Solventum Corp (SOLV) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is Ellie, and I will be your conference call operator today. I would like to welcome everyone to Solventum's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

午安.我叫艾莉，今天我將擔任您的電話會議接線生。歡迎大家參加 Solventum 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指令）

Thank you. I would now like to turn the program over to your host for today's conference, Amy Wakeham, senior Vice President of Investor relations and external finance communications. Please proceed.

謝謝。現在，我想將節目單交給今天會議的主持人、投資者關係和外部財務溝通高級副總裁艾米·韋克漢姆 (Amy Wakeham)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon and welcome to Solventum's fourth quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings call.

謝謝。下午好，歡迎參加 Solventum 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。

Joining me on today's call are Bryan Hansen, our Chief Executive Officer, and Wayde McMillan , our Chief Financial Officer.

參加今天電話會議的還有我們的執行長 Bryan Hansen 和財務長 Wayde McMillan。

A replay of today's earnings call will be available later today on the investor relations section of our corporate website. The earnings press release and the presentation are both available there now.

今天的收益電話會議重播將於今天晚些時候在我們公司網站的投資者關係部分提供。收益新聞稿和簡報現在都可以在那裡查閱。

During today's call, our discussion and any comments will be on a non-gap basis unless they are specifically called out as GAAP. The non-gap information discussed is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the reported GAAP financial information.

在今天的電話會議中，我們的討論和任何評論都將以非差距為基礎，除非它們被明確稱為 GAAP。所討論的非缺口資訊不應被單獨考慮或作為報告的 GAAP 財務資訊的替代。

You are encouraged to review the supporting schedules in today's earnings press release to reconcile the non-gap measures with the GAAP reported numbers.

我們鼓勵您查看今天的收益新聞稿中的支持時間表，以便將非差距指標與 GAAP 報告的數字進行核對。

Additionally, our discussion on today's call will include forward-looking statements, including but not limited to expectations about our future financial and operating performance.

此外，我們今天電話會議上的討論將包括前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於對我們未來財務和營運績效的預期。

We make these statements based on reasonable assumptions, however, our actual results could differ. Please review our SEC filings for a complete discussion of the risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made today.

我們根據合理的假設做出這些陳述，但我們的實際結果可能有所不同。請查看我們向美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 提交的文件，以全面了解可能導致我們的實際結果與今天做出的任何前瞻性陳述有重大差異的風險因素。

Following our prepared remarks, we'll hold a Q&A session. For the Q&A portion of today's call, Please limit yourself to one question and one related follow-up. If you have additional questions, you're welcome to rejoin the queue.

在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將舉行問答環節。對於今天電話會議的問答部分，請限制自己只問一個問題和一個相關的後續問題。如果您還有其他問題，歡迎您重新加入隊列。

And with that, I'd like to now hand the call over to Bryan.

現在，我想將電話交給布萊恩。

All right. Great. Thanks, Amy. And to all of our shareholders and everyone interested in our company story, I want to say thanks for joining us today as we review our fourth quarter and full year results for fiscal year 2024. We're also going to talk about our 2025 guidance.

好的。偉大的。謝謝，艾米。我要感謝所有股東以及所有對我們公司故事感興趣的人，今天我們將回顧 2024 財年第四季和全年業績。我們還將討論我們的 2025 年指導方針。

And clearly, we'll discuss the announcement we made earlier this week concerning the definitive agreement to divest our purification and filtration business to Thermo Fisher.

顯然，我們將討論本週稍早宣布的有關將我們的淨化和過濾業務剝離給賽默飛世爾科技的最終協議。

But first, I just want to take a minute to acknowledge that the team has done a really good job progressing over the past three quarters post our separation, and we closed out fiscal year 2024 with solid performance across our businesses, which positions us well for 2025. We've advanced across each of the three phases of our transformation that we introduced last year at our first Investor Day.

但首先，我想花一點時間來承認，在我們分開後的過去三個季度裡，團隊取得了非常好的進展，我們以穩健的業務表現結束了 2024 財年，這為我們 2025 年做好了準備。我們在去年第一個投資者日推出的三個轉型階段都取得了進展。

And given how the team is performing and the progress we've made, I got to say that I'm even more excited about the opportunities ahead. For those of you that are new to our story, let me quickly recap the two main pillars of our transformation, again, looking at transformation in two ways.

考慮到團隊的表現和我們所取得的進步，我不得不說我對未來的機會更加興奮。對於那些還不熟悉我們故事的人，讓我快速回顧我們轉型的兩個主要支柱，再次從兩個方面來看待轉型。

The first is that we are focused on establishing our foundation as an independent company. And the second is where we're committed to turning around our business performance particularly as it relates to profitable revenue growth. Both of these pillars should create significant shareholder value as we continue to execute against them. And our fourth quarter results demonstrate that our separation and transformation activities have taken root and point to the improving results that we expect as we go forward. Our global teams delivered business performance at the high end of our expectations, not just for the quarter, but for the full year.

首先，我們致力於建立作為獨立公司的基礎。第二，我們致力於扭轉我們的業務表現，特別是與獲利性收入成長相關的表現。如果我們繼續執行這兩個支柱，它們將為股東創造巨大的價值。我們第四季的業績表明，我們的分離和轉型活動已紮根，並預示著我們未來將取得更好的業績。我們的全球團隊的業務表現不僅超出了我們的預期，而且全年也是如此。

And Q4 marked another positive quarter of volume growth, making it three consecutive quarters of improvement. Now while there's obviously still a lot of work to be done. This is a significant milestone for the company. And looking back before our spin, 3M Healthcare saw 7 quarters of negative volume growth. Now stopping that decline in reversing it especially amid a complex separation global restructuring, a talent and cultural transformation and a significant divestiture process any of which pose real risk to business continuity represents a major achievement for this team.

第四季銷售再次實現正成長，這是連續三個季度的改善。現在顯然還有很多工作要做。這對公司來說是一個重要的里程碑。在回顧我們進行分拆之前，3M 醫療保健業務經歷了 7 個季度的銷售負成長。現在，特別是在複雜的全球重組、人才和文化轉型以及重大的資產剝離過程（其中任何一個都對業務連續性構成真正的風險）中，阻止並扭轉這種下滑趨勢，對於這個團隊來說是一項重大成就。

And the fact that this team made this progress while managing all these work streams concurrently is a testament to the strength and dedication of our solvers around the world. I'd actually like to just take a minute to thank all 22,000-plus team members around the world that I'm pretty sure are listening right now to this earnings call. It is your hard work. It is your dedication, you're the reason why we're ahead of plan. You've been absolutely crucial in maintaining business continuity and most importantly, as we always say, in delivering for our customers and our patients.

事實上，這個團隊在同時管理所有這些工作流程的同時取得了這樣的進展，證明了我們遍布全球的解決問題人員的實力和奉獻精神。實際上，我想花一點時間感謝全球 22,000 多名團隊成員，我確信他們現在正在聆聽這次財報電話會議。這是你的辛勤工作。正是你們的奉獻，使得我們的計劃得以提前完成。您在維持業務連續性方面發揮了至關重要的作用，最重要的是，正如我們常說的，您在為我們的客戶和患者提供服務方面發揮了至關重要的作用。

Your commitment to our mission is clear, and I truly appreciate what you do every single day. Now moving to our business segments, where we are making progress and beginning to generate positive momentum. I'm going to start first with our largest business segment, MedSurg. We continue to focus on driving the adoption of our recently launched V.A.C. Peel and Place strategy.

您對我們使命的承諾是顯而易見的，我真心感謝您每天所做的一切。現在轉向我們的業務部門，我們正在取得進展並開始產生積極的勢頭。我將首先從我們最大的業務部門 MedSurg 開始。我們將繼續致力於推動我們最近推出的 V.A.C. 的採用。剝離和放置策略。

And as I've shared before, this product gives us really three advantages. Number one, it simplifies the procedure; two, it reduces procedure time; and three, it reduces the number of dressing changes per week. All three of these are meaningful advances for both patients and providers, and it will give us the platform and the opportunity to expand this market and serve more patients. We remain very focused on increasing capacity to meet the strong demand for this product. And in our Dental Solutions business, early customer response to the Q4 launch of our first-to-market 3D-printed clarity Precision Grip attachment has been very positive.

正如我之前分享的，這款產品確實為我們帶來了三大優勢。第一，簡化了程序；二是減少手術時間；三是減少了每週更換敷料的次數。這三點對於患者和醫療服務提供者來說都是有意義的進步，它將為我們提供擴大這個市場和服務更多患者的平台和機會。我們仍然高度重視提高產能以滿足對該產品的強勁需求。在我們的牙科解決方案業務中，我們於第四季度首次推出的 3D 列印清晰度精密握把配件得到了客戶的積極反響。

This solution focuses on ensuring predictable aligner therapy, and it is designed to simplify the procedure and then ultimately, as a result of that boost practice efficiency. And the products we discussed back in Q3 as a launch in Q3, Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment and Filtek Easy Match, are continuing to resonate with our customers as well. And in the case of Clinpro, as I mentioned before, this is another launch where we are rapidly increasing our manufacturing capacity to meet the strong demand. Okay, moving to our Health Information Systems business. We continue to focus on our new autonomous coding payment models.

此解決方案專注於確保可預測的矯正器治療，旨在簡化程序，並最終提高實踐效率。我們在第三季討論過的即將推出的產品 Clinpro Clear Fluoride Treatment 和 Filtek Easy Match 也持續引起客戶的共鳴。就 Clinpro 而言，正如我之前提到的，這是另一個發布，我們正在迅速提高生產能力以滿足強勁的需求。好的，轉到我們的健康資訊系統業務。我們繼續專注於我們的新自主編碼支付模式。

And the team now believes that between 50% and 90% of cases have the potential to be automated. And that's thanks to our AI-driven autonomous coating technology, which is really focused on; one, saving time for our customers, but also money for our customers when they look at revenue cycle management. Medical coding, as I think most of us know, is incredibly complex and our technologies with computer-assisted and the emerging autonomous coating can account for the constant tie to regulatory changes quality demands and local state and organizational specific guidance. And of course, that brings us to our purification and filtration business. We saw another quarter of robust demand for our bioprocessing solutions business, giving us confidence in the strength of the end markets and the value of our differentiated technology and recurring revenue model.

該團隊現在認為，50% 到 90% 的案件都有可能自動化。這要歸功於我們真正專注於人工智慧的自主塗層技術；一是為客戶節省時間，二是在客戶考慮收入週期管理時，也為客戶節省金錢。我想大多數人都知道，醫療編碼非常複雜，我們的電腦輔助技術和新興的自主塗層技術可以解決與監管變化、品質要求以及當地州和組織具體指導的不斷聯繫。當然，這涉及到我們的淨化和過濾業務。我們看到生物加工解決方案業務在另一個季度的需求強勁，這使我們對終端市場的實力以及差異化技術和經常性收入模式的價值充滿信心。

We'll provide more details obviously shortly, but I want to emphasize, this business is well positioned for growth under its new owner who offers a strong fit strategically. Okay, shifting to our transformation phases. I want to spend just a few minutes talking about our progress across the three phases that we presented back at our initial Investor Day last year. Phase 1 is really all about laying the foundation to set the company of success. I really do believe you have to have that foundation in place.

我們顯然很快就會提供更多細節，但我想強調的是，在策略上非常契合的新東家的領導下，這項業務處於良好的成長位置。好的，轉向我們的轉型階段。我想花幾分鐘談談我們在去年首次投資者日上介紹的三個階段的進展。第一階段其實就是為公司的成功奠定基礎。我確實相信你必須打好這個基礎。

In this phase, we've been focused on driving and inspiring mission, enhancing talent and building a new culture, one that values decentralized decision-making speed and accountability. And of course, it includes all of our many separation activities. On the mission front, we've met with teams around the globe and traveled around the globe to directly engage our team members and share our new mission and values. I believe it is critical that everyone deeply understands our mission and their role in moving it forward. And I can tell you that the reception has been incredibly positive, and it's helping us build a unified one Solventum mindset, which is absolutely instrumental in driving improved performance, particularly when you're looking at sustained improved performance.

在這個階段，我們專注於推動和激勵使命、提升人才和建立新的文化，一種重視分散決策速度和責任的文化。當然，它包括我們所有的分離活動。在使命方面，我們與世界各地的團隊會面，並走遍全球，直接與我們的團隊成員接觸，分享我們的新使命和價值觀。我認為讓每個人都深刻地理解我們的使命以及他們在推動我們的使命中扮演的角色至關重要。我可以告訴你們，大家的反應非常積極，這有助於我們建立統一的 Solventum 思維模式，這對於推動績效提升絕對至關重要，特別是當你專注於持續的績效提升時。

In terms of talent, we've moved aggressively to address capability gaps within just a few quarters post-spin, we've built a leadership team where 80%, 8-0 percent, of our leaders are new to the company, bringing deep sector and transformation experience with many of them having specific spin experience as well. We've also made meaningful progress enhancing key positions that are critical to our performance transformation. Of these positions, 60%, again 6-0 percent, were filled by current employees and 40% by external hires. Both groups chosen for their relevant experience and capabilities for this transformation. This shift is happening throughout the organization with what I call trickle down talent, raising the bar for excellence at every level of the company.

在人才方面，我們積極採取行動，在分拆後的短短幾個季度內解決能力差距，我們建立了一個領導團隊，其中 80%（8-0%）的領導者都是公司新人，帶來了深厚的行業和轉型經驗，其中許多人還具有特定的分拆經驗。我們在提升對我們的績效轉型至關重要的關鍵職位方面也取得了有意義的進展。在這些職位中，60%（同樣為6-0%）由現有員工擔任，40% 由外部聘用。這兩個團體都選擇了與此次轉型相關的經驗和能力。這種轉變正在整個組織中發生，我稱之為涓滴人才，它提高了公司各個層面的卓越標準。

And in terms of culture, we selected leaders who embody our values and culture to help model our new behaviors. And we've implemented a global restructuring through our Solventum Way program to ensure that our structure also supports this culture. Okay, and finally, on the separation front. Our ability to execute and deliver on our strategic and financial objectives does not make the deep and unique entanglement between 3M and Solventum any less complex. It is a very complex separation.

在文化方面，我們選擇了體現我們的價值觀和文化的領導者來幫助塑造我們的新行為。我們透過 Solventum Way 計畫實施了全球重組，以確保我們的結構也支持這種文化。好的，最後，關於分離方面。我們執行和實現策略和財務目標的能力並沒有使 3M 和 Solventum 之間深層而獨特的糾葛變得簡單。這是一個非常複雜的分離。

And there clearly remains risk to the separation work ahead with key milestones that will be happening in '25 and '26. Wayde will talk more about those. But we're making steady progress, and I'm proud of the team we have assembled and very importantly proud of their performance to date. Okay. Moving on to Phase II.

而且，對於將在25年和26年實現的關鍵里程碑而言，未來的分離工作顯然仍然存在風險。韋德將會進一步談論這些內容。但我們正在穩步前進，我為我們組建的團隊感到自豪，更重要的是，我為他們迄今為止的表現感到自豪。好的。進入第二階段。

In Phase II, we've been focusing on establishing a long-term strategic plan to unlock profitable growth and capture the value of the attractive markets where we play. A key part of this phase has been analyzing the markets, the submarkets and the businesses that we have to shape our focused long-term strategy. And as I've mentioned, the speed with which we brought in new talent, has allowed us to accelerate this process. And as a result, we said we'd be ready to share our long-range plan during this call. But after receiving feedback from many of you, we realized it would be better to separate the strategic discussion from this earnings call, particularly in light of the pending sale of our P&F business.

在第二階段，我們一直致力於制定長期策略計劃，以實現獲利成長並獲取我們所在的有吸引力的市場的價值。這一階段的關鍵部分是分析市場、子市場和業務，以便制定我們的重點長期策略。正如我剛才提到的，我們引進新人才的速度使我們能夠加快這一進程。因此，我們表示我們準備在這次電話會議中分享我們的長期計劃。但在收到許多人的回饋後，我們意識到最好將策略討論與本次財報電話會議分開，特別是考慮到我們的 P&F 業務即將出售。

And as a result, we'll unveil our long-term strategy at our Investor Day on March 20 in New York City, where we will have more time to not only outline the long-term strategy, but also provide more details about each segment and the progress we've made to date. And we certainly look forward to seeing you there live. All right. Finally, Phase III is all about optimizing our portfolio. In this phase, we have thoroughly assessed the value and strategic alignment of our businesses and the recently announced divestiture of our Purification and Filtration segment is a direct result of our Phase III review.

因此，我們將於 3 月 20 日在紐約舉行的投資者日上公佈我們的長期策略，屆時我們將有更多時間不僅概述長期策略，還將提供有關每個部門和迄今為止的進展的更多細節。我們非常期待在那裡現場見到您。好的。最後，第三階段是關於優化我們的投資組合。在此階段，我們徹底評估了我們業務的價值和策略定位，最近宣布的剝離淨化和過濾部門是我們第三階段審查的直接結果。

This decision will streamline our focus, reduce our leverage and improve key metrics, and we are confident confident that PNF with its highly motivated and innovative team will thrive under Thermo Fisher. And I just want to take a minute to personally thank the PNF team for getting us to this point, and I have every confidence you will continue to bring your passion to work and deliver innovative solutions to your customers. So in closing, we're making steady progress on our transformation. And through in-depth analysis, leveraging both internal talent and external perspectives, we have a very clear understanding of why why the 3M Healthcare business has underperformed its markets in the past. And our primary focus at the upcoming Investor Day will be to share our findings discuss the changes we've made to inflect improvements and very importantly reveal the key elements of our long-term strategy and financial plan.

這項決定將簡化我們的重點，減少我們的槓桿率並改善關鍵指標，我們相信 PNF 及其高度積極和創新的團隊將在賽默飛世爾的領導下蓬勃發展。我只想花一點時間親自感謝 PNF 團隊幫助我們走到今天，我完全相信你們會繼續帶著熱情去工作，為客戶提供創新的解決方案。總而言之，我們的轉型正在穩步推進。透過深入分析，利用內部人才和外部視角，我們非常清楚地了解了 3M 醫療保健業務過去表現不如市場的原因。在即將到來的投資者日上，我們的主要重點是分享我們的研究結果，討論我們為實現改進而做出的改變，以及非常重要的揭示我們的長期戰略和財務計劃的關鍵要素。

But just as a preview of what's to come because I know that people are excited to hear it, but as a preview of what's to come. I can tell you that we have an incredible value creation story ahead of us. We are confident that the changes we've already made, combined with our forward-looking strategy, we'll continue to accelerate sustainable volume growth and ultimately deliver significant shareholder value. Okay, and with that, I'll turn it over to Wayde to walk us through the financial results in more detail and provide our guidance for 2025. He's also going to give additional color on the separation and, of course, the divestiture.

但這只是對即將發生的事情的預覽，因為我知道人們很高興聽到這個消息，但這只是對即將發生的事情的預覽。我可以告訴你們，我們面前有一個令人難以置信的價值創造故事。我們相信，我們已經做出的改變，加上我們的前瞻性策略，我們將繼續加速可持續的銷售成長，並最終為股東帶來可觀的價值。好的，接下來我將把主題交給 Wayde，讓他向我們更詳細地介紹財務結果並提供 2025 年的指導。他還將對分離以及資產剝離進行更詳細的說明。

Okay, Wayde?

好的，韋德？

Thanks, and thank you to everyone at Solventum for delivering on a successful first year. As you heard from Bryan, we've made significant progress in a relatively short time since our spin last March. I'll focus my comments first on a separation update and then move into our Q4 financial performance before wrapping up with our 2025 guidance. Overall, the separation is on track, and we're executing against separation milestones while delivering on our financial goals. To date, we have exited roughly 1 quarter of over 200 transition service agreements, and we are planning to exit all transition service agreements over the next two years.

謝謝，也感謝 Solventum 的每一個人，感謝你們第一年的成功。正如您從布萊恩那裡聽到的，自去年三月以來，我們在相對較短的時間內取得了重大進展。我將首先重點談論分離更新，然後談論我們的第四季度財務業績，最後總結我們的 2025 年指引。總體而言，分離工作正在按計劃進行，我們正在執行分離里程碑，同時實現我們的財務目標。迄今為止，我們已經退出了 200 多個過渡服務協議中的大約四分之一，我們計劃在未來兩年內退出所有過渡服務協議。

We have successfully implemented new ERP systems in six countries to date, including recent deployments in Europe and South America. In operations and supply chain, we contracted to build a new plant in Brazil, where we recently began construction and have entered into a contract with a new European distribution center partner as part of a planned cutover later this year. While we've made significant progress separating, some of the hardest work is ahead with our largest ERP implementations and shift to distribution centers in large regions, along with manufacturing transfers upcoming in 2025 and in 2026. Our progress to date is encouraging, and I want to thank our global team of dedicated people around the world for their efforts in this large-scale separation. Now turning to our Q4 results.

迄今為止，我們已經在六個國家成功實施了新的 ERP 系統，包括最近在歐洲和南美洲的部署。在營運和供應鏈方面，我們簽約在巴西建設一家新工廠，最近我們已開始動工，並已與一家新的歐洲配送中心合作夥伴簽訂了合同，作為今年晚些時候計劃進行的轉換的一部分。雖然我們在分離方面取得了重大進展，但最艱難的工作仍需繼續推進，包括最大規模的 ERP 實施、向大區域配送中心的轉移，以及即將在 2025 年和 2026 年實現的製造業轉移。我們迄今為止的進展令人鼓舞，我要感謝我們遍布世界各地的敬業員工在這次大規模分離過程中所做的努力。現在來談談我們的第四季業績。

Starting with sales. Fourth quarter 2024 sales of $2.1 billion increased 2.3% compared to prior year on an organic basis and increased 1.9% on a reported basis, which reflects positive momentum and an easier year-over-year comparison. During the quarter, foreign exchange was a 60 basis point headwind as the US dollar strengthened considerably against most major currencies. Sales performance benefited from favorable volumes, with pricing back to a normalized range, consistent with our expectations.

從銷售開始。2024 年第四季的銷售額為 21 億美元，與去年同期相比，有機成長 2.3%，報告成長 1.9%，這反映了積極的勢頭和更容易的同比比較。本季度，由於美元兌多數主要貨幣大幅走強，外匯匯率面臨 60 個基點的阻力。銷售業績受惠於良好的銷量，價格回到正常範圍，符合我們的預期。

While there remains significant work to sustainably elevate our growth, we are encouraged by the initial volume improvements post spin. Moving to the segments. Our largest segment, MedSurg, delivered $1.2 billion of sales, an increase of 1.8% on an organic basis. Growth was led by higher OEM and advanced wound care. Within Advanced Wound Care, growth was driven by negative pressure wound therapy consumables and continued market adoption of single-use negative pressure wound therapy.

儘管我們還需要做大量工作來持續提升成長速度，但分拆後初期的銷售成長令我們感到鼓舞。轉向各個部分。我們最大的部門 MedSurg 實現了 12 億美元的銷售額，有機成長 1.8%。成長主要得益於更高的 OEM 和先進的傷口護理。在先進傷口護理領域，成長主要得益於負壓傷口治療耗材以及一次性負壓傷口治療的持續市場採用。

Our Dental segment delivered $315 million of revenue, an increase of 4.2% on an organic basis. And while dental was one of the primary beneficiaries of an easier year-over-year comparison, the segment also benefited from recent product launches, as mentioned earlier. Our Health Information Systems segment contributed $336 million of revenue, an increase of 1.1% on an organic basis which benefited from adoption of our revenue for management platform solution. Strength in revenue cycle management was partially offset by a decline in clinician productivity solutions. Finally, the Purification & Filtrition segment delivered $235 million of sales, an increase of 3.5% on an organic basis fueled by continued strength in our bioprocessing filtration and industrial filtration.

我們的牙科部門實現了 3.15 億美元的收入，有機成長 4.2%。雖然牙科是更容易進行同比比較的主要受益者之一，但正如前面提到的，該部門也受益於最近的產品發布。我們的健康資訊系統部門貢獻了 3.36 億美元的收入，有機成長 1.1%，這得益於我們採用收入管理平台解決方案。收入周期管理的優勢部分被臨床醫生生產力解決方案的下降所抵消。最後，淨化與過濾部門實現了 2.35 億美元的銷售額，有機成長 3.5%，這得益於生物加工過濾和工業過濾的持續強勁增長。

Performance in these areas was partially offset by declines in membranes. Looking down the P&L. Gross margin was 56.2% in the quarter, slightly ahead of our expectations and down 100 basis points versus prior year. Results include approximately 100 basis points of increased cost paid to 3M as part of the supply agreement. Gross margins decreased sequentially as expected.

這些領域的表現被膜的下滑部分抵消。查看損益表。本季毛利率為 56.2%，略高於我們的預期，較前一年下降 100 個基點。結果包括作為供應協議的一部分向 3M 支付的成本增加約 100 個基點。毛利率如預期季減。

However, they were partially mitigated by favorable product mix benefits. Operating expenses increased versus the prior year and sequentially from Q3. As we've shared before, the added spend reflects public company stand-up costs and growth investments to support our business transformation. Q4 spend also included purification and filtration divestiture costs. Altogether, our operating expenses were in line with our expectations, excluding divestiture-related spend.

然而，有利的產品組合優勢部分緩解了這些影響。營業費用較上年同期及第三季均增加。正如我們之前所分享的，增加的支出反映了上市公司的啟動成本和成長投資，以支持我們的業務轉型。第四季的支出還包括淨化和過濾剝離成本。整體而言，除資產剝離相關支出外，我們的營運費用符合預期。

Note, we will start to benefit from savings of our recently announced restructuring in Q1. We'll touch more on future spending levels as part of 2025 guidance. In total, we delivered adjusted operating income of $422 million, which translates to operating margin of 20.4%, slightly ahead of our expectations. Moving down the P&L to nonoperating items. Our net interest expense remained consistent.

請注意，我們將在第一季開始受益於我們最近宣布的重組帶來的節省。作為 2025 年指導的一部分，我們將更多地討論未來支出水準。整體而言，我們實現的調整後營業收入為 4.22 億美元，相當於營業利益率為 20.4%，略高於我們的預期。將損益表下移至非經營項目。我們的淨利息支出保持一致。

We also absorbed some onetime expenses associated with the write-down of legacy 3M investments. Lastly, our effective tax rate of 17.4%, puts our full year tax rate of 18.1% toward the low end of our full year guidance range of 18% to 19%. All in, we delivered earnings per share of $1.41 ahead of our expectations. Before providing our 2025 guidance, let's recap our first fiscal year as a public company. We delivered 1.2% organic sales growth as we navigated business continuity challenges associated with the separation, eliminated 3,500 SKUs without material revenue impact and began to drive volume back in a positive direction.

我們也吸收了與 3M 遺留投資減記相關的一些一次性費用。最後，我們的有效稅率為 17.4%，這使得我們的全年稅率為 18.1%，接近我們全年指導範圍 18% 至 19% 的低端。總體而言，我們實現的每股收益為 1.41 美元，超出了我們的預期。在提供 2025 年指引之前，讓我們先回顧一下我們作為上市公司的第一個財年。我們克服了分離帶來的業務連續性挑戰，實現了 1.2% 的有機銷售額成長，在沒有重大收入影響的情況下淘汰了 3,500 個 SKU，並開始推動銷售回升。

As a result, we generated organic sales growth ahead of our initial expectations. On the bottom line, we generated non-GAAP earnings per share of $6.70, also ahead of our initial earnings per share guidance driven by the better sales performance. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the year with $762 million in cash and equivalents with no outstanding borrowings on our credit facility, and we made cumulative repayments of $300 million on our $1.5 billion prepayable term loans. This includes an additional $100 million debt pay down during Q4.

因此，我們實現了超出最初預期的有機銷售成長。總體而言，我們實現了非公認會計準則每股收益 6.70 美元，這也得益於銷售業績的改善，超出了我們最初的每股收益預期。轉向資產負債表。截至年底，我們的現金和等價物為 7.62 億美元，我們的信貸安排中沒有未償還的借款，並且我們累計償還了 15 億美元可提前償還的定期貸款的 3 億美元。其中包括第四季額外償還 1 億美元債務。

We also generated $92 million of free cash flow in Q4, bringing our year-to-date total free cash flow to $805 million, just above the initial guide range for the year. Regarding the purification and filtration divestiture, it is a major milestone for our portfolio transformation strategy. When the transaction closes, we expect margins will improve, and it enables us to accelerate our time line to deleverage the balance sheet and positions us to begin executing our strategy to augment sales growth with P&F acquisitions. We anticipate net proceeds will be used primarily to pay down debt and are committed to achieving solid investment-grade ratings with an expected close by the end of 2025. We anticipate the impact to earnings per share to be neutral in 2025.

我們還在第四季度產生了 9,200 萬美元的自由現金流，使我們年初至今的總自由現金流達到 8.05 億美元，略高於今年最初的指導範圍。關於淨化和過濾業務的剝離，這是我們產品組合轉型策略的一個重要里程碑。交易完成後，我們預計利潤率將會提高，這使我們能夠加快去槓桿的時間表，並使我們能夠開始執行透過 P&F 收購來促進銷售成長的策略。我們預計淨收益將主要用於償還債務，並致力於實現穩固的投資等級評級，預計在 2025 年底完成。我們預計 2025 年對每股盈餘的影響將是中性的。

Now turning to our initial 2025 guidance and outlook. Similar to our approach to guidance for 2024 will continue to provide our organic sales growth, earnings per share and free cash flow metrics. Given we're still a new company, we are also providing some additional considerations at the outset of the year. Keep in mind, this guidance is for the total company, including the purification and filtration business. We will provide updated guidance when the transaction closes.

現在來談談我們最初的 2025 年指導和展望。與我們對 2024 年的指導方法類似，我們將繼續提供有機銷售成長、每股盈餘和自由現金流指標。鑑於我們仍然是一家新公司，我們在年初也提供了一些額外的考慮。請記住，本指示適用於整個公司，包括淨化和過濾業務。交易完成後，我們將提供更新的指導。

Reported sales growth will be impacted by recent strengthening of the US dollar, which we estimate will create an expected 150 basis point headwind with the biggest impact on Q1. We expect organic sales growth of 1% to 2%, which is net of an estimated 50 basis point impact related to SKU exits. Excluding the 50 basis point impact, our normalized annual growth outlook is 1.5% to 2.5%. This reflects the expected underlying improvement for volume across our business segments as we execute against the phased approach to reposition for growth.

報告的銷售額成長將受到近期美元走強的影響，我們估計這將產生預計 150 個基點的阻力，對第一季的影響最大。我們預計有機銷售額將成長 1% 至 2%，扣除與 SKU 退出相關的約 50 個基點的影響。排除50個基點的影響，我們的標準化年增長預期為1.5%至2.5%。這反映了我們按照分階段方法重新定位成長後，各業務部門的銷售量預計將出現潛在改善。

Regarding our SKU rationalization program, we are exiting an additional 2,000 SKUs in a Wave 2, bringing our total exits to over 5,000 or 8% and completes the program. This will have a 50 basis point impact on 2025 and a 100 basis point impact on 2026. Executing this initiative simplifies our supply chain, saves our branding dollars and also improves our operating metrics over time. Looking down the P&L. We expect operating margin between 20% and 21%.

關於我們的 SKU 合理化計劃，我們在第二波中退出另外 2,000 個 SKU，使我們的總退出數量超過 5,000 個或 8%，並完成該計劃。這將對 2025 年產生 50 個基點的影響，對 2026 年產生 100 個基點的影響。實施這項措施簡化了我們的供應鏈，節省了我們的品牌推廣費用，同時也隨著時間的推移改善了我們的營運指標。查看損益表。我們預計營業利潤率在 20% 至 21% 之間。

This outlook includes annualizing the roughly 100 basis point headwind associated with the higher cost of sales from the 3M supply agreement in the first half. Additionally, we expect savings from our Solventum Way restructuring program will more than offset the annualization of stand-up costs and growth investments in 2025. We expect the net savings of the restructuring will increase through the year, resulting in an expected ramp for operating margins from Q1 into the second half of the year. Moving now to earnings per share. We are guiding to a range of $5.45 to $5.65.

這項前景包括將上半年 3M 供應協議帶來的銷售成本上升約 100 個基點的不利因素年化。此外，我們預計，Solventum Way 重整計畫節省的資金將超過 2025 年年度化的啟動成本和成長投資。我們預計重組帶來的淨節約將在全年不斷增加，從而預計第一季至下半年的營業利潤率將有所上升。現在討論每股收益。我們預計價格範圍為 5.45 美元至 5.65 美元。

This includes an additional quarter of interest expense in Q1 2025. As mentioned earlier, we expect the divestiture of our purification filtration business to be neutral to earnings per share when closed later this year. Before we move on, regarding tariffs. Our guidance does not assume any tariff impact at this time, given the current dynamic environment and an inability to predict potential financial impact. We are also providing free cash flow guidance in the range of $450 million to $550 million, which contemplates capital expenditures between $350 million and $450 million as well as annualizing higher interest expense and onetime separation expense.

這包括 2025 年第一季額外一個季度的利息支出。如前所述，我們預計，在今年稍後完成淨化過濾業務的剝離時，將對每股收益產生中性影響。在我們繼續討論關稅之前。鑑於當前的動態環境以及無法預測潛在的財務影響，我們的指導目前不假設任何關稅影響。我們還提供 4.5 億美元至 5.5 億美元範圍內的自由現金流指導，其中考慮 3.5 億美元至 4.5 億美元之間的資本支出以及年度化更高的利息支出和一次性分離支出。

Before closing out, I also want to remind you that we anticipate Q1 results will be the quarter most impacted by both foreign exchange headwinds and timing of spend. When coupled with the expected pace of increased restructuring savings through 2025. Q1 is the expected low point for both operating margins and earnings per share with improvement through the balance of the year. In conclusion, we wrapped up an incredibly busy and eventful inaugural year following the completion of spin and are progressing on our journey as a new public company, delivering three consecutive quarters of better-than-expected performance, which is particularly encouraging given the complex and highly entangled separation. We've consistently delivered on our near-term financial objectives, while executing on our separation activities and focusing on turnaround the business.

最後，我還想提醒您，我們預計第一季的業績將是受外匯逆風和支出時機影響最大的一個季度。再加上預計到 2025 年重組儲蓄將會增加。預計第一季是營業利潤率和每股收益的最低點，全年將會有所改善。總而言之，在分拆完成後，我們度過了異常忙碌和多事的成立年，並作為一家新上市公司繼續前進，連續三個季度取得好於預期的業績，考慮到分拆過程複雜且高度糾結，這尤其令人鼓舞。我們始終如一地實現我們的近期財務目標，同時執行我們的分離活動並專注於扭轉業務。

Looking ahead, we'll continue to execute on our 3-phase approach to transform our business, and we use our collective expertise in health, material and data science to deliver on our mission. While I know this turnaround will take time and focused investment we are encouraged by the early meaningful progress and remain well positioned to execute our value creation plan. We look forward to our upcoming Investor Day when we plan to share more about the path ahead. including our long-range financial guidance. With that, I'll now hand it back to the operator for the Q&A portion of the call.

展望未來，我們將繼續執行三階段方法來轉變我們的業務，並利用我們在健康、材料和數據科學方面的集體專業知識來實現我們的使命。雖然我知道這種轉變需要時間和集中的投資，但我們對早期的有意義的進展感到鼓舞，並且仍處於有利地位來執行我們的價值創造計劃。我們期待即將到來的投資者日，屆時我們計劃分享更多未來發展的方向。包括我們的長期財務指導。說完這些，我現在將電話交還給接線員，以便進行電話的問答部分。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Jason Bednar from Piper Sandler.

派珀桑德勒 (Piper Sandler) 樂團的傑森貝德納 (Jason Bednar)。

I don't think I heard Bryan or Wayde a buildup or a construction of the organic growth by segment. So just as we're thinking about modeling out the business, not just on a sequential basis, but also across the various segments. Is there any other color you can give like MedSurg kind of at or above the range, dental below the range? Anything like that would be very helpful.

我認為我沒有聽到 Bryan 或 Wayde 談到按部分劃分的有機增長的積累或構建。因此，當我們考慮對業務進行建模時，不只是按順序進行，而且還要跨各個部分進行。還有沒有其他顏色可以提供，例如 MedSurg 類型的在範圍之內或之上，牙科類型的在範圍之下？任何這樣的事都會非常有幫助。

Jason, it's Wayde. As you mentioned, we're providing guidance at the segment level. But what we would say is the initiatives that we have underway cuts across all four segments. So you know we've made structural changes in the business. We've been investing in talent and all that is designed to improve the commercial efforts within our business, and those are going to be more short-term improvements in nature.

傑森，我是韋德。正如您所說，我們正在提供細分層面的指導。但我們要說的是，我們正在進行的舉措涉及所有四個領域。所以你知道我們對業務進行了結構性變革。我們一直在投資人才，所有這一切都是為了改善我們業務中的商業努力，而這些在本質上只是短期的改進。

And then, of course, looking at new products and our innovation pipeline and looking to accelerate that as well. And so those are -- both of those are taking root in all four of our segments. And so we would expect all of our businesses to improve. We're just not giving specific guidance on the segment level.

然後，當然，我們會專注於新產品和我們的創新管道，並尋求加速其發展。所以，這些都是在我們四個領域中生根。因此，我們希望我們所有的業務都會得到改善。我們只是沒有給出關於細分層面的具體指導。

One other thing I would just add, too, is in the coming Investor Day on March 20th, have an opportunity for the president of each of the businesses to get up, talk about their business. And that will give you some more color on what they would expect. Again, we're not even at that -- going to give guidance by business, but you'll get a better feel of what they're thinking.

我還要補充的一點是，在即將到來的 3 月 20 日投資者日，每個企業的總裁都有機會站起來談論他們的業務。這將讓您更加清楚他們的期望。再說一遍，我們甚至還沒有達到那個程度——要根據業務提供指導，但你會更了解他們的想法。

All right. Looking forward to that. And then just on the free cash flow guidance was a little bit lighter than we were thinking. I think you mentioned some things in there, not just around CapEx, but interest payments. Is that a free cash flow after interest payments -- or sorry, or I guess, is there anything else of onetime in there?

好的。非常期待。然後，自由現金流指引比我們想像的要少一些。我想你提到了其中的一些事情，不僅僅是資本支出，還包括利息支付。這是支付利息後的自由現金流嗎？或者抱歉，或者我猜，這裡面還有其他一次性的東西嗎？

Maybe I ask that wrong -- in a wrong way, but just what's explaining that lighter guide at least relative to what we're modeling, and how others are probably modeling it as well?

也許我問錯了——問的方式也錯了，但至少相對於我們正在建模的內容，以及其他人可能如何建模，該如何解釋這個更簡單的指南呢？

Yes. We are just a little bit more consensus there, and we were keeping an eye on that one because 1 of the things that we've been building up over time here is total cost of separation. So I think that's probably what you're getting that, Jason. So we've given the CapEx piece, and of course, we've got our earnings per share guidance out there. And so the piece really, I think, is separation that I would point people to.

是的。我們在那裡達成了更多的共識，我們一直在關注這一點，因為我們在這裡一直在累積的事情之一就是分離的總成本。所以我想這可能就是你所得到的，傑森。因此，我們給了資本支出部分，當然，我們也給了每股盈餘指引。因此，我認為這件作品真正要向人們指出的是分離。

And the best way to really forecast that or model that would be to look at our Q4 exit rate of just over $130 million of non-GAAP separation-related costs. And you can run rate that into 2025. Just a little step up would be a good place to have it for 2025 because that's where our biggest spend is going to be. And then the good news from there is that we'll be stepping it down in 2026 and then another step down in 2027 when we complete most of the separation-related work. So '25 is the year that we've got a lot of separation costs to transition out of our TSAs.

而真正預測或模擬這一情況的最佳方法就是看看我們第四季度的非 GAAP 分離相關成本的退出率，該退出率略高於 1.3 億美元。你可以將其預測到 2025 年。只要稍微提高一點就可以達到 2025 年的目標，因為那將是我們最大的支出。好消息是，我們將在 2026 年逐步降低成本，然後在 2027 年再次逐步降低成本，屆時我們將完成大部分與分離相關的工作。因此，25 年是我們退出 TSA 並產生大量分離成本的一年。

And then as I mentioned, good size step down '26 and then again in '27.

然後，正如我所提到的那樣，良好的規模在 26 年下降，然後在 27 年再次下降。

Patrick Wood from Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的派崔克‧伍德 (Patrick Wood)。

I had one kind of financial question and then a quick follow-up. The 2026 SKU rationalization, I'm sure on the [20th] you get into somewhat more, but just conceptually, is it fair to assume that while you're going to have 100 points of organic growth headwind on that side, we should see something on the operating margin as those efficiencies from running that through the year there. Is that just said that there will be some kind of an offset from the efficiencies below the P&L?

我有一個財務問題需要快速跟進。關於 2026 年 SKU 合理化，我相信在 [20 日] 你會更多地了解這一點，但從概念上講，是否可以公平地假設，雖然你在那方面將面臨 100 點的有機增長逆風，但我們應該看到營業利潤率有所提高，因為這些效率是通過全年運行獲得的。這是否只是說損益表以下的效率會有某種抵銷？

Yes, I'm glad you brought that one up, Patrick. As we mentioned in our prepared remarks, we will see some revenue as well as margin improvement, but it's really small. I think 10, 20 basis point type of improvements. So it's really about simplification of the business. That's really why we run the process.

是的，我很高興你提起這一點，派崔克。正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的那樣，我們將看到一些收入和利潤率的改善，但幅度真的很小。我認為是10到20個基點類型的改進。所以這實際上是為了簡化業務。這才是我們運行該流程的真正原因。

and be able to get 8% of our SKUs out of the supply chain is big. And we also wanted to get in front of all the rebranding efforts that we have to do across all of our products. But at the same time, we do get a small benefit in sales growth and a small benefit in gross and operating margins, and that will be included in our long-range guide that we provided at the Investor Day coming up, but it's not the main reason for doing it.

並且能夠將 8% 的 SKU 從供應鏈中分離出來，這意義重大。我們也想在所有產品的品牌重塑工作中佔據領先地位。但同時，我們確實在銷售成長和毛利率及營業利潤率方面獲得了小幅收益，這將包含在我們即將舉行的投資者日上提供的長期指南中，但這不是這樣做的主要原因。

That's really helpful. And then just as a quick follow-up. I appreciate the comments on M&A. If I dial my mind back to about a year ago or so when we were originally chatting, you guys are running way ahead in terms of restructuring the group with the P&F sale on that side. And you're talking about M&A.

這真的很有幫助。然後只是進行快速的跟進。我很欣賞對併購的評論。如果我回想一下大約一年前我們最初聊天的時候，你們在重組集團以及 P&F 出售方面已經遙遙領先。您談到了併購。

I mean, I guess it's one thing financially to be in a place where you can execute. But how ready is the organization because there's a lot of work to do internally to bolt in new business about it being too disruptive. I'm just trying to understand how much that timeline on adding new assets has been pulled forward or not?

我的意思是，我想從財務角度來說，處在一個可以執行的地方是一回事。但是，由於內部還有很多工作要做，以引入新業務而不會造成太大的破壞，因此組織準備好了嗎？我只是想知道添加新資產的時間表是否提前了多少？

Yes, it's a great question. I would say one of the nicest things about the P&F transaction is it does pull in the time frame where we would be able to transact from an M&A perspective. It doesn't really change the strategy, but it definitely moves up our time line. And we've been building capacity for that. We've been adding people that are capable in the area from a scouting perspective, from a deal negotiation standpoint, integration, you name it.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我想說 P&F 交易最棒的事情之一是，它確實為我們從併購角度進行交易提供了一個時間框架。它實際上並沒有改變策略，但它確實加快了我們的時間表。我們一直在為此進行能力建構。我們一直在從球探的角度、交易談判的角度、整合的角度等等，招募在這個領域有能力的人才。

And we really want to make sure that capacity wouldn't be a reason why we couldn't move forward with tuck-in M&A. The nice thing about this is that we're talking about smaller transactions here. We're in great markets. We don't have to do anything large. We don't have to do anything risky.

我們確實希望確保產能不會成為我們無法推進內部併購的原因。這件事情的好處是，我們在這裡討論的是較小的交易。我們處於優秀的市場。我們不必做什麼大事。我們沒必要做任何冒險的事。

We can just look at picking up innovation, driving into the commercial channel that we have and then getting more out of markets that we're in. So it does move our time frame up. I believe we have the capacity to do it. I'd be thinking about early 2026 as the time frame because there's -- we want to make sure that we pay down debt, and we're on top of that for a period of time with a really nice leverage ratio, and then we'll start moving in that direction.

我們只需著眼於獲取創新，進入我們現有的商業管道，然後從我們所在的市場獲得更多收益。因此它確實將我們的時間框架提前了。我相信我們有能力做到這一點。我會考慮將 2026 年初作為時間框架，因為——我們要確保償還債務，並且在一段時間內保持非常好的槓桿率，然後我們就會開始朝著這個方向前進。

David Roman from Goldman Sachs.

高盛的大衛‧羅曼（David Roman）。

I wanted to maybe just to start with the top line performance that has improved as we've gone through the course of 2024. And I think you're right, it's pretty clear on the volume side that, that's driving the turnaround here and the pricing is unfolding as you have communicated. But maybe you could just sort of unpack for us what are the factors influencing the top line performance as you exit 2024? And how you kind of thought about those key underlying drivers as you put together the 2025 outlook.

我想先從 2024 年期間營收表現的改善開始。我認為你是對的，從銷售方面來看，這顯然推動了銷量的回升，而且正如你所傳達的那樣，定價也在不斷變化。但也許您可以為我們解釋一下，在 2024 年退出時，影響營收表現的因素有哪些？在製定 2025 年展望時，您是如何看待這些關鍵的潛在驅動因素的？

Maybe I'll start with that one, David, and then Wayde, do you want to add any color. I've been talking about the improvement that we need in what I just defined as three vectors. It's really not rocket science. There's only three ways that you start to collect growth in the businesses. That's either on commercial excellence.

也許我應該從這個開始，大衛，然後韋德，你想添加任何顏色嗎？我一直在談論我們需要在剛才定義的三個向量方面做出的改進。這真的不是什麼火箭科學。只有三種方法可以開始實現業務成長。這都與商業卓越有關。

I want to call it organic or R&D innovation and then M&A, right? Those are the three vectors. I would just say on a commercial excellence, that's the fastest. It can almost be immediate, and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a second. The second is R&D, and that takes a little bit longer, usually 18 months to three years in the space that we're in from ideation to launch.

我想稱之為有機或研發創新，然後是併購，對嗎？這就是三個向量。我只想說，就商業卓越性而言，這是最快的。它幾乎可以立即實現，稍後我將進一步討論這一點。第二個是研發，這需要更長的時間，從構思到發布通常需要 18 個月到 3 年的時間。

And of course, M&A depends on your balance sheet, your readiness from a capacity standpoint and then very obviously, attractive assets that would need to be available. I'd just say that out of the gate here, we're very much focused on leveraging commercial excellence. That's the primary vector of improvement. And then, of course, some of the existing R&D pipeline that I talked about in my prepared remarks. But a lot of what we're focusing on now is commercial excellence.

當然，併購取決於您的資產負債表、從產能角度而言的準備情況，以及顯然需要具備的有吸引力的資產。我只想說，我們從一開始就非常注重利用商業卓越性。這是改進的主要方向。當然，還有我在準備好的發言中談到的一些現有的研發管道。但我們現在關注的重點是商業卓越。

We've made significant changes in talent. We shifted the compensation towards growth. We've upscaled in our accountability culture. You've got to be urgent and accountable to deliver results in this organization now, not delivering results is not acceptable. We've increased the sophistication of our commercial operations.

我們在人才方面做出了重大改變。我們將薪酬轉向成長。我們的責任文化升級。你現在必須緊急並負責任地為這個組織做出成果，不做出成果是不可接受的。我們提高了商業營運的複雜程度。

That's really important to be able to point the team in the right direction and give them the tools needed to be successful, and then we started the specialization of our teams as well. So that's the big push so far. But then again, we're taking advantage of some of those R&D gems that we found in a bit of an anemic pipeline, and we're going to be leveraging those in the short term. But here's the thing, maintenance that, we are going to be building a stronger innovation pipeline. It is going to be driven off of the focused strategy that we're going to talk about coming in March 20th, and we will use the P&F sale seeds after we digest it for a period to move quicker into that M&A as well.

能夠為團隊指明正確的方向並為他們提供成功所需的工具非常重要，然後我們也開始對團隊進行專業化。這是迄今為止最大的推動。但話又說回來，我們正在利用一些我們在有些貧血的管道中發現的研發精華，並且我們將在短期內利用它們。但事情是這樣的，維護這一點，我們將建立更強大的創新管道。它將以我們將於 3 月 20 日討論的重點策略為基礎，並且我們將在消化一段時間後使用 P&F 銷售種子，以便更快地進入併購階段。

But right now, just out of the gate, you're seeing mainly just traction on the commercial side of things.

但就目前而言，我們剛剛看到，事情主要在商業方面取得進展。

So Bryan covered that, obviously, really well. We've got a lot of good work going on there. David, I'll just affirm your comment around what we saw throughout 2024, and how that leads into 2025. So you're right, volume has continued to improve. So in the first half of the year, our growth was more than all pricing volume was declining.

顯然，布萊恩對此進行了非常好的報導。我們在那裡開展了很多出色的工作。大衛，我只是想確認你對我們在 2024 年看到的情況以及這將如何影響 2025 年的評論。所以你說得對，銷量一直持續改善。因此，在上半年，我們的成長超過了所有定價量的下降。

In the second half of the year, we saw that reverse, and we saw our price come into more of a normalized range, and we see volume now more than all the growth. And so we're seeing a nice momentum in bill a volume improvement across our businesses. And as that momentum through Q4, that gives us the confidence to guide up like we are for 2025. And so just to highlight that in this vein of thinking, in 2025, we've got a 1% to 2% guide, but that now includes the 50 basis point of SKU headwind. So you know that's 1.5% to 2.5% on that's coming off of a year of 1.2%, where price was a good size in the first half of the year.

在下半年，我們看到了這種逆轉，我們看到價格進入了更正常化的範圍，我們看到交易量現在超過了所有的成長。因此，我們看到整個業務的帳單量都有了良好的成長勢頭。隨著第四季的勢頭，我們有信心朝著 2025 年的方向前進。因此，只是為了強調這一點，按照這種思路，到 2025 年，我們有一個 1% 到 2% 的指導方針，但現在其中包括 50 個基點的 SKU 逆風。所以你知道，這是在去年 1.2% 的基礎上實現的 1.5% 到 2.5% 的增幅，而今年上半年的價格漲幅相當大。

And we're not assuming that for 2025, we think price will continue in this normalized range. And so we really are counting on the things that Bryan just mentioned, those improvements across the business. And that's what gives us confidence to guide in that 1.5% to 2.5% on a normalized basis for 2025.

我們並不假設 2025 年價格將繼續維持在這個正常範圍內。因此，我們確實指望布萊恩剛才提到的那些整個業務的改進。這使我們有信心將 2025 年的正常化成長率控制在 1.5% 至 2.5% 之間。

That's helpful. And I feel here to tell me that you're going to cover this next topic at the analyst meeting, but I'm hoping to get a little bit of color here, which is just on what's happening in your end markets? Because as I look at your performance, then the peers that we're able to track both the public and private side, I'm having trouble finding what peers are growing at a rate that averages your growth back to 4% to 6%. So as you've gone through the separation here, is -- maybe you could just sort of update us on your thoughts, what's happening in these end markets, and where is the competition doing better than you? And maybe help us provide a little bit more color on the confidence you have in that market outlook.

這很有幫助。我想告訴您，您將在分析師會議上討論下一個主題，但我希望在這裡獲得一些信息，也就是您的終端市場正在發生的事情？因為當我觀察你們的表現，然後觀察我們能夠追蹤的公開和私人領域的同行時，我很難發現哪些同行的成長率能夠達到平均 4% 到 6% 的水平。因此，當您經歷了這裡的分離時，也許您可以向我們更新您的想法，這些終端市場正在發生什麼，競爭對手在哪些方面比您做得更好？也許可以幫助我們更好地了解您對市場前景的信心。

Maybe -- so yes, I hate to plan through the Investor Day, but we'll talk more about the Investor Day for sure. But I will talk about dental because it's kind of a standout growth rate in the fourth quarter. And it's just in consume with what I think sees happening in the dental market. So if I just talk about that one. It's important to the fourth quarter as a good quarter, no question, PE, but it was an easy comment.

也許——是的，我不想透過投資者日來製定計劃，但我們肯定會更多地談論投資者日。但我還是要談牙科，因為它在第四季的成長率相當突出。我認為這與牙科市場正在發生的事情一致。所以如果我只談論這一點。毫無疑問，對於 PE 來說，第四季度是一個好季度，這很重要，但這是一個簡單的評論。

And so the best way to think about our dental performance is to blend it with Q3 because that's why the easy comp occur. And if you do that, you're going to see it's kind of flattish, which is probably more indicative of what's happening in the market right now. As I said, we are seeing some good performance in the new products that they're launching. And Kareem, who is leader of that business, we'll talk more about it on March 20. But that one is the one that probably stands out as most incongruent in the quarter with the market and the other performance of other players in dental, but it's mainly because of a comp difference.

因此，思考我們的牙科表現的最佳方式是將其與 Q3 結合，因為這就是輕鬆競爭發生的原因。如果你這樣做，你會看到它有點平緩，這可能更能說明現在市場正在發生的情況。正如我所說，我們看到他們推出的新產品表現良好。我們將於 3 月 20 日與該業務負責人 Kareem 進一步討論此事。但這可能是本季與市場以及其他牙科參與者的表現最不一致的，但這主要是因為競爭差異。

Travis Steed from Bank of America.

美國銀行的特拉維斯·斯蒂德 (Travis Steed)。

I wanted to touch on the operating margin guide, the 20% to 21% in 2025. It looks like you're already kind of at 21.3% since you've been post spin. I know there's a lot of moving parts between that and '25. So just trying to -- if there's a way to think about kind of the puts and takes on that '25 op margin guidance, if there's a way to kind of evaluate the underlying performance of of your margin expansion and progression over the course of the year, and how to think about kind of the puts and takes there?

我想談談營業利益率指南，即 2025 年的 20% 至 21%。看起來自從你開始旋轉以來，你已經達到了 21.3%。我知道這和’25之間有很多活動部件。所以只是嘗試 - 是否有辦法思考 25 年營業利潤率指引的看跌和看漲，是否有辦法評估一年內利潤率擴張和進展的潛在表現，以及如何思考那裡的看跌和看漲？

Sure. Yes. And it certainly has been a journey. Our first quarter when we went to look in Q2, which is really before any changes were made to the business. we had 20.7% operating margins.

當然。是的。這確實是一次旅程。當我們進入第二季時，我們注意到第一季的情況，那時業務實際上還沒有發生任何變化。我們的營業利益率為20.7%。

And then as you've seen from there, we've continued to make investments in our critical functions to stand up our public company as well as growth investments throughout the year. As you mentioned, Travis, many puts and takes across the separation and spin. But the way that I would have people look at it and it's the way we're looking at it is after three quarters, we've really settled into our business model. We've made those critical investments we needed to make in functions. And when we talk about that, we mean areas like cybersecurity, our controllership accounting teams, our legal compliance teams, so we made the investments that we felt necessary to stand up this public company.

然後正如你所看到的，我們全年持續對關鍵職能進行投資，以鞏固我們的上市公司地位以及成長投資。正如你所提到的，特拉維斯，在分離和旋轉過程中有很多推桿和接桿。但我希望人們以同樣的方式看待這個問題，而且我們也是這麼看待的，經過三個季度之後，我們已經真正確定了我們的商業模式。我們已經在功能方面做出了必要的關鍵投資。當我們談論這一點時，我們指的是網路安全、我們的主計會計團隊、我們的法律合規團隊等領域，因此我們進行了我們認為必要的投資，以支持這家上市公司。

We've also layered in growth investments. And so as we exit the year, Q4 at 20.4%. We think that is the run rate that will now carry into 2025, and then we'll start to build upon it. And so we've got a guidance range of 20% to 21%, but I would remind people that we also have the additional 50 basis point headwind in 2025 as we annualize the costs from the 3M separation-related agreement where they can step up costs. And so we had 50 basis points this year.

我們也分層進行成長投資。今年第四季的成長率為 20.4%。我們認為這個運行率將持續到 2025 年，然後我們將開始在此基礎上繼續發展。因此，我們的指導範圍是 20% 到 21%，但我要提醒大家，我們在 2025 年還面臨額外的 50 個基點的阻力，因為我們將 3M 分離相關協議的成本年化，從而可以增加成本。所以今年我們的利率是 50 個基點。

We'll have an additional 50 basis points next year as we annualize it. So we're starting with that 20% to 21% operating margin. And that's, as you all know, 2025 will be the first year of four quarters for the business, and then we'll go to work on improving operating margins from there.

如果我們將其按年率計算，明年我們將額外增加 50 個基點。因此，我們的開始營業利潤率為 20% 到 21%。眾所周知，2025 年將是公司業務的第一個四個季度的年份，從那時起我們將致力於提高營業利潤率。

Okay. And then congrats on the P&L divestiture. But I did want to ask, first of all, is that when you think about the kind of the divestiture of the business and the potential to simplify the portfolio, is the P&F divestiture kind of the 1 big one? Or is this going to be other things coming potentially over the course of the next few years? And then on the P&F divestitures, a little hard for us to get the models to EPS neutral.

好的。然後祝賀損益剝離成功。但首先我想問的是，當您考慮業務剝離的類型以及簡化投資組合的潛力時，P&F 剝離是否是最重要的一項？或者這是未來幾年內可能出現的其他事情？然後，關於 P&F 資產剝離，我們很難讓模型達到 EPS 中性。

Just curious how you're thinking about the conservatism built into the EPS impact of that divestiture.

只是好奇您如何看待此次資產剝離對每股盈餘的影響中所蘊含的保守主義。

Why don't you start with the neutral view on 2025, specifically, maybe talk about the annualized version the first. And then I'll talk about other part of your question?

為什麼不從對 2025 年的中性觀點開始呢，具體來說，也許先談談年化版本。然後我來談談你問題的其他部分？

Sure. Yes, I'm glad you brought that one up, Travis, because I see a lot of people looking at this on an annualized basis, and that's not obviously how it's going to play out this year. So on an annualized basis, I would agree it's accretive. However, we're planning to close this divestiture sometime in the second half as we progress to the end of the year. And so keep in mind, the EPS impact is dependent upon the timing of the close, the timing and the cost of the tender of the debt and then obviously, timing of stranded cost reductions.

當然。是的，我很高興你提出這個問題，特拉維斯，因為我看到很多人以年度為基礎來看待這個問題，而今年的情況顯然不會如此。因此，按年率計算，我同意它具有增值性。然而，我們計劃在年底前下半年某個時候完成這項資產剝離。因此請記住，每股盈餘的影響取決於結算時間、債務招標時間和成本，當然還有擱淺成本削減的時間。

So we don't know what month specifically the deal will close. It will be in the second half. But how fast we can tender the debt post close and at what cost has to be factored in as well. So there'll be a shorter period of time of interest savings than EBITDA savings. So it's not just a simple 12-month math as some people may be thinking.

所以我們不知道交易具體會在哪個月完成。它會在下半場發生。但我們也必須考慮債務結束後能夠多快償還以及償還成本是多少。因此，利息節省的時間會比 EBITDA 節省的時間短。因此，這不僅僅是一些人所想的簡單的 12 個月的數學運算。

So altogether, we're planning for the deal to be neutral here in 2025. Hopefully, that helps. I think some people are looking at it on an annualized basis, and that math obviously makes sensing, he's creative. But just given the timing of '25, it's going to be neutral.

所以總的來說，我們計劃在 2025 年實現中立協議。希望這能有所幫助。我認為有些人是從年度角度來看待這個問題的，而這種計算顯然是有道理的，他很有創意。但考慮到 25 年的時間，它將是中性的。

Just on the other part of your question, Travis, I guess the way I would answer it is that not answer that you're going to get these situations, I suppose, but maybe I'll give you some color. I think it's pretty obvious that portfolio optimization is -- it's an ongoing process. I think the best leadership teams look at this in a perpetual way and are always looking at the value of their portfolio. And we're going to continue to do that. We're going to assess the value of our business, and we're going to make thoughtful decisions on where we're going to invest and where we're not just like we've said from the beginning.

關於你問題的另一部分，特拉維斯，我想我的回答方式是，不是說你會遇到這些情況，但也許我可以給你一些解釋。我認為投資組合優化顯然是一個持續的過程。我認為最好的領導團隊會以永久的方式看待這個問題，並始終關注其投資組合的價值。我們將繼續這樣做。我們將評估我們業務的價值，並深思熟慮地決定我們要在哪裡投資，以及我們不在何處投資，就像我們從一開始就說的那樣。

And I probably want to make sure that I underline if we determined at some point in the future that a business is more highly valued elsewhere. Then we'll consider all the appropriate variables to determine whether we should do a transaction. And we're going to do the normal stuff that everybody does, which is does it make sense for shareholders? Is it strategic and financial benefit to the company? Do we have the organizational capacity.

如果我們在未來某個時候確定某項業務在其他地方的估值更高，我可能會想確保我強調這一點。然後我們會考慮所有適當的變數來決定是否應該進行交易。我們將做每個人都會做的正常事情，這對股東來說是否有意義？這對公司有策略和財務利益嗎？我們是否有組織能力。

But very importantly for us, we need to make sure that we're always considering tax consideration tax applications. Do we do anything that could disrupt the tax-free nature of the spin. And then obviously, if we're so connected with 3M, when we do a transaction, that TSA bridging is another variable that we have to consider. But I guess the short story is it's a never-ending process when you look at portfolio optimization.

但對我們來說非常重要的是，我們需要確保我們始終考慮稅務考慮稅務申請。我們是否會做任何可能破壞免稅性質的事情？顯然，如果我們與 3M 關係密切，那麼當我們進行交易時，TSA 橋接就是我們必須考慮的另一個變數。但我想簡而言之，當你考慮投資組合優化時，這是一個永無止境的過程。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Vik Chopra from Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的維克喬普拉 (Vik Chopra)。

Two for me. I appreciate the situation where tariff is dynamic. But can you help us understand how much of your manufacturing is coming from Mexico how much flexibility you have to move production elsewhere and to take price to offset any tariff impact? And then I had a follow-up, please.

對我來說是兩個。我很欣賞關稅動態的情況。但是，您能否幫助我們了解，你們的製造業務中有多少來自墨西哥，你們在將生產轉移到其他地方以及採取何種價格來抵消關稅影響方面有多少靈活性？然後我還有一個後續問題，請回答。

Sure. I could take that one. And it is certainly the topic of the day, Vik. And so like others, we're obviously concerned and we're monitoring this very closely. All we know at this point really is that China has had the 10% tariff put on it from the US

當然。我可以接受那個。這當然是今天的話題，維克。因此，與其他人一樣，我們顯然感到擔憂，並正在密切關注此事。目前我們真正知道的是，美國對中國徵收了 10% 的關稅

And given that that's implemented, we are including that small piece in our guide, but it's very small relatively, given our limited imports from China. But it's really too early to speculate, and that's why we're not including large tariff impact or potential speculative impact in our guide because we really don't know where this is going to land, and there's certainly timing dynamics where it seems to be very fluid and changing a lot. Having said that, we do believe our global footprint likely has less exposure than the other countries. And we have less manufacturing in China. We have 1 plant there, two in Mexico and 1 in Canada.

鑑於該政策已經實施，我們將把這一小部分內容納入我們的指南中，但考慮到我們從中國的進口量有限，這一小部分內容相對來說非常小。但現在猜測還為時過早，這就是為什麼我們沒有在指南中包括大規模關稅影響或潛在的投機影響，因為我們真的不知道這將會導致什麼結果，而且肯定存在時間動態，它似乎非常不穩定，變化很大。話雖如此，我們確實相信我們的全球影響力可能比其他國家小。而且我們在中國的製造業也比較少。我們在那裡有一家工廠，在墨西哥有兩家工廠，在加拿大有一家工廠。

And so relative to others, we do think we probably have less exposure. But having said that, we do have plants and businesses in these regions. And depending on where this lands, there may be an impact from tariffs. But at this point, we're not going to speculate on what it is. Maybe the last thing I would just add is one of our segments, HIS, does not have manufacturing production.

因此，相對於其他人而言，我們確實認為我們的風險敞口可能較小。但話雖如此，我們在這些地區確實有工廠和業務。並且根據具體情況，關稅可能會產生影響。但現在我們不想猜測它是什麼。我最後要補充的是，我們的一個部門 HIS 沒有製造生產。

So it does not have any exposure. So in addition to a lot of our manufacturing being within the US One of our segments doesn't have any exposure at all. So relative to others, we're probably going to have less exposure. And then to your specific question on Mexico, I mentioned we have two plants there.

所以它沒有任何曝光。因此，除了我們的大部分製造業務在美國境內之外，我們的一個部門根本沒有任何風險。因此相對於其他人來說，我們的曝光率可能會較低。然後關於您關於墨西哥的具體問題，我提到我們在那裡有兩家工廠。

A small percentage of our sales is in those three countries, China, Mexico, Canada, and pretty relatively small percentage of our production as well.

我們的銷售額只有一小部分銷往中國、墨西哥、加拿大這三個國家，而且我們的產量也佔比較小。

Great. And my follow-up question is you've sold the Purification and Filtration business. The majority of the proceeds will be used to repay debt. But are there any plans to initiate a dividend or buy back any stock?

偉大的。我的後續問題是，您已經出售了淨化和過濾業務。所得款項大部分將用於償還債務。但是有沒有發放股利或回購股票的計畫呢？

You probably don't want me answering that.

你可能不想讓我回答這個問題。

I could certainly take this one. As you mentioned, Vik, and we've had in our prepared remarks there, primarily all the proceeds are going to go down to paying debt. Regarding a share repurchase and dividend, we are not planning those. One of the reasons is related to our 3M agreements. So in our tax matters agreement with 3M, there are certain strengths with respect to asset sales.

我當然可以接受這個。正如你所提到的維克，我們在準備好的發言中也提到過，所有收益主要都將用於償還債務。至於股票回購和分紅，我們沒有計劃。其中一個原因與我們的 3M 協定有關。因此，在我們與 3M 達成的稅務事宜協議中，在資產出售方面具有一定的優勢。

And so based on those restrictions, we can't use proceeds for things like share repurchase. So I'll just back up and remind everybody about our capital plan priorities that we've been communicating since our first Investor Day and the spin, where first priority is funding the operations of the business and paying down debt. And that's exactly what we're doing here. And then it also positions us for tuck-in acquisitions, as we've mentioned a couple of times here, and that hasn't changed. So the good news is we're now in a position with the delevered and stronger balance sheet to go on offense with M&A.

因此，基於這些限制，我們不能將收益用於股票回購之類的用途。因此，我只想回顧並提醒大家我們的資本計劃優先事項，自我們的第一個投資者日和分拆以來我們一直在溝通，其中首要任務是資助業務運營和償還債務。這正是我們在這裡所做的事情。而且它也為我們進行附加收購做好了準備，正如我們在這裡提到過幾次的那樣，這一點並沒有改變。因此，好消息是，我們現在擁有去槓桿和更強勁的資產負債表，可以透過併購發動攻擊。

Rick Wise from Stifel.

來自 Stifel 的 Rick Wise。

Maybe I'll ask another guidance question. I would expect nothing less than from Wade, I would expect more from you, Bryan. I'm sure this is thoughtfully in balanced guidance when we look at the top line growth and the EPS outlook. Maybe you could help us better understand, we've heard a lot of the headwinds in the incremental the SKU exit impacts, but help us understand that upper end of the guidance range and the things that you're counting on to go right, what gets you to that top end? What do we even help you do even better?

也許我會問另一個指導性問題。我對韋德的期望不會低於這個數字，但對布萊恩，我對你的期望會更高。當我們考慮營業收入成長和每股盈餘前景時，我相信這是經過深思熟慮的平衡指引。也許您可以幫助我們更好地理解，我們已經聽說了 SKU 退出影響的增量方面的許多阻力，但請幫助我們理解指導範圍的上限以及您所指望的事情，是什麼讓您達到了那個上限？我們還能幫助您做得更好嗎？

And maybe there's color around commercial execution or some of the new products in MedSurg. Just help us better understand the upper end of things.

或許還有商業執行方面或是 MedSurg 的一些新產品方面的內容。只是幫助我們更理解事物的上端。

Yes. That's a great question. It's they way I look at it is 1 and probably one of the most important ones is not necessarily commercially based, at least not from a performance standpoint, is the ERP got over. If we can get through the ERP covers, we've got two pretty material ones coming up this year got serious mitigation plans in place to make sure that we don't have any disruption. But those things can be they can be fickle.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。我的看法是 1，其中最重要的一個可能不一定是基於商業的，至少不是從性能的角度來看，而是 ERP 已經克服了。如果我們能夠突破 ERP 覆蓋範圍，那麼今年我們將面臨兩個非常重要的問題，並且制定了嚴密的緩解計劃，以確保我們不會出現任何中斷。但這些事情可能是變化無常的。

And so that's one of the things we're looking at that would -- if it goes really well, it helps us get to the top end of that range. If it doesn't go well, then that could push us down to the bottom part of the range. That's probably the biggest variable that's to some extent under our control, but even the best at plans, don't typically survive first contact with the end of the year right, so that's one. The second one is that this commercial piece that I talked about, we have hired some really, really good talent. We have a completely new disciplined model in the way that going to market.

所以這是我們正在考慮的事情之一——如果進展順利，它將幫助我們達到這個範圍的最高點。如果進展不順利，我們可能會跌至範圍的底部。這可能是我們在某種程度上可以控制的最大變量，但即使是最好的計劃，通常也無法在年底的第一次接觸中存活下來，所以這是其中之一。第二個是，我談到的這個商業部分，我們聘請了一些非常非常優秀的人才。我們在進入市場的方式上有一個全新的規範模式。

We're specializing the sales organization. We picked our growth drivers, and we're going to be doubling down in those areas. So if we pick the right growth drivers and we deliver with that execution model, that helps us get to the top end of the range. No question about it. There's not much we can do to add incremental R&D at this point.

我們是專業的銷售機構。我們選擇了自己的成長動力，並將在這些領域加倍努力。因此，如果我們選擇正確的成長動力，並採用該執行模式，這將幫助我們達到最高水準。毫無疑問。目前，我們能做的並不多，無法增加增量研發。

That ideation process takes a while, like I mentioned. But we are going to try to find the gems in the portfolio. we're going to get more aggressive on the prediction of growth in those areas, and we're going to build the capacity around them. And right now, a perfect example, Peel and Place and Clinpro, two great products, we way under club because of conservatism what we felt those products could do, we don't have the capacity to sell it. So we've got to do a better job of that in '25 for those products already in the queue.

正如我所提到的，這個構思過程需要一段時間。但我們會盡力在投資組合中尋找珍寶。我們將更加積極地預測這些領域的成長，並圍繞這些領域進行產能建設。現在，一個完美的例子是 Peel and Place 和 Clinpro，這兩種很棒的產品，由於保守主義，我們覺得這些產品的作用不大，我們沒有能力銷售它們。因此，我們必須在25年更好地處理已在排隊的產品。

But those are the two biggest things -- the three biggest things actually that I believe can help us get to the top end of the range. The one that just going to keep you up at night is that [Europe] got over. We got to do our job to mitigate that.

但這是最重要的兩件事——實際上，我相信這三件最重要的事情可以幫助我們達到最高水準。最讓你徹夜難眠的是，歐洲已經結束了。我們必須做好自己的工作來緩解這種情況。

Got you. That's great, Bryan. And maybe just last for me, just a more focused on. We haven't talked much about HIS. And I just wanted to -- not knowing much about this space really.

明白了。太棒了，布萊恩。對我來說也許只是最後一件事，只是更專注。我們還沒有談論太多有關他的事。我只是想——實際上對這個領域並不太了解。

I just wanted to better understand when you talk about 50% to 90% of cases can be automated in the autonomous coating. Just where are we, and where are you in realizing this opportunity? What are you expecting? What are you assuming for this year? It's now going to be post this sale, a bigger piece and a more important piece of the business.

我只是想更好地理解您所說的 50% 到 90% 的情況可以在自主塗層中實現自動化。我們和您現在正處在怎樣的階段才能實現這項機會呢？您期待什麼？您對今年有什麼期望？此次出售後，它將成為公司業務中更大、更重要的一部分。

So just help update us. I know we'll talk more about it at the Analyst Day, too.

所以請幫助我們更新資訊。我知道我們也會在分析師日上進一步討論這個問題。

Yes, absolutely, Rick. So I will never do the same justice that Gary will do when she gets up on stage and she presents her business, but I'll give you the importance of autonomous coating from a layman's perspective. And here's what you've got to know about revenue cycle management. It is a very labor-intensive process with a lot of things that change. And what you typically find, it's hard to find the people that know how to do the coding.

是的，當然，里克。因此，當 Gary 登上舞台介紹她的業務時，我永遠無法像她那樣公正地對待她，但我會從外行人的角度向您介紹自主塗層的重要性。以下是您需要了解的有關收入週期管理的知識。這是一個非常耗費人力的過程，有很多事情都會改變。你通常會發現，很難找到懂得編碼的人。

So you're always pressed on being able to get people to do this well, and they make mistakes. It's just human area. It's going to make mistakes. And so what we're trying to do is to take the pressure on the FTE side of the equation out of the equation by doing autonomous coding. I would say we're early in the phases of this.

因此，你總是被迫讓人們做好這件事，但他們會犯錯。這只是人類的區域。它將會犯錯。因此，我們試圖做的是透過自主編碼來消除等式中 FTE 一側的壓力。我想說我們正處於這階段的早期階段。

We've got to prove it out. But we do believe that the technology could apply to 50% to 90% of cases, that's significant. That's important. Now we got a proven works, and we've got to be able to validate that our autonomous code could do it as well as people can, if not better. But the idea would be you take that lever challenge out of the picture, you also reduce mistakes because you've got an AI system that's going to be able to do it lightly better without the mistakes than a human review, and you bring down the cost and the efficiency as a result of it.

我們必須證明這一點。但我們確實相信這項技術可以應用在 50% 到 90% 的案例，這是很有意義的。這很重要。現在我們已經獲得了經過驗證的作品，我們必須能夠驗證我們的自主程式碼是否可以像人類一樣做得更好。但我們的想法是，你可以消除槓桿挑戰，同時還可以減少錯誤，因為你擁有一個人工智慧系統，它可以比人工審核做得更好，而且不會犯錯，從而降低成本和提高效率。

It's pretty exciting for us because we're so highly penetrated with Encompass 360, which is our software package for RCM. This is the next potential area of growth that in data integrity, which is another interesting area that you know more about March 20th. But I like what I'm hearing. We just got to prove it out.

這對我們來說相當令人興奮，因為我們對 Encompass 360 的滲透率非常高，它是我們的 RCM 軟體包。這是資料完整性的下一個潛在成長領域，也是您在 3 月 20 日了解的另一個有趣的領域。但我喜歡我聽到的內容。我們只是要證明這一點。

I will now turn the call back over to Amy for closing remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回給艾米，請她作結語。

Thank you, Eli, and thank you to everyone who joined us. Thank you for listening and for your questions. We appreciate your interest in Solventum. If you have follow-up questions or need anything else, please don't hesitate to reach out directly. This concludes our fourth quarter 2024 earnings call, Eli, you can now close us out.

謝謝你，Eli，也謝謝所有加入我們的人。感謝您的聆聽與提問。我們感謝您對 Solventum 的關注。如果您有後續問題或需要任何其他協助，請隨時直接與我們聯繫。這就是我們 2024 年第四季財報電話會議的結束，Eli，你現在可以結束我們的會議了。

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。