杜邦 (DD) 2019 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the DuPont Fourth Quarter 2019 Earnings Call. Today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加杜邦公司2019年第四季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄影。

And at this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Lori Koch. Please go ahead.

現在，我想把會議交給洛里·科赫。請繼續。

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for DuPont's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Earnings Conference Call. We are making this call available to investors and media via webcast.

各位早安。感謝您參加杜邦公司2019年第四季及全年業績電話會議。我們將透過網路直播向投資者和媒體提供本次電話會議的收聽服務。

We have prepared slides to supplement our comments during this conference call. These slides are posted on the Investor Relations section of DuPont's website and through the link to our webcast. Joining me on the call today are Marc Doyle, Chief Executive Officer; Jean Desmond, our Chief Financial Officer; and Ed Breen, Executive Chair.

我們準備了幻燈片，以補充我們在本次電話會議中的演講。這些幻燈片已發佈在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。今天與我一起參加電話會議的有：執行長馬克·多伊爾；首席財務官吉恩·德斯蒙德；以及執行主席埃德·布林。

Please read the forward-looking statement disclaimer contained in this slide. During our 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 third quarter Form 10-Q as updated by our current and periodic reports include detailed discussion of principal risks and uncertainties which may cause such differences.

請閱讀本投影片中所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。根據我們目前和定期報告更新的第三季 10-Q 表格，詳細討論了可能導致此類差異的主要風險和不確定性。

Unless otherwise specified, all historical financial measures presented today exclude significant items. We will also refer to non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is included in our press release.

除非另有說明，今天列出的所有歷史財務指標均不包括重大項目。我們也會參考非GAAP指標。我們的新聞稿中包含了與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的調整表。

I will now turn the call over to Marc.

現在我將把電話交給馬克。

Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. I'll quickly run through an overview of 2019 and how we executed against our key priorities. I'll then cover our priorities and expectations for 2020, including the actions we are taking in light of our expectations for a slow start to 2020 given further price pressure in our nylon business and unplanned outages, which have already been resolved at our largest S&C site. Our teams are intently focused on addressing these items to return to a more normal growth pattern after Q1.

各位早安，感謝各位的收看。我將快速回顧 2019 年的情況以及我們如何執行各項關鍵優先事項。接下來，我將介紹我們 2020 年的優先事項和預期，包括鑑於我們預計 2020 年開局緩慢（考慮到尼龍業務價格進一步承壓以及計劃外停產），我們正在採取的行動。我們最大的 S&C 工廠的計劃外停產問題已經解決。我們的團隊正全力以赴解決這些問題，以期在第一季後恢復到更正常的成長模式。

Starting on Slide 2. The team delivered sound full year results within a macro environment dominated by the China tariff situation, which significantly challenged 2 of our key end markets, auto and electronics, resulting in both demand contraction and inventory destocking. As we navigated the market uncertainty, our team continued to stay focused on the levers within our control, including price discipline and cost actions nicely mitigating the impact of volume declines on earnings.

從第 2 張投影片開始。在以中國關稅情勢為主導的宏觀環境下，團隊取得了穩健的全年表現。中國關稅情勢對我們的兩個主要終端市場——汽車和電子產品——構成了重大挑戰，導致需求萎縮和庫存減少。在應對市場不確定性的過程中，我們的團隊始終專注於我們可控的因素，包括價格紀律和成本控制措施，從而很好地減輕了銷售下降對收益的影響。

Our full year net sales of $21.5 billion were down 5% in total and down 2% organically, with price up 2% and volume down 4%. While full year operating EBITDA of $5.6 billion was down 4%, our strong operating discipline resulted in gross margin expansion of greater than 50 basis points and operating EBITDA margin expansion of 10 basis points for the year. Adjusted EPS of $3.80 per share was down 7%, reflecting lower segment income, currency headwinds and a higher tax rate. This was partially offset by lower depreciation and a lower share count due to both share repurchases completed in the first half of the year from the DowDuPont program and $750 million of repurchases we made since our separation on June 1.

我們全年淨銷售額為 215 億美元，總銷售額下降 5%，有機銷售額下降 2%，價格上漲 2%，銷量下降 4%。儘管全年營運 EBITDA 為 56 億美元，下降了 4%，但我們強大的營運紀律使得毛利率成長超過 50 個基點，營運 EBITDA 利潤率成長了 10 個基點。調整後的每股收益為 3.80 美元，下降 7%，反映出部門收入下降、匯率不利因素和稅率上升。這部分被較低的折舊和較低的股份數量所抵消，這主要是由於今年上半年從陶氏杜邦計劃中完成的股份回購，以及自 6 月 1 日分拆以來我們進行的 7.5 億美元的回購。

Slide 3 provides more detail on our top line results for the year, both the pluses and minuses. Our performance in each of our underlying businesses was consistent with market trends, and this slide highlights the themes we have talked about throughout the year, including our strength in 5G which is reflected in our Interconnect Solutions business, the continued momentum in Water Solutions and the steady growth of our Food & Beverage business. We continue to make high-return investments in R&D, CapEx and M&A in these and other areas to drive further innovation-led growth, including opportunities to expand our content in next-generation smartphones and hybrid and electric vehicles. Offsetting these were lower results in our Semiconductor Technologies business and our T&I segment and lower sales in our Health & Biosciences business primarily from pronounced slowdowns in North America bioethanol and probiotics markets.

幻燈片 3 提供了我們今年主要業績的更多詳細信息，包括優點和缺點。我們在各項基礎業務中的表現均符合市場趨勢，本投影片重點介紹了我們全年討論的主題，包括我們在 5G 領域的優勢（體現在我們的互連解決方案業務中）、水處理解決方案業務的持續增長勢頭以及食品飲料業務的穩步增長。我們將繼續在這些領域以及其他領域進行高回報的研發、資本支出和併購投資，以推動進一步的創新驅動成長，包括拓展我們在下一代智慧型手機、混合動力汽車和電動車領域的內容。抵銷這些利好的是半導體技術業務和T&I部門的業績下滑，以及健康與生物科學業務的銷售額下降，這主要是由於北美生物乙醇和益生菌市場明顯放緩所致。

Moving to adjusted EPS results on Slide 4. Within our segment results, pricing gains, synergies and cost savings were more than offset by the impact of softer volumes, lower equity affiliate income and higher year-over-year planned maintenance costs, particularly in the back half of the year in S&C. Currency was a $0.16 headwind for the year. Below-the-line items had a net neutral impact to our adjusted EPS driven by an increase in the tax rate, offset by benefits from lower depreciation and amortization and a lower share count.

接下來是投影片 4 調整後的每股盈餘結果。在我們的分部業績中，價格收益、協同效應和成本節約被銷量疲軟、權益關聯公司收入下降以及同比計劃維護成本上升的影響所抵消，尤其是在銷售和通信業務的下半年。匯率波動對全年股價造成了 0.16 美元的不利影響。由於稅率上升，線下項目對我們的調整後每股收益產生了淨中性影響，但折舊和攤銷減少以及股份數量減少帶來的收益抵消了這一影響。

I'll now cover how we executed against our 2019 priorities on Slide 5. As I've mentioned, the past year was a challenge given macro conditions negatively impacting about 40% of our portfolio, which led to weaker results versus our expectations going into the year. However, we did deliver strong results in key end markets such as water, 5G, aerospace, medical and plant-based meats where the market fundamentals remain sound. Our continued commitment to a best-in-class cost structure was a key driver of our ability to expand both gross and operating EBITDA margins. We delivered greater than $500 million in annual savings from synergy programs and the restructuring program we launched in the second quarter of 2019. These initiatives did help to improve our operating leverage, but we still have more work to do here.

接下來，我將在第 5 張投影片中介紹我們如何執行 2019 年的各項優先事項。正如我之前提到的，鑑於宏觀經濟情勢對我們約 40% 的投資組合產生了負面影響，過去一年充滿挑戰，導致業績不如年初預期。然而，我們在水、5G、航空航太、醫療和植物肉等關鍵終端市場取得了強勁的業績，這些市場的市場基本面依然良好。我們持續致力於打造一流的成本結構，這是我們能夠擴大毛利率和營業 EBITDA 利率的關鍵驅動因素。透過協同效應計劃和我們在 2019 年第二季啟動的重組計劃，我們每年節省了超過 5 億美元。這些措施確實有助於提升我們的經營槓桿，但我們仍需在這方面投入更多精力。

We also made significant progress this past year on our portfolio strategy, announcing our agreement to merge our Nutrition & Biosciences business with IFF, creating a de facto leader in the food and beverage space with the broadest technology and product offerings. Ed will speak further about this transaction later in the call. Additionally, we further refined our portfolio through the announcement of the divestment of 3 businesses during the year.

去年，我們在投資組合策略方面也取得了重大進展，宣布了將我們的營養與生物科學業務與 IFF 合併的協議，從而打造了食品飲料領域事實上的領導者，擁有最廣泛的技術和產品。稍後，Ed 將在電話會議中進一步談到這筆交易。此外，我們透過宣佈在年內剝離 3 項業務，進一步優化了我們的投資組合。

Free cash flow conversion was strong this year, and we reported greater than 100% conversion on an underlying basis for the past 2 quarters. Finally, while I'm pleased that our 2019 ROIC of 29% reflects marked improvement from 2017 when the portfolio was first put together, our 2019 performance was not as strong as our prior year results due to weakened working capital performance, lower segment earnings and a higher tax rate. Both working capital and segment earnings are key focus areas for improvement moving forward and critical components of our 2020 priorities, which I'll discuss on the next slide.

今年自由現金流轉換率強勁，過去兩季的基礎轉換率均超過 100%。最後，雖然我很高興我們 2019 年的 ROIC 為 29%，較 2017 年首次組建該投資組合時有了顯著改善，但由於營運資本表現疲軟、部門收益下降和稅率上升，我們 2019 年的業績不如上一年強勁。營運資本和分部獲利都是我們未來需要重點改善的領域，也是我們 2020 年優先事項的關鍵組成部分，我將在下一張投影片中討論。

As noted, we know we have more work to do in some of our key value-creation drivers. I am disappointed with our operational leverage as we exited the year and the slow start to 2020, and I'll provide more detail on the actions we're taking to return to growth which is more in line with our expectations in a moment.

如同前面提到的，我們知道在一些關鍵價值創造驅動因素方面，我們還有更多的工作要做。我對我們今年的營運槓桿以及 2020 年的緩慢開局感到失望，稍後我將詳細介紹我們正在採取哪些措施來恢復成長，使其更符合我們的預期。

Growth through innovation is a key component of our strategy, and we will continue to drive competitive advantage and sustainable top line expansion through our application development engine and deep customer relationships. Through our differentiated investment, we aim to increase demand by advancing several key technical milestones in our major R&D platforms, such as 5G, microbiome and auto electrification. To ensure we can meet additional demand generated by these programs, we will continue to implement key capacity expansions. R&D initiatives and investments in innovation will also contribute to our 2030 sustainability initiatives, and we look forward to reporting progress towards these goals.

透過創新實現成長是我們策略的關鍵組成部分，我們將繼續透過我們的應用開發引擎和深厚的客戶關係來推動競爭優勢和可持續的收入成長。我們透過差異化投資，旨在推動主要研發平台（如 5G、微生物組和汽車電氣化）的幾個關鍵技術里程碑，從而增加市場需求。為確保能夠滿足這些項目帶來的額外需求，我們將持續實施關鍵的產能擴張計畫。研發措施和創新投資也將有助於我們實現 2030 年永續發展目標，我們期待報告在實現這些目標方面的進展。

Our operating model enabled us to be agile and proactively respond to the dynamic market environment in 2019. This will be just as, if not more, important in 2020. Particular focus areas this year are continuing to advance productivity initiatives using digital tools and process simplification and rightsizing the organization. With a high-performing operating model, focus on innovation and defined targets for working capital improvement, we expect to enable further improvement in both ROIC and free cash flow conversion. Active portfolio management remains a key component of our strategy. Ed will address this in more depth during his remarks.

我們的營運模式使我們能夠靈活應對 2019 年瞬息萬變的市場環境，並積極做出反應。這一點在2020年將同樣重要，甚至更重要。今年的重點領域是持續利用數位化工具推進生產力提升計畫、簡化流程以及調整組織規模。憑藉高效的營運模式、對創新的重視以及明確的營運資本改善目標，我們期望能夠進一步提高投資報酬率和自由現金流轉換率。積極的投資組合管理仍然是我們策略的關鍵組成部分。艾德將在演講中更深入地探討這個問題。

Slide 7 details the actions underway as well as those actions we expect to put in place in response to both the macro environment and our operating challenges. We expect that the completion of the DowDuPont synergies and the 2019 restructuring plan will provide approximately $215 million of gross cost savings in 2020. These programs are well defined, and the teams are executing the actions needed to deliver these savings.

第 7 頁詳細介紹了我們正在採取的行動，以及我們預計為應對宏觀環境和營運挑戰而採取的行動。我們預計，陶氏杜邦協同效應的實現和 2019 年重組計畫的實施，將在 2020 年帶來約 2.15 億美元的毛成本節約。這些計劃目標明確，各團隊正在執行必要的行動以實現這些節省。

We are also planning further cost reductions this year to enable us to better maintain our operating leverage as we committed. These actions will also start to address the stranded costs we expect following completion of the N&B transaction. We anticipate approximately $90 million of savings from these initiatives. In addition, we have launched a project to consolidate our asset footprint, which we expect to generate a total of greater than $150 million of savings over a 3-year period with the first impact beginning in 2021. I will share more information on these items as they continue to take shape.

今年我們也計劃進一步削減成本，以便更好地維持我們承諾的營運槓桿作用。這些措施也將有助於解決我們預計在 N&B 交易完成後產生的擱淺成本。我們預計這些措施將節省約 9,000 萬美元。此外，我們也啟動了一個整合資產規模的項目，預計在 3 年內可節省超過 1.5 億美元，首批成果將於 2021 年開始顯現。隨著這些專案的進展，我會分享更多資訊。

Before I turn the call over to Jean to discuss the fourth quarter, I'll cover our first quarter and full year guidance, starting with organic growth on Slide 8. For the full year, we expect sales of $21.5 billion to $22 billion, which is up slightly on an organic growth basis. We anticipate a return to more normal growth in all our core segments except T&I, which is being impacted by continued weakness in the automotive market and nylon industry headwinds, which I'll cover when reviewing EPS expectations.

在將電話轉交給 Jean 討論第四季之前，我將先介紹我們第一季和全年的業績預期，首先從第 8 張投影片中的內生成長部分開始。我們預計全年銷售額為 215 億美元至 220 億美元，以內生成長計算略有上升。我們預計除T&I業務外，所有核心業務都將恢復正常成長。 T&I業務受到汽車市場持續疲軟和尼龍產業逆風的影響，我將在審查每股盈餘預期時對此進行分析。

E&I is expected to deliver 2% to 5% organic growth as memory markets return to a more normal growth profile in the back half of the year. Next-generation smartphones with higher content of our materials continue to penetrate the market, and we already started to see these volumes in the second half of last year. N&B is expected to grow 3% to 4% organically, with strong volumes across all 3 businesses led by a return to growth in our probiotics business from the actions we're taking to win new business in North America as well as the strong Chinese market, continued acceleration of our offerings into the alternative meat market and strengthen in food enzymes. S&C is also expected to grow 2% to 3% organically from continued strong demand in Water Solutions, further pricing gains and resolution of the raw material supply shortages that limited production in the back half of last year in Safety Solutions. Noncore is expected to decline 3% to 5% organically from lower demand for trichlorosilane to the Hemlock Semiconductor joint venture and for Sorona in carpet and apparel applications.

隨著記憶體市場在下半年恢復正常成長態勢，預計 E&I 將實現 2% 至 5% 的自然成長。採用我們材料含量更高的下一代智慧型手機繼續滲透市場，我們在去年下半年已經開始看到這些產品的銷售成長。N&B 預計將實現 3% 至 4% 的有機增長，所有 3 項業務的銷量都將強勁增長，這主要得益於我們為贏得北美新業務而採取的措施，以及中國市場的強勁表現，益生菌業務將恢復增長；此外，我們將繼續加速向人造肉市場推出產品，並在食品酶領域加強發展。由於水處理解決方案的持續強勁需求、價格的進一步上漲以及去年下半年安全解決方案原材料供應短缺問題的解決，預計 S&C 也將實現 2% 至 3% 的有機成長。由於 Hemlock Semiconductor 合資企業對三氯矽烷的需求下降，以及 Sorona 在地毯和服裝應用領域的需求下降，預計非核心業務將有機下降 3% 至 5%。

Moving to full year adjusted EPS expectations on Slide 9. This year, we expect adjusted EPS of $3.70 to $3.90 per share as higher volumes, cost reductions and productivity improvements are offset by net headwinds from discrete items in 2019 and lower nylon prices, coupled with a weaker nylon mix. From a quarterly perspective, these headwinds are most pronounced in the first quarter, which I'll cover on the next slide.

幻燈片 9 展示了全年調整後每股收益預期。今年，我們預計調整後每股收益為 3.70 美元至 3.90 美元，因為銷量增加、成本降低和生產率提高將被 2019 年個別項目帶來的淨不利因素和尼龍價格下跌以及尼龍產品組合疲軟所抵消。從季度角度來看，這些不利因素在第一季最為明顯，我將在下一張投影片中詳細介紹。

I'll now go into further detail on the nylon dynamics we're facing. Nylon industry fundamentals were weaker in the second half of 2019 as lower demand, coupled with improved industry supply reliability, negatively impacted our discretionary pricing power. We anticipate a similar operating environment as we enter 2020 and forecast T&I segment prices will be down about mid-single digits primarily due to lower year-over-year nylon prices and weaker mix, resulting in pricing headwinds of approximately $200 million to $250 million.

接下來我將更詳細地探討我們面臨的尼龍材料動態問題。2019 年下半年，尼龍產業基本面疲軟，需求下降，加上產業供應可靠性提高，對我們的自主定價能力產生了負面影響。我們預計進入 2020 年後，經營環境將與去年類似，並預測 T&I 部門價格將下降約個位數百分比，主要原因是尼龍價格同比下降和產品組合疲軟，這將導致價格逆風約 2 億至 2.5 億美元。

For context, in 2018, T&I segment earnings were up 20% as steady demand, coupled with industry-wide supply disruption and force majeures in nylon 66 and key raw materials, fueled higher prices, with our pricing peaking in the first quarter of 2019. With the supply issues resolved and weak auto build forecast for 2020, market prices for nylon have been pressured and are expected to continue to decline as the year progresses, with the most significant impact in the first half of 2020. Additionally, weakened demand in our core markets has resulted in a shift towards more opportunistic lower-margin nylon sales so that we can fill our assets, resulting in a weaker mix of products sold.

作為參考，2018 年，由於穩定的需求，加上尼龍 66 和關鍵原材料的行業供應中斷和不可抗力，推高了價格，T&I 部門的收益增長了 20%，我們的定價在 2019 年第一季達到頂峰。隨著供應問題的解決和 2020 年汽車產量預測疲軟，尼龍市場價格面臨下行壓力，預計隨著時間的推移將繼續下降，其中 2020 年上半年的影響最為顯著。此外，由於核心市場需求疲軟，我們不得不轉向利潤率較低的尼龍產品銷售，以填補資產空缺，導致產品組合趨於疲軟。

We have and continue to implement a series of actions to moderate the pricing impact, focused on productivity and asset utilization. While we anticipate a challenging 2020 for T&I, we remain constructive on our mid- to long-term outlook. Aerospace, health care and auto electrification continue to provide steady demand, and our deep innovation capabilities have us well positioned for renewed growth as markets recover. In summary, our T&I expectations for this year are disappointing, but I'm confident that we will continue to take the right actions to drive sustainable long-term growth.

我們已經並將繼續實施一系列措施來緩解價格波動的影響，重點是提高生產力和資產利用率。儘管我們預計 2020 年 T&I 將面臨挑戰，但我們對中長期前景仍保持樂觀。航空航太、醫療保健和汽車電氣化領域持續提供穩定的需求，而我們強大的創新能力使我們能夠隨著市場復甦而迎來新的成長。總而言之，我們對今年的交通和投資預期令人失望，但我相信我們將繼續採取正確的措施來推動可持續的長期成長。

Moving to Q1 on Slide 10. As I noted, our growth headwinds are most pronounced in the first quarter and predominantly encompass declines for lower discrete item gains, weakened nylon dynamics and unplanned outages in S&C. Once we get past the first quarter, we expect the nylon headwinds to abate given the peak of nylon pricing was in Q1 of last year. In addition, our Kevlar assets that are causing the headwinds in S&C are already back up and running. These dynamics, coupled with the 2020 cost actions that will start to ramp after the first quarter, give us confidence that we can return to a more normal pattern of growth beyond the first quarter.

進入第 10 張投影片上的問題 1。正如我所指出的，我們成長面臨的阻力在第一季最為明顯，主要包括離散商品收益下降、尼龍市場疲軟以及供應鏈意外中斷。一旦度過了第一季度，我們預計尼龍價格上漲的不利因素將會減弱，因為尼龍價格的高峰出現在去年第一季。此外，我們那些為S&C帶來不利影響的凱夫拉資產已經恢復營運。這些動態，再加上 2020 年第一季後將開始逐步實施的成本控制措施，讓我們有信心在第一季後恢復到更正常的成長模式。

This quarter, we anticipate sales to decline in the mid-single digits and adjusted EPS to be in the range of $0.70 to $0.74 per share. The top and bottom line declines are driven by nylon headwinds and the unplanned outages in our S&C segment. Additionally, there were approximately $80 million or $0.08 per share of discrete items in the first quarter of 2019 that will not repeat.

本季度，我們預計銷售額將出現中等個位數的下降，調整後的每股收益將在 0.70 美元至 0.74 美元之間。營收和利潤下滑是由於尼龍產業面臨的不利因素以及我們供應鏈部門的計畫外停工造成的。此外，2019 年第一季約有 8,000 萬美元或每股 0.08 美元的非經常性項目不會再次發生。

Jean will cover some additional guidance detail in her comments. And in the appendix, we have provided segment-level commentary as well as some additional modeling specifics. I'll now turn the call over to her.

Jean將在她的評論中提供一些額外的指導細節。在附錄中，我們提供了分段式評論以及一些額外的建模細節。現在我把電話轉給她。

Thanks, Marc. Starting on Slide 11. We closed the quarter about where we expected from a top line and EPS perspective. As we mentioned on our mid-December call, our operating EBITDA was going to be at the low end of the range, which is consistent with our reported results. In total, operating EBITDA of $1.4 billion was down 14% versus the prior year driven by lower gains in our noncore segments associated with customer settlements from our Hemlock Semiconductor joint venture as well as lower nylon pricing in our T&I segment. I'll get into further segment detail in a few moments.

謝謝你，馬克。從第11張投影片開始。從營收和每股盈餘來看，本季業績基本上符合預期。正如我們在 12 月中旬的電話會議上所提到的，我們的營運 EBITDA 將處於預期範圍的低端，這與我們公佈的業績一致。總計，營運 EBITDA 為 14 億美元，比前一年下降 14%，主要原因是與 Hemlock Semiconductor 合資企業客戶和解相關的非核心業務收益下降，以及 T&I 業務部門尼龍價格下降。稍後我會詳細介紹各個部分。

While many of the market challenges that Marc mentioned for the year also impacted our fourth quarter, the team's disciplined focus on driving price and executing on our cost-saving initiatives delivered results. Because of the focus in these 2 areas, our teams were able to hold gross margins flat with the fourth quarter 2018 despite 20 basis points of gross margin headwinds from softness in auto and lower nylon pricing.

雖然馬克提到的許多市場挑戰也影響了我們第四季的業績，但團隊專注於降低價格和執行節約成本的舉措，最終取得了成果。由於專注於這兩個領域，儘管汽車行業疲軟和尼龍價格走低導致毛利率下降了 20 個基點，但我們的團隊仍能夠將 2018 年第四季的毛利率保持穩定。

Slide 12 provides additional detail on the top line performance for the quarter. Net sales of $5.2 billion were in line with our expectations and down 2% organically versus the prior year. Our Electronics & Imaging business had the strongest results this quarter, led by further expansion of our content into newer, high-speed, high-frequency phones, which generated greater than $1 per phone of additional sales for us. We also continued to see strength in our Water Solutions business, which was up in the low teens, driving overall organic growth in the S&C segment.

第 12 張投影片提供了有關本季度主要業績的更多詳細資訊。淨銷售額為 52 億美元，符合我們的預期，但與前一年相比，有機成長下降了 2%。本季度，我們的電子與影像業務取得了最強勁的業績，這主要得益於我們將內容進一步擴展到更新、高速、高頻的手機，每部手機為我們帶來了超過 1 美元的額外銷售額。我們的水處理解決方案業務也持續保持強勁勢頭，實現了兩位數的低成長，推動了S&C部門的整體有機成長。

A few additional bright spots I would highlight from the quarter are in our Nutrition & Biosciences segment. These include our offerings into the alternative or plant-based meat market, which is included in the Food & Beverage business; and our animal nutrition and food enzymes business, both of which fall into our Health & Biosciences business.

本季還有一些亮點值得一提，那就是我們的營養與生物科學板塊。其中包括我們面向替代肉類或植物肉市場的產品（屬於食品飲料業務範疇）；以及我們的動物營養和食品酵素業務（兩者皆屬於健康與生物科學業務範疇）。

Moving to the fourth quarter adjusted EPS on Slide 13. Fourth quarter adjusted EPS of $0.95 was down 34%. I'll highlight 2 items within the segment results that are specific to the fourth quarter. First is lower equity affiliate income, specifically our Hemlock Semiconductor joint venture within the noncore segment. Equity affiliate income on an adjusted basis declined about $120 million or 42% to $166 million. This decline is mostly attributable to lower income associated with customer settlements from the Hemlock joint venture. These settlements were at their peak in 2018 and has trailed off substantially in 2019. We expect another significant decline into 2020 from further reductions in the customer settlements and declines in underlying results as customers are released from the contracts.

接下來，請看第 13 張投影片，了解第四季調整後的每股盈餘。第四季調整後每股收益為 0.95 美元，下降 34%。我將重點介紹該細分市場結果中與第四季度相關的兩個方面。首先是股權附屬公司收入減少，特別是我們在非核心業務部門的 Hemlock Semiconductor 合資企業的收入減少。經調整後的權益關聯公司營收下降約 1.2 億美元，降幅達 42%，至 1.66 億美元。這一下降主要歸因於 Hemlock 合資企業客戶和解收入的減少。這些和解協議在 2018 年達到頂峰，但在 2019 年大幅下降。我們預計，由於客戶和解金額進一步減少以及客戶解除合約後基本業績下降，2020 年業績將再次大幅下滑。

Also specific to the fourth quarter was the price decline in Transportation & Industrial segment. Although we started to see sequential pricing pressure earlier this year following the peak in first quarter 2019, the year-over-year price only moved negative on us in the fourth quarter at down 2%. Tax was a headwind in the quarter due to a lower rate in the prior year, driven by benefits from the DowDuPont transaction that did not repeat. Our full year rate of 21% is in line with our expectations.

第四季交通運輸和工業板塊的價格也出現了下降。儘管在 2019 年第一季達到高峰後，我們今年稍早開始看到價格環比承壓，但同比價格僅在第四季出現負成長，下降了 2%。由於上一年稅率較低（這得益於陶氏杜邦交易帶來的好處，但今年並未重現），稅收成為本季的不利因素。我們全年收益率為21%，符合預期。

Turning to the balance sheet on Slide 14. You'll see that our net debt increased slightly to $15.9 billion, mostly attributable to lower cash balances as we ended the year. In the fourth quarter, we closed 3 acquisitions in the water space for a total of about $175 million, and we made $185 million pension contribution. It was triggered by the stand-up of new DuPont.

請看第 14 頁的資產負債表。你會看到，我們的淨債務略微增加到 159 億美元，這主要是由於年底現金餘額減少所致。第四季度，我們在水務領域完成了 3 項收購，總金額約為 1.75 億美元，並向退休金部門繳納了 1.85 億美元。這是由杜邦新公司的成立所引發的。

Share repurchases in the quarter were about $290 million, bringing our total repurchases since June 1 to $750 million. Excluding the pension contribution, which is reflected in operating cash flows, our fourth quarter free cash flow conversion was greater than 100%, again exceeding our target of greater than 90%.

本季股票回購額約為 2.9 億美元，自 6 月 1 日以來，我們的股票回購總額達到 7.5 億美元。除去反映在經營現金流量的退休金繳款，我們第四季的自由現金流轉換率超過 100%，再次超過了我們 90% 以上的目標。

On this slide, you can see the trend of working capital over the past 5 quarters. While I'm pleased that our working capital has improved in the back half of 2019, we are still above year-end 2018 levels and not where we need to be.

在這張投影片中，你可以看到過去 5 個季度的營運資本趨勢。雖然我很高興我們的營運資金在 2019 年下半年有所改善，但我們仍然高於 2018 年底的水平，還沒有達到我們需要的水平。

This remains a key focus area of mine in 2020 to free up cash. We've put in place a working capital improvement target of 10% for the current year.

2020年，釋放現金流仍然是我的一個重點領域。我們已訂定本年度營運資金改善目標，目標是提高 10%。

Shifting to a review of segment results and starting with Electronics & Imaging on Slide 15. Fourth quarter net sales were the strongest of the year at $937 million and were up 3% versus the prior year. Strength was led by our Interconnect Solutions business, where our Advanced Materials are supporting the launch of next-generation smartphones. Low-teens growth in the interconnect business in the second half of '19 is a proof point that we have market-leading innovative solutions to support the development of 5G technologies.

接下來我們將回顧各細分市場的結果，首先從第 15 頁的電子與影像板塊開始。第四季淨銷售額為9.37億美元，是全年最高，較上年同期成長3%。我們的互連解決方案業務表現強勁，其中我們的先進材料為下一代智慧型手機的發布提供了支援。2019 年下半年互聯業務實現兩位數左右的成長，證明我們擁有市場領先的創新解決方案，能夠支援 5G 技術的發展。

The strength in Interconnect Solutions was partially offset by softness in semiconductor technology, similar to what we saw in the third quarter of 2019. Our semiconductor business is about half exposed to memory, which remains sluggish. However, the overall semiconductor market is on a positive trajectory as evidenced by our sequential improvement the last 2 quarters, and we expect the recovery to continue, returning to more normal growth in the back half of this year.

互連解決方案業務的強勁表現被半導體技術的疲軟部分抵消，這與我們在 2019 年第三季看到的情況類似。我們的半導體業務約有一半涉及記憶體，而記憶體市場依然低迷。然而，正如我們過去兩個季度業績的環比改善所證明的那樣，整體半導體市場正處於積極的發展軌道上，我們預計復甦勢頭將繼續，並在今年下半年恢復到更正常的增長水平。

Fourth quarter operating EBITDA for the segment was $293 million, a decrease of 9% from pro forma operating EBITDA of $321 million in the year-ago period. The mix shift between strength in Interconnect Solutions and softness in semiconductor technology, the highest margin business within E&I, created margin pressure leading to the EBITDA decline.

該部門第四季的經營性 EBITDA 為 2.93 億美元，較上年同期的備考經營性 EBITDA 3.21 億美元下降了 9%。互連解決方案業務的強勁表現與半導體技術業務（E&I 中利潤率最高的業務）的疲軟表現之間的組合變化，造成了利潤率壓力，導致 EBITDA 下降。

Moving to Nutrition & Biosciences on Slide 16. Net sales of $1.5 billion were flat on an organic basis, with 1% price improvement offset by 1% volume decline. For the fourth quarter, strength in food enzymes, animal nutrition and our meat-free offering, each of which were up mid- to high single digits in the quarter, were able to offset market-driven weakness in proteins, probiotics and biorefineries and supply chain disruptions in sweeteners.

第 16 張幻燈片將進入營養與生物科學部分。淨銷售額為 15 億美元，與有機成長持平，1% 的價格上漲被 1% 的銷售下降所抵消。第四季度，食品酵素、動物營養和我們的無肉產品業務表現強勁，這三項業務在本季度均實現了中高個位數的成長，抵消了市場對蛋白質、益生菌和生物煉製業務的疲軟以及甜味劑供應鏈中斷的影響。

Fourth quarter operating EBITDA for the segment was $323 million, a decrease of 2% from pro forma operating EBITDA of $330 million in the year-ago period. Productivity and pricing gains were more than offset by manufacturing headwinds, unfavorable product mix and lower volume. The unfavorable product mix was partially the result of softness in the North America probiotics market. Our business, consistent with the market, was down on a year-over-year basis for both the quarter and the year. We are working with channel partners, accelerating initiatives to get the North America market back on track.

該部門第四季的經營性 EBITDA 為 3.23 億美元，比去年同期的備考經營性 EBITDA 3.3 億美元下降了 2%。生產效率和價格方面的成長被製造業的不利因素、不利的產品組合和較低的銷售所抵消。產品組合不佳的部分原因是北美益生菌市場疲軟。與市場情況一致，我們的業務在季度和年度同比均出現下滑。我們正與通路夥伴攜手合作，加速各項舉措，以使北美市場重回正軌。

While the North America market recovers, we expect that probiotics growth will continue to be fueled from Asia Pacific where current market penetration is low as compared to other regions but growing steadily. For the year, probiotic-s sales in China were up over 30%.

儘管北美市場正在復甦，但我們預計益生菌的成長將繼續受到亞太地區的推動，目前亞太地區的市場滲透率與其他地區相比較低，但正在穩步增長。今年，益生菌在中國的銷售額成長了30%以上。

Our Transportation & Industrial results on Slide 17 reflects lower auto builds and weak demand in electronics and modest continued destocking in the automotive channel. Net sales of $1.2 billion were down 9% versus the prior year. Fourth quarter operating EBITDA for the segment was $277 million, a decrease of 19% from pro forma operating EBITDA of $344 million in the year-ago period, with cost reductions and lower raw material costs being more than offset by lower volume and price headwinds.

第 17 頁投影片中的交通運輸和工業表現反映了汽車產量下降、電子產品需求疲軟以及汽車通路持續溫和的去庫存。淨銷售額為 12 億美元，較上年下降 9%。該部門第四季度的經營性 EBITDA 為 2.77 億美元，較上年同期的備考經營性 EBITDA 3.44 億美元下降了 19%，成本削減和原材料成本下降被銷量下降和價格不利因素抵消。

Turning to the results of Safety & Construction on Slide 18. Net sales of $1.3 billion were up 1% on an organic basis. Volumes were mixed, with strength in areas such as Water Solutions, where double-digit volume gains on strong demand for ion exchange and reverse osmosis membranes in industrial markets were more than offset by volume declines in Safety Solutions and continued softness in Shelter Solutions. Safety Solution demand remained steady across most product lines. However, planned maintenance downtime and raw material disruptions in the supply chain limited production volumes. Fourth quarter operating EBITDA for the segment totaled $311 million, flat with the year-ago period, with pricing gains and productivity actions being offset by higher manufacturing costs, primarily from costs associated with planned maintenance and lower volumes.

接下來請看第 18 頁投影片上的安全與施工結果。淨銷售額達 13 億美元，以有機成長計算成長 1%。銷售表現參差不齊，水處理解決方案等領域表現強勁，工業市場對離子交換膜和逆滲透膜的強勁需求帶來了兩位數的銷量增長，但安全解決方案領域的銷量下降以及庇護解決方案領域的持續疲軟抵消了這一增長。大多數產品線的安全解決方案需求保持穩定。然而，計劃內的維護停機時間和供應鏈中原材料的中斷限制了產量。該部門第四季度營運 EBITDA 總計 3.11 億美元，與去年同期持平，價格上漲和生產力提升措施被更高的製造成本所抵消，主要原因是計劃維護成本和銷售下降。

I'll close with a few comments on our cash generation and needs in 2020 on Slide 19. We continue to expect to generate strong cash flows with a conversion rate greater than 90%. While many of the DowDuPont transaction-related items are behind us, we will start to incur costs associated with our recently announced N&B transaction. Our commercial paper balances at year-end were about $1.8 billion. I'm committed to bringing these balances down throughout the year.

最後，我將在第 19 張投影片上對我們 2020 年的現金流和需求做一些說明。我們預計仍將產生強勁的現金流，轉換率超過 90%。雖然與陶氏杜邦交易相關的許多事項已經過去，但我們將開始承擔最近宣布的 N&B 交易相關的費用。截至年底，我們的商業票據餘額約為 18 億美元。我承諾今年會努力降低這些負債餘額。

And finally, shareholder remuneration remains an important aspect of our overall capital allocation policy. While our current forecast has the majority of cash that we generate from normal operations going towards paying down commercial paper balances and the N&B transaction costs, we are targeting reducing working capital by about 10% this year, which, along with future noncore divestments, would be targeted for share buyback.

最後，股東回報仍然是我們整體資本配置政策的重要面向。雖然我們目前的預測是，正常營運產生的現金大部分將用於償還商業票據餘額和 N&B 交易成本，但我們今年的目標是將營運資本減少約 10%，這筆資金，連同未來非核心資產的剝離，將用於股票回購。

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Ed.

接下來，我將把電話交給艾德。

Thanks, Jean. This morning, I'll provide an update on the N&B and IFF transaction as well as say a few words on PFOS and the Chemours litigation. I continue to be excited about the value-creation potential of our transaction with IFF and have confidence in the strong strategic logic for this combination. As a proof point, we have already heard from several large customers about their excitement over the portfolio breadth and technology depth of the new combined company.

謝謝你，珍。今天上午，我將介紹 N&B 和 IFF 交易的最新進展，並就 PFOS 和科慕訴訟案發表一些看法。我對與 IFF 的交易所蘊含的價值創造潛力依然感到興奮，並且對此次合併的強大戰略邏輯充滿信心。作為佐證，我們已經從幾位大客戶那裡了解到，他們對合併後的新公司的產品組合廣度和技術深度感到非常興奮。

As you can see on Slide 20, we have already begun working on the integration and rigorous processes being run to ensure this goes smoothly. As you know, DuPont and the N&B team specifically has a lot of experience in this area, starting 10 years ago with the integration of Danisco into DuPont and then, more recently, executing the complex integration of the Dow and FMC portfolios with our business, in addition to the internal combination of the former Nutrition & Health and Industrial Biosciences businesses. We know how to do this, and we'll execute the same playbook that has worked so well for us in the past.

正如您在投影片 20 中看到的，我們已經開始進行整合工作，並正在運行嚴格的流程以確保整合順利進行。如你所知，杜邦和營養與生物技術團隊在這個領域擁有豐富的經驗，從 10 年前將丹尼斯克併入杜邦開始，到最近將陶氏和富美實的產品組合與我們的業務進行複雜的整合，以及將原營養與健康業務和工業生物科學業務進行內部合併。我們知道該怎麼做，我們會沿用過去行之有效的策略。

Some of the key short-term milestones that have already been completed are the establishment of the executive steering team and the appointment of leaders for key work streams, including separation and integration, core financials, IT separation and stand-up, legal entity work and talent selection. The teams at both IFF and N&B are well staffed, and I am confident we will stay on track with our plans.

一些已經完成的關鍵短期里程碑包括：成立執行指導團隊，以及任命關鍵工作流程的負責人，包括分離和整合、核心財務、IT 分離和建立、法律實體工作和人才選拔。IFF 和 N&B 的團隊人員配備充足，我相信我們能夠按計劃進行。

Beyond the N&B transaction, we continue to believe our portfolio presents many ways to create shareholder value, and we continue to assess our options.

除了 N&B 交易之外，我們仍然相信我們的投資組合提供了許多創造股東價值的方式，我們將繼續評估我們的選擇。

I'll close with a few words on the Chemours lawsuit and PFAS. We continue to believe our potential risk exposure remains contained, and I feel it's worthwhile to underscore that point while also updating a couple of items we discussed on our last call. Regarding the Ohio MDL personal injury claims, 2 related cases are currently being tried together in Ohio as we speak. Chemours continues to indemnify and defend these cases and others, subject to a limited cost-sharing agreement. As I mentioned last time, we still have not contributed $0.01 in excess of the $25 million trigger, and by default, Chemours has not spent more than $25 million.

最後，我想簡單談談科慕訴訟案和 PFAS。我們仍然相信我們潛在的風險敞口仍然可控，我覺得有必要強調這一點，同時更新我們在上次電話會議上討論的一些事項。關於俄亥俄州 MDL 人身傷害索賠案，目前有兩起相關案件正在俄亥俄州一起審理。科慕公司將繼續為這些案件及其他案件提供賠償和辯護，但需遵守有限的費用分攤協議。正如我上次提到的，我們仍然沒有超過 2500 萬美元的觸發金額 0.01 美元，因此，科慕公司也沒有花費超過 2500 萬美元。

With respect to the South Carolina MDL, most of these cases are tied to allegations of PFOS-containing firefighting foam used over the last 60 years. These suits relate largely to PFOS, a chemical that neither Chemours nor historical DuPont ever made or sold. The same is true for firefighting foam. Historical DuPont was not a manufacturer of foam, but for a limited period, along with numerous others, provided an ingredient to foam manufacturers. This ingredient could lead to trace amounts of PFOA but absolutely no PFOS, which is the primary concern. We continue to believe that the exposure of historical DuPont or Chemours is negligible compared to those that manufactured, marketed and sold these materials.

就南卡羅來納州 MDL 而言，這些案件大多與過去 60 年使用的含 PFOS 的消防泡沫的指控有關。這些訴訟主要與 PFOS 有關，而 Chemours 和歷史上的 DuPont 都從未生產或銷售過這種化學物質。消防泡沫也是如此。歷史上，杜邦公司並非泡沫塑膠生產商，但在一段時間內，它與其他許多公司一起，為泡沫塑膠生產商提供原料。這種成分可能會導致微量的 PFOA，但絕對不會產生 PFOS，而 PFOS 是人們主要擔心的問題。我們仍然認為，與那些生產、銷售和推廣這些材料的公司相比，歷史上的杜邦或科慕公司所承擔的風險微乎其微。

We also continue to defend ourselves against various natural resource damages cases, most of which are in states where we never had a manufacturing presence. These claims seem to focus on foam or generic PFOS-containing products. We take these cases very seriously and monitor developments closely. However, we still believe that direct impacts to DuPont are limited and are being managed appropriately.

我們也將繼續為自己辯護，以應對各種自然資源損害賠償訴訟，其中大部分訴訟發生在我們從未有過生產活動的州。這些說法似乎主要針對含有 PFOS 的泡沫或通用產品。我們非常重視這些案件，並將密切關注事態發展。然而，我們仍然認為對杜邦公司的直接影響有限，並且正在得到適當的控制。

As to the Chemours suit, in late December, the Delaware Chancery Court heard our arguments to dismiss the case and send it to arbitration. We thought our argument went well, and we expect a decision by the end of this quarter or early next.

至於科慕訴訟案，12 月下旬，特拉華州衡平法院聽取了我們要求駁回該案並將其提交仲裁的論點。我們認為我們的論點表達得很充分，預計在本季度末或下個季度初會做出決定。

I'll now turn it to Lori to open for Q&A.

現在我將把提問環節交給Lori，由她來回答問題。

Thank you, Ed. With that, let's move on to your questions.

謝謝你，艾德。那麼，接下來我們來回答您的問題。

First, I would like to remind you that our forward-looking statements apply to both our prepared remarks and the following Q&A. (Operator Instructions)

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。（操作說明）

Operator, please provide the Q&A instruction.

操作員，請提供問答說明。

(Operator Instructions) And we will take our first question from John Inch with Gordon Haskett.

（操作說明）接下來，我們將回答約翰·英奇和戈登·哈斯克特提出的第一個問題。

It sounds like you have a little bit of a cold. I hope you haven't been to Wuhan, China recently.

聽起來你好像有點感冒。希望你最近沒去過中國武漢。

Yes. No, but I do have a bad cold, so I apologize.

是的。不，但我得了重感冒，所以很抱歉。

Well, it could be a lot worse. So understanding some of the first quarter 2020 compares issues such as the onetimers. Still, if I annualize the midpoint of your first quarter guide, you get about $0.90 short of your fiscal year estimates. So I'm just curious, what are the key drivers of your post-1Q growth assumptions, your confidence level there?

嗯，情況可能更糟。因此，了解 2020 年第一季的一些比較問題，例如一次性事件。不過，如果我將你第一季指引值的中點按年計算，你得到的金額將比你的財年預估少約 0.90 美元。所以我很好奇，您對第一季後的成長預期主要驅動因素是什麼？您對此有多大信心？

And then just secondly, your $1 billion working capital opportunity that you called out in the slides, is that tied to your 2021 asset footprint rationalization initiative? Or are these 2 discrete buckets that lead to 2 discrete streams of benefit?

其次，您在投影片中提到的 10 億美元營運資金機會，是否與您 2021 年的資產規模合理化計畫有關？或者說，這是兩個獨立的類別，分別帶來兩種不同的利益？

Yes. Thanks, John, for that question. This is Marc. Let me take it to give Ed's voice a bit of a break, and then he can jump in. And I'll ask Jean to take the working capital question.

是的。謝謝約翰的提問。這是馬克。讓我先唱一會兒，讓艾德的嗓子休息一下，然後他就可以接唱了。我會請 Jean 回答營運資金方面的問題。

Just starting with the first quarter. You're right, it is an abnormally weak quarter. But I'll tell you, in terms of the second quarter on, we do have strong confidence in our forecast. We're not assuming a recovery for the markets here. We've got a number of things that are really under our control happening from Q1 to Q2, and it starts with sort of the typical seasonal lift that happens from 1Q to 2Q most every year. But also, we've got a significant change in the onetimers because there's a sizable settlement associated with the Hemlock joint venture in the second quarter, which is worth about $80 million in EBITDA.

就從第一季開始吧。你說得對，這確實是一個異常疲軟的季度。但我可以告訴你，對於第二季及以後的情況，我們對我們的預測非常有信心。我們不認為市場會復甦。從第一季到第二季度，我們有很多事情都在我們的掌控之中，首先是每年第一季到第二季都會出現的典型季節性成長。此外，一次性收入也發生了重大變化，因為第二季與 Hemlock 合資企業相關的巨額和解金，相當於約 8,000 萬美元的 EBITDA。

And then on top of that, the S&C manufacturing headwinds that we had that hit us in the first quarter are largely behind us now. So we're confident that the S&C business will be back to sort of normal supply against continued strong demand. And then final kicker, the cost actions we announced here, which we've kicked off, are going to start to deliver in the second quarter, and that will be worth another about $0.05 per share going forward per quarter. So when we rack these things up, it provides us confidence that the second quarter is going to be kind of back to a more normal earnings environment.

此外，我們在第一季遇到的S&C製造業逆風現在基本上已經過去了。因此，我們有信心，在持續強勁的需求下，S&C 業務的供應將恢復到正常水平。最後，我們在此宣布的成本控制措施（我們已經啟動）將在第二季度開始產生效果，這將使每股收益在未來每季增加約 0.05 美元。所以，當我們把這些因素綜合起來考慮時，我們有信心第二季的獲利環境將會恢復到比較正常的水平。

Yes. So in terms of working capital, really, it's separate and apart from the asset rationalization. This is a working capital opportunity that we identified at the time we brought the portfolios together. Now unfortunately, as we went through the separation process with DowDuPont and Corteva, our working capital balances actually increased with all the system freezes we had and we've built inventory. And then as we came into '19 and we saw slowdowns in some of our markets, that exacerbated the problem.

是的。所以就營運資本而言，它實際上與資產合理化是分開的。這是我們整合投資組合時發現的一個營運資金機會。不幸的是，在我們與陶氏杜邦和科迪華分離的過程中，由於系統凍結，我們的營運資金餘額實際上增加了，而且我們還累積了庫存。進入 2019 年，我們的一些市場出現放緩，這加劇了這個問題。

So we are taking a very strong effort in 2020 to reduce working capital by, as I said, 10%. We've got teams activated to do that effort. And you should see that benefit separate and apart from these others. I would think, longer term, with the asset rationalization, we will have additional working capital benefits, but those will be further out, past 2020.

因此，正如我所說，我們在 2020 年將大力減少營運資金 10%。我們已經組建團隊來負責這項工作。你應該把這種好處與其他好處區分開來。我認為，從長遠來看，隨著資產合理化，我們將獲得額外的營運資本收益，但這要到 2020 年以後才會實現。

And we'll hear next from Jeff Sprague with Vertical Research.

接下來，我們將聽聽 Vertical Research 的 Jeff Sprague 的演講。

Just wanted to kind of come back to manufacturing. The S&C item, as you said, sounds like it gets ironed out. You also mentioned some manufacturing issues in N&B. We've heard a few of these over the last several quarters. I wonder if you could just address, Marc, whether kind of the manufacturing side of the equation is largely kind of settled here post separation. Is there any particular disruptions going on as you try to get after synergies? It would just be nice not to have to kind of talk about these issues.

只是想回歸製造業而已。正如你所說，體能訓練的問題似乎已經解決了。您也提到了N&B的一些製造問題。過去幾季我們已經聽過一些這樣的說法。馬克，我想請你談談，分拆之後，製造環節的問題是否基本解決了。在尋求協同效應的過程中，是否有任何特別的干擾因素？如果不用談論這些問題就好了。

Yes, yes. Thanks, Jeff. Couldn't agree more. And I'd call some of this -- particularly like in N&B, these things are abnormals that happen once in a blue moon. S&C is the one that's really been the most pronounced, and it's a few quarters running now but for different reasons. So if I take you back to last year, we had a real strong first half in S&C. And then we did run into a disruption in our supply chain for a key material, Kevlar raw material supplier disruption, and that was part of the weakness in the third quarter.

是的，是的。謝謝你，傑夫。完全同意。而我認為其中一些——特別是像 N&B 這樣的——是百年一遇的異常現象。體能訓練方面的變化最為顯著，而且這種情況已經持續了好幾個季度，但原因卻有所不同。回顧去年，我們在體能訓練上半年表現非常出色。然後，我們的供應鏈出現了中斷，關鍵材料凱夫拉原材料供應商出現故障，這也是第三季業績疲軟的部分原因。

The fourth quarter, we had a planned maintenance, sort of a 2-year -- every 2-year maintenance cycle on Nomex, but that had an earnings impact in the quarter. And now we've got a subsequent outage again in the Kevlar manufacturing line, and it's a little bit connected to that raw material shortage because our inventories were so tight after that, that a small disruption in manufacturing here has really had a bigger impact on the quarter.

第四季度，我們進行了一次計劃維護，類似於每兩年一次的 Nomex 維護週期，但這對該季度的收益產生了影響。現在凱夫拉生產線再次出現停產，這與原材料短缺有點關係，因為在那之後我們的庫存非常緊張，所以這裡生產的小小中斷對本季度產生了更大的影響。

And so to your question on the kind of operational stability, I'd say, first of all, by and large, 180 manufacturing sites around the world, we've got strong performance. We're making investments in productivity. We're making investments in digital. I've got confidence in our operations leadership around the world. Our safety performance, by the way, was a record last year for us as a company in the history of the company. And so I think the team are doing the blocking and tackling.

所以對於你提出的關於營運穩定性的問題，我想說，首先，總的來說，我們在全球擁有 180 個生產基地，業績表現強勁。我們正在加大對生產力的投資。我們正在加大對數位化領域的投資。我對我們在全球的營運領導團隊充滿信心。順便一提，去年我們的安全績效創下了公司歷史上的新紀錄。所以我認為球隊正在做好阻擋和擒抱的工作。

The Kevlar issues in S&C are extremely frustrating to us and to our Kevlar business team, but we feel pretty good just in terms of where the unit's running right now. And given a couple of months to catch back up with inventory, we think we'll be able to weather any future disruption there. And so hopefully, this is behind us. And as you said, we won't be talking about this every quarter.

S&C 的凱夫拉爾問題讓我們和我們的凱夫拉爾業務團隊感到非常沮喪，但就該部門目前的營運狀況而言，我們感覺還不錯。給我們幾個月的時間來恢復庫存，我們認為我們能夠應對未來任何可能的干擾。希望這件事已經過去了。正如你所說，我們不會每個季度都討論這個問題。

And next, we will hear from Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.

接下來，我們將聽取摩根士丹利的文森特安德魯斯的演講。

Ed, if I could ask you on the PFAS, the personal injury cases. Originally, there was a settlement of personal injury cases a few years ago. So just curious, why not settle these cases? I mean we've subsequently seen the jackpots that are going against Bayer in the glyphosate cases. So why not settle these? And how confident are you that this doesn't spiral into something that we don't want to deal with?

艾德，我可以問你一些關於 PFAS 的人身傷害案件嗎？幾年前，曾就人身傷害案件達成和解。我只是好奇，為什麼不解決這些案件呢？我的意思是，我們後來都看到了在草甘膦案件中對拜耳不利的巨額賠償。那為什麼不解決這些問題呢？你有多大把握這件事不會演變成我們不想面對的局面？

Yes. So thanks for the question, Vincent. Look, there's about 60 of these cases outstanding. These 2 are in trial right now. I can't necessarily forecast the outcome, but there's always the opportunity here to settle. And settlement usually happens kind of in this window of time, so it's possible that, that will be the outcome. So we'll just have to see over the next ensuing weeks how that plays out. But obviously, we're very cognizant of the point that -- or the question that you just asked.

是的。謝謝你的提問，文森。你看，這類案件還有大約 60 起尚未結案。這兩人目前正在接受審判。我無法預測結果，但總有機會達成和解。和解通常會在這個時間段內發生，所以這有可能是最終結果。所以，接下來幾週我們只能拭目以待了。但很顯然，我們非常清楚這一點——或者說，您剛才提出的問題。

And next, we'll hear from David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

接下來，我們將聽取德意志銀行的戴維·貝格萊特的演講。

Can you address the issue in terms of the discount in the share price due to PFOA and the potential and desire to do additional tax-efficient transactions for the portfolio, perhaps with the electronics franchise?

您能否就 PFOA 導致的股價折價問題，以及為投資組合進行更多節稅交易（例如收購電子產品特許經營權）的潛力和意願，談談這個問題？

Yes. So let me go back maybe just high level to the IFF transaction and just talk about that a moment also. You all have done the math, and I read it on all your reports. But you just do the math on IFF as it stands right now, and remainco DuPont trades at about 8x. So I think this will play out just on the IFF transaction as we get closer to it.

是的。那麼，讓我回到 IFF 交易的宏觀層面，再簡單談談它。你們都算過了，我在你們所有的報告中都看到了。但你只要算算 IFF 目前的狀況，就會發現剩餘的杜邦公司交易價格約為 8 倍。所以我認為，隨著 IFF 交易的臨近，這件事最終會在這個交易中得到體現。

I would also mention I really believe, and we're hearing this from our customers pretty broadly, that we've created the de facto leading platform in the industry. By the way, it's incumbent upon us and IFF to elegantly pull this merger off with each other, and we will do that. I know we have to prove that to everybody. I understand that. But IFF also trades at a discount to the top peer set in the industry by about 500 basis points. So I think there's great leverage here in creating this phenomenal company, both the value we're getting initially out of it and the value that can be created over the next couple of years with that transaction. But having so said that, we trade at 8x on remainco.

我還想提一下，我真的相信，而且我們也從廣大客戶那裡聽到了這種說法，我們已經創建了業內事實上的領先平台。順便說一句，我們和IFF有責任優雅地完成這次合併，我們一定會這麼做。我知道我們必須向所有人證明這一點。我明白了。但IFF的交易價格也比業界頂尖同業低約500個基點。所以我認為，打造這家卓越的公司蘊藏著巨大的優勢，無論是我們最初從中獲得的價值，還是未來幾年透過這筆交易可以創造的價值。但即便如此，我們目前在 remainco 的交易倍數為 8 倍。

Let me just say this, and I don't want to get into too much detail on it, but we're actively in conversations with others. I like tax-efficient transactions. We like creating global leading companies, and we're very agnostic. We want to do the right thing for our shareholders. And so we'll pursue those opportunities, and we're assessing that with our Board as we speak.

我只想說，我不想透露太多細節，但我們正在積極與其他方面進行洽談。我喜歡節稅的交易。我們喜歡打造全球領先的公司，而且我們持非常開放的態度。我們想為股東做正確的事。因此，我們將尋求這些機會，目前我們正在與董事會一起評估這些機會。

Next, we'll hear from Steve Tusa with JPMorgan.

接下來，我們將聽聽摩根大通的史蒂夫·圖薩的演講。

So just on the kind of news flow that's out there. It was -- it seemed to be kind of the discussion that you guys were looking at on the back of the last question, something around the T&I business. But then there was some news flow that there was something perhaps on the electronics side. Can you just talk about -- I mean is it that -- is the situation with your portfolio kind of that fluid that you can kind of pivot from one to the other like that? I know there's a bit of a restriction on how much you can actually sell down with that EBITDA floor. But maybe, is it really kind of that fluid?

所以，就目前新聞傳播的情況來看。看起來，這似乎是你們在上一個問題之後正在討論的話題，與 T&I 業務有關。但隨後有消息稱，電子產品方面可能出了問題。您能談談——我的意思是——您的投資組合的情況是否比較靈活，可以像這樣從一個投資組合轉向另一個投資組合嗎？我知道在 EBITDA 下限的限制下，實際上能賣出的股票數量會受到一定限制。但也許，它真的像那種液體一樣？

No, actually, it's not as fluid as that sounds. It's a shame that those kind of leaks occur, and it's also not great for our employees to be hearing one rumor after another, to be honest with you. So I don't want to comment in too much detail.

不，實際上，它並不像聽起來那麼流暢。發生這類洩密事件令人遺憾，坦白說，這對我們的員工來說也不好，因為他們總是聽到各種各樣的謠言。所以我不想過多評論。

But by the way, Steve, to your point, we do have an agreement with Corteva that we ought to maintain $2.5 billion of EBITDA that stays with the liability. Having said that, that doesn't mean we can't separate things if we want to. And I'm not saying we are, but if we want to, we can separate the different businesses, but we would have to leave $2.5 billion of EBITDA liability with -- it could be 2 entities, by the way, we leave it with. So we have a fair amount of flexibility in front of us, but -- so we don't have to hold it in 1 entity if we don't want to.

但順便說一句，史蒂夫，關於你的觀點，我們確實與科迪華達成了一項協議，即我們應該保留 25 億美元的 EBITDA 作為負債。話雖如此，但這並不意味著如果我們想的話就不能將事物分開。我不是說我們一定會這樣做，但如果我們想的話，我們可以將不同的業務分開，但我們將不得不留下 25 億美元的 EBITDA 負債——順便說一句，這可能是兩個實體的負債。所以我們現在有相當大的彈性，但是——如果我們不想的話，我們不必把它放在一個實體中。

And next, we'll hear from Steve Byrne with Bank of America.

接下來，我們將聽取美國銀行的史蒂夫·伯恩的演講。

In the spirit of your comments about innovation, Marc, I wondered if you had any thoughts about using some of your technologies to maybe take a little more of a proactive stance on these PFAS liabilities. For example, using your skills in water treatment to help these municipalities that have PFAS, unrelated to legacy DuPont sites but just for goodwill, like the city of Fayetteville pulls water that's got 20 parts per trillion PFOA, PFOS and it's upstream from the Chemours plant; or use your capabilities in probiotics to develop bacteria that can degrade these fluorinated compounds in these industrial wastewater treatment plants. Your thoughts on that?

馬克，鑑於你剛才談到了創新，我想知道你是否考慮過利用你的一些技術，在應對 PFAS 責任方面採取更積極主動的立場。例如，您可以利用您在水處理方面的技能，幫助那些受 PFAS 污染的市政當局，這些污染與杜邦公司遺留的場地無關，而僅僅是出於善意，例如費耶特維爾市的自來水中含有 20 萬億分之 PFOA 和 PFOS，而該市位於科慕氟工廠的上游；或者您可以利用您在益生菌中降解的水，開發益生菌。你對此有何看法？

Yes, yes. Thanks, Steve. It's a great question. And actually, we published some PFAS commitments as new DuPont late last year, and those included kind of our commitments for use of PFAS in our products and manufacturing. And the -- my perspective on this is that this isn't so much about health effects at the low levels of exposure we're talking about, but the fact that these long-chain chemicals are bioaccumulative is just unacceptable these days to all of us. And so we made a statement that included that we would be ending all use in our product lines, we'd be driving the use of PFAS-free firefighting foams at all of our manufacturing sites, to be a leader there. And we made a commitment around our water business.

是的，是的。謝謝你，史蒂夫。這是一個很好的問題。事實上，去年年底我們以杜邦新公司的身份發布了一些關於 PFAS 的承諾，其中包括我們對在產品和製造過程中使用 PFAS 的承諾。我的看法是，這與其說是低水平接觸對健康的影響，不如說是這些長鏈化學物質具有生物累積性這一事實，這在當今對我們所有人來說都是不可接受的。因此，我們發表了一份聲明，其中包括我們將停止在我們的產品線中全面使用 PFAS，我們將在所有生產基地推動使用不含 PFAS 的消防泡沫，成為該領域的領導者。我們對水務業務做出了承諾。

And just to your point, we've been pretty active in the water space. Now this has, as you're probably aware, the heritage Dow Water Solutions business, been a leader in the global water industry for decades. We've been, of course, investing aggressively in that business because the growth is fantastic. And those acquisitions we made last year, of course, sort of further strengthened our portfolio now so that we've got offerings that span from UF to ion exchange to reverse osmosis. And ion exchange and RO, in particular, are pretty effective techniques for removal of trace PFAS compounds.

正如您所說，我們在水資源領域一直非常活躍。正如您可能已經了解的那樣，陶氏水務解決方案業務作為一家歷史悠久的企業，幾十年來一直是全球水務行業的領導者。當然，我們一直在大力投資這項業務，因為它的成長勢頭非常強勁。當然，我們去年進行的那些收購進一步加強了我們的產品組合，使我們現在的產品涵蓋了從超濾到離子交換再到逆滲透等各個領域。特別是離子交換和逆滲透是去除微量 PFAS 化合物的非常有效的技術。

And so one of the commitments we made in the -- in that document last year was to provide technology, including royalty-free licenses to certain pieces of IP that we had around the PFAS area. We're also working very actively on product developments that would allow our materials -- our components to be targeted to cleanup activities. And so just as you said, we're trying to do the right thing, working around the country in areas where there's need here.

因此，我們在去年的文件中所做的承諾之一是提供技術，包括對我們在 PFAS 領域擁有的某些智慧財產權的免版稅授權。我們也積極進行產品開發，以便讓我們的材料—我們的組件能夠用於清理活動。正如你所說，我們正在努力做正確的事，在全國各地有需要的地區開展工作。

By the way, I would just add a point back to the whole PFOS conversation. You know we've been sued by the State of Michigan. And just to make a point back to my prepared remarks, we had no manufacturing facility there that used any of those materials. It's more of a firefighting foam case. And so I think as it plays out and the facts are laid on the table, we had nothing to do in that state with any of that.

順便說一句，關於 PFOS 的討論，我只想補充一點。你知道我們被密西根州起訴了嗎？最後，為了重申我準備好的發言內容，我們在那裡沒有任何生產設施使用過那些材料。它更像是一個消防泡沫箱。所以我覺得，隨著事情的發展和事實的擺在桌面上，我們會發現，我們和那個州的任何事情都沒有任何關係。

And next, we'll hear from Jonas Oxgaard with Bernstein.

接下來，我們將聽聽 Jonas Oxgaard 與 Bernstein 的對話。

I was curious about the automotive, so a 2-part question. On -- if we strip out the nylon impact, what does that business look like in 2020? And what underlying automotive market growth do you use for that outlook?

我對汽車產業很感興趣，所以問題分為兩部分。如果剔除尼龍的影響，那麼 2020 年該產業的發展前景如何？那麼，當您在做出這項預測時，是基於怎樣的汽車市場成長預期呢？

Yes. Thanks, Jonas. It's a good question. So just starting with the underlying market growth. We're assuming -- our planning assumption is a continued slight contraction in the auto industry for 2020, like minus 1% with respect to builds this year. So that's another contraction versus more significant contraction last year.

是的。謝謝你，喬納斯。這是個好問題。所以，我們先從基礎市場成長說起。我們假設—我們的規劃假設是，2020 年汽車產業將繼續小幅萎縮，例如今年的產量下降 1%。所以，與去年更顯著的收縮相比，今年的收縮幅度又一次。

When you strip out nylon pricing, we are expecting our engineering plastics to continue to grow from a volume perspective a little bit faster than the market. We're expecting destocking. We're seeing that destocking has pretty well ended, and so that provides some sequential improvement in the situation. And then on top of that, we're benefiting from some of the growth drivers like auto electrification. And you know EV sales were up double digits last year, expected to be up double digits this year. We're seeing our growth into electric vehicles growing even faster than that. And so that's starting to become a more significant driver.

剔除尼龍價格因素後，我們預期工程塑膠的銷售成長速度將持續略高於市場平均。我們預計會出現去庫存現象。我們看到去庫存化進程基本上結束，因此情況有所改善。除此之外，我們也受惠於汽車電氣化等一些成長驅動因素。你知道，去年電動車銷量實現了兩位數的成長，預計今年也將實現兩位數的成長。我們看到，我們在電動車領域的成長速度甚至比這還要快。因此，這正逐漸成為一個更重要的驅動因素。

So you're absolutely right that nylon pricing dynamics are so significant. They're kind of overwhelming a lot of the positives, but there are some bright spots or green shoots there underneath that. On top of that, I'd just add, given the nylon situation, we are taking some pretty aggressive action around cost control. And that includes productivity actions in the sites -- the production sites, but also the G&A costs at the business level to try to tighten up the belt as much as we can to mitigate some of that pricing downside that we're seeing.

所以你說的完全正確，尼龍的價格動態確實非常重要。它們在某種程度上掩蓋了很多積極的方面，但在這些負面因素之下，仍然有一些亮點或積極的跡象。除此之外，我還想補充一點，鑑於尼龍的情況，我們正在採取一些相當積極的措施來控製成本。這包括提高生產現場的生產效率，以及在業務層面削減一般及行政成本，盡可能地勒緊褲腰帶，以減輕我們目前看到的定價下行壓力。

Next, we'll hear from John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets.

接下來，我們將聽取 BMO 資本市場的 John McNulty 的演講。

So with regard to the noncore assets, can you give us an update on how the sales are looking there? And I understand the Hemlock business is a little bit more complicated, but is that something you feel like you can get pulled off by the end of the year this year?

那麼關於非核心資產，能否介紹一下這部分資產的銷售狀況？我知道鐵杉業務比較複雜，但你覺得你能在今年底前完成這件事嗎？

Yes. Thanks, John. This is Marc. I'll take that, yes. So we feel pretty confident we're going to continue to make progress. And like we've said the last couple of quarters, my expectation is you'll see kind of a steady drip of progress here across the businesses in noncore. Hard to time, obviously a lot of work behind the scenes on transactions, a lot of rumors. I saw that there was a new one this week that came out. I'd say ignore the rumors but have confidence that we're working hard to execute the noncore divestitures, and we should see progress quarter by quarter here.

是的。謝謝你，約翰。這是馬克。是的，我接受。因此我們很有信心能夠繼續取得進展。正如我們過去幾個季度所說，我預計非核心業務將穩步取得進展。很難把握時機，顯然幕後有很多交易工作要做，也有很多傳言。我看到這週出了一部新的。我的建議是，不要理會謠言，要相信我們正在努力執行非核心資產剝離，我們應該能夠逐季度看到進展。

Next, we'll hear from Christopher Parkinson with Crédit Suisse.

接下來，我們將聽聽瑞士信貸的克里斯多福·帕金森的發言。

Great. Within the S&C segment, you've obviously had good margin progress over the last few years. But more recently, you've obviously faced some procurement challenges, outages, et cetera. Can you just walk us through your intermediate- to long-term expectations for S&C margins just given the current asset footprint, procurement strategy evolution? And then also the growth outlook for -- and expectations for both an eventual rebound for Safety Solutions and momentum in RO membranes in water, just any color would be greatly appreciated.

偉大的。在運動與健身領域，你們在過去幾年顯然取得了良好的利潤成長。但最近，你們顯然遇到了一些採購上的挑戰、停工等等。鑑於目前的資產規模和採購策略演變，您能否簡單介紹一下您對S&C利潤率的中長期預期？此外，對於安全解決方案的最終反彈以及逆滲透膜在水處理領域的發展勢頭，任何形式的預測都將不勝感激。

Yes. Thanks, Chris. Yes, absolutely right. We had great progress on S&C margins through '18, first half of '19. We've stumbled a bit now in the last few quarters. And as I said earlier, the majority of that is really operational issues in the aramids business and Safety Solutions. We are pretty confident that, that's behind us.

是的。謝謝你，克里斯。是的，完全正確。2018 年和 2019 年上半年，我們在 S&C 利潤率方面取得了巨大進步。最近幾季我們遇到了一些困難。正如我之前所說，其中大部分實際上是芳綸業務和安全解決方案的營運問題。我們相當有信心，那件事已經過去了。

When you look at the demand environment -- so we've got 3 primary markets that we're exposed to, safety, water and shelter. No big trajectory change year-over-year in the market environment. So the demand is still very strong in water, strong in safety, kind of pockets of weakness in shelter but no big trajectory change. And so in that environment, with the operational issues resolved, we feel pretty good that we'll see the margins come back to what we've said is the kind of operating range that we expect, sort of mid- to high 20s range.

從需求環境來看—我們面臨三個主要市場：安全、水和住所。市場環境與去年同期相比並沒有出現大幅的趨勢變化。所以，對水的需求依然非常強勁，對安全的需求也很強勁，對住所的需求存在一些薄弱環節，但整體趨勢沒有太大變化。因此，在這種環境下，隨著營運問題的解決，我們很有信心利潤率會回到我們先前所說的預期營運範圍內，大約在 20% 到 20% 之間。

And then going forward, as water grows -- water segment margins are strong, a little bit above the average. With the acquisitions we've made, we've got some further upside to drive margin improvement, and so I would expect that to provide longer-term lift in terms of what we could expect margins to continue to do. So I'm feeling pretty good. We got through some issues here. We should see, with continued demand, the margin strengthen, and then we've got some longer-term upside on top of that.

然後，隨著水資源的成長，水資源部分的利潤率很高，略高於平均值。透過我們進行的收購，我們還有一些進一步提升利潤率的空間，因此我預計這將為利潤率的長期成長帶來提振。我覺得還不錯。我們已經解決了一些問題。隨著需求的持續成長，利潤率應該會提高，而且從長遠來看，我們還有一定的上漲空間。

And maybe just to follow up on Marc's comments. If you look at safety within Safety & Construction, it has the highest margins and our largest capital investment that we're making. We've talked about before the tieback line 8 that we're building in Luxembourg. So obviously, that's not an impact on 2020. But as we go towards the future and we look at the needs for tieback for medical packaging and for protective garment, we'll see -- we'll have the capacity to meet what we expect to be continued strong demand in that space.

或許只是想對馬克的評論做個補充。在安全與施工領域，安全的利潤率最高，也是我們最大的資本投資。我們之前討論過我們在盧森堡建造的 8 號迴線。所以很明顯，這不會對 2020 年產生影響。但展望未來，當我們審視醫療包裝和防護服對束帶的需求時，我們將看到—我們將有能力滿足我們預期在該領域持續強勁的需求。

And that will be accretive to margins over time as we get the new asset up and running and filled.

隨著新資產投入營運並實現滿載運轉，這將逐步提高利潤率。

Next, we'll hear from Bob Koort with Goldman Sachs.

接下來，我們將聽取高盛集團的鮑伯·庫爾特的演講。

Quick question on the nylon issue. I know you guys got out of nylon commodity years ago with INVISTA, and I guess I had assumed that the engineering polymers business maybe had a little bit more downstream, high-value offering. So why is it that you're exposed to that nylon pricing risk and not really passing through whatever you need to in order to recover that?

關於尼龍材質的問題，我有個小問題。我知道你們幾年前就透過收購英威達退出了尼龍商品市場，我當時以為工程聚合物業務可能會提供更多下游的高價值產品。那麼，為什麼你要承擔尼龍價格上漲的風險，卻不採取必要的措施來彌補損失呢？

And then secondly, Ed, you talked about trying to keep tax leakage at a minimum. Do you also worry about value leakage here if you try to monetize some of these assets when they're not exactly pumping with all cylinders going at the present time?

其次，艾德，你剛才提到要盡量減少稅收流失。如果這些資產目前並沒有充分發揮其價值，而你卻試圖將它們貨幣化，你是否也擔心會出現價值流失？

Yes. Thanks, Bob. I'll take the first one and then turn it over to Ed, give Ed a chance for his voice to prepare itself. Yes, it's a great question on nylon. So just to be clear, this isn't raw material cost fluctuations so there's not exactly a pass-through. But you could challenge fairly are we getting the value for our nylon compounds, which are what we call, the trade name, Zytel. Zytel is a differentiated product. It's a market-leading product. It's got unique properties in terms of temperature and mechanical for applications. Automotive is sort of the highest value space, sizable market where Zytel is used.

是的。謝謝你，鮑伯。我先唱第一首，然後交給艾德，讓艾德的嗓子有機會做好準備。是的，關於尼龍這個問題問得很好。所以要先明確的是，這不是原料成本波動，因此不存在成本轉嫁的問題。但你可以合理地質疑，我們是否從我們的尼龍化合物（我們稱之為商品名 Zytel）中獲得了價值。Zytel 是一款差異化產品。它是市場領先的產品。它在溫度和機械性能方面具有獨特的應用特性。汽車產業是 Zytel 應用價值最高、規模最大的市場之一。

So what's really happening here is us making the decision that to continue to stay in the game for new qualifications in the auto space, we do have competitors that are at lower price, we've got to move price a little closer to where now the competitors are in order to continue to be requalified for future applications. And so it's a delicate balance. I mean we do try to price for value, but at the end of the day, we're not the only supplier of nylon compositions in the market. And so that's the kind of balance here that's happening.

所以，我們真正要做的就是，為了繼續在汽車領域獲得新的認證，我們面臨著價格更低的競爭對手，為了繼續獲得未來應用的重新認證，我們必須將價格稍微降低一些，以更接近競爭對手目前的水平。所以，這是一種微妙的平衡。我的意思是，我們確實努力做到物有所值，但歸根結底，我們並不是市場上唯一的尼龍製品供應商。所以，這裡正在形成一種平衡。

Yes. To the other question, look, the way I would answer it is very similar to what we did with IFF. We have great franchises that we have in our respective industries. And yes, let me just use electronics now as an example. The premier companies are trading literally 600 to 700 basis points above ours. We have a great franchise in electronics. If we were to do something in one of our other businesses that was a tax-advantaged transaction, we would get the equivalent value out of it, just like we did in the IFF transaction, with the right appropriate multiple that, that industry should have. So whether the industry is up a little right now or down a little bit right now is sort of irrelevant in one of those deals as long as you lock in the proper multiple that you deserve in that industry.

是的。至於另一個問題，我的回答方式和我們處理 IFF 的方式非常相似。我們在各自的行業中都擁有非常優秀的特許經營品牌。是的，我就以電子產品為例吧。那些頂級公司的股價比我們的高出整整 600 到 700 個基點。我們在電子產品領域擁有非常成功的特許經營權。如果我們在其他業務中進行一項享有稅收優惠的交易，我們將獲得與 IFF 交易中相同的價值，並獲得該行業應有的適當倍數。所以，在這些交易中，無論行業目前是略微上漲還是略微下跌，都無關緊要，只要你鎖定了你在該行業應得的適當倍數即可。

So again, I'm not saying we're doing something tomorrow. We're assessing our options. We are talking to people here. But clearly, we can get the value out of a transaction if we want to do something. If -- by the way, if we were outright going to sell something right now and take cash for it, yes, you got to assess is the industry up, is it down and all that, are you getting the proper value at the right time. But just going back to the transaction we already announced, we don't have to worry about that in that we think we're creating long-term great value by creating the de facto world leader in that industry, and that's the type of things we're looking at.

所以，我再次聲明，我並不是說我們明天會做什麼。我們正在評估各種方案。我們正在和這裡的人們交談。但很顯然，如果我們想做某件事，我們就可以從交易中獲得價值。順便說一句，如果我們現在要直接賣掉東西並拿到現金，是的，你必須評估一下行業是上升還是下降等等，你是否在正確的時間獲得了正確的價值。但回到我們已經宣布的交易，我們不必擔心，因為我們認為我們正在透過打造該行業事實上的世界領導者來創造長期的巨大價值，而這正是我們所關注的。

And next, we will 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。

You noted a big mix effect in the Electronics & Imaging segment. Is that lower margins in the imaging segment versus electronics or a wide range of margins within electronics?

您注意到電子與影像領域存在較大的混雜效應。是影像領域的利潤率低於電子產品領域，還是電子產品領域內部的利潤率差異很大？

Yes, it's more of the latter. So the semi -- we've got 3 businesses there, Interconnect Solutions, Semiconductor Technologies and image solutions, as you said. And the Semiconductor Technologies business is the highest margin segment, and the margins are about 700 basis points over -- higher than the average for E&I. So it's a pretty significant mix effect.

是的，更接近後者。所以半導體——正如你所說，我們有三個業務部門：互連解決方案、半導體技術和影像解決方案。半導體技術業務是利潤率最高的業務板塊，其利潤率比電子和儀表業務的平均水準高出約 700 個基點。所以這是一個相當顯著的混合效應。

Semi, as you know, was soft all year. I'd say the benefit is that we did see some sequential improvement now 2 quarters running in the semi business. And so as we've seen from the semi companies out there, we're starting to see the signs of a recovery here for 2020, and so we're confident that some growth in semi as well as the margin mix improvement will be a key kicker for E&I this year.

如你所知，半決賽全年都很軟。我認為好處是，我們已經連續兩個季度看到半導體業務有所改善。因此，正如我們從半導體公司的情況中看到的那樣，我們開始看到 2020 年復甦的跡象，因此我們相信，半導體業務的一些增長以及利潤率結構的改善將成為今年 E&I 業務的關鍵推動力。

And we will take our final question from P.J. Juvekar with Citi.

最後，我們將回答花旗銀行的 P.J. Juvekar 提出的問題。

I want to go back to nylon. So you've seen compression in nylon pricing. A lot of these engineered materials start out as a specialties and then get commoditized over time. Are you seeing commoditization in nylon? Or is there new China competition? Or is it just that the capacity that was down is starting back?

我想重新用回尼龍材質。所以你已經看到尼龍價格的壓縮了。許多這類工程材料最初都是特殊材料，然後隨著時間的推移而逐漸商品化。你認為尼龍正在走向商品化嗎？或者說，是否存在來自中國的新競爭對手？還是只是之前中斷的產能開始恢復了？

Yes, it's really that. Yes, good question, P.J. This is Marc. I'll take that. I mean there's no change -- no significant change in the competitive environment, still the same group of major suppliers globally, all fairly sizable multinationals. This is really the demand environment in automotive being so soft for an extended period that's really impacting the pricing dynamics.

是的，確實如此。是的，問得好，P.J.。我是馬克。我接受。我的意思是，競爭環境沒有變化——沒有重大變化，全球主要供應商仍然是同一群人，而且都是規模相當大的跨國公司。汽車市場需求環境長期疲軟，確實對價格動態產生了影響。

And so for us, in terms of actions to take, I mean, I talked about cost and productivity. We've got to continue to develop high-value applications, so diversifying out of automotive. Automotive is a great space for nylon because of the temperature and mechanical properties, but we are focused on industrial applications, obviously electric vehicles. That core will continue to create value. We still think the competitive dynamics globally are good here. But it's really -- as I said, it's really the demand environment that's causing the pain.

所以對我們來說，就應該採取的行動而言，我的意思是，我談到了成本和生產力。我們必須持續開發高價值應用，從而實現汽車產業以外的多元化發展。由於尼龍具有良好的耐溫性和機械性能，汽車產業是尼龍的理想應用領域，但我們主要專注於工業應用，尤其是電動車。這一核心優勢將繼續創造價值。我們仍然認為這裡的全球競爭格局是有利的。但正如我所說，真正造成痛苦的是需求環境。

Thank you, everyone, for joining our call. For your reference, a copy of our transcript will be posted on DuPont's website. This concludes our call.

感謝各位參加我們的電話會議。供您參考，我們的成績單副本將發佈在杜邦公司的網站上。通話到此結束。

And this concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接了。