藝康 (ECL) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the Ecolab Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Release Conference Call. At this time all participants are in listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

問候。歡迎參加藝康 2024 年第二季財報發布電話會議。此時所有參與者都處於只聽模式。正式演講後將舉行問答環節。（操作員指示）謹此提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。

At this time, it is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Andy Hedberg, Vice President Investor Relations. Thank you Mr, Hedberg, you may now begin.

此時此刻，我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係副總裁安迪‧赫德伯格 (Andy Hedberg)。謝謝赫德伯格先生，您現在可以開始了。

Thank you, and hello, everyone, and welcome to Ecolab's second 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 slides referencing the quarter's results are available on Ecolab's website at Ecolab.com/investor.

謝謝大家，大家好，歡迎參加藝康第二季電話會議。今天與我在一起的有 Ecolab 董事長兼執行長 Christophe Beck 和我們的財務長 Scott Kirkland。有關我們業績的討論以及我們的收益發布和引用本季業績的幻燈片，請造訪藝康網站 Ecolab.com/investor。

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

請花一點時間閱讀警告聲明和這些資料，其中指出本次電話會議和相關補充資料包括對未來績效的估計。我們的前瞻性陳述和實際結果可能與預測有重大差異。我們的 ROE、最新的 10-K 表格和我們發布的資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。我們也建議您參閱新聞稿中的補充稀釋每股收益資訊。

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

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給 Christophe Beck，徵求他的意見。

Thank you, Andrea, and welcome to everyone on the call. I'm happy to share my perspective before we jump into Q&A. But in summary, we 35% adjusted earnings growth in Q2 and 25% to 29% earnings growth expected for the full year. I feel very good about where we are an even more where we going. Ecolab is very strong business momentum continued in the second quarter. Our team delivered for our customers and delivered for our shareholders.

謝謝你，安德里亞，歡迎大家參加電話會議。在我們進入問答環節之前，我很高興分享我的觀點。但總的來說，我們將第二季的獲利成長調整為 35%，並將全年獲利成長預期調整為 25% 至 29%。我對我們現在的處境以及我們要去的地方感覺非常好。藝康在第二季度延續了非常強勁的業務勢頭。我們的團隊為我們的客戶提供服務，為我們的股東提供服務。

Organic sales growth remaining as previously forecast, 4% to 5% range of growth in our institutions from specialty segments normalized to a strong 7%, lapping last year's very strong 13% performance across the rest of our segments. Further improve.

有機銷售成長仍符合先前的預測，我們的機構專業細分市場的成長範圍為 4% 至 5%，正常化至強勁的 7%，超過了去年其他細分市場 13% 的強勁表​​現。進一步完善。

Our growth continues to be leveraged by exceptional organic operating margin expansion margin increased by 360 basis points to 17%, which is a record second quarter margin for Ecolab, resulting in a very strong 35% growth in the US adjusted earnings per share, with continued top-line momentum and operating margins expanding towards our 20% target, we remain firmly on our long-term 12 to 15 earnings growth trajectory.

我們的成長持續得益於出色的有機營業利潤率擴張，利潤率增加了360 個基點，達到17%，這是藝康第二季度利潤率的創紀錄水平，導緻美國調整後每股收益強勁增長35%，隨著營收動能和營業利潤率向 20% 的目標擴張，我們仍堅定地維持 12 至 15 年的長期獲利成長軌跡。

Looking at our segments, Institutional and Specialty continued to perform exceptionally well, delivering strong organic sales growth on top of last year's double-digit gains. Importantly, our business continues to significantly outperform softer restaurant food traffic trends, as our customers look to Ecolab's labor savings technologies to improve their operational performance.

從我們的細分市場來看，機構和專業業務繼續表現出色，在去年兩位數成長的基礎上實現了強勁的有機銷售成長。重要的是，我們的業務繼續顯著優於餐廳食品流量疲軟的趨勢，因為我們的客戶希望藝康的勞動力節省技術來提高他們的營運績效。

This growth was leveraged by continued robust operating income margin expansion with Institutional Specialties margin already exceeding 20%.

這一增長得益於持續強勁的營業收入利潤率擴張，機構專業利潤率已超過 20%。

Growth in our Industrial segment improved, despite continued volatile end market demand. Water sales growth accelerated to 4%, led by strong growth in downstream and double-digit growth in our global high-tech business, which serves the rapidly expanding data center and microelectronic industries.

儘管終端市場需求持續波動，但我們的工業部門的成長有所改善。在下游的強勁成長和我們服務於快速擴張的資料中心和微電子產業的全球高科技業務兩位數成長的帶動下，水銷售成長加速至 4%。

As expected, sales in food and beverage were stable as good new business wins offset comparisons to last year's double-digit growth. Performance in paper improved also, a trend we can we expect to continue, as new business wins helped us accelerate those end markets stabilized.

正如預期的那樣，食品和飲料的銷售保持穩定，因為良好的新業務勝利抵消了去年兩位數成長的影響。紙張業績也有所改善，我們預計這一趨勢將持續下去，因為新業務的勝利幫助我們加速了終端市場的穩定。

Our Healthcare & Life Sciences segment also showed better performance. Life Sciences growth improved to 4%, as attractive share gains allowed us to outperform ongoing short-term soft industry trends. We continue to expect modest growth in our Life Sciences business during the second half of the year.

我們的醫療保健和生命科學部門也表現出更好的表現。生命科學業務的成長提高至 4%，因為有吸引力的份額成長使我們能夠跑贏持續的短期軟產業趨勢。我們繼續預計下半年生命科學業務將適度成長。

Healthcare sales were down modestly, as we continue to exceed low margin business to improve our profitability. Our healthcare transformation is progressing very well. At a previously announced sale of our Global Surgical Solutions business to Medline is moving exactly as expected, subject to customary regulatory and closing conditions, we expect to close this transaction and very soon.

醫療保健銷售額小幅下降，因為我們繼續超越低利潤業務以提高獲利能力。我們的醫療保健轉型進展順利。先前宣布的將我們的全球外科解決方案業務出售給 Medline 的計劃完全符合預期，根據慣例監管和成交條件，我們預計很快就會完成這項交易。

As discussed when we announced the sale last quarter, once closed, the transaction will reduce our Healthcare & Life Sciences quarterly sales by about $100 million in quarterly operating income by about $15 million. Longer term, healthcare continues to sharpen its focus on and it's very healthy anchor instrument reprocessing business that combines consumables, personal service and digital solutions, while in other words, but typically Ecolab business.

正如我們在上季度宣佈出售時所討論的，一旦交易完成，該交易將使我們的醫療保健和生命科學季度銷售額減少約 1 億美元，季度營業收入減少約 1500 萬美元。從長遠來看，醫療保健行業將繼續加強其對非常健康的主力儀器再處理業務的關注，該業務結合了消耗品、個人服務和數位解決方案，換句話說，但通常是藝康業務。

Whether it is much more to be done, I'm proud of the progress we've made to create a sustainable, profitable healthcare business that will deliver even stronger value of our important hospital customers. Pest Elimination once again continued to execute exceptionally well. Organic sales grew 9% and organic operating income grew double digit, benefiting from our enterprise cross-selling strategy and innovative digital capabilities.

無論還有多少工作要做，我對我們在創建可持續、盈利的醫療保健業務方面所取得的進展感到自豪，該業務將為我們重要的醫院客戶帶來更大的價值。害蟲消除工作再次繼續出色地執行。由於我們的企業交叉銷售策略和創新的數位化能力，有機銷售額成長了 9%，有機營業收入成長了兩位數。

As we continue our long-term growth journey, I'm excited to share details of our One Ecolab initiative, which will help fuel 5% to 7% long-term organic sales growth and continued to expand our operating margins towards 20% and beyond.

在我們繼續我們的長期成長之旅時，我很高興分享我們的One Ecolab 計劃的詳細信息，該計劃將有助於推動5% 至7% 的長期有機銷售增長，並繼續將我們的營業利潤率擴大到20% 以上。

We know what best-in-class performance looks like, the best restaurants, the best hotels for the best data centers. And we know how to deliver this by our customers, because of our experience serving millions of locations in more than 170 countries, across 40 industries.

我們知道什麼是一流的性能、最好的餐廳、最好的酒店和最好的資料中心。我們擁有為 170 多個國家、​​40 個行業的數百萬個地點提供服務的經驗，因此知道如何讓客戶實現這一目標。

By leveraging more than 100,000 system connections and billions of proprietary data points on business outcomes, operational performance, and environmental impact, we can demonstrate how an entire network of customer sites can operate a best-in-class performance to deliver even more customer value, this will help us drive attractive growth by continuing to capture more share of our existing $55 billion cross-sell opportunity.

透過利用超過 100,000 個系統連接和數十億個有關業務成果、營運績效和環境影響的專有數據點，我們可以展示整個客戶站點網路如何以一流的性能運行，從而提供更多的客戶價值，這將幫助我們繼續在現有的550 億美元交叉銷售機會中佔據更多份額，從而推動有吸引力的成長。

At the same time, these new technologies will allow us to enhance the way we operate and serve our customers by realigning the function and worked on across hundreds of offices around the world into major global centers of excellence. The resulting total annualized savings of approximately $140 million are expected to be realized by 2027. [Put simply] One Ecolab will enable customers to reach best-in-class performance on all three fronts, business outcomes, operational performance and environmental impact by leveraging Ecolab's complete offering.

同時，這些新技術將使我們能夠透過重新調整職能來增強我們的營運和服務客戶的方式，並將全球數百個辦事處的工作轉變為全球主要的卓越中心。預計到 2027 年，年化總節省將達到約 1.4 億美元。[簡而言之]One Ecolab 將使客戶能夠利用 Ecolab 的完整產品，在業務成果、營運績效和環境影響這三個方面實現一流的績效。

Looking to the balance of 2024, the confidence we have in our performance continues to strengthen. As a result, we're increasing our outlook for full year 2024 adjusted EPS to the range of $6.50 to $6.70, up 25% to 29% versus last year.

展望 2024 年，我們對業績的信心持續增強。因此，我們將 2024 年全年調整後每股收益的預期上調至 6.50 美元至 6.70 美元，比去年增長 25% 至 29%。

As previously discussed, this range includes an unfavorable impact in the second half of 2024 from sale of our global Surgical Solutions business. The unfavorable impact to 2024 adjusted EPS is now estimated to be $0.08 a share, which is a bit more than we had previously anticipated as we expect this transaction to close very soon.

如前所述，該範圍包括 2024 年下半年出售我們的全球手術解決方案業務的不利影響。目前估計對 2024 年調整後每股收益的不利影響為每股 0.08 美元，這比我們之前的預期要高一些，因為我們預計這筆交易很快就會完成。

This is very good news, but it also has a bigger impact on the full year. FX on the other hand has also become more of a headwind and is now anticipated to be about $0.09 drag to full year EPS, and despite its incremental headwind to EPS, we still have increased our guidance range, which demonstrates the strong underlying momentum we have in the business.

這是一個非常好的消息，但對全年的影響也更大。另一方面，外匯也變得更加不利，目前預計對全年每股收益產生約0.09 美元的拖累，儘管對每股收益的影響不斷增加，但我們仍然提高了指導範圍，這表明我們擁有強勁的潛在動力在業務中。

We expect to keep growing our organic sales at a similar rate as in the first half of the year, driving 2% to 3% value pricing and 1% to 2% volume growth. Attractive operating income margin expansion is expected to continue to second half 2024. The rate of exceptional expansion will moderate as benefits from lowered delivered product cost we continue to ease.

我們預計有機銷售額將繼續以與上半年相似的速度成長，推動價值定價成長 2% 至 3%，銷量成長 1% 至 2%。有吸引力的營業收入利潤率預計將持續到 2024 年下半年。隨著我們持續放鬆交付產品成本降低的好處，超常擴張的速度將會放緩。

Finally, we continue to anticipate quarterly adjusted diluted earnings per share growth to progressively normalize towards Ecolab's long-term 12% to 15% target as solid growth continues and impact from delivered product costs expected to normalize exiting 2024.

最後，我們繼續預計，隨著穩健成長的持續以及預計到2024 年交付產品成本的影響將正常化，季度調整後的稀釋每股收益增長將逐步正常化，實現藝康12% 至15% 的長期目標。

As always, will remain good stewards of capital by continuing to invest in the business, increasing our dividend and returning cash to shareholders with great business momentum and cash flows. Our balance sheet is in a very strong position. This provides us with many options to allocate capital to growth opportunities that will generate continued strong returns for shareholders.

一如既往，我們將透過繼續投資業務、增加股息並向股東返還現金，以良好的業務勢頭和現金流，繼續做好資本管家。我們的資產負債表處於非常有利的地位。這為我們提供了多種選擇來將資本分配給成長機會，從而為股東帶來持續強勁的回報。

Ecolab future has never looked brighter. Our leading customer value proposition where our technologies help customers improve the operating performance while reducing their water and energy use is increasingly relevant and continues to fuel our growth, pricing and margin expansion. We therefore, remain confident in delivering superior performance for our customers and shareholders in 2024 and beyond.

藝康的未來從未如此光明。我們領先的客戶價值主張，即我們的技術幫助客戶提高營運績效，同時減少水和能源的使用，這一主張越來越重要，並繼續推動我們的成長、定價和利潤擴張。因此，我們仍然有信心在 2024 年及以後為客戶和股東提供卓越的業績。

So thank you for your continued support and investment in Ecolab. I look forward to your questions. Andy?

感謝您對藝康的持續支持與投資。我期待您的提問。安迪？

Operator, would you please begin the question-and-answer period? (Operator Instructions).

接線生，請開始問答環節好嗎？（操作員說明）。

Tim Mulrooney with William Blair.

蒂姆·馬爾魯尼和威廉·布萊爾。

Christophe, good morning.

克里斯托夫，早安。

Good afternoon, Tim.

下午好，提姆。

So I wanted to dig into the institutional segment a little bit here, which had really strong ally margins in the second quarter, but probably the strongest I've ever seen from the second quarter. I think margins typically taken the third quarter. But I'm wondering if that's the expectation this year given what we saw in 2Q? And were there any one-time factors that could help me here that we should be aware of for our models?

因此，我想在這裡深入研究機構部門，該部門在第二季度的利潤率非常高，但可能是我在第二季度見過的最強勁的利潤率。我認為利潤率通常取第三季的數據。但我想知道考慮到我們在第二季度看到的情況，這是否是今年的預期？對於我們的模型，是否有任何一次性因素可以幫助我？

And if I could sneak in a part to just to touch on the growth side that you're seeing in the institutional business right now, which looks really good. I was just curious how you're thinking about the sustainability of that strong performance in the second half of this year and into next year. Thank you.

如果我可以偷偷地講一下您現在在機構業務中看到的成長方面，這看起來真的很好。我只是很好奇您如何看待今年下半年和明年強勁表現的可持續性。謝謝。

Thanks for the question, Tim. Very pleased with the question and Specialty segment. They're performing exceptionally well. So you've seen, as you know, on the lapping against a 13% top-line growth on in Q2 of 2023 of the 7% for this year is really strong, especially if it is down 4%. So quite a remarkable performance.

謝謝你的提問，提姆。對這個問題和專業部分非常滿意。他們的表現非常出色。因此，如您所知，您已經看到，與 2023 年第二季 13% 的營收成長相比，今年 7% 的營收成長確實非常強勁，尤其是如果下降 4%。這是相當出色的表現。

The margin that we had in Q2 were very clean for that segment. And as you know, it's a little bit seasonal, so by quarter, but generally, margins are going to remain north of 20% and as we've said, for the full year, we should reach the 22% targeted OI margin for 2024 as segment keeps improving as well from there.

我們在第二季的利潤對於該細分市場來說非常乾淨。如您所知，這有點季節性，所以按季度計算，但一般來說，利潤率將保持在 20% 以上，正如我們所說，全年我們應該達到 2024 年 22% 的目標 OI 利潤率因為細分市場也從那時起不斷改善。

So good top line, huge interest from customers, very clean. And from a margin perspective, so very strong, and it's going to keep improving as well in the next few quarters and years. So, very pleased with what IMS is doing. Innovation is also adding a lot as well as to the firepower of that business.

頂線非常好，客戶興趣濃厚，非常乾淨。從利潤率的角度來看，非常強勁，並且在接下來的幾個季度和幾年內也將不斷改善。因此，我們對 IMS 所做的事情非常滿意。創新也大大增強了該業務的火力。

As you know, our customers are trying to find solution to manage labor shortages, wage growth as well that they have. They need more automation, they need more systems, they need more digital technology. This is exactly what we're providing our customers.

如您所知，我們的客戶正在努力尋找解決方案來管理勞動力短缺和薪資成長。他們需要更多的自動化，他們需要更多的系統，他們需要更多的數位技術。這正是我們為客戶提供的。

So, all-in-all, as I've shared with you many times before the pandemic, for me, institutional was kind of a steady good business for the future of Ecolab. Now, a few years later, I'm extremely bullish about that business because we're uniquely positioned to gain a lot of share at very high margin.

因此，總而言之，正如我在大流行之前多次與大家分享的那樣，對我來說，機構業務對於藝康的未來來說是一項穩定的良好業務。幾年後的現在，我非常看好這項業務，因為我們擁有獨特的優勢，能夠以極高的利潤率獲得大量份額。

Ashish Sabadra with RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的阿什什‧薩巴德拉 (Ashish Sabadra)。

Thanks taking my question. I just wanted to focus on the raw price dynamic. How should we think about the raw material tailwinds going into the back half of the year. And we've continued to see pretty robust gross margin expansion. How should we think about the SG&A operating leverage going forward? Thanks.

謝謝回答我的問題。我只是想關注原物料價格動態。我們該如何看待下半年的原料順風。我們繼續看到相當強勁的毛利率擴張。我們該如何看待未來的 SG&A 營運槓桿？謝謝。

Thank you, Ashish. I'll pass that question to Scott.

謝謝你，阿什什。我會把這個問題轉給史考特。

Yeah, Ashish, thanks for the question. Just answering your first question, as we think about the DPC, as Christophe talked upfront, we saw the favorability in Q2, high single-digits. We're expecting that favorability to taper as we go into Q3, sort of, call it, low to mid-single-digits.

是的，阿什什，謝謝你的提問。只是回答你的第一個問題，當我們考慮 DPC 時，正如 Christophe 前面所說的那樣，我們看到了第二季度的好感度，高個位數。我們預計，隨著進入第三季度，這種好感度將逐漸減弱，可以說是低至中位數。

And then by Q4, raws to get really stabilized as we think about them and going into next year, frankly, we're seeing a world where raws get back to sort of normal inflationary levels next year. Certainly, given the amount of raws, the thousands of raw materials that we buy, they move around differently in some cases, like caustic, you've seen favorability. But in other commodities, you're seeing them go the other direction, oil-based commodities in particular.

然後到第四季度，當我們考慮並進入明年時，原材料將真正穩定下來，坦白說，我們看到明年原材料將恢復到正常的通膨水平。當然，考慮到原料的數量，我們購買的數千種原料，它們在某些情況下的移動方式有所不同，例如苛性鹼，你已經看到了青睞。但在其他大宗商品中，你會看到它們走向另一個方向，特別是石油基大宗商品。

And then as we think about the SG&A leverage, which your two-part question is -- as we talked about last quarter, we are making really smart growth-oriented investments, which is really driving the lion's share of the increase second quarter, the 6% year-over-year.

然後，當我們考慮 SG&A 槓桿時，您的問題由兩部分組成 - 正如我們上季度所討論的那樣，我們正在進行非常明智的增長導向型投資，這確實推動了第二季度增長的最大份額，同比增長6%。

And those investments are in frontline firepower, technology, digital technology, which is all helping long-term productivity. And we feel very good about that underlying productivity. So, in long-term, expect to get at least those historical levels of productivity going forward

這些投資是針對前線火力、技術、數位技術的，這些都有助於長期生產力。我們對潛在的生產力感到非常滿意。因此，從長遠來看，預計未來至少能達到歷史水準的生產力

Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的馬納夫·帕特奈克。

Hi, good afternoon. This is Ronan Kennedy on for Manav. Thank you for taking my question. With the One Ecolab initiative, I understand the long-term guidance framework unveiled at September 23 Investor Day. I understand that contemplated SG&A productivity in addition to GM recovery? But to what extent did you consider this One Ecolab initiative and related benefits? Was it fully considered or is it incremental? And what impact what's the impact on the targets, the trajectory, the timeline for realization, if any?

嗨，下午好。我是馬納夫的羅南肯尼迪。謝謝你回答我的問題。透過 One Ecolab 計劃，我了解了 9 月 23 日投資者日公佈的長期指導框架。據我了解，除了 GM 恢復之外，還考慮了 SG&A 生產力？但您在多大程度上考慮了 One Ecolab 計畫及相關優勢？是充分考慮的還是漸進的？對目標、軌跡、實現時間表（如果有的話）有何影響？

Thank you, Ronnie. It's all going to support, obviously, our commitment to reach the 20% OI margin as quickly as we can, but most importantly, One Ecolab is a growth initiative. It's really helping fuel towards the 5% to 7%, which is the other commitment that we've made as well, which leads to this 12% to 15% earnings per share growth. When you think about it for One Ecolab, our company has anchored its strategy on circle the customer, circle the globe for a very long time.

謝謝你，羅尼。顯然，這一切都將支持我們盡快達到 20% OI 利潤率的承諾，但最重要的是，One Ecolab 是一項成長計畫。這確實有助於推動 5% 至 7% 的成長，這也是我們做出的另一項承諾，導致每股收益成長 12% 至 15%。當你想到 One Ecolab 時，我們公司長期以來一直將其策略定位為圍繞客戶、圍繞全球。

The opportunity is huge, $55 billion and close to $3 billion for our top 35 customers. Well, up to now, we had to rely very successfully so, by the way, on our teams to work together in order to provide whole value of Ecolab to our customers everywhere around the world by working together by reaching out by working as one team.

對於我們的前 35 位客戶來說，機會是巨大的，價值 550 億美元，接近 30 億美元。嗯，到目前為止，我們必須非常成功地依賴我們的團隊共同努力，透過作為一個團隊共同努力，為世界各地的客戶提供藝康的整體價值。

One Ecolab is today hardwiring all that, that ultimately we can help our customers take a restaurant chain, for instance, understand what's my best-in-class performance that I should be aiming at, because we know what the best restaurant performance is out there. In terms of guest satisfaction, in terms of cost, in terms of environmental impact, and we can help them understand what's potential for the company, for the set of restaurants, and we will share that upside between us as value price and obviously, for the customer a net-net positive for the customer. Well, that helps us grow.

今天，藝康將所有這一切硬連線，最終我們可以幫助我們的客戶以一家連鎖餐廳為例，了解我應該瞄準的一流績效是什麼，因為我們知道最好的餐廳績效是什麼。在客人滿意度、成本、環境影響方面，我們可以幫助他們了解公司、餐廳的潛力，我們將在我們之間分享這一優勢，作為價值價格，顯然，客戶為客戶帶來淨淨正值。嗯，這有助於我們成長。

That helps us improve our margin, that helps our customers improve their performance. So it's a win-win that drives as well retention or loyalty. So at the end of the day, it's growth focused and at the same time, the technology that we're using will help us reorganize the way we work, serving those customers as One Ecolab, that's going to improve as well as the productivity.

這有助於我們提高利潤，並幫助我們的客戶提高績效。因此，這是一種雙贏，可以提高保留率或忠誠度。因此，歸根結底，我們的重點是成長，同時，我們使用的技術將幫助我們重組工作方式，作為 One Ecolab 為這些客戶提供服務，這將提高生產力。

We've had 20 to 30 basis points in the past of SG&A productivity growth, that's going to improve as we go forward as we implement One Ecolab, but at the same time, as Scott was mentioning before, today, we also reusing some of that margin upside in order to reinvest in growth investment. All-in-all, that will help us get to the 20% and go beyond by driving 5% to 7% top line growth

過去，我們的 SG&A 生產力成長了 20 到 30 個基點，隨著我們實施 One Ecolab，這一點將會改善，但同時，正如 Scott 之前提到的，今天，我們也重複使用了一些利潤率上升，以便再投資於成長投資。總而言之，這將幫助我們達到 20% 並超越，推動 5% 至 7% 的收入成長

John Roberts of Mizuho Securities.

瑞穗證券的約翰羅伯茲。

Yes. Maybe just further follow-up on that, Christophe. It sounds like you plan on creating centers of excellence. So what would the center excellences be? And is the charge for severance for some of the functions that are going to be replaced by the Center of Excellence?

是的。也許只是進一步跟進，克里斯托夫。聽起來您打算創建卓越中心。那麼中心的卓越之處是什麼呢？卓越中心將取代的某些職能是否需要支付遣散費？

So, John, I'll let it to Scott to reply to that question. But generally, we've been so over the years, always evolving way we work, especially with all the technology capabilities that we have. So most of the investments share from all the technology to newer technology to that new way of working, which ultimately is going to help us grow faster and drive productivity, but bottom line, the good thing is that our team will keep strengthening as well in the meantime. So, there will be no net negative for anyone in the organization. Is that Scott?

所以，約翰，我將讓史考特來回答這個問題。但總的來說，多年來我們一直如此，一直在發展我們的工作方式，特別是在我們擁有的所有技術能力方面。因此，大部分投資共享從所有技術到更新技術再到新的工作方式，最終將幫助我們更快地成長並提高生產力，但最重要的是，好的事情是我們的團隊也將在以下方面不斷加強：同時。因此，組織中的任何人都不會有淨負面影響。那是斯科特嗎？

Thanks, John. I'll add to that, Christophe. As he said, this is not about the restructuring. It's not about cost savings. This is focused on growth. The savings, honestly, John, are pretty immaterial in context of the P&L. And if you think about this over a three-year program, the net sort of cost and savings are less than 1% on average over the next few years, really starting in 2025.

謝謝，約翰。我要補充一點，克里斯托夫。正如他所說，這與重組無關。這與節省成本無關。這是專注於成長。老實說，約翰，在損益表的背景下，省下的錢是相當微不足道的。如果你考慮一個為期三年的計劃，那麼從 2025 年開始，未來幾年的淨成本和節省平均不到 1%。

But as we think about it, to your question on what that sort of nature it is and what's happening that is it's not about cutting the jobs, but about realigning where the work gets done, moving work to these centers of actions functional work really.

但正如我們所思考的那樣，對於你關於這種性質是什麼以及正在發生的事情的問題，這不是關於裁員，而是關於重新調整工作完成的地方，將工作轉移到這些真正的功能性工作行動中心。

To support the growth, create scalability to Christophe earlier point, that helps drive incremental productivity from a long-term perspective and then to your question on the charges, the special charges will include severance. As we move work from many countries into these global COEs. But also there are other costs in there, including advisory costs, other costs, facility related costs. But again, these are going to happen over the next few years.

為了支持成長，創建克里斯托夫之前提到的可擴展性，這有助於從長期角度提高生產力，然後針對您關於費用的問題，特殊費用將包括遣散費。當我們將工作從許多國家轉移到這些全球 COE 時。但其中還有其他成本，包括諮詢成本、其他成本、設施相關成本。但同樣，這些都將在未來幾年內發生。

Joshua Spector with UBS.

瑞銀集團的約書亞‧斯佩克特。

Yeah, Hi. This is Lucas Beaumont on for Josh. So just looking at the second half assumptions, typically like Ecolab will get a step up in EPS of sort of $0.25 or more 2Q to 3Q, I mean, there's only been a couple of instances in the last 10 years where that didn't happen. So your guide is kind of assuming that it's only up going to $0.12 to $0.20 at the high end.

是的，嗨。我是盧卡斯·博蒙特（Lucas Beaumont）為喬許（Josh）代言。因此，只要看看下半年的假設，通常像 Ecolab 將在第二季度到第三季度每股收益增加 0.25 美元或更多，我的意思是，在過去 10 年中只有少數情況沒有發生這種情況。所以你的指南有點假設高端價格只會上漲到 0.12 美元到 0.20 美元。

So firstly, I was wondering if you could just kind of walk us through why that normal seasonality doesn't make sense this year. And then secondly, the typical like 4Q move is like flat to down modestly, which is basically what you've assumed in your guide.

首先，我想知道您是否可以向我們解釋為什麼今年正常的季節性沒有意義。其次，典型的第四季度走勢就像持平到適度下跌，這基本上就是您在指南中所假設的。

So if we had a more typical 3Q move and then we get the normal 4Q move, you'd be pointing more to like 680 for the year versus where you guys are at on the 660. So just trying to understand sort of what's different in the setup this year, please. Thanks.

因此，如果我們有一個更典型的 3Q 變動，然後我們得到正常的 4Q 變動，那麼您會更多地指出今年的 680，而不是 660。所以我只是想了解今年的設定有何不同。謝謝。

Thank you. I'll let Scott start and I'll build on that.

謝謝。我會讓斯科特開始，我會以此為基礎。

Yeah. Feel free to add to this, Christophe. Obviously a lot of move around, as Christophe talked in the second half, don't forget that. Well, we will have the, the impact of surgical, which will be a headwind, which we talked about, about $0.08 in addition to the additional headwinds that we'll see from FX. But overall, as you see this, the sales we expect to continue to accelerate throughout the year, right.

是的。請隨意補充這一點，克里斯托夫。顯然，正如克里斯托夫在下半場所說的那樣，有很多移動，不要忘記這一點。好吧，我們將受到手術的影響，這將是我們談到的逆風，除了我們將從外匯中看到的額外逆風之外，大約為 0.08 美元。但總體而言，正如您所看到的，我們預計全年銷售將繼續加速，對吧。

And you typically see sales being higher in sort of the second and third quarter of the year. And then on the other side of this, you'll see the year-over-year margin expansion start to we'll continue to expand but it will ease through the third quarter, as DPC eases and then DPC becomes sort of stable and ultimately a headwind next year.

您通常會看到每年第二季和第三季的銷售額更高。另一方面，你會看到同比利潤率開始擴張，我們將繼續擴張，但隨著 DPC 的緩解，利潤率將在第三季放緩，然後 DPC 變得穩定，最終明年將面臨逆風。

And so I think you have some dynamics here that are probably not going to be able to compare the second half of this year to the normal years but getting back to this is really the if you look at our earnings growth that we're going to drive very strong earnings growth and even excluding the DPC tailwinds, we're getting at third quarter, and then the stable DPC in the fourth quarter that we're going to be driving underlying EPS at the high end of our long-term 12% to 15% range.

因此，我認為這裡有一些動態，可能無法將今年下半年與正常年份進行比較，但回到這一點，如果你看看我們的盈利增長，我們將推動非常強勁的盈利增長，甚至排除DPC 的推動因素，我們將在第三季度獲得穩定的DPC，然後在第四季度實現穩定的DPC，我們將推動基本每股收益達到長期12% 的高端至 15% 範圍。

Yeah, I feel really good about the second half year when you think about it. So 35% earnings growth in Q2 of 14 to 20 expected in Q3 of 12 to 18 for Q4 was the midpoint of 15, as Scott said. So with no DPC. help as well at that point in time, including as well the impact of the surgical site and FX as well while demonstrates the strong business momentum and margin upwards momentum that we have as well here. So very consistent, very steady. I feel really good about where we're going here.

是的，當你想到下半年時，我感覺非常好。因此，正如斯科特所說，第 2 季 14 至 20 季的獲利成長 35%，預計第 3 季 12 至 18 季的獲利成長為 15 的中點。所以沒有 DPC。在那個時間點也有幫助，包括手術地點和外匯的影響，同時展示了我們在這裡也擁有的強勁的業務勢頭和利潤率上升勢頭。所以非常一致、非常穩定。我對我們要去的地方感覺非常好。

Chris Parkinson with Wolfe Research.

沃爾夫研究中心的克里斯·帕金森。

Thank you so much Chris. I would like to dig in a little bit more in institutional specialty. Just given kind of all the macro dynamics in your relative outperformance volume, you break down your everything that's going to quick service, including some of these yield perceived value or is obviously to the mechanics of food, retail and lodging and the institutional side of it, what's been driving them in the degree of material outperformance and we own we think about the second half and a 25, you know, does your team see actually any further improvements there is going to be primarily market share gains that's going to drive the need of narrative for the foreseeable future? Thank you.

非常感謝克里斯。我想更深入研究機構專業。只要考慮到相對出色表現量中的所有宏觀動態，您就可以分解所有需要快速服務的內容，包括其中一些產生感知價值的內容，或者顯然與食品、零售和住宿的機制及其機構方面相關的內容，是什麼推動了他們在材料方面的出色表現，我們認為下半年和25 年後，您的團隊實際上是否看到任何進一步的改進，主要是市場份額的增長，這將推動需求對可預見的未來的敘述？謝謝。

Thank you, Chris. It's mostly market share gain as it's been as well. So the past few quarters as mentioned. So the foot traffic in our restaurants in our in the US is down 4%. So that's really showing how much we are gaining share. The main driver on in institutional and specialty. Our performance is that we are helping our customers with on labor AutoNation.

謝謝你，克里斯。這主要是市場份額的成長，就像過去一樣。正如前面提到的，過去幾個季度。因此，我們美國餐廳的客流量下降了 4%。這確實表明我們正在獲得多少份額。主要驅動力來自機構和專業。我們的表現是我們正在幫助我們的客戶解決勞動力 AutoNation 問題。

They don't find labor and labor is expensive at the same time and with a high turnover. Other than that, so it's pretty easy for our customers. So, it's pretty hard, obviously. All solutions that we provide them, being chemical solutions are helping doing three-in-one or our new machine program like the AI Dish Machine that we introduced at the National Restaurant Association Show a few months ago or our digital technologies as well are all helping our restaurant and hotel customers to serve more guests in a better way while using less labor.

他們發現勞動力並不昂貴，而且勞動力流動率很高。除此之外，這對我們的客戶來說非常容易。所以，顯然這很難。我們提供的所有解決方案，例如化學解決方案，都有助於實現三合一，或我們的新機器程序，例如我們幾個月前在全國餐廳協會展會上推出的人工智慧洗碗機，或者我們的數位科技都在提供幫助我們的餐廳和飯店客戶能夠以更好的方式為更多的客人提供服務，同時使用更少的勞動力。

Well, this is exactly what they need. This is exactly what we're providing them. And it's exactly what competition can't really provide. So, you put it all together, that drives growth at a higher margin because everybody wins.

嗯，這正是他們所需要的。這正是我們為他們提供的。而這正是競爭所無法真正提供的。所以，把所有這些放在一起，就會推動更高利潤率的成長，因為每個人都是贏家。

John McNulty with BMO Capital Markets.

BMO 資本市場部的 John McNulty。

Yes, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. When you look at the industrial business, it looks like it's kind of a there's the haves and have nots and you're seeing some decent growth in areas like water, food and beverage paper still maybe struggling a little bit. I guess, can you give us your outlook for the industrial markets as you're looking forward into the back half of the year and early next year? What you're hearing from your customers, especially on some of the areas that may be struggling like the heavier water applications?

是的，下午好。感謝您回答我的問題。當你觀察工業業務時，你會發現水、食品和飲料紙等領域出現了一些不錯的成長，但可能仍然有些掙扎。我想，您能否向我們介紹一下您對下半年和明年初工業市場的展望？您從客戶那裡聽到了什麼，特別是在一些可能遇到困難的領域，例如較重的水應用？

Thank you, John. Generally, I like the progression that industrial is having. So, if you take a little bit the broader picture, the last figures, industrial has done unbelievable work in terms of margin improvement. We've reached a record level as well.

謝謝你，約翰。總的來說，我喜歡工業的進步。因此，如果你從更廣闊的角度來看，最後的數字，工業在利潤率改善方面做了令人難以置信的工作。我們也達到了創紀錄的水平。

And the shift to offense a year ago that we started is starting to bear fruits as well in terms of top line momentum, which is exactly where we wanted to be, getting top line moving while keep improving as well the margins, and that's exactly what's happening.

一年前我們開始轉向進攻，在營收動能方面也開始取得成果，這正是我們想要達到的目標，在不斷提高利潤率的同時提高營收，這正是我們想要實現的目標。發生。

So, we've moved overall segments from 1% growth in the first quarter to 2% in the second quarter. Within that as well, our largest business, which is water is at 4%, which, by the way, has been impacted as well by mining. So, underlying water would be even stronger in the downstream is really strong in water as well. Global high-tech is doing extremely well as well at the same time.

因此，我們將整體細分市場的成長從第一季的 1% 提高到第二季的 2%。其中，我們最大的業務（水）佔 4%，順便說一句，這也受到了採礦業的影響。所以，底層的水會更強，下游的水也確實很強。全球高科技同時表現也非常出色。

So, industrial shifting very nicely when I think about F&B and paper, they're going to keep improving in the quarters to come. So, bottom-line, you will see industrial shift even further up with very strong margin of 16% today, which is 200 basis points better than where we were in 2019. So, I think that we've really managed that very, very well and the best is yet to come.

因此，當我想到餐飲和造紙時，產業轉移非常好，它們將在未來幾季不斷改善。因此，最重要的是，您將看到產業轉移進一步上升，今天的利潤率非常強勁，達到 16%，比 2019 年高出 200 個基點。所以，我認為我們確實做得非常非常好，最好的還在後面。

Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

傑夫澤考斯卡斯與摩根大通。

Thanks very much. In the first quarter, our year-over-year volume growth was 2%. In this quarter, your year-over-year volume growth is 1%. Is the reason for the deceleration, a deceleration in volume growth in the institutional business because of tougher comparisons? And secondly, do you have a target for your global industrial business. I know you want to get to a 20% margin, and that's the business that's maybe at, I don't know, 16.5%, something like that. Do you have a goal for that business?

非常感謝。第一季度，我們的銷量年增 2%。本季度，您的銷量年增 1%。減速的原因是機構業務量成長減速是因為更嚴格的比較嗎？其次，您的全球工業業務有目標嗎？我知道你想要獲得 20% 的利潤率，而我不知道，這家公司的利潤率可能是 16.5% 之類的。您對該業務有目標嗎？

Thank you, Jeff. As mentioned just before, so industrial is at 16% right now, it's 200 basis points better than what it was 2019 and ultimately, we want to have industrial move towards the 20% as well, getting to 18% will be already a good step in that direction.

謝謝你，傑夫。如同先前所提到的，工業成長率目前為 16%，比 2019 年好 200 個基點，最終，我們希望工業成長率也能邁向 20%，達到 18% 將已經是一個很好的一步朝那個方向。

And if we get industrial to 18% and all the other businesses get to the target, we will get north of 20% as a whole company. So feel really good about both getting beyond the 20% as a whole company and 18% for industrial, which is an unbelievable margin when you compare to competition.

如果我們的工業佔比達到 18%，而所有其他業務都達到目標，那麼整個公司的佔比將超過 20%。因此，對於超越整個公司的 20% 和工業領域的 18% 感到非常高興，與競爭對手相比，這是一個令人難以置信的利潤。

Now your first question on volumes, so from 2% to 1%, well, you comment was the answer. It's the lap between Q2 institutional this year versus last year, which was 13%. That's bringing the 2% to 1%. So it's a year-on-year comparison.

現在你的第一個問題是關於成交量的，所以從 2% 到 1%，好吧，你的評論就是答案。這是今年第二季機構投資者與去年 13% 之間的差距。這使得 2% 上升到 1%。所以這是同比比較。

Other than that, all businesses, all segments as you've seen, have been improving as well in the meantime. So year-on-year optical comparison, and all businesses are improving very nicely, which is why I feel good about the business momentum.

除此之外，正如您所看到的，所有業務、所有部門都在同時改善。所以與去年同期相比，所有業務都在改善，這就是為什麼我對業務動能感覺良好。

David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的大衛·貝格萊特。

Thank you. Christophe, back on to the One Ecolab initiative. Do you need to make any additional investments to support this initiative? And how should we think about the rollout initial revenue drivers from this initiative?

謝謝。Christophe，回到 One Ecolab 倡議。您是否需要進行任何額外投資來支持該計劃？我們應該如何考慮該計劃的推出最初的收入驅動因素？

So David, thank you. It's going to be progressive. There is no revolution that's to be expected here. A lot of ground work has been done over the past few quarters as well as we now also get into execution mode. All the investments are planned in our numbers as we will share. So no surprise to be expected. So from that initiative, it's really an initiative that's helping us get towards this 5% to 7% as quickly we can. And I feel really good because we know that the [EUR55 billion] cross-sell opportunity that we have out there.

大衛，謝謝你。它將是進步的。這裡不會發生任何革命。過去幾季我們已經完成了大量基礎工作，現在我們也進入了執行模式。我們將分享所有投資計劃中的數字。所以不足為奇。因此，從該計劃來看，它確實是一項幫助我們盡快實現 5% 到 7% 目標的計劃。我感覺非常好，因為我們知道我們擁有 [550 億歐元] 的交叉銷售機會。

And again, as mentioned before, out of the top 35 customers, we have $3 billion is available there. Well, this easier top line that we can get at a higher margin because obviously, we're serving those customers already. So the cost to serve is much lower.

再次，如前所述，在前 35 位客戶中，我們有 30 億美元可用。好吧，我們可以以更高的利潤獲得更輕鬆的收入，因為顯然我們已經在為這些客戶提供服務了。因此，服務成本要低得多。

So when you bring it all together, it's very it's very organic, natural. There's no revolution. It's what customers have been asking for years as well. What our teams are expecting as well that when they go and serve a customer while they get the full picture of what we're doing for that customer today.

所以當你把它們放在一起時，它是非常非常有機、自然的。沒有革命。這也是客戶多年來一直要求的。我們的團隊也期望，當他們去服務客戶時，他們可以全面了解我們今天為該客戶所做的事情。

At the same time, they understand what could be the best-in-class performance, how much additional value they could generate, what are the programs that they could sell to them as well and then developing an execution plan for the customer to get there and ultimately to get paid for it through the value pricing that we've been developing over the past few years.

同時，他們了解什麼可以是一流的性能，可以產生多少附加價值，也可以向他們出售哪些程序，然後為客戶制定執行計劃以實現目標並最終通過我們過去幾年開發的價值定價獲得報酬。

So bottom line, very organic, no incremental cost that we haven't included in our numbers as well in here. So, I feel really good about where we're going with One Ecolab here.

因此，底線是非常有機的，沒有增量成本，我們也沒有將其包含在此處的數字中。因此，我對 One Ecolab 的發展方向感到非常滿意。

Pavel Molchanov with Raymond James.

帕維爾·莫爾恰諾夫和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Thanks for taking the question on. We haven't seen any M&A of late or even on some kind of a buy-side in-store tuck-in scale. I'm curious how you are currently evaluating the acquisition pipeline?

感謝您提出問題。我們最近沒有看到任何併購，甚至沒有看到某種買方店記憶貨物規模的併購。我很好奇您目前如何評估收購管道？

Thank you, Pavel. So I can't go in too much detail for obvious reasons with M&A. We've done several smaller ones over the last few years following, obviously, the acquisition of Purolite at the end of 2021. We wanted to make sure we got that integration well done, that we got the right platform for the future that we could get as well our leverage ratio also back to two.

謝謝你，帕維爾。因此，由於顯而易見的併購原因，我無法透露太多細節。顯然，在 2021 年底收購 Purolite 之後，我們在過去幾年裡做了幾個較小的項目。我們希望確保我們能夠很好地完成整合，確保我們為未來提供了正確的平台，我們的槓桿率也回到了 2。

That was our promise as well. We're getting there as well as we speak, even more, obviously, with the sale of our Surgical Solutions business. So it's all done in a thoughtful manner, both from an execution perspective and from a financial perspective as well.

這也是我們的承諾。顯然，透過出售我們的外科解決方案業務，我們正在實現這一目標。因此，無論是從執行角度還是從財務角度來看，這一切都是經過深思熟慮的方式完成的。

What I can say is that our M&A pipeline of big and small opportunities is very rich. We entertain all those connections on a regular basis as well. The fact that we have a great business, performing extremely well with one of the strongest balance sheet that we've ever had, puts us in a unique position obviously, so to go after opportunities that we believe. So it would be the right one for us.

我能說的是，我們大大小小的併購機會非常豐富。我們也定期接待所有這些聯繫。事實上，我們擁有出色的業務，表現非常出色，資產負債表是我們有史以來最強大的之一，這顯然使我們處於獨特的地位，因此我們可以抓住我們認為的機會。所以這對我們來說是合適的。

So what you've seen in the past is what you're going to see in the future, but always focused on our three key priorities, as I've shared many times with you. First, it's going to be water. Second, it's going to be digital. And third, it's going to be life science. So those are going to be the main areas where we're going to be investing in M&A as well. Thank you.

因此，您過去所看到的就是未來將會看到的，但始終關注我們的三個關鍵優先事項，正如我多次與您分享的那樣。首先，它將是水。其次，它將是數位化的。第三，這將是生命科學。因此，這些也將成為我們投資併購的主要領域。謝謝。

Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

勞倫斯·亞歷山大和杰弗里斯。

Hey, [Dan Rizzo onffor] Lawrence. Just a little bit on the other side of the coin. You did a divestiture in the low-margin healthcare, and forgive me if you've said this in the past, but are there other businesses, which you can look at where you might be exiting as well within that segment or within others?

嘿，[丹·里佐]勞倫斯。只是硬幣另一面的一點點。你在低利潤的醫療保健領域進行了剝離，如果你過去說過這樣的話，請原諒我，但是還有其他業務，你可以看看你可能在該細分市場或其他細分市場中退出嗎？

Not really. We, obviously, look at our portfolio on a regular basis. And really, you think the way on who would be the best owner for that business. That's been true for a very, very long time. And the surgical business was an obvious candidate, because it is a product business, it's not service business where we can apply the Ecolab model, where you have service, technology, chemistry and data that come together.

並不真地。顯然，我們會定期查看我們的投資組合。事實上，你會思考誰會成為該企業的最佳所有者。很長一段時間以來都是如此。外科手術業務是一個明顯的候選者，因為它是一個產品業務，而不是我們可以應用藝康模型的服務業務，在那裡你可以將服務、技術、化學和數據結合在一起。

Surgical was purely drapes, great drapes, obviously, but those are products. That's a business that fits very well in a Medline portfolio, much less in our own company. So that's one of the reasons why we've sold this business.

手術純粹是手術單，顯然是很棒的手術單，但那些都是產品。這項業務非常適合 Medline 的投資組合，更不用說我們自己的公司了。這就是我們出售這項業務的原因之一。

At the same time, we want to make sure that our healthcare business can build from a smaller scale, a much healthier business for the future and really focused on instrument processing, which is a typical Ecolab business. Beyond that, there's no obvious business out there that that doesn't fit the portfolio doesn't have the right performance. I like a lot the broad-based nature of the performance of the business across businesses and across markets. So, in short, no obvious candidate out there to do something similar.

同時，我們希望確保我們的醫療保健業務能夠在未來發展為更小規模、更健康的業務，並真正專注於儀器加工，這是藝康的典型業務。除此之外，沒有任何明顯的業務不適合該投資組合，也沒有良好的績效。我非常喜歡跨企業和跨市場的業務績效的廣泛性。因此，簡而言之，沒有明顯的候選人可以做類似的事情。

Shlomo Rosenbaum with Stifel.

什洛莫·羅森鮑姆與史蒂菲爾。

Hi, thank you. I thought I'd ask Scott to maybe take a little bit deeper just on that volume question that was brought up before understand the mathematical implications of institutional growth slowing, but because of the comps, how should we think of that in the second half of the year? If you look at it, you on a total company volume, you grew 1% on a negative 1% last quarter. If you had [0%] or flat volume in 3Q, does it make it tougher in order to generate the volume growth for the second half of the year? So, just trying to get to how we should think of the volume growth going forward?

嗨，謝謝你。我想我應該請斯科特更深入地討論在理解機構增長放緩的數學含義之前提出的數量問題，但由於比較，我們應該如何在下半年考慮這個問題那一年？如果你看一下，你會發現，從上個季度的負 1% 來看，你的公司總銷量成長了 1%。如果第三季的銷售量為 [0%] 或持平，那麼下半年的銷售成長是否會變得更加困難？那麼，只是想知道我們應該如何看待未來的銷售成長？

And then if you don't mind, I just want to ask a housekeeping question, we saw a spike up sequentially in interest expense about $7 million, but the debt level was relatively the same. I don't know if there were some inter-quarter borrowing or is there something else that's included in that line? If you could just clarify that, so we can straighten that out for our model?

如果你不介意的話，我只想問一個內務問題，我們看到利息支出連續上升約 700 萬美元，但債務水平相對相同。我不知道是否有一些季度間借款或該行中是否還包含其他內容？如果您能澄清這一點，那麼我們就可以為我們的模型解決這個問題？

Yeah, I'll start with your last question first. If you just look at interest expense overall, year over year, we had a cash that we used to pay down debt earlier in the year in the first quarter. So there's some impact from that as cash has come down from over $900 million at the end of 2023 and two at the end of 20, our Q2, it's about $380 million.

是的，我先從你的最後一個問題開始。如果你只看整體利息支出，年復一年，我們有現金用於償還今年早些時候第一季的債務。因此，這會產生一些影響，因為現金從 2023 年底的 9 億多美元減少到 20 年底的兩個季度，也就是我們的第二季度，大約為 3.8 億美元。

I'll start with your last question first. If you just look at interest expense overall year-over-year, we had cash that we used to pay down debt earlier in the year in the first quarter. So, there's some impact from that as cash has come down from over $900 million at the end of 2023 to at the end of Q2, it's about $380 million. So, that's probably the biggest driver as we look sequentially on interest expense.

我先從你的最後一個問題開始。如果你只看同比利息支出，我們有現金用於償還今年早些時候第一季的債務。因此，這會產生一些影響，因為現金已從 2023 年底的 9 億多美元減少到第二季末的約 3.8 億美元。因此，當我們按順序查看利息支出時，這可能是最大的驅動因素。

Expect interest expense in the second half to be in that call it, $60 million to $70 million range, which is inclusive of benefit we'll get from the Orchid proceeds, which is, as you've seen in the disclosure, the gross proceeds there are about $950 million.

預計下半年的利息支出將在 6,000 萬至 7,000 萬美元範圍內，其中包括我們將從 Orchid 收益中獲得的收益，正如您在披露中所看到的，總收益約為9.5億美元。

So, back to your earlier volume question, when I think Christophe hit on exactly, which is an to Jeff's earlier comment, as we look at that sequentially, on the volume, it's really the impact of the comparisons to the institutional volume coming down from Q1 to Q2 on the more difficult comps and as we think about in the second half in that range that Christophe talked earlier in this 1% to 2%.

所以，回到你之前的捲問題，當我認為克里斯托夫準確地擊中了傑夫之前的評論時，當我們按順序查看卷時，這實際上是與機構卷的比較的影響Q1 到Q2 的比較難度更大，正如我們在下半年考慮的那樣，Christophe 早些時候談到了1% 到2% 的範圍。

And maybe building on that, my commitments to you has been so to get to this 5% to 7% as quickly as we can. 4% to 5% this year, as I've said, not every quarter is going to be created equal, mostly because of year-on-year comparison.

也許在此基礎上，我對你們的承諾是盡快達到 5% 到 7%。今年 4% 到 5%，正如我所說，並非每季都會相同，主要是因為同比比較。

So, 4% to 5% this year towards 5% to 7% doesn't seem to be like something crazy especially with the momentum that we're showing, and industrial also getting better, as mentioned, past remaining very strong. Institutional being in a very strong position as well.

因此，今年從4% 到5% 到5% 到7% 似乎並不是什麼瘋狂的事情，尤其是考慮到我們所表現出的勢頭，而且工業也變得更好，正如前面提到的，過去仍然非常強勁。機構也處於非常有利的地位。

And when I see all the investments that we're making as well out of the margins improvements that we have with more feet on the street, with more capacities in growth businesses like global high tech, with more capabilities in digital and innovation around the world as well, I feel good with the trajectory that we're having moving from this 4% to 5% to 5% to 7% is going to happen so very naturally.

當我看到我們所做的所有投資以及利潤率的提高時，我們在街上的腳步越來越多，在全球高科技等成長型業務方面擁有更多的能力，在世界各地的數位和創新方面擁有更多的能力同樣，我對我們從 4% 到 5%、5% 到 7% 的發展軌跡感到滿意，這將非常自然地發生。

Steve Byrne with Bank of America.

美國銀行的史蒂夫伯恩。

Yeah, Thank you. I'd like to hear your view on two potentially meaningful longer-term opportunities in water. The first one being this initiative you talked about last year where you're going to be going after these -- I don't know, what is 150 companies that consume 20% of global freshwater, is that an initiative that still has a meaningful potential for you. And then the other one is with PFAS being classified as hazardous, that means every company that manages or uses it, will have to report it in 2025 under TRI, is that an initiative you are following?

是的，謝謝。我想聽聽您對水領域兩個潛在有意義的長期機會的看法。第一個是你去年談到的這個倡議，你將要追求這些——我不知道，消耗全球淡水 20% 的 150 家公司是多少，這個倡議是否仍然具有有意義的意義？另一個是 PFAS 被歸類為有害物質，這意味著每家管理或使用它的公司都必須在 2025 年根據 TRI 進行報告，這是您正在遵循的一項舉措嗎？

Thank you, Steve. So two parts, obviously, very different components of your question here. So first, in terms of focusing on the 150 companies that use a third of the world water. This is where we focus all our attention. And as mentioned before, so our laser focus on our top 35 customer as a company aligns perfectly well with that vision of the world of those 150 companies using a third of the world water.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。顯然，你的問題有兩個非常不同的組成部分。首先，重點關注使用全球三分之一水資源的 150 家公司。這是我們集中所有註意力的地方。如同先前所提到的，我們對該公司 35 家最大客戶的高度關注與這 150 家公司使用世界三分之一水資源的願景完全一致。

Those are the ones that are the more interested, obviously, in our technology, helping them produce more while reducing their cost, by reducing the usage of energy and water this is working really well, which is one of the reasons where our water business is doing well and keeps accelerating as well at the same time.

顯然，這些人對我們的技術更感興趣，透過減少能源和水的使用，幫助他們生產更多產品，同時降低成本，這非常有效，這也是我們水業務的原因之一做得很好，同時也在不斷加速。

Now on the PFAS question, which is an old question, we have all the technologies to get that done the right way. Regulation is going to help in a certain extent where everyone will have to play with the same rules. So, we are really focusing on our customers today, helping them get plans on how to address that PFAS issue that turns into a business opportunity.

現在，關於 PFAS 問題，這是一個老問題，我們擁有所有技術來以正確的方式完成這個問題。監管將在一定程度上有所幫助，因為每個人都必須遵守相同的規則。因此，我們今天真正關注的是我們的客戶，幫助他們制定計劃，解決如何將 PFAS 問題轉化為商機。

So, for us over time. And we focus mostly on food and beverage customers, those are the ones who have the highest interest right now. And I like progress that we're making here, but it's going to take some time to see it happen or having an impact on our top line growth. But at some point, it will.

所以，對我們來說，隨著時間的推移。我們主要關注食品和飲料客戶，這些客戶目前興趣最高。我喜歡我們在這裡取得的進展，但需要一些時間才能看到它發生或對我們的營收成長產生影響。但在某些時候，它會的。

Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research.

垂直研究的凱文·麥卡錫。

Thank you and good afternoon, Christoph. My question relates to the potential timing attached to your long-standing EBIT margin goal of 20%. Would you expect to achieve that margin target coincident with the $140 million of savings from one Ecolab or perhaps sooner than that or later? Appreciate that the macro environment obviously or something to say about the timing. But I would certainly welcome any updated thoughts on that glide path and timeframe.

謝謝你，下午好，克里斯托夫。我的問題涉及貴公司 20% 的長期息稅前利潤目標的潛在時機。您是否期望在藝康節省 1.4 億美元的同時實現這一利潤目標，或者可能更早或更晚？顯然，宏觀環境或相關時機的說法值得讚賞。但我當然歡迎任何有關該下滑路徑和時間表的最新想法。

Thank you, Kevin. It was in September or October last year that I said we will get there, so within a few years. And for sure, less than five. Well, we're almost a year later. So it's kind of the same and a year closure. To that, if anything, I feel more confident that we're going to get there.

謝謝你，凱文。去年九月或十月我就說過我們會實現這個目標，所以幾年之內。可以肯定的是，少於五個。好吧，我們快一年後了。所以這有點相同，而且是一年的結束。對此，如果有的話，我對我們能夠實現這一目標更有信心。

We're going to get there in time. There is no direct correlation between the One Ecolab savings and that margin, as Scott was saying before, we're talking about smaller numbers, this $140 million in the grand scheme of things. One Ecolab is mostly a growth initiative which will help, obviously, on the SG&A, but most importantly, will drive the margin, gross margin even higher, which will lead us to an OI improvement.

我們會及時到達那裡。正如 Scott 之前所說，One Ecolab 節省的成本和利潤之間沒有直接關聯，我們談論的是較小的數字，即宏偉計劃中的 1.4 億美元。One Ecolab 主要是一項成長計劃，顯然，這將有助於SG&A，但最重要的是，將推動利潤率、毛利率更高，這將導致我們的OI 改善。

So I stick to where we were within the next few years, and we see the PCs coming very well together. Gross margin is already close to 44%, which was the high watermark. For our company, we keep improving from there. Our SG&A is 200 basis points below where it was pre-pandemic as well in 2019 and will keep accelerating as well.

因此，我堅持在接下來的幾年裡我們所處的位置，我們看到 PC 能夠很好地結合在一起。毛利率已經接近44%，這是高水位線。對於我們公司來說，我們從那裡不斷改進。我們的 SG&A 比 2019 年大流行前的水平低 200 個基點，並且還將繼續加速。

Well, you bring all three together nice top line acceleration, gross margin further improvements and productivity improvements as well will mathematically lead to the 20% fairly soon.

好吧，如果將這三者結合起來，收入會得到很好的加速，毛利率進一步提高，生產力也會提高，從數學上講，很快就會達到 20%。

Patrick Cunningham with Citi.

花旗銀行的派崔克‧坎寧安。

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. On the Pest Elimination business, the sales growth continues to be very strong, but the margin expansion is a bit more muted than the other segments. How should we think about the cadence of growth investments into that business and the timing on when we start to see some meaningful sales leverage and just a follow-up there is, what sort of long-term margin target do you have for that business?

你好。感謝您提出我的問題。在害蟲消除業務方面，銷售成長仍然非常強勁，但利潤率成長比其他細分市場要溫和一些。我們應該如何考慮對該業務的成長投資的節奏，以及何時開始看到一些有意義的銷售槓桿，以及後續行動，您對該業務有什麼樣的長期利潤目標？

Good question, Patrick. So I really love that business, very steady growth, high single, low double, really good, not always an easy market, but whatever happens out there, it's always a very good performance. At the same time, it's the best performing Pest Elimination business in the world, which is also a good indication. And as you know, so there is no raw materials, almost none related to that business. So there is no DPC help or hurt obviously on that business.

好問題，派崔克。所以我真的很喜歡這個行業，非常穩定的成長，高單，低雙，真的很好，並不總是一個容易的市場，但無論發生什麼，它總是一個非常好的表現。同時，它是全球表現最好的除蟲業務，這也是一個很好的跡象。如您所知，沒有原材料，幾乎沒有與該業務相關的原材料。因此，DPC 對該業務沒有明顯的幫助或傷害。

It's a business that's going to get north of 20%, for sure. And when I think about the main growth drivers here, there are two mostly. The first one is to drive cross-sell, which has been at core of our growth strategy in Pest Elimination, so selling the Pest Elimination services to existing Ecolab customers worked really well over many, many years.

毫無疑問，這項業務的成長率將超過 20%。當我思考這裡的主要成長動力時，主要有兩個。第一個是推動交叉銷售，這一直是我們害蟲消除成長策略的核心，因此向藝康現有客戶銷售害蟲消除服務多年來效果非常好。

And second, it's to invest in connected devices. We have all the technology. We are one of the largest industrial cloud in the world. We have all sensing technology. We have all systems, we have all cybersecurity, everything that you need.

其次，是投資連網設備。我們擁有所有的技術。我們是世界上最大的工業雲之一。我們擁有所有感測技術。我們擁有所有系統，我們擁有所有網路安全，以及您需要的一切。

Ultimately, so to connect all those millions of devices around the world that today, we go and visit regularly each of them to check whether you're going to get activities or not, well, tomorrow that's going to be very different. One data point at the National Restaurant Association Show we were in that big conference hall, where you have 600 traps in there today, we need roughly eight hours to go and check all those traps.

最終，為了連接世界各地數以百萬計的設備，今天我們會定期訪問每個設備，以檢查您是否會進行活動，明天情況將會非常不同。國家餐廳協會的一個數據顯示，我們當時在那個大會議廳裡，今天那裡有 600 個陷阱，我們需要大約八個小時去檢查所有這些陷阱。

Tomorrow, it's going to be done in 20 minutes. So just imagine how much value we can create, both in terms in terms of growth, of service to customers and naturally in terms of performance that we can drive out of the business. So that's going to drive top line growth. It's going to going to drive earnings growth, and it's going to drive return on invested capital, which is already the highest in our company even further higher

明天，20分鐘內就能完成。因此，想像一下我們可以創造多少價值，無論是在成長、為客戶提供服務方面，還是在我們可以從業務中推動的績效方面。因此，這將推動營收成長。它將推動獲利成長，並將推動投資資本回報率，這已經是我們公司最高的，甚至更高

Andy Wittmann with Robert W. Baird.

安迪·惠特曼和羅伯特·W·貝爾德。

Great. Thanks for taking the question this afternoon. I guess I also wanted to ask on the 1 Ecolab plan just because from the outside, it's hard to I think, understand sometimes the difference between your various plans. I think over the years, I think back to like the 2018 efficiency initiative, you talked about some of the technology investments that you made enabled those changes then, you expanded that in 2019 and then again in 2020.

偉大的。感謝您今天下午提出問題。我想我也想詢問 1 Ecolab 計劃，只是因為從外部來看，我認為有時很難理解你們各種計劃之間的差異。我想多年來，我回想起 2018 年的效率計劃，您談到了您所做的一些技術投資，當時實現了這些變化，您在 2019 年進行了擴展，然後在 2020 年再次進行了擴展。

The institutional advancement program that you rolled out in 2023 was largely underpinned, I think Christophe about the digital investments that you made at that time as well. And then I think even the European program that you announced in 2023 also was kind of driven by digital. So this one I'm hearing again is going to be using technology to effectuate some of these efficiencies, but I mean, can you just make a little bit finer point on kind of what's different about this one compared to some of the prior ones?

你們在 2023 年推出的機構發展計畫在很大程度上得到了支撐，我認為 Christophe 也對你們當時所做的數位投資表示讚賞。我認為，即使是您在 2023 年宣布的歐洲計劃也是由數字驅動的。因此，我再次聽到的這個專案將使用技術來實現其中一些效率，但我的意思是，您能否就這個專案與之前的一些專案相比的不同之處提出一點更具體的觀點？

So the main difference, Andy, is that the prior ones where by individual business. It was to really improve the delivery and the performance of Institutional. From a growth perspective, you've seen the results. That's why it's working so well today. It's the only reason. Obviously, we talked about innovation as well here, but the way we've organized ourselves, the way we've leveraged technology, well has been leading to these great performance that we have in Institution and Specialty today.

安迪，所以主要的區別在於之前的個人業務。這是為了真正改善機構的交付和績效。從成長的角度來看，您已經看到了結果。這就是為什麼它今天運作得這麼好。這是唯一的原因。顯然，我們在這裡也討論了創新，但是我們組織自己的方式，我們利用技術的方式，一直導致我們今天在機構和專業領域取得如此出色的表現。

You look at Europe, it was also technology, but it was much more back-office technology. It was much more ERP, Andy. And when you look today, well, Europe came from [0%] margin to 13%, 14% today. So a very solid good business that we have there.

你看看歐洲，它也是技術，但更多的是後台技術。安迪，這更像是 ERP。當你今天看時，歐洲的利潤率從 [0%] 上升到今天的 13%、14%。所以我們在那裡擁有非常穩固的良好業務。

One Ecolab is connecting all the businesses together in order so for our customers to see one Ecolab and for us to help them understand by leveraging all Ecolab can do, what's the value, what’s the savings that me as a customer can expect if all my units were at the best performance level of all my locations, how much would that be? It's a different dimension because this one, Andy, is connecting businesses together the previous ones whereby individual businesses that all led to very good returns at the same time. Thank you.

One Ecolab 將所有業務連接在一起，以便我們的客戶能夠看到一個 Ecolab，並幫助他們了解利用 Ecolab 所能做的一切，價值是什麼，作為客戶我可以期望節省多少成本，如果我的所有設備都處於我所有地點的最佳性能水平，那是多少？這是一個不同的維度，因為安迪將企業與之前的企業聯繫在一起，從而使各個企業同時帶來了非常好的回報。謝謝。

Mike Harrison with Seaport Research.

海港研究中心的麥克·哈里森。

Hi, good afternoon. You noted the high-tech business within the Water segment is growing double-digits. Christophe, is there any way to be a little bit more specific? Is that a teens growth rate or more like 20% or 30% or even higher? And can you talk about the penetration rate with data centers? Or any other context around the opportunity that you're seeing around data centers over the next few years for your Water business? Thank you.

嗨，下午好。您注意到水領域的高科技業務正在以兩位數的速度成長。Christophe，有辦法可以說得更具體一點嗎？這是青少年成長率還是 20% 或 30% 甚至更高？能談談資料中心的滲透率嗎？或者您在未來幾年內看到的資料中心為您的水務業務帶來的機會有任何其他背景嗎？謝謝。

So it's been in 2023, so that business, which is a few hundred million, as we've talked about, has been growing some in the 30%-ish like that. We're not disclosing too much detail so far. It will come when we have a more steady states organization and platform to serve that new industry, we will share that, obviously, with you, but kind of a few hundred million growing roughly 30% last year, what it's showing you kind of the trajectory that we have in that business.

到了 2023 年，我們所說的幾億美元的業務一直在以 30% 左右的速度成長。到目前為止我們還沒有透露太多細節。當我們有一個更穩定的國家組織和平台來服務這個新行業時，它就會到來，顯然，我們會與您分享，但去年增長了大約 30％ 的幾億美元，它向您展示了我們在該業務中的發展軌跡。

At the same time, it's a very highly profitable business because the customers we serve, which are the high-tech companies, being semiconductors, manufacturers or data centers, hyperscalers operators. Well, those ones are not looking for the most cost-efficient solution.

同時，這是一項利潤非常高的業務，因為我們服務的客戶是高科技公司、半導體、製造商或資料中心、超大規模營運商。好吧，這些人並不是在尋找最具成本效益的解決方案。

They are trying to find partners that are helping them deliver the highest uptime, the highest power of computing, while reducing the usage of water and energy because that's the true limiting factor and that's where we invest all our resources on innovation in order to help those companies produce more computing power while reducing the impact on the environment.

他們正在努力尋找合作夥伴，幫助他們提供最長的正常運行時間、最高的運算能力，同時減少水和能源的使用，因為這是真正的限制因素，而這正是我們將所有資源投入創新的地方，以幫助那些公司生產更多的運算能力，同時減少對環境的影響。

So, the cost of it is kind of secondary which means we can invest in high technology. They pay for it. It's good for them. It's good for us. It's good for our shareholders as well. This global high-tech business has been a fantastic business and keeps getting better

因此，它的成本是次要的，這意味著我們可以投資高科技。他們為此付出了代價。這對他們有好處。這對我們有好處。這對我們的股東也有好處。這家全球高科技企業一直是一家出色的企業，並且不斷變得更好

Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley.

文森安德魯斯與摩根士丹利。

Thank you. One more on the One Ecolab and Christophe, you noted that this program is designed for all of your segments. I'm wondering if you can just touch on within the different segments, are there some where you anticipate having a greater impact on volume or a greater impact on price? And overall, are there some segments that you think it will benefit more than others?

謝謝。關於 One Ecolab 和 Christophe 的另一件事，您指出該計劃是為您的所有細分市場設計的。我想知道您是否可以在不同的細分市場中談談，是否有一些您預計會對銷售或價格產生更大影響的領域？整體而言，您是否認為某些細分市場會比其他細分市場受益更多？

It's an interesting question, Vincent. There is one that I could share with you. When I think about F&B, as we speak, so we are bringing our food and beverage, cleaning sanitation business together with our water F&B business. And don't get me wrong. It's not that suddenly we'll have at the frontline people doing both water and cleaning and sanitation. They go hand in hand, but they are complementary, like you would be in a hospital, you have several physicians that are serving you as a patient. We believe in expertise. We don't believe in generalist.

這是一個有趣的問題，文森特。有一個我可以與你分享。當我想到餐飲時，正如我們所說，我們正在將食品和飲料、清潔衛生業務與水餐飲業務結合在一起。別誤會我的意思。我們並不是突然就讓前線人員負責供水、清潔和衛生工作。它們齊頭並進，但又是互補的，就像你在醫院裡一樣，有幾位醫生為你的病人提供服務。我們相信專業知識。我們不相信多面手。

But that business, which will include our cleaning and sanitation and water together, well, is one of our biggest business, one of our best franchisees as well in the world. And I believe that's going to drive a lot of further value for our customers and for us and our shareholders, obviously here.

但這項業務，包括我們的清潔、衛生和水，是我們最大的業務之一，也是我們在世界上最好的特許經營商之一。我相信這將為我們的客戶、我們和我們的股東帶來更多的價值，顯然在這裡。

But you can think as well about institutional. When you are a restaurant chain, so with thousands of restaurants in the country or around the world, knowing what's potential of performance improvement in dollar terms that I can get if all my restaurants were performing at the best performing one. Well, that's huge insight. What's even more important.

但你也可以考慮制度方面的問題。當您是一家連鎖餐廳時，在全國或世界各地擁有數千家餐廳，知道如果我所有的餐廳都表現最好，我可以獲得以美元計算的績效改進潛力。嗯，這是一個巨大的洞察力。更重要的是。

So, with us is that we can deliver that performance because we've delivered it for the best-performing unit as well at the same time, and the fact that we shared then afterwards the upside for the customer what that drives mostly value price, which is not the least price, which is mostly seen in other businesses. I mean, in other companies.

因此，對我們來說，我們可以提供這種性能，因為我們同時也為表現最好的單位提供了這種性能，而且我們隨後向客戶分享了主要推動價值價格的優勢，這並不是最低價格，這在其他行業中最為常見。我的意思是，在其他公司。

For us, value price, and that's why we call it that way. It's our share in the improvement that we are delivering to our customers, which is why it never goes down by the way and we keep going up as we move forward as well at the same time.

對我們來說，看重價格，這就是我們這樣稱呼它的原因。這是我們為客戶提供的改進的一部分，這就是為什麼它永遠不會下降，並且我們在前進的同時不斷上升。

So, a very good story for all businesses. Food and beverage is an obvious one and institutional another one as well. So ultimately, this is bringing our strategy of circle the customer, circle the globe in ways that are much more hard wired than the way we did it in the past where we can share the knowledge of Ecolab anywhere around the world across all businesses and industries.

因此，這對所有企業來說都是一個非常好的故事。食品和飲料是顯而易見的，而製度也是另一項。因此，最終，這將帶來我們圍繞客戶、圍繞全球的策略，這種方式比我們過去的方式更加嚴格，我們可以在世界各地的所有企業和行業中分享藝康的知識。

Well, that's a critical reason why I believe that in the quarters and years to come, we will keep delivering day in and day out and get towards our targeted performance of the 5% to 7% or 20% OI margin and 12% to 15% 0earnings per share growth as our next step of performance. And again, that's not going to be the last step. This is our next level of performance that we're all working hard to deliver as quickly as we can.

嗯，這是我相信在未來幾個季度和幾年裡，我們將日復一日地繼續交付並實現5% 至7% 或20% OI 利潤率和12% 至15% 的目標績效的一個關鍵原因。再說一次，這不會是最後一步。這是我們的下一個績效水平，我們正在努力盡快實現這一目標。

Thank you. Mr. Hedberg, there are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back to you for closing comments.

謝謝。Hedberg 先生，目前沒有其他問題。我想請您發表結束評論。

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

謝謝。我們的第二季電話會議到此結束。本次電話會議和相關討論幻燈片將在我們的網站上重播。感謝您的時間和參與，希望大家有個愉快的一天。

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

女士們、先生們，感謝您的參與。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開線路並度過美好的一天。