've got a big revolver, so we've got plenty of capacity there. I think there's always options around potential refinancing as part of a broader refinancing if the market is hospitable and it makes sense to us. To the extent that we have any more asset divestitures, there's money coming in the door from that as well. And so I think there's a couple of things, but I would use this as the base case what we laid out to investors ample cash from operations coupled with liquidity from the revolver.

因此，對於 2025 年剩餘的存根，基本情況假設是營運現金和提取的左輪手槍的組合。請記住，我們有一把大左輪手槍，所以我們有足夠的容量。我認為，如果市場熱情並且對我們有意義，那麼作為更廣泛的再融資的一部分，潛在的再融資總是有選擇的。只要我們有更多的資產剝離，就會有資金進來。因此，我認為有幾件事，但我會以此作為基本情況，我們向投資者展示了來自營運的充足現金以及來自左輪手槍的流動性。

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

非常感謝。欣賞它。

Connor Rattigan, Consumer Edge Research.

康納拉蒂根，消費者邊緣研究。

Hey, guys, good afternoon.

嘿，夥計們，下午好。

Afternoon.

下午。

So correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you registered positive base business volume growth in the quarter, so that was quite a bit ahead of what we saw in the tracked data. I guess, could you maybe help us understand what drove that differential and, looking ahead to 2024, how we should think about volume trends over the course of the year? And if maybe there are any items we should keep in mind in terms of divergences versus tracked data?

因此，如果我錯了，請糾正我，但聽起來您在本季度的基礎業務量出現了正增長，因此這比我們在追蹤數據中看到的要提前很多。我想，您能否幫助我們了解造成這種差異的原因，以及展望 2024 年，我們該如何考慮這一年的銷售趨勢？在與追蹤數據的差異方面，我們是否應該記住任何事項？

Yes. So first of all, in the fourth quarter, we saw a small growth in volume. So I want to be careful that we don't over call that one. But honestly, we celebrated getting stable volume trends on the business after the past year coming off all the inflationary pricing.

是的。首先，在第四季度，我們看到銷量小幅成長。所以我要小心，不要過度稱呼這個。但老實說，我們慶祝過去一年擺脫所有通膨定價後業務量趨勢穩定。

What we're trying to is to move forward is to get that same trend line, small growth in volume in 2024. The difference between the measured data, tracked data, and what you guys are seeing is there's a lot of things. I mean, there's channel coverage that's not complete with what we do.

我們正在努力向前邁進，以達到相同的趨勢線，即 2024 年銷量小幅增長。測量數據、追蹤數據和你們看到的數據之間存在著許多差異。我的意思是，有些管道涵蓋範圍與我們的工作並不完整。

We sell to -- we have businesses that are selling to other foodservice outlets, particularly in the spices and seasonings business, in some cases in syrups. We have some private label business that we're selling that's not tracked in your data. So we are a heavy player in private label and in the baking powder business.

我們的銷售對像是－我們有一些企業正在向其他餐飲服務店銷售產品，特別是香料和調味料業務，有時是糖漿業務。我們正在銷售一些自有品牌業務，但您的數據中並未追蹤這些業務。因此，我們是自有品牌和發酵粉業務的重要參與者。

So there's a lot of our business you don't see in the tracked data. So it's hard to really look at the tracked data and directly translate it to our sales results because we're participating in foodservice business, we're participating in some private-label manufacturing, we're participating in some other businesses that we do with other kinds of customers. So it's a difficult thing to translate it directly. But obviously, we look at everything pretty closely in terms of what the trends are.

因此，我們的許多業務是您在追蹤數據中看不到的。因此，很難真正查看追蹤數據並將其直接轉化為我們的銷售結果，因為我們正在參與餐飲服務業務，我們正在參與一些自有品牌製造，我們正在參與與我們合作的其他一些業務其他類型的客戶。所以直接翻譯是一件很困難的事。但顯然，我們會根據趨勢來仔細檢視一切。

So I guess just following up on that, would it be fair to say that, I guess, maybe the non-tracked businesses are outperforming what you're seeing at retail?

因此，我想，只要跟進這一點，我想，也許非追蹤企業的表現可能優於您在零售業看到的表現，這樣說是否公平？

I mean, for sure, we're seeing the foodservice businesses in the past year outperforming trends in retail. And honestly, I think that's a growth. That would be not just us. You would see that in other businesses as well. So that was the opposite during the pandemic. Now we've seen it flip back to where foodservice growth has outpaced retail growth.

我的意思是，可以肯定的是，我們看到過去一年餐飲服務業務的表現優於零售業的趨勢。老實說，我認為這是一種成長。那不僅僅是我們。你也會在其他行業看到這一點。所以在大流行期間情況恰恰相反。現在我們看到它又回到了餐飲服務成長超過零售成長的狀態。

I expect that to normalize this year at some point. Honestly, I expect both of those -- that trend to stable, to get to more stable trends year over year. But that obviously depends on a lot of economic conditions, whether or not we hit a recession or something that could change that dynamic. But right now, we're seeing those to come back in balance in terms of consumer behavior and trends.

我預計今年某個時候這種情況會正常化。老實說，我預計這兩個趨勢都會穩定，並且逐年變得更加穩定。但這顯然取決於許多經濟狀況，無論我們是否陷入衰退或可能改變這種動態的因素。但現在，我們看到消費者行為和趨勢已恢復平衡。

Okay. Makes total sense. And then just as a quick follow up, Bruce, in your prepared remarks, you noted some increases in promotional and trade spend in certain parts of the business. I guess, could you maybe be a little more specific as far as maybe what brands those impacted and I guess what type of lift you might have seen from that spend? And just overall, if you were happy with what you saw.

好的。完全有道理。布魯斯，在您準備好的發言中，作為快速跟進，您注意到業務某些部分的促銷和貿易支出有所增加。我想，您能否更具體地說明哪些品牌受到了影響，以及我想您可能會從這筆支出中看到什麼類型的提升？總的來說，如果您對所看到的感到滿意。

I don't think we're necessarily going to talk about the specifics on the brand promotional strategy, but this is again in a way to improve volumes. I think we're seeing this across many of our competing or just peer group where people are increasing promotional spend. I think it's been somewhat rational but spend is still lower than it was pre-pandemic. So it's going to be higher than it was last year or the year before, but it's still normal. We expect to get some volume benefits and I think you do see that.

我認為我們不一定要討論品牌促銷策略的具體細節，但這也是為了提高銷售量。我認為我們在許多競爭群體或同儕群體中都看到了這一點，人們正在增加促銷支出。我認為這有點理性，但支出仍低於疫情前。所以它會比去年或前年更高，但這仍然是正常的。我們期望獲得一些銷量收益，我想您確實看到了這一點。

Yes. I mean, for the most part, when we put trade spend in two businesses because we're going back to more normal promotion patterns, we do see volume lift behind that, and we watch that pretty carefully. And if we don't see volume lift from it, we change. But for the most part, that's been successfully playing. As Bruce said, we're not all the way back to where we were pre-pandemic. So we're moving back there over time as I think most players in the food industry are, I mean, as normal promotion patterns and merchandising patterns resume.

是的。我的意思是，在大多數情況下，當我們將貿易支出投入兩項業務時，因為我們要回到更正常的促銷模式，我們確實看到了其背後的銷量提升，並且我們非常仔細地觀察這一點。如果我們沒有看到銷售提升，我們就會改變。但在大多數情況下，這已經是成功的了。正如布魯斯所說，我們並沒有完全回到大流行前的狀態。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們將回到那裡，我認為食品行業的大多數參與者都會這樣做，我的意思是，隨著正常的促銷模式和銷售模式的恢復。

All right. Sounds good. Thank you.

好的。聽起來不錯。謝謝。

Hale Holden, Barclays.

黑爾·霍頓，巴克萊銀行。

Hey, afternoon. Thank you. Super excited to try the Fireball seasoning, by the way, but (laughter) --

嘿，下午。謝謝。順便說一句，非常興奮嘗試火球調味料，但是（笑聲）——

Don't drink too much of that -- with the seasoning.

不要喝太多——加了調味料。

Trying to hedge myself out of life here. So first, that $0.5 million debt extinguishment costs in the quarter, did you buy some bonds back or was a term loan paydown?

試圖讓自己遠離這裡的生活。首先，本季 50 萬美元的債務清償成本，您是否回購了一些債券或償還了定期貸款？

Yeah, it's just all the refinancing stuff that we did back half of last year.

是的，這只是我們去年下半年所做的所有再融資工作。

Okay. And then the second question I had was as you're thinking about divestures in the market, if you -- I mean, you've obviously been talking about it for 6, 9, 12 months in various forms. And I was wondering if you've seen the market improve as the seller standpoint or multiples come up or more interest in the pipeline?

好的。我的第二個問題是，當您考慮市場上的資產剝離時，如果您——我的意思是，您顯然已經以各種形式談論了 6、9、12 個月。我想知道隨著賣方的立場或倍數的上升或對管道的更多興趣，您是否看到市場有所改善？

I think there's certainly chatter that sounds like there should be more activity. I would have thought the same thing six months ago or a year ago. But I think as the financing environment starts to stabilize, we're going to see more activity. We probably have seen some nice little brand deals get done. We saw two of our deals get done. I think it's fine. I don't think it's shut down. It's just not gangbusters like it was a few years ago, but it should be fine.

我認為肯定有一些聲音聽起來應該有更多的活動。六個月前或一年前我也會這麼想。但我認為，隨著融資環境開始穩定，我們將看到更多的活動。我們可能已經看到一些不錯的小品牌交易完成了。我們看到我們的兩筆交易已經完成。我覺得還好。我認為它沒有關閉。雖然不像幾年前那樣轟動，但應該還不錯。

Okay, great. Thank you very much.

好的，太好了。非常感謝。

David Palmer, Evercore ISI.

大衛·帕爾默，Evercore ISI。

Thanks, guys. Inventory declined in the quarter. Obviously, with the divestiture, I'm wondering how -- I always ask you about free cash flow conversion, but I was wondering how much of the inventory change will happen will in '24 and where you see free cash flow conversion settling in of EBITDA going forward?

多謝你們。本季庫存下降。顯然，隨著剝離，我想知道如何 - 我總是問你關於自由現金流轉換的問題，但我想知道 24 年將發生多少庫存變化以及你看到自由現金流轉換的情況EBITDA 未來會怎樣？

Yeah, I think the inventory reduction in '23 from both the sale of Green Giant US canned vegetables and honestly, base business improvement coming off the inflationary cycle and the supply shortages, we did a lot of reduction in this year. So in the future, I wouldn't expect to see that kind of magnitude of change. Obviously, a divestiture would impact that.

是的，我認為 23 年的庫存減少來自於美國 Green Giant 罐頭蔬菜的銷售，老實說，基礎業務的改善來自通貨膨脹週期和供應短缺，我們今年做了很多減少。所以在未來，我不會期望看到這種程度的改變。顯然，資產剝離會對此產生影響。

But in terms of our base business and organic kind of trends, I'm looking for a 2% to 3% continuous improvement trend line as we get better in terms of our operations and our demand supply integration. That's our expectation. So you will see some benefit from reducing working capital, but nothing to the magnitude you saw this year.

但就我們的基礎業務和有機趨勢而言，隨著我們在營運和需求供應整合方面取得更好的進展，我正在尋找 2% 到 3% 的持續改進趨勢線。這是我們的期望。因此，您會看到減少營運資本帶來的一些好處，但不會達到您今年看到的程度。

Look, our long-term perspective, and I think we said this before is that we wanted to have excess cash that half of it can be used to pay the dividends and half of that can be used to pay down debt. And that's where we're driving, so that we have the ability to reduce debt year in year out with our excess cash flow.

看，我們的長期觀點，我想我們之前說過，我們希望擁有多餘的現金，其中一半可以用來支付股息，一半可以用來償還債務。這就是我們努力的方向，讓我們有能力利用過剩的現金流逐年減少債務。

I think in the past, you might have had a 60% of EBITDA type target, is that --?

我想在過去，你可能有一個 60% 的 EBITDA 類型的目標，對嗎？——？

Yeah, give or take that. So I mean, if you think about the midpoint of our guidance range, call it, $315 million of adjusted EBITDA, throw in $5 million, $10 million in non-cash or share-based comp is your baseline. And then again, we gave guidance on the call, but cash interest at the midpoint is about $140 million. Cash taxes have been bouncing around $30 million-plus a year. Capex of $35 million, $40 million.

是的，給予或接受。所以我的意思是，如果你考慮一下我們指導範圍的中點，可以稱之為調整後EBITDA 3.15 億美元，再加上500 萬美元、1000 萬美元的非現金或基於股票的補償，這就是你的基線。話又說回來，我們對電話會議給了指導，但現金利息的中點約為 1.4 億美元。現金稅每年上漲約 3000 萬美元以上。資本支出分別為 3,500 萬美元、4,000 萬美元。

Casey talked to modest -- certainly not what we had last year, but modest levels of inventory reductions/working capital improvement. You could see a number that's $110 million, $125 million or so in excess cash before dividends. If you get the benefit of working capital there, dividends are about $60 million bucks.

凱西談到了適度的——當然不是我們去年的情況，而是適度的庫存減少/營運資本改善水平。您可以看到股息前的超額現金數量約為 1.1 億美元、1.25 億美元左右。如果你從那裡獲得營運資金的好處，股息約為 6000 萬美元。

No, that's all helpful. And just a question on Crisco. You said you were expecting profit dollars from Crisco to remain pretty steady this year, which is great to hear. And going forward, what do you think will be your biggest watch out for that brand's profitability? Is there a level of volatility of soybean oil that makes keeping profits steady much more difficult or is there price thresholds where trade down accelerate to? What are things that would throw you off the horse, so to speak, on keeping profit steady for Crisco?

不，這都是有幫助的。還有一個關於 Crisco 的問題。您說您預計今年 Crisco 的利潤將保持相當穩定，這很高興聽到。展望未來，您認為對該品牌獲利能力最關注的是什麼？豆油是否存在一定程度的波動，使得維持利潤穩定變得更加困難，或者是否存在價格門檻，導致交易下跌加速？可以這麼說，在維持 Crisco 利潤穩定方面，哪些因素會讓您陷入困境？

Yes, I think it's our ability to just pass through the oil costs. And so far, we've been doing that. I mean, if you were to talk to me in 2022, I would have said the risk was much higher. But since January, first quarter of last year, we implemented this pass-through model with customers, and they like it. We come to them every quarter and say, here's what the oil cost, here's we're going to price to relative to that. And they've been pretty good about reflecting that in the pricing.

是的，我認為我們有能力轉嫁石油成本。到目前為止，我們一直在做這件事。我的意思是，如果你在 2022 年與我交談，我會說風險要高得多。但從去年一月、第一季開始，我們就向客戶實施了這種直通模式，他們很喜歡。我們每季都會去找他們說，這是石油成本，這是我們要相對於石油成本定價的價格。他們在定價中很好地反映了這一點。

And so it's been successful. It's a strategy to maintain our gross profit dollars. I would say the only things I worry about is if soybean oil goes back up to, I don't know, $0.8. Then we're going to we're going to pass that through and take pricing up. Unfortunately, at that level, we see the absolute dollar gap to private label growing. Percentage is the same, but the absolute dollar gap.

所以它是成功的。這是維持我們毛利的策略。我想說，我唯一擔心的是豆油是否會回升至（我不知道）0.8 美元。然後我們將把這個問題通過並提高價格。不幸的是，在這個水平上，我們看到與自有品牌的絕對美元差距正在擴大。百分比相同，但絕對美元差距。

And so we see some risk to the volume trend of the business. with that kind of commodity structure. I mean, look, fortunately right now, soybean oil prices last time I checked are kind of in the $0.45 per pound range, which is well down from where it was last year and well down from the high of $0.8 that we saw probably 18 to 24 months ago. So I mean, that's really the big risk.

因此，我們看到業務量趨勢存在一些風險。具有這樣的商品結構。我的意思是，看，幸運的是，現在，我上次檢查的大豆油價格在每磅0.45 美元的範圍內，這比去年的水平低很多，也比我們可能在18 到18 年間看到的0.8 美元的高點低很多。24 個月前。所以我的意思是，這確實是一個很大的風險。

I mean, the only other thing we watch is we have a shortening business, which is a key part of that whole Crisco business outside of the oil. Those shortening, we look at the long-term household penetration on that business, just to make sure people are still baking, cooking, frying at the same level.

我的意思是，我們唯一關注的另一件事是我們的起酥油業務，這是整個 Crisco 石油業務之外的業務的關鍵部分。這些縮短，我們著眼於該業務的長期家庭滲透率，只是為了確保人們仍在同一水平上烘焙、烹飪、油炸。

That's great. Thank you.

那太棒了。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to Casey Keller for closing comments.

（操作員說明） 目前沒有其他問題。我想請凱西凱勒（Casey Keller）發表結束評論。

Thank you all for joining us today for the fourth-quarter earnings call. Obviously, reach out if you want to talk anything. Appreciate your attention. And look, we're pleased with the results in the fourth quarter, but obviously, we have more work to do in '24 to get this business in the shape we want it. So thank you very much.

感謝大家今天參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。顯然，如果您想談談任何事情，請與我們聯繫。感謝您的關注。看，我們對第四季度的結果感到滿意，但顯然，我們在 24 年還有更多工作要做，以使這項業務達到我們想要的狀態。非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您加入我們。現在您可以斷開線路。