藍威斯頓 (LW) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Lamb Weston fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Dexter Congbalay, Vice President, Investor Relations and Strategy. Please go ahead, sir.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Lamb Weston 第四季和 2024 年全年財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係和策略副總裁 Dexter Congbalay。請繼續，先生。

Good morning and thank you for joining us for Lamb Weston's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 earnings call. This morning, we issued our earnings press release, which is available on our website, lambweston.com.

早安，感謝您參加 Lamb Weston 第四季和 2024 財年財報電話會議。今天早上，我們發布了收益新聞稿，該新聞稿可在我們的網站 Lambweston.com 上取得。

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.

請注意，在我們的發言中，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。

Please refer to the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in our SEC filings for more details on our forward-looking statements. 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.

請參閱我們向 SEC 提交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資訊。今天的一些評論包括非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非公認會計原則財務指標不應被視為替代我們的公認會計原則結果，而應與我們的公認會計原則結果一起閱讀。您可以在我們的收益報告中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 的調整表。

With me today are Tom Werner, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Bernadette Madarieta, our Chief Financial Officer. Tom will provide an overview of our strategies and priorities for the upcoming year, the current operating environment and our initial thoughts on this year's potato crop. Bernadette will then provide details on our fourth quarter results as well as our outlook for fiscal '25.

今天與我在一起的有總裁兼執行長 Tom Werner 和財務長 Bernadette Madarieta。湯姆將概述我們來年的策略和優先事項、當前的營運環境以及我們對今年馬鈴薯作物的初步想法。然後，伯納黛特將提供有關我們第四季度業績的詳細資訊以及我們對 25 財年的展望。

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

現在讓我把電話轉給湯姆。

Thank you, Dexter. Good morning, and thank you for joining our call today. Our financial results for the fourth quarter and for the year are disappointing, reflecting executional challenges both commercially and in our supply chain as well as soft global demand for fries. While Bernadette will cover our fourth quarter results in more detail later.

謝謝你，德克斯特。早安，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。我們第四季和全年的財務表現令人失望，反映出商業和供應鏈中的執行挑戰以及全球對薯條的需求疲軟。伯納黛特稍後將更詳細地介紹我們第四季的業績。

Our sales and earnings performance fell well short of our targets due to a combination of targeted investments and price, a decision to voluntarily withdraw a product to ensure we meet our quality standards and more importantly, those of our customers higher than anticipated market share losses and unfavorable mix and softer than expected restaurant traffic trends in both the US and many of our key international markets.

由於目標投資和價格的結合，我們決定自願撤回產品以確保我們達到我們的品質標準，更重要的是，我們的客戶的市場份額損失高於預期，我們的銷售和盈利業績遠低於我們的目標。

This level of execution is unacceptable and I and my leadership team take full responsibility for operating and financial results. As we outlined in our Investor Day last October, we believe that frozen potatoes is an attractive growing global category and that we have built a solid foundation to serve our customers in this market over the long term.

這種執行程度是不可接受的，我和我的領導團隊對營運和財務結果承擔全部責任。正如我們在去年 10 月的投資者日中所概述的那樣，我們相信冷凍馬鈴薯是一個有吸引力的、不斷增長的全球類別，我們已經為長期服務該市場的客戶奠定了堅實的基礎。

This includes some key actions taken in fiscal 2024, such as integrating the acquisition of our former European joint venture, starting a state of the art processing facilities in China in October 2023 and American falls Idaho in May of 2024, strengthening our product portfolio by introducing innovative technologies to expand our total addressable market.

這包括在2024 財年採取的一些關鍵行動，例如整合對我們前歐洲合資企業的收購、於2023 年10 月在中國啟動最先進的加工設施、於2024 年5 月在美國愛達荷州啟動、透過引入創新技術來擴大我們的總體目標市場。

Implementing pricing actions that offset multiple years of high input cost inflation, taking a big step in upgrading our IT infrastructure by cutting over key central systems processes in North America to a new ERP system and continuing to drive supply chain productivity savings across our global production network. We believe we're focused on the right strategies and priorities to get Lamb Weston back on track to drive sales growth, reduce costs, improve profitability and generate attractive returns over the long term.

實施定價措施，抵消多年來的高投入成本通膨，透過將北美的關鍵中央系統流程切換到新的ERP 系統，在升級我們的IT 基礎設施方面邁出一大步，並繼續推動我們全球生產網絡的供應鏈生產力節省。我們相信，我們專注於正確的策略和優先事項，以使 Lamb Weston 重回正軌，推動銷售成長、降低成本、提高盈利能力並產生有吸引力的長期回報。

That said, the operating environment has changed rapidly during fiscal 2024 as global restaurant traffic and frozen potato demand softened. In fact, the downward traffic trends accelerated during the back half of the year and into early fiscal 2025, this has led to an increase in available industry capacity in North America and Europe.

儘管如此，隨著全球餐廳客流量和冷凍馬鈴薯需求疲軟，2024 財年的營運環境也發生了迅速變化。事實上，今年下半年和 2025 財年初，流量下降趨勢加速，這導致北美和歐洲的可用產業產能增加。

We believe this industry supply demand imbalance will persist through much, if not all fiscal 2025. Although this has no impact on our long-term strategies, we are making some operating adjustments in the near term to support improved execution, competitiveness and our financial results. We are reinvigorating volume growth by matching the right product at the right price to fit customer needs and by also leveraging limited time offerings and innovation to help our customers drive traffic.

我們相信，這種產業供需不平衡現象將在2025 財年的大部分時間（甚至整個財年）持續存在。提高執行力、競爭力和財務表現。我們透過以合適的價格匹配合適的產品來滿足客戶需求，並利用限時產品和創新來幫助我們的客戶增加流量，從而重振銷售成長。

We're targeting specific investments in price and trade support to protect share and win new business. We're aggressively looking at opportunities to reduce costs further by driving supply chain productivity and tightly managing operating expenses or leveraging recent capacity investments to increase flexibility in managing our manufacturing footprint to balance production and shipments were reshaping future investments to modernize production capabilities to better match the demand environment.

我們的目標是在價格和貿易支援方面進行具體投資，以保護份額並贏得新業務。我們正在積極尋找進一步降低成本的機會，方法是提高供應鏈生產力並嚴格管理營運費用，或利用最近的產能投資來提高管理製造足跡的靈活性，以平衡生產和發貨，並重塑未來的投資，以實現生產能力現代化，以更好地匹配需求環境。

And we're simplifying our key processes to make it easier for customers to do business with Lamb Weston. These priorities will change how we expect to drive sales and earnings growth in fiscal 2025. Specifically, our sales growth will be largely volume-driven, unlike the price driven top line that we've delivered in recent years.

我們正在簡化關鍵流程，以便客戶更輕鬆地與 Lamb Weston 開展業務。這些優先事項將改變我們在 2025 財年推動銷售和獲利成長的預期方式。

Overall, we expect the net impact of our inflation driven pricing actions in the aggregate will have a minimal contribution to our net sales as we employ targeted investments in price to support volume growth. As a result, we expect our earnings performance will be driven by a combination of volume growth, improved mix and cost savings.

總體而言，我們預期通膨驅動的定價行為總體上對我們的淨銷售額的貢獻微乎其微，因為我們採用有針對性的價格投資來支持銷售成長。因此，我們預期我們的獲利表現將由銷售成長、產品組合改善和成本節約共同推動。

In recent years, our earnings growth has been largely driven by price and to a lesser extent, mix. Our expectation for volume growth is dependent in part on an improvement in restaurant traffic trends. According to restaurant industry data providers, US restaurant traffic softened over the past years consumers continued to adjust to the cumulative effect of menu price inflation.

近年來，我們的獲利成長主要是由價格驅動的，其次是由混合驅動的。我們對銷售成長的預期部分取決於餐廳客流量趨勢的改善。據餐飲業數據提供商稱，過去幾年美國餐廳客流量疲軟，消費者不斷適應菜單價格上漲的累積效應。

During our physical fourth quarter, overall, US restaurant traffic as well as QSR traffic was down about 3% versus the prior year. Traffic at QSR chains specializing in hamburgers, a highly important channel for fry consumption was down more than 4% in addition, traffic trends in QSR hamburger weaken sequentially each month of the quarter with May down nearly 6%.

在我們的第四季度，總體而言，美國餐廳客流量以及 QSR 客流量比去年同期下降了約 3%。作為油炸食品消費的一個非常重要的管道，專營漢堡的快餐連鎖店的客流量下降了4% 以上，此外，快餐漢堡的客流量趨勢在本季度每個月都在逐月減弱，其中5 月份下降了近6%。

However, we're encouraged that the QSR chains, including QSR hamburger chains, have increased promotional activities to drive restaurant traffic. Given the recent introduction, we believe these promotions did not affect traffic during physical fourth quarter, and we have not yet received comprehensive data that would indicate a more recent benefit on traffic, but we expect that these promotional efforts will have a positive effect on traffic, as they have done so in the past.

然而，令我們感到鼓舞的是，包括 QSR 漢堡連鎖店在內的 QSR 連鎖店已經增加了促銷活動以增加餐廳客流量。鑑於最近的推出，我們認為這些促銷活動並未對第四季度的實際流量產生影響，並且我們尚未收到表明近期對流量有好處的全面數據，但我們預計這些促銷活動將對流量產生積極影響，正如他們過去所做的那樣。

Outside the US overall restaurant traffic trends in our key international markets in the fourth quarter were generally consistent with what we observed in the third quarter. Overall traffic was up in France and Italy down modestly in Germany and Spain and down about 2% in the UK, our largest market in Europe. In Asia, overall, restaurant traffic grew in both China and Japan, while global restaurant traffic trends were mixed. Fry attachment rates in the US, Europe, Japan and China were largely steady.

在美國以外，我們第四季主要國際市場的整體餐廳客流量趨勢與我們在第三季觀察到的情況基本一致。法國和義大利的整體流量有所上升，德國和西班牙略有下降，英國（我們在歐洲最大的市場）下降了約 2%。在亞洲，整體而言，中國和日本的餐廳客流量均有所成長，而全球餐廳客流量趨勢則是喜憂參半。美國、歐洲、日本和中國的魚苗附著率基本上穩定。

With our key international markets largely stable and the potential for a tailwind from promotional activity in the US, we believe the pressure on restaurant traffic and demand is temporary, and remain confident that the global fry category will return to its historical growth rate as consumers continue to adjust to higher menu prices.

由於我們的主要國際市場基本上穩定，並且美國促銷活動有可能帶來順風車，我們認為餐廳客流量和需求的壓力是暫時的，並且仍然有信心隨著消費者的繼續，全球薯條類別將恢復到歷史成長率以適應更高的菜單價格。

Nonetheless, we've taken a cautious view of the consumer and have not incorporated any change to current trends in our fiscal 2025 outlook as a result, we expect our volume to decline during the first half of fiscal 2025.

儘管如此，我們對消費者持謹慎態度，並且沒有將當前趨勢的任何變化納入我們的 2025 財年展望中，因此，我們預計我們的銷量將在 2025 財年上半年下降。

Turning now to the upcoming potato crop, we're harvesting and processing the early potato varieties in North America and initial indications are that this portion of the crop is consistent with historical averages. At this time, the potato crops in the Columbia Basin, Idaho, Alberta and the Midwest that will be harvested in the fall appear to be largely in line with historical averages as growing conditions in these regions have been generally favorable.

現在轉向即將到來的馬鈴薯作物，我們正在北美收穫和加工早期馬鈴薯品種，初步跡象表明這部分作物與歷史平均值一致。目前，哥倫比亞盆地、愛達荷州、艾伯塔省和中西部地區秋季收穫的馬鈴薯作物似乎基本上符合歷史平均水平，因為這些地區的生長條件普遍有利。

That said, we have not yet seen what impact, if any, the recent heat wave may have on the crop. As a reminder, North America, we've agreed to 3% decrease in aggregate and contract prices for the 2024 potato crop, and we would begin to realize the benefits of these lower potato prices beginning in our fiscal third quarter.

也就是說，我們還沒有看到最近的熱浪可能會對作物產生什麼影響（如果有的話）。提醒一下，北美地區，我們已同意將 2024 年馬鈴薯作物的總價格和合約價格降低 3%，我們將從第三財季開始意識到馬鈴薯價格下降的好處。

In Europe, heavy rainfall in the spring in the industry's main growing region in the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern France and Northern Germany delayed the completion of planning by about seven weeks. As a result, the futures index for European processing potatoes has climbed significantly reflecting the market's expectation for a below-average crop. Based on our practice of purchasing a higher portion of our raw potatoes using fixed price contracts.

在歐洲，荷蘭、比利時、法國北部和德國北部等產業主產區春季遭遇強降雨，導致規劃完成時間延後了約七週。因此，歐洲加工馬鈴薯期貨指數大幅攀升，反映了市場對產量低於平均值的預期。基於我們使用固定價格合約購買更多生馬鈴薯的做法。

We believe our exposure to the higher market price is less than that of our European competitors. Still, we expect our potato costs in Europe to increase as prices governed under fixed price contracts are up mid to high single digits. We'll provide more detail on the crops in both North America and Europe when we report our first quarter results in early October in line with our past practice.

我們相信，我們面臨的較高市場價格的風險低於我們的歐洲競爭對手。儘管如此，我們預計歐洲的馬鈴薯成本將會增加，因為固定價格合約下的價格將上漲到中高個位數。當我們按照過去的慣例在 10 月初報告第一季業績時，我們將提供有關北美和歐洲作物的更多詳細資訊。

So in summary, we believe we built a solid foundation to support our customers and drive improvement in our financial performance. We continue to operate and invest in this business for the long term and are making the appropriate adjustments this year to manage through the current challenging environment.

總而言之，我們相信我們為支持客戶和推動財務表現的改善奠定了堅實的基礎。我們將繼續長期營運和投資這項業務，並在今年做出適當調整，以應對當前充滿挑戰的環境。

We're encouraged by the actions that chain restaurants are taking to improve restaurant traffic as well as the traffic trends in most of our key international markets. But we took a cautious view on the consumer when we developed this year's financial targets. And finally, at this time, we expect the potato crop in North America will be consistent with historical averages, but that the crop in Europe will likely be below average.

我們對連鎖餐廳為改善餐廳客流量而採取的行動以及我們大多數主要國際市場的客流量趨勢感到鼓舞。但在製定今年的財務目標時，我們對消費者持謹慎態度。最後，目前，我們預計北美的馬鈴薯產量將與歷史平均值一致，但歐洲的馬鈴薯產量可能會低於平均值。

Let me now turn the call over to Bernadette for more detailed discussion of our fourth quarter results and our fiscal 2025 outlook.

現在讓我將電話轉給 Bernadette，以便更詳細地討論我們第四季的業績和 2025 財年的前景。

Thanks, Tom, and good morning, everyone. As Tom noted, our sales and earnings performance fell well short of our targets. Our team members are focused on getting our operations and financial results back on track in fiscal 2025. Before I provide our outlook for the upcoming year, let's begin by reviewing our fourth quarter results.

謝謝，湯姆，大家早安。正如湯姆指出的那樣，我們的銷售和獲利業績遠低於我們的目標。我們的團隊成員專注於讓我們的營運和財務表現在 2025 財年重回正軌。

Sales declined $83 million or 5% to more than $1.61 billion, volume declined 8% and price mix increased 3%. As it relates to volume, nearly five percentage points of the decline reflects the impact of share losses as well as our decision to exit certain lower priced and lower margin business in EMEA earlier in the year, The decline is a couple of points more than what we originally anticipated and was driven in part by higher and estimated share losses.

銷售額下降 8,300 萬美元，或 5%，至超過 16.1 億美元，銷量下降 8%，價格組合增加 3%。就銷量而言，近五個百分點的下降反映了股票虧損的影響以及我們今年稍早決定退出歐洲、中東和非洲地區某些價格較低、利潤率較低的業務的影響，下降幅度比去年同期高出幾個百分點。

With respect to the ERP transition, the issues we experienced that affected our third quarter order fill rates were temporary and contained in that quarter. We have healthy warehouse inventory levels and flows throughout the system. The remaining three points of the eight point volume decline reflected about a point loss related to the unexpected voluntary product withdrawal that Tom referenced and about two points related to soft restaurant traffic trends in North America and many of our key international markets, which was a bit more than we had expected.

關於 ERP 轉型，我們遇到的影響第三季訂單履行率的問題是暫時的，並在該季度得到了遏制。我們擁有健康的倉庫庫存水準和整個系統的流動。八點的銷售下降中的其餘三個點反映了與湯姆提到的意外自願產品撤回相關的一個點損失，以及與北美和我們許多主要國際市場的疲軟餐廳客流量趨勢相關的約兩個點，這有點超出我們的預期。

Price mix increased 3%, reflecting the carryover benefit of inflation driven pricing actions taken in late fiscal 2023, as well as pricing actions taken in fiscal 2024 across both of our business segments. The increase in price mix, however, was a few points below our expectations. This was largely due to unfavorable mix versus our forecast as customer demand for value-based products increased as well as targeted investments in price in North America.

物價組合成長了 3%，反映了 2023 財年末通膨驅動的定價行動以及 2024 財年我們兩個業務部門採取的定價行動的結轉效益。然而，價格組合的增幅比我們的預期低幾個百分點。這主要是由於客戶對基於價值的產品的需求增加以及北美的有針對性的價格投資，與我們的預測相比出現了不利的組合。

Moving on from sales, our adjusted gross profit declined $72 million to $363 million. About $40 million of that decline was due to the voluntary product withdrawal. The remaining $32 million was primarily driven by lower volume and an $8 million increase in depreciation expense associated with our capacity expansions in China and Idaho. The carryover benefit of our pricing actions largely offset higher manufacturing costs, which was primarily driven by mid-single digit input cost inflation.

從銷售來看，我們調整後的毛利下降了 7,200 萬美元，降至 3.63 億美元。其中約 4000 萬美元的下降是由於產品自願撤回造成的。剩餘的 3,200 萬美元主要是由於銷售下降以及與我們在中國和愛達荷州產能擴張相關的折舊費用增加了 800 萬美元。我們定價行動的結轉效益在很大程度上抵消了較高的製造成本，這主要是由中個位數的投入成本通膨所推動的。

Our gross margin in the quarter was about 23%, which was about 400 basis points below our target of 27%. Of the shortfall, about 250 basis points was related to the voluntary product withdrawal. The remaining roughly 150 basis points largely reflected the unfavorable mix impact from greater than expected share losses of higher-priced, higher-margin customers as well as the investments and price that we made in our North America segment.

本季我們的毛利率約為 23%，比我們 27% 的目標低約 400 個基點。其中，約 250 個基點與自願性產品撤回有關。其餘約 150 個基點主要反映了價格較高、利潤率較高的客戶的股票損失超出預期以及我們在北美業務的投資和價格所帶來的不利組合影響。

Adjusted SG&A declined $6 million to $172 million, reflecting lower performance-based compensation expense, which more than offset higher expenses associated with information technology investments, higher advertising and promotion investments to support the launch of retail products in EMEA and $6 million of incremental noncash amortization related to our new ERP system.

調整後的SG&A 下降600 萬美元，至1.72 億美元，反映出基於績效的薪酬費用減少，這足以抵消與資訊科技投資、支持在EMEA 推出零售產品的廣告和促銷投資增加以及600 萬美元增量非現金攤銷相關的費用增加。

Our SG&A in the quarter was about $20 million below the midpoint of our fourth quarter target of approximately $193 million, largely due to lower performance-based compensation expense and other cost savings efforts. All of this led to adjusted EBITDA of $283 million, which is down $50 million versus the prior year as lower sales and gross profit more than offset the decline in SG&A.

我們本季的 SG&A 比第四季目標中點約 1.93 億美元低約 2,000 萬美元，這主要是由於基於績效的薪酬費用降低和其他成本節約措施。所有這些導致調整後 EBITDA 為 2.83 億美元，比上年減少 5,000 萬美元，因為銷售額和毛利的下降足以抵消 SG&A 的下降。

That's about $80 million below the midpoint of our fourth quarter EBITDA target of approximately $363 million. About half of that shortfall is due to the voluntary product withdrawal late in the quarter. The other half is due largely to targeted investments in price and trade support in our North America segments, unfavorable mix and lower than expected volume, partially offset by favorable SG&A compared with our forecast.

這比我們第四季 EBITDA 目標約 3.63 億美元的中點低約 8,000 萬美元。大約一半的缺口是由於本季末自願撤回產品造成的。另一半主要是由於我們北美部門在價格和貿易支援方面的有針對性的投資、不利的組合和低於預期的銷量，部分被與我們預測相比有利的銷售及管理費用所抵消。

Moving to our segments compared with the year ago period, sales in our North America segment, which includes sales to customers in all channels in the US Canada and Mexico declined $47 million or 4% in the quarter. Volume declined 7% with about five points related to share losses and about 2% related to soft restaurant traffic in the US.

與去年同期相比，北美部門的銷售額（包括美國、加拿大和墨西哥所有通路的客戶銷售額）與去年同期相比下降了 4,700 萬美元，即 4%。銷量下降了 7%，其中約 5 個百分點與份額損失有關，約 2% 與美國餐廳客流量下降有關。

Price mix increased 3%, driven by the carryover benefit of inflation driven pricing actions taken in late 2023, as well as pricing actions for contracts with large and regional chain restaurant customers taken in fiscal 2024. Unfavorable mix due to share losses of higher margin customers as well as targeted investments in price tempered the increase in price mix.

價格組合成長了3%，原因是2023 年底採取的通貨膨脹驅動的定價行動的結轉效益，以及2024 財年與大型和區域連鎖餐廳客戶簽訂的合約的定價行動。份額損失，組合不利以及有針對性的價格投資抑制了價格組合的成長。

The north America segment's adjusted EBITDA declined $21 million or 7% to $277 million, primarily due to an approximately $19 million charge related to the voluntary product withdrawal. The remainder largely reflects the combination of lower sales volumes, unfavorable mix and higher cost per pound more than offsetting the benefit of prior pricing actions.

北美部門調整後的 EBITDA 下降 2,100 萬美元或 7%，至 2.77 億美元，主要是由於與自願產品撤回相關的約 1,900 萬美元費用。其餘部分主要反映了銷售下降、不利的產品組合和每磅成本上升的綜合影響，這遠遠抵消了先前定價行動的好處。

Sales in our international segment, which includes sales to customers in all channels outside of North America, declined $36 million or 7%. Volume declined 9% with nearly 5-percentage-points from share losses, which are due in part to decisions to exit certain lower price and lower margin business in EMEA earlier in the year.

國際部門的銷售額（包括北美以外所有管道的客戶銷售額）下降了 3,600 萬美元，即 7%。銷量下降 9%，其中份額損失近 5 個百分點，部分原因是今年稍早決定退出歐洲、中東和非洲地區某些價格較低、利潤率較低的業務。

We expect these strategic exits will continue to be a headwind through the first half of fiscal 2025. More than two points of the volume decline in the quarter reflects the voluntary product withdrawal, while the remaining roughly two points reflected soft restaurant traffic trends in key international markets. Price mix increased 2%, driven primarily by inflation driven pricing actions taken in fiscal 2023, as well as the carryover benefit of pricing actions taken earlier in fiscal 2024.

我們預計這些策略退出將繼續成為2025 財年上半年的阻力。 。物價組合成長了 2%，主要是由於 2023 財年採取的通膨驅動的定價行動，以及 2024 財年早些時候採取的定價行動的結轉效益。

Our international segment's adjusted EBITDA declined $43 million or 52% to $40 million, about $21 million of that decline related to the voluntary product withdrawal. The remainder of that decline was driven by lower sales volume, higher cost per pound and efforts, higher advertising and promotional investments to support the launch of retail products in EMEA and was partially offset by the benefit of prior pricing actions.

我們的國際部門調整後 EBITDA 下降了 4,300 萬美元，即 52%，至 4,000 萬美元，其中約 2,100 萬美元的下降與自願性產品撤回有關。其餘的下降是由於銷量下降、每磅成本上升和努力、支持在歐洲、中東和非洲地區推出零售產品而增加的廣告和促銷投資造成的，但部分被先前定價行動的好處所抵消。

Moving to our liquidity position in cash flow. Our balance sheet remains strong. We ended the quarter with net debt leverage ratio of 2.7 times adjusted EBITDA and our net debt declined nearly $40 million as compared to the end of our fiscal third quarter to about $3.75 billion. We continue to have ample liquidity, including nearly $1.2 billion available for our (technical difficulty) global revolving credit facility.

轉向我們的現金流流動性狀況。我們的資產負債表仍然強勁。本季結束時，我們的淨債務槓桿比率為調整後 EBITDA 的 2.7 倍，與第三財季末相比，我們的淨債務減少了近 4,000 萬美元，降至約 37.5 億美元。我們仍然擁有充足的流動性，包括近 12 億美元可用於我們的（技術難度）全球循環信貸安排。

For the year, we generated about $800 million of cash from operation, which is up about $37 million versus the prior year. As we discussed before, driving long-term growth requires making the right strategic and forward-looking investments. The resilience of our business and our overall financial strength put us in the ideal position to modernize our assets as well as to invest in critical areas that support customer needs and unlock efficiencies for our people and our business.

今年，我們從營運中產生了約 8 億美元的現金，比前一年增加了約 3,700 萬美元。正如我們之前討論的，推動長期成長需要做出正確的策略和前瞻性投資。我們業務的彈性和整體財務實力使我們處於理想的位置，可以實現資產現代化，並投資於支持客戶需求並提高員工和業務效率的關鍵領域。

This allowed us to spend about $990 million in capital expenditures this year or about $255 million more than the prior year, largely reflecting strategic investments to complete facilities in China and American falls Idaho, our ongoing capacity expansion projects in the Netherlands and Argentina and our new ERP system.

這使我們今年能夠支出約9.9 億美元的資本支出，比上年增加約2.55 億美元，主要反映了在中國和美國愛達荷州完成設施的戰略投資、我們在荷蘭和阿根廷正在進行的產能擴張項目以及我們新的產能擴充項目。

Finally, consistent with our capital allocation priorities, we returned $384 million of cash to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the year. This includes $210 million in share repurchases, including $60 million in the fourth quarter and $174 million in dividends. This reflects the strength of our balance sheet and our confidence in our business.

最後，根據我們的資本配置優先事項，我們在這一年透過股利和股票回購向股東返還了 3.84 億美元現金。其中包括 2.1 億美元的股票回購，其中第四季的 6,000 萬美元和 1.74 億美元的股息。這反映了我們資產負債表的實力以及我們對業務的信心。

Now turning to our fiscal 2025 outlook. As Tom discussed, we expect that the operating environment this year will be challenging and that consumers will continue to be more intentional with the dollars they spend in a pressured economic landscape. We expect that soft restaurant traffic and fry demand may result in higher than normal available industry capacity for selected product types and channels in fiscal 2025 and that we will make some targeted investments in price and trade to support volume growth and share.

現在轉向我們的 2025 財年展望。正如湯姆所討論的那樣，我們預計今年的經營環境將充滿挑戰，並且在壓力重重的經濟形勢下，消費者將繼續更加謹慎地花錢。我們預計，疲軟的餐廳客流量和油炸食品需求可能會導致2025 財年特定產品類型和管道的可用行業產能高於正常水平，我們將在價格和貿易方面進行一些有針對性的投資，以支持銷量增長和份額。

In addition, we're aggressively evaluating opportunities and implementing actions to drive supply chain productivity, balanced production based on lower shipments and reduced operating expenses. Specifically for the year, we're targeting sales of $6.6 billion to $6.8 billion on a constant currency basis. This implies growth of 2% to 5%, which we expect will be driven largely by volume.

此外，我們正在積極評估機會並採取行動，以提高供應鏈生產力，在減少出貨量和減少營運費用的基礎上平衡生產。具體來說，我們今年的銷售額目標是以固定匯率計算 66 億至 68 億美元。這意味著 2% 至 5% 的成長，我們預計這將主要由銷售推動。

However, we anticipate the volume will decline during the first half of the year, primarily due to two factors. First, we'll continue to experience the impact of recent share losses. And second, despite efforts by quick service and casual dining chains to improve traffic through increased promotional activity, we expect that restaurant traffic will remain soft for at least the first half of the year as the consumer continues to adjust to the cumulative impact of years of menu price inflation as well as other economic headwinds.

然而，我們預計上半年銷售量將下降，主要是由於兩個因素。首先，我們將繼續受到近期股價下跌的影響。其次，儘管快速服務和休閒餐飲連鎖店努力透過增加促銷活動來改善客流量，但我們預計，至少在今年上半年，隨著消費者繼續適應多年來的累積影響，餐廳客流量將保持疲軟。通貨膨脹以及其他經濟逆風。

During the second half of the year, we expect our volume to increase as we lap the prior year impacts of the ERP transition and voluntary product withdrawal increasingly benefit from recent customer contract wins in the US and key international markets and recapture some of the market share we lost in fiscal 2024. In fiscal 2025, we don't expect a meaningful contribution to come from price mix in the aggregate.

在今年下半年，我們預計我們的銷售量將會增加，因為我們克服了上一年ERP 轉型和自願產品撤回的影響，並越來越多地受益於最近在美國和主要國際市場贏得的客戶合同，並重新奪回了一些市場份額我們在 2024 財年虧損。

In North America, we're targeting price mix to decline. We expect to drive improvements in mix as the year progresses as we recapture lost share in higher-priced higher-margin channels. However, due to the soft demand environment, we believe the mix benefits will be more than offset by targeted investments in price and trade support to drive volume growth and share growth across the sales challenge.

在北美，我們的目標是降低價格組合。隨著時間的推移，我們預計將推動產品組合的改善，重新奪回在高價格、高利潤通路中失去的份額。然而，由於需求環境疲軟，我們認為，價格和貿易支援方面的有針對性的投資將足以抵消混合效益，以推動銷售成長和份額成長以應對銷售挑戰。

In international when possible under the terms of the customer contracts will look to drive pricing actions to offset input cost inflation, which we anticipate will be largely driven by a below average crop in Europe. In addition, we'll begin to gradually leverage our revenue growth management tools to manage our price architectures and improve mix.

在國際上，在可能的情況下，根據客戶合約條款，將尋求推動定價行動，以抵消投入成本通膨，我們預計這將主要由歐洲低於平均水平的收成推動。此外，我們將開始逐步利用我們的收入成長管理工具來管理我們的價格架構並改善組合。

However, we anticipate that the increase in price mix may be tempered by targeted investments in price and trade support in certain markets and channels to protect market share and win new business. For earnings, we expect adjusted EBITDA of $1.38 billion to $1.48 billion. For diluted earnings per share, we're targeting $4.35 to $4.85.

然而，我們預計，價格組合的增加可能會受到某些市場和管道的價格和貿易支持的針對性投資的影響，以保護市場份額並贏得新業務。對於獲利，我們預計調整後 EBITDA 為 13.8 億美元至 14.8 億美元。對於稀釋每股收益，我們的目標是 4.35 美元至 4.85 美元。

This includes an adjusted SG&A target of $740 million to $750 million, which is up $70 million versus the prior year, reflecting returning performance-based compensation expense back to targeted levels and incremental $24 million of non-cash amortization related to our new ERP system. And an incremental $10 million of advertising and promotional investments largely to support our retail brands in both North America and EMEA.

其中包括調整後的SG&A 目標為7.4 億美元至7.5 億美元，比上一年增加了7,000 萬美元，反映出基於績效的薪酬支出回到了目標水平，以及與我們的新ERP 系統相關的增量2,400萬美元非現金攤銷。新增 1000 萬美元的廣告和促銷投資主要用於支持我們在北美和歐洲、中東和非洲的零售品牌。

Excluding these three items, our adjusted SG&A expenses are down due to aggressive cost management. As I previously discussed, we're continuing to evaluate and implement additional cost savings actions. We're targeting total depreciation and amortization expense of $375 million, which is an increase of $75 million.

排除這三項，由於積極的成本管理，我們調整後的銷售、管理及行政費用有所下降。正如我之前所討論的，我們正在繼續評估和實施額外的成本節約行動。我們的目標是折舊和攤提費用總額達到 3.75 億美元，增加了 7,500 萬美元。

About $50 million of the increase is included in cost of sales and largely associated with the depreciation of the capacity expansions in China, Idaho and the Netherlands. The remainder of the increase primarily reflects the incremental amortization of our ERP system, which is recorded in SG&A.

其中約 5,000 萬美元的成長已計入銷售成本，主要與中國、愛達荷州和荷蘭產能擴張的折舊有關。其餘成長主要反映了我們的 ERP 系統的增量攤銷，該攤銷記錄在 SG&A 中。

For interest expense, we're forecasting about $180 million. That's an increase of about $45 million, reflecting higher average debt levels and lower capitalized interest. We're forecasting a full year effective tax rate of approximately 24%, which is similar to last year's rate. Finally, we're targeting cash used for capital expenditures of approximately $850 million as we continue the construction of our previously announced capacity expansion efforts in the Netherlands and Argentina.

對於利息支出，我們預測約為 1.8 億美元。增加了約 4500 萬美元，反映出平均債務水平較高和資本化利息較低。我們預測全年有效稅率約為 24%，與去年的稅率相似。最後，隨著我們繼續建造先前宣布的在荷蘭和阿根廷的產能擴張計劃，我們的目標是資本支出的現金約為 8.5 億美元。

We currently expect the expansion in the Netherlands to be completed by the end of calendar 2024 while Argentina is targeted to be operational in mid calendar 2025. In addition, as Tom mentioned, we're looking at re-phasing future capital investments to modernize production capabilities to better match the demand environment.

我們目前預計荷蘭的擴建將於 2024 年底完成，而阿根廷的目標是在 2025 年中期投入營運。地匹配需求環境。

That said, more than 80% of this year's forecasted capital expenditures are committed. Since we anticipate our two large capacity expansions will be completed by the end of fiscal 2025. We expect a notable decrease and capital expenditures in fiscal 2026. Because of the rapid change in the operating environment, our fiscal 2025 growth rates are below our normalized fiscal 2024 baseline.

也就是說，今年預計資本支出的 80% 以上已落實。由於我們預計我們的兩次大型產能擴張將在2025 財年末完成。成長率2024 年基線。

As it relates to sales, our fiscal 2025 outlook implies a normalized growth rate of 0% to 3% after adjusting for the estimated impact of the ERP transition in fiscal 2024. That growth rate is at the low end of our long-term growth algorithm of low to mid-single digits. Our adjusted EBITDA target for fiscal 2025 is about $160 million below our normalized fiscal 2024 baseline of about $1.6 billion.

就銷售而言，我們對 2025 財年的展望意味著，在調整 2024 財年 ERP 轉型的估計影響後，正常化增長率為 0% 至 3%。到中個位數。我們 2025 財年調整後的 EBITDA 目標比 2024 財年約 16 億美元的正常化基準低約 1.6 億美元。

Broadly speaking that the decline reflects targeted investments in price and trade support to retain or win new customers, challenges in certain markets and channels to implement sufficient pricing to offset input cost inflation and estimated carryover impact of unfavorable mix from loss share of higher-priced, higher-margin customers in North America and an additional estimated $20 million to $30 million loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 associated with the voluntary product withdrawal.

從廣義上講，下降反映了為保留或贏得新客戶而對價格和貿易支持進行的有針對性的投資，某些市場和渠道面臨的挑戰，以實施足夠的定價以抵消投入成本通脹，以及由於高價位產品的損失份額而產生的不利組合的估計結轉影響。

Before I turn the call back over to Tom, I want to provide some thoughts on the first quarter. While we don't typically provide quarterly guidance. Given our recent results, the expected headwinds and the changes in the operating environment, we're providing more detail on our expectations for the quarter, specifically in the first quarter, we're targeting sales to be down mid to high single digits with volume down mid-single digits due to the carryover impact of share losses, soft restaurant traffic and the voluntary product withdrawal.

在我把電話轉回給湯姆之前，我想提供一些關於第一季的想法。雖然我們通常不提供季度指導。考慮到我們最近的業績、預期的逆風和營運環境的變化，我們將提供有關本季度預期的更多詳細信息，特別是第一季度，我們的目標是銷售額隨銷量下降中到高個位數由於份額損失、餐廳客流量疲軟和自願產品撤回的結轉影響，銷售額下降了中個位數。

We believe that the impact of share losses and soft traffic will be the greatest in the first quarter and gradually ease as the year progresses. We expect price mix may be down low to mid-single digits as the carryover benefit of pricing actions taken in fiscal 2024 are more than offset by the impact of unfavorable mix and targeted investments in price and trade support in North America.

我們認為，份額損失和流量疲軟的影響將在第一季最大，並隨著年份的推移而逐漸緩解。我們預期價格組合可能會下降至中個位數，因為 2024 財年採取的定價行動的結轉效益被不利組合以及北美價格和貿易支持方面的有針對性投資的影響所抵消。

For earnings, we expect our EBITDA margin to be the lowest of the year due to our typical seasonality and the $20 million to $30 million loss estimated to be associated with the voluntary product withdrawal that I mentioned earlier. We do not expect additional losses related to the product withdrawal beyond the first quarter. We also expect our first quarter margin will be pressured by higher cost per pound, unfavorable mix and investments in price and trade support.

就盈利而言，由於我們典型的季節性因素以及我之前提到的自願產品撤回導致的 2000 萬至 3000 萬美元損失，我們預計 EBITDA 利潤率將是今年最低的。我們預計第一季之後不會出現與產品撤回相關的額外損失。我們也預計，第一季的利潤率將受到每磅成本上升、不利的組合以及價格和貿易支持投資的壓力。

Let me now turn it back over to Tom for some closing comments.

現在讓我把它轉回給湯姆，徵求一些結束語。

Thanks Bernadette. We expect fiscal 2025 to be a challenging year, but remain confident in the long-term growth outlook and the health of the category. Despite the current market softness, we're executing on our priorities that drive our long term strategy.

謝謝伯納黛特。我們預計 2025 財年將是充滿挑戰的一年，但對該類別的長期成長前景和健康狀況仍充滿信心。儘管當前市場疲軟，我們仍在執行推動我們長期策略的優先事項。

We're aggressively managing costs and evaluating our manufacturing network requirements as demand trends unfold. Our capacity expansion projects remain on schedule as we continue to modernize our production assets, which when combined with improving our core asset performance, positions us to continue to support our customers and create value for our shareholders over the long term.

隨著需求趨勢的發展，我們正在積極管理成本並評估我們的製造網路需求。隨著我們繼續對生產資產進行現代化改造，我們的產能擴張項目仍按計劃進行，這與提高我們的核心資產績效相結合，使我們能夠繼續為客戶提供支持，並為股東創造長期價值。

Thank you for joining our call today and are now ready to take your questions.

感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議，現在準備回答您的問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。 （操作員說明）

Andrew Lazar, Barclays.

安德魯·拉扎爾，巴克萊銀行。

Great, thanks. Thanks so much. Good morning, everybody.

萬分感謝。非常感謝。大家早安。

Good morning.

早安.

Good morning.

早安.

Morning. Just wondering, you obviously talked a bit in the remarks and in the release about the sort of building supply demand imbalance in the industry. I'd love to get, I guess, a specific as you can idea about where do you see Lamb Weston's capacity utilization sort of right now?

早晨。只是想知道，您顯然在講話和新聞稿中談到了行業內供需失衡的情況。我想，我想獲得一個具體訊息，您可以了解 Lamb Weston 目前的產能利用率如何？

And how does that compare to sort of the industry. I'm trying to sort of get a sense of or dimensionalize how large this sort of imbalances and whether it's large enough such that some of the more maybe major customers can make shifts in their mix of suppliers or if the share losses are maybe some smaller customers, some of the things you talked about last quarter with respect to some of the ERP disruption?

與其他行業相比如何？我試圖了解或衡量這種不平衡有多大，以及它是否足夠大，以至於一些可能更重要的客戶可以改變他們的供應商組合，或者份額損失是否可能更小客戶，您上季度談到的一些與ERP 中斷有關的事？

Yeah. Thank you, Andrew. As it relates to our current capacity utilization rate, that's not a number we want to provide right now. We've got two new facilities that are becoming operational and will have available capacity. China has been operational in through the vertical start-up and then American falls came on at the end of May and is going through its vertical start-up as well during the next few months, and we're looking to gradually ramp that up.

是的。謝謝你，安德魯。由於它與我們目前的產能利用率有關，因此我們現在不想提供這個數字。我們有兩個新設施正在投入運作並且將具有可用容量。中國一直在透過垂直啟動進行運營，然後美國在 5 月底出現下滑，並且在接下來的幾個月中也將進行垂直啟動，我們希望逐步提高這一水平。

So want to get those plants filled up on a run rate basis over the next 18 months. But the current demand of our environment will likely stretched out a bit. As it relates to some of the higher margin customers and the share losses that we referred to. Some of those are the customers during the ERP transition that we would have lost during that time.

因此，希望在未來 18 個月內按運行率將這些工廠裝滿。但我們環境目前的需求可能會有點超出。因為它與我們提到的一些利潤率較高的客戶和份額損失有關。其中一些是 ERP 轉型期間我們可能會失去的客戶。

And our sales teams are certainly out there and talking to those customers. It's the competitive environment, though, as we've discussed with some of the incremental supply in the softening restaurant traffic trends. So we continue to keep focused on that.

我們的銷售團隊當然會在那裡與這些客戶交談。不過，這是競爭環境，正如我們已經討論過的餐廳客流量趨勢疲軟中的一些增量供應。所以我們繼續關注這一點。

Yeah, Andrew. And the other dynamic we're managing through is the restaurant traffic, particularly in the QSRs, which is 80% of French fry consumption. As I stated earlier, in Q4, we saw a continued deceleration of traffic. So as you -- as we manage through our overall capacity and production, continued softness across our entire customer base is leading to a more challenging environment in terms of contracting than we've ever experienced.

是的，安德魯。我們管理的另一個動態是餐廳客流量，尤其是速食店客流量，佔炸薯條消費量的 80%。正如我之前所說，在第四季度，我們看到流量持續減速。因此，當我們管理我們的整體產能和生產時，我們整個客戶群的持續疲軟正在導致合約方面的環境比我們經歷過的更具挑戰性。

Got it. And I think that was kind of where I was going to go next. You talked about the need for some obviously pricing concessions and targeted investments and such, is that again to maybe start gain back some of these lost smaller sort of customers or I guess you sort of touched on this a minute ago, but where does that also relate to maybe some of the conversations and negotiations you've been having over the course of the summer with some of the larger customers for some of the annual or every other year sort of contracts, renewal processes is there I guess there's some potential pressure coming there because I guess historically by precedent anyway, right, the industry hasn't had to sort of deal with that as utilization has always been so high?

知道了。我認為這就是我下一步要去的地方。您談到了需要進行一些明顯的定價讓步和有針對性的投資等，也許是為了再次開始贏回一些失去的較小類型的客戶，或者我猜您在一分鐘前談到了這一點，但這又在哪裡？猜想歷史上有先例，對吧，該行業不必處理這個問題，因為利用率一直如此高？

Yeah, Andrew, I'm not going to comment on our contracting because we're in the middle of it right now. But what I will say is with the challenges we had in in our Q3 implementation that over-indexed impacting are the independent restaurants. And so we're working really hard to regain those customers.

是的，安德魯，我不會評論我們的合同，因為我們現在正處於其中。但我要說的是，我們在第三季實施中遇到的挑戰是，獨立餐廳受到過度指數影響。因此，我們正在努力重新贏得這些客戶。

That's been a significant part of our share loss. And with that, plus you add on the restaurant traffic challenges, which is leading to industry capacity availability, we're going to have to make some -- we're making some strategic choices to invest back with those customers and win their business back in their trust.

這是我們股票損失的重要組成部分。除此之外，再加上餐廳客流量的挑戰，這會導致行業容量的可用性，我們將不得不做出一些 - 我們正在做出一些戰略選擇，以投資於這些客戶並贏得他們的業務在他們的信任下。

Go ahead.

前進。

Keep going, keep going.

繼續，繼續。

Yeah, the only other thing that I just wanted to mention is that over the long term, we still expect the market is going to be generally balanced. We have confidence in the continued category and absorbing the potential new capacity over time (inaudible) the short term area with the softer restaurant traffic and some of the things that we're seeing that we're going to need to manage through this year.

是的，我只想提的另一件事是，從長遠來看，我們仍然預期市場將整體平衡。我們對持續的類別充滿信心，並隨著時間的推移吸收潛在的新產能（聽不清楚），餐廳客流量疲軟，以及我們今年需要管理的一些事情。

And the last quick thing would be just in light of that, I think you talked about some operational adjustments that you're making and I know it's hard to talk about some of this, but does that you've got some facilities that are obviously coming online, very new, very efficient, others that are some 40, 50 years old.

最後一件快速的事情就是考慮到這一點，我想你談到了你正在做的一些運營調整，我知道很難談論其中的一些，但是你是否擁有一些明顯的設施即將上線，非常新，非常高效，其他的大約有40、50 歲。

Are we in a position where you start to go down that sort of plan B path a little bit and maybe say, hey, there might be some sort of rightsizing of capacity, that might make sense here? And if so, do you see competitors doing the same thing? Thanks again.

我們是否處於這樣的境地：你開始沿著 B 計畫的道路走一點，也許會說，嘿，可能會有某種產能調整，這裡可能有意義嗎？如果是這樣，您是否看到競爭對手也在做同樣的事情？再次感謝。

Yeah, Andrew, I'm not going to comment on kind of what your you're pointing to what I will say is we're evaluating a number of different things across the entire -- every part of the company right now to manage our costs based on the current operating conditions we're experiencing and what we expect over the next 12 months. So I'll just -- I'll leave it at that.

是的，安德魯，我不會評論你所指的內容，我要說的是，我們正在評估整個公司的許多不同的事情 - 現在公司的每個部分來管理我們的成本基於我們當前的運營狀況以及未來12 個月的預期。所以我就——我就這樣吧。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。

Thanks Andrew.

謝謝安德魯。

Ken Goldman, JPMorgan.

肯‧戈德曼，摩根大通。

Hi, good morning. Thank you (technical difficulty)

早安.謝謝（技術難度）

Good morning.

早安.

Good morning Ken.

早安，肯。

I wanted to start on one of the questions that I've received this morning are is we think that this management team, given the challenges that they faced the last couple of quarters, are they being a little more conservative or prudent than usual with certain items, certain areas of guidance where the otherwise might not have been.

我想從今天早上收到的問題之一開始，我們認為這個管理團隊考慮到他們在過去幾個季度面臨的挑戰，在某些方面是否比平時更加保守或謹慎？ ，否則可能不會。

So I'm just going to put that back to you a little bit. Are there certain areas as you thought about the outlook for 2025 or maybe you were a little more cautious than you otherwise might have been just trying to get a sense for that kind of give and take?

所以我只是想把這個問題還給你一點。您在考慮 2025 年的前景時是否在某些方面更加謹慎，或者您可能比原本只是試圖了解這種互惠互利的情況更加謹慎？

Yeah, Ken. The -- we're always prudent in our guidance and have been over time. I think the -- thing that that were cautious about, as we've said is the whole restaurant traffic phenomenon that we're dealing with in terms of we've seen traffic trends negative before, but we've never seen traffic trends in restaurant collectively this prolonged.

是的，肯。我們的指導始終保持謹慎，而且隨著時間的推移也是如此。我認為，正如我們所說，需要謹慎的是我們正在處理的整個餐廳客流量現象，我們以前見過客流量趨勢為負，但我們從未見過客流量趨勢餐廳集體這麼長時間。

And as I stated in the fourth quarter, we saw it accelerate and even start now in our physical 2025, we continue to see declines. So when we kind of look through how this year's going to unfold or guidance for 2025, we absolutely took a cautious view. And as we get through in the next couple of quarters, just like everybody will have a clearer view on return -- we think it's going to return it always has in the past. But again, this is kind of unchartered territory for us to see a decline for this prolonged amount of time.

正如我在第四季度所說，我們看到它在加速，甚至從我們實際的 2025 年開始，我們仍然看到下降。因此，當我們審視今年的發展或 2025 年的指導時，我們絕對持謹慎態度。隨著我們在接下來的幾個季度中度過，就像每個人都會對回報有更清晰的看法一樣 - 我們認為它會像過去一樣回報。但同樣，對我們來說，在這麼長的時間內看到下降是一種未知的領域。

Understood. Thank you for that. And then a quick follow up on. I just wanted to get a little more color, if I could, on the voluntary product withdrawal. I appreciate the details you provided about the financial impact in the fourth quarter and then into the first quarter of next year. I'm just curious a little bit more -- it's a little bit more about it and also interested in why it only affects two quarters and then seems to stop after the first quarter in terms of the impact on the bottom line. Thank you.

明白了。謝謝你。然後快速跟進。如果可以的話，我只是想對自願產品撤回有更多的了解。我感謝您提供有關第四季度和明年第一季財務影響的詳細資訊。我只是更好奇一點——它更多一點，也對為什麼它只影響兩個季度，然後似乎在第一季之後停止對底線的影響感興趣。謝謝。

Yeah, Ken, again, this was a product withdrawal that we chose to do. It's not lost on me and my team on the financial impact. But in terms of keeping to our values of integrity and responding to our customers and keeping, the specifications of the product at high levels, we chose to do it and it was the right thing to do, I do it all over again, and I know it has a tremendous financial impact on the company.

是的，肯，這又是我們選擇的產品撤回。我和我的團隊並沒有忽略財務影響。但就堅持我們的誠信價值觀、回應客戶以及保持高水準的產品規格而言，我們選擇這樣做，這是正確的做法，我又重新做了一遍，我知道這對公司的財務影響巨大。

And so I'm not going to get into customer specific. We've made some adjustments internally on a number of different fronts to as we made decisions to do this. So we've adjusted the organization and we're 100% confident that those changes are going to continue to keep the integrity of our product quality going forward.

所以我不會討論特定於客戶的問題。當我們做出這樣做的決定時，我們在許多不同方面進行了內部調整。因此，我們對組織進行了調整，我們 100% 相信這些變化將繼續保持我們產品品質的完整性。

Yeah, that's right. And the other thing that I would add is to your question in terms of why does that affect Q4 and Q1 and stop there. So we identified it soon after the end of the fourth quarter, and that's when we made the withdrawal from the market after discovering that it didn't meet our specs. And so it does impact both fourth quarter and first quarter, where we wrote off the remaining inventory that was on hand.

是啊，沒錯。我要補充的另一件事是你的問題，為什麼這會影響第四季和第一季並就此停止。因此，我們在第四季度末後不久就發現了它，當時我們發現它不符合我們的規格，因此從市場上撤出。因此，它確實影響了第四季度和第一季度，我們註銷了手頭上的剩餘庫存。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Peter Galbo, Bank of America.

彼得‧加爾博，美國銀行。

Yeah, thanks. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Tom, maybe just to start, and this probably goes back to Andrew's comment around reinvestment in price. I mean, historically, this has been an industry certainly since you've been public, we're probably even going back much further than that hasn't really given back anything or had to reinvest materially on pricing.

是的，謝謝。早上好傢伙。感謝您提出問題。湯姆，也許只是開始，這可能可以追溯到安德魯關於價格再投資的評論。我的意思是，從歷史上看，自從上市以來，這肯定是一個行業，我們甚至可能會追溯到更遠的時期，沒有真正回饋任何東西，或者必須在定價上進行大量再投資。

And I think that comment probably ties all the way back to the early 1990s. So if you're breaking a 30-year cycle, just curious like we're into unchartered territories, what does it mean for your ability to price. You're not just for the long term given what happened the last time, this industry went through that and maybe there's a more recent example to point to. But I think that context would be very helpful.

我認為這個評論可能可以追溯到 20 世紀 90 年代初。因此，如果您打破 30 年周期，就像我們進入未知領域一樣好奇，這對您的定價能力意味著什麼。考慮到上次發生的事情，你不僅著眼於長期，這個行業也經歷過這種情況，也許還有一個最近的例子可以指出。但我認為這種背景會非常有幫助。

Yeah. I know we're a couple of things. Again, the operating environment and coupled with some of the share losses we've had. The operating environment right now, there's available capacity and so yes, we're making targeted investments and priced in some areas to gain our share back. And we believe over the long term as the restaurant traffic and the category returns to more normalized growth rate, everything's going to be balanced out.

是的。我知道我們是一對。再說一遍，營運環境以及我們所遭受的一些份額損失。目前的營運環境，有可用的產能，所以是的，我們正在進行有針對性的投資，並在某些領域進行定價，以奪回我們的份額。我們相信，從長遠來看，隨著餐廳客流量和類別恢復到更正常的成長率，一切都會得到平衡。

But in the current environment. Again, the traffic trend we've experienced really over the last years is really impacting the overall demand architecture of the category. And you have obviously additional supply coming on. So we're managing the dynamic of the operating environment. We're live -- we're working in right now, and we believe and confident over the long term that as category returned to growth, it will all balance back out and have a more normalized operating environment.

但在現在的環境下。同樣，我們在過去幾年中經歷的流量趨勢確實影響了該類別的整體需求架構。顯然，你們還有額外的供應。因此，我們正在管理操作環境的動態。我們現在正在努力，我們相信並有信心從長遠來看，隨著品類恢復成長，一切都會恢復平衡，並擁有一個更正常化的營運環境。

Okay. And then just like on the CapEx number, Bert, that I think you gave the comment of 80% of its kind of spoken for this year, but like two projects or projects that aren't fully completed. So I know, Tom, you don't want to talk about existing capacity, but you have capacity that isn't even live, like why not delay it further? Why not kick it out more and do you have to go through the process of it, because I mean, it's going to continue probably to be an overhang here. And I mean, I know you're talking about a material step-down in '26, but any more quantification you can put around that what material is would be would be helpful. Thanks.

好的。然後就像關於資本支出數字一樣，Bert，我認為您給了今年 80% 的評論，但就像兩個項目或尚未完全完成的項目一樣。所以我知道，湯姆，你不想談論現有的產能，但你的產能甚至還沒上線，為什麼不進一步延後呢？為什麼不把它踢得更多，你是否必須經歷它的過程，因為我的意思是，它可能會繼續成為這裡的一個懸而未決的問題。我的意思是，我知道您正在談論 26 年的材料減少，但是您可以對材料是什麼進行更多量化將會有所幫助。謝謝。

Yeah, so the capacity expansions we have going on, we made those decisions a couple of years ago and you have to commit to your suppliers were, three-quarters of the way Bill. And so it would be more costly, not to complete. And so we've got -- we're at a point where we need to finish it. And again we'll evaluate -- we're looking at all areas of the company to evaluate overall capacity in our footprint.

是的，所以我們正在進行的產能擴張，我們幾年前就做出了這些決定，你必須向你的供應商做出承諾，四分之三都是比爾的方式。因此，如果不完成的話，成本會更高。所以我們現在需要完成它。我們將再次評估——我們正在研究公司的所有領域，以評估我們足跡中的整體能力。

Yeah, the long-term fundamentals of this business are still there and on track, and we're investing for the long term. And as Tom said, we make those decisions in advance of knowing in the short term when restaurant traffic trends may soften, but that we believe with the capabilities and in the markets that we are adding these expansions that they're going to able to improve the asset modernization of our total footprint.

是的，這項業務的長期基本面仍然存在並且步入正軌，我們正在進行長期投資。正如湯姆所說，我們在知道短期內餐廳客流量趨勢何時可能減弱之前就做出了這些決定，但我們相信，憑藉我們的能力和市場，我們正在增加這些擴張，他們將能夠改善我們總足跡的資產現代化。

Okay. Bret, just on a longer term, CapEx, like is $500 million, the right number. $40 million, right. The 9% of sales number you gave at Investor Day, but doesn't seem to be so just like what's the right range?

好的。 Bret，從長遠來看，資本支出是 5 億美元，這是正確的數字。 4000萬美元，對吧。您在投資者日給出的 9% 的銷售數字，但似乎不像正確的範圍？

Yeah, at this point, I would just say you're going to see a notable decrease in 2026. We are re-phasing our capital investments, as I mentioned, and taking a look at what capabilities we don't believe we need immediately. And so when we have that update, we'll certainly provide it at that time, but a notable decrease in 2026.

是的，在這一點上，我只想說，到2026 年，您將看到顯著下降。 正如我所提到的，我們正在重新調整資本投資的階段，並看看我們認為我們不需要立即需要哪些能力。因此，當我們有更新時，我們肯定會在那時提供它，但在 2026 年會顯著減少。

Okay, thanks.

好的謝謝。

Tom Palmer with Citi.

花旗銀行的湯姆·帕爾默。

Morning and thanks for the question. I just first wanted to start out kind of understanding from the moving parts of guidance. It seems like the primary driver of the expected volume growth is market share gains in the second half of the year. And so I wanted to kind of clarify two parts of this.

早安，謝謝你的提問。我首先想從指導的移動部分開始理解。預計銷售成長的主要驅動力似乎是下半年市場份額的成長。所以我想澄清其中的兩個部分。

So first, how much of these share gains have already been secured by the recent customer contract wins referenced on the earnings call? And then look, I know pricing is a maybe bigger factor than in the past. Are there other factors that remain important as you think about driving those share gains in the back half of the year above and beyond pricing.

那麼首先，這些股票收益中有多少已經透過財報電話會議上提到的最近贏得的客戶合約獲得了保證？然後看，我知道定價可能比過去更重要。當您考慮在下半年推動股價上漲時，除了定價之外，還有其他因素仍然很重要嗎？

Yeah, thanks for the question, Tom. As it relates to the share gains in the second half of the year, some of those have already been committed and we know that we will be seeing those in the second half. There are those that we're in currently in negotiation with and certainly not going to speak to that.

是的，謝謝你的提問，湯姆。由於它與下半年的份額收益相關，其中一些已經承諾，我們知道我們將在下半年看到這些收益。我們目前正在與一些人進行談判，當然不會談論這個問題。

But that is the rationale for those share gains that are coming. We've got a strong sales pipeline that we are currently working through and have those identified targets as it relates to the share gains. The other piece that is impacting our guidance would be changes in mix. And as we talked about, we had in the back half of this year, some changes in mix with those small regional customers in our North America segment, that would be regaining share of those higher mix customers.

但這就是即將到來的股票上漲的理由。我們目前正在努力建立強大的銷售管道，並確定了與份額收益相關的目標。影響我們指導的另一個因素是組合的變化。正如我們所討論的，我們在今年下半年與北美地區的小型區域客戶進行了一些組合變化，這將重新獲得那些較高組合客戶的份額。

Okay. Thank you for that. And then just on the North America crop, if it comes in as expected, how does your contracted volume of potatoes compare to your current volume assumptions? We didn't see the write-downs this past year and just wanted to understand if that was a possibility this year, just at least based on your current volume expectations?

好的。謝謝你。然後就北美作物而言，如果其產量符合預期，您的馬鈴薯合約產量與當前產量假設相比如何？我們沒有看到去年的減記，只是想了解今年是否有可能，至少根據您目前的數量預期？

Yeah, Tom. So we contract our potato crop based on our forecasted volume that's always done about 18 -- almost 18 to 20 months and advanced with our negotiations with the contract volume and rates. So we always take a prudent approach.

是的，湯姆。因此，我們根據我們的預測產量簽訂了馬鈴薯作物合同，該合約總是在 18 個月左右——幾乎 18 至 20 個月內完成，並透過合約數量和費率的談判取得進展。所以我們總是採取謹慎的態度。

And obviously last year, we had an issue based on our forecast plan versus as we started going through the year. I realize we're going to come up short. So right now, I think we're pretty balanced, but we'll manage it as we go through the balance of this fiscal year.

顯然，去年我們根據我們的預測計劃與今年開始時遇到了一個問題。我意識到我們會達不到要求。所以現在，我認為我們相當平衡，但我們將在本財年的平衡過程中進行管理。

And particularly when we give our updated view of the crop in the first quarter as we typically do.

特別是當我們像往常一樣給出第一季作物的最新看法時。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Adam Samuelson with Goldman Sachs.

亞當·薩繆爾森與高盛。

Yes, thank you and good morning, everyone.

是的，謝謝大家，大家早安。

Goo morning.

早安.

Morning, I wanted to tie together some of the different threads around some of the strategic kind of product exits that you've made over the past 18 months, really between North America and International kind of the capacity investments that are ongoing and this discussion about phasing kind of future investments back into the business.

早上，我想將過去 18 個月中一些策略性產品退出的不同線索聯繫起來，實際上是北美和國際之間正在進行的產能投資，以及關於將未來的投資分階段重新投入到業務中。

And I guess I'm trying to just make sense of is some of the business that you're going back after now really reclaiming what had been perceived as lower margin, less attractive books business before? And if I think about the market environment, which has weakened from a traffic perspective, why would it -- what would have to happen for you to reassess your own internal capacity needs to actually make some tougher decisions around kind of your own internal network and closing kind of old capacity versus refurbishing it down the road?

我想我只是想弄清楚，你現在要回去的一些業務是否真正收回了以前被認為利潤率較低、吸引力較低的圖書業務？如果我考慮市場環境，從流量的角度來看，它已經減弱，為什麼會這樣——你會發生什麼，重新評估你自己的內部能力，需要圍繞你自己的內部網絡做出一些更艱難的決定，關閉某種舊產能還是在未來翻新？

Yeah no, thank you for the question. As it relates to the strategic exits that we've spoke about in the last year, if you recall that primarily related to four customers in North America and those strategic exits were made at a time when we were significantly capacity constrained and they made sense for the business at that time.

是的，不，謝謝你的提問。由於它與我們去年談到的戰略退出有關，如果您還記得主要與北美的四家客戶有關，並且這些戰略退出是在我們產能嚴重受限的情況下進行的，並且它們對於當時的生意。

Now going into softer restaurant traffic trends and incremental capacity coming online, we will continue to take a look at our sales pipeline in our portfolio and in the current environment, which has changed from when we made those strategic exits, we've determined that it makes sense to make some price investments. And so that's what you're seeing in the current environment.

現在，隨著餐廳客流量趨勢的減弱和線上產能的增加，我們將繼續審視我們的產品組合中的銷售管道，並且在當前的環境中，自從我們做出這些策略退出時以來，這種環境已經發生了變化，我們已經確定，進行一些價格投資是有意義的。這就是您在當前環境中看到的情況。

And how that would kind of influence kind of what would have to happen from here for you to make an assessment to idle kind of idle or close kind of older processing kind of facilities versus further investing in them in '26 and beyond.

這將如何影響從現在起必鬚髮生的事情，以便您對閒置或關閉的舊處理設施進行評估，而不是在 26 年及以後進一步投資它們。

Yeah. So Adam, like we stated, we've -- we're phasing some investments out further in terms of kind of normalized CapEx outside of the new capacity coming on. So we've made those adjustments as we continue to -- as I stated, as we continue, we're evaluating all areas of our company and we continue to see traffic softness, we're definitely going to think through our overall asset utilization rates and how we adjust that.

是的。因此，亞當，正如我們所說，我們正在進一步逐步取消一些投資，以實現新產能之外的正常化資本支出。因此，我們已經做出了這些調整，正如我所說，隨著我們繼續，我們正在評估我們公司的所有領域，我們繼續看到流量疲軟，我們肯定會考慮我們的整體資產利用率費率以及我們如何調整。

Okay. And if I could just squeeze one more in the international segment, but I know there was the discrete impact of the product withdrawal. Even adjusting for that, the margins were pretty notably below where they've been for the past four quarters since you consolidated EMEA and that business didn't have to not have the same amount of impact from the ERP disruption.

好的。如果我能在國際市場上再擠一個，但我知道產品撤回會產生離散的影響。即使對此進行調整，自整合 EMEA 以來，利潤率仍明顯低於過去四個季度的水平，並且該業務不必受到 ERP 中斷的相同程度的影響。

So just help us think about kind of how the where are the EBITDA margins in international kind of low-double digits kind of adjusted for that product withdrawal in the fourth quarter and kind of where they go from here, especially with more potato inflation in Europe over the next 12 months.

因此，請幫助我們思考一下國際低兩位數的 EBITDA 利潤率是如何根據第四季度的產品撤出進行調整的，以及它們今後的發展方向，特別是在歐洲馬鈴薯通膨加劇的情況下在接下來的12 個月內。

Yeah, as it relates to margins in the international segment. It was, as you said, say, affected by the product withdrawal. The other things that we have there is we're seeing a competitive environment in international markets similar to what we've explained in North America and there will be some price investments where it makes sense, as it relates to the poor crop, those are things that we always look to pass through that price inflation. But as we mentioned, we do have a pretty good mix of fixed pricing as it relates to that crop in Europe. And then any delta between that is where we'll look to price through that incremental cost.

是的，因為它與國際市場的利潤率有關。正如您所說，它受到產品撤回的影響。我們所擁有的其他事情是，我們看到國際市場的競爭環境類似於我們在北美所解釋的情況，並且會在有意義的地方進行一些價格投資，因為這與農作物歉收有關，這些是我們總是希望透過物價通膨來解決這些問題。但正如我們所提到的，我們確實有一個非常好的固定定價組合，因為它與歐洲的作物有關。然後，我們將根據增量成本對兩者之間的任何增量進行定價。

I appreciate the color. I'll pass it on.

我很欣賞它的顏色。我會把它傳遞下去。

Robert Moskow, TD Cowen.

羅伯特·莫斯科，TD·考恩。

Hi, thank you. I just want to trying to reconcile the mismatch, I guess, of a volume forecast that looks to be up like 2% to 5% and maybe even more if price mix is negative with a contracting environment that you're describing as the most challenging ever and market share losses that got worse in fourth quarter.

嗨，謝謝你。我只是想嘗試調和銷量預測的不匹配，如果價格組合與您所描述的最具挑戰性的承包環境呈負數，那麼銷量預測看起來會上漲 2% 到 5%，甚至可能會更高。 ，市場份額的損失在第四季度變得更加嚴重。

So maybe really the question is I keep the market share losses not worse during the fourth quarter. How easy is it to reverse those losses and what was causing those losses? Our customers upset from (technical difficulty) customer service from ERP? Or is it really just, hey, competitors are offering better prices, we're going to go there and now Lamb Weston has to react. Is it possible to kind of simplify it that way?

因此，也許真正的問題是我在第四季度保持市場份額損失不至於更嚴重。扭轉這些損失有多容易？我們的客戶對 ERP 的（技術難度）客戶服務感到不滿嗎？或者真的只是，嘿，競爭對手提供了更好的價格，我們要去那裡，現在蘭姆韋斯頓必須做出反應。是否有可能以這種方式簡化它？

Yeah, Robert, say, it's a little bit of both, quite frankly, and the -- our commercial team, we've got a visibility to our pipeline of opportunities that we're executing against every week. And so we have line of sight to regaining volume, but the environment is different. And so we have we're making the appropriate adjustments. But to be quite frank, it's a little bit of both.

是的，羅伯特，坦白說，兩者都有一點，而且我們的商業團隊，我們可以清楚地了解我們每週執行的機會管道。因此，我們有希望恢復銷量，但環境不同。所以我們正在做出適當的調整。但坦白說，兩者兼具。

Yeah, and keep in mind, the volume in the first half is expected to decline due to the impact of the share losses and that weak global restaurant environment that we've been talking about, it's the back half where we expect to see those volume increases.

是的，請記住，由於份額損失和我們一直在談論的全球餐廳環境疲軟的影響，上半年的銷量預計會下降，我們預計下半年將看到這些銷量增加。

And we're seeing wins in the marketplace today. So that gives me confidence that we'll navigate through the next the first half of this fiscal year. But we expect sequential improvement in the back half.

今天我們在市場上看到了勝利。因此，這讓我相信我們將順利度過本財年的上半年。但我們預期後半段會出現連續改善。

Okay. I'll stop there. Thanks.

好的。我就到此為止。謝謝。

Rob Dickerson, Jefferies.

羅布·迪克森，杰弗里斯。

Great. Thanks so much. I guess just first question on the price and the trade investment going in. Are you seeing that, as you go into price negotiations overall on the contracted basis, clearly that's maybe become a little bit more competitive.

偉大的。非常感謝。我想第一個問題是關於價格和貿易投資的。

Are there any other kind of like one off investments that you would also be doing kind of away from the contracted prices, like, let's say, if you contracted with someone last year, maybe it's a two year contract, but their volumes and traffic are a little soft. Are you actually funding maybe some of those customer related promotions as well? First question.

是否還有其他類型的一次性投資，您也會在遠離合同價格的情況下進行，例如，如果您去年與某人簽訂了合同，也許這是一份為期兩年的合同，但它們的數量和流量是有點軟。您實際上是否也資助了其中一些與客戶相關的促銷活動？第一個問題。

Yes, so we're not going to get into specifics about our experience competing in the current operating environment. We've got a number of contracts that are currently underway that we're negotiating and so we're not going to get into the details of those.

是的，所以我們不會詳細介紹我們在當前營運環境中的競爭經驗。我們目前正在談判許多合同，因此我們不會詳細介紹這些合約。

Okay. And then I guess, Tom, I know you I think you called out specifically, a little deceleration or kind of an incremental decline in traffic as you go through May? Is there any visibility, let's say, more specifically on June and then just take any kind of early reads? I know it's like super early from some of these new value offerings?

好的。然後我想，湯姆，我知道你，我想你特別指出，五月期間流量會稍微減速或逐漸下降？比方說，更具體地說，是在六月，然後進行任何形式的早期閱讀，是否有任何可見性？我知道現在推出一些新的價值產品還太早嗎？

Hey, Rob, maybe look at May was a lower point, June recovered a little bit, but was still down a pretty strong amount, but it was a bit better than May. If you look at the entire quarter -- our entire fourth quarter, June was basically in line with that.

嘿，羅布，也許看看 5 月份是一個較低的點，6 月份有所恢復，但仍然下降了相當大的幅度，但比 5 月份要好一些。如果你看整個季度——我們整個第四季度，六月基本上與此一致。

So the trend I would sit there and say nothing significant in terms of a change with respect to the promo activity, we haven't really seen that (inaudible) started towards the end of June. So I wouldn't sit there and say there is really good clean data on that yet.

因此，我會坐在那裡，對促銷活動的變化沒有說什麼，我們還沒有真正看到（聽不清楚）從六月底開始。所以我不會坐在那裡說目前已經有非常好的、乾淨的數據了。

Okay. Fair enough. And then just lastly, kind of a technical question on the share repo, clearly bought some stock back, which is great. But I'm just kind of curious, kind of as you were headed into today's print, you probably thought maybe the stock would be down a little bit, like why not just buy stock back like tomorrow versus in the fourth quarter. That's it, thanks.

好的。很公平。最後，關於股票回購的技術問題，顯然是回購了一些股票，這很棒。但我只是有點好奇，當你閱讀今天的文章時，你可能認為股票可能會下跌一點，例如為什麼不像明天那樣回購股票而不是第四季。就是這樣，謝謝。

Yeah, when we make decisions on share repurchases, we do that throughout the year and I can't comment further on that certainly with the stock being down what it is, we will continue to evaluate that and make decisions as we move forward.

是的，當我們做出股票回購的決定時，我們全年都會這樣做，隨著股價的下跌，我無法對此進一步發表評論，我們將繼續評估這一點，並在前進的過程中做出決定。

all right, super. Thank you so much.

好吧，超級。太感謝了。

Matt Smith, Stifel.

馬特史密斯，史蒂菲爾。

Hey, good morning. I wanted to go back to the international market dynamics. You noted that the competitive environment has stepped up, but at the same time, your competitors may be facing a tougher input cost environment with the upcoming crop, can you help reconcile those dynamics? Why would your competitors be more price aggressive in front of an unfavorable input cost environment?

嗨，早安。我想回到國際市場動態。您注意到競爭環境已經加劇，但同時，您的競爭對手可能會因為即將到來的作物而面臨更嚴峻的投入成本環境，您能幫助協調這些動態嗎？為什麼您的競爭對手在不利的投入成本環境下會更激進地定價？

Yeah we don't specifically comment on our competitors' environments and some of the things that they're doing. We can only comment as it relates to what we're seeing and how Lamb Weston is reacting to the market.

是的，我們不會具體評論競爭對手的環境以及他們正在做的一些事情。我們只能發表評論，因為這與我們所看到的情況以及 Lamb Weston 對市場的反應有關。

I appreciate that. And then a follow-up on the product withdrawal. Just for clarity, are you back to shipping to the customer? Did you incur some market share losses associated with that product withdrawal? Or is that business back up and running?

我很感激。然後是產品撤回的後續行動。為清楚起見，您是否恢復向客戶出貨？您是否因該產品撤回而遭受了一些市場份額損失？或該業務是否已恢復並正常運作？

Yes, we are back shipping to the customer.

是的，我們正在將貨物退回給客戶。

Thanks that, I can leave it there.

謝謝，我可以把它留在那裡。

Max Gumport, BNP Paribas.

馬克斯‧岡波特，法國巴黎銀行。

Hey, thanks for the question. Turning back to the traffic commentary, I'm trying to get a better sense for what's embedded in your guidance with regard to restaurant traffic and I realize it could be a range of outcomes, but we take the midpoint. It sounds like you're saying in the first half, you expect restaurant traffic to remain week by the time we get to the second half.

嘿，謝謝你的提問。回到交通評論，我試圖更好地了解您關於餐廳交通的指導中包含的內容，我意識到這可能是一系列結果，但我們採取中間點。聽起來你在上半場說，你預計到下半場時，餐廳的客流量將保持在一周的水平。

Are you embedding a clean base and essentially restaurant traffic is no longer getting any worse on a year-over-year basis in that second half. Just curious for what you're seeing and what you're embedding in your plans. Thanks very much.

您是否嵌入了一個乾淨的基礎，基本上，下半年餐廳客流量不再比去年同期變得更糟。只是對您所看到的內容以及您在計劃中嵌入的內容感到好奇。非常感謝。

Yeah, that's right. So in terms of the first half of the year, we assumed the consistent restaurant traffic trends being down with what we experienced in the fourth quarter with slight improvement in the back half of the year.

是啊，沒錯。因此，就今年上半年而言，我們假設餐廳客流量趨勢與第四季相比持續下降，下半年略有改善。

Okay. Thank you. I'll leave it there.

好的。謝謝。我會把它留在那裡。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And that will conclude the Q&A session, and I'll turn the conference back to Mr. Congbalay for any additional or closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束，我將把會議轉回由 Congbalay 先生發表補充或結束語。

Thanks for joining the call today. If you want to set up a follow-up call, please e-mail me. We can set up a time from over the next number of days. Again, thank you and have a good day.

感謝您今天加入通話。如果您想安排後續電話，請給我發電子郵件。我們可以在接下來的幾天內設定一個時間。再次感謝您，祝您有美好的一天。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude today's call. We thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路。