Constellation Brands Inc (STZ) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the Constellation Brands Fiscal Year 2024 Second Quarter Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to hand the call over to Joe Suarez, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

問候。歡迎參加 Constellation Brands 2024 財政年度第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。現在，我想將電話轉交給投資者關係副總裁喬·蘇亞雷斯(Joe Suarez)。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Darill. Good morning, all, and welcome to Constellation Brands Q2 Fiscal '24 Conference Call. I'm here this morning with Bill Newlands, our CEO; and Garth Hankinson, our CFO. As a reminder, reconciliations between the most directly comparable GAAP measures and any non-GAAP financial measures discussed on this call are included in our news release or otherwise available on the company's website at www.cbrands.com.

謝謝你，達裡爾。大家早安，歡迎參加 Constellation Brands 24 財年第二季電話會議。今天早上我和我們的執行長比爾紐蘭茲 (Bill Newlands) 一起來到這裡。和我們的財務長加斯·漢金森 (Garth Hankinson)。謹此提醒，本次電話會議中討論的最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準與任何非 GAAP 財務衡量標準之間的對帳均包含在我們的新聞稿中，或透過公司網站 www.cbrands.com 提供。

Please refer to the news release and Constellation's SEC filings for risk factors, which may impact forward-looking statements made on this call. Following the call, we'll also be making available in the Investors section of our company's website, a series of slides, which highlight the prepared remarks shared by Bill and Garth in today's call.

請參閱新聞稿和 Constellation 向 SEC 提交的文件，以了解可能影響本次電話會議中前瞻性聲明的風險因素。電話會議結束後，我們還將在公司網站的投資者部分提供一系列幻燈片，其中重點介紹了比爾和加斯在今天的電話會議中分享的準備好的演講。

Before turning the call over to Bill, in line with prior quarters, I would like to ask that we limit everyone to 1 question per person, which will help us to end our call on time. Thanks in advance, and now here's Bill.

在將電話轉給比爾之前，與前幾季一樣，我想請求我們將每個人的問題限制為每人 1 個問題，這將有助於我們按時結束電話。預先感謝，現在是比爾。

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Q2 Fiscal '24 Call. In terms of key headlines for the second quarter, I'm pleased to report that our team once again delivered solid overall performance. First of all, our beer business led the charge as the #1 share gainer with accelerating shares across the key summer holiday. We continue to invest in growth for this business as our team looks to seize opportunities to gain incremental awareness, shelf space and household penetration for our brands in the back half and beyond.

謝謝你，喬，大家早安。歡迎參加我們的 24 年第二季財政電話會議。就第二季的主要新聞而言，我很高興地報告我們的團隊再次取得了穩健的整體表現。首先，我們的啤酒業務在整個關鍵的夏季假期中加速上漲，成為第一大份額成長者。我們繼續投資於該業務的成長，因為我們的團隊希望抓住機會，在下半年及以後提高我們品牌的知名度、貨架空間和家庭滲透率。

Secondly, our wine and spirits business continues to progress along its journey to realize the full benefits of its transformation. Prioritized investments in our largest wine and spirits higher-end brands are yielding outperformance in their respective categories while partially offsetting and helping to reduce headwinds from our mainstream brands as they continue to shift the mix profile of our portfolio.

其次，我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務在實現轉型的全部效益的過程中不斷進步。對我們最大的葡萄酒和烈酒高端品牌的優先投資在各自類別中取得了優異的表現，同時部分抵消並幫助減少了我們的主流品牌在繼續改變我們的投資組合組合方面所面臨的阻力。

And third, our continued discipline around capital allocation priorities contributing to a strong overall performance in the quarter and sets the stage for fiscal '24 being another solid year of profitable growth and shareholder returns.

第三，我們對資本配置優先事項的持續紀律有助於本季強勁的整體業績，並為 24 財年成為獲利成長和股東回報的又一個堅實的一年奠定了基礎。

That said, let me provide a little more color around our key performance drivers in the quarter. As noted, our beer team once again delivered remarkable results. Not only did we remain the top share gainer over the entire critical summer season, we also extended our leading position from Cinco de Mayo to become the #1 share gainer in tracked channels during the 4th of July holiday. And although it falls slightly after our second quarter end, I'm also pleased to report that we further accelerated our share gains during Labor Day.

也就是說，讓我就本季的關鍵績效驅動因素提供更多資訊。如上所述，我們的啤酒團隊再次取得了驕人的成績。我們不僅在整個關鍵的夏季保持了份額增長第一的地位，而且還擴大了自五月五日節以來的領先地位，成為 7 月 4 日假期期間跟踪渠道中份額增長第一的企業。儘管第二季結束後股價略有下跌，但我也很高興地報告，我們在勞動節期間進一步加速了股票上漲。

Modelo Especial remained the key driver of our strong performance achieving double-digit volume growth in tracked channels and an 8.6% increase in depletions, ultimately strengthening its position as the top brand across the entire U.S. beer market in dollar sales fiscal year-to-date. The broader Modelo brand family also delivered phenomenal results with Cheladas achieving 50% volume growth in tracked channels and an increase in depletions of over 40%, while Oro continues to build on a solid launch, increasing its share gains in the overall beer category and performing in line with our plans for the fiscal year.

Modelo Especial 仍然是我們強勁業績的關鍵驅動力，在追蹤通路中實現了兩位數的銷量增長，消耗量增加了8.6%，最終鞏固了其作為本財年迄今美元銷售額在整個美國啤酒市場頂級品牌的地位。更廣泛的Modelo 品牌家族也取得了驚人的成果，Cheladas 在追蹤管道中實現了50% 的銷量成長，消耗量增加了40% 以上，而Oro 繼續在穩健的推出基礎上繼續發展，增加了其在整個啤酒類別中的份額收益，並表現出色符合我們本財年的計劃。

Beyond Modelo, our Corona Extra and Pacifico, core beer brands also continued to perform strongly. Corona Extra delivered solid low single-digit growth in depletions and tracked channel volumes, and was the #6 share gainer in the category, while Pacifico achieved 15% depletion growth, tracked channel volume growth of approximately 27% and was the #11 top share gainer in tracked channels.

除了 Modelo 之外，我們的 Corona Extra 和 Pacifico 核心啤酒品牌也持續表現強勁。 Corona Extra 的消耗量和追蹤通路銷量實現了穩定的低個位數增長，在該類別中排名第六，而Pacifico 實現了15% 的消耗量增長，跟踪渠道銷量增長約27%，排名第11 位。跟踪通道中的贏家。

Our beer brands continue to resonate strongly with the consumer, driving demand for our brands in the second quarter, which supported double-digit net sales and operating income growth in our beer business. This gives us confidence to shift our fiscal '24 net sales and operating income guidance for the beer business to the higher end of our initial ranges. That is 8% to 9% and 6% to 7% growth, respectively. That said, it is important to remember that for our beer business, we indicated that only 45% of total volume for the fiscal year will be shipped in the second half, which aligns with the regular seasonality of beer demand in the U.S. and the timing of our brewery maintenance activities.

我們的啤酒品牌繼續引起消費者的強烈共鳴，推動了第二季對我們品牌的需求，這支持了我們啤酒業務兩位數的淨銷售額和營業收入成長。這使我們有信心將啤酒業務的 24 財年淨銷售額和營業收入指引調整至初始範圍的較高端。分別為 8% 至 9% 和 6% 至 7% 的成長。話雖如此，重要的是要記住，對於我們的啤酒業務來說，我們表示下半年將僅運輸本財年總銷量的 45%，這與美國啤酒需求的常規季節性和時間安排一致。我們的啤酒廠維護活動。

Beyond fiscal '24, we continue to see significant opportunities to maintain the growth momentum of our beer business, particularly due to the resilience of key secular trends in the consumer landscape like ongoing consumer-led premiumization across beverage alcohol and the continued outsized growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S. as well as the relentless focus of our beer business on closing the distribution and awareness gaps that still exist across our brands, and on developing and scaling new and exciting products aligned with consumer-led trends. We look forward to sharing more details on this compelling outlook at our upcoming Investor Day on November 2.

在 24 財年之後，我們繼續看到保持啤酒業務成長勢頭的重大機會，特別是由於消費領域主要長期趨勢的彈性，例如消費者主導的飲料酒精高端化以及啤酒業務的持續大幅增長。美國的西班牙裔人口以及我們啤酒業務的不懈關注是縮小我們品牌之間仍然存在的分銷和認知差距，並開發和擴展符合消費者主導趨勢的新的、令人興奮的產品。我們期待在即將到來的 11 月 2 日投資者日分享有關這一引人注目的前景的更多細節。

Moving on to Wine & Spirits. Our wine and spirits business continues to make headway on its vision to become a bold and innovative, higher-end market leader. In the second quarter, our largest premium wine brands, Meiomi and Kim Crawford, outperformed their corresponding category segments in U.S. tracked channels. They both increased their respective share in the overall line category. Our largest fine wine and craft spirits brands, the Prisoner Wine Company and our Mi CAMPO tequila brand also outperformed their corresponding luxury wine and higher-end spirits category segments. Notably, all of the individual brands just referenced also delivered solid depletion growth rates in the second quarter.

繼續討論葡萄酒與烈酒。我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務繼續朝著成為大膽創新的高端市場領導者的願景邁進。第二季度，我們最大的優質葡萄酒品牌 Meiomi 和 Kim Crawford 在美國追蹤管道中的表現優於其相應類別細分市場。他們都增加了各自在整個產品線類別中的份額。我們最大的精品葡萄酒和精釀烈酒品牌 Prisoner Wine Company 和 Mi CAMPO 龍舌蘭酒品牌的表現也優於相應的豪華葡萄酒和高端烈酒類別細分市場。值得注意的是，剛才提到的所有單一品牌在第二季也實現了穩健的消耗成長率。

Our wine and spirits business also continues to advance the renovation of its mainstream brands to address the headwinds to corresponding category segments have faced over several recent quarters. While there is certainly more work to be done here, in U.S. tracked channels, the year-over-year dollar sales decline for Woodbridge improved relative to the first quarter and SVEDKA's overall share remained relatively stable when compared to the first quarter. All of that said, our wine and spirits business continued to face lower demand primarily for our mainstream brands, reflecting continued consumer-led premiumization trends noted in prior occasions, which in turn affected overall performance in the second quarter. Nevertheless, we are reiterating guidance for the full year and continue to expect fiscal '24 organic net sales to remain relatively stable and operating income growth of 2% to 4%.

我們的葡萄酒及烈酒業務也持續推動主流品牌的革新，以因應最近幾季相應品類細分市場面臨的不利因素。雖然這裡肯定還有更多工作要做，但在美國追蹤管道中，Woodbridge 的美元銷售額同比下降幅度相對於第一季度有所改善，而 SVEDKA 的整體份額與第一季度相比保持相對穩定。儘管如此，我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務繼續面臨主要針對主流品牌的需求下降，反映出先前提到的消費者主導的高端化趨勢持續存在，這反過來又影響了第二季度的整體業績。儘管如此，我們重申全年指引，並繼續預期 24 財年有機淨銷售額將保持相對穩定，營業收入成長 2% 至 4%。

As we shared when we provided our outlook for fiscal '24, we see the year as a tale of 2 halves for the wine and spirits business, with 55% of planned volumes being delivered in the second half and operating performance projected to accelerate over the rest of the year due to other key factors. We expect to benefit from the more proactive quarterly shipment and depletion rebalancing actions we have undertaken this year versus our single downward shipment adjustment in Q4 of last year. We also anticipate an uplift in our direct-to-consumer channels and improved mix from incremental ASPIRA shipments in line with seasonality and as well as benefits from recent price increases. Ultimately, we also expect to see operating margins meaningfully accelerate due to the improved sales trends just described and the resulting positive operating leverage.

正如我們在提供 24 財年展望時所分享的那樣，我們認為葡萄酒和烈酒業務的這一年分為兩個半期，計劃銷量的 55% 將在下半年交付，營運業績預計將在下半年加速增長。由於其他關鍵因素，今年剩餘時間。與去年第四季的單一下調出貨量調整相比，我們預計今年將受益於更積極的季度出貨量和消耗再平衡行動。我們也預計，我們的直接面向消費者的管道將得到提升，ASPIRA 出貨量的增量將根據季節性以及近期價格上漲帶來的好處而得到改善。最終，由於剛才描述的銷售趨勢的改善以及由此產生的積極的營運槓桿，我們也預計營運利潤率將顯著加快。

Before I conclude, it would be remiss not to highlight our consistent execution against our capital allocation priorities. We continue to make progress towards our reduced net leverage ratio of approximately 3x with a 400 point reduction since the increase resulting from the financing of our Class B common stock reclassification last November. Importantly, our proactive management of the incremental debt from the reclassification now puts us on track to deliver lower interest expense than initially anticipated for fiscal '24, and in turn, we now anticipate higher reported and comparable earnings per share, excluding Canopy in the ranges of $9.60 to $9.80 and $12 to $12.20, respectively, for the full year.

在我結束之前，如果不強調我們對資本配置優先事項的一貫執行，那就是我的失職。自去年 11 月 B 類普通股重新分類融資導致淨槓桿率增加以來，我們繼續在將淨槓桿率降低至約 3 倍方面取得進展，減少了 400 個百分點。重要的是，我們對重新分類帶來的增量債務進行主動管理，現在使我們預計在24 財年實現比最初預期更低的利息支出，反過來，我們現在預計報告和可比每股收益會更高，不包括Canopy全年分別為 9.60 美元至 9.80 美元和 12 美元至 12.20 美元。

In terms of cash returns to our shareholders, our dividend payout ratio for the second quarter remained aligned with our 30% target. And while we did not conduct any additional share repurchases in Q2, we have executed $35 million year-to-date, in line with our goal to at least offset dilution. Lastly, our brewery expansions are progressing as planned, including Veracruz, and we continue to develop and bring these online with the flexibility enabled by our modular approach.

在股東現金回報方面，第二季的股利支付率與30%的目標一致。雖然我們在第二季度沒有進行任何額外的股票回購，但今年迄今我們已經執行了 3500 萬美元，這符合我們至少抵消稀釋的目標。最後，我們的啤酒廠擴張正在按計劃進行，包括韋拉克魯斯州，我們將繼續開發這些啤酒廠並將其上線，並透過我們的模組化方法實現靈活性。

Before I conclude, I also want to again take an opportunity during our second quarter call to highlight the upcoming release of our annual ESG impact report in a few weeks. This report seeks to provide a comprehensive review of our strategy, initiatives, targets and performance to address pressing environmental and societal needs that are important to our business, consumers, communities, employees and broader stakeholders. In particular, as noted in our last 2 calls, we have already surpassed our target of restoring 1.1 billion gallons of withdrawals from local watersheds, and are looking forward to showcasing the initiatives in our beer business that drove most of this achievement and to share more details on our new target in our upcoming ESG impact report. I invite all of you to spend some time reviewing this report when it is released, which will be available through our company website.

在結束之前，我還想再次利用第二季電話會議的機會強調幾週後即將發布的年度 ESG 影響報告。本報告旨在對我們的策略、措施、目標和績效進行全面審查，以滿足對我們的業務、消費者、社區、員工和更廣泛的利害關係人至關重要的緊迫環境和社會需求。特別是，正如我們在最近兩次電話會議中所指出的，我們已經超越了恢復當地流域 11 億加侖取水量的目標，並期待展示我們啤酒業務中推動這一成就的舉措，並分享更多我們即將發布的ESG 影響報告中將詳細介紹我們的新目標。我邀請大家在這份報告發布後花一些時間閱讀該報告，該報告將透過我們公司的網站提供。

In closing, I'd like to leave you with 4 main takeaways for this quarter. First, our beer business continues to outperform the industry and the acceleration of its performance since the beginning of the year has given us confidence to shift our outlook for fiscal '24 to the higher end of our initial net sales and operating income growth expectations. And just as critical, we remain equally confident about the long-term runway for our higher-end brand portfolio.

最後，我想向您介紹本季的 4 個主要要點。首先，我們的啤酒業務持續跑贏產業，自年初以來業績加速成長，讓我們有信心將 24 財年的前景轉向最初的淨銷售額和營業收入成長預期的較高端。同樣重要的是，我們對高端品牌組合的長期發展仍然充滿信心。

Number two, the benefits of our Wine & Spirits strategy continue to take hold, and we expect the net sales growth and operating income growth of that business to ramp up through the remainder of fiscal '24, and as we look to the coming years, we anticipate our wine and spirits business to further gain momentum and achieve stronger results.

第二，我們的葡萄酒和烈酒策略的好處將繼續發揮作用，我們預計該業務的淨銷售額增長和營業收入增長將在 24 財年剩餘時間內加速，並且展望未來幾年，我們預計我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務將進一步發展勢頭並取得更強勁的業績。

Number three, we are persistently delivering on our capital allocation priorities, maintaining discipline and balance to yield value and returns, and we remain committed to building on the consistent track record we've established with these priorities over the past few years.

第三，我們堅持不懈地履行我們的資本配置優先事項，保持紀律和平衡以產生價值和回報，並且我們仍然致力於在過去幾年中根據這些優先事項建立的一致記錄的基礎上再接再厲。

And finally, number four, we are excited to be sharing more of these important topics with you at our upcoming Investor Day in 4 weeks' time. And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Garth, who will review our financial results for Q2 in more detail. Garth?

最後，第四，我們很高興能在 4 週後即將到來的投資者日與您分享更多這些重要主題。現在，我想將電話轉給加思，他將更詳細地審查我們第二季的財務表現。加斯？

Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter results reflect the ongoing disciplined execution of our strategic initiatives and our relentless focus on continuing to deliver growth while enhancing our performance. As Bill noted, we achieved yet another strong quarter with double-digit net sales and operating income growth in our beer business while our wine and spirits business delivered solid performance across its largest premium, fine wine and craft spirits brands, which partially offset the category headwinds affecting our mainstream brands.

謝謝你，比爾，大家早安。我們第二季的業績反映了我們對策略計畫的持續嚴格執行，以及我們在提高業績的同時繼續實現成長的不懈努力。正如比爾所指出的那樣，我們的啤酒業務又實現了強勁的季度淨銷售額和營業收入增長，而我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務在其最大的優質、精品葡萄酒和精釀烈酒品牌中表現強勁，部分抵消了該類別的影響影響我們主流品牌的逆風。

We also continued to generate strong cash flow results and execute against our consistent and balanced capital allocation priorities.

我們也持續產生強勁的現金流結果，並按照我們一致且平衡的資本配置優先事項執行。

Now let's review our Q2 fiscal '24 results in more detail where I will mainly focus on comparable basis financial results. To begin, our beer business increased net sales by 12%, representing an uplift of $253 million. This was driven primarily by volume growth of 8.7% as demand for our beer brands accelerated through the first half of the fiscal year. This growth also benefited from favorable pricing which contributed $59 million of the overall net sales increase. As a reminder, we continue to expect pricing to account for 1% to 2% of our net sales increase this fiscal year from the combination of the wraparound impact from the significant pricing actions taken in Q3 of fiscal '23 and targeted pricing actions we are taking in fiscal '24.

現在，讓我們更詳細地回顧一下 24 年第二季的財務業績，我將主要關注可比較基礎財務業績。首先，我們的啤酒業務淨銷售額成長了 12%，增加了 2.53 億美元。這主要是由於本財年上半年對我們啤酒品牌的需求加速，銷量成長了 8.7%。這一成長也得益於優惠的定價，為整體淨銷售額成長貢獻了 5,900 萬美元。提醒一下，我們仍然預計，由於23 財年第三季採取的重大定價行動的總體影響以及我們正在採取的目標定價行動的綜合影響，定價將佔本財年淨銷售額增長的1% 至2% 。考慮財政'24。

For the second quarter of fiscal '24, beer shipment volume and depletions were generally in line with one another, and I'm pleased to report that our inventories are at healthy levels to support the ongoing growth of our brands. Beer depletion growth for the quarter came in at 7.9%, reflecting a successful summer selling season, driven by ongoing consumer demand across our industry-leading beer portfolio as evidenced by our share gain acceleration. Execution of our distribution and marketing strategies, including extending our category leadership across the key summer season and continued positive results from our Shopper-First Shelf initiative.

24 財年第二季度，啤酒出貨量和消耗量基本上一致，我很高興地報告說，我們的庫存處於健康水平，可以支持我們品牌的持續成長。本季啤酒消耗量成長 7.9%，反映出夏季銷售旺季的成功，這得益於我們行業領先的啤酒產品組合的持續消費者需求，我們的份額增長加速證明了這一點。執行我們的分銷和行銷策略，包括在關鍵的夏季擴大我們的品類領導地位，以及我們的「購物者優先」貨架計劃繼續取得積極成果。

And lastly, the accelerated growth in share gains across our core and emerging markets.

最後，我們的核心市場和新興市場的份額成長加速。

Before moving to on-premise performance, I'd like to take a moment to explain a notable recent development in off-premise channel observation. As many of you are aware, Circana tracked channel volume growth has historically been above depletion growth by a low single-digit variance. However, more recently, that variance has expanded to the mid-single-digit range as independent retailers not captured by Circana data have lagged in reversing the additional pricing they took beyond our October fiscal '23 pricing actions. We believe this has led certain consumers to ship from these independent retailers to chain retailers offering more competitive consumer pricing. While the shift in these variances has no impact on the overall demand of our brands, we continue to monitor channel performance and plan to provide further updates or insights needed to reconcile, track channel data with our overall as warranted. As a reminder, Circana captures approximately 50% of our total beer buyers.

在轉向內部性能之前，我想花點時間解釋一下外部通道觀察的近期顯著發展。正如你們許多人所知，Circana 追蹤的管道數量成長歷來高於消耗成長，差異較小。然而，最近，這種差異已擴大到中個位數範圍，因為 Circana 數據未涵蓋的獨立零售商在扭轉其在 23 財年 10 月定價行動之外採取的額外定價方面滯後。我們相信，這導致某些消費者從這些獨立零售商轉向提供更具競爭力的消費者價格的連鎖零售商。雖然這些差異的變化對我們品牌的整體需求沒有影響，但我們將繼續監控通路績效，並計劃提供所需的進一步更新或見解，以協調、追蹤通路數據與我們的整體需求。提醒一下，Circana 吸引了我們啤酒買家總數的大約 50%。

Shifting back to the on-premise channel. Depletions were essentially flat year-over-year and accounted for approximately 10.3% of our total beer volume. Please note that while we did have some minor disruptions in our supply of kegs during the second quarter, this Q1 to Q2 step down largely reflects a normal seasonal pattern that we have seen in previous years. Importantly, while there is some disruption in the near term, we are currently producing and shipping kegs and fully expect to offset the impact of the disruptions as swiftly as possible.

轉移回本地頻道。消耗量與去年同期基本持平，約占我們啤酒總量的 10.3%。請注意，雖然我們在第二季的小桶供應確實出現了一些輕微的中斷，但第一季到第二季的下降很大程度上反映了我們前幾年看到的正常季節性模式。重要的是，雖然短期內會出現一些中斷，但我們目前正在生產和運輸小桶，並完全期望盡快抵消中斷的影響。

Looking forward to the second half of the year, as Bill noted, approximately 45% of our volumes will ship in the second half of the year as a result of it being our lower volume period. In addition, our Q3 shipment volumes are also normally more subdued due to routine maintenance activities. Lastly, from a pricing perspective, we will start to overlap the uplift we saw from significant incremental pricing actions taken in October of fiscal '23. Nonetheless, as we have previously stated, we fully expect our full year shipments and depletions to be largely in line, both on an absolute and a year-over-year growth basis by fiscal year-end.

展望今年下半年，正如比爾指出的那樣，我們大約 45% 的銷量將在今年下半年發貨，因為這是我們銷量較低的時期。此外，由於日常維護活動，我們第三季的出貨量通常也更加低迷。最後，從定價的角度來看，我們將開始與 23 財年 10 月採取的重大增量定價行動所看到的提升相重疊。儘管如此，正如我們之前所說，我們完全預計到財年末，我們的全年出貨量和消耗量將基本保持在絕對增長和同比增長的基礎上。

In regards to selling days, they were flat year-over-year for the quarter. Please note, for the remainder of fiscal '24, Q3 sales days will be flat year-over-year, and there will be 1 more selling day in Q4.

就銷售天數而言，本季與去年同期持平。請注意，在 24 財年剩餘時間內，第三季銷售天數將比去年同期持平，第四季將多出 1 個銷售天數。

Now let me review beer margins. For Q2, operating margin decreased by 60 basis points to 39.9%. This decrease was driven mostly by the ongoing inflationary pressures in our COGS as we faced an overall cost increase of approximately 17%. The largest drivers of these cost increases came from packaging and raw materials, incremental costs related to a voluntary product recall of selected kegs for quality assurance, and higher depreciation that amounted to $12 million or a 24% increase.

現在讓我回顧一下啤酒的利潤率。第二季度，營業利益率下降 60 個基點至 39.9%。這一下降主要是由於我們的銷貨成本持續的通膨壓力造成的，因為我們面臨約 17% 的總體成本增長。這些成本增加的最大驅動因素來自包裝和原材料、與為保證品質而自願召回選定小桶產品相關的增量成本，以及高達 1200 萬美元或增加 24% 的較高折舊。

To mitigate the inflationary and depreciation pressures, we continue to work across the business on cost efficiency and operational productivity programs that yielded meaningful and sustainable benefits. Building on the $30 million of net savings delivered by these initiatives in the first quarter, we realized an approximately $20 million in incremental net savings in the second quarter.

為了減輕通貨膨脹和折舊壓力，我們繼續在整個企業範圍內開展成本效率和營運生產力計劃，這些計劃產生了有意義和可持續的效益。在第一季這些措施帶來的 3,000 萬美元淨節省的基礎上，我們在第二季實現了約 2,000 萬美元的增量淨節省。

In addition to our cost-saving initiatives, we incurred margin benefits from the following: a $4 million or 2% decrease in marketing expense, primarily driven by the divestiture of our craft beer business; marketing as a percent of sales came in at 7.1% for the quarter; and a $3 million or 3% decrease in SG&A expense, which was primarily the result of favorable foreign currency impacts.

除了我們的成本節約措施外，我們還從以下方面獲得了利潤收益： 行銷費用減少了 400 萬美元，即 2%，這主要是由於我們精釀啤酒業務的剝離；本季行銷佔銷售額的百分比為 7.1%； SG&A 費用減少 300 萬美元，即 3%，這主要是由於有利的外匯影響。

Regarding Q2, our marketing spend as a percent of sales was outside of our previously stated algorithm of 9% to 10%. As usual, part of this relatively lower percentage in Q2 is a reflection of the strong volume and therefore, net sales performance of the business due to category seasonality. However, the impact of the reduction in marketing due to the previously noted exit from craft beer has further lowered that percentage. For the full year, we now expect to be closer to the lower end of our stated range of 9% to 10% of net sales due to the craft beer divestitures and our continued focus on ensuring our large marketing investments are prioritized to the highest return areas in our portfolio.

關於第二季度，我們的行銷支出佔銷售額的百分比超出了我們之前規定的 9% 到 10% 的演算法。與往常一樣，第二季相對較低的百分比部分反映了強勁的銷量，以及由於類別季節性而導致的業務淨銷售業績。然而，由於先前提到的精釀啤酒退出而導致行銷減少的影響進一步降低了這一比例。由於精釀啤酒剝離以及我們繼續致力於確保我們的大量行銷投資優先考慮最高回報，我們現在預計全年淨銷售額將接近我們規定的淨銷售額範圍的下限，即 9% 至 10%我們投資組合中的領域。

As a result of the acceleration in the growth of beer business since the beginning of the year, we are shifting our expectations for fiscal '24 to the higher end of our initial ranges, resulting in an 8% to 9% expected increase in net sales growth and a 6% to 7% expected increase in operating income growth.

由於今年年初以來啤酒業務成長加速，我們將對 24 財年的預期調整至初始範圍的較高端，預計淨銷售額將增長 8% 至 9%增長以及營業收入增長 6% 至 7% 的預期增長。

Now moving on to our wine and spirits business. In line with the reshaping of our wine and spirits business to a higher-end portfolio of offerings, we continue to benefit from the solid performance of our largest premium wine, fine wine and craft spirits brands. Meiomi, Kim Crawford, the Prisoner Wine Company and Mi CAMPO, which as Bill noted, outperformed the corresponding categories in tracked channels and delivered solid depletion growth. While we are pleased with the results with these leading higher-end brands, our overall wine and spirits organic sales were down 11%, driven primarily by the category headwinds we continue to face from the performance of our biometrically larger mainstream brands, Woodbridge and SVEDKA.

現在轉向我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務。隨著我們的葡萄酒和烈酒業務向高端產品組合的重塑，我們繼續受益於我們最大的優質葡萄酒、精品葡萄酒和精釀烈酒品牌的穩健表現。正如 Bill 所指出的那樣，Meomi、Kim Crawford、Prisoner Wine Company 和 Mi CAMPO 在追蹤管道中的表現優於相應類別，並實現了穩健的消耗成長。雖然我們對這些領先的高端品牌的業績感到滿意，但我們的整體葡萄酒和烈酒有機銷售額下降了11%，這主要是由於我們在生物識別方面較大的主流品牌Woodbridge 和SVEDKA 的表現繼續面臨的品類逆風。 。

Our plans to renovate Woodbridge and SVEDKA are underway, and our wine and spirits leadership team is looking forward to sharing updates on this progress at our upcoming Investor Day. Shipments on an organic basis decreased by 15% and depletions decreased by approximately 8%. As a reminder, approximately 55% of the wine and spirits sales are anticipated to occur in the second half of the year, where we also expect to see consumer-led premiumization mixed shift towards the higher end to continue, supporting what we believe will be a notable acceleration in the growth trajectory of the business for the remainder of the year.

我們翻新 Woodbridge 和 SVEDKA 的計劃正在進行中，我們的葡萄酒和烈酒領導團隊期待在即將到來的投資者日分享這一進展的最新信息。有機出貨量下降了 15%，消耗量下降了約 8%。提醒一下，大約 55% 的葡萄酒和烈酒銷售預計將發生在今年下半年，我們還預計消費者主導的高端化向高端的混合轉變將持續下去，這支持了我們的看法今年剩餘時間裡，業務成長軌跡顯著加速。

Wine & Spirits operating income, excluding the gross profit less marketing of the brands that are no longer part of the business following their divestiture, was down 12%, and operating margin decreased 10 basis points to 18.2%, also reflecting the same exclusion. The margin decline was primarily driven by the volume declines of our mainstream brands and partially offset by lower material costs, primarily from sustainable packaging projects, supply chain savings and lower marketing spend as we continue to focus on higher return areas of our portfolio.

葡萄酒及烈酒業務的營業收入（不包括剝離後不再屬於該業務的品牌的毛利減去行銷費用）下降了12%，營業利潤率下降了10 個基點至18.2%，也反映了同樣的排除情況。利潤率下降主要是由我們主流品牌的銷售下降造成的，部分被材料成本下降所抵消，主要來自永續包裝項目、供應鏈節省和行銷支出下降，因為我們繼續專注於投資組合的高回報領域。

As we look forward, we continue to expect the wine and spirits business to significantly improve its net sales growth trajectory for the remainder of the fiscal year through a combination of increased contributions from our higher-end portfolio as well as incremental pricing actions. We expect this acceleration in net sales growth combined with our continued cost reductions and marketing efficiency initiatives to also support our operating income growth targets. As a result, we remain confident in the outlook for wine and spirits for the year and our guidance for that business for fiscal '24 remains unchanged.

展望未來，我們繼續預計，透過高端產品組合的增加貢獻以及增量定價行動，葡萄酒和烈酒業務將在本財年剩餘時間內顯著改善其淨銷售成長軌跡。我們預期淨銷售額成長的加速加上我們持續的成本削減和行銷效率措施也將支持我們的營業收入成長目標。因此，我們對今年葡萄酒和烈酒的前景仍然充滿信心，並且我們對該業務 24 財年的指導保持不變。

Now let's proceed with the rest of the P&L. Corporate expense was approximately $67 million, an overall reduction of 19% when compared to the prior year, primarily driven by reduced spend in the second wave of our digital business acceleration program, lower headcount-related costs and lower compensation and benefits post our reclassification transaction. Interest expense for the quarter was approximately $111 million, a 17% increase from the prior year, driven by higher weighted average interest rates on the portion of our debt with adjustable rates, which is approximately 5% of our debt obligations, and higher average borrowings due to the financing of the share reclassification.

現在讓我們繼續處理損益表的其餘部分。公司費用約為 6,700 萬美元，與前一年相比總體減少了 19%，主要是由於我們第二波數位業務加速計劃的支出減少、人員相關成本降低以及重新分類交易後薪酬和福利降低。本季的利息支出約為 1.11 億美元，比上年增長 17%，這是由於可調整利率債務部分的加權平均利率較高（約占我們債務的 5%）以及平均借款較高由於股權重組融資。

However, we now expect interest expense for the full year to be approximately $460 million, roughly $40 million lower than our prior guidance due to refinancing actions for some of our higher interest debt and faster-than-expected deleveraging throughout the year. We ended the quarter with a net leverage ratio of approximately 3.2x excluding Canopy equity earnings, and expect to continue to make progress towards our 3x ratio target over the coming quarters.

然而，我們現在預計全年利息支出約為 4.6 億美元，比我們之前的指導方針低約 4000 萬美元，原因是我們對一些較高利息債務的再融資行動以及全年去槓桿化速度快於預期。本季結束時，不包括 Canopy 股權收益的淨槓桿率約為 3.2 倍，並預計在未來幾季繼續朝著 3 倍的槓桿率目標取得進展。

Our comparable effective tax rate, excluding Canopy equity earnings for the quarter, was 17.8% versus 20.3% last year. For fiscal '24, we continue to expect the comparable effective tax rate, excluding Canopy equity earnings to be approximately 19%.

我們的可比較有效稅率（不包括本季 Canopy 股權收益）為 17.8%，而去年為 20.3%。對於 24 財年，我們繼續預期可比有效稅率（不包括 Canopy 股權收益）約為 19%。

Moving to free cash flow, which we define as net cash provided by operating activities less CapEx. For the second quarter, year-to-date of fiscal '24, we generated free cash flow of $1 billion, a 15% decrease versus prior year, driven by a 34% increase in CapEx investments, attributable to the capacity expansions at our Nava and Obregon facilities and the construction of our new brewery located in Veracruz. As of Q2, we have fully commissioned our latest additional brewing capacity project at our Obregon facility and now have approximately 47 million hectoliters of capacity across our 2 breweries.

轉向自由現金流，我們將其定義為經營活動提供的淨現金減去資本支出。 24 財年至今的第二季度，我們產生了 10 億美元的自由現金流，比前一年減少了 15%，這主要是由於我們的 Nava 產能擴張導致資本支出投資增長了 34%和奧布雷貢工廠以及位於韋拉克魯斯州的新啤酒廠的建設。截至第二季度，我們已在奧布雷貢工廠全面啟用了最新的額外啤酒產能項目，現在我們的 2 家啤酒廠擁有約 4700 萬百升的產能。

Looking ahead, we remain on track to bring our ABA facility online at Nava towards the end of this fiscal year. And the development of our additional expansion at Obregon and our third brewery site at Veracruz are advancing as planned. We continue to expect fiscal '24 free cash flow to be in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion, reflective of operating cash flow between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion and CapEx of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion.

展望未來，我們仍有望在本財年結束時將位於納瓦的 ABA 設施上線。我們在奧布雷貢的額外擴建和韋拉克魯斯的第三個啤酒廠的開發正在按計劃進行。我們仍預期24 財年的自由現金流將在12 億美元至13 億美元之間，反映出營運現金流在24 億美元至26 億美元之間，資本支出在12 億美元至13 億美元之間。

Our comparable EPS for the quarter, excluding Canopy equity and earnings, was $3.80 as a result of the continued profitable and disciplined growth we have seen this year. We are raising fiscal '24 reported EPS guidance to between $9.60 and $9.80 and comparable EPS guidance, excluding Canopy equity and earnings to be between $12 and $12.20.

由於今年我們看到持續獲利和有紀律的成長，本季的可比每股收益（不包括 Canopy 股權和收益）為 3.80 美元。我們將 24 財年報告的 EPS 指引上調至 9.60 美元至 9.80 美元之間，並將可比 EPS 指引（不包括 Canopy 股本和收益）提高至 12 至 12.20 美元之間。

And finally, our announced dividend of $0.89 a share will result in approximately $163 million returned to shareholders for the quarter.

最後，我們宣布的每股 0.89 美元的股息將使本季股東返還約 1.63 億美元。

In closing, I'd like to say that our entire team continues to execute and deliver against our strategic priorities. We demonstrated solid execution in the first half of fiscal '24, and as we enter the back half of the year, we plan to remain disciplined as we seek to drive long-term profitable growth and enhanced shareholder value.

最後，我想說，我們整個團隊將繼續執行和交付我們的策略重點。我們在 24 財年上半年展現了紮實的執行力，進入今年下半年，我們計劃保持紀律，尋求推動長期獲利成長和提高股東價值。

Our management team is excited to meet with many of you this coming November as we lay out our medium- and long-term ambitions and vision for Constellation Brands at our Investor Day.

我們的管理團隊很高興在即將到來的 11 月與大家見面，我們將在投資者日闡述我們對星座品牌的中長期目標和願景。

With that, Bill and I are happy to take your questions.

至此，比爾和我很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Vivien Azer with Cowen & Company.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Cowen & Company 的 Vivien Azer 線路。

So obviously, very strong one half results in the year. I've been getting a lot of questions on why the positive revision to guidance wasn't a little bit more robust. And obviously, Bill, you laid out some of the factors to contemplate from a shipment perspective as well as from the lapping of pricing that Garth called out as well. But is there anything incremental that you can offer in terms of your outlook for the category in the back half that might have informed a little bit more caution as well?

顯然，今年上半年的業績非常強勁。我收到了很多關於為什麼對指導意見的積極修訂沒有變得更加有力的問題。顯然，比爾，您從發貨角度以及加思也提到的定價的角度列出了一些需要考慮的因素。但是，對於後半段的類別前景，您是否可以提供一些增量內容，從而讓我們更加謹慎一些？

No. We remain very positive about the back half of the year. The critical things that are important and relative to our back half is normal seasonality. We only do 45% in the back half. We do our maintenance in Q3, which always limits Q3 somewhat. And we're going against pricing from last year that won't largely be repeated combined with the normal sales buildup ahead of price increases that occurred again in Q3 last year. But let's just keep in mind, when you look at the takeout data you see in tracked channels, our 4-week numbers are very consistent with the 52-week numbers. This is an ongoing growth story that we have a lot of confidence in, which is why we raised our expectations for the year in beer. We expect to have a very strong second half.

不會。我們對今年下半年仍然非常樂觀。與我們後半部分相關的重要且關鍵的事情是正常的季節性。我們只在後半場完成了 45% 的任務。我們在第三季進行維護，這總是在一定程度上限制了第三季。我們將反對去年的定價，這種定價不會在很大程度上重複，再加上去年第三季再次出現價格上漲之前的正常銷售累積。但請記住，當您查看在追蹤管道中看到的外帶數據時，我們的 4 週數據與 52 週數據非常一致。這是一個持續成長的故事，我們對此充滿信心，這就是為什麼我們提高了對今年啤酒的期望。我們預計下半場會有一個非常強勁的表現。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrea Teixeira from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Andrea Teixeira。

I was hoping to see if you can comment a bit on the shelf resets in the category at large, how you're seeing consumers? I understand the CAG situation and the on-premise consumption. Just hearing obviously, the shift in market share and you were a beneficiary and you have been doing a lot of work for a long, long time in the shelf resets. And so if you can comment on that, how you're looking at as you go into the spring resets in the large boxes as well as what's happening in the on-premise?

我希望您能對整個品類的貨架重置發表一下評論，您如何看待消費者？我了解 CAG 的情況和本地消耗。顯然，市場份額的轉變，你是受益者，你在貨架重置中做了很長一段時間的大量工作。因此，如果您能對此發表評論，當您進入大盒子中的春季重置以及內部部署中發生的情況時，您有何看法？

Certainly. We certainly expect to see a strong reset period. There's some limited resets that occur here in the fall. Most of those occur in the spring. Our confidence around that drives primarily from the sheer velocities that we have within our key brands. No, we -- our portfolio is second to none in terms of delivering against velocities, and those have been consistent year-on-year, which gives us a lot of confidence in our ability to continue to see shelves that gain. Retailers are very smart about this and they recognize where the growth and velocity is coming from, and that will work strongly to our advantage as those resets occur.

當然。我們當然期望看到一個強勁的重置期。秋季這裡會發生一些有限的重置。其中大多數發生在春季。我們對此的信心主要來自於我們主要品牌的高速發展。不，我們——我們的產品組合在交付速度方面是首屈一指的，而且這些速度逐年保持一致，這讓我們對繼續看到貨架成長的能力充滿信心。零售商對此非常聰明，他們認識到成長和速度來自何處，隨著這些重置的發生，這將有力地發揮我們的優勢。

Our next question comes from the line of Nik Modi with RBC Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自尼克·莫迪與加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的對話。

Bill, I was hoping you can just comment on systems and supply chain and volume? And I asked this question because a lot of your growth is coming in areas that were not really driving your growth, let's call it, 5 to 10 years ago. Getting the right volume in the right place at the right time, require some adjustment and probably some systems overhaul. So I just -- I was wondering if, a, if that is a valid point to be making; and b, if it is, what you're doing internally to make sure that you can actually have the most optimized supply chain?

比爾，我希望你能對系統、供應鏈和數量發表評論？我問這個問題是因為你們的許多成長都來自於 5 到 10 年前並沒有真正推動你們成長的領域。在正確的時間、正確的地點獲得正確的音量，需要一些調整，可能還需要進行一些系統檢修。所以我只是想知道這是否是一個有效的觀點； b，如果是，您在內部正在做什麼來確保您實際上可以擁有最優化的供應鏈？

Certainly. A couple of things stand out, Nik, around this. As you know, a few years ago, we literally had no redundancy in the system. We now do. And that certainly provides much greater flexibility in terms of our operations footprint to do a number of things. One is to make sure we're able to keep up with our increasing demand that we consistently see in our business. And in a scenario where something is accelerating at a greater pace than what we had anticipated, we can react to that. I think, a, that's very strong. Secondly, as you know, we made some significant investments in our digital business efforts. And those are really paying dividends in terms of our supply chain capability as well. That has significantly refined our ability to make sure we have the right supply chain capabilities all the way through the supply chain.

當然。尼克，圍繞這一點，有幾件事很突出。如您所知，幾年前，我們的系統實際上沒有冗餘。我們現在這樣做了。這無疑為我們的營運足跡提供了更大的靈活性，可以做很多事情。一是確保我們能夠滿足我們業務中不斷增長的需求。當某些事情的加速速度超出我們的預期時，我們可以對此做出反應。我認為，a，這非常強大。其次，如您所知，我們在數位業務方面進行了一些重大投資。就我們的供應鏈能力而言，這些也確實帶來了紅利。這大大提高了我們的能力，確保我們在整個供應鏈中擁有正確的供應鏈能力。

So I'd say both of those things have been critically important. In fact, and I know you'll be there, you'll get a chance to hear about this in some depth during our investor meeting on November 2. We think this is a critical factor that's been important to our continuing ability to maintain and meet the significant increase in demand that we've seen. And we'll go into that in a fair amount of detail on November 2.

所以我想說這兩件事都至關重要。事實上，我知道您會出席，在 11 月 2 日的投資者會議上，您將有機會深入了解這一點。我們認為這是一個關鍵因素，對於我們持續維持和維持業務的能力至關重要。滿足我們所看到的需求的顯著增長。我們將在 11 月 2 日詳細討論這個問題。

Our next question comes from the line of Dara Mohsenian with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自達拉莫森尼安 (Dara Mohsenian) 與摩根士丹利 (Morgan Stanley) 的對話。

So just two quick clarity questions. The mid-single digit gap versus Circana data that you saw in this quarter in terms of depletions. Do you think that lingers? Might that close back towards the low single-digit gap going forward? Just conceptually, how do you think about that? And in your answer to Andreas' question around shelf space, is there more opportunity this year than a typical year, just given ABI's business has obviously fallen off unexpectedly after the spring reset. So do you think about the shelf space opportunity is greater than typical just given those dynamics and there may be greater shifts even if your business doesn't compete as much directly head-to-head versus them?

所以只有兩個快速且清楚的問題。與您在本季度看到的 Circana 數據相比，在消耗方面存在中等個位數的差距。你認為這會持續下去嗎？未來可能會縮小個位數差距嗎？只是從概念上來說，您對此有何看法？當您回答 Andreas 關於貨架空間的問題時，考慮到 ABI 的業務在春季重置後明顯意外下滑，今年的機會是否比往年更多。那麼，考慮到這些動態，您是否認為貨架空間機會比典型的機會更大，即使您的企業沒有與他們直接正面競爭，也可能會有更大的轉變？

Yes. Sure, Dara. On your first point, the question of whether or not the sort of mid-single digit continues, I think, remains to be seen. Certainly, as Garth noted at Barclays, and we said during our prepared remarks, it's more than it has usually been. So whether or not it reverts to the norm of what we usually see, which is sort of lower single digit remains to be seen, and obviously, one that we watch carefully. Relative to the shelf sets, yes, we think this is going to be a great opportunity for us for all the reasons that I answered earlier, which is our velocities are second to none. And we fully expect that we're going to be able to expand our presence. That also impacts some of our new product development. If you think about Oro, I mean, Oro is off to an excellent start, much in line with what our expectations were. And that also gives us a chance to expand our shelf presence because we expect that, that particular brand using that example is going to get more shelf space.

是的。當然，達拉。關於你的第一點，我認為這種中位數是否繼續存在的問題還有待觀察。當然，正如加思在巴克萊銀行指出的那樣，以及我們在準備好的發言中所說的那樣，這比平常要多。因此，它是否會恢復到我們通常看到的標準（即較低的個位數）還有待觀察，而且顯然，我們會仔細觀察。相對於貨架組，是的，我們認為這對我們來說將是一個很好的機會，因為我之前回答過，我們的速度是首屈一指的。我們完全期望能夠擴大我們的業務。這也影響了我們的一些新產品開發。如果你想到 Oro，我的意思是，Oro 有一個好的開端，非常符合我們的預期。這也給了我們一個擴大貨架存在的機會，因為我們期望使用該範例的特定品牌將獲得更多的貨架空間。

The last thing I would say, and I got to call out Cheladas because Cheladas has just been absolutely on fire. And our additional sizes and variety pack in those -- in that particular category, again, gives us a chance outside of the core beer set to also gain more shelf space. So we need to think about this very broadly because we expect to gain both in what I would call the core beer shelf as well as the ancillary beer shelf as well with things like Cheladas.

我要說的最後一件事是，我必須大聲疾呼切拉達斯，因為切拉達斯剛剛徹底火了。我們在該特定類別中額外提供的尺寸和品種包裝，再次為我們提供了在核心啤酒系列之外獲得更多貨架空間的機會。因此，我們需要非常廣泛地考慮這一點，因為我們希望在我所說的核心啤酒架和輔助啤酒架以及 Cheladas 等方面都獲得收益。

Our next question comes from the line of Gerald Pascarelli with Wedbush Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wedbush Securities 的 Gerald Pascarelli。

It's a macro-related question. Bill, one of the questions we get a lot is on student loan repayments. They're going to resume this month after a 3-year pause. So just how are you thinking about the impact from that, maybe the potential for down trading, just obviously given some of the premium price points on your beer products? Any color there would be great.

這是一個宏觀相關的問題。比爾，我們收到的許多問題之一是關於學生貸款償還的問題。中斷三年後，他們將於本月恢復。那麼，您如何看待由此產生的影響，也許是下跌交易的潛力，顯然考慮到您的啤酒產品的一些溢價點？任何顏色都會很棒。

Yes. That, again, is one of those things that I think remains to be seen. One of the important things that we see with our brands is the consumer loyalty that is attached to those brands. Taking Modelo as an example, we over-index with the Hispanic community, and the Hispanic community has tremendous brand loyalty to Modelo. Also with Corona. Corona is a much broader-based demographic, but we continue to say it's the most loved beer because it is. I think that's critically important. People make choices all the time about where they're going to spend their discretionary income. And brand strength is critically important about how people make those judgments. So specifically to your question, it remains to be seen, but we feel very confident in our ability to see our brands continue to gain traction simply because there's so much brand loyalty attached to them.

是的。這也是我認為還有待觀察的事情之一。我們在品牌中看到的重要事情之一是消費者對這些品牌的忠誠度。以 Modelo 為例，我們對西班牙裔社群的指數過高，而西班牙裔社群對 Modelo 有著巨大的品牌忠誠度。還有電暈。科羅娜啤酒的受眾範圍更廣，但我們仍然說它是最受歡迎的啤酒，因為它確實如此。我認為這至關重要。人們一直在選擇將可自由支配的收入花在哪裡。品牌強度對於人們如何做出這些判斷至關重要。因此，具體到你的問題，還有待觀察，但我們對看到我們的品牌繼續獲得吸引力的能力非常有信心，因為它們有如此多的品牌忠誠度。

Our next question comes from the line of Nadine Sarwat with Bernstein.

我們的下一個問題來自納丁·薩爾瓦特 (Nadine Sarwat) 和伯恩斯坦 (Bernstein) 的對話。

Two questions for me, please. Coming back to Modelo Oro. Could you share some -- any updated data points that you have especially when it comes to cannibalization? And how would you characterize that incremental consumer? And then just one final question on that voluntary keg product recall. Can you quantify the impact that this has had in the quarter, both on top line and on the margins?

請問我兩個問題。回到莫羅奧羅。您能否分享一些您擁有的最新數據點，特別是在蠶食方面？您如何描述增量消費者的特徵？最後一個問題是關於自願召回桶裝產品。您能否量化這對本季營收和利潤率的影響？

Sure. As I noted earlier, we only had a couple of SKUs in Oro, but it's off to a really good start. And the cannibalization rates were less than we had anticipated, and frankly, less than they were in the 3 test markets that we had originally run. So we're very positive about that. One place where we're seeing disproportionate pickup on that particular sub-brand of Oro is in the Hispanic community. We've been very pleased by the takeaway in critical large Hispanic markets how Oro has done. And as we continue to build that out, you'll see additional SKUs coming next year, which we believe will help to continue to accelerate that brand's growth. And if the cannibalization rates stay where they have been, it's going to be better than we had initially anticipated.

當然。正如我之前指出的，我們在 Oro 只有幾個 SKU，但這是一個非常好的開始。蠶食率低於我們的預期，坦白說，低於我們最初運行的 3 個測試市場的蠶食率。所以我們對此非常積極。我們發現 Oro 的特定子品牌受到不成比例的歡迎的一個地方是西班牙裔社區。我們對 Oro 在重要的大型西班牙市場的表現感到非常高興。隨著我們繼續開發這款產品，明年您將看到更多 SKU，我們相信這將有助於繼續加速品牌的成長。如果蠶食率維持在原來的水平，情況將會比我們最初預期的要好。

Garth, do you want to handle the second one?

加斯，你想處理第二個嗎？

Yes. Just on the CAG recall, the impact was entirely in the cost of goods as related to shipping and destruction of products as well as the initial cost to produce the product. It's -- it wasn't a material movement for us for the quarter. There'll be a little bit more detail in the 10-Q on that, and you can find it there.

是的。僅就 CAG 召回而言，影響力完全在於與產品運輸和銷毀相關的商品成本以及生產產品的初始成本。這對我們本季來說並不是一個實質的變動。 10-Q 中對此有更多詳細信息，您可以在那裡找到它。

Our next question comes from the line of Bryan Spillane with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的布萊恩‧斯皮蘭 (Bryan Spillane)。

So I guess a little bit of perspective maybe on -- and this may be a little bit of a follow-up from one of the earlier questions, but just we're getting a lot of questions about demand elasticity, consumer tolerance of inflation. So can you just give us a little bit of perspective for both your beer business and also in wine and spirits, just what kind of economizing behavior might you be seeing? Again, is it like buying more in chain convenience versus independents or choices people are making on packaging. Just as you're kind of looking forward, just kind of where we are on economizing behavior and how you might have to adapt or adjust to that.

所以我想可能會有一些觀點——這可能是之前問題之一的後續問題，但我們收到了很多關於需求彈性、消費者對通膨的容忍度的問題。那麼，您能否為我們介紹一下您的啤酒業務以及葡萄酒和烈酒業務，您可能會看到什麼樣的節約行為？再說一遍，這是否就像購買更多連鎖便利商店與獨立店或人們在包裝上做出的選擇一樣。正如您所期望的那樣，我們在節約行為方面的進展以及您可能必須如何適應或調整這一點。

Yes. So I think this points out to where our judicious approach to pricing has been spot on. We've said consistently -- in fact, we got questions about that on prior calls at times about why we weren't taking more price. Our view has consistently been 1% to 2% annually. We were a little more than that the last couple of years, but 1% to 2% is the consistent way that we look at it, and we look at it market by market, SKU by SKU. The rationale for that is quite simple. It's much easier to keep your consumer than to have to go get them again if you have lost them. I think in this particular instance, as you point out, people are careful. We're seeing less -- more trips, but somewhat less purchasing per trip than we used to see, which simply means people are being a little more careful about what they do given the inflationary environment that exists.

是的。所以我認為這表明我們明智的定價方法是正確的。我們一直在說——事實上，我們在之前的電話中有時會被問到為什麼我們不接受更高的價格。我們的觀點始終是每年 1% 到 2%。過去幾年我們的數字比這要多一些，但 1% 到 2% 是我們看待它的一貫方式，我們逐個市場、逐個 SKU 地看待它。其理由非常簡單。留住你的消費者比失去他們後必須重新獲得他們要容易得多。我認為在這個特殊情況下，正如你所指出的，人們很小心。我們看到的旅行減少了——更多了，但每次旅行的購買量比我們以前看到的要少一些，這僅僅意味著考慮到現有的通貨膨脹環境，人們對自己的行為更加謹慎。

I think the important part for us is the fact that even though there are more trips, they are making more trips to purchase more of our brands, even if they might spend a little less on any particular trip, again, that speaks to what I just replied to on the prior question, which is about our brand loyalty and about the consistent consumer dynamics that really works to our advantage over the long run. So again, I think the critical element to that is our judicious pricing approach over time is one that's going to do us very well when you're in a consumer environment that people are a little bit more concerned or a little bit more nervous about the inflationary environment, and I think that's going to work to our advantage as we go forward.

我認為對我們來說重要的是，即使有更多的旅行，他們也會進行更多的旅行來購買更多我們的品牌，即使他們在任何特定旅行上的花費可能會少一些，這再次說明了我的觀點剛剛回答了先前的問題，這是關於我們的品牌忠誠度以及持續的消費者動態，從長遠來看，這確實對我們有利。所以，我再次認為，關鍵因素是我們明智的定價方法，隨著時間的推移，當你處於一個人們對產品更加關心或更加緊張的消費環境時，這將對我們非常有利。通膨環境，我認為隨著我們的前進，這將對我們有利。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Carey with Wells Fargo Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行證券公司的克里斯凱裡（Chris Carey）。

Garth, can you just comment on how inflation is coming in relative to your expectations entering the year, puts and takes? I asked this in the context of your comments around marketing coming in at the low end of the historical range for the full year. And I would just be curious on how you view gross margin delivery in the quarter relative to expectations with any context on the back half of the year. But -- so anyway, high level, just trying to get some context around how costs are running relative to what you were thinking going? And maybe you could frame how this delivery is coming in, again, relative to your going expectations?

Garth，您能否簡單評論一下通貨膨脹相對於您今年的預期、看跌期權和拿單的情況如何？我是在您對全年行銷處於歷史範圍低端的評論的背景下提出這個問題的。我只是想知道您如何看待本季的毛利率交付相對於今年下半年的任何情況下的預期。但是，無論如何，高層，只是想了解一些關於成本相對於您的想法如何運作的背景資訊？也許你可以再次根據你的預期來描述這次交付是如何進行的？

Yes, Yes. Thanks, Chris. Look, as a reminder, we expect our beer operating margin for this fiscal year to be around 38%. That remains unchanged as it relates specifically to Q2. Q2 is historically traditionally our higher -- our highest margin quarter given the volume associated with Q2. And so in the second half of the year, obviously, we're going to continue to face inflationary pressures that we've had all year long. We are seeing some easing in inflation as expected as we've gone through the year. Unfortunately, while we've seen some improvement in inflation, we've also seen a strengthening peso kind of hold up. And so any improvement that we had due to inflation has been really offset by the strength of the peso.

是的是的。謝謝，克里斯。提醒一下，我們預計本財年的啤酒營業利潤率約為 38%。這保持不變，因為它與第二季度具體相關。從歷史上看，第二季度是我們利潤率最高的季度，考慮到與第二季度相關的交易量。因此，很明顯，在今年下半年，我們將繼續面臨全年都面臨的通膨壓力。今年以來，我們看到通膨有所緩和，符合預期。不幸的是，雖然我們看到通膨有所改善，但我們也看到比索走強。因此，我們因通貨膨脹而取得的任何改善實際上都被比索的強勢所抵消。

And then again in the second half of the year, because of the historically lower volume that we have in that half, there will be an impact, obviously, to fixed cost absorption as well as COGS and marketing. And additionally, incremental depreciation as we brought on over gone partway through the year. And then as Bill noted in his remarks, scheduled maintenance in -- that we traditionally do in the second half of the year as well as the overlapping and the pricing benefits last year. So all in, I mean, those are the sort of the factors that will contribute to the 38% margin for the full year.

然後，在今年下半年，由於我們在下半年的銷售量處於歷史較低水平，顯然會對固定成本吸收以及銷貨成本和行銷產生影響。此外，我們在今年中期帶來的增量折舊已經過去了。然後，正如比爾在演講中指出的那樣，我們傳統上在下半年進行定期維護，以及去年的重疊和定價優勢。總而言之，我的意思是，這些因素將導致全年利潤率達到 38%。

Our next question comes from the line of Lauren Lieberman with Barclays. Lauren, we can't hear you. Are you muted.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的勞倫‧利伯曼 (Lauren Lieberman)。勞倫，我們聽不到你的聲音。你靜音了嗎。

Our next question comes from the line of Rob Ottenstein with Evercore.

我們的下一個問題來自 Rob Ottenstein 和 Evercore 的對話。

Great. I was wondering if you could give us a little bit more detail on your productivity programs, the specific buckets that you've addressed that you're targeting? And is this something that is potentially a multiyear process of system optimization?

偉大的。我想知道您是否可以向我們提供有關您的生產力計劃的更多詳細信息，以及您所針對的具體目標？這是否可能是多年的系統優化過程？

Thanks, Robert. Yes, I would say that our cost savings and efficiency initiatives certainly are multiyear in nature. Obviously, we communicated earlier this year in Q1, we had taken $30 million out and then this year, an incremental $20 million for this quarter, I should say, an incremental $20 million. We're always looking at ways to sort of prove productivity, create efficiencies in the business, whether that's through supply chain and procurement or operations.

謝謝，羅伯特。是的，我想說，我們的成本節約和提高效率舉措本質上肯定是多年的。顯然，我們今年早些時候在第一季溝通過，我們已經拿出了 3000 萬美元，然後今年，本季增加了 2000 萬美元，我應該說，增加了 2000 萬美元。我們一直在尋找方法來證明生產力，提高業務效率，無論是透過供應鏈、採購或營運。

Examples of that over time have been things like double-stacking railcars and the use of plastic pallets, optimizing the location of inventory, as Bill referenced in response to a question earlier, improved purchasing in terms of raw materials through better contract management and negotiations as well as more effective and efficient use of our marketing spend. So it's absolutely something that the organization is focused on, on a year-on-year basis. And certainly, we will share a lot more detail on our cost savings initiatives for both our beer and our wine and spirits businesses at our upcoming Investor Day.

隨著時間的推移，這方面的例子包括雙層軌道車和塑膠托盤的使用、優化庫存位置（正如比爾在早些時候回答問題時提到的那樣）、透過更好的合約管理和談判改善原材料採購，以及更有效和有效率地利用我們的行銷支出。因此，這絕對是該組織逐年關注的重點。當然，我們將在即將到來的投資者日分享更多關於我們的啤酒以及葡萄酒和烈酒業務的成本節約計劃的細節。

Our next question comes from the line of Filippo Falorni with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Filippo Falorni。

Bill, you mentioned that the last 4-week trends has been very strong and consistent with the last 52 weeks. Can you give a little bit maybe more color on the performance of your business in September? And then at the industry level, one of your competitor at the Investor Day mentioned that September for the industry is particularly sluggish, particularly the last couple of weeks as you cycle the shipments ahead of the price increases in the last year. So maybe some color on the timing of shipments into September into Q3 would be helpful.

Bill，您提到過去 4 週的趨勢非常強勁，並且與過去 52 週的趨勢一致。您能否對您 9 月份的業務表現提供一些更多的資訊？然後在行業層面，您的一位競爭對手在投資者日提到，該行業的 9 月份特別低迷，尤其是最後幾週，因為您在去年價格上漲之前循環發貨。因此，也許對 9 月到第三季的出貨時間進行一些說明會有所幫助。

Sure. When I look at the most recent Circana data for 4 weeks, our total beer business is up 13.7%, which is very consistent with what the 52 weeks. That's what I was alluding to in my prior comments around that. Certainly, as we also noted, we expected that we would see some element of tightness during the course of the beginning of this quarter that we are in purely because we are lapping the October price increases that occurred last year and some of the prebill that people do -- the retailers do ahead of any price increases that existed. All of that consistent with what we've expected. And we expect, as we've said, the reason we raised the -- our guidance expectation around beer is because we expect to have a very strong back half of the year despite a couple of these headwinds that certainly exist.

當然。當我查看 Circana 4 週的最新數據時，我們的啤酒業務總量增加了 13.7%，這與 52 週的數據非常一致。這就是我在之前的評論中提到的內容。當然，正如我們也指出的那樣，我們預計在本季度初我們會看到一些緊張的情況，這純粹是因為我們正在考慮去年 10 月份的價格上漲以及人們預付的一些費用。這樣做——零售商在任何現有的價格上漲之前就這樣做。所有這些都與我們的預期一致。正如我們所說，我們之所以提高對啤酒的指導預期，是因為儘管確實存在一些不利因素，但我們預計今年下半年的表現將非常強勁。

Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Strelzik with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Andrew Strelzik。

My question is on capital allocation and in particular, around buybacks. And I think you noted no buybacks during the quarter, but being on track for your target to offset dilution year-to-date. I guess my question though is what's the appetite for buybacks in excess of that, particularly given the momentum in the business, the strong cash flow generation? How are you thinking about that now versus where you were at the beginning part of the year and moving forward?

我的問題是關於資本配置，特別是關於回購。我認為您注意到本季沒有回購，但正在實現抵銷年初至今稀釋的目標。但我想我的問題是，超過這個數字的回購意願是什麼，特別是考慮到業務的發展勢頭和強勁的現金流產生？與今年年初和未來的情況相比，您現在對此有何看法？

Yes. So capital allocation is obviously something that we're going to discuss in greater detail at our upcoming Investor Day. But just broadly speaking, I would say, for this fiscal year, as we noted when we entered this year, we were going to at least buy back the dilution that occurred throughout the year. But this year, we're also prioritizing, getting our leverage ratio back to our target of 3.0 versus where it was at an elevated state as a result of the reclassification. That said, we're always looking to be flexible and agile as conditions allow for it. So something we continue to look at. And just as a reminder, we do have $800 million remaining under our current Board authorization. So in the event that we decide we want to be a bit more active, we have the ability to do so.

是的。因此，資本配置顯然是我們將在即將到來的投資者日更詳細討論的問題。但從廣義上講，我想說，對於本財年，正如我們進入今年時所指出的那樣，我們至少將回購全年發生的稀釋。但今年，我們的首要任務是讓槓桿率回到 3.0 的目標，而不是重新分類後槓桿率處於較高水準。也就是說，我們始終尋求在條件允許的情況下保持靈活性和敏捷性。所以我們會繼續關注。提醒一下，我們目前的董事會授權確實還剩下 8 億美元。因此，如果我們決定要更加積極一點，我們有能力這樣做。

Our next question comes from the line of Lauren Lieberman with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的勞倫‧利伯曼 (Lauren Lieberman)。

But just quickly, I was going to ask about wine industry growth. And just against the backdrop of your comments on Woodbridge/SVEDKA, obviously [not one], and then the higher-end brand performance. But just as you think about the fast forward, not just second half but into next year and so on, how do you think about wine industry growth, wine versus beer versus spirits? I'm guessing we'll get into this a bit more at the Investor Day, but I was just curious if you could preview a bit your view on kind of that long-term growth in wine?

但很快，我就想問葡萄酒產業的成長情況。就您對 Woodbridge/SVEDKA 的評論而言，顯然[沒有一個]，然後是高端品牌表現。但正如您思考快進，不僅僅是下半年，而是明年等等，您如何看待葡萄酒行業的成長，葡萄酒與啤酒與烈酒的比較？我想我們會在投資者日進一步討論這個問題，但我只是好奇您是否可以預覽一下您對葡萄酒長期增長的看法？

Yes, certainly, Lauren. It's really the tale of 2 cities. The lower end piece of the business, what we refer to as mainstream has been very challenged. It's down mid- to high single digits, which obviously is somewhat challenging for us because we do have significant involvement with that category still even though we have divested a number of brands that played in that category. So that certainly is a very different answer than what I would say to you about the higher-end portion of the business where brands like Meiomi and Kim Crawford and High West and Booker and things of that nature are all significantly outperforming our plans and expectations and gaining share. You're right. We'll talk about that at Investor Day.

是的，當然，勞倫。這確實是兩個城市的故事。我們所說的主流業務的低端部分受到了極大的挑戰。它下降了中高個位數，這顯然對我們來說有些挑戰，因為儘管我們已經剝離了許多參與該類別的品牌，但我們仍然在該類別中發揮重要作用。因此，這肯定與我對高端業務部分的回答截然不同，在高端業務部分，像 Meiomi 和 Kim Crawford、High West 和 Booker 這樣的品牌以及類似性質的產品都明顯超出了我們的計劃和預期，獲得份額。你說得對。我們將在投資者日討論這個問題。

The other thing I'd keep in mind, unlike beer, which is about 45% in the second half, it's directly the flip when it comes to wine. That's 55% in the second half. And as we do in a distant portion of the amount of our business comes from ASPIRA, which much more relates to vintage releases, those all tend to occur in the second half, which, again, [weights] our business toward the back half of the year versus the first half of the year. And the other one I would just point out, which I think is important to recognize. We made the choice, as we said earlier this year that we were going to balance our ships and depletes all year long as opposed to doing it once in the fourth quarter, which is what we did last year. That creates a bit of a challenge in the early part of our fiscal year, but gives us a significant improvement proposition in the back half of the year as that won't occur as it did last year, creating a disproportionate shipment number in the fourth quarter last year, which won't be the case and we will be going against a much better proposition this year.

我要記住的另一件事是，與啤酒不同的是，啤酒下半年的比例約為 45%，而葡萄酒的佔比則直接相反。下半年是 55%。正如我們所做的那樣，我們的業務量的很大一部分來自 ASPIRA，它與復古版本更多相關，這些都傾向於發生在下半年，這再次將我們的業務[加權]到了下半年今年與上半年的比較。我只想指出另一個問題，我認為認識到這一點很重要。正如我們今年早些時候所說的那樣，我們做出了選擇，我們將全年平衡我們的船舶和消耗，而不是像我們去年所做的那樣在第四季度進行一次。這在我們財年的初期帶來了一些挑戰，但為我們在下半年提供了重大改進建議，因為這種情況不會像去年那樣發生，從而在第四季度產生不成比例的出貨量去年一個季度的情況並非如此，今年我們將反對一個更好的提議。

So all in, I think the wine business certainly has seen some challenges, but much like we see in the higher end of the beer business, the higher end portion of the category is much stronger. And certainly, our business in that sector is performing very nicely against category norms. And you're right, we will go into all of that in much more depth during our investor discussion on November 2.

總而言之，我認為葡萄酒業務肯定遇到了一些挑戰，但就像我們在高端啤酒業務中看到的那樣，該類別的高端部分要強大得多。當然，我們在該領域的業務相對於類別規範表現非常好。你是對的，我們將在 11 月 2 日的投資者討論中更深入地討論所有這些問題。

Thank you. We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Bill Newlands for any closing comments.

謝謝。我們的問答環節已經結束。我現在想把發言權交還給比爾·紐蘭茲，徵求結束語。

Thank you, and thank you all again for joining our call today. We're very pleased with our performance in the first half of fiscal '24. As anticipated, our beer business further accelerated during its seasonally strongest period of the year to deliver excellent results. In our wine and spirits portfolio, our higher-end brands continued to outperform and track channels, and we're looking forward to an acceleration in the growth of that business over the second half.

謝謝大家，並再次感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。我們對 24 財年上半年的業績非常滿意。正如預期的那樣，我們的啤酒業務在一年中季節性最強的時期進一步加速，取得了優異的業績。在我們的葡萄酒和烈酒產品組合中，我們的高端品牌繼續跑贏管道並追蹤管道，我們期待下半年該業務的成長加速。

All told, we remain confident in our outlook for the full year and have tightened the expectations for growth in our beer business at the higher end of the initial range, while increasing our overall EPS outlook as we drove interest expense lower due to our proactive debt management.

總而言之，我們對全年的前景仍然充滿信心，並將啤酒業務的成長預期收緊在初始區間的高端，同時提高了我們的整體每股收益前景，因為我們的主動債務降低了利息支出管理。

In closing, I would like to encourage you to tune in for our upcoming Investor Day on November 2, where we will be sharing our latest perspective on the medium-term outlook for our business, you will find further details on how to access this event through our Investor Relations website at ir.cbrands.com.

最後，我想鼓勵您收看我們即將於 11 月 2 日舉行的投資者日，我們將在會上分享我們對業務中期前景的最新觀點，您將找到有關如何參加此活動的更多詳細信息通過我們的投資者關係網站ir.cbrands.com。

Thank you again for joining us today, and we look forward to seeing most of you, if not all of you, November 2.

再次感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待 11 月 2 日見到您中的大多數人（如果不是全部的話）。

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開連線。享受你一天剩下的時間。