Neogen Corp (NEOG) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Neogen Corporation first quarter 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded on Tuesday, October 10, 2024.

女士們、先生們，早安，歡迎參加 Neogen Corporation 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）此通話於 2024 年 10 月 10 日星期二錄製。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Bill Waelke, VP, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係和財務副總裁 Bill Waelke。請繼續。

Thank you for joining us this morning for the discussion of the first quarter of our 2025 fiscal year. I'll briefly cover the non-GAAP and forward-looking language before passing the call over to our CEO, John Adent, who will be followed by our CFO, Dave Naemura.

感謝您今天早上參加我們關於 2025 財年第一季的討論。在將電話轉交給我們的執行長 John Adent 之前，我將簡要介紹非 GAAP 和前瞻性語言，隨後我們的財務長 Dave Naemura 將接聽電話。

Before the market opened today, we published our first quarter results as well as the presentation with both documents available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

在今天市場開盤前，我們發布了第一季業績以及演示文稿，兩份文件均可在我們網站的投資者關係部分查閱。

On our call this morning, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful in evaluating our performance. Reconciliations of historical non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and the presentation, slide 2 of which provides a reminder that our remarks will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

在今天早上的電話會議上，我們將參考一些我們認為有助於評估我們績效的非公認會計準則財務指標。我們的收益報告和簡報中包含了歷史上非公認會計準則財務指標的調節，其中投影片 2 提醒我們，我們的評論將包括《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所定義的前瞻性陳述。

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks include among others, matters that we have described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in other filings we make with the SEC. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

這些前瞻性陳述具有風險，可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述所表達或暗示的結果有重大差異。這些風險包括我們在最近的 10-K 表年度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中所述的事項。我們不承擔更新這些前瞻性陳述的任何義務。

With that, I'll turn things over to John.

說完這些，我就把事情交給約翰。

Thanks, Bill. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the earnings call for the first quarter of our 2025 fiscal year. At the beginning of September, we crossed the two year anniversary of the closing of the 3M food safety transaction, which solidified our position as the largest player with the broadest product portfolio and geographic reach in an attractive and important end market.

謝謝，比爾。大家早安，歡迎參加我們 2025 財年第一季的收益電話會議。九月初，我們迎來了 3M 食品安全交易結束兩週年，這鞏固了我們作為最具吸引力和重要性的終端市場中擁有最廣泛產品組合和地理覆蓋範圍的最大參與者的地位。

That transactions strengthen our company in the food safety end market where we generate approximately two-thirds of our revenue from products and solutions that help protect the food supply. We provide an important and relatively inexpensive line of defense and the rapid detection of contaminants in the production and distribution of food and beverages.

這些交易增強了我們公司在食品安全終端市場中的地位，我們在該市場中約三分之二的收入來自有助於保護食品供應的產品和解決方案。我們提供重要且相對便宜的防線以及食品和飲料生產和分銷過程中污染物的快速檢測。

We believe the food safety market have a number of secular tailwinds. One of these tailwinds involves the expected increase in various food testing regulatory requirements around the world. We saw another example of this recently in the US with the USDA's declaration of Salmonella as a known adulterant in raw breaded and stuffed chicken products joining E. coli and Listeria as the other known pathogen adulterant in different food types.

我們相信食品安全市場將面臨一系列長期的順風因素。其中一個有利因素是預計全球範圍內各種食品檢測監管要求的增加。我們最近在美國看到了另一個例子，美國農業部宣布沙門氏菌是生麵包屑雞肉和填充雞肉產品中的已知摻雜物，與大腸桿菌和李斯特菌一樣，是不同食物類型中已知的另一種致病菌摻雜物。

The USDA and other international regulatory bodies continue to focus on reducing severe illness and fatalities stemming from foodborne pathogens, and we anticipate the emergence of additional regulatory requirements in the future.

美國農業部和其他國際監管機構繼續致力於減少食源性病原體引起的嚴重疾病和死亡，我們預計未來還會出現更多的監管要求。

Other key tailwinds in the food safety market include the increasing expectation from consumers to know what is in and not in in their food as well as the high cost associated with contaminated products reaching the shelves. Beyond the obvious tragic consequences that can result from consuming contaminated food or beverages.

食品安全市場的其他主要推動因素包括消費者越來越期望了解他們的食品中含有什麼和不含什麼，以及受污染產品上架所帶來的高成本。除了食用受污染的食物或飲料可能造成的明顯悲慘後果之外。

The cost to companies and the associated product recalls, litigation, brand damage and even facility closures can be tremendous as evidenced recently by several unfortunate high-profile outbreaks. These occurrences reinforce the value proposition of Neogen's solutions and industry expertise, which have never been more relevant than they are today.

最近發生的幾起令人震驚的不幸疫情就證明了，企業所付出的成本以及相關的產品召回、訴訟、品牌損害甚至工廠關閉都是巨大的。這些事件強化了 Neogen 解決方案和行業專業知識的價值主張，它們在今天比以往任何時候都更重要。

Our commercial teams have been engaging in an increasing number of these conversations with customers, offering not only the breadth of our products and services, but also the long-standing knowledge and expertise we can provide and structuring robust food safety testing programs.

我們的商業團隊一直在與客戶進行越來越多的此類對話，不僅提供我們廣泛的產品和服務，還提供我們可以提供的長期知識和專業技能，並建立強大的食品安全測試計劃。

We expect these factors to continue to support growth in the food safety end market and a continuation of the progress we've made in expanding and in some cases winning back market share.

我們預計這些因素將繼續支持食品安全終端市場的成長，並繼續支持我們在擴大市場份額和在某些情況下贏回市場份額方面所取得的進展。

In Animal Safety, we continue to manage through end market conditions we believe are at or near cyclical lows, particularly in the United States where most of our business in this segment is focused. Our Animal Safety sales are influenced by net farm income, which after peaking in 2022 in the US declined in '23 and is declining again in 2024.

在動物安全方面，我們繼續應對我們認為處於或接近週期性低點的終端市場狀況，特別是美國，我們在該領域的大部分業務都集中在美國。我們的動物安全銷售額受到淨農場收入的影響，美國的淨農場收入在 2022 年達到高峰後，在 2023 年下降，並在 2024 年再次下降。

The majority of our business in this segment goes through large distributors. And despite weaker conditions, sales of our products out of the distribution channel have continued to grow. However, our sales to our distributor partners are subject to movements in the timing of orders and inventory levels, as well as any other factors or initiatives specific to individual distributors.

我們在這一領域的業務大部分是透過大型經銷商進行的。儘管情況疲軟，但我們產品透過分銷管道的銷售額仍在持續成長。然而，我們對經銷商合作夥伴的銷售受到訂單時間和庫存水準變動的影響，以及任何其他特定於個別經銷商的因素或舉措。

In the first quarter, some of our key distributors reduced inventory levels due to order timing from the fourth quarter. For [others did] so as a result of some specific challenges they're experiencing in their particular business.

第一季度，我們的一些主要分銷商由於第四季度的訂單時間而降低了庫存水準。對其他人來說，這樣做是因為他們在特定業務中遇到了一些特定的挑戰。

We are not seeing the indications of a destocking trend and believe the sales out of our products support an improvement in our Animal Safety growth rates in the coming quarters. And of course, we'll continue to monitor the channel dynamics closely.

我們沒有看到去庫存趨勢的跡象，並相信我們產品的銷售將支持未來幾季動物安全成長率的提高。當然，我們將繼續密切關注通路動態。

In our genomics business globally, first quarter revenue was down on a year-over-year basis but improved from the decline we saw in the fourth quarter. We began to round-trip the impacts of the strategic shift towards larger production animals in the quarter and did see growth in our large animal business.

在我們全球基因組學業務中，第一季的營收年減，但較第四季的下降有所改善。本季度，我們開始扭轉向大型生產動物策略轉變的影響，並確實看到了大型動物業務的成長。

This growth was offset by weakness in the companion animal side of the business, driven by lower number of new puppies and increased inflationary pressure on customers. We are continuing to focus on driving growth in the direct-to-producer beef and dairy segments. We're also targeting actions to right size the cost base to better align with current level of revenue.

但這一增長被伴侶動物業務的疲軟所抵消，原因是新生幼犬數量減少以及客戶通膨壓力增加。我們將繼續致力於推動直接面向生產者的牛肉和乳製品領域的成長。我們也將採取行動，適當調整成本基礎，以更好地適應當前的收入水平。

With respect to our integration progress, the ERP-related challenges that we've been experiencing in our primary distribution center have been resolved and we no longer are constrained by shipping. That being said, we do see opportunity to drive improvements in the efficiency of that operation and our teams are focused on executing a number of initiatives there.

就我們的整合進度而言，我們的主要配送中心所遇到的與 ERP 相關的挑戰已經解決，我們不再受到運輸的限制。話雖如此，我們確實看到了提高營運效率的機會，我們的團隊也正致力於在那裡執行一些措施。

On the production side, we've completed the relocation of the former 3M sample collection product line. While we've been in the process of ramping up our production, we haven't been able to fully keep up with end-user demand, which weighed on our sample collection sales in the quarter.

生產方面，我們已經完成了原3M樣品採集產品線的搬遷。雖然我們一直在提高產量，但我們仍未能完全滿足最終用戶的需求，這對我們本季的樣品銷售造成了影響。

We currently have all lines operational with a line of sight to reach normal production levels in the third quarter. Our new pretreatment facility is progressing well, and the first of our two major shipments of equipment is expected to land in Lansing in January. It will take several months to uncreate everything and get it moved into the new building, but the receipt of the equipment is clearly an important milestone in that process.

目前，我們所有生產線均已投入運營，預計在第三季達到正常生產水準。我們的新預處理設施進展順利，兩批主要設備中的首批預計將於一月份抵達蘭辛。將所有東西拆除並搬進新大樓需要幾個月的時間，但收到設備顯然是這一過程中的一個重要里程碑。

With the recent shipping challenges behind us, regaining market share is a top priority. The response to our initial efforts in this area have been encouraging. We are a known and trusted partner in the industry with leading products that are globally validated, and most customers are primarily focused on a demonstrated period of reliable supply.

隨著最近的航運挑戰已經過去，重新獲得市場份額是當務之急。我們在這一領域的初步努力得到了令人鼓舞的反響。我們是業內知名且值得信賴的合作夥伴，擁有經過全球驗證的領先產品，大多數客戶主要關注的是可靠供應期。

Because of this, share recapture will not happen overnight. But the progress we've made so far is in line with our expectations. Our commercial teams are executing detailed tactical plans that are driving constructive dialogue with previously impacted customers, and we're looking forward to continuing to demonstrate our capabilities as a reliable, knowledgeable source of leading food safety testing solutions.

因此，重新奪回股份不會在一夜之間發生。但我們目前的進展符合我們的預期。我們的商業團隊正在執行詳細的戰術計劃，推動與先前受影響的客戶進行建設性對話，我們期待繼續展示我們作為領先食品安全檢測解決方案的可靠、知識淵博來源的能力。

I'll now turn the call over to Dave for some more insights in our results for the quarter.

現在我將把電話轉給戴夫，讓他對本季的業績有更多的了解。

Thank you, John, and welcome to everyone on the call today. Jumping into the results, our first quarter revenues were $217 million. [Core] revenue which excludes the impact of foreign currency, acquisitions and discontinued product lines declined 1% for the quarter, while foreign currency was a headwind of 390 basis points compared to the prior year.

謝謝你，約翰，歡迎今天參加電話會議的各位。從結果來看，我們第一季的營收為 2.17 億美元。不包括外匯、收購和停產產品線影響的[核心]收入本季下降了 1%，而外匯與上年相比逆風 390 個基點。

The first quarter is historically our seasonally lowest of the year. With this year's first quarter seeing the impact of lost sales related to our shipping challenges in the second half of fiscal 2024.

從歷史上看，第一季是我們一年中季節性最低的季度。今年第一季度，我們將看到與 2024 財年下半年的運輸挑戰相關的銷售損失的影響。

At the segment level, revenues in our Food Safety segment were $159 million in the quarter, a decrease of 4% compared to the prior year, including core growth of 1%. The core growth was led by the indicator testing, culture media and other product category, which benefited from strong growth in our Petrifilm product line as well as in food quality, nutrition and analysis and culture media.

從分部層級來看，本季我們食品安全部門的收入為 1.59 億美元，較上年下降 4%，其中核心收入成長 1%。核心成長由指標測試、培養基和其他產品類別推動，受益於我們的 Petrifilm 產品線以及食品品質、營養和分析以及培養基的強勁成長。

This growth was partially offset by a decline in sample collection as we fell behind demand during the process of ramping up production in our own facility. The bacterial and general sanitation product category saw modest growth in pathogens, which was offset by declines in general sanitation and microbiology.

由於我們在自己的工廠提高產量的過程中落後於需求，導致樣品收集量的下降部分抵消了這一增長。細菌和一般衛生產品類別中的病原體略有增長，但被一般衛生和微生物學中的病原體下降所抵消。

Within the natural toxins and allergens category, modest growth in allergens was offset by a decline in natural toxins. Quarterly revenues in the Animal Safety segment were $58 million, which includes a core revenue decline of 8% compared to the prior year quarter.

在天然毒素和過敏原類別中，過敏原的適度增長被天然毒素的下降所抵消。動物安全部門的季度收入為 5,800 萬美元，其中核心收入與去年同期相比下降了 8%。

Within biosecurity, strong growth in rodent control products was offset by declines in insect control and cleaners and disinfectants. The vet instruments and disposables product line had a slight core revenue decline while the animal care and other product category had a larger core revenue decline, driven in part by supplier related product availability issues.

在生物安全領域，滅鼠產品的強勁成長被殺蟲劑、清潔劑和消毒劑的下降所抵消。獸醫器械和一次性用品產品線的核心收入略有下降，而動物照護和其他產品類別的核心收入下降幅度較大，部分原因是供應商相關的產品供應問題。

Worldwide genomics revenue was down mid-single digits on a core basis, solid growth in beef markets was offset by the shift away from small production animals in the US, the impact of which we have mostly anniversaried as of the end of Q1.

全球基因組學收入核心下降了中等個位數，牛肉市場的穩健成長被美國小型生產動物的轉移所抵消，截至第一季末，我們基本上已經意識到其影響。

From a regional perspective, core revenue growth in the first quarter was mixed. Growth was led by Latin America, which saw double digit growth with a strong performance across most key product categories. The growth was driven by continued build out of inventory across the distribution channel as well as some new business wins.

從區域來看，第一季核心營收成長喜憂參半。拉丁美洲引領了成長，實現了兩位數成長，大多數主要產品類別表現強勁。成長的動力來自於分銷通路庫存的持續增加以及一些新業務的成功。

Our business in Europe was roughly flat on a core basis with growth in Petrifilm, cleaners and disinfectants, Culture Media and vet instruments, offset by declines in sample collection, general sanitation and genomics.

我們在歐洲的業務基本上持平，Petrifilm、清潔劑和消毒劑、培養基和獸醫器械業務有所增長，但樣本採集、一般衛生和基因組學業務有所下降。

Asia Pacific core revenue was down slightly on a year-over-year basis with growth in Petrifilm, cleaners and disinfectants and food quality offset by declines in pathogens and general sanitation. Our US and Canada regions saw the largest carryover impact from the shipment delays last year, with core revenue down in the mid-single digit range.

亞太地區核心收入較去年同期略有下降，其中 Petrifilm、清潔劑和消毒劑以及食品品質的成長被病原體和一般衛生的下降所抵消。我們美國和加拿大地區受到去年出貨延遲的最大影響，核心收入下降了個位數左右。

Despite this impact, Petrifilm and Culture Media had solid growth, which was offset by declines in most other food safety product categories. In the Animal Safety segment, strong growth in rodent control products was offset by declines in the other major product categories.

儘管受到這種影響，Petrifilm 和培養基仍保持穩健成長，但被大多數其他食品安全產品類別的下滑所抵消。在動物安全領域，滅鼠產品的強勁成長被其他主要產品類別的下滑所抵消。

Gross margin in the first quarter was 48.4%, representing a decrease of 260 basis points from 51% in the same quarter a year ago and an improvement sequentially due mostly to some reclass and one-time items that impacted Q4.

第一季毛利率為 48.4%，較去年同期的 51% 下降 260 個基點，環比有所改善，主要原因是部分重新分類和一次性項目影響了第四季度。

Adjusting for transaction and integration related costs as well as discontinued products, the year-over-year gross margin decline in Q1 was 90 basis points. The decline was driven primarily by lower volume and continued higher distribution costs.

經交易和整合相關成本以及停產產品調整後，第一季毛利率年減 90 個基點。下降的主要原因是銷售下降和分銷成本持續上升。

Adjusted EBITDA was $44 million in the first quarter, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.1%, a year-over-year decline of 280 basis points. The decline in adjusted EBITDA margin was driven by lower revenue in the quarter and the decline in gross margin with additional negative impact from having the full cost to exit the various transition agreements, including some impact from higher shipping, a portion of which are reflecting in operating expenses.

第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 4,400 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 20.1%，年減 280 個基點。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率下降是由於本季收入下降和毛利率下降，以及退出各種過渡協議的全部成本產生的額外負面影響，包括運費上漲的一些影響，其中一部分反映在營運費用中。

First quarter adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share were $14 million and $0.07 respectively, compared to $24 million and $0.11 in the prior year quarter. The declines in the current year Q1 were driven primarily by the lower adjusted EBITDA.

第一季調整後淨收入和調整後每股收益分別為 1,400 萬美元和 0.07 美元，而去年同期分別為 2,400 萬美元和 0.11 美元。今年第一季的下滑主要是因為調整後的 EBITDA 較低。

We ended the quarter with gross debt of $900 million, 67% of which remains at a fixed rate and a total cash position of $120 million. Compared to the fourth quarter, the lower first quarter cash position was driven by higher capital expenditures, a semi-annual interest payment on our senior notes and the negative impact from working capital.

本季結束時，我們的總債務為 9 億美元，其中 67% 維持固定利率，總現金部位為 1.2 億美元。與第四季相比，第一季現金狀況下降是由於資本支出增加、優先票據的半年利息支付以及營運資本的負面影響。

The working capital increase was largest in payables, which is mostly timing driven and inventory where we built stock of higher running products. Q1 represented the high point in the year for CapEx spend. We believe we are still on track with the free cash flow guidance we provided in July, but are off to a slower start than we had anticipated.

營運資本增加最多的是應付款項，這主要是由時間驅動的，以及我們建立高運作產品庫存的庫存。第一季是今年資本支出的最高點。我們相信，我們仍然按照 7 月提供的自由現金流指導進行，但起步速度比我們預期的要慢。

Moving to our outlook for the 2025 fiscal year, we are maintaining our previously issued guidance. First quarter revenue developed in line with the expectations we communicated regarding lower than normal first half seasonality, and we are encouraged by the performance we saw in September, which was an improvement over the first month of Q1.

對於 2025 財年的展望，我們維持先前發布的指引。第一季的營收符合我們對上半年季節性低於正常的預期，我們對 9 月的業績感到鼓舞，9 月的業績比第一季的第一個月有所改善。

We expect our first quarter adjusted EBITDA margin to be the lowest of the year and expect margin improvement in the balance of the year to be driven by higher revenue volumes, gross margin improvement, including actions in our shipping and distribution operations and operating expense efficiency.

我們預計第一季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將是今年最低的，並預計今年剩餘時間的利潤率改善將受到收入增加、毛利率提高（包括我們在運輸和配送業務以及營運費用效率方面的舉措）的推動。

As I noted on capital expenditures, we anticipate our first quarter spending to be the highest level of the year, followed by the second quarter. We also continue to believe higher adjusted EBITDA combined with lower CapEx and the 3M working capital load in not repeating will result in free cash flow for this year being positive.

正如我在資本支出方面所指出的，我們預計第一季的支出將達到今年的最高水平，其次是第二季。我們也繼續相信，更高的調整後 EBITDA 加上更低的資本支出以及 3M 營運資本負荷不會重複將導致今年的自由現金流為正。

I'll now hand the call to John for some closing thoughts.

現在我將把電話交給約翰，讓他發表一些結束語。

Thanks, Dave. In a separate announcement this morning, we share that Doug Jones, our Chief Operating Officer, has communicated his intent to retire in the early part of calendar 2025. Doug has had a long career across a number of industries and his experience has been a great value to Neogen, particularly he's broad commercial expertise and contributions to the integration of the 3M transaction.

謝謝，戴夫。在今天早上的另一份公告中，我們宣布，我們的營運長 Doug Jones 已表示他打算在 2025 年初退休。道格在多個行業擁有長期職業生涯，他的經驗對 Neogen 來說非常有價值，尤其是他廣泛的商業專業知識和對 3M 交易整合的貢獻。

In preparation for Doug's coming retirement, we have begun the search for a Chief Commercial Officer, who will report to me and have responsibilities for our global sales, marketing and communications organizations. With Doug assisting with the transition once that role is filled.

為了準備迎接道格即將退休，我們已經開始尋找一位首席商務官，他將向我匯報工作，並負責我們的全球銷售、行銷和傳播組織。一旦職位有人填補，Doug 就會協助完成過渡。

Our new Vice President of Global Operations will transition to report to Dave Naemura, our CFO, who has worked closely with the operations team here at Neogen as well as other organizations in the past. This realignment will provide a dedicated focus on our commercial activities while also enabling Dave to work more closely with the operations and supply chain teams to further untap improvement opportunities.

我們新任全球營運副總裁將轉而向我們的財務長 Dave Naemura 匯報工作，他過去曾與 Neogen 以及其他組織的營運團隊密切合作。這項調整將使我們更加專注於商業活動，同時也使戴夫能夠與營運和供應鏈團隊更緊密地合作，以進一步挖掘改進機會。

Our Head of Latin America also recently announced his impending retirement after a long career with Neogen, and we've hired his replacement, Enrique Carballido, who brings commercial experience from a number of multinational corporations in the diagnostics space, most recently as the head of Latin America for Bio-Rad.

我們的拉丁美洲區負責人最近也宣布，在 Neogen 工作多年後即將退休，我們已聘請 Enrique Carballido 接替他的職位，他曾在多家跨國公司從事診斷領域的商業工作，最近擔任 Bio-Rad 拉丁美洲區負責人。

Finally, we recently announced the addition of a new member of our Board, Thierry Bernard, who is the current CEO of QIAGEN, a leading global provider of molecular diagnostic solutions and insights. This addition brings the valuable insights and perspectives of an independent public company CEO to our Board, including those gain from experience in the food safety industry in prior roles.

最後，我們最近宣布董事會新增一名成員，Thierry Bernard，他是 QIAGEN 的現任首席執行官，QIAGEN 是全球領先的分子診斷解決方案和見解提供者。此次任命為我們的董事會帶來了獨立上市公司執行長的寶貴見解和觀點，其中包括在先前擔任食品安全產業職務期間所累積的經驗。

The goal of these additions and organizational realignments is to continue to bring experience and capabilities into Neogen that puts us in the best position to execute on the significant opportunities we have in our primary end market of food safety. We are the established leader in this market and look forward to continuing to build on that position to drive sustainable long-term growth.

這些新增和組織調整的目標是繼續為 Neogen 帶來經驗和能力，使我們處於最佳位置，以抓住我們在食品安全主要終端市場中的重大機會。我們是這個市場的既定領導者，並期待繼續鞏固這一地位，推動可持續的長期成長。

Now, I'll turn things over to the operator to begin the Q&A.

現在，我將把問題交給接線員開始問答。

(Operator Instructions) David Westenberg, Piper Sandler.

（操作員指示）David Westenberg，Piper Sandler。

Hey, guys, thank you for taking the question. So you've had 3M for a little while now, and there's definitely some great products that fit with your overall portfolio. How are you looking at maybe investments this year in sales and marketing, R&D, et cetera, in terms of allocation towards food safety overall, now that you have this new toys in the portfolio?

嘿，夥計們，謝謝你們回答這個問題。您已經使用 3M 一段時間了，其中肯定有一些適合您整體產品組合的優秀產品。既然您的投資組合中有了這些新玩具，您如何看待今年在銷售和行銷、研發等方面的投資，以及在食品安全方面的整體分配？

Hi, David, it's Dave. Good question. I think what you've heard from us over the last year is a couple of things, a lot of commercial investment, particularly building out the international regions. We think there's continues to be a lot of opportunity and now that we have critical mass post 3M acquisition. We've been putting a lot of energy there.

嗨，大衛，我是戴夫。好問題。我想大家在過去一年裡聽到我們談到了一些事情，大量的商業投資，特別是國際區域的建設。我們認為仍然存在著許多機會，而且在收購 3M 之後我們已經達到了臨界規模。我們在那裡投入了大量的精力。

And also, you've heard us talk about Petrifilm is a platform. It's very exciting and clearly an R&D priority for us to invest in and course in Q1 announced a new reader as well for the new feeder for higher volume processing. So I think you've heard that promise and your take is right. It's very exciting. And I think hopefully, we'll continue on that theme.

而且，您也聽我們說過 Petrifilm 是一個平台。這非常令人興奮，顯然這是我們投資的研發重點，當然在第一季我們也宣布了一款新的讀取器以及用於更高容量處理的新進料器。所以我認為你已經聽到了這個承諾並且你的看法是正確的。這非常令人興奮。我希望我們能夠繼續討論這個主題。

Yeah. Thanks, David. We've talked a lot about capital allocation and where we're going to spend our money, and it's something we do and look at as a group and understand and we see the profitability profile of those products and really a number of our other products in the food safety, and that's where we're going to continue to invest. That was the thesis of the deal. It's why we're still excited about the deal. That's why we're going to continue to put money behind it.

是的。謝謝，大衛。我們已經討論了很多關於資本配置以及我們將在哪裡花錢的問題，這是我們作為一個團隊所做的事情，我們了解並看到了這些產品以及我們在食品安全領域的許多其他產品的盈利狀況，這就是我們將繼續投資的地方。這就是協議的主旨。這就是我們仍然對這筆交易感到興奮的原因。這就是我們將繼續為其投入資金的原因。

That definitely sounds right. And then in terms of the debt and how we're thinking about debt over the course of the next three years. I know you don't give three or four years guidance, but just in terms of the priority to pay that down, I still think that is a big capital priority for you though. I know you guys continue to think about tuck-ins pretty ongoing basis.

這聽起來確實沒錯。然後就債務而言，以及我們如何考慮未來三年的債務問題。我知道您沒有給出三到四年的指導，但就優先償還債務而言，我仍然認為這對您來說是一項重要的資本優先事項。我知道你們一直持續思考著豐盛的美食。

Yeah. Look, I think you've heard us consistently talk about capital allocation priority first funding the integration, which is vital, but then on a net basis, reducing leverage. And as we do so that frees up M&A capacity, right? So I think no change there. We have to keep getting the integration work done, which we made obviously huge strides in 2024.

是的。聽著，我想你已經聽到我們一直在談論資本配置優先權，首先為整合提供資金，這是至關重要的，然後以淨額為基礎，降低槓桿率。我們這樣做就能釋放併購能力，對嗎？所以我認為沒有改變。我們必須繼續完成整合工作，顯然我們在 2024 年取得了巨大進步。

And as the years progress here, we think we will be on okay path. The guide implies around 3 times net leverage at the end of the year of the fiscal year, little higher than where we thought we'd be a few years ago at this time, but clearly manageable and I think reflective of our priorities.

隨著時間的推移，我們相信我們會走上好的道路。該指南暗示財政年度末的淨槓桿率約為 3 倍，略高於我們幾年前此時的預期，但顯然是可控的，我認為這反映了我們的優先事項。

Perfect. And then just one last one here for you, the stock-out of the Petrifilm, that is now well behind you. Can you talk about the customer recovery ratio, what kind of win you are in terms of winning all those back. Is there still a big group that you have left to win back? Or do you get them pretty much all back over the last year or so, now that you had product on a pretty consistent basis? And that's my last. Thank you.

完美的。最後再告訴大家一個訊息，那就是 Petrifilm 測試片缺貨的情況，現在已經遠遠超出了你們的承受範圍。能談談客戶恢復率嗎？在贏回所有客戶方面，您取得了怎樣的勝利？您還剩下多少大群體需要贏回？或者說，在過去一年左右的時間裡，您是否已經基本收回了這些費用，因為現在您的產品供應已經相當穩定了？這是我最後一次了。謝謝。

Yeah. I think there's two pieces of this. One is Petrifilm specifically, which is what you asked about. In Japan, where we had the major issues. We won those customers back. And we're actually seeing growth in Japan. I mean, that's been a good story for us. I mean that was -- I think we had multiple quarters of decline, and we finally start to see that business turnaround and return to growth. And it's a really strong team.

是的。我認為這有兩個面向。一個是 Petrifilm，也就是您所問的。在日本，我們遇到了重大問題。我們重新贏回了那些顧客。我們確實看到了日本的成長。我的意思是，這對我們來說是一個好故事。我的意思是——我認為我們經歷了多個季度的下滑，但我們終於開始看到業務好轉並恢復成長。這是一支非常強大的團隊。

I think on the broader business where we struggled a little bit for a couple of quarters regarding our EWM system at the warehouse and customers, that continues to be a focus for us to win those customers back. That's going to take a little bit longer. We knew that we need to rebuild trust, have a number of discussions with customers.

我認為，從更廣泛的業務角度來看，我們在倉庫和客戶的 EWM 系統方面在過去幾個季度遇到了一些困難，但這仍然是我們贏回這些客戶的重點。這需要更長的時間。我們知道我們需要重建信任，與客戶進行多次討論。

And like I said in my opening remarks, what they want to see is consistent supply. We've done that for a quarter and they want to see us do it again. And so, we're still on that journey. That's why we talked about for the year how it's going to pace out. I mean first quarter was going to be our lowest and going to be a challenge for us. But we understood that, and we think that we're on the right track.

正如我在開場白中所說的那樣，他們希望看到的是持續的供應。我們已經這樣做了一個季度，他們希望看到我們再次這樣做。所以，我們仍在繼續這段旅程。這就是我們討論今年如何發展的原因。我的意思是，第一季將是我們業績最低的季度，對我們來說將是一個挑戰。但我們明白這一點，我們認為我們走在正確的道路上。

Brandon Vazquez, William Blair.

布蘭登·巴斯克斯、威廉·布萊爾。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. Let's maybe start on the customer losses that you guys were just touching on. John, are you able to quantify at all what the customer losses were over the past couple of quarters? I know when you guys lost customers in Japan, you were able to give us a number. So curious if you can quantify it at all.

大家早安。感謝您回答這個問題。讓我們從你們剛剛談到的客戶流失問題開始談。約翰，您能能量化過去幾季的客戶損失嗎？我知道當你們在日本失去客戶時，你們能夠給我們一個數字。我很好奇你是否可以量化它。

And then maybe just spend a couple more minutes talking about when you're sitting down with these accounts, what are they saying in terms of what they want to see from you consistently? And then if you're getting a good sense that once I show them one or two quarters of supply, they will come back predominantly for most of the share losses that you kind of lost in those accounts.

然後也許再花幾分鐘時間談談，當您與這些客戶坐下來交談時，他們希望從您那裡持續看到什麼？然後，如果您意識到，一旦我向他們展示一到兩個季度的供應量，他們就會回來彌補您在這些帳戶中損失的大部分股份。

Brendon, it's Dave. Just real quick, maybe quantifying a little bit. As we entered the year, you'll recall we talked about that we thought the share headwind would be a couple of points, at least a couple of points of growth for the year.

布倫登，我是戴夫。只是非常快，也許量化一點。當我們進入新的一年時，你會記得我們曾討論過，我們認為股票逆風將會帶來幾個點，至少是今年幾個點的增長。

I think what we saw in the first quarter was reasonably consistent with that. The data we look at, we think our share -- kind of share headwind impact was about [$8 million] in the first quarter, that was globally the majority of that in the US, and I'll let John talk to the customer interaction and how that's come along.

我認為我們在第一季看到的情況與此相當一致。根據我們查看的數據，我們認為我們的份額——第一季的份額逆風影響約為 [800 萬美元]，這是全球範圍內的大部分，其中美國佔了很大一部分，我將讓約翰談談客戶互動以及這種情況是如何發生的。

Yeah. Thanks, Dave. So Brendon, a lot of discussion with the customers I have is first, they want to express to me their frustration, right? And so -- and I tell them there's no one more frustrated than me and the way that we were not able to meet their needs.

是的。謝謝，戴夫。所以布蘭登，我與客戶進行的許多討論都是首先，他們想向我表達他們的沮喪，對嗎？所以——我告訴他們，沒有人比我更沮喪，因為我們無法滿足他們的需求。

Pretty much right after that, we talk about what are the things that we've done and the improvements we've seen. So we share that with them, and I'll give you a good example. One is regarding MDS. We've already have efficiency improvements in that line in six months being under our roof than what it was in 3M.

此後不久，我們就開始討論我們所做的事情以及所看到的改進。因此我們與他們分享這一點，我會給你一個很好的例子。一個是關於MDS的。與 3M 公司相比，在我們公司工作的六個月內，該生產線的效率已提高。

And I think that's what gives me a lot of excitement is we spent a lot of time and energy in the last two years of working on integration to carve the business out and bring it into ours. And now, we're starting significant teams in the edge and are starting to refocus that energy and time from integration efforts to efficiency in growth efforts, which is what I'm really excited to see the team do.

我認為這讓我非常興奮，因為我們在過去兩年裡花費了大量的時間和精力進行整合，將業務分開並納入我們的業務。現在，我們正在邊緣領域組建重要的團隊，並開始將精力和時間從整合工作轉移到成長效率上，我很高興看到團隊這樣做。

I can show those points to customers. I show them the Petrifilm how we've increased the availability of the product line. I can show them the efficiency and MDS. I can show them the progress we're making. And those other things allow us to continue to have discussions. The majority of the time, I listen, we have a discussion, and we resigned the contract. Those are the way that those -- a lot of those discussions have been progressing.

我可以向顧客展示這些要點。我向他們展示了 Petrifilm 測試片，了解我們如何提高產品線的可用性。我可以向他們展示效率和 MDS。我可以向他們展示我們所取得的進展。這些其他的事情使我們能夠繼續進行討論。大多數時候，我都會傾聽，我們會進行討論，然後我們會重新簽訂合約。這些就是那些──很多討論已經取得進展的方式。

Okay. Great. And then, Dave, maybe back to you now with one quarter under the belt and maybe one month under the belt into the next quarter and knowing the conversations that you're having with customers at this point.

好的。偉大的。然後，戴夫，現在也許你已經完成了一個季度的工作，也許已經進入下一個季度一個月了，並且知道你此時與客戶進行的對話。

Just curious if there's any -- you have a range out there for guidance for the year. Curious if conversations are leaning you towards one way or another on the range or even if you could just talk about what gets you to the high end and the low end of those ranges through the rest of the year?

只是好奇是否有任何——您有一個年度指導範圍。好奇的是，談話是否會讓您傾向於以某種方式來決定範圍，或者您可以談談在今年剩餘時間內是什麼讓您達到這些範圍的高端和低端？

Yeah. Thanks, Brendon. I think here just with the first quarter behind us and yes, a view of September, which for a first month of the quarter, we saw some improvement for the first month of Q2 versus Q1. I don't think it informs that we would narrow the range per se. There's still uncertainty around the timing and pace of share recovery. There's uncertainty more broadly in our end markets.

是的。謝謝，布倫登。我認為第一季已經過去，從 9 月的情況來看，作為本季的第一個月，我們看到第二季的第一個月與第一季相比有所改善。我不認為它本身就意味著我們會縮小範圍。股價復甦的時間和速度仍存在不確定性。我們的終端市場存在更廣泛的不確定性。

And so, I think the things we talked about when we set the guide still exist, kind of one quarter in here. And most importantly, when we talked about the guide, we talked about this year being a little more second half weighted.

因此，我認為我們在製定指南時討論的內容仍然存在，大概佔了這裡的四分之一。最重要的是，當我們談論指南時，我們談到今年下半年的權重會更大一些。

So historically, maybe we'd be 48% in the first half, 52% in the second. We see that shifting to a little more second half-weighted, which I think creates the need for the volume ramp, makes it little bit a bigger. So I think we still remain where we are. And to your point as the year develops here, hopefully we can help colored a little better.

因此從歷史上看，上半年可能為 48%，下半年為 52%。我們看到，向第二個半加權稍微轉變，我認為這會產生對音量斜坡的需求，使其變得更大一些。所以我認為我們仍然保持現狀。正如您所說，隨著時間的推移，希望我們能夠幫助您讓色彩變得更好。

Okay. And maybe I'll throw two quick ones out there. John, is there any feedback in the early days of the high-volume Pitrifilm feeder that you could share with us at this point. And then Dave, just for you, just so that we can talk about it on the broad call. Any impacts that we should keep in mind from the past two hurricanes and Southeast. Thanks, guys.

好的。也許我可以快速提出兩個問題。約翰，在大容量 Pitrifilm 進紙器問世初期，您有什麼回饋可以與我們分享嗎？然後戴夫，只是為了你，只是為了我們可以在廣泛的電話會議上討論這個問題。我們應該牢記過去兩次颶風和東南部的影響。謝謝大家。

I only have one anecdotal story for you Brandon, where we had a customer that was testing it. We said, okay, it's time to take it back. And you said there's no way you're taking it back. So that's my one anecdotal story. I think, if I could add something else this quarter has been challenging for us as an industry.

布蘭登，我只有一個軼事故事要告訴你，我們有一個顧客正在測試它。我們說，好吧，是時候把它拿回來了。而你說過你不可能收回它。這就是我的一個軼事。我想，如果我可以補充一點的話，這個季度對我們這個行業來說是一個挑戰。

And if you think about relevancy of our business, we've had two major outbreaks with major companies that have had devastating impact on their consumers. And it just goes to show what we do and why we're important. And one of the things I'll say is we had a meeting where one thing we did for our research, our tech service teams was like we put up the number of people that were affected by the diet to foodborne illness in the United States. And our job is to make sure that doesn't happen.

如果你考慮我們業務的相關性，我們曾與兩家大公司發生過重大疫情，這對他們的消費者造成了毀滅性的影響。這只是表明了我們所做的工作以及我們為什麼重要。我想說的一件事是，我們開了一次會，在會議上，我們的技術服務團隊為我們的研究做了一件事，就是公佈在美國受飲食影響而患上食源性疾病的人數。我們的工作就是確保這種情況不會發生。

And while we continue to see these things go up, the issue is you have to continue to look forward. A lot of these companies didn't have a problem for 100 years until they had a problem.

當我們繼續看到這些事情發生時，問題是你必須繼續向前看。許多這樣的公司在遇到問題之前，已經經營了 100 年，沒有遇到任何問題。

And I think that's why it's important when you look at what we do with our environmental monitoring programs, our risk assessments to help these customers continue to look forward and that backwards and rest on where they are because the world is constantly changing and whether -- to your point, whether it's environmental change, when also you've got plants that -- it never flooded before. It wasn't as human. Now it's more human.

我認為這就是為什麼當你觀察我們在環境監測項目和風險評估方面所做的工作時，這一點很重要，它可以幫助這些客戶繼續向前看，回顧過去，並停留在他們現在的位置，因為世界在不斷變化，以及——正如你所說，無論是環境變化，當你擁有從未被洪水淹沒過的工廠時。它並不像人類。現在它更加人性化了。

Those are all risk assessments that we have to update, help our customers update to continue to protect the food supply. I will let Dave to talk specifically about the hurricanes, but I just wanted to make sure that two major things happened in this quarter, we need to keep an eye on.

這些都是我們必須更新的風險評估，幫助我們的客戶更新以繼續保護食品供應。我會讓戴夫具體談談颶風，但我只是想確保本季發生了兩件大事，我們需要密切注意。

Yeah. Brandon, I don't have a quantification of the recent storms in the South. Obviously, the result of Milton here are pretty fresh. And so, it's something we're keeping an eye on the logistical impacts and other things at this stage. But I don't have a quantification at this time.

是的。布蘭登，我沒有對南方最近發生的風暴進行量化。顯然，米爾頓在這裡的成績相當不錯。因此，我們現階段正在密切關注物流影響和其他方面。但目前我還沒有量化的數據。

(Operator Instructions) Thomas DeBourcy, Nephron Research.

（操作員指示）Thomas DeBourcy，腎元研究。

So my question is, I guess, either -- around the Chief Commercial Officer position that you're creating. I know it's kind of be carved out of an existing role. But I guess it seems like it ties together an opportunistic time where maybe both your end-markets have been cyclically weaker and are going back to a period strikes and revenue generation opportunities.

所以我想，我的問題是──圍繞您正在設立的首席商務官職位。我知道這是從現有角色中分離出來的。但我想，這似乎與一個機會主義的時機聯繫在一起，也許你們的兩個終端市場都經歷了周期性的疲軟，並且正在回到一個時期的打擊和創收機會。

You may be bidding with more customers that are more receptive to offerings. But how are you thinking about both the C-suite role, but that also what else Neogen could do in terms of, I guess, additional revenue generation and new customer acquisition?

您可能會與更多更願意接受報價的客戶進行競價。但是，您如何看待高階主管角色？我猜，Neogen 在增加收入和獲取新客戶方面還能做些什麼？

Thanks, Tom. A couple of things with that, I think that's why we're splitting it to a Chief Commercial Officer role and not a Chief Operating Officer role because we see the opportunity to continue to focus. And the reason we're able to do that is because Doug did such a fantastic job and he was here building out his team.

謝謝，湯姆。關於這一點，我想這就是我們將其分為首席商務官職位而不是首席營運官職位的原因，因為我們看到了繼續關注的機會。我們之所以能夠做到這一點，是因為道格做得非常出色，而且他在這裡組建了他的團隊。

And we have a really, really strong Vice President of Operations that we are very happy to have onboard. Jim's been with us over a year or right around a year, and he's making tremendous impact. And so, it gives us great confidence and him running the operational side and really then hiring someone that's going to focus fully on demand generation.

我們擁有一位非常非常強大的營運副總裁，我們很高興他能加入我們。吉姆與我們共事已有一年多或一年左右的時間，他產生了巨大的影響。因此，這給了我們很大的信心，讓他負責營運方面，然後真正僱用一個完全專注於需求產生的人。

And for those who know, I've worked with Doug for over a decade. He has done a great job. We're really happy that he's got the opportunity to retire and do some other things that he wanted to do. And even after that, he built such a strong team that's allowing us to make these types of organizational moves in a way that is planned and allows us to meet the needs of the business going forward.

對於那些了解我的人來說，我已經和道格合作了十多年。他已經做得很好了。我們真的很高興他有機會退休並做一些他想做的事情。即使在此之後，他仍然建立了一支強大的團隊，使我們能夠有計劃地進行此類組織變動，並滿足未來業務的需求。

Got it. Just I guess as a follow-up to the cost side. I guess, the ongoing portfolio review, if you think about part of the 3M business you acquired seemed like there were some areas where you might have some overlapping products and whether there's some, I guess, consolidation opportunities or maybe they serve different customers, but then also how you're looking at potential lower-margin products and whether exiting those products or selling some products may be a good return on capital?

知道了。我猜這只是對成本的後續關注。我想，正在進行的投資組合審查，如果您考慮一下您收購的 3M 業務的一部分，似乎在某些領域您可能有一些重疊的產品，以及是否存在一些整合機會，或者它們可能服務於不同的客戶，但同時您如何看待潛在的低利潤產品，以及退出這些產品或出售某些產品是否可以獲得良好的資本回報？

Yeah. I think that's right, Tom. And we've done some of that already. I mean, that's not something that we went out and publicized, but we've pared some of the -- we've already worked with customers on a new bar to pair some lines that we've got from 3M. We have -- but we also have to look at that with our own portfolio and that's something that we told you we've been working on for the last year.

是的。我認為那是對的，湯姆。我們已經做了一些這樣的工作。我的意思是，這不是我們公開宣傳的東西，但我們已經削減了一些——我們已經與客戶合作開發了一款新的條碼，以配對我們從 3M 獲得的一些產品線。我們已經這樣做了——但我們也必須結合我們自己的投資組合來考慮這個問題，這是我們去年一直在努力的事情。

And while we don't have anything to announce today, it's something that we continue to focus on and continue to evaluate because we're looking at where we get the greatest return for our capital. So capital allocation right now is really important for us and making sure that we are investing in the areas for the greatest return is what we're laser focused on right now.

雖然我們今天沒有任何消息要宣布，但我們會繼續關注並繼續評估這件事，因為我們正在尋找讓我們的資本獲得最大回報的方法。因此，現在的資本配置對我們來說非常重要，確保我們投資能獲得最大回報的領域是我們目前關注的重點。

And then just maybe last question geographically. China has continued to be a focus on the animal health, animal safety side, whether it's West African swine fever or other issues that obviously have been happening the last few years. How do you view the importance of that market for the agent's growth? That will do it for me.

然後也許這是關於地理位置的最後一個問題。中國一直關注動物健康和動物安全問題，無論是西非豬瘟還是過去幾年出現的其他問題。您如何看待該市場對於代理商成長的重要性？對我來說這就行了。

Yeah. I think, Tom, looking at the Asia Pacific region in whole is more important for us. It is a tremendous growth opportunity for us on a lot of different markets. We've got a really strong team in Japan. We've got a strong team in Korea. We're building out a strong team in the Philippines. We've got a strong team in Thailand. We've got a strong team in China.

是的。湯姆，我認為，從整體來看亞太地區對我們來說更為重要。對我們來說，在許多不同的市場上，這是一個巨大的成長機會。我們在日本擁有一支非常強大的團隊。我們在韓國有一支強大的團隊。我們正在菲律賓組建一支強大的團隊。我們在泰國擁有一支強大的團隊。我們在中國擁有一支強大的團隊。

So we're not reliant on just China for our growth. And as you know, China has been challenging, which has been good because we have such a broad mix and such a broad sales mix across that region. So we're really focusing on Asia Pacific.

因此，我們的成長並不只依賴中國。如你所知，中國市場一直充滿挑戰，但這也是好事，因為我們在該地區擁有如此廣泛的業務組合和銷售組合。所以我們真正關注的是亞太地區。

And as Dave talked about earlier, really all of our international regions, that's where we're placing our money to expand those teams internationally because we have such low market share. And we've seen really good opportunities for that. You continue to see -- we've seen Japan, which is our largest market, single country outside the US turned the corner and start to grow again, which we're excited about.

正如戴夫之前提到的，實際上，我們將資金投入到我們所有的國際地區，以擴大這些團隊的國際影響力，因為我們的市場份額很低。我們已經看到了非常好的機會。你繼續看到——我們已經看到日本，它是我們最大的市場，美國以外的唯一一個國家，已經扭轉局面並開始再次成長，我們對此感到非常興奮。

We've continued to see significant growth in LatAm. We continue to see growth in Europe and if those markets continue to outgrow North America, we're going to continue to invest in those markets.

我們繼續看到拉丁美洲的顯著增長。我們繼續看到歐洲的成長，如果這些市場繼續超過北美，我們將繼續對這些市場進行投資。

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to John for closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。現在我將把電話交給約翰來做結束語。

Again, thank you very much for joining and like we talked about, as we saw this quarter, it shows the relevancy of Neogen to protect the world's food supply because we saw major companies have very significant issues that have affected a lot of consumers in the US specifically.

再次感謝您的加入，正如我們在本季度所討論的那樣，它顯示了 Neogen 對保護世界糧食供應的相關性，因為我們看到大公司有非常嚴重的問題，這些問題特別影響了美國的許多消費者。

So we're continuing to show that we are the leader in the space. We continue to develop new and innovative solutions to help those customers, understand what their risks are and how to mitigate those within their facilities. So thank you very much, and we will see you again at the next call.

因此，我們將繼續證明我們是該領域的領導者。我們不斷開發新的創新解決方案來幫助這些客戶了解他們的風險以及如何在他們的設施內減輕這些風險。非常感謝您，我們下次通話時還會再見。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，並請您斷開線路。