Primo Brands Corp (PRMB) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Elvis, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Primo Water Corporation's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I'll now turn the call over to Jon Kathol, Vice President, Investor Relations.

早安.我叫艾維斯，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Primo Water Corporation 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）我現在將電話轉給投資人關係副總裁 Jon Kathol。

Welcome to Primo Water Corporation's Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) The call is being webcast live on Primo Water's website at primowatercorp.com and will be available there for playback.

歡迎參加 Primo Water Corporation 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員說明） 本次電話會議正在 Primo Water 網站 primowatercorp.com 上進行網路直播，並將在那裡進行回放。

This conference call contains forward-looking statements regarding the company's future financial and operational trends and results, the BlueTriton transaction, the anticipated benefits of the BlueTriton transaction, including estimated synergies and related matters. These statements should be considered in connection with cautionary statements and disclaimers contained in the safe harbor statements in this morning's earnings press release and the company's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with securities regulators.

本次電話會議包含有關公司未來財務和營運趨勢及績效、BlueTriton 交易、BlueTriton 交易的預期收益（包括估計的協同效應和相關事項）的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明應與今天上午的收益新聞稿中的安全港聲明中包含的警告聲明和免責聲明以及公司 10-K 表年度報告和 10-Q 表季度報告以及其他向證券監管機構提交的文件一起考慮。

The company's actual performance could differ materially from these statements, and the company undertakes no duty to update these forward-looking statements, except as expressly required by applicable law. A reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measures discussed during the call with the most comparable measures in accordance with GAAP when the data is capable of being estimated, is included in the company's third quarter earnings announcement released earlier this morning or on the Investor Relations section of the company's website at primowatercorp.com.

本公司的實際表現可能與這些陳述有重大差異，本公司不承擔更新這些前瞻性陳述的責任，除非適用法律明確要求。電話會議期間討論的任何非公認會計原則財務指標與根據公認會計原則（當數據能夠估計時）最具可比性的指標的對賬，已包含在該公司今天上午早些時候發布的第三季度收益公告或投資者關係部分中該公司網站 primowatercorp.com。

In addition to slides accompanying today's webcast to assist you throughout our discussion, we have included a copy of the presentation in a supplemental earnings deck on our website. The supplemental deck will be broken into 2 sections: the current continuing operations of Primo Water, and information related to the transaction between Primo Water and BlueTriton Brands.

除了今天網路廣播中附帶的幻燈片以幫助您完成我們的討論之外，我們還在我們網站的補充收益平台中提供了簡報的副本。補充甲板將分為兩部分：Primo Water 目前的持續營運情況，以及與 Primo Water 和 BlueTriton Brands 之間的交易相關的資訊。

I'm accompanied by Robbert Rietbroek, Primo Water's Chief Executive Officer; and David Hass, Chief Financial Officer. Today's financial results represent Primo Water's third quarter standalone results from continuing operations. To start their prepared remarks, Robbert and David will discuss the Q3 performance of Primo Water, followed by Robbert's thoughts ahead of the proposed transaction with BlueTriton Brands.

陪同我的有 Primo Water 執行長 Robbert Rietbroek；和首席財務官大衛·哈斯。今天的財務表現代表了 Primo Water 第三季持續經營業務的獨立業績。首先，Robbert 和 David 將討論 Primo Water 第三季的業績，然後是 Robbert 在與 BlueTriton Brands 擬議交易之前的想法。

Please note that BlueTriton's third quarter financial information was posted earlier this morning on their website at bluetriton.com. With that, I will now turn the call over to Robbert.

請注意，BlueTriton 第三季的財務資訊於今天早上早些時候發佈在其網站 bluetriton.com 上。現在，我將把電話轉給羅伯特。

Thank you, Jon, and good morning, everyone. Before I begin, I want to take a moment to extend my sympathies to those impacted by the recent hurricanes in the southeast and the extreme loss of life and property. First and foremost, our thoughts are with those still suffering, and we hope for a speedy recovery for those affected.

謝謝你，喬恩，大家早安。在開始之前，我想花一點時間向東南部最近遭受颶風影響並造成生命和財產損失的人們表示同情。首先，我們的心與那些仍在受苦受難的人同在，我們希望受影響的人早日康復。

The efforts of our associates to deliver high-quality drinking water to people in these hard-hit areas was admirable, and I want to personally thank them. We are working with local charities and transport companies to donate water and have so far been able to provide hundreds of thousands of bottles of water to those affected across the Southeast. There is strong demand for our water and it serves a critical need during natural disasters like wildfires, floods and hurricanes.

我們的員工為這些受災嚴重地區的人們提供高品質飲用水的努力令人欽佩，我個人要向他們表示感謝。我們正在與當地慈善機構和運輸公司合作捐贈水，迄今為止已經向東南部受影響的人們提供了數十萬瓶水。我們對水的需求旺盛，在野火、洪水和颶風等自然災害期間，它滿足了迫切的需求。

Our commitment to aid those in need is unwavering. The resilience of people and associates in these affected communities is remarkable and we are proud support them. Earlier this week, we held a special shareowner meeting for the purpose of approving our transaction with BlueTriton Brands. The share owners approved the transaction with strong support and obviously recognize the strategic rationale of combining two great companies, allowing us to better serve our stakeholders.

我們對幫助有需要的人的承諾堅定不移。這些受影響社區的人們和同事的復原力非常出色，我們為支持他們而感到自豪。本週早些時候，我們舉行了一次特別股東會議，目的是批准我們與 BlueTriton Brands 的交易。股東們在大力支持下批准了這項交易，並顯然認可了兩家偉大公司合併的策略原理，使我們能夠更好地服務我們的利害關係人。

We have now received all necessary approvals, including court approval of the plan of arrangements for the transaction and aside from a few remaining customary closing conditions, we are ready to begin operations as the new Primo Brands Corporation with closing expected to occur tomorrow, November 8.

我們現已獲得所有必要的批准，包括法院對交易安排計劃的批准，除了一些剩餘的慣例成交條件外，我們已準備好作為新的Primo Brands Corporation 開始運營，預計將於明天（11 月8 日）成交。

The Primo Water stock will continue to trade throughout the day, on the 8, and we expect the new company, Primo Brands to begin trading with a new ticker symbol of PRMB on the New York Stock Exchange next Monday, November 11.

Primo Water 股票將於 8 日全天繼續交易，我們預計新公司 Primo Brands 將於下週一（11 月 11 日）在紐約證券交易所開始以新的股票代碼 PRMB 進行交易。

I'll share more of my thoughts on the transaction later. But first, I wanted to take you through the details of Primo Water's third quarter. Another great quarter marked by robust balanced growth and continued strength across the business and organization.

稍後我將分享更多我對這筆交易的想法。但首先，我想向您介紹 Primo Water 第三季的詳細情況。又一個偉大的季度，其特點是整個業務和組織的強勁平衡成長和持續實力。

Total revenue of $511 million, increased 8.8%, consisting of volume growth of 5% and pricing growth of 3.8%. Revenue gains were driven by organic growth of 7.4% and inorganic growth of 1.4%, demonstrating the strength across our water solutions offerings and the health of our consumer and category.

總營收達 5.11 億美元，成長 8.8%，其中銷量成長 5%，價格成長 3.8%。收入成長是由 7.4% 的有機成長和 1.4% 的無機成長推動的，這證明了我們水解決方案產品的實力以及我們消費者和類別的健康狀況。

Revenue exceeded the high end of our previous guidance by $16 million. And compared to the broader beverage category, I am pleased that we continue to grow revenue with balance between volume and price. Adjusted EBITDA was $125 million, up 11.4% versus the prior year and increased faster than the rate of revenue growth and matched the high end of our guidance.

收入超出我們之前指導的上限 1600 萬美元。與更廣泛的飲料類別相比，我很高興我們在數量和價格之間取得平衡，並繼續增加收入。調整後 EBITDA 為 1.25 億美元，比上年增長 11.4%，成長速度快於收入成長率，符合我們指導的上限。

The resulting adjusted EBITDA margin was 24.4%, a 60 basis point increase over last year's margin of 23.8%. From a macro perspective, our consumers remained resilient when compared to other consumer packaged goods companies, including notably other beverage companies. We continue to see accelerated demand for our products and services as consumers focus on healthy hydration and high-quality beverages.

調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 24.4%，比去年的 23.8% 提高了 60 個基點。從宏觀角度來看，與其他消費品公司（尤其是其他飲料公司）相比，我們的消費者仍然保持彈性。隨著消費者專注於健康的飲水和高品質飲料，我們的產品和服務需求不斷增長。

We remain frontline-focused and it has allowed us to achieve our commitment to grow the business profitably. The results are a direct reflection of the efforts of our associates and their commitment to our customers and our must-win priorities. With that, let us discuss the specific progress of each of our must-win priorities that I identified at the start of the year.

我們仍然專注於一線，這使我們能夠實現業務獲利成長的承諾。結果直接反映了我們員工的努力以及他們對客戶和我們必須贏得的優先事項的承諾。接下來，讓我們討論一下我在年初確定的每項必須贏得的優先事項的具體進展。

The first must-win is to provide a superior customer experience with the goal to yield net organic growth and units or gallons consumed across our water portfolio. We are focused on acquiring and maintaining high-value customers driving annual gallon growth. Our relentless focus on fulfilling our customers' needs and desire for high-quality drinking water is successfully driving increased consumption.

第一個必須贏得的目標是提供卓越的客戶體驗，目標是實現淨有機成長以及我們的水產品組合消耗的單位或加侖數。我們專注於獲取和維護高價值客戶，推動每年加侖的成長。我們不懈地致力於滿足客戶對高品質飲用水的需求和渴望，成功推動了消費量的成長。

We are seeing strong demand from our consumers across all channels, from our value offering of water sold at a refill station to our super premium Mountain Valley spring water delivered in multi-format glass, PET, and aluminum bottles direct to their door or sold at retail and at various on-premise locations.

我們看到所有通路的消費者都有強勁的需求，從我們在補充站出售的超值水，到我們以多種規格的玻璃、PET 和鋁瓶直接送貨上門或在網上出售的超優質山谷泉水。

Our continuing focus on Mountain Valley, which I spoke about in past quarters, continues to deliver impressive results. During the third quarter, we more than doubled our Mountain Valley retail revenue, driven by sales of our convenience 9-pack single-serve 16-ounce aluminum bottles, which are selling at Whole Foods stores throughout the country. We also sold more to our Water Direct customers where we continue to see high levels of Mountain Valley demand for our 5-gallon, 2.5-gallon, multi-serve, and single-use products.

我在過去幾個季度談過，我們對 Mountain Valley 的持續關注繼續帶來令人印象深刻的成果。第三季度，我們的 Mountain Valley 零售收入增加了一倍以上，這得益於我們的方便 9 件裝單份 16 盎司鋁瓶裝的銷售，這些鋁瓶在全國各地的 Whole Foods 商店銷售。我們也向 Water Direct 客戶出售了更多產品，我們繼續看到 Mountain Valley 對我們的 5 加侖、2.5 加侖、多份和一次性產品的高需求。

In addition, we've expanded our distribution for Mountain Valley in grocers such as HEB in Texas and will continue to expand in 2025 as we anticipate strong consumer demand continuing. We are consistently enhancing various touch points to improve the customer experience. Our upgraded MyWater+ app, now also available in Spanish, has a refreshed design, enhanced features such as easier access to customer support.

此外，我們也擴大了 Mountain Valley 在德州 HEB 等雜貨店的分銷範圍，並將在 2025 年繼續擴大，因為我們預計消費者需求將持續強勁。我們不斷增強各種接觸點以改善客戶體驗。我們升級的 MyWater+ 應用程式現在也提供西班牙語版本，具有更新的設計和增強的功能，例如更輕鬆地獲得客戶支援。

We have expanded our customer experience center coverage to offer support six days a week. And we have increased our availability to assist customers through our chat functionality, making it even easier for them to reach us. The reaction to our improved customer experience is encouraging.

我們擴大了客戶體驗中心的覆蓋範圍，每週提供六天支援。我們還提高了透過聊天功能為客戶提供幫助的可用性，使他們能夠更輕鬆地聯繫我們。對我們改善的客戶體驗的反應令人鼓舞。

Our Google Business and Trust Pilot scores have improved year-over-year. We're always seeking to expand the ways we reach and interact with consumers. In Q3, we tested reaching potential consumers to the social platform Nextdoor, connecting the Primo Water delivery service to the platform you use to stay informed about your community. We are seeing high levels of engagement and planning to launch additional test markets to understand conversion rates before rolling out nationally.

我們的 Google Business 和 Trust Pilot 分數逐年提高。我們一直在尋求擴大我們接觸消費者和與消費者互動的方式。在第三季度，我們測試了在社群平台 Nextdoor 上吸引潛在消費者，將 Primo Water 配送服務連接到您用來隨時了解社區狀況的平台。我們看到了很高的參與度，並計劃在全國推廣之前啟動更多的測試市場來了解轉換率。

The second must-win is to be the preferred water solutions partner. We meet the end consumer across numerous channels by direct-to-consumer delivery or through one of our retail partners with our exchange locations or refill stations.

第二個必須贏得的目標是成為首選的水解決方案合作夥伴。我們透過直接向消費者交付或透過我們的零售合作夥伴之一與我們的兌換點或加油站透過多種管道與最終消費者見面。

We have an offer to meet and satisfy each of our customers' needs and budgets. Customer and volume growth starts with increasing the number of customers and locations in Water Direct, Exchange, Refill, and the sale of Water Dispensers at retail, which drives connectivity across our portfolio of water solutions.

我們提供滿足每個客戶的需求和預算的報價。客戶和數量的成長始於水直接、交換、補充和零售飲水機銷售的客戶和地點數量的增加，這推動了我們水解決方案組合的連結性。

The increase in customers and locations across our channels will drive future volume growth. During the third quarter, we were able to add Water Direct customers and secure additional display racks within our Exchange channel and retail stores to support capacity growth, resulting in 8% growth in the channel for the quarter. Our refill and filtration channel continues to show steady and consistent performance with 7.1% growth in the third quarter.

我們通路中客戶和地點的增加將推動未來銷售的成長。第三季度，我們增加了 Water Direct 客戶，並在 Exchange 頻道和零售店內獲得了額外的展示架，以支援產能成長，該季度通路成長了 8%。我們的補充和過濾管道繼續表現出穩定和一致的業績，第三季成長 7.1%。

This provides further evidence that our product is critical for our customers to satisfy their needs for daily sustenance of high-quality drinking water. Meeting the customer where they are includes offering high-quality water in a format that fits their needs and lifestyle.

這進一步證明我們的產品對於滿足客戶日常高品質飲用水的需求至關重要。滿足客戶的需求包括以適合他們的需求和生活方式的方式提供高品質的水。

The third must-win is operational excellence. Specifically, we're focused on building an optimized organizational structure and operating systems that prioritize our associate safety and well-being, deliver the highest-quality products and services, and support efficient scaling and automation as we continue to grow. Maintaining a safe environment is our top priority, as it's essential for our associates to thrive and for them to continue delivering exceptional service to our customers.

第三個必勝目標是卓越營運。具體來說，我們專注於建立優化的組織結構和作業系統，優先考慮員工的安全和福祉，提供最高品質的產品和服務，並在我們不斷發展的過程中支援高效的擴展和自動化。維護安全的環境是我們的首要任務，因為這對我們的員工的成長以及他們繼續為客戶提供卓越的服務至關重要。

During the third quarter, we continued to implement six and seven-day delivery schedules as we moved into our traditionally busy period of the summer. Our on-time in-full rate of 93% in our Water Direct and Exchange channel was up from 89% in the prior year.

第三季度，隨著我們進入傳統的夏季繁忙期，我們繼續實施六天和七天的交貨計劃。我們的水直接和交換管道的準時足額率為 93%，高於前一年的 89%。

Our Refill channel maintained machine uptime of 98%, ensuring product availability for our customer base. Production capacity and efficiency are vital to supporting the growth of our business. In the past two years, we have invested in a full upgrade to five of our production lines, yielding higher efficiency and lower cost per unit.

我們的補充管道維持了 98% 的機器正常運作時間，確保了我們客戶群的產品可用性。生產能力和效率對於支持我們業務的成長至關重要。在過去的兩年裡，我們投資對 5 條生產線進行了全面升級，提高了效率並降低了單位成本。

We have a clear plan to deliver growth and profitability with a good balance of volume and pricing. Our resilient business model has a unique combination of associates, assets and resources that are capable of delivering results that benefit all our stakeholders. We are well positioned for future success as we step into the next phase of our business combination with BlueTriton Brands to create Primo Brands Corporation.

我們有一個明確的計劃，透過銷售和價格的良好平衡來實現成長和獲利。我們富有彈性的業務模式擁有獨特的員工、資產和資源組合，能夠交付讓所有利害關係人受益的成果。隨著我們進入與 BlueTriton Brands 業務合併創建 Primo Brands Corporation 的下一階段，我們已為未來的成功做好了充分準備。

Before I turn the call over to David, I would like to once again thank all of our Primo Water associates for their support and contribution to the excellent performance of the business. Their dedication reflects the culture we have built that is centered on customer service and the commitment to operational excellence. With that, I will now turn the call over to David.

在將電話轉給 David 之前，我要再次感謝所有 Primo Water 員工的支持和對公司卓越表現的貢獻。他們的奉獻精神反映了我們建立的以客戶服務和卓越營運承諾為中心的文化。現在，我將把電話轉給大衛。

Thanks, Robbert. Before I cover our third quarter results, I would first like to quickly reflect on the past year. Just a year ago, we were updating investors on the sale of the majority of our international businesses. This was a catalyst to drive improved free cash flow and enhance the margin profile of our business. It also helped set the stage to renew our focus on the North American market, where we have ample runway for growth.

謝謝，羅伯特。在介紹第三季業績之前，我首先想快速回顧過去的一年。就在一年前，我們向投資者通報了我們出售大部分國際業務的最新情況。這是推動改善自由現金流和提高我們業務利潤率的催化劑。它也幫助我們為重新關注北美市場奠定了基礎，因為我們在北美市場擁有充足的成長空間。

We are very excited for the pending transaction with BlueTriton, as this will provide the necessary scale to further our transformation as a company. A tremendous thank you to all parties involved during this journey, and we look forward to communicating on behalf of Primo Brands in the near future. With that, let me transition back to the financial results of Primo Water.

我們對與 BlueTriton 即將進行的交易感到非常興奮，因為這將為我們進一步轉型提供必要的規模。非常感謝參與這趟旅程的所有各方，我們期待在不久的將來代表 Primo Brands 進行溝通。接下來，讓我回到 Primo Water 的財務表現。

The third quarter results of our continuing operations included revenue increasing 8.8% to $511 million, adjusted EBITDA increasing 11.4% to $125 million, with adjusted EBITDA margins of 24.4%. All metrics were above or at the high end of our previous guidance, and the adjusted EBITDA margins reflect our focus on driving optimization and efficiencies in the business.

我們持續經營業務的第三季業績包括營收成長 8.8% 至 5.11 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 成長 11.4% 至 1.25 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 24.4%。所有指標均高於或​​處於我們先前指引的高端，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率反映了我們對推動業務優化和效率的關注。

Within the 8.8% revenue growth, approximately 7.4% or approximately $35 million came from organic growth activity, with the balance 1.4% or approximately $6 million coming from inorganic or acquired sources. Primo Water's definition of inorganic contribution includes any acquired businesses that were closed less than 12 months ago.

在 8.8% 的營收成長中，約 7.4%（約 3,500 萬美元）來自有機成長活動，其餘 1.4%（約 600 萬美元）來自無機或收購來源。Primo Water 對無機貢獻的定義包括 12 個月內關閉的任何收購企業。

After 12 months, any acquired business becomes part of our normal contribution base. Separately, the 8.8% revenue growth, irrespective of organic or acquired means, can be split into approximately 5% related to volume activity and approximately 3.8% related to pricing activity.

12 個月後，任何收購的業務都將成為我們正常繳款基礎的一部分。另外，無論是自然成長或收購方式，8.8% 的營收成長可分為約 5% 與銷售活動相關和約 3.8% 與定價活動相關。

Volume contribution, in this case, comes from both new customer additions or additional gallons consumed from existing customers or additional retail traffic in our Exchange or Refill businesses where actual customer counts are not directly known.

在這種情況下，銷售貢獻來自新客戶的增加或現有客戶消耗的額外加侖數或我們的交換或補充業務中的額外零售流量，而實際客戶數量無法直接了解。

Volume activity in the quarter was strong across all our water solutions, indicating strength in our bulk-oriented offering as well as the complementary nature of our different price tiers. A table of our channel disclosure results is included with our supplemental earnings deck. You will notice that volume gains occurred across each of the water channels, and price improved except for the welcome price decline in Water Dispensers.

本季我們所有水解決方案的銷售活動都很強勁，這表明我們以散裝為導向的產品的實力以及我們不同價格等級的互補性。我們的補充損益表中包含了我們的通路揭露結果表。您會注意到，每個水通路的銷量都出現了成長，除了飲水機價格下降之外，價格也有所改善。

Within our channels, we had strong revenue growth of 8% in Water Direct and Exchange and a 7.1% increase in our Water Refill and Filtration channel. The other water channel, which is primarily the retail and on-premise portion of Mountain Valley premium spring water, was up 102.2%.

在我們的通路中，我們的水直接和交換通路收入強勁成長 8%，水補充和過濾通路收入成長 7.1%。另一個水渠道主要是山谷優質礦泉水的零售和自營部分，上漲了 102.2%。

The Water Dispenser business, representing the sell-in of our units to the retailer increased 13.3%. The other channel decline is reflective of our remaining noncore office coffee services, which is not a point of emphasis in our current model.

飲水機業務（即我們向零售商銷售的飲水機業務）成長了 13.3%。另一個管道的下降反映了我們剩餘的非核心辦公室咖啡服務，這不是我們當前模式的重點。

Water dispenser sell-through or those items sold from the retailer to the end customer was approximately 238,000 units in the quarter, down approximately 5.6%.

本季飲水機銷售或從零售商銷售給最終客戶的商品約為 238,000 台，下降約 5.6%。

As a reminder, our business model includes two approaches of selling the water dispenser: the rental of the water dispenser to residential and commercial customers in our Water Direct business, and the sale of water dispensers through our retail partners and online. Both approaches enable growth in our water solutions and contribute to our predictable and recurring revenue growth.

提醒一下，我們的業務模式包括兩種銷售飲水機的方式：在我們的 Water Direct 業務中向住宅和商業客戶出租飲水機，以及透過我們的零售合作夥伴和線上銷售飲水機。這兩種方法都能促進我們水解決方案的成長，並有助於我們可預測的經常性收入成長。

This quarter's sell-in results helped confirm the category's strength in the eyes of the retailer while timing variability will exist quarter-to-quarter between sell-in and sell-through. We have been particularly focused on growth with our brick-and-mortar retail partners where we have greater visibility into the connectivity to our water solutions and higher connectivity compared to e-commerce channels.

本季的銷售結果有助於證實該類別在零售商眼中的實力，而銷售和售完之間的時間變化將存在於季度與季度之間。我們特別關注與實體零售合作夥伴的成長，與電子商務通路相比，我們對水解決方案的連接性擁有更高的可見度和更高的連接性。

As discussed in previous calls, our Water Dispenser category was previously under a 25% import tariff but was reclassified last year. And a refund process from the US government was initiated. When we receive funds, we record them in the same manner as the original transaction.

正如先前電話會議中所討論的，我們的飲水機類別先前適用 25% 的進口關稅，但去年進行了重新分類。美國政府啟動了退款程序。當我們收到資金時，我們會以與原始交易相同的方式記錄它們。

During Q3, we did not receive any refunds, reflecting the inconsistent nature of the government refund process. When including last year's payments cumulatively through the third quarter of 2024, we have received approximately $10.8 million inclusive of interest income. Total funds outstanding are approximately $7.1 million. We remain confident that refunds will be received, but we cannot predict the timing of receipt.

在第三季度，我們沒有收到任何退款，反映出政府退款流程的不一致。如果算上去年截至 2024 年第三季的累計付款，我們已收到約 1,080 萬美元（含利息收入）。未償還資金總額約 710 萬美元。我們仍然有信心收到退款，但我們無法預測收到退款的時間。

As we look further into the operational metrics and as Robbert mentioned earlier, our commitment to improving the customer experience continues to result in improved on-time in-full or OTIF rates. The ability to serve our customers efficiently is a critical driver of both our short- and long-term profitability and our automated route optimization, ARO tool, continues to yield efficiencies.

隨著我們進一步研究營運指標，正如 Robbert 之前提到的，我們對改善客戶體驗的承諾將繼續提高按時完成率或 OTIF 率。高效率服務客戶的能力是我們短期和長期獲利能力的關鍵驅動力，而我們的自動化路線優化 ARO 工具將持續提高效率。

During the third quarter, we increased our revenue per route by 2%, while units per route declined by a single unit as a result of expanded route coverage to support our Water Exchange business and maintain high service metrics. Additionally, Water Direct customer retention remains at approximately 86%, slightly higher than at the end of last year and the third quarter of 2023.

第三季度，我們每條航線的收入增加了 2%，但由於擴大航線覆蓋範圍以支持我們的水交換業務並保持高服務指標，每條航線的單位數量下降了一個單位。此外，Water Direct 的客戶保留率仍維持在 86% 左右，略高於去年年底和 2023 年第三季。

Shifting to our balance sheet cash flows. Our net leverage ratio at the end of the third quarter on a trailing 12-month basis stood at approximately 1.5 times our adjusted EBITDA, a 60 basis point improvement from year-end.

轉向我們的資產負債表現金流。截至第三季末，過去 12 個月的淨槓桿率約為調整後 EBITDA 的 1.5 倍，比年底提高了 60 個基點。

Similarly, our liquidity remained strong with approximately $667 million of cash on the balance sheet, approximately $671 million when considering the cash within our discontinued operations, and a fully unused cash flow revolver.

同樣，我們的流動性仍然強勁，資產負債表上的現金約為 6.67 億美元，考慮到我們已終止經營業務中的現金約為 6.71 億美元，以及完全未使用的現金流循環。

We remain on target to complete the sale of businesses in Israel and the UK by year-end. Our adjusted free cash flow results for the third quarter totaled $60 million, a year-over-year decline of $32 million. The decline in adjusted free cash flow was driven by lapping last year's positive onetime step-up in improved AR collections as we shifted billing closer to the time of delivery as well as an increase in cash taxes totaling approximately $15.8 million due to fewer NOLs as we shift to a net taxpayer relative to prior years and change in net working capital attributable to growth.

我們的目標仍然是在年底前完成以色列和英國業務的出售。第三季調整後自由現金流結果總計 6,000 萬美元，較去年同期下降 3,200 萬美元。調整後自由現金流的下降是由於去年我們將計費時間移至更接近交貨時間而改善的 AR 收款的一次性積極增長，以及由於 NOL 減少而導致現金稅增加約 1,580 萬美元。前幾年轉向淨納稅人以及因成長而導致的淨營運資本的變化。

More importantly, for the nine months ended September 28, 2024, adjusted free cash flow totaled $162 million, a significant year-over-year increase of $41 million, driven by increased earnings, reduced net interest expense, and improved working capital, offset by higher cash taxes and slightly increased levels of capital expenditures.

更重要的是，截至2024 年9 月28 日的九個月，調整後的自由現金流總計1.62 億美元，年比大幅增加4,100 萬美元，這主要是由於收益增加、淨利息支出減少和營運資本改善所抵銷的。

Regarding the pending transaction with BlueTriton Brands, we plan to communicate our financial outlook for the new Primo Brands in early 2025 as we work to bring these two great companies together well ahead of our originally estimated schedule.

關於與 BlueTriton Brands 的待決交易，我們計劃在 2025 年初傳達我們對新 Primo Brands 的財務前景，因為我們努力提前將這兩家偉大的公司合併在一起，早於我們最初預計的時間表。

As of the closing of the transaction, Primo Water in its current form will no longer be publicly held, and we will begin the migration of our accounting recognition standards to match those of BlueTriton, the accounting acquirer of record in the transaction.

截至交易完成時，Primo Water 目前的形式將不再公開持有，我們將開始遷移我們的會計確認標準，以匹配交易中記錄的會計收購方 BlueTriton 的標準。

When we report full year 2024 results for Primo Brands in February of 2025, we will also provide supplemental disclosures to show how both Primo Water and BlueTriton Brands separately performed during 2024. As the remaining 2024 full year guidance values of Primo Water are directionally relevant to the new company, Primo Brands, we remain confident in affirming that Primo Water is on pace to achieve all previous financial estimates across revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted free cash flow.

當我們在 2025 年 2 月報告 Primo Brands 的 2024 年全年業績時，我們還將提供補充披露，以顯示 Primo Water 和 BlueTriton Brands 在 2024 年的分別表現。由於 Primo Water 剩餘的 2024 年全年指導值與新公司 Primo Brands 有方向性相關，我們仍然有信心確認 Primo Water 正在努力實現之前在收入、調整後 EBITDA 和調整後自由現金流方面的所有財務預期。

This would also confirm that the full year adjusted free cash flow of continuing operations would have fully offset the adjusted free cash flow divested from our international businesses even with the outstanding tariff receivables that we still anticipate receiving from the US government.

這也將證實，即使我們仍預計從美國政府收到未償還的關稅應收帳款，持續經營業務的全年調整後自由現金流將完全抵消從我們的國際業務中剝離的調整後自由現金流。

No shares were repurchased in the third quarter, and on a year-to-date basis, we have acquired approximately $15.9 million worth of our shares. On October 15, we announced a special dividend of $0.82 per common share to Primo Water share owners of record on November 5, 2024, payable on November 21, 2024.

第三季沒有回購任何股票，今年迄今，我們已收購了價值約 1,590 萬美元的股票。10 月 15 日，我們宣布向 2024 年 11 月 5 日登記在冊的 Primo Water 股東派發每股普通股 0.82 美元的特別股息，並於 2024 年 11 月 21 日支付。

In closing, our improved financial profile and flexibility along with a compelling long-term growth outlook and the growth potential from our transaction with BlueTriton are a solid foundation for the future success of the new combined company, Primo Brands. With that, I will turn the call back over to Robbert for his thoughts on the pending transaction with BlueTriton.

最後，我們改善的財務狀況和靈活性，以及​​引人注目的長期成長前景以及我們與 BlueTriton 交易的成長潛力，為合併後的新公司 Primo Brands 未來的成功奠定了堅實的基礎。至此，我將把電話轉回給 Robbert，詢問他對與 BlueTriton 的待處理交易的看法。

Thanks, David. I look forward to leading the new Primo Brands Corporation with its team of world-class associates. Earlier this week, Primo Water's shareholders decisively approved the transaction with BlueTriton Brands.

謝謝，大衛。我期待著領導新的 Primo Brands Corporation 及其世界級員工團隊。本週早些時候，Primo Water 的股東果斷批准了與 BlueTriton Brands 的交易。

The combination of these companies creates a leading branded beverage company that is well positioned to drive growth with a highly competitive portfolio of brands and unique vertically-integrated manufacturing and distribution network to deliver superior customer service.

這些公司的合併創建了一家領先的品牌飲料公司，該公司處於有利地位，能夠透過極具競爭力的品牌組合和獨特的垂直整合製造和分銷網絡來推動成長，從而提供卓越的客戶服務。

As demonstrated by the respective Q3 financial results, both companies enter this transaction from a position of strength. Next Monday, November 11, we expect to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol of PRMB, leveraging complementary aspects of both legacy companies, Primo Water and BlueTriton Brands. The new company will be US-domiciled as a Delaware corporation.

正如各自第三季的財務表現所表明的那樣，兩家公司都是憑藉實力而參與此交易的。下週一，即 11 月 11 日，我們預計將開始在紐約證券交易所進行交易，股票代號為 PRMB，充分利用 Primo Water 和 BlueTriton Brands 這兩家傳統公司的互補優勢。新公司將作為特拉華州公司在美國註冊。

I am pleased that as the progress in defining the new Primo Brands organization has taken place, teams have been diligent in their integration planning efforts to hit the ground running upon closing. After the transaction was announced, we created working teams from both organizations that were tasked with identifying opportunities and planning to create an optimized structure to capture value across the organization once we close.

我很高興看到，隨著新 Primo Brands 組織的定義取得進展，各團隊一直在努力進行整合規劃工作，以便在交易結束後立即投入運作。交易宣布後，我們從兩個組織中組建了工作團隊，其任務是識別機會併計劃創建一個優化的結構，以便在交易結束後在整個組織中獲取價值。

We believe Primo Brands is positioned for success as a leading branded beverage company in North America with a leadership position in retail, residential, commercial, and away-from-home. We believe the combined company is positioned to deliver long-term growth, transform efficiencies and generate superior financial returns with premier brands, a unique platform, diversified assets and operations, an experienced executive team with representatives from both companies.

我們相信 Primo Brands 已成為北美領先的品牌飲料公司，在零售、住宅、商業和戶外用品領域處於領先地位。我們相信，合併後的公司能夠憑藉一流的品牌、獨特的平台、多元化的資產和運營以及由兩家公司的代表組成的經驗豐富的管理團隊，實現長期增長、提高效率並產生卓越的財務回報。

We also have an exceptional Board of Directors led by our new Chairman, Dean Metropoulos. Primo Brands will have an iconic portfolio of brands, including two established billion-dollar brands, Pure Life and Poland Spring and is well positioned to be the leading player in the US bottled water category. We will have an array of brand offerings that includes regional such as Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ice Mountain, Ozarka, and Zephyrhills, and other purified brands like Primo Water and Sparkletts.

我們還擁有由新任董事長 Dean Metropoulos 領導的卓越董事會。Primo Brands 將擁有標誌性的品牌組合，其中包括兩個價值數十億美元的知名品牌 Pure Life 和 Polish Spring，並有能力成為美國瓶裝水領域的領導者。我們將提供一系列品牌產品，包括 Arrowhead、Deer Park、Ice Mountain、Ozarka 和 Zephyrhills 等區域性品牌，以及 Primo Water 和 Sparkletts 等其他純淨品牌。

We also have a mix of flavored water brands, including Frutitas and Splash. In our retail business, our established beverage brands are part of the fabric of America with six brands over 100 years old and four dating back to the 1800s that are responsibly sourced with packaging materials that include industry-leading recycled plastic content, aluminum, glass, and available in large-format reusable bottles.

我們也有多種風味水品牌，包括Frutitas 和Splash。在我們的零售業務中，我們的老牌飲料品牌是美國的一部分，其中六個品牌已有100 多年的歷史，四個品牌的歷史可以追溯到1800 年代，這些品牌的包裝材料均以負責任的方式採購，其中包括業界領先的再生塑膠、鋁、玻璃、並提供大尺寸可重複使用的瓶子。

We also have a strong direct-to-customer platform, which includes the sale and rent of dispensers, commercial, residential and away-from-home beverage delivery services; Water Exchange, a program where consumers can purchase and return their multi-use bottles directly, our in-store Water Refill self-serve business, where consumers can fill their own bottles using our dispensers inside and outside stores, and Water Filtration, where consumers can have a unit installed at their residential or commercial location.

我們也擁有強大的直接面對客戶的平台，其中包括飲水機的銷售和租賃、商業、住宅和外出飲料配送服務； Water Exchange 是一項消費者可以直接購買和退回多用途瓶子的計劃；我們的店內加水自助服務業務是消費者可以使用我們店內和店外的飲水機為自己的瓶子加水；以及Water Filtration 業務，消費者可以在其中使用我們的飲水機為自己的瓶子加水。

As a combined company, we will be able to provide even more branded beverage solutions any time, any place, anywhere. We will be positioned to benefit from highly attractive market dynamics in US bottled water. Our scale will allow us to become a stronger strategic partner with our retailers, helping them manage the bottled water category for growth.

作為一家合併後的公司，我們將能夠隨時隨地提供更多品牌的飲料解決方案。我們將受益於美國瓶裝水極具吸引力的市場動態。我們的規模將使我們能夠成為零售商更強大的策略合作夥伴，幫助他們管理瓶裝水類別以實現成長。

Positive consumer trends include healthier lifestyle choices, more frequent consumption occasions, a preference for premium and functional products, a growing demand for quality and value, and an increased adoption of digital engagement.

積極的消費趨勢包括更健康的生活方式選擇、更頻繁的消費場合、對優質功能性產品的偏好、對品質和價值不斷增長的需求以及數位化參與度的增加。

As a vertically-integrated company, Primo Brands sources from numerous springs, wells and municipal water supplies. We manage water resources for long-term sustainability, helping to protect more than 27,000 acres of watershed and wetlands area owned by the company for preservation and to help assure a steady supply of clean, safe drinking water.

作為一家垂直整合公司，Primo Brands 從許多泉水、水井和市政供水中獲取水源。我們管理水資源以實現長期永續發展，幫助保護公司擁有的超過 27,000 英畝的流域和濕地，並幫助確保穩定供應清潔、安全的飲用水。

Beyond its products, Primo Brands will actively support local communities through charitable efforts, particularly during natural disasters. The company's broad geographic presence and strong local ties will enable it to make a tangible impact nationwide. Consumers continue to care most about quality, taste, safety, and convenience.

除了產品之外，Primo Brands 還將透過慈善活動積極支持當地社區，特別是在自然災害期間。該公司廣泛的地域影響力和牢固的當地聯繫將使其能夠在全國範圍內產生切實的影響。消費者仍然最關心品質、口味、安全和便利。

Beyond the stable and attractive commercial backdrop, we believe the company will have the resources and scale to accelerate growth with multiple levers across our combined platform, including growing our existing and new customer base and expanding retail locations across our footprint in North America.

除了穩定和有吸引力的商業背景之外，我們相信該公司將擁有資源和規模，透過我們的合併平台上的多種槓桿來加速成長，包括擴大我們現有和新的客戶群，以及擴大我們在北美的零售據點。

Our channel mix will be well diversified and balanced between retail, residential, commercial, and away-from-home. We plan to expand into new channels and high-potential geographies. As access to safe, high-quality drinking water becomes a challenge in more areas across the country, we are committed to expanding to meet growing demand.

我們的通路組合將在零售、住宅、商業和戶外之間實現多元化和平衡。我們計劃擴展到新的通路和高潛力地區。隨著獲得安全、優質的飲用水成為全國更多地區的挑戰，我們致力於擴大規模以滿足不斷增長的需求。

We plan to compete in the high-growth areas of the functional, flavored and premium segments within the branded beverages category, either through innovation or acquisition.

我們計劃透過創新或收購，在品牌飲料類別內的功能性、風味和高端細分市場的高成長領域中競爭。

We will apply best practices from both companies and utilize machine learning and analytics to optimize our demand forecast, production planning, network and route design, all while enhancing the customer experience.

我們將應用兩家公司的最佳實踐，並利用機器學習和分析來優化我們的需求預測、生產規劃、網路和路線設計，同時增強客戶體驗。

Additionally, we plan to implement several optimization initiatives across various business functions, positioning us to realize an estimated minimum $200 million of cost synergies on a run rate basis within three years of closing or earlier.

此外，我們計劃在各個業務職能部門實施多項優化舉措，使我們能夠在交易結束後三年或更早的時間內實現預計至少 2 億美元的成本協同效應（按運行率計算）。

Overall, we are well positioned to enhance margins, accelerate free cash flow, and utilize our capital more efficiently. We are committed to reducing our net leverage ratio in the medium term following closing.

總體而言，我們處於有利地位，可以提高利潤率，加速自由現金流，並更有效地利用我們的資本。我們致力於在交易結束後的中期降低我們的淨槓桿率。

The new company that we're building is truly competitive and differentiated compared to our peers. It's well positioned to both generate sales with our valued retail partners as well as direct-to-customer last-mile delivery to residential, commercial, away-from-home and small-format customers, leveraging our vast national branch network and company-owned fleet.

與我們的同行相比，我們正在建立的新公司真正具有競爭力和差異化。它處於有利位置，既可以與我們尊貴的零售合作夥伴一起創造銷售，也可以利用我們龐大的全國分行網絡和公司自有的網絡，為住宅、商業、外出和小型客戶提供直接到客戶的最後一英哩交付。

We are not dependent on the declining carbonated soft drink segment as our focus is on healthy hydration solutions across multiple price points and packaging formats. We believe we are positioning ourselves to remain resilient during times of economic volatility and a persistent inflationary macroeconomic environment.

我們不依賴不斷下滑的碳酸軟性飲料市場，因為我們的重點是跨越多個價位和包裝形式的健康補水解決方案。我們相信，在經濟波動和持續通膨的宏觀經濟環境下，我們將保持韌性。

Across both companies, we have continued to deliver sustained volume and revenue growth across our combined portfolio, demonstrating strength and resilience of demand for our brands and breadth and depth of our offerings. We will share more information in the coming months regarding Primo Brands, and I'm excited to report our integration progress.

在兩家公司中，我們的組合產品組合繼續實現銷售和收入的持續成長，展現了我們品牌需求的實力和彈性以及我們產品的廣度和深度。我們將在未來幾個月分享有關 Primo Brands 的更多信息，我很高興報告我們的整合進展。

I intend for us to move decisively with speed, agility, and a focus on results while maintaining high levels of customer service. With that, I'll turn the call back to Jon to take us through the Q&A.

我希望我們能夠果斷、快速、敏捷並專注於結果，同時保持高水準的客戶服務。之後，我會將電話轉回喬恩，引導我們完成問答。

Thanks Robert. In order to address as many of your questions as possible, we would ask for a limit of one question and one follow up. If you would like to ask additional questions, you are encouraged to rejoin the queue and we will address as many questions as time allows operator, please open the line for questions.

謝謝羅伯特。為了盡可能解決您的問題，我們要求限制為一個問題和一個跟進。如果您想提出其他問題，我們鼓勵您重新加入佇列，我們將在時間允許的情況下解決盡可能多的問題，請打開提問線路。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。女士們、先生們，我們現在開始問答環節。（操作員說明）

Daniel Moore, CJS Securities.

丹尼爾·摩爾，CJS 證券。

Thank you, Robert. Thank you David. Thanks for the color and taking questions. Maybe, Robbert, just jumping off from where you just left off. Can you talk a little bit about not only the merger highlights but strategic initiatives you're planning for the first, say, 12 months of the new company? When you think about the $200 million as you described, minimum cost synergies over the next three-plus years, I was wondering if you can rank order them in terms of timing and which of those synergy buckets you plan to attack early on.

謝謝你，羅伯特。謝謝大衛。感謝您的顏色和提問。也許，羅伯特，只是從你剛才停下來的地方跳下來。您能否談談合併亮點以及您為新公司的前 12 個月（例如 12 個月）規劃的策略舉措？當你想到你所描述的 2 億美元，即未來三年多的最低成本協同效應時，我想知道你是否可以根據時間安排以及你計劃儘早攻擊哪些協同效應桶來對它們進行排序。

Yes. Well, thanks, Dan. Great question. So I'm feeling very, very good about the merger. Just to recap, we're going to create a leading branded beverages company, and we'll have a very competitive portfolio of brands and a variety of formats that will play across different price points.

是的。嗯，謝謝，丹。很好的問題。所以我對這次合併感覺非常非常好。回顧一下，我們將創建一家領先的品牌飲料公司，我們將擁有非常有競爭力的品牌組合和各種不同價位的業態。

I also want to say we're vertically integrated, and we have a really strong coast-to-coast manufacturing and distribution network across North America. I think as you look at strategic priorities, we're positioned to accelerate growth, deliver superior products and services for our customers and consumers, and we will aim to be a best-in-class US beverage company.

我還想說，我們是垂直整合的，我們在北美擁有非常強大的從東海岸到西海岸的製造和分銷網絡。我認為，當你審視策略重點時，我們的定位是加速成長，為我們的客戶和消費者提供卓越的產品和服務，我們的目標是成為一流的美國飲料公司。

We have a very iconic brand portfolio. We have recognized brands, billion-dollar brands like Poland Spring and Pure Life that will be driving growth behind. We have high-growth premium brands like Saratoga and Mountain Valley which have great distribution opportunities. We have other valuable brands in the spring in the purified space with significant growth potential.

我們擁有非常標誌性的品牌組合。我們擁有知名品牌，例如「Poland Spring」和「Pure Life」等價值數十億美元的品牌，它們將推動成長。我們擁有薩拉託加（Saratoga）和山谷（Mountain Valley）等高成長的優質品牌，這些品牌擁有巨大的分銷機會。春季，我們在淨化領域擁有其他有價值的品牌，具有巨大的成長潛力。

So when it comes to strategic initiatives, our goal would be to drive sustainable long-term shareholder value creation, as we capture these transformative operational efficiencies and achieve those synergy goals that you refer to whilst delivering strong financial results.

因此，在策略舉措方面，我們的目標是推動可持續的長期股東價值創造，因為我們捕捉這些變革性的營運效率並實現您提到的協同目標，同時提供強勁的財務表現。

I think the deal is compelling from -- for customers, for consumer, for the associates, for the investors. It's really good for all the stakeholders. And as you know, the access to high-quality drinking water sources is increasingly important because of drought, aging infrastructure, municipal water emergencies.

我認為這筆交易對客戶、消費者、員工和投資者來說都是有吸引力的。這對所有利害關係人來說確實有好處。如您所知，由於乾旱、基礎設施老化、市政供水緊急情況，獲得高品質飲用水源變得越來越重要。

And with our brands that are -- six of those are over 100 years old, there will be seven next year when Sparkletts turns 100, and we'll have four brands dating back all the way to the 1800s, and they're part of the American fabric. So the brand portfolio is incredible and that's going to be a big part of the drivers of our growth.

我們的品牌有 6 個已有 100 多年的歷史，明年 Sparkletts 100 歲生日時將會有 7 個品牌，我們將擁有 4 個品牌，其歷史可以追溯到 1800 年代，它們是美國面料。因此，品牌組合令人難以置信，這將成為我們成長動力的重要組成部分。

Also, our production facilities are in excellent shape. The assets have been well maintained. Systems are in good shape. And if you look at the strategic initiatives for the first year, it really is quite simple. We want to ensure a strong leadership organization and a very strong frontline team with a winning culture, a safe and secure work environment for our associates, and we want to ensure the same or better level of customer service to the end customer.

此外，我們的生產設施狀況良好。資產得到良好維護。系統狀況良好。如果你看看第一年的策略舉措，你會發現它確實非常簡單。我們希望確保擁有強大的領導組織和非常強大的一線團隊，擁有獲勝的文化，為我們的員工提供安全可靠的工作環境，並且我們希望確保為最終客戶提供相同或更好水平的客戶服務。

We'll work on routes, fleets and production optimization. These are the key components of the synergy and value capture. And as I said, we're going to leverage the portfolio of brands to drive revenue synergies and grow market share, and we'll let you know more once the deal is closed after tomorrow.

我們將致力於路線、車隊和生產優化。這些是協同作用和價值獲取的關鍵組成部分。正如我所說，我們將利用品牌組合來推動收入綜效並擴大市場份額，明天之後交易完成後我們將讓您了解更多資訊。

Now with regards to the synergies, we've communicated $200 million in the first three years. And obviously, everybody is asking whether we can get them faster. Well, since receiving the regulatory approval, we have been actively working together on noncommercial synergy opportunities. And upon close, we will begin the review of commercial revenue opportunities.

現在，關於協同效應，我們在前三年已經投入了 2 億美元。顯然，每個人都在問我們是否可以更快地獲得它們。自從獲得監管部門批准以來，我們一直在積極合作尋找非商業協同機會。交易結束後，我們將開始檢視商業收入機會。

And then we expect to communicate further about the progress. But certainly, our goal would be to get more than that and get them faster, but right now, we're committing to $200 million in the first three years. But we want to make sure we're prudent in understanding all the technical attributes involved, and we intend to set the company up for a long-term success and we'll define long-term targets and articulate those in time. Thanks, Dan.

然後我們希望進一步溝通進展。但當然，我們的目標是獲得更多並更快地獲得這些成果，但現在，我們承諾在前三年投入 2 億美元。但我們希望確保我們謹慎地理解所涉及的所有技術屬性，我們打算讓公司長期成功，我們將定義長期目標並及時闡明這些目標。謝謝，丹。

Really helpful. And then maybe one follow-up. I believe BlueTriton reported sales growth 4% and double-digit EBITDA growth. Obviously, solid momentum. Maybe just compare the momentum you're seeing there over the last three to six months to what Primo has been able to accomplish. Obviously, very different mix and geographic concentrations, but any comment in terms of their stand-alone as we -- momentum as we go into the merger would be helpful.

真的很有幫助。然後也許還有一個後續行動。我相信 BlueTriton 的銷售額成長了 4%，EBITDA 成長了兩位數。顯然，勢頭強勁。也許只需將您在過去三到六個月中看到的勢頭與 Primo 所取得的成就進行比較即可。顯然，非常不同的組合和地理集中度，但任何關於它們獨立的評論，因為我們——我們進入合併時的動力都會有幫助。

Sure, Dan. I'm happy to speak to that. Well, as you know, we can't speak directly to the details of their business until the deal is closed. BlueTriton released results this morning and they were very strong. And you can go to their website, www.bluetriton.com to see those results.

當然，丹。我很高興談論這一點。嗯，如您所知，在交易完成之前我們無法直接談論他們的業務細節。BlueTriton 今天早上發布了結果，結果非常強勁。您可以造訪他們的網站 www.bluetriton.com 查看這些結果。

Now both companies had an excellent Q3. Both companies have strong momentum. And following closing, we'll release a combined website tomorrow night. And the pro forma of both companies Q3 results will be part of filings released tomorrow and on the new website, which will be ir.primobrands.com.

現在兩家公司的第三季業績都非常出色。兩家公司都擁有強勁的發展勢頭。交易結束後，我們將在明晚發布一個合併網站。兩家公司第三季業績的預計結果將作為明天發布的文件的一部分，並在新網站 ir.primobrands.com 上發布。

Now BlueTriton had a very strong quarter. From what I saw, revenue was up 4.2%, volume's up 1.7%, EBITDA was up 11%. Year-to-date, 28% actually, really strong results. Our quarter was very strong with balanced and broad-based growth, strengthen all water channels, volume growth. As David said, we had 8.8% revenue growth and that was driven by 5% volume, which is a really good performance in the context of the other beverage manufacturers.

現在 BlueTriton 的季度表現非常強勁。據我所知，收入增長了 4.2%，銷量增長了 1.7%，EBITDA 增長了 11%。今年迄今為止，28% 實際上是非常強勁的結果。我們的季度非常強勁，成長均衡且基礎廣泛，加強了所有水渠道，銷售成長。正如 David 所說，我們的收入增長了 8.8%，這是由 5% 的銷量推動的，與其他飲料製造商相比，這確實是一個很好的表現。

We got 3.8% in price. Organic growth was 7.4%. We're really excited about the performance of Water Direct and Exchange, which was up 8%; Refill, which was up 7.1%, and then Mountain Valley doubled versus a year ago because of the distribution we're driving.

我們得到了 3.8% 的價格。有機成長率為 7.4%。我們對 Water Direct 和 Exchange 的表現感到非常興奮，它們成長了 8%；由於我們推動的分銷，Refill 增長了 7.1%，而 Mountain Valley 則比一年前增長了一倍。

So yes, I think the last thing I'll say about that, we both have very strong results. Our must-win priorities have been working. We'll stay focused on key metrics like service, retention, organic sales growth, ensuring our customer touch points are great and improved Net Promoter Scores. Now for Primo, we've seen our Google and Trust Pilot scores go up significantly over the last six months. So we know we're doing something right. Thanks, Dan.

所以，是的，我想我要說的最後一件事是，我們都取得了非常出色的成績。我們必須獲勝的優先事項一直在發揮作用。我們將持續專注於服務、留任率、自然銷售成長等關鍵指標，確保我們的客戶接觸點良好並提高淨推薦值。現在，對於 Primo，我們看到我們的 Google 和 Trust Pilot 分數在過去六個月中顯著上升。所以我們知道我們正在做正確的事情。謝謝，丹。

Jon Anderson, William Blair.

喬恩·安德森，威廉·布萊爾。

Hi, good morning, everybody. Congrats on a good quarter and the pending close of the transaction. Robbert, you mentioned in the prepared comments that part of the benefit here of the combination will be an opportunity to look at expanding into new channels or high-potential geographies, and also build out a greater presence in functional or enhanced water areas where you may not have as big of a presence today.

嗨，大家早安。恭喜本季表現良好，交易即將結束。羅伯特，您在準備好的評論中提到，合併的部分好處是有機會考慮擴展到新的渠道或高潛力地區，並在您可能的功能性或增強型水域中建立更大的影響力。沒有那麼大的影響力。

Could you talk just a little bit more about and add some color to how you're thinking about kind of the channel and geographic opportunity, both from a sales perspective and then how you support that with the combination of the capabilities of the two companies? And then also just where you see the biggest white space from a functional or enhanced water perspective? Thank you.

您能否從銷售角度多談談您對通路和地理機會的看法，並為您如何考慮通路和地理機會添加一些色彩，然後您如何結合兩家公司的能力來支持這一點？然後，從功能或增強水的角度來看，您在哪裡看到最大的空白？謝謝。

Thanks, Jon. Very good question. So the combination, the business combination will have presence in over 150,000 retail outlets with bottled water. Our Exchange program, the big bottles that you can buy in front of the store, will be present in over 26,500 outlets. And our Refill machines will be present in over 23,500. So that's an incredible starting point for growth.

謝謝，喬恩。非常好的問題。因此，此次合併，業務合併將涉足超過 150,000 個瓶裝水零售店。我們的交換計劃，即您可以在商店門口購買的大瓶裝，將在超過 26,500 個商店推出。我們的補充機數量將超過 23,500 台。所以這是一個令人難以置信的成長起點。

Now with regards to value capture, there are so many opportunities to drive distribution, and I'm a big believer that distribution is the gift that keeps on giving. So if you think about the Spring brand portfolio of BlueTriton and having the ability to bring those Spring brands onto our trucks and distribute those alongside our purified brands like Sparkletts and Primo Water is a huge opportunity in serving over 3 million customers direct-to-customer.

現在就價值獲取而言，有很多機會來推動分銷，而且我堅信分銷是不斷給予的禮物。因此，如果您考慮BlueTriton 的Spring 品牌組合，並且能夠將這些Spring 品牌帶到我們的卡車上，並與我們的Sparkletts 和Primo Water 等純化品牌一起分銷，那麼這是一個直接為超過300 萬客戶提供服務的巨大機會。

The second one, obviously, we have strength in DIY with Primo. There's a great opportunity to drive case pack sales in that channel. We are strong with Mountain Valley Natural, and there's definitely brands that Triton has that can come there.

第二個，很明顯，我們在 DIY 方面有 Primo 的實力。這是推動該通路整箱包裝銷售的絕佳機會。我們在 Mountain Valley Natural 方面實力雄厚，Triton 旗下肯定有一些品牌可以進入那裡。

Triton has strength in mass where we have opportunities to distribute our Mountain Valley brand. The away-from-home channel is going to be increasingly important. Think about restaurants and schools and hospitals.

Triton 在大眾方面具有優勢，我們有機會分銷我們的 Mountain Valley 品牌。外出管道將變得越來越重要。想想餐廳、學校和醫院。

And small-format is a true opportunity for both businesses. So we're going to have to be very diligent and disciplined in determining the size and the price of those opportunities and then go after them with great executional excellence, operational excellence, to drive accelerated growth and win market share.

小規格對於這兩家企業來說都是一個真正的機會。因此，我們必須非常勤奮和嚴格地確定這些機會的規模和價格，然後以卓越的執行力和卓越的營運來抓住它們，以推動加速成長並贏得市場份額。

That's very super helpful. Could you, just one follow-up, talk a little bit more about how you're organizing to kind of project manage the integration activities? I guess that involves not just the identification of the synergies, which I think you've already done to some extent, but fleshing those out and ultimately the execution side of that. Yes, just from an overall integration project management standpoint, how you're kind of organizing that internally and then how you see that kind of playing out going forward?

這非常非常有幫助。身為跟進者，您能否多談談您如何組織專案管理整合活動？我想這不僅涉及確定協同效應（我認為你們已經在某種程度上做到了這一點），還涉及充實這些協同效應並最終充實其執行方面。是的，僅從整體整合專案管理的角度來看，您如何在內部進行組織，然後您如何看待這種情況的發展？

Yes. I'll definitely speak to that, Jon. So we're working with world-class consulting companies and advisers to ensure we follow best practice. And we've put together an integration management office, an IMO. It consists of two IMO leads on both companies. They've identified 12 work streams and over 65 value capture initiatives. We've been able to identify the new executive committee. We'll be announcing that executive committee on our website tomorrow.

是的。我一定會談到這一點，喬恩。因此，我們正在與世界一流的顧問公司和顧問合作，以確保我們遵循最佳實踐。我們還成立了一個整合管理辦公室，即 IMO。它由兩家公司的兩個 IMO 線索組成。他們確定了 12 個工作流程和超過 65 個價值捕獲計畫。我們已經確定了新的執行委員會。明天我們將在我們的網站上宣布該執行委員會的名單。

And we have put together a Board of Directors, which will be announced as well on the website tomorrow. That integration management office has gone through three stages of planning that identified, in the first stage at the conceptual level, where we would be able to capture synergies.

我們已經組成了董事會，明天也將在網站上宣布。這個整合管理辦公室經歷了三個規劃階段，在第一階段的概念層面上確定了我們能夠實現協同效應。

We then worked out very specific plans and we're now at the pre-execution stage to be able to hit the ground running from day one, we'll be executing synergies starting this quarter and the remainder of Q4. So really organized through IMO, work streams, and multistage from conceptualization to execution with the help of the best consulting firms in the world.

然後我們制定了非常具體的計劃，我們現在處於預執行階段，能夠從第一天開始就開始運行，我們將從本季度和第四季度剩餘時間開始執行協同效應。在世界上最好的顧問公司的幫助下，透過 IMO、工作流程和從概念化到執行的多階段真正組織起來。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。

Andrea Teixeira, JP Morgan.

安德里亞·特謝拉，摩根大通。

Everyone. I'm sorry, good morning, everyone. It seems like afternoon for all of us. Just as we think about the rebranding of the company to Primo Brands, you called out you want to be a leading branded beverage company focused on hydration, functional, organic and inorganic. What sort of category adjacencies that the company could be looking or the right to win in extending brands and thinking of potentially take leverage to make more acquisitions as we go?

每個人。對不起，大家早安。對我們所有人來說，這似乎都是下午。正當我們考慮將公司更名為 Primo Brands 時，您表示希望成為一家專注於水合作用、功能性、有機和無機領域的領先品牌飲料公司。公司可能會尋找什麼樣的品類鄰接或在擴展品牌方面贏得勝利的權利，並考慮可能利用槓桿來進行更多收購？

And then just a clarification. Obviously, in the midst of this transaction, the guidance for the stand-alone company kind of takes a backseat. But just to think about how we should be thinking of the fourth quarter. And as well as a last one that I want to ask in terms of like Mountain Valley drove about one-third of the growth.

然後只是澄清一下。顯然，在這筆交易中，對獨立公司的指導有點退居二線。但想想我們應該如何看待第四季。我想問的最後一個問題是，山谷推動了大約三分之一的成長。

What is the potential to the brand, especially in the context of a bigger distribution? And where do you see the business going long term at the growth profile that you see for the brand? Sorry for all these.

該品牌的潛力是什麼，特別是在更大的分銷範圍內？您認為品牌的業務長期發展前景如何？對這一切感到抱歉。

No, very good. So there's three parts of your question, Andrea, and thank you for your question. I'll start with the first part and then I'll hand it over to David. Our current brand portfolio will get -- initially, we'll have to go through some brand consolidation. So we're about 25 brands in the combination. We need to really understand which brands will be the priorities, and then we'll transition and migrate some of those over the next couple of years.

不，很好。安德里亞，你的問題分為三個部分，謝謝你的問題。我將從第一部分開始，然後將其交給大衛。我們目前的品牌組合最初將不得不進行一些品牌整合。所以我們的組合中有大約 25 個品牌。我們需要真正了解哪些品牌將成為優先考慮的品牌，然後我們將在未來幾年內過渡和遷移其中一些品牌。

And then we'll be driving distribution into white space opportunities on our existing strong billion-dollar and other brands. So that is the key source of growth, to drive a very strong core business before we do anything else. And we'll stay focused in year one on the integration success before we get distracted with other things and shiny objects.

然後，我們將推動我們現有的數十億美元品牌和其他品牌的空白機會的分銷。因此，在我們做其他事情之前，推動非常強大的核心業務是成長的關鍵來源。我們將在第一年繼續專注於整合的成功，然後再因其他事情和閃亮的物體而分心。

So we'll be focused on customer service, we'll be focused on integration, value capture and then revenue synergies, which will primarily be distribution gains in white space channels.

因此，我們將專注於客戶服務，我們將專注於整合、價值捕獲，然後是收入協同效應，這將主要是空白管道的分銷收益。

Now as we look beyond that, obviously, there are branded beverage opportunities that we can either grow ourselves or acquire as part of our capital allocation strategy. We would consider -- we'll always consider looking at acquisitions and inorganic growth opportunities. Where we probably wouldn't play is the carbonated soft drink segment because that is in decline and very, very occupied and it's a busy space.

現在，當我們超越這一點時，顯然，我們可以自行發展或收購品牌飲料機會，作為我們資本配置策略的一部分。我們會考慮—我們將始終考慮尋找收購和無機成長機會。我們可能不會涉足碳酸軟性飲料領域，因為它正在下降，而且非常非常擁擠，而且是一個繁忙的空間。

But there are other segments to the markets, whether that's hydration, whether that's isotonic, whether that's energy. That would definitely be interesting for us to look at. And we also think that on our existing brands, we can innovate into additional spaces because we have the strongest brands in the water category. So that's where we are.

但市場還有其他細分市場，無論是水合、等滲或能量。這對我們來說肯定會很有趣。我們也認為，在我們現有的品牌上，我們可以創新更多的空間，因為我們擁有水類別中最強大的品牌。這就是我們現在的處境。

Now let me pass it to David with regards to guidance. Let me say one more thing about Mountain Valley before I do that.

現在讓我向大衛傳達有關指導的訊息。在此之前，讓我再多說一件關於山谷的事。

The obvious one for Mountain Valley is to get into the mass channel. That is a very, very big growth opportunity. When we say mass, we refer to big-box retailers like Walmart. So that would be a key priority going forward to gain distribution. All right, David will take it from here.

對 Mountain Valley 來說，最明顯的就是進入大眾通路。這是一個非常非常大的成長機會。當我們說大眾時，我們指的是沃爾瑪等大型零售商。因此，這將是未來獲得分配的關鍵優先事項。好吧，大衛會從這裡拿走的。

Yes. And maybe to build for a minute on the Mountain Valley part within the quarter, which was part of your question tied to some of the guidance on financial items. Heading into the quarter, we believed Mountain Valley was going to grow about 80%. So you can see that even with our pretty accurate ability to forecast the company and its success, Mountain Valley still outperformed even our lofty expectations.

是的。也許可以在本季度內就山谷部分進行一分鐘的討論，這是您的問題的一部分，與一些財務項目的指導相關。進入本季度，我們相信 Mountain Valley 將成長約 80%。所以你可以看到，即使我們有相當準確的能力來預測公司及其成功，Mountain Valley 的表現仍然超出了我們的崇高期望。

And so we continue to not fully be aware of what the ceiling is there and that's exciting for us. And we've taken the opportunity to obviously secure more water rights to improve and increase our capacity and our ability to produce to meet that demand. And we're very excited about what that will become in addition to when you pair that with Saratoga to provide our sales teams the opportunity to expand that both in retail on-premise and other sort of tablecloth opportunities.

因此，我們仍然沒有完全意識到上限是什麼，這對我們來說是令人興奮的。我們已經利用這個機會，顯然獲得了更多的水權，以改善和提高我們的能力和生產能力，以滿足這一需求。我們對它與薩拉託加的結合為我們的銷售團隊提供在本地零售和其他類型的桌布機會方面擴展的機會感到非常興奮。

With regard to the guidance, your note this morning actually hit on it perfectly. So the transaction supersedes any ability to really communicate our own financial merits for the balance of the year, as this deal closes on Friday and then opens on Monday with regard to a new ticker and company name.

關於指導，你今天早上的筆記其實非常完美。因此，該交易取代了任何真正傳達我們自己在今年剩餘時間內的財務狀況的能力，因為該交易於週五結束，然後在周一開始，涉及新的股票代碼和公司名稱。

Within the revenue line, there's really no changes in the accounting architecture. But after that, you'll see nuances of, again, things like the empty bottles and things that Primo used to previously capitalize, will move to cost of goods.

在收入線內，會計架構實際上沒有變化。但在那之後，你會再次看到諸如空瓶子之類的細微差別以及 Primo 以前用來資本化的東西，將轉移到商品成本。

We remain incredibly confident in where we are in Q4 as well as where we would have been if we were talking today as a sovereign company updating guidance. So there should be no takeaway that we are not communicating that from any position of weakness.

我們對第四季度的情況以及如果我們今天作為一家主權公司更新指導意見進行討論的話我們會處於什麼位置仍然充滿信心。因此，我們不應該從任何弱勢地位來傳達這一點。

Again, with both BlueTriton's communicated results this morning and ours, we are incredibly pleased with the momentum and the pace of which both companies are producing results and notably on the volume line. So again, I think we remain incredibly confident heading into year-end.

同樣，根據 BlueTriton 今天早上傳達的結果和我們的結果，我們對兩家公司取得成果的勢頭和速度感到非常滿意，尤其是在銷售方面。再說一遍，我認為我們在年底前仍然充滿信心。

We will disclose an update and clarify activities with how Primo would have performed as a sovereign entity with bridges back to the accounting that we are on today, even though that will change tomorrow.

我們將揭露更新並澄清 Primo 作為一個主權實體如何運作的活動，並與我們今天的會計有聯繫，儘管明天會發生變化。

And that should help everyone be reassured that when we communicate full year results in February, we're doing so highlighting where Primo organically finished with its strength as well as BlueTriton.

這應該可以幫助每個人放心，當我們在 2 月公佈全年業績時，我們會強調 Primo 憑藉其實力以及 BlueTriton 的有機完成情況。

That's super helpful, David. If I can squeeze one, which appears to be one of the reasons why perhaps there is a regulation for some of the investors who are Canadian and cannot own a US-listed stock. It may explain why the stock opened down and even more down than it is now. Is there anything you can share with the investors to understand like what are the puts and takes from a regulation -- a regulatory standpoint? It might be just an accommodation of that specific restrictions for some investors who cannot own US-listed.

這非常有幫助，大衛。如果我能擠出一個，這似乎就是為什麼對一些加拿大投資者不能持有美國上市股票進行監管的原因之一。這或許可以解釋為什麼該股會開盤下跌，甚至比現在跌幅更大。您是否可以與投資者分享一些信息，以幫助他們了解監管的看跌期權和索取金額（從監管的角度來看）？對於一些無法持有美國上市公司股票的投資者來說，這可能只是為了適應這個特定限制。

Yes. So I won't be able to perfectly attribute everyone's own regulatory or investment policy. But we did have a very small, and when I say small, far less than 5%, even maybe 2% or 3% the last record of Canadian explicit shareholders. As we delist, they might have their own reasoning or policy that precludes them from owning either American domestic or other opportunities outside of their home country.

是的。因此，我無法完美地歸因於每個人自己的監管或投資政策。但我們確實有一個非常小的，當我說小時，遠低於加拿大顯性股東最後記錄的 5%，甚至可能是 2% 或 3%。當我們退市時，他們可能有自己的理由或政策，阻止他們擁有美國國內或本國以外的其他機會。

We are unaware of why there was the volatility at the open. It's clearly not related to our results nor BlueTriton's, nor any pending disruption because, obviously, we are on track to close this deal far ahead of schedule. So that's the best I can communicate today as what I know.

我們不知道為什麼開盤會波動。這顯然與我們的業績、BlueTriton 的業績以及任何即將發生的中斷無關，因為顯然，我們有望提前完成這筆交易。據我所知，這就是我今天能傳達的最好訊息。

Obviously, with our banking partners and equity desks, we'll look into maybe what had happened. But to our knowledge, again, we remain incredibly confident and proud of the quarter and the momentum we have ahead of us. But it's a great question and potentially part of the disruption this morning.

顯然，我們將與我們的銀行合作夥伴和股票部門一起調查可能發生了什麼。但據我們所知，我們對本季以及我們面前的勢頭仍然充滿信心和自豪。但這是一個很好的問題，也可能是今天早上混亂的一部分。

Thank you. I'll pass it on. Congrats again.

謝謝。我會把它傳遞下去。再次恭喜。

Thank you, Andrea.

謝謝你，安德里亞。

Derek Lessard, TD Cowen.

德里克·萊薩德，TD·考恩。

Yeah, good morning. Congratulations on the quarter and the closing of the deal. I just -- I'll stick to the legacy Primo. Just maybe could you -- where are you in terms of your efficiency projects? And how much can we expect, I guess, for you to squeeze out, whether it's from automatic route optimization, your new delivery schedules, and the upgrades to your production lines?

是的，早安。恭喜本季和交易完成。我只是——我會堅持保留 Primo 的傳統。也許您可以—您的效率專案處於什麼位置？我想，我們可以期望您擠出多少錢，無論是來自自動路線優化、新的交貨計劃還是生產線的升級？

Yes, absolutely. So let's touch on that in a few different parts. So we completed our fifth line this year. And then as we look at network, we will be leveraging best practices of manufacturing network and route to market between the two companies.

是的，絕對是。因此，讓我們從幾個不同的部分來討論這一點。所以我們今年完成了第五條生產線。然後，當我們考慮網路時，我們將利用兩家公司之間的製造網路和市場路線的最佳實踐。

And so what's nice about that opportunity is it's allowed us to maintain and improve efficiency ratios, reduce labor and water waste. So everything that we communicated as a sovereign company for the goal we wanted to achieve on production efficiencies has occurred.

因此，這個機會的好處在於它使我們能夠保持和提高效率，減少勞動力和水的浪費。因此，作為一家主權公司，我們為了實現生產效率目標而溝通的一切都已經發生。

What is nice is that when we look between ourselves and BlueTriton, both companies could be more efficient today in how they manufacture 5-gallon. Clearly, BlueTriton is in a tremendous position of strength with regard to the efficiencies, manufacturing know-how and superior sort of insights of the team that we're bringing together to help run sort of North American manufacturer for whether it's small-format or 5-gallon. So that's with regard to the lines.

令人高興的是，當我們比較我們自己和 BlueTriton 時，我們發現兩家公司現在在製造 5 加侖汽油方面都可以更有效率。顯然，BlueTriton 在效率、製造技術和團隊的卓越洞察力方面處於巨大的優勢，我們聚集在一起幫助經營北美製造商，無論是小型還是 5 型製造商。這就是關於線條的。

On ARO, you'll notice this quarter, we still drove revenue productivity per route but we were down one unit. And that was a conscious choice. We were seeing, as we headed into Q3, strength in volume, of which this was our third quarter with significant volume momentum. And if you look across the last four quarters, each of those have sort of been north of 2.5% or 3% with both Q1 and Q3, both 5% volume achievements.

在 ARO 上，您會注意到本季度，我們仍然提高了每條航線的收入生產率，但下降了一個單位。這是一個有意識的選擇。當我們進入第三季時，我們看到銷量強勁，其中這是我們第三季銷售勢頭強勁。如果你看看過去四個季度，第一季和第三季的銷量增幅都超過了 2.5% 或 3%，銷量都達到了 5%。

We wanted to be conscious of our routes and our ability to serve both the Exchange racks as well as our customers. Immediately after the quarter, we took steps to reduce route counts, which is typically the driver of ARO.

我們希望了解我們的路線以及我們為 Exchange 機架和客戶提供服務的能力。季度結束後，我們立即採取措施減少路線數量，這通常是 ARO 的驅動力。

Not only do we have the appropriate optimized routes on the road, but we also run them with less miles per route delivery. And so we took a conscious choice, again inside the quarter, to make sure we could sustain and fulfill the sort of peak summer demand and then take the appropriate steps heading into the back half of the year to sort of reduce those routes and rationalize that.

我們不僅在道路上擁有適當的最佳化路線，而且我們還以更少的每條路線交付里程來運行這些路線。因此，我們再次在本季度內做出了有意識的選擇，以確保我們能夠維持和滿足夏季高峰需求，然後在今年下半年採取適當的措施，以減少這些航線並使之合理化。

Lastly, with regard to the business optimization program, which would have been a sovereign Primo activity, irrespective of the synergy capture, we remain on track to deliver a run rate balance of $20 million. Between a few items we took in the end of Q3 and activities that will take place in late Q4, that will have achieved basically about $6 million in calendar year, which across its different optimization times on an annualized basis, gets us to a full $20 million that we were committed to for 2025.

最後，關於業務優化計劃，這將是一項主權 Primo 活動，無論協同效應如何，我們仍有望實現 2000 萬美元的運行率餘額。在我們在第三季末採取的一些項目和將在第四季末進行的活動之間，日曆年基本上將實現約600 萬美元的收入，在年化的基礎上跨越不同的優化時間，我們將獲得整整20 美元的收入我們承諾在 2025 年實現 100 萬美元的目標。

And again, that does not preclude us from achieving any of the previously communicated synergy targets. So we come into the deal closed with great momentum, both of making ourselves more efficient, which is you can see in our EBITDA margin for the quarter, but as well allows us to find and fulfill the synergy capture as we look to see how we can exceed our original guidance on that.

再說一遍，這並不妨礙我們實現之前傳達的任何協同目標。因此，我們以強勁的勢頭完成了這項交易，這既使我們變得更加高效，這一點您可以在我們本季度的EBITDA 利潤率中看到，同時也使我們能夠找到並實現協同效應捕獲，因為我們希望看到我們如何可以超越我們最初的指導。

David, really good color. And maybe just one last one for me and I just wanted to touch on, again, just as it pertains to Primo, your organic growth -- sorry, your customer adds. Any, I guess, initiatives that you would be able to highlight on the organic -- the strong organic growth you're getting there? And I'm just wondering if -- has your customer gains from the Costco contract largely stabilized or is that still a meaningful driver?

大衛，顏色真好。也許對我來說只是最後一個，我只是想再次談談，就像它與 Primo 一樣，你的有機增長 - 抱歉，你的客戶補充道。我想，您可以在有機成長方面強調哪些舉措—您正在實現的強勁有機成長？我只是想知道，您的客戶從 Costco 合約中獲得的收益是否已基本穩定，或者仍然是一個有意義的驅動因素？

Yes. So let me quickly address that across a few of our channels. So in water growth, yes, Costco remains and will continue to be a great driver of in-club and other web activity gains in our Water Direct space. More importantly, we are seeing customer retention.

是的。因此，讓我透過我們的幾個管道快速解決這個問題。因此，在水增長方面，是的，Costco 仍然並將繼續成為我們 Water Direct 空間中俱樂部內和其他網路活動收益的巨大推動力。更重要的是，我們看到客戶保留率。

So as we've always talked about, we can bring in as many as you want on the top, but they need to be the right value-oriented customers that want and seek this service. With our better service to them, we're maintaining and retaining more of those customers, as you can see in our customer retention rates.

因此，正如我們一直在談論的那樣，我們可以在頂部引進盡可能多的客戶，但他們必須是想要並尋求這項服務的、以價值為導向的客戶。透過為他們提供更好的服務，我們正在維護和保留更多的客戶，正如您在我們的客戶保留率中所看到的那樣。

Quickly on Exchange, there really is no ceiling to this business. We are incredibly pleased with it. We cannot wait to add the brands on the regional spring water side from BlueTriton as well as their over 8,000 locations to our current 18,000 count there.

很快在Exchange上，這個業務確實沒有上限。我們對此感到非常滿意。我們迫不及待地想將 BlueTriton 的地區泉水品牌及其 8,000 多個門市添加到我們目前的 18,000 個門市。

And then when you get to Refill, clearly, we have a great product that's resonating with the value-oriented consumer in this high inflationary environment that still provides them access to great purified water at a great entry price. So we really are coming into the deal with great momentum on all of our price points, all of our brands and then only can get better with regard to BlueTriton joining the family and their brands.

然後，當你談到Refill 時，很明顯，我們有一款出色的產品，在這個高通膨環境下能夠與以價值為導向的消費者產生共鳴，並且仍然可以讓他們以低廉的入門價格獲得優質的純水。因此，我們確實在所有價位、所有品牌上都以強勁的勢頭達成了這項協議，只有 BlueTriton 加入該家族及其品牌才能變得更好。

So I feel very confident there. And clearly, Mountain Valley speaks for itself as with Saratoga in their business. So again, I feel very confident that the organic side of our business is doing great and has the continued momentum.

所以我對此感到非常有信心。顯然，山谷是不言而喻的，就像薩拉託加在他們的業務中一樣。因此，我再次對我們業務的有機方面表現出色並具有持續的勢頭充滿信心。

A quick item on the inorganic Andrea had mentioned and more in adjacencies, we continue to have the opportunity to acquire tuck-ins in the Water Direct space. We will continue to prioritize our capital allocation towards that, and you'll hear more over time, but that's an exciting sort of ability to keep that pipeline working for us.

安德里亞（Andrea）提到過關於無機物的快速項目以及鄰近的更多內容，我們繼續有機會在 Water Direct 空間中獲得折邊。我們將繼續優先考慮我們的資本配置，隨著時間的推移，你會聽到更多，但這是一種令人興奮的能力，可以讓這條管道為我們工作。

Awesome for that, and good luck on the next chapter.

太棒了，祝下一章好運。

Thank you, Derek.

謝謝你，德里克。

There are no further questions at this time. I'd now like to turn the call over to Robbert Rietbroek for final closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題。現在我想將電話轉給 Robbert Rietbroek 徵求最後的總結意見。

Well, thank you all for attending today's call and for your continued interest in our company. The closing of the transaction will mark an exciting new chapter as we bring together the strengths of both legacy companies to create Primo Brands. I'm pleased with the tremendous progress that we've made in shaping the future of the company. Our teams have been intensely focused on ensuring we hit the ground running post close.

好的，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議以及對我們公司的持續關注。這項交易的完成將標誌著令人興奮的新篇章，我們將匯集兩家傳統公司的優勢創建 Primo Brands。我對我們在塑造公司未來方面取得的巨大進步感到高興。我們的團隊一直致力於確保我們能夠迅速起步。

We've been working across both organizations to identify opportunities, build an optimized structure, and unlock synergies throughout the combined business. Thank you for your interest and joining us on the next step of our transformation.

我們一直在兩個組織中努力尋找機會，建立優化的結構，並在整個合併後的業務中釋放協同效應。感謝您的關注並加入我們的下一步轉型。

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

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，並請您斷開線路。謝謝。