Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (KDP) 2018 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Keurig Dr Pepper's earnings call for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018. This conference call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，晚上好，感謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 Keurig Dr Pepper 截至 2018 年 9 月 30 日的第三季度財報電話會議。本次電話會議正在錄音中。（操作員說明）

I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Keurig Dr Pepper Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Ms. Maria Sceppaguercio. Ms. Sceppaguercio, please go ahead.

現在我想介紹一下今天會議的主持人，Keurig Dr Pepper 首席企業事務官 Maria Sceppaguercio 女士。Sceppaguercio 女士，請繼續。

Thank you. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us today for KDP's first earnings call. I hope this slightly later start time is more convenient for you.

謝謝。大家好，感謝您今天參加我們的 KDP 第一次財報電話會議。我希望稍微晚一些的開始時間對您來說更方便。

This afternoon, we issued our press release for the third quarter of 2018, and we previously filed an 8-K containing our historical adjusted pro forma quarterly results, both of which are available on our website.

今天下午，我們發布了 2018 年第三季度的新聞稿，之前我們還提交了一份 8-K，其中包含我們歷史調整後的預計季度業績，這兩個報告都可以在我們的網站上獲取。

As you know, this past quarter was a busy one for KDP with a lot of progress made across business. Here with me today to discuss our results for the quarter and our outlook for the year are KDP CEO, Bob Gamgort; and our CFO, Ozan Dokmecioglu.

如您所知，上個季度對於 KDP 來說是忙碌的一個季度，各個業務都取得了很大進展。今天，KDP 首席執行官 Bob Gamgort 與我一起討論我們本季度的業績以及我們對今年的展望。以及我們的首席財務官 Ozan Dokmecioglu。

Before turning the call over to Bob, I would like to take a moment to provide some context on the adjusted pro forma basis upon which much of our discussion today of financial performance will be based. As you know, our results start with reported GAAP financials. Due to the merger and unique adjustments required to make year-over-year comparisons helpful, we prepared pro forma basis that takes these impacts into account. These adjustments include resetting the transaction date as if it were consummated on December 31, 2016, eliminating onetime merger-related costs and expenses and normalizing any accounting differences between the 2 companies. With these differences accounted for, we then adjusted this pro forma for items affecting comparability not related to the merger, such as the typical mark-to-market impacts, restructuring expenses and refinancing costs among others. The company believes that the adjusted pro forma basis provides investors with additional insight into our business and operating performance trends. While the exclusion of these items is not in accordance with GAAP, we believe that it is a meaningful comparison and an appropriate basis for discussion of our performance. Details of the excluded items are included in the reconciliation tables in our press release and are discussed in detail in our 10-Q, which will be filed shortly.

在將電話轉給鮑勃之前，我想花點時間提供一些關於調整後的預估基礎的背景信息，我們今天關於財務業績的大部分討論都將以此為基礎。如您所知，我們的結果始於報告的 GAAP 財務數據。由於合併和獨特的調整需要使同比比較有所幫助，我們準備了考慮到這些影響的備考基礎。這些調整包括將交易日期重置為 2016 年 12 月 31 日完成，消除一次性合併相關成本和費用，並使兩家公司之間的任何會計差異正常化。考慮到這些差異，我們隨後調整了與合併無關的影響可比性的項目，例如典型的按市值計算的影響、重組費用和再融資成本等。該公司相信，調整後的備考基礎可以讓投資者更深入地了解我們的業務和經營業績趨勢。雖然排除這些項目不符合公認會計準則，但我們相信這是一次有意義的比較，也是討論我們業績的適當基礎。排除項目的詳細信息包含在我們新聞稿的調節表中，並在我們即將提交的 10-Q 中詳細討論。

Finally, our discussion this evening may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based upon subsequent events. A detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties is contained in the company's filings with the SEC.

最後，我們今晚的討論可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。這些陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果出現重大差異，公司不承擔根據後續事件更新這些陳述的義務。該公司向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細討論了這些風險和不確定性。

With that, I'll hand it over to Bob.

這樣，我就把它交給鮑勃了。

Thanks, Maria, and thanks to everyone for dialing in. Before jumping into the results of the quarter, let me take a few moments to share my perspective on how the integration has progressed since we closed the merger in July. The integration management team, established shortly after the merger was announced in January, successfully transitioned the 2 companies into 1. We announced the new leadership team in June, implemented new decision and governance processes soon thereafter and have now cascaded our new combined structure throughout the organization. We've continued the strong momentum on both legacy businesses and have had no disruptions in customer service or systems, an accomplishment that none of us who are experienced in acquisition integrations ever take for granted.

謝謝瑪麗亞，也感謝大家撥通電話。在介紹本季度的業績之前，讓我花一些時間來分享一下我對自 7 月份合併以來整合進展情況的看法。合併管理團隊於 1 月份宣布合併後不久成立，成功地將 2 家公司轉變為 1 家公司。我們於 6 月宣布了新的領導團隊，此後不久實施了新的決策和治理流程，現在已將我們新的合併結構級聯到整個公司。組織。我們繼續保持傳統業務的強勁勢頭，並且客戶服務或系統沒有出現中斷，我們這些在收購整合方面經驗豐富的人都不會認為這是理所當然的成就。

Most importantly, the new KDP organization is learning to work together. We are energized by the unique opportunity that KDP represents. That energy and excitement has translated into strong performance in Q3, both financial and in market, and we look forward to closing 2018 on a strong note and entering 2019 with continued momentum.

最重要的是，新的庫爾德民主黨組織正在學習如何合作。KDP 所代表的獨特機會讓我們充滿活力。這種活力和興奮已轉化為第三季度財務和市場的強勁表現，我們期待以強勁的勢頭結束 2018 年，並以持續的勢頭進入 2019 年。

Turning to some highlights of the quarter, starting with in-market results based on IRI. Retail market performance remained strong in the quarter. Our CSD portfolio registered market share gains in both units and dollars, driven by strong performance of Dr Pepper and Canada Dry. In addition, we grew our coffee portfolio in the quarter, driven by single-serve category unit growth of approximately 7%, combined with a substantial increase in unit and dollar market share of pods manufactured by KDP. We also continue to gain share in enhanced flavor still water, and we held share in both shelf-stable tea and juice and juice drinks.

轉向本季度的一些亮點，首先是基於 IRI 的市場結果。本季度零售市場表現依然強勁。在 Dr Pepper 和 Canada Dry 的強勁表​​現的推動下，我們的 CSD 投資組合的市場份額（單位和美元）均有所增長。此外，在單份品類單位增長約 7% 的推動下，我們在本季度擴大了咖啡產品組合，再加上 KDP 製造的咖啡包的單位數量和美元市場份額大幅增加。我們還繼續擴大風味蒸餾水的市場份額，並在耐儲存的茶和果汁及果汁飲料市場中保持份額。

Turning now to the financials. On an adjusted pro forma basis, net sales were up a solid 2.9% with growth registered in all 4 business segments, driven by a 3.6% increase in overall volume and mix. Operating income advanced 14.3% or 240 basis points to 24.4% of net sales, primarily reflecting the growth in sales, continued strong productivity and timing-related lower marketing expense, which collectively offset inflation in input costs and logistics.

現在轉向財務狀況。在調整後的預估基礎上，淨銷售額穩步增長 2.9%，所有 4 個業務部門均實現增長，這主要得益於總體銷量和產品組合增長 3.6%。營業收入增長 14.3% 或 240 個基點，占淨銷售額的 24.4%，主要反映了銷售額的增長、生產力的持續強勁以及與時間相關的營銷費用的降低，這些都抵消了投入成本和物流的通脹。

Adjusted diluted EPS advanced to $0.30 in the quarter compared to $0.21 in the prior year with a significantly lower effective tax rate this year benefiting the comparison, along with a cash distribution from BODYARMOR we received as unitholders.

本季度調整後攤薄每股收益從上一年的 0.21 美元增至 0.30 美元，今年有效稅率顯著降低，加上我們作為單位持有人收到的 BODYARMOR 現金分配，使這一結果受益。

Turning to our segments. I'll start with Beverage Concentrates, which posted solid results in the third quarter. Net sales, which represents our sales of concentrates to bottlers and serves the fountain customers, advanced 3%, driven by growth in both net pricing and volume mix. The increase in net sales was driven by strong growth of Dr Pepper as well as increased sales for A&W and Crush, partially offset by Sunkist. Operating income for the Beverage Concentrates was even with the year ago, primarily reflecting the growth in net sales, offset by higher performance-based compensation and inflation in input costs and logistics.

轉向我們的細分市場。我將從濃縮飲料開始，該公司在第三季度取得了穩健的業績。受淨定價和銷量組合增長的推動，淨銷售額（代表我們向裝瓶商銷售的濃縮液並為噴泉客戶提供服務）增長了 3%。淨銷售額的增長是由 Dr Pepper 的強勁增長以及 A&W 和 Crush 的銷售額增長推動的，但被新奇士部分抵消。飲料濃縮物的營業收入與去年同期持平，主要反映了淨銷售額的增長，但被基於績效的薪酬提高以及投入成本和物流的通脹所抵消。

Turning to Packaged Beverages. Packaged Beverages delivered a very strong top line growth with volume and mix up approximately 6%, partially offset by modestly lower net price realization. The decline in net pricing was driven by Bai and BODYARMOR, significantly offset by higher CSD net pricing we began to realize as a result of pricing actions we initiated during the quarter. Driving the net sales momentum in the quarter was double-digit shipment volume growth in Canada Dry, reflecting successful innovation and continued growth of the ginger ale segment. Also contributing to the growth were Core, Bai and BODYARMOR, partially offset by 7UP, A&W and a modest decline in Dr Pepper. Increases in contract manufacturing also had a significant positive impact on the quarterly growth. Operating income declined 16% in the quarter due to inflation in both input costs and logistics, which were not yet fully covered by our pricing actions.

轉向包裝飲料。包裝飲料實現了非常強勁的營收增長，銷量和混合增長率約為 6%，但部分被淨價格實現小幅下降所抵消。淨定價的下降是由 Bai 和 BODYARMOR 推動的，但由於我們在本季度發起的定價行動而開始實現的更高的 CSD 淨定價顯著抵消了淨定價的下降。推動本季度淨銷售勢頭的是 Canada Dry 兩位數的出貨量增長，反映出薑汁汽水領域的成功創新和持續增長。Core、Bai 和 BODYARMOR 也對增長做出了貢獻，但部分被 7UP、A&W 和 Dr Pepper 的小幅下降所抵消。合同製造的增加也對季度增長產生了顯著的積極影響。由於投入成本和物流成本上漲，本季度營業收入下降了 16%，而我們的定價行動尚未完全涵蓋這些成本。

Also impacting the comparison was continued investment behind our frontline sales and merchandising workforce. Last month, we started the new season of our highly successful Dr Pepper college football marketing and advertising support. This year's campaign called Fansville has a storyline that evolves over the course of the season, culminating in the college football championship. In addition to TV, the campaign includes digital and social media, print advertising and in-store support and will be complemented with this year's 10th anniversary of the Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway, which has given -- which has awarded over $10 million to college students and will be presented at the conference championship games. For the holidays, we will again launch of our holiday green bottle program behind Canada Dry, 7UP and Squirt. Thousands of supermarkets across the country will have the familiar holiday displays punctuated by fun, festive packaging. Additionally, this year, the displays will be accentuated with Bai and its distinctive red caps. Full program is supported by digital and social media.

同樣影響比較的是我們對一線銷售和銷售人員的持續投資。上個月，我們開始了非常成功的 Dr Pepper 大學橄欖球營銷和廣告支持的新賽季。今年的活動名為“Fansville”，其故事情節隨著賽季的進展而演變，最終以大學橄欖球錦標賽告終。除了電視之外，該活動還包括數字和社交媒體、平面廣告和店內支持，並將與今年的 Dr Pepper 學費贈品活動 10 週年相輔相成，該活動已向大學生提供了超過 1000 萬美元的獎勵並將在會議冠軍賽上展示。假期期間，我們將繼 Canada Dry、7UP 和 Squirt 之後再次推出假期綠瓶計劃。全國數千家超市將有熟悉的節日展示，並點綴著有趣的節日包裝。此外，今年的展示將以白族及其獨特的紅色帽子為重點。完整的計劃由數字和社交媒體支持。

Now turning to Latin America Beverages. Latin America Beverages posted a strong third quarter with net sales advancing 2% and operating income more than doubling. The net sales performance reflected higher net pricing of 9%, partially offset by unfavorable foreign currency translation of 6% and lower volume mix of less than 1%. Peñafiel and Mott’s were the primary drivers of the net sales growth in the quarter. Operating income for the Latin America Beverages more than doubled to $27 million in the third quarter, primarily reflecting the growth in net sales and the favorable impact of comparison to the year-ago write-off of prepaid resin inventory. These factors were offset by inflation in both input cost and logistics.

現在轉向拉丁美洲飲料。拉丁美洲飲料公司第三季度業績強勁，淨銷售額增長 2%，營業收入增長一倍多。淨銷售業績反映出淨定價提高了 9%，但部分被 6% 的不利外幣換算和低於 1% 的銷量組合所抵消。Peñafiel 和 Mott’s 是本季度淨銷售額增長的主要推動力。第三季度拉丁美洲飲料部門的營業收入增長了一倍多，達到 2700 萬美元，主要反映了淨銷售額的增長以及與去年同期沖銷預付樹脂庫存相比的有利影響。這些因素被投入成本和物流的通貨膨脹所抵消。

Now turning to the Coffee Systems segment. Coffee Systems reported a very strong quarter with modest net sales growth driven by volume mix growth of 2.5%, partially offset by lower net pricing, which continue to moderate significantly on a sequential quarterly basis. Modest unfavorable foreign currency translation also impacted the performance. The net sales growth was fueled by volume growth of approximately 3% for pod and 8% for brewers as well as higher brewer pricing due to innovation, partially offset by the aforementioned strategic pod pricing investment. We launched our new Coffeehouse Brewers, namely the K-Café and the K-Latte, that enable consumers to make lattes and cappuccinos at home using any K-Cup pod. In addition, we launched our updated K-Mini brewer platform with new features and a modern, sleek design. Each of these innovations is a reflection of our robust consumer-centric innovation program designed to drive new household penetration of the Keurig system by addressing barriers to adoption. Importantly, each is performing well in the market with very strong consumer reviews. We will drive consumer demand for our brewer innovation with a strong investment behind the second year of our Brew The Love campaign, featuring the talented and energetic James Corden as our brand ambassador. The campaign running this quarter highlights the K-Café brewer and its ability to make every house a coffeehouse.

現在轉向咖啡系統領域。Coffee Systems 報告了一個非常強勁的季度，在銷量組合增長 2.5% 的推動下，淨銷售額適度增長，但部分被較低的淨定價所抵消，淨定價繼續按季度顯著放緩。適度的不利外幣換算也影響了業績。淨銷售額增長的推動因素包括，煙彈銷量增長約 3%，啤酒製造商銷量增長 8%，以及創新帶來的啤酒定價上漲，但部分被上述戰略煙彈定價投資所抵消。我們推出了新的 Coffeehouse Brewers，即 K-Café 和 K-Latte，使消費者能夠使用任何 K-Cup 咖啡包在家中製作拿鐵和卡布奇諾。此外，我們還推出了更新的 K-Mini 衝煮平台，具有新功能和現代、時尚的設計。這些創新中的每一項都反映了我們強大的以消費者為中心的創新計劃，旨在通過解決採用障礙來推動 Keurig 系統的新家庭滲透。重要的是，每一款產品都在市場上表現良好，消費者評價也非常高。我們將在第二年的“Brew The Love”活動中投入大量資金，推動消費者對啤酒創新的需求，其中才華橫溢、充滿活力的 James Corden 擔任我們的品牌大使。本季度開展的活動強調了 K-Café 啤酒製造商及其讓每個家庭都成為咖啡館的能力。

Operating income for Coffee Systems is up a very strong 26% in the quarter, reflecting the net sales performance, strong productivity and lower marketing due to timing despite inflation in input costs and logistics.

Coffee Systems 的營業收入在本季度強勁增長了 26%，反映出淨銷售業績、強勁的生產力以及儘管投入成本和物流上漲但由於時間安排而導致的營銷活動減少。

Before I turn the call over to Ozan, I'd like to talk about how partnerships remain an important part of our strategy. Since the closing of the merger, we acquired Big Red and agreed to acquire Core hydration, bringing these 2 partner brands into our own portfolio. We also added FORTO Coffee Shots as a new partner and expanded our distribution relationships with Peet's for ready-to-drink iced espressos. In addition, just last week, we entered into a long-term partnership to sell, distribute and merchandise the iconic evian brand across the U.S. As part of the allied brand reset, FIJI and BODYARMOR exited the portfolio. Partnerships are at the core of the coffee system portfolio, and we added Tim Hortons, the iconic coffee brand in Canada, and Panera, the well-regarded bakery café brand in the U.S. as new Keurig system partners. We now have more than 75 owned, licensed and partner brands in the Keurig system.

在將電話轉給奧讚之前，我想談談合作夥伴關係如何仍然是我們戰略的重要組成部分。自合併完成以來，我們收購了 Big Red 並同意收購 Core Hydration，將這兩個合作品牌納入我們自己的產品組合中。我們還增加了 FORTO Coffee Shots 作為新合作夥伴，並擴大了與 Peet's 的即飲冰濃縮咖啡分銷關係。此外，就在上週，我們建立了長期合作夥伴關係，在美國各地銷售、分銷和銷售標誌性依雲品牌。作為聯盟品牌重置的一部分，FIJI 和 BODYARMOR 退出了產品組合。合作夥伴關係是咖啡系統組合的核心，我們增加了加拿大標誌性咖啡品牌 Tim Hortons 和美國知名烘焙咖啡館品牌 Panera 作為新的 Keurig 系統合作夥伴。目前，我們在 Keurig 系統中擁有超過 75 個自有品牌、授權品牌和合作夥伴品牌。

As you can see by these actions, we have significantly reshaped our allied portfolio in short order with a focus on creating a long-term, win-win partnerships that enable both parties to benefit equitably in future value. We're excited about continuing to drive growth through a combination of partnerships with other leading beverage brands and by innovating and renovating our portfolio of owned brands.

正如您從這些行動中看到的，我們在短時間內大幅重塑了我們的聯盟投資組合，重點是建立長期、雙贏的合作夥伴關係，使雙方能夠在未來價值中公平受益。我們很高興能夠通過與其他領先飲料品牌的合作以及創新和革新我們的自有品牌組合來繼續推動增長。

With that, I'll hand it over to Ozan.

這樣，我就把它交給奧讚了。

Thanks, Bob, and good evening, everyone. Let me start with the results of the quarter, which was a very good one for KDP, and then transition to our outlook for the remainder of the year. Continuing on an adjusted pro forma basis, net sales for the third quarter increased 2.9% to $2.86 billion compared to $2.78 billion in the previous year, reflecting strong growth across all 4 of our business segments. Driving the net sales growth was higher volume mix of 3.6%, partially offset by unfavorable foreign currency translation of 0.5% and modestly lower net price realization of 0.2%. Net sales for our Beverage Concentrates segment increased 3.1% to $331 million, driven by higher net price realization of 2.7% and increased volume mix of 0.7%. Partially offsetting these positive factors was unfavorable currency translation of 0.3%.

謝謝鮑勃，大家晚上好。讓我從本季度的業績開始，這對於 KDP 來說是一個非常好的業績，然後過渡到我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。繼續在調整後的預估基礎上，第三季度淨銷售額增長 2.9%，達到 28.6 億美元，而上一年為 27.8 億美元，反映出我們所有 4 個業務部門的強勁增長。銷量增長 3.6% 推動了淨銷售額增長，但部分被不利的外幣換算 0.5% 和淨價實現小幅下降 0.2% 所抵消。我們的飲料濃縮液部門的淨銷售額增長了 3.1%，達到 3.31 億美元，這得益於 2.7% 的淨價實現增長和 0.7% 的銷量組合增長。0.3% 的不利貨幣換算部分抵消了這些積極因素。

Shipment volume growth for Beverage Concentrates of 0.5% was driven by Canada Dry, reflecting innovation and continued strength of the ginger ale segment. Also contributing to the volume growth were Crush and Hawaiian punch, partially offset by Sunkist and the modest decline for Dr Pepper. In terms of bottler case sales, which primarily reflect sales from bottlers to retailers and fountain customers, Beverage Concentrates registered growth of approximately 1% in the third quarter, fueled by higher growth of fountain case sales. Net sales for our Packaged Beverages segment increased a strong quarter 4.9% in the quarter to $1.34 billion as compared to $1.27 billion in the prior year. This was fueled by volume mix growth of 5.7%, partially offset lower net price realization of 0.7% and unfavorable foreign currency translation of 0.1%. As Bob mentioned, the lower net pricing was largely due to Bai and BODYARMOR with the pricing actions we initiated on our CSD portfolio during the quarter serving as a significant offset.

濃縮飲料的出貨量增長了 0.5%，這得益於 Canada Dry，反映出薑汁汽水領域的創新和持續強勁。Crush 和夏威夷賓治也對銷量增長做出了貢獻，但新奇士和 Dr Pepper 的小幅下降部分抵消了銷量的增長。就瓶裝箱銷售而言（主要反映裝瓶商向零售商和飲水機客戶的銷售），飲料濃縮物在第三季度增長了約 1%，這得益於飲水機箱銷售的較高增長。本季度我們包裝飲料部門的淨銷售額強勁增長 4.9%，達到 13.4 億美元，而上年同期為 12.7 億美元。銷量增長 5.7% 推動了這一增長，部分抵消了 0.7% 的淨價實現下降和 0.1% 的不利外幣換算。正如 Bob 提到的，較低的淨定價主要歸因於 Bai 和 BODYARMOR，我們在本季度對 CSD 投資組合發起的定價行動起到了重大抵消作用。

Shipment volume grew 4.5% in the quarter. Canada Dry led our brand portfolio with double-digit growth fueled by innovation and the continued growth in the ginger ale category. Also driving this strong growth were Core, Bai and BODYARMOR, partially offset by 7UP and a modest decline in Dr Pepper. Increased contract manufacturing volume also had a significant positive impact on the growth in the quarter. Net sales for Latin America Beverages increased 2.3% to $136 million compared to $133 million in the prior year. This performance was driven by higher net price realization of 8.7%, partially offset by unfavorable foreign currency translation of 5.8% and lower volume mix of 0.6%. Finally, net sales of our Coffee Systems segment grew 0.4% to $1.05 billion in the quarter. This growth was led by higher volume mix of 2.5%, partially offset by lower net price realization of 1.7%, which continue to moderate significantly as expected. Unfavorable foreign currency translation of 0.4% also impacted the performance.

本季度出貨量增長 4.5%。在創新和薑汁汽水類別的持續增長的推動下，Canada Dry 引領我們的品牌組合實現兩位數增長。Core、Bai 和 BODYARMOR 也推動了這一強勁增長，但部分被 7UP 和 Dr Pepper 的小幅下滑所抵消。合同製造量的增加也對該季度的增長產生了顯著的積極影響。拉丁美洲飲料的淨銷售額增長了 2.3%，達到 1.36 億美元，而上一年為 1.33 億美元。這一業績的推動因素是淨價實現增加 8.7%，但部分被不利的外幣換算 5.8% 和銷量組合減少 0.6% 所抵消。最後，我們的咖啡系統部門本季度的淨銷售額增長了 0.4%，達到 10.5 億美元。這一增長是由 2.5% 的銷量增長帶動的，但部分被 1.7% 的淨價實現下降所抵消，淨價如預期繼續大幅放緩。0.4% 的不利外幣換算也影響了業績。

Turning to operating income. In the quarter, operating income increased 14.3% to $697 million compared to $610 million in the prior year. This performance was driven by net sales growth, strong productivity and lower marketing expense due to timing, partially offset by inflation in input costs and logistics. On a margin basis, operating income advanced 240 basis points to 24.4% in the quarter. The strong operating income growth of 14.3% in the third quarter reflected significant improvement from the slightly negative operating income performance through the first 6 months of the year, bringing our performance through 9 months to a positive 4.4%. Interest expense totaled 6 -- $167 million in the third quarter of 2018. I would like to spend a few minutes on interest expense as this is an important metrics. On a year-to-date adjusted pro forma basis, interest expense totaled $517 million. This amount includes 6 months of interest expense calculated on a pro forma basis, meaning it assumes a full merger debt load starting on January 1 and reflects only mandatory repayments required under our credit agreement. Clearly, these assumptions are in accordance with U.S. GAAP and related treatment for the preparation of our pro forma financial statements. However, in the first 84 days since merger close, we already repaid $550 million in debt, and our original outlook for full year interest expense remains at approximately $600 million in year 1.

轉向營業收入。本季度營業收入增長 14.3%，達到 6.97 億美元，而上年同期為 6.1 億美元。這一業績的推動因素包括淨銷售額增長、強勁的生產力以及因時機而導致的營銷費用降低，但部分被投入成本和物流的通脹所抵消。按利潤率計算，本季度營業收入增長 240 個基點，達到 24.4%。第三季度營業收入強勁增長 14.3%，反映出今年前 6 個月營業收入小幅負值的顯著改善，使我們在前 9 個月的業績增長至 4.4%。2018 年第三季度利息支出總計 6 - 1.67 億美元。我想花幾分鐘討論利息支出，因為這是一個重要的指標。按年初至今調整後的預估計算，利息支出總計 5.17 億美元。該金額包括按形式計算的 6 個月利息費用，這意味著它假設從 1 月 1 日開始承擔全部合併債務負擔，並且僅反映我們信貸協議規定的強制還款。顯然，這些假設符合美國公認會計原則以及我們備考財務報表的相關處理方法。然而，在合併結束後的前 84 天內，我們已經償還了 5.5 億美元的債務，我們對第一年全年利息支出的最初預期仍約為 6 億美元。

Net income increased 39% to $414 million in the quarter, driven by operating income growth and significantly lower effective tax rate due to U.S. tax reform combined with the gains resulting from the cash distribution from BODYARMOR we received as unitholders. Taking all of these factors together, our adjusted pro forma diluted EPS increased 43% to $0.30 per diluted share compared to $0.21 per diluted share in the prior year. As Bob mentioned previously, we got off to a very strong start in the quarter with our $550 million of debt repayment and array of significant improvement. This performance was enabled by our strong operating profit results and effective working capital management, both of which we expect to continue. In fact, the debt repayment in the quarter is consistent with the deleveraging outlook and value-creation framework we shared at the time of the merger.

本季度淨利潤增長 39%，達到 4.14 億美元，這得益於營業收入增長、美國稅制改革導致的有效稅率大幅降低，以及我們作為單位持有人收到的 BODYARMOR 現金分配帶來的收益。綜合考慮所有這些因素，我們調整後的預計稀釋每股收益增長了 43%，達到稀釋每股 0.30 美元，而上一年稀釋每股收益為 0.21 美元。正如鮑勃之前提到的，我們在本季度取得了非常強勁的開局，償還了 5.5 億美元的債務，並取得了一系列重大改進。這一業績得益於我們強勁的營業利潤業績和有效的營運資本管理，我們預計這兩者將繼續下去。事實上，本季度的債務償還情況與我們在合併時分享的去槓桿前景和價值創造框架是一致的。

And finally, in terms of our outlook for the year. For the full year, we continue to expect adjusted pro forma diluted EPS in the range of $1.02 to $1.07 per share after the impact of preliminary purchase price accounting adjustments, which are estimated at $0.04 per diluted share. For the first 9 months of 2018, adjusted diluted EPS totaled $0.74. We continue to expect merger synergies totaling $600 million over the 2019 to 2021 period with $200 million in savings expected each year as well as ongoing productivity across the business. Our effective tax rate for 2018 is estimated in the range of 26% to 26.5% for the year. For the fourth quarter, we expect our ETR to approximate 26%. In addition, we remain committed to drive significant cash flow generation to enable rapid deleveraging with a targeted leverage ratio below 3x in 2 to 3 years from the time of the merger closing.

最後，就我們今年的展望而言。就全年而言，我們繼續預計，在初步購買價格會計調整影響後，預計調整後稀釋後每股收益將在 1.02 美元至 1.07 美元之間，預計稀釋後每股收益為 0.04 美元。2018 年前 9 個月，調整後攤薄每股收益總計 0​​.74 美元。我們仍然預計 2019 年至 2021 年期間合併協同效應將達到 6 億美元，每年預計節省 2 億美元，並且整個企業的生產力將持續提高。我們 2018 年的有效稅率預計在 26% 至 26.5% 範圍內。對於第四季度，我們預計 ETR 約為 26%。此外，我們仍致力於推動大量現金流的產生，以實現快速去槓桿化，目標槓桿率在合併完成後 2 至 3 年內低於 3 倍。

With that, I will turn the call back to Bob for some concluding remarks.

之後，我會將電話轉回給鮑勃，讓他做一些總結性發言。

Thanks, Ozan.

謝謝，奧贊。

To summarize, the third quarter represented a strong start for KDP. In a very short period of time, we made progress across the business from organization structure to integration planning to delivering a strong first quarter as a combined company. During this time, we also reshaped and strengthened our partnerships across both our hot and cold businesses and set the stage for a strong finish to 2018.

總而言之，第三季度是 KDP 的強勁開局。在很短的時間內，我們在整個業務領域取得了進展，從組織結構到整合規劃，再到合併後的公司在第一季度取得了強勁的業績。在此期間，我們還重塑並加強了冷熱業務的合作夥伴關係，為 2018 年的強勁收官奠定了基礎。

We will now open the lines for your questions.

我們現在將開放您的提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from the line of Lauren Lieberman from Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Lauren Lieberman。

I was curious if you guys could talk a little bit about evian. Just kind of role that you see it playing in the portfolio. It strikes me as maybe there's a bit of like kind of latent brand equity there, little bit underrepresented in terms of distribution. So you didn't talk about some of the opportunities for that brand specifically, why it was -- it's the right answer for you as you talk about going after that kind of value-add or a higher-end water category?

我很好奇你們能否談談依雲。這只是您在投資組合中看到的角色。讓我印象深刻的是，那裡可能存在某種潛在的品牌資產，但在分銷方面的代表性有點不足。所以你沒有具體談論該品牌的一些機會，為什麼——當你談論追求那種增值或高端水類別時，這對你來說是正確的答案？

Sure. Water category in total, as you know, is very much on trend and growing. You can look at water and segment it, depending on how you look at it, into somewhere between 6 and 8 different subsegments of water, premium, source, still water. It's a very attractive segment both in terms of its size and growth. evian was the original premium bottled water. It really does show though that the power of the brand needs to be met with power of distribution. So when they lost their previous distribution agreement, they were actually the largest premium, still, source water brand at that time. And the brand that the legacy DPS business who's carrying FIJI was much smaller, and you can see there's a complete reversal in trend at that point in time. So we're really excited to be able to bring full distribution back to evian. Danone is a terrific partner. They love this brand. This is the largest premium water brand in the world. It is a flagship brand in their portfolio, and they're very excited to invest in marketing and innovation now that they have confidence that the distribution and merchandising base will be back up to where it needs to be for a brand of this stature. So it's a perfect complement to our portfolio. It's a gap that we wanted to fill, and we're excited about the growth prospects and getting it back up to where it once was as the leading premium water brand in the country.

當然。如您所知，水類別總體上非常流行並且不斷增長。您可以查看水並將其細分為 6 到 8 個不同的子部分（水、優質水、源水、靜水），具體取決於您如何看待它。無論從規模還是增長來看，這都是一個非常有吸引力的細分市場。依雲 (Evian) 是最早的優質瓶裝水。但這確實表明品牌的力量需要與分銷的力量相匹配。因此，當他們失去之前的分銷協議時，他們實際上是當時最大的優質純淨水品牌。FIJI 的傳統 DPS 業務規模要小得多，你可以看到當時的趨勢完全逆轉。因此，我們非常高興能夠將完整的分銷帶回依雲。達能是一個很棒的合作夥伴。他們喜歡這個品牌。這是世界上最大的優質水品牌。這是他們投資組合中的旗艦品牌，他們非常高興能夠投資於營銷和創新，因為他們相信分銷和銷售基礎將恢復到這種地位的品牌所需的水平。因此，它是對我們產品組合的完美補充。這是我們想要填補的空白，我們對增長前景感到興奮，並使其恢復到曾經作為全國領先的優質水品牌的水平。

That's great. And if there is room for a second question, I know, Bob, you've reminded everybody that allied brands are only 5% of total company sales and profit. But I just thought in this forum, it might be helpful if you could recap kind of how you're updating that. I know you went through the changes made in the portfolio. But more sort of how you put yourself in a better position to capture value you're creating for your partner and sort of avoiding like hits down the road?

那太棒了。如果還有第二個問題的話，我知道，鮑勃，你已經提醒大家，聯盟品牌只占公司總銷售額和利潤的 5%。但我只是想在這個論壇上，如果您能回顧一下您的更新方式可能會有所幫助。我知道您經歷了投資組合中所做的更改。但更重要的是，你如何讓自己處於一個更好的位置，以獲取你為合作夥伴創造的價值，並避免類似的打擊？

Yes, so I think, I mean, it's just a recap on where we are, only a few short months into the combined business on the allied portfolio. We've added evian, Peet's Iced Espresso and FORTO Coffee Shots, which are shipping now. We acquired Big Red and Core. We're excited about those. FIJI and BODYARMOR exited the portfolio. And then we continued on with no change in distribution agreements for Vita Coco, High Brew and Neuro. And so really, the allied portfolio had settled out nicely in a fairly short period of time. As we said, with all the pluses and minuses of that, there was no change on our earnings or EPS when you net those all out. I think when we think about 2019, which we'll talk about, there may be some slight headwinds to a onetime reset in growth because you're taking some big businesses out like FIJI that actually weren't growing very much, and you're replacing them with some smaller but faster-growing businesses. So that's really just a onetime adjustment, has 0 impact on our profitability at all. And we think we're at a really good starting point, but we want to do more. And the go-forward position on allied brands is we're targeting those that fill a gap in our portfolio because we want to make sure that it's an incremental volume-generator by its nature. And the partnerships that we're looking for, those that are very long-term in nature, they have an equity investment component to it. And in most cases, evian being in a situation where it doesn't make sense, they would have a path to ownership, assuming that we both hit milestones on that. And that avoids, which you're alluding to, which is you help drive a brand's great success and then you really have, at that point, no advantage versus any other company in owning that brand once you've contributed to its success. We don't see that as a successful path going forward given all the value that we create. And as you've seen in the business, the value creation is proven time and time again. So that's really the evolution of the allied brand portfolio.

是的，所以我認為，我的意思是，這只是對我們所處位置的回顧，距離聯盟投資組合合併業務僅短短幾個月。我們添加了 evian、Peet's Iced Espresso 和 FORTO Coffee Shots，現已發貨。我們收購了 Big Red 和 Core。我們對此感到興奮。FIJI 和 BODYARMOR 退出了投資組合。然後我們繼續維持 Vita Coco、High Brew 和 Neuro 的分銷協議不變。事實上，聯盟投資組合在相當短的時間內就得到了很好的解決。正如我們所說，儘管有所有的優點和缺點，當你將這些全部扣除時，我們的收益或每股收益沒有變化。我認為，當我們考慮 2019 年（我們將要討論的）時，一次性重置增長可能會遇到一些輕微的阻力，因為你要剔除一些像斐濟這樣實際上增長不多的大企業，而且你’正在用一些規模較小但增長較快的企業取代它們。所以這實際上只是一次性調整，對我們的盈利能力完全沒有影響。我們認為我們正處於一個非常好的起點，但我們想做更多。我們對聯盟品牌的前瞻性定位是那些填補我們產品組合中空白的品牌，因為我們希望確保它本質上是一個增量銷量發生器。我們正在尋找的合作夥伴關係，那些本質上非常長期的合作夥伴關係，它們有股權投資的成分。在大多數情況下，依雲處於一種沒有意義的情況，他們會有一條獲得所有權的途徑，假設我們都在這方面達到了里程碑。這就避免了你所提到的，即你幫助推動一個品牌的巨大成功，而一旦你為該品牌的成功做出了貢獻，那麼在這一點上，你在擁有該品牌方面確實沒有任何優勢。考慮到我們創造的所有價值，我們並不認為這是一條成功的前進道路。正如您在業務中所看到的那樣，價值創造已一次又一次得到證明。這確實是聯盟品牌組合的演變。

And our next question is from the line of Bryan Spillane from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Bryan Spillane。

Just 2 quick ones for me. I guess, one, just a clarification. Ozan, in terms of the $600 million of interest expense in year 1, that's, I guess, middle -- second half of '18 through the first half of '19, right, so the first 4 quarters?

對我來說只有 2 個快速的。我想，一，只是一個澄清。奧贊，就第一年 6 億美元的利息支出而言，我猜是 18 年下半年到 19 年上半年的中間，對吧，那麼前 4 個季度呢？

Yes, that's right. It's a 1 year -- yes, that's right.

恩，那就對了。這是一年——是的，沒錯。

Okay. And then second question, I guess, for you, Bob, is just, can you just -- in the quarter you had very good margin expansion in Coffee Systems, and I think there's been a lot of focus on the price reductions in pods, and I think people have been concerned a little bit about the ability to grow margins and have pricing come down. So if you could sort of walk us through kind of where you stand in that process and kind of the drivers of margin expansion, I guess, in Coffee Systems as we look forward.

好的。然後，我想，鮑勃，對你來說，第二個問題就是，你能不能——在這個季度，你在咖啡系統領域的利潤率擴張非常好，我認為人們非常關注豆莢的降價，我認為人們有點擔心增加利潤和降低價格的能力。因此，如果你能帶我們了解一下你在這個過程中所處的位置以及利潤擴張的驅動因素，我想，在我們期待的咖啡系統領域。

Yes, let me talk about the growth side first and where we stand on that, and then I'll talk a little bit about the margin side. We were very happy with the performance that we put in Coffee Systems during the quarter, and it very much represents the execution of the strategy that we talk to you guys about for a while now. If you take a look at the pod category, and this is per IRI, but it's a good proxy for even what we see in some of the unmeasured channels, pod category grew 7%. We grew share of manufactured pods -- those pods manufactured by KDP. And therefore, our consumption in the quarter on pods is plus 9%. Now there's a little discrepancy when you take a look at the shipments. During the quarter, you see plus 3% for pods. That's really simple. It's just a year ago comparison to a shipment timing, where a year ago, we were implementing SAP, and so there were advanced shipments in the third quarter that we're bumping up against. But the fact that there was 9% growth of consumption during the quarter really speaks to the robust growth that we're seeing in the total system. As you know, from a pricing standpoint, we've been very strategic in taking price down. We've done that for a couple of reasons. We've done it to address the #1 consumer barrier to entry 2 years ago, that's now largely gone away, which was pod pricing. And we also want to compete on a different level and attract the right partners into the system based on price and quality and service, and we talked about -- we attracted Tim Hortons to come into the system, which is the leading coffee brand in Canada. That's further evidence of that. We clearly have been able to offset those pricing concessions by very robust productivity. And that productivity is really across the entire supply chain of the business, on the procurement side, on our conversion and logistics. And we also have productivity that we've been able to generate on the brewer side of the business. And so there's a lot of moving parts on that. But I think the proof is on the fact that we're able to reduce price and yet still significantly expand margin. A lot of hard work behind that, but it's good delivery of the productivity. And then the last point, to make sure I covered everything you wanted, the last point is really pricing. When you take a look at the average pod price in the category, if I look at them on a 52-week basis, it was $0.51. If I look at it on a 12-week basis or a 4-week basis, it was $0.50. So we said $0.50 is about the right price point in the category. It's not exact, but it's about that based on all the research that we've done. And you see the moderation there, going from about $0.51 to $0.50. And if you look at it for our business, because we have more premium brands on the manufacturer -- KDP manufacturer, we're going from $0.54 to $0.53. That's the moderation that we're really pleased to see. And if you compare that to history, you'll see that, that's a significant change in slope. So very much on track with the strategies that we talked to you guys about over the past 6 months and absolutely thrilled with the performance in the quarter.

是的，讓我先談談增長方面以及我們對此的立場，然後我會談談利潤方面。我們對咖啡系統在本季度的表現非常滿意，這在很大程度上代表了我們與你們討論了一段時間的戰略的執行情況。如果你看一下 pod 類別，這是根據 IRI 計算的，但它甚至可以很好地代表我們在一些未測量的渠道中看到的情況，pod 類別增長了 7%。我們增加了製造吊艙的份額——那些由 KDP 製造的吊艙。因此，我們本季度的豆莢消費量增加了 9%。現在，當你查看發貨情況時，會發現有一點差異。在本季度，您會發現 pod 增長了 3%。這真的很簡單。與一年前的發貨時間相比，一年前我們正在實施 SAP，因此我們在第三季度提前發貨。但本季度消費增長 9% 的事實確實說明了我們在整個系統中看到的強勁增長。如您所知，從定價的角度來看，我們在降低價格方面一直非常有策略。我們這樣做有幾個原因。我們這樣做是為了解決兩年前的第一大消費者進入壁壘，現在這個壁壘已經基本上消失了，那就是吊艙定價。我們還希望在不同層面上競爭，並根據價格、質量和服務吸引合適的合作夥伴進入該系統，我們談到——我們吸引了加拿大領先的咖啡品牌 Tim Hortons 進入該系統。這進一步證明了這一點。顯然，我們已經能夠通過非常強勁的生產力來抵消這些價格優惠。這種生產力實際上遍及整個業務供應鏈、採購方面、我們的轉換和物流。我們還擁有啤酒生產商方面能夠產生的生產力。所以這上面有很多變化的部分。但我認為證據在於我們能夠降低價格，同時仍顯著擴大利潤。這背後有很多艱苦的工作，但它很好地提高了生產力。最後一點，為了確保我涵蓋了你想要的一切，最後一點是真正的定價。當你查看該類別中的平均 Pod 價格時，如果我以 52 週為基礎進行查看，價格為 0.51 美元。如果我以 12 週或 4 週為基礎來看，則為 0.50 美元。所以我們說 0.50 美元是該類別中合適的價格點。這並不准確，但這是基於我們所做的所有研究的結果。你會看到那裡的適度，從大約 0.51 美元到 0.50 美元。如果你看看我們的業務，因為我們在製造商——KDP 製造商上有更多優質品牌，我們的價格從 0.54 美元到 0.53 美元。這就是我們真正高興看到的節制。如果你將其與歷史進行比較，你會發現斜率發生了重大變化。我們在過去 6 個月裡與大家討論的策略非常符合預期，並且對本季度的表現感到非常興奮。

And our next question is from the line of Judy Hong from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Judy Hong。

So I guess, first question is just on the DPS side, the Packaged Beverage division. I know the margins there have been under pressure just given a lot of the input cost inflation that a lot of the industry players are facing obviously. But it seems like pricing kind of went through, and maybe that's a little bit of a delayed pricing. But I guess I'm just wondering how much of some of this input cost inflation you're expecting to recoup in the fourth quarter and 2019. And then there's been a little bit of maybe choppiness around how some of the leading CSD players are taking pricing in the marketplace, some with a little bit of a delay. So how do you think about kind of the competitive dynamics as you're taking more pricing in that category?

所以我想，第一個問題只是在 DPS 方面，即包裝飲料部門。我知道，鑑於許多行業參與者明顯面臨的大量投入成本通脹，那裡的利潤率一直面臨壓力。但定價似乎已經完成，也許定價有點延遲。但我想我只是想知道您預計在第四季度和 2019 年能收回多少投入成本通脹。然後，一些領先的 CSD 參與者在市場上定價的方式可能有些波動，有些甚至有一點延遲。那麼，當您在該類別中採取更多定價時，您如何看待競爭動態？

Yes. So if you go back to the release that we did for the second calendar quarter of the year, we put results out for DPS and KGM essentially separately because we weren't running the business at that point in time. But we did allude to the fact that we were seeing inflationary pressures, which everyone in the industry is facing right now, and the fact that we were at that point in need of putting pricing in place, and that's what we were really clear that we were going to do. If you take a look at what happened in the marketplace, and I'll just use IRI as an example. On a year-to-date basis, our price is up across our portfolio of CSD is about 1.9%, and the latest 13 weeks, it's up 3.3%. That still lags the category, but we're now catching up. And that's really what's required for us to close that margin gap on the PB side of the business. And so it's being implemented. Not a lot of that hit during the quarter, so the benefit, to your question, will really hit us in Q4 and then roll over into 2019.

是的。因此，如果您回顧一下我們在今年第二季度所做的發布，我們基本上會分別發布 DPS 和 KGM 的結果，因為我們當時沒有運營該業務。但我們確實提到了這樣一個事實，即我們看到了通脹壓力，這是行業中每個人現在都面臨的，而且我們當時需要製定定價，這就是我們真正清楚的一點我們要做的。如果你看看市場上發生的事情，我將僅使用 IRI 作為示例。今年迄今，我們 CSD 投資組合的價格上漲了約 1.9%，最近 13 週上漲了 3.3%。這仍然落後於該類別，但我們現在正在迎頭趕上。這確實是我們縮小業務PB 方面的利潤差距所需要的。所以它正在實施。本季度的影響並不大，因此，就你的問題而言，我們將在第四季度真正獲得收益，然後延續到 2019 年。

Got it. Okay. And then just a follow-up on the margin or the profit improvement at KGM's side. So I think you also called out lower marketing expenses. So of the 22% increase in operating profit, how much was the lower marketing? And is this more timing that hit the fourth quarter? How should we think about that?

知道了。好的。然後只是對 KGM 方面的利潤或利潤改善進行跟進。所以我認為你也呼籲降低營銷費用。那麼，營業利潤增加了 22%，其中營銷費用減少了多少？這是第四季度的更多時機嗎？我們應該如何思考這個問題？

Yes. It's really timing related because it's some nuances around when you want to spend around the holiday season versus a year ago, and it was not a significant driver in the profit improvement in the quarter. It was one of the smaller contributors to it, and it's nothing to signal other than just when do we want to time around the holiday. We're really happy with the advertising that we have on air right now with James Corden featuring the new brewers. It looks great, getting great consumer response to it. So we're happy to invest in that in the fourth quarter.

是的。這確實與時間相關，因為與一年前相比，您在假期期間想要消費的時間存在一些細微差別，而且它並不是本季度利潤改善的重要推動因素。它是其中較小的貢獻者之一，除了我們想要在假期期間什麼時候出去之外，它沒有什麼其他信號。我們對現在播放的詹姆斯·柯登（James Corden）以新釀酒商為主角的廣告感到非常滿意。它看起來很棒，得到了消費者的熱烈反響。因此，我們很高興在第四季度對此進行投資。

And our next question is from the line of Brett Cooper from Consumer Edge Research.

我們的下一個問題來自消費者邊緣研究中心的布雷特·庫珀。

Question for you on the innovation side, specifically on the legacy DPS business. I was just wondering if you could offer your thoughts on -- or your perspective on where you take innovation as you go forward relative to prior DPS? And then relative to the coffee business, where you had a longer lead time to get innovation out, how long it had to get to in innovation cycle that you feel is representative of what you can do going forward?

關於創新方面的問題，特別是關於傳統 DPS 業務的問題。我只是想知道您是否可以就您相對於之前的 DPS 前進時所採取的創新方式提出您的想法或觀點？然後，相對於咖啡業務，您需要更長的準備時間來實現創新，您認為創新周期需要多長時間才能代表您未來可以做的事情？

Yes, I think, we see a lot of opportunities to expand into white space and new territory within our portfolio on both sides of the business. As we talked about on sort of previous occasion, the allied brand, our partnership strategy, is an important part of it, but it's not the exclusive approach to it. We think there's a big opportunity both in terms of innovation and renovation. I'll give you a good example of this, is Canada Dry. Canada Dry, great segment, good solid marketing behind it and then the introduction of Canada Dry with lemonade this year. That business, if I take a look at it on a year-to-date basis, that business is up about 16%. It's up actually stronger than that the latest 4 weeks. So I think that is a really good proof point of how some strong marketing and some nice renovation on top of an existing business can really generate growth. And so our perspective is it will be a balanced approach across all of those as we all try to ramp up the growth side of the business. And one last point, as you can imagine, that's very profitable growth, to be able to add top spend to a brand like Canada Dry, 16% growth on a CSD, it's, I think, surprising that most people in the outside who talk about CSD as being flat to declining. And so it gives us encouragement that we can really ramp that up.

是的，我認為，我們在業務雙方的投資組合中看到了很多擴展到空白空間和新領域的機會。正如我們之前談到的，聯盟品牌、我們的合作夥伴戰略是其中的重要組成部分，但這並不是唯一的方法。我們認為在創新和革新方面都有很大的機會。我給你舉一個很好的例子，就是 Canada Dry。加拿大干爽，很棒的細分市場，背後有良好的堅實營銷，然後今年推出了加拿大干爽檸檬水。如果我從今年至今來看，該業務增長了約 16%。實際上比最近 4 週的漲幅還要強勁。因此，我認為這是一個很好的證據，證明在現有業務的基礎上進行一些強有力的營銷和一些良好的改造可以真正帶來增長。因此，我們的觀點是，這將是所有這些方面的平衡方法，因為我們都在努力提高業務的增長方面。最後一點，正如你可以想像的那樣，這是非常有利可圖的增長，能夠為像 Canada Dry 這樣的品牌增加最高支出，CSD 增長 16%，我認為，大多數外界談論的人都感到驚訝CSD 持平甚至下降。因此，這給了我們很大的鼓勵，讓我們相信我們可以真正加大力度。

And our next question is from the line of Stephen Powers from Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的斯蒂芬·鮑爾斯。

So just to start, a couple of just cleanup clarification questions, I guess. On the guidance, I get the EPS has been reiterated. I just want to confirm that you're also reaffirming the 7% to 8% EBITDA growth? Second on the A&P, I think, you did a good job of clarifying the timing related. Just as we think about the full year pro forma, is -- are you net investing in A&P? Or is A&P down? Is it a source of profit growth for the year? And then last on the synergies. Just any benefit for 2018 because, obviously, we're not carrying the executive management team at DPS any longer. And I think as of a couple of weeks ago, there's been a pretty sizable restructuring down in Plano. So I just want to understand if there's any synergy benefit to '18?

我想，首先，我想提出幾個清理澄清問題。在指導上，我得到的 EPS 得到了重申。我只是想確認您是否也重申了 7% 至 8% 的 EBITDA 增長？其次，關於 A&P，我認為您在澄清相關時間方面做得很好。正如我們考慮全年預計情況一樣，您是否對 A&P 進行淨投資？還是 A&P 下跌了？是當年利潤增長的來源嗎？最後是協同作用。這只是 2018 年的任何好處，因為顯然我們不再擁有 DPS 的執行管理團隊。我認為幾週前，普萊諾進行了相當大的重組。所以我只是想了解 18 是否有任何協同效益？

All right. We'll divide and conquer on this one. On the -- I'll do the marketing one because it's easiest one. Marketing will not be down year-over-year. It's not a source of profit for us, in fact, we look to generate productivity to invest more behind the brands, which is something that we expect to see going forward. And again, the evidence that we have on the Dr Pepper business growing, Canada Dry business growing, the Keurig system growing, I think, for us, gives us great confidence that if we've got the right marketing vehicles, we are certainly not shy to invest in them. Ozan, why don't you talk about the synergy piece? If you want to talk about how we think about the synergies and any impact on 2018, then I ask Maria to talk about sort of our targets.

好的。我們將在這一問題上分而治之。關於——我會做營銷方面的工作，因為這是最簡單的。營銷不會同比下降。這不是我們的利潤來源，事實上，我們希望提高生產力，在品牌背後進行更多投資，這是我們預計未來會看到的事情。再說一次，我們所擁有的 Dr Pepper 業務增長、Canada Dry 業務增長、Keurig 系統增長的證據，我認為，對我們來說，給了我們很大的信心，如果我們擁有正確的營銷工具，我們肯定不會羞於投資他們。奧贊，你為什麼不談談協同作用呢？如果您想談談我們如何看待協同效應以及對 2018 年的影響，那麼我請瑪麗亞談談我們的目標。

Absolutely. In fact, the synergies that we are going to see in 2018 would be quite a bit immaterial. And we already knew, and it was related to a handful of executives, with regards to the severance and the consequence of that, the synergies that we had already planned. And literally, literally, quite a small number. That's why we did not change our outlook neither for 2018, nor for 2019. And we basically say, as I said, during 10 minutes ago, a readout that we are committed to delivering our synergy number of $600 million over 3 years, starting $200 million 2019 onwards.

絕對地。事實上，我們將在 2018 年看到的協同效應並不重要。我們已經知道，這與少數高管有關，涉及遣散費及其後果，以及我們已經計劃好的協同效應。從字面上看，從字面上看，這個數字相當小。這就是為什麼我們沒有改變 2018 年和 2019 年的展望。正如我在 10 分鐘前所說，我們基本上表示，我們致力於在 3 年內實現 6 億美元的協同效應，從 2019 年起將達到 2 億美元。

And Stephen, to your question about the recent restructuring we announced. That was pretty -- not pretty much, right on schedule from what our original plans were. And really the timing of that is late in the year. And by the time people actually leave, et cetera, it's almost no impact in '18, but it puts us in good position along with other synergies for '19. Maria, do you want to talk about the targets question?

斯蒂芬，關於我們最近宣布的重組的問題。這非常好——但也不是很多，完全按照我們最初的計劃進行。事實上，這個時間是在今年晚些時候。當人們真正離開時，等等，這對 18 年幾乎沒有影響，但它使我們與 19 年的其他協同效應一起處於有利地位。瑪麗亞，你想談談目標問題嗎？

Sure. I know you asked about EBITDA, let me just start. Sales, we disclosed net sales, and that's going to be in the plus 1% to 2% range for the year. Originally, we were talking about EBITDA in the 7% to 8% range. We've since gone to EBIT because as a public company, we think EBIT is far more important or operating income. It's much easier for other folks to track. So -- but the difference between the growth rates is insignificant. So we are still looking at 7% to 8% growth in operating income, and Ozan already talked about the $600 million in synergies, which was another important metric.

當然。我知道您問過 EBITDA，讓我開始吧。銷售額方面，我們披露了今年的淨銷售額，預計將增長 1% 至 2%。最初，我們談論的是 7% 到 8% 範圍內的 EBITDA。我們後來轉向息稅前利潤，因為作為一家上市公司，我們認為息稅前利潤比營業收入更重要。其他人更容易追踪。所以——但增長率之間的差異微不足道。因此，我們仍然期望營業收入增長 7% 到 8%，Ozan 已經談到了 6 億美元的協同效應，這是另一個重要指標。

Starting in 2019.

從 2019 年開始。

Yes. So I think we are holding our guidance, and all of the important elements of that guidance, we have no change.

是的。所以我認為我們維持我們的指導意見，並且該指導意見的所有重要要素我們都沒有改變。

Okay. That was a very impressive tag team. Hey, if I could just ask one more question, and this, I guess, is a follow-on from some just as we think about the synergies. Culturally down in, I guess, legacy DPS. There had been a big move over the last 5, 6, 7 years to implement what was referred to as RCI, rapid continuous improvement. Just, I guess, I'd be just curious as to how you guys, as you've engaged with the DPS team, how -- what you've encountered with regard to that program. Do you expect that to live on? And just any reactions to that and how we should think about that as planning roll going forward.

好的。那是一支非常令人印象深刻的雙打團隊。嘿，如果我能再問一個問題，我想，正如我們考慮協同效應時，這是一些人的後續問題。我想，在文化上，傳統的DPS。在過去的 5 年、6 年、7 年裡，我們採取了重大舉措來實施所謂的 RCI（快速持續改進）。只是，我想，我只是好奇你們，當你們與 DPS 團隊合作時，你們在該計劃中遇到了什麼。你希望這種情況繼續下去嗎？對此的任何反應以及我們應該如何考慮這一點作為未來的計劃。

Yes. Look, I think, clearly, productivity has been a big part of both companies' cultures. There's different approaches to it, different names behind it, and -- if you look at the Keurig productivity delivery prior to the merger with DPS. If you saw the before and after picture, when it was private and then public again. You saw that there was a very significant amount of productivity driven. So I think it's great that we are all working together towards the same goal. These are both organizations that have an appreciation for the fact that the way to control your destiny in CPG today is to make sure that you've got robust productivity that you can invest back in the brands and into the organization where needed. And so that part has been, I would say, fairly seamless in terms of the cultural fit.

是的。我認為，顯然，生產力一直是兩家公司文化的重要組成部分。有不同的方法，其背後有不同的名稱，並且 - 如果您看看與 DPS 合併之前的 Keurig 生產力交付情況。如果你看到之前和之後的照片，當它是私人的，然後又是公開的。您看到，生產力的驅動非常大。因此，我認為我們共同努力實現同一個目標真是太好了。這些組織都認識到，當今控制您在 CPG 命運的方法是確保您擁有強大的生產力，以便您可以在需要時投資於品牌和組織。所以我想說，這部分在文化契合度方面相當無縫。

And our next question is from the line of Kevin Grundy from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Kevin Grundy。

I wanted to start with the KGM business and come back and build on Bryan's question, then I have a question on working capital. So Bob, just to come back to the pricing dynamic, and you sound relatively comfortable with that. Have we flattened out at this point ? So in other words, are you comfortable modeling sort of flat pricing looking out to '19? And then as it pertains to that, when the deal was announced, the expectation was at least at the time that KGM gets back to 2% to 3% type growth in '19 and beyond, things certainly getting better sequentially each quarter this year but not -- certainly not at that 2% to 3% level, what's your confidence that you can deliver on that 2% to 3% looking out to next year? And then I'll follow up with the working capital question.

我想從 KGM 業務開始，然後回來討論 Bryan 的問題，然後我有一個關於營運資金的問題。鮑勃，回到定價動態，你聽起來對此相對滿意。我們現在已經趨於平緩了嗎？換句話說，您是否願意為 19 年採用統一定價模式？與此相關的是，當交易宣佈時，預計至少在 KGM 在 19 年及以後恢復到 2% 至 3% 的增長水平時，今年每個季度情況肯定會逐年好轉，但不是——當然不是在 2% 到 3% 的水平上，您對明年能夠實現 2% 到 3% 的目標有什麼信心？然後我將跟進營運資金問題。

Look, I think we still have some pricing to go here. I wouldn't -- we're talking about it moderating, but I wouldn't use the word flat right now. And I think that that's the prudent planning approach to take. It forces us to make the right decisions from the perspective of productivity to cover that from a margin standpoint, and it puts us in a very good competitive position because as I said before, lowering prices attracts more consumers into the system as well as satisfies our partners. So the targets that we put in place back in the beginning of the year when we announced the deal are very much intact as Maria talked about before. And I think all of the elements of the KGM strategy and KDP as the combined company are coming together nicely.

聽著，我認為我們這裡還有一些定價。我不會——我們正在談論它的緩和，但我現在不會使用“扁平”這個詞。我認為這是應採取的審慎規劃方法。它迫使我們從生產力的角度做出正確的決定，以從利潤的角度來彌補這一點，這使我們處於非常好的競爭地位，因為正如我之前所說，降低價格會吸引更多的消費者進入系統並滿足我們的需求。夥伴。因此，正如瑪麗亞之前談到的那樣，我們在年初宣布該交易時制定的目標非常完整。我認為 KGM 戰略和 KDP 作為合併後的公司的所有要素都很好地結合在一起。

Okay. So 2% to 3%, but then more volume weighted and you guys can offset the lower price, you're still confident with that, is that correct?

好的。所以 2% 到 3%，但是更多的成交量加權，你們可以抵消較低的價格，你們仍然對此充滿信心，對嗎？

I think that's the right way to think about it. We play around with -- we have the ability to play around with the difference between pricing and volume, right, different levers that cover this thing, but I think we're fine from that standpoint.

我認為這是正確的思考方式。我們有能力解決定價和銷量之間的差異，對，涵蓋這件事的不同槓桿，但我認為從這個角度來看我們很好。

Okay. That's helpful. And then quick follow-up for Ozan on working capital. There's clearly a healthy level of working capital improvement based on your leverage guidance looking out, but not to the degree that you're able to achieve on the Keurig side. As now that the deal is closed and you've spent quite a bit of time now with the operations, do you see potential upside for working capital at this point or is that something that you can comment on?

好的。這很有幫助。然後是奧贊關於營運資金的快速跟進。根據您的槓桿指導，營運資金顯然有一個健康的改善水平，但還沒有達到您在 Keurig 方面能夠實現的程度。由於現在交易已經完成，並且您已經花了相當多的時間進行運營，您認為此時營運資金是否有潛在的上升空間，或者您可以對此發表評論嗎？

Sure. Absolutely. And as you said, we have successfully developed our playbook on working capital in the past 2.5 years in the legacy KGM. And basically, we are applying the same playbook using even a larger balance sheet. And we feel very good about in terms of the working capital generation levels that we can turn into cash that we have found out so far in DPS legacy. So we feel very good about it.

當然。絕對地。正如您所說，過去 2.5 年裡，我們在傳統 KGM 中成功制定了營運資本手冊。基本上，我們正​​在使用相同的策略，使用更大的資產負債表。我們對營運資金生成水平感到非常滿意，我們可以將其轉化為現金，這是我們迄今為止在 DPS 遺產中發現的。所以我們對此感覺非常好。

Yes. I mean, more explicitly, I'm sorry, and then I'll pass it on. So if I'm not mistaken, you went to negative 15% of sales on the Keurig side. Is that something that's attainable on the legacy Dr Pepper side?

是的。我的意思是，更明確地說，我很抱歉，然後我會轉告。因此，如果我沒記錯的話，Keurig 方面的銷售額為負 15%。這對於傳統的胡椒博士來說是可以實現的嗎？

Yes, we will be pretty close to that number, somewhere around, as we said, minus 12% to minus 13% is within range, and we have already started to deliver on that trajectory on the base of the working capital improvement that we managed to do in the past 84 days.

是的，我們將非常接近這個數字，正如我們所說，負 12% 到負 13% 都在範圍內，而且我們已經開始在我們管理的營運資本改善的基礎上實現這一目標過去 84 天要做的事。

And our next question is from the line of Robert Ottenstein from Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Robert Ottenstein。

First question, I was wondering if you could just give us a little bit of a -- more background in terms of color on Bai, kind of what the strategy is there. You're taking a little bit of price reductions. What's going on there in terms of volume, penetration, distribution, velocity? Anything to give us a sense of what's going on with that brand please.

第一個問題，我想知道你是否可以給我們一些關於白族顏色方面的更多背景信息，比如那裡的策略是什麼。你正在接受一點點降價。就體積、滲透力、分佈、速度而言，那裡發生了什麼？請提供任何能讓我們了解該品牌的情況的信息。

Sure. If you take a look at Bai now, it is a -- it made a transition from a small but rapidly growing brand to a good-sized brand. So it's in the $400 million range right now and on a year-to-date basis, growing at 15%. So it is -- the good news is it's large. The reality of that is brands don't grow at 40% or 50% forever, as you know, especially once you get into that near $0.5 billion range. Having said that, we see a tremendous amount of upside on the business over the long term. A lot of distribution still to be gained on that business, particularly in small outlets. If you take a look at the some of the IRI numbers, in particular, around some of the smaller outlets as much of that as you can get, there are still quite a few distribution gaps in there that I think that will continue to drive growth on that brand going forward. So we're happy at how the brand progresses. It's really a nice addition to the portfolio, and it's delivering meaningfully in terms of both revenue and is a nice profit contributor as well.

當然。如果你現在看看 Bai，你會發現它從一個小但快速增長的品牌轉變為一個規模較大的品牌。因此，目前的收入在 4 億美元左右，今年迄今，增長率為 15%。確實如此——好消息是它很大。正如您所知，現實情況是品牌不會永遠以 40% 或 50% 的速度增長，尤其是當您進入接近 5 億美元的範圍時。話雖如此，從長遠來看，我們看到該業務有巨大的上升空間。該業務仍需獲得大量分銷，特別是在小型商店。如果你看一下 IRI 的一些數字，特別是一些較小的商店周圍的數字，你會發現其中仍然存在相當多的分配差距，我認為這將繼續推動增長關於該品牌的未來。因此，我們對品牌的進步感到高興。這確實是對產品組合的一個很好的補充，它在收入方面帶來了有意義的結果，而且也是一個很好的利潤貢獻者。

And what's the pricing strategy?

定價策略是什麼？

Well, that's -- the pricing you're taking a look at as if there were some negative pricing, it's really just the quarterly timing of promotion. There's no -- it's not a conscious strategy as we talked about on Keurig pods, for example, to say we're going to roll back pricing. This is just timing of promotions that impact it.

嗯，那就是——你所看到的定價就好像存在一些負定價一樣，這實際上只是每季度的促銷時間。沒有——這不是一個有意識的策略，就像我們在 Keurig pod 上討論的那樣，例如，我們要降低定價。這只是影響它的促銷時機。

Terrific. And then second question. I'm hearing kind of through the grapevine that there's been some supply issues for cans, aluminum cans. Is that -- anything that you're seeing or hearing or affecting you in any way?

了不起。然後是第二個問題。我通過小道消息聽說罐頭、鋁罐存在一些供應問題。這是——你所看到、聽到或以任何方式影響你的任何事情嗎？

Well, there's been some bumpiness in aluminum can supply across the industry. Nothing that has reached the level where it would show up in our results. And we know there's inflation as well, which is part of what's driving some of the pricing actions in the industry.

嗯，整個行業的鋁罐供應出現了一些波動。沒有任何東西達到我們結果中顯示的水平。我們知道還有通貨膨脹，這是推動該行業一些定價行為的部分原因。

Great. And then my final question. I'm also hearing that there's out there a second increase on 20-ounce PET that The Coca-Cola Company is trying to lead in C stores. Do you -- are you guys following that? Do you have any sense or color on what's going on there?

偉大的。然後是我的最後一個問題。我還聽說可口可樂公司正試圖在 C 店中引領 20 盎司 PET 的第二次漲價。你們——你們遵循這個嗎？你對那裡發生的事情有任何感覺或顏色嗎？

Yes. It's not something we could comment on, which would be sort of future pricing this rumor, would be inappropriate for us to talk.

是的。這不是我們可以評論的事情，這將是對這一謠言的未來定價，我們不適合談論。

And our next question is from the line of Vivien Azer from Cowen & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen & Company 的 Vivien Azer。

This is Gerald Pascarelli on for Vivien Azer. So my first question has to do with the Coffee Systems. The 8% volume growth that you delivered in brewers, I guess, what percentage -- or how much did the new innovation from K-Café, K-Latte drive the growth relative to your more core offerings?

我是杰拉爾德·帕斯卡萊利 (Gerald Pascarelli)，代表費雯·阿澤 (Vivien Azer) 發言。所以我的第一個問題與咖啡系統有關。我猜你們啤酒廠銷量增長了 8%，K-Café、K-Latte 的新創新對你們更核心產品的增長起到了多大的推動作用？

You know what, I have to look that one up. I don't have it off top of my head. It really just started shipping during the quarter. It's really going to hit mostly in the fourth quarter. So -- and that's where you'll see much more, and we'll clearly have that answer on our next call. But I think it's -- the Mini, the Latte and the Café are really going to be a big driver in the fourth quarter, not as much so in the third quarter.

你知道嗎，我必須查一下那個。我並沒有把它拋在腦後。它確實在本季度才開始發貨。它確實會在第四季度受到影響。所以——這就是你會看到更多的地方，我們將在下次電話會議中清楚地得到答案。但我認為，Mini、Latte 和 Café 確實將成為第四季度的主要推動力，而不是第三季度。

And my next question has to do with Canada Dry. I know that ginger ale, strong performance in ginger ale was a call out in the prepared remarks. But I guess, where does sparkling water fit into the growth profile and into the brand's overall performance here as you continue to deliver these strong trends?

我的下一個問題與加拿大干燥有關。我知道薑汁汽水，薑汁汽水的強勁表現是在準備好的講話中提出的。但我想，當你們繼續推動這些強勁的趨勢時，蘇打水在增長概況和品牌整體表現中扮演什麼角色呢？

Yes, look, we think that sparkling water under both Canada Dry and Schweppes has been a big growth driver. It doesn't -- it's not something that shows up in a lot of these numbers nor have we talked a lot about it. It's a relatively small business, but there are regions in the country where it's fairly large. But again, when you think about our go-forward strategy, that's a segment that really would be a good part -- a good addition to our portfolio in a broader way than we have played right now with Canada Dry and Schweppes. But there are pockets of the country, particularly in the Northeast, where it outsells other sparkling flavored waters, and I think it's something that we haven't leveraged well enough.

是的，我們認為 Canada Dry 和 Schweppes 旗下的蘇打水一直是一個巨大的增長動力。事實並非如此——這並沒有出現在很多這些數字中，我們也沒有對此進行過很多討論。這是一個相對較小的企業，但在該國的某些地區它的規模相當大。但同樣，當你考慮我們的前進戰略時，這確實是一個很好的部分——比我們現在與加拿大干酪和史威士相比，它以更廣泛的方式對我們的投資組合進行了很好的補充。但在這個國家的一些地區，特別是在東北部，它的銷量超過了其他風味氣泡水，我認為我們還沒有充分利用這一點。

And we have time for one last question from the line of Nik Modi from RBC.

我們還有時間回答來自加拿大皇家銀行 (RBC) 尼克·莫迪 (Nik Modi) 的最後一個問題。

The question is really on M&A. You obviously have made some moves on brands, but I'm curious how you think about acquiring different go-to-markets because it does seem like just looking across the entire beverage landscape, distribution is starting to become more of a focus, just as companies try to get closer to the consumer. So maybe you could just provide some context around that.

問題實際上是關於併購。顯然，您已經在品牌上採取了一些舉措，但我很好奇您如何考慮收購不同的進入市場，因為看起來確實只是縱觀整個飲料領域，分銷開始成為更多焦點，就像公司試圖拉近與消費者的距離。所以也許你可以提供一些相關的背景信息。

So you're talking about -- just to clarify, you're saying acquisitions related to distribution versus brands?

所以你說的是——只是為了澄清一下，你是說與分銷相關的收購還是與品牌相關的收購？

Yes, yes, go-to-market. Yes, exactly, go-to-market asset purchases versus actual just brand purchases, or maybe there's both, right? Maybe there's -- yes.

是的，是的，上市。是的，確切地說，是進入市場的資產購買與實際的品牌購買，或者兩者都有，對吧？也許有——是的。

Yes. Oh, okay. I get the question, yes. I think, look, anything is fair game as we think about optimizing our business. As we talked about our strategy, it's a combination of broadening our portfolio and making sure that our distribution and merchandising is best in class. We think about a portfolio side, as I said before, a combination of innovation, renovation as well as partnerships and M&A. On the distribution side, we're thinking about things, I think, more towards optimization of what we have right now. And we've got a number of partnerships right now in the distribution space that we also think that we could have conversations that are more strategic in nature as well. I wouldn't rule that out, what you're talking about. But it's certainly not on our short-term hit list of priorities because we think that we can get a significant amount of improvement in or out the market system by optimizing what we have and maximizing the relationships that are in place right now.

是的。哦好的。我明白這個問題了，是的。我認為，當我們考慮優化我們的業務時，任何事情都是公平的。當我們談論我們的戰略時，它是擴大我們的產品組合併確保我們的分銷和銷售處於一流水平的結合。正如我之前所說，我們考慮的是投資組合方面，創新、革新以及合作和併購的結合。在發行方面，我認為我們正在考慮更多地優化我們現在擁有的東西。我們現在在分銷領域擁有許多合作夥伴，我們也認為我們可以進行更具戰略性的對話。我不會排除你所說的這種情況。但這肯定不在我們的短期優先事項清單上，因為我們認為，通過優化我們擁有的東西並最大化現有的關係，我們可以在市場體系內外獲得顯著的改進。

Great. And then just a follow-on to that. When you think about your algorithm that you put out there, I'm just curious how much partnerships, additional partnerships or allied brands is part of that algorithm or if that's just kind of what you have here in your existing portfolio?

偉大的。然後只是後續。當你想到你在那裡發布的算法時，我只是好奇有多少合作夥伴、額外的合作夥伴或聯盟品牌是該算法的一部分，或者這是否只是你現有投資組合中的一部分？

Yes. Look, I think as we talked about that -- those targets, which go back to us, we put those out there at the time of the announcement of the merger, before we knew exactly what allied brands would look like. And as we said a number of times, that's what you guys have us for, is to navigate through all these complexities to make sure that we're able to land in a very good place, which is exactly what happened, where we stand today with the allied brand portfolio. And I talked before about how we think the impact on the business going forward. We like partnerships, so we will continue to do those, and we'll continue to add through acquisition as well. And if it got to a point where it was such a material addition to it that we change our outlook, we'd have that conversation. But we feel like we're in good position right now with the partnerships in place and the portfolio that we have to deliver well against the targets that we talked about all the way back to January.

是的。聽著，我認為，正如我們所討論的那樣，這些目標回到了我們身上，我們在宣布合併時就將這些目標放在那裡，然後我們才確切地知道聯盟品牌會是什麼樣子。正如我們多次說過的，這就是你們擁有我們的目的，就是克服所有這些複雜性，以確保我們能夠降落在一個非常好的地方，這正是我們今天所處的位置與聯盟品牌組合。我之前談到過我們如何看待這對未來業務的影響。我們喜歡合作夥伴關係，因此我們將繼續這樣做，並且我們也將繼續通過收購來增加合作夥伴關係。如果它達到了一個如此實質性的補充以至於我們改變了我們的觀點，我們就會進行這樣的對話。但我們覺得我們現在處於有利的位置，我們已經建立了合作夥伴關係，並且我們必須很好地實現我們自一月份以來一直討論的目標。

And at this time, I'm showing that we have no more time for further questions. Presenters, I turn it back to you for any closing remarks.

此時，我表明我們沒有更多的時間提出進一步的問題。各位演講者，我將其轉回給你們，請您發表結束語。

Hi. This is Maria. Just want to thank everyone for joining us tonight. I know it's getting late. We will be around. So if anyone wants to reach out to me, certainly feel free to do so. Steve Alexander is also here so reach out to him as well. And thank you for participating, and we look forward to continuing the dialogue. Take care, everyone.

你好。這是瑪麗亞。只是想感謝大家今晚加入我們。我知道已經晚了。我們會在附近。因此，如果有人想聯繫我，請隨時這樣做。史蒂夫·亞歷山大也在這裡，所以也請聯繫他。感謝您的參與，我們期待繼續對話。大家保重。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude our conference call. We thank you greatly for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們先生們，我們的電話會議到此結束。我們非常感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。