克羅格 (KR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Kroger Co. Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加克羅格公司 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Rob Quast, Senior Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係高級總監 Rob Quast。請繼續。

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Kroger's second quarter 2024 earnings call. I am joined today by Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney McMullen; and Interim Chief Financial Officer, Todd Foley.

早安.感謝您參加克羅格 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天，克羅格董事長兼執行長羅德尼·麥克穆倫 (Rodney McMullen) 也加入了我的行列。臨時財務長 Todd Foley。

Before we begin, I want to remind you that today's discussions will include forward-looking statements. We want to caution you that such statements are predictions, and actual events or results can differ materially. A detailed discussion of the many factors that we believe may have a material effect on our business on an ongoing basis is contained in our SEC filings. The Kroger Company assumes no obligation to update that information.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，今天的討論將包括前瞻性陳述。我們想提醒您，此類陳述僅為預測，實際事件或結果可能有重大差異。我們向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細討論了我們認為可能對我們的業務持續產生重大影響的許多因素。克羅格公司不承擔更新該資訊的義務。

After our prepared remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. In order to cover a broad range of topics from as many of you as we can, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question, if necessary.

在我們準備好發言後，我們期待回答您的問題。為了盡可能涵蓋廣泛的主題，我們要求您將自己限制在一個問題和一個後續問題（如有必要）。

I will now turn the call over to Rodney.

我現在將把電話轉給羅德尼。

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I'd like to provide an outline of our discussion topics this morning. I will start by sharing a recap of our second quarter performance and highlight how we continue to advance our go-to market strategy, which powers our value creation model and drives long-term sustainable growth for our shareholders. Then Todd will cover our financial results for the second quarter. And finally, I will close with an update on our pending merger with Albertsons.

謝謝你，羅布。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們。在開始之前，我想先概述一下今天早上我們討論的主題。首先，我將回顧我們第二季度的業績，並重點介紹我們如何繼續推進我們的市場策略，該策略為我們的價值創造模式提供動力，並為股東推動長期可持續成長。然後托德將報道我們第二季的財務表現。最後，我將介紹我們即將與艾伯森合併的最新情況。

Turning to our performance this quarter, we continue to execute our strategy, and we are delivering solid financial results through the strength and diversity of our model. We are driving positive customer activity with a compelling combination of affordable prices and personalized promotions on great quality products, all through a unique, seamless experience. Our strong customer trends also reflect our enhanced focus on elevating the customer experience through excellent store execution, which continued into the second quarter.

談到本季的業績，我們將繼續執行我們的策略，並透過我們模式的優勢和多樣性實現穩健的財務業績。我們將實惠的價格與優質產品的個人化促銷相結合，並透過獨特、無縫的體驗，推動積極的客戶活動。我們強勁的客戶趨勢也反映出我們更加重視透過卓越的商店執行來提升客戶體驗，這一點一直持續到第二季​​。

Customers continue adjusting to the current economic environment. The reduction of excess savings built up during the pandemic. Higher interest rates and the effect of inflation are pressuring customers' ability to spend. This is especially true for our most budget-conscious customers, as we've been seeing for a while now.

客戶不斷適應當前的經濟環境。減少疫情期間累積的超額儲蓄。較高的利率和通貨膨脹的影響正在給客戶的消費能力帶來壓力。對於我們最注重預算的客戶來說尤其如此，正如我們一段時間以來所看到的那樣。

But we're now seeing other customer segments beginning to make changes as well. Customers are purchasing lower price cuts of meat, buying less, and focusing on essentials. Budget- conscious customers are buying more at the beginning of the month to stock up on essential items in groceries. And then as the month progresses, they are more cautious with their spending. In response, we are supporting our customers by keeping prices low through promotions, including loyalty discounts, personalized offers, and fuel rewards.

但我們現在看到其他客戶群也開始做出改變。顧客正在購買降價肉類，減少購買，並專注於必需品。精打細算的顧客會在月初購買更多商品，以儲備雜貨中的必需品。隨著月份的推移，他們對支出更加謹慎。作為回應，我們透過促銷活動（包括忠誠度折扣、個人化優惠和燃油獎勵）保持低價來支持客戶。

We are also expanding our multi-tiered portfolio of Our Brands products, which provides customers exceptional alternatives to national brands, competing on quality while at a noticeable lower price point. Our long-term model demonstrates that by consistently keeping prices low, we increase customer loyalty and grow share of wallet. While the food at home industry remains competitive, our model drives efficiencies that allow us to sustainably invest in value and maintain competitive price spreads with key competitors.

我們也擴大了我們品牌產品的多層次組合，為客戶提供了國家品牌的卓越替代品，在品質上進行競爭，同時以明顯更低的價格點。我們的長期模型表明，透過持續保持低價，我們可以提高客戶忠誠度並增加錢包份額。雖然家庭食品產業仍然具有競爭力，但我們的模式提高了效率，使我們能夠可持續地投資於價值，並與主要競爭對手保持有競爭力的價差。

In addition to lowering prices, we executed our go-to market strategy through our pillars of Fresh, Our Brands, personalization, and seamless. We are proud of our associates for bringing this strategy to life, with another quarter of excellent store execution.

除了降低價格之外，我們還透過新鮮、我們的品牌、個人化和無縫等支柱執行我們的市場策略。我們為我們的員工將這項策略付諸實踐，並在另一個季度取得出色的商店執行力感到自豪。

This led to another quarter of strong customer trends, including total and loyal household growth and an increase in customer visits. Mainstream households, our largest customer segment, led our sales growth through more households and increased visits. By delivering a more consistent customer experience, we are moving customers up to loyalty ladder and positioning ourselves for long-term sales growth.

這導致了又一個季度強勁的客戶趨勢，包括家庭總數和忠誠度的增長以及客戶訪問量的增加。主流家庭是我們最大的客戶群體，透過更多的家庭和更多的訪問帶動了我們的銷售成長。透過提供更一致的客戶體驗，我們正在將客戶提升至忠誠度階梯，並為長期銷售成長做好準備。

I'd now like to cover how we are enhancing our go-to-market strategy, starting by leading with Fresh. Our Fresh for Everyone promise reflects our commitment that customers can trust the quality and freshness of every item they purchase. This promise is only possible through our strong relationships with farmers and suppliers, which enables Kroger to source the freshest products.

我現在想介紹我們如何加強我們的市場策略，首先以 Fresh 為先。我們為每個人提供新鮮的承諾反映了我們的承諾，即客戶可以信任他們購買的每件商品的品質和新鮮度。這項承諾只有透過我們與農民和供應商的牢固關係才能實現，這使得克羅格能夠採購最新鮮的產品。

Field & Vine, one of the newest Our Brands lines, offers regionally grown berries picked at peak freshness. We are very pleased with the initial customer response to this line.

Field & Vine 是我們最新的品牌系列之一，提供在最新鮮時採摘的當地種植的漿果。我們對客戶對該系列產品的最初反應感到非常滿意。

Our Brands is an important differentiator for our business, enabling us to offer innovative products at a great value. This combination of quality and value led to Our Brand sales growth outpacing national brand sales growth this quarter. More than 90% of our customer households purchased Our Brands products during that time.

我們的品牌是我們業務的重要差異化因素，使我們能夠提供超值的創新產品。這種品質和價值的結合導致本季我們的品牌銷售成長超過了全國品牌銷售成長。超過 90% 的客戶家庭在此期間購買了我們品牌的產品。

Across the portfolio of Our Brands, we are expanding into new categories and launching new products, with almost 600 already introduced this year. Each of these new products is thoroughly tested and validated to earn its spot on our shelves, competing aggressively with national brands with no compromise on quality.

在我們的品牌組合中，我們正在拓展新類別並推出新產品，今年已推出近 600 種新產品。這些新產品中的每一款都經過徹底的測試和驗證，以在我們的貨架上贏得一席之地，與國內品牌積極競爭，在品質上毫不妥協。

Smart Way, one of our opening price point brands, is delivering exceptional value to customers on a budget. These are ultra low-priced essentials and pantry staples that we know our customers need the most. We continued expanding the Smart Way lineup in the second quarter to meet our customer needs for more value.

Smart Way 是我們的開放價位品牌之一，在預算範圍內為客戶提供卓越的價值。這些是我們知道客戶最需要的超低價必需品和食品儲藏室必需品。我們在第二季持續擴大 Smart Way 產品陣容，以滿足客戶對更多價值的需求。

We are also making progress on Our Brands refreshment rollout, with more of Our Brands portfolio to be refreshed later this year. We are excited to see our customers respond to these new designs.

我們在推出「我們的品牌」更新方面也取得了進展，更多「我們的品牌」組合將在今年稍後更新。我們很高興看到客戶對這些新設計做出反應。

As we innovate within the portfolio and expand to meet customer needs, we are improving our mix and driving better profitability. For example, our manufacturing plants allow us to make many of our own products, keeping costs lower as we pass those savings on to customers while preserving our ability to grow margins.

隨著我們在產品組合中進行創新並擴展以滿足客戶需求，我們正在改善我們的產品組合併提高盈利能力。例如，我們的製造工廠使我們能夠生產許多自己的產品，透過將節省的成本轉嫁給客戶來降低成本，同時保持我們增加利潤的能力。

Next is an update on personalization. Our loyalty program and personalized promotions enabled us to deliver value beyond the shelf price. We collect data and insights, which enable us to enhance our personalization capabilities, delivering better product recommendations and more effective promotions. As a results, we are generating greater unit lift on promotions compared to the industry.

接下來是個人化的更新。我們的忠誠度計劃和個人化促銷使我們能夠提供超出貨架價格的價值。我們收集數據和見解，這使我們能夠增強個人化能力，提供更好的產品推薦和更有效的促銷。因此，與業界相比，我們的促銷活動產生了更大的單位提升。

Boost, our paid membership program, supports our personalization capabilities. This quarter, we held a Boost Bonus Days event, which provided Boost customers even more savings during the two-week special event. This event went well above and beyond the incredible value of the memberships already offers with daily savings, free delivery on orders of $35 or more, and 2 times fuel points.

我們的付費會員方案 Boost 支援我們的個人化功能。本季度，我們舉辦了 Boost Bonus Days 活動，在為期兩週的特別活動中為 Boost 客戶提供了更多優惠。這項活動遠遠超出了會員已經提供的令人難以置信的價值，包括每日節省、訂單滿 35 美元免費送貨以及 2 倍燃油積分。

Now turning to seamless. Digital sales grew 11%, driven by an increase in both households and traffic. One of the many ways we move customers up to loyalty ladder is to convert digitally engaged households into e-commerce households. This means we are moving customers from simply using our app or website to making purchases through one of these digital channels. This work resulted in our teams growing e-commerce households 14% this quarter.

現在轉向無縫。在家庭和流量成長的推動下，數位銷售額成長了 11%。我們提升客戶忠誠度的眾多方法之一是將數位化家庭轉變為電子商務家庭。這意味著我們正在將客戶從簡單地使用我們的應用程式或網站轉變為透過這些數位管道之一進行購買。這項工作使我們團隊本季的電子商務家庭數量增加了 14%。

Households who shop with us digitally and in our stores are important because they are our most loyal, and increase retail media monetization opportunities.

透過我們的數位方式和在我們的商店中購物的家庭很重要，因為他們是我們最忠誠的，並增加了零售媒體獲利機會。

Delivery solutions led our sales growth once again this quarter, with pickup also showing very strong demand. Demand across our Kroger delivery network, which provides customers a premium shopping experience, continues to grow. Customers tell us they love the convenience of on-time and refrigerated delivery right to their homes.

交付解決方案在本季再次引領我們的銷售成長，皮卡也顯示出非常強勁的需求。我們的克羅格配送網路為顧客提供優質的購物體驗，其需求持續成長。客戶告訴我們，他們喜歡準時冷藏送貨上門的便利性。

Profitability remains a key focus as we drive volume growth through our customer fulfillment centers. Our teams are working hard to improve the shape of weekly and daily demand, as well as refining trade areas to improve customer delivery density.

當我們透過客戶履行中心推動銷售成長時，獲利能力仍然是一個關鍵關注點。我們的團隊正在努力改善每周和每日的需求形狀，並完善貿易區域以提高客戶交付密度。

By executing our go-to market strategy, we are building loyalty and creating more growth opportunities. First, with alternative profit businesses, which had a strong quarter led by growth in Kroger Precision Marketing. Their results were in line with internal expectations and keep us on track to deliver more than 20% media growth this year.

透過執行我們的市場進入策略，我們正在建立忠誠度並創造更多成長機會。首先是另類利潤業務，該業務在克羅格精準行銷 (Kroger Precision Marketing) 的成長帶動下季度表現強勁。他們的結果符合內部預期，使我們今年有望實現超過 20% 的媒體成長。

Next is Health & Wellness. We continue to be optimistic about this area of our business. We know that grocery customers who are also pharmacy customers are more loyal to Kroger and spend more with us. While the pharmacy industry is going through a period of transformation and disruption, we have a unique opportunity to help our customers live healthier lives and grow share. Over the long term, we remain confident, and our teams are working hard to navigate industry challenges and position the company for future growth.

接下來是健康與保健。我們繼續對這業務領域持樂觀態度。我們知道，同時也是藥局客戶的雜貨店客戶對克羅格更加忠誠，並且在我們這裡花費更多。雖然製藥業正在經歷轉型和顛覆時期，但我們擁有獨特的機會來幫助我們的客戶過上更健康的生活並擴大份額。從長遠來看，我們仍然充滿信心，我們的團隊正在努力應對行業挑戰，為公司未來的成長做好準備。

During the quarter, sales outpaced internal expectations. Profitability was similar to last year, but behind internal expectations due to product mix pressures, specifically as a result of strong GLP-1 sales. We expect GLP-1s to have a similar impact on our results for the remainder of the year. Our vaccine efforts are ramping up now and should help offset some of the GLP-1 impact in the second half of the year.

本季的銷售額超出了內部預期。獲利能力與去年相似，但由於產品組合壓力，特別是強勁的 GLP-1 銷售，低於內部預期。我們預計 GLP-1 將對我們今年剩餘時間的業績產生類似的影響。我們的疫苗工作現在正在加大力度，應該有助於抵消今年下半年 GLP-1 的一些影響。

Turning to associates, our full Fresh and Friendly commitment is our roadmap to achieving a best-in-class customer experience, and we appreciate our associates for delivering again this quarter. We are facilitating this improved customer experience through our commitment to be an employer of choice. We are achieving this by investing in associate wages and by continuing to create an outstanding supportive work environment. It is great to see these efforts recognized with a perfect score on the 2024 Disability Inclusion and Equality Index, making Kroger a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion for the fifth consecutive year.

談到員工，我們全面的「新鮮和友好」承諾是我們實現一流客戶體驗的路線圖，我們感謝我們的員工本季再次兌現承諾。我們致力於成為首選雇主，從而促進改善客戶體驗。我們透過投資員工薪資和持續創造出色的支持性工作環境來實現這一目標。很高興看到這些努力在 2024 年殘障包容和平等指數中獲得滿分，使克羅格連續第五年成為殘障包容最佳工作場所。

With that, I'll now turn it over to Todd to take you through our second quarter financial results. Todd?

現在，我將把它交給托德，讓您了解我們第二季度的財務表現。托德？

Thanks, Rodney, and good morning, everyone. Kroger's second quarter results reflect the resilience of our model, as investments made to diversify our business are enabling us to navigate an environment of economic uncertainty. Our results through the first half of the year are in line with our expectations. And with our improving sales momentum, we are able to reaffirm our full-year guidance.

謝謝羅德尼，大家早安。克羅格第二季的業績反映了我們模式的彈性，因為為實現業務多元化的投資使我們能夠應對經濟不確定的環境。我們上半年的業績符合我們的預期。隨著我們銷售勢頭的改善，我們能夠重申我們的全年指導。

I'll now take you through our second quarter financial results. We achieved identical sales without fuel growth of 1.2%. As Rodney mentioned earlier, our identical sales were supported by several positive customer metric trends, including increases in total and loyal households and increased customer visits. We are encouraged by favorable unit trends as we continue to make progress toward achieving positive unit growth. As we saw in the first quarter, vendor support for promotions has been strong. And we will continue to deliver on our long-term commitment of providing customers with exceptional value.

現在我將向您介紹我們第二季的財務表現。我們在沒有燃油增長 1.2% 的情況下實現了相同的銷售額。正如羅德尼之前提到的，我們的相同銷售額得到了幾個積極的客戶指標趨勢的支持，包括家庭總數和忠誠家庭的增加以及客戶訪問量的增加。隨著我們繼續在實現積極的單位成長方面取得進展，我們對有利的單位趨勢感到鼓舞。正如我們在第一季看到的那樣，供應商對促銷活動的支持一直很強勁。我們將繼續履行為客戶提供卓越價值的長期承諾。

Digital sales had a strong quarter, led by 17% growth in delivery solutions. Pickup is an important part of our seamless ecosystem, and demand continues to be strong, with pickup sales growing 10%. This reflects our digital team's relentless focus on delivering a great customer experience, resulting in increased fill rates, a reduction in wait times, and a 33% improvement in perfect orders, which are orders with both a 100% fill rate and that are completed within an appropriate wait time. With the help of AI-enabled advancements in dynamic batching and routing, we are able to offer two-hour lead times in pickup in all stores. These improvements in customer experience are being accompanied by productivity enhancements, resulting in an improvement in our cost to serve.

在交付解決方案成長 17% 的帶動下，數位銷售在本季表現強勁。皮卡是我們無縫生態系統的重要組成部分，需求持續強勁，皮卡銷量成長了 10%。這反映了我們的數位團隊不懈地致力於提供卓越的客戶體驗，從而提高了填充率，減少了等待時間，並將完美訂單率提高了 33%，這些訂單的填充率均為 100%，並且在適當的等待時間。借助人工智慧在動態批次和路由方面取得的進步，我們能夠在所有商店提供兩小時的提貨交貨時間。客戶體驗的這些改善伴隨著生產力的提高，從而降低了我們的服務成本。

Turning to margins, I would like to spend a little more time today talking about our second quarter trends in gross margin and OG&A rates. As you know, our long-term model is designed to deliver consistent year-over-year gross margin rate and OG&A rates in a way that we deliver slightly expanding operating margins over time. Though there can be puts and takes in these measures from quarter to quarter, over the long term, our business model gives us the flexibility to balance investments and lower prices and higher associate wages with growth in margins through Our Brands and alternative profit businesses, as well as cost-saving initiatives and productivity, all to ensure that we are consistently returning value to shareholders.

談到利潤率，我今天想花更多時間討論第二季毛利率和 OG&A 比率的趨勢。如您所知，我們的長期模型旨在提供穩定的同比毛利率和 OG&A 率，隨著時間的推移，我們將實現略微擴大的營業利潤率。儘管這些措施每季都會有變化，但從長遠來看，我們的業務模式使我們能夠靈活地平衡投資、降低價格和提高工資，以及透過我們的品牌和替代利潤業務實現利潤成長，以及節省成本的舉措和生產力，所有這些都是為了確保我們始終如一地為股東回報價值。

This expectation is true for fiscal 2024 as well. For the full year, we now expect FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, to be slightly positive, balanced by the OG&A rate, without fuel, which will be slightly negative.

這項預期對於 2024 財年也是如此。就全年而言，我們現在預計 FIFO 毛利率（不包括燃料）將小幅為正，與 OG&A 毛利率（不包括燃料）相平衡，後者將小幅為負。

This quarter, FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, was 42 basis points favorable to last year, and was slightly ahead of our expectations for the quarter. Conversely, the OG&A rate, excluding fuel and adjustment items, was 65 basis points unfavorable to last year, as well as unfavorable to our expectations, primarily due to several non-recurring charges during the quarter.

本季度，先進先出毛利率（不包括燃料）比去年高 42 個基點，略高於我們對該季度的預期。相反，不包括燃料和調整項目的 OG&A 利率為 65 個基點，不利於去年，也不利於我們的預期，這主要是由於本季度的幾項非經常性費用。

Looking in more detail at our quarterly results, gross margin was 22.6% of sales. The increase in FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, was primarily attributable to favorable product mix in our grocery business, including Our Brands, lower shrink, and sourcing benefits, partially offset by lower pharmacy margins. The result reflected Kroger's ability to improve margin while being competitive on price and helping customers manage their budgets.

更詳細地看我們的季度業績，毛利率為銷售額的 22.6%。先進先出毛利率（不包括燃料）的成長主要歸因於我們的雜貨業務中有利的產品組合，包括我們的品牌、較低的損耗和採購優勢，但部分被較低的藥房利潤所抵消。結果反映了克羅格在提高利潤率的同時具有價格競爭力並幫助客戶管理預算的能力。

The improvement in shrink reflects the significant ongoing work from our operations team as they address this challenging issue. While we are pleased with the result this quarter, shrink related to theft remains high on a historical basis, and we still have work to do to further mitigate the financial impact.

收縮率的改善反映了我們的營運團隊在解決這個具有挑戰性的問題時正在進行的重要工作。雖然我們對本季的結果感到滿意，但與竊盜相關的損失在歷史上仍然很高，我們仍然有工作要做，以進一步減輕財務影響。

The increase in OG&A rate, excluding fuel and adjustment items, was driven by investments in associate wages, increased incentive plan costs, and non-recurring costs, including hurricane expenses, and an increase in costs due to severity of general liability claims, partially offset by continued execution of cost savings initiatives.

OG&A費率（不包括燃料和調整項目）的增長是由於對員工工資的投資、激勵計劃成本的增加和非經常性成本（包括颶風費用）以及由於一般責任索賠的嚴重性而導致的成本增加（部分抵銷）透過持續執行成本節約措施。

During the second quarter, we recorded a LIFO charge of $21 million compared to a charge of $4 million for the same quarter last year. Adjusted FIFO operating profit was $984 million. Our adjusted EPS was $0.93 per diluted share, a decline of 3% compared to last year.

第二季度，我們記錄的 LIFO 費用為 2,100 萬美元，而去年同期的費用為 400 萬美元。調整後的先進先出營業利潤為 9.84 億美元。調整後每股攤薄每股收益為 0.93 美元，比去年下降 3%。

Fuel is an important part of our total value proposition. It builds loyalty through our Kroger Plus program by offering customers another way to save and led to gallon sales outpacing the industry this quarter. Fuel profitability was stronger in the second quarter compared to last year on a cents per gallon basis. In the second half, we will be cycling stronger fuel results, but expect margins to be relatively flat compared to last year.

燃料是我們整體價值主張的重要組成部分。它透過我們的 Kroger Plus 計劃為客戶提供另一種節省方式來建立忠誠度，並導致本季度的加侖銷售超過行業。以每加侖美分計算，第二季度燃料獲利能力強於去年。下半年，我們將獲得更強勁的燃油業績，但預計利潤率與去年相比將相對持平。

I wanted to provide a brief update on inflation, a topic I am asked about frequently. Inflation increased slightly in the second quarter from the first quarter, but is trending around 1%, which is consistent with our expectations since the start of the year.

我想提供通貨膨脹的簡要更新，這是我經常被問到的話題。第二季通膨較一季小幅上升，但仍維持在1%左右，與我們年初以來的預期相符。

I'd now like to provide a brief update on associates and labor relations. During the second quarter, we ratified new labor agreements for our Food 4 Less warehouse stores in Southern California, Columbus Valley stores, Mid-Atlantic Division stores, Anderson Bakery, Michigan -- West Michigan, and New Market clerks, Central Peoria clerks, and Shelbyville warehouse, covering more than 13,000 associates.

我現在想提供有關同事和勞資關係的簡要最新情況。在第二季度，我們為南加州的 Food 4 Less 倉庫店、哥倫布穀商店、中大西洋分部商店、密西根州安德森麵包店 - 西密西根州以及新市場店員、皮奧裡亞中部店員和謝爾比維爾倉庫，覆蓋13,000 多名員工。

Kroger is working to reach an agreement with the UFCW for meat and grocery associates at 29 Fred Meyer stores in Portland. We respect our associates' right to collectively bargain. Associates at these stores chose to strike for six days before returning to work last week. Negotiations continue this week, and we remain open to constructive dialogue with the UFCW.

Kroger 正在努力與 UFCW 就波特蘭 29 家 Fred Meyer 商店的肉類和雜貨店合作夥伴達成協議。我們尊重員工的集體談判權。這些商店的員工上週選擇罷工六天，然後返回工作崗位。本週談判仍在繼續，我們對與 UFCW 進行建設性對話持開放態度。

We are also communicating to local unions that come into the table with proposals that do not balance investing in associates with keeping groceries affordable for our customers and supporting a growing and profitable business model are untenable. It undermines our goal of growing the company in a way that helps to ensure job security and create more jobs and advancement opportunities for more associates.

我們也與當地工會進行溝通，他們提出的建議不能在對員工的投資與讓我們的客戶負擔得起雜貨以及支持不斷增長和盈利的商業模式之間取得平衡，這是站不住腳的。它破壞了我們以有助於確保工作保障並為更多員工創造更多就業和晉升機會的方式發展公司的目標。

Turning to cash flow, Kroger continues to generate strong adjusted free cash flow through consistent operating results. Consistent generation of free cash flow is an important part of our model and is enabling us to deleverage in anticipation of our merger with Albertsons. At the end of the second quarter, Kroger's net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.24 compared to our target range of 2.3 to 2.5.

談到現金流，克羅格透過一致的經營業績繼續產生強勁的調整後自由現金流。持續產生自由現金流是我們模式的重要組成部分，使我們能夠在與艾伯森合併的預期中去槓桿化。在第二季末，克羅格的淨總負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 1.24，而我們的目標範圍為 2.3 至 2.5。

Our strengthened balance sheet provides us flexibility to pursue growth and enhance shareholder value. We continue to take a disciplined approach to deploying capital, prioritizing the highest growth opportunities that strengthen our business and deliver solid returns for shareholders. We're committed to maintaining our investment grade debt rating, increasing our dividend over time, subject to board approval, and returning excess capital to shareholders when we are able to do so.

我們強化的資產負債表為我們提供了追求成長和提高股東價值的靈活性。我們繼續採取嚴格的方法來部署資本，優先考慮能夠增強我們業務並為股東帶來豐厚回報的最高成長機會。我們致力於維持投資等級債務評級，在董事會批准的情況下隨著時間的推移增加股息，並在有能力時將多餘資本返還給股東。

The strength of our free cash flow gives us the ability to invest in the growth of our business. We are allocating more capital to our major and minor store projects this year.

我們強大的自由現金流使我們有能力投資於業務成長。今年我們將為我們的主要和小型商店項目分配更多資金。

Our teams have done an excellent job completing projects ahead of schedule. And year-to-date, we have completed almost double the amount of store projects as we had completed last year at this time, which will position us to grow in the second half of 2024 and 2025. It also creates capacity later this year to work towards opening 2025 projects earlier in the year as well.

我們的團隊出色地完成了項目，提前完成了專案。今年迄今為止，我們已經完成的商店項目數量幾乎是去年同期完成的兩倍，這將使我們能夠在 2024 年下半年和 2025 年實現增長。早些時候啟動2025 年計畫。

To reflect this, we are raising our guidance for full-year capital expenditures from a range of $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion to a range of $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion. Based on the strength of our free cash flow, the change to our CapEx guidance does not affect our adjusted free cash flow guidance.

為了反映這一點，我們將全年資本支出指引從 34 億美元至 36 億美元提高到 36 億美元至 38 億美元。根據我們自由現金流的實力，資本支出指導的變化不會影響我們調整後的自由現金流指導。

In the second quarter, we raised our quarterly dividend by 10%, reflecting confidence in our ability to generate strong cash flow. Our quarterly dividend has grown at a 13.5% compounded annual growth rate since being reinstated in 2006, and this marked the 18th consecutive year of dividend increases.

第二季度，我們將季度股息提高了 10%，反映出我們對產生強勁現金流的能力充滿信心。自 2006 年恢復以來，我們的季度股息以 13.5% 的複合年增長率增長，這標誌著股息連續第 18 年增加。

I'd now like to provide some additional color on our outlook for the rest of the year. We are encouraged by our performance through the first half of the year, which led to results that were in line with expectations. Our solid sales results through the first two quarters of the year give us confidence to raise the low end of our full-year identical sales without fuel guidance. We now expect identical sales without fuel to be in the range of 0.75% to 1.75%.

現在我想對我們今年剩餘時間的前景提供一些額外的看法。我們對上半年的表現感到鼓舞，結果符合預期。我們今年前兩個季度的穩健銷售業績使我們有信心在沒有燃料指導的情況下提高全年相同銷售額的低端。我們現在預計不含燃料的相同銷售額將在 0.75% 至 1.75% 之間。

We are cautiously optimistic about our sales outlook for the second half of the year and expect customers to continue prioritizing food and essentials. We have developed merchandising plans that are designed to enhance customer engagement, drive spending, and improve unit volumes. The strength of our model enables us to navigate an environment where customer spending is constrained by current economic pressures. And we expect the various components of our model, including grocery, health and wellness, fuel, and alternative profit businesses to provide us with flexibility in how we create shareholder value. As a result, we are reaffirming the rest of our full year guidance.

我們對下半年的銷售前景持謹慎樂觀態度，並預期客戶將繼續優先考慮食品和必需品。我們制定了行銷計劃，旨在增強客戶參與度、推動支出並提高單位銷售。我們模型的優勢使我們能夠應對客戶支出受到當前經濟壓力限制的環境。我們期望我們模型的各個組成部分，包括雜貨、健康和保健、燃料和替代利潤業務，能夠為我們創造股東價值提供靈活性。因此，我們重申了全年指導的其餘部分。

I'll now turn the call back to Rodney.

我現在將電話轉回給羅德尼。

Thanks, Todd. Before I open it up for Q&A, I'd like to speak briefly about our pending merger with Albertsons.

謝謝，托德。在開始問答之前，我想先簡單談談我們即將與艾伯森進行的合併。

First, I would like to express my appreciation for our associates and their incredible commitment. It has been a long journey, and our associates have done an excellent job serving customers and running the day-to-day operations of our business, while also preparing for the merger. Integration work continues to progress, and our teams are laser-focused on ensuring a seamless transition for our customers and associates from day one. It is exciting to see the complementary strengths of both Kroger and Albertsons organizations. And we look forward to combining these strengths to provide customers an even better experience.

首先，我要對我們的同事及其令人難以置信的承諾表示感謝。這是一段漫長的旅程，我們的員工在為客戶服務和日常業務運作方面做得非常出色，同時也為合併做好了準備。整合工作不斷取得進展，我們的團隊從第一天起就專注於確保客戶和員工的無縫過渡。看到克羅格和艾伯森組織的優勢互補令人興奮。我們期待將這些優勢結合起來，為客戶提供更好的體驗。

As part of our merger preparation, Kroger recently launched an exchange offering for Albertsons notes, contingent upon the closing of the merger, as well as a successful new offering for $10.5 billion of senior unsecured notes, with the net proceeds expected to fund a portion of the cash consideration for the proposed merger. A portion of the proceeds of this offering is subject to a special mandatory redemption if the merger does not close.

作為我們合併準備工作的一部分，Kroger 最近根據合併完成啟動了 Albertsons 票據的交換發行，並成功發行了 105 億美元的高級無擔保票據，淨收益預計將用於資助擬議合併的現金對價。若合併未完成，本次發行的部分收益將特別強制贖回。

As the preliminary injunction trial with the FTC nears its conclusion, we are confident in the facts and the strengths of our position. The retail industry continues to be more competitive, and we know how our customers shop. Every day, they are making decisions on where to eat and where to buy their groceries. They shop at a wide range of competitors, from Costco to Amazon to dollar stores, and they eat at restaurants. They shop digitally and brick-and-mortar.

隨著聯邦貿易委員會的初步禁制令審判即將結束，我們對事實和我們立場的優勢充滿信心。零售業的競爭持續變得更加激烈，我們知道客戶如何購物。他們每天都在決定去哪裡吃飯和去哪裡買雜貨。他們在各種各樣的競爭對手那裡購物，從好市多到亞馬遜再到一元商店，他們在餐廳吃飯。他們透過數位方式和實體店進行購物。

As I have said before, we remain committed to closing the merger because it will provide meaningful and measurable benefits for customers, associates, and communities across the country. And we look forward to bringing these commitments to life.

正如我之前所說，我們仍然致力於完成合併，因為它將為全國各地的客戶、員工和社區提供有意義且可衡量的利益。我們期待將這些承諾變成現實。

Regardless of the outcome of the trials, Kroger is operating from a position of strength, and we are optimistic about our future. Our business is more diverse than ever, and our value creation model provides us with multiple ways to drive sustainable growth. We are delivering strong free cash flow that allows us to invest in our business and drive attractive returns for our shareholders.

無論試驗結果如何，克羅格都處於強勢地位，我們對未來感到樂觀。我們的業務比以往更加多元化，我們的價值創造模式為我們提供了多種方式來推動永續成長。我們正在提供強勁的自由現金流，使我們能夠投資於我們的業務並為股東帶來可觀的回報。

With that, Todd and I look forward to taking your questions. Because we are in litigation, we will not be taking questions on the merger this morning.

托德和我期待回答您的問題。因為我們正在進行訴訟，所以今天早上我們不會回答有關合併的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Ed Kelly, Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）Ed Kelly，富國銀行。

There's been increased concern around the competitive backdrop -- Morning. There's been increased concern about the competitive backdrop, rising promotions across the industry. Can you just talk about what you are seeing from a promotional and competitive standpoint?

早上，人們對競爭背景的擔憂越來越多。人們越來越擔心整個行業的競爭背景和不斷增加的促銷活動。您能從促銷和競爭的角度談談您所看到的情況嗎？

And then what are your plans as you think about the back half of the year? I mean, you did raise the gross margin guidance a bit today, so certainly, it seems like you believe you can manage it. But just thoughts around what's going on out there and your promotional plans?

那麼下半年您有什麼計畫呢？我的意思是，您今天確實提高了一點毛利率指導，所以當然，您似乎相信自己可以管理它。但只是想想外面發生了什麼以及你的促銷計劃？

If you look, I would say the promotions are getting back to pretty much normal. And obviously, during COVID, there was less promotions because supply chains are under tremendous pressure.

如果你看的話，我會說促銷活動已經恢復正常了。顯然，在新冠疫情期間，促銷活動減少了，因為供應鏈承受著巨大的壓力。

The other thing that we would say on the promotions we are doing, we view -- the ones that we're doing are more effective. And the CPG partners are increasing their support for some of those as well as they're trying to grow tonnage.

關於我們正在進行的促銷活動，我們想說的另一件事是——我們正在做的促銷活動更有效。 CPG 合作夥伴正在增加對其中一些項目的支持，並努力增加噸位。

If you look at, as Todd outlined, the -- overall, we feel good about the balance of the year and balancing cost reductions and the mix changes that are helping gross and our continued investment in pricing, which we've been doing for, I think, close to 20 years now.

如果你看一下，正如托德所概述的那樣，總體而言，我們對今年的平衡以及平衡成本削減和組合變化感覺良好，這些變化有助於毛利率和我們在定價方面的持續投資，這是我們一直在做的，我想，現在已經快20年了。

Kelly Bania, BMO.

凱利·巴尼亞，BMO。

Just wanted to dive in a little bit more on gross margin. It was really quite strong, and you called out some of the factors there, but can you help us just understand how digital is impacting gross margin? Is that included in your mix category? And just a general update on digital profitability as we look forward, really, into the back half of the next couple of years here.

只是想進一步了解毛利率。它確實非常強大，您指出了其中的一些因素，但您能否幫助我們了解數位化如何影響毛利率？這包含在您的混合類別中嗎？這只是關於數位盈利能力的一般更新，因為我們確實展望了未來幾年的後半段。

Yeah, we got you, Kelly. Yeah, you're right. As we went into the year, we talked about the expectations for our margins to be relatively flat. And included in that expectation was a little bit of an increase in the second quarter year over year. But even on top of that, some of the strength that we saw in Our Brands, like we called it out, we had tremendous quarter in Our Brands, actually. The sales growth there outpaced national brands quite meaningfully that helped drive at above our expectations.

是的，我們找到你了，凱利。是的，你是對的。進入這一年，我們談到了對利潤率相對持平的預期。這一預期包括第二季度同比略有增長。但即使最重要的是，我們在我們的品牌中看到了一些優勢，就像我們所說的那樣，我們的品牌實際上有巨大的季度業績。那裡的銷售成長明顯超過了國內品牌，這有助於推動超越我們的預期。

And also, we had a great shrink quarter. It's been a while since we've looked a year over year on shrink and seen positive results, so that's really exciting to see. As we called out, still a lot of work to do there on a go-forward basis, but -- so it was a little bit better than our expectations, which were to be up some. And therefore, for the balance of the year, we do expect for the full year margins to now be slightly favorable on a year-over-year basis.

而且，我們的季度收縮幅度很大。我們已經有一段時間沒有逐年關注收縮並看到積極的結果了，所以看到這一點真的很令人興奮。正如我們所說，在前進的基礎上仍有很多工作要做，但是——所以它比我們的預期要好一些，我們的預期會有所提高。因此，對於今年餘下的時間，我們確實預計全年利潤率將比去年同期稍微有利。

So from a digital profitability standpoint, Rodney, if you want to add anything in that space?

因此，從數位獲利能力的角度來看，羅德尼，您是否想在該​​領域添加任何內容？

Yeah, I will -- just a couple of comments. We continue to make progress. If you look at over the next two or three years, we see the opportunity to make significant progress, and we would hold ourselves accountable for doing that.

是的，我會——只是幾點評論。我們不斷進步。如果你展望未來兩三年，我們會看到取得重大進展的機會，並且我們將為此負責。

The thing that's pretty special about the overall ecosystem that we're building is when you look at a customer that engages with us seamless, they actually still physically go into stores. Sometimes they do delivery, sometimes they do pickup. They also become more loyal in other aspects, becoming Boost members, engaging and pharmacy.

我們正在建立的整個生態系統的一個非常特別的地方是，當你看到與我們無縫互動的客戶時，他們實際上仍然會親自進入商店。有時他們做送貨，有時他們做取貨。他們在其他方面也變得更加忠誠，成為 Boost 會員、參與度和藥房。

So as you look at over the next two or three years, we are very excited about the potential of that and the continued progress. Obviously, the media business helps gross margin. And the margins in that is significantly different than anything that we've ever sold in the supermarket store.

因此，當您展望未來兩三年時，我們對其潛力和持續進展感到非常興奮。顯然，媒體業務有助於毛利率。其中的利潤與我們在超市商店銷售的任何產品都有很大不同。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim Partners.

約翰·海因博克爾，古根漢合夥人。

This is [Anders from IR], on for John. Between the proactive cost reductions, the media growth, and the moderating digital losses, should we expect a greater amount of P&L benefits than there have been in recent years? And if so, how much of this incremental benefit flows through to the bottom line versus reinvestment into other areas of the business?

我是[IR 的安德斯]，由約翰負責。在主動降低成本、媒體成長和數位損失減少之間，我們是否應該預期比近年來更多的損益效益？如果是這樣，與再投資到業務的其他領域相比，這種增量收益中有多少流入了利潤？

Yeah, great question. The things that you call out are great examples of some of the margin enhancement programs that we've talked about in the past, as well as some of the productivity improvements and cost improvements that we've realized over time.

是的，很好的問題。您提到的事情是我們過去討論過的一些利潤提高計劃的很好的例子，以及我們隨著時間的推移實現的一些生產力改進和成本改進。

That's an important part of our overall business model, being able to use that value that we create through the things that you called out to invest it back in the business. And Rodney alluded to it, we have a long history of taking that value and reinvesting it back in the business in a way that over time, our operating profit rate grows slightly over time. So as we grow the top line is we're able to balance the investments with the benefits that we get from those. That drives the bottom line over time.

這是我們整體業務模式的重要組成部分，能夠利用我們透過您呼籲的事情所創造的價值，將其投資回業務。羅德尼提到，我們長期以來一直將這種價值重新投資回業務，隨著時間的推移，我們的營業利潤率會略有成長。因此，隨著我們收入的成長，我們能夠平衡投資與從中獲得的利益。隨著時間的推移，這會推動獲利。

Yeah, I think it's always a good reminder that our long-term TSR model is 8% to 11% a year. That long-term TSR model assumes that we continue to move and grow alternative profit businesses, continue to invest in wages, continue to invest in lower prices for our customers.

是的，我認為這總是一個很好的提醒，我們的長期 TSR 模型是每年​​ 8% 到 11%。長期股東總回報率模型假設我們繼續發展和發展替代利潤業務，繼續投資於工資，繼續投資於為客戶提供更低的價格。

As you know, fortunately, we generate a tremendous amount of free cash flow. We would expect over time for more of that growth to come from the business as opposed to buying back stock. And then once the merger happens, obviously, there's incremental accretion that will happen because of the merger for first a period of time that once the merger happens, we'll give more insights into.

如您所知，幸運的是，我們產生了大量的自由現金流。我們預計隨著時間的推移，更多的成長將來自業務，而不是回購股票。然後，一旦合併發生，顯然，由於合併，在最初一段時間內，將會發生增量增加，一旦合併發生，我們將提供更多見解。

Leah Jordan, Goldman Sachs.

利亞·喬丹，高盛。

Seeing if you could comment on your market share trends in the quarter, and especially interested in any color on what you're seeing in Fresh specifically, as I know that's been a big area of investment for you.

看看您是否可以評論本季的市場份額趨勢，特別是對您在 Fresh 中看到的任何顏色特別感興趣，因為我知道這對您來說是一個很大的投資領域。

Yeah, if you look at our Fresh trends, overall, they would be stronger than the center store. Overall, I would say that we're -- we feel okay about where we are.

是的，如果你看看我們的新鮮趨勢，總的來說，它們會比中心商店更強。總的來說，我想說我們對自己的處境感覺還不錯。

But if you look, going forward, we continue to see improvement, and we would expect to see improvement throughout the balance of the year. So it's one of those areas where we're not satisfied. We are gaining strong household growth and strong loyal household growth as well, which also, in the past, always leads to future progress as well. So I would say that we feel okay where we are. We're more excited about what we see where the trends are and where we see for the balance of the year and next year, because we're also incrementally adding storing as well, which helps on market share as well.

但如果你展望未來，我們會繼續看到進步，我們預計在今年剩餘的時間裡都會看到進步。所以這是我們不滿意的領域之一。我們正在獲得強勁的家庭成長和忠誠的家庭成長，這在過去也總是會帶來未來的進步。所以我想說，我們現在的處境感覺還不錯。我們對所看到的趨勢以及今年和明年剩餘時間的情況感到更加興奮，因為我們也在逐步增加存儲，這也有助於提高市場份額。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙古特曼，摩根士丹利。

Two parter. First, if you look at the second quarter and the second half, the difference in comp that you're guiding to, how is it changing between units and inflation? I heard of the inflation piece, but curious how the guidance reflects this. It looks like a slightly better than consensus.

兩人搭檔。首先，如果你看看第二季和下半年，你所指導的補償差異，單位和通貨膨脹之間有何變化？我聽說過通貨膨脹的文章，但很好奇指導如何反映這一點。看起來比共識好一些。

The second part is, if this environment stays, and I know you're not -- you're trying to improve share and grow comps, but if we stay in this low -- very low single-digit environment, do you spend the same way in the business next year? And do you think you can keep the core EBIT dollars roughly flat or margin flat in this backdrop?

第二部分是，如果這種環境持續下去，我知道你不會——你正在努力提高份額並提高競爭力，但如果我們保持在這種低——非常低的個位數環境中，你會花明年的業務也會如此嗎？您認為在這種背景下能否維持核心息稅前利潤或利潤率大致持平？

Yeah, good question, Simeon. And let me start with the differences in comp. We did update our sales guidance for the year, taking up the bottom end of that range, as you saw, from 25 basis points to 75 basis points, but kept the top end of the range at at 1.75 basis points.

是的，好問題，西蒙。讓我從比較的差異開始。我們確實更新了今年的銷售指導，如您所見，將該範圍的下限從 25 個基點提高到 75 個基點，但將該範圍的上限保持在 1.75 個基點。

And I think that was -- our thought process around that was really to take the low end off the table. If you think about where we came into the year, and there was quite a bit of disinflation last year, that was still kind of hitting us early in the year, and we wanted to make sure that we were navigating through that uncertainty.

我認為，我們圍繞這個問題的思考過程實際上是為了消除低端產品。如果你想想我們今年的情況，去年出現了相當大的通貨緊縮，這在今年年初仍然對我們造成了打擊，我們希望確保我們能夠克服這種不確定性。

Our view at the time was that Q1 would be the low point of the year, and we would consistently grow our sales as we went through the year on a backdrop of inflation that was 1%-ish as we go throughout the year. And that's really -- certainly through the first half, it's played out as we expected in the first half of the year. And our expectations for the back half are very similar to the way that we thought about it back then. So I would say both our expectations on the sales and the inflation environment backdrop against which hasn't really changed a whole lot. And we expect that growth to flow.

我們當時的觀點是，第一季將是今年的低點，在全年通膨率為 1% 左右的背景下，我們將在這一年中持續成長我們的銷售額。這確實是——當然在整個上半年，情況正如我們在今年上半年所預期的那樣。我們對後半段的期望與我們當時的想法非常相似。因此，我想說的是，我們對銷售的預期和通膨環境背景並沒有真正發生太大變化。我們預計這種成長將會持續下去。

From a unit standpoint, we've talked about that a little bit. Rodney alluded to the fact we continue to be encouraged by the trends there were still a little negative on the unit side, but we continue to be encouraged by the progress that we're making in that space, and think that will be part of the contribution to the sales trend that we see for the back half of the year.

從單位的角度來看，我們已經對此進行了一些討論。羅德尼提到，我們繼續對單位方面仍然存在一些負面影響的趨勢感到鼓舞，但我們繼續對我們在該領域取得的進展感到鼓舞，並認為這將成為對我們下半年的銷售趨勢的貢獻。

Yeah, and we are seeing progress on units. We would expect to continue to see progress on units.

是的，我們正在看到單位的進展。我們預計單位方面將繼續取得進展。

You didn't really ask, but if -- the thing that's, right now, what we're seeing is, and I mentioned it earlier, in the first of the month, our business is really strong, holidays are strong, and then when you get to the end of the month, they're weaker because of people being constrained on a budget. So far in the third quarter, we're tracking a little bit better than where we were in the second quarter. So we -- fundamentally, we believe all the programs we're doing is making improved connection.

你並沒有真正問，但如果 - 現在，我們看到的是，我之前提到過，在這個月的第一天，我們的業務真的很強勁，假期也很強勁，然後當你到月底時，由於人們的預算受到限制，它們會變得更弱。到目前為止，第三季的情況比第二季的情況要好一些。所以我們——從根本上來說，我們相信我們正在做的所有項目都是為了改善聯繫。

Your question relative to 2025, I would say it's still early for us to start sharing guidance on 2025. And I would just -- the comments I made earlier about our long-term business model really would apply to 2025. Obviously, we would expect to be in a position of where we've just completed a merger. And we would also need to update where we are relative to the merger and the integration of the merger and those factors as well.

你的問題與2025 年有關，我想說，我們開始分享2025 年的指導還為時過早。我們期望處於我們剛剛完成合併的位置。我們還需要更新我們相對於合併和合併的整合以及這些因素的位置。

Michael Montani, Evercore ISI.

邁克爾·蒙塔尼，Evercore ISI。

It seems that the guide is implying a stable or even slightly up EBIT margin in the back half of the year. And I just wanted to understand a little bit if you could parse out the drivers behind that, in particular, with relation to shrink, if there's favorable compares coming up that give you confidence, and/or if there's certain onetime costs that you could quantify for us on OG&A that wouldn't come up again?

該指南似乎暗示下半年息稅前利潤率將保持穩定甚至略有上升。我只是想了解一點，您是否可以解析出其背後的驅動因素，特別是與收縮相關的驅動因素，是否有有利的比較可以給您信心，和/或是否存在可以量化的某些一次性成本對於我們OG&A 來說，這不會再出現嗎？

Yes. We'll do, Michael. You're right. Great call out. And as we look at the back half of the year, we talked about, given the trends that we saw in the second quarter, our view for the year on gross margin would be that will be slightly favorable year-over-year. And on OG&A, the annual trend will be to be slightly unfavorable year-over-year. But we do expect those to reasonably balance as they come out.

是的。我們會做的，麥可。你說得對。偉大的呼籲。當我們展望今年下半年時，我們談到，鑑於我們在第二季看到的趨勢，我們對今年毛利率的看法將是同比稍微有利。在 OG&A 方面，年度趨勢將同比略有不利。但我們確實希望這些產品問世後能達到合理的平衡。

We talked a little bit about shrink earlier. And again, we're really excited about the results that we saw in shrink, but I mentioned the caution that we have there. There is a lot of work to do. That issue is still out there. And our shrink costs are high relative to history on where we've been this. So our team continues to work in that space and continues to drive it. You can't have a trend until you have a data point. And so we're excited to see where we're at, but we're kind of cautiously optimistic about the opportunities for shrink for the balance of the year.

我們之前討論過一些關於收縮的問題。再說一次，我們對在收縮中看到的結果感到非常興奮，但我提到了我們在那裡的謹慎態度。還有很多工作要做。這個問題仍然存在。與歷史相比，我們的縮減成本很高。因此，我們的團隊將繼續在該領域工作並繼續推動它。在獲得數據點之前，您無法獲得趨勢。因此，我們很高興看到我們所處的位置，但我們對今年剩餘時間的收縮機會持謹慎樂觀態度。

Relative to some of the other costs --

相對於其他一些成本——

before you move up, One additional shrink, Michael, that you might -- that everyone might find helpful is if you look at our fresh side of our business, we've made meaningful progress on improving shrink over several quarters. Now when you look at the center store with organized retail crime and other things, you couldn't see it. But there's been tremendous changes by using technology, AI processes, and our teams have done a nice job of improving the Fresh side on shrink. That's not subject to as much theft, but it's really process-oriented.

在你升職之前，邁克爾，還有一位心理醫生，你可能會發現，如果你看看我們業務的新方面，每個人都可能會覺得有幫助，我們在幾個季度裡在改善心理收縮方面取得了有意義的進展。現在，當你看到有組織的零售犯罪和其他東西的中心商店時，你看不到它。但透過使用技術、人工智慧流程，發生了巨大的變化，我們的團隊在改善收縮方面的新鮮度方面做得很好。這不會受到太多盜竊，但它確實是以流程為導向的。

So now, Todd, I'll let you go and talk about some of the other stuff.

所以現在，托德，我讓你去談談其他一些事情。

Appreciate that. Talking a little bit on the cost side, there are -- we did see in the second quarter in part of why it was a little bit worse than our expectations, some nonrecurring type of items. The main one was some costs related to Hurricane Barrel that came through. Obviously, that was event driven relative to that. the second. And we've talked a little bit about this. We've talked about incentive being a little bit higher than our expectations. We do think for the second half of the year, that will have less of an impact on our year-over-year OG&A than what we've seen in the past as well. So I think those are a couple of the examples of things that we don't expect to continue in the second half.

很欣賞這一點。談到成本方面，我們確實在第二季度看到了一些非經常性項目的部分原因，部分原因是它比我們的預期要差一些。主要的一項是與颶風桶相關的一些費用。顯然，這是相對於事件驅動的。第二個。我們已經對此進行了一些討論。我們已經討論過激勵措施略高於我們的預期。我們確實認為，今年下半年，這對我們的年度 OG&A 的影響將比我們過去看到的要小。所以我認為這些是我們預計下半年不會繼續發生的一些例子。

Kenneth Goldman, JPMorgan.

肯尼斯‧戈德曼，摩根大通。

I wanted to dig in a little bit deeper into inflation just in light of the CPI and PPI numbers that came out this morning, usually, the 2 rates have changed. They're not perfectly correlated, but they're somewhat correlated. And right now, PPI food is increasing at a faster clip than CPI. So I just wanted to get a sense for how you think about balancing the need to pass on inflation? I know that PPI is not a perfect proxy for that, but it's somewhat of a proxy. Balance that with the desire to continue to appeal to budget-conscious consumers, and then how do we reconcile all of that with the fact that your GM growth was so good when PPI is growing so much faster than CPI?

我想根據今天早上公佈的 CPI 和 PPI 數據更深入地了解通貨膨脹，通常這兩個利率已經改變了。它們並不完全相關，但有一定程度的相關性。目前，食品生產者物價指數 (PPI) 的成長速度快於消費者物價指數 (CPI)。所以我只是想了解一下您如何看待平衡轉嫁通膨的需要？我知道 PPI 並不是一個完美的代理，但它在某種程度上是一個代理。平衡這一點與繼續吸引精打細算的消費者的願望，然後，當 PPI 增長速度遠高於 CPI 時，你們的 GM 增長如此之好，我們如何協調這一切？

Yes. As you've mentioned, I mean, you're always trying to balance all the pieces. Part of the PPI is it's -- certain parts of it are commodity-driven. And we will -- if we think something is a permanent cost increase then we try to pass that along as fast as we can. If it's a short-term blip, then we'll manage that based on what's going on in the market. And it's as difficult now estimating where inflation is going to be as probably any period of time, but we are seeing it being reasonably stable. If you look out in terms of price increases that CPGs have already shared with us because obviously, we'll see that in advance of it happening, it would certainly still be in the range of where we said we think overall inflation will be around 1%. And we don't see anything that's causing us to see that be much different than that.

是的。正如你所提到的，我的意思是，你總是試圖平衡所有的部分。 PPI 的一部分是由大宗商品驅動的。如果我們認為某些事情是永久性的成本增加，那麼我們會盡力盡快將其傳遞出去。如果這是短期現象，那麼我們將根據市場狀況進行管理。現在估計通貨膨脹率可能與任何時期的通貨膨脹率一樣困難，但我們看到它相當穩定。如果你留意消費品價格上漲的情況，因為很明顯，我們會看到，在價格上漲發生之前，它肯定仍處於我們認為整體通膨率將在 1 左右的範圍內。我們沒有看到任何讓我們看到與此有很大不同的東西。

Over time, we do find the 2 kind of line up pretty close. The other thing that we are seeing is inflation on food away from home is meaningfully higher than food at home. And we are beginning to see customers move back from restaurants to food at home because you can prepare a meal at home for about 1/4 of the cost of going out and getting a meal. So that is something that we are beginning to see a little bit of as well. I don't know, Todd, anything else you want to add on inflation?

隨著時間的推移，我們確實發現這兩條路線非常接近。我們看到的另一件事是，外出食品的通膨明顯高於國內食品。我們開始看到顧客從餐廳轉向在家吃飯，因為在家做飯的成本大約是外出吃飯的 1/4。所以我們也開始看到一些這樣的情況。托德，我不知道你對通貨膨脹還有什麼想說的嗎？

Thanks, Rodney.

謝謝，羅德尼。

Rupesh Parikh, Oppenheimer.

魯佩什·帕里克，奧本海默。

So first on CapEx, so higher range for this year. So I just want to get a sense of if we should think about this level of spend as more of a normal going forward. And then secondly, not sure if you're giving any clarity in terms of how to think about the EPS growth cadence between Q3 and Q4 as I know you're lapping the 53rd week later this year.

首先是資本支出，今年的範圍更高。所以我只是想了解我們是否應該將這種支出水準視為未來的正常情況。其次，不確定您是否明確說明瞭如何思考第三季和第四季之間的每股盈餘成長節奏，因為我知道您將在今年稍後進入第 53 週。

Yes. Great color, Rupesh. On the CapEx, yes, I think we talked about it. We've been working really hard to take the opportunity to get these storing projects open as quickly as we can to be able to serve customers. And so shifting spend from late in '24 to early in '24, you saw our CapEx year that be a little bit higher, that's going to create some capacity to help us pull early -- what might have been early '25 construction process into late '24, so we can open next year's projects really, too. so I think given the strong cash flow in the business, if we're able to continue to execute that, then I think what we'll see should be a lift in our spend in our capital plan over time.

是的。顏色很棒，魯佩什。關於資本支出，是的，我想我們已經討論過了。我們一直在非常努力地利用這個機會盡快開放這些儲存項目，以便能夠為客戶提供服務。因此，將支出從 24 年末轉移到 24 年初，您會看到我們的資本支出年度略高一些，這將創造一些能力來幫助我們儘早將 25 年初的建設流程拉入24 年底，這樣我們也可以真正開始明年的專案。因此，我認為鑑於業務強勁的現金流，如果我們能夠繼續執行這一點，那麼我認為隨著時間的推移，我們的資本計畫支出應該會增加。

And we're -- the money that we're investing, we're seeing good performance to budget as well. And operationally, it's a lot easier to open up a remodel or new store expansion earlier in the year versus later in the year as well.

我們正在投資的資金，我們也看到了良好的預算績效。從操作上來說，今年早些時候開設改造或新店擴張比今年晚些時候要容易得多。

And then talking to your EPS comment, Rupesh. Yes, for the balance of -- given where we landed in the first quarter in our actual results -- for the first half of the year -- sorry, our first half kind of landed where we expected it to, quarters played out a little bit differently than we thought. But the first half landed where we expected. And reaffirming the rest of the year, the back half, we think is right on par with where we've been guiding as well. Within that, we do think that the third quarter will be probably slightly ahead of where we were year-over-year and the fourth quarter probably slightly behind on a 52-week basis when you compare it 52 to 52, but that's probably how the trend will play out for the balance of the year.

然後談談你的 EPS 評論，Rupesh。是的，考慮到我們在第一季的實際業績中取得的平衡，今年上半年的情況，抱歉，我們的上半年達到了我們的預期，季度表現有點差與我們想像的有點不同。但上半場的表現符合我們的預期。並重申今年剩下的時間，即下半年，我們認為這與我們一直在指導的情況是正確的。其中，我們確實認為，當您將 52 週與 52 週進行比較時，第三季度可能會比去年同期略有領先，而第四季度可能會稍微落後於 52 週，但這可能就是這一趨勢將在今年餘下時間顯現出來。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

麥可拉瑟，瑞銀集團。

It's Mark Carden, on for Michael Lasser this morning. So you talked about some of the trade down that's accelerated in 2Q to additional income cohorts and also highlight some of the pressures that budget customers are facing. What kinds of behavior changes are you seeing in your middle income and above cohorts? And when did you see this become more pronounced?

我是馬克卡登，今天早上替補麥可拉瑟。因此，您談到了第二季加速的一些貿易下降，以增加收入群體，並強調了預算客戶面臨的一些壓力。您在中等收入及以上收入群體中看到了哪些行為變化？什麼時候發現這種情況變得更加明顯？

Yes. It's throughout the year, and it's -- as I mentioned before, we're seeing it more at the end of the month than the beginning of the month. And people continue to be aggressive or whatever the right term is on celebrating holidays. Now I think one of the things that's always important to remember is those changes aren't -- many of those changes are beneficial to us. So if you think about people moving from eating at a restaurant to cooking at home, that's beneficial for us. If we look at customers' changing segments, that's good for us because they typically we'll buy more Our Brands, products and they'll buy smaller packages and some of those things as well. So when we look, it's been really throughout. But I would say, over the last few months, it's been more pronounced as you get toward the end of the month.

是的。它貫穿全年，正如我之前提到的，我們在月底看到的情況比月初更多。人們繼續積極進取，或用任何正確的術語來慶祝節日。現在，我認為始終要記住的重要一件事是，這些變化並非如此——其中許多變化對我們是有益的。因此，如果你考慮人們從在餐廳吃飯轉向在家做飯，這對我們是有利的。如果我們專注於客戶不斷變化的細分市場，這對我們有好處，因為他們通常會購買更多我們的品牌、產品，他們也會購買較小的包裝和其中一些東西。所以當我們看時，它確實貫穿始終。但我想說，在過去的幾個月裡，隨著月底的臨近，情況變得更加明顯。

But all of those things are things that obviously, you're changing your promotional approach, your connection with the customers, what offers you make at different times of the month and all those things. So overall, the customer, as we've said all along, are under tremendous strain, especially customers on a budget. That was the reason why I want to say it was probably 1.5 years ago or 2 years ago, we saw that coming, and we introduced our Smart Way product to be much more aggressive on having an entry price point item because that was a trend that we saw coming and trying to be proactive on addressing that, and we continue to add product in that.

但所有這些事情顯然都是你正在改變你的促銷方式、你與客戶的聯繫、你在一個月的不同時間提供的優惠等等。因此，總的來說，正如我們一直以來所說的那樣，客戶承受著巨大的壓力，尤其是預算有限的客戶。這就是為什麼我想說這可能是 1.5 年前或 2 年前，我們看到了這一點，我們推出了 Smart Way 產品，以更加積極地推出入門價格產品，因為這是一種趨勢我們看到了這一點，並試圖積極主動地解決這個問題，我們將繼續在這方面添加產品。

But for us, we're going to do everything we can to help a customer be able to have a great meal without compromising and eating as a family. And so far, the changes the customer is experiencing, we're making changes to trying to support the customer and the customer is connecting well with that. So you feel for people in terms of where they are, and we're going to do everything we can to try to help support them on what their particular situation is.

但對我們來說，我們將盡一切努力幫助顧客能夠在不妥協的情況下享受一頓美餐，並像一家人一樣吃飯。到目前為止，客戶正在經歷的變化，我們正在做出改變，試圖支持客戶，客戶與此建立了良好的聯繫。因此，你會根據人們的處境來同情他們，我們將盡一切努力幫助他們了解他們的特殊情況。

Robert Ohmes, Bank of America.

羅伯特·歐姆斯，美國銀行。

Maybe, Todd, for you. Can we get -- even you gave some color already on the OG&A line for the back half. Maybe a little more how -- where is Kroger on the wage pressure in the back half of the year, say, versus the front half? And Also, you guys called out general liability claims. You're not the only retailer to call that out this quarter. If we get some how much pressure was that in the second quarter and is that an issue or a pressure in the back half?

也許，托德，適合你。我們可以得到 - 即使你已經在後半部分的 OG&A 線上給出了一些顏色。也許更多的是──比如說，與上半年相比，克羅格下半年的薪資壓力在哪裡？另外，你們也提出了一般責任索賠。您並不是本季唯一提出這一點的零售商。如果我們知道第二季的壓力有多大，這是後半場的問題還是壓力？

Yes. No, great call out. Relative to second half OG&A again, given what we saw in the second quarter, our guidance on the year is now will be slightly unfavorable to where we were a year ago. And so -- but beyond that, I think our trends will be as expected in the second half of the year. You talk about wage pressure. One thing to keep in mind on our wage pressure is because so many of our wages come through collective bargaining agreements, we've got 300 or so of those. But at any point in time, probably 75% of our wages are locked in in a collective bargaining agreement. We have maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of those that are up each year that we constantly negotiate.

是的。不，很棒的呼籲。再次相對於下半年的 OG&A，考慮到我們在第二季度看到的情況，我們對今年的指導現在將略低於一年前的水平。因此，但除此之外，我認為下半年我們的趨勢將符合預期。你說的是薪資壓力。關於我們的薪資壓力，需要記住的一件事是，因為我們的許多薪資都是透過集體談判協議獲得的，我們有大約 300 份這樣的協議。但在任何時候，我們薪資的 75% 都可能被鎖定在集體談判協議中。每年我們不斷協商的項目中，可能有 1/3 或 1/4。

So the guidance that we have out there reflects those expectations and where we're at from a wage perspective because most of those are are known to us going into the year. Your comment on GL claims. There's really 2 pieces to general liability. The incident rate piece is actually, our results are phenomenal. When you look at it through the lens of OSHA incident rates, we're very much below where the industry averages are at. And even as a company where we're at, we're in that kind of record low territory there, at least in modern history. And so we're extremely excited about the work that the teams do to manage the incidents from that standpoint and the number of claims.

因此，我們現有的指導反映了這些預期以及我們從薪資角度來看的情況，因為我們在今年就知道了其中的大部分內容。您對 GL 索賠的評論。一般責任實際上有兩個部分。事實上，從事故率來看，我們的結果是驚人的。從 OSHA 事故率的角度來看，我們遠低於行業平均。即使作為我們所在的公司，我們也處於歷史最低水平，至少在現代歷史上是如此。因此，我們對團隊從這個角度和索賠數量來管理事件所做的工作感到非常興奮。

What we saw as we were going through our analysis this time was around the average cost of the claim and what we were seeing relative to the cost to settle some of these claims being much higher. Given the environment that's out there, we're seeing more and more pressure on the average cost to settle those claims. And so as we evaluated what we had outstanding for reserves in that space, given that trend, we thought it was wise to update it.

這次我們在進行分析時看到的是索賠的平均成本，我們看到相對於解決其中一些索賠的成本要高得多。考慮到當前的環境，我們看到解決這些索賠的平均成本面臨越來越大的壓力。因此，當我們評估該領域的未完成儲備時，考慮到這一趨勢，我們認為更新它是明智的。

We have done a nice job in the past trying to mitigating those claims and have a variety of strategies to put into place, and we'll continue to be able to put more of those types of items in place to be more effective in keeping that average cost down. But I think the announces that we did, I think, has us comfortable with where we need to be now and don't expect that to recur in the back half of the year.

我們過去在努力減輕這些索賠方面做得很好，並採取了各種策略來實施，我們將繼續能夠實施更多此類項目，以更有效地保持這一點平均成本下降。但我認為我們所做的宣布讓我們對現在需要達到的目標感到滿意，並且預計這種情況不會在今年下半年再次發生。

One other comment I would add to -- Robby, to the OG&A comment that Todd was talking about is, we feel like we've developed a good skill on being able to identify cost reductions over time. And we would expect that's a skill that we'll have also as you look out in the second half and forward in next year as well. The other thing that our teams have done a nice job on is continuing to find process changes to be able to operate a store with less labor and simplify the store to run. And it's one of those where we've made good progress, but we still think we have plenty of opportunity to get better going forward. So I really appreciate the question.

我要補充的另一條評論是——羅比，托德談到的 OG&A 評論是，我們覺得我們已經發展了一項很好的技能，能夠隨著時間的推移確定成本削減。我們預計，當您在下半年和明年展望未來時，我們也將擁有這種技能。我們團隊做得很好的另一件事是繼續尋求流程變革，以便能夠以更少的勞動力經營商店並簡化商店的運作。這是我們取得良好進展的領域之一，但我們仍然認為我們有很多機會取得更好的進展。所以我真的很感激這個問題。

Chuck Cerankosky, Northcoast Research.

查克·塞蘭科斯基，北海岸研究中心。

Rodney, when you look at the sales growth challenges, you mentioned the you mentioned the economic factors putting pressure on consumers, it seems to be a wider range of consumers. But you also have nontraditional competitors put pressure on the supermarket channel. Can you sort of compare where the -- what the strengths of those difficult headwinds are as you're trying to accelerate sales at Kroger?

羅德尼，當您談到銷售成長挑戰時，您提到經濟因素給消費者帶來壓力，這似乎是更廣泛的消費者。但也有非傳統競爭對手對超市通路施加壓力。當您試圖加速克羅格的銷售時，您能否比較一下這些困難逆風的優勢是什麼？

The increase in nontraditional competitors, obviously, has been a 20-year trend. And when you look at Amazon and Costco and Walmart and I could go on and on for the (inaudible), those in terms of how do you be successful against them really is how do you continue to change your basic offering to the customer and supporting the customers' changes. And we felt good about those changes that we've made, but we still need to continue to make them. And it's 1 of those things where, if you ever think you've figured it out, it's -- I would say that it's not good, you need to change. So we feel good about our ability to compete. We'll have to continually change. It's the reason why we've invested so much and staying connected with the customer on a seamless perspective, continuing to invest in wages, continuing to invest in promotion, but making up some of those things with alternative profit growth and mix.

顯然，非傳統競爭對手的增加已成為 20 年來的趨勢。當你看到亞馬遜、好市多和沃爾瑪時，我可以繼續（聽不清楚），那些關於你如何成功對抗他們的問題實際上是你如何繼續改變你向客戶提供的基本產品和支持客戶的變化。我們對所做的這些改變感覺良好，但我們仍然需要繼續進行這些改變。其中之一，如果你認為你已經解決了，我會說這不好，你需要改變。因此，我們對自己的競爭能力感到滿意。我們必須不斷改變。這就是為什麼我們投入如此多的資金並以無縫的方式與客戶保持聯繫，繼續投資於工資，繼續投資於促銷，但用替代性利潤增長和組合來彌補其中的一些事情。

And over time, we would hope food away -- and a more stronger competitor on food away from home because half of the money that's spent on food is food away from home. And we see no reason why we shouldn't be able to get a share of that.

隨著時間的推移，我們希望在外地食物上有更強大的競爭對手，因為花在食物上的錢有一半是在外地食物上。我們認為我們沒有理由不能從中分得一杯羹。

If you look at the economic pressure so far, we feel confident in our ability to deal with it or manage it or whatever because there's -- fortunately, we have a large business, and there's a lot of moving parts. And our brands obviously had a strong quarter. We think the opportunity is even stronger in our brands and things like that, which helps support the customer that's under that economic pressure as well. So on those so far, I mean, if you had a depression, I wouldn't -- I would give a different answer. But so far on the things that we're seeing, we feel comfortable or confident in our ability to deal with those changes.

如果你看看迄今為止的經濟壓力，我們對自己處理或管理它或其他方面的能力充滿信心，因為幸運的是，我們擁有龐大的業務，並且有很多活動部件。我們的品牌顯然有一個強勁的季度。我們認為我們的品牌和類似產品的機會更大，這也有助於支持面臨經濟壓力的客戶。所以到目前為止，我的意思是，如果你患有憂鬱症，我不會——我會給出不同的答案。但到目前為止，就我們所看到的情況而言，我們對應對這些變化的能力感到滿意或充滿信心。

Joe Feldman, Telsey Advisory Group.

喬·費爾德曼，特爾西諮詢小組。

I wanted to ask about the inventory level which was down a little bit and down, I think, almost 3%, which is really good shape. I'm wondering how you guys are thinking about inventory going forward? And what drove that? Was it you guys -- is it fewer units? Is it because the prices have just come down a bit year-over-year, so you've been able to be lower inventory levels because of that? Maybe you could just share a little more color around that going forward.

我想問一下庫存水平，它下降了一點，我認為下降了近 3%，這確實是一個很好的狀況。我想知道你們如何看待未來的庫存？是什麼推動了這一點？是你們嗎──是不是單位少了？是因為價格較去年同期略有下降，所以你們能夠降低庫存水準嗎？也許你可以在未來分享更多的色彩。

Yes. Great question, Joe. And I think you hit on some of the keys. I think it's a variety of things. Inventory, it's -- part of it is we're seeing less cost inflation, so the average cost of an item on the shelf is a little bit less. But we have also been very laser-focused relative to working capital and working capital management. And we talk about our strong cash flow generation, that's an important part of that is balancing our working capital. And it's -- both of those go together. It's always having the right tension between making sure we're in stock for our customers and having what our customers need, but making sure we don't have too much there so that we're being a good steward of working capital.

是的。好問題，喬。我認為你擊中了一些關鍵點。我認為這是各種各樣的事情。庫存，部分原因是我們看到成本通膨減少，因此貨架上商品的平均成本有點低。但我們也非常關注營運資本和營運資本管理。我們談論我們強大的現金流生成，其中一個重要部分是平衡我們的營運資本。這兩者是相輔相成的。在確保我們為客戶提供庫存和滿足客戶需求之間始終保持適當的張力，但要確保我們沒有太多庫存，這樣我們才能成為營運資金的良好管理者。

And so I think what you're seeing on the balance sheet is the combination of lower cost per item, relative inflation year-over-year and the right level of working capital management to make sure we're in stock for our customers.

因此，我認為您在資產負債表上看到的是每件商品的較低成本、逐年相對通膨以及適當水平的營運資金管理的組合，以確保我們為客戶提供庫存。

At this time, we will take no further questions for today, so I'll hand back to Rodney for any further remarks.

目前，我們今天不會再回答任何問題，所以我將把任何進一步的評論交還給羅德尼。

Thanks, Alex, and thank you to all for all your questions. And as you know, before we conclude our call, we always like to -- we have many of our associates listening in, and we always like to share a couple of comments with them. And I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge our 2024 Kroger Scholars. Since the Kroger Scholars program was launched in 2008, we've awarded more than 3,300 scholarships, totaling almost $5 million to children of our associates. These recipients were selected based on a broad range of criteria, including their volunteering activities, civic service, extracurricular activities, academic performance and work experience. And it's always fun to be able to help a little on their education and congratulations to our 120 winners this year. And thanks to everyone for joining us today. And I know it's early, but it will be December before we talk to everyone. I hope everyone has a beginning, great holiday season as well, and thank you very much.

謝謝，亞歷克斯，也謝謝大家提出的所有問題。如您所知，在我們結束通話之前，我們總是希望 - 我們的許多同事都在傾聽，我們總是喜歡與他們分享一些評論。我想花一點時間向我們的 2024 年克羅格學者表示感謝。自 2008 年啟動克羅格學者計畫以來，我們已向員工的子女頒發了 3,300 多項獎學金，總計近 500 萬美元。這些獲獎者是根據廣泛的標準選出的，包括他們的志願活動、公民服務、課外活動、學業成績和工作經驗。能夠為他們的教育提供一點幫助總是很有趣，並祝賀今年的 120 名獲獎者。感謝大家今天加入我們。我知道現在還為時過早，但我們要到 12 月才能與大家交談。我希望每個人都有一個美好的假期開始，非常感謝。

Thank you all for joining today's call. You may now disconnect your lines.

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。現在您可以斷開線路。