Advantage Solutions Inc (ADV) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Advantage Solutions second quarter 2024 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎您參加 Advantage Solutions 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。演講者發言後，將進行問答環節。（操作員說明） 請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

It is now my pleasure to introduce Ruben Mella, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. Ruben, you may begin

現在我很高興向大家介紹投資者關係副總裁魯本‧梅拉 (Ruben Mella)。謝謝。魯本，你可以開始了

Thank you, operator, and thank you for joining us on Advantage Solutions' second quarter earnings conference call. Dave Peacock, Chief Executive Officer; Chris Growe, Chief Financial Officer; and Sean Choksi, Senior Vice President of Strategy and M&A, are on the call today.

感謝您，營運商，也感謝您參加 Advantage Solutions 第二季財報電話會議。戴夫·皮科克，首席執行官；克里斯‧格羅（Chris Growe），財務長；策略與併購資深副總裁 Sean Choksi 今天參加了電話會議。

Dave and Chris will provide their prepared remarks, after which we will open the call for a question-and-answer session. During this call, management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict.

戴夫和克里斯將提供他們準備好的發言，之後我們將開始問答環節。在本次電話會議中，管理階層可能會做出聯邦證券法意義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述是基於管理階層目前的預期，涉及難以預測的假設、風險和不確定性。

It is important to note that actual outcomes and results could differ materially due to several factors, including those described more fully in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by such factors.

值得注意的是，實際結果可能會因多種因素而產生重大差異，包括公司向 SEC 提交的 10-K 表格年度報告中更詳細描述的因素。所有前瞻性陳述的整體都明確受到這些因素的限制。

The company does not undertake any duty to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. We want to draw your attention to the fact that our remarks today will focus on certain non-GAAP financial measures. Our earnings release issued earlier today provides a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measure.

除法律要求外，本公司不承擔任何更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務。我們希望提請您注意，我們今天的演講將重點放在某些非公認會計準則財務指標。我們今天稍早發布的收益報告提供了這些非公認會計準則財務指標與最具可比性的公認會計準則財務指標的調節表。

This call is being webcast, and a recording will also be available on the company's Investor Relations website. We will also refer to our presentation during the prepared remarks, which can be found in the Events and Presentations section of the IR website.

這場電話會議正在網路直播，錄音也將在公司的投資者關係網站上發布。我們也會在準備好的發言中參考我們的簡報，這些內容可以在 IR 網站的活動和簡報部分找到。

We filed an 8-K this morning with a recast of revenues and adjusted EBITDA over the last 10 quarters for the new segments. This includes revenues, net of pass-through costs and adjusted EBITDA on a continuing operations and discontinued operations basis. Finally, unless otherwise stated, the financial results discussed today will be from continuing operations.

今天早上，我們提交了 8-K 報告，其中對新細分市場過去 10 個季度的收入和調整後的 EBITDA 進行了重新調整。這包括扣除轉嫁成本的收入以及在持續經營和非持續經營基礎上調整後的 EBITDA。最後，除非另有說明，今天討論的財務表現將來自持續經營業務。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Advantage's CEO, Dave Peacock.

現在我想將電話轉給 Advantage 的執行長 Dave Peacock。

Thanks, Ruben. And thank you all for joining us this morning. I first want to acknowledge our teammates for their hard work during the second quarter in a dynamic environment across CPG companies and retailers. Revenues on an organic basis, excluding pass-through costs increased approximately 1% to $750 million and adjusted EBITDA was $90 million with margins of 12%.

謝謝，魯本。感謝大家今天早上加入我們。我首先要感謝我們的團隊成員在第二季度在消費品公司和零售商充滿活力的環境中所做的辛勤工作。有機收入（不包括轉嫁成本）成長約 1%，達到 7.5 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 9,000 萬美元，利潤率為 12%。

At the same time, we continued to advance the strategic initiatives that are driving our transformation to reset the bar as a premier conduit for consumer brands and retailers that keep commerce in life moving. These initiatives already yield benefits, and we'll continue to do so through our phases of execution over the next two years.

同時，我們持續推動策略舉措，推動我們的轉型，重新設定標準，成為消費品牌和零售商維持生活中商業運作的主要管道。這些措施已經產生了效益，我們將在未來兩年的執行階段繼續這樣做。

Over the last 18 months, we have refined Advantage's portfolio to sharpen our focus on the areas where we have a right to win and centralize our corporate functions to drive consistency and efficiency across the enterprise. We are happy to report that we have largely completed the simplification portion of our transformation.

在過去 18 個月裡，我們完善了 Advantage 的產品組合，以更加專注於我們有權獲勝的領域，並集中我們的公司職能，以推動整個企業的一致性和效率。我們很高興地報告，我們已經基本完成了轉型的簡化部分。

This culminated with the recent sale of the June group at the end of July, marking more than 10, largely noncore business divestitures. Most of the proceeds will be used to pay down debt as we target a net leverage ratio of 3.5 times or less over the long term. We are midway through our corporate transformation, moving from a fragmented set of businesses focused on their unique service offerings to an integrated enterprise under one umbrella with interconnected service offerings and solutions.

這在 7 月底出售了 June 集團後達到了頂峰，剝離了超過 10 項業務，其中大部分是非核心業務。大部分收益將用於償還債務，因為我們的長期目標是將淨槓桿率控制在 3.5 倍或更低。我們正處於企業轉型的中期，從專注於獨特服務產品的分散企業轉變為提供相互關聯的服務產品和解決方案的綜合企業。

During the second quarter, we advanced several initiatives, including upgrading our technology data platforms and recently launching our own AI core competency center to better serve clients in areas such as contract management and routing merchandisers as well as those that serve internal needs like HR workflow and certain analysis of large datasets.

在第二季度，我們推進了多項舉措，包括升級我們的技術數據平台以及最近推出我們自己的人工智慧核心能力中心，以更好地為合約管理和路由採購員等領域的客戶以及滿足人力資源工作流程和流程等內部需求的客戶提供服務。

Our simplification and enhancements will give teammates the tools to work smarter faster and achieve more advantages. Culture is centered on putting people first, which is why we have enduring relationships that result in approximately 95% retention over time among our top 100 clients and inspire the performance that has made us one of Time Magazine's Best midsized companies.

我們的簡化和增強將為團隊成員提供更聰明、更快速地工作並獲得更多優勢的工具。文化的核心是以人為本，這就是為什麼我們擁有持久的關係，隨著時間的推移，我們的前100 名客戶中約有95% 的保留率，並激發了我們的業績，使我們成為《時代》雜誌最佳中型公司之一。

Last quarter, we announced Advantage's new reporting segments, branded retailer and experiential services which are linked more to the customer than service activity across a network of over 4,000 clients and nearly all of the top retailers. We believe this structure provides a clear picture of our business and the drivers of financial performance, I want to share how we see those segments evolving because of the transformation.

上季度，我們宣布了 Advantage 的新報告部門、品牌零售商和體驗式服務，這些部門與客戶的聯繫多於服務活動，涵蓋超過 4,000 家客戶和幾乎所有頂級零售商的網路。我們相信這種結構清楚地展示了我們的業務和財務表現的驅動因素，我想分享我們如何看待這些細分市場因轉型而演變。

Let's start with branded services where we serve as an extension of consumer packaged goods, company sales and marketing teams. Our primary areas of support to CPGs include selling to retailers not directly serviced by CPG, including joint business planning price, promotion planning and category reviews.

讓我們從品牌服務開始，我們作為消費品、公司銷售和行銷團隊的延伸。我們對 CPG 的主要支援領域包括向不由 CPG 直接服務的零售商銷售產品，包括聯合業務規劃價格、促銷規劃和類別審查。

Retail merchandising for CPG clients to ensure on-shelf availability, the right displays and accurate pricing and omnichannel services where we can manage fully integrated market programs including retail media campaigns to connect consumers with brands within this segment, our business intelligence capabilities are the foundation of our brand and retail execution.

為CPG 客戶提供零售行銷，以確保貨架上的可用性、正確的展示和準確的定價以及全通路服務，我們可以管理完全整合的市場計劃，包括零售媒體活動，以將消費者與該細分市場中的品牌連結起來，我們的商業智慧能力是我們的品牌和零售執行。

With the investments we are making our entail will become a more meaningful differentiator, driving all the activities across our business, including where we send our teams and how we sell to retailers. Our real-time insights, take our client service to the next level, informing everything from shelf resets to how and where we sample. Our investments in technology are already bringing more speed and precision to their solutions. We offer CPG clients through the mountain proprietary insights we gather.

透過我們正在進行的投資，我們的產品將成為一個更有意義的差異化因素，推動我們整個業務的所有活動，包括我們將團隊派遣到哪裡以及我們如何向零售商銷售產品。我們的即時洞察將我們的客戶服務提升到一個新的水平，告知從貨架重置到採樣方式和地點的所有資訊。我們對科技的投資已經為他們的解決方案帶來了更高的速度和精確度。我們透過收集的山區專有見解為 CPG 客戶提供服務。

For example, we're collaborating with a retail technology company specializing in image recognition and AI to provide high speed analytics on inventory tracking in seconds, we can turn real-time insights into action to improve brand and retail execution, where a similar process would take days with other providers. The insights and execution we offer allow us to help clients with their existing products, line extensions and innovations.

例如，我們正在與一家專門從事影像辨識和人工智慧的零售技術公司合作，在幾秒鐘內提供庫存追蹤的高速分析，我們可以將即時洞察轉化為行動，以改善品牌和零售執行力，而類似的流程將與其他提供者合作需要幾天時間。我們提供的洞察力和執行力使我們能夠幫助客戶利用現有產品、產品線擴展和創新。

We announced the collaboration with allied nations, a company with emerging and insurgent brands hungry for our expertise. Our collaboration will help get those growth brands onto more shelves and into more retailers nationwide, allowing them to scale faster than ever before.

我們宣布與盟友國家合作，該公司擁有渴望我們專業知識的新興品牌和顛覆性品牌。我們的合作將幫助這些成長品牌進入更多的貨架和全國更多的零售商，使它們能夠比以往更快地擴大規模。

Moving on to our experiential services segment, which directly connects shoppers with brands through in-store and online sampling experiences, live events and digital engagements. Our scale and global leadership position gives us a clear competitive advantage.

接下來是我們的體驗式服務部分，透過店內和線上樣品體驗、現場活動和數位互動將購物者與品牌直接聯繫起來。我們的規模和全球領導地位為我們帶來了明顯的競爭優勢。

We are expanding this advantage into new and emerging channels and beyond brick and mortar, whether it's grocery, mass or wholesale, our studies show that approximately 85% of shoppers indicate sampling impacts their purchase decision with approximately 65%, making a purchase the same day or later.

我們正在將這一優勢擴展到新興通路，超越實體店，無論是雜貨店、大眾店還是批發店，我們的研究表明，大約85% 的購物者表示，抽樣會影響他們的購買決策，大約65%的人會在當天進行購買或稍後。

Shoppers who engage in sampling can increase by rates in units and dollars, while spending up to 3 times more after sampling events, our digital sampling capabilities are another way we help clients generate consumer demand as clients are looking for omnichannel marketing solutions as part of their overall strategy.

參與樣品的購物者可以增加單位和美元的費率，同時在樣品活動後花費高達3 倍，我們的數位樣品功能是我們幫助客戶產生消費者需求的另一種方式，因為客戶正在尋找全通路行銷解決方案作為他們的一部分總體策略。

We are proud to have recently received Amazon's inaugural gold tier award for excellence and omnichannel performance. Not only are we growing our business directly with Amazon, but we also collaborate extensively with the online retailer serving brands through branded services to help deliver shopper centric solutions that enabled all of our CPG clients to realize double digit growth in the last year as part of our interconnected offerings. Omnichannel services are also vital to each of our business segments.

我們最近因卓越和全通路表現而榮獲亞馬遜首屆金級獎，我們對此感到非常自豪。我們不僅直接與亞馬遜發展業務，而且還與透過品牌服務為品牌提供服務的線上零售商廣泛合作，幫助提供以購物者為中心的解決方案，使我們所有的CPG 客戶在去年實現了兩位數的成長，作為我們的互聯產品。全通路服務對於我們的每個業務部門也至關重要。

Lastly, retailer services provides end to end offerings from private brand strategy to optimizing aisle and shelf spaces. To providing Retail Media Network Support. We have enduring relationships with most of the largest North American retailers serving more than 100,000 stores annually.

最後，零售商服務提供從自有品牌策略到優化過道和貨架空間的端到端產品。提供零售媒體網路支援。我們與大多數北美最大的零售商保持著持久的合作關係，每年為超過 100,000 家商店提供服務。

Our teams address our clients' most important matters such as ensuring products are stocked and positioned on shelves and displays to inspire purchases and enable growth. Our investments in technology will reduce the time needed to diagnose out-of-stock and shelf gaps while freeing up more time to capitalize on new off-shelf opportunities that command shoppers' attention and convert them into buyers.

我們的團隊解決客戶最重要的問題，例如確保產品庫存並放置在貨架和展示架上，以激發購買並促進成長。我們對科技的投資將減少診斷缺貨和貨架缺口所需的時間，同時騰出更多時間來利用新的貨架機會，吸引購物者的注意力並將其轉化為買家。

Just last week, we announced a new strategic collaboration with technology companies Swiftly. Swiftly works with brands and retailers to connect shoppers with targeted promotions, rebates and ads on their mobile devices. Adding this new capability will allow us to offer our retailers, scalable and targeted solutions that put brands in front of new audiences and drive more people to stores.

就在上週，我們宣布與科技公司 Swiftly 建立新的策略合作。Swiftly 與品牌和零售商合作，在購物者的行動裝置上為其提供有針對性的促銷、折扣和廣告。增加這項新功能將使我們能夠為零售商提供可擴展且有針對性的解決方案，將品牌置於新的受眾面前，並吸引更多人到商店購物。

Finally, we are best positioned with retailers today and into the future to drive private brand strategy and development, delivering quality and value to the shoppers. Our differentiation helps us understand the entire category for retailer and CPG, including both branded and private brand dynamics.

最後，我們在當今和未來與零售商處於最佳位置，推動自有品牌策略和發展，為購物者提供品質和價值。我們的差異化幫助我們了解零售商和消費品的整個類別，包括品牌和自有品牌動態。

By further enhancing our competitive advantages, we will leverage our unique position to shape how consumers shop across the entire path to purchase. We expect our evolution to expand our reach and create a more seamless experience for brands and retailers to utilize our collective service offerings.

透過進一步增強我們的競爭優勢，我們將利用我們獨特的地位來塑造消費者在整個購買路徑中的購物方式。我們希望我們的發展能擴大我們的影響範圍，並為品牌和零售商利用我們的集體服務產品創造更無縫的體驗。

Now let's turn to our outlook. As we look to the second half of the year, we expect improved performance while acknowledging that the markets remain uncertain across portions of our business. The seasonality favors this time of year, and we are seeing increased activity for our services in addition, new business wins from earlier in the year will begin to contribute, especially in experiential services.

現在讓我們來談談我們的展望。展望今年下半年，我們預期業績會有所改善，同時承認我們部分業務的市場仍然不確定。每年的這個時候都是季節性的，我們看到我們的服務活動有所增加，此外，今年早些時候的新業務勝利將開始做出貢獻，特別是在體驗式服務方面。

We are at a point in our transformation where we are aligning the unified organization with our business priorities to fuel long-term profitable growth. We expect these efforts to begin delivering financial benefits in the back half of this year and beyond. These actions include rightsizing talent resources across the enterprise, most notably in branded services.

我們正處於轉型階段，我們正在使統一的組織與我們的業務優先事項保持一致，以推動長期獲利成長。我們預計這些努力將在今年下半年及以後開始帶來經濟效益。這些行動包括調整整個企業的人才資源，尤其是在品牌服務領域。

Advancing our strategic collaborations such as Genpact and TCS, moving from implementation and upfront investment to executing and realizing efficiency improvements, realizing additional opportunities to reduce overhead costs such as leased office space after completing the business portfolio rationalization. As the industry continues to deal with wage inflation, we secured additional price increases to help offset the expected impact in the year's second half.

推進我們與簡柏特和 TCS 等策略合作，從實施和前期投資轉向執行和實現效率改進，在完成業務組合合理化後實現降低管理成本（例如租賃辦公空間）的額外機會。隨著該行業繼續應對工資上漲的問題，我們確保了額外的價格上漲，以幫助抵消今年下半年的預期影響。

In conclusion, we are energized by the progress of our strategic initiatives to transform this business. We are doing this by focusing on our core capabilities, operating with excellence, strengthening our balance sheet and investing in leading edge technologies and talent.

總之，我們對業務轉型策略舉措的進展感到振奮。我們透過專注於我們的核心能力、卓越營運、加強我們的資產負債表以及投資領先的技術和人才來做到這一點。

This strategic approach will enable us to provide our clients with high-touch, high-tech and high-value services. Beneficiaries of our transformation will be our clients who will work with an even more responsive insights-driven organization, our teammates who will be more empowered to represent advantage and build more successful careers with us and our shareholders as we realize our full potential.

這項策略方針將使我們能夠為客戶提供高接觸、高科技和高價值的服務。我們轉型的受益者將是我們的客戶，他們將與一個反應更快的洞察驅動型組織合作，我們的隊友將更有能力代表優勢，並在我們充分發揮潛力時與我們和股東一起打造更成功的職業生涯。

With that, I will now pass the call over to Chris to review our financial performance.

現在，我將把電話轉給克里斯，以審查我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Dave, and welcome to all of you joining the call today. In the earnings release and presentation, we provided details regarding our financial performance in the second quarter and the first 6 months of the year. We were pleased with our performance in a dynamic market for CPGs and retailers driven by more cautious consumer spending behavior. I want to highlight four factors that drove our performance in the quarter.

謝謝戴夫，歡迎大家今天加入電話會議。在收益發布和演示中，我們提供了有關第二季度和今年前 6 個月財務業績的詳細資訊。我們對我們在消費消費品和零售商更加謹慎的消費行為驅動的充滿活力的市場中的表現感到滿意。我想強調推動我們本季業績的四個因素。

First, experiential services increased events per day by 11% year over year. And the team once again did a terrific job leveraging the existing infrastructure to accommodate the increased activity. The execution rate defined as the ability to meet event demand exceeded 92% and event counts overall were 87% of pre-pandemic levels second retailer services was impacted by softness in the traditional grocery channel, which mostly offset the revenue benefits of the Easter holiday shift.

首先，體驗式服務日均活動量較去年同期增加11%。團隊再次出色地利用現有基礎設施來適應增加的活動。執行率定義為滿足活動需求的能力超過92%，整體活動數量為疫情前水準的87% 第二零售商服務受到傳統雜貨管道疲軟的影響，這在很大程度上抵消了復活節假期轉移的收入收益。

Favorable adjusted EBITDA performance was due to pricing actions and solid execution to manage talent deployment and overall costs. We expect increased activity in the second half, consistent with the business's seasonal cadence.

有利的調整後 EBITDA 表現歸功於定價行動以及管理人才部署和整體成本的可靠執行。我們預計下半年活動將會增加，與業務的季節性節奏一致。

Third, branded services performance trajectory improved in the quarter. Keep in mind that the divestitures, including the deconsolidation of our European joint venture and planned client exits impact this segment, we continue to engage existing and new clients to help them navigate a more dynamic market.

第三，品牌服務業績軌跡在本季有所改善。請記住，資產剝離，包括歐洲合資企業的解散和計劃中的客戶退出會影響該細分市場，我們將繼續與現有和新客戶合作，幫助他們駕馭更具活力的市場。

At the same time, we are investing in our capabilities and reshaping the organization to manage costs and maximize efficiency. We realize some of the savings in the quarter, expect that to continue in the second half of the year with a portion of the savings used to invest in transformation.

同時，我們正在投資我們的能力並重塑組織，以管理成本並最大限度地提高效率。我們在本季實現了一些節省，預計下半年將繼續這種情況，其中一部分將節省用於投資轉型。

Finally, wage inflation driven in part by tight labor markets and state minimum wage laws was a headwind in our results. Despite price realization across the three business segments, we will continue to find ways to cover labor costs through additional price realization and effective execution.

最後，勞動力市場緊張和州最低工資法部分推動的工資上漲對我們的業績構成了不利影響。儘管三個業務部門都實現了價格實現，但我們將繼續尋找透過額外的價格實現和有效執行來彌補勞動成本的方法。

Moving to our balance sheet. During the quarter, we voluntarily repurchased approximately $27 million in secured notes at an attractive discount as of June 30, our total funded debt outstanding was approximately $1.8 billion, with nearly 90% of our debt hedged at fixed interest rates. We recently rolled our debt collars to extend interest rate hedges into 2027 and 2028.

轉向我們的資產負債表。在本季度，截至6 月30 日，我們以極具吸引力的折扣自願回購了約2700 萬美元的擔保票據，我們的未償債務總額約為18 億美元，其中近90% 的債務以固定利率對沖。我們最近延長了債務期限，將利率對沖延長至 2027 年和 2028 年。

Our net leverage ratio was approximately 4.1 times inclusive of discontinued operations and adjusted EBITDA. We expect improved performance in the second half and the paydown of debt at attractive returns to lower our net leverage ratio by the end of the year compared to 2023.

我們的淨槓桿率約為 4.1 倍，包括已終止經營業務和調整後的 EBITDA。我們預計下半年業績將有所改善，並且以有吸引力的回報償還債務，將在年底前降低我們的淨槓桿率，與 2023 年相比。

With the debt paydown to date and the reduction of the term loan pricing, we now expect net interest expense to be $155 million to $165 million compared to the prior guidance of $170 million, $180 million.

隨著迄今為止的債務償還和定期貸款定價的降低，我們現在預計淨利息支出將為 1.55 億美元至 1.65 億美元，而先前的指引為 1.7 億美元、1.8 億美元。

We were active in the quarter, spending about $9 million to repurchase shares this year through the end of July, we repurchased approximately 8 million shares, take advantage of what we believe is an undervalued stock price and offset employee incentive related dilution.

我們在本季表現活躍，今年花費約 900 萬美元回購股票，截至 7 月底，我們回購了約 800 萬股股票，利用我們認為被低估的股價並抵消與員工激勵相關的稀釋。

CapEx was approximately $15 million in the quarter to support our three year IT transformation projects and maintenance capital requirements. Our transformation teams routinely assess resource allocation, capital requirements and project timelines. We've also been able to appropriately review and adjust cash outlays due to completed divestitures and new partnerships helping us to optimize our spending.

本季的資本支出約為 1500 萬美元，用於支援我們為期三年的 IT 轉型專案和維護資本需求。我們的轉型團隊定期評估資源分配、資本需求和專案時程。由於完成的資產剝離和新的合作夥伴關係幫助我們優化了支出，我們也能夠適當地審查和調整現金支出。

As a result, we are reducing the total three year IT transformation CapEx funding range by $20 million to $140 million to $150 million. For 2024, we expect CapEx to be $65 million to $80 million versus the original estimate of $90 million to $110 million. We still plan for the spending to taper in 2025 and returned to maintenance spending levels in 2026.

因此，我們將三年 IT 轉型資本支出總額減少了 2,000 萬美元至 1.4 億美元至 1.5 億美元。2024 年，我們預計資本支出為 6,500 萬至 8,000 萬美元，而最初估計為 9,000 萬至 1.1 億美元。我們仍計劃在 2025 年減少支出，並在 2026 年恢復到維護支出水準。

As we continue to invest in transforming the company, we remained focused on financial discipline. We generated approximately $129 million in adjusted unlevered free cash flow or 132% of adjusted EBITDA, inclusive of discontinued operations. The cash conversion was better than we expected due to continued success with our working capital initiatives and the timing of capital spending.

在我們繼續投資於公司轉型的同時，我們仍然專注於財務紀律。我們產生了約 1.29 億美元的調整後無槓桿自由現金流，或調整後 EBITDA 的 132%，其中包括已終止的業務。由於我們的營運資本計畫和資本支出的時機持續成功，現金轉換優於我們的預期。

We remain focused on achieving our business objectives for the year, but we still have a lot of work to do. We are pleased with our improved business performance in the second quarter. We have realistic expectations for a stronger second half of the year, which support our expectations for revenues and adjusted EBITDA to grow low single digits on a continuing operations basis. Now that we have substantially completed divestitures.

我們仍然專注於實現今年的業務目標，但我們仍然有很多工作要做。我們對第二季業務業績的改善感到滿意。我們對今年下半年的強勁成長抱持現實的預期，這支持了我們對營收和調整後 EBITDA 在持續營運的基礎上實現低個位數成長的預期。現在我們已經基本完成了資產剝離。

The year-over-year, increase in SG&A during the first half of the year will narrow in the second half as we lap the heavier investments in people that started in earnest in last year's second half. We remain focused on efficient cash generation even during a year of significant investment and reorganization.

與去年同期相比，上半年SG&A 的增幅將在下半年收窄，因為我們放棄了去年下半年認真開始的對人員的大量投資。即使在進行重大投資和重組的一年中，我們仍然專注於高效的現金產生。

The reduced CapEx guidance we expect for the full year should allow us to realize adjusted unlevered free cash flow conversion towards the upper end of the 55% to 65% range, inclusive of discontinued operations due to the timing of transformation-related activities and the seasonality of revenue, we expect higher capital spending and increased working capital usage to weigh down cash conversion in the back half of the year.

我們預計全年資本支出指引的減少將使我們能夠實現調整後的無槓桿自由現金流轉換至 55% 至 65% 範圍的上限，其中包括由於轉型相關活動的時間安排和季節性而終止的業務收入方面，我們預期資本支出增加和營運資金使用增加將拖累下半年的現金轉換。

Because of the investments changes to the organization to transform the business and our cash needs, we expect to generate minimal excess cash in 2024. However, the approximately $280 million in cash proceeds from the divestitures this year provides sufficient liquidity to continue paying down debt. This includes proceeds of approximately $130 million received on July 31, upon the close of the June group sale.

由於為實現業務轉型而對組織進行了投資變更以及我們的現金需求，我們預計 2024 年將產生最低程度的超額現金。然而，今年從資產剝離中獲得的約 2.8 億美元現金收益為繼續償還債務提供了充足的流動性。其中包括 7 月 31 日（即 6 月集體銷售結束時收到的約 1.3 億美元的收益）。

Thank you for your time. I'll now turn it back over to Dave.

感謝您抽出時間。我現在將其轉回給戴夫。

Thanks, Chris. We are focused on the opportunities ahead of us. With the investments underway and the interconnected service offerings we are creating. We intend to raise the bar we set for service excellence and create a more unified insight-driven company.

謝謝，克里斯。我們專注於我們面前的機會。隨著投資的進行和我們正在創建的互聯服務產品。我們打算提高我們為卓越服務設定的標準，並創建一個更統一的洞察驅動型公司。

There is much more to do and the leadership team appreciates the hard work of our teammates in accomplishing our strategic and business objectives this year. We will now take your questions. Operator?

還有很多事情要做，領導團隊感謝我們的隊友今年為實現我們的策略和業務目標所做的辛勤工作。我們現在將回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Greg Parrish, Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指令）Greg Parrish，摩根士丹利。

Great, thanks, and good morning, Russell. The result, I guess, to start with all the economic headlines this past week, just give us an update on sort of consumer shopping activity, what you're seeing sort of real-time? Thanks.

太好了，謝謝，早安，拉塞爾。我想，從過去一周的所有經濟頭條開始，只是向我們提供有關消費者購物活動的最新信息，您實時看到了什麼？謝謝。

Yes. Greg. Yes, it's a good question, and I'm glad you asked because I think there's a lot of some reaction to what's going on kind of in the news, if you will, over the last couple of weeks on none of this should be surprising, frankly, because we're still living through kind of the economic ripples of coke from COVID.

是的。格雷格.是的，這是一個很好的問題，我很高興你問這個問題，因為我認為對新聞中發生的事情有很多反應，如果你願意的話，在過去的幾周里，這一切都不應該令人驚訝坦白說，因為我們仍然生活在新冠疫情帶來的焦炭經濟影響中。

And if you imagine and all of us know that there's a big drop in demand during COVID. And as reopening came on, employment recovery plus some fragile supply chains led to broad-based inflation come in. And while their corrective actions were taken in the market with interest rate increases, inflation persisted and spending remained strong and employment continued to grow over time.

如果你想像一下，我們都知道，新冠疫情期間需求大幅下降。隨著經濟重新開放，就業復甦加上一些脆弱的供應鏈導致了廣泛的通膨。儘管他們在市場上採取了升息的糾正措施，但隨著時間的推移，通貨膨脹持續存在，支出仍然強勁，就業持續成長。

And now what you're seeing with most of that savings being exhausted is demand slowing down especially for the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. And we've seen this on probably earlier on the lowest end of the socioeconomic spectrum, but it's starting to creep up and even a little lower middle class, if you will.

現在，您看到大部分儲蓄都已耗盡，需求正在放緩，特別是對於社會經濟領域的低端群體。我們可能很早就在社會經濟階層的最低端看到了這種情況，但它已經開始蔓延，甚至是中下階層（如果你願意的話）。

And so what this has led to more broadly is units being down on a channel shift to some of the more value channels mass club dollar stores mean you're seeing impact on pack size. You're seeing a growth of smaller packs being almost double that of kind of standard. And you're seeing a little bit more bite on promo versus recent trends, but more in line with pre-COVID.

因此，這導致更廣泛的是，單位正在向一些更有價值的管道轉移，大型俱樂部一美元商店意味著你會看到包裝尺寸的影響。您會看到較小包裝的成長幾乎是標準包裝的兩倍。與最近的趨勢相比，你會看到促銷活動更多一些，但更符合新冠疫情之前的情況。

So not a dramatic change, but more in line with pre-COVID. And so, I know there's a lot of headlines around the challenged consumer. And there is a certainly a large set of consumers who are challenged economically right now. And you're seeing unemployment even tick up a bit at the end of the day, we remain we are focused on transforming our business to meet what we envision as a long term, what I'll call more a normal cycle within the CPG and retail space.

所以這並不是一個巨大的變化，但更符合新冠疫情之前的情況。因此，我知道有很多關於受到挑戰的消費者的頭條新聞。目前肯定有一大批消費者面臨經濟挑戰。你會看到失業率甚至在一天結束時略有上升，我們仍然專注於改變我們的業務，以滿足我們的長期願景，我將其稱為 CPG 內的正常週期，零售空間。

And when we get through this period of ripple impact from COVID, which I think we're still living through as we go through this year, I think we're well positioned to address that long term trend, but also things short term. So you've got need for sampling as people are trying to stimulate demand for units. You've got assortment changes based on some of the pack on size dynamics I talked about and some of the price promotion.

當我們度過新冠疫情帶來的連鎖反應時（我認為今年我們仍然在經歷這段時期），我認為我們已經做好了應對長期趨勢和短期問題的準備。因此，當人們試圖刺激對單位的需求時，就需要進行抽樣。根據我談到的一些包裝尺寸動態和一些價格促銷，您已經有了品種變化。

You've got to shift to private label, which we are well positioned, given the fact that we've got a private label business from and then you've got need for better retail planning as it relates to price promotion so that retailers can capture that more economically challenged consumer.

你必須轉向自有品牌，我們處於有利地位，因為我們已經擁有自有品牌業務，然後你需要更好的零售規劃，因為它與價格促銷有關，以便零售商可以吸引那些經濟上更困難的消費者。

Great. Thanks for the color. So next question, I'm going to have step up here from first quarter to second quarter in EBITDA. I think [$20 million] up sequentially. A lot of moving parts, a lot going on. You've talked about some of it. Chris, maybe if you can kind of help us unpack that step up sequentially here and what the big drivers were?

偉大的。謝謝你的顏色。下一個問題是，我將從第一季到第二季的 EBITDA 有所提升。我認為[2000萬美元]連續增加。很多活動部件，很多事情正在發生。你已經談到了其中一些。克里斯，也許你可以幫助我們按順序解開這個步驟以及主要的驅動因素是什麼？

Yes, I think what you'll see is that we have been a little bit of a timing differential in our retail business. We talked about that last quarter and we got some of that back this quarter just due to the timing of holidays and that kind of thing. At the same time, there has been a real focus within retailer to focus on our costs.

是的，我想你會看到我們的零售業務在時間上有一些差異。我們在上個季度討論過這個問題，本季我們得到了一些回饋，只是由於假期的時間和類似的事情。同時，零售商內部也真正關注我們的成本。

And you'll see, therefore, more modest revenue growth, but a pretty strong profit performance. Experiential is doing what it does. It's been still, as you know, recovering and frankly, being really well-managed around pricing mix. And certainly that underneath that, that great volume growth that we're seeing are still I also want to note for you there, Greg, that we have really good execution.

因此，你會看到營收成長更為溫和，但利潤表現卻相當強勁。體驗就是做它該做的事。如您所知，它仍在恢復中，坦率地說，定價組合管理得很好。當然，在此之下，我們所看到的巨大的銷售成長仍然是我還想向您指出的，格雷格，我們的執行力非常好。

We talked about this last year and even probably earlier in the year, but that execution when you're doing more demonstrations and we've got plenty of demand there more than we can even fulfill right now. That's really aiding our margin profile in that business. And that's a great benefit to us.

我們去年甚至可能在今年早些時候討論過這個問題，但是當你進行更多的演示時，我們的需求量已經超出了我們現在所能滿足的範圍。這確實有助於我們在該業務中的利潤狀況。這對我們來說是一個很大的好處。

And then while branded was still down this quarter, you saw sequential improvement. It's an area we're really focused on right now and some of the things Dave outlined just now about kind of where we are in the economic environment and the business environment, I think has put us in a good place to really address our cost structure there and move that business still continue to show sequential improvement and that business through the second half of the year.

儘管本季品牌仍然下降，但您看到了連續的改善。這是我們現在真正關注的一個領域，戴夫剛才概述的一些關於我們在經濟環境和商業環境中所處位置的事情，我認為這使我們處於一個真正解決成本結構問題的好地方那里和移動的業務仍繼續顯示出連續的改善，並且該業務到今年下半年。

Okay, great. And then maybe just kind of follow that up with the back half of the year. So your target is low single digits still implies a step up just based on the first half results. So there's unpack a little bit on the second half, some of that's probably related to what you're just saying.

好的，太好了。然後也許只是在下半年跟進。因此，您的目標是低個位數，但仍然意味著僅基於上半年的結果就可以提高。所以後半部有一些解壓，其中一些可能與你剛才所說的有關。

And then I mean, I guess how much of that is within your control is branded. You talked about increasing client activity. I think you're just talking about seasonality, we would just kind of confirm that. And then I mean, is the guide of low single digits, does that mean that beholden in any way to kind of an improvement in the market? Or is it all kind of within your control?

然後我的意思是，我猜你的控制範圍內有多少是品牌化的。您談到了增加客戶活動。我認為你只是在談論季節性，我們只是確認這一點。然後我的意思是，低個位數的指導是否意味著市場會以任何方式改善？還是這一切都在你的掌控之中？

Yes, I think well, first, there is seasonality that's natural in our business. And then Chris mentioned in his prepared remarks that we were lapping investments. So as you go sequentially by quarter on the second half of this year, kind of the increase in investment that we saw and to support some of the transformation that our shared services area is the increment is much less than the second half.

是的，我認為，首先，我們的業務存在著自然的季節性。然後克里斯在他準備好的演講中提到我們正在重複投資。因此，當你以今年下半年的季度順序來看時，我們看到的投資成長以及支持我們共享服務領域的一些轉型的投資增量遠低於下半年。

We talked about also sort of rightsizing the organization to align with where we see the business on what I'll call kind of over the near term, but even to some degree in the long term and in technology is helping with that as well as we're doing some things to get on kind of real-time analysis into the hands of our frontline sales folks on through tools like Power BI that that helps us to get a lot more efficient as it relates to delivering data and analysis on a customer call.

我們還討論了對組織進行調整，以適應我們對業務的看法，我稱之為短期內的業務，但即使在某種程度上，從長遠來看，技術也在幫助我們實現這一點我們正在做一些事情，透過Power BI 等工具將即時分析交到我們的第一線銷售人員手中，這有助於我們提高在客戶通話中提供數據和分析的效率。

And then we do have some new business that's coming on. So we talked about client exits, which we're obviously continuing to kind of lap year-over-year. But we get new business now being layered on was secured in the first half was actually showing up in the numbers second half, and we do have some pricing rolling through in the second half as well.

然後我們確實有一些新業務即將開展。因此，我們討論了客戶退出，這顯然是逐年持續的。但我們現在得到的新業務在上半年得到了保障，實際上在下半年的數字中得到了體現，而且我們在下半年也確實有一些定價。

Okay, great. I'll pass off.

好的，太好了。我就過去吧

Thanks, Patrick.

謝謝，派崔克。

Joseph Vafi, Canaccord.

約瑟夫·瓦菲，Canaccord。

Hey, guys, good morning and nice to see all the progress on the repositioning. Just maybe on the cost side a little bit. I know you're continuing efforts on employee utilization and the like just speak interesting to get an update, I guess on that in a large input cost of kind of where you are in your journey you sitting in fully optimizing employee utilization now quick follow-up?

嘿，夥計們，早上好，很高興看到重新定位的所有進展。只是也許在成本方面有點。我知道您正在繼續努力提高員工利用率等，只是說有趣的是要獲得更新，我想在您所處的旅程中的大量投入成本中，您現在正在全面優化員工利用率，現在快速跟進-向上？

Thanks, Joe. This is Dave. So yes, we, um, we are tracking sort of productivity, if you will, in the marketplace across our different business lines. And we are seeing increased productivity. And I think Chris mentioned that on the experiential side, as we're starting to see that count grow on that. Obviously, that has a fixed cost coverage aspect of it within our business because there's a there's a kind of a regional management infrastructure.

謝謝，喬。這是戴夫。所以，是的，我們，嗯，如果你願意的話，我們正在追蹤我們不同業務線的市場中的生產力。我們看到生產力的提高。我認為克里斯在體驗方面提到了這一點，因為我們開始看到這一點的成長。顯然，這在我們的業務中具有固定成本覆蓋方面，因為有一種區域管理基礎設施。

And then we tracked closely the hours in the businesses and kind of are seeing lower hours across our business, meaning we're able to meet demand. And we talked about the 1% organic revenue growth and with less hours, which is obviously the result of productivity initiatives and technology investments are part of that.

然後我們密切追蹤企業的工作時間，發現整個企業的工作時間有所減少，這意味著我們能夠滿足需求。我們談到了 1% 的有機收入成長和更少的工作時間，這顯然是生產力計劃的結果，而技術投資也是其中的一部分。

Then we're doing a lot in this area of on how we leverage our labor across different tasks within maybe the same. It is in the same store, if you will, or even in the same geography. So a lot of work going on. But we're I'm bullish about being on the front edge of that. So there's only more opportunity to come as it relates to optimizing our utilization of labor.

然後，我們在這個領域做了很多工作，研究如何在可能相同的任務中利用我們的勞動力來完成不同的任務。如果你願意的話，它位於同一家商店，甚至位於同一地理位置。所以還有很多工作正在進行中。但我看好我們處於這方面的前沿。因此，只有更多的機會出現，因為這與優化我們對勞動力的利用有關。

Sure. Thanks. Then just kind of circling back to your comments on the allied nations JV. Clearly with your footprint in the marketplace and the broad service offerings, you have I mean, you could theoretically do this with with kind of other emerging brands. It feels like is that part of the growth strategy here over time of these other brands and JV structure?

當然。謝謝。然後回到您對盟國合資企業的評論。顯然，憑藉您在市場上的足跡和廣泛的服務產品，我的意思是，理論上您可以與其他新興品牌一起做到這一點。感覺這是否是這些其他品牌和合資企業結構隨著時間的推移而成長策略的一部分？

Yes, on Joe, yes, we already have had and you can see it by virtue of the fact that we signed 4,000 clients, a lot of those are emerging or early-stage brands on. We're trying to be really smart and actually been working in some cases with investment firms that focus in that area and to make sure we're refining those businesses that are that are going to have consistent backing and the ability to invest in growth to keep up with any demand we may help generate.

是的，關於喬，是的，我們已經擁有了，你可以透過我們簽下 4,000 個客戶的事實看到這一點，其中很多都是新興或早期品牌。我們正在努力變得非常聰明，並且在某些情況下實際上一直在與專注於該領域的投資公司合作，並確保我們正在完善那些將獲得持續支持和投資於增長的能力的業務。幫助產生的任何需求。

But on the partnership with elevations as a great opportunity to get in. It's not just beverage. It's a lot of beverage, some a little bit of snacking, but primarily beverage business where we were frankly, underexposed and underrepresented on. And so it fills that gap for us.

但與海拔高度的合作是一個很好的進入機會。這不僅僅是飲料。這是很多飲料，有些是零食，但主要是飲料業務，坦白說，我們在該業務上的曝光度和代表性都不足。所以它為我們填補了這一空白。

So as we have always been our head of business that has supported emerging brands, we now kind of can expand and do it in a bigger way with elevations in the in the emerging beverage space.

因此，由於我們一直是支持新興品牌的業務主管，因此我們現在可以在新興飲料領域以更大的方式擴展和提升。

Great. Thanks a lot, guys.

偉大的。非常感謝，夥計們。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Faiza Alwy, Deutsche Bank.

Faiza Alwy，德意志銀行。

Yes, hi, good morning. Two, I wanted to ask about sort of inflation and pricing because I think you said that the wage inflation is still a headwind as price realization is not covering those pressures. And I think you referenced sort of additional pricing in the back half of the year.

是的，嗨，早安。第二，我想問通貨膨脹和定價的問題，因為我認為您說過工資上漲仍然是一個阻力，因為價格實現並不能覆蓋這些壓力。我認為您提到了今年下半年的額外定價。

So just curious if we're going to see sort of this price cost gap from shrink later this year? And at what point do you think we're going to be aligned in terms of pricing and inflation?

所以只是好奇我們是否會在今年稍後看到這種價格成本差距縮小？您認為我們什麼時候會在定價和通膨方面保持一致？

Hi, guys, it's Chris. I'll take a -- at that and maybe Dave can add in as well. So you're right in the second quarter and the first half, our pricing was a little short of our inflation. Just to be clear, we do have pricing coming through as we noted that, but at the same time, we have seen, obviously more aggressive labor based inflation early in the year. Some of that is just statutory minimum wage laws that have that have been driven inflation overall for for our workforce.

嗨，夥計們，我是克里斯。我會考慮一下，也許戴夫也可以加入。所以你在第二季和上半年是對的，我們的定價有點低於通貨膨脹。需要明確的是，正如我們所指出的那樣，我們確實有定價，但同時，我們也看到，今年年初基於勞動力的通膨明顯更加激進。其中一些只是法定的最低工資法，這些法律已經推動了我們勞動力的整體通膨。

I think we're being as aggressive as we can and appropriately. So with our pricing at the same time, as I mentioned before, I think to you and others that there's other ways that we can address that inflation, beat our cost structure, our business mix, our product mix, and I think we're using like that whole suite of levers there trying to control the inflation you'll see overall from our business this quarter, right of a better profit performance.

我認為我們正在盡可能且適當地採取積極進取的態度。因此，正如我之前提到的，在我們的定價同時，我認為對你和其他人來說，我們可以透過其他方式來應對通貨膨脹，擊敗我們的成本結構、我們的業務組合、我們的產品組合，我認為我們正在使用一整套槓桿來試圖控制通貨膨脹，您將在本季度我們的業務中看到整體，以及更好的利潤表現。

I think that reflects some other levers we're using actually a good example. That's our retailer services segment where we had relatively flat revenues, but our strong profit performance that's coming from inherently better management of our business, little mix improvement, that kind of thing.

我認為這反映了我們正在使用的其他一些槓桿實際上是一個很好的例子。這是我們的零售商服務部門，我們的收入相對平穩，但我們強勁的利潤表現來自於我們本質上更好的業務管理，很少的組合改進，諸如此類的事情。

So I think that's the way I would look at it. And yes, we're going to continue to push pricing and we have more inflation that we're going to have to address. We're doing that in a number of ways.

所以我想這就是我看待它的方式。是的，我們將繼續提高定價，並且我們將不得不應對更多的通貨膨脹。我們正在透過多種方式做到這一點。

Great, thank you. And then just on the transformation, maybe time line, it sounds like you've taken another look at the technology which resulted in sort of lower CapEx outlays. I'm curious if you -- sort of what's what's different. Just share some I know you touched on this, but share some the learning so far and just wanted to clarify that is the CapEx reduction simply due to divestitures.

太好了，謝謝。然後就轉型而言，也許是時間線，聽起來您已經重新審視了導致資本支出較低的技術。我很好奇你是否有什麼不同。只是分享一些我知道你觸及的內容，但分享一些到目前為止的學習成果，只是想澄清資本支出的減少只是由於資產剝離。

Or, did you are you are you looking at sort of some of the spending and sort of rethinking how you should go about it? And also curious if maybe the how you were thinking about sort of operating expenses around that transformation or also a bit a bit lower?

或者，您是否正在考慮一些支出並重新思考應該如何處理？也很好奇您是否考慮了圍繞這一轉型的營運費用，或者是否降低了一點？

Yes. This is Dave. On the IT side, the CapEx reduction is a little timing aspect to it, but I'll say that it's also a byproduct of the great work, our IT team is doing and finding ways to accomplish the same objectives for less. And as I always say, when you're building a house, you can spend a whole range of a whole range of expense relative to how you build that house.

是的。這是戴夫。在 IT 方面，資本支出的減少只是一個時間方面的問題，但我想說，這也是偉大工作的副產品，我們的 IT 團隊正在做並尋找方法以更少的成本實現相同的目標。正如我常說的，當你建造一棟房子時，你可以花費與建造房子的方式相關的一系列費用。

And I give our team a lot of credit for finding efficient ways to build the house we need for our business and and do so that we're not giving up on capabilities on. And so I think that's part of it on. And then as I mentioned, there is a little bit of a phasing to it, but we do see CapEx as we as we look forward, getting to more normal levels on the kind of 2026 timeframe.

我對我們的團隊非常信任，因為他們找到了有效的方法來建造我們業務所需的房子，並且這樣做我們不會放棄能力。所以我認為這是其中的一部分。正如我所提到的，它有一點階段性，但我們確實看到了我們所期望的資本支出，在 2026 年的時間框架內達到更正常的水平。

And then on the OpEx side, as we mentioned, the investments we made in the second half of last year to position ourselves to manage through the transformation we are starting to lap. And so they were more of an increment to our OpEx in the first half of 2024 than they will be in the second half.

然後在營運支出方面，正如我們所提到的，我們在去年下半年進行了投資，以便我們能夠管理我們即將開始的轉型。因此，與下半年相比，2024 年上半年我們的營運支出增加量更大。

And we're very focused now on looking at organization and kind of assessing spans and layers and making sure that we have the right structure of and recognizing that we've got technology systems and some very strong analytic tools coming to bear and leading that help us determine how we should be structuring and how that might impact our OpEx into the future.

我們現在非常關注組織以及評估跨度和層次的類型，並確保我們擁有正確的結構並認識到我們擁有技術系統和一些非常強大的分析工具來發揮和領導幫助我們決定應該如何構建以及這可能如何影響我們未來的營運支出。

Great. And then just one question around kind of I guess IT and the things that you're investing in, what are you seeing from competitors because there is sort of M&A within the space. I'm curious how you would read yourself what you're hearing from your customers in terms of.

偉大的。然後有一個問題，我想是 IT 和你正在投資的東西，你從競爭對手那裡看到了什麼，因為這個領域有某種併購。我很好奇你會如何解讀你從客戶那裡聽到的內容。

Well, this would position you competitively. Are there specific areas where maybe you were behind and you're catching up? I know you mentioned some AI investments, things like that. How to help where do you think you'll end up from a competitor perspective? And what are you seeing in the marketplace?

嗯，這將使你具有競爭力。是否有一些特定領域您可能落後但正在迎頭趕上？我知道你提到了一些像人工智慧投資之類的事情。從競爭對手的角度來看，您認為自己最終會走向何方，如何提供幫助？您在市場上看到了什麼？

Yes. I mean some obviously number two and number three competitors have come together on won't speculate on sort of what their plans are as far as their integration and how that goes on. I will say that historically. And even obviously today, we've had very strong technology, especially in our retail merchandising space as it relates to deploying labor and in a very precise way that can demonstrate meaningful demand generation in the market. And we're in we're building on that.

是的。我的意思是，一些顯然排名第二和第三的競爭對手已經走到了一起，不會猜測他們的計劃是什麼，以及他們的整合以及如何進行。我會從歷史角度說。即使在今天，我們也擁有非常強大的技術，特別是在我們的零售銷售領域，因為它涉及勞動力​​的部署，並且以非常精確的方式可以證明市場上有意義的需求生成。我們正在以此為基礎。

And so I'd say a lot of our investment has been on and we were open about it in the first half as it relates to ERP and well call foundational systems that we needed on to just modernize and I'm doing a similar in the HR space, given the vast number of people we're dealing with and the the advancements that have occurred within HR operating systems just overall as an industry kind of allows us to but to capitalize on that to better manage and more efficiently manage our large labor pool.

因此，我想說我們已經進行了大量投資，並且我們在上半年對此持開放態度，因為它與 ERP 相關，並且我們需要現代化的基礎系統，我正在做類似的事情人力資源空間，考慮到我們正在處理的大量人員以及人力資源操作系統內發生的進步，作為一個行業，我們只能利用這一點來更好地管理和更有效地管理我們的大量勞動力水池。

And then Guy is very exciting. We're working with a number of partners we've developed our own a competency center. We've used AI in the past. We're going to be using and things like contract management, which will help us both query contracts when necessary, but also be a little more consistent in how we contract and more efficient in the process of contracting.

然後蓋伊非常興奮。我們與許多合作夥伴合作，開發了自己的能力中心。我們過去使用過人工智慧。我們將使用諸如合約管理之類的東西，這將幫助我們在必要時查詢合同，而且使我們的合約方式更加一致，並且在合約過程中更加高效。

You can imagine we have one thousands per year that we're generating from reduced. We're using in HR workflows internally. I mean, we've been using it in the routing of labor, and they're doing so I'd say at a more advanced level as we look forward. So those are just a few examples in my vision.

你可以想像我們每年可以透過減少產生數千個。我們在內部人力資源工作流程中使用。我的意思是，我們一直在勞動力路線中使用它，我想說，正如我們所期望的那樣，他們正在更高級地這樣做。這些只是我願景中的幾個例子。

Our vision is to expand on that dramatically. I think I can be a real differentiator for businesses like ours when you're dealing with significant number of hours, tens of millions of labor hours and large data sets and helping drive efficiency within the business.

我們的願景是大幅擴展這一目標。我認為，當您處理大量時間、數千萬工時和大型資料集並幫助提高企業效率時，我可以成為像我們這樣的企業的真正差異化因素。

Great. Thank you so much.

偉大的。太感謝了。

Tyler Pierce, BNP Paribas.

泰勒·皮爾斯，法國巴黎銀行。

Good morning, Dave and Chris. Just just a quick one for me. I'm looking through your slide deck here. There's mention of share repurchases. And I think this is the first time that I'm seeing this being mentioned in recent history. Obviously, the focus has been on deleveraging, but just want to understand if any priorities have changed just given where your stock is trading at?

早上好，戴夫和克里斯。對我來說只是一個快速的。我正在瀏覽你的幻燈片。其中提到了股票回購。我認為這是我在近代歷史中第一次看到這一點被提及。顯然，重點是去槓桿化，但只是想了解考慮到您的股票交易價格是否有任何優先事項發生變化？

Yes, hi, it's Chris. I can address that. We have been repurchasing shares since the latter part of last year. And the intent and we'll continue with that is really around the dilution related to incentive awards that we give to our employees. So therefore, this is look, we've got an overlying overarching view on our stock price and our valuation, which is giving us the confidence to continue to buy shares here.

是的，嗨，我是克里斯。我可以解決這個問題。我們從去年下半年開始就一直在回購股票。我們將繼續這樣做的目的實際上是圍繞與我們給予員工的激勵獎勵相關的稀釋。因此，我們對我們的股價和估值有了一個總體的看法，這讓我們有信心繼續在這裡購買股票。

But the intent is to just limit dilution front it's from incentive awards to our employees. So you saw some share repurchase that occurred even into July. And I think beyond that, we'll be continuing to monitor the market and expectations I'd also want to reiterate, though, that we've got a lot of cash come in the door related to divestures that we'll be using mostly for debt reduction.

但目的只是限制股權稀釋，也就是對員工的激勵獎勵。所以你看到一些股票回購甚至持續到了七月。我認為除此之外，我們將繼續監控市場和預期，但我也想重申，我們已經獲得了大量與剝離相關的現金，我們將主要使用這些現金以減少債務。

And so I think that's the intent is to be a little little bit more focused on that and continue to balance that against investments we make in the business a little share repurchase and then continue to reduce our debt. We've got 3.5 times leverage still in our sights here.

因此，我認為我們的目的是要更加關注這一點，並繼續平衡我們在業務中進行的投資，即少量股票回購，然後繼續減少我們的債務。我們的目標仍然是 3.5 倍槓桿。

Great. Thank you. I just that there's a little change in the language within your release, I believe you before it's said majority of it cash from the divestiture would be used for debt paydown. And I think you might have said most in today's release. So just wanted to see if there is any intent with the change language and if that could have implied more cash being used for share purchases but I think that answers it.

偉大的。謝謝。我只是說你的新聞稿中的語言有一點變化，我相信你之前說過剝離的大部分現金將用於償還債務。我想您可能在今天的新聞稿中說了最多的話。所以只是想看看改變語言是否有任何意圖，以及這是否意味著更多的現金被用於股票購買，但我認為這回答了問題。

Yes. I think the other way around is this, if you see most there and not only that there's really no incentive to change there is we're focused on debt reduction largely so.

是的。我認為反過來是這樣的，如果你看到大多數，不僅是真的沒有動力去改變，而且我們很大程度上專注於減少債務。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I want to turn the floor back over to Dave Peacock for closing comments.

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題。我想將發言權交還給戴夫·皮科克（Dave Peacock）以供結束評論。

Thank you, [Madison]. We appreciate your time this morning and your interest in advanced solutions. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the coming months. We will attend the Canaccord Growth Conference next week on August 13, in Boston, and look forward to connecting with you there again. Thanks for your time today.

謝謝你，[麥迪遜]。我們感謝您今天早上的時間以及您對高級解決方案的興趣。我們期待在未來幾個月向您通報我們的最新進展。我們將於下週 8 月 13 日在波士頓參加 Canaccord 成長會議，並期待再次與您聯繫。感謝您今天抽出時間。

Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。