APi Group Corp (APG) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to APi Group's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the call over to Adam Fee, Vice President of Investor Relations at APi Group. Please go ahead.

早安，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 APi 集團 2023 年第四季和全年財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音。 （操作員指示）我現在將電話轉給 APi 集團投資者關係副總裁 Adam Fee。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me on the call today are Russ Becker, our President and CEO; Kevin Krumm, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Sir Martin Franklin and Jim Lillie, our Board Co-Chairs.

謝謝。大家早安，感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Russ Becker； Kevin Krumm，我們的執行副總裁兼財務長；以及我們的董事會聯合主席馬丁·富蘭克林爵士和吉姆·利利爵士。

Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain statements in the company's earnings press release announcement and on this call are forward-looking statements which are based on expectations, intentions and projections regarding the company's future performance, anticipated events or trends and other matters that are not historical facts. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，公司收益新聞稿公告和本次電話會議中的某些陳述均為前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於對公司未來業績、預期事件或趨勢以及其他方面的預期、意圖和預測。不屬於歷史事實的事。這些陳述並非對未來績效的保證，並受到已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。

In our press release and filings with the SEC, we detail material risks that may cause our future results to differ from our expectations. Our statements are as of today, February 28, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement we may make, except as required by law. As a reminder, we have posted a presentation detailing our fourth quarter financial performance on the Investor Relations page of our website.

在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的新聞稿和文件中，我們詳細介紹了可能導致我們未來業績與預期不同的重大風險。我們的聲明截至今天 2 月 28 日，我們沒有義務更新我們可能做出的任何前瞻性聲明，除非法律要求。謹此提醒，我們已在網站的投資者關係頁面上發布了一份詳細介紹第四季度財務業績的簡報。

Our comments today will also include non-GAAP financial measures and other key operating metrics. The reconciliation of and other information regarding these items can be found in our press release and our presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Jim.

我們今天的評論還將包括非公認會計準則財務指標和其他關鍵營運指標。有關這些項目的核對和其他資訊可以在我們的新聞稿和簡報中找到。現在我很高興將電話轉給吉姆。

Thank you, Adam, and good morning, everyone. 2023 was another tremendous year for APi with record net revenues, record adjusted EBITDA, record reported and adjusted earnings per share and record adjusted free cash flow. As I mentioned on the last call, our strategy of evolving away from lower margin, higher risk opportunities while focusing investments on service revenue expansion continues to yield the desired results, margin expansion and stronger free cash flow generation.

謝謝你，亞當，大家早安。 2023 年對 APi 來說又是輝煌的一年，淨收入創紀錄，調整後 EBITDA 創紀錄，報告和調整後每股收益創紀錄，調整後自由現金流創紀錄。正如我在上次電話會議中提到的，我們的策略是擺脫利潤率較低、風險較高的機會，同時將投資重點放在服務收入擴張上，繼續產生預期的結果、利潤率擴張和更強的自由現金流生成。

Under Russ's leadership, APi has successfully acquired and integrated over 100 companies over the last 20 years, helping supplement organic growth as the business scaled from approximately $600 million in revenues over 20 years ago, to nearly $7 billion globally in 2023. With the progress made in reducing our net debt to adjusted EBITDA to 2.3x, we are excited to build on our track record of disciplined, predictable and thoughtful decisions regarding capital allocation as we keep our focus on bolt-on M&A at accretive multiples and margins. We have great confidence in the business, as demonstrated by our stock buyback and we believe that our laser focus on our longer-term 13/60/80 value creation targets will generate continued exceptional performance through 2025 and beyond.

在 Russ 的領導下，APi 在過去 20 年裡成功收購並整合了 100 多家公司，幫助補充了有機增長，業務收入從 20 多年前的約 6 億美元擴大到 2023 年全球近 70 億美元。在在將淨債務減少至調整後EBITDA 至2.3 倍的過程中，我們很高興能夠在資本配置方面做出嚴格、可預測和深思熟慮的決策，同時繼續專注於以倍數和利潤增值的補充性併購。我們對業務充滿信心，正如我們的股票回購所證明的那樣，我們相信，我們對長期 13/60/80 價值創造目標的高度關注將在 2025 年及以後產生持續的卓越業績。

As a reminder, our financial goals include adjusted EBITDA margin of 13% or more in 2025, long-term organic revenue growth above the industry average, long-term revenues of 60% from inspection, service and monitoring and long-term adjusted free cash flow conversion of 80%. Our confidence in the leadership team and the foundation for long-term value creation is stronger than ever. And with that, I'll hand the call over to Russ. Russ?

提醒一下，我們的財務目標包括 2025 年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 13% 或以上，長期有機收入增長高於行業平均水平，60% 的長期收入來自檢查、服務和監控，以及長期調整後的自由現金流量轉換率80%。我們對領導團隊和長期價值創造基礎的信心比以往任何時候都更強。這樣，我就把電話轉給 Russ。拉斯？

Thank you, Jim. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join our call this morning. We remain grateful for the hard work of our 29,000 leaders and their dedication to APi. The safety, health and well-being of each of our teammates is our #1 value. I use the word teammates intentionally instead of employees, which, like the word bid, is another one of the words I try not to use. I'm proud that APi has once again been recognized as a military-friendly employer for 2024. We remain committed to providing opportunities for veterans and their spouses to build careers and develop as leaders.

謝謝你，吉姆。大家，早安。感謝您今天早上抽出時間參加我們的電話會議。我們仍然感謝 29,000 名領導者的辛勤工作以及他們對 APi 的奉獻。我們每個隊友的安全、健康和福祉是我們的第一價值觀。我故意使用“隊友”一詞而不是“員工”，這與“出價”一詞一樣，是我盡量不使用的另一個詞。我很自豪 APi 再次被評為 2024 年軍事友善雇主。我們仍然致力於為退伍軍人及其配偶提供職業生涯和發展成為領導者的機會。

As many of you know, we have hired thousands of veterans over the years and thank them not only for their service, but also for helping to drive APi forward. In January, we shared our 2023 sustainability report on our website, a significant milestone in our commitment to building a more sustainable business. Our sustainability report serves as a comprehensive overview of our ESG activities to date, highlighting key strengths, opportunities and strategic priorities, which include leadership, safety, environment, inclusion and governance.

正如你們許多人所知，多年來我們僱用了數千名退伍軍人，不僅感謝他們的服務，還感謝他們幫助推動 APi 向前發展。一月份，我們在網站上分享了 2023 年永續發展報告，這是我們致力於建立更永續發展的業務的一個重要里程碑。我們的永續發展報告全面概​​述了我們迄今為止的 ESG 活動，強調了關鍵優勢、機會和戰略重點，其中包括領導力、安全、環境、包容性和治理。

APi Group's commitment to our values as an organization and our purpose of building great leaders positions us to be successful as we broaden the scope of our opportunities to develop a more sustainable business. 2023 was a year of record financial results for APi. We delivered strong organic growth, record adjusted EBITDA margins and improved adjusted free cash flow generation in an evolving macro environment.

APi 集團對我們作為組織的價值觀的承諾以及我們培養優秀領導者的目標使我們能夠在擴大發展更永續業務的機會範圍時取得成功。 2023 年是 APi 財務表現創紀錄的一年。在不斷變化的宏觀環境中，我們實現了強勁的有機成長、創紀錄的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率以及改善的調整後自由現金流生成。

Net revenues grew organically by 5.4% in 2023, finishing the year at a record $6.9 billion. This growth was driven by approximately 10% organic growth in service revenues, partially offset by consciously controlling organic growth and project revenues as we continued our disciplined customer and project selection in our HVAC and Specialty businesses. Importantly, we achieved our goal of double-digit growth in inspection revenues as we make progress towards our goal of 60% of our total net revenues coming from inspection, service and monitoring.

2023 年淨收入有機成長 5.4%，全年達到創紀錄的 69 億美元。這一成長是由服務收入約 10% 的有機成長推動的，但隨著我們繼續在 HVAC 和專業業務中嚴格執行客戶和專案選擇，有意識地控制有機成長和專案收入部分抵消了這一成長。重要的是，我們實現了檢測收入兩位數成長的目標，並朝著 60% 的總淨收入來自檢測、服務和監控的目標取得了進展。

U.S. Life Safety, once again posted solid organic growth of approximately 10% for the year, following over 20% organic growth in 2022. In line with our strategic initiatives, we continue to see strong improvements in adjusted gross margin for the year, up 180 basis points. The strong performance in gross margin led to full year 2023 adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.3% representing margin expansion of 100 basis points. The team has made strong progress this year, executing our margin expansion initiatives and remains committed to building on that execution as we push towards our 13% or more adjusted EBITDA margin target in 2025.

U.S. Life Safety 繼 2022 年有機成長超過 20% 後，今年再次實現約 10% 的穩健有機成長。根據我們的策略性舉措，我們繼續看到今年調整後毛利率的強勁改善，成長了 180%基點。毛利率的強勁表現使得 2023 年全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 11.3%，意味著利潤率擴大了 100 個基點。團隊今年取得了巨大進展，執行了我們的利潤擴張計劃，並繼續致力於在這項執行的基礎上繼續努力，推動我們在 2025 年實現 13% 或更高的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標。

As a reminder, these initiatives include the following: Pricing, improved inspection service and monitoring revenue mix, disciplined customer and project selection, Chubb value capture, procurement, systems and scale, accretive M&A and selective business pruning. And as I like to say, we can always just be better.

提醒一下，這些措施包括以下內容：定價、改善檢查服務和監控收入組合、嚴格的客戶和專案選擇、Chubb 價值獲取、採購、系統和規模、增值併購和選擇性業務修剪。正如我想說的，我們總是可以變得更好。

In December, we announced an increase in the Chubb value capture target from $100 million to $125 million. Exiting 2023, we have realized approximately $40 million of the $125 million value capture target, and we remain on track to realize the remaining $85 million.

12 月，我們宣布將 Chubb 價值獲取目標從 1 億美元提高到 1.25 億美元。到 2023 年，我們已經實現了 1.25 億美元價值捕獲目標中的約 4,000 萬美元，我們仍有望實現剩餘的 8,500 萬美元。

2023 was the first year in APi history with adjusted free cash flow over $500 million. We ended the year with record adjusted free cash flow of $537 million, representing approximately 69% conversion of adjusted EBITDA. Our strong adjusted free cash flow generation helped us deliver on our commitment of reducing net leverage to under 2.5x by the end of 2023.

2023 年是 APi 歷史上第一年調整後自由現金流超過 5 億美元。年底，我們的調整後自由現金流達到創紀錄的 5.37 億美元，約佔調整後 EBITDA 的 69%。我們強勁的調整後自由現金流產生幫助我們兌現了到 2023 年底將淨槓桿率降低至 2.5 倍以下的承諾。

Moving on to M&A. Over the last 12 months, we returned to accretive bolt-on M&A with approximately $100 million spent on acquisitions in our Safety Services segment this year, building on our long track record of integrating businesses and supplementing organic growth through acquisition. As we enter 2024, we are excited to accelerate our M&A activity and the team continues their hard work, prioritizing the most attractive opportunities in our pipeline, which are strong cultural fits.

繼續進行併購。在過去的 12 個月裡，我們重新開始了增補式併購，今年在安全服務部門的收購上花費了約 1 億美元，這是我們在整合業務和透過收購補充有機成長方面的長期記錄的基礎。進入 2024 年，我們很高興能夠加快併購活動，團隊將繼續努力工作，優先考慮我們管道中最具吸引力的機會，這些機會與文化契合度很高。

In December, we closed the previously announced sale of a traditional design-bid-build heavy civil contracting company without a complementary service opportunity. This business generated $73 million of revenue in 2023, while under APi's ownership. In summary, while we remain focused on executing our strategy in 2024, I am proud of our team and the record financial results achieved in 2023.

12 月，我們完成了先前宣布的對一家傳統設計-投標-建造重型土木承包商公司的出售，但沒有提供補充服務機會。該業務在 APi 旗下期間，在 2023 年創造了 7,300 萬美元的收入。總而言之，雖然我們仍然專注於執行 2024 年的策略，但我為我們的團隊和 2023 年所取得的創紀錄的財務表現感到自豪。

Today, we announced we reached an agreement with Blackstone and Viking to retire all of the outstanding shares of their Series B perpetual convertible preferred stock. I'll let Kevin provide more details related to the transaction. However, I'll highlight that the Series B transaction represents another step in our journey to drive value for our investors by simplifying our capital structure, reducing our adjusted diluted share count and providing immediate accretion to adjusted earnings per share while having no expected impact on our focus on opportunistic M&A.

今天，我們宣布與 Blackstone 和 Viking 達成協議，註銷其 B 系列永久可轉換優先股的所有已發行股票。我會讓凱文提供與交易相關的更多細節。然而，我要強調的是，B 系列交易代表了我們透過簡化資本結構、減少調整後稀釋股數並立即增加調整後每股收益，同時不會對公司業績產生預期影響，為投資者創造價值的又一步。我們專注於機會主義併購。

I would now like to hand the call over to Kevin to discuss our fourth quarter financial results and guidance in more detail. Kevin?

我現在想將電話轉交給凱文，更詳細地討論我們第四季的財務表現和指導。凱文？

Thanks, Russ. Good morning, everyone. Reported revenues for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, increased by 3.3% to $1.76 billion compared to $1.7 billion in the prior year period. Organic growth of 1.5% was driven by strong services revenue organic growth of 5%, partially offset by disciplined customer and project selection and lower material costs, leading to a 3% organic decline in our projects business versus the prior year.

謝謝，拉斯。大家，早安。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的三個月報告營收成長 3.3%，達到 17.6 億美元，而去年同期為 17 億美元。 1.5% 的有機成長是由5% 的強勁服務收入有機成長推動的，但部分被嚴格的客戶和專案選擇以及較低的材料成本所抵消，導致我們的專案業務與上一年相比有機下降3 %。

Adjusted gross margin for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, grew to 30.1%, representing a 230-basis point increase compared to the prior year period, driven by continuous price increases, outsized growth in higher-margin services revenue as well as the significant margin expansion in our projects business across both segments. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 13% on a fixed currency basis for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, with adjusted EBITDA margin coming in at 11.8%, representing a 110-basis point increase compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the factors impacting gross margin, partially offset by investments to support revenue growth and the investment in building our global capabilities and infrastructure.

截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日止 3 個月的調整後毛利率增長至 30.1%，較上年同期增長 230 個基點，主要受到價格持續上漲、高利潤服務收入大幅增長以及我們的項目業務在這兩個領域的利潤率均大幅成長。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日止 3 個月，調整後 EBITDA 按固定貨幣計算增長 13%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.8%，較上年同期增長 110 個基點，主要由於以下因素影響毛利率，部分被支持收入成長的投資以及建立我們的全球能力和基礎設施的投資所抵消。

I'm pleased to report that adjusted diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter was $0.44 per share, representing an $0.08 or 22% increase compared to the prior year period. The increase was driven primarily by strong margin expansion in both Safety and Specialty Services and decreased interest expense. I will now discuss our results in more detail for Safety Services.

我很高興地報告，第四季度調整後稀釋每股收益為每股 0.44 美元，比去年同期增長 0.08 美元，即 22%。這一增長主要是由於安全和專業服務利潤率的強勁增長以及利息支出的減少。我現在將更詳細地討論我們的安全服務結果。

Safety Services' reported revenues for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, increased by 3.1% to $1.24 billion compared to $1.2 billion in the prior year period. Organic growth of 1%, coming off an 18-plus percent growth -- comping off a 18-plus percent growth in Q4 2022 was in line with expectations and was driven by double-digit core inspection revenue growth in our U.S. Life Safety business and 5% organic growth in inspection service and monitoring in U.S. Life Safety. This was partially offset by flat organic growth in the project business driven by planned customer attrition in our international business as well as disciplined customer and project selection and lower revenue from declining material costs through cost -- declining material cost pass-through in our HVAC business.

截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，安全服務報告營收成長 3.1%，達到 12.4 億美元，而去年同期為 12 億美元。有機成長 1%，較 2022 年第四季 18% 以上的成長相比，符合預期，並受到我們美國生命安全業務兩位數核心檢查收入成長的推動美國生命安全領域的檢查服務和監測有機成長5 %。這部分被專案業務的有機成長所抵消，該成長是由我們國際業務中的計劃客戶流失以及嚴格的客戶和專案選擇推動的，以及由於材料成本下降而導致的收入下降——我們的暖通空調業務中的材料成本轉嫁下降。

Adjusted gross margin for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, was 35.1%, representing a 270-basis point increase compared to the prior year adjusted gross margin driven by continued price increases, improved business mix of inspection, service and monitoring revenue as well as a significant margin expansion in our projects business.

截至2023年12月31日止三個月的調整後毛利率為35.1%，與上年相比調整後毛利率增長270個基點，原因是價格持續上漲，以及檢查、服務和監控收入業務組合的改善作為我們專案業務利潤率的顯著擴張。

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 18.8% on a fixed currency basis for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.3% and representing a 210-basis point increase compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the factors impacting adjusted gross margin, partially offset by investments made to support revenue growth.

截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日止三個月，調整後 EBITDA 以固定貨幣計算成長 18.8%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 15.3%，較上年同期成長 210 個基點，主要是由於影響調整後的因素毛利率，部分被支持收入成長的投資所抵銷。

I will now discuss our results in more detail for our Specialty Services segment. Specialty Services reported revenues for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, increased by 2.9% to $525 million compared to $510 million in the prior year period, driven by 12% growth in service revenues partially offset by a 10% decline in projects revenues due to disciplined customer and project selection and lower revenue from declining material cost pass-through.

我現在將更詳細地討論我們的專業服務部門的結果。專業服務報告截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的三個月收入增長 2.9%，達到 5.25 億美元，而去年同期為 5.1 億美元，服務收入增長 12%，部分被項目收入下降 10% 所抵消。嚴格的客戶和項目選擇以及材料成本轉嫁下降帶來的收入降低。

Adjusted gross margin for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, was 18.1%, representing a 140-basis point increase compared to the prior year period driven primarily by disciplined customer and project selection driving significant margin expansion in our projects business. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 11.3% for the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 11.2%, representing an 80 basis point increase compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the factors impacting adjusted gross margin primarily offset by timing of year-end incentive true-ups.

截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日止三個月的調整後毛利率為 18.1%，較上年同期增長 140 個基點，這主要是由於嚴格的客戶和專案選擇推動了我們專案業務的利潤率大幅增長。截至2023 年12 月31 日止3 個月，調整後EBITDA 成長11.3%，調整後EBITDA 利潤率為11.2%，較上年同期成長80 個基點，主要是由於影響調整後毛利率的因素主要被時間安排所抵銷年終激勵調整。

Cash flow. As we have highlighted throughout the year, the fourth quarter is our strongest quarter for free cash flow generation and 2023 was no different. For the 3 months ended December 31, 2023, adjusted free cash flow was $300 million, reflecting an adjusted free cash flow conversion of 144%. For the full year, adjusted free cash flow was $537 million, with conversion of 69%, representing an improvement of $125 million or approximately 30% when compared to 2022. Adjusted free cash flow generation has been and continues to be a priority across APi, and we are pleased that we are able to exceed our adjusted free cash flow conversion target of 65% for 2023.

現金週轉。正如我們全年強調的那樣，第四季度是我們自由現金流產生最強勁的季度，2023 年也不例外。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，調整後自由現金流為 3 億美元，反映調整後自由現金流轉換率為 144%。全年調整後自由現金流為 5.37 億美元，轉換率為 69%，與 2022 年相比增加了 1.25 億美元，約 30%。調整後自由現金流生成一直並將繼續成為 APi、我們很高興能夠超過2023 年調整後的自由現金流轉換目標65%。

On December 19, we paid down $175 million of our term loan debt, resulting in total repayments in 2023 of $475 million and leaving $330 million outstanding on our term loan, due 2026, which leaves our weighted average maturity at approximately 5 years. At the end of the year, our net leverage ratio was approximately 2.3x even as we continued margin-accretive bolt-on M&A.

12 月19 日，我們償還了1.75 億美元的定期貸款債務，導致2023 年的還款總額為4.75 億美元，而2026 年到期的定期貸款尚有3.3 億美元未償還，這使得我們的加權平均期限約為5 年。截至年底，即使我們繼續進行利潤增值的補強併購，我們的淨槓桿率仍約為 2.3 倍。

As we look forward to 2024, we expect to grow our adjusted free cash flow as well as improve our adjusted free cash flow conversion, providing us a significant opportunity for value-enhancing capital deployment.

展望 2024 年，我們預計將增加調整後自由現金流並改善調整後自由現金流轉換，為我們提供增值資本部署的重要機會。

As Russ touched on earlier, we have reached an agreement with Blackstone and Viking to retire all of the outstanding shares of their Series B perpetual convertible preferred stock issued at the time of the Chubb transaction. Blackstone and Viking will each exercise their respective right to convert all their Series B preferred stock into common stock, resulting in approximately 32.5 million shares of common stock. Upon conversion, APi will repurchase 1/2 of the converted shares from Blackstone and Viking for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $600 million. The transaction is expected to be financed by an incremental term loan of $300 million plus cash on hand and available credit.

正如 Russ 早些時候提到的，我們已與 Blackstone 和 Viking 達成協議，註銷其在 Chubb 交易時發行的 B 系列永久可轉換優先股的所有已發行股票。 Blackstone 和 Viking 將各自行使其權利，將其所有 B 系列優先股轉換為普通股，從而獲得約 3,250 萬股普通股。轉換後，APi 將從 Blackstone 和 Viking 回購 1/2 的轉換股份，總購買價約 6 億美元。此次交易預計將透過 3 億美元的增量定期貸款以及庫存現金和可用信貸來融資。

As a part of the agreement, Blackstone and Viking intend to effect a coordinated secondary public offering with the goal of selling approximately 8.1 million shares of APi's common stock. Following the sale, it is expected that any remaining common shares owned by Blackstone and Viking would be subject to a 90-day lockup. We are pleased to proactively agree to a holistic approach to retire on our Series B preferred stock with only a modest expected increase in net leverage ratio to approximately 3x, preserving the strength of our balance sheet.

作為協議的一部分，Blackstone 和 Viking 打算進行協調一致的二次公開發行，目標是出售約 810 萬股 A​​Pi 普通股。出售後，預計 Blackstone 和 Viking 擁有的任何剩餘普通股將受到 90 天的禁售期。我們很高興主動同意採取全面的方法來退出我們的 B 系列優先股，預計淨槓桿率僅小幅增加至約 3 倍，從而保持我們資產負債表的實力。

Throughout 2024, we'll continue to focus on generating strong free cash flow, allowing us to accelerate M&A spend versus 2023 while reducing our net leverage towards our long-term target of less than 2.5x. This transaction collectively is expected to provide some substantial benefits to APi and its common stockholders as it simplifies our capital structure, preserves our strong opportunistic balance sheet, reduces adjusted diluted share count by 16.3 million shares, provides immediate accretion to adjusted earnings per share, eliminates the preferred dividend payments of $44 million annually and has no significant impact on our reacceleration of bolt-on M&A.

在整個 2024 年，我們將繼續專注於產生強勁的自由現金流，使我們能夠比 2023 年加快併購支出，同時降低淨槓桿率，實現低於 2.5 倍的長期目標。這項交易預計將為APi 及其普通股股東帶來一些實質的好處，因為它簡化了我們的資本結構，保留了我們強大的機會主義資產負債表，減少了1,630 萬股調整後的稀釋股票數量，立即增加了調整後的每股收益，消除了每年支付 4400 萬美元的優先股股息，對我們重新加速補強併購沒有重大影響。

I will now discuss our guidance for Q1 and full year 2024. Based on current exchange rates, we expect full year reported net revenues of $7.05 billion to $7.25 billion, representing mid-single-digit organic growth in net revenues, driven by expected double-digit core inspection organic growth and high single-digit service growth mixed with low single-digit projects growth as we remain focused on disciplined customer and project selection in our Specialty and HVAC businesses, primarily in the first half of 2024.

我現在將討論我們對第一季和2024 年全年的指導。根據當前匯率，我們預計全年報告的淨收入為70.5 億美元至72.5 億美元，代表淨收入中個位數的有機增長，這是由預期的雙倍成長推動的。數位核心檢視有機成長和高個位數服務成長與低個位數專案成長相結合，因為我們仍然專注於專業和HVAC 業務中嚴格的客戶和專案選擇，主要是在2024 年上半年。

We expect full year adjusted EBITDA of $855 million to $905 million, which represents adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 9% to 15%. On a fixed currency basis, an adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.3% at the midpoint. In 2024, we expect to take another step forward in terms of adjusted free cash flow conversion with a 2024 target of approximately 70% as we move towards our long-term target of 80%.

我們預計全年調整後 EBITDA 為 8.55 億美元至 9.05 億美元，這意味著調整後 EBITDA 將成長約 9% 至 15%。以固定貨幣計算，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率中位數為 12.3%。 2024 年，我們預計調整後自由現金流轉換方面將再向前邁出一步，2024 年的目標約為 70%，同時我們也將向 80% 的長期目標邁進。

In terms of the first quarter, we expect reported net revenues of $1.56 billion to $1.61 billion. This guidance represents an organic net revenue decline of approximately 4% to 1% as we lap our strong organic growth of 12.1% in Q1 2023 and as we continue to build a smaller but healthier backlog in our HVAC and Specialty Services businesses. We also expect to see a continuation of lower material costs resulting in a declining price pass-through versus the first quarter of 2023, which results in lower reported net revenues. However, those impacts as seen in 2023 will allow us to continue to expand adjusted EBITDA dollars and margin, which is reflected in our first quarter adjusted EBITDA guide of $165 million to $180 million. This represents adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 9% to 20% on a fixed currency basis and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 180 basis points at the midpoint.

就第一季而言，我們預計報告的淨收入為 15.6 億美元至 16.1 億美元。由於我們在2023 年第一季實現了12.1% 的強勁有機成長，並且我們繼續在HVAC 和專業服務業務中建立規模更小但更健康的積壓訂單，因此該指引意味著有機淨收入下降了約4 % 至1%。我們也預期材料成本持續下降，導致價格傳導較 2023 年第一季下降，從而導致報告的淨收入下降。然而，2023 年出現的這些影響將使我們能夠繼續擴大調整後 EBITDA 美元和利潤率，這反映在我們第一季調整後 EBITDA 指引值 1.65 億至 1.8 億美元。這意味著以固定貨幣計算，調整後 EBITDA 成長約 9% 至 20%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率中點擴大 180 個基點。

For 2024, we anticipate interest expense to be approximately $150 million, depreciation to be approximately $80 million, capital expenditures to be approximately $95 million and our adjusted effective cash tax rate to be approximately 23%. We expect corporate expenses to be approximately $30 million per quarter with some timing variability throughout the year. We expect our adjusted -- we expect our adjusted diluted weighted average share count for the year to be approximately 270 million, taking into account the Series B transaction announced earlier today. Finally, we expect to end 2024 with our net leverage ratio at approximately 2.5x.

2024 年，我們預計利息支出約為 1.5 億美元，折舊約為 8,000 萬美元，資本支出約為 9,500 萬美元，調整後的有效現金稅率約為 23%。我們預計每季公司開支約為 3000 萬美元，全年時間安排上會有一些變化。考慮到今天稍早宣布的 B 輪交易，我們預計今年調整後的稀釋加權平均股數約為 2.7 億股。最後，我們預計到 2024 年底，我們的淨槓桿比率約為 2.5 倍。

I will now turn the call over to Russ.

我現在將把電話轉給拉斯。

Thanks, Kevin. As I said on our last call, I'm confident in our leaders' ability to build on historically strong execution by delivering consistent double-digit core inspection organic growth as well as consistently driving margin expansion across the business. As we look to 2024, we have great confidence in the business, our backlog and our balance sheet. We believe we are well positioned to improve our free cash flow generation, giving us significant flexibility to pursue value-creative capital allocation alternatives, including, but not limited to, accelerating our bolt-on M&A strategy.

謝謝，凱文。正如我在上次電話會議上所說，我對我們的領導者有能力通過實現持續兩位數的核心檢查有機增長以及持續推動整個業務的利潤率擴張來建立歷史上強大的執行力充滿信心。展望 2024 年，我們對業務、積壓訂單和資產負債表充滿信心。我們相信，我們處於有利位置，可以改善我們的自由現金流生成，從而為我們提供巨大的靈活性，以追求價值創造型資本配置替代方案，包括但不限於加速我們的補充併購策略。

Longer term, we are focused on creating sustainable shareholder value by delivering on our 13/60/80 targets with a near-term focus on generating adjusted EBITDA margins of 13% or more in 2025. With that, I would now like to turn the call back over to the operator and open the call for Q&A.

從長遠來看，我們致力於透過實現13/60/80 的目標來創造可持續的股東價值，近期重點是在2025 年實現13% 或更高的調整後EBITDA 利潤率。有了這個，我現在想把回撥給接線生並打開電話進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Julian Mitchell from Barclays.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Julian Mitchell。

Maybe just to start with the free cash flow guidance around conversion. So it looks like you're aiming for about sort of 70% conversion so a fairly steady year-on-year conversion ratio. Maybe help us understand what you're assuming within that for sort of working capital movements and what's the confidence that perhaps you could approach or move up towards that sort of 80% target in 2025? Or is it more of a sort of medium-term aspiration?

也許只是從圍繞轉換的自由現金流指導開始。因此，您的目標似乎是 70% 左右的轉換率，因此同比轉換率相當穩定。也許可以幫助我們了解您對營運資金變動的假設，以及您對 2025 年實現或實現 80% 目標的信心有多大？或者它更像是一種中期願望？

Julian, yes. So on free cash flow, you're right, our current guidance to be at approximately 70%. The transaction that we announced this morning, probably cost us, versus our run rate, somewhere around 3% to 5% in free cash flow conversion primarily due to the leverage. Adjusting for that, we would have had that more material increase to somewhere closer to 75%, which is the step we've been talking about as we continue to move to 80%.

朱利安，是的。因此，就自由現金流而言，你是對的，我們目前的指導約為 70%。與我們的運行率相比，我們今天早上宣布的交易可能會讓我們損失大約 3% 到 5% 的自由現金流轉換，主要是由於槓桿作用。對此進行調整後，我們將有更多的材料增加到接近 75%，這是我們在繼續向 80% 邁進時一直在討論的步驟。

That 75% increase sort of on a like-for-like basis would have come and will come from net working capital rate, which you will see us continue to focus on this year and continue to drive improvements in net working capital rate as we move through the year.

這 75% 的成長在類似的基礎上將會來自淨營運資本率，你會看到我們今年繼續關注這一點，並隨著我們的行動繼續推動淨營運資本率的改善經過一年。

On 2025, I will only say, in 2024, that's our guide is to step up to 75%, and we believe that positioning ourselves there on that like-for-like basis puts us in a really good position to continue to make improvements into 2025.

到 2025 年，我只會說，到 2024 年，我們的指導方針是提高到 75%，我們相信，在類似的基礎上定位自己，使我們處於一個非常有利的位置，可以繼續改進2025 年。

That's helpful. And maybe just -- my second question is around the organic sales outlook. So you have that slight decline starting the year with a tough comp and the unwind of some project work. Should we think about the slope of the sales recovery year-on-year as being fairly sort of gradual as we go through the year. So each quarter with a stronger year-on-year growth rate than the prior quarter. And for 2024, overall, is there any way of quantifying the project unwind headwind or what we should expect project-related revenue to do this year?

這很有幫助。也許只是——我的第二個問題是關於有機銷售前景的。因此，從今年開始，你的業績會略有下降，伴隨著艱難的薪資和一些專案工作的放鬆。我們是否應該認為銷售年比復甦的斜率在這一年是相當漸進的？因此每季的年成長率都比上一季更強。總體而言，對於 2024 年，是否有任何方法可以量化專案的不利因素或我們今年應該預期專案相關的收入會如何？

Yes. So just make a note here, make sure I answer all your questions, Julian.

是的。所以請在這裡記下，確保我回答你所有的問題，朱利安。

So on growth rate, yes, our -- the implied guide there for the first quarter is to be down in the first quarter as we comp against a strong quarter in prior years. Underlying what you're going to see there is in the Safety Services business. We expect to see continued mid- to high single-digit growth on the service side of the business, and we expect to see growth probably closer to the lower single digits in the project side of the business in the first quarter. Again, a piece of that is just comping against a strong quarter in prior year.

因此，就成長率而言，是的，我們對第一季的隱含指引將在第一季下降，因為我們與前幾年的強勁季度相比。您將看到的基礎是安全服務業務。我們預計服務方面的業務將持續實現中高個位數成長，並且我們預計第一季專案業務的成長可能會接近較低的個位數。同樣，其中一部分只是與去年的強勁季度進行比較。

On the Specialty side of the business, while we'll see growth on the service side of the business as we continue to focus on backlog and getting that portfolio healthier and to a lesser extent, comping against a mid-single-digit growth in the prior year. We're going to see a reduction in the project side of the business, especially in the first quarter, which is really a continuation of what we saw in the back half of the year.

在業務的專業方面，雖然我們將看到業務的服務方面的增長，因為我們繼續專注於積壓，並在較小程度上使投資組合更健康，而與中個位數的增長相比，去年。我們將看到業務項目方面的減少，特別是在第一季度，這實際上是我們在今年下半年看到的情況的延續。

Underlying drivers in there is -- in Q1 it's going to be consistent with what we're seeing in the back half of 2023 which is lower material costs, which results in a revenue drag due to lower material cost pass-through and then a focus on disciplined customer and project selection, which is really rightsizing our portfolio. The thing I will highlight as we talked about organic growth in the first quarter for Specialty is that we still expect these efforts to improve EBITDA dollars year-on-year and EBITDA margin year-on-year in the first quarter. So the work we're doing there is paying off from a profitability standpoint.

其中的潛在驅動因素是，第一季將與我們在 2023 年下半年看到的情況一致，即材料成本降低，這會由於材料成本轉嫁降低而導致收入拖累，然後成為焦點嚴格的客戶和專案選擇，這確實調整了我們的投資組合。當我們談論 Specialty 第一季的自然成長時，我要強調的是，我們仍然預計這些努力將在第一季同比提高 EBITDA 美元和同比提高 EBITDA 利潤率。因此，從獲利角度來看，我們在那裡所做的工作是有回報的。

Just to conclude, you asked about sort of growth profile first half, second half. On the service side, we expect to see consistent organic growth in our service businesses throughout the year. On the project side, we just talked about the first quarter. That's really a first-half thing we'll be working through as those projects business sort of annualize against the work we started on disciplined customer and project selection and a healthier projects backlog. So what you're going to see is subdued growth on the project side of the business, primarily in Specialty and HVAC in the first half of the year, turning around to growth as we annualize against that in the back half of the year resulting in back-half growth rates that will be above first-half growth rates.

總而言之，您詢問了上半年和下半年的成長情況。在服務方面，我們預計全年服務業務將持續有機成長。專案方面，我們剛剛談到了第一季。這確實是我們上半年要解決的事情，因為這些專案業務會根據我們開始進行的嚴格客戶和專案選擇以及更健康的專案積壓工作進行年度化。因此，您將看到業務項目方面的成長放緩，主要是上半年的專業和暖通空調領域，但隨著我們對下半年的年化結果進行年化，結果將轉向增長下半年增長率將高於上半年成長率。

Our next question comes from Jon Tanwanteng from CJS Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 CJS 證券的 Jon Tanwanteng。

Congrats on a strong quarter and the outlook. I was wondering if you talk about your total capacity for M&A this year. Just given the cash use and the leverage going back up to 3x. How far are you willing to lever up. That's my first question.

祝賀強勁的季度和前景。請問您是否談談今年的併購總能力？考慮到現金使用量和槓桿率回到了 3 倍。你願意把槓桿提升到什麼程度。這是我的第一個問題。

Jon, thanks for the question. I would say on a -- from an M&A standpoint, the transaction we announced this morning will not impact our planned M&A campaign for 2024, which was really focused on bolt-ons. We've done over $100 million over the last 12 months and our plan as we went into 2024 was to increase that meaningfully. And this transaction will not impact that -- those plans in 2024. You referenced that the transaction does move our net leverage up to 3x. We talked about delevering back inside 2.5x by the end of the year. That is assuming that we continue to do the M&A as we planned. And the only thing I'll say is that 3x, we still think we have ample balance sheet capacity to stay opportunistic and agile as opportunities present themselves.

喬恩，謝謝你的提問。我想說，從併購的角度來看，我們今天早上宣布的交易不會影響我們計劃的 2024 年併購活動，該活動的重點是補充。在過去 12 個月裡，我們已經完成了超過 1 億美元的投資，我們的計劃是在進入 2024 年時大幅增加這一金額。這項交易不會影響 2024 年的計劃。您提到該交易確實使我們的淨槓桿率提高了 3 倍。我們討論了到今年年底將去槓桿化幅度恢復到 2.5 倍。這是假設我們繼續按計劃進行併購。我唯一要說的是，3x，我們仍然認為我們有足夠的資產負債表能力，可以在機會出現時保持機會主義和敏捷性。

Got it. And then could you just comment on buying back the shares of the converted shares at the $36.75 price. Just help me understand your thoughts on future prospects and kind of if that's a vote of confidence in performance, given you're buying above the market here.

知道了。然後您能評論一下以 36.75 美元的價格回購轉換後的股票嗎？請幫助我了解您對未來前景的想法，以及考慮到您在這裡的買入價格高於市場，這是否是對業績的信任投票。

Yes. So just to highlight, the price is a mechanism that was in the Series B that allows for us to force conversion at $36.90. So that was -- that was the reason we landed on that price. To your question, what I would say on the buyback is the transaction was pulled together holistically and the way we've thought about this is looking at it holistically. So there's one part, we like the value of our shares relative to our long-term prospects for sure.

是的。因此，需要強調的是，價格是 B 系列中的一種機制，允許我們以 36.90 美元強制轉換。這就是我們確定這個價格的原因。對於你的問題，我想說的是，關於回購，交易是從整體上整合在一起的，我們考慮這個問題的方式是從整體上看待它。因此，一方面，我們肯定喜歡我們股票相對於我們長期前景的價值。

There's also one part that this overall transaction allows for orderly transition of the shares, which we think benefit our common shareholders as well. But when you look sort of at our prospects going forward, we're confident that we have a clear path to make the most of the opportunities in front of us focused on 13/60/80. We think we took a meaningful step this year, we're going to take a meaningful step as you can tell in 2024. And so -- although our shares are trading near all-time highs, our views are that the shares are attractively valued with additional upside potential given our long-term growth prospects and margin goals.

還有一個原因是，這項整體交易允許股份有序過渡，我們認為這也有利於我們的普通股股東。但當你審視我們未來的前景時，我們相信我們有一條明確的道路來充分利用我們面前的機會，重點是 13/60/80。我們認為今年我們邁出了有意義的一步，正如您所見，我們將在2024 年邁出有意義的一步。因此，儘管我們的股價接近歷史高點，但我們認為這些股票的估值具有吸引力考慮到我們的長期成長前景和利潤目標，具有額外的上升潛力。

And we also think that when we look at that, we couple that with leadership's proven track record of execution which all of that went into sort of the structuring of this transaction.

我們也認為，當我們審視這一點時，我們將其與領導層經過驗證的執行記錄結合起來，所有這些都納入了此次交易的結構中。

Our next question comes from Andy Wittmann from Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自貝爾德 (Baird) 的安迪維特曼 (Andy Wittmann)。

Yes. Great. Russ, I thought I'd ask you a little bit on the strategy around customer and project selection. Obviously, this has been a big driver second half of last year. It's going to be a factor here in the first half of this year, and you've talked a lot about this since the [destack], so this is nothing new. But I'm just wondering, as you look at the demand environment today, for your services and your project-related services in particular. It seems pretty robust. As you look at some of the peers out there, even some of the comments that you've made about the project business, it seems like it's there you're choosing not to do it. So it's allowing you to really drive the margin performance today. But what happens to this strategy if the demand for project services slows down, can you sustain the high bar that you're setting today in that kind of environment? Or do you have to pivot? I guess, I'd just like to hear some of your thoughts on that.

是的。偉大的。拉斯，我想問你一些關於客戶和專案選擇的策略。顯然，這是去年下半年的一大推動因素。這將成為今年上半年的一個因素，自從[destack]以來你已經談論了很多這個問題，所以這不是什麼新鮮事。但我只是想知道，當您審視當今的需求環境時，尤其是您的服務，特別是與專案相關的服務。看起來相當健壯。當你看到一些同行，甚至是你對專案業務發表的一些評論時，你似乎選擇不這樣做。因此，它可以讓您真正提高今天的利潤表現。但是，如果對專案服務的需求放緩，該策略會發生什麼情況，您能否在這種環境下維持今天設定的高標準？還是必須轉行？我想，我只是想聽聽你對此的一些想法。

Well, I mean -- I guess I'm just going to start by saying that end markets matter, Andy, and that the end markets that we've chosen to play in show robust opportunity for an extended period of time. And so we feel confident that we have the -- we have a kind of a runway in front of us that is going to allow us to remain focused on customer and project selection.

嗯，我的意思是——我想我首先要說的是，終端市場很重要，安迪，我們選擇進入的終端市場在很長一段時間內顯示出強勁的機會。因此，我們相信我們面前有一條跑道，這將使我們能夠繼續專注於客戶和專案選擇。

There's a few things that I would also say to that is that our diversity in the service offerings that we have, like we're not doing these massive telecom programs and things like that. We do get telecom work, but the programs they're small and they're in different geographic areas. And so I think that allows us to be more nimble. I also think that this is -- remains to be a relationship-based business and your ability to execute and focus on building relationships matters and that helps you drive better results for your business in both good times and in bad.

我還要說的是，我們所提供的服務具有多樣性，就像我們沒有做這些大規模的電信專案之類的事情一樣。我們確實有電信工作，但這些項目都很小，而且分佈在不同的地理區域。所以我認為這讓我們變得更有彈性。我還認為，這仍然是一個基於關係的業務，你執行和專注於建立關係的能力很重要，這可以幫助你在順境和逆境中為你的業務帶來更好的結果。

And so I am not worried about it. I look at it as it's the right thing for us to do from a business perspective. And I remain very, very impressed with the discipline that our teams are showing and where they're going to continue to allocate their resources. And in an environment where resources and skilled resources, especially, I'm talking predominantly here about field leaders, is constrained. Companies like ours that are making the investments in the men and the women that are actually doing the work in the field, I believe it's going to be a significant difference maker for us in allowing us to continue to attract the right people to our workforce that it's going to allow us to continue to provide the services that our customers need.

所以我並不擔心。我認為從商業角度來看這對我們來說是正確的事情。我們團隊表現出的紀律以及他們將繼續分配資源的情況給我留下了非常非常深刻的印象。在資源和技術資源（尤其是我在這裡主要談論領域領導者）受到限制的環境中。像我們這樣的公司正在對實際在該領域工作的男性和女性進行投資，我相信這對我們來說將是一個重大的改變者，使我們能夠繼續吸引合適的人才加入我們的勞動力隊伍，這將使我們能夠繼續提供客戶所需的服務。

So I think that there's a lot in that question, but I really believe that our business is positioned better than most to continue to win in the environment that we're in.

所以我認為這個問題有很多內容，但我真的相信我們的業務比大多數業務處於更好的位置，可以在我們所處的環境中繼續獲勝。

Okay. That's helpful perspective. I guess maybe, Kevin, my follow-up question is probably for you. I just wanted to get kind of the updated view on the Chubb value capture. You talked about the remaining portion, how much of the $85 million that you expect to get in the future you think can be realized in '24?

好的。這是很有幫助的觀點。我想凱文，我的後續問題可能是針對你的。我只是想了解有關 Chubb 值捕獲的最新觀點。您談到了剩下的部分，您預計未來獲得的8500萬美元中有多少您認為可以在24年實現？

And then I guess maybe just from a process point of view, I wanted to kind of check in. I know that the last several months as you went through the fourth quarter and maybe into January, I don't know, a lot of actions were taken. I was just wondering how much more -- how many more actions need to still be taken here in '24 to realize that? Or has the bulk of it been done?

然後我想也許只是從流程的角度來看，我想進行檢查。我知道過去幾個月你經歷了第四季度，也許進入一月份，我不知道，有很多行動被帶走了。我只是想知道 24 年還需要採取多少行動才能實現這一點？或是大部分已經完成了嗎？

Thanks, Andy. Yes. So as we -- just to back up, as we announced in Q4, we've increased our overall target to $125 million, we've secured $40 million of that to the P&L. There's another $85 million left to deliver. So your question on how much of that $85 million should we secure to the P&L in 2024, I'd say, approximately half of it. And the actions that we've taken to date have already secured $70 million of the total $125 million, meaning there's still work left to do to deliver that number in 2024, and there's still work left to do to deliver the number that would roll over to the other half into 2025. I'd say probably half of the 2024 work is behind us. And so there's a little work left to do in 2024, and that work will accrue to 2024 as well as 2025.

謝謝，安迪。是的。因此，正如我們在第四季度宣布的那樣，我們將總體目標提高到 1.25 億美元，我們已將其中的 4000 萬美元計入損益表。還有 8500 萬美元需要交付。所以你問的問題是，我們應該在 2024 年將 8500 萬美元中的多少納入損益表，我想說，大約是一半。迄今為止，我們採取的行動已經確保了 1.25 億美元總額中的 7000 萬美元，這意味著要在 2024 年實現這一數字還有很多工作要做，而且要實現滾動的數字還有很多工作要做另一半到2025 年。我想說，2024 年的工作可能已經完成一半了。因此，2024 年還有一些工作要做，這些工作將持續到 2024 年和 2025 年。

So Andy, I'm just going to add a little bit of color to Kevin because the work -- there's -- when you think about the work that needs to be done there, if you remember, we started by addressing, so to speak, our corporate structure and expenses, and then we moved to kind of a country-level leadership and then we said that we were going to move into branch optimization, and we're really in branch optimization mode. And as part of that, we have a significant sales force optimization effort going on whereas part of that work, we need to, I guess, switch or convert to that inspection-first mindset and that's a different sales force. So there's a tremendous amount of work that's going to continue to go on through this year and into next year for us to continue to optimize the business and really move.

所以安迪，我只是要為凱文添加一點色彩，因為當你想到那裡需要完成的工作時，如果你還記得的話，我們從解決問題開始，可以這麼說，我們的公司結構和費用，然後我們轉向國家級領導，然後我們說我們將進入分支機構優化，我們確實處於分支機構優化模式。作為其中的一部分，我們正在進行重大的銷售團隊優化工作，而我想，作為這項工作的一部分，我們需要切換或轉換為檢查優先的心態，這是一支不同的銷售團隊。因此，今年和明年我們將繼續進行大量工作，以繼續優化業務並真正採取行動。

We still have work to move towards that branch-based operating model that we employed here in North America. So the work to a certain degree, like is never done. But we are continuing to, I think, see significant improvements in the overarching business. And to be totally honest with you, I couldn't be more pleased with the leadership of the company.

我們仍然需要努力轉向我們在北美採用的基於分支機構的營運模式。因此，從某種程度上來說，這項工作就像永遠沒有完成一樣。但我認為，我們將繼續看到整體業務的顯著改善。老實說，我對公司的領導階層感到非常滿意。

Next question comes from Kathryn Thompson from Thompson Research Group.

下一個問題來自湯普森研究小組的凱瑟琳湯普森。

And just following on kind of the optimization initiatives you discussed in the previous question, tagging in on that, as you focus on adding with accretive M&A, on the inverse, are there any portfolio assets that make sense to call to help structurally from a margin standpoint and overall strategy standpoint.

遵循您在上一個問題中討論的優化舉措，並標記這一點，當您專注於增加增值併購時，相反，是否有任何投資組合資產可以從邊際上尋求結構性幫助立場和總體戰略立場。

Kathryn, thank you for joining our call, and I appreciate it. And we're always looking for -- looking at our businesses and making sure that we're evaluating the businesses as it relates to being additive to our long-term goals. We held -- we held a very small business for sale in the fourth quarter and expect to move forward and get that business sold here, hopefully, early in the first part of this year. And we continue to evaluate our portfolio every single day just like we evaluate our branches.

凱瑟琳，感謝您加入我們的電話會議，我很感激。我們一直在尋找——審視我們的業務，並確保我們正在評估這些業務，因為它與我們的長期目標相輔相成。我們在第四季度持有一家非常小的企業待售，並期望繼續前進並希望在今年上半年早些時候在這裡出售該業務。我們每天都會繼續評估我們的投資組合，就像評估我們的分支機構一樣。

And from a branch perspective, the reality of it is we really don't need to be anywhere even though we may want to be someplace if we don't have the right leadership and can't solve for that leadership. We're not afraid to close down a branch and that all of that kind of comes into the calculus as we look across the broader aspects of the entire company. And we like to -- from a branch perspective, we like to look at our branch performances on a rolling 5-year average. And so we can see the trends, which businesses are growing, which ones are flat, which ones are declining so we can evaluate leadership and make sure that we have the right business leaders at each individual branch level.

從分支機構的角度來看，現實是我們確實不需要去任何地方，即使我們可能想去某個地方，如果我們沒有合適的領導並且無法解決該領導問題。我們並不害怕關閉一家分支機構，當我們審視整個公司的更廣泛方面時，所有這些都會納入考慮範圍。我們喜歡——從分支機構的角度來看，我們喜歡以 5 年滾動平均值來看待我們的分支機構績效。這樣我們就可以看到趨勢，哪些業務正在成長，哪些業務持平，哪些業務正在下降，這樣我們就可以評估領導力，並確保我們在每個分支機構層級都有合適的業務領導者。

So there's a lot that goes into it when you have as many branches that we do. But we're not afraid to make changes as necessary, whether that's a branch or whether that's an existing business that's inside the portfolio.

因此，當您擁有與我們一樣多的分支機構時，就會涉及到很多事情。但我們不害怕做出必要的改變，無論是分公司或投資組合內的現有業務。

Okay. And just to clarify, today's transaction doesn't really change that strategy either for calling, but also does it change your overall M&A strategy?

好的。需要澄清的是，今天的交易並沒有真正改變呼叫策略，但它是否也改變了您的整體併購策略？

Not at all. Not at all. We feel that the transaction gives us the flexibility with our balance sheet to continue to move forward with our bolt-on M&A strategy. So nothing changes as it relates to what we're trying to accomplish there.

一點也不。一點也不。我們認為，此交易為我們的資產負債表提供了靈活性，可以繼續推動我們的補充併購策略。因此，與我們想要實現的目標相關的事情不會發生任何改變。

Our next question comes from Andy Kaplowitz from Citigroup.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗集團的安迪·卡普洛維茨。

Russ, can you give more color into your verticals in Safety? Is the slowing of growth that you have basically all your own actions? Comps are lower pass-through as you guys said, are you seeing any market-related delays? And then you previously talked about data center, semiconductors, EV and health care markets. Are you seeing any change in the piecing of growth in those end markets, like, for instance, have you seen an uptick in data center demand and/or downtick in EV demand?

Russ，你能給你的安全垂直領域更多的色彩嗎？成長放緩基本上都是你自己的行為嗎？正如你們所說，比較的傳遞率較低，您是否看到任何與市場相關的延遲？您之前談到了資料中心、半導體、電動車和醫療保健市場。您是否看到這些終端市場的成長有任何變化，例如，您是否看到資料中心需求上升和/或電動車需求下降？

Yes. So I would say that we saw more of that piecing in 2023, specifically in the data center space with a couple of hyperscalers and we're -- now you're seeing that kind of reverse itself in 2024 and with just the opportunities, we have a number of different data center facilities that were under design contract, and we don't have the project related or installation component of it yet.

是的。所以我想說，我們在 2023 年看到了更多這樣的整合，特別是在資料中心領域，有幾個超大規模企業，現在你會在 2024 年看到這種情況的逆轉，並且有機會，我們有許多不同的資料中心設施正在設計合約中，但我們還沒有專案相關或安裝組件。

The semiconductor space continues to provide robust opportunity. You saw Ford pull back a little bit on the EV space, but in general, the EV space remains very, very strong with demand really outpacing capacity. It's just a matter of being disciplined with where you're going to potentially put your resources. So we see -- I believe that the outlook is really robust, and I think there's going to be plenty of opportunity as we work through the year.

半導體領域持續提供強勁的機會。你看到福特在電動車領域有所收縮，但總的來說，電動車領域仍然非常非常強勁，需求確實超過了產能。這只是一個遵守你將資源的潛在用途的問題。所以我們看到——我相信前景非常樂觀，而且我認為在我們全年的工作中將會有很多機會。

Russ, just to be clear to that commentary, do you want to get the project-related work for the hyperscalers? Like how do you think about that, just out of curiosity?

Russ，為了澄清這項評論，您想為超大規模企業獲得與專案相關的工作嗎？出於好奇，你怎麼看待這個問題？

Yes, for the right ones. And we have certain customers in that space where we have the inspection and service -- we're doing the inspection and service work. And again, knowing our model, Andy, that we want to use the inspections first, that's going to drive service work for us and then building that sticky client relationship through doing a great job executing, which is going to create opportunities for you to position yourself where you're not competing for that business on price. And if you're competing for that business just on price, we're not going to be able to achieve our margin expansion goals.

是的，對於正確的人。我們在進行檢查和服務的領域有某些客戶—我們正在進行檢查和服務工作。再說一遍，安迪，我們想首先使用檢查，這將推動我們的服務工作，然後通過出色的執行工作建立粘性的客戶關係，這將為您創造定位的機會您自己不以價格競爭該業務。如果您僅在價格上競爭該業務，我們將無法實現利潤擴張目標。

And the best part about the hyperscalers, if you will, is as a general statement, you have a fairly sophisticated owner who is making decisions based on value. Price is obviously always a component of that. But essentially, it's your ability to execute and get the work done and we'll get the work done safely. That's all a big part of the calculus that they use when they're selecting their partners to do the work. So I think you have to just have -- again, it goes back to this customer selection, project selection and making sure that you're choosing the right places to work. A lot of the project-related work also goes through the general contractor community. And there is a significant projects or customer selection criteria that goes into that as well.

如果你願意的話，關於超大規模的最好的部分是，作為一般性聲明，你有一個相當老練的所有者，他根據價值做出決策。價格顯然始終是其中的一個組成部分。但本質上，這是您執行和完成工作的能力，我們將安全地完成工作。這是他們在選擇合作夥伴來完成這項工作時所使用的計算的重要組成部分。所以我認為你必須再次強調，這又回到了客戶選擇、專案選擇並確保你選擇了正確的工作地點。許多與專案相關的工作也透過總承包商社區進行。還有一個重要的項目或客戶選擇標準也涉及其中。

Very helpful. And then, Russ, maybe kind of a similar question for the Specialty markets. As you know, organic growth has been lumpy in that business. You mentioned your diversification, when you look at the organic guide for '24, does Specialty grow roughly at the same rate as Safety or how are you thinking about that when you think about the 2% to 5% for both segments?

很有幫助。然後，拉斯，也許對專業市場有類似的問題。如您所知，該業務的有機成長一直不穩定。您提到了您的多元化，當您查看'24 的有機指南時，特種產品的增長速度是否與安全產品大致相同，或者當您考慮這兩個細分市場的2％ 至5％ 時，您如何看待這一點？

No. I mean, Specialty -- we expect organic growth in Specialty to be lower than we expect it to be in Safety. And it's really because of this disciplined customer -- it's really in that space, it's really disciplined customer selection more so that it is even project selection, to be honest with you, Andy. And even with -- like even with some of your telecom customers, there's -- you have to be selective by geographic region because they're not all the same. You might have great success with somebody in, say, New Jersey, but not New York. And so making sure that you're evaluating those different master service agreements and work programs that you're taking on really matters. And I would tell you that the segment leadership in Specialty has done really quite an amazing job with bringing customer selection into the mix there.

不，我的意思是，特種業務－我們預期特種業務的有機成長將低於我們對安全業務的預期。這真的是因為這個紀律嚴明的客戶——在那個領域，它確實是更紀律嚴明的客戶選擇，甚至是專案選擇，老實說，安迪。即使是——就像你的一些電信客戶一樣——你也必須按地理區域進行選擇，因為它們並不完全相同。你可能會在新澤西州而非紐約與某個人取得巨大的成功。因此，確保您正在評估您正在承擔的不同的主服務協議和工作計劃確實很重要。我想告訴你，專業領域的領導階層在將客戶選擇納入其中方面做得非常出色。

And again, I just go back to the fact that our business is very diverse, not only from a geographic perspective, but it's also very diverse in the service offerings. And different components of that have better gross margin opportunities than others. And so understanding your customers, understanding the geography and making sure that you're being thoughtful on how you approach it is what really matters at the end of the day.

我再說一遍，我們的業務非常多樣化，不僅從地理角度來看，而且在提供的服務方面也非常多樣化。其中的不同組成部分比其他組成部分擁有更好的毛利率機會。因此，最終，了解您的客戶、了解地理位置並確保您深思熟慮地對待客戶才是真正重要的。

We are now closing the floor for question and answer. I'd now like to hand back over to Russ Becker, Chief Executive Officer and President. Please go ahead.

我們現在關閉問答環節。現在我想將工作交接給執行長兼總裁拉斯貝克爾 (Russ Becker)。請繼續。

Thank you. In closing, I would like to thank all of our teammates for their continued support and dedication to our business. We believe our people are the foundation on which everything else is built. Without them, we do not exist. I'd also like to thank our long-term shareholders as well as those that have recently joined us, for their support. We appreciate your ownership of APi, and we look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the remainder of the year. Thank you again for joining the call this morning.

謝謝。最後，我要感謝我們所有的隊友對我們業務的持續支持和奉獻。我們相信我們的員工是其他一切的基礎。沒有他們，我們就不存在。我還要感謝我們的長期股東以及最近加入我們的股東的支持。我們感謝您對 APi 的所有權，並期待在今年剩餘時間內向您通報我們的最新進展。再次感謝您今天早上加入電話會議。

Thank you for attending today's conference. Have a wonderful day. You may now all disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。祝你有美好的一天。你們現在可以斷開連結了。