康尼格拉食品 (CAG) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Conagra Brands Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2022 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Melissa Napier, Head of Investor Relations for Conagra Brands. Please go ahead.

早上好，歡迎參加康尼格拉品牌第四季度和 2022 財年業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。我現在想將會議轉交給 Conagra Brands 投資者關係主管 Melissa Napier。請繼續。

Good morning. This is Melissa Napier, Head of Investor Relations for Conagra Brands. I'm here with Sean Connolly, our CEO; and Dave Marberger, our CFO. Today, Sean and Dave will discuss our fourth quarter and fiscal 2022 results and provide some perspectives on fiscal 2023.

早上好。我是 Conagra Brands 投資者關係主管 Melissa Napier。我和我們的首席執行官肖恩·康諾利（Sean Connolly）在一起；和我們的首席財務官 Dave Marberger。今天，肖恩和戴夫將討論我們第四季度和 2022 財年的業績，並提供對 2023 財年的一些看法。

We'll take your questions when our prepared remarks conclude. On today's call, we will be making some forward-looking statements. And while we are making those statements in good faith, we do not have any guarantee about the results we will achieve. Descriptions of our risk factors are included in the documents we filed with the SEC.

當我們準備好的評論結束時，我們會回答你的問題。在今天的電話會議上，我們將做出一些前瞻性陳述。雖然我們真誠地做出這些聲明，但我們無法保證我們將取得的結果。我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含對我們風險因素的描述。

We will also be discussing some non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP and adjusted numbers refer to measures that exclude items management believes impact the comparability for the period referenced. Please see the earnings release for additional information on our comparability items.

我們還將討論一些非公認會計原則的財務措施。這些非公認會計原則和調整後的數字是指不包括管理層認為影響參考期間可比性的項目的措施。有關我們的可比項目的更多信息，請參閱收益發布。

The GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations can be found in the earnings press release and the slides that we'll be reviewing on today's call, both of which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

可以在收益新聞稿和我們將在今天的電話會議上審查的幻燈片中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 對賬，兩者都可以在我們網站的投資者關係部分找到。

I'll now turn the call over to Sean.

我現在把電話轉給肖恩。

Thanks, Melissa. It's great to be working with you again. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our fourth quarter fiscal '22 earnings call. I'll start with what we would like you to take away from the call this morning.

謝謝，梅麗莎。很高興再次與您合作。大家早上好，感謝您參加我們的 22 財年第四季度財報電話會議。我將從我們希望您從今天早上的電話中獲得的內容開始。

Throughout fiscal '22, our team took decisive actions to offset inflation and invest in our business. We faced heightened costs throughout the year, but inflationary pressures were especially high in the fourth quarter. As a result, we implemented additional inflation-justified pricing actions to help offset the impact.

在整個 22 財年，我們的團隊採取果斷行動來抵消通貨膨脹並投資於我們的業務。我們全年都面臨著成本上升的問題，但第四季度的通脹壓力尤其大。因此，我們實施了額外的通脹合理定價措施，以幫助抵消影響。

We continued to make deliberate strategic investments in our business to better serve our customers and meet the strong consumer demand for our products as physical availability is an important part of maintaining and building trust and loyalty. I'm pleased that our brands continue to resonate with consumers demonstrated by broad-based share gains within the portfolio, particularly within our most strategic domains of frozen and snacks.

我們繼續對我們的業務進行深思熟慮的戰略投資，以更好地為我們的客戶服務並滿足消費者對我們產品的強烈需求，因為實物可用性是維持和建立信任和忠誠度的重要組成部分。我很高興我們的品牌繼續與消費者產生共鳴，這體現在產品組合中廣泛的份額增長，特別是在我們最具戰略意義的冷凍和零食領域。

We are continuing to drive growth, gain share in attractive categories, and we remain disciplined in executing the Conagra Way to create lasting connections with consumers.

我們將繼續推動增長，在有吸引力的類別中獲得份額，並且我們在執行康尼格拉方式以與消費者建立持久聯繫時保持紀律。

As we've communicated throughout the year, the external factors I touched on a moment ago, as well as investments we made to maximize service and product availability in the face of supply constraints, all contributed to increased margin pressure.

正如我們全年溝通的那樣，我剛才談到的外部因素，以及我們在供應限制的情況下為最大限度地提高服務和產品可用性所做的投資，都導致了利潤壓力的增加。

We continue to pull levers to manage these factors and we were pleased to see margin improvement materialize in the fourth quarter in Grocery & Snacks as well as Foodservice. This represents an important inflection point that we expect will extend to our Refrigerated & Frozen and our International businesses within fiscal '23.

我們繼續利用槓桿來管理這些因素，我們很高興看到第四季度雜貨和零食以及餐飲服務的利潤率有所改善。這代表了一個重要的拐點，我們預計它將在 23 財年擴展到我們的冷藏和冷凍業務以及我們的國際業務。

I also want to highlight the strong fourth quarter performance of our joint venture, Ardent Mills, which effectively managed through recent volatility in the wheat markets and continued to prove an effective hedge against inflation.

我還想強調我們的合資企業 Ardent Mills 在第四季度的強勁表現，該公司有效地應對了近期小麥市場的波動，並繼續證明對通脹的有效對沖。

Looking ahead to fiscal '23, we expect to see continued strength in our sales driven by strong innovation, the impact of pricing actions and progress in the supply chain to help offset continued inflation and elasticities. While we expect elasticities to increase incrementally from fiscal '22 levels as more inflation-justified pricing comes to market, we believe they will remain below historical levels. These expectations are reflected in the fiscal '23 guidance we're providing today. With this expected macroeconomic backdrop, we are lowering our long-term leverage target which Dave will discuss later. As you know, maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet and keeping our investment-grade credit rating remain important to us.

展望 '23 財年，我們預計在強大的創新、定價行動的影響和供應鏈進步的推動下，我們的銷售將持續強勁，以幫助抵消持續的通貨膨脹和彈性。雖然我們預計隨著更多通脹合理定價進入市場，彈性將從 22 財年的水平逐漸增加，但我們相信它們將保持在歷史水平以下。這些期望反映在我們今天提供的 23 財年指導中。在這種預期的宏觀經濟背景下，我們正在降低戴夫稍後將討論的長期槓桿目標。如您所知，維持強大而靈活的資產負債表並保持我們的投資級信用評級對我們仍然很重要。

With that overview, let's take a look at the results. While we had planned for high inflation, it was higher than we anticipated. Slide 7 shows our cost of goods increased 16% in fiscal '22, far higher than the 9% we anticipated at the time of our fiscal '21 fourth quarter call a year ago.

有了這個概述，讓我們來看看結果。雖然我們計劃應對高通脹，但它比我們預期的要高。幻燈片 7 顯示我們的商品成本在 22 財年增長了 16%，遠高於我們一年前在 21 財年第四季度電話會議時預期的 9%。

Inflation was particularly acute during the fiscal '22 fourth quarter when our cost of goods sold were 17% higher than a year ago period and 24% higher on a 2-year basis. The elevated levels of inflation we experienced in fiscal '22, particularly in the fourth quarter, required decisive actions in response. A critical part of that response included the inflation-justified pricing we implemented throughout fiscal '22.

通貨膨脹在 22 財年第四季度尤為嚴重，當時我們的商品銷售成本比一年前高出 17%，兩年內高出 24%。我們在 22 財年經歷的高通脹水平，特別是在第四季度，需要採取果斷的行動來應對。該響應的一個關鍵部分包括我們在整個 22 財年實施的通脹合理定價。

On Slide 8, you can see the change in on-shelf pricing by quarter. On-shelf prices for our brands rose across all 3 domestic retail domains compared to the same period a year ago and also increased in Q4 as we experienced additional inflationary pressures. We closely monitor the impact of these pricing actions on volumes. We've been pleased that price elasticity has remained below historical levels.

在幻燈片 8 上，您可以按季度查看貨架價格的變化。與去年同期相比，我們品牌在所有 3 個國內零售領域的貨架價格均有所上漲，並且由於我們經歷了額外的通脹壓力，第四季度也有所上漲。我們密切關注這些定價行為對銷量的影響。我們很高興價格彈性一直低於歷史水平。

Slide 9 demonstrates that unit sales have stayed largely consistent on a 3-year basis even as the on-shelf prices for our brands have increased. Even in Q4, as more significant inflation-justified pricing took effect, the increase in elasticity was relatively modest and below historical norms.

幻燈片 9 顯示，即使我們品牌的貨架價格上漲，單位銷售額在 3 年的基礎上基本保持一致。即使在第四季度，隨著更顯著的通脹合理定價生效，彈性的增加也相對溫和，低於歷史標準。

As we monitor the impact of our pricing actions on volume, we look at the relative impact between branded foods and private label. While private label is gaining some share more broadly in food, we have not seen notable migration toward private label in the heavily branded categories in which we compete.

當我們監控定價行為對銷量的影響時，我們會研究品牌食品和自有品牌之間的相對影響。雖然自有品牌在食品中獲得了更廣泛的份額，但在我們競爭的重品牌類別中，我們並沒有看到明顯向自有品牌的遷移。

The superior relative value of our products continues to resonate with our customers and our consumers and the resiliency of our portfolio means we are well positioned to take additional action in fiscal '23 if we continue to experience incremental inflation.

我們產品的卓越相對價值繼續引起我們的客戶和消費者的共鳴，我們產品組合的彈性意味著如果我們繼續經歷通脹加劇，我們將在 23 財年採取額外行動。

As a result of our decisive actions, we're beginning to see the expected recovery in our margin performance. As I mentioned earlier, the fourth quarter represented an important inflection point as we saw margin improvements materialize in Grocery & Snacks and Foodservice, which helped drive fourth quarter operating margin improvement for the total company.

由於我們採取果斷行動，我們開始看到我們的利潤率表現出現預期復蘇。正如我之前提到的，第四季度代表了一個重要的拐點，因為我們看到雜貨和零食和餐飲服務的利潤率有所提高，這有助於推動整個公司第四季度的營業利潤率提高。

As I already noted, we expect our Refrigerated & Frozen and International segments to deliver operating margin improvement as fiscal '23 progresses.

正如我已經指出的那樣，隨著 23 財年的進展，我們預計我們的冷藏和冷凍和國際部門將提高營業利潤率。

As you can see on Slide 11, our team delivered solid Q4 results in the face of a highly dynamic and challenging operating environment.

正如您在幻燈片 11 中看到的那樣，面對高度動態和具有挑戰性的運營環境，我們的團隊在第四季度取得了穩健的業績。

Compared to the fourth quarter of '21, Organic net sales for the fourth quarter increased at just under 7%, with growth in all 4 segments. And importantly, adjusted operating margin increased approximately 100 basis points and adjusted EPS was up over 20%.

與 21 年第四季度相比，第四季度的有機淨銷售額增長略低於 7%，所有 4 個細分市場均實現增長。重要的是，調整後的營業利潤率增加了約 100 個基點，調整後的每股收益增長了 20% 以上。

I'd like to briefly detail our performance across our 3 retail domains, starting with our frozen business on Slide 12. Frozen continues to be one of the strongest businesses in our portfolio and offers modern attributes, convenience and quality to make it the perfect fit for today's consumer. In Q4, we continue to deliver strong growth on both a 1-year and 3-year basis. And within this consumer domain, we've seen growth across key categories, highlighted by more than double-digit year-over-year growth in both plant-based protein and single-serve meals.

我想簡要介紹一下我們在 3 個零售領域的表現，從幻燈片 12 上的冷凍業務開始。Frozen 仍然是我們投資組合中最強大的業務之一，並提供現代屬性、便利性和質量，使其完美契合對於今天的消費者。在第四季度，我們繼續在 1 年和 3 年的基礎上實現強勁增長。在這個消費領域，我們看到關鍵類別的增長，特別是植物性蛋白質和單份膳食的同比增長超過兩位數。

Now let's talk about snacks. As shown on Slide 13, we've seen a meaningful acceleration in retail sales growth in our snacks business over the last 3 years. In the fourth quarter, our snacks business grew 11% year-over-year. That equates to 34% growth over the same period in 2019. In this domain, we've driven growth in key categories, including meat snacks, hot cocoa, microwave popcorn and salty snacks.

現在讓我們談談零食。如幻燈片 13 所示，在過去 3 年中，我們的零食業務的零售額增長顯著加快。第四季度，我們的零食業務同比增長 11%。這相當於 2019 年同期增長 34%。在這一領域，我們推動了關鍵品類的增長，包括肉類零食、熱可可、微波爆米花和鹹味零食。

Our retail sales of ingredients and enhancers and shelf-stable meals and [sides] have also been growing meaningfully over a 3-year period, and that trend continued in the fourth quarter. As you can see on Slide 14, this business grew 5% year-over-year and 10% on a 3-year basis. In particular, we saw a large increase in the retail sales for syrup, which was up nearly 20% in Q4 on a 2-year basis.

我們的配料和增強劑以及貨架穩定的膳食和 [配菜] 的零售額在 3 年期間也一直在顯著增長，並且這種趨勢在第四季度繼續保持。正如您在幻燈片 14 上看到的那樣，該業務同比增長 5%，三年增長 10%。特別是，我們看到糖漿的零售額大幅增長，在 2 年的基礎上，第四季度增長了近 20%。

As we execute our Conagra Way playbook, innovation has remained a key to our success across the portfolio, slide 15 shows the impact of our disciplined approach to delivering new products and a modernized portfolio. During the fourth quarter, our innovation outperformed the strong results we delivered in the year ago period. And once again, our innovation rose to the top of the pack in several key categories, including whipped toppings, single-serve meals and plant-based protein.

在我們執行 Conagra Way 劇本時，創新仍然是我們在整個產品組合中取得成功的關鍵，幻燈片 15 顯示了我們提供新產品和現代化產品組合的嚴謹方法的影響。在第四季度，我們的創新表現優於去年同期的強勁業績。我們的創新再一次在幾個關鍵類別中名列前茅，包括攪打配料、單份餐食和植物蛋白。

Looking at Slide 16, you can see that we continue to grow sales on both a 1- and 3-year basis. Total Conagra retail sales were up 15.8% on a 3-year basis for the year. We also continue to gain share in the important frozen and snacks categories with our category weighted share growth up both on a 1-year and 3-year basis.

查看幻燈片 16，您可以看到我們在 1 年和 3 年的基礎上繼續增長銷售額。康尼格拉的總零售額在 3 年的基礎上增長了 15.8%。我們還繼續在重要的冷凍和零食類別中獲得份額，我們的類別加權份額增長在 1 年和 3 年的基礎上均有所增長。

With that context, for fiscal '22, let's turn to our outlook for fiscal '23. We expect our strong brands, on-trend innovation, effective pricing, and strengthen supply chain to drive top line growth and margin improvement.

在這種情況下，對於 '22 財年，讓我們轉向我們對 '23 財年的展望。我們期望我們強大的品牌、趨勢創新、有效定價和加強供應鏈來推動收入增長和利潤率提高。

Continued inflationary pressure in fiscal '23 is expected to result in incremental increases in elasticity, which, overall, we anticipate will continue to remain below historical levels.

預計 23 財年持續的通脹壓力將導致彈性逐漸增加，總體而言，我們預計彈性將繼續保持在歷史水平以下。

Our outlook also reflects our expectation that we will have higher CapEx and interest expense in fiscal '23, lower pension income and that the elevated performance from Ardent Mills in fiscal '22 will moderate.

我們的展望還反映了我們的預期，即我們將在 '23 財年擁有更高的資本支出和利息支出，更低的養老金收入，以及 Ardent Mills 在 '22 財年的業績提升將放緩。

We look forward to sharing more details about our expectations for the year at our upcoming Investor Day.

我們期待在即將到來的投資者日分享更多關於我們對這一年的期望的細節。

In 2023, we expect organic net sales growth of 4% to 5%, adjusted operating margin of approximately 15%, adjusted EPS growth of 1% to 5%.

2023 年，我們預計有機淨銷售額增長 4% 至 5%，調整後的營業利潤率約為 15%，調整後的每股收益增長 1% 至 5%。

Before I turn the call over to Dave, I'll remind you that my team and I are looking forward to hosting an Investor Day on July 27 to discuss our plans for the future. In response to feedback, we've decided to hold our event in a virtual-only format to best accommodate our investors and analysts. Registration, dial-in and Q&A details for the virtual event are available on our website.

在我將電話轉給戴夫之前，我會提醒您，我和我的團隊期待在 7 月 27 日舉辦投資者日，討論我們未來的計劃。作為對反饋的回應，我們決定以純虛擬形式舉辦活動，以更好地滿足我們的投資者和分析師的需求。我們的網站上提供了虛擬活動的註冊、撥入和問答詳細信息。

Dave, over to you.

戴夫，交給你了。

Thanks, Sean, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with some highlights from the quarter and full year, which are shown on Slide 22. Overall, we feel very good about how we are exiting fiscal '22, and the way we navigated the dynamic operating environment that impacted our entire industry throughout the year.

謝謝，肖恩，大家早上好。我將從幻燈片 22 中顯示的季度和全年的一些亮點開始。總體而言，我們對退出 '22 財年的方式以及我們駕馭影響整個行業的動態運營環境的方式感到非常滿意全年。

During fiscal '22, we delivered strong top line growth with full year organic net sales up 3.8% compared to fiscal '21, reflecting the continued relevancy of our portfolio to consumers. While higher-than-expected cost of goods sold inflation weighed on our adjusted operating margins throughout the year, we were encouraged to see Q4 operating margins improve versus year ago.

在 22 財年，我們實現了強勁的收入增長，全年有機淨銷售額比 21 財年增長 3.8%，這反映了我們的產品組合與消費者的持續相關性。雖然高於預期的商品銷售成本通脹影響了我們全年調整後的營業利潤率，但我們很高興看到第四季度的營業利潤率與去年同期相比有所改善。

Overall, our full fiscal year '22 adjusted operating margins decreased by 312 basis points versus last year to 14.4%, which was in line with the revised expectations we provided during our third quarter call. Fiscal '22 adjusted EPS of $2.36 was also in line with our revised expectations.

總體而言，我們在 22 財年調整後的營業利潤率與去年相比下降了 312 個基點至 14.4%，這與我們在第三季度電話會議中提供的修訂後的預期一致。 22 財年調整後的每股收益為 2.36 美元，也符合我們修正後的預期。

Turning to Slide 23, you can see our net sales bridge for the quarter and full year. During the fourth quarter, the 6.8% increase in organic net sales was driven by a 13.2% improvement in price mix as a result of continued inflation-justified pricing actions as well as favorable brand mix. This was partially offset by a 6.4% decrease in volume. The headwinds from the divestiture of our Egg Beaters business and the impact of foreign exchange were the final contributors towards the 6.2% increase in total Conagra Brands net sales during the fourth quarter.

轉到幻燈片 23，您可以看到我們本季度和全年的淨銷售額橋樑。在第四季度，有機淨銷售額增長 6.8% 是由於持續的通脹合理定價行動以及有利的品牌組合導致價格組合改善 13.2%。這被銷量下降 6.4% 部分抵消。剝離我們的打蛋器業務的不利因素和外匯影響是第四季度康尼格拉品牌淨銷售額增長 6.2% 的最終貢獻者。

The bottom half of the slide highlights the drivers of our net sales growth for full year fiscal '22 versus the prior year. The highlight here is the 3.8% organic net sales growth that I just mentioned, which showcases the underlying health of the business and our ability to execute inflation-justified pricing actions.

幻燈片的下半部分突出了我們 22 財年全年淨銷售額與上一年相比增長的驅動因素。這裡的亮點是我剛才提到的 3.8% 的有機淨銷售額增長，這展示了業務的基本健康狀況以及我們執行通脹合理定價行動的能力。

This point is reinforced on Slide 24, which shows the top line performance of each of our segments. As Sean mentioned, we are pleased that net sales continue to grow across the portfolio for both the quarter and full year when compared to the respective year-ago periods. We also continued to see market share gains, reflecting the strength of our brands.

這一點在幻燈片 24 上得到了加強，它顯示了我們每個細分市場的頂級表現。正如肖恩所說，我們很高興與去年同期相比，本季度和全年的淨銷售額在整個投資組合中繼續增長。我們還繼續看到市場份額的增長，這反映了我們品牌的實力。

The sales momentum of the business is strong as we exit fiscal '22. We detail our adjusted operating margin bridge on Slide 25. In aggregate, our adjusted operating margin was 15% for the fourth quarter approximately 100 basis points above the year ago period. As you can see, we realized a 9% benefit from favorable price mix and a 1.8% benefit from net productivity in our supply chain.

隨著我們退出 22 財年，該業務的銷售勢頭強勁。我們在幻燈片 25 上詳細說明了調整後的營業利潤率橋。總的來說，我們第四季度的調整後營業利潤率為 15%，比去年同期高出約 100 個基點。如您所見，我們從有利的價格組合中實現了 9% 的收益，並從我們供應鏈的淨生產力中獲得了 1.8% 的收益。

Although our productivity in the quarter was below historic levels, given continued supply chain challenges, the rate was up compared to Q3 and we are seeing steady improvement in our supply chain operations as we exit fiscal year '22. The price and productivity benefits were more than offset by gross market inflation of 17.3%, which impacted our operating margins by more than 12%.

儘管我們在本季度的生產力低於歷史水平，但鑑於供應鏈的持續挑戰，該比率與第三季度相比有所上升，並且隨著我們退出 22 財年，我們的供應鏈運營正在穩步改善。價格和生產力的好處被 17.3% 的總市場通脹所抵消，這對我們的營業利潤率造成了 12% 以上的影響。

I will unpack the inflation impacts in more detail shortly. Together, these factors contributed to the 147 basis point decrease in our adjusted gross margin for the quarter compared to the year ago period. Advertising and promotion costs for the quarter decreased 38.7% driven primarily by lacking -- lapping the significant increases in A&P during Q4 last year.

我將在稍後更詳細地解釋通脹影響。這些因素共同導致我們本季度調整後的毛利率與去年同期相比下降了 147 個基點。本季度的廣告和促銷成本下降了 38.7%，主要是由於缺乏——與去年第四季度 A&P 的顯著增長相提並論。

This decrease contributed 1.1% to overall adjusted operating margin. Adjusted SG&A costs also declined during the quarter driven by decreased incentives and deferred compensation, contributing an additional 1.3% benefit.

這一下降對整體調整後的營業利潤率貢獻了 1.1%。由於激勵措施減少和遞延薪酬，調整後的 SG&A 成本在本季度也有所下降，帶來了 1.3% 的額外收益。

Slide 26 breaks down our adjusted operating margins by segment. We were encouraged to see both our adjusted gross margins and adjusted operating margins in our Grocery & Snacks, and Foodservice segments hit inflection points during the fourth quarter and begin to improve compared to last year. The recovery in these segments drove the 13.5% year-over-year improvement in adjusted operating profit during the fourth quarter.

幻燈片 26 按細分市場細分了我們調整後的營業利潤率。我們很高興看到我們的雜貨和零食和餐飲服務部門的調整後毛利率和調整後的營業利潤率在第四季度達到拐點並開始與去年相比有所改善。這些細分市場的複蘇推動第四季度調整後的營業利潤同比增長 13.5%。

Our Refrigerated & Frozen segment was most impacted by higher-than-anticipated input cost inflation in Q4, particularly in proteins and edible oils. The above forecast inflation in Refrigerated & Frozen has pushed forward the lag until additional inflation-justified pricing is reflected in market. As we have mentioned previously, we believe our Refrigerated & Frozen segment and our frozen portfolio, in particular, is well positioned for further success.

我們的冷藏和冷凍部門受到第四季度投入成本通脹高於預期的影響最大，尤其是在蛋白質和食用油方面。冷藏和冷凍的上述預測通脹已經推動了滯後，直到額外的通脹合理定價反映在市場上。正如我們之前提到的，我們相信我們的冷藏和冷凍部門，尤其是我們的冷凍產品組合，已經為進一步取得成功做好了準備。

Our International segment was also impacted by higher-than-anticipated inflation and some FX headwinds versus prior year. Pricing actions were implemented as planned but were not enough to fully offset the cost headwinds incurred. As Sean mentioned earlier, we expect to see operating margins expand in both our Refrigerated & Frozen and International segments in fiscal '23, as pricing actions catch up to the recent inflation.

我們的國際部門也受到高於預期的通貨膨脹和與去年相比的一些外匯逆風的影響。定價行動按計劃實施，但不足以完全抵消所產生的成本不利因素。正如肖恩之前提到的，隨著定價行動趕上最近的通貨膨脹，我們預計在 23 財年我們的冷藏和冷凍部門和國際部門的營業利潤率都會擴大。

I would like to take a deeper dive into the gross market inflation we experienced during the quarter, shown here on Slide 27. Inflation continued to rise to over 17% above the high end of the range that we were anticipating at the time of our third quarter call. It rose most acutely for commodities that are particularly difficult to hedge including chicken and pork. Even though we forecasted a significant acceleration of our chicken and pork costs in Q4, as depicted in the charts on the right, actual inflation came in even higher especially in chicken, which hit record levels compared to our expectations as of the Q3 call.

我想更深入地了解我們在本季度經歷的總市場通脹，如幻燈片 27 所示。通脹繼續上升至高於我們在第三次預測時預期的範圍高端的 17% 以上季度電話。對於特別難以對沖的商品，包括雞肉和豬肉，它的漲幅最為明顯。儘管我們預測第四季度雞肉和豬肉成本將顯著加快，如右圖所示，但實際通脹甚至更高，尤其是雞肉，與我們在第三季度電話會議上的預期相比，它達到了創紀錄的水平。

We continue to pull on a number of levers to offset the elevated costs including an additional round of inflation-justified pricing actions implemented during the fourth quarter of fiscal '22 that will be effective in the first quarter of fiscal '23 and new pricing that will take effect in the second quarter of fiscal '23. Another strong performance by Ardent Mills also proved to be an effective inflation hedge in our Q4 results.

我們繼續採取一些措施來抵消高昂的成本，包括在 22 財年第四季度實施的另一輪通脹合理定價行動，該行動將在 23 財年第一季度生效，新定價將於 23 財年第二季度生效。 Ardent Mills 的另一項強勁表現也被證明是我們第四季度業績中有效的通脹對沖。

Slide 28 details our adjusted EPS bridge for the quarter compared to last year. The sales increase and recovery of overall operating margins was the primary driver of the increase in our adjusted EPS during the fourth quarter contributing $0.09. We also saw a $0.02 benefit from our equity method investment earnings, which increased 42.1% during the quarter to $48 million due to solid results from Ardent Mills as effective management at the joint venture allowed it to capitalize on volatile market conditions. A benefit from pension and postretirement nonservice income and higher adjusted taxes were the additional drivers of our EPS change.

幻燈片 28 詳細介紹了我們與去年相比本季度調整後的每股收益橋。銷售額的增長和整體營業利潤率的恢復是我們第四季度調整後每股收益增長的主要驅動力，貢獻了 0.09 美元。我們還從權益法投資收益中獲得了 0.02 美元的收益，該季度增長 42.1% 至 4800 萬美元，這是由於 Ardent Mills 的穩健業績，因為合資企業的有效管理使其能夠利用動蕩的市場條件。養老金和退休後非服務收入的收益以及更高的調整後稅收是我們每股收益變化的額外驅動因素。

The $0.65 in adjusted diluted EPS that we generated for the quarter brought our full year adjusted EPS to $2.36 down 10.6% from fiscal '21. On a 2-year compounded annualized basis, full year fiscal '22 adjusted EPS increased 1.7%.

我們在本季度產生的 0.65 美元的調整後稀釋每股收益使我們的全年調整後每股收益從 21 財年下降 10.6% 至 2.36 美元。在 2 年復合年化基礎上，22 財年全年調整後每股收益增長 1.7%。

Turning to Slide 29, you can see our balance sheet and cash flow metrics for the quarter and full year. We feel good about ending the year with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 4x, which was generally in line with the target we outlined during our third quarter call. We aim to continue decreasing this ratio moving forward as we prepare for more market volatility, which I will discuss in more detail shortly.

轉到幻燈片 29，您可以看到我們本季度和全年的資產負債表和現金流量指標。我們對以 4 倍的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率結束今年感到滿意，這與我們在第三季度電話會議中概述的目標基本一致。隨著我們為更多的市場波動做準備，我們的目標是繼續降低這一比率，我將在稍後更詳細地討論。

Capital expenditures decreased by $42 million year-over-year to $464 million, or 4% of net sales. Lastly, we continue to prioritize returning capital to shareholders as we paid $582 million in dividends in fiscal '22.

資本支出同比減少 4200 萬美元至 4.64 億美元，占淨銷售額的 4%。最後，我們繼續優先向股東返還資本，因為我們在 22 財年支付了 5.82 億美元的股息。

I'd now like to spend a minute talking about our guidance for fiscal '23. Slide 30 outlines our expectations for our 3 key metrics, including organic net sales growth of plus 4% to plus 5%, and adjusted operating margin of approximately 15%, and adjusted EPS growth between plus 1% and plus 5%.

我現在想花一點時間談談我們對 23 財年的指導。幻燈片 30 概述了我們對 3 個關鍵指標的預期，包括有機淨銷售額增長 4% 至 5%，調整後的營業利潤率約為 15%，調整後的每股收益增長在 1% 至 5% 之間。

In addition, we aim to continue reducing our long-term net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 3x, as I alluded to earlier. The macro environment remains volatile, and this target reflects our strategy to maintain an even stronger balance sheet as we navigate continued headwinds moving forward. And we continue to remain committed to a solid investment-grade credit rating.

此外，正如我之前提到的，我們的目標是繼續將我們的長期淨債務與 EBITDA 的比率降低到 3 倍。宏觀環境仍然不穩定，這一目標反映了我們在繼續逆風前行時保持更強勁資產負債表的戰略。我們將繼續致力於穩定的投資級信用評級。

Before we open the lineup for questions, I want to unpack the assumptions behind our guidance shown here on Slide 31. We expect the high inflationary environment we experienced in fiscal '22 to continue into fiscal '23, with levels in the low teens off of the fiscal '22 gross market inflation of 16%.

在我們打開問題的陣容之前，我想解開幻燈片 31 上顯示的指導背後的假設。我們預計我們在 22 財年經歷的高通脹環境將持續到 23 財年，其水平處於低水平'22 財政年度總市場通脹率為 16%。

As I noted, we have communicated additional inflation-justified pricing actions to help offset these elevated costs, which we anticipate being realized during the first and second quarters of fiscal '23. And we are keeping a close eye on how these actions impact elasticities.

正如我所指出的，我們已經傳達了額外的通脹合理定價行動，以幫助抵消這些高昂的成本，我們預計這將在 23 財年的第一季度和第二季度實現。我們正在密切關注這些行動如何影響彈性。

We forecast the environment to remain dynamic through fiscal '23 with elasticities, increasing from fiscal '22 levels but remaining below pre COVID but historical levels. From an investment perspective, we expect CapEx spend of approximately $500 million as we prioritize reinvesting in the business as a lever to combat inflation with a focus on capacity expansion and productivity enablers.

我們預測，到 23 財年，環境將保持動態，具有彈性，從 22 財年的水平有所增加，但仍低於 COVID 之前的歷史水平。從投資角度來看，我們預計資本支出約為 5 億美元，因為我們優先考慮將業務再投資作為對抗通脹的槓桿，重點放在產能擴張和生產力推動因素上。

We also plan to increase our SG&A investment to support talent, infrastructure and continued automation. Interest expense is anticipated to be roughly $410 million for the year, pension and postretirement income, approximately $25 million, and our tax rate estimate is approximately 24%.

我們還計劃增加我們的 SG&A 投資，以支持人才、基礎設施和持續自動化。今年的利息支出預計約為 4.1 億美元，養老金和退休後收入約為 2500 萬美元，我們的稅率估計約為 24%。

These 3 items combined represent an approximate $0.13 headwind to fiscal '22 adjusted EPS and are incorporated into our fiscal '23 EPS guidance of plus 1% to plus 5%. The higher interest rate environment is the main driver of the expected interest expense increase and pension income decline. We anticipate Ardent Mills having another strong year, but expect fiscal '23 results to moderate versus fiscal '22, particularly versus the elevated performance in the second half of fiscal '22.

這 3 個項目加起來對 22 財年調整後的每股收益構成了大約 0.13 美元的逆風，並被納入我們的 23 財年每股收益增長 1% 至 5% 的指導。較高的利率環境是預期利息支出增加和養老金收入下降的主要驅動力。我們預計 Ardent Mills 將迎來又一個強勁的一年，但預計 23 財年的業績將與 22 財年相比放緩，特別是與 22 財年下半年的業績提升相比。

To reiterate, we are confident about how Conagra ended the year and are optimistic about our future opportunities. We are looking forward to walking through these opportunities and our strategies to unlock them in more detail at our Investor Day later this month. That concludes our prepared remarks for today's call. Thank you for listening.

重申一下，我們對康尼格拉今年的結束充滿信心，並對我們未來的機會持樂觀態度。我們期待在本月晚些時候的投資者日更詳細地了解這些機會和我們的策略以更詳細地釋放它們。我們為今天的電話會議準備的發言到此結束。謝謝你的聆聽。

I'll now pass it back to the operator to open the line for questions.

我現在將它傳回給接線員以打開問題線。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today will come from Andrew Lazar with Barclays. Please go ahead.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題將來自 Barclays 的 Andrew Lazar。請繼續。

Great. Can you guys hear me okay?

偉大的。你們能聽到我的聲音嗎？

Yes, we can hear you now.

是的，我們現在可以聽到你的聲音了。

Great. I appreciate it. All right. So just to start off, I realize elasticity is certainly below historical levels, as you've talked about. And -- but volume was down a bit more, let's say, than what we've seen from other food companies, all of whom have had as much pricing or more than Conagra, at least on a year-over-year basis.

偉大的。我很感激。好的。所以剛開始，我意識到彈性肯定低於歷史水平，正如你所說的那樣。並且 - 但是數量比我們從其他食品公司看到的要多一點，至少在同比的基礎上，所有這些公司的定價都與康尼格拉一樣多或更多。

So I guess I'm trying to get a sense whether elasticity is starting to catch up with the company maybe more than others are seeing or if there's something else going on because a bunch of companies have started to talk about the benefit they're seeing from trading into at-home eating from away-from-home meeting, which is blunting maybe what would have been expected to be greater elasticity at this stage, given all the pricing that's taking place. And it just speaks to whether your assumption around below historical levels of elasticity for '23 is conservative or where that comes in? And then I just got a follow-up.

所以我想我想了解彈性是否開始趕上公司可能比其他人看到的更多，或者是否還有其他事情發生，因為一堆公司已經開始談論他們看到的好處從交易到從外地會議到在家吃飯，考慮到正在發生的所有定價，這可能會削弱現階段預期的更大彈性。它只是說明你對 23 年低於歷史彈性水平的假設是否保守，或者它來自哪裡？然後我就得到了跟進。

Yes, Andrew, it's Sean. I'll answer that. It's pretty clear as we look at the data, we're experiencing the same trading in that others referenced. And the demand for our products remains quite strong. So as you saw on the slide, our brand health is in a very good place. And I would say no to the question of are we experiencing something unique in elasticities. Based on what we're seeing right now, the answer to that is unequivocally no.

是的，安德魯，是肖恩。我會回答的。當我們查看數據時很清楚，我們正在經歷與其他人提到的相同的交易。對我們產品的需求仍然相當強勁。正如您在幻燈片上看到的，我們的品牌健康狀況非常好。對於我們是否正在經歷一些獨特的彈性問題，我會說不。根據我們現在看到的情況，答案肯定是否定的。

Consumer demand has remained very strong. These elasticities, as you mentioned, have been meaningfully better than historical norms. But what I draw your attention to is supply chain constraints. While we're making progress in supply chain, the constraints are still with us, and they were still a factor in Q4, and we did see retailers burn through inventory faster than we could replenish it. And that clearly put an upper control limit on parts of our portfolio, including some of our fastest-growing, strongest brands and including Refrigerated & Frozen.

消費需求一直非常強勁。正如您所提到的，這些彈性明顯優於歷史規範。但我提請您注意的是供應鏈限制。雖然我們在供應鏈方面取得進展，但制約因素仍然存在，它們仍然是第四季度的一個因素，我們確實看到零售商消耗庫存的速度比我們補充庫存的速度要快。這顯然對我們的部分產品組合設置了上限，包括我們一些增長最快、最強大的品牌，包括冷藏和冷凍產品。

So we'll give you a full update on a tremendous amount of good work that's going on in supply chain. We are making progress there, and we've got a very exciting transformation plan ahead. We'll update you on that -- on that on our Investor Day in a couple of weeks. And we'll also, as we always do, preview some of the exciting new innovation that will come into the market that's currently coming into the market that will continue to drive strong sales.

因此，我們將為您提供有關供應鏈中正在進行的大量優秀工作的完整更新。我們正在那裡取得進展，並且我們已經制定了一個非常令人興奮的轉型計劃。我們將在幾週後的投資者日向您更新。我們還將像往常一樣，預覽一些將進入市場的令人興奮的新創新，這些創新目前正在進入市場，將繼續推動強勁的銷售。

But I'd say for now, my key points are brands are performing very well, and the innovation is thriving. The pricing power we're seeing is quite strong. Despite that strong pricing power, the elasticities remain well below historical norms. Supply chain is making progress, but it's not fully back to normal yet. And looking forward, our outlook for '23, we believe is quite prudent.

但我現在想說的是，我的重點是品牌表現非常好，創新正在蓬勃發展。我們看到的定價能力非常強大。儘管定價能力很強，但彈性仍遠低於歷史標準。供應鏈正在取得進展，但尚未完全恢復正常。展望未來，我們認為我們對 23 年的展望是相當謹慎的。

That's helpful. And then I guess on your full year guidance, even putting all the below the line items sort of aside for a minute, seems to imply a high single-digit increase in EBIT growth. Even with your comments, I think even last quarter about the need and desire to ramp up A&P spend in fiscal '23 and is still kind of inflationary environment. So trying to get a sense of what are the key drivers to get there and your level of confidence in that type of growth on the EBIT side.

這很有幫助。然後我猜在你的全年指導下，即使將所有低於項目的項目擱置一分鐘，似乎也意味著息稅前利潤增長有一個個位數的高增長。即使有你的評論，我認為即使是上個季度，在 23 財年增加 A&P 支出的必要性和願望仍然是一種通脹環境。因此，試圖了解實現目標的關鍵驅動因素是什麼，以及您對息稅前利潤方面這種增長的信心水平。

Sure, Andrew. So if you take it from the top, we guided to low teens inflation off of the 16% this year. So we flow that. We think that's going to be higher actually in Q1. And as the year goes, the percentage will come down, but low teens is what we assume there. We're assuming that our supply chain productivity, which came in at 1.8% for Q4 and -- we expect that as our supply chain continues to stabilize that, that will improve as the year goes on. We obviously have a big impact of pricing in '23. The carry-in pricing, which will be significant.

當然，安德魯。因此，如果您從頂部看，我們將今年的青少年通脹率降至 16% 的低水平。所以我們讓它流動。我們認為這實際上會在第一季度更高。隨著時間的推移，這個百分比會下降，但我們假設的青少年人數很少。我們假設我們的供應鏈生產力在第四季度達到 1.8%，並且我們預計隨著我們的供應鏈繼續穩定這一點，隨著時間的推移，這種情況將有所改善。我們顯然對 23 年的定價有很大影響。進貨定價，這將是重要的。

And then as I talked about in my comments, we have pricing that is actually in market now in Q1 and will actually be in market in the beginning of Q2 as well. And so a big impact from pricing. And we do expect that both our SG&A and A&P investment will grow at a greater rate than the sales guide. So we are investing in both of those areas. But given the pricing, given the ramp-up of productivity and given inflation at low teens off of what was a high base in fiscal '22, we feel comfortable with what that's going to do in terms of our EBIT growth for '23.

然後正如我在評論中談到的那樣，我們的定價實際上是在第一季度上市，實際上也將在第二季度開始上市。定價的影響很大。我們確實預計我們的 SG&A 和 A&P 投資將以高於銷售指南的速度增長。所以我們在這兩個領域都進行了投資。但考慮到定價，考慮到生產力的提高以及通貨膨脹率低於 22 財年的高基數，我們對 23 年的息稅前利潤增長感到滿意。

And our next question will come from Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Ken Goldman。

One of the other larger food companies recently said that as soon as it's November quarter, the dollar impact from higher pricing could equal the dollar impact from inflation, roughly with maybe pricing being a net benefit afterward just given the lag effect.

另一家較大的食品公司最近表示，一旦到了 11 月季度，更高定價對美元的影響可能等於通脹對美元的影響，考慮到滯後效應，定價可能是之後的淨收益。

So I'm just curious, I know every company is different and the timing of hedges are different and so forth. But is this kind of cadence something you could see as well? I really am asking, when might it be reasonable for us to kind of anticipate pricing in a dollar sense being at least as high as your inflation this year? And maybe it's too hard to be precise. I'm just curious for your rough thoughts.

所以我只是好奇，我知道每家公司都不一樣，對沖的時間也不一樣等等。但是這種節奏你也能看到嗎？我真的在問，我們什麼時候可以合理地預期以美元計價的價格至少與今年的通貨膨脹率一樣高？也許它太難精確了。我只是好奇你的粗略想法。

Ken, I'll give you my thoughts on that and mechanically how it works, and Dave can add anything if you want. But the inflation, as we've experienced over the last year or so, it tends to come in waves. And that means we take successive waves of pricing. Each one of those pricing actions then triggers its own lag effect, which lasts about 90 days. Once you get through that lag effect, you really start to see the benefit of the pricing in the P&L. And then the following year, when you wrap that lag window, you really start to see some meaningful year-on-year improvements in the profitability.

肯，我會告訴你我的想法以及它是如何工作的，如果你願意，戴夫可以添加任何東西。但是，正如我們在過去一年左右所經歷的那樣，通貨膨脹往往是一波又一波的。這意味著我們會採取連續的定價浪潮。然後，這些定價行為中的每一項都會觸發其自身的滯後效應，該效應持續約 90 天。一旦你克服了滯後效應，你就會真正開始看到損益表中定價的好處。然後第二年，當你結束這個滯後窗口時，你真的開始看到盈利能力出現了一些有意義的同比增長。

The tricky thing is if you have to feather in new pricing actions, you also feather in lag. So that's why each year is different because you've got different levels of waves of inflation and you've got different response. The good news is, hopefully, this inflation cycle is getting mature. We've been pretty aggressive in getting the actions into place. And after you get through those 90 days, you can start to see some benefits. And we don't have, as you know, a lot of categories that are fewer pass-through categories like a coffee. We have a couple, we've got a couple of neat businesses, but we don't have a lot of those.

棘手的事情是，如果你必須適應新的定價行為，你也會陷入滯後。這就是為什麼每年都不同的原因，因為你有不同程度的通貨膨脹波，你有不同的反應。好消息是，希望這個通脹週期正在走向成熟。我們一直非常積極地採取行動。在你度過這 90 天之後，你可以開始看到一些好處。正如你所知，我們沒有很多像咖啡這樣的傳遞類別較少的類別。我們有幾個，我們有幾個整潔的業務，但我們沒有很多。

So to me, the positive thing here, while inflation is tough to deal with is as I've said before, it also can help liberate some of these brands from some of these legacy price thresholds where they can get stuck for a period of time. And if you do that and then you kind of get through past the year and you wrap some of the immediate challenges you face, some good things can happen in the P&L, and that's not unprecedented at all.

所以對我來說，積極的一面是，正如我之前所說的那樣，雖然通貨膨脹難以應對，但它也可以幫助這些品牌中的一些品牌擺脫一些傳統的價格門檻，讓它們在一段時間內陷入困境.如果你這樣做了，然後你度過了過去的一年，你解決了你面臨的一些直接挑戰，損益表中可能會發生一些好事，這根本不是史無前例的。

Dave, do you want to add to that?

戴夫，你想補充一下嗎？

Yes. Just on the -- let me build on that and tie it into the guidance. So Ken, just kind of a concise way to think about it is our organic net sales guidance is 4% to 5%. We expect price mix to be low teens. We expect inflation to be low teens. So if that is true, then the pricing dollars will exceed the inflation dollars next year.

是的。就在——讓我在此基礎上再接再厲，並將其與指導聯繫起來。因此，肯，一種簡潔的思考方式是我們的有機淨銷售額指導是 4% 到 5%。我們預計價格組合將處於低位。我們預計通脹將處於低位。因此，如果這是真的，那麼明年的定價美元將超過通脹美元。

Great. That's very helpful, David, Sean. And can I ask a quick follow-up. Is there any way to sort of quantify the impact of those supply chain constraints on your volumes in the fourth quarter, even if roughly, I think it would maybe help some people understand or get a better sense of how much that affected you? And is there a chance that this year, you'll see maybe a reversal of that effect as your production improves and retailers hopefully replenish some inventory?

偉大的。這很有幫助，大衛，肖恩。我可以要求快速跟進嗎？有什麼方法可以量化這些供應鏈限制對您第四季度的銷量的影響，即使是粗略的，我認為這可能會幫助一些人理解或更好地了解這對您的影響有多大？今年，隨著生產的改善和零售商希望補充一些庫存，您是否有可能看到這種影響的逆轉？

I won't put any numbers on it, Ken, but it is category specific. We can see it very clearly. And where we probably most noteworthy, as I mentioned in my remarks a minute ago is Refrigerated & Frozen. That's -- as you all know, that is our frozen business is our most strategic domain. We've just had persistent strength there. They're really in our Frozen Meals business isn't a trade-down alternative. So that is one of the key pieces of this portfolio and amongst our very strongest brands. We've driven virtually all the category growth there. I don't expect any change to that underlying strength at all. We've just got to continue to get our suppliers back to full health and continue to get our ability to get service levels back to the traditional high 90 levels.

我不會在上面寫任何數字，Ken，但它是特定於類別的。我們可以非常清楚地看到它。正如我在一分鐘前的講話中提到的，我們可能最值得注意的是冷藏和冷凍。那是——眾所周知，我們凍結的業務是我們最具戰略意義的領域。我們剛剛在那裡擁有持久的力量。他們真的在我們的冷凍食品業務中不是一個折價的選擇。因此，這是該產品組合的關鍵部分之一，也是我們最強大的品牌之一。我們已經推動了那裡幾乎所有類別的增長。我根本不希望這種潛在力量發生任何變化。我們必須繼續讓我們的供應商恢復健康，並繼續讓我們的服務水平恢復到傳統的 90 高水平。

Dave, do you want to make any comments to that.

戴夫，你想對此發表任何評論嗎？

Yes. And you just said it. I think a lot of times we think of when we talk about supply chain, we think of the labor in our plants and our distribution centers, which is a key part of it, and we're seeing that come back. But another key part that is really impacting us in particular categories is supply, ingredient supply. So our suppliers and making sure that they're able to supply. And so if we're missing an ingredient, we can't produce. And so that's part of the impact. So we're working through that. We're making progress. But as Sean said, that did impact volumes, particularly in Refrigerated & Frozen this quarter.

是的。而你剛剛說了。我想很多時候，當我們談論供應鏈時，我們會想到我們工廠和配送中心的勞動力，這是其中的關鍵部分，而且我們看到這種情況正在捲土重來。但在特定類別中真正影響我們的另一個關鍵部分是供應、成分供應。所以我們的供應商並確保他們能夠供應。因此，如果我們缺少一種成分，我們就無法生產。這就是影響的一部分。所以我們正在努力解決這個問題。我們正在取得進展。但正如肖恩所說，這確實影響了銷量，尤其是本季度的冷藏和冷凍。

Thanks. I look forward to the Investor Day.

謝謝。我期待著投資者日。

And our next question will come from David Palmer with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

On supply chain savings, I would imagine those were difficult to capture in fiscal '22, given all the COVID-related forces. And I would also imagine that there was significant friction costs, which you talked about last quarter. Could you perhaps talk about your assumptions for those supply chain friction costs going for '23, how that would compare to '22, and also supply chain savings, how do you think that capture will be in fiscal '23 versus '22?

在供應鏈節省方面，考慮到所有與 COVID 相關的力量，我想這些在 22 財年很難捕捉到。而且我還可以想像，您在上個季度談到的摩擦成本很高。您能否談談您對 23 年供應鏈摩擦成本的假設，與 22 年相比如何，以及供應鏈節省，您認為 23 財年與 22 財年的捕獲情況如何？

David, let me give you just kind of a quick way to think about it, and Dave can add anything. As we plan our '23 in terms of supply chain, we're not planning for a complete reversal of the supply chain friction that we've experienced over the last year. As you know, as we've said before, we prioritized doing what it took this past year to get as many units of our products out the door as we could. And that had a cost to it and it was less efficient than normal.

大衛，讓我給你一種快速思考的方法，戴夫可以添加任何東西。當我們在供應鏈方面計劃我們的 '23 時，我們並沒有計劃完全扭轉我們在過去一年中經歷的供應鏈摩擦。如您所知，正如我們之前所說，我們優先考慮過去一年所做的工作，以盡可能多地推出我們的產品。這需要付出代價，而且效率低於正常水平。

We are assuming some progress because we are seeing some progress and some green shoots in supply chain. But from a planning posture standpoint, we were not assuming everything gets back to bright. There will still be some inefficiencies in there according to what we planned. When we see in a couple of weeks, we're going to take you through that in quite some detail.

我們假設取得了一些進展，因為我們在供應鏈中看到了一些進展和一些萌芽。但從計劃姿態的角度來看，我們並沒有假設一切都會恢復光明。根據我們的計劃，那裡仍然會有一些低效率。當我們在幾週後看到時，我們將詳細介紹這一點。

And in addition, some investments we are making to really transform and modernize supply chain so we can capture some good margin opportunities that we see going forward. So we'll take you through that -- in a couple of weeks.

此外，我們正在進行一些投資以真正改造和現代化供應鏈，以便我們能夠抓住一些我們認為未來的良好利潤機會。因此，我們將在幾週內帶您完成。

Dave, do you want to add anything to that?

戴夫，你想添加什麼嗎？

Yes, sure. So David, if you look at the Q4 bridge, our productivity net of the offset was 1.8%. That was better than the 1.5% we had in Q3. As you know, historically, we run about 2.5% to 3% of productivity if you kind of look back pre-COVID. So the way to think about '23 is we will gradually ramp our productivity numbers back to what we were historically, and we're just gradually -- with each passing quarter, we expect to continue the improvement in the operations.

是的，當然。所以大衛，如果你看一下第四季度的橋樑，我們的抵消後生產力淨值為 1.8%。這比我們在第三季度的 1.5% 要好。如您所知，從歷史上看，如果您回顧一下 COVID 之前的情況，我們的生產力大約會提高 2.5% 到 3%。因此，考慮 23 年的方式是，我們將逐漸將我們的生產力數據恢復到我們的歷史水平，而且我們只是逐漸地——隨著每個季度的過去，我們希望繼續改善運營。

And then you mentioned in one slide or you showed how you have a relatively high contribution from innovation versus peers. And I wonder, going forward into '23, how you're thinking about the ability to get even more innovation impact given the ability for retailers to absorb that in the post-COVID era? And does that really -- is how much of that is in the plan for '23 in addition to perhaps some higher expense in terms of promotions and other growth spending?

然後你在一張幻燈片中提到，或者你展示了你如何從創新與同行中獲得相對較高的貢獻。我想知道，展望 23 世紀，鑑於零售商有能力在後 COVID 時代吸收創新影響，您如何看待獲得更大創新影響的能力？真的嗎 - 除了促銷和其他增長支出方面的一些更高費用之外，23 年的計劃中有多少？

Well, I'd say both are in the plans for '23. We are assuming very strong innovation performance, and we are investing behind that innovation. So you're seeing A&P rise in support of that innovation. And if you look at our track record now of these successive launches of innovation that we've had, when we started this journey and our real first big innovation slate was, I think, was far back is '16/'17, there was some concern, what happens when you wrap this success?

好吧，我想說兩者都在 23 年的計劃中。我們假設創新表現非常強勁，我們正在為創新進行投資。因此，您會看到 A&P 崛起以支持該創新。如果你現在看看我們在這些連續推出創新方面的記錄，當我們開始這一旅程時，我們真正的第一個重大創新計劃是，我認為，早在 16 年 / 17 年，有有些擔心，當你包裝這個成功時會發生什麼？

Well, each year, our innovation waves have gotten better and stronger than the year before. And our '22 results were fantastic versus a very successful '21. We're expecting fiscal '23 innovation to be even stronger than that, and we're investing behind that. We do have demand from our customers for that innovation. So it's sold in. And interestingly, as we told you before, even during the height of the pandemic, we paused innovation a lot less than what I expected at the time. We have tremendous customer demand for our innovation even then, and we kept the train rolling. So that's all baked into the plan for this year.

嗯，每一年，我們的創新浪潮都比前一年更好更強。與非常成功的 '21 相比，我們的 '22 成績非常出色。我們預計 23 財年的創新將比這更強大，我們正在為此進行投資。我們確實有客戶對這種創新的需求。所以它被賣掉了。有趣的是，正如我們之前告訴你的那樣，即使在大流行最嚴重的時候，我們暫停創新的次數也比我當時預期的要少得多。即使在那時，我們也有巨大的客戶對我們的創新需求，我們一直在繼續前進。所以這一切都納入了今年的計劃。

And our next question will come from Alexia Howard with Bernstein.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Alexia Howard 和 Bernstein。

Can I, first of all, ask about the gross margin trajectory from here? I realize you're not giving formal guidance. But given that the inflation seems to be higher than expected at the moment and the price -- the next round of pricing doesn't kick in until the second quarter. Does that mean that the near-term pressures on gross margin are likely to be fairly hefty? And will that -- is that expected to then improve through the rest of the year? And then I'll have a follow-up.

首先，我可以從這裡詢問毛利率軌跡嗎？我意識到你沒有提供正式的指導。但鑑於目前的通脹似乎高於預期和價格——下一輪定價要到第二季度才會開始。這是否意味著毛利率的近期壓力可能相當大？那會 - 預計會在今年剩下的時間裡有所改善嗎？然後我會跟進。

Yes, Alexia, that's right. When you look at inflation, given our exit rate of 17%, we're expecting low teens inflation for all of fiscal '23, but we expect that inflation rate to be higher in Q1 given the exit rate -- so as we go forward, we expect the percentage inflation will come down versus Q1. So that would -- and then the pricing that we're taking in Q1 and Q2 comes in. So you should see gradual improvement of gross margin as '23 progresses.

是的，Alexia，沒錯。當您查看通貨膨脹時，鑑於我們的退出率為 17%，我們預計 23 財年的所有青少年通脹率都將處於較低水平，但鑑於退出率，我們預計第一季度的通脹率會更高——所以隨著我們前進，我們預計通脹百分比將比第一季度下降。所以這會 - 然後我們在第一季度和第二季度採取的定價出現了。所以你應該看到隨著 23 年的進展，毛利率逐漸提高。

Great. And then just as a follow-up, the -- you mentioned favorable mix across a lot of the segments this time around. Could you just give a qualitative description of what was going on and whether that's expected to continue, and I'll pass it on.

偉大的。然後，作為後續行動，您提到這次在許多細分市場中的有利組合。您能否對正在發生的事情以及是否會繼續進行定性描述，我會繼續介紹。

Yes. A lot of that is brand mix, Alexia. So we have a big portfolio. So depending on the mix of what we sell, we will see benefits. So when we see growth in brands like Slim Jim, some of our core frozen items, those things have better kind of sales and margin mix. So it's really at the brand level that's driving that.

是的。其中很多是品牌組合，Alexia。所以我們有一個很大的投資組合。因此，根據我們銷售的產品組合，我們將看到收益。因此，當我們看到像 Slim Jim 這樣的品牌（我們的一些核心冷凍產品）增長時，這些產品的銷售和利潤組合會更好。因此，真正推動這一點的是品牌層面。

And you'd expect that to continue presumably into '23?

你預計這種情況會持續到 23 年嗎？

Yes. We always manage that for favorable mix. Mix is always one that's tricky because there's a lot that goes into it. But generally, we're always managing our portfolio to drive favorable mix for sure.

是的。我們總是管理它以獲得有利的組合。混合總是一個棘手的問題，因為其中有很多內容。但總的來說，我們總是在管理我們的投資組合，以確保推動有利的組合。

And our next question will come from Chris Growe with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Chris Growe 和 Stifel。

I had a question for you first and just a bit of a follow-up. So I think to Ken's earlier question. Last quarter, Dave, we talked about that gap between pricing and inflation and that $0.30 in EPS. And now there's been more inflation, and obviously, you've got more pricing coming through to catch up to that.

我首先有一個問題要問你，然後是一些後續問題。所以我想到了肯之前的問題。上個季度，戴夫，我們談到了定價和通貨膨脹之間的差距以及每股收益 0.30 美元。現在有更多的通貨膨脹，顯然，你有更多的定價來趕上。

Is there a -- would there be a point or embedded in your guidance some element of that $0.30 or whatever the new number is coming back in fiscal '23? So perhaps in the second half has been caught up on pricing and inflation.

是否有 - 是否有一點或嵌入在你的指導中 0.30 美元的一些元素或任何新數字在 23 財年回歸？所以說下半年可能已經趕上了定價和通脹。

Yes, Chris, if you look at our guidance, I think given what our estimate is for price mix, which is low teens and then inflation at low teens, you will see that come back in. So that is part of the guidance.

是的，克里斯，如果您查看我們的指導，我認為考慮到我們對價格組合的估計，即低青少年，然後是低青少年的通貨膨脹，您會看到它回來了。所以這是指導的一部分。

I think with the [$265 million], we were clear last quarter that, that wasn't guidance. That was a pro forma number. And if you take the guidance that we put out there of plus 1% to plus 5% for '23 you included in that is the $0.13 headwind from the nonoperational items for pension, interest and tax that gets you. If you translate that to numbers kind of a [$251 million] to [$261 million] then we're not planning Ardent up as much, and we're investing in SG&A. So when you put those things back in, you can clearly see that we are building in catching up on the lag in the fiscal '23 guide.

我認為對於 [2.65 億美元]，我們在上個季度很清楚，這不是指導。那是一個備考號碼。如果你接受我們在 23 年提出的加 1% 到加 5% 的指導意見，那麼你所包含的就是養老金、利息和稅收等非運營項目帶來的 0.13 美元逆風。如果您將其轉換為 [2.51 億美元] 到 [2.61 億美元] 的數字，那麼我們不會對 Ardent 進行如此多的計劃，我們正在投資 SG&A。所以當你把這些東西放回去時，你可以清楚地看到我們正在努力趕上 23 財年指南中的滯後。

Okay. Yes. That makes sense. And then just a question on A&P, which is to say that, I guess to be clear, you expect it to be up in fiscal '23 is the question. And then related to that, well, A&P was down this quarter and obviously a comparison issue, it could -- in terms of the total pressure against the brands that I can call it back because you've got promotional investments above the line going as well. Was your total sort of pressure against the brands down less or maybe even off or whatever the answer is in relation to that above the line spending that's going on as well.

好的。是的。那講得通。然後只是關於 A&P 的一個問題，也就是說，我想要清楚的是，你預計它會在 23 財年上升。然後與此相關，好吧，A&P 本季度下跌，顯然是一個比較問題，它可能 - 就對品牌的總壓力而言，我可以將其召回，因為您的促銷投資超出了界限出色地。您對品牌的總體壓力是否減少了，甚至可能減少了，或者答案是否與正在進行的線下支出有關。

Chris, we're going to get into this in quite a bit of detail in a couple of weeks. We talk through how we create this connections between our consumers and our brands. But what I'd say is our total investment has been very strong, and it remains very strong. And in any given quarter, we might toggle investment below the line. We might toggle it above the line depending upon what we think in that window, is right for the business. So for example, if we're in a launch window for new innovation going to market, we will put more money above the line for everything from slotting to in-store sampling on those new items, getting it on to an end dial display, so people can discover it.

克里斯，我們將在幾週內詳細討論這個問題。我們討論瞭如何在消費者和品牌之間建立這種聯繫。但我想說的是，我們的總投資非常強勁，而且仍然非常強勁。在任何給定的季度，我們都可能將投資切換到線以下。我們可能會根據我們在該窗口中的想法將其切換到線上方，這是否適合業務。因此，例如，如果我們正處於新創新產品上市的啟動窗口中，我們將投入更多資金用於從開槽到對這些新產品進行店內採樣，再到終端錶盤展示等所有方面，所以人們可以發現它。

If we're not in a launch window, but we're more in a sustaining window, we're driving repeat, we might spend more on e-commerce and search and things like that. So we're constantly haggling our spend to what we think is going to be most effective and most efficient in that window. And we've got a big innovation slate this year. So we've got -- we've got some good trial generating support for that in our A&P line.

如果我們不在啟動窗口中，但我們更多地處於持續窗口中，我們正在推動重複，我們可能會在電子商務和搜索等方面花費更多。因此，我們不斷地與我們認為在那個窗口中最有效和最有效率的支出討價還價。今年我們有一個很大的創新計劃。所以我們有 - 我們在我們的 A&P 生產線中獲得了一些很好的試驗支持。

At the same time, we've still got good support to get those things on shelf, get the right high-quality physical availability. So overall, it's working. And this is an important topic and one that we do want to get into in a couple of weeks with you.

與此同時，我們仍然得到了很好的支持，可以將這些東西上架，獲得正確的高質量物理可用性。所以總的來說，它正在工作。這是一個重要的話題，我們確實希望在幾週內與您討論。

Our next question will come from Robert Moskow with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞士信貸的羅伯特莫斯科。

Thanks for the question. I kind of have two. But Dave, you've talked about low teens price mix and low teens COGS inflation, and that's the explanation for why there's profit dollar growth in the relationship.

謝謝你的問題。我有兩個。但是戴夫，你談到了低青少年價格組合和低青少年 COGS 通脹，這就是為什麼在這種關係中存在利潤美元增長的解釋。

But if you look at the gross margin impact in your slides from price/mix, it's significantly lower than that price mix kind of run rate. And I think that's because of the mix. And I think it's because you're growing snacks faster than the rest of the business and maybe the gross margin isn't as beneficial to the mix when you do that.

但是，如果您從價格/組合中查看幻燈片中的毛利率影響，它明顯低於價格組合類型的運行率。我認為這是因為混合。我認為這是因為你的零食增長速度比其他業務快，而且當你這樣做時，毛利率可能對組合沒有那麼有利。

So is it possible to decompose the price mix, like how much of it is truly price? And does -- when I look at it that way, do those 2 things offset each other, the price and the COGS inflation.

那麼是否有可能分解價格組合，比如其中有多少是真正的價格？確實——當我這樣看時，這兩件事是否相互抵消，即價格和銷貨成本通脹。

Yes. What I would say, Robert, is that you have to remember that when we quote price, right, so this quarter, it was 13% that's always going to be lower in terms of the margin impact, right, of that price. Same thing with inflation. Inflation was 17%, but the margin impact of that was 12%.

是的。羅伯特，我要說的是，你必須記住，當我們報價時，對，所以本季度，就利潤率影響而言，這個價格總是會降低 13%。通貨膨脹也是一樣。通貨膨脹率為 17%，但對利潤率的影響為 12%。

So it's really the same thing. The price if we're low teens price next year, that's going to equate to a lower margin impact, but then the same thing on the low teens inflation, right? So we're quoting a percentage of either the sales or percentage of the cost of goods sold, but when you translate that into a margin impact, it's lower. So it's really that relationship.

所以這真的是一回事。如果我們明年的青少年價格較低，這將等同於較低的利潤率影響，但對於青少年低通脹來說也是如此，對吧？因此，我們引用了銷售額的百分比或銷售成本的百分比，但是當您將其轉化為利潤率影響時，它會更低。所以真的是這樣的關係。

Okay. And maybe a follow-up. In your press release, when you talk about the reasons for the volume decline, it really is all about price elasticity. It doesn't say anything about supply chain constraints or inability to serve customers. So is it just not material enough to show up in the price release that supply chain constraint?

好的。也許還有後續。在您的新聞稿中，當您談到銷量下降的原因時，實際上都是關於價格彈性。它沒有說明供應鏈限製或無法為客戶服務。那麼，在價格發布中顯示供應鏈約束是否還不夠重要？

There's all factors that play Rob. We've got elasticities are happening, and they are happening well below historical norms, as I've said, and we're not able to ship to our customers at the same rate that they are burning through inventory.

有所有因素在扮演 Rob。正如我所說，我們正在發生彈性，而且它們的發生率遠低於歷史標準，而且我們無法以與他們消耗庫存的速度相同的速度向客戶發貨。

So they're both factors. And the one that's very topical right now is people want to know how our -- how is consumer demand holding up in the face of very strong pricing, and it's holding up extremely well relative to historical norms, but it's not 0. Dave, do you want to add some?

所以它們都是因素。現在非常熱門的是人們想知道我們的——面對非常強勁的定價，消費者需求是如何保持的，並且相對於歷史規範來說保持得非常好，但它不是 0。戴夫，做你想添加一些嗎？

Yes, just I would just add when you do the press release, obviously, you talk more about the material drivers of the thing, right? So it's clearly elasticities are the main driver of volume. There were some supply constraints, which we gave color to because we were asked. So -- but the main driver were the elasticity.

是的，只是我會在您發布新聞稿時添加，顯然，您會更多地談論事物的物質驅動因素，對嗎？所以很明顯，彈性是成交量的主要驅動力。有一些供應限制，因為我們被要求，我們給了顏色。所以——但主要驅動力是彈性。

Our next question will come from Bryan Spillane with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題將來自美國銀行的 Bryan Spillane。

I just had -- just Dave, two questions for you related to, I guess, related to the balance sheet. The first one is just given the net interest expense this year being impacted by higher rates. Is that a fixed number now? Or if rates were to move in one direction or another, is there a potential that net interest expense could move?

我剛剛——只是戴夫，我想你有兩個與資產負債表有關的問題。第一個只是考慮到今年的淨利息支出受到更高利率的影響。現在是固定數字嗎？或者，如果利率朝一個方向或另一個方向變動，淨利息支出是否有可能變動？

Yes. I mean we looked at all the forecasted rate increases for the year and then estimated what that number would be. So if it plays out as the forecasts are in terms of number of rate increases, then that's how we forecasted it.

是的。我的意思是我們查看了今年所有預測的利率增長，然後估計了這個數字。因此，如果它按照加息次數的預測結果發揮作用，那麼我們就是這樣預測的。

So it's really our commercial paper because that's really the variable piece where a lot of our debt is fixed, as you know, right, in terms of rates. So it's that. And then it's a little bit of just the average borrowing for the year just given some of the timing of working capital.

所以這真的是我們的商業票據，因為這真的是我們的很多債務被固定的可變部分，正如你所知，對，就利率而言。所以就是這樣。然後只是考慮到一些營運資金的時機，這只是一年的平均借款。

So -- but yes, we've factored in right now what the current forecast is for rate increases.

所以 - 但是是的，我們現在已經考慮了當前對加息的預測。

Okay. But given that it's really just tied to the piece that's like CP, there shouldn't be a material move one way or another.

好的。但考慮到它實際上只是與 CP 之類的作品相關聯，因此不應該有一種或另一種方式的材料移動。

Yes, it would -- it's all based on kind of where we are now. So I hope previously.

是的，它會——這一切都基於我們現在所處的位置。所以我希望以前。

And then just wanted -- if you could expand a little bit on the comments you made earlier about leverage and leverage targets? And I guess they asked us in the context of kind of drifting up to 4x in a market that today is -- equities are being more impacted by leverage today than they were a year ago or even on January 1, I would argue.

然後只是想要 - 如果您可以擴展您之前關於槓桿和槓桿目標的評論？我猜他們問我們的背景是在今天的市場中上漲到 4 倍——我認為，與一年前甚至 1 月 1 日相比，今天的股票受到槓桿的影響更大。

So are -- is there anything that you can do -- other than EBITDA growing, expected to grow in fiscal '23. Are there other levers you can pull, other actions you can take to maybe accelerate the deleveraging?

除了 EBITDA 增長（預計將在 23 財年增長）之外，您還有什麼可以做的。是否有其他可以拉動的槓桿，可以採取其他行動來加速去槓桿化？

Well, I think obviously, the core operations are the key driver, and we do expect for '23 to be down versus where we ended fiscal '22 on leverage. Obviously, as you've seen us over the last 5 to 6 years, we've done a lot of portfolio reshaping and divestitures. And so obviously, this is just a base forecast. So any divestitures we would have could reduce leverage further depending on what we would execute.

好吧，我認為顯然，核心業務是關鍵驅動因素，我們確實預計 23 年的槓桿率會低於我們在 22 財年結束時的槓桿率。顯然，正如您在過去 5 到 6 年中看到的那樣，我們已經進行了大量的投資組合重組和資產剝離。很明顯，這只是一個基本預測。因此，我們將進行的任何資產剝離都可能進一步降低杠桿率，具體取決於我們將執行的操作。

Okay. So it's -- that's -- I guess that was my question. You're not out of options, I guess, in terms of more than just organically deleveraging. There could be other options or other actions you could take to kind of help that along?

好的。所以它 - 那是 - 我想這是我的問題。我想，就不僅僅是有機地去槓桿而言，你並沒有什麼選擇。您可以採取其他選擇或其他行動來幫助您嗎？

And our next question will come from Jason English with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題將來自高盛的 Jason English。

Yes, indeed, I was like 2/3 into my question, too. So thanks for stigma two questions. First, on volume. Your -- on a 3-year stack basis in grocery and snacks and frozen refrigerated you're kind of back to flat to where you were pre-COVID this quarter.

是的，確實，我也對我的問題提出了 2/3 的意見。所以感謝恥辱兩個問題。首先，關於音量。你——在雜貨店、零食和冷凍冷藏店的 3 年堆疊基礎上，你有點回到了本季度 COVID 之前的水平。

And you're guiding to like a high single digit, almost 10% type volume decline next year, suggesting that you expect eating occasions coming to your portfolio to be well below pre-COVID despite what you're talking about sort of trade in or away from home and despite what you've been saying about retention of eating occasions post-COVID, how do we square all that?

而且您正在指導明年將出現高個位數，幾乎 10% 的類型銷量下降，這表明您預計您的投資組合中的進餐場合將遠低於 COVID 之前，儘管您在談論某種交易或遠離家鄉，儘管您一直在談論在 COVID 後保留用餐時間，但我們如何解決這一切？

Well, I think our planning posture across the board for this '23 plan, Jason, is to be proven. We don't want to plan in a way that puts us in a -- we need to be in a heroic position in anything in terms of elasticities, supply chain rebound, et cetera. We want to -- it remains a volatile environment. We think the best guide for fiscal '23 is a prudent guide.

好吧，我認為我們對這個 '23 計劃的全面規劃姿態，傑森，有待證明。我們不希望以一種使我們處於 - 我們需要在彈性、供應鏈反彈等方面處於英雄地位的方式進行計劃。我們想要——它仍然是一個不穩定的環境。我們認為 '23 財年的最佳指南是審慎指南。

And because as we've seen in the last year, things are going to happen that are different from what you assume at the beginning of the year, and you got to be able to navigate that. So that's the environment we're in right now, and that's the posture we've taken as we put together the plan.

而且因為正如我們在去年看到的那樣，將會發生與你在年初假設的不同的事情，你必須能夠駕馭它。這就是我們現在所處的環境，這就是我們在製定計劃時採取的姿態。

Yes, that makes sense. It seems prudent. And separately, I'm in an event right now with a lot of your customers. And it's kind of depressing. They're talking about all this cost pressure, the limited ability to pass it through the consumer, the meaningful margin squeeze there under. And you're the third food company in a road to get up and talk about the ability to price above inflation and get margin recovery, which we saw this quarter you're guiding to for next year.

是的，這是有道理的。看起來很謹慎。另外，我現在正和你們的很多客戶一起參加一個活動。這有點令人沮喪。他們正在談論所有這些成本壓力，將其傳遞給消費者的能力有限，以及那裡有意義的利潤擠壓。您是第三家走上正軌的食品公司，他們談論定價高於通脹並獲得利潤恢復的能力，我們在本季度看到了您明年的指導。

It kind of flies in the face of how I've always thought about the balance of power between the industry? Was it maybe a bit more balanced rather than the sort of incongruent balance that we're seeing right now where CPG guys are saying they're going to flex a lot of muscle, well, your customers are feeling a lot of pain. What's all to kind of cause that balance to pivot in this direction? And why do you believe it's durable?

這有點違背我一直以來對行業之間力量平衡的想法？是不是更平衡了，而不是我們現在看到的那種不協調的平衡，CPG 的人說他們要鍛煉很多肌肉，好吧，你的客戶會感到很痛苦。是什麼導致這種平衡朝著這個方向轉動？為什麼你認為它是耐用的？

No, I wouldn't characterize it the way you're characterizing it, Jason. I mean when you go into these macroeconomic dislocations that we've experienced, the pain tends to come in waves. And manufacturers get hit with a lot of the pain early in the cycle, and that comes in the form of margin compression as you've seen we've gone through in the last year, a lot of that associated with the lag effect.

不，我不會像你描述的那樣描述它，傑森。我的意思是，當你陷入我們所經歷的這些宏觀經濟混亂時，痛苦往往會一波接一波。製造商在周期的早期遭受了很多痛苦，這以利潤壓縮的形式出現，正如你所看到的，我們在去年經歷了很多與滯後效應有關的痛苦。

And then the lag effect is a transitory effect that you do emerge from. So it's not as if what you're doing as you move through that cycle is you're recovering lost margin points as opposed to adding fresh new firepower at the profit line. That's not what's happening. This is about profit recovery. And that's an important thing.

然後滯後效應是你確實從中出現的短暫效應。因此，當你在這個週期中移動時，你所做的並不是你正在恢復失去的利潤點，而不是在利潤線上增加新的火力。這不是正在發生的事情。這是關於利潤恢復。這是一件很重要的事情。

Manufacturers have to recover their margin. Why? Because the top priority for our retail customers is growth. And our retail customers here at Conagra know that our innovation has been the absolute key to driving growth for their categories. They need and want that innovation to continue, but they know that, that innovation costs us money. We have to have healthy margins to be able to build out that innovation and get it to our customers in the market. And so they know we've got to take inflation-justified pricing to recover our margins after we go through these windows where we experienced the compression that happens early in the inflation cycle, and that's exactly kind of how things are playing out.

製造商必須收回他們的利潤。為什麼？因為我們的零售客戶的首要任務是增長。我們在康尼格拉的零售客戶知道，我們的創新一直是推動其類別增長的絕對關鍵。他們需要並希望這種創新繼續下去，但他們知道，這種創新會讓我們花錢。我們必須擁有可觀的利潤，才能建立這種創新並將其提供給市場上的客戶。所以他們知道，在我們經歷了通脹週期早期發生的壓縮的這些窗口之後，我們必須採取通脹合理的定價來恢復我們的利潤，而事情就是這樣發展的。

And our next question will come from Cody Ross with UBS.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞銀的科迪羅斯。

This is Simon Hagan selling in for Cody Ross. Past 2 years have presented unprecedented challenges and demonstrated the importance of a strong organization. Moving into another period of uncertainty, what are some of the areas that you've changed in double down on that will continue to aid in navigating tough waters?

這是西蒙·哈根（Simon Hagan）為科迪·羅斯（Cody Ross）賣東西。過去 2 年提出了前所未有的挑戰，並證明了強大組織的重要性。進入另一個充滿不確定性的時期，您在哪些方面做出了雙重改變，將繼續幫助您渡過難關？

Well, that's a good setup for our Investor Day in a couple of weeks because we've got -- I'd say there are areas of just continuous improvement and continued progress.

好吧，這是幾週後我們的投資者日的一個很好的設置，因為我們已經 - 我會說有些領域只是持續改進和持續進步。

Like our innovation program, for example, just has been very strong for 5-plus years running now and it gets even stronger. There's other areas where we've got new things happening that are exciting and offer margin improvement opportunities going forward, particularly the work we've got going on in supply chain transformation and modernization, which we'll talk about in a couple of weeks.

例如，就像我們的創新計劃一樣，它已經運行了 5 年多，並且變得更加強大。在其他領域，我們正在發生令人興奮的新事物，並提供未來提高利潤率的機會，特別是我們在供應鏈轉型和現代化方面正在進行的工作，我們將在幾週內討論。

And then I'd say just from a team standpoint, culturally, our culture has remained incredibly strong throughout COVID. We've had our office opened since June 15, 2020, and keeping our team together because the work we do is very spontaneous and iterative and creative in nature. And so the importance of being together is critical to our ability to keep our innovation as agile as it is, and we'll just continue to get that stronger as we go forward.

然後我想說，僅從團隊的角度來看，在文化上，我們的文化在整個 COVID 期間一直保持著令人難以置信的強大。我們的辦公室自 2020 年 6 月 15 日起開業，我們的團隊保持團結，因為我們所做的工作本質上是非常自發的、迭代的和創造性的。因此，團結一致的重要性對於我們保持創新敏捷的能力至關重要，隨著我們的前進，我們將繼續變得更強大。

And this will conclude the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Melissa Napier for any closing remarks.

這將結束問答環節。我想把會議轉回給梅麗莎·納皮爾（Melissa Napier）做任何閉幕詞。

Great. Thanks to everyone for joining us today. Bayle and I will be around all day for any follow-up questions. And as Sean mentioned, we are really looking forward to our Investor Day in a few weeks. You can visit our Investor Relations page on our external website for more information about Investor Day as well as the link to register. Thanks, everyone.

偉大的。感謝大家今天加入我們。 Bayle 和我將整天在場，解答任何後續問題。正如肖恩所說，我們真的很期待幾週後的投資者日。您可以訪問我們外部網站上的投資者關係頁面，了解有關投資者日的更多信息以及註冊鏈接。感謝大家。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines at this time.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。你現在可以在這個時候斷開你的線路。