Performance Food Group Co (PFGC) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to PFG's Fiscal Year Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Bill Marshall, Vice President, Investor Relations for PFG. Please go ahead, sir.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 PFG 2023 年第四季度財年收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）我現在想將電話轉給 PFG 投資者關係副總裁 Bill Marshall。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning. We're here with George Holm, PFG's CEO; and Patrick Hatcher, PFG's CFO. We issued a press release this morning regarding our 2023 fiscal fourth quarter and full year results, which can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website at pfgc.com.

謝謝你，早上好。我們的嘉賓是 PFG 首席執行官 George Holm；以及 PFG 首席財務官 Patrick Hatcher。今天上午，我們發布了有關 2023 財年第四季度和全年業績的新聞稿，您可以在我們網站 pfgc.com 的投資者關係部分找到該新聞稿。

During our call today, unless otherwise stated, we are comparing results to the results in the same period in fiscal 2022. The results discussed on this call will include GAAP and non-GAAP results adjusted for certain items. The reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the corresponding GAAP measures can be found in the back of the earnings release.

在今天的電話會議中，除非另有說明，我們將結果與 2022 財年同期的結果進行比較。本次電話會議討論的結果將包括針對某些項目調整後的 GAAP 和非 GAAP 業績。這些非公認會計準則衡量標準與相應公認會計準則衡量標準的對賬可以在收益報告的後面找到。

As a reminder, in the fiscal first quarter of 2023, we updated our segment reporting metrics to adjusted EBITDA from the prior EBITDA metric. Accordingly, the segment results for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2022 have been restated to reflect this change.

提醒一下，在 2023 年第一財季，我們更新了分部報告指標，以根據之前的 EBITDA 指標調整後的 EBITDA。因此，2022 年第四財季的分部業績已重新表述，以反映這一變化。

Our remarks on this call and in the earnings release contain forward-looking statements and projections of future results. Please review the cautionary forward-looking statements section in today's earnings release and our SEC filings for various factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements and projections.

我們在本次電話會議和財報中的言論包含前瞻性陳述和對未來業績的預測。請查看今天的收益報告中的警示性前瞻性聲明部分以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件，了解可能導致我們的實際結果與我們的前瞻性聲明和預測存在重大差異的各種因素。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to George.

現在我想把電話轉給喬治。

Thanks, Bill. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. PFG had an outstanding fiscal 2023, and we are proud with what we were able to accomplish. More importantly, we are just as excited about the upcoming fiscal year, which we believe will include additional growth opportunities and continued financial success for our company.

謝謝，比爾。大家早上好，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。 PFG 2023 財年的業績非常出色，我們對我們能夠取得的成就感到自豪。更重要的是，我們對即將到來的財年同樣感到興奮，我們相信這將為我們公司提供更多的增長機會和持續的財務成功。

As you can see from our press release this morning, we are growing our highest-margin businesses, continuing to pick up market share in independent restaurants and building upon our strengths in Convenience and Vistar. Our disciplined cost controls and focus on our financial position have enabled us to continue to invest behind growth opportunities while returning cash to stockholders.

正如您從今天早上的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們正在發展利潤率最高的業務，繼續擴大獨立餐廳的市場份額，並鞏固我們在便利店和 Vistar 領域的優勢。我們嚴格的成本控制和對財務狀況的關注使我們能夠繼續投資於增長機會，同時向股東返還現金。

As you saw, we began to repurchase shares during the fiscal fourth quarter. Patrick will have more details to share about this program, but I wanted to highlight our buyback activity as a vote of confidence in our long-term business prospects. We plan to continue to reward our shareholders as we have financial success, and we are excited about the company's future.

正如您所看到的，我們在第四財季開始回購股票。帕特里克將分享有關該計劃的更多細節，但我想強調我們的回購活動，這是對我們長期業務前景的信任票。我們計劃在財務上取得成功後繼續回報股東，我們對公司的未來感到興奮。

We are just over a year we moved from our Investor Day when we laid out our vision for the future and set 3-year financial targets. We are just as confident today as we were then. In fact, the 2023 fiscal year progressed even more favorably than we had originally anticipated.

投資者日剛剛過去一年多，我們就制定了未來願景並設定了 3 年財務目標。今天的我們和當時一樣充滿信心。事實上，2023 財年的進展甚至比我們最初預期的還要順利。

At this time last year, we discussed our 2023 outlook, which included a net sales range of $56 billion to $58 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $1.15 billion and $1.25 billion. I'm pleased to report that our net sales results came in above the midpoint of that original range and adjusted EBITDA was $163 million above the midpoint of the target we set last year.

去年的這個時候，我們討論了 2023 年的展望，其中淨銷售額範圍為 560 億美元至 580 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 範圍為 11.5 億美元至 12.5 億美元。我很高興地報告，我們的淨銷售額結果高於原始範圍的中點，調整後的 EBITDA 比我們去年設定的目標中點高出 1.63 億美元。

I am proud of our organization's ability to accomplish these milestones and navigate what at times was a difficult operating environment.

我為我們的組織有能力實現這些里程碑並應對有時困難的運營環境感到自豪。

This morning, we also reiterated our previously announced long-term targets. We remain confident in these projections, particularly after such a strong fiscal 2023. As you saw in our earnings release, the top end of our fiscal 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance is already at the low end of our fiscal 2025 target.

今天上午，我們還重申了之前宣布的長期目標。我們對這些預測仍然充滿信心，特別是在如此強勁的2023 財年之後。正如您在我們的財報中看到的那樣，我們的2024 財年調整後EBITDA 指導的上限已經處於我們2025 財年目標的下限。

Let's discuss the key components that are driving these strong results. Our Foodservice business is on excellent footing. We finished fiscal 2023 with fourth quarter independent case growth of 7.6% and a 6.2% increase for the full fiscal year. This is an outstanding result, especially given more difficult comparisons from the prior fiscal year period.

讓我們討論一下推動這些強勁成果的關鍵因素。我們的餐飲服務業務基礎良好。 2023 財年結束時，第四季度獨立案件增長 7.6%，整個財年增長 6.2%。這是一個出色的結果，特別是考慮到與上一財年期間的比較更加困難。

Importantly, our independent case growth continued to accelerate at the start of fiscal 2024, coming in at about 9% in the first few weeks of the quarter. The investment in our sales force is paying off. So far, during the first quarter of fiscal 2024, we have seen consistent increases in independent cases per salesperson. We believe there is a long tail for our growth in independent restaurants, particularly as new members of our sales team continue to hit their stride.

重要的是，我們的獨立案件增長在 2024 財年伊始繼續加速，在本季度的前幾週增長了約 9%。我們對銷售隊伍的投資正在得到回報。到目前為止，在 2024 財年第一季度，我們發現每個銷售人員的獨立案例持續增加。我們相信，我們獨立餐廳的增長具有長尾效應，特別是隨著我們銷售團隊的新成員繼續大步前進。

Within independent restaurants, Performance Brands were approximately 52% of total sales, again, showing the strength in our organization and our lead products. On the chain side of our business, some underlying weakness remains in foot traffic and the resulting case volume performance. However, due to our strong independent case growth, total Foodservice cases were up year-over-year.

在獨立餐廳中，績效品牌約佔總銷售額的 52%，再次顯示了我們組織和主導產品的實力。在我們業務的連鎖方面，人流量和由此產生的案件量表現仍然存在一些潛在的弱點。然而，由於我們的獨立案件增長強勁，餐飲服務案件總數同比上升。

In the quarter, Foodservice experienced mild deflation of approximately 1.2%, a bit below where we had expected. While this did impact the top line performance, we grew Foodservice adjusted EBITDA to $273 million, an all-time high for that segment. While we expect inflation to normalize as fiscal 2024 progresses, the structure of our business, including our fee-based contracts and pricing mechanics in the field should allow us to continue to successfully grow profit even in a low inflation or deflationary environment.

本季度，餐飲服務經歷了約 1.2% 的溫和通貨緊縮，略低於我們的預期。雖然這確實影響了營收業績，但我們將餐飲服務調整後的 EBITDA 增長至 2.73 億美元，這是該細分市場的歷史最高水平。雖然我們預計隨著2024 財年的進展，通脹將正常化，但我們的業務結構，包括我們的收費合同和該領域的定價機制，應該使我們即使在低通脹或通縮環境下也能繼續成功增長利潤。

Underpinning our strong Foodservice results are positive trends in several important metrics. In the independent restaurant channel, cases per drop increased compared to prior year. As a result, we are seeing improvements in customer cases per week as our penetration improves and overall volume growth accelerates.

幾個重要指標的積極趨勢支撐著我們強勁的餐飲服務業績。在獨立餐廳渠道中，每次下降的病例數較去年有所增加。因此，隨著我們滲透率的提高和總體銷量增長的加速，我們每週的客戶案例數量都在增加。

As we highlighted last quarter, we continue to add new independent accounts at a rate similar to our total independent case growth, keeping our pipeline of new business strong for future periods. This is resulting in share gains for the independent channel.

正如我們上季度強調的那樣，我們繼續以與獨立案例總增長類似的速度增加新的獨立賬戶，從而在未來保持強勁的新業務渠道。這導致獨立渠道的份額增加。

We are leveraging these top line trends through continued focus on operating expense control, particularly in labor. Combined personnel expense per case for delivery and warehouse workers were down year-over-year, driven by improvements in lower contract labor costs and stable overtime expense. We are simultaneously investing in our sales force, which is driving our strong independent case growth.

我們通過持續關注運營費用控制（尤其是勞動力費用控制）來利用這些收入趨勢。由於合同勞動力成本下降和加班費用穩定，送貨和倉庫工人的每箱人事費用同比下降。我們同時投資於我們的銷售隊伍，這推動了我們獨立案例的強勁增長。

All these factors combined produced a strong finish to fiscal 2023, particularly in the independent restaurant space. We're excited for what fiscal 2024 has in store for our Foodservice operations.

所有這些因素結合在一起，為 2023 財年帶來了強勁的業績，尤其是在獨立餐廳領域。我們對 2024 財年餐飲服務業務的發展感到興奮。

Vistar had another outstanding quarter, finishing off a very strong fiscal 2023 despite challenging inventory gain comparisons, Vistar adjusted EBITDA increased 31.5% in the fiscal fourth quarter. Solid 18% top line sales growth was a result of case volume increases and the continued benefit from higher rates of inflation. Year-over-year case increase as a result of strength in value, theater and office services. We're excited about the performance of Vistar, particularly given the strong pipeline of new business opportunities.

Vistar 的另一個季度表現出色，儘管庫存收益比較具有挑戰性，但 2023 財年的業績非常強勁，Vistar 調整後的 EBITDA 在第四財季增長了 31.5%。銷售額實現 18% 的穩定增長，得益於案件數量的增加以及通脹率上升的持續受益。由於價值、劇院和辦公服務的強勁，案件數量逐年增加。我們對 Vistar 的表現感到興奮，特別是考慮到新商機的強大管道。

Inflation at Vistar remains elevated and it was roughly 13% in the fourth quarter, which was a slight decline from the mid-teen inflation rate in the prior 3 quarters. We anticipate a deceleration in inflation at Vistar, especially as we begin to lap price increases from the prior fiscal year period.

Vistar 的通貨膨脹率仍然很高，第四季度約為 13%，比前三個季度的中位數通貨膨脹率略有下降。我們預計 Vistar 的通脹將會放緩，特別是當我們開始追隨上一財年期間的價格上漲時。

Lower delivery and warehouse costs per case boosted bottom line results, helped by lower fuel prices and freight cost favorability. Vistar had a stellar fiscal 2023, and we are excited for its prospects in the coming fiscal year.

得益於較低的燃油價格和貨運成本優惠，每箱交付和倉儲成本的降低提高了利潤。 Vistar 2023 財年表現出色，我們對其下一財年的前景感到興奮。

Our Convenience business performed well in the fiscal fourth quarter despite significant inventory holding gain headwinds. As we have discussed on past earnings calls, the Convenience segment will continue to experience one more quarter of higher-than-typical inventory holding gains. However, we feel confident in the underlying momentum of our Convenience business and its long-term prospects.

儘管庫存持有面臨重大阻力，但我們的便利業務在第四財季表現良好。正如我們在過去的財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，便利業務部門將繼續經歷高於典型庫存持有收益的四分之一。然而，我們對便利業務的潛在勢頭及其長期前景充滿信心。

Let's take a moment to discuss Convenience in more detail. After a successful entry with Eby-Brown in 2019, we then acquired Core-Mark in 2021, becoming one of the largest providers to the Convenience store industry. Today, we operate under one brand, Core-Mark, with the unified structure and vision to grow our share and leverage our Foodservice and manufacturing capabilities. The channel provides a significant opportunity for PFG with a total addressable market of approximately 195 billion across 150,000 outlets most located within 1 to 2 miles of their customer base.

讓我們花點時間更詳細地討論便利性。在 2019 年成功進入 Eby-Brown 後，我們於 2021 年收購了 Core-Mark，成為便利店行業最大的供應商之一。如今，我們以 Core-Mark 為一個品牌進行運營，擁有統一的結構和願景，以擴大我們的份額並利用我們的餐飲服務和製造能力。該渠道為 PFG 提供了重大機遇，其潛在市場總額約為 1,950 億美元，遍布 150,000 個網點，大部分位於距客戶群 1 至 2 英里範圍內。

This proximity has led convenience retailers to expand their store footprints and product mix, lessening their reliance on fuel and tobacco. We believe these trends play to our strengths at PFG as we work to combine our Convenience expertise with vast Foodservice resources to bring something exciting to the channel. Our efforts are paying off as we find ourselves engaged in Foodservice discussions with over 30 small to midsize chain operators, along with countless independents representing thousands of retail store locations across the U.S. and Canada.

這種鄰近性促使便利零售商擴大其商店規模和產品組合，從而減少對燃料和煙草的依賴。我們相信這些趨勢可以發揮我們 PFG 的優勢，因為我們致力於將我們的便利專業知識與龐大的餐飲服務資源相結合，為該渠道帶來令人興奮的東西。我們的努力得到了回報，我們發現自己與 30 多家中小型連鎖經營商以及代表美國和加拿大數千家零售店的無數獨立人士進行了餐飲服務討論。

Beyond our efforts at Core-Mark, we are also growing the channel through Performance Foodservice, supporting advanced food concepts across Convenience. The channel is evolving and Foodservice is at the heart of that innovation. PFG is here to capture that growth opportunity. Our progress has been impressive, and we believe this is just the beginning.

除了在 Core-Mark 的努力之外，我們還通過 Performance Foodservice 發展渠道，支持便利領域的先進食品概念。該渠道正在不斷發展，而餐飲服務是這一創新的核心。 PFG 正是為了抓住這一增長機會。我們的進步令人印象深刻，我們相信這只是一個開始。

In closing, PFG had an outstanding fiscal 2023 and enters 2024 with momentum across our business units. We believe we are well positioned to continue our success in the market, particularly in the areas of our business that generate high profit and returns. Our exposure to a wide range of products, channels and customer types provides resiliency in various economic scenarios.

最後，PFG 的 2023 財年表現出色，進入 2024 年時，我們的業務部門都呈現強勁勢頭。我們相信，我們有能力繼續在市場上取得成功，特別是在我們產生高利潤和回報的業務領域。我們接觸廣泛的產品、渠道和客戶類型，為各種經濟情景提供了彈性。

As presented in our guidance and long-term outlook, we are confident in our ability to produce strong results for the foreseeable future.

正如我們的指導和長期展望中所述，我們對在可預見的未來取得強勁業績的能力充滿信心。

I'll now turn the call over to Patrick, who will provide additional detail on our financial performance and outlook. Patrick?

我現在將把電話轉給帕特里克，他將提供有關我們財務業績和前景的更多詳細信息。帕特里克？

Thank you, George, and good morning, everyone. This morning, I will start with a review of PFG's financial position and capital allocation priorities and provide some additional detail on the operating environment. I'll then review our fiscal fourth quarter 2023 results and finish with a summary of our outlook for fiscal 2024 and beyond.

謝謝你，喬治，大家早上好。今天上午，我將首先回顧 PFG 的財務狀況和資本配置優先事項，並提供有關運營環境的一些其他細節。然後，我將回顧 2023 財年第四季度的業績，並總結我們對 2024 財年及以後的展望。

PFG finished fiscal 2023 in a strong position, posting solid case growth and record net revenue despite slowing inflation through the quarter. This resulted in double-digit gross profit improvement year-over-year and adjusted EBITDA above the upper end of our previously announced guidance range for fiscal 2023.

PFG 在 2023 財年表現強勁，儘管本季度通脹放緩，但仍實現穩健增長和創紀錄的淨收入。這導致毛利潤同比實現兩位數增長，調整後的 EBITDA 高於我們之前宣布的 2023 財年指導範圍的上限。

Our business model is showing its resiliency with strong results across the 3 segments, with particular areas of strength in each. We believe that this structure and our exposure to unique channels through Vistar and Convenience, provide an advantage over our competition. In particular, the high volume of consumer packaged goods products sold by Vistar and Convenience provide insulation from the impact caused by some of our more volatile inflationary dynamics in the Foodservice space.

我們的業務模式顯示出其彈性，在 3 個細分市場取得了強勁的業績，每個細分市場都有特定的優勢領域。我們相信，這種結構以及我們通過 Vistar 和 Convenience 接觸到的獨特渠道，為我們提供了優於競爭對手的優勢。特別是，Vistar 和 Convenience 銷售的大量消費品可以抵禦餐飲服務領域一些更不穩定的通脹動態造成的影響。

Still, our Foodservice organization did a fantastic job executing through the fiscal year, including the fourth quarter when inflation swung negative. We do not expect a long cycle of deflationary pressure in Foodservice and have seen signs of stabilization in some categories, particularly in protein like beef and cheese. With that said, we believe our Foodservice business can succeed in a range of scenarios as seen in the fiscal fourth quarter.

儘管如此，我們的餐飲服務組織在整個財政年度的執行工作仍然表現出色，包括通貨膨脹率轉為負值的第四季度。我們預計食品服務業不會出現長周期的通貨緊縮壓力，並且在某些類別中看到了穩定的跡象，特別是牛肉和奶酪等蛋白質領域。話雖如此，我們相信我們的餐飲服務業務可以在第四財季的一系列情況下取得成功。

This is demonstrated by our outlook for fiscal 2024 and beyond, which I will discuss in more detail shortly.

我們對 2024 財年及以後的展望就證明了這一點，我將很快對此進行更詳細的討論。

Let's start by discussing a few specifics on our leverage, cash flow and capital allocation priorities. Last year at our Investor Day, we announced our 3 key strategic priorities: consistent, profitable top line growth, adjusted EBITDA profit margin expansion and leverage reduction. We have made significant progress in all 3 areas, but I would like to focus on the third item, leverage reduction.

讓我們首先討論有關我們的槓桿、現金流和資本配置優先事項的一些細節。去年，在投資者日，我們宣布了 3 個關鍵戰略重點：持續盈利的營收增長、調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴張和槓桿率降低。我們在這三個方面都取得了重大進展，但我想重點講第三項，降槓桿。

As you know, we have a stated leverage target of 2.5 to 3.5x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. By the end of the fiscal third quarter, we had achieved the midpoint of that range. And this quarter, we made further progress finishing the fiscal year at 2.9x net debt to adjusted EBITDA.

如您所知，我們設定的槓桿目標為調整後 EBITDA 的 2.5 至 3.5 倍淨債務。到第三財季末，我們已經達到了該範圍的中點。本季度，我們在完成本財年時取得了進一步進展，淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 之比為 2.9 倍。

I am proud of our organization's disciplined approach to our balance sheet and believe we are now at a very comfortable level of leverage.

我為我們組織對資產負債表採取的嚴格方法感到自豪，並相信我們現在處於非常舒適的槓桿水平。

What does this mean for PFG? First, we will continue to focus on our leverage to maintain a healthy balance sheet position going forward. With that said, our current financial position has provided additional flexibility in our capital allocation priorities. As you saw in this morning's press release, we began repurchasing shares during the fiscal fourth quarter as part of the previously announced $300 million share repurchase plan authorized by our Board last November.

這對 PFG 意味著什麼？首先，我們將繼續關注我們的槓桿作用，以保持未來健康的資產負債表狀況。話雖如此，我們當前的財務狀況為我們的資本配置優先事項提供了額外的靈活性。正如您在今天上午的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們在第四財季開始回購股票，這是我們董事會去年 11 月授權的先前宣布的 3 億美元股票回購計劃的一部分。

We anticipate making future strategic share repurchases pursuant to this plan, subject to marketplace conditions. Additionally, we will continue to invest behind the business through growth capital expenditures and investments in technology.

我們預計未來將根據該計劃根據市場條件進行戰略性股票回購。此外，我們將繼續通過增長資本支出和技術投資來投資業務。

We have a history of executing value-creating M&A and intend to continue to be active in this area if the right deal at the right price presents itself. We believe that these areas will continue to drive long-term value for our stockholders. All of this is possible because of the strong cash flow our business generates.

我們有著執行創造價值的併購的歷史，如果以合適的價格進行合適的交易，我們打算繼續活躍在這一領域。我們相信這些領域將繼續為我們的股東帶來長期價值。由於我們的業務產生強勁的現金流，所有這一切都是可能的。

Through the 12 months of fiscal 2023, PFG generated $832 million of operating cash flow. After accounting for approximately $270 million of capital expenditures, PFG generated $562 million of free cash flow over the past 12 months.

在 2023 財年的 12 個月中，PFG 產生了 8.32 億美元的運營現金流。扣除約 2.7 億美元的資本支出後，PFG 在過去 12 個月內產生了 5.62 億美元的自由現金流。

With that, let's quickly review some highlights from our fiscal fourth quarter. PFG total company net sales increased 1.9% in the fourth quarter to $14.9 billion. Our net sales performance was driven by approximately 2% organic case growth, including strong 7.6% independent restaurant case growth and improvement in Vistar channels offset by lower levels of year-over-year inflation.

接下來，讓我們快速回顧一下第四財季的一些亮點。 PFG 公司第四季度淨銷售額總額增長 1.9%，達到 149 億美元。我們的淨銷售業績受到約 2% 的有機案例增長的推動，其中包括 7.6% 的強勁獨立餐廳案例增長以及 Vistar 渠道的改善，但被同比通脹水平較低所抵消。

Total PFG gross profit increased 12% compared to the prior year's quarter. Gross profit per case was up $0.62 in the fourth quarter compared to the prior year's period. In the fourth quarter, PFG reported net income of $150.1 million and adjusted EBITDA increased about 8% to $385 million.

PFG 總毛利潤較去年同期增長 12%。第四季度每箱毛利潤比去年同期增長了 0.62 美元。第四季度，PFG 淨利潤為 1.501 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 增長約 8%，達到 3.85 億美元。

Total company inflation continued to moderate due to deflation in the Foodservice segment. Total company cost inflation was 4.6% in the quarter. The deceleration was driven by our Foodservice segment, which experienced 1.2% deflation in the fiscal fourth quarter. Vistar inflation slowed a bit during the fourth quarter but remained elevated relative to historical rates, increasing at a low teen level. Inflation in the Convenience segment also dipped slightly moving below 10% for the first time since the fourth quarter of last year.

由於餐飲服務領域的通貨緊縮，公司總體通脹繼續放緩。本季度公司總成本通脹率為 4.6%。減速是由我們的餐飲服務部門推動的，該部門在第四財季經歷了 1.2% 的通貨緊縮。維斯塔通脹率在第四季度略有放緩，但相對於歷史通脹率仍處於較高水平，增幅處於青少年水平。便利業的通脹也小幅下滑，自去年第四季度以來首次低於 10%。

We continue to expect lower levels of inflation during fiscal 2024, which is the assumption embedded in our outlook. We believe that decelerating rate of inflation is manageable, as shown by our improvement in gross profit per case in the most recent quarter.

我們繼續預計 2024 財年通脹水平較低，這是我們展望中的假設。我們認為，通脹率下降是可控的，最近一個季度每箱毛利潤的改善就表明了這一點。

Diluted earnings per share was $0.96 in the fourth quarter and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $1.14.

第四季度稀釋每股收益為 0.96 美元，調整後稀釋每股收益為 1.14 美元。

As you saw in our earnings release, we announced guidance for the full year fiscal 2024 and the first fiscal quarter. As you are aware, we will have one more quarter of higher-than-normal inventory holding gain comparisons, which will then normalize when we reach the fiscal 2024 2nd quarter. We anticipate net sales between $14.7 billion and $15 billion and adjusted EBITDA in the $360 million to $380 million range during the first fiscal quarter of 2024, despite the inventory holding gain comparison.

正如您在我們的財報中看到的，我們宣布了 2024 財年全年和第一財季的指引。如您所知，我們將再有一個季度的庫存持有收益比較高於正常水平，到 2024 財年第二季度時，這種情況將趨於正常化。儘管庫存持有收益比較，但我們預計 2024 年第一財季的淨銷售額將在 147 億美元至 150 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 將在 3.6 億美元至 3.8 億美元之間。

Let's review our specific targets for the full fiscal year 2024. For the full year, we anticipate net sales in the range of $59 billion to $60 billion, adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $1.45 billion to $1.5 billion. We have also reiterated our long-term outlook, which includes net sales in the range of $62 billion to $64 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion in fiscal 2025.

讓我們回顧一下我們 2024 年整個財年的具體目標。對於全年，我們預計淨銷售額在 590 億美元至 600 億美元之間，調整後 EBITDA 預計在 14.5 億美元至 15 億美元之間。我們還重申了我們的長期前景，其中包括 2025 財年淨銷售額在 620 億美元至 640 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 在 15 億美元至 17 億美元之間。

As George mentioned, our strong 2023 results, coupled with underlying business momentum for fiscal 2024 suggest that the lower end of our long-term adjusted EBITDA range is possible a fiscal year early as indicated by our 2024 outlook.

正如 George 提到的，我們 2023 年強勁的業績，加上 2024 財年的基本業務勢頭表明，我們的長期調整後 EBITDA 範圍的下限可能會提前一個財年，正如我們的 2024 年展望所示。

To summarize, we are very pleased with how we finished fiscal 2023 and have high expectations for the upcoming fiscal year. We continue to make progress on our 3 focus areas: sustain profitable sales growth, adjusted EBITDA margin expansion and lower leverage. The strength of our business results, solid cash flow generation and healthy balance sheet has enabled us to begin repurchasing shares, another value-creating use of cash for our shareholders.

總而言之，我們對 2023 財年的完成情況感到非常滿意，並對即將到來的財年抱有很高的期望。我們繼續在 3 個重點領域取得進展：維持盈利銷售增長、調整後 EBITDA 利潤率擴張和降低杠桿率。我們強勁的業務業績、穩定的現金流產生和健康的資產負債表使我們能夠開始回購股票，這是為股東創造價值的另一種現金用途。

Our organization is executing our strategy and we believe we are well positioned to continue our success and create value for our stockholders over the long term.

我們的組織正在執行我們的戰略，我們相信我們有能力繼續取得成功，並長期為股東創造價值。

Thank you for your time today. We appreciate your interest in Performance Food Group. And with that, we'd be happy to take your questions.

感謝您今天抽出時間。我們感謝您對高性能食品集團的興趣。因此，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自富國銀行的愛德華·凱利。

Nice quarter. Could we start with that gross profit per case. Another quarter of good strong performance of gross profit dollars relative to case volumes. And this is with a little bit of deflation in the Foodservice segment and obviously lapping the procurement gains. How do you think about the relationship of gross profit dollar growth versus case volume growth in '24 with the continued deceleration of inflation. And there's a lot of positive mix in the business. But George, maybe could you just talk about how we should be thinking about that relationship?

不錯的季度。我們可以從每箱毛利潤開始嗎？毛利潤相對於案件數量的又一個季度表現強勁。這是在餐飲服務領域出現一點通貨緊縮的情況下，顯然採購收益被抵消了。隨著通貨膨脹持續減速，您如何看待 24 年毛利潤增長與案件量增長之間的關係？業務中有很多積極的組合。但是喬治，也許你能談談我們應該如何思考這種關係嗎？

Well, mix is the big issue, particularly with independent growing at a good rate and our national accounts in a declining mode right now. I think that we'll do well for rest of the year. You'd mentioned overcoming the inventory gains. When you think about those, that's not really additional cases sold, you're getting that gross profit.

嗯，混合是一個大問題，特別是在獨立經濟高速增長而我們的國民賬戶目前處於下降狀態的情況下。我認為今年剩餘時間我們會做得很好。您提到克服庫存增加。當你考慮到這些時，你會發現這並不是真正售出的額外箱子，而是你獲得的毛利潤。

And our other businesses outside of Foodservice is really the same thing. Vistar has done excellent contract, feeding business is back really strong, and they're strong in that from a Convenience and micro market and that part of the business.

我們在餐飲服務之外的其他業務實際上也是一樣的。 Vistar 已經完成了出色的合同，飼料業務恢復得非常強勁，而且他們在便利和微型市場以及這部分業務方面表現強勁。

And then when you get to custom -- our Core-Mark business, the tobacco gains were large and the reason that they were still able to run good margins is their food business is very, very good. And that's where the higher margins are. So once again, it's kind of more mix than getting more from the customer.

然後，當你談到定制業務時——我們的核心標誌業務，煙草收益很大，他們仍然能夠獲得良好利潤的原因是他們的食品業務非常非常好。這就是利潤率較高的地方。因此，這又是一種混合，而不是從客戶那裡獲得更多。

Okay. And then just as a follow-up, it's something that you guys seem to emphasize a little bit more on this call today, is related to capital allocation. You guys have been very good at M&A historically, but your stock is also trading, I think, pretty close to a historical trough EBITDA multiple. You could buy more. Could you maybe talk a bit about how you're thinking about the trade-off of all of this, the value of where your stock is today, you're maybe appetite to do a bit more given where the valuation is at this point? And how you think about the opportunity of being strategic with M&A, but also where the stock price is.

好的。作為後續行動，你們今天在電話會議上似乎更加強調了與資本配置有關的事情。你們在歷史上一直非常擅長併購，但我認為你們的股票交易也非常接近 EBITDA 的歷史低谷倍數。你可以買更多。您能否談談您如何考慮所有這一切的權衡，您的股票目前的價值，考慮到目前的估值，您可能有興趣做更多的事情？以及您如何看待併購戰略的機會，以及股價在哪裡。

Yes, Ed, this is Patrick. Thanks for the question. As you pointed out, we've talked about our capital allocation strategy multiple times. And with our leverage goal of reducing leverage into that 2.5 to 3.5x and hitting the 2.9 this past quarter, gives us a lot of confidence on how we're managing our leverage. And when we look at what we've projected outwards in the guidance for EBITDA and our ability to continue to pay down debt, we feel really good about where we are with our leverage.

是的，艾德，這是帕特里克。謝謝你的提問。正如您所指出的，我們已經多次討論過我們的資本配置策略。我們的槓桿目標是將槓桿降低至 2.5 至 3.5 倍，並在上個季度達到 2.9，這讓我們對如何管理槓桿充滿信心。當我們看到我們在 EBITDA 指導中向外預測的內容以及我們繼續償還債務的能力時，我們對我們的槓桿水平感到非常滿意。

So that allowed us to really look at the fourth pillar, if you will, of our capital allocation strategy, which was to execute on that $300 million share repurchase program that the Board had authorized for us. So as we just reported, we did have some activity this quarter. We look at this as very strategic, and we'll continue, as I made in my comments, to strategically look at that and be in the market at the appropriate time based on several factors.

因此，這使我們能夠真正審視我們資本配置策略的第四個支柱，即執行董事會為我們授權的 3 億美元股票回購計劃。正如我們剛剛報導的那樣，我們本季度確實有一些活動。我們認為這是非常具有戰略意義的，正如我在評論中所說，我們將繼續戰略性地看待這一點，並根據幾個因素在適當的時間進入市場。

Ed, this is George. I'd also add that we will continue to be acquisitive. We haven't been quite as acquisitive of late, and that's not for lack of effort, more for just opportunities on what's out there today, but we feel real confident in future M&A.

艾德，這是喬治。我還要補充一點，我們將繼續進行收購。我們最近沒有那麼積極收購，這並不是因為缺乏努力，更多的是因為今天的機會，但我們對未來的併購充滿信心。

Our next question will come from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Securities.

我們的下一個問題將來自古根海姆證券公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

George, I want to start with your thoughts on Foodservice growth, right? So sales force has been growing very rapidly. What's -- you'll lap that at some point here. What's your thought on the right annual growth rate in the sales force. And then if I think about it, drop sizes up or maybe with inflation is kind of flat, units were up a little bit. That still seems like a big opportunity. When you think about '24, '25, do we get back to a point where account growth and drop size are equally important to that 7.6% or 7%, 8% case growth. Do we see that soon? Or is that going to be pushed out a while?

喬治，我想首先談談您對餐飲服務增長的看法，對嗎？因此，銷售隊伍一直在快速增長。什麼是——你會在這裡的某個時刻記住它。您對銷售隊伍的正確年增長率有何看法？然後，如果我想一想，水滴尺寸會增加，或者通貨膨脹可能會持平，單位會增加一點。這看起來仍然是一個很大的機會。當你想到“24”、“25”時，我們是否會回到這樣一個點：帳戶增長和下降規模對於 7.6% 或 7%、8% 的案例增長同樣重要。我們很快就會看到嗎？還是會被推遲一段時間？

Yes. Those are good questions. As far as the growth in salespeople, we've actually continued to take that up, particularly as we got into the fourth quarter of fiscal '23. We've also been able to get where we have our growth as a company and independent is about equal to our growth in people and we're about 1 point shy in growth of accounts as we are sales.

是的。這些都是好問題。就銷售人員的增長而言，我們實際上一直在繼續這樣做，特別是在進入 23 財年第四季度之後。作為一家公司，我們也取得了增長，獨立業務的增長大約等於我們人員的增長，而我們的客戶增長比銷售增長大約少了 1 個百分點。

So I think those things bode well because we feel like that we've got a good training system in place. We're going to get good productivity from these new people down the road, that's going to help fuel us there. And just having that increased customer base is going to give us more opportunity for penetration.

所以我認為這些都是好兆頭，因為我們覺得我們已經建立了一個良好的培訓系統。我們將從這些新員工那裡獲得良好的生產力，這將有助於為我們提供動力。僅僅擁有增加的客戶群就會給我們帶來更多的滲透機會。

And I would say all in all, that there probably is some softness from a macro standpoint. And I think when that comes back, and it will, I think that we'll get much better drop sizes. I think we have these things going in the right direction.

總而言之，我想說，從宏觀角度來看，可能存在一些疲軟。我認為當這種情況回來時，我認為我們會得到更好的水滴尺寸。我認為我們讓這些事情朝著正確的方向發展。

Okay. And then a follow-up, maybe talk about the C-store pipeline, right? So we think about their growth -- I think their growth in non-tobacco is still probably well into double digits. If that's the case, when you sort of parse that out, account growth versus their drop size, is there account growth, the bulk of that? Or is drop-size a much bigger contributor?

好的。然後是後續，也許會談論便利店管道，對嗎？所以我們考慮他們的增長——我認為他們在非煙草方面的增長可能仍然達到兩位數。如果是這樣的話，當你分析一下，帳戶增長與下降規模之間的關係時，是否存在帳戶增長，其中大部分？還是水滴尺寸的貢獻更大？

More so account growth. Not as -- we don't get as good a number on what the macro looks like when it comes to Convenience. But we feel good about the business. We're continuing to pick up Foodservice business with double-digit growth. And the pipeline is very large. We have a lot of things in the work. It is a long sales cycle, as I mentioned before. But I think we've kind of reached that point where we got things coming in to our company, and we've got accounts that were down that pipeline with and we know we have business coming when their current contracts expire. So we feel good about that growth, and we'll just see where the macro part of that goes.

賬戶增長更是如此。不一樣——當涉及到便利性時，我們並沒有得到關於宏的具體數字。但我們對這項業務感覺良好。我們將繼續以兩位數增長的方式開展餐飲服務業務。而且管道非常大。我們的工作中有很多事情。正如我之前提到的，這是一個很長的銷售週期。但我認為我們已經達到了這樣的程度，我們的公司收到了一些東西，我們的客戶也已經在管道中，我們知道當他們當前的合同到期時我們會有業務。因此，我們對這種增長感到滿意，我們將看看其宏觀部分的走向。

Our next question will come from Joshua Long with Stephens.

我們的下一個問題將由約書亞·朗和斯蒂芬斯提出。

I was curious if we could dig into some of that underlying momentum you talked about and maybe parse out the strength of new account wins and then wallet share gain opportunity, particularly on the independent side that you're seeing?

我很好奇我們是否可以深入研究您談到的一些潛在動力，也許可以解析出新賬戶獲勝的力量，然後錢包份額獲得機會，特別是在您所看到的獨立方面？

Well, I think that we're still, what I would call, somewhat dependent on new accounts, but we're doing a great job there. And where we've seen an uptick from Q4 to the beginning here of Q1 in our case growth, we've also seen a similar uptick in our new accounts or our total number of accounts versus the previous year.

嗯，我認為我們仍然，我所說的，在某種程度上依賴於新客戶，但我們在那裡做得很好。我們看到案件增長從第四季度到第一季度初有所上升，我們的新賬戶或賬戶總數與上一年相比也有類似的增長。

Wallet share is a little bit harder to tell, we do see that products that we were selling that customer a year ago, and we're selling it to them now in most instances, there's a slight decline. So I would say there -- as I mentioned earlier, there are some macro issues out there, and I think that we're going to continue to push through those as long as we're getting good people and we're training them well and they're going out and getting new business. And it's not that difficult. That's a pretty simple math.

錢包份額有點難以判斷，我們確實看到我們一年前向該客戶銷售的產品，以及我們現在在大多數情況下向他們銷售的產品，略有下降。所以我想說的是——正如我之前提到的，存在一些宏觀問題，我認為只要我們找到優秀的人才並對他們進行良好的培訓，我們就會繼續解決這些問題他們正在走出去並開展新業務。這並不那麼困難。這是一個非常簡單的數學。

That's helpful. George, in your prepared comments, I think you mentioned or noted a pipeline of new business opportunities in the Vistar channel. Curious if you could dig into that a little bit more in terms of maybe new areas going deeper into current categories? Anything that you're particularly excited about that we could be looking for on the horizon?

這很有幫助。喬治，在您準備好的評論中，我認為您提到或註意到了 Vistar 渠道中的一系列新商機。好奇您是否可以在深入當前類別的新領域方面更深入地研究這一點？您對我們即將尋找的任何東西感到特別興奮嗎？

Well, our retail pick and pack business and where we fulfill for other people, that business continues to go well. Micro markets are improving at a fast rate. Theater, surprisingly strong and has been for a while, and we're seeing the office coffee make a come back as people are going from maybe 3 days a week at work to 4 days a week at work. So those areas would be the areas that I would say we're probably strongest in right now as far as growth. The value category, the dollar store area is doing quite well, too.

嗯，我們的零售分揀和包裝業務以及我們為其他人提供服務的業務繼續進展順利。微觀市場正在快速改善。劇院的影響力出人意料地強大，而且已經存在了一段時間了，隨著人們從每週工作 3 天到每週工作 4 天，我們看到辦公室咖啡捲土重來。因此，我想說，就增長而言，這些領域是我們目前可能最強的領域。價值類別、一元店區域也表現不錯。

Our next question comes from Brian Harbour with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的布萊恩·哈伯。

Yes. I would like to ask just about the Performance Brands. You've obviously kind of continued to see sales increase of those. I'm sure it's driven by kind of your independent case growth. But have you also seen kind of within existing accounts, more sales of Performance Brands has the macro perhaps supported that side of the business?

是的。我想問一下關於性能品牌的問題。顯然，你會看到這些產品的銷量持續增長。我確信這是由您的獨立案件增長推動的。但您是否也看到，在現有賬戶中，績效品牌的更多銷售額是否可能支持了這方面的業務？

Our brands are doing very well, and the business is almost entirely with independent customers. You look at our customer base in Foodservice outside of independent, it's basically restaurant chains. So we're doing little to no business with contract feeders in Foodservice or nursing homes or hospitals, those parts of the business, hotels. So we really build our products for restaurants. And where we're seeing the best growth right now is at the higher end of our products from a quality standpoint. So that's really what's driving that.

我們的品牌做得很好，業務幾乎全部是獨立客戶。你看看我們在獨立餐飲服務業之外的客戶群，基本上都是連鎖餐廳。因此，我們幾乎沒有與餐飲服務、療養院或醫院、這些行業、酒店的合同供應商做任何業務。因此，我們確實為餐廳打造我們的產品。從質量的角度來看，我們目前看到最好的增長是我們產品的高端產品。所以這才是真正的推動力。

And by the way -- yes, by the way, Core-Mark also has been adopting these brands and are doing very well with it.

順便說一句，是的，順便說一句，Core-Mark 也一直在採用這些品牌，並且做得很好。

Okay. Great. Just on capital allocation then. Do you have any -- do you have any sort of annual target for how much you might repurchase or do you think this is just going to be purely opportunistic? And then also, how are you thinking about kind of CapEx for this year? Any sort of like increase in growth capital if you're expanding facilities or anything like that? Can you walk us through some of the different components there?

好的。偉大的。那麼就資本配置吧。您是否有任何可能回購的年度目標，或者您認為這純粹是機會主義的？另外，您如何看待今年的資本支出？如果您正在擴建設施或類似的東西，是否會增加增長資本？您能向我們介紹一下其中的一些不同組件嗎？

Yes, I'll answer the second part first. When it comes to CapEx, as we've always stated, that's our #1 priority for our capital allocation is to continue to invest in the business. And as George was just describing, we're seeing great growth in independent cases. So we'll continue to invest for that growth as we've been doing.

是的，我先回答第二部分。當談到資本支出時，正如我們一直所說的那樣，我們資本配置的第一要務是繼續投資於業務。正如喬治剛才所描述的，我們看到獨立案件的巨大增長。因此，我們將一如既往地繼續投資以實現增長。

And then on the share repurchase, I would characterize as we're trying to be very strategic. I mean we look at a few things. I'm not going to go into too many details, but we do look at historic multiples and relative valuation to help guide us on when we should be in the market and how we should be in the market.

然後，在股票回購方面，我認為我們正在努力做到非常具有戰略意義。我的意思是我們要考慮一些事情。我不會透露太多細節，但我們確實會研究歷史市盈率和相對估值，以幫助指導我們何時應該進入市場以及如何進入市場。

Our next question will come from Alex Slagle with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題將由 Alex Slagle 和 Jefferies 提出。

Congrats on the success. I wanted to ask on the independent case growth in the fourth quarter. I mean it was really strong and barely below the third quarter level, which I would imagine, had some benefit of lapping Omicron and I guess I just wanted to sort of dive in and just trying to see what the impact of that might have been, and a little bit more view on the acceleration in the underlying case growth that you saw through the fourth quarter, and you talked about the strong trend into the first quarter, but just a little bit more on that step up.

恭喜你成功了。我想問一下第四季度獨立案件的增長情況。我的意思是，它真的很強大，幾乎低於第三季度的水平，我想，這對圈速 Omicron 有一些好處，我想我只是想深入了解一下，看看這可能會產生什麼影響，對您在第四季度看到的基本病例增長加速有更多的看法，您談到了第一季度的強勁趨勢，但只是對這一步驟進行了更多介紹。

Yes. If you look at the last 2 quarters, just kind of stepping through the calendar, January was an unusually high case growth month and that had, I think, a lot to do with Omicron. We saw slightly less growth in February and then slightly less growth again in March. And then as we got into the fiscal fourth quarter, the opposite happened where we actually gained momentum each 1 of those 3 months and then gained more momentum in July and actually August so far has been better yet.

是的。如果你看看過去兩個季度，只要瀏覽一下日曆，一月份是病例增長異常高的月份，我認為這與 Omicron 有很大關係。我們看到 2 月份的增長略有放緩，然後 3 月份的增長再次略有放緩。然後，當我們進入第四財季時，發生了相反的情況，我們實際上在這3 個月中每隔1 個月就獲得了動力，然後在7 月獲得了更多動力，實際上8 月到目前為止已經更好了。

So I think that in some ways, that's like what the last 3 years have been like, right? I mean there's always been something that was unusual in each quarter. And I think we finally reached that point where although the industry may be a little slow right now, I think that it's more consistent. And I think it will continue to be more of the seasonal flows that we've typically had in the past.

所以我認為在某些方面，這就像過去三年的情況，對嗎？我的意思是每個季度總會有一些不尋常的事情。我認為我們終於達到了這一點，儘管該行業現在可能有點緩慢，但我認為它更加一致。我認為它將繼續更多地是我們過去通常擁有的季節性流動。

Got it. And then I wanted to ask on the customer-first digital ordering platform. If you could comment on the rollout progress and how important this will be in driving that favorable mix where you've been seeing that and kind of where digital mix stands now, maybe where that goes in the future?

知道了。然後我想詢問客戶至上的數字訂購平台。如果您能評論一下推出的進展情況，以及這對於推動您已經看到的有利組合以及數字組合現在所處的位置有多麼重要，也許未來會走向何方？

Yes. And this is Patrick. I'll touch on that a little bit. Again, we -- as we've commented previously on customer-first as our digital ordering platform, I mean we've been really happy with the progress of the rollout. I believe Vistar is almost complete on the rollout or has completed their rollout and we're making a lot of progress on the Foodservice side as well. We view it as very important.

是的。這是帕特里克。我會稍微談一下這一點。再說一次，正如我們之前對客戶至上作為我們的數字訂購平台所評論的那樣，我的意思是我們對推出的進展感到非常滿意。我相信 Vistar 的推出已接近完成或已經完成，我們在餐飲服務方面也取得了很大進展。我們認為它非常重要。

Again, it's never to replace our sales force. As you've heard from us, we believe our sales force is absolutely a very strategic asset, and we can see that with all our independent case growth. But we do view it as a tool that will actually augment how the salesperson works with the customer and help that customer in their journey with PFG as they order and give them opportunities to order in a much more seamless way online. So we see a lot of value there. And then as we've talked about in the past, eventually will have it across all 3 segments. So we can have customers cross order into Foodservice if they're a Convenience customer or into Vistar as they would like to and as they need to.

再次強調，它永遠不會取代我們的銷售隊伍。正如您從我們那裡聽到的，我們相信我們的銷售隊伍絕對是一項非常具有戰略意義的資產，我們可以從我們所有獨立案例的增長中看到這一點。但我們確實將其視為一種工具，實際上可以增強銷售人員與客戶的合作方式，並在客戶訂購時幫助他們完成 PFG 的旅程，並為他們提供以更加無縫的方式在線訂購的機會。所以我們在那裡看到了很多價值。正如我們過去所討論的，最終將在所有 3 個細分市場中實現這一點。因此，如果客戶是便利客戶，我們可以讓他們交叉點餐進入餐飲服務，或者根據他們的意願和需要進入 Vistar。

Our next question comes from Mark Carden with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬克·卡登。

So to start the update on the Convenience business, it was really helpful. It sounds like you guys are seeing a lot of momentum there. From the get-go, you guys were always optimistic about the cross-selling opportunity between Convenience and Foodservice. Just now that you're a little while into it, how has it played out relative to your original expectations? Is it building any faster or slower than you might have expected, either from Foodservice into Convenience or from Convenience into Foodservice? Just has anything surprised you on that front?

因此，開始對便利業務進行更新，這確實很有幫助。聽起來你們在那裡看到了很大的動力。從一開始，你們就一直對便利店和餐飲服務之間的交叉銷售機會持樂觀態度。現在您已經投入一段時間了，與您最初的期望相比，它的效果如何？無論是從餐飲服務到便利店還是從便利店到餐飲服務，它的建設速度是否比您預期的更快或更慢？在這方面有什麼讓你感到驚訝的嗎？

Well, we would like it to have developed quicker, but sometimes things develop better when they don't develop as quick. It took a while. They're really -- when you get outside of the Foodservice part of it, they are 2 different businesses. And the focus at Core-Mark, of course, has been on the store itself and kind of the CPG type product. And this has been a change for them.

好吧，我們希望它發展得更快，但有時，當事情發展得不那麼快時，它們會發展得更好。花了一段時間。他們確實是——當你離開餐飲服務部分時，他們是兩個不同的企業。當然，Core-Mark 的重點是商店本身和 CPG 類型產品。這對他們來說是一個改變。

But we've got the 2 companies that are really jelling. They've got, like I said, a really good pipeline and we're seeing success in both parts of the business. Our Foodservice people are doing very well going into a Convenience location that we don't have the assortment needed in a Core-Mark.

但我們有兩家公司確實表現出色。正如我所說，他們擁有非常好的渠道，我們在這兩個業務領域都看到了成功。我們的餐飲服務人員在進入便利店時表現得很好，但我們沒有核心標誌所需的品種。

And we started out with a lot of that just 2 separate thrusts and now we're doing real well doing it together. So we feel great. I mean, we feel it's going to be a lot of our growth here in the near future.

我們一開始只有兩個單獨的推動力，現在我們一起做得非常好。所以我們感覺很棒。我的意思是，我們認為在不久的將來我們將在這裡實現很大的增長。

Good to hear. And then as a quick follow-up, how close do you guys think you are at this stage to see normalized fill rates at both Vistar and Convenience?

很高興聽到。然後，作為一個快速跟進，你們認為現階段你們距離 Vistar 和 Convenience 的標準化填充率還有多遠？

Well, it's improving all the time. And I would say in our Foodservice business that things are, if not normal, very, very close to normal. What we're finding in the Core-Mark and Vistar business is some of the lack of fill rate that we've had is items that were discontinued during COVID that have continued to be discontinued and in some ways are probably permanently gone. Maybe it will still come back. So that's part of it. And the rest of it is somewhat unexplainable for us. We were frustrated that we don't have better fill rates, but we're also pleased that they're continuing to improve. And it's a pretty widespread that they're not back to normal fill rates in those 2 businesses.

嗯，它一直在進步。我想說，在我們的餐飲服務業務中，情況即使不正常，也非常非常接近正常。我們在 Core-Mark 和 Vistar 業務中發現，供應率不足的部分是在新冠疫情期間停產的產品，這些產品一直在停產，在某些方面可能會永久消失。也許它還會回來。這就是其中的一部分。其餘的部分對我們來說有點難以解釋。我們對沒有更好的填充率感到沮喪，但我們也很高興他們不斷提高。這兩家企業的填充率都沒有恢復到正常水平，這是一個相當普遍的現象。

Our next question will come from Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題將來自 BMO 資本市場的 Kelly Bania。

It's Kelly Bania here from BMO. I was wondering if we could just talk a little bit about gross margin across the categories. So maybe both was in the quarter and as well as the outlook for fiscal '24. Which segments are contributing to gross margin expansion across Foodservice, Vistar, Convenience and clearly, you characterized the kind of temporary deflation as manageable within that, but the drivers of what supports that being manageable. How much of that is mix or other actions you're taking?

我是 BMO 的凱利·巴尼亞 (Kelly Bania)。我想知道我們是否可以談談各個類別的毛利率。因此，也許既​​是本季度的情況，也是 24 財年的前景。哪些細分市場有助於餐飲服務、維斯塔、便利店的毛利率擴張，顯然，您將這種暫時的通貨緊縮描述為可控的，但支持這一趨勢的驅動因素是可控的。其中有多少是混合或您正在採取的其他行動？

Well, all 3 businesses, Foodservice, Core-Mark, Vistar have seen gross margin expansion. As I mentioned earlier, it's really mix. Mix is the biggest thing in all 3 of those businesses as to why we're seeing that growth. It's product mix, it's channel mix and then the success of the brands. As far as just aggressive pricing, I would say that's probably not something that we've really done.

好吧，餐飲服務、Core-Mark 和 Vistar 這 3 個業務的毛利率都出現了增長。正如我之前提到的，它確實是混合的。混合是這三個業務中最重要的事情，也是我們看到這種增長的原因。這是產品組合、渠道組合，然後是品牌的成功。就激進的定價而言，我想說這可能不是我們真正做過的事情。

Okay. And within your outlook for fiscal '24, we should expect continued mix and gross margin to support from those dynamics?

好的。在您對 24 財年的展望中，我們應該預期這些動態將持續推動組合和毛利率的增長？

We should. I guess, if we picked up some large chunks of business in more of the national area, that could have some impact. But the pleasing part of it too is overcoming these inventory gains that we had in fiscal '22 and '23. And we actually, for fiscal '23, by the end of the year, we had less inventory gains than we did in '22. And this is the last quarter that we have to deal with that. And that obviously has helped drive some of this gross profit per case. And without it, we're still seeing good increases. But like I said, it's primarily due to mix.

我們應該。我想，如果我們在全國更多地區獲得一些大塊業務，這可能會產生一些影響。但令人高興的部分是克服了我們在 22 財年和 23 財年的庫存增長。實際上，在 23 財年年底，我們的庫存收益比 22 財年要少。這是我們必須處理這個問題的最後一個季度。這顯然有助於提高每箱毛利潤的一部分。即使沒有它，我們仍然可以看到良好的增長。但正如我所說，這主要是由於混合造成的。

Yes. George, if I could just add. I mean, Kelly, if you look at -- for the last several quarters, we've been seeing these trends that show really strong underlying performance by the different businesses. So with our outlook for 2024, yes, we did anticipate that and look at those trends, and that's what helped guide us on that outlook that we gave you.

是的。喬治，請讓我補充一下。我的意思是，凱利，如果你看看過去幾個季度，我們一直看到這些趨勢顯示出不同業務的真正強勁的基本業績。因此，對於我們對 2024 年的展望，是的，我們確實預見到了這一點，並研究了這些趨勢，這有助於指導我們向您提供的展望。

Yes, to add still to it. This is -- the quarter we're in right now was the highest that we've ever experienced in inventory gains. And we have great confidence, obviously, with our guidance that we will overcome those gains once again. And then I won't have to talk about it, which it will be really nice.

是的，要添加靜止。我們現在所處的季度是我們經歷過的庫存增長最高的季度。顯然，我們非常有信心，在我們的指導下，我們將再次取得這些成果。然後我就不用談論它了，這真是太好了。

Agreed. Can I just ask maybe one more because you have a pretty broad view of consumer trends, given all of your different segments and end markets. So maybe can you just talk about what you're seeing with respect to trade down, whether it's trade down among price points and case values or trade down among customer type, what you're seeing and what you're expecting as we move forward.

同意。我能否再問一個問題，因為考慮到所有不同的細分市場和終端市場，您對消費者趨勢有相當廣泛的了解。那麼，也許您可​​以談談您在降價方面看到的情況，無論是價格點和案例價值之間的降價，還是客戶類型之間的降價，隨著我們的前進，您所看到的以及您所期望的。

Well, if you just look at the numbers that get published, QSR, is doing better than certainly casual dining or family dining. And I think to some degree, that's probably an effect of trade down. I would assume that's the case.

好吧，如果你只看公佈的數字，QSR 的表現肯定比休閒餐飲或家庭餐飲要好。我認為在某種程度上，這可能是貿易下降的影響。我想情況就是如此。

I think our value stores doing well and consumable product is trade down, although you look at how good Walmart is doing as well, that's probably a reflection of it as well. And then just to sound confusing, I guess, but it's our higher-end product that is the most expensive product that we're growing the fastest with within our Foodservice independent customers.

我認為我們的價值商店做得很好，消費品正在下降，儘管你看看沃爾瑪做得有多好，這也可能反映了這一點。我想這聽起來有點令人困惑，但我們的高端產品是我們在餐飲服務獨立客戶中增長最快的最昂貴的產品。

So I think it's a mixed bag. When we look at the account level, we are certainly seeing in national accounts that casual dining is just not in favor now, is it? Are they people trading down? Or are they going to independent restaurants, that we have a tough time telling.

所以我認為這是一個混合體。當我們看賬戶層面時，我們肯定會在國民賬戶中看到休閒餐飲現在不受歡迎，不是嗎？他們是在進行低價交易的人嗎？或者他們會去獨立餐廳，這一點我們很難說。

And Kelly, if I could just add to that. When you think about the diversification of our business, and we've talked about this at times about like a week in the life between the 3 different segments and all the different channels that we service, we really feel that if the consumer is trading down or trading up, we'll still capture those sales.

凱利，請讓我補充一下。當你想到我們業務的多元化時，我們有時會在 3 個不同的細分市場和我們服務的所有不同渠道之間討論這一點，我們真的覺得如果消費者正在降價購買或者向上交易，我們仍然會捕獲這些銷售額。

And for us, this move into micro markets, where they may have had -- may have been a vending environment before, and you can offer different price points and you can offer more product, that is doing really well, and that's doing better at the higher end of those type of products. So I just think it's very, very mixed. But I mean, Patrick made a good point that we're in so many different channels. Although we're missing probably the 2 that are growing the fastest right now being contract feeding and lodging, but from a Foodservice standpoint -- but I think the other channels that we're playing in and that we're really serious about are all doing well.

對於我們來說，進入微觀市場，他們以前可能有過——可能是一個自動售貨環境，你可以提供不同的價格點，你可以提供更多的產品，這做得很好，而且做得更好此類產品的高端。所以我認為這是非常非常複雜的。但我的意思是，帕特里克提出了一個很好的觀點，我們有很多不同的渠道。雖然我們可能錯過了目前增長最快的兩個渠道，即合同餐飲和住宿，但從餐飲服務的角度來看，但我認為我們正在參與且我們真正認真對待的其他渠道都是做得好。

Our next question comes from Andrew Wolf with CL King.

我們的下一個問題來自 Andrew Wolf 和 CL King。

George, are you getting any help with the acceleration you're seeing recently in the independent case growth from drop size? Or is it really just being driven by gaining -- I guess, accelerating new account growth?

喬治，您最近看到水滴尺寸帶來的獨立案例增長加速，您是否得到了任何幫助？或者它真的只是受到收益的驅動——我猜是加速新帳戶的增長？

We're getting a little bit from drop size, but the bulk of it is coming from accelerated new account growth.

我們從下降規模中獲得了一些收益，但其中大部分來自新帳戶的加速增長。

Can you give us any insight on like the relative stickiness of new customers, I guess, with the macro being uncertain, I think you sound hopeful that it will get better or maybe you have -- I think you said it will eventually. But at least from my point of view, still pretty uncertain. How sticky are these new customers? I mean, is that kind of a positive as you're building out the guidance, hey, we got all these new customers coming in. On average, the churn rate is much lower. So we're more confident in the top line even given the macro.

您能給我們提供一些關於新客戶的相對粘性的見解嗎？我想，在宏觀經濟不確定的情況下，我認為您聽起來希望情況會變得更好，或者也許您已經——我想您說過最終會變得更好。但至少從我的角度來看，仍然相當不確定。這些新客戶的粘性如何？我的意思是，當您制定指導時，這是否是一種積極的影響？嘿，我們吸引了所有這些新客戶。平均而言，客戶流失率要低得多。因此，即使考慮到宏觀因素，我們對營收也更有信心。

Well, we keep real detail on lost business is very important. And every year, we've been able to get better at retaining our accounts and retaining our salespeople, both. And if you consider the amount of restaurants that typically go out of business each year, and we've been able to get to very high single-digit turnover from the previous year and customers or lost business. So as we're adding accounts, we feel pretty confident. And particularly with the retention level that we have with our sales force. I think those 2 go hand-in-hand.

嗯，我們保留丟失業務的真實細節非常重要。每年，我們都能夠更好地保留我們的客戶和銷售人員。如果你考慮到每年通常倒閉的餐館數量，我們已經能夠從上一年和客戶或業務損失中獲得非常高的個位數營業額。因此，當我們添加帳戶時，我們感到非常有信心。尤其是我們銷售人員的保留水平。我認為這兩者是齊頭並進的。

Got it. And if I could just ask you as a follow-up on, I think, your commentary on -- was kind of overall expense ratios were down when you combined driver and warehouse. But could I ask you just unpack that a little, at least as of last quarter, understandably, I think you said the warehouse side was a little more productive. But could you talk about that comparison but also how they're progressing each of them separately in terms of becoming more productive?

知道了。如果我能問你一個後續問題，我想，你的評論是——當你把司機和倉庫結合起來時，總體費用比率有所下降。但我能否請你稍微解開一下，至少截至上個季度，可以理解的是，我認為你說倉庫方面的生產力更高一些。但您能否談談這種比較，以及他們如何在提高生產力方面分別取得進展？

Yes. Well, we're seeing constant progress in productivity and shrink. Those are the things that are real problems with new people. We hired heavily. In some areas, we may even overshot some. But we feel we're going to continue to improve. We're certainly not back to 2019 levels and we're paying more money to get a better level of service, but the reduced overtime has helped productivity, not using temporary workers to the degree that we did during the heavy COVID period has really helped a lot.

是的。嗯，我們看到生產力不斷進步，但規模卻在縮小。這些才是新人真正面臨的問題。我們大量招聘。在某些領域，我們甚至可能超越了一些。但我們認為我們將繼續改進。我們當然不會回到2019 年的水平，我們需要支付更多的錢來獲得更好的服務水平，但加班時間的減少有助於提高生產力，而不是像新冠疫情嚴重期間那樣使用臨時工，這確實有所幫助很多。

And then we feel that our expense ratios are going to continue to get a little bit better. A lot of our, I guess, I would say, increase in expense ratios for last quarter was just continuing to add to the sales force. That was our big area of increase over the previous year.

然後我們覺得我們的費用比率將繼續好一點。我想，我想說，上個季度費用比率的增加只是繼續增加了銷售隊伍。這是我們比上一年增長的最大領域。

Okay. And just the last one is follow-up, I think your commentary on the Convenience business was that the margins were good. And I believe that was in the context, if you take out the holding gains. But I just wanted to double check that if I heard that right. And if I could, were you really referring to more of the gross margin or would the EBITDA margin have been substantially better if you take out the big, I guess, tobacco holding gain from the year ago period.

好的。最後一個是後續，我認為您對便利業務的評論是利潤率很高。我相信，如果你去掉持有收益，那就是在這種背景下。但我只是想再確認一下我是否聽對了。如果可以的話，您是否真的指的是更多的毛利率，或者如果您扣除去年同期煙草持有的巨大收益，那麼 EBITDA 利潤率是否會大幅提高？

Yes. If you took out the holding gains from the previous year, we were actually well into double-digit EBITDA growth for Convenience. And that was driven somewhat by food sales. I mean, that certainly helps. But from an operational standpoint, warehousing and delivery from where we were COVID to now, they've probably improved the most.

是的。如果除去上一年的持有收益，我們實際上已經實現了便利公司 EBITDA 兩位數的增長。這在一定程度上是由食品銷售推動的。我的意思是，這肯定有幫助。但從運營的角度來看，從新冠疫情爆發到現在，倉儲和配送的改善可能是最大的。

Our next question comes from Jake Bartlett with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Jake Bartlett。

My first is wrapping up -- wrapping in a bunch of the other questions or prior questions asked. But when I look at the guidance for '24, it looks like there's at the midpoint about 10 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion. I'm hoping you can help us figure out what the main driver of that is, whether it's operating expense leverage or gross margin expansion? Just trying to kind of parse out which is going to be the biggest source of margin expansion.

我的第一個任務是總結——總結一堆其他問題或之前提出的問題。但當我查看 24 年的指引時，EBITDA 利潤率擴張的中點似乎約為 10 個基點。我希望您能幫助我們弄清楚其主要驅動因素是什麼，是運營費用槓桿還是毛利率擴張？只是試圖分析出哪一個將成為利潤擴張的最大來源。

Yes. And thank you. This is Patrick. It's really a combination of both, and it is wrapping up a lot of things we've already discussed. But it's definitely going to be expansion due to things like more independent cases, the brands, obviously, and then, again, Vistar and food and Foodservice into Convenience. And then as George just explained, we do expect the operational side to continue to improve, and we have seen those improvements. And we have a lot of confidence that they'll continue to drive more efficiencies.

是的。謝謝你。這是帕特里克。它實際上是兩者的結合，它總結了我們已經討論過的很多事情。但它肯定會擴張，因為更多的獨立案例、品牌，顯然，然後，再次，Vistar 和食品和餐飲服務進入便利。正如喬治剛剛解釋的那樣，我們確實期望運營方面能夠繼續改進，並且我們已經看到了這些改進。我們非常有信心他們將繼續提高效率。

Okay. Great. Because when I look at the operating expenses, less [D&A] kind of the bridge between gross profits and EBITDA. There was deleverage in the last 2 quarters. So I'm just trying to get your confidence that, that will reverse that you think you're going to get some operating leverage in '24.

好的。偉大的。因為當我查看運營費用時，毛利潤和 EBITDA 之間的橋樑[D&A] 較少。近2個季度出現了去槓桿化。所以我只是想讓你相信，這會扭轉你認為你將在 24 年獲得一些運營槓桿的想法。

Yes, absolutely. I mean, as George says, we've been making some investments in people and -- but we do have a lot of confidence that we will see that leverage.

是的，一點沒錯。我的意思是，正如喬治所說，我們一直在對人員進行一些投資，而且我們確實非常有信心看到這種影響力。

Great. And then the last question is on the sales growth trajectory. Lowest in the first quarter, accelerates from there just given the guidance. Specifically on the Foodservice segment, I look at sales growth in the fourth quarter, real sales growth taking out the inflation or the deflation was about flat, that's a deceleration. But what do you think the trajectory of growth -- sales growth in the Foodservice segment is going to be throughout '24? I expect a continued drag from change in the beginning of the year. But if you can just help us determine or just estimate how sales growth progresses or how it accelerates and maybe what the acceleration on drivers are?

偉大的。最後一個問題是關於銷售增長軌跡。第一季度最低，根據剛剛給出的指導而加速。特別是在餐飲服務領域，我觀察了第四季度的銷售增長，扣除通貨膨脹或通貨緊縮後的實際銷售增長大致持平，這是一種減速。但您認為整個 24 世紀餐飲服務領域的增長軌跡（銷售增長）將如何？我預計年初的變化將繼續拖累。但是，如果您能幫助我們確定或估計銷售增長如何進展或如何加速，以及驅動因素的加速是什麼？

Yes. Well, I mean, again, a lot of this is year-over-year, but we have a lot of confidence in our Foodservice sales growth. As we've explained, we are experiencing deflation in Foodservice, that is continuing into this quarter. So that, coupled with some other factors, we did anticipate that in our outlook. And so it does start off at a lower growth rate. And then it does increase as we go through the balance of the year and get up against easier comps and see that deflation slowly get better and then improve to hopefully, what we would imagine is more of a traditional historical slight inflation number.

是的。好吧，我的意思是，其中很多都是同比的，但我們對餐飲服務銷售的增長充滿信心。正如我們所解釋的，我們正在經歷餐飲服務領域的通貨緊縮，這種情況將持續到本季度。因此，加上其他一些因素，我們確實在我們的前景中預測到了這一點。因此，它確實以較低的增長率開始。然後，當我們經歷今年的剩餘時間並面對更容易的比較時，它確實會增加，並看到通貨緊縮慢慢好轉，然後改善到希望，我們想像的更像是傳統的歷史小通脹數字。

Okay. And just to clarify that, do you expect the Foodservice deflation and become inflationary by the end of the year? Or do you think it's going to be deflationary throughout the whole year?

好的。只是為了澄清這一點，您預計餐飲服務通貨緊縮並會在今年年底前變得通貨膨脹嗎？或者你認為全年都會出現通縮？

No. In our outlook, we believe it will become inflationary.

不會。在我們的展望中，我們認為這將會導致通脹。

Our next question will come from Carla Casella with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的卡拉·卡塞拉。

I had a follow-up question on your comments about M&A. Just given the kind of counted the strength and stability of the Vistar and Convenience and total addressable market there. Would you -- is your M&A focus more on those categories? Or is there a opportunity in Foodservice as well?

我對您有關併購的評論有一個後續問題。剛剛考慮到了 Vistar 的實力和穩定性以及便利性和總的潛在市場。您的併購是否更關注這些類別？或者餐飲服務也有機會嗎？

We're always going to be opportunistic and things that fit our business and their culture fits our culture, provided we can get to the right valuation, we would probably do M&A in any of those 3 businesses.

我們總是會投機取巧，適合我們業務的事物以及他們的文化也適合我們的文化，只要我們能夠獲得正確的估值，我們可能會在這三項業務中的任何一項進行併購。

Our priority is certainly Foodservice and broadline Foodservice specifically. That's where we have more significant white space and we still have distribution centers that I would call legacy Roma distribution centers where we have limited product offering and expanding that business would probably be our biggest priority. But we will always -- if we have an opportunity to get a good business to be part of us, we think we have good method of doing M&A and integrating companies, we'll always be opportunistic.

我們的首要任務當然是餐飲服務，特別是廣泛的餐飲服務。在那裡我們有更多的空白空間，我們仍然有配送中心，我稱之為傳統的羅馬配送中心，在那裡我們提供的產品有限，擴大業務可能是我們的首要任務。但我們永遠——如果我們有機會讓一家好的企業成為我們的一部分，我們認為我們有很好的併購和整合公司的方法，我們將永遠是機會主義的。

Okay. Great. And then could you just update us in terms of when you look at CapEx, how much is growth versus maintenance? Or what is your maintenance CapEx going forward?

好的。偉大的。然後，您能否向我們介紹一下資本支出方面的最新情況：增長與維護的比例是多少？或者您未來的維護資本支出是多少？

It's about 1/3 is maintenance.

大約1/3是維護。

And our last question will come from Jeffrey Bernstein with Barclays.

我們的最後一個問題將來自巴克萊銀行的杰弗裡·伯恩斯坦。

Great. Two questions. First, just George, it seems like the Foodservice chains, the way you're seeing, I think, what you referred to as macro softness in the independents, it seems like you're saying are gaining momentum each of the past 4-plus months which drove that 7.6% case growth. I'm just wondering if all that's true, it would sound like the first fiscal quarter of '24 is ahead of that 7.6%. So I'm just wondering whether you think that's sustainable? And whether you think that's being seen across the entire industry? Or is that just unique to Performance Food Group and your related initiatives? And then I had one follow-up.

偉大的。兩個問題。首先，喬治，看起來餐飲服務連鎖店，你所看到的方式，我認為，你所說的獨立個體的宏觀疲軟，似乎你說過去的 4 個以上的每個連鎖店都在獲得動力數月推動病例增長7.6%。我只是想知道這一切是否屬實，聽起來 24 年第一財季的增長率要高於 7.6%。所以我只是想知道你認為這是否可持續？您是否認為整個行業都看到了這種情況？或者這只是高性能食品集團和您的相關計劃所獨有的？然後我進行了一項後續行動。

Yes. Well, we're certainly gaining share. But if you look at the percentage of the business that we have, we could be going a different direction than our competitors. And it's probably more likely that, I guess. I mean, you can see with the guidance we've given. I mean, we're taking that macro into account. We're very confident. I would like to say that we're always cautious but I do think there's some macro issues out there, and we've been through this before, and this certainly isn't 2008 or '09. It's not to that degree. And as long as we keep gaining customers, I think we'll keep gaining share, and we're confident with what we've laid out.

是的。嗯，我們確實正在獲得份額。但如果你看看我們所擁有的業務百分比，我們可能會走與競爭對手不同的方向。我猜，更有可能是這樣。我的意思是，您可以通過我們提供的指導來了解。我的意思是，我們正在考慮這個宏觀因素。我們非常有信心。我想說的是，我們始終保持謹慎，但我確實認為存在一些宏觀問題，我們以前也經歷過這種情況，而且這肯定不是 2008 年或 09 年。還沒有到那個程度。只要我們不斷贏得客戶，我認為我們就會不斷獲得份額，並且我們對我們所佈局的產品充滿信心。

Got it. And then my follow-up, I guess, as we look out to fiscal '25, I think you mentioned your fiscal '24 EBITDA guidance, the high end being $1.5 billion is the low end of the fiscal '25. So clearly, you're moving ahead of plan. I'm just wondering how we should think about that. Should we assume there's, therefore, confidence that in the coming quarters you're going to increase fiscal '25? Or what would potentially derail a continuation of that upside to EBITDA because, again, being ahead of schedule by a full year within a 3-year guidance is quite impressive. I'm wondering what might derail that or make that more challenging?

知道了。然後我想，當我們展望 25 財年時，我想您提到了 24 財年 EBITDA 指導，15 億美元的高端是 25 財年的低端。很明顯，你正在提前計劃。我只是想知道我們應該如何考慮這個問題。因此，我們是否應該假設有信心在未來幾個季度增加 25 財年的預算？或者什麼可能會破壞 EBITDA 的持續增長，因為在 3 年指導範圍內提前一整年是相當令人印象深刻的。我想知道什麼可能會破壞這一目標或使其更具挑戰性？

Yes, Jeffrey, this is Patrick. Just one, thanks for pointing that out because we are really excited that we had such a strong '23 and that allowed us to put that 3-year guidance at the top end of our range for 2024. At this point, it's a little still too early to comment on anything that would make that change, but you can see what we've guided for 2024. And again, as George just explained, we're really confident about the guidance that we've put out there. So we'll continue to update everyone on that as things progress.

是的，杰弗裡，這是帕特里克。只是一件事，感謝您指出這一點，因為我們真的很興奮，我們有如此強勁的23 年業績，這使我們能夠將3 年指導置於2024 年範圍的上限。在這一點上，還有一點仍然現在評論任何會帶來這種變化的事情還為時過早，但你可以看到我們為2024 年制定的指導方針。同樣，正如喬治剛剛解釋的那樣，我們對我們在那裡發布的指導方針非常有信心。因此，隨著事情的進展，我們將繼續向大家通報最新情況。

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Bill Marshall for any additional or closing remarks.

謝謝。我現在想將電話轉回給比爾·馬歇爾，請他發表補充或結束語。

Thank you for joining our call today. If you have any follow-up questions, please contact us at Investor Relations.

感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。如果您有任何後續問題，請通過投資者關係聯繫我們。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This does conclude today's teleconference, and we appreciate your participation. You may disconnect at any time.

謝謝你們，女士們、先生們。今天的電話會議到此結束，我們感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連接。