杜邦 (DD) 2017 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the DowDuPont Third Quarter 2017 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Also today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Greg Friedman, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加陶氏杜邦2017年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）今天的通話將被錄音。現在我將把電話交給投資者關係副總裁格雷格‧弗里德曼先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Rochelle. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2017 earnings conference call. DowDuPont is making this call available to investors and media via webcast. We have prepared slides to supplement our comments, which are posted on the Investor Relations section of DowDuPont's website and through the link on our webcast.

謝謝你，羅謝爾。各位早安。感謝您參加我們2017年第三季財報電話會議。陶氏杜邦將透過網路直播向投資者和媒體提供本次電話會議。我們準備了幻燈片來補充我們的發言，這些幻燈片已發佈在陶氏杜邦公司網站的投資者關係部分，也可透過我們網路直播中的連結查看。

Speaking on the call today are Ed Breen, Chief Executive Officer; Howard Ungerleider, Chief Financial Officer; and Andrew Liveris, Executive Chairman. Also with us in the room today for our Q&A session are Jim Fitterling, Jim Collins and Marc Doyle, Chief Operating Officers for DowDuPont's Materials Science, Agriculture and Specialty Products divisions; and Neal Sheorey, Vice President of Investor Relations.

今天參加電話會議的有：執行長 Ed Breen；財務長 Howard Ungerleider；以及執行董事長 Andrew Liveris。今天與我們一同出席問答環節的還有陶氏杜邦材料科學、農業和特種產品部門的首席營運官吉姆·菲特林、吉姆·柯林斯和馬克·多伊爾；以及投資者關係副總裁尼爾·謝奧雷。

Please read the forward-looking statement disclaimers contained in the press release and slides. In summary, it says that statements in the press release, the presentation on this conference call that state the company's -- management's -- the company's or management's expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements intended to be covered by the safe harbor provisions under federal securities laws.

請閱讀新聞稿和幻燈片中包含的前瞻性聲明免責聲明。總而言之，該聲明指出，新聞稿、本次電話會議的簡報中有關公司、管理層對未來的預期或預測的陳述均為前瞻性陳述，旨在受聯邦證券法安全港條款的保護。

Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially. A detailed discussion of principal risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements is included in the section titled Risk Factors in both Dow's and DuPont's most current annual report on Form 10-K as well as the joint proxy statement prospectus included in DowDuPont's registration statement on Form S-4.

前瞻性陳述是基於目前的預期和假設，但存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與預期結果有重大差異。陶氏和杜邦最新的 10-K 表格年度報告以及陶氏杜邦 S-4 表格註冊聲明中包含的聯合委託書招股說明書中，均有對可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性聲明存在重大差異的主要風險和不確定性的詳細討論。

In addition, some of our comments reference non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and other associated disclosures are contained in our earnings release and on our website. Unless otherwise specified, all financial measures presented today are on a pro forma basis and where applicable, exclude significant items.

此外，我們的一些評論提到了非GAAP財務指標。與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的調節表及其他相關披露信息，請參閱我們的盈利報告和網站。除非另有說明，否則今天公佈的所有財務指標均為備考數據，並在適用情況下剔除了重大項目。

I will now turn the call over to Ed.

現在我將把通話轉給艾德。

Thanks, Greg, and thanks, everyone, for joining us for the first earnings call for DowDuPont.

謝謝格雷格，也謝謝各位參加陶氏杜邦的首次財報電話會議。

On Slide 4, I'll cover our third quarter highlights and provide an update on 3 key strategic drivers: the merger, the synergies and the spins. We are making good progress on all fronts while continuing to execute in the business.

在第 4 張投影片中，我將介紹我們第三季的亮點，並更新 3 個關鍵策略驅動因素：合併、協同效應和分拆。我們在各方面都取得了良好進展，同時業務也在持續推進。

Some pro forma highlights for the quarter include: sales were up 8%, volume grew 4%, operating EBITDA rose 7% and adjusted EPS increased 10%. Overall demand indicators were strong, particularly in packaging, electronics, transportation, construction and Consumer Care markets. An exception was Ag, which was soft, particularly in Brazil due to the delay to the start of the summer season and lower expected planted corn area. Howard will cover the Ag segment results in further detail, but we expect a strong finish to the year for this business.

本季的一些備考亮點包括：銷售額成長 8%，銷量成長 4%，營業 EBITDA 成長 7%，調整後每股盈餘成長 10%。整體需求指標強勁，尤其是在包裝、電子產品、運輸、建築和消費護理市場。農業是個例外，表現疲軟，尤其是在巴西，因為夏季開始時間推遲，預計玉米種植面積較低。Howard 將會更詳細地介紹農業部門的業績，但我們預計該業務今年將取得強勁的收官表現。

Operating EBITDA increased despite several headwinds in the quarter, including hurricanes, higher feedstock costs and start-up expenses for new assets we are bringing online to continue to meet demand growth. As you know, we closed the merger on August 31. This was a significant milestone that followed months of hard work, strong execution of a complex transaction and the completion of a rigorous regulatory approval process.

儘管本季面臨諸多不利因素，包括颶風、原料成本上漲以及為持續滿足需求成長而上線的新資產的啟動費用，但營運 EBITDA 仍有所成長。如您所知，我們已於8月31日完成合併。這是一個重要的里程碑，它凝聚了數月的辛勤工作，出色地執行了一項複雜的交易，並完成了嚴格的監管審批流程。

Less than 2 weeks later, our newly formed board unanimously approved the realignment of more than $8 billion in sales and approximately $2.4 billion in EBITDA from the Materials Science division to the Specialty Products division. This realignment was based on a thorough analysis completed over 4 months. The thoughtful, decisive actions by our board better align the businesses with the end markets they serve, increase their competitiveness and, importantly, enhance their long-term growth potential.

不到兩週後，我們新成立的董事會一致批准將超過 80 億美元的銷售額和約 24 億美元的 EBITDA 從材料科學部門重新分配到特種產品部門。此調整是基於歷時 4 個月完成的全面分析。董事會深思熟慮、果斷的行動，使企業更好地與它們所服務的終端市場相匹配，提高了它們的競爭力，更重要的是，增強了它們的長期成長潛力。

We also completed 2 of our 3 remedy divestitures. We closed the Dow ethylene copolymer asset sale on September 1. And just yesterday, we completed the sale of certain DuPont Crop Protection assets to FMC, along with the acquisition of most of FMC's Health and Nutrition business.

我們也完成了 3 項補救性資產剝離中的 2 項。我們於 9 月 1 日完成了陶氏乙烯共聚物資產出售。就在昨天，我們完成了將杜邦作物保護業務的部分資產出售給 FMC，以及收購 FMC 大部分健康和營養業務。

We expect the third transaction, the sale of certain Dow Brazil corn seed assets, to close later this quarter. This is all good progress and once again shows our team's focus on rapidly working through our key milestones.

我們預計第三筆交易，即出售陶氏巴西公司的部分玉米種子資產，將於本季稍後完成。這些都是良好的進展，再次表明我們的團隊專注於快速完成關鍵里程碑。

Now let's turn to synergies on Slide 5, starting with cost synergies. First and foremost, we remain committed to our target of $3 billion, no change to that expectation. Our previously stated timeline still holds. We expect to reach a 70% run rate by the end of year 1 and 100% run rate by the end of year 2.

現在讓我們來看看第 5 張投影片上的綜效，首先是成本綜效。首先，我們仍然致力於實現30億美元的目標，而這項預期並沒有改變。我們之前公佈的時間表仍然有效。我們預計第一年末達到 70% 的運行率，第二年末達到 100% 的運行率。

Since the portfolio review announcement, we spent additional time reworking our cost synergy playbook and the division targets. Due to the portfolio change, we now expect cost synergies of $1.2 billion for Material Sciences, $800 million for Specialty Products. The cost synergy target for Ag remains at $1 billion.

自從發布投資組合審查公告以來，我們又花了更多時間重新制定成本綜效策略和部門目標。由於業務組合的變化，我們現在預計材料科學領域將實現 12 億美元的成本綜效，特種產品領域將實現 8 億美元的成本綜效。農業部門的成本綜效目標仍為10億美元。

And we have already begun taking action. In the third quarter, we took a restructuring charge of $180 million. This charge accelerated the capture of the synergies. And today, we announced actions that are designed to integrate the divisions post-merger and deliver efficient cost structures for the 3 intended companies. They include procurement synergies, global workforce reductions, buildings and facilities consolidations and select asset shutdowns, among other activities.

我們已經開始採取行動。第三季度，我們提列了 1.8 億美元的重組費用。這項措施加速了協同效應的實現。今天，我們宣布了旨在整合合併後各部門並為三家合併後的公司提供高效成本結構的措施。其中包括採購綜效、全球裁員、建築物和設施整合以及部分資產關閉等活動。

These changes are carefully designed to help us create the strongest possible foundations and clear strategic focus for each of the 3 divisions.

這些變革經過精心設計，旨在幫助我們為這 3 個部門建立最堅實的基礎和清晰的策略重點。

We expect total pretax restructuring charges of approximately $2 billion, which encompasses the majority of the actions we will take to generate the $3 billion of cost synergies. And we project that our cost savings will hit a run rate of $500 million by the end of 2017. Keep in mind that cost synergies included in cost of goods aren't recognized until they flow through inventory.

我們預計稅前重組費用總額約為 20 億美元，其中包括我們為實現 30 億美元的成本協同效應而採取的大部分措施。我們預計到 2017 年底，我們的成本節省將達到 5 億美元。請記住，計入商品成本的成本綜效只有在流入庫存後才能確認。

There will be CapEx associated with capturing a portion of these cost synergies. Setting aside synergy-related CapEx, we are also carefully scrutinizing our CapEx plans for each of the divisions and expect their 2018 spending not to exceed D&A before the accounting step up.

要達到部分成本綜效，需要投入資本支出。撇開與協同效應相關的資本支出不談，我們也在仔細審查每個部門的資本支出計劃，並預計其 2018 年的支出在會計調整之前不會超過折舊和攤銷。

Turning now to growth synergies. We have also begun our work on the $1 billion target, and let me give you a few examples of what we are doing.

接下來談談成長協同效應。我們也已經開始著手實現10億美元的目標，讓我舉幾個例子來說明我們正在做什麼。

First, in Ag, we have a very strong pipeline set to deliver 10 new seed products and 11 new Crop Protection products to the market over the next 5 years. We will leverage our expanded market access to deliver these solutions to our customers. An example of this is in Brazil, where we will use our advantages throughout the market to expand the launch of our new Conkesta and ENLIST E3 soybeans.

首先，在農業領域，我們擁有非常強大的產品線，將在未來 5 年內向市場推出 10 種新的種子產品和 11 種新的作物保護產品。我們將利用擴大的市場准入優勢，為客戶提供這些解決方案。例如在巴西，我們將利用我們在整個市場的優勢，擴大我們新的 Conkesta 和 ENLIST E3 大豆的上市範圍。

Another example draws on the combination of Dow Pharma and Food, the DuPont health and nutrition portfolio and the business we just acquired from FMC. Our portfolio now has one of the broadest pharma offerings to serve the growing excipient industry. We can now provide customers with capabilities to blend and integrate requirements for controlled release, binding and solubility and emerging needs. Our new pharma excipients business unit, created from the integration of Dow and FMC, also gives us a stronger position in the health care market when combined with our other initiatives in medical silicones, medical packaging and emerging bio-based products.

另一個例子是陶氏製藥和食品公司、杜邦健康和營養產品組合以及我們剛從 FMC 收購的業務的結合。我們的產品組合目前擁有最廣泛的醫藥產品之一，可服務於不斷成長的輔料產業。我們現在可以為客戶提供混合和整合控制釋放、結合和溶解度要求以及新興需求的能力。我們由陶氏化學和富美實合併而成的新醫藥輔料業務部門，結合我們在醫用矽膠、醫療包裝和新興生物基產品方面的其他舉措，使我們在醫療保健市場擁有更強大的地位。

We plan to share more details with you as we continue to advance and implement our plans.

隨著我們計劃的不斷推進和實施，我們將與您分享更多細節。

Finally, I will share an update on our intended spins. Recall that we initially said we expected to complete the intended spins 18 to 24 months after merger. The recent realignment of the businesses introduced new complexity to the financial carves, IT harmonization and legal entity requirements.

最後，我將分享我們計劃進行的旋轉的最新進展。回想一下，我們最初曾表示，我們預計在合併後 18 至 24 個月內完成預期的分拆。近期業務重組為財務劃分、IT協調和法律實體要求帶來了新的複雜性。

Our teams spent the past few weeks remapping the stand and spin timing, looking at several scenarios and walking through risk mitigation plans. We remain committed to our previously stated timeline of 18 to 24 months from merger close, and our teams have begun assessing our options to accelerate this time line.

在過去幾週，我們的團隊一直在重新規劃站立和旋轉的時機，研究了多種方案，並制定了風險緩解計劃。我們仍然致力於先前宣布的合併完成後 18 至 24 個月的時間表，我們的團隊已經開始評估加快這一時間表的各種方案。

In summary, we are executing on our top priorities. We're delivering our operating and financial plan. We've begun the work to achieve our synergy targets on schedule, and we're advancing the process of standing and spinning the intended companies.

總之，我們正全力以赴地推進各項首要任務。我們正在按計劃執行營運和財務計劃。我們已開始按計畫實現綜效目標，並正在推動相關公司的成立和分拆進程。

I'll now turn it over to Howard to review our financial results in further detail.

現在我將把發言權交給霍華德，讓他更詳細地審查我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Ed. Moving to Slide 6 and a summary of our results on a pro forma basis. We delivered adjusted EPS of $0.55, up 10% versus the year-ago period. This was driven by higher business results, improved equity earnings as well as a $70 million benefit from lower pension OPEB cost due to purchase accounting, with approximately 2/3 of these costs in the Specialty Products segments.

謝謝你，艾德。接下來是第 6 張投影片，以及我們以形式呈現的結果總結。我們實現了調整後每股收益 0.55 美元，比去年同期成長 10%。這主要得益於更高的業務績效、改善的股權收益，以及由於收購會計處理而降低的退休金 OPEB 成本帶來的 7,000 萬美元收益，其中約 2/3 的成本來自特種產品部門。

Sales in the quarter grew to $18.3 billion, and operating EBITDA increased to $3.2 billion, both driven by volume and price gains. Sales were up in all geographies except Latin America. Volume grew 4% on strong consumer demand across a broad range of key end markets.

本季銷售額成長至 183 億美元，營業 EBITDA 成長至 32 億美元，這兩項成長均得益於銷量和價格的上漲。除拉丁美洲以外，所有地區的銷售額均有所成長。受各主要終端市場強勁的消費者需求推動，銷售量成長了 4%。

From a geography perspective, we saw particular strength in Asia Pacific, which was up double digits, and from Europe, Middle East and Africa, driven by the continued ramp-up of the Sadara assets, strength in consumer demand as well as in industrial, semiconductor and consumer electronics markets. Local price rose 3% as we drove pricing initiatives in response to higher raw material costs and tight supply-demand fundamentals.

從地理角度來看，亞太地區表現尤為強勁，實現了兩位數的成長；歐洲、中東和非洲地區也表現強勁，這得益於 Sadara 資產的持續成長、消費者需求的強勁以及工業、半導體和消費性電子市場的蓬勃發展。由於原物料成本上漲和供需基本面緊張，我們採取了價格調整措施，導致本地價格上漲了 3%。

Equity earnings grew year-over-year led by higher MEG prices and margins, which benefited our Kuwait joint ventures. These gains translated to higher EBITDA in the quarter as we more than offset headwinds from higher feedstock costs, weak Ag conditions in Brazil, the unfavorable impact from hurricanes and start-up expenses related to the new assets on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

受MEG價格和利潤率上漲的帶動，股權收益同比增長，這使我們在科威特的合資企業受益。由於我們抵銷了原料成本上漲、巴西農業狀況疲軟、颶風帶來的不利影響以及與美國墨西哥灣沿岸新資產相關的啟動費用等不利因素，這些收益轉化為本季更高的 EBITDA。

We also saw improvement in our cash conversion cycle during the quarter. Going forward, we see additional opportunities to improve our working capital performance, and we will continue to focus on it for each of our divisions.

本季我們的現金週轉週期也有所改善。展望未來，我們看到了更多改善營運資本績效的機會，我們將繼續關注每個部門的營運資本績效。

Let me now touch on a few items in light of the modeling guidance we provided in September. First, I want to thank our teams who did an incredible job mitigating the impacts of the hurricanes. While many of our businesses declared force majeure in the aftermath, our operations and our supply chain teams managed the dynamic situation on the ground and dampened the operational and financial effect. As a result, the headwind in the quarter was approximately $150 million.

現在，我想結合我們在九月提供的建模指導，談談幾個方面。首先，我要感謝我們的團隊，他們為減輕颶風的影響做出了卓越的貢獻。雖然事後我們許多業務都宣布受到不可抗力影響，但我們的營運和供應鏈團隊有效應對了現場的動態情況，減輕了營運和財務方面的影響。因此，本季的不利因素約為 1.5 億美元。

I also want to provide greater transparency into our tax rate, which was impacted by significant items, DuPont amortization of intangible assets and the hedging of foreign exchange gains and losses. When we adjust for these effects, the pro forma operating tax rate in the quarter was 27%.

我還想提高我們稅率的透明度，稅率受到重大項目、杜邦公司無形資產攤銷以及外匯損益對沖的影響。考慮到這些因素，本季的備考營業稅率為 27%。

Now turning to our segment results, starting with Ag on Slide 7. The third quarter, as you know, is typically a seasonally low for our Ag business from an earnings perspective. This year, we faced additional headwinds in Brazil.

現在來看看我們各業務板塊的業績，首先是第 7 頁的農業部門。如您所知，從獲利角度來看，第三季通常是我們農業業務的季節性低谷期。今年，我們在巴西又遇到了額外的阻力。

Operating EBITDA declined $67 million, primarily driven by lower volume and price. Lower Crop Protection sales were due to weakness in Latin America as sales channels continue to hold elevated inventory levels of Crop Protection products.

受銷售量和價格下降的影響，營業 EBITDA 減少了 6,700 萬美元。作物保護產品銷售下降是由於拉丁美洲市場疲軟，銷售通路的作物保護產品庫存水準仍然較高。

Additionally, seed volumes declined, primarily due to a delayed start to the Brazilian summer season and an expected reduction in planted corn area. We partially offset these headwinds with lower product costs and continued penetration of new products across cereal herbicides, soybean fungicides, corn hybrids and insecticides for sap-feeding pests.

此外，種子數量下降，主要是由於巴西夏季開始時間較晚以及預計玉米種植面積減少。我們透過降低產品成本和不斷拓展新產品在穀物除草劑、大豆殺菌劑、玉米雜交種和汁液害蟲殺蟲劑領域的市場，部分抵消了這些不利因素。

Looking ahead for Ag, we anticipate a return to growth in the fourth quarter, with sales up about 10% versus prior year and operating EBITDA up to approximately $225 million. The increases are driven by higher fungicide sales, increased corn volumes in Latin America from continued penetration of Leptra corn hybrids, lower pension and OPEB costs and a portfolio benefit. We expect full year sales to increase in the low single-digit percent. Operating EBITDA is expected to increase 11% to 12%. Both of these will be driven by volume, seed pricing and gains from increased penetration of new products, including Leptra corn hybrids, Enlist cotton and A-series soybeans.

展望未來，我們預計農業業務將在第四季度恢復成長，銷售額將比上年增長約 10%，營業 EBITDA 將達到約 2.25 億美元。成長的驅動因素包括殺菌劑銷售額增加、拉丁美洲玉米產量因 Leptra 玉米雜交品種的持續滲透而增加、退休金和退休後福利成本降低以及投資組合收益。我們預計全年銷售額將以較低的個位數百分比成長。預計營運 EBITDA 將成長 11% 至 12%。這兩方面都將受到銷量、種子價格以及新產品（包括 Leptra 玉米雜交品種、Enlist 棉花和 A 系列大豆）滲透率提高帶來的收益的驅動。

Turning to the Materials Science segments on Slide 8. The division grew operating EBITDA 8%, led by robust demand in end markets where we hold leadership positions today. Sales grew 11% with gains in all segments and geographies on increases in both local price and volume.

接下來看第 8 張投影片中的材料科學板塊。該部門的營業 EBITDA 成長了 8%，這主要得益於我們在目前佔據領先地位的終端市場中強勁的需求。銷售額成長了 11%，所有細分市場和地區的銷售額均有所增長，這得益於當地價格和銷量的雙雙上漲。

Moving to the segments. Performance Materials & Coatings achieved an operating EBITDA increase of $142 million, primarily reflecting continued growth in Silicones as well as increased pricing and robust consumer demand.

接下來進入各部分。高性能材料與塗料業務的營業 EBITDA 成長了 1.42 億美元，主要反映了矽酮業務的持續成長以及價格上漲和強勁的消費者需求。

Consumer Solutions delivered sales growth in all businesses, led by volume growth in most geographies, increased pricing and disciplined margin management in upstream silicone intermediate products.

消費者解決方案在所有業務領域均實現了銷售成長，這主要得益於大多數地區的銷售成長、上游矽酮中間體產品的價格上漲以及嚴格的利潤率管理。

Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure delivered operating EBITDA of $676 million, up significantly from $401 million. The business had pricing momentum, higher equity earnings and broad-based demand growth, which together more than offset the impact of higher raw material costs, hurricane-related repair costs and lost production in North America.

工業中間體和基礎設施業務的營運 EBITDA 為 6.76 億美元，較 4.01 億美元大幅成長。該業務擁有定價動能、更高的股權收益和廣泛的需求成長，這些因素加在一起足以抵消北美地區原材料成本上漲、颶風相關維修成本和生產損失的影響。

Polyurethanes reported strong demand and price increases in downstream, higher-margin system applications as well as higher merchant sales of MDI. Industrial Solutions delivered strong sales gains led by consumer-driven market segments.

據報道，聚氨酯在下游高利潤系統應用中需求強勁，價格上漲，同時 MDI 的零售銷售也更高。工業解決方案業務在消費者驅動的細分市場推動下實現了強勁的銷售成長。

The Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment reported operating EBITDA of $1.1 billion, down from $1.4 billion in the year-ago period. Volume growth, local price gains and higher equity earnings were more than offset by increased feedstock costs, hurricane-related repair costs and lost production in the U.S. The Packaging & Specialty Plastics business grew volume on continued consumer-led demand. This was largely due to higher sales in Asia Pacific and EMEA, which were primarily enabled by the ramp-up of Sadara volumes.

包裝及特殊塑膠業務部門報告稱，其營業 EBITDA 為 11 億美元，低於去年同期的 14 億美元。銷售成長、本地價格上漲和更高的股權收益被原料成本增加、颶風相關的維修成本以及美國產量損失所抵銷。包裝和特殊塑膠業務在消費者持續需求的推動下實現了銷售成長。這主要歸功於亞太地區和歐洲、中東及非洲地區銷售額的成長，而這主要得益於 Sadara 產量的提升。

Demand remained healthy with double-digit volume growth in health and hygiene end markets in the Americas and strong demand in food and specialty packaging applications, particularly in Asia Pacific.

美洲健康和衛生終端市場的需求依然強勁，銷售量實現了兩位數的成長，食品和特種包裝應用領域的需求也十分旺盛，尤其是在亞太地區。

Now to the Specialty Products segments on Slide 9. The division delivered operating EBITDA growth of 10% and top line growth of 5% in the quarter on continued strong demand in key end markets, including semiconductors, consumer electronics and automotive.

現在就來看看投影片 9 中的特種產品部門。由於半導體、消費電子和汽車等主要終端市場持續強勁的需求，該部門在本季度實現了 10% 的營運 EBITDA 成長和 5% 的營收成長。

Electronics & Imaging achieved $382 million of operating EBITDA, up from $341 million in the year-ago period as broad-based volume growth and mix enrichment more than offset lower local price and a negative impact from portfolio actions. The segment achieved broad-based volume growth led by double-digit gains in semiconductor, consumer electronics, industrial, photovoltaics and display end markets, primarily in Asia Pacific.

電子與影像業務的營運 EBITDA 為 3.82 億美元，高於去年同期的 3.41 億美元，主要得益於銷售的全面成長和產品組合的豐富化，從而抵消了當地價格走低和投資組合調整的負面影響。該業務板塊實現了全面的銷售成長，主要得益於半導體、消費性電子、工業、光伏和顯示器終端市場兩位數的成長，尤其是在亞太地區。

Nutrition & Biosciences reported operating EBITDA of $315 million versus $321 million in the year-ago period as double-digit sales growth in microbial control solutions and probiotics, coupled with continued local price and volume gains in biomaterials, was more than offset by declines in protein solutions, systems and texturants and a negative impact from portfolio actions.

營養與生物科學部門報告稱，其營運 EBITDA 為 3.15 億美元，而去年同期為 3.21 億美元。微生物控制解決方案和益生菌的銷售額實現了兩位數的增長，加上生物材料在當地價格和銷量的持續增長，但這些增長被蛋白質解決方案、系統和增稠劑的下滑以及投資組合調整帶來的負面影響所抵消。

Transportation & Advanced Polymers operating EBITDA increased to $325 million from $303 million in the year-ago period led by volume and pricing gains, which more than offset higher raw material costs. Volume growth was driven by strength in the automotive, aerospace and electronics markets.

運輸和先進聚合物業務的營業 EBITDA 從去年同期的 3.03 億美元增至 3.25 億美元，主要得益於銷售量和價格的成長，足以抵銷原物料成本的上漲。銷售成長主要得益於汽車、航太和電子市場的強勁表現。

Safety & Construction achieved operating EBITDA of $351 million compared with $282 million in the year-ago period. Volume gains and improved plant performance more than offset the impact of higher raw material costs. Stronger demand from industrial end markets, particularly oil and gas, contributed to double-digit gains in Nomex thermal-resistant garments and mid-single-digit gains in Kevlar high-strength materials.

安全與建築業務的營運 EBITDA 為 3.51 億美元，而去年同期為 2.82 億美元。產量成長和工廠性能提升足以抵消原材料成本上漲的影響。工業終端市場（尤其是石油和天然氣行業）的強勁需求，推動了 Nomex 耐熱服裝的兩位數增長和 Kevlar 高強度材料的中等個位數增長。

Turning to Slide 10. I'd like to highlight a few of our expectations for the fourth quarter. We expect pro forma net sales to be in the range of $19 billion to $19.5 billion, which equates to over 7% top line growth year-over-year. Pro forma operating EBITDA is expected to increase 11% to 13% year-over-year, with growth in every segment.

翻到第10張投影片。我想重點談談我們對第四季的一些預期。我們預計調整後的淨銷售額將在 190 億美元至 195 億美元之間，相當於年增超過 7%。預計備考營運 EBITDA 將年增 11% 至 13%，各業務部門均成長。

Volume gains on healthy consumer demand in key end markets and pricing momentum are expected to be key drivers for top line and bottom line growth, further supported by new product penetrations, notably in Ag, as well as by mix improvement and disciplined margin management to offset the raw material cost increases impacting many of our businesses.

主要終端市場消費者需求旺盛，銷售成長和價格上漲勢頭預計將成為營收和利潤成長的關鍵驅動因素，新產品滲透（尤其是在農業領域）以及產品組合改進和嚴格的利潤率管理將進一步支持營收和利潤成長，以抵消原材料成本上漲對我們許多業務的影響。

While we continue to see growth in semiconductors and consumer electronics, sales in the Electronics & Imaging segment are expected to decline due to a negative portfolio impact from the sale of our stake in a noncore joint venture earlier this year as well as due to the Hurricane Maria-driven production disruption at a plant in Puerto Rico.

儘管半導體和消費電子產品業務持續成長，但由於今年稍早出售了我們在非核心合資企業中的股份，以及颶風瑪莉亞導致波多黎各一家工廠生產中斷，預計電子和影像業務的銷售額將會下降。

A benefit from higher industry margins in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment and ramp-up in production at the recently started U.S. Gulf Coast projects will be partly offset by the commissioning costs for the sequenced start-ups of the remaining units in the Gulf Coast, higher turnaround activity as well as by our residual $40 million carryover impact related to Hurricane Harvey.

包裝和特種塑膠業務領域較高的行業利潤率以及最近啟動的美國墨西哥灣沿岸項目產量的提升，將部分抵消墨西哥灣沿岸剩餘裝置按順序啟動的調試成本、更高的檢修活動以及與哈維颶風相關的 4000 萬美元結轉影響。

As we continue to ramp these units, we will further capitalize on our early mover advantage to deliver differentiated packaging solutions and higher EBITDA in this robust consumer demand environment.

隨著我們不斷擴大這些設備的產能，我們將進一步利用我們的先發優勢，在這個強勁的消費需求環境下提供差異化的包裝解決方案和更高的 EBITDA。

Our fourth quarter outlook incorporates an expected EPS tailwind of about $0.06 per share from year-on-year lower pension and OPEB costs, primarily in the Specialty Products and Ag portfolios as a result of purchase accounting. However, this benefit is expected to be offset by an increase in the operational tax rate to about 25% from 19% in the fourth quarter of '16 due to the geographic mix of earnings.

我們對第四季度的展望包括了預計每股收益將增加約 0.06 美元，這主要得益於退休金和退休後福利 (OPEB) 成本同比下降，尤其是在特種產品和農業產品組合中，這是由於購買會計處理所致。然而，由於收益的地域組成，預計 2016 年第四季的營運稅率將從 19% 提高到約 25%，從而抵消這一收益。

Please refer to Slide 15 in the appendix of the earnings presentation for additional commentary on our segment outlook.

有關我們各業務部門展望的更多評論，請參閱收益報告附錄中的第 15 頁。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Andrew.

接下來，我會把電話交給安德魯。

Thank you, Howard. Turning to our economic and market outlook on Slide 11. Global economic acceleration continues, led by the ongoing strength of the consumer across most major economies. The United States is maintaining its trajectory, in line with what we have seen for many quarters. The positive change we see is the greater-than-expected performance in the euro area.

謝謝你，霍華德。接下來，請看第 11 張投影片，了解我們的經濟和市場展望。全球經濟持續加速成長，這主要得益於大多數主要經濟體消費市場的持續強勁成長。美國正維持其發展軌跡，這與我們多年來在許多方面看到的情況一致。我們看到的正面變化是歐元區經濟表現超出預期。

Notably, for the first time in a decade, all 40-plus OECD countries are on track to grow this year. One of the best examples of the demand strength we see is at our Sadara joint venture. In August, we announced that all 26 units at the world-class complex had achieved commercial operations. And by then, the JV was already significantly ramping its sales. In the last quarter alone, it sold more than 0.5 billion more pounds than the same period last year.

值得注意的是，十年來首次，所有 40 多個經合組織國家今年都有望成長。我們看到的強勁需求的最佳例證之一就是我們的 Sadara 合資企業。8 月，我們宣布這個世界級綜合體的全部 26 個單元均已實現商業營運。到那時，合資企業的銷售額已經大幅成長。光是上一季度，其銷售額就比去年同期增加了超過 5 億英鎊。

We are seeing strength in particular in the Polyurethanes envelope. And we were able to ramp up these units not only due to our preplanning and established market channels, but also because our customers around the world in China, India, Southeast Asia and Central Europe demanded Sadara's products and solutions. We expect this trend to continue into next year as the site reaches its full capabilities.

我們看到聚氨酯外殼的性能尤其強勁。我們能夠提高這些產品的產量，不僅是因為我們事先做了規劃並建立了市場管道，還因為我們在中國、印度、東南亞和中歐等世界各地的客戶都對 Sadara 的產品和解決方案有需求。我們預計隨著網站功能的全面發揮，這一趨勢將在明年繼續下去。

In packaging, the fundamentals remain positive. We have maintained a consistent view of the supply-demand fundamentals for nearly 3 years, and the trends have largely matched our projections.

在包裝產業，基本面依然樂觀。近三年來，我們對供需基本面的看法始終如一，而趨勢基本上符合我們的預測。

PE demand continues to be robust, even in the slow-growth environment, with upside potential as global GDP growth prospects continue to improve and supply additions have been delayed, leading to new capacity coming online at a more measured pace than expected. These factors, taken together, support our long-held view of a short and shallow adjustment period.

即使在經濟成長緩慢的環境下，PE 需求依然強勁，並且隨著全球 GDP 成長前景持續改善和新增供應延遲，導致新產能以比預期更為平穩的速度上線，PE 需求還有上升空間。綜合以上因素，支持我們長期以來對短期、淺層調整期的看法。

More importantly, our longer-term outlook remains unchanged as population growth, sustainable urbanization and a growing middle class in the emerging markets continue to drive greater adoption of consumer packaging.

更重要的是，隨著新興市場人口成長、永續城市化和中產階級不斷壯大，消費者包裝的普及程度持續提高，我們的長期前景仍然不變。

Looking forward, on Slide 12, DowDuPont has all the levers it needs to execute our near-term priorities. You can see this in the performance we delivered in our first quarter reporting as a combined company.

展望未來，在第 12 張投影片中，陶氏杜邦擁有執行我們近期優先事項所需的一切手段。從我們合併後的第一季財報業績中就可以看出這一點。

We delivered top and bottom line growth, overcoming several headwinds in the quarter. We closed 2 of the 3 major remedy divestitures, with the third expected to close this quarter. We continue to advance our growth projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Middle East as well as accelerated progress on the growth synergy plans.

本季我們克服了諸多不利因素，實現了營收和利潤的雙重成長。我們已經完成了 3 項主要補救措施剝離中的 2 項，預計第三項將於本季完成。我們繼續推動在美國墨西哥灣沿岸和中東地區的成長項目，並加速成長協同計畫的實施。

And we immediately began executing against our plans to achieve our cost synergy commitments as well as on our intended spin plans, with the expectation that we will complete the intended spins within 18 to 24 months after closing the merger. As Ed said, we remain committed to our original time line, and we are actively assessing ways to accelerate it. We will share more on this on a future earnings call.

我們立即開始執行我們的計劃，以實現我們的成本協同效應承諾以及我們預期的分拆計劃，預計我們將在合併完成後的 18 至 24 個月內完成預期的分拆。正如艾德所說，我們仍然致力於原定的時間表，並且正在積極評估加快進度的方法。我們將在未來的財報電話會議上分享更多相關資訊。

Before I turn to Q&A, I will cover one more step forward that we are announcing today. DowDuPont's Board of Directors has approved a fourth quarter dividend of $0.38 per share and authorized an initial $4 billion share buyback program, underscoring our commitment to returning capital to our owners.

在進入問答環節之前，我先介紹我們今天宣布的另一個進展。陶氏杜邦董事會已批准第四季每股股息 0.38 美元，並授權啟動一項首期 40 億美元的股票回購計劃，凸顯了我們對股東回報資本的承諾。

In considering the shareholder remuneration, the board engaged multiple external advisers to work in coordination with our teams to establish a capital allocation approach that returns excess cash to shareholders while preserving the financial flexibility to achieve the target capital structures for each intended spin co.

在考慮股東回報時，董事會聘請了多位外部顧問與我們的團隊協調合作，制定資本配置方法，將多餘的現金返還給股東，同時保持財務靈活性，以實現每個擬分拆公司的目標資本結構。

Additionally, the board considered numerous factors in making its decisions, including affordability and cash flow, precedent transactions and the historical approach on dividend policies for both heritage companies.

此外，董事會在做出決定時還考慮了許多因素，包括支付能力和現金流、先例交易以及兩家老牌公司在股息政策方面的歷史做法。

The board's decision on the dividend is meaningful in 3 ways. First, the quarterly dividend announced today is consistent with the targeted dividend payout ratios of each heritage company. And it's equivalent to the weighted average quarterly dividend of both heritage companies.

董事會關於分紅的決定在三方面具有重要意義。首先，今天宣布的季度股利與各家老牌公司的目標股利支付率一致。這相當於這兩家傳統公司季度股利的加權平均數。

Second, by setting a payable date in December, heritage Dow shareholders will receive a total of 5 dividend payments in 2017, the equivalent absolute amount of cash to the legacy Dow dividend through 2018.

其次，透過將支付日期設定在 12 月，原道氏公司的股東將在 2017 年總共收到 5 次股息支付，其絕對現金金額相當於 2018 年之前原道氏公司的股息。

And third, for heritage DuPont shareholders, this represents a quarterly dividend increase.

第三，對於杜邦公司的傳統股東而言，這意味著季度股利增加。

And today, we are announcing an initial $4 billion repurchase program. As you know, both heritage companies have had limited ability to repurchase shares over the past 2 years as a result of the prolonged regulatory review of the merger. So we look forward to resuming our share repurchase program. I'm proud of what this management team and our board has accomplished in such a short amount of time. We began this journey with the intent to create 3 industry-leading growth companies, which will deliver sustainable shareholder value creation, and we are firmly on that path today.

今天，我們宣布一項首輪40億美元的股票回購計畫。如您所知，由於合併案的監管審查持續時間較長，過去兩年中，這兩家老牌公司回購股票的能力都受到限制。因此，我們期待恢復股票回購計畫。我為管理團隊和董事會在如此短的時間內所取得的成就感到自豪。我們開啟這段旅程的初衷是打造 3 家領先業界的成長型公司，為股東創造永續的價值，而今天，我們正堅定地朝著這個目標前進。

With that, I'll turn it to Neal for Q&A.

接下來，我會把問答環節交給尼爾。

Thank you, Andrew. With that, let's move on to your questions. First, I would like to remind you that our forward-looking statements apply to both our prepared remarks and the following Q&A. Rochelle, please provide the Q&A instructions.

謝謝你，安德魯。那麼，接下來我們來回答您的問題。首先，我想提醒各位，我們的前瞻性聲明適用於我們準備好的發言稿和接下來的問答環節。Rochelle，請提供問答環節的說明。

(Operator Instructions) We'll first hear from P.J. Juvekar with Citi.

（操作員指示）我們先聽聽花旗銀行的 P.J. Juvekar 的發言。

As Brent hits $60 and oil prices go up, just trying to understand the impact of rising oil prices on the combined company. I think historically, Dow benefited on the petrochemical side, but I think DuPont was hurt on the specialty side. So what's the net impact on the new company? And then is there any change in approach towards hedging hydrocarbons as a result of the combination?

隨著布蘭特原油價格達到每桶 60 美元，油價上漲，我只是想了解油價上漲對合併後公司的影響。我認為從歷史角度來看，陶氏化學在石化領域中受益匪淺，但杜邦在特種化學品領域則遭受了損失。那麼，這對新公司會產生什麼淨影響呢？那麼，這種合併是否會導致對沖碳氫化合物風險的方法發生任何變化？

P.J., this is Jim. Yes, as the prices rise, I think it leads, long term, it leads to a constructive environment for us. But in the near term, there's sometimes a lag between the pricing movements in the downstream products and what happens in our cost position. Look, we're always looking at what we need to do on hedging and taking advantage of what we can with our physical as well as our financial positions, and we'll continue to do that. Most of that exposure, as you rightly mention, is going to show up in Materials company, I think, probably on an 80-20 basis. This probably shows up mostly in Materials company, and so we're continuing to drive that look from our seat.

P.J.，我是吉姆。是的，我認為隨著物價上漲，從長遠來看，這將為我們創造一個建設性的環境。但短期內，下游產品的價格變動與我們的成本狀況之間有時會出現滯後。你看，我們一直在研究我們需要採取哪些對沖措施，並充分利用我們的實物和金融頭寸，我們將繼續這樣做。正如您所提到的，大部分的曝光機會將會出現在材料公司，我認為，大概會以 80-20 的比例出現。這可能主要體現在材料公司，因此我們將繼續從自身角度推動這種趨勢。

I'll just build, this is Marc Doyle, from Jim's comments, from Specialty division. It's actually really sort of a wash. We've got some raw material headwinds when oil increases, but we also sell a substantial number of products into that market segment. So net-net, we're pretty well balanced in this division from oil price changes.

我這就來介紹一下，我是 Marc Doyle，根據 Jim 的評論，他是特種部門的。實際上，這算是扯平了。油價上漲會為我們帶來一些原料方面的不利因素，但我們也向該細分市場銷售了大量產品。所以總的來說，油價變動對我們這個部門的影響相當平衡。

And next we'll move to Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.

接下來，我們將連線摩根士丹利的文森安德魯斯。

Just a question on the spins and the timing, I guess. First question is, you talked about options to accelerate, could you discuss what those are at a high level? And then specifically to Ag, just thinking maybe that would be the first one to come out now because there was nothing obviously done between materials co and specialty co there, and you knew about the FMC transfer for a long time. So any thoughts there would be helpful.

我只是想問一下旋轉和時機的問題。第一個問題是，您提到了加速發展的選項，您能否概括地談談這些選項是什麼？具體到 Ag，我當時想，也許它會是第一個被曝光的，因為材料公司和特種公司之間顯然沒有什麼進展，而且你們早就知道 FMC 的轉讓了。所以，任何想法都會很有幫助。

Mr. Andrews, please repeat your question.

安德魯斯先生，請您重複您的問題。

Okay, sure. Actually, a slightly different question. Ed, as you've had time to assess specialty co, just wondering what your thoughts are as it relates to nutrition and health and industrial biosciences in terms of the fit within the broader specialty co. And what I mean by that, if I just look out at the peer multiples for that business, some of them are quite high, in the high teens or low double digits on EBITDA. And I'm just wondering if you think that business will get the full reflection of those peer multiples combined with the balance of specialty co.

好的，沒問題。其實，這是一個略有不同的問題。Ed，既然你已經有時間評估這家專業公司，我只是想知道你對它在營養、健康和工業生物科學方面與這家更廣泛的專業公司契合度的看法。我的意思是，如果我看一下該企業的同業倍數，其中一些相當高，EBITDA 倍數在十幾到兩位數之間。我只是想知道，您是否認為該業務將充分反映出這些同行倍數，再加上專業公司的平衡。

Yes, Vince, you're not the first one to ask that question, but let me start out by saying look, I'm really pleased with the portfolio moves that we just made because we add substantially to the nutrition and health division. And you can see just from a revenue standpoint, it's the leading nutrition and health company in size and scale in the global market at this point in time. And as we mentioned earlier on the call, I'm really excited about the pharma focus we will now have. DuPont's been breaking into that market. We've been spending R&D against it, and here comes the Dow portfolio and FMC portfolio, which, combined, really give us a leading presence in that market. So I couldn't be more pleased overall with where we are on that part of the portfolio. I would add one other point and I get directly to your point or your question. There is portfolio cleanup we're going to want to do in the nutrition and health business. So you'll see some quarters where our growth might not be as high. You notice in our guidance, our fourth quarter growth will be very nice in that business, but there are some commoditized areas we'd like to exit our way out of and really reinvest more in the growth part of that portfolio as we move forward. So we've got work cut out there, but that's very good for our shareholders over time. And look, the way I would answer it is, the specialty portfolio's a great set now. It's 4 very solid divisions, and we'll have all kinds of optionality sitting in front of us as to how we want to handle that. And our goal at the end of the day is to create long-term sustainable shareholder value, and whatever the best path is, we will certainly take a look at that and pursue that. You're absolutely right. The multiples you see in that industry are 16 to 18 to 19x, which is above what even the specialty company would trade at, and we'll see how things trade, what they look like, and we'll always look to optimize shareholder value out of it.

是的，文斯，你不是第一個問這個問題的人，但首先我想說的是，我對我們剛剛做出的投資組合調整非常滿意，因為我們大幅增加了營養和健康部門的業務。僅從收入角度來看，就目前而言，它是全球市場上規模最大的營養和健康公司。正如我們之前在電話會議中提到的，我對我們即將重點關注的製藥領域感到非常興奮。杜邦公司一直在努力打入這個市場。我們一直在投入研發力量來對抗這種疾病，現在有了陶氏化學的產品組合和FMC的產品組合，兩者結合起來，確實使我們在該市場佔據了領先地位。因此，我對我們在該部分投資組合中所取得的成就感到非常滿意。我還要補充一點，這樣就能直接切入你的問題了。我們需要對營養和健康業務進行一些投資組合清理。所以你會看到有些季度我們的成長率可能不會那麼高。您可以在我們的業績指引中看到，該業務第四季度的成長將非常可觀，但我們希望逐步退出一些商品化領域，並在未來將更多資金重新投入到該投資組合的成長部分。所以我們還有很多工作要做，但從長遠來看，這對我們的股東來說是件好事。我的回答是，現在的專業產品組合非常出色。這是 4 個非常穩固的部門，我們將有很多選擇來決定如何處理這些部門。歸根結底，我們的目標是創造長期可持續的股東價值，無論最佳途徑是什麼，我們一定會認真研究並努力實現。你說得完全正確。該行業的本益比通常在 16 到 18 到 19 倍之間，甚至高於專業公司的本益比。我們將觀察市場走勢，看看情況如何，並始終致力於從中實現股東價值最大化。

And next we'll move on to Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

接下來，我們將介紹摩根大通的傑夫‧澤考斯卡斯。

In the light of DuPont's pension funding, how does the pension funding of the combined company work going forward? What are the levels of contributions you have to make? Also what was your pro forma cash flow for the quarter? And in your $3 billion of synergies, if you could divide that up into procurement, workforce, buildings and facilities and asset shutdowns.

鑑於杜邦公司的退休金籌資情況，合併後公司的退休金籌資未來將如何運作？你需要做出哪些層級的貢獻？另外，你們本季的預計現金流量是多少？如果將你們30億美元的綜效分解為採購、勞力、建築物和設施以及資產停產，結果會怎麼樣呢？

Yes, Jeff. On the synergy piece, about 30% of that is more headcount-related type actions. And then you have a big piece in COGS and facilities and all that, that makes up the rest. I will say on the synergies, we now have the procurement teams working together. And there's over 50 teams working globally in the procurement area on all of our contracts across both companies. And we were not allowed to do that until we merged the companies because of the guidelines that you have to follow. So the teams have had now 60 days of really intense work. And you've heard me say before, I think some of our upside opportunity is going to come from the procurement side because we only baked in $660 million out of the $3 billion from procurement. And the fact of the matter is if you look at precedent type of deals and all, and with the amount of spend we have between these 2 companies, which is north of $35 billion, we should be able to extract some really good savings there. So I would say stay tuned on that one, and we'll be updating probably on the next quarter where we're at on that piece. But again, both from the Dow division, the Ag division, spec co division, we've all met multiple times already with these procurement teams, and we're going to make good progress there.

是的，傑夫。在綜效方面，約有 30% 是與人員配置相關的行動。然後，還有很大一部分成本，包括銷售成本、設施費用等等，這些就構成了剩餘部分。關於綜效，我想說的是，現在採購團隊已經開始協同工作了。在全球範圍內，有超過 50 個團隊負責我們兩家公司所有合約的採購工作。由於必須遵守相關規定，在我們合併公司之前，我們是不允許這樣做的。因此，各團隊已經進行了60天的高強度工作。你們之前也聽我說過，我認為我們的一些成長機會將來自採購方面，因為我們從採購中獲得的 30 億美元中只包含了 6.6 億美元。事實上，如果你看看以往的交易案例，考慮到這兩家公司之間的支出總額超過 350 億美元，我們應該可以從中獲得一些非常可觀的節省。所以我想說的是，請大家繼續關注此事，我們可能會在下個季度更新這方面的進展。但是，無論是陶氏化學部門、農業部門還是特種化學品部門，我們都已經與這些採購團隊多次會面，我們將在那裡取得良好進展。

Jeff, this is Howard. Let me get the other 2 parts of your question. So first, on pension funding, remember, we still have the legal entity constructs. So the Dow tower and the DuPont tower. So those pension fundings and the expense will be in line with where they have been in prior periods. So from a Dow perspective, the funding is in that kind of $600 million range for the full year. And we've funded that. On a DuPont tower basis, you're looking at a little bit of a tailwind. I mentioned in the prepared remarks that it'll be about a $200 million tailwind in the fourth quarter, and that will continue to flow through on the DuPont tower into spec co and Ag co primarily into 2018. Finally, on the cash flow, with the GAAP pro forma numbers, you'll see that in the Q that we publish. We expect to publish that early next week. You'll see positive GAAP free cash flow, positive GAAP cash from operations, both north of $1 billion. I would say it's not really an apples-to-apples just because of the way the merger and pro forma GAAP accounting works. What I would point you to is if you look at the cash balance that both the Dow tower and the DuPont tower have in the bank relative to same quarter a year ago, it's up approximately $2 billion of increased cash, and that's the way I would at least bread box that for you.

傑夫，我是霍華德。讓我了解一下你問題的另外兩部分。首先，關於退休金籌資，請記住，我們仍然有法律實體結構。所以，道瓊大廈和杜邦大廈。因此，這些退休金資金和支出將與以往時期保持一致。因此，從道瓊斯指數的角度來看，全年的融資額約為 6 億美元。我們已經為此提供了資金。從杜邦塔架的角度來看，這算是個小小的順風。我在準備好的演講稿中提到，第四季將有約 2 億美元的順風，這股順風將繼續推動杜邦塔向投機公司和農業公司發展，主要持續到 2018 年。最後，關於現金流，根據 GAAP 準備數據，您將在我們發布的季度報告中看到。我們預計將於下周初發布。你會看到正的 GAAP 自由現金流和正的 GAAP 經營活動現金流，兩者都超過 10 億美元。我認為，由於合併方式和按GAAP會計準則編制的備考財務報表，這並非真正意義上的同類比較。我想指出的是，如果你看一下道瓊斯大樓和杜邦大樓的銀行現金餘額與去年同期相比，你會發現現金增加了大約 20 億美元，至少我會這樣給你解釋一下。

Next we'll move on to David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

接下來我們將介紹德意志銀行的戴維‧貝格萊特。

Ed, on the buybacks, it seems a bit light overall, 2% of your market cap. Can you discuss the cash needs you might have between now and separation that might be limiting the buyback level? And what's the time frame for the buyback to be completed?

Ed，關於股票回購，整體規模似乎有點小，只佔你市值的 2%。您能否談談從現在到分手期間您可能存在的現金需求，這些需求可能會限制回購水準？回購計劃需要多長時間才能完成？

Yes. Remember, one of the key words that was highlighted when Andrew covered that was it's an initial buyback program. You can imagine how busy our DowDuPont board has been with all the actions we've already taken. And one of the things that we wanted to do was get going again on share repurchases. Andrew had mentioned we were out of the market a fair amount this past year, 1.5 years. And we wanted to get going. And by the way, it just so happened that both Dow and DuPont together had about $4 billion left on their share purchase. So we just said, look, let's get that going and get in the marketplace. What we will do now with our board is go back. We've got to look at -- as you said, the cash flows, what's the uses of cash here. We do need cash short term for the synergy work. That's more front-end loaded than back-end loaded. But the fact of the matter is we'll go through that study. We're right now in conversations with the rating agencies. We want to understand where we're at on that. Remember, they count a lot of things in debt that don't normally get counted in debt as you just look at it purely. And so we've got to take that into account. You know the ratings where we want to end up at a BBB on the Dow tower, somewhere between BBB and high BBB-something on spec co and an A- on Ag. So we know the framework for where we want to be, and then we can back into what our excess cash is as we go over the next year, 1.5 years. But just keep in mind this is initial so we can get going on it.

是的。記住，安德魯在介紹時強調的一個關鍵字是，這是一個初步回購計畫。您可以想像，鑑於我們已經採取的所有行動，我們的陶氏杜邦董事會有多忙碌。我們想做的事情之一就是重新啟動股票回購計畫。安德魯曾提到，在過去一年半的時間裡，我們有相當長一段時間沒有參與市場活動。我們想趕緊出發。順便一提，陶氏化學和杜邦公司當時恰好還剩下約 40 億美元的股票購買款項。所以我們就說，聽著，讓我們開始行動，進入市場吧。現在我們要做的就是讓董事會重新開始。正如你所說，我們需要看看現金流，看看這裡的現金用途是什麼。短期內我們確實需要資金來進行綜效工作。這更側重於前端而非後端。但事實是，我們會進行那項研究。我們目前正在與評級機構進行洽談。我們想了解我們在這方面進展如何。記住，他們會把很多通常不會被算作債務的東西也算進去，而這些事情單從表面上看是不會被算作債務的。所以我們必須把這一點考慮進去。你知道，我們希望在道瓊指數上達到 BBB 級，在投機公司指數上達到 BBB 級或高 BBB 級，在農業指數上達到 A 級。所以我們知道了我們想要達到的目標框架，然後我們可以反推未來一年到一年半的時間裡我們的盈餘現金是多少。但請記住，這只是初步階段，所以我們可以開始著手做了。

If I can add, David, I think from the mat co point of view, we've been very public before the merge that we will take our CapEx down to D&A. We're not backing off of that, and so as Ed and I go through board reviews here in the next couple of board meetings, so we are going to look very strongly at 2018. We have an affordability topic that we have to get into as well as the capital structure topic Ed just covered. But the CapEx equal D&A is something that we remain committed to, especially off the high CapEx spend we've just come off of in materials.

David，如果我可以補充一點，我認為從材料公司的角度來看，我們在合併之前已經公開表示，我們將把資本支出降低到折舊和攤銷水平。我們不會放棄這個目標，因此，在接下來的幾次董事會會議上，我和艾德將進行董事會審查，我們將專注於 2018 年。我們還需要探討支付能力的問題，以及艾德剛才提到的資本結構問題。但是，我們仍然致力於實現資本支出等於折舊和攤銷，尤其是在我們剛結束了材料方面的高額資本支出之後。

Yes, and I mentioned, just to add on to Andrew, that capital spend for each of the 3 divisions will be at or around the D&A level. So each 3 is going to do it on their own, and therefore, in aggregate we'll be in good shape. So that will be helpful. And I would say even with that, 60% of that CapEx is growth-initiative CapEx, and the other's run and maintain. So we've got a nice balance for future growth in that plan that we've put together.

是的，我補充 Andrew 的觀點，這 3 個部門的資本支出將達到或接近 D&A 水準。所以這 3 個人都會獨立完成，因此，總的來說，我們會有不錯的結果。那會很有幫助。即使如此，我認為其中 60% 的資本支出是成長計畫資本支出，其餘的則是營運和維護支出。因此，我們制定的計劃為未來的成長提供了良好的平衡。

And next we'll hear from John Roberts with UBS.

接下來我們將聽取瑞銀集團的約翰羅伯茲的演講。

Has the Silicones business been physically deintegrated already? Or is that deintegration still ahead, and just the reporting has been done for us and splitting it between the 2 segments?

矽膠業務是否已經徹底瓦解了？或者，這種分裂尚未發生，只是有人已經替我們完成了報道，並將其拆分到兩個部分中？

John, this is Jim. As far as the physical deintegration, what I would say, we announced the portfolio changes in first, second week of September. We've done a lot of work with obviously ring-fencing the employee population. That will be part of that and going through the notifications on that between now and the end of the year. We've also done all the work on the financials. So you've got the financial reporting that's in the numbers and the pro forma that's shown there today. As far as physical separation, i.e., spending money or looking at facilities and that, that work has not started yet, but that is on our radar screen. And Marc's teams and our teams on the Silicones side are working well together. So the businesses that are going to receive those businesses have already been in contact, and they're making great progress in the 45 days since we announced that.

約翰，這是吉姆。至於實際的資產拆分，我想說的是，我們在 9 月的第一週或第二週宣布了投資組合的變化。我們已經做了很多工作，顯然是為了隔離員工群體。這將是其中的一部分，從現在到年底，我們將陸續處理相關的通知。財務方面的工作也全部完成了。所以，這裡有財務報告中的數字，也有今天展示的預測財務報表。至於物理隔離，即花錢或考察設施等等，這項工作還沒有開始，但這已經在我們的考慮範圍之內了。Marc 的團隊和我們 Silicones 團隊合作得很好。因此，即將接收這些業務的企業已經與我們聯繫，自從我們宣布以來的 45 天裡，他們取得了巨大的進展。

This is Andrew. It's actually been one of the positives of the delay to the merge is we were able to stabilize Dow Corning Silicones, and so a lot of that work's behind us. So from a next step point of view, we're all ready to make that, what Jim just talked about, happen.

這是安德魯。實際上，合併延遲帶來的一個正面影響是，我們得以穩定道康寧矽膠業務，因此許多相關工作已經完成。所以從下一步的角度來看，我們都準備好讓吉姆剛才談到的事情發生。

And we'll move on to Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research Partners.

接下來，我們將採訪 Vertical Research Partners 的 Kevin McCarthy。

Yes. Would you comment on the expected earnings improvement from Sadara as you ramp through to 2018 as well as the analogous contributions from your Texas-9 complex as you're up and running there?

是的。您能否就薩達拉項目在 2018 年逐步推進過程中預期的盈利增長情況以及德州 9 號綜合設施投入運營後可能帶來的類似貢獻發表一些評論？

Yes, look, I've just come back from Saudi, and I would tell you the moving parts called Aramco are huge. So we made an announcement before the merge that we would be truing up our participation post spin and post vendors reliability test. I would tell you that the operational side Jim can comment on as well as, of course, talk about Texas-9, but just the moving parts called the partner has needed a lot of close engagement. We've been doing a lot of that, and Jim and I have taken the lead on that, and Jim, you might want to comment on how the units are doing.

是的，你看，我剛從沙烏地阿拉伯回來，我可以告訴你，沙烏地阿美這個龐大的營運體系非常複雜。因此，我們在合併前宣布，我們將在分拆和供應商可靠性測試後調整我們的參與。我可以告訴你，吉姆可以就營運方面發表評論，當然也可以談談德州-9，但僅僅是被稱為合作夥伴的運作環節就需要大量的密切參與。我們做了很多這方面的工作，我和吉姆在這方面起到了主導作用，吉姆，你可能想就這些部門的運作情況發表一下看法。

Yes. So through the third quarter, plastics obviously has been running strong through the year. Through the third quarter, we got all of the liquid chemicals assets up and that supply chain ironed out, so you're starting to see product move. You didn't see the full capacity of the chemicals business in the third quarter. I think you will see us hit that rate in the fourth quarter. We've got a lot of the supply chain full, and we've got all of the terminals and tanks, that's operating now around the world to get that moving. So you're going to see an improvement year-over-year. We're right on track with what we've guided you to earlier. Plastics is starting to see a tailwind from this. Performance Materials and now Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure is seeing a little bit of a drag year-over-year. But it's more positive than we expected it to be. But I think as we move into 2018, you're going to start to see both of them become positive year-over-year. I don't have a plan number or a dollar number to give at this point, but I think you're going to see a step-up improvement in both of them.

是的。因此，在第三季度，塑膠產業顯然一直保持著強勁的成長勢頭。第三季度，我們完成了所有液態化學品資產的回收，並理順了供應鏈，所以你開始看到產品流通了。第三季化工業務並未完全發揮其產能。我認為我們將在第四季達到這個成長率。我們已經確保供應鏈暢通，並且世界各地的碼頭和儲罐都​​在正常運轉，以確保貨物運輸的順利進行。所以你會看到逐年進步。我們目前進展順利，完全符合我們先前指導你的方向。塑膠產業正因此受益。高性能材料以及工業中間體和基礎設施產業較去年同期略有下滑。但結果比我們預期的還要好。但我認為，隨著我們進入 2018 年，你會看到這兩項數據都將逐年成長。目前我還沒有具體的方案編號或金額，但我認為你會看到這兩項都有顯著的改善。

And next we'll hear from Frank Mitsch with Wells Fargo Securities.

接下來我們將聽取富國證券的弗蘭克米奇的發言。

I was just wondering, as I think about the synergies and cost cuts, what part of that is comprised of telecommunications and conference call equipment? And is there any thought of adding back to those programs?

當我考慮協同效應和成本削減時，想知道其中有多少部分是電信和電話會議設備的支出？有沒有考慮過重新增加這些項目？

Yes, well, Frank, we're now going to look for more in that area.

是的，弗蘭克，我們現在要繼續在那個地區尋找更多線索。

We're just using Mets technology, Frank. Question?

法蘭克，我們只是在使用大都會的技術。問題？

You mentioned asset shutdowns as part of the synergies, production assets. Obviously, we know about the offices and so forth. Where should we be thinking about that? And what's the rationale? Was one or the other of the companies running at very low operating rates? And so any color around that would be very helpful.

您提到資產停產是綜效的一部分，也就是生產資產。顯然，我們了解辦公室等等情況。我們應該從哪裡考慮這個問題？其理由是什麼？這兩家公司是否有一家營運效率極低？因此，周圍的任何顏色都會很有幫助。

Let me hit that from more of the specialty side of the house and actually a little bit from the Ag side. Remember, here, over the last year, DuPont is shutting 3 fairly significant facilities, in addition, by the way, to consolidating footprint in Wilmington, which is pretty significant. So you know the announcement where we've been in the mode of shutting down La Porte, totally exiting the location. We announced a few months ago the closure of Cooper River, totally moving that production to another existing facility, which really leverage our overhead structure. And you saw an announcement out of us today that we're going to sell our Nevada, Iowa cellulosics facility. Again, we've proven out the technology. We'll continue to work on some of the technology in that area, but we just strategically with our focus now in specialty and everything we have going on and the growth initiatives we have, it's just not going to be core to our future to have that. So we're going to exit that facility. So there's just an example. There's 3 major moves occurring as part of this, and of course, there's many more in Ag just with rooftops and local markets and all that, that really add up into significant numbers but much smaller-type locations.

讓我從更專業的角度，以及農業的角度來談談這個問題。請記住，在過去一年裡，杜邦公司關閉了 3 家相當重要的工廠，此外，該公司還在威爾明頓整合業務，這意義重大。所以你們都知道，我們宣布將關閉 La Porte 店，徹底撤出該地點。幾個月前，我們宣布關閉庫柏河工廠，並將生產完全轉移到另一個現有工廠，這真正發揮了我們管理結構的優勢。今天你們也看到了我們發布的公告，我們將出售位於愛荷華州內華達市的纖維素工廠。我們再次證明了這項技術的有效性。我們將繼續在該領域的一些技術上進行研究，但從戰略角度來看，鑑於我們目前的重點是專業領域以及我們正在進行的所有工作和成長計劃，這項技術對我們未來發展而言並非核心。所以我們要離開那個設施了。這只是一個例子。作為其中的一部分，有 3 個主要舉措正在發生，當然，農業領域還有更多舉措，例如屋頂種植、當地市場等等，這些加起來數量相當可觀，但地點規模要小得多。

Maybe Jim Fitterling, you can comment on mat co.

吉姆·菲特林，或許你可以對 mat co. 發表一些評論。

Yes, Frank, I think, on mat co, look, I would just echo what Ed said. I think there are no market reasons for us to take anything down. There might be some strategic reasons as we look at the footprint that we have and the new company and how many locations that we have to support around the world. So sometimes, when you get into some downstream assets, there are some opportunities to combine locations and move an asset or do something of that nature. And we're taking a look at that, and we've also, like on the specialty side, done a lot of things over the last 18, 24 months to get ready for the merger and to get ready for this next step. So I don't think it's the biggest driver of what we're doing here.

是的，法蘭克，我想，關於墊子公司，你看，我只想附和艾德的說法。我認為沒有任何市場理由讓我們下架任何商品。考慮到我們現有的業務佈局、新公司以及我們需要在全球各地支援的地點數量，這可能存在一些戰略原因。所以有時候，當你涉足一些下游資產時，就會有一些機會將地點合併，轉移資產或進行類似的事情。我們正在研究這個問題，而且在過去的 18 到 24 個月裡，我們在專業領域也做了很多工作，為合併和下一步做好準備。所以我認為這並不是我們在這裡所做事情的最大驅動力。

And next we'll move on to Jonas Oxgaard with Bernstein.

接下來我們將討論喬納斯·奧克斯加德和伯恩斯坦。

Did I hear you right when you said the spins are now expected to be 18 to 24 months? And if so, what happened there? Because I thought that there was a pretty consistent message of 18 months or less before.

我沒聽錯吧，您說現在預計旋轉週期為 18 至 24 個月？如果真是如此，那裡發生了什麼事？因為我認為在 18 個月或更短的時間內，有一個相當一致的訊息。

Yes, let me comment, and maybe Howard wants to add a few words to this. But the shift is only because of the portfolio change, Jonas. I mean, we're not only moving $8 billion of revenue over, but remember, when you look at what we're moving over to align it properly, it's parts of divisions, in many cases, of Dow. So it's very similar to what DuPont had to do to carve out not its Crop Protection division, but like half the Crop Protection division, which is a much more significant task. So we're doing that in multiple scenarios now on the Dow end, and that carve-out work, legal entity work, harmonization of our IT systems is really the extra work we now have to do. So what we guided to today was 18 to 24 months. Jonas, you're right. We originally said 18 to 24 before, but then over ensuing months, our team worked that down where we felt confident to tell you 18. We're kind of back at that point again of we're 18 to 24, and we'll update you as we go. The teams are working excruciatingly hard and nights and weekends trying to derisk it and see if we can pull that date in some. But nothing else to report there. That a lot of hard work and hopefully, we can make some progress.

是的，我想發表一下看法，或許霍華德也想補充幾句。但這種轉變只是因為投資組合的變化，喬納斯。我的意思是，我們不僅要轉移 80 億美元的收入，而且要記住，當你看看我們為了正確調整而轉移的內容時，你會發現，在很多情況下，這些都是陶氏化學旗下各個部門的部分業務。因此，這與杜邦公司不得不剝離其作物保護部門（而非其作物保護部門的一半）的做法非常相似，這是一項更重要的任務。所以，我們現在在道瓊斯公司這邊正在多種情況下進行這項工作，而剝離工作、法律實體工作、IT 系統協調工作，實際上是我們現在必須做的額外工作。所以我們今天給的預期時間是 18 到 24 個月。喬納斯，你說得對。我們之前說的是 18 到 24，但在接下來的幾個月裡，我們的團隊不斷努力，最終確定為 18。我們現在又回到了18到24歲這個階段，我們會隨時更新進展。各團隊都在日以繼夜地努力工作，週末也在加班加點地試圖降低風險，看看能否把日期提前一些。但除此之外，沒有其他需要報告的內容。這需要付出很多努力，希望我們能取得一些進展。

And next we'll move on to Arun Viswanathan with RBC Capital Markets.

接下來，我們將連線 RBC Capital Markets 的 Arun Viswanathan。

Great. So your slides note about 11% to 13% EBITDA growth expected in Q4. I think that implies around (inaudible) or 7. I guess, I'm just curious. Is that level kind of sustainable as you march forward into the next couple of quarters? And do you see start-up costs rolling off that would potentially accelerate that? Or new product launches or anything that you could further give us as far as your outlook goes?

偉大的。你們的幻燈片顯示，預計第四季 EBITDA 將成長 11% 至 13%。我覺得那大概是（聽不清楚）或7。我只是好奇而已。在接下來的幾個季度裡，這種水準能否持續下去？您認為啟動成本的下降是否會加速這一進程？或者您能否透露一些新產品發布或其他方面的信息，以進一步闡述您對未來的展望？

Yes, let me make one comment, and I'll turn it over to Howard. You've got to take into account Ag seasonality when you talk about the sequential quarters. So just bear that in mind. You can have a real down quarter then you got the up quarter. So putting that aside, Howard, you may want to talk about the rest.

是的，我先說一句，然後就把麥克風交給霍華德。在討論連續季度時，必須考慮到農業的季節性因素。所以請記住這一點。可能會經歷一個非常糟糕的季度，然後又出現一個不錯的季度。霍華德，先把這件事放在一邊，你可能想談談其他的事情。

Yes. I mean, I would just say that look, this was the first quarter, as Ed I think kicked off in his introductory remarks, first full quarter as DowDuPont is the fourth quarter. And so what we tried to do was give you as granular a look by operating segment as we possibly can. We'll do more in the next quarter to give you our 2018 outlook, but we feel really good about the third quarter results. And that fourth quarter of 11% to 13% up on the EBITDA as well as the growth in the top line of north of 7%, we feel really good about both of those numbers.

是的。我的意思是，我想說的是，正如艾德在他的開場白中所說，這是第一季度，而陶氏杜邦的第一個完整季度是第四季。因此，我們努力做到的是盡可能按營運部門提供最細緻的分析。我們將在下一季提供更多 2018 年展望，但我們對第三季的業績感到非常滿意。第四季 EBITDA 成長 11% 至 13%，營收成長超過 7%，我們對這兩個數字都非常滿意。

And next we'll move on to Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

接下來我們將介紹勞倫斯·亞歷山大和傑富瑞集團。

This is [Tim] on for Laurence. So as we head into 2018, do you have any early thoughts on the outlook for North American Ag?

這是提姆替勞倫斯發言。展望 2018 年，您對北美農業的前景有何初步看法？

Clearly, this market in Latin America as we talked about here in third and fourth quarter, had some delays in it. So we're seeing some shift of the summer corn season. We'll also feel some shift of Safrinha. That has an effect on the North American markets as well as growers -- they really -- they sit back, and they look at commodity pricing and planted acres. So where we're telegraphing it right now is that corn area in North America are probably going to be flat, like-for-like bagged seed tag pricing probably about flat. For us, the opportunity is our product mix with the new technologies that we continue to bring into that market, continuing to upgrade our corn genetics, continuing to drive the adoption of our A-series soybeans, continuing to ramp the Roundup Ready 2 Xtend technologies. All of those give of us a little bit of a mix uplift. And then we faced some pretty aggressive replant acres last year. So we'll have a more -- we're planning for a more normal season on the replant side as well.

顯然，正如我們在第三季和第四季討論的那樣，拉丁美洲市場出現了一些延誤。所以我們看到夏季玉米種植季節發生了一些變化。我們也會感受到薩弗里尼亞的一些改變。這會對北美市場以及種植者產生影響——他們真的——他們會靜觀其變，關注商品價格和種植面積。所以，我們現在傳遞的訊息是，北美玉米種植面積可能會保持平穩，同類袋裝種子標籤價格也可能保持穩定。對我們來說，機會在於我們的產品組合，以及我們不斷引入市場的新技術，包括不斷升級我們的玉米基因，不斷推動A系列大豆的普及，以及不斷擴大Roundup Ready 2 Xtend技術的規模。所有這些都為我們帶來了一些精神上的愉悅感。去年我們還面臨一些相當大的重新種植面積。所以，在補種方面，我們也計劃迎來一個更正常的季節。

And next we'll move to Bob Koort with Goldman Sachs.

接下來，我們將連線高盛的鮑伯·庫爾特。

I was wondering as you guys thought about carving up Dow Corning a bit differently, I know in the past Dow had rightly been proud of some efficiency and integration benefits. Did you have any dis-synergies as you peeled that apart?

我想知道，既然你們考慮以不同的方式拆分陶氏康寧，我知道陶氏過去曾對一些效率和整合方面的優勢感到自豪，這是理所當然的。在拆解過程中，有沒有遇到任何不協調的狀況？

Why don't you?

為什麼不呢？

I'm going to let Howard take that question.

我將讓霍華德來回答這個問題。

Yes, thanks, Bob. What I would say is this, we spent the full, I would say, 4 months prior to the September 12 announcement on the portfolio realignment really looking at the entire enterprise with a clean sheet of paper. We started with market verticals. We started with what is like with like. How can we reduce our costs further? And how can we grow these businesses based on the market verticals faster? And I think that we feel really good about the portfolio realignment that we put forward. And we took certain businesses out of Dow Corning, like Molykote, like Multibase and a few others and aligning it to the spec co segments based on the essentially the 4 market verticals in the segments that we're reporting. There will be some dis-synergies, and we're going to have to deal with that. There will be some stranded costs. We're going to have to deal with that, but we're committed to doing it. And the way we set up that portfolio that we announced in early September, mid-September was what we see as the most value-maximizing risk-adjusted way to set these companies up for long-term success.

是的，謝謝你，鮑伯。我想說的是，在 9 月 12 日宣布投資組合調整之前的整整 4 個月裡，我們真正從零開始審視了整個企業。我們從垂直市場著手。我們從「相似之處」開始。我們如何進一步降低成本？我們如何更快地發展基於垂直市場的這些業務？我認為我們對提出的投資組合調整方案非常滿意。我們從道康寧剝離了一些業務，例如 Molykote、Multibase 等，並根據我們所報告的細分市場中的 4 個市場垂直領域，將其與專業公司部門進行調整。會出現一些不協調的情況，我們必須解決這個問題。會產生一些滯留成本。我們必須面對這個問題，而我們決心要解決這個問題。我們在 9 月初、9 月中旬宣布的投資組合建構方式，是我們認為能夠最大限度提高價值、經風險調整後為這些公司實現長期成功奠定基礎的最有效方式。

And we'll move on to Don Carson with Susquehanna.

接下來我們將介紹唐卡森和薩斯奎哈納樂團。

Yes, question on the growth synergies. You talked about $1 billion there. You gave some examples. What percentage of those growth synergies will come from Ag? And what's the timing? And what you list here is really products that were in the pipeline already. So what is the growth synergy? Is it the ability that, for example, DuPont has greater ability to launch new crop chemical products? Or what exactly are you looking for there?

是的，關於成長協同效應的問題。你剛才提到了10億美元。你舉了一些例子。這些成長協同效應中有多少百分比將來自農業？時間安排是怎樣的？你在這裡列出的實際上是已經在研發中的產品。那麼，成長協同效應是什麼？例如，杜邦公司是否更有能力推出新的農業化學品？或者說，你究竟在那裡尋找什麼？

Yes, let me just give you a high level and maybe Jim and Marc want to touch on this. The high percentage of the growth synergies are now going to reside between spec co and Ag. And especially because of the portfolio change, it really opened up a lot more significant opportunities because of the like end markets, as Howard just talked about. So that's the team's working on the bulk of them, but Jim, why don't I turn it to you and you talk about Ag, and then spec co?

是的，我先簡單概括一下，也許吉姆和馬克想再談談這方面。現在，大部分的成長協同效應將存在於特種公司和Ag之間。尤其是由於投資組合的變化，正如霍華德剛才提到的那樣，這確實為終端市場帶來了更多重要的機會。所以團隊正在處理其中的大部分問題，但是吉姆，不如我把麥克風交給你，你來談談農業，然後再談談特種公司？

You're right. As we think about growth synergies, clearly, we have a pipeline of products that were always kind of loaded into our base plan. But you take some of those offerings and you drop them into a much more expanded channel access, so one of the great examples of that would be either the ENLIST E3 technologies or the Conkesta technologies. So going into that, Dow Agro Sciences Mycogen had one set of market shares. Now you open up the channel access from the Pioneer brand as well. And then as we start to think about this whole multichannel, multibrand strategy that we've talked about before, we've got this opportunity now to have a much stronger retail offering that we just haven't had. Pioneer's route to market has been more of a direct route, and we're able now to take more of those genetics and put them in bags and sell them through retail. So that's kind of a North America view. You add Conkesta to that, you start to talk about the opportunity that we now have in Latin America with some things we're doing with background genetics. It's that expanded access and that broader route to market that really drive a lot of those growth synergies. And that's a seed kind of comment. But the same on chemistries. Our companies were -- we had different strengths in different markets around the world. You take the combined team that we now have in China. We feel really good about our ability to launch products like Rinskor, the new rice herbicide that we have there. You think about the knowledge and the intensity that we've had in the insecticide markets over the years. Now with expanded opportunity with spinetoram and spinosin in the hands of a broader team in these specialty markets, that's another source of those growth synergies.

你說得對。當我們考慮成長協同效應時，很明顯，我們有一系列產品一直都已納入我們的基本計劃中。但是，你可以將其中一些產品放到一個更廣泛的管道中，ENLIST E3 技術或 Conkesta 技術就是一個很好的例子。因此，當時陶氏益農Mycogen擁有一組市場份額。現在您也可以造訪 Pioneer 品牌的頻道了。然後，當我們開始思考我們之前討論過的整個多通路、多品牌策略時，我們現在有機會擁有一個我們以前從未擁有過的更強大的零售產品。Pioneer 的市場推廣方式更加直接，我們現在能夠將這些基因更多地提取出來，裝袋後透過零售管道出售。所以這算是北美的一種觀點。再加上 Conkesta，你就可以開始談論我們現在在拉丁美洲利用背景遺傳學所做的一些事情所帶來的機會了。正是這種更廣泛的市場准入和更寬廣的市場管道，真正推動了許多成長綜效。這是一則引子式的評論。但化學領域也是如此。我們的公司－我們在世界各地的不同市場擁有不同的優勢。你們把我們現在在中國的聯合團隊也算進去。我們對推出像 Rinskor 這樣的產品（我們新推出的稻米除草劑）的能力感到非常滿意。想想這些年來我們在殺蟲劑市場上的知識累積和競爭強度。現在，隨著棘黴素和棘黴素在這些專業市場中由更廣泛的團隊掌握，發展機會也隨之擴大，這是成長協同效應的另一個來源。

Marc, why don't you comment on specialty?

馬克，你為什麼不談談你的專長呢？

Yes, thanks, Ed. The original question was about the $1 billion and the breakdown, and as Ed said, Jim and I kind of have the lion's share of it. And I think the portfolio realignment around end markets has really opened up a lot of opportunities for growth synergies, and originally, we were focused on the electronics channel, and that was the early plan, and I'm still very excited about the alignment between our electronics businesses, and we're seeing a lot of specific share gain opportunities there. But now we've opened up a number of new avenues for growth synergies, and the teams are already actively working on those, and these are combinations like in the construction industry, the combination of Styrofoam and Tyvek products and associated building products, leveraging our residential channel in particular. We see a lot of upside there. In automotive, electrification and again leveraging the strengths of the Dow adhesives portfolio with our high-performance polymers is offering a lot of potential uplift in new growth. And I think we mentioned in the script the pharmaceutical excipients example, which is a combination of Dow's business with the FMC portfolio. Now we suddenly have the broadest range of offerings in that space in cellulosics and some pretty exciting growth potential there. So across specialty co, many opportunities here for delivering growth synergies, and we're really focused on moving those forward.

是的，謝謝你，艾德。最初的問題是關於這 10 億美元及其分配明細，正如 Ed 所說，Jim 和我分得了其中的大部分。我認為圍繞終端市場進行的產品組合調整確實為成長協同效應創造了許多機會，最初，我們專注於電子管道，那是早期的計劃，我仍然對我們電子業務的協調一致感到非常興奮，我們看到了很多具體的市場份額增長機會。但現在我們已經開闢了許多新的成長協同途徑，團隊已經在積極地研究這些途徑，這些途徑包括建築業的組合，例如聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料和泰維克產品以及相關建築產品的組合，特別是利用我們的住宅渠道。我們認為那裡有很多上漲空間。在汽車領域，電氣化以及再次利用陶氏黏合劑產品組合的優勢和我們的高性能聚合物，為新的成長提供了巨大的潛力。我想我們在劇本中提到了藥用輔料的例子，這是陶氏的業務與FMC產品組合的結合。現在，我們突然在纖維素領域擁有了最廣泛的產品系列，而該領域具有相當令人興奮的成長潛力。因此，在專業公司領域，有很多機會可以實現成長綜效，我們正致力於推動這些綜效。

And next we'll move on to Hassan Ahmed with Alembic Global.

接下來，我們將採訪 Alembic Global 的 Hassan Ahmed。

A question around materials co. If I heard correctly early in the call, you guys talked about maybe a slight dip in utilization rates next year, and obviously, with all of this capacity coming online. So a 2-part question. One is that obviously, the virtue of the cycle seems to be that there's very little capacity coming online on their sort of post-2018 time period. It also seems that the hurricanes have had some sort of a muting impact on the downside as well. So the second part of this is that recently, I came across this announcement talking about how Iran is considering converting all of their methanol facilities into MTO facilities. And any future sort of methanol facilities they'll build will actually be tied to olefins. So how should we think about sort of all of these moving parts as they pertain to the cycle in the near to medium term?

關於材料公司的問題。如果我沒聽錯的話，你們在電話會議初期談到明年的利用率可能會略有下降，而且很明顯，隨著所有這些產能的上線，情況也是如此。所以這是一個包含兩個部分的問題。顯而易見，該週期的優勢似乎在於，在 2018 年之後的這段時間裡，幾乎沒有新增產能。颶風似乎也對負面影響起了一定的抑製作用。所以第二部分是，最近我看到了一份公告，內容是關於伊朗正在考慮將其所有甲醇生產設施改造成MTO生產設施。他們未來建造的任何甲醇生產設施實際上都將與烯烴生產相關。那麼，我們應該如何看待所有這些與中短期週期相關的動態因素呢？

I'll start and I'll get Jim to add, Hassan. Your first 2 points we're in violent alignment with, and I think the next 24 months is going to show more upside on supply-demand than what consultants, industry pundits who have been consistently wrong for 3 years have forecasted. So we indicated a lot of what you just said. So that's the way you should take it. And as far as Iran, and for that matter, China and all the other MTO projects, they've been consistently late. They've been consistently over capitalized, and they've consistently not occurred. And so I would take nothing from any announcement out of Iran, short of something that President Trump might say, which is a whole other thing. So I would tell you that we're not worried about that in the supply-demand balances in the next 5 years. Jim?

我先開始，然後讓吉姆加上哈桑。你的前兩點我們完全贊同，我認為未來 24 個月供需方面將比諮詢顧問和行業專家（他們在過去 3 年裡一直預測錯誤）的預測更有上漲空間。所以我們基本上贊同了你剛才說的很多內容。所以你應該這樣看待這件事。至於伊朗，以及中國和所有其他多邊運輸項目，它們都一直延期。它們一直被過度投資，但它們卻一直沒有發生。因此，除了川普總統可能會說的話之外，我不會相信伊朗方面的任何聲明，而川普總統的話又是另一回事了。因此，我可以告訴大家，我們並不擔心未來 5 年的供需平衡。吉姆？

Yes, I would just say, our numbers and our analytics say, I'll just use plastics as an example, you're talking about, in a 3% GDP-plus type of an economy, you're talking about 3.7% demand growth, maybe 4% demand growth and about 4.1%, 4.2% capacity growth. And, by the way, that's what it looks like for the next couple of years. So I think from now to 2022, our outlook is we're in a pretty constructive environment for demand growth in the plastics segment. Downstream demand continues good, and we're trying to compete more in the higher end of that market segment. Polyurethanes is growing at probably 1.6x GDP right now. And so although there's capacity coming on, there's pretty good downstream pull and demand growth there, very diversified markets for that business, and we're seeing steady demand there. So I agree with you. I mean, these moves that they're talking about making now will take 5 years to materialize. And if they come on at that rate, we're in a very different market environment from an oil and gas perspective then.

是的，我想說，我們的數據和分析表明，我以塑膠為例，在GDP成長3%以上的經濟體中，需求成長約為3.7%，或許是4%，產能成長約為4.1%，4.2%。順便說一句，未來幾年大概就是這樣。所以我認為從現在到 2022 年，我們對塑膠產業的需求成長前景持樂觀態度。下游需求持續良好，我們正努力在該細分市場的高端領域展開更多競爭。目前聚氨酯產業的成長速度可能是GDP的1.6倍。因此，儘管產能正在增加，但下游需求拉動和需求成長相當不錯，該業務的市場非常多元化，我們看到那裡的需求穩定。所以我同意你的看法。我的意思是，他們現在談論的這些舉措需要5年才能實現。如果他們以那種速度發展，那麼從石油和天然氣的角度來看，我們將面臨一個非常不同的市場環境。

And next we'll move to Peter Butler with Glen Hill Investments.

接下來，我們將連線到格倫希爾投資公司的彼得·巴特勒。

The gains in your volume and price were really very impressive in a slow GDP environment. And I'm wondering how much of a help is it to have Dow folks on the ground in some of these markets rather than selling through distributors as some of your competitors do?

在GDP成長放緩的環境下，你們的銷售和價格成長確實非常令人印象深刻。我想知道，與一些競爭對手透過經銷商銷售產品相比，在這些市場安排陶氏員工進行實地銷售究竟能起到多大作用？

Well, Peter, this is Jim. Look, I think it's always helpful for us to be on the ground selling. We've got to build good relationships with the customers, and I'll just use Sadara as a great example. There's a plant that comes online, 26 plants and everybody expects a giant wave of material to come out. As we've said, there are literally more than 1,000 customers for those materials in 60 to 70 countries that have been qualified all over. So it isn't like all of this material is going to one place in the world. That global reach and presence is something that both Dow and DuPont have. And actually, when you look at all 3 of these divisions now, they all have feet on the ground in those market segments, and they're all used to selling value and pulling that demand through the distribution chain. I don't see that changing in any of these models.

彼得，這位是吉姆。我認為，實地銷售總是對我們有幫助的。我們必須與客戶建立良好的關係，我以 Sadara 為例就是一個很好的例子。有一家工廠投產了，總共26家，大家都期待著大量產品能問世。正如我們所說，這些材料在 60 到 70 個國家擁有超過 1000 家客戶，而這些客戶都通過了認證。所以並不是所有這些材料都運往世界上的同一個地方。陶氏和杜邦都具備這種全球影響力和業務範圍。事實上，當你現在審視這三個部門時，你會發現它們都在各自的細分市場中站穩了腳跟，並且都習慣於銷售價值並透過分銷鏈來推動需求。我認為這些模型都不會改變這一點。

Peter, the other thing I would add, by the way, which is really important to these divisions going forward, a lot of the growth you're going to get out of us in the future is because of our innovation and new product pipelines. And so when you look at the 4% volume we had this month and 3% price, that's clearly above where the global economy is growing. And when you look at in our Ag business, it's all about the pipeline. And, by the way, our results this past year being above the market dynamics in Ag was all about the pipeline and the new products and Leptra that we talked about. And, by the way, just to give you one other example, in the transportation area, in the auto area, we're growing both the Dow part of the portfolio and the DuPont above auto builds, because we're putting more content into the car, whether it's electrification or light-weighting of vehicles. And those are very positive trends. But that's really incumbent on us to continue our innovation, our R&D spend and our launch of new products into the marketplace these next few years.

彼得，順便說一句，我還想補充一點，這對這些部門未來的發展非常重要，你們未來能從我們這裡獲得的成長很大程度上要歸功於我們的創新和新產品線。因此，看看我們本月 4% 的成交量和 3% 的價格，這顯然高於全球經濟的成長水平。而當我們審視我們的農業業務時，就會發現一切都與供應鏈有關。順便說一句，我們去年在農業領域的業績高於市場平均水平，這完全歸功於我們的產品線、新產品以及我們之前提到的 Leptra。順便再舉一個例子，在交通運輸領域，在汽車領域，我們正在擴大道瓊斯指數和杜邦指數在汽車製造領域的業務，因為我們正在加大對汽車的投入，無論是電氣化還是汽車輕量化。這些都是非常正面的趨勢。但未來幾年，我們確實有責任持續創新，增加研發投入，並將新產品推向市場。

And we do have time for one last question. We'll hear from Steve Byrne with Bank of America.

我們還有時間回答最後一個問題。我們將連線美國銀行的史蒂夫·伯恩。

A couple of questions about Sadara. Does that facility's polyethylene have the ability to meet the specs to move product into that higher-priced European markets? And can you comment on the outlook for feedstock pricing for Sadara, given the Saudi government's initiative to push feedstock pricing?

關於薩達拉，我有幾個問題。該工廠生產的聚乙烯產品是否能滿足銷往歐洲高價市場的規格要求？鑑於沙烏地阿拉伯政府推動原料價格上漲的舉措，您能否對薩達拉的原料價格前景發表一下看法？

Jim, why don't you start? I'll add a bit.

吉姆，你為什麼不先開始呢？我再補充一點。

On the product end, and I would say it's not just plastics, but all the products have the ability to meet the specs of our global customers. And they've all been qualified already at those accounts. So there's no issue there. They won't see an issue. And what they see actually is another source of supply, which is a very positive thing for them. And as you know, when we put the deal together, we had a locked-in agreement for those feedstock costs for a time period, and that's still in place. So I think a lot of the moves you see happening are on a go-forward basis, and that would be for new projects and new capacity.

在產品方面，我想說的不僅僅是塑膠製品，而是所有產品都能夠滿足我們全球客戶的規格要求。而且他們都已經具備了這些帳戶的資格。所以這方面沒有問題。他們不會覺得這是個問題。他們看到的實際上是另一個供應來源，這對他們來說是一件非常積極的事情。如您所知，我們在達成協議時，就原料成本達成了鎖定協議，該協議在一段時間內有效，而且目前仍然有效。所以我認為你看到的很多舉措都是向前邁進的，這主要是為了新項目和新產能。

Yes, double down on that, that we have that commitment from the Ministry of Petroleum. All agreements would be honored. All the new pricing structures are whenever they're enacted, which I think is imminent. I would tell you also, the other big thing Sadara did, and it's well known in the kingdom and, for that matter, the region, we really grabbed the last ethane allocation available, which gives Sadara a competitive edge that no other competitor in the region can now have. Most of that gas is dry. They're finding all the associated gas doesn't have much liquid. So it's a really important thing that we may -- were able to put those agreements in place when we did, and we will have that tailwind for the next several years based on how Jim answered the previous question.

是的，我們必須再次強調這一點，我們已經得到了石油部的承諾。所有協議都將得到履行。所有新的定價結構都將在實施後生效，我認為這很快就要實施了。我還要告訴你們，薩達拉做的另一件大事，也是王國乃至整個地區眾所周知的事，就是我們搶到了最後一批乙烷配額，這使得薩達拉擁有了該地區其他競爭對手無法企及的競爭優勢。大部分氣體都是乾燥的。他們發現伴生氣中幾乎沒有液體。所以，我們能夠及時達成這些協議是一件非常重要的事情，而且根據吉姆對上一個問題的回答，我們將在未來幾年裡擁有這種順風。

And that will conclude today's question-and-answer session. At this time, I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Neal Sheorey for any additional or closing remarks.

今天的問答環節到此結束。此時，我想把電話轉回給尼爾·謝奧雷先生，請他補充或作總結發言。

Thank you, Rochelle, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call and for your patience during our brief delay today. We appreciate your interest in DowDuPont. For your reference, a copy of our transcript will be posted on DowDuPont's website later today. This concludes our call. Thank you.

謝謝羅謝爾，也謝謝大家參加我們的電話會議，感謝大家在我們今天短暫延遲期間的耐心等待。感謝您對陶氏杜邦的關注。供您參考，我們的成績單副本將於今天晚些時候發佈在陶氏杜邦公司的網站上。通話到此結束。謝謝。

And that will conclude today's call. We thank you for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。