Nomad Foods Ltd (NOMD) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Nomad Foods fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this conference is being recorded.

女士們、先生們，大家好，歡迎參加 Nomad Foods 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，本次會議正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Jason English, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給投資者關係主管 Jason English。請繼續。

Hello and welcome to Nomad Foods fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. I am Jason English, Head of Investor Relations, and I'm joined in the call today by Stefan Descheemaeker, our CEO; and Ruben Baldew, our CFO. By now, everyone should have access to the earnings release for the period ended December 31, 2024, it was published at approximately 6:45 AM, Eastern Time. The press release and investor presentation are available on Nomad Foods website at nomadfoods.com. This call is the webcast and a replay will be available on the company's website.

您好，歡迎參加 Nomad Foods 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。我是投資者關係主管 Jason English，今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的執行長 Stefan Descheemaeker；以及我們的財務長 Ruben Baldew。到目前為止，每個人都應該可以看到截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的收益報告，該報告於美國東部時間上午 6:45 左右發布。新聞稿和投資者介紹可在Nomad Foods 網站 nomadfoods.com 上查閱。本次電話會議為網路直播，重播將在公司網站上提供。

This conference call will include forward-looking statements that are based on our view of the company's prospects, expectations, and intentions at this time. Actual results may differ due to the risk and uncertainties which are discussed in our press release, our filings in the SEC, and in our investor presentation which includes cautionary language.

本次電話會議將包括基於我們對公司當前前景、期望和意圖的看法的前瞻性陳述。由於我們在新聞稿、美國證券交易委員會提交的文件以及包含警告性語言的投資者介紹中討論的風險和不確定性，實際結果可能會有所不同。

We will also discuss non-IFRS financial measures during the call today. These non-IFRS financial measures should not be considered replacement for and should be read together with IFRS results. Users can find the IFRS in non-IFRS reconciliations with our earnings release and in the appendices at the end of the slide presentation available on our website.

我們也將在今天的電話會議中討論非國際財務報告準則的財務指標。這些非國際財務報告準則的財務指標不應被視為國際財務報告準則結果的替代品，而應與國際財務報告準則結果一起解讀。使用者可以在我們收益報告的非國際財務報告準則對帳表中以及我們網站上幻燈片簡報末尾的附錄中找到國際財務報告準則。

Please note that certain financial information within this presentation represents adjusted figures for 2023 and 2024. All these adjusted figures have been adjusted primarily for share-based payment expenses and related employer payroll taxes, non-operating M&A-related costs, acquisition purchase price adjustments, exceptional items, and foreign currency translation charges or gains. Unless otherwise noted, comments from here will refer to those adjusted numbers.

請注意，本簡報中的某些財務資訊代表 2023 年和 2024 年的調整後資料。所有這些調整後的數字主要根據股權支付費用和相關雇主工資稅、非經營性併購相關成本、收購購買價格調整、特殊項目以及外幣折算費用或收益進行了調整。除非另有說明，此處的評論將參考那些調整後的數字。

With that, I'll hand over to Stefan.

說完這些，我就把麥克風交給史蒂芬。

Thank you, Jason. I'm happy to report that Nomad Foods had a strong finish to 2024 with impressive volume-driven organic sales growth and robust margin expansion. Before I go too deep into results, I want to step back and reflect on where we are in our journey.

謝謝你，傑森。我很高興地報告，Nomad Foods 在 2024 年取得了強勁的成績，憑藉令人印象深刻的銷量驅動的有機銷售成長和強勁的利潤率擴張。在深入探討結果之前，我想先回顧一下我們目前所處的階段。

As you can see on slide 3. We have now delivered nine consecutive years of sales and adjusted -- growth. While these growth has been aided by M&A, organic growth has also been a strong and consistent contributor to this growth over time. In fact, in 2016, we have grown our organic sales at a nearly 3% CAGR with growth in every year other than 2021, and we have the COVID demand spike.

正如您在幻燈片 3 上看到的。我們現在已經連續九年實現銷售和調整後成長。雖然這些成長得益於併購，但隨著時間的推移，有機成長也一直是這一成長的強大且持續的貢獻者。事實上，2016 年，我們的有機銷售額以近 3% 的複合年增長率增長，除 2021 年外，每年都實現增長，而且我們面臨著 COVID 需求激增的問題。

We are now entering our 10 year as a public company and are well positioned to continue to deliver sustainable growth including another year of organic growth in 2025, while generating considerable shareholder value.

我們作為上市公司現已進入第十個年頭，並且有能力繼續實現永續成長，包括 2025 年的另一年有機成長，同時創造可觀的股東價值。

We have created an enviable company since embarking on this journey in 2015. We have assembled a portfolio of iconic brands, the superior equity and strong market share conditions and we have accomplished this while remaining focused, building a pure play frozen food business that now stands both in backed and developing markets across Europe.

自 2015 年踏上這段旅程以來，我們已經創建了一家令人羨慕的公司。我們組成了一系列標誌性品牌、優越的股權和強大的市場份額條件，並且在實現這一目標的同時，我們保持專注，建立了一個純粹的冷凍食品業務，目前該業務遍布歐洲各地的成熟市場和發展中市場。

And we have acted with purpose, creating a portfolio of high quality, great tasting provision food, that is good value and good for you. Roughly two third of our portfolio is comprised of vegetables, fish, and poultry and 93% of all European and Western European review is generated from products deemed a healthy meal choice by the UK government.

我們有目的地採取行動，創造出一系列高品質、美味、物有所值、對您有益的食物。我們的產品組合中約有三分之二是蔬菜、魚類和家禽，93% 的歐洲和西歐評論來自被英國政府視為健康膳食選擇的產品。

And we've done this in a responsible way. I'm happy to share that Nomad Food has been including the annual Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index for the fourth consecutive year, while receiving a maximum score of 100 in health and nutrition for the sixth consecutive year.

我們以負責任的方式做到了這一點。我很高興地告訴大家，Nomad Food 已連續第四年被納入年度道瓊永續發展歐洲指數，同時連續第六年在健康和營養方面獲得最高分 100 分。

We are well positioned for the trends that are reshaping this industry. We have a clean portfolio advantage and we also have a deeper advantage. In recent years, we have reshaped the organization. We have rewired how we work to improve efficiency, agility, and idea sharing. We have the greatest talent pool by promoting high performers from within, by selectively hiring externally to fill knowledge and capability gaps where necessary. It has helped us on our strategy energize organization and improve our execution.

我們已經做好了充分準備，能夠順應重塑這個產業的趨勢。我們擁有乾淨的投資組合優勢，也擁有更深層的優勢。近年來，我們對組織進行了重組。我們重新調整了工作方式，以提高效率、敏捷性和想法分享。我們擁有最大的人才庫，透過從內部提拔高績效人才，並在必要時有選擇地從外部聘請人才來填補知識和能力的空白。它幫助我們制定策略，激發組織活力，提高執行力。

And lastly, we've been able to lean in and arm more team with the tools they need to further strategy and initiatives. Our supply chain organizations have delivered meaningful productivity over the past two years, while our strategic focus on driving growth in a positive investment battles and growth platforms in delivering margin mixed benefits that have allowed us to increase investing in our products or advertising, in your instore merchandizing while building capabilities in areas such as revenue growth management and cybersecurity among others.

最後，我們能夠為更多團隊提供他們進一步製定策略和計劃所需的工具。過去兩年來，我們的供應鏈組織實現了有意義的生產力，同時我們的策略重點是透過積極的投資戰和成長平台推動成長，從而提供利潤混合效益，這使我們能夠增加對產品或廣告、店內商品銷售的投資，同時在收入成長管理和網路安全等領域建立能力。

Even all of this, I feel great about how we position as we enter our 10 year as a public company. And I'm confident we will deliver our 10 consecutive year of top and bottom line goals in 2025. Recent results only embolden my confidence in this. It became clear to us in 2023 that the period of over-sized inflation induced revenue growth was nearing an end.

儘管如此，對於我們作為上市公司進入第十個年頭之際的定位，我感到非常滿意。我相信，到 2025 年，我們將連續 10 年實現營業收入和淨利目標。最近的結果更增強了我對此的信心。2023 年我們清楚地意識到，通貨膨脹引發的過度收入成長時期即將結束。

We knew that growth would become more dependent on growing gains, market share expansion, and effective revenue growth management initiatives. It was then as we introduced our new commercial flywheel and innovation framework, while beginning to increase our investment in our products advertising and the synergies.

我們知道，成長將更加依賴收益的成長、市場份額的擴大以及有效的收入成長管理措施。當時我們推出了新的商業飛輪和創新框架，同時開始增加對產品廣告和綜效的投資。

Our A&P spend increased by 14% in 2023 and then again by high single digit last year to 4% of the sales. This places us in the top tier of our peer group, and we expect A&P growth to once again off this sales growth in 2025. And I'm excited to share some of our new creative with you later this year. It is some of the best I have ever seen from Nomad Food.

我們的廣告和宣傳支出在 2023 年成長了 14%，去年又成長了個位數，達到銷售額的 4%。這使我們處於同行中的領先地位，我們預計 2025 年 A&P 成長將再次實現銷售成長。我很高興在今年稍後與大家分享我們的一些新創意。這是我在 Nomad Food 見過的最好的食物之一。

Our innovation meanwhile jumped from 4.2% in 2023 to 4.8% in 2024. Then we expected to easily exceed 5% in 2025. And when we combine innovation with renovation, we expect a renewal rate or percentage of sales where products are new or refreshed to double from high single digits in 2024 to mid to high teens in 2025. We are upgrading our food and packaging to achieve security across an increasingly large percentage of our business. All of this is helping our commercial flywheel to spin faster and faster while delivering solid returns.

同時，我們的創新也從 2023 年的 4.2% 躍升至 2024 年的 4.8%。我們預計 2025 年這一數字將輕鬆超過 5%。當我們將創新與革新結合時，我們預計新產品或更新產品的更新率或銷售百分比將從 2024 年的個位數高點翻一番，達到 2025 年的中高位。我們正在升級我們的食品和包裝，以實現越來越大比例的業務的安全。所有這些都幫助我們的商業飛輪旋轉得越來越快，同時帶來可觀的回報。

As you can see on slide 5, we have now delivered three consecutive quarters of volume growth. Towards and move around fourth quarter. With the trend line is leaning in the right direction. And why it tells our European frozen food category is healthy, they are controlling much of our own destiny, although investments are supporting category growth while driving shared growth.

正如您在幻燈片 5 上看到的，我們現在已經連續三個季度實現了銷售成長。向第四季邁進。趨勢線正朝著正確的方向傾斜。為什麼它告訴我們歐洲冷凍食品類別是健康的，因為他們控制著我們自己的大部分命運，儘管投資在支持類別成長的同時也推動了共同成長。

As you can see on slide 6, we have now achieved market share growth in each of the last two quarters. And impressively accomplished this by expanding our growth margins. In fact, our gross margin in the last nine months of 2024 modestly exceeded the pre-COVID level we achieved in 2019.

正如您在幻燈片 6 上看到的，我們在過去兩個季度中都實現了市場份額的成長。並透過擴大我們的成長利潤率令人印象深刻地實現了這一目標。事實上，我們 2024 年最後九個月的毛利率略高於 2019 年疫情前的水準。

Focus has been a key contributor to our success and focus will continue to define how we go to market in the future. We continue to concentrate a disproportionate amount of our time, energy and investment in our Must Win Battles. These are the four category country combinations that are critically important to our success, are margin creative in the way we have a clear right to win.

專注是我們成功的關鍵因素，並且專注將繼續決定我們未來的市場進入方式。我們繼續將大量的時間、精力和投資集中在我們必須打贏的戰役上。這四類國家的組合對於我們的成功至關重要，它們具有優勢創造力，讓我們有明確的獲勝權利。

The top 25 missing battles were called for more than half of our sales last year, in an even larger share of gross profit and grew net sales by 2.7% over the year and 3.5% in the quarter. But our focus remains on the Must Win Battles. Recently, we have been strategic investing behind select both platforms. These are primarily areas where we see opportunities, to leverage the capability in one market to expand our presence in another market with a lift and launch approach.

去年，我們一半以上的銷售額都來自這 25 場缺失戰役，這在毛利潤中所佔的份額甚至更大，並推動淨銷售額在全年增長 2.7%，在本季度增長 3.5%。但我們的重點仍然是必須贏的戰鬥。最近，我們一直在對這兩個平台進行策略性投資。這些主要是我們看到機會的領域，利用一個市場的能力，透過提升和啟動的方式擴大我們在另一個市場的影響力。

Our organic sales or growth platforms grew by 16% in 2024 and 40% in the fourth quarter. Over the past year we have been highlighting all three as one example. We have more than doubled opportunity sales in the UK over the past five years, it has gone from a growth platform to Must Win Battles for us, even the success. Our goal is to make all of our growth platforms into Must Win Battles over time.

我們的有機銷售或成長平台在 2024 年成長了 16%，在第四季度成長了 40%。在過去的一年裡，我們一直以這三個面向為例來強調。過去五年來，我們在英國的機會銷售額增加了一倍多，它已經從一個成長平台變成了我們的必贏之戰，甚至是成功。我們的目標是隨著時間的推移，將所有增長平台打造成必須贏的戰役。

Italy and Germany are two more recent markets where we have made poultry into a growth platform, seeking to replicate our success in the UK. The food and prepaid poultry segment is underdeveloped in Italy, and we began to invest in developing the segment there in early 2024. I'm happy to say that it is working.

義大利和德國是較新的兩個市場，我們將家禽作為成長平台，尋求複製我們在英國的成功。義大利的食品和預付家禽市場尚未開發，我們於 2024 年初開始在那裡投資開發該市場。我很高興地說它正在發揮作用。

In the fourth quarter of retail sales for prepaid poultry in Italy rose 98% year-on-year, with the market share growing from 8% in Q4, 2023 to 50% in Q4 '24. The category meanwhile is now growing 6% in Italy with Nomad accounting for more than 1% of the category growth. It is a great story for both us and the retail partners. In the back half of 2024, we turned our attention to Germany, where the frozen prepaid poultry market is large and well developed, but dominated by private label. Here our strategy is to create a premium fees segment.

義大利第四季預付家禽零售額年增 98%，市佔率從 2023 年第四季的 8% 成長到 2024 年第四季的 50%。同時，該類別目前在義大利的成長率為 6%，其中 Nomad 佔該類別成長的 1% 以上。對於我們和零售合作夥伴來說，這都是一個很棒的故事。2024 年下半年，我們將注意力轉向德國，那裡的冷凍預付家禽市場規模龐大且發達，但以自有品牌為主。我們的策略是創建一個優質費用部分。

I'm happy to say that we're finding success here too. It is early, but in the fourth quarter, our retail sales for prepared poultry rose 35% year on year in Germany. We reached 2.7% market share in the fourth quarter, that is 70 basis points higher than the prior year and illustrates how long the runway could be for us in this market. The other growth platform we highlighted last year was the Datos. As a leading frozen fish company, it’s only Crawford that will be a leading frozen chip company as well.

我很高興地說我們在這裡也取得了成功。現在還為時過早，但在第四季度，我們在德國的熟食家禽零售額比去年同期成長了 35%。我們的市佔率在第四季度達到了 2.7%，比前一年高出 70 個基點，這說明我們在這個市場上還有很長的路要走。我們去年重點關注的另一個成長平台是 Datos。作為一家領先的冷凍魚公司，只有克勞福德也能成為一家領先的冷凍薯條公司。

In Belgium, we already have a strong market share position in potatoes, but we are leaning in to make it even stronger and grew our market share by 420 basis points year-on-year in 2024. And we’re happy to report that we became the technical reliever in Belgium last year, climbing from number two to number one in value share.

在比利時，我們在馬鈴薯市場已經佔據了強大的份額，但我們正在努力使其更加強大，並在 2024 年將我們的市場份額同比增長 420 個基點。我們很高興地報告，我們去年成為了比利時的技術救援者，價值份額從第二位攀升至第一位。

In France, our share grew 550 basis points to 16.1% in the quarter. And in The UK, where the market is very large, our share grew 70 basis points year-on-year to 8.9%, a great accomplishment, even if it's not keeping pace with the fantastic results in France and Belgium.

在法國，我們的市佔率本季成長了 550 個基點，達到 16.1%。在市場規模巨大的英國，我們的份額同比增長了 70 個基點，達到 8.9%，這是一個偉大的成就，儘管它沒有跟上法國和比利時的出色業績。

Turning to 2025, our playbook will not look meaningfully different. Our strategy is working and we will stay the course by championing product food. We will continue to focus on our investments beyond our mushroom bottles and targeted growth platforms. But we will do it with more advertising, more innovation, -- more innovation and more revenue growth management initiatives.

展望2025年，我們的劇本不會有太大的不同。我們的策略正在發揮作用，我們將繼續堅持倡導產品食品。我們將繼續專注於蘑菇瓶和有針對性的成長平台以外的投資。但我們將透過更多的廣告、更多的創新和更多的收入成長管理措施來實現這一目標。

Ongoing productivity realization from across our organization is fueling investment growth, allowing us to deliver balanced stock and bottom line growth. And as has always been the case with Nomad Foods, we will deploy capital in ways that create value for our shareholders and goes above and beyond organic growth. I'm excited to celebrate our NCA as a public company with you in 2025.

整個組織不斷提高的生產力正在推動投資成長，使我們能夠實現平衡的庫存和底線成長。和Nomad Foods一貫的做法一樣，我們將以能為股東創造價值的方式部署資本，並超越有機成長。我很高興能與您一起慶祝我們的 NCA 在 2025 年成為上市公司。

With that, let me turn it over to Ruben to tell you more about what we expect and provide some more details on what we achieved last quarter. Ruben?

接下來，讓我將主題交給 Ruben，讓他向您詳細介紹我們的期望，並提供有關我們上個季度所取得的成就的更多詳細資訊。魯本？

Thank you, Stefan, and good morning, everyone. I have been with the company now for roughly eight months, and I’m increasingly confident in the opportunities that lie ahead of us. We have an amazing portfolio in a great category with top tier talent and nutritional tailwinds at our back. Our playbook is working, and the innovation, renovation and marketing plans we have to drive sustainable growth in '25 and beyond are compelling.

謝謝你，史蒂芬，大家早安。我已經在公司工作大約八個月了，我對我們面前的機會越來越有信心。我們在一個偉大的類別中擁有令人驚嘆的產品組合，並擁有頂級人才和營養方面的順風。我們的策略正在發揮作用，我們為推動25年及以後的可持續成長而製定的創新、革新和行銷計劃非常引人注目。

Turning to results. As you can see on slide 7 and 9, for the fourth quarter, reported net revenues increased by 4.3% to EUR793 million. Organic growth was 3.1%, which marked our 10 consecutive quarter of organic growth. Volume growth remained positive for the third consecutive quarter, rising by an impressive 4.7%, while price mix was a negative 1.6% offset to volume growth as we reinvested some of our margin upside to drive impactful merchandising at retail.

轉向結果。正如您在幻燈片 7 和 9 上看到的，第四季度報告的淨收入增長了 4.3%，達到 7.93 億歐元。有機成長率為 3.1%，這標誌著我們連續第 10 個季度實現有機成長。銷量連續第三個季度保持正增長，增長了 4.7%，但價格組合為負 1.6%，抵消了銷量增長，因為我們將部分利潤率上行空間重新投資於推動零售領域有影響力的商品推銷。

The net price investment was an 80 basis points headwind to gross margin and was more than overcome by 40 basis points of favorable mix and 160 basis points of productivity, thanks to efficiency gains. This quarter, robust gross margin and healthy revenue growth delivered a 9% increase in gross profit, which was amplified by a 2.6% year-on-year decrease in SG&A expenses to result in a 17.6% increase in adjusted EBITDA.

淨價格投資對毛利率造成了 80 個基點的阻力，但由於效率的提高，40 個基點的有利組合和 160 個基點的生產力克服了這一阻力。本季度，強勁的毛利率和健康的收入成長帶來毛利成長 9%，加上銷售、一般及行政開支年減 2.6%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 17.6%。

The lower SG&A expense was driven by lower A&P expenses as we led the sharp increase in prior year investments and benefited from a more even investment cadence throughout the year. A&P investment rose high single digit for the year on top of double digit increase in 2023.

銷售、一般及行政開支的降低主要是由於廣告及銷售費用的降低，因為我們引領了上一年投資的大幅增長，並且受益於全年更加均勻的投資節奏。A&P 投資在 2023 年實現兩位數成長的基礎上，今年又實現了高個位數成長。

Interact investment growth slowed to low single digits in the quarter as we began to cycle the capability investment that we gained in late '23 and carried through to '24. Adjusted profit rose 28% year-on-year, while adjusted EPS rose 31% to EUR0.42 as our diluted share count shrunk 3% year-on-year.

由於我們開始循環 23 年末獲得並延續到 24 年的能力投資，Interact 的投資成長在本季度放緩至個位數。調整後利潤年增 28%，調整後每股收益成長 31% 至 0.42 歐元，因為我們的攤薄股數量年減 3%。

For the full year, we delivered our ninth consecutive year of sales and adjusted EBITDA growth. As you can see on slide 8 and 10, full year revenue grew 1.8% with organic sales rising 1% as volume returned to growth gaining 1.3% year-over-year. Gross margin rose from 40 basis points for the year to 29.6% nearly reaching the 30% pre-COVID gross margin we achieved in 2019.

就全年而言，我們連續第九年實現銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 成長。正如您在幻燈片 8 和 10 上看到的，全年收入增長 1.8%，有機銷售額增長 1%，銷量恢復增長，同比增長 1.3%。毛利率從全年的 40 個基點上升至 29.6%，幾乎達到 2019 年疫情之前實現的 30% 的毛利率。

The investment in price and promotion was a 70 basis points year on year headwind to our full year gross margin, which was more than offset by 110 basis points of favorable margin mix and 100 basis points of net productivity realized by our supply chain teams. Our teams have a robust pipeline of productivity initiatives and I expect these benefits to continue funding our growth investments going forward.

在價格和促銷方面的投資對我們的全年毛利率造成了 70 個基點的同比阻力，但透過我們的供應鏈團隊實現的 110 個基點的有利利潤組合和 100 個基點的淨生產率，抵消了這一阻力。我們的團隊擁有強大的生產力計劃管道，我預計這些優勢將繼續為我們未來的成長投資提供資金。

Our SG&A expenses grew 7.4% for the full year as we increased our A&P and indirect investments eased by high single digits. Our higher A&P was a continuation of the reinvestment plans that we started in 2003 and continued in 2024. We expect even more reinvestments in '25.

由於我們增加了廣告宣傳費用，間接投資減少了個位數，我們的銷售、一般和行政開支全年增長了 7.4%。我們更高的 A&P 是我們在 2003 年啟動並持續到 2024 年的再投資計畫的延續。我們預計25年還會有更多的再投資。

The higher indirect expense was due to a combination of underlying inflation and capability investments in areas such as cybersecurity and revenue growth management. With these investments now behind us, we expect much more moderate growth in indirect expenses going forward. Despite these investments made in 2024, we were still able to grow our adjusted EBITDA by 5.6% for the year, delivering near the high end of our initial 4% to 6% EBITDA growth guidance range that we gave this time last year. Our full year EPS of EUR1.78 was also near the high end of our initial to rangeEUR1.75 to EUR1.80.

間接費用的增加是由於通貨膨脹以及網路安全和收入成長管理等領域的能力投資共同造成的。有了這些投資之後，我們預期未來間接支出的成長將更加溫和。儘管這些投資是在 2024 年進行的，但我們當年的調整後 EBITDA 仍增長了 5.6%，接近我們去年此時給出的最初 4% 至 6% 的 EBITDA 增長指導範圍的高端。我們的全年每股收益為 1.78 歐元，也接近我們最初預期範圍 1.75 歐元至 1.80 歐元的高端。

Turning to cash flow now. Strong fourth quarter results helped us over deliver on our full year cash flow guidance with free cash flow conversion of 101% coming in well above our initial to 90% to 95% conversion guidance. We saw nice working capital inflows in the fourth quarter due to the normal seasonal timing of inventory balances and an unwind of the higher receivable balances that were ahead in the third quarter due to timing dynamics.

現在談談現金流。強勁的第四季業績幫助我們超額完成了全年現金流預期，自由現金流轉換率為 101%，遠高於我們最初的 90% 至 95% 的轉換預期。由於庫存餘額的正常季節性變化以及由於時間動態而導致的第三季度較高應收帳款餘額的緩解，我們在第四季度看到了良好的營運資金流入。

The strong free cash flow allows us to return EUR208 million to shareholders in '24 versus EUR171 million we returned to shareholders in '23, therefore more than a 20% increase. Last year, we returned the cash in the form of a $0.60 per share annual dividend and share repurchases. We finished the year with 156.1 million basic shares outstanding, a 4% reduction from where we finished 2023. Over the past two years, we’ve now repurchased EUR290 million of our shares.

強勁的自由現金流使我們在 24 年向股東返還 2.08 億歐元，而 23 年我們向股東返還了 1.71 億歐元，因此增幅超過 20%。去年，我們以每股 0.60 美元的年度股息和股票回購的形式返還了現金。截至今年年底，我們已發行 1.561 億股基本股，較 2023 年底減少了 4%。在過去兩年裡，我們已經回購了2.9億歐元的股票。

Turning to our guidance for ’25 on slide 12. We are pleased with the progress our commercial team has made improving the market results and restoring our market share to growth. And we are happy to see our supply chain team delivering healthy productivity savings. This gives us strong momentum in 2025, which will be our 10 year as public company and is also expected to be our 10 year of positive revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth.

在第 12 張投影片中談到我們對 2025 年的指導。我們對我們的商業團隊所取得的進展感到高興，他們改善了市場業績並恢復了我們的市場份額成長。我們很高興看到我們的供應鏈團隊實現了健康的生產力節約。這為我們在 2025 年提供了強勁的發展勢頭，這一年將是我們作為上市公司的第 10 年，預計也將是我們實現正收入和調整後 EBITDA 增長的第 10 年。

We continue to expect organic sales growth of 1% to 3% for the year and adjusted EBITDA growth of 2% to 4%. We had a stronger than expected finish to 2024, which means we now expect a higher absolute level of adjusted EBITDA. And as a result, we have raised our full year adjusted EPS range to EUR1.85 to EUR1.89 from the initial EUR1.81 to EUR1.85. At recent exchange rates, this translates into US Dollar denominated EPS of USD1.94 to USD1.98.

我們繼續預計今年有機銷售額將成長 1% 至 3%，調整後 EBITDA 將成長 2% 至 4%。我們的 2024 年業績表現強於預期，這意味著我們現在預計調整後的 EBITDA 絕對水準將會更高。因此，我們將全年調整後每股收益範圍從最初的 1.81 歐元至 1.85 歐元上調至 1.85 歐元至 1.89 歐元。以最近的匯率計算，這相當於以美元計價的每股收益為 1.94 美元至 1.98 美元。

And lastly, we continue to expect full year adjusted free cash flow conversion of at least 90%. We expect to use this cash flow to create incremental value for shareholders that goes above and beyond organic growth. A still relatively new dividend is a great example of this. As you may have seen at our announcement last month, our Board of Directors has approved 13% increase in the first quarter of ’25 cash dividend to $70 per share from the $0.16 quarterly payout in 2024.

最後，我們繼續預期全年調整後的自由現金流轉換率至少為 90%。我們希望利用這筆現金流為股東創造超越有機成長的增量價值。相對較新的股息就是一個很好的例子。正如您可能在我們上個月的公告中看到的那樣，我們的董事會已批准將 2025 年第一季的現金股息從 2024 年的季度股息 0.16 美元增加 13% 至每股 70 美元。

As we think about the shape of the year, we expect growth to be somewhat choppy quarter to quarter, even the phasing of investments, prior year comparisons and some seasonal movement. Nonetheless, we expect the underlying trend line of improvement to hold throughout the year in totality.

當我們思考今年的情況時，我們預期季度間成長將有些波動，甚至投資分階段、與去年同期相比以及一些季節性變動也會有些波動。儘管如此，我們預計全年潛在的改善趨勢將保持不變。

While our advertising investment growth will be meaningful in late quarter one, our new innovation fuel distribution gains and associated merchandising activity is expected to be more phased into quarter two and quarter three this year. This, in combination with Easter falling into quarter two this year versus quarter one last year, will lead to revenue headwinds in the first quarter. At this moment, we therefore expect organic sales to modestly decline in quarter one.

雖然我們的廣告投資成長將在第一季末實現，但我們的新創新推動的分銷收益和相關的商品銷售活動預計將在今年第二季和第三季逐步實現。再加上今年復活節位於第二季度，而非去年的第一季度，將導致第一季的收入面臨阻力。因此，我們目前預計第一季的有機銷售額將小幅下降。

These are just timing dynamics and not a reflection of the underlying health of the business. In fact, while shipments are moving around, we are happy to see our retail sales growing in 1% to 2% range over the past two months despite the later phasing of our activity. Overall, I’m pleased with the progress we are making. We returned the business to profitable volume and market share driven growth last year and are confident that we can keep the momentum growing in 2025.

這些只是時間動態，並不反映業務的基本健康狀況。事實上，雖然出貨量有所波動，但我們很高興地看到，儘管我們的活動階段較晚，但過去兩個月我們的零售額增長了 1% 至 2%。總的來說，我對我們所取得的進展感到滿意。去年，我們恢復了由銷量和市場份額驅動的業務成長，並有信心在 2025 年保持這一成長勢頭。

And with that, I will now turn the call back to the operator to open the line for questions.

說完這些，我現在將電話轉回給接線員，以便開通熱線來回答問題。

(Operator instructions)

（操作員指令）

Andrew Lazar, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的安德魯·拉扎爾。

Great, thanks so much and good morning, good afternoon, everybody.

太好了，非常感謝，大家早安，下午好。

Good morning, Andrew.

早安，安德魯。

Good morning.

早安.

Stefan, maybe to start off, what is your 1% to 3% organic sales growth forecast for full year '25 predicated on, with respect to your expectations for category growth and market share performance?

史蒂芬，首先，您對 25 年全年 1% 到 3% 的有機銷售成長的預測是基於什麼，以及您對產品類別成長和市佔率表現的預期？

Well, you may have seen we -- in the low inflation environment and we've come up with the 1% category growth as the first piece. And the second piece is our sales, obviously. It's -- overall, as we said, it's growing. But also relatively, we -- our portfolio is really two third is poultry, fish and vegetables, which are growing very nicely. The commercial flywheel will is working nicely. Innovation, as we said, is around 5%. So the rest of the 1% to 3% is coming from this market share and mix. And a bit of -- so net ERP, I would put it that way, Andrew.

好吧，您可能已經看到，在低通膨環境下，我們提出了 1% 的類別成長作為第一部分。第二部分顯然是我們的銷售。總的來說，正如我們所說，它正在增長。但相對而言，我們的投資組合的三分之二實際上是家禽、魚類和蔬菜，這些產品的成長非常好。商業飛輪將會運作良好。正如我們所說，創新佔5％左右。因此，剩下的 1% 到 3% 就來自於這個市場佔有率和組合。還有一點——所以，我會這樣說，淨 ERP，安德魯。

You remember that, in Q3, we suffered of an ERP disruption in the UK, which is the biggest business for us. So obviously, we keep going with ERP, which is the right thing to do. But this year, as we said, we decided to slow down the process, come with the smaller part of the business and also all the lessons. So that's why I'm using the word net ERP. So will there be some disruption? Maybe much, much, much more limited than Q3. So that's where the 1% to 3% is coming from.

您記得，在第三季度，我們在英國遭遇了 ERP 中斷，而這對我們來說是最大的業務。顯然，我們繼續採用 ERP，這是正確的做法。但今年，正如我們所說，我們決定放慢進程，將業務規模縮小，同時吸取所有的教訓。這就是我使用網路 ERP 這個詞的原因。那麼，這會帶來一些混亂嗎？可能比 Q3 受限得多。這就是 1% 到 3% 的由來。

Great. No, that's helpful. I mean you mentioned in the fourth quarter, you reinvested some of the upside in some of the sort of promotional activity, getting sort of distribution and some retail work and whatnot. And that obviously benefited volume pretty nicely. As you move through the first quarter, I realize there's some impact on volume, as you talked about due to a later Easter and such.

偉大的。不，這很有幫助。我的意思是，您提到在第四季度，您將部分收益重新投資於某些促銷活動、分銷和零售工作等等。這顯然對銷量有很大幫助。隨著第一季的到來，我意識到銷售量會受到一些影響，就像你提到的，這是由於復活節晚些時候等原因造成的。

How would you expect sort of the price/mix piece to come in now that you're two months through the first quarter? Would it be consistent on a year-over-year basis as an impact with what you saw in 4Q? Or more modest, do you think, again, on the price, mix side?

現在距離第一季已經過去兩個月了，您預計價格/組合會如何？與去年同期相比，其影響與您在第四季看到的影響是否一致？或者更適中，您認為，再次從價格、混合方面來看？

Yeah. Let me answer that, Drew. And hopefully, you appreciate that we cannot and will not give clear kind of guidance outlook between separate line items of the P&L and the price, volume. But let me try to give you some context.

是的。讓我來回答這個問題，德魯。希望您能理解，我們不能也不會在損益表的單獨項目和價格、數量之間給出明確的指導前景。但請讓我嘗試給你一些背景資訊。

So you're absolutely right. If you look at the last three quarters, you've seen positive volume, especially in quarter four, where we almost had 5% positive volume growth. And volume will remain important to us. It's important from a consumer perspective, retailer perspective, but also how it drives leverage in our factories. So we'll not, overnight, going to change that strategy where we drive efficiencies and reinvest that in volume. So that's one thing.

所以你完全正確。如果你回顧過去三個季度，你會看到正的銷量，特別是在第四季度，我們的銷量幾乎成長了 5％。而銷量對我們來說仍然很重要。從消費者角度和零售商角度來看這都很重要，但它也能提高我們工廠的槓桿作用。因此，我們不會在一夜之間改變提高效率並將其再投資於數量的策略。這是一回事。

To the point of Stefan, so we've seen in the last two, three months lower inflation and maybe that's also a separate question. If we look at kind of the full year -- and we're not fully hedged yet, but we might see a bit more relation into this year, how that exactly plays out is still to be seen. But then we would need to take some pricing back.

正如史蒂芬所說，我們在過去兩三個月看到通貨膨脹率下降，也許這也是一個單獨的問題。如果我們看一下全年情況——我們尚未完全對沖，但我們可能會在今年看到更多的關係，其具體結果如何還有待觀察。但這樣我們就需要收回一些定價。

And again, if we see inflation in our cost price, that'd be absolutely clear, first of all, it's really to be cost competitive. So we'll continue all our efforts we've done in terms of saving programs on procurement, continue to drive efficiencies in our factories, but also drive efficiencies in indirect, but there might be that the latter is a remainder which we need to do with price.

再說了，如果我們發現成本價格上漲，那就非常清楚了，首先，這確實是為了具有成本競爭力。因此，我們將繼續在採購節約計畫方面所做的一切努力，繼續提高工廠的效率，同時也間接提高效率，但後者可能是我們需要與價格相關的剩餘部分。

Now how and when that price comes through is still to be seen. So at this moment, and we've only had one month of actuals, we still see volume and a bit of pressure on price. Throughout the year, it could be that price comes back, so I think that is the context we can give at this point.

現在，該價格如何以及何時實現仍有待觀察。因此，目前，我們只有一個月的實際情況，我們仍然看到交易量和價格受到一定壓力。全年來看，價格可能會回升，所以我認為這就是我們目前可以提供的背景資訊。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Steve Powers, Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的史蒂夫·鮑爾斯。

Great, thank you. Good morning. Good afternoon, everybody. Stefan, the stepped-up innovation and renovation activity that you mentioned in your prepared remarks, I'm curious as to how much of that you expect to be focused on existing Must Win Battles as opposed to some of the new and emerging growth platforms that you talked about in '25? And just how you think about striking that balance?

太好了，謝謝。早安.大家下午好。史蒂芬，您在準備好的發言中提到了加強創新和革新活動，我很好奇，您認為其中有多少重點放在現有的“必須贏的戰役”上，而不是您在25年談到的一些新興的增長平台上？您認為如何實現這種平衡？

Well, the thing is, to your point, it's going to be mostly growth -- Must Win Battles in growth platforms. But let's say, let's put it that way, the Must Win Battles are still very much the biggest piece of our business. So it's around 50% of our business and that's where the bulk of the innovation is going to go.

嗯，正如你所說，事情主要是成長——必須在成長平台上贏得戰鬥。但是，讓我們這樣說吧，必須贏的戰鬥仍然是我們業務中最重要的部分。所以這大約占我們業務的 50%，也是大部分創新將會去往的領域。

This being said, at the same time, growth platform, which is let's say, north of EUR100 million at this stage is growing very, very fast. There's going to be a lot of lift and launch, which is great. So it's going to be -- probably take proportionally a bigger part, but obviously applied on the smaller part of the business. But that's where the, let's say, the innovation is going to go. First and foremost, Must Win Battles , then obviously growth platforms.

話雖如此，但同時，成長平台（比如說，現階段超過 1 億歐元）的成長速度非常非常快。將會有大量的升力和發射，這很棒。因此，它可能會按比例佔據較大的份額，但顯然應用於業務的較小部分。但這就是創新將要去的地方。首先，必須打贏的戰鬥，其次顯然是成長平台。

Okay. Very good. And then you would also -- you talked about the organizational changes and the rewiring efforts that you've done to improve overall execution and agility, et cetera. To what extent do you feel that mission is sort of accomplished versus there being more work to do? And what would be the priorities in '25 on that front?

好的。非常好。然後您還會——您談到了為提高整體執行力和敏捷性等等而進行的組織變革和重組努力。與還有很多工作要做相比，您在多大程度上感覺到任務已經完成？那麼 25 年這方面的優先事項是什麼？

Well, let me start with -- well, my statement, it is never finished. That's the first piece. Never finished. Because, well, you may know me as -- I'm never fully satisfied anyway. So that's -- you'll never hear me something like fantastic and all these things because these work doesn't include the execution --

好吧，讓我先說一下——嗯，我的聲明是，它永遠不會完成。這是第一件。從未完成。因為，嗯，你可能知道我──無論如何我都不會完全滿足。所以——你永遠不會聽到我說這些很棒之類的話，因為這些工作不包括執行--

Pardon me, ladies and gentlemen, please stand by while we reconnect the speaker line.

女士們、先生們，請原諒，請稍候，我們正在重新連接揚聲器線。

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

Hi, this is the operator. We have now brought in the speaker line and we can proceed.

您好，我是接線生。現在我們已經接入揚聲器線路，可以繼續了。

Thank you very much. So Steve, sorry for the interruption.

非常感謝。所以史蒂夫，很抱歉打擾了您。

So I can feel your passion. Your passion was so great it broke the line.

所以我能感受到你的熱情。你的熱情如此強烈，打破了界限。

I'm not pleased what's happened right now. I can tell you. No, no, no. That's fine. So my point is, no, it's never finished. But this being said, we have -- I mean, we have really simplified the organization big time last year. So you remember that we had at some stage, 22 countries and they're reporting was quite a bit. I wouldn't say it was optimal. Now we have all these guys reporting to one person, six clusters. And I think it's a big, big change.

我對現在發生的事很不滿意。我可以告訴你。不，不，不。沒關係。所以我的觀點是，不，它永遠不會完成。但話雖如此，我們——我的意思是，去年我們確實大大簡化了組織結構。所以你記得我們曾經有 22 個國家，他們報告的內容相當多。我不會說它是最佳的。現在，所有這些人都向一個人、六個集群報告。我認為這是一個巨大的改變。

In the meantime, we have obviously invested heavily in things like the growth -- like the revenue growth management, innovation as well, in service of obviously these clusters. Supply chain is really -- it's a never-ending process anyway, restructuring, improvement, making sure these savings are going to come back and then be in a position to invest behind A&P and gross margin ultimately.

同時，我們顯然在成長等方面投入了巨資，例如收入成長管理、創新等等，顯然是為了服務這些集群。供應鏈實際上——無論如何，它是一個永無止境的過程，重組，改進，確保這些節省的錢能夠回來，然後最終能夠投資於 A&P 和毛利率。

So my point is, it's never finished, but let's say, what we have accomplished last year was really meaningful. And obviously, we also have to remain very, very cost conscious, because basically what I want to do, to achieve is to put most of our, let's say, savings behind A&P and innovation. And then obviously, in service of short term and long-term EBITDA. But that's how we want to be. So lean in terms of indirect after having restructured and clarified the whole structure, and then making sure that, obviously, our top line will be served the right way.

所以我的觀點是，它永遠不會完成，但是可以說，我們去年所取得的成就確實很有意義。顯然，我們還必須保持強烈的成本意識，因為基本上我想要做的就是將大部分節​​省下來的資金投入廣告宣傳和創新方面。顯然，這是為了短期和長期 EBITDA。但這正是我們想要的。因此，在重組和澄清整個結構之後，在間接方面精益求精，然後確保我們的營收能夠以正確的方式得到服務。

Very good. I appreciate all that. I'll pass it on. Thank you.

非常好。我對此表示感謝。我會傳達的。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Rob Dickerson, Jefferies.

傑富瑞的羅伯‧迪克森 (Rob Dickerson)。

Great, thanks so much. I guess maybe just first question on gross margin. I think about a year or so ago kind of the idea was you can gradually get back, right to the 30% gross margin range or somewhere around there, really based on volume recovery also combined with just all the productivity initiatives and the mix benefits.

太好了，非常感謝。我想也許第一個問題只是關於毛利率。我認為大約一年前的想法是你能夠逐漸恢復到 30％ 的毛利率範圍或大約這個水平，這實際上是基於銷量恢復，同時結合所有的生產力舉措和組合效益。

As you think through kind of '25 after '24, I guess first question is, it seems like you're kind of already there, right? As you finish the full year '24, you're pretty close already. Is there any kind of change to the thinking in terms of like what the real gross margin benefit from here could be on the business, just again clearly the focus on must-win battles, given the volumes starting to recover, given the productivity initiatives? That's just the first question. Thank you.

當您在 24 年後思考 25 年時，我想第一個問題是，似乎您已經到達那裡了，對嗎？當你完成 24 年全年目標時，你已經非常接近目標了。在考慮真正的毛利率收益會為業務帶來什麼方面，是否有任何變化？在產量開始回升、生產率舉措出台的情況下，是否再次明確將重點放在必須打贏的戰鬥上？這只是第一個問題。謝謝。

Yeah, Let me answer that. Thanks for the question. Again, our strategy will continue in the same way, and no change in that. We will continue and that's our commitment, to drive efficiencies in supply chain. You've see that in quarter four in both the full year, we had full year around 100 basis points, 110 basis points of supply chain efficiencies. Quarter four, we had supply chain efficiencies. We will continue to drive that, right? And what we then said, we will reinvest to efficiencies, together with our continued effort of the driving mix, into our brands and products.

是的，讓我來回答這個問題。謝謝你的提問。再次強調，我們的策略將以同樣的方式繼續，不會有任何改變。我們將繼續努力，提高供應鏈效率，這是我們的承諾。您會看到，在第四季和全年，我們的全年供應鏈效率分別約為 100 個基點和 110 個基點。第四季度，我們提高了供應鏈效率。我們會繼續推動這一點，對嗎？我們當時說過，我們將持續投資於效率，同時繼續努力推動組合，並將其融入我們的品牌和產品中。

Now most of that will be an investment in A&P and into the products, but it could also be that we do some investment in price as you've seen over the last three quarters. So that is our commitment. We're not -- at this moment, going to say this is our guidance for gross margin in '25, whether that will be '30, we're very happy that you see the recovery in '24. We will continue to drive that. But as I said also, there will be a bit of inflation.

現在，其中大部分將是對 A&P 和產品的投資，但也可能我們對價格進行一些投資，正如您在過去三個季度中所看到的那樣。這是我們的承諾。目前，我們無法說這是我們對 25 年毛利率的預期，無論這是否是 30 年，我們很高興看到 24 年的復甦。我們將繼續推動這一點。但正如我所說，會出現一點通膨。

Again, we need to be cost competitive. We have to take some prices, and that will lead -- and we'll see how we end with the gross margin. On the long term, I think we will continue to drive further gross margin recovery. How it plays out in '25, still to be seen.

再次，我們需要具有成本競爭力。我們必須採取一些價格，這將導致——我們將看到我們的毛利率如何。從長遠來看，我認為我們將繼續推動毛利率進一步回升。它在 25 年會如何發展，還有待觀察。

Okay. Great. Perfect. And then maybe just a bigger question for you, Stefan, just around kind of strategic opportunities, inorganic strategic opportunities kind of where you sit now, kind of -- for a long time, Nomad was clearly acquiring a lot more actively. Lots occurred over the past three, four years that made that maybe a little bit more completed, maybe valuations even a little lower.

好的。偉大的。完美的。然後也許對你來說一個更大的問題，史蒂芬，關於策略機會，無機策略機會，就像你現在所處的位置一樣——很長一段時間以來，Nomad 顯然正在積極地進行收購。過去三、四年發生了很多事情，可能讓這一切變得更加完整，估值甚至可能更低。

I'm just curious like kind of where you sit today, are you kind of more actively thinking about acquisition potential? If there were something that were to come up that were attractive, would you still consider that? Or are you maybe in a period right now such that the focus on the core portfolio really is primary number one initiative? And you really think, at some point, we'll get back there. But right now, we're really not thinking about acquisition potential at this point. That's all. Thanks so much.

我只是好奇您現在的情況，您是否在更積極地考慮收購潛力？如果出現一些有吸引力的事情，你還會考慮嗎？或者您現在可能正處於這樣一個時期：專注於核心投資組合確實是首要的舉措？你真的會想，在某個時候，我們會回到那裡。但現在，我們還沒有真正考慮收購的可能性。就這樣。非常感謝。

Well, thanks, Rob. Well, the point is with or without acquisitions, Rob, the focus has always been for the existing portfolio. That's the first piece. We never deviated. Even when we did the Switzerland or Goodfella's or Aunt Bessie's or the Adriatic-s, we never deviated. That's the key piece. And that's the key piece because I don't think you can be a good acquirer if you're not doing the right job with your core business.

好吧，謝謝你，羅布。好吧，關鍵在於，無論是否有收購，羅布，重點始終是現有的投資組合。這是第一件。我們從未偏離。甚至當我們拍攝《瑞士》《好傢伙》《貝茜阿姨》《亞得里亞海》時，我們也從未偏離。這是關鍵部分。這是關鍵點，因為我認為如果你沒有正確做好你的核心業務，你就不可能成為一個好的收購者。

Because the business model behind the acquisition are always predicated on a very solid model, organic model. And that's why we never did any acquisitions between '15, '16 and '17, because we have nothing to offer. We had first to clean up the whole thing. And then we started. So now, obviously, since basically the -- 2022, we start, to your point because basically, first, we need to focus on the business as such even more. That's one thing. And second, because there was a difference between sellers and buyers.

因為收購背後的商業模式總是建立在非常穩固的模型、有機模型上。這就是為什麼我們在2015、2016和2017年期間沒有進行任何收購，因為我們沒有什麼可以提供的。我們必須先把整個東西清理乾淨。然後我們就開始吧。所以現在，顯然，從基本上 2022 年開始，正如你所說，因為基本上，首先，我們需要更加關注業務本身。這是一回事。其次，因為賣家和買家之間存在差異。

I think this is reducing. The gap is reducing a bit. In the meantime, no regrets. We keep buying back shares, which is the best acquisitions we can do. But also at the same time, I think what we also see is there are some, maybe under the radar screen, things not shiny objects that we could consider in our category, new subcategories in some countries where we have a lot of synergies. And that's the kind of things more and more we are considering.

我認為這正在減少。差距正在縮小一點。同時，沒有遺憾。我們不斷回購股票，這是我們能做的最好的收購。但同時，我認為我們也看到，有些東西可能不為人知，並不是我們可以考慮的閃亮物體，而是一些在我們具有許多協同效應的國家中存在的新的子類別。我們正在越來越多地考慮這類事情。

Nothing done yet. But obviously, I'm not in the business of disclosing any names. That will be not -- not be the smart thing to do. No guarantee to do anything, Rob, because if you guarantee something, that's the best way to make mistakes, by the way. But definitely, we believe that we have something to offer, which is not necessarily the big names in Europe, but other add-ons, deals. And I think by doing so, we could create a nice pipeline of M&A as we're also creating a pipeline of innovation.

尚未完成任何事。但顯然，我不願意透露任何姓名。那並不是—明智的做法。羅布，沒有保證做任何事情，因為如果你保證某事，那麼順便說一句，那是犯錯的最好方式。但毫無疑問，我們相信我們能提供一些東西，不一定是歐洲的大品牌，而是其他附加產品和交易。我認為透過這樣做，我們可以創造一個良好的併購管道，同時也創造了一個創新管道。

And maybe just to build on that, I can give credits to Stefan, I wasn't there. But since 2016, end of 2016, this business has deployed roughly EUR1.2 billion for M&A, while shrinking the share count of 13%. And this, combine them with our organic growth, has allowed us to increase our EBITDA by share -- per share by 97%, almost 100%, nearly doubling it from 2016 to 2024. And we were doing this whilst -- you've seen the dividends and lowering our net debt to EBITDA leverage. So I think that also tells you something in my humble opinion.

也許只是為了在此基礎上，我可以感謝史蒂芬，因為我當時不在那裡。但自2016年起，截至2016年底，該業務已部署約12億歐元用於併購，同時股份數量縮減了13%。再加上我們的有機成長，我們的每股 EBITDA 成長了 97%，幾乎成長了 100%，從 2016 年到 2024 年幾乎翻了一番。我們這樣做的同時——您已經看到了股息以及降低我們的淨債務至 EBITDA 槓桿率。因此，我認為，以我的拙見，這也告訴了你一些事情。

Yeah of course. Thank you so much, very impressive.

是的，當然。非常感謝，印象非常深刻。

Thank you, Rob.

謝謝你，羅布。

John Baumgartner, Mizuho.

瑞穗的約翰·鮑姆加特納。

Good morning. Thanks for the question. Maybe first question, I wanted to come back to the enterprise wide transformation. The charges taken for that program in the quarter were fairly sizable. How far along are you in terms of taking these charges at this point, implementing the program? And then on the other side of that, how do you think about the ramp and the related efficiency benefit? I know it's not something you normally discuss in detail, but should that ramp in efficiencies begin in 2025? Is it more 2026? Just any thoughts there?

早安.謝謝你的提問。也許第一個問題是，我想回到企業範圍的轉型。本季針對該計劃收取的費用相當可觀。目前您在承擔這些指控以及實施該計劃方面進展如何？那麼另一方面，您如何看待坡道和相關的效率效益？我知道這不是您通常詳細討論的話題，但效率的提高是否應該從 2025 年開始？是不是更接近 2026 年了？有什麼想法嗎？

Yeah. No, let me answer that. It's a good question, John. So a couple of points. You've seen that -- there's a bit of disturbance on the line. Yeah, maybe you can go -- I think, John, I think there's a bit of disturbance on the line. So the ramp in terms of cost was around EUR5 million over in the quarter, as well as if you look at the last year. What we said before in some interaction is we will bring that down. But clearly, we don't all of a sudden going to half that. But can we bring that down, these run rates, with 20%, 25%. That's clearly the aim and we are working towards that. That's one part.

是的。不，讓我來回答這個問題。這是個好問題，約翰。有幾點。你已經看到了——線路上出現了一點幹擾。是的，也許你可以去──我想，約翰，我覺得電話那頭有點幹擾。因此，本季的成本增加約為 500 萬歐元，與去年同期相比也差不多。我們之前在互動中說過，我們會降低這一水平。但顯然，我們不會突然將其減半。但是我們能否將這些運行率降低到 20%、25% 呢？這顯然是我們的目標，我們正在為此努力。這是其中一部分。

I think the other point is what Stefan said -- to your question on efficiencies. The other point is what Stefan just said, in terms of not having disruptions again, we will go slower, slower and simpler. And slower means one of the lessons is you need proper time to test it, to onboard our teams and our people and our suppliers. That's one point. We will go smaller.

我認為另一點是史蒂芬針對你關於效率的問題所說的。另一點就是史蒂芬剛才說的，為了不再發生中斷，我們將會走得更慢、更慢、更簡單。而更慢意味著其中一個教訓是你需要適當的時間來測試它，以讓我們的團隊、我們的員工和我們的供應商加入。這是一點。我們將變得更小。

So what we're going to put live at the end of this year, the current plan is that what we went live last year was around one third of our business. What we're going to put live this year is not even 15% of our business. So we will go smaller. And the third bit is where we can, we're going to simplify it. So that's the second point I want to bring in.

因此，我們將在今年年底上線這項服務，目前的計劃是，去年上線的服務約占我們業務的三分之一。我們今年要上線的業務甚至還不到我們業務的 15%。因此我們將規模縮小。第三點是，我們會盡力簡化它。這是我想提出的第二點。

The third point is the efficiency ramp-up there are elements related to the fact that you need a whole new enterprise system, and that will help us. But the big efficiency gains in terms of what Stefan spoke about, simplifying the organization in terms of factory optimization, both at a factory as well as on a macro level in terms of supplier rationalization, nothing is stopping us to do that already in the next quarter and the next one or two years.

第三點是提高效率，這與需要一個全新的企業系統有關，這將對我們有所幫助。但正如史蒂芬所說的那樣，效率的大幅提升，在工廠優化方面簡化組織，無論是在工廠內部還是在宏觀層面上，在供應商合理化方面，沒有什麼可以阻止我們在下個季度以及未來一兩年內做到這一點。

Okay, great, thanks for that. And then a follow-up on the commentary on price. I'm curious, as you sort of see the waves of material inflation past and you look back and assess how the volumes are evolving, after rebasing to these higher price levels for the category, how do you think about everyday value for your frozen categories at this point? And do you sense that anything has changed in terms of maybe cross-elasticities relative to fresh or shelf-stable options for consumers in the categories?

好的，太好了，謝謝。然後跟進對價格的評論。我很好奇，當您看到過去的物質通膨浪潮並回顧和評估銷售如何變化時，在重新調整該類別的更高價格水平後，您如何看待目前冷凍品類的日常價值？您是否感覺到，相對於該類別中消費者選擇的新鮮或保質期較長的產品，其交叉彈性發生了任何變化？

Well, I think, vis-a-vis, let's say, the center store and obviously fresh, it's a bit more difficult to see. The only thing we see -- we've seen is during this crisis, as expected, as category leader, we led the price increases and the other guys have been a bit slower to react, including the private label.

嗯，我認為，相對於中心商店和顯然新鮮的商店，這有點難以看出。我們看到的唯一情況是——我們看到的是，在這場危機期間，正如預期的那樣，作為品類領導者，我們引領了價格上漲，而其他人的反應稍慢一些，包括自有品牌。

So it's been a great time for private label in terms of market share, as expected, by the way. But we have no regrets because that was the right thing to do, by far, people -- back to Rob's question, where do we stand with the gross margin, I can tell you, we wouldn't have this -- we wouldn't have talked about when are you going to go back to 30%, we would have been very far from that.

因此，順便說一句，從市場份額來看，這是自有品牌發展的黃金時期，這一點是意料之中的。但我們並不後悔，因為那是迄今為止正確的做法，回到 Rob 的問題，我們的毛利率是多少，我可以告訴你，我們不會有這種情況——我們不會談論什麼時候才能回到 30%，我們會離這個目標很遠。

Now what we see is at least in the category, John, I would put in the category, I think what we see is -- obviously its -- we're gaining market share. It's a bit choppy still, but we're gaining market share with this private level. Which is good because the -- let's say, the price has stabilized, which is a good news as well.

現在我們看到的至少在這個類別中，約翰，我會把這個類別放進去，我認為我們看到的是 - 顯然是 - 我們正在獲得市場份額。雖然仍然有點不穩定，但我們正在透過這種私人層面獲得市場份額。這是好事，因為──比如說，價格已經穩定了，這也是個好消息。

Now back to your question, and correct me if I'm wrong, how are we doing versus other categories like fresh or center store? Well, I think overall, I think it's -- more than ever, frozen has proven to be a very resilient and good category. And I would say with all the things we have had ahead of us in terms of long-term trends, in terms of good food and obviously also waste and all these things, I think it's going to only amplify in the future.

現在回到你的問題，如果我錯了請糾正我，與生鮮或中心商店等其他類別相比，我們的表現如何？嗯，我認為總的來說，比以往任何時候都更甚的是，《冰雪奇緣》已被證明是一種非常有彈性且良好的類別。我想說，從長期趨勢來看，從優質食品的角度來看，當然還有浪費等等，我認為這種現像只會在未來加劇。

Thank you.

謝謝。

You're welcome, John.

別客氣，約翰。

John Tanwanteng, CJS Securities.

約翰·譚萬騰，CJS 證券。

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions and congrats on a nice quarter. First, just a small one for Ruben. Are there any repurchases assumed in the EPS guidance for the year or the capital allocation at all?

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題，並祝賀您度過了一個愉快的季度。首先，對 Ruben 來說這只是一個小事。年度每股收益指引或資本配置中是否假設任何回購？

No. We have not assumed that only to the -- what we have assumed is that our share count will stay flat. So there's always a bit of shares issued for share program we have internally, and for that, we assume some buyback. For the rest, it is assumed flat. So additional share buyback could be a tailwind. On the other end, you also know that in EPS, there might be a bit of headwind depending on what the floating interest rate will do and all of that. So that's the assumption.

不。我們沒有僅僅假設這一點——我們假設的是我們的股票數量將保持不變。因此，我們內部的股票計劃總是會發行一些股票，為此，我們假設會進行一些回購。其餘部分則視為持平。因此額外的股票回購可能會帶來利多。另一方面，您也知道，在每股盈餘方面，可能會遇到一些阻力，這取決於浮動利率的變化等等。這就是假設。

Got it. And then second, have you thought of the potential for tariffs from the US and how that might impact European markets and ability to procure seafood that's denominated in US dollars? And what the knock-on impacts might be to you and how you might change your strategy to mitigate anything that might flow through there to you?

知道了。第二，您是否考慮美國可能徵收關稅，以及這將如何影響歐洲市場和以美元計價的海鮮採購能力？這會對您產生什麼連鎖影響？您會如何改變策略來減輕可能對您產生的影響？

Yeah, So just -- because I heard you saying denominated in US dollars. Also, to be clear, potentially US dollar moves, our hedging strategy is such that we don't see a big impact into this year of the strengthening of the dollar, which we've seen over the last one or two months. So just to make that point clear.

是的，所以只是——因為我聽到你說以美元計價。另外，需要明確的是，儘管美元可能會有所波動，但我們的對沖策略是，美元走強不會對今年產生重大影響，而過去一兩個月我們已經看到了這種情況。我只是想把這一點說清楚。

Secondly, and just to be clear, we don't export into the US. And if you look at our buy-side outside fish, which I will come to, we don't import ingredients from the US. So we don't see overall big impact on tariffs. Now if you do look at fish, and maybe the US, Russian fish, there is an executive order that Russian fish is not allowed into the US. We think if you look also a bit the population base from a US perspective, where a lot of that is in Alaska, we don't think that will change. But again, no one knows in these times.

其次，要明確說明的是，我們不出口到美國。如果你看看我們的買方外部魚類，正如我所說，我們不從美國進口原料。因此我們認為關稅總體上不會受到太大影響。現在，如果你確實看魚，也許是美國、俄羅斯的魚，有一項行政命令規定俄羅斯魚不允許進入美國。我們認為，如果從美國的角度看人口基數，就會發現大部分人口都在阿拉斯加，我們認為這種情況不會改變。但同樣，現在沒有人知道。

What we then see, there is tariff in Europe, in the UK on fish. On that one, for UK, we're an important US fish, so not an impact for us. It could be that there's additional tariffs also in Europe. But at this moment, we're not foreseeing that. Also because you have to look at the overall fish supply, where we would run out of fish if tariff would go up too much or sanction would go up too much.

我們看到，歐洲、英國對魚類徵收關稅。就這一點而言，對於英國來說，我們是美國的重要成員，因此對我們來說不會產生影響。歐洲也可能會徵收額外的關稅。但目前我們還沒有預見到這一點。另外，你必須考慮魚類供應總量，如果關稅上漲過多或製裁增加過多，我們就會耗盡魚類。

So actually, we don't see that as a major risk. That doesn't mean we're complacent about it. So I think there's a more strategic work which we've done on looking at diversification of our fish sourcing, that we are assured that in 5 to 10 years, we have the right to fish sourcing. So I think that's one element. The impact which -- the element which could have an impact. But again, this is also a bit hypothetical or no one knows what will happen, is an impact on the gas prices.

因此實際上我們並不認為這是一個重大風險。但這並不意味著我們對此感到自滿。因此，我認為我們在尋求魚類來源多樣化方面做了更具策略性的工作，我們確保在 5 到 10 年內我們擁有魚類來源的權利。所以我認為這是一個因素。該因素可能會產生影響。但同樣，這也有點假設，或者沒有人知道會發生什麼，會對天然氣價格產生影響。

But again, that's not the biggest spend of the -- item in our P&L, where we freeze stuff instead of heating stuff, but that could have an impact. You've seen what will happen today with the gas prices. But again, a lot of sentences, the main point is we don't see a major act impact of retaliation in terms of tariffs.

但這並不是我們損益表中最大的支出項目，我們冷凍東西而不是加熱東西，但這可能會產生影響。您已經看到了今天油價的變化。但同樣，許多句子的重點是我們沒有看到關稅方面的報復行為產生重大影響。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Peter Saleh, BTIG.

彼得·薩利赫（Peter Saleh），BTIG。

Great, thanks for taking the question and congrats on a nice quarter. I just wanted to ask if you guys could provide a little bit more color on the overall consumer environment in Western Europe? Just given the inflation that you're seeing, the incremental, have you seen any change in behavior at all in some of your core markets? Given that you're starting to see a little bit more inflation, has that flowed through to the consumer already? Or are we still a little early on that front? Thank you.

太好了，感謝您回答這個問題，並祝賀您度過了一個愉快的季度。我只是想問一下，你們能否提供一些有關西歐整體消費環境的詳細資訊？考慮到您所看到的通貨膨脹，即增量，您是否看到某些核心市場的行為發生了任何變化？鑑於您開始看到通貨膨脹加劇，這是否已傳導至消費者？或者說我們在這方面還處於早期階段？謝謝。

Well, I would put that way. I think it's easing. Little by little it's improving, but it remains -- it's not the way it was before the crisis. But what little by little, I think it would -- because when Ruben is talking about increased inflation, it's nothing comparable to what we had in 2022. So it's a bit of a price increase, but nothing major.

嗯，我會這麼說。我認為情況正在緩解。情況正在一點一點地好轉，但仍然不像危機前那樣。但我認為，它會一點一點地發生——因為當魯本談到通貨膨脹上升時，它與 2022 年的情況完全無法相比。因此價格會稍微上漲，但沒有什麼大問題。

So yes, I think overall, it remains, as I said, slightly improving, but takes a bit of time. What we also see, which is good, is private label is losing a bit of market share, which is something about obviously people coming back to brands and what they perceive, rightly so by the way, in terms of quality. So that's good. So -- but yeah, I think that's where we see it, which is fully reflected in our guidance, by the way.

所以是的，我認為總的來說，正如我所說的，它仍然在略微改善，但需要一點時間。我們也看到，自有品牌正在失去一些市場份額，這是好事，這顯然與人們回歸品牌以及他們對品質的感知有關，順便說一句，這是正確的。這很好。所以 — 但是是的，我認為這就是我們看到的，順便說一句，這完全反映在我們的指導中。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Stefan Descheemaeker for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議交還給 Stefan Descheemaeker 並請他作最後發言。

Thank you very much. So I'm proud of the progress our company has made over the past year and confident in our growth outlook going forward. Our strategy is working and our teams are executing our plans well. We have compelling innovation, renovation, advertising and the merchandising plans slated for 2025 which -- when combined with our ongoing productivity programs, give us good visibility to another year of top and bottom line growth.

非常感謝。因此，我為公司在過去一年的進步感到自豪，並對我們未來的成長前景充滿信心。我們的策略正在發揮作用，我們的團隊正在很好地執行我們的計劃。我們制定了引人注目的創新、改造、廣告和行銷計劃，計劃於 2025 年實施，與我們正在進行的生產力計劃相結合，將使我們對明年的營收和利潤成長有良好的預期。

We expect to keep our top and bottom line growth streak going again in 2025, extending the streak to 10 years as we mark our 10 year anniversary as a public company. Thank you to all our employees and investors who have joined us on this journey. The best is yet to come.

我們預計，2025 年我們的營收和利潤將再次保持成長勢頭，並將這一勢頭延續至 10 年，屆時我們即將迎來上市公司 10 週年。感謝所有與我們一起踏上這趟旅程的員工和投資者。最好的尚未到來。

The conference has concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議已經結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。