Worthington Enterprises Inc (WOR) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Worthington Enterprises third quarter fiscal 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded at the request of Worthington Enterprises. If anyone objects, you may disconnect at this time.

早安，歡迎參加沃辛頓企業 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）本次會議是應沃辛頓企業的要求而錄製的。如果有人反對，你此時可以斷開連線。

I would now like to introduce Marcus Rogier, Treasurer and Investor Relations Officer. Mr. Rogier, you may begin.

現在我想介紹財務主管兼投資者關係長 Marcus Rogier。羅吉爾先生，您可以開始啦。

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Worthington Enterprises third quarter fiscal 2025 earnings call. On our call today, we have Joe Hayek, Worthington's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Colin Souza, Worthington's Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，莎拉。大家早安，感謝您參加沃辛頓企業 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。今天我們電話會議的嘉賓有沃辛頓總裁兼執行長喬·海耶克 (Joe Hayek)；以及沃辛頓首席財務官科林·索薩（Colin Souza）。

Before we get started, I'd like to note that certain statements made today are forward-looking within the meaning of the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those suggested. We issued our earnings release yesterday after the market closed. Please refer to it for more detail on those factors that could cause actual results to differ materially.

在我們開始之前，我想指出的是，今天發表的某些聲明根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的規定具有前瞻性。這些聲明受風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與建議的結果不同。我們昨天在市場收盤後發布了收益報告。有關可能導致實際結果產生重大差異的因素的更多詳細資訊請參閱。

In addition, our discussion today will include non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these measures with the most appropriate comparable GAAP measure is included in the earnings press release, which is available on our Investor Relations website. Today's call is being recorded, and a replay will made available later on our worthingtonenterprises.com website.

此外，我們今天的討論還將包括非公認會計準則財務指標。這些指標與最適合的可比較 GAAP 指標的對帳包含在收益新聞稿中，可在我們的投資者關係網站上查閱。今天的通話正在錄音，稍後將在我們的 worthingtonenterprises.com 網站上提供重播。

At this point, I will turn the call over to Joe for opening remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉給喬，請他致開場白。

Thank you, Marcus, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Worthington Enterprises fiscal 2025 third quarter earnings call. I'd like to start by thanking our entire team. We had a great quarter and set Q3 records in production and shipments. That does not happen without our teams working safely, something we all commit to every single day.

謝謝你，馬庫斯，大家早安。歡迎參加沃辛頓企業 2025 財年第三季財報電話會議。首先我要感謝我們整個團隊。我們本季表現出色，並在生產和出貨量方面創下了第三季的記錄。如果沒有我們的團隊安全工作，這一切都不會發生，而這是我們每天都致力於的。

It also reflects the phenomenal work our teams have done in the past 12 months, understanding and working with our customers to ensure that our solutions are the right solutions delivered on time. We delivered year-over-year and sequential growth in both adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter was 24% versus 21% and a very strong Q3 a year ago. Net sales were down $12 million or 4% from the prior year when SES contributed $35 million in sales. But excluding the impact of SES in both periods, our revenues grew by over 8% in Q3.

它也反映了我們的團隊在過去 12 個月中所做的出色工作，了解並與我們的客戶合作，以確保我們的解決方案是按時交付的正確解決方案。我們的調整後 EBITDA 和每股盈餘均實現了同比和環比成長。本季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 24%，而去年第三季為 21%，且表現非常強勁。淨銷售額較前一年下降 1,200 萬美元，降幅為 4%，而上年 SES 的銷售額為 3,500 萬美元。但排除兩個時期的 SES 的影響，我們第三季的營收成長了 8% 以上。

That growth was driven by the inclusion of Ragasco, improved demand as we return to more seasonally normal trends across our value streams and improved mix and continued share gains in many end markets. Our results in Q3 of the product did a great job. Our teams have continued to do as we optimize our current business and grow Worthington. We continue to leverage the Worthington Business System and its three growth drivers, innovation, transformation, and M&A to maximize both our near and long-term success.

這一增長得益於 Ragasco 的加入、隨著我們價值流恢復到更季節性的正常趨勢而出現的需求改善、產品組合的改善以及許多終端市場的份額持續增長。我們的產品在第三季的業績表現十分出色。在優化現有業務和發展沃辛頓的過程中，我們的團隊一直堅持不懈。我們將繼續利用沃辛頓商業系統及其三大成長動力，即創新、轉型和併購，以最大限度地實現我們的近期和長期成功。

As I've said before, one of the key areas where we excel is our ability to understand and solve our customers' challenges and partner with them to help drive their success through innovation and by opening and expanding new markets. Let me share a few examples. During Q3, our Building Products team launched our latest IoT-enabled product, SureSense, a wireless propane level sensing technology. When it's inserted into a large-format heating tank, it provides extremely accurate and reliable digital fill readings that are set directly to our customer. SureSense helps make these propane marketers more efficient and reduces costly customer runouts, ultimately helping them be more successful.

正如我之前所說，我們的優勢之一就是我們能夠理解和解決客戶的挑戰，並與他們合作，透過創新以及開拓和擴展新市場來幫助他們取得成功。讓我分享幾個例子。在第三季度，我們的建築產品團隊推出了我們最新的支援物聯網的產品 SureSense，一種無線丙烷液位感測技術。當它插入大型加熱罐時，它能提供極其準確和可靠的數位填充讀數，並直接為我們的客戶設定。SureSense 有助於提高這些丙烷行銷商的效率，減少昂貴的客戶缺貨現象，最終幫助他們取得更大的成功。

Just last week, our consumer products team launched the Balloon Time Mini Helium Tank, which is now available at Target stores nationwide. The innovative design is easy to carry in store, making it convenient for at-home and on-the-go celebrations. Its relatively small size also creates more opportunities for distribution in grocery and convenience stores that haven't been able to carry our traditional tanks because of their size.

就在上週，我們的消費品團隊推出了 Balloon Time 迷你氦氣罐，目前在全國的 Target 商店有售。創新的設計易於在商店中攜帶，方便在家中和旅途中慶祝活動。它相對較小的尺寸也為雜貨店和便利商店創造了更多的分銷機會，這些商店由於尺寸原因無法攜帶我們的傳統儲罐。

Our building and consumer products teams are also increasingly working together to bring innovative product offerings and solutions to customers. A great example of this is Tractor Supply, where we leveraged our commercial relationships to gain share and expand the breadth of our products available in the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the US. Now, you can find Worthington products suitable for home, commercial, and agricultural applications in all Tractor Supply locations nationwide.

我們的建築和消費品團隊也日益緊密地合作，為客戶提供創新的產品和解決方案。Tractor Supply 就是一個很好的例子，我們利用我們的商業關係來獲得市場份額，並擴大我們在美國最大的鄉村生活方式零售商中提供的產品的廣度。現在，您可以在全國所有 Tractor Supply 門市找到適用於家庭、商業和農業應用的 Worthington 產品。

We continue to invest in transformational change as well. Part of thinking like a startup is prioritizing speed and agility in our frontline manufacturing operations. We're investing in automation and have substantially completed one of our facility modernization projects and are on track with the other. We're also embracing AI across our facilities and in our back-office function, and we're continuing to adopt new ways of thinking.

我們也會繼續對轉型變革進行投資。像新創公司一樣思考的一部分是優先考慮我們一線製造業務的速度和敏捷性。我們正在投資自動化領域，已基本完成一項設施現代化項目，另一項項目也正在按計劃進行。我們也在我們的所有設施和後台職能中採用人工智慧，並不斷採用新的思維方式。

For example, in early March, we launched an 80-20 project in our Water business, which we believe will enable us to better prioritize our products and align our manufacturing to optimize the growth and the margins of that business. Last year, we talked about some of the awards our Halo Griddles had won. We're pleased to share that later this year, you'll be able to buy a HALO Griddle at select Walmart stores. An example of our strategy of acquiring innovative products with emerging brands and leveraging our capabilities and relationships to broaden the reach of those brands.

例如，3月初，我們在水業務中啟動了一個80-20項目，我們相信這將使我們能夠更好地優先考慮我們的產品並調整我們的製造，以優化該業務的成長和利潤率。去年，我們談到了 Halo Griddles 贏得的一些獎項。我們很高興地告訴大家，今年晚些時候，您將可以在指定的沃爾瑪商店購買 HALO 煎鍋。我們的策略之一是收購新興品牌的創新產品，並利用我們的能力和關係來擴大這些品牌的影響力。

In another example of adding value to our acquisitions, Level 5 just launched Destination drywall with Sherwin-Williams. Our Level 5 drywall tools can now be found by contractors and DIYers in 3,500 Sherwin-Williams locations nationwide. As evidenced by those two examples, M&A enhanced by the Worthington business system is an important growth driver for us. Our strong balance sheet and liquidity give us financial flexibility to pursue additional growth through acquisitions, and we continue to focus on acquiring market-leading businesses that we can add value to and that will be accretive to our margins free cash flows and competitive position.

我們為收購增加價值的另一個例子是，Level 5 剛剛與 Sherwin-Williams 合作推出了 Destination 乾式牆。現在，全國 3,500 家 Sherwin-Williams 門市的承包商和 DIY 愛好者都可以找到我們的 5 級乾牆工具。從這兩個例子可以看出，沃辛頓業務體系增強的併購是我們重要的成長動力。我們強勁的資產負債表和流動性為我們提供了財務靈活性，可以透過收購來追求額外的成長，我們將繼續專注於收購能夠增加價值的市場領先企業，這將增加我們的利潤率、自由現金流和競爭地位。

As we head into the spring, our Q4 and ultimately into our fiscal 2026, we're very excited about the platform that we have built and the future that we have in front of us. We're confident that our market-leading brands and outstanding value propositions anchored and supported by our unique and powerful people-first performance-based culture will enable us to accelerate the profitable growth of our business and create more long-term value for shareholders.

隨著我們進入春季、第四季度以及最終進入 2026 財年，我們對已經建立的平台和擺在我們面前的未來感到非常興奮。我們相信，我們市場領先的品牌和卓越的價值主張，在我們獨特而強大的以人為本、以績效為基礎的文化的支持下，將使我們能夠加速業務的盈利增長，並為股東創造更多的長期價值。

I will now turn it over to Colin, who will take you through some details related to our financial performance in the quarter.

現在我將把話題交給科林，他將向您介紹本季我們財務表現的一些細節。

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. We delivered strong earnings growth in Q3, reporting GAAP earnings from continuing operations of $0.79 per share versus $0.44 in the prior year quarter. There were a few unique items that impacted our quarterly results, including the following: the current quarter was negatively impacted by net pretax restructuring and other charges of $5 million or $0.12 per share, primarily due to an earnout associated with the Ragasco acquisition. Results in the prior year quarter were negatively impacted by $0.36 per share due to several items, the largest relating to the separation of our former Steel Processing business, along with a charge to annuitize a legacy defined benefit pension plan.

謝謝你，喬，大家早安。我們在第三季度實現了強勁的獲利成長，報告的 GAAP 持續經營收益為每股 0.79 美元，而去年同期為 0.44 美元。有一些獨特項目影響了我們的季度業績，其中包括：本季受到淨稅前重組和其他費用 500 萬美元或每股 0.12 美元的負面影響，這主要是由於與 Ragasco 收購相關的盈利支出。受多項因素影響，去年同期的業績每股受到 0.36 美元的負面影響，其中最大的影響與我們之前的鋼鐵加工業務的分離有關，以及對遺留的固定收益退休金計劃進行年金化的費用。

Excluding these items, we generated adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $0.91 per share in the current quarter, marking a strong quarter for us as Worthington Enterprises. This represents an increase from $0.80 per share in Q3 of the prior year.

除這些項目外，我們本季的調整後持續經營收益為每股 0.91 美元，這標誌著沃辛頓企業本季業績強勁。這比去年同期的每股 0.80 美元有所增加。

Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $305 million, a 3.9% decrease from $317 million in the prior year quarter. This decline was primarily due to the deconsolidation of our former Sustainable Energy Solutions segment, which contributed $35 million in sales last year. However, this was partially offset by contributions from the Ragasco acquisition and higher overall volumes.

本季綜合淨銷售額為 3.05 億美元，較去年同期的 3.17 億美元下降 3.9%。這一下降主要是由於我們先前的可持續能源解決方案部門的拆分，該部門去年的銷售額貢獻了 3500 萬美元。然而，這被收購 Ragasco 和整體銷售增加的貢獻部分抵消。

Excluding SES in both periods, sales grew over 8%. Gross profit increased significantly to $89 million, up from $73 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting an expansion in gross margin of approximately 620 basis points to 29.3%. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $74 million, up from $67 million in Q3 of last year and up sequentially from $56 million in Q2. Our adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter was over 24% compared to 21% last year. And on a trailing 12-month basis, adjusted EBITDA now stands at $242 million with the TTM adjusted EBITDA margin of 21%.

如果不包括兩個時期的 SES，銷售額則成長超過 8%。毛利從去年同期的 7,300 萬美元大幅增加至 8,900 萬美元，反映出毛利率擴大了約 620 個基點，達到 29.3%。本季調整後 EBITDA 為 7,400 萬美元，高於去年第三季的 6,700 萬美元，也比第二季的 5,600 萬美元環比成長。本季我們的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率超過 24%，而去年同期為 21%。在過去 12 個月中，調整後的 EBITDA 目前為 2.42 億美元，TTM 調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 21%。

Turning to our cash flow and balance sheet. We continue to invest in our operations while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation. During the quarter, we invested $13 million in capital projects, including $8 million related to our ongoing facility modernization initiatives. We also returned capital to shareholders, paying $8 million in dividends and repurchasing 150,000 shares of our common stock for $6 million. Our joint ventures remain strong contributors, generating $35 million in dividends during the quarter, a 110% cash conversion rate on net equity income.

轉向我們的現金流和資產負債表。我們繼續對我們的營運進行投資，同時保持嚴謹的資本配置方法。本季度，我們在資本項目上投資了 1,300 萬美元，其中 800 萬美元與我們正在進行的設施現代化計劃有關。我們也向股東返還資本，支付了 800 萬美元的股息，並以 600 萬美元的價格回購了 15 萬股普通股。我們的合資企業仍然是強勁的貢獻者，本季產生了 3,500 萬美元的股息，淨股權收入的現金轉換率為 110%。

Cash flow from operations for the quarter was $57 million, and we generated $44 million in free cash flow. On a trailing 12-month basis, free cash flow totaled $144 million, representing a 104% free cash flow conversion rate relative to our adjusted net earnings over the same period.

本季的經營現金流為 5,700 萬美元，我們產生了 4,400 萬美元的自由現金流。在過去 12 個月中，自由現金流總計 1.44 億美元，相對於同期調整後的淨收益，自由現金流轉換率為 104%。

Turning to our balance sheet and liquidity. We closed the quarter with $294 million in long-term funded debt, carrying an average interest rate of 3.6%, along with $223 million in cash. Our leverage remains extremely low, with ample liquidity supported by a $500 million undrawn bank credit facility, positioning us well for future growth and flexibility. Net debt at quarter-end was $71 million, resulting in a net debt-to-trailing-EBITDA leverage ratio of approximately a quarter turn.

轉向我們的資產負債表和流動性。本季結束時，我們的長期融資債務為 2.94 億美元，平均利率為 3.6%，同時還有 2.23 億美元現金。我們的槓桿率仍然非常低，並有 5 億美元未提取的銀行信貸額度支持充足的流動性，為我們未來的成長和靈活性做好了準備。季度末的淨債務為 7,100 萬美元，導致淨債務與過去 EBITDA 的槓桿率約為四分之一。

Yesterday, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share payable in June 2025.

昨天，我們的董事會宣布季度股息為每股 0.17 美元，將於 2025 年 6 月支付。

I'll now spend a few minutes on each of the business. In Consumer Products, Q3 net sales grew 5% year over year to $140 million, driven by higher volumes. Adjusted EBITDA was $29 million with a 20.5% margin compared to $26 million and 19.3% in Q3 last year. The quarter benefited from higher gross profit dollars and improved gross margin percent, though these gains were partially offset by increased SG&A as we continue to invest in the business for future growth.

我現在將花幾分鐘來討論每項業務。在消費品方面，由於銷量增加，第三季淨銷售額年增 5% 至 1.4 億美元。調整後 EBITDA 為 2,900 萬美元，利潤率為 20.5%，而去年第三季為 2,600 萬美元，利潤率為 19.3%。本季受惠於毛利的增加和毛利率的提高，但由於我們持續對業務進行投資以實現未來成長，這些收益被銷售、一般及行政費用的增加部分抵銷。

Additionally, within SG&A, we recorded a $1 million charge related to a customer that filed for bankruptcy during the quarter. Our Consumer team continued to execute well in Q3, delivering solid results despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. While we recognize that broader uncertainty could impact consumer sentiment and future demand, we remain optimistic heading into the spring and outdoor season. Our commitment to delivering essential products for outdoor living, celebrations, and tools, combined with our diverse product portfolio, strong brand positioning, and deep retail relationships positions us well to navigate near-term challenges while we continue to focus on long-term growth opportunities.

此外，在銷售、一般及行政開支中，我們記錄了與本季申請破產的客戶相關的 100 萬美元費用。我們的消費者團隊在第三季度繼續表現良好，儘管宏觀經濟不確定性持續存在，但仍取得了穩健的表現。雖然我們認識到更廣泛的不確定性可能會影響消費者情緒和未來需求，但我們對春季和戶外季節仍然保持樂觀。我們致力於提供戶外生活、慶祝活動和工具必需的產品，結合我們多樣化的產品組合、強大的品牌定位和深厚的零售關係，使我們能夠很好地應對近期挑戰，同時繼續專注於長期成長機會。

Building Products Q3 net sales grew 11% year over year to $165 million, up from $148 million in the prior year quarter. This growth was primarily driven by the Ragasco acquisition, along with a more favorable product mix, particularly on our large-format Heating business, which has returned to seasonally normal levels following last year's destocking cycle.

建築產品第三季淨銷售額年增 11% 至 1.65 億美元，高於去年同期的 1.48 億美元。這一成長主要得益於對 Ragasco 的收購，以及更有利的產品組合，尤其是我們的大尺寸加熱業務，該業務在去年的去庫存週期後已恢復到季節性正常水平。

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $53 million with a 32% margin compared to $53 million and 36% margin in the same quarter last year. Sequentially, the business continued to improve with adjusted EBITDA and margin rising from $47 million and 30% in Q2. The year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA was driven by strong performance within our Heating, Cooling, and Water businesses. However, this was largely offset by a lower equity earnings from our joint ventures, particularly ClarkDietrich, which declined $8 million year over year, but still contributed a solid $9 million in equity earnings for the quarter.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 5,300 萬美元，利潤率為 32%，而去年同期為 5,300 萬美元，利潤率為 36%。與上一季相比，公司業務持續改善，調整後的 EBITDA 和利潤率分別從第二季的 4,700 萬美元和 30% 上升。調整後 EBITDA 的年成長得益於我們供暖、冷氣和水業務的強勁表現。然而，這在很大程度上被我們合資企業的股權收益下降所抵消，特別是ClarkDietrich，其股權收益比去年同期下降了 800 萬美元，但仍為本季貢獻了 900 萬美元的穩定股權收益。

ClarkDietrich results were negatively impacted by the decline in steel prices, which led to margin compression. They also faced a slight headwind from unfavorable weather conditions, which temporarily disrupted some customer job sites during the quarter. WAVE continued to execute exceptionally well in a flat market, contributing $25 million in equity earnings, down slightly from $26 million in the prior year quarter.

鋼鐵價格下跌對 ClarkDietrich 的業績產生了負面影響，導致利潤率受到壓縮。他們也面臨不利天氣條件帶來的輕微阻力，導致本季一些客戶的工作現場暫時中斷。在平淡的市場中，WAVE 繼續表現出色，貢獻了 2,500 萬美元的股權收益，略低於去年同期的 2,600 萬美元。

The Building Products team continues to navigate the current environment well, demonstrating resilience and adaptability in serving our customers. Our products are critical to heating, cooling, construction, and water infrastructure, and we remain well positioned to meet customer needs and capture market share through new product innovations, reliable service, and a strong commitment to execution.

建築產品團隊繼續很好地駕馭當前環境，在服務客戶方面展現韌性和適應性。我們的產品對於暖氣、冷氣、建築和水利基礎設施至關重要，我們透過新產品創新、可靠的服務和堅定的執行承諾，始終能夠滿足客戶需求並佔領市場份額。

Our joint ventures continue to provide steady contributions, and despite some current macroeconomic uncertainty, we are confident in the long-term opportunities in commercial construction and repair and remodel activities. As market conditions improve, we are well positioned to drive long-term growth while supporting our customers and strengthening our competitive position.

我們的合資企業繼續提供穩定的貢獻，儘管當前宏觀經濟存在一些不確定性，但我們對商業建築和修復及改造活動的長期機會充滿信心。隨著市場條件的改善，我們有能力推動長期成長，同時支持我們的客戶並加強我們的競爭地位。

At this point, we're happy to take any questions.

現在，我們很樂意回答任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Kathryn Thompson, Thompson Research Group.

（操作員指示）凱瑟琳湯普森，湯普森研究小組。

Thank you for the color today you gave in the prepared commentary. But one thing, just one of the -- a couple of things I want to focus on. First, kind of the obvious in terms of tariffs, you had some commentary, but give more color in terms of how tariffs are being navigated in today's market versus the ones that were implemented in the first Trump administration. And is this an opportunity for you in terms of pricing? Are you seeing any type of supply issues that are disruptive at all to the business?

感謝您今天在準備好的評論中給予的色彩。但有一件事，只是其中之一——我想重點討論幾件事。首先，就關稅而言，您已經發表了一些評論，但請詳細說明一下當今市場關稅的運作情況，以及與第一屆川普政府實施的關稅相比的情況。從定價方面來看，這對您來說是一個機會嗎？您是否發現任何類型的供應問題會對業務造成乾擾？

Kathryn, thank you for the question. No, it certainly -- the tariffs and trade-related uncertainty are certainly in a lot of people's minds. We talked about this a little bit in December on our call. But one of the things that we said then, it was certainly still very true now is that we think we're pretty well positioned in any scenario.

凱瑟琳，謝謝你的提問。不，當然——關稅和貿易相關的不確定性肯定是許多人關心的問題。我們在 12 月的電話會議中討論過這個問題。但我們當時說過的一句話，現在仍然非常正確，那就是我們認為在任何情況下，我們都處於相當有利的位置。

It's also, as you know, a pretty fluid environment right now. So we'll tell you what we know and how we feel about it. But we understand, as I know you do, that things will potentially change tomorrow or next week.

如你所知，目前的環境也相當不穩定。因此我們會告訴你我們所知道的情況以及我們的感受。但我們明白，我知道你們也明白，明天或下週情況可能會改變。

So we're primarily a domestic manufacturer, and that is a competitive strength for us. We've got diversified sourcing capabilities that provide us some flexibility, but we're also pretty focused on being good partners for our customers. And so we understand the potential impacts on us the various trade policies and what it means for our customers. And we also learned a lot in 2021 and 2022, to your question about kind of supply chains from the supply chain-related issues that happened post-COVID.

因此，我們主要是一家國內製造商，這是我們的競爭優勢。我們擁有多樣化的採購能力，這為我們提供了一些靈活性，但我們也非常注重成為客戶的良好合作夥伴。因此，我們了解各種貿易政策對我們的潛在影響以及對我們的客戶意味著什麼。對於您提出的有關供應鏈的問題，我們在 2021 年和 2022 年也從新冠疫情之後發生的供應鏈相關問題中學到了很多東西。

So where we do see increases in our cost perspectively or currently, we've got a few options in our toolkit. One, we can work with some of our suppliers to offset some or all of those increases. Two, we were always trying to find other efficiencies to mitigate some of those increases. And three, I think, which is what you asked about, price increases. And we have announced pending price increases on many of our products. But we're pretty confident in our strategy and our ability to manage cost pressures that might come our way.

因此，當我們確實看到成本從當前角度增加時，我們的工具包中提供了一些選項。一是，我們可以與一些供應商合作，來抵銷部分或全部成長。二，我們一直在嘗試尋找其他效率方法來緩解這些增加。第三，我想這也是您所問的，價格上漲。我們也宣布許多產品即將漲價。但我們對我們的策略和管理可能出現的成本壓力的能力非常有信心。

And then since we are primarily a domestic manufacturer, we haven't yet seen a really material uptick in demand that we think is directly related to tariffs, but we've seen an increase in inquiries in some of our value streams where we compete against imports. And so generally speaking, we would be a net beneficiary from tariffs, although we do obviously have some things that we would need to continue to work through. And so the specifics are pretty fluid, and they're certainly subject to change with what's coming out of DC. But we did see this coming, and we feel like our approach is the right one.

而且由於我們主要是國內製造商，我們尚未看到需求出現真正實質的上升，我們認為這與關稅直接相關，但在與進口產品競爭的一些價值流中，我們看到詢價增加。因此，總體而言，我們將成為關稅的淨受益者，儘管我們顯然有一些事情需要繼續努力解決。所以具體細節相當不確定，而且肯定會隨著華盛頓的動向而改變。但我們確實預見了這一點，我們覺得我們的方法是正確的。

And we're also pretty confident that the administration is focused on creating a more level playing field for US manufacturers like us. But I think it's also true that they really want to avoid reigniting inflationary pressures, which is certainly a sentiment that we would agree with.

我們也非常有信心，政府致力於為像我們這樣的美國製造商創造更公平的競爭環境。但我認為，他們確實希望避免重新引發通膨壓力，我們當然也同意這種觀點。

Okay. Perfect. Also, to -- just any puts and takes in terms of the core products, EBITDA margin, and the contributing factors for progress in that segment? And then as a follow-on, just with your JVs, just kind of sequentially year-over-year comps, year-over-year OpEx pretty tough, but sequentially flattish and also any type of outlook in which you’re seeing in WAVE and ClarkDietrich?

好的。完美的。另外，在核心產品、EBITDA 利潤率以及該領域進步的因素方面，是否有任何投入和產出？然後作為後續問題，僅就您的合資企業而言，同比來看，同比營運支出相當強勁，但環比持平，以及您在 WAVE 和 ClarkDietrich 中看到的任何前景如何？

Sure, Kathryn. I'll let Colin talk through the building products, I think, which is what you're asking about, and then I'll hit the JVs.

當然，凱瑟琳。我想，我會讓柯林談談建築產品，這也是你所問的，然後我會談談合資企業。

Kathryn, so I think we were very pleased with on the building products side, in particular, the wholly-owned business margin, so Heating, Cooling, Construction, Water. Year over year, that business, if you exclude the JVs, is up from an EBITDA margin perspective from 6% to 11%. So really good performance there. We're seeing a positive mix shift and return to seasonally normal demand levels in a number of our markets and products there. And so that team continues to execute very well and has done a really good job to help offset the big headwind in the quarter, which was ClarkDietrich year-over-year results down pretty big from last year.

凱瑟琳，我認為我們對建築產品方面非常滿意，特別是全資業務利潤，包括暖氣、冷氣、建築、水務。與去年同期相比，如果不包括合資企業，該業務的 EBITDA 利潤率將從 6% 上升至 11%。所以表現真的很出色。我們看到，我們的許多市場和產品出現了積極的變化，需求水準已恢復到季節性正常水準。因此，該團隊繼續表現良好，並出色地完成了工作，幫助抵消了本季度的巨大阻力，即 ClarkDietrich 的同比業績與去年相比大幅下降。

They contributed $9 million in the quarter, but that was still a $8 million headwind for us, which the Heating, Cooling, Construction, and Water business helped overcome. So very pleased with the results there.

他們在本季貢獻了 900 萬美元，但這對我們來說仍然是 800 萬美元的阻力，暖氣、冷氣、建築和水業務幫助我們克服了這一阻力。我對結果非常滿意。

And then with respect to WAVE and ClarkDietrich, WAVE had a pretty tough comp as to how some of the months laid out. But we think kind of a flattish market for them but very steady. Their strategy is very sound. One of the big growth markets for them going forward is data centers. They've been selling into data centers with their traditional products, but post the acquisition of DCR for them, they've really sort of trained their NPD sites on data center and have some pretty exciting things that they're working about -- working on. And so we're pleased with that.

然後就 WAVE 和 ClarkDietrich 而言，WAVE 在某些月份的佈局方面相當艱難。但我們認為他們的市場略顯平淡但非常穩定。他們的策略非常合理。資料中心是他們未來的一大成長市場。他們一直在向資料中心銷售其傳統產品，但在收購 DCR 之後，他們實際上已經在資料中心方面培訓了他們的 NPD 站點，並且正在進行一些非常令人興奮的工作。我們對此感到非常高興。

And WAVE ultimately is always there for its customers. They have world-class on-time delivery. They have Six Sigma quality. And so they're going to be fine, I think, in any kind of a flat market.

而 WAVE 最終還是會為客戶服務。他們擁有世界一流的準時交貨能力。他們具有六西格瑪品質。所以我認為，在任何平穩的市場中，他們都會表現得很好。

ClarkDietrich, we talked about a little bit of the headwinds there. They had an amazing Q3 a year ago. We obviously knew that wasn't going to be the same. And so they're executing really well. And one of the things that we've seen is a little more increase in volatility in steel prices, and that is an advantage for ClarkDietrich going forward. It hasn't been massive the way that it was a few years ago. But when there are volatile steel prices and markets out there, that benefits ClarkDietrich because they are nationwide and very sophisticated. They're a proven supplier and partner to a lot of their customers. And so we see increases in volatility and slight upticks in steel prices as relatively speaking, a good guys for them.

克拉克迪特里希 (ClarkDietrich)，我們談論了那裡的一些不利因素。去年他們的第三季表現十分出色。我們顯然知道情況將不再一樣。因此他們的表現非常好。我們看到的情況之一是鋼鐵價格波動性略有增加，這對 ClarkDietrich 未來的發展來說是一個優勢。它不再像幾年前那麼龐大了。但當鋼鐵價格和市場波動時，ClarkDietrich 就受益了，因為他們遍布全國並且非常成熟。對於許多客戶來說，他們是值得信賴的供應商和合作夥伴。因此，我們看到波動性增加和鋼鐵價格小幅上漲，相對而言，這對它們來說是好事。

Daniel Moore, CJS Securities.

丹尼爾·摩爾（Daniel Moore），CJS 證券。

I wanted to start with margins. Gross margin, we don't talk a lot about consolidated but spiked above 29%, clearly some favorable seasonality there. Just talk about the puts and takes, any unusual good guys in the quarter. And how do you -- how should we think about sort of Q4, and more importantly, annualized range or run rate as we look into '26?

我想從利潤開始。毛利率，我們很少談論合併毛利率，但其飆升至 29% 以上，顯然存在一些有利的季節性因素。只談得失，以及本季有任何不尋常的好人嗎。您如何看待第四季度的情況，更重要的是，當我們展望 26 年時，我們應該如何看待年化範圍或運行率？

Thanks for the question. Just some of the highlights, obviously, we did see 620 basis points of gross margin expansion year over year, which is great. Last year consisted of -- we had our SES business unit contributing revenue and margin as well. So we deconsolidated that as we put that business unit into a joint venture. That led to a roughly 300 basis points of the margin expansion.

謝謝你的提問。其中顯然的一些亮點是，我們確實看到毛利率同比擴大了 620 個基點，這很好。去年我們的 SES 業務部門也貢獻了收入和利潤。因此，我們將其拆分，並將該業務部門納入合資企業。這導致利潤率擴大了約300個基點。

And then in the Building Products and Consumer Products business, we had some good positive mix shift there with some higher demand in some of the categories that we called out. And then more of a unique item in the Building Products business, we had a LPM adjustment year that didn't repeat due to a product we sourced and brought in. So that helped expand some margins year over year from that perspective.

然後在建築產品和消費品業務方面，我們取得了一些良好的積極組合轉變，我們所提到的一些類別的需求增加。然後，在建築產品業務中，還有一個更獨特的項目，我們有一個 LPM 調整年，由於我們採購和引進的產品，這一年沒有重複。從這個角度來看，這有助於逐年擴大利潤率。

So 29% gross margins, we feel, are pretty good. Q3 and Q4 are typically our seasonally strongest quarters of the year. And over time, I think our goal, as you know, is to try to sustain margins in the high 20s. And we think we have a good plan in place to try to execute that over time.

因此，我們認為 29% 的毛利率已經相當不錯了。第三季和第四季通常是我們一年中業績最強勁的季度。隨著時間的推移，我認為我們的目標是努力將利潤率維持在 20% 左右。我們認為我們已經制定了一個很好的計劃，並將逐步實施這項計劃。

Very helpful. Appreciate it. Shifting gears to Consumer segment, clearly, it's tough to know with precision, but any sense for how much of the volume growth in the quarter is restocking or stocking at new customers versus more true end-market demand?

非常有幫助。非常感謝。轉向消費領域，顯然，很難準確知道，但能否知道本季的銷售成長有多少是來自補貨或新客戶的庫存，而不是更真實的終端市場需求？

Yes. Dan, it's Joe. Q3 for consumer last year was a really strong quarter. It was even stronger this year. One of the things that we worked really hard on was preparing our customers, our retailers for potential surge demand. It obviously happened a little bit in the fall with some of the hurricanes and then in the winter with some of the cold weather and some of the storms that we saw. So it was really important to us to make sure that we didn't have a situation where people weren't prepared and so bought way ahead because last year, what you then saw was that Q4, there was some destocking.

是的。丹，我是喬。去年第三季對於消費市場來說是一個非常強勁的季度。今年這種勢頭更加強勁。我們非常努力地去做的一件事就是讓我們的客戶和零售商為潛在的激增需求做好準備。顯然，這種情況在秋季發生過一些，當時出現了一些颶風，而在冬季，我們看到了一些寒冷天氣和暴風雨。因此，對我們來說，確保不會出現人們沒有準備好而提前購買的情況非常重要，因為去年，你看到的是第四季度出現了一些去庫存的情況。

And so we were helpful to our customers in that regard. And so what we saw towards the tail end of Q3 and into Q4 is that supply is fine. Orders are tracking kind of point-of-sale details. And so we feel like we were pretty successful there. And I know that our retail partners and customers very much appreciated that.

因此我們在這方面為客戶提供了幫助。因此，我們在第三季末和第四季看到的是供應良好。訂單正在追蹤某種銷售點詳細資訊。因此我們覺得我們在那裡相當成功。我知道我們的零售合作夥伴和客戶對此非常感激。

We do think that there was probably a little bit of a positive impact from the storms and from the weather. It helped drive some demand in consumer that helped drive a little bit of demand in our Heating business within Building Products. But ultimately, it actually was a little bit of a headwind for ClarkDietrich because their customers couldn't be on job sites for several days because of the cold. So we would try to estimate that as a good guy of about $0.05 a share, EPS-wise.

我們確實認為風暴和天氣可能帶來一些正面影響。它有助於推動消費者的一些需求，從而有助於推動我們建築產品中供熱業務的一些需求。但最終，這對 ClarkDietrich 來說實際上是一個小小的阻力，因為他們的客戶因為寒冷而幾天都無法到達工作現場。因此，我們會嘗試估算，就每股盈餘而言，好股的收益約為 0.05 美元。

Great, Joe. Very helpful. And then last is just, free cash flow conversion has been really strong on a trailing basis. How should we kind of think about the sustainability of that? And looking free cash flow conversion as we think about maybe fiscal '26 versus what we've seen year-to-date here.

太好了，喬。非常有幫助。最後，自由現金流轉換在過去的基礎上一直表現強勁。我們該如何看待它的可持續性？讓我們再來看看 26 財年的自由現金流轉換情況，以及今年迄今的情況。

And then you bought back 150,000 shares in the quarter. Would you expect to maintain similar cadence if shares remain at or near current levels?

然後你在本季回購了 15 萬股。如果股價維持在當前水平或接近當前水平，您是否預計會保持類似的節奏？

Yes. Thanks, Dan. Maybe I'll hit the last question first with just capital allocation. We'll continue to be balanced across that with a bias towards growth. As you know, we've talked about that from time to time. So we will always monitor our shares in buyback at a minimum to offset dilution but also more opportunistically, if we see fit.

是的。謝謝，丹。也許我會先透過資本配置來回答最後一個問題。我們將繼續保持平衡並偏向成長。如你所知，我們時常談論這個問題。因此，我們將始終監控回購的股票，至少是為了抵消稀釋，但如果我們認為合適，我們也會採取更多機會主義的措施。

Our bias towards growth, we're always monitoring from an M&A standpoint. That's a key part of our growth strategy, and we always have opportunities that we're looking at and assessing and assessing for fit with our strategy, and we'll pull the trigger on those when it makes sense.

我們傾向於成長，我們始終從併購的角度進行監控。這是我們成長策略的關鍵部分，我們始終在尋找和評估機會，以適應我們的策略，當它有意義時，我們就會抓住這些機會。

And then from a CapEx standpoint, as you know, we're going through some facility modernization projects. We've completed one on the Building Product side and on the Consumer Product side. That one has been ramping up over the past few quarters. We still have another six to eight quarters to go and $50 million or so of spend on that project over the next six to eight quarters, and the bulk of that will be in fiscal year '26.

然後從資本支出的角度來看，如您所知，我們正在進行一些設施現代化項目。我們已經完成了建築產品方面和消費產品的工作。過去幾個季度裡，這一趨勢一直在加劇。我們還有六到八個季度的時間，未來六到八個季度我們將在該專案上花費約 5,000 萬美元，其中大部分將在 26 財年完成。

So from a free cash flow conversion perspective, I think we're pleased at $144 million of free cash flow and a conversion over 100%. I think we would try to target that and do better over time, notwithstanding some of the CapEx I talked about earlier.

因此，從自由現金流轉換的角度來看，我認為我們對 1.44 億美元的自由現金流和超過 100% 的轉換率感到滿意。我認為，儘管我之前談到了一些資本支出，但我們會努力實現這一目標並隨著時間的推移做得更好。

Susan Maklari, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的蘇珊馬克拉里 (Susan Maklari)。

This is actually Charles Perron for Susan this morning. First, I want to go back on the revenue and the volume initiatives for consumer building products. You highlighted several initiatives around product launches in your prepared remarks to drive organic growth every time. Can you maybe unpack how much these initiatives contributed to the growth this quarter? And how much they can allow you maybe to outperform the underlying market growth when you think about calendar 2025?

今天早上，蘇珊 (Susan) 見到了查爾斯·佩隆 (Charles Perron)。首先，我想回顧一下消費建築產品的收入和銷售計劃。您在準備好的演講中強調了圍繞產品發布的幾項舉措，以推動有機成長。您能否解釋一下這些舉措對本季的成長貢獻有多大？當您考慮 2025 年時，它們可以讓您在多大程度上超越基礎市場的成長？

Yes, it's a good question. The launches and the things that I specifically mentioned actually contributed next to nothing in the quarter because they're all happening right now. Now, we have initiatives all over the place all the time, right? And so some of those are, in fact, kind of contributing to revenue growth and margin uplift, et cetera, Charles.

是的，這是個好問題。我特別提到的發布和事情實際上對本季度幾乎沒有任何貢獻，因為它們都是現在發生的。現在，我們到處都有這樣的舉措，對嗎？因此，其中一些實際上有助於收入增長和利潤率提升等等，查爾斯。

But ultimately, when we think about kind of where we are in a lot of our businesses, we have -- in a lot of our value streams, we have pretty good market share. And so we're going to grow and hopefully outgrow our markets there. But in a lot of our other value streams, I'll give you an example on the Tools business and on the Grills business, we're a little newer there. And so we've got great brands, and we've got great products, but as we work and leverage our relationship and leverage really the Worthington Business System, those products and those value streams have significant growth potential over time because they're ultimately taking share in the markets that they're in, where in some of our other markets, so I call them more of our legacy markets, we already have that share.

但最終，當我們思考我們在許多業務中的位置時，我們在許多價值流中都擁有相當不錯的市場份額。因此，我們將會發展，並希望超越那裡的市場。但在我們的許多其他價值流中，我舉個工具業務和烤架業務的例子，我們在這些方面還比較新。因此，我們擁有優秀的品牌和優秀的產品，但隨著我們努力利用我們的關係並真正利用沃辛頓業務系統，這些產品和價值流將隨著時間的推移具有顯著的增長潛力，因為它們最終會在它們所在的市場中佔據份額，而在我們的其他一些市場，我稱之為我們的更多傳統市場，我們已經擁有了這些份額。

And so we're focused in those markets on new products and things that we think are -- where the market should be going as opposed to entering those markets. So net-net answer to your question is, not a lot in the current quarter from those new products I mentioned but should be contributing both margin and revenues as we go forward.

因此，我們專注於這些市場上的新產品和我們認為市場應該走向的方向，而不是進入這些市場。所以對你的問題的總體回答是，本季度我提到的那些新產品的收益並不多，但隨著我們未來的發展，它們應該會為利潤和收入做出貢獻。

That's helpful color, Joe. Next, I want to circle back on the margin performance this quarter, dig a little deeper. Can you talk a little bit more about the drivers between the volume leverage that you got across the core building products and consumer products and the success of operating initiatives? And how do those inform me your ability to expand margins in the coming quarter even if the end-market demand were to moderate across those verticals?

那是有用的顏色，喬。接下來，我想回顧本季的利潤率表現，並進行更深入的挖掘。能否進一步談談核心建築產品和消費產品的銷售槓桿與營運計畫成功之間的驅動因素？即使終端市場需求在這些垂直領域放緩，這些如何告訴我您在下一季擴大利潤的能力？

So sure, pretty [precise], I think Colin talked to a lot of this, but 29.3% SG&A was, I think, a little less than 21%, 20.7% in the quarter. We like where our trends are going. We're not sort of content and satisfied with that. Our goal, right, our algorithm ultimately is to continue to drive gross margin higher. Certainly, volumes and high revenue helps there because your utilization goes up, and our conversion costs go down.

所以可以肯定，相當[精確]，我認為科林談了很多這方面的問題，但我認為 29.3% 的銷售、一般和行政費用略低於 21%，即本季度的 20.7%。我們喜歡我們所處的趨勢。我們對此並不滿意。我們的目標，對的，我們的演算法最終是繼續提高毛利率。當然，數量和高收入會有所幫助，因為您的利用率會上升，而我們的轉換成本會下降。

But SG&A as a percentage of sales, our SG&A is kind of flattish in the mid-60s in a quarter. But we've got lots of things that we're doing to try and make sure we're as tight as we possibly can be on that front. But then, we're in a flat market. And if we take share and we take care of our customers, and we certainly take care of each other by working safely, growth returns and revenue goes up. Those things accelerate. We'd love to, over the course of time, certainly, our goal over the next couple of years to get gross margins kind of to [30] or above and to have SG&A be 20% (inaudible) more of SG&A.

但銷售、一般及行政費用佔銷售額的百分比，我們的銷售、一般及行政費用在一個季度內持平在 60% 左右。但我們正在做很多事情來嘗試確保我們在這方面盡可能緊密。但我們現在處於一個平淡的市場。如果我們佔據市場份額並照顧我們的客戶，並且透過安全工作互相照顧，那麼成長就會回報，收入就會增加。這些事情正在加速發生。隨著時間的推移，我們當然希望在未來幾年內實現毛利率達到 [30] 或以上，銷售、一般及行政開支 (SG&A) 達到 20%（聽不清楚）以上。

And then certainly, you lop on D&A and then the contribution that we think will continue to get from our world-class JVs, and that makes us sort of feel pretty good about what's possible.

當然，你會削減 D&A，然後我們認為將繼續從我們的世界級合資企業中獲得貢獻，這讓我們對可能發生的事情感到非常滿意。

Okay. Okay. No, that's helpful. And maybe last, can you provide an update on the M&A pipeline and your willingness to do deals despite the ongoing macro uncertainty?

好的。好的。不，這很有幫助。最後，您能否介紹一下併購管道的最新情況，以及儘管宏觀不確定性持續存在，您仍願意進行交易嗎？

Yes. Charles, thanks for the question. The M&A pipeline, as part of our process, we're constantly looking at opportunities, both from a proprietary standpoint and from a market process standpoint. So we continue to assess opportunities. I think our pipeline is pretty good at this point. And the M&A markets are obviously a little slower, and there's some uncertainty in the outlook.

是的。查爾斯，謝謝你的提問。作為我們流程的一部分，併購管道不斷尋找機會，既從專有角度，也從市場流程角度。因此我們繼續評估機會。我認為目前我們的管道已經相當好了。而併購市場顯然成長略顯放緩，前景也存在一些不確定性。

However, that doesn't really change our perspective. We're long-term holders of businesses. We're assessing opportunities that we think are a good fit that we can add value to over the long term. So as I said, I think our pipeline is pretty healthy, and we continue to monitor and assess opportunities on a regular basis.

然而，這並沒有真正改變我們的觀點。我們是企業的長期持有者。我們正在評估那些我們認為適合併且能夠在長期內增加價值的機會。正如我所說，我認為我們的管道非常健康，我們會繼續定期監控和評估機會。

(Operator Instructions) Brian McNamara, Canaccord Genuity.

(操作員指示) Brian McNamara，Canaccord Genuity。

I was hoping you guys could quantify organic sales growth in Q3. I think you mentioned the SES, but I don't think you quantified the Ragasco contribution.

我希望你們能夠量化第三季的有機銷售成長。我認為您提到了 SES，但我認為您沒有量化 Ragasco 的貢獻。

Excluding Ragasco and SES, it was 4%.

不包括 Ragasco 和 SES，這一比例為 4%。

Okay. And then any color on kind of what we're seeing quarter-to-date here, just given the what we'll call it uncertain consumer macro?

好的。那麼，考慮到我們稱之為不確定的消費者宏觀因素，我們對本季迄今為止所看到的情況有何看法？

Yes. We're three weeks into our Q4, Brian. We would say, without any kind of visibility, things haven't dropped off a cliff or anything.

是的。布萊恩，我們已經進入第四季三週了。我們可以說，在沒有任何可見性的情況下，事情並沒有任何重大變化。

Okay. And I know Dan touched on this point, but gross margin is a pretty difficult line item to model for you guys. And I guess the point of my question is, are they kind of stucturally higher here now? I know last year, you had large heating tanks that were typically higher margin. They weren't doing great, assuming they're doing better. Anything else we should be considering there? I think Ragasco has also been additive to margin there. Consumer Products doing better. I think they're higher margin. Anything else investors should be thinking about on that line?

好的。我知道丹提到了這一點，但毛利率對你們來說是一個很難建模的項目。我想我的問題的重點是，它們現在在結構上是否更高？我知道去年你們擁有大型加熱罐，其利潤通常較高。他們做得併不好，但可以想像他們會做得更好。我們還應該考慮什麼嗎？我認為 Ragasco 也為那裡的利潤做出了貢獻。消費品表現較好。我認為它們的利潤更高。投資人還應該考慮什麼呢？

I think it's just -- Brian, I mentioned it earlier, we felt pretty good about our execution this quarter and have had some good positive mix shift, and there's a lot of initiatives playing out as we both over time in a lot of our process improvements and cost savings initiatives. I think if we can sustain levels in the high 20s, and that's what our target is over time, as Joe mentioned. And then you just got to keep in mind Q3 and Q4 are typically our seasonally stronger quarters. And that's how to think about from our perspective.

我認為只是 - 布萊恩，我之前提到過，我們對本季度的執行情況感到非常滿意，並且取得了一些積極的組合轉變，並且隨著時間的推移，我們在許多流程改進和成本節約舉措中都有很多舉措正在實施。我認為如果我們能夠維持在 20 多歲的水平，這就是我們的長期目標，正如喬所提到的。然後你必須記住，第三季和第四季通常是我們季節性表現較強的季度。這就是從我們的角度去思考的問題。

Yes. And Brian, your question is well taken. I think we were at 27% in Q2. We were at 29%. And so structurally, obviously, with the deconsolidation of SES, our margin profile has improved. That is certainly sustainable, and mix is important. You called it exactly right when those larger heating tanks were really in their destocking phase, it was penalizing for us from a margin perspective. We're through that. And as Colin said, we've got a number of initiatives. 80-20 comes to mind, right, in our Water business. That's an initiative or a discipline that's going to let us sort of refocus on our offerings and the way that we manufacture.

是的。布萊恩，你的問題很有啟發。我認為我們第二季的比例是 27%。我們的比例是 29%。因此從結構上看，顯然隨著 SES 的拆分，我們的利潤率狀況得到了改善。這當然是可持續的，而且混合很重要。你說得完全正確，當那些大型加熱罐真正處於去庫存階段時，從利潤的角度來看，這對我們來說是一種懲罰。我們已經度過了那段時間了。正如科林所說，我們已經採取了許多措施。在我們的水務業務中，我們想到的是 80-20。這是一項舉措或一項紀律，它將讓我們重新專注於我們的產品和製造方式。

And so there are a number of things that we continue to do. I mean, we wish our gross margins were 100%, right? That's obviously not very possible or likely. But we've got a lot of things going on that we think will continue to help us offset any softness and hopefully grow those margins.

因此，我們也會繼續做很多事情。我的意思是，我們希望我們的毛利率是 100%，對嗎？這顯然不太可能。但我們正在進行很多工作，我們認為這些工作將繼續幫助我們抵消任何疲軟因素，並希望提高利潤率。

Got it. And then on the SG&A front, obviously, you guys separated from a $5 billion company. So I think there was -- I guess there is a -- just kind of getting used to being a public company, maybe getting a little more efficient with spend there. Kind of where are we, what inning are we there in terms of kind of truing up that line item?

知道了。然後在銷售、一般及行政費用方面，顯然你們與一家價值 50 億美元的公司分道揚鑣了。所以我認為，我們只是有點習慣成為上市公司，也許我們的支出會更有效率。就完成該專案而言，我們現在處於什麼階段？

So yes, Brian, just from an SG&A perspective, I mean, Joe touched on it a little bit earlier. We were 20.7% of sales over the past quarter. This quarter in Q2, I would point out SG&A was a little elevated due to the bad debt from bankruptcies that we had in both those quarters. But we are the end of mid-60s. And as consistent with the prior question, we're constantly working on initiatives to improve and become efficient and look for opportunities to save costs along the way as well so that we can really drive our gross margins higher without increasing our SG&A.

是的，布萊恩，僅從銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 的角度來看，喬之前已經稍微提到過這一點。我們的上個季度銷售額佔比為 20.7%。我想指出的是，在第二季度，由於我們在這兩個季度都遭遇了破產而產生的壞賬，銷售、一般及行政費用略有上升。但我們已經到了60年代中期的末期。與先前的問題一致，我們一直在努力改進和提高效率，同時也尋找節省成本的機會，以便我們可以在不增加銷售、一般和行政費用的情況下真正提高毛利率。

And Brian, I'll call it the unconsolidated piece, right, that isn't in Consumer Products or Building Products. We still think that is ought to be between $25 million and $30 million. This quarter, we had -- that other is embedded in that as well, and we had about $1 million of equity income losses in the SES business and about $1 million on -- for our Engineered Cabs JV. So those are blended together. But the core SG&A piece of that is ought to be between $25 million and $30 million.

布萊恩，我稱之為非合併部分，對吧，它不屬於消費品或建築產品。我們仍然認為其價值應該在 2500 萬美元至 3000 萬美元之間。本季度，我們 - 其他的也包含在內，我們在 SES 業務中的股權收入損失約為 100 萬美元，我們的 Engineered Cabs JV 的股權收入損失約為 100 萬美元。所以它們混合在一起了。但其中核心的銷售、一般及行政費用應在 2,500 萬美元至 3,000 萬美元之間。

Great. And then finally, I'm just curious, what are you seeing on the M&A front? I'm assuming a good number of targets in Consumer, for example, have some decent production in China and things like that. Is that helping deals get to the finish line or more likely hurting them?

偉大的。最後，我很好奇，您在併購方面看到了什麼？例如，我認為消費品領域的許多目標都在中國有相當數量的生產。這是否會幫助交易達成，還是更有可能損害交易？

I would -- you asked a really good question. And I think anybody right now that is importing a substantial amount of their product, if they are also trying to explore their strategic alternatives. There are questions, right, mostly uncertainty. And so hard to say whether they help or hurt those specific companies that might be doing that.

我會——你問了一個非常好的問題。我認為現在任何進口大量產品的人都在試圖探索他們的戰略替代方案。存在一些問題，對吧，主要是不確定性。因此很難說這些措施是否會對那些這樣做的特定公司有所幫助或傷害。

But I think from our perspective with M&A generally, uncertainty is never good in M&A. But if you take a long-term view, I think when you're thinking about things that have a good track record historically and you can get comfortable with what you think over time is possible, I think that makes potential acquirers feel better. Now, you still have to agree with a seller, right, on valuation on terms, et cetera.

但我認為，從我們對併購的整體看法來看，不確定性對併購來說從來都不是好事。但如果從長遠角度考慮，我認為，當你考慮那些歷史上有著良好記錄的事物，並且你對你認為隨著時間的推移可能發生的事情感到滿意時，我認為這會讓潛在的收購者感覺更好。現在，您仍然必須與賣方就估價條款等達成協議。

But yes, uncertainty is not good, but I don't think it's completely chilled the market.

不過，不確定性確實不好，但我不認為它完全冷卻了市場。

Walter Liptak, Seaport.

沃爾特·利普塔克 (Walter Liptak)，海港。

Thanks for the good quarter. Let's then talk about -- I will start with maybe -- I don't know, maybe it will be a tough one. But I was really impressed with Joe's comments about solving customers' problems, and then you had those four, five, six things that you called out, including like the party time tanks and things. Is it possible for you to kind of quantify that for us in a way like in addition to growth rate, or how much the TAM is on all those projects added up, or what the profit improvement could be just to give us an idea because some of them sounded very impressive?

感謝本季的良好表現。那麼讓我們來談談——我會從「也許」開始——我不知道，也許這將是一個棘手的問題。但我對喬關於解決客戶問題的評論印象深刻，然後你提到了四、五、六件事，包括派對時間罐等。您能否透過某種方式為我們量化這一點，例如除了成長率之外，所有這些項目的 TAM 加起來是多少，或者利潤成長是多少，只是為了給我們一個概念，因為其中一些聽起來非常令人印象深刻？

I'll give it a shot. Well, again, nothing really material in the quarter. But we talk a lot about really championing being in kind of niche markets where we have a reasonable share, market share-wise. Where that really helps is that our Worthington Business System, WBS, is really tailor-made for markets like that, specifically with transformation, continuous improvement, trying to be lean.

我會嘗試一下。嗯，再說一遍，本季沒有什麼真正重要的事。但我們討論了很多關於真正支持進入利基市場的問題，就市場份額而言，我們佔有合理的份額。真正有幫助的是，我們的沃辛頓業務系統 (WBS) 是真正為這樣的市場量身定制的，特別是在轉型、持續改善和精益化方面。

But on the innovation side, us having good market share is really helpful because we have ongoing dialogues with our customers, and they're willing to share things with us and partner with us. And so I mentioned the SureSense. That was in partnership with our customers. I mentioned the Balloon Time Mini, 100% in collaboration with our partners, a lot of whom have always wanted to carry that product, but they don't have the shelf space.

但在創新方面，我們擁有良好的市場份額確實很有幫助，因為我們與客戶保持著持續的對話，他們願意與我們分享並與我們合作。因此我提到了 SureSense。那是與我們的客戶合作的。我提到了 Balloon Time Mini，這是 100% 與我們的合作夥伴合作推出的，他們中的許多人一直想銷售該產品，但他們沒有貨架空間。

And so there's a lot of real discipline that's been institutionalized through the WBS over the years at Worthington. And so we think that those things -- those initiatives will obviously be incremental to us. We also realize that there are headwinds, right, that we face.

多年來，沃辛頓透過 WBS 將許多真正的紀律制度化了。因此我們認為這些事情—這些舉措對我們來說顯然是漸進的。我們也意識到，我們確實面臨阻力。

And so sometimes, I don't think that the things that I talked about today are going to double the revenues of the business. They're incremental. And a lot of times, they're in markets where we don't have the high share that we do in some of our other markets, but they're absolutely going to help us further penetrate those markets.

所以有時候，我不認為我今天談論的事情會讓企業的收入翻倍。它們是增量的。很多時候，他們所在的市場我們的市佔率不如其他市場那麼高，但他們絕對會幫助我們進一步滲透這些市場。

And ultimately, it's just a great reflection of the work that our teams do on the innovation side, on the transformation side. And certainly, as we think about M&A because there are a couple of those examples that were companies that we bought and that we've helped expand and extend the reach of the brands that we acquired. So it all sort of dovetails nicely, but it's really centered around that Worthington Business System, and it's part of our philosophy, right, to do those things. So it doesn't always work as well as we'd like it to. It's nice when it does.

最終，這充分體現了我們的團隊在創新方面和轉型方面所做的工作。當然，當我們考慮併購時，因為有幾個例子是我們收購的公司，我們幫助擴大和擴展了我們收購的品牌的影響力。所以，一切都很好地契合了，但它實際上是圍繞著沃辛頓商業體系展開的，也是我們哲學的一部分，對吧，就是做這些事情。因此它並不總是像我們所希望的那樣發揮作用。當它發生的時候真是太好了。

Okay. Yes. That sounds great. Yes, I think everyone start for growth in (inaudible), but it sounds like you've got some things that could really happen, including like the Balloon Time Mini, short-term, and other things that will help your growth and offset those headwinds. Got it.

好的。是的。聽起來不錯。是的，我認為每個人都是從（聽不清楚）開始成長的，但聽起來有些事情確實可能會發生，包括像 Balloon Time Mini、短期和其他有助於你的成長並抵消這些逆風的事情。知道了。

I wanted to ask about -- the consumer was better than I was expecting. I wonder -- and you kind of talked about that already, but what's the next positive thing that could happen with the large chains. Is it sell-through that you'll be looking for is like a key metric? Or given the headwinds that are out there, what's next? And you guys are US-based manufacturer, which in a lot of ways, makes it unique. What are the conversations like with the large chains?

我想問的是──消費者的情況比我預期的還要好。我想知道——您已經談到了這一點，但是大型連鎖店接下來可能發生的積極事情是什麼。您所尋找的銷售率是否為關鍵指標？或者考慮到目前存在的阻力，下一步該怎麼做？你們是一家美國製造商，這在許多方面使其變得獨特。與大型連鎖店的對話是什麼樣的？

Yes, it's a good question. And we try to constantly -- I mean, Joe talked about it earlier. We're constantly in communication, working with those retail partners on inventory levels and being proactive where we can in our supply chain to make sure they you can get the right product, the right stores at the right time in areas of whether it tightened demand or softer demand.

是的，這是個好問題。我們會不斷嘗試——我的意思是，喬之前談到了這一點。我們不斷與零售合作夥伴保持溝通，共同研究庫存水平，並積極主動地在供應鏈中確保他們能夠在正確的時間從正確的商店獲得正確的產品，無論是在需求緊縮還是疲軟的地區。

So the consumer is definitely uncertain, and we'll see how that plays out and navigate that as we move forward. But demand is healthy for us. And from a year-over-year perspective, we saw good improvement in volumes on the consumer side. And our retail partners have a healthy amount of inventory that's we're not seeing any destocking like we did last year. So all we can say is we're going to -- we feel good about what we can control, and our teams are executing well against our playbooks to that end.

所以消費者肯定是不確定的，我們將觀察其發展情況，並在前進的過程中加以引導。但對我們來說，需求是健康的。從年比來看，我們看到消費端的銷售量有了很大的提升。我們的零售合作夥伴擁有大量庫存，因此我們沒有看到像去年那樣的去庫存現象。因此，我們只能說，我們對我們能夠控制的事情感到很滿意，而且我們的團隊正在按照我們的劇本很好地執行任務。

Yes. And I would add two quick things because Colin is spot on. But first of all, seasonally speaking, in our Consumer business and to an extent in our Building Products business, our products are used and are pretty essential for emergency heat, right? And so when people lose power and it's very cold and there are storms, they need those products. And so that's why you see, certainly for consumer, that's the seasonally strongest piece for that part of the business.

是的。我想補充兩點，因為 Colin 的說法是正確的。但首先，從季節上講，在我們的消費品業務以及某種程度上的建築產品業務中，我們的產品都被使用並且對於緊急供暖來說非常重要，對嗎？因此，當人們斷電、天氣寒冷、遭遇暴風雨時，他們就需要這些產品。所以這就是為什麼你會看到，對於消費者來說，這是該業務部分季節性最強勁的部分。

Colin is right. Point-of-sale is tracking where it should be relative to shipments. The other piece, and Colin mentioned, Party City was a customer, and that was a $1 million headwind for us because of the bankruptcy. But one of the things that Party City did a lot of is fill balloons in the front of their store that never took advantage of our products.

科林是對的。銷售點正在追蹤與貨物運輸相關的位置。另一件事，科林提到，Party City 是我們的一個客戶，由於破產，這給我們帶來了 100 萬美元的損失。但 Party City 經常做的一件事就是在商店前充氣氣球，而這些氣球從未利用過我們的產品。

And so customers that were looking for things like that can no longer find it there. It's actually had more of them migrating to retailers that don't have that front of store fill but do carry our products. And so we think that's a little bit more of a kind of a sustainable change in that market.

因此，尋找此類東西的客戶再也無法在那裡找到它了。事實上，更多的客戶轉向了那些沒有店面填充但確實銷售我們產品的零售商。因此我們認為這對該市場來說是一種可持續的變化。

That's great. Yes. Thanks for that insight. Okay. The last one for me is, it sounds like you're early days with your 80-20 work. And so I just wanted to ask how are you feeling about the work that you're doing there? And yes, I guess, just how are you feeling about it?

那太棒了。是的。感謝您的見解。好的。對我來說最後一個問題是，聽起來你剛開始你的 80-20 工作。所以我只是想問一下您對在那裡所做的工作感覺如何？是的，我想，您對此感覺如何？

So we're excited on 80-20. As you know, it's an important tool in our toolkit, from a transformation perspective, and we just kicked it off in Q3. We're excited about progress and updates along the way. Like Joe mentioned, it started in our Water business. And we're anticipating some good improvement there that we would like to roll out over time and replicate in other areas.

所以我們對 80-20 感到非常興奮。如您所知，從轉型角度來看，它是我們工具包中的一個重要工具，我們剛剛在第三季啟動了它。我們對這一道路的進展和更新感到非常興奮。正如喬所提到的，它始於我們的水業務。我們期待那裡取得一些良好的進步，並希望隨著時間的推移推廣到其他領域。

But early days, as you said, excited to see what comes.

但正如你所說，早期階段，我們很高興看到接下來會發生什麼。

Yes. And Walter, we just kicked it off a couple of weeks ago. So it was actually in Q4 when we kicked it off. And as you know, they're not -- some of our businesses and our value streams don't lend themselves to something like 80-20 because we only make one or two products, and we only have a handful of customers. But for the businesses that we have that are really likely beneficiaries of that discipline. We're very excited about it.

是的。沃爾特，我們幾週前才剛開始這個活動。因此我們實際上是在第四季度啟動它的。如你所知，我們的某些業務和價值流並不適合 80-20 這樣的比率，因為我們只生產一兩種產品，而且我們只有少數客戶。但對於我們擁有的企業來說，他們確實有可能從這項紀律中受益。我們對此感到非常興奮。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call to Joe Hayek for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我將請喬·哈耶克致最後總結。

Sarah, thank you very much, and thanks, everybody, for joining us this morning. We look forward to speaking to everybody again soon. Have a wonderful rest of your week.

莎拉，非常感謝你，也感謝大家今天早上加入我們。我們期待很快能再次與大家交談。祝您本週剩餘時間過得愉快。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。