Hain Celestial Group Inc (HAIN) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to The Hain Celestial Group Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 The Hain Celestial Group 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Alexis Tessier, Investor Relations for Hain Celestial Group. Thank you. You may begin.

現在我想將會議轉交給東道主 Hain Celestial Group 投資者關係部的 Alexis Tessier。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on Hain Celestial's Fourth Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Wendy Davidson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Chris Bellairs, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

早上好，感謝您參加 Hain Celestial 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議。今天參加電話會議的是總裁兼首席執行官溫迪·戴維森 (Wendy Davidson)；克里斯·貝萊爾斯（Chris Bellairs），執行副總裁兼首席財務官。

During the course of this call, we may make forward-looking statements within the meanings of federal securities laws. These include expectations and assumptions regarding the company's future operations and financial performance. These statements are based on our current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations.

在本次電話會議期間，我們可能會做出聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。其中包括有關公司未來運營和財務業績的預期和假設。這些陳述基於我們當前的預期，涉及可能導致實際結果與我們的預期存在重大差異的風險和不確定性。

Please refer to our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the press release issued this morning for a detailed discussion of the risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made today.

請參閱我們不時向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-K 表格年度報告、10-Q 表格季度報告以及其他報告以及今天上午發布的新聞稿，以詳細討論以下風險：可能導致實際結果與今天做出的任何前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。

We have also prepared a presentation inclusive of additional supplemental financial information, which is posted on our website at hain.com under the Investors heading. Please note that remarks today will focus on non-GAAP or adjusted financial measures. Reconciliations of GAAP results to non-GAAP financial measures are available in the earnings release and the slide presentation accompanying this call. This call is being webcast, and an archive will be made available on the website.

我們還準備了一份包含額外補充財務信息的演示文稿，該演示文稿發佈在我們網站 hain.com 的“投資者”標題下。請注意，今天的發言將重點關注非公認會計準則或調整後的財務指標。 GAAP 業績與非 GAAP 財務指標的對賬可在本次電話會議隨附的收益發布和幻燈片演示中找到。此次電話會議正在網絡直播，並將在網站上提供檔案。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Wendy.

現在我想把電話轉給溫迪。

Thank you, Alexis, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining the call today. I'll start today's call by reviewing our fourth quarter results before discussing the steps we're taking to transform our business and the progress we're already seeing on the journey to return the company to sustainable profitable growth. Then Chris will review our financial results in more detail, along with our outlook for fiscal 2024 before I offer some closing remarks. I'm pleased to report that we achieved fourth quarter results, which were near the high end of our expectations.

謝謝你，亞歷克西斯，大家早上好。我們感謝您今天加入電話會議。在今天的電話會議中，我將回顧我們第四季度的業績，然後討論我們為業務轉型而採取的步驟以及我們在使公司恢復可持續盈利增長的過程中已經取得的進展。然後，在我發表一些結束語之前，克里斯將更詳細地回顧我們的財務業績以及我們對 2024 財年的展望。我很高興地報告，我們第四季度的業績接近我們預期的上限。

Adjusted net sales on a constant currency basis were down slightly, 1.5% year-over-year, consistent with our guidance and adjusted EBITDA on a constant currency basis was $43.5 million at the high end of our guidance. As expected, the net sales decline in the fourth quarter was driven by the North American segment where a large customer promotion for snacks in the prior year period was not repeated and by some softness in personal care. There were several bright spots in our results stemming from strategic actions we began taking in the third quarter for both our North American and international businesses.

按固定匯率計算的調整後淨銷售額同比小幅下降 1.5%，與我們的指導一致，按固定匯率計算的調整後 EBITDA 為 4,350 萬美元，處於我們指導的上限。正如預期的那樣，第四季度淨銷售額下降的原因是北美市場沒有重複去年同期對零食進行的大規模客戶促銷，以及個人護理產品的疲軟。我們的業績中有幾個亮點源於我們在第三季度開始為北美和國際業務採取的戰略行動。

In North America, we are seeing bright spots in key snack and beverage brands with Garden Veggie Snacks and Celestial Seasonings bagged tea both returning to growth after a challenging third quarter. Garden Veggie Snacks grew dollar sales by 4% in the 12 weeks ended July 15 on 14% growth in TDP and Celestial Seasonings bagged tea grew dollar sales by 2% on 7% growth in TDP.

在北美，我們看到主要零食和飲料品牌的亮點，Garden Veggie Snacks 和 Celestial Seasonings 袋裝茶在經歷了充滿挑戰的第三季度後均恢復增長。截至 7 月 15 日的 12 週內，Garden Veggie Snacks 的美元銷售額增長了 4%，其 TDP 增長了 14%；Celestial Seasonings 袋裝茶的美元銷售額增長了 2%，其 TDP 增長了 7%。

Additionally, Greek Gods Yogurt continued its standout performance, growing dollar sales 12% on a 20% increase in velocity and our Earth's Best Baby and Kids grew dollar sales 20%, excluding formula on 19% TDP growth in part due to Earth's Best snacks innovation launched earlier this year. Formula continues to be a challenge driven by industry-wide supply shortages. In the International segment, we continued the momentum from the third quarter to achieve another quarter of adjusted net sales growth. The growth was driven by the U.K., led by Meal Prep formerly called Pantry, particularly in private label, where we have a meaningful presence as well as by snacks.

此外，Greek Gods Yogurt 繼續表現出色，銷售額增長了12%，速度增長了20%，Earth's Best Baby and Kids 的美元銷售額增長了20%，不包括配方奶粉，TDP 增長了19%，部分原因是Earth's Best 零食創新今年早些時候推出。由於全行業供應短缺，配方奶粉仍然是一個挑戰。在國際業務領域，我們延續了第三季度的勢頭，實現了又一個季度的調整後淨銷售額增長。這一增長是由英國推動的，由 Meal Prep（以前稱為 Pantry）引領，特別是在自有品牌領域，我們在英國擁有有意義的存在以及零食。

We were also encouraged to see sequential improvement in meat-free with our private label growing 9% in the quarter and gaining share as the category continues to show signs of stabilization. Strength in the U.K. was only partially offset by softness in the non-dairy beverage business in Continental Europe. While non-dairy beverages were down year-over-year for the fourth quarter as a whole, we are encouraged by sequential improvement we've seen throughout the year, especially in our strong private label segment and by growth in both June and July. The recovery in non-dairy beverage is largely led by private label and appears to be gaining positive momentum.

我們還欣喜地看到無肉產品的連續改善，我們的自有品牌在本季度增長了 9%，並且隨著該類別繼續顯示出穩定的跡象，我們的份額也不斷增加。英國的強勢僅被歐洲大陸非乳製品飲料業務的疲軟所部分抵消。雖然非乳製品飲料第四季度整體同比下降，但我們對全年的連續改善感到鼓舞，特別是在我們強大的自有品牌細分市場以及 6 月和 7 月的增長。非乳製品飲料的複蘇主要是由自有品牌帶動的，並且似乎正在獲得積極的勢頭。

As a category leader in both branded and nondairy private label, we believe our portfolio is well positioned to benefit from this development. During the quarter, we delivered improvements in gross margin across the business through both pricing and productivity initiatives, including the consolidation of our meat-free manufacturing footprint, as we expect continued moderation in the inflationary environment in fiscal '24, but still above normal levels, we see further opportunity to improve gross margin. We also made progress on our debt levels in the quarter, paying down $28 million in debt.

作為品牌和非乳製品自有品牌的類別領導者，我們相信我們的產品組合處於有利地位，可以從這一發展中受益。在本季度，我們通過定價和生產力舉措提高了整個業務的毛利率，包括鞏固我們的無肉製造足跡，因為我們預計 24 財年通脹環境將持續放緩，但仍高於正常水平，我們看到了進一步提高毛利率的機會。本季度我們的債務水平也取得了進展，償還了 2800 萬美元的債務。

Debt repayment, coupled with reinvesting in strategic business capabilities remains the top priority for free cash flow. Overall, we are pleased with the stabilization of many of our core categories as we finish the year. As you know, we've been undertaking a significant review of our company strategy and reimagining our business in order to realize our full potential and return Hain to consistent profitable growth. We've begun taking meaningful steps to simplify our business and set the foundation for our transformation by focusing on enhancing our capabilities, optimizing our organization, strengthening our end-to-end supply chain, improving our productivity pipeline, optimizing our route to market and fueling our brand-building initiatives.

債務償還以及對戰略業務能力的再投資仍然是自由現金流的首要任務。總體而言，我們對今年結束時許多核心類別的穩定感到滿意。如您所知，我們一直在對公司戰略進行重大審查，並重新規劃我們的業務，以充分發揮我們的潛力，並使 Hain 恢復持續的盈利增長。我們已經開始採取有意義的步驟來簡化我們的業務，並通過專注於增強我們的能力、優化我們的組織、加強我們的端到端供應鏈、改善我們的生產力管道、優化我們的市場路線和為我們的轉型奠定基礎。推動我們的品牌建設舉措。

Early actions are bearing fruit, reinforcing our confidence in our strategy and future growth potential. Let me share a few examples. We spoke last quarter about our efforts to enhance our capabilities and expanding the margin accretive channels, such as immediate consumption and away from home. We believe there is a significant opportunity for our brands outside of traditional retail and on-the-go consumption occasions within C-stores, airports, offices and universities, amongst others. These immediate consumption channels drive brand reach and visibility and our both price and margin accretive, that shoppers are willing to pay more for convenience.

早期行動正在取得成果，增強了我們對戰略和未來增長潛力的信心。讓我分享幾個例子。上季度我們談到了我們為增強能力和擴大利潤增長渠道所做的努力，例如即時消費和外出消費。我們相信，我們的品牌在傳統零售和便利店、機場、辦公室和大學等的移動消費場合之外還有著巨大的機會。這些即時消費渠道提高了品牌影響力和知名度，並提高了我們的價格和利潤，購物者願意為便利支付更多費用。

Our portfolio is well positioned to take share in this channel, particularly our snacks and tea brands. Bagged tea is one of the fastest-growing beverages in food service, and we are seeing consumers adding to their morning and evening routines with snacking occasions away from home. Morning and evening snacking occasions are up 3% versus a year ago. We are enhancing our Away-From-Home capability and our go-to-market strategy as it requires a very unique sales process and a distinctive and focused sales model, different than that used for traditional retail channels.

我們的產品組合處於有利地位，可以在這個渠道中佔據份額，特別是我們的零食和茶品牌。袋裝茶是餐飲服務中增長最快的飲料之一，我們看到消費者在早上和晚上的日常生活中增加了外出吃零食的習慣。早上和晚上吃零食的次數比一年前增加了 3%。我們正在增強我們的離家能力和進入市場策略，因為它需要非常獨特的銷售流程和獨特且專注的銷售模式，與傳統零售渠道所使用的不同。

While a new focus for Hain, this is a channel in which I have in-depth experience and I'm pleased that we are already seeing progress against this effort with C-store sales growing double digits in the 12 weeks ended July 16. Additionally, we are building out our revenue growth management capability to drive effectiveness and efficiency in price realization, brand building and in market share growth. For example, we recently executed a successful SKU rationalization initiative within our International segment which streamlined a brand's offering by nearly half. These efforts resulted in a highly productive core, which is now seeing double-digit growth and increased velocity, a win for both Hain and our retail partners.

雖然這是Hain 的一個新重點，但我在這個渠道中擁有深入的經驗，我很高興我們已經看到這項工作取得了進展，在截至7 月16 日的12 週內，便利店銷售額實現了兩位數增長。 ，我們正在建立我們的收入增長管理能力，以提高價格實現、品牌建設和市場份額增長的有效性和效率。例如，我們最近在國際部門成功執行了一項 SKU 合理化計劃，該計劃將品牌的產品精簡了近一半。這些努力帶來了一個高生產力的核心，現在正在實現兩位數的增長和速度的提高，這對 Hain 和我們的零售合作夥伴來說都是雙贏。

Furthermore, e-commerce continues to be a focus with increased support and optimization on marketplaces and retailer.com with updated content, expanded assortment, improved media efficiency and increased spend on key brands. Garden Veggie Snacks, Earth's Best and Celestial Seasonings are all growing consumption with double-digit increases in traffic online. We continue to focus on refining our operating model so that it is future fit to drive effectiveness and efficiency supported by global centers of excellence.

此外，電子商務仍然是人們關注的焦點，對市場和retailer.com 的支持和優化不斷增加，更新的內容、擴大的品種、提高的媒體效率以及增加對關鍵品牌的支出。 Garden Veggie Snacks、Earth's Best 和 Celestial Seasonings 的消費量都在增長，在線流量呈兩位數增長。我們繼續專注於完善我們的運營模式，使其適合未來在全球卓越中心的支持下提高有效性和效率。

Earlier this month, we announced our new global headquarters in Hoboken, New Jersey. The space and location were thoughtfully selected to meet the evolving needs of our business. And nearly half the size of our footprint in Lake Success, our new headquarter will serve as the anchor to our hub-and-spoke flexible working model where teams will come together to collaborate at significantly less cost than our prior locations. This approach aligns to our purpose of inspiring healthier living and serves as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent regardless of where they are located. The headquarter will also serve as the home of Hain's Innovation Experience Center where team members, customers and consumers will be able to immerse themselves in our products, explore consumer insights and create innovative opportunities for the future.

本月早些時候，我們宣佈在新澤西州霍博肯設立新的全球總部。空間和位置經過精心選擇，以滿足我們不斷變化的業務需求。我們的新總部面積接近成功湖的一半，將成為我們中心輻射型靈活工作模式的支柱，在該模式中，團隊將聚集在一起以比我們之前的地點低得多的成本進行協作。這種方法符合我們倡導更健康生活的目標，並作為吸引和留住頂尖人才（無論他們身在何處）的競爭優勢。總部還將作為Hain創新體驗中心的所在地，團隊成員、客戶和消費者將能夠沉浸在我們的產品中，探索消費者洞察並為未來創造創新機會。

Our centers of excellence are designed to leverage global scale where appropriate and nimbly execute locally for impact. Our first global center, which we announced earlier this year was for supply chain. Through this COE, we have simplified our end-to-end planning and enhanced our productivity pipeline process, generating $34 million in productivity in the back half of fiscal '23. When coupled with pricing, this has allowed us to offset record levels of inflation while maintaining average on-shelf availability fill rates ahead of the industry over the course of the fiscal year.

我們的卓越中心旨在在適當的情況下利用全球規模，並在當地靈活執行以產生影響。我們今年早些時候宣布的第一個全球中心是供應鏈中心。通過這個 COE，我們簡化了端到端規劃並增強了我們的生產力管道流程，在 23 財年後半段創造了 3400 萬美元的生產力。再加上定價，這使我們能夠抵消創紀錄的通貨膨脹水平，同時在本財年保持平均貨架供應填充率領先於行業。

We are in the process of establishing additional global centers of excellence in areas such as innovation, brand building, talent management and technology. Our Baby and Kids businesses in North America and international, have begun collaborating to share consumer and category insights, brand strategy, innovation and creative assets across the Ella's Kitchen and Earth's Best brands. This facilitated the launch of Earth's Best Crunchy sticks in the U.S. which are similar to the best-selling Ella's Kitchen melty sticks the U.K. This partnered innovation overdelivered expectations at launch, helping to deliver strong growth in Earth's Best snacks in the quarter, with expanded distribution and support in fiscal '24.

我們正在創新、品牌建設、人才管理和技術等領域建立更多的全球卓越中心。我們在北美和國際的嬰兒和兒童業務已開始合作，分享 Ella's Kitchen 和 Earth's Best 品牌的消費者和品類見解、品牌戰略、創新和創意資產。這促進了Earth's Best 脆脆棒在美國的推出，該棒與英國最暢銷的Ella's Kitchen 融化棒類似。這種合作創新超出了發佈時的預期，有助於實現Earth's Best 零食在本季度的強勁增長，並擴大了分銷範圍以及 24 財年的支持。

Our strategic reinvestment in marketing and brand building is also beginning to yield positive results. As you may recall, the supply chain challenges we faced in fiscal '22 led to a temporary pullback in marketing efforts, which negatively impacted sales in fiscal '23. In quarter 3, we began taking action and reinstated brand support and are encouraged by the positive momentum as a result. In the fourth quarter, we saw marked improvement in Celestial Seasonings tea due in part to the Magic in Your Mug campaign that we activated in fiscal quarter 3. Celestial bag tea grew 2.3% in the latest 12 weeks, while the category posted a mild decline, resulting in Celestial gaining share.

我們對營銷和品牌建設的戰略再投資也開始產生積極成果。您可能還記得，我們在 22 財年面臨的供應鏈挑戰導致營銷工作暫時回落，這對 23 財年的銷售產生了負面影響。第三季度，我們開始採取行動並恢復了品牌支持，並對由此產生的積極勢頭感到鼓舞。第四季度，我們看到天仙調味茶的銷量顯著改善，部分原因是我們在第三財季啟動了“Magic in Your Mug”活動。天仙袋裝茶在過去12 週內增長了2.3%，而該品類則出現了溫和下滑，導致Celestial 的份額不斷增加。

Tea also benefited from our work as a category captain with a large retail partner on the optimization of assortment and shelf set. Furthermore, we are seeing encouraging early results from Peppermint K-Cups and Sleepytime with melatonin, both new tea innovations supported by strong customer programming this summer. Also launching in the third quarter was our Earth's Best Good Food Made Fun campaign, which helped to drive Earth's Best snacks growth of 8% on 18% growth in TDP in the latest 12 weeks. We have strong programming in place with our key retail partners, focusing on 360 activation, including retail media, in-store events, digital coupons and retailer website engagement. We will continue to deliver Good Food Made Fun across all consumer touch points in fiscal '24, including new packaging, website and public relations and social media.

茶也受益於我們作為品類領導者與大型零售合作夥伴在品種和貨架設置優化方面的工作。此外，我們還看到 Peppermint K-Cups 和 Sleepytime 含褪黑素的早期成果令人鼓舞，這兩種新茶創新都得到了今年夏天強大的客戶計劃的支持。第三季度還推出了 Earth's Best Good Food Made Fun 活動，該活動幫助推動 Earth's Best 零食在過去 12 週內增長了 8%，TDP 增長了 18%。我們與主要零售合作夥伴制定了強有力的計劃，重點關注 360 度激活，包括零售媒體、店內活動、數字優惠券和零售商網站參與。我們將在 24 財年繼續在所有消費者接觸點提供“歡樂美食”，包括新包裝、網站、公共關係和社交媒體。

In the fourth quarter, we launched our Crazy Delicious Vegetables media campaign for Terra Chips. The early results show campaign effectiveness, brand awareness and purchasing intent all surpassing industry benchmarks. The early success we are seeing across these areas of focus gives us confidence that we have the right comprehensive plan in place to build our brands and return the business to growth in fiscal '24. We view fiscal '24 as an inflection point, a year during which we will reset our foundation and pivot to growth. Consistent with what I shared on the last call, we plan to make brand building investments across key brands to drive growth while also optimizing the effectiveness of our marketing dollars to work harder.

在第四季度，我們為 Terra Chips 推出了瘋狂美味蔬菜媒體活動。早期結果顯示活動效果、品牌知名度和購買意願均超過行業基準。我們在這些重點領域看到的早期成功讓我們相信，我們已經制定了正確的全面計劃來打造我們的品牌並使業務在 24 財年恢復增長。我們將 24 財年視為一個轉折點，在這一年中我們將重設基礎並轉向增長。與我在上次電話會議中分享的內容一致，我們計劃對主要品牌進行品牌建設投資，以推動增長，同時優化營銷資金的有效性，以更加努力地工作。

We will begin to make investments to enhance our Away From Home and e-commerce capabilities, 2 channels which we expect will provide meaningful growth in the future.

我們將開始進行投資，以增強我們的外出和電子商務能力，我們預計這兩個渠道將在未來帶來有意義的增長。

Before I hand the call over to Chris to share the financial details, I want to thank the entire Hain team for their commitment to our purpose of inspiring healthier living through Better-For-You purpose-driven brands. I recently completed my first 7 months of visits to see all of our global sites, including manufacturing, distribution and offices across the U.S., Europe and Canada, which left me energized by our capabilities and our team's passion. I am encouraged by our potential to leverage our reach and scale to deliver sustainable and profitable growth as the leading Better-For-You branded enterprise.

在我將電話轉給 Chris 分享財務細節之前，我要感謝整個 Hain 團隊致力於通過“為您提供更好”的目標驅動品牌來實現我們的目標，以激發更健康的生活。我最近完成了前 7 個月的訪問，參觀了我們所有的全球工廠，包括美國、歐洲和加拿大的製造、分銷和辦事處，這讓我對我們的能力和團隊的熱情感到充滿活力。作為領先的“Better-For-You”品牌企業，我們有潛力利用我們的影響力和規模實現可持續和盈利性增長，這讓我感到鼓舞。

With that, I'll turn it over to Chris.

有了這個，我會把它交給克里斯。

Thanks, Wendy, and good morning, everyone. Fourth quarter consolidated net sales decreased 2% versus the prior year period to $447.8 million, inclusive of a $1.3 million impact from foreign exchange. On an adjusted basis, consolidated net sales decreased 1.5% in the quarter, consistent with our guidance of low single-digit decline. Adjusted gross margin was 22.7% in the fourth quarter, an increase of approximately 330 basis points versus the prior year period and an increase of 130 basis points from the third quarter of 2023.

謝謝，溫迪，大家早上好。第四季度合併淨銷售額較上年同期下降 2%，至 4.478 億美元，其中包括 130 萬美元的外匯影響。調整後的基礎上，本季度綜合淨銷售額下降 1.5%，與我們的低個位數降幅指引一致。第四季度調整後毛利率為22.7%，較上年同期增長約330個基點，較2023年第三季度增長130個基點。

Driven by pricing and productivity, partially offset by inflation. Adjusted EBITDA on a constant currency basis was $43.5 million versus $35.4 million in the prior year period. This came in near the high end of our guidance range of $40 million to $44 million. Total SG&A came in at 14.9% of net sales for the quarter, as compared to 15.5% of net sales in the prior year period, benefiting from cost management. Net loss for the quarter was $18.7 million or $0.21 per diluted share, compared to net income of $3 million or $0.03 per diluted share in the prior year period. This is inclusive of a noncash intangible asset impairment charge totaling $19 million, resulting in an impact of $14 million after tax.

受到定價和生產力的推動，部分被通貨膨脹所抵消。按固定匯率計算的調整後 EBITDA 為 4,350 萬美元，上年同期為 3,540 萬美元。這接近我們指導範圍 4000 萬至 4400 萬美元的上限。受益於成本管理，SG&A 總額佔本季度淨銷售額的 14.9%，而去年同期為 15.5%。本季度淨虧損為 1870 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.21 美元，而上年同期淨利潤為 300 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.03 美元。其中包括總計 1,900 萬美元的非現金無形資產減值費用，產生稅後 1,400 萬美元的影響。

Adjusted EPS was $0.11 versus $0.08 in the prior year period. Turning now to our individual reporting segments. In North America, reported net sales decreased 5.1% to $281.8 million in the fourth quarter. Adjusted net sales decreased 4.3% versus the prior year period, an improvement from the rate of decline in the third quarter. The year-on-year decrease was primarily a function of previously discussed nonrepeated customer promotions and softness in personal care. Q4 adjusted gross margin in North America was 22.7%, a 270 basis point increase versus the prior year period.

調整後每股收益為 0.11 美元，去年同期為 0.08 美元。現在轉向我們的個人報告部分。在北美，第四季度淨銷售額下降 5.1% 至 2.818 億美元。調整後淨銷售額較上年同期下降 4.3%，較第三季度的降幅有所改善。同比下降主要是由於之前討論的不重複的客戶促銷和個人護理的疲軟。北美第四季度調整後毛利率為 22.7%，比去年同期增長 270 個基點。

Our margin performance reflects pricing and productivity, partially offset by inflation. Adjusted EBITDA at constant currency in North America was $27 million, a 1.8% decrease versus the prior year period. The decrease was driven by lower sales and increased marketing spend. North America's adjusted EBITDA margin was 9.5% on a constant currency basis, a 30 basis point increase from the prior year period. In our international business, reported net sales increased 3.7% to $166.1 million in the fourth quarter. When adjusted for the impact of foreign exchange, net sales increased 3.6% compared to the prior year period.

我們的利潤率表現反映了定價和生產力，部分被通貨膨脹所抵消。北美按固定匯率計算的調整後 EBITDA 為 2,700 萬美元，較上年同期下降 1.8%。這一下降是由於銷售額下降和營銷支出增加造成的。按固定匯率計算，北美調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 9.5%，較上年同期增長 30 個基點。在我們的國際業務中，第四季度的淨銷售額增長了 3.7%，達到 1.661 億美元。經匯率影響調整後，淨銷售額較上年同期增長 3.6%。

This represents the second consecutive quarter of growth in the segment and a significant improvement from the decline in the first half of the year. Our year-over-year increase for international adjusted net sales reflects an 8.2% increase in the U.K., partially offset by an 8.7% decline in Continental Europe. The U.K. increase was driven by a benefit from the category recovery in private label and the diversification of our portfolio in both brand and private label. The year-over-year decline for Continental Europe was driven by non-dairy beverage performance, which, as Wendy's mentioned, appears to be stabilized.

這是該領域連續第二個季度實現增長，較上半年的下滑情況有了顯著改善。我們的國際調整後淨銷售額同比增長反映了英國 8.2% 的增長，部分被歐洲大陸 8.7% 的下降所抵消。英國的增長得益於自有品牌類別的複蘇以及我們在品牌和自有品牌方面的投資組合的多元化。歐洲大陸的同比下降是由非乳製品飲料業績推動的，正如溫迪提到的，非乳製品飲料業績似乎已趨於穩定。

International gross margin was 22.7%, up approximately 440 basis points year-over-year as pricing and productivity more than offset inflation. International adjusted EBITDA at constant currency was $27.5 million, a 62.8% increase from the prior year period. On a constant currency basis, adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.6%, up approximately 600 basis points versus the prior year period and 400 basis points compared to the third quarter.

由於定價和生產率足以抵消通貨膨脹，國際毛利率為 22.7%，同比增長約 440 個基點。按固定匯率計算的國際調整後 EBITDA 為 2750 萬美元，比上年同期增長 62.8%。按固定匯率計算，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 16.6%，較上年同期增長約 600 個基點，較第三季度增長約 400 個基點。

Shifting to cash flow and the balance sheet. Fourth quarter operating cash inflow was $40.5 million versus an outflow of $18.9 million a year ago. The higher operating cash flow resulted from a strong improvement in net working capital. As we anticipate generating incremental positive cash flow in fiscal 2024, we would expect resulting cash to be used to pay down debt while strategically investing in the business. CapEx was $6.4 million in the quarter and $27.9 million for fiscal 2023.

轉向現金流和資產負債表。第四季度運營現金流入為 4050 萬美元，而去年同期流出為 1890 萬美元。經營現金流量增加是由於淨營運資本的強勁改善。由於我們預計 2024 財年將產生增量正現金流，因此我們預計由此產生的現金將用於償還債務，同時對業務進行戰略投資。本季度資本支出為 640 萬美元，2023 財年資本支出為 2790 萬美元。

Finally, we ended the quarter with cash on hand of $53.4 million and net debt of $775.4 million, translating into a net leverage ratio of 4.3x as calculated under our amended credit agreement. Consistent with our stated priorities for cash, we have reduced net debt by $70 million since the end of the first quarter of 2023.

最後，本季度結束時，我們手頭現金為 5,340 萬美元，淨債務為 7.754 億美元，根據修訂後的信貸協議計算，淨槓桿率為 4.3 倍。根據我們既定的現金優先事項，自 2023 年第一季度末以來，我們已將淨債務減少了 7000 萬美元。

Turning now to our outlook. As Wendy said, we view 2024 as an inflection point where we will reset our foundation and return to top line growth. In fiscal '24, we anticipate balanced growth across the portfolio within both our North America and International segments, achieving low single-digit organic net sales growth. Fueled by productivity increases year-over-year, we expect to make brand building investments across key brands to drive growth and will also make modest investments in our Away From Home and e-commerce capabilities. We expect these investments, along with the refunding of our incentive plan as compared to fiscal '23 will create an adjusted EBITDA drag of approximately $20 million as we invest for the future. As such, we are offering the following guidance for fiscal '24. We expect adjusted net sales to increase by 2% to 4% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA to be between $155 million and $165 million. And lastly, we expect to generate free cash flow of $50 million to $55 million.

現在轉向我們的展望。正如溫迪所說，我們將 2024 年視為一個轉折點，我們將重置基礎並恢復營收增長。在 24 財年，我們預計北美和國際部門的投資組合將實現平衡增長，實現較低的個位數有機淨銷售額增長。在生產率逐年提高的推動下，我們預計將對主要品牌進行品牌建設投資以推動增長，並將對我們的外出和電子商務能力進行適度投資。我們預計，與 23 財年相比，這些投資以及我們激勵計劃的退款將在我們為未來投資時造成約 2000 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA 拖累。因此，我們為 24 財年提供以下指導。我們預計調整後淨銷售額將同比增長 2% 至 4%。調整後的 EBITDA 在 1.55 億美元至 1.65 億美元之間。最後，我們預計將產生 5000 萬至 5500 萬美元的自由現金流。

Our 2024 guidance assumes that currency exchange rates will remain near current levels, pricing will recover most expected cost inflation and productivity will drive gross margin expansion and fuel investments in brand building, channel growth capabilities and employee incentive compensation. Our full year guidance is heavily back-half weighted. The first quarter of the fiscal year is typically our seasonally smallest quarter in terms of net sales and adjusted EBITDA. This dynamic will be enhanced in the first quarter of fiscal '24, and as there are several headwinds that would expect to impact our North America business, which we don't expect to continue over the balance of the year.

我們的 2024 年指引假設貨幣匯率將保持在當前水平附近，定價將恢復大部分預期的成本通脹，生產率將推動毛利率擴張，並推動對品牌建設、渠道增長能力和員工激勵薪酬的投資。我們的全年指引很大程度上是後半加權的。就淨銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 而言，本財年第一季度通常是季節性最小的季度。這種動態將在 24 財年第一季度得到加強，因為有一些不利因素預計會影響我們的北美業務，我們預計這種情況不會在今年餘下時間持續。

Because of these factors, we are providing guidance for fiscal Q1. On the top line, we are continuing to experience industry-wide supply constraints related to our Earth's Best organic baby formula business, which we are currently working through. In addition, we are optimizing promotional activity for Terra chips, resulting in a near-term revenue headwind, but we anticipate longer term the move will unlock a more profitable growth mix. Lastly, there has been a timing shift in the personal care program within a nonmeasured channel. On the margin front, carryover inflation in Q1 is expected to be higher than that in the balance of the fiscal year, and we expect pricing and productivity will begin accelerating in Q2.

由於這些因素，我們為第一財季提供指導。在營收方面，我們繼續面臨與 Earth's Best 有機嬰兒配方奶粉業務相關的全行業供應限制，目前我們正在解決這一問題。此外，我們正在優化 Terra 芯片的促銷活動，導致近期收入逆風，但我們預計，從長遠來看，此舉將帶來更有利可圖的增長組合。最後，個人護理計劃在不可測量的渠道內發生了時間變化。在利潤率方面，第一季度的結轉通脹預計將高於本財年的餘額，我們預計第二季度定價和生產率將開始加速。

As such, we expect the following for the fiscal first quarter. Adjusted net sales to decline by a low single-digit percentage year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA to be between $20 million and $21 million. We expect results to improve starting in the second quarter as fuel initiatives and pricing take hold with operating model improvements positively impacting the back half of the year.

因此，我們預計第一財季將出現以下情況。調整後的淨銷售額同比下降了較低的個位數百分比，調整後的 EBITDA 在 2000 萬美元至 2100 萬美元之間。我們預計，隨著燃料計劃和定價的落實以及運營模式的改進對下半年產生積極影響，第二季度業績將有所改善。

With that, I'll turn the call back to Wendy for closing remarks.

之後，我會將電話轉回給溫迪，讓其致閉幕詞。

Thank you, Chris. Before I close out today's call, I would like to share the news that Chris will be stepping down as CFO of Hain Celestial on September 4. Chris has played a key role with the company through a time of extensive change and has helped to build a strong finance team with deep expertise to deliver for the future. With this news, I'm pleased to share that, Lee Boyce, Chief Financial Officer of Hearthside Food Solutions, will become Hain's new CFO effective September 5. Lee brings more than 30 years of experience in leading finance within organizations across the food and hospitality industries including Hearthside, a leading contract manufacturer and the food industry's largest privately held bakery with Werner Company and with American Hotel Register.

謝謝你，克里斯。在結束今天的電話會議之前，我想分享一個消息：Chris 將於 9 月 4 日辭去 Hain Celestial 首席財務官的職務。Chris 在公司經歷了廣泛的變革時期發揮了關鍵作用，並幫助建立了一個強大的財務團隊擁有深厚的專業知識，可以為未來提供服務。藉此消息，我很高興地宣布，Hearthside Food Solutions 首席財務官 Lee Boyce 將於 9 月 5 日出任 Hain 的新任首席財務官。Lee 擁有 30 多年在食品和酒店業組織內領導財務的經驗行業包括Hearthside ，這是一家領先的合同製造商，也是食品行業最大的私營麵包店，與Werner Company 和American Hotel Register 合作。

Prior to that, he spent more than 20 years at Mondelez and Kraft Heinz. Lee's extensive and broad experience will be a tremendous asset to Hain as we transform our business into a globally integrated enterprise. Chris will continue to serve as CFO through the transition, will participate in Hain's upcoming Investor Day event in September, and will stay on into November to ensure a smooth transition. On behalf of the company, I want to thank Chris for his many contributions to Hain Celestial and wish him the very best.

在此之前，他曾在億滋和卡夫亨氏工作了 20 多年。隨著我們將業務轉型為全球一體化企業，Lee 豐富的經驗將成為 Hain 的寶貴財富。 Chris 將在過渡期間繼續擔任首席財務官，並將參加 Hain 即將於 9 月舉行的投資者日活動，並將留任至 11 月，以確保平穩過渡。我謹代表公司感謝 Chris 對 Hain Celestial 做出的諸多貢獻，並祝他一切順利。

At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Chris to say a few words.

這個時候我想請克里斯說幾句話。

Thanks, Wendy. I want to thank you and the team for your partnership during my time at Hain. I look forward to seeing the new Hain Reimagined strategy take flight. And I'd like to thank everyone on the call. It's been a real pleasure working with you. You are in good hands, and know I will be cheering Hain on from the sidelines.

謝謝，溫迪。我要感謝您和團隊在我在海恩期間的合作。我期待看到新的 Hain Reimagined 戰略的實施。我要感謝通話中的所有人。與您合作真的很愉快。你得到了很好的照顧，並且知道我會在場邊為海恩加油。

Thanks, Chris. As mentioned previously, we have examined nearly every aspect of our business to identify key unlocks to drive our business forward. Over the last several months, our team has been laser-focused on developing Hain Reimagined, our multiyear transformation strategy to return our business to predictable profitable growth. We have identified where we will play and our right to win and the right building blocks to get there. We are simplifying a winning portfolio, and we have identified the right channel mix and geographies to drive our core, expand our reach and gain share across our portfolio.

謝謝，克里斯。如前所述，我們幾乎檢查了業務的各個方面，以確定推動業務發展的關鍵因素。在過去的幾個月裡，我們的團隊一直專注於開發 Hain Reimagined，這是我們的多年轉型戰略，旨在使我們的業務恢復可預測的盈利增長。我們已經確定了我們將在哪裡比賽、我們獲勝的權利以及實現這一目標的正確基石。我們正在簡化成功的產品組合，並且已經確定了正確的渠道組合和地理位置來推動我們的核心業務、擴大我們的覆蓋範圍並在整個產品組合中獲得份額。

As we lay out our strategy during Investor Day on September 13, we'll share how we're building our future for growth through our commercial focus, where we're reshaping our market coverage and building capabilities and revenue growth management. You'll hear how we're reimagining our supply chain where we're implementing new capabilities, expanding capacity in critical categories and enhancing operating efficiencies.

當我們在 9 月 13 日的投資者日期間制定我們的戰略時，我們將分享我們如何通過商業重點構建未來的增長，其中我們正在重塑我們的市場覆蓋範圍並建立能力和收入增長管理。您將聽到我們如何重新構想我們的供應鏈，在其中實施新功能、擴大關鍵類別的產能並提高運營效率。

We will share how we are transforming our end-to-end business planning process with new ways of working and focused investment in digital that is people-led, technology-enabled, and we'll share how we're redefining how we approach brand building to drive greater awareness and loyalty and to get our products into the hands of more consumers everywhere they shop. Hain's size, scale and structure provides us the unique opportunity to blend aspects of traditional CPG growth models with disruptive start-ups and use it as a competitive advantage. We are taking the best of both worlds, which enable us to out small the big and out big the small.

我們將分享我們如何通過新的工作方式和對以人為主導、技術支持的數字化領域的集中投資來轉變我們的端到端業務規劃流程，我們將分享我們如何重新定義我們對待品牌的方式致力於提高認知度和忠誠度，讓更多消費者在任何地方購物時都能買到我們的產品。 Hain 的規模、規模和結構為我們提供了獨特的機會，將傳統消費品增長模式與顛覆性初創企業相結合，並將其用作競爭優勢。我們正在兩全其美，這使我們能夠以小胜大，以大勝小。

All of this, of course, is only possible through the talent and passion of our Hain team who are committed to our company purpose of inspiring healthier living and who live our values every day. It's an exciting time to be at Hain, and I am optimistic about the future of our business and unlocking the full potential of our brands. We look forward to laying out the details of our new strategy next month and introducing you to Hain Reimagined.

當然，所有這一切都只有通過我們 Hain 團隊的才華和熱情才能實現，他們致力於實現我們公司倡導更健康生活的宗旨，並每天踐行我們的價值觀。在 Hain 是一個激動人心的時刻，我對我們業務的未來以及釋放我們品牌的全部潛力感到樂觀。我們期待下個月公佈新戰略的細節，並向您介紹 Hain Reimagined。

Operator, please open the line for questions.

接線員，請開通提問線路。

(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個問題來自安德魯·拉扎爾與巴克萊銀行的對話。

Wendy, I know that you had initially described sort of the approach going forward regarding reinvestment as kind of a pay-as-you-go approach maybe as opposed to a large kind of onetime reset. And I guess that's partly due to balance sheet flexibility and such. With the $20 million of incremental investment and amended credit agreements, it now seems like maybe a little bit less of a pay-as-you-go and maybe a little bit more of an upfront kind of reset. So if I've got that right, I guess, why the change in approach? And do you now believe this gets Hain to a more sustainable place on brand support? Or is more needed as you go forward as more productivity comes through? And then I've just got a follow-up.

溫迪，我知道您最初將再投資的未來方法描述為一種即用即付的方法，而不是大規模的一次性重置。我想這部分是由於資產負債表的靈活性等原因。有了 2000 萬美元的增量投資和修訂後的信貸協議，現在看來可能少了一點現收現付，而多了一點預先重置。所以，如果我是對的，我想，為什麼要改變方法呢？您現在是否相信這會讓 Hain 在品牌支持方面取得更可持續的地位？或者隨著生產力的提高，您是否需要更多？然後我剛剛得到了一個後續行動。

Yes. I appreciate the question. The reality is that a large chunk of that $20 million is actually just refunding our incentive plans on a year-on-year basis so that's our large amount of that is, as we look into the year and the investments around brand building, the bulk of it we won't actually put in place until the back half of the year. So I think we are building the shape fairly prudent to ensure that we're driving productivity and efficiencies in the front half of the year. And as Chris said, we'll begin to see pricing catch up with inflation as we go into quarter 2 that gives us a bit more flexibility to then lean into some of those reinvestments around brand building. So while the full year we've built it into the shape what you'll end up seeing is a bit more of productivity in the front half that gives us the freedom to then lean into some of those investments in the back half.

是的。我很欣賞這個問題。現實情況是，這 2000 萬美元中的很大一部分實際上只是逐年退還我們的激勵計劃，所以這是我們的很大一部分，當我們回顧這一年和圍繞品牌建設的投資時，大部分其中，我們要到今年下半年才會真正落實到位。因此，我認為我們正在相當謹慎地構建形狀，以確保我們在今年上半年提高生產力和效率。正如克里斯所說，當我們進入第二季度時，我們將開始看到定價趕上通貨膨脹，這給了我們更多的靈活性，然後可以圍繞品牌建設進行一些再投資。因此，雖然我們已經將全年的情況構建成這樣的形狀，但您最終會看到前半段的生產力有所提高，這使我們可以自由地在後半段進行一些投資。

Got it. Okay. And then guidance for the fiscal first quarter adjusted net sales was for a low single-digit decline year-over-year. I guess what are you expecting more specifically for North America in 1Q? And I guess, to what do we owe? You mentioned a couple of things, but maybe what do we think is driving some of the weaker trends that we're sort of currently seeing, at least in scanner data? And I guess what gives you the confidence that the inflection that's needed to hit that 2% to 4% target for the full year?

知道了。好的。然後，第一財季調整後淨銷售額的指引為同比低個位數下降。我想您對第一季度北美地區的具體預期是什麼？我想，我們欠什麼？您提到了幾件事，但也許我們認為是什麼推動了我們目前看到的一些較弱的趨勢，至少在掃描儀數據方面？我想是什麼讓您有信心實現全年 2% 至 4% 的目標所需的拐點？

Yes, I think there's a couple of things that play into it. First, for quarter 1, as Chris said, there are some really unique onetime impacts that happened in the quarter, the largest of that being availability of baby formula Earth's Best in North America. And thus, we believe, a quarter 1 impact but we don't see that as we go throughout the balance of the year given some arrangements that we've made with some of our suppliers there. We then also made a choice to margin up the mix around our snack portfolio and so we pulled back from some promotional activity that was margin dilutive to make sure that we're using those brands and putting them into the marketplace in the best way possible.

是的，我認為有幾個因素在其中發揮著作用。首先，對於第一季度，正如克里斯所說，該季度發生了一些非常獨特的一次性影響，其中最大的影響是北美提供 Earth's Best 嬰兒配方奶粉。因此，我們認為，第一季度會產生影響，但考慮到我們與一些供應商做出的一些安排，我們在今年餘下的時間裡並沒有看到這種影響。然後，我們還選擇提高零食產品組合的利潤率，因此我們取消了一些會稀釋利潤的促銷活動，以確保我們使用這些品牌並以盡可能最好的方式將它們推向市場。

The challenge with that is that lapping those big chunks of volume has an impact in a short period of time. But over time, we will -- that will improve the overall mix of that. So you've got a little bit of that phenomenon. And then the timing of Alba Sun Care lapping prior years. So we shipped later in the sun season last year, and we shipped earlier in the sun season this year. And so you see a quarter-on-quarter view, but it's not necessarily a weakness overall. So some of this is very much timing related for North America.

這樣做的挑戰在於，研磨這些大塊的體積會在短時間內產生影響。但隨著時間的推移，我們將改善整體組合。所以你已經看到了一點這種現象。然後是阿爾巴防曬霜前幾年的計時。因此，去年我們在陽光季節較晚發貨，今年我們在陽光季節較早發貨。所以你會看到季度環比的情況，但這並不一定是整體的弱點。因此，其中一些與北美的時間安排密切相關。

To your question about what we're seeing in the end market activity, we're actually really encouraged. We're encouraged because TDPs continue to grow, which is good. We're encouraged because the pricing actions we've taken have gone through, and we're not seeing an impact in the consumer take rate. And probably the third piece that I'm more encouraged about is the efficiency of our promotions.

對於您關於我們在終端市場活動中所看到的情況的問題，我們實際上感到非常鼓舞。我們受到鼓舞，因為 TDP 持續增長，這是好事。我們感到鼓舞，因為我們採取的定價行動已經完成，並且我們沒有看到消費者接受率受到影響。第三個讓我更受鼓舞的可能是我們促銷的效率。

If you recall, we didn't really turn back on promotional activity until quarter 3, really late quarter 3 of fiscal '23. And we knew it would take a little bit of time for that to catch up. We were far behind category average in the places where we play. We're now promoting about at industry rate, we're seeing effectiveness of those promotions, and we'll have a sort of always-on marketing strategy and an always-on promotional strategy that I think will allow our velocities to catch up with our GDP. So that's what gives us real confidence.

如果您還記得的話，我們直到第三季度才真正恢復促銷活動，實際上是 23 財年第三季度末。我們知道這需要一點時間才能趕上。在我們比賽的地方，我們遠遠落後於類別平均水平。我們現在正在以行業速度進行促銷，我們看到了這些促銷的有效性，我們將有一種永遠在線的營銷策略和永遠在線的促銷策略，我認為這將使我們的速度趕上我們的GDP。這就是給我們真正信心的原因。

Andrew, the 3 headwinds that Wendy described are in aggregate, about 10 growth points of headwind for North America. So it is a material headwind in the first quarter and specifically in the first quarter. And then additionally, if you go back and look at how fiscal '23 seasonality was for North America, recall that the first quarter in North America was exceptionally strong last year. So it was a quarter that got the year off to a very good start for North America as we're having to anniversary. If you go back to 2 years ago and adjust for those 10 growth points of headwind versus 2 years ago, and actually, it looks like the acceptable levels of growth in the first quarter for North America. And then the balance of the year, North America growth will recover nicely.

安德魯，Wendy描述的3個逆風加在一起，大約是北美的10個逆風增長點。因此，這是第一季度尤其是第一季度的重大阻力。另外，如果您回顧一下北美 23 財年的季節性情況，請回想一下去年北美第一季度的表現異常強勁。因此，這個季度為北美地區的今年開了個好頭，因為我們即將迎來週年紀念日。如果你回到兩年前，並根據兩年前的 10 個逆風增長點進行調整，實際上，北美第一季度的增長水平看起來是可以接受的。然後今年剩下的時間裡，北美的增長將很好地恢復。

Our next question comes from the line of Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自肯·戈德曼（Ken Goldman）與摩根大通的對話。

Chris, good luck to you. I appreciate your help over the last year or two. Just curious if you can help us a little bit and thank you for all the guidance for next year, including the first quarter. Just wondering if there's a few other line items for the full year that we could get a little bit of help with, including maybe just directionally how you're thinking about the gross margin and maybe some help on just some below-the-line items for interest and tax. Is there anything abnormal there we should think about as we model the year?

克里斯，祝你好運。我感謝您在過去一兩年裡的幫助。只是好奇您是否可以為我們提供一點幫助，並感謝您對明年（包括第一季度）的所有指導。只是想知道全年是否還有其他一些項目可以為我們提供一些幫助，包括可能只是定向地說明您如何考慮毛利率，以及可能對一些線下項目提供一些幫助用於利息和稅收。在我們對年份進行建模時，有什麼不正常的地方值得我們思考嗎？

Yes. So for gross margin, we do continue to see improvement. We expect improvement throughout the year, call it between 100 and 200 basis points of gross margin improvement throughout the year. It will be a little lumpy, but that would be our full year expectation. Interest expense will continue to go up modestly in fiscal '24, not nearly as much as the increase that you saw from fiscal '23 -- from '22 to '23 and then the adjusted tax rate will continue to be kind of in that 23.5% to 24.5% range.

是的。因此，就毛利率而言，我們確實繼續看到改善。我們預計全年毛利率將改善 100 至 200 個基點。雖然會有點不穩定，但這將是我們全年的預期。利息支出將在 24 財年繼續小幅上升，但增幅遠不及 23 財年——從 22 財年到 23 財年的增幅，然後調整後的稅率將繼續在 23.5 財年保持在一定水平。 % 至24.5 % 範圍。

And then just wondering if I can just -- if you could remind me a little bit of how the incentive program works just because it sounds like from Wendy what you were saying most of that $20 million is coming from incentive program. But your EBITDA will be down next year. So if you could just walk us through a little bit what drives that reset a little bit.

然後我想知道我是否可以——您是否可以提醒我一點激勵計劃是如何運作的，因為這聽起來像溫迪所說的，你所說的 2000 萬美元中的大部分來自激勵計劃。但明年你的 EBITDA 將會下降。因此，請您向我們介紹一下是什麼驅動了重置。

Yes. The structure is actually very comparable to what you see just across really industry. It's 50% based on revenue growth, 50% based on EBITDA growth. The challenge we have in fiscal '23 is that for the majority of the business they cliffed on both net sales growth and EBITDA. And so what was accrued to payout in bonuses essentially went back into profit, with the plans for fiscal '24, we're building top line growth. We're also planning relatively flat EBITDA even with the investments in the business. And so the combination of that and the refunding or the accruing for that bonus plan. That's what you see is an accrual phenomena more than anything else. And to be honest, I really hope that we max out in both revenue and EBITDA and pay our folks based on the results that we plan to deliver next year.

是的。該結構實際​​上與您在實際行業中看到的結構非常相似。 50% 基於收入增長，50% 基於 EBITDA 增長。我們在 23 財年面臨的挑戰是，大多數業務的淨銷售額增長和 EBITDA 都出現了大幅下滑。因此，根據 24 財年的計劃，應計獎金支出基本上又回到了利潤中，我們正在實現營收增長。即使對業務進行了投資，我們也計劃實現相對平穩的 EBITDA。因此，將其與該獎金計劃的退款或累積相結合。這就是你所看到的一種應計現象。說實話，我真的希望我們能夠實現收入和 EBITDA 的最大化，並根據我們計劃明年交付的結果向我們的員工支付工資。

And if you decompose the $20 million, about 2/3 of it is the bonus dynamic.

如果你分解這 2000 萬美元，其中大約 2/3 是動態獎金。

Our next question comes from the line of Alexia Howard with Bernstein.

我們的下一個問題來自亞歷克西婭·霍華德和伯恩斯坦的對話。

So can I ask about what you're seeing with consumer dynamics here? Other more mainstream packaged good companies are saying that the lower income consumer is quite vulnerable here. I'm assuming that, that's not a huge concern of yours, but I'm wondering if there's anything that you're seeing between measured and nonmeasured channels or just consumer dynamics as they're evolving right now?

那麼我可以問一下您對這裡的消費者動態有何看法嗎？其他更主流的包裝產品公司表示，低收入消費者在這裡非常脆弱。我假設這不是您所關心的一個大問題，但我想知道您在測量渠道和非測量渠道之間是否看到了什麼，或者只是消費者動態，因為它們現在正在發展？

Yes. Great question. And we've talked before about our portfolio tends to play at the higher end of maybe conventional at the lower end of premium. So it sort of puts us in a unique spot. What we're finding is consumers want the product. They are a regular part of their routine and they want the brands. They are looking for different pack sizes. So for instance, with our Greek God Yogurt, we've seen tremendous growth and that is a brand that we don't really do in single serve. We do it all in multiserve, which consumers are sort of looking at multiserve as a way for them to drive overall cost per serving reductions.

是的。很好的問題。我們之前已經談到過，我們的投資組合往往會在高端市場發揮作用，而傳統的投資組合往往會在低端市場發揮作用。所以這讓我們處於一個獨特的位置。我們發現消費者想要該產品。他們已成為日常生活的一部分，他們想要品牌。他們正在尋找不同的包裝尺寸。例如，我們的希臘上帝酸奶已經取得了巨大的增長，但我們並沒有真正做到單一服務的品牌。我們以多份服務的形式完成這一切，消費者將多份服務視為降低每份服務總體成本的一種方式。

Internationally, it's a little bit different dynamic. That marketplace, I find the consumer is much more sensitive and they're actually shifting their shopping behavior to discount retailers. We're in a very good position there in both and really switching to discounters, but also in private label, and we're well positioned there because we're across the marketplace in both large retailers and discounters but we're also in both brand and private label. And for nondairy beverage and meat-free were greater than half of our sales are private label versus brand and especially meat-free we've seen the category recover in private label faster than we've seen brand recover.

在國際上，情況略有不同。我發現那個市場的消費者更加敏感，他們實際上正在將購物行為轉向折扣零售商。我們在這兩個方面都處於非常有利的位置，並且真正轉向折扣店，而且在自有品牌方面也是如此，我們在那里處於有利地位，因為我們在大型零售商和折扣店的市場中都處於領先地位，但我們也在這兩個領域品牌和自有品牌。對於非乳製品飲料和無肉飲料，我們超過一半的銷售額來自自有品牌與品牌，特別是無肉，我們看到自有品牌類別的複蘇速度比我們看到的品牌恢復速度要快。

In the U.S. We really aren't -- our products don't really skew to a more price-sensitive consumer. And so we haven't really seen the consumer shifting their behavior, except in that multi-served focus.

在美國，我們確實不是——我們的產品並沒有真正偏向對價格更敏感的消費者。因此，除了多服務焦點之外，我們還沒有真正看到消費者改變他們的行為。

Our next question comes from the line of Jim Salera with Stephens Inc.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jim Salera 和 Stephens Inc. 的電話。

Wendy you got a lot of moving pieces here on the brand reinvestment side. Can you maybe give us an idea of rank order which brands or kind of subcategories are the primary focus and maybe when some of those promotions come on?

溫迪，你在品牌再投資方面有很多令人感動的事情。您能否告訴我們哪些品牌或子類別是主要關注點的排名順序，以及其中一些促銷活動何時進行？

Yes, you'll see a continuation of some of the reinvestment that we've put in place latter part of quarter 3 and into quarter 4. In snacks, baby/kids and into tea or beverages in our U.S. business primarily. So the Celestial Seasonings, Magic In Your Mug campaign was very successful as well as some of the new innovation launch, you'll see us continue to lean in and support Celestial Seasonings. .

是的，您會看到我們在第三季度後期和第四季度進行的一些再投資繼續進行。主要投資於我們美國業務的零食、嬰兒/兒童以及茶或飲料。因此，Celestial Seasonings，“Magic In Your Mug”活動非常成功，並且推出了一些新的創新產品，您將看到我們繼續支持和支持 Celestial Seasonings。 。

You'll see us continue to support snack brands. But underneath that, it will be primarily Garden Veggie and Terra in our snacks portfolio and then in baby/kids, it will be the Earth's Best campaign to continue to support that and support innovation. I would say that our -- so those are category and brand prioritization, the bigger piece for us is ensuring that we've got an always-on pressure around those brands that keeps them top of mind with the consumer. But then we also want to make sure that we're keeping them available to the consumer and easy to find.

您會看到我們繼續支持零食品牌。但在此之下，我們的零食產品組合中將主要是 Garden Veggie 和 Terra，然後是嬰兒/兒童，這將是 Earth's Best 活動，以繼續支持這一點並支持創新。我想說的是，我們的——所以這些是品類和品牌的優先順序，對我們來說更重要的是確保我們對這些品牌始終施加壓力，使它們成為消費者心中的首要考慮。但我們還想確保將它們提供給消費者並且易於找到。

So some of our brand building will be driving distribution across channels to ensure that our products are available where the consumer is shopping during the week. So I would say that's probably about half of our brand building. The other half is making sure that we're supporting innovation that we've launched.

因此，我們的一些品牌建設將推動跨渠道分銷，以確保消費者在一周內購物的地方可以買到我們的產品。所以我想說這可能是我們品牌建設的一半左右。另一半是確保我們支持我們已經推出的創新。

And in the past, Hain had some fantastic innovation, but we've not kept sufficient pressure to keep the consumer trying those products or buying those in addition to the core, for instance, this year, we've launched the Sleepytime with melatonin. That's in the top-selling SKUs now with the retailers who have that on shelf. We also launched the melty sticks in Earth's Best, that's 1 of the top-selling products as well in snacking for kids. And we feel really good about what those new pieces of innovation are doing. We've got some new innovation that will launch in the next year as well. So we want to make sure we're supporting that with our brand-building dollars.

過去，Hain 有一些出色的創新，但我們沒有保持足夠的壓力來讓消費者嘗試這些產品或購買核心產品之外的產品，例如，今年，我們推出了含褪黑素的 Sleepytime。現在，該產品已成為零售商貨架上最暢銷的 SKU。我們還在 Earth's Best 中推出了 Melty Sticks，這是最暢銷的產品之一，也是兒童零食中最暢銷的產品之一。我們對這些新的創新成果感到非常滿意。我們也將在明年推出一些新的創新。因此，我們希望確保用我們的品牌建設資金來支持這一點。

That's all very helpful. Maybe one more just on the way that you view in-store promotions and driving trial through in-store offerings versus kind of the more high-level brand marketing that somebody would see on social media or on television, do you have a sense for which one you get more bang for your buck? Or what the appropriate mix between those 2 are?

這一切都非常有幫助。也許還有一個問題，就是您查看店內促銷活動並通過店內產品進行試用，與人們在社交媒體或電視上看到的更高級的品牌營銷相比，您是否有一種感覺一個你能得到更多的錢？或者這兩者之間的適當組合是什麼？

Well, it would depend on the brands, but I would say, in general, for Hain, our -- and this is part of our desire to be disciplined in brand building from what you would see from a large CPG branded enterprise. But we want to make sure that we are also moving fast and nimble in the way that you might see from a disruptor or a start-up. And our -- so our brands aren't going to be the kind that we're doing mass media promotions and media spend. That's just not really effective spend for us. Where we do get a lot of efficiency is in overall portfolio but also in social media, but also in-store activation and it really depends on the brand. But the teams implemented a pretty disciplined approach to marketing media mix and using that modeling to then adjust on a quarter-on-quarter basis channel by channel.

嗯，這取決於品牌，但我想說，總的來說，對於Hain 來說，我們的——這是我們希望在品牌建設方面遵守紀律的一部分，就像你在大型CPG 品牌企業中看到的那樣。但我們希望確保我們也能像顛覆者或初創企業那樣快速靈活地前進。我們的品牌不會是我們正在進行大眾媒體促銷和媒體支出的品牌。這對我們來說並不是真正有效的支出。我們確實獲得很大效率的地方是在整體產品組合、社交媒體以及店內激活方面，這實際上取決於品牌。但團隊對營銷媒體組合實施了相當嚴格的方法，並使用該模型按季度逐個渠道進行調整。

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Lavery with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自邁克爾·拉弗里 (Michael Lavery) 和派珀·桑德勒 (Piper Sandler) 的對話。

Just would love to understand some of the brand spending and investment step-ups a little bit better. When you talk about it being more second half skewed should we also think about as spilling into fiscal '25. I know that's way out and we just finished '23. But is that -- which -- should we think about it as you're just kind of getting started mid-'24 or maybe a little bit of a flip side of the same coin, you're at around a 6% EBIT margin now, do you have a target in mind of like kind of when and how you recover? Maybe we'll hear some of this more at Investor Day. But maybe just a sense of how the spending and profitability balance is, how you're thinking about that, and what to expect in terms of the timing of the spend ramp up?

只是想更好地了解一些品牌支出和投資的升級。當你談到下半年的情況更加傾斜時，我們是否也應該考慮到 25 財年的情況。我知道那是出路了，我們剛剛結束了 23 年。但這是——我們應該考慮一下嗎，因為你剛剛在 24 年中期開始，或者可能是同一枚硬幣的反面，你的息稅前利潤率約為 6%現在，您心中是否有一個目標，例如何時以及如何康復？也許我們會在投資者日聽到更多這樣的內容。但也許只是了解支出和盈利能力的平衡情況，您如何看待這一點，以及對支出增加的時間有何期望？

Yes, I'll start, and I'll pass over to Chris to give a bit more color but I think 2 things. One, Investor Day will provide a lot of clarity in what we're seeing around the multi-year and the expectations within each one of those years. Year 1, as we said, is really a reset, it's a reset of our foundation. And I would characterize it as the front half, we will lean heavily into driving the fuel to invest in the business and driving productivity and then being very prudent in where we lean into the investments in the back half. The investments, you'll see some of that will be organizationally to support our channel expansion and a slight increase in marketing investment year-on-year, but the bulk of that will fall in the back half of the year. So you'll see consistency in the pressure we had from quarter 3, quarter 4 for some of our key brands continue into the front half of this year but incremental you won't really see until the back half of the year.

是的，我會開始，然後我會交給克里斯來提供更多的色彩，但我認為有兩件事。第一，投資者日將讓我們清楚地了解多年期的情況以及每一年的預期。正如我們所說，第一年實際上是一個重置，是我們基礎的重置。我將其描述為前半部分，我們將大力推動推動業務投資和提高生產力，然後在後半部分的投資方面非常謹慎。您會看到其中一些投資將在組織上用於支持我們的渠道擴張以及營銷投資同比略有增加，但其中大部分將在今年下半年下降。因此，您會看到我們的一些主要品牌從第三季度、第四季度開始面臨的壓力一直持續到今年上半年，但增量直到今年下半年才會真正看到。

Yes, Michael, the only thing I would add is definitely a question as Wendy said, that we'll go into a much more detail at Investor Day. But we, in the past, have talked about the pacing of our investments and the pacing of our investments will be determined by 2 things. The attractiveness of the investment and the amount of fuel that we're able to be generating over what period of time. So yes, as you get into the back half of the year, as Wendy said, more generation of that productivity of that fuel that pays for the investments and then better visibility into fiscal '25 to come in a few weeks.

是的，邁克爾，我唯一要補充的肯定是溫迪所說的一個問題，我們將在投資者日討論更多細節。但我們過去曾討論過我們的投資節奏，而我們的投資節奏將由兩件事決定。投資的吸引力以及我們在一段時間內能夠生產的燃料量。所以，是的，正如溫迪所說，當你進入今年下半年時，更多的燃料生產力將用於支付投資，然後在幾週後對 25 財年的情況有更好的了解。

Okay. That's helpful. And just a follow-up to clarify on the club promo for -- I think it was Alba. Would we hear this correctly that you -- that, that was pulled into 4Q and is already done. That's not something we should expect into 2Q, correct? It's not shifting into 2Q, correct? It's out of 1Q and in the rearview mirror. Is that correct?

好的。這很有幫助。接下來是澄清俱樂部宣傳片的後續行動——我認為是阿爾巴。我們是否正確地聽到了這個——那個，那已被拉入 4Q 並且已經完成了。這不是我們應該期望進入第二季度的情況，對嗎？它不會轉移到第二季度，對嗎？它在 1Q 之外並且在後視鏡中。那是對的嗎？

Correct.

正確的。

(Operator Instructions). Our next question comes from the line of Matt Smith with Stifel.

（操作員說明）。我們的下一個問題來自馬特·史密斯和斯蒂菲爾的對話。

I wanted to dig in a little bit on productivity savings. I believe previously the company was targeting over $100 million of savings between fiscal '24 and fiscal '25. Can you give a little more detail as to the level you now expect to realize in fiscal '24? And then how much of the productivity savings that you expect for the year do you expect to be used alongside pricing to offset lingering inflation versus fund investments in the business in the second half?

我想深入研究一下生產力節省的問題。我相信此前該公司的目標是在 24 財年至 25 財年之間節省超過 1 億美元。您能否更詳細地說明您現在期望在 24 財年實現的水平？那麼，與下半年的業務投資相比，您預計今年的生產力節省有多少將與定價一起用於抵消持續的通貨膨脹？

Yes. This is an area that I've been really pleased in joining the company to see the -- how robust the team's productivity processes have been and I think we've provided the detail that in fiscal '23, we actually over delivered to expectations in productivity. And that, combined with pricing allowed us to cover for inflation. For fiscal '24, you'll see that continuing. So we actually have a ramp-up of productivity in fiscal '24, the traditional things that the team has in the regular pipeline, but there are some incremental to that, that we'll lay out in more specificity when we go into Investor Day. We've got some pricing as well and the combination of both of those gives us the ability to invest back in the business without a significant step back.

是的。這是我非常高興加入公司的一個領域，因為我們看到了團隊的生產力流程有多強大，我認為我們已經提供了在 23 財年的詳細信息，我們實際上超出了預期生產率。再加上定價，我們就可以應對通貨膨脹。對於 24 財年，您會看到這種情況仍在繼續。因此，我們實際上在 24 財年提高了生產力，這是團隊在常規流程中進行的傳統工作，但還有一些增量，當我們進入投資者日時，我們將更具體地闡述這些內容。我們也有一些定價，這兩者的結合使我們能夠在不大幅退縮的情況下重新投資於業務。

So I'll let Chris provide a little bit more color.

所以我會讓克里斯提供更多的色彩。

And continue to accrete gross margin, as I said to Ken's question. So Matt, as you think about kind of the combination of pricing, productivity, offset by inflation, we think the net of those 3 things is positive, and you'll see that in gross margin improvement.

並繼續增加毛利率，正如我在回答肯的問題時所說的那樣。所以馬特，當你考慮定價、生產率和通貨膨脹抵消的組合時，我們認為這三件事的淨值是積極的，你會在毛利率改善中看到這一點。

Okay. And then just in general, the overall level of investment behind the business that you achieved in the second half of the year, can you talk about how you view that level relative to where you need to take the business overall in terms of spending. When you -- I think last quarter, you provided some commentary about needing to spend more behind some of the core brands to unlock growth potential. Do you get most of the way there in the second half of the year? Or do you expect investment spending to continue to outpace sales growth even beyond fiscal '24?

好的。然後，總的來說，您在下半年實現的業務背後的總體投資水平，您能否談談您如何看待該水平相對於您需要在支出方面對業務整體進行的程度。當你——我想上個季度，你提供了一些關於需要在一些核心品牌背後投入更多資金以釋放增長潛力的評論。你下半年的大部分時間都完成了嗎？或者您是否預計投資支出甚至在 24 財年之後仍將繼續超過銷售增長？

I would say that we -- so we certainly don't get to the levels that we would want to be able to support the brands, in the out years, and you'll see some of that laid out when we talk on Investor Day. But we also realize that there's a lot of cost in the business that we can drive out that can help to fund that. And so it's going to be a combination of those 2 things. And I think I've said this in the last couple of quarters, we definitely want to make sure that we are prudent in how we do that. So I don't have a desire to take a giant step back to be able to fund that overnight. I think there's an opportunity for us to drive efficiency and effectiveness of the spend we have today in trade, how are we driving the efficiency of our trade spend that's giving us the right reach and getting the right activity with the consumer. The reality is, our spend levels are about where they need to be, but we probably need to do that a little different.

我想說的是，在未來的幾年裡，我們肯定達不到我們希望能夠支持這些品牌的水平，當我們在投資者日談論時，你會看到其中的一些內容。但我們也意識到，我們可以消除業務中的大量成本，從而有助於為其提供資金。所以這將是這兩件事的結合。我想我在過去幾個季度已經說過這一點，我們絕對希望確保我們在這樣做時保持謹慎。因此，我不想為了能夠在一夜之間籌集到資金而退後一大步。我認為我們有機會提高當今貿易支出的效率和有效性，我們如何提高貿易支出的效率，從而為我們提供正確的覆蓋範圍並與消費者進行正確的活動。現實情況是，我們的支出水平大約在需要的水平，但我們可能需要採取一些不同的做法。

In marketing, we'd like to step it up, but I'd also like our working to nonworking marketing mix to be improved before we just add more dollars to it. So the team has done a lot of work to actually drive marketing investments analysis. So what's the return on the dollars that we're spending, how do we shift it to working marketing rather than nonworking and how are we measuring the impact on household penetration, brand awareness, how is it helping us drive distribution and reach. So we'll do more effectiveness work in '24 before we drive incremental investment in the out years. I think we want to get better at using the dollars we have today before we just put more dollars to things.

在營銷方面，我們希望加大力度，但我也希望在增加更多資金之前改進我們的工作與非工作營銷組合。因此，團隊做了很多工作來實際推動營銷投資分析。那麼我們所花費的美元的回報是多少，我們如何將其轉向工作營銷而不是非工作營銷，以及我們如何衡量對家庭滲透率、品牌知名度的影響，它如何幫助我們推動分銷和覆蓋範圍。因此，在我們推動未來幾年增量投資之前，我們將在 24 年開展更多有效工作。我認為，在投入更多資金之前，我們希望更好地利用現有的資金。

Our next question comes from the line of David Palmer with Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

Follow-up first on -- a follow-up on Ken's question, he said that -- he put it in a presumption that there was a -- the vast majority of the $20 million is incentive pay refunding and not brand building. Could you maybe confirm if that's true? And if it is, clearly, there's going to be some shifts in spending and it sounds like snack, beverage, baby are big investment areas and you want to have the promotion firepower to support past innovation, which all makes a lot of sense. I wonder generally, where do you see inefficiency where maybe you're shifting dollars out of generally speaking?

首先是後續行動——肯的問題的後續行動，他說——他假設有——2000萬美元中的絕大多數用於獎勵工資返還，而不是品牌建設。你能確認一下這是否屬實嗎？如果是這樣，顯然，支出將會發生一些變化，聽起來零食、飲料、嬰兒是大投資領域，你希望有促銷火力來支持過去的創新，這一切都很有意義。一般來說，我想知道，您在哪裡看到效率低下的地方，也許您正在將資金從一般意義上轉移出去？

Yes. Well, first, to your first question, as Chris said, about 2/3 of that $20 million is refunding our incentive plans. And those are self-funding. So you would expect as we deliver on revenue growth, as we deliver on profit growth, that's what would trigger the payment of those that they self-fund. But in the mechanics of it on a year-on-year basis is why you see it as an increase. The other 1/3 is a little bit of investment and capability revenue growth management that we're driving trade efficiency and effectiveness of the spend we have today, our push into Away From Home and enhancing our e-commerce capability.

是的。好吧，首先，對於你的第一個問題，正如克里斯所說，這 2000 萬美元中的大約 2/3 用於退還我們的激勵計劃。這些都是自籌資金的。因此，您會期望，當我們實現收入增長、實現利潤增長時，這將觸發他們自籌資金的人付款。但從其機制來看，與去年同期相比，這就是為什麼你認為它是增長的原因。另外 1/3 是一點點投資和能力收入增長管理，我們正在提高我們今天的支出的貿易效率和有效性，我們進軍海外市場並增強我們的電子商務能力。

So you'll see a little bit of investment there around capabilities. From a where do we see inefficiencies in the business, if we just look at our cost versus the industry benchmark. And I think we've shared this before, I think actually in your fireside chat in June, we talked about this, that there is a fair amount of inefficiencies in number of distribution locations, number of manufacturing locations, effectiveness of our supplier spend and supplier base, the amount of inventory we have on hand in both raw/pack and in finished, days it takes to pay, et cetera.

所以你會看到一些圍繞功能的投資。如果我們只看我們的成本與行業基準相比，我們從哪裡可以看到業務效率低下。我想我們之前已經分享過這一點，我想實際上在六月份的爐邊談話中，我們討論過這一點，即分銷地點的數量、製造地點的數量、我們的供應商支出的有效性和供應商基礎、我們手頭的原材料/包裝和成品庫存量、付款所需的天數等等。

So there's -- as we think about this, scrutinizing every part of the business end to end, there are pockets of cost that's just been baked in, I think, largely because we were a company built on multiple acquisitions that largely weren't integrated. So part of what we are leaning into is integrating where we can drive efficiencies that allows us to push those dollars to support brand building rather than just supporting the running of the business. And that's where you'll see us outlining on Investor Day that pace of fuel delivery and productivity, the pace of operating model change that enables us to then lean in and fund how we want to support our brands and pushing them out into the marketplace.

因此，當我們思考這一點時，從頭到尾地審查業務的每個部分，我認為，有一些成本剛剛被納入其中，這主要是因為我們是一家建立在多次收購基礎上的公司，而這些收購基本上沒有整合。因此，我們正在致力於整合可以提高效率的地方，使我們能夠將這些資金用於支持品牌建設，而不僅僅是支持業務運營。在這裡，您將看到我們在投資者日概述燃料交付和生產力的步伐，以及運營模式變革的步伐，使我們能夠投入資金，支持我們的品牌，並將其推向市場。

That's great. And just if you had to say the biggest variables you'll be tracking as you're heading into fiscal '24, I would imagine shifts in the spending and the response to those. But if you had to describe what are the big must-haves for this year, what would they be?

那太棒了。如果您必須說出進入 24 財年時您將跟踪的最大變量，我會想像支出的變化以及對這些變量的反應。但如果你必須描述今年的必備單品是什麼，你會是什麼？

Yes. The big must haves, we've got to drive distribution growth and we've got to drive good velocity of our distribution. So we want to be our customers' best partner in the most highly productive offering on shelf and ensuring that we not only get it in on shelf, but we earn our place to stay on shelf because we're highly productive SKUs. So those will be things that we look at as an end market.

是的。最重要的是，我們必須推動分銷增長，我們必須推動分銷的良好速度。因此，我們希望成為客戶的最佳合作夥伴，提供貨架上最俱生產力的產品，並確保我們不僅將其上架，而且因為我們是高生產力的 SKU，我們贏得了在貨架上的位置。因此，這些將是我們將其視為終端市場的東西。

From brand health, we'll look at basic brand health. I've been -- the household penetration and awareness of our brands, making sure that the spending we're doing in our marketing dollars is giving us the return that we would expect and then from a business standpoint, we're watching very closely our cash conversion cycle. So days of inventory both in raw and pack, days of payables, days of sales outstanding, because every one of those days in our cash conversion cycle is money that's just tied up that could be invested back in the business. So we'll be looking at the efficiency of how we use our working capital.

從品牌健康狀況來看，我們將關注基本的品牌健康狀況。我一直在——我們品牌的家庭滲透率和知名度，確保我們在營銷方面的支出能夠給我們帶來預期的回報，然後從商業的角度來看，我們正在密切關注我們的現金轉換週期。因此，原始庫存和包裝庫存天數、應付賬款天數、應收賬款天數，因為我們的現金轉換週期中的每一天都是被束縛的資金，可以重新投資到業務中。因此，我們將關注我們使用營運資金的效率。

Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Vendetti with Maxim Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Maxim Group 的 Anthony Vendetti。

Just in terms of the price increases, is that relatively the same across the board or are there certain products where you can't take price? And then as a follow-up, obviously, you're talking about slight revenue decline in the first quarter and then low single-digit growth for the full year organic revenue growth of 2% to 4%. I know we're not talking about '25 here, but as we move into the back half of the year and into '25, should we expect the growth in revenues to start to move towards mid-single digits as we move towards the back half of '24 and into fiscal year '25.

就價格上漲而言，整體情況是否相對相同，或者是否有某些產品無法定價？顯然，作為後續行動，您談論的是第一季度收入略有下降，然後全年有機收入增長 2% 至 4% 的低個位數增長。我知道我們在這裡談論的不是 25 年，而是當我們進入今年下半年並進入 25 年時，我們是否應該預期收入增長會隨著我們的向後發展而開始走向中個位數'24 財年的一半到'25 財年。

Well, we'll definitely give you a lot more color around those questions on Investor Day. And certainly, with our long-term algorithm looks like, but also what we think the building blocks are that give us the reason to believe that is both believable and achievable. So more to comment on September 13, relative to that. I would say, if I just step back and look at the categories that we're in and we look at the brands that we have and we look at the market reach potential that we have, those are the things that give me confidence that we have brands that earn their place on shelf that we have an opportunity to drive reach across the marketplace that gives us revenue and margin expansion opportunity, but it's ours to go drive into that. So you need to see us show you that essentially on Investor Day.

好吧，我們肯定會在投資者日為您提供有關這些問題的更多信息。當然，根據我們的長期算法的樣子，以及我們認為的構建模塊，讓我們有理由相信這是可信且可實現的。 9 月 13 日對此有更多評論。我想說，如果我退後一步，看看我們所處的類別，看看我們擁有的品牌，我們看看我們擁有的市場潛力，這些都讓我有信心我們擁有在貨架上贏得一席之地的品牌，我們有機會擴大整個市場的影響力，這為我們提供了收入和利潤擴張的機會，但這是我們的責任。因此，您需要看到我們在投資者日向您展示這一點。

From a pricing standpoint, the team did a really nice job of taking pricing holistically this last year. You won't see us do that kind of pricing because it's a very different environment now. And I think every company is seeing this, the opportunity to take a whole sale price list change. The consumer is just not going to be willing or the retailers to do that. So it has to be a bit more surgical. For us, this means and this is the investment around revenue growth management, we need to be looking at trade efficiency and effectiveness, we need to really be looking at price tag architecture.

從定價的角度來看，該團隊去年在整體定價方面做得非常好。您不會看到我們採取這種定價方式，因為現在的環境非常不同。我認為每家公司都看到了這一點，即改變整個銷售價目表的機會。消費者或零售商都不願意這樣做。所以它必須更加手術化。對我們來說，這意味著圍繞收入增長管理的投資，我們需要關注交易效率和有效性，我們需要真正關注價格標籤架構。

So do I have -- could I take pricing on particular pack sizes to particular channels where the consumer might be less price sensitive because they're willing to pay a premium for convenience, for instance versus I probably can't take pricing in a bulk pack in another particular channel because the consumer is much more price sensitive there. So I think what you'll see us do and the team has done a really nice job with identifying where we can take the price that won't be an impact on volume and reach, but you won't see it as a wholesale price increase.

我是否可以將特定包裝尺寸的定價帶到特定渠道，在這些渠道中，消費者可能對價格不太敏感，因為他們願意為方便而支付溢價，例如，我可能無法批量定價在另一個特定渠道進行包裝，因為那裡的消費者對價格更加敏感。因此，我認為您會看到我們所做的，團隊做得非常好，確定了我們可以採取的價格不會影響銷量和覆蓋範圍，但您不會將其視為批發價增加。

Okay. Great. Looking forward to Investor Day.

好的。偉大的。期待投資者日。

Absolutely.

絕對地。

Our next question comes from the line of Jon Andersen with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自喬恩·安徒生和威廉·布萊爾的對話。

Wendy, you mentioned in the prepared comments some work that had been done rationalizing, I think an international brand and resulting in kind of a core assortment on that brand that's been more productive on the shelf. Is there more kind of SKU rationalization that will be happening as you move forward? Is that an opportunity, I guess, to what extent? And then a bigger picture question on the portfolio. Is there additional kind of broader breaks pruning that you're evaluating, I think, about a business like personal care being a little bit outside the wheelhouse of better-for-you food and beverage?

溫迪，您在準備好的評論中提到了一些已經完成的合理化工作，我認為這是一個國際品牌，並導致該品牌的核心品種在貨架上更俱生產力。隨著你們的前進，是否會出現更多類型的 SKU 合理化？我想這算是一個機會嗎？機會有多大？然後是關於投資組合的更大問題。我認為，您正在評估的是否還有其他更廣泛的突破，比如個人護理等業務有點超出了“更適合您”的食品和飲料的範圍？

Yes. No, great question. In terms of SKU rationalization, this should be a regular part of how we run the business, to be honest. And every one of our brand managers, every one of our portfolio leads every one of the market lead should be looking at the assortment of SKUs that they have and make sure that it is the hardest working assortment of SKUs, it also has an impact on innovation. We don't want to launch innovation just for the sake of innovation.

是的。不，很好的問題。老實說，就 SKU 合理化而言，這應該成為我們經營業務的常規部分。我們的每一位品牌經理、我們的每一位產品組合領導者、每一位市場領導者都應該關注他們擁有的 SKU 種類，並確保這是最難工作的 SKU 種類，它也會對創新。我們不想僅僅為了創新而創新。

It has to be truly incremental to the brand and incremental to the category so we can go to a retailer, justify the space and use innovation to create greater brand awareness back to the core and it's an incremental sale, not just swapping out sales for sales. Otherwise, there's just a lot of work and effort with very little return on that investment.

它必須真正對品牌和品類產生增量，這樣我們就可以去找零售商，證明空間的合理性，並利用創新來提高品牌知名度，回到核心，這是增量銷售，而不僅僅是將銷售換成銷售。否則，就會付出大量的工作和努力，但投資回報卻很少。

So the particular instance we talked about in the prepared remarks, was actually in Europe, in our nondairy beverage business, the team rationalized a pretty large chunk of the portfolio down to the hardest working assortment and that had a positive impact in driving real volume, real business impact. That's an example to be used across lots of parts of our business.

因此，我們在準備好的發言中談到的具體實例實際上是在歐洲，在我們的非乳製品飲料業務中，團隊將投資組合的很大一部分合理化為最難工作的品種，這對推動實際銷量產生了積極影響，真正的業務影響。這是一個可以在我們業務的許多部分使用的示例。

So long answer to your question, but we absolutely see an opportunity for us to eliminate parts of the tail, it will help our supply chain be more efficient. It will help our dollar spend be more efficient, and it will help our relationships with our retail partners because we're using our space wisely to bring in more shoppers and keep the shopper in there longer.

這麼長的時間來回答你的問題，但我們絕對看到了消除尾部部分的機會，這將有助於我們的供應鏈變得更加高效。它將幫助我們提高支出效率，也將有助於我們與零售合作夥伴的關係，因為我們明智地利用我們的空間來吸引更多購物者並讓購物者停留更長時間。

As we think about the overall company portfolio, I mean, obviously, we're always looking at the portfolio and to shape it, but that's not going to be the primary strategy. So you shouldn't expect to see Hain's future growth be just buying new businesses or selling off businesses. We have to actually run the businesses that we have, and then we can make strategic choices around what does or doesn't fit in the portfolio, but then we are selling off healthy businesses.

當我們考慮整個公司的投資組合時，我的意思是，顯然，我們一直在關注投資組合併塑造它，但這不會成為主要戰略。因此，您不應期望看到 Hain 的未來增長只是購買新業務或出售業務。我們必須實際經營我們擁有的業務，然後我們可以圍繞投資組合中適合或不適合的業務做出戰略選擇，但隨後我們會出售健康的業務。

So our focus right now, in particular, was something like personal care, is stabilizing that business, ensuring that it is the right fighting core of brands and fighting core of products so that we then have optionality with that portfolio. I can't say what in our portfolio will exist with us in Hain in the next 3 years but we have an opportunity to ensure that we are good stewards of the brands we have, so that if we choose to sell those off, we're selling off a healthy business to somebody.

因此，我們現在的重點尤其是個人護理之類的業務，是穩定該業務，確保它是品牌的正確戰鬥核心和產品的戰鬥核心，以便我們可以選擇該產品組合。我不能說未來三年我們的產品組合中將存在於海恩，但我們有機會確保我們成為我們擁有的品牌的良好管理者，因此，如果我們選擇出售這些品牌，我們'將健康的業務出售給某人。

That's really helpful. And I look forward to seeing you at Investor Day.

這真的很有幫助。我期待在投資者日見到您。

Absolutely, look forward to you as well.

當然，也期待你。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Wolf with CL King & Associates.

我們的下一個問題來自 Andrew Wolf 與 CL King & Associates 的對話。

I wanted to follow up on personal care. Just wanted your assessment, as I think you've done across the company's portfolio, the softness there, it sounded like you think you -- it sounds like from what you just said, it's more of a rightsizing it into the strength, which is, you've shown works and others have shown works. But have you unearthed any structural issues either internally such as just the scale of operations may not be sufficient or anything externally? Maybe it's a different competitive set than food? Or do you think it's just more of a traditional solution in the way that you just sort of referred to it?

我想跟進個人護理。只是想得到你的評估，正如我認為你對公司的投資組合所做的那樣，那裡的軟弱程度，聽起來就像你認為的那樣——聽起來就像你剛才所說的那樣，這更多的是將其調整為實力，這是，你展示了作品，其他人也展示了作品。但您是否發現了任何內部結構性問題（例如運營規模可能不夠）或外部的任何結構性問題？也許這是一個與食物不同的競爭環境？或者您是否認為這更像是您剛才提到的傳統解決方案？

I would say that we've -- we're taking a very holistic review of the business. I mentioned, I think, in the last earnings call that we brought a new leadership to run that business and to take it through that evaluation. But I would say it's pretty typical of any business that you evaluate. You look at where are opportunities to grow in the marketplace, what's the right -- what's the strength of the brand, what's the right categories that those brands are playing in -- are we getting the right price in market with the channel opportunity there. Personal Care, for instance, is a very big product line in online versus the rest of our portfolio. what might that look like in the future around our omni and e-commerce approach, looking at your distribution footprint and your manufacturing footprint, could that be optimized or made more efficient similar to what we did with meat-free in Canada. So we've consolidated our meat-free operations in Canada to more effectively use the footprint we have there. We're doing lots of work around our distribution centers holistically within Hain.

我想說，我們正在對業務進行非常全面的審查。我想，在上次財報電話會議中，我們提到了新的領導層來運營該業務並對其進行評估。但我想說，這對於您評估的任何企業來說都是非常典型的。你看看市場上哪裡有增長的機會，什麼是正確的——品牌的實力是什麼，這些品牌所涉足的正確類別是什麼——我們是否能通過那裡的渠道機會在市場上獲得合適的價格。例如，與我們產品組合的其他產品相比，個人護理品是一個非常大的在線產品線。未來我們的全方位和電子商務方法會是什麼樣子，看看您的分銷足跡和製造足跡，是否可以優化或提高效率，類似於我們在加拿大的無肉做法。因此，我們整合了在加拿大的無肉業務，以更有效地利用我們在那裡的足跡。我們正在海恩的配送中心周圍進行大量工作。

So I would say it's, yes, and it's everything in the portfolio, but it's also making sure that we understand how the brands can effectively break through and compete in the categories that we choose to have them in. And so you'll see a fair amount of transformation around the Personal Care business over the next 12 months, that then, again, gives us optionality. It's either returning to growth with us or it returns to growth, and it's a business that we can effectively find a home for, but we want to make sure that we're running a healthy business before we make those choices.

所以我想說，是的，它是產品組合中的一切，但它也確保我們了解品牌如何能夠有效地突破並在我們選擇的類別中競爭。所以你會看到未來12 個月，個人護理業務將進行大量轉型，這再次為我們提供了選擇餘地。它要么與我們一起恢復增長，要么恢復增長，這是一項我們可以有效找到歸宿的業務，但我們希望在做出這些選擇之前確保我們正在運營一個健康的業務。

And the other question I'd like to ask is you brought up addressing the Away From Home market, convenience stores, and other food service opportunities. Do the current existing brand, the products as they are, are they -- can you fit them right into that distribution -- into that channel due to the distributors or directly or are there a lot of changes in pack sizes or even usage types that are going to have to come just on the product itself to fit the channel.

我想問的另一個問題是，您從小就致力於解決遠離家鄉的市場、便利店和其他食品服務機會。做當前現有的品牌，產品本身，是嗎？你能將它們正確地融入到該分銷中嗎？由於分銷商或直接進入該渠道，或者包裝尺寸甚至使用類型是否有很多變化，必須僅僅依靠產品本身來適應渠道。

Yes, the primary products that we would see in brands that have an applications Away From Home is going to be in our snack portfolio, it's going to be in Celestial Seasonings tea and it's going to be in Greek Gods Yogurt. So the beauty of Greek Gods is it's already in multipack and multiserve, which is ideally suited for that space, not taking it into C-store but taking it into back of house and contract management. Our snack portfolio already has single-serve and the pack sizes that we need. It's a driving distribution and really pleased that we've picked up some very large distribution gains in both Garden Veggie and Terra in C-store in particular that you'll see come through in fiscal '24.

是的，我們在擁有 Away From Home 應用程序的品牌中看到的主要產品將出現在我們的零食產品組合中，它將出現在 Celestial Seasonings 茶中，並且將出現在 Greek Gods 酸奶中。因此，Greek Gods 的美妙之處在於它已經採用多包裝和多服務形式，非常適合該空間，不是將其帶入便利店，而是將其帶入後台和合同管理。我們的零食產品組合已經有我們需要的單份和包裝尺寸。這是一個推動分銷的過程，我們非常高興我們在 C 店的 Garden Veggie 和 Terra 中獲得了一些非常大的分銷收益，特別是您將在 24 財年看到這一點。

So getting some early good green shoots, which is great. For tea, we have single serve, and we actually have K-Cups for Celestial Seasoning. We don't have as many of the flavors as we would like, although we did just launch the Peppermint K-Cup. We just had really great receptivity, this is going to be one that's driving distribution reach, and we're in the process of putting together that go-to-market model to ensure that we've got right coverage to go after the right channels. But I feel very, very good about it and the opportunities in front of us. But it won't require a lot of food change or product change, won't require a lot of packaging change, it is very much around commercial execution.

因此，獲得一些早期的良好綠芽，這很棒。對於茶，我們提供單份服務，實際上我們還有用於天神調味品的 K 杯。儘管我們剛剛推出了薄荷 K-Cup，但我們的口味還沒有我們想要的那麼多。我們的接受度非常高，這將推動分銷範圍的擴大，我們正在整合進入市場的模式，以確保我們有正確的覆蓋範圍來追求正確的渠道。但我對它和我們面前的機會感覺非常非常好。但它不需要大量的食物變化或產品變化，不需要大量的包裝變化，它很大程度上圍繞著商業執行。

Our final question this morning comes from the line of John Baumgartner with Mizuho Securities.

今天早上我們的最後一個問題來自瑞穗證券的約翰·鮑姆加特納。

I wanted to ask Wendy, just thinking about the demographics of this category, you -- Hain's fallback for a number of years has been this highly affluent consumer, more insulation from elasticity in the economy. But if you look at broader natural organic category growth has slowed off a larger base. You had private label coming into the category. You've got many larger CPGs with larger economies of scale offering products at more competitive price points. And I'm curious, as you sort of think about the next couple of years in this business, where you want to grow, the channels you want to grow, the consumers you want to market to. I guess how do you think about the risk of sort of riding your, I guess, largest buying consumer, highest intensity consumption consumer even harder where they may hit a wall at some point as opposed to maybe going down the demographic curve into more middle-income households that opens you up to more elasticity risk but also a much broader addressable market as well.

我想問溫迪，只要考慮一下這一類別的人口統計數據，你——海恩多年來的後備力量就是這種高度富裕的消費者，更不受經濟彈性的影響。但如果你看看更廣泛的天然有機類別的增長已經放緩了更大的基數。您有自有品牌進入該類別。許多較大的消費品公司具有更大的規模經濟，以更具競爭力的價格提供產品。我很好奇，當你思考這個行業的未來幾年時，你想在哪裡發展，你想發展什麼渠道，你想向哪些消費者推銷。我想你如何看待讓你的最大購買消費者、最高強度消費消費者更加努力的風險，他們可能會在某個時候碰壁，而不是沿著人口曲線下降到更中間的位置——收入家庭不僅會讓您面臨更大的彈性風險，而且也會帶來更廣闊的潛在市場。

Yes, I think it's a great question. And certainly, historically, Hain's growth has been predicated on a highly affluent consumer who is shopping largely in specialty retail. What we've seen the dynamics change in the last few years is that our products and brands actually appeal to a wider consumer cohort than just that consumer, and consumers are looking to buy the products in more places. So the 2 things that we need to do is make them available in more places than just traditional specialty retail. But we also need to make sure that we've got the right pack configurations so that we meet the consumers' price points in those particular points of distribution.

是的，我認為這是一個很好的問題。當然，從歷史上看，Hain 的增長是基於高度富裕的消費者，他們主要在專業零售店購物。過去幾年我們看到的動態變化是，我們的產品和品牌實際上吸引了更廣泛的消費者群體，而不僅僅是該消費者，而且消費者希望在更多地方購買這些產品。因此，我們需要做的兩件事是讓它們在更多地方銷售，而不僅僅是傳統的專業零售店。但我們還需要確保我們擁有正確的包裝配置，以便我們在這些特定的分銷點滿足消費者的價格點。

So it's an opportunity you can have, and that's the opportunity for Hain. We are under-indexed in lots of channels, and we are underpenetrated in a variety of categories, that's the opportunity. The great news is that when we look at consumer appeal of our brands, there is a love for the products. Greek Gods Yogurt, for instance, has almost a near cult following and Terra Chips and Garden Veggie straw. So there's an opportunity for us to make the brands that consumers love, available in more places at a pack type and size that meets the needs in that particular occasion.

所以這是一個你可以擁有的機會，這也是 Hain 的機會。我們在很多渠道的索引不足，並且在各種類別的滲透率不足，這就是機會。好消息是，當我們看到消費者對我們品牌的吸引力時，就會發現他們對產品的喜愛。例如，希臘眾神酸奶幾乎擁有近乎狂熱的追隨者，而泰拉薯條和花園素食吸管則幾乎擁有狂熱的追隨者。因此，我們有機會生產消費者喜愛的品牌，並以滿足特定場合需求的包裝類型和尺寸在更多地方銷售。

That concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Ms. Davidson for any final comments.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我將把最後的意見轉回給戴維森女士。

Yes. I really want to thank everybody for the time today and for this last quarter, and I want to especially again thank Chris for his partnership and Alexis in all of her work in preparation as we go into these earnings calls. I very much look forward to seeing everybody on Investor Day in a few weeks. And thank you again.

是的。我真的要感謝今天和上個季度的所有人，我要特別感謝克里斯的合作夥伴以及亞歷克西斯在我們進入這些財報電話會議時所做的所有準備工作。我非常期待在幾週後的投資者日見到大家。再次感謝您。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。