Darling Ingredients Inc (DAR) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Darling Ingredients Inc. conference call to discuss the company's first quarter 2022 results. (Operator Instructions) Today's call is being recorded.

早上好，歡迎參加 Darling Ingredients Inc. 電話會議，討論公司 2022 年第一季度的業績。 （接線員說明）今天的電話正在錄音中。

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。

Welcome to the Darling Ingredients First Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. Participants this morning are Mr. Randall C. Stuewe, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Mr. Brad Phillips, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. John Bullock, Chief Strategy Officer; and Ms. Sandra Dudley, Executive Vice President of Renewables and U.S. Specialty Operations.

歡迎來到 Darling Ingredients 2022 年第一季度財報電話會議。今天上午的參與者是董事長兼首席執行官 Randall C. Stuewe 先生；首席財務官 Brad Phillips 先生；約翰·布洛克先生，首席戰略官；可再生能源和美國特種業務執行副總裁 Sandra Dudley 女士。

There is a slide presentation available on the Investors page under the Events and Presentations on our corporate website.

在我們公司網站的“活動和演示”下的“投資者”頁面上有一個幻燈片演示。

During this call, we'll 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 statement.

在此次電話會議中，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。這些陳述基於受風險和不確定因素影響的當前預期和假設。由於今天的新聞稿中討論的因素、本次電話會議中的評論以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格、10-Q 表格和其他報告文件的風險因素部分中的評論，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義務。

Now I would like to hand the call over to Randy.

現在我想把電話轉給蘭迪。

Thanks, Suann. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us for our first quarter 2022 earnings call. We kicked off the year with a very strong first quarter earnings of $330.7 million in combined adjusted EBITDA. Our global ingredients business had a record quarter at $244.1 million in EBITDA. Our food business earned $57.7 million in EBITDA, and our fuel segment ended the quarter with $110 million in EBITDA with $86.6 million coming out of Diamond Green Diesel.

謝謝，蘇安。大家，早安。感謝您加入我們的 2022 年第一季度財報電話會議。我們以非常強勁的第一季度合併調整後 EBITDA 收益 3.307 億美元開始了這一年。我們的全球配料業務在本季度的 EBITDA 達到創紀錄的 2.441 億美元。我們的食品業務的 EBITDA 收入為 5770 萬美元，我們的燃料業務在本季度結束時的 EBITDA 為 1.1 億美元，其中 8660 萬美元來自 Diamond Green Diesel。

We are carrying solid momentum into 2022. Global supply chain challenges remain, while increased labor and energy costs are being addressed by our formula and spread pricing, and finished products pricing remains robust around the world.

我們正以強勁的勢頭進入 2022 年。全球供應鏈挑戰依然存在，而我們的公式和價差定價正在解決勞動力和能源成本增加的問題，成品定價在全球範圍內依然強勁。

Starting with our feed segment. Globally, raw material volumes are up year-over-year, and we are not seeing any indication of livestock or herd reduction. Fat prices continued to escalate throughout the quarter. Protein prices improved during the quarter and grew sequentially. However, logistical disruptions due to container shortages have kept our prices lower year-over-year. Additionally, we saw some margin compression relative to Q1 in 2021, which reflects procurement process lags due to rising prices. We are working diligently to maintain margin structure in a higher energy cost environment, especially in Europe.

從我們的提要部分開始。在全球範圍內，原材料數量同比增長，我們沒有看到任何牲畜或畜群減少的跡象。脂肪價格在整個季度繼續上漲。蛋白質價格在本季度有所改善並環比上漲。然而，由於集裝箱短缺導致的物流中斷使我們的價格同比下降。此外，與 2021 年第一季度相比，我們看到了一些利潤率壓縮，這反映出由於價格上漲導致採購流程滯後。我們正在努力工作，以在更高的能源成本環境中保持利潤率結構，尤其是在歐洲。

Turning to our food segment. Performance grew year-over-year driven by our Peptan business, and our product mix shift from commodity gelatins to hydrolyzed specialty collagens. The changes we made in late 2021 have helped improve margins. I am confident we will see improvement in the food segment for the balance of the year despite supply chain challenges.

轉向我們的食品部門。在我們的 Peptan 業務的推動下，業績同比增長，我們的產品組合從商品明膠轉向水解特種膠原蛋白。我們在 2021 年底所做的更改有助於提高利潤率。我相信，儘管供應鏈面臨挑戰，但我們將在今年餘下時間看到食品領域的改善。

In our fuel segment, escalating energy prices in Europe supported stronger earnings in our green energy electricity business. Our previously announced acquisition of Op de Beeck is contributing nicely and is under expansion.

在我們的燃料部門，歐洲不斷上漲的能源價格支持了我們綠色能源電力業務的強勁收益。我們之前宣布的對 Op de Beeck 的收購做出了很好的貢獻，並且正在擴張。

Now turning to Diamond Green Diesel. We successfully completed the turnaround of DGD1 during the first quarter. Q1 earnings for DGD were $1.11 per gallon in EBITDA. This is lower than our full year estimate of $1.25 per gallon, and it's attributed to rapidly escalating feedstock prices, while heating oil, RINs and LCFS did not have adequate time to react. As we head into Q2, margins are on the rebound. We are seeing higher RINs and steady LCFS prices. DGD1 and 2 are running wide open, and optimization programs are in place to increase gallons. Given these factors, combined with the start-up of DGD3 in Q4, we maintain our forecast of at least 750 million gallons at $1.25 per gallon EBITDA for the full year 2022.

現在轉向鑽石綠色柴油。我們在第一季度成功完成了 DGD1 的周轉。 DGD 第一季度的 EBITDA 收益為每加侖 1.11 美元。這低於我們全年估計的每加侖 1.25 美元，這是由於原料價格迅速上漲，而取暖油、RIN 和 LCFS 沒有足夠的時間做出反應。隨著我們進入第二季度，利潤率正在反彈。我們看到更高的 RIN 和穩定的 LCFS 價格。 DGD1 和 2 正在全開運行，優化程序已到位以增加加侖。鑑於這些因素，再加上第四季度 DGD3 的啟動，我們維持對 2022 年全年至少 7.5 億加侖 EBITDA 的預測，每加侖 EBITDA 為 1.25 美元。

Last week, we announced 2 key strategic acquisitions to grow our base business: the completion of the Valley Proteins acquisition and our signing of a definitive agreement to purchase the FASA Group in Brazil. With these announcements, we will process more than 15 million metric tons of the world's available slaughtered animal by-products or about 15% of the world's supply.

上週，我們宣布了兩項重要的戰略收購以發展我們的基礎業務：完成對 Valley Proteins 的收購，以及我們簽署了收購巴西 FASA 集團的最終協議。通過這些公告，我們將加工超過 1500 萬公噸的世界可用屠宰動物副產品，約佔世界供應量的 15%。

Valley Proteins, which closed on May 2 for $1.1 billion, plus or minus various closing adjustments, includes 18 new plants that process about 2.4 million metric tons of raw material per year and enough fat to produce approximately 125 million gallons of renewable diesel. This is a great acquisition and will be immediately accretive. For 2022, we expect contribution of $60 million to $70 million of new EBITDA. And under current market conditions, I anticipate the business contribution to be more than $150 million in EBITDA in 2023 as we address operational synergies.

Valley Proteins 於 5 月 2 日以 11 億美元的價格關閉，加上或減去各種關閉調整，包括 18 家新工廠，每年加工約 240 萬噸原材料和足夠的脂肪來生產約 1.25 億加侖的可再生柴油。這是一項偉大的收購，將立即增值。對於 2022 年，我們預計將貢獻 6000 萬至 7000 萬美元的新 EBITDA。在當前的市場條件下，我預計 2023 年業務貢獻將超過 1.5 億美元的 EBITDA，因為我們要解決運營協同效應問題。

On May 5, we announced the signing of a definitive agreement to purchase FASA Group for BRL 2.8 billion or approximately USD 560 million at the current exchange rate. FASA Group processes more than 1.3 million metric tons of beef, pork and chicken annually through 14 rendering plants with an additional 2 plants under construction and has approximately 2,400 employees. FASA will augment our supply of low-carbon feedstocks to Diamond Green Diesel and will also be immediately accretive upon closing. We expect to close by the end of the year. The current operating EBITDA of this business is approximately BRL 500 million per year.

5 月 5 日，我們宣布簽署最終協議，以 28 億雷亞爾（按當前匯率計算約合 5.6 億美元）收購 FASA 集團。 FASA 集團每年通過 14 家煉油廠和另外 2 家在建工廠加工超過 130 萬噸牛肉、豬肉和雞肉，擁有約 2,400 名員工。 FASA 將增加我們對 Diamond Green Diesel 的低碳原料供應，並且也將在關閉後立即增加。我們預計將在今年年底關閉。該業務目前的經營性 EBITDA 約為每年 5 億雷亞爾。

Now I'd like to hand it over to Brad to take us through the financials, and then I'll come back with a little bit of an outlook for the balance of 2022. Brad?

現在我想把它交給布拉德，讓我們了解一下財務狀況，然後我會回來對 2022 年的餘額進行一些展望。布拉德？

Okay. Thanks, Randy. Net income for the first quarter 2022 totaled $188.1 million or $1.14 per diluted share compared to net income of $151.8 million or $0.90 per diluted share for the 2021 first quarter. Net sales were $1.37 billion for the first quarter 2022 as compared to $1 billion for the first quarter 2021 or a 30.5% increase in net sales.

好的。謝謝，蘭迪。 2022 年第一季度的淨收入總計 1.881 億美元或攤薄後每股收益 1.14 美元，而 2021 年第一季度的淨收入為 1.518 億美元或攤薄後每股收益 0.90 美元。 2022 年第一季度的淨銷售額為 13.7 億美元，而 2021 年第一季度為 10 億美元，淨銷售額增長 30.5%。

Operating income was $232.9 million for the first quarter of 2022 compared to $199.5 million for the first quarter of 2021. The 16.7% increase in operating income was primarily due to the gross margin increasing $71.9 million or a 26.2% improvement on higher volumes and record-high fat prices in our global ingredients businesses, while our share of the earnings from the Diamond Green Diesel joint venture declined $30.4 million to $71.8 million from $102.2 million the previous year.

2022 年第一季度的營業收入為 2.329 億美元，而 2021 年第一季度為 1.995 億美元。營業收入增長 16.7% 主要是由於毛利率增加了 7190 萬美元，即銷量增加和創紀錄的增長 26.2%我們全球配料業務的高脂肪價格，而我們在 Diamond Green Diesel 合資企業的收益份額從上一年的 1.022 億美元下降了 3040 萬美元至 7180 萬美元。

Additionally, the first quarter of 2022 included $3.8 million of acquisition and integration costs, primarily related to our acquisitions of Op de Beeck, Valley Proteins and FASA Group, as well as $4.6 million increase in SG&A.

此外，2022 年第一季度包括 380 萬美元的收購和整合成本，主要與我們對 Op de Beeck、Valley Proteins 和 FASA Group 的收購有關，以及 460 萬美元的 SG&A 增加。

Now turning to income taxes. The company recorded income tax expense of $26.1 million for the 3 months ended April 2, 2022. The effective tax rate for the first quarter is 12%, which differs from the federal statutory rate of 21%, due primarily to biofuel tax incentives, the relative mix of earnings among jurisdictions with different tax rates and excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation. The company also paid $41.4 million of income taxes in the first quarter.

現在轉向所得稅。該公司在截至 2022 年 4 月 2 日的三個月中記錄了 2610 萬美元的所得稅費用。第一季度的有效稅率為 12%，不同於聯邦法定稅率 21%，這主要是由於生物燃料稅收優惠，具有不同稅率的司法管轄區之間收入的相對組合以及基於股票的薪酬帶來的超額稅收優惠。該公司在第一季度還繳納了 4140 萬美元的所得稅。

For 2022, we are projecting an effective tax rate of 18% and cash taxes of approximately $60 million for the remainder of the year. Total debt outstanding at the end of the first quarter 2022 was $1.7 billion as compared to $1.5 billion at year-end 2021, and the bank covenant leverage ratio ended the quarter at 1.69x. The increase in debt was primarily a result of the acquisition of Op de Beeck and contributions to Diamond Green Diesel 2 due to the project's acceleration.

對於 2022 年，我們預計今年剩餘時間的有效稅率為 18%，現金稅約為 6000 萬美元。 2022 年第一季度末的未償債務總額為 17 億美元，而 2021 年底為 15 億美元，銀行契約槓桿比率在本季度末為 1.69 倍。債務增加主要是由於收購了 Op de Beeck 以及由於項目加速而對 Diamond Green Diesel 2 的貢獻。

Capital expenditures totaled $71.6 million in the first quarter, and the company repurchased $17.2 million of common stock. Lastly, you will note we added a $500 million delayed draw term loan A, which was undrawn at the end of the first quarter.

第一季度資本支出總計 7160 萬美元，公司回購了 1720 萬美元的普通股。最後，您會注意到我們增加了 5 億美元的延遲提取期限貸款 A，該貸款在第一季度末未提取。

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

有了這個，我會把它還給你，蘭迪。

Thanks, Brad. Looking ahead, the business environment remains very favorable for Darling Ingredients. Rendering volumes are robust and growing with no sign of depopulating or herd reductions. Despite global supply chain concerns, we are optimistic as we have seen some improvement and better raw material availability.

謝謝，布拉德。展望未來，商業環境仍然對 Darling Ingredients 非常有利。渲染量強勁且不斷增長，沒有人口減少或牛群減少的跡象。儘管存在全球供應鏈問題，但我們仍持樂觀態度，因為我們看到了一些改善和更好的原材料供應。

While European energy prices were up 250% year-over-year, we are working hard to minimize the impact and protect our margin. Darling Ingredients continues to lead the way in creating renewable and bioenergy solutions to combat rapidly rising energy prices and satisfy the world's demand for low-carbon fuels and decarbonization. We expect our green energy business in Europe to continue to flourish as we expand capacity to meet this increased demand.

雖然歐洲能源價格同比上漲 250%，但我們正在努力將影響降至最低並保護我們的利潤率。 Darling Ingredients 在創造可再生能源和生物能源解決方案方面繼續處於領先地位，以應對快速上漲的能源價格並滿足世界對低碳燃料和脫碳的需求。隨著我們擴大產能以滿足不斷增長的需求，我們預計我們在歐洲的綠色能源業務將繼續蓬勃發展。

Diversifying our feedstock supply to support DGD from a multi-continent arbitrage has been our focus. Darling's access to low-carbon intensity feedstock is unparalleled in the industry. DGD's ideal location with access to multiple transportation options, our pretreatment expertise, our experienced team make DGD the lowest-cost producer of renewable diesel in the world, and our best is yet to come.

使我們的原料供應多樣化以從多大陸套利中支持 DGD 一直是我們的重點。 Darling 獲得低碳強度原料的能力在業內是無與倫比的。 DGD 的理想位置以及多種運輸選擇、我們的預處理專業知識、我們經驗豐富的團隊使 DGD 成為世界上成本最低的可再生柴油生產商，我們最好的還在後頭。

Our global ingredients business run rate supports earnings of $1 billion to $1.050 billion EBITDA for the year without Valley Proteins. Valley Proteins is expected to contribute about $60 million to $70 million of running EBITDA in 2022. Adding in at least 750 million gallons of renewable diesel at $1.25 per gallon EBITDA, we believe a combined adjusted EBITDA of $1.55 to $1.60 is very achievable. This does not include any additional gallons that may even be produced at Diamond Green Diesel 3 in Q4.

如果沒有 Valley Proteins，我們的全球配料業務運行率支持 10 億至 10.5 億美元的 EBITDA 收益。預計 Valley Proteins 將在 2022 年貢獻約 6000 萬至 7000 萬美元的運行 EBITDA。以每加侖 1.25 美元的 EBITDA 添加至少 7.5 億加侖可再生柴油，我們認為 1.55 至 1.60 美元的合併調整後 EBITDA 是非常可以實現的。這不包括第四季度 Diamond Green Diesel 3 可能生產的任何額外加侖。

With that, let's open it up to Q&A now.

有了這個，讓我們現在打開它進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Manav Gupta with Credit Suisse.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自瑞士信貸的 Manav Gupta。

So Randy, somehow you guys are always ahead of the curve. You figured out renewable diesel before everybody else did. Your facilities are now coming on. DGD 3 is coming on soon. and world is like -- your competitors are still figuring out permitting and stuff. So somehow, you're always ahead of the curve.

所以蘭迪，不知何故你們總是走在曲線的前面。你在其他人之前就想出了可再生柴油。你的設施現在正在運行。 DGD 3 即將推出。世界就是這樣——你的競爭對手仍在弄清楚許可之類的東西。所以不知何故，你總是領先於曲線。

And my question here is when we see the next leg of growth for Darling here, it appears between Valley Proteins and FASA and the deals you're signing with Chick-fil-A and stuff that the next leg of growth for Darling is going to be coming from the feed side of the business. I mean, you have DGD3 coming on. But when we look at DAR, the next leg of growth for the next 3 or 5 years is going to be on the feed side. So if you could comment a little bit on that, sir.

我的問題是，當我們在這裡看到 Darling 的下一階段增長時，它出現在 Valley Proteins 和 FASA 之間，以及您與 Chick-fil-A 簽署的交易以及 Darling 的下一階段增長將要進行的事情來自企業的飼料方面。我的意思是，你有 DGD3 來了。但是當我們看 DAR 時，未來 3 或 5 年的下一個增長點將在飼料方面。先生，請就此發表一點意見。

Yes. I think -- thanks, Manav. I appreciate the comments. And I got to say hats off to the global Darling team on bringing these acquisitions home. The Brazilian one, we worked on for almost 8 years. And the Valley Proteins one, we've been working with the Smith family for a number of years to bring that one home as well.

是的。我想——謝謝，馬納夫。我很欣賞這些評論。我不得不向全球 Darling 團隊致敬，將這些收購帶回家。巴西人，我們工作了將近 8 年。還有 Valley Proteins，我們多年來一直與 Smith 家族合作，將其帶回家。

I think we talk very openly about kind of a 4-legged approach to growth. And we, in this room, with the management team still view Darling as really an excellent growth vehicle around the world. We don't see our growth anywhere near done in the near future.

我認為我們非常公開地談論一種四足增長方法。在這個房間裡，我們和管理團隊仍然將 Darling 視為全球真正優秀的增長工具。我們認為我們的增長在不久的將來不會結束。

And so I'm going to talk about 4 paths of growth here. Number one, that's our green electricity business in Europe. We continue to see the opportunities to add digestion capacity. Op de Beeck, an example, that's going to grow substantially in volume given energy prices in Europe. It's a very lucrative investment. But most importantly, it allows us to arbitrage different raw material streams that typically could go to landfill or can go to landfill and make energy out of them. So it's a very, very good investment. So that's the green energy side.

因此，我將在這裡討論 4 條增長路徑。第一，這是我們在歐洲的綠色電力業務。我們繼續看到增加消化能力的機會。以 Op de Beeck 為例，考慮到歐洲的能源價格，其銷量將大幅增長。這是一項非常有利可圖的投資。但最重要的是，它允許我們套利不同的原材料流，這些原材料流通常可以進入垃圾填埋場，或者可以進入垃圾填埋場並從中獲取能源。所以這是一項非常非常好的投資。這就是綠色能源方面。

You got to move to Diamond Green Diesel. We're not done there yet. I mean, jet fuel. I mean, you saw the United announcement here this week. I mean, we are not, by any means, discounting the fact that we won't be making SAF here in the next couple of years. We're just going to let the policy evolve before the CapEx is spent here, and we believe there's just adequate gallons there eventually when the policy supports that. So that's number two.

你必須搬到 Diamond Green Diesel。我們還沒有完成。我的意思是，噴氣燃料。我的意思是，你本週在這裡看到了聯合聲明。我的意思是，無論如何，我們不會否認未來幾年我們不會在這裡製造 SAF 的事實。我們只是讓政策在資本支出花在這里之前發展，我們相信當政策支持時，最終會有足夠的加侖。這是第二點。

Number three, you will see the food segment accelerate for the balance of the year and next year. We've built a special product and a product line there, and it's expanding into our biomedical area now. That gives us really a neat opportunity to add significant earnings without volatility. And that's a very different business in the sense it uses slaughtered animal by-products raw materials. But at the end of the day, it's more of a specialty ingredients business than anything else we're in. And we've got a great team there that's moving it forward.

第三，你會看到食品部分在今年餘下時間和明年加速增長。我們在那裡建立了一個特殊的產品和一條產品線，現在正在擴展到我們的生物醫學領域。這給了我們一個很好的機會，可以在沒有波動的情況下增加可觀的收益。從使用屠宰動物副產品原材料的意義上說，這是一項非常不同的業務。但歸根結底，它更像是一種特殊配料業務，而不是我們所從事的任何其他業務。我們有一支優秀的團隊正在推動它向前發展。

So as we look, we've got the green energy. We've got Diamond Green Diesel expansion, SAF. We've got the Peptan business that we're working on growing. And then the fourth leg is clearly the -- what we would call our global ingredients business, our core rendering business. Valley Proteins was the #2 independent processor in the United States. It is a great team, great locations where we're not at, basically 50% the size of Darling USA rendering operations and volume per week. And I think it's very easy to look back historically what Darling post National By-Products, post Griffin in the 2011, '12 can make. And then we're almost -- we're about 60% bigger now in North America or the U.S.A. than we were at that time. So that's where we're trying to telegraph that Valley Proteins will be incredibly accretive to this company once we get it integrated and once we get the margin structure, the operations and get it to look like the business that we have.

所以當我們看的時候，我們有綠色能源。我們有 Diamond Green Diesel 擴展，SAF。我們擁有正在努力發展的 Peptan 業務。然後第四站顯然是——我們稱之為全球配料業務，我們的核心提煉業務。 Valley Proteins 是美國排名第二的獨立加工商。這是一個偉大的團隊，我們不在的偉大地點，基本上是 Darling USA 渲染操作和每週數量的 50%。而且我認為很容易回顧歷史上 Darling post National By-Products，post Griffin in the 2011, '12 可以做什麼。然後我們幾乎 - 我們現在在北美或美國的規模比當時大 60%。因此，這就是我們試圖傳達的信息，一旦我們將 Valley Proteins 整合，一旦我們獲得利潤結構、運營並使其看起來像我們擁有的業務，Valley Proteins 將對這家公司產生難以置信的增長。

Moving south to Brazil. We've talked openly about Brazil for a number of years. We are a very successful company in Brazil today. Adding these factories to our Brazil management group and our team and our structure just made a lot of sense. Brazil will feed the world. And we absolutely believe that animal agriculture, while it may come under challenges in Europe and maybe to a degree at times in Canada or the U.S., Brazil is still the Wild, Wild West relative to growth in animal agriculture. And we have 14 factories and 2 more under construction. They're spread out throughout Brazil to allow for growth from the south to the north as Brazil expands. And so I think the thing that's interesting, and I'm sure Sandy will comment later today, but we're already importing fats from Brazil into Diamond Green Diesel. That goes with the logistics that we've always talked about of location, location, location for Norco or St. Charles and Port Arthur.

向南移動到巴西。多年來，我們一直公開談論巴西。今天，我們在巴西是一家非常成功的公司。將這些工廠加入我們的巴西管理團隊、我們的團隊和我們的結構非常有意義。巴西將養活世界。我們絕對相信畜牧業，雖然它可能在歐洲面臨挑戰，有時在加拿大或美國可能受到一定程度的挑戰，但相對於畜牧業的增長，巴西仍然是狂野的西部。我們有 14 家工廠，還有 2 家正在建設中。它們分佈在整個巴西，以便隨著巴西的擴張從南到北實現增長。所以我認為這很有趣，我相信桑迪今天晚些時候會發表評論，但我們已經從巴西進口脂肪進入鑽石綠色柴油。這與我們一直談論的 Norco 或 St. Charles 和 Port Arthur 的位置、位置、位置的物流有關。

So the FASA Group was an immediately just a very simple idea that we've been working on for a lot of years. It's being procured or bought from a private family that we know very well. The management team is going to stay in place for 3 years to help us continue to grow.

所以 FASA Group 是一個非常簡單的想法，我們已經為此努力了很多年。它是從我們非常了解的私人家庭採購或購買的。管理團隊將留任 3 年，以幫助我們繼續發展。

So those are the 4 paths: green electricity, DGD, Peptan and core ingredients growth. We continue to see many, many opportunities still around the world in the core ingredients growth, including additional factories that will be put under construction here in the U.S. once the agreements are signed. So we just still see Darling as a growth vehicle, Manav.

這就是 4 條路徑：綠色電力、DGD、Peptan 和核心成分增長。我們繼續看到世界各地在核心成分增長方面仍有很多很多機會，包括協議簽署後將在美國這裡建設的更多工廠。所以我們仍然將 Darling 視為增長工具，Manav。

Perfect, sir. My quick follow-up here is sometimes, as analysts, we focus too much on fat prices, RINs prices, LCFS, and we sometimes don't give enough credit to the fact that Darling, at the end of the day, is a technology innovation company. You spent so much time on collagen peptides and figured it all out, and it's doing very well. So can you talk a little bit about your R&D efforts, R&D pipeline? What's that looking like? And when -- where could the next leg of R&D take you? And I'll leave it there, sir.

完美，先生。我在這裡的快速跟進有時是，作為分析師，我們過分關注脂肪價格、RIN 價格、LCFS，而且我們有時沒有給予 Darling 歸根結底是一項技術這一事實足夠的信任創新公司。你花了這麼多時間在膠原蛋白肽上，把它都弄明白了，而且效果很好。那麼您能談談您的研發工作和研發渠道嗎？那看起來像什麼？什麼時候——研發的下一站會把你帶到哪裡？我會把它留在那裡，先生。

Thanks, Manav. This is John. At the end of the day, we have tremendous expertise in taking the by-product material from the meat industry around the world and turning it into a variety of different products. What Darling, I believe, has been really good at is we focus on the value of the finished products. We're always out there trying to figure out where our customers and the world is going to take us for demand for our products. And then we work backward from there, trying to figure out how to create the most efficient and best supply chains around those great products.

謝謝，馬納夫。這是約翰。歸根結底，我們在從世界各地肉類行業提取副產品材料並將其轉化為各種不同產品方面擁有豐富的專業知識。我相信 Darling 真正擅長的是我們專注於成品的價值。我們總是在那裡試圖弄清楚我們的客戶和世界將把我們帶到哪裡來滿足對我們產品的需求。然後我們從那裡向後工作，試圖弄清楚如何圍繞這些偉大的產品創建最有效和最好的供應鏈。

And what you see inside of Darling today is we've got rock star, and I mean rock star low-carbon products across the spectrum of biofuels as well as into fixed energy and electric and gas in Europe. We have rock star products on the Peptan side. And when you start with what's the value of the product, where is the marketplace going from the demand of the product, and you listen to your customers, then you are able to rebuild the innovation. Our innovation pipeline today is tremendous. We're working on a variety of new products that our customers are coming to us and saying, "This is the future. This is where we would like to see you bring us products."

你今天在 Darling 看到的是我們擁有搖滾明星，我的意思是搖滾明星低碳產品，涵蓋生物燃料以及歐洲的固定能源、電力和天然氣。我們在 Peptan 方面擁有搖滾明星產品。當你從產品的價值開始，市場從產品的需求走向何方，並傾聽客戶的意見時，你就能夠重建創新。我們今天的創新管道是巨大的。我們正在開發各種新產品，我們的客戶來找我們並說：“這就是未來。這就是我們希望看到您為我們帶來產品的地方。”

And we're really good at going back in because it's just such a broad range of expertise along different product lines around the world, different geographies. We understand various cultures around the world very well. We have an ability to internalize those products and design that structure backwards.

我們真的很擅長回歸，因為它在世界各地、不同地區的不同產品線中擁有如此廣泛的專業知識。我們非常了解世界各地的各種文化。我們有能力將這些產品內部化並向後設計該結構。

And I will tell you today, the pipeline is more robust internally than it's ever been. We have a very exciting platform of products that we are working on now developing with our customers, but it's all about the finished products. It's all about creating a product that the market wants.

我今天會告訴你，管道內部比以往任何時候都更加強大。我們有一個非常令人興奮的產品平台，我們正在與我們的客戶一起開發，但這都是關於成品的。這一切都是為了創造市場需要的產品。

Our next question will come from Ben Kallo with Baird.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Ben Kallo 和 Baird。

Congrats on all the work. Maybe a boring question. But just on the leverage, how do you view that, Randy or Brad, when we look for -- I think you ticked up in the Q I saw up to 5x, and you've been there before. But maybe just remind us about the cash flow DGD splits out and how you think about the leverage going forward.

祝賀所有的工作。也許是一個無聊的問題。但就槓桿而言，你如何看待，蘭迪或布拉德，當我們尋找時 - 我認為你在我看到的 Q 中勾選了 5 倍，而且你以前去過那裡。但也許只是提醒我們 DGD 拆分出來的現金流量以及您對未來槓桿的看法。

Yes. Ben, this is Brad. So you followed us for a while, and what we've tended to do is certainly delever down to where we've recently been. And as Randy just articulated and John, we have been, we still view ourselves as a growth company. Having said that -- and we lever up after Valley, if we're a bit over 2x, with FASA, we will delever the -- we're in the process already delevering. Our cash flows are tremendous. DGD coming online now in the fourth quarter this year. So having said all of that, we still have the big picture from a leverage perspective of staying after the dust settles from acquisitions each time you see what we've done, we've gotten below 3x, well below 3x. And that's really still our mantra and our strategy.

是的。本，這是布拉德。所以你關注了我們一段時間，而我們傾向於做的肯定是將槓桿率降低到我們最近去過的地方。正如蘭迪和約翰所說的那樣，我們一直認為自己是一家成長型公司。話雖如此——我們在 Valley 之後提高了槓桿率，如果我們使用 FASA 超過 2 倍，我們將去槓桿化——我們已經在去槓桿化的過程中。我們的現金流是巨大的。 DGD 將於今年第四季度上線。所以說了這麼多，我們仍然從槓桿的角度來看大局，每次你看到我們所做的事情時，收購塵埃落定後，我們仍然低於 3 倍，遠低於 3 倍。這仍然是我們的口頭禪和我們的戰略。

And Randy, you said we're not finished with the DGD, and you talked about -- is there -- as you make acquisitions to underpin feedstock, is there -- what's the thought about what's next? I hate to ask that question. But what's next in terms of a new plant?

蘭迪，你說我們還沒有完成 DGD，你談到了——是不是——當你進行收購以鞏固原料時，是不是——對下一步的想法是什麼？我討厭問那個問題。但就新工廠而言，下一步是什麼？

Yes. Ben, so this is Sandy Dudley. I think we're right now working on initially trying to complete DGD3. But that said, while there's not an investment decision on the table, we purposefully left space at Port Arthur that would work well for a DGD4 or SAF if the marketing conditions are right.

是的。本，這是桑迪達德利。我認為我們現在正在努力初步嘗試完成 DGD3。但話雖如此，雖然桌面上沒有投資決定，但我們有意在亞瑟港留下空間，如果營銷條件合適，這將適用於 DGD4 或 SAF。

And I think if you look at both us and our partner, it would be a huge underestimation to say that DGD3 is the limit for us. I mean, if you look at our partners, they've done a whole lot beyond just petroleum. And then you look at what we've done as Darling, we are a great low-carbon feedstock business, a tremendous food business. And then we have an unparalleled renewables business. And then if you look at what we did together, we created DGD. So I think that there's a lot more for us. I think we purposefully positioned ourselves within the market and how we built DGD3 to take advantage of whatever opportunities make sense for us going forward.

而且我認為，如果你看看我們和我們的合作夥伴，那麼說 DGD3 是我們的極限是一個巨大的低估。我的意思是，如果你看看我們的合作夥伴，他們所做的不僅僅是石油。然後你看看我們作為親愛的所做的一切，我們是一個偉大的低碳原料企業，一個巨大的食品企業。然後我們擁有無與倫比的可再生能源業務。然後如果你看看我們一起做了什麼，我們創建了 DGD。所以我認為我們還有很多。我認為我們有目的地在市場中定位自己，以及我們如何構建 DGD3 以利用任何對我們前進有意義的機會。

Our next question will come from Adam Samuelson with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題將來自高盛的亞當薩繆爾森。

Yes. Randy, I was hoping maybe, first, if we could just think about the updated view on the base business for the year. And I think in your prepared remarks, you said $1 billion to $1.05 billion for the base and then another $60 million, $70 million or so of EBITDA for Valley. Could you help us just frame kind of how the key moving pieces of how that's changed relative to where you were at the end of February? And specifically, is that just assuming forward curves on fats and oils from here? And then I have a follow-up on Valley.

是的。蘭迪，我希望，首先，如果我們能考慮一下今年基礎業務的最新觀點。我想在你準備好的發言中，你說基地需要 10 億到 10.5 億美元，然後還有 6000 萬、7000 萬美元左右的 EBITDA 用於 Valley。你能幫我們描述一下相對於 2 月底你所處位置的變化的關鍵移動部分嗎？具體來說，是否只是假設脂肪和油的前向曲線從這裡開始？然後我對 Valley 進行了跟進。

Yes. No. Adam, what -- essentially, it's a bit dynamic and a bit crystal ball-ish here a little bit. But we're looking at the Q1 run rate, and then I'm looking at April now and basically doing -- rendering math, divided by 4 times 13 and then extrapolate now. So it's very simple as we look at the run rate. And we have not seen the higher fat prices flow through the business.

是的。不，亞當，什麼——本質上，它有點動態，有點像水晶球。但是我們正在看第一季度的運行率，然後我現在正在看 4 月，基本上是在做——渲染數學，除以 4 乘以 13，然後現在進行推斷。因此，當我們查看運行率時，這非常簡單。而且我們還沒有看到更高的脂肪價格流經該行業。

Remember, we're 60 days sold out in front at most times now relative to the supply chain to Diamond Green Diesel, so you get a bit of a lag. So you're going to see Q2 much higher in the global ingredients business than Q1 because of the fat prices flowing through.

請記住，相對於 Diamond Green Diesel 的供應鏈，我們現在最多提前 60 天售罄，所以你會有點滯後。因此，由於脂肪價格的流動，您將看到全球配料業務的第二季度比第一季度高得多。

Protein prices, while better sequentially, lower year-over-year, a whole bunch of different reasons going into that. But still, at the end of the day, somewhat at or near in many places to soybean mill. And as long as soybean mill doesn't crash, we should be good there.

蛋白質價格雖然環比有所好轉，但同比有所下降，其中有一大堆不同的原因。但是，歸根結底，在許多地方還是在大豆磨坊附近或附近。只要大豆磨坊不倒閉，我們就應該安然無恙。

The Rousselot and the food ingredients business is really just starting to ramp up as sales move forward here, and so we feel pretty good there about it. So it's a pretty simple math of extrapolating the first quarter and then take in April, divide it by 4 times 13. And that will put you at the -- basically the $1.050 billion run rate. And then Valley we believe will run at about $8.5 million, maybe up to $10 million a month here for the balance of the year, and there are 7 months left.

隨著這裡的銷售向前發展，羅賽洛和食品配料業務實際上才剛剛開始增長，因此我們對此感覺非常好。因此，這是一個非常簡單的數學推論，即推斷第一季度然後取 4 月，將其除以 4 乘以 13。這將使你達到 - 基本上是 10.5 億美元的運行率。然後，我們相信 Valley 的運營成本約為 850 萬美元，在今年餘下的時間裡，這裡每月可能高達 1000 萬美元，而且還剩下 7 個月。

And so that's not added in there yet. We're still -- we're really on day #8 of Valley, so it'd be kind of hard to tell you. Remember, while it was in Hart-Scott filing, in today's world, you didn't get to do a lot of deep dive into people, places and pricing, if you will. And so now we're just getting into it.

所以還沒有添加進去。我們仍然 - 我們真的在 Valley 的第 8 天，所以很難告訴你。請記住，雖然它是在 Hart-Scott 備案中，但在當今世界，如果您願意的話，您無法深入研究人員、地點和定價。所以現在我們才剛剛開始。

The benchmark for next year there is just simply saying we should be able to get the similar margins out of that business operationally and marketing-wise and product mix-wise that we have in our base business. So that's how that's all extrapolated. And then Sandy's numbers are 750 million times $1.25, divided by 2. And that's how the -- that's the magic math. I don't know that, that works in Goldman Sachs quantum physics class, but that's rendering Randy's math.

明年的基準只是簡單地說，我們應該能夠從該業務的運營、營銷和產品組合中獲得與我們的基礎業務相似的利潤率。這就是所有推斷的方式。然後桑迪的數字是 7.5 億乘以 1.25 美元，除以 2。這就是——這就是神奇的數學。我不知道，這在高盛的量子物理課上有用，但那是渲染蘭迪的數學。

I'm no quantum physician, so I appreciate that. But on the Valley Proteins for next year and just thinking about getting that business to more in line with your legacy U.S. business, can you talk about where the bigger opportunities were? Is it product mix on some of the -- moving some of the poultry by-product into pet food markets? Where was the gap in terms of their performance and their operations and their mix that you're so excited about?

我不是量子醫生，所以我很感激。但是關於明年的 Valley Proteins，只是考慮讓該業務更符合您在美國的傳統業務，您能談談更大的機會在哪裡嗎？是不是某些產品組合 - 將一些家禽副產品轉移到寵物食品市場？他們在績效、運營和組合方面的差距在哪裡，讓您如此興奮？

It's a little bit of everything. And number one, when a business goes for sale and management teams and operating teams find out they're going to have a new owner, it becomes a bit of a challenge to keep momentum. And I would say they lost a little bit of focus and momentum around the business.

這是一切的一點點。第一，當一家企業要出售，而管理團隊和運營團隊發現他們將有一個新的所有者時，保持勢頭就變得有點挑戰了。而且我會說他們失去了一些圍繞業務的重點和動力。

There's a little bit of capital. It's not giant numbers that have to go back into this to bring it up to our standards. But you start to look at specie-specific, moving different products around. We look at what we're selling product for versus what they have sold product for and saying if they would have only sold the product at the same price we did or near, that's a significant number.

有一點資本。要使它達到我們的標準，不需要大量的數據。但是您開始著眼於特定物種，移動不同的產品。我們看看我們銷售產品的目的與他們銷售產品的目的，並說如果他們只以與我們相同或接近的價格出售產品，這是一個很大的數字。

There's 1,900 people in 18 factories. I mean, simple math again, 105, 110 people. There's a lot of people that we got to figure out what they're doing. And then you look at it from a yield standpoint, from an energy operating cost standpoint. And we see significant opportunity there to teach the organization how we do it. I don't want to ever say we're the best of the best, but I think we're pretty darn good at what we do. And when we benchmark ourselves against them, if we can get them to where we're at, it is very easily the achievable $150 million number next year that we're throwing out there.

18 個工廠有 1,900 人。我的意思是，再簡單算一下，105、110 人。有很多人，我們必須弄清楚他們在做什麼。然後你從產量的角度，從能源運營成本的角度來看它。我們在那裡看到了重要的機會，可以教組織我們如何做。我不想說我們是最好的，但我認為我們非常擅長我們所做的事情。當我們以他們為基準時，如果我們能讓他們達到我們現在的水平，那麼明年我們很容易就能實現 1.5 億美元的目標。

And if I could just squeeze one more follow-up. Where are spot margins in DGD today? And how is the backward-dated kind of diesel curve kind of impacting kind of your margin capture?

如果我能再擠一次跟進。今天 DGD 的現貨保證金在哪裡？落後的柴油曲線是如何影響你的利潤率的？

You want to take that, Sandy?

桑迪，你想接受嗎？

Yes. So diesel spot margins today are well above where they were for Q1. They're getting closer to the $1.50 to $2 level. It just kind of depends on the day where the RINs prices, feedstock prices, et cetera. It's so well above what we saw the last quarter. So that's positive. And I think that -- if you look at where we're estimating for the year to end up at $1.25, that probably looks like a pretty conservative estimate at this point in time. So we're really happy about that.

是的。因此，今天的柴油現貨利潤率遠高於第一季度的水平。他們越來越接近 1.50 美元到 2 美元的水平。這在某種程度上取決於 RIN 價格、原料價格等的日期。這遠遠高於我們上一季度的水平。所以這是積極的。而且我認為 - 如果你看看我們估計今年最終價格為 1.25 美元，這在這個時間點可能看起來是一個非常保守的估計。所以我們對此感到非常高興。

In terms of the backward-dated curve, the backward-dated curve for us, what we do is we don't necessarily hedge our volumes out to the front month. They're going out to further months, and so we're not capturing that full front month value that you're seeing.

就回溯曲線而言，對我們來說回溯曲線，我們所做的是我們不一定要對沖前一個月的交易量。他們還要再過幾個月，所以我們沒有捕捉到你所看到的完整的前月價值。

Our next question will come from Ben Bienvenu with Stephens.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Ben Bienvenu 和 Stephens。

I want to ask about your acquisition strategy around continuing to build out your feed ingredients business. Strategically, it makes all the sense in the world, and I think you guys are in a relatively unique position in that your vertically integrated renewable diesel production positions you to acquire these assets. I would think without a lot of relative competition for these assets, the multiples you're paying suggest that. Can you talk about the potential, though it seems remote for the competition, for these types of assets grow and when you think about the value that you can add to these businesses when you buy them, given your long history of running and operating these types of businesses efficiently, how that positions you competitively relative to potential other suitors for these types?

我想問一下您圍繞繼續建立飼料原料業務的收購策略。從戰略上講，這在世界上都是有意義的，我認為你們處於一個相對獨特的位置，因為你們垂直整合的可再生柴油生產使你們能夠獲得這些資產。我認為如果這些資產沒有很多相對競爭，你支付的倍數就表明了這一點。你能談談這種潛力嗎，儘管對於競爭來說似乎很遙遠，因為這些類型的資產會增長，當你考慮購買這些業務時可以增加的價值時，考慮到你經營和經營這些類型的悠久歷史有效的業務，相對於這些類型的潛在其他追求者，這如何使您具有競爭力？

Yes. This is John. I mean, first of all, thank you for asking that question. This is something we sit around all the time and wonder especially, quite frankly, when we see the multiples that others are valued in the marketplace. The reality is this, the feedstock supply position that we've established around the world in today's marketplace would cost an insurmountable amount of money for anybody else to come in and try to replace. But more importantly than that, the supply system associated with low-carbon fats is a complicated supply chain. These are complicated supply chains to our plants. Our plants are complicated to run. And the sale of the product in the marketplace and the supply chain is a complex mechanism to operate.

是的。這是約翰。我的意思是，首先，謝謝你提出這個問題。這是我們一直圍觀的事情，尤其是坦率地說，當我們看到其他人在市場上的估值倍數時，我們會感到奇怪。現實是這樣的，我們在當今市場上在世界範圍內建立的原料供應地位將花費無法逾越的金錢讓其他任何人進入並試圖取代。但更重要的是，與低碳脂肪相關的供應系統是一個複雜的供應鏈。這些是我們工廠的複雜供應鏈。我們的工廠運行起來很複雜。產品在市場和供應鏈中的銷售是一個複雜的運作機制。

So if somebody went in today's market, which basically what we've seen in recent acquisitions with others, if you look at what you've heard in the marketplace in relationship to other acquisitions that have occurred out there that we haven't been engaged in, you would see multiples in the 12 to 18x range. If you went out to try to replace the size and scope of our system at those types of multiples today, you would have to break a bank to come up with enough money to do that. So the reality is we're hard to duplicate. In fact, were impossible to duplicate.

因此，如果有人進入今天的市場，這基本上是我們在最近與其他人的收購中看到的，如果你看看你在市場上聽到的與我們尚未參與的其他收購相關的消息中，您會看到 12 到 18 倍範圍內的倍數。如果你今天出去嘗試以這些類型的倍數替換我們系統的規模和範圍，你將不得不破產銀行才能拿出足夠的錢來做到這一點。所以現實是我們很難復制。事實上，我們不可能複制。

Now it's pretty easy to set up a trading desk and put a guy at a desk with a telephone and say that you've got procurement expertise on fats. You've got the ability to call us up to try to buy fat and others like us, but you don't really have the ability to source fat from its origin source, which is what we do. We go out to restaurants and pick up the fat. We go to slaughter facilities and pick up the process and -- material and bring it in process. We go out and pick up the food plate waste and come in and turn that into bioenergy.

現在很容易設置一個交易櫃檯，讓一個人坐在辦公桌前用電話說你有脂肪採購方面的專業知識。你有能力打電話給我們嘗試購買脂肪和其他像我們這樣的人，但你真的沒有能力從它的原始來源獲取脂肪，而這正是我們所做的。我們去餐館撿脂肪。我們去屠宰場，挑選過程和材料並將其帶入過程。我們出去撿起食物盤子裡的垃圾，然後進來把它變成生物能源。

The reality is that system is very, very difficult. Nobody else has that. Nobody else has the vertically integrated position in this marketplace, and it seems to be the best-kept secret in the entire industry.

現實是這個系統非常非常困難。沒有其他人有。在這個市場上，沒有其他人擁有垂直整合的地位，這似乎是整個行業中保守得最好的秘密。

Yes. I would add, Ben. I mean, it's a very special business that we put together over the last 20 years. Clearly, the marketplace is still trying to understand what we have and what the competitive advantages are, I mean, scale, geographic, people, expertise, product line. When a meat processor around the world, whether it's in Brazil or China or Australia, thinks about it, the first call is to us now because they know we can derive maximum value for them with the product line that we can convert their by-products into and thus essentially pay them more, make them more competitive and help them grow at the same time, meeting our shareholder requirements growing.

是的。我要補充一點，本。我的意思是，這是我們在過去 20 年裡建立起來的一項非常特殊的業務。顯然，市場仍在試圖了解我們擁有什麼以及競爭優勢是什麼，我的意思是規模、地理、人員、專業知識、產品線。當世界各地的肉類加工商，無論是在巴西、中國還是澳大利亞，想到這一點時，現在第一個電話就是我們，因為他們知道我們可以通過我們可以轉化他們的副產品的產品線為他們獲得最大價值投入並因此實質上支付給他們更多，使他們更具競爭力並同時幫助他們成長，滿足我們股東不斷增長的要求。

Like I said, we still see the world as our oyster. John was talking about it. I always like to give a little joke about it. I mean, RTI traded out there at 15, 16x. You got 200 million pounds of fat. Well, that's great. Well, we got that with Valley. And, oh, by the way, we got the 18 other rendering plants for free. So it's really how do you look at this stuff. And this is really a very special platform around the world that has -- it always has competition, but we have such a position now. I think it's very defensible, and it will continue to grow.

就像我說的，我們仍然將世界視為我們的牡蠣。約翰正在談論它。我總是喜歡開個小玩笑。我的意思是，RTI 以 15、16 倍的價格在那裡交易。你有 2 億磅脂肪。好吧，那太好了。好吧，我們從 Valley 那裡得到了這一點。而且，哦，順便說一句，我們免費獲得了其他 18 種渲染植物。所以這真的是你如何看待這些東西。這確實是世界上一個非常特殊的平台——它總是有競爭，但我們現在有這樣的地位。我認為它非常有防禦性，並且會繼續增長。

That's great. Yes, definitely an enviable position to be in.

那太棒了。是的，絕對是一個令人羨慕的位置。

My second question relates to cash flow and less looking for a direct answer and more helping -- hoping that you can help us think about calibrating strategically. And the question is I think we've certainly been guilty of this, focusing a lot on what might the distribution of cash flow from the joint venture be back up to Darling in 2023 or beyond. And I'm kind of stepping back and seeing -- or thinking now that you're making acquisitions across the feed ingredients business. You're investing into organic growth of the business. You're buying back stock, talking about potentially SAF down the road, if the economics line up. And I guess it sounds more like you've got a lot of opportunities that you might pursue, and the returns will dictate where you put the capital to work. But as we get closer to what's likely to be a very sizable amount of free cash flow coming back to the business, have you considered setting up a framework or structure to create some predictability in our expectation of where that cash might go? Or is it truly going to be variable depending on the environment?

我的第二個問題與現金流有關，而不是尋求直接答案，而是尋求更多幫助——希望您能幫助我們考慮戰略性校準。問題是我認為我們肯定對此感到內疚，非常關注合資企業的現金流分配在 2023 年或以後可能會回到 Darling。而且我有點退後一步，看看 - 或者現在正在考慮您正在整個飼料原料業務中進行收購。您正在投資於業務的有機增長。如果經濟狀況良好，你正在回購股票，談論未來可能的 SAF。我想這聽起來更像是你有很多機會可以追求，而回報將決定你將資本投入何處。但是，隨著我們越來越接近可能有大量的自由現金流返回企業，您是否考慮過建立一個框架或結構來為我們對現金可能流向的預期創造一些可預測性？或者它真的會根據環境而變化嗎？

No. I think, Ben, I mean, you articulated about 6 hours of the Board meeting the last couple of days there. And to be honest with you, yes, I mean, we will be articulating that. I mean, number one, we will maintain and our goal is to become investment grade and maintain sub-3.0 leverage. So if you say $1.1 gets you to the trajectory of delevering after the growth that we've done here, that's very simple to do given the massive amount of cash it's generated.

不，我想，本，我的意思是，你在過去幾天的董事會會議上講了大約 6 個小時。老實說，是的，我的意思是，我們會闡明這一點。我的意思是，第一，我們將保持並且我們的目標是成為投資級別並保持低於 3.0 的槓桿率。因此，如果你說 1.1 美元讓你在我們在這裡完成的增長之後進入去槓桿化的軌道，那麼考慮到它產生的大量現金，這很容易做到。

Number two, John Bullock has projects that will compete for capital.

第二，約翰·布洛克 (John Bullock) 的項目將爭奪資金。

And number three, we'll continue our share buyback on an opportunistic basis, just like we've done. We're committed to that.

第三，我們將繼續在機會主義的基礎上回購股票，就像我們所做的那樣。我們致力於此。

And fourth, if there's any shuttles left in the cigar box, then the Board will have the opportunity to put a dividend under it in '23 to be meaningful.

第四，如果雪茄盒裡還有航天飛機，那麼董事會將有機會在 23 年派發股息，這才有意義。

So there's going to be a balancing act of all 4 items with the number one being maintain the leverage at investment-grade levels or below; number two, fund the growth as we see it out there that has reasonable returns; number three, buy back stock when it makes sense, when that is the best investment and it makes sure we don't dilute anybody at any time; and four, consider a dividend when it makes sense here. And so I think that's exactly what you're going to see us do, and we'll be -- we're going to be committed to it.

因此，所有 4 個項目都會有一個平衡的行為，第一個是將槓桿率保持在投資級水平或以下；第二，為我們所看到的具有合理回報的增長提供資金；第三，在有意義的時候回購股票，這是最好的投資，它確保我們在任何時候都不會稀釋任何人；第四，考慮在這裡有意義的股息。因此，我認為這正是您將要看到我們所做的，我們將——我們將致力於此。

Our next question will come from Thomas Palmer with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Thomas Palmer。

Maybe follow up on Adam's question on DGD's economics and dig into some of the factors that maybe could cause DGD to vary from the spot rates you cited. So I'm just going to list a couple of things. So first, I saw you have an approved pathway in California for renewable naphtha. Have you started selling into LCFS markets with that?

也許跟進亞當關於 DGD 經濟學的問題，並深入研究可能導致 DGD 與您引用的即期匯率不同的一些因素。所以我只想列出幾件事。所以首先，我看到你在加利福尼亞有一條批准的可再生石腦油途徑。您是否已開始向 LCFS 市場銷售產品？

Second, the derivative losses were pretty sizable last quarter. At this point, should we expect additional losses in the second quarter? Or is it mainly going to be isolated to that first quarter?

其次，上個季度的衍生品損失相當可觀。在這一點上，我們是否應該預期第二季度會出現額外虧損？還是主要會被隔離到第一季度？

And then third, to what extent should we factor in start-up costs at Port Arthur as we look at the fourth quarter?

第三，我們應該在多大程度上考慮第四季度亞瑟港的啟動成本？

Sandy?

沙？

Yes. Okay. So I guess I'm going to start with our feedstocks or hedge loss because you brought that up. So typically, what we do at DGD is we buy our feedstock months in advance. And when we do that, generally, what we try to do is we try to hedge the spread between the feedstock price and the diesel price. That means that we're putting on hedges in the months in which we plan to sell the diesel. That's typically not the front month. So that's, in part, an answer to your first question why we don't realize the front-month margin.

是的。好的。所以我想我將從我們的原料或對沖損失開始，因為你提到了這一點。因此，通常情況下，我們在 DGD 所做的是提前幾個月購買原料。當我們這樣做時，一般來說，我們試圖做的是試圖對沖原料價格和柴油價格之間的價差。這意味著我們在計劃出售柴油的月份進行對沖。這通常不是前一個月。因此，這在一定程度上回答了你的第一個問題，為什麼我們沒有意識到即月保證金。

So basically then -- and because we're putting those hedges on and specifically within Q1, what we saw is we saw that, that diesel price continued to climb all quarter long. And what that meant then is it meant that we were buying our hedge back at a higher price than what we put it on at. That's what created the hedge loss.

所以基本上 - 因為我們在第一季度特別是在第一季度內進行了這些對沖，我們看到的是，柴油價格在整個季度都在持續攀升。那意味著我們以比我們投入的價格更高的價格買回我們的對沖。這就是造成對沖損失的原因。

And in terms of what we expect going forward, we don't know where diesel prices are going to go. We're not going to spec the spread. We have a normal hedging policy that we're planning to maintain, and so where that falls out is where it falls out.

就我們對未來的預期而言，我們不知道柴油價格將走向何方。我們不會詳細說明價差。我們有一個我們計劃維持的正常對沖政策，所以失敗的地方就是失敗的地方。

In terms of Port Arthur and margins and where we think things are going to go, we think that there's a lot of support within the market. What we've seen recently that was different than what we saw really in Q4 as we saw that RINs really responded as well, and we continue to think that RINs will respond in order to incent the marginal producer. And we are not the marginal producer. So we do think that we'll have good values when Port Arthur comes online. We have very low carbon feedstocks that we utilize, and we're fortunate for that. And so I don't necessarily anticipate anything different with regard to Port Arthur, but we'll see. We'll see how the market reacts to that.

就亞瑟港和利潤率以及我們認為事情的發展方向而言，我們認為市場內有很多支持。我們最近看到的情況與我們在第 4 季度看到的實際情況不同，因為我們看到 RIN 也確實做出了回應，我們仍然認為 RIN 會做出回應以激勵邊際生產者。我們不是邊際生產者。因此，我們確實認為，當亞瑟港上線時，我們將擁有良好的價值。我們使用非常低碳的原料，我們為此感到幸運。因此，我不一定期望亞瑟港會有什麼不同，但我們拭目以待。我們將看看市場對此有何反應。

We do see -- we're also seeing some movement in sort of LCFS prices, which is a good sign. We've recently seen those kind of pop back up. I know that CARB recently came out with their report on the Scoping Plan or there was some initial discussion with regard to the Scoping Plan where they were talking about considering increasing the targets both before and after 2030. So that's very positive. And I don't know if that's what's driving the increase in the LCFS prices, but I think that those will continue to strengthen there.

我們確實看到了——我們也看到了 LCFS 價格的一些變化，這是一個好兆頭。我們最近看到了那種流行的備份。我知道 CARB 最近發布了他們關於範圍界定計劃的報告，或者就範圍界定計劃進行了一些初步討論，他們正在討論考慮在 2030 年前後增加目標。所以這是非常積極的。我不知道這是否是推動 LCFS 價格上漲的原因，但我認為這些價格將繼續在那裡走強。

So I think that the market looks very positive going our way, and that's again why we're seeing better margins going into the future than we did in Q1.

所以我認為市場看起來非常積極，這也是為什麼我們看到未來的利潤率比第一季度更高。

Maybe just to follow up on the FASA acquisition, what's the structure of the rendering market in South America? Is its formula contract similar to the U.S. or structured differently?

也許只是為了跟進FASA的收購，南美渲染市場的結構是什麼？它的公式合約與美國相似還是結構不同？

This is John. There's a combination of formula contracts and then also some just contracts where we're pricing versus the marketplace. I think the critical issue that we see in Brazil with FASA that we see in all of our rendering operations is that we have the right locations in relationship to where the slaughtered by-products are being created. So we've got the really good economics. We can give a really great deal back to our raw material suppliers because of how we're positioned in those marketplaces. And kind of the form and substance of whether you're doing it on a long-term contract or whether or not you're just buying them what the current market is and passing along that value back to your raw material suppliers, I think it's sometimes overestimated.

這是約翰。有公式合同的組合，還有一些我們根據市場定價的合同。我認為我們在巴西看到的關鍵問題是我們在所有提煉操作中看到的 FASA 是我們擁有與生產屠宰副產品的位置相關的正確位置。所以我們有非常好的經濟學。由於我們在這些市場中的定位，我們可以回饋我們的原材料供應商很多。至於形式和實質，無論你是根據長期合同來做，還是只是根據當前市場情況購買它們，並將該價值傳遞回你的原材料供應商，我認為這是有時高估。

We operate very different models in every continent that we operate in. But the fundamental thing is this: Are you in the right location with the right processing capability to support the people that are providing you with the raw material products? And if you are, then you've got a great business model.

我們在經營所在的每個大陸都採用非常不同的模式。但最基本的是：您是否在正確的位置並具有正確的加工能力來支持為您提供原材料產品的人員？如果你是，那麼你就有了一個很好的商業模式。

Our next question will come from Ken Zaslow with Bank of Montreal.

我們的下一個問題將來自蒙特利爾銀行的 Ken Zaslow。

I'm going to try and do some Bank of Montreal math, maybe not that complicated, but let me just try this out. If you're guiding this year to $1.1 billion for the rendering, and you have another $150 million of incremental profits coming from Valley, that seems to add up to about $1.25 billion for next year without any changes. And then if I think about the Diamond Green Diesel going to about 1.3 billion gallons next year, holding margin at $1.25, that's kind of close to about $800 million. Is there anything wrong with Bank of Montreal math?

我將嘗試做一些蒙特利爾銀行的數學運算，也許沒有那麼複雜，但讓我試試看。如果您將今年的渲染指導價提高到 11 億美元，並且您還有來自 Valley 的另外 1.5 億美元的增量利潤，那麼在沒有任何變化的情況下，明年這似乎加起來約為 12.5 億美元。然後，如果我考慮 Diamond Green Diesel 明年將達到約 13 億加侖，利潤率保持在 1.25 美元，那將接近 8 億美元。蒙特利爾銀行的數學有什麼問題嗎？

I would say, okay, we're guiding $1 billion, $1.50 billion in the base business, add $50 million to $60 million for accretion from Valley this year, so you could say up to $1.1 billion there, the increment -- so I call it -- that's an incremental $100 million over the $50 million this year.

我會說，好吧，我們指導基礎業務 10 億美元，15 億美元，今年從 Valley 增加 5000 萬到 6000 萬美元，所以你可以說那里高達 11 億美元，增量 - 所以我打電話它——比今年的 5000 萬美元增加了 1 億美元。

So if prices hold, volumes hold, then yes, you could go $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion next year. And then I'm looking at Sandy, if $1.2 billion is what we're saying, you're rounding up to $1.3 billion now. I'm not allowed to do that, although I kind of believe it will do that. And you're right. I mean, that is Bank of Montreal math, and I love it.

因此，如果價格保持不變，銷量保持不變，那麼是的，明年你可以達到 11 億美元至 12 億美元。然後我在看桑迪，如果我們說的是 12 億美元，那麼你現在四捨五入到 13 億美元。我不允許這樣做，儘管我有點相信它會那樣做。你是對的。我的意思是，那是蒙特利爾銀行的數學，我喜歡它。

And that also excludes FASA. Is that also true?

這也不包括 FASA。這也是真的嗎？

Yes. And like I said, it's at a $500 million or up. Divide it by 5 on the real, plus or minus a couple of bps there. So it's on a USD 100 million run rate right now.

是的。就像我說的，它的價格在 5 億美元或以上。將它除以 5，加上或減去幾個基點。所以它現在的運行率是 1 億美元。

Okay. And then also just to make sure I fully understand this, what new capacity for you guys is coming online this year on the food side? And does that add incremental profitability?

好的。然後還要確保我完全理解這一點，你們今年在食品方面有什麼新的能力上線？這會增加盈利能力嗎？

We have one unit coming on to expand our Peptan capability later this year. And that's the...

我們有一個部門將在今年晚些時候擴展我們的 Peptan 能力。那就是...

So that's also -- so that would also be marginally incremental as well. Is that fair?

所以這也是 - 所以這也會略微增加。這公平嗎？

In '23 as it comes on. It's supporting the growth in the hydrolyzed collagen business for next year.

在 23 年它出現時。它支持明年水解膠原蛋白業務的增長。

Okay. All right. I was just trying to just do BMO math. And then the second question I have, just to double-check on this. Next year, when you -- from the Diamond Green Diesel business, if you pay a dividend back to yourself, that could be used to deleverage the balance sheet. So leverage is really not an issue that I should know about? Or I know, Brad, when you discussed the leverage, you're talking about generating tons of cash flow, but you also have this Diamond Green Diesel dividend that might be coming back next year. So that also provides a little likelihood of deleveraging or am I misunderstanding that as well?

好的。好的。我只是想做 BMO 數學。然後是我的第二個問題，只是要仔細檢查一下。明年，當你——來自鑽石綠色柴油業務時，如果你向自己支付股息，那可以用來去槓桿化資產負債表。所以槓桿真的不是我應該知道的問題嗎？或者我知道，布拉德，當你討論槓桿時，你在談論產生大量現金流，但你也有可能在明年回歸的鑽石綠色柴油股息。所以這也提供了一點去槓桿化的可能性，或者我是否也誤解了這一點？

No. I mean, using the math that you generated there, yes. I mean, if we snapshot the world as of May 2 or whatever, Brad, we're what, 2.88 levered with something like that, plus with Valley in there now?

不，我的意思是，使用你在那裡生成的數學，是的。我的意思是，如果我們對 5 月 2 日或其他時間的世界進行快照，布拉德，我們是什麼，2.88 槓桿與類似的東西，加上現在那裡有 Valley？

With Valley.

與穀。

So I mean, we're where we want to be right now. And then if we start pulling dividends of $400 million to $600 million out of Diamond Green next year, on top of a core run rate that has $1 billion number in it, they're somewhere between $700 million and $1 billion of free cash to, like I said, do 1 of the 4 things that we're going to do.

所以我的意思是，我們現在就是我們想去的地方。然後，如果我們明年開始從 Diamond Green 中提取 4 億至 6 億美元的股息，除了其中包含 10 億美元的核心運行率之外，它們還有 7 億至 10 億美元的自由現金，就像我說的，做我們要做的四件事中的一件。

Okay. And then my last question is when I think about SAF, what is the pathway to that? And what will be the key milestones for you to be aware of that? And then I'll leave it there.

好的。然後我的最後一個問題是，當我想到 SAF 時，通往它的途徑是什麼？您意識到這一點的關鍵里程碑是什麼？然後我會把它留在那裡。

I think the big milestone for us really is to get a tax credit put in place. That's really the main holdup, so we need to see what that looks like and see if it makes economic sense before we want to make an investment decision on that.

我認為對我們來說真正的重大里程碑是獲得稅收抵免。這確實是主要的障礙，所以我們需要先看看它是什麼樣子，看看它是否具有經濟意義，然後再做出投資決定。

Our next question will come from Matthew Blair with Tudor, Pickering, Holt.

我們的下一個問題將來自馬修布萊爾和都鐸、皮克林、霍爾特。

Randy, you mentioned that DGD is pulling some feedstocks from Brazil today. What percent of DGD's feed is imported now? And looking forward, do you expect the U.S. to pull an increasing amount of global feedstocks to support all this R&D growth? And if so, it seems like your Gulf Coast location could be pretty ideal. So I was hoping you could comment on that.

Randy，你提到 DGD 今天正在從巴西提取一些原料。 DGD 的飼料現在有多少百分比是進口的？展望未來，您是否預計美國會拉動越來越多的全球原料來支持所有這些研發增長？如果是這樣，那麼您在墨西哥灣沿岸的位置似乎非常理想。所以我希望你能對此發表評論。

I'll comment a little bit and let Sandy put her thoughts together. I mean, clearly, we have the arbitrage flexibility. We're bringing stuff from all over the world today into Diamond Green Diesel 1 and 2, and obviously, we will at 3. I mean, that's the beauty of those locations, receive by water, can ship by water. And as long as the U.S. is really the leader in low-carbon markets and as long as the capacity is here, not in Europe, then yes, we'll continue to originate. Sandy, you want to comment a little bit?

我會稍微評論一下，讓桑迪整理一下她的想法。我的意思是，很明顯，我們有套利的靈活性。我們今天將來自世界各地的東西帶入 Diamond Green Diesel 1 和 2，顯然，我們將在 3。我的意思是，這就是那些地點的美麗之處，可以通過水路接收，也可以通過水路運輸。只要美國真的是低碳市場的領導者，只要能力在這裡，而不是在歐洲，那麼是的，我們將繼續原創。桑迪，你想評論一下嗎？

Yes. I think as we have expanded our capacity, then we've drawn more international feedstock into the mix. I would expect that we would do the same once DGD3 comes online, and I think we want to do that because we have the unit that can run the cheapest fats. And so we want to do that so we can create the highest margins. And so we're fortunate that we sit in the Gulf of Mexico and where we do and that we have the capabilities that we do with our unit that we have the pretreater that we have just tremendous logistics and that we can bring in whatever the cheapest fat is from wherever that is in the world.

是的。我認為，隨著我們擴大產能，我們會吸收更多國際原料。我希望 DGD3 上線後我們會做同樣的事情，我認為我們想要這樣做是因為我們擁有可以運行最便宜脂肪的裝置。所以我們想這樣做，這樣我們就可以創造最高的利潤。所以我們很幸運，我們坐落在墨西哥灣和我們做的地方，我們有我們的設備的能力，我們有預處理，我們有巨大的物流，我們可以帶來任何最便宜的東西脂肪來自世界上任何地方。

Great. And then thinking about the $1.25 EBITDA guidance for 2022, I was curious if you view that as somewhat of a floor, just considering that some of your competitors seem to be struggling even to stay like cash breakeven in this environment. So is that $1.25 a floor in your mind? And then also, does that $1.25, is that enough for you to support additional R&D investment?

偉大的。然後想想 2022 年 1.25 美元的 EBITDA 指導，我很好奇你是否認為這有點底線，只是考慮到你的一些競爭對手似乎在這種環境下甚至難以保持現金收支平衡。那麼你心目中的樓層是 1.25 美元嗎？然後，那 1.25 美元是否足以讓您支持額外的研發投資？

Yes. I'll try to answer that a little bit, and maybe John will want to pipe in.

是的。我會嘗試稍微回答一下，也許 John 會插話。

Number one, as Sandy said, we look at the ability of the feedstocks we can run and originate from around the world that gives us an incredible competitive advantage. You heard about the pathway on naphtha now that's out there, the CI scores that we have, the supply chain between us. No one ever talks about Valero's supply of corn oil. I mean, that's important into this facility.

第一，正如桑迪所說，我們著眼於我們可以運行的原料的能力，這些原料來自世界各地，這給了我們難以置信的競爭優勢。你聽說過現在石腦油的途徑，我們擁有的 CI 分數，我們之間的供應鏈。從來沒有人談論瓦萊羅的玉米油供應。我的意思是，這對這個設施很重要。

So $1.25, I always hate to use as a floor. But right now, with what we see, obviously, with the inverse or the backwardation, I had to learn what that word meant in the market. Clearly, as we go forward here, it looks like it's conservative with what we see. And going forward, nearby spot margins are quite a bit above that. But as we work through the volatility and then the world dealing with renewable demand -- rather with the higher oil prices, we'll see. Keep in mind, $1.25 against the $3.30, whatever, a gallon investment is still an incredible return for us as we go forward. Sandy, John, anything you want to add?

所以 1.25 美元，我總是討厭用它作為地板。但現在，根據我們所看到的，很明顯，反向或現貨溢價，我必須了解這個詞在市場上的含義。顯然，隨著我們向前推進，我們所看到的似乎是保守的。展望未來，附近的現貨利潤率遠高於此。但隨著我們努力應對波動，然後世界應對可再生能源需求——而不是更高的油價，我們將拭目以待。請記住，1.25 美元對 3.30 美元，無論如何，在我們前進的過程中，一加侖的投資對我們來說仍然是一個令人難以置信的回報。桑迪、約翰，你還有什麼想補充的嗎？

Yes. I think the only thing that I would add to it, and we've talked about this a lot in the past. We have built a machine that is the right machine in the right location with the right expertise and the right capabilities. And essentially, what we have is a Swiss watch. We are fully capable to maximize margins in the environments that we'll develop in the future. We have a lot of folks out there that are not building Swiss watches. They're trying to come out with the cheapest knockoffs they possibly can to try to participate in what looks like a massively lucrative business. This is a very good business if you're in the right location with the right machine with the right logistics with the right people. If you're not, it's not so much fun, and we're starting to see that from some of these other guys.

是的。我想我唯一要補充的是，我們過去已經談過很多次了。我們在正確的位置建造了一台正確的機器，具有正確的專業知識和正確的能力。從本質上講，我們擁有的是瑞士手錶。我們完全有能力在未來開發的環境中實現利潤最大化。我們有很多人不是在製造瑞士手錶。他們正試圖推出最便宜的仿冒品，以嘗試參與一項看似利潤豐厚的業務。如果您在正確的位置、正確的機器、正確的物流和正確的人員，這將是一項非常好的業務。如果你不是，那就沒那麼有趣了，我們開始從其他一些人身上看到這一點。

So margins will go up and down over time at Diamond. We're fully confident that we built the right machine with the right partners, and we're prepared to compete for the long haul. And we think that margin structure is going to be solid for us. And as Randy said, at $1.25, it remains the best investment that you could possibly have in ag or energy in the world.

因此，Diamond 的利潤會隨著時間的推移而上下波動。我們完全有信心與合適的合作夥伴一起製造出合適的機器，並且我們已準備好進行長期競爭。我們認為保證金結構對我們來說是穩固的。正如蘭迪所說，1.25 美元，它仍然是您在世界上可能擁有的對農業或能源的最佳投資。

Our next question will come from Sam Margolin with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Wolfe Research 的 Sam Margolin。

Quick one on this green energy initiative. Maybe you could elaborate. I guess we're talking about RNG digester gas. And I was just wondering, given it makes sense, right, given where energy costs are in Europe, is this a business that you imagine as kind of an internal, almost like a cogen business? Or are you planning to distribute what you produce to third parties?

快速了解這項綠色能源倡議。也許你可以詳細說明。我想我們正在談論 RNG 沼氣池氣體。我只是想知道，考慮到歐洲的能源成本，這是有道理的，這是否是您想像中的一種內部業務，幾乎就像一個熱電聯產業務？或者您打算將您生產的產品分發給第三方？

No. This is John. We've been engaged in digestion in Europe now for a very long period of time. We ran one of the largest digesters for -- since we bought VION and our Son facility in the Netherlands. We recognize this. It's interesting. Low carbon -- everybody has been focused on just low-carbon biofuels, and that's a very important marketplace.

不，這是約翰。我們現在在歐洲從事消化已經很長時間了。自從我們在荷蘭購買了 VION 和我們的 Son 工廠以來，我們運行了最大的沼氣池之一。我們認識到這一點。這真有趣。低碳——每個人都只關注低碳生物燃料，這是一個非常重要的市場。

However, in Europe, you have a fundamentally different pricing structure. The price for fixed power is so much more expensive. This is before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. It's much more so today. But even before, fundamentally, they had high natural gas prices, and that led to an extremely lucrative market. They have also developed policies that support fixed power generation, similar to what we've talked about as a renewable electric credit in the United States that's never been fully baked into the regulatory scheme in the U.S. It is in Europe.

然而，在歐洲，你有一個根本不同的定價結構。固定電源的價格要貴得多。這是在弗拉基米爾普京入侵烏克蘭之前。今天更是如此。但甚至在此之前，從根本上說，他們的天然氣價格很高，這導致了一個極其有利可圖的市場。他們還制定了支持固定發電的政策，類似於我們在美國談到的可再生電力信貸，它從未完全納入美國的監管計劃。它在歐洲。

And so we have the expertise -- again, running digesters is a tricky proposition. We have great internal expertise. We've expanded Son over the years. We've put a unit into our Denderleeuw facility in Belgium a few years ago, expanded that. Just recently bought Op de Beeck. And we continue to look to expand that business because we just think, fundamentally, it's a great place in Europe to take advantage of the low-carbon fixed power market because the marketplace is structured such that it makes a lot of sense to be engaged there, and the regulatory scheme is extremely friendly to being able to be in that industry.

因此我們擁有專業知識——同樣，運行沼氣池是一個棘手的問題。我們擁有出色的內部專業知識。多年來，我們擴大了 Son。幾年前，我們在比利時的 Denderleeuw 設施中安裝了一個裝置，並對其進行了擴展。最近剛買了 Op de Beeck。我們繼續尋求擴大該業務，因為我們只是認為，從根本上說，這是歐洲利用低碳固定電力市場的好地方，因為市場的結構使得參與那裡很有意義，並且監管方案對能夠進入該行業極為友好。

So again, we're in the right place at the right time, but we've not sat on our laurels. We've rapidly expanded that with an absolutely fabulous European team we have working on this.

再說一遍，我們在正確的時間出現在正確的地方，但我們並沒有坐享其成。我們已經通過一支絕對出色的歐洲團隊迅速擴展了這一點，我們正在為此努力。

Yes. Sam, the supply chain there is obviously we can divert different streams from plate waste that has to be recycled to manure. We're in partnership with a Dutch farming community to a different animal by-product streams that are not allowed to go back into feed. And clearly -- then from there, you obviously make the gas. We convert the gas to electricity through the turbines, and we make bio-phosphate fertilizers then that go back into the marketplace.

是的。山姆，那裡的供應鏈顯然我們可以將不同的流從必須回收的盤子廢物轉移到糞便中。我們正在與荷蘭農業社區合作，研究不同的動物副產品流，這些副產品流不允許返回到飼料中。很明顯——然後從那裡，你顯然會產生氣體。我們通過渦輪機將天然氣轉化為電能，然後生產生物磷酸鹽肥料，然後再投放市場。

And so it's just a natural for us. As John said, we operate the largest facility in the Netherlands and Son. We built and have doubled and tripled the size of our Denderleeuw Belgium facility, and now we added Op de Beeck. And we still see 3 or 4 different opportunities throughout Europe from Poland on to Germany that allow the same thing because of the -- if you think of it, it's the logistical supply chain. You got to have the trucks to collect the material.

所以這對我們來說很自然。正如 John 所說，我們經營著荷蘭和 Son 最大的設施。我們建造了 Denderleeuw Belgium 工廠並將其規模擴大了一倍和三倍，現在我們增加了 Op de Beeck。我們仍然看到整個歐洲從波蘭到德國有 3 到 4 個不同的機會允許同樣的事情，因為 - 如果你想到它，它就是物流供應鏈。你必須有卡車來收集材料。

It's no different in a sense from the used cooking oil business in North America. We're just picking up different streams. And instead of settling or purifying used cooking oil, we're converting it back into green electricity. So it's a very natural fit.

從某種意義上說，這與北美的廢食用油業務沒有什麼不同。我們只是選擇不同的流。我們不是沉澱或淨化用過的食用油，而是將其轉化為綠色電力。所以這是一個非常自然的契合。

Got it. And then -- just a quick one on food. I mean, if I kind of look at the margin progression and I overlay that with the way you talk about the segment in terms of mix benefits and new products, it looks like we are almost at the finish line of the new product contribution kind of overwhelming and making up for the energy cost headwind that was hitting margins earlier. Do you think that -- is that a fair assessment?

知道了。然後——簡單介紹一下食物。我的意思是，如果我看一下利潤率的進展，並將其與您在混合收益和新產品方面談論該細分市場的方式疊加起來，看起來我們幾乎處於新產品貢獻的終點線勢不可擋並彌補了早些時候影響利潤率的能源成本逆風。你認為這是一個公平的評估嗎？

And then on the margin side, is that just going to keep going where now that business has essentially fully absorbed the energy cost impact, and now you're just sort of banking the mix benefit on the collagen side and...

然後在利潤方面，現在業務基本上已經完全吸收了能源成本的影響，是否會繼續前進，現在你只是將混合效益存入膠原蛋白方面......

Yes. I'm not totally sure that I understand the question. Let me comment generally about the segment. We have seen tremendous margin improvement in our food segment because we were an early adopter into the Peptan space and have been able to divert a lot of products towards that much higher-margin product marketplace because -- and the demand in that marketplace, I have to tell you, is absolutely stellar. And we don't think that, that stops.

是的。我不確定我是否理解這個問題。讓我對該部分進行一般性評論。我們在食品領域看到了巨大的利潤率提升，因為我們是 Peptan 領域的早期採用者，並且能夠將大量產品轉移到利潤率更高的產品市場，因為——以及該市場的需求，我有告訴你，絕對是一流的。我們不認為那會停止。

So we still think there's plenty of opportunity for us to grow in that space, and we work hard on that every day to take advantage of opportunities to grow. I'm not quite sure I understand the energy cost component of what you were asking us.

所以我們仍然認為我們在這個領域有很多成長的機會，我們每天都在努力工作以利用成長的機會。我不太確定我是否理解您向我們提出的問題中的能源成本部分。

Well, the question is so you had margin benefits accruing from product mix on the Peptan side, but it wasn't accumulating to full segment margin gains, right? Year-over-year, you have a little bit of a decremental margin in food, so -- and I'm attributing that to energy costs. And so I'm just wondering if now that energy costs -- maybe plateaued, we're sort of through that process. And you'll start to see food margins expand because there's nothing interfering with that.

嗯，問題是你從 Peptan 方面的產品組合中獲得了利潤收益，但它並沒有累積到整個部門的利潤收益，對吧？與去年同期相比，您在食品方面的利潤率有所下降，所以——我將其歸因於能源成本。所以我只是想知道，現在能源成本——也許已經趨於穩定，我們是否正在經歷這個過程。你會開始看到食品利潤率擴大，因為沒有任何干擾。

Yes. I think -- Sam, I think there were multiple things, obviously from COVID disruptions, container freight disruptions, energy price escalation, raw material price escalation, that all impacted that food segment really. Instead of going into hyper speed, it stayed back on cruise control last year. We're starting to see that now accelerate in first quarter, and we think it will continue through 2022, and then we bring on some more capacity in '23. So I think you'll see an improvement there. I think -- is that fair enough, John?

是的。我認為——山姆，我認為有多種因素，顯然是 COVID 中斷、集裝箱貨運中斷、能源價格上漲、原材料價格上漲，所有這些都真正影響了食品領域。去年它沒有進入超速狀態，而是回到了巡航控制狀態。我們開始看到現在第一季度加速，我們認為它會持續到 2022 年，然後我們在 23 年增加一些產能。所以我認為你會在那裡看到改進。我想——這樣夠公平嗎，約翰？

No, that's exactly right. Energy was part of it, obviously. But there are, as Randy said, a variety of factors that just kind of flush together that kind of delayed what we thought was going to be the impact coming out of this. But now we're starting to see it, and then it looks like it has an excellent growth curve to it.

不，完全正確。顯然，能量是其中的一部分。但是，正如蘭迪所說，有多種因素匯集在一起，延遲了我們認為由此產生的影響。但現在我們開始看到它，然後看起來它有一個很好的增長曲線。

Our next question will come from Bill Baldwin with Baldwin Anthony Securities.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Baldwin Anthony Securities 的 Bill Baldwin。

Okay. I wanted to see what insights you could offer regarding your rendering volumes in Europe. You indicated you're going to have roughly around 15 million metric tons globally with the acquisitions that you made. Where do we stand in Europe in terms of those volumes? And what are the trends there? Are they static? Are they growing? Are they declining? Kind of what -- can you give us a feel for that?

好的。我想看看您可以提供有關您在歐洲的渲染量的哪些見解。你表示你將在全球範圍內通過你進行的收購獲得大約 1500 萬噸。就這些數量而言，我們在歐洲處於什麼位置？那裡的趨勢是什麼？它們是靜態的嗎？他們在成長嗎？他們在下降嗎？什麼樣的 - 你能給我們一個感覺嗎？

Well, I think, Bill, we had about 11.5 million tons, added 2.5 million, a little under, with Valley and another, a little under $1.5 million with FASA. So that's where the 14-something million, rounding to 15 million comes from. Never really broke out Europe. But what I can tell you in Europe today, the volumes are actually up year-over-year right now, pretty steady. Animal agriculture is under attack a little bit in Europe today, really what climate change and what's to do with the manure. We've seen some animal disease issues in Europe. ASF, up in Poland, a little bit into Germany. And then we've seen some bird flu issues.

好吧，我想，比爾，我們有大約 1150 萬噸，加上 250 萬噸，略低於 Valley 和另一個，略低於 150 萬美元與 FASA。這就是 14 多萬，四捨五入到 1500 萬的來源。從未真正爆發過歐洲。但我今天在歐洲可以告訴你的是，現在的銷量實際上是同比增長的，相當穩定。今天歐洲的畜牧業受到了一些攻擊，真的是氣候變化以及與糞便有什麼關係。我們在歐洲看到了一些動物疾病問題。 ASF，在波蘭，一點點進入德國。然後我們看到了一些禽流感問題。

Now remember that while the bird flu side depopulates in Europe, anything that does with animal disease gets brought into 1 of our 7 Rendac plants to be disposed of. So we benefit on both sides there. But really no material changes, I mean, yet today in animal production or demand in Europe. John, Brad, anything that you...

現在請記住，雖然禽流感方面在歐洲人口減少，但任何與動物疾病有關的東西都會被帶入我們 7 家 Rendac 工廠中的 1 家進行處理。所以我們在那裡對雙方都有利。但我的意思是，今天在歐洲的動物生產或需求方面確實沒有發生實質性變化。約翰，布拉德，任何你...

No, I think one of the interesting things that we've seen, and it was interesting when COVID started, we sit around and worried about what was going to happen to our volume, and it didn't go down, and it went up. And then as we've seen supply chain disruptions around the world, we sit around and worry that our volume is going to go down, and it goes up. The reality is the demand consumption by the world now, while everybody complains about prices, people are still buying. And so we see tremendous volumes continuing to flow through our facilities. And that's part because we keep bringing on additional production capability all the time to be able to handle that. So it's great right now.

不，我認為我們看到的一件有趣的事情，當 COVID 開始時很有趣，我們坐在那裡擔心我們的音量會發生什麼，它沒有下降，反而上升了.然後，當我們看到世界各地的供應鏈中斷時，我們坐在那裡擔心我們的產量會下降，而且會上升。現實是現在世界需求消費，雖然大家都在抱怨價格，但人們還在買。因此，我們看到大量貨物繼續流經我們的設施。這部分是因為我們一直在不斷增加額外的生產能力來處理這個問題。所以現在很好。

Yes. And I think, more importantly, in North America, we're still running plants around to run 6 days to make 5 days of production in the meat business because of labor shortages. I mean, it's just universal. So I mean, clearly, the demand is there, and they could run more if they add more people. So it's -- we're optimistic for the year that volumes will remain robust, and they're up 3.6% year-over-year right now during Q1.

是的。而且我認為，更重要的是，在北美，由於勞動力短缺，我們仍在運行工廠運行 6 天，以生產 5 天的肉類業務。我的意思是，它只是通用的。所以我的意思是，很明顯，需求是存在的，如果他們增加更多的人，他們可以運行更多。因此，我們對今年的銷量將保持強勁持樂觀態度，並且在第一季度同比增長 3.6%。

Yes. That's been -- but we expected volumes will be pretty good here in the early part of the year. I think kind of felt like they might trail off a little bit in the beef as you got out towards the latter part of the year, but it sounds like you're not really expecting that, Randy.

是的。那是——但我們預計今年年初這裡的銷量會相當不錯。我覺得當你在今年下半年離開時，他們可能會在牛肉中稍微減少一點，但聽起來你並沒有真正期待這一點，蘭迪。

Not seeing it yet.

還沒有看到它。

Right. Last question. Can you -- as far as the European rendering, can you offer a little bit of a species breakdown as to percentage of beef, pork and poultry that you process through your rendering plants there? How does that kind of stack up?

正確的。最後一個問題。你能——就歐洲提煉而言，你能提供一些關於你通過提煉工廠加工的牛肉、豬肉和家禽的百分比的物種分類嗎？這種情況如何疊加？

Well, this is John. There's less cows in Europe. There's a whole lot of chickens, and there's a whole lot of pigs, but we're both -- we're engaged heavily in both of those.

嗯，這是約翰。歐洲的奶牛很少。有很多雞，也有很多豬，但我們都是——我們在這兩者上都投入了大量精力。

Yes. I mean, Germany is clearly a beef country. Holland is a lot of pigs, and Poland is a lot of chicken. So it's pretty much -- it's a pretty similar mix to what we have in North America here. So it's just a differential which country because you've got more pasture land, obviously, in Germany.

是的。我的意思是，德國顯然是一個牛肉國家。荷蘭有很多豬，波蘭有很多雞。所以它幾乎 - 它與我們在北美的組合非常相似。所以這只是哪個國家的差異，因為你有更多的牧場，顯然，在德國。

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

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 Randy Stuewe 作任何閉幕詞。

All right. Once again, thank you, everybody. Appreciate everyone's time today. Hope you stay safe. I look forward to seeing you some time at any upcoming events. Next week, we'll be at BMO presenting there, and I look forward to everybody catching up and staying healthy and being safe. Talk to you soon.

好的。再次謝謝大家。感謝大家今天的時間。希望你保持安全。我期待在任何即將舉行的活動中與您見面。下週，我們將在 BMO 舉行演講，我期待大家趕上來，保持健康和安全。以後再聊。

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。