USANA Health Sciences Inc (USNA) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to USANA Health Sciences fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 earnings call. My name is Melissa, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note this conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I'll now turn the call over to Andrew Masuda. Please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加 USANA 健康科學第四季和 2023 財年財報電話會議。我叫梅麗莎，我將擔任今天活動的協調員。請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。（接線生指示）我現在將電話轉給 Andrew Masuda。請繼續。

Thank you, Melissa, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us to review our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2023 results. Today's conference call is being broadcast live via webcast and can be accessed directly from our website at ir.usana.com. Shortly following the call, a replay will be available on our website.

謝謝你，梅麗莎，大家早安。感謝您與我們一起回顧我們第四季和 2023 財年的業績。今天的電話會議透過網路直播進行現場直播，您可以直接從我們的網站 ir.usana.com 存取。通話結束後不久，我們的網站上將提供重播。

As a reminder, during the course of this conference call, management will make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of our company. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ perhaps materially from the results projected in such forward-looking statements. Examples of these statements include those regarding our strategies and outlook for fiscal year 2024 as well as uncertainty related to the economic and operating environment around the world, our operations and financial results. We caution you that these statements should be considered in conjunction with disclosures, including specific risk factors and financial data contained in our most recent filings with the SEC.

謹此提醒，在本次電話會議期間，管理階層將就我們公司的未來事件或未來財務表現做出前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述中預測的結果有重大差異。這些聲明的範例包括有關我們 2024 財年策略和前景的聲明，以及與全球經濟和營運環境、我們的營運和財務表現相關的不確定性。我們提醒您，這些聲明應與揭露資訊結合起來考慮，包括我們最近向 SEC 提交的文件中包含的具體風險因素和財務資料。

I'm joined by our President and CEO, Jim Brown; our Chief Financial Officer, Doug Hekking; as well as other executives. Yesterday, after the market closed, we announced our fourth quarter and fiscal year results and posted our management commentary document to the company's website. We'll now hear brief remarks from Jim before opening the call for questions.

我們的總裁兼執行長吉姆布朗 (Jim Brown) 也加入了我的行列。我們的財務長 Doug Hekking；以及其他高階主管。昨天，收盤後，我們公佈了第四季度和財年業績，並將我們的管理層評論文件發佈到公司網站上。在開始提問之前，我們現在將聽取吉姆的簡短發言。

Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. USANA delivered fourth quarter operating results that exceeded our expectations as our sales force responded positively to an incentive offering in several of our key markets. Notably, our Greater China region delivered double-digit sequential growth in active customers. We are pleased with our year-end results and the adoption of this incentive, particularly because the operating environment in many of our markets in 2023 was challenging as inflation and other economic factors adversely impacted consumer behavior and our ability to generate top-line momentum.

謝謝你，安德魯，大家早安。USANA 的第四季度經營業績超出了我們的預期，因為我們的銷售人員對我們幾個主要市場的激勵措施做出了積極的反應。值得注意的是，我們的大中華區活躍客戶數量實現了兩位數的環比增長。我們對年終業績和這項激勵措施的採用感到滿意，特別是因為2023 年我們許多市場的營運環境充滿挑戰，因為通貨膨脹和其他經濟因素對消費者行為和我們產生營收動力的能力產生了不利影響。

Despite this environment, we delivered fourth quarter net sales and diluted EPS above expectations. We ended the year with $330 million in cash and essentially debt-free as we continue to generate strong free cash flow.

儘管面臨這種環境，我們第四季的淨銷售額和攤薄後每股收益仍高於預期。截至年底，我們擁有 3.3 億美元的現金，基本上沒有債務，因為我們繼續產生強勁的自由現金流。

We officially launched operations in India, the company's 25th global market, at the end of fiscal 2023, which is a significant milestone for USANA following years of preparation. And we continue to make meaningful progress on several strategic initiatives that are foundational for USANA's future growth.

我們於 2023 財年末正式啟動印度業務，這是該公司的第 25 個全球市場，這是 USANA 經過多年準備後的一個重要里程碑。我們持續在多項策略措施上取得有意義的進展，這些措施是 USANA 未來發展的基礎。

We begin fiscal 2024 with renewed focus on executing our global growth strategy, which is generating consistent active customer growth. The initiatives that drive this strategy include increasing engagement with our associate leaders to accelerate associate and customer growth, enhancing our incentive opportunities for our sales leaders that are actively generating customer and sales growth, building and expanding our operations in India, product innovation and development, and pursuing additional acquisition opportunities.

2024 財年伊始，我們將重新聚焦於執行我們的全球成長策略，以實現持續的活躍客戶成長。推動這項策略的舉措包括加強與我們的員工領導的接觸，以加速員工和客戶的成長，增加我們對積極促進客戶和銷售成長的銷售領導的激勵機會，建立和擴大我們在印度的業務，產品創新和開發，並尋求更多收購機會。

I'll briefly provide additional details on our initiative to increase engagement with our associate leaders. While 2023 was a year of re-engaging with our associate leaders in a live setting, in 2024, we'll be doubling down on engaging, training, and educating our associates with a focus on growing active associates globally. While overall customer growth is always our goal, we recognize that our business model relies upon our independent distributors to market and sell our products. For this reason, we are renewing our focus on associate growth in 2024.

我將簡要提供有關我們加強與副領導接觸的舉措的更多細節。雖然2023 年是我們在現場環境中與我們的員工領導重新互動的一年，但到2024 年，我們將加倍努力對我們的員工進行參與、培訓和教育，重點是在全球範圍內培養活躍的員工。雖然整體客戶成長始終是我們的目標，但我們認識到我們的業務模式依賴我們的獨立分銷商來行銷和銷售我們的產品。因此，我們在 2024 年重新關注員工成長。

USANA offers best-in-class nutritional supplements. And this year, we'll be collaborating with our associates to help them effectively communicate this product differentiation message. Additionally, we plan to roll out more updates to our existing digital tools, which will help our associates with the necessary onboarding, training, communication, and marketing resources essential for growing and managing their business.

USANA 提供一流的營養補充品。今年，我們將與我們的員工合作，幫助他們有效地傳達這項產品差異化訊息。此外，我們計劃對現有數位工具進行更多更新，這將幫助我們的員工獲得發展和管理業務所需的入職、培訓、溝通和行銷資源。

In closing, USANA remains well positioned for long-term success in the global health and wellness market. I'm confident that our successful execution of our strategies will expand our business and drive sustainable long-term growth in net sales and earnings.

最後，USANA 仍處於在全球健康和保健市場中取得長期成功的有利地位。我相信，我們策略的成功執行將擴大我們的業務並推動淨銷售額和收益的可持續長期成長。

With that, I'll now ask the operator to please open the lines for questions.

現在，我將要求接線員打開提問線路。

(Operator Instructions) Anthony Lebiedzinski, Sidoti & Company.

（操作員說明）Anthony Lebiedzinski，Sidoti & Company。

Good morning and thank you for taking the questions. Certainly, a nice job with the fourth-quarter results. Good to see China doing better.

早上好，感謝您提出問題。當然，第四季的業績表現不錯。很高興看到中國做得更好。

So just curious I guess the big picture maybe first. So as you start 2024 now, you're a little bit more than a month into the current fiscal year. Just wondering if you could just give us a sense as to like which countries do you think other than China are doing better? And maybe conversely, where do you see the weakest pressure points?

所以只是好奇，我想也許首先是大局。因此，從現在開始 2024 年，距離本財年還有一個多月了。只是想知道您能否讓我們了解一下您認為中國以外還有哪些國家做得更好？也許相反，您在哪裡看到最薄弱的壓力點？

Yeah. Anthony, this is Doug. I think it's pretty early in the game. I think the pattern that you see has been fairly consistent.

是的。安東尼，這是道格。我認為現在還處於遊戲的早期階段。我認為你看到的模式相當一致。

I think we put a little color in our management commentary document talking about the initial response we saw to promotion to offset the Lunar New Year holiday. And so we're pretty encouraged by what we saw there, and we report it in the first quarter. *But outside of there, I think we're still watching and evaluating the impact through the Lunar New Year. So it's a little bit early, but we'll definitely look to give some color on that after the first quarter.

我認為我們在管理層評論文件中加入了一些色彩，討論了我們看到的針對促銷以抵消農曆新年假期的初步反應。因此，我們對在那裡看到的情況感到非常鼓舞，我們在第一季進行了報告。*但除此之外，我認為我們仍在觀察和評估農曆新年期間的影響。所以現在還為時過早，但我們肯定會在第一季之後對此進行一些說明。

Understood. Okay. And then -- so as far as pricing, so last year, you guys had some customers buying ahead of price increases, which impacted your first quarter in '23. So what can we expect as far as pricing this year? And could we perhaps see a repeat of that, or just not looking to do anything like you did last year as far as pricing?

明白了。好的。然後 - 就定價而言，去年，你們有一些客戶在價格上漲之前購買，這影響了你們 23 年第一季的情況。那麼今年的定價我們可以期待什麼呢？我們是否會看到這種情況重演，或者只是不想像去年那樣在定價方面做任何事情？

Yeah. I would not expect it, and that's why we've called out I think the adjustment we did last year pricing. And we've been pretty tepid in the several years before as far as how we've approached it. We probably had on an average basis somewhere in that 4% to 5% on a global basis last year. You definitely won't see that this year. And the response last year was above and beyond what we typically see just because of having a little bit bigger adjustment.

是的。我沒想到會這樣，這就是為什麼我們呼籲我們去年進行定價調整。就我們如何處理這個問題而言，前幾年我們一直相當不溫不火。去年，我們的全球平均成長率可能在 4% 到 5% 之間。今年你一定看不到了。去年的反應超出了我們通常看到的水平，只是因為調整幅度更大一些。

And we definitely not moving as fast as we've seen others. So we've been very conscientious in working with our sales leadership and how we approach that, but you won't see the same magnitude. And I think that's why it's appropriate to call both that out and the response to the immunity boost that we saw at the end of the fourth quarter and the first quarter of '23.

我們的行動絕對沒有其他人那麼快。因此，我們一直非常認真地與銷售領導層合作以及我們如何實現這一目標，但您不會看到相同的規模。我認為這就是為什麼應該指出這一點以及我們在 23 年第四季末和第一季看到的免疫力增強的反應。

Understood. Okay. And then, also, can you just talk about the spending that you've planned for India and one of your acquisitions, Rise Bar, as far as -- how should we think about as far as -- I don't know if you want to put a dollar amount on that or maybe just help us understand as far as what the return on that additional spending will be and the expectation as far as the timing of that.

明白了。好的。然後，您能否談談您為印度計劃的支出以及您的收購之一 Rise Bar，至於——我們應該如何考慮——我不知道您是否希望給出一個金額，或者只是幫助我們了解額外支出的回報以及對時間的期望。

Yes. I'll start here, and I'll have Jim jump in. But we definitely plan this year will be an investment year. I think we're -- we wanted with Rise Bar to get everything this way to get level set with integration some of the things we're doing there. And we think there's some great opportunity there. The group has compiled commercial plans.

是的。我將從這裡開始，然後讓吉姆加入。但我們肯定計劃今年將是投資年。我認為我們希望 Rise Bar 能以這種方式實現一切，以整合我們正在做的一些事情來達到水平。我們認為那裡有一些很好的機會。該集團已製定商業計劃。

And so this upcoming year will be a year of investment where we won't be profitable in that, but we do expect some pretty good traction in sales, and India is much the same. I think we opened India really towards the very end of the year, and I think we're anticipating doing that earlier. And some of those costs with opening events and celebrations and some of other stuff have really been pushed to '24. But we understand the significance of this market long term. And we want to make sure that we get off to a good start and engage those leaders and really put our best foot forward there.

因此，即將到來的一年將是投資的一年，我們不會從中獲利，但我們確實預計銷售會出現相當好的成長，印度也是如此。我認為我們確實在今年年底開放了印度，而且我認為我們預計會更早這樣做。其中一些開幕活動和慶祝活動以及其他一些費用確實被推到了“24”。但我們了解這個市場的長期重要性。我們希望確保我們有一個良好的開端，並與這些領導人接觸，並真正在這方面盡最大努力。

And so I think you'll probably see collectively between those, between $4 million and $5 million net negative operating margin between the sales in those two categories. But we think that's money well invested, and we'll generate future long-term benefits. Jim, any additional color?

因此，我認為您可能會看到這兩個類別的銷售額之間的淨負營業利潤率在 400 萬美元到 500 萬美元之間。但我們認為這筆錢投資得當，我們將在未來產生長期利益。吉姆，還有其他顏色嗎？

Yeah, Doug, called me out. But quite honestly, I don't know exactly what else to put out there. I mean this is an investment time for both businesses, and we expect it to basically be flat or down from a profit standpoint this year. And we're looking forward to what they do in the future, but again, we just want to get the momentum moving in 2024.

是的，道格，叫我出去。但老實說，我不知道還能在那裡放什麼。我的意思是，這對兩家企業來說都是一個投資時期，我們預計今年從利潤的角度來看基本上會持平或下降。我們期待他們未來的表現，但我們只想在 2024 年繼續保持這種勢頭。

That's very helpful color. And then lastly before I pass it on to others. So your balance sheet obviously continues to be strong. It looks like you have more cash than you need to run the business. So how should we think about the capital allocation priorities for you guys?

這是非常有用的顏色。最後，在我將其傳遞給其他人之前。所以你的資產負債表顯然仍然強勁。看起來你的現金多於經營業務所需的現金。那我們該如何考慮你們的資本配置優先順序呢？

Well, I think it remains very similar to what we’ve done in the past. I think we always look to go back and invest in really organically into our direct selling business and really lean into that. After that, I think we’ve been talking for several quarters now about activity in M&A, and we always have several opportunities in the hopper that we’ve evaluated and moving down the path.

嗯，我認為這與我們過去所做的非常相似。我認為我們總是希望回去並真正有機地投資於我們的直銷業務，並真正投入其中。在那之後，我認為我們已經討論了幾個季度的併購活動，而且我們總是在我們已經評估過並沿著這條道路前進的漏斗中擁有一些機會。

And then in the past, we’ve been pretty heavily invested in share repurchase program, but those things are balanced. It’s a quarterly discussion with the Board of Directors, and it’s a very open discussion. So trying to go back and evaluate the opportunities at the stage that they’re at and invest accordingly.

過去，我們在股票回購計畫上投入了大量資金，但這些事情是平衡的。這是與董事會進行的季度討論，而且是一次非常開放的討論。因此，嘗試回去評估當前階段的機會並進行相應的投資。

And I would say, just for context, at our current level of business, I would say to operate in an environment without debt, and I’m not even saying that’s the goal, we probably need roughly $100 million given some of the liquidity dynamics and where the cash is held ballpark. And then you can gauge from there and that’s -- it always becomes a little bit of a waiting game with repatriating cash back from China. And it’s just a process that you go through in that market that’s unique to China.

我想說，僅作為背景，在我們目前的業務水平上，我會說要在沒有債務的環境中運營，我什至不是說這是目標，考慮到一些因素，我們可能需要大約 1 億美元流動性動態以及現金持有的大致情況。然後你可以從那裡進行衡量——從中國匯回現金總是會變成一場等待遊戲。這只是你在中國市場所經歷的一個獨特的過程。

Understood. Well, thank you very much and best of luck.

明白了。嗯，非常感謝你，祝你好運。

Thank you, Anthony.

謝謝你，安東尼。

Linda Bolton-Weiser, D.A. Davidson.

琳達·博爾頓·韋瑟，D.A.戴維森。

Yes, hello. So I was wondering just on the cost side first, I guess. You had mentioned that freight cost were down year over year in the quarter. Is that a sustainable comparison now going forward for the next few quarters? Can we expect for that freight cost to continue to be down year over year?

是的你好。所以我想我首先想知道成本方面。您曾提及本季貨運成本較去年同期下降。在接下來的幾個季度中，這種比較是否可持續？我們是否可以預期貨運成本將繼續逐年下降？

Yeah, I'd say it's sustainable, and it will be down year over year. We haven't really gone out and got better freight costs or any of that, but it's just a stabilization of everything after COVID. And we can depend on the rates as well as the lead times and transit times, and we're not expediting shipments like we had to do to make sure that we didn't go on back order through the ups and downs of COVID and right after that.

是的，我想說這是可持續的，而且會逐年下降。我們還沒有真正走出去並獲得更好的貨運成本或任何其他東西，但這只是在新冠疫情之後一切都趨於穩定。我們可以依賴費率以及交貨時間和運輸時間，而且我們不會像我們必須做的那樣加快發貨，以確保我們不會在新冠疫情的起起落落中出現延期交貨的情況。在那之後。

Yeah. I would also say, one of the things that will help out is the ops team has done a really good job locating the inventory and market to help us have a little bit more of the shock absorber with any change in demand doing this other stuff so we can respond in a more timely manner. And so the strategic efforts of the procurement and supply chain teams along with really just the stability of the supply chain in general, both contribute pretty positively there. And it really is, like Jim said, the absence of airfreight, which is the big delta there.

是的。我還想說，有幫助的一件事是，營運團隊在定位庫存和市場方面做得非常好，可以幫助我們在需求發生任何變化時獲得更多的減震器，從而完成其他事情我們可以更及時地做出回應。因此，採購和供應鏈團隊的策略性努力以及整個供應鏈的穩定性都對此做出了相當積極的貢獻。正如吉姆所說，這確實是缺乏空運，這是那裡最大的三角洲。

And you can see it, too, Linda, in our level of inventory right now, that $65-ish million amount where back a few years ago, we were at $100 million just because we couldn't depend on stuff, and we had to stock up. So I think that will remain around that same amount. And that just, again, it's hats off to our operational teams managing the business better and having the dependability of the logistics companies now.

琳達，你也可以看到，我們現在的庫存水準是 6500 萬美元左右，而幾年前，我們的庫存水準是 1 億美元，因為我們不能依賴任何東西，我們必須備貨。所以我認為這將保持在相同的數量左右。這再次向我們的營運團隊致敬，他們現在可以更好地管理業務並擁有物流公司的可靠性。

Okay, great. And then I was just curious about Malaysia and the Philippines because you mentioned that the promotional initiative helped Malaysia, and Malaysia was up 7% local currency. That's good, but then Philippines was still so weak. Did you trade the same promotion in the Philippines, and it just didn't work? Or what is the difference here between the Malaysia and the Philippines performance?

好的，太好了。然後我只是對馬來西亞和菲律賓感到好奇，因為你提到促銷活動對馬來西亞有幫助，馬來西亞的當地貨幣上漲了7%。這很好，但當時菲律賓還是那麼弱。您是否在菲律賓進行過同樣的促銷活動，但效果不佳？或者馬來西亞和菲律賓的表現有何不同？

Yeah, the markets are very unique. Brent Neidig is in here, and I'll let him chime in. I think he can go back and give a pretty articulate response. But the Philippines is a great market, with people who are very entrepreneur minded.

是的，市場非常獨特。布倫特·尼迪格在這裡，我會讓他插話的。我認為他可以回去給一個非常清晰的回應。但菲律賓是一個巨大的市場，這裡的人們都非常有企業家精神。

I think the COVID environment has hit that market particularly hard. And the operating environment is what it is at this point. We're obviously optimistic there, but there's still work to be done. Brent?

我認為新冠疫情環境對該市場的打擊尤其嚴重。而運作環境就是此時的樣子。我們顯然對此持樂觀態度，但仍有工作要做。布倫特？

Hi, Linda. Doug mentioned it, the parameters of the promotion were quite similar across markets. But each market responded differently, and I think that depends on several factors. One is the socioeconomic environment. I think the Philippines has been hit harder than Malaysia has, which is one of the primary indicators of why they didn't respond as effectively as Malaysia did.

嗨，琳達。道格提到，各市場的促銷參數非常相似。但每個市場的反應都不同，我認為這取決於幾個因素。一是社會經濟環境。我認為菲律賓受到的打擊比馬來西亞更嚴重，這是他們沒有像馬來西亞那樣有效應對的主要指標之一。

Okay. And then in Mainland China, so that was better performance there. But I guess I'm curious about the active customers being up 5% year over year, but local currency sales were still down slightly. Is that just like an average ticket per customer is lower, or how do I interpret that information?

好的。然後在中國大陸，表現更好。但我想我很好奇的是，活躍客戶年增了 5%，但當地貨幣銷售額仍然略有下降。這是否就像每個客戶的平均門票較低一樣，或者我如何解釋該資訊？

Yeah. I would say I think currency has played a little bit of a roll year over year, and that's been a pretty hefty impact year on year when you look at the full year. Remember, our customer count is primarily a quarterly metric. And so as you look at the full year, you have to just take that into consideration.

是的。我想說的是，我認為貨幣逐年發揮了一些作用，當你縱觀全年時，這對逐年產生了相當大的影響。請記住，我們的客戶數量主要是季度指標。因此，當你審視全年時，你必須考慮到這一點。

But I think we've been pretty pleased with the resilience of China. And now Brent, with the team that we have there, is optimistic. And we've done quite a few things different that we see as pretty encouraging opportunities for us to look at in our other businesses as well.

但我認為我們對中國的韌性感到非常滿意。現在布倫特和我們在那裡的團隊都很樂觀。我們做了很多不同的事情，我們認為這些事情對我們來說也是非常令人鼓舞的機會，可以在我們的其他業務中考慮。

Yeah. I'd say it's also a function of the promotions that we run the different incentives that we've had that perhaps the spend per customer has slightly been down. We are okay with that. Our ultimate goal is to attract and retain consumers and customers. And so as we see that active customer number increased, to us, that's a good long-term indicator that we want to continue to build on that momentum.

是的。我想說，這也是促銷活動的功能，我們採取了不同的激勵措施，也許每位客戶的支出略有下降。我們對此表示同意。我們的最終目標是吸引並留住消費者和客戶。因此，當我們看到活躍客戶數量增加時，對我們來說，這是一個很好的長期指標，表明我們希望繼續保持這一勢頭。

Okay. That's all -- well, let me just ask one more thing. In terms of the cadence of promotions in 2024, so I guess you've mentioned doing something here in the first quarter. But beyond that, what would be the plan? Are you going to pull back on these big promotional events or still do them periodically? What's the plan there?

好的。就這些了——好吧，讓我再問一件事。就 2024 年的促銷節奏而言，我想您已經提到在第一季在這裡做一些事情。但除此之外，還有什麼計畫呢？您打算取消這些大型促銷活動還是仍定期舉辦？那裡有什麼計劃？

Yeah, real high level. I think 2023 were a little bit lighter than we had been historically. But we are coming off really three years of a heavy promotional cadence during the COVID years, and it depended on where the individual markets we're at. So I think you'll see us tick up from where we were in '23. We're in a sales culture; you're always going to have incentives and promotions. And to Brent's point, really looking to go back and do those things that will go back and get us traction and sustainable growth going forward. Brent?

是啊，水平真高。我認為 2023 年的情況比歷史上的情況要輕鬆一些。但在新冠疫情期間，我們實際上已經經歷了三年的密集促銷節奏，這取決於我們所處的各個市場。所以我想你會看到我們比 23 年的情況有所進步。我們處於銷售文化之中；你總是會得到激勵和升遷。對於布倫特來說，他真的希望回去做那些可以回去並為我們帶來牽引力和可持續增長的事情。布倫特？

The direction we're moving for 2024 is to really look market by market and ensure that we have the right incentive structure and package for each individualized market. In the past, some of these larger promotions have been global in nature, and they've been effective to a degree, but sometimes they don't resonate as well in certain markets. So the intention going forward is to really identify what's going to motivate and incentivize our local sales leaders and ensure that we're supporting them the best way that we can.

我們 2024 年的方向是真正逐一市場考察，確保我們為每個個人化市場提供正確的激勵結構和方案。過去，一些較大的促銷活動本質上是全球性的，並且在一定程度上有效，但有時在某些市場上並沒有引起共鳴。因此，未來的目的是真正確定什麼可以激勵和激勵我們當地的銷售領導者，並確保我們以最好的方式支持他們。

Okay. That's it for me. Thank you very much.

好的。對我來說就是這樣。非常感謝。

Thanks, Linda.

謝謝，琳達。

Susan Anderson, Canaccord Genuity.

蘇珊安德森，Canaccord Genuity。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just really quick. It sounds like on the transportation costs, you don't really expect any increases. I'm just curious about the Suez Canal and how you're navigating things there. We've heard maybe some slight increases; transportation providers are trying to pass through.

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。真的很快。聽起來運輸成本方面，你並不真正期望有任何增加。我只是對蘇伊士運河以及你們如何在那裡航行感到好奇。我們聽說可能會略有增加；運輸供應商正試圖通過。

Yeah, this is Walter. If you look at our transportation costs, the biggest extensive cost in the past has been airfreight. And so because of those challenges we've had, I think those costs have gone up a slight amount, but most of our routes are not around the Suez Canal. So we really haven't had those issues.

是的，這是沃特。如果你看看我們的運輸成本，過去最大的廣泛成本是空運。因此，由於我們遇到的這些挑戰，我認為這些成本略有上升，但我們的大多數航線都不在蘇伊士運河周圍。所以我們確實沒有遇到這些問題。

Okay. Great.

好的。偉大的。

But to your point, that is something that we've watched. We've seen port strikes in the past. And some of these things definitely have an effect, so it is something that we're monitoring. And we'll update if we start seeing it have an impact on our business.

但就你而言，這是我們已經看到的事情。我們過去曾見過港口罷工。其中一些事情肯定會產生影響，所以這是我們正在監控的事情。如果我們開始看到它對我們的業務產生影響，我們會進行更新。

Okay, great. And then I guess -- so back to Linda's question on China, it sounds like it's just more fluctuations in currency. I guess are you seeing that consumer there feel a little bit more pressured from a macro perspective and pulling back on your products at all?

好的，太好了。然後我想——回到琳達關於中國的問題，聽起來這只是貨幣的更多波動。我想您是否發現那裡的消費者從宏觀角度感到壓力更大，並且根本不再購買您的產品？

Yeah. Hi, it's Brent. The Chinese consumer -- when you look at the larger macroeconomic data and you get a housing and other factors that are weighing into that, the consumer definitely is suppressed. And in many categories, they have drawn back. I think the wellness space is quite resilient. The Chinese consumer is still very focused on wellness.

是的。嗨，我是布倫特。中國消費者－當你觀察更宏觀的宏觀經濟數據時，你會發現住房和其他因素會影響這個數據，消費者肯定會受到抑制。在許多類別中，他們都出現了退縮。我認為健康空間很有彈性。中國消費者仍然非常注重健康。

And so speaking specifically for USANA, we haven't really seen much fluctuation in that regard, which has been optimistic. Who knows what the future will hold? But we still are quite optimistic in the wellness space. And regardless of what happens from a socioeconomic factor, we think it's still pretty resilient.

因此，就 USANA 而言，我們在這方面並沒有真正看到太多的波動，這是樂觀的。誰知道未來會怎樣？但我們對健康領域仍然相當樂觀。無論社會經濟因素如何，我​​們認為它仍然具有相當的彈性。

Okay. Great. And then I guess just really quick on pricing for 2024. It looks like there was a slight benefit this quarter. Should we expect that to continue in 2024?

好的。偉大的。然後我想 2024 年的定價會很快。看起來本季略有好處。我們是否應該期望這種情況在 2024 年繼續下去？

Yeah. So I think what you hear narrated in the fourth quarter is just the year-over-year comp from the adjustments that we made towards the end of the first quarter, beginning of second quarter in '23. The adjustments that we'd have planned this year are going to be meaningfully less than what we did in '23. And so I don't think you'll see much inflection point relative to our P&L from adjustments in prices. I think we'll be pretty targeted and looking at specific products that have certain attributes that we have to address. But as a whole, definitely, we won't be making the same lean into it that we did in '23.

是的。因此，我認為您在第四季度聽到的內容只是我們在 23 年第一季末和第二季初所做的調整中的同比比較。我們今年計劃的調整將明顯少於 23 年所做的調整。因此，我認為價格調整不會為我們的損益表帶來太大的轉折點。我認為我們將非常有針對性地關注具有我們必須解決的某些屬性的特定產品。但總的來說，我們肯定不會像 23 年那樣對它做出同樣的傾斜。

Okay, great. And then last question just on M&A. I guess, is there any color you can give on kind of either products or categories that you're thinking about or holes in the portfolio that you would like to fill?

好的，太好了。最後一個問題是關於併購的。我想，對於您正在考慮的產品或類別，或者您想要填補的產品組合中的漏洞，您是否可以給出任何顏色？

Yeah, this is Jim. We’re going to always do M&A looking at the wellness industry -- excuse me -- and that’s kind of our focus that we get product lines and everything that match within that. I was just talking this morning to Walter, and they have a queue of six or seven companies that are interesting.

是的，這是吉姆。對不起，我們將始終針對健康產業進行併購，這就是我們的重點，我們獲得產品線以及與之相符的所有產品。今天早上我剛剛和沃特談話，他們有六、七家有趣的公司在排隊。

Again, they’re all in the wellness area. We always look for companies that are healthy, and we want to help them continue to grow. M&A is an interesting thing where no matter how eager you are to get in, you’ve got to find the right deals and the deals that resonate with the company and make a smart decision and it just takes time to evaluate those.

同樣，它們都在健康區。我們始終尋找健康的公司，並希望幫助他們持續成長。併購是一件有趣的事情，無論您多麼渴望進入，您都必須找到正確的交易以及與公司產生共鳴的交易並做出明智的決定，而評估這些交易只是需要時間。

Okay. Thank you so much for all the details. Good luck this year.

好的。非常感謝您提供的所有詳細資訊。祝今年好運。

Thanks, Susan.

謝謝，蘇珊。

Ivan Feinseth, Tigress Financial Partners.

Ivan Feinseth，Tigress Financial Partners。

Hi. Thanks for taking my question and congratulations on the strong year end finish. I have two questions. One, on the sales incentives that you got some great results on, can you give some details on that? And what do you find works best, and what have you experienced that has not worked well?

你好。感謝您提出我的問題，並祝賀您在年終取得了優異的成績。我有兩個問題。第一，關於你們在銷售激勵方面取得了一些成績的問題，你能透露一些細節嗎？您發現什麼最有效，您經歷過什麼效果不佳？

Yeah, I think Brent captured it well. I think what we're seeing when we do something that's more far reaching and then the one in the fourth quarter was for the most part available in most markets, that same type of approach doesn't work in every market. The particular one we ran in the fourth quarter was really rewarding growth in sales to new customers.

是的，我認為布倫特捕捉得很好。我認為，當我們做一些影響更深遠的事情時，我們所看到的情況是，第四季度的事情大部分在大多數市場都可用，但同樣類型的方法並不適用於每個市場。我們在第四季度開展的一項活動確實為新客戶的銷售成長帶來了回報。

And you have a market like China who is a very entrepreneurial spirit, really have a strong belief in the health and wellness space. And so when we do some of the stuff in line with this, China is a market -- those resonate in pretty well. I think we've looked at value proposition promotions here or there, and those get received well.

像中國這樣的市場非常具有創業精神，對健康和保健領域有著堅定的信念。因此，當我們做一些與此相符的事情時，中國就是一個市場——這些市場引起了很好的共鳴。我認為我們已經在這裡或那裡研究過價值主張促銷活動，並且這些促銷活動受到了好評。

But typically, when you do those, those are marketing to your existing customer base, and you're not seeing necessarily an inflection in customer counts. And so it really is a balanced act. And to Brent's point, we hear different feedback from different of our sales leaders, and we try to work with them to get aligned.

但通常情況下，當您這樣做時，這些都是針對您現有的客戶群進行的行銷，並且您不一定會看到客戶數量的變化。所以這確實是一個平衡的行為。對於布倫特來說，我們從不同的銷售領導者那裡聽到了不同的回饋，我們嘗試與他們合作以達成一致。

Anything else, Brent? You good?

還有別的事嗎，布倫特？你好嗎？

All right.

好的。

I think we're good.

我想我們很好。

All right. Second, in discussions in what's going on in the world with the GLP drugs, and primarily driving reduced food consumption is going to lead to the need for nutritional supplements and additional protein supplements, have you been progressing in your thoughts about addressing those market opportunities?

好的。其次，在討論世界上 GLP 藥物正在發生的情況時，主要是減少食物消耗將導致對營養補充劑和額外蛋白質補充劑的需求，您在解決這些市場機會的想法方面是否取得了進展？

Ivan, we think the same way, quite honestly. We see this as an opportunity for people to need nutritionals to balance out as they're eating less, and we have a great product offering. We'll look at products that would marry up well with that new market that's being created. I mean it is -- it's huge right now, the people who were taking that and having success with it. But we see that as an opportunity, and our R&D teams will look at products to basically balance out that.

伊万，老實說，我們也有同樣的想法。我們認為這是一個機會，讓人們在吃得更少時需要營養來平衡，而且我們提供了很棒的產品。我們將研究能夠與正在創建的新市場完美結合的產品。我的意思是——現在它是巨大的，那些接受它並取得成功的人。但我們認為這是一個機會，我們的研發團隊將研究產品以基本上平衡這一點。

And do you feel that you'll confident to continue to develop these products in-house, or this will be part of your M&A thought process, or both?

您是否認為您有信心繼續在內部開發這些產品，或者這將成為您併購思考過程的一部分，或者兩者兼而有之？

Yeah, I would say both. But initially in-house, we're working on that now, and it takes time to develop, get the right products, test it and everything else. But again, from an M&A standpoint, if we find someone in that space or whatever, we'll definitely look at them.

是的，我會說兩者。但最初是在內部，我們現在正在努力，開發、獲得合適的產品、測試它以及其他一切都需要時間。但同樣，從併購的角度來看，如果我們在該領域或其他領域找到某人，我們肯定會關注他們。

One of the areas that we want to make sure is just from kind of competing with ourselves that we broaden our reach when we do M&A. And if we can do it ourselves, I think with the operations that we have and we're just premium products, and we do a great job of it, we can do it better. That's what USANA is.

我們想要確保的領域之一就是透過與自己的競爭來擴大我們在進行併購時的影響力。如果我們自己能做到這一點，我認為憑藉我們現有的業務，我們只是優質產品，而且我們做得很好，我們可以做得更好。這就是USANA。

Yeah. And I would say our current product offering goes to specifically addressing people who need better nutrition. So I don't think we need to -- even though I think we're opportunistic with M&A. So I think we're well suited to go back and do this.

是的。我想說的是，我們目前提供的產品專門針對需要更好營養的人。所以我認為我們不需要——儘管我認為我們在併購方面是投機取巧的。所以我認為我們非常適合回去做這件事。

The discussion is going on. There's been some development. And we want to be responsible with how we approach it and continue to be additive to someone's health and wellness journey.

討論正在進行中。已經有了一些發展。我們希望對我們的處理方式負責，並繼續為人們的健康和保健之旅做出貢獻。

Good luck for a big 2024.

祝 2024 年一切順利。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Doug Lane, Water Town Research.

（操作員指示）Doug Lane，水鎮研究中心。

Yes. Hi, good morning, everybody. I just have a couple of quick questions on China following up on our discussion here. You've got a direct selling model in China. So I would -- should we view the active customer count is really a leading indicator going forward?

是的。嗨，大家早安。繼我們在這裡的討論之後，我只想簡單地問幾個關於中國的問題。你們在中國有直銷模式。所以我想——我們是否應該將活躍客戶數量視為未來的領先指標？

I think you always should. We always try to give some color to the activity that was in the quarter so you can use that in perspective. Typically, when you have higher level of activity in bringing on new customers during the quarter, you're not going to have that same level stick, and that's why we give some of that context.

我認為你總是應該這樣做。我們總是嘗試為本季的活動賦予一些色彩，以便您可以正確地使用它。通常，當您在本季度吸引新客戶的活動水平較高時，您將不會保持同樣水平的堅持，這就是我們提供一些背景資訊的原因。

It's not disproportionate to what the average numbers are, but there is the elevated customer acquisition. And so I think it just provides context. And we've tried to be very transparent throughout our history and how we communicate that.

這與平均數字並不不成比例，但客戶獲取量有所增加。所以我認為它只是提供了背景。我們一直努力在我們的歷史和溝通方式上保持非常透明。

No, it's very helpful. I always base my models off the customer count figuring that that's really directionally where the business is going. But I just wanted to double check. I thought that you did run the direct selling business in China, right? BabyCare?

不，這很有幫助。我總是根據客戶數量來建立我的模型，認為這才是業務發展的真正方向。但我只是想仔細檢查一下。我以為你在中國是做直銷生意的，對吧？嬰兒照護？

Yeah. That's accurate, Doug.

是的。這是準確的，道格。

Yeah. A lot of people don't -- a lot of other companies in this space operate different models in China because of the complexity of the regulations there. And that's the other thing I wanted to talk about is that a year ago in the fourth quarter, we were still in zero COVID in China, and that came off at the end of the year. So I just wondered if you could put some color on the overall regulatory environment in China and how that's impacting your business.

是的。很多人不這麼認為——由於中國法規的複雜性，該領域的許多其他公司在中國經營不同的模式。我想談的另一件事是，一年前的第四季度，我們在中國仍處於零新冠病毒狀態，而這種情況在年底就結束了。所以我想知道您是否可以介紹中國的整體監管環境以及這對您的業務有何影響。

Yeah. So this is Brent. During COVID, it was an interesting environment for those three years where the country was pretty much locked down. No one from USANA was able to travel into the country.

是的。這就是布倫特。在新冠疫情期間，這三年的環境很有趣，國家幾乎處於封鎖狀態。USANA 的任何人都無法進入該國。

What happened, many of the regulators didn't matter what they oversaw. They really were repositioned to help fight COVID. So a lot of the historical meetings, interactions that we would have with the government agencies really went quiet during COVID because they were so focused on fighting COVID.

發生的事情是，許多監管機構並不關心他們監管的內容。他們確實被重新定位以幫助對抗新冠肺炎。因此，在新冠疫情期間，我們與政府機構的許多歷史性會議和互動都變得安靜，因為他們非常專注於對抗新冠肺炎。

Well, now that COVID's passed and things are back to normal, more or less, we've started to re-engage with the government agencies. And I would say it's very typical to what it was like before COVID. There's a good working relationship. There's understanding between both sides. And I think as long as you're complying within the regulatory framework that's been outlaid, I think we have no reason to be nothing but optimistic about the future that we can continue to grow and develop our business there.

好吧，既然新冠疫情已經過去，一切或多或少都恢復正常，我們已經開始與政府機構重新接觸了。我想說，這與新冠​​疫情之前的情況非常典型。有良好的工作關係。雙方之間是有默契的。我認為，只要遵守已經制定的監管框架，我們就沒有理由對未來持樂觀態度，因為我們可以繼續在那裡發展和發展我們的業務。

And you're back to holding meetings at the same pace pre-COVID or the same magnitude pre-COVID in China?

你們又回到了在中國以新冠疫情前的相同節奏或新冠疫情前的同等規模召開會議嗎？

Yeah, we have returned to our meeting cadence and size that was severely restricted during the COVID era. But now, in April, we have our China convention that’s coming up, and that is actually going to be held in Mainland China. We haven’t done that in several years. We’ve had a very large response to that. So we’re very optimistic about that event, and we’ll continue to hold events at a very regular cadence throughout the year.

是的，我們已經恢復了新冠疫情期間受到嚴格限制的會議節奏和規模。但現在，四月份，我們的中國大會即將召開，而且實際上將在中國大陸舉行。我們已經好幾年沒有這樣做了。我們對此做出了很大的反應。因此，我們對該活動非常樂觀，並且我們將繼續全年以非常定期的節奏舉辦活動。

Great. That's very helpful. Thank you.

偉大的。這非常有幫助。謝謝。

Thanks, Doug.

謝謝，道格。

Thank you. As we have no further questions, I would like to turn it back over to Andrew Masuda for any closing remarks.

謝謝。由於我們沒有其他問題，我想將其轉回安德魯·增田 (Andrew Masuda) 以供結束發言。

Thank you for your questions and for your participation on today's conference call. If you have any remaining questions, please feel free to contact Investor Relations at 801-954-7210.

感謝您提出問題並參加今天的電話會議。如果您還有任何疑問，請隨時致電 801-954-7210 聯絡投資者關係部。

Thank you very much. That concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect. Hosts, you may stay on the line.

非常感謝。今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。主持人，您可以保持在線。