(ALYA) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Alithya's First Quarter and Fiscal 2024 Results Conference Call.

早安，女士們，先生們。歡迎參加 Alithya 第一季和 2024 財年業績電話會議。

I would now like to turn the meeting over to Alithya's management. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給 Alithya 的管理階層。請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you once again for joining us for Alithya's First Quarter Fiscal 2024 Results Conference Call. The press release and MD&A with complete financial statements and related notes were issued this morning and are now posted on our website. The webcast presentation can also be found on our website in the Investors section.

早安，再次感謝您參加 Alithya 2024 財年第一季業績電話會議。新聞稿和 MD&A 以及完整的財務報表和相關說明已於今天上午發布，現已發佈在我們的網站上。網路廣播演示也可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到。

Please be advised that this call will contain statements that are forward looking and which are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These statements include, without limitation, our estimates, plans, expectations and other statements regarding the future growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects of Alithya that do not exclusively relate to historical fact or which refer to future events, including statements regarding our expectations of our clients' demand for our services and our ability to take advantage of business opportunities it meets our goal set in our 3-year strategic fall.

請注意，本次電話會議將包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異。這些陳述包括但不限於我們的估計、計劃、預期和有關 Alithya 未來成長、營運結果、業績和業務前景的其他陳述，這些陳述不完全與歷史事實相關或涉及未來事件，包括有關我們的陳述客戶對我們服務的需求的期望以及我們利用商業機會的能力，它滿足了我們在三年策略目標中設定的目標。

For more information, please refer to the cautionary notes in our presentation and to the forward-looking statements and risks and uncertainties section of our MD&A available on our website. All figures discussed on today's call are in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise stated. And we may refer to certain indicators that are non-IFRS measures. Please refer to the cautionary note in our presentation and to the non-IFRS and other financial measures section of our MD&A for more detail.

欲了解更多信息，請參閱我們演示文稿中的注意事項以及我們網站上的 MD&A 的前瞻性陳述以及風險和不確定性部分。除非另有說明，否則今天電話會議中討論的所有數字均以加幣為單位。我們可能會參考某些非 IFRS 衡量指標。請參閱我們簡報中的警示性說明以及 MD&A 的非 IFRS 和其他財務措施部分，以了解更多詳細資訊。

Presenting this morning are Paul Raymond, Alithya's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Claude Thibault, Chief Financial Officer.

今天上午出席會議的有 Alithya 總裁兼執行長 Paul Raymond；和財務長克勞德蒂博。

I will now turn the call over to Paul Raymond. Paul?

我現在將把電話轉給保羅·雷蒙德。保羅？

Thank you, Benjamin, and good morning, everyone. (foreign language). Thank you all for joining us to discuss Alithya's first quarter 2024 financial results. On the wings of a robust close to our 2023 fiscal year, we began fiscal '24 but a mixed note. Despite headwinds in certain sectors that have slowed our overall revenue growth rate in Q1, we continue to improve our business in most areas.

謝謝你，班傑明，大家早安。 （外語）。感謝大家與我們一起討論 Alithya 2024 年第一季的財務表現。在 2023 財年強勁結束之際，我們開始了 24 財年，但情況好壞參半。儘管某些行業的不利因素導致我們第一季的整體收入成長率放緩，但我們在大多數領域的業務仍在繼續改善。

I would like to begin by sharing some highlights with you from our first quarter of fiscal 2024, which ended on June 30, 2023. First off, despite headwinds in the global economic environment, particularly affecting our banking sector in Canada and our learning business in the U.S. Our bookings remained strong in the first quarter with record bookings in our U.S. operations. We also added 32 new clients across our global operations, and we have a healthy number of new project starts from existing clients seeking to generate greater efficiencies.

首先，我想與您分享截至2023 年6 月30 日的2024 財年第一季的一些亮點。首先，儘管全球經濟環境面臨阻力，特別是影響了我們在加拿大的銀行業和我們在加拿大的學習業務。美國第一季我們的預訂量依然強勁，美國業務的預訂量創下歷史新高。我們還在全球營運中增加了 32 個新客戶，並且現有客戶啟動了大量新項目，尋求更高的效率。

Secondly, we continue to improve our gross margins as a percentage of revenue year-over-year despite company-wide salary increases in Q1. Third, we have continued our momentum in generating healthy cash flows as we continue reducing our debt. Fourth, the quality of our global services backed by the collective intelligence and skill sets of our people continue to be recognized over the past few months with numerous nomination and prestigious awards bestowed upon Alithya. And last, but certainly not least, we continue to leverage new and emerging technologies, including generative artificial intelligence to enhance our products and services and maintain our position on the crest of a digital way.

其次，儘管第一季全公司範圍內的工資上漲，但我們的毛利率佔收入的百分比繼續提高。第三，在繼續減少債務的同時，我們繼續保持創造健康現金流的勢頭。第四，在過去幾個月裡，我們員工的集體智慧和技能支持下的全球服務品質繼續得到認可，Alithya 獲得了許多提名和著名獎項。最後但並非最不重要的一點是，我們繼續利用新興技術（包括生成人工智慧）來增強我們的產品和服務，並保持我們在數位方式頂峰的地位。

Now let's dig deeper into some of those highlights. As mentioned, we experienced a record quarter for bookings in our Oracle and Microsoft Enterprise cloud-based practices. Globally, Q1 bookings reached $111 million, which translates into a book-to-bill ratio of 0.85. That said, if revenues from the 2 long-term contracts were excluded, Alithya's book-to-bill ratio would be around 1. On a trailing 12-month basis, bookings were $491 million, which translate a book-to-bill of 0.93 and 1.08 when excluding the 2 aforementioned long-term contracts.

現在讓我們更深入地探討其中的一些亮點。如前所述，我們在 Oracle 和 Microsoft Enterprise 基於雲端的實踐中經歷了創紀錄的季度預訂量。全球範圍內，第一季預訂量達到 1.11 億美元，預訂出貨比為 0.85。也就是說，如果排除兩份長期合約的收入，Alithya 的訂單出貨比將約為 1。在過去 12 個月的基礎上，預訂量為 4.91 億美元，這意味著訂單出貨比為 0.93排除上述2 份長期合約後為1.08。

Bookings were also particularly strong in respect to the health care sector, where there is a very strong demand for our services, which experienced both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year growth. That is a notable achievement in the context of the current economic climate, and we will continue to pursue deeper market penetration in that area moving forward. Now in terms of gross margins, we continue to hover around our minimum threshold of 30%. In Q1, gross margin as a percentage of revenue reached 28.9% compared to 26.9% in Q1 of last year.

醫療保健領域的預訂量也特別強勁，該領域對我們的服務的需求非常強勁，並且實現了季度環比和同比增長。在當前經濟情勢下，這是一項顯著的成就，我們將繼續在該領域尋求更深層的市場滲透。現在就毛利率而言，我們繼續徘徊在 30% 的最低門檻附近。第一季度，毛利率佔營收的比例達到 28.9%，而去年第一季為 26.9%。

Improving our gross margins have been a focus of our current strategic plan, and we've implemented multiple measures to continue that trend. As we pursue greater profitability, we know that the road to achieving that goal largely runs through the optimal utilization of our people and our focus on higher-value services. That process includes ongoing reductions of subcontractors as well as continuing efforts to grow our Smart shoring operations.

提高毛利率一直是我們目前策略計畫的重點，我們採取了多項措施來延續這一趨勢。當我們追求更高的獲利能力時，我們知道實現這一目標的道路很大程度上取決於我們員工的最佳利用以及我們對更高價值服務的關注。這個過程包括不斷減少分包商以及不斷努力發展我們的智慧支撐業務。

As we look at regional performance, I would first like to point out that salary increases for all our employees across our global operations kicked in on the first day of our first quarter. And this happens every year, which is important to consider our results as it demonstrates our capacity to increase pricing of higher-value services. Accordingly, our improved performance in Q1 of fiscal 2024 was largely driven by our Global Enterprise Solutions business. The manufacturing sector is another important industry for Alithya. Efficiency and productivity have remained top priorities for manufacturers and their investments in new technology are driven by the promise of improved profit margins. That trend in the manufacturing sector, supported by Gartner Research has fueled bookings and new projects were in Microsoft practice, particularly in alignment with Microsoft's advancement of technology solutions used specifically towards the manufacturing sector.

當我們審視區域績效時，我首先想指出的是，我們全球業務的所有員工的加薪是在第一季的第一天開始的。這種情況每年都會發生，考慮我們的結果很重要，因為它表明我們有能力提高高價值服務的定價。因此，我們 2024 財年第一季業績的改善主要是由我們的全球企業解決方案業務所推動的。製造業是Alithya的另一個重要產業。效率和生產力仍然是製造商的首要任務，他們對新技術的投資是由提高利潤率的承諾所推動的。在 Gartner Research 的支持下，製造業的趨勢推動了 Microsoft 實踐中的預訂和新項目，特別是與 Microsoft 專門用於製造業的技術解決方案的進步相一致。

Combined, our Oracle and Microsoft Enterprise practices contributed generously to positive EBITDA in the first quarter of 2024. And while we are also experiencing headwinds in our learning services business, we are confident that this resilient market would inevitably rebound. In the meantime, we are enhancing our offerings in that space as our teams integrate the latest generative AI tools into solutions that we will soon bring to market.

我們的 Oracle 和 Microsoft 企業實踐相結合，為 2024 年第一季的正 EBITDA 做出了慷慨貢獻。雖然我們的學習服務業務也遇到了阻力，但我們相信這個有彈性的市場將不可避免地反彈。同時，我們正在增強我們在該領域的產品，因為我們的團隊將最新的生成式人工智慧工具整合到我們即將推向市場的解決方案中。

In respect to our own internal training and development programs in May, Alithya received a prestigious Mercuriades Award in the training and workforce development category for our Alithya Leadership Academy, an initiative in partnership with McGill University's faculty of management to ensure continuity of leadership in a robust succession plan. Our people are our most valuable assets, and they are also the experts most coveted by our clients. The Alithya Leadership Academy is a source of pride and we're pleased that it has been recognized by our peers.

就我們5 月的內部培訓和發展計劃而言，Alithya 在我們的Alithya 領導學院的培訓和勞動力發展類別中獲得了享有盛譽的Mercuriades 獎，該學院是與麥吉爾大學管理學院合作的一項舉措，旨在確保在強大的領導力中保持領導力的連續性。繼任計劃。我們的員工是我們最寶貴的資產，也是我們客戶最垂涎的專家。 Alithya 領導學院是我們的驕傲，我們很高興它得到了同行的認可。

I would also like to take this moment to collectively thank members of our teams whose work was recognized in 8 categories of the combined 2023 Microsoft Partner of the Year and Impact Awards. Now for our revenues. Year-over-year, our Q1 revenues increased 3.8% to $131.6 million, with 82% generated by existing clients that we had in Q1 of last year. However, while our Enterprise services revenue increased in the U.S., a decrease in our learning services and in the banking sector in Canada.

我還想藉此機會集體感謝我們團隊的成員，他們的工作在 2023 年 Microsoft 年度合作夥伴獎和影響力獎的 8 個類別中獲得認可。現在我們的收入。我們第一季的營收年增 3.8%，達到 1.316 億美元，其中 82% 來自去年第一季的現有客戶。然而，雖然我們在美國的企業服務收入有所增加，但我們在加拿大的學習服務和銀行業的收入卻有所下降。

As a result, our Canadian revenues are slightly down year-over-year. On a positive note, we use this situation to significantly reduce subcontractor usage. This can be seen in our continued gross margin progression. We also experienced growth in Europe this past quarter while continuing to invest in our Morocco and Eastern Europe operations to expand our nearshore delivery capabilities in Europe. These results and our healthy balance sheet allow us to remain focused on delivering the key components of our strategic plan, which ends on March 31, 2024, and positions us well to move on potential accretive acquisitions.

因此，我們在加拿大的收入比去年同期略有下降。從正面的角度來看，我們利用這種情況來大幅減少分包商的使用。這可以從我們毛利率的持續成長看出。上個季度，我們在歐洲也實現了成長，同時繼續投資摩洛哥和東歐業務，以擴大我們在歐洲的近岸交付能力。這些結果和我們健康的資產負債表使我們能夠繼續專注於交付將於 2024 年 3 月 31 日結束的戰略計劃的關鍵組成部分，並使我們能夠很好地開展潛在的增值收購。

As expected by our clients, we diligently keep our finger on the pulse of emerging technologies, including exploring possibilities for leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. As we enter those conversations with clients who are looking to streamline their processes, our rapid suite software is already being deployed in our health care and insurance sectors. Our rapid suite solutions scan, extract and transform unstructured data obtained from the multiple -- multitude of sources from handwritten notes to digital files and then uses traditional AI to automatically normalize data from many disparate locations and systems.

正如客戶所期望的那樣，我們努力掌握新興技術的脈搏，包括探索利用人工智慧力量的可能性。當我們與希望簡化流程的客戶進行對話時，我們的快速套件軟體已經部署在我們的醫療保健和保險領域。我們的快速套件解決方案掃描、提取和轉換從手寫筆記到數位檔案等多種來源獲得的非結構化數據，然後使用傳統人工智慧自動規範來自許多不同位置和系統的數據。

With the help of GPT-4, rapid suite can now capture content that is not fully based on pre-existing keywords and rules created by a human expert. RapidSUITE now has the capability to learn by itself and to adapt in real time. GPT-4 acts as a sort of subject matter expert in accompanying rapid suite as it ingests millions of documents and medical terminology to make educated decisions. RapidSUITE is thus a powerful tool of their clients who turn to media for solutions offering cost savings, competitive advantages, minimal errors, increased agility and better decision-making. And that is just one example of our innovation at work.

在 GPT-4 的幫助下，Rapid Suite 現在可以捕獲不完全基於人類專家創建的預先存在的關鍵字和規則的內容。 RapidSUITE 現在具有自我學習和即時適應的能力。 GPT-4 在隨附的快速套件中充當了某種主題專家的角色，因為它吸收了數百萬份文件和醫學術語來做出明智的決策。因此，RapidSUITE 是客戶的強大工具，他們向媒體尋求能夠節省成本、競爭優勢、最小錯誤、提高敏捷性和更好決策的解決方案。這只是我們創新工作的一個例子。

I would now like to turn the meeting over to Claude Thibault, Alithya's Chief Financial Officer, who will expand on the financial highlights of the quarter. Claude?

我現在想將會議交給 Alithya 財務長 Claude Thibault，他將詳細介紹本季的財務亮點。克勞德？

(foreign language) Good morning. As Paul mentioned, revenues for the first quarter increased 3.8% compared to the first quarter of last year. Our Datum acquisition now referred to as Data Solutions, completed on July 1, 2022, contributed revenues of $5.9 million during the first quarter. In Canada, revenues decreased organically by 2% to $77 million due mainly to temporary reductions of business activity in the banking sector.

（外語）早安。正如 Paul 所提到的，第一季的營收比去年第一季成長了 3.8%。我們對 Datum 的收購現在稱為 Data Solutions，於 2022 年 7 月 1 日完成，第一季貢獻了 590 萬美元的營收。在加拿大，收入有機下降 2% 至 7,700 萬加元，主要原因是銀行業業務活動暫時減少。

In the U.S., revenues increased 11.2% to $49.2 million, driven by increased revenues from Data Solutions, and a favorable U.S. dollar exchange rate variation. As for our International operations, they reported a strong quarter in terms of organic growth, increasing 36.1%, also driven by International revenues from Data Solutions and favorable exchange rate impact.

在美國，由於數據解決方案收入增加以及有利的美元匯率變化，營收成長了 11.2% 至 4,920 萬美元。至於我們的國際業務，季度有機成長強勁，成長了 36.1%，這也是受到數據解決方案國際收入和有利匯率影響的推動。

Now let's look at our Q1 gross margin, which overall increased by 11.8% or by $4 million to $38.1 million, up from $34.1 million last year. Again, as a percentage of revenues, our first quarter consolidated gross margin increased to 28.9% from 26.9% for the same period last year. The increase in gross margin percentage in Canada is derived from higher average revenue per employee, increased revenues from higher margin offerings and finally, fewer sub contractors.

現在讓我們看看我們第一季的毛利率，整體成長了 11.8%，即 400 萬美元，達到 3,810 萬美元，高於去年的 3,410 萬美元。同樣，從佔營收的百分比來看，我們第一季的綜合毛利率從去年同期的 26.9% 增至 28.9%。加拿大毛利率的成長源自於每位員工平均收入的提高、利潤率提高帶來的收入增加以及最終分包商的減少。

In the U.S., gross margin as a percentage of revenues increased as a result of a positive margin impact from our Data Solutions U.S. business, higher average revenue per employee and improved project performance in other areas of the business. On a sequential basis, gross margin as a percentage -- percentage of revenue, sorry, decreased only moderately compared to the 29.9% posted for the fourth quarter.

在美國，由於我們的數據解決方案美國業務對利潤率的正面影響、每位員工的平均收入增加以及其他業務領域專案績效的改善，毛利率佔收入的百分比增加。與第四季度公佈的 29.9% 相比，毛利率（佔收入的百分比）環比僅略有下降。

Despite the company-wide salary increases that came into effect at the beginning of this fiscal year on April 1, 2023. Therefore, this would suggest notable improvements at various other levels, including segment and geography mix, labor mix and project performance which, despite the small apparent sequential decrease, points to ongoing and continued progression towards higher gross margins. Now looking at SG&As, which represent one of our first quarter significant improvements. Total gross SG&A expenses in the first quarter totaled $32.5 million an increase of $3.6 million or 12.3% compared to $28.9 million in the same quarter last year. However, it must be noted that this increase is due to 4 elements: first, a $1.4 million impairment of property and equipment and right-of-use assets pursuant to vacated real estate; second, a $1 million increase in noncash share-based compensation, mainly related to the Datum acquisition; third, approximately $800,000 of expenses from Data Solutions, which we did not own in Q1 of last year; and finally, an unfavorable U.S. dollar impact of $700,000.

儘管公司範圍內的加薪已於 2023 年 4 月 1 日本財年年初生效。因此，這將表明其他各個層面的顯著改善，包括細分市場和地域組合、勞動力組合和項目績效，儘管明顯的小幅環比下降表示毛利率正在持續朝更高的方向發展。現在來看看 SG&A，這是我們第一季的重大改進之一。第一季銷售、管理及行政費用總額為 3,250 萬美元，比去年同期的 2,890 萬美元增加了 360 萬美元，即 12.3%。但必須指出的是，這一增長是由四個因素造成的：首先，由於騰出的房地產而對財產和設備以及使用權資產進行了140萬美元的減值；其次，非現金股份薪酬增加100萬美元，主要與收購Datum有關；第三，來自數據解決方案的約 80 萬美元費用，去年第一季我們並不擁有該費用；最後，美元的不利影響為 70 萬美元。

The above 4 elements totaling approximately $4 million indicate that on a comparable basis, total SG&As actually decreased year-over-year in absolute dollars. This, despite the same overall salary increases that occurred on April 1, which equally impacted our SG&A. Coincidentally, on a sequential basis, gross SG&A expenses decreased by $3.5 million. Also, on a net comparable basis, after adjusting for the same elements as above, we see a similar sequential SG&A decrease. And that, again, despite the annual April 1 salary increases. We are pleased to see our efforts on that front starting to show, and we are looking to maintain the same continued discipline on SG&A spend going forward. Overall, as a result of increased revenues and gross margin dollars, partially offset by increased SG&A expenses on a gross basis, our first quarter adjusted EBITDA amounted to $9.1 million an increase of 46.1% or $2.9 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA of $6.2 million during the same quarter last year.

上述 4 個要素總計約 400 萬美元，顯示在可比較基礎上，SG&A 總額（以絕對美元計算）實際上較去年同期下降。儘管 4 月 1 日的整體薪資上漲同樣影響了我們的 SG&A。巧合的是，SG&A 總費用比上季減少了 350 萬美元。此外，在淨可比基礎上，在對上述相同要素進行調整後，我們發現銷售管理及行政費用 (SG&A) 出現類似的連續下降。儘管每年 4 月 1 日都會加薪，但情況還是如此。我們很高興看到我們在這方面的努力開始顯現，並且我們希望在未來的銷售管理、行政管理支出上保持同樣的持續紀律。總體而言，由於收入和毛利率的增加，部分被銷售及一般費用增加所抵消，我們第一季調整後的EBITDA 達到910 萬美元，與去年同期調整後的EBITDA 620 萬美元相比，增長了46.1%，即290 萬美元。去年同一季度。

As the previous quarter, we introduced a new financial metric to our reporting, namely adjusted net earnings. In recent years, mainly due to our strategy of growth through acquisitions and despite the fact that Alithya is generating positive cash flows from operations, we have been reporting net losses on an accounting basis. These accounting net losses have been mainly created by amortization of intangibles by acquisition and integration costs and by share-based compensation, most of which are noncash and nonrecurring expenses directly attributable to past individual acquisitions.

與上一季一樣，我們在報告中引入了一項新的財務指標，即調整後淨利潤。近年來，主要由於我們透過收購實現成長的策略，儘管 Alithya 正在從營運中產生正現金流，但我們在會計基礎上一直報告淨虧損。這些會計淨虧損主要是由收購和整合成本以及基於股份的補償進行的無形資產攤銷造成的，其中大部分是直接歸因於過去個別收購的非現金和非經常性費用。

Adjusting our accounting net loss, we are reporting in Q1 of fiscal 2024, adjusted net earnings of positive $1.7 million compared to adjusted net earnings of $2.7 million for Q1 of last year. However, I would like to take a moment to provide some additional insight on this measure. If we look at the subtotal line on Page 8, we can see that before taking into consideration a notional tax effect on adjustments, we would instead be looking at an increase of adjusted net earnings of close to 20%. Indeed, considering the different tax pools, which Alithya currently has, the company will not be significantly taxable for a few years to come. Therefore, this alternate calculation is also relevant to point out.

調整我們的會計淨虧損後，我們在 2024 財年第一季報告調整後淨利為正 170 萬美元，而去年第一季調整後淨利為 270 萬美元。不過，我想花點時間就這項措施提供一些額外的見解。如果我們查看第 8 頁的小計行，我們可以看到，在考慮調整後的名義稅收影響之前，我們會看到調整後淨利潤的增長接近 20%。事實上，考慮到 Alithya 目前擁有的不同稅池，該公司在未來幾年內不會被大幅徵稅。因此，這種替代計算也值得指出。

Also, as in previous quarters, our accounting net loss of $7.2 million, as be viewed in relation to our $8.5 million of noncash depreciation and amortization which is on top of our Q1 nonrecurring and noncash impairment charge from leases of $1.4 million as mentioned before. Together, this explains why we generated strong cash flow from operations despite this accounting net loss. We are also reporting $1.1 million of nonrecurring business acquisitions, integration and reorganization costs in Q1, which will keep decreasing sequentially until we acquire new businesses.

此外，與前幾季一樣，我們的會計淨虧損為720 萬美元，這是相對於我們850 萬美元的非現金折舊和攤銷而言的，這是在我們之前提到的140 萬美元租賃的第一季非經常性和非現金減損費用之上的。總之，這解釋了為什麼儘管存在會計淨虧損，我們仍能從營運中產生強勁的現金流。我們也報告第一季的非經常性業務收購、整合和重組成本為 110 萬美元，在我們收購新業務之前，這筆成本將持續下降。

Despite our year-over-year progression in revenues and gross margin dollars, we see on Page 9 that after many quarters of continued growth on both fronts, our Q1 is facing similar challenges as many of our competitors having recently reported. Our long-term adjusted EBITDA trend, despite a strong year-over-year growth also reflects a sequential reduction in Q1. However, because of our good SG&A performance, and the scale which we have now reached, the decrease in adjusted EBITDA is relatively smaller. Of note, this points to enhance EBITDA performance going forward just as soon as revenues return to a sequential growth pattern.

儘管我們的收入和毛利率逐年增長，但我們在第 9 頁看到，在這兩個方面持續增長多個季度之後，我們的第一季面臨著與許多競爭對手最近報告的類似的挑戰。儘管同比成長強勁，但我們的長期調整後 EBITDA 趨勢也反映出第一季的季減。然而，由於我們良好的SG&A績效，以及我們目前所達到的規模，調整後EBITDA的下降幅度相對較小。值得注意的是，一旦營收恢復連續成長模式，這就會提高未來的 EBITDA 績效。

Now turning to liquidity and financial position on Page 11. Net cash generated from operating activities were $7.6 million, a significant improvement from negative $9.8 million used during the same period last year after working capital variations. Also, cash flow from operations before working capital variations amounted to $6.8 million in Q1 out of $9.1 million of adjusted EBITDA which represents a notable cash flow conversion percentage, as I mentioned before. With the corresponding overall debt reduction and considering our improved trailing 12-month EBITDA performance, Q1 marks another quarter with declining leverage ratios.

現在轉向第 11 頁的流動性和財務狀況。經營活動產生的淨現金為 760 萬美元，比去年同期在營運資本變化後使用的負 980 萬美元有了顯著改善。此外，第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 910 萬美元，營運資本變動前的營運現金流為 680 萬美元，這代表了顯著的現金流轉換百分比，正如我之前提到的。隨著整體債務相應減少，並考慮到我們過去 12 個月 EBITDA 業績的改善，第一季標誌著槓桿率又一個季度下降。

Back to you, Paul.

回到你身上，保羅。

Thank you, Claude. So as we move into our second quarter of fiscal 2024, we will continue to drive gross margin improvements, SG&A reductions and cash generation as we focus on greater profitability in the face of the current headwinds in the banking sector and our Learning division. On September 13, Alithya will publish its second ESG report on the same day as our virtual annual shareholder meeting, and we look forward to discussing Alithya's progress in pursuit of its commitments. Our second ESG report will disclose our greenhouse gas emissions for the first time, and we will discuss how our ESG initiatives have benchmark against metrics identified by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board or SASB, an organization working to bridge the gap between companies and investors through the disclosure of relevant sustainability information. To access the annual shareholder meeting circular, please visit the Investors section on the Alithya website.

謝謝你，克勞德。因此，當我們進入 2024 財年第二季時，我們將繼續推動毛利率提高、SG&A 削減和現金生成，因為面對銀行業和學習部門當前的逆風，我們專注於提高盈利能力。 9 月 13 日，Alithya 將在我們的虛擬年度股東大會同一天發布第二份 ESG 報告，我們期待討論 Alithya 在履行其承諾方面取得的進展。我們的第二份ESG 報告將首次揭露我們的溫室氣體排放量，我們將討論我們的ESG 舉措如何以可持續會計準則委員會(SASB) 確定的指標為基準，SASB 是一個致力於透過以下方式彌合公司和投資者之間差距的組織：揭露相關永續發展資訊。若要取得年度股東大會通告，請造訪 Alithya 網站上的投資者部分。

We will now take questions. Isabelle?

我們現在將接受提問。伊莎貝爾？

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Jerome Dubreuil with Desjardins.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 Desjardins 的 Jerome Dubreuil。

First one is on the margin target. Thanks for the color in terms of the nonrecurring items. However, it seems that these items will not -- either not affect EBITDA -- adjusted EBITDA in coming quarters or will remain -- so are you still committed to the 9% to 13% margin range at the end of the year?

第一個是保證金目標。感謝您提供非重複項目的顏色。然而，這些項目似乎不會——要么不會影響未來幾季調整後的 EBITDA——調整後的 EBITDA，要么會保留——所以你仍然致力於年底 9% 到 13% 的利潤率範圍嗎？

Jerome, yes. That's still our target.

傑羅姆，是的。這仍然是我們的目標。

Great. And another question on margins. I think it's fair to say during the uncertainty of COVID, you elected to keep basically everyone expecting an acceleration in the future. If we're seeing a slowdown in terms of financial services, do you expect that will be the strategy as well?

偉大的。還有一個關於利潤率的問題。我認為可以公平地說，在新冠疫情的不確定性期間，你們選擇讓基本上每個人都期待未來的加速發展。如果我們看到金融服務業放緩，您是否認為這也會成為我們的策略？

Yes. Thanks for the great question, Jerome. So we've actually already reduced our headcount significantly as we adjust for these slowdowns. As I was saying earlier, if you look at where things are being cut in banking, it's not strategic projects. A lot of those projects are staffed by subcontractors. So it's very simple to adjust for that. And you can see that in our gross margins going up and the revenue per employee going up. So yes, we have the flexibility now because of that to adjust pretty rapidly when those types of things happen.

是的。謝謝傑羅姆提出的好問題。因此，在針對這些放緩進行調整時，我們實際上已經大幅減少了員工人數。正如我之前所說，如果你看看銀行業正在削減的地方，你會發現這不是戰略項目。其中許多項目都由分包商負責。所以調整起來非常簡單。你可以從我們的毛利率上升和員工人均收入上升中看到這一點。所以，是的，我們現在擁有靈活性，因為當這些類型的事情發生時，我們可以快速調整。

That's good to hear. And the last question is, have you started doing work on the Freedom Mobile integration for Québecor?

聽起來還不錯。最後一個問題是，您是否已開始為魁北克進行 Freedom Mobile 整合工作？

Yes, it started.

是的，開始了。

Your next question comes from Divya Goyal with Scotiabank.

您的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Divya Goyal。

I just wanted to get some color on -- given the business got impacted because of the financial -- Canadian financial institutions and the Ed tech sector in U.S., what's the additional level of diversification that you plan to bring in or are bringing in your new bookings to reduce this kind of an impact on a go-forward basis?

我只是想了解一下——鑑於業務受到金融方面的影響——加拿大金融機構和美國的教育科技部門，您計劃引入或正在引入新的多元化程度是多少？預訂以減少這種對未來的影響？

Yes. Divya, thanks for the question. So actually, when we say financial services in Canada, it's very specific to banking. In Canada, we don't have a lot of banking clients in the U.S. We're very present in financial services, but not a lot in banking. So in Canada, the impact, almost all of it comes from banking. As you know, banks are kind of upside down on the interest rates right now. We've met with all of these clients, and they're all telling us it's a temporary situation as the banks adjust and renew their mortgage portfolios and so on and so forth. So we're seeing it really across banking in Canada. We know it's temporary. It will probably be back in the couple of quarters based on the meetings we've had with the banks.

是的。迪維亞，謝謝你的提問。所以實際上，當我們說加拿大的金融服務時，它是針對銀行業的。在加拿大，我們在美國沒有很多銀行客戶。我們在金融服務領域非常活躍，但在銀行領域並不多。所以在加拿大，影響力幾乎全部來自銀行業。如你所知，銀行目前的利率有點上下顛倒。我們已經會見了所有這些客戶，他們都告訴我們，這只是暫時的情況，因為銀行會調整和更新抵押貸款組合等等。所以我們在加拿大的銀行業確實看到了這種情況。我們知道這是暫時的。根據我們與銀行舉行的會議，它可能會在幾個季度內恢復。

That's the one portion of our business in Canada. The other portions that are going strong, government, health care, telecom as the previous question was just saying, we're starting integration for QMI and Freedom Mobile. So we expect that to grow. So there are many other areas, but it's just that the slowdown in banking was significant. But again, we believe it's temporary.

這是我們在加拿大業務的一部分。其他正在強勁發展的部分，政府、醫療保健、電信，正如上一個問題剛才所說，我們正在開始 QMI 和 Freedom Mobile 的整合。所以我們預計這一數字將會成長。所以還有很多其他領域，但只是銀行業的放緩幅度很大。但我們再次相信這只是暫時的。

In the U.S. we have 4 large business sectors, we have the ERP business that's divided between Microsoft and Oracle that's doing extremely well. Had a record quarter of bookings and revenue as well year-over-year, both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year. And we have the Data Solutions business that Claude was talking about, that is growing and not just in the U.S., but it has a positive impact internationally in our business and the training or the learning solution. The learning solutions is the business that's being slowed down because when you get close to -- our recession fears that are out there, that wasn't the first places where clients slow down their spending is on training. So we know it's temporary. And we're actually not only reducing headcount in those areas, but we're investing.

在美國，我們有4個大的業務部門，我們的ERP業務由微軟和甲骨文劃分，做得非常好。本季的預訂量和收入均創歷史新高，無論是環比還是同比。我們有克勞德談到的數據解決方案業務，該業務正在成長，不僅在美國，而且在國際上對我們的業務以及培訓或學習解決方案產生了積極影響。學習解決方案是正在放緩的業務，因為當你接近我們對經濟衰退的擔憂時，這並不是客戶首先放慢培訓支出的地方。所以我們知道這是暫時的。實際上，我們不僅減少了這些領域的員工人數，而且還在進行投資。

So for example, in our learning business, one of the things that will have a significant impact -- positive impact, we believe in what we do is the new Microsoft copilot suite of solutions that are going to include the ChatGPT technology and I don't know, should be released in the next few months. We've had beta tests with the solution, and we think it's going to be a big driver of efficiencies and upside for us in that business. So but the rest -- no, the rest is doing well.

例如，在我們的學習業務中，其中一件事將產生重大影響——積極影響，我們相信我們所做的就是新的 Microsoft copilot 解決方案套件，其中將包括 ChatGPT 技術，但我不這麼認為。不知道，應該會在接下來的幾個月內發布。我們已經對此解決方案進行了 Beta 測試，我們認為它將成為我們該業務效率和優勢的重要推動力。所以，但其餘的——不，其餘的都表現良好。

That's helpful. Just one question, another one on this -- the expansion of the offshore operations that you discussed. So would we expect to see some additional CapEx coming in the next few quarters as you expand that operations? And what kind of margin benefits do you expect to come out as you expand those operations, given you already have been pulling the subcontractor reduction levers.

這很有幫助。只是一個問題，另一個問題——您所討論的離岸業務的擴張。那麼，隨著您擴大業務，我們是否預計在接下來的幾個季度看到一些額外的資本支出？考慮到您已經在減少分包商的槓桿，您希望在擴大這些業務時獲得什麼樣的利潤收益。

Yes, thanks. So on the CapEx, it's very minimal. If you look at what we spend on CapEx in any given year, it's mostly laptops for our people. As we expand -- so for example, we have leased larger spaces in India for our people as we expand there. But again, there -- based on the current real estate market, we signed very short-term leases.

對了謝謝。因此，就資本支出而言，這是非常小的。如果你看看我們在任何一年的資本支出，你會發現它主要是為我們的員工購買筆記型電腦。隨著我們的擴張，例如，我們在印度擴張時為我們的員工租用了更大的空間。但同樣，根據目前的房地產市場，我們簽署了非常短期的租約。

As Claude was saying, we're actually getting rid of real estate. We've taken some write-downs in the quarter just because we're adding leases early because there are a big financial advantage in doing it, and we have to pay a termination penalty. So we've done that. But we're going to be saving millions of dollars over the course of the process. So it's very minimal in terms of CapEx expenses.

正如克勞德所說，我們實際上正在擺脫房地產。我們在本季進行了一些減記，只是因為我們提前增加了租賃，因為這樣做有很大的財務優勢，而且我們必須支付終止罰款。所以我們已經做到了。但在此過程中我們將節省數百萬美元。因此，就資本支出而言，這是非常小的。

Just on the margin benefits as well, do we expect material margin expansion...

就利潤率而言，我們是否預期利潤率會大幅成長...

Yes. So a quick point of reference, and Claude has used this in the past, whenever we increase our offshore headcount as a percentage of total headcount by 5%. It improves the overall gross margin of the company by 2%. So we are driving -- our target was to get to 10% by the end of this fiscal year. We started the year at 5%, so we're pushing very hard on that. We think at full scale, we could easily get to the 40%, 50% range as most of our large competitors are doing today. We think that's a feasible long-term goal, and we're pushing very hard in that direction.

是的。這是一個快速參考點，克勞德過去曾使用過這一點，每當我們將離岸員工數量佔總員工數量的百分比增加 5% 時。使公司整體毛利率提高2個百分點。所以我們正在努力——我們的目標是到本財年結束時達到 10%。今年年初我們的成長率為 5%，因此我們正在努力推動這一目標。我們認為，從整體來看，我們可以輕鬆達到 40%、50% 的範圍，就像我們大多數大型競爭對手今天所做的那樣。我們認為這是一個可行的長期目標，我們正在朝著這個方向努力推動。

It's also impacting our acquisition strategy, like the Data Solutions acquisition we did the last one. Most of their delivery came from their offshore and nearshore operations. So as we look at targets going forward, we do look for some that have that smart shoring capability because it's an accelerator for us as well.

這也影響了我們的收購策略，就像我們上一次收購數據解決方案一樣。他們的大部分交付來自海上和近岸業務。因此，當我們考慮未來的目標時，我們確實會尋找一些具有智慧支撐能力的目標，因為這對我們來說也是一個加速器。

Your next question comes from Gavin Fairweather with Cormark.

您的下一個問題來自 Cormark 的 Gavin Fairweather。

I wanted to start out on the bookings. Maybe you can just discuss kind of how your win rates are tracking, how many opportunities you're seeing hitting the market? And how kind of competitors are acting on these competitive opportunities?

我想從預訂開始。也許您可以討論一下您的獲勝率是如何追蹤的，您看到市場上有多少機會？競爭對手如何利用這些競爭機會？

Thanks, Gavin. So overall, we're very happy with our bookings. So like I said, in the U.S., we've had record bookings, especially in our enterprise solution, which -- as you know, it's some of our higher-margin business. So it's very -- we're very, very positive. Our funnel -- our sales funnel was also at a record high. So from a growth and opportunities, they're out there, some are a little bit slower in closing, but the opportunities are there, which is very encouraging.

謝謝，加文。總的來說，我們對我們的預訂非常滿意。正如我所說，在美國，我們的預訂量創下了紀錄，尤其是在我們的企業解決方案中，正如您所知，這是我們利潤率較高的業務之一。所以我們非常非常積極。我們的漏斗－我們的銷售漏斗也創下了歷史新高。因此，從成長和機會來看，它們就在那裡，有些關閉的速度有點慢，但機會就在那裡，這是非常令人鼓舞的。

We're seeing some significant opportunity in government and healthcare and manufacturing. So that's not slowing down. If anything, with all of the move like the inflation reduction act in the U.S. is a big push to bring back manufacturing to North America. So that's a big driver on the manufacturing side. Healthcare, the shortage of qualified people in the healthcare industry is not just a Canadian issue. It's a global issue. So again, most of the healthcare institutions, hospitals are looking to automate and get greater efficiencies to make up for the lack of the shortage of qualified people. So again, that's a big driver in that industry. And again, we're very well positioned there.

我們在政府、醫療保健和製造業領域看到了一些重大機會。所以這並沒有放緩。如果有什麼不同的話，那就是美國的通膨削減法案等所有舉措都極大地推動了製造業回歸北美。所以這是製造方面的重要推手。醫療保健，醫療保健行業合格人才的短缺不僅僅是加拿大的問題。這是一個全球性問題。因此，大多數醫療機構、醫院都在尋求自動化並提高效率，以彌補合格人員的短缺。再說一遍，這是該行業的一大推動力。再說一遍，我們在這方面處於非常有利的位置。

So there's a lot of good stuff happening. And like I was saying earlier, the only blemish that we're seeing right now, we think it's temporary. It's in the banking side in Canada and then trading in the U.S. So we're kind of doubling down on everything else right now.

所以有很多好事發生。就像我之前所說的，我們現在看到的唯一缺陷，我們認為這是暫時的。它在加拿大的銀行業，然後在美國進行交易。所以我們現在在其他方面加倍投入。

And once projects are in the backlog? Are they trying to kind of kick off as expected? Or are they tending to push a little bit?

一旦專案積壓呢？他們是否試圖如預期開始？或者他們傾向於稍微推動一下？

Most of them are. We have a few -- I'd say it's anecdotal. We have a few clients where we've actually signed the project, and they want to start a bit later, but it's anecdotal for now.

大多數都是。我們有一些——我想說這是軼事。我們有一些客戶實際上已經簽署了該項目，他們希望稍後開始，但目前這只是傳聞。

Got it. And then just next, can you discuss the interplay between kind of employee raises and list prices -- it sounds like the raise has kind of kicked in early in the quarter. Maybe just talk about your ability to kind of pass through and the timing of that.

知道了。接下來，您能否討論一下員工加薪和標價之間的相互作用 - 聽起來加薪似乎在本季度初就開始了。也許只是談談你通過的能力和時間。

Yes. No, I think that's -- Claude raised it, and I think it's a very important number for people to realize. So when you think about it, so April 1 of every year, we do a global salary increase based on the geographical parameters. So we do a raise in the U.S., in Canada, in Europe and everywhere. And as you can imagine, in our industry, the shortage of qualified people, those raises are -- I mean, they're significant every year, April 1.

是的。不，我認為這是克勞德提出的，我認為這是一個讓人們意識到的非常重要的數字。所以當你想一想，每年的4月1日，我們都會根據地理參數進行全球加薪。因此，我們在美國、加拿大、歐洲和世界各地都進行了加薪。正如你可以想像的那樣，在我們的行業中，合格人才的短缺，這些加薪是——我的意思是，每年 4 月 1 日，它們都很重要。

So when we look at gross margins in Q1 and if we can grow our margins in Q1 every year, it means that our pricing power enables us to go -- to work in those increases into our offerings. So when it's growing, it's going to be more than offset those salary increases, which is very positive for us. It's a good sign.

因此，當我們查看第一季的毛利率時，如果我們能夠在第一季每年提高利潤率，這意味著我們的定價能力使我們能夠將這些成長投入到我們的產品中。因此，當它成長時，它將足以抵消工資的成長，這對我們來說非常積極。這是一個好兆頭。

And maybe I would add, if there is a silver lining to the current market conditions is that those increases will likely be lower in the coming years. This year, 2023 was kind of out of the ordinary, and so was 2022, but we are seeing probably some more reasonable expectations there going forward.

也許我想補充一點，如果當前的市場狀況還有一線希望的話，那就是未來幾年的增幅可能會更低。今年，2023 年有點不尋常，2022 年也是如此，但我們可能會看到未來有一些更合理的預期。

Got it. And then just lastly for me. Can you touch on the M&A environment and valuations we're seeing the leverage falling here progressively this quarter. Maybe just discuss what you're seeing in the market?

知道了。最後對我來說。您能否談談併購環境和估值，我們看到本季槓桿率逐步下降。也許只是討論一下您在市場上看到的情況？

Yes. So it's a great question, Gavin. So we're very active in the -- in looking and talking and the evaluating targets. The multiples aren't coming down that much. We were expecting them to come down, but they aren't coming down that much. And if I look at where we're trading at right now, we're probably the best deal in the market. So we keep that into consideration.

是的。所以這是一個很好的問題，加文。因此，我們非常積極地尋找、討論和評估目標。倍數並沒有下降那麼多。我們預計他們會下降，但他們並沒有下降那麼多。如果我看看我們現在的交易情況，我們可能是市場上最好的交易。所以我們考慮到這一點。

In the meantime, we're just -- like Claude said, we're paying down debt so that we have the flexibility to pull the trigger. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there. So we'll see. We'll see. But yes, we're still looking. We just want to make sure that we strike the 3 things that we look for the right acquisitions at the right price and people want to stick around. So all 3 have to work for us to pull the trigger.

同時，正如克勞德所說，我們正在償還債務，以便我們能夠靈活地扣動扳機。那裡有很多有趣的東西。所以我們拭目以待。我們拭目以待。但是，是的，我們仍在尋找。我們只是想確保我們實現了三件事：以合適的價格尋找合適的收購對象，人們願意留下來。因此，這三者必須共同努力才能扣下板機。

Your next question comes from Vincent Colicchio with Barrington Research.

您的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Vincent Colicchio。

I'm curious, does your revenue goal for the year remain in place? And how much should involve acquisitions?

我很好奇，你們今年的營收目標是否維持不變？又有多少應該涉及收購？

So when we do our 3-year plan, Vince, we try to look for a 50-50 in terms of M&A versus organic growth. It's varied. I mean, last year, we did 3 acquisitions. This -- in the last 12 months, we've done 0. So it would have to be a larger one to make up the difference this fiscal year. But again, we're not going to do an acquisition just for the sake of doing acquisitions. We want to make sure it's the right one. But at the beginning of the year, our intent was 50-50.

因此，文斯，當我們制定 3 年計劃時，我們會嘗試在併購與有機增長方面尋求 50-50 的比例。它是多種多樣的。我的意思是，去年我們進行了 3 次收購。在過去 12 個月裡，我們完成了 0 項工作。因此，本財年必須做得更大，以彌補這一差距。但同樣，我們不會僅為了收購而進行收購。我們想確保它是正確的。但在今年年初，我們的目標是 50-50。

Are you seeing an acceleration in demand for offshore work given the economic pressures? And if so, also curious if you're accelerating your offshore growth this year versus what you were thinking last quarter?

鑑於經濟壓力，您是否認為離岸工作的需求增加？如果是這樣，您還想知道今年您的離岸成長是否與上個季度的預期相比有所加快？

It's -- I don't know if it's as much as accelerating, Vince, as renewed interest. I think it's always been there. I think since the pandemic, people are more open to it. And the current pressures or recessionary fears are making in that people are much more open to that discussion. So we see that as a positive. And for sure, there was a scale issue before, but we're there now. So it's definitely something that we're trying to accelerate.

文斯，我不知道這是否會加速人們重新燃起興趣。我想它一直都在那裡。我認為自從大流行以來，人們對此更加開放。當前的壓力或經濟衰退的擔憂正在使人們對這種討論更加開放。所以我們認為這是積極的。當然，之前存在規模問題，但我們現在已經解決了。所以這絕對是我們正在努力加速的事情。

And the last one for me. Could you give us some more color on what are the higher-margin offerings that are seeing the most traction in Canada?

最後一張對我來說。您能給我們更多介紹一下在加拿大最受歡迎的高利潤產品嗎？

Our -- the largest traction that we have right now are the enterprise solutions, so the ERP, the cloud ERP and our Data Solutions. Those are the big drivers right now, and both in the private sector and the public sector. So we're actually seeing demand on the government side as well for those solutions.

我們現在最大的吸引力是企業解決方案，因此 ERP、雲端 ERP 和我們的資料解決方案。這些是目前私營部門和公共部門的主要推動力。因此，我們實際上看到了政府方面對這些解決方案的需求。

Your next question comes from John Shao with National Bank Financial.

您的下一個問題來自國家銀行金融部門的 John Shao。

So Paul, you mentioned some of the AI offerings, including CoPilot, I know it's still early from that regard, but how should we think about the revenue opportunities? Are they kind of like incremental opportunities? Or are they just going to be included in your existing contracts?

Paul，您提到了一些人工智慧產品，包括 CoPilot，我知道從這方面來看還為時過早，但我們應該如何考慮收入機會？它們有點像是增量機會嗎？或者它們只是包含在您現有的合約中？

Thanks, John, for the question. It's -- there's a lot of stuff that's still up in the air with CoPilot. So the promises are very interesting. The date is still up in the air. From what we've seen so far, we think it's something that's going to help us accelerate the sale of some of our solutions.

謝謝約翰提出這個問題。 CoPilot 還有很多事情懸而未決。所以這些承諾非常有趣。日期仍懸而未決。從迄今為止我們所看到的情況來看，我們認為這將有助於我們加速某些解決方案的銷售。

So I'll give you an example. One of the things that we have in traction, we won a Microsoft Award for it is what we do on the learning side in the -- its learning, but it's also assisting clients in better using Microsoft solutions, right? So when you implement Microsoft business apps at our client, our team actually provides ongoing support, change management, adoption assistance. So an example of how CoPilot integrates into that is that today, when there's a problem, somebody will click on the screen for help.

所以我給你舉個例子。我們吸引人的事情之一是我們贏得了微軟獎，那就是我們在學習方面所做的事情——它的學習，但它也幫助客戶更好地使用微軟解決方案，對嗎？因此，當您在我們的客戶實施 Microsoft 業務應用程式時，我們的團隊實際上會提供持續的支援、變更管理和採用協助。因此，CoPilot 如何融入其中的一個例子是，今天，當出現問題時，有人會點擊螢幕尋求幫助。

With CoPilot integrated into our solution, if somebody is using the app and has an issue with it, they don't have to click on anything. The app actually sees that the person is having a challenge and says, it looks like you're having a problem with XYZ, would you like some editorial on it. Would you like some sum? Would you like to talk to somebody, would you like to see a video? So it reduces the cost of using that service. It automates a large portion of that service, so it makes it available to more people and makes it a lot more efficient.

透過將 CoPilot 整合到我們的解決方案中，如果有人正在使用該應用程式並遇到問題，他們無需單擊任何內容。該應用程式實際上看到此人遇到了挑戰，並說，您似乎在 XYZ 方面遇到了問題，您想要對此進行一些編輯嗎？你想要一些錢嗎？您想和某人交談嗎？您想看影片嗎？因此，它降低了使用該服務的成本。它使該服務的很大一部分實現了自動化，因此可以為更多人提供服務，並提高效率。

So we're looking -- we're in the process right now of trying to integrate those things into our solutions like learning and the assisted support for the rollout of the tools. We -- so that -- we see that as a very positive. It should drive additional revenue for us. By the same time, and it's going to drive efficiencies because we're going to need less people to provide the same service to more people, right? So that's a positive and a good example of where we sit on that.

所以我們正在尋找 - 我們現在正在嘗試將這些東西整合到我們的解決方案中，例如學習和對工具推出的輔助支援。我們認為這是非常積極的。它應該為我們帶來額外的收入。同時，它將提高效率，因為我們將需要更少的人來為更多的人提供相同的服務，對吧？所以這是一個正面的、很好的例子，說明了我們的立場。

We've already started integrating -- I was talking earlier about RapidSUITE. So RapidSUITE came from our Data Solutions business and actually, it can go into a large -- anybody who produces documentation and there's still a lot of documentation being produced today by large insurers, banks, utilities, governments, both outbound and inbound. And with the solution that we had, we could automate that process, but you needed somebody to program rules, look at exceptions to manage the process, which was driven by AI or Machine Learning now with ChatGPT, you're eliminating that portion.

我們已經開始整合——我之前談到過 RapidSUITE。 RapidSUITE 來自我們的資料解決方案業務，實際上，它可以進入任何製作文檔的大型機構，而如今大型保險公司、銀行、公用事業公司、政府仍在製作大量文檔，包括出站和入站。透過我們現有的解決方案，我們可以自動化流程，但您需要有人來編寫規則，查看例外情況來管理流程，這是由人工智慧或機器學習驅動的，現在使用ChatGPT，您正在消除這部分。

So again, same solution, more efficient. We can roll it out to a larger number of people with less people and drive more efficiencies for our clients as well. So we see those as very positive as being things that we can include into our solutions across the Board to make them more efficient higher margin, larger market penetration and so on. So that's how we see it coming into our business.

同樣的解決方案，效率更高。我們可以用更少的人員推廣到更多的人，並為我們的客戶提高效率。因此，我們認為這些都是非常積極的，因為我們可以將其全面納入我們的解決方案中，以使它們更有效率、更高的利潤、更大的市場滲透率等等。這就是我們如何看待它進入我們的業務。

Okay. That's great to know. And for the 32 new clients you signed this quarter, could you give us some colors regarding your size business sectors and geography breakdown?

好的。很高興知道。對於本季度您簽署的 32 位新客戶，您能否給我們一些關於您的業務部門規模和地理分佈的資訊？

Yes. So they're pretty much everywhere globally. I'd say more a significant number in the U.S. And again, it turns around our enterprise solutions. So these are typically multimillion dollar, multiyear projects to implement the ERP solution suite or another large project, where we're modernizing a legacy platform, moving into the cloud and so on and so forth. So it's more on the larger side in terms of new projects. If you look historically, we've kind of been in that range every quarter in the high 20s, low 30s for the past 2 years. So we're adding new clients, new large clients at a really good clip.

是的。所以它們幾乎遍布全球各地。我想說的是，在美國有相當多的人。而且，它再次圍繞著我們的企業解決方案。因此，這些通常是數百萬美元、多年的項目，用於實施 ERP 解決方案套件或另一個大型項目，我們正在對遺留平台進行現代化改造，遷移到雲端等等。因此，就新項目而言，更多的是更大的方面。如果你從歷史的角度來看，在過去的兩年裡，我們每季的股價都在 20 多歲、30 多歲之間的區間。因此，我們正在以非常好的速度添加新客戶、新大客戶。

Okay. I just have a last question regarding the model. Maybe help us understand your working capital changes next quarter and how it's going to impact operating cash flow in Q2?

好的。我還有關於模型的最後一個問題。也許可以幫助我們了解您下季度的營運資金變化以及它將如何影響第二季度的營運現金流？

Do you want to take it?

你想拿走嗎？

Yes. It's always a little tricky to forecast. Typically, it goes up and down. Certain quarters are going up, certain quarters are going down. We were on the streak here. The past few quarters have been all positive. It really depends on the timing of the end of the quarter or our billing cycle and the receivable side and then the salary accruals of the payables and accrual side. So long-winded answer, I'm not going to give you a number on what we're expecting. I would probably say that sooner or later, the -- we're bound to have a quarter where the net variation would be negative, but I'm not expecting anything significant one way or another.

是的。預測總是有點棘手。通常，它會上升和下降。某些季度正在上升，某些季度正在下降。我們正處於這裡的連勝之中。過去幾個季度的情況都是正面的。這實際上取決於季度末的時間或我們的計費週期和應收帳款，然後是應付帳款和應計帳款的應計工資。如此冗長的答案，我不會給你我們所期望的數字。我可能會說，遲早，我們肯定會有一個季度的淨變化為負，但我並不期望出現任何重大的情況。

We reached a certain stability last year. We had acquisitions brought into the mix. If you remember, if you look at last year's numbers, we had a quarter with significant decreases and then we had a quarter with significant increases. I'm not really expecting that going forward. So it's a bit of a crapshoot whether it's a couple of million in one direction or another. And also driven, I forgot the third factor is obviously revenue variations. So when growth is important, that typically has ways on working capital variations and vice versa.

去年我們達到了一定的穩定性。我們將收購納入其中。如果你還記得的話，如果你看看去年的數字，我們有一個季度顯著下降，然後我們有一個季度顯著成長。我真的不期待這種情況的發生。因此，無論是向一個方向還是另一個方向投入幾百萬美元，都有點冒險。而且，我忘記了第三個因素顯然是收入變化。因此，當成長很重要時，通常會影響營運資本的變化，反之亦然。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Paul Raymond.

（操作員說明） 目前沒有其他問題。我現在將把電話轉給保羅·雷蒙德。

Thank you, Isabelle, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Have a nice weekend.

謝謝伊莎貝爾，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。祝你周末愉快。