MillerKnoll Inc (MLKN) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good evening, and welcome to MillerKnoll's Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

晚上好，歡迎參加 MillerKnoll 第二季度收益電話會議。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音。

I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Senior Vice President, Kevin Veltman.

現在我想介紹一下今天會議的主持人，高級副總裁凱文·維爾特曼 (Kevin Veltman)。

Good evening. Thanks for joining us today. I'm joined by Andi Owen, Chief Executive Officer; and Jeff Stutz, Chief Financial Officer. Also available during the Q&A are John Michael, President of Americas Contract; and Debbie Propst, President of Global Retail.

晚上好。感謝您今天加入我們。首席執行官安迪·歐文 (Andi Owen) 也加入了我的行列。和首席財務官傑夫·斯圖茨(Jeff Stutz)。美洲合同總裁 John Michael 也出席了問答環節。和全球零售總裁 Debbie Propst。

Before I turn the call over to Andi, please remember our safe harbor regarding forward-looking information. During the call, management may discuss information that is forward-looking and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results to be different than those expressed or implied. Please evaluate the forward-looking information in the context of these factors, which are detailed in today's press release. The forward-looking statements are as of today and assume no obligation to update or supplement these statements. We may also refer to certain non-GAAP financial metrics, which are reconciled and described in our press release posted on our Investor Relations website at millerknoll.com.

在我將電話轉給安迪之前，請記住我們有關前瞻性信息的安全港。在電話會議期間，管理層可能會討論前瞻性信息，並涉及已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素，這可能導致實際結果與明示或暗示的結果不同。請在這些因素的背景下評估前瞻性信息，這些因素在今天的新聞稿中進行了詳細介紹。前瞻性陳述截至今日，不承擔更新或補充這些陳述的義務。我們還可能會參考某些非 GAAP 財務指標，這些指標已在我們的投資者關係網站 millerknoll.com 上發布的新聞稿中進行了核對和描述。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Andi.

這樣，我就把電話轉給安迪。

Thanks, Kevin. Good evening, everyone, and thanks again for joining the call. At MillerKnoll, we know that one of our strongest assets is our collective of design brands offered across multiple channels to customer segments around the globe. Our second quarter results speak to the benefits of a strategic emphasis that we have placed on diversifying our business model over the past few years and the resilience of that model and shifting economic conditions.

謝謝，凱文。大家晚上好，再次感謝您加入通話。在 MillerKnoll，我們知道我們最強大的資產之一是我們通過多種渠道向全球客戶群提供的設計品牌集合。我們第二季度的業績說明了過去幾年我們對業務模式多元化的戰略重點以及該模式的彈性和不斷變化的經濟條件的好處。

This strategic direction includes both the expansion of our global retail business to now over $1 billion in annual revenue and the combination of Herman Miller and Knoll, which creates even further opportunities to bring our collective of brands to new channels and geographies. We've led the way on industry consolidation with our acquisition of Knoll. This has created the opportunity to leverage our increased scale to capture synergies, further build capabilities and refine processes and organizational structures to maximize efficiency and agility.

這一戰略方向包括將我們的全球零售業務擴展至目前年收入超過 10 億美元，以及 Herman Miller 和 Knoll 的合併，這為將我們的品牌集團引入新的渠道和地區創造了更多機會。通過收購 Knoll，我們在行業整合方面處於領先地位。這創造了機會，利用我們不斷擴大的規模來獲取協同效應，進一步建設能力並完善流程和組織結構，以最大限度地提高效率和敏捷性。

Continued synergy opportunities ahead will help us further optimize our cost structures as we navigate softer order levels across our business segments. Across the globe, different regions are in varying phases of return to office compounded by varying economic conditions and a general slowdown in the housing market. Our teams continue to focus on contract wins, retail success and delivering on our commitment to our shareholders. In the Americas Contract segment, we saw strong operating margin expansion over last year. While uncertain macroeconomic conditions pressured order levels for the quarter and we saw customers take longer to make decisions and also take on smaller return to office projects, our price increases and cost synergies have helped improve profitability.

隨著我們各業務部門的訂單水平趨於疲軟，未來持續的協同機會將幫助我們進一步優化成本結構。在全球範圍內，不同地區正處於不同的重返辦公室階段，加上不同的經濟狀況和房地產市場普遍放緩，情況更加複雜。我們的團隊繼續專注於贏得合同、零售成功以及兌現我們對股東的承諾。在美洲合同業務領域，我們看到去年營業利潤率強勁增長。雖然不確定的宏觀經濟狀況對本季度的訂單水平造成壓力，而且我們看到客戶需要更長的時間才能做出決策，並且還承擔較小的重返辦公室項目，但我們的價格上漲和成本協同效應有助於提高盈利能力。

Our International Contract and Specialty segment delivered sales growth and meaningful operating margin expansion over last year. The international business complements the Americas with different market conditions, including a faster return to the office, an opportunity to capture new regional accounts. We've onboarded nearly 50 dealers to cross-sell the MillerKnoll collective of brands in Europe and will emphasize Asia Pacific and Middle East dealer onboarding during the back half of this year. Similarly, our specialty businesses also contributed to sales growth for the quarter and offer further opportunities to expand in new markets and channels around the world.

與去年相比，我們的國際合同和特種業務部門實現了銷售增長和營業利潤率大幅增長。國際業務與美洲不同的市場條件相輔相成，包括更快地返回辦公室、獲得新的區域客戶的機會。我們已經吸納了近 50 家經銷商，在歐洲交叉銷售 MillerKnoll 品牌系列，並將在今年下半年重點吸納亞太和中東經銷商。同樣，我們的專業業務也為本季度的銷售增長做出了貢獻，並提供了進一步拓展全球新市場和渠道的機會。

Turning to Global Retail, as I mentioned earlier, we're seeing a slowdown in the housing market, particularly in luxury. Despite this, our Retail segment also contributed organic sales growth for the quarter. While orders were down overall, we finished the quarter by delivering our best Cyber Week on record with an increase of 22% over last year. Investments in our digital capabilities, excellence in customer service and reliability and strategic promotion management all helped to bolster the sales period. We continue to reach customers through our direct-to-consumer channels and have continued investment in technology with more robust customer data and metrics coming online in the latter half of this year. These improvements will help us attract new customers and drive repeat business through our broader collective of brands and products.

談到全球零售業，正如我之前提到的，我們看到房地產市場放緩，尤其是奢侈品市場。儘管如此，我們的零售部門也為本季度的有機銷售增長做出了貢獻。雖然訂單總體下降，但我們在本季度結束時實現了有記錄以來最好的網絡週，比去年增長了 22%。對我們數字能力的投資、卓越的客戶服務和可靠性以及戰略促銷管理都有助於促進銷售週期。我們繼續通過直接面向消費者的渠道接觸客戶，並繼續對技術進行投資，今年下半年將推出更可靠的客戶數據和指標。這些改進將幫助我們吸引新客戶，並通過更廣泛的品牌和產品來推動回頭客業務。

Turning to product. We continue to innovate, launching several collaborations across HAY, Maharam and Knoll Textiles. Our collective of brands also pushed to line boundaries with new launches, including Herman Miller's Eames shell chair with recycled material, Geiger's loop chair and Holly Hunt's new lighting fixtures. In addition, our newest performance gaming chair was launched, Vantum in time for the holiday gift-giving season. We're attracting new customers with gaming and we're working to further expand the gaming category globally.

轉向產品。我們不斷創新，與 HAY、Maharam 和 Knoll Textiles 開展了多項合作。我們的品牌集體還推出了新產品，突破了界限，包括 Herman Miller 的 Eames 貝殼椅（採用回收材料）、Geiger 的環形椅和 Holly Hunt 的新型照明燈具。此外，我們趕在節日送禮季推出了最新的高性能電競椅Vantum。我們正在通過遊戲吸引新客戶，並努力在全球範圍內進一步擴大遊戲類別。

At MillerKnoll, we know we can do more with our brands and our associates. This quarter, we held our company-wide day of purpose, giving our employees a day out of the office to ensure they have time to vote in the U.S. elections and also give back in their communities around the world. Our associates held over 150 day of purpose events around the globe, bringing greater purpose and support to our commitment to better our local communities and our planet.

在 MillerKnoll，我們知道我們可以通過我們的品牌和員工做更多事情。本季度，我們舉辦了全公司範圍的目的日，讓我們的員工離開辦公室一天，以確保他們有時間在美國選舉中投票，並回饋世界各地的社區。我們的員工在全球舉辦了超過 150 天的目的活動，為我們改善當地社區和地球的承諾帶來更大的目的和支持。

We aim to service the model for the future of work. In this quarter, our retail headquarters in Stanford, Connecticut received WELL Certification at the Platinum level, the highest level possible alongside receiving the WELL Health Safety rating. This award is only given to facilities that go through rigorous performance testing in 10 different categories. I'm proud of our commitment to our associates and also to building spaces that promote wellness, inclusivity and productivity.

我們的目標是為未來的工作模式提供服務。本季度，我們位於康涅狄格州斯坦福的零售總部獲得了白金級 WELL 認證，這是在獲得 WELL 健康安全評級的同時達到的最高級別。該獎項僅頒發給通過 10 個不同類別的嚴格性能測試的設施。我為我們對員工的承諾以及對建設促進健康、包容性和生產力的空間的承諾感到自豪。

Despite uneasiness in the current macroeconomic environment, I remain confident in our ability to reach customers in a variety of channels and markets and to deliver further results through our innovative products, personal customer service and dedicated associates and dealers. We continue to find synergy in our integration, leading to meaningful cost savings and opportunities to maintain a strong balance sheet and cash flow. We'll remain flexible and nimble in this environment, while continuing to focus on serving our customers' needs.

儘管當前的宏觀經濟環境令人不安，但我仍然相信我們有能力通過各種渠道和市場接觸客戶，並通過我們的創新產品、個人客戶服務以及敬業的員工和經銷商取得進一步的成果。我們繼續在整合中尋找協同效應，從而實現有意義的成本節約，並有機會保持強勁的資產負債表和現金流。我們將在這種環境中保持靈活性和敏捷性，同時繼續專注於滿足客戶的需求。

With that, I pass the call over to Jeff.

說完，我把電話轉給了傑夫。

Thanks, Andi, and good evening, everyone. Our results for the second quarter highlight the power of our diversified business model, which has helped to mitigate some of the pressures from the current macroeconomic environment. As we look forward, we will continue to focus on those things that we can control, providing solutions to our customers across multiple audiences, channels and the regions that we serve.

謝謝安迪，大家晚上好。我們第二季度的業績凸顯了我們多元化業務模式的力量，這有助於減輕當前宏觀經濟環境的一些壓力。展望未來，我們將繼續專注於我們可以控制的事情，為跨多個受眾、渠道和我們服務的地區的客戶提供解決方案。

Now turning to our results for the quarter. Consolidated net sales in the second quarter were just under $1.1 billion, an increase of 4% on a reported basis and 8% organically compared to the same quarter last year. Consolidated orders of $1 billion were 12.5% below prior year levels on a reported basis and 9% lower organically. While partially due to the current economic uncertainty in our end markets, I think it's fair to say we also had a difficult prior year comparison due to pandemic-driven pent-up demand last year at this time.

現在轉向我們本季度的業績。第二季度綜合淨銷售額略低於 11 億美元，與去年同期相比，報告增長 4%，有機增長 8%。根據報告，10 億美元的綜合訂單比去年同期水平下降 12.5%，有機下降 9%。雖然部分原因是我們終端市場當前的經濟不確定性，但我認為可以公平地說，由於去年大流行驅動的被壓抑的需求，我們也與去年進行了艱難的比較。

In the Americas Contract segment, sales in the second quarter were $530 million, an increase of 6% compared to the same period a year ago. Order levels in the second quarter decreased 17% to $474 million compared to the same quarter last year. The decline was due to the factors Andi mentioned earlier and included a particularly challenging prior year comparison. Positive price cost dynamics and synergies contributed to a meaningful 560 basis point increase in adjusted operating margins compared to last year.

美洲合約業務第二季度銷售額為5.3億美元，同比增長6%。與去年同期相比，第二季度的訂單量下降了 17%，至 4.74 億美元。下降是由於安迪之前提到的因素造成的，其中包括與去年相比特別具有挑戰性的因素。積極的價格成本動態和協同效應導致調整後營業利潤率較去年大幅增長 560 個基點。

Within our Global Retail segment, sales in the quarter were $272 million, a decrease of 3% compared to the same period last year on a reported basis and up 1% organically. New orders totaled $298 million in the second quarter, down 8% compared to the same quarter last year on a reported basis and down 4% organically. As we expected coming into the quarter, we had some near-term inventory-related costs affect our operating margins as we work through excess inventory from supply chain issues earlier this year. We expect retail profitability to steadily improve over the next 2 quarters and exiting the fiscal year with high single-digit operating margins.

在我們的全球零售部門，本季度銷售額為 2.72 億美元，與去年同期相比下降 3%，有機增長 1%。第二季度新訂單總額為 2.98 億美元，按報告數據比去年同期下降 8%，有機下降 4%。正如我們預期的那樣，進入本季度，由於今年早些時候我們解決了供應鏈問題造成的庫存過剩問題，因此一些近期庫存相關成本影響了我們的營業利潤率。我們預計零售盈利能力將在未來兩個季度穩步提高，並在本財年結束時實現高個位數的營業利潤率。

Turning to our International Contract and Specialty segment. Sales for the quarter totaled $265 million, reflecting an increase of 7% on a reported basis and up 15% organically. New orders in the second quarter of $242 million were down 7% year-on-year on a reported basis and essentially flat compared to last year organically. Strong order growth in India, South Korea and the Middle East was balanced by softening in China, France and Ireland. The International Contract and Specialty segment also delivered strong year-over-year profit improvement with an adjusted operating margin increase of 180 basis points.

轉向我們的國際合同和專業部門。該季度銷售額總計 2.65 億美元，報告基礎上增長 7%，有機增長 15%。按報告數據，第二季度新訂單為 2.42 億美元，同比下降 7%，與去年基本持平。印度、韓國和中東訂單的強勁增長被中國、法國和愛爾蘭訂單的疲軟所抵消。國際合同和特種業務部門的利潤也實現了同比強勁增長，調整後的營業利潤率增長了 180 個基點。

Consolidated gross margin in the quarter was 34.5%, which is 10 basis points higher than the same period last year on a reported basis. Adjusted gross margin declined 40 basis points compared to the comparable period last year. The decline in adjusted gross margin was primarily driven by inflationary pressures and the near-term elevated inventory-related costs for retail, and that was partially offset by further realization of price increases and synergy capture.

本季度綜合毛利率為 34.5%，較去年同期報告數據高出 10 個基點。調整後毛利率較去年同期下降40個基點。調整後毛利率的下降主要是由通脹壓力和近期零售庫存相關成本上升推動的，但價格上漲和協同效應的進一步實現部分抵消了這一下降。

Operating margin for the second quarter was 3.6%, and on an adjusted basis came in at about 6%, which was 20 basis points lower than the prior year. Higher sales and well-managed operating expenses helped partially mitigate the near-term pressures on gross margin. We reported diluted earnings per share of $0.21 in the quarter and adjusted diluted earnings per share came in at $0.46 in the quarter compared to $0.54 in the same period last year.

第二季度營業利潤率為 3.6%，調整後約為 6%，比上年同期低 20 個基點。較高的銷售額和管理良好的運營費用有助於部分緩解近期毛利率的壓力。我們報告本季度稀釋後每股收益為 0.21 美元，調整後稀釋後每股收益為 0.46 美元，而去年同期為 0.54 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet. At the end of the second quarter, our liquidity position reflected cash on hand and availability on our revolving credit facility totaling $428 million. We generated $60 million of cash flow from operations during the quarter and ended the period with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.8x. Regarding our guidance for the third quarter, we expect sales to range between approximately $980 million and $1,020 million and adjusted earnings per share to be between $0.40 and $0.46. This forecast contemplates the relative seasonal slowdown in factory production that we normally experience around the holiday period and in the month of January.

轉向資產負債表。在第二季度末，我們的流動性狀況反映了我們的手頭現金和循環信貸額度的可用性總計 4.28 億美元。本季度我們從運營中產生了 6000 萬美元的現金流，期末淨債務與 EBITDA 的比率為 2.8 倍。關於我們對第三季度的指導，我們預計銷售額將在約 9.8 億美元至 10.2 億美元之間，調整後每股收益將在 0.40 美元至 0.46 美元之間。這一預測考慮到了我們通常在假期期間和一月份經歷的工廠生產相對季節性放緩。

As announced last quarter, we are also proactively taking additional steps to improve our near-term profit and cash flow outlook as we navigate the current macroeconomic environment. As a result of these actions, we expect to realize annualized expense reductions between 30 and $35 million. These savings begin gaining traction during the third quarter and will be more fully realized in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. To close, we have a strong collective of brands and a unique and diversified business model that provides resilience for our business going forward as we navigate the current economic climate.

正如上季度所宣布的，在應對當前的宏觀經濟環境時，我們還積極採取額外措施來改善我們的近期利潤和現金流前景。通過這些行動，我們預計年化費用將減少 30 至 3500 萬美元。這些節省在第三季度開始受到關注，並將在本財年第四季度得到更充分的實現。最後，我們擁有強大的品牌組合和獨特且多元化的商業模式，為我們的業務在應對當前經濟氣候的過程中提供彈性。

And with those opening remarks, we'll turn the call over to the operator and take your questions.

在這些開場白之後，我們會將電話轉給接線員並回答您的問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Steven Ramsey with Thompson Research.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Thompson Research 的 Steven Ramsey。

Maybe a couple of questions to start with on the Retail segment. These inventory issues being at peak challenging points right now. Maybe can you talk through kind of why that is and if it's resolved by the end of the fiscal year? Or you see it being an improving point, but maybe the improvement drags into FY '24?

也許可以從零售領域的幾個問題開始。這些庫存問題目前正處於最具挑戰性的時刻。也許您能談談為什麼會出現這種情況以及該問題是否會在本財年末得到解決？或者您認為這是一個改進點，但也許這種改進會拖到 24 財年？

Yes, Steven, thanks for the question. As we said on our last call, as most retailers experienced, we had such high demand and such a difficult supply chain going into this quarter that we had built up our inventory to compensate for that and demand dropped off pretty rapidly. So, we were faced this quarter with moving through some of that inventory build up that we had put in place the sort of safety stock to get us through what we thought would be much higher demand. That inventory came with much higher storage costs, much higher freight costs. And so to the retail team's credit, we really did experience an amazing November, a great Cyber Week, as I outlined before.

是的，史蒂文，謝謝你的提問。正如我們在上次電話會議中所說，正如大多數零售商所經歷的那樣，進入本季度我們的需求如此之高，供應鏈如此困難，以至於我們建立了庫存來彌補這一點，但需求卻迅速下降。因此，本季度我們面臨著一些庫存積累的問題，我們已經建立了某種安全庫存，以幫助我們應對我們認為會更高的需求。這些庫存帶來了更高的倉儲成本和貨運成本。因此，值得零售團隊讚揚的是，正如我之前概述的那樣，我們確實經歷了一個令人驚嘆的 11 月，一個很棒的網絡週。

So, we really leaned into a promotional strategy that was not aggressive, but really coupled with the desirability of our product helped us move through a lot more of that cost weighted inventory this quarter than we had anticipated. Based on that, we expect the beginning of this quarter, we'll see a little bit of that still shaking through, but we will see in Q3, that dissipate down to nothing. And in Q4, that will be gone. So, back to our original point, we should see single-digit operating margins and a high single-digit by the time we exit the quarter. So no, it will not continue through the rest of the year.

因此，我們確實採取了一種並不激進的促銷策略，但真正與我們產品的需求相結合，幫助我們本季度的成本加權庫存比我們預期的要多得多。基於此，我們預計在本季度初，我們將看到一些影響仍然存在，但我們將在第三季度看到這種影響消失殆盡。在第四季度，這種情況將會消失。因此，回到我們最初的觀點，當我們退出本季度時，我們應該會看到個位數的營業利潤率和較高的個位數。所以不，這種情況不會持續到今年剩餘時間。

And then maybe can you go through the order strength picking up in the Retail segment? Maybe it was covered in what you said there, Andi, but if there's anything additional on retail order strength in the quarter.

然後，也許您可以了解一下零售領域訂單量的增加嗎？安迪，也許您所說的內容已經涵蓋了這一點，但如果本季度的零售訂單強度有任何額外的內容的話。

Yes, I think orders have softened in the residential home furnishings market. I think a lot of that is tied to macroeconomic uncertainty, Steven. I think also with home sales slowing down, I think we'll continue to see a softening in demand. But I think we captured more than our fair share of the market with how we positioned ourselves in the quarter and I think we're outpacing our competition.

是的，我認為住宅家具市場的訂單已經疲軟。我認為這很大程度上與宏觀經濟的不確定性有關，史蒂文。我認為隨著房屋銷售放緩，我們將繼續看到需求疲軟。但我認為，通過我們在本季度的定位，我們獲得了超出公平份額的市場份額，並且我認為我們正在超越競爭對手。

Debbie, I don't know, Debbie from Retail is on. Would you like to add anything to the order trend?

黛比，我不知道，零售業的黛比正在直播。您想在訂單趨勢中添加一些內容嗎？

I think beyond the trend we experienced during Cyber, driven by our agile personalized approach to promotions, coming out of that, given the strong acquisition we had during that same period, we have more momentum in our business now. And so the trends coming out of Cyber are stronger than the order trends we had going into that period.

我認為，除了我們在網絡期間經歷的趨勢之外，在我們靈活的個性化促銷方法的推動下，考慮到我們在同一時期進行的強勁收購，我們現在的業務有了更大的動力。因此，來自網絡的趨勢比我們進入那個時期的訂單趨勢更強。

And then last question for me, a peer of yours recently talking about a lower total addressable market in U.S. core office furnishings. I guess how do you feel about that perspective? If you do think the market over the next few years maybe is lower than prior peaks, what do you need to do in various verticals or internal strategies to reach prior sales and profitability levels for yourself?

然後是我的最後一個問題，你的一位同行最近談到了美國核心辦公家具的總體潛在市場較低。我想你對這個觀點有何看法？如果您確實認為未來幾年的市場可能低於之前的峰值，那麼您需要在各個垂直領域或內部策略中採取哪些措施才能達到之前的銷售和盈利水平？

Yes. I don't know if I can predict the future, but I would say, Steven, as we looked several years ago at what was happening in the office kind of workplace, we saw hybrid coming. It's been coming for the better part of the decade. This is the main reason why we acquired Knoll. We believe that the industry would consolidate and we believe that becoming one company would actually be a much better strategic position to be in, so we can capture the synergies. We can capture the strength of both of us as one.

是的。我不知道我是否可以預測未來，但我想說，史蒂文，當我們幾年前觀察辦公室類型的工作場所所發生的事情時，我們看到了混合動力的到來。這十年來的大部分時間裡，它一直在到來。這是我們收購 Knoll 的主要原因。我們相信這個行業將會整合，我們相信成為一家公司實際上會是一個更好的戰略地位，因此我們可以抓住協同效應。我們可以發揮我們二人合而為一的力量。

In addition to that, we've really worked hard to diversify our business model. So, we have a strong and growing $1 billion retail business. We have multiple channels and new products that we can explore in the residential side of our business, as well as our digital forays into not only contract but retail. So, when you look at our business model with the B2B and B2C side, as well as really pretty extensive international expansion that we can pursue, which has been a very profitable and strong business for us, we feel that we are kind of a one of a kind in our industry and that we really have set ourselves up to win.

除此之外，我們還努力實現業務模式多元化。因此，我們擁有強大且不斷增長的 10 億美元零售業務。我們擁有多種渠道和新產品，可以在住宅業務方面進行探索，並且我們不僅可以涉足合同業務，還可以涉足零售業務。因此，當你看看我們 B2B 和 B2C 方面的商業模式，以及我們可以追求的非常廣泛的國際擴張時，這對我們來說是一項非常有利可圖且強大的業務，我們覺得我們是一個這是我們行業中的一種，我們確實已經做好了獲勝的準備。

Your next question comes from the line of Reuben Garner with Benchmark.

您的下一個問題來自 Reuben Garner 與 Benchmark 的對話。

Maybe can we talk about the progression of order patterns in North America through the quarter? And then what you're seeing of late? Has there been any noticeable change in either direction after the soft patch kind of hit earlier in the year?

也許我們可以談談本季度北美訂單模式的進展？那麼你最近看到了什麼？在今年早些時候出現軟補丁之後，這兩個方向是否有任何明顯的變化？

Ruben, this is Jeff. Yes. Let me start, and then I'll open it up for John to add any color if you have anything to add. So, maybe start with a big important caveat. One of the things you got to bear in mind is that last year in January, we put in place a 10% list price increase in the contract business in North America. And as you probably know, just from your history, that -- at least for our business, that might be the single largest ever price increase certainly in my time with the business. So, that pulled forward some order activity into the month of December.

魯本，這是傑夫。是的。讓我開始，然後我將打開它，讓約翰添加任何顏色（如果您有任何要添加的內容）。所以，也許從一個重要的警告開始。您必須記住的一件事是，去年 1 月，我們將北美合同業務的標價提高了 10%。正如您可能知道的那樣，僅從您的歷史來看，至少對於我們的業務而言，這可能是我從事該業務期間有史以來最大的一次價格上漲。因此，這將一些訂單活動提前到了 12 月份。

So, you've got a bit of a -- right there, you've got a bit of a non-comparable activity period. But in intra quarter, in the second quarter, we saw things kind of started off kind of flattish and then were somewhat consistently down in October and November to get us to that full quarter down, I think, 16% organically in the Americas segment. And then as we've moved into the early part of Q3, it really hasn't moved too far off of that, albeit a year ago, we had particularly strong order entry levels.

所以，你有一點——就在那裡，你有一點不可比較的活動期。但在季度內，即第二季度，我們看到事情一開始比較平淡，然後在 10 月和 11 月持續下降，我認為整個季度下降了 16%。然後，當我們進入第三季度初期時，它實際上並沒有偏離太遠，儘管一年前，我們的訂單輸入水平特別強勁。

And I don't know, John, if you want to add any color, feel free.

我不知道，約翰，如果你想添加任何顏色，請隨意。

I think that's a good summary, Jeff. I would say if you look we're only 2 weeks, obviously, into the quarter. But even in the last few days, we've actually had some of the best days we've had since the start of the quarter. So, I think the patterns are bouncing around a little bit as expected this time of year. But we're seeing -- continue to see a fair amount of activity.

我認為這是一個很好的總結，傑夫。我想說的是，如果你看一下，顯然，本季度才剛剛過去兩週。但即使在過去的幾天裡，我們實際上也經歷了自本季度開始以來最好的幾天。因此，我認為每年這個時候的模式都會像預期的那樣有所波動。但我們看到——繼續看到大量的活動。

And then on the same kind of progression type question on the price cost and margin side, can you talk about where price cost kind of stands today? And what kind of expectation is embedded in the guidance for next quarter? And when you think you'll kind of get back to whether it's neutral on a dollars basis or back to neutral on a margin basis, Jeff?

然後，關於價格成本和利潤方面的同類累進類型問題，您能談談目前價格成本的情況嗎？下季度的指導中包含了什麼樣的預期？當你認為你會回到以美元為基礎的中性還是以保證金為基礎的中性時，傑夫？

Sure, Ruben. Yes. So for the quarter, year-on-year, I would say, if I gather all the buckets that I think would fit into your category of price cost, we had a net positive year-on-year to the tune of about 160 basis points. And I can break that out for you, if you'd like. In terms of just net price increase flow through at the consolidated level, we had about 350 basis points of net benefit, which at long last, we're seeing some momentum pick up on the margin front, particularly on the contract side of the business, which we were very encouraged by. Now obviously, we're still comping against elevated commodity costs from a year ago. So, that drove about 100 basis points of year-on-year margin pressure still. It's still a little bit of a mixed picture, but I'd say, in general, we're feeling like the trend is in our favor from an input cost perspective as we move forward. Anything can happen. But based on kind of the -- our experience throughout the quarter, that feels like it's actually perhaps a tailwind going forward.

當然，魯本。是的。因此，對於本季度，我想說，如果我收集所有我認為適合您的價格成本類別的數據，我們的同比淨正值約為 160 基點點。如果你願意的話，我可以為你解決這個問題。就綜合層面的淨價格上漲而言，我們的淨效益約為 350 個基點，最終，我們看到利潤率方面出現了一些勢頭回升，特別是在業務的合同方面，我們對此感到非常鼓舞。現在顯然，我們仍在應對一年前商品成本上漲的情況。因此，這仍導致同比利潤率壓力增加約 100 個基點。這仍然有點複雜，但我想說，總的來說，隨著我們的前進，從投入成本的角度來看，趨勢對我們有利。任何事情都可能發生。但根據我們整個季度的經驗，感覺這實際上可能是未來的順風車。

Labor and overhead costs were also a bit elevated against last year. You can -- you just think of things like all the wage inflation that we've experienced over last year. That was about a 60 basis point negative on margins. And then freight and transportation year-on-year was down about 30 basis points. When you net all those together, that's cost price of about 160 basis points positive. And then the balance to get to the kind of the full quarter gross margin, you had some adverse product and channel mix as well as those retail inventory costs that largely hit us in Q2, a little bit in Q3 going forward. So, let me pause there. That's kind of the walk on the Q2 cost price picture.

勞動力和管理費用也比去年有所上升。你可以——你只需想想我們去年經歷的所有工資上漲之類的事情。利潤率大約下降了 60 個基點。隨後貨運量同比下降約30個基點。當您將所有這些加在一起時，成本價將上漲約 160 個基點。然後，要達到整個季度毛利率的平衡，你會遇到一些不利的產品和渠道組合，以及零售庫存成本，這些成本在第二季度對我們造成了很大影響，在第三季度也會受到一些影響。那麼，讓我暫停一下。這就是第二季度成本價格的走勢。

Yes. No, that's helpful, Jeff. And if you wouldn't mind kind of like, it have to be line or piece by piece, but what kind of high level are you expecting for the third quarter?

是的。不，這很有幫助，傑夫。如果你不介意的話，它必須是一條線或一塊一塊的，但你對第三季度的高水平期望是多少？

Yes. Yes, I won't go quite as granular, but I will say the guide implies or our assumption is that sequentially going from Q2 to Q3, there's going to be some incremental benefit from net pricing, somewhere on around 50 basis points, it would be my general expectation. And I think commodities should flip to a positive. Now, the one negative that we have to acknowledge is that with order pacing being a bit depressed in Q2, that's going to have a negative effect on our production leverage in Q3, which, as you know, tends to be the case anyway sequentially from Q2 to Q3 in this business. So, that will be a bit of a headwind from a margin perspective. And then you're going to get some -- the sequential benefit of those inventory-related costs rolling off out of the retail business. So, that's kind of the big picture expectation.

是的。是的，我不會說得太詳細，但我會說指南暗示或我們的假設是，從第二季度到第三季度，淨定價將會帶來一些增量收益，大約在 50 個基點左右，這將是是我的普遍期望。我認為大宗商品應該轉為正值。現在，我們必須承認的一個負面因素是，由於第二季度的訂單節奏有點低迷，這將對我們第三季度的生產槓桿產生負面影響，正如你所知，無論如何，從該業務的第二季度到第三季度。因此，從利潤角度來看，這將是一個不利因素。然後你會得到一些——這些與庫存相關的成本從零售業務中滾滾而來的連續效益。所以，這就是大局預期。

And I'm going to take one more if that's all right, on the retail side. So, just to be clear on the margin, so high single-digit margin exiting your fiscal year. Is that a normalized forward run rate to use at this kind of volume level? I think in the past, there was some higher targets thrown out there. Are those targets based on maybe what the previous volume assumptions were? Can you just kind of walk us through how you're thinking about that as we get into your next fiscal year and beyond?

如果可以的話，我會在零售方面再買一個。因此，需要明確的是，您的財政年度的利潤率如此之高。這是在這種交易量水平上使用的標準化遠期運行率嗎？我認為過去有一些更高的目標。這些目標是否基於之前的銷量假設？當我們進入下一個財年及以後的會計年度時，您能否向我們介紹一下您是如何看待這個問題的？

Yes. No, I don't think they're normalized, Ruben. I still think there's tons of opportunity for upside here. And as you know, as you have been with us for all these years, the retail team has really been working and investing to build up the infrastructure of this business to support what is essentially a business that's doubled in size over the last 24 months. So, when you think about fulfillment capability, digital capability, customer data capability, all those things are spooling up in the background, which will enable us to make faster decisions, move more quickly, get product to market more quickly. So, we see expansion going forward.

是的。不，我不認為它們是正常化的，魯本。我仍然認為這裡有很多上升的機會。如您所知，正如您多年來一直與我們在一起一樣，零售團隊一直在努力和投資來建立該業務的基礎設施，以支持在過去 24 個月內規模翻倍的業務。因此，當你考慮履行能力、數字能力、客戶數據能力時，所有這些東西都在後台運行，這將使我們能夠更快地做出決策，更快地採取行動，更快地將產品推向市場。因此，我們看到未來的擴張。

Debbie, what would you add to that?

黛比，你想補充什麼？

I would agree. I think there is continued OpEx improvement as we bring some of those investments to fruition and start to leverage them and continued revenue upside opportunities that will help us leverage that OpEx in a better way.

我同意。我認為，隨著我們將其中一些投資付諸實踐並開始利用它們，運營支出將持續改善，而持續的收入增長機會將幫助我們更好地利用運營支出。

And also Reuben, as you think about the bringing together of the 2 companies, we have opportunity on the Knoll side, specifically in retail because it is one of our largest brands in our retail business to really get more efficient with margin there. So, there's several things pulling up the background around bringing these companies together that will improve the margin picture as well as operating income.

還有魯本，當你考慮兩家公司的合併時，我們在 Knoll 方面有機會，特別是在零售領域，因為它是我們零售業務中最大的品牌之一，可以真正提高利潤效率。因此，有幾件事推動了將這些公司合併在一起的背景，這將改善利潤率和營業收入。

Happy holidays and good luck in the new year, and you guys stay safe and -- I know you got some snow headed your way, but stay safe and enjoy the holidays.

節日快樂，新年好運，你們要注意安全，而且——我知道你們路上會下雪，但要注意安全，享受假期。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Greg Burns with Sidoti & Company.

您的下一個問題來自 Sidoti & Company 的 Greg Burns。

Can you just talk about the relative strength in the International segment? What's driving that relative to maybe North America? And then what are some of the growth opportunities that you have internationally?

您能談談國際市場的相對實力嗎？相對於北美而言，是什麼推動了這一趨勢？那麼您在國際上有哪些增長機會？

I think there's a few things, and I'll invite Jeff to add in here. But I think internationally, across the board, we, in some cases, never saw a leaving of the office. And in most cases, we've seen a much faster return to office. So, that kind of normalcy of how people are working and have worked hasn't really changed internationally. On top of that, our business is a little bit more nascent and it is very diversified. So, there's so many different, as you know, we all know, regions and things that are happening across Europe and whether you're talking about Southern Europe or mainland Europe.

我認為有一些事情，我會邀請傑夫在這裡補充。但我認為在全球範圍內，在某些情況下，我們從未見過有人離開辦公室。在大多數情況下，我們看到重返辦公室的速度要快得多。因此，人們工作方式和工作方式的常態在國際上並沒有真正改變。最重要的是，我們的業務還處於起步階段，而且非常多元化。因此，正如您所知，我們都知道，歐洲各地正在發生許多不同的地區和事情，無論您是在談論南歐還是歐洲大陸。

So, we really do -- when we have a business trend that is strong in one part of international, we may have one that's weaker in other. So, I think that diversity is really, really important, coupled with the fact that we still have growth opportunity. We have a dealer network that is capable, but we could actually still grow. So, there's quite a few things that are happening in international.

所以，我們確實如此——當我們在國際某一地區擁有強勁的商業趨勢時，我們可能在其他地區擁有較弱的商業趨勢。所以，我認為多樣性真的非常重要，而且我們仍然有增長機會。我們擁有一個有能力的經銷商網絡，但實際上我們仍然可以增長。所以，國際上正在發生很多事情。

What would you add Jeff?

傑夫你會添加什麼？

I agree with all that. I think that geographic diversity helps us tremendously. We talk about this. And sometimes it's easy to forget that you're talking about massive distances in varied geographies and fragmented markets that all behave and act a little bit differently. And so when one is down, we're at a scale now where we benefit where another one might be stronger. We've certainly seen that now for the past several years. Andi, your point on white space, I think there's opportunity to grow into spaces in markets where we simply just don't have the presence or even the dealer presence to really capitalize on projects and we've done -- we've had a big focus on that for a number of years.

我同意這一切。我認為地理多樣性對我們有很大幫助。我們談論這個。有時很容易忘記您正在談論不同地理位置和分散市場的遙遠距離，而這些市場的行為和表現都略有不同。因此，當一個國家衰落時，我們現在所處的規模可以使我們受益，而另一個國家可能會更強。在過去的幾年裡，我們確實已經看到了這一點。安迪，你關於空白的觀點，我認為有機會發展到市場中的空間，在這些市場中，我們根本沒有存在，甚至沒有經銷商存在來真正利用項目，而我們已經做到了——我們已經有了一個多年來一直高度關注這一點。

The other thing that I might mention, even pre-COVID, one of the biggest themes in the international business was this notion that companies were -- it was a fierce battle for talent in a lot of these businesses. And that's been true in North America as well. But I think one of the key differences are that so many of the customers in some of these regions had always kind of opted for a lower cost facility type of a solution. And when that war for talent really began to heat up, I think there was a real recognition on the part of first global multinationals and then ultimately localized companies that investing in spaces was a strategic way of attracting talent. And I think that continues even through COVID. So, that would be the other bit that I would add.

我可能會提到的另一件事，即使是在新冠疫情之前，國際商業中最大的主題之一就是公司的這一觀念——在許多此類企業中，這是一場激烈的人才爭奪戰。在北美也是如此。但我認為關鍵的區別之一是，其中一些地區的許多客戶總是選擇成本較低的設施類型的解決方案。當人才爭奪戰真正開始升溫時，我認為首先是全球跨國公司，然後是最終的本地化公司，才真正認識到投資空間是吸引人才的戰略方式。我認為即使在新冠疫情期間，這種情況仍在繼續。所以，這將是我要添加的另一點。

The diversity market share, ability to grow. And I would also say with the acquisition of Knoll, we've missed in major markets in Europe and the Middle East the ability to really bring a much stronger ancillary collection. And now with Knoll, not only do we have manufacturing in Italy, but we have the ability to bring that to a wider selection of dealers. So, we're optimistic...

市場份額多元化，增長能力強。我還想說，收購 Knoll 後，我們在歐洲和中東的主要市場失去了真正帶來更強大的輔助系列的能力。現在，有了 Knoll，我們不僅在意大利擁有製造業務，而且有能力將其帶給更多經銷商。所以，我們很樂觀...

Your next question comes from the line of Rex Henderson with Water Tower Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Water Tower Research 的 Rex Henderson。

I want to quickly return to the question about the retail freight costs and the impact on gross margins there. First of all, it sounds to me like any of the issues that you once had in terms of demurrage and storage costs at the port have been now solved. That that's been resolved, and now it's just a matter of working that inventory through the system. Is that right what I'm hearing?

我想快速回到有關零售貨運成本及其對毛利率的影響的問題。首先，在我看來，您曾經在港口滯期費和存儲成本方面遇到的任何問題現在都已經解決了。這個問題已經解決了，現在只需通過系統處理庫存即可。我聽到的對嗎？

Yes, that's absolutely correct.

是的，這是絕對正確的。

Okay. And can you quantify for the quarter, what that impact of that -- those freight costs were this quarter? Can you help us kind of understand what might have been excluding the impact of that?

好的。您能否量化本季度的影響——本季度的貨運成本？您能幫助我們了解什麼可能排除了這種影響嗎？

We sure can.

我們當然可以。

Sure, Rex. So, the costs that we're referring to that you think about it, I mean, there's a number of factors there, but they all fit in that inventory handling and storage related costs, including the demurrage fees that you referred to, that was meaningful. It was to the tune of about $15 million in the full quarter.

當然，雷克斯。所以，我們提到的成本，你考慮一下，我的意思是，有很多因素，但它們都適合庫存處理和存儲相關的成本，包括你提到的滯期費，那就是有意義的。整個季度的銷售額約為 1500 萬美元。

The other question I wanted to address was, particularly in the Americas segment, revenues or sales have been running ahead of order levels, which means you're working down backlog. How much longer can you continue to do that before sales and order levels start to match up more closely?

我想解決的另一個問題是，特別是在美洲市場，收入或銷售額一直領先於訂單水平，這意味著您正在處理積壓訂單。在銷售和訂單水平開始更接近地匹配之前，您還能繼續這樣做多久？

Yes, Rex, so this is Jeff and John, give your perspective if you'd like to add. I would tell you that you are absolutely right. We have had an elevated backlog really across all of our segments through really all of last year, but the majority of last fiscal year and in through the Q1 and really through Q2. The -- so to your point, we've been eating into backlog. The Americas backlog is down year-on-year about 21%. It stands at about $456 million, I think, at the end of Q2. I think we're very close to nearing what I would call a normalized backlog level for this business. I expect that our revenue picture going forward is nearing a more historic relationship to the order trends that we're seeing in a quarter.

是的，雷克斯，這是傑夫和約翰，如果您想補充，請提出您的觀點。我會告訴你，你是絕對正確的。去年全年，但上一財年的大部分時間以及第一季度和第二季度，我們所有部門的積壓量都在增加。 - 所以就你的觀點而言，我們一直在解決積壓的問題。美洲的積壓訂單同比下降約 21%。我認為，到第二季度末，該數字約為 4.56 億美元。我認為我們已經非常接近我所說的該業務的標準化積壓水平。我預計我們未來的收入狀況將與我們在一個季度看到的訂單趨勢接近更具有歷史意義的關係。

John, feel free to add to that.

約翰，請隨意補充。

I totally agree, Jeff. I think the reduction in the backlog is, to some degree, related to order levels, but it's also production and efficiency in the plants and lead times coming down. So, the throughput is that much better, which is obviously bringing more to an equilibrium from a production level.

我完全同意，傑夫。我認為積壓的減少在某種程度上與訂單水平有關，但也與工廠的產量和效率以及交貨時間的下降有關。因此，吞吐量要好得多，這顯然使生產水平更加達到平衡。

Okay. So, that's -- there's good news and bad there. But thanks, I appreciate that. It sounds like you are now kind of at the inflection point where you get to more historic relationships between orders, backlog and sales. Is that right?

好的。所以，這有好消息也有壞消息。但謝謝，我很感激。聽起來您現在正處於一個拐點，您可以在訂單、積壓訂單和銷售之間建立更歷史性的關係。是對的嗎？

Yes. I think we're getting much closer to that, Rex.

是的。我認為我們離這個目標越來越近了，雷克斯。

If you look at it Rex, you can look at last elevated backlog and say that, that was more bad news. I guess we had more disappointed customers with production and supply chain issues. So, I think anything more normalized level is actually better news.

如果你看看雷克斯，你可以看看最後增加的積壓，然後說，這是更壞的消息。我想我們的客戶對生產和供應鏈問題感到更加失望。所以，我認為任何更加正常化的水平實際上都是更好的消息。

There are no further questions. We turn the floor back to President and CEO, Andi Owen, for closing remarks.

沒有其他問題了。我們請總裁兼首席執行官安迪·歐文 (Andi Owen) 致閉幕詞。

Thanks, you guys. I would like to thank everyone again for joining us on today's call. In closing, we are so proud of the resilience demonstrated by our collective of brands and the promise we're making for our integration and also product innovation. We really appreciate your continued interest in MillerKnoll and we look forward to updating you again next quarter. On behalf of all of us here, I want to wish you and your families a wonderful and restful holiday season. Thank you.

謝謝你們。我要再次感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。最後，我們對我們的品牌集體所表現出的韌性以及我們對整合和產品創新做出的承諾感到非常自豪。我們非常感謝您對 MillerKnoll 的持續關注，我們期待在下個季度再次向您通報最新情況。我謹代表我們所有人，祝您和您的家人度過一個美好而寧靜的假期。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的出席。您現在可以斷開連接。