藝康 (ECL) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to Ecolab's First Quarter 2022 Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加藝康（Ecolab）2022 年第一季財報發布電話會議。（接線員指示）提醒您，本次會議將被錄音。

At this time, it is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mike Monahan, Senior Vice President, External Relations. Mr. Monahan, you may begin.

此刻，我很榮幸介紹本次會議主持人：對外關係資深副總裁 Mike Monahan。Monahan 先生，您可以開始。

Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Ecolab's first quarter conference call. With me today are Christophe Beck, Ecolab's CEO; and Scott Kirkland, our CFO.

謝謝。各位好，歡迎參加藝康第一季電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有藝康執行長 Christophe Beck，以及我們的財務長 Scott Kirkland。

A discussion of our results, along with our earnings release and the slides referencing the quarter's results are available on Ecolab's website at ecolab.com/investor. 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 under the Risk Factors section in our most recent Form 10-K and in our posted materials. We also refer you to the supplemental diluted earnings per share information in the release.

我們的業績討論、財報新聞稿，以及引用本季業績的簡報投影片，均可於藝康網站 ecolab.com/investor 取得。請花點時間閱讀這些資料中的警示性聲明，其中指出本次電話會議及相關補充資料包含對未來表現的估計。這些屬於前瞻性陳述，實際結果可能與預測有重大差異。可能導致實際結果不同的因素，已在我們最新的 Form 10-K 之「風險因素」章節以及我們發布的資料中說明。我們也請您參閱新聞稿中的補充稀釋後每股盈餘資訊。

Starting with a brief overview, continued strong double-digit sales growth driven by accelerating pricing and further new business wins overcame substantially increased delivered product cost inflation and unfavorable currency translation to deliver the adjusted diluted earnings per share gain. Sales were led by double-digit gains in our Institutional & Specialty, Industrial and Other segments with attractive growth in all geographic regions.

先做簡要概述：在加速調價與新增業務勝出帶動下，銷售持續維持強勁的雙位數成長，克服了大幅上升的到貨產品成本通膨以及不利的匯率換算影響，帶動調整後稀釋每股盈餘成長。銷售成長主要由我們的機構與專業（Institutional & Specialty）、工業（Industrial）及其他（Other）事業部的雙位數增幅所帶動，且各地區皆呈現具吸引力的成長。

We drove the strong sales performance in a rapidly changing environment where the rise in new COVID infections early in the first quarter slowed the global recovery and further disrupted supply chains while the war in Eastern Europe later in the quarter exacerbated the supply chain costs and geopolitical uncertainty.

我們在快速變動的環境中推動強勁的銷售表現：第一季初期新冠新增感染上升，放緩全球復甦並進一步擾亂供應鏈；而本季後段東歐戰爭又加劇了供應鏈成本與地緣政治不確定性。

Our delivered product cost inflation soared an estimated 25% in the first quarter versus last year and added an estimated $0.55 per share of incremental costs to the first quarter alone. We reacted aggressively and continued accelerating our pricing, which reached 5% in the quarter, up from 3% in the fourth quarter. We now look for a structural pricing to increase 6% to 7% for the balance of the year. And when adding in our previously announced energy surcharge of up to 12%, we expect very strong pricing to overcome the substantial delivered product cost inflation.

我們的到貨產品成本通膨在第一季相較去年飆升，估計達 25%，僅第一季就增加了每股約 0.55 美元的增量成本。我們積極因應並持續加速調價，本季調價幅度達 5%，高於第四季的 3%。我們目前預期今年其餘期間的結構性調價將提高至 6% 至 7%。此外，若再加上先前宣布最高可達 12% 的能源附加費，我們預期非常強勁的定價將足以克服大幅上升的到貨產品成本通膨。

Along with our new business wins, strengthened business portfolio and improved productivity, we look to realize continued strong top line momentum for the full year. We expect accelerating earnings growth through the second half and expect to deliver low teens growth in adjusted diluted earnings per share for the full year 2022 understanding there's uncertainty in the timing of the surcharge realization, which will become more clear as we exit the second quarter.

結合新增業務勝出、強化的業務組合與提升的生產力，我們預期全年將持續展現強勁的營收動能。我們預期下半年獲利成長將加速，並預期 2022 全年調整後稀釋每股盈餘可達低十位數（low teens）成長；同時也理解能源附加費實現時點仍有不確定性，待我們走出第二季後將更為明朗。

This strong business momentum, along with our enhanced value proposition and favorable long-term macro trends, position us well to leverage the post-COVID environment and deliver further superior long-term shareholder returns.

這股強勁的業務動能，加上我們強化的價值主張與有利的長期總體趨勢，使我們能在後疫情環境中充分發揮優勢，並為股東帶來更卓越的長期報酬。

And now here's Christophe Beck with his comments.

接下來請 Christophe Beck 發表評論。

Thank you so much, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm very pleased with how the team continued to execute in Q1. In a rapidly changing environment, we remain focused on what we could control, like new business, pricing, innovation and exceptional customer service, while we continue to manage extremely well but we could not totally control, like obviously inflation, COVID restrictions and now the war in Eastern Europe.

非常感謝你，Mike，各位下午好。我對團隊在第一季持續落實執行感到非常滿意。在快速變動的環境中，我們仍專注於可控事項，例如新增業務、定價、創新與卓越的客戶服務；同時也持續非常妥善地管理那些我們無法完全掌控的因素，例如通膨、COVID 限制措施，以及如今的東歐戰爭。

We started '22, actually, with strong momentum as our fundamental business drivers continue to improve, which is most important to me. Fixed currency organic sales growth accelerated to 12% with 7% of that led by volume gains from strong demand and new business generation. Institutional & Specialty, as you just heard, led the quarter with 19% organic growth, continuing its strong recovery while Industrial further strengthened its already healthy momentum by delivering 12% organic growth, which is even better than what they delivered in Q4.

我們在 2022 年開局其實就具備強勁動能，因為我們的基本業務驅動因素持續改善，這對我而言最重要。以固定匯率計算的有機銷售成長加速至 12%，其中 7% 來自需求強勁與新增業務帶動的銷量成長。正如剛才所提，機構與專業事業部以 19% 的有機成長領先本季，延續其強勁復甦；工業事業部也在原本健康的動能上進一步強化，繳出 12% 的有機成長，甚至優於其第四季表現。

Our margins were also trending very well for most of the first quarter, even ahead of our own expectations as we were on a path to nicely overcome the significant delivered product cost inflation until the war in Eastern Europe started. As we all know, this had a major impact also on global energy costs, which impacted the last few weeks of the quarter.

我們的利潤率在第一季大部分時間也呈現非常良好的趨勢，甚至優於我們自身預期；在東歐戰爭爆發前，我們正走在能夠良好抵銷顯著到貨產品成本通膨的軌道上。眾所周知，戰爭也對全球能源成本造成重大影響，並影響了本季最後幾週。

This spike in costs added an unexpected incremental $0.04 a share in the last months alone, resulting in a total unfavorable impact from delivered product cost inflation of $0.55 per share in the first quarter close to 70% of our ultimate Q1 earnings. Importantly, we overcame the significant headwind, thanks to accelerated pricing, which rose from 3% in the fourth quarter to 5% in the first quarter.

這波成本飆升僅在最後一個月就額外帶來每股 0.04 美元的意外增量影響，使第一季到貨產品成本通膨的不利影響合計達每股 0.55 美元，接近我們第一季最終盈餘的 70%。重要的是，我們透過加速調價克服了這項重大逆風，調價幅度由第四季的 3% 提升至第一季的 5%。

And most importantly, we did all this while maintaining strong momentum in demand, new business, pricing and productivity, the fundamentals of Ecolab. So based on what we see today and the actions we have already taken, I remain really confident in our ability to continue to deliver strong top line growth and accelerated pricing in '22 to get ahead of this new energy cost and to see our margins turn positive during the second half to deliver a strong full year 2022.

更重要的是，我們在達成上述成果的同時，仍維持需求、新增業務、定價與生產力的強勁動能，這些都是藝康的基本面。因此，基於我們目前所見以及已採取的行動，我對我們在 2022 年持續實現強勁營收成長與加速調價、以領先這波新的能源成本上升，並在下半年使利潤率轉為正向、交出強勁的 2022 全年表現，仍然非常有信心。

Even if the path to get there has now changed quite a bit once again, the unexpected rapid rise of oil and gas costs during the last month of the first quarter will now impact 3 full months of the second. We therefore had to react boldly and we did. We decided to implement a global energy surcharge very first for Ecolab, which will now come on top of our increasing long-term structural pricing. And once fully implemented, the surcharge will then behave as an offset to what we expect to be short-term but incremental energy cost inflation.

即使達成目標的路徑再次出現相當大的變化：第一季最後一個月油氣成本意外快速上升，將影響第二季整整 3 個月。因此我們必須果斷因應，而我們也確實如此。我們決定首次在藝康推行全球能源附加費，將疊加在我們持續提高的長期結構性調價之上。一旦全面實施後，該附加費將可抵銷我們預期屬於短期但額外的能源成本通膨。

Now we started the second quarter and actually with 100% of the incremental energy cost, but 0% of the energy surcharge as its implementation started on April 1. Because of this, we now expect the second quarter to see the most acute squeeze in the year between price and delivered product cost inflation. Occurring at the same time, the surcharge is being implemented with customers around the world, but early progress is very encouraging.

目前我們已進入第二季，實際上承擔了 100% 的增量能源成本，但能源附加費為 0%，因其自 4 月 1 日才開始實施。基於此，我們預期第二季將出現全年價格與到貨產品成本通膨之間最明顯的擠壓。同時，附加費正與全球客戶逐步落地推行，而初期進展令人相當鼓舞。

As the energy surcharge progressively rolls out, we should see the bulk of the surcharge primarily impact the second half of the year and somewhat the second quarter. And accordingly, this initial benefit from the surcharge along with accelerating structural pricing, strong volume growth and productivity gains should help us drive our second quarter delivery with earnings that approach last year's $122 million.

隨著能源附加費逐步推展，我們應會看到附加費的主要影響集中在下半年，並在第二季也有部分影響。因此，附加費的初期效益，加上加速的結構性調價、強勁的銷量成長與生產力提升，應可協助我們在第二季交出接近去年 1.22 億美元的盈餘表現。

And finally, as it's been demonstrated over and over again at Ecolab, when challenging times strike, we make absolutely sure we protect what matters, our people, our customers and our company. Over the past few years, when we could have reduced our workforce to manage short-term costs, we protected our global team, one of the key reasons why today our customer retention remains so high.

最後，正如藝康一再證明的，當艱難時刻來臨，我們絕對會確保守護最重要的事：我們的員工、我們的客戶，以及我們的公司。過去幾年，即使我們可以透過縮減人力來管理短期成本，我們仍保護了全球團隊；這也是為何如今我們的客戶留存率仍然如此之高的關鍵原因之一。

We also protect our customers with major breakthrough innovation like Ecolab Science Certified, one of the key reasons why today our new business generation remains so strong. And we protected our company by investing in digital technology, one of the key reasons where today our productivity keeps improving. This approach has also demonstrated over and over again that our model starts generating significant margin leverage when cost inflation stabilizes and structured pricing sticks. So with continuing strong demand for our unique solutions that prevent infection and protect natural resources when customers need them the most, we expect organic sales growth to remain in double-digit territory for the rest of the year.

我們也透過重大突破性創新來保護客戶，例如 Ecolab Science Certified；這也是為何如今我們的新業務開發仍然如此強勁的關鍵原因之一。我們並透過投資數位科技來保護公司；這也是為何如今我們的生產力持續改善的關鍵原因之一。這種做法也一再證明：當成本通膨趨於穩定且結構性定價得以維持時，我們的商業模式便會開始產生顯著的利潤率槓桿。因此，隨著客戶在最需要之際對我們獨特解決方案（可預防感染並保護自然資源）的需求持續強勁，我們預期今年其餘期間的有機銷售成長將維持在雙位數區間。

With structural pricing rising between 6% to 7% for the balance of the year and an energy surcharge that will progressively act as an offset for the spike in energy costs, we expect operating margin comparison to turn positive sometime during the second half of the year. This should then support our early expectations to deliver full year earnings growth that reaches the low teens, understanding, as you've heard that there is uncertainty in the timing of the realization of the surcharge and naturally the pace of inflation, but this will become more clear as we exit the second quarter.

隨著今年其餘期間結構性調價提高至 6% 至 7%，以及能源附加費將逐步作為能源成本飆升的抵銷，我們預期營業利潤率的比較將在下半年某個時間點轉為正向。這應可支持我們先前的預期：全年獲利成長可達低十位數；同時也理解，如您所聽到的，附加費實現時點以及通膨速度自然仍存在不確定性，但待我們走出第二季後將更為明朗。

And also, let's not forget that our full year delivery includes $0.26 of Purolite amortization of 5% of EPS. And as that momentum extends beyond '22, we expect to show Ecolab's hallmark of consistent superior earnings growth for the many years to come.

另外，也別忘了，我們的全年交付表現包含 Purolite 攤銷每股 0.26 美元，約占每股盈餘的 5%。隨著這股動能延伸至 2022 年之後，我們預期未來多年將展現藝康一貫的特色：持續且卓越的獲利成長。

I look forward to your questions.

我期待各位的提問。

Thanks, Christophe. That concludes our formal remarks. As a final note before we start Q&A, we plan to hold our annual tour of our booth at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago on Monday, May 23. If you have any questions, please contact our office.

謝謝你，Christophe。我們的正式發言到此結束。在開始問答之前，最後補充一點：我們計畫於 5 月 23 日（週一）在芝加哥全國餐飲協會展（National Restaurant Association show）期間，舉辦一年一度的攤位導覽。如有任何問題，請聯絡我們辦公室。

Operator, would you please begin the question-and-answer period?

接線員，請開始問答時間，好嗎？

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

（接線員指示）我們的第一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Tim Mulrooney。

Just 1 question from me today, Christophe, on the delivered product costs. I know you said they were up 25% in the first quarter. Can you just talk about how inflation trended through the first quarter and through April and then how you're thinking about that progression through the second quarter?

Christophe，我今天只有一個問題，關於交付產品成本（delivered product costs）。我知道你說第一季上升了 25%。你能談談通膨在第一季以及 4 月的走勢，還有你如何看待第二季的變化趨勢嗎？

Thank you, Tim. Great question. Actually, we've become experts at this, unfortunately, if I may say so. And it's important to step back, probably because when we look at 2021, sorry, so last year, well, the first half of the year, there was almost no inflation. It was close to 1%. And then the third quarter, as we remember, so move to 10% for us of this delivered product costs, which represents 25% of our sales, as you know.

謝謝你，Tim。問得很好。老實說，不幸的是，我們在這方面已經變成專家了。退一步看很重要，因為回顧 2021 年——抱歉，也就是去年——上半年幾乎沒有通膨，接近 1%。然後第三季，如我們所記得的，我們的交付產品成本通膨跳到 10%；如你所知，這項成本約占我們銷售額的 25%。

And then in Q4, so it doubled to 20% and the full year saw 10% of inflation for Ecolab for 2021. And also to your point, in Q1 2022, we're expecting kind of the same as in Q4, so the 20%, well, it moved to 25% because of the war in Eastern Europe that started at the end of February. And we're expecting initially Q2 to be the same as Q1 or Q4, so 20%, 20%, 20%, and ultimately, we ended up with 20% in Q4, 25% in Q1, 30% expected in Q2. So when you're talking about April, so it's trending towards this full second quarter of 30% which we expect that for the full year we should end up with 25% inflation for DPC.

接著在第四季又翻倍到 20%，因此 2021 全年 Ecolab 的通膨約為 10%。也回到你提到的點，2022 年第一季我們原本預期大致會與第四季相同，也就是 20%；但因為 2 月底東歐戰爭爆發，結果上升到 25%。我們起初預期第二季會與第一季或第四季相同，也就是 20%、20%、20%，但最終變成：第四季 20%、第一季 25%、第二季預期 30%。至於你問到 4 月，目前的趨勢正朝向第二季整季 30% 的水準；我們預期全年交付產品成本（DPC）的通膨將落在 25%。

When we were thinking initially that it would be 15%. And to put it in perspective, Tim, just to conclude here that will represent roughly $1 billion over 18 months that we will have to overcome, which we have overcome. So the part of '21 last year and delivering EPS growth, the same in Q2 as well and we'll do the same as well for the quarters to come in 2022.

而我們一開始的想法是 15%。Tim，為了讓你有個概念，總結來說，這在 18 個月內大約代表 10 億美元的影響需要我們去克服，而我們也確實克服了。因此，2021 年去年的那一段我們做到了並交出 EPS 成長；第二季也會一樣，2022 年接下來的各季我們也會同樣做到。

Your next question comes from David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行（Deutsche Bank）的 David Begleiter。

Christophe, looking at Q2 guidance, if we look at the various puts and takes on volume and pricing, et cetera. Can you discuss why we only approached last year's (inaudible). And secondly, what drives a strong earnings growth in the back half of the year?

Christophe，從第二季指引來看，如果我們看量、價等各項因素的增減影響。你能談談為什麼我們只接近去年的（聽不清）嗎？第二，為什麼下半年盈餘成長會很強勁？

That's a big question, David. But let me take them one by one. So first, Q2, if I may. Well, the situation changed. Obviously, so when the war started at the end of February because the first half of the first 2 months of Q1, we had a great start. We were trending really well, both in terms of top line momentum. You've heard this 12% organic growth driven by 7% volume and 5% price.

這是個大問題，David。不過我一題一題回答。先談第二季。如果可以的話，情勢改變了。顯然，當戰爭在 2 月底爆發時，因為第一季前兩個月的前半段，我們開局非常好。我們在營收動能上走勢很強，你也聽到這個 12% 的有機成長，是由 7% 的量與 5% 的價格所帶動。

Well, at the end of February, things changed. So we were ahead of our expectations. We were getting ahead of DPC inflation, and we're expecting to deliver a strong Q1 and really get in a very good position for a strong Q2 delivery. That was before the war started at the end of February. So when the war started, we obviously saw a good impact on the energy cost, which triggered that surcharge that we've talked about, where we had just a few days basically to decide that globally, all businesses, all countries will move together in order to compensate for this additional energy cost.

但到了 2 月底，情況改變了。我們原本超出預期，交付產品成本（DPC）通膨的因應也走在前面，並預期第一季能交出強勁表現，讓我們在第二季也處於非常有利的位置——這些都是在 2 月底戰爭爆發之前。戰爭開始後，我們顯然看到能源成本受到顯著影響，進而觸發我們談過的附加費（surcharge）。我們基本上只有短短幾天就必須做出決定：在全球範圍內，所有事業、所有國家同步採取行動，以補償這筆額外的能源成本。

As you've heard before, so this month of March added $0.04 to our delivery. And for the second quarter, well, you get 3 months of that obviously, and trending up, unfortunately. So it will all depend now, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, on the speed at which we can deliver the surcharge, which is going well, but it's a complicated exercise. It's a 40 end markets, it's 170 countries around the world, we want to make sure that all customers are aligned with it as well in order to have the right, obviously, revenue recognition. We're going to make sure we don't have collection issues as well.

如你先前所聽到的，3 月這一個月為我們的交付表現增加了 0.04 美元。而第二季當然會有 3 個月的影響，而且不幸的是還在走高。因此，現在一切將取決於——如我在開場致詞提到的——我們推動附加費落地的速度；目前進展良好，但這是一項複雜的工作。我們涵蓋 40 個終端市場、全球 170 個國家；我們也要確保所有客戶都能對齊，才能正確進行收入認列；同時也要確保不會出現收款問題。

So it's hard to know exactly how the timing is going to be. So I'm having Q2, basically with 100% of the headwind and a surcharge that's progressing during the quarter. How to know exactly where we're going to end at the end of the quarter. But I think we're going to get down close to where we were last year. And honestly, if get to 95% of where I was last year, I'd be happy with it, but we will do our utmost obviously, to get as close as we can.

因此很難精準掌握時點。我對第二季的假設基本上是：逆風 100% 先到位，而附加費在季度中逐步實現。要確切知道季度末會落在哪裡並不容易。但我認為我們會接近去年的水準。坦白說，如果能達到去年水準的 95%，我就會很滿意；但我們當然會盡最大努力，盡可能接近。

That's the first part of your question. The second for the full year with our ambition to get towards the low teens, which obviously requires a strong second half. Well, think about it. So we have strong momentum, which always helps, obviously, 12% driven by high demand. The price is really good. So we have 5% that's been accelerating during the first quarter, moving towards 6% to 7% without losses of customers or major losses always onesie-twosies, but nothing major as well.

這是你第一個問題。第二個問題是關於全年：我們的企圖心是朝「低十位數」成長邁進，這顯然需要下半年很強。你想想看：我們有強勁動能，這當然有幫助——12% 由高需求帶動。價格表現也很好：第一季 5% 並且持續加速，朝 6% 到 7% 前進，且沒有流失客戶或重大流失；偶爾會有零星一兩個，但沒有什麼重大的。

We have productivity that keeps getting better as well. You've seen that in our results for Q1 over 100 basis points of improvement. So we have fundamentals that are in very good shape. Then we have the surcharge that's coming almost 100% for the second half. So if you get the fundamentals plus the surcharge realization, and also expecting that inflation will plateau and ease at some point as well during the second half, well, we should end up in a very good place from a margin leverage perspective.

我們的生產力也持續改善。你在第一季結果中看到超過 100 個基點的改善。因此，我們的基本面非常健康。接著，下半年附加費幾乎會 100% 反映。如果把基本面加上附加費的實現，再加上我們也預期通膨在下半年某個時點會趨於平穩並有所緩解，那麼從毛利槓桿的角度來看，我們應該會落在非常好的位置。

But that all depends on the timing, first, on the execution of the surcharge, which is hard to totally predict and second, how inflation is going to evolve. But if things happen well, we'll end up in the right place with a very strong second half, that I'm sure about it where we end up for the full year exactly that's harder to tell, but it's just a matter of 1 month or 2 plus or minus at the end of the year that's going to bring us to the final result.

但這一切取決於時點：第一，附加費的執行時程，很難完全預測；第二，通膨將如何演變。但如果事情進展順利，我們下半年會非常強勁，這點我很有把握。至於全年最終會精準落在哪裡就比較難說；但年底前後差一兩個月的正負，就會把我們帶到最終結果。

But at the end of the day, David, what I'm really trying to drive here is to have the right fundamentals that ultimately, in '23, we end up in a place where we get the high margin leverage that we're all looking for starting in the second half and then getting even better for 2023. So the 2 parts of your questions here. Hopefully, I could address them.

但歸根結底，David，我真正想推動的是建立正確的基本面，讓我們在 2023 年最終能到達我們都在尋求的高毛利槓桿位置——從下半年開始，並在 2023 年變得更好。以上是你兩個問題的回答，希望有解答到。

Very good. Just quickly on the surcharge, how quickly is the design to roll off if and when oil prices do ease off as well?

很好。快速追問一下附加費：如果油價確實回落，這個機制設計上會多快退場（roll off）？

It's a good question. That's something that we will have to discuss with customers. I don't think that it's going to happen overnight. But it's taking a few months to implement. It's probably going to take a few months to roll off as well whenever that's going to happen.

問得好。這是我們必須與客戶討論的事情。我不認為會一夕之間發生。它花了幾個月才導入，因此一旦要退場，可能也會需要幾個月——不論那會在什麼時候發生。

Next question comes from Manav Patnaik with Barclays.

下一個問題來自 Barclays 的 Manav Patnaik。

Christophe, I just had a big picture question for you in terms of outside of obviously, the inflationary pressures you talked about, just curious if you're starting to see any macro pressures, maybe specifically in Europe, given all the press around it.

Christophe，我有一個比較宏觀的問題：除了你提到的通膨壓力之外，我想了解你是否開始看到任何總體環境壓力，可能特別是在歐洲，因為媒體有很多相關報導。

Yes. Good question, Manav. So generally, so far, so good, but we're all reading the newspaper and looking at the news, obviously. So when I think in terms of demand for what we do, it's very strong. All companies have made sustainability commitments, as you know, and they need always more of our services in order ultimately to deliver on the sustainability commitment. On the other hand, as well from an infection prevention as well, food safety, COVID or whatever else that can be as well, our customers ask always more from what we're doing.

是的，問得好，Manav。整體而言，到目前為止一切都還不錯，但我們當然也都在看報紙與新聞。就我們所做的事情而言，我認為需求非常強勁。你知道，所有公司都做出了永續承諾，而他們需要更多我們的服務，才能最終兌現這些永續承諾。另一方面，在感染預防、食品安全、COVID 或其他可能的風險上，我們的客戶也一直要求我們提供更多的作為。

So we don't have a demand issue. We're really on strong trends, which is really good. So far, we haven't seen or perceived any slowdown with 2 exceptions. The first one is institutional, the restaurants and the hotels, but especially the restaurants. So we thought that it would open up quicker during the first quarter and continue on that trend during the second quarter. Well, it's been slower from a market perspective than what we were expecting. So is that as an outcome as well of the economic pressure at the beginning of the year, it was related to Omicron obviously. But now is it because of interest rate and price of oil and so on, we'll see that.

所以我們沒有需求面的問題。我們確實處在強勁的趨勢上，這非常好。到目前為止，除了兩個例外，我們沒有看到或感受到任何放緩。第一個是機構端，也就是餐廳與飯店，尤其是餐廳。我們原本以為第一季會更快開放，並在第二季延續那個趨勢。但從市場角度來看，進展比我們預期更慢。所以這是否也是年初經濟壓力的結果，當時顯然與 Omicron 有關。但現在是否又是因為利率、油價等因素，我們還要再觀察。

So that's one small indication. The second one is China because of the lockdowns over there that are more extreme than everyone was expecting. It's 4% of our company. So anyway, it's a good news, bad news. Sometimes I would wish it would be much bigger. Today, I'm happy it's only 4%, but that's probably there that we might have as well so some darkening clouds, hopefully not, but that could happen. Otherwise, so far, so good.

所以這是一個小小的跡象。第二個是中國，因為那邊的封控比所有人預期的更為極端。它占我們公司 4% 的比重。所以不管怎麼說，這是好消息也是壞消息。有時我會希望它比重更大一些；但今天我很高興它只有 4%，不過那裡可能也會出現一些陰雲密布的情況，希望不要，但確實可能發生。除此之外，到目前為止一切都還不錯。

The last thing I would mention, Manav, is probably currency. As you know, the dollar is strengthening. We're expecting kind of roughly $0.10 for the full year and it's doubled as we speak right now. So I would imagine that, that's going to strengthen as well, so it might become as well a further headwind.

最後一點我想提到的，Manav，可能是匯率。如你所知，美元正在走強。我們原本預期全年大約是 0.10 美元的影響，而就目前而言已經翻倍了。所以我想這還會繼續走強，因此也可能成為進一步的逆風。

Got it. And maybe just asked another way, like maybe near term, medium term, longer term, like if demand is not an issue, like do you plan on changing your sales force growth strategy at all?

了解。那我換個方式問：短期、中期、長期來看，如果需求不是問題，你們是否計畫調整銷售團隊的成長策略？

I want to make sure I understand right, what you're saying. When you say sales force growth...

我想先確認我理解正確你在說什麼。你說的銷售團隊成長是指……

Would you be hiring more people -- like would your pace of hiring increase given all this demand out there?

你們會不會多招人——也就是說，鑑於外部需求這麼強，你們的招募速度會加快嗎？

Yes, great question. Okay. Got it, Manav. So yes and no. In the past, I would say, pre-digital times, our growth was almost directly correlated to our growth of our field salesforce. That's changing now over time. It will still keep growing, but not at the same pace as it used to over the last 98 years of the 99 years that we've been in business because digital automation is obviously helping us automate a lot of transactional work that our team is doing today, like driving a bunch of stuff you can do.

是的，問得很好。好的，我明白了，Manav。所以答案是：是，也不是。過去我會說，在數位化之前，我們的成長幾乎與我們外勤銷售團隊的成長直接相關。現在這種情況正隨時間改變。外勤團隊仍會持續成長，但速度不會像我們過去 99 年業務歷史中的前 98 年那樣快，因為數位自動化顯然正在幫助我們把團隊今天做的許多交易性工作自動化，例如推動許多你可以做的事情。

So with remote monitoring, preparation as well of sales calls, you can do much more so on the computers now, and we've implemented all that over the past few years as you know that requires less homework as well to get ready for customers, fixing equipment as well, we can do that remotely.

例如透過遠端監控、以及銷售拜訪前的準備，你現在可以在電腦上完成更多工作；而且如你所知，我們在過去幾年已經把這些都導入了，這也讓為客戶做準備所需的功課更少；設備維修也是一樣，我們可以遠端完成。

So there's a bunch of stuff that we can automate through digital technology, which will disconnect to a certain extent the growth of other company and the growth of the field force, which drives as well to SG&A productivity.

所以我們可以透過數位技術自動化很多事情，這在一定程度上會讓公司其他部分的成長與外勤人力的成長脫鉤，同時也會提升 SG&A 的生產力。

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

下一個問題來自美國銀行（Bank of America）的 Steve Byrne。

I'd like to better understand this energy surcharge, is it defined by oil, natural gas or electricity? Or does that depend on your customer? And just want to make sure I understood you correctly about the inflation you're expecting in the second quarter. If I understood you correctly, you're looking at a 30% inflation, maybe 20% from raw materials and 10% from energy that I hear you right. And if so, are you getting any pushback on this energy surcharge given it's roughly twice the magnitude of your structural price increases?

我想更清楚了解這個能源附加費，它是由原油、天然氣或電力來界定嗎？還是取決於你的客戶？另外我也想確認我是否正確理解你對第二季通膨的預期。如果我理解正確，你們看到大約 30% 的通膨，其中可能 20% 來自原物料、10% 來自能源，我聽得對嗎？如果是這樣，考量能源附加費的幅度大約是你們結構性漲價的兩倍，客戶對此是否有任何反彈？

So good question, Steve. Two parts. The first one, we've announced that to customers around the world, it's a global surcharge for the whole company, all customers, all industries, all countries around the world. It gets implemented slightly differently business by business then afterwards. Think about pest elimination is very different than a heavy industrial business like paper, for instance. But the general principle is, yes, it's related to the price of oil.

問得很好，Steve。分兩部分。第一，我們已經向全球客戶宣布，這是一項全公司的全球性附加費，適用於所有客戶、所有產業、全球所有國家。之後在各個事業部的落地方式會略有不同。比如害蟲防治（pest elimination）就和造紙這類重工業業務非常不同。但總體原則是：是的，它與油價相關。

And what we've said is that the surcharge will be between 8% and 12%, it can go higher than 12% if the oil price gets higher. But 8%, 10% and 12% are related to oil pegs that we've defined as well with customers. So if the oil price goes further up, the energy surcharge will go further up. We wanted to have it temporary, mechanical, formulaic as well that customers know how it works, when they get it, how much it is, when it gets off as well. That's the theory.

我們所說的是，附加費會在 8% 到 12% 之間；如果油價更高，也可能高於 12%。而 8%、10% 與 12% 對應的是我們與客戶一起定義的油價掛鉤區間（oil pegs）。所以如果油價進一步上升，能源附加費也會進一步上升。我們希望它是暫時性的、機械式的、公式化的，讓客戶知道它如何運作、何時收取、金額多少、以及何時取消。這是理論設計。

The practice is obviously a little bit different as mentioned before. So pest elimination might be different than a heavy industrial business. But generally, we discuss with all customers to get it right, making sure that it's an offset to the energy increase or energy cost increase that we have in our P&L.

如前所述，實務上當然會有些不同。例如害蟲防治可能就會和重工業業務不同。但總體而言，我們會與所有客戶溝通把它做對，確保它能抵銷我們在損益表（P&L）中承受的能源上漲或能源成本上升。

And so far, it's gone quite well with customers around the world. It's early. We've been 3 weeks at that. So it started April 1. But so far, so good. It's going to take a few months to finalize as well. So I'm quite happy with the progress we're making right now, but there is still some work that remains in order to get to the right place. I might pause here just to make sure that I'm addressing your question.

到目前為止，全球客戶的反應相當不錯。現在還早，我們推行才 3 週。它是從 4 月 1 日開始的。但目前為止一切順利。要完全落實也需要幾個月時間。所以我對目前的進展很滿意，但要達到理想狀態仍有一些工作要做。我先停一下，確認我是否回答到你的問題。

No, no, that was helpful. I wanted to also ask you about the Purolite acquisition. You got 4 months under your belt now. Is anything surprising you? Anything going slower than you expected or anything that's a positive surprise?

沒有，沒有，這很有幫助。我也想問你關於 Purolite 的收購。你們現在已經整合了 4 個月。有沒有什麼讓你意外的地方？有沒有什麼進度比你預期慢，或是有什麼正面的驚喜？

Well, all of the above. It's progressing well with all the usual challenges of M&A of integration. It was a family company. I would call it a big start-up as well. So then suddenly, you end up in a larger corporation with processes, with practices, with organization and all that.

嗯，上述情況都有。整體進展良好，同時也伴隨併購整合（M&A integration）常見的各種挑戰。它原本是一家家族企業，我也會把它稱作一家大型新創。所以當它突然進入一個更大的企業體系，面對流程、做法、組織架構等等，就會需要適應。

Obviously, there is some fraction that needs to be aligned, but we're in a very good place. In terms of team, you probably know that our leader for Purolite is a General Manager who comes from Ecolab since the 2 brothers retired. They were all 80 years old or quite. So that was very natural.

顯然會有一些摩擦需要對齊，但我們目前處在非常好的狀態。就團隊而言，你可能知道，在兩位兄弟退休之後（他們都 80 歲左右或接近），我們讓一位來自 Ecolab 的總經理來領導 Purolite，這是非常自然的安排。

So we have a team combined from former Ecolab -- former Purolite people and people coming from Ecolab as well. From a performance perspective, you know that business was growing double digit as we took it over in '21. It will be growing double digit in '22. What's important to keep in mind is that the first half of the year, we are capacity constrained. So the demand is higher than the supply we can provide, which is the reason why we are building a new plant in Pennsylvania and extending another one in the U.K. as well, and that's going to come online in the second half of the year.

因此我們的團隊是由前 Ecolab——前 Purolite 的人員，以及同樣來自 Ecolab 的人員所組成。從績效角度來看，你知道我們在 2021 年接手時，那個業務是以雙位數成長；在 2022 年也會維持雙位數成長。需要特別記住的是，上半年我們受到產能限制。因此需求高於我們能提供的供給，這也是我們在賓州興建新工廠、並在英國擴建另一座工廠的原因；這些產能將在下半年投產。

So we're going to have kind of this pattern of double-digit last year, kind of slower growth in the first half this year, much higher growth in the second half of this year. And then after races by '23 since capacity has been such a big driver that we had to open in order to grow further. But last but not least, the more we look at it, the more we like it. It's an unbelievable industry, biopharma. It's huge. It's growing really fast. It's something we can address. There's very few competitors that can do what we can do as well.

所以我們大致會呈現這樣的節奏：去年雙位數成長；今年上半年成長較慢；今年下半年成長會高很多。然後到 2023 年會再加速，因為產能一直是關鍵驅動因素，我們必須把產能打開才能進一步成長。最後但同樣重要的是，我們越深入看，就越喜歡它。生物製藥（biopharma）是一個令人難以置信的產業，規模巨大、成長非常快，而且是我們能夠切入的領域。能做到我們能做的事情的競爭者其實不多。

We have really saw a technology that no one else has in some cases as well. And what I like the most is that we can build a lot of things around it to really build that growth platform like we did years 20 ago with pest elimination and all the businesses that we have in the company than 10 years ago, water that came as well, around food safety and hygiene at Ecolab and now we have Purolite that can serve the life science business, but also the industrial businesses to which we can add as well some M&A down the road, which makes it even more interesting. So all in all, I would do it again.

在某些情況下，我們確實看到一些其他人沒有的技術。而我最喜歡的是，我們可以在此基礎上打造很多周邊能力，真正建立那個成長平台，就像我們 20 年前在害蟲防治以及公司內其他業務上所做的一樣；以及 10 年前在水務業務上、圍繞 Ecolab 的食品安全與衛生所做的一樣。現在我們有 Purolite，可以服務生命科學業務，也能服務工業業務；而且未來我們還可以在此基礎上再做一些併購（M&A），讓它更有吸引力。總之，我會再做一次這筆交易。

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

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

I just wanted to focus on the Industrial segment. We saw some pretty broad-based acceleration there across water, food and beverage and downstream. I was wondering if you could talk about what kind of momentum do you see going forward? And how much of it was volume versus pricing driven?

我想把焦點放在工業事業部。我們看到在水務、食品與飲料以及下游等領域都有相當廣泛的加速。我想請你談談你對未來動能的看法？以及其中有多少是由銷量帶動、又有多少是由定價帶動？

Great. Thank you, Ashish. Industrial is in a great shape. It's half our company, as you know. They've been growing 12% organic in the first quarter of this year versus 7% in Q4; by the way, 5% was volume, 7% was price. And what I like the most is that we have acceleration on all fronts. Water moved from Q4 to Q1, 8% accelerated to 11%. F&B was at 4%, is now at 10%. Paper was at 15%, remained strong at 16%. And Downstream, which has been stuck for 2 years, ended up the year at 8% and 16% in this first quarter as well.

很好。謝謝你，Ashish。工業事業部目前狀況非常好。如你所知，它占我們公司的一半。今年第一季工業事業部有機成長 12%，相較之下第四季是 7%；順帶一提，其中 5% 來自銷量、7% 來自價格。我最喜歡的是我們在各方面都在加速。水務從第四季到第一季由 8% 加速到 11%。食品與飲料從 4% 提升到 10%。紙業原本是 15%，仍維持強勁到 16%。而下游業務過去兩年一直卡住，去年年底是 8%，今年第一季也達到 16%。

And what's really interesting is that there are some new engines as well in there, as we call them, like global high-tech with data centers growing fast as well; chemical industry as well, which is a new business that we've created; and animal health as well, which are kind of those future growth businesses that are adding to the momentum of that group, which is doing really well. Broad-based, all businesses, most countries around the world; in China, a little bit more tricky for the reasons I mentioned as well before, but otherwise, in a very good shape.

而真正有趣的是，裡面也有一些我們所稱的新引擎，例如全球高科技（資料中心也在快速成長）；化工產業也是我們新建立的業務；以及動物健康等，這些算是未來成長型業務，正在為該事業群增添動能，而該事業群表現非常好。成長面向廣泛、涵蓋所有業務、全球多數國家；中國方面因為我先前提到的原因稍微棘手一些，但除此之外，整體狀況非常良好。

And just end up on margins as well for that in Industrial, which is always a question. While margins were down 10% in Q1, but it's important to keep in mind, they were up 19% versus 2019. So before COVID struck as well, where industrial has really shown ultimately how do they behave during inflationary times that was pre, obviously, this cycle, that was '17-'18 cycle, ended up great margin improvement in 2020, and that cycle with very good pricing as well. We'll end up into margin leverage down the road as well as it did in the past and gets up in terms of margin ratio as well as we go through each of those cycles.

另外也補充一下工業事業部的利潤率，這通常也是大家會問的。雖然第一季利潤率年減 10%，但重要的是要記住，相較 2019 年其實是增加 19%。也就是在 COVID 爆發之前，工業事業部已經展現出在通膨環境下的表現方式；那是在本輪循環之前，顯然是 2017-2018 年那一輪，2020 年最終帶來了很好的利潤率改善，而那一輪也有非常好的定價。我們未來也會像過去一樣，隨著時間推進回到利潤率槓桿的釋放，並且在每一輪循環中，利潤率水準也會逐步上升。

That's very helpful color. And maybe if I can just ask a question at the high level on the volume side. Obviously, very strong momentum in volume. But as we go through the rest of the year, the comps get a bit tougher maybe on the Institutional side, easier on the health care side. But you should start to see some of the benefit from -- better benefit from reopening. So how should we think about the volume trend at a high level across the company?

這些說明很有幫助。若我可以再問一個較高層次、關於銷量面的問題：顯然銷量動能非常強。但隨著今年剩餘時間推進，機構端的比較基期可能會變得更具挑戰，而醫療保健端則可能更容易。同時你們也應該開始看到重新開放帶來的更多好處。因此，我們應該如何從公司整體層面來看待銷量趨勢？

Overall, roughly the same for the reasons you mentioned, Ashish. Some are going to turn more positive and some are going to slow down for comp question as you mentioned. But generally, so top line is going to remain in double-digit territory, and the volumes kind of remain, for the most part, similar. That's assuming there's no recession or big, obviously, events happening out there. But otherwise, I think it's a pretty steady momentum that we have across the company.

整體而言，大致會維持相同，原因如你所提到的，Ashish。有些業務會轉得更正向，有些則會因比較基期而放緩。但一般來說，營收仍會維持在雙位數區間，而銷量在大多數情況下也會大致相近。這是假設沒有衰退或外部發生重大事件。否則，我認為公司整體動能相當穩健。

Next question comes from the line of Chris Parkinson with Mizuho.

下一個問題來自 Mizuho 的 Chris Parkinson。

Christophe, would you just take a step back over the last few years. Obviously, there have been a lot of ebbs and flows during the COVID situation or whatever you want to call it. You have launched a bunch of new, I would say, products but more likely programs in food safety, sanitization, among many other verticals.

Christophe，能否請你回顧一下過去幾年？顯然在 COVID 情況（或你想怎麼稱呼都可以）期間有很多起伏。你們推出了一系列新的——我會說是產品，但更可能是方案——涵蓋食品安全、消毒，以及許多其他垂直領域。

When you sit back and think with the management team about share gain potential, kind of where you are and where you could be, just is there any difference in how you would peg your growth algo for the institutional portfolio or pieces of industrial versus the market versus -- and peers versus, let's say, a few years ago? Just how has that thought process evolved?

當你和管理團隊坐下來思考市占提升的潛力、目前的位置以及可能達到的位置時，你們對機構端產品組合或工業端部分業務的成長算法（growth algo）相較於市場、以及相較於同業的看法，是否與幾年前有所不同？這樣的思考過程是如何演變的？

Yes. Great question, Chris. Well, generally, we're definitely gaining shares -- if we compare, obviously, always our growth with competitions growth. And I guess you do the same. So we're way ahead of most of them. We have some weaknesses sometimes that we recognize and deal with obviously. But I feel good in terms of shares that we're gaining across the key businesses across the key countries.

是的。很好的問題，Chris。整體而言，我們確實在提升市占——如果我們把自身成長與競爭對手的成長做比較，當然你們也會這麼做。我們領先大多數競爭者。有時我們也會認知到一些弱點並加以處理。但就我們在關鍵業務、關鍵國家所取得的市占提升而言，我感覺良好。

If you take Institutional, as you mentioned, for instance, as well, it's interesting to take one fact since you know Institution in the U.S. is so big. We'll take our restaurant business in Institutional. Sales in Q1 are at the same level as they were in 2019, so pre-COVID. While the dine-in traffic in restaurants is [35%] down versus 2019 for all the reasons we know our staffing and all the staff that are bugging restaurants ultimately. But back to '19 when the traffic in restaurants is 1/3 down versus '19, well, that's showing so how much share we've gained as well in that specific example of Institutional, and I could cover other businesses as well.

以你提到的機構端為例，尤其你也知道美國機構端規模很大。我們看機構端的餐廳業務：第一季銷售額已回到 2019 年、也就是 COVID 前的同一水準。然而，餐廳內用人流相較 2019 年仍下降了 [35%]，原因大家都知道，包括人力配置與各種困擾餐廳的用工問題。但回到 2019 年，當餐廳人流比 2019 年少了三分之一時，我們的銷售仍能回到 2019 水準，這就顯示我們在這個機構端的特定例子中取得了多少市占；我也可以談其他業務。

Got it. And just a very quick follow-up on health care. You mentioned the supplemental some momentum with elective surgeries in the U.S., offset by a slower recovery in Europe. But the competitive dynamic kind of evolved there also during the COVID situation. Some of the HPCs got a little bit more aggressive. Can you just talk about your strategy there a little bit more, once again, where you stand today and what you -- how you believe you're positioned for growth and just comment on where -- how The Street should be thinking about modeling that over the next, let's say, 2 years?

了解。再快速追問一下醫療保健。你提到美國選擇性手術帶來一些補充性的動能，但歐洲復甦較慢而有所抵銷。不過在 COVID 期間，競爭態勢也有所演變，一些 HPC（醫療保健競爭者）變得更具侵略性。你能否再多談一些你們的策略：同樣地，你們今天所處的位置、你們認為自身的成長定位如何？並請評論一下，市場（The Street）在未來例如 2 年內，應如何思考並建模（modeling）這一塊？

Yes. Thank you, Chris. Well, interestingly enough, before COVID, the major convergence of focus in health care was towards surgical. So operating rooms, central sterile, patient room, so really that's centered around the operating room, which I believe was a very small strategy, and it didn't come from me. So I take no credit about this one. But I think the company did it really well.

是的。謝謝你，Chris。有趣的是，在 COVID 之前，醫療保健領域主要的聚焦趨勢是朝向外科手術。也就是手術室、中央消毒供應（CSSD）、病房，因此核心其實圍繞在手術室。我認為那是一個非常精準的策略，而且不是我提出的，所以這點我不居功。但我認為公司執行得非常好。

Except that during COVID, well, surgeries got shut down, postponed and it happens a lot of times, on and off, which drove everybody nuts, obviously, in the industry. And that happened again over the last 6 months with Omicron. So it's the right long-term strategy, Chris. I have 0 doubt about that because it's ultimately making sure you protect patient from hospital-acquired infection, which is good for patients. It's good for the hospital because they reduce their total cost and they can operate as well more often, which helps because they don't need to repeat operations that they've done as well in the past.

只是 COVID 期間，手術被關閉、延後，而且反覆發生、時開時停，這讓產業內所有人都很抓狂。過去 6 個月 Omicron 期間又再度發生。因此從長期來看，這是正確的策略，Chris，我對此毫無疑問，因為它最終是在確保保護病患免於院內感染，這對病患有利；對醫院也有利，因為他們能降低總成本，並且能更常態地運作，這也有幫助，因為他們不需要重做過去已做過的手術。

So strategy was right. It's still right for the future. It just got a lot of stops and go over the last 2 years, which was related to those elective surgeries that have been kind of shut down and restarted.

所以策略是對的，未來仍然是對的。只是過去兩年因為選擇性手術被關閉又重啟，導致出現很多走走停停。

Next question comes from the line of Josh Spector with UBS.

下一個問題來自 UBS 的 Josh Spector。

I just wanted to follow up on the volume outlook kind of for the rest of this year and specifically in Institutional. I just wanted to think about if business travel improvement is something that becomes a meaningful kind of flex point for your outlook. So lodging room sold has recovered but arguably that's more leisure versus business travel. I think your exposure hotel and regional-wise would be more skewed to the business side. So do you think that improves? And is that baked into the second half outlook at all? Or is that a source of upside versus your current thinking?

我想追問一下今年剩餘時間的銷量展望，特別是在機構端。我想了解商務旅行改善是否會成為你們展望中一個有意義的彈性變數（flex point）。目前旅館客房售出量已恢復，但可以說更多是休閒旅遊而非商務旅行。我認為你們在飯店與區域上的曝險會更偏向商務端。你認為這會改善嗎？這是否已納入下半年展望？或者相較於你們目前的看法，這會是上行空間的來源？

So business travel is a small part of our business. But it's impacting, obviously, so our lodging business, which is roughly 6% of our company, as you probably know. But we're taking, obviously, [any help] in the market out there. I think it's -- for the full year, we're going to have a lot of puts and takes. There's going to be some upside with travel.

商務旅行在我們業務中占比不大。但它確實會影響我們的住宿（lodging）業務，而住宿業務約占公司 6%，你應該也知道。不過市場上任何助力我們都會接受。我認為——就全年而言——會有很多正負因素互相拉扯。旅遊方面會有一些上行。

As you mentioned, leisure is getting better. We feel it in our end market. Business travel is going to ramp up as well in the months to come. But on the other hand, I think that there will be some economic pressure as well on most people in the U.S. and in Europe as well, driven by the price of oil, interest rate, subsidies, you name it, obviously, that we had during COVID that is going to go away as well. And we can feel as well or the industry can feel already that there's some pressure there.

如你所說，休閒旅遊正在改善，我們在終端市場也感受得到。商務旅行在接下來幾個月也會逐步回升。但另一方面，我認為美國與歐洲的大多數人也會面臨一些經濟壓力，原因包括油價、利率、補貼等等——你也知道，COVID 期間的各種補貼也將逐步退場。我們也能感受到，或整個產業其實已經感受到，確實存在一些壓力。

So there is going to be some good news and some less good news, but we'll see what's really going to happen over the next few months. That I can't influence. The only thing I can influence is new business. And new business in institutional has been doing extremely well actually during the pandemic and is continuing to do it right now as well on top of the pricing that they're getting, which is driving shares, I was mentioning to Chris as well before. So ultimately, I think that institutional is going to be in a good place.

所以接下來會有一些好消息，也會有一些不那麼好的消息，但我們會看看未來幾個月實際會發生什麼。那不是我能影響的。唯一我能影響的是新業務。而機構端的新業務其實在疫情期間表現非常好，現在也仍然持續表現強勁；再加上他們所取得的定價，這也在推動股價——我之前也跟 Chris 提到過。總體而言，我認為機構業務會處在一個很好的位置。

One might say we could have grown even faster if everything would have been unleashed at the same time as well, well, that's not the way things work. So generally, the industry might slow down a little bit, and we might not grow as fast as we would have wished, but we will still remain in double-digit territory in '22, which I believe is a pretty good performance.

有人可能會說，如果所有事情同時全面放開，我們本來可以成長得更快；但事情通常不是這樣運作的。所以整體而言，產業可能會稍微放緩，我們的成長速度也可能不如我們原先希望的那麼快，但在 2022 年我們仍會維持雙位數成長，我認為這是相當不錯的表現。

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

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）的 Vincent Andrews。

A couple of quick ones for me. The release mentioned in food retail, I guess, because of staffing issues at some of the cleaning intensity had declined. Can you just clarify that staffing issue? Is that because in the quarter, there was kind of COVID-related outages when Omicron was surging? Or is that because customers are struggling. I'm just trying to understand how transitory the issue is.

我這邊有幾個簡短的問題。新聞稿提到在食品零售方面，我想是因為人力配置問題，部分清潔強度有所下降。你能否釐清一下這個人力問題？這是因為本季 Omicron 高峰時出現與 COVID 相關的缺勤嗎？還是因為客戶本身在招工上遇到困難？我只是想了解這個問題有多短暫。

Yes, it's an interesting one, Vincent, because for the most part, the retail industry is doing quite well, especially the large customers, the large retailers serving around the country and around the world. The trick is that they are all struggling with how much people they get, obviously, in their stores, so they need to choose where the people are going ultimately. They go and serve customers or do they do as well as much as they should.

是的，Vincent，這點很有意思，因為大多數情況下，零售產業其實表現得相當不錯，尤其是那些在全國乃至全球服務的大型客戶、大型零售商。關鍵在於，他們都在為店內能有多少人手而苦惱，所以他們必須選擇人力最終要用在哪裡：是去服務顧客，還是去做他們本來應該做的其他工作。

So on the cleaning side as well, I want to be careful how I'm saying that, obviously, because we make sure that our customers are doing things the right way. But in normal times, they would do much more than what they're doing today. And it's all related to the staffing that the shifting are from one part of the store towards the commercial one, which is driving their stays as well.

因此在清潔這一端也是一樣。我在表達上也要小心，因為我們會確保客戶以正確的方式在做事。但在正常時期，他們會做得比現在多得多。而這一切都與人力配置有關：人力從店內某些區域轉移到商業端，這也在推動他們的銷售表現。

Okay. And just as a follow-up, Scott, if I could ask you about sort of how you expect working capital trend through the year. Obviously, in an inflationary environment, you're going to need more of it. But looked like a pretty good build in the quarter and you finished the quarter with a low cash balance. So just how should we be thinking about working capital and free cash flow for the year?

好的。再追問一個，Scott，如果可以的話，我想問你對今年營運資金走勢的看法。顯然在通膨環境下，你會需要更多營運資金。但本季看起來營運資金增加得不少，而且季末現金水位偏低。所以我們應該如何看待今年的營運資金與自由現金流？

Yes. Thanks, Vincent. As you mentioned in the quarter, there was a bit of a build, as you'd expect. So free cash flows were in line with what we expected for the first quarter and really just below last year because we built working capital and CapEx, which you would expect as sales are growing, especially this strong. And so as we look for the year on a free cash flow basis, expect that for the full year, we would have free cash flow, it's really in line with free cash flow conversion, historical levels, which means that our working capital will sort of trend in line with the business growth.

好的，謝謝你，Vincent。正如你提到的，本季確實有一些增加，這也符合預期。因此第一季的自由現金流與我們的預期一致，且確實略低於去年，因為我們增加了營運資金與資本支出（CapEx）；在銷售成長、尤其是成長如此強勁的情況下，這是你會預期看到的。展望全年自由現金流，我們預期全年自由現金流將大致符合歷史上的自由現金流轉換率水準，也就是說，我們的營運資金將大致隨著業務成長而同步變動。

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

下一個問題來自 Oppenheimer 的 Scott Schneeberger。

Christophe, following up on the Industrial segment. Just curious, in the press release, it cited unfavorable mix as a headwind. Could you elaborate a little bit on that, please, and just discuss where that's going? And then a follow-up in there is to a discussion earlier on Industrial about segment margin. A few years ago, it was in -- pre pandemic, in the mid-teens. How quickly could the margin get back to that level based on what you're seeing?

Christophe，延續工業事業部（Industrial segment）來問。新聞稿提到「不利的組合（unfavorable mix）」是一項逆風。你能否多說明一下這點，以及未來走向？另外也想追問先前談到的工業部門利潤率：幾年前、疫情前大約在十幾%的中段。依你目前看到的情況，利潤率要多快才能回到那個水準？

Yes. Thank you, Scott. So 2 parts, a few questions, obviously. So margins and mix. So if I talk about overall margins, usually, it takes 2 years to kind of get through the margin cycle. So our inflation goes up, and we get the pricing, we get the dollars back to the first year and the second year, we get the margins back and more, and that's how we've grown our margins in industrial, so at every cycle.

好的，謝謝你，Scott。這裡有兩個部分、幾個問題：利潤率與組合。如果我先談整體利潤率，通常需要兩年左右才能走完整個利潤率循環。也就是說，我們的通膨上升後，我們透過定價在第一年把金額（dollars）拿回來；第二年我們把利潤率拿回來，甚至更高。這就是我們在工業業務中每一輪循環都能擴大利潤率的方式。

And it's going to be the same in this one with 1 big difference is that usually the inflationary cycle will last much less time this time, well, we're already planning for 2 years, last year and this year. So the cycle is going to be a little bit longer but a very strong price muscle in industrial for a few reasons, first, because our premium products are competitive versus competition in terms of what they can deliver. Customers are interested in paying more to get more as well out of it.

這一輪也會一樣，但有一個重大差異：通常通膨循環這次會持續更短；不過我們其實已經按兩年來規劃——去年與今年。所以這個循環會稍微更長一些。但工業端的定價能力非常強，原因有幾個：第一，我們的高端產品在交付能力上相較競品具競爭力，客戶也願意為了獲得更多價值而支付更高價格。

And second, we have a pricing approach, which is driven by EROI, as you probably know, which is basically getting a share of the savings that we are generating for our customers as well. So it's kind of a very natural organic type pricing as well. So the underlying pricing, and then you have the inflation pricing that comes on top of it. So bottom line should be towards '23, I think that assuming that inflation obviously peaks now and eases in the quarters to come in '23. So we should really see so that rebuild and step up in margins in Industrial. That was your second question.

第二，我們有一套由 EROI 驅動的定價方法，你應該也知道，基本上就是從我們為客戶創造的節省中分得一部分。因此這是一種非常自然、偏有機的定價方式。也就是說，先有基礎定價，然後再疊加通膨定價。總結來看，我認為到 2023 年，假設通膨現在見頂並在接下來幾季於 2023 年趨緩，我們應該會看到工業部門利潤率的重建與上升。這是你第二個問題。

The first 1 was the mix. There's 3 things. One is business mix. If you have paper, for instance, so growing faster than like Water -- Paper is at lower margin than like Water. Well, that has an impact in the mix of businesses. Within a business, you can take Downstream, for instance, we have an important offering, which is called additives that energy companies are using usually when the prices of oil are rather high because they can afford it.

第一個問題是組合（mix）。這裡有三件事。第一是業務組合：例如紙業（Paper）成長速度比水務（Water）更快——紙業的利潤率低於水務——那就會影響業務組合。第二是在單一業務內部：以 Downstream 為例，我們有一個重要的產品組合叫做添加劑（additives），能源公司通常在油價較高、負擔得起時會使用。

Well, those ones are growing really fast right now. They have lower margin than the chemical offering that we're providing to those customers. And the last one is the country mix as well. So depending on where you grow, that has an impact as well on the overall margin of Industrial. So those are the 3 big drivers of this margin mix.

這些產品目前成長非常快，但其利潤率低於我們提供給這些客戶的化學品方案。第三是國家/地區組合：你在哪些地區成長，也會影響工業部門的整體利潤率。以上就是這個利潤率組合的三大驅動因素。

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

下一個問題來自 Vertical Research Partners 的 Kevin McCarthy。

Christophe, coming back to the surcharges that you're implementing as of April 1. How much might you actually expect to realize in the June quarter? The reason I ask is, I think your press release on March 15 indicated a range of 8% to 12%. And I imagine, in some cases, you get the high end immediately. In other cases, maybe the low and still other cases, perhaps you have some contractual limitations. So perhaps you can talk about the flow-through as you begin to implement that program in the second quarter and also into the third quarter.

Christophe，回到你們自 4 月 1 日起實施的附加費（surcharges）。你們實際上預期在 6 月季度能實現多少？我之所以這麼問，是因為我記得你們 3 月 15 日的新聞稿提到 8% 到 12% 的區間。我想在某些情況下你們能立刻拿到高端；在其他情況下可能只能拿到低端；還有一些情況可能受合約限制。你能否談談在第二季開始推行這個方案時的傳導（flow-through）情況，以及延伸到第三季會如何？

Yes. So 2 things, Kevin. And I can explain it in a complicated way and a very simple way. I'll take the simple one, and we can get obviously some more in detail if you wish so. But the way, we agree and align with customers in such a short period of time is really to make sure that the surcharge is an upset to the increase of commodity costs related to energy cost.

好的，Kevin。有兩點。我可以用很複雜的方式解釋，也可以用很簡單的方式。我先用簡單的方式，如果你希望我們再深入細節，當然也可以。之所以我們能在這麼短的時間內與客戶達成一致並對齊，主要是為了確保這個附加費能抵銷與能源成本相關的大宗商品成本上升。

So you get a net 0 ultimately on our EPS delivery. But if we don't get the surcharge, obviously, we have a negative EPS delivery because we get the inflation and we don't get the surcharge. So that's the way we think about it, really that the surcharge is a natural offset for the increase related to the energy costs. So that's the first one. And the second, and I'll pause after that, just to make sure that I addressed your question here.

因此最終在我們的每股盈餘（EPS）交付上會是淨影響為 0。但如果我們拿不到附加費，顯然 EPS 交付就會是負面，因為我們承受了通膨，卻沒有附加費來抵銷。這就是我們的思考方式：附加費是對能源成本上升的自然抵銷。這是第一點。第二點——我先停一下，確認我有回答到你的問題。

The second quarter ending June, as you say, well, it's a transition quarter because obviously, we start from 0 on April 1 and we hope to be as close to kind of -- in cruising speeds in June or July, which is why I'm not perfectly accurate on where we're going to be at the end of June because there's a lot of realization that needs to happen for those thousands of customers, millions of locations around the world in 170 countries.

你提到的截至 6 月的第二季，確實是一個過渡季度，因為我們在 4 月 1 日是從 0 開始，我們希望到 6 月或 7 月能接近進入穩定運行的速度。這也是為什麼我無法非常精準地說 6 月底會到什麼程度，因為對於遍布 170 個國家、數千名客戶、數百萬個據點而言，仍有大量的落地實現（realization）需要完成。

This is real work. It's evolving very nicely, very well. I like the progress that we're making, but it's an imperfect journey. Obviously, since we've never done it as well. So that's the way we think about it in terms of net impact, an offset and second for the second quarter, well, it's not going to be a straight line to heaven, but it's going to end up in a good place sometime this summer. I don't know if it's going to be exactly at the end of June when the quarter ends.

這是真正的工作。它正在非常好、非常順利地演進。我喜歡我們正在取得的進展，但這是一段不完美的旅程。顯然，因為我們以前從未做過這件事。所以我們在思考淨影響時，就是把它視為一個抵銷項；至於第二季，嗯，它不會是一條直通天堂的直線，但會在今年夏天的某個時候落在一個好的位置。我不確定是否會剛好在六月底、也就是季度結束時達成。

Okay. And then secondly, I wanted to ask you about your Institutional earnings results in the first quarter, came in a little bit better than we had anticipated. I guess my question is, did it come in better than you thought internally? And if so, what drove the positive variance in that piece of the portfolio?

好的。第二個問題，我想請教你們第一季的機構事業（Institutional）獲利結果，表現比我們預期稍微好一些。我想問的是：它是否也比你們內部原先預期更好？如果是的話，這個投資組合中是什麼因素帶動了這部分的正向差異？

So just to make sure I get you right, you're talking about -- you want me to talk about sales or margin or both?

所以為了確保我理解正確，你指的是——你希望我談的是銷售、毛利率，還是兩者都談？

Sorry, I was referring to your operating earnings in Global Institutional & Specialty.

抱歉，我指的是你們在全球機構與專業（Global Institutional & Specialty）的營業利益（operating earnings）。

Okay. Got it. Well, actually, sales were really good. They could have been even better if omicron wouldn't have hit to the first part of the quarter. And the earnings were good, but they're still not as high as they could or should be because they've been impacted as well so by the delivered product cost inflation. So good growth, good productivity work, you maybe remember that we've implemented in 2020, a global field system as well that is really automating a big chunk of the transactional work that our field force is doing around the world. That's driving better productivity. Innovation is adding to margin as well.

好的。了解。其實，銷售表現非常好。如果不是 Omicron 在本季前段造成衝擊，表現甚至可能更好。獲利也不錯，但仍未達到它本來可以或應該達到的水準，因為同樣受到已交付產品成本通膨的影響。因此，成長良好、生產力提升工作也做得很好。你可能記得，我們在 2020 年也導入了一套全球外勤系統，能夠把我們全球外勤團隊大量的交易性工作自動化，這正在帶來更好的生產力。創新也在提升毛利率。

We mentioned Ecolab Science Certified disinfection programs as well related to COVID and post COVID as well. That all helping on the margin. But the truth it's going to happen in the quarters to come and probably as well in the years to come because when all that comes together, that the pricing gets ahead as well of inflation. I firmly believe that the institutional margins will be even better after that cycle than it was pre-COVID whenever the past is going to be or the future is going to be. But let's assume it's going to be '23. But Institutional on a very good path, both on top line and bottom line as well. And the best is to come.

我們也提到與 COVID 及後 COVID 相關的 Ecolab Science Certified 消毒方案。這些都在幫助毛利率。但事實是，接下來幾季、甚至未來幾年都可能會發生這樣的情況：當這一切因素匯聚在一起，且定價也開始領先通膨。我堅信，在那個循環之後，機構事業的利潤率會比 COVID 之前更好——不管你把「過去」或「未來」怎麼定義。先假設是 2023 年。但機構事業在營收端與獲利端都走在非常好的軌道上，而且最好的還在後頭。

Our next question is from the line of Eric Petrie with Citi.

下一個問題來自 Citi 的 Eric Petrie。

How are underlying sanitizing sales normalizing compared to the 2019 levels?

相較於 2019 年的水準，基礎的消毒相關銷售目前正如何正常化？

So that's an imperfect science, obviously. So it was -- when we look at all the sanitizing sales that we have in the company, it grew over 50% during the COVID times. And the way it looks like right now is that it should remain at roughly 20% above where it was pre-COVID, let's call it, 2019.

這顯然不是一門精確的科學。當我們看公司內所有的消毒相關銷售時，在 COVID 期間成長超過 50%。而目前看起來，它應該會維持在大約比 COVID 前（就以 2019 年來說）高出約 20% 的水準。

Helpful. And then typically, your Institutional margins over history are higher than Industrial. How do you see that as you were talking about mix and so forth, 2023 and beyond? And some of the growth verticals that you have in Industrial as well as net zero?

很有幫助。接著，從歷史來看，你們的機構事業利潤率通常高於工業事業。你如何看待你剛提到的產品組合等因素，在 2023 年及之後的影響？以及工業事業的一些成長垂直領域與淨零（net zero）？

Yes. As mentioned before, so Institution is going to be better after that cycle concludes, let's assume, so '23, COVID inflation and all that. It's not all going to happen on January 1, obviously. But post this cycle, the business performance, the P&L of Institutional is going to be better than it was in 2019 of pre-COVID. That's the first one for all the reasons I mentioned on the prior question.

是的。如先前所提，機構事業在這個循環結束後會更好——先假設是 2023 年，包含 COVID、通膨等因素。當然不會在 1 月 1 日就全部發生。但在這個循環之後，機構事業的營運表現、損益表（P&L）將會比 2019 年、也就是 COVID 前更好。這是第一點，原因就是我在上一題提到的那些。

On Industrial, we've had a very good journey of margin improvement over the years. And interestingly enough, also happening during those inflationary cycles, we had the previous one. You maybe remember the margin improvement we had in 2020, was growing north of 20% in terms of operating margin and ended up in a very good place, which is why I just mentioned before as well earlier on the call, even the margins are down 10% in Q1; they're higher at 19% than they were in 2019 as well due to the pricing mix work that the team has been doing.

至於工業事業（Industrial），這些年我們在利潤率改善上走過一段非常好的旅程。有趣的是，即使在通膨循環期間也在發生；我們之前也經歷過一次。你可能記得我們在 2020 年的利潤率改善，營業利潤率成長超過 20%，最後達到非常好的水準。這也是為什麼我在電話會議前面提到：即使第一季利潤率下滑 10%，但 19% 的水準仍高於 2019 年，這要歸功於團隊所做的定價與組合（pricing mix）工作。

So that's going to continue going forward. What you mentioned as well on net zero is obviously something that was much less relevant a few years ago, but that's becoming very relevant right now and going forward because many of our customers have made commitments on the sustainability objectives. Many of them are not progressing as fast as they were hoping for a bunch of good and less good reasons sometimes. This is obviously driving very good demand.

所以這種趨勢未來會持續。你提到的淨零（net zero）在幾年前顯然沒那麼重要，但現在以及未來會變得非常重要，因為我們許多客戶都對永續目標做出承諾。其中很多客戶的進展沒有他們原本希望的那麼快，原因有些是好的、有些則不那麼好。這顯然正在帶動非常強勁的需求。

So for us, we've created a dedicated net zero division, now within Industrial in order to serve those customers as well that are the most advanced. And those customers tend to be higher margin as well at the same time, which will help contribute as well to better margins for Industrial, which down the road, I expect Industrial to reach the same level of margin than Institutional and potentially even better.

因此，我們在工業事業內成立了一個專責的淨零部門，以便服務那些最先進的客戶。而這些客戶往往同時也具有較高的利潤率，這也將有助於工業事業利潤率的提升。從長期來看，我預期工業事業的利潤率將達到與機構事業相同的水準，甚至可能更高。

Next question is coming from the line of Shlomo Rosenbaum with Stifel.

下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Shlomo Rosenbaum。

Quick question. We had a lot of talk about pricing. I want to go back a little bit more to volumes. And just to ask, where are we on the overall company volumes like-for-like vis-a-vis 2019? In other words, how much is left in terms of return to normal play in terms of revenue potential?

快速問一個問題。我們談了很多定價。我想把焦點稍微拉回到銷量。想請問：就整體公司而言，同店（like-for-like）銷量相較於 2019 年目前在哪個位置？換句話說，就營收潛力而言，距離回到正常狀態還剩下多少？

Like you talked about Institutional being back to where it was, but with in-person dining just down a significant amount. So if you were to put it like-to-like, what would you say the upside is or potential for revenue with just kind of normalization, say, coming if you were to assume that would come in 2023.

你提到機構事業已回到原本水準，但到店用餐（in-person dining）仍大幅低於過去。如果用同口徑（like-to-like）來看，你會怎麼描述在「正常化」之下的上行空間或營收潛力？假設你認為這會在 2023 年發生。

Yes. So I had to get to some numbers in order to get that. I want to make sure I get the right one. So from top line perspective, we're way ahead of 2019 already, obviously, but you asked the right question, in terms of volume.

是的。所以我需要看一些數字才能回答，我想確保我抓到正確的數字。從營收（top line）角度來看，我們顯然已經遠遠超過 2019 年，但你問的是對的問題：也就是銷量（volume）。

So if you look at Q1 '22, we have businesses that are already ahead of 2019. Industrial is ahead, Healthcare & Life Sciences ahead, our Other segment is ahead as well. And the only one that's below 2019, roughly 10% in terms of volume is Institutional & Specialty and is expected to cross that line during the second half of the year, where we're going to be in a place where all businesses, I mean, all major businesses will be ahead of 2019 in terms of volume during the second half of the year.

如果看 2022 年第一季（Q1 '22），我們有些業務已經超過 2019 年。工業事業已超過、醫療保健與生命科學（Healthcare & Life Sciences）也超過，我們的其他（Other）部門也超過。唯一低於 2019 年的是機構與專業（Institutional & Specialty），以銷量計大約低 10%，預期會在今年下半年跨過那條線。也就是說，今年下半年我們會處在一個位置：所有業務——我是指所有主要業務——在銷量上都將高於 2019 年。

Okay. So when I'm thinking about the recovery, you have -- you still have -- that should be largely a second half '22 and first half of '23, kind of improvement potential over there. Is that the right way to think of it?

好的。所以當我在思考復甦時，你們——你們仍然——那邊的改善潛力應該主要落在 2022 年下半年與 2023 年上半年。這樣理解對嗎？

Absolutely, especially in Institutional & Specialty, no doubt about that. That's why we're saying it's going to take -- it's kind of a 2-, 3-year cycle where demand is going to be higher just because the industry is recovering from a demand perspective and staffing, as we talked about before as well as you get more staffing in hotels, for instance, you've probably been in hotels lately.

完全正確，尤其是在機構與專業（Institutional & Specialty），毫無疑問。這也是為什麼我們說這會是一個大約 2 到 3 年的循環，需求會更高，因為產業正從需求面復甦，加上人力配置（staffing）——我們之前也談過——例如飯店的人力回補後，你最近可能也住過飯店。

So the service is a little bit different than it used to be even though you're paying the same prices for your rooms, well, it's not because hotels won't have it that way, they don't have staffing to do it. That's going to add as well. So to the demand for us because those people are using our product. That's going to be a good thing. And that's going to help us drive demand in '22 and in '23. When it's going to stop? I don't know, but I think we have 1 or 2 years ahead of us of recovery, which is really good for that business.

所以服務跟以前有點不一樣，即使你付的房價一樣；這不是因為飯店想這樣，而是他們沒有足夠的人力來做到。這也會推升我們的需求，因為那些人會使用我們的產品。這會是好事，並將幫助我們在 2022 年與 2023 年推動需求。什麼時候會停止？我不知道，但我認為我們還有 1 到 2 年的復甦期在前方，這對那個業務非常有利。

Okay. Great. And just for the follow-up question. Is one quarter really enough time to get energy surcharge across the expanse of the customers that you guys have. It just seems like it's -- you're trying to hit everybody. At the same time, people also wanted to make new sales. Is there a focus being taken off of new sales in order to be able to do this? How should we think about it?

好的。很棒。接著追問：一個季度真的足夠讓你們把能源附加費（energy surcharge）推行到你們所涵蓋的廣大客戶群嗎？看起來你們像是——同時想要觸及每一位客戶。但同時，大家也想做新銷售。你們是否會為了做到這件事而把重心從新銷售上移開？我們應該怎麼理解？

Great question. So, so first, getting it all done in 1 quarter, the short answer is no. And that's why I'm saying that in theory, if everything were done in the second quarter in a perfect way, we would be growing our earnings very nicely. Well, it's not going to happen because we started 0 on April 1. And at the end of June, we won't be 100% done either for all the reasons that you're mentioning.

好問題。所以，首先，要在一個季度內把所有事情都做完，簡短的答案是否定的。這也是我說理論上如果第二季在完美的情況下把所有事情都完成，我們的獲利就會成長得非常漂亮。但這不會發生，因為我們在 4 月 1 日是從 0 開始的。而且到 6 月底，基於你提到的所有原因，我們也不會 100% 全部完成。

And that's why it's hard to know exactly where we're going to be. But I know that this summer, let's put it that way, we will be in a very good place because all businesses, everyone around the world so needs to get this one done at the right way. So exactly for the reasons that we mentioned before. And the second point on the [prioritization] of new business versus pricing, we've been reasonably good at that. But I want to be perfectly honest with you. When we focus on pricing, let alone a surcharge, which is something totally new since we've never done that globally. Well, you get your eyes off the ball of new business.

這也是為什麼很難確切知道我們會到什麼程度。但我知道，今年夏天——這麼說吧——我們會處在一個非常好的位置，因為全球所有企業、所有人都非常需要把這件事以正確的方式完成。正如我們之前提到的原因一樣。至於第二點，關於新業務與定價之間的[優先順序]，我們做得算是相當不錯。但我想非常坦白地說，當我們把重心放在定價上，更不用說附加費（surcharge）——這是全新的做法，因為我們從未在全球推行過——你就會把注意力從新業務上移開。

So I expect plan to slow down a little bit to get the pricing right, but that's why we want to get pricing done as quickly as we can to make sure that new business maintains momentum as well down the road, it's hard to do both at the same time.

因此我預期，為了把定價做對，計畫會稍微放慢一點；但這也是為什麼我們希望盡快把定價完成，以確保新業務在未來也能維持動能，兩件事同時做很難。

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

下一個問題來自 Seaport Research Partners 的 Mike Harrison。

If I could -- sorry, I wanted to see if I could attack this question around underlying market demand a little bit differently. You've talked about business travel. You talked about maybe some macro concerns in Europe. I was just hoping to get some color more broadly on what you're seeing in terms of consumer behavior in an inflationary environment?

如果可以的話——抱歉——我想看看能否用稍微不同的方式來切入這個關於潛在市場需求的問題。你談到了商務旅行，也談到了歐洲可能有一些總體面的疑慮。我只是希望能更廣泛地了解，在通膨環境下，你們觀察到的消費者行為是什麼樣子？

Are there any signs at this point that inflation is starting to drag on consumer spending, I guess that would show up maybe in restaurant foot traffic. But most of us were not covering this space the last time inflation was this strong. So I guess any historical perspective you can provide would be very helpful?

目前是否有任何跡象顯示通膨開始拖累消費支出？我想這可能會反映在餐廳人流上。但我們大多數人在上一次通膨這麼強的時候並沒有覆蓋這個產業。所以，如果你能提供任何歷史角度的觀察，會非常有幫助。

Yes, a few things. First, that kind of inflation, none of us has really experienced that. I guess our parents did. I was not in business. So last time, it truly happened here so 30 or 40 years ago. So it's totally extreme, totally unusual as we all know. So a few things here. First, we don't see a slowdown of demand yet. So that's a good news.

是的，有幾點。第一，這種通膨其實我們都沒有真正經歷過。我想我們的父母有。我當時也不在商界。所以上一次在這裡真正發生，大概是 30 或 40 年前。所以如大家所知，這是非常極端、非常不尋常的。幾點觀察：首先，我們目前還沒有看到需求放緩。所以這是個好消息。

But if we look at restaurants, especially in the U.S., if I look at the data that we get from the industry, you clearly see a slowdown of demand, which is most probably related to inflationary pressure because of oil, because of COVID, because of mortgages, you name it. But that's very early. So those are indications that are probably so important to follow.

但如果看餐廳，尤其是在美國，從我們拿到的產業數據來看，你可以清楚看到需求放緩，這很可能與通膨壓力有關，因為油價、因為 COVID、因為房貸，你說得出的因素都有。但這還非常早期。所以這些跡象可能非常重要，值得持續追蹤。

The third thing and last thing that I'd say as well here is that when we move through slower times or more extreme recessionary times, which we don't assume it's going to happen in '22, could happen in '23, who knows, obviously, that we've gone through many times as a company.

第三點也是最後一點是，當我們進入較慢的時期或更極端的衰退時期——我們不認為 2022 年會發生，但 2023 年可能會，誰知道呢——顯然，作為一家公司，我們已經多次經歷過。

And the good thing with the Ecolab model is that, yes, the growth slows down, but we are still ahead of the market growth because we gained market share because we've all been discussed before in terms of new business, innovation, expansion of offering and so on there. So that helps us grow faster than the overall market and kind of dampen the recession that we might have on our top line.

而 Ecolab 模式的好處在於：是的，成長會放緩，但我們仍會領先於市場成長，因為我們能取得市占率；正如之前討論過的，在新業務、創新、產品/服務供給擴張等方面。這讓我們能比整體市場成長更快，並在營收端某種程度上緩和衰退可能帶來的影響。

And most importantly, in more difficult times for our customers, they need us more. Because our value proposition, as you know, is helping customers get better results at a lower total cost. That's been true for 99 years as a company. So in more difficult times, potentially recessionary times, customers need even more what we're doing, which have been so reasons why Ecolab has been doing so quite well during slower or recessionary times.

而且最重要的是，在客戶更艱難的時期，他們更需要我們。因為我們的價值主張，如你所知，是幫助客戶以更低的總成本取得更好的成果。這在公司 99 年來一直都成立。所以在更艱難、可能衰退的時期，客戶更需要我們所做的事情，這也是 Ecolab 在較慢或衰退時期表現相當不錯的原因。

All right. And then second question on the high-tech opportunity. I believe that's mostly centered around water and going into semiconductor fabs as well as data centers. Can you talk a little bit about your market position there particularly now that you've combined with Purolite. And are you in a position to win more than your fair share of opportunities as we feed some of this fab capacity expansion?

好的。第二個問題是關於高科技機會。我相信那主要集中在水務，並進入半導體晶圓廠以及資料中心。你能談談你們在那裡的市場地位嗎？特別是現在你們與 Purolite 結合之後。當我們推動部分晶圓廠產能擴張時，你們是否有能力贏得超過你們「應得份額」的機會？

Absolutely. It's a fascinating business, which used to be part of Light Industries, our Water business that was serving hotels, like manufacturing and so on. And now we've created a dedicated division that combines data centers and microelectronics. Obviously, they're related, but different. The main driver for data centers is to help those high-tech companies reach their net 0 ambition.

當然可以。這是一個很迷人的業務，過去屬於 Light Industries，我們的水務業務當時服務飯店、製造業等等。現在我們成立了一個專責事業部，把資料中心與微電子整合在一起。顯然它們相關，但也不同。資料中心的主要驅動力，是協助那些高科技公司達成淨零（net 0）的目標。

And I mean you know all of them, they've all made bold commitments that by 2030, for most of them, they want to be 0 or positive carbon and the same for water as well. We're the only company that can provide that to them that's. So that's obviously something we had to get organized in order to get there. And we're making very nice progress by working with those large companies. This is Ecolab at its best because we serve enterprise customers for a very long time, forever, actually.

我的意思是，你也知道他們全部都在其中——他們都做出了大膽承諾：到 2030 年，多數公司希望達到零碳或甚至正碳（positive carbon），水資源也是一樣。我們是唯一能為他們提供這些的公司。這顯然是我們必須把組織架構建立起來才能做到的事情。而我們透過與這些大型公司合作，正在取得非常好的進展。這正是 Ecolab 最擅長的，因為我們長期、甚至可以說永遠地服務企業級客戶。

And we have them understand where are they today, how much water do they use, what's the objective to get to 0? What's the road map to get there and drive execution as well towards that. While we make sure that we maintain a 99.9% uptime, so for all data centers then microelectronics, just to conclude on that, is different but related.

我們會讓他們了解：他們今天在哪裡、用了多少水、要達到 0 的目標是什麼、到那裡的路線圖是什麼，並推動執行落地。同時我們也確保維持 99.9% 的正常運作時間（uptime），因此對所有資料中心而言——然後微電子方面，作為結語——是不同但相關的。

We wanted to have the same people because it's the same type of expertise that we need in the field. Well, it's a production of microprocessors and that requires high purity, high-quality water, which to a certain extent, we were doing in the past, Ecolab, but we could not do the highest quality of water that's being used in the production process of microprocessors.

我們希望使用同一批人員，因為現場需要的是同類型的專業能力。微處理器的生產需要高純度、高品質的水；在某種程度上，Ecolab 過去也做過，但我們無法提供微處理器製程中所使用的最高等級水質。

This is something that we can do now with Purolite which is the new offering that no one else can offer as well, which is helping not only Purolite, but our global high-tech business. So kind of the beginning of the journey. But so far, a very good story, where I think that we're in a position that we could truly own that market.

而這正是我們現在透過 Purolite 能做到的——這是一個其他人也無法提供的新產品/新方案，這不僅能帶動 Purolite，也能帶動我們全球高科技業務。所以這算是旅程的開始。但到目前為止，是一個非常好的故事；我認為我們確實處在一個可以真正主導那個市場的位置。

Our next question is from the line of Rosemarie Morbelli with Gabelli Funds.

下一個問題來自 Gabelli Funds 的 Rosemarie Morbelli。

I was wondering if you could touch on the progress you are making on Life Sciences. I believe we did not really touch on that particular part of your business during the call?

我想請你談談你們在生命科學（Life Sciences）方面的進展。我相信在這通電話中，我們並沒有真正觸及你們業務的那一部分？

Yes. Great question. So Life Sciences has been a great business that we started, I think, 5 years ago, 2016. But Doug, who we did that. So again, I'm not going to take any credit for that. It's been a great business that's been growing to almost $300 million today, growing double digit, some of the highest margin that we have in the company.

是的。好問題。生命科學一直是一個很棒的業務，我想我們是在 5 年前、2016 年開始的，是 Doug 推動的。所以我不會把功勞算在自己身上。這是一個很棒的業務，如今規模已成長到接近 3 億美元，維持雙位數成長，而且是公司裡毛利率最高的業務之一。

And it's a business that's doing well, is having hard comps versus '21 and '20 because it was such a crazy high growth that, that business went through related to COVID demand. But the underlying growth of that business is double digit and will emerge double digits in Q2 or Q3, I don't remember exactly, and we'll continue very nicely as well as the business.

這個業務表現良好，但相較於 2021 年與 2020 年的比較基期（comps）很硬，因為那段期間因 COVID 需求，該業務經歷了非常瘋狂的高速成長。不過其基本面成長仍是雙位數，並會在第二季或第三季回到雙位數——我不記得確切是哪一季——而且之後也會持續非常良好地成長。

On top of it, because Life Science former Ecolab, if I may say, was really providing solutions to make sure that production lines, clean rooms, factories were safe and protected from any infection risk. Now we add Purolite, obviously, to it, which is purifying the product that's being produced in those production lines. So it creates a 1 plus 1 equals 3 type of proposition like water and food safety when we acquired Nalco as well.

此外，因為生命科學（如果我可以這麼說）在 Purolite 併入前的 Ecolab，主要是提供解決方案以確保生產線、無塵室、工廠安全，並防範任何感染風險。現在我們把 Purolite 加進來，顯然，它是在淨化那些生產線上所製造的產品。這就形成一種 1 加 1 等於 3 的價值主張，就像我們收購 Nalco 時在水務與食品安全上所做的一樣。

So it's going to help Life Sciences grow even faster. Today, together, so it's kind of $700 million, $800 million, growing double digit. We are constrained by capacity right now, as mentioned earlier on the call of the first year first half of this year roughly. But the demand is just getting higher. 2 businesses doing really well. Getting together, the offering is even more interesting. We just need to be able to produce what we're selling. That's going to happen during the second half of this year.

因此這將幫助生命科學更快成長。今天兩者合計大約是 7 億到 8 億美元規模，維持雙位數成長。我們目前受到產能限制，正如先前在電話會議中提到的，大約是在今年上半年、第一年上半段。但需求只會越來越高。兩個業務都做得非常好。結合之後，產品/服務供給更有吸引力。我們只需要能夠生產出我們正在銷售的東西。這會在今年下半年發生。

Are you signing up large pharma facilities?

你們有在簽下大型製藥設施嗎？

We do. That's where we focus on Life Science, Rosemarie is 80% plus pharma and the balance is cosmetics, the traditional brands. But Life Science for the most part is pharma with now a renewed focus on biopharma on mRNA and monoclonal antibodies, which is really the industry within pharma that's growing the fastest and expected to be the overall pharma market by 2026 or 2027, in the next few years are really interesting.

有的。那正是我們在生命科學領域的重點所在；Rosemarie 的業務有 80% 以上是製藥，其餘則是化妝品與傳統品牌。不過生命科學大多數仍是製藥，而現在我們重新聚焦於生物製藥，包括 mRNA 與單株抗體；這其實是製藥產業中成長最快的子領域，預期到 2026 或 2027 年、也就是未來幾年，將成為整體製藥市場的主流，確實非常值得關注。

Okay. And then I was wondering, given the stock price decline which continued today, are you considering accelerating repurchases?

好的。那我想問，鑑於股價下跌且今天仍在下跌，你們是否考慮加速回購？

Well, it's what we've announced a few weeks ago or a month ago, I don't remember exactly the timing. I might ask maybe, Scott, if you want to give some perspective as well on that.

嗯，這就是我們在幾週前或一個月前宣布的內容，我不太記得確切時間點。我想也許可以請 Scott 也就此提供一些觀點。

Sure, Rosemarie. As we announced in March that we are repurchasing $500 million of shares during the year. And through Q1, as you might have seen, that we repurchased a little more than half of that. And we'll continue to pace that repurchase program, depending upon market conditions, but also while maintaining our commitment to return to A range credit metrics by the end of next year.

當然，Rosemarie。如我們在 3 月宣布的，我們將在今年回購 5 億美元的股票。而截至第一季，如你可能已看到的，我們已回購了略多於一半。我們會依市場狀況持續調整回購節奏，同時也會維持我們的承諾：在明年年底前讓信用指標回到 A 級區間。

Any way -- should nothing improve any way, you can expand that $500 million? Or do you need -- do we need to wait until next year before you have -- you take another look at it?

有沒有可能——如果情況都沒有改善的話——把這 5 億美元擴大？還是你們需要——我們需要等到明年你們再——再重新檢視一次？

I think we'll keep pace on that $500 million this year. Again, as I mentioned, we want to make sure that we're committed to returning to these A-range level metrics by the end of 2023.

我認為今年我們會按既定節奏完成這 5 億美元。如我提到的，我們希望確保能在 2023 年底前回到 A 級區間的指標水準。

Our next question is from the line of Andy Wittmann with Robert W. Baird.

下一個問題來自 Robert W. Baird 的 Andy Wittmann。

I guess I just wanted to follow up on the earlier question around free cash flow. I think that question was centered more around working capital, and you said it'd be kind of like historical levels. But Scott, it looks like if you back into your EPS guidance into net income, that kind of walks back up to around $1.5 billion of adjusted net income.

我想我只是想追問先前關於自由現金流的問題。我認為那個問題比較聚焦在營運資金，而你說會大致回到歷史水準。不過 Scott，看起來如果把你們的 EPS 指引回推到淨利，那大概會回到約 15 億美元的調整後淨利。

Historically, I guess you guys have said about 95% is a good way of thinking about kind of free cash flow for Ecolab. So is that applicable for this year with higher-than-average growth rates and inflation. I guess that's the other way of kind of asking that question. But this basically then that backs you into about $1.4 billion of free cash flow, is that the right kind of order of magnitude? And can you just comment again, if you could, on the CapEx budget for the year as well.

歷史上，我想你們曾說大約 95% 是理解 Ecolab 自由現金流的好方式。所以在今年、在高於平均的成長率與通膨之下，這個比例仍適用嗎？我想這是另一種問法。那這樣基本上就會推導出大約 14 億美元的自由現金流，這個量級對嗎？另外也請你再評論一下今年的資本支出（CapEx）預算。

Yes. Just on your first question, yes, your math is about right in that mid sort of 90% range, which is our historical cash conversion. So that would be where we would expect the year on free cash flows to be. And then as we think about CapEx, talked a little bit about this after the fourth quarter, and we'll expect CapEx to return to sort of our historical levels, which is like 5.5% to 6%. And as you're probably aware, about half of that CapEx that we do is merchandising equipment, which is at customer locations. And so that will grow as the sales grow and as new business grows.

是的。先回答你的第一個問題，是的，你的計算大致正確，約在 90% 中段的區間，這也是我們歷史上的現金轉換率。因此我們預期今年的自由現金流會落在那樣的水準。至於 CapEx，我們在第四季後也稍微談過；我們預期 CapEx 會回到歷史水準，大約是 5.5% 到 6%。而你可能也知道，我們的 CapEx 約有一半是陳列/投放設備（merchandising equipment），放在客戶端的據點。因此它會隨著銷售成長與新業務成長而增加。

Our final question is from the line of Kevin McVeigh with Credit Suisse.

我們最後一個問題來自 Credit Suisse 的 Kevin McVeigh。

Christophe, I wonder any just client reaction to the price increases? I know you were thoughtful through COVID. So are they more accepted given how thoughtful you were through the COVID process? Or just any puts and takes? I mean obviously, everyone is seeing a lot of inflationary pressure, but just any thoughts from a client perspective?

Christophe，我想了解客戶對漲價有沒有什麼反應？我知道你們在 COVID 期間處理得很審慎。所以因為你們在 COVID 過程中很周全，客戶現在是否更能接受？或是有任何利弊取捨？我的意思是，顯然每個人都感受到很大的通膨壓力，但從客戶角度有什麼想法嗎？

Yes. I'm really pleased with what we've done in pricing. So let's keep in mind, we have to overcome $1 billion over $1 billion over 18 months, so starting some mid last year towards the end of this year.

是的。我對我們在定價方面所做的事情非常滿意。請記住，我們必須在 18 個月內消化超過 10 億美元的成本壓力，時間從去年年中左右開始，一直到今年年底。

So 18 months is a very short period of time as well. And we want to make sure that we do that in achieving 2 things. The first one is that we stay or get ahead of the inflationary curve. We've done it last year. We'll do it as well so this year, as mentioned. We were on a path to be now basically ahead of the inflationary curve in 2022 that was prewar in Eastern Europe. Now it's postponed a few months, but we add the energy surcharge to that, and we'll get to the right place as well. So it's on one hand, making sure we cover inflation and at the same time that we do it in a way that we grow our margins as well down the road.

而 18 個月也是非常短的時間。我們要確保在達成兩件事的前提下完成。第一，是確保我們能跟上甚至領先通膨曲線。我們去年做到了，今年也會做到，如先前所提。我們原本的路徑是：在 2022 年、也就是東歐戰事爆發前，就基本上能領先通膨曲線。現在這個時間點延後了幾個月，但我們也加入能源附加費（energy surcharge），同樣會達到正確的位置。因此一方面要確保覆蓋通膨，另一方面也要以一種能在未來推動我們毛利率/利潤率成長的方式來做。

Second objective we have is to make sure we're not losing customers. While we do that, it's not a 100% play, obviously, but that we can maintain 90% plus of our customers, which we're doing. We haven't lost any major customers why we were doing that because we need to keep in mind that we're a growth company.

第二個目標是確保我們不流失客戶。當我們這麼做時，當然不可能 100% 完美，但我們能維持 90% 以上的客戶留存率，而我們確實做到了。在此過程中我們沒有流失任何主要客戶，因為我們必須記住：我們是一家成長型公司。

I want to make sure we keep our organic momentum, which is extremely strong right now while we get the pricing right, while we keep the customers because down the road, that's the beauty of the Ecolab model when your fundamentals are right of new business of innovation, of pricing, of customer retention and that inflation eases, you get very significant windfall in margin, which we know always happens. The question is, when is it exactly going to happen. But so far, so good. I'm very pleased with what the team has been doing in terms of pricing, while keeping the customers and driving growth at the same time.

我希望在把定價做對、同時留住客戶的過程中，仍能維持我們目前非常強勁的有機成長動能。因為從長期來看，這正是 Ecolab 模式的優勢：當你的基本面到位——新業務、創新、定價、客戶留存——而通膨趨緩時，你的利潤率會出現非常顯著的順風/紅利，我們知道這總是會發生。問題只是它究竟會在什麼時候發生。但到目前為止一切都很好。我對團隊在定價、同時維持客戶並推動成長方面的表現非常滿意。

At this time, we've reached of our question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the floor back to Mike Monahan for closing remarks.

此時，我們的問答環節已結束。接下來我把時間交回給 Mike Monahan 作結語。

Thanks, Rob. That wraps up our first quarter conference call. This call and the associated discussion and slides have been available for replay on our website. Thank you for your time and participation, and our best wishes for the rest of the day.

謝謝你，Rob。我們第一季電話會議到此結束。本次電話會議及相關討論與投影片已可在我們網站上重播。感謝各位撥冗參與，並祝各位今天接下來一切順利。

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

各位女士、先生，感謝各位的參與。今天的電話會議至此結束。您現在可以掛斷電話，祝您有美好的一天。