Oil-Dri Corporation of America (ODC) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Oil-Dri Corporation of America fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 discussion via webcast. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

大家好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加美國石油公司（Oil-Dri Corporation of America）2025財年第四季業績網路直播討論會。請注意，本次會議將進行錄製。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Dan Jaffee, President and CEO of Oil-Dri. Please go ahead.

現在我把會議交給今天的演講嘉賓，Oil-Dri公司總裁兼執行長丹‧賈菲先生。請開始吧。

Thank you, and welcome, everyone to our fourth-quarter fiscal '25 teleconference. Joining me in various locations through the miracles of Modern Science are Susan Kreh, our CFO and CIO; Aaron Christiansen, VP of Operations; Chris Lamson with his new title and new responsibilities as Group Vice President of Business-to-Business and Strategic Growth Initiatives; Wade Robey, Vice President of Ag and President of Amlan International; Laura Scheland, VP and General Manager of the Consumer Products Division; Bruce Patsey, VP of Fluids Purification; Mervyn de Souza, VP of R&D; Tony Parker, VP of General Counsel -- and General Counsel and Secretary; and then, of course, Leslie Garber, our Director of Investor Relations, and Leslie, please walk us through the safe harbor provisions.

感謝各位參加我們2025財年第四季電話會議。感謝各位的到來，感謝現代科技的神奇力量，我們今天得以在各地與大家連線：首席財務官兼首席資訊長Susan Kreh；營運副總裁Aaron Christiansen；Chris Lamson，他剛剛榮升集團副總裁，負責企業對企業業務和戰略增長計劃；農業副總裁兼Amlan International總裁兼助理研發部總裁兼消費品部總裁兼財務總監； Souza；總法律顧問兼總法律顧問兼秘書Tony Parker；當然還有我們的投資者關係總監Leslie Garber。 Leslie，請您為我們解釋安全港條款。

Thank you, Dan, and welcome, everyone. On today's call, comments may contain forward-looking statements regarding the company's performance in future periods. Actual results in those periods may materially differ. In our press release and in our SEC filings, we highlight a number of important risk factors, trends and uncertainties that may affect our future performance. We ask that you review and consider those factors in evaluating the company's comments and in evaluating any investment in Oil-Dri stock.

謝謝丹，也歡迎各位。在今天的電話會議中，發言可能包含有關公司未來業績的前瞻性陳述。實際業績可能與這些陳述有重大差異。我們在新聞稿和提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件中重點闡述了可能影響公司未來業績的若干重要風險因素、趨勢和不確定性。請各位在評估公司發言以及對Oil-Dri股票進行任何投資時，仔細閱讀並考慮這些因素。

Thank you for joining us. Dan, turning it back over to you.

謝謝各位的參與。丹，現在把發言權交還給你。

Yeah. Thanks, Leslie. And I'm going to turn it over to Susan, and I'll make my remarks after her because I don't want to steal her thunder. So Susan, take it away.

是的，謝謝你，萊斯利。現在我要把麥克風交給蘇珊，我會在她之後發言，因為我不想搶她的風頭。那麼，蘇珊，請開始吧。

Thank you, Dan. And in order to preserve the most time for questions, I'll highlight a few financial matters and then address any other areas of interest in the Q&A portion of this call. But I wanted to start by giving a shout out to Jon Blake, Anna Tenenbaum and the entire corporate accounting team. This is the first 10-Q that Oil-Dri has filed in which we were not using the SEC's smaller reporting company designation. Not only were the additional requirements incorporated well, but in my opinion, this is the highest quality 10-K that the team has produced. So a big thank you to our excellent accounting team.

謝謝丹。為了盡可能留出時間回答問題，我將重點放在一些財務事項，然後在問答環節解答大家感興趣的其他問題。首先，我要特別感謝喬恩·布萊克、安娜·特內鮑姆以及整個公司會計團隊。這是Oil-Dri提交的第一份未採用美國證券交易委員會（SEC）小型報告公司認定的10-Q報告。我們不僅很好地滿足了新增的要求，而且在我看來，這是團隊迄今為止完成的品質最高的10-K報告。所以，非常感謝我們優秀的會計團隊。

Now switching back to results. The team here at Oil-Dri continues to deliver robust solutions for our customers that have resulted in the very strong financial performance that we continue to deliver during our fiscal fourth quarter. Revenue increases of 10% over the fourth quarter of the prior year were driven primarily by volume, but our results also benefited from product mix improvements, which resulted in large part from the robust 24% year-over-year revenue growth in our B2B products, an excellent year for them.

現在回到業績方面。 Oil-Dri團隊持續為客戶提供可靠的解決方案，這使得我們在第四財季取得了非常強勁的財務表現。與上年同期相比，營收成長了10%，這主要得益於銷量的成長，但產品組合的最佳化也對業績有所好處。產品組合的最佳化很大程度上歸功於B2B產品營收年增24%，這對B2B產品而言是碩果累累的一年。

These products tend to have higher prices and margins than our retail and wholesale products. And therefore, as they increases as an overall part of the portfolio, the product mix becomes more favorable.

這些產品的價格和利潤率通常高於我們的零售和批發產品。因此，隨著它們在產品組合中所佔比例的增加，產品組合的最佳化效果會更加顯著。

On the manufacturing side of the business, during our fourth quarter we had several planned outages in our production facilities. We used these outages to complete capital projects for both growth initiatives and also to replace aged plant infrastructure. At the same time, we refreshed much of our information technology network hardware, and we were able to upgrade our cybersecurity defenses.

在生產製造方面，第四季我們安排了幾次生產設施的計畫內停機檢修。我們利用這些停機時間完成了旨在促進成長的資本項目，並更換了老舊的工廠基礎設施。同時，我們也更新了大部分資訊科技網路硬件，並升級了網路安全防禦系統。

The financial impact of these outages was not only the capital that we invested, but also incremental contract services and repair expenses as well as the impact of lowering inventories. We used inventory on hand to serve our customers while we were not producing product, and this enabled us to maintain our historically high service levels.

這些停產造成的財務影響不僅包括我們投入的資金，還包括新增的合約服務和維修費用，以及庫存下降的影響。在產品停產期間，我們利用現有庫存為客戶提供服務，這使我們能夠維持以往的高服務水準。

As a team, we continue to work to strengthen our balance sheet and to demonstrate our ability to generate cash flow, which is the lifeblood for funding growth and providing returns to our stakeholders.

作為一個團隊，我們將繼續努力加強資產負債表，並證明我們有能力創造現金流，現金流是為成長提供資金和為利害關係人帶來回報的生命線。

During fiscal year 2025, Oil-Dri's net cash provided by operating activities was $80 million, a remarkable increase of 33% compared to the net cash provided by operating activities during fiscal year 2024. Additionally, full year EBITDA of $90 million was up 29% over the $70 million EBITDA that was generated during fiscal year 2024.

2025財年，Oil-Dri的經營活動產生的淨現金流量為8,000萬美元，與2024財年的經營活動產生的淨現金流量相比，增幅高達33%。此外，全年EBITDA為9,000萬美元，比2024財年的7,000萬美元成長了29%。

And with that amount of cash on hand, we continue to assess capital allocation in the following order of priority. Our top goal remains investing in our business for long-term sustainability. We continue to invest in our fixed asset base, including our mobile mining equipment. As mentioned earlier, in addition to replacing aged assets, we are investing capital to support current and future growth. For fiscal year 2025, we spent just under $33 million on these types of investments.

憑藉這筆現金儲備，我們將繼續以以下優先順序評估資本配置。我們的首要目標仍然是投資於業務的長期永續發展。我們將繼續投資於固定資產，包括行動採礦設備。如前所述，除了更換老舊資產外，我們還投入資金以支持當前和未來的成長。在2025財年，我們在此類投資上花費了近3,300萬美元。

Additionally, we invest in people, process and technology to support our growth strategy. One example of this is the investment that we have provided funding during the fiscal year to stand up a centralized data analytics function. This function has been funded to support our commitment to [Money ball] or Moneyball type analytics from mining company. While we are in the early stages of this journey, we plan to expand this area to help focus on opportunities to leverage AI or artificial intelligence in applications where the payback generates acceptable returns and doesn't introduce unacceptable levels of risk.

此外，我們也投資於人才、流程和技術，以支援我們的成長策略。例如，我們在本會計年度投入資金建立了一個集中式資料分析部門。該部門的成立旨在支持我們對礦業公司「點球成金」（Moneyball）式分析的承諾。雖然我們目前仍處於這一領域的早期階段，但我們計劃拓展該領域，專注於在能夠帶來可接受回報且風險可控的應用場景中利用人工智慧（AI）的機會。

We also use our cash to service our debt. And in fiscal year 2025, we paid down $11 million in debt. $10 million of that debt resulted from a draw on our revolving credit facility to partially finance the Ultra Pet acquisition. At this time, our revolving credit facility is undrawn, and we have full access to the $75 million financing vehicle.

我們也利用自有現金償還債務。在2025財年，我們償還了1,100萬美元的債務。其中1000萬美元的債務是由於我們動用了循環信貸額度來部分支付收購Ultra Pet的費用。目前，我們的循環信用額度尚未動用，我們可以完全使用7,500萬美元的融資工具。

We look for and evaluate M&A opportunities to expand our businesses and support our growth strategies. Our Ultra Pet acquisition, which hit its one-year anniversary of being part of the Oil-Dri portfolio during our fiscal fourth quarter of 2025 is a great example. That acquisition has performed well and has been viewed by our customers very favorably as a value-added product expansion to our portfolio.

我們尋找並評估併購機會，以拓展業務並支持成長策略。 Ultra Pet 的收購就是一個很好的例子，該公司在 2025 財年第四季迎來了加入 Oil-Dri 產品組合一週年紀念日。此次收購表現良好，並被我們的客戶視為我們產品組合中增值產品的有力補充。

We also acquired some key talent with the acquisition that will help drive growth in our core business as well as our Ultra Pet product line. Because of our strong cash position, I often get asked what type of M&A opportunities are of interest to Oil-Dri. We remain committed to our mission of creating value from sorbent minerals. It's what we do day in and day out, and our team has demonstrated that together, we do it well.

此次收購也為我們帶來了關鍵人才，這將有助於推動我們核心業務以及Ultra Pet產品線的成長。由於我們現金流充裕，我經常被問到Oil-Dri對哪些類型的併購機會感興趣。我們始終致力於從吸附礦物中創造價值。這是我們日復一日的工作，我們的團隊也用實際行動證明，我們齊心協力就能出色地完成這項任務。

We believe we will create the most value if we acquire businesses that are closely aligned with our current portfolio. Additionally, we are open to exploring possibilities in other sorbent mineral-based solutions as well as other businesses that would expand our mineral-based product offerings to our current customers. Ultra Pet was a good example of this by providing us with an additional premium product to offer our existing customers.

我們相信，收購與現有業務組合高度契合的企業，能創造最大價值。此外，我們也樂於探索其他吸附劑礦物基解決方案領域的可能性，以及其他能夠拓展我們礦物基產品供應範圍、惠及現有客戶的業務。 Ultra Pet 就是一個很好的例子，它為我們現有客戶提供了一個額外的優質產品。

Another high priority use of our cash is dividends. Our goal here is to provide predictable and sustainable dividends to our shareholders. The announcement during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 of the 16% dividend per share increase for fiscal year 2026 demonstrates that commitment. We also occasionally buy back shares of our stock to offset the dilution associated with our restricted stock program for our teammates, and we occasionally opportunistically repurchase shares when we believe they are undervalued by the market.

我們現金的另一個重要用途是派發股利。我們的目標是為股東提供可預測且可持續的股利。我們在2025財年第四季宣布2026財年每股股息將成長16%，這反映了我們的這項承諾。此外，我們偶爾會回購股票，以抵銷員工限制性股票計畫帶來的股權稀釋；我們也會在認為股票被市場低估時擇機回購。

During fiscal year 2025, we did not purchase any shares on the open market, but we did buy back shares turned in by our teammates to pay taxes when their restricted shares vested. It's very rewarding to be a part of a team that delivered a year like we had in fiscal 2025. Each year that we continue to set new financial records makes the comparisons more challenging for the next year. The team here at Oil-Dri is up to that challenge as we continue to make strategic investments, launch new products and maintain close relationships with our customers.

在2025財年，我們沒有在公開市場上購買任何股票，但我們回購了團隊成員因繳稅而交出的受限股票，這些股票是在他們的受限股票歸屬時發放的。能夠成為這樣一個團隊的一員，並取得2025財年如此輝煌的成績，我感到非常榮幸。我們每年都在刷新財務紀錄，這使得來年的業績比較更具挑戰性。 Oil-Dri團隊已做好迎接挑戰的準備，我們將繼續進行策略性投資，推出新產品，並與客戶保持緊密的合作關係。

And Dan, with that, I'll turn it back over to you.

丹，接下來我就把麥克風交還給你了。

Okay. Great. Thank you. And before I open up to Q&A, I just want to embellish on a few things. First of all, as you'll recall, those of you who have owned our stock or followed us for the past few years. About three years ago, we launched what we called our Capital Recapture Program. And what that was, was a recognition starting from our Board that we were pricing to historic replacement cost for our assets when they were put into service 10 years, let's say on average 10 years ago.

好的，太好了，謝謝。在正式進入問答環節之前，我想先補充幾點。首先，各位持有我們股票或關注我們幾年的朋友們應該還記得，大約三年前，我們啟動了一項名為「資本回收計畫」的計畫。這項計畫的初衷是，從董事會開始，我們意識到，我們目前的定價是基於資產投入使用時的歷史重置成本，而這些資產的平均重置成本大約是十年前投入使用的。

The problem was that those same assets were costing twice as much in today's dollars versus what it cost us to put into service. So back in '22, our annual depreciation was $13 million, $13.5 million, to be exact. And we were pricing to that $13.5 million. But we realized it was going to cost us at least double to replace those assets or $27 million over time. And as you've been hearing from Susan, we've been spending $30 million and $32 million and $33 million.

問題在於，這些資產以今天的美元價值計算，成本是當初投入使用成本的兩倍。 2022年，我們的年度折舊額是1,300萬美元，確切地說是1,350萬美元。當時我們也是以1350萬美元的價格定價的。但我們意識到，更換這些資產的成本至少是現在的兩倍，也就是最終需要2700萬美元。正如蘇珊所說，我們已經花了3000萬美元、3200萬美元，甚至3300萬美元。

So it's going to get there eventually. And if you look at our financial statements, you'll see that our annual depreciation which was $13.5 million back in '22 was $19.3 million in '24 and was $22 million last year. So clearly, as we're replacing those assets, the depreciation is going up because we're replacing them at twice the cost of the assets we're taking off the books.

所以最終一定會達到這個目標。如果你查看我們的財務報表，你會發現我們的年度折舊額從2022年的1350萬美元增加到2024年的1930萬美元，去年更是達到了2200萬美元。顯然，隨著我們不斷替換這些資產，折舊額也在增加，因為我們替換資產的成本是先前資產成本的兩倍。

Why am I telling you all this? I'm telling you all this because we get a lot of questions on margins, which we tend never to answer anyway because, look, it's just we're never into the guidance business. We're into focusing and delivering. But on an apples-to-apples basis, look, with mix, we're clearly selling more and more of the high-value stuff.

我為什麼要跟你們說這些？因為我們經常被問到利潤率的問題，而我們通常都不會回答，因為我們從來不做指導，我們專注於專注和交付。但就產品組合而言，我們顯然正在銷售越來越多的高價值產品。

That's in line with our mission of creating value from sorbent minerals and playing what you read, we call it Miney ball, really getting into the analytics of our business. But apples-to-apples, let's say a 40-pound bag of Oil-Dri floor absorbent to a 40-pound bag of Oil-Dri floor absorbent. Well, in 2022, that 40-pound bag was being charged at a depreciation rate based on the company of $13 million, now it's $22 million.

這與我們利用吸附礦物創造價值的使命相符，我們稱之為「米尼球」（Miney ball），即深入分析我們的業務。但為了方便比較，假設是兩袋40磅的Oil-Dri地板吸附劑。 2022年，這袋40磅的吸附劑以公司1,300萬美元的折舊率提列折舊，而現在則提列了2,200萬美元的折舊。

So clearly, the cost of those items is going up. And I could not be more appreciative of our customers who when we went to them back in 2022, said, we're going to price to these higher depreciation levels even though that isn't the cost currently being experienced.

很顯然，這些商品的成本正在上漲。我非常感謝我們的客戶，早在2022年我們與他們溝通時，他們就表示，即使目前的實際成本還沒有達到更高的折舊水平，我們也會按照更高的折舊水平來定價。

So again, long-winded way of saying, apples-to-apples, there's going to be a lot of margin pressure on some of these historic products because we've been pricing to a higher replacement cost but the cash generation stays the same. And as Susan pointed out, and we have paid a dividend every year since we went public in 1971. And we've raised it now, I want to say, 22 years in a row. And so we're very protective of our cash flow. We run the business and my dad always used to say, earnings or an opinion, cash is a fact.

所以，說了這麼多，其實就是想說，公平地說，由於我們一直按照更高的重置成本定價，但現金流卻保持不變，因此一些老產品的利潤率將面臨很大的壓力。正如蘇珊指出的那樣，自1971年上市以來，我們每年都會派發股息。而且，我想說，我們已經連續22年提高股利了。因此，我們非常重視現金流。我們經營公司，我父親常說，獲利或觀點，現金流才是事實。

So for the first time in a long time, we gave some forward guidance on earnings just to help you see what we're seeing. And if you look at the news release, I'll just read it for you. It says, as we enter fiscal year 2026, the first six months will be measured against a particularly strong first half of fiscal year 2025, creating challenging comparisons.

所以，我們時隔許久首次發布了獲利預測，希望能幫助大家了解我們目前的狀況。您可以看看新聞稿，我這就為您讀。新聞稿指出，進入2026財年，前六個月的業績將與2025財年上半年強勁的業績進行比較，將造成較大的基數效應。

However, we remain confident in our ability to build on our past success and continue to deliver growth of our diverse product portfolio. So what does all that mean? It means we're going to have a tough year-to-year comparison in the first half because, look, it was gangbusters this past fiscal 2025, records in every year. But the team and I have put together a plan and have every expectation of delivering a year that beats last year.

然而，我們依然對自身能力充滿信心，相信能夠延續過去的成功，並持續推動我們多元化產品組合的成長。那麼，這一切意味著什麼呢？這意味著今年上半年我們將面臨嚴峻的同比挑戰，因為，要知道，上個財年（2025財年）業績非常強勁，每年都創下新紀錄。但是，我和我的團隊已經制定了計劃，並完全有信心今年能夠超越去年的業績。

Obviously, we've given you the safe harbor. No one knows what's going to happen but I will tell you, first half is going to be challenging. We are hoping for and planning for a very successful fiscal 2026. So with that, I will turn it over because I don't want to get into any more trouble with the lawyers or the safe harbor provisions. But I think you -- hopefully, you can understand or appreciate the guidance that I am giving.

顯然，我們已經提供了安全港條款。沒人知道未來會發生什麼，但我可以告訴你，上半年將會充滿挑戰。我們希望併計劃在2026財年取得非常成功的表現。所以，我就把麥克風交給你了，因為我不想再和律師或安全港條款產生任何麻煩。但我相信，你——希望如此——能夠理解或重視我所提供的指導。

So Leslie, I'm going to turn it over to you, and you can conduct the Q&A.

萊斯利，接下來就交給你了，你可以進行問答環節。

Okay. Great. (Conference Instructions)

好的，太好了。 （會議須知）

I will start the first question, which is from John Bair from Ascend Wealth Advisors. He says, Dr. Mervyn de Souza recently joined Oil-Dri to lead R&D efforts. What brought him to Oil-Dri? What are his vision and goals related to Oil-Dri R&D efforts and focus? And how do they align with Oil-Dri? Is there a particular R&D emphasis envisioned? Or is it balanced between agricultural, animal health and industrial product development. Mervyn?

我先回答第一個問題，這個問題來自 Ascend Wealth Advisors 的 John Bair。他說，Mervyn de Souza 博士最近加入了 Oil-Dri 公司，負責領導研發工作。是什麼促使他加入 Oil-Dri？他對 Oil-Dri 的研發工作和重點有何願景和目標？這些願景和目標與 Oil-Dri 的理念有何契合之處？ Oil-Dri 是否設想了特定的研發重點？或者說，是否在農業、動物健康和工業產品開發之間保持平衡？ Mervyn，

Thanks, Leslie. Appreciate the opportunity to address your question, John. My vision and goals indeed do align with Dan's and the rest of the senior leadership teams to deliver innovation and create value from sorbent minerals while helping the company grow within our existing markets and develop new products for different applications.

謝謝，萊斯利。約翰，感謝您給我這個機會回答您的問題。我的願景和目標確實與丹以及其他高階領導團隊的願景和目標一致，即透過吸附礦物實現創新並創造價值，同時幫助公司在現有市場中發展壯大，並開發適用於不同應用的新產品。

I joined Oil-Dri for a couple of reasons. The major one was Dan's commitment to future growth as well as creating a culture where Oil-Dri teammates can grow and develop. Another reason was that Oil-Dri is vertically integrated to owned and leased mines. We produce the raw material used to make our distinctive products. And last but not least, the opportunity to work with an R&D team again, many of whom are listening in from our R&D innovation campus at Vernon Hills.

我加入Oil-Dri的原因有二。最主要的是丹致力於公司未來的發展，並努力創造一種讓Oil-Dri團隊成員能夠成長和發展的企業文化。另一個原因是Oil-Dri擁有並租賃礦山，實現了垂直整合。我們生產製造我們特色產品所需的原料。最後，也是非常重要的一點，我有機會再次與研發團隊合作，他們中的許多人都在我們位於弗農山的研發創新園區裡關注著我們的工作。

There's a lot of room for innovation and creativity when we go all the way from our mines to various global markets and that is a unique advantage that many R&D leaders and companies don't have. My R&D teammates have a diverse range of experiences and specialized expertise that we leverage when partnering with each Oil-Dri division and the GM to support their specific growth strategies, be it with cat litter, animal health, fluids purification or agricultural solutions. The R&D team supports all our Oil-Dri divisions, while our innovation processes and entrepreneurial culture allow us to flex resources the best and biggest opportunities across the company.

從礦場到全球各個市場，我們擁有龐大的創新和創造力空間，這是許多研發領導者和公司所沒有的獨特優勢。我的研發團隊成員擁有豐富的經驗和專業知識，我們在與Oil-Dri的各個部門和總經理合作時，充分利用這些優勢，支持他們各自的成長策略，無論是貓砂、動物保健、流體淨化或農業解決方案。研發團隊為Oil-Dri的所有部門提供支持，而我們的創新流程和創業文化使我們能夠靈活地調配資源，把握公司內最具潛力和發展前景的機會。

Great. Thank you so much. Our next question comes from Robert Smith, The Center for Performance Investing. And he asks, in what ways the current soybean situation affecting your business? And I'm going to have Bruce Patsey answer that.

太好了，非常感謝。下一個問題來自績效投資中心的羅伯特‧史密斯。他問，目前的大豆情勢對貴公司有哪些影響？接下來我將請布魯斯·帕特西來回答這個問題。

Hi Robert, thanks for the question. The current administration has put more emphasis on tax benefits for renewable business with the use of soybeans in the market. So we do expect there'll be more crushing of soybeans and more oil going into renewable plants that will be processing this oil and turning it into diesel fuel. This will also probably generate more business at our current customers that are in the market as well. And we saw this in the fourth quarter as more soybean oil was being produced in the marketplace, and it helped drive some of our sales in the fourth quarter, and we expect that to continue in the '26.

羅伯特，你好，感謝你的提問。本屆政府更重視對再生能源企業（尤其是大豆生產商）的稅收優惠政策。因此，我們預計大豆壓榨量將會增加，更多的大豆油將流入再生能源工廠，用於加工並生產柴油。這也可能為我們現有的客戶帶來更多業務。我們在第四季度已經觀察到了這一點，市場上大豆油產量的增加推動了我們第四季度的部分銷售額，我們預計這種情況將在2026年持續。

Great, thank you. The next question is from Ethan Star. And both he and Robert Smith are interested in the future prospects for increased sales for both Amlam products in the upcoming year and for fluids purification. But I'm actually going to have Wade to talk about Amlan.

太好了，謝謝。下一個問題來自 Ethan Star。他和 Robert Smith 都對 Amlam 產品在未來一年的銷售前景以及流體淨化領域很感興趣。不過，接下來我要請 Wade 來談談 Amlam。

Thank you, Leslie, and thank you, Ethan, for the question. As many of you remember, in fiscal year '24, there was a general downturn in the ag industry. And certainly, the Amlan business and other of our agricultural businesses were impacted by that downturn, really driven by macro events that we built across the industry, not just in the US but in our international markets as well.

謝謝萊斯利和伊森的提問。正如許多人所記得的，在2024財年，農業產業普遍低迷。當然，安蘭公司以及我們其他的農業業務也受到了這次低迷的影響，這實際上是由我們在整個行業中構建的宏觀事件所驅動的，不僅在美國，也在我們的國際市場。

In fiscal year '25, we saw good recovery. And again, that was across the industry, across our business, and that led to improved profitability for our customers. As a result of that, in fiscal year '25, we saw good growth and a return to more consistent growth as we had been forecasting previously. As we go into 2026, we expect that to continue. We still face regional challenges depending upon the geography in the world. Some of the economies are still recovering coming out of the pandemic. But generally, we've returned to more consistent and predictable economies that we sell into.

在2025財年，我們看到了良好的復甦。而且，這種復甦遍及整個產業，也遍及我們自身的業務，進而提升了客戶的獲利能力。因此，在2025財年，我們實現了良好的成長，並恢復了先前預測的更穩定的成長態勢。展望2026年，我們預期這一趨勢將持續下去。我們仍然面臨一些區域性挑戰，具體取決於世界各地的地理位置。部分經濟體仍在從疫情中復甦。但總體而言，我們所處的經濟體已經恢復到更穩定和可預測的狀態。

So going into 2026, we expect to see good growth across our businesses. Amlam is focused on continuing to expand into new geographies, both in Asia and in Latin America, adding new partnerships, adding new channels to the market. And so again, we expect a good year for the business, and again, more consistent growth that we can deliver. Macro events can change, but we don't see that necessarily on the near-term horizon. So that would be how we look at the coming year.

展望2026年，我們預期旗下各項業務將實現良好成長。 Amlam致力於持續拓展亞洲和拉丁美洲的新市場，建立新的合作關係，並開闢新的市場管道。因此，我們預計2026年業務將取得良好進展，並實現更穩定的成長。宏觀經濟情勢可能會發生變化，但我們認為短期內不會出現這種情況。以上就是我們對未來一年的展望。

Thank you. Next question is from John Bair. He said you stated in the press release, competitors continue to increase their promotional spending during the three-month period ending July 31, 2025, which Oil-Dri believes tempered its clay-based litter sales. Does this promotional activity refer to competitors' advertising activity as well as pricing discounts or couponing? Framing the question this way since Oil-Dri also stated advertising expenses were down in Q4, so wondering if lower advertising might have had an impact if competitors were advertising more heavily?

謝謝。下一個問題來自約翰·貝爾。他說您在新聞稿中提到，競爭對手在截至2025年7月31日的三個月期間持續增加促銷支出，Oil-Dri認為這抑制了其黏土貓砂的銷售量。這裡的促銷活動是指競爭對手的廣告活動，還是指價格折扣或優惠券？我問這個是因為Oil-Dri也提到第四季的廣告支出有所下降，所以我想知道，如果競爭對手加大廣告投入，Oil-Dri的廣告支出減少是否會產生影響？

Laura Scheland, will you take that, please?

勞拉·謝蘭，請你拿著好嗎？

Sure. Thank you for the question. When referring to promotional activity in the release, we're mostly referring to heavy price discounts, couponing, trade spend at large retailers such as rollbacks at Walmart or Buy One Get One Free at Publix as well as other discounting and couponing in the brick-and-mortar and e-commerce channels.

當然。謝謝你的提問。我們所說的促銷活動，主要指的是大幅降價、優惠券、大型零售商的促銷活動（例如沃爾瑪的降價促銷或 Publix 的買一送一），以及實體店和電商通路的其他折扣和優惠券活動。

During this heavy promotional climate in fiscal year '25, we shifted some of our advertising spend to strategic promotional trade spend, hence the reference to the lower advertising spend. We do not view this lower advertising spend as a driver for the tempered clay sales, but more strategic shift to kind of match what's going on in the market.

在2025財年如此強勁的促銷環境下，我們將部分廣告支出轉向了策略性促銷管道，因此廣告支出有所減少。我們不認為廣告支出減少是導致陶土製品銷售下降的原因，而是一種為了適應市場變化而進行的策略調整。

As noted in the earnings release, we're seeing that the lightweight cat litter segment expanded and surpassed the growth of the cat litter category. And this was largely due to competitors' promotional spending on the lightweight products. While the competitive promotions can temper sales in the short term, the competitive spend on lightweight really helps drive consumer trial and educate consumers on the benefits of lightweight litter.

如財報所述，輕質貓砂細分市場成長迅猛，超過了普通貓砂品類的整體成長。這主要歸功於競爭對手在輕量產品上的促銷投入。雖然短期內競爭對手的促銷活動可能會抑制銷量，但他們對輕質貓砂的投入確實有助於推動消費者試用，並讓消費者了解輕質貓砂的優勢。

We've articulated over the years, our strategy of growing the lightweight litter pie as consumers learn the benefits of lightweight litter. All things being equal, from price and performance perspective consumers will want to buy lightweight litter.

多年來，我們一直致力於透過消費者對輕質貓砂益處的了解，來擴大輕質貓砂的市場份額。在其他條件相同的情況下，從價格和性能的角度來看，消費者最終都會選擇購買輕量貓砂。

However, the concept of less weight, but the same amount of uses can be difficult to convey to consumers on package since litter sold by weight but used by volume. Therefore, we see the promotional spending on lightweight as a positive development in the long term because we view the trend of the growing lightweight segment as a key driver for the advancement of our branded and private label litter.

然而，由於貓砂按重量出售，而使用量卻按體積計算，因此很難透過包裝向消費者傳達「重量更輕，但使用次數不變」的概念。所以，我們認為，從長遠來看，加大對輕量化貓砂的促銷投入是一項積極的舉措，因為我們認為，輕量化貓砂市場的成長趨勢是推動我們自有品牌和貼牌貓砂業務發展的關鍵因素。

So we remain focused on increased distribution and sell-in of our Cat's Pride and privately labeled lightweight litter products. We remain very excited about our prospects for growth, especially as promotional activity subsides, which we expect it will, as consumers remain budget constrained and look for really high-quality private label products and other value offerings.

因此，我們將繼續專注於擴大「貓咪驕傲」（Cat's Pride）品牌和自有品牌輕質貓砂產品的分銷和銷售。我們對未來的成長前景充滿信心，尤其是在促銷活動逐漸減少的情況下——我們預計促銷活動將會減少，因為消費者的預算仍然有限，他們會尋求真正高品質的自有品牌產品和其他高性價比的產品。

Great. Next question from Robert Smith. I'm keenly interested in the prospect of using artificial intelligence in the innovation lab for R&D with respect to new product development. Can Dr. de Souza, please give us his thoughts about this?

好的。接下來是羅伯特·史密斯的問題。我對在創新實驗室中使用人工智慧進行研發，特別是新產品開發的前景非常感興趣。德索薩博士能否談談他的看法？

Thanks, Leslie, and thanks, Bob. I, too, am excited about the potential for using automation and AI tools to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of R&D and innovation at Oil-Dri. That being said, I'm also a big fan of the crawl, walk, run philosophy. In my experience, the best outcomes are obtained when balancing automation with qualified human oversight.

謝謝萊斯利，也謝謝鮑伯。我也對利用自動化和人工智慧工具來提高Oil-Dri研發和創新效率的潛力感到興奮。話雖如此，我也非常贊同循序漸進的理念。以我的經驗來看，將自動化與合格的人工監督結合，才能達到最佳成果。

Currently, this hybrid approach seems to be appropriate for Oil-Dri given deep minerals and application expertise that we have with teammates from both our R&D and operations team and the current state of AI technologies. For new product development AI can be used to quickly evaluate and then discard or elevate hypotheses, and it can screen a lot of data more rapidly than humanly possible.

目前，鑑於Oil-Dri公司研發和營運團隊成員在礦物和應用方面的深厚專業知識，以及人工智慧技術的現狀，這種混合方法似乎非常適用。在新產品開發方面，人工智慧可以用於快速評估並排除或提升假設，而且它篩選大量資料的速度遠超人類。

I've been at Oil-Dri for a little over five months now, and the team and I are in the process of critically reviewing existing data with a focus on quality as a first step, in addition to implementing processes to ensure that we generate technical information that is robust, reliable and reproducible. When working with AI and machine learning algorithms, garbage in, garbage out.

我在Oil-Dri工作已經五個多月了，我和團隊目前正在對現有數據進行嚴格審查，第一步是確保數據質量，同時我們也在實施相關流程，以確保我們生成的技術信息穩健、可靠且可複現。在使用人工智慧和機器學習演算法時，切忌「垃圾進，垃圾出」。

In the medium term, Oil-Dri is actively assessing advancements in machine learning models, not just for R&D, but also AI applications as they relate to excavation, hauling, crushing and processing our minerals. We acknowledge the disruptive and transformative potential of AI, not just within R&D, but across our business to help with efficiency, sustainability and value creation. At Oil-Dri, we are employing a phased and strategic approach when it comes to AI that allows us to evaluate the cost benefit analysis for Oil-Dri as a whole.

從中長期來看，Oil-Dri 正在積極評估機器學習模型的最新進展，不僅用於研發，還應用於與礦物開採、運輸、破碎和加工相關的 AI 領域。我們認識到 AI 具有顛覆性和變革性的巨大潛力，不僅在研發領域，而且在整個業務中都能幫助我們提高效率、實現永續發展並創造價值。在 Oil-Dri，我們採用分階段的策略方法應用 AI，以便對 AI 的成本效益進行整體評估。

Great, thank you. Next question is from Tyler Ventura from Diamond Hill Capital. And he asked agricultural sales surged 104% in Q4 to a record $11.9 million. You mentioned normalized purchasing patterns and one new key customer. Can you provide more color on the sustainability of this growth and the revenue contribution from the new customer versus normalized patterns?

好的，謝謝。下一個問題來自Diamond Hill Capital的Tyler Ventura。他問到第四季農業銷售額飆升104%，達到創紀錄的1,190萬美元。您提到採購模式已恢復正常，並且新增了一位重要客戶。您能否詳細說明一下這種成長的可持續性，以及新客戶帶來的收入貢獻與正常採購模式相比如何？

And Wade, I'm going to turn that over to you.

韋德，接下來就交給你了。

Yeah. Thank you, Leslie, and thank you, Tyler. So this goes back a little bit to or relates directly to the answer I gave a moment ago to a previous question. In FY24, we saw a pretty substantial downturn in the agricultural markets, and this impacted the entire industry. As I mentioned, a lot of international as well but also our businesses. And so in fiscal year '24, we did see reductions. And part of that was driven by agricultural practices. Part of that was driven by higher-than-normal inventories that had built up of products that farmers really use in broad acre production.

是的。謝謝萊斯利，也謝謝泰勒。這跟我剛才回答另一個問題有點關係，或者說直接相關。在2024財年，我們看到農產品市場出現了相當嚴重的下滑，這影響了整個產業。正如我所提到的，不僅國際市場受到影響，我們自己的業務也受到了波及。因此，在2024財年，我們的銷售額確實有所下降。部分原因是農業生產方式的改變，部分原因是農民在大面積種植中大量使用的農產品庫存高於正常水平。

As we moved into 2025, so the last fiscal year, we worked through those inventories. We saw recoveries in the market and that resulted in not only our legacy or long-term customers expanding their purchases with us, but we also saw some new customers come on board with different types of applications. So fiscal year '25 was a real strong recovery year for us.

進入2025年，也就是上一個財年，我們清理了庫存。市場開始復甦，這不僅促使我們的老客戶或長期客戶增加了採購量，也吸引了一些新客戶加入，並帶來了不同類型的應用程式。因此，2025財年對我們來說是個強勁的復甦之年。

As we move into fiscal year '26, some of that is going to normalize. We look to see growth in the ag sector this year, both in our turf and ornamental segments, but also in our broad acre segments as well, our row crop segments. And again, it will return to what I would call more consistent and predictable growth than we saw between '24 and '25, where we saw the significant drop and then the strong rebound.

隨著我們進入2026財年，部分情況將會恢復正常。我們預計今年農業領域將實現成長，包括草坪和觀賞植物領域，以及大面積種植領域和農作物領域。而且，與2024年至2025年期間的大幅下滑和強勁反彈相比，農業成長將更加穩定和可預測。

Going forward, as we continue to see markets improve and become more technologically driven as we see population increase, as we see influence around the world increase and a desire to eat better and to have higher rates of animal protein, vegetable protein and diets. We see ag just continuing to grow on a consistent curve. Those will -- those macro events are going to impact our businesses very favorably, and that's why we're very bullish about this segment for Oil-Dri into the future.

展望未來，隨著市場持續改善，技術驅動力日益增強，人口增長，全球影響力不斷擴大，人們對健康飲食的需求日益增長，動物蛋白、植物蛋白和膳食的比例也越來越高。我們預計農業將繼續保持穩定成長。這些宏觀因素將對我們的業務產生非常有利的影響，這也是我們對Oil-Dri未來在該領域的發展前景充滿信心的原因。

Great, thank you. Next question is from Bill Anderson from Bard Associates. He would like an update on the Ultra Pet business. Laura, can you give a brief overview of that, please?

太好了，謝謝。下一個問題來自巴德聯合公司的比爾安德森。他想了解Ultra Pet業務的最新進展。蘿拉，你能簡單介紹一下嗎？

Yeah. Thanks for the question. As Susan noted, we closed on the Ultra Pet acquisition in May of 2024, and it has been a great fit from a product, business, cultural and talent perspective. We are very pleased with the acquisition and really remain excited about the Crystal business and the synergies and opportunities that it adds to our business.

是的，謝謝你的提問。正如蘇珊所說，我們在2024年5月完成了對Ultra Pet的收購，從產品、業務、文化和人才角度來看，這筆交易都非常契合。我們對此次收購非常滿意，並且對Crystal的業務及其為我們帶來的綜效和機會充滿信心。

During fiscal '25, we leveraged our relationships with branded and private label customers and the expanded portfolio offering as well as synergies of being able to co-load our clay and crystal products together to customers to exceed our estimates of distribution adds, some of which came on in F25 and some of which will continue in F26.

在 2025 財年，我們利用與品牌和自有品牌客戶的關係、擴大的產品組合以及將粘土和水晶產品一起提供給客戶的協同效應，實現了比預期更多的分銷增長，其中一些增長在 2025 財年實現，一些增長將在 2026 財年繼續實現。

So in addition, we've also exceeded goals of synergies with freight and operations and other costs and SG&A, which has helped offsetting some softness in the legacy customers that came on with Ultra Pet. So all in all, we remain really excited about the acquisition and the opportunities that it's allowing for our business.

此外，我們在貨運、營運、其他成本以及銷售、管理及行政費用方面的綜效也超額完成目標，這有助於抵銷Ultra Pet帶來的部分原有客戶流失的影響。總而言之，我們對此次收購及其為我們業務帶來的機會感到非常興奮。

Great, thank you. And we probably have -- we only have one more minute. So Dan, did you have any closing remarks?

太好了，謝謝。我們可能只剩下最後一分鐘了。丹，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Sure. Look, our focus, you guys can tell from the team. I mean, when I used to run these teleconferences, it was like a one-man band. And now it isn't at all. And I'm glad you guys, you and investors get to hear from the people that are making it happen every single day, pulling together. We've always said winning at Oil-Dri is a team game, and that's what you're seeing here. Not every quarter is going to be as great as this one so let's enjoy it. And we're going to continue to do everything we can to create value from sorbent minerals.

當然。你看，你們從團隊就能看出我們的重點。以前我主持這些電話會議的時候，幾乎都是我自己在做。現在完全不一樣了。我很高興你們，包括投資者們，能夠聽到那些每天齊心協力、努力奮鬥的人們的心聲。我們一直都說，在Oil-Dri取得成功是團隊合作的成果，而你們現在看到的正是這一點。當然，不是每個季度都能像這個季度一樣出色，所以讓我們好好享受這份喜悅。我們將繼續竭盡所能，從吸附礦物中創造價值。

So thank you for your support, and we'll look forward to talking to you after the first quarter.

感謝您的支持，我們期待在第一季結束後與您再次交流。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may all disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝各位。今天的報告到此結束。感謝大家的參與。大家可以斷開連線了，祝大家有個美好的一天。