WestRock Co (WRK) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the WestRock Third Fiscal Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加 WestRock 2023 年第三財季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，該事件正在被記錄。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Rob Quartaro, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給投資者關係資深副總裁 Rob Quartaro。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining our third fiscal quarter 2023 earnings call. We issued our press release this morning and posted the accompanying presentation to the Investor Relations section of our website. They can be accessed at ir.westrock.com or via a link on the application you're using to view this webcast. With me on today's call are WestRock's Chief Executive Officer, David Sewell; and our Chief Financial Officer, Alex Pease. Following our prepared comments, we will open the call for a question-and-answer session.

早安，感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第三財季財報電話會議。我們今天早上發布了新聞稿，並將隨附的簡報發佈到我們網站的投資者關係部分。您可以透過 ir.westrock.com 或透過您用來觀看此網路廣播的應用程式上的連結來存取它們。與我一起參加今天電話會議的有 WestRock 執行長 David Sewell；以及我們的財務長 Alex Pease。在我們準備好的評論之後，我們將開始問答環節。

During today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements involving our plans, expectations, projections, targets, estimates and beliefs related to future events.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性聲明，涉及與未來事件相關的計劃、期望、預測、目標、估計和信念。

These statements involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, and that could cause actual results to differ materially from those we discussed during the call. We describe these assumptions, risks and uncertainties in our filings with the SEC, including our 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022, and our 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2023.

這些陳述涉及許多假設、風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們在電話會議中討論的結果有重大差異。我們在向 SEC 提交的文件中描述了這些假設、風險和不確定性，包括截至 2022 年 9 月 30 日的財年的 10-K 以及截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的財季的 10-Q。

We will also be referencing non-GAAP financial measures during the call. We have provided reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in the appendix of the slide presentation. As mentioned previously, the slide presentation is available on our website.

我們也會在電話會議期間參考非公認會計準則財務指標。我們在投影片簡報的附錄中提供了這些非 GAAP 衡量標準與最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準的調整表。如前所述，幻燈片簡報可在我們的網站上找到。

With that, I'll turn it over to you, David.

這樣，我就把它交給你了，大衛。

Thank you, Rob, and thank you all for joining our earnings call today. I'll begin our call with a review of our fiscal third quarter results and the progress we're making on our self-help initiatives. Following that, Alex will review our results in more detail and provide our outlook for the fourth quarter.

謝謝你，羅布，也謝謝大家參加我們今天的財報電話會議。我將在電話會議開始時回顧我們第三季的業績以及我們在自助計劃方面取得的進展。接下來，亞歷克斯將更詳細地回顧我們的業績，並提供我們對第四季的展望。

Turning to our third quarter results on Slide 3. We exceeded our guidance due to strong execution, productivity gains and moderating input costs. Net sales were $5.1 billion and consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $802 million. Adjusted EPS was $0.89. Our strong results this quarter against a dynamic backdrop reflect the resiliency of our business and the tremendous efforts of our talented team members. As a reminder, we faced difficult comparisons with record results in the prior year quarter. While demand for corrugated packaging declined year-over-year, our North American shipments per day were sequentially stable. We've seen improvement in July with per day shipments up mid-single digits from the third quarter and the strongest backlogs we've seen all calendar year.

轉向幻燈片 3 上的第三季業績。淨銷售額為 51 億美元，綜合調整後 EBITDA 為 8.02 億美元。調整後每股收益為 0.89 美元。在充滿活力的背景下，我們本季的強勁業績反映了我們業務的彈性和我們才華橫溢的團隊成員的巨大努力。提醒一下，我們面臨著與去年同期創紀錄的業績進行艱難比較的情況。雖然瓦楞紙包裝的需求較去年同期下降，但我們北美的每日出貨量保持穩定。我們看到 7 月份的情況有所改善，每日發貨量較第三季度增長了中個位數，並且積壓量達到了全年最高水平。

consumer packaging market volumes were down during the quarter as customers and retailers reduced excess inventory, elevated inflation impacted consumer demand, and we lapped strong prior year health care results. Looking forward, we expect improvement in the first half of fiscal 2024, driven by inventory rebalancing, moderating inflation and new business wins.

由於客戶和零售商減少了過剩庫存，通膨上升影響了消費者需求，並且我們取得了強勁的上一年醫療保健業績，本季消費品包裝市場銷量有所下降。展望未來，我們預計，在庫存再平衡、通膨放緩和新業務獲勝的推動下，2024 財年上半年情況將有所改善。

Long-term fundamentals in our Consumer Packaging business remain healthy, and we are well positioned with strong customer relationships and end markets that are growing. Over time, we expect continued organic growth due to our innovative solutions, growing demand for sustainable packaging and our expanding machinery business. We've seen a moderation in our global paper business after a record year in fiscal 2022. To navigate the current environment, we are leveraging our scale, broad portfolio of substrates and strategic customer relationships. Longer term, we expect our portfolio optimization strategy will enable us to prioritize our strategic customers while reducing our overall exposure to external paper sales. I'm extremely pleased at how our teams are executing and winning new business.

我們的消費包裝業務的長期基本面保持健康，我們擁有強大的客戶關係和不斷增長的終端市場，處於有利位置。隨著時間的推移，由於我們的創新解決方案、對永續包裝的需求不斷增長以及我們不斷擴大的機械業務，我們預計將持續有機成長。在經歷了創紀錄的 2022 財年之後，我們的全球造紙業務出現了放緩。從長遠來看，我們預計我們的投資組合優化策略將使我們能夠優先考慮我們的策略客戶，同時減少我們對外部紙張銷售的整體曝險。我對我們的團隊如何執行和贏得新業務感到非常高興。

Our commercial teams are focused on building growth pipelines and demonstrating the value of our differentiated offerings, all of which are delivering new business wins. Our cost savings progress to date has exceeded expectations, and I'm excited to report that we are on track to exit this fiscal year with more than $450 million in run-rate savings.

我們的商業團隊專注於建立成長管道並展示我們差異化產品的價值，所有這些都帶來了新的業務勝利。迄今為止，我們的成本節約進展超出了預期，我很高興地報告，我們預計在本財年結束時實現超過 4.5 億美元的運行率節約。

During the quarter, we achieved $66 million of cost savings and $150 million year-to-date, excluding downtime and inflation. We are making great progress and we see tremendous opportunities ahead, and we continue to optimize our portfolio.

本季度，我們節省了 6,600 萬美元的成本，年初至今節省了 1.5 億美元（不包括停機時間和通貨膨脹）。我們正在取得巨大進步，我們看到了未來的巨大機遇，我們將繼續優化我們的產品組合。

Earlier this week, we made the difficult decision with the announcement of the closure of our Tacoma, Washington, mill. We are working closely with our employees on the transition and expect to cease operations in September. Additionally, we sold our minority interest in a nonstrategic joint venture and also announced the consolidation of 3 additional packaging converting locations, bringing our total to 7 through July. I'll provide more details on our portfolio actions in just a moment.

本週早些時候，我們做出了艱難的決定，宣布關閉華盛頓州塔科馬工廠。我們正在與員工密切合作進行過渡，預計將於 9 月停止營運。此外，我們出售了一家非策略性合資企業的少數股權，並宣布合併 3 個額外的包裝加工工廠，使我們到 7 月的包裝加工工廠總數達到 7 個。我稍後將提供有關我們投資組合行動的更多詳細資訊。

Turning to Slide 4. We are laser-focused on unlocking value from our broad portfolio of assets, and we've made tremendous progress already. We continue to target more than $1 billion in cost savings by the end of fiscal 2025, and we are well on our way. Our SG&A reductions, productivity efforts and supply chain efficiencies are delivering significant results. As previously mentioned, we are on track to exit fiscal 2023 with more than $450 million in run-rate savings. We are pleased with the progress we've made, and we remain committed to unlocking further efficiencies in our business. We've been proactively optimizing our footprint by closing less efficient facilities and consolidating production in larger plants.

轉向幻燈片 4。我們的目標是到 2025 財年末節省超過 10 億美元的成本，而且我們正在順利實現這一目標。我們的銷售管理費用（SG&A）削減、生產力提升和供應鏈效率正在取得重大成果。如前所述，我們預計在 2023 財年結束時節省超過 4.5 億美元的營運費用。我們對所取得的進展感到滿意，並將繼續致力於進一步提高業務效率。我們一直在透過關閉效率較低的設施並整合大型工廠的生產來積極優化我們的足跡。

Our goal is to improve our cost structure, drive efficiencies and improve our return on invested capital. Our recent announcement to close our Tacoma mill is another example of this strategy. Similar to our previous mill closures, the Tacoma mill required significant investment to remain competitive and we did not see a path to achieving our return targets. By closing the mill, we can shift capital toward other projects with greater returns.

我們的目標是改善成本結構、提高效率並提高投資資本報酬率。我們最近宣布關閉塔科馬工廠是這項策略的另一個例子。與我們先前關閉的工廠類似，塔科馬工廠需要大量投資才能保持競爭力，而且我們沒有看到實現回報目標的途徑。透過關閉工廠，我們可以將資金轉移到其他回報更高的項目上。

Additionally, with Tacoma and our previous mill closures, we are lowering our costs and improving our overall margin structure. Tacoma's annual production capacity is approximately 510,000 tons, including linerboard, white top, kraft paper and pulp. With the closure, we plan to ship the majority of the mill's production, excluding pulp, to other facilities in our network. We expect to incur $345 million of restructuring charges, with the substantial majority recognized in our fourth quarter.

此外，隨著塔科馬和我們之前工廠的關閉，我們正在降低成本並改善我們的整體利潤結構。塔科馬的年產能約51萬噸，包括牛皮紙、白面紙、牛皮紙和紙漿。隨著關閉，我們計劃將工廠的大部分產品（不包括紙漿）運送到我們網路中的其他工廠。我們預計將產生 3.45 億美元的重組費用，其中大部分將在第四季度確認。

Approximately 2/3 of these charges are expected to be noncash. With the announcement of the Tacoma closure, our mill portfolio is substantially different than it was 15 months ago. As we evaluated our assets, we considered mill profitability, technical age of assets, ongoing capital needs, product mix, strategic fit and our network flexibility.

其中約 2/3 預計為非現金費用。隨著塔科馬工廠關閉的宣布，我們的工廠投資組合與 15 個月前大不相同。在評估資產時，我們考慮了工廠的獲利能力、資產的技術年齡、持續的資本需求、產品組合、策略契合度和我們的網路靈活性。

With our announced closures of higher cost mills and production capacity, we are reducing 1.9 million tons of capacity. These closures enable us to repurpose anticipated annual capital spending averaging approximately $120 million and exit noncore end markets. In addition, with these actions, we are decreasing our exposure to the open market and reducing our North American corrugated average mill cost by $12 per ton. Our smaller yet more efficient mill system enables us to serve our strategic end markets and customers. Through our current footprint, we are well positioned to serve these customers in 2024 and beyond.

隨著我們宣布關閉成本較高的工廠和產能，我們將減少 190 萬噸產能。這些關閉使我們能夠重新調整平均約 1.2 億美元的預期年度資本支出，並退出非核心終端市場。此外，透過這些行動，我們減少了對公開市場的曝險，並將北美瓦楞紙平均工廠成本降低了 12 美元/噸。我們更小但更有效率的工廠系統使我們能夠為我們的戰略終端市場和客戶提供服務。透過我們目前的業務佈局，我們完全有能力在 2024 年及以後為這些客戶提供服務。

We've also been disciplined in our capital allocation and remain focused on investing in our assets to improve our return on invested capital, returning leverage within our target range of 1.75x to 2.25x and returning capital to shareholders through a sustainable and growing dividend. As we work to recapitalize our assets, we are targeting a greater than 15% IRR on future return-generating projects. We expect our mill investments to drive efficiencies and enable us to further reduce our mill costs. Through our portfolio optimization and asset recapitalization strategies, we expect to improve margins and drive return on invested capital.

我們在資本配置方面也遵守紀律，並繼續專注於資產投資，以提高投資資本回報率，將槓桿率恢復到1.75 倍至2.25 倍的目標範圍內，並透過可持續且不斷增長的股息將資本返還給股東。當我們努力重組資產時，我們的目標是未來產生回報的專案達到 15% 以上的 IRR。我們預計我們的工廠投資將提高效率並使我們能夠進一步降低工廠成本。透過我們的投資組合優化和資產重組策略，我們期望提高利潤率並提高投資資本回報率。

Lastly, we continue to invest in growth. We're close to completing construction of our world-class Longview box plant, which is expected to start operations in November. This state-of-the-art facility will enable us to further consolidate converting operations in the Pacific Northwest and is expected to deliver $25 million in annual benefit once fully mature. Another example of our investments in growth is our Mexico acquisition. This transaction increased our exposure to the fast-growing Latin America market and brought us closer to many of our multinational customers.

最後，我們繼續投資於成長。我們即將完成世界級朗維尤箱式工廠的建設，預計 11 月開始營運。這個最先進的設施將使我們能夠進一步鞏固太平洋西北地區的加工業務，一旦完全成熟，預計將帶來 2500 萬美元的年效益。我們投資成長的另一個例子是我們在墨西哥的收購。這項交易增加了我們在快速成長的拉丁美洲市場的曝光度，並拉近了我們與許多跨國客戶的距離。

Our Mexican operations are exceeding our expectations, and we are excited about future growth prospects due to economic expansion and shortening supply chains. Through these ongoing initiatives, we expect to drive significant improvement in margins and return on invested capital, increase integration, reduce volatility and drive profitable growth.

我們的墨西哥業務超出了我們的預期，由於經濟擴張和供應鏈縮短，我們對未來的成長前景感到興奮。透過這些持續的舉措，我們預計將顯著提高利潤率和投資資本回報率，加強整合，減少波動性並推動獲利成長。

Turning to Slide 5. Before passing it to Alex, I'd like to highlight a recent example of how our broad portfolio and innovative solutions are helping our customers win and meet their sustainability needs. Costco recently approached us with a request to replace single-use plastic multipack handles with a fiber-based, sustainable solution. In response, our designers developed EnduraGrip and Cluster-Clip. These new solutions provide bundling for multipacks of bottles and jars in a range of shapes, sizes and weights. They are engineered for durability and comfort while providing a fully printable surface for crisp vibrant graphics and eliminate the use of plastic in these handles. Our strategic machinery business is also helping drive adoption. As part of our partnership, we are working with Costco manufacturers to automate their production lines, increase packing speeds and drive efficiencies.

轉向投影片 5。 Costco 最近聯繫我們，要求用基於纖維的可持續解決方案取代一次性塑膠合裝手柄。為此，我們的設計開發了 EnduraGrip 和 Cluster-Clip。這些新解決方案可對各種形狀、尺寸和重量的瓶子和罐子的合裝包進行捆綁。它們經過精心設計，經久耐用、舒適，同時提供完全可列印的表面，可呈現清晰生動的圖形，並且無需在這些手柄中使用塑膠。我們的策略機械業務也有助於推動採用。作為我們合作夥伴關係的一部分，我們正在與 Costco 製造商合作，實現生產線自動化、提高包裝速度並提高效率。

We're proud to partner with Costco and their manufacturers to introduce sustainable packaging solutions that help reduce single-use plastic packaging. This is just one example of many of how WestRock's unique capabilities position us for growth. Costco is one of our enterprise sales customers, and we serve them through both our corrugated and consumer segments. Enterprise relationships like this demonstrate the value that WestRock's broad portfolio and differentiated solutions provide. Through our diversified portfolio, commercial excellence and strong customer relationships, we've achieved over $9 billion in enterprise sales.

我們很榮幸能與 Costco 及其製造商合作，推出永續包裝解決方案，以幫助減少一次性塑膠包裝。這只是 WestRock 獨特能力如何幫助我們實現成長的眾多例子之一。 Costco 是我們的企業銷售客戶之一，我們透過瓦楞紙和消費者細分市場為他們提供服務。像這樣的企業關係證明了 WestRock 廣泛的產品組合和差異化解決方案所提供的價值。憑藉多元化的產品組合、卓越的商業優勢和強大的客戶關係，我們的企業銷售額已超過 90 億美元。

Our plastics replacement innovations continue to gain traction, and we are on pace to deliver over $400 million in revenue this year. We are targeting more than $700 million by fiscal 2025. With a global total addressable market of $50 billion for plastics replacements, we see significant opportunities ahead.

我們的塑膠替代創新繼續受到關注，今年我們預計將實現超過 4 億美元的收入。我們的目標是到 2025 財年實現超過 7 億美元的目標。

I'll now turn it over to Alex to discuss our segment results in more detail.

現在我將把它交給 Alex 來更詳細地討論我們的細分結果。

Thanks, David. Moving to our consolidated quarterly results on Slide 6. Third quarter net sales were $5.1 billion, down 7.2%, and consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $802 million, down 20.2%. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.7%, a decline of 250 basis points year-over-year. This decline was primarily within our global Paper segment, which I will discuss in a moment. Price and mix positively contributed $85 million year-over-year. Lower operating costs contributed $66 million year-over-year and input cost deflation contributed $37 million.

謝謝，大衛。轉到投影片 6 上的綜合季業績。綜合調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 15.7%，較去年同期下降 250 個基點。這種下降主要發生在我們的全球造紙業務領域，我稍後將對此進行討論。價格和產品組合同比貢獻了 8500 萬美元的積極貢獻。較低的營運成本比去年同期貢獻了 6,600 萬美元，投入成本通貨緊縮貢獻了 3,700 萬美元。

Input cost deflation was largely driven by lower OCC and energy prices in the quarter. These benefits were more than offset by lower volumes of $243 million and economic downtime of $89 million. We incurred 359,000 tons of economic downtime in the quarter, with 258,000 tons in our corrugated system and 101,000 tons in consumer. Noncash pension costs also negatively impacted consolidated adjusted EBITDA year-over-year by $39 million. As a reminder, our U.S. pension plans remain overfunded. During the quarter, we generated $479 million of adjusted free cash flow. We used this strong cash flow to repay $479 million of debt, and we ended the quarter with net leverage of 2.51x. We continue to prioritize debt reduction and returning our leverage to our target range of 1.75x to 2.25x. We are now targeting $800 million to $1 billion of adjusted free cash flow for fiscal year 2023.

本季投入成本下降主要是由於 OCC 和能源價格下降所致。這些收益被 2.43 億美元的銷售減少和 8,900 萬美元的經濟停機所抵消。本季我們發生了 359,000 噸經濟停機，其中瓦楞紙系統停機 258,000 噸，消費者停機 101,000 噸。非現金退休金成本也對綜合調整後 EBITDA 產生了 3,900 萬美元的負面影響。提醒一下，我們的美國退休金計畫仍然資金過剩。本季度，我們產生了 4.79 億美元的調整後自由現金流。我們利用這一強勁的現金流償還了 4.79 億美元的債務，本季結束時我們的淨槓桿率為 2.51 倍。我們繼續優先考慮債務削減，並將槓桿率恢復到 1.75 倍至 2.25 倍的目標範圍。我們目前的目標是 2023 財年調整後自由現金流達到 8 億至 10 億美元。

Turning to Slide 7. Corrugated Packaging segment sales excluding trade sales were $2.5 billion, an increase of $176 million or 7.7% year-over-year. This growth was primarily due to our Mexico acquisition and strong price and mix. Adjusted EBITDA increased $45 million or 11.6%. Adjusted EBITDA margin, excluding trade sales, increased 60 basis points year-over-year to 17.4%. Year-over-year adjusted EBITDA benefited $55 million from input cost deflation, $28 million from lower operating costs and $25 million due to favorable price and mix. These benefits were partially offset by lower volumes of $45 million and economic downtime of $37 million.

轉向幻燈片 7。這一成長主要歸功於我們在墨西哥的收購以及強勁的價格和組合。調整後 EBITDA 增加 4,500 萬美元，即 11.6%。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率（不包括貿易銷售）年增 60 個基點，達到 17.4%。年比調整後的 EBITDA 受益於投入成本通貨緊縮，2,800 萬美元受益於營運成本下降，2,500 萬美元受益於有利的價格和組合。這些收益被 4500 萬美元的銷售減少和 3700 萬美元的經濟停頓部分抵消。

Note that our Corrugated Packaging results include revenue of $37 million and adjusted EBITDA of $4 million related to the realignment of certain Latin American consumer converting operations in connection with our Mexico acquisition. As David indicated, corrugated packaging shipments were stable from last quarter. As we move forward, we expect gradually improving volumes and easier year-over-year comparisons. We remain focused on driving commercial excellence and productivity to mitigate the impact of previously published price declines.

請注意，我們的瓦楞紙包裝業績包括 3,700 萬美元的收入和 400 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA，這與我們與墨西哥收購相關的某些拉丁美洲消費者加工業務的調整有關。正如大衛指出的那樣，瓦楞包裝出貨量較上季保持穩定。隨著我們的前進，我們預期銷量會逐漸提高，同比比較也更容易。我們仍然專注於推動商業卓越和生產力，以減輕先前公佈的價格下跌的影響。

Turning to the Consumer Packaging business on Slide 8. Segment sales were $1.3 billion, a decline of $20 million or 1.5% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA declined $5 million or 2.1% and adjusted EBITDA margin was 18.4%, a decrease of 10 basis points year-over-year. Strong price and mix contributed $98 million and lower operating costs contributed $19 million. These benefits were more than offset by lower volumes of $51 million, inflation of $39 million, economic downtime of $13 million as well as other items.

轉向幻燈片 8 上的消費包裝業務。調整後 EBITDA 下降 500 萬美元，或 2.1%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 18.4%，年減 10 個基點。強勁的價格和組合貢獻了 9800 萬美元，較低的營運成本貢獻了 1900 萬美元。這些收益被 5,100 萬美元的銷售減少、3,900 萬美元的通貨膨脹、1,300 萬美元的經濟停頓以及其他項目所抵消。

Adjusted for the previously mentioned realignment of certain consumer converting operations, revenue increased 1.4% and adjusted EBITDA increased 1.5% year-over-year. Net organic sales volumes declined 6.6% year-over-year, driven by softer market demand, inventory reductions through the supply chain and difficult comparisons from last year's strong health care business. However, we are managing well and continue to gain new business. As a reminder, last year's adjusted EBITDA was up over 28% year-over-year.

根據先前提到的某些消費者轉換業務的調整進行調整後，營收年增 1.4%，調整後 EBITDA 年成長 1.5%。由於市場需求疲軟、供應鏈庫存減少以及與去年強勁的醫療保健業務難以比較，有機淨銷售量較去年同期下降 6.6%。然而，我們管理得很好，並不斷獲得新業務。提醒一下，去年調整後的 EBITDA 年成長超過 28%。

As David indicated, we expect improving conditions in the first half of fiscal year 2024 due to inventory rebalancing, moderating inflation and new business wins. Longer term, we are well positioned to drive profitability due to our growing end markets, increasing demand for sustainable packaging and expanding machinery business.

正如 David 指出的那樣，由於庫存再平衡、通膨放緩和新業務的成功，我們預計 2024 財年上半年的情況將有所改善。從長遠來看，由於我們不斷成長的終端市場、對永續包裝的需求不斷增加以及不斷擴大的機械業務，我們有能力提高獲利能力。

Turning to Slide 9. Global Paper segment sales decreased $545 million or 33.8% year-over-year to $1.1 billion. Adjusted EBITDA declined 55.6% to $177 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin declining to 16.6%. Note that since the third quarter of 2020, our adjusted EBITDA is up 6% and margins are up 230 basis points. Input cost deflation contributed $27 million and lower operating costs contributed $15 million. These were more than offset by lower volume of $142 million, price and mix of $37 million and economic downtime of $39 million.

轉向投影片 9。調整後 EBITDA 下降 55.6%，至 1.77 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率下降至 16.6%。請注意，自 2020 年第三季以來，我們調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 6%，利潤率成長了 230 個基點。投入成本通貨緊縮貢獻了 2,700 萬美元，營運成本降低貢獻了 1,500 萬美元。這些損失被 1.42 億美元的銷售下降、3,700 萬美元的價格和組合下降以及 3,900 萬美元的經濟停工所抵消。

During fiscal year 2023, our external containerboard volume has experienced year-over-year declines driven by elevated inflation, shifting consumer spending and excess inventories throughout the supply chain. Additionally, published price changes have negatively impacted our revenue and margins. We continue to believe U.S. containerboard demand has stabilized, and we expect improving volumes as the calendar year progresses.

2023 財年，由於通膨上升、消費者支出轉移以及整個供應鏈庫存過剩，我們的外部箱板紙銷售量出現年減。此外，公佈的價格變化對我們的收入和利潤產生了負面影響。我們仍然認為美國箱板紙需求已經穩定，並且預計隨著歷年的進展，銷售量將會增加。

Similar to our Consumer Packaging segment, we've recently experienced softer demand in our external paperboard business, driven by elevated inventories and softer demand, principally in commercial print and food packaging. These conditions have continued into the fourth quarter. However, we expect improvement in fiscal 2024, given the relative stability of our end market exposure.

與我們的消費包裝部門類似，由於庫存增加和需求疲軟（主要是商業印刷和食品包裝），我們最近在外部紙板業務中經歷了需求疲軟。這些情況一直持續到第四季。然而，鑑於我們的終端市場敞口相對穩定，我們預計 2024 財年會有所改善。

Next, our distribution results are on Slide 10. Our sales and adjusted EBITDA were down year-over-year due to a decline in our moving and storage business and difficult comparisons from last year's large health care order. We are focused on improving operations and driving cost savings to navigate the current environment. Over time, we see opportunity to grow our distribution business by leveraging our unique capabilities and driving operational excellence.

接下來，我們的分銷結果在幻燈片 10 上。我們專注於改善營運並節省成本，以適應當前的環境。隨著時間的推移，我們看到了透過利用我們獨特的能力和推動卓越營運來發展分銷業務的機會。

Turning to guidance on Slide 11. While market conditions remain challenging with continuing realization of published price declines, we expect the impact of those conditions to be partially offset by gradually improving volumes. Our forecast for fourth quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA is $675 million to $725 million and adjusted EPS between $0.66 and $0.83 a share. Some assumptions behind our sequential outlook include stable costs driven by slightly higher energy costs, higher costs for recycled fiber and moderately lower costs in virgin fiber and chemicals, an adjusted effective tax rate of between 8% and 10% -- note this lower rate is favorably impacted by approximately $30 million related to the release of uncertain tax positions, state tax credits and other discrete items -- and lastly, approximately 257 million diluted shares outstanding. Additionally, we're planning 32,000 tons of scheduled maintenance downtime across our system in the fourth quarter.

轉向幻燈片 11 的指導。我們對第四季度綜合調整後 EBITDA 的預測為 6.75 億至 7.25 億美元，調整後每股收益為 0.66 至 0.83 美元。我們的連續展望背後的一些假設包括能源成本略有上升、再生纖維成本上升以及原生纖維和化學品成本適度降低所驅動的穩定成本，調整後的有效稅率在8% 到10% 之間- 請注意，這個較低的稅率是與不確定的稅收狀況、州稅收抵免和其他離散項目的釋放相關的約 3000 萬美元的有利影響，以及最後約 2.57 億股稀釋後的流通股的影響。此外，我們計劃在第四季度對整個系統進行 32,000 噸的定期維護停機。

I'll now turn it back to David to conclude before we move to Q&A.

現在，在我們進行問答之前，我將把它轉回給大衛來總結。

Thanks, Alex. As you can see, we are delivering on our commitments, and I am incredibly proud of the progress we've made. As we continue our journey, I couldn't be more excited about the opportunities in front of us.

謝謝，亞歷克斯。正如您所看到的，我們正在兌現我們的承諾，我對我們所取得的進展感到無比自豪。當我們繼續我們的旅程時，我對我們面前的機會感到非常興奮。

In addition to our large self-help opportunity, WestRock remains uniquely positioned to deliver a full range of sustainable packaging solutions to our customers. With over $9 billion in enterprise sales, customers value our scale, diverse portfolio and the sustainable solutions we provide. Our innovation platform, growing machinery business and plastic replacement solutions continue to position WestRock extremely well for long-term growth. I'm excited about the path ahead, and I'm confident in our ability to drive growth, margins and long-term shareholder value. Thank you.

除了我們大量的自助機會外，WestRock 仍然具有獨特的優勢，可以為我們的客戶提供全方位的永續包裝解決方案。我們的企業銷售額超過 90 億美元，客戶非常重視我們的規模、多樣化的產品組合以及我們提供的永續解決方案。我們的創新平台、不斷成長的機械業務和塑膠替代方案繼續為 WestRock 的長期成長奠定了良好的基礎。我對未來的道路感到興奮，並且對我們推動成長、利潤和長期股東價值的能力充滿信心。謝謝。

And with that, Rob, let's move to Q&A.

羅布，接下來我們進入問答環節。

Thanks, David. Operator, we're ready for questions.

謝謝，大衛。接線員，我們準備好回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Mike Roxland with Truist.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Truist 的 Mike Roxland。

Congrats on a very good quarter. Just starting off with corrugated. Can you just talk about the cadence of shipments during the quarter? And did any end markets begin to improve more notably than others?

恭喜您度過了一個非常好的季度。剛開始用瓦楞紙。能談談本季的出貨節奏嗎？是否有任何終端市場開始比其他市場更顯著地改善？

Yes, Mike. The -- our corrugated business was really pretty stable in the quarter from Q2 to Q3. But what's just really encouraging to us as we went into Q4 and in July, our order rate was up mid-single digits. And as I alluded to earlier, we are experiencing the strongest backlogs we've had this calendar year. So we really like the momentum of corrugated as we move forward. As we talk about some of the segments, I think the one that really jumps out to me is we like what's going on in produce and agriculture, and beverage has been really strong for us as well. And what's exciting about beverage is with our Mexico acquisition, our multinational beverage customers are really gravitating to our ability to serve the entire Americas. So we just see that as a positive trend as we move forward.

是的，麥克。從第二季到第三季度，我們的瓦楞紙業務確實非常穩定。但真正令我們鼓舞的是，當我們進入第四季和 7 月時，我們的訂單率上升了中個位數。正如我之前提到的，我們正在經歷今年以來最嚴重的積壓情況。因此，我們非常喜歡瓦楞紙前進的動力。當我們談論某些細分市場時，我認為真正讓我印象深刻的是我們喜歡農產品和農業領域正在發生的事情，而且飲料對我們來說也非常強大。飲料方面令人興奮的是，透過我們在墨西哥的收購，我們的跨國飲料客戶真正被我們服務整個美洲的能力所吸引。因此，我們認為這是我們前進的積極趨勢。

Got it. And then just in terms of boxboard or consumer packaging, obviously, things started to weaken like a quarter or so ago, in response, you've taken -- started to take some economic downtime. You mentioned, though, that you expect an improvement in your fiscal first half. I guess what gives you the confidence that things are going to improve? Is there getting any indications from customers that they're going to have to restock? I mean how could you say -- what gives you that level of certainty that things are going to get better from here, sooner rather than later, let's say?

知道了。然後，就紙板或消費包裝而言，顯然，大約一個季度前，情況開始疲軟，作為回應，你開始採取一些經濟停頓。不過，您提到您預計上半年財政狀況會有所改善。我想是什麼讓你有信心事情會有所改善？客戶是否有任何跡象表明他們需要補貨？我的意思是，你怎麼能說——是什麼讓你確信事情會從現在開始變得更好，比方說，遲早會好起來？

Mike, that's a good question because we work really closely with our customers on that. And what we saw in the last 60 days is a lot of our large customers in the consumer space took about a week off in manufacturing just to rebalance their inventories.

麥克，這是一個很好的問題，因為我們在這方面與客戶密切合作。在過去 60 天裡，我們看到許多消費領域的大客戶在製造過程中休息了大約一周，只是為了重新平衡庫存。

And as we went through that process, we were working very closely with them. And the commentary we received was this gets us reshifted to the right inventory levels. We'll work through that this quarter. And then -- and it's really consistent across all of our customers in this space -- is as we go into 2024, we're going to be ripe for growth. And they've said that to us internally as we build out our forecasts for them as well as they've expressed it externally to the open market. So there's just a consistency in everything we hear. I think we'll be stable in Q4 from Q3. And then everything they're telling us everything we're seeing is growth in 2024.

當我們完成這個過程時，我們與他們密切合作。我們收到的評論是，這讓我們重新調整到正確的庫存水準。我們將在本季解決這個問題。然後，隨著我們進入 2024 年，我們在這個領域的所有客戶都一致認為，我們的成長時機將會成熟。當我們為他們制定預測時，他們在內部向我們說了這一點，他們也在外部向公開市場表達了這一點。所以我們聽到的一切都是一致的。我認為我們將從第三季開始在第四季保持穩定。然後他們告訴我們的一切都是 2024 年的成長。

Our next question will come from George Staphos with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題將來自美國銀行的喬治·斯塔福斯。

David, Alex, I wanted to talk a little bit about the mill closures that you've announced over the last year and change. And you talked a lot about how you expect that will help your return on capital in total. When you think about -- when we think about the 1.9 million tons of capacity that you've closed, what do you think that has taken off the top, lowered your EBITDA on an annualized basis from what it otherwise would have been? And what do you think it's added to your incremental return on capital? Can you talk to that, just specific to that -- those closures that you've announced?

大衛、亞歷克斯，我想談談你們去年宣布的工廠關閉和變化。您談到了很多關於您期望這將如何幫助您的總資本回報率的問題。當你想到——當我們想到你已經關閉的 190 萬噸產能時，你認為是什麼導致了你的 EBITDA 下降？您認為這會增加您的資本報酬率嗎？您能具體談談您已經宣布的那些關閉嗎？

Sure. So the easy answer is all of these mills were, in the current conditions, not generating positive EBITDA. So the combination of basically avoiding the high fixed cost nature and then reallocating production to the other mills winds up accretive both to EBITDA dollars and EBITDA margin. So it was the right decision from an overall profitability standpoint. And I think it really speaks to the flexibility of our network and a lot of great work we're doing operationally to just reduce the unplanned downtime and unlock a lot of the hidden factories that we can move production of the strategic substrates from the mills that we're closing and into the other mills. We did exit certain product lines that were not strategic to us. So DuraSorb would be one example. Fluff pulp would be another example. So we did exit those markets. But again, those weren't strategic substrates or products for us, and we weren't really making any money there anyway.

當然。因此，簡單的答案是，在目前的情況下，所有這些工廠都沒有產生正的 EBITDA。因此，基本上避免高固定成本的性質，然後將生產重新分配給其他工廠，最終增加 EBITDA 美元和 EBITDA 利潤率。因此，從整體獲利能力的角度來看，這是正確的決定。我認為這確實說明了我們網路的靈活性以及我們在運營上所做的大量工作，以減少計劃外停機時間並解鎖許多隱藏工廠，我們可以將戰略基材的生產從工廠轉移我們正在關閉並進入其他工廠。我們確實退出了某些對我們來說不具戰略意義的產品線。 DuraSorb 就是一個例子。絨毛漿是另一個例子。所以我們確實退出了這些市場。但同樣，這些對我們來說不是戰略基質或產品，而且我們並沒有真正在那裡賺到任何錢。

In terms of capital, it's more than $100 million of capital combined that we were able to divert from essentially keeping these mills on life support, for lack of a better term, and redirecting that toward growth-oriented capital. So we were basically reducing our sustaining capital needs and increasing our growth capital availability. And as David mentioned in his prepared remarks, typically those growth capital investments are anywhere between 15% and 20% IRR.

就資本而言，我們能夠將超過 1 億美元的資本從本質上維持這些工廠的生命維持（由於缺乏更好的術語）轉移到以成長為導向的資本。因此，我們基本上是在減少維持資本需求並增加成長資本的可用性。正如 David 在他準備好的演講中提到的那樣，這些成長資本投資的內部報酬率通常在 15% 到 20% 之間。

In terms of the aggregate ROIC, that part of your question, quite candidly, it would be de minimis because the denominator is such a large number. Just by way of sort of a heuristic, $1 billion of invested capital generates about 40 basis points incremental ROIC. So in total, all of these mills combined was probably in the order of $1 billion, I think about $900 million of invested capital. So that would be, call it, 40 basis points improvement of ROIC. But really where we get the lift is in the improved -- in the improved EBITDA, because that generates a much greater return for us than reducing the denominator. But David, what would you add?

就總投資回報率而言，坦白說，你問題的這一部分是微乎其微的，因為分母是如此之大。試探一下，10 億美元的投資資本可產生約 40 個基點的增量 ROIC。因此，所有這些工廠的總投資金額可能約為 10 億美元，我認為投資資本約為 9 億美元。因此，ROIC 提高了 40 個基點。但真正讓我們獲得提升的是改善的 EBITDA，因為這為我們帶來的回報比減少分母大得多。但是大衛，你會補充什麼？

No, I think Alex captured it well. And I think the important thing is when you look at our productivity efforts and when you look at, as Alex mentioned, the capital we could redeploy to other facilities, not only is it just getting the cost benefit of reducing those higher-cost mills, but we're actually getting more profitable at the mills we're running. So it's really going to be a return-generating entity for us.

不，我認為亞歷克斯捕捉得很好。我認為重要的是，當你看看我們的生產力努力時，當你看看，正如亞歷克斯所提到的，我們可以重新部署到其他設施的資本時，它不僅僅是獲得減少那些成本較高的工廠的成本效益，但我們經營的工廠實際上獲得了更多的利潤。所以這對我們來說確實是一個能夠產生回報的實體。

That was really helpful. I guess next question I had for you, again, in terms of WestRock's strategy MO, I mean we talk a lot -- you talk a lot about the enterprise sales and also machinery installations. Enterprise sales, you said, were at $9 billion or more, which I think was the figure from last quarter. Recognizing $9 billion is a lot of money, a lot of revenue, can you talk maybe more precisely about the progress you're seeing there, the progress you're seeing in machinery installations and what that's adding in terms of profit? And then last, and I'll turn it over, just a ticky-tack question. I think in terms of the overall economic downtime, you said you took, this last quarter, 359,000 tons. And if I didn't mishear you, I think you said 258,000 for corrugated and 101,000 for consumer. Did I miss something there? What was the figure for paper?

這真的很有幫助。我想我再次向您提出的下一個問題是，就 WestRock 的戰略 MO 而言，我的意思是我們談了很多——您談了很多關於企業銷售和機械安裝的問題。您說企業銷售額為 90 億美元或更多，我認為這是上個季度的數字。認識到 90 億美元是一大筆錢、大量收入，您能更準確地談談您在那裡看到的進展、機械安裝方面的進展以及利潤方面的增加嗎？最後，我會把它翻過來，只是一個棘手的問題。我認為就整體經濟停工而言，您說上個季度停工了 359,000 噸。如果我沒聽錯的話，我想您說的是瓦楞紙 258,000，消費品 101,000。我是不是錯過了什麼？紙張的數字是多少？

Sure. I'll start by answering the first part of your question, and I'll have Alex just give you kind of a rundown on our economic downtime. George, when I think about our enterprise capability, it's -- I think we're at the point where we just have the most momentum we've had in a long time. And I alluded to it in an earlier comment about Mexico. So for example, we had a large consumer customer that we were doing business with in the United States.

當然。我會先回答你問題的第一部分，然後我將讓亞歷克斯向你簡要介紹我們的經濟停滯期。喬治，當我想到我們的企業能力時，我認為我們正處於很長一段時間以來最具動力的時刻。我在之前關於墨西哥的評論中提到過這一點。例如，我們有一個在美國與之開展業務的大型消費者客戶。

They expanded a product line in Mexico, that was in corrugated, they came to us asking for a solution and that handoff was just seamless, and we were able to help them coordinate all of that and come up with a very effective solution. And then what was also exciting is that same consumer customer, it was a beverage customer, was looking for further plastics replacements and wanted to be very efficient in their process in doing that, and then we received a large machinery order at their sites. So we can help them be more efficient as they eliminate single-use plastics and move into a fiber-based solution and plastics replacement.

他們在墨西哥擴大了一條瓦楞紙產品線，他們向我們尋求解決方案，並且交接非常無縫，我們能夠幫助他們協調所有這些並提出一個非常有效的解決方案。同樣令人興奮的是，同一個消費者客戶，即飲料客戶，正在尋找更多的塑膠替代品，並希望在他們的流程中非常有效率地做到這一點，然後我們在他們的工廠收到了一份大的機械訂單。因此，我們可以幫助他們提高效率，消除一次性塑膠並轉向基於纖維的解決方案和塑膠替代品。

So it's that connectivity that's really driving our excitement about enterprise sales because there's just so many customers now that are looking for solutions that cross over between corrugated and consumer. We're just -- and we're just able to do that. And I think just when you look at our corrugated results alone, you could just see the benefits are working into our bottom line. So we feel great about enterprise. We now have over 5,300 machines in place worldwide. Our backlog is incredibly strong. That is a key component, is our ability to customize our machinery to our customers' production lines.

因此，正是這種連通性真正推動了我們對企業銷售的興奮，因為現在有許多客戶正在尋找跨瓦楞紙和消費者之間的解決方案。我們只是——而且我們也有能力做到這一點。我認為，當您單獨查看我們的瓦楞紙結果時，您會發現這些好處正在影響我們的利潤。所以我們對企業感覺很好。目前，我們在全球擁有 5,300 多台機器。我們的積壓訂單非常多。這是一個關鍵組成部分，是我們為客戶的生產線量身定制機械的能力。

So with the plastics replacement, this is enormously important. And finally, you've heard a lot of e-commerce customers talk about wanting to exit plastic mailers. And so that is a great opportunity for kraft paper and our Pak On Demand machinery business, which we're just seeing a lot of excitement and energy around that as well. So combining all that, that's why we're just really excited about the future and what our portfolio is able to provide our customers, and just the Costco example alone, enterprise customers came to us asking for a solution, there was machinery, and again, we have a consumer and corrugated relationship with them as well. I'll turn it over to Alex to talk about your economic downtime question.

因此，對於塑膠替代品來說，這一點非常重要。最後，您聽說很多電子商務客戶都在談論他們想要退出塑膠郵寄袋。因此，這對於牛皮紙和我們的 Pak On Demand 機械業務來說是一個絕佳的機會，我們也看到了圍繞業務的大量興奮和活力。因此，綜合所有這些，這就是為什麼我們對未來以及我們的產品組合能夠為我們的客戶提供什麼感到非常興奮，僅以 Costco 為例，企業客戶就向我們尋求解決方案，有機械，等等，我們與他們也有消費者和瓦楞紙關係。我將把它交給亞歷克斯來討論你的經濟停機問題。

Yes. So George, just a couple of facts to put out there. So our integration rates in corrugated are between 80% and 90%. So if you apply that to the 258,000 tons of downtime in the corrugated business, you get roughly 40,000 tons related to the corrugated business. And then if you do the same math on consumer, our integration rates in consumer are around 50%, give or take. So that would give you about 50,000 tons for the merchant business in the consumer segment. Another way to think about it is we had $124 million was the cost associated with the economic downtime in total on a consolidated basis, about $58 million of that was in global Paper, about $49 million of that was in Corrugated and about $17 million of that was in the Consumer segment. So that should sort of give you the breakdown of how that falls out.

是的。喬治，我只提供幾個事實。所以我們瓦楞紙的整合率在 80% 到 90% 之間。因此，如果將其應用到瓦楞紙業務的 258,000 噸停機時間中，您將獲得大約 40,000 噸與瓦楞紙業務相關的停機時間。然後，如果你對消費者進行同樣的計算，我們在消費者中的整合率大約是 50%，無論多少。因此，這將為消費領域的商業業務提供約 50,000 噸的產量。另一種思考方式是，我們有1.24 億美元是與經濟停工相關的綜合成本，其中約5,800 萬美元用於全球造紙業，約4,900 萬美元用於瓦楞紙業，其中約1,700 萬美元用於全球造紙業。因此，這應該可以讓您了解結果的詳細情況。

Our next question will come from Gabe Hajde with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題將來自富國銀行的 Gabe Hajde。

I wanted to ask about some of the strategic investments that you guys are making. So you have the box plant that you're doing up in the Pacific Northwest. And I think at the Investor Day you called out, I think, $300 million to $500 million annually kind of over the 3-year period in return-oriented projects. Can you kind of talk about where you're at with that? I mean, obviously, like I said, I know the box plant. And then maybe, is there an acceleration in that, and that's part of the reason why cash flow is coming down a little bit, just given the EBITDA beat kind of here in the third quarter and [seemingly] in line fourth quarter outlook?

我想問一下你們正在進行的一些策略性投資。所以你在太平洋西北部有一個箱式工廠。我認為，在投資者日，您呼籲在 3 年期間每年投資 3 億至 5 億美元的回報導向項目。你能談談你對此的看法嗎？我的意思是，顯然，就像我說的，我知道盒子植物。然後也許，這是否會加速，這就是現金流略有下降的部分原因，考慮到第三季度的 EBITDA 超出預期並且[似乎]與第四季度的前景相符？

Yes. So I'll start, Gabe, and then I'll turn it over to David. So in terms of the overall CapEx guidance, I believe the number we gave at Investor Day was between $200 million and $500 million on top of $1 billion of baseload capital. And that's still the number that we're sticking to. When we start talking about 2024, we'll have a finer view on what our 2024 CapEx outlook looks like in our longer-range view. But more strategically, yes, we are, as David mentioned in his prepared remarks, we are really focused on driving a higher level of strategic investment recapitalization in the mill network and that converting network, which will drive higher ROICs and higher margins. And the Longview box plant is a perfect example of that, that's going exceedingly well.

是的。所以我先開始，加布，然後我會把它交給大衛。因此，就整體資本支出指引而言，我相信我們在投資者日給出的數字在 10 億美元的基本負載資本之外，介於 2 億美元到 5 億美元之間。這仍然是我們堅持的數字。當我們開始談論 2024 年時，我們將從更長期的角度對 2024 年資本支出前景有更清晰的了解。但從戰略上講，是的，正如大衛在他準備好的演講中提到的那樣，我們真正專注於推動工廠網絡和加工網絡的更高水平的戰略投資資本重組，這將推動更高的投資報酬率和更高的利潤率。朗維尤箱式工廠就是一個完美的例子，進展非常順利。

It's going to allow some other footprint actions that we're planning, and it allows us to operate much more efficiently. We're planning on order of 5 more of those types of investments really around the country to really optimize our converting network. We're looking at some opportunities within our mill footprint to increase the flexibility of our mill assets. And all that work is going on kind of as we speak. So we're not prepared to talk about any of it today, but we will as we start talking about 2024 and beyond. But I think it's a really exciting time for the company as we think about investing in our business and really driving higher returns.

它將允許我們正在計劃的一些其他足跡行動，並且它使我們能夠更有效地運作。我們計劃在全國範圍內再訂購 5 項此類投資，以真正優化我們的加工網路。我們正在工廠範圍內尋找一些機會，以提高工廠資產的靈活性。正如我們所說，所有這些工作都在進行中。因此，我們今天不准備談論任何內容，但當我們開始談論 2024 年及以後時，我們就會這樣做。但我認為這對公司來說是一個非常令人興奮的時刻，因為我們正在考慮投資我們的業務並真正推動更高的回報。

In terms of the cash flow guide of $800 million to $1 billion. There's a couple of things that are behind that. Obviously, our EBITDA is slightly below our expectations when we started the year. But look, I mean, I think we're delivering exceptionally good results in a really challenging environment. We've been able to invest around $1 billion in our business, which is more than we invested last year. We're catching up from some of the bottlenecks in capital deployment during COVID. So all of this is, frankly, really positive. And candidly, even at the low end of that range, to deliver $800 million in this operating environment is, I think, a pretty exceptional testament to the strength of our business and the amount of cash flow we generate.

就現金流指引而言，為8億至10億美元。這背後有幾件事。顯然，我們的 EBITDA 略低於我們年初的預期。但是，我的意思是，我認為我們在一個非常具有挑戰性的環境中取得了非常好的結果。我們已經能夠在業務上投資約 10 億美元，這比去年的投資還要多。我們正在克服新冠疫情期間資本部署的一些瓶頸。坦白說，所有這一切都是非常積極的。坦白說，即使在這個範圍的低端，我認為在這種營運環境下交付 8 億美元也是對我們業務實力和我們產生的現金流量的一個非常特殊的證明。

Yes. The only other thing I would add, Gabe, just as you -- to your question on the strategy overall, I would blanket it kind of this way. As Alex alluded to, redeploying the capital at our mills that we had to make the difficult decision to shut down because of the higher costs, we are going to make those mills exceptionally more efficient and profitable with the additional CapEx we're able to redeploy. So our mill network is going to be more efficient. And then as Alex talked about on our converting assets, as we do these consolidations, there's CapEx potentially involved as we make these converting assets much more efficient, larger, more output per site. And so that's going to also drive more profitability and combined will give us a higher ROIC. So that's how we kind of think about it overall. And then tying that into our commercial strategy, what are the segments that we're really focused on, that are higher growth, higher margin, where we have a great solution and right to win, that consolidates everything together as we look at our overall strategy.

是的。我要補充的唯一一件事是，加布，就像你一樣，對於你關於整體策略的問題，我會以這種方式概括它。正如亞歷克斯所提到的，重新部署工廠的資本，由於成本較高，我們不得不做出關閉工廠的艱難決定，我們將透過我們能夠重新部署的額外資本支出，使這些工廠變得異常高效和盈利。因此，我們的工廠網路將會更有效率。然後，正如亞歷克斯談到我們的轉換資產時，當我們進行這些整合時，當我們使這些轉換資產更有效率、更大、每個站點的輸出更多時，可能會涉及資本支出。因此，這也將帶來更多的獲利能力，綜合起來將為我們帶來更高的投資報酬率。這就是我們整體上的思考方式。然後將其與我們的商業策略聯繫起來，我們真正關注的細分市場是什麼，即更高的成長、更高的利潤率，我們擁有出色的解決方案和獲勝的權利，當我們審視我們的整體時，這將所有內容整合在一起策略。

And then one, hopefully, quick one point of clarification, more near-term focused. David, I think you said in your prepared remarks, up mid-single digit maybe year-over-year in the corrugated business. And then I think in response to a question, it was up mid-singles on a sequential basis. So just maybe a point of clarification. Are you -- again, I think you talked about stable in corrugated, so just what you were inferring there?

然後希望能快速澄清一點，更關注近期的情況。大衛，我想你在準備好的演講中說過，瓦楞紙業務可能比去年同期成長中個位數。然後我想在回答一個問題時，它在連續的基礎上上升到了中單。所以也許只是需要澄清一點。你是不是——我想你又談到了瓦楞紙的穩定性，所以這正是你在那裡推斷的？

Yes. So for clarification, it was up mid-single digits from Q3. So sequentially, we were up mid-single digits. And our backlog was the strongest it's been in the calendar year. So we're seeing that improvement as we move forward in Q4, and we just expect that to continue as we get into 2024. So we really feel like we have come out of the bottom of the down cycle, and we are now on the upswing. And that's how we look at our Q4 and 2024 as we move forward.

是的。因此，為了澄清這一點，它比第三季度增長了中個位數。所以接下來，我們的漲幅達到了中個位數。我們的積壓訂單是歷年以來最強勁的。因此，隨著第四季度的進展，我們看到了這種改善，我們希望進入 2024 年時這種情況能夠持續下去。 。這就是我們對第四季和 2024 年前進的看法。

Our next question will come from Mark Weintraub with Seaport Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Seaport Research Partners 的 Mark Weintraub。

So you mentioned redeploying some of the capital that otherwise would have been going to some of the facilities you're closing to increase efficiency at the remaining mills, et cetera. Is this likely going to be incremental projects? Or is it going to make the most sense to be doing Florence-type projects at some point?

因此，您提到重新部署一些資本，否則這些資本將流向您要關閉的一些設施，以提高剩餘工廠等的效率。這可能是增量項目嗎？或者在某個時候做佛羅倫薩式的專案是最有意義的嗎？

Mark, it's a really good question. It's going to be a combination of both. We look at all of our assets. We look at where we want to the company to be and what drives the highest returns. So if there is another type Florence investment that we need for our footprint, that's the direction we're going to go, in addition to some of these incremental projects. So I think, as Alex talked about that $200 million to $500 million when you get into that strategic investment, you're going to see a combination of both. And as we get closer to 2024 fiscal year, we'll give you much more detail and color around it.

馬克，這是一個非常好的問題。這將是兩者的結合。我們會審視我們所有的資產。我們著眼於公司的目標以及推動最高回報的因素。因此，如果我們的足跡需要另一種類型的佛羅倫薩投資，那麼除了其中一些增量項目之外，這就是我們要走的方向。所以我認為，正如亞歷克斯談到的那樣，當你進行策略性投資時，你會看到 2 億至 5 億美元，你會看到兩者的結合。隨著 2024 財年的臨近，我們將為您提供更多相關細節和色彩。

Okay. Great. Then second, just kind of focusing still on the self-help. I believe the $1 billion profit improvement program was going to target about $250 million in fiscal '23. So if you can just sort of let us know. I know you talked about exit rates, but order of magnitude, what you think you will have accomplished in fiscal '23. And then how much would be likely on the docket for fiscal '24? I think there probably would be a step-up, but I just wanted to clarify.

好的。偉大的。其次，仍專注於自助。我相信 10 億美元的利潤改善計畫將在 23 財年實現約 2.5 億美元的目標。因此，如果您可以告訴我們。我知道您談到了退出率，但是您認為在 23 財年將完成的工作的數量級。那麼 24 財年的預算案中可能有多少金額？我認為可能會有一個進步，但我只是想澄清一下。

Yes. I think the way we've bridged it is $250 million in '23, around $350 million in '24 and then the remainder in '25. Actually, though, Mark, we're well ahead of that. So as we mentioned, we're exiting the year at around $450 million run-rate, our in-year savings we're anticipating being north of the $250 million that we committed to because the team is just making great progress, and the balance of what we're talking about at this stage of the game is really around SG&A savings and supply chain-related savings, roughly 50-50 each. But as we've talked about with some of these asset closures and plant consolidations, we're really starting to get the flywheel moving on a lot of the operational improvements, which will really drive a reduction in unplanned downtime and unlock a hidden factory, lower waste rates. And so you should see those numbers begin to accelerate. So we feel really good about what we're doing on the productivity and cost savings side.

是的。我認為我們解決這個問題的方法是在 23 年支付 2.5 億美元，在 24 年支付約 3.5 億美元，然後在 25 年支付剩餘部分。但事實上，馬克，我們已經遠遠領先了。因此，正如我們所提到的，我們今年的運行速度約為 4.5 億美元，我們預計年內節省的資金將超過我們承諾的 2.5 億美元，因為團隊剛剛取得了巨大的進步，而且平衡我們在遊戲的這個階段所討論的內容實際上是圍繞SG&A 節省和與供應鏈相關的節省，每個大約50-50。但正如我們所討論的一些資產關閉和工廠整合，我們確實開始推動許多營運改進，這將真正減少計劃外停機時間並解鎖隱藏的工廠，更低的廢物率。所以你應該會看到這些數字開始加速。因此，我們對我們在生產力和成本節約方面所做的事情感到非常滿意。

Okay. And recognizing it's a very dynamic process, are we still thinking there's $350 million order of magnitude incremental in fiscal '24 and keeping it separate, if possible, from the actions you did on the facility closures, where I have another follow-up question just to -- if possible.

好的。認識到這是一個非常動態的過程，我們是否仍然認為24 財年有3.5 億美元的數量級增量，並在可能的情況下將其與您對設施關閉採取的行動分開，我還有另一個後續問題到——如果可能的話。

Yes. So just to make the math easy, let's say we're going to do between $250 and $300 million in '23, just take the top end of that, so say it's $300 million, and we're $450 million exit rate, that would put you at $150 million just going in to as a rollover into '24. And then to get our $350 million number, you would say there's going to be $200 million incremental in '24. We're still building the operating plans for '24, but I think that's -- frankly, I think that number is conservative.

是的。因此，為了讓數學變得簡單，假設我們將在 23 年投入 250 至 3 億美元，取其中的上限，即 3 億美元，而我們的退出率是 4.5 億美元，這將是給你1.5 億美元，只是將其轉入24 年。然後，為了獲得 3.5 億美元的數字，你可能會說 24 年將增加 2 億美元。我們仍在製定 24 年的營運計劃，但我認為——坦白說，我認為這個數字是保守的。

Okay. Super. And then just if we just focus on the 2 mills that are in the process of being closed and related converting plant actions, you talked about this being EBITDA incremental. And could you sort of give us a sense as to magnitude, again, recognizing there are a bunch of moving parts? And then also kind of what's the net cash closure costs, which obviously are onetime, but what's the net closure -- cash closure cost related to the actions?

好的。極好的。然後，如果我們只關注正在關閉的 2 家工廠以及相關的轉換工廠行動，您談到這是 EBITDA 增量。您能否再次讓我們了解一下規模，並認識到有一堆移動部件？然後還有淨現金關閉成本是多少，這顯然是一次性的，但是與行動相關的淨現金關閉成本是多少？

So it's a little hard to answer your incremental EBITDA question because a lot of it depends on volumes. And in this volume environment, where things are so dynamic, it's just a tricky question to answer. But to give you a sense, the Tacoma mill that we just closed, the cash cost per ton is around $900 a ton based on the number that I'm looking at. The mills that we would reallocate capacity to, and I'm just going to use generalities, are around $200 to $400 a ton cheaper than the mill we closed.

因此，回答增量 EBITDA 問題有點困難，因為它很大程度上取決於銷售量。在這個瞬息萬變的體量環境中，這是一個很難回答的問題。但為了讓您了解一下，我們剛剛關閉的塔科馬工廠，根據我正在查看的數字，每噸的現金成本約為每噸 900 美元。我們將重新分配產能的工廠（我只是概括一下）比我們關閉的工廠每噸便宜約 200 至 400 美元。

So that would give you a sense of sort of the incremental contribution that we would get from reallocating some of the capacity to those other mills. In terms of the cash cost for the one we just recently closed, the total was around $345 million; about 2/3 of that was noncash. So about 1/3 of that was cash related. And the bulk of the cash comes in year 1 and 2, and then it's offset by an assumption around the land sale coming in the latter part of year 2.

因此，這會讓您感受到我們透過將部分產能重新分配給其他工廠所獲得的增量貢獻。就我們最近關閉的現金成本而言，總額約為 3.45 億美元；其中約 2/3 是非現金。所以大約 1/3 與現金相關。大部分現金來自第一年和第二年，然後被第二年下半年土地出售的假設所抵銷。

And the only other thing I would add is -- I'm sorry, just to answer your question. If you look at the converting sites, they are not as dependent on volumes as the mills. So you would see EBITDA of about $35 million to date. And then as we continue to optimize that footprint, that will just continue to escalate. And then to Alex's point on the mills, it is volume dependent. So you would just see a range depending on volumes. So to Alex's point, you can just kind of do the math of where we are currently and what we would do, I mean you could see a range of -- from everything we've done -- from low double digits to even higher on improvement.

我要補充的唯一一件事是——抱歉，只是為了回答你的問題。如果你觀察一下加工地點，你會發現它們不像工廠那樣依賴產量。因此，迄今為止，您將看到 EBITDA 約為 3500 萬美元。然後，隨著我們繼續優化該足跡，這種情況只會繼續升級。然後亞歷克斯關於工廠的觀點是，它取決於產量。所以你只會看到一個取決於數量的範圍。因此，就亞歷克斯的觀點而言，你可以對我們目前所處的位置以及我們將要做什麼進行數學計算，我的意思是，你可以看到一系列- 從我們所做的一切- 從低兩位數到更高的改進。

Okay. And just to clarify, that $900 per ton, that was the total cost, I assume? Or did you say cash costs for...

好的。我想澄清一下，每噸 900 美元，這就是總成本吧？或者你說的是現金成本...

Cash costs, that was cash costs.

現金成本，那就是現金成本。

Our next question will come from our next question will come from Cleve Rueckert with UBS.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的 Cleve Rueckert。

I had a couple of quick follow-ups. I was just looking at the positive price/mix in the -- particularly in the Corrugated Packaging segment. And I'm wondering if there are any index price lags that you expect to flow through that business over the next sort of couple of quarters, or whether that price/mix is just remaining positive because of the strategic actions that you've made and the mix improvements that's resulted from them.

我進行了幾次快速跟進。我只是在關注積極的價格/組合——特別是在瓦楞包裝領域。我想知道您預計在接下來的幾個季度中該業務是否會出現任何指數價格滯後，或者由於您所採取的戰略行動和價格/組合是否只是保持正值由此帶來的混音改進。

So Cleve, as we look at our corrugated business, with all of the RISI pricing that's been announced, as we go into this quarter $70 of the $90 will hit our contractual customers. So you'll see continued price pressure through this quarter. And then coming out of this quarter, from the May increase, that $20 will come into play toward the end of the year and then be offset by the increasing volumes. About 75% of our customers are tied to that RISI contract pricing. So that's kind of how we look at the pricing. And then from a consumer side, just the recent announcements, we won't probably see those hit our consumer business until the end of the year. And then conversely we see, both on the containerboard side and paperboard side, we see those within 30 days on our global paper business, which is why you've seen a lot of the pressure throughout the year, but then we'll cycle around that as we get into 2024.

因此，克利夫，當我們審視我們的瓦楞紙業務時，根據已公佈的所有 RISI 定價，當我們進入本季度時，90 美元中的 70 美元將惠及我們的合約客戶。因此，本季您將看到持續的價格壓力。然後，從本季開始，從 5 月的成長來看，這 20 美元將在年底前發揮作用，然後被不斷增加的銷售所抵消。我們大約 75% 的客戶都遵守 RISI 合約定價。這就是我們看待定價的方式。然後從消費者方面來看，就最近的公告而言，我們可能要到今年年底才會看到它們影響我們的消費者業務。相反，我們看到，無論是在箱板紙方面還是在紙板方面，我們都會在30 天內在我們的全球造紙業務中看到這些情況，這就是為什麼您全年都會看到很大的壓力，但隨後我們會循環當我們進入 2024 年。

Right. Yes. So there's just a lot more lag in those integrated.

正確的。是的。因此，這些整合的滯後性更大。

Yes.

是的。

Yes. Okay. That's clear. And then just sort of following up on integration. And I appreciate the color on the integration rates between corrugated and consumer. I'd just be curious, given the actions that you're taking throughout the footprint, do you have an integration target for those businesses? Looking ahead, I think probably running a little higher than maybe we thought in corrugated. I'd just be curious if you've sort of strategically thought about where you want to get to at this point or if that's still part of the planning you're doing?

是的。好的。很清楚。然後只是跟進整合。我很欣賞瓦楞紙和消費者之間整合率的顏色。我只是好奇，考慮到您在整個業務範圍內採取的行動，您對這些業務有整合目標嗎？展望未來，我認為瓦楞紙的運作速度可能比我們想像的還要高。我只是好奇你是否已經策略性地考慮過你現在想要達到的目標，或者這仍然是你正在做的計劃的一部分？

So as we think about our integration rates with the 1.9 million tons that we've taken and if you go back to, say, a 2021 volume environment, our containerboard integration rates are really tracking in the high 80%s. And as we get into that 90% range, we feel really pretty good about that because it allows flexibility through the cycles. We have really good strategic partners on the global paper side that are not on the commodity side of that, buying multiple grades, long-term relationships. There's a lot of innovations that we're working on with them.

因此，當我們考慮我們已採取的 190 萬噸的整合率時，如果你回到 2021 年的產量環境，我們的箱板紙整合率確實高達 80%。當我們進入 90% 的範圍時，我們感覺非常好，因為它允許整個週期的靈活性。我們在全球紙張方面擁有非常好的策略夥伴，但不屬於大宗商品方面，我們購買多種等級的長期關係。我們正在與他們合作進行許多創新。

So as we look at the mill footprint actions that we've taken and we look forward to 2024, I mean we're really in a great position in our supply/demand balance because, as we've talked about, we want to match our supply to our customers' demand. So the excitement that you hear about 2024 with the actions we've taken and the productivity, we feel really good about how we're entering the year.

因此，當我們審視我們已採取的工廠足跡行動並展望 2024 年時，我的意思是，我們在供需平衡方面確實處於有利地位，因為正如我們所討論的，我們希望匹配我們的供應滿足客戶的需求。因此，當您聽到 2024 年我們所採取的行動和生產力時，我們感到非常興奮，我們對進入這一年的方式感到非常滿意。

Our next question will come from Phil Ng with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題將由 Phil Ng 和 Jefferies 提出。

This is actually John on for Phil. I hope you guys are doing well, and congrats on the good quarter. I just wanted to go back to the footprint. You guys have taken a lot of actions, particularly on the containerboard side, over the past, say, 15 to 18 months. I guess, could you give us some perspective on how you're thinking about your footprint now? And do you see the actions taking already announced being enough, or do you think there may be more to come, whether that be WestRock or generally the broader industry, more importantly? And then just to follow on that, how should we think about Tacoma, which is expected to shut by the end of the fiscal year? How should we think about the earnings leakage, whether it be in this fiscal fourth quarter or going into 2024? I think you touched on it being positive, but just want to maybe get a little bit more clarity on the flow-through.

這其實是約翰替菲爾代言。我希望你們做得很好，並祝賀這個季度的好成績。我只是想回到足跡。在過去的 15 到 18 個月裡，你們採取了許多行動，特別是在箱板紙方面。我想，你能給我們一些關於你現在如何看待你的足跡的看法嗎？您認為已經宣布的行動是否足夠，或者您認為可能會有更多行動，無論是 WestRock 還是更重要的更廣泛的行業？接下來，我們該如何看待預計在本財政年度結束時關閉的塔科馬？我們該如何看待獲利流失，無論是在本財年第四季還是進入 2024 年？我認為你提到了它是積極的，但只是想更清楚地了解流程。

Sure, John. I'll answer the first part of the question, and then I'll let Alex go through Tacoma with a little more depth. So as we look at our footprint, what we've always focused on is our customers' demand with our supply footprint. So we know it's -- there's all kinds of puts and takes going on in the industry. But our relationships with our customers are very strategic, very connected.

當然，約翰。我將回答問題的第一部分，然後讓亞歷克斯更深入地了解塔科馬。因此，當我們審視我們的足跡時，我們始終關注的是客戶的需求和我們的供應足跡。所以我們知道，這個行業正在發生各種各樣的變化。但我們與客戶的關係非常具有策略意義，聯繫緊密。

A lot of our contracts are long-term contracts. So as I've kind of alluded to a little bit with Cleve, where we see 2024 -- I mean, right now, we're this has been an unprecedented year as far as the down cycle. We've made all the footprint actions. And as we see 2024 and 2025 with the connectivity we have with our customers and how they're projecting volumes, we really see a nice balance right now. And we've got -- again, it's virgin fiber, it's recycled, it's paperboard. So having all of those substrates is really important.

我們的很多合約都是長期合約。正如我在克利夫提到的，我們預計 2024 年——我的意思是，就目前的下行週期而言，這是前所未有的一年。我們已經完成了所有的足跡行動。正如我們所看到的 2024 年和 2025 年，我們與客戶的聯繫以及他們如何預測銷量，我們現在確實看到了很好的平衡。我們再次強調，它是原生纖維，它是可回收的，它是紙板。因此，擁有所有這些基材非常重要。

So as we think about our footprint, we always evaluate it, we continue to evaluate it. But as far as a major short-term action, I don't anticipate that with everything that we're seeing as we head into 2024 with the demand environment we see, with the current supply environment that we have. I'll turn it over to Alex to talk about Tacoma.

因此，當我們考慮我們的足跡時，我們總是對其進行評估，我們會繼續對其進行評估。但就重大短期行動而言，根據我們進入 2024 年所看到的需求環境和當前的供應環境，我預計不會發生這種情況。我會把它交給亞歷克斯來談論塔科馬。

Yes. Let me -- I'll try to just -- the headline that everybody should hear on the call is that the mills that we've closed, we're going to reallocate the strategic substrates to other mills in the network. So there won't be any EBITDA leakage associated with that. It will actually be EBITDA- and ROIC-accretive. On Tacoma specifically, just the breakdown, it's 510,000 tons of total capacity, about 105,000 tons that's linerboard, about 275,000 tons of that is white top, 60,000 tons is kraft paper and about 70,000 tons is pulp. So with the exception of the pulp, all of that other capacity will be reallocated around the network again. So it will be net margin- and EBITDA dollar-accretive.

是的。讓我——我會嘗試——每個人都應該在電話會議上聽到的標題是，我們已經關閉的工廠，我們將把戰略基材重新分配給網路中的其他工廠。因此不會有任何與此相關的 EBITDA 洩漏。它實際上會增加 EBITDA 和 ROIC。具體來說，就塔科馬而言，總產能為 51 萬噸，其中約 105,000 噸是箱板紙，其中約 275,000 噸是白面紙，6 萬噸是牛皮紙，約 7 萬噸是紙漿。因此，除了紙漿之外，所有其他容量都將再次在網路中重新分配。因此，這將增加淨利潤和 EBITDA。

In terms of just -- it's not earnings leakage, but cash flow leakage, you will see about 2/3 -- or about 1/3 of the $345,000 of closure costs. That -- the cash cost associated with that is about 1/3 of that number, and that will happen in years 1 and year 2 offset in the back half of year 2 with a land sale.

就這而言，這不是盈利洩漏，而是現金流洩漏，您將看到 345,000 美元關閉成本的約 2/3 或約 1/3。與之相關的現金成本約為該數字的 1/3，這將在第 1 年和第 2 年發生，並在第 2 年下半年透過土地出售來抵銷。

Got it. Okay. I appreciate that. And then just going back quickly, David, on the capacity, do you think the industry as a whole needs to take out more? It still seems like operating rates are relatively below where they should be. I mean, I know your Tacoma still has yet to come out, but just thinking about 2024, the industry as a whole, do you see more actions needed to kind of stabilize price? Or do you see the demand inflection, at least from the customer conversations that you're having, being enough to stabilize prices going into next year?

知道了。好的。我很欣賞這一點。然後，大衛，關於產能，您認為整個產業需要拿出更多產能嗎？開工率似乎仍然相對低於應有的水準。我的意思是，我知道你們的塔科馬還沒有問世，但想想 2024 年，整個行業，你是否認為需要採取更多行動來穩定價格？或者您認為需求變化（至少從您正在進行的客戶對話來看）足以穩定明年的價格？

Yes. The way I would think about it, John, is we're laser-focused with our segments and our customer base. And so we're just matching our supply to their demand. As I think about the industry, and obviously there's capacity coming online, the customers that we're focused on, we just think, are going to be different than where this new capacity is. So we'll let that sort itself out, but we're focused on do we have the right supply and the right footprint with the demand where we want to grow from value selling, solution selling. And with the 1.9 million tons that we have, with the demand forecast we see as we go into '24 and into '25, I mean, we feel pretty good about where we're at. We like -- and we like the improvements we're making in our cost structure and productivity. So we'll continue to evaluate it. But right now, how we see supply and demand as we go into 2024 is balanced.

是的。約翰，我的想法是，我們專注於我們的細分市場和客戶群。所以我們只是將我們的供應與他們的需求相匹配。當我想到這個行業時，很明顯，我們所關注的客戶將與新產能的客戶有所不同。因此，我們會讓這個問題自行解決，但我們的重點是我們是否擁有合適的供應和合適的足跡，以及我們希望透過價值銷售和解決方案銷售來實現成長的需求。憑藉我們擁有的 190 萬噸，以及我們進入 24 年和 25 年時看到的需求預測，我的意思是，我們對目前的狀況感覺非常好。我們喜歡——而且我們喜歡我們在成本結構和生產力方面所做的改進。所以我們會繼續評估它。但目前，我們認為進入 2024 年時供需是平衡的。

Okay. I appreciate that. And then if I could just squeeze one more small one in here. The -- if we could get an update on the RTS and Chattanooga URB mills, if they've already closed for those sales? And if you could just remind us where the -- those are reported in which particular segment. I appreciate it.

好的。我很欣賞這一點。然後如果我能再在這裡擠一個小一點就好了。 - 我們能否獲得有關 RTS 和查塔努加 URB 工廠的最新信息，以及它們是否已關閉銷售？如果您能提醒我們這些內容是在哪個特定部分中報告的。我很感激。

So that the RTS sale is not complete. We hope to have that complete in September as we move forward in the business. And as again, just a reminder, it was a $375 million sale.

所以說RTS發售並不完整。隨著我們業務的發展，我們希望能在 9 月完成這項工作。再次提醒大家，這是一筆 3.75 億美元的銷售額。

Okay. And what segment was that in?

好的。那是在哪個部分？

RTS would have been within the consumer...

RTS 本來應該在消費者中.....

In the consumer segment...

在消費領域...

It's the partitions business, basically.

基本上，這是分區業務。

That concludes our question-and-answer session. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Rob Quartaro for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給 Rob Quartaro 致閉幕詞。

Thank you, everybody, for joining our call today. We're available if you have any other follow-up questions, and we look forward to updating you again next quarter. Thank you.

謝謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。如果您有任何其他後續問題，我們可以隨時聯繫我們，我們期待下季度再次為您提供最新資訊。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。