Lancaster Colony Corp (LANC) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Josh, and I will be your conference call facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lancaster Colony Corporation Fiscal Year 2022 Third Quarter Conference Call. Conducting today's call will be Dave Ciesinski, President and CEO; and Tom Pigott, CFO. (Operator Instructions). And now to begin the conference call, here is Dale Ganobsik, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations for Lancaster Colony Corporation.

早安.我叫喬什，今天我將擔任你們的電話會議主持人。此時此刻，我謹歡迎大家參加蘭卡斯特殖民地公司 2022 財年第三季電話會議。總裁兼執行長戴夫·西辛斯基 (Dave Ciesinski) 主持今天的電話會議；和財務長湯姆皮戈特。 （操作員說明）。現在，蘭卡斯特殖民地公司 (Lancaster Colony Corporation) 企業財務與投資者關係副總裁 Dale Ganobsik 開始電話會議。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Lancaster Colony's Fiscal Year 2022 Third Quarter Conference Call. Our discussion this morning may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements based upon subsequent events. A detailed discussion of these risks and uncertainties is contained in the company's filings with the SEC. Also note that the audio replay of this call will be archived and available on our company's website, lancastercolony.com later this afternoon.

大家早安，感謝您今天參加蘭開斯特殖民地 2022 財年第三季電話會議。我們今天早上的討論可能包括前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。本公司不承擔根據後續事件更新這些聲明的義務。該公司向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細討論了這些風險和不確定性。另請注意，本次通話的音訊重播將於今天下午晚些時候在我們公司的網站 lancastercolony.com 上存檔並提供。

For today's call, Dave Ciesinski, our President and CEO, will begin with the business update and highlights for the quarter. Tom Pigott, our CFO, will then provide an overview of the financial results. Dave will then share some comments regarding our current strategy and outlook. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we'll be happy to respond to any of your questions.

在今天的電話會議中，我們的總裁兼執行長 Dave Ciesinski 將首先介紹本季的業務更新和亮點。我們的財務長 Tom Pigott 隨後將概述財務表現。然後戴夫將分享一些關於我們當前策略和前景的評論。在我們準備好的演講結束時，我們將很樂意回答您的任何問題。

Once again, we appreciate your participation this morning. I'll now turn the call over to Lancaster Colony's President and CEO, Dave Ciesinski. Dave?

我們再次感謝您今天早上的參與。現在我將把電話轉給 Lancaster Colony 的總裁兼執行長 Dave Ciesinski。戴夫？

Thanks, Dale, and good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you today. In our fiscal third quarter ended March 31, consolidated net sales grew 12.9% to a record $403 million with Retail net sales up 7.4% and Foodservice net sales up 19.8%. Net sales growth in the Retail segment was driven by pricing across the portfolio, continued volume gains for our licensing program and strong sales for our Sister Schubert's dinner rolls. The 7.4% net sales growth in Retail compares to a robust sales gains of 17.1% in last year's third quarter. Retail sales volume measured in pounds declined 2%, but comps to strong volume growth of over 12% in the prior year quarter and moreover, reflects the decision to exit select noncore products. Excluding these rationalizations, our third quarter Retail net sales volume grew 5%.

謝謝，戴爾，早安。今天很高興和大家在一起。截至 3 月 31 日的第三財季，綜合淨銷售額成長 12.9%，達到創紀錄的 4.03 億美元，其中零售淨銷售額成長 7.4%，餐飲服務淨銷售額成長 19.8%。零售部門的淨銷售成長是由整個產品組合的定價、我們的許可計劃的持續銷售增長以及舒伯特姐妹餐卷的強勁銷售推動的。零售業淨銷售額成長 7.4%，而去年第三季的銷售額則強勁成長 17.1%。以英鎊計算的零售額下降了 2%，但與去年同期超過 12% 的強勁銷售成長相比，而且反映出退出部分非核心產品的決定。排除這些合理化調整，我們第三季的零售淨銷售量成長了 5%。

Notably, our licensing program continued to perform well in the period, led by distribution gains for Buffalo Wild Wings sauces and Chick-fil-A sauces. In the aggregate, these 2 licensed sauces combine to account for over 8 percentage points of Retail net sales growth.

值得注意的是，我們的許可計劃在此期間繼續表現良好，其中 Buffalo Wild Wings 醬料和 Chick-fil-A 醬料的分銷收益帶動了增長。總的來說，這兩種授權醬料合計佔零售淨銷售額成長超過 8 個百分點。

For the quarter, we were pleased with our overall share performance. IRI data showed share gains for our Sister Schubert's dinner rolls were up 200 basis points to a share of 51.5%, and our Marzetti brand refrigerated dressings were up 90 basis points to a share of 23.3%. On a 2-year stack basis for the quarter, IRI retail scanner data shows several of our branded products continue to perform well with double-digit sales growth and market share gains reported for Sister Schubert's frozen dinner rolls, New York Bakery frozen garlic bread, New York Bakery croutons and Marzetti refrigerated dressings.

對於本季度，我們對整體股價表現感到滿意。 IRI 數據顯示，我們的 Sister Schubert 晚餐卷的份額增長了 200 個基點，達到 51.5% 的份額，我們的 Marzetti 品牌冷藏調味品的份額增長了 90 個基點，達到 23.3% 的份額。在本季的2 年堆疊基礎上，IRI 零售掃描儀數據顯示，我們的幾種品牌產品繼續表現良好，銷售額增長兩位數，市場份額增長，其中包括Sister Schubert 的冷凍餐卷、New York Ba kery 冷凍大蒜麵包、紐約麵包店油炸麵包塊和 Marzetti 冷藏調味料。

On the same 2-year stack basis for the quarter, sales at Retail for our licensed sauce platform has more than tripled growing from $29 million to $89 million. But as I will discuss later in my comments, achieving this rapid growth in licensed sauces has resulted in incremental co-manufacturing cost and margin pressure.

在本季相同的 2 年堆疊基礎上，我們授權醬料平台的零售銷售額成長了兩倍多，從 2,900 萬美元成長到 8,900 萬美元。但正如我稍後將在評論中討論的那樣，授權醬料的快速增長導致了聯合製造成本和利潤壓力的增加。

In summary, our Retail top line performance in the quarter was driven by our pricing actions, volume growth from our licensing program and strong store level execution.

總而言之，我們本季的零售營收績效是由我們的定價行動、授權計畫帶來的銷售成長以及強大的商店執行力所推動的。

In our Foodservice segment, net sales growth of nearly 20% was driven by inflationary pricing and increased demand for our branded products. Total Foodservice volume measured in pounds decreased 2% as influenced by industry-wide operator challenges due to a tight labor market and a weakening consumer environment.

在我們的餐飲服務部門，通膨定價和對我們品牌產品的需求增加推動了近 20% 的淨銷售成長。受勞動力市場緊張和消費環境疲軟導致全行業營運商面臨挑戰的影響，以磅計算的餐飲服務總量下降了 2%。

Turning to our margin performance. Our gross margin decline in the third quarter reflects unprecedented inflation of nearly 30% for raw materials, packaging and freight. Costs for all 3 categories increased sequentially in the quarter, pacing well ahead of our previous expectations. While we pass along incremental pricing in the period, then an impact of our pricing actions lag these extraordinary levels of inflation. Our margin results were also adversely impacted by higher labor costs, supply chain disruptions and continued volatility in Foodservice customer demand. Finally, as stated above, our lower margins in Retail also reflect an increased reliance on co-manufacturers to help satisfy rapid growth for our bottled sauces.

轉向我們的利潤率表現。我們第三季毛利率的下降反映了原材料、包裝和貨運空前的近 30% 的通貨膨脹。本季所有 3 個類別的成本均連續成長，遠遠超出我們先前的預期。雖然我們在此期間實施增量定價，但我們定價行為的影響卻落後於這些非同尋常的通膨水準。我們的利潤率結果也受到勞動成本上升、供應鏈中斷和餐飲服務客戶需求持續波動的不利影響。最後，如上所述，我們零售業的較低利潤也反映出我們越來越依賴聯合製造商來幫助滿足我們瓶裝醬料的快速成長。

As we outlined last quarter, we continue to pursue a focused list of discrete actions that will enable us to reduce our cost and improve our margin profile. First, during the quarter, we completed construction and start-up for our sauce capacity expansion project at one of our Columbus-based facilities and expect the benefits of improved operating efficiencies and reduced cost for that facility to begin this quarter ending June 30.

正如我們在上季度概述的那樣，我們將繼續採取一系列有針對性的離散行動，這將使我們能夠降低成本並改善利潤狀況。首先，在本季度，我們在哥倫布的一個工廠完成了醬汁產能擴張項目的建設和啟動，預計該工廠將從截至 6 月 30 日的本季度開始提高運營效率並降低成本。

Second, during the quarter, we also opened our new Columbus-based warehouse location. The site is now fully operational and delivering the intended benefits of reducing both our material handling cost and our need for third-party warehouses. Third, we continue to optimize our use of co-manufacturers by increasing the use of our internal manufacturing facilities, where our capacity situation allowed. While we made progress, most of these savings will not be realized until next fiscal year when the construction of our Horse Cave facility is complete, and we've gone live on the first few waves of SAP.

其次，在本季度，我們也開設了位於哥倫布的新倉庫。該站點現已全面投入運營，並實現了降低我們的物料搬運成本和對第三方倉庫的需求的預期效益。第三，在產能情況允許的情況下，我們透過增加內部製造設施的使用，繼續優化對聯合製造商的使用。雖然我們取得了進展，但大部分節省要到下一財年我們的 Horse Cave 設施建設完成，並且我們已經開始實施前幾波 SAP 時才能實現。

Our fourth key initiative is revenue growth management. Given the magnitude and the rate of inflation that our business is experiencing, pricing remains our single most important lever. During the quarter, our Retail segment implemented an additional round of pricing on frozen bread and pasta products that became effective in late April. Given the continued run-up on edible oils and other broad-based sources of inflation, we'll soon be pursuing another round of pricing actions on our dressings, sauces and dips categories.

我們的第四個關鍵措施是營收成長管理。考慮到我們業務正在經歷的通貨膨脹的幅度和速度，定價仍然是我們最重要的槓桿。本季度，我們的零售部門對冷凍麵包和麵食產品實施了另一輪定價，該定價於 4 月底生效。鑑於食用油和其他廣泛的通貨膨脹來源的持續上漲，我們很快就會針對我們的調味品、醬汁和蘸醬類別採取新一輪的定價行動。

In our Foodservice segment, where pricing is tied to contracts for commodity and freight inflation, we implemented an additional round of pricing in the quarter as well. Like our peers, we also continue to carefully monitor the impact of inflation on our Retail consumers and our Foodservice customers. To date, their behavior has not materially changed. When and if it does, there are other revenue management tactics that we can deploy.

在我們的餐飲服務領域，定價與商品和貨運通膨合約掛鉤，我們也在本季實施了另一輪定價。與同業一樣，我們也持續仔細監控通膨對零售消費者和餐飲服務客戶的影響。迄今為止，他們的行為尚未發生實質改變。如果確實如此，我們還可以採取其他收入管理策略。

Finally, given the magnitude rate and broad-ranging nature of inflation, we're aggressively activating supply chain productivity and product value engineering projects. These projects will further reduce our cost and improve our margin profile over the long term.

最後，考慮到通貨膨脹的幅度和廣泛性，我們正在積極啟動供應鏈生產力和產品價值工程專案。從長遠來看，這些項目將進一步降低我們的成本並改善我們的利潤狀況。

Before I turn it over to Tom, I'd also briefly like to comment on our decision to exit Bantam Bagels. Early during the pandemic, the Foodservice industry was severely impacted by store closures and traffic declines. During this period, numerous restaurant operators made choices to streamline their menus for operating efficiencies. And during this period, Bantam Bagels was discontinued at their largest customer for this precisely reason. This discontinuation and the sustained impact of the pandemic changed the economics of the business. Despite investments to support the growth of Bantam Bagels in the Retail segment and our best efforts to replace the loss of the major customer in the Foodservice segment, we were unable to identify a credible pathway to profitability for the business. Consequently, we made the prudent, but difficult, decision to exit the business.

在將其交給 Tom 之前，我還想簡要評論一下我們退出 Bantam Bagels 的決定。在大流行初期，餐飲服務業受到商店關閉和客流量下降的嚴重影響。在此期間，許多餐廳經營者選擇簡化菜單以提高營運效率。正是由於這個原因，在此期間，Bantam Bagels 在他們最大的客戶處停產了。這種停產和疫情的持續影響改變了企業的經濟狀況。儘管投資支持 Bantam Bagels 在零售領域的成長，並且我們盡最大努力彌補餐飲服務領域主要客戶的損失，但我們無法找到可靠的業務獲利途徑。因此，我們做出了退出該業務的謹慎但艱難的決定。

I'll now turn the call over to Tom Pigott, our CFO, for his commentary on our third quarter financial results.

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長湯姆·皮戈特（Tom Pigott），請他對我們第三季的財務表現發表評論。

Thanks, Dave. Overall, the results for the quarter reflected strong top line performance, offset by higher costs resulting from significant inflationary impacts and supply chain challenges. Third quarter consolidated net sales increased by 12.9% to $403.5 million. This growth was driven by pricing actions taken in both segments.

謝謝，戴夫。總體而言，本季的業績反映了強勁的營收業績，但被嚴重通膨影響和供應鏈挑戰導致的成本上升所抵消。第三季綜合淨銷售額成長 12.9%，達到 4.035 億美元。這一增長是由兩個細分市場採取的定價行動所推動的。

Consolidated gross profit decreased by $22.2 million to $68.3 million. Gross margins declined by 840 basis points. The key drivers of the gross profit decline were the higher commodity inflation that outpaced pricing and increased supply chain costs. Inflation for commodities and packaging materials was up nearly 30%. The majority of the commodities we utilized were priced at or near 10-year highs.

綜合毛利減少 2,220 萬美元，至 6,830 萬美元。毛利率下降 840 個基點。毛利下降的主要驅動因素是大宗商品通膨率上升，其速度超過了定價和供應鏈成本的增加。大宗商品和包裝材料的通膨上漲了近30%。我們使用的大多數商品的價格都處於或接近 10 年高點。

Our significant exposure to dressings and by extension soybean oil, which was up notably, drove our inflationary impact higher than many of our peers. The soybean oil increase drove approximately half of our commodity cost inflation. This quarter, we also experienced a sequential increase in our freight costs. As it relates to pricing, we continue to execute against our revenue growth management program. As Dave highlighted, further revenue growth management activities are planned in the coming months to recover higher costs on soybean oil, eggs and other commodities in addition to the inflationary costs for freight and labor.

我們對調味品和大豆油的大量投資，大豆油的價格顯著上漲，使我們的通膨影響高於許多同行。豆油上漲推動了我們商品成本通膨的大約一半。本季度，我們的貨運成本也較上季成長。由於涉及定價，我們將繼續執行我們的收入成長管理計劃。正如戴夫所強調的那樣，除了貨運和勞動力的通膨成本之外，計劃在未來幾個月內進一步開展收入成長管理活動，以彌補豆油、雞蛋和其他大宗商品的較高成本。

The increase in supply chain costs during the quarter resulted from a number of factors. First, we experienced a high level of inflation in our factory labor and other manufacturing costs. The labor inflation was driven by our decision to raise wages to ensure we had adequate staffing to serve our customers in this tight labor market.

本季供應鏈成本增加是由多種因素造成的。首先，我們的工廠勞動力和其他製造成本經歷了高通膨。勞動力通膨是由於我們決定提高薪資，以確保我們有足夠的員工在這個緊張的勞動力市場上為客戶服務。

Second, our manufacturing costs were up due to operating challenges in this environment. We experienced lower overhead absorption in some of our facilities, cost for incremental personnel and other additional costs to support our customers. Our cost savings program has been hampered by efforts to react to the impacts of external demand and supply volatility at our facilities.

其次，由於這種環境下的營運挑戰，我們的製造成本上升了。我們的部分設施的管理費用、增量人員成本以及支援客戶的其他額外成本都較低。我們的成本節約計畫因應對外部需求和設施供應波動的影響而受到阻礙。

Third, we had higher freight and warehousing costs due to wage and fuel inflation and higher levels of inventories we built to improve service. Last, our co-manufacturing costs were up as we outsource more production to meet our growing demand for bottled sauces. As Dave highlighted, we're taking several actions to address these increases and improve our operations.

第三，由於工資和燃料通膨以及我們為改善服務而建立的庫存水準較高，我們的貨運和倉儲成本更高。最後，隨著我們外包更多生產以滿足對瓶裝醬料不斷增長的需求，我們的聯合製造成本上升。正如戴夫所強調的那樣，我們正在採取多項行動來解決這些成長問題並改善我們的營運。

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 2.6% or $1.4 million. This increase was driven by a higher level of investments to support the continued growth of our business. These investments included higher brokerage costs attributed to the increased sales and IT infrastructure improvements. Expenditures for Project Ascent, our ERP initiatives, totaled $10.3 million in the current year quarter versus $10.8 million in the prior year quarter.

銷售、一般和管理費用增加 2.6%，即 140 萬美元。這一成長是由更高水準的投資推動的，以支持我們業務的持續成長。這些投資包括因銷售額增加和 IT 基礎設施改善而增加的經紀成本。我們的 ERP 計畫 Ascent 的支出在本季總計為 1,030 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,080 萬美元。

The company recorded 2 special items this quarter related to the Bantam Bagels business. First, we recorded a noncash restructuring and impairment charge of $22.7 million. Impairment testing was triggered by our decision to explore strategic alternatives for this business. Due to its unusual nature, the restructuring and impairment charge was not allocated to our 2 reportable segments.

該公司本季記錄了 2 個與 Bantam Bagels 業務相關的特殊項目。首先，我們記錄了 2,270 萬美元的非現金重組和減損費用。我們決定探索該業務的策略替代方案，從而觸發了減損測試。由於其特殊性，重組和減損費用並未分配至我們的兩個可報告分部。

Second, we revalued the contingent consideration liability using fair value accounting. Based on that analysis, we reduced the current value of the projected payout by $1.3 million to 0, creating the income you see on the contingent consideration line of the P&L. We recorded this adjustment to our Foodservice segment. Consolidated operating income declined $45 million to a loss of $7.6 million due to the charges related to the Bantam Bagels business and the inflationary impacts and supply chain challenges I described.

其次，我們使用公允價值會計重估了或有對價負債。根據該分析，我們將預計支出的當前值減少了 130 萬美元，降至 0，從而創造了您在損益表或有對價線上看到的收入。我們將這項調整記錄到了我們的餐飲服務部門。由於與 Bantam Bagels 業務相關的費用以及我所描述的通貨膨脹影響和供應鏈挑戰，綜合營業收入下降了 4500 萬美元，達到虧損 760 萬美元。

Third quarter diluted earnings per share decreased $1.22 to a loss of $0.17. The decrease was driven by the operating income decline. The EPS impact of the restructuring and impairment was $0.63 per share, and the benefit for the change in consideration was $0.04 per share. Costs related to Project Ascent reduced EPS by $0.29 per share this quarter versus $0.30 in the prior year quarter. We estimate our tax rate for the fiscal fourth quarter to be 23%.

第三季攤薄每股收益下降 1.22 美元，虧損 0.17 美元。這一下降是由於營業收入下降所致。重組和減損對每股盈餘的影響為 0.63 美元，對價變動帶來的收益為每股 0.04 美元。與 Project Ascent 相關的成本使本季每股每股收益減少 0.29 美元，而去年同期每股收益為 0.30 美元。我們預計第四財季的稅率為 23%。

With regard to capital expenditures, year-to-date property additions totaled $104.9 million. For the fiscal year, we are forecasting capital expenditures of approximately $150 million. This forecast includes approximately $90 million for the Horse Cave expansion project that will help meet the increasing demand for our dressings and sauce products. In addition to investing in our business, we also returned funds to shareholders. Our quarterly cash dividend of $0.80 per share paid on March 31 represented a 7% increase from the prior year amount. Our enduring streak of annual dividend increases currently stands at 59 years. Our financial position remains strong as we finished the quarter debt-free with $67 million of cash on the balance sheet.

在資本支出方面，年初至今的財產新增總額為 1.049 億美元。我們預計本財年的資本支出約為 1.5 億美元。該預測包括用於 Horse Cave 擴建項目的約 9000 萬美元，該項目將有助於滿足對我們的調味品和醬料產品日益增長的需求。除了投資我們的業務外，我們還向股東返還資金。我們在 3 月 31 日支付的季度現金股利為每股 0.80 美元，比前一年增加了 7%。目前，我們連續 59 年持續增加年股股利。我們的財務狀況依然強勁，本季我們沒有負債，資產負債表上有 6,700 萬美元的現金。

To wrap up my commentary, our third quarter results reflected strong top line growth, the unfavorable impacts from significant inflation and broad-based supply chain challenges. We continue to address the inflationary cost increases with our revenue management program. And as Dave has shared, we have other discrete actions in place to address the supply chain challenges. At the same time, we are investing in the longer-term potential of our business.

最後，我們的第三季業績反映了強勁的營收成長、嚴重通膨和廣泛的供應鏈挑戰的不利影響。我們繼續透過收入管理計劃來解決通貨膨脹成本增加的問題。正如戴夫所分享的，我們還採取了其他離散行動來應對供應鏈挑戰。同時，我們正在投資於我們業務的長期潛力。

I'll now turn it back over to Dave for his closing remarks. Thank you.

現在我將把它轉回給戴夫，讓他作結束語。謝謝。

Thanks, Tom. As we look ahead, Lancaster Colony will continue to leverage the combined strength of our team, our operating strategy and our balance sheet in support of the 3 simple pillars of our growth plan: to accelerate our core business growth, to simplify our supply chain to reduce our cost and grow our margins and to expand our core with focused M&A and strategic licensing.

謝謝，湯姆。展望未來，蘭開斯特殖民地將繼續利用我們團隊的綜合實力、我們的營運策略和我們的資產負債表來支持我們成長計畫的三個簡單支柱：加速我們的核心業務成長，簡化我們的供應鏈降低我們的成本，增加我們的利潤，並透過集中併購和策略許可來擴大我們的核心。

Looking ahead to our fiscal fourth quarter, we expect that our pricing actions will contribute to sales gains in both Retail and the Foodservice segments. While sales volumes measured in pounds will comp to strong growth of 9% in our Retail segment and 29% in our Foodservice segment.

展望第四財季，我們預期我們的定價行動將有助於零售和餐飲服務領域的銷售成長。以英鎊計算的銷售將帶動我們的零售部門 9% 和食品服務部門 29% 的強勁成長。

We anticipate the net unfavorable impacts of higher commodity and packaging costs, increased freight and warehousing costs, supply chain challenges and higher labor costs will remain a headwind to our financial results in the coming quarter. The pricing actions we have implemented, along with our ongoing cost savings initiatives underway, will help to partially offset these higher costs.

我們預計商品和包裝成本上升、貨運和倉儲成本增加、供應鏈挑戰和勞動力成本上升的淨不利影響仍將是我們下一季財務業績的不利因素。我們實施的定價行動以及正在進行的成本節約措施將有助於部分抵銷這些較高的成本。

During the quarter, we expect to make material progress on 2 of our key strategic initiatives. First, our investment at our Horse Cave dressing and sauces facility remains on track for completion in the first half of fiscal year 2023. This project will not only allow us to keep pace with the tremendous growth potential of our sauces and dressings platform, but also allow us to do so in a more automated and cost-effective manner.

在本季度，我們預計在兩項關鍵策略舉措上取得實質進展。首先，我們對 Horse Cave 調味品和調味品工廠的投資仍有望在 2023 財年上半年完成。和更具成本效益的方式做到這一點。

Second, I'm pleased to share that the implementation phase of our ERP initiative, Project Ascent, remains on track to begin in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. We are already preparing for the cutover by increasing our finished goods inventory. In the month of June, we may see some incremental sales as customers adjust their order patterns to build inventory in advance of our go-live dates.

其次，我很高興地告訴大家，我們的 ERP 計畫「Project Ascent」的實施階段仍有望在 2023 財年第一季開始。在 6 月份，隨著客戶調整訂單模式以在我們的上線日期之前建立庫存，我們可能會看到一些增量銷售。

Taking a step back, while our third quarter financial performance fell short of our expectations, we have action plans underway to help us overcome the many challenges of the current operating environment. Longer term, I'm confident that our business remains very well positioned for the future with category-leading retail brands, a rapidly growing consumer-centric Retail licensing program and a Foodservice business that supplies many of the leading and fastest-growing national chain restaurant accounts in the country. When combined with our investments in capacity and infrastructure, we have a strong and unique platform to deliver profitable growth for years to come.

退一步來說，雖然我們第三季的財務表現未達到我們的預期，但我們正在製定行動計劃，以幫助我們克服當前營運環境的許多挑戰。從長遠來看，我相信我們的業務在未來仍處於有利地位，擁有類別領先的零售品牌、快速增長的以消費者為中心的零售許可計劃以及為許多領先且增長最快的全國連鎖餐廳提供服務的餐飲服務業務國內的帳戶。與我們在產能和基礎設施方面的投資相結合，我們擁有一個強大而獨特的平台，可以在未來幾年實現盈利增長。

In closing, I'd like to express my sincere thanks for the ongoing efforts of the entire Lancaster Colony team, and we've navigated through unprecedented cost inflation, demand fluctuations and supply chain disruptions. Our focus remains on the health, safety and welfare of our employees, continuing to play our role in the country's vital food supply chain and preparing our business for the future.

最後，我要對整個蘭開斯特殖民地團隊的持續努力表示誠摯的感謝，我們已經度過了前所未有的成本膨脹、需求波動和供應鏈中斷的困境。我們的重點仍然是員工的健康、安全和福利，繼續在國家重要的食品供應鏈中發揮作用，並為未來的業務做好準備。

This concludes our prepared remarks for today, and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

我們今天準備的演講到此結束，我們很樂意回答您可能提出的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Todd Brooks。

A couple of quick questions, if I can. If you just look at the magnitude of the inflation that you're facing, kind of the intra-quarter pressures that developed over the course of the March quarter and then marry that up with where you are currently contracted or protected to some extent, can we talk about what -- how this inflation outlook is going to carry forward as you look at what repricings could be as we head towards fiscal '23, knowing it's a fluid situation?

如果可以的話，我想問幾個簡單的問題。如果你只看一下你所面臨的通貨膨脹的程度，例如三月份季度中產生的季度內壓力，然後將其與你目前在某種程度上簽訂合約或受到保護的地方結合起來，可以我們討論的是，當您考慮到我們即將進入23 財年時，在知道情況不穩定的情況下，這種通膨前景將如何發展？

So maybe the easiest way to think about this, Todd, is to lay out a bridge in terms of the margin pressure that we've seen in the most recent quarter and then use that as a sort of a place, a platform to go forward.

因此，托德，也許思考這個問題的最簡單方法就是根據我們在最近一個季度看到的利潤壓力來建立一座橋樑，然後將其用作前進的一個地方、一個平台。

Tom, do you want to walk through that?

湯姆，你想經歷一下嗎？

Yes, sure. So Todd, the -- certainly, as we set up the quarter, we had anticipated being more in a PNOC-neutral position, but with the rapid run-up in freight costs (inaudible) costs and other commodities, we weren't -- we didn't quite get there this quarter. So I'll take you through some of the pieces on the overall margin and then let Dave talk about more of the outlook. So when you just take into account the amount of commodity inflation and pricing that we had, you add about $40 million to the revenue line and $40 million of the cost line, that gives you about 300 basis points of margin dilution that we experienced.

是的，當然。所以，托德，當然，在我們設定本季時，我們預計會更加處於 PNOC 中立的位置，但隨著貨運成本（聽不清楚）和其他商品的快速上漲，我們並沒有 - - 本季度我們還沒有完全實現這個目標。因此，我將帶您了解有關整體利潤率的一些內容，然後讓戴夫談談更多的前景。因此，當你考慮到我們的商品通膨和定價量時，你會在收入線中增加約 4000 萬美元，在成本線中增加約 4000 萬美元，這會讓我們經歷的利潤稀釋約 300 個基點。

And then the piece where we're effectively behind in terms of some of the conversion and freight inflation and some of the other factors, that was about 350 basis points of dilution. Then you look at the co-man impacts, that was about 100 basis points, and then some of the supply chain challenges make up the balance of the dilution we experienced in the quarter.

然後，我們在一些轉換和運費通膨以及其他一些因素方面實際上落後了，稀釋程度約為 350 個基點。然後你看看共同影響，大約是 100 個基點，然後一些供應鏈挑戰彌補了我們在本季度經歷的稀釋的平衡。

I'll stop there and let Dave talk a little bit about kind of the revenue management program and the margin recovery aspects of it.

我就到此為止，讓戴夫談談收入管理計劃及其利潤回收方面的問題。

Yes. So -- and maybe just to build on what Tom was saying, if you look at it more broadly, what we're really seeing on our aggregate inflation is 2/3 of the pressure we're seeing is coming from edible oils and in wheat, of that, that total number that we're talking about here. And Todd, as we look sort of into the future and we look at the current spot rate and we look at the forward rates on those items, for lots of reasons that are available out there in the news, we expect that pressure to continue.

是的。因此，也許只是以湯姆所說的為基礎，如果你更廣泛地看待它，我們真正看到的總通膨壓力有 2/3 來自食用油和小麥，其中，我們在這裡討論的總數。托德，當我們展望未來時，我們著眼於當前的即期匯率，我們著眼於這些項目的遠期匯率，出於新聞中的許多原因，我們預計這種壓力將持續下去。

So as we think about the tools we're going to use on a go-forward basis to manage it, the first and most important of those tools will remain revenue growth management and pricing. And as we outlined in our script, we have pricing actions that are taking place every single quarter in our Foodservice business.

因此，當我們考慮未來將使用哪些工具來管理它時，這些工具中第一個也是最重要的仍然是收入成長管理和定價。正如我們在腳本中概述的那樣，我們的餐飲服務業務每季都會採取定價行動。

And then in our Retail business, we passed along another price increase on our [dough] business, and we're prepping another price increase that will go into effect in our dressing business. And I think what you can expect to see, really, as long as we remain in a sustained inflationary environment, we're going to continue to press price increases multiple times a year as long as we feel like the consumers are going to be able to withstand them. That needs to be our #1 weapon to combat this inflation.

然後在我們的零售業務中，我們對[麵團]業務進行了另一次提價，並且我們正在準備另一次提價，這將在我們的調味業務中生效。我認為，實際上，只要我們仍然處於持續的通膨環境中，您就可以期望看到，只要我們認為消費者能夠承受，我們就將繼續每年多次推動價格上漲來承受他們。這需要成為我們對抗通貨膨脹的第一個武器。

Now beyond the use of revenue growth management and pricing, there are other tools that we're going to continue to use as well. Number 1 is going to be the value engineering work that we're going to be doing inside of our factories. And as wage rates are going up, transportation rates are going up, et cetera, et cetera, what we're seeing is a lot of projects for automation that were in our pipeline, all of a sudden are becoming far more compelling. Those are being worked into the queue to be activated.

現在，除了使用收入成長管理和定價之外，我們還將繼續使用其他工具。第一是我們將在工廠內部進行的價值工程工作。隨著工資率的上升，運輸費率的上升等等，我們看到的是我們正在醞釀的許多自動化項目突然變得更加引人注目。這些正在被放入隊列中以待激活。

But given the nature of this inflation that we're seeing, particularly around things like grains and oils, we're finding that it's increasingly important to look beyond just the way we're manufacturing our products to look and going -- to look at the intrinsic nature of our products ourselves.

但考慮到我們所看到的通貨膨脹的性質，特別是在穀物和石油等方面，我們發現越來越重要的是超越我們製造產品的方式來審視和審視——審視我們產品本身的內在本質。

We're looking at, hey, are there ways that we can lightweight plastic in our bottles? Are there ways that we can down-gauge the corrugates in our boxes? And we're also actually even looking at formulas to say, are there things that we can do to the formulas that won't be considered a diminution of value to the consumer, let's say, and the way mom experiences the product?

我們正在考慮，嘿，有沒有辦法可以減輕瓶子中塑膠的重量？有沒有辦法可以縮小紙箱中瓦楞紙的厚度？事實上，我們甚至還在研究配方，我們是否可以對配方做一些事情，而不會被認為會降低消費者的價值，比如說，以及媽媽體驗產品的方式？

But I'll give you a case in point. We have products today that are made with canola, and canola is actually experiencing more pressure than soy. We're in the process of reviewing those formulas, testing them with consumers and preparing those for a switch. So if you look at it, our view is, we're going to continue for the foreseeable future to see pressure on the raw commodities. It's going to be -- we remain to be seen what happens with labor and things like that. But our #1 tool is pricing. And then beyond that, it's going to be value engineering in our factories through automation and then product reengineering to figure out where can we strip out nonvalue-added costs in the products.

但我會給你一個恰當的例子。我們今天的產品是用油菜籽製成的，油菜籽實際上比大豆承受更大的壓力。我們正在審查這些配方，與消費者一起進行測試，並為轉換做好準備。因此，如果你仔細觀察，我們的觀點是，在可預見的未來，我們將繼續看到原料面臨的壓力。勞工和類似的事情會發生什麼，我們還有待觀察。但我們的第一個工具是定價。除此之外，我們的工廠將透過自動化進行價值工程，然後進行產品重新設計，以找出我們可以在哪裡消除產品中的非增值成本。

Yes. As it relates to Q4, we do see a significant step-up in pricing versus Q3 with the Retail action and the follow-through of the Foodservice pricing -- contractual pricing.

是的。就第四季度而言，我們確實看到零售行動和後續的餐飲服務定價（合約定價）的定價與第三季相比有了顯著提升。

Maybe it's worth reviewing what pricing was maybe Q2 into Q3 and then what you're looking at in Q4, so that we could dimensionalize that for each segment?

也許值得回顧一下第二季到第三季的定價，然後您在第四季看到的定價，以便我們可以對每個細分市場進行維度化？

Yes. So -- yes, I'll give it to you by segment. So in Q2, in Retail, we had about 6% pricing, similar level in Q3 and then in Q4, we step up close to 8%. And then for Foodservice in Q2 13.5%; in Q3, a little over 20%; and then Q4, we're into the mid-20s.

是的。所以——是的，我會分段給你。因此，在第二季度，零售領域，我們的定價約為 6%，與第三季度的水平類似，然後在第四季度，我們的定價接近 8%。其次是餐飲服務，第二季為 13.5%；第三季略高於20%；然後第四季度，我們進入了 20 多歲。

Okay. Great. One more quick 1 and then I'll go back in queue. Dave, you talked about taking these price increases as long as the end customer can bear it, are you seeing any signs of elasticity in the Retail business as the price increases have come into effect? Is private label growing market share against branded products? Just any take on the consumer's willingness to bear the additional price still in this environment?

好的。偉大的。再快點 1，然後我就回去排隊了。戴夫，您談到只要最終客戶能夠承受，就可以接受這些價格上漲，隨著價格上漲的生效，您是否看到零售業務出現任何彈性跡象？自有品牌相對於品牌產品的市佔率是否不斷成長？在這種環境下，消費者是否願意承擔額外的價格？

First, on the elasticities in consumers. So far, the pricing actions are being accepted in a way that's exceeded our base elasticity assumptions. Now how it plays out varies a little bit more from product to product. We have some categories that are a little bit more susceptible to private label than others. What I would share with you, though, is even in those categories, private label is going up on a percentage basis, at least as much as we are, if not more. What we're watching, though, isn't the percentage increase, it's the price gap versus private label.

首先，關於消費者的彈性。到目前為止，定價行為被接受的方式超出了我們的基本彈性假設。現在，不同產品的表現略有不同。我們有一些類別比其他類別更容易受到自有品牌的影響。不過，我想與您分享的是，即使在這些類別中，自有品牌也在按百分比增長，至少與我們一樣多，甚至更多。不過，我們關注的不是百分比成長，而是與自有品牌的價格差距。

But so far, I'm pleased to share that on our Retail business, consumers are hanging in there with us. And if you look at our Foodservice business, which we can get into a little bit more maybe in a subsequent question, we haven't seen a big drop off because of consumer pressure yet either.

但到目前為止，我很高興與大家分享，在我們的零售業務中，消費者與我們保持聯繫。如果你看看我們的餐飲服務業務，我們可能會在接下來的問題中進一步討論這項業務，我們還沒有看到由於消費者壓力而大幅下降。

And your next question comes from Ryan Bell with Consumer Edge Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Consumer Edge Research 的 Ryan Bell。

As you look at the volume trends within the Foodservice business throughout the quarter, would you be able to talk about maybe the cadence of that, if there were any impacts from surges in COVID cases and then how that sort of started out in the fourth quarter?

當您查看整個季度餐飲服務業務的數量趨勢時，您能否談談其節奏、新冠病例激增是否有任何影響以及這種情況在第四季度是如何開始的？

Yes. If you look at the very beginning of the quarter, let's say, December into January, pre-Omicron, we actually saw Foodservice was expanding on a transaction basis, and it seemed quite healthy. Omicron seemed to spike, let's say, in the middle of the quarter. It took off in the latter part of January and it was really an event through the back half of January into February. As we got into March, you could sort of see the impact of Omicron kind of run its course and the business kind of carry forward.

是的。如果你看一下本季初，比如說，12 月到 1 月，Omicron 之前，我們實際上看到餐飲服務正在交易基礎上擴張，而且看起來相當健康。可以說，Omicron 似乎在本季中期出現了飆升。它在一月下半月開始，這實際上是一個從一月下半月到二月的事件。進入 3 月份，您可以看到 Omicron 的影響正在順其自然，業務也在不斷發展。

Now as we think about the impact on Foodservice, here's what my observation is: I don't think Omicron necessarily changed our consumer behavior. It impacted in Foodservice, our operator's ability to staff and run the restaurants. So if you look at their volume and transaction trends during that period, you might see some of those same sort of trends because of their ability to staff the restaurants, not because people were necessarily pulling back on how they were eating.

現在，當我們思考對餐飲服務的影響時，我的觀察是：我認為 Omicron 不一定會改變我們的消費者行為。它影響了餐飲服務、我們業者配備人員和經營餐廳的能力。因此，如果您觀察該時期他們的數量和交易趨勢，您可能會看到一些相同的趨勢，因為他們有能力為餐廳配備人員，而不是因為人們必然會減少飲食方式。

Now as we've looked at the most recent few weeks, even after the quarter is closed into April, what we're seeing generally across our consumer segment or our Foodservice segment is that sales are continuing to grow, really driven by pricing. But if you look at the transaction trends, the transaction trends are probably down, let's say, low single digits; in some cases, mid-single digits.

現在，正如我們最近幾週的情況來看，即使在該季度結束至四月份之後，我們在消費者細分市場或食品服務細分市場中普遍看到的是，銷售額仍在持續增長，這實際上是由定價推動的。但如果你看交易趨勢，交易趨勢可能會下降，比如說低個位數；在某些情況下，中間個位數。

Now there are some winners that are doing a little better, some losers that are doing a little bit worse, but we're also comping a point in time where, if you remember, last year right now, this very same week, QSR transactions were up about 50%, right? So we're comping against a really elevated base in the same period. But as you're looking at the model on Foodservice and you're estimating transactions, right now, sales up, let's call it, mid-single digits, somewhere around there, particularly in the QSR space transactions probably off low single digits with some winners and losers in there, but that gives you a rough idea of where we are.

現在有一些贏家做得更好一些，有些輸家做得更差一些，但我們也在比較一個時間點，如果你還記得的話，去年的現在，就在同一周，QSR 交易上漲了大約50%，對嗎？因此，我們正在與同一時期的一個真正升高的基數進行比較。但是，當您查看餐飲服務的模型並估計交易量時，現在，銷售額上升，我們稱之為中個位數，在附近的某個地方，特別是在QSR 領域，交易量可能會低於低個位數，其中一些那裡有贏家和輸家，但這可以讓你大致了解我們的處境。

And as you're thinking about your performance, I think, in the past, you've skewed towards areas that have recovered faster and more growing faster. Would you talk about or think about having share gains within Foodservice?

當你考慮自己的表現時，我認為，在過去，你傾向於那些恢復得更快、成長得更快的領域。您會談論或考慮在餐飲服務領域獲得份額收益嗎？

Well, what I would tell you is that our -- historically, when you look at our business, when we've gone through more troubling financial times, the QSR segment has over -- outperformed midscale and casual dining just because I believe consumers viewed QSR as a better value. They were inclined to trade down from some of the other more expensive restaurants. We believe that thesis will hold up if we move towards a recession. If you look at where we are right now, I think the trends are -- there isn't a lot of movement back and forth between the segments that we can discern right now. It looks like -- particularly when you look against the prior couple of years at COVID, all 3 segments seem to be sort of motoring forward.

好吧，我要告訴你的是，我們的——從歷史上看，當你看看我們的業務時，當我們經歷了更困難的金融時期時，快餐市場已經結束——表現優於中檔和休閒餐飲，只是因為我相信消費者認為QSR 有更好的價值。他們傾向於從其他一些更昂貴的餐廳降價購買。我們相信，如果我們走向衰退，這論點將會站得住腳。如果你看看我們現在所處的位置，我認為趨勢是——我們現在可以辨別的細分市場之間沒有太多來回移動。看起來——特別是當你對比前幾年的新冠疫情時，所有三個部分似乎都在向前發展。

And just turning to the Retail business and the license partnership, where do you think you see the most opportunity going forward? I understand that Chick-fil-A is really big. It seems like it has a lot of legs still left behind it. Would you see it being in package mix assortment, flavor expansion or more of an even split between the 2?

就零售業務和授權合作夥伴關係而言，您認為未來最大的機會在哪裡？我知道福來雞確實很大。看起來它還剩下很多腿。您會認為它是混合包裝、風味擴展還是兩者之間的平均分配？

I think it's going to be a combination of all that. We can tell you that we're readying a range of items that we're going to be launching in the fall and then shortly thereafter. And these are going to be timed with the start-up of our Horse Cave facility. But what you can expect to see, for example, on Chick-fil-A, are importantly a larger size that's going to be coming out into the marketplace and then that barbecue sauce item that we shared with you a couple of calls ago. Both of those are going to be coming out within the next, let's call it, 9 months or so.

我認為這將是所有這些的結合。我們可以告訴您，我們正在準備一系列產品，我們將在秋季和不久後推出。這些將與我們的 Horse Cave 設施啟動同時進行。但你可以期待看到的，例如，在 Chick-fil-A 上，重要的是，更大的尺寸將進入市場，然後是我們在幾次電話前與你分享的燒烤醬產品。這兩部作品都將在接下來的 9 個月左右的時間內推出。

And they're going to play an important role for a couple of reasons. One, I think they're going to meet unique needs, they're going to provide greater holding power on the shelf, but it's also going to provide an opportunity for us to go visit -- revisit planograms with all of our retail customers and ideally create more facings on the shelf, which will just improve the overall base performance.

由於幾個原因，他們將發揮重要作用。第一，我認為它們將滿足獨特的需求，它們將在貨架上提供更大的支撐力，但它也將為我們提供一個參觀的機會——與我們所有的零售客戶一起重新審視貨架圖，理想情況下，在架子上創建更多飾面，這只會提高整體基礎性能。

If we look at other products moving around the horn on Buffalo Wild Wings, this is a product that's just taken off and performed beautifully. Here, again, we're ready in new items on this, and we're excited about where we can go here. And then finally, even on Olive Garden, we're in the process of readying new items, each of which provide incremental shelf space, which provide access to new occasions.

如果我們看看 Buffalo Wild Wings 上的其他產品，就會發現這是一款剛起飛且表現出色的產品。在這裡，我們再次準備好新的項目，我們對我們可以去哪裡感到興奮。 最後，即使在橄欖園，我們也正在準備新物品，每件物品都提供增量的貨架空間，從而提供進入新場合的機會。

So what you can expect to see over the next year is really a continued expansion on all of those licenses. And one thing that I'm not prepared to share with you is, we're also looking at other categories with some of our partners to figure out where there could be green space that's complementary.

因此，您可以期望在明年看到的是所有這些許可證的持續擴展。我不准備與您分享的一件事是，我們還在與一些合作夥伴一起研究其他類別，以找出哪裡可以有互補的綠色空間。

And I think the last 1 for me, when you're thinking about the margins, particularly gross margins on a sequential basis, obviously, there are impacts in 3Q. Just thinking about it in sort of the year-over-year context and sequentially, is there any perspective that you'd be able to provide for the fourth quarter and then just broadly speaking for fiscal '23?

我認為最後一個對我來說，當你考慮利潤率，特別是連續的毛利率時，顯然，第三季會產生影響。只是從同比的角度和順序來考慮，您是否能夠為第四季度以及廣義上的 23 財年提供任何觀點？

Yes. What I would share with you is that in the fourth quarter, obviously, it's difficult to forecast in this environment. Some of the things we've hit on, you've got on the headwind side, you've got the commodity inflation, you've got the labor inflation, the supply chain challenges. But from tailwinds, we do have more pricing, and we do have all of those actions, as Dave highlighted, to improve performance. From what we see today, we do see both the sequential improvement versus Q3 and certainly a reduction in the level of decline that we experienced versus Q3 in Q4.

是的。我想與大家分享的是，顯然，在這種環境下很難預測第四季的情況。我們遇到的一些問題，有逆風的一面，有商品通膨、勞動力通膨、供應鏈挑戰。但從順風順水的角度來看，我們確實有更多的定價，正如戴夫所強調的那樣，我們確實採取了所有這些行動來提高績效。從我們今天看到的情況來看，我們確實看到了第四季度與第三季度相比的連續改善，當然也看到了第四季度與第三季度相比下降程度的減少。

There are no further questions. We will now turn the call back to Mr. Ciesinski for concluding comments.

沒有其他問題了。我們現在將把電話轉回西辛斯基先生以徵求結論意見。

Well, thank you for joining our call today, and we look forward to meeting with you again in August when we review our fourth quarter results and provide you an outlook on our fiscal year 2023. Thank you.

好的，感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議，我們期待在 8 月再次與您會面，屆時我們將回顧第四季度的業績並向您提供 2023 財年的展望。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。