康尼格拉食品 (CAG) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Conagra Brands Second Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Bayle Ellis, Manager of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

早安，歡迎參加康尼格拉品牌 2024 財年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。我現在想將會議交給投資者關係經理拜爾·埃利斯 (Bayle Ellis)。請繼續。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us for the Conagra Brands Second Quarter and First Half Fiscal 2024 Earnings Call. Sean Connolly, our CEO; and Dave Marberger, our CFO, will first discuss our business performance, and then we'll open up the call for Q&A.

早安，感謝您參加康尼格拉品牌 2024 年第二季和上半年財報電話會議。肖恩·康諾利，我們的執行長；我們的財務長 Dave Marberger 將首先討論我們的業務績效，然後我們將開始問答環節。

We will be making some forward-looking statements today. 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.

今天我們將發表一些前瞻性聲明。雖然我們真誠地做出這些聲明，但我們對我們將取得的結果沒有任何保證。我們向 SEC 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, including adjusted numbers that exclude items management believes impact the comparability for the period referenced. Please see the earnings release and the slides for GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation and information on our comparability items, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

我們也將討論一些非公認會計準則財務指標，包括排除管理階層認為影響所參考期間可比性的項目的調整後數字。請參閱收益發布和 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調節的幻燈片以及有關我們的可比性項目的信息，這些信息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.

我現在將電話轉給肖恩。

Thanks, Bayle. Good morning, everyone, and happy new year. Thank you for joining our second quarter fiscal '24 earnings call. Let's start with the Q2 headlines shown here on Slide 5.

謝謝，拜爾。大家早安，新年快樂。感謝您參加我們的 24 財年第二季財報電話會議。讓我們從幻燈片 5 中顯示的第二季度頭條新聞開始。

At a macro level, the industry-wide shift in U.S. consumer behavior that we discussed on last quarter's call persisted into the second quarter. These behavior shifts continued to pressure volume and mix. However, while the consumer is still deploying some value-seeking tactics when they shop, we are seeing clear progress when it comes to volume recovery.

從宏觀層面來看，我們在上季電話會議中討論的美國消費者行為的全產業轉變一直持續到第二季​​。這些行為的轉變持續給體積和混合帶來壓力。然而，儘管消費者在購物時仍在採取一些追求價值的策略，但我們在銷售恢復方面看到了明顯的進展。

In Q2, that progress was most notable in our Refrigerated & Frozen segment, in particular, our frozen business. This inflection was helped by investments on key brands as we were seeking to understand consumer readiness to revert back to more typical purchase behaviors. We saw outstanding responsiveness that will inform our back half actions. More on that in a moment.

在第二季度，我們的冷藏和冷凍業務領域的進展最為顯著，特別是我們的冷凍業務。這種轉變得益於對關鍵品牌的投資，因為我們試圖了解消費者是否願意恢復更典型的購買行為。我們看到了出色的響應能力，這將為我們的後半部分動作提供資訊。稍後會詳細介紹。

The net result was a clear improvement in volume trends with domestic retail volume loss that was half of what we saw in Q1. We delivered solid margins and EPS as well as excellent free cash flow conversion. Our productivity initiatives remain on track, although we also saw a [some] absorption impact from our volume declines.

最終結果是銷售趨勢明顯改善，國內零售量損失僅為第一季的一半。我們實現了穩健的利潤率和每股盈餘以及出色的自由現金流轉換。儘管我們也看到了銷量下降帶來的[一些]吸收影響，但我們的生產力計劃仍處於正軌。

As we look ahead to the second half, we have a robust investment plan in place, reflecting our increased confidence and consumer responsiveness to brand-building levers. Our goal is to continue to build momentum with our consumers as we move through the back half of the fiscal year and then enter fiscal '25 in a position of strength. I will share more on our multifaceted action plan in a few minutes.

展望下半年，我們制定了穩健的投資計劃，反映出我們的信心和消費者對品牌建立槓桿的反應不斷增強。我們的目標是在本財年後半段繼續與消費者建立動力，然後進入 25 財年並處於強勢地位。我將在幾分鐘內分享更多有關我們多方面行動計劃的資訊。

Finally, we are updating our guidance for fiscal '24, reflecting both the consumer environment and the additional brand investments in the second half of the year. After tremendous initial resilience in the face of a record inflation super cycle, U.S. consumer behavior shifts did emerge last spring in our industry as the cumulative effect of inflation caused consumers to begin to stretch their budgets. This resulted in a reprioritization of food choices as shoppers adjusted purchase behavior towards more stretchable meals. This slide reprises some of those shifts we discussed last quarter.

最後，我們正在更新 24 財年的指導，反映下半年的消費環境和額外的品牌投資。面對創紀錄的通膨超級週期，美國消費者在經歷了最初的巨大恢復後，去年春天，我們的行業確實出現了美國消費者行為的轉變，因為通膨的累積效應導致消費者開始縮減預算。隨著購物者將購買行為調整為更具彈性的膳食，這導致了食物選擇的優先順序的重新調整。這張投影片重申了我們上季討論的一些轉變。

At that time, we told you that we expected these trends to be transitory. We still believe that to be the case. But the pace of the shift back to normal consumer behavior has been slower than we initially expected, and that pressured our volume, performance and mix in the second quarter. That said, the tide appears to be turning.

當時，我們告訴您，我們預計這些趨勢將是暫時的。我們仍然相信情況確​​實如此。但恢復正常消費者行為的速度比我們最初預期的要慢，這給我們第二季的銷售、業績和產品組合帶來了壓力。也就是說，潮流似乎正在轉變。

When we discussed these behavior shifts last quarter, Frozen was one of our most impacted businesses, specifically our frozen single-serve meals. After 5 years of consistent strength, we saw some consumers looking to alternatives such as multi-serve meals and scratch cooking to stretch their budgets. We didn't expect that trend to be lasting as the unshakable consumer demand for convenience combined with Conagra-driven product innovation has generated strong frozen demand for a long time now.

當我們在上個季度討論這些行為轉變時，《冰雪奇緣》是我們受影響最嚴重的業務之一，特別是我們的冷凍單份餐點。經過 5 年的持續強勢，我們看到一些消費者尋求替代方案，例如多份餐點和臨時烹飪來節省預算。我們沒想到這種趨勢會持續下去，因為消費者對便利性的不可動搖的需求加上康尼格拉驅動的產品創新已經在很長一段時間內產生了強勁的凍結需求。

As I noted in my opening remarks, we believe it's important to understand consumer readiness to resume more typical shopping behaviors before more fully ramping up investments to facilitate the process. We want to be confident that our investments will have the desired impact. With that in mind, during the second quarter, we did invest in certain key businesses to assess consumer response to increased brand building stimulus. Most noteworthy was our largest frozen business, single-serve meals where we deployed high-quality merchandising nationally. The results were very encouraging with lifts up 60%.

正如我在開場白中指出的那樣，我們認為，在更全面地增加投資以促進這一過程之前，了解消費者是否願意恢復更典型的購物行為非常重要。我們希望相信我們的投資將產生預期的影響。考慮到這一點，在第二季度，我們確實投資了某些關鍵業務，以評估消費者對增加品牌建立刺激措施的反應。最值得注意的是我們最大的冷凍業務、單份餐食，我們在全國部署了高品質的商品。結果非常令人鼓舞，提升了 60%。

These lifts ultimately drove meaningful gains in our market share. As you can see on this slide, our Q2 share in this business approached 51%, eclipsing last year's gains and also setting a new record. The net of this is while the consumer is still stretched, they are responding to high-quality brand-building stimulus. And when you look at volume trends, while not yet positive, you can see that progress is clearly underway.

這些提升最終推動了我們市場佔有率的顯著成長。正如您在這張幻燈片中看到的，我們第二季度在該業務中的份額接近 51%，超過了去年的漲幅，也創下了新紀錄。這樣做的結果是，當消費者仍然捉襟見肘時，他們正在對高品質的品牌建立刺激做出反應。當你觀察成交量趨勢時，雖然還不是正面的，但你可以看到明顯正在取得進展。

Slide 9 shows volume results in our key U.S. retail segments, both separately, and combined.

幻燈片 9 顯示了我們在美國主要零售領域的單獨和合併的銷售結果。

I'll draw your attention to the chart on the left, where you can really see the impact of our investment actions. As a result of these investments, Refrigerated & Frozen segment volume went from minus 10.5% in the first quarter to minus 3.3% in the second quarter coming in line with volumes in Grocery & Snacks. Overall, our targeted investments in Q2 helped cut the total domestic retail volume decline in half compared to the first quarter, not all the way back, but good progress.

我將提請您注意左側的圖表，您可以在其中真正看到我們投資行動的影響。由於這些投資，冷藏和冷凍部門的銷量從第一季的負 10.5% 增至第二季的負 3.3%，與雜貨和零食的銷量一致。總體而言，我們第二季的定向投資幫助國內零售總額的降幅比第一季減少了一半，不是一路回落，而是取得了良好的進展。

I'm also pleased to report that we continue to deliver momentum in our International and Foodservice businesses, which together account for approximately 18% of total Q2 revenue. International grew organic net sales by 5.6% in the quarter, while our two largest markets, Mexico and Canada delivered organic net sales growth above 9%. This was a result of our international team's outstanding execution including strong brand activation, improved point-of-sale performance, innovation that is resonating with our customers and expanded distribution in Mexico. Our Mexican business has now delivered four consecutive quarters of volume growth.

我還很高興地報告，我們的國際和餐飲服務業務繼續保持強勁勢頭，這兩項業務合計約佔第二季總收入的 18%。本季國際有機淨銷售額成長了 5.6%，而我們最大的兩個市場墨西哥和加拿大的有機淨銷售額成長超過 9%。這是我們國際團隊出色執行力的結果，包括強大的品牌激活、改進的銷售點績效、引起客戶共鳴的創新以及擴大在墨西哥的分銷。我們的墨西哥業務現已連續四個季度實現銷售成長。

In Foodservice, we delivered organic net sales growth of 4.3% in the quarter, driven largely by favorable price/mix as well as expanded distribution in our Frozen portfolio, which accounted for roughly half of our total Foodservice business.

在餐飲服務領域，本季度我們實現了4.3% 的有機淨銷售額增長，這主要是由於有利的價格/組合以及我們的Frozen 產品組合擴大了分銷，該產品組合約占我們整個餐飲服務業務的一半。

Slide 11 details our second quarter results, including organic net sales of approximately $3 billion, which is down 3.4% compared to last year. Adjusted gross margin of 26.9% was down 129 basis points from last year, reflecting our targeted investments and the absorption impact associated with the volume decline. Adjusted operating margin of 15.9% was down 108 basis points compared to last year. And adjusted earnings per share of $0.71 was down approximately 12% versus last year.

投影片 11 詳細介紹了我們第二季的業績，包括約 30 億美元的有機淨銷售額，比去年下降 3.4%。調整後毛利率為 26.9%，較去年下降 129 個基點，反映了我們的目標投資以及銷售下降帶來的吸收影響。調整後營業利益率為 15.9%，比去年下降 108 個基點。調整後每股收益為 0.71 美元，比去年下降約 12%。

Importantly, we delivered strong free cash flow during the second quarter. Dave will cover this in more detail shortly. But as you can see on Slide 12, free cash flow in the first half of fiscal '24 was almost 6x what it was in the first half of fiscal '23. We used some of that free cash flow to pay down debt, bringing our net leverage ratio to 3.55x in the second quarter.

重要的是，我們在第二季度實現了強勁的自由現金流。戴夫將很快對此進行更詳細的介紹。但正如您在投影片 12 中看到的那樣，24 財年上半年的自由現金流幾乎是 23 財年上半年的 6 倍。我們使用部分自由現金流來償還債務，使第二季的淨槓桿率達到 3.55 倍。

As I mentioned earlier, we have a robust and multifaceted investment plan in place for the second half of the year, reflecting our confidence in consumer responsiveness to our brand-building efforts. On Slide 13, you can see images from our new advertising investments focused on our biggest brands, including Birds Eye, Healthy Choice and Slim Jim. You may have already seen some of the terrific work we've done this year with Slim Jim and the WWE, building on the heritage and built-in awareness of our long-term partnership with Wrestling Legend Randy "Macho Man" Savage.

正如我之前提到的，我們為下半年制定了穩健、多方面的投資計劃，這反映出我們對消費者對我們品牌建立工作的反應充滿信心。在投影片 13 上，您可以看到我們新的廣告投資的圖像，重點是我們最大的品牌，包括 Birds Eye、Healthy Choice 和 Slim Jim。您可能已經看到了我們今年與 Slim Jim 和 WWE 所做的一些出色工作，這些工作建立在我們與摔角傳奇人物 Randy“Macho Man”Savage 的長期合作關係的傳統和內在意識之上。

Fiscal '24 is one of our biggest innovation slates yet. We are backing those launches with meaningful increases in slotting, in-store and other sales support versus the prior year. Slide 14 highlights some of the exciting innovation we've recently launched. If we have any Chili lovers on the call, I highly recommend our Wendy's Chili. You can get the true restaurant taste of this beloved Chili at home.

24 財年是我們迄今為止最大的創新計劃之一。與前一年相比，我們透過大幅增加貨位、店內和其他銷售支援來支持這些產品的推出。幻燈片 14 重點介紹了我們最近推出的一些令人興奮的創新。如果我們有任何辣椒愛好者，我強烈推薦我們的溫迪辣椒。您可以在家中品嚐到這種深受喜愛的辣椒的真正餐廳味道。

Finally, Slide 15 highlights the investments we're making in high-quality merchandising. Our efforts are focused on reengaging consumers with our existing products, to capture market share as well as introducing consumers to our new innovation. The targeted investments we made during the second quarter give us confidence that our multifaceted brand-building investments in the second half of the year will drive momentum going into 2025.

最後，投影片 15 重點介紹了我們在高品質行銷方面的投資。我們的努力重點是讓消費者重新接觸我們現有的產品，佔領市場份額並向消費者介紹我們的新創新。我們在第二季度進行的有針對性的投資讓我們相信，下半年的多方面品牌建設投資將推動 2025 年的發展勢頭。

We're updating our guidance for fiscal '24, reflecting both the consumer environment and the additional brand investments in the second half of the year. Our new guidance includes organic net sales decrease between 1% and 2% compared to fiscal '23, adjusted operating margin of approximately 15.6% and adjusted EPS between $2.60 and $2.65.

我們正在更新 24 財年的指導，反映消費者環境和下半年的額外品牌投資。我們的新指引包括與 23 財年相比，有機淨銷售額下降 1% 至 2%，調整後營業利潤率約為 15.6%，調整後每股收益在 2.60 美元至 2.65 美元之間。

Overall, we remain confident in our brands, plans, people and agility as we continue to navigate this shifting consumer environment.

總體而言，隨著我們繼續應對不斷變化的消費者環境，我們對我們的品牌、計劃、人員和敏捷性仍然充滿信心。

With that, I'll pass the call over to Dave to cover the financials in more detail.

這樣，我會將電話轉給戴夫，以更詳細地介紹財務狀況。

Thanks, Sean, and good morning, everyone. Slide 18 highlights our results from the quarter. Overall, our team executed well as we continue to navigate consumer behavior shifts that pressured our volume and mix.

謝謝肖恩，大家早安。幻燈片 18 重點介紹了我們本季的業績。總體而言，我們的團隊表現良好，因為我們繼續應對消費者行為的變化，這些變化給我們的銷售和產品組合帶來了壓力。

In Q2, net sales were $3.2 billion. As Sean discussed earlier, this reflects a 3.4% decrease in organic net sales, driven primarily from lower year-over-year volumes. However, this is the third quarter in a row where the rate of volume change versus the prior year quarter improved. Amid these broader macroeconomic challenges and increased brand investments, we delivered solid margins and EPS along with strong free cash flow during the second quarter.

第二季淨銷售額為 32 億美元。正如 Sean 之前所討論的，這反映出有機淨銷售額下降了 3.4%，這主要是由於銷量同比下降。然而，這是連續第三個季度銷售變化率與去年同期相比有所改善。在這些更廣泛的宏觀經濟挑戰和品牌投資增加的情況下，我們在第二季度實現了穩健的利潤率和每股收益以及強勁的自由現金流。

Adjusted gross profit decreased by 7.6% in the quarter as the positive impact from productivity initiatives was offset by cost of goods sold inflation, unfavorable operating leverage, lower organic net sales, and increased trade investment. Adjusted operating profit decreased 9.3% and adjusted EBITDA decreased 7%, largely driven by the decrease in adjusted gross profit, partially offset by an increase in equity earnings driven by continued strong operating performance in our Ardent Mills joint venture. We delivered Q2 adjusted net income of $341 million or $0.71 per diluted share.

本季調整後毛利下降 7.6%，因為生產力措施的正面影響被銷售成本通膨、不利的營運槓桿、有機淨銷售下降和貿易投資增加所抵銷。調整後營業利潤下降 9.3%，調整後 EBITDA 下降 7%，這主要是由於調整後毛利下降所致，但部分被我們合資企業 Ardent Mills 持續強勁的經營業績推動的股本收益增長所抵消。我們第二季調整後淨利為 3.41 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.71 美元。

Slide 19 provides a breakdown of our net sales for Q2. The 3.4% decrease in organic net sales was primarily driven by the consumer dynamics just discussed. Further contributing to the decline was a 0.5% decline in price/mix which reflects an increase in strategic trade investments made during the period and an unfavorable mix impact from selling a higher percentage of lower sales dollar per unit items. This was partially offset by price increases taken on our tomato-based products, given the continued high inflation. We also saw a small benefit from foreign exchange, which is reflected in our net sales decline of 3.2%.

幻燈片 19 提供了我們第二季淨銷售額的細目。有機淨銷售額下降 3.4% 主要是由剛才討論的消費者動態造成的。進一步導致下降的因素是價格/產品組合下降了 0.5%，這反映了該期間戰略貿易投資的增加，以及單位產品銷售金額較低的比例較高所帶來的不利組合影響。鑑於持續的高通膨，我們的番茄產品價格上漲部分抵消了這一影響。我們也看到了外匯帶來的小額收益，這反映在我們的淨銷售額下降了 3.2%。

Slide 20 outlines the top line performance for each segment in Q2. While organic net sales were down in our domestic retail segments, we delivered sequential volume progress that benefited from the targeted strategic investment Sean discussed earlier. We also continued the strong momentum in our International and Foodservice segments, which delivered Q2 organic growth of 5.6% and 4.3%, respectively.

投影片 20 概述了第二季每個細分市場的營收表現。雖然我們國內零售領域的有機淨銷售額下降，但我們的銷量連續成長，這得益於肖恩之前討論的有針對性的策略投資。我們也持續保持國際和餐飲服務領域的強勁勢頭，第二季有機成長分別為 5.6% 和 4.3%。

Slide 21 shows our Q2 adjusted margin bridge. While our productivity initiatives remain on track, our margin was negatively affected by the continued impact of overhead absorption from our lower volumes. Cost of goods sold inflation was a headwind of 1.7% and price/mix was a 0.6% headwind, which reflects the retailer investments made during the period. These factors combined drove the decline in adjusted gross margin for the quarter. Our adjusted operating margin benefited from small year-over-year favorability in A&P and SG&A.

投影片 21 顯示了我們第二季調整後的保證金橋。雖然我們的生產力計劃仍處於正軌，但我們的利潤率因產量減少而吸收間接費用的持續影響而受到負面影響。銷售成本通膨為 1.7%，價格/組合為 0.6%，這反映了零售商在此期間的投資。這些因素綜合起來導致本季調整後毛利率下降。我們調整後的營業利潤率受益於 A&P 和 SG&A 的年比小幅優惠。

Slide 22 details our margin performance by segment for Q2. Adjusted operating margin in both our Grocery & Snacks and Refrigerated & Frozen segments decreased due to the margin drivers I just discussed. Although inflation impacted the Grocery & Snacks segment at a higher rate than Refrigerated & Frozen. We were pleased that our Foodservice adjusted operating margin expanded 193 basis points and our International segment's adjusted operating margin expanded 30 basis points, both driven by higher organic net sales and productivity as both segments are showing consistent improvement. Foodservice also benefited from comparison to prior year Q2, which included supply chain disruptions.

投影片 22 詳細介紹了我們第二季按細分市場劃分的利潤率表現。由於我剛才討論的利潤驅動因素，我們的雜貨和零食以及冷藏和冷凍部門的調整後營業利潤率均有所下降。儘管通貨膨脹對雜貨和零食領域的影響高於冷藏和冷凍領域。我們很高興我們的餐飲服務調整後營業利潤率擴大了193 個基點，國際部門調整後營業利潤率擴大了30 個基點，這兩個因素都是由於有機淨銷售額和生產力的提高而推動的，因為這兩個部門都表現出持續改善。與去年第二季相比，餐飲服務也受益，其中包括供應鏈中斷。

Our Q2 adjusted EPS performance of $0.71, was $0.10 below the prior year quarter, primarily from the decline in adjusted gross profit and pension income and higher interest expense. This was partially offset by slightly lower A&P and adjusted SG&A expense, along with increased equity method investment earnings driven by Ardent Mills. The A&P change was timing related, as we expect to increase A&P spending in the second half and the decline in SG&A was primarily the reduction in incentive compensation versus the prior year.

我們第二季調整後每股收益為 0.71 美元，比去年同期低 0.10 美元，這主要是由於調整後毛利和退休金收入的下降以及利息支出的增加。這被略低的 A&P 和調整後的 SG&A 費用以及 Ardent Mills 推動的權益法投資收益增加所部分抵消。 A&P 的變化與時間相關，因為我們預計下半年 A&P 支出將增加，而 SG&A 的下降主要是激勵性薪酬與前一年相比的減少。

Slide 24 displays the significant progress we made in the quarter and first half on free cash flow and our net leverage ratio. Over the first half of fiscal '24, we delivered a $532 million improvement in free cash flow with a conversion rate of approximately 97%, the highest first half conversion rate over the past five years. Our focus on managing inventory levels and improvement in accounts payable directly contributed to these strong results. In addition, we had strong cash distributions from Ardent Mills in the second quarter, reflecting the strong profit and cash flow performance of Ardent Mills the last few years.

投影片 24 顯示了我們在本季和上半年在自由現金流和淨槓桿率方面取得的重大進展。在 24 財年上半年，我們的自由現金流改善了 5.32 億美元，轉換率約為 97%，這是過去五年來上半年最高的轉換率。我們對庫存水準管理和應付帳款改善的關注直接促成了這些強勁的業績。此外，第二季Ardent Mills的現金分配強勁，反映出Ardent Mills過去幾年強勁的獲利和現金流表現。

Our strong free cash flow has helped us deliver debt reduction during the period. At the end of Q2, our net leverage ratio was 3.55x, reflecting debt repayment of more than $500 million over the last 12 months. Looking ahead to the remainder of fiscal '24, we expect to continue our debt reduction efforts as we prioritize our long-term leverage target of 3x. We chose not to repurchase any shares in the quarter as we continue to prioritize paying down debt this fiscal year. We will continue to evaluate the best use of capital to optimize shareholder value as we progress through the fiscal year.

我們強勁的自由現金流幫助我們在此期間減少了債務。截至第二季末，我們的淨槓桿率為 3.55 倍，反映出過去 12 個月償還的債務超過 5 億美元。展望 24 財年剩餘時間，我們預計將繼續努力削減債務，優先考慮 3 倍的長期槓桿目標。我們選擇在本季不回購任何股票，因為我們繼續優先考慮本財年償還債務。隨著本財年的進展，我們將持續評估資本的最佳利用方式，以優化股東價值。

As mentioned, we are updating our guidance for fiscal '24 to reflect our year-to-date results, expectations for the slower pace of volume recovery and the additional brand investments in the second half. Slide 25 outlines our expectations for our three key metrics, including organic net sales to decrease between 1% and 2% compared to fiscal '23 with volumes continuing to improve through the back half of the year. Adjusted operating margin of approximately 15.6% and adjusted EPS between $2.60 and $2.65.

如前所述，我們正在更新 24 財年的指引，以反映我們今年迄今的業績、對銷量恢復速度放緩的預期以及下半年的額外品牌投資。第 25 張投影片概述了我們對三個關鍵指標的預期，其中包括與 23 財年相比，有機淨銷售額將下降 1% 至 2%，而下半年銷量將繼續改善。調整後營業利潤率約為 15.6%，調整後每股收益在 2.60 美元至 2.65 美元之間。

Turning to Slide 26, I'd like to take a minute to walk through the considerations and assumptions behind our guidance. We expect net inflation to moderate through the remainder of the fiscal year, resulting in an inflation rate of approximately 3% for fiscal '24.

轉向投影片 26，我想花一點時間回顧我們的指導背後的考慮因素和假設。我們預計本財年剩餘時間內淨通膨將放緩，導致 24 財年通膨率約為 3%。

Regarding pricing, there are a few dynamics currently at play. With our estimated 3% inflation rate, we are seeing areas that are still highly inflationary such as tomatoes and starches, which are up above the average and areas that are deflationary such as edible oils and dairy, which are below the average. These dynamics have resulted in both inflation-justified pricing actions and select pass-through price reductions included in our outlook. We expect that these dynamics, combined with our increased second half investments will result in price/mix being down versus prior year in the second half.

關於定價，目前有一些動態在起作用。根據我們估計的 3% 通膨率，我們看到西紅柿和澱粉等通膨率仍然較高的領域高於平均水平，而食用油和乳製品等通貨緊縮領域則低於平均水平。這些動態導致了我們的展望中包含了通膨合理的定價行動和選擇性的轉嫁價格下調。我們預計，這些動態，加上我們下半年投資的增加，將導致下半年的價格/組合比去年同期下降。

We now anticipate CapEx spend of approximately $450 million in fiscal '24 as we continue to make investments to support our growth and productivity priorities with a focus on capacity expansion and automation. As a result, we continue to expect to achieve gross productivity savings of approximately $300 million by the end of fiscal '24. We expect interest expense to approximate $440 million primarily due to a higher weighted average interest rate on outstanding debt. While we do not expect to receive any benefit from pension income, we expect Ardent Mills to contribute approximately $170 million to our bottom line due to its continued strong performance. Our full year tax rate estimate remains approximately 24%.

我們現在預計 24 財年的資本支出約為 4.5 億美元，因為我們將繼續進行投資以支持我們的成長和生產力優先事項，重點是產能擴張和自動化。因此，我們仍然預計到 24 財年末，總生產力將節省約 3 億美元。我們預計利息支出約為 4.4 億美元，主要是由於未償債務加權平均利率較高。雖然我們預計不會從退休金收入中獲得任何好處，但由於其持續強勁的業績，我們預計 Ardent Mills 將為我們的利潤貢獻約 1.7 億美元。我們的全年稅率估計仍約為 24%。

As I discussed, we are prioritizing our debt reduction efforts and expect to further reduce our outstanding net debt in the second half. Longer term, we remain on track to reach our 3x net leverage ratio target by the end of fiscal '26.

正如我所討論的，我們正在優先考慮削減債務的努力，並期望在下半年進一步減少未償淨債務。從長遠來看，我們仍有望在 2026 財政年度結束時實現 3 倍淨槓桿率目標。

That concludes our prepared remarks for today's call. Thank you for listening. I'll now pass it back to the operator to open the line for questions.

我們為今天的電話會議所準備的演講到此結束。感謝您的聆聽。現在我會將其傳回接線員以打開提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Andrew Lazar of Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自巴克萊銀行的安德魯·拉扎爾。

Sean, I know that -- I think investor concern for the group as a whole, right, has been sort of building that there would ultimately be a need for sort of greater price investment to deliver volume improvement. And then I could get to the point where it could start to more negatively impact sort of margin profiles.

肖恩，我知道，我認為投資者對整個集團的擔憂一直在增加，最終需要更大的價格投資來提高銷售量。然後我可能會達到它可能開始對利潤狀況產生更多負面影響的地步。

So I guess my question is, how can we be comfortable that the investments being made are sort of ROI or value-enhancing rather than, let's say, money being spent to simply flatter volume at the expense of margins and sort of disrupt the broader competitive environment?

所以我想我的問題是，我們如何放心地認為所做的投資是投資回報率或增值，而不是，比方說，花錢以犧牲利潤為代價來簡單地擴大銷量，並在某種程度上擾亂更廣泛的競爭環境？

Well, I think, Andrew, in terms of how we think about return on investment, let me be very clear around what we are and what we are not doing in support of our brands.

嗯，我想，安德魯，關於我們如何看待投資回報，讓我非常清楚地說明我們在支持我們的品牌方面做了什麼以及沒有做什麼。

Number one, as you heard in our prepared remarks, we've got a multifaceted investment plan that spans advertising, innovation support, merchandising support and more.

第一，正如您在我們準備好的演講中所聽到的，我們有一個多方面的投資計劃，涵蓋廣告、創新支援、銷售支援等。

Number two, we've got an ROI mindset in everything we do. This company has worked very hard to expand our operating margins over the last 9 years, and we did not get there by being frivolous.

第二，我們所做的一切都以投資報酬率為理念。在過去的 9 年裡，這家公司非常努力地擴大我們的營業利潤，我們並不是因為輕率才實現這一目標的。

Number three, with respect to merchandising, I've consistently pointed out that there was room to do more in a high-quality way, operative words, high quality, now that the supply chain is humming again, especially on key brands and around key merchandising windows, and as you know, Conagra's merchandising today is very different from a decade ago. Our overall merchandising levels are below peers and our depth of discount is extremely reasonable. It's been, over the last several years, more of a frequency strategy.

第三，關於商品推銷，我一直指出，現在供應鏈再次活躍起來，尤其是在關鍵品牌和關鍵週邊地區，還有以高品質的方式做更多事情的空間。銷售櫥窗，如您所知，康尼格拉今天的銷售與十年前有很大不同。我們的整體商品水準低於同行，而且我們的折扣深度非常合理。在過去的幾年裡，這更多的是一種頻率策略。

The last point I'll make is that part of our ROI mindset is understanding where the consumer is in terms of their readiness to reengage with more typical purchase behaviors and it was important that we test that a bit in Q2. And as you heard in our remarks, we liked what we saw. So I think all of this adds up to a deliberate plan in the second half to smartly invest to build momentum with consumers, set ourselves up for a nice fiscal '25 and be very responsible in terms of the types of activities we engage in. And again, it's everything from merchandising to advertising. But I think that's kind of the response I'd give you to that question.

我要說的最後一點是，我們的投資報酬率心態的一部分是了解消費者是否準備好重新參與更典型的購買行為，重要的是我們在第二季對此進行了一些測試。正如您在我們的演講中聽到的，我們喜歡我們所看到的。因此，我認為所有這些都構成了下半年的一項深思熟慮的計劃，即明智地投資以與消費者建立動力，為我們的 25 財年做好準備，並對我們從事的活動類型非常負責。再說一次，它涉及從商品推銷到廣告的一切。但我認為這就是我對這個問題的回答。

And then the assumption, I think, was that consumer behavior by now, or the initial assumption anyway, was that consumer behavior by now would have started to improve. And as you talked about, it seems the timing of that's been pushed out a bit. I guess what are you embedding in terms of consumer behavior into your sort of new guidance at this stage?

然後，我認為，現在的假設是消費者行為，或無論如何最初的假設，是消費者行為現在已經開始改善。正如你所說，似乎這個時間被推遲了一些。我想您在現階段將消費者行為的哪些內容納入新的指導中？

Yes. Great question. Here's how to think about where we are big picture. Yes, the macro environment has challenged volumes for the group a bit longer than expected. And yes, we would all like to get back on growth algorithms, ASAP.

是的。很好的問題。以下是如何思考我們所處的大局。是的，宏觀環境對該集團銷售的挑戰比預期要長一些。是的，我們都希望盡快回歸成長演算法。

But in the simplest sense, before you can return to volume growth, you have to sunset the volume declines and get them into your base. And that's why we've been very focused on tracking volume trends and as you saw in our deck, those trends have improved significantly, particularly where we have invested to reengage lapsed consumers. In fact, Conagra's trend bend in Q2 has been one of the better ones in the group.

但從最簡單的意義上來說，在恢復成交量成長之前，您必須阻止成交量下降並將其納入您的基礎。這就是為什麼我們一直非常專注於追蹤銷售趨勢，正如您在我們的平台中看到的那樣，這些趨勢已經顯著改善，特別是在我們投資重新吸引流失消費者的地方。事實上，康尼格拉在第二季度的趨勢彎曲是該組中最好的之一。

So given the consumer response we saw in Q2, the associated increase in H2 investments and the easier comps we've got in H2, we fully expect that the volume declines will further sunset in the second half. But to be clear and to answer your question, we are not banking on a major improvement in the macro or are we signing up for huge volumes. The goal at this juncture is to build momentum, move the volumes back toward growth as we approach fiscal '25 and make sure that we deliver along the way without signing up for anything heroic. And I think that kind of best describes where we are.

因此，考慮到我們在第二季度看到的消費者反應、下半年投資的相關增加以及我們在下半年獲得的更容易的補償，我們完全預計下半年銷售下降將進一步結束。但要明確並回答你的問題，我們並不指望宏觀經濟會出現重大改善，也不指望大量簽約。當前時刻的目標是建立勢頭，在 25 財年臨近時將銷量拉回增長，並確保我們一路走來，無需簽署任何英雄協議。我認為這最能描述我們的處境。

The next question comes from Peter Galbo of Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的彼得‧加爾博。

Dave, just in your commentary around kind of price/mix, both on the quarter and into the back half of the year, I think you spoke a bit about not only the incremental investment, but also just some of the pass-through nature. Just -- is there any way to elaborate more, dimensionalize just how much of the price/mix decline is really that pass-through component relative to maybe some of the incremental investments you're making at retailers?

戴夫，在您關於本季度和下半年的價格/組合的評論中，我認為您不僅談到了增量投資，還談到了一些傳遞性質。只是——有沒有什麼方法可以更詳細地闡述，具體說明相對於您對零售商進行的一些增量投資，價格/產品組合的下降實際上有多少是傳遞因素？

Yes. Let me try to give you some color and kind of unwind the price/mix, let me start with Q2. So our price/mix for the quarter was minus 0.5%. And there were several dynamics of that. So if you start with our tailwinds, as I mentioned, we did take pricing. We still -- we have high inflation in tomatoes. We took tomato pricing in our Domestic retail and Foodservice business. We did have some other pricing in international that was partially offset by some pass-through pricing we have basically in our oil-based businesses, which is our spreads business. So when you net those together, pricing was actually a tailwind. So it was positive in that price/mix.

是的。讓我試著給你一些顏色，並解釋一下價格/組合，讓我從第二季開始。因此，我們本季的價格/組合為負 0.5%。這有幾個動態。因此，如果你從我們的順風開始，正如我所提到的，我們確實採取了定價。我們的西紅柿仍然處於高通膨狀態。我們在國內零售和餐飲服務業務中採用了番茄定價。我們在國際上確實有一些其他定價，這些定價被我們基本上在石油業務（即我們的價差業務）中的一些傳遞定價所部分抵消。因此，當你將這些因素加在一起時，定價實際上是一個順風車。所以這個價格/組合是正面的。

The other component was investment in slotting. Slotting was pretty significant. This quarter, it was about 30 basis points year-on-year of investment to support our large slate of innovation, which we talked about in the prepared remarks.

另一個組成部分是對時段的投資。插槽非常重要。本季度，用於支持我們大量創新的投資年增長約 30 個基點，我們在準備好的發言中談到了這一點。

Another piece that was negative this quarter was mix. And this is simply selling a higher percentage of our lower sales dollar per unit item. So for example, lower sales on a multi-serve meal like for Bertolli relative to higher sales on a banquet pot pie, that is just a negative sales mix. That's a timing thing, Peter. So over the course of the year, that tends to work out. But quarter-to-quarter, it can flip a little positive or a little negative. So that was negative in this quarter.

本季另一個負面因素是混合。這只是在我們較低的每單位商品銷售額中銷售較高的百分比。例如，Bertolli 等多份餐點的銷量較低，而宴會鍋餡餅的銷量較高，這就是負銷售組合。這是一個時機問題，彼得。因此，在這一年中，這往往會奏效。但從季度到季度，它可能會出現一些積極或消極的變化。所以本季的情況是負面的。

And then the remaining piece is the trade and merchandising investment. And that was less than the slotting investment for the second quarter. So there's a lot in there that gets to that 0.5%. I did comment that in the second half, we do expect price/mix to be down. Those dynamics are pretty much the same. We would expect less negative impact from mix in the second half and more increase in kind of the trade and merchandising investment. So the second half price/mix, it will be a little bit down a little bit more than we saw in Q2, but directionally in that area. So that -- hopefully, that gives you some color on price/mix.

剩下的部分就是貿易和商品投資。這低於第二季的分期投資。所以有很多東西都達到了 0.5%。我確實評論說，在下半年，我們確實預計價格/組合會下降。這些動態幾乎相同。我們預計下半年混合的負面影響將減少，貿易和商品投資的實體成長將更多。因此，下半年的價格/組合將比我們在第二季度看到的稍微下降一點，但方向是在該區域。因此，希望這能讓您對價格/組合有所了解。

Yes. That's very helpful. And then maybe just secondly, like on the leverage piece, guys, you have the bomb that comes due in May. The leverage at least has kind of stabilized, but with the earnings coming down. Just how are you thinking about debt paydown on that $1 billion relative to refinance at this point as we kind of go forward here?

是的。這非常有幫助。然後也許只是第二點，就像槓桿部分一樣，夥計們，你們有五月到期的炸彈。槓桿率至少已經穩定下來，但效益卻下降了。當我們繼續前進時，您如何看待這 10 億美元相對於再融資的債務償還？

Sure. So we're always looking at all of our options. Obviously, we have our commercial paper, we have a lot of liquidity. As you saw in the first half, our free cash flow was very strong. Usually, this company, we don't deliver really strong free cash flow in the first half. Our conversion is usually very low with all the free cash flow coming in the second half. Well, given our focus on working capital and Ardent Mills cash distributions, we had a very strong first half. And we expect the second half free cash flow to be very strong as well.

當然。所以我們總是在考慮所有的選擇。顯然，我們有商業票據，我們有大量的流動性。正如您在上半年看到的那樣，我們的自由現金流非常強勁。通常，這家公司上半年我們不會提供真正強勁的自由現金流。我們的轉換率通常非常低，所有自由現金流都來自下半年。嗯，考慮到我們對營運資本和 Ardent Mills 現金分配的關注，我們上半年的表現非常強勁。我們預計下半年自由現金流也將非常強勁。

So it puts us in a nice position where, come May when the bond is due, we're going to have strong free cash flow. We have access to our commercial paper. And then obviously, we're always looking at the capital markets to see if there's an opportunity to refinance. Rates seem to be coming down. We watch them very closely so we look at all the options, and we figure out what's the best combination. Maybe we use our free cash flow -- to paydown some of it and refinance the other part. But we'll look at all our options as we go forward. But I like where we are given our strong free cash flow.

因此，這使我們處於一個有利的位置，到五月債券到期時，我們將擁有強勁的自由現金流。我們可以使用我們的商業票據。顯然，我們一直在關注資本市場，看看是否有再融資的機會。利率似乎正在下降。我們非常仔細地觀察它們，因此我們會考慮所有選項，並找出最佳組合。也許我們可以使用自由現金流來償還其中一部分並為另一部分進行再融資。但我們會在前進的過程中考慮所有的選擇。但我喜歡我們擁有強勁的自由現金流。

The next question comes from Robert Moskow of TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Robert Moskow。

I guess it's a two-parter. One is, I think the guidance at the start of the year for advertising was to grow it as a percentage of sales to be consistent with what it was last year. And so I guess the first part of the question is, now that you've cut your sales guide, does that mean that the advertising -- it sounds like you're keeping advertising the same. So does that mean that it will be higher as a percentage of sales for the year? Or do you have to cut the A&P commensurate with the sales growth?

我猜這是一個二人組。一是，我認為今年年初的廣告指導方針是增加其佔銷售額的百分比，以與去年保持一致。所以我想問題的第一部分是，既然你已經削減了銷售指南，這是否意味著廣告 - 聽起來你會保持廣告不變。那麼這是否意味著它佔全年銷售額的百分比會更高？或者您必須根據銷售成長來削減 A&P？

Yes, Rob, so let me answer that a couple of different ways. So if you just look at the total year, our guide, our operating margin guide is approximately 15.6%. That's where we came in, in fiscal '23, and when you look at gross margin, you look at A&P and SG&A, we generally expect to be in line with where we were prior year. So to your question, if we were 2.4% last year, if we come in again at 2.4%, dollar-wise, that's a little bit lower than where we were. And we're still looking at that, there's opportunity to spend up if we want to.

是的，羅布，讓我用幾種不同的方式來回答這個問題。因此，如果你只看全年，我們的指導，我們的營業利潤率指導約為 15.6%。這就是我們在 23 財年介入的地方，當你查看毛利率時，你會看到 A&P 和 SG&A，我們通常期望與上一年保持一致。所以，對於你的問題，如果我們去年的成長率為 2.4%，如果我們再次以 2.4% 的價格計算，從美元角度來看，這會比我們當時的水平低一點。我們仍在考慮這一點，如果我們願意的話，有機會花錢。

The way we look at it, though, is if you look at A&P, first half versus second half, our A&P spending is going to be up around 20% in the second half relative to the first half. So we're just looking at what's the run rate on spend now and what is it going to be in the second half to support the advertising that Sean talked about and our other kind of digital advertising that we've been doing. So we feel good about the second half and the trajectory of the A&P relative to the first half.

不過，我們看待這個問題的方式是，如果你看一下 A&P，上半年與下半年相比，我們下半年的 A&P 支出將比上半年成長 20% 左右。因此，我們只是專注於現在的支出運作率是多少，以及下半年支持肖恩談到的廣告和我們一直在做的其他類型的數位廣告的支出是多少。因此，我們對下半年以及 A&P 相對於上半年的軌跡感覺良好。

Rob, it's Sean. I'll just add a point on there. As we talk to our team about delivering this year, we said at the beginning of the year, two things we're going to have to demonstrate as a team and those things are agility and resilience. And part of the agility piece had -- from the beginning of the year has been really trying to understand the consumer readiness to resume more typical purchase behaviors after we saw some of the shifts emerge in the spring.

羅布，我是肖恩。我就在那裡補充一點。當我們與團隊談論今年的交付時，我們在年初就說過，作為一個團隊，我們必須展示兩件事，那就是敏捷性和韌性。在我們看到春季出現的一些轉變之後，從今年年初開始，敏捷性部分一直在真正嘗試了解消費者是否準備好恢復更典型的購買行為。

And so you may recall on last quarter's call, I mentioned that our assessment was the consumer wasn't quite ready to engage in that. So we were fairly conservative in Q1 and Q2 in terms of deploying some of these dollars because we wanted to kind of keep those funds for the back half of the year where we had more confidence that the consumer was really going to be ready. And as we mentioned in our prepared remarks, we deliberately tried to assess that readiness in Q2 and we really were quite encouraged by what we saw.

因此，您可能還記得在上個季度的電話會議上，我提到我們的評估是消費者還沒有準備好參與其中。因此，我們在第一季和第二季在部署部分資金方面相當保守，因為我們希望將這些資金保留到今年下半年，屆時我們更有信心消費者真的會做好準備。正如我們在準備好的發言中提到的，我們特意嘗試評估第二季度的準備情況，我們所看到的情況確實令我們深受鼓舞。

So now that we've got a lot of our powder still dry for the back half of the year, we've got some easier comps and we've got consumers that are demonstrating a real willingness to kind of reengage their more typical purchase behaviors with a little bit of a nudge from us across this multifaceted investment plan. We like where we sit in terms of the fullness of the support for the back half of the year.

因此，現在我們已經有很多粉末在今年下半年仍然乾燥，我們有一些更容易的比較，我們有消費者表現出真正願意重新參與他們更典型的購買行為我們在這個多方面的投資計劃中給予了一點推動。我們對今年下半年的全面支持感到滿意。

Got it. Second part is, it sounds like you're very happy with the lifts you've seen in the promotional activity behind Frozen. Sean, can you speak more broadly about whether the food industry and retailers overall are happy with the lifts that they're seeing on a more broad-based basis. I think I hear kind of some dissatisfaction from certain big retailers about the lifts and that the rollbacks haven't gotten the response that they fully expected. Is it possible to speak more broadly about what you're seeing?

知道了。第二部分是，聽起來您對《冰雪奇緣》背後的促銷活動所看到的提升非常滿意。肖恩，您能否更廣泛地談談食品業和零售商是否對他們在更廣泛的基礎上看到的提升感到滿意。我想我聽到某些大型零售商對提價感到不滿，而且回滾還沒有得到他們完全預期的回應。是否可以更廣泛地談論您所看到的內容？

Yes, I'll give you a sense of it, Rob, because we've got a pretty large scope here at Conagra and so if you look at where we invest and where we want to get good lifts, we're super selective, right? We pick our spots. We're not out there spending money trying to drive lifts on Manwich or a business like that. We're driving lifts, we're focusing our dollars on those categories where we know the consumer really wants to buy the category. But for other reasons, particularly, the objective of trying to stretch their budget they've made a short-term sacrifice, and that's the way they describe it to us when we talk to them. They're depriving themselves, they're sacrificing particularly on convenience items.

是的，我會給你一個感覺，羅布，因為我們在康尼格拉有一個相當大的範圍，所以如果你看看我們在哪裡投資以及我們想要在哪裡獲得良好的電梯，我們是非常有選擇性的，正確的？我們選擇我們的地點。我們不會花錢嘗試在曼維奇或類似的企業上開電梯。我們正在駕駛電梯，我們將資金集中在我們知道消費者真正想購買的類別上。但由於其他原因，特別是為了延長預算，他們做出了短期犧牲，當我們與他們交談時，他們就是這樣向我們描述的。他們正在剝奪自己，尤其是在便利物品上做出犧牲。

So if you look at a product like frozen single-serve meals where we saw such tremendous lift in Q2, what you've got going on here is some consumers who are really financially stretched. We're basically forced to give up on some of that buying rate. They didn't stop buying the category, they reduced their buying rate, and they started doing things like scratch cooking, rice and beans and ground beef. They do not want to do that. I can assure you, I've been in food for 30 years, that's the last thing they want to do, they don't like to cook, they don't like to clean, they don't like any of that, they'd rather be buying our stuff.

因此，如果你看看像冷凍單份餐這樣的產品，我們在第二季度看到瞭如此巨大的成長，那麼你會發現一些消費者確實在經濟上捉襟見肘。我們基本上被迫放棄部分購買率。他們並沒有停止購買該類別，而是降低了購買率，並開始做一些諸如臨時烹飪、大米、豆類和碎牛肉之類的事情。他們不想那樣做。我可以向你保證，我從事食品業已經 30 年了，這是他們最不想做的事情，他們不喜歡做飯，他們不喜歡清潔，他們不喜歡這些，他們寧願買我們的東西。

But when they've got to make some short-term trade-offs, especially over the course of the summer when they were spending their money on things like travel, they'll do it short term. But when you give consumers, with that kind of a hedge set, a bit of a stimulus to reengage, they're super responsive to it.

但當他們必須做出一些短期權衡時，尤其是在夏天，當他們把錢花在旅行等事情上時，他們會做短期的事情。但是，當你透過這種對沖措施為消費者提供一些重新參與的刺激時，他們就會對此做出超級反應。

But again, not every category is created equal. So if it's more of a staple category where there's another alternative, where they were trading down to a store brand, maybe you're not going to get a lift. But that's not the kind of investments we're talking about. Those are not the kind of events or categories where we're focusing our energy.

但同樣，並非每個類別都是平等的。因此，如果它更多的是一個主要類別，並且有另一種選擇，他們將其降價為商店品牌，也許你不會得到幫助。但這不是我們談論的投資類型。這些不是我們重點關注的事件或類別。

The next question comes from Pamela Kaufman of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的帕梅拉‧考夫曼。

Happy new year.

新年快樂。

Happy new year, Pam.

新年快樂，帕姆。

Can you give some more color on the drivers behind your reduced top line guidance for the year? How much of it is a change in your expectation for volumes versus greater price investment?

能否進一步說明今年營收指引下調背後的驅動因素？其中有多少是您對銷售的期望與更大的價格投資的變化？

And then just -- you mentioned that in the second half, you'll see price declines. Can you frame the magnitude of the declines relative to the second quarter?

然後，您提到下半年，您會看到價格下降。您能否描述一下相對於第二季的下降幅度？

Pam, it's Sean. Let me make just a quick comment upfront. I'll flip it over to Dave. The macro environment that we talked about in Q1, I mentioned again today, it persisted into Q2. So we've just seen fewer purchases in our first half than we would have assumed at the beginning of the year. So that's part of the call down the top line.

帕姆，我是肖恩。讓我先做一個簡短的評論。我會把它轉給戴夫。我們在第一季談到的宏觀環境，我今天再次提到，它持續到了第二季。因此，我們上半年的購買量比年初的預期要少。這是頂層電話會議的一部分。

The second part of it is, I don't want to sign us up at this point for any kind of heroic volume recovery in the back half of the year because I think the mood of our investors is let's be prudent, let's be up the middle of fairway. Let's put some targets out there that are not making any grand assumptions that we can meet or beat. And that's kind of what's behind it because we like the momentum we saw in the second quarter.

第二部分是，我現在不想讓我們在今年下半年出現任何形式的英雄般的成交量恢復，因為我認為我們投資者的情緒是讓我們保持謹慎，讓我們保持樂觀。球道中間。讓我們設定一些目標，但不要做出任何我們可以達到或超越的宏大假設。這就是背後的原因，因為我們喜歡第二季看到的勢頭。

We have every intention of further driving that momentum in the second half, and we have a high degree of confidence that we're going to get what we expect. And at this point, that's really what we are focused on is fiscal '25, setting up a really nice fiscal '25 and exiting this year with momentum. And the sales outlook that we've given for the balance of the last year kind of is right in that [band]. Dave, over to you.

我們完全有意願在下半年進一步推動這一勢頭，並且我們對實現我們的預期充滿信心。在這一點上，我們真正關注的是 25 財年，建立一個非常好的 25 財年，並在今年充滿動力地退出。我們對去年剩餘時間給出的銷售前景正好在這個範圍內。戴夫，交給你了。

Yes. So Pam, if you just take the midpoint of our guide for the year on organic net sales, that implies the second half organic net sales of minus 1%. And that's going to be a combination based on the way we forecasted it, and incorporating the comments, the important comment Sean just made is a combination of price/mix, slightly negative price/mix and slightly negative volume. The combination of those two to get to the minus 1% organic. That's H2, and that's improvement on total sales and volumes as we've seen Q1 to Q2 and then H2, we expect that improvement to continue so that as we continue to track towards growth by the time we get to the end of fiscal '24.

是的。所以，帕姆，如果你只取我們今年有機淨銷售額指南的中點，這意味著下半年有機淨銷售額為負 1%。這將是一個基於我們預測方式的組合，並結合評論，肖恩剛剛發表的重要評論是價格/組合、略微負的價格/組合和略微負的成交量的組合。這兩者的結合可以達到-1% 的有機含量。這是下半年的情況，正如我們看到的第一季到第二季度，然後是下半年，總銷售額和銷量有所改善，我們預計這種改善將持續下去，以便我們在24 財年結束時繼續保持成長動能。

And then just to clarify on the reduction in your operating margin guidance for the year. How much of that is a reflection of your expectations for lower gross margins versus increased operating expenses and more brand investment?

然後澄清今年營業利潤指導的減少。其中有多少反映了您對較低毛利率與增加營運費用和更多品牌投資的預期？

Yes. So if you look at the second half, gross margins, if you look at where we landed the first half in gross margins, we were at 27.2%, I think, is our first half gross margin. Our second half should be generally in line with that, maybe a little bit below that. So the second half where you're going to see the reduction in operating margin is coming from the higher investment in A&P as a percentage of sales and the timing of SG&A being higher in H2 than it was in H1. So that's really the second half reduction in operating margin.

是的。因此，如果你看看下半年的毛利率，如果你看看我們上半年的毛利率，我認為我們上半年的毛利率是 27.2%。我們的下半場應該大致上與這個一致，也許比這個低一點。因此，下半年您將看到營業利潤率的下降，這是由於 A&P 投資佔銷售額的百分比較高，以及下半年 SG&A 的時間表高於上半年。這其實是下半年營業利潤率的下降。

So when the dust settles and you look at the full year, we've guided to 15.6% operating margin. That will be in line with fiscal '23. And if you look at kind of where we land with margin, A&P and SG&A, we'll be pretty close to where we were prior year.

因此，當塵埃落定並回顧全年時，我們指導營運利潤率為 15.6%。這將與 23 財年保持一致。如果你看看我們的利潤、應付帳款和銷售及管理費用（SG&A）的情況，我們將非常接近去年的水平。

The next question comes from Alexia Howard of Bernstein.

下一個問題來自伯恩斯坦的亞歷克西婭·霍華德。

Can I ask about innovation in terms of, I guess during the pandemic and also during the period of supply chain disruption. I imagine that the pace of innovation was dramatically reduced. How quickly is it recovering? Can you give us any numbers on how quickly the pace of innovation is likely to pick up over the course of the next few quarters?

我可以問一下創新方面的問題嗎？我想是在疫情期間以及供應鏈中斷期間。我認為創新的步伐急劇放緩。恢復速度有多快？您能否提供一些數據來說明未來幾季創新步伐可能加快的速度？

Sure, Alexia. So let me take us back to kind of the pandemic for a minute. When we got hit with the pandemic, we fully expected that we would hit the pause button on innovation even though we had the pipeline ready to launch. To our surprise, our customers asked us in a very convincing way, not to do that. And so we slowed innovation launches modestly during the pandemic, but only modestly. And in fact, if you look at the amount of innovation we continue to put into the marketplace through the pandemic, it was probably the highest or among the highest in our peer group. So we really didn't pause the way we expected when we kept the momentum there since then.

當然，亞歷克西婭。讓我先帶我們回顧一下流行病的情況。當我們受到大流行的打擊時，我們完全期望我們會按下創新的暫停按鈕，儘管我們已經準備好啟動管道。令我們驚訝的是，我們的客戶以非常令人信服的方式要求我們不要這樣做。因此，我們在大流行期間適度放慢了創新的推出，但只是適度地放慢了速度。事實上，如果你看看我們在大流行期間繼續投入市場的創新量，它可能是我們同行中最高的或最高的。因此，當我們從那時起保持勢頭時，我們確實沒有像我們預期的那樣停下來。

Last year was a much bigger launch. It was one of our biggest launches yet, and we had tremendous performance in terms of productivity per TPD and overall TPDs. And this year is perhaps our biggest innovation slate yet. So we'll share some metrics when we're at CAGNY. Just to give you kind of what we track historically, we track this thing called renewal rate, which is a percentage of our annual sales. It comes from items we've launched in the last three years. 10 years ago, we were probably at 8%. And then over the last 5 years, we probably hit a high watermark of 15%.

去年是一次規模更大的發布。這是我們迄今為止最大的發布之一，我們在每個 TPD 的生產力和整體 TPD 方面都取得了巨大的表現。今年也許是我們迄今為止最大的創新年。因此，當我們在 CAGNY 時，我們將分享一些指標。只是為了讓您了解我們歷史上追蹤的情況，我們追蹤稱為續訂率的東西，它是我們年銷售額的百分比。它來自我們過去三年推出的產品。 10 年前，我們的比例可能是 8%。然後在過去 5 年裡，我們可能達到了 15% 的高水位。

So that's kind of the ballpark we like to be in is that, 13% to 15%, depending upon what we've got coming into the marketplace. And again, this year is our biggest launch year yet. And we've also, as Dave pointed out, back that with customer investments and slotting investments, both in the front half and very materially in the second half this year. And we'll do the full parade of innovation for you in a month or so at CAGNY, so you can see it. We hit some of the highlights today in our prepared remarks, I think the fun one is this Wendy's Chili business because we're always focused on frozen and snacks around here, and this thing has just emerged from zero to be a major player in that category. So more to come on that in CAGNY, but net-net, it's a very significant year for us on innovation front.

所以我們希望的大概是 13% 到 15%，這取決於我們進入市場的產品。再說一遍，今年是我們迄今為止最大的發布年。正如戴夫所指出的那樣，我們也透過客戶投資和時段投資來支持這一點，無論是在今年上半年還是下半年。我們將在一個月左右的時間內在 CAGNY 為您提供完整的創新展示，以便您可以看到。我們今天在準備好的發言中談到了一些亮點，我認為有趣的是溫迪辣椒業務，因為我們一直專注於這裡的冷凍食品和零食，而這家公司剛剛從零崛起成為該領域的主要參與者類別。因此，CAGNY 還會有更多的事情發生，但網絡，對於我們在創新方面來說，這是非常重要的一年。

The next question comes from Nik Modi of RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的尼克莫迪。

So just two quick questions. Just -- I don't think it's an impact, but all the drama going on in the Red Sea, just want to make sure there's no issue with freight rates or some of the temporary specs that we're seeing. That's the first question.

所以只有兩個簡單的問題。只是 - 我不認為這會產生影響，但紅海發生的所有戲劇性事件只是想確保運費或我們看到的一些臨時規格沒有問題。這是第一個問題。

And then the second question is just, Sean, I'd love your kind of observation of out-of-home versus in-home. It seems like it's a very mixed bag depending on what category or meal occasion we're talking about. But I just love your view because the thought is if the consumer is coming under more pressure, we should start seeing more in-home consumption, which should benefit you as the year kind of goes through. So I'd just love your thoughts on that.

第二個問題是，肖恩，我喜歡你對戶外和室內的觀察。看起來這是一個非常複雜的包，取決於我們所討論的類別或用餐場合。但我只是喜歡你的觀點，因為我的想法是，如果消費者面臨更大的壓力，我們應該開始看到更多的家庭消費，隨著這一年的過去，這應該會讓你受益。所以我很想聽聽你對此的想法。

All right. So Nik, the first one is easy. The answer is no. No impact there. And on the second one, that is a very keen observation because I mentioned how our volume outlook for the back half of the year does not assume anything heroic. Part of not assuming anything heroic, we're not assuming that some of the away-from-home dollars begin to shift into at home, and you're 100% correct. If that happens, that's a tailwind for us and probably for the group.

好的。所以尼克，第一個很簡單。答案是不行。那裡沒有影響。關於第二個，這是一個非常敏銳的觀察，因為我提到我們今年下半年的銷售前景並沒有假設任何英雄。部分不假設任何英雄，我們不假設一些遠離家鄉的錢開始轉移到家裡，你是100%正確的。如果發生這種情況，這對我們甚至整個團隊來說都是順風順水。

What's very interesting is how sticky some of this away-from-home spending has been even though we've seen a challenged consumer who is making trade-offs to stretch their household balance sheet. The one place that they've been fairly resilient is in their away-from-home spending. Should consumers stress increase from here, that is historically the first place that you would see an additional behavior shift is you would see a reduction in away-from-home spend and you would see an equal and opposite response in, in-home eating. That has not happened yet, but as we think about calendar year '24, certainly, that is a potential positive if the environment remains stressed and the consumer decides they need to make further shifts.

非常有趣的是，儘管我們看到一些面臨挑戰的消費者正在做出權衡以擴大家庭資產負債表，但這種外出支出的黏性仍然很大。他們相當有彈性的一個地方是他們的外出消費。如果消費者的壓力從這裡開始增加，從歷史上看，您會看到額外的行為轉變的第一個地方是您會看到外出支出的減少，並且您會看到在家就餐中的同等和相反的反應。這還沒有發生，但當我們考慮 24 日曆年時，如果環境仍然緊張並且消費者決定他們需要進一步的轉變，這當然是一個潛在的積極因素。

And so just a follow-up on that. when you think about price gaps, right, with your strategic investments, is it really just kind of thinking about what goes on within the center of the store within the frozen unit or are you also thinking about kind of some of the price gaps between what you guys sell versus what maybe some low-end QSR would be priced at?

這只是後續行動。當您考慮價格差距時，對吧，透過您的策略投資，是否真的只是考慮冷凍單元內商店中心內發生的事情，或者您是否也在考慮之間的一些價格差距您出售的產品與一些低端QSR 的定價是多少？

The price gaps versus away-from-home tend to take care of themselves. When the consumer reaches a point and they say, look, my burrito and my coke to go have now gotten too expensive, they first make the switch to stop doing that. The second, they switch to buy in the grocery store. And third, hopefully, they're buying our products. But we do look at our categories and look at this volume malleability as if it is an open set, meaning it's not just what's on shelf and then what's to the left or right of it that's switching, but it could be other categories.

與外地的價格差距往往會自行解決。當消費者達到某個程度時，他們會說，看，我的墨西哥捲餅和外帶可樂現在變得太貴了，他們首先會做出改變，停止這樣做。第二，他們轉而去雜貨店買。第三，希望他們購買我們的產品。但我們確實會審視我們的類別，並審視這種數量的可塑性，就好像它是一個開放的集合一樣，這意味著它不僅僅是貨架上的東西以及它左邊或右邊的東西正在切換，而且還可能是其他類別。

So an example would be, I referenced in our prepared remarks today, that we are going to be -- one of the things we're going to be investing behind is advertising on our Birds Eye business. Well, that is in the marketplace right now. It's running, and it is directly comparative advertising to canned vegetables. And it is focused on delivering a superior relative value message because while it might be tempting to trade down to a canned vegetable in the current environment, the trade-off on quality is simply not worth that trade down, and you end up actually in a worse value proposition.

因此，我在今天準備好的發言中提到的一個例子是，我們將要投資的事情之一是在我們的鳥眼業務上做廣告。嗯，現在市場上就有了。它正在運行，它是直接與罐頭蔬菜進行對比的廣告。它的重點是傳遞優越的相對價值信息，因為雖然在當前環境下可能會很想以罐裝蔬菜的價格進行交易，但質量上的權衡根本不值得這種交易，而且你最終會陷入一種困境。更糟糕的價值主張。

So that's an example of where we're thinking about the competitive set more broadly than what's immediately to the left or right of our products in any given section, and we're thinking about where consumers might go elsewhere. And really getting after that in a very targeted hard-hitting way with a focus on quality and superior relative value.

因此，這是一個例子，說明我們在任何給定區域中更廣泛地考慮競爭產品，而不是緊鄰我們產品左側或右側的產品，我們正在考慮消費者可能會去其他地方。並且以非常有針對性的強硬方式真正實現這一目標，重點關注品質和卓越的相對價值。

The next question comes from Max Gumport of BNP Paribas.

下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的 Max Gumport。

Turning back to gross margins. So a year ago, you were really the first packaged food company to begin to sunset the inflation super cycle and start to post sizable gross margin expansion. But with price/mix turning negative now, partly due to the increased trade investment, it seems like productivity is now fighting against inflation, absorption and the negative price/mix to hold up gross margin. Are these trends still in line with the mechanical nature of how these inflationary cycles typically have played out in the past? Or are there nuances starting to develop this time around?

回到毛利率。因此，一年前，您確實是第一家開始結束通貨膨脹超級週期並開始實現大幅毛利率擴張的包裝食品公司。但隨著價格/組合現在轉為負數，部分原因是貿易投資增加，生產力現在似乎正在與通貨膨脹、吸收和負價格/組合作鬥爭，以支撐毛利率。這些趨勢是否仍符合過去通膨週期通常表現的機械本質？或者這次是否開始出現細微差別？

Well, Max, I'll kick it off and then flip it to Dave. All the mechanical wrap stuff should work the way it always does unless there is something new going on with the consumer. And what we saw right after Easter was that something new did start emerging with the consumer as they started making some of these behavior shifts. So that dynamic is not assumed in the typical mechanics of a [wrap], right? So that's why -- and by the way, as soon as that dynamic begins to either be embedded in the base or just improving the outright, then the mechanics of a typical wrap go right back to what they would always be. So that's why we've been focused on these volume trends because right through last quarter, when you looked at the group, you didn't see the bend when you looked across 15 weeks, 13 weeks, 5 weeks.

好吧，麥克斯，我先把它開始，然後交給戴夫。所有機械包裝材料都應該像往常一樣工作，除非消費者發生了新的變化。我們在復活節後看到的是，當消費者開始做出一些行為轉變時，一些新的東西確實開始出現。因此，[wrap] 的典型機制中並未假定這種動態，對吧？這就是為什麼——順便說一句，一旦這種動態開始嵌入基礎或只是徹底改進，那麼典型包裝的機制就會回到它們一直以來的樣子。這就是為什麼我們一直關注這些數量趨勢，因為直到上個季度，當你查看該組時，當你查看 15 週、13 週、5 週時，你沒有看到彎曲。

Now, particularly for us, you've seen that bend. And that bend is getting pretty close to being kind of embedded in the base. And once it does, then you're set up to be back on algorithm, so to speak. Dave, you want to add anything to that?

現在，尤其是對我們來說，您已經看到了這種彎曲。這個彎曲已經非常接近嵌入底座中了。可以這麼說，一旦完成，您就可以重新使用演算法了。戴夫，你想補充什麼嗎？

Yes. So if you just look at the guidance and you kind of say, okay, where are we going to land? We guided to operating margin of 15.6%. In that is gross margin, and gross margin is going to come in pretty close to where it landed in fiscal '23.

是的。因此，如果您只看指南，您會說，好吧，我們要在哪裡著陸？我們預計營業利益率為 15.6%。這就是毛利率，毛利率將非常接近 23 財年的水平。

So you look at that and you say, okay, we kept gross margin flat to prior year when we've wrapped on pricing, our sales are going to be down for the year based on our guidance, and we've had a pretty significant impact from negative absorption, right, because volumes were down all of last year and they're down first half of this year. So being in manufacturing when you start to get your volumes more stable and actually start inflecting them to be positive, that negative absorption headwind goes away.

所以你看看這個，你會說，好吧，當我們完成定價時，我們的毛利率與上一年持平，根據我們的指導，我們今年的銷售額將會下降，而且我們已經有了相當大的成長。負面吸收的影響，對吧，因為去年全年銷量都在下降，今年上半年也有所下降。因此，在製造業中，當你開始使產量更加穩定並實際上開始將其轉為正值時，負面吸收逆風就會消失。

So the focus now is we keep gross margins flat this year, we're increasing our investment, which gets our total investment when we finish this year back to more normalized trade levels. So we're going to have a business where the margins are consistent with last year, our investments back to where it was, and we have a lot of negative absorption that's in our base. So in fiscal '25, we can get back to growth. We have some opportunities to leverage our cost base. We have an investment base that's where it should be, and it sets us up well for fiscal '25. So there's a lot of things bouncing around, but when you copter up and you just look at where we're going to finish the year, that's how I think about it.

因此，現在的重點是我們今年保持毛利率不變，我們正在增加投資，這將使我們的總投資在今年結束時恢復到更正常化的貿易水平。因此，我們的業務的利潤率將與去年保持一致，我們的投資將回到原來的水平，並且我們的基礎上有很多負面吸收。因此，在 25 財年，我們可以恢復成長。我們有一些機會來利用我們的成本基礎。我們擁有應有的投資基礎，為我們 25 財年奠定了良好的基礎。所以有很多事情在發生，但是當你飛起來，看看我們今年將如何結束時，這就是我的想法。

Great. And then turning to the investments. It's good to hear about the favorable response you saw in the second quarter and what that means for your increased investment in the second half. I'm just curious, are you expecting that investment to help category volumes or if other companies are seeing the same response that you're seeing, are we really just talking about a share fight and doesn't really improve category volumes.

偉大的。然後轉向投資。很高興聽到您在第二季度看到的積極反應以及這對您下半年增加的投資意味著什麼。我只是很好奇，您是否期望這項投資能夠幫助提高品類銷量，或者如果其他公司也看到了與您所看到的相同的反應，我們是否真的只是在談論份額爭奪戰，並沒有真正提高品類銷量。

Yes. I -- really interesting question. Basically, what we're saying is that, yes, the consumer is still deploying some value-seeking tactics to stretch their balance sheet, and that has had some impact on how they prioritized categories. And not every category is equal there, Max, in terms of what we've seen in the category. So we've seen tactics like this from consumers before, and they tend to serve their purpose over a short horizon, and then they tend to disappear.

是的。我——非常有趣的問題。基本上，我們要說的是，是的，消費者仍在採取一些價值尋求策略來擴大他們的資產負債表，這對他們如何優先考慮類別產生了一些影響。麥克斯，就我們在該類別中看到的內容而言，並不是每個類別都是平等的。因此，我們以前見過消費者採取這樣的策略，它們往往會在短期內達到目的，然後就會消失。

But interestingly, even in some of the categories that remain softer than usual, we are seeing volume malleability via investments that drive share. But over time, frankly, we will take what the field gives us in the moment, whether that's improved volumes through share gains or improved volumes through improving category momentum. I think we're going to see both going forward.

但有趣的是，即使在一些仍然比平常疲軟的類別中，我們也看到了透過投資推動份額而實現的銷量可塑性。但坦白說，隨著時間的推移，我們將利用該領域目前提供的東西，無論是透過份額成長來提高銷量，還是透過改善類別動力來提高銷量。我認為我們將會看到兩者都向前發展。

The next question comes from Chris Carey of Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的克里斯凱裡。

So clearly, investment and promotions are topics that have been well discussed on this call rightly so. I think for me, the question on that is just -- and you've given a lot of great detail. The question is really the step-up in investment that you expect in the back half of the year, which sounds quite strong. Are you seeing the lift in your volumes so far this quarter to give you the confidence on sequentially improving volumes into fiscal Q3 and to get into fiscal Q4 or is it more kind of conceptual? You've seen the uplift that these investments have had on certain of your businesses, which is giving you confidence in the back half. So more -- are you seeing it versus the confidence piece, if that makes sense?

顯然，投資和促銷是本次電話會議上充分討論的議題。我認為對我來說，問題就是——你已經提供了很多詳細資訊。問題實際上是您預計下半年投資的增加，這聽起來相當強勁。您是否看到本季迄今為止銷量的提升，讓您有信心在第三財季和第四財季連續提高銷量，還是這更像是概念性的？您已經看到這些投資對您的某些業務帶來的提升，這讓您對下半年充滿信心。那麼更多的是——你是否看到了它與信心部分的對比，如果這有意義的話？

Yes. Let me try to kind of re-hit what we touched on in our prepared remarks, because I'm not going to comment on Q3. We're in Q3, so we'll stick with Q2. We saw a clear evidence in Q2 that where we deployed investment to kind of help the consumer with this process of kind of reengaging in a more typical purchase behaviors, we got the response we were looking for. And because that was real empirical evidence that, of course, inspired confidence that if we do more of that in the second half of the year, we will get a similar type of response.

是的。讓我嘗試重新討論我們在準備好的發言中提到的內容，因為我不會對第三季發表評論。我們正處於第三季度，所以我們將堅持第二季度。我們在第二季度看到了一個明顯的證據，表明我們部署投資來幫助消費者重新參與更典型的購買行為，我們得到了我們想要的回應。因為這是真實的經驗證據，當然激發了我們的信心，如果我們在下半年做更多這樣的事情，我們將得到類似的反應。

But from a planning posture standpoint, we are not banking on major improvement in the macro consumer environment or signing up for a huge consumer response. So one might interpret that as we've got the investment in there, but what we're banking on in return is conservative. Look, in this current environment, that's probably not a bad posture to be in because this volume recovery has been more elongated than people expect. But I think that's that is a fair characterization of kind of what we're looking at.

但從規劃姿態的角度來看，我們並不期待宏觀消費環境出現重大改善，也不期待消費者會做出巨大反應。因此，人們可能會認為我們已經在那裡進行了投資，但我們所指望的回報是保守的。看，在當前的環境下，這可能不是一個糟糕的狀況，因為成交量恢復的時間比人們預期的要長。但我認為這是對我們正在研究的事物的公平描述。

And one just quick follow-up. You mentioned, I believe, earlier in the call that incentive comp was a favorable SG&A item for fiscal Q2. Is there any way to dimensionalize that for the full year with the lower guidance for the year? That's it from me.

還有一個只是快速跟進。我相信，您在電話會議早些時候提到，激勵補償是第二財季有利的 SG&A 項目。有沒有什麼方法可以用較低的年度指導來衡量全年的情況？這就是我說的。

Yes. We -- really almost all of the delta and SG&A in the quarter was driven from incentive comp. So that really drove the delta in the quarter. We do expect SG&A as a percentage of net sales to be higher in the second half. So it will get our SG&A as a percentage of net sales, close to where it was a year ago. So there's some timing elements to this, especially with incentive comp because it can it really can be a timing item relative to where you were in the prior year in your forecast. But as it relates to Q2, it drove all the variance in SG&A.

是的。事實上，本季幾乎所有的增量和銷售及管理費用都是由激勵補償所驅動的。因此，這確實推動了本季的三角洲成長。我們確實預期下半年銷售、管理費用佔淨銷售額的百分比將會更高。因此，我們的銷售、管理費用佔淨銷售額的百分比將接近一年前的水平。因此，這涉及一些時間因素，尤其是激勵補償，因為它確實可以是相對於您預測的前一年的時間項目。但由於與第二季相關，它導致了 SG&A 的所有差異。

And just to clarify, that SG&A is higher in the back half, excluding advertising spending or with...

需要澄清的是，後半段的 SG&A 較高，不包括廣告支出或…

Yes, that's excluding adjusted SG&A, which we -- exclude [A&P].

是的，這不包括調整後的 SG&A，我們不包括 [A&P]。

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

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回公司進行閉幕致詞。

So it's Melissa Napier. We thank you again for joining us this morning for the call, and we're looking forward to seeing everyone at CAGNY next month.

這是梅麗莎·納皮爾。我們再次感謝您今天早上參加我們的電話會議，我們期待下個月在 CAGNY 見到大家。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation, and you may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演示，您現在可以斷開連接了。