卡夫亨氏 (KHC) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to The Kraft Heinz Company Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce Anne-Marie Megela, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

各位好，歡迎參加卡夫亨氏公司2025年第四季財報電話會議。（操作說明）提醒各位，本次會議正在錄音。現在我很榮幸地向大家介紹投資人關係副總裁 Anne-Marie Megela。請繼續。

Thank you, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. During today's call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding our expectations for the future. These statements are based on how we see things today, and actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties. Please see the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in today's earnings release and our most recent SEC filings for more information regarding these risks and uncertainties. Additionally, we may refer to non-GAAP financial measures.

謝謝大家，也謝謝各位今天蒞臨現場。在今天的電話會議中，我們可能會就我們對未來的預期發表一些前瞻性聲明。這些陳述是基於我們目前的看法，但由於風險和不確定性，實際結果可能與此有重大差異。有關這些風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱今天發布的收益報告中的警示聲明和風險因素以及我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。此外，我們也可能參考非公認會計準則財務指標。

Please refer to today's earnings release and the non-GAAP information available on our website for a discussion of our non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the comparable GAAP financial measures. Joining me today to answer your questions is our Chief Executive Officer, Steven Cahillane; and our Chief Financial Officer, Andre Maciel. Operator, please open the call for the first question.

有關我們的非GAAP財務指標及其與可比較GAAP財務指標的調節情況，請參閱我們網站上發布的今日收益報告和非GAAP資訊。今天和我一起回答大家問題的有我們的執行長 Steven Cahillane 和財務長 Andre Maciel。接線員，請接聽第一個問題的電話。

Andrew Lazar with Barclays.

安德魯·拉扎爾，巴克萊銀行。

Welcome back, Steve.

歡迎回來，史蒂夫。

Thanks, Andrew.

謝謝你，安德魯。

Maybe to start off, Steve. In the prepared remarks, you mentioned a bunch of times how Kraft Heinz is sort of underinvested in its brands. And the incremental $600 million is an effort to sort of correct that. I guess, how much of this is simply the company catching up to where investment levels should have been, so more company specific versus maybe acknowledging the currently more challenging industry environment in which other food names have also raised investment levels, including making price investments.

或許可以先從史蒂夫開始。在事先準備好的發言稿中，你多次提到卡夫亨氏對其品牌的投資不足。而新增的 6 億美元正是為了修正這種情況。我猜想，這其中有多少僅僅是該公司正在追趕其應有的投資水平，因此更多的是公司自身的問題，而不是承認當前更具挑戰性的行業環境，其他食品公司也提高了投資水平，包括進行價格投資。

And then following on that, how do you see this level of investment? Or do you see this level of investment as sort of the right base of spending to be able to grow from or will you have to reassess that as you go?

那麼，您如何看待這種程度的投資呢？或者您認為這種投資水準是實現成長的合適支出基礎，還是需要根據實際情況重新評估？

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Andrew. What I'd tell you is when I came in, I knew that the company was underinvested, that had been widely reported, you guys have all written about that. We know the history of Kraft Heinz over the last 10 years. So I came in with the expectation that I would find underinvestment.

是的。謝謝你的提問，安德魯。我想告訴你們的是，我剛來的時候就知道這家公司投資不足，這一點已經有很多報導了，你們也都寫過相關文章。我們了解卡夫亨氏過去10年的發展歷程。所以我抱著發現投資不足的預期而來。

And indeed, I did find under investments. But I also found a lot of opportunities. And I think the biggest change over the last six weeks has been the exploration that I've been on and what I have found in terms of brands that truly respond to investment, green shoots that the company was already working on and areas where we could do a lot of self-help and fix the business and point ourselves in a more positive direction.

我確實在投資方面找到了一些資訊。但我也發現了很多機會。我認為過去六週最大的變化是我進行的探索，以及我發現的那些真正對投資有反應的品牌、公司已經在努力實現的良好勢頭，以及我們可以進行大量自助、改善業務並朝著更積極的方向發展的領域。

And I'm talking about meaningful things that I've seen. And so we went through that exploration and did a lot of work around what would be required in order to invest appropriately against the business to return it to organic growth. And so I'd say the bulk of your question -- the real answer to your question is we're really getting back to where we ought to be, not necessarily looking at the challenging environment and saying we need to do something different.

我指的是我親眼所見的有意義的事。因此，我們進行了探索，並圍繞著如何對企業進行適當的投資以使其恢復內生成長做了很多工作。所以我覺得你問題的大部分——你問題的真正答案是，我們正在真正回到我們應該在的位置，而不是著眼於充滿挑戰的環境，然後說我們需要做一些不同的事情。

We're getting back to where we ought to be in terms of sufficiency against our brands, capability, building in the commercial area to really put ourselves in a position of competitiveness. And that led to the decision to pause the spin because we want to put 100% of our focus, 100% of our time, our people, our investment against returning the company to growth and not be distracted by the massive amount of work that's required in the separation.

在品牌實力、能力和商業建設方面，我們正在逐步恢復到應有的水平，真正讓自己處於具有競爭力的地位。因此，我們決定暫停分拆，因為我們希望將 100% 的精力、100% 的時間、我們的人力和投資投入到使公司恢復成長上，而不是被分拆所需的大量工作分散注意力。

And obviously, I know what it takes to have a successful separation. You need stable businesses. You need a lot of things that we're going to be working on right now to preserve the optionality that we have going forward. And so the real answer to your question is we're getting back to where we ought to be. And I do think it's a level of sufficiency that is appropriate for us going forward.

顯然，我知道成功分居需要哪些條件。你需要穩定的企業。為了維持我們未來擁有的選擇權，我們需要做很多我們現在正在努力的事情。所以，你問題的真正答案是，我們正在回到我們應該在的位置。而且我認為，就我們未來的發展而言，這是一個合適的充足水準。

And I have a lot of confidence that we're going to be able to return this company to solid, profitable organic margin enhancing growth.

我非常有信心，我們能夠讓這家公司重回穩健、獲利、有機成長並提升利潤率的軌道。

Peter Galbo, Bank of America.

Peter Galbo，美國銀行。

I guess, Steve, just going back on your comments in regarding to Andrew's question just now, when we all met a number of weeks ago with you, I think your commentary was, Hey, I had to sign off on the spin before coming on board." And obviously, today, you're announcing a pause.

我想，史蒂夫，就你剛才對安德魯問題的回答而言，幾週前我們和你見面時，我記得你說過，“嘿，我得先批准這份宣傳稿才能加入。”顯然，今天你們宣布暫停。

So just maybe help us understand a little bit more even what's happened in the last four weeks to kind of caused that change in terms of the thinking. And then as a secondary kind of follow-up to that, just how should we be framing a temporary pause versus maybe a more indefinite pause, would be helpful?

所以，或許可以幫助我們更好地理解，在過去的四周裡，究竟發生了什麼，導致了這種思維方式的轉變。其次，作為後續討論，我們該如何界定暫時的暫停和無限期的暫停，這會有幫助嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Peter. So when I was in discussions with the Board of Directors to come here, I came with eyes wide open and recognizing that there was a lot of opportunity and endorsing the strategic rationale around the separation. And what I said to you guys when we met a couple of weeks ago, four weeks ago or whatever it was, that I fully endorse and understand the industrial logic of the separation. And I still do.

是的。謝謝你，彼得。所以，當我和董事會討論來這裡工作時，我睜大了眼睛，意識到這裡有很多機會，並且認可了分拆的戰略理由。我之前跟你們說過，大概兩週前、四周前或更久之前，我們見面的時候，我完全贊同並理解這種分離的產業邏輯。我現在依然如此。

I think it makes logical sense. And I think the Board came to the right conclusion at the time.

我認為這在邏輯上是合理的。我認為董事會當時的結論是正確的。

What I've since learned is how much opportunity there is to fix the business in the short term and to turn the business around in a more positive trajectory and because resources are finite, I came to the conclusion that this was the best outcome for us. And I should back track because when I agreed to come on Board and the discussions, I had with the Board they said, we reserve the right to get smarter.

後來我了解到，短期內有很多機會扭轉公司頹勢，使其走上更積極的發展軌道。由於資源有限，我得出結論，這對我們來說是最好的結果。我應該收回之前的話，因為當我同意加入董事會並與董事會進行討論時，他們說，我們保留變得更聰明的權利。

And as you get under the hood and really explore everything from what's in the perimeter, how we could go about the separation, everything should be on the table. And so it was an iterative process that we came to. And I understand that when you're not going along with us through those four or five weeks of process, it can seem rather sudden.

當你深入了解並真正探索一切，從外圍結構到我們如何分離，所有的一切都應該擺在桌面上。因此，我們最終採用了一種迭代過程。我理解，如果你沒有和我們一起經歷這四、五週的過程，這可能會顯得相當突然。

But this was something that was explored in depth. We've all been working 24*7 to come to this conclusion and build a plan that we're very confident in and it preserves optionality for doing any other portfolio optimization things that you might imagine in the future.

但這卻是需要深入探討的問題。我們日以繼夜地工作，才得出這個結論，並製定了一個我們非常有信心的計劃，該計劃保留了未來進行任何其他投資組合優化操作的選擇餘地。

So I wouldn't put an end date on anything that we're going to say, this is the date when we're going to reexplore whether or not a separation is the right thing. We're going to get smarter each and every day. We're going to turn the business around organic growth. And that will, as I already said, preserve optionality to do any number of portfolio optimization activities in the future.

所以，我不會為任何事情設定結束日期，例如我們會說，我們會在哪一天重新探討分手是否是正確的選擇。我們會每天都變得更聰明。我們將扭轉公司業務頹勢，以實現有機成長。正如我之前所說，這將保留未來進行各種投資組合優化活動的選擇權。

In companies like ours, we have to evaluate and reevaluate on a regular basis, where we are and where we want to go and where we want to go right now is this investment against the business to drive organic growth.

像我們這樣的公司，必須定期評估和重新評估我們目前所處的位置以及我們想要去往的方向，而我們現在想要去往的方向就是透過這項投資來推動業務的內生成長。

David Palmer, Evercore ISI.

David Palmer，Evercore ISI。

Thanks. Good morning, Steve, and welcome. I wanted to ask you about the investment and maybe what we're going to see in the market in the scanner data. How -- first of all, how did you arrive at $600 million being the right number. But also perhaps discuss the phasing of that spending and maybe even categories and brands we could expect to see results earlier versus maybe later.

謝謝。早安，史蒂夫，歡迎。我想問你關於投資方面的問題，以及我們可能會從掃描器數據中看到哪些市場動向。首先，你是如何得出 6 億美元的數字？但或許還可以討論這筆支出的階段性安排，甚至可以討論一下哪些類別和品牌我們可能會更早看到成效，哪些可能會更晚。

Yeah. Thanks, David. So you're going to see the spend really start to ramp up in the second quarter. We've been in the planning process right now and we would hope to see meaningful results in the back half of the year, meaning when I say meaningful results, I mean a change in trend and bending the trend in market share. And we're going to be talking a lot about value market share and holding ourselves accountable to that.

是的。謝謝你，大衛。所以你會看到第二季支出會真正開始加速成長。我們目前正處於規劃階段，希望在今年下半年看到有意義的成果，我所說的有意義的成果是指改變趨勢並扭轉市場佔有率的趨勢。我們將重點討論價值市場份額，並以此來衡量我們自己的價值。

I think we said in the prepared remarks that about half of this would be against price and product and packaging, improving the way we show up for our consumers at store. That's going to be very important. It will be across the portfolio, but a lot will be against what we heretofore have been calling the North American Grocery Company, where we've got some opportunities to really do better.

我認為我們在事先準備好的演講稿中提到，其中大約一半的內容將與價格、產品和包裝有關，旨在改善我們在商店中為消費者提供的服務。那非常重要。這將影響整個投資組合，但許多都將是針對我們之前一直稱之為北美雜貨公司的業務，我們在這個領域有一些真正可以做得更好的機會。

But equally, brands like Heinz and Philadelphia Cream Cheese have already been showing in the last 13 weeks and the last four weeks, some meaningful improvement based on things that the team had started to do in the back half of last year. So we'll continue against that.

但同樣地，像亨氏和費城奶油乳酪這樣的品牌在過去 13 週和過去 4 週中已經取得了一些實質性的進步，這是基於團隊在去年下半年開始做的事情。所以我們會繼續反對這種做法。

And we arrived at the $600 million really through as much science as we could and then a lot of experience in the company and the experience that I bring as well. So we'll be about 5.5% against a ratio of our top line in terms of what we're spending against the brands.

我們最終籌集到 6 億美元，主要是透過我們所能掌握的科學知識，以及公司累積的豐富經驗和我自身帶來的經驗。因此，就我們用於品牌方面的支出而言，我們的總收入比例約為 5.5%。

We'll put meaningful investment in SG&A. We're lean, you can look at any metric and understand that Kraft Heinz is lean. We don't want to be lean in the commercial organization so we'll be hiring sales and marketing professionals to beef up our capabilities there.

我們將對銷售、管理及行政費用進行實質投資。我們精簡高效，你可以查看任何指標，就會發現卡夫亨氏非常精簡高效。我們不希望商業組織人員精簡，所以我們將招募銷售和行銷專業人員來增強我們在這方面的能力。

That takes some time. So that will be more like a third and fourth quarter spend. But altogether, the $600 million, I think, gives us a lot of confidence that we've got what it takes against the entire company with half of that being, as I said, against the brands and showing up for consumers with the right opening price points, the right price, the right promotional opportunities and the right brand marketing against what are really a collection of iconic and wonderful brands that I've already said, do respond to investment.

這需要一些時間。所以這筆支出更像是第三季和第四季的支出。但總的來說，我認為這6億美元給了我們很大的信心，讓我們相信我們有能力與整個公司抗衡，其中一半，正如我所說，是與各個品牌抗衡，以合適的開盤價、合適的價格、合適的促銷機會和合適的品牌營銷來吸引消費者，這些品牌確實是一系列標誌性的、優秀的品牌，正如我之前所說，它們確實會對投資做出反應。

Maybe to build on that, I think we will continue -- we have seen, as Steve pointed out, good momentum in our Taste Elevation business, sauces, Cream Cheese. We -- in the last 13 weeks, we flipped to market share growth and 70% of the revenue in Taste Elevation is now gaining market share, which is very solid in the U.S. And as we look at even at early reads into January, we see the momentum continuing.

為了在此基礎上繼續發展，我認為我們會繼續——正如史蒂夫指出的那樣，我們在提升口味業務、醬料和奶油奶酪方面已經看到了良好的發展勢頭。在過去的 13 周里，我們轉向了市場份額成長，Taste Elevation 70% 的收入現在都來自市場份額的成長，這在美國非常穩固。即使從 1 月的早期數據來看，我們也看到這種勢頭仍在繼續。

In fact, the total portfolio in the US we have seen a market share now back to what it was until from 3 years ago. So it's good to be in that position. I mean, obviously, we have work to do. I think the objective with all these investments, which are positioned to grow the company to be delivering volume-led profitable growth and have a much higher percentage of the portfolio gaining market share like it was back in 2017, '19.

事實上，我們看到美國整體投資組合的市佔率現在已經恢復到3年前的水準。所以，處於那種位置是件好事。我的意思是，很顯然，我們還有很多工作要做。我認為所有這些投資的目標都是為了讓公司實現以銷售為主導的獲利成長，並使投資組合中獲得比 2017 年、2019 年更高的市場份額。

We should continue to, as Steve pointed out, we're going see to this ramp-up happening in the second half of the year. You should see emerging markets continue to deliver strong results. If we look in 2025, aside from Indonesia, we grew close to double digits including with volume growth. We're going to continue to see our emerging markets delivering that level of growth apart from Indonesia from Q1 and building from that. So a very good momentum there.

正如史蒂夫指出的那樣，我們應該繼續努力，確保下半年實現這一成長。新興市場應該會繼續取得強勁的業績。如果我們展望 2025 年，除了印尼以外，我們的成長率接近兩位數，銷售量也實現了成長。除了印尼以外，我們將繼續看到新興市場從第一季開始保持這種成長水平，並在此基礎上繼續發展。所以目前勢頭非常好。

We're going to see our Canadian business continued to deliver growth as they had delivered the last three years. So there are good parts of the portfolio that have good momentum. We are also part of that investment is to further accelerate those bright spots. But as Steve said, there is a good portion of this investment as well is on the opportunities that we have seen on the North American grocery portfolio.

我們將看到加拿大業務像過去三年一樣繼續保持成長勢頭。因此，投資組合中有一些發展勢頭良好的部分。我們也參與了這項投資，旨在進一步加速這些亮點的實現。但正如史蒂夫所說，這筆投資中有相當一部分是看好我們在北美食品雜貨投資組合中看到的機會。

Steve Powers, Deutsche Bank.

史蒂夫鮑爾斯，德意志銀行。

Great. Steve, so I wanted to just follow up on Peter's earlier question. You talked about how this decision to postpone the separation was kind of premised by or premised on the opportunities you've uncovered to turn around the business in the short term.

偉大的。史蒂夫，我想就彼得之前提出的問題做個後續回答。你曾說過，推遲分居的決定是基於你發現的短期內扭轉公司局面的機會而做出的。

And I guess the natural follow-on question to that for me, my perspective is what -- how do we define short term? Is that -- do we need to see results in the next couple of quarters in the course of 2025? And therefore, the separation has postponed sort of until '26? Or is there a different time line associated with sort of the short-term response that you're expecting?

我覺得接下來很自然的問題是，從我的角度來看，我們要如何定義短期？也就是說——我們需要在 2025 年接下來的幾季看到結果嗎？因此，分離事件被延後到了2026年？或者，您所期望的短期反應另有時間表？

And then if I could, then the second question would be, you talked about where these investments will be focused kind of by brand. I'm assuming that these are disproportionately focused on the US but maybe just a little bit of elaboration if there's investment, whether brand or commercial investments that you see overseas as well?

如果可以的話，第二個問題是，您談到了這些投資將按品牌重點關注哪些領域。我假設這些投資主要集中在美國，但如果您在海外也看到品牌投資或商業投資，能否稍作詳細說明？

Yeah. So I'll start with the second one. These will be disproportionately against the US where we need a level of investment in order to turn the trends that we've had. Andre, I think, just outlined very well the rest of the world where we've got a lot of strengths.

是的。那我就從第二個開始吧。這些措施對美國的影響尤其嚴重，我們需要一定程度的投資來扭轉目前的趨勢。我認為，安德烈很好地概述了我們在世界其他地區擁有的許多優勢。

But there will be opportunities to invest outside the US but predominantly, this will be in the US, and we would expect to see, as I mentioned, a change in trend in the back half of this year. You see our guidance. We would hope to do the better end of that guidance always. But these investments take time and they take commitment and they take a level of sticking to it and reallocating as necessary as we learn what's working better than what may be not optimized.

但美國以外也會有投資機會，但主要還是在美國，正如我所提到的，我們預計今年下半年趨勢會有所改變。請參考我們的指導意見。我們希望始終能夠更好地實踐這項指導原則。但是這些投資需要時間，需要投入，需要堅持不懈，並且需要根據實際情況進行重新分配，因為我們會了解到哪些方法比那些可能尚未優化的方法更有效。

And so as we think about 2027, we would aim to be in a position where we return the company to growth. We exit 2026 with the best trends that we've had during the course of the year. That would be our expectation. And we go to 2027 with an eye towards growth.

因此，展望 2027 年，我們的目標是使公司恢復成長。2026 年即將結束，我們迎來了這一年中最好的發展趨勢。這正是我們所期望的。我們將著眼於成長，展望2027年。

In terms of any kind of separation in the future, as we announced today, we're pausing and not putting an end date on that. When this business is successful and growing organically in 2027, we'll have all sorts of optionality to think about portfolio and the way we want to think about our portfolio going forward. But job one right now and why we've made this decision is to put all of our attention and resource against this stepped-up plan to return the company to organic growth.

至於未來任何形式的分離，正如我們今天宣布的那樣，我們將暫停分離，並且不會設定結束日期。當這項業務在 2027 年取得成功並實現有機成長時，我們將有各種各樣的選擇來考慮投資組合以及我們未來希望如何看待我們的投資組合。但現在的首要任務，也是我們做出這個決定的原因，是將我們所有的注意力和資源投入到這項加強計畫中，以使公司恢復有機成長。

Great. I think I had said 2025. So thanks for correcting me on what year we're in. Appreciate that.

偉大的。我想我之前說的是2025年。謝謝你糾正我，讓我知道現在是哪一年。謝謝。

Robert Moskow, TD Cowen.

Robert Moskow，TD Cowen。

Thanks for the question. Steve, you mentioned that you want to put the resources against brands that respond to investment. And I was wondering in the work you did internally. Did you find brands that have not responded well to investment as well? Because I think the nagging concern among many investors is that the portfolio has a lot of antiquated brands, the quality gap with competition has widened too far and that they just are -- just won't respond.

謝謝你的提問。史蒂夫，你提到你想把資源投入那些對投資有正面反應的品牌。我想知道你們內部的工作狀況。你有沒有發現有些品牌對投資反應不佳？因為我認為許多投資者一直擔心的是，該投資組合中有很多過時的品牌，與競爭對手的品質差距已經擴大得太大，而且他們就是——就是不會做出回應。

And then secondly, I wanted a follow-up on comments on the last earnings call from Carlos about investing in better coordination for your commodity exposure like I think he said that he thought the company had fallen behind vertically integrated players and meat, coffee and cheese. And I just wanted to know if -- I didn't see that in the comments, do you feel like you have to invest in that, too? They're kind of related.

其次，我想就卡洛斯在上次財報電話會議上關於投資加強商品敞口協調的評論進行後續說明，我記得他說過，他認為公司在肉類、咖啡和奶酪等垂直整合型企業方面已經落後了。我只是想知道——我沒在評論裡看到——你是否也覺得需要在這方面進行投資？它們之間有點關聯。

Yeah. Thanks, Rob. I'll let Andre take the second part of the question. I'll take the first part of the question. We focus more on what's working, where the best investments are. But I've said in the past, when you have a portfolio as broad as ours, you're never going to be in a situation where every brand is growing. We all know that. So we're focusing our attention on where we can get the best responses.

是的。謝謝你，羅伯。我將讓安德烈回答問題的第二部分。我來回答問題的第一部分。我們更關注那些行之有效的方法，以及最佳的投資方向。但我過去說過，當你的產品組合像我們這樣廣泛時，你永遠不會遇到每個品牌都在成長的情況。我們都知道這一點。因此，我們將注意力集中在能夠獲得最佳回饋的地方。

And then obviously, those are some of the brands that have already been invested in like Heinz and Philly Cream Cheese, which we've already mentioned. But we've got Mac & Cheese, a huge brand of ours that I have seen does respond very well.

當然，我們也已經投資了一些品牌，像是亨氏和費城奶油乳酪，我們之前已經提到過。但是我們有通心粉和起司，這是我們的一個大品牌，我看到它的市場反應非常好。

We've got a great innovation in 17-gram protein Super Mac coming out this year. We're going to make sure that is more than sufficiently supported in the marketplace. And we're going to look for other opportunities, and we have other opportunities like that so we can get the totality of the portfolio growing, which doesn't mean there might be a 20% of the portfolio that is that is more challenged.

今年我們將推出一款含有17克蛋白質的超級巨無霸，這絕對是一項重大創新。我們將確保這一點在市場上得到充分的支持。我們將尋找其他機會，我們還有其他類似的投資機會，以便讓整個投資組合成長，但這並不意味著投資組合中會有 20% 的投資面臨更大的挑戰。

That's going to be the case in a portfolio like ours, but we need to make sure that we're doing portfolio management and optimization, such that the winners far outpace the ones that are more challenged.

像我們這樣的投資組合也會出現這種情況，但我們需要確保進行投資組合管理和最佳化，使表現優異的股票遠遠超過表現不佳的股票。

And Andre, you want to take that commodity?

安德烈，你想收購那批貨物嗎？

Yeah, sure. And to build on what Steve just said, like we are seeing good momentum on our Taste Elevation portfolio in worldwide, including the US we turn hydration desserts back to share gain, which is good. So it is responding well to investments.

當然可以。正如史蒂夫剛才所說，我們看到我們的 Taste Elevation 產品組合在全球範圍內，包括美國，都呈現出良好的發展勢頭，我們重新將補水甜點轉化為市場份額增長，這是件好事。所以它對投資反應良好。

So there is much to get there and it's a very profitable part of the portfolio. Mac & Cheese, there is a lot of investment we put in the back half of last year. We're starting to see some early signs of traction and have an innovation that we feel very strongly about. So there is a lot that is about fueling those places where we have good momentum. But it's also about, as you pointed out, Rob, deploying some of the resources to improve the rest of the portfolio as well.

所以要達到這個目標還有很多工作要做，而且這是投資組合中非常有利可圖的一部分。去年下半年，我們在通心粉和起司方面投入了大量資金。我們開始看到一些初步成效，並且我們對這項創新充滿信心。所以，很多工作都是要繼續鞏固那些我們已經取得良好發展動能的地方。但正如你所指出的，羅布，這也關乎如何利用一些資源來改善投資組合的其他部分。

There are opportunities continue to invest in the product and in packaging. That's where a portion of the $300 million is going to get deployed against. So I think all of that will allow the whole portfolio to start to move in a more positive trajectory.

未來還有機會繼續投資產品和包裝。這筆3億美元的資金中將有一部分會用於此。所以我認為所有這些因素將使整個投資組合開始朝著更積極的方向發展。

Regarding the commodity question, look, nothing really changes, Rob. Like we have been, over the years, very disciplined about following the commodity and when we price and we should -- we want to continue to remain disciplined. We cannot control how other competitors might do react to commodity curves and how they do or not. I think what we can do is what we can control, which is continuing to be disciplined around following the commodity.

關於商品問題，你看，羅布，其實什麼都沒變。多年來，我們一直非常自律地追蹤商品價格，並在應該定價的時候進行定價——我們希望繼續保持這種自律。我們無法控制其他競爭對手對商品曲線的反應，也無法控制他們是否會做出反應。我認為我們能做的就是控制我們能控制的事情，那就是繼續自律地關注大宗商品價格。

Michael Lavery, Piper Sandler.

麥可·拉弗里，派珀·桑德勒。

Just wondering if you could give us any sense of where you land long term? Do you think the long-term algo changes? Is this plan set to put you on algo and if so, with what timing? And then maybe just a follow-up on this year, would you have any repurchases considered in the guidance? And how should we think about that?

想問您能否大概透露您的長期發展方向？你認為長期演算法會改變嗎？這項計畫是否會讓你採用演算法交易？如果是，具體時間安排是怎樣的？那麼，關於今年的業績指引，您是否考慮過任何回購計畫？我們該如何看待這個問題？

Yeah. Thanks for the question. We're not prepared, and it's too early to talk about long-term algorithms. I would just underscore what I said in terms of bending the trend and exiting the year with momentum and looking at 2027 as a year where we can turn to organic growth perhaps at that time, we'll be in a position to talk more about long-term algorithms. And the second part of the question was.

是的。謝謝你的提問。我們還沒有做好準備，現在談論長期演算法還為時過早。我只想強調我之前所說的，要扭轉趨勢，保持今年的發展勢頭，並將 2027 年視為我們可以轉向有機成長的一年。也許到那時，我們將能夠更多地討論長期演算法。問題的第二部分是：

Yeah. Look, on the capital allocation priorities, we have stated for a long time that our number one priority is should deploy excess cash on the business, and that's exactly what we are doing right now, followed by maintaining our net leverage at approximately 3 times.

是的。關於資本配置優先事項，我們長期以來一直強調，我們的首要任務是將多餘的現金投入到業務中，而這正是我們現在正在做的，其次是將淨槓桿率維持在 3 倍左右。

And with what we expected EBITDA to land in '26 with the guidance we're providing, we will deploy excess cash to pay down debt this year. And we will deploy part of the excess cash next year to pay down debt as well because we want to -- our policy does not change. So we continue to target the net leverage 3 times.

根據我們提供的指引，我們預計 2026 年 EBITDA 將達到預期水平，我們將利用今年的盈餘現金償還債務。明年，我們也將利用部分盈餘現金來償還債務，因為我們想這樣做——我們的政策不會改變。因此，我們繼續以淨槓桿率為 3 倍為目標。

So once we believe we have now the sufficient level of the business is on the organic front, and we reinstated the debt to our target leverage. Then if we have excess cash beyond that, it can deploy in alternative forms.

因此，一旦我們認為業務的有機成長已經達到足夠水平，我們就將債務恢復到目標槓桿率。如果還有剩餘現金，可以用於其他用途。

Leah Jordan, Goldman Sachs.

莉亞喬丹，高盛集團。

I wanted to ask about [snap], given you added a headwind to your outlook this year. What is your snap exposure today? How much have the recent snap changes impacted your business so far? And I think, ultimately, how do you think about addressing the needs for this customer cohort versus balancing the broader needs we've talked about so far this morning across your portfolio? And I guess, ultimately, how does this impact your view on the need to invest in base prices versus promotions as well?

我想問一下關於[snap]的問題，因為你今年的前景出現了不利因素。你今天的快照曝光量是多少？最近的 Snap 系統變更對您的業務產生了多大影響？我認為，歸根結底，您是如何考慮滿足這一客戶群的需求，又是如何平衡我們今天上午討論的整個產品組合中的更廣泛需求的呢？那麼，最終，這會如何影響您對投資基礎價格與促銷的必要性的看法？

Yeah. Thanks, I'll start, and I'm sure Andre can build on it as well. snap is obviously a headwind in consumer goods because the consumer that's under the most pressure is having money removed from their household budget. But it also presents an opportunity for us to compete for that consumer with opening price points with small pack sizes with all the things that we talked about doing.

是的。謝謝，我先來，我相信安德烈也能在此基礎上繼續闡述。 Snapchat 顯然對消費品產業構成不利影響，因為面臨最大壓力的消費者正被削減家庭預算。但這同時也為我們提供了一個機會，讓我們能夠以更低的價格、更小的包裝規格以及我們之前討論過的所有措施來爭取消費者。

And so there is a headwind, but that's before we work against mitigation and how we mitigate against those headwinds. And so we're all in the same boat in terms of this particular issue, but we've got a lot of plans in place and we'll continue to develop plans to meet that consumer where they are with the right price points, the right entry price points, the right pack sizes.

因此，我們面臨著一些不利因素，但這還不是我們努力應對這些不利因素以及我們如何緩解這些不利因素之前的情況。所以，在這個具體問題上，我們都面臨著同樣的困境，但我們已經制定了很多計劃，並將繼續制定計劃，以合適的價格點、合適的入門價格點和合適的包裝規格來滿足消費者的需求。

Yes. Our exposure today, about 13% of the US retail business comes from snap compared to 11% in the industry. So we do over-index a little bit. Part of the $600 million investment is on opening price points. And we do anticipate roughly 40% of the categories, not of the SKUs. 40% of the categories will have some specific strategy around opening price points, and that's part of what's in the plan right now.

是的。目前，Snap 在美國零售業務中的比例約為 13%，而整個產業的比例為 11%。所以我們確實稍微高估了一些索引。6億美元的投資中有一部分用於確定初始價格。我們預期大約40%的類別（不是SKU）會採取一些特定的定價策略，這40%的品類將圍繞初始定價點制定一些策略，這也是我們目前計畫的一部分。

We do expect and is contemplated in the guidance of 100 bps headwind coming from snap as a function of the level of funding being reduced. But we -- I think a part of the investment, as we said, is about getting that being deployed throughout the year, more concentrated in the second half of the year, so we can mitigate or partially mitigate that impact.

我們預計，並且已在指導意見中考慮到，由於資金水準降低，snap 將帶來 100 個基點的不利影響。但是，正如我們所說，我認為部分投資是為了在全年範圍內部署這些措施，尤其是在下半年集中部署，以便減輕或部分減輕這種影響。

Chris Carey, Wells Fargo.

克里斯凱裡，富國銀行。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. I want to ask about the investment into the concept of value pricing. In the prepared remarks today, you talked about leaning in on promotional activity. You talked about opening price points. You talked about revisiting base prices where necessary, those all kind of have different lead times associated with them. I was just curious how this -- how you envision this playing out?

你好。各位早安。我想問一下關於價值定價理念的投資情況。在今天事先準備好的發言稿中，您談到了要加強宣傳活動。你談到了定價策略。您提到在必要時重新審視基準價格，而這些價格的調整都有不同的提前期。我只是好奇──你設想這件事會如何發展？

Will you lead with more promotional activity early starting in Q2? Should we expect price rollbacks beginning in Q2 and the fields with the packaging investments, it certainly feels like there's going to be some revenue growth management associated with this, which tend to have longer lead times. So maybe price pack is a bit later in the curve, right?

你們是否會從第二季開始就加大促銷力度？我們是否可以預期價格會從第二季開始回落，以及包裝投資領域的價格回落？這無疑會涉及一些收入成長管理措施，而這些措施往往需要更長的準備時間。所以價格套餐可能稍微靠後一些，對吧？

So obviously, I'm just trying to understand how the implementation of the concept of value is going to happen as you phase through this between promotions, price rollbacks and some of the price pack architecture initiatives you might have? Any clarity there would be helpful.

所以很明顯，我只是想了解在你們逐步推行促銷、價格回滾以及一些價格方案架構舉措的過程中，價值概念將如何實現？如果能對此進行更清晰的解釋，將不勝感激。

I think you did a very good job answering your question because you're exactly right. Some of the price package architecture takes some time. We're working on it already right now. The company understood about the importance of opening price points and pack sizes and so forth before I got here. And so we're working to accelerate some of that work.

我認為你對自己的問題回答得非常好，因為你的回答完全正確。價格方案架構的某些部分需要一些時間。我們現在已經在著手做了。在我來之前，公司就已經了解了定價策略、包裝規格等方面的重要性。因此，我們正在努力加快其中一些工作的進度。

We can make very quick adjustments, though in pricing and opening price points and nothing crazy or irrational here. You've heard me talk in the past maybe about the importance of earning price in the marketplace, giving consumers a reason to pay more through innovation, through product, through performance.

我們可以迅速做出調整，包括定價和開盤價，但不會做出任何瘋狂或不理智的舉動。你可能以前聽我說過，在市場上贏得價格的重要性，要透過創新、產品和性能，讓消費者有理由支付更高的價格。

And what's happened over the course of the last several years, industry-wide is because of the massive amount of input cost inflation, we busted through four or five levels of price points in a very accelerated fashion. And the consumer was left very disappointed in that, and that's been very well understood and obvious. And so as we continue to work on our productivity programs, the company has done a very good job at delivering productivity.

過去幾年，由於投入成本大幅上漲，整個產業的價格水準迅速突破了四、五個等級。消費者對此感到非常失望，這點大家都很清楚，也顯而易見。因此，在我們繼續推進生產力提升計畫的同時，公司在提高生產力方面做得非常出色。

We aim to do that again. And between the productivity between the investment, we believe we can get back to price points that are more friendly to consumers, and we can do that pretty quickly. Andre, if you want to build on that?

我們的目標是再次做到這一點。我們相信，透過投資提高生產力，我們可以將價格恢復到對消費者更友善的水平，而且我們可以很快做到這一點。安德烈，如果你想在此基礎上繼續發展的話？

Yeah. So to build on Steve is saying, a disproportional amount or the majority of the $600 million is really deployed about what we believe are healthier ways to grow the business in the long term. So that is about more marketing, more R&D, investments in the product and packaging and increasing the infrastructure on headcount around sales and marketing, so it can show up with better execution.

是的。所以，正如史蒂夫所說，這 6 億美元中的大部分資金，或者說絕大部分資金，實際上都投入了我們認為能夠從長遠角度更健康地發展業務的領域。所以，這涉及更多的行銷、更多的研發、對產品和包裝的投資，以及增加銷售和行銷方面的人員配備等基礎設施，以便更好地執行。

So -- but there is a portion of the investment that is geared toward price. As you expect, given that we're saying that we expect to build share momentum heading to the second half, most of the incremental resources related to price will show up more later in the year, later in Q2. However, you remember that we did step up investment on price in 2025. Not everything worked the way we anticipated. There was a lot of lessons learned there.

所以——但其中有一部分的投資是面向價格。正如你所預料的，鑑於我們預計在下半年將建立市場份額成長勢頭，與價格相關的大部分新增資源將在今年晚些時候，也就是第二季晚些時候出現。但是，您還記得我們在 2025 年加大了對價格的投資嗎？並非所有事情都如我們所願。在那裡我們學到了很多。

And so there is a portion of that investment that is starting earlier in Q2, that is already about optimizing the tactics that we have deployed last year, okay? So you could expect us to see improvement in what we have deployed last year, but then the incremental really focused on the second half.

因此，這筆投資的一部分從第二季初就開始了，目的是為了優化我們去年部署的策略，好嗎？所以你可以期待我們在去年部署的方面有所改進，但增量改進的重點實際上放在了下半年。

And in terms of base price versus new price points, just to clarify on that. So as I just said moments ago, the opening price point is expected to impact about 40% of the categories, not 40% of the revenue, okay, 40% of the categories. We do have very selected places where base price makes sense.

至於基礎價格與新價格點之間的區別，我想澄清一下。正如我剛才所說，預計開盤價將影響約 40% 的品類，而不是 40% 的收入，好的，是 40% 的類別。我們確實有一些地方，底價是合理的。

So we don't want to talk the specific categories here on this call, but there are a couple of spots where it makes sense to do that because we cross some thresholds, and we believe it's not in a healthy level. But again, this is very selective.

所以我們不想在這次電話會議上討論具體的類別，但有幾個地方有必要討論一下，因為我們跨越了一些閾值，我們認為這還不夠健康。但再次強調，這只是非常選擇性的。

You should expect that majority is really around building momentum in e-commerce. I think we had a lot of traction in the second half, show up in better in-store execution and deploy on the opening price points.

你應該預料到，大部分精力實際上都集中在如何推動電子商務的發展。我認為我們在下半年取得了很大的進展，店內執行力有所提升，並且以開盤價位推出產品。

John Baumgartner, Mizumbo Securities.

John Baumgartner，Mizumbo Securities。

Thanks for the question. Steve, I'd like to ask about the reinvestment. You're ramping the financial resources. But if we could focus on the softer skills, how you connect with consumers? How you stand out to retailers on merits other than just maybe scale and trade promotion? Are the soft skills, those consumer-facing skills, when you improve those, is it a matter of like technology and insight at this point?

謝謝你的提問。史蒂夫，我想問一下關於再投資的問題。你們正在加大財政投入。但如果我們把重點放在軟技能上，例如你如何與消費者建立連結？除了規模和貿易促銷之外，你如何憑藉其他優勢在零售商面前脫穎而出？軟技能，也就是面向消費者的技能，當你提升這些技能時，目前來說，這是否取決於技術和洞察力？

Is it a matter of augmenting personnel, changing the culture? Just where do you see the company needing to improve aside from financial support in the P&L? And how much of a heavy lift do you anticipate that to be?

是增加人員配置還是改變企業文化的問題？除了損益表上的財務支援之外，您認為公司還需要在哪些方面進行改進？你預期這會是多麼艱鉅的任務？

Yeah. Thanks for the question, John. This company has great capability and great people. We're just very lean. And so we need to supplement and bolster the people that we have against our commercial activities, and we need to continue to invest in technology and where the world is going.

是的。謝謝你的提問，約翰。這家公司實力雄厚，人才濟濟。我們人員非常精簡。因此，我們需要補充和加強我們現有的人員力量來應對我們的商業活動，並且我們需要繼續投資於技術以及世界的發展方向。

It's well documented. AI is changing everything. And we need to be on the forefront of the way we think about technology and deploying it against our brands and with our customers.

這一點有據可查。人工智慧正在改變一切。我們需要在思考如何運用科技以及如何將科技應用於我們的品牌和客戶方面走在時代前沿。

We start with a consumer-first mindset. No question about that. This investment is against making sure that we can attract consumers and drive greater household penetration.

我們秉持以消費者為中心的理念。這點毋庸置疑。這項投資旨在確保我們能夠吸引消費者並提高家庭滲透率。

And I'm very confident that when our customers here today, what we're doing, reinvesting against this wonderful portfolio, I've had lots of conversations with all these customers already. I think this is going to be a very welcome news.

我非常有信心，今天在座的各位客戶，我們正在做的，就是對這個優秀的投資組合進行再投資，我已經和所有這些客戶進行了很多交流。我認為這將是一個令人非常高興的消息。

And so that's perhaps what we haven't talked much about. But this means a lot to our customers when Kraft Heinz shows up with this type of investment plan against brands that matter. And so we're excited about the future, and I appreciate everybody's interest in the call today.

所以，這或許就是我們很少談的話題。但對我們的客戶來說，當卡夫亨氏拿出這個針對重要品牌的投資計畫時，意義就非常重大了。因此，我們對未來充滿期待，感謝大家今天對這次電話會議的關注。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Anne-Marie Megela for any closing comments.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我謹將發言權交還給 Anne-Marie Megela，請她作總結發言。

I just want to thank everyone for your interest today, for your questions, and we will see you all next week at CAGNY.

我只想感謝大家今天對 CAGNY 的關注和提問，我們下週在 CAGNY 再見。

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

今天的會議到此結束。再次感謝各位的參與。您可以在此時斷開線路。