MillerKnoll, Inc. (MLKN) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good evening, and welcome to MillerKnoll's quarterly earnings conference call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

晚安，歡迎參加 MillerKnoll 的季度財報電話會議。提醒各位，本次會議將被錄音。

I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Wendy Watson, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想介紹今天會議的主持人：投資人關係副總裁 Wendy Watson。請開始。

Good evening, and welcome to our third quarter fiscal 2026 conference call. On with me are Andi Owen, Chief Executive Officer; and Kevin Veltman, Chief Financial Officer. Joining them for the Q&A session are John Michael, President of North America Contract; and Debbie Propst, President of Global Retail.

晚安，歡迎參加我們 2026 會計年度第三季電話會議。與我一同出席的有執行長 Andi Owen，以及財務長 Kevin Veltman。在問答環節加入的還有北美合約業務總裁 John Michael，以及全球零售總裁 Debbie Propst。

We issued our earnings press release for the quarter ended February 28, 2026, after market close today, and it is available on our Investor Relations website at millerknoll.com. A replay of this call will be available on our website within 24 hours.

我們已於今日收盤後發布截至 2026 年 2 月 28 日止季度的財報新聞稿，並已上傳至 millerknoll.com 的投資人關係網站。電話會議重播將於 24 小時內在我們網站提供。

Before I turn the call over to Andy, please remember our Safe Harbor disclosure 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 made as of today's date, and except as may be required by law, we assume no obligation to update or supplement these statements.

在我把電話交給 Andy 之前，請記得我們關於前瞻性資訊的「安全港」揭露。在本次電話會議中，管理層可能討論前瞻性資訊，該等資訊涉及已知與未知的風險、不確定性及其他因素，可能導致實際結果與所明示或暗示者不同。請在評估前瞻性資訊時，將這些因素一併納入考量；相關內容已在今日新聞稿中詳述。前瞻性陳述係以今日日期為準，除法律可能要求外，我們不承擔更新或補充這些陳述的義務。

We also refer to certain non-GAAP financial metrics, and our press release includes the relevant non-GAAP reconciliations.

我們也會提及若干非 GAAP 財務指標；新聞稿中包含相關的非 GAAP 調節表。

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

接下來，我把電話交給 Andy。

Thanks, Wendy. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I want to begin our call by expressing my appreciation to our 10,000 associates across the globe for their hard work in delivering our third-quarter results. Our team's dedication and focus on our strategy to drive long-term value delivered another solid quarter with continued sales and order growth and disciplined execution.

謝謝你，Wendy。各位晚安，感謝各位加入我們。我想先對全球 10,000 位同仁致上謝意，感謝大家辛勤付出，促成我們第三季的成果。團隊對策略的投入與專注、以推動長期價值為目標，使我們再度交出穩健的一季，銷售與訂單持續成長，並以紀律落實執行。

Despite ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty as well as the impact of severe weather during the quarter, we were able to deliver quarterly results within our expectations, and we continue to be optimistic about the impact that our strategic initiatives can deliver.

儘管宏觀經濟與地緣政治不確定性仍在，加上本季嚴峻天候的影響，我們仍能交出符合預期的季度表現，並持續對策略性計畫所能帶來的成效保持樂觀。

Before I move to segment-specific highlights from the quarter, I want to congratulate the operations team on the 30th anniversary of MKPS, our MillerKnoll Performance System, used across our manufacturing footprint. We have successfully worked with Toyota for 30 years and remain a model for efficient and reliable production. MKPS is a significant competitive advantage for MillerKnoll and enables us to produce all of our products efficiently and at the highest quality.

在我進入各事業部本季重點之前，我想祝賀營運團隊：MKPS（MillerKnoll Performance System，MillerKnoll 績效系統）已邁入 30 週年，並在我們的製造據點全面採用。我們與豐田成功合作 30 年，至今仍是高效率且可靠生產的典範。MKPS 是 MillerKnoll 重要的競爭優勢，使我們能以最高品質高效率地生產所有產品。

So let's move to the current macroenvironment. From a tariff perspective, we don't expect the most recent developments to result in any meaningful changes to our approach, and we expect to continue to fully offset tariff costs for the remainder of this fiscal year as we did in the third quarter. Recognizing that things can develop quickly, however, we are very experienced in navigating tariff changes and continue to monitor both policy and rates closely.

接著談談目前的宏觀環境。就關稅而言，我們預期最新發展不會對我們的做法造成任何重大改變；如同第三季一樣，我們預期在本會計年度剩餘期間將持續完全抵銷關稅成本。不過我們也理解情勢可能迅速變化；我們在因應關稅變動方面經驗豐富，並將持續密切監控政策與稅率。

With respect to the Middle East, this region remains an important long-term growth opportunity for our international contract business. In the near term, the current conflict is creating disruption, and we do expect some impact to fourth-quarter sales and costs. Kevin will provide additional detail on this later in the call.

至於中東，該地區仍是我們國際合約業務重要的長期成長機會。短期內，當前衝突造成干擾，我們確實預期將對第四季的銷售與成本帶來一些影響。Kevin 稍後會在電話會議中提供更多細節。

Moving to some highlights and trends in our segments. In North America contract, the power of this business as a cash generation engine was on display this quarter, with gross margins and operating income stream building as [seal] continued to grow year over year. Industry benchmarks continue to show improving trends in Class A leasing, net lease absorption, and return to office. When looking at dynamics by industry sector, we saw order growth in most sectors and are pleased with the resiliency of demand as our customers continue to invest in their spaces and are in commute.

接下來談各事業部的一些亮點與趨勢。在北美合約業務方面，本季充分展現該業務作為現金創造引擎的實力；隨著 [seal] 持續年增，毛利率與營業利益率的提升也隨之顯現。產業基準指標持續顯示：A 級辦公室租賃、淨租賃吸納量，以及回辦公室趨勢皆在改善。從各產業別動態來看，我們在多數產業部門都看到訂單成長；客戶持續投資其空間並回到通勤，我們對需求的韌性深感欣慰。

With Design Days as our largest industry trade show coming up in early June, we are looking forward to showcasing launches for the workspace in healthcare from Herman Miller, Knoll, Geiger, NaughtOne, Hay, Muuto, and Maharam. Our marketing, product insights, and North America contract teams are in full preparation mode, and we are looking forward to welcoming our customers and our dealers to flip the market.

隨著 Design Days（我們最大的產業展會）將於 6 月初登場，我們期待展示來自 Herman Miller、Knoll、Geiger、NaughtOne、Hay、Muuto 與 Maharam 的工作空間與醫療照護領域新品上市。我們的行銷、產品洞察與北美合約團隊正全力準備中，也期待歡迎客戶與經銷商一同參與，帶動市場熱度。

In international contracts, we're advantaged with the most desired product portfolio and continue to be bullish about our ongoing opportunities in faster growing underpenetrated markets, as well as expanding our dealer share of wallet across these markets while generating enviable margins.

在國際合約業務方面，我們擁有最受青睞的產品組合優勢，並持續看好在成長更快、滲透率較低市場中的長期機會；同時在這些市場擴大經銷商錢包份額，並創造令人稱羨的利潤率。

As we discussed in previous calls, another strength in our international business is our diverse regional footprint and localized production, where strong performance in certain regions can mitigate softness in others. With these varied regional dynamics, we can sometimes see quarter-over-quarter choppiness, and our team is both deliberate and nimble on where and how to target growth. In particular, this quarter, we saw sales strength in India, China, Japan, Southern Europe, Germany, and the UK.

如同我們在先前電話會議中所提到的，國際業務的另一項優勢是多元的區域布局與在地化生產；某些地區的強勁表現可抵銷其他地區的疲弱。在這些不同的區域動態下，我們有時會看到季度間的波動；團隊在鎖定成長的地點與方式上，既審慎也靈活。尤其在本季，我們看到印度、中國、日本、南歐、德國與英國的銷售表現強勁。

In Global Retail, we continue to grow and take market share in the approximately $150 billion global premium home furnishings market. In the third quarter, segment comparable sales increased 5.5%, and in the North America region, we had comparable sales growth of 3.9%. Our cost sales include both sales through e-commerce as well as stores that have been open for 13 months.

在全球零售方面，我們持續成長，並在約 1,500 億美元的全球高端家居市場中擴大市占。第三季，事業部同店銷售成長 5.5%；在北美地區，同店銷售成長 3.9%。我們的銷售成本包含電商銷售，以及已開店滿 13 個月的門市銷售。

While adverse weather conditions across North America during the quarter resulted in lower traffic than normal as well as store closures, we were pleased to deliver comparable sales growth despite these headwinds. We continue to expand our store footprint in the third quarter, opening new DWR locations in Fort Worth, Texas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and a Herman Miller store in Phoenix, Arizona. We plan to open three [former] locations before the end of fiscal 2026, ending the year with 14 to 15 new stores in the US, executing on our strategy to approximately double our DWR from a Miller store footprint over the next several years.

儘管本季北美各地不利天候導致來客數低於正常水準，並造成部分門市關閉，我們仍很高興能在這些逆風下交出同店銷售成長。我們在第三季持續擴展門市版圖，於德州沃斯堡與賓州匹茲堡開設新的 DWR 據點，並在亞利桑那州鳳凰城開設一家 Herman Miller 門市。我們計畫在 2026 會計年度結束前再開設三個 [former] 據點，使全年在美國新增門市達 14 至 15 家，落實我們在未來數年內將 DWR 與 Herman Miller 門市版圖約翻倍的策略。

As a reminder, our North American retail growth is being driven by four strategic levers: new store openings, expanded product assortment, e-commerce acceleration, and increased brand awareness. During the quarter, we executed several high-impact brand campaigns designed to attract new customers and drive store traffic across our Design Within Reach and Herman Miller banners. We launched our very first Herman Miller seating campaign with engaging video and targeted marketing in key regions around the world.

提醒各位，我們北美零售成長由四項策略槓桿驅動：新店開設、擴大產品組合、加速電商，以及提升品牌知名度。本季我們執行了多項高影響力的品牌行銷活動，旨在吸引新客戶，並提升 Design Within Reach 與 Herman Miller 兩大品牌旗幟下的門市來客。我們推出了首個 Herman Miller 座椅行銷活動，透過引人入勝的影片與在全球關鍵地區的精準行銷投放。

During Modernism Week in Palm Springs, where our recently opened DWR store continues to perform well, we held an exhibition of modern seating from the millennial archive in partnership with the Palm Springs Artisan, connecting us more deeply with the Palm Springs community, and reinforcing our leadership in modern design. And just in the past few weeks, DWR unveiled a collaboration with Tracee Ellis Ross. Our designers work directly with Tracee to transform her pattern beauty offices. The collaboration was covered in Vanity Fair, Forbes, Essence, and House Beautiful and has generated more than 200 million media impressions.

在棕櫚泉的 Modernism Week 期間，我們近期開幕的 DWR 門市持續表現亮眼；我們與 Palm Springs Artisan 合作，舉辦一場來自千禧年典藏檔案的現代座椅展覽，讓我們與棕櫚泉社區建立更深連結，並強化我們在現代設計領域的領導地位。而就在過去幾週，DWR 也揭曉了與 Tracee Ellis Ross 的合作。我們的設計師直接與 Tracee 合作，將她的 Pattern Beauty 辦公室進行改造。此次合作獲《Vanity Fair》、《Forbes》、《Essence》與《House Beautiful》報導，並已產生超過 2 億次媒體曝光。

In summary, I'm proud of our solid performance in the third quarter and continue to be optimistic about both our contract and retail businesses. Regardless of the macroeconomic and geopolitical landscape, our team will continue to execute on our targeted initiatives, new product launches, and growing retail footprint.

總結來說，我為我們第三季的穩健表現感到自豪，並持續對我們的合約與零售業務保持樂觀。無論宏觀經濟與地緣政治情勢如何，我們的團隊都將持續推進既定的重點計畫、新產品上市，以及擴大零售據點。

As Kevin will discuss, we made meaningful progress strengthening our balance sheet during the quarter, and we remain well positioned for profitable growth. We are focused on creating long-term value across our powerful collective of brands through our balanced strategy of sustained revenue growth, margin expansion, cash generation, and shareholder returns.

如 Kevin 將會說明，我們在本季強化資產負債表方面取得了實質進展，且我們仍具備實現獲利成長的良好條件。我們專注於透過均衡策略，在我們強大的品牌組合中創造長期價值；該策略包括持續的營收成長、毛利率擴張、現金創造，以及股東報酬。

Finally, I want to welcome Claire Spofford to our Board of Directors. Claire most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of J. Jill, and she brings a powerful combination of consumer insight, retail strategy, and governance experience that will enhance our Board as we continue to grow our global collective brands and drive long-term value creation.

最後，我想歡迎 Claire Spofford 加入我們的董事會。Claire 最近曾擔任 J. Jill 的總裁兼執行長；她結合了深厚的消費者洞察、零售策略與公司治理經驗，將在我們持續擴大全球品牌組合並推動長期價值創造的過程中，強化董事會的能力。

With that, Kevin will discuss our financial results in more detail and share our outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter.

接下來，Kevin 將更詳細說明我們的財務結果，並分享我們對第四個財政季度的展望。

Thanks, Andi, and good evening, everyone. I will begin with a summary of our third-quarter results and then discuss our outlook. In the third quarter, we generated adjusted earnings per share of $0.43 compared to $0.44 in the same quarter last year. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $927 million, up 5.8% year over year on a reported basis and 3.8% higher organically.

謝謝你，Andi，各位晚安。我將先概述第三季的業績，接著說明我們的展望。第三季，我們的調整後每股盈餘為 0.43 美元，去年同期為 0.44 美元。本季合併淨銷售額為 9.27 億美元，以報表口徑年增 5.8%，以有機口徑成長 3.8%。

Orders for the quarter grew to $932 million, up 9.2% as reported and 7.2% higher on an organic basis, driven by growth in our North America contract and Global Retail segments. Our consolidated backlog was $712 million at quarter end, up 3.7% from a year ago. Third-quarter consolidated gross margin increased 20 basis points to 38.1%, driven by gross margin strength in our North America contract segment.

本季訂單成長至 9.32 億美元，以報表口徑年增 9.2%，以有機口徑成長 7.2%，主要由北美合約與全球零售部門的成長所帶動。截至季末，我們的合併在手訂單（backlog）為 7.12 億美元，較一年前增加 3.7%。第三季合併毛利率提升 20 個基點至 38.1%，主要受惠於北美合約部門的毛利率表現強勁。

Turning to cash flows in the balance sheet. We generated $61 million in cash flow from operations in the quarter and reduced our debt by $41 million, lowering our debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 2.75 times as defined by our lending agreement. This moved us meaningfully towards our midterm goal of a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio in the range of 2 to 2.5 times. We also finished the third quarter with $594 million in liquidity.

接著談資產負債表中的現金流。本季我們的營運活動現金流入為 6,100 萬美元，並將債務減少 4,100 萬美元，使依照貸款協議定義的債務對 EBITDA 比率降至 2.75 倍。這使我們在達成中期目標（淨負債對 EBITDA 比率介於 2 至 2.5 倍）方面邁出重要一步。我們也在第三季末擁有 5.94 億美元的流動性。

In January, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1875 per share. The dividend is payable on April 15 to shareholders of record on February 28, 2026. At an annual indicated dividend of $0.75 per share, the yield is 3.9% based on yesterday's closing stock price. Our capital allocation priorities continue to balance our investments in growth with improving our debt-to-EBITDA ratio, retaining our commitment to our dividend and maintaining a strong balance sheet.

1 月，我們的董事會宣告每季現金股利為每股 0.1875 美元。股利將於 2026 年 4 月 15 日支付給 2026 年 2 月 28 日登記在冊的股東。以年化指示股利每股 0.75 美元計算，依昨日收盤股價計算的殖利率為 3.9%。我們的資本配置優先順序，將持續在成長投資與改善債務對 EBITDA 比率之間取得平衡，同時維持對股利政策的承諾並保持強健的資產負債表。

With that, I will move to the third-quarter performance by segment. Net sales in the North America Contract segment were $489 million, up 4.4% on a reported basis and 4.1% higher organically. Orders increased to $491 million, up 13.1% on a reported basis and up 12.8% organically from prior year.

接下來我將說明第三季各部門的表現。北美合約部門的淨銷售額為 4.89 億美元，以報表口徑年增 4.4%，以有機口徑成長 4.1%。訂單增加至 4.91 億美元，以報表口徑年增 13.1%，以有機口徑年增 12.8%。

Operating margin was 8.6% and adjusted operating margin was a strong 9.8%, up 70 basis points year over year, primarily from gross margin expansion, driven by leverage on higher sales and operating efficiency. International contract segments net sales were $157 million, up 7.8% on a reported basis and up 1.9% organically.

營業利益率為 8.6%，調整後營業利益率強勁達 9.8%，年增 70 個基點，主要來自毛利率擴張，受惠於較高銷售帶來的規模效益與營運效率提升。國際合約部門的淨銷售額為 1.57 億美元，以報表口徑年增 7.8%，以有機口徑成長 1.9%。

Orders were $160 million, up 0.7% versus prior year on a reported basis and down 4.3% organically, driven primarily by lower orders in Latin America and the Middle East, partially offset by strength in Asia Pacific. Third-quarter reported operating margin was 7.7%, with adjusted operating margin of 8.2%, down 110 basis points compared to prior year, primarily related to regional and product sales mix in the quarter as well as foreign currency impact.

訂單為 1.60 億美元，以報表口徑較去年同期成長 0.7%，以有機口徑下降 4.3%，主要因拉丁美洲與中東訂單較低，部分被亞太地區的強勁表現所抵銷。第三季報表口徑營業利益率為 7.7%，調整後營業利益率為 8.2%，較去年同期下降 110 個基點，主要與本季區域與產品銷售組合，以及外匯影響有關。

In the Global Retail segment, net sales were $281 million, up 7.1% on a reported basis and up 4.4% organically. Orders improved to $280 million, up 7.9% year over year on a reported basis and up 5.1% on an organic basis. Operating margin was 2.2% in the quarter. On an adjusted basis, operating margin was 2.8%, down 340 basis points year over year, primarily due to a freight benefit in the prior year, targeted promotional actions to offset adverse weather in the quarter, and the impact from opening new stores.

在全球零售部門，淨銷售額為 2.81 億美元，以報表口徑年增 7.1%，以有機口徑成長 4.4%。訂單改善至 2.80 億美元，以報表口徑年增 7.9%，以有機口徑成長 5.1%。本季營業利益率為 2.2%。以調整後口徑計算，營業利益率為 2.8%，較去年同期下降 340 個基點，主要因去年同期有運費利益、為抵銷本季不利天候而採取的目標性促銷行動，以及新店開幕帶來的影響。

As Andy mentioned, we opened three new stores in the third quarter. We expect to open three to four additional stores in the fourth quarter and anticipate opening a total of 14 to 15 new stores in the full fiscal year.

如 Andy 所提到，我們在第三季新開了三家門市。我們預期在第四季再開三到四家門市，並預計全財年合計新開 14 到 15 家門市。

Turning to our Q4 guidance. This outlook incorporates our current best estimates for items that we believe will impact our fourth-quarter sales and earnings from the conflict in the Middle East. In the fourth quarter, we expect net sales to range between $955 million and $995 million, up 1.4% versus prior year at the midpoint of $975 million. This includes an expectation that we will ship only a minimal amount of approximately $12 million in Middle East-related orders in the fourth quarter.

接著談我們對第四季的指引。此展望納入我們目前對中東衝突可能影響第四季銷售與獲利之項目的最佳估計。第四季我們預期淨銷售額介於 9.55 億至 9.95 億美元，中位數 9.75 億美元較去年同期成長 1.4%。其中包含一項預期：第四季我們僅會出貨約 1,200 萬美元、與中東相關的訂單，且出貨量將維持在最低程度。

Gross margin is projected to be between 37.5% and 38.5% and includes higher expected logistics costs from higher oil prices related to the conflict in the Middle East. Adjusted operating expense is expected to range between $311.5 million to $321.5 million, higher year over year, primarily due to increased compensation, variable selling expense, new store costs, and the impact of foreign exchange.

毛利率預估介於 37.5% 至 38.5%，並包含因中東衝突導致油價上升而帶來的較高物流成本。調整後營業費用預期介於 3.115 億至 3.215 億美元，較去年同期增加，主要因薪酬提高、變動銷售費用、新店成本，以及外匯影響。

Adjusted diluted earnings are expected to range between $0.49 and $0.55 per share. This includes our current estimate that the direct impact of the Middle East conflict will be $8 million to $9 million in the quarter, or $0.09 to $0.10 per share. Included in our expectations for operating expense and EPS are approximately $3.5 million to $4.5 million in incremental year-over-year operating expense for new store locations in global retail. These investments are aligned with our strategy to expand our retail footprint and drive long-term profitable growth.

調整後稀釋每股盈餘預期介於每股 0.49 美元至 0.55 美元之間。其中包含我們目前的估計：中東衝突在本季對公司造成的直接影響將為 800 萬至 900 萬美元，或每股 0.09 至 0.10 美元。在我們對營業費用與每股盈餘（EPS）的預期中，亦包含全球零售新店據點帶來的約 350 萬至 450 萬美元的年增量營業費用。這些投資與我們擴大零售版圖並推動長期獲利成長的策略一致。

For further details related to our outlook, please refer to our press release.

有關我們展望的更多細節，請參閱我們的新聞稿。

With that overview, I'll turn the call over to the operator. As always, we welcome your questions and look forward to discussing our progress, outlook, and strategic priorities.

以上為概述，接下來我把電話會議交給接線員。一如既往，我們歡迎各位提問，並期待討論我們的進展、展望與策略重點。

Doug Lane, Water Tower Research.

Doug Lane，Water Tower Research。

Just want to clarify or maybe you could put some color on how the snowstorms and ice storms and all that weather we had earlier in the year impacted your business, maybe the contract versus the retail?

我只是想釐清一下，或許你們可以補充說明一下：今年稍早的暴風雪、冰暴以及那些天候狀況對你們的業務造成了什麼影響？例如合約業務相較於零售業務的影響？

Yes, Doug, let me give you a kind of a high level. This is Andi, by the way. We definitely saw lower traffic than normal across our retail stores. We had quite a few closures during that frigid weather period. We had several plants that were also closed during that forge weather period.

好的，Doug，我先從高層次說明一下。順帶一提，我是 Andi。我們確實看到零售門市的來客數低於正常水準。在那段嚴寒天氣期間，我們有相當多的門市關閉。在那段嚴寒天氣期間，我們也有數座工廠關閉。

So for us, we would say that the impact range, Kevin, you would probably give us?

所以就我們而言，我們會說影響的區間，Kevin，你大概可以幫我們補充一下？

Yeah. When we look at -- relative to our guidance, we obviously did not incorporate the severe weather, most of it was in our retail business, which was when we look at where our miss was relative to guide on the top line, a little under half of it was related to our North America retail business.

是的。當我們相對於指引來看時，很明顯我們並未把嚴重天候納入考量；其影響多數發生在零售業務。若看我們相對於指引在營收端的落差，其中略低於一半與北美零售業務相關。

And I would say just from a contract perspective, when you look at order patterns in the quarter, we certainly saw a slowdown in showroom visits and visits to kind of our corporate headquarters during that month of January. So the order patterns reflected that weather trend a little bit, but primarily in retail is where we saw the biggest impact, Doug.

另外，從合約業務的角度來看，當你觀察本季的下單型態時，我們確實在 1 月那段時間看到展示間來訪，以及到我們企業總部拜訪的人次放緩。因此，下單型態多少反映了這個天候趨勢；但主要、也是影響最大的，仍是在零售端，Doug。

Okay. That makes sense. And then it's -- I get that it's a volatile situation in the Middle East, and I can see the demand being impacted. That's pretty obvious.

好的。這很合理。另外，我理解中東局勢非常動盪，也看得出需求會受到影響。這點相當明顯。

But I'm wondering throughout the P&L, where else you're seeing potential cost pressures? Have you seen any movement on plastics or aluminum or some of these commodities that go through that part of the world? Has it begun to be impacted yet? I know it will take a while to work through your inventories. But what are you seeing? And what are you doing about the potential for elevated costs coming through?

但我想問的是，在損益表（P&L）的其他部分，你們還看到哪些潛在的成本壓力？塑膠、鋁，或是一些會經過那個地區的商品，你們有看到任何變動嗎？是否已開始受到影響？我知道這需要一段時間才會反映到你們的庫存。但你們目前看到的是什麼？對於可能出現的成本上升，你們正在做哪些因應？

Yeah. We're looking at a variety of things, Doug. Obviously, we haven't seen much except for increase in diesel and things that are really impacting oil-related fuel so far, but we anticipate we'll see increase in cost of plastics, foam, all the things where you see petroleum-related products. We haven't seen it yet. This was a really hard quarter to take a look at because the situation is obviously very chaotic and moving every day.

是的。Doug，我們正在觀察多個面向。到目前為止，除了柴油等與石油相關燃料上漲之外，我們還沒有看到太多變化；但我們預期會看到塑膠、泡棉等石油相關產品的成本上升。目前尚未看到。這一季其實很難判斷，因為情勢顯然非常混亂且每天都在變化。

So what we've tried to layer into this guide is what we know today, which has higher oil costs, potentially higher logistics cost shipping containers. And we've really looked at that across all of our businesses as well as our inability to ship orders we have directly into the Middle East. As we've done in the past with tariffs and the kind of changing environment around tariffs, we'll watch the situation closely and we'll continue to react as we can with pricing and surcharges as needed as we see other situations continue to develop. But we're looking at it every day and scenario planning as the situation changes.

因此，我們嘗試在本次指引中納入我們今天所掌握的資訊，包括較高的油價、以及可能較高的物流成本（例如貨櫃運輸）。我們也從所有業務面向評估此影響，並考量我們無法將既有訂單直接出貨至中東的情況。如同過去面對關稅與關稅環境變動時一樣，我們會密切關注情勢，並在需要時透過調價與附加費來因應，隨著其他情況持續發展而調整。但我們每天都在追蹤，並隨情勢變化進行情境規劃。

Kevin, what would you add?

Kevin，你還要補充什麼嗎？

You covered it very well.

你已經說得很完整了。

Are you starting to build inventories just out of precaution? Or is it just too early to make any of those judgments?

你們是否開始出於預防而建立庫存？還是現在要做這些判斷仍太早？

We have dual supply in a variety of places for most of our really important components. We learned that lesson in COVID. And so we're looking at that right now. We don't see a lot of areas where we're going to need to take supply or inventory yet, and we're being very cautious as we look at that. But so far, not yet.

我們在多個環節對大多數關鍵零組件都有雙重供應來源。我們在 COVID 期間學到了這一課。因此我們現在也正在檢視這些安排。目前我們看不到有很多領域需要先行備料或增加庫存，我們在評估時也非常謹慎。但到目前為止，還沒有。

Okay. That's helpful. And just one last thing, if you could characterize the office environment. I mean, the tone has been fairly positive from a macro standpoint. And again, I don't know if you're seeing anything shift here with all the geopolitics or do you just see the underlying business continuing to firm as it has for the past several quarters?

好的。這很有幫助。最後一個問題，如果你能描述一下辦公室環境的狀況。從總體角度來看，基調一直相當正面。同樣地，我不確定你們是否看到地緣政治讓情況有所轉變；或者你們只是看到基本面如過去幾季一樣持續轉強？

As it always is, Doug, it's a different story depending on what region of the world you're in. And I've been on a plane a lot in the last couple of months. I would say, in North America, and certainly John Michael can add color to this, we continue to see momentum. We continue to see architectural billings moving in the right direction. We continue to see lots of customer visits and demand and orders, and we're very pleased about that.

Doug，一如往常，這會因你所在的世界區域不同而有不同的故事。而且我在過去幾個月搭了很多次飛機。我會說，在北美——當然 John Michael 也可以補充——我們持續看到動能。我們持續看到建築設計費用（architectural billings）朝正向發展；我們也持續看到大量客戶來訪、需求與訂單，對此我們非常滿意。

I would say when you step out of the US, it really varies by region. I think we're seeing a little bit of price sensitivity. We're seeing a little bit of a different reaction in different parts of the world. We're not seeing major pullbacks anywhere, but I think in places that are touched more closely, whether it's the conflict in Ukraine or whether the latest concept in the Middle East, and we're certainly seeing a little bit more caution but not necessarily reflected in order trends that have changed.

我會說，一旦走出美國，情況就會因地區而異。我認為我們看到一些價格敏感度上升。我們也看到世界不同地區的反應略有差異。我們沒有看到任何地方出現重大縮手，但我認為在受影響較近的地區——不論是烏克蘭衝突，或是近期中東的衝突——我們確實看到更為謹慎的態度，但未必反映在訂單趨勢出現變化。

Phillip Blee, William Blair.

Phillip Blee，William Blair。

This is Olivia Witte on for Philip. So can you talk a little bit about the volatility, if any, you've seen from the recent market volatility and rise in gas prices? Do you have any concerns that the uncertainty could cause a bigger pullback or deferral in the contract business that could be prolonged? And then what kind of impact does the market volatility have on your traffic or conversion in the retail segment?

我是代 Philip 出席的 Olivia Witte。你們能否談談近期市場波動與油價上升所帶來的波動性（如果有的話）？你們是否擔心這種不確定性會導致合約業務出現更大的縮手或延後，且可能持續一段時間？另外，市場波動對你們零售部門的來客數或轉換率會造成什麼影響？

Okay. So great questions. I would say from a contract perspective, like I was telling Doug, I think we have built in some caution around oil prices and how that might impact [taking] new spends in diesel certainly in shipping containers Olivia, so we're looking at that for the contract business. We will continue to monitor component costs and costs that go into the products that we make. We haven't seen any movement yet, but we anticipate we will if this is prolonged.

好的。所以問題問得很好。我會說，從合約的角度來看，就像我跟 Doug 說的，我們已經針對油價以及它可能如何影響柴油的新支出（尤其是在貨櫃運輸方面，Olivia）內建了一些審慎措施，所以我們正在就合約業務這部分進行評估。我們也會持續監控零組件成本，以及投入到我們所製造產品中的各項成本。目前我們還沒有看到任何變動，但如果這種情況持續一段時間，我們預期會看到變化。

And then from a retail standpoint, whenever you have a consumer that has seen prices rise, that could potentially see inflation go up and also is paying more at the gas pump. We watch that carefully. So far, we have a consumer that tends to be premium and tends to be rather unaffected by many of these changes. So we have a resilient consumer that continues to come back and continues to buy from us, but we're still making sure that we are balancing our price and our demand so that we're not beginning to kind of outprice the demand levers that we have in the business.

接著從零售的角度來看，當消費者看到價格上漲，可能也會看到通膨上升，同時在加油站付出更高的油錢時，我們會非常謹慎地觀察。到目前為止，我們的消費者族群通常偏高端，且往往不太受這些變化影響。因此我們有一群具韌性的消費者，持續回流並持續向我們購買；但我們仍在確保價格與需求之間的平衡，避免我們開始把價格拉高到超出我們在業務中可運用的需求槓桿所能承受的程度。

Debbie, would you add anything from a retail perspective or, John, in contract?

Debbie，妳要從零售角度補充什麼嗎？或者 John，從合約角度呢？

I would just add on retail that I think we're well placed to continue to navigate macroeconomic conditions that are unfavorable, as we have been. And are well poised to do that because we have demand levers and initiatives that we're deploying such as assortment growth, which drove the majority of our comp demand growth in the quarter, such as our new stores and our e-commerce acceleration and our marketing funnel mix investments. So we continue to be optimistic that we can bend macroeconomic trend curve.

我只想就零售補充一點：我認為我們處於很好的位置，能夠一如既往地持續因應不利的總體經濟環境。而我們之所以能做好，是因為我們正在部署需求槓桿與各項計畫，例如品類/商品組合擴張（assortment growth），它推動了本季同店需求成長的大部分；以及我們的新店、電商加速、與行銷漏斗組合投資。因此我們仍然樂觀，相信我們能夠扭轉總體經濟趨勢曲線。

And I would say from a contract perspective, customers have become accustomed to the uncertainty in the geopolitical risk. So whereas maybe uncertainty a couple of years ago would have -- they would have put the brakes on. They're proceeding cautiously. So it maybe is slowing down timelines a bit, but activity still seems to be pretty robust.

我會說，從合約角度來看，客戶已經逐漸習慣地緣政治風險帶來的不確定性。所以如果是幾年前，這種不確定性可能會讓他們踩煞車；但現在他們是謹慎地推進。因此可能會讓時程稍微放慢一些，但整體活動看起來仍相當強勁。

And then in the contract business, I know government isn't a huge contributor, but still a decent chunk of the North America business. So could you talk about recent trends here and how the partial shutdown could potentially impact spend there?

另外在合約業務中，我知道政府並不是很大的貢獻來源，但仍占北美業務相當一部分。所以你能談談近期這裡的趨勢，以及部分停擺可能會如何影響那邊的支出嗎？

Yeah, John, do you want to take that one?

好的，John，你要回答這題嗎？

Sure. I think we came into this year expecting that the federal government business would be rather tough and would be down a bit year over year. I think we still saw there were sort of a number of agencies that were still -- had a lot of activity. I think one store started in Iran. We saw that sort of slow down because a lot of the a lot of the agencies that were getting funded were now involved in supporting that conflict, so I think it's had an impact.

當然。我想我們在今年一開始就預期聯邦政府業務會相當艱難，且年對年會下滑一些。不過我們仍看到有一些機關的活動量相當多。我想伊朗那邊爆發了一場衝突。我們看到活動因此放緩，因為許多原本獲得資金的機關，現在轉而投入支援那場衝突，所以我認為確實造成了影響。

On the other hand, there are a number of projects coming out of the ground for the federal government, buildings that are going to be need to be filled with furniture. So it will be rather choppy with the federal government for the next several months probably, but there's still activity there.

另一方面，也有一些聯邦政府的專案正在動工，會有一些建築需要配置家具。所以接下來幾個月聯邦政府這塊可能會相當起伏不定，但仍然有活動存在。

Reuben Garner, The Benchmark Company.

Reuben Garner，Benchmark Company。

Maybe to start, just a clarification. Kevin, the $8 million to $9 million or $0.09 to $0.10 of earnings drag, is there something specific about the fourth quarter? Or how quickly this evolved that's kind of making the earnings impact a little bigger in the near term? Or is this more drags out? Is that kind of $0.10 a quarter the right way to think about it on an ongoing basis?

也許先從釐清一點開始。Kevin，那 800 萬到 900 萬美元、或每股盈餘拖累 0.09 到 0.10 美元，第四季有什麼特別之處嗎？或者是這件事演變得多快，導致短期的獲利影響看起來更大？還是這會拖得更久？是否可以把這大約 0.10 美元視為每季持續性的影響？

So the sales that we don't expect to be able to ship in the quarter is pretty close to what our run rate has been, that $12 million that I mentioned. The cost side, that's the piece where initially you're seeing it in diesel prices and things of that nature. But some other elements of cost, if this becomes a prolonged situation, would not have fully flowed through yet, right? I think container rates or foam resin type costs. So not a huge impact of that. Mostly it's logistics-related things that are reflected in what we see as the fourth-quarter exposure.

我們預期本季無法出貨的銷售額，與我們一直以來的運行水準（run rate）非常接近，也就是我提到的那 1,200 萬美元。成本端方面，最初你看到的是柴油價格等這類因素。但如果這變成一個長期狀況，其他一些成本要素目前還不會完全反映出來，對吧？例如貨櫃運價或泡棉樹脂之類的成本，所以那部分影響不大。第四季曝險主要反映的是物流相關的項目。

And I would say just like tariffs, Reuben, when these things come up quickly, it's harder for us to cover them in the immediate quarter. By the nature of the contract business, we're not able to get that pull-through. So you'll see it sort of gradually come through as we see what happens with costs.

我也會說，Reuben，就像關稅一樣，當這些事情來得很快時，我們在當期季度要完全吸收/覆蓋它會更困難。以合約業務的特性來說，我們無法立即把成本完全轉嫁出去。所以你會看到它隨著我們觀察成本變化而逐步反映出來。

Which gives us time to think about the different pricing limits that we have as well.

這也讓我們有時間去思考我們可運用的不同定價界限。

Exactly.

沒錯。

Great. And is this an opportunity to use surcharges in a way, given the abrupt nature of it and how it could very well be temporary? Or do you not see a path to use that mechanism this go around?

了解。那麼，鑑於它來得突然，而且很可能是暫時性的，這是否是一個以附加費（surcharges）方式處理的機會？還是你們認為這次不太可能走這個機制？

It's a tool we have in the toolbox, and it's definitely one we'll consider, but there's a number of other levers that we could look at as well. And as you know, our two segments operate on a little different cadence from a pricing perspective. So retail is one where we can react without needing to think about surcharges.

這是我們工具箱裡的一個工具，我們肯定會納入考量，但我們也可以看其他一些槓桿。而且如你所知，我們兩個事業部在定價節奏上略有不同。零售這邊我們可以更快反應，不一定需要考慮附加費。

Got it. And then a lot of discussion in the market about AI and its implications on various industries. I think office furniture is one that's been topical of late. Just curious, I know you guys have had some insights in the past from your own Board even how you're thinking about that.

了解。另外，市場上對 AI 及其對各產業的影響有很多討論。我想辦公家具最近也是一個熱門話題。我只是好奇，我知道你們過去也從你們自己的董事會得到一些洞見，想了解你們如何看待這件事。

What are you seeing today from your technology clients from an order perspective? Are they building out their offices in a bigger way? Any insights into kind of sector-specific growth within contract would be helpful.

你們今天從科技客戶的訂單角度看到了什麼？他們是否在更大規模地擴建/打造辦公室？若能分享合約業務中一些產業別的成長洞見會很有幫助。

Hi, Reuben, it's John. Yeah, the tech sector is very active right now, particularly in the Bay Area. As you might imagine, we've seen a significant uptick in activity in that area. And I think the other sort of tech-focused areas around the country, whether that be Austin or other areas like that, the activities are really robust.

嗨，Reuben，我是 John。是的，科技產業目前非常活躍，特別是在灣區。如你所想像的，我們看到那個地區的活動量明顯上升。而且我認為全國其他以科技為主的地區，不論是奧斯汀或其他類似地區，活動都非常強勁。

And I think, Reuben, just like any other sort of technological step change, we're seeing some organizations that are talking about laying off certain types of employees and others that are adding on just as many of other types of skill sets. So we're really seeing it kind of balance out as AI impacts different parts of the economy and of businesses. But so far, we're seeing quite a robust tech business.

我認為，Reuben，就像任何其他類型的技術躍遷一樣，我們看到有些組織在談論裁撤某些類型的員工，而另一些則在增加同樣多、但屬於其他技能組合的人才。因此，隨著 AI 影響經濟與企業的不同部分，我們確實看到它在某種程度上達到平衡。但到目前為止，我們看到科技業務相當強勁。

Reuben, one other item I would call out is we just look at some of the different sectors in the third quarter. General business services and insurance and financial are big categories of activity and both of those were showing nice activity in the quarter.

Reuben，我還想特別指出另一點：我們看看第三季不同產業部門的表現。一般商業服務、保險以及金融是活動量很大的類別，而這兩者在本季都呈現不錯的活躍度。

And then last one for me. I don't know if you gave it if I missed it, I apologize, but quarter-to-date order growth rate for retail and North American contract, do you have those numbers or did you already share them?

然後我最後一個問題。我不確定你是否有提到，若我漏聽了先說聲抱歉；零售與北美合約（NAC）截至本季目前（quarter-to-date）的訂單成長率，你有那些數字嗎？還是你已經分享過了？

Yeah. So let me unpack that with you. And you'll recall this from discussions last year in the fourth quarter. At this time last year, we were starting to see some of the order pull ahead related to the tariff surcharges and price increases we are putting in place. And so our comps are a little bit tricky early in the quarter.

有。我來跟你拆解一下。你會記得我們去年第四季的討論。在去年的這個時點，我們開始看到因關稅附加費與我們正在推行的漲價而導致的提前拉貨（order pull-ahead）。因此，本季初期的可比基期（comps）會有點棘手。

But if you look at international and retail, which did not have the surcharge scenario pushing through, those are both up here through the first few weeks of the quarter. NAC is down, but if you adjust for the estimate of the pull-ahead impact, it's more flattish. And so kind of if you take that noise out around 2% year-over-year growth at this point with some normalization.

但如果你看國際與零售，這兩個並沒有附加費情境推動的影響，在本季前幾週截至目前都是成長的。NAC 是下滑的，但如果你把提前拉貨影響的估計值調整回來，走勢就比較接近平坦。所以若把這些雜訊排除，在某種正常化之下，目前大約是年增 2% 左右。

Greg Burns, Sidoti & Company.

Greg Burns，Sidoti & Company。

I just wanted to clarify the $12 million ship to the Middle East, was that what you are going to be able to ship or what you're not going to be able to ship?

我只是想釐清一下，提到要運往中東的 1,200 萬美元出貨，是指你們能夠出貨的金額，還是你們無法出貨的金額？

That's what we anticipate we will not be able to ship.

那是我們預期將無法出貨的金額。

Not be able. Okay, perfect. Okay. And then in the retail business, I know we're not into fiscal '27 yet, but would you expect the pace of store openings to remain about the same next year? Or do you expect to continue at the current pace? And would that mean that the incremental cost per quarter will kind of remain the same into next year?

無法出貨。好的，完美。好的。另外，在零售業務方面，我知道我們還沒進入 2027 財年，但你預期明年開店速度會大致維持相同嗎？還是你預期會延續目前的速度？如果是這樣，是否代表每季的增量成本到明年也會大致維持相同？

Yeah. We're expecting next year's store openings to be in a similar zone to the 14 to 15 this year, maybe a touch higher based on our plans. And so I think that would be a good modeling assumption to assume you continue to have somewhat similar year-over-year OpEx growth, that kind of $3.5 million to $4.5 million that we had mentioned.

是的。我們預期明年的開店數會落在與今年 14 到 15 家相近的區間，依照我們的計畫可能會略高一些。因此我認為，在建模時可以合理假設你會看到相對類似的年對年營業費用（OpEx）成長，也就是我們提到的約 350 萬到 450 萬美元。

Okay. And then in terms of product assortment, can you just talk about maybe some of the -- where you're adding to your product portfolio? And maybe what areas are still opportunities for you to round out?

好的。那在產品組合方面，你能否談談你們在哪些地方正在擴充產品組合？以及哪些領域對你們而言仍是可以補齊的機會？

Yeah. Debbie, I'll let you take that one and give some specifics.

好的。Debbie，我讓你來回答這題並提供一些具體內容。

Absolutely. So from a retail perspective, we continue to grow what we call the lifestyle category, which is really our residential home furnishings. We've made significant progress in areas of upholstery, bedroom storage, but we still have a lot more latitude in those areas. And we're also continuing to invest in our gaming portfolio, which is continuing to show major traction. All of our categories were positive to last year in Q3, but the biggest opportunity areas continue to be rounding out the home furnishings areas of the home.

當然。從零售角度來看，我們持續擴大我們所稱的生活風格（lifestyle）類別，也就是我們的住宅家居用品。我們在沙發／軟體家具（upholstery）、臥室收納等領域已取得顯著進展，但在這些領域仍有很大的發揮空間。我們也持續投資於電競（gaming）產品組合，且持續展現強勁的市場動能。第三季我們所有品類相較去年都呈現正成長，但最大的機會領域仍是把家中各個家居陳設品類補齊、做得更完整。

Okay. And why was the retail gross margin down?

好的。那為什麼零售毛利率會下滑？

Our gross margin was impacted versus last year by a couple of things, predominantly that we had a favorable freight true-up last year, just over a couple of million dollars. And then we had some incremental ship revenue costs in Q3 as we pushed into some free shipping promos to try and adjust the trends during the time that we had a weather impact. So those are the largest areas, but we also had a little bit of OI impact -- sorry, a little bit of FX impact and variable incentive impacts at OI as well.

我們的毛利率相較去年受到幾個因素影響，主要是去年有一筆有利的運費調整回沖（freight true-up），金額略高於 200 萬美元。另外，第三季我們為了在受到天候影響期間調整趨勢，推行了一些免運促銷，因此產生了額外的出貨收入相關成本。這些是最大的影響因素；此外，我們也有一點其他收益（OI）面的影響——抱歉，是有一點匯率（FX）影響，以及在其他收益（OI）端的變動獎酬影響。

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

目前沒有其他問題。接下來我們把時間交還給總裁暨執行長 Andi Owen，請她做結語。

Thanks, everyone, for joining us on the call tonight. We really appreciate your support, and we look forward to updating you again next quarter. Have a nice day.

謝謝各位今晚參與電話會議。我們非常感謝各位的支持，也期待在下個季度再次向各位更新。祝各位有美好的一天。

This concludes today's meeting. You may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以掛線。