藍威斯頓 (LW) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Lamb Weston Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 Lamb Weston 第三季度收益電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Dexter Congbalay. Please go ahead.

此時，我想將會議轉交給 Dexter Congbalay。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Lamb Weston's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. This morning, we issued our earnings press release, which is available on our website, lambweston.com.

早上好，感謝您加入我們的 Lamb Weston 2023 年第三季度財報電話會議。今天上午，我們發布了收益新聞稿，可在我們的網站 lambweston.com 上獲取。

Please note that during our remarks, we'll make some forward-looking statements about the company's expected performance that are based on how we see things today. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in our SEC filings for more details on our forward-looking statements.

請注意，在我們的評論中，我們將根據我們今天的看法對公司的預期業績做出一些前瞻性陳述。由於風險和不確定性，實際結果可能存在重大差異。請參閱我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中包含的警示性聲明和風險因素，以了解有關我們前瞻性聲明的更多詳細信息。

Some of today's remarks include non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a replacement for and should be read together with our GAAP results. You can find the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations in our earnings release.

今天的一些評論包括非 GAAP 財務措施。這些非 GAAP 財務指標不應被視為替代，應與我們的 GAAP 結果一起閱讀。您可以在我們的收益發布中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 對賬。

With me today are Tom Werner, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Bernadette Madarieta, our Chief Financial Officer. Tom will provide an overview of the current operating environment while Bernadette will provide details on our third quarter results and our updated fiscal 2023 outlook.

今天和我在一起的是我們的總裁兼首席執行官湯姆·維爾納 (Tom Werner)；和我們的首席財務官 Bernadette Madarieta。 Tom 將概述當前的運營環境，而 Bernadette 將提供有關我們第三季度業績的詳細信息以及我們更新的 2023 財年展望。

With that, let me now turn the call over to Tom.

有了這個，現在讓我把電話轉給湯姆。

Thank you, Dexter. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call today. We delivered strong results in our fiscal third quarter as we continue to build good operating momentum. Specifically, sales grew 31%, while gross margin expanded in each of our core business segments. This, in turn, drove strong EBITDA and earnings per share growth.

謝謝你，德克斯特。早上好，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。隨著我們繼續建立良好的運營勢頭，我們在第三財季取得了強勁的業績。具體而言，銷售額增長了 31%，而我們每個核心業務部門的毛利率均有所提高。這反過來又推動了強勁的 EBITDA 和每股收益增長。

I want to thank the entire Lamb Weston team for their dedication and focus on serving our customers so that together, we delivered another great quarter and positioned us for a strong finish to the year. This thank you is also to our more than 1,500 colleagues in Europe who are now officially members of the global Lamb Weston team after we recently completed the purchase of the remaining interest in Lamb Weston/Meijer. Lamb Weston Europe, Middle East and Africa, or Lamb Weston EMEA, adds 6 factories and about 2 billion pounds of production capacity to our global manufacturing footprint. It strengthens our ability to serve customers in key markets around the world, and it enhances a world-class management operating and commercial team with deep knowledge of the frozen potato industry. We've kicked off the process to integrate Lamb Weston EMEA's operations and are excited to see what we can deliver together both now and over the long term.

我要感謝整個 Lamb Weston 團隊的奉獻精神和專注於為我們的客戶服務，因此我們共同交付了另一個出色的季度，並為我們今年的強勢收官奠定了基礎。在此也要感謝我們在歐洲的 1,500 多名同事，在我們最近完成對 Lamb Weston/Meijer 剩餘權益的購買後，他們現在正式成為全球 Lamb Weston 團隊的成員。 Lamb Weston 歐洲、中東和非洲，或 Lamb Weston EMEA，為我們的全球製造足跡增加了 6 家工廠和約 20 億磅的生產能力。它增強了我們為全球主要市場的客戶提供服務的能力，並增強了一支對冷凍馬鈴薯行業有深入了解的世界級管理運營和商業團隊。我們已經啟動了整合 Lamb Weston EMEA 業務的流程，並很高興看到我們現在和長期可以一起交付什麼。

Before turning the call over to Bernadette, let me first provide some quick updates on the current operating environment. While the macro environment remains highly challenging, overall French fry demand remains healthy. Total restaurant traffic improved versus the prior year quarter when traffic was negatively affected by the Omicron variant. QSR has essentially accounted for the entire growth in traffic, including strong growth across burger and chicken restaurant chains, which are significant contributors to driving fry demand.

在將電話轉給 Bernadette 之前，讓我首先提供一些有關當前操作環境的快速更新。儘管宏觀環境仍然充滿挑戰，但整體炸薯條需求依然健康。與去年同期相比，當流量受到 Omicron 變體的負面影響時，餐廳總流量有所改善。快餐基本上佔了客流量的全部增長，包括漢堡和雞肉連鎖餐廳的強勁增長，這是推動油炸食品需求的重要因素。

In contrast, traffic at casual dining and full-service restaurants fell versus the prior year. This has a more pronounced effect on our Foodservice segment and contributed in part to a decline in that segment's volume. The fry attachment rate, which is the rate at which consumers order fries when visiting a restaurant or other food service outlets remain solid.

相比之下，休閒餐廳和全方位服務餐廳的客流量與上一年相比有所下降。這對我們的餐飲服務部門產生了更明顯的影響，並在一定程度上導致了該部門銷量的下降。炸薯條附著率，即消費者在光顧餐廳或其他食品服務網點時點炸薯條的比率保持穩定。

As we previously noted, we're encouraged by how the category is currently performing in away-from-home channels, but continue to expect restaurant traffic and demand trends will be volatile through fiscal 2023 and into fiscal 2024 as consumers continue to deal with a challenging macro environment. Demand for fries in food and home channels remain solid. Shipments by our retail segment grew in the third quarter led by strong performance in products sold under licensed restaurant brands. We expect demand in this channel will remain solid into fiscal 2024.

正如我們之前指出的那樣，我們對該類別目前在外出渠道中的表現感到鼓舞，但我們繼續預計，隨著消費者繼續處理一個具有挑戰性的宏觀環境。食品和家庭渠道對薯條的需求依然強勁。我們零售部門的出貨量在第三季度有所增長，這主要得益於在特許餐廳品牌下銷售的產品表現強勁。我們預計該渠道的需求將在 2024 財年保持穩定。

With overall category demand holding up relatively well and as industry supply expected to be constrained for at least the next couple of years, we believe the environment for pricing actions to counter input cost inflation may remain generally favorable. In addition, we've been building our revenue growth management and execution capabilities. We made good progress, as shown by our ability to offset input cost inflation to drive the recovery in our gross margins over the past year in each of our core business segments. Nonetheless, we're continuing to work on maximizing revenue and margin by further evaluating markets and sales channels by using a broader set of variables and leveraging data-backed insights on our customers and consumers.

由於整體類別需求保持相對良好且行業供應預計至少在未來幾年內將受到限制，我們認為通過定價行動來應對投入成本通脹的環境可能總體上仍然有利。此外，我們一直在構建我們的收入增長管理和執行能力。我們取得了良好的進展，這體現在我們有能力抵消投入成本通脹，從而推動我們每個核心業務部門在過去一年中的毛利率回升。儘管如此，我們將繼續致力於通過使用更廣泛的變量集並利用數據支持的對我們的客戶和消費者的洞察力來進一步評估市場和銷售渠道，從而最大限度地提高收入和利潤。

Pricing in the quarter in our Global segment was in line with our expectation as we continue to incorporate new pricing structures for customer contract renewals, inflation-driven price escalators and benefits from pulling forward pricing actions for contracts up for renewal in the coming years. Despite lapping some of the pricing actions we took in fiscal 2022, price/mix in both the Foodservice and retail segments in the quarter was better than we anticipated as we continued efforts to rationalize pricing structures and strategically improve customer and product mix across the respective portfolios.

我們全球分部本季度的定價符合我們的預期，因為我們繼續為客戶續簽合同、通脹驅動的價格上漲因素納入新的定價結構，並從未來幾年為續簽合同提前定價行動中受益。儘管我們在 2022 財年採取了一些定價行動，但本季度餐飲服務和零售部門的價格/組合好於我們的預期，因為我們繼續努力合理化定價結構並從戰略上改善各個投資組合中的客戶和產品組合.

During the remainder of fiscal 2023, in our Global segment, we don't expect any additional notable pricing actions to take effect. In Foodservice, we expect the year-over-year growth rate in price/mix will decelerate as we continue to lap more of the fiscal 2022 pricing and mix improvement actions. And in Retail, we expect the year-over-year growth rate in price/mix will also decelerate as we continue to lap last year's pricing actions, although this will be tempered by a recent price increase that took effect towards the end of the third quarter.

在 2023 財年的剩餘時間裡，在我們的全球部門，我們預計不會有任何額外的顯著定價行動生效。在餐飲服務方面，我們預計價格/組合的同比增長率將放緩，因為我們將繼續採取更多的 2022 財年定價和組合改進措施。在零售方面，我們預計價格/產品組合的同比增長率也將放緩，因為我們繼續重複去年的定價行動，儘管這將因最近第三季度末生效的價格上漲而有所緩和四分之一。

With respect to the potato crop in North America, we believe we have secured enough open-market potatoes to meet our production forecast until the early potato varieties are harvested in July. We purchased open potatoes from growers in the Columbia Basin and Idaho, but also secured supply from as far away as the East Coast. This adds up to our potato costs through the first half of fiscal 2024.

關於北美的馬鈴薯作物，我們相信在 7 月早熟馬鈴薯品種收穫之前，我們已經獲得了足夠的公開市場馬鈴薯來滿足我們的產量預測。我們從哥倫比亞盆地和愛達荷州的種植者那裡購買了開放式馬鈴薯，但也確保了遠至東海岸的供應。這增加了我們到 2024 財年上半年的馬鈴薯成本。

With respect to the upcoming potato crop, as previously discussed, we've agreed to a nearly 20% increase in the contract prices for potatoes grown in the Columbia Basin and have locked in the targeted contracted acres to be planted in that region. We're in the process of securing most of the acres in our other growing regions in North America and expect to have this process completed shortly with contract prices largely in line with the 20% increase in the basin.

關於即將到來的馬鈴薯作物，如前所述，我們已同意將哥倫比亞盆地種植的馬鈴薯的合同價格提高近 20%，並鎖定了該地區種植的目標合同土地面積。我們正在確保北美其他種植區大部分土地的安全，並預計這一過程將很快完成，合同價格與流域 20% 的增長基本一致。

In Europe, we have secured the acres in our key growing regions and expect to complete the contracting process shortly. Like North America, contract prices are up significantly to reflect input cost inflation for growers.

在歐洲，我們已經在我們的主要種植區獲得了土地，並期望很快完成承包過程。與北美一樣，合同價格大幅上漲以反映種植者的投入成本通脹。

So in summary, we delivered another strong quarter of sales and earnings growth, which has enabled us to raise our financial targets for the year and continue to build good operating momentum across each of our core segments. We're excited about more than 1,500 new Lamb Weston EMEA colleagues that have joined the global team and believe that leveraging EMEA's capabilities will help us better serve customers around the world.

因此，總而言之，我們實現了又一個強勁的銷售和盈利增長季度，這使我們能夠提高今年的財務目標，並繼續在我們的每個核心部門建立良好的運營勢頭。我們對加入全球團隊的 1,500 多名 Lamb Weston EMEA 新同事感到興奮，並相信利用 EMEA 的能力將幫助我們更好地為全球客戶服務。

And finally, category demand remains healthy, and we believe that industry supply should remain constrained for at least the next couple of years.

最後，品類需求保持健康，我們認為行業供應至少在未來幾年內仍將受到限制。

Let me now turn the call over to Bernadette to review the details of our third quarter results and our updated financial fiscal 2023 outlook.

現在讓我把電話轉給伯納黛特，回顧我們第三季度業績的細節和我們更新的 2023 財年財務展望。

Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. I want to also thank the Lamb Weston team for delivering another quarter of strong results and continuing to build good operating momentum across the company. This momentum has enabled us to raise our financial targets for the remainder of the year. I also want to add a warm welcome to the Lamb Weston EMEA team.

謝謝，湯姆，大家早上好。我還要感謝 Lamb Weston 團隊再次取得強勁業績，並繼續在整個公司打造良好的運營勢頭。這種勢頭使我們能夠提高今年剩餘時間的財務目標。我還想對 Lamb Weston EMEA 團隊表示熱烈歡迎。

Let's begin with our third quarter results. Sales in the third quarter were up 31% to $1.25 billion. Price/mix was up 31% as we continued to benefit from pricing actions across each of our core business segments to counter input and manufacturing cost inflation. The increase reflects the carryover impact of product pricing actions that we initiated in fiscal 2022 as well as pricing actions that we began implementing during this fiscal year.

讓我們從第三季度的業績開始。第三季度銷售額增長 31% 至 12.5 億美元。由於我們繼續受益於我們每個核心業務部門的定價行動以應對投入和製造成本通脹，價格/組合上漲了 31%。這一增長反映了我們在 2022 財年啟動的產品定價行動以及我們在本財年開始實施的定價行動的結轉影響。

Our overall sales volumes were flat. While we increased shipments to our large QSR chain customers and to retail customers in North America, which generally reflects demand and restaurant traffic trends that Tom described earlier, our growth in volume was offset by a couple of factors. First, we continued efforts to strategically improve our product and customer mix by exiting certain lower priced, lower margin business. Second, and to a lesser extent, softer casual dining and full-service restaurant traffic also affected volumes in the quarter, which is largely reflected in our Foodservice shipments.

我們的整體銷量持平。雖然我們增加了對北美大型 QSR 連鎖客戶和零售客戶的出貨量，這通常反映了湯姆之前描述的需求和餐廳客流量趨勢，但我們的銷量增長被幾個因素抵消了。首先，我們通過退出某些價格較低、利潤率較低的業務，繼續努力從戰略上改善我們的產品和客戶組合。其次，在較小程度上，休閒餐飲和全方位服務餐廳的客流量也影響了本季度的銷量，這主要反映在我們的餐飲服務出貨量上。

It's worth noting that in the quarter, we also continued to make progress in stabilizing our supply chain with better availability of production team members and key ingredients as well as improved production forecasting. As a result, the impact on production in the quarter was relatively modest, which helped drive improvements in our customer fill rates versus our first and second quarters. This improvement is more apparent in our Retail and Foodservice segments as we have largely maintained high fill rates in our global segment since the start of the pandemic.

值得注意的是，在本季度，我們在穩定供應鏈方面也繼續取得進展，生產團隊成員和關鍵原料的可用性更高，生產預測也得到改善。因此，本季度對生產的影響相對較小，與第一季度和第二季度相比，這有助於推動我們的客戶填充率有所提高。這種改善在我們的零售和餐飲服務領域更為明顯，因為自大流行開始以來，我們在全球範圍內基本上保持了高填充率。

That said, we expect changes in product mix and consumer demand will continue to pressure our near-term production and therefore, shipments of high-demand products, including retail fries, premium fries and batter coated products. We expect this volume pressure and our ability to meet growing consumer demand will continue until our capacity investments in China, Idaho, Argentina and the Netherlands become available over the next couple of years.

也就是說，我們預計產品組合和消費者需求的變化將繼續對我們的近期生產造成壓力，因此，高需求產品的出貨量，包括零售薯條、優質薯條和麵糊塗層產品。我們預計，在未來幾年我們在中國、愛達荷州、阿根廷和荷蘭的產能投資可用之前，這種容量壓力和我們滿足不斷增長的消費者需求的能力將持續下去。

Gross profit in the quarter increased $177 million to nearly $400 million as a result of our sales growth and gross margins expanding 860 basis points versus the prior year quarter to 31.7%. Our strong gross margin performance reflects the cumulative benefit of executing pricing actions in each of our business segments to counter input and manufacturing cost inflation as well as leveraging efforts to improve customer and product mix and supply chain productivity. On the cost side in the quarter, we again realized a double-digit increase in input and manufacturing cost per pound. This was largely driven by about a 20% increase in contracted prices for potatoes in North America, significantly higher prices for open-market potato purchases -- due to poor yields from the calendar year 2022 crop and continued increases in the cost of edible oils, ingredients for batter coatings, labor and energy.

由於我們的銷售增長和毛利率比去年同期擴大 860 個基點至 31.7%，本季度的毛利潤增加了 1.77 億美元，達到近 4 億美元。我們強勁的毛利率表現反映了我們在每個業務部門執行定價行動以應對投入和製造成本通脹以及利用努力改善客戶和產品組合以及供應鏈生產力的累積效益。在本季度的成本方面，我們再次實現了每磅投入和製造成本的兩位數增長。這主要是由於北美馬鈴薯合同價格上漲約 20%，公開市場馬鈴薯採購價格大幅上漲——由於 2022 日曆年收成不佳以及食用油成本持續上漲，麵糊塗層、勞動力和能源的成分。

In contrast, our transportation costs fell in the quarter as industry rates for rail, trucking and ocean freight services continued their steady decline over the past couple of quarters. We are continuing to reduce our freight charges to customers to match the decline in costs, which will steadily reduce the tailwind from transport prices in our sales line. However, the impact on our gross profit over time, will be largely neutral.

相比之下，我們的運輸成本在本季度下降，因為鐵路、卡車運輸和海運服務的行業費率在過去幾個季度繼續穩步下降。我們將繼續降低向客戶收取的運費，以配合成本的下降，這將穩步減少我們銷售線路中運輸價格的不利因素。然而，隨著時間的推移，對我們毛利的影響將基本是中性的。

Moving on from gross profit. Our SG&A, excluding items impacting comparability, increased $49 million to $136 million, primarily reflecting higher compensation and benefit expenses due to improved operating performance as well as actions to maintain competitive pay levels across our organization. We also had higher expenses related to improving our IT infrastructure, including designing and building a new ERP system and a $6 million increase in advertising and promotion expenses, largely behind support of our branded products in our Retail segment.

從毛利潤開始。我們的 SG&A（不包括影響可比性的項目）增加了 4900 萬美元至 1.36 億美元，這主要反映了由於運營績效的改善以及為保持整個組織的競爭性薪酬水平而採取的行動導致的更高的薪酬和福利支出。我們還有更多與改善 IT 基礎設施相關的費用，包括設計和構建新的 ERP 系統，以及 600 萬美元的廣告和促銷費用增加，這在很大程度上落後於我們零售部門品牌產品的支持。

Equity method earnings from our unconsolidated joint ventures increased $12 million, excluding items impacting comparability and mark-to-market adjustments associated with currency and commodity hedging contracts. Favorable price/mix, largely reflecting pricing actions in Europe drove the increase.

我們未合併的合資企業的權益法收益增加了 1200 萬美元，不包括影響可比性和與貨幣和商品對沖合約相關的按市值調整的項目。有利的價格/組合，主要反映了歐洲的定價行為推動了增長。

Moving to our segments. Sales in our Global segment were up 33% in the quarter. Price/mix was up 33%, reflecting the revenue growth management initiatives and pricing actions to counter inflation that Tom described earlier. Global's volume was flat, solid growth of shipments to large QSR chain customers in North America was offset by the impact of exiting certain lower priced and lower margin business in international and domestic markets as we actively manage our customer mix. Global's product contribution margin increased to $168 million from a relatively weak prior year quarter, which at the time, reflected significant input and manufacturing cost increases and only a modest benefit from product pricing actions. Global segment's product contribution margin percentage in the quarter was 25.8%, which is back to its seasonal prepandemic level and was also a bit better than expected as we realize more benefits from pulling forward pricing actions for some customers than we originally anticipated.

轉到我們的細分市場。我們全球部門的銷售額在本季度增長了 33%。價格/組合上漲了 33%，反映了 Tom 之前描述的收入增長管理計劃和定價行動以對抗通貨膨脹。全球銷量持平，北美大型 QSR 連鎖客戶的出貨量穩健增長被我們積極管理客戶組合而退出國際和國內市場某些低價和低利潤業務的影響所抵消。 Global 的產品貢獻利潤率從去年同期相對疲軟的水平增加到 1.68 億美元，這在當時反映了投入和製造成本的顯著增加，以及產品定價行動帶來的收益有限。全球分部本季度的產品毛利率為 25.8%，回到了季節性大流行前的水平，也略好於預期，因為我們意識到為一些客戶提前定價行動帶來的好處比我們最初預期的要多。

Sales in our Foodservice segment grew 22%, driven by a 25% increase in price/mix as we continue to realize the carryover benefit of product pricing actions that we announced throughout fiscal 2022 as well as the actions taken in fiscal 2023 to counter inflation. Sales volumes were down about 3%, primarily reflecting exiting of some lower priced, lower margin business to manage our customer and product mix as well as softer traffic in casual dining and full-service restaurants. Foodservices product contribution margin increased to $143 million or up 34% as the cumulative benefit from pricing actions more than offset higher manufacturing cost per pound and the impact of lower volumes.

我們的餐飲服務部門的銷售額增長了 22%，受價格/產品組合增長 25% 的推動，因為我們繼續實現我們在整個 2022 財年宣布的產品定價行動的結轉收益以及 2023 財年為應對通脹而採取的行動。銷售額下降了約 3%，主要反映了一些價格較低、利潤率較低的業務的退出，以管理我們的客戶和產品組合，以及休閒餐飲和全方位服務餐廳的客流量減少。餐飲服務產品貢獻利潤率增至 1.43 億美元或 34%，這是因為定價行動的累積收益足以抵消每磅製造成本上升和銷量下降的影響。

Our Retail segment delivered another strong quarter with sales up 50%. Price/mix increased 44%, reflecting pricing actions across our branded and private label portfolio to counter inflation. This was aided in part by limited trade support given the strong category demand and constrained supply environment. Volume in this segment was up 6% behind better customer fill rates for our branded products. Private label volume was also up as we lapped the incremental losses of certain lower-priced and lower-margin products over the past couple of years. Retail's product contribution margin increased to $83 million, and its margin percentage topped 38% as the cumulative benefit from pricing actions more than offset higher manufacturing cost per pound. We're very pleased with how our Retail team has strengthened our market share, profitability and portfolio mix over the past couple of years, and we remain confident in our ability to remain the overall category leader.

我們的零售部門又迎來了一個強勁的季度，銷售額增長了 50%。價格/組合增長 44%，反映了我們為應對通貨膨脹而對品牌和自有品牌產品組合採取的定價行動。鑑於強勁的類別需求和受限的供應環境，這在一定程度上得益於有限的貿易支持。由於我們品牌產品的客戶填充率更高，該細分市場的銷量增長了 6%。自有品牌銷量也有所上升，因為我們彌補了過去幾年某些低價和低利潤產品的增量損失。零售業的產品貢獻利潤率增至 8300 萬美元，其利潤率高達 38%，這是因為定價行動的累積收益足以抵消每磅更高的製造成本。我們對我們的零售團隊在過去幾年中如何加強我們的市場份額、盈利能力和產品組合感到非常滿意，我們仍然相信我們有能力保持整體類別的領先地位。

Moving to our liquidity position and our cash flow. Our balance sheet remains solid with strong liquidity and a low leverage ratio. We ended the quarter with about $675 million of cash and a $1 billion undrawn revolver. Our cash balance was inflated as we did take on a new $450 million term loan at the end of January to fund most of the cash consideration for the EMEA transaction, which closed a couple of days into our fiscal fourth quarter. Our net debt was more than $2.5 billion at the end of the third quarter, resulting in a 2.3x leverage ratio on a trailing 12-month basis. After accounting for the EMEA transaction, the estimated net debt at the beginning of our fiscal fourth quarter would be about $3.3 billion, resulting in a 2.6x leverage ratio using our updated fiscal 2023 earnings target and an annualized contribution from our EMEA operations.

轉向我們的流動性狀況和現金流量。我們的資產負債表保持穩健，流動性強，槓桿率低。本季度結束時，我們擁有約 6.75 億美元的現金和 10 億美元的未動用左輪手槍。我們的現金餘額膨脹了，因為我們確實在 1 月底獲得了一筆新的 4.5 億美元定期貸款，為 EMEA 交易的大部分現金對價提供資金，該交易在我們第四財季結束的幾天后結束。截至第三季度末，我們的淨債務超過 25 億美元，導致過去 12 個月的槓桿率為 2.3 倍。考慮到 EMEA 交易後，我們第四財季初的淨債務估計約為 33 億美元，使用我們更新的 2023 財年盈利目標和 EMEA 業務的年化貢獻，槓桿率為 2.6 倍。

Our capital allocation priorities remain the same. We continue to prioritize investing in the business to drive long-term growth as well as delivering dividend growth for our shareholders and share repurchases to offset management dilution. In the first 3 quarters of the year, we generated about $335 million of cash from operations. That's about $160 million more than the first 3 quarters of last year. This is largely due to the higher earnings, partially offset by increased working capital. Capital expenditures were nearly $500 million, which is up about $270 million from the first 3 quarters of last year. This increase is largely related to construction costs as we continue to expand processing capacity in Idaho, China and Argentina. In the first 3 quarters, we returned nearly $146 million of cash to shareholders including $106 million in dividends and about $41 million in share repurchases.

我們的資本配置重點保持不變。我們繼續優先投資業務以推動長期增長，並為我們的股東提供股息增長和股票回購以抵消管理層稀釋。今年前三個季度，我們從運營中產生了約 3.35 億美元的現金。這比去年前三個季度多出約 1.6 億美元。這主要是由於更高的收益，部分被增加的營運資金所抵消。資本支出接近 5 億美元，比去年前 3 季度增加約 2.7 億美元。這一增長主要與建設成本有關，因為我們繼續擴大在愛達荷州、中國和阿根廷的加工能力。在前三個季度，我們向股東返還了近 1.46 億美元的現金，其中包括 1.06 億美元的股息和約 4100 萬美元的股票回購。

Now let's turn to our 2023 outlook. Our updated targets include the financial consolidation of Lamb Weston EMEA beginning in our fiscal fourth quarter. For the year, we've increased our sales target to $5.25 billion to $5.35 billion, up from our previous target of $4.8 billion to $4.9 billion. About $300 million to $325 million of the increase reflects the consolidation of Lamb Weston EMEA. The additional $100 million to $150 million increase reflects our strong results in our fiscal third quarter, and our expected continued momentum in the fourth quarter.

現在讓我們談談我們的 2023 年展望。我們更新的目標包括從第四財季開始對 Lamb Weston EMEA 進行財務整合。今年，我們將銷售額目標從之前的 48 億美元至 49 億美元提高到了 52.5 億美元至 53.5 億美元。約 3 億至 3.25 億美元的增長反映了 Lamb Weston EMEA 的整合。額外的 1 億至 1.5 億美元增長反映了我們在第三財季的強勁業績，以及我們在第四季度的預期持續增長勢頭。

Excluding the contribution from EMEA, we expect our net sales growth in the fourth quarter to be driven by price/mix as volumes will continue to be affected by certain -- exiting certain lower priced and lower margin volume business to strategically manage customer and product mix, and the potential for a slowdown in restaurant traffic and consumer demand. For earnings, we're targeting adjusted diluted earnings per share of $4.35 to $4.50, that's up from our previous target of $3.75 to $4.

排除 EMEA 的貢獻，我們預計第四季度的淨銷售額增長將由價格/組合推動，因為銷量將繼續受到某些影響——退出某些價格較低和利潤率較低的業務，以戰略性地管理客戶和產品組合，以及餐廳客流量和消費者需求放緩的可能性。對於收益，我們的目標是調整後的攤薄每股收益為 4.35 美元至 4.50 美元，高於我們之前 3.75 美元至 4 美元的目標。

And adjusted EBITDA, including unconsolidated joint ventures of $1.18 billion to $1.21 billion, up from our previous estimate of $1.05 billion to $1.1 billion. Of the $110 million to $130 million increase in our adjusted EBITDA target, we estimate that EMEA will contribute an incremental $10 million to $15 million of that amount. That implies then that EMEA's total EBITDA contribution of $20 million to $30 million in the fourth quarter, which is in line with the normalized full year pre-pandemic EBITDA of about EUR 100 million. The additional $100 million to $115 million increase in our full year EBITDA target reflects our strong results in our fiscal third quarter, and our expected strong sales and earnings growth in the fourth quarter.

調整後的 EBITDA，包括 11.8 億美元至 12.1 億美元的未合併合資企業，高於我們之前估計的 10.5 億美元至 11 億美元。在我們調整後的 EBITDA 目標增加 1.1 億至 1.3 億美元中，我們估計 EMEA 將貢獻其中的 1000 萬至 1500 萬美元。這意味著第四季度 EMEA 的 EBITDA 總貢獻為 2000 萬至 3000 萬美元，這與正常化的全年大流行前 EBITDA 約為 1 億歐元一致。我們全年 EBITDA 目標額外增加 1 億至 1.15 億美元反映了我們第三財季的強勁業績，以及我們預期第四季度的強勁銷售和盈利增長。

Including the consolidation of EMEA, we're targeting a full year gross margin of 27% to 27.5%, implying a fourth quarter gross margin of 23% to 24.5%. Excluding EMEA, we've raised our full year gross margin target to 28% to 28.5%, up from our previous target of 27% to 28%. This implies a fourth quarter gross margin target, excluding EMEA of 25% to 27%. While this would be a healthy gross margin expansion versus the prior year quarter, it also implies a notable step down from our fiscal third quarter gross margin of 31.7%. We believe this estimate is prudent, reflecting typical seasonal patterns in our cost structure, significantly higher cost open market potatoes, continued inflation for key inputs and the impact of volume declines as a result of inflationary pressures on consumers.

包括 EMEA 的合併，我們的目標是全年毛利率為 27% 至 27.5%，這意味著第四季度毛利率為 23% 至 24.5%。不包括 EMEA，我們已將全年毛利率目標從之前的 27% 至 28% 上調至 28% 至 28.5%。這意味著第四季度的毛利率目標（不包括 EMEA）為 25% 至 27%。雖然與去年同期相比，這將是一個健康的毛利率增長，但這也意味著與我們第三財季 31.7% 的毛利率相比有顯著下降。我們認

With respect to SG&A, we expect expenses, excluding items impacting comparability of $550 million to $570 million. That's up from our previous target of $525 million to $550 million. The increase largely reflects the consolidation of Lamb Weston EMEA. In addition, we increased our estimate for capital expenditures to between $700 million to $725 million, up from our previous estimate of $475 million to $525 million. This increase reflects accelerated spending behind capital expansion investments as well as capital spending associated with the consolidation of EMEA. We also made adjustments to other financial targets, which you can find in our earnings release.

關於 SG&A，我們預計費用（不包括影響可比性的項目）為 5.5 億美元至 5.7 億美元。這高於我們之前設定的 5.25 億美元至 5.5 億美元的目標。這一增長主要反映了 Lamb Weston EMEA 的整合。此外，我們將資本支出的預估從之前的 4.75 億至 5.25 億美元增加到 7 億至 7.25 億美元。這一增長反映了資本擴張投資背後的加速支出以及與 EMEA 整合相關的資本支出。我們還對其他財務目標進行了調整，您可以在我們的收益發布中找到這些目標。

And with that, let me turn the call back over to Tom for some closing comments.

說到這裡，讓我把電話轉回給湯姆，徵求一些結束意見。

Thanks, Bernadette. Let me sum it up by saying we are executing in this challenging operating environment and are confident in our increased financial targets for the year. We also continue to feel good about growth trends in the category and believe that the investments we're making in our people, new production capacity and infrastructure will have us well positioned to support sustainable, profitable growth over the long term.

謝謝，伯納黛特。讓我總結一下，我們正在這個充滿挑戰的經營環境中執行，並對我們今年增加的財務目標充滿信心。我們也繼續對該類別的增長趨勢感到滿意，並相信我們在員工、新產能和基礎設施方面的投資將使我們處於有利地位，以支持長期可持續的盈利增長。

Thank you for joining us today, and we're now ready to take your questions.

感謝您今天加入我們，我們現在準備好回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take your first question from Andrew Lazar from Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們將從巴克萊銀行的 Andrew Lazar 那裡回答您的第一個問題。

Great. Good morning, everybody. To start off, I know that Lamb Weston did not necessarily see pre-pandemic gross margins as a ceiling. But with margins now above pre-pandemic levels, excluding the recent transaction, of course, I guess, what are the key factors that provide visibility to further margin expansion moving forward to the extent that that's how you see it? And then I just got a follow-up.

偉大的。大家早上好。首先，我知道 Lamb Weston 不一定將大流行前的毛利率視為上限。但是，由於現在的利潤率高於大流行前的水平，不包括最近的交易，當然，我想，有哪些關鍵因素可以為進一步擴大利潤率提供可見性，以達到您所看到的程度？然後我得到了一個跟進。

Andrew, this is Bernadette. As we look at our margins, I think the key piece that we're focused on now is our revenue growth management and our execution capabilities that Tom mentioned. We're focused on continuing to work on maximizing revenue as well as margin and we'll continue to do that as we look across our markets and our sales channel to make sure that we're managing those.

安德魯，這是伯納黛特。當我們審視我們的利潤率時，我認為我們現在關注的關鍵部分是我們的收入增長管理和湯姆提到的我們的執行能力。我們專注於繼續努力實現收入和利潤最大化，我們將繼續這樣做，因為我們會審視我們的市場和銷售渠道，以確保我們正在管理這些市場。

I think you said in the fourth quarter, we shouldn't expect any incremental pricing actions. With grower costs expected to be up, as you mentioned, another 20% for the current coming crop, should we expect some incremental pricing going forward, I guess, as we roll into fiscal '24? Or have you implemented all that you need for the coming year?

我想你在第四季度說過，我們不應該期待任何增量定價行動。正如你提到的，隨著種植者成本預計將上漲，當前即將到來的作物將再增加 20%，我想，隨著我們進入 24 財年，我們是否應該期待一些增量定價？還是您已經實施了來年所需的一切？

And with capacity constraints starting to ease, I guess what I'm getting at is, could we have a scenario in the coming fiscal year where you have both some incremental pricing and some positive volume growth as well, given constraints have been one of the main reasons for volume being flattish to down in the last couple of quarters?

隨著產能限制開始放鬆，我想我的意思是，我們能否在下一個財政年度出現這樣一種情況，即你有一些增量定價和一些積極的銷量增長，因為限制是其中之一過去幾個季度成交量持平到下降的主要原因是什麼？

Yes, Andrew, this is Tom. So a couple of things. As we noted, we have taken some pricing actions here at the end of the third quarter. The -- we're going to continue to evaluate as we roll up our plan for fiscal 2024, which starts in June, kind of what the overall inflation number is going to be. And we are not at all in a deflationary period. Our crop cost is going to be up 20%.

是的，安德魯，這是湯姆。所以有幾件事。正如我們所指出的，我們在第三季度末在這裡採取了一些定價行動。 - 我們將繼續評估從 6 月開始的 2024 財年計劃，總體通脹數字將會是多少。而且我們根本沒有處於通貨緊縮時期。我們的作物成本將上漲 20%。

And so as we start evaluating the overall input cost complex, as we do every year, we're going to determine the pricing actions we may have to take. And the team and the marching orders, we've done a very good job to offset inflation. We're going to continue to do that. And -- so as we noted in the prepared remarks, we've had to, over the last 12, 15 months, do a lot of catch-up pricing just based on the nature of what our contract constraints were. And so I feel good about where we're at in terms of really getting back to more normalized margin levels before the pandemic. And we're going to continue to execute and evaluate what's going on in the inflationary input environment going forward. So that's first part.

因此，當我們開始評估總體投入成本時，就像我們每年所做的那樣，我們將確定我們可能必須採取的定價行動。還有團隊和行軍命令，我們在抵消通貨膨脹方面做得很好。我們將繼續這樣做。而且——正如我們在準備好的評論中指出的那樣，在過去的 12、15 個月裡，我們不得不根據合同限制的性質進行大量的追趕定價。因此，我對我們在真正恢復到大流行之前更正常的利潤率水平方面所處的位置感到滿意。我們將繼續執行和評估未來通貨膨脹輸入環境中發生的事情。這是第一部分。

Second part, in terms of the overall volume, I feel good about where the category is. It's -- as we noted, QSRs are performing tremendously well in terms of traffic. The -- our Foodservice, so the casual dining segment, we're seeing some softness as we do when you have some economic things happening like is going on today. So people are trading down. We have rationalized our customer and product mix over the last 12 to 15 months, which is part of our revenue growth management initiative. And as we continue to evaluate opportunities in the marketplace, Andrew, I think, and get our operations running back to a higher throughput level, that's going to give us opportunities to take on business or going forward.

第二部分，從整體的體量上來說，我覺得品類在什麼地方比較好。正如我們所指出的，QSR 在流量方面表現非常出色。我們的餐飲服務，所以休閒餐飲領域，我們看到了一些疲軟，就像今天發生一些經濟事件時所做的那樣。所以人們正在交易。在過去的 12 到 15 個月裡，我們已經對我們的客戶和產品組合進行了合理化，這是我們收入增長管理計劃的一部分。隨著我們繼續評估市場上的機會，安德魯，我認為，並讓我們的運營恢復到更高的吞吐量水平，這將為我們提供開展業務或向前發展的機會。

So the other thing to remember is we've got a lot of capacity coming on. Our first capacity turn on is going to be this fall in China. So we're evaluating how that's going to look in terms of production shifts from North America to China. And then shortly after that, we'll have American Falls, Argentina and Groningen over the next directionally 18 to 24 months. So we're getting prepared as we turn that capacity on to evaluate opportunities around the globe.

所以要記住的另一件事是我們有很多能力正在增加。我們的第一個產能將於今年秋天在中國啟動。因此，我們正在評估將生產從北美轉移到中國方面的情況。然後不久之後，我們將在接下來的 18 到 24 個月內有美國瀑布、阿根廷和格羅寧根。因此，我們正在做好準備，因為我們會利用這種能力來評估全球的機會。

We'll hear next from Tom Palmer from JPMorgan.

接下來我們將聽到來自摩根大通的 Tom Palmer 的講話。

Maybe I could just start off clarifying expectations for the Europe business. You noted normal EBITDA of about [$100 million] and then the fourth quarter guidance is pretty consistent with that. But I think the business has been doing a bit better than this over the past couple of quarters at least. Are there reasons such as certain costs that are not excluded from adjusted earnings or other cost headwinds or seasonality that might make this figure a bit lower in the fourth quarter. And then when we look at results this year, would the general assumption be that next year EBITDA grows year-over-year on top of that?

也許我可以開始澄清對歐洲業務的期望。你注意到正常的 EBITDA 約為 [1 億美元]，然後第四季度的指導與此非常一致。但我認為至少在過去幾個季度，該業務的表現比這要好一些。是否有某些原因，例如未排除在調整後收益之外的某些成本或其他成本不利因素或季節性因素，可能會使第四季度的這一數字略低。然後，當我們查看今年的結果時，一般假設明年 EBITDA 會在此基礎上同比增長嗎？

Yes. As we take a look at our fourth quarter guidance that we provided, excluding EMEA, you will typically see a step down in our gross margins as you move from third quarter to fourth quarter just based on seasonality. And then we're also going to be lapping prior year price increases. And so we're going to see a deceleration of the effect of that as we continue to move forward. Again, we also mentioned that we did see some pricing pull forward as well. And so there's some effect of that, that you're noting in third quarter that we wouldn't see in fourth quarter.

是的。當我們查看我們提供的第四季度指導時，不包括 EMEA，您通常會看到我們的毛利率下降，因為您僅根據季節性從第三季度轉移到第四季度。然後我們還將應對前一年的價格上漲。因此，隨著我們繼續前進，我們將看到這種影響的減速。同樣，我們還提到我們確實看到一些定價也有所提高。因此，您會在第三季度注意到我們在第四季度看不到的一些影響。

And as we always do, we take a step back and take a prudent approach as we guide to where we think we're going to end at the end of the fourth quarter. But those are the main triggers that are going to affect what you're seeing in guidance for the fourth quarter.

和往常一樣，我們退後一步，採取謹慎的方法，指導我們認為我們將在第四季度末結束的地方。但這些是將影響您在第四季度的指導中看到的主要觸發因素。

Understood. And then just maybe on the gross margin. I know you noted kind of a more normal seasonal decline in the fourth quarter. I think a quarter ago, you were talking about maybe less than a normal quarterly decline in the fourth quarter. I know Bernadette, you made -- mentioned it being prudent in your prepared remarks. Is there anything to consider that has shifted that expected cadence beyond that? I mean for instance, was 3Q much better than you expected, and therefore, you're expecting more than normalization or anything with the timing of pricing? Because it would seem like you're getting a bit of help, at least on the retail side, given the late quarter pricing action.

明白了。然後可能只是毛利率。我知道你注意到第四季度出現了一種更正常的季節性下降。我想一個季度前，你在談論第四季度可能低於正常的季度下降。我知道伯納黛特，你在準備好的發言中提到它是謹慎的。有什麼需要考慮的，已經改變了預期的節奏嗎？我的意思是，例如，第三季度是否比您預期的要好得多，因此，您期望的不僅僅是正常化或定價時間的任何事情？因為考慮到季度末的定價行動，你似乎得到了一些幫助，至少在零售方面是這樣。

Yes. I think there was a couple of things. There was a little bit more pull forth and benefit in the prior quarter. And then also, we are seeing more open market purchases that we ended up bringing in at much higher prices, just given the way that the crop ended up this year from a yield perspective. So those are the 2 items that I would say are impacting that the greatest.

是的。我認為有幾件事。上一季度有更多的推動力和收益。然後，我們看到更多的公開市場採購，我們最終以更高的價格進行採購，只是從產量的角度來看今年收成的方式。所以這些是我認為影響最大的 2 個項目。

Adam Samuelson from Goldman Sachs, your line is open.

來自 Goldman Sachs 的 Adam Samuelson，您的電話是空的。

Yes. Good morning, everyone. So the first question is on Europe as you kind of roll that now into the consolidated business. Bernadette, you alluded to the fourth quarter guidance that the business kind of reflecting -- kind of earnings consistent with that pre-pandemic, EUR 100 million EBITDA run rate. Do you have the actual trailing 12 months or what the fiscal '23 EBITDA would be for the JV kind of -- on a 100% basis, just as a point of reference.

是的。大家，早安。因此，第一個問題是關於歐洲的，因為您現在將其納入合併業務。伯納黛特，你提到了第四季度的指導意見，即業務反映的收益與大流行前 1 億歐元的 EBITDA 運行率一致。您是否有實際的過去 12 個月，或者 JV 的 23 財年 EBITDA 是多少——在 100% 的基礎上，作為參考。

And as we think about moving into fiscal '24 that would seem like fiscal '23 is above that pre-pandemic run rate, kind of reasons why kind of profitability could be lower year-on-year or higher? Just help us think about kind of some of the cumulative pieces here when you're thinking about the European business over the next 12 months?

當我們考慮進入 24 財年時，23 財年的運行率似乎高於大流行前的運行率，盈利能力可能同比下降或上升的原因有哪些？當您考慮未來 12 個月的歐洲業務時，請幫助我們考慮一些累積的部分？

Yes. Thanks for the question, Adam. A couple of responses to that. I would say, first, as we look at the fourth quarter guidance, that's what I would take to look at the normalized amount for this year in terms of being that (inaudible) on a run rate basis. And then certainly, there's going to be a number of things as we bring EMEA into our operations that we're looking forward to having that one face to the customer, introducing our revenue growth management capabilities and bringing in our supply chain common methodologies and ways of working that we're looking to work on over time as we integrate this business with ours to bring in more upside as we continue to progress.

是的。謝謝你的問題，亞當。對此有幾個回應。我想說的是，首先，當我們看第四季度的指導時，這就是我要看的是今年的標準化金額，即按運行率計算的（聽不清）。然後當然，當我們將 EMEA 納入我們的運營時，將會有很多事情，我們期待著面對客戶，引入我們的收入增長管理能力，並引入我們的供應鏈通用方法和方式隨著我們將這項業務與我們的業務整合，我們希望隨著時間的推移開展工作，以便在我們繼續進步的同時帶來更多的好處。

But it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to happen over time. But those are some of the opportunities that we see to be able to continue to grow this business.

但這不會在一夜之間發生。隨著時間的推移，它會發生。但這些是我們看到能夠繼續發展這項業務的一些機會。

Yes. And I'll just add, Adam, we have a tremendous management team running that business. And they've managed it through a tremendous amount of volatility over the last 15 months with all the things that are going on. And we are more confident now with the trajectory of EMEA in that business and the foundation that the management team has put in place and the overall global reach we now have to serve our customers in all the international markets.

是的。我只想補充一點，亞當，我們有一支龐大的管理團隊來經營這項業務。在過去的 15 個月裡，隨著所有發生的事情，他們已經通過巨大的波動來管理它。我們現在對 EMEA 在該業務中的發展軌跡以及管理團隊已經建立的基礎以及我們現在必須為所有國際市場的客戶提供服務的整體全球影響力更有信心。

So we have a lot to do to get that business integrated into one global team. And over time, I'm super confident where the capabilities that is going to allow us to really serve our customers in a different manner than we ever have. So it's a tremendous accomplishment what the team has done with that business. I can't emphasize that enough. We've got a great leadership team over there, and I'm excited and looking forward to what we're going to do as we integrate that business going forward.

因此，要將該業務整合到一個全球團隊中，我們還有很多工作要做。隨著時間的推移，我非常有信心讓我們能夠以前所未有的方式真正為客戶服務的能力。因此，團隊在該業務上取得的成就是一項巨大的成就。我怎麼強調都不為過。我們在那裡有一支優秀的領導團隊，我很興奮並期待著我們在未來整合該業務時將要做的事情。

All right. That's helpful color. And then just on the CapEx, which with 1 quarter left in the year, was a pretty sizable kind of increase in the outlook even inclusive of the Groningen CapEx of the JV that you're now kind of consolidating. Does this change any of the timing around the Argentine, Idaho or Chinese capacity or the things you're doing in the rest of the network or capabilities around coatings or battering that kind of you're pulling forward? Just help us think about kind of negative that CapEx step-up, how it impacts the timing of new capacity? And what should we think about as a range for the consolidated CapEx for next year, even if at a high level?

好的。這是有用的顏色。然後就資本支出而言，今年還剩 1 個季度，前景增長相當可觀，甚至包括您現在正在整合的合資企業的格羅寧根資本支出。這是否會改變阿根廷、愛達荷州或中國能力的任何時間安排，或者你在網絡其餘部分所做的事情，或者圍繞塗料或打擊你正在推進的那種能力？只是幫助我們考慮一下資本支出增加的負面影響，它如何影響新產能的時機？我們應該如何考慮明年綜合資本支出的範圍，即使處於高水平？

Yes. No. So as we take a look at our capital spending, there were a number of items where we have long lead times, just given the supply chain dynamics that are out there. And we've been able to accelerate some of those things in terms of equipment and other pieces to come in, which is being reflected in our overall capital spending for this year. Really happy with that, but that's not going to bring on the capacity any sooner as we continue to build those factories.

是的。沒有。因此，當我們查看我們的資本支出時，考慮到現有的供應鏈動態，我們有許多項目的交貨時間很長。我們已經能夠在設備和其他部件方面加快其中的一些事情，這反映在我們今年的整體資本支出中。對此真的很滿意，但是隨著我們繼續建設這些工廠，這不會很快帶來產能。

We just wanted to make sure that we have the items when needed to make sure that we would bring these up on time. So no change when we're going to bring that capacity online. As we look to next year, certainly, as we do every year end when we give our fourth quarter guidance, we'll update with our capital spending at that time. But we'll have another year of significant capital expenditures given we're bringing on over [1 billion pounds] in the next 18 to 24 months with all of the capacity expansions that we referred to.

我們只是想確保我們在需要時擁有這些物品，以確保我們會按時提出這些物品。因此，當我們要使該容量在線時沒有變化。當我們展望明年時，當然，正如我們在每年年底給出第四季度指導時所做的那樣，我們將在那時更新我們的資本支出。但鑑於我們將在未來 18 到 24 個月內通過我們提到的所有產能擴張帶來超過 [10 億英鎊]，我們將有另一年的重大資本支出。

Adam, it's Dexter. Let me just kind of -- for everybody just kind of here's the timing of the capacity coming online. China is going to be sometime fall of '23, American Falls, Idaho is going to be spring of '24, Argentina is fall of '24, right and then Groningen in the Netherlands, initial thoughts right now are going to be early calendar '25. It's kind of...

亞當，是德克斯特。讓我有點 - 對於每個人來說，這裡是容量上線的時間。中國將是 23 年的秋天，美國的秋天，愛達荷州將是 24 年的春天，阿根廷是 24 年的秋天，然後是荷蘭的格羅寧根，現在的初步想法將是提前日曆25.這有點...

(inaudible)

（聽不清）

Yes, it's early -- yes, early to mid. That one's a little bit more in flux. But that's kind of where the timing is right now.

是的，現在很早——是的，從早到中。那個在不斷變化。但這就是現在的時機。

(Operator Instructions) We'll hear next from Peter Galbo from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）接下來我們將聽到來自美國銀行的 Peter Galbo。

Tom, I think in your comments, you mentioned the incremental pricing in retail that you took kind of towards the end of 3Q. In global, it seemed like there was no more incremental that was at least expected to come this year. But maybe you can opine a little bit just on Foodservice. That was maybe the one area where we didn't hear about if there's any incremental pricing actions. And then in addition to that, just would love any kind of first thoughts as plantings have gone into the ground here in early April.

湯姆，我想在你的評論中，你提到了你在第三季度末採取的零售增量定價。在全球範圍內，似乎至少預計今年不會出現更多增量。但也許你可以對 Foodservice 發表一些看法。如果有任何增量定價行動，那可能是我們沒有聽說過的一個領域。除此之外，隨著 4 月初這裡的種植已經進入地下，我會喜歡任何一種初步想法。

Yes. So in terms of the Foodservice segment, we've done a really good job over the past year or 2 kind of catch up to our inflation. And so I feel comfortable where we're at on that, where, as I said earlier, we're evaluating as we look to fiscal -- our fiscal 2024, our input cost inflation and how that's going to materialize. And then as we do every year, then we'll get together and think about what we need to do to offset inflation. And I can't say this enough. We're still in an inflationary environment in our business. And so as we have in the past and we'll continue to do, we're going to evaluate our pricing actions in all segments to offset inflation. And that's kind of what we're going to do. So...

是的。因此，就餐飲服務部門而言，我們在過去一年或 2 年內做得非常好，趕上了我們的通貨膨脹。因此，我對我們在這方面的進展感到滿意，正如我之前所說，我們正在評估我們對財政的看法——我們的 2024 財年、我們的投入成本通脹以及這將如何實現。然後就像我們每年所做的那樣，然後我們會聚在一起思考我們需要做些什麼來抵消通貨膨脹。我不能說夠了。我們的業務仍處於通貨膨脹環境中。因此，正如我們過去所做的並將繼續做的那樣，我們將評估我們在所有領域的定價行動以抵消通貨膨脹。這就是我們要做的。所以...

Yes. So with the Foodservice increase, there'll just be a small impact in the fourth quarter given the timing of that announcement. And then the only other thing is, as it relates to the crop, we are currently in the process of planting there, the Columbia Basin and Idaho. So we'll provide more of an update on our next call.

是的。因此，隨著餐飲服務的增加，考慮到該公告的發佈時間，第四季度只會產生很小的影響。然後唯一的另一件事是，因為它與作物有關，我們目前正在哥倫比亞盆地和愛達荷州種植。因此，我們將在下次通話時提供更多更新。

Okay. No, that's helpful. And then maybe just to follow up on Adam's question on CapEx. Obviously, kind of from a position of strength, you guys are accelerating some of the spend. Bernadette, it didn't sound like you were kind of pulling forward any spend from next year, but maybe just wanted to clarify that.

好的。不，那很有幫助。然後也許只是跟進亞當關於資本支出的問題。顯然，從強勢的角度來看，你們正在加速一些支出。 Bernadette，聽起來你並沒有把明年的任何開支提前，但也許只是想澄清一下。

And then just in a broader context on kind of capital allocation with the CapEx spend being as high as it is and maybe you're going to move past through a lot of that. The debt is termed out pretty far at this point. You started to buy back a little bit of stock in the quarter. The dividend yield is pretty low relative to peers. Just maybe you can kind of comment on how you're seeing the setup for some of the other pillars within capital allocation.

然後在更廣泛的資本配置背景下，資本支出與現在一樣高，也許你會經歷很多。在這一點上，債務已經到期了。你在本季度開始回購一些股票。與同行相比，股息收益率相當低。也許你可以評論一下你如何看待資本配置中其他一些支柱的設置。

Yes. So if I take the latter question first, as Tom mentioned, we're still really confident in the strength of this category, and we're going to continue to invest for the long term. As it relates to our cash position and our overall low debt-to-equity ratio, we want to maintain flexibility for the long term should certain things happen or open up for us from an M&A or other perspective. And so we feel good about where we're at.

是的。因此，如果我首先回答後一個問題，正如湯姆提到的那樣，我們仍然對這一類別的實力充滿信心，我們將繼續長期投資。由於這關係到我們的現金狀況和我們整體較低的債務權益比率，我們希望在某些事情發生或從併購或其他角度為我們開放時長期保持靈活性。因此，我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。

So our capital allocation hasn't changed, and we're going to continue to take into consideration share buybacks as we have in the past to offset management dilution. But as we've also shown, we will opportunistically buyback when it makes sense.

因此，我們的資本配置沒有改變，我們將像過去一樣繼續考慮股票回購，以抵消管理層的稀釋。但正如我們也表明的那樣，我們會在有意義的時候機會主義地回購。

And then just to confirm your first question on the capital spending. We haven't necessarily pulled much forward in terms of total capital spending. We've got a lot of large projects happening over the next 18 to 24 months, and some of that was just on some long lead time equipment.

然後只是為了確認你關於資本支出的第一個問題。就總資本支出而言，我們不一定有很大的進步。在接下來的 18 到 24 個月內，我們有很多大型項目正在進行，其中一些只是在一些交付週期較長的設備上。

Rob Dickerson from Jefferies. your line is open.

來自 Jefferies 的 Rob Dickerson。你的線路是開放的。

Great. Maybe just my first question more mechanical to you Bernadette. It looks like the interest expense expectation for the year hasn't changed. But clearly, taking on the term loan and then maybe some assumed for existing debt, I would think from Meijer. Maybe just kind of quickly explain -- maybe I just missed it in the prepared remarks kind of how that interest expense doesn't change with the assumption of debt.

偉大的。也許我的第一個問題對你來說更機械，伯納黛特。看起來今年的利息支出預期沒有改變。但很明顯，接受定期貸款，然後可能承擔一些現有債務，我會從 Meijer 那裡想到。也許只是快速解釋 - 也許我只是在準備好的評論中錯過了它，即利息支出如何不隨著債務的假設而改變。

Yes. No, that's a great question. What we're finding is that we're having more capitalized interest related to some of these heavy capital projects, which is putting more of that, which is offsetting some of that interest expense overall. So that's all that you're seeing there.

是的。不，這是一個很好的問題。我們發現，我們有更多與這些重型資本項目相關的資本化利息，這正在投入更多，這抵消了部分利息支出。這就是你在那裡看到的一切。

Got it. So -- but that would probably be more like a Q4 event, like we would still assume that even though you're not guiding that there would be incremental debt and interest given the deal. Just thinking about the mechanics of the actual acquisition?

知道了。所以 - 但這可能更像是第四季度的事件，就像我們仍然假設即使你沒有指導交易會增加債務和利息。只是考慮實際收購的機制？

Yes, you're exactly right. You're thinking about it right.

是的，你完全正確。你考慮的很對。

Okay. Super. And then maybe just Tom and Bernadette, just kind of we're talking about a lot of commentary around that [$100 million] on the -- sorry, yes, on the Meijer JV and kind of what the potential run rate could be. Maybe just another kind of way to ask it is just that's the number we've all been talking about vis-a-vis kind of pre-pandemic.

好的。極好的。然後也許只有湯姆和伯納黛特，我們正在談論關於 [1 億美元] 的很多評論 - 抱歉，是的，關於 Meijer JV 以及潛在的運行率可能是多少。也許只是另一種問法，這就是我們一直在談論的相對於大流行前的數字。

But then also, there are all these synergies or some synergies that should come through. So I'm just curious like over the past few months, you've actually closed the transaction. Do you feel like you have better line of sight on kind of synergy potential without having to quantify them over the next 2 to 3 years?

但是，還有所有這些協同作用或一些協同作用應該通過。所以我很好奇，在過去的幾個月裡，你實際上已經完成了交易。您是否覺得在未來 2 到 3 年內不必對它們進行量化，您是否可以更好地了解某種協同潛力？

Yes. So again, we -- the business is on a much better trajectory over than it has been over the last 12 months, and that's a testament to a terrific management team we have that have implemented a number of different strategies to get that business back on track. I fully expect over the next 12 months that we will improve our run rate that we've indicated prior.

是的。因此，我們 - 與過去 12 個月相比，我們的業務發展軌跡要好得多，這證明了我們擁有一支出色的管理團隊，他們已經實施了許多不同的戰略來恢復業務追踪。我完全希望在接下來的 12 個月內，我們將提高我們之前指出的運行率。

And I'm not going to give a specific number, but I'm more confident now than ever that this -- where that business is going and the trajectory that the team has got that business on and the synergies and the integration that we're going to do over the next 12 months is going to well position EMEA better than it ever has. And we're not going to give specific numbers, but I will tell you, I'm confident that we will move that business in a direction that you know that I believe is much better than what we've indicated.

我不會給出具體數字，但我現在比以往任何時候都更有信心——業務的發展方向、團隊開展業務的軌跡以及我們的協同效應和整合。我們在接下來的 12 個月內要做的事情將比以往任何時候都更好地定位 EMEA。我們不會給出具體數字，但我會告訴你，我相信我們會朝著你知道的方向推進這項業務，我相信這比我們所指出的要好得多。

All right, super. And then just quickly, maybe a little bit more fun to talk about. I saw your -- let's say, your ability to enter Domino's with product, I guess, that is not fried. It seems like it's more baked. Maybe if you could just spend a minute kind of speaking kind of the technology that maybe you have on a proprietary basis that allowed you to do that? And then is that something that I would assume you would clearly try to attack with other customers that, let's say, don't have fryers. That's it.

好吧，超級棒。然後很快，也許談論起來會更有趣一點。我看到你——比方說，你用產品進入達美樂的能力，我想，那不是油炸的。好像更烤了。也許你可以花一分鐘時間談談你可能擁有的專有技術，讓你可以做到這一點？然後是我假設你顯然會嘗試攻擊其他客戶的東西，比方說，沒有油炸鍋。就是這樣。

Yes. So I'm not going to get into all the product technology, but we're super excited about that product and how it's performing, it's performing better than expected. I've been talking about that for a long time in terms of getting into non-fried channels, and that was a big first step. We've done that with other well-known chains also. And we're going to continue to monitor it. We're going to work with non-fried channel customers as we do today, we'll continue to do that. And we have a great innovation team working on non-fried, potato products, but those are long lead time items.

是的。所以我不打算討論所有的產品技術，但我們對該產品及其表現感到非常興奮，它的表現比預期的要好。在進入非油炸渠道方面，我已經談論了很長時間，這是邁出的一大步。我們也與其他知名連鎖店合作過。我們將繼續監控它。我們將像今天一樣與非油炸渠道客戶合作，我們將繼續這樣做。我們有一個偉大的創新團隊致力於非油炸土豆產品，但這些產品的交貨期很長。

But I will tell you what is happening with that particular product is exciting and it's performing amazingly. So we'll continue to monitor it, but it's been a long time coming. And hats off to the team that put a lot of years of work into getting that to market, and it's great to see it pay off and really do well in the marketplace.

但我會告訴你那個特定產品正在發生的事情是令人興奮的，而且它的表現非常驚人。所以我們會繼續監控它，但它已經很長時間了。並向為將其推向市場而付出多年努力的團隊致敬，很高興看到它得到回報並在市場上真正做得很好。

(Operator Instructions) We'll hear next from William Reuter from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）接下來我們將聽到來自美國銀行的 William Reuter。

I just -- I have 2 questions. The first is you mentioned M&A. You also are active in building a handful of new facilities. You're going to be consolidating the JV, and you talked about a lot of the operational changes you're going to make there. I guess, do you feel like you're at the point now where you still could be active? And I guess, what types of businesses or where within the supply chain, do you expect that you would be more active?

我只是——我有兩個問題。首先是你提到的併購。您還積極建造一些新設施。您將整合合資企業，並且談到了您將在那裡進行的許多運營變更。我想，你覺得你現在還可以活躍嗎？我想，您希望您會更加活躍於哪些類型的企業或供應鏈中的哪個位置？

Yes. So the intent and part of our strategic playbook is we're always going to be evaluating potential acquisitions within the potato category. That's the #1 focus. Category is strong. It's good returns, great investment. It's growing, and we have not only invested in expanding our current manufacturing footprint around the globe as we're doing with the 4 projects we have going on.

是的。因此，我們戰略劇本的意圖和部分內容是，我們將始終評估馬鈴薯類別中的潛在收購。這是#1 的重點。品類很強。這是很好的回報，巨大的投資。它正在增長，我們不僅投資於擴大我們目前在全球的製造足跡，正如我們正在進行的 4 個項目一樣。

But to the point Bernadette made earlier, it's important for me and the company to make sure we have a strong balance sheet. So if an opportunity comes up, we'll be able to execute it. And so that's always going to be on the table and I've been consistent in that over the past 6 years. So I feel good about where our capital -- our balance sheet is. We're investing to expand our footprint. It's right on strategy. We're positioning ourselves in the industry to support our customers in all the markets around the world. I feel good about where we're at.

但就 Bernadette 早些時候提出的觀點而言，確保我們擁有穩健的資產負債表對我和公司來說很重要。因此，如果出現機會，我們將能夠執行它。所以這總是會擺在桌面上，在過去的 6 年裡我一直堅持這一點。所以我對我們的資本——我們的資產負債表在哪裡感覺很好。我們正在投資擴大我們的足跡。戰略上是對的。我們將自己定位於該行業，以支持我們在全球所有市場的客戶。我對我們所處的位置感覺很好。

Okay. And then my second question, is there any way for you to provide some additional color around what the impact of open market purchases were this year? Just trying to think about in the event that you're able to fill that with contracted purchases next year, what that tailwind could be?

好的。然後是我的第二個問題，您是否可以通過任何方式為今年公開市場購買的影響提供一些額外的色彩？試想一下，如果您明年能夠通過合同採購來填補這一空缺，順風可能是什麼？

Yes. We haven't quantified the impact of those open market purchases, a little bit different this year in that we were short on yield versus last year, there was an impact for yield and quality. While we are needing to bring in fewer open market purchases, the cost this year is significantly higher. So we have not quantified that, but there is a meaningful impact this year, similar to last year.

是的。我們還沒有量化這些公開市場購買的影響，今年有點不同，因為我們的收益率與去年相比有所下降，對收益率和質量產生了影響。雖然我們需要減少公開市場採購，但今年的成本要高得多。所以我們沒有對此進行量化，但今年與去年類似，產生了有意義的影響。

Bill, one other thing. I mean the reason that we had to go in the open market is because the crop yields weren't good this year. And typically, if you have an average crop, then you really don't have to go into the open market that much at all.

比爾，另一件事。我的意思是我們不得不進入公開市場的原因是因為今年的作物收成不好。通常情況下，如果你的收成一般，那麼你真的根本不需要那麼多地進入公開市場。

We do have a follow-up from Andrew Lazar from Barclays.

我們確實有來自巴克萊銀行的 Andrew Lazar 的跟進。

Just a super quick one. Tom, when you announced the joint venture acquisition with Meijer. I think one of the things you mentioned was that you also hope that or intended that this action would kind of send a message, right, to the broader sort of European sort of competitive environment there, that you were certainly looking for there to be over time, the potential for further consolidation in what is a much more fragmented, right, operating theater, right, in Europe?

只是一個超級快的。湯姆，當你宣布與 Meijer 的合資企業收購時。我認為你提到的其中一件事是你也希望或打算這一行動會向那裡更廣泛的歐洲競爭環境發出一個信息，你當然希望那裡結束時間，在歐洲更加分散的手術室中進一步整合的潛力？

And I'm just curious if this transaction now that you've closed it in or a couple of months or since announcing it, whether the -- I don't know, the dialogue or pace of conversations maybe with others has picked up more generally. We saw another one outside of you, right, the transaction that happened whatever it was a couple of months ago in Belgium. And I'm just curious if your expectation would be that we're likely to see more somewhat sooner or not? And if you're hearing more chatter and dialogue.

我只是想知道這項交易是在您完成交易後的幾個月或幾個月內完成的，還是在宣布交易後——我不知道，與其他人的對話或對話速度是否有所加快一般來說。我們在你之外看到了另一個，對，幾個月前在比利時發生的交易。我很好奇你是否期望我們可能會更快地看到更多？如果你聽到更多的喋喋不休和對話。

Yes, Andrew, it's a great question. Obviously, I can't get into what conversations are or not happening, but consistent, Andrew, with how I position this over the last several years is we're continue to be as active as we can. I think the intention of what I would love to do from an industry standpoint is known.

是的，安德魯，這是一個很好的問題。顯然，我無法了解正在進行或未進行的對話，但安德魯，與我在過去幾年中的定位一致，我們將繼續盡可能積極。我認為從行業的角度來看我想做的事情的意圖是眾所周知的。

And certainly, the transaction with Lamb Weston/Meijer. People took notice, but we'll -- I'll leave it at that. And hopefully, the fragmentation of the market, it's a private sector and you got -- people got to come to the table. And -- but I'm pretty sure they're clear they know what I want to do.

當然，還有與 Lamb Weston/Meijer 的交易。人們注意到了，但我們會——我會把它留在那兒。希望市場的碎片化，它是一個私營部門，你得到了 - 人們必須來到談判桌前。而且——但我很確定他們很清楚他們知道我想做什麼。

That does conclude the Q&A portion of today's conference. I would like to turn the conference back over to Dexter for any additional or closing comments.

今天會議的問答部分到此結束。我想將會議轉回 Dexter 以徵求任何其他或結束評論。

Thanks for joining the call this morning. If you want to [like gradually have] a follow-up session -- just send an e-mail and we can organize the time. Thanks for everybody for joining the call. Thank you.

感謝您今天早上加入電話會議。如果你想 [喜歡逐漸擁有] 後續會議 -- 只需發送電子郵件，我們可以安排時間。感謝大家加入電話會議。謝謝。

That does conclude today's teleconference. We thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。