藝康 (ECL) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Ecolab First Quarter 2023 Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎來到 Ecolab 2023 年第一季度收益發布電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Andy Hedberg, Vice President, Investor Relations for Ecolab. Thank you, Mr. Hedberg. You may begin.

現在我很高興向您介紹東道主 Ecolab 投資者關係副總裁 Andy Hedberg。謝謝你，赫德伯格先生。你可以開始了。

Thank you, and hello, everyone. Welcome to Ecolab's first quarter conference call. With me today are Christophe Beck, Ecolab's Chairman and CEO; and Scott Kirkland, our CFO. A discussion of our results, along with our earnings release and the slides referencing this quarter results are available on Ecolab's website at ecolab.com/investor.

謝謝大家，大家好。歡迎參加藝康第一季度電話會議。今天和我在一起的有 Ecolab 董事長兼首席執行官 Christophe Beck；和我們的首席財務官 Scott Kirkland。對我們的結果的討論、我們的收益發布和引用本季度結果的幻燈片可在 Ecolab 的網站 ecolab.com/investor 上找到。

Please take a moment to read the cautionary statements in these materials, which state that this teleconference and the associated supplemental materials include estimates of future performance. These are forward-looking statements, and actual results could differ materially from those projected. Factors that could cause actual results to differ are described in the Risk Factors section in our most recent Form 10-K and in our poster materials. We also refer you to the supplemental diluted earnings per share information in the release.

請花點時間閱讀這些材料中的警示性聲明，其中聲明本次電話會議和相關補充材料包括對未來業績的估計。這些是前瞻性陳述，實際結果可能與預期結果存在重大差異。我們最新的 10-K 表格和我們的海報材料中的風險因素部分描述了可能導致實際結果不同的因素。我們還請您參閱新聞稿中的補充稀釋每股收益信息。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Christophe Beck for his comments.

有了這個，我想把電話轉給 Christophe Beck，徵求他的意見。

Thank you so much, Andy, and welcome to everyone. Look, our team delivered another strong quarter. Once again, even slightly better than I would have predicted. Top line was very strong. Volume trends remained stable. Margins expanded. Operating income growth got even stronger and adjusted EPS growth kept improving as we promised.

非常感謝，安迪，歡迎大家。看，我們的團隊又交付了一個強勁的季度。再一次，甚至比我預料的要好一點。頂線非常強勁。銷量趨勢保持穩定。邊距擴大。正如我們承諾的那樣，營業收入增長更加強勁，調整後的每股收益增長持續改善。

All as promised, as we continued to face some real headwinds in foreign exchange and interest. Most importantly, our shift to offense showed some real encouraging signs of progress. Organic sales improved from 12% in the fourth quarter to 13% in the first, with strong performance across all segments. Our net new business pipeline once again reached new records in the first quarter as what we have to offer, water, energy and labor savings while delivering the best and safest outcome in the industries we serve continues to grow in importance for our customers. We also maintained very strong pricing at 13%, which we believe will be the peak as we will begin to lap against last year's strong acceleration.

一切都如承諾的那樣，因為我們繼續面臨外彙和利息方面的一些真正的阻力。最重要的是，我們向進攻的轉變顯示出一些真正令人鼓舞的進步跡象。有機銷售額從第四季度的 12% 提高到第一季度的 13%，所有部門都表現強勁。我們的淨新業務渠道在第一季度再次創下新紀錄，因為我們必須提供的服務、節水、能源和勞動力，同時在我們所服務的行業中提供最佳和最安全的結果，這對我們的客戶來說越來越重要。我們還將非常強勁的定價保持在 13%，我們相信這將是峰值，因為我們將開始超越去年的強勁加速。

Our approach to pricing and it's important to state that is responsible and respectful allowing our customers to absorb long-term increases in a progressive manner. This is backed by true eROI value, the Ecolab way as we help them reduce the overall operating costs, usage of natural resources and their environmental impact.

我們的定價方法，重要的是要聲明負責任和尊重，讓我們的客戶以漸進的方式吸收長期增長。這得到了真正的 eROI 價值的支持，Ecolab 的方式幫助他們降低了總體運營成本、自然資源的使用及其對環境的影響。

Delivered product cost continued to increase versus last year, but the rate of inflation began to ease. This, along with strong pricing execution, allowed us to drive modest gross margin expansion a bit earlier than expected. That being said, our margin recovery journey has only just begun. Despite our expectation that inflation remains stubbornly high, we remain fully committed to recovering our margin over time.

與去年相比，交付的產品成本繼續增加，但通貨膨脹率開始放緩。這一點，加上強有力的定價執行，使我們能夠比預期更早地推動適度的毛利率擴張。話雖如此，我們的利潤率恢復之旅才剛剛開始。儘管我們預計通貨膨脹率仍然居高不下，但我們仍然完全致力於隨著時間的推移恢復我們的利潤率。

Done the right way, one that builds further customer loyalty as we continue to deliver more value. The repositioning of our institutional business, which is a big priority for us, is progressing well as demonstrated by strong sales growth and margin leverage within that segment. Healthcare and Life Sciences organic sales growth strengthened, while operating income remains under pressure near term at least as we continue to invest in growth and transformation. They are 2 very different businesses and stories within that segment.

以正確的方式完成，隨著我們繼續提供更多價值，可以進一步建立客戶忠誠度。我們機構業務的重新定位是我們的重中之重，該業務的強勁銷售增長和利潤率證明了這一點，該業務進展順利。醫療保健和生命科學有機銷售增長加強，而營業收入在短期內仍面臨壓力，至少在我們繼續投資於增長和轉型的過程中是如此。他們是該細分市場中兩個截然不同的業務和故事。

In Healthcare, we continue to take actions to improve profitability. Whereas in Life Sciences, we're making further investments as we add capacity and capabilities in Purolite to capitalize on very attractive and profitable long-term growth opportunities.

在醫療保健領域，我們繼續採取措施提高盈利能力。而在生命科學領域，我們正在進一步投資，因為我們增加了 Purolite 的產能和能力，以利用非常有吸引力和有利可圖的長期增長機會。

While we continued investing in our long-term capabilities and in digital technology, we also continue to make solid progress in SG&A productivity. The combination of improved gross margins and better operational productivity led to strong organic operating income growth of 19%, up from 10% in the fourth quarter last year.

在我們繼續投資於我們的長期能力和數字技術的同時，我們也在 SG&A 生產力方面繼續取得穩步進展。毛利率提高和運營效率提高相結合，導致有機運營收入強勁增長 19%，高於去年第四季度的 10%。

Our adjusted earnings per share growth improved to 7%, which includes a 13% headwind from FX and interest. In summary, we started the year exactly the way we wanted with strong top and bottom line momentum despite a challenging environment. Looking ahead, we anticipate inflation to remain high for the foreseeable future, interest rates to have a strong impact on global demand and continued geopolitical tensions.

我們調整後的每股收益增長提高到 7%，其中包括來自外彙和利息的 13% 逆風。總而言之，儘管環境充滿挑戰，但我們以強勁的收入和利潤勢頭以我們想要的方式開始了這一年。展望未來，我們預計在可預見的未來通脹將保持高位，利率將對全球需求產生強烈影響，地緣政治緊張局勢將持續。

Although none of this is new, the good news is that we are very well positioned to win in this environment.

儘管這些都不是新鮮事，但好消息是我們已做好充分準備在這種環境中取勝。

Over the last 3 years, our expertise grew as we focused on supporting our team and developing innovative solutions. Our customer retention rates remain high as we protected them from supply shortages. Our margin started to recover and our organic operating income accelerated as we drove pricing in thoughtful ways while increasing customer value.

在過去的 3 年裡，隨著我們專注於支持我們的團隊和開發創新解決方案，我們的專業知識不斷增長。我們的客戶保留率仍然很高，因為我們保護他們免受供應短缺的影響。我們的利潤率開始回升，我們的有機營業收入加速增長，因為我們以深思熟慮的方式推動定價，同時增加客戶價值。

And now as macro trends are softening, we will continue to accelerate our shift to offense by accelerating the business, by executing extremely well and by driving productivity improvements and continuing to invest in our major growth engines to drive profitable growth. This will ensure we deliver stronger sequential earnings performance exactly as we've indicated during our previous calls. With this, we expect adjusted earnings growth in the second quarter to be in the plus 5% to plus 14% range and to end the year as expected, with adjusted earnings growth in the fourth quarter that reaches low double digits.

現在，隨著宏觀趨勢趨於緩和，我們將通過加速業務發展、出色的執行力、推動生產力的提高以及繼續投資於我們的主要增長引擎來推動盈利增長，從而繼續加速向進攻的轉變。這將確保我們提供更強勁的連續收益表現，正如我們在之前的電話會議中所指出的那樣。有鑑於此，我們預計第二季度調整後的盈利增長將在正 5% 至正 14% 的範圍內，並按預期結束今年，第四季度調整後的盈利增長將達到低兩位數。

And finally, we will remain good stewards of capital by continuing to invest in the business, increasing our dividend, reducing our leverage and returning cash to shareholders as we've always done. And most importantly, with the best team, science and capabilities in the industry, we were prepared to grow our share of this high-quality $152 billion growth market. I believe our future has never looked brighter. I look forward to your questions.

最後，我們將一如既往地繼續投資業務、增加股息、降低杠桿率並向股東返還現金，從而繼續做好資本管家。最重要的是，憑藉業內最好的團隊、科學和能力，我們準備好在這個價值 1520 億美元的高質量增長市場中擴大我們的份額。我相信我們的未來從未如此光明。我期待著你的問題。

Thanks, Christophe. That concludes our formal remarks. Operator, would you please begin the question-and-answer period?

謝謝，克里斯托夫。我們的正式發言到此結束。接線員，請開始問答環節好嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Tim Mulrooney with William Blair.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Tim Mulrooney 和 William Blair。

All right. So for my one question, I think I'll have to go with gross margin. It looks like the adjusted gross margin expanded 20 basis points year-over-year in the first quarter. Now we weren't expecting to see that expansion year-over-year kind of until the second or third quarter. So that was great to see. But taking into account what you're expecting for pricing in raw materials, I'm curious what you're thinking for the cadence of gross margin expansion as we move through the remainder of this year.

好的。所以對於我的一個問題，我想我必須考慮毛利率。看起來調整後的毛利率在第一季度同比增長了 20 個基點。現在，我們預計要到第二或第三季度才會看到同比增長。所以很高興看到。但考慮到您對原材料定價的預期，我很好奇您對今年剩餘時間毛利率擴張的節奏有何看法。

Thank you, Tim. I'm very pleased with the progress that we've made, and we know that's an outcome of what the team has done the past 2 years. It's been a long journey. We wanted obviously to reach the point where we could turn the corner and then rebuild and expand on our gross margins and operating income margins as well. So quite pleased, as you said, with what we've delivered. In Q1, operating income went up 19%, as I said just before, which led to a 50 basis points improvement as well as the OI margin, which is the first trigger for me.

謝謝你，蒂姆。我對我們取得的進展感到非常高興，我們知道這是團隊過去 2 年所做工作的結果。這是一段漫長的旅程。我們顯然希望達到可以扭轉局面的地步，然後重建和擴大我們的毛利率和營業利潤率。正如您所說，對我們交付的產品非常滿意。在第一季度，營業收入增長了 19%，正如我剛才所說，這導致 OI 利潤率和 OI 利潤率提高了 50 個基點，這是我的第一個觸發因素。

And the second is this gross margin of 20 basis points. It came a bit earlier than we had expected. We thought it would happen during the second half of the year because, ultimately, pricing got stronger than what we thought initially, which is a good news. Volume was better than feared, especially because of what happened in Europe. It did not happen because of the higher temperature as well.

第二個是 20 個基點的毛利率。它來得比我們預期的要早一些。我們認為這會在今年下半年發生，因為最終定價比我們最初想像的要強，這是個好消息。成交量比擔心的要好，特別是因為歐洲發生的事情。它也沒有發生，因為溫度較高。

And the delivered product cost inflation that didn't go down, but went less up than what we saw in the fourth quarter of the past year. So when we bring it all together, gross margins are turned the corner at that point, which is all good news. Gross margin turning good, OI, operating income margin, turning good as well. But we're just at the beginning of that journey because our mission is really start to get back to a high watermark as we call it, and then to keep expanding from there.

交付的產品成本通脹沒有下降，但漲幅低於我們在去年第四季度看到的水平。因此，當我們將所有這些放在一起時，毛利率就在那個時候出現了轉機，這都是好消息。毛利率轉好，OI，營業收入利潤率也轉好。但我們才剛剛開始這段旅程，因為我們的使命是真正開始回到我們所說的高水位線，然後從那裡繼續擴張。

So we'll keep improving quarter-after-quarter as we've promised and committed as well. But that will also depend on the rate of the delivered product cost inflation, which is hard to know exactly how it's going to be.

因此，我們將按照我們的承諾和承諾，逐個季度不斷改進。但這也將取決於交付產品成本的通脹率，很難確切知道它將如何發展。

It's been up 9% in the first quarter. We had delivered product cost inflation of 27%, team in '22. So 9% is obviously lower than 27%, but it's still going up. And I don't see it turn negative anytime soon. So for 2023, I think we will be facing continuous DPC inflation.

第一季度上漲了 9%。我們在 22 年實現了 27% 的產品成本通脹。所以 9% 顯然低於 27%，但它仍在上升。而且我認為它不會很快轉為負面。所以到 2023 年，我認為我們將面臨持續的 DPC 通貨膨脹。

So with that, well, we will keep working on pricing. We will keep working on volume. We will keep working on productivity in order as committed to make sure that our earnings improve quarter-after-quarter until we get to our traditional low double-digit operating income or earnings per share growth in the fourth quarter.

因此，我們將繼續致力於定價。我們將繼續努力提高音量。我們將繼續致力於提高生產力，以確保我們的收益逐季增加，直到我們在第四季度實現傳統的兩位數低營業收入或每股收益增長。

Our next question comes from the line of Ashish Sabadra with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Ashish Sabadra。

I wanted to focus on the SG&A leverage that we saw in the quarter, pretty strong leverage there. I was wondering if you could talk about the productivity initiatives that you've -- and the cost takeout initiatives, but also how the digital innovations are driving better SG&A leverage.

我想關注我們在本季度看到的 SG&A 槓桿，那裡的槓桿非常強大。我想知道你是否可以談談你已經採取的生產力計劃和成本削減計劃，以及數字創新如何推動更好的 SG&A 槓桿作用。

Thank you, Ashish. I like a lot the progress we've made on SG&A. We've made great progress last year in '22 as you know, so we improved our 200 basis points in the past year. And we will continue on a very good trend in the quarters and years to come as we automate much of the transactional work that we're doing either in the field with our sales and service people so they can focus really on creating value for our customers, which is where our investments are best focused on, obviously, and as well in the whole backbone infrastructure as we call it. This is the implementation of SAP. We're up north of 80% of the company on SAP as well now, and we're trying to leverage all that critical mass in shared services.

謝謝你，阿希什。我非常喜歡我們在 SG&A 方面取得的進展。如您所知，我們去年在 22 年取得了很大進展，因此我們在過去一年提高了 200 個基點。我們將在未來幾個季度和幾年繼續保持良好的趨勢，因為我們將與銷售和服務人員在現場進行的大部分交易工作自動化，這樣他們就可以真正專注於為我們的客戶創造價值，這顯然是我們投資最集中的地方，也是我們稱之為整個骨乾基礎設施的地方。這是SAP的實施。我們現在超過 80% 的公司都在使用 SAP，我們正在努力利用共享服務中的所有臨界質量。

So it's helping on the G&A side while we improve on the selling side as well. So it's not going to be every quarter, obviously, the same improvement, but the trends long term are going to remain the same. And I think that we are probably midway on that journey. So for the years to come, we will still have some upside coming up out of productivity.

因此，它在 G&A 方面有所幫助，同時我們也在銷售方面有所改進。所以它不會是每個季度，顯然，同樣的改進，但長期趨勢將保持不變。我認為我們可能正處於這一旅程的中途。因此，在未來幾年，我們仍然會從生產力中獲得一些好處。

Our next question comes from the line of Seth Weber with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自 Seth Weber 與 Wells Fargo 的對話。

I wanted to just ask about the pricing commentary you made, Christophe. I think I heard you say the 13% in the first quarter was probably peak. Can you just talk to how you're handling the energy surcharge, whether that's starting to roll off or whether you're trying to merge that into more structural pricing going forward? Just how we should think about the mix of pricing kind of coming off of this 13% number?

Christophe，我只想問問你所做的定價評論。我想我聽到你說第一季度的 13% 可能是峰值。你能談談你是如何處理能源附加費的嗎？它是否開始取消，或者你是否試圖將其合併到未來的結構性定價中？我們應該如何考慮這個 13% 數字的定價組合？

I'd love to, Seth. Thank you. So pricing, the team has done a remarkable job over the last 18 months, making really sure that the pricing we were delivering was really so backed by value that we're creating so for customers as well because we will never go down in pricing. It's been true for the last 20 years. That's not going to change in the years to come. This is the Ecolab way of creating value for customers and capturing part of it, which translates into pricing for our business.

我很樂意，賽斯。謝謝。因此，在過去的 18 個月裡，團隊在定價方面做得非常出色，確保我們提供的定價確實得到了我們為客戶創造的價值的支持，因為我們永遠不會降低定價。過去 20 年都是如此。這在未來幾年不會改變。這是 Ecolab 為客戶創造價值並獲取部分價值的方式，這會轉化為我們業務的定價。

So when I think about the pricing we had last year, we had roughly sort of 10% of price, so in '22. As mentioned, half of it will be carried over in '23, which is unchanged. The 13% that we have in Q1, you're right, you understood well. So it's going to be the peak for '23. We will keep having strong pricing in the quarters to come, but the rate of increase will ease as we lap obviously so year-over-year.

所以當我考慮我們去年的定價時，我們的價格大約是 22 年價格的 10%。如前所述，其中一半將在 23 年結轉，沒有變化。我們在第一季度擁有的 13%，你是對的，你理解得很好。所以這將是 23 年的高峰期。我們將在未來幾個季度保持強勁的定價，但隨著我們明顯同比下降，增長率將會放緩。

And now to your point, under energy surcharge, we've been working with our customers over the past 12 months to merge as much as we could of the surcharge into structural pricing, it's a bit different in every industry that we serve. But for the most part, the transfer from energy surcharge to structural pricing is going quite well. It's not all the way there, but I like the progress that we've made so far.

現在就您的觀點而言，在能源附加費下，我們在過去 12 個月中一直在與客戶合作，將盡可能多的附加費合併到結構定價中，我們服務的每個行業都有所不同。但在大多數情況下，從能源附加費到結構性定價的轉變進展順利。還沒有完全實現，但我喜歡我們迄今為止取得的進展。

Our next question comes from the line of John Roberts with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的約翰羅伯茨。

Nice quarter. Do you need to shrink the sales of the European health care business in order to turn around earnings?

不錯的季度。您是否需要縮減歐洲醫療保健業務的銷售額以扭虧為盈？

John, it depends on how you mean it. So turning earnings for the overall company, no. But for purely Healthcare in Europe, yes. It's important to keep in mind that Healthcare is 5% of the overall Ecolab organization. I'm really glad that 95% is going really well. And 5%, I don't like, and I'm staying focused on it. This is not my first priority, obviously, but this is an important priority for me.

約翰，這取決於你的意思。因此，為整個公司帶來收益，沒有。但是對於歐洲的純粹醫療保健，是的。請務必牢記，醫療保健佔整個 Ecolab 組織的 5%。我真的很高興 95% 進展順利。 5%，我不喜歡，我會一直關注它。顯然，這不是我的首要任務，但這對我來說是一個重要的優先事項。

So when I think about Healthcare, I've committed that in '23 we will see a turn. It's going to take some time to get to the right place. But the first action that we've done, are doing and will be doing is to rightsize the cost structure. We've announced it with our restructuring plan during the last call, and we're implementing it as we talk right now. But that's not going to be the whole solve as we know.

因此，當我想到醫療保健時，我承諾在 23 年我們將看到一個轉機。到達正確的位置需要一些時間。但我們已經做的、正在做的和將要做的第一個行動是調整成本結構。我們在上次電話會議上宣布了重組計劃，我們現在正在談話中實施它。但這並不是我們所知道的全部解決方案。

At the same time, there's a second point that we're focusing on is really making sure that we refocused the business towards what we know how to run, which is the most institutional-like-business, the infection prevention. It's a bit of a dish machine, obviously, because it's instrument and endoscope reprocessing as well. We know how to run that business. We know how to make money with that business. It's not where we focused in the past, but that's where we're going to focus as well in the future.

與此同時，我們關注的第二點是真正確保我們將業務重新集中在我們知道如何運行的業務上，這是最像機構的業務，即感染預防。顯然，它有點像洗碗機，因為它也是儀器和內窺鏡的後處理。我們知道如何經營這項業務。我們知道如何通過該業務賺錢。這不是我們過去關注的地方，但這也是我們未來要關注的地方。

And the last point is, we're going to really think about options to make sure that we can strengthen this core business in order to make it a real Ecolab business and more profitable as well. So bottom line, still some work to do, again, 5% of the overall company. So it's not going to move the needle, obviously, for the earnings of the overall company, but I'm committed to make it work.

最後一點是，我們將真正考慮各種選擇，以確保我們能夠加強這一核心業務，使其成為真正的 Ecolab 業務，並提高盈利能力。所以歸根結底，還有一些工作要做，佔整個公司的 5%。因此，顯然，這不會對整個公司的收益產生影響，但我致力於讓它發揮作用。

Our next question comes from the line of Josh Spector with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Josh Spector。

Just curious on your thoughts on volume as you walk through a number of puts and takes, I guess, with maybe Europe being an easier comp, same thing with Asia, North America, may be a bit more challenging. So do you see this kind of minus 1% persisting into next quarter? Do you have a different view on the second half, given where comps are? Just curious on your thoughts around that.

我想，當你瀏覽一些 puts 和 takes 時，你對交易量的想法很好奇，也許歐洲是一個更容易的競爭，亞洲、北美也是如此，可能更具挑戰性。那麼，您認為這種負 1% 的增長率會持續到下個季度嗎？考慮到補償的位置，你對下半場有不同的看法嗎？只是好奇你對此的想法。

Yes. Thank you, Josh. So on the volume, as mentioned, we've been slightly negative. It was kind of the same trends as what we saw in the fourth quarter. So honestly, better than (inaudible), if I may say, because Europe was less bad than we sold.

是的。謝謝你，喬希。因此，如前所述，我們對數量略有負面。這與我們在第四季度看到的趨勢有點相同。所以老實說，比（聽不清）好，如果我可以說，因為歐洲沒有我們賣的那麼糟糕。

So from an environment perspective, honestly, I like a lot, how Europe has been delivering. In the first quarter, sales were good. Margins were extremely good, and I think that they're going to have a very good year in Europe in '23. So that's the good news. If I look at overall volume for the company, if you exclude Europe, as mentioned just before, so we're slightly positive, which is a good news as well. And the third point, which is most important is the shift to offense that we've initiated a few months back, while we wanted to really make sure that pricing was done the right way in order to enter '23 very well positioned to improve our margins.

因此，從環境的角度來看，老實說，我非常喜歡歐洲的表現。第一季度，銷售情況良好。利潤率非常好，我認為他們將在 23 年的歐洲度過一個非常美好的一年。這是個好消息。如果我看一下公司的整體銷量，如果你把歐洲排除在外，就像剛才提到的那樣，那麼我們略微樂觀，這也是一個好消息。第三點，也是最重要的一點，是我們幾個月前開始轉向進攻，同時我們真的想確保定價是以正確的方式進行的，以便進入 23 年時處於有利地位，以改善我們的邊距。

Well, that was taking a lot of time for our sales team that they were not focusing on generating even more new business. That being said, new business in '22 was stronger than in '21. So it's not that it was not good. It was good actually, but I'd like to have much more. Now we've made that shift. It's what our teams like to do. It's where we are best at, ultimately, so I like a lot when I see the new business that's been generated.

好吧，這對我們的銷售團隊來說花費了很多時間，因為他們沒有專注於創造更多的新業務。話雖這麼說，22 年的新業務比 21 年更強勁。所以並不是說它不好。它實際上很好，但我想要更多。現在我們已經做出了這種轉變。這是我們團隊喜歡做的事情。歸根結底，這是我們最擅長的領域，所以當我看到已經產生的新業務時，我非常喜歡。

We had a record high in Q1, which is a very good news. We need to execute that properly as well. So we will be fighting a slowdown of the global economy. I don't know where that's exactly going to go, obviously, but it's not going to accelerate that I'm pretty sure about. So we will have to drive volume the old-fashioned way with new business, with innovation, investing set behind our growth engines as well. So it's going to improve quarter after quarter. And I think that, that's the journey that we are on, and you will see that in the quarters to come, especially in the second half of the year.

我們在第一季度創下歷史新高，這是一個非常好的消息。我們也需要正確地執行它。因此，我們將與全球經濟放緩作鬥爭。顯然，我不知道它到底會去哪裡，但我很確定它不會加速。因此，我們將不得不以老式的方式通過新業務、創新、投資來推動增長引擎的增長。所以它會一個季度一個季度地改善。我認為，這就是我們正在進行的旅程，你會在接下來的幾個季度看到這一點，尤其是在今年下半年。

Our next question comes from the line of Mike Harrison with Seaport Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自邁克哈里森與海港研究合作夥伴的合作。

Christophe, I know you're reluctant to put numbers around the full year outlook. The wording compared to 3 months ago is pretty much unchanged. But can you talk about how confident you are in that outlook today versus 3 months ago? What are some components that have changed for the better? And maybe what are some areas that you're more concerned about?

Christophe，我知道你不願意在全年展望中給出數字。與 3 個月前相比，措辭幾乎沒有變化。但您能談談與 3 個月前相比，您今天對這一前景的信心有多大嗎？哪些組件變得更好了？也許您更關心哪些領域？

Thank you, Mike. You're right. My wording hasn't changed, but my level of confidence has risen in the meantime, which is the net positive. We're off to a good start in '23, but let's face it. It's the first quarter of the year, 3 more to come and a lot can happen still obviously. What we can control -- I like what we're doing, fundamentals are strong. That's new business, that's pricing, that's innovation, that's productivity, that investments and so on, all these things that are all in our hands, obviously.

謝謝你，邁克。你說得對。我的措辭沒有改變，但與此同時我的信心水平上升了，這是淨積極的。我們在 23 年有了一個良好的開端，但讓我們面對現實吧。這是今年的第一季度，還有 3 個季度，顯然還有很多事情會發生。我們可以控制的——我喜歡我們正在做的事情，基本面很強大。那是新業務，那是定價，那是創新，那是生產力，那是投資等等，所有這些顯然都在我們手中。

And I think that the team is executing very, very well. So we'll keep improving so quarter-after-quarter. As we've done in the past few quarters, we will be doing in the quarters to come. But the honest truth is, I'd like to see what happens in Q2 in the world, not in what we can control in terms of inflation, in terms of interest rates, in terms of war in Europe, in terms of debt ceiling, you name it. The list is pretty long, obviously, here. And I want to understand what happens on the delivered product cost inflation because of all those elements.

而且我認為團隊執行得非常非常好。所以我們會一個季度一個季度地不斷改進。正如我們在過去幾個季度所做的那樣，我們將在未來幾個季度做。但老實說，我想看看世界第二季度會發生什麼，而不是我們可以控制的通貨膨脹、利率、歐洲戰爭、債務上限，你的名字。列表很長，顯然，在這裡。我想了解由於所有這些因素，交付產品成本膨脹會發生什麼。

So you're right, unchanged wording, unchanged outlook, higher level of confidence to deliver as I've committed to as well here, but we will know much more after the second quarter, and I will share with you what I'm seeing. And if things are getting better, I'll share that with you as well, but we're going to have a good year.

所以你是對的，不變的措辭，不變的前景，更高水平的信心來交付，就像我在這裡承諾的那樣，但我們會在第二季度後知道更多，我會與你分享我所看到的.如果情況有所好轉，我也會與您分享，但我們將度過美好的一年。

Our next question comes from the line of Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

Maybe I can just squeeze in a 2 parter. But just as a follow-up to the new business comments you made, I was hoping you could help just quantify how much that new business is adding to get some sense of gross volumes, I guess? And the main question I had was just any update you have on a lot of the kind of the data initiatives you had talked about a while back if -- where that was today?

也許我可以擠進一個 2 夥伴。但是，作為對您所做的新業務評論的後續行動，我希望您能幫助量化新業務增加了多少，以便對總銷量有所了解，我猜？我的主要問題是您對您前段時間談到的許多數據計劃的任何更新，如果 - 今天在哪裡？

Help me understand, Manav, I really wanted sense. So when you say data initiative, what is it exactly that you like to have?

幫助我理解，Manav，我真的很想要感覺。所以當你說數據主動性時，你到底喜歡什麼？

Well, just broadly, all the kind of data collection that you have done on all your on-site, I think you hired a Chief Technology Officer and the productivity, et cetera, whatever the outcomes there were.

好吧，從廣義上講，您在現場完成的所有數據收集，我認為您聘請了首席技術官和生產力，等等，無論結果如何。

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. So 2 questions here. First, on new business. We've never disclosed the exact numbers on new business pipeline and growth. So I'm not going to start now. But we haven't changed our definitions. So it's really so comparable. So in Q1 was quite a bit better than what we had in the past few quarters and even compared to Q4 as well.

好的。知道了。這很有幫助。所以這裡有 2 個問題。第一，關於新業務。我們從未透露過新業務管道和增長的確切數字。所以我現在不打算開始。但我們沒有改變我們的定義。所以真的很有可比性。因此，第一季度比我們過去幾個季度的情況要好得多，甚至與第四季度相比也是如此。

So the fact that new business is accelerating year-on-year is a good news, obviously. So for the new business generation. Then once we have sold that new business, we need to install it, as you know. So we don't sell for the most part, software, so people need to install our technology and make sure that the chemistry is working and that the processes are working as they should and all that. That usually takes a few months or a few quarters to implement. Nothing new, that's always been true, and that's going to be true this year.

因此，新業務同比增長的事實顯然是一個好消息。所以對於新的商業一代。然後，一旦我們出售了這項新業務，我們就需要安裝它，如您所知。所以我們大部分時間不銷售軟件，所以人們需要安裝我們的技術並確保化學反應正常，流程正常運轉等等。這通常需要幾個月或幾個季度才能實施。沒有什麼新鮮事，一直都是這樣，今年也將如此。

So very good new business pipeline. Major refocus of our team on new business. If you want to think about it in the past 2 years, our team was 80% focused on pricing and 20% on new business. Now it's the other way around. It's 80% on new business and 20% on finishing the price and keeping pricing for the future as well. So that's going to have an impact, obviously, on our volume, which we will have to net, obviously, with the market evolution. But I feel confident for now that we will master that quite well.

非常好的新業務管道。我們的團隊重新專注於新業務。想想過去兩年，我們團隊80%專注於定價，20%專注於新業務。現在情況正好相反。 80% 用於新業務，20% 用於完成定價並為未來保持定價。因此，這顯然會對我們的交易量產生影響，顯然，隨著市場的發展，我們必須將其淨額化。但我現在有信心我們會很好地掌握它。

Now the second part of your questions are very different on digital. We're still focusing on 3 major pillars. That hasn't changed. The first 1 is really so to generate value for our customers. The way we've done it in the past with 3D TRASAR is going really well.

現在你的問題的第二部分在數字上非常不同。我們仍然專注於 3 個主要支柱。那沒有改變。第一個是真正為我們的客戶創造價值。我們過去使用 3D TRASAR 的方式非常順利。

ECOLAB3D, which is the Ecolab Cloud, one of the largest in the industry, by the way, since we're connecting tens of thousands of plants on the cloud is giving us a very unique view, Manav, on what's the best performance that we can reach within a company, what the site that's having the best performance and how to lead to that performance and then expand it across that customer.

順便說一下，ECOLAB3D 是 Ecolab Cloud，是業內最大的雲之一，因為我們在雲上連接了數万家工廠，這為我們提供了一個非常獨特的觀點，Manav，關於什麼是我們的最佳性能可以在公司內部了解哪些站點具有最佳性能以及如何實現該性能，然後將其擴展到該客戶。

We can do it within industry, across the industries. And that we're really focusing on with our team. And just for perspective, we have over 1,000 people in digital today. So we have quite a bit of firepower for that.

我們可以在行業內，跨行業做到這一點。我們真的很關注我們的團隊。只是為了透視，我們今天有超過 1,000 名數字人員。所以我們有相當多的火力。

The second pillar is really to focus on field automation, as mentioned before, and you see it in the SG&A productivity as well. This is not squeezing our teams, it is really sort of providing them with the tools that they can really focus on creating value for our customers and that we can automate all the transactional work. We're early on that journey, but it's progressing well. You can see it in the numbers.

如前所述，第二個支柱實際上是專注於現場自動化，您也可以在 SG&A 生產力中看到它。這並沒有擠壓我們的團隊，實際上是在為他們提供工具，讓他們真正專注於為我們的客戶創造價值，並且我們可以自動化所有交易工作。我們的旅程還很早，但進展順利。你可以在數字中看到它。

And the last component is really the customer experience really making sure that they can have a real-time data-driven type of experience, e-commerce is something that has expanded very well over the last 12 to 18 months but it's also what we call our digital industrial bulk has been an interesting project as well.

最後一個組成部分實際上是客戶體驗，真正確保他們能夠擁有實時數據驅動的體驗，電子商務在過去 12 到 18 個月中得到了很好的發展，但它也是我們所說的我們的數字工業散貨也是一個有趣的項目。

We ultimately saw all our distribution to industrial customers is connected to the cloud and can be done not only in real time where customers know when the products are going to come, but we can also increase the safety level of the delivery because it makes sure that what's being delivered is being delivered exactly in the right tank, and that's been a great plus, not only for our customers but for our team because safety still got better.

我們最終看到我們向工業客戶的所有配送都連接到雲端，不僅可以實時完成，讓客戶知道產品何時到達，而且我們還可以提高交付的安全級別，因為它確保所交付的是在正確的油箱中交付的，這不僅對我們的客戶而且對我們的團隊來說都是一個很大的優勢，因為安全性仍然變得更好。

So sorry for the long answer on that, but good progress on the digital front as well, and we're still on our journey here.

很抱歉回答這麼長，但在數字方面也取得了很好的進展，我們還在路上。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Parkinson with Mizuho.

我們的下一個問題來自 Chris Parkinson 與 Mizuho 的對話。

Just in your supplemental, when you break down the water business, it's pretty clear that you're still enthusiastic about the pricing gains as well as new business wins. But Christophe, just given what -- understanding you don't have a crystal ball, but just given what you're seeing right here right now and what you're hearing from the customers of these various substrates, can you just comment on what your expectations are for the evolution of those for the balance of the year? And then perhaps comment on -- it seems like this business has been under-earning along with Institutional. And just how long you think it will take to get back to its, let's say, full potential at trend line?

就你的補充而言，當你分解水業務時，很明顯你仍然對定價收益和新業務的勝利充滿熱情。但是 Christophe，鑑於你沒有水晶球，但鑑於你現在在這裡看到的以及你從這些不同基材的客戶那裡聽到的，你能評論一下什麼嗎？您對今年餘下時間的發展有何期望？然後也許評論 - 似乎這項業務與 Institutional 一起收入不足。您認為需要多長時間才能回到趨勢線的全部潛力？

Chris. So the water business, as you could see, is doing really well and has been doing really well in the first quarter as well. It's our largest single business, as you know, it's been growing 14%. Volume has been nicely positive as well. Very nice new business in that field because customers need always more what we're offering, which is basically helping them produce better products, more products, while reducing their water usage. And why do they do that. It is not only to reduce the impact on the environment. But when they reduce the water usage, they reduce their energy usage, reduce their carbon footprint, reduce their cost as well, and that's why they invest even more in what we're doing.

克里斯。因此，正如您所看到的，水務業務表現非常好，而且第一季度的表現也非常好。這是我們最大的單一業務，如您所知，它一直在增長 14%。成交量也非常積極。該領域非常好的新業務，因為客戶總是需要更多我們提供的產品，這基本上幫助他們生產更好的產品，更多的產品，同時減少他們的用水量。他們為什麼這樣做。這不僅僅是為了減少對環境的影響。但是當他們減少用水量時，他們就減少了能源使用量，減少了碳足跡，也降低了成本，這就是為什麼他們對我們正在做的事情進行更多投資的原因。

So the water promise that we started 10 years ago when we acquired Nalco is really paying off in a really big time. And when I look at the pricing journey, a very nice one over the past few quarters.

因此，我們在 10 年前收購 Nalco 時開始的水資源承諾在非常重要的時期得到了回報。當我查看定價過程時，過去幾個季度的過程非常好。

When you look at industrial, as a whole, the OI margin was up 80 basis points. Gross margin was even better than that. So very nice margin improvement, good sales momentum and within that sales momentum, I'd like just to mention, so a few interesting highlights. Our global high-tech business went up 36%, power was 20%, mining was 40% plus. So a lot of very good things happening in water. I love what the team is doing in that field.

當你從整體上看工業時，OI 利潤率上升了 80 個基點。毛利率甚至更好。所以非常好的利潤率提高，良好的銷售勢頭，在這種銷售勢頭中，我想提一下，所以一些有趣的亮點。我們的全球高科技業務增長了 36%，電力增長了 20%，採礦業增長了 40% 以上。所以很多非常好的事情發生在水中。我喜歡團隊在那個領域所做的事情。

Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Jeff Zekauskas。

I have a 2-part question. I understand that you'll be annualizing the price increases of 2022. But in the course of 2023, do you expect to raise prices. Normally Ecolab's prices go up 1% to 2% a year. But my general sense is you think it should be greater than that, maybe 3%. Is that what you plan for this year? And secondly, SG&A costs went up 8% in the quarter. Isn't that too high? I understand that the overall SG&A margin was a little bit better. But given the restructuring efforts that you're making, shouldn't SG&A be growing at a more moderate rate? Is that your target or no?

我有一個由兩部分組成的問題。我知道你們將對 2022 年的價格上漲進行年化計算。但是在 2023 年期間，你們預計會提價嗎？ Ecolab 的價格通常每年上漲 1% 到 2%。但我的一般感覺是你認為它應該大於那個，也許是 3%。這是你今年的計劃嗎？其次，本季度 SG&A 成本上漲了 8%。是不是太高了？我知道總體 SG&A 利潤率要好一些。但考慮到您正在進行的重組工作，SG&A 不應該以更溫和的速度增長嗎？那是你的目標嗎？

Thank you, Jeff. So let me take pricing, and then I'll give the floor to Scott who needs to work a little bit here as well during that call in SG&A. On pricing, you're right. We've always increased prices overall in our history, 20-plus years, it's not going to change in '23 and in the years to come. So there will be a combination of a few things that are going to happen. As mentioned before, 10% was the pricing we had last year. Half of that will be carryover that math since we're not going to give it back in 2023.

謝謝你，傑夫。所以讓我來定價，然後我會把發言權交給 Scott，他在 SG&A 的電話會議期間也需要在這里工作一點。關於定價，你是對的。在我們的歷史上，我們一直在整體上提高價格，20 多年，它在 23 年和未來幾年都不會改變。因此，將會發生一些事情的組合。如前所述，10% 是我們去年的定價。其中一半將結轉該數學，因為我們不會在 2023 年將其歸還。

And we will build on that some incremental pricing. So you do the math, obviously, and then there's the lap year-over-year.

我們將在此基礎上進行一些增量定價。所以你做數學，很明顯，然後是年復一年的單圈。

Then there's the last question or part of the question, which is what's going to be the run rates are going forward. We were 1% to 1.5% in average, in the last 10 years as a company depending on where inflation is going to be in '24, I don't know how it's going to be, but it's going to be north of 2%. I'm almost sure about that. Jeff, I think that our incremental pricing so will be higher than what we had in the past before this inflationary cycle. So if you combine both the carryover and the new pricing, you can see more or less where we're going to be and for the years to come. I think that the company has developed a very strong muscle in pricing, not because we're jamming pricing to customers.

然後是最後一個問題或問題的一部分，即未來的運行率是多少。在過去的 10 年裡，作為一家公司，我們的平均增長率為 1% 到 1.5%，這取決於 24 年的通貨膨脹率，我不知道它會怎樣，但它會超過 2% .我幾乎可以肯定這一點。傑夫，我認為我們的增量定價將高於我們在這個通脹週期之前的過去。因此，如果您將結轉和新定價結合起來，您或多或少可以看到我們未來幾年的發展方向。我認為公司在定價方面已經形成了非常強大的力量，而不是因為我們在向客戶干擾定價。

As mentioned before, we've taken our time to do it really well, really respectfully and backed by value with our customers, and we're going to continue to do that in the future. It's going to be good for customers. It's going to be good for us, and it's going to be good for shareholders, especially as inflation will be easing since our margins will improve as well at the same time. So that's the general picture on pricing.

如前所述，我們已經花時間做得非常好，非常尊重並以客戶的價值為後盾，我們將在未來繼續這樣做。這將對客戶有好處。這對我們有好處，對股東也有好處，尤其是在通貨膨脹將會緩和的情況下，因為我們的利潤率也會同時提高。這就是定價的總體情況。

Now for SG&A. So Scott, you might want to make a few comments.

現在用於 SG&A。 Scott，你可能想發表一些意見。

Yes, sure. Thanks, Christophe. Jeff, yes, so as you mentioned on SG&A, we think about it from a productivity perspective as a ratio. And as you mentioned, the SG&A leverage continued to improve in the first quarter. We were down 30 basis points year-over-year. And that's on top of the comparing against a very strong quarter last year where the SG&A ratio improved by 200 basis points.

是的，當然。謝謝，克里斯托夫。傑夫，是的，正如你在 SG&A 中提到的，我們從生產力的角度考慮它作為一個比率。正如您所提到的，第一季度 SG&A 槓桿率繼續提高。我們同比下降了 30 個基點。與去年非常強勁的季度相比，SG&A 比率提高了 200 個基點。

So -- and also, as you know, seasonally, just from a ratio perspective, it's a sale -- it's our lowest quarter in sales. So obviously, that's going to drive less SG&A leverage as well as just timing of investments and spending. So we feel very good about where SG&A is, the programs we're doing, expect to continue to drive that SG&A leverage through those productivity -- normal productivity programs as well as the cost savings programs that you mentioned. So we feel really good about the trajectory we have on SG&A and getting back that OI margin.

所以——而且，正如你所知，從季節性的角度來看，這是一次銷售——這是我們銷售額最低的一個季度。很明顯，這將降低 SG&A 槓桿率以及投資和支出的時機。因此，我們對 SG&A 的位置以及我們正在執行的計劃感到非常滿意，希望通過這些生產力繼續推動 SG&A 的槓桿作用——正常的生產力計劃以及您提到的成本節約計劃。因此，我們對 SG&A 的發展軌跡以及收回 OI 利潤率感到非常滿意。

Our next question comes from the line of David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 David Begleiter。

Christophe, in Institutional, we are seeing some better trends amongst your customers. Are you yet seeing those trends in your volumes? And actually in Q1, were your volumes down in Institutional?

Christophe，在 Institutional，我們在您的客戶中看到了一些更好的趨勢。您是否已經在您的交易量中看到這些趨勢？實際上在第一季度，你的機構交易量下降了嗎？

So David, I like the progress we're making in Institutional. You've seen the numbers, 14% growth in Institutional and Specialty and 16% on the operating income, which is good. But this is the beginning of the journey. As I've mentioned a few times over past calls, the industry behavior has changed quite a bit.

所以大衛，我喜歡我們在機構方面取得的進展。你已經看到了這些數字，機構和專業增長了 14%，營業收入增長了 16%，這很好。但這是旅程的開始。正如我在過去的電話會議中多次提到的那樣，行業行為發生了很大變化。

If I take the example of restaurants, which unfortunately are the same numbers as the ones that I've mentioned during the past few calls, the dining in traffic, which means people going in the restaurant and sitting at the table is down 30% versus 2019.

如果我以餐館為例，不幸的是，這些數字與我在過去幾次電話中提到的數字相同，就餐的交通流量，這意味著進入餐廳和坐在餐桌旁的人數比之前下降了 30% 2019.

And we were all hoping that, that would improve quarter after quarter. Well, the ugly truth is that it's not. And people have gotten used to order online, to do some pickup or being delivered as well the food, and that's amazingly sticky, interestingly enough.

我們都希望，這會逐季改善。好吧，醜陋的事實是事實並非如此。人們已經習慣了在線訂購、自取或送貨以及食物，這非常有吸引力，非常有趣。

So it's been good for our customers, and I'm really pleased for them because at the end of the day, well, they're selling the same or more at a lower service cost because they have less people staying in the dining room, very good deal for restaurant operators. And I think this is a very good thing for them as well.

所以這對我們的顧客有好處，我真的為他們感到高興，因為在一天結束的時候，嗯，他們以更低的服務成本銷售相同或更多的產品，因為他們留在餐廳的人數減少了，對餐館經營者來說非常划算。我認為這對他們來說也是一件好事。

We had to change obviously. So for us, when I think about it versus 2019, so if you take in restaurants, this minus 30% of food traffic in their dining room, well, our sales in comparison in North America are up 12% in 2023, so the first quarter. So we've gained market share. Our teams have managed to really sort of drive share, drive pricing, drive innovation to make sure that we could get ahead of the curve. But the baseline has changed quite a bit. A bit similar in hotels as well because we're all experiencing that. Our room prices are higher, good things for the industry, obviously.

我們必須做出明顯的改變。所以對我們來說，當我考慮它與 2019 年相比時，所以如果你考慮餐廳，他們餐廳的食物流量減去 30%，那麼，我們在北美的銷售額在 2023 年增長了 12%，所以第一個四分之一。所以我們已經獲得了市場份額。我們的團隊已經設法真正推動市場份額、推動定價、推動創新，以確保我們能夠走在前沿。但是基線發生了很大變化。酒店也有點相似，因為我們都經歷過。我們的房價更高，這顯然對行業有利。

But the services provided have gone down. This is helping their margins. This means less natural demand for what we're doing. And our teams is and will be offering more services in order to drive penetration of all we do for the lodging customers we have around the world in order to make sure that we keep growing in an industry that has changed a bit what they're offering for their guests. And for perspective, the rooms sold off versus 2019 in North America up 8% and our housekeeping business is up 18%, for instance, as well.

但提供的服務已經下降。這有助於提高他們的利潤率。這意味著對我們正在做的事情的自然需求會減少。我們的團隊正在並將提供更多服務，以推動我們為世界各地的住宿客戶所做的一切的滲透，以確保我們在一個他們所提供的服務發生了一些變化的行業中不斷發展為他們的客人。從角度來看，與 2019 年相比，北美的客房銷售量增長了 8%，例如，我們的客房服務業務也增長了 18%。

So showing as well that we're gaining share. But a lot needs to be done in an industry that has changed because guest demand has changed as well. I like what the team is doing. So offering Ecolab Science Certified, which means offering the whole Ecolab offering to customers in order to make sure that their guests are safe and satisfied in a way that's reducing cost as well. We need to reduce our own costs as well at the same time, which is why we've announced this restructuring program in Institutional that is done for the most part as well, and it's going to pay off in the quarters to come.

因此也表明我們正在獲得份額。但是，在一個已經發生變化的行業中，還有很多工作要做，因為客人的需求也發生了變化。我喜歡團隊正在做的事情。因此，提供 Ecolab Science Certified，這意味著向客戶提供整個 Ecolab 產品，以確保他們的客人安全和滿意，同時降低成本。我們同時也需要降低我們自己的成本，這就是為什麼我們在機構中宣布了這項重組計劃，該計劃大部分也已經完成，並且將在未來幾個季度得到回報。

So we're early in that journey. But I like what the team is doing in repositioning itself for a new industry, which I believe is going to be better after that whole phase than it was even before.

所以我們在這段旅程中處於早期階段。但我喜歡團隊正在為一個新行業重新定位自己所做的事情，我相信在整個階段之後，這個行業會比以前更好。

Our next question comes from the line of John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets. .

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 John McNulty。 .

And my question is on the Global Healthcare and Life Sciences businesses. The margins in the third quarter were in the single digits. They spiked back up to mid-teens. And then again, this quarter, they're back down into the single digits. So can you help us to understand what's driving the big volatility that we've seen there over the past few quarters in what I would assume is normally a pretty stable business.

我的問題是關於全球醫療保健和生命科學業務。第三季度的利潤率為個位數。他們回升到十幾歲。然後，在本季度，他們又回到了個位數。那麼，您能否幫助我們了解是什麼導致了我們在過去幾個季度看到的巨大波動，我認為這通常是一項相當穩定的業務。

And then I guess to one of the points you brought up earlier, you indicated that you're looking to strengthen the core of the specific Healthcare side of Healthcare and Life Sciences. I guess can you flesh that out a little bit? Does that include potentially M&A? Or is it really just internal self-help? I guess how should we think about that.

然後我猜你之前提到的其中一個觀點是，你表示你正在尋求加強醫療保健和生命科學的特定醫療保健方面的核心。我想你能充實一點嗎？這是否包括潛在的併購？還是真的只是內部自救？我想我們應該如何考慮。

Good question, John. So Healthcare and Life Sciences, it's 1 group, but it's 2 very different businesses as we both know. One is doing really well, Ecolab Life Science and the other one, not so much. And I've been very I've spoken about my view on the performance of this business and my commitment to improve it. So when you talk about volatility of earnings in Healthcare, while we're talking about the small base, unfortunately, a small dollar variances have a big percentage variances as well. So it's kind of a good bad problem, but it's still a problem that I have here.

好問題，約翰。因此，醫療保健和生命科學是一組，但正如我們都知道的那樣，這是兩個截然不同的業務。一個做得非常好，Ecolab Life Science，另一個則不太好。我一直非常清楚地談到了我對這項業務的表現的看法以及我對改善它的承諾。因此，當你談論醫療保健行業收益的波動時，不幸的是，當我們談論的是小基數時，小的美元差異也會有大的百分比差異。所以這是一個很好的壞問題，但它仍然是我在這裡遇到的問題。

As mentioned before, Healthcare is 5% of the company. I'm glad that 95% of the company is doing quite well. So I want to make sure that Healthcare gets to a better place by driving the 3 things I mentioned before, so the cost structure, making sure we refocus on our Institutional-like business, speak infection prevention and third, to your point, so strengthening the core. Overall, Healthcare is not going to get bigger for the company in the years to come. So to answer your question on the M&A piece. But we will keep working on adding new offering, new expertise, new capability.

如前所述，醫療保健占公司的 5%。我很高興公司 95% 的人做得很好。所以我想通過推動我之前提到的三件事來確保醫療保健變得更好，所以成本結構，確保我們重新關注我們的類似機構的業務，談到感染預防，第三，就你的觀點而言，所以加強核心。總體而言，醫療保健公司在未來幾年內不會變得更大。所以回答你關於併購的問題。但我們將繼續努力增加新產品、新專業知識和新功能。

I want to make sure that the future is going to be focused on a business that we truly understand the business that we know how to make money, which is the closest to the Institutional business where you have kind of a dish machine at the core of what it is. So more to come, I will share with you along the journey, what we're doing and what we will be doing, but you will see a change of performance in 2023.

我想確保未來將專注於我們真正了解我們知道如何賺錢的業務，這是最接近以洗碗機為核心的機構業務這是什麼。所以接下來，我將在旅途中與您分享我們正在做的事情以及我們將要做的事情，但您會在 2023 年看到業績的變化。

Our next question comes from Shlomo Rosenbaum with Stifel.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Shlomo Rosenbaum。

Can you talk a little bit about whether you're seeing any tangible results yet from splitting the sales and services role within the Institutional segment? It seems like a pretty big difference from the way you guys have operated from before, and I'm not sure if takes a while to see results if you're actually seeing the results right now, when you would expect to see a significant change? Maybe you could just flesh that out a little.

你能談談你是否看到了在機構部門內拆分銷售和服務角色的任何切實成果嗎？這似乎與你們以前的操作方式有很大的不同，我不確定如果你現在真的看到結果，是否需要一段時間才能看到結果，當你期望看到顯著的變化時？也許你可以稍微充實一下。

Yes. Thank you, Shlomo. So it's a change that we've initiated in 2021, if I remember right. So it's been quite a while ago. It's something that we have been preparing very carefully. It's a large business. It's a successful business in an industry that is changing and that will be changing in the future. So it's combining repositioning towards what our customers truly need while making sure that we're improving the performance of our overall business.

是的。謝謝你，什洛莫。如果我沒記錯的話，這是我們在 2021 年發起的一項變革。所以這是很久以前的事了。這是我們一直在非常仔細地準備的事情。這是一項大生意。這是一個正在發生變化並且將來也會發生變化的行業中的成功企業。因此，它結合了針對客戶真正需求的重新定位，同時確保我們正在提高整體業務的績效。

And that's why we're doing that in a very careful, thoughtful manner. I might be taking a bit more time than some would wish. But I want to make absolutely sure that Institutional after that cycle is in a better place than it was pre-COVID or pre-cycle. This is my objective number one.

這就是為什麼我們以非常謹慎、深思熟慮的方式這樣做的原因。我可能會比一些人希望的多花一些時間。但我想絕對確保機構在那個週期之後比在 COVID 之前或週期之前處於更好的位置。這是我的第一目標。

And as mentioned before, when you look at the numbers I mentioned on restaurant with traffic in dining so down 30% and our own sales up to 12% versus 2019. So pre-cycle as well. Same on hotels, as mentioned before as well, is showing that we're gaining share.

如前所述，當您查看我在餐廳提到的數字時，與 2019 年相比，就餐流量下降了 30%，而我們自己的銷售額高達 12%。所以周期前也是如此。同樣在酒店方面，如前所述，也表明我們正在獲得份額。

At the same time, our margins are improving as well, so in that business. So the fact of splitting sales and service has reached or is reaching because we're still on that path, our 2 objectives. The first one is to gain share, as mentioned before, so we did. And second is to reduce our cost because we have a service organization that is really organized in order to have the best performance in serving and servicing our customers.

與此同時，我們的利潤率也在提高，在該業務中也是如此。因此，拆分銷售和服務的事實已經達到或正在達到，因為我們仍在這條道路上，即我們的兩個目標。第一個是獲取份額，就像前面提到的，所以我們做到了。其次是降低我們的成本，因為我們有一個真正有組織的服務組織，以便在服務和服務我們的客戶方面取得最佳績效。

And when you look at the cost structure that we have in Institutional, it's improving as well. So we get both. Gain share in our end markets and at the same time, reduction of our cost structure that leads to better performance for the business. So work in progress, but I like a lot where we're going here.

當您查看我們在機構中的成本結構時，它也在改善。所以我們都得到了。在我們的終端市場獲得份額，同時降低我們的成本結構，從而提高業務績效。所以工作正在進行中，但我非常喜歡我們要去的地方。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Wittmann with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Andrew Wittmann 與 Baird 的對話。

I guess, Christophe, I had a question about the gross margin. You talked about you're targeting getting back to the prior gross margins and eventually even exceeding that. I guess with -- the business mix has changed over the recent years, certainly, in the waning days of your Energy ownership, it was weighing on margins. Purolite goes the opposite way. That's a very high margin -- gross margin business.

我想，克里斯托夫，我對毛利率有疑問。你談到你的目標是回到之前的毛利率，甚至最終超過那個。我猜 - 近年來業務組合發生了變化，當然，在您的能源所有權逐漸減少的日子裡，它正在影響利潤率。 Purolite 則相反。這是一個非常高的利潤——毛利率業務。

So I guess I don't know what the target gross margin to get back to the prior levels is, and I was hoping you could kind of clarify what that gross margin is that would be equivalent on today's mix of business to kind of where it was pre-inflation or pre-COVID, if you understand what I'm asking here.

所以我想我不知道回到之前水平的目標毛利率是多少，我希望你能澄清一下毛利率是多少，這相當於今天的業務組合是通貨膨脹前或 COVID 前，如果你明白我在這裡問的是什麼。

I think so, Andy. So what we've said is that we want to reach first our 20% operating income margin. And we've been pretty clear of that. That's where we want to get to, the quicker, the better, and that's not the sound barrier, once we reach that it's to keep going further after that. So to your point, yes, job one is to recover the margins that we have lost over the past 2 years during this inflationary time.

我想是的，安迪。所以我們所說的是，我們希望首先達到 20% 的營業利潤率。我們已經很清楚這一點。這就是我們想要到達的地方，越快越好，那不是音障，一旦我們到達那個地方，它就會繼續走得更遠。因此，就您的觀點而言，是的，第一項工作是恢復我們在過去 2 年中在這個通貨膨脹時期損失的利潤率。

That's always been true. As you know, in the past, we get dollars first, we get margin second. It's lasted longer this time because inflation was way higher than what it is today mentioning earlier as well on that call, so 27% in '22, only, which adds to 20% as well in '21 of delivered product cost inflation as well that we had to face as a company. Well, it's taking a bit more time because it's longer and deeper but we will get back to where we used to be, and we will expand from there.

一直都是這樣。如您所知，過去我們首先獲得美元，其次獲得保證金。這次持續時間更長，因為通貨膨脹率遠高於今天早些時候在電話會議上提到的水平，所以 22 年只有 27%，這也增加了 20% 以及 21 年交付產品成本的通貨膨脹率作為一家公司，我們不得不面對。好吧，這需要更多時間，因為它更長更深，但我們會回到過去的狀態，並從那裡擴展。

The second thing or third thing is the business portfolio, as you mentioned. Well, on one hand, Institutional saw -- was the most behind after COVID, just the fact of having Institutional recovering will help our gross margin and operating income margin as well as a company. And that's an old business kind of performing better in the future. That's not the new thing. On top of it, yes, you have businesses like Life Sciences that are above the average of the company that are growing fast as well at the same time, that's going to help further.

正如您提到的，第二件事或第三件事是業務組合。好吧，一方面，Institutional 看到了——在 COVID 之後最落後，只是讓 Institutional 復甦的事實將有助於我們的毛利率和營業利潤率以及一家公司。這是一種在未來表現更好的舊業務。這不是什麼新鮮事。最重要的是，是的，你擁有像生命科學這樣高於公司平均水平的業務，同時也在快速增長，這將進一步提供幫助。

So overall, good pricing work, delivered product cost that hopefully is going to ease, but I'm not expecting to turn negative anytime soon and certainly not in 2023. Portfolio that's going to keep improving, innovation that's always above the company's average.

所以總的來說，良好的定價工作，交付的產品成本有望降低，但我預計不會很快轉為負值，當然不會在 2023 年出現。投資組合將不斷改進，創新始終高於公司平均水平。

And last but not least, the new businesses like Life Sciences that are going to contribute. So we're going to get back to where we used to be in terms of margin, and we will keep expanded from there in order to get to the 20% OI margin I talked about.

最後但同樣重要的是，生命科學等新業務將做出貢獻。因此，我們將回到過去的利潤率水平，我們將繼續擴大規模，以達到我談到的 20% OI 利潤率。

Our next question comes from the line of Ryan Connors with Northcoast Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ryan Connors 與 Northcoast Research Partners 的合作。

I know you've indicated it's not necessarily a needle mover in the near term, but I wondered if you could give us any update on the rollout of the Home Depot initiative and how that's tracking relative to your expectations?

我知道你已經表示它在短期內不一定是一個針鋒相對的推動者，但我想知道你是否可以向我們提供有關 Home Depot 計劃推出的任何最新信息以及它與你的期望相關的跟踪情況？

Great question. Thank you, Ryan. Yes, it's not our biggest business, obviously. But it's quite a fascinating journey because we all see obviously, those products when we get to the stores of Home Depot. I hope Ryan, that you participated as well. So to our new venture here. It's been a great story over the last few months. It's early. We started in January. Home Depot had their market manager conference a month ago with 5,000 people, the #1 innovation was our rollout of the Ecolab products that we do exclusively for them.

很好的問題。謝謝你，瑞安。是的，這顯然不是我們最大的業務。但這是一個非常迷人的旅程，因為當我們到達 Home Depot 的商店時，我們都清楚地看到了那些產品。我希望 Ryan，你也參與了。因此，對於我們在這裡的新企業。在過去的幾個月裡，這是一個很棒的故事。現在還早。我們從一月份開始。一個月前，Home Depot 與 5,000 人召開了市場經理會議，第一大創新是我們推出了我們專門為他們製作的 Ecolab 產品。

So it's a big deal for the Home Depot. And it's an interesting deal for us. We take it extremely seriously. We have a great team after it. We're doing it very thoughtfully. We're trying to learn as much as we can with the consumers, what the pros since it's the main focus of that whole business are looking for as well.

因此，這對 Home Depot 來說意義重大。這對我們來說是一筆有趣的交易。我們非常重視它。之後我們有一支很棒的團隊。我們做得非常周到。我們正在嘗試盡可能多地了解消費者，因為它是整個業務的主要焦點，所以專業人士也在尋找什麼。

So far, so good. Every week, we track the progress, and it's been a remarkable progress week after week without disclosing numbers that need to be Home Depot's numbers, obviously here.

到目前為止，一切都很好。每週，我們都會跟踪進展情況，一周又一周取得了顯著進展，沒有透露需要 Home Depot 的數字，顯然在這裡。

I like where we're going. It's not going to move the needle for the company in '23. But down the road, I think it's going to be a nice growth engine for the company.

我喜歡我們要去的地方。它不會在 23 年對公司產生重大影響。但在未來，我認為這將成為公司的一個很好的增長引擎。

Our next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Laurence Alexander 與 Jefferies 的對話。

Just a follow-up on your discussion around sort of the pricing environment, particularly in a more inflationary environment. As you've done experiments around the world, do you get a sense that your ability to take share and your pricing initiatives have kind of a linear relationship? Or is there kind of a nonlinear kind of breakpoint where if you push too hard, the share gains really deflate very quickly. Just can you give a sense for how you see the customer psychology playing out based on what you've seen over the last couple of years?

只是跟進您圍繞某種定價環境的討論，尤其是在通貨膨脹率更高的環境中。當您在世界各地進行實驗時，您是否感覺到您的分享能力和您的定價計劃之間存在某種線性關係？或者是否存在一種非線性的斷點，如果你用力過猛，份額收益真的會很快縮水。您能否根據過去幾年所見了解客戶心理的變化？

We haven't felt any elasticity issue, which is a good news. And the reason why is because our focus is really making sure that at the end of the day, the customer is better off, even if it takes us more time, more effort to get to the right place, we want to do it in a way that we can keep the customer for life, which is the mantra that we have in our company. It's not to win a quarter, it's to win a lifetime together with our customers and many of them we've had for decades as you know as well.

我們沒有感覺到任何彈性問題，這是一個好消息。原因是因為我們的重點確實是確保在一天結束時，客戶會過得更好，即使我們需要更多的時間、更多的努力才能到達正確的地方，我們希望在一個我們可以保持客戶終身的方式，這是我們公司的口頭禪。這不是為了贏得一個季度，而是為了與我們的客戶一起贏得一生，而您也知道，我們已經擁有數十年的許多客戶。

So we start focused on creating even more value for customers. And honestly, we've discovered ultimately value that we've been creating for customers that we've not been merchandising as well as we should have in the past because pricing was not such a big deal. In the past, well, it has been an argument in order to get a bigger share of what we were creating as well, but always making sure that the return for the customer remains very strong.

因此，我們開始專注於為客戶創造更多價值。老實說，我們最終發現了我們一直在為客戶創造的價值，而我們並沒有像過去那樣進行商品銷售，因為定價並不是什麼大不了的事。嗯，在過去，為了在我們創造的產品中獲得更大的份額，這一直是一個爭論，但始終要確保客戶的回報仍然非常強勁。

The eROI of 25% return for the customer is our mantra. It's not always the same for every customer, everywhere around the world. But it's showing that it's pretty high from a return perspective. This is good for us. This is good for the customer. And ultimately, it's good for our share gains as well because when customers get better outcomes both from a product perspective and from a performance perspective as well, while reducing their impact on the environment, well, they want to buy more. So this is helping us as well gain further share.

為客戶帶來 25% 回報的 eROI 是我們的口頭禪。對於世界各地的每位客戶而言，情況並不總是相同的。但從回報的角度來看，它表明它相當高。這對我們有好處。這對客戶有好處。最終，這對我們的份額收益也有好處，因為當客戶從產品角度和性能角度獲得更好的結果，同時減少他們對環境的影響時，他們想要購買更多。因此，這也有助於我們獲得更多份額。

So overall, I think it's been a very positive journey for everyone. It's been a learning process, and it's always a painful process to learn. But at the end of the day, it's been good for everyone.

所以總的來說，我認為這對每個人來說都是一次非常積極的旅程。這是一個學習的過程，而且總是一個痛苦的學習過程。但歸根結底，這對每個人都有好處。

Our next question comes from the line of Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Vertical Research 的 Kevin McCarthy。

Christophe, would you comment on your volume experience in the Life Sciences business in the quarter as well as what you think it might be for the year. Reason I ask is on Slide #10, you cite sales growth of 10%, including robust pricing, which seems to imply that there wasn't as much volume, and I found that to be counterintuitive following the capacity expansions you've done in the U.S. and U.K. So just wondering if there's anything anomalous there with regard to the comparison or customer behavior? If you could help us put that in context.

Christophe，您能否評論一下本季度您在生命科學業務方面的經驗以及您認為今年的情況。我問的原因是在幻燈片 #10 上，你引用了 10% 的銷售增長，包括穩健的定價，這似乎暗示沒有那麼多的數量，我發現在你在美國和英國所以只是想知道在比較或客戶行為方面是否存在任何異常情況？如果你能幫助我們把它放在上下文中。

No, in general, it's been a very good story. It's not going to be every quarter the same because in Life Science, obviously, where half is our Purolite business. We're building new foundations. We're expanding the capacity, as you mentioned before, we're investing as well in the team that requires time to do it very thoughtfully. But when I look at the capacity build, we're exactly on schedule. It's going really well. We're learning while we're doing it.

不，總的來說，這是一個非常好的故事。它不會每個季度都一樣，因為在生命科學領域，很明顯，我們的 Purolite 業務佔一半。我們正在建立新的基礎。正如您之前提到的，我們正在擴大產能，我們也在投資團隊，這需要時間來深思熟慮。但是，當我查看能力建設時，我們完全按計劃進行。它真的很順利。我們邊做邊學。

But for the most part, it's going well. When I look at the whole new business generation, good progress being made here as well at the same time and driving it towards customers. So it takes time for us to do it really, really well. We had as well that shift, obviously, from pricing to new business, which impacted as well.

但在大多數情況下，它進展順利。當我審視整個新一代業務時，這裡也同時取得了良好的進展，並將其推向客戶。所以我們需要時間才能做得非常非常好。顯然，我們也發生了從定價到新業務的轉變，這也受到了影響。

Life Sciences, good on margin, and it's a shift that's required in order to get more volume going forward. But the stores are aligning very nicely in this overall Life Science business. I like a lot where we're going. Long term, it's not going to be every quarter the same as mentioned a little bit early on, but the trajectory, very good, very promising, and we're going to do that really well.

生命科學，利潤率不錯，這是為了獲得更多銷量所必需的轉變。但這些商店在整個生命科學業務中的配合非常好。我非常喜歡我們要去的地方。從長遠來看，它不會像早先提到的那樣每個季度都一樣，但軌跡非常好，非常有前途，我們會做得很好。

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Byrne with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Steve Byrne。

So what would do you attribute the primary driver of the new business wins in water? And I say that not beyond -- not discarding the effort that your sales force is putting in. But is this new customers? Or is this expanded treatment for existing customers? Is there something particularly driving it such as increased regulatory or legal scrutiny on your customers.

那麼，您認為新業務在水務領域獲勝的主要驅動力是什麼？我要說的是，這不會超出——不會放棄您的銷售團隊所付出的努力。但這是新客戶嗎？或者這是對現有客戶的擴大待遇？是否有一些特別的因素在推動它，比如對你的客戶加強監管或法律審查。

Yes, Steve, it's mainly 3 things. Some of those you've just mentioned, obviously, so a good business doing really well and that keeps improving. So a very good story. It is the leading water business in the world, so enjoying a very special situation in the industry, even though we're small versus the whole market that we're serving. But the 3 main drivers of growth. The first one is we're trying to focus as much as we can towards the end markets that are growing the fastest.

是的，史蒂夫，這主要是三件事。顯然，您剛才提到的其中一些是一家做得很好的好企業，而且還在不斷改進。所以一個非常好的故事。它是世界領先的水務企業，因此在行業中享有非常特殊的地位，儘管與我們所服務的整個市場相比，我們的規模很小。但增長的 3 個主要驅動力。第一個是我們正在努力盡可能多地關注增長最快的終端市場。

When we think about data centers, for instance, people don't think data centers mean a lot of water, well, they use a huge amount of water. And that's driven by cloud consumption, obviously, by the high-tech companies and have all made commitments to get to net zero in the foreseeable future for the most part in 2030. Well, that's growing for fast because the industry is growing fast and at the same time, they're trying to get less water consumption, well, that's a double win for us.

例如，當我們想到數據中心時，人們並不認為數據中心意味著大量的水，嗯，它們使用大量的水。顯然，這是由雲消費驅動的，由高科技公司推動，並且都承諾在可預見的未來大部分時間在 2030 年實現淨零排放。嗯，這是快速增長的，因為該行業正在快速增長同時，他們正在努力減少用水量，嗯，這對我們來說是雙贏。

Think about microelectronics as well require a lot of ultrapure water. It's a fantastic business so for us. Well, that's driving growth as well at the same time it can be as well more traditional businesses like mining, as I mentioned before as well, a huge amount of water that's being required. We've shifted years back way, thank God, from the coal business towards fertilizers and premium high-tech materials like copper and nickel, all related to renewable EV technology.

想想微電子也需要大量的超純水。這對我們來說是一項了不起的業務。好吧，這也在推動增長，同時它也可能是更傳統的業務，比如採礦，正如我之前提到的，需要大量的水。多年前，謝天謝地，我們已經從煤炭業務轉向化肥和銅和鎳等優質高科技材料，所有這些都與可再生電動汽車技術有關。

Well, that's driving very nice growth as well. So we are, first and foremost, an end-market focused that's helping us drive growth.

好吧，這也推動了非常好的增長。因此，我們首先關注的是幫助我們推動增長的終端市場。

The second is most of our customers have made commitments in terms of carbon and water. And they all have -- or most of them have a hard time so to get to their commitment. We are best positioned to help them get to where they want to be, the right way, which means while saving money as well at the same time. We don't believe in the green premium. We believe in the green benefit, and that's the way we're partnering with our customers. Well, that's driving more demand for what we're doing.

第二是我們的大多數客戶都在碳和水方面做出了承諾。他們都——或者他們中的大多數人都很難兌現他們的承諾。我們最有能力幫助他們以正確的方式到達他們想去的地方，這意味著同時還能省錢。我們不相信綠色溢價。我們相信綠色效益，這就是我們與客戶合作的方式。好吧，這推動了對我們正在做的事情的更多需求。

And last not least is innovation. We keep innovating in our water business in a remarkable way, especially on the digital front, which is high margin, by the way. It's something that's connecting our customers as well, increases the stickiness as well of the relationship but all for the right reasons, obviously. So if you think in terms of end markets, in terms of what we do for customers to reach the sustainable commitments and third, innovation, well, those are the 3 main drivers for our water success.

最後一點是創新。我們以非凡的方式不斷創新我們的水業務，特別是在數字方面，順便說一句，這是高利潤的。這也是連接我們客戶的東西，增加了關係的粘性，但顯然都是出於正確的原因。因此，如果您從終端市場的角度思考，從我們為客戶實現可持續承諾所做的工作來看，第三，創新，那麼，這些是我們在水務方面取得成功的三個主要驅動力。

Our next question comes from the line of Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自 Vincent Andrews 與 Morgan Stanley 的對話。

Christophe, I just wanted to follow up on delivered product costs. I heard you earlier in the call, say that they would be up for all of 2023. And I'm wondering, if you can just disaggregate them a little bit. I believe there's some labor included in your delivered product costs as well as freight. I'm assuming labor is up. Freight, I would think, would be down. And I know you buy 10,000 raw materials, but I would think as we move through this year, we have -- shouldn't we be heading into a deflationary environment for your actual raw materials? Or do I have this wrong?

Christophe，我只是想跟進交付產品的成本。我早些時候在電話中聽到你說他們將在 2023 年全年完成。我想知道，你是否可以稍微分解一下它們。我相信你們交付的產品成本和運費中都包含了一些人工費用。我假設勞動結束了。我認為運費會下降。而且我知道你購買了 10,000 種原材料，但我認為隨著今年的發展，我們是否應該進入實際原材料的通貨緊縮環境？或者我有這個錯誤嗎？

So a few elements, Vincent, here. So labor is not in delivered product costs for us. So that's outside those numbers that we've always been talking about and that I've been talking about as well, but just maybe a comment on labor and wages. I feel really good with how we've been able to manage that. The fact that we've had very high retention of our team has helped us as well keep our labor cost within a good framework ultimately and driven by the digital automation, as mentioned before, we managed to drive the productivity that you've seen as well in our numbers.

文森特，這裡有一些元素。因此，對我們而言，人工不在交付產品成本中。所以這超出了我們一直在談論的那些數字，我也一直在談論這些數字，但也許只是對勞動力和工資的評論。我對我們能夠做到這一點感到非常滿意。事實上，我們的團隊保留率很高，這也幫助我們最終將勞動力成本控制在一個良好的框架內，並且在數字自動化的推動下，如前所述，我們設法提高了您所看到的生產力在我們的數字中很好。

So on the labor side and wages, I feel really good. When we talk about the delivered product cost, which is ultimately raw materials, freight/logistics and technology, dispensing equipment and all that, that we are bringing to our customers as well. That's what we mean. We delivered product costs and that you see in our numbers that represent roughly 1/3 of our sales.

所以在勞動力方面和工資方面，我感覺真的很好。當我們談論交付的產品成本時，最終是原材料、運費/物流和技術、配藥設備等等，我們也為客戶帶來了這些。這就是我們的意思。我們交付了產品成本，您在我們的數字中看到的成本大約占我們銷售額的 1/3。

Overall, I wish you were right, Vincent, that it would turn negative. It will not in '23. The question is only, so how much is it going to ease. As mentioned a little bit earlier on the call, we had an overall increase of delivered product costs of 27% in 2022. We had a further increase of 9% in the first quarter of this year. So better than the increases we've seen in the past but still an increase. And I hope that in the next 2 quarters, this rate of increase will ease, but we do not expect that it's going to cross the 0 line to become negative in the quarters to come. And well, when it comes and if it comes earlier, Vincent, will take it. But this is not what we're seeing right now.

總的來說，我希望你是對的，文森特，它會變成負面的。它不會在'23。問題只是，它會緩解多少。正如早些時候在電話會議上提到的，我們在 2022 年交付的產品成本總體增長了 27%。今年第一季度我們進一步增長了 9%。比我們過去看到的增長要好，但仍然是增長。我希望在接下來的兩個季度中，這種增長率會放緩，但我們預計它不會在未來幾個季度越過 0 線變成負數。好吧，當它來的時候，如果它來得早，文森特會接受的。但這不是我們現在看到的。

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Schneeberger with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自 Scott Schneeberger 和 Oppenheimer 的對話。

Christophe, I think let's go to the Pest category. One segment, 2 questions. The momentum has been really, really strong there. We've seen margin expansion. Some of the reference in the releases is about innovation and competitive advantages. I was hoping you can elaborate on that a little bit. And the second part of the question is it was cited unfavorable mix was one of the headwinds in the segment? I'm just curious if you could share a little bit about what that means.

Christophe，我想讓我們進入害蟲類別。一個片段，2 個問題。那裡的勢頭真的非常強勁。我們已經看到利潤率擴張。發布中的一些參考是關於創新和競爭優勢的。我希望你能詳細說明一下。問題的第二部分是，不利的組合是該細分市場的不利因素之一嗎？我只是想知道您能否分享一下這意味著什麼。

Thank you, Scott. You know that the other segment is a little bit of a weak combination of things because you have our Pest Elimination business, we have our Textile Care business in there, and we have our Colloidal Technologies business. 3 business stories that have nothing to do together, but are all part of one same segment for simplicity reasons.

謝謝你，斯科特。你知道另一個部分有點弱組合，因為你有我們的除害蟲業務，我們在那裡有我們的紡織品護理業務，我們有膠體技術業務。 3 個業務故事毫無關係，但出於簡單原因，它們都屬於同一部分。

So when we talk about the mix, it's the growth mix of those 3 businesses that are very different. Colloidal is very related to microelectronics, which is very different than what we do in textile, which is very different than what we do in Pest Elimination. But the biggest business by far in that segment is Pest Elimination, which is doing extremely well. It's an unbelievable team with great positions on the market that delivered 14% growth globally, 19% in North America. That's been a great journey over the past few years. It's true today, and it's going to be true tomorrow. The big reason for that as mentioned our great team, great position in a few markets where we have very good strong positions. We are very focused on commercial.

因此，當我們談論組合時，這三項業務的增長組合非常不同。膠體與微電子學非常相關，這與我們在紡織品中所做的非常不同，這與我們在除害蟲中所做的非常不同。但到目前為止，該領域最大的業務是害蟲消除，它做得非常好。這是一支令人難以置信的團隊，在市場上佔有重要地位，在全球實現了 14% 的增長，在北美實現了 19% 的增長。這是過去幾年的一段偉大旅程。今天是真的，明天也是真的。正如我們所提到的我們偉大的團隊，在我們擁有非常強大的地位的幾個市場中的重要地位。我們非常專注於商業。

So we have no residential business, as you probably know, as well in there, so a very pure play in what we're doing here. And in terms of innovation, well, without going too much in detail here, we have millions of traps that we need to serve, obviously, in the world in order to get the job done well. You can imagine that there is a lot that we could automate in here with the vast capabilities that we have in digital in the company. That's a primary area where we could improve the work we do and making sure that we send our teams whether it's truly something to do and not just to go and check in places not knowing if there is some pest activity as well in that location.

因此，正如您可能知道的那樣，我們也沒有住宅業務，所以我們在這裡所做的事情非常純粹。就創新而言，好吧，在這裡無需過多贅述，顯然，為了把工作做好，我們需要服務於世界上數以百萬計的陷阱。你可以想像，我們可以利用公司在數字化方面的強大能力在這裡實現很多自動化。這是我們可以改進我們所做工作的一個主要領域，並確保我們派遣我們的團隊是否真的要做某事，而不僅僅是去檢查不知道該地點是否也有害蟲活動的地方。

So combining the 2 great business, great performance, great positions with the innovation, especially in digital capabilities that we have I think the Pest is not only to a great (inaudible), but an even better future with all that's being done. So a good contributor of the performance of the company for '23.

因此，將這兩項偉大的業務、出色的表現、出色的職位與創新結合起來，尤其是在我們擁有的數字能力方面，我認為 Pest 不僅是一個偉大的（聽不清），而且是一個更美好的未來。因此，公司 23 年業績的良好貢獻者。

And Mr. Hedberg, there are no further questions at this time. And now I'd like to turn the floor back over to you for closing comments.

還有 Hedberg 先生，現在沒有其他問題了。現在我想把發言權交還給你們，讓你們發表結束評論。

Thank you. That wraps up our first quarter conference call. This conference call and the associated discussion slides will be made available for replay on our website. Thank you for your time and participation, and I hope everyone has a great rest of your day.

謝謝。我們的第一季度電話會議到此結束。此電話會議和相關的討論幻燈片將在我們的網站上重放。感謝您的寶貴時間和參與，希望大家度過愉快的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

女士們，先生們，感謝你們的參與。今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。