Huntsman Corp (HUN) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the Huntsman Corporation First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

歡迎來到亨斯邁公司 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。

It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ivan Marcuse, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

現在我很高興向您介紹主持人，投資者關係副總裁 Ivan Marcuse。謝謝你，先生。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Maria and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Huntsman's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Joining us on the call today are Peter Huntsman, Chairman, CEO and President; and Phil Lister, Executive Vice President and CFO. This morning, before the market opened, we released our earnings for the first quarter of 2023 via press release and posted to our website, huntsman.com. We also posted a set slides on our website, which we will use on the call this morning while presenting our results.

謝謝你，瑪麗亞，大家早上好。歡迎來到亨斯邁 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。今天與我們一起參加電話會議的有董事長、首席執行官兼總裁 Peter Huntsman；執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Phil Lister。今天早上，在開市前，我們通過新聞稿發布了 2023 年第一季度的收益，並發佈在我們的網站 huntsman.com 上。我們還在我們的網站上發布了一套幻燈片，我們將在今天早上的電話會議上展示我們的結果時使用這些幻燈片。

During the call, we may make statements about our projections or expectations for the future. All such statements are forward-looking statements and while they reflect our current expectations, they involve risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. You should review our filings with the SEC for more information regarding the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these projections or expectations. We do not plan on publicly updating or revising any forward-looking statements during the quarter.

在通話期間，我們可能會就我們對未來的預測或期望發表聲明。所有此類陳述都是前瞻性陳述，雖然它們反映了我們當前的預期，但它們涉及風險和不確定性，並且不是對未來業績的保證。您應該查看我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件，以了解有關可能導致實際結果與這些預測或預期存在重大差異的因素的更多信息。我們不打算在本季度公開更新或修改任何前瞻性陳述。

We will also refer to non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income or loss and free cash flow. You can find reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release which has been posted to our website, huntsman.com.

我們還將參考非 GAAP 財務指標，例如調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨收入或虧損以及自由現金流。您可以在我們發佈在我們網站 huntsman.com 上的收益報告中找到與最直接可比的 GAAP 財務指標的對賬。

I'll now turn the call over to Peter Huntsman, our Chairman and CEO.

我現在將電話轉給我們的董事長兼首席執行官彼得亨斯曼。

Thank you, Ivan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join us. Let's turn to Slide #5. Adjusted EBITDA for our Polyurethanes division in the first quarter was $66 million. We continue to see significant destocking across our markets, specifically in North America. This destocking, combined with the competitive pricing environment, continued to put substantial pressure on the Polyurethanes business during the quarter. However, the business conditions improved sequentially in both our European and Asian regions, driving a nearly 80% improvement in EBITDA compared to the fourth quarter.

謝謝你，伊万。大家，早安。感謝您抽出寶貴時間加入我們。讓我們轉到幻燈片 #5。第一季度我們聚氨酯部門的調整後 EBITDA 為 6600 萬美元。我們繼續看到我們市場上的庫存大幅減少，特別是在北美。這種去庫存，加上競爭激烈的定價環境，在本季度繼續給聚氨酯業務帶來巨大壓力。然而，我們歐洲和亞洲地區的業務狀況均有所改善，與第四季度相比，EBITDA 增長了近 80%。

Overall sales volumes in the quarter declined 21% year-on-year. Volumes also declined 6% sequentially, which is in line with normal seasonality. All regions declined in the quarter versus the prior year, with the Americas accounting for 2/3 of the reduction, with lower demand and significant destocking significantly impacted sales volumes. Our European region did show a sequential improvement versus the fourth quarter. As business conditions stabilized, destocking subsided and costs moved lower.

本季度整體銷量同比下降 21%。銷量也環比下降 6%，這符合正常的季節性。本季度所有地區銷量均較上年同期有所下降，其中美洲佔降幅的 2/3，需求下降和去庫存顯著影響了銷量。與第四季度相比，我們的歐洲地區確實出現了連續改善。隨著商業環境的穩定，去庫存消退，成本下降。

From our vantage point, business conditions appear to be steadily improving from last year's low point within Europe. Our automotive business delivered volume improvements versus both the prior year and prior quarter. Most other major markets in Europe showed stable to improved volume sequentially. Profitability in the region was helped by natural gas prices falling from an average of about $23 per MMBtu to about $17 per MMBtu.

從我們的角度來看，歐洲的商業環境似乎正在從去年的低點穩步改善。與上一年和上一季度相比，我們的汽車業務實現了銷量增長。歐洲大多數其他主要市場的銷量環比穩定到有所改善。該地區的盈利能力得益於天然氣價格從平均每 MMBtu 約 23 美元降至約 17 美元/MMBtu。

I'll note that while natural gas costs are significantly lower today, they're still 6x higher than the U.S. Gulf Coast prices. In addition, while benzene was relatively flat sequentially, we did see an increase throughout the quarter, combined with continued competitive MDI pricing pressure. Nevertheless, we continue to make progress on our previously announced European restructuring initiatives and expect to start seeing some of the cost savings positively impacting our margins as we move through the remainder of 2023.

我會注意到，雖然今天的天然氣成本顯著降低，但仍比美國墨西哥灣沿岸的價格高出 6 倍。此外，雖然苯環比相對持平，但我們確實看到整個季度有所增加，同時 MDI 價格競爭壓力持續存在。儘管如此，我們在之前宣布的歐洲重組計劃方面繼續取得進展，並預計在 2023 年剩餘時間裡，部分成本節約將開始對我們的利潤率產生積極影響。

We will continue to aggressively manage costs and match production to lower demand. With lower costs and moderately better demand, we do expect profitability in our European region to improve through the remainder of the year. As a result of this steady improvement, we are restarting our smaller MDI unit and will have both our MDI lines operational in the second quarter. This will give us maximum flexibility to match our supply with demand as we progress through the seasonally higher sales months.

我們將繼續積極管理成本並使生產與較低的需求相匹配。由於成本降低和需求略有改善，我們確實預計我們歐洲地區的盈利能力將在今年餘下時間有所改善。由於這種穩步改進，我們正在重啟我們較小的 MDI 裝置，並將在第二季度讓我們的兩條 MDI 生產線投入運營。隨著我們度過季節性較高的銷售月份，這將為我們提供最大的靈活性，使我們的供應與需求相匹配。

Europe is and will be a core region for our Polyurethanes business, and we will benefit for many years to come from the region's needed drive for better energy conservation and efficiency. We remain well positioned to bring Europe energy-saving solutions to both residential and commercial construction markets, as well as innovative improvements to the lightweighting of automobiles.

歐洲現在是並將成為我們聚氨酯業務的核心區域，我們將在未來多年受益於該地區為更好地節約能源和提高效率所需要的動力。我們仍然有能力將歐洲節能解決方案引入住宅和商業建築市場，以及對汽車輕量化的創新改進。

In China, we did begin to see some green shoots with steady improvements in the first quarter, which was in line with our expectations. We expect China to remain on a steady but positive trajectory as the economic environment slowly returns to normal. We are seeing positive demand trends in end markets, such as the cold chain, infrastructure and certain consumer-related markets. Our China PO/MTBE joint venture contributed approximately $11 million in equity earnings for the quarter.

在中國，我們確實在第一季度開始看到一些穩步改善的萌芽，這符合我們的預期。隨著經濟環境慢慢恢復正常，我們預計中國將保持穩定但積極的發展軌跡。我們在冷鏈、基礎設施和某些與消費者相關的市場等終端市場看到了積極的需求趨勢。我們的中國 PO/MTBE 合資企業在本季度貢獻了約 1100 萬美元的股權收益。

The largest headwind that impacted Polyurethanes' first quarter results and which have continued into the second quarter is the high level of destocking in our Americas region, specifically in our construction businesses. Remember that 2/3 of our Polyurethanes Americas' portfolio comprises of construction end markets. Approximately 40% is commercial construction, 60% is residential, of which 70% is related to new residential buildings.

影響聚氨酯第一季度業績並一直持續到第二季​​度的最大逆風是我們美洲地區的高水平去庫存，特別是在我們的建築業務中。請記住，我們 Polyurethanes Americas 產品組合的 2/3 包括建築終端市場。大約 40% 是商業建築，60% 是住宅，其中 70% 與新建住宅有關。

For composite wood products, which is linked closely to residential construction, demand was under significant pressure throughout the first quarter, with housing starts down approximately 30% year-on-year. This pressure has moderated going into the second quarter. Our spray foam business also appears to have bottomed and is now showing some slight improvements in order patterns. In our commercial-related insulation markets, the destocking continues to be aggressive and may last through most of the second quarter.

對於與住宅建築密切相關的複合木製品，一季度需求承受巨大壓力，房屋開工量同比下降約30%。進入第二季度，這種壓力有所緩和。我們的噴塗泡沫業務似乎也已觸底，目前訂單模式略有改善。在我們與商業相關的絕緣市場中，去庫存繼續激進，並可能持續到第二季​​度的大部分時間。

Our visibility into the full supply chain is limited and it is tough to project when our customers will return to normal order patterns. While we are seeing factors such as rising interest rates placing pressure on new construction spending, about 65% of our commercial business is tied to repair and remodeling, such as reroofing, which we expect to normalize once destocking concludes. Additionally, we remain on the right side of energy efficiency drive and we will benefit from both improved building codes and the U.S. government's Inflation Reduction Act.

我們對整個供應鏈的了解有限，很難預測我們的客戶何時會恢復正常的訂單模式。雖然我們看到利率上升等因素對新建築支出造成壓力，但我們約 65% 的商業業務與維修和改建有關，例如翻新屋頂，我們預計一旦去庫存結束，這將正常化。此外，我們仍然站在能源效率驅動的正確一邊，我們將受益於改進的建築規範和美國政府的通貨膨脹減少法案。

Outside of construction, our global automotive business, which represents approximately 15% of the Polyurethanes portfolio, delivered volume improvements both sequentially and versus the first quarter. We continue to expect volumes in automotive to be up low single digits for the year. Our elastomers platform, we see stronger profitability from quarter 4 into quarter 1 on the back of margin expansion despite overall demand weakness. We are taking decisive and proactive steps to make our Polyurethanes business more efficient, stronger and better positioned for when the current challenging macro conditions abate.

在建築之外，我們的全球汽車業務約佔聚氨酯產品組合的 15%，與第一季度相比，環比銷量有所提高。我們繼續預計今年汽車銷量將以低個位數增長。我們的彈性體平台，儘管總體需求疲軟，但由於利潤率擴張，我們認為從第 4 季度到第 1 季度的盈利能力更強。我們正在採取果斷和積極的措施，使我們的聚氨酯業務更高效、更強大，並在當前具有挑戰性的宏觀環境減弱時處於更有利的地位。

We continue to monitor and adjust production rates accordingly, both at Rotterdam and at Geismar, to ensure we aggressively manage our working capital with cash generation as our top priority. Furthermore, we're on track to deliver the $60 million in cost savings we've laid out for Polyurethanes as planned. This includes exiting geographies that are not generating acceptable returns and consolidating additional back office functions. We have now exited our Southeast Asia polyurethanes site, in addition to our announced exit from South America last year.

我們繼續在鹿特丹和 Geismar 相應地監控和調整生產率，以確保我們積極管理我們的營運資金，並將現金生成作為我們的首要任務。此外，我們有望按計劃實現我們為聚氨酯計劃節省的 6000 萬美元成本。這包括退出無法產生可接受回報的地區，以及整合額外的後台職能。除了去年宣布退出南美之外，我們現已退出東南亞​​聚氨酯基地。

We've also been working for many months towards an orderly exit from our Russian operations, while ensuring we remain fully compliant with multiple sanction regimes in a highly complex political, legal and regulatory environment. Today, Russia represents less than 1% of our corporate revenue and we are hopeful that we can complete and exit during 2023.

幾個月來，我們一直在努力有序地退出我們在俄羅斯的業務，同時確保我們在高度複雜的政治、法律和監管環境中完全遵守多項製裁制度。今天，俄羅斯占我們公司收入的不到 1%，我們希望我們能夠在 2023 年完成並退出。

Looking further into the second quarter, we expect to see a seasonal improvement overall. We do expect continued destocking in the United States but we see that destocking moderating as we move through the quarter. We anticipate the current improving demand trends in Europe and Asia to continue. Putting it all together, we expect Polyurethanes adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter to be in the range of $85 million to $100 million.

進一步展望第二季度，我們預計整體將出現季節性改善。我們確實預計美國會繼續去庫存，但隨著我們進入本季度，我們看到去庫存正在放緩。我們預計目前歐洲和亞洲不斷改善的需求趨勢將繼續下去。綜上所述，我們預計聚氨酯第二季度調整後的 EBITDA 將在 8500 萬至 1 億美元之間。

Let's turn to Slide #6. Performance Products reported adjusted EBITDA of $71 million for the first quarter, equaling a 21% EBITDA margin, despite significantly lower demand versus the first quarter a year ago. This margin is in line with our long-term expectations of 20% to 25%. The decline in adjusted EBITDA versus the prior year was driven primarily by a 31% decline in volumes year-over-year, this is partially offset by a slight improvement in unit variable margins and lower fixed costs.

讓我們轉到幻燈片#6。 Performance Products 報告第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 7100 萬美元，相當於 21% 的 EBITDA 利潤率，儘管與一年前的第一季度相比需求顯著下降。這一利潤率符合我們 20% 至 25% 的長期預期。調整後的 EBITDA 與上一年相比下降主要是由於銷量同比下降 31%，這部分被單位可變利潤率的小幅改善和較低的固定成本所抵消。

The volume decline was due to lower demand across all regions, particularly in our performance amines and maleic anhydride businesses. Despite significantly lower demand year-on-year, we did see improvements quarter-on-quarter, especially in Europe and Asia, indicating that the destocking experienced in the fourth quarter is in the past. Markets where we saw positive sequential trends were construction, in coatings and adhesives, which both saw a significant destocking in the fourth quarter. We also saw modestly positive sequential trends in our product lines that serve agriculture, energy and electronic chemicals, namely semiconductor and lithium-ion batteries.

銷量下降是由於所有地區的需求下降，尤其是我們的高性能胺和馬來酸酐業務。儘管需求同比大幅下降，但我們確實看到環比有所改善，尤其是在歐洲和亞洲，這表明第四季度經歷的去庫存已經成為過去。我們看到積極連續趨勢的市場是建築、塗料和粘合劑，它們在第四季度都出現了顯著的去庫存。我們還看到我們服務於農業、能源和電子化學品的產品線（即半導體和鋰離子電池）出現適度積極的連續趨勢。

Capital improvements into our differentiated performance amines products serve polyurethanes -- serving polyurethanes, insulation, EV batteries and semiconductor markets continue to move forward on schedule, as we have stated in the past. Assuming macro -- assuming stable macro conditions, we expect these projects to start up by the end of 2023.

我們差異化性能胺產品的資本改進服務於聚氨酯——服務於聚氨酯、絕緣材料、電動汽車電池和半導體市場繼續按計劃向前發展，正如我們過去所說的那樣。假設宏觀——假設宏觀條件穩定，我們預計這些項目將在 2023 年底啟動。

Performance Products is an attractive division and we'll continue to invest in high-return organic projects and look at possible bolt-on opportunities when available. So far, in the second quarter, overall demand continues to be below the prior year level but is running steady with the first quarter across each of our regions. We believe customer inventories are below average and we will see our volumes quickly pick up when end market demand returns.

Performance Products 是一個有吸引力的部門，我們將繼續投資於高回報的有機項目，並在可能的情況下尋找可能的補強機會。到目前為止，在第二季度，總體需求繼續低於去年同期水平，但在我們每個地區的第一季度都保持穩定。我們認為客戶庫存低於平均水平，當終端市場需求恢復時，我們將看到我們的銷量迅速回升。

Overall, Performance Products' second quarter adjusted EBITDA should be in the range of $60 million to $70 million based on current demand visibility and with some moderate pricing pressure in ethylene amines and maleic anhydride.

總體而言，根據當前的需求可見度以及乙烯胺和馬來酸酐的適度定價壓力，Performance Products 第二季度調整後的 EBITDA 應在 6000 萬至 7000 萬美元之間。

With that, let's turn to Slide #7. Advanced Materials reported adjusted EBITDA of $48 million in the quarter, an increase of $7 million versus fourth quarter and down versus the prior year due primarily to lower sales volumes. Destocking appears largely behind us, though we continue to see pressure on our infrastructure coatings market. Total volumes increased quarter-on-quarter and drove the adjusted EBITDA improvements.

有了這個，讓我們轉到幻燈片 #7。 Advanced Materials 報告本季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 4800 萬美元，與第四季度相比增加 700 萬美元，與去年同期相比有所下降，這主要是由於銷量下降。儘管我們繼續看到我們的基礎設施塗料市場面臨壓力，但去庫存似乎已基本結束。總銷量環比增長並推動調整後的 EBITDA 改善。

The sales volumes decline of 21% was due in part to our ongoing reduction of bulk liquid resin commodity sales. Our core specialty business was down but less than the segment average. The Americas was the weakest region due to depressed demand, primarily from our coatings, adhesives and general industrial markets. Our aerospace business continues to demonstrate improving trends. Sales were stable compared with -- to quarter 1 of 2022, primarily due to some supply chain constraints and timing impacting sales in the quarter.

銷量下降 21%，部分原因是我們持續減少散裝液體樹脂商品的銷售。我們的核心專業業務有所下降，但低於細分市場平均水平。由於需求低迷，美洲是最疲軟的地區，主要來自我們的塗料、粘合劑和一般工業市場。我們的航空航天業務繼續呈現出改善趨勢。與 2022 年第一季度相比，銷售額穩定，這主要是由於一些供應鏈限制和時間影響了本季度的銷售。

Our order backlog is solid and we expect growth as we move through the rest of 2023 and into 2024. The increase in demand for our products is heavily related to widebody production rates, which have positive tailwinds with increased travel and new airplane orders from airlines. Our expectations remain that this important and profitable sector will return to pre-pandemic levels during 2024.

我們的訂單積壓量很大，我們預計在 2023 年剩餘時間和 2024 年期間會出現增長。對我們產品的需求增長與寬體機生產率密切相關，寬體機生產率對航空公司的旅行和新飛機訂單增加有積極的推動作用。我們仍然期望這個重要且有利可圖的行業將在 2024 年恢復到大流行前的水平。

We continue to seek out bolt-on acquisitions for Advanced Materials to grow and expand the overall portfolio as well as improve the overall returns of the business. We are also continuing to move forward with organic investments, such as our Miralon business, which provide an innovative technology to capture methane, turn it into hydrogen and a carbon material that can be utilized across many different markets. While still in development, we expect to aggressively scale this business over the coming years.

我們繼續為 Advanced Materials 尋求補強收購，以發展和擴大整體產品組合，並提高業務的整體回報。我們還在繼續推進有機投資，例如我們的 Miralon 業務，它提供了一種創新技術來捕獲甲烷，將其轉化為氫氣和可用於許多不同市場的碳材料。雖然仍處於開發階段，但我們預計在未來幾年會積極擴展這項業務。

With lower destocking and seasonal improvements, we expect Advanced Materials to deliver improved results in the second quarter versus the first quarter. We expect second quarter adjusted EBITDA for this division to be in the range of $50 million to $56 million, with improved EBITDA margins.

隨著去庫存減少和季節性改善，我們預計 Advanced Materials 第二季度的業績將比第一季度有所改善。我們預計該部門第二季度調整後的 EBITDA 將在 5000 萬美元至 5600 萬美元之間，EBITDA 利潤率將有所提高。

I will now turn over some time to our Chief Financial Officer, Phil Lister. Phil?

我現在將把時間交給我們的首席財務官 Phil Lister。菲爾？

Thank you, Peter. Good morning. Let's turn to Slide 8. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $136 million compared to $387 million in quarter 1 of 2022 and $87 million in the prior quarter. The decline versus the prior year was driven by reduced volumes of 24% across the portfolio, particularly in construction-related markets. Americas volumes declined by 31%, Europe by 28% and Asia by 21%. As a reminder, approximately 40% to 45% of our portfolio is linked to global construction markets via commercial, residential and infrastructure spend, which all remained under pressure.

謝謝你，彼得。早上好。讓我們轉到幻燈片 8。第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.36 億美元，而 2022 年第一季度為 3.87 億美元，上一季度為 8700 萬美元。與上一年相比下降的原因是整個投資組合的銷量下降了 24%，尤其是在建築相關市場。美洲銷量下降 31%，歐洲下降 28%，亞洲下降 21%。提醒一下，我們的投資組合中約有 40% 至 45% 通過商業、住宅和基礎設施支出與全球建築市場相關聯，這些都面臨壓力。

Year-on-year pricing across our total portfolio was flat, while cost of sales increased by $40 million. Polyurethanes' unit variable margins declined with year-on-year pricing pressure in all regions and increased raw material costs. In Advanced Materials, we expanded unit variable margins as price improvements exceeded cost increases. While in Performance Products, we managed to maintain last year's strong unit margin performance.

我們整個產品組合的同比定價持平，而銷售成本增加了 4000 萬美元。聚氨酯的單位可變利潤率因所有地區的同比價格壓力和原材料成本增加而下降。在 Advanced Materials，我們擴大了單位可變利潤率，因為價格改善超過了成本增加。在性能產品方面，我們設法保持了去年強勁的單位利潤率表現。

Sequentially, volumes improved slightly in Performance Products and Advanced Materials, while Polyurethanes volumes were lower as destocking continued throughout the quarter in addition to the normal seasonal decline. We did expand unit favorable margins from quarter 4 in all 3 divisions, improving EBITDA by $65 million, as reduced costs more than offset some downward pressure on selling prices.

隨後，性能產品和先進材料的銷量略有增加，而聚氨酯的銷量有所下降，因為除正常的季節性下降外，整個季度繼續去庫存。我們確實從第 4 季度開始擴大了所有 3 個部門的單位有利利潤率，將 EBITDA 提高了 6500 萬美元，因為成本降低抵消了銷售價格的一些下行壓力。

Raw materials, in particular, European natural gas, declined compared to the fourth quarter. This cost decline led to an improvement in European profitability and positive adjusted EBITDA for the region. We remain focused on our European restructuring efforts during 2023. SG&A costs remain under control, while inflation remains high across all of our operations around the world and delivery of our full year cost optimization savings during the remainder of the year remains paramount.

原材料，尤其是歐洲天然氣，與第四季度相比有所下降。成本下降導致歐洲盈利能力提高，並為該地區調整後的 EBITDA 帶來積極影響。我們將繼續專注於 2023 年的歐洲重組工作。SG&A 成本仍在控制之中，而我們在全球所有業務的通貨膨脹率仍然很高，在今年剩餘時間實現全年成本優化節約仍然至關重要。

SG&A as a percentage of sales was 9% on the last 12 months basis. As a reminder, we also have an increase in 2023 of approximately $40 million of noncash pension expense lowering adjusted EBITDA. Year-on-year, foreign exchange movements impacted the business by approximately $4 million as the U.S. dollar strengthened. Sequentially, we saw a benefit of approximately $3 million as the dollar weakened during the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter.

在過去 12 個月的基礎上，SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比為 9%。提醒一下，我們還將在 2023 年增加約 4000 萬美元的非現金養老金支出，從而降低調整後的 EBITDA。與去年同期相比，隨著美元走強，外匯變動對業務的影響約為 400 萬美元。隨後，由於美元在第一季度與第四季度相比走弱，我們看到了大約 300 萬美元的收益。

Equity income from our propylene oxide joint venture in China declined compared to quarter 1 of last year by $2 million, though improved slightly sequentially. Adjusted EBITDA margins came in at 8% for the company, with all 3 divisions improving sequentially, Polyurethanes at 7% margins and Performance Products and Advanced Materials continuing to deliver higher returns at 21% and 17% margins, respectively.

我們在中國的環氧丙烷合資企業的股權收入與去年第一季度相比下降了 200 萬美元，但環比略有改善。公司調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 8%，所有 3 個部門都連續改善，聚氨酯部門的利潤率為 7%，性能產品和先進材料繼續提供更高的回報率，分別為 21% 和 17%。

Let's turn to Slide 9. We concluded quarter 1 with approximately $240 million of run rate savings from our starting point in 2020. In Europe, we have now completed all of our works council negotiations and are progressing the plans we laid out at the end of last year to reduce our European cost base by approximately $40 million. Regarding our global business service operations, we're expanding our new regional service hubs in Costa Rica and in Poland to include customer service and certain supply chain roles, as we continue to build out those 2 centers.

讓我們轉到幻燈片 9。我們在第一季度結束時從 2020 年的起點開始節省了大約 2.4 億美元的運行率。在歐洲，我們現在已經完成了所有的工作委員會談判，並且正在推進我們在 2020 年底制定的計劃去年將我們的歐洲成本基數減少了大約 4000 萬美元。關於我們的全球業務服務運營，我們正在擴大我們在哥斯達黎加和波蘭的新區域服務中心，以包括客戶服務和某些供應鏈角色，因為我們將繼續建設這兩個中心。

We're also addressing improvements that we can make to our manufacturing indirect costs with a focus on some of our larger facilities. In addition, as previously anticipated, we did complete our exit from our Polyurethanes Southeast Asia sites at the end of the first quarter. We expect to meet or exceed our $280 million annualized run rate target by the end of 2023. And as we guided on our last call, delivery of our 2023 savings amounts to an in-year benefit of approximately $80 million compared to 2022, excluding the impact of inflation and the increase in noncash pension expense.

我們還在解決我們可以對我們的製造間接成本進行的改進，重點是我們的一些較大的設施。此外，正如之前預期的那樣，我們確實在第一季度末完成了從我們的聚氨酯東南亞工廠的退出。我們預計到 2023 年底將達到或超過我們 2.8 億美元的年化運行率目標。正如我們在上次電話會議中所指導的那樣，與 2022 年相比，我們 2023 年節省的費用相當於約 8000 萬美元的年內收益，不包括通貨膨脹的影響和非現金養老金支出的增加。

Turning to Slide 10. First quarter operating cash flow from continuing operations was an outflow of $122 million driven by lower levels of profitability, a seasonal adverse movement in working capital as well as our annual insurance premium payment. Free cash flow for the first quarter was an outflow of $168 million and our last 12-month free cash flow-to-adjusted EBITDA conversion ratio stands at 41%, excluding proceeds we received from the Albemarle settlement in quarter 2 of 2022.

轉到幻燈片 10。第一季度來自持續經營業務的經營現金流流出 1.22 億美元，原因是盈利水平較低、營運資金的季節性不利變動以及我們的年度保險費支付。第一季度的自由現金流流出 1.68 億美元，我們最近 12 個月的自由現金流與調整後 EBITDA 的轉換率為 41%，不包括我們在 2022 年第二季度從 Albemarle 和解中獲得的收益。

Capital expenditures from continuing operations was $46 million for the first quarter and we remain on track with our Performance Products' projects targeted at energy saving insulation, semiconductors and electric vehicles. As a reminder, given the current economic environment and state of the construction markets, we have reduced our targeted capital spend by approximately 10% compared to 2022, to a range of $240 million to $250 million for the year.

第一季度來自持續運營的資本支出為 4600 萬美元，我們的性能產品項目的目標仍然是節能絕緣、半導體和電動汽車。提醒一下，鑑於當前的經濟環境和建築市場狀況，我們已將今年的目標資本支出與 2022 年相比減少了約 10%，達到 2.4 億至 2.5 億美元的範圍。

During the quarter, we completed the sale of our Textile Effects division to Archroma. As previously indicated, we expect final net cash proceeds from the sale of approximately $500 million after tax and after customary closing statement adjustments. We closed out the quarter with $2 billion in liquidity and net debt leverage of 1x based upon the last 12 months adjusted EBITDA. As we progress through the year, we would expect our leverage ratio to climb from its current level given a decrease in LTM adjusted EBITDA.

本季度，我們完成了將紡織染化部門出售給 Archroma。如前所述，我們預計稅後和慣例結算報表調整後的最終淨現金收益約為 5 億美元。根據過去 12 個月調整後的 EBITDA，我們以 20 億美元的流動資金和 1 倍的淨債務槓桿結束了本季度。隨著我們今年的進展，鑑於 LTM 調整後的 EBITDA 下降，我們預計我們的槓桿率將從目前的水平攀升。

Our balance sheet remains investment grade and we continue to be committed to a balanced capital allocation policy. Adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter was $0.20 per share. Our 2023 increased dividend is in place at $0.95 per share, a 12% increase over 2022 and dividend yield is currently approximately 3.5%. We repurchased $101 million of shares in the first quarter, consistent with the guidance we gave on our prior call and in line with a total return of capital yield to shareholders of approximately 10% at current levels of market capitalization.

我們的資產負債表保持投資級別，我們繼續致力於平衡的資本配置政策。第一季度調整後的每股收益為每股 0.20 美元。我們 2023 年增加的股息為每股 0.95 美元，比 2022 年增加 12%，股息收益率目前約為 3.5%。我們在第一季度回購了 1.01 億美元的股票，這與我們在之前的電話會議上給出的指引一致，並且符合當前市值水平下股東的資本收益率總回報率約為 10%。

Peter, back to you.

彼得，回到你身邊。

Thank you, Phil. Having taken some time and read the comments from analysts regarding this quarter's results and, seemingly more important, any view of Q2 and the second half of this year, I'm reminded of the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, where Goldilocks was on a quest to find the perfect temperature for her newfound gruel and comfortable sleeping quarters. Everything was too hot or too cold, too soft or too hot.

謝謝你，菲爾。花了一些時間閱讀了分析師對本季度業績的評論，以及似乎更重要的是，對第二季度和今年下半年的任何看法，我想起了金發姑娘和三隻熊的童話，金發姑娘是為了為她新發現的粥和舒適的睡眠區找到完美的溫度。一切都太熱或太冷，太軟或太熱。

It seems that every forecast is either too aggressive and thusly unbelievable, or too conservative and thusly unbearable. I shall attempt to share a forecast wherein I hope not to share the same fate as Goldilocks being discovered by a family of hungry bears. There are 3 macro indicators that we need to see for the continuation of improvement to more normalized earnings.

似乎每一個預測要么過於激進而令人難以置信，要么過於保守而令人難以忍受。我將嘗試分享一個預測，其中我希望不要與一群飢餓的熊發現金發姑娘的命運相同。我們需要看到 3 個宏觀指標，才能繼續改善更正常的收益。

The first of these conditions is our North American market. We need to see an improvement in the massive destocking that we've seen in the fourth and going into the first quarter. This is not to say that we need to return to last year's build rate of 1.7 million homes but rather just a stabilization to the present level of housing starts. While new home starts have dropped 25%, our demand has dropped much more as builders work through their supply of building materials. It is our hope that we will see a return to demand consistent with today's numbers and housing starts.

這些條件中的第一個是我們的北美市場。我們需要看到我們在第四季度和第一季度看到的大規模去庫存有所改善。這並不是說我們需要恢復到去年 170 萬套房屋的建造率，而只是穩定到目前的房屋開工水平。雖然新房開工率下降了 25%，但隨著建築商努力供應建築材料，我們的需求下降得更多。我們希望我們將看到需求恢復到與今天的數字和房屋開工一致的水平。

I believe that our spray foam business has moved through its inventory and our OSB business is quite close, as orders are now starting to recover. Some building materials used in commercial buildings and warehouses, I think, will take as long as the rest of Q2 to work through its remaining inventory. We will see an improvement in North American demand when we work through our inventory and another step-up when we see a recovery in the number of home starts returning to last year's numbers. We are seeing signs that much of our MDI that goes into the construction market is modestly improving and inventory levels are stabilizing.

我相信我們的噴塗泡沫業務已經完成了庫存，我們的 OSB 業務也非常接近，因為訂單現在開始恢復。我認為，用於商業建築和倉庫的一些建築材料將需要與第二季度剩餘時間一樣長的時間來處理剩餘庫存。當我們處理庫存時，我們將看到北美需求有所改善，而當我們看到新屋開工數量恢復到去年的水平時，我們將看到需求進一步增加。我們看到跡象表明，我們進入建築市場的大部分 MDI 正在適度改善，庫存水平正在穩定。

The second macro indicator we're following is European energy. As we look to our European businesses, we continue to see the impact and headwinds of higher energy costs. While we are seeing lower natural gas prices than any time in the last 2 years, they're still 6x higher than in North America. These higher prices are also taking a toll on consumer spending and confidence.

我們關注的第二個宏觀指標是歐洲能源。當我們審視我們的歐洲業務時，我們繼續看到更高能源成本的影響和逆風。雖然我們看到天然氣價格比過去兩年中的任何時候都低，但仍比北美高出 6 倍。這些更高的價格也對消費者支出和信心造成了影響。

Europe has been enjoying low energy costs due to unusual weather conditions and slower economic activities. Europe's overreliance on a fundamentally unreliable energy source, while also paying for reliable backup energy production, is rendering the region uncompetitive on the global economic stage. I am concerned when I see forward electricity prices in France for this upcoming winter at near-record prices, that we are not improving a system that is simply not working.

由於異常的天氣條件和經濟活動放緩，歐洲一直享受著低能源成本。歐洲過度依賴根本上不可靠的能源，同時還要為可靠的備用能源生產買單，這使得該地區在全球經濟舞台上缺乏競爭力。當我看到法國即將到來的這個冬天的遠期電價接近創紀錄的價格時，我擔心我們沒有改進一個根本不起作用的系統。

While we are all in hopes of lower energy cost, this is hardly a solution. We will continue to cut costs and do whatever we can to offset these higher costs. At the same time, we'll focus on those markets in Europe that will prosper, such as aerospace, energy conservation and insulation, lightweighting, adhesion and the automotive industry.

雖然我們都希望降低能源成本，但這幾乎不是解決方案。我們將繼續削減成本，並儘我們所能來抵消這些更高的成本。同時，我們將重點關注歐洲那些將蓬勃發展的市場，例如航空航天、節能和絕緣、輕量化、粘合和汽車行業。

Finally, the third macro indicator is the Chinese economy. We continue to see improvements in demand as this massive economy reemerges from COVID lockdown. Having visited some of our sites in China, this past week, I have a renewed sense of optimism that this recovery will continue and should lead to higher prices and margins. In short, we're seeing demand improve across a number of our business groups. This will obviously improve as inventory levels return to better match day-to-day demand.

最後，第三個宏觀指標是中國經濟。隨著這個龐大的經濟體從 COVID 鎖定中重新出現，我們繼續看到需求的改善。過去一周，在訪問了我們在中國的一些工廠後，我對這種複蘇將繼續下去並應該導致更高的價格和利潤率產生了新的樂觀情緒。簡而言之，我們看到我們許多業務部門的需求都有所改善。隨著庫存水平恢復到更好地滿足日常需求，這顯然會有所改善。

We are maintaining our market share, lowering our costs, pushing for higher prices where we can and looking for ways to create faster shareholder value. We remain optimistic that this recovery continues, while also preserving our investment-grade balance sheet and continuing to reduce costs, should this recovery prove to be transitory. These steps will allow us to take full advantage of improving markets as they happen.

我們正在保持我們的市場份額，降低我們的成本，盡可能地推動更高的價格，並尋找更快地創造股東價值的方法。如果這種複蘇被證明是暫時的，我們仍然樂觀地認為這種複蘇會繼續下去，同時還會保留我們的投資級資產負債表並繼續降低成本。這些步驟將使我們能夠充分利用不斷改善的市場。

With that, Maria, I'll turn the time back over to you and let's start the question-and-answer session.

有了這個，瑪麗亞，我會把時間還給你，讓我們開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Mike Harrison with Seaport Research Partners.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Seaport Research Partners 的 Mike Harrison。

Peter, I was wondering if you could maybe give us some thoughts on how you expect the second half to unfold. Obviously, you've given us your Q2 outlook that includes still a lot of destocking. But as that destocking subsides, it seems like we could see a pretty substantial step-up in EBITDA in Q3. Maybe talk about some of the puts and takes that you're seeing in the second half.

彼得，我想知道你是否可以給我們一些關於你期望下半年如何展開的想法。顯然，你給了我們你的第二季度展望，其中仍然包括大量去庫存。但隨著去庫存的消退，我們似乎可以看到第三季度 EBITDA 有相當大的增長。也許談談你在下半場看到的一些推桿和推桿。

Well, Mike, thank you very much. I think, yes, if we look at the second half, I don't expect that we'll still be anywhere in the mode of destocking. That's not to say that everything is going to be destocked by July 1. But I think it will be through the vast majority of that. As I think about the biggest area of concern for me, which is our U.S. MDI, where 2/3 of that goes into the construction market. I kind of break that out into 3 areas. So 40% of that going into our spray foam business, the Huntsman Building Solutions, of which I think all that inventory has basically been depleted, if you will.

好吧，邁克，非常感謝你。我認為，是的，如果我們看下半年，我不認為我們仍會處於去庫存模式的任何地方。這並不是說所有東西都將在 7 月 1 日之前去庫存。但我認為這將完成其中的絕大部分。我認為我最關心的領域是我們的美國 MDI，其中 2/3 進入了建築市場。我有點把它分成 3 個區域。因此，其中 40% 用於我們的噴塗泡沫業務 Huntsman Building Solutions，如果你願意的話，我認為其中的所有庫存基本上已經耗盡。

30% goes into composite wood production. And I think that inventory is fast normalizing. The price for composite wood panels and orders, I think, are both stabilizing, which are very good signs for us. So I think that's pretty much run its course. As I look at the other 30% of that 2/3 construction demand of MDI in North America, well, that's going into what I'd consider to be the composite insulation panel. That's going to be everything from roofing on warehouses to siding on office buildings and those sort of miscellaneous applications. That -- I think, that 30%, probably has another month or so to go. Again, I don't have perfect vision into that.

30% 用於復合木材生產。而且我認為庫存正在快速正常化。我認為複合木板的價格和訂單都在穩定，這對我們來說是非常好的跡象。所以我認為這幾乎是順其自然。當我查看北美 MDI 的 2/3 建築需求的另外 30% 時，嗯，這將進入我認為是複合絕緣板的領域。這將是一切，從倉庫的屋頂到辦公樓的壁板以及那些雜項應用程序。那—我認為，那 30%，可能還有一個月左右的時間。同樣，我對此沒有完美的認識。

So yes, I think by the end of this quarter, when I look at the biggest areas that have been impacted in the business around destocking, mainly North American MDI, I think that we're pretty much done with that. I also think in the second half we're not going to continue to see the impact of lockdowns, coming out of lockdowns in China and the Chinese New Year celebration and so forth, which typically is a drag on our Q1 numbers.

所以是的，我認為到本季度末，當我看到在去庫存業務中受到影響最大的領域時，主要是北美 MDI，我認為我們已經完成了這方面的工作。我還認為在下半年我們不會繼續看到封鎖的影響，中國的封鎖和中國新年慶祝活動等等，這通常會拖累我們第一季度的數據。

And so again, as I sit here today, having just returned from China a couple of days ago and met with our -- face-to-face with our sales management and our various teams in China and so forth, there is quite a bit of a sense of optimism and so forth. I don't think that China is going to come flying back and have a full recovery in the quarter. But I think it's going to continue to be a gradual improvement between now and the end of the year, which ought to help tip the balance on a more optimistic view at least of the second half of the year.

因此，當我今天坐在這裡，幾天前剛從中國回來，與我們的銷售管理人員和我們在中國的各個團隊等面對面會面時，有很多樂觀情緒等等。我認為中國不會在本季度全面復甦。但我認為從現在到今年年底，這將繼續逐步改善，這應該有助於至少在今年下半年達到更樂觀的看法。

So as I think about Advanced Materials and Performance Products, I think for the most part, the inventory levels of that destocking in those areas is largely either depleted or rather de minimis. And it has more to do with just pricing competition and overall demand. And looking at something like Performance Products, our margins on a per pound basis really haven't moved in the last year. What we've struggled with in Performance Products is the overall demand and the overall volume that's in that business. And as that volume recovers, obviously, you'll see the profitability in that business recovers as well. And I think that will certainly be a second half event.

因此，當我考慮先進材料和性能產品時，我認為在大多數情況下，這些領域的庫存水平在很大程度上已經耗盡，或者更確切地說是最低限度。它更多地與價格競爭和整體需求有關。看看 Performance Products 之類的產品，去年我們每磅的利潤率確實沒有變化。我們在 Performance Products 中遇到的困難是該業務的總體需求和總量。隨著銷量的恢復，很明顯，你會看到該業務的盈利能力也會恢復。我認為這肯定會是下半場比賽。

In the second quarter, as I said in my prepared remarks, we're seeing rather flat demand from Q1 to Q2 with some pressure on the pricing in some of our products. So I think as we look across the board, deinventorying is going to become less and less of an issue. I think raw materials hopefully will stabilize. We continue to keep an eye on Europe. And -- but again, as I try to look out in the second half, I want to be absolutely clear here. Yesterday, we were all running around worrying about regional banks that were dropping by double-digit percentages. And this morning, seemingly that crisis is over and all the regional banks are up double digits.

在第二季度，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們看到從第一季度到第二季度的需求相當平穩，我們的一些產品的定價面臨一些壓力。所以我認為，當我們全面觀察時，去庫存將變得越來越不成問題。我認為原材料有望穩定下來。我們繼續關注歐洲。而且 - 但再次，當我試圖在下半場向外看時，我想在這裡絕對清楚。昨天，我們都在擔心區域性銀行以兩位數的百分比下跌。今天早上，危機似乎已經結束，所有地區性銀行的股價都上漲了兩位數。

The market lost $0.5 trillion in value yesterday. And today, we've gained $0.5 trillion. So I don't want to get so transfixed in the second half of the year that we're ignoring the day-to-day impacts that we're seeing in the macro global economies. And I think what is important is that we stay focused on controlling those things around cost, having a quality customer base, matching our production and working capital with the demands in the market. And when the recovery does come, that we are there to take full advantage of it as quickly as anybody else in the market.

昨天市場損失了 0.5 萬億美元。而今天，我們已經獲得了 0.5 萬億美元。因此，我不想在今年下半年過於專注，以至於我們忽略了我們在全球宏觀經濟中看到的日常影響。我認為重要的是我們要繼續專注於控製成本，擁有優質的客戶群，使我們的生產和營運資金與市場需求相匹配。當複蘇真的到來時，我們會像市場上的其他任何人一樣迅速充分利用它。

So Mike, sorry about the long rambling there but I think it's a very good question. And that should tell you that there are some positive issues in the second half but I also haven't much clarity for the next 48 hours.

所以邁克，很抱歉在那裡冗長的漫無邊際，但我認為這是一個很好的問題。這應該告訴你下半年有一些積極的問題，但我對接下來的 48 小時也不太清楚。

Our next question comes from Michael Sison with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Michael Sison。

This is Abigail on for Mike. So I wanted to follow up on your -- you said that you're managing production to meet lower levels of demand, just wanted to get a feel for where your MDI operating rates are about now. And realistically, how low you could bring them in order to meet lower levels of demand.

這是邁克的阿比蓋爾。所以我想跟進你的 - 你說你正在管理生產以滿足較低水平的需求，只是想了解一下你現在的 MDI 開工率。實際上，為了滿足較低水平的需求，您可以將它們降低到多低。

Well, I think that the lower levels of demand was probably more of a fourth quarter issue. We are seeing demand improving in the first quarter and going into the second quarter. We did reduce our rates in -- at our Rotterdam facility when we saw demand plummet at the end of last year. And those rates were -- our operating rates were in the high 60s, around 70% utilization rates. We are now seeing that we're able to sell more than that. So we will be operating all of our MDI lines, albeit at a reduced rate, but all of our MDI lines will be operating back in Rotterdam. We'll be producing those as we're able to satisfy the needs of the marketplace.

好吧，我認為較低水平的需求可能更多是第四季度的問題。我們看到第一季度和第二季度的需求有所改善。去年年底，當我們看到需求暴跌時，我們確實降低了我們鹿特丹工廠的利率。這些比率是——我們的開工率處於 60 年代的高位，利用率約為 70%。我們現在看到我們能夠賣得更多。因此，我們將運營我們所有的 MDI 生產線，儘管速度有所降低，但我們所有的 MDI 生產線都將在鹿特丹運營。我們將生產這些產品，因為我們能夠滿足市場的需求。

I would say that across the board, we're probably seeing a 70% to 80% utilization rate. And that's going to vary, obviously. If you look at the United States and the North American market, it's much higher than that, if I were to assume that the imports that are presently coming into North America, were stripped out. But nevertheless, I think you've got to look at, at least on the polymeric side of MDI, you've got to look at that as somewhat of a global market.

我想說的是，我們可能會看到 70% 到 80% 的利用率。顯然，這會有所不同。如果你看看美國和北美市場，如果我假設目前進入北美的進口商品被剔除，它會比這高得多。但是，儘管如此，我認為你必須至少在 MDI 的聚合物方面進行研究，你必須將其視為某種程度上的全球市場。

Our next question comes from David Begleiter with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 David Begleiter。

Peter, back on to Chinese MDI, how impactful of imports of those products into the U.S. have been? And when do you think the recovery in China could forestall further imports of Chinese MDI into the U.S.?

Peter，回到中國的 MDI，這些產品進口到美國的影響有多大？您認為中國的複蘇何時可以阻止中國 MDI 進一步進口到美國？

Well, I think the Chinese imports coming into the U.S. is around 20%. And that's pretty much -- I think that's pretty well kind of matched the economy, as the economy slowed down and picked back up. I don't get a sense that there's a flood of Chinese material coming into the U.S. and that's somehow is a drag on pricing and so forth. So as China recovers and continues to see demand, obviously, Chinese production is much better off being produced and sold in China and they're going to make a lot more money selling it in China. And I would assume that, that will be a deterrent when that demand continues -- as that demand continues to improve, that will be a deterrent to export.

好吧，我認為進入美國的中國進口商品大約佔 20%。這幾乎 - 我認為這與經濟非常匹配，因為經濟放緩並回升。我不覺得有大量中國材料進入美國，這在某種程度上拖累了定價等等。因此，隨著中國復甦並繼續看到需求，顯然，中國生產在中國生產和銷售要好得多，他們將在中國銷售賺更多的錢。我認為，當需求持續時，這將是一種威懾——隨著需求繼續改善，這將成為出口的威懾。

But look, there's Chinese production that is -- I think is probably going to be coming into the U.S. on a permanent basis, as a large Chinese producer has a commitment to this industry and to supply a certain segment of it. But I don't see that product awash in this market to the detriment of the market.

但是看，中國的生產——我認為可能會永久性地進入美國，因為一家大型中國生產商對這個行業有承諾並供應其中的某個部分。但我不認為該產品在這個市場上氾濫會對市場造成損害。

Our next question comes from Frank Mitsch with Fermium Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Fermium Research 的 Frank Mitsch。

Peter, you indicated that you're going to restart the lines in Geismar and in Rotterdam this quarter. I'm just curious how we think about the sequential improvement coming from restarting those plants and what the restraint on profitability might have been in the first quarter. And then also, obviously, congratulations on completing the sale of Textile Effects. I was wondering if there was scope for -- now that, that business is kind of -- if there was scope for improvement in terms of your corporate expenses, in terms of maybe rightsizing that. Any help there will be very helpful.

Peter，您曾表示您將在本季度重啟 Geismar 和鹿特丹的生產線。我只是好奇我們如何看待重啟這些工廠帶來的連續改善，以及第一季度對盈利能力的限制。然後，很明顯，祝賀您完成了 Textile Effects 的銷售。我想知道是否有空間 - 現在，該業務有點 - 如果在您的公司支出方面有改進的餘地，也許在合理調整方面。那裡的任何幫助都會非常有幫助。

Yes. I'll let Phil comment on the overall corporate expenses. The bottom line, of course, we are and we're trying to look at making sure those expenses match our company size, is -- I want to be very clear. When we talk about restarting MDI lines, right now, we've announced the restart of Rotterdam and the restart of Geismar has yet to take place. We've not made a decision yet to restart that facility. And in order to do that, we'll need probably about 2 months or so lead time to get that plant, to get that, that vital facility up and going in full.

是的。我會讓 Phil 對公司的整體開支發表評論。當然，我們的底線是，我們正在努力確保這些費用與我們公司的規模相匹配，我想說得很清楚。當我們談論重啟 MDI 生產線時，我們現在已經宣布重啟鹿特丹工廠，而蓋斯馬工廠尚未重啟。我們尚未做出重啟該設施的決定。為了做到這一點，我們可能需要大約 2 個月左右的時間來獲得該工廠，獲得那個重要的設施並全面運行。

So yes, as I look at the amount of profit, Frank, I want to be very clear. I don't think we've been constrained by not having that second line running in Rotterdam. What we've seen is the amount of inventory that we have in Rotterdam and the capacity of the existing plant has now reached -- according to our sales forecast and the orders we have on the books, have now exceeded that 70% of production and we need more production in order to meet demand. And so again, we'll be running all of the lines in Rotterdam, which is 2. But that doesn't mean that we're going to just be running at 100% and flogging the market. I'd say that both those plants -- both those lines together, we'll be running at around 80% utilization rate.

所以是的，當我看利潤額時，弗蘭克，我想說得很清楚。我不認為我們因為沒有在鹿特丹運行第二條線而受到限制。我們所看到的是我們在鹿特丹的庫存量和現有工廠的產能現在已經達到——根據我們的銷售預測和我們賬面上的訂單，現在已經超過了產量的 70%，我們需要更多的生產以滿足需求。因此，我們將再次運行鹿特丹的所有生產線，即 2 條。但這並不意味著我們將以 100% 的速度運行並鞭打市場。我想說的是，這兩個工廠——兩條生產線一起，我們將以 80% 左右的利用率運行。

On the corporate expenses, Frank, I think we've guided on the last call to about $175 million in 2023. It's actually down from 2022 once you strip out about a $20 million benefit that we got from transactional FX in corporate last year. So we will be down year-on-year. And as Peter said, we'll continue to focus on that. When we sold Textile Effects, we removed all of the costs, all of the costs that were allocated directly to Textile Effects. So you'll have a combination of all those costs have gone and corporate costs down year-on-year once you take account of FX.

關於企業支出，弗蘭克，我認為我們在上次電話會議上的指導意見是 2023 年約為 1.75 億美元。一旦你剔除我們去年從企業交易外匯中獲得的約 2000 萬美元收益，它實際上比 2022 年有所下降。所以我們將同比下降。正如彼得所說，我們將繼續關注這一點。當我們出售 Textile Effects 時，我們去除了所有成本，所有直接分配給 Textile Effects 的成本。因此，一旦考慮到外匯，所有這些成本都已經消失，企業成本將同比下降。

And as Peter said, our focus is on completing our overall cost savings program, our cost optimization program, where we're targeting in total additional $80 million year-on-year of cost savings. Thank you.

正如彼得所說，我們的重點是完成我們的整體成本節約計劃，我們的成本優化計劃，我們的目標是每年額外節省 8000 萬美元的成本。謝謝。

Our next question comes from Aleksey Yefremov with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Aleksey Yefremov。

Peter, could you talk about your costs in MDI in Europe, how do they compare currently to your U.S. assets, China assets? And are you exporting any MDI from the U.S. to Europe?

Peter，你能談談你在歐洲的 MDI 成本嗎？它們目前與你的美國資產、中國資產相比如何？你們是否從美國向歐洲出口 MDI？

Yes. I think that when we look at the gives and takes on all of these things, here in the U.S., we have a bit higher chlorine and caustic costs than in -- but we've got lower energy costs in the U.S and Europe. We're advantaged when we look at such things as tariffs and so forth, where you've got a -- if you're selling -- moving product to China, for example, in the U.S. you've got a 25%, 30% tariff, whereas in Europe, you're looking at a single digit. So there's internal and there are external forces as you look at this whole thing -- as you look at these.

是的。我認為，當我們審視所有這些事情的付出和承擔時，在美國，我們的氯氣和苛性鹼成本比在美國高一點——但我們在美國和歐洲的能源成本較低。當我們考慮關稅等問題時，我們處於優勢地位，如果你在銷售，將產品轉移到中國，例如，在美國，你有 25%， 30% 的關稅，而在歐洲，你看到的是個位數。所以當你看這整件事的時候，有內部的，也有外部的力量——當你看這些的時候。

But by and large, the gap between Rotterdam, without getting into too much specificity on a cost per ton basis, it's fair to say the gap between the 3 regions has now shrunk to a point where they're all within freight distance. Or say, if you think about the cost of freight between the 3 regions, they're all lower than that. So there is not a lot of advantage, unless you're desperately short of particular tonnage, there's not a lot of advantage of moving from one region to the other.

但總的來說，鹿特丹之間的差距，如果不在每噸成本的基礎上過於具體，可以公平地說這 3 個地區之間的差距現在已經縮小到都在貨運距離之內的程度。或者說，如果您考慮 3 個地區之間的運費，它們都比這低。所以沒有太多優勢，除非你極度缺乏特定的噸位，否則從一個地區轉移到另一個地區並沒有太多優勢。

Our next question comes from Arun Viswanathan with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Arun Viswanathan。

Great. So first off, on the outlook. If you kind of look at the first half versus second half, and I know this question was asked earlier, but what is it going to take, is it, really just come down to kind of China recovering, maybe some better construction or automotive trends? What is it going to take for maybe a little bit better performance in the second half? And when you think about that, the destocking, is it really -- you noted that it was maybe a little bit more pronounced in North America. So is that kind of in construction areas? Or where specifically are you seeing that?

偉大的。所以首先，關於前景。如果你比較一下上半年和下半年，我知道之前有人問過這個問題，但是這需要什麼，真的只是歸結為中國的複蘇，也許是一些更好的建築或汽車趨勢？下半場的表現可能會好一點需要什麼？當你想到這一點時，去庫存真的是——你注意到它在北美可能更為明顯。那是在建築領域嗎？或者你具體在哪裡看到的？

Yes, I'd say that the destocking is probably -- as you look at it on a global basis, it's, 3/4 of that destocking is taking place in North America. And I think that's where you -- we've seen the greatest concentration of that taking place in the building materials in U.S. housing. That's not to say that we couldn't see other destocking take place. But Europe, by and large after COVID, stayed in a pretty lethargic state. Whereas the U.S., the housing boom after COVID in the last 12 to 24 months has really gone up considerably.

是的，我想說的是，去庫存可能——從全球範圍來看，3/4 的去庫存發生在北美。我認為這就是你 - 我們已經看到美國住房的建築材料最集中。這並不是說我們看不到其他去庫存發生。但總的來說，歐洲在 COVID 之後仍處於相當昏昏欲睡的狀態。而在美國，過去 12 到 24 個月 COVID 之後的房地產繁榮確實大幅上升。

And it's come down. There was a lot of stock that was built up. Think of 1 year, 1.5 years ago when MDI was short, not just MDI but a lot of building materials were very short, so a lot of people were buying excessive amounts of materials and stockpiling it. So again, it's not just an MDI issue in the U.S. housing market. A number of raw materials from lumber all the way up through, that's going. So when we talk about a deinventorying process that takes place, it's not just around MDI or around a particular chemical, it's largely the whole chain.

它已經下來了。建立了很多庫存。想想 1 年，1.5 年前，當 MDI 短缺時，不僅是 MDI，而且很多建築材料都非常短缺，所以很多人都在購買過量的材料並儲存起來。因此，這不僅僅是美國住房市場的 MDI 問題。一些原材料從木材一路上來，就是這樣。因此，當我們談論發生的去庫存過程時，它不僅僅是圍繞 MDI 或特定化學品，它主要是整個鏈條。

So again, I believe that in North America, where I think that you have the greatest opportunity for improvement relative to where we are today, if we could get through that, that destocking, I think that starts to give us price leverage and it gives us improved volume. But again, you're going to be selling into a housing market, a housing start market, that is 25%, again smaller than it was a year ago. And as that now improves, the number of homes being built and that's going to be a whole number of issues from demand to mortgage rates to consumer confidence and so forth, as that number increases from its present 1.2 million, 1.3 million homes per year sort of run rate, back up to its 1.6 million, 1.7 million run rate that we saw a year ago, you'll see another push forward demand and another opportunity for pricing improvement.

所以，我再次相信，在北美，我認為相對於我們今天的情況，你有最大的改進機會，如果我們能夠克服這個問題，去庫存，我認為這開始給我們帶來價格槓桿，它給我們提高了音量。但同樣，你將要向房地產市場、新房開工市場出售，即 25%，再次低於一年前的水平。隨著現在情況的改善，正在建造的房屋數量以及從需求到抵押貸款利率再到消費者信心等等的一系列問題，因為這個數字從目前的每年 120 萬、130 萬套房屋類別增加運行率，回到我們一年前看到的 160 萬、170 萬運行率，你會看到另一個推動需求和另一個定價改進的機會。

So I think in North America, again, you're going to be seeing a lot of kind of a multistep. Europe, I think, you're going to have to just say a continued across the board GDP improvement, coupled with an energy policy that needs to be established and needs to allow manufacturing to be competitive. It's not going to help us a whole lot if you see a recovery in the economy in Europe and energy remains -- for electricity and for natural gas and natural gas byproducts that remain 5x, 10x higher than the rest of the world. So there's got to be some sort of a change and continuous improvement takes place there.

所以我認為在北美，你會再次看到很多多步驟。歐洲，我認為，你將不得不說持續全面的 GDP 改善，加上需要製定的能源政策，需要讓製造業具有競爭力。如果你看到歐洲經濟復甦，但能源仍然存在——電力、天然氣和天然氣副產品仍然比世界其他地區高出 5 倍、10 倍，這對我們沒有多大幫助。因此，必須進行某種改變，並在那裡進行持續改進。

Again, in China, I think that one's just a question as to how quickly do they get back to, "a normalized run rate?" I am -- as optimistic as I am, I think that it's going to be a steady but gradual improvement between now and the end of the year.

同樣，在中國，我認為這只是一個問題，即他們要多快才能恢復到“正常運行率？”我 - 和我一樣樂觀，我認為從現在到今年年底，這將是一個穩定但漸進的改善。

Our next question comes from Kieran De Brun with Mizuho.

我們的下一個問題來自 Mizuho 的 Kieran De Brun。

You clearly have a very strong capital position now after closing the Textile business. You have cash flow that's being generated in the back half of the year. How should we think about your capital deployment priorities? And how does M&A, if at all, now fit into your story going forward?

在關閉紡織業務後，您現在顯然擁有非常強大的資本狀況。你有在今年下半年產生的現金流。我們應該如何考慮您的資本部署優先事項？併購，如果有的話，現在如何融入你未來的故事中？

Yes. Thanks, Kieran, for the question. As we said, a balanced approach to capital in terms of policy, making sure that we maintain our investment grade, which in general, over time, is a net debt leverage ratio of 2x. We have said that we would deploy approximately $400 million of cash into share repurchases this year. We feel that, that is competitive from an overall return to shareholders' perspective. But we do have the flexibility and the leverage, particularly with the portfolio we have going forward, to deploy cash into M&A.

是的。謝謝，Kieran，提出這個問題。正如我們所說，在政策方面採取平衡的資本方法，確保我們維持我們的投資等級，一般來說，隨著時間的推移，淨債務槓桿率為 2 倍。我們曾表示，今年我們將部署約 4 億美元的現金用於股票回購。我們認為，從股東的整體回報來看，這是有競爭力的。但我們確實有靈活性和槓桿作用，特別是在我們未來的投資組合中，可以將現金部署到併購中。

And in order of priority, very clearly for us, Advanced Materials is an area that we would like to seek out bolt-on acquisitions, as we did during the COVID time frame where we added CVC, Gabriel to our portfolio, horizontal plays in Advanced Materials. And we would look to build up that business as bolt-on acquisitions become available and as they become available from a value perspective. In general, if you look over the past couple of years, they've been pretty high and we've therefore stayed on the sidelines. We think, going forward, there should be some value to businesses. But balanced approach overall and we've got a strong enough balance sheet to be able to do both.

按照優先順序，對我們來說非常清楚，先進材料是我們希望尋求補強收購的領域，就像我們在 COVID 時間框架內所做的那樣，我們將 CVC、Gabriel 添加到我們的投資組合中，在先進的橫向業務中材料。我們希望在補強收購變得可用時以及從價值角度來看它們變得可用時建立該業務。總的來說，如果你回顧過去幾年，它們一直很高，因此我們一直保持觀望。我們認為，展望未來，應該對企業有一定的價值。但總體上是平衡的方法，我們有足夠強大的資產負債表來做到這兩點。

Our next question comes from Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Laurence Alexander。

This is Dan Rizzo, on for Laurence. You mentioned that the push for increased energy efficiency is a tailwind in the U.S., in U.S. construction. I was wondering if it's kind of a similar potential secular tailwind in China where they're looking to do that as well? Or is it really not material in that region?

我是丹·里佐，代表勞倫斯。你提到推動提高能源效率是美國建築業的順風。我想知道這在中國是否也有類似的潛在長期順風，他們也正在尋求這樣做？還是在那個地區真的不重要？

I would say that it's not as material but yes, it is going to continue to have an impact on the business, particularly around EVs. A lot of the infrastructures that we're selling into, if you think about pipe and pipe, where in you're reinsulating hot water lines, utility lines and so forth, that's a big application for us in China. I mentioned the EV market, lightweighting and so forth. There's also a very large investments being made in China on building out the power grid system that is going to continue to help with us and as we think about our Advanced Materials.

我會說這不是那麼重要，但是是的，它將繼續對業務產生影響，尤其是圍繞電動汽車。我們銷售的許多基礎設施，如果你考慮管道和管道，你在其中重新絕緣熱水管線、公用事業管線等，這對我們在中國來說是一個很大的應用。我提到了電動汽車市場、輕量化等。中國也在建設電網系統方面進行了大量投資，這將繼續幫助我們以及我們思考我們的先進材料。

And as we think about our polyurethane amines going into wind and the amount of wind blades and so forth that are needed not just in China but more and more the world is becoming dependent on China to produce wind blades and to produce the components for batteries and solar panels and everything else. And so a lot of what the world is going to need as far as these various components around a green new deal, if you will, so long as the United States has an anti-mining policy and an anti-production policy around many of the components going into these end applications, we're going to see real growth in China for a lot of these components, be it wind blades, be it EV batteries, solar panels and various other products.

當我們想到我們的聚氨酯胺進入風能以及風力葉片的數量等等時，不僅在中國而且世界越來越依賴中國來生產風力葉片和生產電池組件和太陽能電池板和其他一切。因此，就綠色新政的這些不同組成部分而言，世界將需要很多東西，如果你願意的話，只要美國有一項反採礦政策和反生產政策圍繞許多進入這些終端應用的組件，我們將看到許多這些組件在中國的真正增長，無論是風力葉片、電動汽車電池、太陽能電池板和各種其他產品。

Our next question comes from John Roberts with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的約翰羅伯茨。

Peter, given your exposure to housing, I would have thought that Three Little Pigs would have been a better fairy tale than Goldilocks.

彼得，鑑於你接觸過住房，我原以為三隻小豬會比金發姑娘更好的童話故事。

That's a good point, especially an insulated house, because the wind wouldn't have been able to get through.

這是一個很好的觀點，尤其是隔熱房屋，因為風無法穿過。

Anyway, Huntsman building systems has a lot of small competitors. Are you seeing any signs of distress among your competitors? And are you gaining any share even though the market is down?

無論如何，亨斯邁建築系統有很多小競爭對手。您是否看到競爭對手有任何困擾的跡象？即使市場下跌，您是否獲得任何份額？

I wouldn't say anything that is appreciable or material to our bottom line. I would -- as we move further and further downstream, I think about HBS where you're making up 40% of that 2/3 of our MDI, we really don't compete against another MDI producer. We don't compete there in -- with -- against another polyurethane, really, we're competing against competing applications, competing material, mineral fiber and other smaller entities. So we'll certainly see this going downstream more and more. But at this point, I wouldn't say that it's having any impact on the business.

我不會說任何對我們的底線有意義或重要的事情。我會——隨著我們越來越向下游移動，我想到 HBS，你占我們 MDI 的 2/3 的 40%，我們真的不會與其他 MDI 生產商競爭。我們並沒有在那裡與另一種聚氨酯競爭，實際上，我們正在與競爭應用、競爭材料、礦物纖維和其他較小的實體競爭。所以我們肯定會看到它越來越向下游發展。但在這一點上，我不會說它對業務有任何影響。

And I would say, John, that for HBS in particular, that market has changed over the last 5 to 10 years. I think it's become a little more consolidated with some of the larger strategic players coming into the market. And you actually see less of the smaller players in that market today. And we think that's good. We think that's good for us, a discipline into the end market in terms of making sure the appropriate products are sold and are applied correctly.

約翰，我要說的是，特別是對於哈佛商學院來說，這個市場在過去 5 到 10 年裡發生了變化。我認為隨著一些更大的戰略參與者進入市場，它變得更加鞏固了。事實上，你今天在那個市場上看到的小公司越來越少了。我們認為這很好。我們認為這對我們有好處，在確保銷售和正確應用適當的產品方面對終端市場的紀律。

That's -- yes, it's an excellent point. Companies like Owens Corning, so far they you used to be exclusively mineral fiber, now moving into the spray foam business. And that's -- frankly, that's good for us.

那是——是的，這是一個很好的觀點。像歐文斯科寧這樣的公司，到目前為止，他們曾經完全是礦物纖維，現在開始涉足噴塗泡沫業務。那就是 - 坦率地說，這對我們有好處。

Our next question comes from Hassan Ahmed with Alembic Global.

我們的下一個問題來自 Alembic Global 的 Hassan Ahmed。

A lot of commentary about MDI volumes and the like, and you also touched on the sort of goings on, on the raw material side of things. And I just wanted to get a sense of what you guys are seeing in terms of sort of global MDI cost curves. You guys, obviously, and you touched on that, are relatively cost advantaged. You had like around [4-ish] percent EBITDA margins in Q4, around 7% EBITDA margins in the Polyurethanes segment in Q1. So I would like to imagine that a chunk of your competitors are maybe at breakeven or negative EBITDA margin levels. So any thoughts around cost curve positioning and how that may actually give the market some buoyancy, would be appreciated.

很多關於 MDI 卷等的評論，你也談到了原材料方面的事情。我只是想了解一下你們在全球 MDI 成本曲線方面所看到的情況。你們，很明顯，你提到了這一點，相對具有成本優勢。第四季度的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 [4-ish]，第一季度聚氨酯部門的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 7%。所以我想想像一下，你的大部分競爭對手可能處於盈虧平衡或負 EBITDA 利潤率水平。因此，任何關於成本曲線定位的想法以及這實際上如何給市場帶來一些活力，我們都將不勝感激。

Yes. I think Hassan, excellent question. Again, I won't be saying anything about our competition, not because I have a lawyer in the room but just because I really don't follow them all that well on profitability per ton. But I just -- I look at our 3 regions, Rotterdam, Geismar and Caojing and you look at the kind of the 4 components that I look at manufacturing a ton of MDI. You've got benzene. I've got natural gas. When I talk about natural gas, that's everything from electricity to hydrogen to steam to [CO] -- I mean, it's a whole range of products, right, it's not just the price of natural gas, what natural gas does to all those.

是的。我認為哈桑，很好的問題。再一次，我不會談論我們的競爭，不是因為我在房間裡有律師，而是因為我真的不太了解每噸的盈利能力。但我只是 - 我看看我們的 3 個地區，鹿特丹、蓋斯馬和曹井，你看看我看的製造大量 MDI 的 4 個組件的種類。你有苯。我有天然氣。當我談到天然氣時，它指的是從電力到氫氣到蒸汽再到 [CO] 的一切——我的意思是，它是一整套產品，對，不僅僅是天然氣的價格，天然氣對所有這些產品的影響。

And then you kind of got your caustic and chlorine, which is, I would say, would be the fourth component. And then your -- third component, your fourth component is going to be labor, which you would think would be a big flywheel but in actuality, these plants do not employ a lot of people. They employ a lot of people downstream and in the ancillary businesses to keep these operations running. But the number of people that are actually working on a shift to keep an MDI plant working, so kind of reversing of those 4 steps, I would say that labor is probably immaterial as far as one region competing versus the other. And I would say that benzene is probably immaterial in the sense that it is a fungible global commodity and we buy benzene from all over the world, source it from all over the world. And the difference between benzene costs in North America to Europe to China is not going to drastically differ.

然後你得到了你的苛性鹼和氯，我想說，這將是第四種成分。然後你的 - 第三個組成部分，你的第四個組成部分將是勞動力，你會認為這是一個大飛輪，但實際上，這些工廠並沒有僱用很多人。他們在下游和輔助業務中僱傭了很多人來維持這些業務的運轉。但是實際上正在輪班工作以保持 MDI 工廠運轉的人數，所以這 4 個步驟有點顛倒，我想說，就一個地區與另一個地區的競爭而言，勞動力可能並不重要。我想說苯可能是無關緊要的，因為它是一種可替代的全球商品，我們從世界各地購買苯，從世界各地採購。北美、歐洲和中國的苯成本差異不會有太大差異。

I will say that where we see the biggest variability of differences come in the cost of natural gas. And during the peak of last year's energy crisis in Europe, the cost delta between China and Rotterdam, where China is going to see an energy that's more coal-based, Europe is going to see an energy that's more wind, coal and whatever else they've got going, was nearly -- was actually in excess of $1,000 per ton. Now that was only for a relatively short period of a quarter or so. But we've never, in the history of MDI, at least that I followed, of ever seeing a $1,000 per ton difference just because of natural gas prices, energy prices between one region and the next. So that volatility, that's going to be your single biggest variable.

我要說的是，我們看到差異最大的地方在於天然氣的成本。在去年歐洲能源危機的高峰期，中國和鹿特丹之間的成本三角洲，中國將看到更多以煤炭為基礎的能源，歐洲將看到更多風能、煤炭和其他任何能源已經開始了，幾乎 - 實際上超過每噸 1,000 美元。現在這只是一個相對較短的四分之一左右的時間。但是，在 MDI 的歷史上，至少在我所遵循的歷史上，我們從來沒有看到僅僅因為天然氣價格、一個地區和另一個地區之間的能源價格而出現每噸 1,000 美元的差異。因此，波動性將成為你最大的變量。

And then you get into caustic and chlorine and that's going to be -- again, that's going to differ region to region depending on supply and demand and the energy costs and values that go into that component. But that's not going to be much more than $100 and change different from region to region. So it really is that energy component. And I know I harp a lot on that. But I would just remind you, when we go back to 2019 and 2020, as recently as just 2 or 3 years ago, Rotterdam was consistently our cheapest MDI in the world. And cheaper than China, cheaper than North America and as far as the production cost basis. And that's the impact that, that energy has policy failed or successful has had on an operation like that.

然後你進入苛性鹼和氯氣，這將是 - 再一次，這將根據供求關係以及進入該組件的能源成本和價值而因地區而異。但這不會超過 100 美元，並且會因地區而異。所以它確實是能量成分。我知道我經常在這方面喋喋不休。但我只想提醒您，當我們回到 2019 年和 2020 年時，就在 2 或 3 年前，鹿特丹一直是世界上最便宜的 MDI。而且比中國便宜，比北美便宜，就生產成本基礎而言。這就是能源政策失敗或成功對這樣的行動產生的影響。

Within 1.5 years after being the lowest cost operating facility -- one of the lowest-cost operation facilities in the world, it's -- Europe now finds itself is -- so I mean, $1,000-plus a ton out of the market, which is, what, 3x the cost of freight to get products from one place to another.

在成為成本最低的運營設施之後的 1.5 年內——世界上成本最低的運營設施之一，它——歐洲現在發現自己是——所以我的意思是，每噸 1000 多美元退出市場，這是，什麼，將產品從一個地方運到另一個地方的運費是運費的 3 倍。

Our next question comes from Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Jeff Zekauskas。

The cash flows were negative $122 million in the quarter. And part of that was a decrease in your accounts payable by about $50 million sequentially. And usually accounts payable goes up, I don't know, by $100 million. What were the sources of the changes in payables? Does that have to do with reverse factoring, that is, our financing terms for buyers changing in a higher interest rate environment? And does that affect your cash flow expectations for the year?

本季度現金流量為負 1.22 億美元。其中一部分是您的應付賬款連續減少了約 5000 萬美元。通常應付賬款會增加 1 億美元，我不知道。應付賬款變動的來源是什麼？這是否與反向保理有關，即我們在更高利率環境下為買家提供的融資條款發生變化？這會影響您今年的現金流量預期嗎？

Yes. Jeff, it's Phil. Working capital came in as we expected and cash flow, overall, as we guided. The big element that you're talking about there on accounts payable is really related to our insurance premium that we pay in the first quarter every year. So that wasn't a surprise to us. I think we guided that on the previous call overall. As we look forward, we're focused on maintaining our working capital for the appropriate degree given the underlying economic conditions that we have. Obviously, cash flow will be under more pressure with lower EBITDA year-on-year, which is what we've said but a large focus for us on making sure that we're managing our working capital appropriately.

是的。傑夫，是菲爾。營運資金如我們預期的那樣進入，現金流總體上符合我們的指導。你在應付賬款上談論的重要因素實際上與我們每年第一季度支付的保險費有關。所以這對我們來說並不奇怪。我認為我們在之前的電話會議上總體上指導了這一點。展望未來，鑑於我們所擁有的潛在經濟條件，我們專注於將營運資金維持在適當的水平。顯然，隨著 EBITDA 同比下降，現金流將面臨更大壓力，這就是我們所說的，但我們的重點是確保我們適當地管理我們的營運資金。

If we look at the cash conversion cycle, number of days we're in, no real different to where we were last year at all. And I think we're managing that in an appropriate manner. Thanks for the question.

如果我們看一下現金轉換週期，我們所處的天數與去年完全沒有什麼不同。我認為我們正在以適當的方式進行管理。謝謝你的問題。

Our next question comes from Matthew DeYoe with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Matthew DeYoe。

Peter, you mentioned briefly that you're expecting some price weakness in ethylene amines and maleic and these are kind of hard markets for us to get a handle on. So as we look at price in your comments, I mean, how much are they actually falling? And kind of what level are they now versus perhaps pre-COVID, if pre-COVID is even the right benchmark? If not, maybe what's a better benchmark on price?

彼得，您簡要提到您預計亞乙基胺和馬來酸的價格會出現一些疲軟，這些是我們難以應對的市場。因此，當我們在您的評論中查看價格時，我的意思是，它們實際下跌了多少？如果 COVID 前甚至是正確的基準，他們現在與 COVID 前相比處於什麼水平？如果不是，也許什麼是更好的價格基準？

Yes. I think the prices from a pre-COVID basis, we certainly have seen prices on both of those products come down since the pre-COVID time period. And I think that as we look at pricing in those areas, it's just become more competitive, mostly among domestic and mostly with derivative demand of those products. Neither one of those have a great deal of competition, a number of competitors and so forth. So it's a combination of just what we're seeing on the domestic market and what we're seeing on downstream demand and volume pull through. But fair to say that those, prices of those products are a little bit lower than they were on a pre-COVID basis.

是的。我認為從 COVID 之前的價格來看，我們當然已經看到這兩種產品的價格自 COVID 之前的時間段以來下降了。我認為，當我們審視這些領域的定價時，它變得更具競爭力，主要是在國內，而且主要是對這些產品的衍生需求。這些都沒有太多的競爭，許多競爭對手等等。因此，這是我們在國內市場上看到的情況與我們在下游需求和銷量上看到的情況的結合。但公平地說，這些產品的價格比 COVID 之前的價格略低。

And I think, Matt, we were guiding really to moderate pressure quarter-on-quarter, Q1 to Q2, for those products, which is really demand driven and underlying market conditions driven overall. But our focus is on what our unit variable margins look like. And obviously, you've got some of the raw materials there, such as butane, such as EDC, caustic dropping as well. So our focus remains on unit variable margins in what was a fairly difficult end market growth conditions.

我認為，馬特，我們確實在指導這些產品的季度環比壓力，第一季度到第二季度，這實際上是需求驅動的，並且是整體市場驅動的。但我們的重點是我們的單位可變利潤率是什麼樣的。很明顯，那裡有一些原材料，比如丁烷，比如 EDC，還有鹼滴。因此，我們的重點仍然是在相當困難的終端市場增長條件下的單位可變利潤率。

As we look back to the performance as to where we were a year ago in that business, around that [150-ish] sort of EBITDA on a quarterly basis, it's largely going to be driven by demand. And that's -- we just need to see demand pick up at the end of the day. The margins are there, the pricing discipline, I think, is there. For the most part, it's demand.

當我們回顧一年前我們在該業務中的表現時，每季度大約 [150-ish] 的 EBITDA，這在很大程度上將由需求驅動。那就是——我們只需要在一天結束時看到需求回升。利潤就在那裡，我認為定價紀律就在那裡。在大多數情況下，這是需求。

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

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

Peter, within Performance Products, how would you compare and contrast your volume experience for maleic versus amines? And are you seeing any green shoots there, whereby you would expect to be able to take up operating rates sequentially?

Peter，在 Performance Products 中，您如何比較和對比馬來酸與胺的體積體驗？你是否看到那裡有任何綠芽，你希望能夠按順序提高開工率？

I'd say -- good question, Kevin. On the maleic side, I think that the demand we're seeing is going to be pretty flat. And the biggest offtake that that's going into is unsaturated polyester resin. So think about a lot of home, hotel, recreational vehicles and so forth. I don't see those markets -- I see them gradually improving over time. But again, from an inventory point of view, I think the destocking there has taken place. And those markets will continue to gradually recover. But I don't see that bouncing back all that quickly.

我會說——問得好，凱文。在馬來酸方面，我認為我們看到的需求將非常平穩。最大的採購量是不飽和聚酯樹脂。所以想想很多家庭、酒店、休閒車等等。我沒有看到那些市場——我看到它們隨著時間的推移逐漸改善。但同樣，從庫存的角度來看，我認為去庫存已經發生。這些市場將繼續逐步復甦。但我認為反彈不會那麼快。

Operator, we're at the top of the hour and I'm cognizant of people's time. Why don't we take one more question and then we'll let everybody go.

接線員，我們正處於最高峰，我知道人們的時間。為什麼我們不再提出一個問題，然後我們就讓所有人離開。

Our next question is from Angel Castillo with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Angel Castillo。

Just, I guess, a quick follow-up on restructuring. You said you're continuing to progress on European restructuring. Just curious if there's any other, beyond some of the assets that you've shut down and that you moved away from, I guess, anything incremental that you might be looking at that might provide greater opportunity for cost savings from an asset restructuring perspective.

我想，只是對重組的快速跟進。你說你在歐洲重組方面繼續取得進展。只是好奇是否有任何其他，除了你已經關閉和離開的一些資產，我想，你可能正在尋找的任何增量可能會從資產重組的角度提供更大的成本節約機會。

Thanks for the question, Angel. And I think we've guided in terms of cash that we were looking to spend on restructuring this year of around $100 million, excluding capital. I think we're still on target for around those sort of numbers and you can expect a lot less cash out in 2024 as we basically get those savings into our run rate. Honestly, our focus this year is completing our European restructuring and delivering on some of the savings, which actually came through right at the end of the -- of the first quarter. I did say in the earlier remarks, we're focusing on some of our manufacturing costs and making sure that we're appropriately managing those indirect costs as well as we move forward for the remainder of the year.

謝謝你的問題，天使。而且我認為我們已經指導了今年我們希望用於重組的現金約為 1 億美元，不包括資本。我認為我們仍然在實現這些數字的目標，你可以預期到 2024 年現金支出會減少很多，因為我們基本上將這些節省計入了我們的運行率。老實說，我們今年的重點是完成我們的歐洲重組並實現一些節省，這實際上是在第一季度末實現的。我在之前的評論中確實說過，我們正在關注我們的一些製造成本，並確保我們適當地管理這些間接成本，以及我們在今年剩餘時間裡向前邁進。

We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for your participation and you may disconnect your lines at this time.

我們的問答環節已經結束。今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，此時您可以斷開您的線路。