APi Group Corp (APG) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to APi Group First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this call is being recorded. I will be standing by should you need any assistance.

早安，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 APi 集團 2024 年第一季財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音。如果您需要任何幫助，我將隨時待命。

I will now turn the call over to Adam Fee, Vice President of Investor Relations at APi Group. Please go ahead.

我現在將把電話轉給 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 first quarter 2024 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 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。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.

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、預期事件或趨勢的預期、意圖和預測，以及其他不屬於歷史事實的事項。

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.

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.

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。

Our statements are as of today, May 2, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements that we may make except as required by law.

我們的聲明截至今天（5 月 2 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。

As a reminder, we have posted a presentation detailing our first quarter financial performance and guidance for our second quarter and full year on the Investor Relations page of our website.

謹此提醒，我們已在我們網站的投資者關係頁面上發布了一份演示文稿，詳細介紹了我們第一季度的財務業績以及第二季度和全年的指導。

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.

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。

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Russ.

現在我很高興將電話轉給拉斯。

Thank you, Adam. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join our call this morning. Before we provide you with a summary of our first quarter results, I would like to thank our approximately 29,000 leaders for their unwavering commitment to APi. We remain grateful for their hard work and effort. We believe that taking care of our leaders results in our leaders taking care of our customers. This is one of the foundational principles by which we will continue to enhance shareholder value.

謝謝你，亞當。大家，早安。感謝您今天早上抽出時間參加我們的電話會議。在向您提供第一季業績摘要之前，我要感謝我們約 29,000 名領導者對 APi 的堅定承諾。我們仍然感謝他們的辛勤工作和努力。我們相信，照顧我們的領導者會導致我們的領導者照顧我們的客戶。這是我們持續提高股東價值的基本原則之一。

Next week marks APi's ninth straight year of celebrating Safety Week. As I've said before, the safety, health and well-being of each of our team members remains our #1 value. Our commitment to safety drives industry-leading safety outcomes across the organization. At the end of 2023, our total recordable incident rate, or TRIR, was below 1.0, which is significantly better than the industry average. We continue to strive for 0 incidents.

下周是 APi 連續第九年慶祝安全週。正如我之前所說，我們每個團隊成員的安全、健康和福祉仍然是我們的第一價值觀。我們對安全的承諾推動整個組織取得業界領先的安全成果。截至 2023 年底，我們的總可記錄事故率 (TRIR) 低於 1.0，明顯優於同業平均值。我們繼續努力實現零事故。

We believe our leadership making APi a safer place to work along with the investment we make in each of our leaders' development contributes to our low turnover relative to industry benchmarks.

我們相信，我們的領導力使 APi 成為一個更安全的工作場所，加上我們對每位領導者的發展進行的投資，有助於我們相對於行業基準保持較低的員工流動率。

As we have said before, we remain relentlessly focused on our long-term 13/60/80 value-creation targets, which include the following: 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 finally, long-term adjusted free cash flow conversion of 80%.

正如我們之前所說，我們仍然堅持不懈地專注於我們的長期 13/60/80 價值創造目標，其中包括： 2025 年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 13% 或更高；長期有機收入成長高於行業平均； 60%的長期收入來自檢查、服務和監控；最後，長期調整後的自由現金流轉換率為 80%。

I routinely speak to our field leaders about how they can help us deliver on this strategy when I'm visiting our locations around the world. Our leaders are aligned with what we want to achieve and how we intend to achieve it.

當我訪問我們在世界各地的工廠時，我經常與我們的現場領導討論他們如何幫助我們實現這一策略。我們的領導者與我們想要實現的目標以及我們打算如何實現目標保持一致。

Turning to the first quarter. In line with our 2024 plan, net revenues were essentially flat, driven by approximately 3% organic growth in service revenues, offset by divestitures, lower revenues from declining material cost pass-through and intentionally limiting organic growth in certain project-related revenues.

轉向第一季。根據我們的2024 年計劃，淨收入基本上持平，這是由服務收入約3% 的有機增長推動的，但被資產剝離、材料成本轉嫁下降導致的收入下降以及有意限制某些項目相關收入的有機增長所抵消。

Beginning last year and continuing into this year, we've continued our planned disciplined customer and project selection in our international HVAC and specialty businesses. Importantly, we achieved our goal of double-digit growth in core inspection revenues in our U.S. Life Safety business. This growth is key as we progress towards our long-term goal of 60% of our total net revenues coming from inspection, service and monitoring.

從去年開始一直到今年，我們在國際暖通空調和專業業務中繼續按計劃進行嚴格的客戶和專案選擇。重要的是，我們實現了美國生命安全業務核心檢查收入兩位數成長的目標。這一成長對於我們朝著 60% 的總淨收入來自檢查、服務和監控的長期目標邁進至關重要。

In line with our strategic initiatives, we continue to see strong improvements in adjusted gross margin for the quarter, up 390 basis points. The strong performance in gross margin led to record first quarter adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.9%, representing margin expansion of 180 basis points. The team continues to make meaningful progress 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.

根據我們的策略舉措，我們繼續看到本季調整後毛利率的強勁改善，成長了 390 個基點。毛利率的強勁表現導致第一季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到創紀錄的 10.9%，意味著利潤率擴大了 180 個基點。團隊在執行我們的利潤擴張計劃方面繼續取得有意義的進展，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 價值捕獲；採購、系統和規模；加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。

On April 15, we entered the complementary and adjacent elevator and escalator services market with the announced acquisition of Elevated Facilities Services Group for $570 million. We have long viewed the elevator and escalator service market as an attractive adjacency due to the highly recurring nature of the business, driven by nondiscretionary statutorily driven demand. Elevated is expected to contribute approximately $220 million in annualized revenues and approximately 20% adjusted EBITDA margins.

4 月 15 日，我們宣布以 5.7 億美元收購 Elevated Facilities Services Group，進入互補且相鄰的電梯和自動扶梯服務市場。長期以來，我們一直將電梯和自動扶梯服務市場視為一個有吸引力的鄰接市場，因為該業務在非自由裁量的法定驅動需求的驅動下具有高度重複性。 Elevated 預計將貢獻約 2.2 億美元的年化收入和約 20% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

We believe Elevated is an excellent platform opportunity for us to enter the $10 billion-plus U.S. elevator and escalator services market and execute our bolt-on M&A strategy at attractive multiples. We expect to build a $1 billion-plus elevator and escalator services platform over the long term through a combination of strong organic growth; a long-term cross-sell opportunity with our existing life safety businesses; and a robust M&A pipeline.

我們相信 Elevated 是一個絕佳的平台機會，讓我們能夠進入價值超過 100 億美元的美國電梯和自動扶梯服務市場，並以有吸引力的倍數執行我們的補充併購策略。我們預計透過強勁的有機成長，長期打造價值超過 10 億美元的電梯和自動扶梯服務平台；與我們現有的生命安全業務的長期交叉銷售機會；以及強大的併購管道。

Elevated's target market, elevator and escalator services, benefits from continuous safety and regulatory requirements. It services an aging installed base with 55% of U.S. vertical transportation units being over 20 years old. Elevated also benefits from increased demand due to the growth of urbanization, declining durability and quality of elevators and modernization projects being driven by bringing aged elevators to code and compliance with safety requirements.

Elevated 的目標市場－電梯和自動扶梯服務受益於持續的安全和監管要求。它為老化的安裝基礎提供服務，其中 55% 的美國垂直運輸設備的使用年限已超過 20 年。 Elevated 也受益於城市化發展、電梯耐用性和品質下降以及透過使老化電梯符合規範和安全要求而推動的現代化項目所帶來的需求增加。

The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to our 13/60/80 shareholder value-creation framework. Elevated's strong organic growth, adjusted EBITDA margin profile of approximately 20%, 70% plus of revenue from inspections, service and repair and an asset-light business model driving strong adjusted free cash flow conversion is a great addition to APi.

此次收購預計將立即增加我們的 13/60/80 股東價值創造框架。 Elevated 強勁的有機成長、約20% 的調整後EBITDA 利潤率、來自檢查、服務和維修的收入超過70%，以及推動強勁調整後自由現金流轉換的輕資產業務模式，這些都是APi 的重要補充。

In summary, I can -- I'm sure you can tell, we are excited about Elevated. It has many of the same attractive characteristics as APi and represents a continuation of our focus on building a robust line of businesses that provide mandatorily required life safety service.

總而言之，我相信您可以看出，我們對 Elevated 感到非常興奮。它具有許多與 APi 相同的吸引人的特徵，代表著我們繼續致力於建立強大的業務線，提供強制性的生命安全服務。

It benefits from its scale in a highly fragmented market. Its business is driven by regulatory demand and a loyal customer base. It is led by an experienced leadership team and a highly skilled workforce. I intentionally used the word leadership team instead of management team because at APi, we believe that leading and managing are fundamentally different, and we aim to build great leaders throughout the organization. Along those lines, Elevated, like APi, also maintains an unwavering focus on culture and developing its teammates throughout the organization.

它受益於其在高度分散的市場中的規模。其業務由監管需求和忠誠的客戶群驅動。它由經驗豐富的領導團隊和高技能的員工隊伍領導。我故意使用“領導團隊”這個詞而不是“管理團隊”，因為在 APi，我們相信領導和管理是根本不同的，我們的目標是在整個組織中培養優秀的領導者。沿著這些思路，Elevated 與 APi 一樣，也堅定不移地關注文化並在整個組織中培養團隊成員。

We will update full year 2020 guidance to include expected results of Elevated following the close, which we expect to occur late this quarter.

我們將更新 2020 年全年指引，包括收盤後 Elevated 的預期結果，我們預計這將在本季末發生。

During the first quarter, we also closed on a small divestiture in our Specialty Services segment, which was expected to contribute approximately $20 million in annual revenue. Similar to the divestiture completed in the fourth quarter, this business was highly cyclical and largely focused on lower-margin project work in the energy sector. #

在第一季度，我們也完成了專業服務部門的小規模剝離，預計該部門將貢獻約 2,000 萬美元的年收入。與第四季度完成的剝離類似，該業務具有很強的周期性，主要集中在能源領域的低利潤項目工作。 #

As we move forward, we remain focused on delivering both the 2024 plan our long-term 13/60/80 financial targets. We are excited about our robust pipeline of opportunities for life safety, security and elevator escalator services businesses and will continue to be thoughtful as we look for high-quality margin-accretive businesses and leaders to join the APi family.

在我們前進的過程中，我們仍然專注於實現 2024 年計劃和 13/60/80 的長期財務目標。我們對生命安全、安防和電梯自動扶梯服務業務的強大機會管道感到興奮，並將繼續深思熟慮地尋找高品質的利潤增長企業和領導者加入 APi 家族。

I would now like to hand the call over to Kevin to discuss our first 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一季的財務表現和指導。凱文？

Thanks, Russ. Good morning, everyone. Reported revenues for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, were essentially flat at $1.6 billion compared to $1.61 billion in the prior year period.

謝謝，拉斯。大家，早安。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月的報告收入基本持平於 16 億美元，而去年同期為 16.1 億美元。

Organic decline of 1.4% compared to organic growth of approximately 12% in Q1 2023 was driven by disciplined customer and project selection and lower revenues from declining material cost pass-through. The result of this was a 6% organic decline in project revenues. This was essentially offset by organic growth of 3% in services revenue.

與 2023 年第一季約 12% 的有機成長相比，有機下降了 1.4%，這是由於嚴格的客戶和專案選擇以及材料成本轉嫁下降導致的收入下降。其結果是專案收入有機下降 6%。這基本上被服務收入 3% 的有機成長所抵消。

Adjusted gross margin for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, grew to 30.7%, representing a 390 basis point increase compared to the prior year period, driven by price increases, outsized growth and higher-margin services revenue as well as significant margin expansion in project revenues across both segments.

截至2024 年3 月31 日止三個月的調整後毛利率增長至30.7%，較上年同期增長390 個基點，這主要得益於價格上漲、大幅增長、利潤率較高的服務收入以及利潤率大幅擴張兩個部門的專案收入。

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 19% on a fixed currency basis for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, with adjusted EBITDA margin coming in at 10.9%, representing a 180 basis point increase compared to the prior year period primarily due to the increase in adjusted gross margins, partially offset by growth investments and the investment in building our global capabilities and infrastructure.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月，調整後 EBITDA 按固定貨幣計算增加了 19%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 10.9%，較上年同期增長 180 個基點，主要是由於調整後毛利率，部分被成長投資以及建立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 first quarter was $0.34 per share, representing a $0.09 per share or 36% increase compared to the prior year period. The increase was partially driven by strong margin expansion in both Safety and Specialty Services and decreased interest expense, partially offset by higher adjusted diluted weighted average shares outstanding.

我很高興地報告，第一季調整後攤薄每股收益為每股 0.34 美元，較去年同期成長 0.09 美元，成長 36%。這一增長的部分原因是安全和專業服務利潤率的強勁擴張以及利息支出的減少，但部分被調整後的稀釋後發行在外加權平均股數的增加所抵消。

I'll now discuss our results in more detail for Safety Services. Safety Services reported revenues for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, increased by 1.9% to $1.21 billion compared to $1.19 billion in the prior year period.

我現在將更詳細地討論我們的安全服務結果。安全服務公司報告稱，截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月收入增長 1.9%，達到 12.1 億美元，而去年同期為 11.9 億美元。

Organic growth of 0.2% and compared to organic growth of 14% in Q1 2023 was driven by 4% growth in services led by double-digit core inspection revenue growth in our life safety and our U.S. life safety business and 6% organic growth in inspection services and monitoring and U.S. life safety.

與2023 年第一季14% 的有機成長相比，有機成長0.2%，這是由服務成長4% 推動的，這主要得益於我們的生命安全和美國生命安全業務的兩位數核心檢查收入成長以及檢查領域6% 的有機成長服務和監控以及美國生命安全。

This was partially offset by an approximately 4% decline in organic revenue from project work, driven by planned customer attrition in our international businesses as well as disciplined customer and project selection in our HVAC business.

這被專案工作的有機收入下降約 4% 所部分抵消，這是由於我們的國際業務中的計劃客戶流失以及我們的 HVAC 業務中嚴格的客戶和專案選擇推動的。

Adjusted gross margin for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, was 34.8%, representing a 330 basis point increase compared to the prior year period, driven by price increases, improved business mix and inspection service and monitoring revenue as well as significant margin expansion and project revenues.

截至2024 年3 月31 日止三個月的調整後毛利率為34.8%，較上年同期增長330 個基點，主要受到價格上漲、業務組合和檢驗服務改善、收入監控以及利潤率顯著擴張的推動和專案收入。

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 18.4% on a fixed currency basis for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 14.3%, representing a 200 basis point increase compared to the prior year period primarily due to the increase in adjusted gross margins, partially offset by growth investments.

截至2024年3月31日止三個月，調整後息稅折舊攤銷前利潤（以固定貨幣計算）成長18.4%，調整後息稅折舊攤銷前利潤率為14.3%，較上年同期成長200個基點，主要是由於調整後毛利率的成長，部分被成長投資所抵銷。

I will now discuss our results in more detail for our Specialty Services segment. Specialty Services reported revenues for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, decreased by 9.5% to $389 million compared to $430 million in the prior year period.

我現在將更詳細地討論我們的專業服務部門的結果。專業服務報告稱，截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月收入為 3.89 億美元，較去年同期的 4.3 億美元下降 9.5%。

Organic revenue declined 7.4% compared to 4% growth in Q1 2023, driven by a 14% decline in project revenues due to planned, disciplined customer and project selection and lower revenues from declining material cost pass-through. Service revenues were essentially flat. Adjusting for the exiting of one large customer relationship in our infrastructure and utility reporting unit, Services revenue would have increased by 11% in the quarter.

與 2023 年第一季 4% 的成長相比，有機收入下降了 7.4%，這是由於有計劃、嚴格的客戶和專案選擇導致專案收入下降 14%，以及材料成本轉嫁下降導致收入下降。服務收入基本持平。考慮到我們基礎設施和公用事業報告部門中一個大型客戶關係的退出，本季的服務收入將增加 11%。

Adjusted gross margin for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, was 17.7% and representing a 440 basis point increase compared to the prior year period, driven primarily by disciplined customer and project selection, driving significant margin expansion in project and services revenue.

截至2024 年3 月31 日止三個月的調整後毛利率為17.7%，較上年同期增長440 個基點，這主要是受到嚴格的客戶和項目選擇的推動，推動了項目和服務收入的利潤率大幅成長。

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 21.4% for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 8.7%, representing a 220 basis point increase compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the increase in adjusted gross margins partially offset by investments to support our service model and increases in certain legal expenses, including those associated with the completed divestitures.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日止三個月，調整後 EBITDA 成長 21.4%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 8.7%，較上年同期成長 220 個基點，主要是由於調整後毛利率的成長被投資部分抵消支持我們的服務模式並增加某些法律費用，包括與完成的剝離相關的費用。

I'll now discuss cash flow. As we have highlighted in the past, the first quarter is consistently our lowest quarter for free cash flow generation. For the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, adjusted free cash flow was $12 million, reflecting an adjusted free cash flow conversion of 7% and representing a $12 million improvement compared to the first quarter of 2023.

我現在將討論現金流。正如我們過去所強調的那樣，第一季始終是我們自由現金流產生量最低的季度。截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月，調整後自由現金流為 1,200 萬美元，反映出調整後自由現金流轉換率為 7%，與 2023 年第一季相比增加了 1,200 萬美元。

Adjusted free cash flow generation has been and continues to be a priority across APi and we are pleased we remain on track to achieve our adjusted free cash flow conversion target of approximately 70% for the year.

調整後的自由現金流生成一直並將繼續成為整個 APi 的優先事項，我們很高興我們仍然有望實現今年約 70% 的調整後自由現金流轉換目標。

During the first quarter, and as previously announced, APi reached an agreement with shareholders affiliated with Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund and Viking Global Equities to retire all the outstanding shares of their Series B perpetual convertible preferred stock. Blackstone and Viking each converted all their Series B preferred stock into 32.5 million shares of common stock of APi.

在第一季度，正如先前宣布的那樣，APi 與 Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund 和 Viking Global Equities 的附屬股東達成協議，註銷其 B 系列永久可轉換優先股的所有已發行股份。 Blackstone 和 Viking 各自將其所有 B 系列優先股轉換為 3,250 萬股 A​​Pi 普通股。

APi repurchased 16.3 million or 1/2 of the conversion shares from Blackstone and Viking for an aggregate purchase price of $600 million or $36.90 per share. The transaction was partially financed by an incremental term facility of $300 million issued at par.

APi 從 Blackstone 和 Viking 回購了 1,630 萬股，即 1/2 轉換股份，總購買價為 6 億美元，即每股 36.90 美元。此次交易的部分資金來自以面額發行的 3 億美元增量定期貸款。

On February 28, 2024, we partnered with Blackstone and Viking as they launched a secondary public offering for approximately 12.12 (sic) [12.2] million shares of APi's common stock.

2024 年 2 月 28 日，我們與 Blackstone 和 Viking 合作，他們啟動了二次公開發行，發行了約 12.12（原文如此）[12.2] 萬股 A​​Pi 普通股。

As we mentioned before, this transaction simplifies our capital structure, eliminates the $44 million preferred dividend payment and has no impact on our M&A strategy.

正如我們之前提到的，本次交易簡化了我們的資本結構，消除了4,400萬美元的優先股利支付，對我們的併購策略沒有影響。

At the end of the first quarter, our net leverage ratio was approximately 2.8x before adjusting for the acquisition of Elevated Facilities Services Group announced on April 15 and the second quarter financing activities.

在根據 4 月 15 日宣布的收購 Elevated Facilities Services Group 和第二季融資活動進行調整之前，第一季末我們的淨槓桿率約為 2.8 倍。

On April 16, we priced a primary follow-on offering for 12.65 million shares, raising over $450 million in net proceeds. Earlier this week, we launched a $550 million incremental term loan due 2029 with proceeds expected to be used to refinance our $330 million term loan due 2026, to repay $100 million of outstanding revolver balances and the remainder for general corporate purposes, including partially funding the acquisition of Elevated.

4 月 16 日，我們將首次後續發行定價為 1,265 萬股，籌集了超過 4.5 億美元的淨收益。本週早些時候，我們推出了一筆2029 年到期的5.5 億美元增量定期貸款，所得款項預計將用於為2026 年到期的3.3 億美元定期貸款再融資，償還1 億美元的未償循環餘額，其餘部分用於一般企業用途，包括部分資助收購高架。

Following the transaction and financing activities, we remain in a position of balance sheet strength, providing the flexibility to continue to execute our robust M&A pipeline at attractive multiples with a specific focus on opportunities accretive to our 13/60/80 targets.

在交易和融資活動之後，我們的資產負債表仍然處於強勢地位，能夠靈活地繼續以有吸引力的倍數執行我們強勁的併購管道，並特別關注為我們的 13/60/80 目標增值的機會。

As we look forward to the rest of 2024, we expect to grow our adjusted free cash flow as well as improve our adjusted free cash flow conversion, providing us a continued opportunity for value-enhancing capital deployment including our planned bolt-on M&A campaign, while reducing our net leverage ratio to approximately 2.5x around year-end 2024.

展望 2024 年剩餘時間，我們預計將增加調整後的自由現金流，並改善調整後的自由現金流轉換，為我們提供持續的增值資本部署機會，包括我們計劃的補充併購活動，同時到2024 年底左右將我們的淨槓桿率降低至約2.5 倍。

I will now discuss our guidance for the second quarter and full year 2024. We continue to expect full year net revenue to range from $7.05 billion to $7.25 billion; adjusted EBITDA range from $855 million to $905 million; and adjusted free cash flow conversion for the year to be approximately 70%. This guidance has not been adjusted to include the impact from the Elevated acquisition, the divestiture announced this quarter and headwinds incurred from the strengthening dollar since our initial guidance announced on February 28, 2024.

我現在將討論我們對 2024 年第二季和全年的指導。 我們仍然預計全年淨收入在 70.5 億美元至 72.5 億美元之間；調整後的 EBITDA 範圍為 8.55 億美元至 9.05 億美元；調整後的全年自由現金流轉換約為70%。自從我們在 2024 年 2 月 28 日宣布初步指導以來，該指導尚未進行調整，以包括 Elevated 收購、本季度宣布的資產剝離的影響以及美元走強帶來的不利因素。

Based on our current foreign exchange rates, we expect an approximately $35 million headwind on revenue and approximately $5 million headwind on adjusted EBITDA for the full year.

根據我們目前的匯率，我們預計全年營收將面臨約 3,500 萬美元的阻力，調整後 EBITDA 將面臨約 500 萬美元的阻力。

As Russ mentioned, we will update our full year guidance following the close of the Elevated acquisition. In addition to adjusting for the contributions of Elevated, we will also incorporate the divestiture announced this quarter and update guidance for the impact of foreign exchange movements on the full year.

正如 Russ 所提到的，我們將在 Elevated 收購結束後更新全年指引。除了調整 Elevated 的貢獻外，我們還將納入本季宣布的剝離，並更新外匯變動對全年影響的指引。

As we move through the year, we will continue to remain focused on disciplined customer and project selection, our specialty and HVAC businesses. We expect to annualize against the majority of the planned slowdown in certain project work as we cross into the second half of 2024. This will allow for strong accelerating growth rates in both businesses in the second half of the year.

在這一年中，我們將繼續專注於嚴格的客戶和專案選擇、我們的專業和暖通空調業務。當我們進入 2024 年下半年時，我們預計將對某些專案工作的大部分計劃放緩進行年度化。

In terms of the second quarter, excluding any impact from the Elevated acquisition, we expect reported net revenues of $1.75 million to $1.80 billion, reflecting the completed divestiture in Specialty Services and the foreign exchange environment. The guidance represents an organic net revenue growth of approximately flat to 2% up as we lap our strong organic growth of 7.6% in Q2 2023, and as we continue to build a smaller but healthier backlog in our HVAC and Specialty Services businesses.

就第二季而言，排除 Elevated 收購的任何影響，我們預計報告的淨收入為 175 萬美元至 18 億美元，反映了專業服務和外匯環境剝離的完成。該指引表明，隨著我們在2023 年第二季度實現7.6% 的強勁有機增長，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業務，有機淨收入增長約為持平至2%。

We also expect to see a continuation of lower material costs, resulting in declining price pass-through versus the second quarter of 2023. This will result in lower projected project revenues. We expect to continue to expand adjusted EBITDA dollars and margin, which is reflected in our second quarter adjusted EBITDA guide of $220 million to $235 million, which represents adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 9% to 16% on a fixed currency basis and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 140 basis points at the midpoint.

我們也預期材料成本將持續下降，導致價格傳導較 2023 年第二季下降。我們預計將繼續擴大調整後EBITDA 美元和利潤率，這反映在我們第二季度調整後EBITDA 指南為2.2 億至2.35 億美元，這意味著按固定貨幣基礎和調整後EBITDA 利潤率調整後EBITDA 增長約9% 至16%中點擴大140個基點。

For 2024, excluding any impact from the Elevated acquisition and second quarter financings, 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 tax rate to be approximately 23%.

2024 年，排除 Elevated 收購和第二季融資的任何影響，我們預計利息支出約為 1.5 億美元；折舊約8000萬美元；資本支出約9,500萬美元；我們調整後的有效稅率約為 23%。

We expect our adjusted diluted weighted average share count for the year to be approximately 279 million, taking into account the Series B transaction and the primary follow-on offering of 12.65 million shares executed on April 16.

考慮到 B 系列交易和 4 月 16 日執行的 1,265 萬股主要後續發行，我們預計今年調整後的稀釋加權平均股數約為 2.79 億股。

I'd now like to turn the call back over to Russ.

我現在想把電話轉回拉斯。

Thanks, Kevin. APi's record first quarter profitability speaks to the effectiveness of our strategy and the alignment and its execution by our global team of leaders. As you've heard from us, we have great confidence in the business and the direction we are heading despite the volatile macroeconomic environment.

謝謝，凱文。 APi 第一季創紀錄的獲利能力證明了我們策略的有效性以及我們全球領導團隊的協調和執行。正如您從我們那裡聽到的，儘管宏觀經濟環境不穩定，但我們對業務和前進的方向充滿信心。

The announced acquisition of Elevated, an expansion into the adjacent elevator and escalator services market, further strengthens APi's competitive moat and expands exposure to statutorily driven demand for our services.

宣布收購 Elevated，進軍鄰近的電梯和自動扶梯服務市場，進一步增強了 APi 的競爭優勢，並擴大了對我們服務的法定驅動需求。

As we look to the years ahead, we believe we can create sustainable shareholder value by focusing on our 13/60/80 long-term value-creation targets, all of which are accelerated by the announced acquisition of Elevated. These include above-industry average organic growth; adjusted EBITDA margin of 13% plus by 2025; 60% of revenue from service, inspection and monitoring; and adjusted free cash flow of 80%.

展望未來，我們相信，透過專注於 13/60/80 長期價值創造目標，我們可以創造可持續的股東價值，所有這些目標都將因宣布收購 Elevated 而加速。其中包括高於行業平均的有機成長；到 2025 年，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將提高 13%； 60%的收入來自服務、檢查和監控；調整後的自由現金流為80%。

I am excited about the opportunities for the rest of 2024 and our ability to execute on our strategic plan in the years to come.

我對 2024 年剩餘時間的機會以及我們在未來幾年執行戰略計劃的能力感到興奮。

With that, I would now like to turn the call back over to the operator and open the call for Q&A.

這樣，我現在想將通話轉回給接線員並打開通話進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Kathryn Thompson of Thompson Research Group.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自湯普森研究小組的凱瑟琳·湯普森。

APG has focused on the inspection per strategy with -- as you've outlined several times, growing margins through mix and scale. And so today, it's north of 50%. It's up from 40% prior to Chubb. As you enter into a new end market with the elevator -- with this elevator end market, how does that fit into the inspection first strategy? And as you go down the road in building out that segment, where do you foresee it contributing to the 60% bogey the company's outlined?

正如您多次概述的那樣，APG 專注於對每個策略進行檢查，透過組合和規模來增加利潤。所以今天，這個比例已經超過 50%了。較 Chubb 之前的 40% 有所上升。當您通過電梯進入一個新的終端市場時——對於這個電梯終端市場，這如何適應檢查優先策略？當您沿著建造該細分市場的道路前進時，您預計它將在哪些方面對該公司概述的 60% 的柏忌做出貢獻？

Kathryn, thanks for your support and for participating this morning. So elevators, just like fire life safety systems are required by law to be inspected for functionality and operability at least annually, and it varies based on state and local jurisdiction, again, just like the fire life safety business. If you look at Elevated's business, where we say 70% plus of their business comes from basically inspection, maintenance and repair, that falls right in line with our long-term goal of 60% of our revenue coming from inspection service and monitoring. That 70% plus is actually probably higher than that, depending upon how you want to slice and dice the modernization work, which is really their version of project-related work. And a lot of the tuck-in M&A work that we'll do as well as the organic growth that we'll see inside this business comes from the inspection service and repair side of the business. The OEMs will continue to focus on the installation side, new construction side where the independent providers are more focused on the service and repair component of it.

凱瑟琳，感謝您的支持和今天早上的參與。因此，就像消防生命安全系統一樣，法律要求至少每年對電梯的功能和可操作性進行檢查，並且就像消防生命安全業務一樣，它根據州和地方管轄範圍的不同而有所不同。如果你看看 Elevated 的業務，我們說他們 70% 以上的業務基本上來自檢查、維護和維修，這正好符合我們 60% 的收入來自檢查服務和監控的長期目標。 70% 以上實際上可能更高，具體取決於您想要如何分割現代化工作，這實際上是他們的專案相關工作版本。我們將要做的大量併購工作以及我們將在該業務中看到的有機增長都來自該業務的檢查服務和維修方面。原始設備製造商將繼續關注安裝方面、新建方面，而獨立提供者則更關注其中的服務和維修部分。

So this fits like right down the center of the fairway for us as it relates to continuing to focus on growing that piece and component of the business. And we're super excited about the Elevated team. We're also super excited about the opportunity for us to really grow in the space.

因此，這對我們來說就像球道的中心，因為它關係到繼續專注於發展業務的這一部分和組成部分。我們對 Elevated 團隊感到非常興奮。我們也對有機會在這個領域真正成長感到非常興奮。

And then just a follow-up question. Been a fair amount simplifying your capital structure for the quarter. Congratulations on that. But just to reiterate, does this change at all your capital priorities? And in particular, does it have any impact on your M&A initiatives that you've outlined previously?

然後是一個後續問題。本季的資本結構得到了相當大的簡化。對此表示祝賀。但重申一下，這是否會改變您所有的資本優先事項？特別是，它對您之前概述的併購計劃有任何影響嗎？

Kathryn, this is Kevin. I would say in short, no. Our priorities as we came into the year was to continue to focus a good portion of our free cash flow on stepping up our bolt-on and tuck-in M&A campaign. That is still the plan. We also had planned to pay down some debt later in the year, and nothing has changed there either. So our plan as we started the year and our priorities remains the same.

凱瑟琳，這是凱文。簡而言之，我想說，不行。今年我們的首要任務是繼續將我們的自由現金流的很大一部分集中在加強我們的補充和整合併購活動。這仍然是計劃。我們也計劃在今年稍後償還一些債務，但也沒有任何改變。因此，我們年初的計劃和優先事項保持不變。

Your next question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz of Citi.

你的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的安迪·卡普洛維茨（Andy Kaplowitz）。

Russ, can you give us a little more color into core safety markets? Obviously, you continue to focus on project selection, but implied in your '24 guidance continues to be a relatively significant step-up in organic growth in the second half. So what's your visibility at this point to step up? Is it really just the comp on increased project selectivity really starts in the second half? And are there any key verticals that you expect to drive the growth such as data centers?

Russ，您能為我們介紹一下核心安全市場嗎？顯然，您繼續關注項目選擇，但您的 24 年指導中暗示下半年有機成長仍然相對顯著。那麼，您目前的能見度如何？難道真的只是下半年才真正開始增加專案選擇性的補償嗎？您是否希望推動資料中心等關鍵垂直產業的成長？

Well, clearly, data centers. So I mean, we've -- the answer is we have really good visibility. We're building backlog as we speak, and we're building a really good healthy backlog as we speak. Data centers is contributing both in our Safety Services segment as well as our Specialty Services segment. And we also see strong wins in the semiconductor space. So I mean, I don't think that anything has changed as it relates to the end markets that our business leaders are focused on today.

嗯，很明顯，資料中心。所以我的意思是，我們——答案是我們擁有非常好的可見性。正如我們所說，我們正在建立積壓工作，我們正在建立一個非常良好、健康的積壓工作。資料中心為我們的安全服務部門和專業服務部門做出了貢獻。我們也看到半導體領域取得了巨大勝利。所以我的意思是，我認為與我們企業領導者今天關注的終端市場相關的事情沒有任何變化。

And we're still leading with inspections, but the project-related work that we're bringing onto our books is all good, healthy work and health care, data centers, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing are all the right places for us to play.

我們仍然在檢查方面處於領先地位，但我們記入帳本的與專案相關的工作都是好的、健康的工作和醫療保健、資料中心、半導體、先進製造都是我們發揮作用的正確場所。

Appreciate that color. And then, Russ, maybe a little bit more color into the Elevated growth profile. I know you said it would deliver $220 million annually of revenue. But what should the growth look like over the next couple of years? And maybe versus that base, should it be accretive to APG's growth or similar? And then how do you think about the synergy under cross-selling opportunities versus your core life safety business?

欣賞那個顏色。然後，Russ，也許可以為高成長曲線添加更多色彩。我知道您說過它將每年帶來 2.2 億美元的收入。但未來幾年的成長應該是什麼樣子呢？也許與這個基礎相比，它應該會促進 APG 的成長或類似的成長嗎？那麼您如何看待交叉銷售機會與您的核心生命安全業務之間的協同作用？

Yes. So I mean, organically, the business has grown high single digits, and we don't see any reason for that to change. Obviously, we would like to continue to accelerate that if we possibly can. We see a really strong opportunity for us in the bolt-on M&A space. It's very similar, highly fragmented market, just like the fire life safety space is. So we see some opportunity there for, so to speak, nonorganic growth to continue to complement that business.

是的。所以我的意思是，從有機角度來看，該業務已經實現了高個位數成長，我們認為這種情況沒有任何改變的理由。顯然，如果可能的話，我們希望繼續加速這一進程。我們在補強併購領域看到了非常好的機會。這是一個非常相似、高度分散的市場，就像消防生命安全領域一樣。因此，我們看到了一些機會，可以說，非有機成長可以繼續補充該業務。

The cross-selling opportunity, we actually had some -- we actually had the Elevated team on campus yesterday. And really, even though the transaction is not scheduled to close until later on in the quarter, but started conversations around what integration looks like and had some conversation around cross-selling and how we can potentially align branch offices and branch locations and the best way for us to do that is to get people sitting next to each other.

交叉銷售機會，我們實際上有一些——昨天我們實際上在校園裡有 Elevated 團隊。實際上，儘管交易預計要到本季度晚些時候才能完成，但我們已經開始討論整合的情況，並就交叉銷售以及我們如何調整分支機構和分支機構位置以及最佳方式進行了一些討論對我們來說，要做到這一點就是讓人們坐在一起。

And that obviously is going to take a little bit of time for us to sort that out where we've got a good idea and we get good view into where we have overlap, so to speak, from a branch perspective. But getting that real estate footprint mapped out and consolidated is going to take a little bit of time for us to do that. But the more our business leaders get to know each other and really develop relationships, the easier and the faster you can facilitate cross-selling opportunities. But the Elevated team met with our business leader from our national accounts group yesterday to kick that process off.

顯然，我們需要一些時間來理清我們有一個好主意的地方，並且我們可以從分支的角度很好地了解我們重疊的地方。但是，我們需要花一些時間來規劃和整合房地產足跡。但是，我們的業務領導者彼此了解得越多，真正建立的關係越多，您就越容易、越快地促進交叉銷售機會。但昨天，Elevated 團隊與國民帳戶小組的業務負責人會面，啟動了這項流程。

And so it's -- that's a journey, and it's going to take some time but we're -- we feel really good. I mean, everybody's attitude is kind of in the right place and everybody is thinking about it the same way. I mean there's going to be some opportunities for us to take advantage of their customer relationships. And that's something that we're excited about.

所以這是一個旅程，需要一些時間，但我們感覺非常好。我的意思是，每個人的態度都是正確的，每個人都以同樣的方式思考它。我的意思是我們將有一些機會利用他們的客戶關係。這是我們感到興奮的事情。

Your next question comes from the line of Andy Wittmann of Baird.

您的下一個問題來自貝爾德的安迪維特曼 (Andy Wittmann)。

I guess I wanted to ask about the services growth. I think you mentioned on the prepared remarks that it was 3% in the quarter. You also mentioned that the U.S. inspection business is growing double digit. So I guess, Russ or Kevin, could you just decompose a little bit and give some color behind the 3% growth rate? Were there larger customer exits in the international business perhaps that have held that back? Because it feels like the U.S. business is doing pretty well, but 3% is okay. But I think over time, certainly, your expectations are higher than that.

我想我想問一下服務成長的情況。我想您在準備好的發言中提到，本季的成長率為 3%。您也提到美國檢驗業務正在以兩位數的速度成長。所以我想，Russ 或 Kevin，你們能稍微分解一下，並為 3% 的增長率背後提供一些色彩嗎？國際業務中是否有更多的客戶退出阻礙了這個趨勢？因為感覺美國生意做的還不錯，但3%還可以。但我認為隨著時間的推移，你的期望肯定會更高。

Andy, this is Kevin. I'll take a shot at that first. The 3% number was total APi growth on services. So that includes specialty, also includes services on the HVAC side of the business.

安迪，這是凱文。我會先試試看。 3% 是服務的 APi 總成長。因此，這包括專業服務，也包括暖通空調方面的業務服務。

I referenced in my commentary, I believe, the fact that in specialty, we walked away from a significant customer that wasn't willing to take the price increase. That was largely a service contract. So in that number, that's going to be a drag.

我相信，我在評論中提到了這樣一個事實：在專業領域，我們放棄了一位不願接受價格上漲的重要客戶。這主要是一份服務合約。因此，從這個數字來看，這將是一個拖累。

Similarly, on the HVAC side of the business, as we continue to think through those customer sets and those end markets, our service revenue was also down on HVAC.

同樣，在暖通空調業務方面，隨著我們繼續考慮這些客戶群和終端市場，我們在暖通空調方面的服務收入也有所下降。

You pull those 2 and set them aside, our service growth was actually -- on the rest of the business was north of 6%, I believe. And so really, that inspection on sort of the core life safety is still driving sort of the pull-through on service.

你把這兩個因素放在一邊，我相信，我們的服務成長實際上是 - 其餘業務的成長超過了 6%。事實上，對核心生命安全的檢視仍在推動服務的實現。

The only other thing I'll say there is, generally, we do have other service type of work. And in the quarter last year in U.S. life safety predominantly, we saw a significant amount of work related to freezes. Sort of the freeze up that was happening in North America, and so we're confident against that.

我要說的唯一另一件事是，一般來說，我們確實有其他服務類型的工作。去年第四季度，在美國生命安全領域，我們看到了大量與凍結相關的工作。類似於北美正在發生的凍結，因此我們有信心避免這種情況發生。

But underlying our service business, where we want it to grow, continues to grow well and it's still, especially in North America where we track it versus inspections, is still highly correlated to that 10% or that double-digit growth Russ referenced.

但我們希望其成長的基礎服務業務繼續保持良好成長，並且仍然與 Russ 提到的 10% 或兩位數成長高度相關，特別是在北美，我們追蹤服務業務與檢查情況。

Okay. That's super helpful. I just thought maybe as a follow-up, you could just talk a little bit about what you're seeing out of your international life safety business, in particular. Are you seeing growth in pricing and how's the economy in Europe and the parts of Asia where you compete holding up to support your expansion there?

好的。這非常有幫助。我只是想也許作為後續行動，您可以談談您在國際生命安全業務中看到的情況，特別是。您是否看到定價成長？

Yes. So the international business grew modestly in the first quarter. So again, we continue to see good organic growth on a quarter-by-quarter basis since we've owned the business, coming off a tough comp. I think they had organic growth in the first quarter of last year at 11% or 10% or something like that, Andy. So -- but we did show -- we did grow modestly in the first quarter of this year. And in general, the business continues to hold up as we continue to kind of focus on a couple of fronts, really focusing on the right end markets. And I think the team is focused on the right end markets.

是的。因此，第一季國際業務溫和成長。因此，自從我們擁有這項業務以來，我們繼續看到逐季度良好的有機成長，擺脫了艱難的競爭。我認為他們去年第一季的有機成長為 11% 或 10% 或類似的數字，安迪。因此，但我們確實表明，我們在今年第一季確實實現了適度成長。總的來說，隨著我們繼續關注幾個方面，真正專注於正確的終端市場，業務繼續保持成長。我認為該團隊專注於正確的終端市場。

I don't know that I could have said that to you 2 years ago, but I think today, the team is focused on the right end markets. And we're going through really kind of a sales force transformation. I don't know if that's the right word. But we're really -- we have a new sales leader in our international business, and he is going through an effort to kind of bring that same inspection and service mindset, selling that first.

我不知道兩年前我是否可以對你這麼說，但我認為今天，團隊專注於正確的終端市場。我們正在經歷真正的銷售團隊轉型。我不知道這個詞是否正確。但我們確實——我們的國際業務有了一位新的銷售領導者，他正在努力引入同樣的檢查和服務理念，首先是銷售。

It's a little bit of a different market over there, but just even taking the concept that we're going to sell inspection and service first into the already built environment takes a mind shift change and so we're going through that with that sales force. But our backlog in our international business is basically sitting like right on top of where it was a year ago, plus or minus. And we've seen some customer attrition as we continue to take price and make sure that we're making smart decisions about where we're deploying our most important resource, and that's our people.

那裡的市場有點不同，但即使只是將我們首先將檢查和服務銷售到已建成的環境中的概念也需要轉變思維，因此我們正在與銷售人員一起解決這個問題。但我們國際業務的積壓訂單基本上就停留在一年前的水平之上，無論是上下還是上下。當我們繼續定價並確保我們就在哪裡部署最重要的資源（即我們的員工）做出明智的決策時，我們已經看到了一些客戶流失。

So I feel really good about where the business is at and really the momentum that they continue to gain as they go through their value capture efforts.

因此，我對業務的現狀以及他們在價值獲取過程中不斷獲得的動力感到非常滿意。

Your next question comes from the line of Julian Mitchell of Barclays.

你的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的朱利安·米切爾。

This is Jack Cauchi on for Julian Mitchell. How is the M&A pipeline overall? You did Elevated. Could we expect active M&A over the rest of 2024? And how is the environment in terms of valuations?

這是傑克·考奇 (Jack Cauchi) 替補朱利安·米切爾 (Julian Mitchell)。併購通路整體狀況如何？你做了提升。我們能否預期 2024 年剩餘時間會出現活躍的併購活動？估值環境如何？

M&A market, our pipeline is really good, strong, robust. I would tell you that for us, we need to continue to focus on the right stuff as we're looking at the M&A market, and it needs to be complementary to our existing offerings, whether that's geographically or the types of services that the business provides. It needs to be complementary to our margin expansion goals and either that or we have to see a clear path to that business being complementary to our margin expansion goals.

併購市場，我們的管道非常好、強大、穩健。我想告訴你，對我們來說，當我們考慮併購市場時，我們需要繼續專注於正確的事情，並且它需要與我們現有的產品相補充，無論是地理位置還是業務類型。它需要與我們的利潤擴張目標相輔相成，要么我們必須看到一條清晰的道路，使該業務與我們的利潤擴張目標相輔相成。

And the leadership and the team needs to align from a culture values and fit perspective. And that doesn't -- whether that's an Elevated or a small family-owned business in Paducah, Kentucky. And we need to continue to be disciplined as we look at it.

領導階層和團隊需要從文化價值和契合的角度保持一致。但事實並非如此——無論是肯塔基州帕迪尤卡的 Elevated 企業還是一家小型家族企業。我們在看待這個問題時需要繼續遵守紀律。

There are many good opportunities, and our team is doing a fantastic job, I'd say an amazing job of vetting those opportunities, and you'll continue to see us make significant progress.

有很多好的機會，我們的團隊做得非常出色，我想說的是，審查這些機會的工作非常出色，您將繼續看到我們取得重大進展。

I think we spent roughly $100 million on bolt-on M&A over the course of the last year. And we've said that we -- it's our intent to accelerate that. And we feel that with the flexibility we have on our -- with our balance sheet, even with doing the Elevated acquisition, we still have the flexibility to accelerate that bolt-on tuck-in strategy.

我認為去年我們在補強併購上花費了大約 1 億美元。我們已經說過，我們的目的是加速這一進程。我們認為，憑藉我們的資產負債表的靈活性，即使進行了 Elevated 收購，我們仍然可以靈活地加速補充策略。

Got it. And a quick follow-up. Gross margins are showing a decent increase. How is APG coping so well with wage inflation among its service technicians?

知道了。並快速跟進。毛利率顯示出可觀的成長。 APG 為何能如此出色地應對服務技術人員薪資上漲的問題？

So this is Kevin. I'll take that. At the end of the day, we've been on a pricing campaign for the last decade. And we say consistently that we look to take margin expansive pricing on the service side of the business. Our businesses do a really good job of staying in front of that and continuing to price for all elements on the service side that we need to price through, of which labor is one. So I would say it's just a -- it's a muscle our team has developed, and they continue to work and flex it annually.

這就是凱文。我會接受的。歸根究底，過去十年我們一直在進行定價活動。我們一直表示，我們希望在業務的服務方面採取利潤豐厚的定價。我們的企業在保持領先地位方面做得非常好，並繼續為我們需要定價的服務方面的所有要素定價，其中勞動力就是其中之一。所以我想說，這只是我們團隊發展的一種力量，他們每年都會繼續努力並展示它。

Your next question comes from the line of Stephanie Moore of Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的史蒂芬妮·摩爾。

I wanted to follow up actually on the power question. So maybe to take that a step further, is it possible for you to kind of frame your ongoing M&A strategy and then also how that matches with the recent equity raise? So how should we infer that with your appetite to do larger deals going forward even after Elevated? And then is there a potential to expand again outside of the legacy fire and safety end and now Elevated verticals? So an update there would be great.

我想實際跟進電源問題。因此，也許更進一步，您是否可以製定正在進行的併購策略，以及如何與最近的股權融資相符？那麼，即使在 Elevated 之後，我們應該如何推斷您對未來更大交易的興趣？那麼，是否有可能在傳統的消防和安全領域以及現在的高架垂直領域之外再次擴張？所以如果有更新那就太好了。

Yes. I don't think you're going to see us -- I'm going to answer the latter half of your question first, Stephanie, and then Kevin can add any color that he'd like around our balance sheet and the flexibility we have there. But I mean, I don't think you're going to see us stray outside really of the most recent adjacency, the elevator and escalator space. I mean, we -- we're kind of a -- I don't know, we're going to show The Street and our investors and folks that we've got the capability to execute in this space before we really get too curious about straying outside of, say, the fire life safety, security and now the elevator and escalator space.

是的。我認為你不會見到我們——斯蒂芬妮，我將首先回答你問題的後半部分，然後凱文可以在我們的資產負債表和我們的靈活性方面添加他想要的任何顏色。但我的意思是，我認為你不會看到我們真正走出最近鄰接的電梯和自動扶梯空間。我的意思是，我們——我們有點——我不知道，我們將向華爾街、我們的投資者和人們展示我們有能力在這個領域執行，然後才能真正做到這一點。安全、保全以及現在的電梯和自動扶梯空間之外感到好奇。

And I think that's part of our -- we've always been pretty disciplined from that standpoint. I think we need to stay disciplined and execute on -- inside this new vertical that we've brought into the APi family. And I think we'll show you that we have the capability and the capacity to do that.

我認為這是我們的一部分——從這個角度來看，我們一直都非常自律。我認為我們需要在我們引入 APi 家族的這個新垂直領域內保持紀律並執行。我想我們會向你們展示我們有能力做到這一點。

And we've got some interesting opportunities that we're looking at. Nothing that I would say -- I'd say we've got some opportunities that we're looking at that are, so to speak, bigger than a tuck-in. But we're not looking at anything that is -- I don't know Chubb-esque, I don't know if that's the right way to put it or not put it, but we're -- so we've got some things that -- like we have a $100-plus million revenue business in the fire life safety space that we're looking at. And that would be interesting and a good fit that wouldn't increase our leverage.

我們正在尋找一些有趣的機會。我沒什麼好說的——我想說的是，我們正在尋找一些機會，可以說，比塞進衣服更大。但我們沒有關注任何東西——我不知道查布式的，我不知道這樣說是否正確，但我們——所以我們有有些事情——比如我們正在關注的消防生命安全領域擁有超過1 億美元的收入業務。這會很有趣，而且很合適，不會增加我們的影響力。

I mean so we have really good flexibility. I mean, with everything that we've -- the moves and the decisions that we've made around our balance sheet and with the equity raise and even the Series B and now with the term loan, I think just gives us just great flexibility and optionality to just continue to take advantage of the opportunities as they present themselves. And we're going to be smart. We're going to be disciplined and we're going to make good choices for the business long term.

我的意思是，我們有非常好的彈性。我的意思是，憑藉我們所擁有的一切——我們圍繞資產負債表、股權融資、甚至B 輪融資以及現在的定期貸款所做的舉措和決策，我認為這給我們帶來了極大的靈活性以及繼續利用機會的選擇性。我們會變得聰明。我們將遵守紀律，並為業務的長期發展做出正確的選擇。

Kevin, if you want to add any color?

凱文，你想添加什麼顏色嗎？

No, I think just a little bit. Russ said it well. When we think about M&A, there's sort of both bolt-on, then there's that mid-low platform and then there's the larger ones like Chubb. As we finance these, we actually are looking forward to make sure that we remain nimble enough to do what we need to do over the next 12 months. And I think he said it well. If there was something out there, we can fund bolt-on, tuck-in through ongoing cash flows, anything in that mid-level we'll flex up. We have the balance sheet to do it pretty easily. And I think we have the sort of history to pay that down and to get back into our targeted levels pretty quickly. And that's kind of how we're going to manage things that allow us to be as opportunistic as possible.

不，我想只是一點點。拉斯說得好。當我們考慮併購時，有些是螺栓固定的，然後是中低平台，然後是像安達這樣的較大平台。當我們為這些項目提供資金時，我們實際上希望確保我們保持足夠的靈活性，以便在未來 12 個月內完成我們需要做的事情。而且我認為他說得很好。如果有東西在那裡，我們可以透過持續的現金流提供補充資金，任何處於中間水平的東西我們都會靈活運用。我們有資產負債表可以輕鬆做到這一點。我認為我們有足夠的歷史來償還債務並很快回到我們的目標水平。這就是我們管理事物的方式，讓我們盡可能地投機取巧。

Understood. And then just as a follow-up, and again, congratulations on the Elevated deal. It does seem to be a fantastic fit here. I wanted to ask on the maybe medium- to long-term cross-selling opportunities of this business. If you could talk a little bit about the sales force within Elevated and then the ability over time to kind of cross-sell opportunities from the legacy -- your legacy fire and safety side and then obviously with -- on the Elevated elevator services, too.

明白了。作為後續行動，再次恭喜 Elevated 交易。它似乎非常適合這裡。我想詢問這項業務可能存在的中長期交叉銷售機會。如果您能談談 Elevated 內部的銷售隊伍，然後隨著時間的推移，從傳統的消防和安全方面以及顯然還有 Elevated 電梯服務中獲得交叉銷售機會的能力。

Yes. So I mean, again, the cross-selling opportunity is real. It is significant. And I would say we've taken one step -- even though the transaction hasn't closed, we've taken one step forward by just introducing sales leaders and getting people acquainted with each other.

是的。所以我的意思是，交叉銷售機會是真實存在的。這很重要。我想說，我們已經邁出了一步——儘管交易尚未完成，但我們已經向前邁出了一步，引入了銷售領導並讓人們相互熟悉。

My experience tells me that this will take a little bit of time for us to really execute on this cross-selling strategy. And it's funny because you want your people to open up their customer relationships to their peers and if they really don't know their peer and they really don't trust their peer, it's more difficult for them to open up that customer relationship. And so it's easy for me to say we should do this or you should do this or anything like that. But the more we bring our branch operations together and cohabitate, the faster we'll be able to achieve really momentum as it relates to cross-selling.

我的經驗告訴我，我們需要一點時間才能真正執行這種交叉銷售策略。這很有趣，因為你希望你的員工向同事開放他們的客戶關係，如果他們真的不了解他們的同事並且他們真的不信任他們的同事，那麼他們就更難開放客戶關係。所以我很容易說我們應該這樣做或你應該這樣做或類似的事情。但是，我們越是將分店的業務整合在一起並共存，我們就能越快實現與交叉銷售相關的真正動力。

Do I think that a sales leader in our business can walk into a customer and sell fire life safety inspections and sell elevator inspections? I do. And I think that there's the opportunity for us to educate our sales force. But that's going to take some energy and effort and for us to really kind of develop a plan here over the next couple of months as we work towards getting the transaction closed.

我認為我們企業的銷售領導可以走進客戶並銷售消防生命安全檢查和銷售電梯檢查嗎？我願意。我認為我們有機會教育我們的銷售人員。但這需要一些精力和努力，我們需要在接下來的幾個月內制定一項計劃，努力完成交易。

I've got a great -- we have a really great real-life example that in Omaha, Nebraska, in our branch office, we have a fire life safety business that cohabitates the space with one of our Specialty Services business. And each of those branches has like absolutely thrived by kind of living in the same quarters and they drag each other to the same customer sites and it's like, hey, we've got customer ABC. And do you guys do any work for him and no, come with me and -- and it's really -- it's accelerated because of this idea that they're in the same space and living under the same roof.

我有一個很好的例子，我們有一個非常好的現實例子，在內布拉斯加州奧馬哈的我們的分支機構中，我們有一個消防生命安全業務，與我們的一個專業服務業務共存。每個分公司都因為住在同一個地方而蓬勃發展，他們將彼此拖到相同的客戶站點，就像，嘿，我們有客戶 ABC。你們為他做任何工作嗎？ 不，跟我來——這確實是——因為他們在同一個空間，住在同一個屋簷下，所以這一切都加速了。

And that's really the work that we need our real estate people to start working with the leaders of our life safety businesses and in Elevated's business to execute on that. And there's a total willingness to do it.

這確實是我們需要我們的房地產人員開始與我們的生命安全業務和 Elevated 業務的領導者合作執行的工作。人們完全願意這樣做。

We also think that there's an opportunity, especially in the Elevated case, to basically organically open up shops in some of the branches that we have existing footprints already. So -- but it's going to take some effort, and it's not going to happen overnight. And so we have to just -- I want to make sure that we're being realistic about setting expectations with everyone about the energy it's going to take for us to really execute on that.

我們也認為，有機會，特別是在 Elevated 案例中，基本上可以在我們已有足跡的一些分支機構中有機地開設商店。所以——但這需要一些努力，而且不會在一夜之間發生。因此，我們必須——我想確保我們能夠現實地向每個人設定期望，並了解我們真正執行這一目標所需的精力。

Your next question comes from the line of John Tanwanteng of CJS Securities.

您的下一個問題來自希捷證券的約翰譚萬騰。

I was wondering if you could drill down into the elevator and escalator market a little bit more on the longer-term potential there for acquisitions. Do the assets there come up to sale frequently? Are the multiples similar to the ones you've seen in your core business? Are the margins and business models more similar to what you see at ESS? Or is that more of a unique asset? Any more color there would be appreciated.

我想知道您是否可以深入研究電梯和自動扶梯市場，以了解那裡的長期收購潛力。那裡的資產經常出售嗎？這些倍數與您在核心業務中看到的倍數相似嗎？利潤率和商業模式是否與您在 ESS 看到的更相似？或者這更像是一種獨特的資產？如果有更多顏色，我們將不勝感激。

I think it's very, very similar to the fire life safety and security space, John. And I should say good morning, and thank you for participating before I get carried away here. But I think it's like textbook. I think the multiples are going to be similar. I think the sellers are going to be looking for the right home for their business just like how we've executed in the fire life safety space. It's just as fragmented as the fire life safety and security space. So like I think that other than you got to brush it up and call it an elevator versus a fire alarm, I think it's the same.

我認為這與消防生命安全和安保領域非常非常相似，約翰。在我忘乎所以之前，我應該說早安，並感謝你們的參與。但我覺得這就像教科書一樣。我認為倍數會相似。我認為賣家將為他們的業務找到合適的家，就像我們在消防生命安全領域的做法一樣。它就像消防生命安全和安保空間一樣支離破碎。所以就像我認為除了你必須重新審視它並稱其為電梯與火災警報器之外，我認為這是一樣的。

And so I think from an M&A perspective, it will be -- we'll be able to run. And there's boutique brokers/bankers in the space. But the reality of it is, and especially just talking to the team yesterday, is that they know the market. They know the players in the market. They know who is aligned culturally with us. And I think that that's something that we'll be able to take advantage of those relationships. Like every one of the senior leaders on the Elevated team has come from the elevator and escalator space. So they know the market very, very well.

所以我認為從併購的角度來看，我們將能夠運行。這個領域還有精品經紀人/銀行家。但現實是，尤其是昨天與團隊交談時，他們了解市場。他們了解市場上的參與者。他們知道誰在文化上與我們一致。我認為我們將能夠利用這些關係。就像 Elevated 團隊的每位高階主管都來自電梯和手扶梯領域。所以他們非常非常了解市場。

Yes. The only thing I would add is that the market -- the makeup is the same, highly fragmented. They're market leader in a lot of the markets they play in, still in that 5% range. There's a couple where there may be 10%. But outside of that, it's highly fragmented, and they have -- they come to us with their robust pipeline and targets.

是的。我唯一要補充的是，市場的組成是一樣的，而且高度分散。他們在所涉足的許多市場中都是市場領導者，但仍處於 5% 的範圍內。有幾個可能有 10%。但除此之外，它是高度分散的，他們帶著強大的管道和目標來找我們。

Got it. And I was wondering if you could just talk about your second half expectations in the core business. I know you haven't formally updated your guidance, but you performed well in Q1. Your Q2 guidance on an earnings level looks strong. I'm just wondering if we should expect upside just for the organic core business when you do formally update your guidance for all the factors you mentioned before.

知道了。我想知道您是否可以談談您對下半年核心業務的期望。我知道您尚未正式更新您的指導，但您在第一季表現良好。您對第二季度盈利水平的指導看起來很強勁。我只是想知道，當您正式更新之前提到的所有因素的指導時，我們是否應該期待有機核心業務的上漲。

Well, just on guidance, I'll say the Elevated -- and then I'll talk about the back half, but I'll try and tackle guidance here, too, John, and I appreciate the question. We're sort of in this nontraditional spot where we have a material acquisition we're looking to close. We're here on May 2. As we said, we're looking to close it in the quarter, and we believe it to be sort of a material update for the year. We also had a history of rolling FX through. But noting we're close to closing that transaction, we want to take our time and bring that in and work with that team to better understand what their back half of the year looks like. And so we intend to do that, and we'll bring in sort of the FX element.

好吧，就指導而言，我會說「高架」——然後我會談論後半部分，但我也會嘗試在這裡解決指導問題，約翰，我很欣賞這個問題。我們正處於一個非傳統的境地，我們正在尋求完成一項材料收購。我們將於 5 月 2 日到來。我們也有滾動外匯的歷史。但注意到我們即將完成該交易，我們希望花點時間將其引入並與該團隊合作，以更好地了解他們下半年的情況。所以我們打算這樣做，並且我們將引入某種FX元素。

But the other thing we're trying to say in this guide that we communicated today is there should be no significant changes on the base business as we look at the back half of the year beyond Q2. And when you look at the back half of the year, we're expecting to see accelerated organic growth. Our service business, our service growth rates where we want them to, have held up in the first half of the year. We expect that to continue in the back half of the year. And then we expect the businesses that have been going through, so that would be HVAC, the project business in specialty, the projects business on the international side to annualize against the work -- the great work those teams have been doing to start to show sort of low to mid-single-digit growth on the project side. The 2 of those together are sort of what's delivering that 6% to 7% organic in the back half of the year.

但我們在今天傳達的本指南中想說的另一件事是，當我們展望第二季之後的下半年時，基礎業務應該不會發生重大變化。當你回顧今年下半年時，我們預計會看到加速的自然成長。我們的服務業務、我們希望的服務成長率在今年上半年保持穩定。我們預計這種情況將在今年下半年持續。然後我們預計已經經歷過的業務，例如暖通空調、專業專案業務、國際方面的專案業務將根據工作進行年度計算——這些團隊一直在做的偉大工作開始展示專案方面的成長屬於中低個位數。這兩者加在一起相當於在今年下半年實現了 6% 到 7% 的自然成長。

So John, Stephanie, everybody, I'm going to just add a bullet point about this whole cross-selling. So on the other night, I mentioned the Elevated team was on campus yesterday, and we had a dinner with them the previous evening. And we invited one of our local business leaders to attend that dinner. And while we're sitting here and during the course of the call, he sent me a note and it reads something to the point about getting leaders together from the earnings call this morning, I had the chance to connect with many of the Elevated leaders at dinner Tuesday.

約翰、史蒂芬妮、各位，我將添加一個關於整個交叉銷售的要點。所以那天晚上，我提到 Elevated 團隊昨天在校園裡，前一天晚上我們和他們共進了晚餐。我們邀請了當地的一位商界領袖參加那場晚宴。當我們坐在這裡，在電話會議期間，他給我發了一張便條，上面寫著一些關於讓領導人在今天早上的財報電話會議上聚集在一起的內容，我有機會與許多Elevated 領導人取得聯繫週二晚餐時。

As a first bullet being fired, we invited Ben, who is the Regional VP for Elevated out of Indianapolis to join our Service Leaders' Summit in Columbus, Ohio this June.

作為發射的第一顆子彈，我們邀請了印第安納波利斯 Elevated 區域副總裁 Ben 參加今年 6 月在俄亥俄州哥倫布市舉行的服務領袖高峰會。

So I mean there's already work going on. We're getting people kind of cross-pollinated. And I mean, that's one of the beauties of our business in this focus on leadership development and investment in people. Like our business leaders are generally curious people and they want to -- these newly acquired companies, they surround them and bring them warmly into the business. And this is just a good example of how the -- this whole idea of cross-selling and sharing opportunities and knowledge and everything else is going to come to fruition. So hopefully, that's helpful color.

所以我的意思是工作已經在進行中。我們正在讓人們進行異花授粉。我的意思是，這就是我們業務的優點之一，因為我們專注於領導力發展和人員投資。就像我們的企業領導者一般都是好奇的人，他們想要——這些新收購的公司，他們包圍他們並熱情地將他們帶入業務。這只是一個很好的例子，說明交叉銷售和分享機會、知識以及其他一切的整個想法將如何實現。希望這是有用的顏色。

Your next question comes from the line of Steve Tusa of JPMorgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的史蒂夫圖薩。

Congrats on the margin execution, really strong.

恭喜保證金執行，非常強勁。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Just on kind of the trajectory for the second half on the sales side. I know you guys used to talk about like backlog and kind of some forward indicators on some of the businesses. How should we think about things as they move forward into the base business for the third and the fourth? You mentioned, I think, the 6% to 7% in the back half. And I think the comps kind of stabilize a bit in the back half. But is that a steady trajectory? Is it pretty consistent, the growth 3Q and 4Q? And then in that context, like it's hard to tell what normal seasonality actually is. You had a nice sequential step-up or you have a nice sequential step-up from 1Q to 2Q. How does that typically behave seasonally 3 and 4Q with these businesses?

與下半年銷售方面的軌跡類似。我知道你們過去常常談論一些業務的積壓工作和一些前瞻性指標。當他們進入第三個和第四個基礎業務時，我們該如何思考？我想你提到了後半部的 6% 到 7%。我認為比賽在後半段有點穩定。但這是一個穩定的軌跡嗎？第三季和第四季的成長是否非常一致？在這種情況下，很難判斷正常的季節性實際上是什麼。你有一個很好的連續提升，或者你有一個很好的從第一季到第二季的連續提升。這些企業在第三季和第四季的季節性表現通常如何？

Steve, this is Kevin. I'll take a stab at this and then Russ can add anything that makes sense after. I would say when you look to the back half of the year, backlog in our U.S. life safety business, and then he talked a little bit about backlog in our international business, that has held up and continue to become healthier. And frankly, on the U.S. life safety side, we've continued to add to it.

史蒂夫，這是凱文。我會嘗試一下，然後 Russ 可以添加任何有意義的內容。我想說的是，當你回顧今年下半年時，我們美國生命安全業務的積壓，然後他談到了我們國際業務的積壓，這些積壓一直保持並繼續變得更健康。坦白說，在美國生命安全方面，我們一直在增加。

So we feel really good on the safety side about the backlog as we head into the back half of the year, and so that's reflected. And I said earlier, -- so that drives projects work, as you may know or I think, as you know. And so -- and I said earlier on the service side of the business, those businesses have continued to perform very well and as expected in the first half of the year, and we expect that to continue in the back half of the year as well.

因此，當我們進入今年下半年時，我們對積壓的安全方面感覺非常好，這也得到了反映。我之前說過，－－這樣就可以推動專案工作，正如你可能知道的，或者我認為，正如你所知。因此，我之前在業務的服務方面說過，這些業務在上半年繼續表現良好，符合預期，我們預計下半年也將繼續表現良好。

Where we've been shrinking the backlog and getting, I'll say, a smaller but healthier backlog is in the HVAC business and the specialty business. And what you'll see in those businesses in the back half of the year as well will be -- that we should see a return to growth. It will be low single digits, but we should see a return to growth in those businesses as well in the back half of the year. And sort of the combination of all that, we don't guide at a segment level, but the combination of all that really is what's driving that improvement in the back half of the year.

我想說的是，我們一直在縮小積壓訂單，並且在暖通空調業務和專業業務方面積壓的訂單規模較小但更健康。今年下半年你也會在這些業務中看到──我們應該會看到成長的回歸。這將是較低的個位數，但我們應該會看到這些業務在今年下半年恢復成長。所有這些的結合，我們不會在細分市場層面進行指導，但所有這些的結合確實是推動今年下半年改善的因素。

You asked about seasonality. That obviously doesn't impact growth rates so much, but just more sort of volumes. What we generally see in our business because it's predominantly a Northern Hemisphere business and some of the work we do or a lot of the work we do is outside, especially in specialty, is our 2 largest quarters from a revenue standpoint in any given year are going to be the second quarter and the third quarter. That's going to drive sort of growth on a fixed cost base. So those are generally going to be our 2 largest margin-performing quarters as well. And then off of Q3, we usually step down sequentially into the fourth quarter, a lot of it weather related.

您問的是季節性。這顯然不會對成長率產生太大影響，而只是影響數量的增加。我們通常在我們的業務中看到的是，因為它主要是北半球業務，我們所做的一些工作或我們所做的工作很多都在外部，特別是在專業領域，從任何給定年份的收入角度來看，我們的兩個最大季度是將是第二季和第三季。這將推動固定成本基礎上的成長。因此，這些通常也將是我們利潤率表現最高的兩個季度。然後從第三季度開始，我們通常會依次進入第四季度，其中許多與天氣有關。

Yes, that makes sense. And then just one last one. How is -- I would assume if you're disciplined on these projects, that price is holding up relatively well. I'm not sure if you touched on it on an earlier question, but any color on like in the -- I know price in terms of like flat organic, maybe not be that relevant, will have kind of small numbers. But in the back half, are you counting on any price running through?

是的，這是有道理的。然後只有最後一張。我認為如果你在這些項目上遵守紀律，那麼價格會保持得相對較好。我不確定你是否在之前的問題中提到過它，但是任何顏色，例如——我知道平面有機物的價格，可能不是那麼相關，都會有很小的數字。但在後半部分，您是否指望有任何價格出現？

Yes, absolutely. So we think about price the following way. We have pricing that we pushed through on the service side of the business. We expect that to be margin enhancing as it relates to services I would say in the first half of the year. Roughly that price number has been around 3% on our ongoing or recurring service revenue stream. We expect that to continue in the back half of the year.

是的，一點沒錯。所以我們照以下方式考慮價格。我們在業務服務方面製定了定價。我們預計這將提高利潤率，因為它與我所說的上半年的服務有關。這個價格大約占我們持續或經常性服務收入流的 3% 左右。我們預計這種情況將在今年下半年持續。

With respect to projects, we look at that sort of more as price pass-through. We don't anticipate that being a significant driver because we should annualize through that in the summer months, which is really where we started to see pricing come down last year. So we should be through it. In the back half of the year, there should be a significant impact on our growth rate, positive or negative from the price pass-through.

就項目而言，我們更多地將其視為價格傳遞。我們預計這不會成為一個重要的推動因素，因為我們應該在夏季月份進行年度化，這實際上是我們去年開始看到價格下降的地方。所以我們應該挺過去。今年下半年，價格傳遞應該會對我們的成長率產生重大影響，無論是正面還是負面影響。

Great. Great color. Congrats on the execution and congrats on the deal as well.

偉大的。顏色很棒。祝賀執行，也祝賀這筆交易。

Your next question comes from the line of Ashish Sabadra of RBC.

您的下一個問題來自 RBC 的 Ashish Sabadra。

This is David Paige on for Ashish. I just had a quick follow-up on the pruning or the project selection. How much more of that do you feel like you need to do until the business or the customer base is, I guess, where you want them to be ultimately?

我是阿什什的大衛·佩奇。我剛剛對修剪或項目選擇進行了快速跟進。我想，在業務或客戶群最終達到您希望的目標之前，您覺得還需要做多少這樣的事情？

And then one more just following up on the price or the price cost. It looks like -- I think you mentioned that raw material costs or commodity costs are going to be lower. What's the tailwind there for the year?

然後再跟進價格或價格成本。看起來——我想你提到原材料成本或商品成本將會降低。今年的順風車是什麼？

I'll answer the last part first, which was on the price pass-through. We don't expect there to be much of a headwind or tailwind as it relates to our organic growth rate from pricing through. And I would say, generally, on the project side of the business, we're really just trying to accommodate sort of the material costs run up and pass it through. So we don't think it's going to impact our growth rates and it shouldn't be a tailwind, if you will, on margins either.

我先回答最後一部分，即價格傳遞。我們預計不會有太大的逆風或順風，因為這與我們從定價到有機成長率有關。我想說，一般來說，在業務的項目方面，我們實際上只是在努力適應某種材料成本的增加並將其轉嫁出去。因此，我們認為這不會影響我們的成長率，如果你願意的話，它也不應該成為利潤率的順風車。

I can handle the pruning component of your question. I would tell you that for the most part, the pruning work from a customer selection perspective, well, number one, will never stop. But some of the real disciplined pruning that especially that we're -- that you're seeing in our specialty and HVAC businesses, really is Kevin's earlier remarks, is really kind of will go -- continue through the second quarter, and you'll see that backlog become healthier in that kind of component of it going back to more of a growth mode. You'll see that in the second half of the year.

我可以處理你問題的修剪部分。我想告訴你，在大多數情況下，從客戶選擇的角度來看，第一，修剪工作永遠不會停止。但是，一些真正嚴格的修剪，特別是我們在我們的專業和暖通空調業務中看到的，確實是凱文之前的言論，確實會持續到第二季​​度，而且你'我們會看到積壓工作變得更健康，在某種程度上回到了成長模式。下半年你就會看到這一點。

Internationally, it will probably continue more through the end of this year from some of our customers and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we had some 3-year contracts that we had to honor, if you will. And this will be like really the third year that we've owned the business and it'll take us through that period of time to prune some of those, and we've been dealing with those -- some of those customer contracts, but we do have some legacy contracts there that we're still dealing with that some of that will carry through the end of the year and should be cleaned up into 2025.

在國際上，我們的一些客戶可能會在今年年底繼續更多地這樣做，這在很大程度上與我們必須履行一些三年合約有關，如果你願意的話。這實際上就像我們擁有該業務的第三年，我們將在這段時間裡修剪其中一些，我們一直在處理這些——其中一些客戶合同，但是我們確實有一些遺留合同仍在處理，其中一些將持續到今年年底，並應清理到2025 年。

That concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to Russ Becker for the closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。現在我將把會議轉回拉斯貝克爾作閉幕詞。

Thank you. I appreciate that.

謝謝。我很感激。

In closing, I would like to thank all of our team members for their continued support and dedication to our business. We believe our leaders are the foundation on which everything else is built and that the safety, health and well-being of each of our leaders remains our #1 value.

最後，我要感謝我們所有團隊成員對我們業務的持續支持和奉獻。我們相信，我們的領導者是其他一切的基礎，每位領導者的安全、健康和福祉仍然是我們的第一價值。

I would also like to thank our long-term shareholders as well as those that have recently joined us for their support. We appreciate your investment in APi, and we look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the remainder of the year.

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 的投資，並期待在今年剩餘時間內向您通報我們的最新進展。

Thank you, everybody, for joining our call this morning, and we look forward to continuing to keep you abreast of the positive things that are going on in the company.

感謝大家今天早上加入我們的電話會議，我們期待繼續讓您了解公司正在發生的正面事情。

That concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的加入。您現在可以斷開連線。