Darling Ingredients Inc (DAR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Darling Ingredients Inc. conference call to discuss the company's second quarter 2024 Financial Results. After the speakers' prepared remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session period, and instructions to ask a question will be given at that time. Today's call is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加 Darling Ingredients Inc. 電話會議，討論該公司 2024 年第二季財務業績。演講者準備好發言後，將進入問答環節，屆時將發出提問指示。今天的通話正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Suann Guthrie. Please go ahead.

我現在想把電話轉給 Suann Guthrie 女士。請繼續。

Great. Thank you for joining the Darling Ingredients second quarter 2024 earnings call. Here with me today are Mr. Randall C. Stuewe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Brad Phillips, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Bob Day, Chief Strategy Officer; and Mr. Matt Jansen, Chief Operating Officer of North America.

偉大的。感謝您參加 Darling Ingredients 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天和我在一起的還有董事長兼執行長 Randall C. Stuewe 先生； Brad Phillips 先生，財務長； Bob Day 先生，首席策略長；以及北美首席營運長 Matt Jansen 先生。

Our second quarter 2024 earnings news release and slide presentation are available on the Investor page under the Events and Presentations tab on our corporate website and will be joined by a transcript of this call once it is available.

我們的2024 年第二季收益新聞稿和幻燈片簡報可在我們公司網站「活動和簡報」標籤下的「投資者」頁面上獲取，一旦發布，將附上本次電話會議的文字記錄。

During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could materially differ because of factors discussed in today's press release and the comments made during this conference call and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K, 10-Q and other reported filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

在本次電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，即對未來事件的預測、預測或其他陳述。這些陳述基於當前的預期和假設，存在風險和不確定性。由於今天的新聞稿中討論的因素以及本次電話會議期間以及我們向美國證券交易委員會報告的10-K、10-Q 表格和其他報告文件的風險因素部分中發表的評論，實際結果可能存在重大差異。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的責任。

Now, I will hand the call over to Randy.

現在，我將把電話轉交給蘭迪。

Thanks, Suann. Good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us for our second quarter earnings call. In our last earnings call, I mentioned that the team is focused on making the necessary adjustments to adapt to a deflationary and volatile global ingredients market and a renewable diesel market that continues to suffer from perceived overcapacity in an uncertain regulatory environment. I challenged the team to accomplish several things during the second quarter, and I'm pleased to report on their successes.

謝謝，蘇安。大家早安，感謝您參加我們的第二季財報電話會議。在我們上次的財報電話會議中，我提到該團隊致力於進行必要的調整，以適應通貨緊縮和波動的全球原料市場以及可再生柴油市場，該市場在不確定的監管環境下繼續遭受產能過剩的困擾。我要求團隊在第二季完成幾項任務，我很高興地報告他們的成功。

Since the first quarter, we were able to improve gross margins, control capital spending without sacrificing operational excellence, pay down debt, repurchase common stock, and most importantly, we received a much anticipated dividend from DGD.

自第一季以來，我們能夠提高毛利率，在不犧牲卓越營運的情況下控制資本支出，償還債務，回購普通股，最重要的是，我們從 DGD 收到了備受期待的股息。

For the quarter, our combined EBITDA was $273.6 million while slightly lower sequentially, our performance reflected a nice improvement in our core ingredients business.

本季度，我們的綜合 EBITDA 為 2.736 億美元，比上一季略有下降，我們的業績反映出我們核心原料業務的良好改善。

Turning to the Feed Ingredients segment. Global raw material volumes remain strong and we are seeing global fat pricing improve, indicating more demand for low carbon intensity feedstocks for renewable diesel. Our Feed business showed sequential improvement in margins as we made adjustments in raw material procurement arrangements and our operational excellence and cost cutting programs are beginning to deliver. With fat prices on the rise, our continued focus on operational excellence and effective cost cutting and spread management, I feel confident we should see improved earnings in the Feed segment for the back half of the year.

轉向飼料原料部分。全球原料產量依然強勁，我們看到全球脂肪價格上漲，顯示對再生柴油的低碳強度原料的需求增加。隨著我們對原材料採購安排進行調整，並且我們的卓越營運和成本削減計劃開始發揮作用，我們的飼料業務利潤率連續改善。隨著脂肪價格的上漲，我們繼續專注於卓越營運以及有效的成本削減和價差管理，我相信我們應該會看到下半年飼料部門的收益有所改善。

Turning to our Food Segment. Our Rousselot business continues to benefit from being a supplier of choice in the gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen market. While we have seen several quarters of customer destocking, we are starting to see signs of that beginning to slow.

轉向我們的食品領域。我們的羅賽洛業務繼續受益於成為明膠和水解膠原蛋白市場的首選供應商。雖然我們已經看到客戶庫存減少了幾個季度，但我們開始看到這種情況開始放緩的跡象。

As I've mentioned in previous earnings calls, we are preparing to launch Nextida.GC, a natural collagen solution for managing glucose moderation. We are having a number of conversation with customers and look forward to more discussions at SupplySide West and Food Ingredients North America trade show in October.

正如我在先前的財報電話會議中提到的，我們正準備推出 Nextida.GC，這是一種用於管理血糖調節的天然膠原蛋白解決方案。我們正在與客戶進行多次對話，並期待在 10 月的 SupplySide West 和北美食品配料貿易展上進行更多討論。

Turning to our Fuel segment. Diamond Green Diesel continues to prove it's the best-in-class. Demand for our products remains robust, but margins remain challenged given the lack of clarity in the regulatory markets for RINs and LCFS. Last quarter, we mentioned that cash was rapidly building at Diamond Green Diesel and I'm pleased to report on July 18th, Darling Ingredients received a $77.1 million cash dividend from the joint venture.

轉向我們的燃料部分。鑽石綠柴油繼續證明它是同類中最好的。對我們產品的需求仍然強勁，但由於 RIN 和 LCFS 監管市場缺乏明確性，利潤率仍面臨挑戰。上個季度，我們提到 Diamond Green Diesel 的現金正在迅速增加，我很高興在 7 月 18 日報告，Darling Ingredients 從合資企業獲得了 7710 萬美元的現金股息。

Our Sustainable Aviation Fuel unit continues to move ahead of schedule and on budget with an anticipated startup in the fourth quarter of 2024. We continue to work to build out a strong sales book with both domestic and international supply opportunities.

我們的永續航空燃料部門繼續提前並按預算推進，預計將於 2024 年第四季啟動。我們繼續努力透過國內和國際供應機會建立強大的銷售記錄。

Now with that, I'd like to hand the call to Brad to take us through some financials. Then I'll come back and discuss my thoughts for the rest of 2024. Brad?

現在，我想把電話轉給布萊德，讓他帶我們去了解一些財務狀況。然後我會回來討論我對 2024 年剩餘時間的想法。布拉德？

Thank you, Randy. Net income for the second quarter 2024 totaled $78.9 million or $0.49 per diluted share compared to net income of $252.4 million or a $1.55 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2023. Net sales were $1.5 billion for the second quarter 2024 as compared to $1.8 billion for the second quarter 2023. For the first six months of 2024, net income was $160 million or $0.99 per diluted share as compared to net income of $438.2 million or $2.69 per diluted share for the first six months of 2023.

謝謝你，蘭迪。2024 年第二季的淨利潤總計 7,890 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.49 美元，而 2023 年第二季淨利為 2.524 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 1.55 美元。2024 年第二季的淨銷售額為 15 億美元，而 2023 年第二季的淨銷售額為 18 億美元。2024 年前六個月的淨利潤為 1.6 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.99 美元，而 2023 年前六個月的淨利潤為 4.382 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 2.69 美元。

Net sales for the first six months were $2.9 billion compared to net sales of $3.5 billion for the same period in 2023. Operating income decreased $208.2 million to $148.5 million for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $356.7 million for the second quarter of 2023, primarily due to $168.8 million decline in our share in the equity and net income from Diamond Green Diesel earnings as compared to the same period in 2023. Additionally, the second quarter gross margin declined $71 million as compared to the same period in 2023.

前 6 個月的淨銷售額為 29 億美元，而 2023 年同期的淨銷售額為 35 億美元。2024 年第二季營業收入減少2.082 億美元，至1.485 億美元，而2023 年第二季營業收入為3.567 億美元，主要是由於我們在權益中所佔的份額以及Diamond Green Diesel 收益的淨利潤與去年同期相比減少了1.688 億美元2023年期間。此外，第二季毛利率較 2023 年同期下降 7,100 萬美元。

Operating income decreased $326.9 million to $285.7 million for the six months of 2024 compared to $612.5 million for the six months of 2023. The decrease was primarily result of $184.7 million decline in our share in the equity and net income from Diamond Green Diesel earnings as compared to the same period in 2023 along with the $191.6 million decline in gross margin.

2024 年 6 個月的營業收入減少了 3.269 億美元，至 2.857 億美元，而 2023 年 6 個月的營業收入為 6.125 億美元。下降的主要原因是，與 2023 年同期相比，我們在 Diamond Green Diesel 收益中的權益和淨利潤份額下降了 1.847 億美元，同時毛利率下降了 1.916 億美元。

The company recorded income tax expense of $0.8 million for the three months ended June 29, 2024, yielding an effective tax rate of 0.9%, which differs from the federal statutory rate of 21%, due primarily to the relative mix of earnings among jurisdictions with different tax rates, non-taxable chains and contingent consideration, certain taxable income inclusion items in the U.S. based on foreign earnings and biofuel tax incentives. The company's effective tax rate, excluding the impact of the biofuel tax incentives and discrete items was 29% for the three months ended June 29, 2024. The company also paid $23 million of income taxes in the second quarter.

截至2024 年6 月29 日的三個月，該公司的所得稅費用為80 萬美元，有效稅率為0.9%，與21% 的聯邦法定稅率不同，這主要是由於各司法管轄區之間的收入相對組合不同的稅率、免稅鍊和或有考慮因素、美國基於外國收入和生物燃料稅收優惠的某些應稅收入包含項目。截至2024年6月29日止三個月，該公司的有效稅率（不包括生質燃料稅優惠和離散計畫的影響）為29%。該公司第二季還繳了2,300萬美元的所得稅。

For the six months ended June 29, 2024, the company recorded income tax expense of $4.7 million and an effective tax rate of 2.8%. Excluding the biofuel tax incentives and discrete items, the effective tax rate was 27.2% for the six months ended June 29, 2024. The company also has paid $56 million of income taxes year-to-date as of the end of the second quarter. For 2024, we expect the effective tax rates to remain about the same at 3% and cash taxes of approximately $45 million for the remainder of the year.

截至2024年6月29日的六個月，該公司記錄的所得稅費用為470萬美元，有效稅率為2.8%。不包括生物燃料稅收優惠和離散項目，截至2024年6月29日的六個月的有效稅率為27.2%。截至第二季末，該公司今年迄今還繳納了 5,600 萬美元的所得稅。2024 年，我們預計有效稅率將維持在 3% 不變，現金稅將在今年剩餘時間內維持在約 4,500 萬美元。

Now in the second quarter, we paid down $51 million of debt. The company's total debt outstanding as of June 29, 2024 was $4.409 billion compared to $4.427 billion at year-end 2023. Our bank covenant projected leverage ratio at Q2 2024 was 4.24x, and we had $814.4 million available to borrow under our revolving credit facility.

現在在第二季度，我們償還了 5,100 萬美元的債務。截至 2024 年 6 月 29 日，該公司的未償債務總額為 44.09 億美元，而 2023 年底為 44.27 億美元。我們的銀行契約預計 2024 年第二季的槓桿率為 4.24 倍，我們的循環信貸額度下可藉入 8.144 億美元。

Capital expenditures totaled $98 million in the second quarter and $191.7 million for the first six months. We also repurchased approximately 807,000 shares of common stock during the second quarter of 2024 for approximately $29.2 million. As Randy mentioned earlier on July 18, 2024, we received a $77.1 million cash distribution from DGD.

第二季資本支出總額為 9,800 萬美元，前六個月資本支出總額為 1.917 億美元。我們也在 2024 年第二季以約 2,920 萬美元回購了約 807,000 股普通股。正如蘭迪早些時候在 2024 年 7 月 18 日提到的，我們從 DGD 收到了 7710 萬美元的現金分配。

With that, Randy, I'll turn it back over to you.

這樣，蘭迪，我會把它交還給你。

Thanks, Brad. As we expect continued dividends from Diamond Green Diesel and global finished product price improvement, our focus for the balance of year is to manage capital outflows and pay down additional debt. Additionally, we will continue our focus on operational excellence and widening margins where possible. We remain optimistic as we have seen prices begin to improve in late Q2, which will be reflected in our Q3 and Q4 earnings. I remain optimistic that we should be able to deliver $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion of combined adjusted EBITDA for the year.

謝謝，布拉德。由於我們預計鑽石綠柴油將持續派發股息以及全球成品價格上漲，因此我們今年餘下的重點是管理資本外流並償還額外債務。此外，我們將繼續專注於卓越營運並盡可能擴大利潤。我們仍然樂觀，因為我們看到價格在第二季末開始改善，這將反映在我們第三季和第四季的收益中。我仍然樂觀地認為，我們今年應該能夠實現 13 億至 14 億美元的綜合調整後 EBITDA。

So with that, Cindy, let's go ahead and open it up to Q&A.

那麼，Cindy，讓我們繼續進行問答。

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, may press star then one on your touch tone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pickup your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star two. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster.

我們現在開始問答環節。若要提問，請按按鍵式電話上的星號，然後再按一個。如果您使用免持電話，請在按鍵前拿起聽筒。如果您的問題已解決，但您想撤回您的問題，請按星號二。請只回答一個問題和一個後續問題。此時，我們將暫停片刻以集合我們的名單。

Our first question comes from Heather Jones of Heather Jones Research LLC. Go ahead, please.

我們的第一個問題來自希瑟瓊斯研究有限責任公司的希瑟瓊斯。請繼續。

Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. First question is on SAF. I was just wondering if you could give us what your view is of the supply and demand dynamics for that going into 2025. You got the mandate kicking in, in UK. And then – and the mandate kicking in into the EU, and I'd think that maybe would shift some of their volumes into the EU. And just wondering how you're seeing that shaping up for DGD going into 2025?

早安.感謝您提出問題。第一個問題是關於 SAF 的。我只是想知道您是否可以告訴我們您對 2025 年供需動態的看法。在英國，你得到了授權。然後，授權開始進入歐盟，我認為這可能會將其部分銷售轉移到歐盟。只是想知道您如何看待 DGD 進入 2025 年的情況？

Yes. Thanks, Heather. This is Bob. The SAF picture is quickly evolving as European regulations really come online in 2025. I think the interesting thing there is technically compliance around SAF is required later in the period. But the tendency of everyone involved is to not want to get too far behind. So it's a somewhat murky picture, but what we're seeing is strong interest to try to get ahead. And so I think we're going to start to see things come together as we move forward here.

是的。謝謝，希瑟。這是鮑伯。隨著歐洲法規在 2025 年真正上線，SAF 的情況正在迅速發展。我認為有趣的是，在此期間後期需要圍繞 SAF 進行技術合規。但所有參與其中的人都傾向於不想落後太多。因此，這是一個有點模糊的情況，但我們看到的是嘗試取得進展的強烈興趣。所以我認為，當我們向前邁進時，我們將開始看到事情走到一起。

Yes. This is Randy, Heather. And I think I'd echo real quick with Bob. I mean we continue to assemble a sales book, obviously. Hopefully, we'll have some announcements out soon on it. But the demand is building out there right now. It's still kind of a little, as Bob said, murky on what the rules are, obviously, on both imports and 45Z and everything. And so at the end of the day, I think this thing will pick up momentum here as we go into Q3.

是的。這是蘭迪，希瑟。我想我會很快回覆鮑伯。我的意思是，顯然我們會繼續寫一本銷售手冊。希望我們很快就會發布一些相關公告。但現在需求正在增加。正如鮑勃所說，對於進口和 45Z 以及其他所有產品的規則顯然仍然有點模糊。因此，歸根結底，我認為隨著我們進入第三季度，這件事將會加速發展。

Okay. And as a follow-up to that, I mean, for the roughly 250 million gallons that DGD will have, are you – is your anticipation that the majority of that will go domestic? Or are you expecting a strong export pool for that?

好的。作為後續行動，我的意思是，對於 DGD 將擁有的大約 2.5 億加侖，您是否預計其中大部分將銷往國內？還是您期望有強大的出口池？

I think that's yet to be seen. I think you'll see a blend of both domestic and export sales, and that ranges from the U.S. to Canada to the continent. It will be driven by the market and the rules. I mean I think everybody saw Neste's production this morning of SAF and clearly, the market is evolving there, as Bob says, and ultimately – 250 million gallons may seem like a big number of gallons, but it's really not, given the book that we were assembling out there at this time.

我認為這還有待觀察。我認為您會看到國內銷售和出口銷售的結合，範圍從美國到加拿大再到非洲大陸。它將由市場和規則驅動。我的意思是，我想每個人都看到了今天早上SAF 的Neste 產量，並且很明顯，正如Bob 所說，那裡的市場正在不斷發展，最終— 2.5 億加侖可能看起來是一個很大的數字，但考慮到這本書，事實並非如此我們此時正在外面集合。

Okay. Thank you so much.

好的。太感謝了。

Our next question comes from Dushyant Ailani of Jefferies. Go ahead, please.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Dushyant Ailani。請繼續。

Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I just wanted to dive a little bit into the margin cadence for the second half. What are some of the puts and takes? I know 3Q is usually seasonally low. But I mean, if you could share some color on that, please?

早安，夥計們。感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想深入了解下半場的邊際節奏。有哪些看跌期權和看跌期權？我知道第三季通常是季節性低點。但我的意思是，你能分享一些顏色嗎？

Are you talking Feed, Dushyant?

你是在說飼料嗎，杜希揚特？

Yes. Feed and Food as well, please.

是的。還有飼料和食物，請。

For business?

為了生意？

Across all segments, yes.

在所有細分市場中，是的。

Yes, Dushyant. This is Brad. On Feed and overall in the core, you may have noticed Q2 here, all three segments had improved slightly over Q1, I'd say, more or less our expectation, the back half of the year with where prices have kind of moved late in the second quarter. And as Randy kind of mentioned in the intro with the margin management and cost concentration that we placed on the segments. We see momentum there for the back half of the year and those margins continuing to improve.

是的，杜希揚特。這是布拉德.在飼料和整體核心方面，您可能已經注意到第二季度，所有三個細分市場都比第一季度略有改善，我想說，或多或少是我們的預期，今年下半年價格有所上漲第二季。正如蘭迪在介紹中所提到的，我們對各個細分市場進行了利潤管理和成本集中。我們看到今年下半年的勢頭，利潤率持續改善。

Awesome. Thank you. And then just wanted to get your overall thoughts on the macro in terms of like 45Z credits. Any thoughts on when we expect to hear something over there? Do you think BTC will be extended if we don't hear anything on the 45Z?

驚人的。謝謝。然後只是想了解您對 45Z 積分等宏觀的整體想法。關於我們什麼時候能聽到那邊的消息有什麼想法嗎？如果我們在 45Z 上沒有聽到任何消息，您認為 BTC 會延期嗎？

So that was – so I just want to clarify I understood the question.

這就是——所以我只是想澄清一下我理解這個問題。

45Z, what's our expectation?

45Z，我們的期望是什麼？

Yes.

是的。

And Matt, feel free to jump in. But I mean, our expectation is that we believe that we're going to see 45Z implemented by January 1, and really all signs are pointing to that.

馬特，請隨意加入。但我的意思是，我們的期望是，我們相信我們將在 1 月 1 日之前看到 45Z 的實施，實際上所有跡像都表明了這一點。

I mean there's obviously a lot of talk around that with the guidance that is yet to come out and we're, like everyone else, anxiously awaiting that. But as Bob mentioned, we're still of the view that listen, Jan 1 is the day it will be implemented. There's been lots of talk about the blenders tax credit, and if that will be extended or another version of it at all. And so far, our view is that at this point is that no, we still think that the – what's in place today in terms of the legislation, what's going forward.

我的意思是，對於尚未出台的指導意見，顯然有很多討論，我們和其他人一樣，焦急地等待著這一結果。但正如 Bob 所提到的，我們仍然認為 1 月 1 日是實施的日子。關於攪拌機稅收抵免的討論很多，以及是否會延長或其他版本。到目前為止，我們的觀點是，不，我們仍然認為——今天在立法方面已經到位，未來將會發生什麼。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Our next question comes from Manav Gupta of UBS. Go ahead, please.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬納夫·古普塔。請繼續。

Just wanted to understand. Fat prices are moving up, UCO prices are moving up. D4 RIN prices are moving up. So is that the reason you have been able to reaffirm your guidance because looking at the numbers, you probably need to hit 360 million for each of the remaining two quarters to get to that guidance, so what are the factors which give you confidence that you can get there in the second half?

只是想了解一下。脂肪價格上漲，UCO 價格上漲。D4 RIN 價格正在上漲。這就是您能夠重申您的指導的原因，因為從數字來看，您可能需要在剩下的兩個季度中每個季度達到 3.6 億才能達到該指導，那麼哪些因素讓您有信心下半年能到嗎？

Yes. And we'll kind of tag team, this is a group. I mean, clearly, 1.3 to 1.4 has got a range to it. And at the end of the day, what we're looking at is in the Q1 and Q2, we sold a lot of fat in North America in the mid-$0.30 a pound levels. That now is leaving the plants at 40 to 42. And much improvement in Europe at the same thing. South America has been slow to improve at this time. But as we've always said, from an optics perspective, every penny is worth about somewhere between $12 million and $15 million annually really into the earnings stream or the EBITDA stream and most of that goes to the Feed segment. So if you say you're up a $0.05, that's $60 million right there.

是的。我們會組成一個團隊，這是一個團隊。我的意思是，很明顯，1.3 到 1.4 有一個範圍。歸根結底，我們在第一季和第二季看到的是，我們在北美以每磅 0.30 美元的中間水平出售了大量脂肪。現在工廠的產量保持在 40 到 42 之間。歐洲在同一方面也取得了很大進展。南美洲目前進展緩慢。但正如我們一直所說，從光學角度來看，每一分錢每年的價值約為 1200 萬至 1500 萬美元，真正進入收入流或 EBITDA 流，其中大部分流向飼料領域。因此，如果您說上漲了 0.05 美元，那就是 6000 萬美元。

We think there'll be further appreciation here. And ultimately, as you look around the horn, you're seeing a lot of what you've seen a lot of shutdowns or cancellations or pauses, whatever the heck you want to say. You've seen three plants from Chevron, biodiesel plants shutdown. You've seen Shell's announcement, you've seen BP Cherry Point. You've got no pretreatment on yet at whether it's Martinez or Rodeo. So at the end of the day, it takes one of those plants and then we'll see a pretty nice improvement there. The Chinese UCO side that everybody spends a lot of time talking about, clearly, the tariffs have been proposed on in Europe today. There's a comment period. That will take some time, but the world is evolving right now. And so I think I feel pretty optimistic about the fat pricing here as we go to the back half of the year for our business because of our ability to pre-treat these fats.

我們認為這裡將會進一步升值。最終，當你環顧四周時，你會看到很多你所看到的關閉、取消或暫停的情況，無論你想說什麼。您已經看到雪佛龍的三個生物柴油工廠關閉。你已經看到了殼牌的公告，你也看到了 BP Cherry Point。無論是 Martinez 還是 Rodeo，你都還沒有進行任何預處理。所以最終，需要其中一株植物，然後我們會看到那裡有相當好的改進。大家花很多時間談論的中國 UCO 方面，顯然，今天歐洲已經提出了關稅。有評論期。這需要一些時間，但世界正在不斷發展。因此，我認為，隨著我們的業務進入下半年，我對這裡的脂肪定價感到非常樂觀，因為我們有能力預處理這些脂肪。

D4 RINs, when you look at it, we had Port Arthur down for 28 days, and we still kicked out some pretty good gallons here, 311 million gallons for the quarter. So I think that's part of it. And the fact that you've got some people idling capacity out there. I tend to believe that the S&D that the sell side had out there had everybody running at full capacity day one, and we've never seen that. So it's tightening. LCFS, it's still on target for Jan 1. I don't know that we would take a different opinion of that today. I don't know, Bob, Matt, you guys want to add anything

D4 RIN，當你看一下時，我們已經讓亞瑟港停產了 28 天，但我們仍然排出了一些相當不錯的加侖，本季為 3.11 億加侖。所以我認為這是其中的一部分。事實上，有些人的產能處於閒置狀態。我傾向於認為，賣方的 S&D 在第一天就讓每個人都滿負荷運轉，但我們從未見過這種情況。所以它正在收緊。LCFS，仍達到 1 月 1 日的目標。我不知道我們今天對此會有不同的看法。我不知道，鮑勃，馬特，你們想補充什麼嗎

Yes. I mean I think when I mean, what makes us confident is just our ability to leverage the network of assets that we've got, whether it's in the collagen business, we can shift to low-cost production areas of the world. And really the Gelnex acquisition has provided us with that kind of flexibility. In the rendering business, we continue to have old contracts come up for bid. And as we restructure those agreements based on today's construction costs and environment, we expect better margins as we go forward. So just more generally speaking, we're seeing improvement, and we think that the second half of the year is going to continue to get better.

是的。我的意思是，我認為，讓我們充滿信心的是我們有能力利用我們擁有的資產網絡，無論是在膠原蛋白業務中，我們都可以轉移到世界上的低成本生產地區。事實上，收購 Gelnex 為我們提供了這種彈性。在渲染業務中，我們繼續有舊合約進行投標。當我們根據當今的建設成本和環境重組這些協議時，我們預計未來會獲得更好的利潤。更一般地說，我們看到了改善，我們認為下半年將繼續變得更好。

Perfect. Thank you. A quick follow-up here is one thing which was working against you was the feedstock price lag in the first half which depressed your capture of the DGD margin. Now that should reverse with the feedstock going up. So should it be fair to assume that at least in 3Q, your capture could be materially higher because that feedstock price lag will now strongly work in your favor versus against you.

完美的。謝謝。這裡快速跟進的一件事對您不利，那就是上半年原料價格滯後，這降低了您對 DGD 利潤的獲取。現在隨著原料的上漲，這種情況應該會逆轉。因此，應該公平地假設，至少在第三季度，您的捕獲量可能會大幅提高，因為原料價格的滯後現在將對您有利，而不是對您不利。

I think that's well said and in terms of the right way to look at it, Manav.

我認為這句話說得很好，而且是正確的看待它的方式，馬納夫。

Thank you, sir.

謝謝您，先生。

Next question comes from Adam Samuelson of Goldman Sachs. Go ahead, please.

下一個問題來自高盛的亞當·薩繆爾森。請繼續。

Good morning. So maybe Randy, just keep me on that line of questioning, if I may. Just thinking about the guidance to get to the low end, you've got to improve your quarterly EBITDA by a little less than $100 million versus the first half average. The fat price sensitivity that you just gave would give you $15 million to $20 million to that quarterly rate.

早安.所以蘭迪，如果可以的話，請讓我繼續提問。只要考慮到達到低端的指導，您就必須將季度 EBITDA 比上半年的平均水平提高略低於 1 億美元。您剛剛給出的高價格敏感度將為您提供 1500 萬至 2000 萬美元的季度費率。

Can you help us bridge kind of some of the other pieces there? I mean just DGD volume certainly would be stronger in the second half, if there are no turnarounds planned. But can you help dimensionalize kind of how you've thought about the DGD margin structure? Is there any contribution from SAF premiums now contemplated in the fourth quarter and kind of the Food business, kind of how much step-up you're assuming there? That would be helpful. Thank you.

你能幫助我們彌合其他一些部分嗎？我的意思是，如果沒有計劃週轉的話，下半年的 DGD 量肯定會更強。但您能否協助詳細說明您對 DGD 利潤結構的看法？目前預計第四季的 SAF 保費和食品業務是否有任何貢獻，您假設會增加多少？那會有幫助的。謝謝。

Yes. I mean, clearly, the first thing, as Bob alluded to, is we're managing margins globally. And what I mean by that is – and that's really the Feed segment. Adjusting processing fees. We're watching the new fat prices flow through. Remember, in the U.S., it's pretty transparent.

是的。我的意思是，顯然，正如鮑勃所提到的，第一件事是我們在全球範圍內管理利潤。我的意思是——這實際上是 Feed 部分。調整加工費。我們正在觀察新的脂肪價格的變化。請記住，在美國，這是相當透明的。

As those prices move through in Canada, Europe and South America, there are actual visits to slaughterhouses that have to be made on timing in order to adjust what you're paying for the raw material. We didn't get as much of that as we wanted in Q2, that would exactly be very specific for the U.S., in some cases, and absolutely true for South America. Canada did a very nice job, and so did the Europe in moving those, but very different procurement processes. So that will widen out as we go forward.

隨著這些價格在加拿大、歐洲和南美的變化，您必須按時前往屠宰場，以調整您為原材料支付的價格。我們在第二季度沒有得到我們想要的那麼多，這在某些情況下對於美國來說是非常具體的，對於南美來說絕對如此。加拿大做得非常好，歐洲在推動這些方面也做得很好，但採購流程卻截然不同。因此，隨著我們的前進，這種情況將會擴大。

The second thing is we expect DGD, the system to run full out for the balance of the year. And so that's going to be a big contributor. We haven't contemplated any earnings from SAF. I mean that would be frosting on the cake if we do. And I remain kind of hopeful that we will. But it's hard for that to be material. It's just really at the end of the day, it's still doing the things that we've been executing on, a little bit of price improvement and then running DGD full out. I don't know, you guys got anything on the others?

第二件事是我們預計 DGD，該系統將在今年剩餘時間內全面運作。所以這將會是一個很大的貢獻者。我們沒有考慮從 SAF 獲得任何收益。我的意思是，如果我們這樣做的話，那將是錦上添花。我仍然希望我們能做到。但這很難成為實質的。歸根結底，它仍然在做我們一直在執行的事情，稍微提高價格，然後全力運行 DGD。不知道大家對其他人有什麼了解嗎？

Like you said, it's just running our business. I mean, obviously, we can do the math. We know what it takes to get to the guidance. I would say though, typically, I wouldn't imagine or expect that it's automatically going to be 50% in Q3 and 50% in Q4. Q3, typically, we have a lot of challenges operational through the business. Although we're absolutely ready for those challenges. But I wouldn't – just don't want to convey the message that it's going to be a 50-50 split automatic for the next two quarters.

就像你說的，這只是運行我們的業務。我的意思是，顯然我們可以計算一下。我們知道如何獲得指導。但我想說的是，通常情況下，我不會想像或期望第三季會自動達到 50%，第四季會自動達到 50%。第三季度，我們的業務運作通常面臨許多挑戰。儘管我們已經完全準備好應對這些挑戰。但我不會——只是不想傳達這樣的訊息：未來兩個季度它將是 50-50 分離式自動變速箱。

That's helpful color. And if I could just ask a second question. As we think about that transition from the BTC to the 45Z at the start of the year, I mean, how are you kind of framing kind of the risks and opportunities presented by that in terms of the last kind of surge or biodiesel imports more run on production domestically for biodiesel guys before the credit goes away, which would be good for your feedstock. Good for feedstock demand potentially creates some more RINs, and then calendar flips and the volume of renewable fuels coming into the U.S. should slow pretty dramatically, but also kind of the margin structure for conventional biodiesel who is a user of fats and oils would come under a lot of stress pretty quickly, we would think. And how are you thinking about the push-pull between the feedstock demand shifts and the credit generation that shifts that could happen before and after the calendar turns?

這是有用的顏色。如果我可以問第二個問題。當我們在今年年初考慮從 BTC 到 45Z 的過渡時，我的意思是，您如何看待最後一種激增或生物柴油進口更多運行所帶來的風險和機遇？柴油，這對您的原料有利。對原料需求的利好可能會產生更多的 RIN，然後日曆翻轉和進入美國的可再生燃料的數量應該會大幅放緩，但作為脂肪和油類用戶的傳統生物柴油的利潤結構也會受到影響我們認為，很快就會承受很大的壓力。您如何看待原料需求變化與信用產生之間可能發生的推拉作用（日曆週期前後可能發生的變化）？

Yes. This is a pretty important point. I think the short answer to your question is we can approach this whole event with lower risk than the rest of the market. As you're aware, a lot of the RIN generation, 25% or so of the RIN generation – D4 RIN generation has come from imported biofuels – renewable diesel, biodiesel. Without a BTC and current margin structure, it doesn't make sense for them to run their businesses on paper. And so they are going to have a lot more risk as we approach those deadlines. And we would anticipate that they're going to play that a little more conservatively as we get to the end and not want to risk logistical delays and things like that. So all of that should point to better renewable diesel margins as we near the end of the calendar year.

是的。這是非常重要的一點。我認為對你問題的簡短回答是，我們可以以比市場其他部分更低的風險來處理整個事件。如你所知，許多 RIN 發電，25% 左右的 RIN 發電 – D4 RIN 發電都來自進口生質燃料 – 再生柴油、生質柴油。如果沒有比特幣和當前的利潤結構，他們在紙上經營業務就沒有意義。因此，當我們接近最後期限時，他們將面臨更大的風險。我們預計，當我們走到最後時，他們會採取更保守的態度，不想冒後勤延誤之類的風險。因此，隨著年底的臨近，所有這些都應該表明再生柴油的利潤率會更高。

From our standpoint, implementation of BTC, we've seen delays in the past with BTC. But again, we're positioned so that we can manage that risk better. We're very confident in the implementation of that at 45Z and what that – how that's going to play out. So because of all those things, we should be able to run full going into the end of the year. And really, we should see margins improve as we get to the end of 2024.

從我們 BTC 實施的角度來看，我們過去已經看到 BTC 的延遲。但同樣，我們的定位是為了更好地管理這種風險。我們對 45Z 的實施以及結果非常有信心。因此，由於所有這些因素，我們應該能夠滿載運作到今年年底。事實上，到 2024 年底，我們應該會看到利潤率有所改善。

Appreciate that color. I will pass it on. Thank you.

欣賞那個顏色。我會把它傳遞下去。謝謝。

The next question comes from Matthew Blair of Tudor Pickering Holt. Go ahead, please.

下一個問題來自 Tudor Pickering Holt 的 Matthew Blair。請繼續。

Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions here. I was wondering if you have a view on when the changes for the California LCFS program will be implemented. Are you confident that will be the 2025 start-up date? Or do you see a risk that might slip into 2026?

早安.感謝您在這裡提出問題。我想知道您對加州 LCFS 計劃的變更何時實施有何看法。您對 2025 年啟動日期有信心嗎？或者您認為 2026 年可能會有風險嗎？

Our view at this point is that it's still something for 2025, not necessarily January 1 of 2025, but we do believe that this will be something through the probably Q2 of 2025.

我們目前的觀點是，這仍然是 2025 年的事情，不一定是 2025 年 1 月 1 日，但我們確實相信這可能會持續到 2025 年第二季。

Got it. And then maybe circling back to the biodiesel comments. You mentioned that next year, they'll probably get tougher for the veg oil-based biodiesel producers. But what about this year? Have you been surprised at the utilization rates for some of these biodiesel plants when several of your R&D competitors reporting negative EBITDA even if they're running low feeds?

知道了。然後也許回到生質柴油的評論。您提到明年，對於以植物油為基礎的生物柴油生產商來說，他們的處境可能會變得更加艱難。但今年呢？當您的幾家研發競爭對手報告負 EBITDA（即使進料量較低）時，您是否對其中一些生質柴油工廠的利用率感到驚訝？

I guess we would have thought that the biodiesel utilization will be even lower this year, that you'd see more closures like what Chevron announced earlier this year. So is that surprising to you to see the relative strength of biodiesel utilization rates this year?

我想我們會認為今年的生物柴油利用率會更低，你會看到更多的關閉，就像雪佛龍今年早些時候宣布的那樣。那麼，今年生質柴油利用率的相對強勁是否令您感到驚訝？

So I'll take that. Really, no. I think when you look at who the biodiesel players are, these are largely ag companies that are extremely efficient and effective at managing margin risk, and they take advantage of price fluctuations and the opportunity to lock in a margin in the future.

所以我會接受的。真的，不。我認為，當你看看生質柴油參與者是誰時，這些公司主要是農業公司，它們在管理利潤風險方面非常有效率和有效，並且他們利用價格波動和未來鎖定利潤的機會。

They're also looking at an integrated (oil seed) crush margin all the way through to biodiesel. So for their businesses, they're at least above the line, above their earning a contribution margin, and they're going to continue to do that as long as they can lock those margins in. So not really surprised with the run rates we've seen in biodiesel. As we get into 2025, that just gets a lot more difficult. And the amount of gap that they have to overcome is probably too big to continue to run at the rates that they have been.

他們也正在研究從油籽到生質柴油的綜合壓榨利潤。因此，對於他們的企業來說，他們至少高於底線，高於貢獻利潤，只要他們能夠鎖定這些利潤，他們就會繼續這樣做。因此，我們對生物柴油的運作率並不感到驚訝。當我們進入 2025 年時，這會變得更加困難。他們必須克服的差距可能太大，無法繼續以目前的速度運行。

That's helpful. Thank you.

這很有幫助。謝謝。

The next question comes from Thomas Palmer of Citi. Go ahead, please.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的托馬斯·帕爾默。請繼續。

Good morning, and thanks for the question. Maybe I could just start off clarifying on the expected inflection here in the second half. Do you think the current pricing environment supports at least $1.3 billion EBITDA for the year? I know you talked about reasons why pricing could continue to improve. I just wanted to kind of clarify the piece of where we sit today versus how it progresses.

早安，謝謝你的提問。也許我可以開始澄清下半場的預期變化。您認為目前的定價環境是否支持今年至少 13 億美元的 EBITDA？我知道您談到了定價可以繼續改善的原因。我只是想澄清一下我們今天所處的位置以及它的進展。

I mean, the current pricing environment, I think there's a couple of messages here. And one is that in the current pricing environment, there are things that we expect to do in the second half of the year that will allow us to improve margins.

我的意思是，就當前的定價環境而言，我認為這裡有一些資訊。一是在目前的定價環境下，我們預計下半年會採取一些措施來提高利潤率。

I mean, Randy talked about it kind of leveraging our infrastructure and some of the changes that are underway and just extracting more value from what we have. That's a big part of it. I think we do anticipate that we'll see a slightly better margin environment as we near the end of the year. And so I guess that's the other part of it.

我的意思是，蘭迪談到了利用我們的基礎設施和一些正在進行的變化，並從我們擁有的東西中提取更多價值。這是其中很大一部分。我認為，我們確實預計，隨著年底的臨近，我們將看到稍微好一點的利潤環境。所以我想這就是它的另一部分。

These things have to play out. There's a lot of moving parts, a lot of components to this, and it just has to play out over the next couple of quarters.

這些事情必須得到解決。有很多活動部件，很多組件，而且它只需要在接下來的幾個季度內發揮作用。

I mean, Tom, you've got P66 out there claiming they're running 50,000 barrels a day, but we've never seen them. Number two, we're watching them by animal fats around the world now. So evidently, they've got the confidence in their pretreatment system.

我的意思是，湯姆，P66 聲稱他們每天生產 50,000 桶，但我們從未見過他們。第二，我們現在正在透過世界各地的動物脂肪來觀察它們。顯然，他們對自己的預處理系統充滿信心。

And so the S&D of this product is just of our feedstocks in the world is not infinite. And so we just believe that if any of these guys are successful, you have [indiscernible] come out today and say we're going to be at full capacity at Martinez by the end of the year, they reaffirmed that again.

所以這個產品的S&D只是我們在世界上的原料並不是無限的。所以我們只是相信，如果這些人中的任何一個成功了，你今天就會[音頻不清晰]出來並說我們將在今年年底前在馬丁內斯滿負荷運轉，他們再次重申了這一點。

So you're talking of converting over whatever that number is, 70,000 barrels a day, 80,000 barrels a day, to quote waste fats. I get pretty bullish when I hear that number. So that's where we're at on it. And the risk out here, as we always say, is if they don't run, we'll be P66 as the largest supplier of R&D and we'll be the largest customer of resale animal fats.

所以你說的是轉換無論這個數字是多少，每天 70,000 桶，每天 80,000 桶，引用廢脂肪。當我聽到這個數字時，我變得非常樂觀。這就是我們的重點。正如我們常說的，這裡的風險是，如果他們不運行，我們將成為 P66 最大的研發供應商，我們將成為轉售動物脂肪的最大客戶。

Understood. Thanks for all the color on that. Maybe I could just follow-up quickly on the Food side. You noted for 2Q, some of the destocking, I think the messaging on the go forward was more constructive. Just want to clarify, I mean, is this in front of the expectation on a sequential basis, we start to see improvements in terms of the profitability of the business?

明白了。感謝所有的顏色。也許我可以在食物方面快速跟進。您注意到第二季度，一些去庫存，我認為未來的資訊更具建設性。只是想澄清一下，我的意思是，這是否符合連續預期，我們開始看到業務獲利能力的改善？

Yes. I mean, clearly, the Food segment really is the anchor, there's the gelatin, hydrolyzed collagen business within that segment. We've seen some challenges in the different continental businesses that we have there with customer demand. But towards the end of June here, we started to see customer demand pick up again, whether it's confectionery, whether it's pharma.

是的。我的意思是，顯然，食品領域確實是支柱，該領域內有明膠、水解膠原蛋白業務。我們在不同的大陸業務中看到了客戶需求的一些挑戰。但到了六月底，我們開始看到客戶需求再次回升，無論是糖果還是製藥。

So ultimately, we feel pretty good about the back half of the year. I think when you see the financials released, once again, you'll see the decline in revenue in this segment. And really, what I'd tell you to focus on is the margin because we've been able to once again lower what we pay for bone, skins and hides to maintain the margins we had and we think that we'll get some pricing improvement in the back half of the year as we go forward here.

所以最終，我們對今年下半年的感覺非常好。我認為，當您再次看到發布的財務數據時，您會看到該細分市場的收入下降。事實上，我想告訴你要關注的是利潤，因為我們已經能夠再次降低購買骨頭、毛皮和生皮的價格，以維持我們現有的利潤，並且我們認為我們會獲得一些定價當我們繼續前進時，今年下半年會有所改善。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Our next question comes from Ryan Todd of Piper Sandler. Go ahead, please.

我們的下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Ryan Todd。請繼續。

Thanks. Maybe one on the political side within is difficult. But as you look ahead over the next six-plus months, we've had a number of moving pieces. Can you talk to maybe any impacts that you see or risks that you see from things like the ruling on the Chevron doctrine or from the election coming up later this year and what you see could be either positives or risks in either direction?

謝謝。也許內部的政治面是困難的。但當你展望未來六個多月時，我們已經有了許多變化。您能否談談您從雪佛龍原則的裁決或今年稍後即將舉行的選舉等事件中看到的任何影響或風險，以及您所看到的可能是積極的，也可能是風險的？

Yes. Thanks. I think technically, these risks exist. But when we dive into it, what we really look for are what's going to motivate the different politicians in their jurisdictions as it relates to 45Z in this case or any policy for that matter.

是的。謝謝。我認為從技術上來說，這些風險是存在的。但當我們深入研究這個問題時，我們真正尋找的是激勵不同政治人物在其管轄範圍內的因素，因為這與本案中的 45Z 或任何相關政策有關。

And what we see is biodiesel, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel really becomes a nonpartisan issue at the end of the day because of just the broad-based representation of both sides of the aisle in ag states. So the risk, like I said, technically, the risks are there, that policies could change. But practically speaking, we're pretty comfortable with where things stand and how it's likely to play out.

我們看到的是，生物柴油、再生柴油、永續航空燃料最終確實成為一個無黨派問題，因為農業州兩黨都有廣泛的代表性。因此，正如我所說，從技術上講，風險是存在的，政策可能會改變。但實際上，我們對目前的情況以及可能的結果感到非常滿意。

And I think I would add, Ryan, I think the thing that people have to keep their eyes wide open on right now is American agriculture is under extreme pressure right now given $10 beans and sub-$4 corn. And the politicians are going to have to pay attention to the seven farm states here. I mean, clearly, we would be having lots more fun on this conversation if the EPA has set the RVO to reflect both the capacity and the production of the soy crushing industry. The EPA failed. And so now the politicians are going to have to – it's bipartisan, come forward here and continue to push this thing forward. I mean it's not climate change, it's not energy policy, it's ag policy. And that's true around the world today.

我想我要補充一點，Ryan，我認為人們現在必須睜大眼睛關注的是，考慮到 10 美元的大豆和低於 4 美元的玉米，美國農業目前正承受著極大的壓力。政客們將不得不關注這裡的七個農業州。我的意思是，顯然，如果 EPA 設定 RVO 來反映大豆壓榨產業的產能和產量，我們的對話將會更加有趣。環保局失敗了。所以現在政治人物必須——兩黨合作，站出來繼續推動這件事向前發展。我的意思是，這不是氣候變化，不是能源政策，而是農業政策。當今世界也是如此。

So end of the day, the farmer once again proved that if you get prices where they're at, make fertilizer available and capital available, they will produce more. And that's where we're at right now in the cycle. And so ultimately, as we're transitioning to a PTC, it's very favorable to Darling. It's very favorable to cash flows to Darling. It's favorable to our system, if you will, globally. So at the end of the day, we feel pretty good where we're positioned here. But I don't see – it's hard for me to see that whoever you want to put in the Oval Office. Can Trump get his magic pencil out and screw this thing up? Not really. It takes Congress to get involved. And I don't think there's anybody willing to step forward on that today, given where American agriculture is.

因此，最終，農民再次證明，如果價格保持在當前水平，提供化肥和資金，他們就會生產更多。這就是我們現在所處的周期。因此，最終，當我們過渡到 PTC 時，這對 Darling 非常有利。這對達令的現金流非常有利。如果你願意的話，這對我們的系統在全球範圍內都是有利的。因此，歸根結底，我們對自己所處的位置感覺非常好。但我不認為——無論你想讓誰來入主橢圓形辦公室，我都很難理解。川普能拿出他的神筆，把事情搞砸嗎？並不真地。需要國會的參與。考慮到美國農業的現狀，我認為今天沒有人願意在這方面邁出一步。

Great. That's helpful. Thank you. And then maybe just one quick follow-up. Any thoughts on your outlook for dividends from DGD, should we expect that to continue to be kind of a steady dividend payer from here? Or how should we think about those dynamics?

偉大的。這很有幫助。謝謝。然後也許只是一個快速的後續行動。您對 DGD 股息的前景有什麼想法嗎？或者我們應該如何思考這些動態？

Yes, Ryan, you see the balance sheet of DGD that we posted out there. Debt obviously was way down. Therefore, we received a distribution here in the middle of July. Having said that, I think our outlook is we're optimistic for additional distributions the back half of the year from DGD.

是的，Ryan，您看到了我們在那裡發布的 DGD 資產負債表。債務顯然大幅下降。因此，我們在七月中旬收到了這裡的分發。話雖如此，我認為我們對下半年 DGD 的額外分配持樂觀態度。

So with that, really, our outlook for Q3 is additional debt reduction, probably accelerating from where we were in Q2, which gives us a chance to be kind of in the ballpark, depending on where margins are, cash flows on the back half of the year to have that debt kind of down in that closer to that $4 billion number than we were.

因此，實際上，我們對第三季的展望是進一步削減債務，可能會比第二季加速，這使我們有機會處於大致水平，具體取決於利潤率、後半段的現金流量。比我們當年減少到接近40 億美元。

And obviously, the distributions from Diamond Green is a significant part of that. So we're optimistic about that.

顯然，鑽石綠的分配是其中的重要組成部分。所以我們對此持樂觀態度。

Yes. And Brad, comment a little bit about working capital here. I mean DGD is not the only source of debt reduction in this company.

是的。布拉德，請在這裡評論一下營運資金。我的意思是，DGD 並不是這家公司減少債務的唯一來源。

Yes. We've said we've got to focus on working capital improvement. Obviously, the balance sheet is not out there yet, but we have momentum there in Q2. So you'll see that shortly. And rest assured, you'll see continued improvements. So on the core, we really generate cash there as well.

是的。我們說過我們必須專注於營運資本的改善。顯然，資產負債表尚未公佈，但我們在第二季有動力。所以你很快就會看到這一點。請放心，您會看到持續的改進。因此，從本質上講，我們也確實在那裡產生了現金。

And if I could, I would just remind everyone that the DGD dividend, that's a formula that's calculated every day or every last day of the month. So there's really not any subjectivity to that. That's just a matter of the calculation, the dividend is what it is.

如果可以的話，我想提醒大家，DGD 股息，這是一個每天或每月最後一天計算的公式。所以這確實不存在任何主觀性。這只是計算的問題，股息就是這樣。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

The next question comes from John Royall of JPMorgan. Go ahead, please.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的約翰·羅亞爾。請繼續。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is on capital allocation. You talked about delevering as the primary focus right now. And I think you just mentioned accelerating the debt paydown in the second half. But you did buy back some stock in 2Q. Should we characterize that as being kind of opportunistic when the stock is trading down? And how do you generally think of the decision between the balance sheet and the share buyback when you view the shares as attractive?

嗨，早安。感謝您提出我的問題。所以我的第一個問題是關於資本配置。您談到去槓桿是當前的首要關注點。我想你剛才提到了下半年加速償還債務。但你確實在第二季回購了一些股票。當股票下跌時，我們是否應該將其描述為一種機會主義？當您認為股票具有吸引力時，您通常如何看待資產負債表和股票回購之間的決定？

Yes. John, this is Randy. I mean, you've answered a lot of your own questions there. Debt repayment for us has been priority. Clearly, level of the different shareholders that have been in and out of the stock, it's a clear message to us to get to $4 billion or below. Three ways to get there, generate cash at DGD, repatriate it; two, run our business, wider margins and three is to manage the CapEx outflows. And we set out the year with a $565 million plan or $500 million. And we're shooting to be under $400 million for the year. So that's a priority.

是的。約翰，這是蘭迪。我的意思是，您已經在那裡回答了很多自己的問題。償還債務一直是我們的首要任務。顯然，從買入和賣出股票的不同股東的水平來看，這向我們發出了一個明確的訊息，股價要達到 40 億美元或以下。實現這一目標的三種方式：在 DGD 產生現金，然後匯回；二是經營我們的業務，擴大利潤率，三是管理資本支出流出。我們今年的計畫是 5.65 億美元或 5 億美元。我們今年的目標是低於 4 億美元。所以這是一個優先事項。

What we did in Q2 here was an opportunistic. We wanted to buyback our dilution within the management programs, and we continue to look at share buybacks as an opportunity. But right now, as we look forward to the right capital structure for the business long-term, ultimately, we want to get the debt down here, and that will be priority one. Priority two would be buybacks and priority three would be any type of growth capital, which we're not really putting in play this year. We took a holiday, as we've said on that.

我們在第二季度所做的事情是機會主義的。我們希望回購管理計畫中的稀釋股權，並且我們繼續將股票回購視為一個機會。但現在，當我們期待長期業務的正確資本結構時，最終，我們希望將債務降下來，這將是首要任務。第二優先級是回購，第三優先級是任何類型的成長資本，我們今年並沒有真正投入使用。正如我們所說，我們休假了。

Great. Thank you. That's very helpful. And then I have to apologize, I have another question on the full-year EBITDA guide. I know you've gotten several already, but mine is just trying to dig in a little bit on the DGD side [indiscernible] assumption of $0.75 per gallon for the full-year.

偉大的。謝謝。這非常有幫助。然後我必須道歉，我還有一個關於全年 EBITDA 指南的問題。我知道您已經得到了幾個，但我只是想稍微深入了解全年 DGD 方面的假設，即全年每加侖 0.75 美元。

So firstly, is that still the right number to be thinking about? And secondly, if it is, my simple math is right, I think you have to do about $0.90 or so in the second half to get to those kinds of levels. Maybe just – we can talk through some of the moving pieces there. I know you talked about the lag in feedstocks and that coming up a bit, but no movement on the LCFS until next year. Just trying to understand how we could get to that number?

首先，這仍然是值得考慮的正確數字嗎？其次，如果是的話，我的簡單數學是正確的，我認為你必須在下半年花費 0.90 美元左右才能達到這樣的水平。也許只是——我們可以討論一些令人感動的事情。我知道您談到了原料的滯後以及即將出現的情況，但 LCFS 直到明年才會有任何進展。只是想了解我們如何才能達到這個數字？

I think you're asking to clarify, I think you're asking what is our assumption on EBITDA per gallon on DGD?

我認為您是在要求澄清，我認為您是在問我們對 DGD 每加侖 EBITDA 的假設是什麼？

Yes, I'm sorry. I think you said $0.75 in 1Q to get to about $1 billion of EBITDA. So just confirming if that's still the number and if so, kind of the math to get there in the second half?

是的，對不起。我想你說第一季 0.75 美元即可達到約 10 億美元的 EBITDA。所以只是確認這是否仍然是這個數字，如果是的話，下半場達到這個數字是怎樣的數學？

I think that we may be talking about investment economics.

我認為我們可能在談論投資經濟學。

Well, we came out of the year man, and we kind of guided that we thought we'd run it closer to $0.75. Now we beat that in Q1, and we lowered in Q2. And so at the end of the year, it's kind of hard to say how this thing plays out as we go forward. But clearly, that's built in our 1314 expectation, but I'm not going to throw a number on that today.

好吧，我們今年已經結束了，我們認為我們的價格會接近 0.75 美元。現在我們在第一季擊敗了這一點，並在第二季下降了。因此，到了今年年底，很難說這件事會如何發展。但顯然，這是建立在我們 1314 預期的基礎上的，但我今天不打算給出具體數字。

Yes. Fair enough. Thank you.

是的。很公平。謝謝。

The next question comes from Andrew Strelzik of BMO. Go ahead, please.

下一個問題來自 BMO 的 Andrew Strelzik。請繼續。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. First one is on some of the internal initiatives. You're obviously sounding very confident and optimistic about what that can look like. Is there a way to frame what kind of contribution that could create for – or kind of how you're thinking about that with respect to the outlook for the back half of the year above and beyond maybe what you're expecting from fat prices? And is most of that in the Valley assets? Or is it broader than that?

嘿，早安。感謝您提出問題。第一個是關於一些內部舉措。聽起來你顯然對未來的前景非常有信心和樂觀。有沒有一種方法可以框架可以為您帶來什麼樣的貢獻，或者您如何看待下半年的前景以及您對脂肪的期望價格？其中大部分是矽谷資產嗎？或者它比這更廣泛？

Yes. I mean it's a hard question to answer because how do we frame that? I think what you're alluding to is as we have – a lot of our supply contracts are multiyear contracts.

是的。我的意思是這是一個很難回答的問題，因為我們如何建造它？我認為你所指的是我們的情況——我們的許多供應合約都是多年期合約。

And when they come up for renewal, we reprice those based on the current market environment, which is significantly different today than it was just couple of years ago when construction costs were significantly lower and rendering options just were lower in cost than they are today. It's hard to frame what's the potential or expected impact that's going to have in the second half of the year. I think it's easier to anticipate what that might look like over a couple year period.

當它們需要更新時，我們會根據當前的市場環境重新定價，現在的市場環境與幾年前有很大不同，當時的建築成本明顯較低，渲染選項的成本也比現在低。很難界定今年下半年的潛在或預期影響。我認為更容易預測幾年後的情況。

But what I think we can say is that we've had some pretty significant contracts come up for renewal. Today's environment and value results in a much better margin than where we were based on the previous contracts. Some of that is in the Valley network, but some of that is just more broadly across what has been the Darling network.

但我認為我們可以說的是，我們已經有一些非常重要的合約需要續約。今天的環境和價值帶來的利潤比我們基於先前合約的利潤要高得多。其中一些是在矽谷網絡中，但其中一些只是更廣泛地跨越達令網絡。

Yes, ultimately, Andrew. I mean I think as Bob alluded, I mean, when I look around the world, Europe has made some very rapid and really beneficial changes in procurement. Canada is a simpler market too that's able to do that, does have commodity exposure there. So they're getting lift now. South America, we had our challenges in Q2, I think, for many of – we've not quantified them, but because they're very difficult, the flooding in South Brazil was – had us down for a little bit down there. And clearly that's going to improve in Q3.

是的，最終，安德魯。我的意思是，我認為正如鮑勃所提到的，我的意思是，當我環顧世界時，歐洲在採購方面做出了一些非常迅速且真正有益的改變。加拿大也是一個更簡單的市場，能夠做到這一點，那裡確實有大宗商品敞口。所以他們現在正在升載。南美洲，我們在第二季度遇到了挑戰，我認為，對於許多人來說，我們還沒有量化它們，但因為它們非常困難，巴西南部的洪水讓我們有點沮喪下面。顯然，這將在第三季得到改善。

And then North America or the USA, our map's got challenges cut out not only operationally does not whether always make it difficult to render. But we still have work to do. And ultimately, as I said, the U.S., much as we're investors in Diamond Green Diesel and we're one of the largest importers of fat in the world, it impacted our domestic business here.

然後是北美或美國，我們的地圖面臨的挑戰不僅在操作上並不總是使其難以渲染。但我們還有工作要做。最終，正如我所說，美國，儘管我們是鑽石綠柴油的投資者，而且我們是世界上最大的脂肪進口國之一，但它影響了我們在這裡的國內業務。

Now imports are more expensive than domestic. And we're going to get that benefit back into the domestic system. So it's a little bit of everything everywhere as we look around the horn today. Anything you want to add, Matt?

現在進口的比國產的還貴。我們將把這種好處帶回國內體系。因此，當我們今天環顧喇叭時，它無處不在。馬特，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

I would just along those same lines. I mean we have an action item list by location of steps that we can and intend to take. Those lists are different, depending on where you look. Some of those are low-hanging fruit, others take more time and a little more of a challenge to implement, but it's really a drill down to by location and the actions and the steps that we need to proactively take to help strengthen and fortify the business.

我也會沿著同樣的路線。我的意思是，我們有一個行動項目列表，按我們可以併打算採取的步驟位置排列。這些清單會有所不同，具體取決於您查看的位置。其中一些是唾手可得的成果，有些則需要更多的時間和更多的挑戰來實施，但這實際上是按地點和我們需要主動採取的行動和步驟進行深入研究，以幫助加強和加強商業。

Great. That's super helpful. I appreciate it. And my other question, maybe if we could go back to the Food segment and unpack what's going on there a little bit. You guys have been running pretty consistently in the $85 million, $90 million kind of EBITDA range since the acquisition.

偉大的。這非常有幫助。我很感激。我的另一個問題是，也許我們可以回到食品部分並稍微了解那裡發生的事情。自收購以來，你們的 EBITDA 一直保持在 8,500 萬美元至 9,000 萬美元的範圍內。

If you back out the inventory adjustment last quarter now, you're $73 million. So I guess, what caused that decline this quarter specifically? I mean you really talked about the destock slowing, but I'm curious about the EBITDA deceleration there? And then whether or not that's the right kind of run rate for the balance of the year to think about? Thanks.

如果您現在撤銷上個季度的庫存調整，您將損失 7,300 萬美元。所以我想，具體是什麼導致了本季的下降？我的意思是，你確實談到了去庫存放緩，但我很好奇 EBITDA 減速嗎？那麼這是否是今年剩餘時間所需考慮的正確運行率？謝謝。

Yes, this is Randy. I mean clearly, there's about three or four things going on globally. The number one issue was just really customer demand. We finally felt as we came into 2024, the deflationary pressures around the world. And ultimately, we've seen prices and we are going to call just generic or commodity gelatin fall pretty rapidly. And you say, well, how does that happen?

是的，這是蘭迪。我的意思很明確，全球範圍內正在發生大約三到四件事。第一個問題是客戶的真正需求。進入2024年，我們終於感受到了全球通貨緊縮的壓力。最終，我們看到價格（我們稱之為普通明膠或商品明膠）的價格迅速下跌。你說，好吧，這是怎麼發生的？

Well, it happens because we – that business, we created a very nice business out there and ultimately attracted a couple large South American competitors that try to bring on way too much capacity in a micro market.

嗯，發生這種情況是因為我們——那個業務，我們在那裡創建了一個非常好的業務，並最終吸引了幾個大型南美競爭對手，他們試圖在微觀市場中帶來太多的容量。

And so if you call the market somewhere around 0.5 million tons and somebody brings on 30,000, 40,000 tons of capacity, the first thing you don't do is walk into your boss and say, "I can't find a customer." The first thing you do is you cut the price and saw it and then tell him that it was a bad investment idea that he had.

因此，如果你稱市場容量約為 50 萬噸，而有人帶來了 30,000、40,000 噸的產能，你要做的第一件事就是走進你的老闆並說：“我找不到客戶。”你做的第一件事就是降低價格並看到它，然後告訴他這是一個糟糕的投資想法。

But ultimately, that's what we're seeing pressure on pricing out there. That's reflected in the topline. Seeing a little bit of margin pressure in the commodity gelatins.

但最終，這就是我們看到的定價壓力。這反映在頂線上。商品明膠的利潤率面臨一些壓力。

But obviously, our positioning in hydrolyzed collagen. And with our Gelnex assets being the lowest cost, most efficient in the world now, it insulates us a little bit. But ultimately we see some pretty strong demand picking up the back half of the year. And I think we're still optimistic of the Rousselot model for the balance of the year here.

但顯然，我們在水解膠原蛋白方面的定位。由於我們的 Gelnex 資產是目前世界上成本最低、效率最高的，這讓我們有點隔離。但最終我們看到今年下半年需求相當強勁。我認為我們對今年剩下的時間裡的羅賽洛模型仍然​​持樂觀態度。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Our next question comes from Ben Kallo of Baird. Go ahead, please.

我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的本卡洛 (Ben Kallo)。請繼續。

Good morning. So first thing, just on shaping in the back half, you noted the hot weather for Q3, so that's not good for Feed. But then is there a tie-in Q4 to the SAF plan? So just maybe if you could just tell us kind of what quarters going to be heavier or lighter in terms of EBITDA? And then I have a follow-up?

早安.首先，就後半部分的塑造而言，您注意到第三季度天氣炎熱，因此這對 Feed 不利。那麼，SAF 計劃是否有與第四季度相關的計劃？那麼，也許您能告訴我們哪些季度的 EBITDA 會增加或減少？然後我有後續行動嗎？

Yes, as Matt said earlier, I wouldn't wait this thing divide by two or 50% and 50%. It will be stronger in Q4 than it is in Q3, Ben. And we've not put anything in there for SAF. I'm hoping that's the rabbit in the hat here that pushes us closer to the 14 than the 13 number. So Bob, Matt, anything you guys want to add to that?

是的，正如馬特之前所說，我不會等待這件事除以二或 50% 和 50%。Ben，第四季會比第三季更強。我們沒有為 SAF 放任何東西。我希望這就是戴帽子的兔子，讓我們更接近 14，而不是 13。鮑伯、馬特，你們還有什麼要補充的嗎？

That's right.

這是正確的。

Just a clarification on that, Randy. Is there a downtime of the plant when you hook up SAF? Or is it – they're completely batch, so it doesn't matter?

只是對此進行澄清，蘭迪。當您連接 SAF 時，裝置是否會停機？或者是——它們完全是批量的，所以沒關係？

Now that was completed here when we had Port Arthur down. So we're in the instrumentation and electrical phase now and everything is set. And then it will be ready to run hopefully sometime in Q4 here. So far, the weather has worked pretty well, but it's pretty wet down there right now.

當我們攻下亞瑟港時，一切都在這裡完成了。所以我們現在處於儀器和電氣階段，一切都已準備就緒。然後它將準備好在第四季度的某個時候運行。到目前為止，天氣狀況良好，但現在那裡非常潮濕。

All right. And then there was this report, KKR buy a stake in an Italian company. I just wanted to get your thoughts on it, why KKR would do that and how that impacts you.

好的。然後有這樣的報道，KKR 收購了一家義大利公司的股份。我只是想了解您對此的想法，為什麼 KKR 會這樣做以及這對您有何影響。

There's a big Ben, there's blanks around the table, give us a little more detail.

有一個大本，桌子周圍有空白，請給我們更多細節。

It's any live subsidiary, they have a renewable diesel production that they offered €3.3 billion for a 25% stake in the renewable diesel production.

它是任何一個活躍的子公司，他們都有再生柴油生產，他們出價 33 億歐元購買再生柴油生產 25% 的股份。

All I can tell you is that makes Darling severely undervalued then.

我只能告訴你，這使得達林的價值被嚴重低估。

All right. And then just maybe on the final one, do we read into the dividend the CapEx is primarily done for the SAF? And then maybe any kind of color on thoughts around if you're going to do another SAF plant and timing.

好的。然後也許在最後一個問題上，我們是否會解讀資本支出主要為 SAF 提供的股利？如果你打算再建造一個 SAF 工廠和時間安排，可能會有任何關於想法的顏色。

Yes. I mean spending is clearly winding down on the SAF side. We're also spending a lot of time talking about. We've got a pretty significant import terminal for imported fats being constructed at Port Arthur, that's in our capital numbers, it's been flowing through.

是的。我的意思是，新加坡武裝部隊方面的支出顯然正在減少。我們也花了很多時間討論。我們在亞瑟港建造了一個相當重要的進口脂肪進口碼頭，這是我們的資本數字，它一直在流經。

So that's pending a wind down too as we go forward here. SAF 2, my colleague at Valero, Lane Riggs and I are sitting here saying, sell out number one and bring us the contracts for more gallons and we'll commit to you to build SAF 2. It's engineered. It's costed out plus or minus 10%, ready to go. But any further investment decision is on hold until we see the lights of the demand here.

因此，當我們繼續前進時，這也有待結束。SAF 2，我在瓦萊羅的同事萊恩·里格斯和我坐在這裡說，賣掉第一號並為我們帶來更多加侖的合同，我們將承諾您建造 SAF 2。它是經過設計的。它的成本正負 10%，準備就緒。但任何進一步的投資決定都將被擱置，直到我們看到這裡的需求。

Great. Thanks guys.

偉大的。謝謝你們。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Randy Stuewe for any closing remarks. Go ahead, please.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回蘭迪·斯圖威 (Randy Stuewe) 發表閉幕詞。請繼續。

Thanks, Cindy. Thank you for all your questions today. As always, if you have additional questions, reach out to Suann. Stay safe. Have a great day, and we look forward to talking to you in the future.

謝謝，辛蒂。感謝您今天提出的所有問題。像往常一樣，如果您還有其他問題，請聯絡 Suann。保持安全。祝您有美好的一天，我們期待將來與您交談。

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。您現在可以斷開連線。