Unifi Inc (UFI) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and thank you for attending Unifi's fourth quarter fiscal 2024 earnings conference call. Today's conference is being recorded, and all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.

早安，感謝您參加 Unifi 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。今天的會議正在錄製中，所有線路均已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。演講者發言後，將進行問答環節。

Speakers for today's call include Al Carey, Executive Chairman; Eddie Ingle, Chief Executive Officer; A.J. Eaker, Chief Financial Officer. And 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 the slide deck for cautionary statements and non-GAAP measures.

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； A.J.埃克，財務長。在這次電話會議中，管理層將參考一個網路廣播演示文稿，該演示文稿可以在 unifi.com 的投資者關係部分找到。請熟悉投影片第 2 頁的警告聲明和非 GAAP 措施。

And now I will turn the call over to Al Carey. Al, the floor is yours.

現在我將把電話轉給阿爾·凱裡。艾爾，地板是你的。

Thank you, Kathleen. Good morning, everybody, and thank you very much for joining us on the call today. I'm going to start with a brief, but broad overview of our performance for Q4 seeing a couple of insights that come out for us. And then I'm going to turn it over immediately to Eddie and A.J., who will provide you with the real details of the quarter.

謝謝你，凱瑟琳。大家早安，非常感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。我將首先對我們第四季度的業績進行簡短但廣泛的概述，看看我們得出的一些見解。然後我將立即將其轉交給艾迪和 A.J.，他們將為您提供本季的真實詳細資訊。

So the first insight was this broader textile and apparel industry sales are coming back a lot slower than we expected, but they are improving. And while the inventory to sales ratios at the retail level and for these brands are now close to the norms and at pre-COVID levels. The customers are still very cautious about building back inventories and then watching their cash and they're keeping an eye on what I'd call a sluggish consumer trend. But retail sales for apparel and furnishings for the first half of the year were growing at about low single-digits. And if you factor in inflation, they're probably flat to slightly down versus a year ago.

因此，第一個見解是，更廣泛的紡織和服裝業銷售的恢復速度比我們預期的要慢得多，但正在改善。雖然零售層面和這些品牌的庫存與銷售比率現在接近正常水平，但處於新冠疫情前的水平。客戶對於增加庫存並關注現金仍然非常謹慎，他們正在關注我所說的消費低迷趨勢。但今年上半年服飾和家具的零售額成長幅度約為個位數。如果考慮到通貨膨脹因素，與一年前相比，它們可能持平或略有下降。

Our sales for the quarter -- for this fourth quarter are better than the previous quarters of 2024 and they're better than last year's Q4. Our EBITDA was $5.9 million and it's substantially better than the last three quarters and better performances attributed mostly to these quarter two and quarter three cost reductions that, that we told you about last time. So most of those cost reductions are now fully in place.

我們第四季的銷售額優於 2024 年前幾個季度，也比去年第四季好。我們的 EBITDA 為 590 萬美元，比過去三個季度好得多，更好的業績主要歸功於我們上次告訴您的第二季和第三季的成本削減。因此，大部分成本削減現已完全到位。

Now the second insight to the quarter was we are seeing improved market share in North America despite the sluggish sales come back. And we're very close to booking sales in the new categories that we've told you about before, which are the beyond apparel categories. And those categories include home, military, automotive and industrial applications. And these sales will start to offset the low performance of apparel. And also, they'll give us improved mix as the margins on these products are good bit better than the base apparel sales that we have.

現在，本季的第二個見解是，儘管銷售低迷，但我們看到北美市場佔有率有所提高。我們已經非常接近預訂我們之前告訴過您的新類別的銷售，這些新類別是超越服裝類別的。這些類別包括家庭、軍事、汽車和工業應用。這些銷售將開始抵銷服裝的低業績。而且，它們也將為我們帶來更好的產品組合，因為這些產品的利潤率比我們的基礎服裝銷售要好一些。

And the third insight is that we've been working on innovation all through this period, and we now have introduced to the marketplace just this week. Our textile takeback introduction, our new revolutionary insulation products and additional layering of our REPREVE platform. And these products have been under development for several quarters, and they're going to generate sales in calendar 2025. We won't see any of that in the next couple of months, but they will begin in 2025 and in 2026.

第三個見解是，我們在整個時期都在致力於創新，現在我們剛剛在本週將其推向市場。我們的紡織品回收介紹、我們新的革命性絕緣產品以及我們 REPREVE 平台的額外分層。這些產品已經開發了幾個季度，預計將在 2025 年實現銷售。在接下來的幾個月裡我們不會看到任何這些，但它們將在 2025 年和 2026 年開始。

And two of these products are very interesting, in particular, the ones that address the customer demand around circularity and also around reducing carbon footprint. So if I had to say how we feel about the first half of 2025. It will show improvement versus prior year, but it will be a gradual slower comeback than the second half should show a more dramatic comeback.

其中兩種產品非常有趣，特別是那些滿足客戶對循環和減少碳足跡的需求的產品。如果我必須說一下我們對 2025 年上半年的感受。與去年相比，它將有所改善，但與下半年應該出現的更戲劇性的復甦相比，復甦的速度將逐漸緩慢。

And I'd say we're feeling cautiously optimistic as we look out over the new fiscal year, and we really believe that soon enough, these customers that we have are going to have to start replenishing their inventories, and they're also going to have to start preparing for the spring selling season. And I believe those inventories right now are quite low, and they're below pre-COVID levels.

我想說，在展望新財年時，我們感到謹慎樂觀，我們真的相信，很快，我們擁有的這些客戶將不得不開始補充庫存，而且他們也會必須開始為春季銷售季節做準備。我相信現在的庫存相當低，而且低於新冠疫情前的水平。

So we're going to continue to manage costs very tightly during this period. We're going to preserve cash until all this opens back up. And I think when it's all over, we'll be a better company than we were before all of this.

因此，在此期間我們將繼續嚴格管理成本。我們將保留現金，直到所有這些都恢復正常。我認為當這一切結束後，我們將成為一家比這一切之前更好的公司。

So let me turn it over right now to Eddie Ingle, our CEO, and he'll take you through more the important details of the quarter. Eddie?

因此，現在讓我將其轉交給我們的執行長 Eddie Ingle，他將帶您了解本季的更多重要細節。艾迪？

Thanks, Al. And as Al just highlighted, we do believe that in most aspects of our business, Unifi has finally begun to turn a corner and the operating environment is beginning to get closer to returning to more normal levels.

謝謝，艾爾。正如 Al 剛才強調的那樣，我們確實相信，在我們業務的大多數方面，Unifi 終於開始出現轉機，營運環境開始接近恢復到更正常的水平。

And over the past year plus, we've been working hard to reposition our business so to be able to respond quickly to an uptick in customer demands and that the results of those efforts have already become apparent in our financials this quarter as we saw solid year-over-year revenue and volume growth and a significant improvement in our margins. We are also continuing to see strong momentum across our segments, and we recently announced some exciting new product innovations, which I will touch on in greater detail shortly.

在過去的一年多里，我們一直在努力重新定位我們的業務，以便能夠快速響應客戶需求的上升，這些努力的結果已經在本季度的財務中顯現出來，因為我們看到了堅實的基礎收入和銷量較去年同期成長，利潤率顯著提高。我們也繼續看到各個細分市場的強勁勢頭，我們最近宣布了一些令人興奮的新產品創新，我很快就會詳細介紹這些創新。

Turning now to Slide 4 for an overview of the quarter. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we reported $157.5 million in consolidated net sales, which was up 4% year-over-year and 6% sequentially compared to the third quarter. This improvement in net sales was largely driven by our Brazil segment, which has been performing very well recently.

現在轉向投影片 4，了解本季的概述。2024 財年第四季度，我們的合併淨銷售額為 1.575 億美元，年增 4%，季增 6%。淨銷售額的成長主要是由我們的巴西部門推動的，該部門最近表現非常出色。

In addition, our operations in China have also been continuing to build momentum and contributed to our strong performance during the quarter. We are continuing to see the benefits of our Americas cost reset efforts, which is evident by the significant improvement in our gross margin and subdued operating expenses. We expect to see these efforts continue through the next few quarters as well although it's worth noting that some of these savings will be slightly offset by inflation.

此外，我們在中國的業務也持續保持成長勢頭，為本季的強勁業績做出了貢獻。我們繼續看到美洲成本重置工作的好處，這從我們的毛利率的顯著改善和營運費用的抑制中可以看出。我們預計這些努力將在接下來的幾個季度繼續下去，但值得注意的是，其中一些節省將被通貨膨脹略微抵消。

With that said, we still believe we have driven sustainable efficiencies and cost discipline over the last year that our organization will continue to leverage into the future.

話雖如此，我們仍然相信，我們在過去一年中推動了可持續的效率和成本控制，我們的組織將繼續在未來發揮作用。

Our sales transformation has also been progressing well, and we have continued to see the benefits of our transformation efforts with gross profit during the quarter, experiencing a $6 million improvement on a sequential basis. This gives us confidence that our operating profit can continue to improve during fiscal 2025.

我們的銷售轉型也進展順利，本季毛利持續看到轉型工作帶來的好處，季增了 600 萬美元。這讓我們相信我們的營業利潤可以在 2025 財年繼續改善。

I'll now provide a brief update on each of our business segments. In the Americas segment, while we are continuing to take market share, we did experience a bit of a slowdown due to some competitive shuffling and some customers pushing out orders for a few months, but we remain well positioned to take advantage of further improvement in the region as our continued efforts on beyond apparel initiatives are helping to offset the weakness in apparel programs.

我現在將簡要介紹我們每個業務部門的最新情況。在美洲市場，雖然我們繼續佔據市場份額，但由於一些競爭洗牌和一些客戶推遲了幾個月的訂單，我們確實經歷了一些放緩，但我們仍然處於有利地位，可以利用進一步改善的機會我們在服裝以外計劃方面的持續努力正在幫助彌補服裝計劃的弱點。

Our Brazil segment, as mentioned earlier, was our strongest performing segment during the fourth quarter. The strong performance was driven by our ability to take price in the region operate at full utilization, and we have continued to benefit from the capture of additional market share following our main competitor to exit the region.

如前所述，我們的巴西業務是第四季表現最強勁的業務。強勁的業績得益於我們在該地區充分利用營運的定價能力，並且在我們的主要競爭對手退出該地區後，我們繼續受益於佔領額外的市場份額。

In our Asia segment, we are continuing to see signs of recovery, and we believe that we'll see stronger performance in the region during fiscal 2025 despite a seasonally slower first quarter.

在我們的亞洲部門，我們繼續看到復甦的跡象，我們相信，儘管第一季季節性放緩，但我們將在 2025 財年看到該地區的表現更加強勁。

Turning now to Slide 5 for an update on REPREVE. During the fourth quarter, REPREVE represented 34% of sales, a meaningful increase when compared to the previous quarter. This improvement in sales was largely driven by the positive recovery trends that have been seen in Central America as well as a moderate recovery in Asia.

現在前往投影片 5，以了解 REPREVE 的最新情況。第四季度，REPREVE 佔銷售額的 34%，與上一季相比有了顯著成長。銷售的改善主要是由中美洲的積極復甦趨勢以及亞洲的溫和復甦所推動的。

Looking ahead, we continue to believe that we will see additional improvements in our REPREVE Fiber business as we progress through fiscal 2025. This part of our business will be aided by the revenues we expect to see in calendar 2025 as we begin to see commercial activity mainly through our recent innovation efforts from some new REPREVE product launches.

展望未來，我們仍然相信，隨著 2025 財年的進展，我們的 REPREVE 纖維業務將進一步改善。我們預計在 2025 年看到的收入將有助於我們這部分業務的發展，因為我們開始看到商業活動主要透過我們最近推出的一些新 REPREVE 產品的創新努力來實現。

On the marketing front for REPREVE, we also achieved several exciting co-branding this quarter, notably with Dolce Vita footwear part of the Steve Madden Group incorporated REPREVE into its products, Kate Spade featured REPREVE in a pajama line for Costco Canada and Teva launched an iconic version of their original universal sandal in a [technical difficulty] version, which contained REPREVE powered by our own Textile Takeback program.

在REPREVE 的營銷方面，本季度我們還實現了幾個令人興奮的聯合品牌，特別是Steve Madden 集團旗下的Dolce Vita 鞋類將REPREVE 融入其產品中，Kate Spade 在加拿大Costco 的睡衣系列中採用了REPREVE，Teva 推出了他們原始通用涼鞋的標誌性版本，採用[技術難度]版本，其中包含由我們自己的紡織品回收計劃提供支援的 REPREVE。

Now, as many of you are aware, if you've listened to our calls over the last few quarters, our Textile Takeback program aims to increase circularity in the production of textiles by transforming fabric waste into our recycled resin that in turn is converted into a pre-fiber. Through this process, we are not only leading the transition for a more circular supply chain, but we are also helping our customers, such as the ones I mentioned earlier, meet their sustainability goals.

現在，正如你們許多人所知，如果您在過去幾個季度聽取了我們的呼籲，我們的紡織品回收計劃旨在通過將織物廢料轉化為我們的再生樹脂，進而將其轉化為紡織品，從而提高紡織品生產的循環性。透過這個過程，我們不僅引領了循環供應鏈的轉型，而且還幫助我們的客戶（例如我之前提到的客戶）實現他們的永續發展目標。

Now staying on the topic of Textile Takeback, I would like to spend some time reviewing some of the new innovative REPREVE products that we just announced earlier this week that are harnessing our Textile Takeback program and already have the ability to be offered at scale. First, on Slide 6, you'll see some highlights of our new white REPREVE filament yarn powered by our Textile Takeback process that we will be showcasing at the Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics convention next week.

現在繼續討論紡織品回收這個主題，我想花一些時間回顧一下我們本週早些時候剛剛宣布的一些新的創新REPREVE 產品，這些產品正在利用我們的紡織品回收計劃，並且已經具備大規模提供的能力。首先，在幻燈片 6 上，您將看到我們的新型白色 REPREVE 長絲紗線的一些亮點，該紗線由我們的紡織品回收工藝提供動力，我們將在下週的上海國際紡織面料展上展示。

The new form of REPREVE filament yarn is made of 50% Textile Takeback waste and 50% recycled bottles, which is the world's first 50% textile waste filament yarn with the tracer and U-TRUST verification. The new offering is white, dyeable and available at scale now.

新形態的REPREVE長絲由50%紡織回收廢料和50%回收瓶子製成，是世界上第一個透過示蹤劑和U-TRUST驗證的50%紡織廢料長絲。新品為白色、可染色，現已大規模供貨。

On Slide 7, for our second new product announcements, you can see that we've launched a totally new product offering, but still based on polyester fiber called ThermaLoop, which is an insulation solution that is designed for home goods, outdoor gear applications, things like sleeping bags and apparel such as winter jackets. What makes ThermaLoop so unique is that 50% of the fiber is used to make it are from textile waste, and we are launching this new product offering in black.

在幻燈片7 上，我們發布了第二個新產品，您可以看到我們推出了一款全新產品，但仍然基於名為ThermaLoop 的聚酯纖維，這是專為家居用品、戶外裝備應用而設計的絕緣解決方案，睡袋等物品和冬季夾克等服裝。ThermaLoop 的獨特之處在於，50% 的纖維來自紡織廢料，我們推出的這款新產品為黑色。

The ThermaLoop products were launched as 100% recycled content. What is even more exciting is that the ThermaLoop padding product is the first of its kind to have a REPREVE recycled polyester low-melt fiber, which allows our customers to provide a wider range of sustainable offerings. Both ThermaLoop and our new form of pre-filament yarn will be sampled by our customers throughout fiscal 2025.

ThermaLoop 產品以 100% 回收成分推出。更令人興奮的是，ThermaLoop 填充產品是同類產品中首款採用 REPREVE 再生聚酯低熔點纖維的產品，這使我們的客戶能夠提供更廣泛的永續產品。ThermaLoop 和我們的新型預長絲紗線都將在 2025 財年期間由我們的客戶提供樣品。

We believe we will begin to see some revenues and volume benefits from our new filament yarn in the second half of fiscal 2025. And we'll begin to see the growth benefits from the ThermaLoop throughout fiscal 2026 supporting additional growth moving forward.

我們相信，在 2025 財年下半年，我們將開始看到我們的新型長絲紗線帶來的一些收入和銷售收益。我們將開始看到 ThermaLoop 在整個 2026 財年帶來的成長效益，支持未來的進一步成長。

Before I wrap up, I would also like to note that our beyond apparel innovations are continuing to grow and with conversations progressing with a number of customers in key end markets. And we are hopeful that we'll be able to further discuss these in the near future.

在結束之前，我還想指出，我們的服裝之外的創新正在持續成長，並且與關鍵終端市場的許多客戶的對話正在取得進展。我們希望我們能夠在不久的將來進一步討論這些問題。

With that, I will now like to pass the call over to A.J. to discuss our financial results for the quarter.

現在，我想將電話轉給 A.J.討論我們本季的財務業績。

Thank you, Eddie. As both Al and Eddie noted, we've continued to make great strides towards improving our business, and we are well positioned to pivot to growth and stronger profitability as we move forward.

謝謝你，艾迪。正如艾爾和艾迪所指出的，我們在改善業務方面繼續取得長足進步，並且在我們前進的過程中，我們已做好轉向增長和更強盈利能力的準備。

Our focus has remained on keeping our variable expenses across both production and administrative functions low, and we've already begun to see a sustainable reduction in those expenses. As we've previously noted, we plan to reinvest these cost savings and increase profits in the key areas of our business that will drive innovation and margin expansion, such as the two new REPREVE fiber products that Eddie just discussed.

我們的重點仍然是保持生產和管理職能的可變費用較低，並且我們已經開始看到這些費用的可持續減少。正如我們之前指出的，我們計劃將這些成本節省進行再投資，並增加我們業務關鍵領域的利潤，這將推動創新和利潤擴張，例如埃迪剛剛討論的兩種新的 REPREVE 纖維產品。

Turning now to our financial results. On Slide 8, you'll see our consolidated financial highlights for the quarter. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $157.5 million, up 6% sequentially versus the third quarter or 4% year-over-year, driven by our beneficial pricing actions, continued market share gains and some demand normalization in conjunction with improvements from our profitability improvement plan continuing to materialize. This greater performance also led to our gross profit seeing an improvement of more than 100% sequentially, marking our third consecutive quarter of gross profit improvement.

現在轉向我們的財務表現。在投影片 8 上，您將看到我們本季的綜合財務亮點。本季綜合淨銷售額為1.575 億美元，比第三季環比增長6%，年增4%，這得益於我們有利的定價行動、持續的市場份額增長以及部分需求正常化以及盈利能力改善帶來的改善計劃繼續實現。這一更好的業績也導致我們的毛利環比增長超過 100%，標誌著我們的毛利連續第三個季度增長。

Turning to Slide 9. In the Americas segment, net sales were sequentially flat and down 4% year-over-year. which, as Eddie noted, was primarily driven by a slowdown in spending and customers pushing out a few orders. However, with that said, the Americas segment did experience a significant gross profit improvement which was driven by improved productivity in the region following holiday impacts in the third quarter of fiscal '24.

轉向幻燈片 9。在美洲市場，淨銷售額環比持平，年減 4%。正如艾迪所指出的那樣，這主要是由支出放緩和客戶推出一些訂單所推動的。然而，話雖如此，美洲業務確實經歷了顯著的毛利改善，這是由於 24 財年第三季假期影響後該地區生產力的提高所推動的。

Slide 10 displays our Brazil segment highlights, which experienced net sales growth of 9% during the quarter on a sequential basis and almost 19% year-over-year. Our Brazil segment has continued to benefit from our ability to take price in the region, operate at full utilization and the capture of additional market share.

投影片 10 顯示了我們巴西業務的亮點，本季淨銷售額較上季成長 9%，較去年同期成長近 19%。我們的巴西業務繼續受益於我們在該地區的定價能力、充分利用營運以及佔領額外市場份額的能力。

On Slide 11, the Asia segment saw net sales growth of 21% sequentially and over 17% year-over-year, driven by higher sales volumes in the period and improved market conditions. As Asia continues to recover, we remain well positioned in the region, and our portfolio expansion will help drive improved performance for the segment in the future.

在投影片 11 中，受期內銷售增加和市場狀況改善的推動，亞洲業務淨銷售額較上季成長 21%，年成長超過 17%。隨著亞洲的持續復甦，我們在該地區仍處於有利地位，我們的投資組合擴張將有助於推動該領域未來業績的改善。

Before passing the call back to Eddie for some closing commentary, I'll now briefly discuss our balance sheet on Slide 12. During the quarter, we continued to focus on working capital management and cost controls, allowing for a better free cash flow situation in the quarter and year-to-date periods and positioning us to remain focused on debt repayment.

在將電話轉回艾迪進行總結評論之前，我現在將在投影片 12 上簡要討論我們的資產負債表。本季度，我們繼續專注於營運資金管理和成本控制，從而在本季度和年初至今實現更好的自由現金流狀況，並使我們能夠繼續專注於債務償還。

CapEx spend continues to be focused on maintenance levels and remain significantly lower than the prior two fiscal years with fiscal 2024 coming in at $11 million, a multiyear low attributed to the diligence of our various teams and operations. With our improved financial performance and our focus on managing our balance sheet, we remain confident that our business is well positioned for realizing profitable growth opportunities in fiscal '25 and beyond.

資本支出繼續專注於維護水平，並仍顯著低於前兩個財年，2024 財年為 1,100 萬美元，這是多年來的最低水平，這歸因於我們各個團隊和營運的努力。隨著我們財務表現的改善以及對資產負債表管理的關注，我們仍然相信我們的業務處於有利位置，可以在 25 財年及以後實現盈利成長機會。

I'll now pass the call back to Eddie to take us through the last few slides 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幾張幻燈片，並做出一些最後的評論。

Thank you, A.J. Let's now turn to Slide 13 to discuss our forecast for the first quarter of fiscal 2025. As we look forward, we're having more positive conversations with our customers about their needs and destocking is clearly behind us and most of the industry, which will help as we anniversary some of the impacts of this unusual period. And looking specifically at the first quarter, we expect to see our positive momentum push forward as we begin our new fiscal year.

謝謝你，A.J.現在讓我們轉向投影片 13，討論我們對 2025 財年第一季的預測。展望未來，我們將與客戶就他們的需求進行更積極的對話，而我們和大多數行業的去庫存顯然已經過去，這將有助於我們紀念這段不尋常時期的一些影響。具體來看第一季度，我們預計在新財年開始時我們將看到積極的勢頭向前推進。

More specifically for the quarter, the first quarter, which, as a reminder, is historically one of our slower quarters from a sales perspective due to seasonality, we are expecting the following, net sales between $147 million and $153 million, which at the midpoint would be roughly a 10% top line growth year-over-year.

更具體地說，就本季度而言，第一季度，提醒一下，由於季節性因素，從銷售角度來看，第一季歷來是我們銷售速度較慢的季度之一，我們預計淨銷售額將在1.47 億美元至1.53 億美元之間，即中點營收年增約 10%。

We expect adjusted EBITDA to range between $1 million and $3 million, a significant improvement over last year's EBITDA loss. And we also expect to continue to keep a disciplined eye on capital expenditures and believe CapEx for the quarter will come in between $3 million and $4 million.

我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 範圍在 100 萬美元至 300 萬美元之間，比去年的 EBITDA 損失有顯著改善。我們也預計將繼續嚴格關注資本支出，並相信本季的資本支出將在 300 萬美元至 400 萬美元之間。

Then in terms of our fiscal '25 outlook, I'd like to provide a little more context on Slide 14. Our underlying momentum is rebuilding. So in fiscal 2025, we believe we'll see a return to more normal conditions, which will support top line growth in excess of 10% year-over-year. Further, we believe the proactive decisions we have made to control our costs and streamline our business will continue to show up in stronger profitability results next year.

然後，就我們的 25 財年展望而言，我想在幻燈片 14 上提供更多背景資訊。我們的潛在動力正在重建。因此，在 2025 財年，我們相信我們將看到經濟恢復到更正常的狀態，這將支持收入同比增長超過 10%。此外，我們相信，我們為控製成本和精簡業務所做的積極決策將繼續在明年帶來更強勁的獲利業績。

We expect EBITDA to be positive in every quarter of the fiscal year and see a path to a significant increase in gross profit, gross margin and adjusted EBITDA. Lastly, we've budgeted to keep capital expenditures contained, and we are projecting that we'll see capital expenditures range from $10 million to $12 million for fiscal 2025.

我們預計本財年每季的 EBITDA 均為正數，並看到毛利、毛利率和調整後 EBITDA 顯著成長的道路。最後，我們制定了預算以控制資本支出，預計 2025 財年的資本支出將在 1,000 萬美元到 1,200 萬美元之間。

Moving on to Slide 15. You can see that some of the key strategic initiative items we're focused on to maintain our momentum and expand our business. While we're excited about our opportunities in fiscal 2025, I want to be clear that we're focused on pivoting to growth for the foreseeable future. Despite the challenging conditions over the last 1.5 years, we've never stopped investing in our business.

繼續看投影片 15。您可以看到我們重點關注的一些關鍵策略計劃項目，以保持我們的勢頭並擴大我們的業務。雖然我們對 2025 財年的機會感到興奮，但我想明確表示，我們的重點是在可預見的未來轉向成長。儘管過去 1.5 年充滿挑戰，但我們從未停止對業務的投資。

We put new leaders in key areas to invigorate and position the business for sustainable profitable growth. We also invested heavily in innovation as we talked about today, as this is the engine that helps us grow our business globally. It is our belief that we have only scratched the surface of our potential as demand for sustainable solutions continues to be desired by our customers' customers.

我們在關鍵領域任命了新的領導者，以振興和定位業務，以實現可持續的獲利成長。正如我們今天所討論的，我們也大力投資創新，因為這是幫助我們在全球範圍內發展業務的引擎。我們相信，隨著客戶的客戶對永續解決方案的需求不斷增加，我們的潛力僅僅觸及了表面。

Our REPREVE offerings continue to gain traction in terms of name recognition and assortment and our beyond apparel initiatives will help us further diversify our product portfolio by offering new avenues for innovation and growth.

我們的 REPREVE 產品在知名度和品種方面繼續獲得關注，而我們的超越服裝計劃將透過提供新的​​創新和成長途徑，幫助我們進一步豐富我們的產品組合。

Finally, we have just started to leverage our Textile Takeback process at scale with ThermaLoop and our new REPREVE filament yarn powered by Textile Takeback. And we have a pipeline of future Textile Takeback innovation opportunities that we will share with you over the next several quarters and years.

最後，我們剛開始透過 ThermaLoop 和由紡織品回收提供支援的新型 REPREVE 長絲來大規模利用我們的紡織品回收流程。我們擁有一系列未來紡織品回收創新機會，我們將在接下來的幾季和幾年內與您分享。

And before I end our remarks, I want to note, collectively, we've been through a lot over the last few years. And this team -- the global team has risen to the challenge to not only help streamline our business, but also set it up for long-term success. And I want to personally thank the whole team again for all of their hard work.

在結束發言之前，我想指出，過去幾年我們共同經歷了許多事情。這個團隊——全球團隊已經迎接挑戰，不僅幫助簡化我們的業務，而且為我們的長期成功奠定了基礎。我個人想再次感謝整個團隊的辛勤工作。

With that, we would now like to open the line for questions. Thank you. Operator?

至此，我們現在要開通提問專線。謝謝。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Anthony Lebiedzinski.

安東尼·萊別津斯基。

Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking the questions. So certainly nice to see the improvement in sales and profitability during the quarter. As you pointed out, Brazil showed the most improvement from a top and bottom line perspective. Just wondering what is your confidence level as far as being able to sustain that type of improvement going forward?

您好，早安，感謝您提出問題。因此，很高興看到本季銷售額和獲利能力的改善。正如您所指出的，從收入和利潤的角度來看，巴西的進步最大。只是想知道您對未來能夠維持這種改進的信心程度是多少？

Specifically in Brazil, we actually feel very confident in the demand signals we're getting. We expect to run full throughout the fiscal year. There will be some margin pressure as the raw materials inputs normalize and our margin is going to catch up with the new higher input costs. But for the most part, we do expect to remain strong and have much better [technical difficulty] performance in Brazil this year versus last year.

特別是在巴西，我們實際上對收到的需求訊號非常有信心。我們預計整個財年都能滿載運作。隨著原料投入正常化，我們的利潤率將趕上新的更高的投入成本，將會出現一些利潤壓力。但在大多數情況下，我們確實預計今年在巴西將保持強勁，並且[技術難度]表現比去年好得多。

That's great to hear. And just a follow-up as far as the raw material costs. Are you seeing that in all regions? Or is this specifically to Brazil that you referenced to?

很高興聽到這個消息。至於原料成本，這只是後續行動。您在所有地區都看到這種情況嗎？或者您所提到的巴西是專門針對巴西的？

It's specifically in Brazil due to the supply chain that we have. Most of the inputs come from Asia and the freight cost international container costs have risen significantly, which has given us a pricing opportunity.

由於我們擁有供應鏈，所以特別是在巴西。大部分投入來自亞洲，國際貨櫃運費大幅上漲，這給了我們定價的機會。

Understood. Okay. And then as far as -- in other regions, what are you seeing from a cost perspective of raw materials?

明白了。好的。那麼，就其他地區而言，從原材料成本的角度來看，您有何看法？

Raw materials have been predominantly for the most part, flat.

原料大部分都是扁平的。

Got you. That's good to hear. Okay. And then -- so in your conversations with your top customers in the Americas, obviously, your largest region, what are you hearing from them as far as when we could see improved results?

明白你了。很高興聽到這個消息。好的。然後，在您與美洲（顯然是您最大的地區）的頂級客戶的對話中，您從他們那裡聽到了什麼，我們何時可以看到改善的結果？

When you look across our top customers in all regions actually, not just the apparel segment, they are telegraphing to us that our fiscal Q1, the July through September period is going to be a little slower than they had expected, but they are, I think, almost all of them are expecting an uptick in October.

實際上，當您查看我們所有地區（而不僅僅是服裝領域）的頂級客戶時，他們向我們發出電報，我們的第一個財季（7 月至9 月）將比他們預期的要慢一些，但他們是，我我想，幾乎所有人都預期十月會出現上漲。

We have seen a significant improvement already in Central America, our business down there and maybe they're a leading indicator, but we do expect to see that business improve actually as to move the next -- through the next few months. In the US, specifically, there are some markets that we sell into that traditionally, they are slower in the summer. And as we move into the late September, early October period, things will get back to a more normalized higher run rate. But they're -- generally speaking, positive, it's very different from what it was this time last year.

我們已經在中美洲看到了顯著的改善，我們在那裡的業務可能是一個領先指標，但我們確實希望看到業務實際上有所改善，以便在接下來的幾個月裡繼續前進。特別是在美國，我們傳統上銷售的一些市場在夏季銷售速度較慢。當我們進入 9 月末、10 月初期間，情況將恢復到更正常化的較高運行率。但總的來說，他們是積極的，這與去年這個時候有很大不同。

Got you. Okay. So it sounds just like normal seasonality as far as what's impacting that, okay? Okay. And then in terms of the new product offerings that you announced earlier this week with the white dyeable filament yarn and ThermaLoop, just wondering how meaningful could these new products be? I know you talked about really calendar '25 as far as seeing a benefit, but just wondering if you could -- if there's any way you could put a number or just give more details as to what's the opportunity for those new products?

明白你了。好的。所以就影響因素而言，這聽起來就像是正常的季節性，好嗎？好的。然後，就您本週早些時候宣布的白色可染長絲和 ThermaLoop 的新產品而言，只是想知道這些新產品有何意義？我知道您談到了真正的日曆 '25 就看到了好處，但只是想知道您是否可以 - 是否有任何方法可以提供一個數字或只是提供更多細節來說明這些新產品的機會是什麼？

Well, I personally, I'm incredibly excited about what we've been able to bring to the markets. We've been asked for several years now, how do we make the supply chain more circular. And on top of that, there is pending legislation in the EU that will require inputs to recycled inputs content to be not just from bottles, but also from textile.

就我個人而言，我對我們能夠為市場帶來的東西感到非常興奮。多年來我們一直被問到如何讓供應鏈更加循環。最重要的是，歐盟正在立法，要求回收投入品的成分不僅來自瓶子，還來自紡織品。

So we believe we've hit the right note with a 50% content of Textile Takeback, but 100% recycled. We believe based on the messaging we've been getting from the brands that we are right on the sweet spots for them to be able to communicate. I've actually spent time personally talking to brands in Europe and in the US. And from -- based on their reaction and the reaction is different depending on the brand, but based on the some reactions of all these brands and retailers, we think we've hit on a nice balance of circularity and sustainability. Because some customers are based on our focus on carbon reduction.

因此，我們相信，50% 的紡織品回收成分和 100% 的回收材料是正確的。我們相信，根據我們從品牌那裡得到的訊息，我們正處於與他們溝通的最佳位置。事實上，我曾花時間與歐洲和美國的品牌進行過親自交談。根據他們的反應，不同品牌的反應也不同，但根據所有這些品牌和零售商的一些反應，我們認為我們已經在循環性和可持續性之間取得了良好的平衡。因為有些客戶是基於我們對減碳的關注。

Some customers are based on fossil fuel consumption depletion, and this provides the answers to both. And I think what's really exciting, Anthony, is the fact that one of these products is a new product line for us, insulation and it allows us to call directly on the brands and we can get spec-ed in as a solution for providing a recycled content product.

一些客戶基於化石燃料消耗的枯竭，這為這兩個問題提供了答案。安東尼，我認為真正令人興奮的是，其中一個產品對我們來說是一個新產品線，即絕緣材料，它允許我們直接致電品牌，我們可以將其指定為提供解決方案的解決方案。產品。

Got you. Yeah. That sounds very good. So as far as -- I know it's hard to say for sure, probably as far as the timing of this pending legislation. But I mean, as far as what you know, what's the earliest that you think that you could actually see that going through because I think that, that could be meaningful to you guys?

明白你了。是的。聽起來不錯。因此，我知道很難確定，可能就這項懸而未決的立法的時間而言。但我的意思是，據你所知，你認為你最早可以真正看到這種情況發生，因為我認為這對你們來說可能是有意義的？

I think in the second half of this fiscal year, the January through July period, we'll start to see -- we'll be sampling now, but we'll start to see meaningful production orders and really at the beginning of our fiscal 2026, 12 months from now, 10 months from now, it will be in our budget, and it will be visible from a revenue perspective and margin perspective. But we are planning for the next six months to fulfill the sampling needs of all the customers, so they can figure out how and when to put it into their programs.

我認為在本財年的下半年，即一月到七月期間，我們將開始看到——我們現在將進行抽樣，但我們將開始看到有意義的生產訂單，而且實際上是在我們的財年開始時2026年，從現在起12個月，從現在起10個月後，它將在我們的預算中，並且從收入角度和利潤角度來看都是可見的。但我們計劃在接下來的六個月內滿足所有客戶的採樣需求，以便他們能夠弄清楚如何以及何時將其納入他們的計劃中。

Got you. Good. Okay. And then as far as the beyond apparel initiative, I know that's something you guys have talked about certainly in the past. As far as thinking about this going forward here, are you actually gaining some new customers? Are you actually seeing more purchase orders to come in? And maybe if you could just provide a little bit more detail on the apparel initiative. That would be helpful.

明白你了。好的。好的。至於超越服裝的倡議，我知道你們過去肯定談論過這一點。就目前而言，您是否真的獲得了一些新客戶？您是否真的看到更多採購訂單進來？也許您可以提供有關服裝計劃的更多細節。那會有幫助的。

Yeah. It's -- we have talked about beyond apparel a lot in our calls really the last 12 to 18 months. We are seeing traction. We are seeing commercial orders. And I believe by the -- in the next call, we'll be able to outline some of the revenue impacts that we're going to see from these initiatives. Right now, I can't give specific details, but I'm very confident that by -- in the October call, we'll be able to outline the progress we've made and what that means to our business, but we are well on our way to making it part of our business. Thanks.

是的。在過去的 12 到 18 個月裡，我們在電話會議中多次討論了服裝以外的話題。我們看到了牽引力。我們看到了商業訂單。我相信，在下一次電話會議中，我們將能夠概述這些舉措對收入的一些影響。目前，我無法提供具體細節，但我非常有信心，在 10 月的電話會議上，我們將能夠概述我們所取得的進展以及這對我們的業務意味著什麼，但我們正在我們正在努力使其成為我們業務的一部分。謝謝。

This is Al. I just wanted to add something to the Eddie's comments. I'd say that in fiscal 2026, we'll see an impact and probably a little bit in the end of this fiscal year. But the thing that's exciting is the products that Eddie is talking about, the new ones with Textile Takeback and the insulation, they have stronger -- significantly stronger margins than our base business.

這是艾爾。我只是想在艾迪的評論中添加一些內容。我想說，在 2026 財年，我們將看到影響，並且可能會在本財年末看到一點影響。但令人興奮的是艾迪正在談論的產品，帶有紡織品回收和絕緣材料的新產品，它們的利潤率比我們的基礎業務更強——明顯更高。

And then if you go to the beyond apparel, I know we've been talking about it for a long time, but one of the new pieces of information is to get qualified for some of these customers, boy, it takes a long time for qualifying the quality of your product, the timing and to get contracts signed. But those are happening.

然後，如果您談到超越服裝，我知道我們已經討論了很長時間，但新的信息之一是獲得其中一些客戶的資格，男孩，這需要很長時間才能獲得確定您的產品質量、時間並簽署合約。但這些正在發生。

And that's another one that has significantly better gross profit margins than the base business that we're into today. So I think going forward, we'll be less dependent. We're still going to sell a -- want to be in the apparel business, but will be less dependent on it. And this new Textile Takeback is a real boost in the environmental sustainability story. So I wish these were going to show up this quarter. They won't, but they will be probably the end of the fiscal year.

這是另一項毛利率明顯高於我們今天從事的基礎業務的業務。所以我認為，展望未來，我們的依賴性將會減少。我們仍然會出售——希望進入服裝業務，但會減少對它的依賴。這種新的紡織品回收真正推動了環境永續發展。所以我希望這些能夠在本季出現。他們不會，但可能會在本財年結束時。

Okay. That's great to hear, and I appreciate the comprehensive answer. So I guess my last question, just a follow-up, as far as the margin differential, any way you guys could quantify or give some more additional color as far as what the margin difference you think will be for the new products versus the legacy products?

好的。很高興聽到這個消息，我很欣賞全面的答案。所以我想我的最後一個問題只是一個後續問題，就利潤率差異而言，你們可以透過任何方式量化或提供更多額外的顏色，以了解您認為新產品與傳統產品的利潤率差異是多少產品？

Sure, Anthony, it's A.J. Thanks for the questions, and thanks for joining this morning. In general, we're seeing that as, in general, double what we see from our base business. Certainly, the base business is constrained, especially in the Americas right now with fixed cost absorption and not getting the full volumes in that we've been chasing for several months now.

當然，安東尼，我是 A.J.感謝您提出問題，也感謝您今天早上的加入。總的來說，我們認為這是我們基本業務的兩倍。當然，基礎業務受到限制，特別是在美洲，目前的成本吸收是固定的，並且沒有達到我們幾個月來一直在追求的全部銷售量。

So those margins are naturally suppressed. But you've seen those in the past in the low double digits, somewhere between 8%, 12%, 15% that we've been able to perform in the better years. So with these new products as they have some innovation underlying those and we're able to really key in on what customers need with the new products, we're able to see double the margin there in many cases.

因此，這些利潤自然會受到抑制。但過去你已經看到了那些低兩位數的數字，大約在 8%、12%、15% 之間，我們在更好的年份能夠表現出來。因此，對於這些新產品，由於它們具有一些創新基礎，並且我們能夠真正專注於客戶對新產品的需求，因此在許多情況下我們能夠看到雙倍的利潤。

All right. Well, that's great to hear and I look forward to seeing the progress that you guys will be making this year. So, thank you very much, and best of luck.

好的。嗯，很高興聽到這個消息，我期待看到你們今年的進步。所以，非常感謝你，祝你好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Excellent. Thank you, Anthony.

出色的。謝謝你，安東尼。

(Operator Instructions) And that concludes our Q&A session and today's call. Thank you, everyone, for joining. You may now disconnect.

（操作員說明）我們的問答環節和今天的電話會議到此結束。謝謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。