Sunopta Inc (STKL) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to SunOpta's 3rd quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call.

各位來賓，歡迎參加SunOpta 2025財年第三季財報電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host Reed Anderson with ICR.

現在，我想把會議交給ICR的主持人里德·安德森。

Thank you. We may begin.

謝謝。我們可以開始了。

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us on SunOpta's 3rd quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. On the call today are Brian Kocher, Chief Executive Officer; and Greg Gaba, Chief Financial Officer. By now everyone should have access to the earnings press release that was issued earlier this afternoon and is available on the investor relations page of SunOpta's website at www.synopta.com. This call is being webcast. This transcription will also be available on the company's website. Investor presentation referenced during this call and webcast is also posted on the company's investor relations website.

下午好，感謝各位參加SunOpta 2025財年第三季財報電話會議。今天參加電話會議的有執行長 Brian Kocher 和財務長 Greg Gaba。現在所有人都應該可以訪問今天下午早些時候發布的盈利新聞稿，該新聞稿可在SunOpta網站www.synopta.com的投資者關係頁面上找到。本次電話會議正在進行網路直播。這份文字稿也將發佈在公司網站上。本次電話會議和網路直播中提到的投資者簡報也已發佈在公司投資者關係網站上。

As a reminder, please note that the prepared remarks, which will follow, contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer you to all risk factors contained in the SunOpta's press release issued this afternoon, the company's Annual Report filed on Form 10-K, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

再次提醒，請注意，接下來的發言稿包含前瞻性陳述，管理層可能會在回答您的問題時做出額外的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明並不保證未來的業績，因此不應過度依賴這些聲明。我們建議您參閱 SunOpta 今天下午發布的新聞稿、公司提交的 10-K 表格年度報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中包含的所有風險因素。

For a more detailed discussion of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projections and any forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly correct or update the forward-looking statements made during the presentation to reflect future events or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

有關可能導致實際結果與這些預測和任何前瞻性聲明有重大差異的因素的更詳細討論。除適用證券法可能要求的情況外，本公司不承擔公開更正或更新簡報中所作出的前瞻性聲明以反映未來事件或情況的義務。

Finally, we would like to remind listeners.

最後，我們想提醒各位聽眾。

That the company may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures during this teleconference. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures was included with the company's press release issued earlier today. Also, please note in the prepared remarks that follow, unless otherwise stated, the company will be referring to the continuing operations portion of the business and all figures are in US dollars, occasionally rounded to the nearest million. Now I'll turn the call over to Brian to begin. Brian.

本公司可能會在本次電話會議中提及某些非GAAP財務指標。該公司今天稍早發布的新聞稿中包含了這些非GAAP財務指標的調節表。另外，請注意，除非另有說明，以下準備好的發言稿中，公司將指的是持續經營業務部分，所有數字均以美元為單位，有時會四捨五入到最接近的百萬。現在我把電話交給布萊恩，讓他開始通話。布萊恩。

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today. With my prepared remarks, I want to cover 3 topics review our 3rd quarter performance, including some underlying trends supporting our tremendous growth.

下午好，感謝各位今天蒞臨。我準備的發言稿將涵蓋三個主題：回顧我們第三季的業績，包括一些支撐我們巨大成長的潛在趨勢。

Provide transparency around some near-term operational opportunities we are navigating and reinforce our confidence in our long-term growth trajectory, margin expansion initiatives, and value creation potential.

提高我們對近期營運機會的透明度，並重申我們對長期成長軌跡、利潤率擴張計劃和價值創造潛力的信心。

Greg will then cover Q3 financial results and our updated 2025 expectations and initial 2026 outlook in more detail.

接下來，Greg 將更詳細地介紹第三季財務業績、我們更新後的 2025 年預期以及 2026 年初步展望。

Following our scripted comments, we'll take your questions.

在完成事先準備好的發言後，我們將回答您的問題。

Let me begin by saying that Q3 marked another quarter of exceptional commercial success. We exceeded our expectations for revenue and met our Q3 expectations for adjusted EBITDA.

首先我想說的是，第三季又是一個商業上取得巨大成功的季度。我們的營收超出了預期，第三季調整後 EBITDA 也達到了預期。

We continue to demonstrate our revenue diversity and ability to grow market share.

我們持續展現出收入多元化和擴大市場份額的能力。

Our categories and customers continue to grow at an accelerated rate compared to broader food and beverage trends. We did a fantastic job of creating capacity within our existing manufacturing network to service 17% volume growth.

與整體食品飲料發展趨勢相比，我們的產品類別和客戶群繼續以更快的速度成長。我們出色地利用現有製造網路創造了產能，以滿足 17% 的產量成長需求。

We have now achieved 9 successive quarters of on average 15% volume growth.

我們已連續 9 個季度平均實現 15% 的銷售成長。

And have done so while maintaining the highest food safety and quality standards.

而且，他們始終堅持最高的食品安全和品質標準。

As you can see on slide 6, revenue increased 17%.

如投影片 6 所示，收入成長了 17%。

Driven entirely by customer demand, and we continue to experience broad-based gains across our portfolio.

完全由客戶需求驅動，我們的產品組合持續獲得全面成長。

Sales volume across our TOP 6 customers all increased over the previous year.

我們前六大客戶的銷售額均比前一年有所成長。

We continue to win with category leading customers in high performing categories and channels.

我們持續在業績優異的品類和通路中贏得業界領先客戶的青睞。

Plant-based milk volumes increased at a heightened rate in Q3.

第三季植物奶銷售成長速度加快。

We have exceptional momentum in the club channel as well as continued strength in food service, where we continue to drive both menu expansion and share gains.

我們在俱樂部通路擁有強勁的發展勢頭，同時在餐飲服務領域也保持著持續的優勢，我們不斷擴大菜單範圍並提升市場份額。

Broth had another solid quarter with volumes up high single-digits, and tea was our fastest growing product category in both retail and food service during the quarter.

肉湯在本季表現依然穩健，銷量實現了接近兩位數的成長；而茶飲則是本季零售和餐飲服務領域成長最快的產品類別。

In Better for you fruit snacks, we achieved our 21st consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth.

在「更健康水果零食」領域，我們連續第 21 個季度實現了兩位數的營收成長。

Note that demand for fruit snacks continues to significantly outpace supply, and we look forward to bringing on the previously announced additional capacity in 2026.

請注意，水果零食的需求仍然遠遠超過供應，我們期待在 2026 年實現之前宣布的額外產能。

Turning to slide 7, I want to expand on the strength of the plant-based beverage category in food service.

接下來請看第 7 張投影片，我想進一步闡述植物性飲料在餐飲服務領域的優勢。

[So common] data disclosed the plant-based beverage category grew 9% in food service.

[如此常見的]數據顯示，植物性飲料類別在餐飲服務領域成長了 9%。

Menu innovation is creating new purchase occasions and driving frequency.

菜單創新正在創造新的購買機會並提高購買頻率。

Mintel reports that 46% of consumers are expected to visit coffee shops at increasing rates.

市場研究公司Mintel報告稱，預計46%的消費者將以越來越高的頻率光顧咖啡店。

With plant-based offerings increasingly at the core of this innovation, we are seeing increased levels of demand.

隨著植物基產品日益成為這項創新的核心，我們看到需求水準不斷提高。

In addition, based on consumption trends and population growth, we anticipate that the number of US coffee shop units will grow by approximately 20% over the next 5 years.

此外，根據消費趨勢和人口成長情況，我們預計未來 5 年美國咖啡店數量將增加約 20%。

Remember, our products are featured in 8 of the TOP10 coffee chains across North America, including ALL4 of the fastest growing chains.

請記住，我們的產品在北美排名前 10 的咖啡連鎖店中，有 8 家都設有門市，其中包括所有 4 家成長最快的連鎖店。

As a value-added solution provider with broad-based and diversified distribution, we already benefit from and our positioned to continue winning from these trends.

作為一家擁有廣泛且多元化分銷管道的增值解決方案提供商，我們已經從這些趨勢中受益，並已準備好繼續從中獲利。

During the quarter, a major club channel customer, a co-manufacturing customer, and two broth customers accelerated their supplier of choice decisions.

本季度，一家大型俱樂部通路客戶、一家代工客戶和兩家肉湯客戶加快了其首選供應商的決策。

We had opportunities to capture the volume immediately.

我們有機會立即拿下這筆交易。

Along with some expected temporary inefficiencies that would accompany servicing the volume or forgo the business and profit for several years.

除了預期中的一些暫時性效率低下（例如服務如此大的業務量），否則可能會在幾年內失去業務和利潤。

We seize every single one of these opportunities.

我們抓住了每一個這樣的機會。

These are exactly the kind of openings that validate our solutions-based approach and demonstrate why customers view us as an indispensable partner.

正是這類機會驗證了我們以解決方案為導向的方法，並證明了為什麼客戶將我們視為不可或缺的合作夥伴。

When the commercial marketplace presents these windows to expand our footprint and deepen customer relationships, we do not hesitate.

當商業市場出現擴大我們的業務範圍和加深客戶關係的機會時，我們毫不猶豫。

Taking advantage of all that new demand did present short-term challenges to our supply chain, and I want to be completely transparent about the operational realities of accelerating business into 2025.

利用所有這些新需求確實為我們的供應鏈帶來了短期挑戰，我想完全透明地說明在 2025 年加速業務營運的實際情況。

To put this in perspective, at the beginning of the year, our production and cost plans were built in anticipation of approximately 9% revenue growth.

為了讓大家更好地理解這一點，年初時，我們的生產和成本計劃是根據大約 9% 的收入成長預期制定的。

We actually grew 17% in Q3.

第三季我們實際成長了17%。

In stretching our operations to satisfy customers' incremental growth needs, we quickly re-engineered our network to drive more volume output.

為了滿足客戶不斷增長的需求，我們擴大了營運規模，並迅速對網路進行了重新設計，以提高產量。

While we were able to create enough capacity to service the increased demand, the production schedule was not as efficient as it could have been, and equipment maintenance requirements were more significant than planned.

雖然我們能夠創造足夠的產能來滿足不斷增長的需求，但生產計劃的效率並不像預期的那麼高，設備維護需求也比計劃的要大。

We paid more in parts, technicians, and outside services to keep the equipment running and incurred additional overtime costs to accomplish this.

為了維持設備的正常運轉，我們在零件、技術人員和外部服務方面投入了更多資金，並且為此產生了額外的加班費用。

We also had to push some of the new volume to our Midlothian facility, exacerbating the pre-existing limitations at that facility.

我們還必須將部分新增產量轉移到我們在米德洛錫安的工廠，加劇了工廠原有的產能限制。

Given we will never compromise our food safety and quality standards, the new volume opportunities also increased our short-term cost of compliance.

鑑於我們絕不會降低食品安全和品質標準，新的銷售機會也增加了我們短期合規成本。

Finally, as we were focused on servicing our customers with safe and high-quality product, we were forced to delay some of the previously planned margin expansion initiatives.

最後，由於我們專注於為客戶提供安全、高品質的產品，我們不得不推遲一些先前計劃的利潤率擴張計劃。

As we digest the incremental volume, driving operational efficiencies will be back on center stage.

隨著業務量的增加，提高營運效率將重新成為工作的首要任務。

While it would take us a couple of quarters to fully absorb all the volume growth, we have a clear understanding of the root causes of the short-term increased spend and our implementing corrective action plans.

雖然我們需要幾個季度的時間才能完全消化所有銷售成長，但我們清楚地了解短期支出增加的根本原因，並且我們正在實施糾正措施計劃。

These plans include maintenance scheduling changes, labor balancing between shifts, and network optimization between plans. I am confident in and fully expect to get back to our planned adjusted EBITDA growth and margin expansion pace by mid 2026.

這些計劃包括維護計劃變更、班次間勞動力平衡以及計劃間的網路優化。我有信心並完全預期到 2026 年年中，我們將恢復到計劃中的調整後 EBITDA 成長和利潤率擴張速度。

We are incredibly excited about the long-term benefits of the customer volume recently gained and fully expect to see incremental benefits in 2027 and beyond.

我們對近期客戶數量成長帶來的長期效益感到無比興奮，並完全期待在 2027 年及以後看到更多效益。

I do not want the short-term increase in cost to overshadow the most important part of our 3rd quarter results.

我不希望短期成本成長掩蓋我們第三季業績中最重要的部分。

Our categories are roaring. Our customers are voting with their business, and they are voting for us. We are winning in the marketplace, and by virtue of these opportunities, we are growing volume faster than we anticipated.

我們的類別非常火爆。我們的客戶正在用他們的消費選擇投票，他們選擇支持我們。我們在市場上取得了成功，憑藉這些機遇，我們的銷售成長速度超過了預期。

As we look into the 2027, we see a growth trajectory well in excess of our expected supply chain capacity.

展望 2027 年，我們看到成長軌跡將遠遠超過我們預期的供應鏈能力。

Just as we realized last quarter with our fruit snacks business, our Aseptic customers are quickly demanding more capacity than we can deliver.

正如我們上個季度在水果零食業務中發現的那樣，我們的無菌包裝客戶對產能的需求很快就超過了我們所能提供的產能。

We must now invest for growth in 2027 and beyond.

我們現在必須為2027年及以後的成長進行投資。

As such, we are announcing the investment of an additional line of Aseptic processing capacity at our Midlothian facility.

因此，我們宣布將在米德洛錫安工廠投資增加一條無菌加工生產線。

We are timing the launch of this new line with the completion of the previously announced wastewater management investment.

我們將這條新生產線的推出時間與先前宣布的廢水處理投資項目的完成時間相匹配。

I am looking forward to finally utilizing the full power of our Midlothian facility.

我期待著最終能夠充分利用我們位於米德洛錫安的工廠的全部產能。

Greg, we'll have more details on the financials, but I am proud that we can invest in growth at an accretive ROIC while maintaining discipline leverage rate.

格雷格，我們會公佈更多財務細節，但我很自豪我們能夠在保持嚴格槓桿率的同時，以增值投資回報率進行成長投資。

Our confidence in the future continues to be based on what we can see, not on what we hope.

我們對未來的信心依然是基於我們所能看到的，而不是我們所希望的。

Our Fundamentals remain intact, and we are growing faster than we even anticipated.

我們的基本面依然穩固，而且我們的成長速度甚至超過了預期。

I remain incredibly confident in our strategic position and execution capabilities.

我對我們的戰略地位和執行能力仍然充滿信心。

This extraordinary growth does put some near term pressure on our production network, but we have a plan and know what we need to do to reach our margin targets.

這種非同尋常的成長確實給我們的生產網絡帶來了一些短期壓力，但我們有計劃，也知道我們需要做什麼才能實現我們的利潤目標。

Our ability to create value for customers while driving sustainable returns for shareholders remains our North Star.

我們始終以客戶創造價值、為股東帶來永續回報為目標。

Now, I'll turn the call over to Greg to cover the financial details and our updated outlook.

現在，我將把電話交給格雷格，讓他介紹財務細節和我們最新的展望。

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝你，布萊恩，大家下午好。

Turning to slide 11, we had another exceptionally strong top-line performance with third quarter revenue of $205 million, up 17% compared to last year, entirely driven by volume growth.

翻到第 11 張投影片，我們又迎來了一次非常強勁的營收表現，第三季營收達到 2.05 億美元，比去年同期成長 17%，完全是由銷量成長推動的。

Gross profit increased by $2.6 million, or 11% to $25.5 million compared to $22.9 million in the prior year.

毛利增加了 260 萬美元，增幅達 11%，達到 2,550 萬美元，而去年同期為 2,290 萬美元。

Gross margin decreased by 60 basis points to 12.4% compared to 13% in the prior year.

毛利率較上年同期的 13% 下降 60 個基點至 12.4%。

Adjusted gross margin was 13.6% compared to 16.6% in the prior year period. The decrease partially reflected incremental investments in variable labor and infrastructure to improve long-term margins, increased maintenance expense, overtime costs, and higher waste as a result of certain manufacturing pressures from tremendous volume growth.

經調整後的毛利率為 13.6%，去年同期為 16.6%。下降的部分原因是為提高長期利潤率而對可變勞動力和基礎設施進行的增量投資、維護費用增加、加班成本增加，以及由於產量大幅增長帶來的某些製造壓力而導致的更高浪費。

Together with temporary volume limitations, it increased downtime resulting from the excess wastewater issue at our Midlothian, Texas facility.

由於暫時的產量限制，導致我們位於德克薩斯州米德洛錫安的工廠因廢水過多而造成的停機時間增加。

These factors were partially offset by higher sales and production volumes for beverages, broths, and fruit snacks driving improved plant utilization.

飲料、肉湯和水果零食的銷售和產量增加，在一定程度上抵消了這些不利因素，從而提高了工廠的利用率。

Operating income increased $6.1 million to $6.9 million compared to $0.8 million in the prior year.

營業收入從上年的 80 萬美元增加到 690 萬美元，增幅為 610 萬美元。

The increase mainly reflected lower employee variable compensation costs based on performance, lower professional fees related to operational productivity initiatives, and the $2.6 million increase in gross profit.

成長主要反映了基於​​績效的員工可變薪酬成本降低、與營運生產力提升計畫相關的專業費用降低以及毛利增加 260 萬美元。

These factors were partially offset by non-cash asset impairment charges of $2.6 million in the third quarter of 2025 related to the decommissioning of the tote filling equipment in the early retirement of certain non-productive assets.

這些因素被 2025 年第三季與提前退役某些非生產性資產相關的 260 萬美元非現金資產減損費用部分抵消，這些費用與噸桶灌裝設備的退役有關。

Earnings from continuing operations were $0.8 million compared to a loss of $6.2 million in the prior year period.

持續經營業務的獲利為 80 萬美元，而上年同期虧損 620 萬美元。

Adjust in earnings from continuing operations were $6 million or $0.05 per diluted share compared to $1.8 million or $0.02 per diluted share in the prior year period.

持續經營業務的調整收益為 600 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.05 美元，而去年同期為 180 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.02 美元。

Adjusted EBITDA increased 13% to $23.6 million compared to $20.8 million in the prior year period.

調整後的 EBITDA 成長 13%，達到 2,360 萬美元，而去年同期為 2,080 萬美元。

Turning to our balance sheet at the end of the third quarter, debt was $266 million and net leverage was 2.8 times, down from 2.9 times in Q2 and 3 times at the end of 2024.

截至第三季末，我們的資產負債表顯示，債務為 2.66 億美元，淨槓桿率為 2.8 倍，低於第二季的 2.9 倍和 2024 年底的 3 倍。

Cash provided by operating activities of continuing operations in the first three quarters was $34 million compared to $19 million in the first three quarters of the prior year.

前三季持續經營活動產生的現金流量為 3,400 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,900 萬美元。

The increase mainly reflected higher operating profitability driven by revenue growth and reduced SG&A spending partially offset by increased working capital to support the strong revenue growth.

成長主要反映了收入成長和銷售、一般及行政費用減少帶來的營運利潤提高，但部分被為支持強勁的收入成長而增加的營運資金所抵銷。

Cash used in the investing activities of continuing operations was $23 million in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to $17 million in the first three quarters of the FY2024.

2025 年前三個季度持續經營投資活動所用現金為 2,300 萬美元，而 2024 財年前三個季度為 1,700 萬美元。

We are updating our outlook for the full year to reflect accelerated demand and short-term incremental costs as shown on slide 12, we now expect revenue in the range of $812 million to $816 million.

我們正在更新全年展望，以反映第 12 頁所示的加速需求和短期增量成本，我們現在預計收入將在 8.12 億美元至 8.16 億美元之間。

From an earnings perspective, we expect adjusted EBITDA of $90 million to $92 million.

從獲利角度來看，我們預計調整後 EBITDA 為 9,000 萬美元至 9,200 萬美元。

We also continue to expect interest expense of $24 million to $26 million and capital expenditures on the cash flow statement of approximately $30 million to $35 million.

我們也預期現金流量表中的利息支出為 2,400 萬至 2,600 萬美元，資本支出約為 3,000 萬至 3,500 萬美元。

We now expect free cash flow of $20 million to $22 million. Please note that essentially all of the free cash flow in 2025 is allocated for mandatory debt and notes payable repayments.

我們現在預計自由現金流為2000萬美元至2200萬美元。請注意，2025 年幾乎所有的自由現金流都將用於償還強制性債務和應付票據。

Our capital allocation priorities remain the same, de leveraging, investing in capacity expansion and returning excess capital to shareholders.

我們的資本配置優先事項保持不變，即降低槓桿率、投資產能擴張以及將剩餘資本返還給股東。

Based on our updated expectations for adjusted EBITDA, we expect to maintain our current leverage of 2.8 times at the end of the year compared to our prior expectation of 2.5 times.

根據我們對調整後 EBITDA 的最新預期，我們預計年底槓桿率將維持在 2.8 倍，而我們先前的預期為 2.5 倍。

As Brian mentioned, we are in great position to announce the next phase of capacity for our beverage and broth operations. With a total investment of $35 million primarily occurring in 2026. This will increase network capacity by approximately 10%.

正如布萊恩所提到的，我們現在處於非常有利的位置，可以宣布我們飲料和肉湯業務的下一階段產能計劃。總投資額為 3,500 萬美元，主要投資將於 2026 年進行。這將使網路容量增加約10%。

We anticipate that the new equipment at our Midlothian facility that is already over 50% subscribed will come online in late 2026.

我們預計位於米德洛錫安工廠的新設備將於 2026 年底投入使用，目前已有超過 50% 的設備預訂。

This investment along with our previously announced fruit snacks line in Omak, Washington will be key components to delivering our long-term growth algorithm in 2027 and 2028.

這項投資，連同我們先前宣布的華盛頓州奧馬克的果味零食生產線，將成為我們在 2027 年和 2028 年實現長期成長策略的關鍵組成部分。

Even with adding this growth CapEx in 2026, we plan on maintaining our leverage ratio under 3 times throughout the year with a target of 2.8 times by the end of 2026.

即使在 2026 年增加了這筆成長資本支出，我們計劃全年將槓桿率保持在 3 倍以下，目標是在 2026 年底達到 2.8 倍。

Given the expected reduction in adjusted EBITDA for the 4th quarter of approximately $10 million compared to our prior expectations, we want to ensure you have a complete understanding of the scope along with the pathway forward.

鑑於第四季度調整後 EBITDA 預計將比我們先前的預期減少約 1000 萬美元，我們希望確保您完全了解情況以及未來的發展方向。

Turning to slide 15, there are 4 temporary issues related to our beverage and broth facilities that are impacting our results.

翻到第 15 頁，我們的飲料和肉湯設施有 4 個暫時性問題，這些問題正在影響我們的表現。

First is our current wastewater limitations at Midlothian. Context is important. Since our Midlothian plant came online in 2023, we have been aggressively increasing output. This rapid growth combined with the temporary wastewater limitations has resulted in inefficient operations. We expect a $2 million impact compared to our prior expectations in the 4th quarter.

首先是米德洛錫安目前廢水處理的限制。語境很重要。自 2023 年米德洛錫安工廠投產以來，我們一直在積極提高產量。快速成長加上暫時的廢水處理限制，導致營運效率低落。我們預計第四季將比先前的預期減少 200 萬美元。

As Brian mentioned, this will be resolved by the installation of new wastewater equipment by the end of the second quarter of 2026. We are conservatively planning our equipment and processes to catch up to this increased volume demands by mid-2026.

正如布萊恩所提到的，這個問題將在 2026 年第二季末透過安裝新的廢水處理設備來解決。我們正在保守地規劃我們的設備和流程，以便在 2026 年年中滿足不斷增長的產量需求。

Second, for the rest of our beverage and broth network, the 3rd quarter incremental volumes strained our equipment and people, resulting in unplanned downtime events, increased short-term variable labor costs in overtime, together with additional parts and maintenance spend.

其次，對於我們其他飲料和肉湯網絡而言，第三季度的增量銷售給我們的設備和人員帶來了壓力，導致計劃外停機事件、加班等短期可變勞動力成本增加，以及額外的零件和維護支出。

To address these issues, we implemented an equipment maintenance recovery plan. We expect to continue to incur these costs for the next few quarters until we realize the benefits of the recovery plan.

為了解決這些問題，我們實施了設備維護恢復計畫。我們預計在接下來的幾個季度將繼續承擔這些成本，直到我們實現復甦計畫的效益。

This will have a $3 million impact in the fourth quarter compared to our prior expectations.

這將使第四季度的損失比我們之前的預期高出 300 萬美元。

Third, we prioritize servicing the accelerated demand which resulted in delaying our margin improvement plan.

第三，我們優先滿足加速成長的需求，這導致我們的利潤率提升計畫被推遲。

As Brian mentioned, it will take a few quarters to adjust the incremental volume.

正如布萊恩所提到的，調整增量銷售需要幾個季度的時間。

We expect our previously announced margin expansion plan will resume in the second half of 2026.

我們預計先前宣布的利潤率擴張計畫將於 2026 年下半年恢復實施。

This will have around a $3 million impact in the fourth quarter compared to prior expectations.

與先前的預期相比，這將對第四季度造成約 300 萬美元的影響。

Finally, in preparation for the new Aseptic line in Midlothian, we shut down operations at the plant for one week in October for infrastructure work.

最後，為了迎接米德洛錫安的新無菌生產線，我們在 10 月關閉了工廠一周，進行基礎設施建設。

This will have accumulating impact in the 4th quarter versus our prior expectations.

這將對我們第四季的業績產生比之前預期更大的累積影響。

To provide clarity on how this impacts 2026, we are introducing our initial outlook.

為了闡明這將如何影響 2026 年，我們在此推出初步展望。

We expect revenue in the range of $865 million to $880 million, growth of 6% to 8% versus the midpoint of our 2025 outlook, an adjusted EBITDA of $102 million to $108 million, which represents growth of 12% to 19% compared to the midpoint of our 2025 outlook.

我們預計營收將在 8.65 億美元至 8.8 億美元之間，比我們 2025 年展望的中點增長 6% 至 8%；調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.02 億美元至 1.08 億美元，比我們 2025 年展望的中點增長 12% 至 19%。

From a pacing standpoint, we expect the back half of a year to be stronger than the first half as we work through our recovery plan in the beverage and broth facilities.

從進度來看，隨著我們在飲料和肉湯生產設施中逐步實施復甦計劃，我們預計下半年的業績將強於上半年。

We expect a 48% 1st half and 52% second half split for revenue and 45% 1st half and 55% second half split for adjusted EBITDA.

我們預計上半年營收佔比為 48%，下半年為 52%；調整後 EBITDA 佔比為 45%，下半年為 55%。

We will provide additional details on the Q4 call.

我們將在第四季財報電話會議上提供更多細節。

In summary, we are continuing to drive strong volume-based revenue growth.

總而言之，我們正持續推動以銷售為基礎的強勁營收成長。

Grow gross profit dollars, adjusted EBITDA net income, EPS, and free cash flow.

提高毛利、調整後 EBITDA 淨利、每股盈餘和自由現金流。

We expect to see continued improvements in all of these areas in 2026 and beyond.

我們預計在 2026 年及以後，所有這些領域都將持續改善。

Our original revenue outlook for this year projected 9% growth at the midpoint.

我們最初對今年的營收預期中位數為成長 9%。

We are currently expecting 12%.

我們目前預計為 12%。

The strong growth has exceeded our expectations and has a compounded impact on our operations, as this is on top of a 15% growth in 2024 for a two year stack of 27%.

強勁的成長超出了我們的預期，並對我們的營運產生了疊加效應，因為在此基礎上，2024 年還將成長 15%，兩年累計成長將達到 27%。

The good news is we managed to support the volume-based growth without compromising food safety or quality and found additional opportunities during this time.

好消息是，我們在不損害食品安全或品質的前提下，成功地實現了銷售成長，並且在此期間還發現了其他機會。

We see tremendous opportunities to improve our operations, expect to see continued strong revenue growth, and feel great about the opportunities to significantly drive shareholder value.

我們看到了改善營運的巨大機遇，預計收入將持續強勁成長，並且對大幅提升股東價值的機會感到非常樂觀。

Before opening the call for questions, just a reminder that for competitive reasons we do not provide detailed commentary regarding customer SKU level activity.

在正式開始徵集問題之前，提醒大家，出於競爭原因，我們不提供有關客戶 SKU 等級活動的詳細評論。

And with that operator, please open the call for questions.

請透過該接線生開啟提問環節。

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. I would like to remind everyone to ask a question. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，現在開始問答環節。我想提醒大家，歡迎提問。（操作說明）

One moment, please, for your first question.

請稍等片刻，回答您的第一個問題。

Jim Salera, Stephens Inc.

吉姆·薩萊拉，史蒂芬斯公司

Hi Brian, hey Greg, good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions.

嗨，布萊恩，嗨，格雷格，下午好。謝謝您回答我們的問題。

I wanted to start off just with maybe helping us out with the cadence around the new investment and building out the productive capacity around broth. So, if my quick math is correct, it implies gross margin down like 180 basis points to 200 basis points in Q4 to get to the midpoint of the updated even the guidance because that kind of jives with what you guys are expecting. And then if we think about 2026, if I recall correctly, Q4 of 2026 was supposed to be kind of around that 20% gross margin rate. Should we think about Q4 of 2026 looking like what we expected Q4 of 2025 to look like, or just any thoughts around kind of the sequencing there and any additional color you can provide on Q4?

我最初想做的只是或許能幫助我們掌握新投資的節奏，並建立起高湯的生產能力。所以，如果我的簡單計算沒錯，這意味著第四季度毛利率將下降 180 到 200 個基點，以達到更新後的業績指引的中點，因為這與你們的預期基本吻合。然後，如果我們展望 2026 年，如果我沒記錯的話，2026 年第四季的毛利率應該在 20% 左右。我們是否應該認為 2026 年第四季的情況會和我們預期的 2025 年第四季的情況類似？或者您對這個時間順序有什麼想法，以及您能否提供關於第四季度的其他資訊？

Well, I, a couple of things, Jim. I first of all, let's make sure we're.

嗯，我有幾件事想跟你說，吉姆。首先，我們先確認一下。

We want to be clear in what's impacting the fourth quarter of 2025 and what would be impacting later. Look, we had an opportunity to take advantage of some customer allocation decisions that originally were in our pipeline for 2026, and we had the chance to take advantage of those in 2027. We believe and still believe in the long-term those are accretive to our long-term algorithm. It was a good opportunity for us to take this now to onboard the volume and the other option was potentially foregoing that volume for years and years and years so we're excited and believe in a 10 times out of 10 that was the right decision to do.

我們希望明確哪些因素正在影響 2025 年第四季度，以及哪些因素將在以後產生影響。你看，我們有機會利用一些原本計劃在 2026 年實施的客戶分配決策，我們也有機會在 2027 年利用這些決策。我們過去相信，現在仍然相信，從長遠來看，這些因素對我們的長期演算法是有益的。對我們來說，這是一個抓住機會、迅速提升銷量的絕佳時機，而另一個選擇是可能在未來很多年裡都無法獲得這樣的銷量，所以我們感到非常興奮，並且相信十有八九，這是一個正確的決定。

It did have, and just to be open and transparent, I am disappointed in How difficult it's been to absorb this volume and that's where Greg went through and said, look, there are some impacts in the 4th quarter impacts from accelerated equipment maintenance spend, impacts from the fact that a lot of this volume we had to push towards Midlothian, which you know is constrained now and is our least efficient plant, but we had to do it for the customer service and for the optimization efforts between all of our plants, so that was another aspect of it. And then I'd say the last aspect is because this volume came on, we really reallocated the resources that otherwise would have been working on yield improvement and direct labor improvements, our margin expansion plans. They would have been working on that and therefore they can't because we reallocated those to. To deliver and meet customers' expectations with respect to our standards for service quality and food safety. So there are large portions of the reconciliation between previous guidance and existing guidance in the fourth quarter of 2025.

確實如此，坦白說，我對消化如此龐大的業務量感到非常失望。格雷格也談到了這一點，他說，你看，第四季度受到一些影響，例如設備維護支出加快，以及我們不得不將大量業務量轉移到米德洛錫安工廠，而米德洛錫安工廠目前產能有限，效率最低。但為了客戶服務和優化所有工廠之間的運作，我們必須這樣做，所以這是另一個方面。最後一點是，由於銷售成長，我們重新分配了原本用於提高產量、改善直接勞動力成本以及擴大利潤率計劃的資源。他們原本應該在做那件事，但因為我們已經把那些資源重新分配了，所以他們做不了了。為了滿足客戶對我們服務品質和食品安全標準的期望。因此，2025 年第四季之前的業績指引與現有業績指引之間有很大程度的協調。

We do anticipate that.

我們預料到了這一點。

It's a time-bound plan. We we've got concrete fixed plans on equipment reliability on the wastewater in Midlothian, which we've mentioned several times on previous call. We have fixed definitive plans.

這是一個有時限的計劃。我們已經制定了關於米德洛錫安污水處理設備可靠性的具體固定計劃，我們在先前的電話會議中已經多次提到這一點。我們已經制定了明確的計劃。

That will allow us to absorb this volume and then get back towards our margin expansion targets and plans at the second half of 2026 and into 2027. The whole reason we were trying to give a little bit of outlook on 2026 was to further reinforce the time-bound nature of some of these short-term operational challenges. So again, we're, we'll be able at the next call to give more definitive cadence around 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, 4th quarter in 2026, but we wanted to make sure we passed along 2026 outlook.

這將使我們能夠消化這項業務量，然後在 2026 年下半年和 2027 年恢復到我們的利潤率擴張目標和計劃。我們之所以要對 2026 年做出一些展望，是為了進一步強調這些短期營運挑戰的時效性。所以，我們將在下次電話會議上給出 2026 年第一季、第二季、第三季、第四季的更明確的時間表，但我們想確保把 2026 年的展望傳達給大家。

So the investment community could realize these are short-term in nature. We've got a plan. We have a finite time where we can turn that around and then we'll be right back on our margin expansion and opportunities for long-term growth.

因此，投資界可以意識到這些都是短期行為。我們已經有了計劃。我們只有有限的時間來扭轉局面，然後我們就能重新走上利潤率擴張和長期成長的道路。

That's helpful and then I guess the kind of building off that. Is it safe to say that given you had all of these customers it sounds like some kind of different and markets come to you at once that the capabilities that you have are either don't exist outside of your network or you know are not scaled in a meaningful way outside your network and that's why everyone came to you at the same time or is there something unique about what these customers are experiencing that that caused them all to kind of come to you at the same time.

那很有幫助，然後我想就可以以此為基礎繼續發展了。鑑於您擁有這麼多客戶，是否可以這樣說：這似乎意味著市場環境有所不同，而且客戶同時湧向您，而您擁有的能力要么在您的網絡之外不存在，要么您知道在您的網絡之外無法以有意義的方式擴展，這就是為什麼所有人都同時來找您的原因？或者，這些客戶的經驗有什麼獨特之處，導致他們都同時來找您？

The way I would look at it, Jim, is it certainly reinforces what we believe is our value proposition in the market, a nationwide network to supply accounts, the R&D resources to bring items to market quickly, the packaging sizes and formats that resonate in the market. So I think what It does for me is it reinforced our value proposition.

吉姆，依我看，這無疑強化了我們認為自身在市場上的價值主張：覆蓋全國的供貨網絡、快速將產品推向市場的研發資源，以及在市場上引起共鳴的包裝尺寸和形式。所以我覺得它對我來說的作用是強化了我們的價值主張。

The interesting thing about this, and we've talked for a couple of quarters about our pipeline, 9 times out of 10, a customer pushes their pipeline backwards, defers the launch. This was really an interesting situation where several customers brought us an opportunity that was faster than we were anticipating and again 10 times out of 10, I'll take that. This volume is with marquee customers in great channels in areas in product areas that we want to over index because of the long-term trend, and I believe this will give us a chance to outperform our long-term algorithm at late in 2026 and into the 2027. A but it did cause some challenges, and look, I am frustrated that we didn't see more of this volume drop through to the bottom line, but I am confident we know the root causes. I am confident we have complete and time-bound plans, and I am confident that in the second half of 2026 we'll be right back on the trajectory that we laid out before.

有趣的是，我們已經就我們的產品線討論了幾個季度，十有八九，客戶都會推遲他們的產品線，推遲發布。這真是一件很有趣的事，幾位客戶為我們帶來了意想不到的機會，而且十有八九我都會接受這樣的機會。這筆交易量來自我們希望重點關注的產品領域中的知名客戶，這些客戶來自優秀的管道，因為從長遠來看，這是個好趨勢。我相信這將使我們有機會在 2026 年底和 2027 年超越我們的長期演算法。但這確實帶來了一些挑戰，而且，我很沮喪，因為我們沒有看到銷量的大幅下降對利潤產生更大的影響，但我相信我們知道根本原因。我相信我們已經制定了完整且有時限的計劃，並且我相信到 2026 年下半年，我們將重新走上我們之前製定的發展軌跡。

Great, I appreciate the detail. Thank you.

太好了，我很欣賞這種細緻的描述。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Andrew Strelzik, BMO Capital Markets.

Andrew Strelzik，BMO資本市場。

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. And I appreciate all the color you gave on the profit bridge and the components that are driving, some of the pressures there, but I, and maybe I just missed it, but I am not fully understanding why the top-line is coming up short in the 4th quarter and next year I saw on the slide you talked about the downtime, but so why, I guess at the end of the day, why is all of this demand not flowing through in subsequent quarters at the same rate from a top-line perspective? I'd just like to better understand that.

嘿，下午好。謝謝您回答問題。我很欣賞您對利潤成長橋樑和驅動因素的詳細分析，以及其中的一些壓力，但我，也許是我錯過了，我不太明白為什麼第四季和明年的營收會低於預期。我在幻燈片中看到您提到了停工期，但歸根結底，為什麼所有這些需求在隨後的幾個季度沒有以同樣的速度從營收角度體現出來？我只是想更好地理解這一點。

Yeah, sure, Andrew. So one of the things is with the pull through from the pipeline from 2026 into Q3 of 2024, we expected some of that volume to come in 2026. We also expected some of that to come in 2024. So, Q4 is a slight call down versus the prior number, but for the full year we're right on where we thought we'd be, but slightly ahead, at the beginning of the year we thought we were going to grow 9% revenue. We're now projecting to grow 12%, so quite a big increase. If you recall at the beginning of the year we said we have the capacity in our current network to grow 20% over the next two years. So really next year's revenue guide is due to the capacity limitations until we get the new equipment installed for both our beverage and broth and for our fruit snacks lines at the end of the year, which will support growth going forward, but we're still achieving the 2 year 20% growth that we anticipated based on the capacity of our network.

當然可以，安德魯。其中一點是，由於管道從 2026 年到 2024 年第三季的拉動，我們預計其中一部分數量將在 2026 年到來。我們也預計其中一些會在 2024 年實現。因此，第四季業績略低於上一季，但全年業績與預期基本一致，甚至略有超出預期。年初時，我們預計營收將成長 9%。我們現在預計成長12%，這是一個相當大的增幅。如果你還記得的話，我們在年初就說過，我們目前的網路有能力在未來兩年內成長 20%。因此，明年的收入預期實際上是由於產能限制，直到年底我們為飲料和肉湯生產線以及水果零食生產線安裝新設備為止。新設備將支援未來的成長，但我們仍然能夠實現基於我們網路產能所預期的兩年 20% 的成長。

Okay. I Guess I understand that.

好的。我大概明白了。

I guess on the flip side, from a demand perspective, pretty much all the consumer commentary that we hear from other CPG companies is pretty poor. You're seeing the stronger than expected new business category dynamics that you referenced as well. I guess how do you square what your business is seeing from a demand perspective and what the categories experiencing versus the broader consumer backdrop.

另一方面，從需求角度來看，我們從其他消費品公司聽到的幾乎所有消費者評論都相當糟糕。您也看到了您提到的比預期更強勁的新業務類別動態。我想問的是，如何從需求角度來衡量企業所看到的情況，以及各個品類在更廣泛的消費者背景下所經歷的情況？

Well, I am going to give you one quick answer, Andrew, and I don't want it to sound flippant, but I am not going to apologize for being in growing categories when maybe some others aren't, right? That's one thing.

好吧，安德魯，我給你一個簡單的回答，我不想顯得輕率，但我不會因為自己身處不斷壯大的群體而道歉，對吧？這是一件事。

But also think about it. We tried to give a little bit more detail on the food service category this time.

但也要仔細想想。這次我們嘗試對餐飲服務類別進行更詳細的介紹。

Coffee shops are in fact expanding. They have been expanding since COVID, and some of the data would say there are more there were 8%-9% more coffee shops now than there pre-COVID. And if you look out over the next 4 or 5 years, just from public data that large coffee chains disclose, we can see up to 20% growth in coffee chains in coffee cafes, shops. That's powering a food service business that we are very embedded in 8 of the TOP10 coffee chains, our products are featured, 4 of the fastest growing were featured. And so the benefit of that gross growth inures to us. So, I think that's one area. The other area that that I would mention is we are in in areas where there are hotspots for the consumer. We're in those areas. If you think about.

事實上，咖啡店正在擴張。自從新冠疫情以來，咖啡店的數量一直在增加，一些數據顯示，現在的咖啡店數量比新冠疫情前增加了 8%-9%。如果展望未來 4 到 5 年，僅從大型咖啡連鎖店披露的公開數據來看，我們就可以看到咖啡店和咖啡館的連鎖店數量增長高達 20%。這為我們深度參與的餐飲服務業務提供了動力，在排名前 10 的咖啡連鎖店中，有 8 家都推出了我們的產品，其中 4 家增長最快的連鎖店也推出了我們的產品。因此，經濟成長帶來的好處最終會惠及我們。所以，我認為這算是一個面向。我想提到的另一點是，我們所處的地區是消費者關注的熱點地區。我們就在那些地區。如果你仔細想想。

Fruit snacks as an example, better for you fruit snacks. That category is growing > 20%. We grew double-digits. That category is growing > 20%. And as we, we've got an oversubscribed CapEx equipment that if I could weld myself, I'd hurry up and get it installed.

以水果零食為例，對你更有益的水果零食。此類別成長率超過 20%。我們實現了兩位數的成長。此類別成長率超過 20%。而且，我們現在有大量資本支出設備需要採購，如果我會焊接的話，我會趕緊把它們安裝好。

So there is tremendous category growth based upon some of the underlying actions that we see. I also think if you look at our products and and ultimately what a consumer pays on the shelf, there's not, they're not considered luxury items. Many of our fruit snacks are retailing for, if you look on each basis, they're $0.50 each or less. That is not considered a luxury. Even when people are going to a coffee shop and as we mentioned in our prepared comments, consumers, even though, and by the way, we would agree that consumers are expressing concern. I completely agree, we see the same data, but in our categories, consumers are expected to go to 46% of the consumers are expected to go to coffee shops more frequently over the course of the next year than less frequently. So we have some of these areas that they're not considered luxury, and I think that's important. And then lastly I would say reminder of the diversity of our categories.

因此，基於我們觀察到的一些潛在因素，該品類實現了巨大的成長。我也認為，如果你看看我們的產品，以及消費者最終在貨架上支付的價格，你會發現它們並不屬於奢侈品。我們許多水果零食的零售價，如果單獨來看，每份都是 0.50 美元或更低。那不屬於奢侈品。即使人們去咖啡店，正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的，消費者，儘管，順便說一句，我們同意消費者表達了擔憂。我完全同意，我們看到的數據相同，但在我們劃分的類別中，預計 46% 的消費者在未來一年內會更頻繁地光顧咖啡店，而不是減少光顧。所以，有些地區並不被認為是奢侈品，我認為這很重要。最後，我想提醒大家注意我們類別的多樣性。

Yes, we are in co-manufacturing. Yes, we are in food service, yes, we are in private label, but we are also everywhere from mass merchant to traditional retail to club channel.

是的，我們採用代工生產模式。是的，我們涉足餐飲服務業，是的，我們涉足自有品牌，但我們的業務也遍布各個領域，從大型零售商到傳統零售，再到俱樂部通路。

To QSRs. So as you see a consumer in tough economic times, you see consumers migrate usually through channels potentially from branded to private label products, and the good news is that through our customers were presented in all those channels and all those formats, and I think that's why we continue growing. And on top of that, when I mentioned that our value proposition seems to be resonating in the market, that's the recipe for 9 straight quarters of on average 15% plus volume growth.

致快餐店。因此，在經濟困難時期，消費者通常會透過各種管道從品牌產品轉向自有品牌產品，好消息是，我們的客戶已經透過所有這些管道和形式接觸到了我們的產品，我認為這就是我們持續成長的原因。此外，正如我之前提到的，我們的價值主張似乎在市場上引起了共鳴，這正是我們連續 9 個季度平均銷量成長 15% 以上的秘訣。

Great. I appreciate it very much.

偉大的。我非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jon Anderson, William Blair.

喬恩·安德森，威廉·布萊爾。

I wasn't sure if you mentioned or if you could mention what the the new line, what kind of product or and market is that going to supply and in terms of lining that up with the work you're doing on the wastewater, how does that kind of come together, because as I understand it, the wastewater limitation is something that you're having to work around now, with a couple of lines, and if you add another, that that issue could become worse.

我不確定您是否提到過，或者您能否提一下這條新生產線是什麼，它將供應什麼類型的產品或市場，以及它與您正在進行的廢水處理工作如何銜接，因為據我了解，廢水處理能力的限制是您目前通過幾條生產線來應對的問題，如果您再增加一條生產線，這個問題可能會變得更糟。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Well John, great questions. A couple of things. We mentioned it's an aseptic line that we're adding, and I would think of it to support our beverage and broth business, the large packet sized beverage and broth. About 50% of that line is already subscribed. We're roughly a little less than a year away from from go live, so we'll continue to work on that. But we went where the Customers and the and the dollars and where we thought the margin would be and that was in the larger size beverage and broth format on the on the aseptic line. I think you ask a great question. We tried to articulate this and maybe didn't do a good enough job, but we are actually timing the aseptic launch with the wastewater launch. So the wastewater has to come first.

約翰，問得好。有幾件事。我們提到過，我們正在增加一條無菌生產線，我認為它是為了支持我們的飲料和肉湯業務，特別是大包裝的飲料和肉湯。該線路約有 50% 已預訂。距離正式上線還有大約不到一年的時間，所以我們會繼續努力。但是，我們去了顧客、金錢和利潤所在的地方，我們認為利潤會在那裡，那就是在無菌生產線上生產大包裝飲料和肉湯。我覺得你問了一個很好的問題。我們曾試圖闡明這一點，但可能做得不夠好，但我們實際上是將無菌技術的推出與廢水技術的推出同步進行的。所以廢水處理必須放在第一位。

You're 100% on. The wastewater processing has to come first. After that, we will have more than enough wastewater management capacity to not only unlock the efficiencies in the lines that we have now, but also the additional CapEx growth that we're planning for Midlothian.

你百分之百正確。廢水處理必須放在首位。之後，我們將擁有充足的廢水處理能力，不僅可以釋放現有管線的效率，還可以滿足我們為米德洛錫安規劃的額外資本支出成長。

Also remember. We've had Midlothian for 3 years and really have never been able to unlock the full power. We've had startup the first couple of years and then wastewater limitations. I am really excited to see what Midlothian looks like when have got the ability to run the existing lines at full bore. We get another one in there and oh by the way, you get all that volume to dilute the fixed cost or absorb the fixed cost. I think that's going to be a really powerful leverage point in our margin.

還有一點要記住。我們擁有 Midlothian 已經 3 年了，但始終未能真正發揮其全部潛力。頭幾年我們遇到了啟動資金短缺的問題，然後又遇到了廢水處理的限制。我非常期待看到當我們能夠以全速運行現有管線時，米德洛錫安會變成什麼樣子。我們再進一個，喔對了，這樣就能獲得大量的產量來稀釋或吸收固定成本。我認為這將是我們利潤率的一個非常強大的槓桿點。

Okay. I guess the question on, I get your point, Brian, on, wanting to accommodate customers and service, volume that comes your way, but I guess at some point, it becomes a bit of an issue because it keeps pushing out.

好的。我明白你的意思，布萊恩，你想滿足客戶和服務需求，處理不斷湧來的訂單量，但我想在某種程度上，這會成為一個問題，因為它會不斷推遲處理時間。

Some of your targets, and I guess one question would be, have you considered or are you able maybe you just can't, I mean price, for kind of overload volume in a way that, values your manufacturing capabilities that you've talked about so that you can kind of maintain a margin.

你們的一些目標，我想問一個問題，你們是否考慮過，或者你們是否能夠，也許你們只是不能，我的意思是價格，以某種方式實現超額產量，從而體現你們所談到的製造能力，以便你們能夠保持利潤率。

While you're helping accommodate customers, there's kind of got to be a give and take, I would think, in there, particularly with your value proposition.

我認為，在幫助客戶的同時，雙方之間應該存在某種妥協和讓步，尤其是在你的價值主張方面。

John, I think it's a great question. We have over the course of the last year or so been able to take some price where where we thought that there was an opportunity. I would also tell you it gets a little muddled, particularly in our P&L, because you've got raw product prices that are going up and down this year. We also had tariffs that that were in the in the mix and although we've been able to pass along tariff costs so that from a P&L standpoint, we've more or less been able to offset that and be whole.

約翰，我覺得這是一個很好的問題。在過去一年左右的時間裡，我們能夠在一些我們認為有機會的地方以一定的價格買入股票。我還要告訴你，情況會變得有點混亂，尤其是在我們的損益表中，因為今年的原物料價格一直在波動。我們也考慮了關稅因素，雖然我們已經能夠將關稅成本轉嫁出去，因此從損益表的角度來看，我們或多或少能夠抵消這些成本，並保持收支平衡。

But don't forget that tariff increase has gone right to the consumer. And although I think we've got enduring trends in our category that have helped us, and I mentioned that on a on a previous answer, John, don't discount the impact that passing along those tariff costs have had on our customers and their ability and potentially concern about passing those along to the end consumer. So, it is a little muddy.

但別忘了，關稅上漲的代價最後都轉嫁給了消費者。雖然我認為我們這個行業有一些持續的趨勢對我們有所幫助，而且我在先前的回答中也提到過這一點，約翰，但不要低估將這些關稅成本轉嫁給我們的客戶及其能力和潛在擔憂對最終消費者的影響。所以，有點泥濘。

We are 100% aligned with taking price where we can. I think the other area, John, that we don't talk much about, but you notice it in this quarter's results where there's an opportunity to either de-emphasize or rationalize.

我們百分之百贊同盡可能降低價格的做法。約翰，我認為另一個我們不太常談及的領域，但你會在本季度的業績中註意到，我們有機會減少或合理化某些方面。

Either products or potentially some relationships we've done that too, and this quarter was a good example. We did some aseptic tote filling of products for certain customers and it just wasn't going to give us the return that we wanted. It was going to also take capacity from some of the customers that we really wanted to grow it. So we managed to to work our way through that customer relationship and then exit that in favor of the new volume that we brought on. So it's a little bit about all of those things, but I, really good question, John, thanks for bringing it up.

無論是產品還是潛在的合作關係，我們都做過類似的事情，本季就是一個很好的例子。我們為某些客戶進行了一些無菌噸桶填充產品，但這並沒有為我們帶來我們想要的回報。這也會佔用我們非常希望發展壯大的一些客戶的產能。因此，我們設法處理了與該客戶的關係，然後退出該關係，轉而追求我們帶來的新業務量。所以這跟所有這些方面都有一點關係，不過，約翰，你問得真好，謝謝你提出這個問題。

I guess just one more.

我想就再來一個吧。

I think you you mentioned Brian, that the investments that you're making and I guess this the incremental volume you've taken on or incremental business.

我想你剛才提到了布萊恩，你正在進行的投資，我猜這就是你新增的業務量或業務成長。

What's the, is this kind of short-term business? Are there long-term commitments from customers as you take this additional volume on? How does that work so that you can kind of Think about the longer-term value of taking this volume on and having it disrupt some of your internal efficiency work. Thanks.

這是什麼？這是那種短期生意嗎？隨著業務量的增加，客戶是否有長期承諾？這樣如何讓你思考承擔這項工作的長期價值，以及它對你內部效率提升工作造成的一些幹擾。謝謝。

Well, John, let me be 100% clear then.

約翰，那我就把話說清楚。

We took this business on because we thought it would benefit us in 2026, 2027, 2028, and beyond, and there's really two reasons for that. One, when we get customers, we service the heck out of them.

我們之所以承接這項業務，是因為我們認為它在 2026 年、2027 年、2028 年及以後會為我們帶來好處，這其實有兩個原因。第一，當我們獲得客戶時，我們會竭盡全力為他們提供服務。

And we don't have a lot of customer churn. In fact, I don't even know of a customer that we have churn on. So one is we get them, we know we have an opportunity to keep them in the long-term, and that was the idea. We wouldn't have done this for a for a half a year relationship or a promotional relationship. It was because we've got a long-term outlook and and on a path. To create long-term upside to our algorithm. So first things first, that that's one of them. I think the relationships and how we service them and then on top of that, as many of our customers have multiple year agreements. We layer those out. They have different, some 3 to 5 you would see. We don't go into any specific customer details, but the point that I want you to get away is that I would take this business 10 times out of 10 times if it was offered to me again because It's longer-term in nature and it gives us a chance to outperform where we thought we were going to be in back half of 2026, 2027, 2028 and beyond.

而且我們的客戶流失率並不高。事實上，我甚至不知道我們有哪個客戶流失了。所以，一方面，我們得到了他們，我們知道我們有機會長期留住他們，這就是我們的想法。我們不會為了半年的合作關係或推廣合作而這樣做。這是因為我們著眼於長遠，並且走在正確的道路上。為我們的演算法創造長期收益。首先，這是其中之一。我認為關鍵在於我們與客戶的關係以及我們如何為他們提供服務，此外，我們的許多客戶都簽訂了多年合約。我們把它們一層一層地舖開。它們各不相同，有些你會看到 3 到 5 個。我們不透露任何具體的客戶細節，但我希望你們明白的是，如果再次有機會，我十次都會接受這項業務，因為它具有長期性，讓我們有機會在 2026 年下半年、2027 年、2028 年及以後超越我們預期的業績。

Okay, thanks a lot.

好的，非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Daniel Biolsi, Hedgeye

Daniel Biolsi，刺猬

Hi Brian and Greg, on slide15, I was wondering if you could help me think about the $10 million dollar headwind in Q4 for 2026. Is that a per quarter amount? It sounds like they all each one of those continues except the Midlothian operations downtime.

嗨，Brian 和 Greg，關於第 15 頁幻燈片，我想請教一下，你們能否幫我思考一下 2026 年第四季 1000 萬美元的不利因素？這是每季的金額嗎？聽起來除了米德洛錫安的營運中斷之外，其他所有項目都在繼續進行。

Yeah, Daniel, so we said that this will impact us in the first half of 2026, not in the second half. We anticipate to have all these issues resolved by them. You're correct, the downtime is one time in October here in Q4. That will not have an impact. The fix for Midlothian wastewater, as Brian discussed, is getting the new CapEx in place, which is on schedule, by the end of the second quarter, and that will go away after that as we won't have that limitation anymore.

是的，丹尼爾，我們說過這將在 2026 年上半年對我們產生影響，而不是在下半年。我們期望他們能夠解決所有這些問題。你說得對，這次停機是在第四季的十月份，只有一次。那不會產生影響。正如布萊恩所討論的，解決米德洛錫安廢水問題的辦法是在第二季末之前按計劃落實新的資本支出，之後這個問題就會消失，因為我們將不再受到這種限制。

And then when it comes to the impact related to the accelerated volume and having the additional maintenance costs and labor costs as we work through that again, we expect that to lower each quarter, Q1 and Q2 and get that all resolved by the end of Q2 as well. And then of course by focusing there and handling this volume and bringing that. For our network, we haven't been able to spend the focus on the margin optimization plan. We fully expect to get back on that work and start to see some benefits here in the second half of the year. So no, it is definitely not a $10 million per quarter impact going forward. We will have, compared to prior expectations a little bit lower Q1 and Q2, but we expect to be back on track by the second half of 2026.

至於產量加速成長帶來的影響，以及隨之而來的額外維護成本和人工成本，我們預計每季（第一季和第二季）都會下降，並且到第二季末所有問題都能解決。然後當然是透過專注於此，處理這個量，並帶來這一點。對於我們的網路而言，我們一直未能將精力集中在利潤優化計劃上。我們完全有信心在今年下半年重新投入這項工作，並開始看到一些成效。所以，不，這絕對不會造成未來每季1000萬美元的影響。與先前的預期相比，我們第一季和第二季的業績會略有下降，但我們預計到 2026 年下半年將恢復正常。

Okay, and then, like once these are all sorted out, if we could sort of see the incremental margins from this new business, would we see that the higher margins in this, would we be able to see that, in terms of, dropping some lower margin customer or being able to raise prices that, would that be evident once we get through all this?

好的，然後，一旦這些問題都解決了，如果我們能夠看到這項新業務帶來的增量利潤，我們是否會看到更高的利潤率，我們是否能夠看到，在放棄一些低利潤率客戶或提高價格方面，一旦我們完成了所有這些工作，這些是否會變得顯而易見？

I mean we do have some pretty Ambitious mar margin targets. We do feel there's a path to this, the margin improvement plan, and we think there's tremendous opportunity. Brian talked earlier when we get that wastewater in Midlothian, the limitations that that has created with the wastewater, it was actually more than our expectation. Once that gets fixed, once we get the new line in there with the fixed cost leverage, we expect to see some huge margin improvement. But yes, it will definitely be evident, Brian mentioned once we get to 2027 we still expect to be fully on target and even potentially above the target before. And if you recall, we said we expect to get up to 20% margin in 2027 and we still expect to get there.

我的意思是，我們的確有一些相當雄心勃勃的市場利潤率目標。我們認為實現利潤率提升計畫是有途徑的，而且我們認為其中蘊藏著巨大的機會。布萊恩之前說過，當我們在米德洛錫安接收廢水時，廢水處理帶來的限制實際上超出了我們的預期。一旦這個問題得到解決，一旦我們利用固定成本槓桿效應將新生產線投入使用，我們預計利潤率將大幅提高。但布萊恩提到，到了 2027 年，這一點肯定會很明顯，我們仍然預計能夠完全實現目標，甚至可能超過先前的目標。如果你還記得的話，我們說過我們預計到 2027 年利潤率將達到 20%，我們仍然預計能夠實現這一目標。

Thank you.

謝謝。

There are no further questions at this time, and with that, I will turn the call back over to Brian Kocher, CEO for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

目前沒有其他問題了，接下來我將把電話轉回給執行長布萊恩·科赫爾，請他作總結發言。請繼續。

Thank you, Kelvin. Look, thanks so much for joining us today. I really appreciate your questions and your interest. Before we wrap up, I would just really like to summarize three key messages to take away from the call.

謝謝你，凱爾文。謝謝你今天能來。非常感謝您的提問和關注。在結束之前，我想總結一下本次通話中需要記住的三個關鍵訊息。

First of all, I am energized by the fundamentals of our business. We continue to deliver best in class growth based on the strength of our customers, our channels, and the categories we serve and the value of our solutions led proposition. So I am really energized by that.

首先，我為我們業務的基本面感到振奮。我們憑藉著客戶實力、通路優勢、服務品類優勢以及以解決方案為主導的理念價值，持續實現一流的成長。這讓我感到非常振奮。

In this quarter, we intentionally chose a path by accelerating some of this volume. We intentionally chose a path that prioritized long-term value creation. And gives us the opportunity with marquee customers in in important channels and categories gives us a pathway to overdeliver our long-term algorithm in 2027 and beyond. So I am energized by that.

本季度，我們特意選擇了加快部分業務量成長的路徑。我們有意選擇了一條優先考慮長期價值創造的道路。這讓我們有機會在重要的管道和類別中與知名客戶合作，為我們在 2027 年及以後實現長期演算法目標鋪平道路。這讓我備受鼓舞。

Secondly, I am really proud of the employees and how they responded to the volume challenge and how they met the expectation of the customers while maintaining our standards for service, quality, and food safety. We are never going to negotiate or bargain with that. That being said, I am also not satisfied at all with the progress we're making on gross margin.

其次，我為員工們感到非常自豪，他們應對了業務量的挑戰，在滿足客戶期望的同時，也維持了我們的服務、品質和食品安全標準。我們絕不會和那種人談判或討價還價。話雖如此，我對我們在毛利率方面取得的進展也完全不滿意。

While taking the accelerated volume was the right strategic decision.

雖然加快產量成長是正確的策略決策。

I am dissatisfied that we didn't realize the profitability and have that flow through.

我感到不滿的是，我們沒能獲利，也沒能讓利潤流向市場。

However, We've got a clear and finite plan on how to address that.

但是，我們已經制定了明確而具體的計劃來解決這個問題。

We know what we need to do in the in the fourth quarter of 2025, in the first quarter of 2026, and the second quarter of 2026, and we know by delivering against those clear definitive plans.

我們知道在 2025 年第四季、2026 年第一季和 2026 年第二季我們需要做什麼，我們也知道透過執行這些明確的計畫就能做到。

We will have the margin improvement initiatives and we will have the profitability back on track to our original outlook, so I am confident in that.

我們將推行利潤率提升計劃，使獲利能力重回我們最初的預期軌道，對此我充滿信心。

And then lastly what I would tell you as a takeaway, I am convinced.

最後，我想告訴大家的是，我確信這一點。

The actions that we're taking now and the decisions we're making now, are for the sustained success of SunOpta, and that's what creates a path to outperform our revenue and profit targets in 2027 and beyond.

我們現在採取的行動和做出的決定，都是為了 SunOpta 的持續成功，而這正是我們在 2027 年及以後超越收入和利潤目標的途徑。

So those would be the 3 things that I would take away. Thanks so much for your support. Thanks for being on the call. Thanks for your questions, and Greg and I look forward to updating you during the next quarter.

所以，這就是我總結出來的三點。非常感謝您的支持。感謝您參加通話。感謝您的提問，我和格雷格期待在下個季度向您報告最新進展。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. We thank you for participating, you may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開線路了。