Unifi Inc (UFI) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for attending Unifi's Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) Speakers for today's call include Al Carey, Executive Chairman; Eddie Ingle, Chief Executive Officer; Craig Creaturo, Chief Financial Officer; and A.J. Eaker, Treasurer.

早上好，感謝您參加 Unifi 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中。 （操作員指示）今天電話會議的發言人包括執行主席 Al Carey；埃迪·英格爾，首席執行官； Craig Creaturo，首席財務官；和 A.J.埃克，財務主管。

During this call, management will be referencing a webcast presentation that can be found in the Investor Relations section of unifi.com. Please familiarize yourself with Page 2 of that slide deck for our cautionary statements and non-GAAP measures.

在本次電話會議中，管理層將參考 unifi.com 投資者關係部分中的網絡廣播演示文稿。請熟悉該幻燈片的第 2 頁，了解我們的警告聲明和非 GAAP 措施。

I will now turn the call over to Al Carey.

我現在將把電話轉給阿爾·凱里。

Thank you, and good morning, everybody, and thank you for dialing in to the Unifi fourth quarter earnings call. I'd like to take a couple of minutes telling you about the environment that we're operating in because, I have to say, it's one of the most unusual I've ever seen. And then when I'm done doing that, I'll turn it over to Eddie Ingle, our CEO.

謝謝大家，大家早上好，感謝您撥通 Unifi 第四季度財報電話會議。我想花幾分鐘時間向您介紹一下我們的運營環境，因為我不得不說，這是我見過的最不尋常的環境之一。當我完成這件事後，我會把它交給我們的首席執行官埃迪·英格爾(Eddie Ingle)。

So you've seen the sales and EBITDA numbers for Q4, and you can see that they look very similar to Q3. And that's because volume remains depressed in North America, which drives a low level of EBITDA because we're not getting the throughput we needed to leverage our fixed assets. Now most of you are probably saying, "What is going on with your business?" And I fully appreciate that because Q2, Q3 and Q4 have been weak. Let me cut to the answer, and then we'll work backwards into the details.

您已經看到了第四季度的銷售額和 EBITDA 數字，您可以看到它們看起來與第三季度非常相似。這是因為北美的銷量仍然低迷，導致 EBITDA 水平較低，因為我們沒有獲得利用固定資產所需的吞吐量。現在，你們中的大多數人可能會問：“你們的生意怎麼樣了？”我完全理解這一點，因為第二季度、第三季度和第四季度表現疲軟。讓我切入答案，然後我們將回顧細節。

Inventories at retail have been massively high starting last fall on apparel. They're still high today. The retailers are working them down, but until they come down, ordering for yarn has been scarce. So you may ask, when will the inventory be done? Now probably the end of the calendar year. That's what we hear from our retail partners. When will orders begin flowing back into Unifi? Probably around the October time frame. How big will the ordering be and how fast will it come back? I don't know. There's still a fair amount of uncertainty. But listening to retailers, I'd say, it will probably be conservative at first as they're going to be cautious when they start back ordering and especially, after they just came out of a troubled time of heavy inventories.

從去年秋季開始，服裝零售庫存就一直居高不下。今天它們仍然很高。零售商正在努力降低價格，但在價格降低之前，紗線訂單一直很少。那麼你可能會問，盤點什麼時候能做完？現在可能是日曆年的年底。這是我們從零售合作夥伴那裡聽到的。訂單什麼時候開始回流到 Unifi？大概是十月份左右的時間。訂單量有多大以及返回的速度有多快？我不知道。仍然存在相當大的不確定性。但聽零售商的說法，我想說，一開始可能會很保守，因為當他們開始延期訂購時，尤其是在他們剛剛擺脫庫存過多的困境之後，他們會保持謹慎。

The other question you may be asking is, what about the sales trends on apparel? They've been off for a whole year. And in the last 2 quarters, they've been down 7% in units. So what's going on there? My observation is that over the last 12 months, the consumer has spent a great portion of their income. And again, the average consumer, who makes probably $55,000 a year, they're spending their money on important basics of food, fuel, housing, all at higher prices. So the discretionary income they have left seems to be allocated to things called experiences, and that is primarily travel and entertainment, leaving a lot less money for things like apparel.

您可能會問的另一個問題是，服裝的銷售趨勢如何？他們已經休息了一整年了。在過去 2 個季度中，它們的銷量下降了 7%。那麼那裡發生了什麼？我的觀察是，在過去 12 個月中，消費者花費了其收入的很大一部分。再說一遍，普通消費者的年收入可能為 55,000 美元，他們把錢花在食品、燃料、住房等重要的基本生活用品上，而所有這些都價格更高。因此，他們剩下的可自由支配收入似乎被分配給了所謂的體驗，主要是旅行和娛樂，剩下的錢就少了很多，比如服裝。

Now we feel certain that there'll be a rebalancing between goods and services here soon. We're already seeing some of that begin. At the same time that, that's happening, the inventories will rebalance back to a more normal level. And then we can expect to see some steady state in our half 2 of fiscal year and the beginning of 2024 for the rest.

現在我們確信商品和服務之間很快就會實現重新平衡。我們已經看到其中一些開始了。與此同時，庫存將重新平衡回到更正常的水平。然後，我們預計將在本財年的後半段和 2024 年初的剩餘時間內看到某種穩定狀態。

So I think you can say that this synopsis that I gave you is probably accurate because it's a compilation of speaking to the majority of our customers, our partners, our mills and analysts that follow the marketplace. And the majority are saying the same thing.

所以我認為你可以說我給你的這個概要可能是準確的，因為它是與我們大多數客戶、我們的合作夥伴、我們的工廠和跟踪市場的分析師交談的彙編。大多數人都在說同樣的話。

So is there any good news for Unifi in all this? And the answer is yes. Since we're at the front of the supply chain, we can feel the pain first, but we typically catch the tailwind first. We began filling the difficulty of this situation last summer. And now 1 year later, we're beginning to see some green shoots in terms of improved orders for volume in and around the October time frame.

那麼這一切對於 Unifi 來說有什麼好消息嗎？答案是肯定的。由於我們處於供應鏈的前端，我們可以首先感受到痛苦，但我們通常會首先抓住順風。我們從去年夏天開始解決這種情況的困難。現在一年過去了，我們開始看到 10 月份及前後訂單量有所改善的一些萌芽。

Also, during the last 12 months, we didn't waste the crisis. Our teams have been working on several initiatives that are going to make our company better in the long run. The first thing I'd mention to you is that we have begun to get traction on building a business in categories that are outside of apparel, categories such as home, auto, industrial and packaging. These categories are incremental to our current sales portfolio, and they also have much higher margins than the apparel categories that we sell today.

此外，在過去 12 個月裡，我們並沒有浪費這次危機。我們的團隊一直致力於多項舉措，從長遠來看，這些舉措將使我們的公司變得更好。我要向您提到的第一件事是，我們已經開始在服裝以外的類別（例如家居、汽車、工業和包裝）領域建立業務。這些類別是我們當前銷售組合的增量，而且它們的利潤率也比我們今天銷售的服裝類別高得多。

The second thing our teams have been working on is an activity-based costing capability that allows our sales and operations people to collaborate very closely looking at our inputs, true cost, capacity utilization so that we can optimize pricing for better profitability and also improve our market share.

我們團隊一直致力於的第二件事是基於活動的成本核算能力，使我們的銷售和運營人員能夠密切合作，了解我們的投入、真實成本、產能利用率，以便我們可以優化定價以獲得更好的盈利能力，並提高我們的盈利能力。市場份額。

And I'll mention a third. We've developed several REPREVE product innovations. They offer consumer benefits that allow us to offer a premium on REPREVE, but always use recycled material.

我要提到第三個。我們開發了多項 REPREVE 產品創新。它們為消費者帶來好處，使我們能夠在 REPREVE 上提供溢價，但始終使用回收材料。

So I would say that given this current difficult environment, we can now kind of see where things are going. And I would say that we feel optimistic about what's going on, and I'm very proud of our teams and the way they've worked through all this. And I believe that when we get on the other side of it, our company is going to be a lot stronger than it was when we started the journey back before the pandemic.

所以我想說，鑑於當前困難的環境，我們現在可以看到事情的進展。我想說，我們對正在發生的事情感到樂觀，我為我們的團隊以及他們解決這一切的方式感到非常自豪。我相信，當我們渡過難關時，我們的公司將比我們在大流行之前開始旅程時強大得多。

So with that backdrop, let me turn it over to our CEO, Eddie Ingle, who will take you through the details of our performance.

因此，在這樣的背景下，讓我將其轉交給我們的首席執行官埃迪·英格爾，他將向您詳細介紹我們的業績。

Thanks, Al, and good morning, everyone. Our fourth quarter results reflect the pressures of continued demand weakness, as Al mentioned, across the apparel and textile, supply chains, as brands and retailers continue their efforts to normalize their inventory levels. Now while it's been a challenging fiscal year, I'm very grateful for everyone on the Unifi team across the globe. And once again, I want to thank them for their unwavering commitments and hard work.

謝謝阿爾，大家早上好。正如艾爾提到的，隨著品牌和零售商繼續努力使庫存水平正常化，我們第四季度的業績反映了整個服裝和紡織品供應鏈需求持續疲軟的壓力。雖然這是一個充滿挑戰的財政年度，但我非常感謝全球 Unifi 團隊的每個人。我要再次感謝他們堅定不移的承諾和辛勤工作。

While we recognize that globally, our business is suffering, alongside others in the textile space and retail environment, we presently see opportunities for capturing market share in each of the regions as we continue to move through the destocking of the supply chain and then charge towards normalcy.

雖然我們認識到，在全球範圍內，我們的業務與紡織領域和零售環境中的其他業務一樣正在遭受苦難，但我們目前看到了在每個地區奪取市場份額的機會，因為我們繼續推進供應鏈去庫存，然後向常態。

While you look at Slide 3 of the presentation, I'll make some comments on our overall performance at a high level. In Q4, we recorded $151 million in net sales, which was a modest decline when compared to the third quarter and not unexpected, I might add. We believe our underlying performance has stabilized through a difficult market and a challenging operating environment, which is a byproduct of a few external factors and strategic actions we've taken.

當您觀看演示文稿的幻燈片 3 時，我將對我們的整體表現進行一些高水平的評論。我想補充一下，第四季度，我們的淨銷售額為 1.51 億美元，與第三季度相比略有下降，這並不意外。我們相信，在困難的市場和充滿挑戰的經營環境中，我們的基本業績已經穩定下來，這是一些外部因素和我們採取的戰略行動的副產品。

One of these factors is that for the last 2 quarters, we did not see any of the erratic increases in input costs that we have seen in the prior calendar year and are currently experiencing a period of low volatility in raw material pricing. As a result, we're in a solid position from a pricing standpoint, and this stability will serve as a catalyst for a quick rebound in performance when demand recovers.

其中一個因素是，在過去兩個季度中，我們沒有看到上一年所見的投入成本出現任何不穩定的增長，並且目前正經歷原材料價格低波動時期。因此，從定價的角度來看，我們處於穩固的地位，這種穩定性將成為需求復蘇時業績快速反彈的催化劑。

Bale bottle prices, which have been really challenging in calendar of 2022 for us, have also been stabilizing to seasonally normal levels. As a reminder, the price we pay for bale bottles in the U.S. and the yields associated with the recycling process are the most important input costs to our Americas business segments for pre-products. And this reduction has been a welcome relief and will play to our advantage as the REPREVE demand opens up in the coming quarters in the U.S. and Central America.

2022 年的捆包價格對我們來說確實具有挑戰性，但目前也已穩定在季節性正常水平。提醒一下，我們在美國購買捆包瓶的價格以及與回收過程相關的產量是我們美洲預產品業務部門最重要的投入成本。隨著美國和中美洲未來幾個季度 REPREVE 需求的開放，這種減少是一種令人歡迎的緩解，並將發揮我們的優勢。

From an operations perspective, we have taken several actions to maximize productivity and drive efficiencies across the business, including diligently managing our costs through several cost containment measures. We have also reoriented our capital spend to preserve cash and bolster our liquidity position to further solidify our balance sheet. And we will highlight a few of these actions in a few minutes.

從運營角度來看，我們採取了多項行動來最大限度地提高生產力並提高整個企業的效率，包括通過多項成本控制措施來努力管理我們的成本。我們還重新調整了資本支出，以保留現金並增強流動性狀況，以進一步鞏固我們的資產負債表。我們將在幾分鐘內重點介紹其中的一些行動。

I should also mention that we are not backing off on developing new innovative products during this period, which I hope to be able to talk about as we move through the fiscal year. Our focus on innovative technologies with REPREVE at the core is now much more driven by the pairing of commercial opportunities with performance attributes that are responsive to the consumer demand that we're seeing.

我還應該提到，在此期間，我們不會放棄開發新的創新產品，我希望能夠在本財年期間討論這一問題。我們對以 REPREVE 為核心的創新技術的關注現在更多地受到商業機會與響應我們所看到的消費者需求的性能屬性的結合所驅動。

Turning to Slide 4 to discuss REPREVE and marketing. During the fourth quarter, REPREVE sales were $44.5 million or 29% of all sales compared to $49.6 million and 32% of sales in the preceding quarter. This reduction is primarily driven by an economic slowdown in China's textile exports, and we do not view it as a rebuke of sustainability based on our ongoing commercial conversations. Any improvement at all in China sales will drive a commensurate rebound of our presales.

轉向幻燈片 4 來討論 REPREVE 和營銷。第四季度，REPREVE 銷售額為 4,450 萬美元，佔總銷售額的 29%，而上一季度為 4,960 萬美元，佔銷售額的 32%。這一減少主要是由於中國紡織品出口經濟放緩所致，根據我們正在進行的商業對話，我們並不認為這是對可持續發展的譴責。中國銷售的任何改善都將推動我們預售的相應反彈。

Moving to marketing. We continue to drive REPREVE awareness globally. Ongoing media outreach, including plant tours and an influencer event in Los Angeles has resulted in a meaningful increase in media coverage based on our internal metrics. Beyond the U.S., we continue to execute marketing initiatives tailored for specific markets. And this ranges from the launch of REPREVE in Brazil to partnerships with local brands in China.

轉向營銷。我們繼續在全球範圍內提高 REPREVE 意識。根據我們的內部指標，持續的媒體宣傳，包括工廠參觀和在洛杉磯舉行的影響者活動，導致媒體報導顯著增加。在美國之外，我們繼續執行針對特定市場的營銷計劃。其中包括從在巴西推出 REPREVE 到與中國本土品牌建立合作夥伴關係。

During Q4, we exhibited at a variety of trade shows globally. And interest in sustainability, was high across all shows. And particularly, Textile Takeback, our innovative solution for tackling textile material waste, was particularly well received.

第四季度，我們在全球各種貿易展會上展出。所有展會對可持續發展的興趣都很高。特別是，我們用於處理紡織材料廢物的創新解決方案“紡織品回收”特別受到好評。

Now as we close out fiscal '23, we are happy with the progress made on the marketing front and look forward to building on that momentum in 2024. Both the industry and consumers, who are actively focused on sustainability and REPREVE, is now very well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.

現在，隨著我們結束 23 財年，我們對營銷方面取得的進展感到高興，並期待在 2024 年繼續保持這一勢頭。積極關注可持續發展和 REPREVE 的行業和消費者現在都表現得很好定位於利用這個機會。

So before I pass the call to Craig for his financial review, I want to take a moment to thank Craig for his service to Unifi. This will be his last earnings call. And as we noted in our SEC filing on July 26, 2023, he is moving to pursue another CFO opportunity. Craig has been a great partner for me and has helped us build a well-rounded finance team. So Craig, thank you for that and for all the work you've put in.

因此，在我打電話給克雷格進行財務審查之前，我想花點時間感謝克雷格為 Unifi 提供的服務。這將是他最後一次財報電話會議。正如我們在 2023 年 7 月 26 日向 SEC 提交的文件中指出的那樣，他正在尋求另一個首席財務官的機會。克雷格對我來說是一個很好的合作夥伴，幫助我們建立了一支全面的財務團隊。克雷格，感謝您所做的一切以及您所做的所有工作。

Beginning next week, A.J. Eaker will serve as our interim CFO. We are fortunate to have a strong industry veteran like A.J., who has had almost 10 years of service at Unifi, in addition to his public company audit experience with a big 4 firm, and we have a great financial team to support us and A.J. as well.

從下週開始，A.J.埃克將擔任我們的臨時首席財務官。我們很幸運能擁有像A.J. 這樣強大的行業資深人士，他在Unifi 工作了近10 年，此外還有在四大會計師事務所的上市公司審計經驗，而且我們有一支優秀的財務團隊來支持我們和A.J.。以及。

I'll now pass the call over to Craig. Thank you.

我現在將把電話轉給克雷格。謝謝。

Thank you, Eddie. I want to say thank you to both Al and you as well as the rest of the Board of Directors for allowing me to be a part of the Unifi leadership team for the last 4 years. We're in a good spot to make a CFO change. A.J. has long been a valued member of the Unifi team, and he is someone who will use his leadership and abilities for the betterment of Unifi. My comments today will be shorter than normal, so we can give A.J. time to make some financial commentary of his own during this call.

謝謝你，艾迪。我想對 Al 和你以及董事會其他成員表示感謝，感謝他們讓我在過去 4 年裡成為 Unifi 領導團隊的一員。我們正處於更換首席財務官的有利位置。 A.J.長期以來一直是 Unifi 團隊的重要成員，他將利用自己的領導力和能力來改善 Unifi。我今天的評論會比平時短，所以我們可以給 A.J.是時候在這次電話會議上發表一些自己的財務評論了。

Let's move into the financial results beginning with Slide 5. We have provided the year-over-year comparison on net sales and gross profit for each fourth quarter. As expected, consolidated net sales were 30.6% lower from Q4 fiscal 2022 to Q4 fiscal 2023, primarily resulting from the weak demand environment and the associated decline in pricing. Fortunately, as you will hear from Eddie, the expanded Chip and Flake product line sales are enhancing the portfolio in the Americas segment, which also contributed to the lower average selling prices in the quarter for this segment.

讓我們從幻燈片 5 開始討論財務業績。我們提供了每個第四季度淨銷售額和毛利潤的同比比較。正如預期的那樣，從 2022 財年第四季度到 2023 財年第四季度，合併淨銷售額下降了 30.6%，這主要是由於需求環境疲軟以及相關的定價下降。幸運的是，正如您將從埃迪那裡聽到的那樣，擴大的芯片和薄片產品線銷售正在增強美洲細分市場的產品組合，這也導致該細分市場本季度的平均售價較低。

The Brazil segment maintained strong volume levels throughout fiscal 2023, but experienced pricing pressures from competitive Chinese imports, in connection with the lower utilization levels in China driving down the average selling prices of their exports to countries like Brazil. The Asia segment was most impacted by apparel weakness driving lower sales volumes but it maintained a strong pricing and margin profile, thanks in part to Unifi's innovative pipeline.

巴西業務在 2023 財年保持強勁的銷量水平，但面臨來自具有競爭力的中國進口產品的價格壓力，原因是中國利用率較低，壓低了向巴西等國家出口的平均售價。亞洲市場受到服裝疲軟導致銷量下降的影響最大，但保持了強勁的定價和利潤狀況，部分歸功於 Unifi 的創新產品線。

From a gross profit perspective, on Slide 6, the volume pressure in the Americas and Asia segments, along with the selling price pressures in Brazil, negatively impacted gross profit.

從毛利潤的角度來看，在幻燈片 6 中，美洲和亞洲市場的銷量壓力以及巴西的售價壓力對毛利潤產生了負面影響。

Turning to Slide 7 for the sequential sales comparison. We can see the stability that was expected to occur from Q3 to Q4 of fiscal 2023. On the whole, sales performance was generally flat across the segments during the noted 6-month period, although Americas segment experienced yarn volume declines that were mostly offset by chip and flake sales, which carry a lower fixed cost absorption factor.

請參閱幻燈片 7 進行連續銷售比較。我們可以看到2023 財年第三季度至第四季度預計會出現的穩定性。總體而言，在上述6 個月期間，各細分市場的銷售業績總體持平，儘管美洲細分市場的紗線銷量下降，但大部分被芯片和薄片銷售，其固定成本吸收係數較低。

Slide 8 demonstrates the change in gross profit, which is predominantly characterized by weaker fixed cost absorption in the Americas based on the lower yarn sales concept we just covered.

幻燈片 8 顯示了毛利潤的變化，其主要特徵是基於我們剛剛討論的較低紗線銷售概念，美洲的固定成本吸收較弱。

I will now pass the call to A.J. A.J.?

我現在將把電話轉給 A.J. A.J.？

Thanks, Craig. As we move away from the segment analysis, I'll remind everyone that we incurred an impairment charge in this fourth quarter in connection with a highly specialized asset for which the investment was fully returned but carried a longer original useful life than today's environment would support. The impairment was recorded in operating income, outside of gross profit, was noncash and nontax and below any particular segment results.

謝謝，克雷格。當我們結束細分分析時，我要提醒大家，我們在第四季度產生了與高度專業化資產相關的減值費用，該資產的投資已全部收回，但原始使用壽命比當今環境支持的要長。減值記錄在毛利潤之外的營業收入中，為非現金和非稅項，且低於任何特定部門的業績。

Now let's spend a moment discussing our balance sheet and liquidity position on Slide 9, where I will cover the high-level points before passing the call back to Eddie for his closing commentary. We're pleased to have refinanced our asset-backed credit facility in October 2022, where we continue to have significant liquidity available to complement our global cash on hand. Our diligence around working capital and cost control has been critical in our ability to produce operating cash flows in the suppressed fiscal 2023 environment, and we've made an immediate impact on free cash flows by delaying elevated CapEx spend until the demand environment is much more amenable. Accordingly, we're confident that our business remains well positioned for realizing profitable growth opportunities when the apparel industry and its supply chains normalize.

現在，讓我們花點時間討論幻燈片 9 上的資產負債表和流動性狀況，我將在幻燈片 9 上介紹要點，然後再將電話轉回埃迪進行結束語。我們很高興於 2022 年 10 月為我們的資產支持信貸安排進行了再融資，我們繼續擁有大量流動資金來補充我們的全球手頭現金。我們在營運資本和成本控制方面的努力對於我們在2023 財年受到抑制的環境下產生運營現金流的能力至關重要，並且我們通過推遲增加資本支出直到需求環境更加強勁，對自由現金流產生了立竿見影的影響。順從的。因此，我們相信，當服裝行業及其供應鏈正常化時，我們的業務仍然能夠實現盈利增長機會。

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

現在，我將把電話轉回埃迪，讓他帶我們瀏覽演示文稿的最後幾張幻燈片，並做出一些最後的評論。

Thank you, A.J. I'd like to take a moment to review some of our new key commercial and operational initiatives we have implemented in the Americas business. As we move through the fiscal year, we expect to see continued recovery in revenue and profit growth from our commercial initiatives beyond the normal environment we're seeing today. We can already see some of the operational initiatives beginning to reduce manufacturing costs, and we expect this benefit to increase and become more reflective in our financial results as we move through the new fiscal year as our volume levels normalize. Those are outlined on Slide 10.

謝謝你，A.J.我想花點時間回顧一下我們在美洲業務中實施的一些新的關鍵商業和運營舉措。隨著本財年的到來，我們預計我們的商業計劃將帶來收入和利潤增長的持續復甦，超出我們今天看到的正常環境。我們已經看到一些運營舉措開始降低製造成本，隨著我們的銷量水平正常化，我們預計這種效益將會增加，並在我們進入新財年時更加反映在我們的財務業績中。幻燈片 10 中概述了這些內容。

And as you can see from this slide, the commercial initiatives center around growth and improving the commercial process. As we face the hard reality of a longer demand challenge environment, we look for areas of opportunity within the business where we could really drive near-term growth in volumes and diversify our portfolio.

正如您從這張幻燈片中看到的，商業計劃以增長和改進商業流程為中心。當我們面臨更長期的需求挑戰環境的嚴峻現實時，我們在業務中尋找機會領域，在這些領域中我們可以真正推動近期銷量增長並使我們的產品組合多樣化。

The preferred phase of such commercial diversification was the expansion of our Chip and Flake business into the nonwovens, specialty films and packaging markets. Now while Unifi has been selling REPREVE resin and flake for quite some time, we traditionally have seen these products mostly as a feedstock to our REPREVE yarn business. And I'm pleased to say that the team responsible for this initiative has had some meaningful wins here.

這種商業多元化的首選階段是將我們的切片和薄片業務擴展到非織造布、特種薄膜和包裝市場。現在，雖然 Unifi 銷售 REPREVE 樹脂和薄片已經有一段時間了，但我們傳統上將這些產品主要視為我們 REPREVE 紗線業務的原料。我很高興地說，負責這項計劃的團隊在這裡取得了一些有意義的勝利。

In the fourth quarter, REPREVE resin and flake sales were strong and represented more of the Americas quarterly sales mix than ever before. And we will continue pursuing this revenue opportunity along with our high-quality REPREVE yarn products.

第四季度，REPREVE 樹脂和薄片銷售強勁，在美洲季度銷售組合中的佔比比以往任何時候都高。我們將繼續利用我們的高品質 REPREVE 紗線產品來尋求這一收入機會。

In addition, there are continued efforts to build what we call our Beyond Apparel business, which we are finding to be a margin-accretive. Further, we've implemented new sales processes that support Unifi and improve our customers' experience.

此外，我們還在繼續努力建立我們所謂的“超越服裝”業務，我們發現該業務可以增加利潤。此外，我們還實施了新的銷售流程來支持 Unifi 並改善客戶體驗。

Lastly, we are spending more time with customers to find ways in which we can bring more value to them. It's a long road, so we feel that we are well on our way to implementing changes that will drive long-term value. I'd now like to detail some of our other operational priorities.

最後，我們花更多的時間與客戶一起尋找可以為他們帶來更多價值的方法。這是一條漫長的道路，因此我們認為我們正在順利實施將推動長期價值的變革。我現在想詳細介紹我們的其他一些運營重點。

Despite the pause in CapEx spend towards new Evo installations, a significant number of these machines are already in place, and the benefits are positively impacting our underlying results with faster speeds, lower energy use and fewer labor hours. Some of our other key operational initiatives include continuing to manage our headcount conservatively while not sacrificing quality lead times or long-term performance. Following customer production activities, for example, like many of our customers, we shut down during the production for the week of July 4 and focusing our attention on working capital through effective planning and staying close to the real demand out there in the marketplace.

儘管新 Evo 安裝的資本支出暫停，但其中大量機器已經就位，其好處是更快的速度、更低的能源消耗和更少的工時，對我們的基本結果產生積極影響。我們的其他一些關鍵運營舉措包括繼續保守地管理我們的員工數量，同時不犧牲質量交貨時間或長期績效。例如，在客戶生產活動之後，像我們的許多客戶一樣，我們在 7 月 4 日這一周的生產期間關閉，並通過有效的規劃和密切關注市場的實際需求，將注意力集中在營運資金上。

Now let's turn to Slide 11 of the presentation to discuss our expectations for the upcoming September quarter. Our first -- our forecast for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 includes sales and profitability performance that is about the same as the just-completed fourth quarter. Sales volumes are not expected to change significantly in any of our business segments. And on the tax fronts, we are expecting continued volatility in the effective tax rate.

現在讓我們轉向演示文稿的幻燈片 11，討論我們對即將到來的 9 月份季度的預期。我們的第一個——我們對 2024 財年第一季度的預測包括與剛剛完成的第四季度大致相同的銷售和盈利能力表現。預計我們任何業務部門的銷量都不會發生重大變化。在稅收方面，我們預計有效稅率將持續波動。

Capital expenditures will continue to trend down, a clear benefit of our prudent spending measures that A.J. mentioned earlier. As we move through fiscal 2024 and anticipate the demand environment to improve in calendar 2024, our plan for the full fiscal year is very much weighted towards the back half of the fiscal year. We are confident in our position as the partner of choice to brands and customers across the globe, and we believe we have the right short- and long-term strategy to drive value for our stakeholders.

資本支出將繼續呈下降趨勢，這是 A.J. 審慎支出措施的明顯好處。之前提到。隨著我們進入 2024 財年並預計需求環境將在 2024 年有所改善，我們整個財年的計劃在很大程度上側重於本財年後半段。我們對自己作為全球品牌和客戶首選合作夥伴的地位充滿信心，並且相信我們擁有正確的短期和長期戰略來為利益相關者創造價值。

With that, we will now open the line for questions. Thank you.

現在，我們將開通提問熱線。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Anthony Lebiedzinski from Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Sidoti & Company 的 Anthony Lebiedzinski。

So first, Craig, it's been a pleasure to work with you and best of luck going forward. And Eddie and A.J., I look forward to continuing to work with you and the rest of the UFI team. And Al, it was also great to hear your synopsis at the beginning of the call. So I guess, I wanted to follow up first about one of the points you said. You're seeing some green shoots in the business. And in the release, you also talked about some positive recent market share development. So I wanted to start off with that, and I'll have a few other questions as well.

首先，克雷格，很高興與您合作，祝您未來一切順利。 Eddie 和 A.J.，我期待著繼續與你們以及 UFI 團隊的其他成員合作。 Al，很高興在通話開始時聽到您的概要。所以我想，我想首先跟進你所說的其中一點。你正在看到這個行業的一些萌芽。在新聞稿中，您還談到了近期市場份額的一些積極發展。所以我想從這個開始，我還有其他一些問題。

Yes, I'll take that, Anthony. Like we said, all of us here at this call, we're still in this environment where it's been very challenging. And the green shoots we're talking about, we're talking about green shoots in new product launches that we're making that we're sort of teasing out to the marketplace, and we're getting a lot of interest in that.

是的，我會接受的，安東尼。就像我們所說的，我們所有人都在參加這次電話會議，我們仍然處於這個非常具有挑戰性的環境中。我們正在談論的新芽，我們正在談論我們正在向市場推出的新產品發布中的新芽，我們對此非常感興趣。

The 4 markets that Al talked about, auto, home, packaging and industrial, they are a key focus of ours. And in the home space, we are seeing already lots of interest in the new products that we're launching. We have some placement and REPREVE Our Ocean in a leading mattress brand and REPREVE ChillSense, which is our climate-control yarn out there. And so alongside the growth that we've had in REPREVE resin and REPREVE flake, these yarn opportunities that we're seeing are these REPREVE -- what we call REPREVE plus opportunities that are really starting to show the interest by the consumer. So more on that as we go through the fiscal year.

Al 談到的 4 個市場，汽車、家居、包裝和工業，它們是我們的重點關注點。在家居領域，我們發現人們對我們推出的新產品產生了濃厚的興趣。我們在一個領先的床墊品牌中放置了一些 REPREVE Our Ocean 和 REPREVE ChillSense，這是我們的氣候控制紗線。因此，隨著我們在 REPREVE 樹脂和 REPREVE 薄片方面的增長，我們看到的這些紗線機會就是這些 REPREVE——我們稱之為 REPREVE 加上消費者真正開始表現出興趣的機會。當我們度過本財年時，我們會對此進行更多討論。

Anthony, just I'll add to it. We've spoken to many customers, and they're all -- I would say most of them are lining up, indicating that the orders will begin. I don't know how big they'll be. I think some of these retailers made some big errors on ordering last year, and I don't think they want to get themselves back into high inventory. But I expect that we'll start seeing that in October and, with a little luck, maybe earlier. But then there's a fair amount of new business that Eddie has been -- Eddie just talked about, but there's lots of interest in some new products in this new space. We're calling it Beyond Apparel. So it's energizing to finally see something happen in there and that we're excited about it.

安東尼，我補充一下。我們已經與許多客戶交談過，我想說他們中的大多數人都在排隊，這表明訂單即將開始。我不知道它們會有多大。我認為其中一些零售商去年在訂購時犯了一些大錯誤，而且我認為他們不想讓自己回到高庫存狀態。但我預計我們會在十月份開始看到這一點，如果運氣好的話，也許會更早。但埃迪剛剛談到了相當多的新業務，但人們對這個新領域的一些新產品很感興趣。我們稱之為“超越服裝”。因此，最終看到其中發生的事情令人振奮，我們對此感到興奮。

Awesome. And then so just to quickly follow up as far as the segments, Beyond Apparel, which ones out of the ones that you listed that you think have the most near-term potential?

驚人的。然後，為了快速跟進除服裝以外的細分市場，您認為在您列出的細分市場中，哪些細分市場近期最具潛力？

Yes. Right now, we're seeing significant interest in the home space. And that's both on the value-added side and also the regular part of that business. We do -- as Al mentioned, we're expecting to see significant volumes and be able to talk about that starting in October. So by the next earnings call, we'll be able to give more specifics. But to answer your question briefly, it is in the home market that we're seeing a lot of interest and also in the packaging space because of our REPREVE resin.

是的。目前，我們看到人們對家居空間產生了濃厚的興趣。這既包括增值方面，也包括該業務的常規部分。我們確實這麼做了——正如 Al 提到的，我們預計會看到大量的銷量，並能夠從 10 月份開始討論這一問題。因此，到下一次財報電話會議時，我們將能夠提供更多細節。但簡單回答一下您的問題，我們在國內市場和包裝領域都看到了很多興趣，因為我們的 REPREVE 樹脂。

Got you. Okay. All right. And it sounds like you have some other new products in REPREVE. So it's great to hear. As far as Chip and Flake, you mentioned that you're seeing strong adoption. Can you talk about -- I don't know if you want to give out specifics, but maybe just broadly speaking, like what part of your sales that is and what's the margin profile of that product?

明白你了。好的。好的。聽起來 REPREVE 中還有其他一些新產品。所以很高興聽到這個消息。至於 Chip 和 Flake，您提到您看到了廣泛的採用。你能談談——我不知道你是否想透露具體細節，但也許只是籠統地說，比如你的銷售的哪一部分以及該產品的利潤狀況是什麼？

The margin profile actually, it's quite healthy. We're very pleased with that. It's above our normal margin profile from a gross profit point of view. What's nice about it also is the fact that we're not just selling into 1 market, we're selling into the nonwoven space, into the film space and into the specialty packaging space as it relates to some cosmetic end users. So it's very diverse.

實際上，利潤率狀況相當健康。我們對此非常滿意。從毛利潤的角度來看，它高於我們的正常利潤率。其好處還在於，我們不僅僅銷售到一個市場，我們還銷售到非織造布領域、薄膜領域和與某些化妝品最終用戶相關的特種包裝領域。所以它非常多樣化。

And the story really is all about sustainability and the innovation that we can bring. And some of these end users are also very interested in our U TRUST verification system and the fact that we have a tracer in there that can verify it is recycled materials. So it really plays out well to the REPREVE story that we've been working on, on the fiber side. That seems to be translating nicely over to the packaging side.

這個故事實際上是關於可持續發展和我們可以帶來的創新。其中一些最終用戶也對我們的 U TRUST 驗證系統非常感興趣，事實上我們有一個追踪器可以驗證它是否是回收材料。因此，在光纖方面，它確實與我們一直在研究的 REPREVE 故事相得益彰。這似乎很好地轉移到了包裝方面。

And one other thing, we design our resins to perform at a very high level in our yarn business. I tell people, we make yarn at 3,000 meters a minute. And these product attributes that we have are surprising. It's because they're playing the clarity of our resin, the purity of it is playing well into these new markets.

另一件事是，我們設計的樹脂在紗線業務中表現出非常高的水平。我告訴人們，我們生產紗線的速度為每分鐘 3,000 米。我們擁有的這些產品屬性令人驚訝。這是因為他們正在發揮我們樹脂的透明度，它的純度在這些新市場中發揮了很好的作用。

Got you. Okay. And then in terms of the pricing, it was down in the Americas and Brazil, but up in Asia. I think part of that is the Chip and Flake increases. But how do we -- how do you see that going forward here as far as the dynamics near term as far as pricing? Would like to get your thoughts on that.

明白你了。好的。然後就定價而言，美洲和巴西的價格下降，但亞洲的價格上漲。我認為部分原因是芯片和薄片的增加。但我們——您如何看待近期定價方面的動態？想听聽您對此的想法。

Yes. In Brazil, it's really driven by the very depressed pricing from China of competitive products, the imports that are coming in. We are seeing, just in the last few weeks, some opportunities to raise prices down there, but it's still early days yet. We do expect, once China really returns back to normal production levels as the supply opens up. They're very reactive to pricing, and that will result in higher prices in Brazil and the Americas. It's mostly driven by the higher sales of packaging that we talked about or resin -- pre-resin in the packaging space. So the yarn business, the prices are more -- are pretty much stable.

是的。在巴西，這實際上是由來自中國的競爭性產品的進口價格非常低迷推動的。就在過去幾週，我們看到那裡有一些提高價格的機會，但現在還為時過早。我們確實預計，隨著供應的開放，一旦中國真正恢復到正常生產水平。他們對定價非常敏感，這將導致巴西和美洲的價格上漲。這主要是由我們談論的包裝或包裝領域的樹脂預樹脂銷量增加推動的。因此，紗線業務的價格相當穩定。

Okay. That's good to hear. And then in terms of the competitive environment in Brazil, have you seen any changes there lately?

好的。聽起來還不錯。那麼，就巴西的競爭環境而言，您最近看到那裡有什麼變化嗎？

Yes. We did have 1 competitor actually move away from the market. And that's -- we're looking for -- they still have inventory in the -- out there, so are selling -- but do expect that opportunity to bring us some increased volumes as we move through the end of this calendar year. And again, I think we'll be able to talk more about that and the impact on that in our October call.

是的。我們確實有 1 個競爭對手實際上退出了市場。那就是 - 我們正在尋找 - 他們仍然有庫存 - 在那裡，所以正在銷售 - 但確實希望這個機會在我們進入本日曆年年底時為我們帶來一些增加的銷量。再說一遍，我認為我們將能夠在 10 月份的電話會議中更多地討論這一問題及其影響。

Got you. Okay. That's good to hear. And then longer term, how should we think about the pass back to profitability? So I mean if I look back to fiscal '16 and '17, revenue in those years was a little bit higher than what you just reported for this year. But certainly, the operating margins back then were closer to 7%. So how do we -- how do you guys think about returning to being EBITDA profitable or just EPS profitable? I know you guys talked about some headcount reduction as well that you've done. But just maybe kind of if you could walk us through like how do you see this playing out.

明白你了。好的。聽起來還不錯。從長遠來看，我們應該如何考慮回歸盈利能力？所以我的意思是，如果我回顧一下 16 財年和 17 財年，那些年的收入比你們今年剛剛報告的要高一些。但可以肯定的是，當時的營業利潤率接近 7%。那麼，我們如何——你們如何考慮恢復 EBITDA 盈利或僅 EPS 盈利？我知道你們也談到了一些裁員的事情，以及你們已經做過的事情。但如果你能向我們介紹一下你如何看待這件事，也許會更好。

Sure, Anthony, it's A.J. Volume's definitely our biggest piece here that will get us back to profitability. You're aware of the Evo installations that we've completed over the last couple of years, and they're very much a path to profitability as well. When you think about the long term, we still very much believe that the underlying drivers that we've spoken of over the last few years will contribute to further growth recovery from where we are as well as much of the other lean initiatives and efficiencies that we found in both the manufacturing space across our facilities as well as our SG&A structure. So we do feel confident that, that path to profitability does still rely on the underlying drivers that we've talked about over the last couple of years.

當然，安東尼，我是 A.J.銷量絕對是我們最大的一塊，它將讓我們恢復盈利。您知道我們在過去幾年中完成的 Evo 安裝，它們也是實現盈利的途徑。當你考慮長期目標時，我們仍然非常相信，我們在過去幾年中談到的潛在驅動因素將有助於我們從目前的狀況以及許多其他精益舉措和效率中進一步恢復增長。我們在整個工廠的製造空間以及SG&A 結構中都發現了這一點。因此，我們確實有信心，這條盈利之路仍然依賴於我們過去幾年討論過的潛在驅動因素。

Also we -- Anthony, this is Al. I just wanted to add to that. As the Beyond Apparel categories become a bigger part of our mix, then that helps as well.

還有我們——安東尼，這是艾爾。我只是想補充一點。隨著超越服裝類別成為我們產品組合中更重要的一部分，這也會有所幫助。

Got it. Okay. And then as far as your debts, obviously, you refinanced that last year, which was terrific. Now I assume that your's -- well in compliance with your debt covenants. I just wanted to make sure that, that's not an issue that you see anytime soon?

知道了。好的。就你的債務而言，顯然，你去年進行了再融資，這非常棒。現在我認為你的債務契約完全符合你的債務契約。我只是想確定一下，這不是您很快就會看到的問題嗎？

Yes, Anthony, it's A.J. again. Absolutely still in compliance from a debt perspective. As you mentioned, very favorable that we were able to refinance the facility just under a year ago, providing us great runway both in this constrained environment as well as positioning us for growth as we head into the next couple of years.

是的，安東尼，我是 A.J.再次。從債務角度來看，絕對仍然合規。正如您提到的，非常有利的是我們能夠在不到一年前為該設施提供再融資，這為我們在這種有限的環境中提供了良好的跑道，並為我們進入未來幾年的增長做好了準備。

On top of that, we still have a significant balance of global cash that we can help assist with that liquidity. And we haven't had to institute any extreme measures at this point. So still feeling quite comfortable from both a compliance perspective and the remaining liquidity.

最重要的是，我們仍然擁有大量的全球現金餘額，我們可以幫助提供流動性。目前我們還沒有必要採取任何極端措施。因此，從合規角度和剩餘流動性的角度來看，仍然感覺相當舒服。

Got you. Okay. And then just to quickly follow up. I know the vast majority of your cash is outside the U.S. If needed, can you easily repatriate that? Or like how should we think about that?

明白你了。好的。然後快速跟進。我知道您的大部分現金都在美國境外。如果需要，您能輕鬆將其匯回國內嗎？或者說我們應該如何思考這個問題？

Sure, Anthony. You'll note in fiscal '23, we did repatriate almost $20 million from our operations in Asia. Part of that was connected with the refinance that we completed. We still believe those processes, those procedures to repatriate cash are still applicable and relevant. As we move forward, we still believe that everything would be just fine in terms of repatriating, as needed, from those subsidiaries.

當然，安東尼。您會注意到，在 23 財年，我們確實從亞洲業務中匯回了近 2000 萬美元。其中一部分與我們完成的再融資有關。我們仍然相信這些流程、匯回現金的程序仍然適用且相關。隨著我們的前進，我們仍然相信，根據需要從這些子公司遣返，一切都會好起來的。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Chris Reynolds from Neuberger Berman.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 Neuberger Berman 的 Chris Reynolds。

A question for you on -- a question on sort of reshoring of apparel production, that's been a long-term trend that's benefited you. Are you still seeing that as a positive? And perhaps maybe just an update on how your company is integrated with the CAFTA treaty for your apparel customers that produce in the Caribbean area.

問你一個關於服裝生產回流的問題，這是一個對你有利的長期趨勢。您仍然認為這是積極的嗎？也許只是關於貴公司如何為在加勒比地區生產的服裝客戶融入 CAFTA 條約的最新信息。

Yes. The 2 major pieces of legislation that benefit us in our location, really CAFTA, as you mentioned, also what was NAFTA and now USMCA, all was very interesting for us before this destocking occurred. Our volumes in Central America were growing significantly. We have an operation in El Salvador, who was really benefiting from that.

是的。正如您提到的，對我們所在地有利的兩項主要立法，即 CAFTA，以及 NAFTA 和現在的 USMCA，在這次去庫存發生之前，所有這些對我們來說都非常有趣。我們在中美洲的銷量大幅增長。我們在薩爾瓦多有一個業務，薩爾瓦多確實從中受益。

It seems like the biggest -- the most forceful destocking part of the whole process of these retailers has impacted Central America more than other regions. But I think what we're still seeing from these brands or retailers that they're very interested in sporting -- sorting out of Central America, but we're getting an entry increased conversations around how can we get product made in Mexico, which also has that compliant yarn agreement and benefit to us. So bottom line, it's not gone away. Reshoring is still happening. You just can't see it because of this destocking phenomenon.

這似乎是這些零售商整個過程中最大、最有力的去庫存部分，對中美洲的影響比其他地區更大。但我認為我們仍然從這些品牌或零售商那裡看到，他們對中美洲的體育運動非常感興趣，但我們越來越多地討論如何才能獲得墨西哥製造的產品，這還有合規的紗線協議，對我們有利。所以最重要的是，它並沒有消失。回流仍在發生。只是因為這種去庫存現象，你看不到它。

Okay. Just one follow-up question on a question that was asked before about some of these new categories that you're moving into. Do you have to hire a different salesperson to sell into a home or auto market? I know you've had limited exposure there in the past. And are there upfront investments in marketing that you need to make to capitalize on some of these new opportunities?

好的。只是針對之前提出的關於您即將進入的一些新類別的問題的一個後續問題。您是否必須僱用不同的銷售人員才能向家庭或汽車市場銷售？我知道你過去在那裡的接觸有限。您是否需要在營銷方面進行前期投資才能利用其中一些新機會？

Yes. We've done, as A.J. mentioned, a super job on managing our SG&A over the last years. Our business -- our revenues declined. However, we are, to your point, investing both in Asia and here in the U.S. on hiring some new talent that can help us accelerate the growth into those markets.

是的。我們已經做到了，正如 A.J.提到過，過去幾年我們在管理 SG&A 方面做得非常出色。我們的業務——我們的收入下降了。然而，就您而言，我們正在亞洲和美國投資，聘請一些新人才，以幫助我們加速這些市場的增長。

And this ends our question-and-answer period and also concludes today's conference call. We thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

我們的問答環節到此結束，今天的電話會議也結束了。我們感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。