伊士曼化學 (EMN) 2021 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the First Quarter 2021 Eastman Chemical Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. This call is being broadcast live on the Eastman's website, www.eastman.com.

大家好，歡迎參加伊士曼化工2021年第一季電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。本次電話會議將在伊士曼網站www.eastman.com上進行現場直播。

We will now turn the call over to Mr. Greg Riddle of Eastman Chemical Company, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我們將把電話轉交給伊士曼化學公司投資者關係部門的Greg Riddle先生。先生，請講。

Thank you, Tracy, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. On the call with me today are Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO; William McLain, Senior Vice President and CFO; and Jake LaRoe, Manager, Investor Relations.

謝謝特蕾西，大家早安，謝謝你們加入我們。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有董事會主席兼首席執行官馬克·科斯塔 (Mark Costa)、高級副總裁兼首席財務官威廉·麥克萊恩 (William McLain) 以及投資者關係經理傑克·拉羅 (Jake LaRoe)。

Yesterday, after market closed, we posted our first quarter 2021 financial results news release and SEC 8-K filing, our slides and the related prepared remarks in the Investors section of our website www.eastman.com. Before we begin, I'll cover 2 items.

昨天收盤後，我們在公司網站 www.eastman.com 的「投資者」板塊發布了 2021 年第一季財務業績新聞稿、SEC 8-K 文件、PPT 以及相關的準備發言稿。在開始之前，我將介紹兩點。

First, during this presentation, you will hear certain forward-looking statements concerning our plans and expectations. Actual events or results could differ materially. Certain factors related to future expectations are/or will be detailed in our first quarter 2021 financial results news release, during this call, in the preceding slides and prepared remarks and in our filings with the SEC, including the Form 10-K filed for full year 2020 and the Form 10-Q to be filed for first quarter 2021.

首先，在本次演示中，您將聽到一些關於我們計劃和預期的前瞻性陳述。實際事件或結果可能有重大差異。與未來預期相關的某些因素已/或將在我們2021年第一季財務業績新聞稿、本次電話會議、之前的幻燈片和準備好的發言稿以及我們向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的文件（包括提交的2020年全年10-K表格和即將提交的2021年第一季10-Q表格）中詳細說明。

Second, earnings referenced in this presentation exclude certain noncore and unusual items. 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 first quarter 2021 financial results news release, which is available on our website.

其次，本報告提及的收益不包括某些非核心及非常規項目。與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳及其他相關揭露，包括對排除項目和調整後項目的描述，可在 2021 年第一季財務業績新聞稿中找到，該新聞稿可在我們的網站上查閱。

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

說完這些，我會把電話轉給馬克。

Thanks, Greg. Before we answer your questions, I want to take a few minutes to make some comments. We're off with an excellent start to 2021, and I'm proud of the many accomplishments we've achieved in just a few short months. We've been building momentum, and the strong operational execution of our teams is paying off as the global economy improves.

謝謝，格雷格。在回答您的問題之前，我想花幾分鐘時間發表一些評論。 2021年我們迎來了一個良好的開端，我為我們在短短幾個月內所取得的諸多成就感到自豪。我們一直在累積發展勢頭，隨著全球經濟的復甦，我們團隊強大的營運執行力也正在獲得回報。

There are several highlights I want to cover. First, strong demand from the end of 2020 continued through the first quarter. In many markets, demand is returning to or exceeding 2019 levels. We reported 20% higher adjusted EPS over '19 and 5% over a very strong first quarter last year before we felt the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

我想談幾個重點。首先，2020年底的強勁需求持續到了第一季。在許多市場，需求正在恢復到或超過2019年的水準。我們的調整後每股盈餘較2019年同期成長了20%，比去年第一季（在新冠疫情全面影響之前）的強勁表現成長了5%。

Consistent with our track record of strong free cash flow, we also delivered record free cash flow of $125 million in the first quarter, which was up substantially from a very strong performance a year ago. We achieved these solid results despite operational logistical headwinds from winter storm Uri. I'm incredibly proud of our team in Texas who took proactive steps ahead of the storm to avoid a hard shutdown to any of our assets. Then they worked tirelessly to repair and restart our facilities, which helped ensure supply for our customers.

秉承我們強勁自由現金流的過往記錄，我們在第一季實現了創紀錄的1.25億美元自由現金流，較去年同期的強勁表現大幅成長。儘管冬季風暴「烏裡」（Uri）為營運物流帶來了阻力，我們仍然取得了這些穩健的表現。我為我們德州的團隊感到無比自豪，他們在風暴來臨前採取了積極主動的措施，避免了任何資產的全面停產。之後，他們不辭辛勞地修復並重啟了我們的設施，確保了我們向客戶的供應。

Thanks to their proactive planning, we were able to safely start with no injuries and well ahead of our competitors. We had half of our Texas manufacturing facility operational within 1 week of the storm, and we were more than 95% operational within 3 weeks. To all the Eastman employees who sacrificed and rose to the challenge, thank you, on behalf of our customers and all of the colleagues at Eastman.

感謝他們積極主動的規劃，我們得以安全開工，無人受傷，並遙遙領先競爭對手。風暴過後一周內，我們位於德克薩斯州的一半製造工廠恢復運營，三週內恢復運營率超過95%。我謹代表我們的客戶和全體伊士曼同仁，向所有做出犧牲、迎接挑戰的伊士曼員工表示感謝。

Moving to other highlights, we've made significant progress with our circular economy efforts, which I'll talk more about in a moment. And our progress hasn't gone unnoticed with Barron's adding Eastman to its list of the 100 Most Sustainable Companies for 2021, a true honor for us. And we issued our inclusion and diversity report, which you can find on our website. At Eastman, we take our environmental, social and governance commitment seriously, and transparency is of the utmost importance.

其他亮點方面，我們在循環經濟方面取得了顯著進展，稍後我會詳細介紹。我們的進步也得到了廣泛認可，《巴倫周刊》將伊士曼列入2021年100家最具永續發展能力的公司榜單，這對我們來說是莫大的榮幸。此外，我們還發布了包容性和多元化報告，您可以在我們的網站上查閱。在伊士曼，我們認真對待環境、社會和治理承諾，透明度至關重要。

We also continue to allocate our capital with returns to stockholders in mind. To that end, we recently completed a small bolt-on acquisition of 3F Feed & Food, a leading animal health and nutrition company with accelerated growth in the animal nutrition business. And finally, we think the favorable trends in the economy, coupled with our innovation investments and continued disciplined cost management sets us up for strong EPS and free cash flow growth this year and next.

我們也將繼續以股東回報為核心配置資本。為此，我們最近完成了對3F Feed & Food的小型補充收購，這是一家領先的動物保健和營養公司，其動物營養業務正在加速成長。最後，我們認為，良好的經濟趨勢，加上我們的創新投資和持續嚴格的成本管理，將為我們今明兩年強勁的每股盈餘和自由現金流成長奠定基礎。

On our January call, we gave you an update on the progress we're making to become a leader in the circular economy. We announced that we're building one of the world's largest plastic-to-plastic molecular recycling facilities at our site in Kingsport, Tennessee. Since then, we've broken ground on the facility and continue to target mechanical completion by the end of '22.

在一月份的電話會議上，我們向大家介紹了我們成為循環經濟領導者的進展。我們宣布，我們正在田納西州金斯波特的工廠建造世界上最大的塑膠到塑膠分子回收設施之一。目前，該設施已破土動工，並計劃在2022年底前完成機械竣工。

Even more impressive is the amount of momentum we're building with customers in many different markets around the world. The demand for our new branded products include Eastman Tritan Renew, Eastman Cristal Renew, is strong. At this point, demand for our specialty products and the circular economy offerings has been better than we anticipated.

更令人印象深刻的是，我們與全球許多不同市場的客戶共同打造的強勁勢頭。我們新品牌產品（包括 Eastman Tritan Renew 和 Eastman Cristal Renew）的需求強勁。目前，我們特種產品和循環經濟產品的需求也超出了我們的預期。

And specific to the new facility we announced, we're ahead of schedule in terms of customer demand for the capacity. We have a robust pipeline for additional announcements throughout the year and look forward to sharing those with you.

具體到我們宣布的新工廠，就客戶對產能的需求而言，我們比計劃提前了一步。我們全年都有充足的計畫發布更多公告，期待與大家分享。

Turning to our outlook. As we entered the second quarter with strong demand and mix momentum, we also expect to benefit from cost discipline, including lower operating costs from our operational transformation program. However, there are specific headwinds we face, including maintenance turnaround, supplier reliability and some slowdown in auto production. In addition, we have price increases that are continuing to catch up to higher raw material, energy and distribution costs in some products. Despite these headwinds, we expect a sequential increase in EPS, with second quarter adjusted EPS expected to be at or above second quarter of 2018 adjusted EPS of $2.22.

展望未來。隨著我們進入第二季度，市場需求和產品組合勢頭強勁，我們預計成本控制也將受益，包括營運轉型計畫帶來的營運成本降低。然而，我們也面臨一些具體的不利因素，包括維護週期、供應商可靠性以及汽車產量放緩。此外，部分產品的價格上漲正在持續追趕原材料、能源和分銷成本的上漲。儘管面臨這些不利因素，我們預期每股盈餘將環比成長，第二季調整後每股盈餘預計將達到或超過2018年第二季調整後每股收益2.22美元。

Moving the full year, we expect strong market growth and product mix improvement to continue. Our innovation-driven growth model will enable us to grow faster than the underlying market recovery, and we expect a number of markets will be rebuilding inventory. We also expect much of the capacity constraints, supplier reliability and logistics headwinds to lessen alongside a potential moderation in tight commodity markets.

展望全年，我們預期強勁的市場成長和產品結構優化將持續下去。我們以創新為驅動的成長模式將使我們的成長速度超過市場復甦的速度，我們預計許多市場將重建庫存。我們也預計，隨著大宗商品市場緊張程度可能有所緩和，產能限制、供應商可靠性和物流阻力將大幅減弱。

We expect to continue to benefit from about $100 million of full year tailwind for improved capacity utilization compared to last year when we aggressively managed inventory well below the decline in demand with our focus on cash. And we're on track to keep our cost structure flat compared with 2020 and well below 2019 and '18 levels.

我們預計全年將繼續受益於約1億美元的順風，將帶來產能利用率的提升。去年，我們積極管理庫存，並將重點放在現金流上，使其遠低於需求下降幅度。我們的成本結構預計將與2020年持平，並遠低於2019年和2018年的水準。

We, therefore, expect adjusted EPS will be about -- be between $8.25 and $8.75 for the full year of '21. On cash, we expect free cash flow to approach $1.1 billion, which is consistent with our expectations for stronger adjusted EBITDA. We expect 2021 will be our fifth consecutive year of free cash flow greater than $1 billion, and we will work to grow free cash flow from here.

因此，我們預計21年全年調整後每股盈餘將在8.25美元至8.75美元之間。現金方面，我們預期自由現金流將接近11億美元，這與我們對調整後EBITDA成長的預期一致。我們預計2021年將是公司連續第五年自由現金流超過10億美元，我們將努力在此基礎上繼續成長自由現金流。

Putting it all together. These outstanding results remind me about what gives Eastman this incredible resiliency and strategic advantage. First and foremost, it's the people at Eastman who continue to persevere and help us win as we saw in Uri and a time of crisis, and this is what we see every day from this good team.

綜上所述，這些出色的業績讓我想起了伊士曼擁有如此非凡韌性和戰略優勢的原因。首先，也是最重要的，是伊士曼的員工們堅持不懈，幫助我們贏得勝利，正如我們在烏里和危機時刻所見證的那樣，這也是我們每天從這支優秀團隊身上看到的。

And as I reflect on how we position our company through the global trade disruptions of 2019 and then COVID in '20, I feel confident in our ability to grow EPS and cash off this new level of earnings. Despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop over the last several years, we have not sacrificed our efforts to innovate and invest in our specialty portfolio and expect those investments to continue to pay off as we finish off '21 and move into '22. In the meantime, we'll continue to focus on what we can control and remain committed to long-term attractive earnings growth and sustainable value creation for our owners and all our stakeholders.

當我反思我們如何在2019年的全球貿易動盪以及2020年的新冠疫情中定位公司時，我對我們能夠提升每股收益並從這一新的盈利水平中獲利充滿信心。儘管過去幾年宏觀經濟情勢嚴峻，但我們並未放棄創新和投資特種產品組合的努力，並期待這些投資在2021年結束、邁入2022年之際繼續獲得回報。同時，我們將繼續專注於我們能夠掌控的領域，並致力於為我們的所有者和所有利益相關者實現長期具有吸引力的盈利增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. Tracy, we are ready for questions.

謝謝馬克。特蕾西，我們準備好回答問題了。

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

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

Mark, wondering if you could just give us a little bit more details on the new molecular recycling plant in terms of what you mean by being ahead of schedule. And I'm wondering if you can talk a bit to the customers that are signing up for the volume and how much volume maybe you've already contracted and what your expectations are in terms of contracting level by the time you start up.

馬克，您能否就您所說的「提前完成」向我們詳細介紹一下新的分子回收工廠？另外，您能否與正在簽約的客戶談談，目前您們的簽約量是多少？以及您對工廠投產時的簽約量有何預期？

Sure, Vince, and thanks for the question. We're really excited about what we're doing on our chemical recycling technologies, both our cellulosic recycling technology as well as our methanolysis. To your question around the methanolysis plant that we announced in January, we are seeing incredibly strong interest from our customers. And they're really compelled by our value proposition that has 3 key elements that's driving their interest.

當然，文斯，謝謝你的提問。我們對化學回收技術的發展感到非常興奮，包括纖維素回收技術和甲醇分解技術。關於你提到的我們一月份宣布的甲醇分解工廠，我們看到客戶表現出了非常濃厚的興趣。他們對我們的價值主張非常感興趣，這個主張包含三個關鍵要素，激發了他們的興趣。

I mean, the first is that we have a solution to plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled, much of which ends up in landfill or in the environment. And we can use that as feedstock to upscale into more durable products from the packaging applications or carpet and other applications that we're sourcing. And we can do it with infinite loop, so that's incredibly important, is to have that solution.

我的意思是，首先，我們找到了一種解決方案，可以處理那些無法機械回收的塑膠垃圾，其中大部分最終會被填埋或排放到環境中。我們可以利用這些塑膠作為原料，從包裝、地毯和其他我們採購的應用中，將其升級為更耐用的產品。而且我們可以無限循環地進行處理，所以擁有這樣的解決方案至關重要。

Equally important to them is that there's no compromise on the polymer in its performance and quality and as a drop-in replacement. Because we're rebuilding building blocks to be identical to what we normally get from fossil fuels, the product is identical. And so it's an easy drop-in, an easy switch over to our offering, and they don't have to change the brand position and the quality of what we provide.

對他們來說，同樣重要的是，這種聚合物的性能和品質絲毫不會打折扣，而且可以作為直接替代品。因為我們重建的基石與我們通常從化石燃料中獲得的基石完全相同，所以產品也完全相同。因此，它很容易直接替代，很容易切換到我們的產品，他們無需改變我們品牌的定位和產品品質。

And the third element that's very important to everyone is that it has lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels. We want to solve the waste crisis, but we also need to be sensitive to climate at the same time, and there's no toxic waste.

第三個對每個人來說都非常重要的特徵是，它的碳足跡比化石燃料更低。我們想要解決垃圾危機，但同時也需要關注氣候問題，並且不產生有毒廢棄物。

So it is a great story that they want to embrace and have in their brands. And so we've seen a number of customers, as you've seen on the chart we supplied in the prepared remarks, the customers adopting. Estée Lauder is a great win that we're really excited about. And there's many other companies in the cosmetic packaging area as well as all these other fast-moving consumer goods, et cetera, that are working with us right now.

所以，這是一個很棒的故事，他們願意接受並融入自己的品牌。正如您在我們準備好的演講稿中提供的圖表中所看到的，我們看到許多客戶正在接受它。雅詩蘭黛的成功對我們來說是一個偉大的勝利，我們對此感到非常興奮。目前，還有許多其他化妝品包裝領域的公司以及所有其他快速消費品領域的公司正在與我們合作。

So we are ahead in securing volume. We're also ahead in securing the value that we wanted to get for this offering, and that's also coming in a bit better. We're not going to provide details on exactly what the volume percent of that is. But I can tell you, were well ahead of pace in selling out that facility, which is really exciting for us. So overall, I'd say it's really, really encouraging.

所以，我們在確保產量方面處於領先地位。我們在確保此次發行所期望的價值方面也處於領先地位，而且進展也更好一些。我們不會透露具體的產量百分比。但我可以告訴你，我們在出售設施方面遙遙領先，這對我們來說真的非常令人興奮。所以總的來說，我認為這真的非常令人鼓舞。

Excellent. If I could just ask you a follow-up question on pricing in the overall portfolio just given all the raw material inflation that's out there. I think historically, sometimes you've talked about when there's been inflation that's -- you view as temporary, you don't look to pass it all through. How are you sort of -- how do you view the current inflation across your product lines? And what is the pricing philosophy going to be for 2021 related to that?

太好了。考慮到目前原物料價格上漲，我想問您一個關於整體產品組合定價的後續問題。我認為，從歷史上看，您有時會提到，當通膨出現時，您認為那是暫時的，不會將其完全轉嫁出去。您如何看待目前各產品線的通膨？ 2021年的定價理念將如何因應？

Thanks, Vincent, for that question. Obviously, pricing is a very hot topic these days with a material increase in raw material and distribution costs. And we've talked about this a number of times in the past. And I'm going to revisit just what our philosophy is around pricing and value management and then talk a bit about how we view it relative to the journey we've been on since '18.

謝謝Vincent的提問。顯然，隨著原材料和分銷成本的大幅上漲，定價是目前非常熱門的話題。我們過去已經多次討論過這個問題。我將重新探討我們在定價和價值管理方面的理念，然後結合我們自2018年以來的發展歷程，談談我們對此的看法。

First and foremost, in the specialty business, you focus on how you get the best value for your products and selling the value of the products more so than raw material dynamics. And our strategy is completely centered on innovation and driving significant mix upgrade and growth in high-value markets that significantly improve our margins through that mix.

首先，在特種產品業務中，你關注的是如何最大限度地發揮產品的價值，並更注重產品本身的價值，而不是原材料的動態變化。我們的策略完全以創新為中心，推動高價值市場的產品組合升級和成長，並透過這種組合顯著提高我們的利潤率。

So if you're going to do that, and you think about a lot of the markets that we're in where we have the same set of customers for decades, you have to have a strong relationship with those customers through the years if you want to continue to innovate with them and help them succeed and win and grow the market.

所以如果你要這樣做，想想我們所處的許多市場，幾十年來我們都有相同的客戶群，如果你想要繼續與他們一起創新，幫助他們取得成功、贏得市場並發展壯大，你就必須多年來與這些客戶建立牢固的關係。

So that factors into your pricing strategy. And so we want to have stability for us in our spreads and as much as possible for our customers in pricing with the dynamics of raw materials. So as we do that, we want to share some of the value when raw materials go down, and we want to recover prices when raw materials go up.

所以這會成為定價策略的因素。我們希望保持價差穩定，並盡可能根據原材料的動態變化為客戶提供穩定的定價。因此，我們希望在原物料價格下跌時分享部分價值，在原物料價格上漲時恢復價格。

From a multiyear point of view, I think we've done an excellent job in managing price. If you go back to 2018 as a reference point, that was a very strong raw material environment. In fact, stronger so far than this year when we look at year-over-year increase and what we expect. And we're able to maintain price increases and maintain stable spreads relative to '17, in the back half of that year. And that was the strongest earnings year we had until this year. So good reference point.

從多年期來看，我認為我們在價格管理方面做得非常出色。以2018年為參考點，那一年的原料環境非常強勁。事實上，從年成長和預期來看，今年迄今的漲幅都比今年還要強。而且，在2018年下半年，我們能夠維持價格上漲，並維持與2017年相比穩定的價差。那是我們今年迄今獲利能力最強的一年。所以，這是一個非常好的參考點。

So '19 and '20, with the impact of COVID and before that, the China trade war, we saw a pretty significant drop in volume and mix, it also led to drop in raw material prices. And we shared some of that with customers, but we still expanded spreads to offset some of that volume and mix headwind that we had.

2019年和2020年，受新冠疫情以及先前中美貿易戰的影響，我們的銷售和產品組合大幅下降，這也導致原物料價格下跌。我們與客戶分擔了部分損失，但仍擴大了價差，以抵消銷售量和產品組合帶來的部分不利因素。

And as we go into 2021 (corrected by company after the call), our expectations are that -- and as we're increasing prices, beginning in the first quarter, more so in the second quarter, and we'll continue to do in the back half of the year, we'll get our spreads for the year in the specialties, working towards the 2018 levels, including the headwinds that we have in tires, adhesives and fibers. So making good progress in improving spreads to offset some of those headwinds and getting back towards that '18 level.

隨著我們進入2021年（電話會議後公司進行了修正），我們的預期是——隨著我們從第一季度開始提高價格，在第二季度進一步提高，並且我們將在下半年繼續提高，我們將在特種化學品領域實現全年利差，努力達到2018年的水平，包括我們在輪胎、粘合劑和纖維領域面臨的阻力。因此，在改善利差以抵消部分阻力並回到2018年的水平方面取得了良好進展。

So that, I think, is a great story and one that you want to do because the story for us on the specialties is volume and mix improvement, is really significant. You saw it in the first quarter, and you're going to continue to see it through the rest of the year.

所以，我認為這是一個很棒的故事，也是你們想要做的，因為對於我們這些特種產品而言，銷售量和產品組合的改善非常重要。你們在第一季就看到了這一點，並且在今年剩餘時間裡，你們還會繼續看到它。

Another thing to keep in mind as you're trying to compare our pricing relative to peers is we put mix in volume, where most of our peers put mix in price. So just to give you an example, if you looked at the Q1 in Advanced Materials, if I moved mix over into price like our peers have it, we'd be up 10% in price and up 5% in volume. So just giving you an idea of the significance of mix in our strategy, which we've been explaining and talking about since 2014, is the secret to our success in leveraging the best returns from our assets.

當您嘗試將我們的定價與同行進行比較時，需要記住的另一件事是，我們將產品組合納入銷量，而大多數同行則將產品組合納入價格。舉個例子，如果您查看先進材料公司第一季的業績，如果我像同業一樣將產品組合納入價格，我們的價格會上漲10%，銷量會上漲5%。所以，我想告訴您產品組合在我們策略中的重要性，自2014年以來，我們一直在解釋和討論這一點，這也是我們成功利用資產獲得最佳回報的秘訣。

Another way you can look at it, of course, is also EBIT margins, where you can look at first quarter EBIT margins and AM improving 370 basis points in this story. AM has doubled -- more than doubled their EBITDA margins when you look at where we expect to be this year.

當然，你也可以從另一個角度來看息稅前利潤率。你可以看看第一季的息稅前利潤率，AM 的息稅前利潤率提高了 370 個基點。 AM 的息稅前利潤率翻了一番——如果按照我們今年的預期來看，他們的息稅折舊攤提前利潤率翻了一番還多。

And full company margins, I'd also mention, are probably -- are expected to be equal to or greater than 2018. So we're very confident about our ability to maintain and manage pricing. Obviously, CI is going to have much better spreads in the current market conditions to add to the story. And CI also provides a nice balance to the specialty. So as prices are catching up in the specialties, the CI spreads expand, and that sort of balances each other out. So I think it's a good story. And as always, we're focused on innovation.

我還想提一下，預計公司整體利潤率可能會與2018年持平或更高。因此，我們對維持和管理定價的能力非常有信心。顯然，在當前市場環境下，CI的利差將大幅提升，這將進一步增強公司績效。 CI也為特種化學品業務提供了良好的平衡。因此，隨著特種化學品價格的上漲，CI的利差也會擴大，最終達到平衡。所以，我認為這是一段美好的經驗。而且，我們一如既往地專注於創新。

We will now take our next question from Mike Sison from Wells Fargo.

我們現在將回答富國銀行的麥克·西森提出的下一個問題。

Mark, when you take a look at your outlook for 2021, the $8.25 to $8.75, what do you think drives the sort of low end and the high end? And how much of that delta is within your control?

馬克，當你展望2021年的前景時，在8.25美元到8.75美元的區間內，你認為是什麼因素導致了油價的低點和高點？這個差值在你的控制範圍內嗎？

Sure. So I mean, first of all, it's obviously a pretty significant improvement in our outlook today from where we were in January. And Mike, that's really driven by a material improvement in the volume and mix growth that we're seeing -- saw in the first quarter, but the momentum we're seeing going into this quarter and into the back end of the year. So volume mix is, as I said just a moment ago, the sort of heart of our strategy and will continue to be how we improve earnings this year. So that's the biggest driver.

當然。首先，與一月份相比，我們今天的前景顯然有了相當顯著的改善。麥克，這主要是因為我們在第一季就看到了銷售和產品組合的大幅改善，而且這種勢頭還將持續到本季和年底。正如我剛才所說，銷售和產品組合是我們策略的核心，並將繼續成為我們今年獲利成長的關鍵。所以，這是最大的驅動力。

Obviously, we have tight underlying markets in the Chemical Intermediates businesses that's providing that spread expansion I just mentioned to offset some of the lag and our prices catching up in some of the other products. So one of the uncertainties, obviously, is where the spreads in CI go.

顯然，我們化學中間體業務的基礎市場非常緊張，這帶來了我剛才提到的價差擴大，從而抵消了部分滯後，也讓我們在其他一些產品上的價格得以追趕。因此，顯然，其中一個不確定因素就是化學中間體業務的價差走向。

On the cost front, we feel very confident about it. It's getting our costs out. The operational transformation program is doing a great job of offsetting the return of short-term actions we took last year. And remember, that's over a $200 million program that doesn't just help this year, but also will help going into '22. So we feel good about that, or you can look at relative to last year, the $100 million utilization tailwind that we have from '20 into '21. I'm feeling very confident about that.

在成本方面，我們對此非常有信心。它正在降低我們的成本。營運轉型計劃在抵消我們去年採取的短期措施的回報方面做得很好。請記住，這是一個超過2億美元的計劃，它不僅在今年有所幫助，而且在2022年也會有所幫助。所以我們對此感到很滿意，或者你可以看看相對於去年，從2020年到2021年，我們獲得了1億美元的利用率優勢。我對此非常有信心。

So lower-cost structure relative to '18 and utilization tailwind relative to '20. So all of that has continued to be in place. So it's really about volume mix getting better, about spreads being better and then trying to guess, frankly, at how spreads in CI may moderate in the back half of the year.

因此，相較於2018年，成本結構較低，利用率相對於2020年也處於順風狀態。所有這些因素都持續存在。因此，真正的關鍵在於銷售組合的改善，利差的改善，然後坦白說，我們試圖猜測CI的利差在下半年可能會如何緩和。

We're assuming some moderation as some of the tightness that we're seeing at some point will go to more normal balanced market conditions. A little hard to call that, and that's one of the drivers of the uncertainty, along with the macroeconomic recovery we all face with COVID and all the other uncertainties that are always out there.

我們假設市場會有所緩和，因為我們目前看到的緊張在某個時候會逐漸恢復到更正常、更平衡的市場狀態。這有點難以預測，而且這也是造成不確定性的因素之一，此外，我們所有人都面臨著新冠疫情帶來的宏觀經濟復甦以及其他始終存在的不確定性。

Got it. And given that your earnings outlook is much stronger, your free cash flow as well stronger. Any update on what you want to use your balance sheet for going forward, given the outlook does look a lot better?

明白了。鑑於你們的獲利前景更加強勁，你們的自由現金流也更加強勁。鑑於前景確實好了很多，你們未來打算如何使用資產負債表？

No, Mike, thanks for the question. We agree that with the outlook improving and increasing to approaching $1.1 billion, what I would say is, as we think about capital allocation in '21, we're still, I'll call it, unchanged in our priorities. So one, starts with a strong dividend, which is an increase for 11 years, and we expect that to continue. Also, we expect to continue to reduce approximately $300 million of debt. And the balance will be used for the bolt-on acquisitions and share repurchases.

不，麥克，謝謝你的提問。我們一致認為，隨著前景改善，並接近11億美元，我想說的是，當我們考慮21年的資本配置時，我們的優先事項仍然沒有改變。首先，我們首先要提供強勁的股息，這是11年來的成長，我們預計這種情況將持續下去。此外，我們預計將繼續減少約3億美元的債務。剩餘的資金將用於補充收購和股票回購。

We announced the attractive animal nutrition bolt-on and used strategic cash of about $70 million there. And we expect to repurchase approximately $350 million of shares in the full year. Also, we'll be remaining disciplined as we go forward. But as we think about also getting our debt to EBITDA in line with our targets, that increases our flexibility as we go forward into '22.

我們宣布了頗具吸引力的動物營養業務附加業務，並投入了約7000萬美元的戰略現金。我們預計全年將回購約3.5億美元的股票。此外，我們將繼續嚴格執行後續行動。同時，我們也考慮將債務與EBITDA之比控制在目標水平，這將提升我們邁向2022年的彈性。

We will now take our next question from P.J. Juvekar from Citi.

我們現在將回答花旗銀行的 P.J. Juvekar 提出的下一個問題。

Yes. Mark, Willie, I just -- it feels like you guys are ahead in molecular recycling compared to your competitors who are working in polyethylene. I guess Eastman Kodak had some great technologies, and then congrats on your Barron's ranking as well. I guess how much -- my question is, how much is the conversion cost for a new PET lower than regular PET? And I know it's a long ramp-up and you've got to get customer qualifications and all that. But if you take a long-term view, Mark, let's say, by 2030, how much PET could you replace with recycled -- molecular recycled PET? Just any guess could be helpful.

是的。馬克，威利，我只是——感覺你們在分子回收方面比在聚乙烯領域工作的競爭對手領先。我想伊士曼柯達有一些很棒的技術，也恭喜你們在《巴倫周刊》的排名。我的問題是，新PET的轉換成本比一般PET低多少？我知道這是一個長期的過程，你們必須獲得客戶認證等等。但馬克，如果你從長遠來看，比如說，到2030年，你們可以用回收的──分子回收PET──取代多少PET？任何猜測都可能有幫助。

Sure. So as is I said, we're really excited about methanolysis and where we think it can take us. And we are trying to be a leader to demonstrate that the plastic waste crisis can be solved within plastic. Plastic is, in many applications by far, the best product for the market. It has the lowest carbon footprint versus alternative materials, whether it's glass, paper, aluminum, in many cases. So we want to keep plastic being the best solution for climate by far. And -- but we got address the waste crisis. So we do have to have a way to scale it up, and I think we're demonstrating how to do that.

當然。正如我所說，我們對甲醇分解技術以及它未來的發展前景感到非常興奮。我們正努力成為行業領導者，證明塑膠垃圾危機可以透過塑膠來解決。目前，在許多應用中，塑膠是市場上最好的產品。與替代材料（無論是玻璃、紙張或鋁）相比，塑膠的碳足跡最低。因此，我們希望塑膠成為迄今為止應對氣候問題的最佳解決方案。而且──我們已經解決了垃圾危機。因此，我們必須找到擴大規模的方法，我認為我們正在展示如何做到這一點。

It's important to remember that we're upscaling plastic waste into durable applications. We're not trying to sort of defend a large single-use plastic business and what we're doing. So that allows us to get a lot of incremental growth in durables at high values as well as better margins. And so we haven't been focused in this first investment on really leaning in on the PET business.

重要的是要記住，我們正在將塑膠廢料升級為耐用品。我們並非試圖捍衛龐大的一次性塑膠業務以及我們正在做的事情。這使我們能夠在高價值的耐用品領域實現大幅成長，並提高利潤率。因此，在首次投資中，我們並沒有真正專注於PET業務。

From a cost point of view, to answer to your question, the costs are modestly higher than PET or copolyesters, like oil prices around where they are today. If oil prices go up, that equation changes on a relative cost basis. And what we see is a real detachment now from this business, from the sort of fuel stock market, right? When you look at PET trading at 60%, 80% premiums to -- in our PET relative to fossil fuel PET in Europe, you know that there's a completely different economic proposition going on around recycled PET or recycled specialty polyesters that we're making.

從成本角度來看，回答你的問題，其成本略高於PET或共聚酯，例如目前的油價水平。如果油價上漲，這個等式就會根據相對成本而改變。我們現在看到的是，它與這個行業，與燃料股票市場，真的脫節了，對吧？當你看到我們的PET交易價格比歐洲的化石燃料PET高出60%到80%時，你就知道，我們生產的再生PET或再生特種聚酯，其經濟前景完全不同。

But we do think there's a significant opportunity to scale this up. And in fact, we don't just have customers calling us around, wanting our specialty products for what we can do with recycled content. We also have customers talking to us about how we could significantly scale up and make PET for their needs around packaging. We have customers calling us. We have peers calling us. We have governments calling us and asking us, can you sort of work with us to solve this problem? And so we're engaging in those conversations and trying to figure out which set of those opportunities makes the most sense for us.

但我們確實認為，擴大規模有重大機會。事實上，不僅僅是客戶打電話詢問我們利用回收材料生產特色產品。也有客戶諮詢如何大幅擴大規模，生產滿足其包裝需求的PET材料。客戶、同行以及政府都紛紛致電詢問，能否與我們合作解決這個問題？因此，我們正在積極參與這些對話，並努力找出哪些機會對我們來說最有意義。

I want to be very clear for everyone who's listening, we are not getting back into the normal PET business that we got out of it in 2011. We're staying out of it. So if we choose to get back, it's going to be more of an Airgas model on how we engage with solving this problem and scaling up, which means that we'll provide technology, construction, operations, feedstock sourcing. And as we build multiple plants, we'll have all the operational technical know-how that gives us an advantage in how we can do all that for our potential partners.

我想向各位聽眾明確說明，我們不會像2011年那樣重回常規的PET業務。我們不會再涉足這個領域。如果我們選擇回歸，我們將更多地採用Airgas模式來解決這個問題並擴大規模，這意味著我們將提供技術、建造、營運和原料採購。隨著我們建造多家工廠，我們將掌握所有營運技術訣竅，這將使我們在為潛在合作夥伴提供所有服務方面擁有優勢。

We will have long-term contracts to secure all the demand that -- where we will not take market volatility risk relative to feedstock prices. And -- but from a capital allocation point of view, it will likely be more of an equity participation in partnerships as opposed to putting this entirely on our balance sheet. So very different model, more like air gas. And we'll see how those conversations go. I think the need is there. Lots of people are making very significant commitments. In Europe, they're facing very significant taxes.

我們將簽訂長期合約來確保所有需求，這樣我們就不會承擔與原料價格相關的市場波動風險。而且，從資本配置的角度來看，這更像是一種股權參與的合作模式，而不是將其全部計入我們的資產負債表。這是一種非常不同的模式，更像空氣燃氣。我們將觀察這些談判的進展。我認為需求是存在的。許多人正在做出非常重大的承諾。在歐洲，他們面臨非常高的稅收。

And to your first point, we are moving faster probably than many others because we did practice methanolysis for a very long time as part of Kodak. And so we have a lot of technical and operational expertise that's allowing us to move very quickly in how we build this up and have a robust capability with a wide set of feedstocks.

關於您的第一點，我們的進展可能比其他許多公司都要快，因為我​​們在柯達公司旗下已經實踐了很長時間的甲醇分解過程。因此，我們擁有豐富的技術和營運經驗，這使我們能夠快速建造這項工藝，並擁有強大的處理各種原料的能力。

Great to hear. And then coming back to more nitty-gritty, on CI, as I understood after the Texas freeze, as ethylene and other commodities spiked, propylene prices collapsed by 50% because I think refinery started up before the polypropylene plant started up. And so I guess it's hard to understand from outside, but I would have expected a benefit from lower refinery grade propylene for you and higher propylene derivative prices. But can you just explain what happened with the propylene chain? And what was the benefit? Or why didn't we see more?

很高興聽到這個消息。然後回到更具體的話題，關於CI，據我了解，在德克薩斯州凍害事件之後，隨著乙烯和其他大宗商品價格飆升，丙烯價格暴跌了50%，因為我認為煉油廠的投產早於聚丙烯工廠的投產。所以，我想從外部來看這很難理解，但我原本預期煉油廠級丙烯價格下降和丙烯衍生物價格上漲會為你們帶來好處。您能解釋一下丙烯鏈發生了什麼事嗎？好處是什麼？或者為什麼我們沒有看到更多？

Yes, sure. P.J., so first of all, we don't sell propylene, right? We sell derivatives from propylene as you just noted. And so we saw very strong pricing momentum before Uri hit in all of our grids because the market conditions were tight. Obviously, Uri made the markets even tighter. And as a result, those derivative prices have held up quite well, and they're going to continue to increase, increase in a pretty significant way into the second quarter.

是的，當然。 P.J.，首先，我們不賣丙烯，對吧？正如你剛才提到的，我們賣的是丙烯的衍生物。所以在尤里颶風（Uri）襲擊我們所有電網之前，我們看到了非常強勁的價格勢頭，因為市場狀況本來就很緊張。顯然，尤里颶風使市場更加緊張。因此，這些衍生物的價格一直保持得相當好，並且在第二季也將繼續大幅上漲。

You have to remember that most of our propylene is made from propane that we buy, RGP being converted into propylene and some supply agreements that are propane based in their pricing, not propylene based. So we're not buying a lot of merchant propylene in our total feed mix. So -- and the spreads are good and attractive. The derivative markets continue to remain tight. And we think we're going to have a very good second quarter.

您必須記住，我們的丙烯大部分是由購買的丙烷製成的，RGP 被轉化為丙烯，而一些供應協議的定價是基於丙烷，而不是丙烯。因此，在我們的總原料組合中，我們購買的商用丙烯並不多。因此，價差良好且具有吸引力。衍生性商品市場持續保持緊張。我們認為第二季的業績將會非常好。

It's also important to note at the segment level, when you're trying to interpret these results in CI, there's more than olefins in this segment. So 25% of our revenue is actually functional amines, which has had a tremendous and very steady track record of improving earnings from '18 through to now and is on to a great track. And the vast majority of that business is on cost pass-through contracts. Same is true with a number of our acetic anhydride customers.

從細分市場層面來看，同樣需要注意的是，當你試著用CI來解釋這些結果時，這個細分市場不只包含烯烴。因此，我們25%的營收實際上來自功能性胺，從2018年至今，該業務的獲利成長一直非常強勁且非常穩定，目前正處於良好的發展軌道上。而且，該業務的絕大部分是透過成本轉嫁合約獲得的。我們的許多醋酸酐客戶也是如此。

And so our strategy is to have stable earnings in CI, not to have really volatile ones as we're trying to be more of a specialty company, more predictable in our earnings and cash flow. That gave us stability in '19 and '20 relative to '18. And it's going to give us stability this year, but we're not going to be popping up on spot prices as much as some others.

因此，我們的策略是確保CI業務的獲利穩定，而不是大幅波動，因為我們正努力成為一家更專業的公司，提高獲利和現金流的可預測性。這使得我們在2019年和2020年的表現比2018年更加穩定。今年也將繼續保持穩定，但我們不會像其他一些公司一樣對現貨價格進行大幅波動。

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

我們現在將回答摩根大通的 Jeff Zekauskas 提出的下一個問題。

In describing the dynamics in your Advanced Materials business, you talked about raw material inflation, and you pointed to VAM. I would think that you would be pretty integrated in your Advanced Materials business. How much pressure is there from higher raw material costs? And what are the raw material costs that are really lifting there?

在描述先進材料業務的動態時，您談到了原材料價格上漲，並提到了VAM（醋酸乙烯酯/醋酸乙烯共聚物）。我認為您的先進材料業務應該相當整合。原材料成本上漲給您帶來多大壓力？哪些原料成本真正漲了？

So, Jeff, thanks for the question. We are very focused on the value of vertical integration. As you just noted, it creates a lot of stability for us. So in our polyester chains, acetyl chains and olefin chains. That's for the most part, a way we provide significant reliability to our customers that -- compared to some of our competitors. And through the first quarter, I received a number of calls from our very important large customers, thanking us for our demonstrated reliability that they deeply appreciated and how well we got through the storm and supplied them.

傑夫，謝謝你的提問。我們非常重視垂直整合的價值。正如你剛才提到的，它為我們帶來了極大的穩定性，包括我們的聚酯鏈、乙醯基鍊和烯烴鏈。這在很大程度上是我們為客戶提供高可靠性的方式——相比我們的一些競爭對手。在第一季度，我接到了許多來自我們非常重要的大客戶的電話，他們感謝我們展現出的可靠性，他們對此深表讚賞，也感謝我們如何安然度過難關並為他們提供良好的服務。

But the one place that we're not vertically integrated is from acetyl to our interlayers. We don't make VAM and rely on market suppliers for VAM. So the shortages that we saw there has created a constraint for us in interlayers. It is specific to the interlayer business. But we were already having sort of supply problems with some acetyl unreliability in the fourth quarter. Then the number of plants were down about 3 weeks ahead of the storm due to unplanned outages. So the market was already tight, then Uri took about 25% of global VAM market off-line. And while they're back operational, they're not near to full rates.

但我們尚未垂直整合的領域是從乙醯基到中間膜。我們不生產VAM，而是依賴市場供應商。因此，我們看到的短缺對我們的中間膜業務造成了限制。這是中間膜業務特有的。我們在第四季就已經遇到了乙醯基供應不穩定的問題。由於意外停產，在風暴來襲前約三週，工廠數量下降。因此，市場本來就很緊張，而Uri颶風又導致全球約25%的VAM市場停產。雖然這些工廠已經恢復運營，但遠未達到滿載運轉的水平。

So it's really created a pretty significant global VAM shortage, as you know. And prices are high, and the volumes are forcing us to cut back on how much interlayers we can make here in the second quarter. So that's the one place out of our total portfolio where I have a supply-related problem, and it is for a lack of vertical integration.

所以，如你所知，這確實造成了全球VAM相當嚴重的短缺。價格高企，產量也大幅增加，迫使我們在第二季削減了夾層膜的產量。所以，這是我們整個產品組合中唯一一個面臨供應問題的產品，原因在於缺乏垂直整合。

But we're getting through it. The teams have done a phenomenal job of sourcing VAM from all places around the world, overcoming incredibly complex logistics, which is going to help us resolve this here pretty quickly. And it will help us not just now but how to have a better diverse supply base in the future.

但我們正在克服它。我們的團隊出色地完成了從世界各地採購VAM的工作，克服了極其複雜的物流難題，這將幫助我們快速解決這個問題。這不僅對我們現在有幫助，而且對未來如何擁有更多元化的供應基礎也有幫助。

I know that Eastman wants to divest various business in the AFP segment. Can you describe what the magnitude is of what you want to sell? And will it be a dilutive transaction when you sell it?

我知道伊士曼想要剝離AFP部門的多項業務。您能描述一下出售的具體規模嗎？出售這些業務會造成股權稀釋嗎？

Yes. Jeff, this is Willie. So thanks for the question. As we have previously said, we've been actively looking at all options for the underperforming businesses and adhesives and tires. We continue to be disciplined, and we're making progress on the restructuring activities to improve these businesses. And we've actually seen strong volume improvements from both market recovery as well as innovation gains with customer wins. But as you think about the overall size of these businesses on an EBITDA basis, it's going to be less than 10% for the 2 businesses that we're talking about.

是的，傑夫，我是威利。謝謝你的提問。正如我們之前所說，我們一直在積極研究表現不佳的業務以及黏合劑和輪胎的所有替代方案。我們將繼續嚴格執行，並在重組活動方面取得進展，以改善這些業務。事實上，我們已經看到市場復甦、創新成果和客戶贏得的強勁成長，銷售有所提升。但考慮到這些業務以EBITDA（息稅折舊攤提前利潤）計算的整體規模，我們討論的這兩個業務的EBITDA將不到10%。

And it will be dilutive when you sell it?

當你出售它時，它會被稀釋嗎？

No. As we think about, I'll call it, the value of the businesses and the underlying EBITDA and the optionality that we have there, that it will be, I'll call it, net neutral on an EPS basis.

不。當我們考慮我稱之為業務價值和基礎 EBITDA 以及我們擁有的可選性時，我會稱之為 EPS 基礎上的淨中性。

We will now take our next question from Frank Mitsch from Fermium Research.

我們現在來回答來自 Fermium Research 的 Frank Mitsch 提出的下一個問題。

If I could just follow-up on that last question, Willie. Are we looking at some action here in the first half of '21? Would you put it in that sort of time frame in terms of a divestiture?

威利，我可以繼續問最後一個問題嗎？我們是否會在21年上半年採取一些行動？就資產剝離而言，你會把它放在這樣的時間框架內嗎？

Frank, what I would say is we're not going to comment on ongoing processes as we're looking at continuing to improve these businesses, and we'll give you an update when it's appropriate.

弗蘭克，我想說的是，我們不會對正在進行的流程發表評論，因為我們正在考慮繼續改善這些業務，我們會在適當的時候向您提供最新消息。

Okay. Sure. And obviously, very impressive growth in the performance films area, in Advanced Materials overall. And I think you said 15% volume growth. Some of that was due, I guess, to the Asia -- the easy comp relative to Asia. Can you talk about how that business is trending on a geographic basis and expectations here in the second quarter?

好的。當然。顯然，高性能薄膜領域，包括先進材料領域，成長非常顯著。我記得您說過銷量成長了15%。我想，這部分歸功於亞洲——相對於亞洲而言，亞洲的競爭力更強。您能否談談該業務在第二季的地域分佈趨勢以及預期？

Sure, Frank, and good to hear from you. The recovery of AM was substantial, and a good part of that was Asia coming back to life. So if you go back to 2020, and looked at our performance relative to '19, we had very strong performance in AFP and CI. And we actually had 15% growth overall for the company relative to '19, which is a bit unusual relative to others in the marketplace. So we were going against a really tough comp.

當然，弗蘭克，很高興收到你的來信。 AM 業務的復甦非常強勁，其中很大一部分原因是亞洲經濟的復甦。所以，如果你回顧 2020 年，看看我們相對於 2019 年的表現，你會發現我們在 AFP 和 CI 方面表現非常強勁。實際上，我們公司的整體成長比 2019 年成長了 15%，這在市場上與其他公司相比略顯不同。所以我們面臨的競爭非常激烈。

But AM was one place that did face challenges in Asia. Supply chain and interlayers is really short, as an example, and as well as buying films on cars. So that led to some of the spike up. Demand, trending-wise though, has held up really well, so -- well, Asia recovery. And we had growth in North America and Europe as well in the quarter.

但積層製造在亞洲確實面臨挑戰。例如，供應鏈和中間膜非常短，而且汽車貼膜也很難買到。這導致了一些需求激增。不過，從趨勢來看，需求保持得非常好，所以亞洲正在復甦。本季度，我們在北美和歐洲也實現了成長。

What I'd say is, Asia is less of a source of growth for AM and for the company in the second quarter. In the second quarter, the big driver of growth is North America as you might expect where the economy here is starting to recover quite well. And China had already started to recover a year ago in the second quarter. So as you follow COVID recovery around the world, just sort of our revenue sort of follows that trend. And Europe is still lagging and expect it to be better as we move into the back half of the year.

我想說的是，亞洲在第二季對AM和公司的成長貢獻有所減弱。第二季度，最大的成長動力來自北美，正如你所預料的那樣，那裡的經濟正在開始強勁復甦。中國經濟在一年前的第二季就已開始復甦。因此，隨著全球新冠疫情的復甦，我們的收入也在一定程度上遵循了這一趨勢。歐洲市場仍然落後，預計隨著下半年的到來，情況會有所改善。

So -- but the overall momentum is good. Demand is incredibly strong in our specialty plastics business across a number of products, Tritan. But it's not just Tritan, our copolyesters as well. But Tritan demand in particular is just dramatically better, driven by the normal value proposition we have, better performance in BPA free. But the circular economy is adding to a lot of growth for us and engagement with customers. So much so that we were planning on converting a copolyester line to Tritan 2 years from now. And we're now having to pull that conversion forward to now and getting it done by -- at the end of this quarter to be able to serve the Tritan growth and demand that is so strong. So that's going really well.

所以——但整體勢頭良好。我們特種塑膠業務的多種產品，包括Tritan，需求都非常強勁。不只是Tritan，我們的共聚酯也同樣強勁。尤其是Tritan的需求量大幅提升，這得益於我們一貫的價值主張──不含BPA，效能更佳。循環經濟正在為我們帶來巨大的成長，並增強與客戶的互動。我們原本計劃兩年後將一條共聚酯生產線轉換為Tritan。現在，我們必須將轉換時間提前到本季末，以便滿足Tritan的強勁成長和需求。所以，一切進展順利。

And then performance films, back to your original question around that. That's a great story, right? We're winning on 3 dimensions. We've got the best product portfolio and performance, especially with our gen 3 paint protection film that's dramatically better than our competition. We have a great channel strategy to grow through dealers and aftermarket. And we've rolled out a new software system for patterning, the installation of PPF on cars, which is incredibly important and better than our competitors, which helps them quickly install and precisely install the product. And we have the best dealer network around the world and have put a lot of effort into making that dealer network better.

然後是高性能薄膜，回到您最初的問題。這是一個很棒的故事，對吧？我們在三個維度上都取得了成功。我們擁有最佳的產品組合和性能，尤其是我們的第三代漆面保護膜，其性能遠超競爭對手。我們擁有完善的通路策略，透過經銷商和售後市場成長。我們也推出了一套用於汽車PPF安裝的全新軟體系統，這非常重要，而且比我們的競爭對手更好，可以幫助他們快速、精準地安裝產品。我們擁有全球最好的經銷商網絡，並投入了大量精力來完善這個網絡。

So that business is going to have a great year. It was an incredible first quarter. A little bit of that was some restocking of inventory in China, but we expect the momentum for the rest of the year to be strong on all 3 segments, especially when we get back past this supply constraint in interlayers and have more capacity for Tritan.

所以這項業務今年將會取得豐碩的成果。第一季的表現令人難以置信。這部分是由於中國市場的一些庫存補充，但我們預計今年剩餘時間所有三個業務板塊的勢頭都將保持強勁，尤其是在我們克服中間膜供應不足並增加Tritan產能之後。

We will now take our next question from Duffy Fischer from Barclays.

我們現在將回答巴克萊銀行的達菲·菲舍爾提出的下一個問題。

First question is just around the acetyls chain. Obviously, your Dallas competitor had a great quarter, looking at a great year in that space. Your footprint is different. Can you talk about your strategic footprint in acetyls? Do you need to back integrate more into VAM over time? And then what are some of the other acetyls derivatives? And how much are they offsetting the hit from the VAM side if you look outside of tow on some of your other downstream derivatives? If you could kind of just net out the acetyls chain for us this year.

第一個問題是關於乙醯基產品鏈的。顯然，你們在達拉斯的競爭對手本季表現優異，預計今年在該領域也表現不俗。但你們的佈局有所不同。能否談談你們在乙醯基產品鏈上的策略佈局？隨著時間的推移，你們是否需要進一步整合VAM（Vancouver Amendment）業務？此外，你們還有哪些乙醯基衍生物？如果將目光投向其他下游衍生物領域，它們在多大程度上抵消了VAM帶來的衝擊？能否請您為我們簡單介紹一下今年乙醯基產品鏈的淨利？

Yes. Sure. So trying to do comparisons of our acetyl business to our friends in Dallas is not a very good exercise because their business is just entirely different than ours. So they're an extremely large player in acetic acid, and then they go forward into VAM and emulsions that, obviously, are enjoying exceptionally tight market conditions and high prices right now.

是的，當然。所以，試圖將我們的乙醯業務與達拉斯的朋友進行比較並不好，因為他們的業務與我們完全不同。他們在乙酸領域擁有極其龐大的市場份額，然後他們又進軍醋酸乙烯酯（VAM）和乳液領域，顯然，這些產品目前市場行情異常緊張，價格也很高。

We don't make -- we make acetic anhydride, is what we make off of our stream that goes into cellulosic products as well as a variety of other acetyl or polyester products or olefin products where there's an acetyl component. But we don't go into that VAM emulsion business at all.

我們不生產－我們只生產乙酸酐，它是從用於生產纖維素產品以及各種其他乙醯基或聚酯產品，或含有乙醯基成分的烯烴產品中提煉出來的。但我們根本不涉足VAM乳液業務。

So if you want to look at our total integrated acetyl stream, including all the specialties that we make in Advanced Materials and AFP and fibers, the margins that we have and the stability of those margins is extremely attractive. But if you want to just look at in isolation and what we do in CI, which is sell acetic anhydride that isn't being used for making specialties, we're selling the co-product of acetic acid for when we make cellulosics. That business is limited to those market conditions. And those market conditions are not as attractive. We do lock out in sort of stable cost pass-through contracts, anhydride and that gives us nice stable earnings, but it doesn't allow us to have big pops or drops in that profitability from year-to-year. So it's totally different.

因此，如果您要查看我們整個乙醯基業務的綜合流程，包括我們在先進材料、AFP 和纖維部門生產的所有特殊產品，那麼我們的利潤率及其穩定性就極具吸引力。但如果您只單獨來看我們在CI部門的業務，即銷售未用於生產特種產品的乙酸酐，我們銷售的是乙酸的副產品，用於生產纖維素。這項業務受限於當時的市場條件。而當時的市場條件卻不那麼有吸引力。我們確實鎖定了某種穩定的成本轉嫁合同，這為我們帶來了不錯的穩定收益，但也不允許我們的盈利能力逐年大幅波動或下降。所以，這完全不同。

So from a vertical integration point of view, the place where we're not vertically integrated is when we bought Solutia and picked up the interlayers business that buys VAM and PVOH as the raw materials. We didn't forward integrate into making those raw materials because our strategy is to deploy capital predominantly in our specialties. But it is very frustrating right now when we're being shorted on those products and paying very high prices for them as we're trying to keep our auto customer -- or glass customers in the auto OEM supply.

因此，從垂直整合的角度來看，我們未進行垂直整合的地方在於，我們收購了首諾公司，並獲得了購買VAM和PVOH作為原材料的中間膜業務。我們沒有進行前向整合，進入這些原料的生產領域，因為我們的策略是將資本主要投入我們的專業領域。但目前，我們正努力維持汽車客戶——或者說玻璃客戶——對汽車OEM的供應，卻遭遇這些產品的短缺，不得不支付高昂的價格，這讓我們非常沮喪。

Perfect. And then maybe just 1 since it got highlighted with the acquisition around animal health. Can you size your animal health business as it sits going forward? And then where is your leverage both geographically and to different animals species, chicken versus hogs versus cattle? How should we think about that going forward?

完美。然後可能只有1個，因為它在動物保健方面的收購引起了關注。您能根據未來的發展來評估您的動物保健業務嗎？然後，您在地域和不同動物品種（雞、豬和牛）方面的優勢在哪裡？我們該如何看待未來？

Willie will answer the first and I'll take the second.

威利將回答第一個問題，我回答第二個問題。

So you can think about it as roughly 10% of Additives and Functional Products overall. And looking forward to the accelerated growth that we believe that this acquisition will add.

所以你可以把它想像成添加劑和功能性產品整體的大約10%。我們相信此次收購將帶來加速成長。

So the trends in animal nutrition are pretty significant and really attractive. As most of you probably know, good health and growth promotion in animals is obviously very, very important. Historically, we use antibiotics to do it. And most people want antibiotic-free meat and protein. And so there's a switch to organic assets. We have the broadest portfolio organic assets for this market area. But we don't do a lot of formulation of those products.

所以，動物營養領域的趨勢相當顯著，而且非常引人注目。正如你們大多數人可能知道的那樣，動物的健康和促進生長顯然非常非常重要。過去，我們使用抗生素來做到這一點。而大多數人想要不含抗生素的肉類和蛋白質。因此，人們開始轉向有機資產。我們在這個市場領域擁有最廣泛的有機資產組合。但我們對這些產品的配方設計並不多。

So this acquisition, combined with investments we've been making over the last several years in our sort of formulation and application development capability can dramatically accelerate our ability to actually formulate more comprehensive solutions to these challenges and leverage that growth. And the formulations get significantly higher value than selling the assets by 2 to 4x depending on the application. So it's a real classic mixed play for our strategy everywhere else in our company, of creating higher value formulations, capturing a lot more value for that solution to our customers. And this acquisition brings in a lot of capability and a nice existing marketplace in Spain of products that we can then take around the globe given our broader commercial footprint. So there's a huge upside just on our global sales capability relative to their focus on Spain.

因此，此次收購，加上我們過去幾年在配方和應用開發能力方面的投入，可以顯著提升我們制定更全面解決方案的能力，從而應對這些挑戰，並充分利用這一成長潛力。根據應用場景的不同，配方的價值比出售資產高出2到4倍。因此，對於我們公司其他部門的策略而言，這無疑是一次真正的經典混合策略，即創造更高價值的配方，為客戶創造更多價值。此次收購帶來了強大的產能，並在西班牙建立了一個良好的現有市場，憑藉我們更廣泛的商業足跡，我們可以將這些產品銷往全球。因此，相較於專注於西班牙市場，我們的全球銷售能力就具有巨大的優勢。

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

我們現在將回答德意志銀行的 David Begleiter 提出的下一個問題。

Mark, in Advanced Materials, given the further step-up in margins this quarter, can you discuss the margin profile of this business going forward, both through '21 as well as beyond?

馬克，鑑於先進材料本季利潤率進一步上升，您能否討論一下該業務未來的利潤率狀況，包括到 21 年以及以後？

David, great to hear from you, and thanks for the question. So I think the margin profile for Advanced Materials speaks for itself if you want to look at the last decade, right? Just dramatic improvement. We said this, I remember having these conversations back in 2010, '11, where we made a lot of investments in asset capability, in application development capability, but we added a lot of fixed cost, built Tritan. And we said, look, when this starts to sell and grow, the fixed cost leverage is going to be incredibly impressive.

David，很高興收到您的來信，感謝您的提問。所以，我認為，如果回顧過去十年，先進材料的利潤率就不言而喻了，對吧？確實取得了顯著的進步。我們說過，我記得在2010年和2011年進行過這樣的對話，當時我們在資產能力和應用開發能力方面投入了大量資金，但我們也增加了大量的固定成本，用於生產Tritan。我們當時說，等到Tritan開始暢銷並實現成長時，固定成本槓桿率將會非常可觀。

If you go back to the 2018 Innovation Day presentation of Advanced Materials, we laid it all out for you on how fixed cost leverage works in this business. So in that sense, I think as we look at the margins this year, which will be quite attractive and as we go forward, we think these margins will continue to improve.

如果你回顧一下先進材料公司2018年創新日的演講，我們之前已經詳細闡述過固定成本槓桿在這個產業中是如何運作的。因此，我認為，從這個角度來看，今年的利潤率將會非常有吸引力，我們認為未來利潤率還會繼續提高。

Now they're not going to improve like they did from '20 to '21, obviously, because we took such a hit on asset utilization, especially in Advanced Materials as we're pulling inventory down in interlayers and performance films. You have to remember, specialty plastics actually grew earnings last year relative to '19. So they provided nice stability relative to the auto exposure we had in interlayers and PF.

現在，它們顯然不會像2020年到2021年那樣改善，因為我們的資產利用率受到了很大打擊，尤其是在先進材料領域，因為我們正在減少中間膜和高性能薄膜的庫存。你必須記住，特種塑膠去年的利潤實際上比2019年有所成長。因此，相對於我們在中間膜和PF領域的汽車風險敞口，它們提供了良好的穩定性。

But as we continue to grow the circular economy, which is a value up and better margins, as we continue to grow products like Tritan and everything else, whether it's the paint protection films or pretty much anything in performance films has very attractive margins. The acoustics, heads-up display interlayers, very attractive. Electronic vehicles are another big lever for us where we see significant upside.

但隨著我們繼續發展循環經濟，這將帶來價值提升和利潤率的提高，隨著我們繼續發展Tritan等產品以及其他所有產品，無論是漆面保護膜還是幾乎所有高性能薄膜，都擁有非常誘人的利潤率。隔音材質、抬頭顯示器夾層等產品也非常吸引人。電動車是另一個重要的槓桿，我們看到了巨大的成長潛力。

So it turns out to need a lot more glass than an EV. When you put batteries underneath people, their head goes up to the ceiling of the car because you don't want to raise the roof height because of aerodynamics. And so what they're doing is making windshields bigger and putting on bigger sunroofs to not make the cabin claustrophobic. So we're getting a lot more real estate of the car in glass with every EV.

所以，它需要的玻璃比電動車多得多。當你把電池放在車底時，他們的頭部會抬高到車頂，因為出於空氣動力學的原因，你不想提高車頂高度。所以他們的做法是加大擋風玻璃，安裝更大的天窗，以免車廂內感覺太過狹窄。所以，每輛電動車的玻璃空間都大大增加了。

And then they have much higher functionality requirements in that space. So they want better acoustics. When you don't have the engine noise, which is sort of white noise, you now have more -- other noises that people focus on, they're more sensitive to, and you actually have to not just have more acoustics, but you have to be able to have the capability to tune it to different frequency bands. They still want heads-up display for safety reasons. They want more color that they're using in parts of the windows as part of how they're adding more glass. And they want solar rejection to reduce air conditioning load.

然後，他們在該領域對功能的要求更高了。所以他們想要更好的音響效果。沒有了引擎噪音（這種噪音有點像白噪音），現在人們會注意更多其他噪音，它們對噪音更加敏感。實際上，你不僅要有更好的音響效果，還要能夠調整到不同的頻段。出於安全考慮，他們仍然需要平視顯示器。他們希望在車窗的部分區域使用更多顏色，作為增加玻璃厚度的一部分。他們還希望能夠阻隔陽光，以減少空調負荷。

So all these functionalities in, it takes tremendous technical sophistication to put all that functionality into 1 interlayer. And we're the world leader in how to do that. And so when we look at EVs, it's probably 2 to 3x more value per car that we're capturing. And we already have some great adoption on some of these products with a very significant leader in this space. And we expect that to continue across all the brands. So we see volumes growing, mix growing cost being controlled, spreads being managed, as I discussed earlier. And so the earnings growth will improve and the margins will incrementally improve year-to-year.

要將所有這些功能整合到一個中間層，需要極其複雜的技術。而我們在這方面處於世界領先地位。因此，以電動車為例，我們每輛車的價值可能會高出2到3倍。我們的一些產品已經獲得了一些客戶的廣泛採用，並且該領域一位非常重要的領導者也參與其中。我們預計所有品牌都將延續這種趨勢。正如我之前提到的，我們看到銷售量在成長，產品組合在成長，成本受到控制，價差受到控制。因此，獲利成長將會改善，利潤率也將逐年提高。

Sounds very good. And just on M&A, can you both size the 3F acquisition and discuss the rest of the M&A pipeline that you're seeing today?

聽起來很不錯。關於併購，您能否評估3F收購的規模，並討論目前您看到的其他併購項目？

So David, this is Willie. Again, the size on the 3F was roughly $70 million in acquisition price. And we paid high single digits off from a multiple perspective. Obviously, as we continue to look, we're focused on the organic growth and the investments there to ensure that we have the capacity as we go forward. But we're also looking at how do we accelerate that. And as we think about the additional flexibility that we'll have going into '22, we're filling up our pipeline of potential targets to accelerate that growth as we think about creating more value than just buying back shares.

大衛，我是威利。再次強調，3F 的收購價格約為 7,000 萬美元。從倍數來看，我們支付了高個位數的溢價。顯然，隨著我們持續關注，我們將專注於有機成長和相關投資，以確保我們擁有足夠的產能。但我們也在研究如何加速這個進程。考慮到 2022 年我們將擁有的額外靈活性，我們正在充實潛在目標，以加速這一成長，同時我們考慮創造更多價值，而不僅僅是回購股票。

We will now take our next question from Alex Yefremov from KeyBanc.

我們現在將回答 KeyBanc 的 Alex Yefremov 提出的下一個問題。

Mark, you spoke about good demand for methanolysis-based polymers. At what point could you start thinking about additional investments in capacity? Would you have to, you think, turn on and run your initial capacity, your initial plant? Or could you think about expansions sometime earlier if demand continues to be so strong?

馬克，您提到甲醇分解聚合物的需求旺盛。什麼時候會開始考慮增加產能投資？您認為是否需要立即啟動並運作最初的產能，也就是最初的工廠？或者，如果需求持續強勁，您是否可以提前考慮擴產？

I'm sorry, I was just a little bit hard to hear your questions. So I'm going to repeat it back to make sure I got it correctly. So are you saying what capacity would we need beyond the first 100,000-ton methanolysis plant? And when would we have that?

抱歉，我剛才有點聽不清楚您的問題。所以我再重複一遍，確保我理解正確。您是說，除了第一個10萬噸的甲醇分解廠之外，我們還需要多少產能？什麼時候才能建成？

I'm sorry, Mark. Let me repeat this. Demand for methanolysis-based products is strong. So at what point would you start thinking about additional expansions or can you possibly start thinking about additional expansion of capacity? Do you think you have to start-up the plant first and see how it works? Or if demand is strong enough, could you think about expansions maybe sometime in the next 12 months or so?

抱歉，馬克。讓我再說一次。甲醇分解產品的需求強勁。那麼，您什麼時候會開始考慮進一步擴建？或者說，您是否有可能開始考慮進一步擴大產能？您認為需要先啟動工廠，看看效果如何嗎？或者，如果需求足夠強勁，您是否會考慮在未來12個月左右的某個時候進行擴建？

Yes. So we're not going to wait to start this plant up before we start building another plant necessarily. I mean, it will depend on the demand we see for our products internally, and it will depend on this partnership conversation. I mentioned earlier about how we're talking to people about building additional plants around the world that would be focused more on PET than our specialty plastics, but we could take a stream of that output and use it for specialty plastics if we wanted to.

是的。所以我們不會等到這家工廠投產後再蓋另一家工廠。我的意思是，這取決於我們內部對我們產品的需求，也取決於這次的合作談判。我之前提到過，我們正在與各方洽談，在世界各地建造更多專注於PET（聚對苯二甲酸乙二醇酯）而非特種塑膠的工廠。但如果我們願意，也可以將這些產量的一部分用於特殊塑膠的生產。

But for sure, if you ask me, where are we going to be 5, 10 years from now, our goal, as we said in the sustainability report last December, is to make all of our cellulosic plastics and our polyesters from plastic waste. That's our long-term goal. So we're not stopping at this first plant. And we're -- and what we're seeing so far gives us great confidence that, that vision is possible.

但可以肯定的是，如果你問我，5年、10年後我們會在哪裡，我們的目標是，正如我們在去年12月的可持續發展報告中所說，所有纖維素塑膠和聚酯纖維都由塑膠廢料製成。這是我們的長期目標。所以我們不會止步於第一家工廠。而且，我們目前的進展讓我們非常有信心，這個願景是可以實現的。

It's a very attractive return for shareholders. We get better margins. We get to accelerate growth of our highest value products, and it's just a great story. So yes, I expect we'll be building more than this plant, but we're focused on doing this plant well first and having success in filling it up, and seeing if this alternative business model is something that's going to work with customers and partners.

這對股東來說是一個非常有吸引力的回報。我們獲得了更高的利潤率。我們能夠加速我們最高價值產品的成長，這真是一個很棒的故事。所以，是的，我預計我們還會建造更多工廠，但我們首先專注於把這個工廠做好，並成功實現產能滿載運轉，然後再看看這種替代性的商業模式是否適合客戶和合作夥伴。

I would also note that, that's not our only sustainability play. We've been the original biopolymer company, right? We've been making cellulose acetate for over 100 years and brought it into a wide range of products. So it's a sustainable biopolymer. It's biodegradable in a lot of applications. And now we have a very unique capability on the planet to add recycled content to the other half of that polymer, right? So half of it is made from certified and sustainable forest, the other half today is obviously made from fossil fuels in acetic anhydride to make those cellulosic products.

我還要指出的是，這並非我們唯一的永續發展措施。我們是最早涉足生物聚合物領域的公司，對吧？我們生產醋酸纖維素已有100多年的歷史，並將其應用於各種產品中。所以它是一種可持續的生物聚合物。它在許多應用中都是可生物降解的。現在，我們擁有地球上獨一無二的能力，可以在這種聚合物的另一半中添加可回收材料，對吧？所以，其中一半來自經過認證的可持續森林，而如今，另一半顯然是用化石燃料與醋酸酐反應製成的纖維素產品。

As we add recycled content to the other half of it, it's an extremely compelling polymer compared to anything else on the market because it's biopolymer, it's biodegradable, and it has recycled content in it and based on a wide spectrum of waste plastic, including our ability to take back products from our customers like textiles, right?

由於我們在另一半中添加了可回收成分，與市場上的任何其他產品相比，它是一種極具吸引力的聚合物，因為它是生物聚合物，可生物降解，並且含有可回收成分，並且基於廣泛的廢塑料，包括我們從客戶那裡回收紡織品等產品的能力，對嗎？

So Naia has just been a phenomenal growth story for us this year and especially in how fast it's recovered in the first quarter. And it's just got a great story as a biopolymer that's led to a lot of success, and now we're adding the Renew recycled content part of it to the story. And we expected just a tremendous amount of growth of that. And there's a bunch of cellulosic plastics and Advanced Materials that we see in the durable space. And we also think there's probably significant upside in the single-use plastics space as well. And that's very early stage.

因此，Naia 今年對我們來說是一個非凡的成長故事，尤其是在第一季復甦如此之快。作為一種生物聚合物，它有著輝煌的業績，取得了巨大的成功，現在我們將其中的 Renew 再生材料部分添加到故事中。我們預計它會帶來巨大的成長。此外，我們在耐久財領域也看到了大量的纖維素塑膠和先進材料。我們也認為，一次性塑膠領域也可能存在巨大的成長空間。而這還處於非常早期的階段。

So that's a whole another dimension of growth at better margins, higher value, great asset leverage to our existing capacity because there, we don't have to add capital. It's just leveraging existing capability and capacity.

所以，這是另一個維度的成長：更高的利潤率、更高的價值，以及對我們現有產能的更大資產槓桿，因為我們無需額外增加資本，只需利用現有的能力和產能即可。

Mark, as a follow-up, you were talking about $100 million full year benefit of higher-capacity utilization. Where do you think, relative to that annualized target, you stood in the first quarter? Do you think if we sort of -- as we ramp volume through the year, there's more? Or it fully reflected that benefit as of Q1?

馬克，接下來，您剛才談到了提高產能利用率帶來的1億美元全年收益。您認為，相對於這個年度目標，第一季的收益如何？您認為，隨著全年產量的增加，收益會更高嗎？還是說，截至第一季度，這項收益已經完全反映出來了？

Yes. This is Willie. And what I would highlight is we expect to see a tremendous amount of the year-over-year utilization benefits in Q2 and Q3 as a reminder. So obviously, here in the first quarter, we've had a hard time building inventories, which means we're running at high rates, but the low rate utilization that we had in 2020 or substantially in Q2 and Q3.

是的，我是威利。我想強調的是，我們預期第二季和第三季的產能利用率將大幅高於去年同期。顯然，在第一季度，我們很難建立庫存，這意味著我們的產能利用率很高，但產能利用率卻與2020年第二季和第三季的低水準相當。

We're also looking at how we expand, and we're making higher investments this year to ensure that we can capture not only the existing demand, but the future demand, including expanding our interlayers facilities this year. We're bringing on amines capacity as well here in Q2 during the shutdown and as Mark has already highlighted, converting a polymer unit ahead of schedule on Tritan. So -- and we, additionally, we get roughly 2% to 3% capacity creep. So you'll get the cost benefits in Q2, Q3, but more importantly, it's about the mix upgrade and the continued growth that we're focused on and deploying the capital to do that.

我們也在考慮如何擴張，今年我們將增加投資，以確保我們不僅能滿足現有需求，還能滿足未來的需求，包括今年擴大我們的中間膜設施。在第二季停產期間，我們也將增加胺類產能，正如馬克先前強調的那樣，我們也提前完成了Tritan聚合物裝置的改造。此外，我們的產能成長約為2%到3%。因此，您將在第二季和第三季獲得成本效益，但更重要的是，我們專注於產品組合升級和持續成長，並為此投入資金。

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

我們現在將回答高盛的 Bob Koort 提出的下一個問題。

Mark, I wanted to -- if you could help me figure out how the how the heck you guys are keeping costs flat. I know your headcount hasn't changed, and I would assume there's some creeping back in from last year. You've got some expansionary efforts and new programs in place? How are you doing that?

馬克，我想問一下──你們到底是怎麼做到成本保持平穩的？我知道你們的員工人數沒有變化，而且我猜去年的人員規模有所回升。你們有一些擴張計劃和新項目嗎？你們是怎麼做到的？

So Bob, this is Willie. What I would tell you is we've been doing a great job of managing our overall cost structure across the company. And our teams are delivering, and it's showing up in our performance, whether it's EBIT, our EBIT margins, cash flow and EPS.

鮑勃，我是威利。我想告訴你的是，我們在管理全公司整體成本結構方面做得非常出色。我們的團隊表現出色，這體現在我們的業績上，無論是息稅前利潤、息稅前利潤率、現金流或每股盈餘。

So as we think about what we've delivered, we ultimately started our COVID action plans at the end of Q1 last year, and then we accelerated transformational efforts towards the back end. As we came around here into Q1, we benefited from those cost actions year-over-year. I would point out, as you think about also our SG&A line, you probably see that going up a little bit. And as I highlighted, I believe last year, the fact that we had some market-based comp, specifically deferred comp, that was a benefit last year that's not repeating this year just due to the financial market declines.

因此，回顧我們所取得的成果，我們最終在去年第一季末啟動了新冠疫情應對計劃，隨後加快了後端轉型工作。進入第一季度，我們受惠於這些成本控制措施，年比有所提升。我想指出的是，考慮到我們的銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A)，您可能會發現該費用略有上升。正如我去年強調的那樣，我們有一些基於市場的薪資福利，特別是遞延薪資福利，這是去年的一個優勢，由於金融市場下跌，今年不會再次出現。

But we're well set up and focused, so that those variable margins that we talked about last year fall through to the bottom line. Obviously, there'll be a little bit of denominator math just due to the price inflations that we're dealing with.

但我們已經做好了充分的準備，目標明確，因此我們去年談到的那些可變利潤率最終會體現在淨利潤中。顯然，由於我們正在應對價格通膨，分母計算會有一些偏差。

Yes. Bob, overall headcount is down. So between the assets we shut down around the world as well as some headcount optimization that we've done last year, the headcount is actually down. I'm not sure where you got the it's flat part.

是的。鮑勃，整體員工人數減少了。考慮到我們在全球範圍內關閉的資產，以及我們去年進行的一些人員優化，員工人數實際上是減少了。我不確定你說的持平部分是怎麼來的。

I was looking at the 10-K. Maybe I just misread it. Mark, I did want to ask, it's been a long time since you did a blockbuster deal. And it appears that you're starting to get the traction on the EBITDA run rate, the earnings run rate. Do you have enough stuff on the organic plate to keep you busy and excited? Or do we start to put on the radar screen, maybe it's -- you deserve the right to do something big again?

我當時正在看10-K報表。也許我看錯了。馬克，我其實想問一下，你已經很久沒做過什麼轟動的交易了。而且看起來你的EBITDA（息稅折舊攤提前利潤）營運率，也就是獲利運行率，開始有所提升了。你的有機板塊裡有足夠多的事情讓你忙碌和興奮嗎？或者說，我們開始關注你了，也許──你值得再做大事？

So first of all, we love our portfolio and the innovation that we have in front of us, Bob, and it's producing very attractive earnings and exceptionally attractive cash flow. And we see a lot of innovation, positioning us to continue growth into '22. We also like the markets that we're in, and we still think there's market recovery in front of us in '22 and beyond in things like aviation, automotive. So the volume mix story, I think, will continue. The balance sheet is obviously getting stronger. And we're going to have tailwinds next year as we go into that year with cost reductions.

首先，鮑勃，我們熱愛我們的投資組合和我們面臨的創新，它正在創造非常誘人的收益和異常可觀的現金流。我們看到了很多創新，這為我們在2022年繼續成長奠定了基礎。我們也看好我們所處的市場，我們仍然認為2022年及以後，航空、汽車等領域的市場將迎來復甦。因此，我認為銷售組合的良好勢頭將會持續下去。資產負債表顯然正在增強。隨著成本削減，我們明年將迎來順風。

So all of that feels good. And our balance sheet is getting into better shape. Our strategy continues to be focused on what can we do organically, what bolt-on M&As make a lot of sense to add to what we're trying to do and buy back stock with the remainder of the cash. So that's our strategy now, and that's what we're going to stay focused on doing.

這一切感覺很好。我們的資產負債表也越來越好。我們的策略仍然專注於哪些方面能夠有機成長，哪些附加併購能夠更好地補充我們正在努力的業務，以及用剩餘的現金回購股票。這就是我們現在的策略，也是我們將繼續專注於做的事情。

We will now take our next question from John Roberts from UBS.

我們現在將回答瑞銀集團的約翰羅伯茲提出的下一個問題。

And I'll ask just one here. Mark, methanolysis has overshadowed the activity you're doing on processing waste plastic in the gasifier. Have you taken that as far as it can go? And can you help other gasify operators process plastic waste?

我這裡就問一個問題。馬克，甲醇分解已經蓋過了你在氣化爐中處理廢塑膠的業務。你已經把這個業務做到極致了嗎？你能幫助其他氣化爐操作員處理塑膠廢料嗎？

Yes. So we're really excited about what we're doing with the gasifier and changing it from gasifying coal to what's technically called reforming plastic. And so that plastic waste, we're just getting started, Bob. It's got huge growth potential. That's the speech I just gave a moment ago about biopolymers and all the opportunities we see to grow in specialty plastics as well as in textiles.

是的。我們對氣化爐的改造感到非常興奮，它從氣化煤炭轉變為技術上所說的塑膠重整。所以，鮑勃，塑膠垃圾的處理才剛起步。它有著巨大的成長潛力。這就是我剛才關於生物聚合物以及我們在特種塑膠和紡織品領域看到的所有成長機會的演講。

So the great good news is it's incremental capital to continue adding plastic waste. And the great thing about the gasifier is that it can take any kind of plastic waste, mixed plastic waste, which is great. It gives us a unique advantage in buying raw materials because we can buy a puddle of plastic and then separate out the polyester and put it in the methanolysis and put the remainder into the gasifier, which gives us the ability to buy very low-cost feedstock that hasn't been sort of cleaned up. And we're really excited about that.

所以，好消息是，這能帶來增量資本，讓我們繼續增加塑膠廢料的產量。氣化爐的優點在於它可以處理任何類型的塑膠廢料，包括混合塑膠廢料，這一點非常棒。這讓我們在購買原料方面擁有獨特的優勢，因為我們可以購買一堆塑料，然後分離出聚酯，放入甲醇分解裝置，剩餘部分則放入氣化爐。這讓我們能夠購買成本極低且未經任何處理過的原料。我們對此感到非常興奮。

So no, we see a tremendous amount of growth in that space, as excited about that as methanolysis and what we can do with our polymer capacity, and we have a lot of capacity to leverage. So no, it's going to be great.

所以，我們看到該領域有巨大的成長潛力，我們對甲醇分解以及我們利用聚合物產能所能實現的目標同樣感到興奮，而且我們擁有大量產能可以利用。所以，這將會非常美好。

As far as working with other people, we're not focused on that right now. To your second part of the question, we're -- at the moment, we're really just trying to deal with all the inbounds on the methanolysis side that's taking a pull of our resources.

至於與其他人合作，我們目前還沒有重點。關於你問題的第二部分，我們目前主要在努力處理甲醇分解方面所有耗費我們資源的入站問題。

Let's make the next question the last one, please.

請將下一個問題作為最後一個問題。

We will now take our last question from Laurence Alexander from Jefferies.

我們現在來回答 Jefferies 的 Laurence Alexander 提出的最後一個問題。

Can we -- can you put the cost and productivity discussion in perspective in terms of over the next, say, 3, 5 years? Would you be able to keep the cost structures roughly flat, barring any M&A? Or is there an adjustment period? And if you do so, what would you be sacrificing? Like what are you giving up in order to do that?

您能否從未來3到5年的角度來探討成本和生產力問題？除非進行併購，您能保持成本結構大致穩定嗎？或者說，會有一個調整期嗎？如果這樣做，您會犧牲什麼？為了做到這一點，您會放棄什麼？

Yes. Thanks, Laurence, for the question. As Mark sized it earlier, we started with a goal of delivering a flat cost structure in 2021, and that was on top of reducing our cost by roughly $150 million compared to '19. And as we look forward, we look to continue to grow that, and we see another $50-plus million over the next year plus.

是的。勞倫斯，謝謝你的提問。正如馬克之前提到的，我們最初的目標是在2021年實現成本結構持平，這比2019年的成本削減了約1.5億美元。展望未來，我們希望繼續維持此目標，預計未來一年內成本將再增加5,000多萬美元。

Also, what we're trying to do there, Laurence, is that frees up capacity as we create the incremental gains to continue to fund our growth without substantially growing our cost structure. So that's the way I would frame it at this point. And we continue to also look at leveraging assets and sites, et cetera, to continue to gain better fixed cost leverage where we have additional capabilities as we've highlighted previously.

此外，勞倫斯，我們正在嘗試做的是，在創造增量收益的同時釋放產能，從而繼續為我們的成長提供資金，而無需大幅增加成本結構。這就是我目前的想法。我們也會繼續考慮利用資產、場地等等，以便在我們擁有額外能力的情況下繼續獲得更好的固定成本槓桿，正如我們之前所強調的。

But to assure you, we're not making any compromise on our growth portfolio. I mean, even in '18 -- I mean, in '19 and '20, when we could have easily cut on R&D and innovation, we kept on doubling down and investing in those spaces because we knew that's our future. We, frankly, did the same thing in '08, '09, which allowed us to come out of that crisis extremely well in '10, '11.

但請放心，我們不會在我們的成長組合上做出任何妥協。我的意思是，即使在2018年——也就是2019年和2020年，我們本可以輕鬆削減研發和創新支出，但我們仍然加倍投入，在這些領域進行投資，因為我們知道那是我們的未來。坦白說，我們在2008年和2009年也做了同樣的事情，這讓我們在2010年和2011年很好地走出了危機。

So we're never going to compromise our long-term strategy, but we do think digital technologies and a variety of other things that are available to us today allow us to be much more efficient in how we run our operations as well as get a lot of routine tasks done in the SG&A world to enable us to invest more in growth.

因此，我們永遠不會損害我們的長期策略，但我們確實認為，數位科技和當今可用的各種其他東西使我們能夠更有效率地經營業務，並在銷售、一般和行政管理領域完成許多日常任務，使我們能夠在成長方面投入更多資金。

Thanks very much, everyone, for joining us today. A replay of the remarks plus the transcript will be posted on our website this afternoon. Hope you all have a nice day.

非常感謝大家今天的參與。今天下午，我們將在網站上發布本次演講的重播和文字記錄。祝大家有個愉快的一天。

Thank you, everyone. Appreciate the questions.

謝謝大家。感謝大家的提問。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的通話到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以掛斷電話了。