Lifecore Biomedical Inc (LFCR) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for joining Lifecore's Fiscal 2023 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Now I'd like to turn the call over to Jeff Sonnek, Investor Relations at ICR.

早上好，感謝您參加 Lifecore 的 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）現在我想將電話轉給 ICR 投資者關係部的 Jeff Sonnek。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Lifecore Biomedical's Fourth Quarter and Full Year Fiscal 2023 Earnings Results. Hosting the call today from the company are Jim Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer; and John Morberg, Chief Financial Officer.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們討論 Lifecore Biomedical 的第四季度和全年 2023 財年盈利結果。今天主持公司電話會議的是總裁兼首席執行官吉姆·霍爾 (Jim Hall)；和首席財務官約翰·莫伯格。

Before we begin today, I would like to remind everyone of the safe harbor statement. Certain statements made in the course of this conference call contain forward-looking statements. It's important to note that the company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC, including, but not limited to, the company's Form 10-K/A for fiscal year 2023 and their subsequent periodic reports.

在今天開始之前，我想提醒大家注意安全港聲明。本次電話會議期間所做的某些陳述包含前瞻性陳述。值得注意的是，該公司的實際結果可能與此類前瞻性聲明中的預測存在重大差異。公司不時向 SEC 提交的文件中包含有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中的結果存在重大差異的風險因素的其他信息，包括但不限於公司的 10-K/A 表格2023 財年及其後續定期報告。

Finally, in light of the company's ongoing exploration of strategic alternatives, management will not be conducting a live Q&A session on today's call.

最後，鑑於該公司正在探索戰略替代方案，管理層將不會在今天的電話會議上進行現場問答環節。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jim Hall, Chief Executive Officer. Jim?

接下來，我想將電話轉給首席執行官吉姆·霍爾 (Jim Hall)。吉姆？

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and year-end update.

謝謝你，傑夫。大家早上好，感謝您接受我們的 2023 財年第四季度和年終更新。

Today, I'll briefly touch on our fiscal 2023 fourth quarter and year-end results and provide an update on our development portfolio.

今天，我將簡要介紹我們 2023 財年第四季度和年終業績，並提供我們開發組合的最新信息。

Before I do so, I want to briefly address the outstanding strategic review process, which remains ongoing. We aren't in a position today to provide any updates but we remain focused on continuing to execute on our business plan and that the Board continues its evaluation of potential strategic alternatives so as to determine the best path forward to maximize value for our stockholders.

在此之前，我想簡要介紹一下仍在進行中的尚未完成的戰略審查流程。我們今天無法提供任何更新，但我們仍然專注於繼續執行我們的業務計劃，並且董事會繼續評估潛在的戰略替代方案，以確定為股東實現價值最大化的最佳前進道路。

As you recall from our last call, at the end of May, we took significant step forward with the execution of an expanded supply agreement with significant long-term customer outcome as well as completing a comprehensive restructuring of our debt arrangements in which Alcon became our primary lender. These transactions were significant in creating a more stable and sustainable capital structure for Lifecore. These transactions also brought some added complexity to our year-end reporting which is the primary reason for the delay in providing you with our full year fiscal 2023 update.

正如您在5 月底的上次電話會議中所回憶的那樣，我們向前邁出了重要一步，執行了一項擴大供應協議，為客戶帶來了重大的長期成果，並完成了債務安排的全面重組，其中愛爾康成為我們的債務安排。主要貸款人。這些交易對於為 Lifecore 創建更加穩定和可持續的資本結構具有重要意義。這些交易還給我們的年終報告帶來了一些額外的複雜性，這是我們延遲向您提供 2023 財年全年更新的主要原因。

In the fiscal '23 fourth quarter, Lifecore generated segment revenue of $31.5 million and segment adjusted EBITDA of $6.1 million, both of which were consistent with our expectations and the cadence that we disclosed during our third quarter call.

在 23 財年第四季度，Lifecore 的部門收入為 3150 萬美元，部門調整後 EBITDA 為 610 萬美元，這兩者都符合我們的預期以及我們在第三季度電話會議中披露的節奏。

We believe our business remains very well positioned as a fully integrated CDMO with highly differentiated capabilities for the development, fill and finish of complex sterile injectable grade pharmaceutical products. These technical capabilities have been honed from our more than 40 years of experience in building a premier pharmaceutical injectable grade hyaluronic acid manufacturing platform with a focus on complex and highly regulated products.

我們相信，我們的業務仍然處於非常有利的地位，作為一個完全集成的 CDMO，具有高度差異化的能力，用於開發、填充和完成複雜的無菌注射級藥品。這些技術能力是我們在構建一流的醫藥注射級透明質酸製造平台（重點關注複雜且高度監管的產品）方面擁有 40 多年經驗的磨練。

We continue to believe that our unique expertise, coupled with ongoing industry trends towards outsourcing of new drug development and our 4 decades of experience in creating a world-class quality management system, positions Lifecore as a preferred partner to provide CDMO services for new injectable drug applications.

我們仍然相信，我們獨特的專業知識，加上當前新藥開發外包的行業趨勢，以及我們在創建世界一流質量管理體系方面 4 年來的經驗，使 Lifecore 成為為新註射藥物提供 CDMO 服務的首選合作夥伴應用程序。

In fact, Lifecore is the only major manufacturer of pharmaceutical injectable-grade HA, with injectable CDMO expertise in the market today. Approximately 55% of all new drug applications are injectables and prefilled syringe demand is growing at an estimated 13% compound annual rate according to pharma projects. Given the industry's limited specialized injectable drug manufacturing capacity, we intend to continue to take full advantage of this incredible opportunity and deliver much needed capacity that we've been investing in during the past few years.

事實上，Lifecore 是當今市場上唯一一家擁有註射 CDMO 專業知識的醫藥注射級 HA 的主要製造商。大約 55% 的新藥應用是注射劑，根據製藥項目，預充式註射器的需求預計以 13% 的複合年增長率增長。鑑於該行業專業注射藥物生產能力有限，我們打算繼續充分利用這一難以置信的機會，並提供我們在過去幾年中一直投資的急需產能。

Overall, our development portfolio of active projects advanced nicely in the fourth quarter with the addition of several later-stage projects. In total, as of the end of our fiscal year in May, our active development projects increased by 5 to 29. These 5 new projects are also with 5 new customers, which brought our development customer count as of year-end up to 27. These projects are spread across early phase clinical development with 7 projects, Phase I and II clinical development with 8 projects and Phase III clinical development and scale up commercial validation activity with 14 projects.

總體而言，我們的活躍項目開發組合在第四季度取得了良好進展，增加了幾個後期項目。總的來說，截至5 財年末，我們的活躍開發項目增加了5 個，達到29 個。這5 個新項目還帶來了5 個新客戶，這使我們截至年底的開發客戶數量達到27 個。這些項目分佈在早期臨床開發（7個項目）、I期和II期臨床開發（8個項目）以及III期臨床開發和擴大商業驗證活動（14個項目）。

We continue to see an active project pipeline and continue work on the velocity at which we close our new project opportunities. As a result, we expect to add several new projects to our development portfolio by the end of our first quarter of fiscal '24.

我們繼續看到活躍的項目渠道，並繼續努力加快關閉新項目機會的速度。因此，我們預計到 24 財年第一季度末，將在我們的開發組合中添加幾個新項目。

Our team is doing a great job ramping up commercial presence in the market. As we've discussed several times over the past year, we believe our investments in our business development team are paying dividends in terms of our project pipeline. Our 2 new isolator fillers remain on track which broaden our opportunity set in a significant way as a request for usage of that category of fillers for customers' projects are in particularly high demand.

我們的團隊在擴大市場商業影響力方面做得非常出色。正如我們在過去一年中多次討論的那樣，我們相信我們對業務開發團隊的投資正在為我們的項目管道帶來紅利。我們的 2 種新型隔離器填料仍在正常運行，這極大地拓寬了我們的機會，因為客戶項目對使用此類填料的需求特別高。

Our approach has shifted in response to that. We've continued to evaluate and target our prospective opportunities with the increased capacity represented by those fillers in mind as we look toward the future state with more optimized and balanced capacity. Our targeted and focused sales approach has highlighted and identified 44 prospective projects and our development opportunity pipeline as of the end of the fiscal fourth quarter that are as diverse and impactful as we've ever had at Lifecore.

為此，我們的方法發生了轉變。當我們以更優化和平衡的產能展望未來狀態時，我們將繼續評估和瞄准我們的潛在機會，並牢記這些填充物所代表的增加的產能。截至第四財季末，我們有針對性和集中的銷售方法突出並確定了 44 個潛在項目和我們的開發機會渠道，這些項目和我們在 Lifecore 所擁有的一樣多樣化和有影響力。

These opportunities span multiple end markets, classes of drugs and medical devices and with an assortment of companies, both large and small, which we believe speaks to the attractive CDMO capabilities within Lifecore's growing expertise that the pharma industry is actively seeking in a CDMO partner. This is especially exciting as we work on leveraging our expanded set of capabilities. We are seeing great interest from potential customers who are working on drug products which represents approximately half of our current development opportunity pipeline and includes the potential to expand our relationships with some of the larger pharma companies in the industry.

這些機會跨越多個終端市場、藥品和醫療器械類別，以及各種大大小小的公司，我們相信這說明了Lifecore 不斷增長的專業知識中具有吸引力的CDMO 能力，製藥行業正在積極尋求CDMO 合作夥伴。當我們致力於利用我們擴展的功能時，這尤其令人興奮。我們看到正在研究藥品的潛在客戶表現出極大的興趣，這代表了我們當前開發機會渠道的大約一半，並且包括擴大我們與業內一些較大製藥公司的關係的潛力。

But we also continue to see substantial interest from customers who want to utilize our HA expertise for highly viscous products. We are making progress on opening path to other segments of the market that we previously may not have had the ability to execute and refining our pipeline to focus on opportunities that we believe are uniquely situated to capitalize upon.

但我們也繼續看到希望利用我們的 HA 專業知識來生產高粘度產品的客戶的濃厚興趣。我們正在為進入其他市場領域取得進展，而我們以前可能沒有能力執行和完善我們的產品線，以專注於我們認為具有獨特優勢的機會。

When combined with our unique expertise working with difficult materials, we feel like we are in an extremely strong position. In terms of our growth and ability to meet customers' needs contemplated in our development portfolio, we continue to invest in capacity. Today, our theoretical filling capacity remains at 22 million units versus demand of 8 million to 10 million units that we expect will be fully utilized over the next few years with projects within our existing development portfolio.

結合我們處理難加工材料的獨特專業知識，我們感覺自己處於極其有利的地位。就我們的發展和滿足開發組合中客戶需求的能力而言，我們將繼續投資於產能。如今，我們的理論填充能力仍保持在 2200 萬個單位，而需求量為 800 萬至 1000 萬個單位，我們預計未來幾年我們現有開發組合中的項目將充分利用這一需求。

As such, we need to keep our eye on the near and long term, given lead times with installing new capacity and the necessary human capital that's required to operate these higher levels.

因此，考慮到安裝新產能的交付時間以及運營這些更高水平所需的必要人力資本，我們需要密切關注近期和長期。

We have invested in 2 new isolator fillers, a 5-head and a 10-head that have been manufactured and are going through the final stages of factory acceptance testing with anticipated delivery dates this fall. Our 5-head isolated filler and new [film] room are planned to be GMP ready by Q1 of calendar 2024. We believe that these fillers will allow us to double our theoretical capacity to approximately 45 million units putting Lifecore in a great position to meet market needs and optimize our production across our manufacturing footprint.

我們投資了 2 個新的隔離器填料，一個 5 頭和一個 10 頭，這些填料已經製造出來，正在進入工廠驗收測試的最後階段，預計交付日期在今年秋天。我們的5 頭隔離式灌裝機和新的[薄膜]室計劃在2024 年第一季度之前完成GMP 準備。我們相信，這些灌裝機將使我們的理論產能翻一番，達到約4500 萬件，使Lifecore 處於有利地位，可以滿足市場需求並優化我們整個製造足蹟的生產。

Another capacity investment is related to our fermentation production. We are in the process of moving from a single shift fermentation production staff to hiring a full 24/7 staff to increase our sterile HA capacity by 50% by June 2024 to address the increased HA volume requirements associated with our expanded supply agreement with Alcon.

另一個產能投資與我們的發酵生產有關。我們正在從單班發酵生產人員轉向僱用全天24/7 的員工，以便到2024 年6 月將我們的無菌HA 產能增加50%，以滿足與愛爾康擴大供應協議相關的增加的HA 數量需求。

Along with capacity enhancements, we continue to build out our organizational capabilities to attract new talent and develop the team we already have in place. Our Lifecore University training program is a key element of that, as is our Lean certification program, which continues to elevate our team. We are proud of the 10 individuals who are granted their lean practitioner certification and having an additional lean certification training group stage to start November.

隨著能力的增強，我們繼續增強我們的組織能力，以吸引新人才並發展我們現有的團隊。我們的 Lifecore 大學培訓計劃是其中的關鍵要素，我們的精益認證計劃也是如此，它不斷提升我們的團隊。我們為 10 名獲得精益從業者認證的個人感到自豪，並在 11 月開始進行額外的精益認證培訓小組階段。

Our operational excellence team continues to focus on creating metrics that matter, enhancing our training program and creating an efficient environment for enhanced cross-functional communication. With our portfolio of current development projects and the pipeline of opportunities we are seeing, the new fillers will be very timely to assist Lifecore and fulfilling our customers' forecasted commercial units which we see on the horizon.

我們的卓越運營團隊繼續專注於創建重要的指標、加強我們的培訓計劃並為加強跨職能溝通創造高效的環境。憑藉我們當前的開發項目組合和我們所看到的一系列機會，新的填充劑將非常及時地幫助 Lifecore 並實現我們客戶對即將到來的商業單位的預測。

Once again, we believe Lifecore is well positioned to take advantage of the strong industry fundamentals and customers' projects as they progress through development and into commercialization. We believe this position will translate into significant revenue-generating potential in FY '24 and beyond.

我們再次相信，Lifecore 處於有利地位，能夠在開發和商業化進程中充分利用強大的行業基礎和客戶項目。我們相信這一地位將在 24 財年及以後轉化為巨大的創收潛力。

In summary, we are making important progress on preparing Lifecore for the growth that we see in our development portfolio. I'm extremely pleased with the resilience that our organization has demonstrated and thank each of our team members for their individual contributions. We operate in an exciting and rapidly growing industry, and I believe we are well positioned for significant growth ahead.

總之，我們在為 Lifecore 的開發組合增長做好準備方面取得了重要進展。我對我們組織所表現出的韌性感到非常滿意，並感謝我們每個團隊成員的個人貢獻。我們所處的行業是一個令人興奮且快速發展的行業，我相信我們已經做好了迎接未來顯著增長的準備。

With that, I'll pass the call to John to discuss Lifecore's financials.

接下來，我會將電話轉給 John，討論 Lifecore 的財務狀況。

Thank you, Jim. I'll begin with a brief review of our financial results before transitioning to the balance sheet, the impacts from our recent refinancing, some timing perspectives on our SEC filings and a brief guide on our fiscal '24 forecasted business.

謝謝你，吉姆。在轉向資產負債表之前，我將首先簡要回顧一下我們的財務業績、我們最近再融資的影響、我們向 SEC 提交的文件的一些時間觀點以及我們 24 財年預測業務的簡要指南。

For the fiscal fourth quarter of '23, Lifecore segment revenues increased 14.2% to $31.5 million driven by a 38% increase in our hyaluronic acid, HA raw material manufacturing or fermentation business and a 9% increase in our CDMO business. The increase in HA raw material manufacturing revenue was primarily due to the higher demand in the current year. The increase in CDMO revenues was primarily due to the timing of customer shipments as well as a higher mix of earlier phase development projects onboarded at the earlier lower initial revenue stage but have, nevertheless, strong runways for future periods.

2023 年第四財季，Lifecore 部門收入增長 14.2%，達到 3150 萬美元，這主要得益於我們的透明質酸、HA 原材料製造或發酵業務增長 38%，以及 CDMO 業務增長 9%。 HA原材料製造收入的增加主要是由於本年度需求增加。 CDMO 收入的增長主要是由於客戶發貨的時間安排，以及在早期較低的初始收入階段啟動的早期開發項目的更多組合，但儘管如此，未來時期仍具有強勁的跑道。

Lifecore segment gross profit decreased $4.9 million to $8.5 million for the fourth quarter of '23, representing a gross margin of 26.9%, which compares to 48.4% in the prior year period. The gross profit decline was primarily due to a favorable volume variance of $1.9 million due to the increase in year-over-year revenues offset by an unfavorable rate variance of $6.8 million. The rate variance was driven by the lower volume of higher-margin development revenues in the current year period, inflationary impacts of commercial aseptic products on certain legacy contracts, somewhat offset by the higher volume of fermentation revenues.

Lifecore 部門的毛利潤在 2023 年第四季度下降了 490 萬美元，至 850 萬美元，毛利率為 26.9%，而去年同期為 48.4%。毛利潤下降主要是由於同比收入增加所抵消的 190 萬美元的有利銷量差異被 680 萬美元的不利費率差異所抵消。費率差異的原因是本年度利潤率較高的開發收入減少、商業無菌產品對某些遺留合同的通脹影響，但發酵收入增加在一定程度上抵消了這一影響。

Lifecore segment adjusted EBITDA was $6.1 million for the fourth quarter of '23, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.3%. Given the divestment of the remaining Curation Foods businesses in Q4, I will not comment on those segment results.

Lifecore 部門 2023 年第四季度調整後 EBITDA 為 610 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 19.3%。鑑於第四季度剩餘的 Curation Foods 業務的剝離，我不會對這些部門的業績發表評論。

In the Corporate Other segment, adjusted EBITDA was negative $1.9 million for Q4 of fiscal year '23, which was consistent with our expectations. And as a reminder, this is the final quarter of reporting the Corporate Other segment beginning in the first quarter of fiscal '24, we will be collapsing this segment into Lifecore's G&A.

在企業其他部門，23 財年第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 為負 190 萬美元，這與我們的預期一致。提醒一下，這是從 24 財年第一季度開始報告企業其他部門的最後一個季度，我們將把該部門合併到 Lifecore 的 G&A 中。

We're still in the process of transitioning all remaining holding company back-office functions, including financial, accounting compliance and IT infrastructure. And once that is complete, we will then be able to finalize our reduction in stranded costs from the legacy Landec holding company structure.

我們仍在過渡所有剩餘的控股公司後台職能，包括財務、會計合規性和 IT 基礎設施。一旦完成，我們將能夠最終減少遺留 Landec 控股公司結構中的擱淺成本。

Consequently, while we collapse the holding company segment into a single reporting segment, we will still communicate to shareholders the amount that would have been part of the holding company structure particularly as we remain in the strategic review process that our shareholders have an apples-to-apples comparison. While not reflected in our adjusted EBITDA figures, our fourth quarter net income was impacted by $6.9 million in restructuring and other nonrecurring charges, net of tax, primarily related to consolidating and transitioning operations associated with the divestment of Curation Foods businesses, advisory costs, audit fees and transition costs from corporate headquarters transition to Lifecore as well as restructuring and advisory costs associated with our refinancing activities.

因此，雖然我們將控股公司部門合併為單一報告部門，但我們仍將向股東傳達本應成為控股公司結構一部分的金額，特別是當我們仍在戰略審查過程中時，我們的股東有一個蘋果公司的目標-蘋果比較。雖然沒有反映在我們調整後的EBITDA 數據中，但我們第四季度的淨利潤受到了690 萬美元的重組和其他非經常性費用（稅後）的影響，這些費用主要與與Curation Foods 業務剝離相關的合併和過渡業務、諮詢成本、審計相關從公司總部過渡到 Lifecore 的費用和過渡成本，以及與我們的再融資活動相關的重組和諮詢成本。

In terms of outlook, particularly in light of our ongoing strategic review process, we are not in a position to provide formal guidance for fiscal '24 at this time. However, as we have discussed during our fiscal third quarter update, the timing impacts we have been experiencing, including the completion of some larger revenue, late-stage development projects and delays in commercialization of others, the timing and mix of new development projects and smaller earlier-stage projects as well as the inflationary impacts on certain legacy commercial contracts are expected to continue in our first fiscal quarter of 2024 results.

就前景而言，特別是考慮到我們正在進行的戰略審查流程，我們目前無法為 24 財年提供正式指導。然而，正如我們在第三財季更新中所討論的那樣，我們所經歷的時間影響，包括一些較大收入的完成、後期開發項目和其他項目商業化的延遲、新開發項目的時間安排和組合以及較小的早期項目以及對某些傳統商業合同的通脹影響預計將在我們 2024 年第一財季的業績中繼續存在。

Later in Q2 of fiscal year '24, we expect that those impacts will ease as delayed commercial projects begin shipping in earnest. And by January 1, 2024, we expect to be able to effectuate pricing offsets under existing contracts to help mitigate some of the impacts of the recent inflationary pressures.

在 24 財年第二季度晚些時候，我們預計隨著延遲的商業項目開始認真發貨，這些影響將會緩解。到 2024 年 1 月 1 日，我們預計能夠根據現有合同實施定價抵消，以幫助減輕近期通脹壓力的部分影響。

Consequently, we expect Q1 of fiscal '24 to represent the low point for the year and on a sequential basis relative to the Q4 that we are reporting today, Q1 revenue and adjusted EBITDA are expected to decrease before reaccelerating across the balance of the year. That said, first quarter Lifecore adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately breakeven excluding the burden of our Other segment, which, as I noted, we expect to collapse into our consolidated results beginning in fiscal '24 first quarter.

因此，我們預計 24 財年第一季度將代表全年最低點，並且與我們今天報告的第四季度相比，第一季度收入和調整後 EBITDA 預計將下降，然後在全年餘額中重新加速。也就是說，第一季度Lifecore 調整後的EBITDA 預計將大致達到收支平衡，不包括我們其他部門的負擔，正如我所指出的，我們預計從24 財年第一季度開始，該部門將陷入我們的合併業績中。

In Q2 of fiscal year '24, we expect revenues and adjusted EBITDA to show accelerated improvement following the commencement of commercial shipments that were delayed. Relative to the prior year second quarter, we anticipate FY '24 Q2 revenues to grow by nearly 40% and Lifecore adjusted EBITDA to grow at approximately twice the rate of revenues, which implies some margin expansion due to the aforementioned improvement in revenue mix associated with new commercial shipments, strong fermentation revenues and pipeline development projects that are expected to come online during the second quarter.

在 24 財年第二季度，我們預計收入和調整後 EBITDA 將在延遲的商業發貨開始後加速改善。相對於去年第二季度，我們預計24 財年第二季度的收入將增長近40%，Lifecore 調整後的EBITDA 將以大約收入增長率的兩倍增長，這意味著由於上述與收入組合相關的改善，利潤率會有所擴大。新的商業出貨量、強勁的發酵收入和管道開發項目預計將在第二季度上線。

Then in Q3 and Q4 of fiscal year '24, we expect to generate adjusted EBITDA at more normalized levels similar to or greater than what we achieved in fiscal year '22, third and fourth quarters. I'd like to emphasize that these quarterly forecasts are being provided without the impact of our other segment, which reflects the corporate overhead that we still carry, and we are sharing this added granularity to help you isolate an apples-to-apples comparison to our prior segmentation.

然後，在 24 財年的第三季度和第四季度，我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 會達到與我們在 22 財年第三季度和第四季度所取得的水平相似或更高的更正常水平。我想強調的是，這些季度預測的提供沒有受到我們其他部門的影響，這反映了我們仍然承擔的公司管理費用，並且我們正在分享這種增加的粒度，以幫助您將同類比較與我們之前的分割。

As for these corporate costs, we believe that there will be ultimately savings to be realized. And for modeling purposes, we believe it is prudent to assume that our current quarterly run rate of approximately $1.8 million to $2.1 million continues in the near term.

至於這些企業成本，我們相信最終會實現節省。出於建模目的，我們認為謹慎的假設是，我們當前的季度運行率在短期內繼續保持在 180 萬至 210 萬美元左右。

In addition and excluded from our FY '24 adjusted EBITDA expectations are approximately $2 million to $2.8 million and start-up costs associated with the HA fermentation capacity improvements that Jim mentioned earlier, including the transition to a 24/7 work shift requiring significant onetime recruiting, hiring and training costs associated with this approximately 50% capacity increase in HA fermentation.

此外，我們的24 財年調整後EBITDA 預期中不包括約200 萬至280 萬美元，以及吉姆之前提到的與HA 發酵能力改進相關的啟動成本，包括過渡到需要大量一次性招聘的24/7輪班制、與 HA 發酵容量增加約 50% 相關的招聘和培訓成本。

We began incurring these costs during the fiscal first quarter and expect that they should be relatively consistent across the balance of fiscal '24.

我們在第一財季開始產生這些成本，預計它們在 24 財年的餘額中應該相對一致。

Now turning to our balance sheet. Note that at the end of fiscal year ended May 28, 2023, our balance sheet reflects the revised capital structure, an impact from our recent refinancing. Net term and revolver debt on a reported basis for fiscal year '23 was $147.2 million, including $19.1 million of cash and cash equivalents, which compares to net bank debt at the end of fiscal '22 of $137.2 million.

現在轉向我們的資產負債表。請注意，截至 2023 年 5 月 28 日的財政年度末，我們的資產負債表反映了修訂後的資本結構，這是我們最近再融資的影響。根據報告，23 財年的定期債務和循環債務淨額為 1.472 億美元，其中包括 1,910 萬美元的現金和現金等價物，而 22 財年末的銀行淨債務為 1.372 億美元。

In analyzing the new term debt, we identified and valued certain embedded derivative features totaling $64.5 million that you will see broken out separately on the balance sheet. The embedded derivatives result from certain call and put features associated with the debt and are more fully described in the credit agreement.

在分析新定期債務時，我們確定並評估了某些嵌入衍生品特徵，總額達 6,450 萬美元，您將在資產負債表上看到這些特徵的單獨細分。嵌入衍生品源自與債務相關的某些看漲期權和看跌期權特徵，並在信貸協議中進行了更全面的描述。

To be clear, the $147.2 million of reported net debt includes the derivative liability. CapEx was $20.8 million for fiscal year '23, which includes $2.5 million of capitalized interest, which is consistent with our prior expectation. CapEx is focused on supporting Lifecore's long-term growth initiatives and is earmarked for 2 multi-use isolator fillers and the associated formulation and process support equipment.

需要明確的是，報告的 1.472 億美元淨債務包括衍生負債。 '23 財年的資本支出為 2080 萬美元，其中包括 250 萬美元的資本化利息，這與我們之前的預期一致。資本支出專注於支持 Lifecore 的長期增長計劃，並指定用於 2 個多用途隔離填料以及相關的配方和工藝支持設備。

For fiscal '24, we expect CapEx to be somewhat moderated to fiscal '23, depending on the timing of payments and likely in the range of $17 million to $19 million included anticipated capitalized interest similar to FY '23 levels, but first half loaded as we welcome in our 2 new fillers.

對於24 財年，我們預計資本支出將比23 財年有所放緩，具體取決於付款時間，可能在1700 萬美元至1900 萬美元的範圍內，包括與23 財年水平類似的預期資本化利息，但上半年的負載為我們歡迎 2 款新填料。

Before closing the call, I'd like to comment on our SEC filing process and the timing of our Form 10-K filing. It is our intention to file the 10-K as soon as practicable as we finish up the remaining documentation matters in our year-end filings. The final Curation Foods divestment in Q4 and the accounting for activities associated with closing up the transition services agreements and prior period divestments, including the treatment of discontinued operations and restructuring costs, combined with the significant refinancing that closed in the closing days of Q4 '23 has caused significant additional staff and audit effort to complete the year-end processes.

在結束通話之前，我想評論一下我們的 SEC 備案流程以及 10-K 表格備案的時間。我們打算在完成年終備案中的剩余文件事宜後儘快提交 10-K。第四季度最終的 Curation Foods 撤資以及與完成過渡服務協議和前期撤資相關活動的會計處理，包括對已終止業務和重組成本的處理，以及在 23 年第四季度結束時完成的重大再融資導致需要大量額外的人員和審計工作來完成年終流程。

On the refinancing side, we had to analyze the embedded derivative features I discussed earlier, and engage specialists to value the derivatives, a very technical and time-consuming effort.

在再融資方面，我們必須分析我之前討論過的嵌入式衍生品特徵，並聘請專家對衍生品進行估值，這是一項非常技術性和耗時的工作。

Additionally, post-closing adjustments to the sale leaseback included a fair market value study by an appraiser that also took on significant time and effort. Consequently, these areas when factored into the smaller footprint of a stand-alone Lifecore segment operation resulted in lower audit materiality thresholds and significant efforts by third-party specialists. Fortunately, that work is winding down and we expect to be on file in the near future.

此外，售後回租的交割後調整包括由評估師進行的公平市場價值研究，這也花費了大量的時間和精力。因此，當這些領域被納入獨立 Lifecore 部門運營的較小規模時，會導致審計重要性閾值降低，並需要第三方專家付出巨大努力。幸運的是，這項工作正在逐步結束，我們預計將在不久的將來歸檔。

In conclusion, I'd like to recognize the great work that Lifecore team is putting forth. While filing delays in the strategic review process have created some added complexity to our communications. As you heard today from Jim, our commercial efforts are advancing nicely. Our development pipeline is growing in a healthy and diversified fashion, and we have the business gearing up for a significant expansion in the quarters and years to come.

最後，我想對 Lifecore 團隊所做的出色工作表示認可。雖然戰略審查過程中的提交延遲給我們的溝通帶來了一些額外的複雜性。正如您今天從吉姆那裡聽到的那樣，我們的商業努力進展順利。我們的開發渠道正在以健康和多元化的方式增長，我們的業務正在為未來幾個季度和幾年的大幅擴張做好準備。

That concludes our call today. Thank you for participating.

我們今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。