杜邦 (DD) 2018 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to DowDuPont's First Quarter 2018 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Also today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Greg Friedman, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

各位好，歡迎參加陶氏杜邦2018年第一季財報電話會議。（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。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2018 earnings call. DowDuPont is making this call available to investors and media via webcast.

各位早安。感謝您參加我們2018年第一季財報電話會議。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。

We have prepared slides to supplement our comments on this call. These slides are posted on the Investor Relations section of DowDuPont's website and through the link to our webcast.

我們準備了幻燈片，以補充我們在本次電話會議上的演講。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的連結查看。

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

今天參加電話會議的有執行長 Ed Breen 和財務長 Howard Ungerleider。出席問答環節的還有董事兼前執行董事長 Andrew Liveris；陶氏杜邦材料科學、農業和特種產品部門的首席營運官 Jim Fitterling、Jim Collins 和 Marc Doyle；以及投資者關係副總裁 Neal Sheorey。

Please read the forward-looking statement disclaimers contained in the news release and slides. During the call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding our expectations or predictions about the future. Because these statements are based on current assumptions and factors that involve risk and uncertainty, our actual performance and results may differ materially from our forward-looking statements. Our 10-K and each of Dow's and DuPont's, include a detailed discussion of principal risks and uncertainties, which may cause such differences.

請閱讀新聞稿和幻燈片中包含的前瞻性聲明免責聲明。在電話會議中，我們將就我們對未來的預期或預測發表前瞻性聲明。由於這些聲明是基於目前的假設和涉及風險和不確定性的因素，我們的實際表現和結果可能與我們的前瞻性聲明有重大差異。我們的 10-K 表格以及陶氏化學和杜邦公司的 10-K 表格都詳細討論了可能導致此類差異的主要風險和不確定性。

Also, we will comment on segment results on a divisional basis. So please take note of the divisional disclaimer in our earnings release and slides.

此外，我們將以部門對各業務板塊的業績進行評述。所以請注意我們盈利報告和幻燈片中的部門免責聲明。

Unless otherwise specified, all historical financial measures presented today are on a pro forma basis, and all financials, where applicable, exclude significant items. We will also refer to non-GAAP 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.

除非另有說明，否則今天提供的所有歷史財務指標均為準備數據，所有財務數據（如適用）均不包括重大項目。我們也會參考非GAAP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。

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 the DowDuPont first quarter earnings call. I'll start by covering the financial highlights. Then I'll provide an update on our progress toward the key strategic drivers: the synergies, our growth plans and intended spins. I'll then hand it over to Howard to discuss the quarterly results in more detail.

謝謝格雷格，也謝謝各位參加陶氏杜邦第一季財報電話會議。我將首先介紹財務方面的亮點。接下來，我將報告我們在關鍵策略驅動因素方面所取得的進展：協同效應、我們的成長計畫和計畫分拆。然後我會把發言權交給霍華德，讓他更詳細地討論季度表現。

This past quarter marked the second full quarter of operations for DowDuPont, and the teams have come together well, and they again delivered strong results.

上個季度是陶氏杜邦公司營運的第二個完整季度，各團隊配合默契，再次取得了強勁的業績。

As shown on Slide 4, here are the first quarter highlights. Sales increased 5% to $21.5 billion. Price rose 3%, with gains in all geographies and most segments. Operating EBITDA increased 6%, and we grew our adjusted operating EPS 7%.

如投影片 4 所示，以下是第一季的亮點。銷售額成長5%，達到215億美元。價格上漲 3%，所有地區和大多數細分市場均出現上漲。營運 EBITDA 成長 6%，調整後營運每股收益成長 7%。

Our results this quarter were due to strong performance from the Materials Science and Specialty Products divisions. Their growth more than overcame severe cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere, which shifted Ag shipments from the first quarter to the second quarter.

本季業績主要得益於材料科學和特種產品部門的強勁表現。儘管北半球遭遇嚴寒天氣，導致農產品出貨從第一季推遲到第二季度，但它們的增長仍然超過了嚴寒天氣的影響。

Our performance in the quarter was driven by solid execution, disciplined price/volume management, cost synergies, growth projects and contributions from our value-added customer-driven innovations.

本季業績的取得得益於穩健的執行、嚴格的價格/銷售管理、成本綜效、成長項目以及我們以顧客為導向的增值創新所做出的貢獻。

In Materials Science, the division benefited from strong innovation and product launches and from broad-based price and volume gains supported by new capacity in the U.S. and the Middle East. A few examples of product innovations in the quarter include Packaging and Specialty Plastics launched a new Bynel tie layer developed to provide improved adhesion between polyolefins and PET and polyamide materials in food and specialty packaging films. Polyurethanes introduced a new VORATEC Appliance Insulation System with a major appliance manufacturer, which provides superior energy efficiency. And in Consumer Solutions, we introduced AgeCap smooth cosmetic ingredient, which softens the appearance of wrinkles while promoting skin glow and softness.

在材料科學領域，該部門受益於強勁的創新和產品發布，以及美國和中東新產能帶來的廣泛的價格和銷售成長。本季產品創新的一些例子包括：包裝和特殊塑膠推出了一種新的 Bynel 黏合層，該黏合層旨在提高食品和特殊包裝薄膜中聚烯烴與 PET 和聚醯胺材料之間的黏合力。聚氨酯公司與一家大型家電製造商合作推出了一種新型 VORATEC 家電隔熱系統，該系統具有卓越的能源效率。在消費者解決方案方面，我們推出了 AgeCap 柔滑化妝品成分，它能淡化皺紋，同時促進肌膚光澤和柔軟度。

In Specialty Products, our innovation machine continues to produce numerous product line extensions that support strong top line growth. For example, Intexar added flexible heat in garments for athletes while Gelcarin excipients made pills more palatable. A new Hytrel product made turbo gas air ducts flexible and lightweight while the new Nomex Nano aramid reduced the weight and bulk of firefighter gear.

在特種產品領域，我們的創新機器不斷推出眾多產品線延伸產品，從而支持強勁的營收成長。例如，Intexar 為運動員服裝添加了柔性加熱功能，而 Gelcarin 賦形劑使藥片更容易服用。Hytrel 的新產品使渦輪氣體空氣管道變得靈活輕便，而新型 Nomex 奈米芳綸則減輕了消防員裝備的重量和體積。

In Ag, our combined industry-leading pipeline is poised to deliver. Our near-term pipeline is expected to continue to launch new products through the end of the year. This pipeline is expected to deliver stronger growth in the second half of the year from new products like Zorvec, Vessarya and Arylex, which combined, will contribute greater than $1 billion of peak sales.

在農業領域，我們領先業界的綜合產品線已準備就緒，即將交付成果。預計到今年年底，我們的近期產品線將繼續推出新產品。預計下半年，隨著 Zorvec、Vessarya 和 Arylex 等新產品的推出，該產品線將實現更強勁的成長，這些產品合計將貢獻超過 10 億美元的峰值銷售額。

Another highlight for the quarter was our progress on cost synergies. We generated savings of more than $300 million in the quarter, once again ahead of our target. Based on this progress, we now expect to realize year-over-year cost synergy savings of $1.2 billion, an increase of 20% from our prior target of $1 billion, with the majority of the increase being realized in the first half.

本季另一個亮點是我們在成本綜效方面取得的進展。本季我們節省了超過 3 億美元，再次超額完成了目標。基於這項進展，我們現在預計每年可實現 12 億美元的成本協同效應節省，比我們先前設定的 10 億美元的目標增加 20%，其中大部分成長將在上半年實現。

Further, we are also raising our year 1 run rate forecast to 75% of our recently increased $3.3 billion target. We remain very confident in our ability to hit the higher $3.3 billion run rate by the end of year too.

此外，我們還將第一年的營運率預測提高到最近提高的 33 億美元目標的 75%。我們仍然非常有信心在年底前實現更高的33億美元營收目標。

We also continue to advance our work on growth synergies across the company. We continue to expect to deliver growth synergies totaling $1 billion of EBITDA over the next few years.

我們也持續推進公司內部各部門之間的成長綜效。我們預計未來幾年將實現總計 10 億美元的 EBITDA 成長綜效。

On Slide 5, I want to share several updates on the growth potential we still see in front of us. During the quarter, we advanced our plans to deliver approximately half of the growth synergies from the Ag division.

在第 5 張幻燈片中，我想分享一些關於我們仍然看到的成長潛力的最新資訊。本季度，我們推進了實現農業部門約一半成長綜效的計畫。

In addition to increased market access for our broadened set of products, we are also driving opportunities to expand our portfolio through actions such as enhancing our seed treatment offerings by leveraging a larger proprietary portfolio of crop protection actives. Additionally, we are establishing new business models by executing on plans to rebuild our share lost through divestments with actions such as establishing Brevant, our new global retail seed brand.

除了擴大產品範圍，增加市場進入外，我們還利用更大的專有作物保護活性成分組合來增強種子處理產品等措施，推動擴大產品組合的機會。此外，我們正在透過執行重建因資產剝離而失去的市場份額的計劃來建立新的商業模式，例如建立我們新的全球零售種子品牌 Brevant。

In Materials Science, the integration of DuPont's ethylene copolymers affords us the opportunity to provide a one-stop shop for our packaging customers with the broadest suite of differentiated polyethylene offerings across virtually all food, specialty and consumer packaging applications. We also see strong potential to expand our growth in polymer modifiers in infrastructure, enhancing resiliency and durability. And we will improve our solutions across a range of consumer applications from footwear to cosmetics, where Dow technologies and DuPont copolymers together will improve multiple aspects of performance and comfort, ultimately advancing our leadership position in these markets.

在材料科學領域，杜邦乙烯共聚物的整合使我們有機會為包裝客戶提供一站式服務，提供涵蓋幾乎所有食品、特殊和消費品包裝應用的最廣泛的差異化聚乙烯產品。我們也看到了在基礎設施領域擴大聚合物改質劑業務成長的巨大潛力，這將有助於提高基礎設施的韌性和耐久性。我們將改進從鞋類到化妝品等一系列消費品應用領域的解決方案，陶氏技術和杜邦共聚物將共同改善產品性能和舒適度的多個方面，最終鞏固我們在這些市場的領先地位。

We also laid out plans for specific growth synergies in Specialty Products, which we expect to total $400 million. We're encouraged by the fact that we already are seeing benefits in areas like electronics, where we are building deeper relationships with customers that overlap in the semiconductor and interconnect solutions businesses. As we look ahead, we will be taking advantage of cross-selling and new product development opportunities in construction and filtration as well as automotive, electronics and medical. And we'll leverage key account management and channel access in food and pharma, to name a few.

我們也制定了特種產品領域的具體成長綜效計劃，預計總額將達到 4 億美元。令人鼓舞的是，我們已經在電子等領域看到了成效，在這些領域，我們正在與半導體和互連解決方案業務重疊的客戶建立更深的關係。展望未來，我們將利用建築和過濾以及汽車、電子和醫療領域的交叉銷售和新產品開發機會。我們將充分利用食品和製藥等領域的關鍵客戶管理和通路優勢。

Now I'll provide an update on our progress with standing and spinning the intended companies as presented on Slide 6. We continue to anticipate Materials Science separating by the end of the first quarter of 2019 followed by Agriculture and Specialty Products separating shortly after that, by June 1 of '19. The objectives for us between now and the fall include assigning assets and liabilities to each intended company; negotiating terms of the necessary agreements among the 3 intended companies; and completing IT system design, testing and implementation. We have been doing a lot of work in this area, and we remain on track.

現在我將報告我們在投影片 6 中提出的分拆和重組計劃的進展。我們仍預期材料科學部門將於 2019 年第一季末分拆，農業和特種產品部門隨後也將分拆，最晚於 2019 年 6 月 1 日完成。從現在到秋季，我們的目標包括：將資產和負債分配給每家擬收購公司；在三家擬收購公司之間協商必要的協議條款；以及完成IT系統設計、測試和實施。我們在這個領域做了很多工作，目前進展順利。

We continue to make progress on setting up the capital structure of each company. This work includes the separation of heritage DuPont assets and liabilities into Agriculture and Specialty Products, the movement of Dow AgroSciences into Agriculture and any other adjustments prompted by the portfolio realignment we announced last year.

我們在建構各公司資本結構方面持續取得進展。這項工作包括將杜邦的傳統資產和負債拆分為農業和特種產品，將陶氏益農轉移到農業，以及去年宣布的投資組合調整所引發的任何其他調整。

Talent selection is substantially complete. Our employees know which intended company they are aligned to and are focused on delivering results.

人才選拔工作已基本完成。我們的員工清楚自己效忠的是哪家公司，並專注於取得績效。

In summary, our businesses are performing well. We're executing against our financial and operational commitments. We are excited about our cost savings delivery and growth synergy potential. And we are pleased with the team's progress as we move toward the intended separations.

總而言之，我們的業務表現良好。我們正在履行我們的財務和營運承諾。我們對成本節約的實現和成長協同效應的潛力感到興奮。我們對團隊在實現預期分離目標方面所取得的進展感到滿意。

Finally, I want to address something that is important to me on a personal level. I want to be clear that I intend to be around through the intended spins and beyond. I am committed to making sure the 3 intended companies are properly launched, and I plan to be actively involved after the final separations. There's a lot of value to be created for our shareholders, and my personal goal is to see it through.

最後，我想談談對我個人而言很重要的事。我想明確表示，我打算在計劃的周期內以及之後繼續參與其中。我致力於確保這三家擬成立的公司順利啟動，並且我計劃在最終分拆完成後積極參與其中。我們能為股東創造許多價值，而我的個人目標就是要實現這些價值。

With that, let me turn it over to Howard to review our financial results in further detail.

接下來，我將把發言權交給霍華德，讓他更詳細地回顧我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Ed. Moving to Slide 7 and a summary of our first quarter results. We once again grew earnings per share, net sales and EBITDA. Drivers of the EPS increase include local price and volume gains in Materials Science and Specialty Products, cost synergies, a currency tailwind, higher equity earnings and lower pension OPEB costs. These gains more than offset the weather-related shift we saw in Agriculture, higher feedstock costs and the impact of the freeze-related outages on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

謝謝你，艾德。接下來是第 7 張投影片，總結我們第一季的業績。我們再次實現了每股盈餘、淨銷售額和 EBITDA 的成長。推動每股收益成長的因素包括材料科學和特種產品本地價格和銷售的成長、成本協同效應、匯率利好、更高的股權收益和更低的退休金退休後福利成本。這些收益足以抵消我們在農業領域看到的與天氣相關的變化、更高的原料成本以及美國墨西哥灣沿岸因霜凍造成的停電的影響。

The sales increase of 5% was broad-based, with growth in most operating segments and geographies. Sales rose 15%, excluding Ag, with double-digit gains in both Materials Science, up 17% and Specialty Products, up 11%. The sales decline in Agriculture was driven by weather-related delays to planting seasons in the Northern Hemisphere and Brazil. Overall, volume declined 2% driven by the decline in Ag. Materials Science achieved 14% volume growth in Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure and 8% growth in Packaging & Specialty Plastics in spite of weather-related supply disruptions enabled by new capacity ads from Sadara and on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

銷售額成長5%，成長基礎廣泛，大多數營運部門和地區均實現了成長。不計入Ag，銷售額成長15%，其中材料科學（成長17%）和特種產品（成長11%）均達到了兩位數成長。農業銷售額下降的原因是北半球和巴西的播種季節因天氣而推遲。總體而言，受農業下降的影響，銷量下降了 2%。儘管受到天氣影響導致的供應中斷，但得益於 Sadara 和美國墨西哥灣沿岸新增產能，材料科學在工業中間體和基礎設施領域實現了 14% 的銷量增長，在包裝和特種塑料領域實現了 8% 的銷量增長。

Specialty Products delivered volume gains in all segments on solid customer demand in 4 market verticals, which more than offset weather-related shifts in demand, particularly aligned to construction end markets.

特種產品在 4 個垂直市場中憑藉著強勁的客戶需求，在所有細分市場實現了銷售成長，足以抵消天氣相關的需求變化，尤其是在建築終端市場方面。

Local price increased 3% led by Materials Science, which was up 5 on strong supply-demand fundamentals across most of its targeted end markets. Equity earnings increased led by improved Sadara results and increased earnings from the Kuwait joint ventures.

受材料科學板塊帶動，本地價格上漲 3%，其中材料科學板塊上漲 5%，這主要得益於其大部分目標終端市場強勁的供需基本面。股權收益成長主要得益於Sadara業績改善以及科威特合資企業收益增加。

And the cost synergies continue to hit the bottom line as we have now delivered more than $500 million of cumulative savings since merger close. These gains translated to operating EBITDA of $4.9 billion in the quarter. Excluding Ag, operating EBITDA increased 26% year-over-year, with double-digit gains in both Materials Science and Specialty Products.

成本綜效持續提升公司獲利，自合併完成以來，我們已累積節省超過 5 億美元。這些收益轉化為本季 49 億美元的營業 EBITDA。剔除農業業務後，營業 EBITDA 年成長 26%，其中材料科學和特種產品業務均實現了兩位數成長。

Our cash flow from operations was down, primarily due to higher integration and separation costs spending and a onetime tax payment. The underlying cash from operations of our businesses improved versus the same quarter last year. And from an efficiency perspective, we are improving our turns by 2 days year-over-year as the divisions continue to focus on driving strong working capital discipline.

我們的經營活動現金流下降，主要原因是整合和分離成本支出增加以及一次​​性稅支付。我們各項業務的經營活動所產生的現金流量較去年同期有所改善。從效率的角度來看，隨著各部門繼續致力於加強營運資本管理，我們的周轉時間比去年同期提高了 2 天。

Finally, we returned nearly $2 billion of cash to our shareholders in the first quarter, which included another $1 billion of share repurchases. And looking ahead, we will target another $1 billion of buybacks in the second quarter.

最後，我們在第一季向股東返還了近 20 億美元的現金，其中包括 10 億美元的股票回購。展望未來，我們計劃在第二季再進行10億美元的股票回購。

Moving now to our division and segment results, starting on Slide 8. The Materials Science division achieved double-digit top and bottom line growth in the quarter, advanced its growth projects and delivered ahead of plan on its cost synergy efforts.

現在來看看我們部門和業務板塊的業績，從第 8 張投影片開始。材料科學部門在本季度實現了兩位數的營收和利潤成長，推進了成長項目，並在成本協同效應方面提前完成了計劃。

First quarter net sales rose 17% from the year-ago period, with double-digit gains in all segments and gains in all geographies. Volume grew 8%, and local price rose 5%, both up in all geographies and both led by double-digit increases in Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure. In addition to solid demand in its core markets, Materials Science also saw a boost from new capacity ads in the U.S. and the Middle East. The division delivered these results in spite of weather-related supply disruptions in the United States.

第一季淨銷售額比去年同期成長 17%，所有業務部門和所有地區均實現兩位數成長。銷量成長 8%，本地價格上漲 5%，所有地區均出現上漲，其中工業中間體和基礎設施的兩位數成長是主要驅動因素。除了核心市場的強勁需求外，材料科學也受惠於美國和中東地區新增產能的成長。儘管美國因天氣原因導致供應中斷，該部門仍然取得了這些業績。

Equity earnings rose year-over-year. The largest positive contributor was Sadara, which improved by $80 million, putting the JV on track for its expected year-over-year improvement.

股權收益較去年同期成長。貢獻最大的是 Sadara，其業績成長了 8,000 萬美元，使合資企業有望實現預期的年成長。

Operating EBITDA for Materials Science grew 23% versus the same quarter last year to $2.6 billion, with double-digit gains in every segment.

材料科學業務的營業 EBITDA 較去年同期成長 23%，達到 26 億美元，各業務板塊均實現了兩位數成長。

Turning now to the segments. Performance Materials & Coatings achieved operating EBITDA of $628 million, up 31% from the year-ago period, primarily due to increased pricing, improved product mix and cost and growth synergies.

現在來看各個部分。高性能材料與塗料業務的營業 EBITDA 為 6.28 億美元，比去年同期成長 31%，主要原因是價格上漲、產品組合改善以及成本和成長綜效。

Consumer Solutions delivered double-digit sales growth led by local price gains and disciplined price/volume management in upstream silicone intermediate products.

消費者解決方案業務實現了兩位數的銷售成長，這主要得益於本地價格上漲以及上游矽酮中間體產品的價格/銷售管理。

Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure delivered operating EBITDA of $654 million, up 28% from the year-ago period. Pricing actions, cost synergies and improved equity earnings led to a strong quarter despite the impact of weather-related outages on the U.S. Gulf Coast, higher raw material costs and increased maintenance and turnaround activity in the quarter.

工業中間體及基礎設施業務實現營業 EBITDA 6.54 億美元，較上年同期成長 28%。儘管受到美國墨西哥灣沿岸地區天氣相關停電、原材料成本上漲以及本季維護和檢修活動增加的影響，但定價策略、成本協同效應和股權收益的提高，使得本季業績強勁。

Both Polyurethanes & CAV and Industrial Solutions delivered robust sales growth on double-digit gains in all geographies driven by broad-based local price and volume gains. Demand growth was particularly strong in Asia Pacific and EMEA driven by the contributions from the new capacity at Sadara. Price increases in downstream, higher-margin system applications led the performance in Polyurethanes.

聚氨酯及 CAV 和工業解決方案業務在所有地區均實現了強勁的銷售成長，實現了兩位數的成長，這主要得益於當地價格和銷量的全面成長。亞太地區和歐洲、中東及非洲地區的需求成長尤為強勁，主要得益於薩達拉新產能的貢獻。下游高利潤系統應用的價格上漲推動了聚氨酯的性能提升。

The Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment achieved operating EBITDA of $1.3 billion, up 17% from the year-ago period. Polyolefin and Elastomers price increases; volume gains, including the benefit of supply from growth projects; lower commissioning and start-up costs; higher equity earnings; and cost synergies more than offset stock costs.

包裝及特殊塑膠業務部門實現營業 EBITDA 13 億美元，較上年同期成長 17%。聚烯烴和彈性體價格上漲；銷售成長，包括成長項目帶來的供應效益；調試和啟動成本降低；股權收益提高；以及成本協同效應超過股票成本。

The Packaging and Specialty Plastics business grew volume in all geographies on broad-based demand strength, supported by new capacity additions on the U.S. Gulf Coast and increased Sadara production. Local price was up as increases in ethylene derivatives in the Americas more than offset moderate declines in EMEA and Asia Pacific. Demand growth was led by food and specialty packaging and industrial and consumer packaging end markets in Asia Pacific and EMEA as well as rigid packaging applications in all regions.

包裝和特殊塑膠業務在所有地區都實現了銷售成長，這得益於廣泛的市場需求，以及美國墨西哥灣沿岸新增產能和薩達拉產量的增加。由於美洲乙烯衍生物價格上漲，抵消了歐洲、中東和非洲地區以及亞太地區的溫和下跌，當地價格上漲。亞太和歐洲、中東及非洲地區的食品和特殊包裝以及工業和消費品包裝終端市場以及所有地區的硬質包裝應用引領了需求成長。

The business also continued to start up its investments on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The new world-scale cracker and ELITE polyethylene train, which came on line late last year, both ran at a high rates through the first quarter and contributed to the bottom line. The next 2 assets, the NORDEL EPDM and the high-pressure low-density facilities, both came online in the first quarter. And product from both assets has already been flowing into the market.

該公司也繼續在美國墨西哥灣沿岸地區進行投資。去年底投產的新型世界級裂解裝置和ELITE聚乙烯生產線在第一季均以高負荷運轉，為公司獲利做出了貢獻。接下來的兩項資產，即 NORDEL EPDM 設施和高壓低密度設施，均在第一季投入營運。這兩個資產的產品都已經流入市場。

The new low-density facility has ramped up to full operating rates, and the NORDEL asset is expected to complete the full range of customer qualifications in the second quarter.

新的低密度設施已達到全面營運水平，NORDEL 資產預計將在第二季完成所有客戶資格認證。

Looking ahead, our next 2 capacity additions on the U.S. Gulf Coast are progressing well. The gas phase debottleneck in Louisiana remains on track to be completed midyear, and our new world-scale Specialty Elastomers unit in Texas is expected to start up towards year-end.

展望未來，我們在美國墨西哥灣沿岸新增的2個產能專案進展順利。路易斯安那州的氣相瓶頸消除工程仍按計劃於年中完成，而我們在德克薩斯州新建的世界級特種彈性體裝置預計將於年底前投產。

Turning to Slide 9. Specialty Products also delivered double-digit top and bottom line growth by staying close to its customers and applying its innovation power to solve their toughest problems. The division achieved these results while advancing the multifaceted integration of the heritage Dow and FMC businesses, highlighting the intense focus on execution.

翻到第 9 張投影片。特種產品部門透過與客戶保持密切聯繫，並運用其創新能力解決客戶最棘手的問題，實現了兩位數的營收和利潤成長。該部門在推動陶氏和 FMC 兩大傳統業務的多方面整合的同時，取得了這些成果，凸顯了對執行的高度重視。

The division reported first quarter net sales of $5.6 billion, up 11% from the year-ago period, with gains in all regions and most segments. Volume grew 3%, and local price rose 2%. Currency added another 4%, and portfolio another 2%. Organic sales growth was led by Transportation & Advanced Polymers, up 8%, with Nutrition & Biosciences up 5%.

該部門公佈第一季淨銷售額為 56 億美元，比去年同期成長 11%，所有地區和大多數業務部門均實現成長。銷量成長了 3%，當地價格上漲了 2%。貨幣收益增加了 4%，投資組合收益增加了 2%。有機銷售成長主要由交通運輸及先進聚合物業務帶動，成長 8%，其次是營養及生物科學業務，成長 5%。

First quarter operating EBITDA for the division grew 25% to $1.6 billion versus the same quarter last year, with gains in every segment.

該部門第一季的營運 EBITDA 年增 25% 至 16 億美元，各業務部門均成長。

Turning now to the segments and Specialty Products. Electronics & Imaging net sales declined 1% as volume, price and currency gains were more than offset by portfolio. Organic sales increased 2% driven by demand for our highly engineered solutions for semiconductors, which grew double digits as well as gains in consumer electronics, industrial and transportation markets. This more than offset softness in photovoltaic applications. Operating EBITDA increased 9% to $357 million in the quarter.

接下來我們來看細分市場和特種產品。電子及影像業務淨銷售額下降 1%，銷售、價格和匯率上漲的收益被產品組合的收益抵銷。受半導體領域高度工程化解決方案需求的推動，有機銷售額成長了 2%，該需求實現了兩位數的成長，同時消費性電子、工業和運輸市場也取得了成長。這足以彌補光伏應用的軟化現象。本季營業 EBITDA 成長 9% 至 3.57 億美元。

Nutrition & Biosciences net sales increased 21% in the quarter to $1.7 billion. Volume and local price together contributed 5 percentage points on growth in both nutrition and health and Industrial Biosciences. Net sales also included a 4% benefit from currency and a 12% benefit from portfolio, representing the acquisition of FMC's Health & Nutrition business. The integration of these businesses continues to progress well. Operating EBITDA grew 32% to $418 million in the quarter.

營養與生物科學業務本季淨銷售額成長 21%，達到 17 億美元。銷售量和當地價格共同推動營養與健康以及工業生物科學領域的成長 5 個百分點。淨銷售額還包括 4% 的匯率收益和 12% 的業務組合收益，這主要得益於收購 FMC 的健康與營養業務。這些企業的整合工作進展順利。本季營業 EBITDA 成長 32% 至 4.18 億美元。

Transportation & Advanced Polymers reported net sales of $1.4 billion, up 14%. Volume grew 3% driven by double-digit gains in the automotive market amid strong demand for engineered polymers, specialty lubricants and structural adhesives, with growth in all regions. Our differentiated capabilities and lightweighting and electrification, coupled with an increase in SUVs and pickup truck build, helped fuel our strong performance.

交通運輸及先進聚合物業務淨銷售額達 14 億美元，成長 14%。受汽車市場兩位數成長的推動，工程聚合物、特殊潤滑劑和結構黏合劑的需求強勁，銷量成長了 3%，所有地區均實現成長。我們差異化的能力、輕量化和電氣化，再加上SUV和皮卡車產量的增加，都幫助我們取得了強勁的業績。

Operating EBITDA totaled $437 million, an increase of 36%. This growth was driven by lower pension and OPEB cost, favorable currency and gains from disciplined price/volume management, which more than offset higher feedstock costs.

營運 EBITDA 總計 4.37 億美元，成長 36%。這一增長得益於退休金和退休後福利成本的降低、有利的匯率以及嚴格的價格/銷售管理帶來的收益，這些收益足以抵消原料成本的上漲。

Beyond share gains and new applications driving volume growth, supply is tight for nylon and compounds. And other key raw materials are constrained. We've been accelerating investments in capacity and reliability and have a strong track record of meeting customers' growth needs.

除了市場佔有率的成長和新應用推動銷售成長外，尼龍及其化合物的供應也十分緊張。其他關鍵原料供應也受到限制。我們一直在加快對產能和可靠性的投資，並且在滿足客戶成長需求方面有著良好的記錄。

Safety & Construction sales rose 7% to $1.3 billion. Operating EBITDA of $354 million rose 21%, reflecting lower pension OPEB costs, execution of cost synergies, improvements in the reliability of the plants and favorable currency, partly offset by higher raw material costs.

安全與建築用品銷售額成長7%，達13億美元。營業 EBITDA 為 3.54 億美元，成長 21%，反映出退休金 OPEB 成本降低、成本協同效應的實施、工廠可靠性的提高以及有利的匯率，但部分被更高的原材料成本所抵消。

Looking ahead, we are preparing targeted high ROIC capacity expansions across the portfolio to meet rising demand from customers for our highly engineered materials and naturally sourced, biotechnology based specialty food ingredients. We are outperforming in many industries due to our focus on application development and deep customer intimacy.

展望未來，我們正準備針對整個產品組合進行有針對性的高投資回報率產能擴張，以滿足客戶對我們高度工程化材料和天然來源的生物技術特種食品配料日益增長的需求。由於我們專注於應用程式開發和與客戶建立深厚的聯繫，我們在許多行業都表現出色。

We also are debottlenecking plants to keep up with rising customer demand in key markets, including automotive, electronics, medical, oil and gas and food and nutrition. And we continue to execute our asset reliability program in our manufacturing facilities to improve performance, unlock capacity for constrained products and maintain a high service level to customers.

我們也在努力消除工廠瓶頸，以滿足汽車、電子、醫療、石油天然氣、食品營養等主要市場不斷增長的客戶需求。我們將繼續在製造工廠執行資產可靠性計劃，以提高性能，釋放受限產品的產能，並維持對客戶的高服務水準。

Turning to Ag. Let me start by covering the weather-related drivers across the Northern Hemisphere and Brazil as illustrated on Slide 10, which caused the top and bottom line decline we saw in Ag this quarter. The weather affected our U.S. operations the most as the unseasonably cold spring in the U.S. delayed a significant portion of the planting season by approximately 3 to 4 weeks. This resulted in a material delay in our seed deliveries to our farmer customers during the first quarter.

轉向農業。首先，讓我介紹一下北半球和巴西與天氣相關的驅動因素，如幻燈片 10 所示，這些因素導致了我們本季在農業領域看到的營收和利潤雙雙下滑。天氣對我們在美國的業務影響最大，美國異常寒冷的春季使播種季節推遲了大約 3 到 4 週。這導致我們在第一季度向農民客戶交付種子時出現重大延誤。

To put this in perspective, through our advantaged route to market, pioneer brand sales reps typically deliver seed to growers within only a few days of planting. And in a normal season, we deliver the majority of our total North American corn volume over a 4-week period between the end of March and early April, which straddles our fiscal quarter end. This year, planting did not start in earnest until recently, which means a large portion of our seed sales in North America was shifted into the second quarter.

為了讓大家更理解這一點，透過我們得天獨厚的市場管道，先鋒品牌的銷售代表通常會在播種後幾天內將種子送到種植者手中。在正常季節，我們會在 3 月底到 4 月初的 4 週內交付北美大部分玉米總量，正好跨越了我們的財政季度末。今年，播種工作直到最近才真正開始，這意味著我們在北美的大部分種子銷售都轉移到了第二季。

Typically, about 75% of U.S. corn is planted by mid-May. And with all of the advancements in farming practices and equipment, we expect farmers should be able to accelerate the pace of planting to enable this year's crop to be in the ground by then. And in fact, we have seen a steep increase in seed deliveries over the past 2 weeks.

通常情況下，美國約 75% 的玉米在 5 月中旬之前播種完畢。隨著農業技術和設備的不斷進步，我們預計農民應該能夠加快播種速度，使今年的作物屆時能夠入土。事實上，過去兩週我們看到種子交付量大幅增加。

Weather also had an impact on our Crop Protection business as farmers pushed out their nitrogen stabilizer applications and spring preemergent herbicide applications. And in Brazil, the delayed summer harvest shortened the safrinha season, resulting in lower planted area as well as the shift toward lower technology corn as farmers move to minimize the impact of lower yields due to the reduced growing time.

天氣也對我們的作物保護業務產生了影響，因為農民加快了氮穩定劑和春季芽前除草劑的施用。在巴西，夏季收割的延遲縮短了玉米的種植季節，導致種植面積減少，農民為了盡量減少因生長時間縮短而導致的產量下降的影響，也轉向了技術含量較低的玉米種植。

Turning now to Slide 11. This broader market backdrop explains Ag's first quarter net sales decline of 25% and operating EBITDA decline of 39% compared with the same quarter last year. Helping to offset some of the weather-related downside in the quarter was our continued leadership position in sunflower seeds in Europe and expanding our portfolio of global insecticide sales following our merger remedy with strong growth in technology such as Isoclast, Spinosad and Spinetoram during the quarter.

現在請看第11張投影片。在這種更廣泛的市場背景下，Ag公司第一季淨銷售額年減25%，營業EBITDA較去年同期下降39%。本季度，我們憑藉在歐洲葵花籽市場的持續領先地位，以及在合併補救措施後擴大全球殺蟲劑銷售組合，並在 Isoclast、Spinosad 和 Spinetoram 等技術領域取得強勁增長，在一定程度上抵消了天氣帶來的不利影響。

Looking ahead to the second quarter, we expect operating EBITDA to be up in the high 30s-percent range. And factoring in the weak safrinha season and lower expected planted area in North America, we now expect full year operating EBITDA to be up in the high single to low teens percent range driven by the strength of new product launches and realization of cost synergies as the year continues to progress.

展望第二季度，我們預計營運 EBITDA 將成長 30% 以上。考慮到美洲番荔枝季的疲軟以及北美地區預計種植面積的減少，我們現在預計全年運營 EBITDA 將增長至個位數高位至十幾個百分點，這主要得益於新產品的強勁推出以及隨著年內推進成本協同效應的實現。

Turning now to our modeling guidance on Slide 12. We expect continued healthy demand across the vast majority of our end markets, as well as pricing gains across most of our businesses. We continue to see synchronous global growth and numerous positive leading indicators. Our broad, consumer-driven portfolio benefits from that. And we see our innovations and growth investments driving above-market growth.

現在請看第 12 頁投影片上的建模指導。我們預期絕大多數終端市場的需求將持續保持健康成長，同時我們的大部分業務也將實現價格上漲。我們持續看到全球同步成長和許多積極的領先指標。我們廣泛的、以消費者為導向的產品組合從中受益。我們看到，我們的創新和成長投資推動了高於市場平均的成長。

At the company level, we see second quarter net sales to be in the range of $23.3 billion to $24 billion, up more than 10%. Second quarter operating EBITDA is expected to be up more than 20% year-over-year to $5.3 billion to $5.5 billion based on our volume growth, pricing gains, continued ramp-up of our cost synergies and the innovations we are continuing to bring to market across each of our divisions.

公司層面，我們預計第二季淨銷售額將在 233 億美元至 240 億美元之間，成長超過 10%。由於銷售成長、價格上漲、成本協同效應的持續增強以及我們各個部門不斷推向市場的創新，預計第二季度營運 EBITDA 將同比增長超過 20%，達到 53 億美元至 55 億美元。

Having just covered our Ag expectations, I'll focus my comments on the other 2 divisions. The Materials Science division expects continued earnings contributions from underlying end market growth, the U.S. Gulf Coast start ups and an improvement in equity earnings led by Sadara. This will be partly offset by higher spending year-over-year of between $130 million and $150 million as we enter a heavy turnaround season, primarily in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment.

剛才我們已經談到了農業的預期，接下來我將重點談談其他兩個部門。材料科學部門預計，來自終端市場成長、美國墨西哥灣沿岸新創公司以及以 Sadara 為首的股權收益改善的持續獲利貢獻。由於我們即將進入繁忙的周轉季，主要集中在包裝和特殊塑膠領域，因此年比支出將增加 1.3 億美元至 1.5 億美元，這將部分抵消上述影響。

In polyolefins, global demand remains robust and keeps pace with new industry capacity additions. In the Polyurethanes chain, we expect improving supply conditions in the second half to relieve very tight isocyanate fundamentals.

聚烯烴領域，全球需求依然強勁，並與新增的產業產能保持同步成長。在聚氨酯產業鏈中，我們預計下半年供應狀況將有所改善，從而緩解異氰酸酯供應非常緊張的情況。

The Specialty Products division is forecasted to grow the top line by the high single digits percent driven by continued demand from end markets, application development and new product introductions. Operating EBITDA is expected to improve by about 20%. Volume and pricing gains and lower pension OPEB costs are expected to be partially offset by higher raw material costs and the absence of a onetime gain in the Electronics & Imaging segment.

受終端市場持續需求、應用開發和新產品推出的推動，特種產品部門的營收預計將實現接近兩位數的百分比成長。預計營運 EBITDA 將提高約 20%。預計銷售量和價格的成長以及退休金 OPEB 成本的降低將被更高的原材料成本以及電子和影像部門一次性收益的缺失部分抵消。

Looking across all 3 divisions, while trade and tariff topics have been in the headlines, we believe the potential impact on DowDuPont will not be material to our businesses.

縱觀三大業務部門，雖然貿易和關稅話題一直是新聞頭條，但我們認為，這些話題對陶氏杜邦的潛在影響不會對我們的業務產生實質影響。

From a cost synergy perspective, we anticipate delivering between $325 million and $350 million of year-over-year savings in the second quarter. This is a strong start, and remember that Ag synergies begin to ramp in the back half of the year and through the next North America planting season. Please refer to Slide 15 in the appendix for further commentary on our outlook for the second quarter.

從成本綜效的角度來看，我們預計第二季將實現年比節省 3.25 億美元至 3.5 億美元。這是一個良好的開端，請記住，農業協同效應將在今年下半年以及下一個北美種植季開始增強。有關我們對第二季的展望，請參閱附錄中的第 15 頁投影片。

And with that, I'll now turn it back to Ed.

那麼，現在我把麥克風交還給艾德。

Great. Thanks, Howard. At the close the call, I want to take a moment to acknowledge Andrew Liveris and recognize his more than 40 years at the company and 14 years as Chairman and CEO of Dow. Andrew was a major architect of our deal and has been a strong partner in the past couple of years as we navigated a very robust antitrust approval process and ultimately, made our vision of a merger of equals with the set up of the subsequent spins a reality. I appreciate everything he's done to help deliver the value of this transaction. And Andrew, on behalf of everyone on this call and all our shareholders, thank you.

偉大的。謝謝你，霍華德。在通話結束之際，我想花一點時間感謝 Andrew Liveris，並表彰他在公司工作超過 40 年，以及擔任陶氏化學董事長兼執行長 14 年。Andrew 是我們這筆交易的主要策劃者，在過去的幾年裡，他一直是我們強有力的合作夥伴，幫助我們順利完成了非常嚴格的反壟斷審批流程，並最終實現了我們平等合併以及後續分拆的願景。我感謝他為實現這筆交易的價值所做的一切。安德魯，我謹代表所有參加本次電話會議的人員和所有股東，向你表示感謝。

With that, let me turn it over to Neal to open it up for Q&A.

接下來，我會把發言權交給尼爾，讓他來回答大家的問題。

Thank you, Ed. 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. Operator, please provide the Q&A instructions.

謝謝你，艾德。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。操作員，請提供問答說明。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll take our first question today from P.J. Juvekar with Citi.

（操作員說明）今天我們先來回答花旗銀行的 P.J. Juvekar 提出的問題。

My question is on Ag, and particularly on seeds. It looks like the industry has lost some seed pricing. So can you talk about that? And to me, it seems like during these big mergers, nobody really wanted to lose market share. And so going forward, what changes that market share mentality? Do you see that changing next season?

我的問題與農業有關，特別是關於種子方面。看來該產業在種子定價方面有所損失。能談談這方面嗎？在我看來，在這些大型併購案中，似乎沒有人真正想失去市場份額。那麼，展望未來，什麼會改變這種市佔率心態呢？你認為下個賽季情況會有所改變嗎？

Go ahead.

前進。

Yes, it's probably a little bit early at this point to be calling pricing. I mean, as Howard noted in the update, we're starting this season behind, 3 to 4 weeks or so behind. We've got good visibility on our year-over-year same bag tag pricing. And as we've always said, we're out about flat with some real benefits from mix coming through as we continue to launch newer technology, A series soybeans ramping and also continuing to include some of the new lineup in our corn products. So I'd say overall, mix is really driving value for us. And it's still pretty early in the season to understand what kind of final pricing is going to look like. Will it get competitive? I expect that it will be especially from -- as we start to maybe navigate through any shifts that could go on here between corn and soybeans. I'd have to say based on what we saw last year with soybeans and what we're seeing with our order book this year, I'm feeling pretty good about where we're sitting around our soybean shares in North America. So again, little early to talk specifically about that, but where I sit today and what I can see going forward, I feel pretty good about it.

是的，現在談論價格可能還為時過早。我的意思是，正如霍華德在最新消息中提到的那樣，我們本賽季的開局比較落後，大概落後了 3 到 4 週。我們對同款行李標籤的年際價格變動情況有清楚的了解。正如我們一直所說，我們目前基本上保持平穩，隨著我們不斷推出新技術、A系列大豆增產以及繼續將一些新產品納入我們的玉米產品系列，混合種植帶來了一些真正的好處。所以總的來說，我認為產品組合確實為我們創造了價值。現在距離賽季結束還為時過早，還很難判斷最終的價格走勢。競爭會變得激烈嗎？我預計這種情況尤其會從——因為我們開始應對玉米和大豆之間可能發生的任何變化。根據我們去年看到的黃豆市場行情以及今年的訂單情況來看，我對我們在北美黃豆市場份額的現狀感到非常滿意。所以，現在具體談論這個問題還為時過早，但就我目前的處境以及我對未來的展望而言，我感覺相當不錯。

And next we move to Dave Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

接下來我們來聽聽德意志銀行的戴夫‧貝格萊特怎麼說。

Ed, with respect to your comments about being actively involved beyond separation, does that mean on the board level? Or on the management/CEO level?

Ed，關於你提到的在分居後仍積極參與，這是否意味著要參與董事會層面的工作？或管理階層/CEO層面？

Thank you for the question. We will talk more about that in the August, September time frame when we announce further management positions in the company. But I want, just to go back to my comment, make it very clear. I will be actively involved even after the spins.

謝謝你的提問。我們將在八月、九月期間公佈公司更多管理職位時對此進行更詳細的討論。但是，我想回到我剛才的評論，把它說得更清楚一些。即使比賽結束後，我也會積極參與。

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

接下來，我們將介紹摩根士丹利的文森特安德魯斯。

And just wondering the guidance slide for 2018 that was in the first quarter results didn't make it into the second quarter deck. So I'm just hoping that you can give us sort of a sense of your expectations for the second half of the year and what might have changed versus your thoughts at first quarter.

我只是好奇，第一季業績報告中提到的2018年業績指引投影片為何沒有出現在第二季報告中。所以，我希望您能大致談談您對下半年的預期，以及與您第一季的想法相比，有哪些變化。

Yes. Thanks. Well, nothing's changed. Let me just walk through. First quarter, obviously, we have very a strong quarter. And we're above our guidance and above consensus. I think you could see when you model out the second quarter, it's a very robust quarter across the board in all 3 divisions. And when you model it out, I think you'll see that both on sales and on EPS and EBITDA, we're nicely above consensus there by 3 or 4 percentage points. So the first half of the year is racking up really nice, and you could tell from all our comments that our end markets across the board are feeling robust to us. And I just say for the year, look, it's early in the year. We'll probably give more guidance update next quarter on the year, but I am highly confident we will hit what's out there in consensus for us for this year.

是的。謝謝。嗯，一切都沒變。讓我進去看看。顯然，第一季我們表現非常強勁。我們凌駕於指導方針和共識之上。我認為，當你模擬第二季業績時，你會發現，在所有三個部門中，第二季都是一個整體表現非常強勁的季度。當你建立模型時，我認為你會發現，無論是銷售額、每股盈餘或 EBITDA，我們都比市場普遍預期高出 3 到 4 個百分點。所以今年上半年的業績非常不錯，從我們所有人的評論中可以看出，我們各個終端市場的整體表現都很強勁。我只想說，現在才年初，就今年而言。我們可能會在下個季度發布更多關於今年的業績指引，但我非常有信心我們能夠實現今年市場普遍預期的目標。

And next we move to Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

接下來我們來聽聽摩根大通的傑夫‧澤考斯卡斯 (Jeff Zekauskas) 的發言。

If you look at Monsanto's volumes for the -- for their February quarter, they were down 4% in seeds. And I think for the first half, they were down 6%. So can you comment on the difference between your results and the results of other industry leaders? And in the old days, Dow had rights to SmartStax. Is SmartStax something that you can commercialize? And are you beginning to work on that?

如果你看一下孟山都公司2月季度的產量，他們的種子產量下降了4%。我認為上半場他們落後了 6%。那麼，您能否談談您的研究結果與其他行業領導者的研究結果之間的差異？過去，陶氏化學擁有 SmartStax 的版權。SmartStax 可以商業化嗎？你已經開始著手這項工作了嗎？

Great. Yes, thanks for the question. You're right. If you just think about the timing of when they announced their fiscal year versus ours, in our results is part of what you would have recognized their results the lower safrinha acres that we saw in Latin America. You see that kind of fully in ours plus you see this real shift in North America, and that's primarily driven by the differences in our route to market approach, recognize a lot of the other competitors seeds are pushed out to retail. And so they'll book a sale and the revenue of that transaction much earlier in their cycle. All of our -- most of our seeds, especially the Pioneer branded seed, is sold direct to growers. So we recognize the revenue at shipment, and you heard Howard talk about that recognition. One of the service models that we offer is the fact that we can deliver seed right to the grower as they're firing up the planter and get the field ready to plant. So we'll sometimes deliver seed within days of their planting. So you see a normally, you would see a shift in where our revenue falls versus others. This year even particularly more dramatic as the season really shift. You'll also see that in some of the guidance we talk about for second quarter where we're going to be up in kind of the low 20s-percent range. So we pick all of that up, and the reason I'm confident about that is I've got good visibility of that order book, right? I have invoices from growers. I know what those shipments are going to be. It's just matter of physically shipping all of those products.

偉大的。是的，謝謝你的提問。你說得對。如果你想想他們公佈財政年度的時間和我們公佈財政年度的時間，你會發現，在我們的業績中，你會注意到他們在拉丁美洲的種植面積減少。在我們的產品中，你可以看到這種完全的轉變，而且在北美，這種轉變是真正發生的，這主要是由我們進入市場的通路方式的差異所驅動的，要知道，很多其他競爭對手的種子都是直接推向零售市場的。因此，他們會在銷售週期的早期就確認銷售並確認該筆交易的收入。我們所有的種子──尤其是先鋒牌種子──都是直接賣給種植者的。因此，我們在發貨時確認收入，你們也聽到了霍華德談論的關於收入確認的問題。我們提供的服務模式之一是，我們可以在種植者啟動播種機、準備田地播種時，直接將種子送到他們手中。所以，我們有時會在播種後幾天內就把種子送到客戶手中。所以通常情況下，你會看到我們的收入與其他公司相比有所變化。今年由於季節的真正轉變，情況尤其戲劇性。你也會看到，在我們談到第二季的一些業績指引中，我們預期成長率將在 20% 左右。所以我們把所有這些都考慮進去了，我對此充滿信心的原因是，我對訂單簿的情況瞭如指掌，對吧？我這裡有種植者的發票。我知道那些貨物是什麼。現在的問題只是如何將所有這些產品實際運送出去。

Jeff, one of the other points that we're going to do, both new Dow and new DuPont will stick with the same fiscal year that we now have, which is basically the calendar year. But we're going to move the Ag company to a fiscal year like the competitor you just mentioned where it's a September 1 start to the end of August. And what that will do is it'll get the planting seasons all aligned in the same quarter. Right now, as you can see what happened this quarter, our shipments happened in the second half of March, beginning of April, and there could be a major swing. And those will be in the same quarter then. So we won't have that issue, and I think it just makes things a little bit clear. So you will see a shift to that, the fiscal year on Ag.

傑夫，我們要做的另一點是，新的陶氏化學和新的杜邦都將沿用我們現在的財政年度，也就是日曆年。但我們將把農業公司的財政年度調整為像你剛才提到的競爭對手一樣，從 9 月 1 日開始，到 8 月底結束。這樣做的好處是，所有作物的播種季節都會集中在同一個季度。目前，正如你所看到的本季的情況，我們的出貨發生在 3 月下半月和 4 月初，可能會大幅波動。那麼它們就都在同一個季度了。這樣我們就不會遇到這個問題了，而且我認為這讓事情變得更清楚了。所以你會看到農業財政年度發生轉變。

Jeff, your second question about SmartStax, we continue through the agreements that Dow previously had to be fully enabled with SmartStax, and our teams are thinking through the different constructs that are available to us now and the different lineups that we'll have to offer, and you'll see more of that as we launch our plans for 2019 and 2020, both in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. So stay tuned for that.

Jeff，關於 SmartStax 的第二個問題，我們將繼續履行陶氏化學之前為全面啟用 SmartStax 而必須達成的協議，我們的團隊正在思考我們現在可用的不同結構以及我們將要提供的不同產品組合，隨著我們推出 2019 年和 2020 年的計劃（包括北半球和南半球），您將看到更多這方面的信息。敬請期待。

And next we move to Hassan Ahmed with Alembic Global.

接下來我們來聽聽 Alembic Global 的 Hassan Ahmed 的介紹。

A question around the pace of buybacks. It seems the synergy numbers are tracking well. The time line of the spin is on target as well. But, obviously, because of all this macro skittishness in the market, your share price has come down over the last couple of months. So my question is with all of these good things imminently happening, why would you guys not accelerate the pace of your buyback?

關於股票回購速度的問題。協同效應資料似乎進展順利。旋轉的時間線也符合預期。但很顯然，由於市場宏觀層面的種種不穩定因素，貴公司的股價在過去幾個月有所下跌。所以我的問題是，既然所有這些好事即將發生，你們為什麼不加快回購步伐呢？

Yes. Well, look, we did $1 billion this past quarter, and as Howard highlighted, we're going to do another $1 billion this quarter. And really the only issue here is we're literally right in the throes of the capital structure, getting ready to then go with our modeling to the rating agencies. And we really want to get deeper into that process before we make a decision. I think you know a lot of us from our management style. I agree with your comment. You like to put the flip down a little here on share repurchase at these prices. If we have the opportunity during this year once we know a little bit more clarity on that, we will seriously be taking a look at it.

是的。你看，我們在上個季度實現了 10 億美元的收入，正如霍華德所強調的那樣，我們這個季度還將實現 10 億美元的收入。現在唯一的問題是，我們正處於資本結構調整的關鍵階段，準備將我們的模型提交給評級機構。我們真的想在做出決定之前深入了解這個過程。我想你們從我們的管理風格中就能了解我們很多人。我同意你的觀點。你喜歡在當前價位進行股票回購時稍微降低一些部位。如果今年有機會，並且我們對這方面有了更清晰的了解，我們會認真考慮這個問題。

And next we move on to Josh Spector with UBS. We move on to Chris Parkinson with Credit Suisse.

接下來我們來聽聽瑞銀集團的喬許‧斯佩克特怎麼說。接下來我們來聽聽瑞士信貸的克里斯帕金森怎麼說。

Last quarter, you spoke about reevaluating several businesses within specialty. I believe it equated to roughly 5% to 10% of the segment. Can you just give us an update here and any -- offer any further insights as for how you're evaluating any longer-term portfolio value-creation opportunities in addition to synergy capture?

上個季度，您談到要重新評估專業領域的幾項業務。我認為這大約佔該細分市場的 5% 到 10%。您能否在此提供最新進展，並就您如何評估除協同效應獲取之外的任何長期投資組合價值創造機會提供任何進一步的見解？

Yes. Well, look, on specialty, the short term obviously is we're getting the synergies, and we've got a much bigger number now because of the portfolio shift that we did, putting all the light businesses together. So, obviously, we've been very, very focused on that and feel very confident we are on track with all of that. The second big real focus area just to kind of put them in order here is we have a lot of growth synergy opportunities as we highlighted on the call in Spec co. So the teams are very focused because they are all high return opportunities kind of within our control, safer to do, don't require a lot of excess money to be spent. So a big focus in that area, and it's in literally all 4 of the different divisions of Spec co. So we've really put a lot of effort into that over the last few months, and then -- and we just did this with our board, the DowDuPont board, and we did it with the advisory board of Spec co. We've really laid out a 2- to 3-year plan of what we want to do with the portfolio. So they're already well-versed on it, and yes, you're correct. We do have some businesses we would like to exit and get the cash for those and redeploy it in higher growth areas, and we have that very defined at this point in time, and it is about up to 10% of the portfolio. And we have real opportunities we know we want to shift the spending into in these other areas of high growth that we're talking about. We will be doing some of it this year, but the bulk of it, we will do right after we do the spins of the company because our teams are so busy now on IT tax work that we need the same people to do some of this. So you'll see us fuel our groove this year, and then clearly, there's all kinds of optionalities we've talked about in this portfolio and whatever's best for creating shareholder value, we're going to definitely take a look at it, and we've already talked to the board about some of those potential opportunities that we need to study with them during the next 6 to 8 months.

是的。嗯，你看，就專業領域而言，短期內顯然是我們正在獲得協同效應，而且由於我們進行了投資組合調整，將所有輕型業務整合在一起，我們現在擁有了更大的規模。所以，很顯然，我們一直非常非常關注這一點，並且非常有信心我們在這方面都進展順利。第二個重要的真正關注領域，為了方便大家理解，我們有很多成長綜效的機會，正如我們在Spec公司的電話會議上所強調的。因此，各個團隊都非常專注，因為這些都是高回報的機會，都在我們的掌控之中，做起來也更安全，不需要花費太多額外的資金。所以，我們非常重視這個領域，而且Spec公司的所有4個不同部門都對此進行了重點關注。所以在過去的幾個月裡，我們真的為此投入了很多精力，然後——我們剛剛與我們的董事會，陶氏杜邦董事會，以及Spec公司的顧問委員會一起完成了這件事。我們已經制定了一個未來 2 到 3 年的投資組合發展計劃。所以他們已經很熟悉這方面了，是的，你說得對。我們確實有一些業務想要退出，以獲得現金，並將其重新部署到成長更快的領域，目前我們已經非常明確了這一點，這大約佔投資組合的 10%。我們知道，我們確實有機會將支出轉移到我們正在談論的其他高成長領域。今年我們會完成一部分工作，但大部分工作將在公司分拆完成後立即進行，因為我們的團隊現在忙於 IT 稅務工作，我們需要同樣的人來完成其中的一些工作。所以你會看到我們今年繼續保持成長勢頭，顯然，我們已經在這個投資組合中討論過各種各樣的選擇，任何最有利於創造股東價值的選擇，我們肯定會認真考慮，而且我們已經和董事會討論過一些我們需要在未來 6 到 8 個月內與他們一起研究的潛在機會。

And we'll move on to Frank Mitsch with Wells Fargo Securities.

接下來，我們將連線富國證券的弗蘭克·米奇。

Yes. And Andrew, was a pleasure working with you, and best wishes on your retirement from Dow.

是的。安德魯，和你一起工作非常愉快，祝你從陶氏退休一切順利。

I'll be tracking you, Frank.

我會跟蹤你的，法蘭克。

Vice-versa as well. Vice-versa as well. Following up on Dow and specifically packaging, Howard, you mentioned a couple of things that I thought were interesting. Well, more than a couple of things. But just a couple. U.S. pricing was positive on the packaging side although Asia and EMEA was off, but you also indicated that demand was keeping pace with the supply additions, which, of course, everybody is tracking closely. So my question is how do you see polyethylene pricing and margins are playing out as we progress through 2018 and into '19?

反之亦然。反之亦然。霍華德，關於陶氏化學和包裝方面的問題，你提到了一些我覺得很有趣的事情。嗯，不只兩件事。但只有幾個。美國包裝定價表現良好，儘管亞洲和歐洲、中東及非洲地區定價不佳，但您也指出需求與供應成長保持同步，當然，每個人都在密切關注這一點。所以我的問題是，您認為隨著 2018 年進入 2019 年，聚乙烯的價格和利潤率將如何變化？

It's Jim. I've got my voice back so Howard is going to let me talk. So actually plastics, pricing and demand held up well through the quarter. We had positive price momentum right through the end of the quarter, and we start out strong into second quarter. I think what you've got going on right now, is, obviously, the pace of capacity additions on polyethylene has not kept up with the pace of ethylene capacity additions. And these things happen, obviously, whenever you're bringing big assets online. Global GDP is running north of 3% right now. We're running north of 4.5% growth on plastics. That's very, very robust demand. There's not enough plastics capacity coming online this year to keep up with that. And when you look at the plastic capacity across the different mixes, that's leading to some positive moves there. Yes, I think in Asia, you see some compression in the margins in Asia because you've got higher oil prices in their oil-based feedstocks over there. So that's compressing margins a bit, but I'm not concerned about pricing as we move through the quarters and into the back half of the year. And I'm not concerned about capacity yet. At this rate, the GDP growth, we need about the equivalent of 3 to 4 world-scale crackers to be built -- a 4 to 5 world-scale crackers to be built and started up in each year. And for the next 3 years, we've got about 3 coming online total. So I think we're in a constructive environment here.

是吉姆。我的嗓子已經恢復了，所以霍華德會讓我說話。所以實際上，塑膠的價格和需求在本季都保持良好。整個季度末我們都保持了積極的價格上漲勢頭，並且第二季度開局強勁。我認為目前的情況很明顯是，聚乙烯產能的成長速度並沒有跟上乙烯產能的成長速度。很顯然，當你把大量資產搬到線上時，這些事情都會發生。目前全球GDP增速超過3%。我們的塑膠業務成長率超過 4.5%。這是非常非常強勁的需求。今年新增的塑膠產能不足以滿足需求。當你觀察不同混合物的塑膠產能時，你會發現這方面正在出現一些正面的進展。是的，我認為在亞洲，你會看到利潤率下降，因為那裡的石油原料價格較高。所以這會稍微壓縮利潤率，但我並不擔心在接下來的幾季以及下半年會出現定價問題。我目前還不擔心產能問題。以目前的GDP成長速度，我們需要建造相當於3到4個世界級裂解裝置的設施－也就是說，每年需要建造並啟動4到5個世界級裂解裝置。接下來的三年裡，我們總共會有大約3個項目上線。所以我認為我們這裡處於一個建設性的環境。

And Steve Byrne with Bank of America will have our next question.

接下來，美國銀行的史蒂夫·伯恩將向我們提出下一個問題。

With respect to the Ag division, what level of cost synergies have been realized so far since the merger? And can you quantify what you describe as them being second half weighted? What do you expect to realize later in the year? And then just other -- one other comment you made, Howard, about the expectations to recover divested revenues or divested businesses. Can you elaborate on whether or not that's just in seed, but it's also in crop chemicals?

就農業部門而言，自合併以來，目前已實現了多少成本綜效？你能量化一下你所說的「下半年權重較高」的具體意義嗎？你預計今年稍後會實現什麼目標？還有一點——霍華德，你也提到了關於收回剝離收入或剝離業務的預期。你能詳細說明一下，這種物質是否只存在於種子中，還是也存在於農業化學品中嗎？

This is Ed, and Jim, you should jump in also. We've had about $100 million, $125 million cost saving so far in Ag, but remember, the Ag is the only business with the bigger delay because you've got to get to the next planting season. So we will -- we've taken a lot of actions on a percentage basis already in Ag. For instance, we've moved production into our facilities, and we're going to get a major cost reduction or COGS improvement from doing that. We know exactly what it is, and we've been taking those actions. You don't actually see it in the results yet. So when you actually see all our run rate we talked about being at 75% at the end of the year, all part of that is Ag starting to kick in. So in the second half of the year, the big drivers in Ag are the new product launches, which are kicking in. And the other big one is actually the synergy, some of them finally starting to kick in because we're starting to get around to that year from when we did it. So those are the 2 big drivers that lift the second half a lot in Ag. Jim, you want to take the divestment question?

這是艾德，吉姆，你也應該加入進來。到目前為止，我們在農業領域已經節省了大約 1 億美元到 1.25 億美元的成本，但請記住，農業是唯一一個延誤較大的行業，因為你必須趕到下一個播種季節。所以我們會——我們已經在農業領域採取了很多按百分比計算的行動。例如，我們已將生產轉移到我們自己的工廠，這樣做將大幅降低成本或改善銷售成本。我們非常清楚問題所在，並且一直在採取相應的行動。目前結果中還看不到它。所以，當你真正看到我們所有的運作率時，我們談到年底達到了 75%，這其中一部分原因是農業開始復甦。因此，在下半年，農業領域的主要驅動力是新產品的推出，這些新產品正在陸續上市。另一個重要的方面實際上是協同效應，其中一些效應終於開始顯現，因為我們開始回過頭來，回到我們進行這項工作的那一年。所以，這兩大因素大大推動了農業下半年的成長。吉姆，你想回答撤資問題嗎？

Sure, Steve. You're right. We're in the middle at looking at the total portfolio both on the seeds and the crop protection perspective. On the seeds side, what we'll do is we'll typically look to understand these different crops that are maybe tangential or not core versus crops that are core. So corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, those will be our core focus, and we look to continue to invest and expand in our geographies around the world. But in the past, we've taken a look at alfalfa, we've looked at sorghum, we've looked at some of the other secondary crops and made some decisions. Now that we've combined the portfolios, we'll have an opportunity to do some more of that on the divestiture side. On the acquisition side, on seed, as we continue to look at diversifying and looking at markets around the world, the vegetable seed industry for us is an interesting place to look. And there are some players out there that could represent some good value for us. In Crop Protection, we are taking kind of a best owner mind-set and looking at our portfolio to understand where these products are on their maturity curves, the level of generic competition that they face around the world and the opportunity for us to invest more heavily in our pipeline. And as Ed said is a real part of our strength in the second half of the year and certainly our strength over the next couple of years. At the investor conference earlier in the year, we talked about $4.5 billion of peak sales from launches that are occurring right now. And making sure that we've got the kind of resourcing to drive those launches out of the pipeline, not just leak them out, but launch them out in an aggressive way is a core strategy for the leadership team.

當然可以，史蒂夫。你說得對。我們目前正在從種子和作物保護兩個角度審視整個產品組合。在種子方面，我們通常會著手了解這些不同的作物，它們可能屬於邊緣作物或非核心作物，而核心作物則屬於邊緣作物。因此，玉米、大豆、小麥、稻米將是我們的核心重點，我們將繼續在全球各地投資和擴張。但過去，我們研究過苜蓿、高粱和其他一些次要作物，並做出了一些決定。現在我們已經合併了投資組合，我們將有機會在資產剝離方面進行更多操作。在收購方面，就種子而言，隨著我們不斷尋求多元化並關注世界各地的市場，蔬菜種子產業對我們來說是一個值得關注的領域。而且，市面上也有一些球員對我們來說可能很有價值。在作物保護領域，我們採取了一種最佳所有者的心態，審視我們的產品組合，以了解這些產品在其成熟曲線中所處的位置、它們在世界各地面臨的仿製藥競爭程度，以及我們加大對產品線投資的機會。正如艾德所說，這確實是我們下半年以及未來幾年的優勢。在今年稍早的投資者大會上，我們討論了目前正在進行的產品發布將帶來 45 億美元的銷售高峰。確保我們擁有足夠的資源來推動這些產品從研發管線中推出，而不僅僅是讓它們悄悄地發布，而是以積極主動的方式推出它們，這是領導團隊的核心策略。

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

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

Okay. Just wanted to go back to the Q2 and full year guidance. You've spoken a little bit about Ag and materials co. There's a lot of percentages given for this specialty businesses as well. What would drive some of the estimates to the upper end of those ranges in each business within specialty? And then similarly, is there any upside for you guys to, as the year progresses, to again go back to the full year guidance to be above our expectation right now?

好的。我只是想回顧一下第二季和全年業績指引。您剛才稍微談到了Ag和材料公司。針對這類專業行業，也有許多百分比數據可供參考。哪些因素會導致各專業領域內某些業務的估值達到這些範圍的上限？同樣地，隨著今年的推進，你們是否有可能再次將全年業績預期提高到高於我們目前的預期？

Well, look, things feel really good right now. We have strength virtually in every end market we're serving. The only one that was a little bit soft on this quarter was the construction market, and it was totally weather-related in Japan and in the U.S. If you look at our guidance for the second quarter, we see a significant pickup in Safety & Construction. As you can see here, high single digits on the sales line and mid-30s on the EBITDA line. So it was going to be a very strong quarter. So that was literally the only one we -- was softer than we thought that was literally driven by that. You see us digging right out of that right away. So in the first quarter, just to rundown some of the specialty for you, probiotics grew 30%. Pharma grew 18%. As you know, we're very excited about pharma because we've put the businesses together from FMC, Dow and DuPont, and we really have a solid position there now. Semiconductor was up 10%. One I'd like to highlight is auto, where we've been running for 3 years way above auto builds, and our growth this last quarter was 8% on average. All through 2017, it was 8%. It's you can clearly see because of electrification and lightweighting, we are just getting more content into cars, and we see that demand continuing. So long story short, if everything holds up, where we're seeing in it, we're feeling very solid going into, obviously, the second quarter with the guidance we've given and just go into the second half of the year. And as Jim Fitterling just got on talking about the cycle in the business and how it feels, it's a really good feeling now. In fact, it's amazing, the stock market in the last 60 days, especially with our stock versus where we feel things are and all, it's the biggest disconnect, I think, I've ever seen in my career. That is what it is, but we're worrying about running the business. Demand feels good. And as I said, I'm highly confident we'll hit consensus, and you can take that how you guys want.

你看，現在感覺真的很好。我們在所服務的幾乎所有終端市場都擁有強大的實力。本季唯一略顯疲軟的領域是建築市場，這完全是由於日本和美國的天氣原因造成的。如果您查看我們對第二季的預測，我們預計安全與建築領域將顯著回升。正如您在這裡看到的，銷售額增長了接近兩位數，而 EBITDA 增長了 30 多位。所以這原本會是一個非常強勁的季度。所以，那真的是我們唯一一個——比我們想像的還要柔軟，完全是受此驅動的。你會看到我們立刻就擺脫了困境。所以，第一季度，我簡單概括一些特色產品的情況，益生菌增加了 30%。製藥業成長了18%。如你所知，我們對製藥業非常興奮，因為我們已經將 FMC、陶氏和杜邦的業務整合在一起，現在我們在該領域擁有非常穩固的地位。半導體產業上漲10%。我想重點介紹一下汽車產業，我們連續三年汽車產量遠超平均水平，上個季度的平均成長率為 8%。2017 年全年，這一數字為 8%。很明顯，由於電氣化和輕量化的發展，汽車中的內容越來越多，我們看到這種需求還在持續增長。簡而言之，如果一切順利，正如我們目前所看到的，我們對進入第二季度以及下半年都感到非常有信心，這要歸功於我們給出的指導意見。吉姆·菲特林剛才談到了行業的周期以及他現在的感受，他說：“現在感覺真的很好。”事實上，過去 60 天的股市表現令人震驚，尤其是我們自己的股票與我們所感受到的情況相比，這可以說是我職業生涯中見過的最大脫節。情況就是這樣，但我們現在擔心的是如何經營好公司。需求感覺不錯。正如我所說，我非常有信心我們能夠達成共識，你們可以自行理解。

And I think the other thing, Arun, that you got to consider we delivered that strong first quarter. We had some wintertime planned outages in the first quarter. So probably cost us $65 million on the material side in first quarter that we're not going to have in the second quarter. We've got some higher turnaround in the second quarter, but we've got more plant capacity coming on in plastics through the year. So our view is things are very positive here. I think are people are confusing what's happening into the financial market with what's happening in our real end markets, and our real end markets are strong.

還有一點，Arun，你也要考慮到我們第一季的業績非常強勁。我們在第一季安排了一些冬季計劃停電。所以，第一季我們在材料方面可能花了 6,500 萬美元，而第二季我們不會再有這筆錢了。第二季我們的周轉率有所提高，但今年塑膠製品產能將逐步提升。所以我們認為這裡的情況非常樂觀。我認為人們把金融市場發生的事情與我們實際終端市場發生的事情混淆了，而我們實際終端市場是強勁的。

And next we move to Jonas Oxgaard with Bernstein.

接下來我們來聽聽 Jonas Oxgaard 與 Bernstein 的對話。

First, curious the sirens I keep hearing the background is that your "we beat the quarter" signal? Beyond that, I was wondering a little bit about the noise with China, the trade war. Could you talk a little bit about your exposure to China? I mean, what products and how much revenue are we talking about is actually being shipped from the U.S. to China today? And what's your general thinking about the whole trade war situation?

首先，我很好奇，我一直聽到的背景音是警笛聲，那是你們的「我們贏了四分之一」的訊號嗎？除此之外，我還有點好奇關於中國貿易戰的種種傳聞。您能否談談您與中國的接觸經驗？我的意思是，目前美國向中國實際出口了哪些產品，以及出口額有多少？您對整個貿易戰局勢有何整體看法？

Well, let's take it by its pieces, and Jim Fitterling, why don't you hit it first?

好，我們就把它分解成各個部分來分析，吉姆·菲特林，你先來吧？

Look, I don't think we're looking at a major trade war here, Jonas. I think some of that's been overplayed. I think what's going on here is we're trying to find a path toward fair treatment with trade with all countries, including making sure the IP is protected and making sure that products aren't being dumped back here in the United States. So I think people have got us in the crosshairs on the trade war thing, and I don't think that's what's going to happen. So nothing's been imposed at this time that's having a dramatic impact on us. And remember, we have global assets to cater to the demand in China. The whole reason we've built Sadara was to serve the eastern part of the world, and so that's what's happening today. We built the U.S. Gulf Coast to serve North America and South America. And I think equally in Ag with the global trade of those products, Jim Collins knows that if product from America is not going to go to China, product from some other country is, and that American product is going to move around.

喬納斯，我覺得我們這裡不會爆發大規模貿易戰。我認為其中一些說法被誇大了。我認為這裡正在發生的事情是，我們正在努力尋找一條與所有國家進行公平貿易的道路，包括確保智慧財產權受到保護，以及確保產品不會傾銷回美國。所以我覺得大家把我們當成了貿易戰的靶子，但我認為這種情況不會發生。所以目前還沒有什麼事情對我們有重大影響。請記住，我們擁有全球資源，可以滿足中國的需求。我們建立薩達拉的初衷就是為了服務東方世界，而今天我們所看到的正是這一點。我們建造美國墨西哥灣沿岸地區是為了服務北美和南美。我認為，在農業領域，隨著這些產品的全球貿易，吉姆‧柯林斯也明白，如果美國的產品不去中國，其他國家的產品就會去中國，而美國的產品也會在其他地方流通。

And just to talk on the -- in the Ag business, just use the example of Brazil ships more the soybeans into China. We will take up the slack because the global demand is needed. In fact, last year, there was more consumption than there was production. So everything that's being made globally is needed. And, by the way, most of the soybeans are made in Argentina, grown in Argentina, Brazil and the U.S. So our demand in the U.S., if something happened, would start going into markets like Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, which have been bigger consumers than actually growing consumers of soybeans.

再說說農業方面的事情，就以巴西向中國出口大豆為例吧。我們將填補這一缺口，因為全球需求需要滿足。事實上，去年消費量超過了生產量。所以全球生產的東西都是必需品。順便說一句，大部分大豆產自阿根廷，種植地也包括阿根廷、巴西和美國。因此，如果美國出現什麼情況，我們的需求就會轉移到越南、印尼、墨西哥、土耳其等市場，這些市場一直以來都是大豆消費大國，而不是大豆種植大國。

Jonas, I'll just add one more thing. For the actual products that we sell into China, as you know, our seed businesses is locally sourced, essentially 100% with JV partners in China. And on the crop protection chemistry sales, about half of our sales today are locally sourced. And the others are brought into country, and those are essentially already placed in country for the remainder of 2018 and already for a part of 2019. So from a product cycle, we're also in pretty good shape.

喬納斯，我再補充一點。如您所知，我們銷往中國的實際產品，我們的種子業務都是本地採購的，基本上 100% 都是與中國的合資夥伴合作完成的。在作物保護化學品銷售方面，我們目前約有一半的銷售來自本地採購。其餘人員則被帶入該國，這些人基本上已經在該國待到 2018 年剩餘時間以及 2019 年的部分時間。所以從產品週期來看，我們也處於相當不錯的狀態。

Yes, and just to wrap that up from a specialty standpoint, we see no impact there. Our biggest business in China is in the electronics area, and we're pretty much all locally sourced in the market.

是的，最後從專業角度總結一下，我們認為這方面沒有影響。我們在中國最大的業務領域是電子產品，而且我們幾乎所有的零件都是本地採購的。

And next we move on to Peter Butler with Research.

接下來我們來聽聽彼得‧巴特勒的研究報告。

Andrew, we might not be hearing you on Dow's quarterly conference calls. But I think in the future, I now expect to hear you as a major global leader on the Davos scale. So...

安德魯，我們可能聽不到你在陶氏化學季度電話會議上的聲音。但我認為，在未來，我期待聽到您作為達沃斯世界領袖的身影。所以...

Maybe Davos and the desert, Peter, but we'll see.

或許是達沃斯和沙漠，彼得，但我們拭目以待。

Okay. Well, the question is when do you folks intend to increase the visibility on the stock market stories for the proposed spins? Basically, you've been asking investors to discount a 2-year-old story. We had a great spin -- pardon me. We had a great merger, and now we're going to have spins. People need to have a lot more details on where you're going with these 3 pieces.

好的。那麼，問題是，你們打算何時提高擬議分拆上市相關新聞在股市上的曝光？基本上，你一直在要求投資人對一個兩年前的故事不予理睬。我們玩得很開心——抱歉。我們成功完成了合併，現在我們將進行分拆。人們需要了解更多關於你這三件作品的創作方向的細節。

Yes, Peter, it's a good question. And we haven't pinned down the exact date. But our plan is in the kind of that September, October time frame is to do a major Investor Day for each of the 3 businesses. And then we'll be following up, obviously, very quickly after that because we're going into last months of this with all our filings that go out with a lot of detail. And then we'll be doing our road show. So we'll be talking a lot more about portfolio, strategy going forward, a lot more of that. You'll see capital structure and all will be done and where's our leaning as management team in each of the 3 companies on uses of cash, et cetera, et cetera. So we're not that many months off from doing a lot more of that.

是的，彼得，問得好。我們還沒有確定確切日期。但我們的計劃是在九月、十月期間，為這三家企業分別舉辦一場大型投資者日活動。然後，很顯然，我們很快就會跟進，因為在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將提交所有包含大量細節的文件。然後我們將進行巡迴演出。所以接下來我們會多討論投資組合、策略等等。你會看到資本結構，一切都會完成，以及我們作為三家公司管理團隊在現金用途等方面的傾向。所以，再過幾個月我們就能開展更多這類工作了。

Peter, this is Howard. I mean, I think the only thing I would add a couple of points we'll get the Form 10s out in the fall as well. And I would respectfully disagree with the thesis this is 2-year-old story. I mean, we are focusing on delivering results, whether it's volume growth, pricing growth, the cost synergies are hitting the bottom line. We've got new assets that have come online that are hitting the bottom line both in the materials division and in the specialty division. And the Ag is a shift from Q1 to Q2. So the businesses are all performing at or above their market comps.

彼得，這位是霍華德。我的意思是，我覺得我唯一要補充的幾點是，我們也會在秋季發布 Form 10 表格。恕我直言，我不同意這是兩年前的故事這種說法。我的意思是，我們專注於取得成果，無論是銷售成長、價格成長，或是成本綜效，最終都會提高利潤。我們新投入使用的資產正在提高材料部門和特殊部門的獲利能力。而 Ag 則從第一季過渡到第二季。因此，這些企業的業績都達到或超過了同市場平均。

And next we'll move on to John Roberts with UBS.

接下來我們將介紹瑞銀集團的約翰羅伯茲。

I thought it was a good quarter, and I know you're coming up on the hour. So I just wanted to say thank you to Andrew for all your years of service, and best wishes in your new role at Aramco.

我覺得這季度表現不錯，而且我知道你快到整點了。所以我想對安德魯表示感謝，感謝他多年來的服務，並祝他在沙特阿美的新崗位上一切順利。

Thank you, John.

謝謝你，約翰。

And our final question today, we'll hear from Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research Partners.

今天的最後一個問題，我們將聽聽 Vertical Research Partners 的 Kevin McCarthy 的回答。

Yes. As we look across your industrial results, it occurs to me that volumes are quite strong in areas like Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure, perhaps construction phasing markets. It sounded like they will be even stronger were it not for weather. So in that context, as you survey material sciences, where do you think you might need to debottleneck or consider brownfield capacity additions over the next couple of years? And then secondly, what are your thoughts on planned maintenance activity in 2Q versus 1Q?

是的。從你們的工業表現來看，我認為工業中間體和基礎設施等領域的銷售相當強勁，或許建築分期市場也是如此。聽起來，如果不是天氣原因，他們的實力還會更強。因此，在這種背景下，當您審視材料科學時，您認為在未來幾年內，您可能需要在哪些方面消除瓶頸或考慮增加現有產能？其次，您對第二季與第一季的計畫維護活動有何看法？

Yes. Thanks, Kevin, for that question. We have a high return on invested capital opportunities in front of us, what I would call incremental size investments, not anything like the magnitude of what we did in the Gulf Coast and Sadara. Although those incremental opportunities in plastics would add up to a similar amount of peak capacity and much less capital. We're able to do all that within our D&A levels in Materials Science. So I think that's very positive. We have some growth in all of the segments. So in Consumer Solutions and silicone, you're going to see some need for some additional capacity, both for my business and for Mark's specialty downstream business. You're going to see that Polyurethanes and our systems business, which has been growing double-digit. You're going to see some debottlenecking in Industrial Solutions in our EO Derivatives business, which is not had a lot of capital added over time. And I think you're going to see continued good, strong growth, the value creation and high free cash flow coming out of those businesses.

是的。謝謝凱文的提問。我們面前有很多投資報酬率高的機會，我稱之為增量投資，規模遠不及我們在墨西哥灣沿岸和薩達拉所做的投資。儘管塑膠產業的這些增量機會加起來也能達到類似的峰值產能，但所需的資本卻少得多。我們能夠在材料科學的D&A級別中完成所有這些工作。所以我認為這是非常積極的。我們所有業務板塊都實現了成長。因此，在消費解決方案和矽膠領域，無論是我的業務還是馬克的下游專業業務，都需要一些額外的產能。你會看到聚氨酯和我們的系統業務，該業務一直保持著兩位數的成長。您將會看到工業解決方案部門的 EO 衍生性商品業務出現一些瓶頸，多年來並沒有獲得太多資本投資。我認為你會看到這些企業持續保持良好的強勁成長勢頭，不斷創造價值，並帶來高額自由現金流。

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。