聯合利華 (UL) 2017 Q4 法說會逐字稿

We are about to hand over to Unilever to begin the conference call. (Operator Instructions) We will now hand over to Richard Williams.

我們即將把電話會議交給聯合利華。（操作說明）現在我們將把控制權交給理查威廉斯。

Good morning, and welcome to Unilever's Full Year Results Presentation, which will be given in the usual way by Paul and Graeme.

早安，歡迎參加聯合利華全年業績發布會，本次發布會將由保羅和格雷姆以慣常的方式進行。

Paul will give the headlines of the performance for the year and talk about how Connected 4 Growth is building more agility, speed and resilience into our business. Graeme will cover the results in a bit more detail, and Paul will wrap up with the priorities and outlook for 2018. We'll leave plenty of time for Q&A.

Paul 將介紹公司今年的業績亮點，並探討 Connected 4 Growth 如何為我們的業務建立更大的敏捷性、速度和韌性。Graeme 將更詳細地介紹結果，Paul 將總結 2018 年的優先事項和展望。我們會預留充足的時間進行問答環節。

First, I draw your attention to the disclaimer relating to forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures.

首先，請您注意有關前瞻性陳述和非GAAP指標的免責聲明。

With that, I'll hand over to Paul.

接下來，我將把麥克風交給保羅。

Thank you, Richard, and obviously, welcome to your first official -- the announcements that we have here. And happy February, everybody.

謝謝你，理查德，顯然，歡迎來到你的第一個正式場合——我們這裡要宣布的事項。祝大家二月快樂！

So let me start with some reflections on 2017. Without any doubt, that was a year that has given us a -- given us all, I believe, a taste of the rapid changes that are happening in the society, and that, in my opinion, are only going to speed up.

那麼，讓我先回顧一下2017年。毫無疑問，這一年讓我們——我相信，讓我們所有人都體會到了社會正在發生的快速變化，而在我看來，這種變化只會加速發展。

It was another year of major transformation for Unilever, which already started in 2010. We've seen now the effects of the acceleration of the Connected 4 Growth program that we first announced to you at the end of 2016. Connected 4 Growth, in fact, is the most significant set of changes that we have implemented, at least in my opinion, over the last 10 years. The program, as I mentioned, started end 2016 and addresses the tectonic shifts which are happening in our business landscape: the changing consumer preferences, the changes in customer channels, the new media to communicate through with our brands.

對聯合利華來說，這又是充滿重大變革的一年，而這場變革早在 2010 年就已經開始了。我們現在已經看到了我們在 2016 年底首次向大家宣布的「互聯互通促進成長」計畫加速實施的效果。事實上，「互聯互通促進成長」是我們在過去 10 年中實施的最重要的一系列變革，至少在我看來是如此。正如我之前提到的，該計劃於 2016 年底啟動，旨在應對我們商業環境中正在發生的巨大變化：消費者偏好的變化、客戶管道的變化以及與品牌溝通的新媒體。

Now Connected 4 Growth brings, on the one hand, more resilience to continue to perform competitively despite the challenges, and you've seen us do that again once more in 2017, and it will also bring us more agility to seize the opportunities to be faster and more successful. And again, ample opportunity to show you examples during this call.

一方面，Connected 4 Growth 為我們帶來了更強的韌性，使我們能夠在挑戰中繼續保持競爭力，而你們也已經看到我們在 2017 年再次做到了這一點；另一方面，它還將為我們帶來更大的靈活性，使我們能夠抓住機遇，更快、更成功。再次強調，本次通話期間我有充足的機會向您展示一些例子。

The changes we've been implementing are fundamental in a number of ways. Firstly, a more nimble organization, including the introduction of the new Country Category Business Teams. This is raising our innovation capabilities to unprecedented levels to meet consumer trends with speed, scale, both locally and globally. This builds on the investments we've made in the last few years in new capabilities in digital, such as our data center for -- what we call our people data center, the U studios or our programmatic trading desk, which is called Ultra.

我們正在實施的變革在許多方面都是根本性的。首先，組織結​​構更加靈活，包括引進新的國家類別業務團隊。這將使我們的創新能力提升到前所未有的水平，從而能夠快速、大規模地滿足本地和全球的消費趨勢。這建立在我們過去幾年對數位新能力的投資之上，例如我們的資料中心（我們稱之為「人員資料中心」）、U 工作室或我們的程式化交易平台（稱為 Ultra）。

Now secondly, the accelerated evolution of our portfolio and channels, both organically and through M&A, is also unprecedented. This positions us even better for the faster-growing segments of the future that are obviously key to stay connected with our consumers.

其次，我們產品組合和通路的加速發展，無論是透過自身發展或併購，也是前所未有的。這讓我們在未來成長更快的細分市場中佔據了更有利的地位，而這些細分市場顯然是與消費者保持聯繫的關鍵。

Last year, we announced and completed 11 acquisitions. We also did 5 new brand introductions, and we did the landmark disposal of our spreads business following the carve-out over the last few years.

去年，我們宣布並完成了 11 項收購。我們還推出了 5 個新品牌，並且在過去幾年分拆後，我們完成了具有里程碑意義的塗抹醬業務出售。

And last but not least, we've also seen the global rollout of our 5-S program that started in Home Care and is now in all of our businesses. We rolled it out throughout our supply chain as well as the continued implementation of the Zero Based Budgeting that we do across all cost buckets.

最後但同樣重要的是，我們還看到了 5S 計劃在全球範圍內的推廣，該計劃最初在家庭護理領域啟動，現在已推廣到我們所有的業務中。我們已將其推廣到整個供應鏈，並繼續在所有成本類別中實施零基預算。

These are all accelerating the rate at which we are taking out costs from our business, certainly, the costs that we believe do not add value. And together with the investments we've made over the last few years, they are certainly helping us to provide the fuel for both quality growth as well as margin expansion.

這些都在加速我們削減業務成本的速度，當然，我們削減的都是我們認為不增加價值的成本。加上我們過去幾年進行的投資，這些舉措無疑為我們提供了實現高品質成長和利潤率擴張的動力。

Now when making such fundamental changes, the challenge is always to keep the car going at full speed, whilst you're also tuning the engine, if you allow me to use this well-used analogy. So I think it is a testament to the agility of our people that we have done all of this while still delivering very good all-around performance in 2017. In fact, underlying sales grew by 3.5% in the year, excluding spreads. Volume growth was 1%. Although it was on the lower side than what we would have liked to, we are now planning to raise this in 2018.

現在，在進行如此根本性的改變時，挑戰始終在於，在調整引擎的同時，還要保持汽車全速行駛，如果我允許我使用這個常用的比喻的話。所以我認為這證明了我們員工的敏捷性，我們能夠在 2017 年取得如此全面的優異成績的同時，也能完成所有這些工作。事實上，不計價差，本年度基礎銷售額成長了 3.5%。銷量成長1%。雖然這個數字比我們預期的要低，但我們現在計劃在 2018 年提高這個數字。

There was an encouraging pickup in volume in the fourth quarter, reflecting the benefits of Connected 4 Growth. Our innovations are going faster to market, and we have steadily increased the level of reinvestment of savings behind our brands. This was, however, amplified by a softer comparator and the start of improving conditions in some emerging markets.

第四季銷售出現令人鼓舞的成長，反映了「互聯互通促進成長」計畫的益處。我們的創新產品正以更快的速度推向市場，並且我們穩步提高了對旗下品牌節省下來的資金的再投資水準。然而，由於基數較低以及一些新興市場狀況開始改善，這種情況被放大了。

Underlying operating margin increasingly showed -- increasingly also showed a step-up, in this case 110 basis points to land at 17.5%. We realized more than EUR 2 billion of savings from the 5-S and the ZBB program, and reinvesting actually a little over 2/3 of this back into the business.

基本營業利潤率逐漸顯示——也逐漸顯示出成長，在這種情況下成長了 110 個基點，達到 17.5%。我們透過 5S 和零基預算計畫節省了超過 20 億歐元，並將其中略多於三分之二的資金重新投資到業務中。

The quality of the margin improvement was good, with high gross margin contribution of 40 basis points. We think that this level is both competitive in this environment and, indeed, sustainable in the long term.

利潤率提升的品質很好，毛利率貢獻率高達 40 個基點。我們認為，在當前環境下，這一水平既具有競爭力，而且從長遠來看也是可持續的。

We also maintained the absolute level of brand and marketing spend in local currencies, with media up and production cost down. This led to another year where our share of spend and share of market was comfortably above 100. This step-up in margin shows that we are reaping the benefits of investments made over the past few years and has certainly not come, in our opinion, at the expense of growth. We are well on track towards our objective of a 20% margin by 2020.

我們也維持了以當地貨幣計算的品牌和行銷支出絕對水平，同時增加了媒體投入，降低了製作成本。這使得我們的支出份額和市場份額再次輕鬆超過 100%。利潤率的提升表明，我們正在收穫過去幾年投資的成果，而且我們認為，這絕對沒有以犧牲成長為代價。我們正朝著2020年實現20%利潤率的目標穩步前進。

Underlying operating earnings per share also grew by 11%. And we delivered another step-up in cash generation, with free cash flow up by EUR 600 million to a record EUR 5.4 billion, even after counting in the additional EUR 600 million that we put in our pension fund, which is now more or less balanced. So I think you'll agree that this is a good all-around performance in 2017, and Graeme will cover this as usual in more detail.

每股基本營運收益也成長了11%。我們進一步提高了現金流，自由現金流增加了 6 億歐元，達到創紀錄的 54 億歐元，即使算上我們向退休基金額外投入的 6 億歐元，退休基金現在基本上也實現了平衡。所以我想你會同意這是 2017 年整體表現不錯的成績，格雷姆將像往常一樣對此進行更詳細的介紹。

Let's have a look at the backdrop of how market conditions are developing.

讓我們來看看市場狀況的發展背景。

In 2017, global market growth in our categories remained stubbornly weak. Consumer demand measured in volume grew by less than 1%, even allowing for growth in new channels, which are not picked up in most of the market data. Now the overall indicators are that the global economy is now picking up. Global GDP grew at 2.9% in 2017 and is forecast to pick up to about 3.2% in 2018.

2017年，我們所在品類的全球市場成長依然疲軟。即使考慮到大多數市場數據沒有反映的新管道的成長，以數量衡量的消費者需求成長也不到 1%。目前整體指標顯示，全球經濟正在復甦。2017年全球GDP成長2.9%，預計2018年將升至約3.2%。

Now particularly relevant to us is the improvement in a number of emerging markets. For example, Brazil show signs of finally coming out of a recession. And there are brighter prospects for India. It is normal for there to be a lag between improving economies and the growth in our categories. But it is encouraging to see an overall improvement in consumer sentiment in emerging markets that we already have alluded to in our previous calls. At the same time, there remains a high level of uncertainty in many countries.

現在，一些新興市場的改善對我們來說尤其重要。例如，巴西已顯現出擺脫經濟衰退的跡象。印度的未來前景更加光明。經濟好轉與我們業務類別的成長之間存在滯後是正常的。但令人鼓舞的是，我們看到新興市場消費者信心整體有所改善，這一點我們在先前的電話會議中已經提到過。同時，許多國家仍然存在高度不確定性。

While overall market volumes are soft, there are plenty of opportunities for new sources of growth. Now one of the biggest opportunities, obviously, is leveraging digital, giving a new way of consumers to interact with our brands in real time.

儘管整體市場交易量疲軟，但仍有許多新的成長機會。顯然，現在最大的機會之一就是利用數位化，為消費者提供一種與我們的品牌即時互動的新方式。

Our global local footprint means we can leverage technologies at scale, whilst pairing these with local insights in a connected and agile way, and that's driving many of our brands. We increasingly see the consumers, particularly millennials, are looking for brands that serve a positive social purpose beyond pure product functionality. And the trends for more natural, organic, free-from, authentic products is only accelerating.

我們遍布全球的在地化佈局意味著我們可以大規模地利用技術，同時以互聯和敏捷的方式將這些技術與本地洞察相結合，而這正是我們眾多品牌發展的驅動力。我們越來越發現，消費者，尤其是千禧世代，正在尋找那些除了產品功能之外，還能服務於積極社會目標的品牌。消費者對更天然、有機、無添加、原汁原味產品的追求趨勢正在加速發展。

The emergence of new distribution channels offers the potential for our brands to reach more directly and deeply than ever before. You've heard us talk a lot about the investments we've made across these channels, and I'll come back to this later.

新通路的出現，使我們的品牌有機會比以往任何時候都更直接、更深入地觸及受眾。你們已經多次聽到我們談論我們在這些管道進行的投資，我稍後會再談到這一點。

And yes, there remains plenty of white space with new consumers and new segments in emerging markets, particularly as economics improve and new markets open up. So it's certainly not a no-growth environment.

是的，新興市場仍有大量的空白市場，有新的消費者和新的細分市場，尤其是在經濟改善和新市場開放的情況下。所以這絕對不是一個沒有成長的環境。

The fundamentals of our business model and the changes we are making through our Connected 4 Growth programs are helping us to adapt to and seize these enormous opportunities.

我們的商業模式的基本原理以及我們透過「互聯互通促進成長」計畫所做的改變，正在幫助我們適應並抓住這些巨大的機會。

We've changed the way we innovate quite significantly. And we're pleased to see that our innovation pipeline is getting stronger, and I would actually argue the strongest it has ever been. Our local teams are now empowered to deliver local innovations, allowing our global divisions and R&D teams to fully focus on the bigger strategic global launches, leading to larger projects with more benefits -- like Magnum pints, which delivered over EUR 40 million of turnover in Europe and is now also launched in the U.S.; or the relaunch of Lifebuoy where we have improved the product with new antimicrobial technologies using silver. Knorr Natural, Persil Power Gels, Hellmann's Organic are other examples.

我們的創新方式發生了相當大的改變。我們很高興地看到，我們的創新管道越來越強大，我甚至認為它現在是有史以來最強大的。現在，我們的本地團隊有權進行本地創新，使我們的全球部門和研發團隊能夠全力專注於更大的戰略性全球發布，從而帶來更大的項目和更多的收益——例如 Magnum 品脫裝冰淇淋，它在歐洲創造了超過 4000 萬歐元的營業額，現在也在美國上市；或者 Lifebuoy 的重新上市，我們利用了銀產品等新型抗菌技術改進了銀。Knorr Natural、Persil Power Gels、Hellmann's Organic 等也是類似的例子。

At the same time, we're addressing key local consumer trends with more relevance and more speed than ever. Examples here are Lever ayush, which is a great example of the local team being empowered in India, in this case, to ensure we have a big-enough response to the Ayurveda trends that we see in India; or Cif Duo, which gives consumers the benefits of both sprays and foam, a successful launch developed in less than 6 months. It is a good example of how successful local innovations can be picked up and rolled out globally. In fact, these innovations like Cif are now in 15 markets or more.

同時，我們正以比以往任何時候都更精準、更迅速的方式來應對關鍵的本地消費趨勢。例如，Lever ayush 就是一個很好的例子，它充分發揮了印度本地團隊的權力，確保我們對在印度看到的阿育吠陀趨勢做出足夠大的回應；又如 Cif Duo，它讓消費者同時享受到噴霧和泡沫的益處，並在不到 6 個月的時間內成功上市。這是本地成功創新如何被借鏡並推廣到全球的一個很好的例子。事實上，像 Cif 這樣的創新技術現在已經進入了 15 個或更多市場。

The changes in our channel landscape also give us the opportunity to reach more consumers with more differentiated products as well as propositions than we've ever done before, and we've taken advantage of this again this year. Take our e-commerce for example, a channel you know very well, where we are growing 80% versus year ago and driving it towards the EUR 2 billion business, with improved capability and with the acquisitions that we've done.

通路格局的變化也讓我們有機會以前所未有的方式接觸更多消費者，並提供更多差異化的產品和方案，今年我們再次充分利用了這一點。以我們的電子商務為例，這是您非常熟悉的管道，我們與去年同期相比增長了 80%，並正朝著 20 億歐元的業務目標邁進，這得益於我們能力的提升以及我們所做的收購。

One example of this drive for growth is our laundry bundles developed for Amazon where our understanding of search algorithms allow us to win in search and give more-tailored offerings to consumers. We're also increasingly using our stores, which we have many of now, as experiences. The Pure Leaf pop-up has really helped the brand and its brand equity, and the same is the case for many of our other brands.

這種成長動力的一個例子是我們為亞馬遜開發的洗衣套餐，我們對搜尋演算法的理解使我們能夠在搜尋中獲勝，並為消費者提供更個人化的產品。我們也越來越多地將我們的門市（我們現在有很多門市）用作體驗場所。Pure Leaf 快閃店確實幫助提升了品牌及其品牌價值，我們的其他許多品牌也是如此。

Moving to our Partner to Win, our Partner to Win program, which is opening up networks to drive more innovations. And we have empowered the local teams to go faster by making more use of third-party manufacturing where it makes sense.

接下來是我們的「攜手共贏」計劃，該計劃旨在拓展人脈網絡，推動更多創新。我們賦予本地團隊更大的權力，讓他們在適當的地方更多地利用第三方製造，從而加快生產速度。

We're also working with more influencers, another form of partnership, as we did in the launch of Seda Detox with the #1 blogger in Latin America; or the KJU by Lux launch, which is on fast track in China where we partnered with a French perfumer and a Korean graphics designer.

我們也在與更多有影響力的人士合作，這是另一種合作形式，就像我們與拉丁美洲排名第一的部落客合作推出 Seda Detox 一樣；或者像 KJU by Lux 在中國快速上市一樣，我們與一位法國調香師和一位韓國平面設計師合作。

Brand licensing is also opening up new opportunities and new segments like the Knorr chilled range that we've launch in The Netherlands, which takes us into a new segment in a low-cost and, yes, low-risk way.

品牌授權也開啟了新的機會和新的細分市場，例如我們在荷蘭推出的 Knorr 冷藏系列產品，這讓我們以低成本、低風險的方式進入了一個新的細分市場。

Now we're starting to see greater entrepreneurial activity in our businesses in all of our categories. This has led, for example, to 6 new organic brand launches this year alone in 2017, like Love Beauty and Planet, a premium personal care range in the U.S.; or Red Red, a vegan, gluten-free snack pot inspired by a popular dish in Ghana launching now in the U.K. as we speak. And we are creating new opportunities through new business models, often helped by the Unilever foundry. This allows us to collaborate with start-ups, matching our brands to leading technologies, like Cif's new partnership with an on-demand home cleaning company; or Hellmann's first foray into the direct-to-consumer space, piloting with a start-up company to deliver fresh ingredients to consumers on-demand.

現在，我們開始看到我們所有業務類別中都出現了更活躍的創業活動。例如，光是 2017 年就出現了 6 個新的有機品牌，如美國的高端個人護理系列 Love Beauty and Planet；以及受加納流行菜餚啟發而推出的純素、無麩質零食罐 Red Red，目前正在英國上市。我們正在透過新的商業模式創造新的機會，而聯合利華的孵化器常常能提供幫助。這使我們能夠與新創公司合作，將我們的品牌與領先技術相結合，例如 Cif 與一家按需家庭清潔公司建立新的合作夥伴關係；或者 Hellmann 首次進軍直接面向消費者的領域，與一家新創公司試點，按需向消費者提供新鮮食材。

Now all these are clear examples that the new Connected 4 Growth organization with the Country Category Business Teams are starting to give us a true competitive advantage in addressing the growth opportunities that I referred to earlier.

現在，所有這些都清楚地表明，新的「互聯互通促進成長」組織及其國家類別業務團隊正在為我們帶來真正的競爭優勢，以應對我之前提到的成長機會。

Alongside innovations, it is a critical part of our strategy to develop the portfolio through M&A to meet future trends and increase our exposure to higher-growth segments. We've been much more active with 21 acquisitions completed or announced since the start of 2015 and 11 last year alone.

除了創新之外，透過併購來發展投資組合以滿足未來趨勢並增加我們在高成長領域的投資也是我們策略的關鍵部分。自 2015 年初以來，我們已完成或宣布了 21 項收購，僅去年就完成了 11 項，因此我們在收購方面更加活躍。

As well as moving into higher-growth segments, we also continue to actively manage our portfolio, moving out of brands that no longer fit with our long-term strategies as is the case with the lower-growing spreads business. This all is helping us to reposition our portfolio towards the more attractive segments at a faster pace. By 2019, these acquisitions alone will add about EUR 3.5 billion of turnover, with EUR 3 billion of this in home and Personal Care, EUR 2 billion in premium positions, EUR 1.5 billion in emerging markets and nearly EUR 1 billion through e-commerce.

除了進軍成長更快的領域外，我們還繼續積極管理我們的產品組合，逐步淘汰不再符合我們長期策略的品牌，例如成長較慢的塗抹醬業務。這一切都有助於我們更快地將投資組合重新調整到更具吸引力的細分市場。到 2019 年，光是這些收購就將增加約 35 億歐元的營業額，其中 30 億歐元來自家庭和個人護理，20 億歐元來自高端市場，15 億歐元來自新興市場，近 10 億歐元來自電子商務。

Now we expect that the combined impact of these acquisitions and the disposal, including spreads, will add around 1% to our ongoing underlying sales growth by 2019.

現在我們預計，到 2019 年，這些收購和處置的綜合影響（包括價差）將使我們持續的基礎銷售成長增加約 1%。

And with that, let me hand over to Graeme, who will take you through the 2017 results in more detail. Graeme, the floor is yours.

接下來，我將把麥克風交給格雷姆，他將更詳細地為大家介紹 2017 年的選舉結果。格雷姆，現在輪到你發言了。

Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone. Let's kick off with the full year performance by category.

謝謝你，保羅。各位早安。讓我們先來看看按類別劃分的全年業績。

All of our categories grew as did all of our subcategories except for spreads, and the step-up in margin was broad-based.

除了產品類別外，我們所有的類別和所有子類別都實現了成長，利潤率的提升是普遍的。

Personal Care grew by 2.9%. The core of our PC business continued to grow competitively. Dove, which is our largest brand, now over EUR 4.5 billion, grew 6%. And Sunsilk had another great year, up 9%, helped by a global relaunch with formulation and fragrance upgrades as well as strong performance of a new Naturals range. However, overall PC performance was held back by difficult markets and competitive conditions, particularly in Brazil and Indonesia, which, of course, are large PC markets for us.

個人護理用品增加了2.9%。我們的PC核心業務持續保持強勁的競爭力成長。多芬是我們最大的品牌，目前銷售額超過 45 億歐元，成長了 6%。Sunsilk 迎來了另一個輝煌的年份，成長了 9%，這得益於其在全球範圍內的重新上市，包括配方和香氛的升級，以及全新 Naturals 系列的強勁表現。然而，由於市場環境艱難和競爭激烈，PC 的整體表現受到了阻礙，尤其是在巴西和印度尼西亞，而這兩個國家對我們來說當然都是重要的 PC 市場。

Our acquisitions in Personal Care contributed increasingly to USG through the year as we started to anniversary them. Dollar Shave Club and Kate Somerville grew in double digits, while Dermalogica grew at 5%.

隨著我們開始慶祝收購週年紀念日，我們在個人護理領域的收購對 USG 的貢獻在這一年中不斷增加。Dollar Shave Club 和 Kate Somerville 的成長率達到兩位數，而 Dermalogica 的成長率為 5%。

Sales in Murad, on the other hand, were down as we restructured our sales profile by reducing the brand's dependence on the infomercial channel. Living Proof and Hourglass are both growing at double digits and will begin to contribute to underlying sales growth in 2018. Carver Korea, Sundial and Schmidt's Naturals are all exciting acquisitions, which we completed at the end of the year, and they'll start to contribute to underlying sales growth from 2019.

另一方面，由於我們調整了銷售結構，減少了品牌對電視購物管道的依賴，Murad 的銷售額有所下降。Living Proof 和 Hourglass 的成長率均為兩位數，並將於 2018 年開始為基礎銷售成長做出貢獻。Carver Korea、Sundial 和 Schmidt's Naturals 都是令人興奮的收購項目，我們在年底完成了這些收購，它們將從 2019 年開始為潛在的銷售成長做出貢獻。

The underlying operating margin for Personal Care increased by 110 basis points to 21%, already reaching our 2020 target margin for this category. Our priority now will be to reinvest to further savings behind improved volume growth.

個人護理業務的基本營業利潤率提高了 110 個基點，達到 21%，已經達到我們 2020 年該類別的目標利潤率。我們現在的首要任務是將節省下來的成本再投資於銷售成長。

Home Care grew by 4.4%, with 130 basis point increase in underlying operating margin. Comfort fabric conditioners continue to grow strongly. And in Brazil, our value brand, Brilhante, benefited from consumer down-trading.

家庭護理業務成長 4.4%，基本營業利潤率提高 130 個基點。舒適型織物柔軟精市場持續強勁成長。在巴西，我們的平價品牌Brilhante受惠於消費者降級消費的趨勢。

Foods, excluding spreads, grew by 2.2%. Underlying operating margin increased by 60 basis points. Knorr grew by 4%, driven by strong growth for cooking products in emerging markets. This was partly offset by a decline in some of our noncore brands.

食品（不包括塗抹醬）增加了 2.2%。基本營業利潤率提高了60個基點。受新興市場烹飪產品強勁成長的推動，家樂集團業績成長了 4%。部分非核心品牌的下滑抵消了這一影響。

Refreshment grew by 4.9%, with 160 basis point improvement in underlying operating margin. Ice cream was up by just over 5%, driven by innovation behind brands like Ben & Jerry's and Magnum. In the U.S., we saw an encouraging return to growth following our launch of Breyers delights in U.S. and now in the U.K. with a low-calorie, high-protein proposition.

茶飲業務成長 4.9%，基礎營業利潤率提高 160 個基點。冰淇淋銷量成長略高於 5%，這主要得益於 Ben & Jerry's 和 Magnum 等品牌的創新。在美國，我們推出了 Breyers 美味甜點，並在美國和現在的英國推出了低卡路里、高蛋白的產品，之後我們看到了令人鼓舞的成長復甦。

Tea grew by just under 5%, increasingly benefiting from the moves we've been making to take our tea portfolio into more premium positions.

茶葉業務成長了近 5%，這越來越得益於我們為將茶葉產品組合推向更高端市場的舉措。

Now our focus today is, as always, on the full year, but I do think it's worth spending a few moments on growth in the fourth quarter. As you'll have seen, we had a significant pick up in volume and less price growth in the fourth quarter. Let me look first at the volume component.

今天，我們的重點和往常一樣放在全年業績上，但我認為花點時間談談第四季的成長是值得的。正如您所看到的，第四季度銷量大幅增長，但價格增長放緩。我先來看一下體積部分。

As you know, we benefited from a soft comparator in the fourth quarter last year as we lapped both demonetization in India and a weak Q4 performance in the U.K. last year when we missed promotional slots following the devaluation-led price increases. Even allowing for this, there was an encouraging pickup in momentum. By the fourth quarter, we were seeing the fruits of our new Connected 4 Growth organization with a much more agile approach to innovation, backed up by increased reinvestments of savings, as Paul described earlier.

如您所知，由於去年第四季度印度廢鈔令的影響以及英國第四季度業績疲軟（由於貨幣貶值導致價格上漲，我們錯過了促銷機會），我們受益於較低的基數。即使考慮到這些因素，發展動能依然令人鼓舞地增強。到第四季度，我們看到了新的「互聯互通促進成長」組織的成果，該組織採取了更靈活的創新方法，並加大了節約資金的再投資力度，正如保羅之前所描述的那樣。

We also saw early signs of improving market conditions, particularly in some of the emerging markets, with a return to volume growth in Latin America and good underlying momentum in India. For the full year, our emerging market volume growth was 1.6% and over 4% in the fourth quarter. This is an improvement on 2016, but still some way short of the 4% to 5%, which has been our long term average volume growth in emerging markets. We remain confident that over the medium term, we will see a pickup in emerging market growth, though it's in the nature of these markets, of course, that it won't be a straight-line trajectory.

我們也看到了市場狀況改善的早期跡象，尤其是在一些新興市場，拉丁美洲的銷售恢復成長，印度的潛在成長勢頭良好。全年來看，我們新興市場的銷量成長了 1.6%，第四季成長超過 4%。這比 2016 年有所改善，但距離我們在新興市場的長期平均銷售成長率 4% 至 5% 仍有一定距離。我們仍然相信，從中長期來看，新興市場的成長將會加快，當然，這些市場的性質決定了其成長不會是一帆風順的。

Price growth reduced to 0.7% in the fourth quarter. The reduction was broad-based across countries and mostly reflects the more benign commodity cost environment that we've signaled previously. In the first half of the year, commodity costs in local currencies were up by mid- to high single digits. But in the second half, this reduced to mid- to low single digits. Now looking ahead, commodity cost increases will remain relatively low in the first half of 2018, but we do expect the level of commodity cost increases to rise again in the second half of this year.

第四季價格漲幅降至0.7%。此次降幅遍及各國，主要反映了我們先前所預測的較溫和的大宗商品成本環境。今年上半年，以當地貨幣計價的大宗商品成本上漲了中高個位數。但下半場，這數字下降到個位數中低。展望未來，2018 年上半年大宗商品成本上漲幅度將保持相對較低，但我們預計今年下半年大宗商品成本上漲幅度將再次上升。

In addition, in India, we've passed on lower input taxes from GST directly through to consumers. This depresses price growth in the second half of 2017, and that will continue to be a drag on pricing during the first half of 2018.

此外，在印度，我們已將商品及服務稅（GST）帶來的較低進項稅直接轉嫁給了消費者。這將抑制 2017 年下半年的價格成長，而這種情況將在 2018 年上半年繼續對價格構成拖累。

Finally, in Latin America, inflation has come down sharply in both Brazil and in Argentina. At the same time, in Venezuela, inflation escalated to well over 1,000 percentage points in the fourth quarter. With effect from October, we therefore started to treat price growth in Venezuela as a currency effect and excluded it from underlying sales growth, which, as you know, is calculated at constant exchange rates. Now there's no impact on the reported measures of turnover and profit as these are both measured at current exchange rates, and on this basis, Venezuela is pretty negligible. All of these factors mean that price growth in the first half of 2018 is likely to remain relatively muted.

最後，在拉丁美洲，巴西和阿根廷的通貨膨脹率都大幅下降。與此同時，委內瑞拉第四季通貨膨脹率飆升至 1000 個百分點以上。因此，從 10 月開始，我們將委內瑞拉的價格成長視為匯率影響，並將其從基礎銷售成長中剔除。如您所知，基礎銷售成長是按固定匯率計算的。現在，由於營業額和利潤都是按當前匯率計算的，因此對已公佈的營業額和利潤指標沒有影響，從這個角度來看，委內瑞拉的影響微乎其微。所有這些因素意味著2018年上半年的價格成長可能會保持相對溫和。

Coming back to the full year. Underlying sales growth was 3.1%, including 1% from volume and 2% from price, with a drag of 40 basis points from spreads. M&A increased turnover by 0.9% with acquisitions, partly offset by the disposal of AdeS at the end of the first quarter.

回到全年情況。基礎銷售額成長 3.1%，其中銷量成長 1%，價格成長 2%，但價差拖累了 40 個基點。併購活動使營業額成長了 0.9%，但部分被第一季末出售 AdeS 所抵消。

Currency translation reduced turnover by 2.1%. This was mainly due to the strengthening of the euro, and it masks the fact that most of the emerging market currencies have actually strengthened against the U.S. dollar. If exchange rates were to stay as they are today, we would expect currency to be a continued drag on our reported performance in euros during 2018 of about 5% on turnover and around the same on EPS.

匯率變動導致營業額下降2.1%。這主要是因為歐元走強，掩蓋了大多數新興市場貨幣實際上對美元走強的事實。如果匯率維持目前的水平，我們預計 2018 年以歐元計價的業績將繼續受到匯率的拖累，營業額將下降約 5%，每股收益將下降約 5%。

Underlying operating margin improved by 110 basis points. This was led by our savings programs, which delivered more than EUR 2 billion in the year. Now this is a little faster than planned and is a very strong start towards our target of EUR 6 billion over the 3 years to 2019. In line with our plans, we've reinvested just over 2/3 of these savings in capability-building and in the competitiveness of our brands. The level of reinvestments stepped up progressively through the year in both brand and marketing investment and in pricing.

基本營業利潤率提高了110個基點。這主要得益於我們的節約計劃，這些計劃在一年內實現了超過 20 億歐元的節約。現在，這比計劃的速度稍快一些，對於我們在 2019 年的三年內實現 60 億歐元的目標來說，這是一個非常強勁的開端。根據我們的計劃，我們已將這些節省下來的資金的三分之二以上重新投入到能力建設和品牌競爭力提升中。年內，品牌和行銷投資以及定價方面的再投資水準逐漸提高。

Around 1/2 of the savings were from the 5-S program in the supply chain, most of which we reinvest. These savings, along with an improvement in our mix, led to a gross margin improvement of 40 basis points, which was quite evenly phased throughout the year. Brand and marketing investment for the year was up marginally in absolute terms in local currencies. Importantly, though, our media and in-store spend increased by around EUR 250 million. The impact of this increase was even higher as it was offset by efficiencies, largely in advertising production from Zero Based Budgeting. To put it simply, we used to make too many pieces of traditional TV advertising and we used to take them off-air before they'd reached their full effectiveness. We're now making fewer adverts and reinvesting the savings, and showing the best ones for longer, while stepping up our investment in digital media. As a result, we continue to be very competitive in our media share of voice.

大約一半的節省來自供應鏈中的 5S 計劃，其中大部分我們進行了再投資。這些節省，加上產品組合的改進，使毛利率提高了 40 個基點，並且這一提高在全年都相當均勻地分階段實現。以當地貨幣計算，本年度品牌和行銷投入的絕對值略有成長。但值得注意的是，我們的媒體和店內支出增加了約 2.5 億歐元。由於零基預算帶來的效率提升，廣告製作效率的提高抵消了這一增長的影響，因此這種增長的影響更大。簡單來說，我們過去製作了太多傳統的電視廣告，卻在它們發揮全部效果之前就停止了播出。我們現在減少了廣告投放量，並將節省下來的資金重新投入廣告中，延長最佳廣告的展示時間，同時增加對數位媒體的投資。因此，我們在媒體聲量份額方面仍然保持著很強的競爭力。

As a percentage of sales, brand and marketing investment reduced by 60 basis points. Overheads reduced by 10 basis points. Here, the savings have been largely reinvested in building the capabilities, which will drive continued growth into the future. For example, the new business models we've acquired and are developing typically have a higher proportion of cost and overheads than traditional models. Now this could be training centers for beauty professionals in Dermalogica, for example, or pop-up in flagship stores that we use to build brand awareness in our Refreshments category. We've invested in a team of 800 people dedicated to building sales of our core business through e-commerce.

品牌和行銷投資佔銷售額的百分比下降了 60 個基點。管理費用降低了10個基點。在這裡，節省下來的資金大部分都重新投入到能力建設中，這將推動未來的持續成長。例如，我們已經獲得和正在開發的新商業模式通常比傳統模式具有更高的成本和管理費用比例。例如，這可以是 Dermalogica 為美容專業人士設立的培訓中心，也可以是我們用來在旗艦店中提升「茶點」品類品牌知名度的快閃店。我們投資組建了一支由 800 人組成的團隊，致力於透過電子商務提升我們核心業務的銷售額。

Underlying earnings per share increased by 11% in both current and in constant rates. Operational performance, which is the combination of growth and margin, contributed the lion's share of this at 10.4%. Minority interests were a bit of a drag on EPS as a result of higher profit in India and elsewhere, and a further drag came from the lapping of some gains made on noncurrent investments last year.

以當前匯率和固定匯率計算，每股基本收益均成長了 11%。營運績效（即成長和利潤率的結合）貢獻了其中的絕大部分，達到 10.4%。由於印度和其他地區的利潤較高，少數股東權益對每股收益造成了一定程度的拖累；此外，去年非流動投資的部分收益被抵消，也進一步拖累了每股收益。

Our underlying tax rate was in line with last year at 26%. This was a little lower than the guidance we've given of 27% as a result of the favorable conclusion of some tax audits. Looking ahead and including a small benefit from the recent U.S. tax changes, we now expect our tax rate over the medium term to be around 26%.

我們的基本稅率與去年持平，為 26%。由於一些稅務審計結果令人滿意，這一數字略低於我們先前給出的 27% 的指導值。展望未來，考慮到近期美國稅收政策變化帶來的一些利好，我們預計中期內我們的稅率將在 26% 左右。

Interest costs on net debt reduced from 3.5% in 2016 to 2.7%, reflecting lower rates on increased borrowings. In 2018, we expect the interest rate on net debt to be around 3%. The EUR 5 billion share buyback had a 1.6% impact on 2017 EPS and will have a 12-month impact of 3.5%.

淨債務利息成本從 2016 年的 3.5% 降至 2.7%，反映出借款增加導致利率下降。2018 年，我們預計淨債務利率將在 3% 左右。50億歐元的股票回購計畫對2017年每股盈餘產生了1.6%的影響，並將對未來12個月的每股盈餘產生3.5%的影響。

Finally, currency movements decreased EPS by around 0.3%. The currency effect is more favorable in EPS than on turnover for a number of reasons, including the weaker pound sterling, which reduces the cost expressed in euros of our U.K.-based central costs, such as research and development.

最後，匯率波動導致每股盈餘下降約 0.3%。由於多種原因，匯率波動對每股盈餘的影響比對營業額的影響更為有利，其中包括英鎊走弱，這降低了我們位於英國的中央成本（如研發成本）以歐元計價的成本。

GAAP net profit increased by 17% to EUR 6.5 billion. This included a one-off gain of EUR 578 million from restating deferred tax balances at the new lower U.S. Federal tax rate and a profit of EUR 309 million on the disposal of the AdeS business. These were partly offset by the EUR 382 million, which was the book premium paid to acquire the high voting preference shares. This buyback of the preference shares was an important step to simplify our capital structure and improve corporate governance.

以美國通用會計準則計算，淨利成長17%，達到65億歐元。其中包括因以新的較低美國聯邦稅率重述遞延所得稅餘額而獲得的一次性收益 5.78 億歐元，以及出售 AdeS 業務獲​​得的利潤 3.09 億歐元。這些損失部分被 3.82 億歐元所抵消，這筆款項是為收購高投票權優先股而支付的帳面溢價。此次優先股回購是簡化公司資本結構、改善公司治理的重要一步。

Free cash flow in the year was EUR 5.4 billion. That's an increase of EUR 600 million on last year. And this was achieved despite a one-off injection of EUR 600 million into our pension funds.

該年度自由現金流為54億歐元。比去年增加了6億歐元。而且，儘管我們向退休基金一次性注入了 6 億歐元，但這一目標仍然實現了。

In spite of an acceleration in M&A activity, our return on invested capital was unchanged at 19.2%, a very high level and well within our targeted high-teens range. The boost from the growth in top line profitability balanced the increased goodwill from the acquisitions. And this demonstrates our value-creation model of compounding returns of investment where our #1 priority is growing the core of the business, whilst at the same time, evolving our portfolio to address future growth opportunities.

儘管併購活動加速，但我們的投資資本回報率仍保持在 19.2% 不變，這是一個非常高的水平，完全在我們設定的 15% 以上的目標範圍內。營收成長帶來的獲利提升抵銷了收購帶來的商譽成長。這反映了我們透過複利投資回報創造價值的模式，我們的首要任務是發展核心業務，同時不斷調整投資組合，以應對未來的成長機會。

Net debt increased from EUR 12.6 billion at the end of last year to EUR 20.3 billion. This includes around EUR 4.4 billion of net investment in acquisitions less disposal proceeds and the impact of the EUR 5 billion share buyback. As a result, our leverage ended the year at 1.0x net debt-to-EBITDA, very close to our target of 2x.

淨債務從去年年底的 126 億歐元增加到 203 億歐元。這包括約 44 億歐元的收購淨投資減去處分收益以及 50 億歐元股票回購的影響。因此，我們年底的槓桿率（淨債務與 EBITDA 比率）為 1.0 倍，非常接近我們 2 倍的目標。

Looking ahead, our plans to tackle the stranded fixed cost as a result of disposal of spreads are well underway. There will be a short-term dilution to our underlying operating margin and EPS starting from the point of completion, which is expected to be in the middle of the year. We expect to receive net proceeds of around EUR 6 billion when we complete the disposal of spreads. And as we said at the time of the announcement, we plan to return this to shareholders, unless more value-creating acquisition opportunities arise.

展望未來，我們應對因處置價差而產生的擱淺固定成本的計畫正在順利進行中。從專案完成之時起（預計在年中），我們的基礎營業利潤率和每股盈餘將出現短期稀釋。我們預計在完成價差處置後將獲得約 60 億歐元的淨收益。正如我們在宣布這項消息時所說，我們計劃將這筆資金返還給股東，除非出現更多創造價值的收購機會。

Our net pension deficit reduced from EUR 3.2 billion at the end of last year to just EUR 0.6 billion, which is its lowest level for over 10 years. This was a result both of strong investment returns and the one-off cash injection. As a result, the financing charge in pensions will reduce from EUR 96 million to around EUR 35 million in 2018.

我們的退休金淨赤字從去年年底的 32 億歐元減少到僅 6 億歐元，這是 10 多年來的最低水準。這既得益於強勁的投資回報，也得益於一次性的現金注入。因此，2018 年退休金融資費用將從 9,600 萬歐元減少到約 3,500 萬歐元。

And with that, let me hand back to Paul for some concluding remarks.

最後，讓我把麥克風交還給保羅，請他做些總結發言。

Thanks, Graeme. We'll finish with a look at our priorities and the outlook for 2018.

謝謝你，格雷姆。最後，我們將回顧我們的工作重點和 2018 年的展望。

There is no doubt that this will be a busy year. We will complete the integration of the Food & Refreshment and, as well, the completion of the exit from our spreads business. But without doubt -- any doubt, our #1 priority remains to grow our volumes ahead of the market, and we are confident that we have the plans in place to just do that.

毫無疑問，這將是忙碌的一年。我們將完成食品飲料業務的整合，並完成退出塗抹醬業務的進程。但毫無疑問——毫無疑問，我們的首要任務仍然是在市場成長之前擴大銷量，而且我們有信心，我們已經制定了實現這一目標的計劃。

Connected 4 Growth is improving our innovation pipeline, agility and execution, as you have seen. 5-S and Zero Based Budgeting will continue to deliver strong savings, which will be reinvested to provide the fuel for growth. And we will progressively see the benefits of the evolution of our portfolio to higher-growth segments through the accelerated M&A activities that we've undertaken.

正如您所看到的，Connected 4 Growth 正在改善我們的創新管道、敏捷性和執行力。5S 管理和零基預算將繼續帶來可觀的節約，這些節約下來的資金將被重新投資，為成長提供動力。我們將逐步看到，透過我們加速進行的併購活動，我們的投資組合向高成長領域演進所帶來的好處。

Now looking ahead, we do not expect any slowdown in the pace of change around us. So we are already thinking about further development of our capabilities, organization and portfolio that will keep us fit for the future. That includes the review of our legal structure, and we expect to have further news on this shortly. The changes we are making will help us adapt to meet the challenges and opportunities of a changing world, and we're confident that we will deliver on the targets we have set out in our 2020 plan.

展望未來，我們預期周圍的變化步伐不會放緩。因此，我們已經在考慮如何進一步發展我們的能力、組織和產品組合，以使我們能夠適應未來的需求。這包括對我們的法律結構進行審查，我們預計很快就會有更多相關消息公佈。我們正在做出的改變將幫助我們適應不斷變化的世界所帶來的挑戰和機遇，我們有信心實現我們在 2020 年計劃中設定的目標。

So to wrap up, for 2018, we expect to deliver an underlying sales growth ahead of the market in the 3% to 5% range. And as Graeme explained, we expect this to include a greater contribution from volume than in 2017 and lower price growth, particularly in the first part of the year. And we expect continued progress towards our 2020 underlying operating margin of 20%, fueled by our savings program.

綜上所述，我們預計 2018 年的潛在銷售成長將高於市場平均水平，增幅在 3% 到 5% 之間。正如格雷姆所解釋的那樣，我們預計這將包括比 2017 年更大的銷售貢獻和更低的價格增長，尤其是在今年上半年。我們預計，在節省成本計畫的推動下，我們將繼續朝著 2020 年 20% 的基本營業利潤率目標邁進。

There will be more restructuring as we start to take out stranded costs from spreads and set up the new Food & Refreshment unit. We continued to maintain competitive brand levels of marketing and brand spend. And compared to 2017, this will once more be more weighted, in this case, towards the first half versus the second half. We also target another year of strong cash flow.

隨著我們開始從利潤分成中剔除擱淺成本並建立新的食品和飲料部門，將會有更多重組。我們持續保持具有競爭力的品牌行銷水平和品牌投入。與 2017 年相比，這次的權重將再次偏向上半年而非下半年。我們也力爭在未來一年保持強勁的現金流。

And with that, let me start with taking the questions. Thank you all for listening.

那麼，接下來我將開始回答問題。謝謝大家的聆聽。

Thank you, Paul. (Operator Instructions) So I see that our first question is from Jonathan Feeney at Consumer Edge. Go ahead, Jonathan.

謝謝你，保羅。（操作員說明）我看到我們的第一個問題來自 Consumer Edge 的 Jonathan Feeney。請繼續，喬納森。

Two questions, please. First, Paul, you made some comments at the, when we got together back in November, about the easier comparisons in emerging markets in the front half of the year. Is it fair to say that you feel like -- you feel better about your underlying sales growth for the front half of 2018, that maybe it's -- maybe a little bit more weighted to that front half growth-wise? And secondly, Paul, you made a comment -- you just made a comment that your innovation pipeline is as strong as you've ever seen it. Is there any way you could quantify that for us, maybe how much of that underlying sales growth for this year or whatever time line you're referring to is slated to come from that innovation pipeline?

請問兩個問題。首先，保羅，去年 11 月我們聚在一起時，你曾發表過一些評論，談到新興市場在上半年更容易進行比較。是否可以這麼說，您對 2018 年上半年的潛在銷售成長感覺更好，或許——或許上半年的成長佔比更高一些？其次，保羅，你剛才說過──你剛才說過，你們的創新管道比以往任何時候都更強大。您能否為我們量化一下，比如說，您提到的今年或未來某個時間段內，有多少潛在銷售成長預計會來自創新產品線？

Thanks, Jonathan, for the question. I appreciate that. What we are saying very clearly is that we are, for 2018, more or less happy with the current consensus. I just looked at that a few days ago, but that the forecast will be skewed actually towards the second half in terms of growth and margin contributions for 2 reasons. In the second half, first of all, on the commodity side, and Graeme can go into that in more detail, but we see more inflation coming in in the second half, a function of the current currency movements and our own contracts. So second half, you'll have a little bit more pricing than the first half.

謝謝喬納森的提問。我很感激。我們非常明確地表示，對於 2018 年，我們對目前的共識基本上感到滿意。我幾天前剛看過，但就成長和利潤貢獻而言，預測實際上會偏向下半年，原因有二。下半年，首先是商品方面，格雷姆可以更詳細地介紹一下，但我們預計下半年通膨會加劇，這是當前貨幣走勢和我們自身合約的結果。所以下半年的價格會比上半年略高一些。

We also have to deal in the first half, still, some of the effects that are coming in from lower inflation rates, especially in LatAm, that probably will be reflected in lower pricing, which brings me to the question on volume.

上半年，我們還要應對通貨膨脹率下降帶來的一些影響，尤其是在拉丁美洲，這可能會反映在價格下降上，這就引出了銷售的問題。

We've really seen behind Connected 4 Growth, as we have told you in previous discussions, an acceleration of our innovations. It's really unprecedented that we have launched 5 new brands ourselves, and that takes a little bit of time, but we've done that really efficiently and effectively. They might not all work, but I'm certainly expecting, in aggregate, that they will. And then, at the same time, we've also seen the markets connect more to these trends that are happening in individual markets and responding to that. And again, we've shared ample examples with you but we could do more.

正如我們在之前的討論中告訴大家的那樣，我們已經真正看到了「互聯互通促進成長」背後的意義，那就是加速我們的創新。我們自主推出了 5 個新品牌，這確實是前所未有的，雖然需要一些時間，但我們有效率且有效地完成了這項工作。它們或許不會全部奏效，但我確信，整體而言，它們會奏效。同時，我們也看到，市場與個別市場正在發生的這些趨勢聯繫更加緊密，並對這些趨勢做出反應。我們已經和你們分享了很多例子，但我們可以做得更多。

And then finally, over the second half, we should start to see some of these M&A activities coming in, which are not yet in the first half. So I think on the volume and pricing side will be more skewed towards the second half. And the volume component will definitely be higher than 2017 because, really, of these fundamental changes we've made to Connected 4 Growth. I don't know if Graeme wants to add things on the commodity so that we cover that right now.

最後，在下半年，我們應該會開始看到一些併購活動出現，而這些活動在上半年還沒有出現。所以我認為銷售量和價格方面，下半年的走勢會更加明顯。而且，由於我們對 Connected 4 Growth 進行了這些根本性的改變，銷售量肯定會比 2017 年更高。我不知道格雷姆是否想在商品方面添加一些內容，所以我們現在就來討論一下。

Yes, Jonathan. Just on the balance of pricing growth, which we said we expect to be a little bit lower in the first half next year than the second half. Three main drivers to that.

是的，喬納森。僅就價格成長而言，我們預計明年上半年的價格成長將略低於下半年。造成這種情況主要有三個原因。

One is actually the Goods and Services Tax implementation in India because in the second half of '17 and, indeed, the first half of '18, that reduces the pricing growth in India, and that has an impact at a Unilever level. The commodity cost increases, we see them being phased more to the second half than the first half. And of course, we've got lower Latin American inflation overall so we think a little bit less price in the first half than in the second.

其中一個因素實際上是印度商品和服務稅的實施，因為在 2017 年下半年以及 2018 年上半年，這降低了印度的價格成長，這對聯合利華層面產生了影響。大宗商品成本上漲，我們看到這些成本更集中在下半年而不是上半年。當然，拉丁美洲整體通膨率較低，所以我們認為上半年的價格會比下半年略低。

I hope that answers it, Jonathan.

希望這能解答你的疑問，喬納森。

It does.

確實如此。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Okay. The second question comes from Warren Ackerman at SocGen.

好的。第二個問題來自法國興業銀行的華倫‧阿克曼。

Good job today. Two questions, please, from my side. Graeme, at the Q3 stage, you said that you left some [runs] in the field and that your competitiveness wasn't as good as expected. It looks like you've got your A game back in Q4. Can you maybe talk about your market share performance in Q4 versus Q3? And also, category growth, which has been stubbornly pegged at 2% by value, is there any sign of that improving?

今天幹得不錯。請問我有兩個問題。格雷姆，在第三季度，你說過你在場上錯失了一些得分機會，你的競爭力不如預期。看來你在第四季已經恢復了最佳狀態。您能否談談貴公司第四季與第三季相比的市佔率表現？此外，品類成長率一直頑固地維持在 2%（以價值計算），是否有任何改善的跡象？

And then secondly, on emerging markets. It's very pleasing to see very strong volume component in Q4, I think it's double the Q3 level for [place, too]. Are you able to talk to us a bit about the BRIC markets? In particular, in Q4, you said that Brazil will be back into volume-positive in Q4. Can you confirm that and talk about the other BRIC markets in the fourth quarter and outlook for 2018?

其次，是新興市場。很高興看到第四季銷量佔比非常高，我認為[地點]也比第三季翻了一番。您能否和我們談談金磚國家市場的狀況？特別是，您曾說過，巴西將在第四季恢復銷售量正成長。您能否確認一下，並談談第四季度其他金磚國家市場的情況以及2018年的展望？

Thanks, Warren. And coming from you that this was a good job is a real compliment. We normally don't expect that, so I appreciate that. But I also want to tell you that we don't live by these 90-day cycles, and you really need to get off that. So whilst the quarter 3 might have been a little softer, quarter 4 is a little better, we look at it at a little bit longer time frame than you sometimes do.

謝謝你，沃倫。能得到您的肯定，這真是對我莫大的讚揚。我們通常不會期待這種情況，所以我很感激。但我還想告訴你，我們並不是按照這種 90 天的週期生活，你真的需要擺脫這種思考模式。所以，雖然第三季可能略顯疲軟，但第四季情況稍好一些，我們看待這個問題的時間跨度比你們通常看待這個問題的時間跨度要長一些。

So what we've seen in the last quarter, and we don't even have the shares yet because they come in with a slight delay, but if you look at the market growth, we estimate that the market growth, all-in, is now about 3%. So if you look at the last quarter's results of 4.3%, with a strong 3.1% volume component, and we are a little bit careful there because of India that you've well read the demonetization and general sales tax effects. But we do see a pickup and we do expect that the quarter 4 volumes that we've put in as well as overall sales growth would result in a increase in the number of businesses building share, and we expect that to continue over the second half.

所以，從上個季度的情況來看，雖然我們還沒有拿到股票數據（因為股票數據會稍有延遲），但如果你看一下市場成長情況，我們估計目前市場整體成長率約為 3%。所以，如果你看一下上一季的業績，成長了 4.3%，其中銷量成長了 3.1%，我們對此比較謹慎，因為印度的廢鈔令和一般銷售稅的影響，你們應該都很清楚了。但我們確實看到了回暖跡象，我們預計第四季度的銷售以及整體銷售成長將導致更多企業獲得市場份額，我們預計這種情況將在下半年繼續下去。

In terms of the countries, specifically, where we see pickups, we see India getting better. I'm fairly positive on that. I was with the [President Mori] last week in Davos, and we had good discussions on the direction the country takes. We've always said that, whilst the general sales tax and demonetization might give us short-term shocks and disturb these quarters a little bit, they are also the right long-term things for the country.

就我們看到復甦的國家而言，具體來說，我們看到印度的情況正在好轉。我對此相當肯定。上週我在達沃斯與莫瑞總統會面，我們很好地討論了國家的發展方向。我們一直認為，雖然一般銷售稅和廢鈔令可能會給我們帶來短期衝擊，並稍微擾亂這些方面，但從長遠來看，它們對國家來說是正確的事情。

We also see that Brazil is starting to pick up, albeit from a low base, but we don't see the declines anymore and already stabilizing this and from there moving forward is for us very positive from where we came from. So the reforms that they're starting to put in are positive. We obviously have to watch now again the elections coming in.

我們也看到巴西經濟開始復甦，儘管基數較低，但我們不再看到下滑，而且經濟已經趨於穩定，從目前的情況來看，這對我們來說是非常積極的。所以他們開始推行的改革是正面的。顯然，我們現在又要密切關注即將到來的選舉了。

And then last but not least, and I just wanted to stick to the bigger countries, China, we've seen an acceleration of our growth rates, partly because the market keeps growing. We had a strong high single digit last quarter there and partly because, obviously, the shifts that have happened in this market, the enormous shifts in this case to e-commerce, it takes a little bit for companies like ours to adjust to that, but we've clearly made these adjustments.

最後，我想重點談談較大的國家，例如中國。我們看到中國的成長率加快了，部分原因是市場持續成長。上個季度我們實現了強勁的個位數成長，部分原因顯然是市場發生了變化，特別是向電子商務的巨大轉變，像我們這樣的公司需要一些時間來適應，但我們顯然已經做出了這些調整。

So I'm relatively bullish on some of these markets. There are some other markets we have to be careful about. South Africa, obviously, with the changes that are happening there, I'm relatively positive, so that's good for us. Indonesia, we'd like to see a little more still. So Southeast Asia, I would say, is still the softer part. And then Latin America, in total, what you have to keep in mind is that, with inflation coming off significantly, and Graeme already alluded to that, we might see higher-quality growth there in terms of the volume component. But we certainly will have to compromise on the price component versus 2017.

所以我對其中一些市場持相對樂觀的態度。還有一些其他市場我們需要格外注意。顯然，鑑於南非正在發生的變化，我對那裡的情況比較樂觀，這對我們來說是件好事。對於印度尼西亞，我們還想看到更多。所以我覺得，東南亞還是比較軟弱的地區。至於拉丁美洲整體而言，需要記住的是，隨著通貨膨脹大幅下降（格雷姆已經提到過這一點），我們可能會看到那裡在數量方面出現更高品質的增長。但與 2017 年相比，我們肯定需要在價格上做出妥協。

So all in all, as I alluded to already in Englewood Cliffs, and on the previous call, we are slightly more optimistic about these emerging markets moving forward in aggregate. And we also think once more that having 60% of our business there and obviously these very strong positions that we are very well placed to capitalize on that.

總而言之，正如我在 Englewood Cliffs 和上一次電話會議中提到的那樣，我們對這些新興市場的整體發展前景略顯樂觀。我們再次認為，我們60%的業務都在那裡，而且顯然我們擁有非常強大的市場地位，這讓我們能夠很好地利用這些優勢。

Okay, yes. So thanks, Warren. Next question is from Celine Pannuti of JPMorgan.

好的，是的。謝謝你，沃倫。下一個問題來自摩根大通的Celine Pannuti。

My first question is on your volume outlook. You said that volume will be more H2-weighted. Could you explain a bit that because I think, if I look at the comp, seems to be better -- easier in the first half. I think there was as well some issues in India all of last year, especially in the first half. And then the momentum you seem to show in terms of volume is positive in Q4. So I'm a bit surprised by your comment on lower-volume growth in H1, so if you could explain a bit better.

我的第一個問題是關於你們的銷售預期。你說過成交量將比較由H2股構成。你能解釋一下嗎？因為我覺得，如果我看一下比賽錄影，似乎前半段比較容易。我認為去年印度也存在一些問題，尤其是在上半年。而且，從成交量來看，第四季似乎呈現出正面的成長動能。我對您關於上半年銷售成長放緩的評論感到有些驚訝，如果您能解釋得更清楚一些就太好了。

My second question is on pricing. Thank you for what you commented on the U.S. -- on LatAm. If I move to the U.S., could you talk to us about pricing situation there? We've seen minus -- close to [minus 1] in the fourth quarter. At the same time, we've seen a big rebound in volume. And in there, if you could give us the detail of the contribution from both the M&A and the new brands that were launched in that market?

我的第二個問題是關於定價的。感謝您對美國——以及拉丁美洲——的評論。如果我搬到美國，您能幫我們了解那裡的物價狀況嗎？第四季我們看到負值接近[-1]。同時，我們看到成交量出現了大幅反彈。另外，能否詳細介紹併購以及在該市場推出的新品牌所做出的貢獻？

May I start with the U.S., Celine, and thanks for the questions. If you take the U.S., what really is happening there, obviously, people are a little bit more positive now with the tax cut coming in, which has a short-term effect for the next few years and then probably starts to backfire. But if you take the next 4 or 5 years that's being seen as a positive effect, that might lift their global economy -- their economy by about 1.2% in terms of growth rates from the latest estimates that I've seen.

我先從美國說起，Celine，謝謝你的提問。以美國為例，很明顯，隨著減稅政策的實施，人們現在情緒更加樂觀，但這在未來幾年會產生短期效果，之後可能會適得其反。但如果你把未來 4 到 5 年視為正面影響，根據我看到的最新估計，這可能會提振他們的全球經濟——他們的經濟成長率約為 1.2%。

We've obviously done quite some pricing in the U.S. in the last few years. That is becoming, I think, a little bit more difficult compared to Europe right now. And unfortunately, on the volume side, what we've seen in the U.S. is that the wealth creation that is happening in this country, and I've been alluding to that many times, is really only going to a very small part of the population.

過去幾年，我們顯然在美國做了相當多的定價工作。我認為，與歐洲相比，這正變得越來越困難。不幸的是，就數量而言，我們在美國看到的是，這個國家正在發生的財富創造（我多次提到這一點）實際上隻流向了一小部分人口。

In 2017, I just got this data from Davos once more, all the global growth has only gone to about 14% of the world population. 86% of the world population, according to an Oxfam study, has not seen any progress. In the U.S., the same thing, the growth is not well spread. So we see our markets actually being fairly subdued, whilst the economy might report good numbers. We, therefore, have embarked in a much more accelerated pace in the U.S. on the transformation of our portfolio. The numbers that we report, obviously, in the U.S. growth are numbers that exclude our premium prestige businesses, some of the M&A activity that has come in, in the last year or 2.

2017年，我再次從達沃斯獲得了相關數據，全球所有的成長只惠及了世界人口的約14%。根據樂施會的一項研究，世界上 86% 的人口沒有看到任何進步。在美國，情況也是如此，成長並不均衡。因此，我們看到市場實際上相當低迷，而經濟數據可能表現良好。因此，我們在美國加快了投資組合轉型步伐。顯然，我們報告的美國成長數據不包括我們的高端聲望業務，也不包括過去一兩年內的一些併購活動。

So if we look at the total Unilever in the U.S., our growth rates probably, even today, would be more closer to the 2% than the flat rates that we're putting in right now. But it does require a continuation of our portfolio transition. And then last year, obviously, we were hurt by a introduction in ice cream of a competitor that we talked about. Whilst our global refreshment unit was the fastest growing unit last year for Unilever with stellar results, by the way, close to 5%, if you want to, the U.S., unfortunately, had to deal with this competitive threat.

因此，如果我們看一下聯合利華在美國的整體情況，即使在今天，我們的成長率可能更接近 2%，而不是我們現在所設定的固定成長率。但這確實需要我們繼續推動投資組合轉型。然後去年，很顯然，我們受到了競爭對手在冰淇淋領域推出產品的衝擊，我們之前也談過這一點。雖然我們的全球飲料業務部門是聯合利華去年成長最快的部門，業績斐然（順便一提，成長率接近 5%），但遺憾的是，美國不得不應對這種競爭威脅。

If you look at the volume over the first half and the second half, I think we will have to -- the reason why we are a little bit more positive on the higher-volume components over the second half is actually because of the C4G and the brand innovation plans. If you launch 5 brands like Alan Jope has done, just in Personal Care alone, these brands are introduced in the market, but it will take a little bit before you see them giving you the volume benefits. So that's definitely a component of it.

如果看一下上半年和下半年的銷量，我認為我們必須——我們對下半年銷量較大的零件持更樂觀態度的原因實際上是因為 C4G 和品牌創新計劃。如果你像 Alan Jope 一樣推出 5 個品牌，光是在個人護理領域，這些品牌就會被推向市場，但你需要一段時間才能看到它們為你帶來銷售上的好處。所以這肯定是其中一個組成部分。

And the second component on the volume part is if you really look at the effects of the -- in some of the macro changes that are happening in our markets that we have to deal with, I still think it's better more skewed towards the second half that these markets are fully starting to unlock their growth potential because a lot of the markets that we are in have not really done the, how do I call it, the structural reforms that are actually needed. One of the things we are pleading for, with many of these governments now is, now that these economies are starting to pick up a little bit that they need to have a little bit more courage, Europe included, to start to drive through these structural reforms. It's going to happen, but I think you'll see markets picking up more towards the second half of the year for that reason than towards the first half.

成交量方面的第二個因素是，如果你仔細觀察我們市場正在發生的一些宏觀變化的影響，我們必須應對這些變化，我仍然認為最好是更多地偏向後半部分，因為這些市場正在全面釋放其增長潛力，因為我們所處的許多市場還沒有真正進行必要的結構性改革。我們現在向許多國家的政府呼籲，既然這些國家的經濟體已經開始略有復甦，那麼包括歐洲在內的各國政府就需要更有勇氣，開始推動這些結構性改革。這肯定會發生，但我認為，正因如此，你會看到市場在下半年比上半年更活躍。

Can I just clarify? Celine, we definitely have visibility of a lower pricing environment in the first half versus the second half. I think volumes -- and we see this strong volume performance in the fourth quarter. There's good momentum there. As Paul says, it'll continue to build through the balance of the year because of our innovation, because of the strong brand investment and a recovery in markets like India, China and Brazil, et cetera. But we have much more visibility of the pricing phasing than volume, which we think will continue to get better, but it's not necessarily an H1, H2 shift.

我可以再確認一下嗎？Celine，我們確實可以預見上半年的價格環境會比下半年低。我認為銷售量－我們在第四季度看到了強勁的銷售表現。目前勢頭良好。正如保羅所說，由於我們的創新、強大的品牌投資以及印度、中國和巴西等市場的復甦，今年剩餘時間裡，它將繼續成長。但是，我們對價格階段的可見性比對銷售的可見性要高得多，我們認為銷售會繼續好轉，但這不一定會是上半年或下半年的轉變。

So first half -- perhaps there might be a little confusion in your question. First half volume is better than what we had last year in the first half, if that's what you're asking.

所以前半部——或許你的問題中存在一些令人困惑的地方。如果你問的是銷售的話，那麼今年上半年的銷售量比去年上半年好。

Well, it was more H1 versus H2 that I was asking. But...

其實，我問的比較多是H1和H2的差別。但...

So I think we've covered H1, H2. But it's also good to keep in mind that our volume momentum will already be good over the first half as well, if we didn't communicate that clearly, (inaudible).

所以我覺得我們已經講完了H1和H2階段。但也要記住，即使我們沒有清楚地傳達這一點，我們的銷售勢頭在上半年也會很好（聽不清楚）。

Yes, that's what I wanted to clarify.

是的，這正是我要澄清的。

No. Thanks, Celine.

不。謝謝你，席琳。

Thanks, Celine. Next question comes from James Targett from Berenberg. Okay. In that case, let's move to Martin Deboo from Jefferies.

謝謝你，席琳。下一個問題來自貝倫貝格銀行的詹姆斯·塔吉特。好的。既然如此，我們就來看看傑富瑞集團的馬丁‧德佈吧。

Yes. Just one question, really. I just want to clarify what you're saying on the buyback. Your intention is to invest the total net proceeds of the spreads sale into buybacks this year and no more and no less than that, can I just be clear?

是的。就一個問題。我只是想澄清一下你關於回購的說法。你們的計畫是將今年出售價差所得的全部淨收益用於股票回購，不多也不少，我能確認一下嗎？

Martin, what we -- we think we'd get about EUR 6 billion in the middle of the year when spreads closes. Our intention, if we're not able to find acquisition opportunities that we think are value-creating and attractive, then we'd return that to shareholders. We haven't yet determined how we would do that, but it's dependent on acquisition opportunities. And we'll tackle that as and when we have closed the spreads transaction.

馬丁，我們—我們認為年中利差收窄時，我們將獲得約 60 億歐元。如果我們找不到我們認為能夠創造價值且有吸引力的收購機會，那麼我們將把這些資金回饋給股東。我們尚未確定具體實施方案，但這取決於收購機會。我們將在完成價差交易後處理這個問題。

And next question is from Eddy Hargreaves from Investec.

下一個問題來自 Investec 的 Eddy Hargreaves。

Yes, a couple for me. One is following up from Martin's question there, just on timing of that EUR 6 billion-ish buyback. Sort of how long would you give yourself to assess any M&A opportunities before deciding whether or not to hit the button on the buyback subsequent to the cash coming in?

是的，我有兩個。其中一個問題是針對 Martin 提出的問題，也就是關於那筆約 60 億歐元的股票回購計畫的時機。在現金流入後，你會給自己多久來評估併購機會，然後再決定是否按下回購按鈕？

And then the second question is just more technical on Venezuela. As I understand it, the 3% to 5% guidance for top line in fiscal 2018, in fact, includes a drag, which wasn't present except for the final quarter in 2017 with that drag be roughly 50 bps. Could you confirm or clarify that, please?

第二個問題則較偏技術性，涉及委內瑞拉的情況。據我了解，2018 財年營收成長 3% 至 5% 的預期實際上包含了拖累因素，而 2017 年第四季除外，該拖累因素約為 50 個基點。請問您能否確認或澄清一下？

Yes. The drag is slightly lower, but you are right, so you can do the calculations. And the second thing is, on the share buybacks, we don't jump right away on share buybacks or not. We'll take our time depending on where we are with M&A. I think that has been well answered, Eddy. Thanks.

是的。阻力略小，但你是對的，所以你可以進行計算。第二點是，關於股票回購，我們不會立即決定是否進行股票回購。我們將根據併購進展來決定時間表。我覺得這個問題已經回答得很好了，艾迪。謝謝。

Okay. Next question comes from Reg Watson at ING.

好的。下一個問題來自荷蘭國際集團的雷格·沃森。

Sticking with the theme of capital return, I'm going to ask you how a buyback could actually be value-accretive, given that you sold spreads at [top] 9x multiple and the share price is currently 14x.

繼續討論資本回報，我想問你，鑑於你以 [最高] 9 倍倍率賣出了價差，而目前的股價是 14 倍，那麼股票回購實際上如何能增加價值呢？

Well, we haven't said that we're going to do a share buyback, Reg. So...

嗯，我們還沒說過要進行股票回購，Reg。所以...

Okay. There seems to be a reigning assumption that you will.

好的。人們似乎普遍認為你會這樣做。

No, you guys are filling in your spreadsheets, so you want to know what we'd do with the EUR 6 billion of spreads. Let me just be very clear once more. When the revenues come in of the EUR 6 billion of spreads, we'll look at that and in function of many other opportunities that we have in the business, including M&A. So that's it. No, no, we don't...

不，你們正在填寫電子表格，所以你們想知道我們將如何處理這 60 億歐元的價差。讓我再說一遍，一定要說清楚。當 60 億歐元的利差收入到帳後，我們將考慮這筆收入，並結合我們在業務中擁有的許多其他機會，包括併購。就是這樣。不，不，我們沒有…

The divestment of spreads was to reshape the portfolio strategically, and you see the benefit of that in the 1% growth uplift that we'll have in 2019 from the divestment and from the M&A transactions that we've done, the acquisitions we've done so far. That's how we're thinking about it, Reg. It's a strategic reshape of the portfolio rather than sort of (inaudible).

剝離利差是為了從戰略上重塑投資組合，而從剝離利差以及我們迄今為止完成的併購交易和收購中，我們將在 2019 年獲得 1% 的增長提升，這體現了剝離利差帶來的益處。我們也是這麼想的，雷格。這是對投資組合的策略性重組，而不是某種（聽不清楚）。

Okay. No, no, that's fair enough because I think you probably need a decade of improved growth to justify it. But...

好的。不，不，這很合理，因為我認為可能需要十年的成長才能證明其合理性。但...

Well, anybody can do its calculations. We have a return on invested capital of 19.2%. And if you have a return on invested capital of 19.2%, I think it would be wise for the bulk of our shareholders to look at opportunities to grow our business and keep it there.

任何人都可以進行計算。我們的投資資本報酬率為 19.2%。如果投資回報率達到 19.2%，我認為對於我們的大多數股東來說，明智的做法是尋找機會發展我們的業務並保持這一水平。

Interestingly, we've maintained our return on invested capital from a total company perspective despite, and by the way, it's one of the highest in the industry the way I've been given the data, despite having done 20 acquisitions in the last 2.5 years. So if this world is about growing and creating jobs, if this world is about compounded growth and wealth creation, you really have an example here with the Unilever model, and that's what we're trying to do and continue to do.

有趣的是，儘管在過去的 2.5 年裡我們進行了 20 次收購，但從公司整體的角度來看，我們的投資資本回報率仍然保持穩定，而且就我所掌握的數據而言，它是業內最高的之一。所以，如果這個世界的目標是發展和創造就業機會，如果這個世界的目標是實現複合成長和財富創造，那麼聯合利華模式就是一個很好的例子，而這正是我們正在努力做並將繼續做的事情。

Okay. And just a detail question on the restructuring costs. In '17, they were only 10% higher than they were in '16, and yet '17 was the first full year of the major restructuring programs that you're undertaking. How do you expect that to evolve in '18? Because I would have expected it to be heavier in '17 and it wasn't.

好的。還有一個關於重組成本的細節問題。2017 年，這些數字僅比 2016 年高出 10%，然而 2017 年卻是你們正在實施的重大重組計畫的第一個完整年份。你預計這種情況在 2018 年會如何發展？因為我原本以為 2017 年的重量會比較重，但事實並非如此。

I guess it wasn't a full year as such. We expect 2018 to be the major restructuring. Obviously, we have certainty now on a big component of that, which is the [unsheddable] costs that we have following the spreads disposal, and that's job 1, to get going on that. We think we will see the big step-up in restructuring investment in 2018. And that is really job 1 for us, to make those changes, focusing on the spreads divestment, et cetera, so look for that to step up. But 2017 wasn't a full year, and we didn't have clarity with regard to spreads.

我想應該沒滿一年吧。我們預計2018年將是重大重組的一年。顯然，我們現在對其中很大一部分有了確定性，那就是在價差處置之後我們產生的（無法轉移的）成本，而首要任務就是著手解決這個問題。我們認為2018年重組投資將大幅成長。而這才是我們真正的首要任務，做出這些改變，重點是剝離利差等，所以期待這方面有所進展。但 2017 年還不是完整的一年，而且我們對價差情況也不清楚。

Okay. And just to be clear, is that likely to really impact in the second half of '18 then as well?

好的。那麼，為了明確起見，這種情況是否也可能對 2018 年下半年產生影響？

I think it will ramp-up through the course of the year, yes.

我認為這種情況會在今年逐漸加劇。

Okay. Next question is from Karel Zoete from Kepler Cheuvreux.

好的。下一個問題來自 Kepler Cheuvreux 的 Karel Zoete。

Two questions, please. First one is on Home Care. Compared to some competitors, you've seen clearly a pickup in the fourth quarter and also with the positive pricing. So can you clarify a little bit better why you've seen the pickup and where things are going well? And then the second question is on the operating leverage because the volume growth in the Personal Care business was quite okay. What kind of operational leverage are you seeing in the business, based on the volume pickup?

請問兩個問題。第一篇是關於居家照護的。與部分競爭對手相比，第四季業績明顯回升，定價策略也十分正面。那麼，您能否更詳細地解釋一下您為什麼看到業績回升，以及哪些方面進展順利？第二個問題是關於經營槓桿的，因為個人護理業務的銷售成長還算不錯。根據銷售成長情況，您在業務營運中看到了哪些方面的提升？

Yes. So you used Personal Care and Home Care, I assume you want to stick with Home Care, right, because now (inaudible). It's Home Care?

是的。所以你使用了個人護理和家庭護理，我猜你想繼續使用家庭護理，對吧，因為現在（聽不清楚）。這是居家照護嗎？

Yes, please.

好的，謝謝。

Yes, sorry. So on Home Care, I think, as you well know, it has been and continues to be our best-performing unit, actually, over the 8- or 9-year period of time, if I reflect back. And this year again, the growth rates are well above 4%. Last quarter, again, 6.5%. It's really a terrific unit.

是的，抱歉。所以，就家庭護理而言，我認為，正如您所知，它一直是，而且實際上也一直是我們表現最好的部門，回顧過去 8 或 9 年的時間，確實如此。今年，成長率再次遠高於 4%。上個季度，同樣是 6.5%。這真是一款非常棒的設備。

And I believe that we are and continue to be the fastest-growing Home Care unit in the industry, so it's very well managed. And obviously, what drives that top line growth is an incredibly strong and continuous innovation pipeline. Brands like Domestos are growing double digit and continue to grow double digit. Brands like Comfort are doing extremely well behind the different initiatives of Intense and the different perfumes that we have. Cif, that I alluded to.

我相信我們是並將繼續是業內發展最快的家庭護理部門，所以它的管理非常出色。顯然，推動營收成長的動力是極其強大且持續的創新管道。像Domestos這樣的品牌正在實現兩位數的成長，並將繼續保持兩位數的成長。像 Comfort 這樣的品牌在 Intense 的各種活動和我們推出的各種香水背後都表現得非常出色。我之前提到的Cif。

And then on top of that, we've had some expansions. For example, Omo in the Middle East is growing 150%. We launched that into Saudi, and it's doing extremely well for us. Lysoform, we've introduced in Italy, as an example. So this is a category that is attractive because of its trends, urbanization. People getting into homes, kitchens and bathrooms. But it's also attractive in the way it's being run in our portfolio that we have.

除此之外，我們也進行了一些擴張。例如，Omo在中東的銷售額成長了150%。我們在沙烏地阿拉伯推出了這項服務，而且效果非常好。例如，我們在義大利引進了溶菌酶。因此，這一類別因其發展趨勢和城市化而具有吸引力。人們進入房屋、廚房和浴室。但它在我們目前的投資組合中的運作方式也很有吸引力。

In terms of leverage in the unit, it's actually the same thing. Nitin, who ran this unit very well, has just moved to food and refreshments as we put these units together. But Nitin has actually been the originator of what we call the 5-S program, which is now being expanded across the other categories. And not surprisingly, what you see again, underlying operating margin up 130 basis points, which is well ahead of the rest of the company, if you look at it that way, and well on track to getting to its target margin by 2020. Very disciplined unit, and we like to keep it that way. Thank you.

就該裝置的槓桿作用而言，實際上是一樣的。Nitin之前把這個部門管理得很好，現在他已經調到餐飲部門了，因為我們正在整合這些部門。但尼丁實際上是我們所說的 5S 管理系統的創始人，現在該系統正在擴展到其他類別。不出所料，我們再次看到，基本營業利潤率上升了 130 個基點，從這個角度來看，這遠遠領先於公司其他業務，並且預計在 2020 年實現其目標利潤率。這是一支紀律嚴明的隊伍，我們希望能保持這種狀態。謝謝。

We'll take one more question. We have been Pinar Ergun from UBS on the line.

我們再回答最後一個問題。我們剛才連線的是瑞銀集團的皮納爾·埃爾貢。

My first question is on margins. There are a few moving parts with softer pricing, spreads disposal, cost savings; are you able to give us a more specific range for where you expect 2018 EBIT margin to be? And the second one is on legal review. You said that it's going well and will be concluded shortly. And I noticed that you bought back all the preference shares, so I was wondering if you have any comments on what you may wish to do in the future with the Unilever Trust Office in The Netherlands?

我的第一個問題是關於利潤率的。價格走軟、價差調整、成本節約等因素都會影響最終結果；您能否給出一個更具體的2018年息稅前利潤率預期範圍？第二點是關於法律審查的。你說一切進展順利，很快就會結束。我注意到您已回購了所有優先股，所以我想知道您對未來可能對荷蘭聯合利華信託辦公室採取的行動有何看法？

Yes. I'll let Graeme go into margin, I'll come back to this (inaudible).

是的。我請格雷姆去看看邊欄，我稍後再回來處理這個問題（聽不清楚）。

I guess, we got this 2020 20% target out there, and '17 represents a really good progress start towards that with 110. We don't want to be more specific about a particular number of delivery in 2018. We want to be able to balance driving the volume growth component in the business, but we do think we'll continue to make good progress and that we will keep ourselves thoroughly on track towards that 2020 longer-term target.

我想，我們已經設定了 2020 年 20% 的目標，而 2017 年的 110 則代表著朝著這個目標邁出了非常好的第一步。我們不想對 2018 年的具體交付數量做出更具體的說明。我們希望能夠在推動業務量成長的同時保持平衡，但我們認為我們將繼續取得良好進展，並始終朝著 2020 年的長期目標穩步前進。

We know we'll have strong delivery from our savings programs. We'll keep putting 2/3 of that back, reinvested behind the brands and behind capability. We do think that gross margin will continue to improve with 40 basis points this year. We'll get that through mix, we'll get that through 5-S, and we'll continue to be competitive, and there will be a nice spend. We think we'll have an absolute step-up in spend again in the first half 2018. And we'll continue to drive progress through ZBB and underlying overheads.

我們相信我們的儲蓄計劃將有顯著成效。我們將把其中三分之二的資金重新投入品牌建立和能力提升。我們認為毛利率今年將繼續提高40個基點。我們將透過組合管理來實現這一點，我們將透過 5S 來實現這一點，我們將繼續保持競爭力，並且會有不錯的消費支出。我們認為 2018 年上半年支出將再次大幅成長。我們將繼續透過零基預算和底層管理費用來推動進度。

So we've got to do all that and also cover what we think will be a 30 to 40 basis point margin dilution from spreads, assuming a midyear completion. So we've got lots of work to do, but we're confident we're off to a good start, and we've got all the levers and programs in place to allow us to do that.

因此，我們必須完成所有這些工作，還要彌補我們認為在年中完成的情況下，利差將導致的 30 至 40 個基點的利潤率稀釋。所以我們還有很多工作要做，但我們相信我們已經有了一個好的開端，而且我們已經具備了所有必要的手段和方案來實現這一目標。

A busy year.

忙碌的一年。

On the unification, what we have also explained in New Jersey when we had the end-of-the-year investor meeting again, and the news is still the same -- we are determined, obviously, as Unilever to operate under the highest levels of corporate governance. And what we've made clear is that we will be working under the strictest corporate governance of both the U.K. and The Netherlands, whatever the outcome is. And part of that has been our desire already for many years, nothing new, to respect the one share, one vote, and we're very happy that, after many years of discussion, by the way, with the pref shareholders, which have the right to keep it that we've actually come to a conclusion to take the shares out.

關於合併，我們在新澤西州再次召開年終投資者會議時也解釋過，而且消息仍然一樣——顯然，作為聯合利華，我們決心在最高水平的公司治理下運營。我們已經明確表示，無論結果如何，我們都將遵守英國和荷蘭最嚴格的公司治理規定。多年來，我們一直希望尊重一股一票的原則，這並非什麼新鮮事。我們很高興，經過多年的討論，順便說一句，與有權保留股份的優先股股東們，我們最終達成了撤回股份的決定。

The trust office in The Netherlands is there for 2 reasons. It's to balance against the pref shares, so that reason will be taken away now that the pref shares are retired and moved out of the systems we've been very clear with that. And the other one is a requirement to have attendance in the shareholder meetings. And if unification happens under whatever form and whatever shape, then that requirement most likely will also disappear.

在荷蘭設立信託辦公室有兩個原因。這是為了平衡優先股，但隨著優先股的註銷和從系統中移除，這個理由也就不存在了，我們已經非常明確地說明這一點。另一項要求是必須出席股東大會。如果統一以任何形式和任何方式實現，那麼這項要求很可能也會消失。

And then it's indeed the right moment to have a discussion with the trust office, which is really a function also of the trust office itself on what the future of that institution should be or not, and that would be sequentially on our agenda, just to be fully transparent.

那麼，現在正是與信託辦公室進行討論的合適時機，這實際上也是信託辦公室本身的一個職能，即該機構的未來應該如何發展，或者是否應該繼續存在，為了完全透明起見，這將按順序列入我們的議程。

The most important thing for us is, without any doubt, is that we continue to operate under the highest levels of corporate governance. And having taken the pref shares out, having the yearly votes for our Board of Directors and many other things, I do believe that, like compensation, et cetera, that Unilever is on the foreground, especially with the desired changes that people are looking for in corporate governance. We try to lead that in many areas. And I think that's a good thing, just like it's a good thing to be a responsible taxpayer or to welcome diversity. And I think the financial market now also increasingly understands why things like our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and managing our risks and transparencies and responsible business models is becoming an increasing competitive advantage. So we will again here operate under the highest standards.

毫無疑問，對我們來說最重要的是，我們要繼續在最高水準的公司治理下運作。在取消優先股、每年對董事會進行投票以及其他許多措施後，我相信，在薪酬等方面，聯合利華處於領先地位，尤其是在公司治理方面，它正在推動人們所期待的變革。我們努力在許多領域引領潮流。我認為這是一件好事，就像做一個負責任的納稅人或歡迎多元化是一件好事一樣。而且我認為，金融市場現在也越來越理解，像是我們的聯合利華永續生活計畫、風險管理、透明度和負責任的商業模式等，為何會成為越來越大的競爭優勢。所以，我們在這裡也將再次秉持最高標準來開展工作。

So I thank, everybody, because we're (inaudible) on time, as the French say, for your active engagement and for your support. Our year has started well, but it will be a busy year and we're fully focused on delivering that both again on the top and bottom line, which will be then a 10th year of performance.

所以，我要感謝大家，因為我們（聽不清楚）準時到達，正如法國人所說，感謝你們的積極參與和支持。今年開局不錯，但這將是忙碌的一年，我們將全力以赴，在營收和利潤方面再次取得佳績，這將是我們連續第十年取得如此佳績。

I hope you've also seen from the results that we've announced today that our Connected 4 Growth program that started in all earnest in 2016 is really starting to pay its dividends and makes us feel a little bit more confident also against the background of a slightly more positive global economy that I'm happy to report for the first time, basically, in the last 8, 9 or 10 years. So I hope that we have all the things going for us, but it will be hard work as usual, but the team here is prepared to do that.

我希望你們也能從我們今天公佈的結果中看到，我們從 2016 年正式啟動的「互聯互通促進成長」計畫確實開始產生效益，這讓我們更有信心。同時，我也很高興地報告，在過去 8、9 或 10 年裡，全球經濟情勢首次出現略微改善的態勢。所以我希望我們一切順利，但像往常一樣，這將是一場艱苦的戰鬥，但這裡的團隊已經準備好了。

So thanks for your support, and we look forward to seeing many of you during our market visits. Thank you very much.

感謝大家的支持，我們期待在市場巡展期間見到你們中的許多人。非常感謝。

Thanks, everyone.

謝謝大家。

Thank you Paul, thank you Graeme. And with that, we'll close the call.

謝謝保羅，謝謝格雷姆。通話到此結束。

This conference has been recorded. Details of the replay can be found on the Unilever's website, and will be available shortly. Thank you.

本次會議已錄影。重播詳情可在聯合利華網站上找到，很快就會發布。謝謝。