Wolverine World Wide Inc (WWW) 2018 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Wolverine World Wide Third Quarter 2018 Earnings Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note today's event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加 Wolverine World Wide 2018 年第三季獲利結果電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mike Harris, Vice President for Corporate Finance. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給企業財務副總裁 Mike Harris。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and welcome to our third quarter 2018 conference call. On the call today are Blake Krueger, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President; and Mike Stornant, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

早上好，歡迎參加我們的 2018 年第三季電話會議。今天參加電話會議的是我們的董事長、執行長兼總裁 Blake Krueger；以及我們的資深副總裁兼財務長 Mike Stornant。

Earlier this morning, we announced our financial results for the third quarter of 2018. The release is available on many news sites or it can be viewed from our corporate website at wolverineworldwide.com. If you would prefer to have a hardcopy of the news release sent to you directly, please call Tyler Deur at (616) 258-5775.

今天早些時候，我們公佈了 2018 年第三季的財務業績。新聞稿可在許多新聞網站上找到，也可以從我們的公司網站 wolverineworldwide.com 上查看。如果您希望直接向您發送新聞稿的硬拷貝，請致電 Tyler Deur，電話 (616) 258-5775。

This morning's press release included non-GAAP disclosures and these disclosures were reconciled with attached tables within the body of the release. Comments during today's earnings call will include some additional non-GAAP disclosures. There is a document posted on our corporate website titled WWW, Q3 2018 Conference Call Supplemental Tables that will reconcile these non-GAAP disclosures to GAAP. The document is accessible under the Investor Relations tab at our corporate website, wolverineworldwide.com, by clicking on the webcast link at the top of the page.

今天早上的新聞稿包括非公認會計原則披露，這些披露與新聞稿正文中的附表進行了核對。今天的財報電話會議上的評論將包括一些額外的非公認會計原則揭露。我們的公司網站上發布了一份名為 WWW，2018 年第三季電話會議補充表的文件，該文件將使這些非 GAAP 揭露與 GAAP 保持一致。透過點擊頁面頂部的網路廣播鏈接，可以在我們公司網站 wolverineworldwide.com 的「投資者關係」標籤下存取該文件。

Before I turn the call over to Blake to comment on our results, I wanted to provide some additional context and information. When speaking to revenue, Blake and Mike will primarily refer to underlining revenue, which adjusts for the impact of retail store closures, the transition of Stride Rite to a license business model and the sale of the Sebago brand and Department of Defense business.

在我將電話轉給布萊克對我們的結果發表評論之前，我想提供一些額外的背景和資訊。在談到收入時，Blake 和 Mike 將主要提及強調收入，該收入根據零售店關閉、Stride Rite 向許可業務模式的過渡以及 Sebago 品牌和國防部業務的出售的影響進行調整。

We believe underlying growth best reflects how our global businesses are performing in the marketplace. Also, recall that beginning in Q1 2018, we separately disclosed the impact of changes in foreign currency on revenue to better isolate this variable.

我們相信潛在的成長最能反映我們的全球業務在市場上的表現。另外，從 2018 年第一季開始，我們單獨揭露了外幣變動對營收的影響，以更好地隔離該變數。

In addition, we will be providing adjusted financial results, which adjust for restructuring and other related organizational transformation costs, divestitures and incremental inventory markdowns related to store closures and the impact of environmental, non-recurring foreign exchange and other costs.

此外，我們將提供調整後的財務業績，根據重組和其他相關組織轉型成本、資產剝離和與商店關閉相關的增量庫存降價以及環境、非經常性外匯和其他成本的影響進行調整。

I'd also like to remind you that predictions and projections made during today's conference call regarding Wolverine World Wide and its operations are forward-looking statements under U.S. securities laws. As a result, we must caution you that as with any prediction or projection, there are a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. These important risk factors are identified in the company's SEC filings and in our press releases.

我還想提醒您，今天的電話會議中有關 Wolverine World Wide 及其營運的預測和預測屬於美國證券法規定的前瞻性聲明。因此，我們必須提醒您，與任何預測或預測一樣，有許多因素可能導致實際結果有重大差異。這些重要的風險因素已在公司向 SEC 提交的文件和我們的新聞稿中確定。

With that being said, I like to turn the call over to Blake Krueger.

話雖這麼說，我想把電話轉給布萊克克魯格。

Thanks, Mike. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Earlier this morning, we reported third quarter revenue of $559 million, representing underlying growth of 0.5%, 1.1% on a constant-currency basis, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.62, a 44% increase over last year. Reported earnings per share of $0.60 represents a record for the company.

謝謝，麥克。大家早安，感謝您加入我們。今天早上早些時候，我們報告第三季營收為 5.59 億美元，基本成長 0.5%，以固定匯率計算成長 1.1%，調整後攤薄每股收益為 0.62 美元，比去年成長 44%。報告的每股收益為 0.60 美元，創下了該公司的記錄。

We're pleased with our performance so far this year and have delivered excellent operating result, driven by our WAY FORWARD transformation. Our Q3 operating margin of 12.6% was up 80 basis points over last year and represents the highest quarterly performance of the year.

我們對今年迄今為止的表現感到滿意，並在我們的未來轉型的推動下實現了出色的經營業績。第三季營業利潤率為 12.6%，比去年增長 80 個基點，是今年最高的季度業績。

The global transformation of the company over the last 24 months has greatly improved the efficiency of our business model, allowing us to generate significant earnings leverage and strong cash flow. Our improved profit delivery, strong balance sheet and healthy liquidity position have put us in the position to invest in growth initiative and focus on revenue expansion.

公司過去24個月的全球轉型極大地提高了我們業務模式的效率，使我們能夠產生顯著的獲利槓桿和強勁的現金流。我們改善的利潤交付、強勁的資產負債表和健康的流動性狀況使我們能夠投資於成長計劃並專注於收入擴張。

Our 2018 quarterly revenue growth has been a bit more choppy than I would like to see. But our year-to-date result illustrates that our global growth agenda is gaining traction. Year-to-date revenue has grown 2.1%, and excluding our lower margin Leathers business, which is dealing with some challenging market headwind, revenue has increased 2.5%.

我們 2018 年季度營收的成長比我希望看到的要波動一些。但我們今年迄今為止的結果表明，我們的全球成長議程正在獲得關注。今年迄今的收入成長了 2.1%，不包括利潤率較低的皮革業務（該業務正在應對一些具有挑戰性的市場逆風），收入增長了 2.5%。

Leverage has been excellent, as adjusted earnings per share are up 37% during the same period and pretax earnings have grown at approximately 6x the rate of underlying revenue growth. Our new brand growth model is proving to be effective, especially for those brands that were the earliest adopters of the new toolset.

槓桿率非常好，調整後每股收益同期成長了 37%，稅前收益成長速度約為基本收入成長率的 6 倍。事實證明，我們的新品牌成長模式是有效的，特別是對於那些最早採用新工具集的品牌。

Merrell delivered year-to-date growth of over 7% and in its seventh consecutive quarter of growth and is on a pace to deliver high-single digit growth for the full year. Sperry's year-to-date revenue is up low-single digit and the brand enters the fall/winter season with strong boot momentum, which we expect will help drive high-single digit growth in Q4 and over 3% growth for the full year. Cat Footwear has been a more recent adopter of the new growth model, which contributed to mid-teens growth in Q3.

Merrell 年初至今的成長率超過 7%，這已是連續第七個季度實現成長，並有望在全年實現高個位數成長。Sperry 年初至今的營收錄得低個位數成長，且該品牌以強勁的啟動勢頭進入秋冬季節，我們預計這將有助於推動第四季度的高個位數成長以及全年超過3% 的成長。Cat Footwear 是最近採用新成長模式的公司，在第三季度實現了十幾歲左右的成長。

A key component of our growth agenda is our digital direct offense and we've allocated nearly $50 million of our 2018 incremental investment to this area. Obviously, there's a more immediate top and bottom line impact from this investment.

我們成長議程的關鍵組成部分是我們的數位直接進攻，我們已將 2018 年增量投資的近 5,000 萬美元分配給該領域。顯然，這項投資會對營收和利潤產生更直接的影響。

Year-to-date growth in our own e-commerce business was up 27% and accelerated to over 33% in Q3. We expect similar growth in Q4 as we are off to a strong start. We're also seeing a strong correlation between our online stores and performance at wholesale, which underscores the importance of a effective digital engagement with consumers, a key premise of the new offense.

年初至今，我們自己的電子商務業務成長了 27%，並在第三季加速至 33% 以上。我們預計第四季度會有類似的成長，因為我們有一個好的開始。我們還發現，我們的線上商店和批發業績之間存在著強烈的相關性，這凸顯了與消費者進行有效數位互動的重要性，這是新進攻的關鍵前提。

We've had a very good start to Q4. A steady flow of new product introductions across portfolio, supported by increased marketing spend in activation activities is helping to drive accelerated e-com growth, up over 35% quarter-to-date, and store comp, up approximately 10%, and also provide a healthy increase in consumer interest.

我們第四季有一個很好的開始。在激活活動行銷支出增加的支持下，整個產品組合中新產品的穩定推出正在幫助推動電子商務加速增長，本季度迄今增長超過 35%，商店競爭增長約 10%，並且還提供消費者興趣的健康增長。

Let me speak directly to growth in the third quarter, which saw U.S. revenue grow mid-single digit. Q3 revenue was impact by several unrelated items: lean inventory positions for a few of our brands, including much lower close-out inventory; some delayed product receipts in the quarter and transportation issues; macro headwinds in our low margin Leathers business related to historically low leather prices; and softness in Canada and in some countries in Latin America.

讓我直接談談第三季的成長，美國的營收成長了中個位數。第三季的營收受到幾個不相關項目的影響：我們的一些品牌的庫存狀況精簡，包括清倉庫存大幅降低；本季部分產品收貨延遲以及運送問題；我們的低利潤皮革業務面臨的宏觀阻力與皮革價格處於歷史低點有關；加拿大和拉丁美洲一些國家的經濟疲軟。

Merrell's growth in Q3 was impacted by sluggish retail conditions in the international market noted above; as well as lean inventories resulting from very strong growth in Q2, up almost 19%; high-teens growth in the at-once orders in Q3; lower availability of close-out inventory, which is actually good from an overall brand standpoint; and a delay in some incoming products.

Merrell第三季的成長受到上述國際市場零售狀況低迷的影響；以及第二季強勁成長帶來的精實庫存，成長近 19%；第三季一次性訂單的高雙位數成長；清倉庫存的可用性較低，從整體品牌的角度來看，這其實是件好事；以及一些產品的延遲交付。

Merrell is now in a much better inventory position and is poised to deliver low-teens growth in Q4 with new product introduction and a significant increase in demand creation.

Merrell 現在的庫存狀況要好得多，並準備透過新產品的推出和需求創造的顯著增加，在第四季度實現低雙位數的成長。

Sperry's growth in Q3 was impacted by lower close-out sales from transportation related delays and late product delivery. Sperry would have also benefited from a stronger offering of transitional products for the back-to-school season. Both of our largest brands are positioned for strong growth in Q4.

Sperry 第三季的成長受到運輸相關延誤和產品交付延遲導致結清銷售額下降的影響。斯佩里也將受益於為返校季節提供更強大的過渡產品。我們兩個最大的品牌都有望在第四季度實現強勁成長。

Now let me provide more specific details on third quarter results for our brand group and key brands, starting with the Outdoor & Lifestyle Group. Underlying revenue grew 2.9% compared to the prior year, up 3.9% in constant-currency, with Merrell growing at a low-single digits rate and Cat growing at a mid-teens rate. This sales growth was partially offset by a low-double digit decline at Hush Puppies and a low-single digit decline at Chaco.

現在讓我提供更多有關我們品牌集團和主要品牌第三季業績的具體細節，從戶外與生活風格集團開始。基礎收入較上年增長 2.9%，以固定匯率計算增長 3.9%，其中 Merrell 的增長率為低個位數，Cat 的增長率為中雙位數。這一銷售成長被 Hush Puppies 的兩位數低位下降和 Chaco 的低個位數下降部分抵消。

Merrell's growth was primarily driven by strength in e-commerce and stores along with new product introduction, including Jungle Moc 20, celebrating the 20th year of this franchise, and strong performance in core collections such at the Chameleon, Siren and MQM series. We expect Merrell to deliver low-teens growth in Q4 as new product introductions accelerate, increased marketing drive, expanded consumer engagement and our DTC business becomes a bigger component of the overall revenue mix.

Merrell 的成長主要得益於電子商務和商店的實力以及新產品的推出，包括慶祝該特許經營 20 週年的 Jungle Moc 20，以及 Chameleon、Siren 和 MQM 系列等核心系列的強勁表現。我們預計，隨著新產品推出加速、行銷力度加大、消費者參與度擴大以及我們的 DTC 業務成為整體收入組合的更大組成部分，邁樂將在第四季度實現低雙位數成長。

Cat's revenue growth was driven by the North America and Asia-Pacific region. The key work category experienced double digit growth, led by the recent launch of the Excavator XL and the continued success of the Threshold product. The brand's e-commerce business was also up over 80% in the quarter.

Cat 的營收成長主要由北美和亞太地區推動。在最近推出的 Excavator XL 和 Threshold 產品的持續成功的帶動下，關鍵工作類別經歷了兩位數的成長。該品牌的電子商務業務本季也成長了 80% 以上。

Chaco experienced 35% growth in the d-commerce business in the quarter, driven by solid performance across sandal offerings, new women's boot collections and several limited edition introductions. However, this strength was offset by some softness in the Z Sandal business. We expect Chaco to return to growth in Q4.

由於涼鞋產品、新款女靴系列和多款限量版產品的穩健表現，Chaco 本季的電子商務業務成長了 35%。然而，這種優勢被 Z 涼鞋業務的疲軟所抵消。我們預計 Chaco 將在第四季度恢復成長。

Moving to the Boston Group. Underlying revenue for the Boston Group was approximately flat versus the prior year. Sperry was flat, with mid-teens growth at Keds and mid-single digit growth for our Kids business. Saucony was down high-single digit.

搬到波士頓群組。波士頓集團的基本收入與前一年基本持平。Sperry 的業績持平，Keds 的成長率為中位數，兒童業務的成長率為中個位數。索康尼股價下跌高個位數。

The U.S. wholesale and e-commerce businesses were strong for Sperry in the quarter. Vulcanized sneakers continued to perform well at retail and the brand has experienced an early start to the boot season behind the success of Saltwater and Siren collections. Sperry's collaboration with Vineyard Vines has also generated strong consumer excitement and will help Sperry deliver high-single digit growth in the fourth quarter.

本季 Sperry 的美國批發和電子商務業務表現強勁。硫化運動鞋在零售業繼續表現良好，在 Saltwater 和 Siren 系列的成功背後，該品牌經歷了靴子季節的早期啟動。Sperry 與 Vineyard Vines 的合作也引起了消費者的強烈興趣，並將幫助 Sperry 在第四季度實現高個位數成長。

Keds' mid-teens growth was primarily driven by strength in the U.S. market and nearly 40% growth in e-commerce. The Keds brand has developed a very successful collaboration strategy with Rifle Paper, Kate Spade and others, which has helped fuel increases in online traffic and brand entry.

Keds 的成長主要得益於美國市場的強勁成長以及電子商務近 40% 的成長。Keds 品牌與 Rifle Paper、Kate Spade 等公司製定了非常成功的合作策略，這有助於推動線上流量和品牌進入的成長。

Saucony was down high-single digit in the quarter, which was slightly better than Q2. Challenges were centered around the U.S. market, partially offset by attractive underlying growth in the EMEA region, and a 25% increase in the e-commerce business. We expect improving year-over-year revenue trends for Saucony in the fourth quarter as the efforts of our new leadership team begin to take hold.

索康尼本季出現高個位數下降，略優於第二季。挑戰主要集中在美國市場，但部分被歐洲、中東和非洲地區有吸引力的潛在成長以及電子商務業務 25% 的成長所抵消。隨著我們新領導團隊的努力開始發揮作用，我們預計索康尼第四季的年收入趨勢將有所改善。

And closing with the Heritage Group. Underlying revenue for the group was up 2.6% compared to the prior year. Wolverine brand revenue increased double-digit, with the other brands in the group, Bates, Harley-Davidson and HYTEST, experiencing declines in the quarter. Double-digit growth for the Wolverine brand was driven by e-commerce growth of almost 50% and successful product introductions for the autumn/winter season, including the Bandit 990, Farmhand and Blackhorn collection. The brand continues to perform well in the robust U.S. work category and ended the quarter with the #1 market share position in this market segment.

並與 Heritage Group 結束合作。與前一年相比，該集團的基本收入增長了 2.6%。Wolverine 品牌營收達到兩位數成長，而該集團的其他品牌 Bates、Harley-Davidson 和 HYTEST 在本季均出現下滑。Wolverine 品牌實現了兩位數的成長，這得益於近 50% 的電子商務成長以及秋冬季節成功推出的產品，包括 Bandit 990、Farmhand 和 Blackhorn 系列。該品牌繼續在強勁的美國工作類別中表現良好，並在本季結束時在該細分市場中佔據第一的市場份額。

As a company, we're pleased with the progress we are making on our global growth agenda, which is focused on a more innovative and fast product creation engine, a digital direct offense and accelerated growth in the international market. We're also beginning to realize the benefit of the new tools processes and capabilities from our WAY FORWARD transformation initiative. Merrell, Sperry and Cat Footwear were early adopters of the new growth model and are the first brands to see significant momentum from our efforts and investments over the last 24 months.

作為一家公司，我們對全球成長議程所取得的進展感到滿意，該議程的重點是更具創新性和快速的產品創建引擎、數位化直接進攻以及國際市場的加速成長。我們也開始認識到我們的 WAY FORWARD 轉型計劃中的新工具流程和功能的好處。Merrell、Sperry 和 Cat Footwear 是新成長模式的早期採用者，也是第一批從我們過去 24 個月的努力和投資中看到顯著勢頭的品牌。

We remain well positioned to invest for the future, drive organic growth and add new brands to the portfolio to lever our global platform.

我們仍然處於有利位置，可以投資未來，推動有機成長，並在產品組合中添加新品牌，以利用我們的全球平台。

With that, I'll now the turn the call over to Mike Stornant, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will provide additional commentary on our third quarter financial performance and further insight into our expectations for 2018. Mike?

現在，我將把電話轉給我們的高級副總裁兼財務長 Mike Stornant，他將對我們第三季的財務業績提供更多評論，並進一步深入了解我們對 2018 年的預期。麥克風？

Thanks, Blake, and thank you all for joining us today. In the third quarter, the company delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of underlying growth and its highest quarterly adjusted operating margin since 2011. It's clear that 2 years of transformation work has resulted in significant and, even more importantly, sustainable results. We are on track to deliver solid underlying growth for the year and expect to exceed our 12% adjusted operating margin target in 2018.

謝謝布萊克，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。第三季度，該公司實現了連續第四個季度的基本成長，並實現了自 2011 年以來最高的季度調整後營業利潤率。顯然，兩年的轉型工作取得了顯著的、更重要的是可持續的成果。我們預計在今年實現穩健的基本成長，並預計 2018 年將超過 12% 的調整後營業利潤率目標。

During the third quarter, we delivered revenue of $558.6 million, resulting in growth of 0.5%, 1.1% growth on a constant-currency basis. Excluding declines in our lower margin Wolverine Leathers business, our footwear brands grew 1.5%, 2.1% on a constant-currency basis.

第三季度，我們營收 5.586 億美元，成長 0.5%，以固定匯率計算成長 1.1%。排除利潤較低的 Wolverine Leathers 業務的下滑，我們的鞋類品牌成長了 1.5%，以固定匯率計算成長了 2.1%。

Gross margin of 41.6% improved 170 basis points compared to last year's adjusted gross margin as most brands in the portfolio delivered meaningful margin expansion. The excellent gross margin performance was related to better mix from the strong growth in our e-commerce business and lower leather sales, certain product cost benefits from our transformation initiatives, and the portfolio changes made in 2017. Gross margin also benefitted from lower markdowns and lower close-out sales in the quarter compared to the prior year.

41.6% 的毛利率比去年調整後的毛利率提高了 170 個基點，因為產品組合中的大多數品牌都實現了有意義的利潤成長。出色的毛利率表現與電子商務業務的強勁成長和皮革銷售下降帶來的更好的組合、轉型舉措帶來的某些產品成本效益以及 2017 年的產品組合變化有關。與去年相比，本季降價幅度和結清銷售額的下降也使毛利率受益。

Adjusted selling, general and administrative expenses of $161.6 million decreased $1.9 million compared to 2017 and included $13 million in incremental investments related to growth initiatives.

調整後的銷售、一般和管理費用為 1.616 億美元，與 2017 年相比減少了 190 萬美元，其中包括與成長計畫相關的增量投資 1,300 萬美元。

Adjusted operating margin was a very strong 12.6%, better than expected and 80 basis points higher than last year. Adjusted pretax earnings grew over 13% in the quarter, illustrating very strong earnings leverage from our business model.

調整後營業利益率為 12.6%，非常強勁，優於預期，比去年高 80 個基點。本季調整後稅前收益成長超過 13%，顯示我們的業務模式具有非常強大的收益槓桿。

The third quarter effective tax rate was an unusually low 7.8%. Given the continued strength in our cash flow generation, we were able to make unplanned $40 million discretionary contribution to our defined benefit plan late in the quarter, which essentially brings our pension plan to fully-funded status. This resulted in a one-time tax benefit of approximately $6 million or $0.06 per share.

第三季有效稅率異常低，為 7.8%。鑑於我們現金流產生的持續強勁，我們能夠在本季度末向我們的固定福利計劃提供計劃外的 4000 萬美元酌情供款，這基本上使我們的退休金計劃達到全額資助狀態。這帶來了約 600 萬美元或每股 0.06 美元的一次性稅收優惠。

Third quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.62 grew 44.2% over the prior year. Excluding the one-time tax benefit noted earlier, adjusted EPS was $0.56, in line with our expectations for the quarter. Reported earnings per share was $0.60, which represents record earnings for the company.

第三季調整後每股收益為 0.62 美元，比去年同期成長 44.2%。不包括先前提及的一次性稅收優惠，調整後每股收益為 0.56 美元，符合我們對本季的預期。報告的每股收益為 0.60 美元，創下該公司創紀錄的收益。

Transitioning to the balance sheet. Our inventory position and SKU management continued to improve during the quarter. Inventories were down $14.4 million or 4.3%, with the majority of this decrease attributed to store closures and portfolio changes executed last year.

過渡到資產負債表。我們的庫存狀況和 SKU 管理在本季繼續改善。庫存下降 1,440 萬美元，即 4.3%，其中大部分下降歸因於去年商店關閉和產品組合變更。

We're pleased with this improvement, but as Blake mentioned, some brands were tight on core inventory in the quarter, which held back Q3 revenue. We expect inventory levels to increase by the end of the year as our brands gear up for growth in wholesale, online and owned store channels.

我們對這一改善感到滿意，但正如布萊克所提到的，一些品牌本季的核心庫存緊張，這抑制了第三季的收入。我們預計，隨著我們的品牌加速批發、線上和自有商店通路的成長，庫存水準將在年底前增加。

Cash flow from operations was strong, driven in part by inventory reduction and better than expected earnings. Two discrete items offset the excellent organic cash flow performance in the quarter: the $40 million voluntary pension contribution and the use of $53 million related to the wind down of our accounts receivable sale program. On a year-to-date basis, these actions impacted cash flow by $127 million. Excluding these strategic actions, we expect cash flow from operations to be approximately $240 million for the full year.

營運現金流強勁，部分原因是庫存減少和獲利好於預期。有兩個獨立項目抵消了本季出色的有機現金流表現：4000 萬美元的自願退休金繳款以及與結束應收帳款銷售計劃相關的 5300 萬美元的使用。年初至今，這些行動對現金流產生了 1.27 億美元的影響。排除這些策略行動，我們預計全年營運現金流約為 2.4 億美元。

During the third quarter, we repurchased $20 million of our stock, bringing our year-to-date total to $70 million and at an attractive average price of $31.65. We have over $130 million still available under our current share repurchase program. We ended the quarter with total net debt of $434.4 million and a credit agreement net leverage ratio of 1.7x.

第三季度，我們回購了價值 2,000 萬美元的股票，使年初至今的股票總額達到 7,000 萬美元，平均價格為 31.65 美元，極具吸引力。根據我們目前的股票回購計劃，我們仍有超過 1.3 億美元可用。本季結束時，我們的淨債務總額為 4.344 億美元，信貸協議淨槓桿率為 1.7 倍。

The company has significant flexibility to execute future actions intended to drive total shareholder return due to this healthy leverage position and total liquidity of approximately $1.5 billion available at quarter-end.

由於良好的槓桿狀況和季度末可用的總流動性約為 15 億美元，該公司具有極大的靈活性來執行旨在推動股東總回報的未來行動。

Now let me cover our updated outlook for the remainder of 2018. We now expect 2018 revenue to be approximately $2.24 billion, with underlying growth of between 3% to 5% expected in the fourth quarter. The updated guidance reflects the softer top line performance in the third quarter, ongoing weakness in certain Latin American markets and the impact of the bankruptcy of a work boot customer.

現在讓我介紹一下我們對 2018 年剩餘時間的最新展望。我們目前預計 2018 年營收約為 22.4 億美元，第四季的基本成長預計在 3% 至 5% 之間。更新後的指引反映了第三季營收表現疲軟、某些拉丁美洲市場持續疲軟以及工作靴客戶破產的影響。

Full year gross margin is now expected to expand approximately 150 basis points, up slightly from our previous outlook. We expect fourth quarter gross margin to expand by approximately 80 basis points. This is lower than year-to-date trends due mostly to the moderation of the impact from 2017 portfolio changes and certain accelerated WAY FORWARD benefits that were recognized in the fourth quarter of 2017.

目前預計全年毛利率將擴大約 150 個基點，略高於我們先前的預期。我們預計第四季毛利率將擴大約 80 個基點。這低於今年迄今的趨勢，主要是由於 2017 年投資組合變化的影響有所緩和，以及 2017 年第四季度確認的某些加速的 WAY FORWARD 效益。

We are on track to spend $40 million to $45 million in 2018 to fuel future growth initiatives. Including these investments, full year adjusted operating margin is now expected to be approximately 12.1%, reported operating margin is expected to be approximately 11.7%, including $8 million to $12 million of POS to manage the company's legacy environmental matter. These cost estimates and other remediation activities remain unchanged from our previous assessment.

我們預計 2018 年將花費 4,000 萬至 4,500 萬美元來推動未來的成長計畫。包括這些投資在內，全年調整後營業利潤率預計約為 12.1%，報告營業利潤率預計約為 11.7%，其中包括用於管理公司遺留環境問題的 800 萬至 1200 萬美元的 POS。這些成本估算和其他補救活動與我們先前的評估保持不變。

We now anticipate 2018 net interest and other expenses to be approximately $23 million. We expect the tax rate to normalize during the fourth quarter and we now expect our full year tax rate to be in the range of 15% to 16%.

我們現在預計 2018 年淨利息和其他費用約為 2,300 萬美元。我們預計第四季稅率將正常化，目前預計全年稅率將在 15% 至 16% 之間。

We are raising our outlook for full year adjusted diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.12 to $2.16, an increase of 32% over last year, at the high end of the range. Reported diluted earnings per share are expected in the range of $2.09 to $2.13.

我們將全年調整後攤薄每股收益的預期上調至 2.12 美元至 2.16 美元，比去年增長 32%，處於該範圍的高端。報告的稀釋後每股收益預計在 2.09 美元至 2.13 美元之間。

While the operating results for the business continue to exceed our plan for the year, it is also important to acknowledge the benefits we are seeing from a strong and diverse global business model. This model helps us reduce certain risks that can plague smaller or single brand companies. During 2018, we will deliver solid organic growth despite headwinds from sources outside of our control like economic and political unrest in some Latin American countries, customer bankruptcies in a very volatile leather market.

雖然業務的經營業績繼續超出我們今年的計劃，但同樣重要的是要承認我們從強大而多樣化的全球業務模式中看到的好處。這種模式可以幫助我們減少困擾小型或單一品牌公司的某些風險。2018 年，我們將實現穩健的有機成長，儘管存在一些我們無法控制的不利因素，例如一些拉丁美洲國家的經濟和政治動盪、動盪的皮革市場中的客戶破產等。

We are able to overcome these challenges because of a new brand model that emphasizes growth in our direct to consumer channels and expansion of our international businesses. We remain focused on driving consistent and sustainable growth as we implement our brand growth model and execute against our global growth agenda.

我們之所以能夠克服這些挑戰，是因為新的品牌模式強調我們直接面向消費者的管道的成長和國際業務的擴張。在實施我們的品牌成長模式並執行我們的全球成長議程時，我們仍然專注於推動持續和永續的成長。

Thanks for your time this morning and we will now turn the call back over to the operator.

感謝您今天早上抽出時間，我們現在將把電話轉回給接線生。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first questions comes from Jim Duffy of Stifel.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Jim Duffy。

Good morning, guys. Hope you are doing well.

早上好傢伙。希望你一切順利。

Good morning.

早安.

A couple of questions for you guys. As I feel though of your prepared remarks, it seems like the U.S. maybe a little bit better than expected or at least tracking and the international maybe lagging some. A, is that a fair assessment; and B, can you speak in some detail around what you're seeing in international markets, maybe compartmentalize the size of the Latin American business and risk there into 2019?

有幾個問題想問你們。正如我對你準備好的言論的感覺，似乎美國可能比預期好一點，或者至少跟上，而國際可能會落後一些。A，這是一個公平的評估嗎？ B，您能否詳細談談您在國際市場上看到的情況，或劃分 2019 年拉丁美洲業務的規模和風險？

Yes, I mean, I would think your -- Jim, your assessment is pretty accurate, especially with respect to Q3. In Q3, U.S. was the standout. EMEA was positive, low-single digit increase. And most of the challenge we had came from Latin America, a handful of countries that are experiencing economic, political and inflationary pressure. In Q3, maybe I'm guessing around $8 million of the impact from our international market. A bit of a surprise. We think that's probably going to continue a little bit into 2019. We don't see some of the challenges that those countries face as dissipating any time, especially soon. So certainly the size that we can handle, but it is what it is in some of those countries.

是的，我的意思是，我認為你的——吉姆，你的評估非常準確，特別是關於第三季。第三季度，美國表現最為突出。歐洲、中東和非洲地區呈現正面的低個位數成長。我們面臨的大部分挑戰來自拉丁美洲，這些國家正在經歷經濟、政治和通膨壓力。在第三季度，我猜測國際市場的影響可能約為 800 萬美元。有點意外。我們認為這種情況可能會持續到 2019 年。我們認為這些國家面臨的一些挑戰不會隨時消失，尤其是很快。當然，我們可以處理的規模，但這就是其中一些國家的情況。

And then shifting gears to Saucony brand. You had some product related issues coming into the year, new leadership there. Can you speak in a little bit of detail about the factors that give you confidence in stabilization and inflection in that brand looking forward?

然後轉向索康尼品牌。今年你遇到了一些與產品相關的問題，新的領導階層也出現了。您能否詳細談談哪些因素讓您對品牌的未來穩定和變化充滿信心？

Yes, I mean -- I think Saucony makes some great products, an award winning product, and it's going to continue to do that. I think there is an opportunity for the new management team there to really raise the bar on product. And so fundamentally in that technical run world and from related categories, it's a product related issue and that will probably take some time. I would probably view 2019 a bit as a turnaround year for the Saucony brand. But the new team is on it and we have complete confidence in their direction.

是的，我的意思是——我認為索康尼生產了一些很棒的產品，屢獲殊榮的產品，並且它將繼續這樣做。我認為新的管理團隊有機會真正提高產品標準。因此，從根本上來說，在技術運行領域和相關類別中，這是一個與產品相關的問題，可能需要一些時間。我可能會將 2019 年視為 Saucony 品牌的轉型年。但新團隊正在努力，我們對他們的方向充滿信心。

I was surprised to hear that you didn't mention Saucony as one of the brands that was earlier to adopt the new go-to market strategies. Is that just because of the product issues and the management transition?

令我驚訝的是，您沒有提到索康尼是較早採用新市場策略的品牌之一。這只是因為產品問題和管理階層轉變嗎？

I think frankly, Jim, it was an issue that was also tied to the old management team. That mindset has changed.

吉姆，坦白說，我認為這也是一個與舊管理團隊有關的問題。這種心態已經改變。

Okay, great. Thank you, guys.

好的，太好了。感謝你們。

Thanks, Jim.

謝謝，吉姆。

Thanks, Jim.

謝謝，吉姆。

And our next question today comes from Steve Marotta of C. L. King & Associates.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 C. L. King & Associates 的 Steve Marotta。

We are just talking about the new go-to market strategy and Merrell, Sperry and Cat were early adopters. Can you talk a little bit about who the new adopters, if you will, will be, particularly in the fiscal '19 period and how that may affect your organic growth trend?

我們只是在談論新的市場進入策略，Merrell、Sperry 和 Cat 是早期採用者。如果您願意的話，您能否談談新的採用者是誰，特別是在 19 財年期間，以及這可能如何影響您的自然成長趨勢？

Yes. I mean, I think the rest of the brands -- the new adopters for 2019 and Q4 of this year quite honestly will be the rest of our brands. So again, maybe a little less sophisticated process for some of our smaller brands, but the rest of the brands will be adopting the new model.

是的。我的意思是，我認為其他品牌——老實說，2019 年和今年第四季的新採用者將是我們的其他品牌。再說一遍，對於我們的一些較小品牌來說，流程可能不太複雜，但其餘品牌將採用新模型。

This is Mike, Steve. I think adding to that, what we're seeing in the business and the ability -- I guess the benefit of having a portfolio like this is to see the direct benefit of those activities. It is not just a model. It's very specific activities in different channels that are creating results that are measurable. And so even in Q3, where we might not have had quite as much in the product pipeline as we wanted, there was clear relationship there between that work and the outcome. So our ability to have tested this pretty rigorously over the last 9 to 12 months has given us even more confidence that the model is focused in the right areas. And to Blake's point now, as we roll it out to the rest of the brands, we have even that much more confidence in its ability to be successful.

這是麥克，史蒂夫。我認為除此之外，我們在業務和能力中看到的東西 - 我想擁有這樣的投資組合的好處是看到這些活動的直接好處。它不僅僅是一個模型。不同管道中的非常具體的活動正在創造可衡量的結果。因此，即使在第三季度，我們的產品管道可能沒有我們想要的那麼多，但工作和結果之間也存在明顯的關係。因此，我們在過去 9 到 12 個月內進行了相當嚴格的測試，這讓我們更有信心該模型專注於正確的領域。對於布萊克來說，現在，當我們將其推廣到其他品牌時，我們對其成功的能力更有信心。

I have a few quick follow ups. First, can you talk a little bit about your cost of goods exposure to China sourcing and domestic demand specifically?

我有一些快速跟進。首先，您能具體談談您在中國採購和國內需求方面的商品成本嗎？

Yes. I mean, been -- we've had a strategic action plan for the last 5 years to diversify out of China and we've been executing against that. And this is long before Trump was elected, long before we were involved in a potential tariff situation. So as a company, compared to the US footwear industry, we have much lower exposure than the average company here in the U.S. When we look to 2019, we expect about 15% -- a mid-teen theoretical exposure in a worst case scenario should tariffs be imposed. Obviously, there would be a 6 month delay to any ramp-up in a worst case scenario, so our exposure would be even less for fiscal 2019. And like everybody else, should that occur, we'll, one, either continue to diversify our sourcing base, offset some of the price increases with other actions, or simply pass on the cost. I think it's frustrating because the footwear industry is the highest tariff duty industry of all U.S. categories. So putting additional duties and tariffs on the footwear industry, at least domestically here, doesn't seem to make much sense. But we've been on this for years now.

是的。我的意思是，過去五年我們制定了一項策略行動計劃，以實現中國以外的多元化發展，並且我們一直在執行該計劃。這是早在川普當選之前，早在我們捲入潛在關稅局勢之前。因此，作為一家公司，與美國鞋業相比，我們的風險敞口遠低於美國平均公司。展望2019 年，我們預計約為15%——在最壞的情況下，理論上的風險敞口應該在15% 左右。徵收關稅。顯然，在最壞的情況下，任何成長都會延遲 6 個月，因此我們 2019 財年的風險敞口會更少。就像其他人一樣，如果發生這種情況，我們將，一，要么繼續使我們的採購基礎多樣化，通過其他行動抵消部分價格上漲，要么乾脆轉嫁成本。我認為這令人沮喪，因為製鞋業是美國所有類別中關稅最高的行業。因此，對製鞋業徵收額外的關稅和關稅，至少在國內，似乎沒有太大意義。但我們多年來一直致力於此。

One other quick follow up. Can you at the very least remind us what the long-term goals are from a sales and an EPS standpoint? There was a lot of noise obviously over the last year or 2 given lower taxes as well as the benefits of this transformational strategy. I'm assuming that from this point forward actually there might be even a incremental benefit above and beyond your normal growth plans next year. But can you remind just a little bit what those normal growth plans are as well as -- and again, without disclosing your order book, which I know is something you do not do -- any indications for next year, either tracking above or below growth trend?

另一個快速跟進。您至少能提醒我們從銷售額和每股盈餘的角度來看，長期目標是什麼嗎？鑑於稅收降低以及這項轉型策略的好處，過去一兩年顯然有很多噪音。我假設從現在開始，實際上甚至可能會帶來超出明年正常成長計畫的增量收益。但是你能否提醒一下這些正常增長計劃是什麼以及——再一次，在不透露你的訂單簿的情況下，我知道這是你不會做的事情——明年的任何跡象，無論是高於還是低於成長趨勢？

Yes. As you know, longer term we would have a target of high-single digit organic growth for the company. On the leverage side, we've always been excellent when it comes to dropping profit all the way down to the bottom line. So it's probably a 1.5 multiple of that at a minimum going forward. For 2019, we still -- we realize we have our global growth agenda to put in place for several of our brands yet. And as we look to '19, we would be frankly internally disappointed not to achieve low-single digit growth. So we would be aiming above that. But given all of our efforts over the last couple of years that would -- that's our internal mindset at least.

是的。如您所知，從長遠來看，我們的目標是公司實現高個位數有機成長。在槓桿方面，我們在將利潤一路降至底線方面一直表現出色。因此，未來可能至少是該數字的 1.5 倍。2019 年，我們仍然—我們意識到我們還需要為我們的幾個品牌制定全球成長議程。當我們展望 19 年時，坦白說，如果我們沒有實現低個位數的成長，我們內部會感到失望。因此，我們的目標將高於此。但考慮到我們過去幾年的所有努力，這至少是我們的內在心態。

And ladies and gentlemen, our next question today comes from Jonathan Komp of Robert W. Baird.

女士們、先生們，我們今天的下一個問題來自羅伯特·W·貝爾德 (Robert W. Baird) 的喬納森·康普 (Jonathan Komp)。

Wanted to first maybe circle back on some of the inventory constraints and delivery constraints. And I'm wondering if you could any further dimensionalize what you think those impacted sales or kind of the overall results.

首先可能要回顧一些庫存限制和交貨限制。我想知道您是否可以進一步詳細說明您認為這些因素對銷售或整體結果的影響。

Sure. I mean, when I look at Q3 -- we had some transportation, some late deliveries, as you can imagine, in this new tariff environment. We had a little difficulty getting adequate number of truck to all of our warehouses to impact Q3 shipment. We've already just talked about our low margin Leather business and internationally we had some challenges in Canada and Latin America. We were also lean on inventory, with hindsight, for a few of our brands. We've corrected that now. And our close-outs were way down, which is actually beneficial from a brand standpoint. But when you total all of those together, they amount to probably at least $35 million in Q3. And it's hard to quantify some of the missed sales when we were out of some core stock for a few of our brands, but our best guess would be about $35 million or more missed revenue in Q3. I think the -- Jon, to be clear about some of those inventory issues too, we did have a -- in a couple of our brands we had a really strong Q2, especially on some of the core inventory. We've been, as you know, putting a lot of pressure on team management and effective inventory management with all of our brand teams and that has obviously allowed us to bring our inventory levels down. But I think in a couple of cases, we might have over corrected there. But it was a temporary issue for us. We're not seeing any of those kind of issues necessarily impacting us in Q4 and I think it has given us an opportunity to make a few adjustments in a couple of key areas to make sure that we've got that under control. Some of the other things that Blake mentioned, especially the close-out piece, obviously that's driving gross margin expansion for us in the quarter. Much cleaner not just in our warehouses, but the marketplace for our key brands is -- the pipeline of inventory and position in the marketplace is a lot cleaner. And this I think just allowed us to be a lot more positive about the opportunities that opened going into Q4. But there was some temporary hit there in Q3. We probably won't recover in Q4. But when you shift to the fourth quarter, the real focus for us is not on those kind of issues. It's really the challenges we are seeing in our international markets, particularly Latin America. And then we're navigating this -- a new issue for us, which is the bankruptcy of one our work boot customers that was originally kind of in our plan for the fourth quarter to be about a $5 million to $10 million contributor. So those are really the headwinds for Q4. You can see in the prepared remarks how excited we are to see both Merrell and Sperry really perform at a very high level in Q4, driven on the success and performance of the product flow, innovation and the fundamentals of the new brand model, including a really strong performance in our e-commerce business in Q4. So the learnings from Q3, luckily we learned quickly, we fixed it quickly and we're moving on. And of course we're now dealing with some other challenges, but I think overall prepared to overcome those in the fourth quarter with some strong growth.

當然。我的意思是，當我看第三季時——正如你可以想像的那樣，在這個新的關稅環境下，我們有一些運輸，一些延遲交貨。我們在向所有倉庫提供足夠數量的卡車以影響第三季度的發貨方面遇到了一些困難。我們剛剛談到了我們的低利潤皮革業務，在國際上我們在加拿大和拉丁美洲遇到了一些挑戰。事後看來，我們的一些品牌也依賴庫存。我們現在已經更正了。我們的清倉率大幅下降，從品牌的角度來看，這實際上是有利的。但如果將所有這些加在一起，第三季的金額可能至少達到 3,500 萬美元。當我們的一些品牌的一些核心庫存耗盡時，很難量化一些錯過的銷售，但我們最好的猜測是第三季的收入約為 3500 萬美元或更多。我認為 - 喬恩，也要明確其中一些庫存問題，我們確實有 - 在我們的幾個品牌中，我們的第二季度表現非常強勁，特別是在一些核心庫存方面。如您所知，我們一直對所有品牌團隊的團隊管理和有效庫存管理施加很大壓力，這顯然使我們能夠降低庫存水準。但我認為在某些情況下，我們可能會過度糾正。但這對我們來說只是暫時的問題。我們沒有看到任何此類問題必然會在第四季度影響我們，我認為這使我們有機會在幾個關鍵領域進行一些調整，以確保我們能夠控制住這一情況。布萊克提到的其他一些事情，尤其是收尾部分，顯然正在推動我們本季的毛利率擴張。不僅我們的倉庫更加乾淨，我們主要品牌的市場也更加乾淨——庫存管道和市場地位都更加乾淨。我認為這讓我們對第四季出現的機會更加積極。但第三季出現了一些暫時的打擊。我們可能不會在第四季恢復。但當你轉向第四季時，我們真正關注的焦點並不是這些問題。這確實是我們在國際市場，特別是拉丁美洲看到的挑戰。然後我們正在解決這個問題——對我們來說這是一個新問題，我們的一個工作靴客戶破產了，該客戶最初在我們第四季度的計劃中是大約 500 萬至 1000 萬美元的貢獻者。所以這些確實是第四季的阻力。您可以在準備好的發言中看到我們是多麼興奮地看到 Merrell 和 Sperry 在產品流程、創新和新品牌模式的基本原理（包括第四季度我們的電子商務業務表現非常強勁。所以從第三季的經驗來看，幸運的是我們學得很快，我們很快就修復了它，然後我們繼續前進。當然，我們現在正在應對一些其他挑戰，但我認為總體上準備好在第四季度克服這些挑戰，並實現一些強勁的成長。

And maybe as a follow up since there's a number of moving parts there. But is there any way to boil all that down to, when you think of kind of your core operating guidance now being at the lower end of your prior range, where do you think you would have shaken out kind of excluding those factors? Or maybe said differently, are there any kind of underlying parts of your business that are less optimistic than they were 90 days ago?

也許作為後續行動，因為那裡有許多移動部件。但是，有沒有什麼方法可以將這一切歸結為，當您認為您的核心營運指導現在處於先前範圍的下限時，您認為如果排除這些因素，您會在哪裡擺脫困境？或者換句話說，您的業務是否有任何基礎部分不如 90 天前那麼樂觀？

No, absolutely not. I look at the successes of the WAY FORWARD initiatives that were more focused on our operational performance and our margin expansion, and our e-commerce and DTC businesses are all on track -- I mean, I would say ahead of schedule frankly in some cases. The challenges in the international business, even Canada in Q3, was a little bit soft for us, but we're going to see that come back in Q4. That will be a -- that will return to growth in that particular market. But, yes, we've had some headwinds in the international market that we didn't anticipate and that -- but that has not had really any direct correlation with execution or any of the underlying fundamentals of our WAY FORWARD initiatives. So I'm feeling as encouraged as ever about that. And I think as we go into next year, we're going to continue to see the benefit of that. And Blake mentioned it, right? And we're going to see the rest of our brands execute on this game plan a little bit more effectively. And that's going to be a tailwind for next year.

不，絕對不是。我看到了「前進之路」計畫的成功，這些計畫更注重我們的營運績效和利潤擴張，我們的電子商務和DTC 業務都步入正軌——我的意思是，坦白說，在某些情況下我會提前計劃。國際業務的挑戰，甚至是第三季加拿大的挑戰，對我們來說有點疲軟，但我們將看到這種情況在第四季度捲土重來。這將是一個特定市場將恢復成長的情況。但是，是的，我們在國際市場上遇到了一些我們沒有預料到的逆風，但這與我們「前進之路」計畫的執行或任何潛在基本面沒有真正的直接關係。所以我對此一如既往地感到鼓舞。我認為，進入明年，我們將繼續看到這一點的好處。布萊克也提到過，對吧？我們將看到我們的其他品牌更有效地執行這個遊戲計劃。這將成為明年的順風車。

And then maybe one other topic. Just the $45 million of incremental investment that you're spending this year, how should we think about that in terms of kind of on a multiyear basis, kind of what's fixed or embedded in the cost structure versus what may be more discretionary going forward?

然後也許還有另一個話題。光是今年您花費的 4500 萬美元增量投資，我們應該如何從多年的角度來考慮這一點，即成本結構中固定或嵌入的內容與未來可能更加自由裁量的內容？

About 1/2 of that number I would say would be fixed, if you will, if you want to call it that. Nothing is ever fixed. But more fundamental to adding resources, people, tools, things that we needed to be able to kind of invest more into to support this brand growth model. So about 1/2 of that is going to definitely anniversary into next year. We'd say the rest of it is somewhat discretionary, although obviously we're seeing result from that investment. And the reason that we stay bullish on the amount and despite a little softer top line we're still continuing to invest at that level this year, because we're seeing good results. But it will probably be a similar amount next year, Jon, but maybe not dedicated in the exact same way or invested in the same specific initiatives. We'll probably move some things around as we've tested and learned along the way. But overall, I would sort of bake a similar amount into your kind of projections for next year.

如果你願意的話，我想說這個數字的大約 1/2 將會被修復，如果你想這樣稱呼它的話。沒有什麼是永遠固定的。但更重要的是增加資源、人員、工具和我們需要投入更多的東西來支持這個品牌成長模式。所以大約 1/2 肯定會在明年週年紀念日。我們會說其餘部分在某種程度上是可自由支配的，儘管顯然我們已經看到了該投資的結果。我們之所以對這個金額保持看好，儘管收入略有下降，但今年我們仍然繼續以這個水平進行投資，因為我們看到了良好的結果。但喬恩，明年的金額可能會類似，但可能不會以完全相同的方式投入或投資於相同的具體舉措。隨著我們一路測試和學習，我們可能會改變一些東西。但總的來說，我會在明年的預測中加入類似的金額。

And last one if I could just -- would you mind maybe talking about the increase year-over-year in receivables? I might have missed something you said about your securitization.

最後一個，如果我可以—您介意談談應收帳款的逐年增長嗎？我可能錯過了你所說的有關證券化的內容。

Yes. We kind of hit on that quickly. In 2014, we put a receivables sales program in place at a time when the cost of our debt was higher and there was a different need to generate a one-time kind of cash infusion into the business. And we've been operating under that receivables sales program for a while. This year -- earlier this year, we realized a couple of things: number one, our -- cost of our debt -- as we've improved our leverage, the cost of our debt has gone down and it didn't make a lot of sense to be paying a fee on that program that was actually higher than our credit facility. And so -- and also, since 2014, our cash flow generation has been really strong. So we didn't really need that tool and we certainly didn't need to pay a premium for it. We wound it down. And we'll see a nice benefit from that in 2019. There should be about $1 million upside to our overall interest cost because of that.

是的。我們很快就想到了這一點。2014 年，我們實施了一項應收帳款銷售計劃，當時我們的債務成本較高，並且存在向業務注入一次性現金注入的不同需求。我們已經根據應收帳款銷售計劃運營了一段時間。今年——今年早些時候，我們意識到了幾件事：第一，我們的——我們的債務成本——隨著我們提高槓桿率，我們的債務成本下降了，而且它並沒有使我們的債務成本下降。為該計劃支付實際上高於我們信貸額度的費用是很有意義的。因此，自 2014 年以來，我們的現金流產生非常強勁。因此，我們並不真正需要該工具，當然也不需要為此支付額外費用。我們把它縮小了。我們將在 2019 年看到它帶來的巨大好處。因此，我們的整體利息成本應該有大約 100 萬美元的上升空間。

Okay. All right, thank you.

好的。好吧。謝謝。

You're welcome. Thanks.

不客氣。謝謝。

And our next question today comes from Edward Yruma of KeyBanc Capital Markets.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Edward Yruma。

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

你好。早安.感謝您回答我的問題。

Good morning.

早安.

This is [Matt] on for Ed. So you discussed that some brands were tight on inventory. Can you talk about how your Dash production has performed this year? Do you have any examples of being able to chase trends this year? And how will your capabilities with Dash change next year, if at all? And how can the centralized data team affect how you forecast inventory? And finally, still with inventory, can we expect inventory to start to pick up now, now as reported sales return to growth and you lap the portfolio change of last year?

這是艾德的[馬特]。所以您提到一些品牌庫存緊張。能談談今年達世幣生產的表現如何嗎？今年有哪些能夠追趕潮流的例子嗎？如果明年你使用達世幣的能力會發生什麼變化的話？集中資料團隊如何影響您預測庫存的方式？最後，仍然是庫存，隨著報告的銷售恢復增長並且您經歷了去年的投資組合變化，我們是否可以預期庫存現在開始增加？

Yes, that's a mouthful. So let me try and deal with a few of the items and I'll pass then over to Mike. But we expect our inventory to start to increase as our organic sales increase here. So as you know, we've had dramatic decreases, reduction in SKUs over the last couple of years. We're kind of now at a level step. We believe we're in a level set area and we expect our inventory to pick up here over time a little bit to service demand. With respect to Dash, we've had several programs, a dozen or more programs utilizing that specific tool in our Way Forward transformation and we're still learning from it. But we expect to see a broader application of that tool certainly as we get into 2019.

是的，那是一口。因此，讓我嘗試處理其中一些項目，然後將其交給麥克。但我們預計，隨著我們在這裡有機銷售額的增加，我們的庫存將開始增加。如您所知，過去幾年我們的 SKU 數量大幅減少。我們現在處於一個水平階段。我們相信我們處於一個水平區域，我們預計我們的庫存會隨著時間的推移而增加，以滿足需求。就達世幣而言，我們已經有幾個項目，十幾個甚至更多的項目在我們的「前進之路」轉型中使用了該特定工具，並且我們仍在從中學習。但進入 2019 年，我們預計肯定會看到該工具得到更廣泛的應用。

The only thing I would add is that by the end of Q4 our inventories will be up high-single digits, probably a couple of digits. We need that inventory not only from the standpoint of just sort of the growth we're expecting in our various channels, but also because of the importance of bringing new product into the pipeline. So some of that increase will come from the introduction of new items that are planned for the first half of next year.

我唯一要補充的是，到第四季末，我們的庫存將增加高個位數，可能是幾個數字。我們需要這些庫存，不僅是因為我們期望在各種管道中成長，而且還因為將新產品引入管道的重要性。因此，部分成長將來自計劃於明年上半年推出的新產品。

So on Keds, really nice growth in e-com continues. What do you think causes this brand to translate so well on e-commerce? I know you discussed cleaning up the channel on Keds. Can you talk about maybe your progress there?

因此，在 Keds 上，電子商務領域的良好成長仍在繼續。您認為是什麼讓這個品牌在電子商務上有如此出色的表現？我知道你討論過清理 Keds 的頻道。您能談談您在那裡的進展嗎？

Yes. I mean, I think most of the channel cleanup is behind us now, so that certainly helps contribute to the e-commerce growth. Fundamentally, it's the team, their focus on the consumer. When you look at Keds right now, when you look at the price point, when you look at their brand mantra, Ladies First since 1916, when you look at vulcanized footwear, they've got -- the Keds brand has a lot of tailwinds right now. So we have big expectations for the Keds brand. But we also have and have had for some time big expectations in the owned e-com area and the team continues to execute very well against that.

是的。我的意思是，我認為大部分的通路清理工作現在已經過去，因此這肯定有助於電子商務成長。從根本上來說，是團隊，他們對消費者的關注。當你現在看 Keds 時，當你看價格點時，當你看他們的品牌口號“自 1916 年以來的女士優先”時，當你看硫化鞋時，他們有——Keds 品牌有很多順風車現在。所以我們對Keds品牌抱有很大的期望。但一段時間以來，我們對自有的電子商務領域也抱有很大的期望，團隊繼續對此執行得很好。

Okay, thank you.

好的謝謝。

Thanks, [Matt].

謝謝，[馬特]。

(Operator Instructions) Today's next question comes from Chris Svezia of Wedbush.

（操作員說明）今天的下一個問題來自 Wedbush 的 Chris Svezia。

Good morning, everyone.

大家，早安。

Good morning.

早安.

Hi, Chris.

嗨，克里斯。

So I wanted to touch on Merrell. I guess when you step back and look at the brand and the growth that you've seen -- you've launched a lot of products, Moab, Chameleon, now the Jungle Moc. As we start to move forward, is this going to be one of these situations whereby you look at, "Wow, we've done a lot," growth is going to moderate? Or can you build upon this high-single digit growth? In other words, is that -- I'm not going to say how it's most sustainable -- but how do I think about that as we move forward given it had most of the transformation, you've done a lot of work on product? Going forward, something like these levels of growth, mid-high single digit, is sustainable I guess is the question?

所以我想談談梅雷爾。我想當你退一步看看這個品牌和你所看到的成長時——你已經推出了很多產品，Moab、Chameleon，現在是 Jungle Moc。當我們開始前進時，這是否會成為您會看到“哇，我們已經做了很多”的情況之一，增長將會放緩？或者你能在這種高個位數成長的基礎上再接再厲嗎？換句話說，我不會說它是如何最可持續的，但考慮到它已經完成了大部分轉型，在我們前進的過程中我如何看待這一點，你在產品上做了很多工作？展望未來，我想問題是這樣的成長水準（中高個位數）是否可持續？

Yes. I mean, for Merrell in particular, we would be counting on this. It's our largest brand, as you know. Some of the growth this year has been a little choppy as they've implemented the brand growth plan and model. Some quarters of low single growth and other quarters it's very high-teens growth. We would hope that that levels out a little bit and is little more predictable. But their product pipeline and crisp compelling story is more robust than it has ever been and we don't see any let up in momentum for the brand. I would say most of the -- some of the great growth this year, where Merrill will end up high-single digits in 2018, were still driven kind from the performance categories, although you can argue is the Moab today a performance shoe or is it a casual footwear or a lifestyle footwear? But a lot of it has come from the performance area and the brand is just beginning to capitalize on the lifestyle area. So we have high expectations for the Merrell brand. So does the team. And our view of the product pipeline and compelling story is more robust than it has ever been. So...

是的。我的意思是，特別是對於梅雷爾來說，我們會指望這一點。如您所知，這是我們最大的品牌。由於他們實施了品牌成長計畫和模式，今年的成長有些不穩定。某些季度的單一成長較低，而有些季度的成長則非常高。我們希望這種情況能趨於平穩，並且更加可預測。但他們的產品線和清晰引人入勝的故事比以往任何時候都更加強勁，我們沒有看到該品牌的勢頭有任何減弱。我想說的是，今年的一些巨大增長（美林在 2018 年將實現高個位數）仍然是由性能類別推動的，儘管你可以說 Moab 今天是一款性能鞋還是一款性能鞋。它是休閒鞋還是生活風格鞋？但其中很大一部分來自表演領域，而該品牌剛開始利用生活方式領域。所以我們對邁樂這個品牌抱有很高的期望。團隊也是如此。我們對產品線和引人入勝的故事的看法比以往任何時候都更加堅定。所以...

Merrell is also a very diverse brand relative to geography and their international business and its e-commerce business is doing really well. Our stores are performing really well for Merrell right now. So when you think about the company and all the different channels and all the different elements of the growth agenda, Merrell is probably the primary brand in the portfolio that represents and can perform and grow in each of those categories and channels and they're having success in just about all of them. Despite Latin America in the back half of this year, which has obviously impacted Merrell, they're still going to deliver high-single digit growth for the year. So Merrell is one of the bigger brands in that marketplace. But overall, the diversification there and the focus on the digital offense as well as has been a major contributor and that's going to continue into next year.

相對於地理位置和國際業務而言，邁樂也是一個非常多元化的品牌，其電子商務業務也表現得非常好。對於 Merrell 來說，我們的商店現在表現得非常好。因此，當您考慮公司以及所有不同的管道以及成長議程的所有不同要素時，梅雷爾可能是產品組合中的主要品牌，代表並可以在每個類別和管道中表現和成長，並且他們擁有幾乎所有這些都取得了成功。儘管今年下半年拉丁美洲對梅雷爾產生了明顯的影響，但他們今年仍將實現高個位數成長。因此，梅雷爾是該市場中較大的品牌之一。但總體而言，多元化和對數位進攻的關註一直是主要貢獻者，並且這種情況將持續到明年。

And then just on the Sperry business. I don't think the word boat was mentioned at the first. But I guess maybe to step back, where are you on a compression in that category as it relates to the Sperry brand and how do we think about that I guess going forward given what's going on with boots and what's going on with canvas? Can this brand really begin to accelerate? Just kind of how do we think about that?

然後就是史佩里的生意。我認為一開始並沒有提到“船”這個詞。但我想也許退一步來說，您在該類別中的壓縮方面處於什麼位置，因為它與 Sperry 品牌相關？考慮到靴子和帆布的情況，我們如何看待未來的發展？這個品牌真的能開始加速嗎？我們如何看待這個問題？

I think in the quarter boat as an overall category here in the U.S. across all brands continued to decline, less decline than we've seen in quarters over the last 18 months or so. Boat for Sperry was also down in the quarter, down a little less than it has been in the past. And Sperry owns that category and the Sperry team understands that it's their job to keep the boat silhouette fresh and appealing to the consumers. We know we're going to go through cycles, always have in this country in the boat shoe category. But Sperry is the giant there and it's positioning itself to take advantage of that in the future. The good news for Sperry is that boots, vulcanized products, the collaboration with Vineyard Vines, everything else is working. And so the brand still has broad appeal. Certainly, no brand drag, especially in the core U.S. market. So we're pretty bullish on Sperry. We view 2018 as kind of the turnaround year for the brand and 2019 and beyond as the growth year.

我認為，在美國，所有品牌的四分之一船作為一個整體類別都在持續下降，比我們在過去 18 個月左右的季度中看到的下降幅度要小。斯佩里號的船在本季也有所下降，比過去的下降幅度略小。Sperry 擁有這個類別，Sperry 團隊明白，他們的工作就是保持船型的新鮮感並吸引消費者。我們知道我們將經歷一個週期，在這個國家的船鞋類別中總是如此。但斯佩里是那裡的巨頭，它正在為自己做好定位，以便在未來利用這一點。對 Sperry 來說，好消息是靴子、硫化產品、與 Vineyard Vines 的合作，其他一切都在發揮作用。因此該品牌仍然具有廣泛的吸引力。當然，沒有品牌拖累，尤其是在美國核心市場。所以我們非常看好斯佩里。我們將 2018 年視為該品牌的轉型年，並將 2019 年及以後視為增長年。

A final question just on the -- Mike, for you, just on your comments about potential -- or "we'll exceed our 12% operating margin target this year." Your guidance is 12.1%. I guess we're hairs here. But just sort of your confidence of...

最後一個問題是——邁克，對你來說，只是關於你對潛力的評論——或者“我們今年將超過 12% 的營業利潤率目標。”您的指導是 12.1%。我想我們這裡都是頭髮。但只是你的信心...

No, I want to be -- I want to clarify that. So Chris -- I'm sorry to cut you off. I mean, don't forget, it was not that long ago where we set a really bold goal to get to a 12% operating margin run rate by the end of 2018, right? And through the course of this year, we've increased our expectations around that and are delivering on that though. When I think about the stake in the ground that we put out there, it was really around that and we have over delivered not just in terms of the margin itself, but in the time frame as well. So...

不，我想——我想澄清這一點。克里斯——我很抱歉打斷你。我的意思是，不要忘記，就在不久前，我們設定了一個非常大膽的目標，即在 2018 年底實現 12% 的營業利潤率，對吧？在今年的過程中，我們提高了對此的期望，並且正在實現這一目標。當我想到我們在那裡投入的股份時，確實是圍繞這一點，我們不僅在利潤本身方面超額交付，而且在時間框架方面也超額交付。所以...

So don't take it in the context of 12.1%, is what the guidance is, and that you can comfortably exceed that. It's just more 12% -- you'll exceed 12%. That being 12.1%.

因此，不要將其放在 12.1% 的背景下，這是指導值，而且您可以輕鬆地超過該值。只是多了 12%——你就會超過 12%。即 12.1%。

Well, the guidance is approximately 12.1% I guess, but -- yes. I mean, I'm not -- I guess my reference to the target was the target we put out there more than a year...

嗯，我猜指導值大約是 12.1%，但是——是的。我的意思是，我不是——我想我提到的目標是我們一年多來提出的目標...

Around 12%?

12%左右？

Yeah.

是的。

Okay, got it. All right, fair enough. All right, thank you. All the best.

好，知道了。好吧，很公平。好吧。謝謝。一切順利。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thanks, Chris.

謝謝，克里斯。

And our next question today comes from Michael Kawamoto of D. A. Davidson.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. Davidson 的 Michael Kawamoto。

Just on Merrell, can you highlight some of the products that you're excited about for 4Q and then into next year? I think you pointed like hiking and some lifestyles and Bare [focuses], but just anything that you're excited about?

就 Merrell 而言，您能否重點介紹一些您對第四季和明年感到興奮的產品？我想你提到了健行、一些生活方式和裸體[焦點]，但只是任何你感興趣的事情？

Yes. I mean, the entire hike category remains pretty robust. That's Moab 2s and Chameleon 7 and some products that we'll be introducing here in just a week for the fall 2019 season. Nature's Gym remains a very strong category for the brand. So from Bare Access product up through trail running and other athletic products for use in the outdoors, that's an expanding category for the brand. There's quite a bit of growth activity in that. And then I'll also mention Merrell work right now. So Merrell work continues to expand and grow every quarter. That's been a good -- a little bit more of a niche category for the brand, but the loyal Merrell consumer has responded well to that brand elasticity and extension.

是的。我的意思是，整個健行類別仍然相當強勁。這就是 Moab 2s 和 Chameleon 7 以及我們將在一周內推出的 2019 年秋季產品。Nature's Gym 仍然是該品牌的一個非常強大的類別。因此，從 Bare Access 產品到越野跑和其他戶外運動產品，這是品牌不斷擴展的類別。其中有相當多的成長活動。然後我現在還要提到梅雷爾的工作。因此，Merrell 的工作每季都在不斷擴大和成長。這是一件好事——對該品牌來說有點小眾，但忠實的邁瑞消費者對品牌的彈性和延伸反應良好。

And then you guys recently hired a CMO for Merrell. Can you just talk about maybe some of the initiatives that are being worked on there? I saw the One Trail project. Is there any more color there?

你們最近為 Merrell 聘請了一位首席行銷長。您能否談談那裡正在實施的一些措施？我看到了 One Trail 專案。那裡還有更多顏色嗎？

Yes, I think -- the Merrell, like all of our brands, realized that in today's world it's their job to maintain and increase their brand interest, the research interest. And that can be with big product stories. That can be with excitement stories. You may remember from just a quarter or so ago the Saucony collaboration on Dunkin' Donuts that was only 1,000 pairs or so, but the excitement that generated with consumers across many different channels was incredible. So Merrell is implementing a full digital offense and that's its primary focus right now and they've just got plenty of ammunition to make that a success.

是的，我認為 - 梅雷爾，像我們所有的品牌一樣，意識到在當今世界，維持和增加他們的品牌興趣和研究興趣是他們的工作。大型產品故事就是如此。這可能是個激動人心的故事。您可能還記得大約一個季度前，Saucony 與 Dunkin' Donuts 的合作只有 1,000 雙左右，但許多不同管道的消費者所產生的興奮是令人難以置信的。因此，梅雷爾正在實施全面的數位進攻，這是目前的主要焦點，他們有足夠的彈藥來取得成功。

And then just one more. You mentioned before that China is a key area with active resources and begun to focus on it. How are we thinking about that region just given all the noise that's going on with it right now?

然後還有一個。您之前提到中國是一個資源活躍的重點地區，並開始重點關注。考慮到現在正在發生的所有噪音，我們如何看待該地區？

Well, when we look at the 1.4 billion-person China market, frankly at the moment we view that as a tremendous opportunity for growth. We've got a few great partners there. We've got some owned initiatives in that market. But we're currently under penetrated in that important market. And despite the chatter around tariffs and trade wars and this and that, that's going to be a very important consumer market. So we're focused on China.

那麼，當我們看到14億人口的中國市場時，坦白說，目前我們認為這是一個巨大的成長機會。我們在那裡有一些很棒的合作夥伴。我們在這個市場上有一些自己的舉措。但我們目前在這個重要市場的滲透率還不夠。儘管圍繞關稅和貿易戰等主題存在爭議，但這將是一個非常重要的消費市場。所以我們把重點放在中國。

All right. Thanks for your time and good luck for the rest of the next year.

好的。感謝您抽出寶貴時間，並祝福明年餘下時間一切順利。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thank you, Michael.

謝謝你，麥可。

And our next question today comes from Laurent Vasilescu of Macquarie.

今天我們的下一個問題來自麥格理的 Laurent Vasilescu。

I want to follow up on the gross margin. Mike, maybe you can give a little bit more of color on the components in bps terms for the 170 bps of adjusted gross margin expansion in the quarter? And it looks like 4Q could be up on adjusted basis maybe 40 bps? Any more thoughts on that, that will be great.

我想跟進毛利率。麥克，也許您可以對本季調整後毛利率擴張 170 個基點的各組成部分以基點表示更多的色彩？看起來第四季調整後可能會上漲 40 個基點？對此有更多的想法，那就太好了。

Sure. Yes, we went through some of the key contributors in the prepared remarks on gross margin. We typically don't break it down in bps, but I would say the big benefits are certainly -- they certainly continue to be product cost initiatives and improvements there. And we are not just benefiting from a diversified sourcing base right now, but the work that's been done to stabilize the factory base and work with our vendors to get pricing improvement on our product class has been really critical this year and last year. So a big chunk of that is coming from pricing. Some of it certainly the improvement of the -- the portfolio changes we made a year ago, the store closures and some other things that have helped us to drive that. And then the organic growth in our business and e-commerce especially, which is a high margin business. We're seeing growth in our like-to-like stores as well. So it's really across the board, Laurent. It's not really one specific driving factor. I do like the fact that the quality mix of our inventory and our top line sales is much stronger. The lower close-out sales as well as the headwind on revenue gives us stronger performance on the margin side. When we go into Q4, I would expect gross margins will improve by more than 40 basis points. I had expected it to be closer to 60 to 80 basis points in the fourth quarter. Not quite as much as we've seen so far this year, but still really strong. Again, some of those improvements I just called out, we also started to see those crystallize in Q4 last year. So we're going up against a little bit tougher comparison, but overall all of the core factors that are driving margin expansion are going to continue into Q4.

當然。是的，我們在準備好的毛利率評論中討論了一些關鍵因素。我們通常不會以基點為單位進行細分，但我想說，最大的好處肯定是——它們肯定仍然是產品成本計劃和改進。我們現在不僅受益於多元化的採購基地，而且今年和去年為穩定工廠基礎以及與供應商合作以提高我們產品類別的定價所做的工作非常重要。因此，其中很大一部分來自定價。其中一些肯定是我們一年前做出的投資組合變化、關閉商店以及其他一些幫助我們推動這一目標的事情的改進。然後是我們業務的有機成長，尤其是電子商務，這是一項高利潤業務。我們也看到我們的「讚」商店也在成長。所以這確實是全面的，勞倫特。這實際上並不是一個特定的驅動因素。我確實喜歡這樣一個事實：我們的庫存和營收的品質組合更加強勁。較低的結清銷售額以及收入的逆風使我們在利潤方面表現更強勁。當我們進入第四季時，我預計毛利率將提高 40 個基點以上。我原本預計第四季會接近 60 至 80 個基點。雖然不如我們今年迄今為止看到的那麼多，但仍然非常強勁。同樣，我剛才提到的一些改進，我們也開始在去年第四季看到這些改進的具體化。因此，我們面臨著更嚴格的比較，但總體而言，推動利潤率擴張的所有核心因素都將持續到第四季。

And then I wanted to follow up. I think you've talked about bankruptcy of a work boot customer. Maybe you can parse that out in terms of the third quarter, the impact in dollar terms? And then as we think about the next 12 months, how do we think about that number -- that customer on an annual basis?

然後我想跟進。我想你已經談到了工作靴客戶的破產。或許你可以從第三季的角度來分析，以美元計算的影響？然後，當我們考慮接下來的 12 個月時，我們如何看待這個數字——每年的客戶數量？

Yes, there wasn't really a -- there really wasn't a Q3 impact there. This is really a Q4 issue for us. And we've been able to operate on really good terms with this account and so we've been able to navigate through this with a little bit of impact obviously, but been able to mitigate that to some degree. And we would expect next year that we'll be able to continue to work through that through -- continuing to work with this account and/or the customer is finding that product in other channels.

是的，確實沒有對第三季產生影響。這對我們來說確實是第四季的問題。我們已經能夠與這個帳戶以非常好的條件進行操作，因此我們能夠克服這個問題，顯然會產生一點影響，但能夠在某種程度上減輕這種影響。我們預計明年我們將能夠繼續解決這個問題—繼續與該客戶合作和/或客戶在其他管道中找到該產品。

And then my last question. I want to follow up on the AR question with regards to that $53 million impact on the wind down. Should that number increase in the fourth quarter? Or maybe asked a different way, how do we think about accounts receivable, the increase year-over-year on a reported or adjusted basis for the fourth quarter?

然後是我的最後一個問題。我想跟進 AR 問題，涉及 5300 萬美元的停業影響。第四季這個數字應該會增加嗎？或者換個方式問，我們如何看待第四季報告或調整後的應收帳款年增率？

I think we'll have another $10 million or so in Q4 to completely wind that down. And then the comparisons going forward will be like-for-like.

我認為我們將在第四季度再獲得 1000 萬美元左右的資金來徹底結束這一過程。然後接下來的比較將是類似的。

Okay, very helpful. Thank you very much and best of luck for the holiday.

好的，非常有幫助。非常感謝您，祝您假期愉快。

Thanks, Laurent.

謝謝，洛朗。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And our next question today comes from Ross Licero of Telsey Advisory Group.

今天我們的下一個問題來自特爾西諮詢集團的羅斯·利塞羅。

Could you just provide a little color on AUR versus units sold?

您能否提供一下 AUR 與銷售量的比較？

For -- in connection with what? The --

為了──與什麼有關？這 -

I guess the trends across the category.

我猜想整個類別的趨勢。

Well, I think -- as we all know, there's been a very strong trend over the last several years to athletic and to vulcanized footwear. That tends to be a lower price point product. When I take a macro, I'll look at the -- especially at the U.S. market. We think that trend is going to continue. We've also though had success at the upper end, where we have traditionally played, from the mid-tier on up to like the Wolverine 1000 Mile program. So there continues to be a strong trend towards vulcanized. You can see that in the Sperry business, where that category has grown by a very large percentage for Sperry for just a short period of time.

嗯，我認為——眾所周知，過去幾年運動鞋和硫化鞋的趨勢非常強勁。這往往是價格較低的產品。當我進行宏觀分析時，我會關注——尤其是美國市場。我們認為這種趨勢將持續下去。不過，我們在傳統的高端賽事中也取得了成功，從中端到 Wolverine 1000 英里計劃。因此，硫化趨勢仍然強勁。您可以在 Sperry 業務中看到這一點，該類別在很短的時間內就為 Sperry 帶來了非常大的百分比成長。

And that's actually important to call out, because for Sperry to be delivering the growth that they are, top line growth that they are, they are doing that with some product categories that are at a lower average price. We haven't really seen a major impact on our overall business with respect to specific price increases that we've put into play, but the cleaner close-out mix that we talked about before, the vulcanized trends that Blake's talking about, those are factors that are obviously impacting our overall AUR for the company. But it's really hard to measure that given the different channels, given the international component. It doesn't always tell the right story even if you're getting a statistic there. But brand by brand we're seeing -- just fundamentally we're just seeing a healthier mix across almost all of our brands right now.

這實際上很重要，因為對於斯佩里來說，要實現他們的成長，他們的頂線成長，他們正在透過一些平均價格較低的產品類別來實現這一目標。我們還沒有真正看到我們實施的具體價格上漲對我們的整體業務產生重大影響，但是我們之前討論過的更清潔的結束組合，布萊克談論的硫化趨勢，這些是明顯影響公司整體 AUR 的因素。但考慮到不同的管道和國際成分，確實很難衡量。即使你在那裡得到了統計數據，它並不總是講述正確的故事。但我們逐一看到——從根本上說，我們現在幾乎所有品牌都看到了更健康的組合。

And then on the Saucony brand, are you guys seeing just a loss of unit per door or are you rationalizing any doors there?

然後在索康尼品牌上，你們是否看到每扇門的單位數量有所減少，或者你們是否正在對那裡的任何門進行合理化？

No, I think we're -- in the core run specialty channel we're seeing lower units in the U.S. As I indicated in my prepared remarks, EMEA was a bit of a bright spot for Saucony. They've got a very strong business in Europe in both technical run and on The Originals side. So that was a bright spot for Saucony in the quarter. But they are focused on resurgence in the technical run arena.

不，我認為我們在核心經營的專業管道中看到美國的銷量較低。正如我在準備好的演講中指出的那樣，歐洲、中東和非洲地區對索康尼來說是一個亮點。他們在歐洲的技術營運和 The Originals 方面都有非常強大的業務。所以這是索康尼本季的一個亮點。但他們專注於技術運作領域的復興。

Okay, great. Thanks.

好的，太好了。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And ladies and gentleman, we have time for one final question today. And the last question comes from Mitch Kummetz of Pivotal Research.

女士們先生們，今天我們有時間回答最後一個問題。最後一個問題來自 Pivotal Research 的 Mitch Kummetz。

I guess I've got a few. First, on Canada. You mentioned that Canada was I think a bit of an issue in the quarter. Could you elaborate on that? Is that something that you would expect to continue into the fourth quarter?

我想我已經有幾個了首先，關於加拿大。您提到我認為加拿大是本季的一個問題。能詳細說明一下嗎？您預計這種情況會持續到第四季嗎？

Actually, Mitch, in Q4 we expect a rebound in Canada. But as you also know, that market over the last 10 years has gone through a substantial amount of consolidation. And we think it's in a pretty stable position right now, but certainly a lot of consolidation just over the last 5 years or so. So we expect to rebound in Canada in Q4.

事實上，米奇，我們預計加拿大將在第四季出現反彈。但正如您所知，該市場在過去 10 年裡經歷了大量整合。我們認為它目前處於相當穩定的位置，但在過去五年左右的時間裡肯定發生了很多整合。因此，我們預計加拿大將在第四季出現反彈。

And then on Latin America. I know that in your segment reporting you kind of break out -- there's another piece outside of EMEA and Canada. Is there any way you can kind of size the Latin American market for us, tell us how much it was down in the quarter, how much you expect to be down in Q4?

然後是拉丁美洲。我知道，在您的報告部分中，您有點突破——歐洲、中東和非洲和加拿大之外還有另一篇報導。您是否可以透過任何方式為我們確定拉丁美洲市場的規模，告訴我們該季度下降了多少，您預計第四季度會下降多少？

Yes. I mean, when I -- it's a little bit easier -- I don't have some of those numbers right in front of me. A little bit easier in the quarter -- in the Q3. When we look at the Latin America, it was probably down $3 million, $4 million in Q3. But as you know, we've got some multi-decade distributors and programs. Latin America is a very strong region for us. Obviously, over the years we've seen a lot of volatility in this region and we're just going through a time right now where we expect some volatility here over the short term certainly for the next year or 2.

是的。我的意思是，當我——這更容易一點——我面前沒有一些數字。本季（第三季）稍微容易。當我們看看拉丁美洲時，第三季可能減少了 300 萬美元、400 萬美元。但如您所知，我們擁有一些數十年的經銷商和計劃。拉丁美洲對我們來說是一個非常強大的地區。顯然，多年來我們已經看到該地區出現了很大的波動，而我們現在正經歷一段時期，我們預計短期內肯定會在未來一兩年內出現一些波動。

Yes. And then unlike some of the other -- like Canada's example, where we would expect that to just be a Q3 issue, Latin America is really going to actually be a bigger headwind for us in Q4. So probably...

是的。與其他一些國家不同——例如加拿大的例子，我們預計這只是第三季的問題，拉丁美洲實際上將成為我們第四季的更大阻力。所以很有可能...

And Mike, if I recall correctly on Latin America, you guys do a lot of Hush Puppies license business there, which is pretty high margin for you. If Latin America is soft, does that have any margin impact?

麥克，如果我沒記錯的話，在拉丁美洲，你們在那裡做了大量的 Hush Puppies 許可業務，這對你們來說是相當高的利潤。如果拉丁美洲表現疲軟，會對利潤率產生影響嗎？

I mean, it does. But actually, the particular brands that are probably being most impacted by this would be Merrell and Cat on the top line focus standpoint.

我的意思是，確實如此。但實際上，從營收焦點的角度來看，受此影響最大的特定品牌可能是 Merrell 和 Cat。

And then last question just in terms of kind of the brand outlook for some of your brands. I think you said Merrell high-single digits now in the year. I don't know if you've touched upon this already, but what's your outlook now for Sperry on the year and Saucony? I think you kind of gave that on the last call.

最後一個問題是關於您的一些品牌的品牌前景。我想你說的是梅雷爾今年的高個位數。我不知道你是否已經提到過這個問題，但你現在對 Sperry 和 Saucony 的前景有何看法？我想你在上次通話中已經說過了。

I think we'll see some -- for Saucony, in Q4 better results for Saucony. It could -- so it will be an improved outlook for Saucony in Q4. We think EMEA will continue to perform for that brand. Merrell, we said high-single digit for the year. Sperry, we expect about for the complete year 3% or so growth, the low-single digit area, but around 3% growth for the year. And 2018 was a bit of a turnaround year for Sperry. We expect our performance to be certainly above that for 2019.

我認為我們會看到索康尼在第四季度取得更好的業績。這是可能的——所以索康尼第四季的前景將會有所改善。我們認為歐洲、中東和非洲地區將繼續為該品牌帶來表現。梅雷爾，我們說今年的高個位數。Sperry，我們預計全年成長率約為 3% 左右，雖然是低個位數區域，但全年成長率約為 3% 左右。2018 年對斯佩里來說是一個轉變的一年。我們預計我們的業績肯定會高於 2019 年。

Got it. All right, thanks guys. I appreciate it. Good luck.

知道了。好的，謝謝大家。我很感激。祝你好運。

Thank you, Mitch.

謝謝你，米奇。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the question-and-answer session. I like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Harris for any final remarks.

女士們、先生們，問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回哈里斯先生進行最後發言。

On behalf of Wolverine Worldwide, I'd like to thank you for joining us today. As a reminder, our conference call replay is available on our website at wolverineworldwide.com. The replay will be available until December 7, 2018. Thank you and good day.

我謹代表 Wolverine Worldwide 感謝您今天加入我們。請注意，我們的電話會議重播可在我們的網站 wolverineworldwide.com 上查看。重播將持續至 2018 年 12 月 7 日。謝謝你，美好的一天。

Thank you, sir. Today's conference has now concluded and we thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.

謝謝你，先生。今天的會議到此結束，感謝大家參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接並度過美好的一天。