伊士曼化學 (EMN) 2018 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Eastman Chemical Company Second Quarter 2018 Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. This call is being broadcast live on the Eastman's website, www.eastman.com. We will now turn the call over to Mr. Greg Riddle of Eastman Chemical Company Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加伊士曼化學公司2018年第二季電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。這場電話會議正在伊士曼網站 www.eastman.com 上現場直播。現在我們將電話轉給伊士曼化學公司投資者關係部的 Greg Riddle 先生。先生，請繼續。

Thanks, Margarita. And good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. On the call with me today are: Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO; Curt Espeland, Executive Vice President and CFO; and Jake LaRoe, Manager of Investor Relations.

謝謝，瑪格麗塔。大家早安，感謝你們的收看。今天與我一起參加電話會議的有：董事會主席兼首席執行官馬克·科斯塔 (Mark Costa)、執行副總裁兼首席財務官科特·埃斯佩蘭 (Curt Espeland) 和投資者關係經理傑克·拉羅 (Jake LaRoe)。

Before we begin, I'll cover 2 items. First, during this presentation, you will hear certain forward-looking statements concerning our plans and expectations. Actual events or results could differ materially.

在我們開始之前，我將介紹兩件事。首先，在本次演示中，您將聽到有關我們的計劃和期望的一些前瞻性陳述。實際事件或結果可能有重大差異。

Certain factors related to future expectations are or will be detailed in the company's second quarter 2018 financial results news release. During this call and in the accompanying slides and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 10-Q filed for first quarter 2018 and the Form 10-Q to be filed for second quarter 2018. Second, earnings referenced in this presentation exclude certain noncore and unusual items and have been adjusted for the forecasted tax rate as of the end of the interim periods.

與未來預期相關的某些因素已在或將在本公司 2018 年第二季財務業績新聞稿中詳細說明。在本次電話會議中以及隨附的幻燈片和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，包括 2018 年第一季提交的 10-Q 表和即將於 2018 年第二季提交的 10-Q 表。其次，本報告中提到的收益不包括某些非核心項目和非常規項目，並且已根據中期末的預測稅率進行了調整。

Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and other associated disclosures, including a description of the excluded and adjusted items, are available in the second quarter 2018 financial results news release, which can be found on our website, www.eastman.com, in the Investors section.

與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標及其他相關披露的對賬，包括排除項目和調整項目的描述，均可在 2018 年第二季度財務業績新聞稿中找到，該新聞稿可在我們的網站 www.eastman.com 的“投資者”部分找到。

Projections of future earnings exclude any noncore or unusual items and assume that the adjusted tax rate for first 6 months 2018 will be the actual tax rate for the projected periods.

未來收益預測不包括任何非核心或非常項目，並假設 2018 年前 6 個月的調整後稅率將是預測期間的實際稅率。

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

說完這些，我會把電話轉給馬克。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us. I'll start on Slide 3. We continue to make great progress in executing our strategy with strong second quarter operating results consistent with our expectations.

早安，感謝您加入我們。我將從幻燈片 3 開始。我們在執行策略方面持續取得巨大進展，第二季的經營業績強勁，符合我們的預期。

Our results demonstrate the strength of our specialty portfolio with 8% volume growth in Advanced Materials and Additives & Functional Products combined during the quarter. As I said many times before, we are creating our own growth through innovation and leadership in specialty markets. We're seeing excellent progress in converting our top innovation programs into commercial orders across AM and AFP.

我們的業績證明了我們專業產品組合的實力，本季先進材料和添加劑及功能產品的銷售總和成長了 8%。正如我之前多次說過的，我們正在透過在專業市場的創新和領導來創造自己的成長。我們在將我們的頂級創新項目轉化為 AM 和 AFP 的商業訂單方面取得了巨大進展。

In a few moments, I'll share a couple of examples of the ways we are winning with customers through innovation and our enhanced commercial capabilities. In addition to this specialty volume growth, we are making good progress stabilizing our fibers business as the results during the quarter and in the first half the year demonstrate. In particular, we're making excellent progress in accelerating growth with our textiles innovation platform, leveraging our total assets into new market applications.

稍後我將分享幾個例子，說明我們如何透過創新和增強的商業能力來贏得客戶。除了特種產品銷售的成長之外，我們在穩定纖維業務方面也取得了良好的進展，正如本季和上半年的業績所顯示的那樣。特別是，我們在利用紡織品創新平台加速成長方面取得了顯著進展，將我們的全部資產投入到新的市場應用之中。

During the quarter, acetate yarn volumes increased by about 30% and we're expecting continued growth in the back half of the year. We continue to be disciplined in our cost management with productivity offsetting inflation. While we ramp up our investment in growth programs, which are delivering above market growth.

本季度，醋酸紗線的產量增加了約 30%，我們預計下半年將繼續成長。我們繼續嚴格執行成本管理，以生產力抵消通貨膨脹。我們加大了對成長項目的投資，這些項目的成長率高於市場成長率。

Cash flow remains a strength as we remain on track to generate $1.1 billion of free cash flow for the year. And we allocated our strong free cash flow in a disciplined manner and in line with our priorities during the first half of the year. We returned $410 million to shareholders with $250 million of share repurchases and $160 million of dividends. And we remain committed to make progress improving our ratio of net debt-to-EBITDA.

現金流依然強勁，我們今年仍有望產生 11 億美元的自由現金流。我們以嚴謹的方式分配了強勁的自由現金流，並符合上半年的優先事項。我們透過 2.5 億美元的股票回購和 1.6 億美元的股息向股東返還了 4.1 億美元。我們將繼續致力於提高淨債務與 EBITDA 的比率。

Our second quarter results demonstrate that we continue to execute on what we can control, namely innovating through our enterprise and allocating our strong free cash flow in a disciplined manner.

我們第二季的業績表明，我們將繼續執行我們能夠控制的事情，即透過我們的企業進行創新，並以規範的方式分配我們強勁的自由現金流。

On Slide 4 a key driver of success in growing our specialty businesses is our continued upgrade of our product mix. We're driving double-digit growth in our high-margin specialty products through execution of our innovation-driven growth model. Our top innovation programs in AM and AFP are accelerating as more customers validate our innovative differentiated products, which is driving growth today and into the future and improving the quality of earnings with a higher percentage coming from our specialty products.

在投影片 4 中，我們專業業務成功發展的一個關鍵驅動力是我們的產品組合不斷升級。我們透過實施創新驅動的成長模式，推動高利潤特色產品實現兩位數成長。隨著越來越多的客戶認可我們創新的差異化產品，我們在 AM 和 AFP 領域的頂級創新項目正在加速推進，這將推動當前和未來的成長，並透過更高比例的特色產品提高獲利品質。

We continue to be on track to deliver more than $350 million in new business closes this year. In fact, we saw a 25% increase in the new business close rate during the first half of 2018 year-over-year. So off to a very strong start. Here are two of the many ways we're creating our own growth, improving the quality of earnings and winning with customers. We've talked in the past about how we leverage our diverse footprint to identify disruptive macro trends that will drive growth at 2 to 3x the underlying market growth rates. We also talked about how we spent a lot of time to segment the market and carefully select the right partners to drive innovation and change.

我們今年將繼續按計劃實現超過 3.5 億美元的新業務成交。事實上，我們看到 2018 年上半年新業務成交率年增了 25%。所以開局非常強勁。以下是我們實現自身成長、提高獲利品質和贏得客戶青睞的眾多方式中的兩種。我們過去曾討論過如何利用我們多樣化的足跡來識別顛覆性的宏觀趨勢，從而推動成長達到基礎市場成長率的 2 到 3 倍。我們也談到如何花費大量時間來細分市場並精心選擇合適的合作夥伴來推動創新和變革。

The result of that, many of our core and premium products are growing faster than the market. One example that brings this approach to life in a relatively new category is our paint protection film in Advanced Materials. We've combined the technology platform from our Commonwealth acquisition with Eastman's deep capabilities in polyester and coatings and our in-depth experience in Additives & Functional films to deliver the best product in the market.

結果是，我們的許多核心產品和高端產品的成長速度都快於市場。我們的先進材料中的漆面保護膜就是將這種方法在一個相對較新的類別中付諸實踐的一個例子。我們將從 Commonwealth 收購而來的技術平台與 Eastman 在聚酯和塗料方面的深厚實力以及我們在添加劑和功能性薄膜方面的豐富經驗相結合，以提供市場上最好的產品。

We launched the next generation paint protection film that delivers a superior protective surface, which can virtually repair itself when scratched because of its product's self-healing properties plus it helps consumers car stay cleaner longer. The market response has been tremendous. Consumers love the added functionality and channel partners appreciate the opportunity to grow their business.

我們推出了下一代漆面保護膜，它具有卓越的保護表面，由於其產品的自癒特性，當漆面被刮傷時，它幾乎可以自我修復，而且它可以幫助消費者的汽車保持更長時間的清潔。市場反應非常熱烈。消費者喜歡這些新增的功能，而通路夥伴則珍惜發展業務的機會。

And to accelerate growth in the commercial front, we've expanded our LLumar and Suntek dealer network by 15% in the U.S., creating elite dealers who provide differentiated service to consumers. We also increased our focus on activating a new channel, car dealerships. To sell and install paint protection films as part of the car buying process, increasing distribution points by 30% in the U.S.

為了加速商業領域的成長，我們在美國將 LLumar 和 Suntek 經銷商網路擴大了 15%，打造了為消費者提供差異化服務的精英經銷商。我們也更加重視啟動新通路—汽車經銷商。將銷售和安裝漆面保護膜作為購車流程的一部分，在美國增加 30% 的分銷點。

Globally, the overall paint protection film category grew greater than 10% last year. And in 2018, we are on track to grow that business more than 3x at underlying market rate.

去年，全球漆面保護膜整體銷售成長超過 10%。2018 年，我們有望使該業務以基礎市場速度成長 3 倍以上。

Another example, I would highlight is crop protection as part of the Taminco acquisition. In the crop production sector, farmers want to maximize yields, which means reducing the number of plants that are falling over, making crops difficult to harvest and producing lower yields. Eastman has introduced a premium version of a growth-regulator product, which was pioneered in Europe, and has recently been launched in Canada. Our first-year sales have exceeded our expectations, we are confident of doubling those sales in Canada in 2019.

我要強調的另一個例子是作為 Taminco 收購的一部分的作物保護業務。在農作物生產領域，農民希望最大限度地提高產量，這意味著減少倒伏的植物數量，避免農作物難以收穫並降低產量。伊士曼推出了一款生長調節劑產品的高級版本，該產品率先在歐洲推出，最近已在加拿大上市。我們第一年的銷售額已經超出了我們的預期，我們有信心在 2019 年實現加拿大銷售額翻倍。

This innovative specialty product called Adjust, which will soon be introduced in the U.S. shortens the plant and strengthens the stems and allows for improved and earlier harvesting that maximizes yield. The product also allows for much broader application window compared to other products in the market today. This allows farmers apply adjust throughout the year and harvest in a timely way, especially if they focus on dual cropping systems such as Winter and Summer wheat. Both of these product launches are great examples of creating revenue synergies from our acquisitions, as we build capability in a market with compelling growth drivers where we are winning with innovation.

這款名為 Adjust 的創新特種產品即將在美國上市，它可以縮短植物長度、增強莖稈強度，從而實現更早、更好的收穫，最大限度地提高產量。與目前市場上的其他產品相比，該產品的應用窗口也更加廣泛。這使得農民可以全年進行調整並及時收穫，特別是如果他們專注於冬小麥和夏小麥等雙茬種植系統。這兩款產品的推出都是透過收購創造收入協同效應的很好的例子，因為我們在一個擁有強大成長動力的市場中建立了能力，並且我們透過創新取勝。

With that, I'll turn over to Curt.

說完這些，我將把麥克風交給 Curt。

Thanks, Mark, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with our second quarter corporate results on Slide 5.

謝謝，馬克，大家早安。我將從投影片 5 開始介紹我們的第二季公司業績。

Sales revenue grew across all segments as we did a nice job driving volume growth in our more specialty product lines. This continues to demonstrate the power of our innovation-driven growth model enabling us to deliver 2x to 3x underlying growth in the market and demonstrating we can grow around the globe with our specialties.

由於我們在推動更專業產品線的銷售成長方面做得很好，所有部門的銷售收入都實現了成長。這繼續證明了我們創新驅動型成長模式的強大力量，使我們能夠在市場上實現 2 倍到 3 倍的潛在成長，並證明我們可以憑藉我們的專業在全球範圍內實現成長。

EBIT increased as higher EBIT and Advanced Materials and Additives & Functional Products more than offset a decline in Chemical Intermediates. We are continuing to invest in growth across most of our portfolio and seeing the positive impact of those investments.

息稅前利潤 (EBIT) 增加，因為息稅前利潤和先進材料及添加劑及功能產品的增加足以抵消化學中間體的下降。我們將繼續對大部分投資組合的成長進行投資，並看到這些投資的正面影響。

Solid earnings performance during the quarter was partially offset by $20 million of planned maintenance in our Longview site as well as $25 million impact of industrial gas supplier disruptions at both our Texas City and Longview, Texas sites.

本季穩健的獲利表現被我們在朗維尤工廠的 2000 萬美元計劃維護費用以及我們位於德克薩斯州的德克薩斯城和朗維尤工廠的工業氣體供應商中斷造成的 2500 萬美元影響部分抵消。

Overall, we remain on track for strong EPS growth in 2018, reflecting growth in our specialty businesses, stabilization of fibers and the impact of our compelling free cash flow.

總體而言，我們仍有望在 2018 年實現強勁的每股收益成長，這反映了我們特種業務的成長、纖維的穩定性以及我們引人注目的自由現金流的影響。

Moving next to the segment results and starting with Advanced Materials on Slide 6, which delivered strong 10% EBIT growth in the first half of the year. For the quarter, sales revenue increased due to higher sales volume across the segment, including premium products such as Tritan copolyester, Saflex heads-up display and performance films. As well as a favorable shift in foreign currency exchange rates. EBIT increased, primarily due to higher sales volume and improved product mix as well as a favorable shift in foreign currency exchange rates, partially offset by increased investment and growth in higher raw material and energy costs. We continue to invest in this business, accelerating our growth spend in premium product lines like Tritan copolyester and our PVB resin for Saflex heads-up display and acoustics.

接下來是分部業績，從幻燈片 6 上的先進材料開始，該部門在上半年實現了 10% 的強勁息稅前利潤增長。本季度，銷售收入因整個部門的銷售量增加而增加，包括Tritan共聚酯、Saflex平視顯示器和性能薄膜等優質產品。以及外匯匯率的有利轉變。息稅前利潤有所增長，主要原因是銷售量增加、產品結構改善以及外匯匯率的有利轉變，但投資增加和原材料及能源成本上漲部分抵消了這一增長。我們將繼續投資這項業務，加速我們在高端產品線（如 Tritan 共聚酯和用於 Saflex 平視顯示器和音響系統的 PVB 樹脂）上的支出成長。

For the back half of the year, we expect underlying business performance to remain strong as Advanced Materials executes its strategy of driving mid-single digit volume growth, mix improvement and fixed cost leverage. With our strong first half results and our expectations for the back half of the year, we continue to expect earnings growth to be approaching the top end of the 7% to 10% range we communicated at our Investor Day earlier this year.

對於下半年，我們預期隨著先進材料公司實施推動中個位數銷售成長、產品組合改善和固定成本槓桿的策略，基礎業務表現將保持強勁。鑑於我們上半年的強勁業績以及對下半年的預期，我們繼續預期獲利成長將接近我們在今年稍早的投資者日上提出的 7% 至 10% 區間的上限。

Now to Additives & Functional Products on Slide 7, which had a strong second quarter and an outstanding first half of the year. Sales revenue increased, primarily due to higher sales volume across the segment, a favorable shift in foreign currency exchange rates and higher selling prices more than catching up to raws.

現在就來看看幻燈片 7 上的添加劑和功能產品，第二季表現強勁，上半年表現出色。銷售收入增加，主要由於整個部門的銷售量增加、外匯匯率的有利轉變以及銷售價格上漲超過原材料價格。

Volume growth was strong, in particular, for animal nutrition and coatings and inks attributed to both improved commercial execution and improving end markets. EBIT increased due to the higher sales volume and a favorable shift in foreign currency exchange rates, partially offset by an increased investment in growth.

銷售成長強勁，尤其是動物營養和塗料及油墨，這歸功於商業執行力的提高和終端市場的改善。息稅前利潤的成長是由於銷售額增加和外匯匯率的有利轉變，但被成長投資的增加部分抵銷。

Looking at full year 2018, our expectations remain the same as the guidance on our first quarter call. Strong volume growth across the segment well above underlying markets, driven by great commercial execution ability and innovation. However, the second half will not be as quiet as strong as the first to a few factors.

展望 2018 年全年，我們的預期與第一季電話會議的指引保持一致。由於強大的商業執行能力和創新能力，該細分市場的銷售成長強勁，遠高於基礎市場。不過，下半年不會像上半年那麼平靜，因為有幾個因素影響強勁。

In the first half of the year, a tough comp, particularly in the third quarter, due to strong solar fields for heat transfer fluids in a year ago period, increased investment in growth, both new assets and growth resources and lastly, lower industry operating rates for hydrogenated hydrocarbon resins due to a competitor capacity addition. All in, we expect AFP's EBIT growth to be in the top end of the 5% to 7% range we communicated at our Innovation Day.

今年上半年，尤其是第三季的業績表現艱難，原因是去年同期傳熱流體太陽能領域發展強勁，成長投資增加，包括新資產和成長資源，最後，由於競爭對手產能增加導致氫化烴樹脂產業開工率下降。總體而言，我們預計 AFP 的息稅前利潤成長率將達到我們在創新日上宣布的 5% 至 7% 的上限。

Now to Chemical Intermediates on Slide 8. Sales revenue increased due to higher selling prices attributed to higher raw material costs and continued improvement in competitive conditions. Sales volume was driven by improvement in asset yields across a range of markets and the means in agriculture and energy were more than offset by lower volume due to both planned and unplanned outages.

現在就來看看幻燈片 8 上的化學中間體。由於原物料成本上升和競爭條件持續改善導致銷售價格上漲，銷售收入增加。銷售量的增加得益於一系列市場資產收益率的提高，而農業和能源領域的銷售量因計劃內和計劃外停運造成的銷量下降而被抵消。

Regarding the unplanned outages, these were supply disruptions from our industrial gas suppliers at our Texas sites. Unfortunately, the length of time required to return to normal operations was longer than committed to by our suppliers and therefore, the magnitude of the impact, approximately $25 million, was larger than we expected earlier in the quarter.

至於計劃外的停電，是由於我們德克薩斯州工廠的工業氣體供應商的供應中斷造成的。不幸的是，恢復正常營運所需的時間比我們的供應商承諾的要長，因此影響程度約為 2500 萬美元，比我們在本季早些時候預期的要大。

We are now back at normal operations and happy to see these unfortunate events behind us.

我們現在已經恢復正常運營，很高興看到這些不幸的事件已經過去。

EBIT decreased in the quarter, primarily due to higher scheduled maintenance shutdown costs and the supplier disruptions, partially offset by higher selling prices and stronger volume in some derivatives.

本季息稅前利潤下降，主要原因是計劃維護停工成本增加以及供應商中斷，但部分被銷售價格上漲和部分衍生性商品交易量增加所抵銷。

Lastly, I'd like to take a moment to address our excess ethylene position. We have taken steps to significantly reduce the amount of excess ethylene we produced for both this year and next. Looking to the back half of the year, we are configuring to run our crackers at reduced rates with purchased propylene only incrementally higher to support downstream derivatives. We are maximizing the propane feed in the crackers to maximize propylene production.

最後，我想花點時間談談我們過剩乙烯的情況。我們已採取措施大幅減少今年和明年生產的過剩乙烯數量。展望下半年，我們將以較低的速率運行裂解裝置，並逐步提高購買丙烯的量以支持下游衍生產品。我們正在最大限度地增加裂解裝置中的丙烷進料，以最大限度地提高丙烯產量。

I'll remind you that our crackers are unique in their design to make as much propylene as possible. This configuration includes leveraging a higher-level of propylene inventory accumulated through the second quarter. We're also leveraging our storage capabilities for ethylene. As a result, our ethylene spot sales will be limited in the second half of the year.

我要提醒您的是，我們的餅乾設計獨特，可以生產盡可能多的丙烯。這種配置包括利用第二季度累積的更高水準的丙烯庫存。我們也利用我們的乙烯儲存能力。因此，下半年我們的乙烯現貨銷售將受到限制。

In 2019, we are making a modest investment in our cracker flexibility to include refinery grade propylene in our feedstock fleet. This enhancement will enable us to ramp up our polymer-grade propylene production, while dramatically reducing both our ethylene production as well as our propane purchases, which minimizes Eastman's exposure to spot ethylene sales. I would also note that this project retains our flexibility to operate under normal operating conditions when market conditions improve.

2019 年，我們將對裂解裝置的靈活性進行適度投資，將煉油級丙烯納入我們的原料系列。此次改進將使我們能夠提高聚合級丙烯的產量，同時大幅減少乙烯產量和丙烷採購量，從而最大限度地減少伊士曼對現貨乙烯銷售的曝險。我還要指出的是，當市場條件改善時，該專案保留了我們在正常營運條件下營運的靈活性。

For the remainder of this year and next, spot ethylene price risk is not expected to have a material impact on our earnings.

在今年剩餘時間和明年，現貨乙烯價格風險預計不會對我們的獲利產生重大影響。

So now looking at full year for the segment, we expect EBIT in the second half to be similar to the first half as the cost from outages do not repeat in the second half, partially offset by normal seasonality, particularly in the fourth quarter and then, less ethylene volume being sold.

因此，現在來看該部門的全年業績，我們預計下半年的息稅前利潤將與上半年相似，因為停產造成的成本在下半年不會重複，部分被正常的季節性因素所抵消，特別是在第四季度，而且乙烯銷量減少。

I'll finish up the segment review of fibers on Slide 9 where results were in line with our expectations. Sales revenue increased due to the sale of nonwoven products previously reported in other, higher sales volume for acetate tow, primarily attributed to customer buying patterns and continued growth in our textiles innovation platform.

我將在第 9 張投影片上完成對纖維的細分回顧，其結果符合我們的預期。銷售收入的成長是由於先前報告的其他不織布產品的銷售增加，醋酸絲束的銷售量增加，這主要歸因於客戶的購買模式和我們紡織品創新平台的持續成長。

EBIT increased slightly due to higher sales volume and earnings from nonwovens innovation platform products, mostly offset by lower selling prices, particularly for acetate tow and an increased investment in growth, including cost previously reported in other.

息稅前利潤 (EBIT) 略有增長，原因是非織造布創新平台產品的銷售和收益增加，但大部分被較低的銷售價格（特別是醋酸絲束）和增長投資增加（包括先前在其他部分報告的成本）所抵消。

As was mentioned earlier, we are making excellent progress on our growth initiatives, which is a significant contributor to stabilizing this business.

如同前面所提到的，我們的成長計畫取得了巨大進展，這對穩定業務有著重要意義。

Looking at the full year, we expect EBIT to be stable compared to last year. Acetate tow volume is expected to be stable for the year. The impact of our productivity gains will continue to flow-through and the progress of our growth initiatives will contribute to earnings stability. Of course, we had a tough comp in the third quarter due to customer buying patterns last year, but sequentially, we expect third quarter to be about the same as second and the full year, we expect EBIT to be about the same as the prior year.

縱觀全年，我們預計息稅前利潤將與去年相比保持穩定。預計全年醋酸絲束產量將保持穩定。我們的生產力提高的影響將繼續顯現，而我們成長計劃的進展將有助於獲利穩定。當然，由於去年客戶的購買模式，我們在第三季的業績表現並不理想，但按季度來看，我們預計第三季的業績將與第二季大致相同，而全年的息稅前利潤將與去年大致相同。

On Slide 10, I'll transition to an overview of our cash flow and other financial highlights for second quarter. We continue to do an excellent job of generating cash with first 6 months operating cash flow of $408 million. Capital expenditures for the first half of 2018 totaled $244 million. We continue to expect our full year capital expenditures to be approximately $550 million.

在第 10 張投影片上，我將概述第二季的現金流量和其他財務亮點。我們繼續出色地完成現金創造工作，前六個月的營運現金流達到 4.08 億美元。2018年上半年資本支出總計2.44億美元。我們繼續預計全年資本支出約為 5.5 億美元。

And we remain confident in our ability to generate $1.1 billion of free cash flow for the year. Looking at the balance sheet, we continue to expect to use $300 million of our free cash flow to reduce debt this year, which we expect will occur in the second half of the year. Additionally, we remain committed to returning cash to stockholders. Through the first 6 months, we returned $410 million through $160 million in dividends and $250 million in share repurchases. We expect our full year tax rate to be approximately 18% at the bottom of our previous range, reflecting the continued benefits of our improved business operations and resulting impact of expected tax events.

我們仍然有信心在今年創造 11 億美元的自由現金流。從資產負債表來看，我們預計今年仍將使用 3 億美元的自由現金流來減少債務，預計今年下半年將實現。此外，我們仍致力於向股東返還現金。在前 6 個月，我們透過 1.6 億美元的股息和 2.5 億美元的股票回購返還了 4.1 億美元。我們預計全年稅率將在先前範圍的底部約為 18%，這反映了我們改善的業務運營帶來的持續利益以及預期稅收事件的影響。

As a whole, our first half results gives us confidence that we are on track with our strategy.

總體而言，上半年的業績讓我們相信我們的策略正在順利實施。

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

說完這些，我就把話題轉回給馬克。

Thanks, Curt. On Slide 11, I'll discuss our 2018 outlook, which is consistent with what we told you before.

謝謝，Curt。在第 11 張投影片上，我將討論我們 2018 年的展望，這與我們之前告訴您的一致。

As you've seen from the strong volume growth in our specialty segments in the first half of the year, continued benefit from the high-value innovative products with leading positions in attractive niche markets. We're also delivering revenue synergies of our acquired businesses through improvements in our commercial execution capabilities and leveraging our combined technical capabilities to accelerate new product introductions.

正如您從我們上半年專業領域的強勁銷售成長中所看到的，我們繼續受益於在有吸引力的利基市場中佔據領先地位的高價值創新產品。我們也透過提升商業執行能力並利用綜合技術能力來加速新產品的推出，實現所收購業務的收入綜效。

Our continued aggressive productivity is expected to more than offset inflation and we are investing a portion of that savings in our growth initiatives. Our refinery-grade propylene investment to improve our cracker flexibility significantly reduces our exposure to ethylene price risk, while keeping the upside available. And the improvement in our tax rate is also contributing to growth.

我們持續積極的生產力預計將足以抵消通貨膨脹，而且我們將把部分儲蓄投資於我們的成長計畫。我們對煉油級丙烯的投資提高了我們的裂解裝置靈活性，顯著降低了我們面臨的乙烯價格風險，同時保持了上行空間。而且稅率的提高也促進了成長。

Finally, disciplined capital allocation has allowed us to accelerate our share repurchase program in 2018 compared with 2017.

最後，與 2017 年相比，嚴格的資本配置使我們能夠加快 2018 年的股票回購計畫。

Putting this all together, our expectations for EPS growth remain the same at 10% to 14% compared with 2017 and will likely be in the middle of this range. Our underlying performance is strong as we focus on the things that we can control, and as Curt noted, third quarter is a tough comp to last year.

綜合以上所有因素，我們對每股盈餘成長的預期與 2017 年相比保持不變，為 10% 至 14%，並且可能處於這個範圍的中間。由於我們專注於我們能夠控制的事情，因此我們的基本表現強勁，正如 Curt 指出的那樣，第三季度與去年同期相比較為艱難。

One sensitivity is trade and the tariffs that could be implemented by the U.S. and China in the coming months. At this point, we see no exposure to any of the U.S. tariffs that have been implemented or proposed, which highlights another benefit of our vertical integration for most of our raw materials. Regarding the proposed China tariffs, we see some modest but manageable exposure with our mitigating actions. When we consider this potential impact, we expect to be safely in the range of our guidance.

一個敏感問題是貿易以及美國和中國在未來幾個月可能實施的關稅。目前，我們沒有發現任何已實施或提議的美國關稅的影響，這凸顯了我們對大多數原材料進行垂直整合的另一個好處。對於擬議的中國關稅，我們認為透過採取緩解措施，其影響將很小，但可以控制。當我們考慮到這種潛在影響時，我們預計將安全地處於我們的指導範圍內。

Lastly, we remain committed to our $1.1 billion of free cash flow target, which is one of the strongest in the industry.

最後，我們仍然致力於實現 11 億美元的自由現金流目標，這是業界最強勁的目標之一。

On Slide 12, I'll summarize where we are. As you think about our portfolio, we continue to march down the path to make 2 specialty businesses a much bigger percentage of the total with our goal of driving from 70% towards 80%, and we are making great progress in stabilizing fibers and reducing volatility in CI.

在第 12 張投影片上，我將總結我們的現況。當您考慮我們的產品組合時，我們將繼續努力使 2 個特種業務佔總業務的更大比例，我們的目標是從 70% 提高到 80%，並且我們在穩定纖維和降低 CI 波動性方面取得了巨大進展。

This all comes together for a terrific bottom line, we can grow faster than the underlying market. We can sustain and improve our margins through mix upgrade. We do this through our unique innovation-driven growth model, which is at the heart of how we win. We also do this for scale and integration and investing in the unique capabilities we have in place to drive it.

所有這些結合在一起，形成了一個極好的底線，我們可以比基礎市場成長得更快。我們可以透過組合升級來維持和提高我們的利潤率。我們透過獨特的創新驅動成長模式來實現這一目標，這也是我們取勝的核心。我們這樣做也是為了擴大規模和整合，並投資於我們現有的獨特能力來推動它。

And finally, through our disciplined portfolio management that leads you to one of the strongest free cash flows in the industry and a strong return on invested capital that is growing and a compelling compound and EPS growth rate through 2020 and beyond. When you put this all together, we are well positioned for long-term attractive earnings growth, sustainable value creation for our owners.

最後，透過我們嚴謹的投資組合管理，您將獲得業內最強勁的自由現金流之一、不斷增長的強勁投資資本回報率以及 2020 年及以後令人信服的複合增長率和每股收益增長率。綜合考慮以上所有因素，我們就能為股東實現長期可觀的獲利成長和可持續的價值創造。

With that, I'll turn it back to Greg.

說完這些，我就把話題轉回給格雷格。

Thank you, Mark. As usual we've got a number of people on the line this morning, and we'd really like to get to as many questions as possible. (Operator Instructions) And Margarita, with that we are ready for questions.

謝謝你，馬克。像往常一樣，今天早上我們有很多人在線，我們非常希望回答盡可能多的問題。（操作員指示）瑪格麗塔，我們已經準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) We can now take our first question from Vincent Andrews from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指示）現在我們可以回答摩根士丹利的 Vincent Andrews 提出的第一個問題。

Just curious on the adhesives competitive activity, just if you have any more visibility into that yet. I know these plant startups can move around and what have you, but is it proceeding as anticipated?

我只是對黏合劑的競爭活動感到好奇，想知道您是否對此有更多的了解。我知道這些工廠的新創公司可以四處搬遷，但它是否按預期進行？

We -- the plant that was completed by our competitor effectively came online towards the end of the second half -- first half of the year, so it served reasonably. So we are expecting some impact there as they bring that capacity online. But I would remind you that while they added a lot of capacity, demand growth has been incredibly strong in this business. The underlying market is 5% to 7%. There is a lot of pent-up demand because the market was -- capacity wasn't available. So we're seeing sort of the leap in demand just because there was the need to use this product and then rosin to resin conversions accelerating as the market is looking for an odor-free, water-white kind of adhesive, which you can't get with rosins. So it's important to keep in mind the rosin market is as big as the resin market. So all those things combine together to give us confidence that demand will fill as pointed out relatively quickly. But there are some limitations on how we can manage the price upward right now relative to an increasing raw material environment with oil increasing but overall, it's actually playing out as we expected.

我們競爭對手建成的工廠實際上在下半年末（上半年）就投入運作了，因此服務效果還不錯。因此，我們預計，當他們將該產能上線時，會產生一些影響。但我要提醒大家，雖然他們增加了大量產能，但該產業的需求成長卻異常強勁。基礎市場為5%至7%。由於市場產能不足，有大量被壓抑的需求。因此，我們看到需求的飛躍，只是因為需要使用這種產品，然後松香到樹脂的轉化正在加速，因為市場正在尋找一種無味、水白色的黏合劑，而這是松香無法獲得的。因此，務必記住松香市場與樹脂市場一樣大。因此，所有這些因素結合在一起，讓我們有信心，正如所指出的那樣，需求將會相對快速地得到滿足。但相對於石油價格上漲等原物料價格上漲的環境，我們目前在如何控制價格上漲方面存在一些限制，但總體而言，情況實際上正如我們預期的那樣。

Okay. Great. And then Curt, if I can just ask you on the free cash flow, just looking at the cash flow statement, and I kind of recall this either happened last year or 2016, I can't remember, but your cash flow from operations is actually a bit lower this year versus last year and it looks like from working capital receivables, inventories, but -- so one, sort of why is that happening? And then two, remind us of the mechanism of how you make that up in the second half of the year, is it just seasonality or what's going on?

好的。偉大的。然後，Curt，如果我可以問您關於自由現金流的問題，只需查看現金流量表，我記得這發生在去年或 2016 年，我不記得了，但今年的經營現金流實際上比去年要低一點，看起來像是來自營運資本應收賬款、存貨，但是 - 那麼，為什麼會發生這種情況？然後第二，提醒我們下半年如何彌補這個缺陷的機制，這只是季節性因素還是發生了什麼？

Sure, Vince. No problem. Yes, it's normal for our seasonal increase in working capital in the first half of '18. It's probably a little more dramatic this year than last year just because of the rising raw material environment as well as (inaudible) to stronger sales, which is a good problem to have by the way. So as you think about those stronger sales and higher input cost flowing to the system that did have a kind of a net negative impact on our free cash flow first half of the year as well as some lingering negative impact from the coal operational incident in the first half for this year. So if you think about the trend in the second half of the year, cash flows will be expected to improve. One is, you expect working capital needs will reverse, especially in the fourth quarter. The net proceeds from the insurance from the operational incident, we do expect some of that more in the second half whereas the cost of putting much now behind us. And also don't forget, we expect a reduction of capital expenditures of $100 million for the year. You only saw $30 million of that in the first half of the year. But you'll see a $70 million impact of reduced capital expenditures in the second half of the year on a year-over-year basis. So again, we remain on track to generate $1.1 billion of free cash flow in 2018, continuing to demonstrate the quality of the portfolio and our capabilities. There has been no material change in our free cash flow goals and we are excited about what we can deliver.

當然，文斯。沒問題。是的，2018 年上半年我們的營運資金季節性增加是正常的。今年的情況可能比去年更嚴重一些，因為原材料環境上漲，而且（聽不清楚）銷售額增加，順便說一句，這是個好問題。因此，當您考慮那些更強勁的銷售和流入系統的更高的投入成本時，這確實對我們今年上半年的自由現金流產生了某種淨負面影響，以及今年上半年煤炭運營事件的一些揮之不去的負面影響。因此，如果考慮下半年的趨勢，現金流預計會有所改善。一是，你預計營運資金需求將會逆轉，尤其是在第四季。我們確實預計下半年會有更多來自營運事故保險的淨收益，而現在我們已經把大部分成本拋在腦後了。另外別忘了，我們預計今年的資本支出將減少 1 億美元。今年上半年只看到了 3000 萬美元。但你會看到，與去年同期相比，今年下半年資本支出減少將帶來 7,000 萬美元的影響。因此，我們仍有望在 2018 年產生 11 億美元的自由現金流，繼續展示投資組合的品質和我們的能力。我們的自由現金流目標沒有重大變化，我們對能夠實現的目標感到興奮。

And just to be clear, that was $1.1 billion?

要先明確的是，這個數字是 11 億美元嗎？

Yes, to be clear, $1.1 billion of free cash flow. Sorry for the slip.

是的，確切地說，是 11 億美元的自由現金流。抱歉，我失誤了。

We can now take our next question from David Begleiter from Deutsche Bank.

現在我們可以回答德意志銀行的 David Begleiter 提出的下一個問題。

Mark, since you last gave guidance back in April, FX and spot ethylene margins have gotten worse. So could you tell us in terms of your second half guidance and expectations, what's the negative impact -- or the impact of the deterioration in both those metrics since your last guidance?

馬克，自從您四月份上次給出指導以來，外匯和現貨乙烯利潤率已經變得更糟。那麼，您能否就下半年的指導和預期告訴我們，自上次指導以來，這兩個指標的惡化帶來了哪些負面影響？

Thanks, David. So first of all, I think, we're on track for tremendous earnings growth for the year, 10% to 14%, middle of that range is great results, improvement in tax to help a bit as well in the back half. So we feel great about what we're doing on earnings growth. And the second half is a bit different than the first half. As you noted, with ethylene, the prices of ethylene are quite low right now, and we've made all these investments and changes to avoid basically participate in that spot market and not incur those negative margins. So that's actually quite helpful but of course, you have less volume you are selling relative to last year. So that's a change from where we were in April. When you think about the specialty businesses, very much on track, consistent with everything we said. We see strong volume and variable margin growth. Some of that is tamped down a bit by the growth investments we're making that are accelerating as we go through the year. So that weighs a bit more on margins in the back half versus the first half. So you see a bit of that dynamic going on but overall, it feels like we are very much on track and that ethylene headwind is not as material among that.

謝謝，大衛。首先，我認為，我們今年的獲利將大幅成長，10% 至 14%，這個範圍的中間值已經很不錯了，稅收的改善也會對下半年的業績有一定幫助。因此，我們對獲利成長所做的努力感到非常滿意。下半場與上半場略有不同。正如您所說，乙烯的價格目前相當低，我們進行了所有這些投資和變革，基本上是為了避免參與現貨市場，避免產生負利潤。這實際上非常有幫助，但當然，與去年相比，您的銷售量有所減少。這與四月份的情況相比有所變化。當你考慮專業業務時，一切都非常順利，與我們所說的一切一致。我們看到了強勁的銷售量和可變利潤成長。隨著我們一年來不斷加速的成長投資，部分原因在於這種下降趨勢有所緩解。因此，與上半年相比，這對下半年的利潤影響更大一些。因此，您會看到一些動態正在發生，但總體而言，感覺我們正處於正軌上，並且乙烯逆風並不那麼重要。

And David, on the currency, you think about us, that's predominantly the euro. The currency was a tailwind for first half year-over-year, but we see rates, if they stand where they are now, it is neither a headwind or a tailwind for the second half of the year on a year-over-year basis.

大衛，關於貨幣，您想想我們，主要使用的貨幣是歐元。與去年同期相比，上半年貨幣表現為順風，但我們看到，如果利率維持在目前的水平，那麼與去年同期相比，下半年既不是逆風也不是順風。

Understood. And Mark, just on Advanced Materials, you didn't get any pricing in Q2. So what do you stand in that segment price versus raws?

明白了。馬克，就先進材料而言，您在第二季度沒有獲得任何定價。那麼，您對該細分市場的價格與原始價格持什麼態度呢？

And so, first of all, Advanced Materials had a great first half of the year with 10% earnings growth and very much on strategy. We've told you all along that our focus in this business is driving volume and mix upgrade every year consistently for many years now and we've demonstrated another strong performance on that front. So as you look at the margins, you have margins actually improving as that mix upgrade delivers value year-over-year and sequentially. That's then been offset by increased growth spend. And just a step back to the corporate level for a second, we've told you that we're increasing our growth spend between the new operating assets we're bringing online like Tritan and our PVB assets in AM as well as our Crystex plant and ketones expansion in AFP. So overall, we're at the high end of that range of about $50 million of growth spend for the company on an annual basis. That actually divides out across the segments roughly $25 million in AM, $20 million in AFP and about $5 million in fibers of additional spend. So when you take that sort of $25 million and realize it is ramping up, so not much of that was in the first quarter, but it is ramping up in the third through fourth. The margins of mix improvement that we delivered year-over-year and sequentially were offset by about 100 basis points of higher growth spend in the second quarter. So that sort of nets each other out and the great thing about that as it turns into fixed cost leverage as you move forward. So we don't expect the same step up in growth investments next year across the company that you are seeing this year, there will be some carryover from this year, of course, but there is no big next step in terms of growth margin lever. So that sort of deals with some of the margin story. On the actual pricing side of the equation, David, we had a great success in increasing prices with raw materials on the polyester side of the equation and are doing just fine. The spreads are holding in quite well. The place where we offset that is, as we discussed at Innovation Day, we intentionally had some price concessions in the interlayer business in the annual contract negotiations last fall to achieve significantly improved mix on our heads-up display and acoustic sales that are much higher margins than our standard. So while we gave up some price, we gained significantly on the mix and earnings as a result of that which is consistent with our strategy. So everything in AM is playing out exactly as we intended, driving a lot of earnings growth from both the first half of the year, on a full year basis, being at the high end of our guidance range is very attractive growth.

首先，先進材料今年上半年表現優異，獲利成長 10%，且策略執行得非常好。我們一直告訴大家，多年來，我們在這個業務上的重點是每年持續推動銷售和產品組合升級，我們在這方面再次表現出色。因此，當您查看利潤率時，您會發現利潤率實際上正在提高，因為組合升級逐年和連續地帶來價值。但這一增長被增加的成長支出所抵消。回到公司層面，我們已經告訴您，我們正在增加我們在新營運資產（如 Tritan 和 AM 中的 PVB 資產）以及 Crystex 工廠和 AFP 中的酮類擴張方面的成長支出。因此，總體而言，我們每年為公司增加的支出約為 5,000 萬美元，處於該範圍的高端。這實際上在各個部門中分配了大約 2500 萬美元的 AM 支出、2000 萬美元的 AFP 支出和大約 500 萬美元的光纖額外支出。因此，當你拿到這 2500 萬美元並意識到它正在增加時，你會發現其中大部分不是在第一季度，而是在第三季度到第四季度增加。我們年比和季比實現的組合改善利潤率被第二季度約 100 個基點的更高成長支出所抵消。因此，這種淨額結算方式的好處在於，隨著你的前進，它變成了固定成本槓桿。因此，我們並不期望明年整個公司在成長投資方面出現與今年相同的成長，當然會有一些今年的結轉，但就成長利潤率槓桿而言，不會有大的下一步。這在某種程度上與利潤率有關。就實際定價而言，大衛，我們在提高聚酯原材料價格方面取得了巨大成功，而且做得很好。利差保持得相當好。我們彌補這一損失的地方是，正如我們在創新日所討論的那樣，我們在去年秋季的年度合約談判中有意在夾層業務上做出一些價格優惠，以顯著改善我們的平視顯示器和聲學銷售組合，使其利潤率遠高於我們的標準。因此，雖然我們放棄了一些價格，但我們在組合和收益方面獲得了顯著成長，這與我們的策略是一致的。因此，AM 中的一切都按照我們的預期進行，無論是上半年還是全年，都推動了盈利的大幅增長，處於我們指導範圍的高端，這是非常有吸引力的增長。

We can now take our next question from Jeff Zekauskas from JPMorgan.

現在我們可以回答摩根大通的 Jeff Zekauskas 提出的下一個問題。

In your commentary, I think, you said that because of some supplier difficulties that costed $25 million and maybe there is another $25 million from turnaround. So basically, are you saying that you would have earned $50 million more in the second quarter if you hadn't had these events? And maybe you can place that in context, in other words, what's the normal maintenance spending or the normal outage costs such that we can gauge whether this is an normal event for Eastman or this is above average?

我認為，在您的評論中，您說過由於一些供應商的困難，損失了 2500 萬美元，也許還需要 2500 萬美元的周轉費用。那麼，您基本上是說，如果沒有發生這些事件，您在第二季將多賺 5000 萬美元嗎？也許您可以將其放在上下文中，換句話說，正常的維護支出或正常的停機成本是多少，以便我們可以判斷這對 Eastman 來說是正常事件還是高於平均水平？

Sure. So to answer your question, if you take second quarter by itself, that's a supplier disruption, which cost us about $25 million and the maintenance spend was $20 million. So if you didn't have both of those events, yes, our earnings would have been up $45 million. But normally, if you look at total maintenance for the year, for this year compared to last year, it's about the same. So this is more about timing within the year and so that's why it was more of $20 million in the second quarter. Greg, do you want to add some?

當然。所以回答你的問題，如果單獨考慮第二季度，那就是供應商中斷，這給我們造成了約 2500 萬美元的損失，維護費用為 2000 萬美元。所以，如果沒有發生這兩件事，我們的收入就會增加 4,500 萬美元。但通常情況下，如果你看一下全年的總維護費用，今年與去年相比，大致相同。所以這更多的是關於年內的時間安排，這就是為什麼第二季的金額超過 2000 萬美元。格雷格，你想添加一些嗎？

Just from a plant maintenance standpoint, it was about the same. The prior disruption was certainly in addition to what would be normal for the year.

僅從工廠維護的角度來看，情況大致相同。先前的混亂肯定是今年正常情況之外的。

Correct.

正確的。

Okay. For my follow up, the conceptualization of Eastman by management is that the quality of the business is getting better, but there really hasn't been any material change in the overall gross margin of Eastman. Is your idea that the quality of the business is going to be better in that your gross margins are going to rise to, I don't know, 30% instead of 25% or is the idea that the natural rate of volume growth will be faster because of the new initiatives you have though there isn't really much margin difference.

好的。我的後續觀察是，管理階層對伊士曼的概念是業務品質正在變好，但伊士曼的整體毛利率實際上並沒有任何實質變化。您是否認為業務品質將會變得更好，因為您的毛利率將會上升到，我不知道，30％而不是25％，或者您是否認為由於您採取了新舉措，自然銷量增長率將會更快，儘管利潤率差異實際上並不大。

So Jeff, the idea is very much that the gross margins are going to get better and certainly, if you exclude the operational outages, I'm just going to make this on a full year basis, Jeff, if you exclude the operational outages that we've incurred and think about that $50 million of growth spend that we're investing for future growth this year, the gross margins this year are quite better. And so as you move into next year, you're going to see that happen because obviously, we don't intend to have the same operational problems as well as this fixed cost doesn't step up again next year so the variable margin growth creates leverage, fix gross margins will improve. So there is every intention of those gross margins getting better as we move forward.

所以傑夫，我的想法是毛利率會變得更好，當然，如果你排除運營中斷，我只是在全年的基礎上做出這個決定，傑夫，如果你排除我們已經發生的運營中斷，想想我們今年為未來增長投資的 5000 萬美元增長支出，今年的毛利率會相當好。因此，當你進入明年時，你會看到這種情況發生，因為顯然，我們不想遇到同樣的營運問題，而且這個固定成本明年不會再次增加，因此可變利潤率的增長創造了槓桿作用，固定毛利率將會提高。因此，隨著我們不斷前進，毛利率肯定會越來越高。

If I could add, Jeff, 2 things. Yes, we do expect the net volume growth better than market because of the innovation program. I'd also remind you because it worked the opposite way as input cost came down so did revenue. In the future, revenue is going to go up and that's by nature even as we grow gross margin dollars, the fixed percentage can move around a little bit on it just because of that inflationary pressure. We really look at it as a -- gross margin as a per unit basis and we're seeing good growth in that per unit basis.

傑夫，如果我可以補充的話，有兩件事。是的，由於創新計劃，我們確實預期淨銷售成長將優於市場。我還要提醒你，因為當投入成本下降時，收入也會下降，所以它的作用方式是相反的。未來，收入將會上升，這是自然的，即使我們的毛利率增加，由於通膨壓力，固定百分比也會略有波動。我們確實將其視為單位毛利率，並且我們看到單位毛利率正在良好增長。

We can now take our next question Aleksey Yefremov from the Nomura Instinet.

現在我們可以回答野村證券的阿列克謝·葉夫列莫夫 (Aleksey Yefremov) 的下一個問題。

Could you give us an update on your Crystex technology project? Where does it stand currently?

您能向我們介紹一下 Crystex 技術專案的最新進展嗎？目前情況如何？

Sure. So Crystex is online, producing inspect material with our new Cure and Cure Pro products that provide far superior performance to what's available in the marketplace from anyone, including our own historical technology. Much better thermal stability, much better dispersion, customers are verifying and validating significant improvement in their manufacturing efficiency using the product. So we feel great about the program.

當然。因此，Crystex 在線上使用我們的新 Cure 和 Cure Pro 產品生產檢查材料，這些產品的性能遠遠優於市場上任何人提供的產品，包括我們自己的歷史技術。熱穩定性更好，分散性更好，客戶正在驗證並確認使用產品後其生產效率顯著提高。所以我們對這個計劃感到非常滿意。

Thank you, Mark. And then just to follow-up on your comment on refinery-grade propylene. What are you actually doing there? Are you adding capacity to convert refinery grade to chemical grade? Is it some new capability that you are adding? And can you just explain what's happening there?

謝謝你，馬克。然後只是想跟進您對煉油級丙烯的評論。你到底在那裡做什麼？您是否正在增加將煉油級轉化為化學級的產能？這是您要新增的一些新功能嗎？你能解釋一下那裡發生了什麼事嗎？

Sure. So it's been enabled by the shutdown we just completed. So we are modifying the front-end of our cracker and refining capability on the front-end to be able to add RGP to the mix instead of just using ethane and propane. And the great thing about the story is, we had to make some large capital investments as all of you know, in our 2 smaller crackers for safety reasons, and this was the second cracker that we just finished modifying. It made available equipment that was being used historically now not needed and we can modify that equipment to now be the refining capability for our GP to include it in the mix. So it's a modest capital investment that normally would have cost us significantly more amount of capital, taking a lot longer time to do, but now we can do it quickly and have it online by the end of the year. So it's a great flexibility. So now we can move some of our exposure to an RGP, PGP spread, which is much more stable than where olefin prices and propane have been, reduce the ethylene dramatically that we produce, which we've never wanted to make. You have to remember, our entire strategy is based on making propylene and specialty propylene derivatives. So it sort of gives us the flexibility to be out of that market and -- but it's very flexible to switch back so we can move back towards ethylene if the prices get attractive. And as you look at it, when the ethylene export capacity comes online in 2020, it probably will be attractive, again.

當然。因此它已通過我們剛剛完成的關閉啟用。因此，我們正在改造裂解裝置的前端和前端的精煉能力，以便能夠將 RGP 添加到混合物中，而不僅僅是使用乙烷和丙烷。這個故事最棒的地方在於，正如大家所知，出於安全原因，我們必須對我們的 2 個較小的裂解裝置進行一些大型資本投資，這是我們剛完成改造的第二座裂解裝置。它使以前使用的設備現在不再需要，我們可以修改該設備，使其成為我們 GP 的精煉能力，將其納入組合中。因此，這是一項適度的資本投資，通常會花費我們更多的資金，花費更長的時間，但現在我們可以快速完成並在年底前上線。所以這是一種很大的靈活性。因此，現在我們可以將部分風險敞口轉移到 RGP、PGP 價差，這比烯烴價格和丙烷的價差要穩定得多，從而大幅減少我們生產的乙烯，而這是我們從未想過要生產的。你必須記住，我們的整個策略是基於生產丙烯和特種丙烯衍生物。因此，這在某種程度上為我們提供了退出該市場的靈活性，但是如果價格具有吸引力，我們也可以非常靈活地切換回來，以便重新轉向乙烯市場。正如您所看到的，當 2020 年乙烯出口能力投入使用時，它可能會再次具有吸引力。

The next question comes from P.J. Juvekar from Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 P.J. Juvekar。

Mark, as ethylene prices fell, you're taking some downtime at the crackers, you are investing in CapEx to change your feedstocks. How does it impact your sale process of the crackers? And have you thought about shutting down the smallest cracker?

馬克，隨著乙烯價格下跌，你們正在暫停裂解裝置的生產，並投資資本支出來更換原料。它對你們的餅乾銷售過程有何影響？您是否考慮過關閉最小的餅乾製造商？

I'll start with sale process, P.J. this is Curt. Just a reminder again, I want to reemphasize what Mark has already said, our crackers are still good reliable assets that create that competitive advantage for high-value propylene derivatives by leveraging shale gas. And so the primary objective of our recent efforts was to monetize our excess ethylene position and then potentially certain ethylene derivatives to eliminate the earnings volatility that came from those products. Over the past few years, we've engaged with multiple parties on a variety of options to sell or otherwise monetize this excess ethylene. However, current market conditions combined with the current geopolitical environment on trade has made it very difficult to move forward at this time. Until conditions improve, we've taken these steps then to such that spot ethylene prices will not have a material impact on our earnings for the remainder of this year and going into 2019.

我將從銷售流程開始，P.J. 我是 Curt。再次提醒一下，我想重申馬克已經說過的話，我們的裂解裝置仍然是可靠的資產，利用頁岩氣為高價值丙烯衍生物創造競爭優勢。因此，我們最近努力的主要目標是將過剩的乙烯部位貨幣化，然後將某些乙烯衍生物貨幣化，以消除這些產品帶來的獲利波動。在過去幾年裡，我們與多方合作，探討了多種出售或以其他方式將這些過剩乙烯貨幣化的方案。然而，目前的市場狀況加上目前的貿易地緣政治環境使得目前的進展非常困難。在情況改善之前，我們採取了這些措施，以確保現貨乙烯價格不會對我們今年剩餘時間和 2019 年的收益產生重大影響。

And to answer your question on the crackers, we are shifting the mix hard. We are going to reduce rates on the crackers until this investment is in place for next year, because we accumulated so much propylene inventory and have some storage available for ethylene, we're able to mitigate the need to buy much additional propylene than normal, which is great even though we are reducing the cracker run rates and avoid selling ethylene in the market at these prices.

回答您關於餅乾的問題，我們正在大力改變混合物。在明年這項投資到位之前，我們將降低裂解裝置的運行率，因為我們積累瞭如此多的丙烯庫存，並且有一些乙烯儲存空間，我們能夠減輕購買比正常情況下更多的丙烯的需要，這很好，儘管我們正在降低裂解裝置的運行率，避免以這些價格在市場上銷售乙烯。

And just as a follow-up, in Advanced Materials, you got nice 9% volume growth, but pricing seems to have lagged for last couple of quarters. You talked about pricing reduction in heads-up display products. What's going on with pricing in Tritan and Saflex and other products in that segment?

另外，作為後續報道，先進材料業務的銷量取得了 9% 的良好增長，但定價似乎在過去幾個季度中有所滯後。您談到了平視顯示器產品的價格降低。Tritan、Saflex 和該領域其他產品的定價情況如何？

As I mentioned earlier, we're managing a complex mix there, right. So mix improved dramatically as it has for years now, improving margins in that segment. We have offset that with about 100 basis points increase in growth investments. So those sort of net out and prices didn't increase. What I said is, they increased across the polyester spectrum so we are increasing prices there and keeping up with raws. No issue there, doing a great job by the commercial teams there. But we did intentionally reduce prices on the interlayer products. So that's what it netted out.

正如我之前提到的，我們正在管理一個複雜的組合，對吧。因此，產品組合多年來得到了顯著改善，從而提高了該領域的利潤率。我們透過增加約 100 個基點的成長投資來抵消這一影響。因此，這些淨支出和價格並沒有上漲。我說的是，聚酯纖維系列的價格上漲了，所以我們也提高了那裡的價格，並跟上了原料的價格。那裡沒有問題，那裡的商業團隊做得很好。但我們確實有意降低了夾層產品的價格。這就是它的淨收益。

We can now take our next question from Arun Viswanathan from RBC.

現在我們可以回答來自 RBC 的 Arun Viswanathan 提出的下一個問題。

Just curious on the outlook here. You have a slightly lower tax rate. I guess that's on our math around $0.35 or so. You're still guiding to the midpoint of the range. So I guess, would you characterize potentially some of the swing factors may be for us. I guess, is it mainly FX and then, I guess, some raw material headwinds? Or how would you kind of look at that?

只是對這裡的前景感到好奇。你們的稅率稍微低一點。我猜根據我們的計算大約是 0.35 美元左右。您仍在引導至範圍的中點。所以我想，您能否描述一下可能對我們產生影響的一些因素。我猜，主要是外匯因素，然後，我想，還有一些原料的不利因素？或者您會如何看待這一點？

So, just to clarify, you're asking about the outlook for the second half of the year on those factors and how it impacts it?

因此，只是為了澄清一下，您詢問的是這些因素對下半年的前景以及它對其有何影響？

Yes.

是的。

So from a second half year point of view, first of all, it starts with the tough comp. So last year, we had incredibly strong volume in some areas of the company. The solar fields that we mentioned to you and the higher share gain we got in the last -- in the second half of last year due to environmental enforcement in AFP as well as, as we noted, the customer buying patterns being a bit high in the third quarter last year in tow which won't repeat this year and then of course, we are not selling ethylene. We sold a bunch of ethylene last year at some large end and this year we are not selling it. So those all create a tough comp relative to last year. That's the largest difference year-over-year. Second is, you've got the higher growth spend this year that's been accelerating through the first half of the year and continues into next -- into the second half. And then you have some margin coming off in adhesives as we have discussed a few moments ago. So those all sort of play into to why the second half doesn't grow as fast as the first half. And as Curt noted, currency is in the tailwind. So they're all dynamics, they don't give us any concerns. We still feel we are on track to deliver very strong growth this year and well positioned to grow into next year. You got to remember the operational problems unplanned and the growth investments are all fixed cost leverage next year as we continue to grow variable margin.

因此，從下半年的角度來看，首先，它從艱難的競爭開始。因此，去年我們公司某些領域的業務量非常強勁。我們向您提到的太陽能領域以及我們在去年下半年獲得的更高份額增長，這得益於菲律賓法新社的環境執法，正如我們所指出的，去年第三季度客戶的購買模式有點高，但今年不會重複這種情況，當然，我們也不銷售乙烯。去年我們大量銷售了一批乙烯，但今年我們不會再銷售了。因此，與去年相比，這些都造成了嚴峻的競爭情勢。這是與去年同期最大的差異。第二，今年的支出成長較高，這種成長在上半年不斷加速，並持續到下半年。然後，正如我們剛才討論過的，黏合劑中會出現一些邊緣脫落的情況。所以這些都是導致下半年成長速度不如上半年的原因。正如 Curt 所指出的，貨幣正處於順風階段。所以它們都是動態的，我們無需擔心。我們仍然認為，今年我們有望實現非常強勁的成長，並為明年的成長做好了準備。您必須記住，隨著我們繼續增加可變利潤率，計劃外的營運問題和成長投資明年都是固定成本槓桿。

And if I could add on top of it, when I think about the second half of the year, Arun, the way I look at is that some moving parts that Mark described, but generally speaking our outlook for the second half of the year hasn't changed and then on top of it, you have roughly $0.05 benefit from tax. So that's how I'd look at the outlook for the second half of the year.

而且如果我可以補充一點的話，當我想到今年下半年時，阿倫，我的看法是馬克描述的一些活動部分，但總的來說，我們對下半年的展望沒有改變，然後在此基礎上，您還有大約 0.05 美元的稅收收益。這就是我對下半年前景的看法。

Yes, we think we'll hold onto that benefit on the tax side.

是的，我們認為我們會在稅收方面保留這項優惠。

Okay. Great. And then just wanted to get your thoughts, I guess, longer term, would you consider if something potentially more creative on the ethylene side, either an asset swap or something or would you even consider maybe down the line at some point looking into constructing a PDH unit?

好的。偉大的。然後我只是想聽聽您的想法，我想，從長遠來看，您是否會考慮在乙烯方面採取一些更有創意的措施，無論是資產互換還是其他什麼，或者您是否會考慮在某個時候建造一個 PDH 裝置？

Well, we'll look at -- the good thing, as I would argue, we came up with a pretty creative option to deal with ethylene right now, and so that kind of takes care of that ethylene volatility risk, which is a reminder, is the primary driver of volatility within Chemical Intermediates group. So we've done a pretty creative thing now. That buys us time to see how market conditions improve and see whether the sell option back to life or other options may be available to us. But right now, I think we've been pretty creative in dealing with our excess ethylene issue.

好吧，讓我們來看看——我認為好的一面是，我們現在想出了一個非常有創意的方案來處理乙烯問題，這樣就可以解決乙烯波動風險，這提醒我們，乙烯波動是化學中間體集團波動的主要驅動因素。所以我們現在做了一件很有創意的事情。這為我們贏得了時間來觀察市場狀況如何改善，並看看我們是否可以選擇恢復銷售或其他選擇。但現在，我認為我們在處理過量乙烯問題方面已經相當有創意了。

I understand. That's why I wonder if you'd potentially consider constructing a PDH unit?

我明白。這就是為什麼我想知道您是否會考慮建造一個 PDH 單元？

We're not looking at capital deployment on the Chemical Intermediates side. We always buy construction capacity, but no greenfield expansions. Our strategy is growing and investing in specialty businesses. We are delivering tremendous volume and mix improvement across AM and AFP, and accelerating growth in fibers. So that's where our capital is focused plus bolt-on M&A if it's not share repurchases.

我們沒有考慮化學中間體方面的資本部署。我們總是購買建設產能，但不購買綠地擴張產能。我們的策略是發展和投資專業業務。我們正在 AM 和 AFP 領域實現巨大的產量和混合改進，並加速纖維的成長。因此，這就是我們的資本重點所在，如果不進行股票回購，還會進行附加併購。

We can now take our next question from Bob Koort from Goldman Sachs.

現在我們可以回答高盛的鮑伯·庫爾特提出的下一個問題。

Mark, the giant guys over in Germany had some comments today that I thought were kind of interesting and I'm curious about the Eastman philosophy and the question -- or the comment was basically there are some specialty markets where if you react too aggressively to raw material inflation, it sort of compromises or could compromise the value add approach to a product line and therefore, when the raws go the other way, you stop getting back some relief. Just curious when you think about our portfolio, how do you differentiate across that portfolio and the ability to get price to recover some of these raw material?

馬克，今天德國那些巨頭們發表了一些評論，我覺得很有意思，我對伊士曼的理念和問題很好奇——或者說評論基本上是，在一些專業市場中，如果你對原材料通膨反應過於激烈，就會損害或可能損害產品線的增值方法，因此，當原材料價格上漲時，你就無法獲得一些回報了。只是好奇，當您考慮我們的投資組合時，您如何區分該投資組合以及獲得價格以回收部分原材料的能力？

So, Bob, it's a great question and a really important one, we really get into the nuances of running a great specialty business, which I think, we've built. You have to be very thoughtful about how you manage prices with your customers because you want to capture the value for the products that you have. You want to treat your customers with respect because they're aware of how raw materials change both up and down. But most importantly, you want to keep them highly engaged to continue working with you on innovation, right. The vast majority of our innovation isn't with new customers, it's with existing customers helping bring them additional new products. So you have to -- in the tires business, the coatings business, the glass business, you got the same set of customers for a very long time. So that has to be a very collaborative relationship that includes working on innovation. So, yes, you are careful about how you manage the price and you want to provide price stability to them. So when raws go up, you increase prices, but you do it carefully. You don't be abusive about it. And when raws go down, you hold on to some of the value, but ultimately, you have to share some of them. If you go back to our transcripts over the last 3 years, I think, I've been pretty consistent in talking about that and how we've managed it both in '15 and '16 and how we've managed it over the last couple of years. But what I would highlight is, we have done a great job in managing price relative to raws, especially in CI and AFP right now. We've been able to keep pace with raws and distribution cost. And I think I've thoroughly covered the AM discussion on that topic, where we are doing great in the polyesters and made some intentional choices to improve the mix with our customers. So yes, you got to think about that and be very careful on what you do.

所以，鮑勃，這是一個很好的問題，也是一個非常重要的問題，我們真正深入了解了經營一家偉大的專業企業的細微差別，我認為我們已經建立了它。您必須非常認真地考慮如何管理與客戶的價格，因為您希望獲得您擁有的產品的價值。您希望尊重地對待您的客戶，因為他們知道原材料是如何變化的。但最重要的是，你希望他們保持高度參與，繼續與你合作創新，對吧。我們的創新絕大多數不是針對新客戶，而是針對現有客戶，幫助他們帶來更多新產品。所以你必須——在輪胎業務、塗料業務、玻璃業務中，你在很長一段時間內都會擁有同一批客戶。所以這必須是一種包括致力於創新在內的高度合作的關係。所以，是的，您會謹慎管理價格，並希望為他們提供價格穩定性。因此，當原料價格上漲時，你可以提高價格，但要謹慎行事。你不要辱罵它。當原料價格下跌時，你可以保留部分價值，但最終，你必須分享其中的一部分。如果你回顧我們過去 3 年的成績單，我想，我一直在相當一致地談論這一點，以及我們在 2015 年和 2016 年是如何管理它的，以及我們在過去幾年是如何管理它的。但我想強調的是，我們在管理原物料價格方面做得很好，尤其是目前在 CI 和 AFP 方面。我們已經能夠跟上原材料和分銷成本的步伐。我認為我已經徹底涵蓋了關於該主題的 AM 討論，我們在聚酯方面做得很好，並做出了一些有意的選擇來改善與客戶的組合。所以是的，你必須考慮到這一點，並且要非常小心你所做的事情。

And then, you acknowledge that there has been some price down in our auto interlayer business. Is that a one-time event? Is that something that we should expect to continue and then you offset it as you're saying by seeking out mix benefits. Is this a onetime correction because they're under a little bit of pressure? Can you give us some help there?

然後，您承認我們的汽車夾層業務價格有所下降。這是一次性事件嗎？這是我們應該期待繼續下去的事嗎？然後你透過尋求混合利益來抵消它。這是因為他們承受了一點壓力而進行的一次性調整嗎？您能給我們一些幫助嗎？

Sure. So the nature of that business is, as we've shared with you at Innovation Day, the price difference between our premium products and our sort of standard products in that segment are quite different. So as you gain scale and efficiency in making these premium products, you tend to give back a little bit of price on those premium products as they're buying significantly more volume and your cost efficiency is also higher from a fixed cost leverage point of view as they grow. So from a margin point of view, you're not taking much of a hit, but you do have to share some of that sort of value created by them, buying a lot more with some price reduction. So there is always a natural amount of that, that occurs, it happened last year, it happened this year, there will be a little bit of next year. The tricky part is, you put these annual contracts in place, and if you go back to what we are negotiating in the fall, raws come at a bit higher than we expected this year, the key drivers of raw material prices for interlayers is international ethylene prices, not local and acetic acid prices because we are buying VAM and PVOH. So you can imagine that has created some pressure relative to where we thought we were last year. That's part of the story, but the key thing is focus on the 9% volume and mix that is significant upgrade in margins and when you back out the growth investments, the margins are great.

當然。因此，正如我們在創新日與您分享的那樣，該業務的性質是，我們的高端產品和該領域的標準產品之間的價格差異很大。因此，隨著您在生產這些優質產品時獲得規模和效率，您往往會在這些優質產品上返還一點價格，因為他們購買的數量會大大增加，而且從固定成本槓桿的角度來看，隨著他們的增長，您的成本效率也會更高。因此，從利潤的角度來看，你不會受到太大的打擊，但你確實必須分享他們創造的部分價值，透過降低價格來購買更多產品。因此，總是會有一定數量的自然現象發生，去年發生過，今年發生過，明年還會有一點點。棘手的部分是，你要製定這些年度合同，如果你回顧一下我們秋季談判的內容，你會發現今年原材料的價格比我們預期的要高一些，夾層原材料價格的主要驅動因素是國際乙烯價格，而不是當地價格和醋酸價格，因為我們購買的是 VAM 和 PVOH。因此你可以想像，相對於我們去年的預期，這已經造成了一些壓力。這是故事的一部分，但關鍵是要專注於 9% 的銷售和組合，這是利潤率的顯著提升，當你退出成長投資時，利潤率會很高。

Next question comes from John Roberts from UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀的約翰羅伯茲。

In Chemical Intermediates, you noted higher pricing in acetyl derivative, Celanese has this initiative in their acetyl business to connect producers and customers, which they talk about network terms like activating nodes. Are you participating in something similar? Is that contributing to the higher pricing that you are talking about?

在化學中間體中，您注意到乙醯衍生物的價格更高，塞拉尼斯在其乙醯業務中採取了這一舉措，以連接生產商和客戶，他們談論的是激活節點等網路術語。您是否參加過類似活動？這是否導致了您所說的價格上漲？

So first acetic acid is not a priority business for us. We have a huge acetyl stream that is focused on producing acetic anhydride, acetic acid is a co-product of our downstream derivative operations that we have to sell to sort of clear the system. So we're not in the global acetic acid business like some other people are. We're really in a sort of North American-centric acetic acid business where we're clearing out the co-product in our operations. So just entirely different business model relative to what Celanese has referred to. The reality is just prices are higher in acetic acid right now due to decent demand growth in that business as well as number of supplier outages both here, including us for a while and BP and people in China. So that's really driven the improvement in acetyl pricing for us versus the very different business model that Celanese has here because even our acetic anhydride isn't about selling it, right. It is about converting it, all the specialties downstream, and we sell what's left over. So it's just entirely a different business model.

因此首先乙酸不是我們的優先業務。我們擁有巨大的乙醯流，專注於生產乙酸酐，乙酸是我們下游衍生業務的副產品，我們必須出售它以清理系統。因此，我們並不像其他人一樣從事全球醋酸業務。我們實際上處於以北美為中心的乙酸業務中，我們正在清除營運中的副產品。因此，這與塞拉尼斯提到的商業模式完全不同。事實是，目前乙酸價格較高，是由於該行業的需求增長以及雙方供應商（包括我們、BP 和中國供應商）的大量停產。因此，這確實推動了我們乙醯基價格的提高，而塞拉尼斯的商業模式則截然不同，因為即使我們的乙酸酐也不是用來銷售的，對吧。重點是轉化所有下游專業產品，然後出售剩餘產品。所以這是一種完全不同的商業模式。

And then secondly, do you need to make a bolt-on acquisition at some point in specialty chemicals? Today, you highlighted the growth stimulation, growth regulation products. Earlier, you highlighted the animal nutrition additives you have, but it doesn't seem like you have critical mass in Ag. And it is much smaller than many of the other Eastman businesses?

其次，您是否需要在特種化學品領域進行附加收購？今天，您重點介紹了生長刺激和生長調節產品。之前，您強調了您擁有的動物營養添加劑，但似乎您在 Ag 方面還沒有達到臨界質量。而且它比伊士曼的許多其他企業規模都要小得多？

Yes, it's a great business. And it was under-invested in, especially on the animal nutrition side. So we've been able to add a lot of organic capability and commercially taking it from a European to more of a global business and accelerating product development by combining our technology people with their. So we feel good about what we're getting done on organic. You are right, we're not a big player in that space. This is an area where we'll be open to sort of bolt-on M&A, but we're very disciplined. So we'll have to see if there is M&A out there in the marketplace here and other places that we are looking that meet our financial criteria, not just our strategic ones. And we continue to look for those opportunities, but we're going to be careful we don't overpay.

是的，這是一筆偉大的生意。而且投資不足，特別是在動物營養方面。因此，我們能夠增加許多有機能力，並透過將我們的技術人員與他們的技術人員結合，在商業上將其從歐洲業務轉變為全球業務，並加速產品開發。因此，我們對在有機領域的成果感到滿意。你說得對，我們在這個領域並不是一個大玩家。在這個領域，我們願意進行附加併購，但我們會非常謹慎。因此，我們必須看看這裡和其他地方的市場上是否有符合我們財務標準而不僅僅是策略標準的併購機會。我們會繼續尋找這些機會，但我們會小心，不要支付過高的費用。

Next question comes from Jim Sheehan from SunTrust.

下一個問題來自 SunTrust 的 Jim Sheehan。

Can you talk about the tone of business so far in third quarter? Are there any changes, positive or negative?

您能談談第三季迄今的業務基調嗎？有什麼變化嗎？積極的還是消極的？

Business is continuing as expected. So demand -- primary demand is, the marketplace continues to be solid around the world. Obviously, things like tax reform and less regulation here, recovering Europe helped. Tax concerns around trade are creating some caution, but overall net good. Most importantly, we're focused on creating our own growth and have demonstrated our ability to grow sort of 2x to 3x the underlying industrial production rates. And so we feel great about how we are continuing to create our own growth and drive growth and how that continues into '19. That's been the center of our strategy. I think our growth model is alive and well and demonstrating value every day.

業務正在按預期繼續進行。因此需求—主要需求是，全球市場持續保持穩固。顯然，稅收改革和減少監管等措施以及歐洲的復甦有所幫助。圍繞貿易的稅收擔憂引發了一些謹慎情緒，但總體而言，淨收益良好。最重要的是，我們專注於創造自己的成長，並已證明我們有能力將基礎工業生產力提高 2 倍到 3 倍。因此，我們對如何繼續創造自己的成長並推動成長以及如何將這種成長延續到2019年感到非常高興。這就是我們的戰略核心。我認為我們的成長模式充滿活力，而且每天都在展現價值。

Terrific. And can you talk about the BP distribution agreement that was announced, so what was the strategic rationale for that? And how do you expect it to impact your business?

了不起。您能談談已宣布的 BP 分銷協議嗎？該協議的戰略依據是什麼？您預計它會對您的業務產生什麼影響？

As I mentioned, acetic acid is not a on-purpose business, it's a co-product. And we already have relationship with BP at our Texas City site. And we're able to find a way to work with them to sort of represent and sell our nonspecialty acetic acid in a more efficient manner that gives us some earnings upside relative to what we could do with our position in the market. So it just made sense.

正如我所提到的，乙酸不是一項專用業務，而是一種副產品。我們已經與 BP 在德克薩斯城的工廠建立了合作關係。我們能夠找到一種與他們合作的方式，以更有效的方式代表和銷售我們的非特種乙酸，這使我們相對於我們在市場中的地位可以獲得一些收益上升。所以這是有道理的。

Next question comes from Laurence Alexander from Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Laurence Alexander。

Two questions. One, can you quantify the spread between price in raws, excluding Chemical Intermediates or in aggregate? And secondly, are you seeing any signs of an inventory overhang in either crop chemicals or automotive and I guess, on automotive particularly in Europe, but I guess, any perspective on those 2 markets?

兩個問題。首先，您能否量化原物料價格（不包括化學中間體）或整體價格之間的差價？其次，您是否看到農作物化學品或汽車庫存過剩的跡象？我想，尤其是在歐洲的汽車市場，但我想，對這兩個市場有什麼看法？

I'll answer your second question first, then ask for clarification on the first. So on your second question, Laurence, we don't see any inventory overhang in the marketplace that we're aware of. I'm not sure I understood your first question. Could you repeat it?

我先回答你的第二個問題，然後再澄清第一個問題。關於您的第二個問題，勞倫斯，據我們所知，我們沒有看到市場上有任何庫存過剩的情況。我不確定我是否理解了你的第一個問題。你能重複一遍嗎？

Guess I might have missed it earlier. Did you -- have you quantified the spread between your realized pricing and your raw material cost inflation in Q2?

我想我可能早就錯過了。您是否量化了第二季實際定價與原物料成本通膨之間的差額？

No, we don't provide that kind of detail. What I can tell you is, in AFP and CI they've done a great job of managing price relative to raws and distribution cost. In fact, their margins per KG are up a little bit. To remind you, as Curt noted, when raw materials go up, then you hold your spreads constant, your margin percentage goes down because it's just of the math. But we're doing a great job in those 2 areas, and I think we've thoroughly discussed the AM topic and how we're managing the total margin there. So overall, I feel like we're in better shape than we ever have been on how we're managing price relative to raws.

不，我們不提供那種詳細資訊。我可以告訴你的是，在 AFP 和 CI 他們在管理原材料和分銷成本價格方面做得非常出色。事實上，他們每公斤的利潤略有上升。提醒您，正如 Curt 所指出的那樣，當原物料價格上漲時，如果您保持價差不變，您的保證金百分比就會下降，因為這只是數學問題。但我們在這兩個領域做得很好，我認為我們已經徹底討論了 AM 主題以及我們如何管理那裡的總利潤。所以總的來說，我覺得我們在原物料價格管理方面比以往任何時候都要好。

Next question comes from Kevin McCarthy from Vertical Research Partners.

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

Mark, you've got a lot going on at Longview. You mentioned throttling back on the cracker operating rates, changing the feedstock mix to be increasingly geared to propane feed and then the RGP investment. If we were to boil all that down, what is the net impact on your net short position in propylene going forward?

馬克，你在朗維尤有很多事情要做。您提到降低裂解裝置的開工率，改變原料結構，使其更依賴丙烷原料，然後是 RGP 投資。如果我們將所有這些因素歸結起來，那麼這對您未來在丙烯方面的淨空頭部位有何淨影響？

So for this year, it has no impact. We have to incrementally increase our propylene purchases relative to last year with all the actions that we're taking. So even though we're obviously reducing our cracker run rates to some degree and not selling ethylene through the combination of actions we've taken, we're not incurring a material increase in purchase propylene cost, which is great. Second, with the RGP investment next year, we would buy less propylene than this year, because of leveraging the RGP to make propylene. So it mitigates some of that exposure for us, improves our spread exposure by getting into the RGP/PGP game versus propane to propylene, and reduces ethylene production. So it's a win on all fronts.

所以對今年來說，沒有影響。我們必須採取各種措施，逐步增加相對於去年的丙烯採購量。因此，儘管我們採取的一系列措施在一定程度上顯著降低了裂解裝置的運行率，並且不出售乙烯，但我們的丙烯採購成本並沒有大幅增加，這是非常好的。其次，隨著明年 RGP 投資的實施，我們將利用 RGP 來生產丙烯，因此購買的丙烯數量將比今年減少。因此，它減輕了我們的一些風險敞口，透過進入 RGP/PGP 遊戲而不是丙烷到丙烯，提高了我們的價差風險敞口，並減少了乙烯的產量。所以這是全方位的勝利。

And Kevin, if I could add, just as you think about that change in mix, most of the benefit of that change is going to be felt in Chemical intermediates. There will be a little hurt moving to AFP as we see some of the additional cost from the crackers running at reduced rates, but generally good positive, mostly in CI, little hurt in AFP going forward.

凱文，如果我可以補充一點，正如你所考慮的混合物的變化一樣，這種變化的大部分好處將會在化學中間體中感受到。由於我們看到裂解廠以降低的價格運作而產生的一些額外成本，轉移到 AFP 會受到一點損害，但總體而言是正面的，主要是在 CI，對 AFP 未來的影響不大。

That's helpful. And then as a follow-up, I think, you mentioned that you anticipate operating earnings in CI in the second half to be roughly equal to the first half. Can you help us out a little bit with the expected quarterly cadence. For example, was there any spillover in July from the various supplier disruptions that you indicated and the actions you're taking in Longview. How should we think about kind of 3Q versus 4Q there?

這很有幫助。然後作為後續問題，我想，您提到您預計下半年 CI 的營業收入將與上半年大致持平。您能否幫助我們了解預期的季度節奏？例如，您所指出的各種供應商中斷以及您在朗維尤採取的行動是否在 7 月產生了外溢效應。我們該如何看待第三季與第四季的關係？

Yes, I think if you look at the seasonal trend, Kevin, yes, there are some seasonal spillover, but we are expecting some of that to moderate, and you will see most of that seasonal impact in the fourth quarter.

是的，我認為如果你看季節性趨勢，凱文，是的，存在一些季節性溢出效應，但我們預計其中一些會緩和，你會在第四季度看到大部分季節性影響。

Take the last question or the next question, excuse me, the last one please.

請回答最後一個問題或下一個問題，不好意思，請回答最後一個問題。

Last question from Matthew Blair from Tudor, Pickering, Holt.

最後一個問題來自都鐸、皮克林、霍爾特的馬修布萊爾。

I'm not sure if I heard this correctly, but was there a comment that you're looking to accelerate share repurchases in 2018? And if so, could you share your target here? I know you have the $2 billion share repurchase target for 2018 through 2020. And then may be related to that, in your slides, it mentions a $300 million debt reduction target for this year. I want to say that, that used to be more like $350 million. So is this just a case of a little bit less debt reduction this year, a little bit more repurchases?

我不確定我是否聽錯了，但是否有人評論說您希望在 2018 年加速股票回購？如果是的話，您可以在這裡分享您的目標嗎？我知道你們的股票回購目標是從 2018 年到 2020 年回購 20 億美元。然後可能與此相關的是，在您的幻燈片中，提到了今年 3 億美元的債務減免目標。我想說的是，這個數字以前更像是 3.5 億美元。那麼，這是否只是今年減少一點債務、增加一點回購的情況呢？

Matt, so first of all, it starts with $1.1 billion of free cash flow. But what Mark was talking about as acceleration was, we're doing more share repurchases in 2018 than we did in 2017, part of that is less deleveraging. So we are targeting $300 million this year versus we did $350 million last year. So you got the combination of growth in free cash flow, little less deleveraging, an attractive dividend. That leaves a lot of free cash flow available to do share repurchases in absence of a bolt-on acquisition.

馬特，首先，它以 11 億美元的自由現金流開始。但馬克所說的加速是指，我們在 2018 年進行的股票回購比 2017 年更多，部分原因是去槓桿率降低。因此，我們今年的目標是 3 億美元，而去年的目標是 3.5 億美元。因此，您獲得了自由現金流增長、去槓桿率降低和有吸引力的股息的組合。這樣，在沒有附加收購的情況下，就可以留下大量自由現金流來進行股票回購。

I would just emphasize the $1.1 billion of free cash flow, as we wrap things up. We feel great about the strategy. We feel great about the progress we're making on the volume and mix improvements driving earnings growth this year and positioning us really well for growth next year. And obviously, cash has been great and we will continue on the track that we committed to in the beginning of the year.

在我們結束討論時，我只想強調 11 億美元的自由現金流。我們對這個策略感到非常滿意。我們對今年在銷售和產品組合改進方面取得的進展感到非常高興，這推動了今年的獲利成長，並為明年的成長做好了準備。顯然，現金狀況很好，我們將繼續按照年初承諾的方向前進。

Okay, thank you and thanks everyone for joining us this morning. There will be a replay online later this afternoon. Thanks, again.

好的，謝謝大家，也謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。今天下午稍晚將會進行線上重播。再次感謝。

That concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。女士們、先生們，現在可以斷開連接了。