Commercial Metals Co (CMC) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome, everyone, to the First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call for Commercial Metals Company. Today's material, including the press release and supplemental slides that accompanies today's call can be found on the CMC Investors Relations website. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would like to remind all participants that during the course of this conference call that the company may make statements that provide information other than historical information that will include expectations regarding the economic conditions, effects of legislation, U.S. steel import levels, U.S. construction activity, demand for finished steel products, the expected capabilities and benefits of new facilities, the company's future operations, the time line for execution of the company's growth plan, the company's future results of operations, financial measures and capital spending.

大家好，歡迎大家來到商業金屬公司 2023 財年第一季度財報電話會議。今天的材料，包括今天電話會議的新聞稿和補充幻燈片，可以在 CMC 投資者關係網站上找到。今天的通話正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）我想提醒所有與會者，在本次電話會議期間，公司可能會發表聲明，提供歷史信息以外的信息，包括對經濟狀況的預期、立法的影響、美國鋼鐵進口水平、美國建築活動、成品鋼材需求、新設施的預期能力和收益、公司未來運營、公司增長計劃執行時間表、公司未來運營業績、財務措施和資本支出。

These and other similar statements are considered forward looking and may involve certain assumptions and speculation and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these expectations. These statements reflect the company's beliefs based on the current conditions that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including those that are described in the Risk factors and forward-looking statement section of the company's latest filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K.

這些和其他類似的陳述被認為是前瞻性的，可能涉及某些假設和推測，並受到可能導致實際結果與這些預期存在重大差異的風險和不確定性的影響。這些陳述反映了公司基於受某些風險和不確定因素影響的當前狀況的信念，包括公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新文件的風險因素和前瞻性陳述部分中描述的那些，包括公司的10-K 表格的年度報告。

Although these statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, CMC offers no assurance that these expectations or beliefs will prove to be correct, and actual results may vary materially. All statements made only of this date, except as required by law. CMC does not assume any obligation to update, amend or clarify these statements in connection with future events, changes in assumptions, the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events, new information or circumstances or otherwise.

儘管這些陳述基於管理層當前的期望和信念，但 CMC 不保證這些期望或信念將被證明是正確的，並且實際結果可能存在重大差異。除非法律要求，否則所有聲明僅在該日期作出。 CMC 不承擔任何更新、修改或澄清與未來事件、假設變化、預期或非預期事件的發生、新信息或情況或其他相關的聲明的義務。

Some numbers presented will be non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations for such numbers can be found in the company's earnings release, supplemental slides, presentation or on the company's website. Unless otherwise stated, all references made to the year or quarter end are references to the company's fiscal year or fiscal quarter. And now for the opening remarks and introductions, I would now like to turn the call over to Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Metals Company, Ms. Barbara Smith.

提供的一些數字將是非 GAAP 財務指標，此類數字的對賬可以在公司的收益發布、補充幻燈片、演示文稿或公司網站上找到。除非另有說明，否則所有提及年末或季度末的內容均指公司的財政年度或財政季度。現在開始致辭和介紹，我現在想將電話轉交給 Commercial Metals Company 的董事會主席、總裁兼首席執行官 Barbara Smith 女士。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining CMC's first quarter Earnings Conference Call. I hope each of you had a wonderful holiday season. As we reported in our press release issued this morning, fiscal 2023's first quarter was another outstanding period, marking the second best core EBITDA performance in our company's history. I would like to thank CMC's 12,000 employees who made these results possible. Your hard work and focused efforts are appreciated and are the driving force behind CMC's success.

大家早上好，感謝您參加 CMC 第一季度收益電話會議。我希望你們每個人都有一個美好的假期。正如我們在今天上午發布的新聞稿中所報導的那樣，2023 財年第一季度是另一個出色的時期，標誌著我們公司歷史上第二好的核心 EBITDA 業績。我要感謝 CMC 的 12,000 名員工使這些結果成為可能。感謝您的辛勤工作和專注努力，這是 CMC 成功的原動力。

I will start today's call with a few comments on CMC's first quarter performance, then discuss our key strategic growth investments and sustainability efforts before providing an update on the current market environment. Paul Lawrence will cover the quarter's financial information in more detail, and I will then conclude with our outlook for the second fiscal quarter, after which we will open the call to questions.

我將以對 CMC 第一季度業績的一些評論開始今天的電話會議，然後在提供當前市場環境的最新情況之前討論我們的關鍵戰略增長投資和可持續發展努力。 Paul Lawrence 將更詳細地介紹本季度的財務信息，然後我將總結我們對第二財季的展望，之後我們將開始提問。

Before starting my prepared remarks, I would like to direct listeners to the supplemental slides that accompany this call. The presentation can be found on CMC's Investor Relations website. As I noted, CMC's first quarter fiscal 2023 earnings were among the strongest in our company's 108-year history. We achieved net earnings of $261.8 million or $2.20 per diluted share on net sales of $2.2 billion. Excluding the impact of mill operational start-up costs incurred at our Arizona 2 project, adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $266.2 million or $2.24 per diluted share.

在開始我準備好的發言之前，我想引導聽眾觀看本次電話會議附帶的補充幻燈片。該演示文稿可在 CMC 的投資者關係網站上找到。正如我所指出的，CMC 2023 財年第一季度的收益是我們公司 108 年曆史上最強勁的收益之一。我們實現了 2.618 億美元的淨收益或每股攤薄收益 2.20 美元，淨銷售額為 22 億美元。排除我們的 Arizona 2 項目產生的工廠運營啟動成本的影響，調整後的持續運營收益為 2.662 億美元或每股攤薄收益 2.24 美元。

CMC generated core EBITDA for the quarter of $425 million, an increase of 30% from a year ago, which produced an annualized return on invested capital of 23%. Results for our North America segment were again exceptional as our team capitalized on strong demand. Segment adjusted EBITDA was within 1% of its record, excluding the impact of our second quarter 2022 California land sale. We continued to experience strong margins on sales of steel and downstream products during the quarter, which drove meaningful year-over-year earnings growth.

CMC 本季度的核心 EBITDA 為 4.25 億美元，同比增長 30%，年化投資回報率為 23%。由於我們的團隊充分利用了強勁的需求，我們北美分部的業績再次出色。部門調整後的 EBITDA 在其記錄的 1% 以內，不包括我們 2022 年第二季度加州土地出售的影響。本季度，我們繼續在鋼鐵和下游產品的銷售中獲得強勁的利潤率，這推動了有意義的同比收益增長。

Our Europe segment performed well despite a challenging economic backdrop, generating adjusted EBITDA more than double the past 10 years' quarterly average. Facing well-publicized economic headwinds associated with the ongoing energy crisis, our team in Poland leveraged their excellent cost structure to profitably win share and maintain strong volume levels. Reflecting on the quarter as a whole, CMC encountered sharply different market environments within its 2 segments with tailwinds in North America and headwinds in Europe and demonstrated that we are capable of performing well in both environments.

儘管經濟背景充滿挑戰，但我們的歐洲分部表現良好，產生的調整後 EBITDA 是過去 10 年季度平均水平的兩倍多。面對與持續能源危機相關的廣為人知的經濟逆風，我們在波蘭的團隊利用其出色的成本結構贏得市場份額並保持強勁的銷量水平。回顧整個季度，CMC 在北美的順風和歐洲的逆風這兩個細分市場中遇到了截然不同的市場環境，並證明我們有能力在這兩種環境中表現良好。

Our business model and well-aligned strategies have provided us the ability to fully capitalize on opportunities when they are available or adapt and adjust quickly when challenges arise. I would now like to discuss CMC's strategic growth investments, specifically our exciting greenfield mill projects. Our Arizona 2 micro mill project is on track for a start-up later this spring. As I mentioned previously, we incurred start-up costs during the first quarter as we train and build our crews and begin to commission the new equipment.

我們的商業模式和協調一致的戰略使我們能夠在機會可用時充分利用機會，或在挑戰出現時迅速適應和調整。我現在想討論 CMC 的戰略增長投資，特別是我們令人興奮的綠地工廠項目。我們的 Arizona 2 微型工廠項目有望在今年春季晚些時候啟動。正如我之前提到的，我們在第一季度培訓和組建我們的工作人員並開始調試新設備時產生了啟動成本。

We are excited to begin commissioning and look forward to providing updates as the process evolves. Once AZ 2 is ramped up, CMC will be operating one of the most unique steelmaking complexes anywhere in the world. Not only will we achieve another industry first by producing merchant bar on a micro mill, but we will also have co-located 2 of our micro mills in a unique configuration. We expect this arrangement of the 2 steel plants will provide synergies, including shared staff support, production optimization, improved production scheduling and shared site infrastructure.

我們很高興開始調試，並期待隨著流程的發展提供更新。一旦 AZ 2 投產，CMC 將運營世界上最獨特的煉鋼聯合體之一。我們不僅將通過在微型軋機上生產商業棒材來實現另一個行業第一，而且我們還將以獨特的配置將我們的 2 個微型軋機放在一起。我們預計這兩家鋼廠的安排將產生協同效應，包括共享員工支持、生產優化、改進生產調度和共享場地基礎設施。

Arizona 2's commissioning looks to be well timed with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which should begin to increase public infrastructure construction later this calendar year. We intend to focus initially on ramping up rebar production with the commissioning of merchant products to follow soon after. Currently, we expect to produce a mix of approximately 2/3's rebar and 1/3 merchant bar on an annual run rate basis. Of course, as we have mentioned previously, Arizona 2 will have the operational flexibility to seamlessly adjust its production mix based on market demand.

亞利桑那 2 號的投產似乎恰逢基礎設施投資和就業法案，該法案應該會在本日曆年晚些時候開始增加公共基礎設施建設。我們打算首先將重點放在提高螺紋鋼產量上，並在不久之後調試商業產品。目前，我們預計每年將生產大約 2/3 的螺紋鋼和 1/3 的商用鋼筋。當然，正如我們之前提到的，Arizona 2 將具有運營靈活性，可以根據市場需求無縫調整其生產組合。

Turning to CMC's other organic growth projects. We announced in early December that our fourth micro mill will be located in Berkeley County, West Virginia. The site selection process took longer than anticipated, but we are confident that CMC has chosen an excellent location within a state that is supportive of manufacturing innovation. I'd like to thank Governor Jim Justice and the entire West Virginia economic development team and the dedicated Berkeley County staff for their support during the site selection process and their ongoing assistance as we become an important member of the community.

轉向 CMC 的其他有機增長項目。我們在 12 月初宣布，我們的第四家微型工廠將位於西弗吉尼亞州的伯克利縣。選址過程花費的時間比預期的要長，但我們相信 CMC 在一個支持製造業創新的州內選擇了一個絕佳的位置。我要感謝 Jim Justice 州長和整個西弗吉尼亞經濟發展團隊以及敬業的伯克利縣工作人員在選址過程中提供的支持，以及在我們成為社區重要成員的過程中不斷提供的幫助。

During the planning phase, we have been referring to this growth initiative as MM4. I'm happy to say that after formalizing our site choice, we will now rebrand our mill as CMC Steel West Virginia. The mill is expected to have an annual capacity of approximately 500,000 tons and will be capable of producing both straight length and spooled rebar. The new plant will feature the latest productivity-enhancing technologies for micro mill steelmaking including Danieli's Q-One power system that we first deployed in Arizona, making CMC Steel West Virginia one of the cleanest and most energy-efficient mills in the world.

在規劃階段，我們一直將此增長計劃稱為 MM4。我很高興地說，在正式確定我們的選址之後，我們現在將把我們的工廠重新命名為 CMC Steel West Virginia。該工廠預計年產能約為 500,000 噸，能夠生產直螺紋鋼和捲繞螺紋鋼。新工廠將採用最新的提高生產率的微型軋鋼廠技術，包括我們首先在亞利桑那州部署的達涅利 Q-One 電力系統，使 CMC Steel West Virginia 成為世界上最清潔、最節能的鋼廠之一。

The planned site location on West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle will provide excellent access to the dense rebar consuming markets of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Nearly 60 million people live within a standard shipping radius of this site, providing a variety of commercial opportunities across a number of major metropolitan areas. As can be seen on Slide 6 of the supplemental presentation, the site is also ideal for optimization of CMC's existing operational network in the Eastern United States. We expect to generate synergies through reduced logistics cost, optimize production mix across mills, lower levels of safety stock and improved customer service capabilities.

位於西弗吉尼亞州東狹長地帶的計劃選址將為進入東北部和大西洋中部密集的螺紋鋼消費市場提供便利。將近 6000 萬人居住在該站點的標準航運半徑內，為許多主要大都市地區提供了各種商業機會。從補充演示文稿的幻燈片 6 可以看出，該站點也是優化 CMC 在美國東部的現有運營網絡的理想場所。我們希望通過降低物流成本、優化工廠的生產組合、降低安全庫存水平和提高客戶服務能力來產生協同效應。

The project is budgeted to have a net cost of approximately $450 million based on anticipated time lines for permitting and construction. Plant is scheduled to begin operation in late calendar 2025. These 2 projects strongly advance CMC's strategy of leadership in early phase construction reinforcement. We also believe they will provide meaningful value accretive earnings and cash flow growth for our investors.

根據許可和施工的預期時間表，該項目的預算淨成本約為 4.5 億美元。工廠計劃於 2025 年底開始運營。這兩個項目有力地推進了 CMC 在早期建設加固方面的領導戰略。我們還相信它們將為我們的投資者提供有意義的增值收益和現金流增長。

In addition to our organic growth projects, we continue to be very encouraged with the integration process of our Tensar acquisition, and Paul will discuss the financial contributions a little later. During the quarter, we acquired 2 scrap recycling facilities, and we are happy to welcome these employees to CMC. Both acquisitions support our captive scrap strategy to provide an economic supply of metallics for our mills.

除了我們的有機增長項目外，我們繼續對坦薩收購的整合過程感到非常鼓舞，保羅將在稍後討論財務貢獻。本季度，我們收購了 2 家廢料回收設施，我們很高興歡迎這些員工加入 CMC。這兩項收購都支持我們的專屬廢料戰略，為我們的工廠提供經濟的金屬供應。

Before I turn to market commentary, I would also like to take a moment to emphasize the advancement of CMC's sustainability efforts. Our fiscal 2022 sustainability report published last month illustrates CMC's leadership position in environmental performance and our ongoing commitments for continued improvement. In fiscal 2022, CMC's Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions stood at just 0.413 tons of CO2 per ton of steel produced, representing a 14% reduction from a 2019 baseline and a decline of 7% from fiscal 2021 levels.

在我轉向市場評論之前，我還想花點時間強調一下 CMC 在可持續發展方面的努力。我們上個月發布的 2022 財年可持續發展報告說明了 CMC 在環境績效方面的領導地位以及我們對持續改進的持續承諾。在 2022 財年，CMC 的範圍 1 和範圍 2 溫室氣體排放量僅為每噸鋼鐵生產 0.413 噸二氧化碳，比 2019 年的基準減少了 14%，比 2021 財年的水平減少了 7%。

These Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity levels are nearly 80% below the global industry average. It may surprise some to learn that despite the heightened focus on ESG, the global steel industry's emissions per ton have actually increased steadily over the last several years. However, CMC is going in the opposite direction, using innovation, process improvements and energy sourcing to make greener steel with less impact on the environment. CMC's micro mill projects will further improve our environmental footprint as this technology consumes 32% less energy and emits 30% less greenhouse gas compared to standard mini mills.

這些範圍 1 和範圍 2 的排放強度水平比全球行業平均水平低近 80%。有些人可能會感到驚訝，儘管對 ESG 的關注度越來越高，但全球鋼鐵行業的每噸排放量在過去幾年中實際上一直在穩步增長。然而，CMC 正朝著相反的方向前進，利用創新、工藝改進和能源採購來生產對環境影響更小的綠色鋼鐵。 CMC 的微型工廠項目將進一步改善我們的環境足跡，因為與標準小型工廠相比，這項技術的能源消耗減少了 32%，溫室氣體排放減少了 30%。

One AZ 2 and Steel West Virginia are fully ramped up, roughly 1/3 of our products will be produced using the world's cleanest steelmaking technology. These investments are yet another example of how at CMC good business decisions and good environmental stewardship go hand in hand. As you can also read in our 2022 sustainability report, CMC is poised to meet its or exceed its 2030 environmental goals related to Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions intensity, water usage and energy consumption intensity and renewable energy sourcing. Soon, we will be reevaluating these goals and setting new targets.

一台 AZ 2 和 Steel West Virginia 全面投產，我們大約 1/3 的產品將使用世界上最清潔的煉鋼技術生產。這些投資是 CMC 良好的商業決策和良好的環境管理如何齊頭並進的又一例證。您還可以在我們的 2022 年可持續發展報告中讀到，CMC 準備實現或超過其與範圍 1 和範圍 2 溫室氣體排放強度、用水量和能源消耗強度以及可再生能源採購相關的 2030 年環境目標。很快，我們將重新評估這些目標並設定新目標。

I would now like to turn to CMC's market environment, starting with North America. Hopefully, it will be encouraging that my comments sound very similar to our recent updates as we continue to experience strong market conditions and see signs that strength will remain. We are well aware that recessionary concerns are growing in the investment community and being reported in the financial press, and we are monitoring conditions closely. However, looking at our business, we see no meaningful signs of a slowdown.

我現在想談談CMC的市場環境，從北美開始。希望我的評論聽起來與我們最近的更新非常相似，因為我們繼續經歷強勁的市場狀況並看到強勢將保持的跡象，這將是令人鼓舞的。我們很清楚，投資界對經濟衰退的擔憂正在加劇，財經媒體也在報導，我們正在密切關注情況。然而，縱觀我們的業務，我們沒有看到任何有意義的放緩跡象。

Demand in the first quarter was stable at strong levels across our product lines in major geographies. Most key indicators that lead rebar consumption by 9 to 12 months point to growth ahead. These indicators include both external and internal metrics that have been historically reliable in our indices we've referenced in past market commentaries. Let me review several of these key external indicators. The Dodge Momentum Index which measures the value of nonresidential projects entering the planning phase, reached a record high in November. The reading highlighted strong growth in both the commercial and institutional components of the index, rising 28% and 21%, respectively, from the prior year.

第一季度，我們在主要地區的產品線的需求穩定在強勁水平。大多數領先螺紋鋼消費 9 至 12 個月的關鍵指標都指向未來的增長。這些指標包括外部和內部指標，這些指標在我們過去的市場評論中引用的指數中一直是可靠的。讓我回顧其中的幾個關鍵外部指標。衡量進入規劃階段的非住宅項目價值的道奇動量指數在 11 月創下歷史新高。該讀數突顯了該指數的商業和機構成分的強勁增長，分別比上一年增長 28% 和 21%。

We recently began monitoring a separate Dodge indicator that tracks the value of infrastructure projects entering the predesign and design phases. The value of these projects is up significantly from the prior year, likely signaling that federal funding is working through the pipeline and will soon begin to impact on the ground construction activity. To give a sense of magnitude, the value of projects tracks by Dodge's Design Phase Index over the last 3 months was double the prior year and was 12x higher than 2 years ago.

我們最近開始監控一個單獨的 Dodge 指標，該指標跟踪進入預設計和設計階段的基礎設施項目的價值。這些項目的價值比上一年大幅上升，可能表明聯邦資金正在通過管道發揮作用，並將很快開始對地面建設活動產生影響。為了給人一種規模感，道奇設計階段指數在過去 3 個月跟踪的項目價值是上一年的兩倍，比 2 年前高出 12 倍。

CMC's own internal view also gives us confidence going forward. Our downstream bidding activity remained at historically high levels during the first quarter, driven by a broad range of project types in both the public and private sectors. As can be seen on Slide 9, our downstream backlog continues to grow on a year-over-year basis when measured in terms of both value and quantity. Beyond the near term, we believe there are structural trends underway that will support strong domestic construction activity.

CMC自己的內部觀點也給了我們前進的信心。在公共和私營部門廣泛的項目類型的推動下，我們的下游招標活動在第一季度保持在歷史高位。從幻燈片 9 可以看出，從價值和數量兩方面來衡量，我們的下游積壓訂單繼續逐年增長。在短期之外，我們認為目前存在的結構性趨勢將支持強勁的國內建築活動。

The first, which I've already mentioned, is the federal infrastructure package signed into law a year ago. At full run rate, this plan is expected to increase federal funding for core rebar consuming projects such as highways, bridges and related structures by 65% compared to the FAST Act that it replaced. We estimate the impact will be 1.5 million tons of incremental annual rebar demand within a domestic market of roughly 9 million tons, representing an approximately 17% increase in consumption.

第一個，我已經提到過，是一年前簽署成為法律的聯邦基礎設施一攬子計劃。按照全速運行，與它取代的 FAST 法案相比，該計劃預計將使聯邦對高速公路、橋樑和相關結構等核心鋼筋消耗項目的資金增加 65%。我們估計其影響將是在約 900 萬噸的國內市場中每年增加 150 萬噸螺紋鋼需求，相當於消費量增長約 17%。

Spending is expected to ramp up over 5 years and assuming typical time frames for project approvals, bidding and awarding, we should begin to see some impact on construction activity in calendar year 2023. The Dodge data I discussed earlier supports this view. Another meaningful structural trend is the reshoring of critical industries. We have previously mentioned the massive scale and pace of construction of new semiconductor facilities. Currently, there are at least 11 facilities planned to be constructed with related total investment of over $275 billion. CMC is already shipping to several of these projects, but most are yet to break ground and impact rebar consumption.

預計支出將在 5 年內增加，假設項目批准、招標和授予的典型時間框架，我們應該會開始看到對 2023 日曆年建築活動的一些影響。我之前討論的道奇數據支持這一觀點。另一個有意義的結構性趨勢是關鍵行業的回流。我們之前提到過新半導體設施建設的規模和速度。目前，至少有11個設施計劃建設，相關總投資超過2750億美元。 CMC 已經向其中幾個項目發貨，但大多數尚未破土動工並影響螺紋鋼消費。

Semiconductor chip and wafer plants are the highest profile examples of reshoring, but other industries are also experiencing increased activity or project planning. These include LNG facilities for the export of natural gas, chemical and plastic plants as well as the automotive supply chain with a particular focus on electric vehicles and battery production.

半導體芯片和晶圓廠是最引人注目的回流例子，但其他行業也在經歷增加的活動或項目規劃。其中包括用於出口天然氣的液化天然氣設施、化工廠和塑料廠，以及特別側重於電動汽車和電池生產的汽車供應鏈。

The last 3 years have exposed the vulnerabilities of concentrated global supply chains structured to operate under stable conditions and cooperative political regimes. The pandemic and geopolitical turmoil have reminded us of the need for a more distributed set of sourcing options, ensuring reliability and flexibility in securing critical materials and equipment. Eventually, we expect reshoring to extend well beyond the areas we just discussed.

過去 3 年暴露了集中的全球供應鏈的脆弱性，這些供應鏈的結構是在穩定的條件和合作的政治制度下運作。大流行病和地緣政治動盪提醒我們需要一套更加分散的採購選項，以確保在保護關鍵材料和設備方面的可靠性和靈活性。最終，我們預計回流將遠遠超出我們剛才討論的範圍。

Turning briefly to merchant bar. Underlying demand conditions and end-use OEM markets are generally stable. Following the destocking event that occurred during our fiscal fourth quarter, shipments to service centers stabilized at improved levels during the first quarter. We would expect real underlying demand to continue at a steady rate in the quarters ahead. As I indicated, market conditions in Europe are more challenging. Overall, construction activity continued to grow on a year-over-year basis during the first quarter.

暫時轉到商家欄。潛在需求狀況和最終用途 OEM 市場總體穩定。在我們第四財季發生的去庫存事件之後，第一季度向服務中心的出貨量穩定在更高的水平。我們預計未來幾個季度實際潛在需求將繼續保持穩定增長。正如我所指出的，歐洲的市場狀況更具挑戰性。總體而言，第一季度建築活動繼續同比增長。

However, residential activity, which has been strong for more than a year, is now showing signs of a slowdown due to the impact of rising mortgage interest rates. New mortgage origination has declined meaningfully over the last several months. However, programs are being developed to support first-time homebuyers, which should attract more market activity by mid-calendar 2023. In addition, as a result of the ongoing energy crisis, industrial activity in Central Europe has been in contraction since the summer of 2022. This has impacted demand for merchant bar and some wire rod products. On the other hand, energy prices have moderated somewhat from recent market peaks, and the current mild temperatures should also provide some relief.

然而，由於抵押貸款利率上升的影響，一年多來一直強勁的住宅活動現在出現放緩跡象。在過去幾個月中，新抵押貸款發放量大幅下降。然而，正在製定計劃以支持首次購房者，到 2023 年中期應該會吸引更多的市場活動。此外，由於持續的能源危機，中歐的工業活動自 2023 年夏季以來一直在收縮2022 年。這影響了對商用棒材和一些線材產品的需求。另一方面，能源價格已從最近的市場高峰期有所回落，目前溫和的氣溫也應該會緩解一些壓力。

As illustrated on Slide 10 of the supplemental presentation, the European energy crisis, combined with trade sanctions, has impacted historical trade flows in the region, which has benefited Poland on a relative basis. Poland has recently moved into a net rebar export position compared to a fairly large net import position a year ago.

如補充演示文稿的幻燈片 10 所示，歐洲能源危機與貿易制裁相結合，影響了該地區的歷史貿易流量，波蘭相對受益。與一年前相當大的淨進口位置相比，波蘭最近進入了螺紋鋼淨出口位置。

Electricity price volatility relative to the broader EU has tended to be less extreme in Poland over the last year due to a variety of factors, which has created a favorable cost dynamic for Polish producers. Energy costs have been both lower and more stable, providing some protection from imported materials originating from other European Union countries.

由於各種因素，去年波蘭相對於更廣泛的歐盟的電價波動趨於不那麼極端，這為波蘭生產商創造了有利的成本動態。能源成本既低又穩定，為來自其他歐盟國家的進口材料提供了一些保護。

With regard to rebar trade with countries outside the EU, little foreign material has entered the Polish market to offset the loss of Russian and Belarusian rebar. Imports have increased into the broader EU, but this material has gone to countries that are more logistically accessible and are experiencing higher energy costs. So while European demand is challenging at the moment, the supply side of the economic equation is helping to offset much of the detrimental impact.

關於與歐盟以外國家的螺紋鋼貿易，很少有外國材料進入波蘭市場以抵消俄羅斯和白俄羅斯螺紋鋼的損失。對更廣泛的歐盟的進口有所增加，但這種材料流向了物流更便利且能源成本更高的國家。因此，儘管目前歐洲的需求充滿挑戰，但經濟方程式的供應方正在幫助抵消大部分不利影響。

Within this environment, CMC has leveraged its strong relative cost position and operational flexibility to profitably win market share. Shipments of rebar, merchant bar and wire rod in the first quarter were all well above the long-term quarterly average, despite a lackluster demand backdrop. We would expect these advantages to continue to favor CMC.

在這種環境下，CMC 利用其強大的相對成本地位和運營靈活性贏得了市場份額。儘管需求低迷，但第一季度螺紋鋼、商用棒材和線材的出貨量均遠高於長期季度平均水平。我們預計這些優勢將繼續有利於 CMC。

Finally, as stated in our press release, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share of CMC common stock for stockholders of record on January 19, 2023. The dividend will be paid on February 2, 2023. This represents CMC's 233rd consecutive quarterly dividend with the amount paid per share increasing 14% from Q1 of fiscal 2022.

最後，如我們的新聞稿所述，我們的董事會宣布向 2023 年 1 月 19 日登記在冊的股東派發每股 CMC 普通股 0.16 美元的季度現金股息。股息將於 2023 年 2 月 2 日支付。這代表了 CMC 的連續第 233 個季度派息，每股支付的金額比 2022 財年第一季度增長 14%。

With that as an overview, I will now turn the discussion over to Paul Lawrence, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, to provide some more comments on the results for the quarter. Paul?

綜上所述，我現在將討論轉交給高級副總裁兼首席財務官保羅·勞倫斯，就本季度的業績提供更多評論。保羅？

Thank you, Barbara, and Happy New Year to everyone on the call. As Barbara noted, we reported fiscal first quarter 2023 net earnings of $261.8 million or $2.20 per diluted share compared to prior year levels of $232.9 million and $1.90 respectively. Results this quarter include a net after-tax charge of $4.4 million, which was related to start-up activities at CMC Arizona's project. We expect to continue to incur start-up costs for the balance of fiscal 2023.

謝謝你，芭芭拉，並祝大家新年快樂。正如芭芭拉指出的那樣，我們報告 2023 財年第一季度淨收益為 2.618 億美元或每股攤薄收益 2.20 美元，而去年同期分別為 2.329 億美元和 1.90 美元。本季度的業績包括 440 萬美元的稅後淨費用，這與 CMC Arizona 項目的啟動活動有關。我們預計將在 2023 財年剩餘時間內繼續產生啟動成本。

Excluding the impact of this item, adjusted earnings were $266.2 million or $2.24 per diluted share. Core EBITDA was $425 million for the first quarter of 2023, representing a 30% increase from the $326.8 million generated during the prior year period.

排除該項目的影響，調整後收益為 2.662 億美元或每股攤薄收益 2.24 美元。 2023 年第一季度核心 EBITDA 為 4.25 億美元，比去年同期的 3.268 億美元增長 30%。

Slide 13 of the supplemental presentation illustrates the strength of CMC's quarterly results. Our North America segment drove the significant year-over-year earnings growth, while Europe experienced some pullback. Core EBITDA per ton of finished steel reached its second highest rate ever coming in at $273 compared to $223 per ton a year ago.

補充演示文稿的幻燈片 13 說明了 CMC 季度業績的實力。我們的北美分部推動了顯著的同比收益增長，而歐洲則經歷了一些回落。每噸成品鋼的核心 EBITDA 達到有史以來第二高的水平，達到 273 美元，而一年前為每噸 223 美元。

Now I will review the results by segment. CMC's North American segment generated adjusted EBITDA of $378 million for the quarter, equal to $348 per ton of finished steel shipped. Segment adjusted EBITDA improved 41% on a year-over-year basis, driven significantly by increased margins on downstream and steel products over their underlying scrap costs. Downstream products were a particularly impactful contributor on a year-over-year basis as the average selling price improved by over $300 per ton compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

現在我將按部分回顧結果。 CMC 北美分部本季度的調整後 EBITDA 為 3.78 億美元，相當於每噸成品鋼運輸 348 美元。部門調整後的 EBITDA 同比增長 41%，這主要得益於下游和鋼鐵產品的利潤率高於其基礎廢鋼成本的增加。與 2022 財年第一季度相比，下游產品的平均售價比上年同期提高了 300 多美元/噸，因此與去年同期相比影響尤其大。

Partially offsetting these benefits were lower margins on sales of raw materials as well as higher controllable costs on a per ton of finished steel basis due primarily to increased unit pricing for alloys, energy and freight. On a sequential quarter basis, controllable costs per ton were relatively unchanged with signs of pricing on some key consumable inputs have peaked and could begin declining in the quarters ahead.

部分抵消了這些好處的是原材料銷售利潤率下降以及每噸成品鋼的可控成本增加，這主要是由於合金、能源和運費的單價上漲。在連續季度的基礎上，每噸可控成本相對沒有變化，一些關鍵消耗品的定價跡像已經見頂，並可能在未來幾個季度開始下降。

As we look forward, we have a number of planned maintenance outages that will not impact shipment volumes, but will result in higher controllable costs in coming quarters. Selling prices for steel products from our mills increased by $44 per ton on a year-over-year basis, but declined $84 per ton from the prior quarter. Margin over scrap on steel products increased $147 per ton from a year ago. Comparison to our fourth quarter, metal margin decreased by $22 per ton as the decline in average pricing outpaced the reduction in scrap costs.

正如我們所期待的，我們有一些計劃中的維護中斷不會影響出貨量，但會導致未來幾個季度更高的可控成本。我們鋼廠的鋼鐵產品售價同比每噸上漲 44 美元，但比上一季度每噸下降 84 美元。鋼鐵產品廢鋼的利潤率比一年前每噸增加 147 美元。與我們的第四季度相比，金屬利潤每噸下降了 22 美元，因為平均價格的下降速度超過了廢料成本的下降速度。

Shipments of finished product in the first quarter were virtually unchanged from a year ago and followed a typical seasonal pattern compared to the fourth quarter. End market demand for our mill products remained healthy. Rebar consumption, as tracked by the Steel Manufacturers Association, is growing on a year-over-year basis. They likely still moderated by constrained supply of labor and material in certain geographies. Demand for merchant bar is stable at good levels.

第一季度成品出貨量與去年同期基本持平，與第四季度相比遵循典型的季節性模式。終端市場對我們工廠產品的需求保持健康。鋼鐵製造商協會追踪的螺紋鋼消費量逐年增長。它們可能仍然受到某些地區勞動力和材料供應受限的影響。對商業酒吧的需求穩定在良好水平。

Turning to Slide 15 of the supplemental deck. Our Europe segment generated adjusted EBITDA of $64.5 million for the first quarter of 2023, which included the receipt of an annual energy credit that totaled approximately $9.5 million. The first quarter results compared to adjusted EBITDA of $79.8 million in the prior year period. The decline was driven by higher cost for energy, the negative P&L impact of selling higher cost inventory into a contracting price environment, a reduced energy credit which was over $15 million last year as well as the weakening of the Polish Zloty relative to the U.S. dollar.

轉到補充平台的幻燈片 15。我們的歐洲分部在 2023 年第一季度產生了 6450 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，其中包括收到總計約 950 萬美元的年度能源信貸。第一季度業績與去年同期調整後的 EBITDA 為 7980 萬美元相比。下降的原因是能源成本上升、在合同價格環境中出售成本較高的庫存對損益的負面影響、去年超過 1500 萬美元的能源信貸減少以及波蘭茲羅提相對於美元走弱.

CMC's energy hedge position once again paid significant dividends as actual costs were well below the levels that would have been paid had we purchased solely on the spot basis. Europe volume increased 30% compared to the prior year due to the market share gains mentioned by Barbara as well as the impact of a planned major maintenance outage taken during the comparative period of the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

CMC 的能源對沖頭寸再次帶來了可觀的紅利，因為實際成本遠低於我們僅以現貨為基礎購買時本應支付的水平。由於 Barbara 提到的市場份額增加以及 2022 財年第一季度比較期間計劃進行的重大維護停運的影響，歐洲銷量比上一年增長了 30%。

Demand conditions within Central Europe are challenging. However, the Polish construction market continued to grow by mid-single-digit percentages, while industrial production has entered into a contractionary phase as a result of the ongoing energy crisis. We believe CMC is well positioned for this current period of volatility in Europe. We are a low-cost industry leader with operational flexibility to adjust to and serve changing market conditions.

中歐的需求狀況充滿挑戰。然而，波蘭建築市場繼續以中個位數百分比增長，而工業生產由於持續的能源危機而進入收縮階段。我們認為 CMC 在歐洲目前的動盪時期處於有利地位。我們是低成本的行業領導者，具有運營靈活性以適應和服務於不斷變化的市場條件。

Tensar generated $11.4 million during the first quarter, yielding an EBITDA margin of 18.9%. Margins were temporarily hampered by production issues encountered at our Morrow, Georgia geogrid plant. These issues have been addressed with equipment upgrades. However, during the first quarter, we incurred increased logistics costs and slower delivery times as a result of bringing product from our overseas operations. As a reminder, Tensar performance is included within CMC's existing segments. Of our $11.4 million of EBITDA, $8.1 million was included in CMC's North American segment, with the remaining $3.3 million recorded in our Europe segment.

坦薩在第一季度產生了 1140 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率為 18.9%。我們佐治亞州莫羅土工格柵工廠遇到的生產問題暫時影響了利潤率。這些問題已通過設備升級得到解決。然而，在第一季度，由於從我們的海外業務中引入產品，我們導致物流成本增加和交貨時間變慢。提醒一下，坦薩性能包含在 CMC 的現有細分市場中。在我們 1140 萬美元的 EBITDA 中，810 萬美元計入 CMC 的北美分部，其餘 330 萬美元計入我們的歐洲分部。

Turning to the balance sheet. Moving as of November 30, 2022, cash and cash equivalents totaled $582 million. In addition to cash and equivalents, we had approximately $915 million of availability under our credit, term loan and accounts receivable facility, bringing total liquidity to $1.5 billion. During the quarter, CMC took a few financing actions worth noting.

轉向資產負債表。截至 2022 年 11 月 30 日，現金和現金等價物總計 5.82 億美元。除了現金和等價物外，我們的信貸、定期貸款和應收賬款安排下還有大約 9.15 億美元的可用資金，使流動資金總額達到 15 億美元。本季度，CMC 採取了一些值得注意的融資行動。

First, we repurchased $115.9 million of CMC's 2023 senior notes through a tender offer process, leaving $214.1 million outstanding, which will mature in May. Second, our revolver was upsized to $600 million. And concurrently, we canceled our U.S. accounts receivable program, which resulted in a net $50 million increase in availability. And lastly, CMC established a $200 million term loan facility that can be utilized to refinance the maturing notes if we so choose.

首先，我們通過要約收購程序回購了 CMC 1.159 億美元的 2023 年優先票據，剩餘 2.141 億美元未償還，將於 5 月到期。其次，我們的左輪手槍規模擴大到 6 億美元。同時，我們取消了我們的美國應收賬款計劃，這導致可用性淨增加 5000 萬美元。最後，CMC 建立了 2 億美元的定期貸款機制，如果我們願意，可用於為到期票據再融資。

During the quarter, we generated $372.4 million of cash from operating activities, with working capital being relatively neutral factor. Our free cash flow amounted to $239.3 million, defined as our cash from operations less $133 million of capital expenditures. Our leverage metrics remain attractive and have improved significantly over the last several fiscal years.

本季度，我們從經營活動中產生了 3.724 億美元的現金，其中營運資金是相對中性的因素。我們的自由現金流為 2.393 億美元，定義為我們的運營現金減去 1.33 億美元的資本支出。我們的槓桿指標仍然具有吸引力，並且在過去幾個財政年度中有了顯著改善。

As can be seen on Slide 19, our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio now sits at just 0.4x. While we believe our robust balance sheet and overall financial strength provides us flexibility to finance our strategic organic growth projects and pursue opportunistic M&A while continuing to return cash to shareholders. CMC's effective tax rate was 22.7% in the first quarter. Looking ahead to fiscal 2023, we currently expect a full year effective tax rate of between 23% and 25%.

從幻燈片 19 可以看出，我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率現在僅為 0.4 倍。雖然我們相信我們穩健的資產負債表和整體財務實力使我們能夠靈活地為我們的戰略性有機增長項目提供資金，並在繼續向股東返還現金的同時尋求機會主義併購。 CMC第一季度的有效稅率為22.7%。展望 2023 財年，我們目前預計全年有效稅率在 23% 至 25% 之間。

Turning to CMC's fiscal 2023 capital spending outlook. We expect to invest between $500 million and $550 million in total. The $50 million increase to the range compared to prior guidance is driven by spending related to CMC Steel West Virginia that we now view is likely to occur this year. Lastly, CMC purchased roughly 1.3 million shares during the fiscal first quarter at an average price of $38.53 per share. Transactions since the initiation of the buyback program through Q1 have amounted to roughly $211 million, leaving $139 million remaining under the authorization.

轉向 CMC 的 2023 財年資本支出前景。我們預計總投資額在 5 億至 5.5 億美元之間。與之前的指導相比，該範圍增加了 5000 萬美元，這是由我們現在認為今年可能發生的與 CMC Steel West Virginia 相關的支出推動的。最後，CMC 在第一財季以每股 38.53 美元的平均價格購買了大約 130 萬股股票。自回購計劃啟動以來到第一季度的交易總額約為 2.11 億美元，授權剩餘 1.39 億美元。

This concludes my remarks, and I'll turn the discussion back to Barbara for comments on our outlook.

我的發言到此結束，我將把討論轉回芭芭拉，請其對我們的前景發表評論。

Thank you, Paul. We remain confident that fiscal 2023 will be another year of strong financial performance. Downstream backlog and bidding activity are at historically high levels and should support volumes over the near term. Additionally, we look forward to the start-up of our newest micro mill, Arizona 2, in the spring, which will greatly enhance CMC's ability to capitalize on the strength we see in construction markets.

謝謝你，保羅。我們仍然相信，2023 財年將是財務表現強勁的又一年。下游積壓和投標活動處於歷史高位，應該會在短期內支撐交易量。此外，我們期待我們最新的微型工廠 Arizona 2 在春季啟動，這將大大增強 CMC 充分利用我們在建築市場上看到的實力的能力。

We anticipate good financial results in the second quarter compared to historical standards, though seasonally down from the first quarter. We expect healthy demand for our products to continue in North America, while conditions in Europe are more challenging and could be impacted by customer pessimism and general uncertainty. However, as I discussed earlier, CMC's operations in Poland are very well positioned to compete given their cost leadership position and operational flexibility.

與歷史標準相比，我們預計第二季度的財務業績良好，但與第一季度相比季節性下降。我們預計北美對我們產品的健康需求將持續，而歐洲的情況更具挑戰性，可能會受到客戶悲觀情緒和普遍不確定性的影響。然而，正如我之前所討論的，鑑於 CMC 在波蘭的成本領先地位和運營靈活性，它們在波蘭的業務處於非常有利的競爭地位。

While we anticipate margins over scrap in both North America and Europe to remain elevated in relation to historical levels, they are likely to compress from the first quarter levels.

雖然我們預計北美和歐洲的廢鋼利潤率相對於歷史水平仍將保持較高水平，但它們可能會從第一季度的水平壓縮。

Once again, I would like to thank all of our CMC employees for delivering yet another quarter of outstanding performance.

我要再次感謝我們所有的 CMC 員工，他們又提供了四分之一的出色表現。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today will come from Emily Chieng with Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題將來自高盛的 Emily Chieng。

Thank you for the update this morning. I'd like to start off by asking around the Europe segment there. Volumes were certainly much higher than anticipated. Perhaps could you share how much of that is taking share versus some of the still steady Polish construction market strength that you're seeing? And then perhaps if you've got a sense of what volume expectations could look like there for the remainder of the year?

感謝您今天早上的更新。我想首先詢問那裡的歐洲部分。成交量肯定比預期高得多。也許你能分享一下其中有多少份額與你所看到的一些仍然穩定的波蘭建築市場實力相比？然後，也許如果您對今年剩餘時間的銷量預期有什麼了解？

Yes. Thank you, Emily. Happy New Year. So I would say the following. If you look at our strategy in Europe, we've had a deliberate strategy over time to strengthen our Polish operations by creating a situation where we have tremendous operational flexibility and expanding the product range of products that we have to offer. So if you go back 10, 15 years, we were highly dependent upon construction products, rebar and wire rod. And there's been a deliberate investment strategy to invest in merchant and even into some SBQ ranges.

是的。謝謝你，艾米麗。新年快樂。所以我會說以下內容。如果你看一下我們在歐洲的戰略，我們會隨著時間的推移制定一個深思熟慮的戰略，通過創造一種我們擁有巨大運營靈活性的局面並擴大我們必須提供的產品範圍來加強我們在波蘭的業務。所以如果你回到 10 年、15 年前，我們高度依賴建築產品、鋼筋和線材。並且有一種深思熟慮的投資策略來投資於商家，甚至投資於某些 SBQ 範圍。

And what that does for us is it gives us the flexibility as market conditions change to shift the product mix to the markets with good demand or better demand. In addition, we've worked really hard to have a cost structure that is advantaged relative to other options in the region. And those 2 factors combined have really allowed us to shift to the markets that have the strongest demand. So I would say we are encouraged, as I said earlier, about the construction fundamentals in Poland going forward, albeit some reduction in residential, but still good growth and good -- there's positive GDP in Poland as compared to other parts of the region.

這對我們的作用是，隨著市場條件的變化，我們可以靈活地將產品組合轉移到需求良好或需求更好的市場。此外，我們非常努力地建立了一個相對於該地區其他選擇具有優勢的成本結構。這兩個因素結合在一起，確實讓我們能夠轉向需求最強勁的市場。所以我想說，正如我之前所說，我們對波蘭未來的建築基本面感到鼓舞，儘管住宅建築有所減少，但仍然有良好的增長和良好 - 與該地區其他地區相比，波蘭的 GDP 為正。

There's -- as I indicated, the trade flows have changed as a result of the war. That has created opportunity for CMC to step in and fill demand that was filled from Russia and Belarus. So all those factors combined, we're going to continue to take advantage of our low-cost structure and take advantage of our operational flexibility to shift to where the best market opportunities are. And that will allow us to have good operational results going forward.

有——正如我所指出的，貿易流量因戰爭而發生了變化。這為 CMC 介入並填補俄羅斯和白俄羅斯填補的需求創造了機會。因此，所有這些因素結合在一起，我們將繼續利用我們的低成本結構，並利用我們的運營靈活性轉移到最佳市場機會所在的地方。這將使我們能夠在未來取得良好的運營成果。

Great. That's very clear, Barbara. And as a follow-up, would love to sort of dig deeper around the cost commentary that was provided. It sounds like things may be peaking and you might be starting to see some early signs of certain costs coming down, presumably some of the warmer weather might have brought down the energy cost structure as well. But could you perhaps share what you're seeing in each of the different components in the controllable cost calculation? And then maybe when we should be expecting that maintenance activity to hit this year? I'll leave it at that.

偉大的。這很清楚，芭芭拉。作為後續行動，我很樂意圍繞所提供的成本評論進行更深入的挖掘。聽起來事情可能已經達到頂峰，你可能會開始看到某些成本下降的早期跡象，大概一些溫暖的天氣也可能降低了能源成本結構。但是，您能否分享您在可控成本計算的每個不同組件中看到的內容？然後也許我們應該期待今年的維護活動會在什麼時候進行？我會留在那裡。

Let me make a couple of broad comments, and then I'm going to let Paul give some more specifics. If you look at -- and you go back and look at what happened when COVID hit, there was just a severe supply chain disruption and severe economic reaction because there were so many unknowns. If you fast forward to when the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, you saw a similar situation where -- in the example I'll use energy just skyrocketed because there was all this uncertainty around how Europe would source their energy and what would the price be.

讓我發表一些廣泛的評論，然後讓 Paul 給出更多細節。如果你看看——然後回頭看看 COVID 來襲時發生的事情，就會發現供應鏈嚴重中斷，經濟反應嚴重，因為有太多的未知數。如果你快進到俄羅斯和烏克蘭之間爆發戰爭的時間，你會看到類似的情況——在這個例子中，我將使用的能源猛增，因為圍繞歐洲將如何獲取能源以及歐洲將如何獲取能源存在所有這些不確定性。價格是。

You also saw a massive increase in a number of raw materials, alloys and other things that were a result of that disruption. And much the same as we saw during COVID after supply chain started to readjust and things calm down, there was an abatement in that supply chain disruption. The COVID is probably not as good as an example to the war because it was just so far reaching, and we had such concentrated supply chain sourcing.

您還看到許多原材料、合金和其他因破壞而大量增加的東西。與我們在供應鏈開始重新調整併且事情平靜下來後在 COVID 期間看到的情況大致相同，供應鏈中斷有所減輕。 COVID 可能不如戰爭的一個例子，因為它影響深遠，而且我們有如此集中的供應鏈採購。

But in the case of the war, as time has gone on, we've seen the supply chain begin to adjust and in particular, alloy costs have continued -- have started to abate and prices have adjusted downward as we found other sourcing options and as the uncertainty has started to become clear. So inflation is still broadly an issue around the world, but there's definitely abatement going on due to that initial reaction and then everybody figuring out how to adjust their supply chain. But I'll let Paul make some further comments.

但就戰爭而言，隨著時間的推移，我們已經看到供應鏈開始調整，特別是合金成本持續 - 開始下降，價格已經向下調整，因為我們找到了其他採購選擇，並且隨著不確定性開始變得清晰。因此，通貨膨脹仍然是世界範圍內的一個廣泛問題，但由於最初的反應，肯定會有所緩解，然後每個人都在想辦法調整他們的供應鏈。但我會讓 Paul 做一些進一步的評論。

I think Barbara's comments really hit the nail on the head as far as what we're seeing in North America on the cost side. Really, the only comment I would add to our cost generally is on the natural gas side in Europe. The natural gas contracts reset, essentially twice a year in the October and May time frames. And so through until October, we were operating on natural gas prices that were prewar and then they reset.

就我們在北美看到的成本方面而言，我認為芭芭拉的評論確實一針見血。真的，我要對我們的成本添加的唯一評論通常是在歐洲的天然氣方面。天然氣合同在 10 月和 5 月的時間框架內基本上每年重置兩次。因此，直到 10 月，我們一直在按照戰前的天然氣價格運營，然後價格重新調整。

Thankfully, our natural gas is limited to the reheat furnace. And so not a major cost, but the cost increased around 6x what it was previously. And so that's the one area in which we've seen some increase in costs. And it's really specific to the European operations. With respect to your other question regarding the maintenance outages, we've got a couple major outages coming in the back half of this year. And in fact, starting later this week, our Seguin, Texas facility will be down for a while as it replaces the furnace.

值得慶幸的是，我們的天然氣僅限於再熱爐。因此，這不是主要成本，但成本比以前增加了大約 6 倍。因此，這是我們看到成本有所增加的一個領域。它確實特定於歐洲業務。關於您關於維護中斷的其他問題，我們在今年下半年遇到了幾次重大中斷。事實上，從本週晚些時候開始，我們位於德克薩斯州塞金的工廠將停工一段時間，因為它需要更換熔爐。

There will be a large period of time in which we will not be melting steel. However, we have a lot of billets on the ground, and we'll continue to roll product, continue to serve customers throughout that period of time. But coming out of the outage, we will have more efficient facility and get some benefits coming out of the new technology that is being put in. So excited about that. It's a furnace that has produced well in excess of the normal service life, just a testament to the maintenance and ongoing operations that the team does down there.

將有很長一段時間我們不會熔化鋼鐵。然而，我們在地面上有很多鋼坯，我們將繼續生產產品，在這段時間內繼續為客戶提供服務。但在停電之後，我們將擁有更高效的設施，並從正在投入使用的新技術中獲得一些好處。對此感到非常興奮。這是一個生產超過正常使用壽命的熔爐，這只是團隊在那裡進行的維護和持續運營的證明。

Following that, in the third quarter, we have another outage, and I just named that just simply because it's in our Alabama mill. And again, it's a -- some new refurbishment to some of our roughing and rolling mill stands, which not only increases the reliability of those, but also provides us to enhance our product mix. And so we get benefits out of that going forward. So those will be significant, but look forward to ensuring the ongoing reliability and provide us opportunities as we move into the future.

之後，在第三季度，我們又發生了一次停電，我之所以這麼命名只是因為它在我們阿拉巴馬州的工廠裡。再一次，這是對我們的一些粗軋機和軋機機架進行一些新的翻新，這不僅提高了它們的可靠性，而且還為我們提供了增強產品組合的機會。因此，我們從中受益。因此，這些將很重要，但期待確保持續的可靠性，並在我們走向未來時為我們提供機會。

Reliability of this equipment is critical. We've been running hard as we've been enjoying these hard period -- these hard market conditions, these good market conditions. And so we need to ensure that we continue to do the necessary maintenance to continue to ensure that the reliability is there.

該設備的可靠性至關重要。我們一直在努力奔跑，因為我們一直在享受這些艱難的時期——這些艱難的市場條件，這些良好的市場條件。因此，我們需要確保我們繼續進行必要的維護，以繼續確保可靠性。

And our next question will come from Timna Tanners with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Wolfe Research 的 Timna Tanners。

Wanted to ask a bit more, if I could, about Slide 9 and the trends that you're seeing in the downstream side. Just trying to reconcile the decline in bids and backlog with the comments about the upward price trend in downstream products. Is there like some explanation of why it seems to be rolling over, but also comments about higher prices? I'm just trying to reconcile those comments.

如果可以的話，想多問一點關於幻燈片 9 和你在下游看到的趨勢。只是試圖將投標和積壓的下降與下游產品價格上漲趨勢的評論相協調。是否有一些解釋為什麼它似乎在滾動，但也有關於更高價格的評論？我只是想調和這些評論。

Happy New Year, Timna. Thank you for the question. We have seasonality in the bidding activity on the fabrication side of the business. And normally, as we move towards the end of the year because there's lower construction activity through the winter months, we tend to see some changes in lower activity during that time frame and then it ramps up when you get past the first of the year. The other thing I would say is we're seeing a little bit more lumpy activity in bidding and booking in fab because of these very large jobs that I spoke of, like the semiconductor and some of those, they're out there and they're in the pipeline, but there can be a job that we anticipate booking and it just happens to miss one quarter and fall over into the next quarter. So we've had some very large jobs that just -- it's all about the timing.

新年快樂，蒂姆納。感謝你的提問。我們在業務製造方面的招標活動具有季節性。通常情況下，隨著我們臨近年底，因為整個冬季的建築活動較少，我們往往會看到這段時間內較低活動的一些變化，然後當你過了今年的第一年時，它就會上升。我要說的另一件事是，由於我談到的這些非常大的工作，比如半導體和其中一些，我們看到晶圓廠的投標和預訂活動有點不穩定，他們就在那裡，他們”正在籌備中，但可能會有一份我們預計會預訂的工作，但它恰好錯過了一個季度，並落入了下一個季度。所以我們有一些非常大的工作——這完全取決於時機。

Overall, we are monitoring it carefully because we're all familiar with all of the economic concerns. And we continue to see a very, very strong pipeline of bidding and confidence in the owners of these projects that they're going to move forward, the industrial projects in particular, balance sheets are really strong. Companies have the cash. They're not dependent upon financing to move those projects forward. And those types of projects, once they get booked and they're funded, they will get completed. So we are not seeing an increased activity in rebids. We are not seeing increased activity in cancellations. And we remain quite encouraged going forward.

總的來說，我們正在仔細監測它，因為我們都熟悉所有的經濟問題。而且我們繼續看到非常非常強大的投標管道和對這些項目的所有者的信心，他們將繼續前進，特別是工業項目，資產負債表非常強大。公司有現金。他們不依賴融資來推進這些項目。而這些類型的項目，一旦被預訂並獲得資金，它們就會完成。所以我們沒有看到再投標活動增加。我們沒有看到取消活動有所增加。我們仍然非常鼓舞前進。

Okay. That's helpful and makes sense. I guess as a follow-up, if I could. Can you talk a little bit to the cadence of ramp-up of Arizona 2? I know it's supposed to ramp up in the calendar year, but just thinking about where we should be a year from now and the cadence? And then similarly, any cadence comments on what you're seeing in terms of any infrastructure stimulus timing would be great.

好的。這很有幫助，也很有意義。我想作為後續行動，如果可以的話。你能談談亞利桑那 2 的升級節奏嗎？我知道它應該在日曆年增加，但只是想一想一年後我們應該在哪里和節奏？然後類似地，任何關於你在任何基礎設施刺激時機方面看到的節奏的評論都會很棒。

Yes. Thank you. The best I can point you to, Timna, on AZ 2 is to go back and look at the ramp in Oklahoma. This is our third micro mill. And while this one is more complex because we're adding merchant to the product mix. We are, by design, starting with rebar because that's something that we're supremely familiar with. And so I would expect the ramp to be very similar to what we experienced at Oklahoma. I don't have that exact ramp in front of me, but it was quick. Within 3, 4 quarters, we were at 3 crews and building the fourth crew. And I would anticipate a similar situation here and the merchant will follow and be layered in and enhance the productive capability. And so I would just point you back to the trajectory that we saw for Oklahoma.

是的。謝謝你。 Timna，在 AZ 2 上，我能給你指出的最好的辦法就是回去看看俄克拉荷馬州的坡道。這是我們的第三個微型工廠。雖然這個更複雜，因為我們正在將商家添加到產品組合中。按照設計，我們從鋼筋開始，因為這是我們非常熟悉的東西。因此，我希望斜坡與我們在俄克拉荷馬州所經歷的非常相似。我面前沒有那個確切的斜坡，但它很快。在 3、4 個季度內，我們有 3 個團隊並正在建設第四個團隊。我預計這裡會出現類似的情況，商家將跟隨並分層並提高生產能力。所以我只想讓你回到我們為俄克拉荷馬州看到的軌跡。

As it relates to the Infrastructure Bill, it was very encouraging and eye-opening to see the trend in the preplanning and design phase numbers that I believe I quoted Dodge reports those. And there has just been a massive increase year-over-year in infrastructure, preplanning and then moving into the design phase. And once it's into the design phase, then, of course, it moves into active projects and bidding and then orders for steel.

由於它與基礎設施法案相關，看到我相信我引用道奇報告的預規劃和設計階段數字的趨勢非常令人鼓舞和大開眼界。基礎設施、預先規劃以及隨後進入設計階段的基礎設施逐年大幅增加。一旦進入設計階段，當然，它就會進入活躍的項目和招標，然後是鋼材訂單。

The exact timing, Timna, I -- is hard to predict. But if you look at the magnitude of that increase and you use kind of those historical references, so it takes 12 to 24 months for those projects to translate into activity on the ground. We think the back half of 2023, those are going to start moving into the backlog and starting to come to fruition and then build from there.

我，Timna，確切的時間很難預測。但是，如果你看一下增長的幅度，並使用那些歷史參考資料，那麼這些項目需要 12 到 24 個月才能轉化為實地活動。我們認為到 2023 年下半年，這些將開始進入積壓並開始取得成果，然後從那裡開始建設。

And our next question will come from Lawson Winder with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題將來自美國銀行的 Lawson Winder。

Nice to hear from you all, and thank you for the update. I would like to ask about Slide 16. You mentioned opportunistic M&A. Can you provide any color on the type of target companies you might be looking at, whether it might be downstream or diversifying into other products or perhaps different geographies?

很高興收到大家的來信，感謝您的更新。我想問一下幻燈片 16。你提到了機會主義併購。您能否提供有關您可能正在尋找的目標公司類型的任何顏色，無論是下游還是多元化到其他產品或可能是不同的地理位置？

Thank you, Lawson. I appreciate the question. Unfortunately, historically, we haven't provided an enormous amount of color on specific targets. So I think if you go back to our Investor Day a couple of years ago, we were pretty clear on what we are and what we aren't. And I think you will -- whatever you see us do, it will build off of the base that we have today. Clearly, we're excited about our foray into geosynthetics with the Tensar acquisition. Clearly, that's one that you can look toward.

謝謝你，勞森。我很欣賞這個問題。不幸的是，從歷史上看，我們沒有為特定目標提供大量顏色。所以我想如果你回到幾年前的投資者日，我們很清楚我們是什麼，我們不是什麼。而且我認為你會 - 無論你看到我們做什麼，它都會建立在我們今天擁有的基礎之上。顯然，我們對通過收購坦薩涉足土工合成材料感到興奮。顯然，這是你可以期待的。

But I would say we see so much opportunity from an organic perspective with Tensar, and we're highly focused on proper integration and really leveraging our commercial organizations to grow that really superior product that they have, and we're encouraged every single day with what we're seeing on that front. But if you look at the base business that we have, which is -- we have the full value chain, recycling and rebar, merchant, wire rod and then downstream. And we look across that full gamut.

但我想說，我們從坦薩的有機角度看到了很多機會，我們高度關注適當的整合，真正利用我們的商業組織來發展他們擁有的真正優質的產品，我們每天都受到鼓舞我們在這方面看到的。但如果你看看我們擁有的基礎業務，那就是——我們擁有完整的價值鏈、回收和螺紋鋼、商人、線材，然後是下游。我們審視了整個範圍。

As it relates to geography, if we are strong, as you know, in North America, and that is a key and core market to us. We also feel very, very strong in Europe with our Polish operations being beachhead. And so we don't rule out opportunities there, although Europe is a bit more complicated with all the various countries and differences and different growth in different countries throughout Europe. We do see Europe as going through this whole energy transition, which is going to create massive change and opportunity in our industry. And we're a leader in this area. And so to the extent that we can leverage that leadership, that's something that could be interesting to us. So beyond that, we can't really get into specific targets.

就地理而言，如果我們在北美很強大，如您所知，那是我們的關鍵和核心市場。我們在歐洲也感覺非常非常強大，我們的波蘭業務是灘頭陣地。因此，我們不排除那裡的機會，儘管歐洲由於各個國家以及整個歐洲不同國家的差異和不同增長而變得更加複雜。我們確實認為歐洲正在經歷整個能源轉型，這將為我們的行業帶來巨大的變革和機遇。我們是該領域的領導者。因此，就我們可以利用這種領導力而言，這對我們來說可能很有趣。因此，除此之外，我們無法真正進入具體目標。

Yes, I know that was fantastic. Very helpful. You mentioned Tensar several times in your response, which maybe I think I actually wanted to ask a question about the production challenges you're having. Would you be able to provide some color on the remediation plan for that and the time frame to an improvement in performance?

是的，我知道那太棒了。非常有幫助。你在回復中多次提到坦薩，也許我想我實際上想問一個關於你所面臨的生產挑戰的問題。您能否提供一些關於補救計劃的顏色以及改進性能的時間框架？

Yes. Thank you. This is one where there is a great synergy and a synergy we didn't necessarily identify through our due diligence. But bottom line, we lost a press. And those things happen. They happen all over other operations and in our steelmaking operations from time to time. They already had a press on order because they knew that they needed to refresh this. But then there were supply chain challenges, which delayed the delivery of that press and the installation of the press. So that was the challenge. The press is in, it's installed, it's performing. And so that issue is behind us. .

是的。謝謝你。這是一個存在巨大協同作用的地方，而我們不一定通過盡職調查發現這種協同作用。但歸根結底，我們失去了媒體。那些事情發生了。它們不時發生在其他操作和我們的煉鋼操作中。他們已經下單了，因為他們知道他們需要刷新它。但隨後出現了供應鏈挑戰，這延遲了該印刷機的交付和印刷機的安裝。這就是挑戰。印刷機已安裝，已安裝，正在運行。所以這個問題已經過去了。 .

The synergy really comes in from Tensar is just superb at innovation and new product development and commercialization of new products. But their core expertise is not necessarily on the manufacturing side. We are superb at manufacturing. And so when we saw some of the challenges that Morrow was undergoing, we were able to dispatch a number of our technical experts to be on the ground and help them muscle through it or find other productivity improvements and safety enhancements and all kinds of things that just leveraged our strength and added to their capabilities.

真正來自坦薩的協同作用是在創新和新產品開發以及新產品商業化方面的卓越表現。但他們的核心專長不一定在製造方面。我們精於製造。因此，當我們看到 Morrow 正在經歷的一些挑戰時，我們能夠派遣我們的一些技術專家到實地，幫助他們克服困難或找到其他生產力改進和安全增強以及各種各樣的事情只是利用了我們的力量並增加了他們的能力。

So the problem is behind us, and we would expect to see some fairly immediate abatement of the added costs that we had to incur to just move product differently around the world.

所以問題已經過去了，我們希望看到我們為在世界範圍內以不同方式移動產品而不得不承擔的額外成本的一些相當立即的減少。

Fantastic. Now hopefully, I'm not pressing my luck too much to maybe ask one more question, but I just wanted to follow up on that Slide 9, the downstream backlog and bidding volumes. Thank you for providing that. That's extremely helpful. Could you maybe provide a little bit of detail on the makeup of that? Like, for example, what proportion is warehousing and what proportion is reshoring?

極好的。現在希望，我不會太過碰運氣，也許再問一個問題，但我只想跟進幻燈片 9，即下游積壓和投標量。謝謝你提供。這非常有幫助。你能提供一些關於它的構成的細節嗎？比如，倉儲佔多大比例，回岸佔多大比例？

I don't think we're prepared to give that granularity. What I would say is it's a strong balance between infrastructure and nonresidential. And we would expect infrastructure to increase over time. It's going to be a well-balanced mix. And I don't think it's heavy weighted towards any one segment. And the projects once they're in that backlog, they're going to get concluded and completed. I think the real beauty or message in the material that we provided is there is an enormous margin opportunity in the backlog that is going to evolve and play out going forward as we service that backlog.

我認為我們不准備提供這種粒度。我想說的是基礎設施和非住宅之間的強大平衡。我們預計基礎設施會隨著時間的推移而增加。這將是一個均衡的組合。而且我認為它對任何一個細分市場都不重要。這些項目一旦進入積壓狀態，就會結束並完成。我認為我們提供的材料中真正的美麗或信息是積壓中存在巨大的利潤機會，隨著我們為積壓提供服務，它將不斷發展和發揮作用。

And our next question will come from Phil Gibbs with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題將來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Phil Gibbs。

Lots of good questions were asked that we're basically already focused on what I was wanting to hit on. But what's the openness to further M&A as it relates to your strategic longer-term growth framework?

問了很多很好的問題，我們基本上已經專注於我想要解決的問題。但是，與您的戰略長期增長框架相關的進一步併購的開放程度如何？

Phil, I think you have followed us through the good, the bad and the ugly, and our balance sheet has never been in a condition that it is, it's extremely strong. It gives us the flexibility to do a lot of things. As you know, of late, we've been returning more to shareholders through the share repurchase and the increase in the dividend. We think about that in terms of just a balanced capital allocation strategy. And we have complete confidence that we can continue to do that as well as look at and fund the organic growth that we've talked about and leave the opening and the flexibility to consider M&A if the right thing comes along.

菲爾，我想你已經跟隨我們經歷了好的、壞的和醜陋的，我們的資產負債表從來沒有像現在這樣，它非常強大。它使我們可以靈活地做很多事情。如您所知，最近，我們通過股票回購和增加股息向股東回報更多。我們僅從平衡的資本配置策略的角度考慮這一點。我們完全有信心我們可以繼續這樣做，並著眼於我們已經討論過的有機增長並為其提供資金，並在合適的事情出現時留下開放的空間和考慮併購的靈活性。

And I think you've also followed us long enough to know that we're very disciplined in terms of our capital allocation, and we're very disciplined acquirers to ensure that it's the right strategic fit and that we have something to offer when we do combine and when we do acquire. So we remain open, and I think the balance sheet can support that kind of activity while still having a pretty balanced capital allocation strategy.

而且我認為你也已經關注我們足夠長的時間，知道我們在資本配置方面非常有紀律，我們是非常有紀律的收購方，以確保它是正確的戰略契合，並且當我們有需要時我們可以提供一些東西做結合，當我們做收購。所以我們保持開放，我認為資產負債表可以支持這種活動，同時仍然有一個相當平衡的資本配置策略。

And then just a follow-up. You had mentioned something about a 13 -- excuse me, a 12x increase in something. I think as it related to perhaps infrastructure quoting or something like that. I missed exactly what you said around that.

然後只是跟進。你提到了關於 13 的事情——對不起，某事增加了 12 倍。我認為它可能與基礎設施報價或類似的東西有關。我完全錯過了你所說的。

That was around the infrastructure, I believe, Phil, that the massive increase in the preplanning and then the design phase.

那是圍繞基礎設施，我相信，Phil，預先規劃和設計階段的大量增加。

Versus 2 years ago.

與 2 年前相比。

Versus 2 years ago for infrastructure projects, which is really the leading indicator for the new Infrastructure Bill to begin to translate into orders and backlog for us. So that's an incredibly encouraging sign that, indeed, we are going to see that coming to the market here in the near term.

與 2 年前的基礎設施項目相比，這確實是新基礎設施法案開始為我們轉化為訂單和積壓的領先指標。所以這是一個令人難以置信的令人鼓舞的跡象，事實上，我們將在短期內看到它進入市場。

And our next question will come from Tristan Gresser with BNP Paribas.

我們的下一個問題將來自法國巴黎銀行的 Tristan Gresser。

Maybe I'll start off with a follow-up regarding the supply and demand outlook for rebar consumption in U.S. If you look at the medium-term picture there, there's been a number of projects announced domestically maybe around 3 million tons of new rebar capacity potentially ramping up by 2026. You flagged the 1.5 million ton rebar impact from the Infrastructure Bill. But could there be a scenario when this is not enough?

也許我會先跟進美國螺紋鋼消費的供需前景。如果你看一下那裡的中期情況，國內已經宣布了一些項目，可能有大約 300 萬噸的新螺紋鋼產能到 2026 年可能會增加。您指出了基礎設施法案對 150 萬噸螺紋鋼的影響。但是，這還不夠嗎？

And I just wanted to have your thoughts on how do you feel that the medium-term balance there for the U.S. rebar market? Are you really worried that there's maybe too much capacity being built?

我只是想了解一下您如何看待美國螺紋鋼市場的中期平衡？您是否真的擔心正在建設的容量可能過多？

Yes. Thank you, Tristan. I don't know that our numbers would be quite as high as 3 because I think some of that has already been absorbed in the market. If you go back to the Oklahoma investment that we made, there was a very heightened concern at the time that we were introducing new capacity that couldn't be absorbed by the market, and it was fully absorbed. And as far as I can say and see and I think what you observed was it was not disruptive to the market.

是的。謝謝你，特里斯坦。我不知道我們的數字是否會高達 3，因為我認為其中一些已經被市場吸收。如果你回到我們在俄克拉荷馬州的投資，當時人們非常擔心我們正在引入市場無法吸收的新產能，而且它已經被完全吸收了。據我所知和所見，我認為你觀察到的是它沒有對市場造成破壞。

I acknowledge Nucor has made some investments. And certainly, we have Arizona, which really is -- it's an offset to the difficult decision that we made during COVID to shutter the California facility. And so I'm not overly concerned at this time. I think what I've seen and what our numbers would tell us is that it's -- you're not going to see a significant overbuilding of capacity, unlike maybe some other products where there's been substantially more new capacity brought online and not necessarily the same demand increase for that capacity, but we always monitor it.

我承認 Nucor 已經進行了一些投資。當然，我們有亞利桑那州，這確實是——它抵消了我們在 COVID 期間做出的關閉加利福尼亞工廠的艱難決定。所以我現在並不過分擔心。我認為我所看到的以及我們的數字會告訴我們的是——你不會看到明顯的產能過度建設，這可能不像其他一些產品，這些產品有更多的新產能上線，但不一定是對該容量的相同需求增加，但我們始終對其進行監控。

And I think the other point I would make is mini mill, micro mill capacity is very flexible and can adjust when demand changes. We have a very low fixed cost portion to that model, unlike blast furnace capacity, which does not flex as easily as mini mill or micro mill capacity.

我想我要說的另一點是小型工廠，小型工廠的產能非常靈活，可以在需求變化時進行調整。與高爐產能不同，我們對該模型的固定成本部分非常低，高爐產能不像小型軋機或微型軋機產能那樣容易變化。

All right. That's very clear and helpful. My second question is more on the spot market development. Do you think the structural adjustment you've seen in the U.S. rebar market pre Infrastructure Bill, the one you mentioned in your presentation, are currently being fully reflected in spot rebar metal spread that are premium to flat products, meaning that we should now see a return to a more normal cost price relationship moving forward for U.S. rebar prices and cost compared to what we've seen over the past 2 years? So just wanted to have your thoughts on the current developments.

好的。這是非常清楚和有幫助的。我的第二個問題更多是關於現貨市場的發展。你認為你在美國螺紋鋼市場基礎設施法案之前看到的結構調整，你在你的演講中提到的那個，目前正在充分反映在現貨螺紋鋼金屬價差中，這比板材產品溢價，這意味著我們現在應該看到與我們過去兩年所見相比，美國螺紋鋼價格和成本是否會恢復到更正常的成本價格關係？所以只想了解您對當前發展的看法。

Yes. Thank you, Tristan. It's a complicated question. There's many factors, but I think the consolidation of the long side of the market, particularly the rebar space, has provided a lot of stability. I do think that there is a structural shift upward in long, medium-term margins through a cycle. I would also highlight that you really should look at and compare metal margin between long products and flat products. Long products have had much more stable margin structure over -- it fluctuates, but over a much tighter band than the peak to trough that you tend to see for a flat and plate products.

是的。謝謝你，特里斯坦。這是一個複雜的問題。有很多因素，但我認為市場多頭的整合，特別是螺紋鋼空間，提供了很大的穩定性。我確實認為，通過一個週期，長期、中期利潤率會發生結構性向上轉變。我還要強調的是，您確實應該查看和比較長材和扁平材之間的金屬利潤率。長材產品的利潤率結構要穩定得多——它會波動，但比您在平板和板材產品中看到的峰谷要窄得多。

And I don't see anything that would suggest that, that stability will be disrupted. So we have known for a long period of time that even before consolidation, rebar and long products, metal margin was much more stable than what you see on the flat side of the equation.

我沒有看到任何跡象表明穩定性會被破壞。因此，我們很長一段時間以來就知道，即使在合併、螺紋鋼和長材產品之前，金屬利潤率也比你在等式的平坦方面看到的要穩定得多。

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

這將結束我們的問答環節。我想將會議轉回給芭芭拉·史密斯，聽取任何閉幕詞。

Thank you, Cole. And thank you, everyone, for joining us on today's conference call. We look forward to speaking with many of you during our investor calls in the coming days and weeks. Have a great day. Thank you.

謝謝你，科爾。感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。我們期待在未來幾天和幾週的投資者電話會議上與你們中的許多人交談。祝你有美好的一天。謝謝你。

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

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。