Vintage Wine Estates Inc (VWE) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Vintage Wine Estates first-quarter fiscal year 2023 financial results conference call. As a reminder all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你的支持。這是會議接線員。歡迎參加 Vintage Wine Estates 2023 財年第一季度財務業績電話會議。提醒一下，所有參與者都處於只聽模式，會議正在錄製中（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to Deborah Pawlowski investor relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給 Deborah Pawlowski 投資者關係部。請繼續。

Thanks, Sachi, and good afternoon, everyone. We certainly appreciate your time today and your interest in Vintage Wine Estates. Joining me on the call are Pat Roney, our founder and CEO; Terry Wheatley, our president; and Kris Johnston, our CFO. You should have a copy of our earnings release across the wires after the market as well as the slide deck that will accompany our conversation today. If you do not have these documents, they can be found on our website at ir.vintagewineestates.com.

謝謝，Sachi，大家下午好。我們非常感謝您今天的時間以及您對 Vintage Wine Estates 的興趣。和我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的創始人兼首席執行官帕特·羅尼 (Pat Roney)；我們的總裁特里·惠特利 (Terry Wheatley)；和我們的首席財務官 Kris Johnston。你應該有一份我們在市場後通過電線發布的收益報告以及我們今天談話的幻燈片。如果您沒有這些文件，可以在我們的網站 ir.vintagewineestates.com 上找到。

Pat is going to begin with a brief overview of the quarter then Terry and Kris will provide more details on the results. Kris will also review our guidance for fiscal 2023. Afterwards, we will open the call to our analysts to ask questions.

Pat 將首先簡要介紹本季度，然後 Terry 和 Kris 將提供有關結果的更多詳細信息。 Kris 還將審查我們對 2023 財年的指導。之後，我們將向我們的分析師開放電話提問。

If you turn to Slide 2, you will find our Safe Harbor statement. As you may be aware, we will make some forward-looking statements during this presentation and the Q&A session. These statements apply to future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties as well as other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from where we are today. These risks and uncertainties and other factors were provided in our 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as noted in the press release. You can find these documents on our website or at sec.gov.

如果您轉到幻燈片 2，您會看到我們的安全港聲明。如您所知，我們將在本次演示和問答環節中做出一些前瞻性陳述。這些聲明適用於受風險和不確定性以及可能導致實際結果與我們今天的情況大不相同的其他因素影響的未來事件。這些風險和不確定性以及其他因素在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-Q 中提供，並在新聞稿中註明。您可以在我們的網站或 sec.gov 上找到這些文件。

I would also point out that during today's call we will discuss some non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe are useful in evaluating our performance. You should not consider the presentation of this additional information in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. We have provided reconciliations of comparable GAAP with non-GAAP measures in the tables that accompany today's release.

我還要指出，在今天的電話會議中，我們將討論一些非 GAAP 財務指標，我們認為這些指標有助於評估我們的業績。您不應孤立地考慮此附加信息的呈現或作為根據 GAAP 編制的結果的替代。我們在今天發布的表格中提供了可比較的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 措施的調節。

Pat and Terry's discussion are covered on Slides 3 to 5. So with that, let me now turn it over to Pat to begin. Pat?

Pat 和 Terry 的討論包含在幻燈片 3 到 5 中。因此，現在讓我把它交給 Pat 開始。拍？

Thanks, Deb, and welcome, everyone. We're off to a solid start for the year as we continue to execute against our key strategic growth objectives. Highlights for the quarter include double-digit revenue growth across our business segments including 13% organic net revenue growth. I'm especially pleased with the results in our direct-to-consumer business where Terry will provide additional details in a few minutes.

謝謝，Deb，歡迎大家。隨著我們繼續執行我們的關鍵戰略增長目標，我們今年有了一個良好的開端。本季度的亮點包括我們業務部門的兩位數收入增長，包括 13% 的有機淨收入增長。我對我們直接面向消費者業務的結果特別滿意，特里將在幾分鐘內提供更多詳細信息。

We are uniquely positioned in the premium and luxury wine categories that are proving resilient in this rapidly changing macroeconomic environment. Interestingly, back in the great recession, these wine categories and our business in particular demonstrated great resiliency. We were able through that time to grow both our revenue and net income. We expect as we navigate these current times our categories, brands, and value propositions will help to differentiate us from the competition.

我們在優質和奢華葡萄酒類別中處於獨特的位置，這些類別在瞬息萬變的宏觀經濟環境中證明具有彈性。有趣的是，在大蕭條時期，這些葡萄酒類別，尤其是我們的業務表現出了極大的彈性。在那段時間裡，我們的收入和淨收入都實現了增長。我們希望，在我們駕馭當前時代的過程中，我們的品類、品牌和價值主張將有助於我們在競爭中脫穎而出。

Beyond our excellent organic growth results, we also touched on contributions from our acquisitions. We are making progress with the integration of the acquisitions into our operations in order to capture synergies. In fact, in this quarter, ACE Cider achieved record shipments as a result of the new canning line installed at the ACE Cider facility in Sebastopol. This enhanced capacity enabled accelerated growth for the business.

除了我們出色的有機增長結果外，我們還談到了收購的貢獻。為了獲得協同效應，我們正在將收購整合到我們的業務中取得進展。事實上，在本季度，由於在塞瓦斯托波爾的 ACE 蘋果酒工廠安裝了新的罐頭生產線，ACE 蘋果酒實現了創紀錄的出貨量。這種增強的能力促進了業務的加速增長。

We made progress in a number of areas to improve operational efficiencies despite the headwinds of ongoing cost pressures driven by increased shipping costs related to elevated gas prices. While we continue to experience ongoing supply-chain constraints with closures and the timing of the glass supply, the agility of our team has helped to keep production flexing to deliver to our customers. We are working to improve operations further including more communications with trucking companies to get them to pick up products as they struggle with their schedules.

儘管與天然氣價格上漲相關的運輸成本增加導致持續的成本壓力帶來不利影響，但我們在許多領域取得了進展以提高運營效率。雖然我們繼續經歷關閉和玻璃供應時間的持續供應鏈限制，但我們團隊的敏捷性幫助保持生產靈活以交付給我們的客戶。我們正在努力進一步改善運營，包括與卡車運輸公司進行更多溝通，讓他們在為日程安排而苦苦掙扎的情況下提貨。

As you know, we have selectively taken price to offset some of these headwinds, and we will continue to evaluate additional pricing opportunities as we progress through the year.

如您所知，我們有選擇地採用價格來抵消其中一些不利因素，並且隨著我們今年的進展，我們將繼續評估其他定價機會。

We've recently enhanced the talent within the organization in key areas. Zach Long, who has been our Senior Vice President of Winemaking and Production, was recently promoted to the Chief Operations Officer position. Zach continues to prove that his insights, leadership, and organizational skills highly complement his depth of knowledge in winemaking. He now has full operational oversight over supply chain and all production activities.

我們最近增強了組織內關鍵領域的人才。曾擔任我們釀酒和生產高級副總裁的 Zach Long 最近晉升為首席運營官。扎克繼續證明他的洞察力、領導能力和組織能力高度補充了他在釀酒方面的知識深度。他現在對供應鍊和所有生產活動進行全面的運營監督。

In addition, we expanded the responsibilities of Jessica Kogan and named her Chief Growth and Experience Officer, where she will be focused on unique ways to deepen consumer affinity to drive additional gains for our businesses across the beverage alcohol category. Jessica originally joined Vintage Wine Estates in 2017 with our acquisition of Cameron Hughes Wine, a digitally native business that she cofounded.

此外，我們擴大了傑西卡·科根 (Jessica Kogan) 的職責，任命她為首席增長和體驗官，她將專注於以獨特的方式加深消費者的親和力，從而為我們在酒精飲料類別的業務帶來更多收益。傑西卡 (Jessica) 最初於 2017 年加入 Vintage Wine Estates，當時我們收購了她共同創立的數字原生企業 Cameron Hughes Wine。

I'm proud to report that we've advanced our ESG strategy with the receipt of a sustainable certification designation for all of our California State wineries and vineyards. These certifications are a reflection of our ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship and support our sustainability strategy. Speaking of the vineyards, we successfully completed this year's harvest. While California's volume was light, quality is very good, as is the quality in Oregon and Washington.

我很自豪地報告，我們已經推進了我們的 ESG 戰略，我們所有的加利福尼亞州釀酒廠和葡萄園都獲得了可持續認證稱號。這些認證反映了我們對環境管理的持續承諾，並支持我們的可持續發展戰略。說到葡萄園，我們成功地完成了今年的收穫。雖然加州的產量很低，但質量非常好，俄勒岡州和華盛頓州的質量也是如此。

With that, let me turn it over to Terry to talk more about our segment results. Terry?

有了這個，讓我把它交給特里更多地談談我們的部門業績。特里？

Perfect. Yes, thank you, Pat. As Pat mentioned, we are especially pleased with the double-digit organic growth achieved in our direct to consumer and B2B businesses. Our direct-to-consumer business continues to demonstrate the strength of our industry-leading digital marketing strategy and customer focus as an enabler of growth. Digital innovation is a pillar of our overall growth strategy, and we will continue to leverage the power of digital technology focused on unifying the omnichannel experience for our consumers. In fact, I believe that our innovative strategy in this area is one of our strongest differentiators versus our competitors and is driving our DPC segment which today represents almost one-third of our total business.

完美的。是的，謝謝你，帕特。正如 Pat 所提到的，我們對直接面向消費者和 B2B 業務實現的兩位數有機增長感到特別高興。我們的直接面向消費者的業務繼續展示我們行業領先的數字營銷戰略和以客戶為中心作為增長推動力的力量。數字創新是我們整體增長戰略的支柱，我們將繼續利用數字技術的力量，專注於為我們的消費者統一全渠道體驗。事實上，我相信我們在這一領域的創新戰略是我們與競爭對手的最大差異化因素之一，並且正在推動我們的 DPC 部門，該部門目前幾乎占我們總業務的三分之一。

Within this segment, we saw particularly strong growth during the quarter from our QVC and wine club channels. And despite the current inflationary cost environment and its impact on consumers, we are seeing steady hospitality and tourism trends for our business with strong foot traffic growth in our tasting rooms of almost 10%.

在這一細分市場中，本季度我們的 QVC 和葡萄酒俱樂部渠道實現了特別強勁的增長。儘管當前存在通貨膨脹的成本環境及其對消費者的影響，但我們看到我們的業務呈現穩定的酒店和旅遊趨勢，品酒室的客流量強勁增長近 10%。

We saw equally impressive growth from our B2B business primarily driven by increased custom production activities, a key customer, and contributions from our Meier's acquisition.

我們從 B2B 業務中看到了同樣令人印象深刻的增長，這主要是由於定制生產活動的增加、一個主要客戶以及我們收購 Meier 的貢獻。

From our wholesale segment perspective, our portfolio is outperforming the US wine category as we continue to focus on developing, launching, and promoting our newly acquired ACE Cider line of products along with our key priorities and core brands in the marketplace.

從我們的批發部門的角度來看，我們的產品組合優於美國葡萄酒類別，因為我們繼續專注於開發、推出和推廣我們新收購的 ACE 蘋果酒系列產品以及我們在市場上的主要優先事項和核心品牌。

During the quarter, we saw particularly strong marketplace performance for key priority brands including Bar Dog, Cherry Pie, and Photograph. As Pat mentioned, our recently acquired ACE Cider brand delivered record volume performance driven by ongoing category growth for this segment of the beverage alcohol market and production efficiencies achieved since acquisition. In addition, we made progress in obtaining new retail authorizations for shelf placement on key brands, the benefits of which you will see later this year.

在本季度，我們看到主要優先品牌的市場表現特別強勁，包括 Bar Dog、Cherry Pie 和 Photograph。正如 Pat 所提到的，我們最近收購的 ACE Cider 品牌實現了創紀錄的銷量業績，這得益於該飲料酒精市場細分市場的持續增長以及自收購以來實現的生產效率。此外，我們在獲得主要品牌貨架放置的新零售授權方面取得了進展，您將在今年晚些時候看到這些好處。

Although we have a slow start to the year from wholesale depletion perspective driven by Layer Cake, we're progressing with our rebranding and marketing refresh initiatives for this brand. You should look forward to the results of these efforts later this year.

儘管從 Layer Cake 驅動的批發消耗角度來看，我們今年開局緩慢，但我們正在為該品牌進行品牌重塑和營銷更新計劃。您應該期待今年晚些時候這些努力的結果。

With that, let me turn it over to Kris to talk more about first-quarter results. Kris?

有了這個，讓我把它交給克里斯更多地談論第一季度的結果。克里斯？

Thank you, Terry, and good afternoon, everyone. I apologize. I feel fine but I've lost my voice, so I appreciate your patience as I may have to pause to soothe my throat as we go through.

謝謝你，特里，大家下午好。我道歉。我感覺很好，但我已經失聲了，所以感謝您的耐心等待，因為在我們通過時我可能不得不停下來舒緩我的喉嚨。

Turning to Slide 6, you'll see additional segment discussion. Revenue grew 40% or $22 million in the quarter, which included $14.9 million of acquired revenue. As Terry mentioned, we had very strong growth in our direct to consumer segment with revenue up 37% in the quarter to $20.5 million. This was the result of strong organic growth of 13% and $3.1 million of acquired revenue. You will find in the supplemental slides that we have a table that provides our acquired revenues by quarter.

轉到幻燈片 6，您將看到更多的細分討論。本季度收入增長 40% 或 2200 萬美元，其中包括 1490 萬美元的收購收入。正如特里提到的，我們在直接面向消費者的細分市場增長非常強勁，本季度收入增長 37% 至 2050 萬美元。這是 13% 的強勁有機增長和 310 萬美元收購收入的結果。您會在補充幻燈片中發現我們有一張表格，按季度提供我們獲得的收入。

Next, onto our B2B business, 39% revenue growth was driven by increased private-label and custom production activities while the Meier's acquisition contributed $4.9 million in the quarter.

接下來，在我們的 B2B 業務方面，自有品牌和定制生產活動的增加推動了 39% 的收入增長，而 Meier 的收購在本季度貢獻了 490 萬美元。

Within our wholesale business, revenue increased 44% to $23.4 million including $6.9 million of acquired revenues from ACE Cider which is a high-volume business that is performing extremely well in the marketplace.

在我們的批發業務中，收入增長了 44% 至 2340 萬美元，其中包括從 ACE Cider 獲得的 690 萬美元收入，這是一個在市場上表現非常出色的大批量業務。

If you will turn to Slide 7, you'll see that Q1 gross profit increased resulting from strong revenue growth across all business segments, while Q1 gross margin was 38.7% versus 42.1% in the prior year due to increased overhead absorption.

如果你轉向幻燈片 7，你會看到第一季度毛利潤增加，這是由於所有業務部門的收入強勁增長，而第一季度毛利率為 38.7%，而去年同期為 42.1%，這是由於管理費用吸收增加。

Looking to Slide 8, our SG&S results reflect $4 million in acquisition-related SG&A plus $4.6 million from the issuance of stock-based compensation that was not included in last year's first quarter. In addition, we experienced headwinds from increased freight costs and investments made at talent in key areas of the organization. I'll provide additional details around FY23 SG&A guidance in a minute.

看看幻燈片 8，我們的 SG&S 結果反映了 400 萬美元的收購相關 SG&A 加上 460 萬美元來自去年第一季度未包括的基於股票的薪酬發行。此外，我們還遇到了貨運成本增加和對組織關鍵領域人才投資的不利因素。我將在一分鐘內提供有關 FY23 SG&A 指南的更多詳細信息。

Turning to Slide 9, I'll touch on adjusted EBITDA and net income. Adjusted EBITDA for Q1 was $5.1 million. The change in adjusted EBITDA primarily was the result of the fully burdened cost of revenues inclusive of overhead and increased SG&A offset some by favorable product mix.

轉到幻燈片 9，我將談談調整後的 EBITDA 和淨收入。第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 510 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 的變化主要是由於包括間接費用在內的完全負擔的收入成本和增加的 SG&A 抵消了一些有利的產品組合。

Moving on, given our acquisitive profile, we believe adjusted net income presents a more accurate reflection of our normalized performance. On that basis, adjusted non-GAAP, cash net income for Q1 was $2.7 million or $0.05 per diluted share.

繼續前進，鑑於我們的收購情況，我們認為調整後的淨收入更準確地反映了我們正常化的表現。在此基礎上，調整後的非 GAAP 第一季度現金淨收入為 270 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.05 美元。

Slide 10 provides an understanding of our capital structure. We have a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to continue to invest in our growth strategy. We expect our CapEx in fiscal '23 will be about $12 million to $15 million, of which about $3 million is related to maintenance CapEx. The remainder is focused on capturing synergies, improving productivity, and capacity expansion to support growth.

幻燈片 10 提供了對我們資本結構的理解。我們擁有強大的資產負債表和財務靈活性，可以繼續投資於我們的增長戰略。我們預計 23 財年的資本支出約為 1200 萬至 1500 萬美元，其中約 300 萬美元與維護資本支出有關。其餘的重點是獲取協同效應、提高生產力和擴大產能以支持增長。

As you can see on Slide 11, we are reaffirming our fiscal '23 guidance for net revenue, which we expect to be in the $300 million to $310 million range. This includes an incremental $20 million to $22 million from fiscal 2022 acquisitions. We have revised adjusted EBITDA to be in the $50 million to $60 million range primarily driven by higher SG&A expenses than originally planned. We believe that Q1 SG&A spend was an anomaly at an elevated level. And while we plan to continue to invest in the business throughout the remainder of the year, we expect FY '23 SG&A expenses to be in the range of $115 million to $120 million.

正如您在幻燈片 11 中看到的那樣，我們重申我們的 23 財年淨收入指導方針，我們預計淨收入將在 3 億美元至 3.1 億美元之間。這包括從 2022 財年的收購中增加的 2000 萬至 2200 萬美元。我們將調整後的 EBITDA 修改為 5000 萬至 6000 萬美元，這主要是由於 SG&A 費用高於原計劃。我們認為第一季度的 SG&A 支出在較高水平上是異常的。雖然我們計劃在今年餘下時間繼續投資該業務，但我們預計 FY '23 SG&A 費用將在 1.15 億美元至 1.2 億美元之間。

With that, let me turn it back to Pat to wrap up on Slide 12.

有了這個，讓我把它轉回給帕特，結束幻燈片 12。

Great. Thanks, Kris. In summary Vintage Wine Estates is evolving as a public company with a better position than ever to deliver value. While we have some work to do, we are focused on executing the strategies that deliver industry-leading growth and enhanced profitability.

偉大的。謝謝，克里斯。總之，Vintage Wine Estates 正在發展成為一家上市公司，比以往任何時候都更有能力創造價值。雖然我們還有一些工作要做，但我們專注於執行能夠實現行業領先增長和增強盈利能力的戰略。

I would like to thank the VWE team for their unrelenting commitment to our vision of being a leader in the US wine industry.

我要感謝 VWE 團隊對我們成為美國葡萄酒行業領導者的願景的不懈承諾。

With that, we can open the call to questions.

這樣，我們就可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Vivien Azer, Cowen.

（操作員說明）Vivien Azer，Cowen。

Hi, good evening.

嗨，晚上好。

Hi, Vivien.

嗨，薇薇安。

Hi. So I wanted to double back on the SG&A commentary that was just offered. I do appreciate the full-year guidance. It does suggest quite a normalization for the remainder of the year. But just looking at kind of the quarterly cadence, it is now the second quarter in a row where SG&A spend has been over $30 million. And I'm just curious like what gives you confidence that the spend this quarter is transitory and like what was really driving the year-over-year growth in that? Thanks.

你好。因此，我想再次關注剛剛提供的 SG&A 評論。我非常感謝全年的指導。它確實表明今年剩餘時間的正常化。但只要看看季度節奏，現在 SG&A 支出已經連續第二個季度超過 3000 萬美元。我很好奇，是什麼讓您相信本季度的支出是暫時的，而真正推動同比增長的是什麼？謝謝。

Sure. So in Q1, we had some atypical expense which related to our captive insurance and our acquisitions, and that was driving the higher-than-expected cost.

當然。因此，在第一季度，我們有一些與專屬保險和收購相關的非典型支出，這導致成本高於預期。

But the acquisition-related costs wouldn't flow through to another quarter or two?

但是與收購相關的成本不會流到另外一兩個季度嗎？

No, they were one time in nature.

不，他們在自然界中只有一次。

Okay. Fair enough, fair enough. So, Terry, just wanted to touch on some of the trends that you guys are seeing in your tasting room. Obviously on the last call, we were coming out of a pretty tough summer, so it's encouraging to hear you had close to double-digit growth year over year. Has anything changed? Did you guys lean into more consumer engagement to drive that traffic? Do you just feel like consumer trends are normalizing? Any incremental detail you can offer there? Thanks.

好的。很公平，很公平。所以，特里，只想談談你們在品酒室看到的一些趨勢。很明顯，在上次電話會議上，我們剛剛度過了一個非常艱難的夏天，所以很高興聽到您的年增長率接近兩位數。有什麼改變嗎？你們是否依靠更多的消費者參與來推動流量？你只是覺得消費趨勢正在正常化嗎？您可以在那裡提供任何增量細節嗎？謝謝。

Well, what you saw in the release -- our traffic was up 10% over last year, and I feel like, as we have talked about costs are higher in the Napa Valley for travelers but are -- I think people have found that they could stay longer, that their purchases are higher when they come into the tasting room. And our D2C team has done a lot of technology improvements, a lot of outreach that's going on through our tasting room. So if you go back before the pandemic, I think we prepared three years in advance to enabling our tasting rooms to really maximize on that consumer engagement, capturing information.

好吧，你在新聞稿中看到的——我們的客流量比去年增加了 10%，我覺得，正如我們所說的，納帕谷的旅行者成本更高，但是——我認為人們已經發現他們可以停留更長時間，當他們進入品酒室時，他們的購買量更高。我們的 D2C 團隊做了很多技術改進，通過我們的品酒室進行了很多外展活動。因此，如果你回到大流行之前，我認為我們提前三年做好了準備，使我們的品酒室能夠真正最大限度地提高消費者的參與度，獲取信息。

So when the pandemic hit, we pivoted almost the tasting rooms into call centers, and that has paid off for us. Those customers have stayed engaged. They're coming back. We've great experiences. You can go to whether it be Kunde on the hilltop or over to Clos Pegase. We've really just continued with that customer engagement, and we're benefiting from that. So we are thrilled with that.

因此，當大流行來襲時，我們幾乎將品酒室轉變為呼叫中心，這為我們帶來了回報。這些客戶一直保持參與。他們回來了。我們有很棒的經歷。您可以去山頂上的 Kunde 或 Clos Pegase。我們真的只是繼續與客戶互動，我們正在從中受益。所以我們對此感到很興奮。

Absolutely. And Pat, last one for you. I really appreciate the commentary around the resiliency of the category and kind of referencing back to the great recession. Just thinking ahead to next quarter, O&D obviously very, very important for you guys but the whole alcohol industry more broadly. Are you guys preparing yourselves for trade down? How are you thinking about the consumer heading into the key holiday selling season? Thanks.

絕對地。帕特，最後一個給你。我真的很欣賞圍繞該類別的彈性的評論以及對大衰退的參考。想想下個季度，O&D 顯然對你們非常非常重要，但對整個酒精行業更廣泛。你們準備好降價交易了嗎？您如何看待消費者進入關鍵的假日銷售旺季？謝謝。

So we're actually expecting there will be some trade down but more of the trade down will be in the price points that we kind of are in. The vast majority of our business is in that $12.99 to $25 a bottle. And we think that category stays pretty well that the people at the lower end don't trade down to below $10, yet many of the people in the $50 category will trade down to $25.

所以我們實際上預計會有一些降價交易，但更多的降價交易將出現在我們所處的價格點上。我們的絕大部分業務都在每瓶 12.99 美元到 25 美元之間。而且我們認為該類別保持得很好，低端的人不會跌至 10 美元以下，但 50 美元類別中的許多人會跌至 25 美元。

And in the great recession, we were a benefit of that. And we continue to believe that the overall trends in that category will continue to see some growth, and we'll benefit it. And more of the prevailing headwinds that we might see are also in some of the things with labor issues related to FedEx and UPS, and I've been wanting to throttle the amount of the deliveries that you can make in November and December with some surcharges.

在大衰退中，我們從中受益。我們仍然相信該類別的總體趨勢將繼續出現一些增長，我們將從中受益。我們可能會看到更多的不利因素也與 FedEx 和 UPS 相關的勞工問題有關，我一直想通過收取一些附加費來限制 11 月和 12 月的送貨量.

And so we're going to work our way through that, and we're excited about the revenue trends, both in the wholesale for this quarter and in the direct-to-consumer.

因此，我們將努力解決這個問題，我們對本季度批發和直接面向消費者的收入趨勢感到興奮。

Yes, certainly, a nice start to the year. Thank you so much.

是的，當然，今年是個不錯的開始。太感謝了。

Mike Baker, D.A. Davidson.

邁克·貝克，檢察官戴維森。

Okay. Thanks. So a couple. One, I think usually the first quarter is about 20% of sales. It seems like it will be more this quarter, or I guess what I'm getting at is it seems like first-quarter sales were much better than expected, yet you maintained the full-year guidance. My assumption is that sort of just being conservative, a little early in the year to start raising guidance in this environment, but I guess I'd be curious of your comments as to why the big beat and yet you're not raising? Again, is it just simply too early to raise?

好的。謝謝。所以一對。第一，我認為通常第一季度大約是銷售額的 20%。本季度似乎會更多，或者我想我的意思是第一季度的銷售額似乎比預期的要好得多，但你維持了全年的指導。我的假設是那種只是保守，在今年早些時候開始在這種環境下提高指導，但我想我很好奇你對為什麼大節拍但你不提高的評論？再一次，現在加註是否太早了？

Well, I think, one, it is too early to raise. And, two, there's also the part, Mike, that the ACE hard cider actually got a pretty big quarter for them, so that acquisition, we'll see that -- that will trail down a little bit over the next few quarters and pick up more in the final quarter of the year for us.

好吧，我認為，第一，現在提高還為時過早。而且，第二，還有一部分，邁克，ACE 烈性蘋果酒實際上為他們贏得了相當大的四分之一，所以這次收購，我們會看到 - 這將在接下來的幾個季度有所下降並選擇對我們來說，今年最後一個季度的漲幅更大。

So I think it's a combination of those two things. And we're still not sure because of the political landscape and with the interest environment where things are going to go totally. But we're comfortable with the guidance we have given. And if there's opportunity to raise it, we'd certainly like to do that at the end of the next quarter.

所以我認為這是這兩件事的結合。由於政治格局和利益環境，我們仍然不確定事情是否會完全發展。但我們對我們給出的指導感到滿意。如果有機會提高它，我們當然希望在下個季度末這樣做。

Is it fair to say the first quarter was ahead of your plan? I guess it was ahead of our estimates, but my estimates at least, just because we didn't have that seasonality perhaps exactly right on ACE. But how did the first quarter come in on the top line relative to your internal plans?

可以說第一季度比您的計劃提前了嗎？我想這超出了我們的估計，但至少是我的估計，只是因為我們沒有在 ACE 上完全正確的季節性。但是，相對於您的內部計劃，第一季度是如何排在首位的？

A little bit ahead but not significantly ahead.

領先一點，但並不明顯。

Okay. Second thing I wanted to ask, just about acquisitions. A big part of the story of course in the past and you're integrating a bunch now, but your leverage, I think, is up to about 5.8 times on a growth basis, maybe a little north of 5 on a net basis. Does that cause you to slow down investments and maybe preserve some cash?

好的。我想問的第二件事，關於收購。當然，故事的很大一部分已經過去了，你現在正在整合一堆，但我認為你的槓桿率在增長的基礎上高達 5.8 倍左右，在淨基礎上可能略高於 5 倍。這是否會導致您放慢投資速度並可能保留一些現金？

Well, I think if we look at the macroeconomic trends right now, if we make any acquisitions, they're only going to be right down the middle of the fairway. They're going to be things that are very, very strong operating businesses that are strategically very fit for us really right in the middle of the wine category.

好吧，我認為如果我們現在看看宏觀經濟趨勢，如果我們進行任何收購，它們只會在航道的中間。它們將是非常非常強大的運營業務，在戰略上非常適合我們，真正處於葡萄酒類別的中間。

We do intend to continue to pay debt down as we have. And we think that, from an interest rate environment, we're very well covered with our swaps with the interest rates. And while we see the market going up, the market -- with the bank's tightening on credit and some of the things, that may create some interesting acquisition opportunities as it did during the last great recession.

我們確實打算像現在這樣繼續償還債務。我們認為，從利率環境來看，我們很好地覆蓋了利率掉期。當我們看到市場上漲時，市場——隨著銀行收緊信貸和一些事情，這可能會像上次大衰退期間那樣創造一些有趣的收購機會。

Okay. Good enough. I'll turn it over to someone else. Thank you.

好的。夠好了。我會把它交給別人。謝謝。

Luke Hannan, Canaccord Genuity

Luke Hannan，Canaccord Genuity

Thanks. Good afternoon. I'll start with the guidance so just working a little bit backwards here. So the SG&A guide between $150 million and $120 million, if we assume, let's say, $25 million of that is going to be depreciation and amortization that will be added back and sort of working backwards from that, it implies that for the year to get to your EBITDA guidance, you'll have to do somewhere in the low 40s, I would say, for a gross margin perspective.

謝謝。下午好。我將從指南開始，所以在這裡稍微倒退一下。因此，SG&A 指南在 1.5 億美元到 1.2 億美元之間，如果我們假設，假設其中 2500 萬美元將是折舊和攤銷，這些折舊和攤銷將被加回去，並從中倒推，這意味著今年將獲得根據您的 EBITDA 指導，您必須在 40 多歲左右的某個地方做，我想說，從毛利率的角度來看。

So I guess, Pat, the first question would be, one, is that sort of a fair assumption based on what you're seeing in the market that you think that that's achievable in this environment?

所以我想，帕特，第一個問題是，一個，是基於你在市場上看到的你認為在這種環境下可以實現的公平假設嗎？

Yes, I think it is (multiple speakers)

是的，我認為是（多個揚聲器）

Sorry, Pat, real quick. I just wanted to clarify that the SG&A guidance is exclusive of amortization.

對不起，帕特，真的快。我只是想澄清一下，SG&A 指南不包括攤銷。

Right. But it includes depreciation, correct?

正確的。但它包括折舊，對嗎？

It does include depreciation, correct.

它確實包括折舊，正確。

Okay.

好的。

Yes. I think we expect there's going to be continued synergies that we're going to look at and opportunities with some of those things and to the extent that we have other opportunities to cut costs, we'll do that. But I think the gross margin trends are somewhere in the 38% to low 40s is where it's going to need to end up to get there.

是的。我認為我們希望我們將繼續關注協同效應，並在其中一些方面尋找機會，並且在我們有其他削減成本的機會的情況下，我們會這樣做。但我認為毛利率趨勢在 38% 到 40 多歲之間，這是它最終需要達到的水平。

Okay. And then my second question is just on the -- there was a commentary in the press release about B2B case volumes not necessarily being indicative of underlying performance. I was curious to know, one, why exactly is that the case? And, two, what are really the key drivers for that business, I guess, going forward?

好的。然後我的第二個問題是——新聞稿中有一篇關於 B2B 案例量的評論不一定表示潛在的表現。我很想知道，一，為什麼會這樣？而且，第二，我猜，未來真正推動該業務發展的關鍵因素是什麼？

I believe what you're talking about is the depletions. And because we've got different sizes and different average case rates on the hard cider business versus the wine business and we have the acquisition of Meier's which has no case volume associated with it, and other parts of our B2B business, and then the things associated with hospitality and the direct to consumer are also revenue driving but not case specific. We just felt that there is more confusion with that number in terms of the depletion analysis are average cases -- average sales volume per case, that we felt that other indicators were better indications of the strength of the business. The business is very, very complex.

我相信你說的是耗盡。而且因為我們在烈性蘋果酒業務和葡萄酒業務上有不同的規模和不同的平均案例率，而且我們收購了 Meier's，它沒有與之相關的案例量，以及我們 B2B 業務的其他部分，然後是事情與招待相關的業務和直接面向消費者的業務也是收入驅動因素，但不是具體案例。我們只是覺得，就耗盡分析而言，這個數字有更多的混淆是平均案例——每個案例的平均銷量，我們認為其他指標可以更好地表明業務實力。業務非常非常複雜。

Got it. Okay. Thank you.

知道了。好的。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Joseph Feldman, Telsey Group

（操作員說明）Telsey Group 的 Joseph Feldman

Hi good evening guys Sarang Vora for Joe Feldman. Organic growth -- continuing on the prior question on the volumes, you look at your -- organic growth was up about 13%. Can you help us -- how much was the pricing and how much was the volume from that standpoint of 13%?

嗨，晚上好，喬·費爾德曼的 Sarang Vora。有機增長——繼續前面關於數量的問題，你看看你的——有機增長增長了大約 13%。你能幫我們嗎——從 13% 的角度來看，定價是多少，銷量是多少？

So we really saw strong growth in our B2B segment. That was really a key contributor as well as in our D2C segment with some of our televised sales. So while there is some pricing impact, volume is a main contributor.

因此，我們確實看到了 B2B 領域的強勁增長。這確實是一個關鍵貢獻者，在我們的 D2C 部分以及我們的一些電視銷售中也是如此。因此，雖然對價格有一定影響，但銷量是主要貢獻者。

Okay, that's great. And inventory seems to be down year over year by about 10.5%. Any color you can share why you had a very strong sales growth? Is that why or there's any specific reason why it would be down year over year?

好的，那太好了。庫存似乎同比下降了約 10.5%。您可以分享任何顏色為什麼您的銷售增長非常強勁？這就是為什麼或有任何特定原因導致它會逐年下降的原因嗎？

I'm sorry, I missed the beginning of your question there.

對不起，我錯過了你問題的開頭。

No worries. Inventory seems to be down year-over-year. So just curious to know if you can share any color on that.

不用擔心。庫存似乎同比下降。所以很想知道你是否可以分享任何顏色。

Inventory is down year-over-year. Is that what the question was?

庫存同比下降。這就是問題所在嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

So I think just rolling it forward from year end where we took a significant charge, that's what's indicative of the change. We still have harvest, and all of those trends are coming in as expected.

所以我認為只是從我們承擔重大責任的年底向前推進，這就是變化的跡象。我們仍然有收穫，所有這些趨勢都在按預期出現。

Got it. Thank you so much.

知道了。太感謝了。

Luke Hannan, Canaccord Genuity

Luke Hannan，Canaccord Genuity

Yes, thanks. Just one follow up question for me. There was also a comment in the press release about an amendment to your covenants. Just curious if you can give a little bit more detail on what exactly was amended, maybe what the new definitions are for those certain covenants? Any more detail there would be helpful.

對了謝謝。對我來說只有一個跟進問題。新聞稿中也有關於對您的契約進行修正的評論。只是想知道您是否可以更詳細地說明具體修改的內容，也許這些特定契約的新定義是什麼？任何更多細節都會有所幫助。

We amended the definition of how we're calculating our financial covenant around the definition of adjusted EBITDA.

我們修改了我們如何圍繞調整後 EBITDA 的定義計算我們的財務契約的定義。

Okay. Is there -- what exactly I guess has changed there though?

好的。有沒有——我猜究竟發生了什麼變化？

I don't think we've gone into those level of details on the covenants previously.

我認為我們之前沒有深入了解契約的那些細節。

Okay. Is it -- I mean, broadly speaking though, can you say is it more favorable to you guys now than it was maybe a quarter or two ago?

好的。是——我的意思是，從廣義上講，你能說現在對你們來說比一兩個季度前更有利嗎？

That's accurate, correct.

這是準確的，正確的。

Okay. I will leave it there. Thanks.

好的。我會把它留在那裡。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Pat Roney for any closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 Pat Roney，聽取任何閉幕詞。

Well, again, thank you everybody for taking the time to get on the call and hear a little bit more about Vintage Wine Estates. We appreciate your time and look forward to talking to you again in the very near future. And I don't know what your plans are tonight but having a nice bottle of Kunde chardonnay or a Girard Sauvignon Blanc or Clos Pegase Pinot or an ACE hard cider would be a great thing to do tonight. Thanks for your time.

好吧，再次感謝大家抽出時間來接聽電話，聽聽更多關於 Vintage Wine Estates 的信息。感謝您的寶貴時間，並期待在不久的將來再次與您交談。我不知道你今晚有什麼計劃，但今晚喝一瓶上好的昆德霞多麗或吉拉德長相思或 Clos Pegase Pinot 或 ACE 烈性蘋果酒將是一件很棒的事情。謝謝你的時間。

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與，祝您度過愉快的一天。