WK Kellogg Co (KLG) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Thank you for attending today's WK Kellogg co Q3 earnings call. My name is Tanya, and I'll be your moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for questions and answers at the end. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your toes phone keypad. Not surpass the conference over to your host, Karen Duke Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. You may proceed.

早安.感謝您參加今天的 WK Kellogg 公司第三季財報電話會議。我叫 Tanya，我將擔任今天電話會議的主持人。在通話的演示部分，所有線路都將靜音，並在結束時提供問答機會。如果您想提問，請按下電話鍵盤上的星號 1。本次會議的主持人是財務與投資者關係副總裁凱倫‧杜克 (Karen Duke)。您可以繼續。

Thank you, operator. Good morning and thank you for joining us today for a review of our third quarter results. I'm joined this morning by Gary Pilnick, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Dave McKinstray, our Chief Financial Officer. Slide 2 shows our forward-looking statements disclaimer. As you are aware, certain statements made today such as projections for the Company's future performance are forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected.

謝謝您，接線生。早安，感謝您今天加入我們回顧我們的第三季業績。今天早上與我一起參加會議的還有我們的董事長兼執行長 Gary Pilnick 和財務長 Dave McKinstray。投影片 2 顯示了我們的前瞻性聲明免責聲明。如您所知，今天所做的某些聲明（例如對公司未來業績的預測）屬於前瞻性聲明。實際結果可能與預測結果有重大差異。

For further information concerning factors that could cause these results to differ, please refer to the factors listed on the disclaimer slide as well as those in our SEC filings, including the risk factors action. As we discuss our results today, unless noted as reported, will be referencing, the respective non-GAAP financial measure, which is just for certain items, included in our GAAP results for periods prior to the spin-off, results are presented on a stand-alone adjusted basis for periods after the spin-off results are presented on and refer to on an adjusted basis and compare to our 2023 stand-alone adjusted results. You can find definitions of each non-GAAP measure and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation within our earnings release and in the appendix. Thanks to the presentation. I will now turn the call over to Gary.

有關可能導致這些結果不同的因素的更多信息，請參閱免責聲明中列出的因素以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中列出的因素，包括風險因素行動。在我們今天討論結果時，除非另有說明，否則將引用相應的非 GAAP 財務指標（僅針對分拆前期間的 GAAP 結果中包含的某些項目），分拆後期間的結果以獨立調整後的基礎呈現，並以調整後的基礎參考並與我們 2023 年的獨立調整後結果進行比較。您可以在我們的收益報告和附錄中找到每個非 GAAP 指標的定義以及 GAAP 與非 GAAP 的對帳。感謝演講。現在我將電話轉給加里。

Thanks, Karen, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our third quarter call for today. I will discuss our financial results and guidance in market performance as well as her back have commercial divisions. I'll then turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Drew McKinstray, who will provide additional detail on our Q3 performance and outlook for the year. We'll close off the call with time for Q&A. Let's start by looking at slide 3. It's fair to say that the business is performing largely as we expected. For the quarter, net sales increased 0.7 volume price realization.

謝謝，凱倫，大家早安。感謝您參加我們今天的第三季電話會議。我將討論我們的財務表現和市場表現指導以及她背後的商業部門。然後，我將把電話轉給我們的財務長德魯·麥金斯特雷 (Drew McKinstray)，他將提供有關我們第三季業績和今年展望的更多詳細資訊。我們將在通話結束時安排問答時間。我們先看投影片 3。公平地說，業務表現基本上符合我們的預期。本季，淨銷售額成長了0.7%，成交價實現量也上漲了0.7%。

Last quarter, we told you we expect a stronger second half sales performance due to improvements in our commercial execution and the lapping of the challenging environment that emerged in Q3 of 2023. Indeed, our sales trajectory did improve and was driven by quality commercial programming, better back-to-school activation, continued strength in Canada and improved performance in non-measured channels, and our supply chain performance is improving as our team content used to deliver better levels of customer service, allowing retailers to replenish inventory to more normal levels, which positively impacted our shipments are top line performance, along with continued operational focus and discipline led to another quarter of gross margin expansion. For the quarter, we had achieved gross margin of 29.4%, a 90 basis point increase versus last year.

上個季度，我們告訴您，由於我們的商業執行力得到改善以及 2023 年第三季度出現的挑戰性環境的克服，我們預計下半年的銷售業績將更加強勁。事實上，我們的銷售軌跡確實有所改善，這是由高品質的商業節目、更好的返校活動、加拿大的持續實力和非測量渠道績效的提高所推動的，我們的供應鏈績效也在提高，因為我們的團隊內容用於提供更好的客戶服務水平，使零售商能夠將庫存補充到更正常的水平，這對我們的紀律和營運能力擴大了積極表現產生了積極影響，加上表現出最大的營運重點。本季度，我們的毛利率達到 29.4%，比去年同期增加了 90 個基點。

This performance benefited EBITDA, which grew 27.5% in the quarter versus prior year. Overall, we are pleased with how the team is executing on our ability to deliver on our financial commitments in this challenging environment. Our Q3 results puts us in a position today to reaffirm our 2024 net sales guidance and raise our full year guidance range on EBITDA, which is now expected to grow 5% to 6%. Let's turn to Slide 4 to discuss category trends and our performance. The US cereal category. Dollar sales as measured by Nielsen XAOC. declined 1.4% in the quarter with volume declining low single digits. Both sales and volume improved compared to last quarter. Shopping patterns for the quarter continue to lean towards value focus, retailers and channels, club and dollar, again to a positive dollar consumption growth.

這一業績使 EBITDA 受益，本季 EBITDA 較上年同期成長了 27.5%。總體而言，我們對團隊在這種充滿挑戰的環境下履行財務承諾的能力感到滿意。我們的第三季業績使我們今天能夠重申我們的 2024 年淨銷售額指引，並提高我們的全年 EBITDA 指引範圍，目前預計將成長 5% 至 6%。讓我們轉到投影片 4 來討論類別趨勢和我們的表現。美國穀物類別。美元銷售額由尼爾森 XAOC 衡量。本季下降 1.4%，銷量下降幅度為個位數。與上一季相比，銷售額和銷量均有所提高。本季的購物模式持續傾向價值焦點、零售商和通路、俱樂部和美元，美元消費再次實現正成長。

This quarter both were up approximately 3%, driven by mix of increased display activity and TDPs. Interestingly, while consumers display value-seeking behavior, the granola and premium segments of serial will continue to deliver strong growth, each solid double digit dollar consumption growth to positive volume and positive price mix, demonstrating the breadth of affordability and overall value cereal delivers. Year to date, dollar consumption for the category is down 1.2%. The category has performed in line with our planning assumptions and is providing the stable backdrop to execute our strategy in the U.S., our consumption performance, measured by Nielsen XA, you'll see improved sequentially to down 1.8% in the quarter due to increased merchandising with key customers and successful seasonal activations, which I'll talk more about in a moment.

本季度，兩項數據均上漲約 3%，這得益於展示活動和 TDP 的增加。有趣的是，在消費者表現出追求價值行為的同時，系列燕麥和高端麥片將繼續保持強勁增長，每件商品的消費量均實現兩位數的穩健增長，銷量和價格組合也呈現正增長，體現了穀物食品的可負擔性和整體價值。今年迄今為止，該類別的美元消費下降了 1.2%。該類別的表現符合我們的計劃假設，並為執行我們在美國戰略提供了穩定的背景，我們的消費表現（由尼爾森 XA 衡量）環比改善，由於針對關鍵客戶的商品推銷增加和季節性活動成功，本季度下降 1.8%，稍後我將詳細討論。

We continue to maintain our share position at 27.6%, which improved modestly versus last quarter. We saw share gains during the back-to-school period of August through early September on our participating brands, which we'll discuss in more detail our volume in the quarter. We also saw sequential improvement in line with expectations and unit volume term positive, driven by our PPA strategy, which focuses on ensuring remediating the consumer with the right product and the right channel. In Canada. Our team delivered another solid quarter and outperform the market, benefiting from quality back to school execution and new product introductions.

我們的份額繼續維持在 27.6%，較上一季略有提升。在八月至九月初的返校期間，我們參與的品牌的份額有所增長，我們將在本季度詳細討論我們的銷售。我們也看到了符合預期的連續改善和單位銷售的積極變化，這得益於我們的 PPA 策略，該策略專注於確保使用正確的產品和正確的管道來補救消費者。在加拿大。由於優質的返校活動執行和新產品的推出，我們的團隊又度過了一個穩健的季度並跑贏市場。

This is a good example of how our increase integration and the new ways of working at WK. where there is fast and effective sharing of ideas across the business. For the year, Canada has increased their market leading position of 110 basis points to 38.8%. Additionally, our Caribbean team is executing well and reach of 40% market share during the quarter. While the Caribbean is a smaller market for us, the team's accomplishment is certainly noteworthy. On page 5, you can see the performance of are you s portfolio. As we said last quarter, our portfolio performance is more easily understood. If you look at it in three groups are core six, the next core and natural and organic. As a reminder, our core six represents approximately 70% of our sales and includes our six largest brands, which are shown on this slide.

這是我們如何提高 WK 的整合度以及採用新的工作方式的一個很好的例子。在這裡，整個企業能夠快速有效地分享想法。今年，加拿大的市場領先地位提高了 110 個基點，達到 38.8%。此外，我們的加勒比海團隊表現出色，本季的市佔率達到 40%。雖然加勒比地區對我們來說是一個較小的市場，但該團隊的成就無疑是值得關注的。在第 5 頁，您可以看到您的投資組合的表現。正如我們上個季度所說，我們的投資組合表現更容易理解。如果你把它分成三組，那麼分別是核心六、下一個核心、以及自然和有機。提醒一下，我們的核心六大品牌約占我們銷售額的 70%，包括我們最大的六個品牌，如本投影片所示。

The next quarter contains iconic brands like cornflakes, Corn Pops and Apple Jack's and represents approximately 15% of our sales. And finally, Kashi and Bear Naked makeup, our natural and organic group. In the quarter, five of our core six brands grew or maintained share. This group continues to benefit from the performance of Frosted Flakes and Raisin Bran, which remain to have the fastest growing brands in the category. That said, we continue our work to improve the trajectory of Special K, which are consistent with its recent performance, was down 40 basis points of share in the quarter. While it will take time for the brand to perform to our expectations.

下一季包含玉米片、玉米棒和 Apple Jack's 等標誌性品牌，約占我們銷售額的 15%。最後，Kashi 和 Bear Naked 化妝品，我們的天然和有機組合。本季度，我們六個核心品牌中的五個品牌的份額實現成長或保持不變。該集團繼續受益於Frosted Flakes和Raisin Bran的出色表現，這兩個品牌仍然是該類別中成長最快的品牌。儘管如此，我們仍將繼續努力改善 Special K 的發展軌跡，這與其近期的表現一致，本季其份額下降了 40 個基點。但該品牌需要時間才能達到我們的期望。

The team has a more complete commercial plan for 2025, and we are already getting started with the launch of our new special for a reason campaign, excluding Special K, our core six was up 30 basis points of share in Q2 three and is up 20 base points of share year to date. Moving to our next core Corn Pops and Apple. Jack's were key brands during our back-to-school activation and delivered positive dollar consumption in the quarter. In fact, when you look year to date, corn pumps and cornflakes have gained 10 basis points of share, benefiting from improved supply. Finally, we are natural and organic group is showing signs of sequential improvement as we're starting to see the positive impact of innovation in our retail sales execution.

團隊對 2025 年有一個更完整的商業計劃，我們已經開始推出新的特別理由活動，除特別 K 外，我們的核心六大產品在第二季度的份額上漲了 30 個基點，今年迄今的份額上漲了 20 個基點。接下來我們來看看我們的下一個核心產品—玉米爆米花和蘋果。Jack's 是我們開學活動期間的關鍵品牌，並在本季度實現了積極的美元消費。事實上，回顧今年迄今的情況，受益於供應改善，玉米泵和玉米片的份額已增加 10 個基點。最後，我們自然而有機的集團正在顯示出連續改善的跡象，因為我們開始看到創新對我們的零售銷售執行的正面影響。

Bear Naked had improved supply in the quarter and so on nearly flat dollar consumption, along with positive unit volume, affirming that when the brand is unchanged. Shelf it performs. We spoke to you about improving supply last quarter and we are pleased with a meaningful improvement in market continuing to build momentum in the growing and I know segment is a big opportunity for WK. year to date, the majority of our brands have held or gained share with many growing meaningfully ahead of the category. This performance, driven by improved supply and maturing commercial and sales execution gives us the confidence in our portfolio and our strategy. Now let's look at our back-to-school activity on slide 6. Back-to-school is an important time of year for serial parents are transitioning to a new routine centered around the morning and looking for our brands to help get the day started right, we are pleased with our first back to school programming as an independent company. Our teams designed commercial activations with the needs of parents in mind, ensuring we show up for consumers and feature and on display, our end to end approach included three elements.

Bear Naked 本季的供應量有所改善，美元消費量幾乎持平，同時單位銷售量為正，證實了品牌保持不變的情況。擱置它執行。我們在上個季度與您討論了改善供應的問題，我們很高興看到市場出現了有意義的改善，並繼續在成長中建立勢頭，我知道這個領域對 WK 來說是一個巨大的機會。今年迄今，我們的大多數品牌都保持或增加了市場份額，其中許多品牌的市場份額顯著領先其他品牌。這項業績受到供應改善和商業及銷售執行成熟的推動，使我們對我們的產品組合和策略充滿信心。現在讓我們來看看幻燈片 6 上的返校活動。開學季是一年中的重要時刻，對於連續上學的父母來說，他們正在過渡到以早晨為中心的新日常生活，並希望我們的品牌幫助他們正確開始新的一天，作為一家獨立公司，我們很高興能夠推出第一個開學計劃。我們的團隊在設計商業活動時充分考慮了父母的需求，確保我們能夠為消費者提供特色展示，我們的端到端方法包括三個要素。

First, our new marketing model ran multi-brand campaigns for in-store and digital shoppers, highlighting our back-to-school brands and what we call our feeding reading promotion, which includes free children's books with the purchase of our products. Next, during the key weeks of back-to-school, our retail sales force brought this idea to life in store through increased display with key retailers, which drove increased dollar and unit share. And finally, this was enabled by improved supply improvements in overall equipment effectiveness, which we referred to as OE. and customer service, are allowing us to return to full commercial programming and execute successfully in store during this meaningful time of year. We believe this is helping us build trust with our retailers.

首先，我們的新行銷模式針對店內和數位購物者開展了多品牌活動，重點宣傳我們的返校品牌以及我們所謂的「餵食閱讀」促銷活動，其中包括購買我們的產品可獲贈免費兒童書籍。接下來，在返校的關鍵幾週內，我們的零售銷售團隊透過與主要零售商增加展示，在店內將這一想法變為現實，從而推動了美元和單位份額的增加。最後，這是透過提高整體設備效率的供應改進來實現的，我們稱之為 OE。和客戶服務，使我們能夠在這一年中這個有意義的時刻恢復全面的商業規劃並在店內成功執行。我們相信這有助於我們與零售商建立信任。

On the Q2 call, we spoke about our back half Avation and tapping into seasonal excitement. On Slide 7, let's take a look at how we brought these ID Wednesday, a spinoff of the Adams family story and the most watched show ever on Netflix seasonal offerings play an important role in the category. And Halloween is one of the largest seasonal activations for serial offerings such as Wednesday, drive category engagement and have become a part of how consumers connect to the holiday. Add to that, these types of purchases are 70% incremental to everyday items and most often bought on impulse. So it's critical to have the right display in the third quarter, Wednesday was the highest velocity innovation item in the category and had the highest percentage of sales from display.

在第二季的電話會議上，我們談到了後半段的 Avation 以及如何利用季節性的興奮。在第 7 張投影片上，讓我們看看我們如何將這些 ID 星期三（亞當斯家族故事的衍生劇和 Netflix 季節性產品有史以來觀看次數最多的節目）帶到該類別中發揮重要作用。萬聖節是季節性活動規模最大的一個，它透過一系列類似星期三的活動，推動了品類參與度，並成為消費者與節日聯繫的一部分。此外，這些類型的購買佔日常用品增量的 70%，大多數是衝動購買。因此，在第三季進行正確的展示至關重要，週三是該類別中創新速度最快的項目，並且展示銷售額的百分比最高。

Clearly delivering with shoppers are looking for. This is a great example of how we can drive demand when we we bring a differentiated offering to the market and deliver value to our consumer. Let's turn to Slide 8 and look at our supply performance, which makes all of our commercial activations possible. We have consistently spoken to you about investing in and enhancing our supply chain. We know that improved product supply is a key enabler of our integrated commercial plan, and we saw that play out this quarter. Our team delivered a meaningful increase in service levels in Q3 when compared to 2023, driven by optimize planning and improved OE.

顯然，送貨的是購物者所尋求的。這是一個很好的例子，說明當我們向市場推出差異化產品並為消費者帶來價值時，我們如何能推動需求。讓我們轉到投影片 8，看看我們的供應表現，這使得我們所有的商業活化成為可能。我們一直在與您談論投資和增強我們的供應鏈。我們知道，改善產品供應是我們綜合商業計劃的關鍵推動因素，我們在本季看到了這一點。與 2023 年相比，我們的團隊在第三季度實現了服務水準的顯著提升，這得益於優化規劃和改進 OE。

This near term performance is an example of the type of impact on our focus and engagement can deliver while at the same time, we're progressing our longer term, T.J. priorities. As a reminder, last quarter, we provided more details about our supply chain modernization journey, the plan for our capital investment and network consolidation to drive longer-term sustainable advantage in our business. Supply chain is the foundation of many consumer product companies, and it key strategic priority is strengthening our foundation so we can build into the future will look forward to providing further updates as we advanced the strategic priority. I will now pass the call over to Dave.

這一短期表現是對我們的關注和參與能夠產生何種影響的一個例子，同時，我們正在推進我們的長期目標，T.J。優先事項。提醒一下，上個季度，我們提供了有關我們的供應鏈現代化歷程、資本投資和網路整合計劃的更多細節，以推動我們業務的長期永續優勢。供應鏈是許多消費品公司的基石，其關鍵策略重點是鞏固我們的基礎，以便我們能夠面向未來發展，我們期待在推動策略重點的同時提供進一步的更新。我現在將電話轉給戴夫。

Thank you, Gary. Before reviewing our results, I'd like to highlight that our GAAP results this quarter include charges related to our supply chain modernization initiative. Quantification of the business, portfolio realignment and restructuring costs that have been incurred through the third quarter are included in the appendix of our presentation. In our earnings release, please send the past due to the spin. Our quarterly results and future 2024 results are based on a comparison to our 2023 stand-alone adjusted results, which exclude inter-company sales and royalty arrangements with Telenor Nova that's not to leave.

謝謝你，加里。在回顧我們的業績之前，我想強調一下，本季的 GAAP 業績包括與我們的供應鏈現代化計劃相關的費用。我們簡報的附錄中包含了第三季產生的業務、投資組合調整和重組成本的量化。在我們的收益報告中，請發送過去因旋轉而產生的收入。我們的季度業績和未來 2024 年的業績是基於與 2023 年獨立調整後業績的比較，該業績不包括不會消失的公司間銷售和與 Telenor Nova 的特許權使用費安排。

This provides invest doctors with increased transparency and improves comparability across periods. Further detail of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure has been provided in today's press release and the appendix of this presentation. Now looking at our results on Slide 10. Net sales for the third quarter were $689 million, a 0.7% increase versus the prior year period.

這為投資醫生提供了更高的透明度並提高了不同時期的可比性。今天的新聞稿和本簡報的附錄提供了這些非 GAAP 指標的更多詳細資訊以及與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調整表。現在查看投影片 10 上的結果。第三季淨銷售額為 6.89 億美元，較去年同期成長 0.7%。

Net sales growth was driven by price realization of 1.8%, offset by volume declines of 1.1%. Volume trend improved versus the second quarter due to strong back-to-school and seasonal execution and benefited from the improved customer service levels that Gary talked about a moment ago. Stepping back in Q3 2023, we experienced supply disruptions on certain brands within our portfolio. This led to a draw down on retailer inventory. This year, we returned to more normal levels of supply, which had a twofold impact on our Q3 results. First, it enables improved commercial activation, which you see in our end market results. And second, it allows retailers to maintain more normal levels of inventory, which improved our shipments in the quarter versus last year. Additionally, our sales in Canada non-measured channels continue to trend positively. Ebitda for the third quarter was 65 million, a 27.5% increase versus the prior year quarter, which was driven by top-line performance and continued operational discipline.

淨銷售額成長主要得益於 1.8% 的價格實現，但抵消了 1.1% 的銷量下降。由於返校季和季節性銷售強勁，銷售趨勢較第二季度有所改善，並受益於 Gary 剛才談到的客戶服務水準的提高。回顧 2023 年第三季度，我們產品組合中的某些品牌遇到了供應中斷。這導致零售商庫存減少。今年，我們的供應水準恢復得更加正常，這對我們的第三季業績產生了雙重影響。首先，它可以提高商業啟動率，您可以在我們的終端市場結果中看到這一點。其次，它使零售商能夠維持更正常的庫存水平，這使得我們本季的出貨量比去年同期有所提高。此外，我們在加拿大非測量通路的銷售持續呈現正面趨勢。第三季的息稅折舊攤提前利潤為 6,500 萬美元，較去年同期成長 27.5%，這得益於營收表現和持續的營運紀律。

Turning to our year to date results net sales were down 0.9% versus the prior year period. Despite the ongoing challenging consumer environment, our sales performance is in line with our full year guidance. Year to date EBITDA $217 million increased 5.3% versus the prior year period, driven primarily by improved operational efficiencies. Turning to slide 11, I will now focus on our operational highlights. Gross margin for the third quarter was 29.4%, 90 basis point increase versus the prior year, which resulted from continued cost discipline and operational efficiency improvements. Ebitda margin. Q. three was 9.5%, a 200 basis point increase versus last year, driven by gross margin improvement in the timing of brand building spend. We remain focused on identifying and investing in high ROI initiatives, which we believe is reflected in our results. Looking out our below-the-line items. Interest expense in Q3 was $7 million in other income was negative 2 million. Overall, it was another solid quarter for WK., which we believe puts us firmly on track to achieve our financial guidance. For the full year, we delivered top line growth driven by sequential volume improvement while our revenue growth management initiatives generated positive price mix. Operationally, the team did a great job executing back to school, and we saw strong performance across the majority of our brands. Let's turn to Slide 12. The cover our cash flow and balance sheet. Year to date, cash flow from operations was 98 million and year to date, capital expenditures were 96 million, which includes investments in our supply chain and standing up our own infrastructure as we progress towards exiting our transition services agreements.

回顧今年迄今的業績，淨銷售額較去年同期下降了 0.9%。儘管消費環境持續面臨挑戰，但我們的銷售業績仍與全年預期一致。年初至今的 EBITDA 為 2.17 億美元，較去年同期成長 5.3%，主因是營運效率的提升。轉到第 11 張投影片，我現在將重點介紹我們的營運亮點。第三季的毛利率為29.4%，較上年同期增加了90個基點，這得益於持續的成本控制和營運效率的提高。息稅折舊攤提前利潤率。第三季的毛利率為 9.5%，比去年增加了 200 個基點，這得益於品牌建設支出時機的毛利率提高。我們仍然專注於識別和投資高投資回報率的計劃，我們相信這反映在我們的業績中。查看我們的低於標準價的商品。第三季的利息支出為700萬美元，其他收入為負200萬美元。總體而言，對於 WK 來說這又是一個穩健的季度，我們相信這將使我們穩固地走在實現財務指導的軌道上。就全年而言，我們實現了營收成長，這得益於連續銷售改善，同時我們的營收成長管理措施產生了積極的價格組合。在營運方面，團隊在執行返校計畫方面做得非常出色，我們看到大多數品牌都表現強勁。讓我們翻到第 12 張投影片。涵蓋我們的現金流量和資產負債表。年初至今，經營活動現金流為 9,800 萬美元，年初至今，資本支出為 9,600 萬美元，其中包括對我們的供應鏈的投資以及在我們逐步退出過渡服務協議的過程中建立我們自己的基礎設施。

Additionally year to date, we page 41 million in dividends to shareowners. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the third quarter with 489 million of debt and cash equivalents of $47 million, resulting in net debt of $442 million, a decrease of 5 million versus last quarter. This decrease was a result of core working capital favorability in the quarter. Our leverage ratio, measured by net debt to trailing 12 month EBITDA is currently 1.6 times. Consistent with what we've said previously, we continue to expect free cash flow for 2024 to be approximately negative 50 million, and we expect to exit 2024 with a proxy net leverage of 1.8 times as we accelerate spend associated with our supply chain initiative in Q4 of this year. As a reminder, we have fully secured debt commitments to fund our supply chain modernization investments and continue to expect leverage to peak at approximately three times in 2026. Our strong base business. Cash flow, which converts at a very high percentage from net income, along with our available debt capacity, provides sufficient patient capital to execute our strategic initiatives as we create significant long-term value. Let's turn to Slide 13 to discuss our guidance.

此外，今年迄今為止，我們向股東發放了 4,100 萬美元的股息。談到資產負債表，截至第三季度，我們的債務為 4.89 億美元，現金等價物為 4,700 萬美元，淨債務為 4.42 億美元，比上一季減少了 500 萬美元。這一下降是由於本季核心營運資本有利所致。我們的槓桿率（以淨負債與過去 12 個月 EBITDA 的比率衡量）目前為 1.6 倍。與我們之前所說的一致，我們繼續預計 2024 年的自由現金流約為負 5000 萬美元，並且隨著我們在今年第四季度加快與供應鏈計劃相關的支出，我們預計 2024 年的代理淨槓桿率將達到 1.8 倍。提醒一下，我們已完全獲得債務承諾，為我們的供應鏈現代化投資提供資金，並繼續預計槓桿率將在 2026 年達到高峰約三倍。我們強大的基礎業務。現金流從淨收入轉化的比例非常高，加上我們可用的債務能力，為我們在創造重大長期價值的同時執行戰略計劃提供了足夠的耐心資本。讓我們翻到第 13 張投影片來討論我們的指導。

Today, we're reaffirming our 2024 net sales guidance, which we continue to expect to be at the lower end of a range of down 1% to up 1% versus as prior year. Additionally, given our strong year-to-date profit delivery, we are raising our 2020 for EBITDA guidance. We now expect 20 to 24 EBITDA growth to be between 5% and 6%, up from our prior guidance range of 3% to 5%. As a reminder, in Q4, we expect to lap some onetime costs within net sales that we estimate to be worth approximately a point of growth within the quarter. Q4 also tends to be a lower sales quarter as retailers shift display towards general merchandise for the holiday season. In summary, we're proud of our team and our ability to execute our strategy and deliver financial results in line with our expectations. I'll now turn the call back over to Gary.

今天，我們重申了 2024 年淨銷售額指引，我們預計該指引仍將處於比上年下降 1% 至上漲 1% 區間的下限。此外，鑑於我們今年迄今為止強勁的利潤表現，我們上調了 2020 年的 EBITDA 預期。我們現在預計 20 至 24 年 EBITDA 成長率將在 5% 至 6% 之間，高於我們先前預測的 3% 至 5% 的範圍。提醒一下，在第四季度，我們預期淨銷售額中會包含一些一次性成本，我們估計這些成本在本季內的價值約為一個成長點。由於零售商在假期季節將展示重點轉向日用商品，因此第四季也往往是銷售額較低的季度。總而言之，我們為我們的團隊和執行我們的策略並按照我們的預期實現財務業績的能力感到自豪。我現在將電話轉回給加里。

Thanks, Dave. As we close, I'd like to pause and acknowledge two key milestones that took place this quarter with our team, our communities and our retail partners. First, we celebrate our two. It has been a remarkable journey filled with several firsts for this iconic 118 year old startup. I could not be more proud of our team across the WK. organization and how they're transforming this business. And our second milestone demonstrate who we are as a company Mission Tiger is our signature sustainable business program, our very own Tony, the Tiger is on a mission to support middle school sports by funding programs to supply new equipment, improved facilities, expand access and more. He does this in partnership with our local retailers and communities. Since launching in 2019, we have reached more than 3,000 schools nationwide and created almost 2 million sports and play experiences from middle scores. And in Q3, Tony reached another significant milestone is now invested in schools in all 50 states by supporting middle school sports. W.k. Kellogg Co is helping to build stronger communities and would Frosted Flakes being one of the fastest growing brands and serial. It's a great example of how doing good is also good for business. It has been a year since we became an independent company, and we are pleased with the results we have delivered were equally pleased with how we're delivering those results. With that, I'll now open the call to Q&A.

謝謝，戴夫。最後，我想停下來回顧本季我們的團隊、社群和零售合作夥伴所取得的兩個重要里程碑。首先，我們慶祝我們的兩個孩子。對於這家擁有 118 年歷史的標誌性新創公司來說，這是一段非凡的旅程，創造了多個第一。我對我們 WK 團隊感到無比自豪。組織以及他們如何改變這個業務。我們的第二個里程碑展示了我們作為一家公司的定位，「Mission Tiger」 是我們標誌性的可持續商業計劃，我們自己的 Tony，Tiger 的使命是透過資助項目來支持中學體育運動，以提供新設備、改善設施、擴大訪問權限等。他與我們當地的零售商和社區合作完成這項工作。自 2019 年推出以來，我們已覆蓋全國 3,000 多所學校，並從中學到創造了近 200 萬次運動和遊戲體驗。在第三季度，Tony 實現了另一個重要里程碑，即透過支持中學運動，為全美 50 個州的學校進行投資。W.k.凱洛格公司 (Kellogg Co) 正在幫助建立更強大的社區，並將 Frosted Flakes 打造為成長最快的品牌和系列之一。這是做好事也有利於生意的一個很好的例子。我們成為獨立公司已經有一年了，我們對所取得的成果感到滿意，對我們實現這些成果的方式也同樣感到滿意。現在，我將開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.

摩根大通的肯‧戈德曼 (Ken Goldman)。

Good morning, Ken. It's a little early hit-driven from pipe, but just curious, are there any early directional tailwinds headwinds we should be considering for next year? Any outlook you might have on the cadence of the top and bottom lines? And I guess most importantly and I realize again, visibility is a little challenged right now, but guidance calls for flattish top line growth 24 through 26. You're not quite going to get there. I think this year is there as you see things now, just given some of your opportunities and offset maybe by macro challenges, are you going to be aiming for kind of flat top line growth next year?

早安，肯。這是管道早期推動的一點，但只是好奇，明年我們是否應該考慮任何早期的方向性順風逆風？您對頂線和底線的節奏有何看法？我想最重要的是，我再次意識到，目前的可見性有點困難，但指導要求 24 至 26 年營收成長持平。你還遠遠沒有到達那裡。我認為，正如您現在所看到的那樣，今年的情況是這樣的，考慮到您的一些機會以及可能受到宏觀挑戰的抵消，您明年是否會瞄準平穩的營收成長？

Thanks for the question. Can I use my voice part? Pardon me? I think what we've started as we're pleased with where we're delivering today. And for 2024, you heard today that we're reaffirming guidance for our top line and actually raising guidance with respect to EBITDA. It is early. You said that in the beginning of your question, but let me tell you what we're thinking about as we think about going forward, Howard, I think what the outlook you can consider is growth for next year being largely consistent with how we're growing this year. When we think about tailwinds for the organization, we're delivering these results of this year. It's our 1st year as an independent company. While we're transforming our business and unplugging, it's a challenging environment as well next year, those capabilities will continue to mature. We like the planning that we're doing as a company store, pleased about the way we're executing, which gives us that much more confidence for next year.

謝謝你的提問。我可以使用我的聲音部分嗎？對不起？我想我們已經開始了，我們對今天的成果感到滿意。對於 2024 年，您今天聽說我們重申了我們的營業收入指引，並實際上提高了 EBITDA 指引。現在還早。您在問題開始時就這麼說了，但讓我告訴您我們在考慮未來時的想法，霍華德，我認為您可以考慮的前景是明年的增長與我們今年的增長情況基本一致。當我們考慮組織的順風時，我們正在實現今年的這些成果。這是我們作為獨立公司的第一年。當我們轉變業務並斷開連接時，明年的環境同樣充滿挑戰，這些能力將繼續成熟。我們喜歡作為公司商店所做的規劃，對我們的執行方式感到滿意，這讓我們對明年更有信心。

But I think largely you can see our growth next year being consistent with this year as well. But again, we appreciate you're saying it's early will come back in February with more detail, Ken. Okay.

但我認為總體上你可以看到我們明年的成長將與今年保持一致。不過，我們非常感激你所說的現在還為時過早，肯，我們將在二月回來提供更多詳細資訊。好的。

Thank you for that. And then quickly on the category. And I'm talking larger sort of breakfast category here because we're seeing certainly some shifts on when you guys are doing a great job with obviously a lot of your brands. But just from a macro level, we're seeing some shifts more toward beverages and other some alternatives to serial still in the broader breakfast. I also just curious, how do you see the competitive landscape just expanding beyond cereal on how rational or some competitors being in there?

謝謝你。然後快速進入類別。我在這裡談論的是更大範圍的早餐類別，因為我們確實看到一些轉變，因為你們在許多品牌上都做得很好。但僅從宏觀層面來看，我們看到早餐中更多的轉向飲料和其他一些替代品。我也很好奇，您如何看待競爭格局超越穀物食品的趨勢，或者說有哪些合理的競爭對手？

Yes. A couple of things about that. When we think about the category, the way we would describe that Canada is providing us the backdrop where it needs to deliver overall broad value proposition. Take a look at cereal. I know you asked about other categories, but if you just take a look at cereal, large durable category, we talked about that before TDPs or holding in displays look good as well. There's growth in the premium side of things. So when we look at the category, we think in this particular environment, we like to how it's holding up in particular, look at units as well. Now one thing that we look at it is when we think about our category, we have believe we have folks coming into our category consumers coming into our category. When we look at PPA., one of the things we're finding is there are consumers were coming in maybe lapsed consumers, new consumers coming into serial. So when we look at this category, we like what we're seeing right now. It provides as well, what we need to deliver on our model. And going forward, we see that continuing as well into 2025. Again, we do believe the challenging environment will persist. Both. We like what we're seeing right now.

是的。關於這一點，有幾件事。當我們考慮這個類別時，我們會描述加拿大為我們提供了需要提供整體廣泛價值主張的背景。看看穀物。我知道您問的是其他類別，但如果您只看穀物、大型耐用品類別，我們在 TDP 或保持展示之前就討論過這個問題，看起來也不錯。高端產品方面正在成長。因此，當我們查看類別時，我們會思考在這種特定環境中，我們喜歡它的具體表現，同時也查看單位。現在我們要考慮的一件事是，當我們考慮我們的類別時，我們相信有人會進入我們的類別，消費者會進入我們的類別。當我們查看 PPA 時，我們發現，有些消費者可能已經流失，而有些新消費者則陸續加入。因此，當我們查看此類別時，我們喜歡我們現在所看到的。它還提供了我們需要在模型上交付的內容。展望未來，我們預計這一趨勢將持續到 2025 年。我們再次堅信，充滿挑戰的環境將會持續存在。兩個都。我們喜歡現在所看到的一切。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thank you, Ken.

謝謝你，肯。

Peter Galbo with Bank of America.

美國銀行的 Peter Galbo。

Hey, guys, good morning. Morning, Darren, I'm Dave in your comments and Gary, in your comments at the beginning, I think you mentioned all the factors in terms of contract in Canada that were helping drive some of the positive variance in volume this quarter. I think you did also mention that there's a little bit of a retailer inventory build benefit that was in the quarter. So just hoping you could kind of dimension that for us. And I'm assuming that doesn't continue into 4Q, but just wanted to make sure.

嘿，大家早安。早安，達倫，我是戴夫，在你發表評論時，還有加里，在你一開始的評論中，我認為你提到了加拿大合約方面的所有因素，這些因素有助於推動本季度銷量的一些正向變化。我想您也提到過，本季零售商庫存建設帶來了一些收益。我只是希望您能為我們提供有關這一點的資訊。我假設這種情況不會持續到第四季度，但只是想確定一下。

Yes, Peter. So just to reiterate what I said a little bit is recall this time last year, we had a we had a supply chain challenge. And what that led to was a fairly not insignificant drawdown in retailer inventory. So we do because we weren't supplying product over the last year. I think the slide in the presentation really detailed the improvement that we've seen versus last year and we trended better. So we did it and build inventory this quarter. We are rather consistent on inventory levels from the end of Q2 to the end of Q3. But really it was a difference of lapping a draw because of that service. I said we had last year. So that was the benefit we saw. As you think about it, you're right, we don't expect that to carry on. Of course, it's kind of a one-time thing. But I think as you look at our Q4 numbers, we anticipate the underlying business to continue to perform. We've also mentioned that there is a one-time benefit investment we had in Q4 of last year. That will play into net sales. So those two items will get us back into the guidance range that we had on net sales.

是的，彼得。因此，我只是想重申我所說的話，回想去年這個時候，我們面臨供應鏈挑戰。這導致零售商庫存大幅減少。我們這樣做是因為去年我們沒有供應產品。我認為簡報中的幻燈片確實詳細說明了我們與去年相比所看到的改進，並且趨勢更好。所以我們這樣做了，並在本季度建立了庫存。從第二季末到第三季末，我們的庫存水準相當一致。但實際上，由於那次發球，這場比賽的差異是平局。我說我們去年就有了。這就是我們看到的好處。如果你認真想想，你會發現你是對的，我們不希望這種情況繼續下去。當然，這只是一次性的事情。但我認為，當您查看我們的第四季度數據時，我們預計基礎業務將繼續表現良好。我們也提到，去年第四季我們進行了一次性福利投資。這將影響淨銷售額。因此，這兩項將使我們回到淨銷售額的指導範圍。

Got it. Okay. No, that's That's super helpful. And maybe just to follow up on Ken's question, you know, it's similar rates of growth for 25. I think his team seems reasonable, at least at this point. Just any early read on on any of the other items, whether that's inflation rate for next year, if you kind of have an early read or anything below the line would be helpful. Thanks very much.

知道了。好的。不，這非常有幫助。也許只是為了跟進肯的問題，你知道，25 的成長率是相似的。我認為他的團隊看起來很合理，至少目前是這樣。只要對任何其他項目進行早期解讀，無論是明年的通貨膨脹率，如果您有早期解讀或任何低於該水平的內容都會有所幫助。非常感謝。

Yes, we'll come back with full details on all the below-the-line items, everything else on in February, I would say a couple of things. You know, Gary, Metro threats from an overall inflation deflation or inflation deflation will get into some of those details later on. So expect us to come back in February with all that detail.

是的，我們將在二月份提供有關所有線下商品以及所有其他商品的完整詳細信息，我想說幾件事。您知道，加里，地鐵面臨的整體通貨膨脹通貨緊縮或通貨膨脹通貨緊縮的威脅我們將在後面詳細討論。因此，我們預計在二月會帶著所有細節回來。

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Andrew Lazar with Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的安德魯·拉扎爾 (Andrew Lazar)。

Morning, Gary and Dave.

早上好，加里和戴夫。

Good morning. Morning, Frank.

早安.早安，弗蘭克。

Special case, the one big brand of those sort of the core six that Regency and you talked about is kind of what's holding back sort of the share of both of those brands and the others, I think collectively are gaining a little bit of share. So I was hoping you could you talk about just more commercial activation and whatnot, and you're happy with the plans you have going forward. But it's a big brand and it's one that I know it has been a struggle for really a bunch of years now. I guess maybe if you could just add a little bit more color around the plan there. Maybe what's what's perhaps different or that's getting you sort of a little more confident that, that brand from a share standpoint can start to stabilize a bit more?

特殊情況是，Regency 和您談到的這六個核心品牌中的一個大品牌，在一定程度上阻礙了這兩個品牌和其他品牌的份額，我認為它們總體上都在獲得一點份額。所以我希望您能談談更多的商業激活等等，並且您對未來的計劃感到滿意。但這是一個大品牌，我知道它已經奮鬥很多年了。我想也許你可以為這個計劃添加一點色彩。或許有什麼不同，或者是什麼讓您更有信心，從份額的角度來看，該品牌可以開始更加穩定？

Yes, I think that's very fair. Andrew, do you make the point that five or six core brands are growing faster or at the category rate to a special case, down 40 bps, that has been was down 40 bps in Q2 as well. So we would say it's stabilizing, but it's not performing where we would expect the brand to perform. So let me give you a couple of little bit of detail that I think would be helpful, George, with we do think 25 will be different. We feel good about the complete activation plan we have. We then start let's look at 2024 to begin with. First. There's some mechanical issues that will be lapping. There were skewed goals. We also changed distribution with upkeep promotion with one of our retailers move that does make the brand we know responds to display to feature to promotion to innovation. And we were pretty light in 2024. As you compare to 2023. We feel better about that for next year as well. The other thing you're pushing on I think it's a very fair thing is the strategic piece of it. We like where this brand is. It is at the intersection of taste and health. It's well positioned for consumers. The key is how do we get to those consumers, And we're not standing still. We've already started with that. When we think about Special K, it provides offerings that match a variety of consumer needs. The key is how do you communicate that effectively to your consumers, So a couple of things. We've already started with a new campaign. We've talked about special for a reason. You can understand why we're doing that because Special K, especially for the different reasons, consumers are low, looking for early reads would say we're getting some positive feedback on that, but that's already in market. But that's the key thing we have to do that. That's the right messaging. We've got to use our new marketing muscle to reach our consumers. So what I just described was mechanical issues that we're hoping are behind us execution. We hope to Jill perform even better. And strategically, the team is on it already. So not performing where we would hope or expect and the team is moving forward and we feel better about 2025.

是的，我認為這非常公平。安德魯，您是否認為五到六個核心品牌的成長速度更快，或者以類別速度下降到特殊情況，下降了 40 個基點，而第二季度也下降了 40 個基點。因此，我們會說它正在穩定，但它的表現並沒有達到我們期望的品牌表現。因此，喬治，讓我給你一些我認為會有幫助的細節，我們確實認為 25 會有所不同。我們對於我們制定的完整激活計劃感到很滿意。那我們先展望 2024 年。第一的。有一些機械問題將會發生重疊。目標存在偏差。我們也與我們的一家零售商一起改變了分銷方式，透過維持促銷來改變品牌，這項舉措確實使我們所知道的品牌對展示、特色、促銷和創新做出了反應。到 2024 年，我們的業務量相當輕。與 2023 年相比。我們對明年的情況也抱持著更好的感覺。我認為，您正在推動的另一件事是非常公平的，它是策略部分。我們喜歡這個品牌。它是口味和健康的組合。對消費者來說，它定位很明確。關鍵在於我們如何接觸這些消費者，我們不會停滯不前。我們已經開始了。當我們想到 Special K 時，它提供的產品可以滿足各種消費者的需求。關鍵在於你如何有效地向消費者傳達這一點，所以有幾件事。我們已經開始了新的活動。我們談論特殊是有原因的。您可以理解我們為什麼這樣做，因為 Special K，特別是出於不同的原因，消費者對早期閱讀的需求很低，我們會收到一些正面的回饋，但這已經在市場上了。但這是我們必須要做的事。這才是正確的訊息。我們必須利用我們新的行銷力量來接觸我們的消費者。我剛才描述的是機械問題，我們希望這些問題能成為過去。我們希望Jill能夠有更好的表現。從戰略上來說，該團隊已經著手實施這項戰略。因此，我們的表現並沒有達到我們所希望或期望的水平，但團隊正在向前邁進，我們對 2025 年感到更加滿意。

Thank you for that. And then you've talked in recent the recent calls about and you mentioned it again today, consumers trading down to some of the smaller sizes that you're allowed to include maybe more of the serial product in their basket size and whatnot. I'm curious how your supply chain is set up to handle that type of flexibility that's needed for maybe smaller package sizes and also the profitability picture looks like on some of those smaller sizes that might be might be a higher price per ounce, right? But the smaller overall unit price, what that means for margins, if anything? Thanks so much.

謝謝你。然後您在最近的電話中談到了這一點，並且您今天再次提到了這一點，消費者購買一些較小尺寸的產品，這樣您就可以在他們的購物籃中包含更多的系列產品等等。我很好奇，你們的供應鏈是如何設置的，以應對較小包裝尺寸所需的靈活性，而且盈利情況看起來可能是，其中一些較小尺寸的每盎司價格可能更高，對嗎？但整體單價較小，這對利潤率意味著什麼呢？非常感謝。

No, thank you. And we talk to you about months ago. And you're right. When you look at the public data, we talked about what's happening with units and you saw it units were actually growing in Q three. Big part of that is our PPA in our PPA does a variety of different things. It expand your portfolio offerings. So we we have folks coming in to get better price per pound, a lower sticker price and everything in between. And we really like the work that the team is doing very, very hard to execute and the team has done it brilliantly. Now you asked about maybe smaller units. We're set up well to do that because we're growing in this space are supply light chain is all over it. That's what we're working on right now. And we like the economics as well. If I can leave it there, I hope you don't mind, but we like the economics across the portfolio that we're doing in PBA. And for us, what we like about PPA is it good for the category is good for our consumers for a variety of reasons to find the right pack in the right channel. And also it's good for our business as well.

不，謝謝。我們和你談論的是幾個月前的事情。你說得對。當您查看公開數據時，我們討論了單位數量發生的情況，您會看到單位數量在第三季度實際上正在增​​長。其中很大一部分是我們的 PPA 中的 PPA 可以做各種不同的事情。它擴大了您的產品組合。因此，我們會讓人們來這裡是為了獲得更優惠的每磅價格、更低的標價以及介於兩者之間的一切價格。我們真的很喜歡這個團隊所做的工作，他們非常努力地執行，而且這個團隊做得非常出色。現在您詢問的可能是更小的單位。我們已經做好了充分的準備來做到這一點，因為我們正在這個領域不斷發展，供應輕鏈遍布整個領域。這就是我們目前正在做的事情。我們也喜歡經濟學。如果我可以就此打住，我希望你不介意，但我們喜歡在 PBA 中所做的整個投資組合的經濟效益。對我們來說，我們喜歡 PPA 的原因是它有利於該類別，並且有利於我們的消費者出於各種原因在正確的管道中找到正確的包裝。這對我們的業務也有好處。

Thank you.

謝謝。

David Palmer with Evercore ISI.

Evercore ISI 的 David Palmer。

Thanks. Good morning. I want to ask a clarification on the earlier answer. I think there's to Ken's question about line. It is, as I mean, roughly minus 1%. Is that what you meant there.

謝謝。早安.我想要澄清一下之前的回答。我認為 Ken 的問題與線路有關。正如我的意思，它大約是負 1%。這就是你的意思嗎？

And so I think I'm going to go back to the other thing Ken gave us, which is it's early. So we're looking more at a higher level. If you don't mind, David will come back in February or just say, generally speaking, the growth rate you talked about before about what the algorithm looks like. I think you can expect something similar to that. I hope it's okay. If we leave it there now we'll come back and give you more in February.

所以我想我要回到肯給我們的另一件事，那就是現在還早。因此，我們的眼光將更加放遠更高的層次。如果你不介意的話，David 會在二月回來或只是說，一般來說，你之前談到的成長率大約是什麼樣的演算法。我想你也會期待類似的事情。我希望沒事。如果我們現在把它留在那裡，我們會在二月回來並給你更多。

Yes, fair. Fair enough. I just am wondering how you're thinking about maybe puts and takes because if you keep multiyear trends, the same comparisons do ease into the first quarter. You could credibly argue that the multiyear remaining the same to get you to positive organic sales in that first quarter. So I was going to ask you if that maybe what some offsets to that might be in your has your thinking about the big picture? Maybe you can answer to that.

是的，公平。很公平。我只是想知道您是如何考慮看跌和看漲的，因為如果您保持多年的趨勢，那麼相同的比較在第一季就會變得容易。您可以令人信服地爭辯說，多年保持不變的銷售額將使您在第一季實現正的有機銷售額。所以我想問一下，在您對大局的思考中，這是否可能是一些抵消因素？也許你可以回答這個問題。

I think what I would say, as you heard us earlier, talked about the complete commercial plan for 25. We feel good about that as well. And I think we might leave it there only because we'll talk more about 25. When we get to February, we'll be able to give you a lot more detail. But the very least, we're happy to say we feel good about the growth rates going forward. The algorithm that we're on. And I think what you're hearing is a level of confidence from us because what we are seeing in side the organization is the ability to execute, drive the business are run our playbook as well as transforming our three key commercial commercial functional capabilities as well as executing on our strategic priorities. We're doing all of that delivering our commitments. So David, I think that's why you're hearing a level confidence for us here.

我想說的是，正如您之前聽到的，我們討論了 25 的完整商業計劃。我們對此也感到很高興。我認為我們可能就此打住，因為我們將進一步討論 25 的問題。到了二月，我們將能夠為您提供更多詳細資訊。但至少，我們很高興地說，我們對未來的成長率感到滿意。我們所使用的演算法。我認為您聽到的是我們表現出的某種程度的信心，因為我們在組織內部看到的是執行能力、推動業務的能力、運行我們的劇本的能力、轉變我們的三大關鍵商業功能能力以及執行我們的戰略重點的能力。我們正在盡一切努力履行我們的承諾。所以，大衛，我想這就是你在這裡聽到我們對你的信心的原因。

I mean, if I could just squeeze one last one. I would just say ask maybe about the category from that, that trade up well in this group of brands. I mean, you have Kashi and Bear Naked. You said that there's some healing going on there. Special Cape remains a bit of a work in progress. And those are some of sort of the wellness brands that you've partly that feel like wellness in this category. It's been sort of an elusive news and trade-up driver for the category for a while now, what are your thoughts about wellness within the category and the best messaging they can do to sort of drive some of your premium brands going into 2025 banks?

我的意思是，如果我能再擠最後一個的話。我只是想問一下這個類別中哪些品牌在這一組品牌中交易得很好。我的意思是，你有 Kashi 和 Bear Naked。你說那裡正在進行一些治療。特殊斗篷還有一些工作正在進行中。這些是一些您認為屬於這一類別的健康品牌。一段時間以來，這一直是該類別中難以捉摸的新聞和升級驅動力，您如何看待該類別中的健康性以及他們可以採取的最佳信息傳遞方式，以推動您的一些高端品牌進入 2025 年的銀行？

We agree with you it stinks. Nrg would be we like this space. The space is doing well. Granola and premium are growing volume and dollar. So you're right, this is something that has emerged in our category, which is interesting because of the bifurcation of value-seeking, but also premium granola growing. I think you have it right that we've got brands that can play here. We've been talking a little bit about Bear Naked over the last year. We like to say it's under new management under our Chief Growth Officer, Doug band of LV. And if you take a look at what's happening in the public data, it's starting to turn. It was largely flat in Q3. What we said there is when it's on shelf, it performs we need to execute behind that brand with for that brand and means supply chain, how do we get reliable supply Our team is on that is improving. So I think you have it right This is a place that we play before. We can play even better. And we think there's real opportunity here in the natural organic segment for WK. as well as the category, by the way.

我們同意你的看法，它很臭。Nrg 是我們喜歡這個空間。該領域發展良好。格蘭諾拉麥片和優質麥片的銷量和銷售額都在成長。所以你說得對，這是我們的類別中出現的東西，這很有趣，因為價值追求的分叉以及優質格蘭諾拉麥片的增長。我認為您說得對，我們確實有可以在這裡展示的品牌。去年我們討論過一些關於 Bear Naked 的事情。我們想說它處於我們首席成長長、LV 的 Doug Band 的新管理之下。如果你看一下公開資料中發生的情況，你會發現情況開始改變了。第三季基本持平。我們所說的是，當產品上架時，我們需要為該品牌執行，這意味著供應鏈，我們如何獲得可靠的供應，我們的團隊正在改進。所以我認為你說的對，這是我們以前玩過的地方。我們可以打得更好。我們認為，天然有機領域對 WK 來說存在著真正的機會。順便說一下，以及類別。

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Max (unidentified) with BNP Pampa.

法國國家黨 Pampa 的馬克斯（Max）（身份不明）。

I take for the question. I wanted to ask another question on the cereal category. You can generally encouraged by the underlying data that you're seeing. And particularly if you look at that on a unit basis by you want to ask just given on a volume basis and sales basis, the categories. And that's not all that different from what we're seeing for other U.S. food categories. But I do feel like we're seeing this shift by the consumer to value. It seems like an environment and that should be quite supportive for for serial on given its at price per meal insights on. That's why you think we're not seeing better performance from the cereal category investment. I mean, you have a consumer that is shifting to that yet?

我回答了這個問題。我想問另一個有關穀物類別的問題。通常，您會受到所見基礎數據的鼓舞。特別是如果您以單位為基礎來查看，您想詢問的只是基於數量和銷售的類別。這與我們在美國其他食品類別中看到的情況並沒有什麼不同。但我確實感覺我們看到了消費者價值的轉變。這看起來像一個環境，​​並且應該對連續劇提供相當大的支持，因為它對每餐的價格有深入了解。這就是您認為我們沒有看到穀物類投資有更好的表現的原因。我的意思是，你們有消費者正在轉向這個方向嗎？

So I think that's a fair question. Max index in. We might turn that around a little bit saying it's performing the way it's performing down about a point in this challenging environment. But we agree with you. We think there would be tailwinds for this category. If there are value-seeking consumers, we said earlier, there are some consumers that are coming back to the category, given the PPA work that we are doing. The other thing to consider is the PPA work that we've done. It's certainly impacting us and it should impact us because it's kind of an impact on volume that's also going to have an impact on the category given the position we have in the category as well. But I think you're right, I think in this environment, cereal should benefit from that book. It is a tricky environment out there. The way we look at it is despite the fact that it's our 1st year, despite that, we have this tricky environment and we're able to deliver on our commitments, reaffirming guidance for the top line raising for EBITDA as well. When you piece that together, we're pleased that the category is providing that backdrop for us that we can deliver on the value that we want to deliver to our stakeholders. But I think your instincts are quite good there.

所以我認為這是一個合理的問題。最大索引。我們可能會稍微扭轉這種局面，說它的表現在這種充滿挑戰的環境中下降了大約一點。但我們同意你的看法。我們認為這一類別將會面臨順風。我們之前說過，如果有追求價值的消費者，考慮到我們正在進行的 PPA 工作，有些消費者會回歸這個類別。另一個需要考慮的是我們已經完成的 PPA 工作。它肯定會對我們產生影響，而且應該對我們產生影響，因為考慮到我們在該類別中的地位，這在某種程度上會對銷售產生影響，同時也會對類別產生影響。但我認為你是對的，我認為在這種環境下，穀物應該從那本書中受益。外面的環境十分棘手。我們的看法是，儘管這是我們的第一年，儘管我們面臨著棘手的環境，但我們仍然能夠履行承諾，並重申對 EBITDA 營收成長的指導。當你把它們拼湊在一起時，我們很高興這個類別為我們提供了這樣的背景，使我們能夠實現我們想要為利害關係人提供的價值。但我認為你的直覺非常好。

Great. Thanks very much believe, attack.

偉大的。非常感謝相信，進攻。

Robert Moskow with TD Securities.

道明證券 (TD Securities) 的羅伯特‧莫斯科 (Robert Moskow)。

Hi, Rob,

嗨，Rob，

just wanted to ask about. Hi, Gary. I hope your voice makes it to this last question. I had zero module cost. Yes. Okay. It is better for Dave anyway, can you talk about like your inflationary headwinds this year to the extent there were any grains? Why I imagine would have been down. I can't remember if you if you could give us a number, but I wanted to ask what is it this year? What do you think it could look like next year? Do you see any change? And how would you think about pricing in these in that environment?

只是想問一下。你好，加里。我希望你的聲音能夠傳達到這最後一個問題。我的模組成本為零。是的。好的。無論如何，這對戴夫來說都是更好的，你能談談今年通膨阻力的程度嗎？我想像為什麼會下降。我不記得您是否可以給我們一個數字，但我想問今年是多少？您認為明年的情況會是如何？你看到任何改變了嗎？在這種環境下您如何考慮這些產品的定價？

Yes. Hey, Rob. So I think a couple of things. one, we haven't gone back and quantified it. But what we've said in his holds true, what you've seen kind of stabilization in 2024 at these higher levels, you're absolutely right in a portfolio level, you're absolutely right. You can see the corn market, the wind market, we market, those have come down and we benefited from that. Now. I think on the flip side of that, though, there were other commodities specific to 2024 for the remainder inflationary. And so I'll give you a couple of sugar rice, things like that, that it's been relatively stabilization of the house as we move forward. You know that base of where corn and wheat are is largely playing through is we think about 2025. There's some other puts and takes within the port folio as we think about it. But you know, there's been some stickiness to the inflation that we saw over the last two to three years. And so we're thinking about it more towards the stabilization at the elevated levels.

是的。嘿，羅布。所以我想到了幾點。一是我們還沒回頭量化它。但我們所說的是正確的，您已經看到了 2024 年在這些更高水平上的穩定，從投資組合層面來看，您是完全正確的，您是完全正確的。你可以看到玉米市場、風能市場、我們的市場，這些市場都已經下降，我們從中受益。現在。但我認為，另一方面，還有其他特定於 2024 年的商品將導致剩餘的通膨。所以我會給你一些糖米之類的東西，隨著我們前進，房子的情況相對穩定了。您知道，玉米和小麥的基礎在很大程度上將發揮作用，我們認為是 2025 年。我們認為，投資組合中還有其他一些投資和收益。但您知道，過去兩三年來我們看到通貨膨脹具有一定的黏性。因此，我們更多地考慮的是高水準的穩定。

Okay. And maybe a lot of other companies are talking about labor inflation being a factor. Is that is labor inflation in your numbers for 24? And would it would you expect it to be again in 25? Do you have visibility there?

好的。也許很多其他公司正在談論勞動力通膨是一個因素。您統計的 24 個季度的勞動力通膨情況就是這樣的嗎？您認為 25 年後還會再出現這種情況嗎？你能看到那裡嗎？

Yes, Rob, as I spoke about it and I spoke at the portfolio level, I was including all hard costs, right? So I think about any puts and takes the benefit on commodities and the other pressures. We have a net number of the stabilization at the high. So what that naturally brings you to if you have some benefit on some commodities, you may have some pressure elsewhere. And that's what I mean that by some of these elevated costs that we saw over the last couple of years are remaining in place.

是的，羅布，當我談論它並且我在投資組合層面談論它時，我包括了所有硬成本，對嗎？因此，我會考慮任何看跌期權對商品的好處以及其他壓力。我們的淨數量在高位趨於穩定。所以這自然會為你帶來什麼後果呢？我的意思是，過去幾年我們看到的一些高成本仍然保持不變。

Got it. Okay.

知道了。好的。

Rob Dickerson with Jefferies.

傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的 Rob Dickerson。

Morning, Rob.

早安，羅布。

Great. Thanks so much. More of a funny question about them. But in general active activation plan for next year. I don't think that throwaway right low. While I respect your your core brand is that have been a real bright for some time. So you think there could be some innovation dynamic that could be assessed with category share, at least than I do look at that when they box right on the slide on, it doesn't really feel like that's an innovation kind of with a pre-existing brand, right? It's a it's a totally different marketed product with Wednesday, all that different from the different components within the product that's kind of away from those core brands. So I'm just curious, like should we expect to see that, let's say, like more Wednesdays coming from report because the category even there may be, I feel better? Sure. Volumes are still down, at least in tracked channels of the big retailers. It was the category that was in secular decline to locate kind of pre-COVID. Volumes have also declined for like over two years now there's still declining. So like I'm just curious, like maybe there's an innovation left that could occur even within the broader category and maybe they're just needs to be more Wednesdays that makes sense in Europe were?

偉大的。非常感謝。關於他們的一個更有趣的問題。但總體來說，明年將積極制定激活計劃。我不認為那是一種低劣的一次性用品。雖然我尊重你，但你的核心品牌在一段時間內已經非常輝煌。所以您認為可能存在一些可以透過類別份額來評估的創新動態，至少當他們在幻燈片上直接框出時，我確實認為這並不像是一種對現有品牌的創新，對嗎？這是與星期三行銷的完全不同的產品，其產品內的不同組件都不同於那些核心品牌。所以我只是很好奇，例如我們是否應該期待看到，比如說，更多的星期三來自報告，因為這個類別甚至可能存在，我感覺更好？當然。至少在大型零售商的追蹤管道中，銷量仍然下降。這是一個在 COVID 之前就處於長期衰退狀態的類別。交易量也已經下降了兩年多了，現在仍然在下降。所以我只是很好奇，也許在更廣泛的類別中還會出現一種創新，也許他們只是需要更多的星期三，這在歐洲是有意義的嗎？

100% with you on the power of innovation team and the importance of innovation in this category? We might say to you, it's an and and let me just take you through that. If you look at the public at the two fastest growing brands in this cereal category, Frosted Flakes and Raisin Bran, and they're two of the original brands that you go back in time there, although that I am these brands have been around for a while and they are big project like this is our biggest brand in. It's our fastest growing brand. Now to your very point that doesn't just happen. It happens when you the right messaging, the right promotion, the right times, but the right innovation. So we have a milkshake franchise that we use in process lettings with strawberry in chocolate used in the US and Canada. And that is really driven the top line for that brand. Raisin Bran is a little bit different. We actually then launched trusted brand. So as part of the range of brand family and you can just imagine what else we could do with that. Now I do think your point about Wednesday, seasonals importance in and out excitement news, that is also something else that as a branded player, we like do we want to do. The key thing is we need to make sure we have a reliable supply chain that allows us to do that, and then we get to match it up with our marketing team as well as our direct sales force. So I think you're right, but we would say it's planned. So we love this property. As we said, it's the most watch Netflix show all-time at the packaging is beautiful. But I would say the execution on cross of Lakes' Raisin Bran and other things. I think we do that in combination to drive our business, but importantly drive the category.

您完全同意您關於創新團隊的力量以及此類別創新的重要性的看法嗎？我們可能會對你說，這是一個“並且”，讓我帶你了解一下。如果您看一下這個穀物食品類別中成長最快的兩個品牌，Frosted Flakes 和 Raisin Bran，它們是兩個最初的品牌，您可以回顧過去，雖然我認為這些品牌已經存在了一段時間，而且它們是一個大項目，就像這是我們最大的品牌一樣。這是我們成長最快的品牌。現在回到你的觀點，這種情況不會自然發生。當你傳遞正確的訊息、進行正確的推廣、在正確的時間進行正確的創新時，就會發生這種情況。因此，我們擁有一個奶昔特許經營權，我們在美國和加拿大使用該特許經營權進行草莓巧克力奶昔的租賃。這確實推動了該品牌的營收成長。葡萄乾麥麩略有不同。我們實際上隨後推出了值得信賴的品牌。因此，作為品牌家族的一部分，您可以想像我們還能用它做些什麼。現在我確實認為你關於週三的觀點，季節性的重要性以及令人興奮的新聞，這也是我們作為品牌玩家喜歡做的另一件事。關鍵是我們需要確保擁有可靠的供應鏈來實現這一點，然後將其與我們的行銷團隊以及直銷團隊進行配對。所以我認為你是對的，但我們會說這是有計劃的。所以我們很喜歡這個飯店。正如我們所說，這是 Netflix 有史以來觀看次數最多的節目，而且包裝精美。但我想說的是，這是 Lakes 的 Raisin Bran 和其他東西的混合體。我認為我們採取上述措施來推動我們的業務，但更重要的是推動產品類別的發展。

Okay. Okay. Fair enough. And then I guess, you know, we just kind of step back, we think about the broader category and the potential promotional needs within the category, let's say, to further incentivize the consumer buys strapped consumer, maybe by a little bit more cereal by more units. Do you feel like the promotional environment is becoming increasingly more competitive or no, could we be kind of experiencing a category such that maybe there isn't really a need to promote more right such that, you know, kind of overall maybe we could improve the overall profit pool? The category, so to speak, everyone kind of plays nicely on the commercial for Hut. Thank you.

好的。好的。很公平。然後我想，你知道，我們只是退一步，思考更廣泛的類別和類別內的潛在促銷需求，比如說，進一步激勵消費者購買拮据的消費者，也許透過多買一點穀物。您是否覺得促銷環境的競爭越來越激烈，或者我們是否會遇到這樣一種情況，也許真的不需要進行更多的促銷，這樣，從整體上來說，我們或許可以提高整體利潤池？可以這麼說，在這個類別中，每個人都在為 Hut 做商業宣傳。謝謝。

Rob is a good question. When we think about this, when we take a look at what's happening in the marketplace, we always look backwards when we compare previous activities where we are now, and we're largely at historic norms right now, we go back to 2019 because that's the clean period before COVID hit us. But what we're seeing is we're largely at those levels as we look backwards. And we're not seeing anything particularly unusual. Our numbers are up, but that's because of what we're lapping. We were not in our front foot in terms of supply. Now we're able to act to activate more in the market. So will our numbers are up again? I think we're getting back largely in 2019 levels. Now when we think about the category and thinking about promotion will bite promotion, we think it's good for the category. When Dave talks about the as we've talked about return because it's a balance of volume, it's about it's a balance of price amount of profitability. It's all those things. And when you get that right, that drives the category that drives our our business as well. So we think that's a healthy part of the category. And we like how we're doing. And if you look at Q2 three, that gives you an example of when we're executing our playbook well with the right level of promotion, the right innovation, the right sales force, right activation during back-to-school. So we like that promotions because the way we do with the way Dave leave that in the organization.

羅布問了一個好問題。當我們思考這個問題時，當我們看看市場上正在發生的事情時，我們總是回顧過去，將現在的活動與之前的活動進行比較，而我們目前基本上處於歷史常態，我們回到 2019 年，因為那是 COVID 襲擊我們之前的清潔時期。但回顧過去，我們發現我們基本上還處於那個水平。我們並沒有發現任何特別不尋常的情況。我們的數字有所上升，但那是因為我們不斷在進步。在供應方面我們並未處於領先地位。現在我們可以採取行動，啟動更多的市場。那麼我們的數字會再次上升嗎？我認為我們基本上已經恢復到 2019 年的水平。現在，當我們考慮類別並且考慮促銷會影響促銷時，我們認為這對類別有好處。當戴夫談到我們談論的回報時，因為它是數量的平衡，它是價格與盈利能力的平衡。就是所有這些東西。當你做對了這一點，這就會推動我們業務的發展。因此我們認為這是該類別的一個健康部分。我們對自己目前的表現很滿意。如果你看一下第二季的數據，你會發現我們何時透過適當的促銷、正確的創新、正確的銷售人員以及開學期間的正確激活來很好地執行我們的劇本。所以我們喜歡這種晉升，因為我們按照戴夫在組織中留下的方式進行晉升。

Super. Thank you so much.

極好的。太感謝了。

Thank you. They are currently no further questions queued at this time. I will now turn it back over to get to Pilnick for closing remarks.

謝謝。目前，他們沒有其他待回答的問題。現在我將把會議交還給皮爾尼克，請他作結語。

Thank you, everybody, for joining our call today. I trust you can see that our business is building momentum and delivering positive results. We look forward to sharing our Q4 results with you in February. Thanks so much for joining us.

感謝大家今天參加我們的電話會議。我相信您能看到我們的業務正在蓬勃發展並取得積極的成果。我們期待在二月與您分享我們的第四季業績。非常感謝您加入我們。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路了。