Advantage Solutions Inc (ADV) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to the Advantage Solutions third quarter, 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) This conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Advantage Solutions 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）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)。謝謝你，魯本。你可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Welcome to Advantage Solutions third 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.

謝謝你，接線生。歡迎參加 Advantage Solutions 第三季財報電話會議。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。在此通話期間，管理階層可能會做出聯邦證券法意義內的前瞻性聲明。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. The company does not undertake any duty to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

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，其中包括公司向 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。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。

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. This call is being webcast and a recording will also be available on the company's investor relations website.

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。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。

During the prepared remarks, we will refer to a presentation which can be found in the events and presentations section of the IR website. As a reminder, unless otherwise stated, the financial results discussed today will be from continuing operations.

在準備發言期間，我們將參考 IR 網站的活動和簡報部分中的簡報。提醒一下，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 would like to turn the call over to Dave Peacock.

現在我想把電話轉給戴夫·皮科克。

Thanks, Ruben, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Our discussion this morning will center on the third quarter results and outlook for the year, how we are expanding our relationships with clients, and the progress we are making on our transformation journey.

謝謝魯本，大家早安，謝謝您加入我們。今天早上我們的討論將集中在第三季業績和全年展望、我們如何擴大與客戶的關係以及我們在轉型之旅中取得的進展。

We are pleased with our results in the third quarter. On an organic year over year basis, excluding the deconsolidation of the European JV and pass through costs, revenues increased approximately 2% to $802 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 8% to $101 million. We remain committed to delivering our guidance for the year.

我們對第三季的業績感到滿意。與去年同期相比，不包括歐洲合資企業的分拆和轉嫁成本，營收成長約 2% 至 8.02 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 成長 8% 至 1.01 億美元。我們仍然致力於提供今年的指導。

Experiential services and retailer services delivered healthy performance, resulting in revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth. A timing benefit from the fourth quarter partly drove their results. In branded services, we continue to navigate the impacts of a challenging consumer environment for our clients while managing costs and leveraging new tools and technology to enhance our sales and merchandising effectiveness.

體驗式服務和零售商服務實現了健康的業績，帶來了收入和調整後 EBITDA 的成長。第四季的時機優勢在一定程度上推動了他們的業績。在品牌服務方面，我們繼續應對充滿挑戰的消費環境對客戶的影響，同時管理成本並利用新工具和技術來提高我們的銷售和推銷效率。

Advantage is positioned squarely at the intersection of brands and retail, with a diverse mix of capabilities, unique insights, and connectivity to help our clients increase profitable sales regardless of market conditions.

優勢正好位於品牌和零售的交叉點，具有多樣化的功能組合、獨特的見解和連接性，可以幫助我們的客戶無論市場狀況如何，都可以增加獲利銷售。

Our scale in managing over 70,000 dedicated teammates who serve more than 100,000 retail locations nationwide creates a network effect for greater speed, agility, and precision to the critical services that fuel growth for brands and retailers.

我們管理超過 70,000 名敬業的團隊成員，為全國 100,000 多個零售點提供服務，從而形成網路效應，提高關鍵服務的速度、敏捷性和精確度，從而推動品牌和零售商的成長。

Through our transformation initiatives, we are further differentiating our client solutions through technology and analytics while enhancing cost effectiveness regardless of economic circumstances. We are confident this will increase the resilience of our operating performance and drive better outcomes for our 4,000 strong client base.

透過我們的轉型舉措，我們透過技術和分析進一步使我們的客戶解決方案脫穎而出，同時無論經濟狀況如何，都提高成本效益。我們相信，這將提高我們經營績效的彈性，並為我們 4,000 名強大的客戶群帶來更好的成果。

The largest of them have been with us, on average, for more than 15 years and have a 95% retention rate over time. During the quarter, we continued to grow our client roster and expand Advantage's service offerings with existing clients. We did this across both core and adjacent services while also expanding into new market categories and channels.

其中最大的員工在我們工作的平均時間超過 15 年，隨著時間的推移，留任率高達 95%。本季度，我們持續擴大客戶名冊，並擴大 Advantage 為現有客戶提供的服務範圍。我們在核心服務和相關服務中都做到了這一點，同時也擴展到新的市場類別和管道。

Starting with retailer services, we aim to better utilize our labor to improve profit growth and margins with our full suite of services with existing clients and adding new clients by expanding into adjacent market segments with our core offerings.

從零售商服務開始，我們的目標是更好地利用我們的勞動力，透過我們為現有客戶提供的全套服務來提高利潤成長和利潤率，並透過我們的核心產品擴展到相鄰的細分市場來增加新客戶。

During the quarter, we expanded our services with a national grocery chain where we have been providing merchandising services by adding store remodels and adjacent offering through our trade services team. Trade services represents an expansion of our core capabilities providing in-store construction and build-out to bring physical shopping experience to life.

在本季度，我們透過全國性雜貨連鎖店擴展了我們的服務，透過我們的貿易服務團隊添加商店改造和相鄰產品，我們一直在該連鎖店提供商品銷售服務。貿易服務代表了我們核心能力的擴展，提供店內建設和擴建，將實體購物體驗帶入生活。

In the last seven months, we built the interior store fixtures at 65 new locations including the grocer's first small format store which opened this year in New York City. The team also helped to expand the grocer's North American footprint by building its first physical store in Canada.

在過去 7 個月中，我們在 65 個新地點建造了商店內部設施，其中包括今年在紐約市開業的這家雜貨店的第一家小型商店。該團隊還透過在加拿大建立第一家實體店來幫助擴大該雜貨商在北美的足跡。

We are also expanding our private brand services beyond the grocery market where we enjoy a very high relative market share into faster growing channels like value, C-stores, and mass to enhance growth. We recently signed an agreement with a national chain of convenience stores.

我們也將自有品牌服務擴展到雜貨市場之外，我們在食品雜貨市場享有很高的相對市場份額，進入快速成長的管道，如價值店、便利商店和大眾商店，以促進成長。我們最近與一家全國連鎖便利商店簽署了一項協議。

Our services will include optimizing what they stock, reducing their operational costs, and developing a best-in-class private brand program. We're confident in our ability to deliver on this initial scope of work which will set the stage to further develop our relationship moving forward.

我們的服務將包括優化他們的庫存、降低營運成本以及開發一流的自有品牌計劃。我們對完成這項初步工作範圍充滿信心，這將為進一步發展我們的關係奠定基礎。

Turning to experiential services, our goal is to continue to enhance our execution against growing demand for in-store events which helps cover fixed costs and drive efficiencies. We are also growing our low-labor direct-to-home sampling which comes with a high margin and an attractive market as consumers continue to utilize online solutions for shopping.

談到體驗式服務，我們的目標是繼續增強我們的執行力，以滿足不斷增長的店內活動需求，這有助於支付固定成本並提高效率。我們也正在增加低勞動力的直接到家樣品，隨著消費者繼續使用線上解決方案進行購物，這種樣品具有高利潤和有吸引力的市場。

These efforts enable sampling for online shopping and drive traffic to brick and mortar stores. We recently signed an agreement with a major department store to support their fragrance team for the upcoming holiday season.

這些努力使網上購物能夠進行抽樣，並增加實體店的客流量。我們最近與一家大型百貨公司簽署了一項協議，為他們的香水團隊為即將到來的假期提供支援。

Furthermore, we are collaborating with them on a creative and production strategy for a fragrance kit launch in the spring. Lastly, one of our goals in branded services is to accelerate cross-selling with existing clients to solve their challenges.

此外，我們正在與他們合作制定春季推出的香水套件的創意和生產策略。最後，我們品牌服務的目標之一是加速與現有客戶的交叉銷售，以解決他們的挑戰。

We expanded our relationship with a startup energy beverage company in the better for you category by adding several services including headquarter sales and the convenience channel, e-commerce, and order to cash.

我們透過增加總部銷售和便利管道、電子商務和訂單兌現等多項服務，擴大了與一家「為您更美好」類別的新創能量飲料公司的關係。

Another opportunity was with a beauty company where we expanded our services from supporting their Amazon business to collaborating with them on headquarter sales in Canada. It's early days, but we are discovering more and more opportunities to cross-sell our capabilities within branded services and in the marketing and selling of our interconnected capabilities across all three business segments.

另一個機會是與一家美容公司合作，我們將服務範圍從支持他們的亞馬遜業務擴展到與他們在加拿大總部的銷售合作。現在還處於早期階段，但我們正在發現越來越多的機會來交叉銷售我們在品牌服務中的能力以及在所有三個業務部門的互聯能力的營銷和銷售中。

Turning to an update on our transformation. We have taken significant actions to simplify the business, streamline processes, and improve financial discipline. Our progress is rooted in focusing on where we have a right to win.

轉向我們轉型的最新情況。我們採取了重大行動來簡化業務、簡化流程並改善財務紀律。我們的進步植根於專注於我們有權獲勝的領域。

This includes strengthening our core competitive advantages in areas like headquarter selling, retail merchandising, sampling, and other areas of support that we provide to our clients and customers. We are modernizing technology and forming strategic collaborations to enhance scale and productivity.

這包括加強我們在總部銷售、零售銷售、樣品以及我們為客戶和消費者提供的其他支援領域的核心競爭優勢。我們正在實現技術現代化並形成策略合作，以提高規模和生產力。

This allows us to serve our clients while being nimble in addressing a changing market. We are clarifying and simplifying our offerings and further unifying our marketing approach to support lead generation, cross-selling, and upselling. Core to our transformation is improving operating efficiency.

這使我們能夠為客戶提供服務，同時靈活應對不斷變化的市場。我們正在澄清和簡化我們的產品，並進一步統一我們的行銷方法，以支援潛在客戶開發、交叉銷售和追加銷售。我們轉型的核心是提高營運效率。

We are making progress on company wide IT initiatives such as ERP replacement, modernizing cybersecurity, migration to the cloud, and investing in a data lake for enhanced analytics and a full utilization of AI where applicable to support our strategy.

我們正在全公司範圍內的 IT 計劃上取得進展，例如 ERP 更換、網路安全現代化、遷移到雲端、投資資料湖以增強分析以及在適用的情況下充分利用人工智慧來支援我們的策略。

To date, we have upgraded several IT systems through Tata Consultancy Services to support the tools our frontline teammates use to serve clients, ultimately saving time and costs.

到目前為止，我們已經透過塔塔諮詢服務升級了多個 IT 系統，以支援我們的第一線團隊成員為客戶服務所使用的工具，最終節省了時間和成本。

We are partnering with IBM to outsource procurement in the areas with the biggest savings opportunities, leveraging their expertise while maintaining vendor quality. We are collaborating with established and emerging technology companies to equip our branded and retailer services teams with modern tools like image recognition, shelf-level intelligence, and proprietary planogram technology.

我們正在與 IBM 合作，在具有最大節省機會的領域外包採購，利用他們的專業知識，同時保持供應商品質。我們正在與成熟和新興技術公司合作，為我們的品牌和零售商服務團隊配備圖像識別、貨架級智慧和專有貨架圖技術等現代化工具。

These efforts not only drive efficiencies, but also free up time to help brands and retailers capitalize on growth opportunities. Our market position and tech tools give us a unique vantage point on the industry. We have access to performance insights at multiple levels down to the retailer, location, aisle and shelf.

這些努力不僅提高了效率，還騰出了時間來幫助品牌和零售商利用成長機會。我們的市場地位和技術工具使我們在行業中擁有獨特的優勢。我們可以深入了解零售商、地點、走道和貨架等多個層面的績效洞察。

Our teams visualize data-driven strategies with tools like Power BI to share a comprehensive view of the market, including distribution, pricing, and the impact of promotions. With our reach and relationships, we can translate those real-time insights into action faster and at scale in ways competitive models cannot.

我們的團隊使用 Power BI 等工具視覺化資料驅動策略，以分享市場的全面視圖，包括分銷、定價和促銷的影響。憑藉我們的影響力和關係，我們可以將這些即時洞察更快、更大規模地轉化為行動，這是競爭模型無法做到的。

We are actively prioritizing AI use cases in contract management, routing merchandisers, HR workflow, sales tools, and analysis of large data sets. We are also exploring potential partnerships and third-party vendors to provide AI platforms and applications at a larger scale and a faster rate of adoption. Another area of focus for our transformation is the digital shopping experience.

我們正在積極優先考慮合約管理、路由採購員、人力資源工作流程、銷售工具和大數據集分析中的人工智慧用例。我們也正在探索潛在的合作夥伴和第三方供應商，以更大規模和更快的採用速度提供人工智慧平台和應用程式。我們轉型的另一個重點領域是數位購物體驗。

We are elevating our omnichannel capabilities across all three segments to offer retailers scalable and targeted omnichannel solutions that connect the dots for clients and create value at scale. We are partnering with technology firms that are leaders in providing CPGs and retailers with the tools to reach those consumers.

我們正在提升我們在所有三個細分市場的全通路能力，為零售商提供可擴展且有針對性的全通路解決方案，為客戶連接各個點並大規模創造價值。我們正在與科技公司合作，這些公司在為快速消費品和零售商提供接觸這些消費者的工具方面處於領先地位。

This is a great opportunity for us to bridge online activity to drive traffic in the stores with a workforce that can execute on the ground at scale, like physically placing promos and signage to help brands break through and drive conversion at the shelf where the consumer decision is made at the point of sale.

對我們來說，這是一個很好的機會，可以將線上活動與能夠在現場大規模執行的員工隊伍聯繫起來，以增加商店的客流量，例如實際放置促銷品和標牌，以幫助品牌突破並推動消費者決策的貨架上的轉換。

To conclude, we are working closely with our clients to meet their needs as they address meaningful changes in consumer behavior. We are doing this by focusing on where we provide the most differentiated capabilities and where we can drive consistent results through improved processes and technologies enabled by our transformation.

總而言之，我們正在與客戶密切合作，以滿足他們的需求，因為他們應對消費者行為的有意義的變化。為此，我們專注於提供最具差異化的能力，以及透過轉型帶來的改進流程和技術來推動一致的結果。

We remain on track to deliver against our previously stated guidance for the year, which is a testament to our teammates hard work.

我們仍然有望實現之前提出的今年指導目標，這證明了我們的隊友的辛勤工作。

With that, I will now pass the call over to Chris for his insights into our financial performance.

現在，我將把電話轉給克里斯，詢問他對我們財務表現的見解。

Thank you, Dave, and welcome to all of you joining the call today. As a reminder, I will discuss our performance excluding pass-through costs and the deconsolidation of the European JV. We delivered favorable results in the third quarter, featuring a consistent performance in our retailer and experiential services segments and tight control of our costs.

謝謝戴夫，歡迎大家今天加入電話會議。作為提醒，我將討論我們的業績，不包括轉嫁成本和歐洲合資企業的分拆。我們在第三季取得了良好的業績，零售和體驗服務領域表現穩定，成本控制嚴格。

While we did have a shift in the timing of some activities from the fourth quarter to the third quarter, benefiting experiential and retailer services, the underlying performance of the business was solid.

雖然我們確實將一些活動的時間從第四季度轉移到了第三季度，這有利於體驗式和零售服務，但業務的基本表現依然穩健。

Revenues for branded services declined 4% to $283 million. The weaker environment for CPG companies and retailers impacted the revenue performance, although activity did increase sequentially due to the seasonality of client orders.

品牌服務收入下降 4% 至 2.83 億美元。儘管由於客戶訂單的季節性，活動確實有所增加，但消費品公司和零售商的疲軟環境影響了收入表現。

Our results demonstrated an improvement in overall execution and cost management efforts, but resulted in a 4% decline in adjusted EBITDA to $49 million. Experiential services increased revenues by 12% to $254 million. Adjusted EBITDA grew 41% to $23 million. These favorable results were driven by continued strong client demand for our services as events per day increased year over year by 11%.

我們的結果顯示整體執行和成本管理工作有所改善，但導致調整後 EBITDA 下降 4% 至 4,900 萬美元。體驗式服務收入成長 12%，達到 2.54 億美元。調整後 EBITDA 成長 41%，達到 2,300 萬美元。這些良好的業績得益於客戶對我們服務的持續強勁需求，每天的活動量比去年同期增加了 11%。

Revenues for retailer services increased 2% to $265 million driven by increased activity for merchandising services. Our focus on efficient execution regarding management of talent deployment and overall costs drove an 11% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $29 million.

由於銷售服務活動增加，零售服務收入成長 2%，達到 2.65 億美元。我們注重人才部署和整體成本管理的高效執行，推動調整後 EBITDA 成長 11%，達到 2,900 萬美元。

Moving to our balance sheet. During the quarter, we voluntarily repurchased approximately $80 million of notes and term loan debt at attractive discounts. As of September 30, our total funded debt outstanding was approximately $1.7 billion, with nearly 91% of our debt hedged or at fixed interest rates.

轉向我們的資產負債表。本季度，我們以極具吸引力的折扣自願回購了約 8,000 萬美元的票據和定期貸款債務。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的未償債務總額約為 17 億美元，其中近 91% 的債務進行對沖或採用固定利率。

Because of lower debt and reduced term loan pricing, we expect full year interest expense to be $150 million to $160 million, a $5 million reduction from the prior guidance. Our net leverage ratio, including discontinued operations, was approximately 4 times adjusted EBITDA.

由於債務減少和定期貸款定價降低，我們預計全年利息支出為 1.5 億至 1.6 億美元，比先前的指導減少 500 萬美元。我們的淨槓桿率（包括已終止經營業務）約為調整後 EBITDA 的 4 倍。

During the quarter, we used approximately $13 million of cash to repurchase 3.5 million shares to take advantage of what we believe is an undervalued stock price and to offset employee incentive related dilution. We continue to assess the timing and scope of our transformation projects to optimize spending.

本季度，我們使用約 1,300 萬美元現金回購 350 萬股股票，以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。我們持續評估轉型專案的時間和範圍，以優化支出。

As a result, total capital expenditures through the year's first nine months were approximately $50 million. Given the current spending trend, we expect to end the year around the lower end of the $65 million to $80 million of guidance range.

因此，今年前 9 個月的資本支出總額約為 5,000 萬美元。鑑於目前的支出趨勢，我們預計今年年底的支出將在 6,500 萬美元至 8,000 萬美元的指導範圍下限左右。

We generated approximately $69 million in adjusted unlevered free cash flow in the third quarter, or 67% of adjusted EBITDA, inclusive of discontinued operations. The drivers for the favorable cash conversion included a reduction in DSOs through better working capital management and lower than planned CapEx.

第三季度，我們產生了約 6,900 萬美元的調整後無槓桿自由現金流，佔調整後 EBITDA 的 67%（包括已終止經營業務）。有利的現金轉換的驅動因素包括透過更好的營運資本管理和低於計劃的資本支出來減少 DSO。

We have a clear line of sight to end the year with low single digit revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth from continuing operations. We expect the fourth quarter to have a year over year increase in adjusted EBITDA similar to the third quarter, partly due to the timing shift I mentioned earlier.

我們有一個清晰的目標，即在年底實現低個位數的收入，並透過持續營運實現調整後的 EBITDA 成長。我們預計第四季度調整後 EBITDA 將年成長，與第三季類似，部分原因是我之前提到的時間變化。

We maintain our expectations for adjusted unlevered free cash flow conversion towards the upper end of the 55% to 65% range, including discontinued operations. We ended the quarter with approximately $196 million of cash. Because of the investments this year, organizational changes to transform the business and our cash needs, we continue to expect to generate minimal excess cash in 2024.

我們維持調整後的無槓桿自由現金流轉換率達到 55% 至 65% 範圍上限的預期，包括已終止的業務。本季結束時，我們擁有約 1.96 億美元的現金。由於今年的投資、為實現業務轉型而進行的組織變革以及我們的現金需求，我們仍預計 2024 年將產生最低程度的過剩現金。

Thank you for your time. I will 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. Our long term success will come from our 70,000 dedicated and passionate teammates. We are grateful for their efforts to do more as a strategic partner for our clients. We remain optimistic about delivering on our operating plan for the year and staying focused on meeting the needs of our clients as they navigate shifting consumer behavior.

謝謝，克里斯。我們的長期成功將來自於我們 70,000 名敬業且熱情的團隊成員。我們感謝他們作為我們客戶的策略夥伴所做的更多努力。我們對實現今年的營運計畫保持樂觀，並持續專注於滿足客戶在消費者行為轉變過程中的需求。

At the same time, we continue to advance the initiatives that will enhance our capabilities as a unified company, leveraging our full potential.

同時，我們繼續推進各項舉措，以增強我們作為統一公司的能力，充分發揮我們的潛力。

We will now take your questions. Operator?

我們現在將回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Pallav Saini, Canaccord.

帕拉夫·塞尼，Canaccord。

Good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe the first one on the macro, David, maybe you can shed some light on how your clients in the branded segment are thinking about next year. Any change in sentiment there relative to last quarter?

早安.感謝您回答我們的問題。也許是宏觀的第一個，大衛，也許你可以闡明你在品牌領域的客戶對明年的看法。與上季相比，市場情緒有何變化？

Thanks for the question. Yeah, I think, we're not obviously providing any guidance for 2025. I think, clearly, you've seen macro environment probably a little tougher on the consumer on average. As we work with our clients, you can imagine it's a little bit of a mixed bag because we cross just about every category in the store.

謝謝你的提問。是的，我認為，我們顯然沒有為 2025 年提供任何指導。我認為，顯然，您已經看到宏觀環境對消費者的平均影響可能會更加嚴峻。當我們與客戶合作時，您可以想像這是一個魚龍混雜的情況，因為我們幾乎涵蓋了商店中的每個類別。

And so different categories are kind of experiencing different realities, whether they're a premium brand or a value brand. You're continuing to see growth in units among in the private label space. And kind of flat to a slight decline in the national brand space broadly. But then, like I said, there's different realities across different categories.

因此，不同的類別正在經歷不同的現實，無論它們是高端品牌還是價值品牌。您將繼續看到自有品牌領域的銷售成長。全國品牌空間整體持平至略有下降。但正如我所說，不同類別有不同的現實。

That being said, I would say that the recent economic data that came out on the third quarter relative to GDP growth probably gives people some optimism that the consumer is a little more resilient than maybe anticipated. And that may create a little more of an optimistic view as you get into '25 more broadly in the consumer space.

話雖這麼說，我想說的是，最近第三季公佈的相對於 GDP 成長的經濟數據可能會讓人們感到樂觀，認為消費者的彈性比預期的要強一些。當您更廣泛地進入 25 世紀消費領域時，這可能會產生更多的樂觀看法。

But as you get into the first half of '25, I think people are still being cautiously optimistic relative to kind of a full recovery of consumer.

但進入 25 年上半年，我認為人們仍然對消費者的全面復甦持謹慎樂觀態度。

That's great color. Thank you. And on experiential, it's good to see the solid growth there. Is it performing in line with your expectations or is it outperforming at this point? And would you say that the activity there is back to the pre-pandemic levels? Any thoughts there?

那顏色真棒。謝謝。從經驗來看，很高興看到那裡的穩健成長。目前它的表現符合您的預期還是超乎您的預期？您是否認為那裡的活動回到了大流行前的水平？有什麼想法嗎？

Yeah, so I'd say that they're outperforming a little bit of, right, what we expected going into the year. They -- and it's a combination it's really, really strong execution. There has obviously been recovery, but we're really moving past recovery into what I'd call sort of a sequential growth within this phase. There's still room for recovery with certain clients who are clients of that service.

是的，所以我想說他們的表現比我們今年的預期要好一些。他們——這是一個非常非常強大的組合。顯然已經出現了復甦，但我們確實正在超越復甦，進入我所說的這一階段內的連續增長。對於某些使用該服務的客戶來說，仍有恢復的空間。

But some of our larger clients, they're largely back to recovery and performing in some cases ahead of where they had been pre-pandemic. The key for that business really is the events per day, which I know Chris spoke about. That's such a key driver in helping cover fixed costs within that business and in serving as the volume indicators to demand for the service.

但我們的一些較大客戶，他們基本上已經恢復到正常水平，並且在某些情況下的表現比疫情前的水平還要早。該業務的關鍵實際上是每天的事件，我知道克里斯談到這一點。這是幫助支付該業務內的固定成本以及作為服務需求量指標的關鍵驅動因素。

I'll just add one quick point to that. For experiential, we are still not back to that 2019 level, but we're definitely making good progress towards that and intend to continue to see that, as Dave said, with events per day growing.

我只想簡單地補充一點。就體驗而言，我們仍然沒有回到 2019 年的水平，但我們肯定在這方面取得了良好的進展，並打算繼續看到這一點，正如戴夫所說，隨著每天的活動數量不斷增加。

We also talked about a little bit of a pull forward, a little bit of effect on Q3 from Q4. I mean, you do all your planning by segment and for events, and those can shift a little bit from time to time. So there's a little bit of element of that. And then just underneath that, as Dave said, a really good performance in the business. And you're seeing that sort of leverage in the business as we rebuild on the events.

我們也討論了第四季對第三季的一點影響。我的意思是，您按分段和事件進行所有計劃，並且這些計劃可能會不時發生一些變化。所以有一點點因素。正如戴夫所說，在此之下，業務表現非常出色。當我們根據事件進行重建時，您會看到業務中的這種槓桿作用。

Great. Thanks for that color, Chris and Dave. And just the last one from us, any update on what you're seeing on the wage front and your expectations for the rest of the year?

偉大的。謝謝克里斯和戴夫提供的這種顏色。這是我們的最後一個消息，您對工資方面的看法以及對今年剩餘時間的期望有什麼最新消息嗎？

Yeah, wages are still -- wage growth is a little more inflated above, what I'd call historic norms, but it's coming back to that level. I'd say that there's a little slack in the labor market. I think for us, our focus, frankly, is on getting better utilization of our existing labor.

是的，工資仍然——工資增長略高於我所說的歷史標準，但它正在回到那個水平。我想說的是，勞動市場有些疲軟。坦白說，我認為對我們來說，我們的重點是更好地利用我們現有的勞動力。

We talked about it in our prepared remarks, but we have an opportunity to get more hours for our teammates if we just manage our task assignments and routing a little better. That may ultimately result in less hires down the road, but more kind of hours worked, if you will.

我們在準備好的發言中談到了這一點，但如果我們更好地管理我們的任務分配和路線，我們就有機會為我們的隊友爭取更多的時間。如果你願意的話，這最終可能會導致員工數量減少，但工作時間會增加。

So one thing we do is track labor hours pretty closely. And I don't anticipate a change in that because the more labor hours we have demanded for our services, that means we're growing our business. But if we're managing our business properly, we can utilize the labor we have more efficiently.

因此，我們做的一件事就是密切追蹤勞動時間。我預計這種情況不會發生變化，因為我們的服務所需的勞動時間越多，這意味著我們的業務正在成長。但如果我們正確管理我們的業務，我們就可以更有效地利用我們所擁有的勞動力。

Great. Thanks for the color.

偉大的。謝謝你的顏色。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Greg Parrish, Morgan Stanley.

格雷格·帕里什，摩根士丹利。

Hey, guys, good morning. Congrats on the result. I guess, it's been a few months now since two competitors in the market came together. I guess, have you seen any impact on your business from a competition standpoint? And maybe from a higher level, do you think there could be impact over time, if at all, if you can comment on that?

嘿，夥計們，早安。恭喜結果。我想，市場上的兩個競爭對手走到一起已經有幾個月了。我想，從競爭的角度來看，您是否看到過對您的業務產生的任何影響？也許從更高的層面來看，您認為隨著時間的推移，是否會產生影響（如果有的話），您能否對此發表評論？

Yeah, thanks, Greg. At this point, I wouldn't say there's any specific impact. The transaction obviously closed. I won't speculate or do anything that would provide guidance for 2025, but I can say that, like a lot of consumer products companies, a lot of businesses right now, I'm sure they're going to go through their period of integration and what have you.

是的，謝謝，格雷格。目前，我不會說有任何具體影響。交易顯然已結束。我不會猜測或做任何為 2025 年提供指導的事情，但我可以說，就像許多消費品公司、現在的許多企業一樣，我確信他們將經歷他們的時期整合以及你有什麼。

So does that provide an opportunity? That's to anybody's speculation. But we're not seeing anything specific within the business as a byproduct of that combination right now.

那麼這是否提供了機會？這是任何人的猜測。但我們目前並沒有看到該業務中任何具體的東西作為這種組合的副產品。

Got you. Okay. So on pricing here and labor, I guess you've talked in the past, being as aggressive as you can on pricing, and it was great to hear in the last question that a little more slack in the labor market. Maybe talk about that spread between labor and pricing, right, where is it today?

明白你了。好的。因此，關於這裡的定價和勞動力，我想您過去已經說過，在定價方面盡可能激進，很高興在最後一個問題中聽到勞動力市場更加寬鬆。也許談談勞動力和價格之間的差距，對吧，今天在哪裡？

And if that spread persists, do you think there could be maybe other client exits? Or do you think that's tight enough now where you're sort of near equilibrium? Maybe just flesh that out a little bit.

如果這種傳播持續下去，您認為可能會有其他客戶退出嗎？或者你認為現在已經夠緊，接近平衡了嗎？也許只是充實一點。

Yeah, I mean, I'd say that we continue to have success and I think a lot of our clients are understanding the labor environment more and more. We've talked about this in past calls that, if you look back, we may not make up for all the wage inflation that was experienced within our business over the last, call it three years, with pricing actions near term, but we're getting closer to equilibrium as wage inflation moderates a bit and we're able to take, again, with fair pricing.

是的，我的意思是，我想說我們繼續取得成功，我認為我們的許多客戶越來越了解勞動力環境。我們在過去的電話會議中談到過這一點，如果你回頭看，我們可能無法彌補過去（稱之為三年）我們業務中經歷的所有工資通脹，近期的定價行動，但我們'隨著工資通膨有所緩和，我們正在接近均衡，並且我們能夠再次接受公平定價。

I mean, at the end of the day, we provide a service to our clients and customers and that has to come with a value and an ROI and so we can achieve that in a number of different ways, and part of it is are we driving an ROI that justifies the price.

我的意思是，歸根結底，我們為客戶和客戶提供服務，並且必須具有價值和投資回報率，因此我們可以透過多種不同的方式實現這一目標，其中一部分是我們提高投資回報率，證明價格合理。

But also are we managing as efficiently as possible and frankly, making sure that we're leveraging the cost per labor hour as well, not just the wage inflation, because there are things you can do from a productivity standpoint if it can help you mitigate some of that wage inflation as well, so that's one of the areas of focus for us.

但我們是否盡可能有效率、坦率地進行管理，確保我們也利用每工時的成本，而不僅僅是工資通膨，因為從生產力的角度來看，如果可以幫助您緩解壓力，您可以做一些事情一些工資上漲也是如此，所以這是我們關注的領域之一。

Hey, Greg, I might just add that if you look at whether it's this quarter or the year to date period, two of your labor heavy businesses, like retail and experiential, perform pretty well, so I think that's just a good indication of our management of pricing overall, management of our labor hours, our mix of businesses.

嘿，格雷格，我想補充一點，如果您看看本季度還是今年迄今為止，您的兩個勞動力密集型業務（例如零售和體驗業務）表現相當不錯，所以我認為這很好地表明了我們的整體定價管理、勞動時間管理、業務組合管理。

This gets to Dave's point, that we're trying to manage this, again, not necessarily looking backwards, but just in the environment we're in, I think we're doing a good job of managing those labor hours, the pricing and then the ultimate sort of margin benefit from that.

這觸及了戴夫的觀點，我們再次嘗試管理這個問題，不一定要回顧過去，但只是在我們所處的環境中，我認為我們在管理這些勞動時間、定價和那麼最終的利潤就會從中受益。

Okay, great. Thanks for the color. And then maybe lastly, talk about promotions, maybe on the rise here. You've talked about this in the past as well, but maybe flesh it out again, some of the puts and takes across the business, and with the new segment reporting, I think might be helpful.

好的，太好了。謝謝你的顏色。也許最後，談談促銷，也許這裡正在上升。您過去也談到過這一點，但也許再次充實一下，整個業務中的一些看跌期權和支出，以及新的分部報告，我認為可能會有所幫助。

Just the net impact of promotions and kind of if that rises, is that potentially a tailwind and sort of what's the net impact across the business?

只是促銷的淨影響，如果這種影響上升，這是否可能是一種順風，以及對整個業務的淨影響是什麼？

Yeah, we've seen fluctuating results more broadly in the market on percent of volume sold on deal. We saw it increase, we saw it recede a bit, it's moved around a bit and I'd have to look at the latest data if we're at kind of pre-pandemic levels, I think we're close if we're not there, in the periods we've been a little bit above.

是的，我們已經看到市場上更廣泛的交易銷售百分比結果出現波動。我們看到它有所增加，我們看到它有所回落，它有所移動，如果我們處於大流行前的水平，我必須查看最新數據，我認為如果我們處於大流行前的水平，我們就已經接近了不存在，在我們上面的時期。

The more promotion there is in the marketplace, one should drive unit volume. Unit volume is beneficial in our business, because while we realize revenue flow through from commission, unit volume is really tied to the work we do.

市場上的促銷活動越多，就應該推動單位銷售。單位數量對我們的業務有利，因為雖然我們透過佣金來實現收入流，但單位數量實際上與我們所做的工作緊密相關。

And if you think about how promotions are realized in the retail environment, it's typically through display, and some of those activities our retail merchandising teams do on behalf of consumer products companies.

如果您考慮如何在零售環境中實現促銷，通常是透過展示，以及我們的零售銷售團隊代表消費品公司進行的一些活動。

So on the margin, I think it's generally a positive if we're at a promotion level that's sort of consistent with where the market has been pre-pandemic. Obviously, during the pandemic, that number dropped pretty dramatically and took some time to build back.

因此，就邊際而言，我認為，如果我們的促銷水平與大流行前的市場狀況一致，那麼這通常是積極的。顯然，在大流行期間，這個數字急劇下降，並且需要一些時間才能恢復。

Got you. Thanks very much.

明白你了。非常感謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Faiza Alwy, Deutsche Bank.

Faiza Alwy，德意志銀行。

Yes, hi. Thank you so much. I just wanted to ask a little bit more about the timing of impact that you mentioned. I think you said an experiential and retailer. Can you give us a bit more color and maybe just help us quantify how much that helped the quarter by?

是的，嗨。太感謝了。我只是想多問一些關於你提到的影響時間的問題。我想你說的是體驗式零售商。您能否給我們更多信息，也許只是幫助我們量化這對本季度的幫助有多大？

Yeah, I think we're going to -- Faiza, that's a good question and well anticipated. I just to tell you that, I said it a bit earlier in a response that you plan your year and there's an element of our work that is done, I'll call it project work that, you try to model that based on what your expectations are and you plan that closely with all your customers and clients, but you never can get it perfectly right based on the month, as an example.

是的，我想我們會——Faiza，這是一個很好的問題，也是備受期待的。我只是想告訴你，我早些時候在回復中說過，你計劃了你的一年，我們工作的一部分已經完成，我將其稱為專案工作，你嘗試根據你的計劃進行建模期望是，你與所有客戶和客戶密切規劃，但舉例來說，你永遠無法根據月份完全正確地做到這一點。

So what I would just tell you is, for the third quarter, we did have a little bit of a benefit, especially in experiential and retailer on just timing. Q3 was a little better than Q4 due to that activity. And then what I'd tell you is, we tried to be a little more explicit around the expectations for Q4 growth, growth in line with Q3.

所以我只想告訴你的是，在第三季度，我們確實獲得了一些好處，特別是在體驗和零售商方面。由於該活動，第三季比第四季好一點。然後我要告訴你的是，我們試圖對第四季的成長預期更加明確，與第三季的成長保持一致。

So a good quarter, but it may give you some perspective on a little bit of that shift from Q4 to Q3 and how to think about quantifying that.

這是一個很好的季度，但它可能會讓您對從第四季度到第三季度的轉變以及如何考慮量化這一轉變有一些看法。

Okay, understood. And then I -- it's you, thank you for putting the slide on the new business opportunities, the expanding services. I'm curious how you would characterize sort of overall new business sales growth relative to history.

好的，明白了。然後我——是你，謝謝你把幻燈片放在新的商業機會和不斷擴展的服務上。我很好奇您如何描述相對於歷史的整體新業務銷售成長。

And like, when do you think we'll start to see the positive impact of some of these initiatives? I'm trying to figure out how significant these are or if this is just something that you're highlighting and it's something that you've seen historically.

就像，您認為我們什麼時候會開始看到其中一些舉措的正面影響？我試圖弄清楚這些有多麼重要，或者這是否只是您強調的東西並且是您在歷史上看到的東西。

Yeah, I know, it's a great question, Faiza. I'd say that some of these are kind of earlier cedes within a strategy to expose the part of the company to more growth. So for instance, when we mentioned the private label side, as we expand into these other areas, private label business we have is doing well right now, just generally, but we recognize the need to expose that business to more growth channels.

是的，我知道，這是一個很好的問題，Faiza。我想說，其中一些是策略中的早期讓步，以使公司的這一部分獲得更多成長。例如，當我們提到自有品牌方面時，隨著我們擴展到其他領域，我們的自有品牌業務目前整體表現良好，但我們認識到需要讓該業務接觸更多成長管道。

And so that's some early stages. Some of the other things we're doing in the area of cross-selling and expanding existing services for clients and when they -- and everybody knows this, a challenging consumer market, especially for unit growth, the services we provide can bring great value and great benefit to our CPG clients.

這只是一些早期階段。我們在交叉銷售和擴展客戶現有服務領域所做的其他一些事情，當他們——每個人都知道這一點，一個充滿挑戰的消費市場，特別是對於單位增長而言，我們提供的服務可以帶來巨大的價值並為我們的 CPG 客戶帶來巨大利益。

And so we're seeing a lot of new business activity within our teams. And I think, to varying degrees relative to size and impact on the overall business, I'm not going to highlight or forecast anything for 2025, but we're very pleased with the level of business development activity we have in the business right now.

因此，我們在團隊中看到了許多新的業務活動。我認為，相對於規模和對整體業務的影響，我不會在不同程度上強調或預測 2025 年的任何事情，但我們對目前業務發展活動的水平感到非常滿意。

Great. Thank you for that. And then just last one, branded services, I know top line was declined a little bit, but overall margins were better. So I'm curious what led to that. I know you've been talking about labor efficiency, whether it was that or mix or any other color there would be helpful.

偉大的。謝謝你。最後一項是品牌服務，我知道營收略有下降，但整體利潤率有所提高。所以我很好奇是什麼導致了這種情況。我知道您一直在談論勞動效率，無論是勞動效率還是混合或任何其他顏色都會有幫助。

Yeah, I mean, I think that falls more in the labor efficiency side within that vertical. We have been really focused on leveraging combination of technology and even at the risk of using a buzzword AI in that sector to be more efficient in how we deploy personnel and how we direct work.

是的，我的意思是，我認為在垂直領域內，勞動效率方面的影響更大。我們一直非常專注於利用技術組合，甚至冒著在該領域使用流行語人工智慧的風險，以更有效地部署人員和指導工作。

And then -- and just kind of overall, I think in process on being more consistent in how we do, what we do in the branded services space across the division has helped us drive some efficiency from a labor standpoint. So that's what's contributed to that margin growth.

然後，總的來說，我認為在我們的工作方式更加一致的過程中，我們在整個部門的品牌服務領域所做的事情幫助我們從勞動力的角度提高了一些效率。這就是利潤成長的原因。

All right. Great. Thank you very much.

好的。偉大的。非常感謝。

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

謝謝。目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回戴夫·皮科克 (Dave Peacock) 以徵求結束意見。

Well, thank you. We appreciate everybody joining the call. We're excited about the quarter we had and look forward to hopefully finishing the year strong. We appreciate everybody's attention and we look forward to talking to you next quarter. Thank you.

嗯，謝謝。我們感謝大家加入電話會議。我們對本季感到興奮，並期待以強勁的勢頭結束這一年。感謝大家的關注，我們期待下個季度與您交談。謝謝。

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

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。