Unifi Inc (UFI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Briana, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Unifi's Fourth quarter Fiscal 2022 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the call over to your host, A.J. Eaker, Vice President of Finance. You may begin your call.

早安.我是布里安娜，今天將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。現在，我謹代表Unifi公司歡迎各位參加2022財年第四季業績電話會議。 （接線生提示）現在，我將把電話轉交給主持人，財務副總裁A.J. Eaker先生。您可以開始發言了。

Thank you, Briana, and good morning, everyone. On the call today is Al Carey, Executive Chairman; Eddie Ingle, Chief Executive Officer; and Craig Creaturo, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝布里安娜，大家早安。今天參加電話會議的有：執行董事長艾爾·凱裡、執行長艾迪·英格爾和財務長克雷格·克雷圖羅。

During this call, management will be referencing a webcast presentation that can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website, unifi.com. Please turn to Page 2 of the slide deck for our cautionary statements. Management advises you that certain statements included in today's call will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws.

在本次電話會議中，管理層將提及一份網路直播演示文稿，該簡報可在我們網站unifi.com的「投資者關係」欄位中找到。請翻閱投影片第二頁，查看我們的警示性聲明。管理階層特此告知，本次電話會議中所包含的某些陳述構成聯邦證券法意義上的前瞻性陳述。

Management cautions that these statements are based on current expectations, estimates and/or projections about the markets in which Unifi operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, forecasted or implied by these statements. You are directed to the disclosures filed with the SEC on Unifi's Forms 10-Q and 10-K regarding various factors that may impact these results.

管理階層提醒，這些聲明是基於Unifi目前對所處市場的預期、估計和/或預測。這些聲明並非對未來績效的保證，且涉及某些難以預測的風險。實際結果可能與這些聲明中明示、預測或暗示的內容有重大差異。有關可能影響這些結果的各種因素，請參閱Unifi向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的10-Q和10-K表格中的揭露資訊。

Also, please be advised that certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EPS, adjusted working capital and net debt may be discussed on this call.

另外，請注意，本次電話會議可能會討論某些非GAAP財務指標，例如調整後的EBITDA、調整後的每股盈餘、調整後的營運資本和淨債務。

Lastly, I direct your attention to Slide 3 and remind our audience that we changed our segment reporting to align with recent organizational changes. In the fourth quarter of fiscal '22, Unifi performed its annual segment evaluation and determined that 3 geographic segments best represent the composition of the business and the management approach under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

最後，請大家注意投影片3，並提醒各位，我們已調整了分部報告方式，以適應近期組織架構的調整。在2022財年第四季度，Unifi進行了年度分部評估，並確定三個地理分部最能代表公司業務組成以及符合美國通用會計準則的管理方法。

Accordingly, Unifi is now reporting the Americas, Brazil and Asia segments. You may find quarterly and annual historical financial information using the updated segment methodology on Slides 11 and 12.

因此，Unifi 目前按美洲、巴西和亞洲三個業務板塊進行報告。您可以在第 11 和 12 頁幻燈片中找到採用更新後的分板塊分析方法編制的季度和年度歷史財務資訊。

I will now turn the call over to Al Carey.

現在我將把通話轉給艾爾·凱裡。

Well, thank you, A.J., and thanks to everybody who's joining the call this morning. I'm going to take just a couple of minutes to tell you how we're viewing our business at the start of our new fiscal year. And then I'll turn it over to Eddie and Craig, they're going to take you through the details of our performance for quarter 4 and how the full fiscal year of 2022 ended.

好的，謝謝A.J.，也謝謝今天早上所有參加電話會議的朋友們。我將花幾分鐘時間向大家介紹我們對新財年伊始的業務展望。之後，我會把發言權交給Eddie和Craig，他們將詳細介紹我們第四季的業績以及2022財年的最終結果。

So I'll start with the quarter -- quarter 4. We had very good revenue growth for the fourth quarter. We achieved $218 million in revenue, which is a little better than what we expected. That's 18% growth above a year ago. But that's despite Asia being down by 17% due to the COVID lockdowns that took most of the quarter. That means the rest of our business was up 30%.

那麼，我先從第四季說起。第四季我們的營收成長非常強勁，達到了2.18億美元，略高於預期，比去年同期成長了18%。儘管受新冠疫情封鎖措施的影響，亞洲地區的營收下降了17%，但其他地區的營收仍增加了30%。

The quarter 4 performance allowed us to push the total fiscal year sales above $800 million. And that's the best sales performance this company has had in many, many years, and Craig will talk about that a little bit later on.

第四季的出色表現使我們本財年的總銷售額突破了8億美元。這是該公司多年來最好的銷售業績，克雷格稍後會詳細介紹。

Quarter 4 performance had 2 highlights. One is REPREVE, continues to be a success with our customers, and also our ability to cover cost increases with pricing. So that's the top line. On the bottom line, we had EBITDA of $12.2 million for Q4, which is right in line with what we were talking about in our forecast. We would have liked to have been better, but we were required to cover the downsides that came at us in the quarter, which was the China COVID lockdown, which is no small thing, and then the spike from raw material pricing that happened in the middle of June, which didn't give us much time to react.

第四季業績有兩大亮點。一是REPREVE產品持續受到客戶的青睞，二是我們能夠透過價格調整來因應成本上漲。以上是營收的主要亮點。淨利方面，第四季EBITDA為1,220萬美元，與我們的預期基本一致。我們原本希望業績更好，但本季我們必須應付一些不利因素，例如中國新冠疫情封鎖（影響巨大）以及6月中旬原物料價格飆升（我們幾乎沒有時間應付）。

So essentially, we had a very strong revenue growth, top line and a respectable bottom line. And if you took those 2 surprises that we had that were beyond our control, if we took those out of the profit picture, we actually would have had a very strong profit performance. So let me move to quarter 1 -- all of us have heard comments from the retail community about the high levels of inventory that are out there and have built up.

所以總的來說，我們的營收成長非常強勁，淨利潤也相當可觀。如果剔除那兩項我們無法控制的意外因素，如果將它們從利潤中剔除，我們的獲利表現其實會非常出色。接下來，我們來看第一季——我們都聽到了零售業對目前庫存水準過高、積壓嚴重的問題的評論。

And so we surveyed some of our customers. We had about 15 of them we covered mills, brands and also retailers. And there are a couple of common threads that we heard from those people. One quote kind of captures it all. One customer of ours said, "6 weeks ago, I was asking you to ship me whatever you could get. Now I've got too much inventory, and I have to move it." And that's kind of the theme that went through the -- all of the 15 that we spoke to.

因此，我們對一些客戶進行了調查。我們訪問了大約15位客戶，包括工廠、品牌商和零售商。我們從這些客戶那裡聽到了一些共同的回饋。其中一位客戶的話尤其能概括所有情況。他說：「六週前，我還讓你們盡可能多地給我發貨。現在我的庫存太多了，必須盡快清倉。」這幾乎是我們採訪的所有15位客戶都表達的共同感受。

They've seen some slowdown in apparel sales, as their consumers are dealing with inflation on gasoline and food and other what we call necessities. And this a little bit of a downturn started in about Memorial Day. And it's unclear how much the decline will be seen in apparel volume or how long it will last, but we have seen a decline in volume in North America as a result of this dilemma that's going on.

由於消費者正面臨汽油、食品和其他必需品價格上漲的困境，服裝銷售出現了一定程度的放緩。這種小幅下滑大約從陣亡將士紀念日開始。目前尚不清楚服裝銷量會下降多少，以及會持續多久，但我們已經看到，受此困境的影響，北美地區的服裝銷量出現了下降。

It will make it difficult to give a precise forecast on volume for the first quarter or the second quarter because I think our retailers and customers don't have a good forecast. There's still a lot of uncertainty, but we definitely see it in the first quarter. And probably, we'll be updating our guidance more frequently as a result of this marketplace issue that's going on.

由於零售商和客戶對銷售沒有準確的預測，因此很難對第一季或第二季的銷售做出精確預測。目前仍存在許多不確定因素，但我們肯定會在第一季看到這種情況。而且，鑑於當前市場情勢，我們可能會更頻繁地更新業績指引。

One other moving development, fast-moving development, is with all of this going on, we're seeing very definitely cost reductions on our raw materials that began in August. Now this could be good news and it could offer an opportunity to recover some lost profits from the slower volume, and we have a number of initiatives that we're working on to capitalize on the opportunity, and Eddie will provide you with some perspective on this when we speak about this later in the presentation and in the Q&A.

另一個快速發展的進展是，隨著所有這些因素的出現，我們明顯看到原料成本從8月開始下降。這可能是個好消息，它為我們提供了一個機會，可以彌補銷售放緩而造成的利潤損失。我們正在製定一系列計劃來抓住這個機會，Eddie將在稍後的演講和問答環節中對此進行詳細闡述。

Let me just make one comment on the longer term. While our team is focused on getting beyond this long tail of COVID that causes a few challenges, the top focus we got in this company, is to be focusing on the execution of the strategy we presented at the February Investor Day. That is the most important thing.

關於長遠發展，我只想補充一點。雖然我們的團隊正致力於克服新冠疫情帶來的諸多挑戰，但公司目前的首要任務是貫徹我們在二月投資人日上提出的策略。這才是最重要的。

And the short-term issues I described a minute ago are not going to slow down our delivery of our goals in 2025. In fact, I think we're making very good progress on some of the key initiatives that make up that strategy. First of all, REPREVE momentum continues with our customers. You'll see a lower mix because of China in the quarter, but we are in a very good spot with REPREVE.

我剛才提到的那些短期問題不會影響我們實現2025年目標。事實上，我認為我們在構成該策略的一些關鍵舉措上進展順利。首先，REPREVE專案在客戶中持續保持成長動能。由於中國市場的影響，本季REPREVE的比例將會下降，但我們目前在REPREVE專案方面情況良好。

EvoCooler technology is now getting some scale, and I think you'll be able -- it's performing above our expectations. And I think in the second half of the year, productivity will show up as a result of those -- that new technology. And we've made improvements in labor. We've spent the money to do it. We're not done yet, but I'm encouraged with the progress we're making on labor. Also, Brazil and Asia's future outlook remains bright. And then we've got this raw material cost decrease that's coming at us.

EvoCooler技術現在正逐步擴大規模，我認為它的表現超出了我們的預期。我相信，下半年，這項新技術將顯著提升生產效率。我們在勞動力方面也取得了進步，並為此投入了資金。雖然我們尚未完成所有工作，但我對我們在勞動力方面的進展感到鼓舞。此外，巴西和亞洲的未來前景依然光明。而且，原料成本的下降也即將到來。

So those are some of the positives. We're optimistic about the future. I don't see the short-term challenges, having an effect on the long-term view. This long tail of the pandemic certainly has caused some challenges, but they're very definitely going to diminish, as the year goes on. So with that, let me turn it to Craig and Eddie to take you through more of the details. And right now, I'll turn it over to Eddie.

以上是一些正面的方面。我們對未來持樂觀態度。我認為短期挑戰不會影響長期前景。疫情的長期影響固然帶來了一些挑戰，但隨著時間的推移，這些挑戰肯定會逐漸減少。接下來，我會把麥克風交給克雷格和艾迪，讓他們為大家詳細介紹。現在，就讓艾迪來吧。

Thanks, Al, and good morning, everyone. Our fourth quarter performance was consistent to our expectations, and we are pleased with the results we delivered despite the lasting presence of a volatile and challenging operating environment.

謝謝艾爾，大家早安。我們第四季的業績符合預期，儘管經營環境持續動盪且充滿挑戰，但我們對所取得的成績感到滿意。

So looking back on our fiscal year, I'm very proud of everyone on the Unifi team for what we've accomplished and the obstacles that we've overcome, and I want to thank them publicly for their hard work and perseverance this year.

回顧我們過去的財政年度，我為 Unifi 團隊的每位成員所取得的成就和克服的困難感到非常自豪，我要公開感謝他們今年的辛勤工作和堅持不懈。

There has been no shortage of adversity or new challenges to conquer in the last year. And I can say with confidence that Unifi is a stronger company today because of our people.

過去一年，我們經歷了無數逆境和挑戰。但我可以自信地說，正是因為我們擁有優秀的員工，Unifi 才成為如今更強大的公司。

So moving directly to the presentation on Slide 4, let's discuss at a high level our overall performance during the period. In the quarter, we recorded $218 million in net sales, which was up 18% compared to Q4 of last year. This brings our total net sales for fiscal 2022 to $816 million, an increase of 22% from a year ago.

接下來直接進入投影片4的內容，我們先來概括討論本季整體業績。本季度，我們的淨銷售額為2.18億美元，較去年同期成長18%。這使得我們2022財年的總淨銷售額達到8.16億美元，較上年同期成長22%。

In the quarter, the U.S. inflationary pressures we experienced throughout the fiscal year, specifically with the raw materials, they persisted and they will impact us as we enter into fiscal 2023.

本季度，我們在整個財年經歷的美國通膨壓力，特別是原物料通膨壓力，持續存在，並將對我們進入 2023 財年產生影響。

In the U.S. and Central America, we witnessed unprecedented short-term cost increases in virgin polyester raw materials in the month of June to the tune of roughly 20% above March levels. Now when there are such significant input cost changes, there is, as we've discussed in the past, a normal lag until we catch up with customer pricing.

在美國和中美洲，我們目睹了6月原生聚酯原物料價格前所未有的短期上漲，漲幅比3月高出約20%。正如我們之前討論過的，當投入成本發生如此顯著的變化時，價格調整通常會存在一定的滯後，才能與客戶價格同步。

And this negatively impacted our results during the month of June 2022 and will affect us in the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. In addition, we saw U.S. bale bottle prices in April and May reached historic levels. And as a reminder, the price we pay for bale bottles and the yield associated with the recycling process are the most important cost inputs to our REPREVE products.

這對我們2022年6月的業績產生了負面影響，並將影響2023財年第一季。此外，我們看到美國4月和5月的瓶包價格達到了歷史新高。再次提醒，我們為瓶包支付的價格以及回收過程中的出貨率是我們REPREVE產品最重要的成本投入。

But we have implemented further price adjustments in July and August to mitigate the impact of these cost pressures on our margin profile and are seeing some relief on raw materials, as Al mentioned, and an opportunity to return to more normal margin levels in the U.S. in the December 2022 quarter.

但是，我們在 7 月和 8 月實施了進一步的價格調整，以減輕這些成本壓力對我們利潤率的影響，並且正如 Al 所提到的，原材料方面已經出現了一些緩解，並且有機會在 2022 年 12 月季度恢復到美國更正常的利潤率水平。

Turning to Slide 5 to discuss REPREVE. We continue to see positive momentum for new products, customer adoptions and co-branding. In fact, 24 million REPREVE hand tags were sent to our customer brands during the fourth quarter alone. As can be expected, revenue from REPREVE products were negatively impacted by the China lockdowns in the fourth quarter.

接下來請看第五張投影片，討論 REPREVE 產品。我們持續看到新產品、客戶採納和聯合品牌推廣的正面動能。事實上，僅在第四季度，我們就向客戶品牌發送了 2,400 萬個 REPREVE 手環。正如預期的那樣，第四季度 REPREVE 產品的收入受到了中國疫情封鎖的負面影響。

And this was significant given the fact that over 80% of the sales from our Asia segment are REPREVE, the highest percentage of any of our segments. For fiscal 2022, REPREVE Fiber accounted for 36% of our sales.

考慮到REPREVE產品占我們亞洲地區銷售額的80%以上，這一數字意義重大，也是我們所有業務部門中佔比最高的。 2022財年，REPREVE光纖產品占我們總銷售額的36%。

On the marketing front, in May, we celebrated the fifth annual Champions of Sustainability Awards, which recognize our brand, textile and retail partners that have demonstrated a true commitment to supporting a more sustainable world. The awards were presented to 39 brand and retail partners that have transformed 10 million or more recycled plastic bottles, and 53 textile partners that have transformed 50 million or more recycled plastic bottles through the use of REPREVE performance fibers.

在行銷方面，5月我們舉辦了第五屆年度「永續發展冠軍獎」頒獎典禮，旨在表彰那些真正致力於支持永續發展的品牌、紡織品和零售合作夥伴。共有39家品牌和零售合作夥伴透過使用REPREVE高性能纖維，成功轉化了1000萬個或更多回收塑膠瓶；另有53家紡織品合作夥伴透過使用REPREVE高性能纖維，成功轉化了5000萬個或更多回收塑膠瓶。

Additionally, Nike and Target both reached a major milestone this year, each having transformed more than 2 billion recycled plastic bottles, while Polartec, Walmart and Texhong Textile Group have transformed more than 1 billion bottles.

此外，耐吉和塔吉特今年都取得了重大里程碑式的成就，各自轉化了超過 20 億個回收塑膠瓶，而 Polartec、沃爾瑪和德宏紡織集團也轉化了超過 10 億個塑膠瓶。

Next, our mobile tour efforts focused on key retailers with visits to both Abercrombie & Fitch and Walmart. Our 2-day activation at Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas took place during their annual open call event in June, during which we presented the billion bottle award to Walmart's Senior Vice President over general merchandise, apparel.

接下來，我們的行動巡迴推廣活動重點關注了主要零售商，包括Abercrombie & Fitch和沃爾瑪。 6月，在沃爾瑪位於阿肯色州本頓維爾的總部，我們進行了為期兩天的活動，活動期間正值沃爾瑪年度公開招聘會。活動期間，我們向沃爾瑪負責一般商品和服裝的高級副總裁頒發了「十億瓶獎」。

Now building on the success of REPREVE Pac-12 partnership, we have signed a 3-year partnership with Bowl Season, an entity that advocates for the 44 bowl games that serve as the pro season for college football. We will be a founding sustainability partner and expect positive brand exposure, given their prominence at calendar and university sporting events.

繼 REPREVE 與 Pac-12 聯盟成功合作之後，我們與 Bowl Season 簽署了為期三年的合作協議。 Bowl Season 是一個致力於推廣 44 場大學橄欖球碗賽的機構，這些碗賽是大學橄欖球的職業賽季。我們將成為其創始永續發展合作夥伴，並期待憑藉 Bowl Season 在賽程安排和大學體育賽事中的顯著地位，獲得積極的品牌曝光。

We kicked off the partnership at their annual conference in April, where we hosted a panel around circularity. And among other things, this comprehensive partnership includes a working group consisting of executive directors from 6 bowl games to promote sustainability initiatives.

我們於四月在他們的年度大會上正式啟動了這項合作，並在會上舉辦了一場關於循環經濟的專題討論會。此外，這項全面的合作還包括成立一個由六場碗賽的執行董事組成的工作小組，旨在推動永續發展措施。

REPREVE mobile tour activation at a bowl game of our choice from the working group to include public service announcements and venue signage, and a Bowl Bound social media campaign, including Bowl Bound REPREVE shirts given to each Bowl Bound University. So more to come on that initiative once we get past our first bowl season, which is in the middle of our fiscal year 2023.

REPREVE行動巡迴宣傳活動將在工作小組選定的一場碗賽中進行，包括公益廣告和場館標誌宣傳，以及「碗賽之旅」（Bowl Bound）社交媒體宣傳活動，屆時還將向每所參賽大學贈送「碗賽之旅」REPREVE T卹。關於這項計劃的更多資訊將在我們完成首個碗賽賽季後公佈，該賽季將於2023財年中期開始。

We also continue to focus on strengthening brand partnerships across our digital and social media channels. During the quarter, we executed social media partnerships with Beyond Yoga, Chooka, Igloo, Lovesac, Manduca, Sanuk, Speedo, The Sak and Volcom. We will continue to support our brand partners that enable us to amplify the REPREVE story.

我們將繼續致力於加強與各大數位和社群媒體管道的品牌合作。本季度，我們與 Beyond Yoga、Chooka、Igloo、Lovesac、Manduca、Sanuk、Speedo、The Sak 和 Volcom 等品牌建立了社群媒體合作關係。我們將繼續支持我們的品牌合作夥伴，協助我們更好地傳播 REPREVE 的故事。

So turning back now to a review of the consolidated business. Before Craig goes into more details on our financials, our adjusted EBITDA for the fiscal year was $55 million. This was within the range of our forecast from April, but it was obviously impacted by the macroeconomic factors we have discussed earlier.

現在讓我們回到合併業務的回顧。在克雷格詳細介紹我們的財務狀況之前，讓我們先說明一下：本財政年度調整後的EBITDA為5500萬美元。這與我們4月份的預測相符，但顯然受到了我們之前討論過的宏觀經濟因素的影響。

As inflationary conditions ease, and our pricing catches up with raw materials, we do expect to be able to expand our overall margins. And until that time, our team will continue to proactively align our pricing with market conditions.

隨著通膨環境緩解，我們的定價將與原物料價格趨於一致，我們預期整體利潤率將有所提升。在此之前，我們的團隊將繼續積極主動地根據市場情況調整定價策略。

To sum it up, you can see our growing brand and customer momentum and our global approach. It's clearly helping us drive and sustain business momentum. We believe we are well positioned to drive long-term value. With that, I will now pass the call over to our CFO, Craig.

總而言之，您可以看到我們不斷成長的品牌和客戶群體，以及我們的全球化策略。這些都清楚地表明，我們正在推動並保持業務成長勢頭。我們相信，我們已做好充分準備，創造長期價值。接下來，我將把電話交給我們的財務長克雷格。

Thank you, Eddie, and good morning, everyone. The quarter we just completed was consistent with our expectations and was a good ending to a fiscal year that had its share of challenges. Our regional footprint, combined with our focus on sustainable products, has helped us manage through the external factors that Al and Eddie described. Demand for our products remain strong, and our management team remains focused on our long-term goals.

謝謝Eddie，大家早安。我們剛結束的這個季度業績符合預期，也為充滿挑戰的本財年畫上了圓滿的句點。我們遍布各地的業務佈局，加上我們對永續產品的專注，幫助我們應對了Al和Eddie提到的外部因素。市場對我們產品的需求依然強勁，我們的管理團隊也將持續專注於實現長期目標。

Looking at the quarter from a high level, we maintained underlying business momentum, as we implemented responsive selling price adjustments and made positive step changes against our recent global challenges.

從宏觀角度來看，本季我們保持了基本的業務發展勢頭，因為我們採取了積極的銷售價格調整措施，並針對近期面臨的全球挑戰做出了積極的改變。

Before we discuss the segment results, I would like to expand on the effective tax rate and EPS. As Eddie mentioned, the pressure on our U.S. operations distort our worldwide effective tax rate, as the foreign locations we operate in, specifically Brazil and China, are not low tax jurisdictions. However, recent developments from the Brazil Supreme Court cleared the path for us to recapture some excess income taxes paid in prior years.

在討論各業務板塊業績之前，我想先詳細說明實際稅率和每股收益。正如艾迪所提到的，我們美國業務面臨的壓力影響了我們的全球實際稅率，因為我們在海外開展業務的地區，特別是巴西和中國，並非低稅率地區。然而，巴西最高法院最近的裁決為我們追回之前幾年多繳的部分所得稅鋪平了道路。

You will recall that we benefited from a Brazil Supreme Court decision regarding certain non-income taxes in the year-ago period, but the most recent developments relate to income taxes paid in Brazil. Accordingly, the prior period non-income tax changes were reflected as an adjustment to EBITDA and EPS, while these income tax benefits from the current quarter are reflected as an adjustment to EPS.

您可能還記得，去年同期我們受益於巴西最高法院關於某些非所得稅的裁決，但最新進展涉及在巴西繳納的所得稅。因此，上期非所得稅的變化已反映在 EBITDA 和 EPS 的調整項中，而本季所得稅收益則反映在 EPS 的調整項中。

Let's turn to Slide 6 of the webcast presentation. Here, we will begin a review of our reportable segment performance. Business developments and our management approach in fiscal 2022 transition Unifi to a purely geographic segmentation, in which we are focused on recycled and synthetic textile products following our regional models in the Americas, Brazil and Asia.

讓我們來看看網路直播簡報的第6頁。在這裡，我們將開始回顧我們的可報告分部表現。 2022財年的業務發展和管理方法促使Unifi轉型為純粹的地理分部，我們將專注於再生和合成紡織品，並沿用我們在美洲、巴西和亞洲的區域模式。

In the Americas, we continue to benefit from the legacy businesses that we previously referred to as polyester and nylon, and both will continue to be valuable to unify, as we service the diverse needs of our customers. For the Americas segment, a 28.7% increase in revenues demonstrates the robust pricing efforts we have highlighted throughout the fiscal year.

在美洲地區，我們繼續受益於先前稱為聚酯和尼龍的傳統業務，這兩項業務的整合對於滿足客戶多樣化的需求至關重要。美洲地區營收成長28.7%，充分反映了我們在整個財年中大力推行的定價策略的有效性。

In Brazil, the just completed quarter demonstrates a normalized level of strong revenue performance, exceeding the prior year by nearly 50%. We are proud of what our Brazil team continues to accomplish and note that much of this volume improvement stems from the pandemic lockdowns that occurred in the region during the prior year quarter.

在巴西，剛結束的季度業績表現強勁，營收已恢復至正常水平，較上年同期成長近50%。我們為巴西團隊的持續成就感到自豪，並注意到，這一業績成長很大程度上得益於去年同期該地區因疫情而實施的封鎖措施。

In Asia, sales volumes were challenged by the previously communicated and ongoing pandemic lockdowns in China. However, the continued interest in sustainable yarns and our ability to support the local customer demand allowed for robust underlying revenue performance given those circumstances.

在亞洲，受先前已公佈且仍在持續的中國疫情封鎖措施的影響，銷售量受到挑戰。然而，消費者對永續紗線的持續需求以及我們滿足本地客戶需求的能力，使得我們在這些情況下仍保持了穩健的營收表現。

Turning to Slide 7 for the quarterly gross profit overview. The Americas segment's expected decline in gross profit and weaker gross margin percentage were attributed to the input cost headwinds that we mentioned during our last conference call. In addition, because the most recent inflationary impact to our input costs occurred late in the just completed quarter, we were not able to make proportionate pricing adjustments to our customers.

請翻到投影片7，查看季度毛利概況。美洲業務板塊毛利預期下降，毛利率走低，主要是由於我們在上次電話會議中提到的投入成本上漲所致。此外，由於最近一次通膨對投入成本的影響發生在剛結束的季度末，我們無法及時對客戶進行相應的價格調整。

Despite of these challenges, it should be noted that on a sequential quarter basis, gross profit and gross margin as a percentage of sales for the Americas segment improved nicely by $2.9 million and 150 basis points, respectively.

儘管面臨這些挑戰，但值得注意的是，按季度環比計算，美洲地區的毛利和毛利率分別提高了 290 萬美元和 150 個基點。

In Brazil, the gross profit and margin rate included some expected normalization in addition to temporarily unfavorable cost and pricing dynamics in the region. In Q1 fiscal 2023, we expect Brazil's gross margin to surpass the percentage they achieved during the most recent quarter, as the short-term headwinds start to alleviate.

在巴西，毛利和毛利率的下降包含了預期的正常化因素，以及該地區暫時不利的成本和定價動態。我們預計，隨著短期不利因素的緩解，巴西在2023財年第一季的毛利率將超過最近一個季度的水平。

The Asia segment maintained a strong gross margin profile with a high proportion of REPREVE products, albeit at a lower sales level due to the pandemic-related lockdowns. Without the lockdown, the Asia segment would have continued their strong performance of revenue growth. In spite of the results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022 being lower than expected, the Asia segment exceeded $200 million in annual revenue for the first time in their history, an increase of 12%.

儘管受疫情封鎖措施影響，亞洲業務的銷售額有所下降，但由於REPREVE產品佔比高，其毛利率仍保持強勁。若非封鎖措施，亞洲業務的營收成長動能將持續強勁。儘管2022財年第四季業績低於預期，但亞洲業務的年營收首度突破2億美元大關，較去年同期成長12%。

Moving on to Slide 8, which provides an update on our balance sheet and capital allocation priorities. We ended the fourth quarter with $41.3 million borrowed against our ABL revolver, which had an availability of $51 million as of July 3, 2022. Under our balanced approach to capital allocation, we expect to continue to invest in the business to drive innovation and organic growth, maintain a strong balance sheet and remain opportunistic with share repurchases and/or M&A prospects.

接下來是第8張投影片，其中更新了我們的資產負債表和資本配置重點。截至2022年7月3日，我們已從資產抵押貸款循環額度中藉入4,130萬美元，該額度可用額度為5,100萬美元。根據我們均衡的資本配置策略，我們將繼續投資於業務，以推動創新和內生成長，保持穩健的資產負債表，並抓住機會進行股票回購和/或併購。

As noted on this slide, and as we have described in recent press releases, we spent $9.2 million during fiscal 2022 to repurchase 616,500 shares under the previously announced share repurchase program, with over 500,000 shares repurchased in the just completed quarter. Following that activity, $38.9 million remains available for repurchases under the current program.

如本投影片所示，以及我們在近期新聞稿中所述，我們在2022財年花費了920萬美元，根據先前公佈的股票回購計畫回購了616,500股股票，其中超過50 萬股是在剛結束的季度中回購的。完成上述回購後，根據目前的回購計劃，仍有3,890萬美元可用於股票回購。

I will now pass the call back to Eddie to take us through the last slide of the presentation and make some final comments.

現在我將把電話轉回給艾迪，讓他帶我們瀏覽簡報的最後一張投影片並做一些最後的總結。

Thank you, Craig. And before we turn the call over to our Q&A session, let's turn to Slide 9 of the presentation to discuss our outlook and expectations for fiscal 2023. As we alluded to throughout the call, we are very pleased with our revenue performance in the year. And more importantly, this quarter, as it showed our resiliency against market downturns and also the recognition REPREVE has been getting.

謝謝克雷格。在進入問答環節之前，我們先來看看簡報的第9頁，討論一下我們對2023財年的展望和預期。正如我們在電話會議中多次提到的，我們對今年的收入表現非常滿意。更重要的是，本季的業績也讓我們非常滿意，因為它展現了我們抵禦市場低迷的韌性，也體現了REPREVE所獲得的認可。

Even with REPREVE, volumes and revenues are growing globally and the continued global focus on sustainability, we have some significant inflationary and macroeconomic headwinds to overcome in fiscal 2023, which we believe we are ready to address.

即使有了 REPREVE，全球銷售和收入都在增長，而且全球對永續發展的關注也在持續，但我們在 2023 財年仍面臨一些重大的通膨和宏觀經濟逆風，我們相信我們已經做好了應對的準備。

That being said, we expect fiscal year 2023 to be more of a gradual ramp each quarter compared to our historical norms until we put some of these challenges behind us. Nevertheless, we remain confident in our ability to achieve the fiscal 2025 goals we laid out in our recent Investor Day back in February and have issued our guidance for fiscal 2023.

儘管如此，我們預計2023財年各季度的成長速度將比以往更為緩慢，直到我們克服部分挑戰。然而，我們仍然有信心實現2025財年的目標，這些目標已在今年2月的投資者日上提出，並且我們也發布了2023財年的業績指引。

In fiscal 2023, we expect net sales to reach $855 million to $885 million, representing an increase of 5% or more from fiscal 2022 revenues. We also expect to achieve adjusted EBITDA between $48 million and $57 million, with the second half reflecting more normal business metrics in terms of gross margins and raw material inputs.

我們預計2023財年淨銷售額將達到8.55億美元至8.85億美元，較2022財年成長5%或更多。同時，我們預期調整後EBITDA將在4,800萬美元至5,700萬美元之間，下半年毛利率和原物料投入等業務指標將更加正常化。

Our CapEx outlook should fall in the range of $35 million to $40 million. Our sales and profitability expectations include some softness in Americas demand over the first half of fiscal 2023, with a stronger performance expected when we enter the next calendar year, which will be our second half of our fiscal 2023.

我們的資本支出預期應在3500萬美元至4000萬美元之間。我們對銷售額和獲利能力的預期包括2023財年上半年美洲市場需求略有疲軟，但預計進入下一個日曆年（即2023財年下半年）後業績將有所改善。

This forecasted softness is caused by the pullback in demand mentioned earlier by Al by the large brands and retailers as a result of publicly declared excess inventories, some of which are in their apparel segments.

先前，正如 Al 所提到的，大型品牌和零售商由於公開宣布庫存過剩（其中一些庫存集中在服裝領域），導致需求回落，從而造成了這種預測中的疲軟。

The demand in Brazil is expected to remain strong throughout the remainder of calendar 2022, while Asia will continue to grapple with the effects of the headwind of the lockdowns during the rest of this calendar 2022.

預計巴西的需求在 2022 年剩餘時間內將保持強勁，而亞洲在 2022 年剩餘時間內將繼續受到封鎖措施的不利影響。

Slide 10 closes out our presentation and reviews the big picture goals we gave in our Investor Day several months ago. We remain confident in our ability to hit our targets and are well placed on a path to achieve over $1.1 billion in revenue by 2025.

第10張投影片總結了我們的演示，並回顧了幾個月前投資者日上提出的總體目標。我們仍然對實現目標的能力充滿信心，並有望在2025年實現超過11億美元的營收。

REPREVE is expected to comprise half of our sales mix and will ultimately enhance our margins and profitability profile. We will maintain our strong balance sheet to act opportunistically on growth initiatives, as we remain well positioned and focused on being the sustainability partner of choice to brands and retailers across the globe.

REPREVE預計將占我們銷售額的一半，並最終提升我們的利潤率和獲利能力。我們將維持穩健的資產負債表，把握機遇，積極推動各項成長計畫。我們將繼續保持良好的市場地位，專注於成為全球品牌和零售商首選的永續發展合作夥伴。

We will now open the lineup for questions. Thank you.

現在開始接受提問。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Daniel Moore with CJS Securities.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 CJS Securities 的 Daniel Moore。

Maybe start with the guidance, top line, just talk about the implied price and volume expectations embedded in the mid-single-digit revenue growth guide for fiscal '23. And on the margin front, can you give us a sense of your expectations of gross margin by segment embedded in the guidance, if not to the exact basis point than just at least directionally how we should think about each of the 3 segments in terms of margin performance and cadence? And I've got a follow-up or 2.

或許可以先談談業績指引，重點在於營收成長預期，例如2023財年中個位數營收成長預期中隱含的價格和銷售預期。關於利潤率方面，能否簡單介紹一下業績指引中各業務板塊的毛利率預期？即使無法精確到基點，至少也能大致說明我們應該如何看待這三個業務板塊的利潤率表現和成長節奏。我還有一兩個後續問題。

Thanks, Dan. I'll take the first question around revenue and volumes. As we talked throughout the call, we have had challenges in our Asia segments and that supply chain is still coming out of the COVID lockdowns that they had in April and May and June.

謝謝丹。我先回答第一個關於營收和銷售的問題。正如我們在電話會議中討論的那樣，我們在亞洲市場面臨一些挑戰，那裡的供應鏈仍在逐步恢復，尚未完全擺脫四月、五月和六月因新冠疫情封鎖而造成的衝擊。

We're seeing some improvement, but we know that it's going to take a while for the business to pick up from a volume perspective and a revenue perspective. Particularly in China, we do have a fair amount of our business outside of China, and that is still -- returning still at normal levels.

我們看到情況有所好轉，但我們也知道，從銷售和收入的角度來看，業務恢復還需要一段時間。尤其是在中國，我們相當一部分業務在中國以外，而這些業務目前仍在恢復到正常水平。

In the U.S., the slowdown that we are experiencing today in both volumes and revenues is around the inventory pullback by the retailers and brands. We do have good expectations on revenues because our pricing has, as we mentioned, gone up in our July month and in our August month that we just started, but volumes will be under pressure.

在美國，我們目前看到的銷售和收入雙雙放緩，主要是由於零售商和品牌商減少了庫存。我們對收入抱持樂觀預期，因為正如我們之前提到的，我們的定價在7月份和剛開始的8月份都進行了上漲，但銷售將面臨壓力。

In Brazil, volumes and revenues are at expectations, and we don't see right now any issues at all in that space. And I think I'll turn it over to Craig to talk about that margin question because I think it's particularly interesting as it relates to Brazil.

在巴西，銷售量和收入都符合預期，目前我們看不到這方面有任何問題。關於利潤率的問題，我想把發言權交給克雷格，讓他來談談，因為我認為這與巴西的情況尤其相關，值得關注。

Sure. So Dan, I'll just add on to the revenue comments for -- if you look on our segment forecast, as we have laid out our segments, projections for FY '23, definitely, Americas will have its toughest period in the early part of the year, especially this first quarter. And as we noted in the call, we saw quite a sudden increase in costs at the very tail end of our June quarter.

當然。丹，我再補充一下關於營收的評論——如果你看一下我們對2023財年各業務板塊的預測，就會發現美洲地區年初的情況最為嚴峻，尤其是第一季。正如我們在電話會議中提到的，我們在6月季末的成本出現了相當突然的成長。

And we're now seeing the exact opposite of that, which is a sudden reversal of a lot of those input costs. And so we will be taking some hits writing down inventory doing those types of things during that first quarter and probably maybe even into the second quarter. And that will also parallel with where the demand will be softest. But after that, we do feel like we will get back to more normalized levels of profitability for the Americas.

而我們現在看到的情況恰恰相反，許多投入成本突然逆轉。因此，我們將在第一季度，甚至可能延續到第二季​​度，透過減記庫存來應對這些損失。這與需求疲軟的時期也相吻合。但之後，我們相信美洲地區的獲利能力將恢復到較正常的水平。

For Brazil, as Eddie said, we do feel like they had a good conclusion to the end of the fiscal year as far as from a revenue perspective, and that's continuing here as we start this year. So we expect them to be pretty steady and get out of the gate very well here in the beginning of FY '23.

正如艾迪所說，就收入而言，我們認為巴西在上一財年末取得了不錯的成績，而且這種勢頭延續到了今年。因此，我們預計他們在2023財年初期會保持穩定，並取得良好的開局。

And then for Asia, our current forecast is very consistent with what we noted back in April. And that is that the COVID lockdown will probably impact the Asia operations in the first half of our fiscal year '23, so through the end of this calendar year. But after that, we expect that to mediate and continue to grow.

至於亞洲市場，我們目前的預測與四月的預測非常一致。也就是說，新冠疫情封鎖措施可能會對我們2023財年上半年的亞洲業務造成影響，也就是持續到本年度結束。但之後，我們預期影響將逐漸緩解，業務將持續成長。

Now one thing to note is the Asia impact is really just impacting the sales impact, the margin impact, the margin profile of the business has remained very positive, very consistent with the historical levels even in spite of the lower sales that we're seeing because of the COVID lockdown, so.

需要注意的是，亞洲的影響實際上只影響了銷售額和利潤率，業務的利潤率狀況仍然非常積極，與歷史水平非常一致，即使由於 COVID 封鎖導致銷售額下降也是如此。

That's very helpful. And maybe just talk directionally -- it's still early, obviously, but on the rate of change on input pricing. As virgin input costs tied to oil prices, should they continue to come back down? You talk about your ability to hold the line on pricing and if we could see potentially maybe a bigger margin benefit in H2 than what's embedded in the guide? And just talk about bale bottles that sort of supply dynamic more generally, that would be great.

這很有幫助。或許我們可以談談方向——當然現在還為時過早，但關於投入成本的變化速度。由於原生原料成本與油價掛鉤，它們是否會繼續下降？您提到了貴公司維持價格的能力，以及我們是否有可能在下半年看到比業績指引中更大的利潤成長？另外，也請您談談捆包瓶裝產品之類的供應動態，那就太好了。

Yes. So on the virgin side, what happened in June was someone quoted some from the petrochemical inventory said was historic levels of pricing for one of the major inputs into polyester [parasol] and it was unforeseen. And it was a very rapid spike just in that 1 month of June. We are seeing a reduction in the pricing, and we have raised -- the cost of those inputs and we have raised our pricing in July and August just to catch up with what we saw in June.

是的。就原材料方面而言，6月份發生的事情是，有人引用石化庫存數據稱，聚酯（遮陽傘）的主要原料之一的價格達到了歷史最高水平，這完全出乎意料。而且，價格在6月份這一個月內出現了非常迅速的飆升。我們看到價格有所回落，因此我們在7月和8月提高了這些原料的成本，以彌補6月份的價格上漲。

We do see the ability to expand the margins -- get back to normal margins in our Q2 and beyond. But as Craig had mentioned, we have this inventory that we'll have to work through. But we are going to be very focused on managing our price points, as we move through this.

我們確實看到了提升利潤率的潛力——爭取在第二季度及以後恢復到正常利潤率水平。但正如克雷格所提到的，我們目前還有一些庫存需要消化。不過，在這個過程中，我們將非常注重價格管理。

On the bale bottle side, again, in April and May, bale bottles reached very high levels. They have since returned back to more normal levels, and we are being opportunistic in buying some bottles at the lower price. But again, we do have the inventories that we have to work through. And so if we get to Q2, our margin should be improved significantly over Q1, all that higher price inventory were to push through.

就瓶裝酒而言，4月和5月瓶裝酒的庫存量再次達到非常高的水準。目前庫存量已回落至較為正常的水平，我們也正抓住機會以較低的價格購買一些瓶裝酒。但我們仍然需要消化一部分庫存。因此，如果所有高價庫存都能順利消化，那麼到了第二季度，我們的利潤率應該會比第一季有顯著提高。

And again, any REPREVE products we sell, we are going to be managing our price points very carefully in the U.S. specifically.

再次強調，我們銷售的任何 REPREVE 產品，尤其是在美國，我們都會非常謹慎地控制價格。

In Brazil, what you saw in Q4 is sort of what we're seeing here in the U.S. From a margin perspective, we are back to sort of more normal margins in Brazil, as the lower-priced raw materials for them is being used in the system. Hope that helps.

在巴西，第四季的情況與我們在美國看到的情況有些類似。從利潤率的角度來看，巴西的利潤率已經恢復到比較正常的水平，因為他們的生產系統中開始使用價格較低的原材料。希望這些資訊對您有所幫助。

Makes sense. No, it does. And then you've touched on the tax rate, but the guide implied is on a different level than what we've seen. So just kind of maybe a little bit more commentary or color on what's driving a 55% to 65% tax rate. And just trying to understand it and what is your effective tax rate in Asia, Brazil? I realize there's mix involved, but that's still above what I would have expected.

有道理。確實如此。您剛才提到了稅率，但您提到的稅率水準和我們實際看到的並不一樣。所以，能否再詳細解釋是什麼因素導致了55%到65%的稅率？我只是想弄清楚，在亞洲和巴西，實際稅率是多少？我知道這其中有很多因素，但這仍然高於我的預期。

Yes, it does come down, Dan, to what we're now projecting to be more of the profitability for FY '23 coming from Asia and from Brazil. Asia headline tax serves 25% and Brazil closer to 35%. But unfortunately, we're not able to use some of the tax attributes in the U.S. because of our lower profitability. So really, it's a reflection of what we're expecting, as we were just kind of helping to kind of frame the conversation. More so in the first half of the year, we do expect that Americas profitability to be lower, and that is going to impact our overall effective tax rate to the negative side. That's why the rate is being pushed up.

是的，丹，最終還是要看我們目前預測的2023財年獲利主要來自亞洲和巴西。亞洲的稅率約為25%，巴西接近35%。但遺憾的是，由於獲利能力較低，我們無法在美國使用一些稅收優惠。所以，這其實反映了我們的預期，我們只是在幫助大家更理解這個主題。尤其是在今年上半年，我們預計美洲的獲利能力會下降，這將對我們的整體實際稅率產生負面影響。這就是稅率上調的原因。

Okay. I've got a follow-up or 2, but I'll jump back in queue.

好的。我還有一兩個後續問題，但我會重新排隊處理。

Your next question comes from Gus Richard with Northland.

下一個問題來自 Northland 公司的 Gus Richard。

Yes. I'm just wondering over the cycle of a price variation of your input costs, can you just talk about in price spikes, you lose a little bit of gross margin; if prices come down, you gain a little bit of gross margin. Is the net effect over the cycle that it really has no impact on your profitability? Or is it dependent on the frequency of the change? A little bit of help on how to think about this, as the world evolves going forward.

是的。我只是想了解一下投入成本價格波動的周期性影響。您能否簡單談談價格飆升時毛利率會略有下降，而價格下降時毛利率會略有上升的情況？從整個週期來看，這種波動對獲利能力的淨影響是否真的沒有？還是說，獲利能力會受到價格波動頻率的影響？希望您能就如何看待這個問題提供一些建議，尤其是在未來世界不斷變化的情況下。

Yes, I'd love to just answer that by saying what we've seen really in our Q4, has been unprecedented, both on the inputs for REPREVE, and I'm talking specifically here in the U.S., and in our virgin petrochemicals. And so anything we would have normally done in the past, wouldn't have been able to deal with what happens.

是的，我很樂意直接回答這個問題：我們在第四季度所看到的情況是前所未有的，無論是REPREVE的投入（我特指美國的情況）還是我們全新的石化產品方面都是如此。因此，我們過去採取的任何措施都無法應對目前的情況。

I will say that we have been much more proactive in modifying our prices on the way up than we have been historically. I do believe we have a very focused sales team that are doing a great job on making sure that they pass through these increases -- these input cost increases, both on the roll side -- but also on the manufacturing cost side, the inflation costs that we've seen both on packaging and labor.

我想說的是，與以往相比，我們在價格上漲過程中採取了更積極主動的調整措施。我相信我們擁有一支非常專注的銷售團隊，他們出色地完成了工作，確保將這些成本上漲——包括原材料成本的上漲，以及包裝和人工成本的上漲——轉嫁給消費者。

So I would basically close out by saying we will be in a better position to manage our margins in the U.S., as these raw materials come down. We do need to, and we will be giving some of this benefit of the raw materials back to the customer. But we'll be very diligent about how we do that and very focused on where we do that.

最後我想說的是，隨著原物料價格下降，我們將更有能力管理我們在美國的利潤率。我們確實需要這樣做，而且我們也會將部分原物料價格下降帶來的好處回饋給客戶。但我們會非常謹慎地處理這個問題，並專注於在哪些方面這樣做。

So what basically happened in the last quarter and is happening today as we move through this high-priced inventory is very, very unusual.

所以，上個季度發生的事情，以及今天我們正在經歷的高價庫存，基本上都是非常非常不尋常的。

I think the mix of REPREVE going forward allows us to improve our margins down the road. And I also think there are some processes that have been changed in sales that Eddie has brought to the team where they individually can manage the profitability by customer, which is a big change over what we've had in the past. So for that reason, I also think we see our margins go up in both the longer term.

我認為，REPREVE 的持續發展將有助於我們提升未來的利潤率。此外，Eddie 為團隊引入了一些銷售流程的改進，使團隊成員能夠獨立管理每位客戶的獲利能力，這與我們以往的做法相比是一項重大變革。因此，我認為從長遠來看，我們的利潤率將會提升。

Got it. That's very helpful. And then in terms of lockdowns in China, is the impact just on the sales side or are the lockdowns impacting your -- the ability to manufacture product and sort of what is the trajectory been over the last couple of months, as the lockdowns have eased a bit?

明白了，這很有幫助。那麼，關於中國的封鎖措施，其影響僅限於銷售方面，還是也影響了你們的生產能力？隨著封鎖措施的逐步放鬆，過去幾個月的情況如何？

Yes. It's not impacted our ability to manufacture or get products to a customer. It's really been on the sales side because as a whole system backed up, as products -- as our customers weren't able to make fabrics and those -- their customers weren't able to make garments because of these regional lockdowns, it backed up the need to have yarn.

是的。這並沒有影響我們的生產能力或向客戶交付產品的能力。真正受影響的是銷售方面，因為整個系統都受到了阻礙，產品供應也因此受到影響——由於這些地區性的封鎖，我們的客戶無法生產面料，而他們的客戶也無法生產服裝，這導致了對紗線的需求積壓。

And in addition, what is also happening is the brands and retailers that we talked about earlier, the U.S. brands and retailers and Western Europe brands and retailers. So they are pulling back on their orders because of this inventory situation that they have. So it's a combination of short term of coming out of the lockdowns, and then also the inventory reductions and resulting in slower orders. But from a margin perspective, as Craig mentioned, we haven't seen any impact because we have an asset-light model in Asia.

此外，我們之前提到的美國和西歐的品牌和零售商也面臨同樣的問題。由於庫存狀況，他們正在減少訂單。這既有疫情封鎖解除後的短期影響，也有庫存減少導致訂單放緩的雙重因素。但從利潤率的角度來看，正如克雷格所提到的，由於我們在亞洲採用的是輕資產模式，因此並未受到任何影響。

Got it. And then the last one for me, and this is probably a longer-term question. But California passed a very significant single-use plastic, recycled plastic build at the beginning of July, and it's thought to be the sort of the template for other states. And I'm wondering, talking to your suppliers of bale bottles, is there any thoughts on the trajectory of recycle rates and the availability of raw material for REPREVE?

明白了。最後一個問題，可能涉及更長遠的問題。加州在七月初通過了一項非常重要的關於一次性塑膠和再生塑膠的法案，據信會成為其他州的模板。我想問，在和你們的塑膠瓶供應商交流後，你們對REPREVE計畫的回收率和原料供應有什麼看法？

Yes, great question. And that's a good point. So California, did pass a bill, Oregon, New Jersey also passed a similar -- much from an EPR perspective, extended producer responsibility, which puts the onus back on the companies putting the products on the market to take responsibility for the recycling rates somewhat. We see this as a positive because it will force, I guess, municipalities and other communities collecting bottles to increase collections.

是的，問得好。這一點很重要。加州通過了一項法案，俄勒岡州和新澤西州也通過了類似的法案——主要從生產者延伸責任制（EPR）的角度來看，這項法案將責任重新交還給產品投放市場的公司，要求它們承擔一定程度的回收率責任。我們認為這是件好事，因為它會促使市政當局和其他收集瓶子的社區提高回收率。

In California, they have to get to 25% recycled content by a certain few years out that will increase the demand for recycled content, which will increase the emphasis to increase collections. Today, we have a very poor recycling rates in the U.S. and that part what drove the escalation of bale bottle pricing in the second year -- second quarter -- calendar second quarter of this year.

加州規定，未來幾年內必須達到25%的再生材料含量，這將增加對再生材料的需求，進而加大回收力道。目前，美國的回收率非常低，這也是導致今年第二季（日曆年第二季）塑膠瓶價格飆升的部分原因。

So I see it as a positive long term to encourage people to increase collections. We will mitigate some of our needs for bottles. But again, that pressure is going to be on the West Coast and all of the bottles that we collect in the U.S. are on the East Coast -- predominantly on the East Coast.

所以我認為鼓勵人們增加收藏是件好事，長遠來看是件好事。這能緩解我們對瓶子的部分需求。但話說回來，這種壓力主要集中在西海岸，而我們在美國收集的所有瓶子都來自東海岸——而且主要來自東海岸。

Got it. I would have thought it would have increased fiber rates, would reduce your input cost. Am I getting that wrong?

明白了。我以為這會提高纖維價格，降低你們的投入成本。我的理解有誤嗎？

Yes, eventually, that will be because what happens in the calendar second quarter, which -- there was a new bottle wash facility started up. They were trying to get more -- build inventory of their raw materials. That law came -- that bill passed and people were very concerned about how they're going to meet the 25%. Even though it's fairly far out, it was a very strange phenomenon. But long term, we do expect these bills will increase collections more bottles to get on the market, the better off we are from a pricing point of view.

是的，最終會是這樣，因為第二季發生的事情——當時有一家新的洗瓶廠投產了。他們正努力增加原材料庫存。那項法案出台後，人們非常擔心如何達到25%的回收率要求。雖然現在距離目標日期還很遠，但這確實是一個非常奇怪的現象。但從長遠來看，我們預計這些法案將增加回收量，使更多瓶子進入市場，從定價的角度來看，這對我們更有利。

Your next question comes from Anthony Lebiedzinski with Sidoti.

你的下一個問題來自 Sidoti 的 Anthony Lebiedzinski。

So I know you guys talked about the price increases in July and August. I was wondering if you could perhaps expanded that and give us some more color as to the level of price increases. And then also, the second part of that question would be -- so aside from price increases, what are the other key initiatives that you're looking to strengthen and improve profitability in the U.S.

我知道你們在七、八月談到了價格上漲。我想請你們詳細說明一下價格上漲的幅度。另外，第二個問題是──除了價格上漲之外，你們還有哪些關鍵措施旨在加強和提高在美國的獲利能力？

Thanks for those questions. As we've said in previous calls, Anthony -- and just welcome to curbing unified. We have been very -- over the last 15 months, 16 months been raising prices almost every month. And what we did in July and August was to really finally catch up with our pricing relative to the raw materials.

感謝您的提問。正如我們在之前的電話會議中提到的，安東尼——歡迎來到Curbing Unified。在過去的15到16個月裡，我們幾乎每個月都在漲價。而我們在7月和8月所做的，是為了真正讓我們的價格與原物料價格保持同步。

And like as we mentioned, it was very, very significant in June beyond what we had seen before from a scale. So in August, I do see that our pricing is -- has leveled up to where it needs to be. I feel very comfortable with the pricing we got to, but we still have, like I said, this inventory to deal with, which we will as we move through the month.

正如我們之前提到的，六月的規模非常非常大，遠遠超出我們以往的預期。所以到了八月份，我認為我們的定價已經穩定在了應有的水平。我對目前的定價非常滿意，但正如我所說，我們仍然需要處理庫存，這將在接下來的幾個月中逐步解決。

The key initiatives that we have beyond the raw materials, of course, managing price points is going to be very important to us. We are managing our purchases very, very carefully in the U.S., both on the manufacturing side because we've got a slowdown in our volumes. So we know we need to pull out as much cost as possible.

當然，除了原料之外，我們最重要的措施之一就是控制價格。由於產量放緩，我們在美國的採購，尤其是生產環節，都經過了非常謹慎的管理。因此，我們知道必須盡可能地降低成本。

We're reducing some of our SG&A expenses here in the U.S. where we can. We're also really pulling back our inventory significantly. So from a cash point of view, we are buying the least amount of materials we can to try and take advantage of this downturn in raw material pricing and then looking for certain volume opportunities where it makes sense. And of course, making sure we manage our price points very careful in that.

我們正在盡可能地削減美國地區的銷售、管理及行政費用。同時，我們也大幅削減了庫存。因此，從現金流的角度來看，我們正在盡可能減少原物料採購量，以期利用原物料價格下跌的機會，並在適當的時機尋找合適的銷售成長點。當然，我們也會在過程中非常謹慎地控制價格。

And then lastly, our labor hours, they're a big part of our costs here in the U.S. and our manufacturing lead is very -- and teams are very, very careful about what hours we need. And it's actually helping us interestingly because it's giving us more time to train the people that we have that are new employees. So they are the things that we're doing beyond just the raw material cost reductions.

最後，我們的人力成本在美國佔了很大一部分，我們的生產負責人非常注重工時，團隊對所需的工時也格外謹慎。有趣的是，這實際上對我們有所幫助，因為它讓我們有更多時間培訓新員工。所以，除了降低原料成本之外，我們還在採取其他措施。

Got it. Okay. And then so within your EBITDA guidance for F '23, it sounds like overall that you're holding SG&A as much as you can, and it's really the pressure is really on the gross margins. Is that a fair assessment?

明白了。好的。那麼，在您對2023財年的EBITDA預期中，聽起來您似乎盡可能地控制了銷售、管理及行政費用，真正的壓力主要集中在毛利率上。這樣的評估是否合理？

Yes. So Anthony, I think that's a very fair assessment. We -- yes, definitely, the guidance for the range for EBITDA anticipated several different scenarios for each of the 3 reportable segments. But you are correct that really most of that, almost all of that is centered around kind of manufacturing and operations and sales prices and not so much about SG&A.

是的。安東尼，我認為你的評估非常中肯。我們——沒錯，EBITDA預期範圍確實涵蓋了三個報告分部各自的幾個不同情境。但你說得對，實際上大部分，幾乎全部，都集中在生產、營運和銷售價格上，而與銷售、管理及行政費用關係不大。

Got it. And then as far as Brazil, the gross margins have been kind of all over the place here last few quarters. What's a reasonable long-term assumption for gross margins in Brazil?

明白了。至於巴西，過去幾季的毛利率波動很大。對巴西毛利率的長期預期應該是多少？

Yes, you're correct. Really, at the height of the pandemic or the second wave of the pandemic 5, 6 quarters ago, you're correct, we saw some amazing gross margins from Brazil. I think we were careful to caution everybody not to pencil us in for 30% to 40% gross margins for that business. That's really historically not where they've operated.

是的，你說得對。確實，在疫情高峰期，或者說是五、六個季度前的第二波疫情期間，你說得沒錯，我們在巴西的業務毛利率非常驚人。我想我們當時也謹慎地提醒大家，不要期待巴西業務的毛利率能達到30%到40%。因為從他們以往的營運情況來看，這個毛利率水準並不算高。

The quarter they just had, they did run through some additional high costs and got through, quite a bit of those, actually a little bit faster than we anticipated. So we do think they'll be back more towards the normal rate of profitability, which has their gross margins in the kind of mid- to upper teens even approaching up into 20% range for gross margin.

上個季度，他們確實承擔了一些額外的高成本，但實際上，他們處理這些成本的速度比我們預期的要快一些。因此，我們認為他們的獲利能力將恢復到正常水平，毛利率將達到15%到10%之間，甚至接近20%。

It's a well-run business. It's a really -- it's -- we have a great customer base. They do a lot of the right things. They are also starting to see the early stages of benefiting from the EVO texture equipment that's going into their operations. So those are some of the things that give us confidence that they will rebound nicely here and are starting to rebound already nicely here in this quarter. But I think that kind of mid, high teens and maybe even just a little bit better than that, it's kind of a better longer-term model for Brazil.

這是一家營運良好的企業。我們擁有龐大的客戶群。他們做了很多正確的事。他們也開始從引入EVO紋理設備的初期階段中受益。這些因素讓我們相信，他們的業績將會強勁反彈，而且在本季已經開始出現不錯的反彈。但我認為，對於巴西來說，15%到10%左右的成長率，甚至可能略高於這個水平，才是更理想的長期發展模式。

Your next question comes from Daniel Moore with CJS Securities.

下一個問題來自 CJS Securities 的 Daniel Moore。

Following up on the margin question and just kind of thinking longer term, you mentioned margins getting back to more normal levels by H2. I assume more normal overall is something in the 10%-plus range, maybe 10% to 12%. Is that sort of the right way to think about it, given all the puts and takes over the last year or 2 with Brazil, et cetera? And then the bigger question is just how do we think about the bridge implied between what would be kind of more normal late fiscal '23 margins and your '25 goals of 14% to 15%? What are the key drivers or levers there?

關於利潤率的問題，從長遠角度考慮，您提到利潤率將在下半年恢復到更正常的水平。我假設「比較正常」的整體水準應該在10%以上，或許是10%到12%。考慮到過去一兩年巴西等地發生的各種變數，這種理解是否正確？更重要的問題是，我們該如何看待2023財年末利潤率恢復正常水準與您2025年14%到15%的目標之間的過渡？關鍵的驅動因素或槓桿是什麼？

Yes. I think -- yes, Dan, you're correct. I think when we say normal margins and we kind of blend all that together, you are correct. We're talking something in excess of 10%. Our longer-term model that we have, we're marching toward a higher profitability at closer to 15% longer term. And part of that transition will be, as we have talked about more REPREVE and a better margin profile for those products, that will definitely help us as we increase that percentage longer term.

是的。我想——是的，丹，你說得對。當我們說正常利潤率，並把所有因素綜合起來考慮時，你說的沒錯。我們說的是超過10%的利潤率。我們目前的長期模型是，我們正朝著更高的獲利能力邁進，長期目標接近15%。正如我們之前討論過的，提高REPREVE產品的比例，並改善這些產品的利潤率，是實現這一轉變的關鍵，這無疑將有助於我們長期提高利潤率。

But you are correct. In the shorter term, saying getting back to second half margins, gross margins, kind of 10%, 11%, 12%, that is more the right end range there.

但你說得對。短期來看，如果毛利率能恢復到下半年的水平，大概在10%、11%、12%左右，這才是比較合理的範圍。

And Craig, on the move towards 15% and the longer -- further out years. REPREVE mix and EvoCooler is probably the 2 biggest impacts?

克雷格，他正朝著15%的目標邁進，目標期限更長——更長遠幾年。 REPREVE混合液和EvoCooler可能是影響最大的兩個因素？

Yes. I would say those definitely the biggest impacts and also a continued input from Asia as well. We do feel like that will continue to pull up and make good progress there. Again, they have the highest level of REPREVE products, and we expect that to continue to grow. Eddie, do you want to add on to that?

是的。我認為這些無疑是影響最大的因素，亞洲的持續投入也功不可沒。我們相信亞洲市場會繼續保持成長勢頭，並取得良好進展。他們擁有最高水準的REPREVE產品，我們預期這一趨勢會繼續發展。 Eddie，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. I think the other -- we have engaged somebody to help us understand where the best opportunities for Unifi is in the beyond apparel area. And we're doing a deep dive in some segments that I think are going to deal a lot of food. And that's been one of the -- in our strategy presentation back in February, we said we were trying to look for segments that had higher gross margins, and we see that being something that's very important for us to get us to that 14% or so gross margin levels across the globe.

是的。我認為另一點是——我們已經聘請了專業人士來幫助我們了解Unifi在服裝以外的領域有哪些最佳機會。我們正在深入研究一些我認為未來會有很大發展空間的細分市場。這在我們二月的策略報告中就提到過，我們正在尋找毛利率更高的細分市場，我們認為這對於我們實現全球14%左右的毛利率目標至關重要。

And it's the mix of Asia today versus when we get to '25 is quite a difference and that carries along quite a bit of REPREVE margin.

如今亞洲的組成與 2025 年相比有很大的不同，這將帶來相當大的 REPREVE 優勢。

Got it, Al. That's helpful. And Eddie, I think you read my mind because my last question was just updating us on some of those growth initiatives outside apparel. I realize these are not 1 or 2 quarter things, multiyear projects. But when you look at auto packaging, medical, footwear, where are you seeing any of those -- where you're seeing more dialogue folks getting more excited about sustainability and longer-term partnerships? Any color you might be able to provide would be helpful.

明白了，艾爾。這很有幫助。艾迪，我覺得你好像看穿了我的心思，因為我上一個問題就是想跟我們說服裝以外的一些成長計畫。我知道這些不是一兩個季度就能完成的，而是需要好幾年才能完成的專案。但是，在汽車包裝、醫療、鞋類等領域，你有沒有看到一些類似的情況──例如，大家在哪些方面更積極地討論永續發展和建立長期合作關係？如果你能提供一些信息，那就太好了。

Yes. As you've mentioned, is a longer-term initiative. We should complete this analysis sometime this quarter, and that will allow us to really drive further faster into those segments you mentioned, plus another few that we've sort of come across that have been quite interesting.

是的。正如您所說，這是一項長期計劃。我們應該會在本季度完成這項分析，這將使我們能夠更快地深入您提到的那些細分市場，以及我們發現的其他一些非常有趣的細分市場。

Anything we do that we know is going to take several quarters -- an apparel market takes 18 months to get a program sometimes. But we know that there will be -- we will be putting a lot of time and effort into digging down into these opportunities that have come to the surface.

任何我們明知需要幾個季度才能完成的事情——比如服裝市場，有時一個項目就需要18個月才能啟動。但我們知道機會終會到來——我們會投入大量時間和精力去深入挖掘這些浮出水面的機會。

And they will be beyond those 4 segments that you mentioned. But for me, personally, I think exciting is the transition to the electrification of cars. I think these automotive companies are going to be looking to be, as we said in the -- on these calls, more sustainable, not just on the dried terrain, but also in the textile inputs into the cars. And I think that's probably the shortest visibility we're going to see.

而且它們的影響範圍還會超出你提到的四個領域。但就我個人而言，我認為最令人興奮的是汽車向電氣化的轉型。我認為這些汽車公司將會像我們在先前的電話會議上提到的那樣，尋求更永續的發展，不僅體現在土地利用方面，也體現在汽車零件的原材料方面。我認為這可能是我們近期能看到的最直接的變化。

There are no further questions at this time. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

目前沒有其他問題了。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以斷開連線了。