Alight Inc (ALIT) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and thank you for holding. My name is Ranju and I will be your conference operator today. Welcome to Alight first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's call is being recorded, and a replay of the call will be available on the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

早上好，謝謝您的支持。我叫 Ranju，今天我將擔任您的會議接線生。歡迎參加 Alight 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）提醒一下，今天的電話會議正在錄音，電話會議的重播將在公司網站的投資者關係部分提供。

And now I would like to turn it over to Jeremy Cohen, Head of Investor Relations at Alight to introduce today's speakers.

現在我想請 Alight 投資者關係主管 Jeremy Cohen 介紹今天的演講者。

Good morning and thank you for joining us. Earlier today, the company issued a press release with its first-quarter 2025 results. A copy of the release can be found in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at investor.alight.com.

早安，感謝您加入我們。今天早些時候，該公司發布了一份新聞稿，公佈了 2025 年第一季的業績。您可以在公司網站 investor.alight.com 的投資者關係部分找到該新聞稿的副本。

Before we get started, please note that some of the company's discussion today will include forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors.

在我們開始之前，請注意，公司今天的一些討論將包括前瞻性陳述。此類前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來的表現。由於各種因素，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中表達或暗示的結果有重大差異。

These factors are discussed in more detail in the company's filings with the SEC, including the company's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as such factors may be updated from time to time in the company's periodic filings. The company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

這些因素在公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了更詳細的討論，包括公司最新的 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格，因為這些因素可能會在公司的定期文件中不時更新。本公司不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的任何義務。

Also, during this conference call, the company will be presenting certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the company's historical non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures appear in today's earnings press release. All year-over-year financial comparisons made on today's call are on a pro forma basis, giving effect to the payroll and professional services transaction completed last July, and are consistent with the presentation we have published on our Investor Relations website.

此外，在本次電話會議中，本公司也將介紹一些非公認會計準則財務指標。今天的收益新聞稿中列出了公司歷史上非 GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳情況。今天電話會議上進行的所有同比財務比較都是備考基礎，考慮到了去年 7 月完成的工資和專業服務交易，並且與我們在投資者關係網站上發布的介紹一致。

On the call from management today are Dave Guilmette, CEO; and Jeremy Heaton, CFO. After the prepared remarks, we will open the call up for questions. I will now hand the call over to Dave.

今天參加管理層電話會議的有執行長 Dave Guilmette 和財務長 Jeremy Heaton。準備好的發言結束後，我們將開始提問。我現在將電話交給戴夫。

Thanks, Jeremy, and good morning. We're off to a strong start to 2025 with first-quarter results that reflect continued progress against the strategy we outlined back in March during our Investor Day. We shared that we are the market leader in the employee benefits delivery space and our strategy is grounded in a client-centric focus. Our integrated Alight Worklife platform paired with a deep data lake informs an enormous opportunity across AI and automation that enable us to innovate and bring additional value to our clients and efficiencies to Alight.

謝謝，傑里米，早安。我們為 2025 年開了個好頭，第一季的業績反映出我們在 3 月份投資者日期間概述的策略方面取得了持續進展。我們表示，我們是員工福利交付領域的市場領導者，我們的策略以客戶為中心。我們整合的 Alight Worklife 平台與深度資料湖相結合，為人工智慧和自動化領域帶來了巨大的機遇，使我們能夠創新並為客戶帶來額外的價值，並提高 Alight 的效率。

As we focus every day on the execution of the strategy, we're also delivering financial results in line with our commitments, with total revenue of $548 million and adjusted EBITDA of $118 million. While we continue to watch the economy with a cautious view, we feel good about our revenue under contract, the momentum from our renewals, and the operational initiatives underway that will continue to drive margin expansion and more free cash flow. As a result, we are reaffirming our financial outlook for the year.

我們每天都專注於策略的執行，同時也實現了符合承諾的財務業績，總收入為 5.48 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 1.18 億美元。雖然我們繼續以謹慎的眼光看待經濟，但我們對合約收入、續約動能以及正在進行的營運舉措感到滿意，這些舉措將繼續推動利潤率擴張和更多自由現金流。因此，我們重申今年的財務前景。

We talked at length about the importance of retention, and to start the year, our renewal trends remain on track with execution of our new everyday program. We have already renewed several top clients this year, including Starbucks, Baxter, US Foods, and Otis Elevator Company, who have been important clients, and we look forward to continuing to partner and innovate with them.

我們詳細討論了保留的重要性，並且在新的一年伊始，隨著我們新的日常計劃的實施，我們的更新趨勢仍然保持在正軌上。今年我們已經續簽了幾家頂級客戶，包括星巴克、百特、美國食品和奧的斯電梯公司，他們都是重要的客戶，我們期待繼續與他們合作、共同創新。

These are examples of the confidence our clients have in our vision and the value we deliver. Retaining and then expanding upon those relationships is a critical element that powers the flywheel to accelerating financial performance and delivering long-term shareholder value.

這些都是客戶對我們的願景和所提供的價值充滿信心的例子。維持並擴大這些關係是推動飛輪加速財務表現和實現長期股東價值的關鍵因素。

Two key components of this are leveraging our technology transformation and delivering service excellence. Within technology, our team has been laser-focused on delivering value for our clients and participants through accelerating innovation and AI enablement. This quarter, we launched our self-service leaves administration reporting platform, which, when coupled with AI Insights, will deliver tremendous value for clients and simplify the complexity of absence management.

其中兩個關鍵要素是利用我們的技術轉型和提供卓越的服務。在技​​術領域，我們的團隊一直專注於透過加速創新和人工智慧支援為我們的客戶和參與者創造價值。本季度，我們推出了自助式休假管理報告平台，該平台與 AI Insights 相結合，將為客戶帶來巨大的價值並簡化缺勤管理的複雜性。

Leaves continues to represent a large growth opportunity for us with only 10% penetration across our top 200 clients. At the same time, we are also working on similar modernized reporting platforms for health and wealth.

Leaves 在我們前 200 名客戶中的滲透率僅為 10%，但這對我們來說仍然代表著巨大的成長機會。同時，我們也致力於開發類似的現代化健康和財富報告平台。

At quarter end, nearly 80% of our clients were already leveraging AI in some capacity, and our roadmap positions us to meet and anticipate the needs of participants and drive better outcomes. We are also making headway on how we nail the basics by enhancing the delivery operating model, which, as a reminder, is our initiative of moving from a solution-centric approach to a balanced centers-of-excellence approach.

截至季度末，我們近 80% 的客戶已經在某種程度上利用了人工智慧，我們的路線圖使我們能夠滿足和預測參與者的需求並推動更好的結果。我們也透過增強交付營運模式，在如何掌握基礎方面取得了進展，提醒一下，這是我們從以解決方案為中心的方法轉向平衡的卓越中心方法的舉措。

One example of how this is coming to life is within our COE or strategic implementation services. Our work-simplifying implementation routines is creating a standardized approach across our solution domains. For example, the way we implement a navigation solution should not differ materially from other offerings, whether it be leaves, health, or wealth solutions. Building muscle around a more consistent and predictable implementation experience will reduce costs and the time to go live for our clients.

我們的 COE 或策略實施服務就是實現這一目標的一個例子。我們簡化工作的實施程序正在我們的解決方案領域中創建一種標準化的方法。例如，我們實施導航解決方案的方式不應該與其他產品有實質差異，無論是休假、健康或財富解決方案。圍繞著更加一致和可預測的實施經驗進行增強將減少客戶的成本和上線時間。

On the customer care front, service levels have improved and we're proud that our NPS score related to annual enrollment increased 12 points this past year. We will have plenty more to share as the year progresses, but we're off to a strong start.

在客戶服務方面，服務水準已提高，我們感到自豪的是，與年度註冊相關的 NPS 分數在過去一年中增加了 12 個百分點。隨著時間的推移，我們將會有更多的內容可以分享，但我們已經有一個好的開始。

The importance of the initiatives across technology and delivery cannot be understated. The value we're adding from these initiatives not only supports a better client experience but is a key element to driving stronger profitability and free cash flow. Many of these initiatives are independent of the top line.

技術和交付措施的重要性怎麼強調也不為過。我們透過這些措施所增加的價值不僅支持更好的客戶體驗，而且是推動更強的獲利能力和自由現金流的關鍵因素。其中許多措施都與營收無關。

So with that, let me touch on the macro environment. The long cycle and recurring nature of our business helps to insulate us as we experience during the pandemic, but we are not completely immune from any impacts. We feel good about what is in our control. And like most companies, we are navigating current market conditions.

因此，讓我來談談宏觀環境。我們業務的長週期和重複性有助於我們在疫情期間免受影響，但我們並不能完全免受任何影響。我們對自己能控制的事情感到滿意。和大多數公司一樣，我們正在探索當前的市場狀況。

There are really three areas we are watching closely. First, increasing market volatility can elongate the client decision-making process for both project and ARR deals, and how quickly we can close them and go live. As is our norm, we would expect to have more visibility on our 2025 project work in-year revenue in our overall pipeline as we move through this quarter.

我們正密切關註三個領域。首先，市場波動性的增加會延長客戶對專案和 ARR 交易的決策過程，以及我們完成交易和上線的速度。按照我們的慣例，隨著本季的推進，我們預計 2025 年專案工作年收入在我們的整體通路中將有更清晰的了解。

Our view and that of clients I have recently met with is that amidst uncertainty, benefits programs aimed at helping employees to be healthy and financially secure are as important as ever. Helping clients navigate the current environment provides an opportunity to add even more value and strengthen our deep relationships, and those clients are continuing to look at ways to simplify and drive down their costs, which plays well into our strategy. This is reflected in our strong pipeline, which is up roughly 30%.

我們以及我最近會見的客戶的觀點是，在充滿不確定性的環境中，旨在幫助員工健康和財務安全的福利計劃仍然同樣重要。幫助客戶應對當前環境為我們提供了增加更多價值和加強深厚關係的機會，而這些客戶也持續尋找簡化和降低成本的方法，這非常符合我們的策略。這反映在我們強勁的管道上，其成長了約 30%。

Second, assets we manage through our financial advisors generate fees that vary with financial market performance. While this is only a small portion of our wealth business, the fees can be pressured by a protracted market downturn.

其次，我們透過財務顧問管理的資產所產生的費用會隨著金融市場的表現而改變。雖然這只是我們財富業務的一小部分，但長期的市場低迷可能會對費用造成壓力。

And finally, we entered 2025 cautious on volumes or participant counts within our guide. We continue to watch participant counts. But as we saw during COVID, changes to employment levels did not impact our volumes materially over the short run, and typically, the impact would lag the market by six months or more.

最後，我們在指南中對 2025 年的交易量或參與者數量持謹慎態度。我們將繼續關注參與者的數量。但正如我們在新冠疫情期間看到的那樣，就業水準的變化在短期內不會對我們的業務量產生實質影響，而且通常情況下，這種影響會滯後於市場六個月或更長時間。

Every day, our teams continue to execute in areas we can control. We've performed as expected in Q1 and our work to renew and improve services is progressing and gives us confidence that the business is on track. We remain grounded in being a trusted partner that delivers service excellence and competitive solutions, and we look forward to supporting our clients and helping their people every day.

每天，我們的團隊都會繼續在我們能夠控制的領域內執行任務。我們在第一季的表現符合預期，更新和改進服務的工作正在取得進展，這使我們相信業務正在步入正軌。我們始終致力於成為值得信賴的合作夥伴，提供卓越的服務和有競爭力的解決方案，我們期待每天為客戶提供支援並幫助他們的員工。

With that, let me now turn it over to Jeremy.

現在，讓我把麥克風交給傑瑞米。

Thank you and good morning. As Dave mentioned, first-quarter results were in line with expectations, and we're pleased with our team's execution around key initiatives underway that enable us to reaffirm our outlook. 2025 continues to be a transitional year during which we're taking steps forward, both strategically and financially toward our midterm objectives.

謝謝，早安。正如戴夫所提到的，第一季的業績符合預期，我們對團隊在正在進行的關鍵舉措方面的執行情況感到滿意，這使我們能夠重申我們的前景。 2025 年仍然是一個過渡年，在此期間，我們將在策略和財務上朝著我們的中期目標邁進。

Turning to the results, revenue was $548 million and at the midpoint of our guidance range. Recurring revenue comprised nearly 95% of total revenue in the quarter and performed as expected. Non-recurring project revenues were down $10 million or 26%, in line with our expectations as well. We entered the year fairly cautious on project revenue, and this continues to remain the case in the current market.

談到結果，收入為 5.48 億美元，處於我們的指導範圍的中間點。經常性收入佔本季總營收的近 95%，表現符合預期。非經常性項目收入下降 1000 萬美元或 26%，也符合我們的預期。我們對今年的項目收入持相當謹慎的態度，在當前市場中仍然如此。

With our progress in the first quarter, we now have 92% or $2.2 billion of projected 2025 revenue under contract. Our team is intensely focused on securing the remaining renewals in this cycle and commercial execution across both recurring and project revenue.

隨著第一季的進展，我們目前已完成預計 2025 年合約收入的 92% 或 22 億美元。我們的團隊高度重視確保本週期剩餘的續約以及經常性收入和專案收入的商業執行。

Adjusted gross profit was $200 million for the quarter. Similar to prior quarters, this is impacted by cost to support the divested business, which are reimbursed for the TSA and other income. This amounted to $10 million in the quarter.

本季調整後的毛利為 2 億美元。與前幾季類似，這受到支持剝離業務的成本的影響，這些成本由 TSA 和其他收入補償。本季總額達 1000 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA was $118 million for the quarter at the high end of our guidance range. Free cash flow was $44 million for the quarter, in line with our expectations with timing impacts of tax payments and divestiture-related items. We remain on track towards our annual target of $250 million to $285 million of free cash flow. Finally, we returned $41 million to shareholders this quarter via share buybacks and our quarterly dividend.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.18 億美元，處於我們預期範圍的高點。本季自由現金流為 4,400 萬美元，符合我們的預期，並考慮了納稅和資產剝離相關項目的時間影響。我們仍有望實現 2.5 億至 2.85 億美元的年度自由現金流目標。最後，本季我們透過股票回購和季度股利向股東返還了 4,100 萬美元。

Turning to the balance sheet, our quarter-end cash and cash equivalents balance was $223 million and total debt was $2 billion. Our net leverage ratio was 3.1 times, and we expect this to normalize below 3 times again as we build cash through seasonality and as profitability ramps through the year. We continue to actively manage our debt, which is 70% fixed through 2025 and 40% through 2026.

談到資產負債表，我們季度末的現金和現金等價物餘額為 2.23 億美元，總債務為 20 億美元。我們的淨槓桿率為 3.1 倍，隨著我們透過季節性因素累積現金以及全年獲利能力的提升，我們預計這一比率將再次降至 3 倍以下。我們將繼續積極管理我們的債務，到 2025 年將固定 70%，到 2026 年將固定 40%。

In January, we repriced our term loan, lowering our interest rate by 50 basis points, which will decrease our interest expense by $10 million annually. We repurchased $20 million worth of shares during the quarter and at the end of March, had $261 million of share buyback authorization remaining.

一月份，我們重新定價了定期貸款，將利率降低了 50 個基點，這將使我們每年的利息支出減少 1,000 萬美元。我們在本季回購了價值 2,000 萬美元的股票，截至 3 月底，剩餘的股票回購授權額為 2.61 億美元。

Now let me turn to our outlook. We are seeing continued momentum during this renewal cycle. And in addition, while we navigate the current environment, we continue to execute on the day-to-day operations and value-creating initiatives we kicked off last year. As Dave mentioned, while we benefit from a more stable business model, we are watching a few key areas closely given the market dynamics, mostly around the demand environment and any longer-term impacts to client participant accounts.

現在讓我談談我們的展望。我們看到這一更新周期的勢頭持續不斷。此外，在應對當前環境的同時，我們將繼續執行去年啟動的日常營運和價值創造計劃。正如戴夫所提到的，雖然我們受益於更穩定的商業模式，但考慮到市場動態，我們正在密切關注幾個關鍵領域，主要是圍繞需求環境以及對客戶參與者帳戶的任何長期影響。

We are reaffirming our outlook for 2025, and this reflects our revenue under contract and operational levers driving enhanced productivity. Our transformation initiatives are on track to deliver a better client experience, streamline processes, and drive margin expansion. Today, we disclosed a 15-month restructuring program that supports these activities, importantly, with all cash investment and benefits already included in our 2025 guide and midterm financial framework from Investor Day.

我們重申了對 2025 年的展望，這反映了我們的合約收入和營運槓桿推動了生產力的提高。我們的轉型計劃正在順利推進，旨在提供更好的客戶體驗、簡化流程並推動利潤成長。今天，我們披露了一項為期 15 個月的重組計劃來支持這些活動，重要的是，所有現金投資和收益都已包含在投資者日的 2025 年指南和中期財務框架中。

Full-year expectations include revenue of approximately $2.32 billion to $2.39 billion or negative 1.5% to positive 1.5% growth. Adjusted EBITDA of $620 million to $645 million; adjusted EPS of $0.58 to $0.64, which does not include any impact from share buybacks; and free cash flow of $250 million to $285 million or growth of 13% to 29%. Our full-year view reflects our visibility today and assumes the current market conditions prevail.

全年預期營收約為 23.2 億美元至 23.9 億美元，或成長 -1.5% 至 +1.5%。調整後的 EBITDA 為 6.2 億美元至 6.45 億美元；調整後的 EPS 為 0.58 美元至 0.64 美元，不包括股票回購的影響；自由現金流為 2.5 億美元至 2.85 億美元，成長 13% 至 29%。我們的全年展望反映了我們今天的視野，並假設當前的市場狀況占主導地位。

To close out, our teams delivered on expectations for the first quarter, and we feel good about the operational work underway. Our business benefits from a highly recurring revenue base tied to long-term contracts, delivering mission-critical services to the largest companies in the world. And we remain intensely focused on our execution while delivering exceptional value for our clients.

最後，我們的團隊實現了第一季的預期，我們對正在進行的營運工作感到滿意。我們的業務受益於與長期合約掛鉤的高度經常性收入基礎，為世界上最大的公司提供關鍵任務服務。我們在為客戶提供卓越價值的同時，始終高度關注我們的執行力。

This concludes our prepared remarks, and we will now move into the question-and-answer session. Operator, would you please instruct participants on how to ask questions?

我們的準備好的演講到此結束，現在我們將進入問答環節。接線員，請您指導一下參與者如何提問嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Scott Schoenhaus, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

（操作員指示）KeyBanc 資本市場 (KeyBanc Capital Markets) 的 Scott Schoenhaus。

Hey, team, thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the movements and expansions.

嘿，團隊，感謝你們回答我的問題。祝賀這些舉措和擴張。

My question really wanted to focus on the project revenue. You got it for continued weakness for this year, but just kind of wanted to give your updated thoughts given the first-quarter trends, the comps that you face in the back half of the year, and all the macro noise. Obviously, that maybe is a headwind to M&A and whatnot, but just kind of get one of your updated thoughts on project revenue as we look to the year. Thanks.

我的問題確實想集中在專案收入上。您知道今年經濟將持續疲軟，但我只是想根據第一季的趨勢、下半年面臨的競爭情況以及所有宏觀噪音，給出您的最新想法。顯然，這可能對併購等而言是一個阻力，但展望今年，我們只是想了解您對專案收入的最新看法。謝謝。

Hey, good morning, Scott. It's Dave. Thank you for the question. I'll start, I think Jeremy will pepper in as well.

嘿，早上好，史考特。是戴夫。謝謝你的提問。我先開始，我想傑瑞米也會加入。

So the first quarter kind of played out as we expected. We didn't go into the year thinking that we're going to see a significant uptick in the project work as we indicated, and there continues to be softness in the M&A front and some of the things that would typically play out in the first quarter.

因此第一季的情況正如我們預期的那樣。正如我們所指出的，我們在進入今年時並沒有想到會看到專案工作量大幅上升，而且併購方面以及一些通常會在第一季發生的事情仍然表現疲軟。

What's important now is this is the second quarter. Our teams are deeply in discussions with our large clients around their plans, strategy for business, for benefit design, changes for vendor reconfiguration, things of that nature that typically play through in the second half of the year around the annual enrollment process.

現在重要的是這是第二季。我們的團隊正在與大客戶深入討論他們的計劃、業務策略、福利設計、供應商重新配置的變化以及通常在下半年年度註冊過程中進行的事情。

So we'll know more clearly over the next several weeks just how that's shaping up. But all indications are that there's continuous discussion around the importance of those kinds of changes. Because they really get to the cost of these programs, and healthcare costs continue to inflate, and our clients are doing everything they can to try to keep that under control. Jeremy?

因此，我們將在接下來的幾週內更清楚地了解事情的進展。但所有跡像都表明，人們正在持續討論此類變化的重要性。因為他們確實了解這些項目的成本，而且醫療保健成本持續上漲，我們的客戶正在盡一切努力控制這一成本。傑里米？

Yeah, what I might add there, Scott, is, as we talked about, the first half project work, which we had expected it to be really in line with where we ended up for the first quarter, tends to be more discretionary projects or ad hoc work that comes in from M&A and the regulatory changes Dave mentioned. And so I think that was how we thought about the year and coming through, and what we're seeing.

是的，斯科特，我想補充的是，正如我們所討論的，上半年的項目工作，我們原本預計它會與第一季度的最終結果一致，往往是更多的自由裁量項目或臨時工作，這些工作來自併購和戴夫提到的監管變化。所以我認為這就是我們對這一年的看法、對未來的看法以及對我們所看到的一切的看法。

So the pipeline really builds. I think the June, July time frame and the large enterprise space is where you really get full visibility into what the back half of the year will look like. And as Dave said, tends to be more stable, the comps change a little bit for us, so we expect to see an improving profile there as we get into the back half of the year. But again, we'll get more visibility as we get through the quarter. And these are the teams working with our clients day to day. So we'll get pretty up to-date information as we progress here.

因此管道確實建成了。我認為，六月、七月的時間範圍和大型企業空間才是真正全面了解下半年情況的地方。正如戴夫所說，情況趨於穩定，我們的比較結果略有變化，因此我們預計，進入下半年，情況會有所改善。但隨著本季的結束，我們將獲得更高的知名度。這些團隊每天都在與我們的客戶合作。因此，隨著我們不斷取得進展，我們將獲得最新的資訊。

Thanks. Sorry for the background noise. And then I think you mentioned your pipelines up 30%. Can you provide more color on that? Is that expansion? Is that penetrating more into the middle markets? Just any more color on the pipeline update. Thanks.

謝謝。抱歉，背景噪音太大。然後我想您提到了您的管道增加了 30%。能提供更多詳細資訊嗎？這是擴張嗎？這是否會進一步滲透到中端市場？只是管道更新中的更多顏色。謝謝。

Yeah, certainly, Scott. So I would say it's kind of across the board. We're seeing nice opportunities in the core admin space. We see a very robust pipeline related to our lead solution and a similar amount of momentum related to our navigation solution.

是的，當然，斯科特。所以我想說這是一種全面的。我們在核心管理領域看到了良好的機會。我們看到與我們的領先解決方案相關的非常強大的管道，與我們的導航解決方案相關的勢頭也類似。

So all in, we feel good about that momentum. We feel good about the strength of the pipeline. And we're going to continue to pursue that -- those opportunities pretty aggressively here through the second quarter.

總的來說，我們對這種勢頭感到滿意。我們對管道的強度感到滿意。我們將在第二季度繼續積極尋求這些機會。

Thanks, Jim.

謝謝，吉姆。

Thanks, Scott.

謝謝，斯科特。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Kyle Peterson, Needham & Company.

凱爾彼得森（Kyle Peterson），Needham & Company。

Great, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Nice results, but just wanted to try to touch a little bit on the guide and kind of what you guys are seeing in the sales cycle. It sounds like you guys are -- might think that some of the deal cycles could get extended a bit given the macro. I guess is that -- is some of that commentary there just being cautious or has there been any change in client behavior and decision-making in the last like month or so, given all the trade war and uncertainty?

太好了，早安。感謝您回答這些問題。結果不錯，但我只是想嘗試稍微了解指南以及你們在銷售週期中看到的內容。聽起來你們可能認為，考慮到宏觀因素，一些交易週期可能會延長一點。我的猜測是——考慮到貿易戰和不確定性，這些評論是否只是出於謹慎，還是在過去一個月左右的時間裡，客戶的行為和決策發生了任何變化？

Yeah, Kyle, it's Dave. Thanks for your question. We've not really seen any material shift in the buying patterns to date. It's much more about just the overall environment that we're all dealing with, the degree to which there are changes that are happening coming from policy positions with the administration. It just makes our clients stop and think a little bit more about the types of projects that they may undertake or things that might be discretionary, but we've not seen anything that would be taken off the table at this point.

是的，凱爾，我是戴夫。謝謝你的提問。到目前為止，我們還沒有看到購買模式有任何實質的變化。這更多的是關於我們正在處理的整體環境，以及政府政策立場發生的變化程度。這只是讓我們的客戶停下來，多思考他們可能承擔的項目類型或可能自由裁量的事情，但我們目前還沒有看到任何可以被取消的事情。

And the way that would typically play out is, I would put it into two categories. You've got the bigger kinds of moves that clients would make: introducing a new program such as a navigation solution, making a change relative to leaves administration, or the core benefit administration offerings that we have. Those tend to follow typical cycles when contracts renew, et cetera.

通常情況下，我會將其分為兩類。您可以了解客戶可能採取的更大措施：引入新程序（例如導航解決方案）、對休假管理或我們擁有的核心福利管理產品進行更改。當合約續約等時，這些往往遵循典型的周期。

And I would say those are all very much underway. It would be more related to things that might be a little bit more short term, so expansions, perhaps, where there might be another layer of decision-making or a little bit more caution. And that might push a contract being executed out by a couple of weeks, that sort of thing. But we've really not seen anything protracted or anything that would give us serious concern at this point relative to buying patterns.

我想說這些都正在順利進行中。它可能更多地與短期的事情有關，因此擴張也許涉及另一層決策或更謹慎。這可能會使合約的執行時間推遲幾週，諸如此類。但我們確實沒有看到任何曠日持久的現象，也沒有看到任何讓我們在購買模式上感到嚴重擔憂的現象。

Okay, that's really good color. And I guess a follow-up in capital allocation, how you guys are thinking about the buyback in particular, obviously. It seems like we're in just a more volatile market environment in general. But I guess, especially as cash builds this year, would you guys be willing to maybe be a little more tactical or aggressive to try to support the stock if there are dislocations and such?

好的，顏色確實很好。我想在資本配置方面進行後續行動，顯然你們是如何考慮回購的。總體而言，我們似乎正處於一個更動盪的市場環境中。但我想，特別是隨著今年現金的積累，如果出現混亂等情況，你們是否願意採取更具策略性或更積極的措施來支撐股票？

Sure. Thanks, Kyle. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think we talked about it a bit at Investor Day. We've got the -- we had the increase of $200 million. So now, we have $261 million of available authorization. And so I think that's important for us, and just the flexibility for us on what we want to do and being opportunistic.

當然。謝謝，凱爾。是的，當然。我的意思是，我認為我們在投資者日談論過這個問題。我們獲得了——增加了 2 億美元。所以現在，我們有 2.61 億美元的可用授權。所以我認為這對我們很重要，這對我們來說是一種靈活性，讓我們能夠靈活地選擇我們想做的事情並抓住機會。

And so you saw we were active in the first quarter. We'll continue to be. And again, in this type of environment, first, order around capital allocation is to strengthen the balance sheet. And then we're also going to look at opportunities to -- whether it's a strategic partnerships or anything inorganic. But certainly, capital return is there as a priority as well. And so you saw that both with, again, the dividend and being active in share buybacks. So we certainly have the benefit with the authorization available to be very opportunistic this year.

所以你可以看到我們在第一季表現活躍。我們會繼續這樣做。再次強調，在這種環境下，首先，圍繞資本配置的命令是為了強化資產負債表。然後我們還將尋找機會——無論是策略合作夥伴關係還是其他任何無機合作關係。但當然，資本回報也是優先考慮的事項。因此，您再次看到了股息和積極股票回購的情況。因此，我們今年確實有機會利用授權獲益。

Okay, awesome. Appreciate you guys taking the questions. I'll hop back in.

好的，太棒了。感謝你們回答這些問題。我會跳回去。

Thanks, Kyle.

謝謝，凱爾。

Thank you, Kyle.

謝謝你，凱爾。

Pete Christiansen, Citi.

花旗銀行的 Pete Christiansen。

Good morning. Thanks for the questions here, just two for me. Jeremy, can you talk through, I guess -- okay, I'm sorry, the pipeline so far, 92% of 2025 so far. I guess, it's hard to look back because of the pro forma and all that stuff. But how does that normally pace, I guess, with the benefits business looking on a pro forma basis versus previous years? Seems like it's in a pretty good position.

早安.感謝您提出的問題，我只問了兩個問題。傑里米，你能不能講一下，我想——好吧，對不起，到目前為止，管道已經完成了 2025 年的 92%。我想，由於形式和所有這些東西，回顧起來很困難。但我猜，與前幾年相比，福利業務的預期進度通常如何？看起來它處於一個相當好的位置。

It is. Thanks for the question, Pete. Yeah, we feel good about the 92%. You're right. We do start a normal year. This year, we started at 89%, which was, if you looked at the -- previously, when we had the professional services and payroll business, we would start in the high 70s to low 80s. We had the benefit of starting this year at 89%, but we made very good progress in the first quarter in building through.

這是。謝謝你的提問，皮特。是的，我們對這 92% 感到滿意。你說得對。我們確實開始了正常的一年。今年，我們的起價為 89%，如果你看一下——以前，當我們有專業服務和薪資業務時，起步價會是 70 多到 80 多。我們今年開始時就已享有 89% 的優勢，但我們在第一季的建設中取得了非常好的進展。

So again, I think that's what gives us a lot of the confidence that we've got in the guide with the progress we made, the results we delivered in the first quarter. And what we -- again, there's still execution that's required and elements of that that we'll have in any given year. But we feel really good in terms of the progress.

所以，我認為這讓我們對指南充滿信心，因為我們在第一季取得了進展，並取得了成果。而且我們 — — 再說一次，仍然需要執行，而且我們在任何一年都會有執行的要素。但就進展而言，我們感覺非常好。

And of course, the renewal cycle, that's a big piece of what closes in on the revenue under contract, both for this year and as we look out to 2026 and 2027, which are both ahead of where we were at this same time last year, looking out in kind of the one-year and two-year out view. So we feel very good in terms of the progress.

當然，續約週期是決定合約收入的一個重要因素，無論是今年還是展望 2026 年和 2027 年，都比去年同期有所提前，以一年和兩年的眼光來看。因此，我們對進展感到非常滿意。

Yeah, that's helpful. Have there been any implementations that have been rescheduled, I guess, lately?

是的，這很有幫助。我猜，最近是否有任何實施被重新安排了？

Nothing material that we've seen at this point. You typically might have something that moves month to month based on something that might happen within a particular project or a go-live, but we have not seen large shifts in implementations at this point. We maintain full capacity to be able to implement deals on time. And really, going back even to the federal deal or the Thrift deal, we've really had no issues in terms of implementation and go-lives.

目前我們還沒有看到任何實質的東西。通常情況下，根據特定項目或上線過程中可能發生的事情，某些事情可能會逐月發生變化，但目前我們尚未看到實施方面出現重大轉變。我們保持滿載運轉，以便能夠按時完成交易。事實上，即使回顧聯邦協議或 Thrift 協議，我們在實施和上線方面確實沒有遇到任何問題。

That's great. And then, sorry, last one for me. Sorry, my phone cut away for a bit. Dave, I think you were talking, framing some of potential challenges and a weaker macro environment on the wealth side. Can you just reframe that for us, the exposure there and how we should think about that portion of the business? Sorry about that.

那太棒了。然後，抱歉，這是我的最後一個問題。抱歉，我的手機暫時斷線了。戴夫，我認為你剛才談到了財富方面的一些潛在挑戰和較弱的宏觀環境。您能否為我們重新闡述那裡的曝光度以及我們應該如何看待這部分業務？很抱歉。

Yeah, sure, Pete. Thank you. So maybe the way to think about this is, first of all, we have a team of financial advisers that, for a fee, manage assets on behalf of retirees. Order of magnitude, they manage tens of billions of dollars out of our $1.5 trillion of assets that we cover. So kind of as we sit here today, if we saw a really protracted weakened market with performance being down, we're talking about exposure here from a revenue standpoint, well less of $10 million.

是的，當然，皮特。謝謝。因此，也許可以這樣思考：首先，我們有一個財務顧問團隊，收取費用，代表退休人員管理資產。從數量級來看，他們管理著我們所覆蓋的 1.5 兆美元資產中的數百億美元。所以，當我們今天坐在這裡時，如果我們看到市場長期處於疲軟狀態，業績下滑，那麼從收入的角度來看，風險敞口將遠低於 1000 萬美元。

Okay, that's great. Thank you very much.

好的，太好了。非常感謝。

Thanks, Pete.

謝謝，皮特。

Welcome, Pete.

歡迎光臨，皮特。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the floor over to Dave Guilmette for closing comments.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，問答環節已經結束。現在我想請 Dave Guilmette 做最後發言。

Thank you, operator, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We feel good about our first-quarter performance, which is a testament, really, to our colleagues and the support that they provide our clients every day, and I'd like to take a moment to thank them for everything that they do.

謝謝接線生，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，這確實證明了我們的同事以及他們每天為客戶提供的支持，我想花點時間感謝他們所做的一切。

We look forward to sharing our progress as we move through the rest of the year and seeing many of you in person over the next few weeks. Thank you.

我們期待在今年剩餘的時間分享我們的進展，並在接下來的幾週內親自見到你們中的許多人。謝謝。

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

謝謝。我們今天的電話會議到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。