AECOM (ACM) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the AECOM Second Quarter 2023 Conference Call. I would like to inform all participants this call is being recorded at the request of AECOM. This broadcast is a copyrighted property of AECOM, any rebroadcast of this information in whole or part that the prior written permission of AECOM is prohibited. As a reminder, AECOM is also simulcasting this presentation with slides at the Investors section at www.aecom.com. (Operator Instructions).

早上好，歡迎來到 AECOM 2023 年第二季度電話會議。我想通知所有與會者，應 AECOM 的要求，此次通話正在錄音。此廣播是 AECOM 的版權財產，禁止在事先獲得 AECOM 書面許可的情況下全部或部分轉播此信息。提醒一下，AECOM 還在 www.aecom.com 的“投資者”部分用幻燈片同步播放此演示文稿。 （操作員說明）。

I would now like to turn the call over to Will Gabrielski, Senior Vice President, Finance, Treasury and Investor Relations.

我現在想把電話轉給財務、財政部和投資者關係高級副總裁 Will Gabrielski。

Thank you, operator. I would like to direct your attention to the safe harbor statement of page 1 of today's presentation. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements about future business and financial expectations. Actual results may differ significantly from those projected in today's forward-looking statements due to various risks and uncertainties, including the risks described in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements.

謝謝你，運營商。我想請您注意今天演示文稿第 1 頁的安全港聲明。今天的討論包含有關未來業務和財務預期的前瞻性陳述。由於各種風險和不確定性，包括我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的定期報告中描述的風險，實際結果可能與今天的前瞻性陳述中預測的結果大不相同。除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

We use certain non-GAAP financial measures in our presentation. The appropriate GAAP reconciliations are incorporated into our materials, which are posted to our website. Any references to segment margins or segment adjusted operating margins will reflect the performance for the Americas and International segments. When discussing revenue and revenue growth, we will refer to net service revenue, or NSR, which is defined as revenue excluding pass-through revenue. NSR and backlog growth rates are presented on a constant currency basis unless otherwise noted.

我們在演示文稿中使用某些非 GAAP 財務指標。適當的 GAAP 調節已納入我們的材料中，這些材料發佈在我們的網站上。對分部利潤率或分部調整後營業利潤率的任何提及都將反映美洲和國際分部的業績。在討論收入和收入增長時，我們將參考淨服務收入或 NSR，其定義為不包括傳遞收入的收入。除非另有說明，否則 NSR 和積壓增長率以固定貨幣為基礎呈現。

Beginning this quarter, results for AECOM Capital will be reported as noncore and will be excluded from current and comparable prior period adjusted results. Today's remarks will focus on continuing operations, excluding AECOM Capital. On today's call, Troy Rudd, our Chief Executive Officer, will review our key accomplishments, our strategy and our outlook for the business; Lara Poloni, our President, will discuss the key operational successes and priorities; and Gaurav Kapoor, our Chief Financial Officer, will review our financial performance and outlook in greater detail. We will conclude with a question-and-answer session.

從本季度開始，AECOM Capital 的業績將被報告為非核心業績，並將被排除在當前和可比較的前期調整後業績之外。今天的評論將集中在持續經營上，不包括 AECOM Capital。在今天的電話會議上，我們的首席執行官 Troy Rudd 將回顧我們的主要成就、我們的戰略和我們的業務前景；我們的總裁 Lara Poloni 將討論關鍵的運營成功和優先事項；我們的首席財務官 Gaurav Kapoor 將更詳細地審查我們的財務業績和前景。我們將以問答環節結束。

With that, I will turn the call over to Troy.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給特洛伊。

Thank you, Will, and thank you all for joining us today. The strength of our second quarter performance was underpinned by our competitive advantage, our technical leadership and our disciplined returns-focused capital allocation policy. Our leadership position was reaffirmed last month by ENR, where we were again recognized as the top-ranked transportation and facilities design firm. We also continue to hold the #1 rankings in environmental engineering and environmental science. These recognitions are well deserved, and I would like to thank all of our people for a strong first half of the year and for building a company that reflects our shared purpose of delivering a better world.

謝謝你，威爾，感謝大家今天加入我們。我們第二季度業績的強勁表現得益於我們的競爭優勢、我們的技術領先地位以及我們嚴格的以回報為中心的資本配置政策。上個月，ENR 重申了我們的領導地位，我們再次被公認為一流的交通和設施設計公司。我們還繼續保持環境工程和環境科學領域的第一名。這些認可是當之無愧的，我要感謝我們所有的員工在今年上半年的強勁表現，感謝他們建立了一家體現我們共同目標——創造更美好世界的公司。

Turning to our final performance. Our second quarter results were highlighted by 8% organic NSR growth in our design business, continued margin expansion, a new quarterly high for adjusted EBITDA and strong EPS growth. Importantly, our quarterly wins, backlog and pipeline of opportunities hit record levels, with proposals and bids submitted continuing to accelerate at a very strong rate. This is reflective of the competitive advantages we have created through investing in our teams, expanding our addressable market, and by focusing our time and capital on the highest returning organic growth opportunities.

轉向我們的最終表現。我們第二季度的業績突出體現在我們的設計業務 8% 的有機 NSR 增長、持續的利潤率擴張、調整後的 EBITDA 的季度新高以及強勁的每股收益增長。重要的是，我們的季度勝利、積壓和機會管道達到了創紀錄的水平，提交的提案和投標繼續以非常強勁的速度加速。這反映了我們通過投資於我們的團隊、擴大我們的目標市場以及將我們的時間和資本集中在回報率最高的有機增長機會上而創造的競爭優勢。

Our performance included a record quarter of wins and a 1.5 book-to-burn ratio in the design business, with strength across both the Americas and International segments. Our win rates are well ahead of both internal benchmarks and historical performance. We are winning more than half of every dollar we bid. And on large global bids in the first half of the year, we are winning at an even greater than 70% rate. This success has transformed the composition of our backlog. Today, 30% of wins are valued at greater than $25 million, more than double what it was just a few years ago. When combined with our higher margins, we have substantial visibility and even greater confidence in delivering on our long-term objectives.

我們的業績包括設計業務創紀錄的四分之一勝率和 1.5 的賬面銷毀比，在美洲和國際市場均表現強勁。我們的獲勝率遠遠領先於內部基準和歷史表現。我們每出價一美元就贏了一半以上。在今年上半年的大型全球投標中，我們的中標率甚至超過了 70%。這一成功改變了我們積壓工作的構成。今天，30% 的勝利價值超過 2500 萬美元，是幾年前的兩倍多。結合我們更高的利潤率，我們在實現長期目標方面擁有巨大的知名度和更大的信心。

Please turn to the next slide. Key to our success is the realization of several elements of our strategy. First, collaboration. We've instilled a culture of collaboration and technical excellence to ensure that we bring the best and brightest thinking to each and every pursuit. Having a truly diverse set of experiences and ideas to solve some of the most challenging infrastructure problems has been a key competitive differentiator. Second, expanding our addressable market. Organic investments in advisory and program management have elevated our engagement with clients and extended our opportunities.

請翻到下一張幻燈片。我們成功的關鍵是實現我們戰略的幾個要素。第一，協作。我們已經灌輸了一種協作和技術卓越的文化，以確保我們為每一個追求帶來最好和最聰明的想法。擁有真正多樣化的經驗和想法來解決一些最具挑戰性的基礎設施問題一直是一個關鍵的競爭優勢。第二，擴大我們的潛在市場。在諮詢和項目管理方面的有機投資提高了我們與客戶的互動並擴大了我們的機會。

Third, investing in our teams. We have made substantial investments in benefits programs, work-life flexibility, technical excellence and leadership development to enhance our employee value proposition. As a result, against a backdrop of rising demand and stagnant overall workforce growth, voluntary attrition rates are substantially ahead of our internal targets and key benchmarks for professional services companies.

第三，投資於我們的團隊。我們在福利計劃、工作與生活的靈活性、技術卓越和領導力發展方面進行了大量投資，以提升我們的員工價值主張。因此，在需求上升和整體勞動力增長停滯的背景下，自願離職率大大高於我們的內部目標和專業服務公司的主要基準。

Fourth, disciplined allocation of time and capital. Our first dollar of capital goes towards the highest returning organic growth opportunities. This has resulted in our record-high backlog and win rate and expanded earnings capacity of the business, and we are confident that additional award decisions in the second half of the year will further expand our visibility. Finally, superior value creation. After investing in organic growth, we deploy our strong cash flow to the next highest returning opportunities, which for us remains share repurchases and dividends. As a result, we have returned more than $1.6 billion of capital to shareholders since September 2020 and have repurchased more than 16% of shares outstanding at a highly attractive return.

第四，嚴格分配時間和資金。我們的第一筆資金用於回報率最高的有機增長機會。這導致我們的訂單積壓和中標率創歷史新高，並擴大了業務的盈利能力，我們相信，今年下半年的額外授標決定將進一步擴大我們的知名度。最後，卓越的價值創造。在投資於有機增長之後，我們將強勁的現金流用於下一個回報率最高的機會，對我們來說仍然是股票回購和股息。因此，自 2020 年 9 月以來，我們已向股東返還超過 16 億美元的資本，並以極具吸引力的回報回購了超過 16% 的已發行股票。

Please turn to the next slide. Looking ahead, the 3 secular mega trends benefiting the markets are accelerating. These include continued investment in global infrastructure, sustainability and resilience, and long-term supply chain and energy transitions. As these recent wins indicate, we are in a leading position to deliver as these trends gain momentum. Let me share a few examples.

請翻到下一張幻燈片。展望未來，有利於市場的三大長期大趨勢正在加速。其中包括對全球基礎設施、可持續性和復原力以及長期供應鍊和能源轉型的持續投資。正如最近的這些勝利所表明的那樣，隨著這些趨勢的發展，我們處於領先地位。讓我分享幾個例子。

First, in the areas of sustainability and resilience, we were recently selected to provide PFAS remedial investigation and feasibility studies for the U.S. Army National Guard. This win drew on our environmental and water expertise, multiple decades of PFAS-related client work and innovative solutions to address the long-term management of PFAS. We were also selected to deliver technical and program management services for a large wastewater treatment program in California. This win builds on several large water wins we've had in the Western United States over the past several quarters and reinforces our leading position ahead of accelerating investments to address long-term water security.

首先，在可持續性和彈性領域，我們最近被選中為美國陸軍國民警衛隊提供 PFAS 補救調查和可行性研究。此次勝利利用了我們的環境和水專業知識、數十年與 PFAS 相關的客戶工作以及解決 PFAS 長期管理的創新解決方案。我們還被選中為加利福尼亞州的一個大型廢水處理項目提供技術和項目管理服務。這一勝利建立在過去幾個季度我們在美國西部取得的幾項大型水資源勝利的基礎上，鞏固了我們在加速投資以解決長期水安全問題之前的領先地位。

Second, we continue to demonstrate our leadership in energy transitions and decarbonization. Most recently, the Office of Clean Energy and Demonstrations for the U.S. Department of Energy ordered us a contract that draws on the expertise of our environment and water teams in advancing competitive grants for new clean energy solutions under the IIJA. In addition, for the city of Rialto, we combined our sustainability and energy expertise to develop and design a comprehensive microgrid solution to enhance operational resiliency for the city's wastewater treatment plant.

其次，我們繼續展示我們在能源轉型和脫碳方面的領導地位。最近，美國能源部清潔能源和示範辦公室向我們訂購了一份合同，該合同利用我們環境和水資源團隊的專業知識，根據 IIJA 推進新清潔能源解決方案的競爭性贈款。此外，對於里亞托市，我們結合了可持續發展和能源專業知識，開發和設計了一個全面的微電網解決方案，以增強該市污水處理廠的運營彈性。

We're now leading the implementation of this project, while also aiding both the city and its water utility in procuring tax incentives available under the IIJA and WIFIA. This project is also a great example of our expanded addressable market, where we are able to play a more meaningful role in our clients' success by engaging earlier and providing multiple professional services.

我們現在正在領導該項目的實施，同時還幫助該市及其自來水公司獲得 IIJA 和 WIFIA 提供的稅收優惠。該項目也是我們擴大潛在市場的一個很好的例子，我們能夠通過更早的參與和提供多種專業服務，在客戶的成功中發揮更有意義的作用。

Finally, our world-class program management capabilities continue to create a competitive advantage as projects increase in size and complexity. Several wins in the quarter, such as the sizable California water project that I mentioned a moment ago, and a large international airport project are great representations of the power of combining our technical expertise with program management to create a higher value solutions for our clients. As a result, NSR in the program management business has grown at a strong double-digit annual pace over the last several years, and we continue to see opportunities for growth ahead.

最後，隨著項目規模和復雜性的增加，我們世界一流的項目管理能力繼續創造競爭優勢。本季度的幾項勝利，例如我剛才提到的大型加州供水項目，以及一個大型國際機場項目，都很好地體現了我們將技術專長與項目管理相結合，為我們的客戶創造更高價值的解決方案的能力。因此，項目管理業務中的 NSR 在過去幾年中以每年兩位數的速度強勁增長，我們繼續看到未來的增長機會。

Taken together, we are executing exceptionally well in our key priorities. I'm pleased with the discipline of our leadership to continue to deliver organic growth, invest in building our backlog, invest in our people and expand our competitive advantage, all while continuing to improve our margins. With a robust growth outlook across our core markets, we remain confident in delivering superior long-term value to our stakeholders.

總而言之，我們在關鍵優先事項上執行得非常好。我對我們領導層的紀律感到滿意，他們繼續實現有機增長，投資於積壓訂單，投資於我們的員工並擴大我們的競爭優勢，同時繼續提高我們的利潤率。憑藉我們核心市場的強勁增長前景，我們仍然有信心為我們的利益相關者提供卓越的長期價值。

With that, I will turn the call over to Lara.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給勞拉。

Thanks, Troy. Please turn to the next slide. The strength of our teams remains our greatest asset, and we are investing to extend our position as the best place to build a career in our industry. Starting to meet rising demand remains a key challenge for our industry. However, we are encouraged that our employee satisfaction and retention are strong, voluntary attrition is substantially ahead industry benchmarks and our internal targets, particularly among high performers. And from that, we are delivering unrivaled technical solutions to our clients.

謝謝，特洛伊。請翻到下一張幻燈片。我們團隊的力量仍然是我們最大的資產，我們正在投資以擴大我們作為在我們行業中建立職業生涯的最佳場所的地位。開始滿足不斷增長的需求仍然是我們行業面臨的主要挑戰。然而，令我們感到鼓舞的是，我們的員工滿意度和保留率很高，自願離職率大大領先於行業基準和我們的內部目標，尤其是在高績效人員中。由此，我們為客戶提供無與倫比的技術解決方案。

Importantly, from these investments, we are extending our competitive advantage at a time when growth across our markets is accelerating. In the U.S., IIJA funding is beginning to flow, including through new and existing formula grants. For instance, in the second quarter, we were awarded a contract for a major bridge replacement project on a key railway line in the Eastern U.S., where IIJA funding was a key contributor to the project advancing. Additionally, we are beginning to see positive indicators that funding for emerging contaminants, clean energy solutions and larger competitive grants is gaining momentum, which we expect will benefit our backlog later this year and into next year.

重要的是，通過這些投資，我們正在擴大我們的競爭優勢，而此時我們的市場正在加速增長。在美國，IIJA 資金開始流動，包括通過新的和現有的配方贈款。例如，在第二季度，我們獲得了美國東部一條主要鐵路線上的一個大型橋樑更換項目的合同，IIJA 的資金是該項目推進的主要貢獻者。此外，我們開始看到積極的跡象表明，為新興污染物、清潔能源解決方案和更大規模的競爭性贈款提供資金的勢頭正在增強，我們預計這將有利於我們今年晚些時候和明年的積壓工作。

Adding to this growing momentum is the overall health of our state and local clients where budgets remain strong, as well as the anticipated benefits from the Inflation Reduction and CHIPs Act, which create additional demand drivers. These initiatives will touch nearly every aspect of our business, from environmental permitting and citing, water, transmission and distribution and offshore wind. While there is funding pressure in certain commercial markets, we have repositioned our diverse business to focus on higher growth markets where public and private funding is more resilient.

增加這種增長勢頭的是我們預算保持強勁的州和地方客戶的整體健康狀況，以及通貨膨脹減少和 CHIPs 法案帶來的預期收益，這創造了額外的需求驅動因素。這些舉措將涉及我們業務的幾乎所有方面，從環境許可和引用、水、輸配電和海上風能。雖然某些商業市場存在資金壓力，但我們已重新定位我們的多元化業務，以專注於公共和私人資金更具彈性的更高增長市場。

In Canada, NSR and backlog growth are strong, and the federal government is executing on several infrastructure investments featured in its budget 2023. These investments are centered on transit and green energy, markets where we bring unrivaled expertise and experience. In fact, today, we are part of teams delivering 3/4 of the major transit projects currently underway.

在加拿大，NSR 和積壓訂單增長強勁，聯邦政府正在執行其 2023 年預算中的幾項基礎設施投資。這些投資集中在交通和綠色能源市場，我們在這些市場提供無與倫比的專業知識和經驗。事實上，今天，我們參與的團隊交付了目前正在進行的 3/4 的主要交通項目。

Trends are similarly strong in our international markets. In February, the EU announced its Green Deal industrial plan, with the goal of keeping pace with the U.S. and China in energy transition and achieving its net zero targets. These investments play to our strengths. In addition, ongoing investment to diversify the Saudi Arabian economy, combined with our leading presence on key programs, are contributing to continued growth in the region. And in Australia, we have won nearly every key large transportation project over the past year, and our growing pipeline continues to support our expectation for further growth in this market.

我們的國際市場趨勢同樣強勁。 2 月，歐盟宣布了其綠色協議工業計劃，目標是在能源轉型方面與美國和中國保持同步並實現其淨零目標。這些投資發揮了我們的優勢。此外，為使沙特阿拉伯經濟多元化而進行的持續投資，加上我們在關鍵項目上的領先地位，正在為該地區的持續增長做出貢獻。在澳大利亞，我們在過去一年中贏得了幾乎所有重要的大型運輸項目，我們不斷增長的管道繼續支持我們對該市場進一步增長的預期。

With market demand accelerating, we are focused on making investments to grow and extend the capacity of our workforce by leveraging the scale of our global capabilities as an advantage. A great example of this is how we are growing our enterprise capability centers. Through these centers, we are able to tap into a global network of the industry's most talented technical experts, and we are deploying leading digital solutions that create more efficient and consistent ways of delivering at scale. The return on these investments is evident in the growth being supported by these centers and in our margins.

隨著市場需求的加速增長，我們專注於通過利用我們全球能力的規模作為優勢進行投資，以發展和擴展我們的員工隊伍的能力。一個很好的例子就是我們如何發展我們的企業能力中心。通過這些中心，我們能夠利用由業內最有才華的技術專家組成的全球網絡，並且我們正在部署領先的數字解決方案，以創建更高效、更一致的大規模交付方式。這些投資的回報在這些中心支持的增長和我們的利潤中是顯而易見的。

Today, we are operating from a position of strength. We are making investments and being deliberately consistent and focused on our approach. As a result, we are delivering strong organic NSR growth, our backlog is growing at a faster rate and our pipeline is growing at an even faster rate than that, which is a great backdrop for continued momentum in the business.

今天，我們的運營處於有利地位。我們正在進行投資，並有意保持一致並專注於我們的方法。因此，我們正在實現強勁的有機 NSR 增長，我們的積壓訂單正在以更快的速度增長，我們的管道正在以比這更快的速度增長，這是業務持續增長的良好背景。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Gaur.

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給 Gaur。

Thanks, Lara. Please turn to the next slide. The strength of our second quarter and first half results reflected our highly profitable and high-returning organic growth model and a focus on shareholder value creation driven by our returns-based capital allocation policy. Against a very macro backdrop, we are executing against the factors we have in our control, whether it be winning at a record pace or delivering a record margin for a second quarter, we are producing results.

謝謝，勞拉。請翻到下一張幻燈片。我們第二季度和上半年的強勁業績反映了我們高利潤和高回報的有機增長模式，以及我們以回報為基礎的資本配置政策對股東價值創造的關注。在非常宏觀的背景下，我們正在根據我們控制的因素執行，無論是以創紀錄的速度獲勝還是在第二季度實現創紀錄的利潤率，我們正在取得成果。

This is clear in our strong NSR growth, record design wins and backlog, record adjusted EBITDA and double-digit adjusted EPS growth. In addition, our segment adjusted operating margin increased by 60 basis points ahead of our expectations for 40 basis points of improvement for the full year, and adjusted EBITDA increased by 14% on a constant currency basis.

這在我們強勁的 NSR 增長、創紀錄的設計勝利和積壓、創紀錄的調整後 EBITDA 和兩位數的調整後每股收益增長中顯而易見。此外，我們部門調整後的營業利潤率比我們預期的全年提高 40 個基點高出 60 個基點，調整後的 EBITDA 在固定匯率基礎上增長了 14%。

I want to comment on our decision to explore strategic options for the AECOM Capital business. AECOM Capital will continue to manage existing investments. As part of this process, over the next several years, we expect to realize cash inflow from these investments which will complement our capital allocation policy.

我想評論一下我們為 AECOM Capital 業務探索戰略選擇的決定。 AECOM Capital 將繼續管理現有投資。作為這一過程的一部分，在接下來的幾年裡，我們預計將從這些投資中獲得現金流入，這將補充我們的資本配置政策。

Please turn to the next slide. NSR growth in Americas was driven by 5% growth in the design business. The adjusted operating margin expanded by 100 basis points to 18.7%, which set a new second quarter high. This is even as we invest at an elevated rate in business development and in expanding our capacity to deliver our work against a strong demand backdrop. Importantly, these investments in organic growth continue to produce results with our design backlog up 12%, to an all-time high, including 10% growth in contracted backlog, which is also at record level.

請翻到下一張幻燈片。 NSR 在美洲的增長是由設計業務 5% 的增長推動的。調整後的營業利潤率擴大了 100 個基點，達到 18.7%，創下第二季度新高。即使我們以更高的速度投資於業務發展和擴大我們在強勁需求背景下交付工作的能力，也是如此。重要的是，這些對有機增長的投資繼續產生成果，我們的設計積壓增長了 12%，達到歷史最高水平，其中合同積壓增長了 10%，這也處於創紀錄水平。

These successes translated to a 1.5 book-to-burn ratio for design and our key leading indicators of growth.

這些成功轉化為 1.5 的設計銷毀率和我們的主要增長領先指標。

Please turn to the next slide. NSR growth in the International segment was 12%. Our book-to-burn ratio was 1.4 in the quarter, which included strength across our markets. As a result, our backlog and pipeline in each of our major geographies is at or near record high levels, which furthers our confidence in continued growth. We also continue to make excellent progress on margin improvement initiatives, with our International margins increasing 30 basis points to 8.6%. Improvement in our international margins has been a key driver of our enterprise-wide margin expansion and improved profitability, and we continue to expect to deliver a double-digit margin for this business based on the efficiency initiatives we have underway.

請翻到下一張幻燈片。國際業務的 NSR 增長率為 12%。本季度我們的賬面銷毀率為 1.4，其中包括我們整個市場的實力。因此，我們在每個主要地區的積壓和管道都處於或接近歷史最高水平，這進一步增強了我們對持續增長的信心。我們還在提高利潤率方面繼續取得出色進展，我們的國際利潤率增加了 30 個基點，達到 8.6%。我們國際利潤率的提高一直是我們整個企業利潤率擴張和盈利能力提高的關鍵驅動力，我們繼續期望根據我們正在進行的效率舉措為該業務帶來兩位數的利潤率。

Please turn to the next slide. Our balance sheet is in great shape. We have no bond maturities until 2027 and the vast majority of our debt is fixed or capped at highly attractive rate. Free cash flow in the first half of the year was $63 million, which allowed us to return more than $120 million to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends. The inherent attributes of our Professional Services business that contribute to consistently strong free cash flow remain intact. These advantages include a high-quality client base, highly variable cost model and record backlog and pipeline that affords us strong visibility to operate with certainty.

請翻到下一張幻燈片。我們的資產負債表狀況良好。我們在 2027 年之前沒有到期的債券，我們的絕大多數債務都是固定的或以極具吸引力的利率為上限。上半年的自由現金流為 6300 萬美元，這使我們能夠通過股票回購和派息向股東返還超過 1.2 億美元。我們專業服務業務的固有屬性有助於持續保持強勁的自由現金流。這些優勢包括高質量的客戶群、高度可變的成本模型以及記錄積壓和管道，為我們提供強大的可見性以確保運營。

With the growth we are delivering and the opportunities apparent in our markets, our capital allocation priorities will remain focused on accelerating investments in organic growth and operational efficiencies, followed by share repurchases and executing on double-digit increases in our quarterly dividend program.

隨著我們實現的增長和我們市場中明顯的機會，我們的資本分配優先事項將繼續專注於加速對有機增長和運營效率的投資，其次是股票回購和執行我們的季度股息計劃的兩位數增長。

Please turn to the next slide. Turning to our financial outlook. We affirm our guidance for all key fiscal 2023 financial metrics, highlighted by an expectation for 8% constant currency organic NSR growth and 10% constant currency adjusted EBITDA and EPS growth at the midpoint of their respective ranges. Due to our operational outperformance in the first half of the year, our guidance is consistent with our outlook from beginning of the year, despite reporting AECOM Capital as noncore and excluding from guidance.

請翻到下一張幻燈片。轉向我們的財務前景。我們確認我們對 2023 財年所有關鍵財務指標的指導，重點是預計 8% 的固定貨幣有機 NSR 增長和 10% 的固定貨幣調整後 EBITDA 和 EPS 增長在各自範圍的中點。由於我們上半年的運營表現出色，我們的指引與年初的展望一致，儘管將 AECOM Capital 報告為非核心資本並排除在指引之外。

We also continue to expect 40 basis points of margin expansion to a record annual high of 14.6%. Our ability to expand margins while investing in our teams and delivering top line growth is a testament to the competitive advantage we are creating. We have also affirmed our free cash flow guidance for this year, as well as our fiscal 2024 targets.

我們還繼續預計利潤率將擴大 40 個基點，達到創紀錄的年度高點 14.6%。我們在投資於我們的團隊和實現收入增長的同時擴大利潤的能力證明了我們正在創造的競爭優勢。我們還確認了今年的自由現金流指導以及 2024 財年的目標。

With that, operator, we are ready for questions.

有了這個，接線員，我們準備好提問了。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question today goes to Sean Eastman of KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題是 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Sean Eastman。

Just starting high level, we've got elevated organic investments being highlighted, elevated bid proposals, elevated revenue growth and margin expansion. I'm just wondering how we should think about the sustainability of AECOM being able to continue to deliver on all of those metrics at the same time?

剛從高水平開始，我們就突出了有機投資的增加、投標提案的增加、收入增長的增加和利潤率的擴張。我只是想知道我們應該如何考慮 AECOM 能夠繼續同時提供所有這些指標的可持續性？

Great. Sean, thanks for the question. So you actually were kind enough to point something out that I thought was important that we actually talked about in the call, which is this is sustained ability to do all of those things. A lot of businesses, when you're pursuing organic growth, have that trade-off between organic growth and margins. And this quarter, again, we saw an improvement in organic growth. We saw an improvement in our margins. We continue to invest in the business and people, and that's paid off in significantly growing backlog.

偉大的。肖恩，謝謝你的提問。所以你真的很友好地指出了一些我認為很重要的事情，我們實際上在電話中談到過，這是做所有這些事情的持續能力。許多企業在追求有機增長時，都會在有機增長和利潤率之間進行權衡。本季度，我們再次看到有機增長有所改善。我們看到利潤率有所提高。我們繼續投資於業務和人員，這在顯著增加的積壓訂單中得到了回報。

And in fact, in that backlog, the one thing that we call out that you don't see in the number is that the quality of the backlog continues to improve. And when I say quality, it means that it's got better margins in it. It's got longer-term visibility in it. And those larger projects that we win, they usually come with significant change orders on top of that, which is effectively like winning work without having bid costs. And we've been doing that for the last 3 years. We've consistently been doing all of those things, balancing that trade-off and ending up with organic growth consistently over the last 3 years, improving margins over the last 3 years to get to the top of our industry, and continuing to grow our backlog and improve the quality of it. And in all of that time, investing ultimately in the future of the business.

事實上，在積壓工作中，我們指出的一件事是您在數字中看不到的，那就是積壓工作的質量在不斷提高。當我說質量時，這意味著它有更好的利潤。它具有更長期的可見性。而我們贏得的那些更大的項目，它們通常伴隨著重大的變更單，這實際上就像在沒有投標成本的情況下贏得工作一樣。在過去的 3 年裡，我們一直在這樣做。我們一直在做所有這些事情，在過去 3 年中平衡這種權衡並最終實現有機增長，在過去 3 年中提高利潤率以達到行業領先地位，並繼續發展我們的業務積壓並提高它的質量。在那段時間裡，最終投資於企業的未來。

So I will say we're very proud of that. Based on history, we think we'll keep that going. And what we think drives that is, frankly, just the disciplined approach of the management team in how we continue to make investments and how we're always focused on the highest returning opportunities.

所以我會說我們為此感到非常自豪。根據歷史，我們認為我們會繼續這樣做。坦率地說，我們認為推動的只是管理團隊在我們如何繼續進行投資以及我們如何始終專注於最高回報機會方面的紀律方法。

All right, helpful, Troy. And then of course, we're looking at this fiscal '24 target. Obviously, it implies a very healthy earnings growth acceleration. Maybe specifically, what gives you guys the confidence to be standing by that number at this point in the year?

好的，有幫助，特洛伊。然後，當然，我們正在研究這個 24 財年的目標。顯然，這意味著非常健康的盈利增長加速。也許具體來說，是什麼讓你們有信心在今年的這個時候堅持這個數字？

Yes. Sean, I'll let Gaur take that question.

是的。肖恩，我會讓 Gaur 回答這個問題。

I'm going to borrow something that Troy just articulated, which is we're confident because of the competitive edge platform, as Troy articulated, we have built to deliver not just quarter over quarter, year-over-year, but into the long term. And it's something you've heard me say before, it's a dynamic model, right? It was built on 3 key underlying growth pillars. One is organic growth, which we're delivering better than what we had planned 3 years ago; our margins, which are a little ahead of what we had built into our plan again; and our capital allocation policy. We've continued very disciplined and focused, and we will continue to do so on repurchases, while at the same time, we have initiated our dividend program, which we expect and have grown by double digit every year into the long term.

我要藉用 Troy 剛剛闡述的東西，這是我們有信心，因為競爭優勢平台，正如 Troy 所闡述的那樣，我們建立的不僅是季度環比、年環比，而且是長期的學期。這是你之前聽我說過的話，它是一個動態模型，對吧？它建立在 3 個關鍵的潛在增長支柱之上。一是有機增長，我們比 3 年前計劃的要好；我們的利潤率，比我們再次納入計劃的利潤率略高；以及我們的資本配置政策。我們一直非常自律和專注，我們將繼續在回購方面這樣做，與此同時，我們啟動了我們的股息計劃，我們預計該計劃每年都會以兩位數的速度增長到長期。

So everything that we have in our control, we're overdelivering. Clearly, there are some things that are not in our control, FX and interest, but we're going to focus and continue to over-deliver on what we do control. And that's why we're very confident as we move forward, that we have built a platform with a competitive edge that will continue to over-deliver as we move forward.

因此，我們控制的一切都在超額交付。顯然，有些事情不在我們的控制範圍內，外彙和利益，但我們將專注於並繼續超額交付我們控制的事情。這就是為什麼我們在前進的過程中非常有信心，我們已經建立了一個具有競爭優勢的平台，隨著我們的前進，它將繼續超額交付。

And Sean, I'll just add one thing to that, too, as I mentioned this again, is the composition of our backlog. The fact that our design backlog grew at 12% and has been consistently growing over the last 3 years, gives us great visibility in the future. But more importantly, is, again, the quality of that backlog. If we look at the makeup of that backlog, 30% of our wins are now over $25 million. And if you go back a number of years ago, wins over that size were about 12%. And so that's a significant difference in the composition of the backlog.

肖恩，正如我再次提到的那樣，我還要補充一件事，那就是我們積壓工作的構成。事實上，我們的設計積壓增長了 12%，並且在過去 3 年中一直在持續增長，這讓我們對未來有了很大的了解。但更重要的是，積壓的質量。如果我們查看積壓訂單的構成，我們現在有 30% 的訂單價值超過 2500 萬美元。如果你回到幾年前，超過這個規模的獲勝率約為 12%。因此，積壓工作的構成存在顯著差異。

Again, as I said, those types of larger opportunities and our very high win rate, I made this in the prepared comments that on those large wins, what we consider enterprise-critical pursuits, we're winning over 70% of those in the first half of the year. So it's really the nature of the quality of the backlog and the growth in the backlog that we build our confidence around that Gaur described.

再次，正如我所說，那些更大的機會和我們非常高的贏率，我在準備好的評論中指出，在那些大的勝利中，我們認為對企業至關重要的追求，我們贏得了 70% 以上的機會今年上半年。因此，我們對 Gaur 所描述的內容建立了信心，這實際上是積壓工作質量的本質和積壓工作的增長。

Maybe just on that last point, Troy. Are you trying to say that based on the composition of the wins, perhaps there's more visibility in the backlog than, say, normal?

也許就在最後一點，特洛伊。你是不是想說，根據勝利的構成，積壓工作中的可見性可能比正常情況下更高？

I would say, there's been maybe not normal, but certainly more than the past. Absolutely.

我會說，過去可能不正常，但肯定比過去更多。絕對地。

The next question goes to Michael Feniger of Bank of America.

下一個問題交給美國銀行的 Michael Feniger。

Troy, on the infrastructure funding and some of the momentum you're seeing in areas like water, transportation, energy, do you expect the funding to be higher in '24 versus 23, and maybe even in '25 versus 24? Just curious what you're seeing there on the pipeline in terms of what you're hearing on the momentum there on the funding starting to trickle through?

特洛伊，關於基礎設施資金和你在水、交通、能源等領域看到的一些勢頭，你是否預計 24 年的資金比 23 年更高，甚至可能在 25 年比 24 年更高？只是好奇你在管道上看到了什麼，就你聽到的資金開始流入的勢頭而言？

Yes. The answer is yes. We absolutely see funding building this year, certainly year-over-year. And then as we move forward, we certainly see a peak infrastructure fund in the U.S. certainly supported by IIJA and a number of other bills. We see that peak funding probably coming in '27. Again, it can't be too accurate with that, but that's sort of where we see the peak funding is probably around the 27 years. So again, I think that there's a lot of funding lining up behind that.

是的。答案是肯定的。我們絕對會看到今年的資金增加，當然是同比增加。然後隨著我們的前進，我們肯定會看到美國的峰值基礎設施基金肯定得到 IIJA 和許多其他法案的支持。我們看到資金高峰可能會在 27 年到來。同樣，它不能太準確，但這就是我們看到的峰值資金可能在 27 年左右的地方。因此，我再次認為這背後有大量資金在等待。

But again, I also make the point that it's not just in the U.S. The U.S. certainly is a great market and our largest. But we're seeing, again, funding building up around the world to be invested in infrastructure. And it just gets to the funding that's necessary for, again, governments and private companies to take advantage of what are these megatrends. And again, there's just a need for infrastructure. There certainly is a significant desire to invest in sustainability and resilience in communities, and that means an infrastructure.

但同樣，我還要指出，這不僅僅是在美國。美國當然是一個偉大的市場，也是我們最大的市場。但我們再次看到，世界各地的資金正在積累，用於基礎設施投資。它只是獲得政府和私營公司利用這些大趨勢所必需的資金。同樣，只需要基礎設施。當然，人們非常希望投資於社區的可持續性和復原力，這意味著基礎設施。

And then there is these large long-term transitions going on. And the largest one that we see is around energy. And I don't think the energy -- the peak funding for energy is certainly going to be in '26 or '27 or '28. I think that you're talking about a multi-decade investment trend around an energy transition around the world. So I think we just are lining up with some really great long-term funding opportunities. There's always going to be pauses along the way, and that's sort of natural and the way the world works. But in the long term, that funding seems to be lining up to be focused on those sort of 3 -- invest in those 3 mega trends.

然後是這些大型的長期過渡。我們看到的最大的一個是關於能源的。而且我不認為能源——能源的峰值資金肯定會在 26 年或 27 年或 28 年出現。我認為您正在談論圍繞全球能源轉型的數十年投資趨勢。所以我認為我們只是在等待一些非常好的長期融資機會。一路上總會有停頓，這很自然，也是世界運轉的方式。但從長遠來看，這些資金似乎正在排隊專注於這 3 種——投資於這 3 種大趨勢。

And Troy, just on the other side, some investors worry that you do have exposure to private. On the private side, there's a lot of discussion around commercial real estate and offices. Can you just kind of parse through your private exposure, what do you see as more at risk? What is more resilient type of work that you do for private customers? Just so we can kind of get a sense of when we look at that pie chart, what is more cyclical if we see more slowdown or tightening credit versus some other areas of your portfolio on the private side?

而特洛伊，就在另一方面，一些投資者擔心你確實有私人風險。在私人方面，圍繞商業地產和辦公室有很多討論。你能不能通過你的私人曝光來分析一下，你認為風險更大的是什麼？您為私人客戶所做的更有彈性的工作類型是什麼？這樣一來，當我們查看該餅圖時，我們可以大致了解一下，如果我們看到更多的放緩或信貸緊縮與私人投資組合的其他一些領域相比，哪個更具週期性？

Yes. I'm going to -- again, I'll pass it on over to Lara.

是的。我要——再一次，我會把它傳遞給 Lara。

Yes. Thanks, Mike. Look, we -- over the last 3 years, in particular, have been actually diversifying away from commercial office and pivoting away to markets with more stable funding. So a good example of that is utilizing the great skills that we have in our building engineering business and redeploying that into the opportunities in logistics, freight, distribution, aviation and even water and energy utilities. And the fact is we have halved the exposure of commercial real estate in our portfolio just over the last 5 years, which certainly makes that point in terms of that being very deliberate and disciplined action that we took well ahead of time.

是的。謝謝，邁克。看，我們 - 特別是在過去 3 年中，實際上一直在從商業辦公室轉向多元化，轉向資金更穩定的市場。因此，一個很好的例子就是利用我們在建築工程業務中擁有的出色技能，並將其重新部署到物流、貨運、分銷、航空甚至水和能源公用事業的機會中。事實上，在過去的 5 年裡，我們已經將投資組合中商業房地產的敞口減半，這肯定說明了這一點，因為我們提前採取了非常慎重和紀律嚴明的行動。

And just if I could squeeze one more in, just the AECOM Capital position. I think -- I assume you guys have done all the heavy lifting, and then we saw this decision. Are there still levers for you to pull as you guys have transformed this company to Professional Services? Are there still countries to exit or areas that you would kind of deemphasize over others? It's kind of interesting you have your exposure in commercial real estate. Just thinking after this AECOM Capital decision, are there other things that we could kind of expect as you streamline the business further?

如果我能再擠進一個，那就是 AECOM Capital 的頭寸。我想 - 我假設你們已經完成了所有繁重的工作，然後我們看到了這個決定。在你們將這家公司轉變為專業服務的過程中，您是否還有槓桿可以利用？是否還有可以退出的國家或您會淡化其他領域的領域？您在商業房地產領域有涉足，這很有趣。想想在 AECOM Capital 做出這個決定之後，隨著你們進一步精簡業務，我們還有什麼可以期待的嗎？

First, I'm -- just talk a little bit about AECOM Capital. We recognized a long time ago that AECOM Capital was not core to our Professional Services business. But the reality is that we had a number of commitments that were made sort of [pre] 2018, and we had to make sure that we continue to deliver on the commitments that had been made on behalf of AECOM Capital. And so we've gotten to a point where we're comfortable that we've delivered or are delivering on those commitments. And so at that point in time, we made the decision that we should be evaluating the options for that team.

首先，我 - 稍微談談 AECOM Capital。我們很久以前就認識到 AECOM Capital 不是我們專業服務業務的核心。但現實情況是，我們在 2018 年之前做出了一些承諾，我們必須確保繼續履行代表 AECOM Capital 做出的承諾。因此，我們已經到了讓我們感到滿意的地步，我們已經交付或正在交付這些承諾。所以在那個時候，我們做出了我們應該評估該團隊的選擇的決定。

And so if you think about sort of the things that we've done over the last 3 years, this was something that we had anticipated. But we realized that, again, sometimes you sort of have to be patient and work through things, and we've done that with respect to AECOM Capital. So -- and the other important part about income capital is, as we do exit it, we did have something in our guidance for it. And so we have removed AECOM Capital from our guidance, and it just is a testament to the continued strength of our Professional Services business, and we haven't adjusted guidance for that.

因此，如果您考慮一下我們在過去 3 年中所做的一些事情，就會發現這是我們預料到的事情。但我們再次意識到，有時候你必須要有耐心並努力解決問題，而我們已經在 AECOM Capital 方面做到了這一點。所以 - 關於收入資本的另一個重要部分是，當我們退出它時，我們確實在我們的指導中有一些東西。因此，我們已將 AECOM Capital 從我們的指導中刪除，這證明了我們專業服務業務的持續實力，我們沒有為此調整指導。

With respect to the things that we'll do across the business, we are always looking at opportunities to continue to invest in the business, but more importantly to make sure that we run it in a disciplined and an efficient way. At this point, there's nothing that I'll call out that we're going to be doing. But as always, we're constantly looking for opportunities to make sure that our Professional Service business maintains as the highest margin business in our industry and one that continues to go organically. So we'll continue to do that, but there's nothing to call out at this point that would be on our agenda.

關於我們將在整個業務中做的事情，我們一直在尋找機會繼續投資業務，但更重要的是確保我們以有紀律和高效的方式運營它。在這一點上，我不會說我們將要做什麼。但一如既往，我們一直在尋找機會，以確保我們的專業服務業務保持行業中利潤率最高的業務，並繼續有機發展。所以我們會繼續這樣做，但目前我們的議程上沒有什麼可呼籲的。

The next question goes to Jamie Cook of Credit Suisse.

下一個問題交給瑞士信貸的傑米庫克。

I guess my first question, with half of the year sort of already behind us, can you sort of talk to -- I understand you didn't change your guide, but do you feel more comfortable with sort of the high end or the low end or the levers to sort of get you there? And then, Troy, I guess my other question, I find it interesting as you're talking about pivoting to higher-margin return businesses and margins in backlog are higher, I'm wondering if you could just drill down on that a little more, if you want to quantify where margins are in backlog relative to history or what parts of the businesses are seeing higher margin opportunities?

我想我的第一個問題，半年已經過去了，你能不能談談——我知道你沒有改變你的指南，但你覺得高端還是低端更舒服結束或讓你到達那裡的槓桿？然後，特洛伊，我想我的另一個問題，我覺得這很有趣，因為你正在談論轉向利潤率更高的回報業務並且積壓的利潤率更高，我想知道你是否可以再深入一點，如果您想量化相對於歷史積壓的利潤率，或者業務的哪些部分看到了更高的利潤率機會？

Yes. Sorry, I'll let Gaur will take the first part, and I'll take the second part, Jamie, thanks for your question.

是的。抱歉，我讓 Gaur 來做第一部分，我來做第二部分，Jamie，謝謝你的提問。

Yes. In regards to FY '23, you're right, our business Professional Services has been strong and they have over delivered. And to the point Troy just made earlier, even though we have removed AECOM Capital from our guidance and put it into noncore, there's no change in the range that we have provided. Effectively, it's factoring in the over-performance of that business. And the other thing I would say as we look forward to second half of the year is one thing last few years have taught is to be prudently conservative, and we will continue to operate accordingly in FY '23 as well.

是的。關於 23 財年，您是對的，我們的業務專業服務一直很強大，而且已經超額交付。就特洛伊剛才提出的觀點而言，即使我們已將 AECOM Capital 從我們的指導中刪除並將其放入非核心，但我們提供的範圍沒有變化。實際上，它正在考慮該業務的超額業績。在我們期待今年下半年的時候，我要說的另一件事是，過去幾年教會我們要謹慎保守，我們也將在 23 財年繼續相應地運營。

And Jamie, with respect to the margins that I described, if we go back about 3 years, we've actually seen the margins in our backlog increase in sort of the 30% to 40% range. And so there's been a substantial improvement. And I'll just say that, that trajectory continues to improve. So we continue to see margin improvement. It may not be at exactly that same rate, but we certainly see margin improvement as we go forward. And again, I think a really important part of the quality of the backlog is the nature of the projects and the duration of the projects and the complexity of those projects. Because what we've learned in the past is that those are the ones that typically have more change in them as you go through those projects and they result in larger change orders.

傑米，關於我描述的利潤率，如果我們回到大約 3 年前，我們實際上已經看到積壓訂單的利潤率增加了 30% 到 40% 的範圍。因此有了實質性的改進。我只是說，這條軌跡將繼續改善。因此，我們繼續看到利潤率有所改善。它可能不會以完全相同的速度，但我們肯定會看到利潤率在我們前進的過程中有所改善。再一次，我認為積壓質量的一個非常重要的部分是項目的性質和項目的持續時間以及這些項目的複雜性。因為我們過去了解到的是，當您完成這些項目時，這些項目通常會發生更多變化，並且會導致更大的變更單。

And as I said, that actually contributes to margins in the future, because it's effectively work that you win without having to incur the business development costs or the time and after to go through a competitive process. So again, we feel better as we start to change the quality of our backlog, which means margins improve over time.

正如我所說，這實際上有助於提高未來的利潤率，因為它是有效的工作，你可以在不必承擔業務開發成本或時間和之後通過競爭過程的情況下獲勝。因此，當我們開始改變積壓訂單的質量時，我們再次感覺更好，這意味著利潤率會隨著時間的推移而提高。

The next question goes to Andy Kaplowitz of Citigroup.

下一個問題交給花旗集團的安迪卡普洛維茨。

Troy and Lara, you continue to have strong growth in your International markets, low teens. Maybe you can talk about the momentum in the overall markets? And is it a function of just the larger program management wins really driving that growth and the sustainability of that growth as you go out over the next couple of years?

Troy 和 Lara，你們在國際市場上繼續保持強勁增長，青少年。也許你可以談談整體市場的勢頭？在接下來的幾年裡，是否只是更大的項目管理勝利真正推動了這種增長和這種增長的可持續性？

Yes, Andy. I'm happy to take that as a start. I think we have continued confidence in the -- particularly the infrastructure outlook for the International business. I think Troy mentioned earlier, there is a strong policy level commitment to infrastructure, whether it's the EU Green Deal industrial plan, the [Canadian $20] billion investment outside of the Americas. And then in Australia, a decade-long infrastructure outlook. And that's a great example of that. And we've been winning every significant large infrastructure transportation pursuit over the past year, and we see that robust outlook continuing in Australia.

是的，安迪。我很高興以此作為開始。我認為我們對 - 特別是國際業務的基礎設施前景充滿信心。我認為特洛伊之前提到過，無論是歐盟綠色協議工業計劃，還是美洲以外的 [加拿大 200 億美元] 投資，都有對基礎設施的強有力的政策層面承諾。然後在澳大利亞，長達十年的基礎設施前景。這是一個很好的例子。在過去的一年裡，我們一直在贏得每一個重要的大型基礎設施運輸項目，我們看到澳大利亞的強勁前景仍在繼續。

Then when we turn to the Middle East, again, very strong double-digit growth around the giga projects. So I think from a -- at policy level and the sort of outlook that we are projecting, we see continued confidence and opportunity for improvement and sustaining that performance in the International segment of our business.

然後，當我們再次轉向中東時，圍繞千兆項目的兩位數增長非常強勁。因此，我認為，從政策層面和我們預測的前景來看，我們看到了持續的信心和機會，可以改善和維持我們業務國際部門的業績。

And I'll just add to that with respect to your question about program management. Program management absolutely is contributing to our success, to our win rates for larger programs and projects, and certainly it's giving us more bats than we typically had in the past at those large long-term programs. So that's increasing the scope of the opportunities that we're pursuing. But again, also with the high win rate we're describing, we're having great -- that great success across the board, including program management. So that was an important decision we made a few years ago was to make sure that we focused on program management as well as design and advisory in terms of the capabilities of a professional services firm.

關於你關於項目管理的問題，我將補充一點。項目管理絕對有助於我們的成功，提高我們在大型項目和項目中的獲勝率，當然，它給了我們比過去在那些大型長期項目中通常擁有的更多的機會。所以這增加了我們追求的機會的範圍。但同樣，由於我們所描述的高贏率，我們取得了巨大的成功——包括項目管理在內的全面成功。因此，我們幾年前做出的一個重要決定是確保我們專注於項目管理以及專業服務公司能力方面的設計和諮詢。

And Troy, like obviously, a good follow-up would be your margins in International are still in the mid-8s. I mean they're obviously a lot better than they used to be. But maybe the backlog visibility to get to that double-digit margin, because I think you've said in the past that you expect to be there next year as part of the [$475 million]. So do you have that visibility as we sit here today to do that?

和特洛伊一樣，很明顯，一個很好的後續行動是你在國際比賽中的利潤率仍然在 8s 中期。我的意思是他們顯然比以前好多了。但也許積壓可見性可以達到兩位數的利潤率，因為我想你過去曾說過，你希望明年作為 [4.75 億美元] 的一部分出現。那麼，當我們今天坐在這裡這樣做時，您是否有這樣的知名度？

Andy, this is Gaur. I'll take that question. Simple answer is absolutely. We have the visibility to do that and full confidence to do it. Again, I'm going to borrow from what Troy said opening the call, that confidence is built into this competitive edge platform we've built. And when we talk specific to International, I think it's also a key thing to remind everybody, our results, which is the way we will always report, it still includes FX headwind year-over-year. So if you factor that in, we're delivering over 9% for the first half of the year. But irregardless, again, whatever the headwinds are, our job is to deliver to our commitments. And including the headwinds, we're fully confident that we're going to deliver double digits starting next year.

安迪，這是 Gaur。我會回答這個問題。簡單的回答是絕對的。我們有這樣做的知名度和充分的信心來做到這一點。再一次，我要藉用特洛伊在電話會議上所說的話，這種信心是建立在我們建立的這個競爭優勢平台上的。當我們具體談到國際時，我認為提醒大家我們的結果也是一件關鍵的事情，這是我們將始終報告的方式，它仍然包括同比外匯逆風。因此，如果你考慮到這一點，我們今年上半年的交付率將超過 9%。但無論如何，無論逆風如何，我們的工作都是兌現我們的承諾。包括不利因素在內，我們完全有信心從明年開始實現兩位數的增長。

Yes. And Andy, just to build on what Gaur said, I mean Troy mentioned the point earlier, 30% increase in projects worth more than $25 million gives us a longer-term confidence in terms of the profile of the work. And I think just to comment about program management, again, they are longer-term multiyear programs. And I think also in the U.K., I mean we look at the very deliberate action a few years ago to get on to long-term frameworks. All of those strategic and very deliberate actions, I think, give us confidence about the longer-term outlook.

是的。安迪，只是為了建立 Gaur 所說的，我的意思是特洛伊早些時候提到了這一點，價值超過 2500 萬美元的項目增加了 30%，這讓我們對工作的概況有了更長期的信心。我想再次評論一下項目管理，它們是長期的多年期項目。而且我認為在英國也是如此，我的意思是我們正在研究幾年前為製定長期框架而採取的非常慎重的行動。我認為，所有這些戰略性的和非常慎重的行動讓我們對長期前景充滿信心。

The next question goes to Steven Fisher of UBS.

下一個問題交給瑞銀的史蒂文費舍爾。

So just on organic growth, it's been running at around -- organic growth has been running around 7% to 8% for a few quarters now. You've been talking about a lot of the big project and very good win rates. So can organic growth break out from this kind of 7%, 8%, 9% from here? And what would cause it to break out? And do you need it to break out in order to kind of hit your 2024 targets? And I'm thinking about can you get to double-digit levels?

因此，就有機增長而言，它一直在運行——有機增長已經在幾個季度內保持在 7% 到 8% 左右。你一直在談論很多大項目和非常好的贏率。那麼有機增長能否從這裡突破這種7%、8%、9%呢？什麼會導致它爆發？你需要它爆發才能實現你的 2024 年目標嗎？我在想你能達到兩位數的水平嗎？

Yes. So Steve, I guess the answer is we don't need it to break out to do that because, again, there's constant trade-off, which is growth versus margins. And so as we look forward, we're going to constantly be trying to find that right balance. Because even with the work that you win, you have to be selective to take on work that's going to have the right margins, because you can go out into the market and you can certainly find folks to work on it, but if you're not disciplined about your cost structure to run the business, you can find yourself having breakout growth, but not having break out margins.

是的。所以史蒂夫，我想答案是我們不需要它突破來做到這一點，因為再次存在不斷的權衡，即增長與利潤率。因此，當我們展望未來時，我們將不斷努力尋找正確的平衡點。因為即使你贏得了工作，你也必須有選擇地接受有合適利潤率的工作，因為你可以進入市場，你當然可以找到人來做這件事，但如果你沒有嚴格控制經營業務的成本結構，您會發現自己實現了突破性增長，但沒有突破性的利潤率。

And so we're trying to constantly just have that discipline to find that right balance in how we're doing that. And again, as I said, that's been a real focus of us, is trying not to trade off growth for margins but to actually deliver both at the same time, invest in the future of the business. So I think we're sort of on track with where we expect it to be. Could we see that continue to improve? It's possible, but we're going to be focused on that trade-off and making sure that we're finding the right balance to deliver on improving the profit at a rate that exceeds our growth rate.

因此，我們一直在努力保持紀律，以在我們的工作方式中找到正確的平衡。再一次，正如我所說，這一直是我們真正關注的焦點，試圖不以增長換取利潤，而是同時實現兩者，投資於業務的未來。所以我認為我們有點走上了我們期望的軌道。我們能看到這種情況繼續改善嗎？這是可能的，但我們將專注於這種權衡，並確保我們找到合適的平衡點，以超過我們增長率的速度提高利潤。

Okay. That's helpful. And then just wanted to follow up on Michael Feniger question on private markets. You mentioned, Lara, the point about diversifying. I guess how variable are the trends within those private markets? Can you talk about the trends you're seeing in hospitals or stadiums within that hunt business, and just other buildings and how that's varying around the world in your private markets?

好的。這很有幫助。然後只想跟進 Michael Feniger 關於私人市場的問題。 Lara，你提到了多元化的觀點。我想這些私人市場的趨勢變化有多大？你能談談你在醫院或體育場內看到的狩獵行業的趨勢，以及其他建築，以及你在世界各地的私人市場有何不同？

Yes. So Steve, there are always markets that are going to be a little bit slower to slowing down. And I think everyone, right, was asking us about commercial office because we certainly are seeing urban centers, commercial office slow, and slow might actually be understating it in certain respects. However, we've been repositioning our business for the last number of years to recognize that there are also trends, certainly in facilities, where those same talents are needed. And so there are a lot of places, even within our other business lines.

是的。所以史蒂夫，總有一些市場會放緩一點。而且我認為每個人都在問我們關於商業辦公室的問題，因為我們確實看到城市中心、商業辦公室緩慢，而緩慢實際上可能在某些方面低估了它。然而，過去幾年我們一直在重新定位我們的業務，以認識到也存在趨勢，當然在設施方面，也需要同樣的人才。所以有很多地方，甚至在我們的其他業務線中。

So within transportation and within water, the talents of those people that have been focused on facilities; or even in our construction management business, are diversified away to deliver on those other kinds of projects. So for example, construction management, you've seen us have great success in aviation, and we're also having great success in a number of other government types of building projects in cities. So there certainly is ample opportunity, and we described that by our CM backlog. Actually, the pipeline has actually been improving. But certainly, the nature of it has been changing dramatically.

因此，在交通和水務方面，那些專注於設施的人才；甚至在我們的建築管理業務中，也進行了多元化，以交付其他類型的項目。因此，例如，建築管理，您已經看到我們在航空領域取得了巨大成功，我們在城市中的許多其他政府類型的建築項目中也取得了巨大成功。所以肯定有充足的機會，我們通過我們的 CM 積壓來描述這一點。實際上，管道實際上一直在改進。但可以肯定的是，它的性質已經發生了巨大的變化。

And in terms of our -- again, our buildings and places business program management and design capability, those people have been focused on doing other things by participating in public sector work or working on other private sector clients. And again, those trends we are seeing, and certainly the buildings industry, is moving towards aviation, it's moving towards residential sports and convention centers and public offices. And then there's still a lot of work, again, in transportation and water that we're doing.

就我們而言——再次，我們的建築和地方業務項目管理和設計能力，這些人一直專注於通過參與公共部門工作或為其他私營部門客戶工作來做其他事情。再一次，我們看到的那些趨勢，當然還有建築業，正在向航空業發展，它正在向住宅體育和會議中心以及公共辦公室發展。然後還有很多工作，再次，我們正在做的運輸和水。

The next question goes to Michael Dudas of Vertical Research.

下一個問題是 Vertical Research 的 Michael Dudas。

So as you look in your organic investment, as you continue to invest while growing the top line and growing the margins, what areas, whether it's markets, regions or technologies, are you looking to invest in today that's going to benefit 3 to 5 years out?

因此，當你審視你的有機投資時，當你在增加收入和利潤率的同時繼續投資時，你希望在今天投資哪些領域，無論是市場、地區還是技術，這將在 3 到 5 年內受益出去？

Yes. So I don't -- so Mike, I don't think anything has changed from what we've been investing in. I think it's just a matter of us continuing to invest. And as we make those investments, you sort of -- what you've done becomes building blocks for the future. So first of all, it's investing in our people and teams. The base of the business is having the best people in the industry and investing in those people and in their development, where there's leadership or technical development, and that won't change.

是的。所以我不 - 所以邁克，我認為我們一直在投資的東西沒有任何改變。我認為這只是我們繼續投資的問題。當我們進行這些投資時，你有點——你所做的成為未來的基石。因此，首先，它投資於我們的人員和團隊。業務的基礎是擁有業內最優秀的人才，並投資於這些人才和他們的發展，那裡有領導力或技術發展，這一點不會改變。

Next is actually looking at what we need to do to deliver our work more efficiently. And we do that in different ways by investing in enterprise capability centers, but also investing in the tools. And we keep talking about this as digital tools, but it's really using the tools that are available and that we are investing and are creating to drive efficiency in the business. And that just means creating more capacity for the existing professionals that we have to do other things that we believe are more high value.

接下來實際上是看看我們需要做什麼來更有效地交付我們的工作。我們通過投資企業能力中心和工具來以不同的方式做到這一點。我們一直在談論它作為數字工具，但它實際上是在使用可用的工具，我們正在投資和創造這些工具來提高業務效率。這僅意味著為現有專業人員創造更多能力，我們必須做我們認為具有更高價值的其他事情。

And then the next trend that I think builds off that platform that you have to have, the standardization of how you deliver across each of your business lines. The next wave will be in artificial intelligence. And there is no question, we've been doing that for the last year, investing in it and using it in certain ways across our business. And that certainly is going to accelerate as we go forward. Because that's something that if you've put in the underlying building blocks in place, it gives you a platform upon which you can actually use technology to -- again, to create capacity for what your people are doing. But most importantly, when you create that capacity, it creates time for them to do things that are of more value for their customers. And so those are the things that we have been investing in and we'll continue to invest in.

然後我認為下一個趨勢建立在你必須擁有的平台之上，即你如何跨每條業務線交付的標準化。下一波將是人工智能。毫無疑問，我們去年一直在這樣做，對其進行投資，並以特定方式在我們的業務中使用它。隨著我們的前進，這肯定會加速。因為如果你已經將基礎構建塊放在適當的位置，它就會為你提供一個平台，你可以在這個平台上實際使用技術——再次，為你的員工正在做的事情創造能力。但最重要的是，當你創造這種能力時，它就會為他們創造時間去做對他們的客戶更有價值的事情。所以這些就是我們一直在投資的東西，我們將繼續投資。

The next question goes to Adam Thalhimer of Thompsion, Davis.

下一個問題交給 Thompsion, Davis 的 Adam Thalhimer。

Can you frame the PFAS opportunity for us? How big are those projects?

您能為我們描述 PFAS 機會嗎？這些項目有多大？

Yes, I'm happy to take that, Adam. We know there's certainly been a lot of momentum in the -- for example, the IIJA funding available for emerging contaminants such as PFAS. So we see that as a $10 billion sort of opportunity. We're already the industry leader, has been working in the PFAS base for the past 20 years. So we think that our solutions, our strong technical capability will position us very well. And we continue to see great momentum, and we've had some good wins, not just in the U.S., but outside of the U.S. for both public and private sector clients.

是的，我很樂意接受，亞當。我們知道肯定有很多勢頭 - 例如，IIJA 資金可用於 PFAS 等新興污染物。所以我們認為這是一個 100 億美元的機會。我們已經是行業領導者，過去 20 年一直在 PFAS 基地工作。所以我們認為我們的解決方案，我們強大的技術能力將使我們處於非常有利的位置。我們繼續看到巨大的勢頭，我們已經取得了一些不錯的勝利，不僅在美國，而且在美國以外的公共和私營部門客戶。

So it's definitely, particularly once the minimum containment levels were ratified, we should start to see some real momentum in the PFAS space, particularly with the IIJA funding. But it's definitely a private sector opportunity as well around the world.

因此，毫無疑問，特別是一旦最低遏制水平獲得批准，我們應該開始看到 PFAS 領域的一些真正動力，特別是在 IIJA 資助下。但這絕對是全球私營部門的機會。

And just one thing to add to that is, I think, there might be a catalyst in the near future that will kind of sort of spark PFAS activity. And that's because the EPA announced some new drinking water regulations around PFAS. And so they're going through the process, the rulemaking process of review. And so when those regulations do become fine, which we expect sometime this year. We think that, that will actually create a catalyst for more PFAS activity. As Lara said, there certainly is the funding in place, but we think that would be, again, an event catalyst for activity.

還有一點要補充的是，我認為，在不久的將來可能會有一種催化劑會在某種程度上激發 PFAS 活動。那是因為 EPA 宣布了一些關於 PFAS 的新飲用水法規。所以他們正在經歷這個過程，即審查的規則制定過程。因此，當這些法規確實變得可行時，我們預計會在今年某個時候出現。我們認為，這實際上將為更多的 PFAS 活動創造催化劑。正如 Lara 所說，肯定有資金到位，但我們認為這將再次成為活動的事件催化劑。

Great. Okay. And then I wanted to ask about the debt ceiling, and you've got better Washington contacts than me. And the question I'm getting is, is infrastructure funding locked in? Or is there some kind of a risk around federal infrastructure support here?

偉大的。好的。然後我想問關於債務上限的問題，你在華盛頓的聯繫比我好。我得到的問題是，基礎設施資金是否已鎖定？或者這裡的聯邦基礎設施支持是否存在某種風險？

Well, I guess, first, I'll just make the comment that we probably have the same visibility that everybody has. But I think we hope -- we have a hopeful sense of optimism that sensible leaders negotiate and we expect that, that will happen and we'll get a successful outcome. So this will sort of -- this will pass us by. But even with the uncertainty, the short answer on IIJA funding is that it's very -- it's procedurally difficult and just politically impractical to claw back that funding. So we don't -- we just -- we don't see that being at risk.

好吧，我想，首先，我只想說我們可能和每個人都有同樣的知名度。但我認為我們希望 - 我們有一種充滿希望的樂觀情緒，明智的領導人會進行談判，我們希望這會發生，我們會取得成功。所以這有點——這會讓我們過去。但即使存在不確定性，對 IIJA 資金的簡短回答是，收回這筆資金在程序上非常困難，而且在政治上也不切實際。所以我們沒有 - 我們只是 - 我們沒有看到它處於危險之中。

And again, the other important part of this is that a lot of the funding and the appropriations were made or designated as emergency funding, which means that, ultimately, savings and emergency funding don't count towards your debt ceiling. So I think, again, there's just the procedurally and the practically difficult -- difficulties associated with peeling back or changing IIJA funding. And then again, we still -- there is bipartisan support and recognition that it's a place that we need to be investing, certainly here in the U.S.

再一次，另一個重要的部分是很多資金和撥款是作為或指定為緊急資金的，這意味著，最終，儲蓄和緊急資金不計入你的債務上限。所以我再次認為，只有程序上和實踐上的困難——與剝離或改變 IIJA 資金相關的困難。然後，我們仍然 - 兩黨都支持並認識到這是一個我們需要投資的地方，當然是在美國這裡。

We have no further questions. I will now hand back to Troy for any closing comments.

我們沒有其他問題了。我現在將把任何結束評論交還給 Troy。

Right. Again, thank you, everybody, for joining us today. And thanks again for our teams delivering a great quarter, and we look forward to connecting with you next the next quarter. Have a good day.

正確的。再次感謝大家今天加入我們。再次感謝我們的團隊提供了一個出色的季度，我們期待在下一個季度與您聯繫。祝你有美好的一天。

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

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連接。