AgileThought Inc (AGIL) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Good morning and welcome to AgileThought's first-quarter 2023 financial results conference call. (Operator Instructions) Participants of this call are advised that the audio of this conference call is being broadcast live over the Internet and is also being recorded for playback purposes. A webcast replay of the call will be available approximately one hour after the end of the call through August 3, 2023.

女士們先生們，感謝你們的支持。早上好，歡迎參加 AgileThought 2023 年第一季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）本次電話會議的參與者請注意，本次電話會議的音頻正在通過互聯網進行現場直播，並且還被錄製用於回放。電話會議的網絡直播重播將在電話會議結束後大約一小時內進行，直至 2023 年 8 月 3 日為止。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mariana Franco, the company's Head of Investor Relations.

我現在想將電話轉給公司投資者關係主管瑪麗安娜·佛朗哥 (Mariana Franco)。

Good day, and thank you for joining AgileThought's first-quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Our speakers today are Manuel Senderos, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Eric Purdum, Chief Revenue Officer; and Amit Singh, Chief Financial Officer.

美好的一天，感謝您參加 AgileThought 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。今天的演講者是董事長兼首席執行官曼努埃爾·森德羅斯 (Manuel Senderos)；埃里克·普杜姆 (Eric Purdum)，首席營收官；和首席財務官阿米特·辛格。

Before we begin, allow me to remind you that some of the comments on our call today, including our business and financial outlook, and the answers to some of your questions may be considered forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties as discussed in the company's earnings release and other filings with the SEC.

在開始之前，請允許我提醒您，我們今天電話會議中的一些評論，包括我們的業務和財務前景，以及對您的一些問題的回答可能被視為前瞻性陳述。此類聲明受到公司收益發布和向 SEC 提交的其他文件中討論的風險和不確定性的影響。

The contents of this call contains time sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, May 12, 2023. Except as required by law, AgileThought disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any information to reflect events or circumstances that occur after this call.

本次電話會議的內容包含截至今天（2023 年 5 月 12 日）的時間敏感信息。除法律要求外，AgileThought 不承擔任何公開更新或修改任何信息以反映本次電話會議後發生的事件或情況的義務。

Today's remarks will include references to non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted operating income, which is how we track performance internally and the easiest way to compare AgileThought to our peers in the industry. Additional information, including reconciliation between non-GAAP financial information to GAAP financial information, is provided in the associated earnings press release. This conference call will be available for replay via webcast through AgileThought's Investor Relations website at ir.agilethought.com, where you can also find a copy of our earnings release.

今天的講話將包括對非公認會計準則財務指標的引用，例如調整後的營業收入，這是我們內部跟踪業績的方式，也是將 AgileThought 與業內同行進行比較的最簡單方法。相關收益新聞稿中提供了其他信息，包括非 GAAP 財務信息與 GAAP 財務信息之間的調節。本次電話會議將通過 AgileThought 投資者關係網站 ir.agilethought.com 進行網絡直播重播，您還可以在其中找到我們的收益發布副本。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Manuel Senderos, our CEO.

現在我想將電話轉給我們的首席執行官曼努埃爾·森德羅斯 (Manuel Senderos)。

Thanks, Mariana. Good morning, and thanks to everyone for joining us. It is a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about the work and results from our first quarter of 2023. We finished the first quarter with revenues of $41.8 million, representing a year-over-year decline of 5.4% and a sequential decline of 2.8%.

謝謝，瑪麗安娜。早上好，感謝大家加入我們。很高興今天能在這裡與大家談論我們 2023 年第一季度的工作和成果。第一季度我們的收入為 4180 萬美元，同比下降 5.4%，環比下降2.8%。

Growth in this quarter was partially impacted by the market uncertainty beginning in the second half of March, which delayed some projects by a couple of months. This market uncertainty is also slightly delaying the ramp-up of our newly hired sales team members. As you might remember, at the beginning of the year, we increased our sales team by almost 50%. In addition, under the new leadership of our new CRO, Eric Purdum, we have also actively started exiting several small accounts that do not have the potential to grow materially, but are a huge burden to our SG&A and gross margins.

本季度的增長部分受到 3 月下半月開始的市場不確定性的影響，部分項目被推遲了幾個月。這種市場的不確定性也略微延遲了我們新聘用的銷售團隊成員的發展。您可能還記得，今年年初，我們的銷售團隊人數增加了近 50%。此外，在我們新任 CRO Eric Purdum 的新領導下，我們還積極開始退出幾個小客戶，這些客戶沒有實質性增長的潛力，但卻對我們的 SG&A 和毛利率構成巨大負擔。

During first quarter, our gross margin was 34.2%, an increase of 290 basis points year over year. Gross margins have been performing better than expected due to our accelerated exit from non-core businesses and of small accounts discussed before, and also because of the quality of the work we are delivering to our clients.

第一季度，我們的毛利率為34.2%，同比增長290個基點。由於我們加速退出非核心業務和之前討論的小客戶，以及我們為客戶提供的工作質量，毛利率的表現好於預期。

As we mentioned on the previous earnings calls, the focus of digital work at clients that have the potential to become $10 million-plus annual revenue client is a priority and very important part of our strategy to take AgileThought to steady industry-leading top-line growth levels. Because of our strong efforts towards gross margin improvement, our gross profit increased 3.4% year over year and 5.2% sequentially.

正如我們在之前的財報電話會議上提到的，對有潛力成為年收入超過 1000 萬美元的客戶進行數字化工作的重點是我們戰略的一個優先事項，也是我們使 AgileThought 穩定行業領先的營收戰略的重要組成部分增長水平。由於我們大力改善毛利率，我們的毛利潤同比增長3.4%，環比增長5.2%。

On the demand environment, as I mentioned, in the second half of March following the volatility in the banking sector, we did witness an impact in our financial services vertical, which continues in the second quarter. We witnessed volatility across other industry verticals as well due to the slightly challenging broader macro environment. That said, we are now witnessing deal activity starting to pick back up again, and we expect a much stronger second half of the year. Digital transformation that helps companies drive revenue growth, makes them more competitive, and also helps them save costs is still a priority for businesses across the industries.

關於需求環境，正如我提到的，在 3 月下半月，隨著銀行業的波動，我們確實看到了對金融服務垂直領域的影響，這種影響在第二季度仍在繼續。由於宏觀環境略有挑戰，我們也目睹了其他垂直行業的波動。也就是說，我們現在看到交易活動開始再次回升，我們預計今年下半年會更加強勁。幫助企業推動收入增長、提高競爭力並節省成本的數字化轉型仍然是各行業企業的首要任務。

During our last earnings call, I talked about how we have been investing to strengthen our sales structure. First, by hiring new sales team members and finally, by appointing Eric Purdum as our new Chief Revenue Officer. Eric is now reporting directly to me, leading our sales and demand generation efforts. I'm sure Eric's leadership and customer-centric vision will bring our innovative approach to digital transformation to each customer experience, ensuring we make the most out of the huge market opportunity in front of us and deliver the market-leading top-line growth we have planned.

在我們上次的財報電話會議上，我談到了我們如何通過投資來加強我們的銷售結構。首先，聘請新的銷售團隊成員，最後，任命 Eric Purdum 為我們新的首席營收官。埃里克現在直接向我匯報，領導我們的銷售和需求挖掘工作。我確信埃里克的領導力和以客戶為中心的願景將為每個客戶體驗帶來我們數字化轉型的創新方法，確保我們充分利用擺在我們面前的巨大市場機會，並實現市場領先的營收增長。已計劃。

Now that we have a strong sales foundation and have all the pieces in place in the delivery structure and people structure, we are ready to focus on AgileThought's growth. Eric's disciplined approach will continue to guide our team to carefully pick our new customers and focus on those accounts that can become large accounts with industry-leading margins.

現在我們已經擁有了強大的銷售基礎，並且交付結構和人員結構中的所有部分都已就位，我們已準備好專注於 AgileThought 的增長。埃里克嚴謹的方法將繼續指導我們的團隊仔細挑選新客戶，並專注於那些可以成為具有行業領先利潤的大客戶的客戶。

During the first quarter of 2023, we added four new logos and opened several new opportunities in some of our more established clients. We will continue to add logos, the right logos, but it is also exciting to see how much space for growth we still have in most of our clients. We have a good record on client trajectory, starting with small projects on a specific area or technology and growing into other businesses, areas, and geographies.

在 2023 年第一季度，我們添加了四個新徽標，並為一些較成熟的客戶提供了一些新機會。我們將繼續添加徽標，正確的徽標，但看到我們在大多數客戶中仍然有多大的增長空間也令人興奮。我們在客戶軌跡方面擁有良好的記錄，從特定領域或技術的小型項目開始，逐漸擴展到其他業務、領域和地區。

A good example is one of our clients in the financial services vertical, which is one of the top 10 wealth management companies in the US and has been our client for over eight years. We are helping them with a multi-year modernization program of high priority that is essential to the different departments in a highly regulated market. This is a complex initiative that will integrate numerous internal and third-party systems to enable faster decision-making processes, incorporating more data points among other strategic initiatives. We are helping to drive cultural changes by embracing Agile methodology, which creates operational efficiencies.

一個很好的例子是我們在金融服務垂直領域的客戶之一，它是美國十大財富管理公司之一，並且已經成為我們的客戶八年多了。我們正在幫助他們實施一項高度優先的多年現代化計劃，這對於高度監管的市場中的不同部門至關重要。這是一項複雜的計劃，將集成眾多內部和第三方系統，以實現更快的決策流程，並在其他戰略計劃中納入更多數據點。我們通過採用敏捷方法來幫助推動文化變革，從而提高運營效率。

This long-lasting partnership represents the kind of business we want to continue creating, where we contribute to strategic multi-year initiatives, helping the client to be more efficient and provide better experiences for their employees and customers. While we create more and more stable jobs, it adds value to both companies.

這種持久的合作夥伴關係代表了我們希望繼續創造的業務類型，我們為戰略性多年計劃做出貢獻，幫助客戶提高效率並為其員工和客戶提供更好的體驗。在我們創造越來越穩定的就業機會的同時，它也為兩家公司增加了價值。

The digital world is constantly changing, which makes it vital to continuously reimagine everything, including yourself. [As this bank], many other companies are working to keep up with the changing environment, trying to invest in the latest technologies to always stay ahead. A good example is this AI revolution. At AgileThought, we have been investing in AI for several years now. But the time has come where everyone from science to business and education are turning to AI and want to make it a part of their business. We have seen an increasing demand from clients and potential clients to understand how AI can help them. And we have decided to launch our Applied AI Guild.

數字世界在不斷變化，這使得不斷重新想像一切（包括你自己）變得至關重要。 [作為這家銀行]，許多其他公司正在努力跟上不斷變化的環境，試圖投資最新技術以始終保持領先地位。這場人工智能革命就是一個很好的例子。在 AgileThought，我們多年來一直在人工智能領域進行投資。但現在是時候了，從科學到商業和教育，每個人都轉向人工智能，並希望使其成為他們業務的一部分。我們看到客戶和潛在客戶越來越需要了解人工智能如何幫助他們。我們決定成立應用人工智能協會。

Up to now, applied AI was part of the data in AI Guild. With this guild, we will be able to better focus on helping our clients digitally reimagine and imagine intelligent businesses using an AI-first, human-centric, and platform-driven approach. Our Applied AI Guild will have three main practices: generative AI, causality AI, and bespoke machine learning.

到目前為止，應用人工智能已經成為AI Guild數據的一部分。有了這個協會，我們將能夠更好地專注於幫助我們的客戶使用人工智能優先、以人為中心和平台驅動的方法，以數字方式重新構想和想像智能業務。我們的應用人工智能協會將有三個主要實踐：生成人工智能、因果關係人工智能和定制機器學習。

Generative AI is nascent, but there are already 250 companies in this space. And so far, it has seen six companies reach unicorn status. This wave in this space is rapidly expanding the use cases for generative AI, tackling everything from search engines to motion capture animation, and will allow companies in every space to leverage on it.

生成式人工智能尚處於萌芽階段，但該領域已經有 250 家公司。到目前為止，已有六家公司達到了獨角獸的地位。這一領域的浪潮正在迅速擴大生成人工智能的用例，解決從搜索引擎到動作捕捉動畫的所有問題，並將允許各個領域的公司利用它。

We are currently working with a company in the healthcare sector, a group of analytical laboratories. We are using large language models, like ChatGPT-4, to automatically generate relevant content that relates their offering with trending conversation and news. We trained it to know and understand our client offering, and it is constantly screening the news and posts to produce real-time blog posts for its website. This results in a significant increase in the website's traffic and engagement, which will ultimately translate in additional revenue for our client.

我們目前正在與一家醫療保健領域的公司合作，該公司是一組分析實驗室。我們正在使用大型語言模型（例如 ChatGPT-4）來自動生成相關內容，將其產品與趨勢對話和新聞聯繫起來。我們訓練它了解和理解我們的客戶產品，並且它不斷篩選新聞和帖子，為其網站生成實時博客文章。這會導致網站流量和參與度顯著增加，最終將為我們的客戶帶來額外收入。

In today's world, customer experience and customer engagement are probably some of the most valuable capabilities for businesses. And the gaming industry is a leader in that matter. We believe that the principle of gaming design and gamification can be applied to a variety of industries, from education and healthcare to finance and retail. And we decided to launch a Gaming Guild.

在當今世界，客戶體驗和客戶參與可能是企業最有價值的能力之一。遊戲行業是這方面的領導者。我們相信游戲設計和遊戲化的原則可以應用於各個行業，從教育和醫療保健到金融和零售。我們決定成立一個遊戲協會。

AgileThought has been working in the gaming industry for seven years now, constantly growing the practice in size and complexity and gathering enough expertise to apply it to the rest of the verticals we work on. Our Gaming Guild will provide tailored solutions from game development to player support and metaverse, that with our deep understanding of the gaming industry and commitment to excellence will guide our clients, gaming or non-gaming, to succeed and thrive in this exciting and rapidly evolving field. As always, we look forward to enhancing our relationships with our clients by bringing the latest technologies into their businesses.

AgileThought 已經在遊戲行業工作了七年，不斷擴大實踐的規模和復雜性，並收集足夠的專業知識，將其應用到我們所從事的其他垂直領域。我們的遊戲協會將提供從遊戲開發到玩家支持和元宇宙的定制解決方案，憑藉我們對遊戲行業的深刻理解和對卓越的承諾，我們將指導我們的客戶（無論是遊戲還是非遊戲）在這個令人興奮和快速發展的領域取得成功和蓬勃發展場地。一如既往，我們期待通過將最新技術引入客戶的業務來加強與客戶的關係。

With that, I turn it over to Eric Purdum, our CRO.

說完，我將其交給我們的 CRO Eric Purdum。

Thanks, Manuel. And hello to everyone. I'm happy to be here today. I'd like to start by telling you a little bit about myself. I've been in the industry for over 25 years and worked in multiple global businesses and built and ran digital transformation practices. During this time, I have led business units centered around IT management, custom engineering, application managed services, product management, and many others. Prior to joining AgileThought, I was the Global Head of Banking Solutions at DXC Luxoft, where I helped to transform the global team consisting of sales, offerings, product management, marketing, engineering, and delivery into a unified team, delivering digital transformation programs at scale.

謝謝，曼努埃爾。大家好。我很高興今天來到這裡。首先我想向您介紹一下我自己。我已在該行業工作超過 25 年，曾在多家全球企業工作過，並構建和運行了數字化轉型實踐。在此期間，我領導了以 IT 管理、定制工程、應用程序託管服務、產品管理等為中心的業務部門。在加入 AgileThought 之前，我是 DXC Luxoft 銀行解決方案的全球主管，幫助將由銷售、產品、產品管理、營銷、工程和交付組成的全球團隊轉變為一個統一的團隊，在規模。

Let's now focus on our clients and their industries. AgileThought operates in five key market units and they are all going through a transitionary period. Starting March, we saw some softness in our clients' investments in both growth initiatives and road map items. Some of the rationale for this was due to their own missed targets and EBITDA losses. Also, due to economic pressures, some of our clients paused to take a deeper look into how they were spending their investment dollars to maximize return on investment. This pullback was felt across all industries and across the competitive landscape.

現在讓我們關注我們的客戶及其行業。 AgileThought 在五個主要市場部門開展業務，它們都正在經歷一個過渡期。從三月份開始，我們發現客戶在增長計劃和路線圖項目上的投資都出現了一些疲軟。造成這種情況的部分原因是由於他們自己未能實現目標和 EBITDA 損失。此外，由於經濟壓力，我們的一些客戶停下來更深入地研究他們如何花費投資資金以最大化投資回報。所有行業和競爭格局都感受到了這種回調。

Now that the second half is approaching, we are already seeing the industry shift again towards commencing a strategic and digital initiative, especially those that have TCO savings, ROI around digital transformation, and further adoption of new technologies, with one significant example being AI, as Manuel mentioned earlier.

現在下半年即將到來，我們已經看到行業再次轉向啟動戰略和數字化舉措，特別是那些能夠節省總擁有成本、數字化轉型投資回報率以及進一步採用新技術的舉措，其中一個重要的例子就是人工智能，正如曼努埃爾之前提到的。

And as AgileThought has existing and mature client relationships in each of our market units, we are seeing our clients depend on these relationships as key to solving their business challenges in the second half. We have worked with many of these clients to help them understand the importance of those investments to solve real business problems and how AgileThought is the continued choice for their initiatives through our exceptional delivery abilities and deep understanding of their industry.

由於 AgileThought 在我們的每個市場部門都擁有現有且成熟的客戶關係，我們看到我們的客戶依賴這些關係作為解決下半年業務挑戰的關鍵。我們與許多這樣的客戶合作，幫助他們了解這些投資對於解決實際業務問題的重要性，以及 AgileThought 如何通過我們卓越的交付能力和對他們行業的深刻理解成為他們的計劃的持續選擇。

To solidify the growth of the second half, we have focused on three key areas. First, we are continuing to drive the culture of sales for our internal workforce. In most cases, to deliver top industry growth, companies need to go through a transformation stage where the culture and interaction among the different structures unify to become client-centric and growth focused. This is what we've been doing at AgileThought, but it is a process.

為鞏固下半年增長，我們重點關註三個重點領域。首先，我們將繼續推動內部員工的銷售文化。在大多數情況下，為了實現行業的最高增長，公司需要經歷一個轉型階段，在這個階段，不同結構之間的文化和互動統一起來，成為以客戶為中心、以增長為重點的轉型階段。這就是我們在 AgileThought 一直在做的事情，但這是一個過程。

We've worked to encourage everyone in the company to become an ambassador for our brand and our values. We want our customers to have a great experience with us from the moment they hear about us to the moment we deliver the service. This is not just the responsibility of our sales team, but of the entire organization. Simply put, every Agile thinker is accountable for every interaction with our clients every time.

我們努力鼓勵公司的每個人成為我們品牌和價值觀的大使。我們希望客戶從聽說我們的那一刻到我們提供服務的那一刻都能獲得良好的體驗。這不僅是我們銷售團隊的責任，也是整個組織的責任。簡而言之，每一位敏捷思想家都對每次與客戶的互動負責。

Second, we have carefully selected existing and new clients with the potential to become $10 million-plus revenue for us and committed to growing them exponentially through 2023 and into 2024. This directly relates to our proven ability to create deep relationships with our clients, understand the industry as to which they operate in, and hyper focus on their business problems and how AgileThought's technology prowess can solve these problems.

其次，我們精心挑選了有潛力為我們帶來 1000 萬美元以上收入的現有客戶和新客戶，並致力於在 2023 年和 2024 年期間使這些客戶呈指數級增長。這直接關係到我們與客戶建立深厚關係的能力，了解他們所在的行業，並高度關注他們的業務問題以及 AgileThought 的技術實力如何解決這些問題。

In conjunction to that, as Manuel spoke before, we will also continue to make key exits on accounts that we do not see as strategic or growth accounts and are expensive to deliver. These accounts detract from our focus on industry-leading delivery and profitability.

與此同時，正如曼努埃爾之前所說，我們還將繼續對那些我們不認為是戰略或增長賬戶且交付成本昂貴的賬戶進行關鍵退出。這些賬戶分散了我們對行業領先的交付和盈利能力的關注。

Third, and finally, we have continued to attract and retain some of the best talent in the industry, from bringing in top industry sales talent to recruiting the foremost technical and delivery personnel. We truly believe that this investment in our people is what continues to drive the exceptional service for our clients. This is why AgileThought continues to have over 22 accounts that have been with us for five or more years and seven accounts that have been with us for over 10.

第三，也是最後一點，我們不斷吸引和留住行業中一些最優秀的人才，從引進行業頂尖的銷售人才到招募最先進的技術和交付人員。我們堅信，對員工的投資將繼續為我們的客戶提供卓越的服務。這就是為什麼 AgileThought 繼續擁有超過 22 個與我們合作五年或以上的客戶以及 7 個與我們合作超過 10 年的客戶。

Let me walk through some additional key facts about our business, and then Amit will walk through the numbers. Number one, AgileThought is focused on around half of our current accounts across the five market units that make 99% of our revenue with good profitability. These numbers show good diversification of accounts and markets.

讓我介紹一些有關我們業務的其他關鍵事實，然後阿米特將介紹這些數字。第一，AgileThought 專注於我們五個市場單位中大約一半的經常賬戶，這些賬戶使我們 99% 的收入具有良好的盈利能力。這些數字顯示了賬戶和市場的良好多元化。

Number two, AgileThought has nine accounts, all generating over $5 million of revenue over the last 12 months that continue to strengthen their portfolio and show good organic growth towards becoming $10 million-plus accounts. We also have identified an additional 11 accounts to focus on that also have the potential to become $10 million-plus accounts.

第二，AgileThought 擁有 9 個賬戶，在過去 12 個月內均產生了超過 500 萬美元的收入，這些賬戶繼續增強其投資組合，並顯示出良好的有機增長，有望成為賬戶價值超過 1000 萬美元的目標。我們還確定了另外 11 個值得關注的賬戶，這些賬戶也有可能成為價值 1000 萬美元以上的賬戶。

Number three, the remaining of our accounts are being restructured to maximize profitability. And number four and finally, the pipeline that is driving the second-half growth is seven times larger than where the company was last fiscal year at this time. Based on these key facts, the AgileThought business is in a prime position to grow in the second half and continue that growth into fiscal year '24.

第三，我們正在重組其餘的賬戶，以最大限度地提高盈利能力。第四，最後，推動下半年增長的管道比該公司上一財年此時的管道規模大七倍。基於這些關鍵事實，AgileThought 業務處於下半年增長的有利位置，並將這種增長持續到 24 財年。

Now I will turn the call over to Amit Singh, our CFO, who will provide additional insights into our financial results.

現在我將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官阿米特·辛格 (Amit Singh)，他將為我們的財務業績提供更多見解。

Thank you, Eric. And good morning, everyone. Let me start by summarizing the results of our first-quarter 2023. I will then discuss our guidance for the year. Revenues for the first quarter of 2023 were $41.8 million, representing 5.4% year-over-year decline and 2.8% sequential decline. As discussed before by Manuel and Eric, revenue in this quarter were impacted by the market volatility that started around mid-March, resulting in some of our project being postponed. In addition, this market volatility is leading to a delayed ramp-up of our newly hired sales team members.

謝謝你，埃里克。大家早上好。讓我首先總結 2023 年第一季度的業績。然後我將討論我們今年的指導。 2023 年第一季度收入為 4180 萬美元，同比下降 5.4%，環比下降 2.8%。正如 Manuel 和 Eric 之前討論的那樣，本季度的收入受到 3 月中旬左右開始的市場波動的影響，導致我們的一些項目被推遲。此外，這種市場波動導致我們新聘的銷售團隊成員的增加速度延遲。

Our decision to focus on long-term growth and profitability also impacted our revenue this quarter as we continue to exit non-core work. As Manuel and Eric mentioned, during this quarter, we also decided to start exiting other small non-strategic accounts, which do not have the potential to become large clients, but are very expensive on SG&A to manage.

隨著我們繼續退出非核心工作，我們專注於長期增長和盈利能力的決定也影響了我們本季度的收入。正如曼努埃爾和埃里克提到的，在本季度，我們還決定開始退出其他小型非戰略賬戶，這些賬戶沒有潛力成為大客戶，但管理費用非常昂貴。

On gross margins, during the first quarter of 2023, we delivered gross margins of 34.2%, representing a 290 basis point improvement year over year and 260 basis point sequential improvement. This improvement is the result of our focus on profitability I just talked about and to the robust deal governance process we have in place. The average gross margin on the projects we closed during this quarter is already above 35%, and we expect this improvement to continue until our gross margin gets to industry-leading levels. The strong improvement in gross margin led to gross profit being up 3.4% year over year and 5.2% sequentially.

毛利率方面，2023 年第一季度，我們的毛利率為 34.2%，同比提高 290 個基點，環比提高 260 個基點。這種改進是我們對我剛才談到的盈利能力以及我們現有的穩健交易治理流程的關注的結果。本季度我們關閉的項目的平均毛利率已經超過 35%，我們預計這種改善將持續下去，直到我們的毛利率達到行業領先水平。毛利率的強勁改善導致毛利潤同比增長3.4%，環比增長5.2%。

In the first three months of 2023, we had a material increase in our SG&A, both sequentially and year over year. This increase was mainly due to the strong investments in our sales delivery and people function that began in late 2022 to early 2023. Adjusted operating income for the first quarter of 2023 was negative $1.2 million, down from $1.1 million in the same period of 2022. Adjusted net income for the quarter totaled negative $4.2 million, down from negative $0.4 million in the same quarter of the previous year.

2023 年前三個月，我們的 SG&A 環比和同比均出現大幅增長。這一增長主要是由於 2022 年底至 2023 年初開始對我們的銷售交付和人員職能進行的大力投資。2023 年第一季度調整後營業收入為負 120 萬美元，低於 2022 年同期的 110 萬美元。該季度調整後淨利潤總計為負 420 萬美元，低於去年同期的負 40 萬美元。

Adjusted diluted EPS for the first quarter of 2023 was negative $0.09 based on 47.3 million average diluted shares for the quarter, compared to negative $0.01 for the same quarter of the previous year based on 46 million average diluted shares for the quarter. We have been focusing on profitability and strategic accounts, and it will continue to be our top priority for the year.

2023 年第一季度調整後攤薄每股收益為負 0.09 美元（基於該季度平均稀釋股數為 4730 萬股），而去年同期的調整後攤薄每股收益為負 0.01 美元（基於該季度平均稀釋股數為 4600 萬股）。我們一直關注盈利能力和戰略客戶，這將繼續是我們今年的首要任務。

In addition to our efforts on top line and gross margins, we also recently launched our SG&A optimization plan. This initiative has been a collaboration among all the teams across the company to analyze and identify efficiencies and has allowed us to significantly reduce our full-year SG&A forecast by more than 15% and is helping us along with our gross margin improvement to target a higher adjusted operating income for the full year than we previously expected.

除了在營收和毛利率方面的努力外，我們最近還推出了銷售、管理和行政費用優化計劃。這項舉措是公司所有團隊之間的合作，旨在分析和確定效率，使我們能夠將全年 SG&A 預測大幅降低 15% 以上，並幫助我們提高毛利率，以實現更高的目標全年調整後營業收入超出我們此前預期。

Moving on to the balance sheet, our cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2023, added up to $3.2 million. During the first quarter, we repaid debt of $2.1 million. We additionally paid $2.1 million interest expense and approximately $0.9 million of debt-related cash expenses. Total debt, net of unamortized debt issuance cost as of March 31, 2023, was $84.5 million.

轉向資產負債表，截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日，我們的現金和現金等價物總計達 320 萬美元。第一季度，我們償還了 210 萬美元的債務。我們還支付了 210 萬美元的利息費用和約 90 萬美元的債務相關現金費用。截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日，債務總額（扣除未攤銷債務發行成本）為 8,450 萬美元。

Now I would like to give an update on our financing activities. As we previously disclosed, on April 18, we entered into a forbearance agreement regarding a $64 million financing agreement and our $21 million credit agreement, as to which are in both payment and covenant compliance default. The forbearance agreement, terminated by its terms on May 10, we are in active discussions with our lenders regarding extending such forbearance.

現在我想介紹一下我們融資活動的最新情況。正如我們之前披露的，4 月 18 日，我們就 6400 萬美元的融資協議和 2100 萬美元的信貸協議簽訂了一份暫緩協議，該協議均屬於付款和契約合規違約。延期付款協議已於 5 月 10 日按其條款終止，我們正在與貸方積極討論延長此類延期付款的事宜。

We also continue to work with our legal and financial advisers in evaluating all strategic alternatives. Although we remain confident, there can be no assurances that we can reach such an extension agreement or recapitalization plan on acceptable terms, if at all. As I trust you can appreciate, we are unable to comment on any of these discussions at this time.

我們還繼續與法律和財務顧問合作評估所有戰略替代方案。儘管我們仍然充滿信心，但不能保證我們能夠以可接受的條件達成此類延期協議或資本重組計劃（如果有的話）。我相信您會理解，我們目前無法對這些討論發表評論。

Now let's talk about our outlook for the full year 2023. We remain focused on executing revenue growth acceleration, and we'll continue working towards improving our profitability year over year. We will also continue to focus on strategically selecting the right customers and projects, while exiting non-core and small non-strategic accounts. That, together, will help us deliver industry-leading growth and margins.

現在讓我們談談我們對 2023 年全年的展望。我們仍然專注於實現收入增長加速，我們將繼續努力逐年提高我們的盈利能力。我們還將繼續注重戰略性選擇合適的客戶和項目，同時退出非核心和小型非戰略客戶。這些共同將幫助我們實現行業領先的增長和利潤。

Our successful efforts to exit the non-core business, as we announced a couple of quarters ago, should be completed during the second quarter of the current year, which, along with the ramp-up of all the new sales team members, should lead to strong revenue growth towards the second half of the year.

正如我們幾個季度前宣布的那樣，我們成功退出非核心業務的努力應該在今年第二季度完成，隨著所有新銷售團隊成員的增加，應該會導致下半年收入強勁增長。

We now expect full year 2023 revenues of $185 million or 4.6% organic year-over-year growth. We now expect gross margins for the full year in the range of 34.5% to 35.5%. Additionally, as a result of our strong focus on profitability, we expect the full year 2023 adjusted operating income to be at least $13.7 million, implying at least 20.2% year-over-year growth.

我們目前預計 2023 年全年收入為 1.85 億美元，有機同比增長 4.6%。我們目前預計全年毛利率在 34.5% 至 35.5% 之間。此外，由於我們對盈利能力的高度重視，我們預計 2023 年全年調整後營業收入將至少為 1,370 萬美元，這意味著同比增長至少 20.2%。

Thanks, everyone, for participating in the call. I'd like to turn the call back to Manuel for any closing remarks.

感謝大家參與此次通話。我想將電話轉回給曼努埃爾，讓他作結束語。

Thank you, Amit. In conclusion, we believe we are very well positioned to make the most out of the digital transformation demand across the world and bring strong sustainable growth for the long term.

謝謝你，阿米特。總之，我們相信我們完全有能力充分利用全球的數字化轉型需求，並帶來長期的強勁可持續增長。

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to the operator so that we can begin the questions-and-answer session. A note: in the Q&A session, we will not discuss anything related to our financing, forbearance, and liquidity.

這樣，我想將電話轉給接線員，以便我們可以開始問答環節。注意：在問答環節，我們不會討論任何與我們的融資、寬容和流動性相關的內容。

(Operator Instructions) Maggie Nolan, William Blair.

（操作員說明）瑪吉·諾蘭、威廉·布萊爾。

Hello. Good morning. With respect to new client additions, have the financing activities impacted your ability to add new logos? And how do you feel about your prospects for adding new logos over the course of the rest of the year?

你好。早上好。關於新客戶的增加，融資活動是否影響了您添加新徽標的能力？您對今年剩餘時間內添加新徽標的前景有何看法？

So, good morning. This is Eric Purdum. I'll take that question. So we actually have done very good so far with adding new logos. I think Manuel already spoke to our additions we did in Q1. We are looking at a possibility of up to 20 new logos in Q2 of this year. So we actually have not seen a degradation in our ability to add new logos so far this year, based on any of the news on the refinancing.

那麼，早上好。這是埃里克·普杜姆。我來回答這個問題。事實上，到目前為止，我們在添加新徽標方面做得非常好。我認為曼努埃爾已經談到了我們在第一季度所做的補充。我們正在考慮在今年第二季度推出多達 20 個新徽標。因此，根據有關再融資的任何消息，今年到目前為止，我們實際上還沒有看到我們添加新徽標的能力下降。

Thank you. And in terms of the margins, perhaps, Amit, you could comment on the cadence of the margins over the course of the year that you expect, given that the back half is expected to be stronger than the first half, but you also have the dynamic of that non-core revenue roll-off annualizing.

謝謝。就利潤率而言，阿米特，您可能可以評論您預期的一年中的利潤率節奏，因為預計後半段將強於上半年，但您也有非核心收入滾降年化的動態。

Yeah. Thanks, Maggie. How are you? So you should expect our margin growth to trend up as we go to towards the end of the year. So quarter over quarter, you should witness margin improvement. Q2 will be a little -- Q2 could see a little flattish or decline in gross margins. We are still looking into all the numbers. But from there on, you should see the margins increasing. As I said in the prepared remarks, the new deals that we are signing, they are already much above the current margin level that we have reported. So as those deals get converted into revenue, you should start seeing gross margin improvement.

是的。謝謝，瑪吉。你好嗎？因此，您應該預計，隨著年底的臨近，我們的利潤增長將呈上升趨勢。因此，每個季度您都會看到利潤率的改善。第二季度的毛利率可能會略有持平或下降。我們仍在調查所有數字。但從那時起，您應該會看到利潤增加。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們正在簽署的新協議已經遠遠高於我們報告的當前利潤水平。因此，當這些交易轉化為收入時，您應該開始看到毛利率的改善。

And the same thing should happen on the SG&A side too. As I discussed in the prepared remarks, the SG&A optimization plans that are being put into place, they should start delivering results as we move through the year. So the overall adjusted operating margin should trend upwards as you move forward from second quarter towards the end of the year.

同樣的事情也應該發生在 SG&A 方面。正如我在準備好的發言中所討論的那樣，SG&A 優化計劃正在實施，它們應該在我們度過這一年的過程中開始交付成果。因此，從第二季度到年底，整體調整後的營業利潤率應該呈上升趨勢。

Okay. Thank you for the update.

好的。謝謝你的更新。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Kinstlinger, Alliance Global Partners.

（操作員說明）Brian Kinstlinger，Alliance Global Partners。

Great. Thanks so much for taking my questions. I think you had 90% visibility last quarter and clearly identified the adjustments to guidance. Obviously, with one quarter behind you, visibility isn't better. So in regards to your $185 million revenue guidance, what percentage of this is in the form of signed contracts or commitments, or does it assume about revenue from new business wins? And how does it contemplate, if at all, additional delays or cancellations?

偉大的。非常感謝您回答我的問題。我認為上個季度您的可見度達到 90%，並且清楚地確定了指導的調整。顯然，在你身後四分之一的地方，能見度並沒有更好。那麼，就您 1.85 億美元的收入指導而言，其中以簽署的合同或承諾的形式所佔的百分比是多少，或者是否假設來自新業務勝利的收入？如果有的話，它如何考慮額外的延誤或取消？

So good morning. I'll take this question. This is Eric again. So we're about 80% confident in our ability to solution the $185 million that we talked about earlier, which I think is an excellent position to be in only five months into the year. So we're very confident of that number. We're very confident we'll solution the remainder 20% of that number throughout the year.

早上好。我來回答這個問題。這又是埃里克。因此，我們對解決我們之前談到的 1.85 億美元問題的能力大約有 80% 的信心，我認為在今年僅 5 個月內就處於一個極好的位置。所以我們對這個數字非常有信心。我們非常有信心全年解決該數字的剩餘 20%。

Great. And are delays or cancellations, if at all, contemplated, or is that -- are you feeling that's behind you from -- especially from the banking sector?

偉大的。是否考慮過延遲或取消（如果有的話），或者是——你是否覺得這已經在你身後——尤其是銀行業？

So we are starting to see the uptick as we talked about earlier in the prepared remarks. We do not -- we did see at the beginning of the year some softness and some push out of projects from some of our key clientele. But those projects are now coming back into scope and we're able to drive that to fruition now as we go forward into the second half. So we did see some softness in the beginning of Q1. But again, we're starting to see those projects come back online and to staff accordingly to make sure we can hit those targets.

因此，正如我們之前在準備好的發言中談到的那樣，我們開始看到這種上升。我們沒有——我們在今年年初確實看到了一些疲軟的情況，以及我們一些主要客戶的一些項目的退出。但這些項目現在正在重新進入範圍，隨著我們進入下半年，我們現在能夠推動這些項目取得成果。所以我們在第一季度初確實看到了一些疲軟。但同樣，我們開始看到這些項目重新上線並相應地配備人員，以確保我們能夠實現這些目標。

Thank you. And then in regards to the delays, was it generally existing customers that, in the last two weeks, stopped projects or was it new logos that were expected to ramp that maybe did not?

謝謝。然後就延遲而言，在過去兩週內，是否普遍存在現有客戶停止了項目，或者是預計會增加的新徽標可能沒有增加？

So I think it's a combination of both, but I would say that, because of our good relationships with our clients, we knew ahead of time, as they started to delay some of these initiatives. From a new logo perspective, we obviously only sell four in Q1, but we see an uptick in new logos in Q2. So it's hard to determine if the market initiatives slowed us down at all in new logos. But what I would tell you is that the uptick in Q2 is very promising for the rest of the year.

所以我認為這是兩者的結合，但我想說，由於我們與客戶的良好關係，我們提前知道，因為他們開始推遲其中一些舉措。從新標誌的角度來看，我們顯然在第一季度只銷售了四個，但我們看到第二季度新標誌的數量有所增加。因此，很難確定市場舉措是否讓我們在新標識方面放慢了速度。但我要告訴你的是，第二季度的增長對於今年剩餘時間來說非常有希望。

Great. One last question for Amit. Looking at the first-quarter SG&A, it was a bit higher than I would have thought. Is there any one-time items in there or non-recurring hiring costs, for example? I'm just trying to understand how low you think SG&A can get in the second half of the year after some of this falls off.

偉大的。阿米特的最後一個問題。看看第一季度的SG&A，它比我想像的要高一些。例如，其中是否有一次性項目或非經常性招聘成本？我只是想了解一下，在其中一些下降之後，您認為下半年的 SG&A 會降到多低。

Yeah. Definitely. Thank you. So as you know, most of the hires that we did in our sales team happened at the beginning of the year, and then a lot of related hires in delivery, people function all came in around that time. So most of that expense was very much related to first quarter. So as you move from here, that, call it expense -- we're not going to have incremental expenses related to that going forward.

是的。確實。謝謝。如您所知，我們在銷售團隊中進行的大部分招聘都是在年初進行的，然後交付、人員職能方面的許多相關招聘都是在那個時候進行的。因此，大部分支出與第一季度密切相關。因此，當你從這裡開始時，稱之為費用——我們不會有與此相關的增量費用。

And then on top of that, for each cost center, we went through a very diligent exercise of driving SG&A efficiencies. So as we move through the year, you should see SG&A as a percent of revenue keep coming down to around that and you can get that number from the adjusted operating income guidance that we provided, but that around mid 20%-ish.

除此之外，對於每個成本中心，我們都進行了非常勤奮的練習，以提高 SG&A 效率。因此，隨著今年的進展，您應該會看到 SG&A 佔收入的百分比不斷下降到這個水平，您可以從我們提供的調整後營業收入指導中得到這個數字，但大約在 20% 左右。

I think as a company, and I'm not just talking about this year, as a company, as we move forward, there's a very strong path in front of us in the very near future to get to that low 20%-ish SG&A as a percent of revenue. And then as we build up some scale to hopefully even bring below 20% SG&A as a percent of revenue.

我認為，作為一家公司，我不僅僅談論今年，作為一家公司，隨著我們的前進，在不久的將來，我們面前有一條非常強大的道路，可以實現 20% 左右的低 SG&A作為收入的百分比。然後，隨著我們規模的擴大，SG&A 佔收入的比例甚至有望低於 20%。

Sorry, just to be clear, you're talking about, when you just do the back-of-the-envelope math, run rate in SG&A of at least $2 million lower than the first quarter. Is that right?

抱歉，需要澄清的是，當您進行粗略計算時，您所說的 SG&A 運行率比第一季度至少低 200 萬美元。是對的嗎？

Yes. So you would put SG&A as a percent of revenue as you -- so remember, like second-quarter revenue is going to be -- we're still -- there's a lot of moving parts in there. But as you're looking at SG&A overall, you -- first of all, as a revenue, you're going to see revenue pick up a lot in third quarter and fourth quarter. And to your point, SG&A, you will see SG&A significantly declining in third quarter and fourth quarter.

是的。因此，您可以將 SG&A 作為收入的百分比 - 所以請記住，就像第二季度的收入一樣 - 我們仍然 - 其中有很多變動的部分。但當你從整體上看 SG&A 時，首先，作為收入，你會看到第三季度和第四季度的收入大幅增長。就您的觀點而言，SG&A，您將看到第三季度和第四季度的SG&A 顯著下降。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Josh Siegler from Cantor Fitzgerald.

坎托·菲茨杰拉德的喬什·西格勒。

Yeah. Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I guess first of all, when do you expect to see an increase in productivity from your sales personnel? Is that really going to kick off in the back half of this year?

是的。嗨，大家好。感謝您提出我的問題。我想首先，您預計什麼時候會看到銷售人員的生產力提高？這真的會在今年下半年開始嗎？

This is Eric Purdum. So I'll take that question. Yes. So we normally see a three- to six-month ramp when we hire a new sales personnel to start contributing to that top-line revenue number. And so we -- and that's where you're starting to see our uptick in the second half. That investment we made in Q1 and back in 2022 is starting to pay off now as we increase our pipeline as well. Like we mentioned earlier in the call, our pipeline is 7x, seven times where it was last year. So that is why we are really looking to the second half as to bringing those numbers higher.

這是埃里克·普杜姆。所以我會回答這個問題。是的。因此，當我們聘請新的銷售人員開始為營收數字做出貢獻時，我們通常會看到三到六個月的增長。所以我們——這就是你開始看到我們下半年有所上升的地方。隨著我們也在增加管道，我們在第一季度和 2022 年所做的投資現在開始得到回報。正如我們之前在電話會議中提到的，我們的管道數量是去年的 7 倍，是去年的七倍。這就是為什麼我們真正希望下半年能夠提高這些數字。

And also keep in mind too, like we mentioned earlier, we did delay it a few months based on the ramp, right, based on what we're seeing in the market conditions. So there's a few things to keep in mind there. But absolutely, yes, we're starting to see that pay off now in the second half.

還要記住，就像我們之前提到的那樣，我們確實根據坡道推遲了幾個月，對吧，根據我們在市場狀況中看到的情況。所以有一些事情需要記住。但絕對是的，我們現在開始在下半年看到回報。

Got it. And then on the margin conditions front, I'm curious of this increased demand and interest in AI, and generative AI is helping to offset some of the more cautious spending that you're seeing generally throughout your verticals. If you could comment on that, that would be helpful.

知道了。然後在利潤條件方面，我對人工智能日益增長的需求和興趣感到好奇，而生成式人工智能正在幫助抵消您在整個垂直行業中普遍看到的一些更為謹慎的支出。如果您能對此發表評論，那將會很有幫助。

Sure. So absolutely. I think all of us read the news, and we see all the excitement and activity going on around AI right now. Our customer base and client base is no different, right? There's a lot of discussion about how AI can help facilitate a more efficient business, a better look at your data, a better look at decisioning across the board. And those conversations are very active right now within our client base and some of our new logos as well. So I think you'll see us continue to increase our AI presence as we go into second half and certainly into fiscal year '24.

當然。絕對如此。我想我們所有人都讀過新聞，我們看到了現在圍繞人工智能發生的所有令人興奮的事情和活動。我們的客戶群和客戶群沒有什麼不同，對吧？關於人工智能如何幫助促進更高效的業務、更好地查看數據、更好地全面決策，有很多討論。這些對話現在在我們的客戶群和我們的一些新徽標中非常活躍。因此，我認為，隨著我們進入下半年，尤其是 24 財年，您會看到我們繼續增加人工智能的影響力。

Understood. Thank you.

明白了。謝謝。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Mayank Tandon, Needham & Company.

Mayank Tandon，李約瑟公司。

Thank you. Good morning. I just wanted to ask about employee morale and what have you seen in terms of the attrition in your business, given the liquidity issue. And also, related to that, would be your ability to hire key people for key projects, just given the situation currently.

謝謝。早上好。我只是想問一下員工士氣，以及考慮到流動性問題，您對企業的人員流失有何看法。此外，與此相關的是，考慮到目前的情況，您為關鍵項目僱用關鍵人員的能力。

Yeah. Thanks for the question. This is Manuel. So no, we think that the morale is actually good. Our attrition levels came down significantly from last year, almost 70% from the beginning of last year to first quarter, and we continue to see the same levels even trending lower. So low teens on attrition still for Q1 and Q2. So we think that the morale is holding up even as we go through this difficult times in refinancing and all of that. But people are generally excited about the type of work that we're doing, the clients that we're capturing, and the opportunities that we're working on. So I think we're good on that front.

是的。謝謝你的提問。這是曼努埃爾.所以不，我們認為士氣實際上很好。我們的員工流失水平比去年大幅下降，從去年初到第一季度幾乎下降了 70%，而且我們繼續看到同樣的水平甚至呈下降趨勢。第一季度和第二季度的員工流失率仍然很低。因此，我們認為，即使我們正在經歷再融資等方面的困難時期，士氣仍然高漲。但人們普遍對我們正在做的工作類型、我們正在爭取的客戶以及我們正在努力的機會感到興奮。所以我認為我們在這方面做得很好。

Okay. And then just another question I had was on the wind down of certain revenue. If I recall, you also had some sort of maintenance revenue, which I don't know if that's already run off completely. If not, I would assume that's higher margin revenue and more of a cash cow traditionally in the IT services business. Is that still something you have in your bag that you could maybe slow down which helps profitability, at least gives you more time to sort of steady the ship and resolve the liquidity situation? Just curious on that.

好的。我的另一個問題是某些收入的減少。如果我記得的話，你還有某種維護收入，我不知道它是否已經完全耗盡。如果不是，我認為這會帶來更高的利潤收入，並且更像是 IT 服務業務傳統上的搖錢樹。您是否仍然可以放慢腳步，以提高盈利能力，至少讓您有更多時間穩定局面並解決流動性狀況？只是對此感到好奇。

So I'll take this. This is Eric. So again, like we mentioned before, right, 2Q really where it runs off completely. And I get your point, but I think we have to look at it from all sides. We also have to look at how much it costs us to support that revenue as well. So what I would tell you is the team has done an excellent job of looking across the board, not only at our top-line revenue, but the profitability of each account and the expense that cost us to support that account.

所以我會接受這個。這是埃里克。再說一遍，就像我們之前提到的，對吧，第二季度確實完全耗盡了。我明白你的觀點，但我認為我們必須從各個方面來看待它。我們還必須考慮支持該收入需要花費多少錢。所以我要告訴你的是，團隊在全面審視方面做得非常出色，不僅關注我們的營收，還關注每個客戶的盈利能力以及我們支持該客戶的費用。

And we're making those decisions very strategically. So where you may see us exit some revenue, but we're doing it on a very controlled and decisive fashion to make sure we do the right revenue with the right profitability.

我們正在非常戰略性地做出這些決定。因此，您可能會看到我們退出一些收入，但我們正在以非常可控和果斷的方式這樣做，以確保我們以適當的盈利能力獲得適當的收入。

Got it. Thank you for taking my questions.

知道了。感謝您回答我的問題。

Just to add on that, I think, for me, the highlight is that the gross profit actually is improving quarter over quarter. So you see even sequentially from Q4 to Q1, gross profit grew about 5%. So that's a key indicator for us, even if, obviously, market wants to look at top line. But for us internally, the gross profit is super important at this time.

除此之外，我認為對我來說，最重要的是毛利潤實際上正在逐季改善。所以你可以看到，即使從第四季度到第一季度，毛利潤也增長了約 5%。因此，這對我們來說是一個關鍵指標，即使市場顯然希望關注營收。但對於我們內部來說，這個時候毛利潤就超級重要了。

And also, if you look at the guidance for the full year, yes, the revenue growth is mid-single digit. We are guiding to adjusted operating profit above 20% year over year. So I think in all in all, sometimes, that's the decision we are making, right? I mean, do we want to just focus on revenue or do we want to focus on highly profitable revenue? Because in the end, what matters is the operating profit that we are generating as a company.

而且，如果你看一下全年的指導，是的，收入增長是中個位數。我們指導調整後營業利潤同比增長20%以上。所以我認為總而言之，有時這就是我們正在做出的決定，對吧？我的意思是，我們是想只關注收入還是想關注高利潤的收入？因為歸根結底，重要的是我們作為一家公司所產生的營業利潤。

Sure. Understood. Thank you so much.

當然。明白了。太感謝了。

(Operator Instructions) Joseph Vafi, Canaccord Genuity.

（操作員說明）Joseph Vafi，Canaccord Genuity。

Hi, everyone. Good morning, and welcome on board, Eric. Eric, could you just remind us, if you look at the second-half ramp and visibility there, what -- where are you -- if you could break down where you think that ramp is coming from, between existing and new logos. And then a quick follow-up.

大家好。早上好，歡迎加入，埃里克。埃里克，你能否提醒我們，如果你看看下半年的坡道和那裡的能見度，你在哪裡——如果你能在現有標誌和新標誌之間分解你認為坡道來自哪裡。然後快速跟進。

Yeah. So I would say that -- not quoting exact numbers because I think it will fundamentally change as we roll into second half. But I would think the majority of our growth this year is around our organic customer base. And again, it goes back to the fact that some of these projects were delayed. There was some softness in the decision-making in Q1. And so we're starting to see that really ramp up.

是的。所以我想說的是——沒有引用確切的數字，因為我認為隨著我們進入下半年，情況將會發生根本性的變化。但我認為今年我們的增長大部分是圍繞我們的有機客戶群。再次，這又回到了其中一些項目被推遲的事實。第一季度的決策有些軟弱。所以我們開始看到這種情況確實在增加。

And again, we have very mature client relationships at Agile, some that go back multiple years. So for us, that is where that's driving to. But that doesn't mean we're not focused on the new logo because that will implement -- or supplement some of that additional revenue top line that we'll get in Q2. So majority of it is organic at this point. But again, we'll still continue to grow the new logos. And I think that will really impact our fiscal year '24 as well.

再說一次，我們在敏捷方面擁有非常成熟的客戶關係，其中一些可以追溯到很多年前。所以對我們來說，這就是我們的目標。但這並不意味著我們不關注新徽標，因為它將實施或補充我們將在第二季度獲得的部分額外收入。所以目前大部分都是有機的。但同樣，我們仍將繼續開發新徽標。我認為這也會真正影響我們的 24 財年。

Okay. That's helpful. And then I know -- I think, Eric, you mentioned your largest cohort of client's at like the $5 million level. I mean, that's not necessarily really large, given probably the size of their IT budgets. Do you think that those largest customers at this point are going to grow? Do they contribute to growth? Or do you think that they could grow slower than overall growth and (multiple speakers)?

好的。這很有幫助。然後我知道 - 我想，埃里克，你提到了你最大的客戶群體，大約是 500 萬美元的水平。我的意思是，考慮到他們的 IT 預算規模，這不一定很大。您認為目前那些最大的客戶會增長嗎？它們對增長有貢獻嗎？或者您認為它們的增長速度可能會慢於整體增長速度（多位發言者）？

No, I actually think they'll contribute quite a bit. So if you think about the customer base that we have, and large customers that are in that base, right, we do facilitate a lot of IT services to them today. But we -- there's a lot of untapped opportunity with each of those clients and enables us to go in there, talk about the great work that we've done already to facilitate net new business with new buyers at those accounts.

不，我實際上認為他們會做出很大的貢獻。因此，如果您考慮一下我們擁有的客戶群以及該客戶群中的大客戶，那麼我們今天確實為他們提供了很多 IT 服務。但我們——每個客戶都有很多未開發的機會，使我們能夠進入那裡，談論我們已經完成的偉大工作，以促進與這些客戶的新買家的淨新業務。

So what I would tell you is we're hyper focused certainly on that organic growth because I do think that there's a lot of opportunity within our existing client base to grow. I would add one more thing is if you're a company that delivers well like us, to go into a new buyer at a company and to really talk about the work we've already done there, goes a long way in generating net new opportunities. So I think the reality is organic growth will be on tap this year to help us really grow, with those new logos bringing us into the fiscal year '24.

所以我要告訴你的是，我們非常關注有機增長，因為我確實認為我們現有的客戶群中有很多增長的機會。我還想補充一件事，如果您是一家像我們一樣交付良好的公司，那麼進入一家公司的新買家並真正談論我們已經在那裡完成的工作，對產生淨新收入大有幫助機會。因此，我認為現實情況是，今年將出現有機增長，以幫助我們真正實現增長，這些新徽標將我們帶入 24 財年。

Okay. Maybe -- and then I'll just ask one more quick one. Given the balance sheet constraints, are there any levers to pull on utilization or other things relative to, I guess, more capability that you have without having to perhaps hire right now? Thanks a lot.

好的。也許——然後我會再快速問一個。考慮到資產負債表的限制，是否有任何槓桿可以提高利用率或其他相關的東西，我猜，你擁有更多的能力，而不必立即僱用？多謝。

I can take that question. I think as we have been, call it, improving our overall business by exiting non-core, doing more and more high-end digital work, you are seeing metrics like revenue per billable employee materially improving over the last, call it, one year, where we have gone from, just a year ago, revenue per billable employee being $70,000, $72,000 to now above $82,000.

我可以回答這個問題。我認為，正如我們一直以來所做的那樣，通過退出非核心業務、開展越來越多的高端數字工作來改善我們的整體業務，你會看到像每個計費員工的收入這樣的指標在過去一年中得到了實質性改善，就在一年前，我們每名計費員工的收入為 70,000 美元、72,000 美元，現在已超過 82,000 美元。

So we are -- and the utilization remains in that low to mid-80s level, which is, I think, the ideal level for our company. But I think as a company now, we are -- the type of work that we are doing, driving one of the highest revenue per billable employee. So it is making us deliver revenues without having to necessarily hire at that level. Obviously, our headcount has been a little impacted recently because of the exit of non-core. But overall, the steps that the company is taking is in the direction of more quality, more -- higher revenue per billable employee moving forward.

因此，我們的利用率仍保持在 80 年代中期的低水平，我認為這對我們公司來說是理想的水平。但我認為，作為一家公司，我們現在所做的工作類型是每名計費員工收入最高的公司之一。因此，它使我們無需招聘該級別的人員即可實現收入。顯然，由於非核心人員的退出，我們的員工數量最近受到了一些影響。但總體而言，公司正在採取的措施是朝著更高質量、更高的每名計費員工收入的方向發展。

Got it. Thanks, Amit. And good luck with the financing.

知道了。謝謝，阿米特。祝融資順利。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

And there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn it back over to management for some final closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題。我現在將把它轉回給管理層，以獲得一些最終的總結意見。

This is Manuel. I just really appreciate everybody coming on to our call. I hope we answered most of your questions and gave more clarity to where we're going. So thanks very much.

這是曼努埃爾.我真的很感謝大家來參加我們的電話會議。我希望我們回答了您的大部分問題，並更清楚地說明了我們的前進方向。非常感謝。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。