Brett Linzey: Great. Very helpful. And then just on inventory levels, I know your channel dynamics are a little bit different than peers, but maybe you could just frame where you see inventories in some of those sort of channels. And specifically at machine builders inventory levels, I think are a bit elevated. But just curious what your assessment and characterization is for the near-term here?
Ram Krishnan: Yes. For our discrete business, our Discrete Automation business, I think inventory levels have certainly normalized in the channel. So, we see no dynamics around that. The Test & Measurement business at NI, there is still some elevated levels of inventory in our portfolio business-related channel partners’ distribution that should bleed out over the next quarter, which will be helpful for order rates in the portfolio business to turn. But net-net, we don’t see any major dynamics around channel inventory that would impact our orders momentum.
Brett Linzey: Got it. Thanks for the color.
Operator: The next question is from Julian Mitchell Barclays. Please go ahead.
Julian Mitchell: Hi, good morning.
Lal Karsanbhai: Good morning Julian.
Julian Mitchell: Good morning Lal. Maybe just wanted to start off with the Discrete Automation business. Ram you touched on the inventories at some of the customer levels just now being normal. So, when we think about your Discrete business is it in the third quarter sort of flattish sales down a little bit year-on-year and in the fourth quarter in Discrete you’re up year-on-year and sequentially? Is that the recovery slope?
Ram Krishnan: Yes sir. Yes, quarter-over-quarter flat in Q3, slightly positive in Q4 is kind of how we’re looking at orders. We saw a recovery in the fourth quarter, correct. And then for Test & Measurement, which is also exposed to the Discrete markets, but a different type of Discrete market exposure recovery into the first half of 2025, primarily because of the heavy play in semicon and a bigger portfolio of business in China. Two of those markets are seeing slower recovery than our broader Discrete Automation business within the core Emerson.
Julian Mitchell: That’s helpful. Thank you. And maybe just on the Aspen side of things, Lal, you’d mentioned the CFO change and reiterated there’s no big portfolio actions at Emerson this year. Maybe just characterize sort of with Aspen, in general, how you’re thinking about your discussions with them on their capital deployment plans. I’ve seen they’ve continued to do the share buybacks. And when you look a little bit further out beyond this year, the appetite on kind of software acquisitions, please?
Lal Karsanbhai: No, sure. No, first very — continue to be very excited about the partnership that we have with AspenTech. I do believe Julian, that together we have a highly differentiated tech stack that we bring to the customer base. And I think that’s been, highly substantiated by the synergy wins, the level of customer engagements that both Antonio and I have around the world. And we continue to believe in the premise that, one plus one equals three here. In terms of the CFO, rightfully I think you said it right, I’m excited from a perspective of the processes and structure that can be brought in. I think there will be a really good working relationship between Antonio and David Baker. And he brings a lot of the Emerson Management System into AspenTech with him, which we believe is important from an operating perspective.
And then lastly, look no, no comment on the go-forward. We’re going to operate the structure as is, keeping in mind Julian, that we’re only in the second year of this journey. And we believe that there’s value to be created out there in the structure. So, for now no change.
Julian Mitchell: Perfect. Thank you.
Lal Karsanbhai: Thank you, sir.
Operator: And the last question is from Andrew Obin of Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Q – David Ridley-Lane: This is David Ridley-Lane on for Andrew Obin. Just wanted to circle back, I know that there was some pull-forward of orders last quarter. How does that — if you kind of normalized your first quarter and second quarter for that, what did that trend look like? And just to put a little finer point on it, should we be expecting low single-digit orders growth in the third quarter before stepping up in the fourth?
Ram Krishnan: Yes. So, we were plus 4% in Q1, down 1% in Q2. So low single digits for the first half, greater than one book-to-bill. And then in the second half, you are right, low single digits in the third quarter and arguably the fourth quarter, which is at this point baked in better than the third quarter. Let’s, put it that way.
Q – David Ridley-Lane: Got it. And then on the sustainability and decarbonization project funnel, I know that’s nearly doubled over the last 18 months. Are these projects kind of getting closer and closer to final investment decisions, kind of like the carbon capture when you cited with Shell this quarter?
Ram Krishnan: Yes. I mean in certain segments like biofuels and carbon capture, the hydrogen projects which are large are probably slower movement through the funnel. But I think, we see considerable activity globally certainly, big in Europe, here in North America as well. But the pace of progression of these projects through the funnel is varied depending on the segment.
Q – David Ridley-Lane: Thanks very much.
Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to the management for any closing remarks.
Colleen Mettler: Thanks so much for joining the call today and we look forward to call backs later this afternoon.
Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.
