億滋國際 (MDLZ) 2016 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Mondelez International's third-quarter 2016 earnings conference call. Today's call is scheduled to last about one hour, including remarks by Mondelez's management and the question-and-answer session.

早安，歡迎參加億滋國際2016年第三季財報電話會議。今天的電話會議預計持續約一小時，包括億滋國際管理層的演講和問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Shep Dunlap, Vice President, Investor Relations for Mondelez. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我將把電話交給億滋國際投資者關係副總裁謝普‧鄧拉普先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us. With me today are Irene Rosenfeld, our Chairman and CEO; and Brian Gladden, our CFO. Earlier today we sent out our earnings release and presentation slides which are available on our website, MondelezInternational.com/investors.

早安，感謝各位的參與。今天陪我一起的還有我們的董事長兼執行長艾琳·羅森菲爾德，以及我們的財務長布萊恩·格拉登。今天早些時候，我們發布了收益報告和演示文稿，可在我們的網站 MondelezInternational.com/investors 上查看。

During this call, we will make forward-looking statements about the Company's performance. These statements are based on how we see things today. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in our 10-K and 10-Q filings for more details on our forward-looking statements.

在本次電話會議中，我們將對公司的績效做出前瞻性陳述。這些說法是基於我們今天看待事物的方式。由於風險和不確定因素，實際結果可能與預期有重大差異。有關我們前瞻性聲明的更多詳情，請參閱我們 10-K 和 10-Q 文件中包含的警示性聲明和風險因素。

Some of today's prepared remarks include non-GAAP financial measures. Today we will be referencing our non-GAAP financial measures, unless otherwise noted. You can find the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations within our earnings release and at the back of the slide presentation.

今天準備的發言稿中部分內容涉及非GAAP財務指標。除非另有說明，今天我們將參考非GAAP財務指標。您可以在我們的獲利報告中以及投影片簡報的背面找到 GAAP 與非 GAAP 的調整表。

Before we get started, please note one change in our non-GAAP measures. Consistent with the majority of our peers, we're no longer electing to qualify commodity- and currency-related derivatives for hedge accounting treatment. As a result, we've redefined our adjusted gross profit, adjusted operating income and adjusted EPS measures, to exclude gains and losses or mark-to-market impacts on commodity and forecasted currency transaction derivatives, until the related inventory is sold.

在開始之前，請注意我們非GAAP指標的一個變化。與大多數同業一樣，我們不再選擇對商品和貨幣相關衍生性商品進行套期會計處理。因此，我們重新定義了調整後的毛利、調整後的營業收入和調整後的每股盈餘指標，以排除商品和預測貨幣交易衍生性商品的損益或按市值計價的影響，直到相關庫存售出為止。

In doing so, we'll eliminate the mark-to-market volatility within our adjusted gross profit, adjusted operating income and adjusted EPS results. For your reference, we've included a schedule in the appendix of today's slides, with mark-to-market gains and losses that were reflected in adjusted operating income in prior periods, for comparability. And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Irene.

這樣做，我們將消除調整後毛利、調整後營業收入和調整後每股盈餘中的市值波動。為了方便您參考，我們在今天投影片的附錄中附上了一份表格，其中列出了先前期間調整後的營業收入中反映的按市值計價的收益和損失，以便進行比較。接下來，我將把電話交給艾琳。

Thanks, Shep, and good morning. As you've all seen throughout the year, the macro environment remains challenging. Consumer demand across the globe has slowed, and we continue to deal with choppy conditions in some emerging markets.

謝謝你，謝普，早安。正如大家在過去一年所看到的，宏觀環境依然充滿挑戰。全球消費需求放緩，一些新興市場仍面臨動盪局面。

In the face of this slower growth environment, we've continued to deliver solid financial results. Through the first nine months, we've made progress in several areas.

面對成長放緩的環境，我們依然取得了穩健的財務表現。前九個月，我們在多個領域取得了進展。

Although our top line is not yet where we would like it to be, year-to-date organic net revenue grew 1.6%, led by our power brands, which were up more than 3%. Importantly, these results reflect a steadily improving contribution from volume/mix.

儘管我們的營收還沒有達到我們想要的水平，但今年迄今的有機淨收入成長了 1.6%，這主要得益於我們的強勢品牌，這些品牌成長超過 3%。重要的是，這些結果反映出體積/混合比例的貢獻正在穩定提高。

We've continued to aggressively reduce overheads and improve the efficiency and cost structure of our supply chain, while making necessary investments to accelerate growth. As a result, we've been able to expand adjusted operating income margin by 260 basis points. What's more, we've increased adjusted EPS by 28% on a constant currency basis, driven primarily by operating gains.

我們持續大力削減開支，提高供應鏈的效率和成本結構，同時進行必要的投資以加速成長。因此，我們得以將調整後的營業利益率提高 260 個基點。此外，在固定匯率的基礎上，我們調整後的每股盈餘成長了 28%，這主要得益於營業利潤的成長。

Brian will provide more detail on our Q3 performance in a moment, but I'd like to underscore a few highlights. As Tim Cofer, our Chief Growth Officer shared at the Barclays conference in September, we're focused on accelerating volume-driven revenue growth. Although there's still room for improvement, we're making progress, as vol/mix turned positive in Q3, with solid contributions from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Brian 稍後會詳細介紹我們第三季的業績，但我想先強調幾個亮點。正如我們的首席成長長蒂姆·科弗在 9 月的巴克萊銀行會議上所分享的那樣，我們專注於加速以銷售為驅動的收入成長。儘管還有改進的空間，但我們正在取得進步，因為第三季銷售/組合轉正，北美、歐洲和亞太地區都做出了穩健的貢獻。

Over the past seven quarters, we've delivered a better balance of pricing and vol/mix, while increasing profitability. Going forward, we'll continue to invest to support this balance, because it's critical to sustainable top-line growth.

在過去的七個季度裡，我們在價格和銷售/產品組合方面實現了更好的平衡，同時提高了獲利能力。展望未來，我們將繼續投資以維持這種平衡，因為這對於永續的營收成長至關重要。

Our power brands delivered another solid quarter, and once again outpaced category growth. We're pleased to see that our largest, most important brands continue to perform well, even in the face of challenging market conditions.

我們的主力品牌又迎來了一個穩健的季度，再次超越了品類整體成長。我們很高興看到，即使在充滿挑戰的市場環境下，我們最大、最重要的品牌仍然表現良好。

On the bottom line, we delivered another quarter of outstanding margin and earnings growth, with adjusted OI margin up 220 basis points, and adjusted EPS up more than 40% on a constant currency basis. Our year-to-date results position us well, not only for the balance of this year, but also as we progress toward our 2018 adjusted OI margin target of 17% to 18%.

總而言之，我們又實現了一個季度出色的利潤率和盈利增長，調整後的營業利潤率提高了 220 個基點，按固定匯率計算，調整後的每股收益增長了 40% 以上。今年迄今的業績使我們處於有利地位，不僅對今年剩餘時間有利，而且對我們實現 2018 年調整後營業利潤率目標 17% 至 18% 也有利。

Finally, we remain committed to a balanced and disciplined capital deployment plan, one that drives long-term growth through reinvestment in the business, while providing compelling capital returns to our shareholders. Year to date, we've returned $2.6 billion to our shareholders, including $1.8 billion in share repurchases.

最後，我們仍然致力於平衡和嚴謹的資本部署計劃，透過對業務的再投資來推動長期成長，同時為我們的股東提供可觀的資本回報。今年迄今為止，我們已向股東返還了 26 億美元，其中包括 18 億美元的股票回購。

Looking ahead, we expect the environment to remain challenging, but we will continue to deliver our financial commitments by maintaining focus on what we can control, and by executing the three pillars of our growth strategy.

展望未來，我們預期市場環境仍將充滿挑戰，但我們將繼續履行我們的財務承諾，專注於我們能夠控制的因素，並執行我們成長策略的三大支柱。

First, as we contemporize our core, we're increasing ASE support behind our power brands, selectively investing in trade to narrow price gaps, sharpening connections with our consumers through digital marketing, and innovating to redefine permissible snacking. This is playing out in our improving vol/mix and solid performance of several key power brands. For example, Oreo, belVita and Milka all posted mid to high single-digit growth year to date. And we have solid momentum behind our Thins Biscuit platform, which includes innovations like Oreo Thins and Chips Ahoy! Thins on the sweet side, and Good Thins and Ritz Crisp & Thin on the savory side.

首先，隨著我們對核心業務的現代化，我們正在加大對旗下強勢品牌的支持力度，有選擇地投資貿易以縮小價格差距，透過數位行銷加強與消費者的聯繫，並透過創新重新定義允許的零食。這體現在我們不斷改善的銷售/產品組合以及幾個主要功率品牌的穩健表現。例如，奧利奧、belVita 和 Milka 今年迄今為止都實現了中高個位數的成長。我們的薄脆餅乾平台發展勢頭強勁，其中包括 Oreo Thins 和 Chips Ahoy! 等創新產品。甜味的有 Thins，鹹味的有 Good Thins 和 Ritz Crisp & Thin。

Second, we're filling key white spaces by establishing beachheads in key markets. We recently launched chocolate in China, where initial response to our Milka bundle has been very positive. We're also launching mainstream and premium chocolate in the US, where we believe the Oreo and Green & Blacks brands will resonate well with consumers.

其次，我們正在透過在關鍵市場建立灘頭陣地來填補關鍵的空白市場。我們最近在中國推出了巧克力產品，市場對我們的妙卡組合的初步反應非常積極。我們也將在美國推出主流和高端巧克力，我們相信奧利奧和綠與黑巧克力品牌會受到消費者的歡迎。

We acquired the license to sell Cadbury-branded biscuits around the world. This will enable us to grow our Cadbury choco-bakery portfolio in more than 100 markets. And in Japan, we launched Oreo, Ritz and Premium biscuits in September, following the repatriation of our brands there. These white space opportunities will unlock sizeable incremental growth in the near term, beyond our current run rates.

我們獲得了在全球範圍內銷售吉百利品牌餅乾的許可。這將使我們能夠在 100 多個市場拓展吉百利巧克力烘焙產品組合。在日本，隨著我們的品牌回歸本土，我們在 9 月推出了 Oreo、Ritz 和 Premium 餅乾。這些空白市場機會將在短期內釋放出巨大的增量成長，超過我們目前的運行速度。

And third, we're continuing to drive selling and channel ubiquity by expanding our routes to market and improving in-store execution. This includes a significant focus on e-commerce, which grew approximately 40% in Q3.

第三，我們將繼續透過擴大市場通路和改善店內執行來推動銷售和通路普及。這其中包括對電子商務的重點關注，電子商務在第三季度增長了約 40%。

Of course, given the challenging macroeconomic conditions, we're being quite selective with our investments. This helps balance margin expansion with revenue growth, both short and longer term.

當然，鑑於當前充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟環境，我們在投資方面也相當謹慎。這有助於在短期和長期內平衡利潤率擴張與收入成長。

Yet we remain confident that a focused and disciplined growth strategy, our strong record of delivering cost savings and margin expansion, together with our improving cash flow, will enable us to accelerate growth on both the top and bottom lines over the long term, and create significant value for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Brian.

但我們仍然相信，專注而嚴謹的成長策略、我們強勁的成本節約和利潤率擴張記錄，以及不斷改善的現金流，將使我們能夠在長期內加速營收和利潤的成長，並為我們的股東創造巨大的價值。接下來，我將把電話交給布萊恩。

Thanks, Irene. Good morning, everyone. We performed well on a number of key measures in Q3, and again delivered solid financial results. Organic net revenue increased 1.1%, despite the negative impact of approximately 80 basis points from our revenue management actions.

謝謝你，艾琳。各位早安。第三季度，我們在多項關鍵指標上表現良好，並再次取得了穩健的財務表現。儘管我們的收入管理措施帶來了約 80 個基點的負面影響，但有機淨收入仍成長了 1.1%。

Our power brands again drove our top line, up 2.5%. And as Irene mentioned, we delivered another quarter of vol/mix improvement, which drove almost half of the revenue growth.

我們的強勢品牌再次推動了營收成長，成長 2.5%。正如艾琳所提到的那樣，我們又實現了銷售/產品組合的進一步改善，這推動了近一半的收入成長。

Emerging markets rose 2% due to currency-driven pricing and inflationary markets. Our developed markets increased 0.6%, driven by positive vol/mix, while also significantly expanding margins.

新興市場受匯率波動和通膨市場的影響，上漲了2%。在銷售/產品組合向好的情況下，我們已開發市場的成長率為 0.6%，同時利潤率也大幅提高。

Now let's take a look at our margin performance. We delivered another quarter of robust adjusted OI margin expansion. Our adjusted gross margin increased 30 basis points to approximately 40%. Continued strong net productivity drove the improvement, which was somewhat offset by higher trade and pricing investments in a few key markets.

現在我們來看看我們的利潤率表現。我們連續第二季實現了經調整後的未償付營業利潤率的強勁成長。經過調整後的毛利率提高了30個基點，達到約40%。持續強勁的淨生產力推動了生產力的提高，但部分關鍵市場貿易和定價投資的增加在一定程度上抵消了這種改善。

Adjusted OI margin was 15.8%, up 220 basis points. This improvement was driven by continued reductions in overheads as a result of zero-based budgeting and the expansion of global shared services.

調整後的未償付餘額利潤率為 15.8%，上升 220 個基點。這項改善得益於零基預算帶來的管理費用持續降低以及全球共享服務的擴展。

The margin improvement included a net benefit of approximately 30 basis points from certain non-core items, such as VAT-related settlements, gains from the sale of property, and costs related to our US Labor business continuity planning.

利潤率的提高包括來自某些非核心項目的約 30 個基點的淨收益，例如增值稅相關結算、出售房產的收益以及與我們美國勞工業務連續性計劃相關的成本。

As Shep mentioned at the beginning of this call, these results now exclude the impact of mark-to-market, which was immaterial in the quarter. Making this change allows for some reduction in both complexity and cost, while providing investors with the same transparency of mark-to-market impacts.

正如 Shep 在本次電話會議開始時提到的那樣，這些結果現在不包括按市值計價的影響，而這在本季度並不重要。做出這項改變可以降低複雜性和成本，同時為投資者提供相同的市值影響透明度。

We continue to be pleased with our progress on the cost agenda and margin expansion. We're ahead of plan for the year, and will be even more aggressive in overheads and COGS reductions, given the more challenging top-line growth environment.

我們對成本控制和利潤率提升方面取得的進展感到滿意。今年我們的業績已超前於計劃，鑑於營收成長環境更具挑戰性，我們將更加積極地削減管理費用和銷售成本。

At the same time, we're fully committed to support our power brands with increased A&C investment. In Q4, we expect to make additional investments to drive revenue and share growth as we head into 2017.

同時，我們全力支持我們的主力品牌，加大廣告和廣告投入。預計在第四季度，我們將追加投資，以推動收入和市場份額的成長，為 2017 年的到來做好準備。

Let me now provide some color on our performance by region. In North America, we delivered another strong quarter of margin expansion, as adjusted OI margins improved by 220 basis points, primarily driven by continued overhead reductions and good net productivity.

現在讓我按地區具體介紹一下我們的業績。在北美，我們又實現了強勁的季度利潤率擴張，調整後的營業利潤率提高了 220 個基點，這主要得益於持續的間接費用削減和良好的淨生產率。

On the top line, our North American business grew about 1%, driven by solid vol/mix. Biscuits growth was lead by belVita, Chips Ahoy!, Ritz and Wheat Thins, which all posted solid gains. Despite soft gum and candy results, Sour Patch Kids delivered another strong quarter of growth while expanding share. And Stride posted double-digit growth following the brand's relaunch at the end of Q2.

從營收方面來看，我們的北美業務成長了約 1%，這主要得益於穩健的銷售和產品組合。餅乾市場的成長主要由 belVita、Chips Ahoy!、Ritz 和 Wheat Thins 這幾個品牌引領，它們都取得了穩健的成長。儘管軟口香糖和糖果的業績不佳，但 Sour Patch Kids 仍然實現了強勁的季度增長，同時擴大了市場份額。Stride品牌在第二季末重新推出後，實現了兩位數的成長。

Europe also delivered another quarter of strong margin growth, with adjusted OI margin up 230 basis points to 19.7%. Productivity and lower overheads drove those gains. Organic net revenue was up 1%, primarily due to solid vol/mix. Biscuits posted significant growth, thanks to strong results in the UK and France. Chocolate growth in Germany was also a key driver.

歐洲也實現了另一個季度強勁的利潤率成長，調整後的營業利潤率上升 230 個基點至 19.7%。生產效率的提高和營運成本的降低推動了這些成長。有機淨收入成長 1%，主要得益於銷售和產品組合的穩健成長。由於英國和法國市場的強勁表現，餅乾業務實現了顯著成長。德國巧克力市場的成長也是一個關鍵驅動因素。

In EMEA, market dynamics deteriorated, especially in the Middle East, as the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia deal with the ongoing pressures resulting from persistent low oil prices. As a result, organic revenue declined just over 1%, and adjusted OI margin decreased 100 basis points, driven by lower volume leverage. We're planning for continued weak demand from the Middle East markets over the next few quarters.

在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，市場動態惡化，尤其是在中東地區，海灣國家和沙烏地阿拉伯正應對持續低油價帶來的持續壓力。因此，有機收入下降了略高於 1%，調整後的營業利潤率下降了 100 個基點，這是由於銷售槓桿作用降低所致。我們預計未來幾季中東市場的需求將持續疲軟。

Once again, however, Russia was a relatively bright spot in the region, posting double-digit growth in biscuits, and modest single-digit growth overall. Please take note that this will be the last quarter we talk about EMEA, as we consolidate this region into our Europe and Asia Pacific businesses. Details of the change are provided in our second- and third-quarter 10-Qs.

然而，俄羅斯再次成為該地區相對明亮的一隅，餅乾銷量實現了兩位數的增長，整體銷量也實現了個位數的溫和增長。請注意，這將是我們最後一次談論 EMEA 地區，因為我們將把該地區整合到我們的歐洲和亞太業務中。有關此變更的詳情，請參閱我們第二季和第三季的 10-Q 報告。

In Asia Pacific, adjusted OI margins grew 340 basis points to 13.4%, driven by improved overheads and good productivity. Organic revenue increased 1.5%, primarily due to vol/mix improvements, as AP grew for the sixth consecutive quarter. India posted mid single-digit growth, fueled in part by continued strength in chocolate and the launch of Bournvita Biscuits.

在亞太地區，經調整的營業利潤率成長了 340 個基點，達到 13.4%，這主要得益於管理費用的改善和良好的生產效率。有機收入成長 1.5%，主要得益於銷售/產品組合的改善，AP 連續第六個季度實現成長。印度實現了中等個位數的成長，部分原因是巧克力市場持續強勁成長以及 Bournvita 餅乾的推出。

Southeast Asia delivered good share momentum, with solid top-line growth in both the Philippines and Vietnam. We continue to see great results from our Kinh Do acquisition, as Vietnam delivered high single-digit growth. Biscuits grew share by nearly 2 points.

東南亞市場取得了良好的市場份額成長勢頭，菲律賓和越南的營收均實現了穩健成長。我們從對京都的收購中持續獲得豐厚回報，越南實現了接近兩位數的成長。餅乾的市佔率成長了近2個百分點。

China declined slightly, due to soft demand across most categories. That said, we continue to hold or grow shares across our categories, and are encouraged by the early market feedback on our launch of Milka chocolate.

由於大多數品類需求疲軟，中國市場跌幅略為上升。儘管如此，我們在各個品類中繼續保持或擴大市場份額，並且對我們推出Milka巧克力後獲得的早期市場反饋感到鼓舞。

In Latin America, adjusted OI margin increased 540 points to over 15%, primarily driven by the VAT-related settlement in the quarter. Excluding the settlement, margins still posted solid growth. Organic net revenue increased nearly 3%, led by Mexico and Argentina. Mexico grew mid single-digits, driven by balanced vol/mix and pricing, while Argentina grew high double-digit through pricing to offset currency-driven inflation.

在拉丁美洲，經調整的未清帳款利潤率增加了 540 個百分點，達到 15% 以上，這主要是由於本季增值稅相關結算所致。不計和解費用，利潤率仍維持穩健成長。有機淨收入成長近3%，其中墨西哥和阿根廷的成長最為顯著。墨西哥經濟實現了中等個位數成長，這得益於均衡的波動率/結構和定價；而阿根廷經濟則透過定價抵消了匯率波動引發的通貨膨脹，實現了兩位數高成長。

Consistent with our commentary from last quarter, Brazil continued to be difficult, as the economy remained in deep recession. Government austerity measures, tight credit conditions and high unemployment are all weighing on consumption. We took actions to narrow price gaps in the quarter, and we delivered modest growth in chocolate. We're being very selective to protect margins, but we're still seeing some down-trading, especially in biscuits. Unfortunately, we don't see any short-term catalyst for improvement in the Brazilian economy, and are planning for this challenging situation to continue into at least the first half of 2017.

正如我們上個季度所評論的那樣，巴西的情況仍然艱難，因為該國經濟仍處於深度衰退之中。政府的緊縮措施、信貸環境緊張和高失業率都對消費造成了壓力。本季我們採取措施縮小價格差距，巧克力業務實現了小幅成長。我們非常謹慎地選擇商品以保護利潤率，但我們仍然看到一些降級消費現象，尤其是在餅乾方面。不幸的是，我們沒有看到巴西經濟短期內有任何好轉的催化劑，並預計這種充滿挑戰的局面至少會持續到 2017 年上半年。

Let me now spend a few moments providing some highlights on the category performance. In aggregate, category growth continued to slow in the third quarter, and is now at 2.6% on a year-to-date basis. While our growth has trailed categories overall, this was primarily due to our revenue management actions, and reflects a conscience decision to forego revenue with lower margins.

現在讓我花幾分鐘時間，重點介紹一下該類別的表現。總體而言，該品類成長在第三季持續放緩，今年迄今的成長率為 2.6%。雖然我們的成長總體上落後於其他類別，但這主要是由於我們的收入管理措施，也反映了我們有意放棄利潤率較低的收入的決定。

Our biscuits business grew nearly 2%, with strength in the UK, the US and Germany. Both belVita and Oreo continued to drive our biscuits results. The launch of Chips Ahoy! Thins in the US also fueled the category. Three-quarters of our revenue grew share. Chocolate grew 2%, driven by solid results in the UK, Germany and India. More than half of our revenue grew share in this category.

我們的餅乾業務成長了近 2%，在英國、美國和德國表現強勁。belVita 和 Oreo 繼續推動我們的餅乾業績成長。Chips Ahoy! 的推出美國的瘦身趨勢也推動了這個品類的發展。我們四分之三的收入份額都實現了成長。巧克力業務成長了 2%，主要得益於英國、德國和印度市場的穩健表現。超過一半的收入成長了這一類別的市場份額。

As we discussed at the Barclays event in September, we're launching chocolate in the US, and are encouraged by the initial customer feedback. A limited selection of products will be available in the market during the fourth quarter. This, together with our recent launch of Milka in China, will begin to have a more material impact on revenue in Q4 and into 2017. Gum and candy increased just over 1%, led by solid performance in Mexico and the US. About half of our revenue in this category gained or held share.

正如我們在 9 月巴克萊銀行的活動上所討論的那樣，我們將在美國推出巧克力產品，並且對初步的客戶回饋感到鼓舞。第四季市場上將僅提供部分產品。這一點，再加上我們最近在中國推出的Milka品牌，將在第四季及2017年對營收產生更實質的影響。口香糖和糖果的銷售量成長略超過 1%，其中墨西哥和美國市場表現強勁。該類別中我們約有一半的收入份額有所增長或保持穩定。

Turning to earnings per share, in Q3, we delivered adjusted EPS of $0.52, which was up 42% on a constant currency basis. This growth was primarily driven by strong operating income, as well as lower taxes and continued solid results from our coffee equity investments.

再來看每股收益，第三季我們調整後的每股盈餘為 0.52 美元，以固定匯率計算成長了 42%。這一成長主要得益於強勁的營業收入、較低的稅收以及我們咖啡股權投資持續穩健的業績。

Moving to cash flow and capital return, as we highlighted in September, we continue to have a strong focus on improving our cash conversion cycle. To that end, in Q3, we generated approximately $500 million of free cash flow. Several factors -- such as improving margins, declining CapEx, lower restructuring charges and improved cash conversion metrics -- put us in a good position to double our free cash flow in 2018.

談到現金流和資本回報，正如我們在 9 月所強調的那樣，我們將繼續高度重視改善現金週轉週期。為此，我們在第三季產生了約 5 億美元的自由現金流。利潤率提高、資本支出下降、重組費用降低以及現金轉換率提高等諸多因素，使我們有信心在 2018 年實現自由現金流翻倍。

During the quarter, we returned more than $700 million of capital to shareholders, which brings us to $2.6 billion in capital return through nine months. To date, we've repurchased approximately $1.8 billion of shares at an average price of $41.64. We've now increased our target-per-share buybacks, and expect to repurchase approximately $500 million in the fourth quarter.

本季度，我們向股東返還了超過 7 億美元的資本，使我們九個月的資本返還總額達到 26 億美元。迄今為止，我們已以平均每股 41.64 美元的價格回購了約 18 億美元的股票。我們已提高每股回購目標金額，預計第四季將回購約 5 億美元。

Before I turn to the outlook, you likely saw we launched a debt tender, and also raised $3.75 billion in new notes last week. As you would expect, we're taking advantage of favorable market conditions and very attractive pricing to lower our interest costs and increase our flexibility. This is expected to be debt-neutral, as we intend to use the net proceeds from the issuance to fund all or a portion of the tender offer, while using the remaining proceeds for general corporate purposes, including funding near-term debt maturities.

在展望未來之前，您可能已經看到我們發起了債務收購，並且上週發行了 37.5 億美元的新債券。正如您所料，我們正在利用有利的市場條件和極具吸引力的價格來降低利息成本並提高靈活性。預計此次發行不會對債務產生影響，因為我們打算將發行所得淨收益用於全部或部分要約收購，而將剩餘收益用於一般公司用途，包括償還近期到期的債務。

Now to the outlook. Given the slower category growth environment and more challenging conditions in emerging markets, we now expect full-year organic net revenue to grow approximately 1.6%. This includes about 100 basis points from our revenue management actions. Underlying that revenue growth, we expect positive vol/mix in the fourth quarter, and flat to slightly positive vol/mix for the full year.

現在來看前景。鑑於品類成長環境放緩以及新興市場情勢更具挑戰性，我們現在預計全年有機淨收入將成長約 1.6%。這其中包括我們收入管理措施帶來的約 100 個基點。在營收成長的背景下，我們預計第四季度銷售/產品組合將為正，全年銷售/產品組合將持平或略有成長。

We remain on track to deliver our 15% to 16% adjusted OI margin target. We expect to achieve this while making additional growth investments in the fourth quarter to stage 2017. We're also increasing our EPS outlook for the year, which reflects our strong year-to-date performance. We now expect full-year EPS to be up approximately 25% on a constant currency basis. And with respect to free cash flow, excluding items, we continue to expect to deliver at least $1.4 billion for the year.

我們仍有望達到 15% 至 16% 的調整後未償付收入利潤率目標。我們預計在 2017 年第四季進行額外成長投資的同時，實現這一目標。我們也提高了今年的每股盈餘預期，這反映了我們今年迄今的強勁業績。我們現在預計全年每股盈餘（EPS）以固定匯率計算將成長約 25%。至於自由現金流（不計特殊項目），我們仍然預計今年至少能達到 14 億美元。

So to wrap up, we feel good about our year-to-date performance, especially in light of the difficult macro backdrop. We're pleased with the improving quality of our top line, despite slower growth overall. Our vol/mix trends continue to demonstrate healthy improvement, including positive growth in Q3, and flat to positive growth for the full year.

總而言之，我們對今年迄今的業績感到滿意，尤其是在宏觀經濟形勢嚴峻的情況下。儘管整體成長速度放緩，但我們對營收品質的提升感到滿意。我們的銷售/組合趨勢持續呈現健康改善態勢，包括第三季的正成長，以及全年持平或正成長。

Our teams continue to deliver significant adjusted OI margin expansion, while increasing investments in our power brands. And we're making capital return a priority, with $2.6 billion returned to shareholders, year to date.

我們的團隊持續實現顯著的調整後營業利潤率成長，同時增加對旗下強勢品牌的投資。我們將資本回報作為一項優先事項，今年迄今已向股東返還了 26 億美元。

Looking forward, we remain confident in our ability to deliver our commitments, and remain on track to reach our adjusted OI margin target of 17% to 18% in 2018. As usual, we will provide our outlook for 2017 during our Q4 earnings call. And with that, let's open it up for questions.

展望未來，我們仍有信心履行我們的承諾，並預計在 2018 年實現 17% 至 18% 的調整後營業利潤率目標。像往常一樣，我們將在第四季度財報電話會議上公佈我們對 2017 年的展望。那麼，接下來就進入提問環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Your first question comes from Bryan Spillane of Bank of America.

你的第一個問題來自美國銀行的布萊恩‧斯皮蘭。

Hey, good morning, everyone.

嘿，大家早安。

Good morning, Brian.

早安，布萊恩。

Just wanted to follow-up on -- in the course of the presentation, you made a few references about, particularly in some of the emerging markets, just that the macro environment is pretty weak. And also even the snack category growth, which I guess on slide 8, you've seen kind of the category decelerate. So can you -- and I know it's a little early to talk about 2017. But can you just talk about how you're thinking about the macro environment as you're planning for 2017?

我想跟進一下——在演講過程中，您提到了一些新興市場的情況，尤其是一些新興市場的宏觀環境相當疲軟。而且，就連零食品類的成長也出現了放緩，我想在第 8 張投影片中，你們已經看到了這一品類的成長速度有所下降。所以你也可以——我知道現在談論 2017 年還為時過早。您能否談談您在製定 2017 年計畫時，是如何看待宏觀環境的？

And also against that backdrop, what gives you the confidence that you get a little bit of an improvement sequentially in sales growth for the fourth quarter, given just that it seems like the environment may be even getting a touch worse?

而且，在這種背景下，鑑於市場環境似乎可能略有惡化，是什麼讓您有信心第四季的銷售成長會較上季略有改善？

Well, Bryan, first of all, we are not expecting a dramatic change in the macro backdrop, and so we continue to plan our business accordingly. We're focused on what we can control. So we're going to continue to focus on our cost structure, and making sure that our investments are being laser-focused on the places where we think we can get the best returns. That algorithm is working well for us, and we will continue to deploy that algorithm as we look into 2017.

布萊恩，首先，我們預計宏觀環境不會發生劇烈變化，因此我們將繼續據此制定業務計劃。我們專注於我們能夠控制的事情。因此，我們將繼續專注於成本結構，確保我們的投資精準地投向我們認為能夠獲得最佳回報的領域。該演算法對我們來說效果很好，展望 2017 年，我們將繼續部署該演算法。

So we're not going to give you any guidance today, but I will tell you, our playbook is going to look quite similar, where we continue to focus on our power brands, and focus on those places for investment that we think we can get the best return while continuing to streamline our cost structure, to drive our margin expansion.

所以今天我們不會給你們任何指導，但我可以告訴你們，我們的策略看起來會非常相似，我們將繼續專注於我們的強勢品牌，並將重點放在我們認為能夠獲得最佳回報的投資領域，同時繼續精簡我們的成本結構，以推動利潤率的擴張。

As we think about the fourth quarter, we are not expecting a real change in the base momentum of our business today, but we have a number of incremental initiatives that we talked about in the course of the conversation here. We're continuing the rollout of China chocolate. We launched it in late Q3, and we'll get a benefit in Q4 and into 2017 from that rollout.

展望第四季度，我們預計目前業務的基本發展勢頭不會發生真正的變化，但我們有一些漸進式的舉措，我們在剛才的談話中也談到了這些舉措。我們將繼續推廣中國巧克力。我們在第三季末推出了這項服務，並將從第四季以及 2017 年的推廣中受益。

We'll start to benefit from the initial shipments related to our chocolate launch in the US behind the Oreo and Green & Blacks trademarks, as I mentioned. We are repatriating our Nabisco brands, particularly Ritz, Oreo and Premium, in Japan. That will be incremental to our base. So all of those actions, on top of our base momentum, is what gives us confidence that we will see some improvement in momentum as we exit the year.

正如我之前提到的，我們將從我們在美國推出的 Oreo 和 Green & Blacks 商標巧克力產品的首批出貨中受益。我們正在將納貝斯克旗下的品牌，特別是 Ritz、Oreo 和 Premium，從日本遷回國內。這將逐步擴大我們的用戶基礎。因此，所有這些舉措，再加上我們原有的發展勢頭，讓我們有信心在年底之際看到發展勢頭有所改善。

All right, thank you. And can I just follow up on this category slowing? Is that more just macro -- like just if you've just got weakness in certain markets, so emerging markets? Or is there something structural that's going on?

好的，謝謝。我可以再跟進一下這個類別的放緩情況嗎？這比較是宏觀層面的問題嗎？例如，只是某些市場（例如新興市場）出現疲軟的情況？或者說，是否存在某種結構性問題？

We don't see anything structural. There's no question, in some of these markets, given our strong market positions, we have an obligation to fuel the growth of the category. And that's why we're continuing to make investments, we're continuing to focus our innovation pipeline on the launch of well-being products, like Good Thins, and that is helping to stimulate market growth. But overall, the major factor is the macroeconomic backdrop, which clearly has a dampening effect on consumer demand.

我們沒有發現任何結構性問題。毫無疑問，在某些市場，鑑於我們強大的市場地位，我們有義務推動該品類的成長。正因如此，我們才繼續加大投資，並繼續將創新研發重點放在推出像 Good Thins 這樣的健康產品上，這有助於刺激市場成長。但總體而言，主要因素是宏觀經濟背景，這顯然對消費者需求產生了抑製作用。

All right, thank you, Irene.

好的，謝謝你，艾琳。

Thanks, Bryan.

謝謝你，布萊恩。

Your next question comes from Ken Goldman of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的肯‧戈德曼。

Hi, good morning. I just wanted to clarify -- in Latin America, I think you said the margin improvement was mainly because of that settlement in the quarter. Could you help us quantify exactly how much that helped?

您好，早安。我只是想澄清一下——在拉丁美洲，我認為您說過利潤率的提高主要是由於該季度的結算。您能否幫我們量化一下這究竟有多大的幫助？

In Latin America, it was fairly significant. It represents -- it will be laid out in the Q -- I think we give the dollars, actually. It's in the range of $35 million of benefit for the VAT settlement. But the margins otherwise in LA were up year over year, excluding that. So there's good progress on net productivity, as well as overheads, in Latin America.

在拉丁美洲，這相當重要。它代表——它將在 Q 中列出——我認為我們實際上是用美元支付的。增值稅和解協議帶來的收益約為 3,500 萬美元。但撇開這一點不談，洛杉磯其他地區的利潤率也比去年同期有所上升。因此，拉丁美洲在淨生產力和管理費用方面都取得了良好進展。

Okay. And is that a one-time thing or --? Latin American VAT is not my expertise.

好的。那隻是一次性的事嗎？拉丁美洲增值稅並非我的專長。

Yes. It is, yes.

是的。是的。

Okay, perfect. And then Irene, you said this morning that some of your revenue initiatives will lead to, I think, quote, sizeable incremental growth in the near term. I'm just trying to figure out -- you helpfully laid out some of the tailwinds, you know, US chocolate, Cadbury biscuits and, I think, the launch of products in Japan.

好的，完美。艾琳，你今天早上說過，你的一些創收舉措將在短期內帶來可觀的增量成長。我只是想弄清楚——你很有幫助地列出了一些有利因素，例如美國巧克力、吉百利餅乾，以及我認為在日本推出的產品。

As you think about all of these, which is the most important in terms of pushing your sales higher? I'm just trying to get a better sense of maybe the opportunity you see in each of these?

綜合考慮以上因素，對於提升銷售額而言，哪一項最為重要？我只是想更了解您認為這些機會分別代表什麼？

Well, certainly from a magnitude standpoint, China is the world's second-largest economy, so we feel very good about -- very bullish about the launch of chocolate in China. We have had very strong results from our launch of gum in China. It's a over $200 million business today. We only launched it two years ago or so. So that's probably the biggest.

當然，從規模來看，中國是世界第二大經濟體，所以我們對巧克力在中國的上市感到非常樂觀。我們在中國推出口香糖產品取得了非常強勁的成效。如今，這已是一家市值超過2億美元的企業。我們大概兩年前才推出這款產品。所以這可能是最大的問題。

But the US is the largest chocolate market in the world, and we think we're well-positioned with a mainstream offering in terms of the Oreo chocolate, and then a premium offering under the Green & Blacks trademark. That will be offered both online and in e-commerce, and we think those can be sizeable additions to the portfolio.

但美國是世界上最大的巧克力市場，我們認為憑藉奧利奧巧克力這一主流產品，以及Green & Blacks商標下的高端產品，我們在市場上佔據了有利地位。這些產品將在線上和電子商務平台銷售，我們認為這些產品可以極大地豐富我們的產品組合。

So those would be the two biggest on the incremental side. And then certainly as we enter 2017, we'll share with you our innovation pipeline for 2017, but we've got some very strong contributors there as well.

所以，從增量方面來看，這兩項就是最大的改變。當然，進入 2017 年後，我們會與大家分享我們 2017 年的創新計劃，我們在這方面也有一些非常強大的貢獻者。

Thanks, Irene.

謝謝你，艾琳。

Your next question comes from Andrew Lazar of Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的安德魯·拉扎爾。

Good morning, everybody.

大家早安。

Hey, Andrew.

嘿，安德魯。

Just two questions, if I could. First, just with respect to mark-to-market, what drove the timing to make that adjustment this quarter, as opposed to like the end of the year, let's say?

如果可以的話，我只想問兩個問題。首先，就以市值計價而言，是什麼原因促使選擇在本季進行調整，而不是像年底那樣進行調整？

And then given, I think the mark-to-market was a headwind of about $50 million on a year-to-date basis, can you confirm that the full-year margin guidance would still apply, even if the mark-to-market was still included? That's the first question.

鑑於我認為按市值計價對年初至今的業績造成了約 5000 萬美元的不利影響，您能否確認，即使仍然計入按市值計價，全年利潤率指引是否仍然適用？這是第一個問題。

Yes, it does. I mean, it was never contemplated. We always assumed zero in our guidance for mark-to-market. And then you get quarter-to-quarter volatility, and sometimes year over year, obviously, volatility. Year to date, it basically creates 30 basis points of favorability by excluding mark-to-market, so its been a headwind of 30 basis points.

是的，確實如此。我的意思是，這從來沒人考慮過。我們在市值計價的指導原則中一直假設為零。然後就會出現季度間的波動，有時顯然還會出現年度間的波動。今年迄今為止，剔除市值調整後，它基本上創造了 30 個基點的利好，因此帶來了 30 個基點的不利影響。

And the timing, I would say, Andrew, it's something we've been looking at and benchmarking. I think we thought about the timing. The reality was, it was relatively minor in the quarter, relatively minor for the year. As we think about places where we're putting hedges on for longer periods of time, it just got to the point where the volatility has increased over time. It's been more pronounced over the last year or so, and it just seemed like the right time to do it.

至於時機，安德魯，我想說，這是我們一直在關注和衡量的事情。我認為我們考慮過時機。事實上，就本季而言，這筆損失相對較小；就全年而言，損失也相對較小。當我們考慮在哪些地方進行長期對沖時，就會發現波動性隨著時間的推移而增加。過去一年左右，這種情況變得更加明顯，現在似乎正是採取行動的合適時機。

Got it. Okay, thanks for that. And then on gross margin, the margins didn't expand on the gross margin side as much as we had modeled in the quarter. With all of the supply chain productivity that's really building and starting to come through, in theory, a lot more powerfully, I was surprised by that.

知道了。好的，謝謝。此外，本季毛利率的成長幅度也沒有我們預期的那麼大。考慮到供應鏈生產力正在不斷提高，並且理論上會更加有效地發揮作用，我對此感到驚訝。

And so I'm trying to get a little more clarity on that. Was it just the trade spending that you talked about? Is that still an impact that we would see in the fourth quarter? And is there any change to sort of the expectation of getting to 42% to 43% gross margins by 2018?

所以我想更清楚地了解一下。你提到的僅僅是貿易支出嗎？這種影響在第四季是否依然存在？那麼，到 2018 年實現 42% 至 43% 的毛利率預期是否有任何變化？

No, look, I think -- so it was 30 basis points in the quarter. It's up 110, year to date. It will continue, Andrew, to be a big driver of margin expansion delivery for us, and feel good about the supply chain reinvention plans.

不，你看，我認為——所以本季是 30 個基點。今年迄今為止，漲幅已達 110%。安德魯，它將繼續成為我們利潤率擴張的重要驅動力，我對供應鏈重塑計畫感到滿意。

Net productivity execution continues to be very strong. We gave you a range for how we're executing there. And I would just say, we continue to see a lot of runway into 2018 and beyond with the supply chain and gross margins.

淨生產力執行力依然非常強勁。我們已經向您說明了我們在那裡的執行情況。我想說的是，從供應鏈和毛利率的角度來看，我們預計到 2018 年及以後都還有很大的發展空間。

So there were several areas where we invested trade spending, adjusted pricing, really trying to balance growth and margin, given the competitive environment. Over time, as our algorithm -- as we've said, we think we can manage pricing net of commodities to the point where we can drop through productivity, and allow pricing net of commodities to be about flat. But that will be over time, and it won't be linear. It will vary quarter to quarter.

因此，在競爭環境下，我們在多個領域加大了貿易支出，調整了價格，努力在成長和利潤率之間取得平衡。隨著時間的推移，正如我們所說，我們的演算法認為我們可以將扣除商品價格後的淨價格控制在一定範圍內，從而降低生產力，並使扣除商品價格後的淨價格保持平穩。但這需要時間，而且不會是線性的。每個季度都會有所不同。

I think that's what you're seeing. Feel good about the overall margin delivery, offset some of the gross margin challenge with SG&A, and delivered -- we're up, year to date, 260 basis points on OI. So we tend to think about it that way. It will vary, it will be a little bit lumpy. And we feel good about the execution and supply chain.

我想這就是你看到的。對整體利潤率表現感到滿意，透過銷售、一般及行政費用抵消了部分毛利率挑戰，並且實現了目標——今年迄今為止，我們的未償付收入增長了 260 個基點。所以我們往往會這樣想。它會有所不同，會有點凹凸不平。我們對執行和供應鏈感到滿意。

Great, thanks very much.

太好了，非常感謝。

Thanks, Andrew.

謝謝你，安德魯。

Your next question comes from Chris Growe of Stifel.

你的下一個問題來自 Stifel 公司的 Chris Growe。

Hi, good morning.

您好，早安。

Hi, Chris.

嗨，克里斯。

I just wanted to ask, first, if I could, as you think about some of the activities around revenue management this year, I guess without getting into guidance, is the expectation that those will not continue in 2017, so hopefully your growth is more like your categories in 2017?

首先，我想問一下，鑑於您今年在收入管理方面採取的一些措施，我想在不涉及業績指引的情況下，您是否預期這些措施在 2017 年不會繼續實施？所以，希望您在 2017 年的成長情況能更接近您的產品類別？

That's what we've been saying, Chris. I think that's still true. We are continuing our work on trade optimization, and learning more there. I think we still have opportunity there. It will be a little bit of a headwind.

克里斯，我們一直都是這麼說的。我認為情況仍然如此。我們正在繼續進行貿易優化方面的工作，並從中學習更多經驗。我認為我們仍然有機會。會有點逆風。

SKU reductions and overall pruning, I think, has tailed off a bit, pardon the pun. But it ultimately is one where I think we're in a position where it will be a smaller impact as we head into next year, and we'll update you on that in February.

我認為，SKU 減少和整體精簡的力度已經有所減弱，請原諒我用了這個雙關語。但我認為，隨著我們進入明年，這件事的影響將會越來越小，我們將在二月向您報告最新情況。

Okay. And I may have missed it in your remarks, but I just want to understand, the third quarter is supposed to be a quarter where you had a larger increase in A&C spending, and then less so in the fourth quarter. Is that the way it worked out? Because you also mentioned you're going to increase that in the fourth quarter as well. Just trying to get order of magnitude or how maybe it's different than what you thought before?

好的。我可能在您的講話中錯過了相關信息，但我只是想確認一下，第三季度應該是A&C支出增長幅度較大的季度，而第四季度增長幅度則應該較小。事情就是這樣嗎？因為你也提到過，第四季也會增加這個數字。我只是想了解一下大概的數量級，或者它和你之前想的有什麼不同？

No, it's playing out pretty much the way we had thought, Chris. We're spending about 9% of revenue. And given the market conditions, we're being quite selective in where we spend that money. And certainly within the mix, we're paying a lot of attention to making sure that we're spending behind our power brands and the places we think we can get the best return.

不，事情的發展基本上和我們預想的一樣，克里斯。我們支出約佔收入的9%。鑑於目前的市場狀況，我們在資金的使用上非常謹慎。當然，在這些投資組合中，我們非常注重確保將資金投入到我們的強勢品牌和我們認為能夠獲得最佳回報的地方。

And within A&C, we're putting a lot more emphasis on advertising, rather than consumer promotion. And within advertising, we're shifting more to digital around the world. So net is, the mix of that spending is looking a little different. The magnitude of the spending is essentially what we thought, at about 9% of revenue. And you'll see that play through into the fourth quarter as well.

在A&C內部，我們更重視廣告，而不是消費者促銷。在廣告領域，我們正在全球範圍內更多地轉向數位化。所以總的來說，這些支出的組合看起來有點不同了。支出規模基本上符合我們的預期，約佔收入的 9%。而且你還會看到這種戰術一直延續到第四節。

And Chris, when you look at the magnitude of the white space launches, whether it's chocolate in China or the US, or even Japan, I mean those are places that are going to require some incremental investment as we head into the fourth quarter. So that's one of the drivers as we talk about incremental investment in Q4.

克里斯，當你審視空白市場推出產品的規模時，無論是中國、美國還是日本的巧克力產品，我的意思是，隨著我們進入第四季度，這些地方都需要一些增量投資。所以，這是我們在討論第四季增加投資的驅動因素之一。

Okay, that's helpful. Thank you for the time.

好的，這很有幫助。感謝您抽出時間。

Your next question comes from Matthew Grainger of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的馬修‧格蘭傑。

Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question.

大家早安。謝謝你的提問。

Hi, Matthew.

嗨，馬修。

Hi. Brian, first, I just had a follow-up on gross margin. How would you characterize where you stand right now in terms of generating a sufficient level of volume to be able to really effectively realize the full-margin benefits of the lines in the future? And is the slowing category growth outlook going to be a constraint in that respect, as you try and move up toward that 42% to 43% target?

你好。Brian，首先，我剛剛想跟進毛利率的問題。您如何評價您目前在產生足夠銷售方面所處的位置，以便將來能夠真正有效地實現這些產品線的全部利潤？當您努力實現 42% 至 43% 的目標時，品類成長前景放緩是否會成為限制因素？

Yes, Matthew, I would just say it is a challenge. It is something that we obviously are dealing with. And you heard me call it out in region performance, and it's affected Latin America and EMEA most recently, in the last quarter, the volume leverage.

是的，馬修，我只能說這是一個挑戰。這是我們正在處理的問題。正如我在區域業績報告中所指出的，最近一個季度，拉丁美洲和歐洲、中東和非洲地區受到的影響最大，那就是銷售槓桿效應。

But I would just tell you that the supply chain team is adapting the plans. We've pulled CapEx, as we talked to you about in September, that was volume-related, out, in many cases, redeployed that in additional programs that are more focused on getting cost out and delivering the benefit. So I think it's a pressure, but I would tell you that our team is reacting, and we're refocusing the plans where we can see the benefits.

但我可以告訴你，供應鏈團隊正在調整計畫。正如我們在 9 月與您討論的那樣，我們已經撤回了與產量相關的資本支出，在許多情況下，我們將這些資金重新部署到其他項目中，這些項目更注重降低成本和帶來效益。所以我認為這是一種壓力，但我可以告訴你，我們的團隊正在做出反應，我們正在重新調整計劃，以期從中獲益。

The other thing I'd say, Matthew, is just like in A&C, we're continuing to distort those investments to the places where we think we can get the best returns. So most of our lines of the future are for our power brands, which, year to date, are growing over 3% in excess of our categories. So that's the reason why we will continue to disproportionately focus our attention and our investments on those power brands. Because they are inherently advantaged, and as we then start to produce them on lines of the future, they are even more advantaged.

馬修，我還要補充一點，就像在A&C一樣，我們繼續調整這些投資方向，使其流向我們認為能夠獲得最佳回報的地方。因此，我們未來的大部分產品線都將面向我們的主力品牌，這些品牌今年迄今的成長速度比我們其他品類的平均成長速度高出 3% 以上。所以這就是為什麼我們將繼續把我們的注意力和投資不成比例地集中在這些強勢品牌上的原因。因為它們本身就具有優勢，而且當我們開始按照未來的生產線生產它們時，它們的優勢就更大了。

Okay, great, thanks. And Irene, I also wanted to come back to the issue of price gap management in some of the tactical trade promotion that you've been doing. You've been fairly vocal about US biscuits in Brazil. But are you seeing similar dynamics in any specific markets or categories in Europe and Asia, given that we did see some price deceleration in those regions as well?

好的，太好了，謝謝。艾琳，我還想再談談你一直在進行的一些戰術性貿易促銷中的價格差距管理問題。你對美國餅乾在巴西的遭遇一直頗有微詞。但考慮到我們在歐洲和亞洲也看到了一些價格成長放緩的現象，您是否在歐洲和亞洲的特定市場或類別中看到了類似的動態？

No, I would say those are the two most pronounced. And again, we're continuing to see the reality that, that investment does not necessarily stimulate category growth. And so over time, we are continuing to invest in the underlying equity of our franchises, even in those markets, because that is really the way to drive long-term category growth.

不，我認為這兩個是最突出的。我們再次看到，這種投資並不一定會刺激品類成長。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續投資於特許經營業務的基礎資產，即使在這些市場也是如此，因為這才是推動長期品類成長的真正途徑。

Particularly in markets like our emerging markets, one of the benefits of our supply chain reinvention, aside from capitalizing onto more efficient assets, is the flexibility that they give us to be able to make packages of different sizes. And that's been an important tool in our arsenal, as we seek to make sure that we're providing adequate value on our brands.

尤其是在像我們這樣的新興市場中，除了利用更有效率的資產之外，我們供應鏈重塑帶來的好處之一是，它賦予了我們靈活性，使我們能夠生產不同尺寸的包裝。而這正是我們重要的武器庫中的重要工具，因為我們力求確保我們的品牌能夠提供足夠的價值。

So that's how we're managing it. And again, I think as you see the results, we're starting to see vol/mix. We're pleased to see vol/mix playing a more important role and a positive role, both in this quarter and then certainly as we look at the full year.

這就是我們應對這種情況的方式。而且，我認為從結果來看，我們開始看到音量/混合。我們很高興看到波動率/混合指標在本季度以及展望全年時都發揮了更重要、更積極的作用。

Okay, great. Thanks again, Irene.

好的，太好了。再次感謝你，艾琳。

Your next question comes from Alexia Howard of Bernstein.

下一個問題來自伯恩斯坦公司的 Alexia Howard。

Good morning, everyone.

各位早安。

Hi, Alexia.

你好，Alexia。

In the gross margin year-on-year change, you talked about how it looks a lot better on a constant currency basis. Could you talk about what the transactional headwinds have been in there, and whether those are expected to persist?

在毛利率同比變動方面，您提到以固定匯率計算，情況要好得多。您能否談談目前交易方面面臨的不利因素，以及這些不利因素預計是否會持續？

And then as a follow-up, how quickly are you expecting to ramp up distribution on the chocolate in the US market? And how early in 2017 do you expect the broad-based marketing campaign to start? Thank you.

其次，您預計多久能在美國市場擴大巧克力的分銷規模？你們預計這項大規模行銷活動會在 2017 年的哪一年開始？謝謝。

Yes, I'll take the first part. I think gross margins in general -- currency this year has been a bigger impact for us than commodity. That's forced us, in some cases, to price, and that's created some of the challenges we've talked about in a couple of the emerging markets. But I would say for the most part, it's moderated.

是的，我來做第一部分。我認為今年毛利率整體上受到匯率波動的影響比大宗商品價格波動影響更大。在某些情況下，這迫使我們進行定價，這也造成了我們在幾個新興市場中談到的一些挑戰。但我認為，在大多數情況下，這種行為是可以控制的。

The UK continues to be a bit of an outlier, with the recent Brexit impact, and we're working our way through that. We're pretty balanced though, as you look at the UK, as I said, in the second quarter. Our exposure on the transaction basis in the UK is balanced, given we have production -- quite a bit of our supply comes out of the UK, and is based in local currency. So for the most part, that's not as significant as you might expect.

英國的情況仍然有些特殊，最近脫歐的影響尤其顯著，我們正在努力克服這些問題。不過，就英國而言，正如我所說，我們在第二季度的情況相當平衡。我們在英國的交易風險敞口是平衡的，因為我們有生產——我們相當一部分供應來自英國，並且以當地貨幣結算。所以，在大多數情況下，這並不像你想像的那麼重要。

We do also then buy a lot of our cocoa in British pounds, and that, as well, has created a bit of a cushion for us in other parts of the global business. So that said, cocoa in the recent weeks, and even a couple months, has actually inflated a bit in US dollars. And if that persists, that will be a challenge for us as we move forward. We'll have to monitor and manage that as we move into 2017. But I think for the most part, in gross margin, we've done a reasonable job this year balancing the impact of transactional currency, and pricing appropriately in key markets.

我們也確實用英鎊購買了很多可可，這也為我們在全球業務的其他方面創造了一些緩衝空間。也就是說，近幾週甚至近幾個月來，可可價格以美元計價實際上有所上漲。如果這種情況持續下去，那將是我們未來發展道路上的一個挑戰。進入2017年，我們需要對此進行監測和管理。但我認為，就毛利率而言，今年我們總體上做得還不錯，平衡了交易貨幣的影響，並在主要市場進行了適當的定價。

As we think about the chocolate support, Alexia, we're just turning on the support in China right now, as I mentioned. We're just shipping the bulk of our inventory into our customers.

Alexia，說到巧克力業務的支持，正如我剛才提到的，我們現在才剛剛在中國啟動這項業務。我們正在將大部分庫存發貨給客戶。

The US support is actually going to be more into 2017. I'm not going to tell you exactly when, because I think our competitors would love to know the answer to that. But it is a big piece of our plan for next year, and an important part of our confidence about the incrementality of the opportunity.

美國的支持力道實際上會持續到 2017 年。我不會告訴你確切的時間，因為我認為我們的競爭對手很想知道答案。但這是我們明年計畫的重要組成部分，也是我們對這機會的漸進性充滿信心的重要因素。

Great, thank you very much. I'll pass it on.

太好了，非常感謝。我會轉達的。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from Jason English of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的傑森·英格利希。

Hey, good morning, folks.

嘿，各位早安。

Hey, Jason.

嘿，傑森。

Thank you for the question. Brian, you mentioned improving cash conversion metrics on the forward. You guys have been holding the line on your free cash flow outlook for the year. As you mentioned in September, you took down your CapEx outlook, and certainly today, your EPS outlook implies a more robust net income figure.

謝謝你的提問。Brian，你提到要提高遠期現金轉換率指標。你們一直堅持對今年的自由現金流預期不變。正如您在 9 月提到的，您下調了資本支出預期，而今天，您的每股盈餘預期無疑意味著淨收入數據將更加強勁。

So I guess my question is, where is the cash leakage on that? Net income is going higher, CapEx is going lower, but free cash flow is kind of flatlining. Why aren't we seeing better conversion on this?

所以我想問的是，資金流失點在哪裡？淨利潤不斷成長，資本支出不斷下降，但自由現金流基本上停滯不前。為什麼轉換率沒有提高？

I think the simple answer -- clearly it's a year where we are maxing restructuring spending. This is the peak year, along with last year. And next year, that will begin to go down, Jason. That's probably the biggest. We have said, at least $1.4 billion. I think we're encouraged with the progress. We're a bit above our own expectations on cash conversion cycle, year to date, so we'll see how it plays out in the fourth quarter.

我認為答案很簡單——顯然，今年我們將最大限度地增加重組支出。今年和去年一樣，都是高峰年。傑森，明年這種情況就會開始下降。那可能是最大的問題。我們說過，至少14億美元。我認為我們對取得的進展感到鼓舞。今年迄今為止，我們的現金週轉週期略高於預期，所以我們將看看第四季度情況如何。

As you know, it's a big load of cash that comes in, in the fourth quarter, given the linearity of the business. So we'll see. But we're feeling good about it. And as I said, cash conversion cycle is ahead of plan, and even our internal plans.

如您所知，鑑於業務的線性發展規律，第四季度將有一大筆現金流入。我們拭目以待。但我們對此感覺良好。正如我所說，現金週轉週期提前於計劃，甚至超過了我們內部的計劃。

Got it, that's helpful. And one more, and I'll pass it on. Just in terms of the tax outlook, it looks like you've kind of tweaked it down a little bit. Not as big as maybe I thought it would be, at first flush from the release this morning. How sustainable is it? Or should we be wary it of a potential tax rate step-up in the future?

明白了，這很有幫助。還有一個，我就把它轉交給別人。就稅收前景而言，看起來你們已經稍微調整了一下。今天早上剛放出的水位，沒有我想像的那麼高。它的可持續性如何？或者我們應該警惕未來可能出現的稅率調高？

Yes, based on all we know, we're saying about 20 for the quarter, and it implies something in the low- to mid-20s for the fourth quarter. We haven't changed our long-term guidance, which is in the mid-20s. And I think that's just, over time, the mix of business evolves, and some tax statutes expire that have given us a bit of an advantage.

是的，根據我們目前掌握的信息，我們預測本季約為 20，這意味著第四季度約為 20 出頭到 25 左右。我們的長期業績指引沒有改變，仍維持在20%左右。我認為這只是因為隨著時間的推移，商業組合發生了變化，一些曾經為我們帶來一定優勢的稅收法規也到期了。

So we'll manage it. You have discrete items. We had a significant number of discrete items in the quarter around the UK, and Europe, and in Latin America, more than we would typically have, that drove the lower rate. So nothing has really changed, I would say, Jason.

所以我們會處理好的。您擁有的是獨立專案。本季我們在英國、歐洲和拉丁美洲出現了大量獨立項目，數量比平常多，這導致了較低的利率。所以我覺得，傑森，其實什麼都沒變。

Got it. That's helpful. Thank you, guys.

知道了。那很有幫助。謝謝大家。

Your next question comes from David Palmer of RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的戴維‧帕爾默。

Hey, David.

嘿，大衛。

Sorry about that, I was on mute. Just to follow up on promotion spending, it looks like trade investment is having modest volume pay-offs. But it's offsetting some of that other revenue management benefit that you're getting to pricing and gross margins.

抱歉，我剛才靜音了。關於促銷支出，貿易投資似乎只帶來了適度的銷售回報。但這會抵消你在定價和毛利率方面獲得的其他一些收入管理方面的好處。

What's been your self-grade on the revenue management that you're deploying, including the recent promotion efficiency? Has it been worth it, some of these re-investments? And then what should we be looking for in terms of the cross-currents to gross margins from that trade spend? Thanks.

您如何評估您目前實施的收入管理措施，包括最近的促銷效率？這些再投資值得嗎？那麼，我們應該關注貿易支出對毛利率的哪些交叉影響呢？謝謝。

Again, I break it into the three pieces. The SKU rationalization and pruning, and in some ways walking away from very low-margin business, obviously that's helped us contribute to the margin expansion. Its been an element of that margin progress.

我再次將其分成三部分。SKU 合理化和精簡，以及在某種程度上放棄利潤率非常低的業務，顯然幫助我們實現了利潤率的提升。這是邊際進步的一個組成部分。

Revenue management itself and the trade optimization piece of that, I would say, we're still making progress, and in the early phases of that. We're focused on 10 markets where the majority of our revenue is, and the majority of our trade spending. We've resourced it appropriately.

就收入管理本身以及其中的交易優化部分而言，我認為我們仍在取得進展，並且還處於早期階段。我們專注於 10 個市場，因為我們的大部分收入和大部分貿易支出都來自這些市場。我們已為此投入了足夠的資源。

We're finding opportunities to spend our dollars more effectively. To be honest, we're finding opportunities to actually grow revenue by appropriately allocating those dollars and distorting those dollars. The analytics have proven to be incredibly powerful, and the centralization and aggregation of that data is very powerful.

我們正在尋找更有效地利用資金的機會。說實話，我們正在尋找機會，透過合理分配和調整這些資金的使用方式，來真正增加收入。事實證明，分析功能非常強大，而資料的集中化和聚合功能也非常強大。

So I think that will continue to be something that we resource and build into our plans for next year. It is mixed. It will have some pressure on revenue in some markets. And as I said, with the optimization of promotional spend, we can actually see upside in revenue and margin.

所以我認為這將繼續是我們明年計劃中需要投入資源和加以完善的內容。情況比較複雜。這將對部分市場的收入造成一定壓力。正如我所說，透過優化促銷支出，我們實際上可以看到收入和利潤率的提升。

But as I said in the earlier question, the pruning and SKU rationalization related to supply chain reinvention is, I would say, it's diminishing. It's getting smaller. So as we head into next year, and you asked about the trend, I think it will be less of a negative impact for next year.

但正如我在前面的問題中所說，與供應鏈重塑相關的精簡和 SKU 合理化正在減少。它越來越小了。所以，展望明年，你問到了趨勢，我認為明年負面影響會小一點。

Mostly, David, facts are a very powerful thing. And so as we go to our customers with the data on ROI related to the spending with them, we have a much easier conversation, a much better story and we're working together, because both of us want to get better returns for the money that's being invested. So it's actually making for a much more robust conversation. And as Brian said, we're really getting a lot of learning as we get into this.

戴維，事實的力量非常強大。因此，當我們帶著與客戶支出相關的投資報酬率數據去拜訪他們時，我們就能更輕鬆地與他們溝通，講述一個更好的故事，我們就能共同努力，因為我們雙方都希望投資能獲得更好的回報。所以，這其實促成了一場更深入的對話。正如布萊恩所說，隨著我們深入研究，我們確實學到了很多東西。

You know, just a follow-up comment is that, some companies and consultants are increasingly sharing this dream that better analytics are now coming about, that you can shift the spending from lower ROI promotions to higher ROI. And with some lead time, you may not have that volume tradeoff that more blunt shifts have made in past. I don't know if you believe that, come 2018, say, or by 2018, you could be getting better at this, such that we see net revenue improvement without the volume hit?

你知道，我還要補充一點，一些公司和顧問越來越認同這樣一個願景：隨著更好的分析技術的出現，可以將支出從投資回報率較低的促銷活動轉移到投資回報率較高的促銷活動上。事先做好準備，或許就能避免過去那種突如其來的變革所帶來的銷售權衡。我不知道你是否相信，到了2018年，或者說到2018年，你們在這方面能夠做得更好，從而在不影響銷量的情況下實現淨收入的增長？

Yes, we're seeing that, David, and there clearly are some areas where we have low-hanging fruit. I would say, the developing markets, the emerging markets, would still have a fair amount of trade spend. That's where it's toughest, because the data is hardest to get at.

是的，我們看到了這一點，大衛，而且顯然有一些領域我們可以輕鬆取得成果。我認為，發展中市場和新興市場仍會有相當可觀的貿易支出。最難的地方就在於此，因為數據最難取得。

But some of the more developed markets, what you're saying makes sense. We're going to find areas of distorting spend and moving it into the right places, improves the ROI, and could be a net positive on the top line.

但對於一些較發達的市場來說，你的說法是有道理的。我們將找出扭曲支出的領域，並將其轉移到正確的地方，提高投資報酬率，並可能對營收產生淨正面影響。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from [Stephen Schrecula] of UBS.

你的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的[Stephen Schrecula]。

Hi, good morning. A question for Brian. Wanted to get a sense of how we should think about the split of margin expansion in the fourth quarter between gross and SG&A, just because the last two quarters, we've seen a little bit heavier lean on SG&A for expansion? That question, and then I have a follow-up.

您好，早安。問布萊恩一個問題。我想了解一下，在第四季度毛利和銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）利潤率擴張的分配中，我們應該如何看待這一比例，因為在過去的兩個季度裡，我們看到毛利潤擴張更多地依賴於銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）？我先問了這個問題，然後我還有一個後續問題。

Yes, I guess, Stephen, I'd go back. When we talked, I guess it was at CAGNY, we said, longer term, the biggest lever from here to our targets in 2018 was really gross margin. We would say that's still true. The work that we're doing, the line of sight we have, the programs in place, getting to the lines of the future targets we talked about. We're at 50 today and we've still got more to do. That's absolutely where we are headed.

是的，我想我會回去的，史蒂芬。我們當時談話的時候，我想應該是在 CAGNY，我們說，從長遠來看，從現在到我們 2018 年的目標，最大的槓桿實際上是毛利率。我們認為情況仍然如此。我們正在進行的工作、我們所掌握的視野、已經實施的計劃，以及我們討論過的未來目標的實現。今天我們迎來了第50個年頭，但我們還有更多工作要做。那絕對是我們前進的方向。

I would say in the short term, the trend you're seeing right now is probably more consistent with what you'll see, that it will be a mix. It will be -- no one quarter is going to be easy to predict, and we aren't going to provide that level of granularity. But I think you'll see more SG&A, and a little bit less on the gross margin in the fourth quarter.

我認為，短期內，你現在看到的趨勢可能更符合未來趨勢，那就是各種因素混合在一起。確實如此——任何一個季度都不容易預測，我們也不會提供那種細緻到極致的預測。但我認為第四季銷售、管理及行政費用會增加，而毛利率會略有下降。

Great. And how should we think about the cadence or the growth rate of the US or North American business, just given that biscuits were a little bit weaker in the second quarter? It feels like it got a little better in the third quarter, and we're just lapping a really challenging year-over-year comparison in the fourth quarter. So just trying to think through how much is self-control, how much is a little bit of new innovation kicking in against a tough comp?

偉大的。鑑於餅乾在第二季的銷售略顯疲軟，我們該如何看待美國或北美業務的節奏或成長率？感覺第三季情況有所好轉，但第四季我們面臨著非常嚴峻的同比挑戰。所以，我只是想弄清楚，這其中有多少是自律，又有多少是面對激烈競爭時迸發出的創新精神？

We actually think, Stephen, a lot of it is under our control. Historically, the category has benefited from our innovation and from the muscle of our DSP selling organization. And we believe that continuing to innovate, support the franchises and leverage our DSP muscle, is going to allow us to get that category growing again.

史蒂芬，我們其實認為，很多事情都在我們的掌控之中。從歷史上看，該品類受益於我們的創新和我們 DSP 銷售組織的強大實力。我們相信，透過不斷創新、支持加盟商並利用我們的DSP實力，我們將能夠使該類別再次成長。

So we've got a sizeable amount of continued A&C investment. We're continuing to innovate behind ideas like Good Thins and belVita Bites and Chips Ahoy! Thins, which are driving some very nice incremental growth and good programming with our retail partners. And so together, we would expect that to help bring that category back to a more robust rate of growth.

因此，我們在航空航太和建築領域獲得了相當可觀的持續投資。我們不斷創新，推出了 Good Thins、belVita Bites 和 Chips Ahoy! 等產品。Thins 正在推動我們與零售合作夥伴之間實現非常好的成長和良好的合作項目。因此，我們預計這將有助於該類別恢復到更強勁的成長速度。

Great, thank you.

太好了，謝謝。

Thanks, Stephen.

謝謝你，史蒂芬。

Your next question comes from Rob Moskow of Credit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的羅布·莫斯科。

Hi. Irene and Brian. I had a question about the gap between your margins and developed markets versus developing markets. Most of the margin improvement has come from North America and Europe, now 20%, and the developing markets are in the low-10%s and maybe teens.

你好。艾琳和布萊恩。我有一個關於你們在已開發市場和發展中市場利潤率差距的問題。大部分利潤率的提高都來自北美和歐洲，目前已達到 20%，而新興市場的利潤率則在 10% 左右，甚至可能只有十幾。

But I'm just wondering, if you think back today versus maybe a few years ago, do you feel like you still have the same pricing power in those developing markets, given the slowdown in macroeconomic conditions, maybe the competition has gotten tougher? And what do you think you have to do in order to boost margins in those markets, given also the investment needs for growth?

但我只是想知道，如果你回想一下現在和幾年前的情況，考慮到宏觀經濟形勢放緩，競爭可能變得更加激烈，你是否覺得你在這些發展中市場仍然擁有同樣的定價權？那麼，考慮到成長所需的投資，您認為為了提高這些市場的利潤率，您應該採取哪些措施？

So Rob, we still are getting good pricing, not as much as we were able to in the emerging markets. But the truth of the matter is that our revenue growth in the emerging markets, as Brian mentioned, were up about 2%. About 5 points of that is pricing. And so we're continuing to get pricing in these markets.

羅布，我們仍然能拿到不錯的價格，雖然不如我們在新興市場能拿到的價格那麼好。但事實是，正如布萊恩所提到的那樣，我們在新興市場的收入成長了約 2%。其中約 5 分是定價。因此，我們正在繼續了解這些市場的價格。

As I mentioned earlier, we're looking to be a lot smarter in how we execute that pricing, looking much more to use price-pack architecture, smaller sizes, economy sizes, to deliver that pricing. And so we're still getting pricing.

正如我之前提到的，我們希望在定價方面更加明智，更多地採用價格包裝架構、更小的尺寸、經濟型尺寸來實現定價。所以我們還在進行價格評估。

The facts are, if you look at our margin performance for our emerging markets, we're getting up to the level of our peers. There continues to be an important component of overhead scale leverage there, so that it's critical for us to fuel the growth there, to be able to leverage and amortize that infrastructure.

事實是，如果你看一下我們在新興市場的利潤率表現，我們會發現我們正在趕上同行的水平。其中仍然存在著規模槓桿效應的重要因素，因此，對我們來說，推動這方面的成長，利用和攤提基礎設施至關重要。

And certainly in our developed markets, we're -- in Europe, I think we're probably among the top of our peer group. In the US, we're getting much more in that top quartile.

當然，在我們發達的市場中，我們——在歐洲，我認為我們可能在同行中名列前茅。在美國，我們獲得更多處於前四分之一的人口。

So I think our margins overall, in aggregate we've made sizeable margin expansion, 220 in the quarter, 260 basis points year to date. But it's coming from a balance of the work that we're doing in both our developed and our emerging markets. And again, pricing is -- we feel quite confident in our ability to price smartly in these emerging markets, and the results you're seeing reflect that.

所以我認為，整體而言，我們的利潤率已經大幅提升，本季提升了 220 個基點，年初至今提升了 260 個基點。但這源自於我們在已開發市場和新興市場所做工作的平衡。再次強調，定價——我們對在這些新興市場進行合理定價的能力非常有信心，而你們所看到的業績也反映了這一點。

And there's a bit of a structural question around -- as you look at the initiative, the transformation work, whether it's supply chain reinvention, whether it's shared services, we sequenced a lot of that activity and effort on the larger opportunities in the developed markets. So they are a bit behind in terms of executing on transformation.

圍繞著一些結構性問題——當你審視這項計畫、轉型工作時，無論是供應鏈重塑還是共享服務，我們都將許多活動和努力集中在已開發市場更大的機會上。所以他們在轉型執行上有點落後。

Some of that margin expansion opportunity is still to come. And as you know, we've invested, in many cases, ahead of the growth, and we chose to stick with those investments, and count on the fact that those emerging markets will come back and be a nice lever for us when growth returns.

部分利潤率擴張機會尚未到來。如您所知，我們在許多情況下都提前進行了投資，我們選擇堅持這些投資，並相信這些新興市場將會復甦，並在經濟成長恢復時成為我們的良好槓桿。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

We have time for one more question. Your final question comes from John Baumgartner of Wells Fargo.

我們還有時間回答最後一個問題。最後一個問題來自富國銀行的約翰·鮑姆加特納。

Thanks for the question. Irene, I'd like to ask about your vision for profit contribution in the emerging markets maybe a bit differently. I think the year-to-date expansion in Asia has been pretty striking. And it seems to me maybe you're evolving a bit different relative to your base plan a few years ago, which rested more in holding margins flat and driving profit through a faster top line.

謝謝你的提問。艾琳，我想以稍微不同的方式問問你對新興市場利潤貢獻的看法。我認為今年迄今為止，亞洲市場的成長勢頭非常強勁。在我看來，你現在的發展方向可能與幾年前的基本計劃有所不同，當時的計劃更側重於保持利潤率不變，並透過更快的營收成長來提高利潤。

Assuming the category growth does remain challenged, how are your options now evolving to address the cost base and overheads in Latin America and EMEA going forward? Maybe follow Asia's lead.

假設品類成長仍面臨挑戰，您目前有哪些選擇來應對拉丁美洲和歐洲、中東及非洲地區的成本基礎和管理費用？或許可以藉鏡亞洲的做法。

Very good question, and that's exactly what our intent is. A lot of the tools that our Asian team is using are available in our other regions. We start with -- EMEA is inheriting some of the -- we announced that we're breaking up our EMEA region, putting some of the business into Asia Pacific, and some of the business into Europe. And that will inherently give us much more leverage on the Middle Eastern business and the Africa business, and the Eastern Europe business that is a part of that. So that will help actually both Europe and Asia Pacific, and basically, we'll see progress there.

問得好，這正是我們的初衷。我們亞洲團隊使用的許多工具在其他地區也同樣可用。首先，EMEA 將繼承一些業務——我們宣布將拆分 EMEA 地區，把部分業務轉移到亞太地區，並將部分業務轉移到歐洲。這將使我們在中東業務、非洲業務以及作為其中一部分的東歐業務方面擁有更大的影響力。這樣一來，實際上對歐洲和亞太地區都有幫助，基本上，我們將會看到這些地區取得進展。

With respect to Latin America, a lot of the tools that we're using -- the base productivity, shifting our product mix, a very disciplined focus on overheads, are the same tools that we're using, and those will continue to be available in Latin America. And we're going to use those as we continue our margin expansion there.

就拉丁美洲而言，我們正在使用的許多工具——基本生產力、調整產品組合、嚴格控制管理費用——都是我們正在使用的工具，這些工具在拉丁美洲也將繼續適用。我們將繼續利用這些資源來擴大利潤率。

So the work that we've done in -- and we're very pleased with the progress we've made in Asia Pacific. A lot of it is using the very same tools that we've used elsewhere in the world -- zero-based budgeting, focusing on streamlining our overhead, as Brian mentioned. Moving to shared services, which actually will start to affect the emerging markets more, in a more pronounced way, as we head into 2017.

因此，我們對在亞太地區的進展感到非常滿意。很多方面都採用了我們在世界其他地方使用過的相同工具——零基預算，專注於簡化我們的管理費用，正如布萊恩所提到的。隨著我們邁入 2017 年，向共享服務的轉變實際上將以更明顯的方式對新興市場產生更大的影響。

So we see the opportunities in our other emerging market geographies, similar to what we've done in Asia Pacific. But we're very pleased with the performance in Asia Pacific.

因此，我們看到了其他新興市場地區的機遇，這與我們在亞太地區所做的類似。但我們對亞太地區的表現非常滿意。

Thank you, Irene.

謝謝你，艾琳。

With that, we thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

在此，我們感謝各位參加今天的會議。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。