藍威斯頓 (LW) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Please stand by. We are about to begin.

請稍候。我們就要開始了。

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Lamb Weston first-quarter 2026 earnings call.

女士們、先生們，大家好，歡迎參加 Lamb Weston 2026 年第一季財報電話會議。

Today's conference is being recorded.

今天的會議正在錄製中。

At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Debbie Hancock, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁黛比漢考克 (Debbie Hancock)。請繼續。

Good morning and thank you for joining us for Lamb Weston's first-quarter fiscal '26 earnings call. I'm Debbie Hancock, Lamb Weston's Vice President of Investor Relations.

早安，感謝您參加 Lamb Weston 26 財年第一季財報電話會議。我是黛比漢考克 (Debbie Hancock)，Lamb Weston 投資者關係副總裁。

Earlier today, we issued our press release and posted slides that we will use for our discussion today. You can find both on our website, lambweston.com.

今天早些時候，我們發布了新聞稿並發布了今天討論將使用的幻燈片。您可以在我們的網站 lambweston.com 上找到這兩者。

Please note that during our remarks, we will make forward-looking statements about the company's expected performance that are based on our current expectations. 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，我們將根據我們目前的預期對公司的預期業績做出前瞻性的陳述。由於風險和不確定性，實際結果可能存在重大差異。有關我們的前瞻性聲明的更多詳細信息，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的警告聲明和風險因素。

Some of today's remarks include non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures should be -- 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 in the appendix to our presentation.

今天的一些言論包括非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非 GAAP 財務指標不應被視為替代我們的 GAAP 結果，而應與我們的 GAAP 結果一起閱讀。您可以在我們簡報附錄中的收益報告中找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 的對帳。

Joining me today are Mike Smith, our President and CEO and Bernadette Madarieta, our Chief Financial Officer.

今天與我一起出席的還有我們的總裁兼執行長 Mike Smith 和財務長伯納黛特馬達里塔 (Bernadette Madarieta)。

Let me now turn the call over to Mike.

現在讓我把電話轉給麥克。

Thank you, Debbie. Good morning and thank you for joining us today.

謝謝你，黛比。早安，感謝您今天加入我們。

The Lamb Weston team delivered first-quarter results that exceeded our expectations and showed commercial momentum in our business. While we are early in our Focus-to-Win execution, we are energized and excited by the emerging evidence of results coming from the foundation that we began to lay earlier this calendar year. Our goal remains to drive profitable growth and win with customers by focusing on the principles that made Lamb Weston the industry gold standard; category-leading innovation, exceptional products, and customer-centric actions. We are early in the journey, but our North Star is clear. I want to thank our hardworking team globally for their excellent work.

Lamb Weston 團隊在第一季的業績超出了我們的預期，並展現了我們業務的商業勢頭。雖然我們「聚焦致勝」計畫的實施才剛開始，但今年稍早奠定的基礎所帶來的成果證據卻讓我們充滿活力和興奮。我們的目標仍然是透過專注於使 Lamb Weston 成為行業黃金標準的原則來推動獲利成長並贏得客戶；即領先的創新、卓越的產品和以客戶為中心的行動。我們才剛踏上旅程，但我們的北極星已經清晰。我要感謝我們全球辛勤工作的團隊所做的出色工作。

Let me provide a few key messages I would like to leave with you today.

今天我想向大家傳達幾個重要訊息。

First, we delivered another quarter of strong volume growth. This is a result of excellent work across our organization; from innovation, quality, consistency, and our focus on the customer. We are seeing positive customer momentum as we invest behind strategic differentiators.

首先，我們又實現了一個季度的強勁銷售成長。這是我們整個組織出色工作的成果；包括創新、品質、一致性以及對客戶的關注。隨著我們增加對策略差異化因素的投資，我們看到了積極的客戶發展動能。

Second, we are acting with urgency to implement our new strategic plan, Focus to Win, including working to deliver our cost savings program, which is in their early innings but tracking to our plan of achieving at least $250 million of annual run rate savings by fiscal year end 2028.

其次，我們正在緊急實施我們的新戰略計劃“聚焦致勝”，包括努力實施我們的成本節約計劃，該計劃尚處於初期階段，但正在按照我們的計劃進行，即到 2028 財年末實現每年至少 2.5 億美元的運行率節約。

Third, we have new innovative products coming this fall, and we are winning new business and growing with existing customers as our teams go to market with a more customer centric Lamb Weston organization.

第三，今年秋天我們將推出新的創新產品，隨著我們的團隊以更加以客戶為中心的 Lamb Weston 組織進入市場，我們正在贏得新業務並與現有客戶共同成長。

Fourth, in response to sustained volume growth in North America, we are restarting a curtailed line.

第四，為了因應北美持續的銷售成長，我們正在重啟一條縮短的生產線。

Lastly, we are acting with urgency to position Lamb Weston for long-term success and shareholder value creation, including by prioritizing the specific markets and products where we believe we have a sustainable competitive advantage.

最後，我們正在緊急採取行動，使 Lamb Weston 獲得長期成功並創造股東價值，包括優先考慮我們認為具有可持續競爭優勢的特定市場和產品。

Now let's discuss the quarter in more detail.

現在讓我們更詳細地討論本季。

Our first-quarter results were led by volume growth in both segments, price mix within our expectations, the benefits of our cost savings initiatives, and significant progress in improving working capital, reducing our capital investments, and driving strong free cash flow generation. As we roll out our Focus-to-Win strategy and drive operational and strategic changes across our business, we are doing so from a leadership position within a category of opportunity.

我們第一季的業績得益於兩個部門的銷售成長、價格組合符合我們的預期、成本節約措施帶來的好處，以及在改善營運資本、減少資本投資和推動強勁自​​由現金流產生方面的重大進展。當我們推出「聚焦致勝」策略並推動整個業務的營運和策略變革時，我們正站在機會類別的領導地位上。

Whether at home or away from home, let's take a minute to remind ourselves why fries. Traditional French fries are one of the most profitable items on restaurant menus. Fries are the most ordered item at US restaurants. They appeal to a broad range of consumers and are America's favorite order across every generation. The fry attachment rate or how often someone orders fries with their meal remains approximately 2 percentage points higher than before the pandemic.

無論在家或出門在外，讓我們花一點時間來提醒自己為什麼要吃炸薯條。傳統的炸薯條是餐廳菜單上最賺錢的菜色之一。炸薯條是美國餐廳最受歡迎的食物。它們吸引了廣泛的消費者，是美國各代人最喜愛的菜餚。薯條附加率（即人們在用餐時點薯條的頻率）仍比疫情之前高出約 2 個百分點。

What that means is that when people go out to eat, they're ordering fries more often than in 2019, and we see positive trends around the globe. For example, global demand is growing with an estimated 44% of global menus offering fries, and as multinational and local market QSRs expand, they continue to see developing markets with fries, which is trending positive.

這意味著，當人們外出用餐時，他們點薯條的次數比 2019 年更多，而且我們看到全球範圍內出現了積極的趨勢。例如，全球需求正在成長，估計全球 44% 的菜單都提供薯條，隨著跨國和本地市場 QSR 的擴張，他們繼續看到發展中市場有薯條，這是一個積極的趨勢。

Finally, global fry volume growth has outpaced total food growth versus 2019. In July, we launched Focus to Win, our new strategic plan to unlock [newer] and long-term value. And while it is early in our efforts, we are making progress. I see it in the focus our teams have and the decisions we are making. We have clearly identified savings plans, and our teams are executing. All this is happening as we work to be our customers' number one partner, a world-class potato company, and an industry-leading innovator.

最後，與 2019 年相比，全球魚苗產量成長速度已超過食品總產量成長速度。7 月，我們推出了「聚焦取勝」新策略計劃，旨在釋放[更新的]長期價值。儘管我們的努力才剛剛開始，但我們正在取得進展。我從我們團隊的關注點和我們所做的決定中看到了這一點。我們已經明確了節約計劃，我們的團隊正在執行。所有這一切都發生在我們努力成為客戶的頭號合作夥伴、世界一流的馬鈴薯公司和業界領先的創新者的過程中。

Looking at each of the pillars of our strategy, a few early examples include within strengthening customer partnerships, we have realigned our sales teams around our priority markets. In North America, we are augmenting our successful direct sales force with a broker model to expand our reach into under-penetrated channels of the business.

縱觀我們策略的每個支柱，一些早期的例子包括加強客戶合作夥伴關係，我們圍繞著重點市場重新調整了銷售團隊。在北美，我們正在透過經紀人模式增強我們成功的直銷隊伍，以擴大我們在業務滲透不足的管道中的影響力。

The Lamb Weston organization is embracing a customer centric mentality. We have secured several new wins around the world, including expanding our share in business and key away from home categories such as C-stores and cash and carry, and outside the US, we've increased our business with QSR customers.

Lamb Weston 組織正在秉持以客戶為中心的理念。我們在全球範圍內取得了多項新的勝利，包括擴大我們在商務和主要非家庭類別（如 C 商店和現購自運）中的份額，並且在美國以外，我們增加了與 QSR 客戶的業務。

In terms of executional excellence, the supply chain organization is elevating Lamb Weston's operations. We have undertaken programs across manufacturing, logistics, and procurement that are not just driving cost savings but meaningfully improving our run rates, our quality, and our customer satisfaction metrics.

在執行卓越性方面，供應鏈組織正在提升 Lamb Weston 的營運。我們在製造、物流和採購領域實施的計劃不僅推動了成本節約，而且顯著提高了我們的運作率、品質和客戶滿意度指標。

In response to sustained volume growth in North America, as previously mentioned, we are restarting a curtailed line in the latter part of the second quarter to ensure we maintain strong customer fill rates. Our global footprint and the untapped capacity in our manufacturing network allows us to take on new business and provide additional support for our customers. Additionally, we began shipping from our new manufacturing facility in Marta Plata, Argentina. Approximately 80% of production will be destined for export, primarily for Latin America, including Brazil.

如前所述，為了因應北美持續的銷售成長，我們將在第二季後半段重新啟動一條縮短的生產線，以確保保持強勁的客戶滿足率。我們的全球業務和製造網路中尚未開發的產能使我們能夠開展新業務並為客戶提供額外支援。此外，我們開始從位於阿根廷瑪爾塔普拉塔的新製造工廠出貨。約80%的產量將用於出口，主要銷往包括巴西在內的拉丁美洲。

Finally, setting the pace for innovation. We take great pride in our position as an innovation leader, and we are working to directly improve the customer and consumer experience, drive breakthrough innovations and innovate how we operate.

最後，設定創新步伐。我們對自己作為創新領導者的地位感到非常自豪，我們正在努力直接改善客戶和消費者體驗，推動突破性創新並創新我們的營運方式。

As I mentioned in July, we've established global innovation hubs to orchestrate disruptive innovation platforms, one in North America and one in the Netherlands for our international markets. This fall, we are launching exciting new products into retail that are lined with customer trends. This includes flavor forward offerings from Alexia, such as garlic and parmesan crinkle cut fries and dill pickle seasoned fries, as well as expanding our licensed brands with Paw Patrol Waffle Fries and Shaped Tops. And internationally, we continue the rollout of our really crunchy artisanal fries which are performing exceptionally well.

正如我在 7 月提到的，我們已經建立了全球創新中心來協調顛覆性創新平台，一個在北美，一個在荷蘭，面向我們的國際市場。今年秋天，我們將向零售市場推出符合客戶趨勢的令人興奮的新產品。其中包括 Alexia 推出的風味產品，例如大蒜和帕瑪森波浪薯條和蒔蘿泡菜調味薯條，以及擴展我們的授權品牌 Paw Patrol Waffle Fries 和 Shaped Tops。在國際上，我們繼續推出非常香脆的手工薯條，其銷售量非常好。

Before Bernadette provides a more in-depth review of the quarter, let's discuss the upcoming potato crop. We're harvesting and processing crops in our growing regions in both North America and Europe. Currently, we believe that crops in the Columbia Basin, Idaho, and Alberta are above historical average and in the Midwest are near average as growing conditions in all regions have remained generally favorable. In Europe, growing conditions in the industry's main growing regions of the Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, and Germany have also been favorable, leading to an above-average yield forecast for the region.

在 Bernadette 對本季進行更深入的回顧之前，讓我們先討論一下即將到來的馬鈴薯作物。我們在北美和歐洲的種植區收穫和加工農作物。目前，我們認為哥倫比亞盆地、愛達荷州和阿爾伯塔省的農作物產量高於歷史平均水平，中西部地區的農作物產量接近平均水平，因為所有地區的生長條件總體上仍然良好。在歐洲，荷蘭、比利時、法國北部和德國等主要種植區的生長條件也良好，導致該地區的產量預測高於平均值。

We continue to expect our potato costs in Europe to be flat to slightly lower than the previous year's fixed price contracts. As a reminder, in North America, we've agreed to a mid-single-digit-percent decrease in the aggregate in contract prices for the 2025 potato crop. We expect to realize the benefit of these lower potato prices beginning late in our fiscal second quarter. We'll provide our final assessment of the potato crops in North America and Europe when we report our second-quarter results.

我們仍然預計，我們在歐洲的馬鈴薯成本將與去年的固定價格合約持平或略低。提醒一下，在北美，我們已同意將 2025 年馬鈴薯作物的合約價格總價降低中位數個位數百分比。我們預計從第二財季末開始就能感受到馬鈴薯價格下跌的好處。我們將在報告第二季業績時對北美和歐洲的馬鈴薯作物進行最終評估。

I will now turn the call over to Bernadette to review the quarter and our outlook.

現在我將把電話轉給伯納黛特，讓她回顧本季的情況和我們的展望。

Thank you, Mike, and good morning everyone.

謝謝你，麥克，大家早安。

Our teams continue to perform at a high level as we began executing our new strategic plan and driving changes across the organization. In the quarter, we grew volumes, improved our manufacturing costs per pound, and delivered strong cash flow.

隨著我們開始執行新的策略計劃並推動整個組織的變革，我們的團隊繼續保持高水準的表現。本季度，我們的產量有所成長，每磅製造成本降低，並實現了強勁的現金流。

Starting on slide 11, first-quarter net sales were essentially flat, increasing $5 million including a $24-million favorable impact from foreign currency translation. On a constant currency basis, net sales declined 1% compared with the prior year. Volume increased 6%, driven by customer wins and retention, led primarily by gains in North America and Asia.

從第 11 張投影片開始，第一季淨銷售額基本上持平，增加了 500 萬美元，其中包括外幣折算帶來的 2,400 萬美元的有利影響。以固定匯率計算，淨銷售額與前一年相比下降了 1%。銷量成長了 6%，這主要得益於客戶贏得和保留，其中主要由北美和亞洲的成長所帶動。

In North America, the rate of new customer volume scaled earlier than we planned. The total volume increase also included lapping an approximately $15-million charge taken in the first quarter of fiscal '25 related to a voluntary product withdrawal.

在北美，新客戶數量的成長速度比我們計畫的還要早。總銷售成長還包括抵銷 25 財年第一季因自願產品召回而產生的約 1,500 萬美元的費用。

Turning to the industry, restaurant traffic at several customer channels was flat in the quarter, including overall QSR traffic. While some are growing, including QSR Chicken. QSR hamburger, however, was down low-single digits and declined another percent in August.

談到產業，本季多個客戶通路的餐廳客流量持平，包括整體 QSR 客流量。而有些企業正在成長，包括 QSR Chicken。然而，QSR 漢堡的銷售量卻下降了個位數，8 月又下降了百分之一。

Restaurant traffic outside the US has been mixed. Traffic in certain markets, including the UK, our largest international market, declined 4%. Our customers continue to lean into value and menu innovation, including limited time offerings to drive traffic and meet consumer needs. Price mix at constant currency rates was in line with our expectations, declining 7% compared with the prior year.

美國以外的餐廳客流量狀況不一。包括我們最大的國際市場英國在內的某些市場的客流量下降了 4%。我們的客戶繼續傾向於價值和菜單創新，包括限時優惠以吸引客流並滿足消費者的需求。以固定匯率計算的價格組合符合我們的預期，與前一年相比下降了 7%。

As a reminder, this includes the carryover impact of fiscal 2025 price and trade investments that went into effect in the second quarter of last year as well as ongoing support of our customers. It also includes unfavorable channel product mix within our segments.

提醒一下，這包括去年第二季生效的 2025 財年價格和貿易投資的延續影響，以及對客戶的持續支持。它也包括我們各部門內不利的通路產品組合。

Looking at our segments, North America net sales declined 2% compared with the prior year, primarily due to lower net selling prices. Price mix declined 7% and volume increased 5%, supported by recent customer contract wins and growth across channels.

從各部門來看，北美淨銷售額與前一年相比下降了 2%，主要原因是淨銷售價格下降。受近期贏得客戶合約和跨通路成長的推動，價格組合下降了 7%，銷量增加了 5%。

In our international segment, net sales increased 4%, including a favorable $24-million impact from foreign currency translation. At constant currency rates, net sales were flat. Volume grew 6% in the quarter and price mix at constant currency rates declined 6%. This was primarily related to pricing actions in key international markets to support our customers. Our international segment remains well positioned for the long-term, supported by new modern manufacturing facilities, a broad and innovative portfolio, and an expanding global footprint.

在我們的國際部門，淨銷售額成長了 4%，其中包括外幣折算帶來的 2,400 萬美元的有利影響。以固定匯率計算，淨銷售額持平。本季銷量成長了 6%，以固定匯率計算的價格組合下降了 6%。這主要與在主要國際市場採取的定價行動有關，以支持我們的客戶。我們的國際部門長期保持著良好的地位，得益於新的現代化製造設施、廣泛而創新的產品組合以及不斷擴大的全球影響力。

In the first quarter, Asia, including China, led our volume growth, reflecting solid market performance. Growth was supported primarily by contributions from multinational chains. In Europe, we expect that a strong crop, soft restaurant market demand, and increased competitive actions will continue to pressure price mix for the balance of the year. And in Latin America we began shipping from our new facility in Argentina in early second quarter. While we are actively on boarding customers, we expect it will take time before the facility reaches target utilization levels. We've seen competitive activity increase in Latin America, most notably in Brazil.

第一季度，包括中國在內的亞洲引領了我們的銷售成長，反映出穩健的市場表現。成長主要得益於跨國連鎖店的貢獻。在歐洲，我們預計強勁的農作物收成、疲軟的餐廳市場需求以及日益激烈的競爭將在今年餘下時間內繼續對價格結構造成壓力。在拉丁美洲，我們於第二季初開始從位於阿根廷的新工廠出貨。雖然我們正在積極接待客戶，但我們預計設施達到目標利用率水準還需要一些時間。我們看到拉丁美洲的競爭活動增加，尤其是在巴西。

Moving on from sales, as expected on slide 12, you can see that adjusted gross profit declined. This was primarily due to unfavorable price mix. This was partially offset by higher sales volume and a decrease in manufacturing costs per pound due primarily to benefits from our cost savings initiatives and the benefit of lapping an approximately $39 million charge in the prior year related to a voluntary product withdrawal. We're pleased with the progress we're making against our cost savings initiatives, and we remain on track to deliver fiscal 2026 savings targets.

從銷售額來看，正如第 12 張投影片所預期的那樣，您可以看到調整後的毛利下降了。這主要是由於價格組合不利。這部分被更高的銷售量和每磅製造成本的下降所抵消，這主要得益於我們的成本節約舉措帶來的好處以及上一年因自願產品召回而產生的約 3900 萬美元費用的抵消。我們對成本節約計畫所取得的進展感到滿意，我們仍有望實現 2026 財年的節省目標。

Our broader goal with our manufacturing initiatives, however, is to embed sustainable process improvements that will continue to enhance our manufacturing performance beyond the immediate efficiencies we are seeing. Partially offsetting these benefits was about $15 million of increased fixed factory burden absorption and about $4 million of incremental costs related to the startup of the new production facility in Argentina.

然而，我們製造計劃的更廣泛目標是嵌入可持續的流程改進，這將繼續提高我們的製造性能，超越我們所看到的直接效率。部分抵銷這些收益的是增加的約 1500 萬美元的固定工廠負擔吸收和與阿根廷新生產設施啟動相關的約 400 萬美元的增量成本。

While we anticipated a decline in gross profit this quarter, the decline was less than expected, due primarily to stronger-than-anticipated sales volumes and incremental benefits realized from our cost savings initiatives.

雖然我們預期本季毛利會下降，但降幅低於預期，主要原因是銷售量強於預期，以及成本節約措施帶來的增量收益。

Adjusted SG&A declined $24 million versus the prior year quarter. The decline reflects benefits from cost savings initiatives. It also includes $7 million of miscellaneous income, primarily related to an insurance recovery, and property tax refunds that will not repeat in future quarters. Equity method investments were a loss of $600,000 in the quarter, down from earnings of $11 million in the prior-year quarter. This reflects the current lower rate of sales volume from our equity affiliate at lower prices, but also an unfavorable mix of sales.

調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用較去年同期下降 2,400 萬美元。這一下降反映了成本節約措施帶來的好處。它還包括 700 萬美元的雜項收入，主要與保險賠償和未來幾季不會重複的財產稅退稅有關。本季權益法投資虧損 60 萬美元，低於去年同期的 1,100 萬美元收益。這反映了我們股權關聯公司的當前銷售量和價格較低，而且銷售組合也不理想。

As a result, adjusted EBITDA was essentially flat with last year at $302 million. The favorable impact on net sales from currency translation was almost entirely offset by higher local currency expenses, particularly cost of sales in our global markets.

因此，調整後的 EBITDA 與去年基本持平，為 3.02 億美元。貨幣換算對淨銷售額的有利影響幾乎完全被更高的當地貨幣費用（尤其是我們全球市場的銷售成本）所抵消。

Turning to segment EBITDA performance on slide 13. Adjusted EBITDA in our North America segment declined 6% or $18 million versus the prior year quarter to $260 million primarily related to price and trade investments in support of our customers, which was only partially offset by higher sales volumes, lower manufacturing costs per pound and lower adjusted SG&A. Lower manufacturing costs per pound and adjusted SG&A both benefited from our cost savings initiatives. We also lapsed an approximately $21 million charge for the voluntary product withdrawal in the prior year.

轉到投影片 13 上的分部 EBITDA 表現。我們北美分部的調整後 EBITDA 與去年同期相比下降了 6% 或 1800 萬美元，至 2.6 億美元，這主要與支持客戶的價格和貿易投資有關，但銷售量增加、每磅製造成本降低和調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用降低僅部分抵消了這一影響。較低的每磅製造成本和調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用均受益於我們的成本節約措施。我們也因上一年自願產品召回而損失了約 2,100 萬美元。

In our international segment, adjusted EBITDA increased $6 million to $57 million. This year-over-year improvement primarily reflects the absence of last year's $18 million charge related to the voluntary product withdrawal, lower potato prices, cost savings from our cost savings initiatives, and a $4-million favorable impact from foreign currency translation.

在我們的國際部門，調整後的 EBITDA 增加了 600 萬美元，達到 5,700 萬美元。這一同比增長主要反映了去年因自願產品召回而產生的 1800 萬美元費用的減少、馬鈴薯價格的下降、成本節約舉措帶來的成本節約以及外幣折算帶來的 400 萬美元的有利影響。

These benefits were mostly offset by supporting our customers with price investments, increased competitive actions in certain markets, and approximately $4 million of startup costs associated with our new manufacturing facility in Argentina.

這些收益大部分被我們為客戶提供的價格投資、在某些市場加強的競爭行動以及與我們在阿根廷的新製造工廠相關的約 400 萬美元的啟動成本所抵消。

Moving to liquidity And cash flows on slide 14.

轉到幻燈片 14 上的流動性和現金流。

Our liquidity and cash position remains healthy. We ended the quarter with approximately $1.4 billion of liquidity comprised of approximately $1.3 billion available under our revolving credit facility and $99 million of cash and cash equivalents. Our net debt was $3.9 billion and our adjusted EBITDA to net debt leverage ratio was 3.1 times on a trailing 12 month basis.

我們的流動性和現金狀況依然健康。本季末，我們的流動資金約為 14 億美元，其中包括循環信貸額度下的約 13 億美元以及 9,900 萬美元的現金和現金等價物。我們的淨債務為 39 億美元，過去 12 個月調整後的 EBITDA 與淨債務槓桿率為 3.1 倍。

In the first quarter of fiscal 2026, we generated $352 million of cash from operations, up $22 million versus the prior-year quarter. Lower inventories were the primary driver of the increase. Free cash flow was strong at $273 million.

2026 財年第一季度，我們的營運現金流為 3.52 億美元，比去年同期增加 2,200 萬美元。庫存減少是推動價格上漲的主要因素。自由現金流強勁，達到 2.73 億美元。

As a reminder, our Focus-to-Win plan includes approximately $60 million of incremental cash flow from working capital, mainly from reducing inventory in both fiscal '26 and '27 or $120 million in total. We believe we're on track to deliver the fiscal '26 target. Capital expenditures for the quarter declined $256 million to $79 million as we completed our production facility expansion projects.

提醒一下，我們的「專注致勝」計畫包括來自營運資本的約 6,000 萬美元增量現金流，主要來自於 26 財年和 27 財年的庫存減少，總計 1.2 億美元。我們相信我們能夠實現 26 財年的目標。由於我們完成了生產設施擴建項目，本季的資本支出下降了 2.56 億美元，至 7,900 萬美元。

For fiscal '26, our capital spending is expected to be approximately $500 million with approximately $400 million in maintenance and modernization and $100 million for environmental projects, which are mostly for wastewater treatment.

26 財年，我們的資本支出預計約為 5 億美元，其中約 4 億美元用於維護和現代化建設，1 億美元用於環境項目，主要用於廢水處理。

Turning to slide 15, we remain committed to returning cash to shareholders.

翻到第 15 張投影片，我們仍致力於向股東回饋現金。

In the first quarter, we returned $62 million to shareholders. This included $52 million in cash dividends, and we repurchased $10 million of stock, leaving us with $348 million authorized under the plan. This brings the total cash we've returned to shareholders since the spin in 2016 to over $2 billion.

第一季度，我們向股東返還了 6,200 萬美元。其中包括 5,200 萬美元的現金股息，我們也回購了價值 1,000 萬美元的股票，因此根據該計劃我們獲得了 3.48 億美元的授權。這使得我們自 2016 年分拆以來返還給股東的現金總額超過 20 億美元。

Our capital allocation priorities continue to be anchored in investing in the business, its capabilities, and areas where we are working to competitively differentiate Lamb Weston to execute our business strategy while maintaining a strong balance sheet and opportunistically returning capital to shareholders with dividends and share repurchases.

我們的資本配置重點繼續放在投資業務、業務能力以及我們正在努力實現 Lamb Weston 競爭差異化的領域，以執行我們的業務策略，同時保持強勁的資產負債表，並透過股息和股票回購等方式適時向股東返還資本。

Let's turn to our outlook on slide 16.

讓我們來看看第 16 張幻燈片上的展望。

We are reaffirming our outlook for fiscal 2026. As a reminder, this outlook includes the contribution of a 53rd week, with an additional week falling in the fourth quarter. We continue to expect revenue at constant currency rates in the range of $6.35 billion to $6.55 billion which is a 2% decline to 2% increase. We expect year-over-year volume growth behind customer momentum in both segments.

我們重申對 2026 財年的展望。提醒一下，這項展望包括第 53 週的貢獻，其中第四季還有一週。我們繼續預計，以固定匯率計算，營收將在 63.5 億美元至 65.5 億美元之間，即下降 2% 至成長 2%。我們預計，這兩個部門的銷售量都將年增，這得益於客戶的成長動能。

In our North America segment, we expect volume to grow in both the first and second half of the year. Note that while volumes in the first quarter came in above expectations, this reflects the acceleration of new customer activity that we planned for in later periods. In our international segment, we expect volume in the back half of the year to be essentially flat as we lap the new customer acquisitions from the prior year and we continue operating in a competitive environment.

在北美地區，我們預計今年上半年和下半年的銷售都會成長。請注意，雖然第一季的交易量高於預期，但這反映了我們計劃在後期加速新客戶活動。在我們的國際業務領域，我們預計下半年的銷售量將基本持平，因為我們獲得了上一年的新客戶，並且我們繼續在競爭激烈的環境中運作。

We also continue to anticipate price mix will be unfavorable at constant currency. As of the end of the quarter, we have secured approximately 75% of our global open contract volume at pricing levels generally consistent with expectations. As anticipated, unfavorable price mix will be more pronounced in the first half, reflecting the carryover pricing actions from fiscal '25. The effect is expected to moderate in the second half of the year, supported by new contracts signed this year.

我們也繼續預計，以固定匯率計算，價格組合將不利。截至本季末，我們已獲得約 75% 的全球未平倉合約量，定價水準與預期基本一致。正如預期的那樣，不利的價格組合將在上半年更加明顯，這反映了 25 財年的結轉定價行動。預計下半年這種影響將因今年簽訂的新合約而有所緩和。

Our adjusted EBITDA guidance range remains at $1 billion to $1.2 billion. As a reminder, adjusted EBITDA now excludes non-cash share-based compensation expense. It is available in the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures that accompanies the earnings release we filed this morning.

我們的調整後 EBITDA 指引範圍仍為 10 億美元至 12 億美元。提醒一下，調整後的 EBITDA 現在不包括非現金股權激勵費用。它可以在我們今天早上提交的收益報告附帶的非公認會計準則財務指標對帳表中找到。

Despite the outperformance in the first quarter, with only one quarter behind us, we believe it's prudent to maintain our guidance range. While we previously excluded any impact from tariffs, the range now incorporates tariffs in the balance of the year based on our latest view of enacted tariffs by the US and other governments.

儘管第一季表現優異，但僅過去了一個季度，我們認為維持我們的指導範圍是謹慎的做法。雖然我們之前排除了關稅的影響，但根據我們對美國和其他政府頒布的關稅的最新看法，該範圍現在已將今年餘額中的關稅納入其中。

Additionally, given the outperformance of the first quarter's gross profit from higher-than-planned volume, we expect gross profit margins in the second quarter to be relatively flat with the first quarter, due primarily to as expected, first quarter input cost inflation being flat to slightly down compared with a year ago due to the steep increase in open market potato prices in Europe in the prior year.

此外，鑑於第一季毛利因銷售高於計劃而表現優異，我們預計第二季毛利率將與第一季度持平，這主要是因為，正如預期，由於上年歐洲公開市場馬鈴薯價格大幅上漲，第一季投入成本通膨與去年同期相比持平或略有下降。

Going forward, beginning in the second quarter, we expect low-single-digit inflation, including the benefit of this year's lower raw potato prices. We also expect higher factory burden from longer-than-expected plan maintenance downtime at one of our plants, and additional startup expenses and factory burden absorption related to the startup of Argentina plant to adversely affect our margin performance in our international segment in the second quarter.

展望未來，從第二季開始，我們預期通膨率將維持在低個位數，其中包括今年生馬鈴薯價格下跌的好處。我們也預計，由於我們其中一家工廠的計劃維護停機時間比預期的要長，工廠負擔會更大，而與阿根廷工廠啟動相關的額外啟動費用和工廠負擔吸收將對我們第二季度國際部門的利潤率表現產生不利影響。

Turning to adjusted SG&A, our first-quarter SG&A as a percentage of revenue was lower than our expectation for the full year. As I previously mentioned, the quarter included $7 million of miscellaneous income that will not repeat in future quarters. In addition, at year end, we shared our plan to invest approximately $10 million of SG&A in innovation, advertising, and promotion expenses to support our long-term strategic plan. These investments are slated for the remainder of the year.

談到調整後的銷售、一般和行政費用，我們第一季的銷售、一般和行政費用佔收入的百分比低於我們對全年的預期。正如我之前提到的，本季包括 700 萬美元的雜項收入，在未來幾季不會重複出現。此外，在年底，我們分享了我們的計劃，將約 1000 萬美元的銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 投資於創新、廣告和促銷費用，以支持我們的長期策略計劃。這些投資預計將在今年剩餘時間內完成。

Well, not in our guidance, the net sales and adjusted EBITDA, we are updating our tax rate guidance from approximately 26% to a range of 26% to 27%. We now expect the tax rate in the first half to be in the low 30%s and the second half expectation remains in the low 20%s. We do not expect that the recently enacted US federal tax legislation will have a material impact on our fiscal 2026 tax rate.

嗯，不在我們的指導範圍內，淨銷售額和調整後的 EBITDA，我們正在將稅率指導從大約 26% 更新到 26% 到 27% 的範圍。我們目前預計上半年稅率將在30%出頭，下半年仍將在20%出頭。我們預計近期頒布的美國聯邦稅法不會對我們2026財年的稅率產生重大影響。

And finally, our outlook reflects the progress we are making with our customers, the cost savings we are on track to deliver, and the early but positive results of the work by our teams to execute Focus to Win within a competitive market.

最後，我們的展望反映了我們與客戶共同取得的進展、我們有望實現的成本節約，以及我們的團隊在競爭激烈的市場中實施「聚焦取勝」策略所取得的早期但積極的成果。

I'll now turn the call back over to Mike.

我現在將電話轉回給麥克。

Thank you, Bernadette.

謝謝你，伯納黛特。

In closing, we are acting with urgency to execute our Focus-to-Win strategy, including delivering our cost savings program. We have continued to drive strong volume growth and are pleased with the momentum we are seeing with our customers. Our team is focused on improving capital efficiency and increasing cash flows as our growth investments are complete and reducing working capital. We have trend forward products coming to the market and the capacity and innovation to partner with our customers, and we are managing our business strategically, deploying resources, and focusing our efforts in the areas of the market where we have the most differentiation, which we are confident will best position us for sustained success.

最後，我們正在緊急採取行動，執行我們的「聚焦致勝」策略，包括實施我們的成本節約計畫。我們繼續推動強勁的銷售成長，並對客戶所看到的勢頭感到滿意。隨著我們的成長投資完成並減少營運資本，我們的團隊致力於提高資本效率和增加現金流。我們擁有即將上市的前沿產品，並具備與客戶合作的能力和創新能力，我們正在策略性地管理我們的業務，部署資源，並將我們的努力集中在我們最具差異化的市場領域，我們相信這將使我們獲得持續的成功。

Finally, we've reaffirmed our outlook for fiscal '26.

最後，我們重申了 26 財年的展望。

We'll now be happy to answer your questions.

我們現在很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Andrew Lazar, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的安德魯·拉扎爾。

Maybe to start, you noted that Lamb Weston has restarted a previously curtailed production line in the US, and I guess more broadly, I'm just curious how this squares with the current supply, demand imbalance for the industry overall that you've talked about the last couple quarters. And if you heard of any further industry capacity delays or outright cancellations beyond, I think, what you shared in the international sphere last quarter.

首先，您提到 Lamb Weston 已經在美國重啟了之前縮減的生產線，我想更廣泛地說，我只是好奇這與您在過去幾個季度談到的整個行業當前的供需失衡情況如何相符。如果您聽說除了上個季度您在國際領域分享的內容之外，還有任何進一步的行業產能延遲或徹底取消的情況，我想。

Yeah, I appreciate it, Andrew.

是的，我很感激，安德魯。

We needed to restart this line really to keep up with the demand signals that we're seeing on the business, the volume and the customers that that we're bringing on board and really to maintain the customer fill rates, so all good signals.

我們需要重新啟動這條生產線，以便真正跟上我們在業務、數量和我們正在引入的客戶中看到的需求訊號，並真正保持客戶填充率，所以所有訊號都很好。

You've heard me say historically this industry's been pretty rational and our market intelligence would suggest that not all the new announcements are going to move forward at their original timing. You heard me talk about in July that, we believe that some of those announced capacity isn't going to move forward. It's either been delayed, postponed, or even canceled.

您聽我說過，從歷史上看，這個行業一直非常理性，我們的市場情報表明，並非所有新公告都會按照原定時間推進。你們聽我 7 月說過，我們認為部分已宣布的產能不會繼續增加。它要么被推遲，要么被延期，甚至被取消。

The pace of new announcements has definitely slowed. I can't think of a new announcement that's been made since we reported earnings back in July, so I think, we are seeing signs that this industry is being rational when it comes to capacity.

新公告發布的速度肯定已經放緩。我想不出自從我們七月報告收益以來有什麼新的公告，所以我認為，我們看到了該行業在產能方面趨於理性的跡象。

That's really helpful, thanks.

這真的很有幫助，謝謝。

And then I know Bernadette, last quarter, I think you talked about a low-to mid-single-digit year-over-year decline in price mix for the first fiscal half of the year, and I'm curious if that still holds. And if so, I guess it would mean a not inconsequential -- sequential improvement in price mix and fiscal 2Q if I have that right.

然後我知道伯納黛特，上個季度，我想你談到了今年第一財年的價格組合同比下降了低到中等個位數，我很好奇這種情況是否仍然成立。如果是這樣，我想這將意味著價格組合和第二季財政狀況的連續改善，如果我沒記錯的話。

Yeah, no, thanks, Andrew.

是的，不，謝謝，安德魯。

Foreign currencies have a little bit larger impact on our results and in the first half on a constant currency basis, we're expecting mid-to high-single-digit decrease in price and then moderating to low to mid in the back half of the year.

外幣對我們的業績影響較大，以固定匯率計算，我們預期上半年價格將出現中高個位數的下降，下半年價格將緩和至中低點。

Thomas Palmer, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的托馬斯·帕爾默。

First, I just wanted to kind of clarify some of the gross margin commentary about more flat quarter over quarter. The items you noted seemed to be more related to the international segment like the rising potato costs and the plant startup costs. Maybe just in in North America, an update there, are we seeing more of the normal seasonal increase to think about as we shift from 1Q to 2Q or are there kind of items there to think about as well?

首先，我只是想澄清一些關於季度環比持平的毛利率評論。您提到的項目似乎與國際部分更相關，例如馬鈴薯成本上漲和工廠啟動成本。也許只是在北美，那裡有一個更新，當我們從第一季轉向第二季度時，我們是否看到更多正常的季節性增長需要考慮，或者那裡是否還有需要考慮的項目？

Thanks, Tom.

謝謝，湯姆。

As it relates to North America, it is a more seasonal increase. The one thing though that we do need to consider as it relates to North America is the input cost of inflation we are going to see a little bit more in 2Q, but we'll also start seeing some of the benefit related to the lower potato prices come in. But you're absolutely right that much of the change is related to the international segment.

就北美而言，這是一個更具季節性的成長。然而，我們確實需要考慮的一件事是，由於它與北美有關，我們將在第二季度看到通貨膨脹的投入成本略有增加，但我們也將開始看到與馬鈴薯價格下降相關的一些好處。但您說得完全正確，大部分變化都與國際領域有關。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

And then I just wanted to clarify on the tariff commentary that it's now included in guidance but was not previously, what is your tariff exposure and I think previously you kind of discussed it is not being meaningful is there any update there?

然後我只想澄清一下關稅評論，它現在已包含在指導中，但以前沒有，您的關稅風險是什麼，我認為您之前討論過它沒有意義，有什麼更新嗎？

Yeah, so most of our tariff exposure relates to any import of palm oil or other ingredients, and right now on an annualized basis, we would expect it to be about $25 million. We primarily bring that in from Indonesia and Malaysia. There is going to be a vote in March is my understanding that it could be enacted that the Indonesia tariff rate would go away, but that's yet to be known. So we've gone ahead and we've included the full amount for that palm and other ingredients in our guidance for the remainder of the year.

是的，我們的大部分關稅風險與棕櫚油或其他原料的進口有關，目前按年率計算，我們預計約為 2500 萬美元。我們主要從印尼和馬來西亞進口。據我了解，三月將會進行投票，可能會決定取消印尼的關稅稅率，但這還有待觀察。因此，我們繼續前進，並將棕櫚樹和其他成分的全部數量納入了今年剩餘時間的指導中。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Peter Galbo, Bank of America.

美國銀行的彼得‧加爾博 (Peter Galbo)。

Bernadette, understanding kind of some of the nuance on the second quarter gross margin, but I guess if I just look at the first quarter performance, it wouldn't be all that different from history, I think it was a roughly flat gross margin Q-on-Q versus 4Q, which is kind of what the old Lamb Weston would have been even pre-COVID. So I think that the seasonality maybe follows.

伯納黛特，我理解第二季度毛利率的一些細微差別，但我想，如果我只看第一季度的表現，它與歷史並沒有什麼不同，我認為與第四季度相比，第一季度的毛利率環比基本持平，這有點像舊 Lamb Weston 在 COVID 之前的情況。所以我認為季節性可能會隨之而來。

So I guess the question is Q2 aside, should we be thinking about some of the historical seasonality on the gross margin line returning in the second half, at least as it relates to 3Q and 4Q, that would just be helpful as we kind of model out the rest of the year.

所以我想問題是，除了第二季之外，我們是否應該考慮下半年毛利率的一些歷史季節性，至少與第三季和第四季有關，這將有助於我們預測今年剩餘的時間。

Yeah, that's exactly right, Peter.

是的，完全正確，彼得。

Based on the strength that we saw in Q1, we do expect gross margin to be flat -- about flat with Q2 and then similar to historical periods, we expect a seasonal step up in Q3 and then a seasonal decline in Q4.

根據我們在第一季看到的強勁表現，我們確實預計毛利率將持平 - 與第二季持平，然後與歷史時期類似，我們預計第三季會出現季節性上升，然後第四季會出現季節性下降。

Okay, great.

好的，太好了。

And Mike, I just wanted to touch on something you brought up in the slides, noting on I think expanding the usage of brokers in North America. Historically, the strength of Lamb Weston was truly the direct sales force. I think it was a competitive advantage maybe you have that some of your competitors didn't. So I just want to understand the change in philosophy or the change in thinking and expanding out to using a broker network, how that's being I guess received internally by the direct sales force. I mean again it's a nuance but it seems like a meaningful change to how you've operated versus history.

麥克，我只是想談談你在幻燈片中提到的一些內容，我認為應該擴大北美經紀人的使用範圍。從歷史上看，Lamb Weston 的優勢確實在於直銷隊伍。我認為這可能是你們擁有的、而一些競爭對手所沒有的競爭優勢。因此，我只是想了解理念的改變或思維的改變以及擴展到使用經紀人網絡，我猜直銷人員內部是如何接受這一點的。我的意思是，這又是一個細微差別，但相對於歷史而言，這似乎是對你運作方式的一個有意義的改變。

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Yeah, I appreciate the question, Peter.

是的，我很感謝你的提問，彼得。

I think it's really important, and I want to make sure I'm clear on this. We are maintaining that direct sales force. So that to your point, Peter, that team has been very helpful to this business over the course of the last several years as we move to that model. We've seen success with it. And this is now going to give them opportunity to continue to focus on the areas where they've been successful. We are augmenting that direct sales force with a broker in some of our under penetrated channels, some of the areas that we haven't spent time focusing on in the past.

我認為這非常重要，我想確保我清楚這一點。我們正在維持這支直銷隊伍。正如您所說，彼得，在我們轉向該模式的過去幾年中，該團隊對這項業務非常有幫助。我們已經看到了它的成功。這將為他們提供機會繼續專注於他們已經取得成功的領域。我們正在一些滲透率較低的管道中，以及一些我們過去沒有花時間關注的領域，透過經紀人來擴充直銷隊伍。

The sales team, the leadership team on that side is super supportive and excited about it because it actually allows them to really focus on the areas that they have been focusing on and gives us a chance to look at some potential upside opportunity that we haven't really spent a lot of time on over the last several years.

銷售團隊和領導團隊對此非常支持並感到興奮，因為這實際上使他們能夠真正專注於他們一直關注的領域，並讓我們有機會看到一些潛在的上升機會，而過去幾年我們並沒有真正花很多時間在這些機會上。

Max Gumport, BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的馬克斯‧甘波特。

I was hoping you could unpack the contribution of customer wins (technical difficulty) to growth in North America. So first, just if you'd be able to quantify that roughly in point terms in terms of what that drove.

我希望您能夠闡明客戶勝利（技術難度）對北美成長的貢獻。首先，如果你能夠粗略地用點數來量化其驅動因素的話。

And then with these games really first starting to get called out in the fiscal 4Q of '25, is there any reason why that benefit doesn't [stick] (technical difficulty) in the 2Q and 3Q and then how would you think about that progressing from there?

那麼，這些遊戲在 2025 財年第四季才真正開始受到關注，那麼為什麼這種優勢在第二季和第三季沒有得到體現（技術難度），您認為以後會如何發展呢？

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Yeah, the team is working hard to pick up new customers, and as I said before, I think we're driving a whole other level of customer centricity here in our organization. As Bernadette mentioned earlier, we've had some customers that we have converted earlier than expected. Meaning that some of those customers started placing orders and shipping with us in Q1 that we didn't expect to necessarily happen until Q2, so that's one reason you're seeing the larger step up in Q1 on volume versus what we expected.

是的，團隊正在努力吸引新客戶，正如我之前所說，我認為我們正在推動組織中以客戶為中心的全新層次。正如 Bernadette 之前提到的，我們有一些客戶的轉換時間比我們預期的要早。這意味著，有些客戶在第一季就開始向我們下訂單並出貨，而我們原本預計這些訂單要到第二季才會發生，所以這就是第一季銷售量與我們預期相比有較大成長的原因之一。

Yeah, and that relates primarily to the North America segment. That's exactly right, Mike.

是的，這主要與北美地區有關。完全正確，邁克。

And then as it relates to the international segment, keep in mind that we were lapping the prior year voluntary product withdrawal that we won't see going forward.

然後，當它與國際部分相關時，請記住，我們正在重複去年的自願產品撤回，但我們不會在未來看到這種情況。

Okay, and then just coming back to the 1Q versus 2Q gross margin comments that's been asked but one other way I want to just get my head around it would be clearly coming into the year you expected to return to the normal cadence which would have been a pretty meaningful, a few 100 basis points, I believe, step up from 1Q to 2Q. I think it's fair to say one cu risk margin came in a couple hundred basis points above what you might have expected. And I realize you now expect inflation to accelerate from 1Q to 2Q. Has your view on the absolute gross margin (technical difficulty) has it changed (technical difficulty) at all because of the timing of inflation or is it really just a matter of a meaningfully better than expected 1Q gross margin.

好的，然後回到被問到的第一季度與第二季度毛利率的評論，但我想用另一種方​​式來理解，那就是明確進入您預計恢復正常節奏的一年，這將是一個相當有意義的，我相信，從第一季度到第二季度將有幾百個基點的增長。我認為可以公平地說，一個立方英尺的風險保證金比你預期的要高出幾百個基點。我知道您現在預計通貨膨脹將從第一季加速到第二季。您對絕對毛利率（技術難度）的看法是否因為通貨膨脹的時間而發生了變化（技術難度），或者這實際上只是第一季毛利率明顯優於預期的問題。

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Yeah, so thanks for the question.

是的，謝謝你的提問。

For the year, we're expecting to be fairly close to what we had originally expected. We didn't guide on gross margin per se, but you're exactly right that the cadence of the gross margin and the increases and decreases, that the primary change here is really that Q1 came in better than expected, and we're expecting more of a flat quarter-over-quarter gross margin between 1Q and 2Q.

對於今年，我們預計會相當接近我們最初的預期。我們並沒有對毛利率本身做出指導，但您說得完全正確，毛利率的節奏和增加和減少，這裡的主要變化實際上是第一季度的表現好於預期，我們預計第一季和第二季之間的毛利率將與上一季持平。

Matthew Smith, Stifel.

馬修史密斯，Stifel。

Mike, could you talk about the impact of restarting the curtailed line in the second quarter? Should we think of there being higher fixed cost absorption as a line comes on or is that a cleaner startup process relative to when you open a new plant?

麥克，您能談談第二季重啟這條停產生產線的影響嗎？我們是否應該認為，隨著生產線的投入使用，固定成本的吸收會更高，或者相對於開設新工廠而言，這是一個更乾淨的啟動過程？

And then how do you think about that line going forward? Do you expect production to be maintained on that line or have you learned that you can turn these off and turn them on based on different times of the year and when it's most efficient to use that capacity?

那麼，您如何看待這條線路的未來發展？您是否希望在該生產線上維持生產，或者您是否了解到您可以根據一年中的不同時間以及何時最有效地利用該產能來關閉和打開這些生產線？

Yeah, great question, Matt.

是的，問得好，馬特。

Let me just ground everyone and remind everyone, we curtailed more than just one line when we did our curtailment. So this is one of those lines that we're bringing back on. During the course of the time that line was down, we would bump -- what we call it, bump start the engines and the pumps and kind of keep things looped up and so it's easier to start these lines than starting a new production facility from scratch.

讓我告訴大家，我們削減的線路不只一條。所以這是我們重新開始的其中一條線。在生產線停工期間，我們會透過撞擊——也就是我們所說的撞擊啟動引擎和泵，讓一切保持循環，因此啟動這些生產線比從頭開始啟動新的生產設施更容易。

There's not a lot of cost to bringing up this new line. We fully anticipate that we're going to continue to run this line. That's what our demand signals are telling us and again, we have other curtailed lines that we have positioned should we see continued growth and momentum in the business that we'll be able to action against into the future.

開闢這條新線路的成本並不高。我們完全有信心繼續經營這條線路。這就是我們的需求訊號告訴我們的，而且，如果我們看到業務持續成長和勢頭，我們還有其他已削減的線路，我們將能夠在未來採取行動。

Yeah, and the only thing I'd add to that is so for the North America segment, we'll start to moderate at the end of the second quarter when we start up that line from a fixed factory burden perspective, but we'll see a larger impact internationally with the startup of Argentina and then the higher factory burden from the longer-than-expected planned maintenance downtime in Q1.

是的，我唯一要補充的是，對於北美地區，從固定工廠負擔的角度來看，當我們在第二季度末啟動該生產線時，我們將開始放緩，但隨著阿根廷生產線的啟動，我們將在國際上看到更大的影響，然後由於第一季計劃維護停機時間比預期的更長，工廠負擔也會增加。

Thank you Bernadette.

謝謝你，伯納黛特。

And as a follow-up, can you talk about the phasing of cost savings in fiscal '26? I think cost savings came in above your expectation in the first quarter, but you still expect to be on track for the $100-million run rate and fiscal '26 or exiting the year. Are you raising your expected cost savings for the year or is it just more flowed through in the first quarter than you anticipated or maybe it was a larger contribution from the carry in benefits from last year's restructuring savings? Just a little clarification out there.

另外，可以談談 26 財年成本節約的分階段狀況嗎？我認為第一季的成本節約超出了您的預期，但您仍然預計 2026 財年或年底的營運率將達到 1 億美元。您是否提高了今年的預期成本節約額，或者僅僅是第一季的支出超出了您的預期，又或者可能是去年重組節約帶來的收益貢獻更大？只要稍微澄清一下。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Sure, I'd be happy to provide some color on that.

當然，我很樂意對此提供一些說明。

So you're right, we did drive cost savings a bit faster, which has about two-thirds of the benefit in the back half of the year when we initially announced the plan. There's still many priorities that we need to deliver and we'll continue to provide updates as the year progresses, but for now we're on track to deliver the $100-billion target that we set for fiscal '26, and again, about two-thirds of that is expected to affect gross profit, and about a third is expected to affect SG&A.

所以你說得對，我們確實更快地節省了成本，當我們最初宣布該計劃時，下半年的收益約為三分之二。我們仍有許多優先事項需要完成，並且會在今年繼續提供更新信息，但目前我們有望實現為 26 財年設定的 1000 億美元的目標，其中約三分之二預計將影響毛利潤，約三分之一預計將影響銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A)。

Scott Marks, Jefferies.

史考特馬克斯，傑富瑞。

First thing I want to ask about is you gave some commentary earlier about some of the business wins you've had, expanding some business with QSR customers, expanding in C-stores, and other away from home categories. Just wondering if you can speak a bit to what's been the driver of these wins. Has it been more of the price support that you're willing to invest behind it or maybe some other factor that's helping you kind of gain this business?

我想問的第一件事是，您之前對您取得的一些業務勝利做出了一些評論，包括擴大與 QSR 客戶的業務、擴大 C 商店的業務以及其他非本地類別的業務。我只是想知道您是否可以談談這些勝利的推動力是什麼。您是否願意投入更多的價格支持，或者有其他因素幫助您獲得這項業務？

Yeah, I appreciate the question.

是的，我很感謝你的提問。

A lot of it has to do with how we're engaging in our customers in a change from how we were in the past. We're spending a lot of time making sure that we're doing the right joint business planning, and that's not just lining up our salespeople to the customer. That's a complete cross functional approach where our supply chain organization, our marketing organization, and others are spending time with these customers and really understanding, what they are looking for in a valued partner and we're now delivering that.

這在很大程度上與我們與客戶的互動方式有關，這與過去的方式有所不同。我們花費大量時間來確保我們制定正確的聯合業務規劃，而這不僅僅是將我們的銷售人員與客戶聯繫起來。這是一種完全跨職能的方法，我們的供應鏈組織、行銷組織和其他組織都花時間與這些客戶相處，真正了解他們在有價值的合作夥伴身上尋找什麼，而我們現在正在提供這種服務。

We're seeing customers have a renewed focus on service, quality, and consistency rather than just price when it comes to North America and I think you -- we're seeing that when you hear, Bernadette mention that, we're through 75% of our contracting for this fiscal year with customers, that's at a very high retention rate which we're excited about and then obviously bringing on some of those new customers is providing some tailwinds for the business.

我們看到，在北美，客戶重新關注服務、品質和一致性，而不僅僅是價格，我想您——正如伯納黛特所說，我們本財年與客戶的合約已完成 75%，這是一個非常高的保留率，我們對此感到興奮，顯然，引入一些新客戶為業務帶來了一些順風。

Understood.

明白了。

And then maybe just on the traffic environment, you made some comments about QSR traffic. I think it was flat overall with some puts and takes across the different subsegments within. Just wondering if you can kind of share just overall backdrop what you're seeing in the US internationally and what you're hearing from customers as we move through the rest of this, I guess calendar and fiscal year.

然後也許只是在交通環境方面，您對 QSR 交通發表了一些評論。我認為總體而言是平穩的，但不同子部分之間有一些波動。我只是想知道您是否可以分享您在美國國際上看到的整體背景以及在我們度過剩餘時間（我想是日曆和財政年度）時您從客戶那裡聽到的信息。

Yeah, QSR traffic was flat in the period. As Bernadette mentioned, burger QSR traffic was down. That was after several months of sequential improvements, albeit still down. Chicken QSR was up, which is, great [mix] opportunity for us. We're intrigued by some of the offerings that we're seeing from some of our customers in the marketplace in terms of buying meals and excited to see how those are going to perform in the future. We have great customers. They have really loyal consumers, and they're looking to drive traffic into their restaurants and in their stores.

是的，在此期間 QSR 客流量持平。正如伯納黛特所提到的，漢堡快餐店的客流量下降了。這是經過幾個月的連續改善之後的結果，儘管仍然有所下降。雞肉快餐店開業了，這對我們來說是一個很好的[混合]機會。我們對市場上一些顧客在購買餐點方面提供的服務很感興趣，並且很高興看到這些服務在未來的表現。我們擁有優秀的客戶。他們擁有真正忠誠的消費者，並且他們希望吸引更多顧客光顧他們的餐廳和商店。

Yeah, and Mike, if I could just add on the international side. QSR traffic being a bit mixed in the UK, I think I mentioned our largest market, it was down 4%. There were some other markets up though that were up slightly France, Germany, Spain, but then there were other markets like Italy that was down, so a little bit mixed there on the international side.

是的，麥克，我可以補充一下國際方面的情況嗎？英國的 QSR 客流量有點混亂，我想我提到我們最大的市場，它下降了 4%。不過，其他一些市場也出現了小幅上漲，如法國、德國、西班牙，但義大利等其他市場則出現下滑，因此國際市場表現略有好壞。

Robert Moskow, TD Cowan.

羅伯特·莫斯科，TD Cowan。

Hi, this is Jacob Henry on for Rob.

大家好，我是 Jacob Henry，代表 Rob。

Just one question for me. I'm wondering if you can provide any additional details on the pricing of the contracts you signed this quarter. Just curious how those came in versus expectations. I know you guys are winning a good amount of new business, but curious if you are finding -- you have to discount maybe more than you expected.

我只有一個問題。我想知道您是否可以提供有關本季度簽署的合約定價的更多詳細資訊。只是好奇這些與預期相比如何。我知道你們贏得了大量新業務，但我很好奇你們是否發現——你們必須給出比預期更多的折扣。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Yeah, I appreciate the question.

是的，我很感謝你的提問。

As I said earlier, I mean, we're seeing in North America that customers are having that refocus around service quality, consistency, and the innovation that we're providing and all that customer centricity that I talked about earlier. It's not just price. The price in North America has been in line with our expectations.

正如我之前所說，我們看到在北美，客戶正在重新關注服務品質、一致性和我們提供的創新以及我之前談到的所有以客戶為中心的理念。這不僅僅是價格問題。北美的價格符合我們的預期。

That being said, we have supported customers in this challenging environment. We've finished, like we said, 75% of those contracts are -- have gone through the normal course. Another 25% is kind of the normal kind of process that we go through, and we'll start to see those wrap up through the end of the calendar year.

話雖如此，我們還是在這個充滿挑戰的環境中為客戶提供了支援。正如我們所說的，我們已經完成了其中 75% 的合同，並且已經走完了正常的流程。另外 25% 是我們經歷的正常過程，我們將在日曆年年底前開始看到這些過程結束。

I think we said in the past last year about two-thirds of our agreements came up for renewal. We had about a third of those that came up for renewal this year. I'd say, when you think about the international markets, we continue to see a little bit more competitive dynamic. Some of that's related to new capital, some of that's related to raw pricing in some of the markets, some of that's related to just normal competitive dynamics. And in Europe, we talked a little bit about the crop and where [raws] headed with those contracts. So again, all as expected. And we continue to again meet with our customers and show them a differentiated Lamb Weston when it comes to our customers.

我想我們去年說過，大約三分之二的協議需要續約。其中約有三分之一是今年提出續約的。我想說，當你考慮國際市場時，我們會繼續看到更多的競爭動態。其中一些與新資本有關，一些與某些市場的原始定價有關，一些與正常的競爭動態有關。在歐洲，我們談論了一些有關作物以及生鮮農產品與合約的走向。所以，一切正如預期的那樣。我們將繼續與客戶會面，並向他們展示與眾不同的 Lamb Weston。

Yeah, and we focus a lot on price, and I think the only other thing I'd add in North America as it relates to mix is that we are seeing a little bit of a change in mix in some of our channels, particularly in our retail channel with more focus towards the private label volume versus branded volume.

是的，我們非常關注價格，我認為在北美我唯一要補充的與產品組合有關的另一件事是，我們看到一些渠道的產品組合發生了一些變化，特別是在我們的零售渠道，我們更加註重自有品牌的數量而不是品牌的數量。

Steve Powers, Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的史蒂夫·鮑爾斯。

Mike, I'm following up on your comments kind of throughout the call on just the importance of customer service and the efforts that you've all been able to make in terms of the supply chain enabling better customer service delivery on your part.

麥克，在整個通話過程中，我一直在關注您的評論，重點是客戶服務的重要性，以及您在供應鏈方面為提供更好的客戶服務所做的努力。

I guess when you think about the overall scorecard, and I'm guess I'm focused mostly on North America in this question, but product quality, order fill rates, just all the different dynamics of customer service. Is that scorecard kind of at this point universally green in your estimation or there are areas where you still see room for further improvement that are priorities for the organization?

我想當您考慮整體記分卡時，我想我在這個問題上主要關注北美，但產品品質、訂單完成率，只是客戶服務的所有不同動態。在您看來，目前記分卡是否普遍呈現綠色，或者您認為仍有一些領域有待進一步改進，而這些領域是該組織的優先事項？

Yeah, I won't go into detail, Steve, in terms of what the scorecard and what we're tracking, but we do track our customer engagement and some of those key metrics on a regular basis and we still have opportunities. And I think that's where my focus has been over the last several months is getting out in front of these customers and better understanding where we have opportunities and how we're going to address those moving forward.

是的，史蒂夫，我不會詳細介紹記分卡和我們正在追蹤的內容，但我們確實會定期追蹤我們的客戶參與度和一些關鍵指標，我們仍然有機會。我認為，過去幾個月我的重點是走在這些客戶前面，更了解我們的機會在哪裡，以及我們將如何應對這些機會。

In some ways, we've addressed that through some of the structural changes and personnel changes. In some ways, we've addressed that through innovation and some of the items that we're coming out with. But again, we're having those conversations and listen, we're never satisfied. We always want to make sure that we're delivering a higher level of commitment and service for our customers, and we're going to continue to do that.

在某些方面，我們已經透過一些結構變化和人員變動來解決這個問題。在某些方面，我們已經透過創新和推出的一些產品解決了這個問題。但是，我們再次進行了這些對話並傾聽，我們永遠不會滿足。我們始終希望確保為客戶提供更高水準的承諾和服務，並且我們將繼續這樣做。

Okay, thank you for that.

好的，謝謝你。

And then Bernadette, I don't -- so apologies if I missed this, but just on the plants, the new facility in Argentina, how long do you expect that to take before it is up to target utilization levels? I'm not sure I caught that and I don't know how the competitive activity called out in Brazil impacts that just your outlook for the ramp up in that facility.

然後伯納黛特，如果我錯過了這一點，請原諒，但就工廠而言，阿根廷的新工廠，您預計需要多長時間才能達到目標利用率水平？我不確定我是否明白這一點，而且我不知道巴西的競爭活動如何影響您對該設施擴張的展望。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yeah, I mean, before Bernadette jumps into that one, let me just update the group. We actually have that plant now operational, and we're actively qualifying products for our customers and transitioning kind of ramping things up. That does take some time, but it is operational and much of that capacity will be exported to the Brazilian market in that area.

是的，我的意思是，在 Bernadette 開始討論這個問題之前，讓我先更新一下小組情況。事實上，該工廠目前已投入運營，我們正在積極為客戶提供合格產品，並逐步加快生產速度。這確實需要一些時間，但它正在運作，並且大部分產能將出口到該地區的巴西市場。

Okay, is there a timeline to kind of hit target utilization at this point?

好的，現在有沒有達到目標利用率的時間表？

Yeah, it takes time. I mean, if you think about our other lines that we've started up, these aren't -- we don't fill up the lines on day one, and like I said, it takes some time to condition the lines as we call shake them down a bit and bring those new customers on and over. It will take us some time to bring that line up to speed.

是的，這需要時間。我的意思是，如果你想想我們已經啟動的其他生產線，這些都不是——我們不會在第一天就填滿生產線，就像我說的，我們需要一些時間來調整生產線，以便對它們進行一些調整，並吸引新客戶。我們需要一些時間來加快這條線路的速度。

Marc Torrente, Wells Fargo Securities.

馬克‧托倫特 (Marc Torrente)，富國證券。

Just first on SG&A, came in a bit lower than expectations. Part of that was the non-recurrent $7 million and then maybe some timing shift in strategic investments. So how should we think about the underlying run rate of SG&A going forward and any phasing of net cost savings ahead?

銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 僅排第一，略低於預期。其中一部分是非經常性資金 700 萬美元，然後可能是戰略投資的一些時間轉變。那麼，我們應該如何看待未來銷售、一般和行政費用的基本運作率以及未來淨成本節約的任何階段？

Thanks.

謝謝。

Yeah, thanks, Mark.

是的，謝謝，馬克。

In terms of SG&A, I think about a third is what we've shared before of the savings are expected to benefit SG&A and fiscal '26, and that's off a $100-million base. And then you're exactly right, the benefit of cost savings in the first quarter did include the $7 million of one-time benefits that we won't see going forward. It will be affected by our cost savings benefits, but then keep in mind, we've got the incremental costs associated with normalizing our stock compensation and then the $10 million in strategic investments that are timed for the latter half of this fiscal year.

就銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 而言，我認為大約三分之一是我們之前分享過的，預計節省的資金將用於 SG&A 和 26 財年，這是以 1 億美元為基礎的。你說得完全正確，第一季的成本節約收益確實包括了 700 萬美元的一次性收益，而這筆收益我們以後不會再看到了。它會受到我們的成本節約效益的影響，但請記住，我們有與規範股票薪酬相關的增量成本，然後是計劃在本財年下半年進行的 1000 萬美元戰略投資。

Okay, got it.

好的，明白了。

And then new customer wins, they materialize a bit quicker than anticipated which pull forward some of the expected volume growth in the year. Maybe could you talk to visibility and other new customer wins that have yet to start and ability to sustain volume momentum ahead even if I guess, traffic across the industry remains muted.

然後，新客戶就會贏得青睞，他們的出現比預期要快一些，從而提前拉動今年預期的銷售成長。也許您可以談談知名度和其他尚未開始的新客戶贏得情況，以及維持未來銷售勢頭的能力，即使我猜測整個行業的流量仍然低迷。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Yeah, we're not going to speak to any future customer wins that are coming up. I think, the fact that we restarted the curtailed line in American Falls to make sure that we have the right customer fill rates and support our customers the right way is a great kind of bread crumb to how we're feeling about the business.

是的，我們不會談論任何即將出現的未來客戶勝利。我認為，我們重啟了位於美國瀑布城的縮短生產線，以確保我們擁有正確的客戶填充率並以正確的方式支持我們的客戶，這一事實很好地體現了我們對業務的感受。

Yeah, and I think it's important to note that while volumes in the first quarter did come in above expectations in North America. That does partly reflect a timing shift in the ramp up of those new customers that was planned for later periods, so that was planned in our original guidance. It just came a little bit faster than expected.

是的，我認為值得注意的是，北美第一季的銷量確實超出了預期。這確實在一定程度上反映了計劃在後期增加的新客戶的時間變化，因此這是我們最初的指導計劃。只是比預想的來得快了一點。

William Reuter, Bank of America.

威廉·路透，美國銀行。

I just have two. The first, on the new customer wins is some of this creating customer specific products that may not have margins that are as high as your existing customers. I guess how is the profitability of the new additions?

我只有兩個。首先，贏得新客戶需要創造一些針對特定客戶的產品，而這些產品的利潤率可能不如現有客戶高。我猜想新增產品的獲利能力如何？

Yeah, I'm not going to speak to the profitability on specific customers. Just know that we are picking up new customers. We're doing it the right way and with pricing that makes sense for the P&L moving forward.

是的，我不會談論特定客戶的獲利能力。只知道我們正在吸引新客戶。我們正在以正確的方式進行，定價對於未來的損益表來說是合理的。

Got it.

知道了。

And then just secondarily on the CapEx going forward $500 million this year. When we look to outyears, I think you mentioned $400 million this year of maintenance and $100 million of environmental. Should that be the range that we should be thinking about over the next two or three years subsequently?

其次，今年的資本支出將達到 5 億美元。當我們展望未來幾年時，我想您提到了今年的維護費用為 4 億美元，環境費用為 1 億美元。這應該是我們在未來兩三年內應該考慮的範圍嗎？

Yeah, that's in the general ballpark. I think we previously shared that we've got a five-year plan with the environmental expenditures currently planning for about $100 million per year over the next five years, but again, we're continuing to look for ways that we might have opportunities to extend deadlines or work on other areas to reduce the costs of that compliance.

是的，這是大致情況。我想我們之前分享過，我們有一個五年計劃，目前計劃在未來五年內每年的環境支出約為 1 億美元，但我們仍在繼續尋找可能延長期限或在其他領域開展工作以降低合規成本的方法。

Got it (multiple speakers)--

知道了（多位發言者）——

-- but in total (multiple speakers)--

——但總的來說（多位發言者）——

Perfect. Thank you.

完美的。謝謝。

And ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our Q&A session today. I'll turn the conference back to Debbie Hancock for any additional or closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，今天的問答環節到此結束。我將把會議交還給黛比·漢考克 (Debbie Hancock)，請她發表任何補充或結束語。

Thank you, Lisa, and I want to thank everyone for joining us today. The replay of the call will be available on our website later this afternoon. Have a great day.

謝謝你，麗莎，我也要感謝今天與我們一起的所有人。今天下午晚些時候，我們將在網站上重播通話。祝你有美好的一天。

That concludes our call today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a great day.

今天的通話到此結束。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開連接並享受美好的一天。