APi Group Corp (APG) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to APi Group fourth-quarter and full year 2024 financial results conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，早安，歡迎參加 APi Group 2024 年第四季和全年財務業績電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，此通話正在錄音。（操作員指示）

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

現在我將電話轉給 APi Group 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 2024 earnings conference call. Joining me on the call today are Russ Becker, our President and CEO; David Jackola, our Interim Chief Financial Officer; and sir Martin Franklin and Jim Lillie, our Board of Co-Chairs.

謝謝。大家早安，感謝您參加我們的 2024 年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的總裁兼執行長 Russ Becker、我們的臨時財務長 David Jackola、以及我們的董事會聯席主席 Martin Franklin 爵士和 Jim Lillie。

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是前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於對公司未來業績、預期事件或趨勢以及其他非歷史事實的事項的預期、意圖和預測。這些聲明並非對未來績效的保證，並且受已知和未知的風險、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聲明所表達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 26, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements 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. Our comments today will also include non-GAAP financial measures and other key operating metrics. A reconciliation of and other information regarding these items can be found in our press release and our presentation.

在我們的新聞稿和提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中，我們詳細說明了可能導致我們未來結果與預期不同的重大風險。我們的聲明截至今天（2 月 26 日）為止，除非法律要求，否則我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。提醒一下，我們已在我們網站的投資者關係頁面上發布了一份詳細介紹我們第四季度財務業績的簡報。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。在我們的新聞稿和簡報中可以找到有關這些項目的對帳和其他資訊。

Additionally, we'll be posting an investor update presentation on the Investor Relations page of our website later today.

此外，我們將於今天稍晚在我們網站的投資者關係頁面上發布投資者更新簡報。

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. 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 number one value.

謝謝你，亞當。大家早安。感謝您今天上午抽出時間參加我們的電話會議。我們仍然感謝 29,000 名領導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首要價值。

As a side note, we are very thankful that our four team meets that were involved in the Toronto plane crash last week have returned safely to Minneapolis and are recovering well. I'd like to thank our APi teammates who supported these individuals on their return to Minnesota. I'm also proud that APi has once again been recognized as a military-friendly employer for 2025. We remain committed to providing opportunities for veterans and their spouses to build careers and develop as leaders.

順便說一句，我們非常感謝上週在多倫多發生空難的四支球隊安全返回明尼阿波利斯，並且恢復得很好。我要感謝我們的 APi 隊友，他們支持這些人回到明尼蘇達州。我也感到自豪的是，APi 再次被評為 2025 年軍事友善雇主。我們始終致力於為退伍軍人及其配偶提供職業發展和成為領導者的機會。

2024 was another solid year for APi with record net revenues, record adjusted EBITDA, record adjusted earnings per share and record adjusted free cash flow in an evolving macro environment. As I mentioned on the last call, the team's work executing our 13/60/80 shareholder value creation framework, shown on slide 5, has resulted in APi being the strongest it has ever been from a revenue, profitability and cash flow generation standpoint, which is highlighted on slide 6.

2024 年對於 APi 來說又是穩健的一年，在不斷變化的宏觀環境下，其淨收入、調整後 EBITDA、調整後每股收益和調整後自由現金流均創下新高。正如我在上次電話會議上提到的，團隊執行我們的 13/60/80 股東價值創造框架（如幻燈片 5 所示）的工作使 APi 從收入、盈利能力和現金流產生的角度來看達到了有史以來最強勁的水平（如幻燈片 6 所示）。

In 2024, specifically, our leaders delivered progress against each of our 13/60/80 financial targets. First, adjusted EBITDA margins -- expanded adjusted EBITDA margins 140 basis points to 12.7%, putting us in a position to surpass our 13% or more adjusted EBITDA margin target for 2025. Second, we increased the mix of inspection service and monitoring revenues from 52% in 2023 to 54% in 2024 on our way to our long-term target of 60%. And last, and we improved adjusted free cash flow conversion from 69% in 2023 to 75% in 2024.

具體來說，2024 年，我們的領導者在實現 13/60/80 個財務目標方面都取得了進展。首先，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率——將調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大 140 個基點至 12.7%，使我們能夠超越 2025 年 13% 或更高的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標。其次，我們將檢驗服務和監控收入的佔比從 2023 年的 52% 提高到 2024 年的 54%，朝著 60% 的長期目標邁進。最後，我們將調整後的自由現金流轉換率從 2023 年的 69% 提高到 2024 年的 75%。

Now I will highlight our 2024 full year results. Net revenues grew by 1.3% in 2024, finishing the year at a record $7 billion. This growth was driven by acquisitions, strong organic growth in inspection, service and monitoring revenues in Life Safety and pricing improvements, partially offset by divestitures and an organic decline in project revenues driven by a purposeful focus on disciplined customer and project selection and higher-than-expected delays in certain customer projects in our HVAC and specialty businesses.

現在我將重點介紹我們 2024 年全年業績。2024 年淨收入成長 1.3%，達到創紀錄的 70 億美元。這一增長是由收購、生命安全檢查、服務和監控收入的強勁有機增長以及價格改進推動的，但部分被資產剝離和項目收入的有機下降所抵消，後者是由於我們刻意關注嚴格的客戶和項目選擇，以及我們的暖通空調和專業業務中某些客戶項目的延遲高於預期。

Importantly, we achieved double-digit growth in inspection revenues in our US Life Safety business for the year and in the fourth quarter, representing the 18 quarter in a row as we make progress towards our goal of 60% of our total net revenues coming from inspection, service and monitoring.

重要的是，我們今年和第四季度美國生命安全業務的檢查收入實現了兩位數增長，這是連續第 18 個季度實現增長，我們正在朝著 60% 的總淨收入來自檢查、服務和監控的目標邁進。

In line with our strategic initiatives, we continue to see strong improvements in adjusted gross margin for the year, up 250 basis points. The strong performance in gross margin led to full year 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.7%, representing margin expansion of 140 basis points. We expect to see continued margin expansion in 2025 and beyond, largely driven by the same initiatives we've been executing for the past several years, including improved inspection service and monitoring revenue mix, disciplined customer and project selection, Chubb value capture, pricing improvements, procurement, systems and scale accretive M&A and selective business pruning, and as I always like to say, we could always just be better.

根據我們的策略舉措，我們繼續看到今年調整後的毛利率強勁提升，上漲了 250 個基點。毛利率的強勁表現使得 2024 年全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率達到 12.7%，利潤率擴大了 140 個基點。我們預計 2025 年及以後利潤率將繼續擴大，這主要得益於我們過去幾年一直在執行的相同舉措，包括改進檢查服務和監控收入組合、嚴謹的客戶和項目選擇、丘博價值獲取、定價改進、採購、系統和規模增值併購以及選擇性業務精簡，正如我一直說的那樣，我們總是可以做得更好。

Regarding Chubb and -- regarding Chubb and our international business, as we exit 2024, we have realized more than $90 million of the $125 million value capture target, and we remain on track to realize the rest of the savings in 2025 and early 2026.

關於 Chubb 和我們的國際業務，到 2024 年結束時，我們已經實現了 1.25 億美元價值獲取目標中的 9000 多萬美元，並且我們仍有望在 2025 年和 2026 年初實現剩餘的節省。

2024 was another year of strong free cash flow with record adjusted free cash flow of $668 million, representing approximately 75% conversion of adjusted EBITDA. Our strong free cash flow generation helped us to repay $100 million of our term loan on December 31, 2024, and delivered on our commitment of reducing net leverage to under our target of 2.5 times, ending the year at 2.2 times. The strength of our balance sheet allows for flexibility to pursue value-enhancing capital deployment alternatives, such as continuing our track record of disciplined M&A or opportunistic share repurchases.

2024 年是自由現金流強勁的另一年，調整後自由現金流創下 6.68 億美元的新高，約佔調整後 EBITDA 轉換率的 75%。我們強勁的自由現金流幫助我們在 2024 年 12 月 31 日償還了 1 億美元的定期貸款，並兌現了將淨槓桿率降低至 2.5 倍以下的承諾，年底為 2.2 倍。我們資產負債表的強勁讓我們能夠靈活地尋求增值的資本配置替代方案，例如繼續保持我們嚴謹的併購記錄或機會性股票回購。

As a reminder, we have approximately $400 million of authorization remaining on our share repurchase program. In 2024, we accelerated our spend on accretive bolt-on M&A to approximately $250 million, building on our long track record of integrating businesses and supplementing organic growth through M&A at attractive multiples.

提醒一下，我們的股票回購計畫還剩下約 4 億美元的授權金額。2024 年，我們將增值附加併購支出加速至約 2.5 億美元，這得益於我們長期以來透過有吸引力的倍數併購整合業務和補充有機成長的良好記錄。

In addition, during the first half of the year, we entered the complementary and adjacent $10 billion-plus elevator and escalator services market with the acquisition of elevated. We have long viewed the fragmented elevator and escalator service market as an attractive adjacency due to the highly recurring nature of the business, driven by nondiscretionary statutorily driven demand. 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.

此外，今年上半年，我們透過收購 Elevated 進入了互補且相鄰的價值 100 多億美元的電梯和自動扶梯服務市場。長期以來，我們一直將分散的電梯和自動扶梯服務市場視為一個有吸引力的鄰近市場，因為該業務具有高度重複性，並受到非自由裁量法定需求的驅動。我們期望透過強勁的有機成長、與現有生命安全業務的長期交叉銷售機會以及強大的併購管道，長期打造一個價值 10 億美元以上的電梯和自動扶梯服務平台。

Looking ahead, we are excited about the pipeline of M&A opportunities we see across fire protection, electronic security and elevator and escalator services. Our team remains hard at work, prioritizing the most attractive opportunities, both from a business quality perspective, but most importantly, from a culture, values and fit perspective.

展望未來，我們對消防、電子安全以及電梯和自動扶梯服務領域的併購機會感到興奮。我們的團隊仍在努力工作，優先考慮最具吸引力的機會，不僅從業務品質的角度，而且最重要的是從文化、價值觀和適應性的角度。

In summary, I am proud of our team and the record financial results achieved in 2024. As we begin 2025, I have great confidence in our ability to continue to expand margins and grow free cash flow, but importantly, return to traditional rates of organic growth, driven by the following: continued strong organic growth in inspection service and monitoring revenues, pricing improvements, accelerating growth in our backlog, up high single digits in total and up double digits organically in Specialty Services, with a focus on the right projects for the right customers in the right end markets.

總而言之，我為我們的團隊和2024年所取得的創紀錄的財務表現感到自豪。值此 2025 年伊始，我對我們繼續擴大利潤率和增加自由現金流的能力充滿信心，但重要的是，恢復到傳統的有機增長率，這得益於以下因素：檢驗服務和監控收入繼續保持強勁的有機增長、價格改進、積壓訂單加速增長、總體增長實現高個位數增長、專業服務實現兩位數增長，重點是實現兩位數有機的市場中的正確項目。

Positive progress working through project delays annualizing the impact of disciplined customer and project selection, including the exited customer relationship mentioned in the first quarter of 2024 for specialty services. And finally, our international business begins 2025 with less than five loss-making branches after having over 50 at the time of the acquisition. I'm grateful for our international teammates for their great work transforming our business over the past three years to position it for long-term profitable growth.

克服專案延誤的積極進展，將嚴謹的客戶和專案選擇的影響年度化，包括 2024 年第一季提到的因專業服務而退出的客戶關係。最後，我們的國際業務從收購時擁有 50 多家分公司開始，到 2025 年將只有不到 5 家虧損分公司。我感謝我們的國際隊友在過去三年中為改變我們的業務所做的出色工作，使我們的業務能夠實現長期盈利增長。

In 2025, we began operating in our newly aligned -- newly realigned segments with our HVAC business moving from safety services to specialty services. This change will provide opportunities to enhance our shared services capability in the specialty segment and allowed the HVAC business to receive increased focus from the leadership team putting it in the best position to win with its customers.

2025 年，我們開始在新調整的領域開展業務，我們的 HVAC 業務從安全服務轉向專業服務。這項變更將為我們增強專業領域的共享服務能力提供機會，並使 HVAC 業務得到領導團隊的更多關注，使其處於贏得客戶的最佳位置。

Additionally, the change also sets us -- the change also sets up the Safety Services segment as more of a pure-play life safety business focused on fire protection, electronic security and now elevator and escalator services.

此外，這項變更也使我們——這項變更還將安全服務部門設定為更純粹的生命安全業務，專注於防火、電子安全以及現在的電梯和自動扶梯服務。

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

現在我想把電話交給大衛，讓他更詳細地討論我們第四季的財務表現和指導。戴維？

Thank you, Russ, and good morning, everyone. Reported revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2024, increased by 5.8% to $1.86 billion compared to $1.76 billion in the prior year, driven by organic growth of 4.7% in Safety Services and benefits from M&A. This was partially offset by a 7.6% organic decline in Specialty Services and on an organic basis, total company net revenues grew by 1.3%.

謝謝你，拉斯，大家早安。截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月的報告收入與上年的 17.6 億美元相比增長 5.8%，達到 18.6 億美元，這得益於安全服務 4.7% 的有機增長以及併購帶來的好處。這被專業服務 7.6% 的有機下降部分抵消，並且從有機基礎上看，公司總淨收入增長了 1.3%。

Adjusted gross margin for the three months ended December 31, 2024, increased to 31.1%, representing a 100 basis points improvement compared to the prior year driven by planned disciplined customer and project selection, pricing improvements and value capture initiatives in our international business.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月的調整後毛利率增至 31.1%，較上年同期提高 100 個基點，這得益於我們國際業務中計劃嚴謹的客戶和項目選擇、價格改進和價值獲取舉措。

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 16.3% for the three months ended December 31, 2024, with adjusted EBITDA margin coming in at 13%, representing a 120 basis points increase compared to the prior year driven primarily due to the factors impacting gross margin, partially offset by lower fixed cost absorption in the Specialty Services segment.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，調整後 EBITDA 成長了 16.3%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 13%，比前一年增加 120 個基點，這主要歸因於影響毛利率的因素，但專業服務部門固定成本吸收率降低部分抵消了這一影響。

I am also pleased to report that adjusted diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter was $0.51, representing a 7p or a 16% increase compared to the prior year period. The increase was driven primarily by strong adjusted EBITDA growth and was partially offset by increased interest expense and adjusted diluted weighted average shares outstanding.

我還很高興地報告，第四季度調整後每股攤薄收益為 0.51 美元，比去年同期增長 7 便士或 16%。這一成長主要得益於強勁的調整後 EBITDA 成長，並被增加的利息支出和調整後的稀釋加權平均流通股數部分抵銷。

I will now discuss our results in more detail for Safety Services. Safety Services reported revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2024, increased by 13% to $1.40 billion compared to $1.24 billion in the prior year period. Organic growth was 4.7% driven by double-digit inspection revenue growth in our US Life Safety business and 7% organic growth in inspection, service and monitoring revenues across the segment. Project revenues grew low single digits in the quarter.

我現在將更詳細地討論安全服務的成果。安全服務部門報告稱，截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，其收入較去年同期的 12.4 億美元增長 13%，達到 14 億美元。有機成長達到 4.7%，這得益於美國生命安全業務的檢查收入實現兩位數增長，以及整個部門的檢查、服務和監控收入實現 7% 的有機增長。本季專案營收成長率為個位數。

Adjusted gross margin for the three months ended December 31, 2024, was 35.7%, representing a 60 basis points improvement compared to the prior year period, driven by planned disciplined customer and project selection, pricing improvements value capture initiatives in our international business and improved business mix of higher-margin inspection service and monitoring revenues.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月的調整後毛利率為 35.7%，比去年同期提高了 60 個基點，這得益於計劃嚴謹的客戶和項目選擇、國際業務中定價改進的價值獲取舉措以及高利潤率檢驗服務和監控收入的業務組合改善。

Going forward, we will be reporting segment earnings for each segment, which aligns to our historical reporting of adjusted EBITDA by segment. Segment earnings increased by 18.5% for the three months ended December 31, 2024, and segment earnings margin was 16%, representing a 70 basis points increase compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the factors impacting adjusted gross margin.

展望未來，我們將報告每個分部的分部收益，這與我們歷史上按分部報告調整後的 EBITDA 保持一致。截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，分部獲利成長了 18.5%，分部獲利利潤率為 16%，較去年同期增加了 70 個基點，這主要是由於影響調整後毛利率的因素所致。

Now I will discuss our results in more detail for our Specialty Services segment. Specialty Services reported revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2024, decreased by 11.8% to $463 million compared to $525 million in the prior year period. This was driven by divestitures and a decline in project and service revenues driven by delays as well as the impact of the exited customer relationship that we first mentioned in the first quarter.

現在我將更詳細地討論我們的專業服務部門的表現。專業服務部門報告稱，截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，其收入為 4.63 億美元，較去年同期的 5.25 億美元下降 11.8%。這是由於資產剝離以及專案和服務收入因延誤而下降，以及我們在第一季首次提到的退出客戶關係的影響。

Adjusted gross margin for the three months ended December 31, 2024, was 17.3%, representing an 80 basis points decrease compared to the prior year driven primarily by lower fixed cost absorption and stranded costs from delays, partially offset by the favorable impact from planned disciplined customer and project selection.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月的調整後毛利率為 17.3%，比上年下降 80 個基點，主要原因是固定成本吸收減少和延誤造成的擱淺成本，但有計劃的嚴謹客戶和項目選擇帶來的有利影響部分抵消了這一影響。

Segment earnings decreased by 22% for the quarter, and segment earnings margin was 9.9%, representing a 130 basis points decrease compared to the prior year period, primarily due to the decrease in adjusted gross margin and lower fixed cost absorption.

本季分部獲利下降 22%，分部獲利利潤率為 9.9%，較去年同期下降 130 個基點，主要原因是調整後毛利率下降和固定成本吸收減少。

Turning to cash flow. As we've highlighted throughout the year, the fourth quarter is our strongest quarter for free cash flow generation due to seasonality and 2024 was no different. For the three months ended December 31, 2024, adjusted free cash flow was $307 million, reflecting an adjusted free cash flow conversion of 127%. For the full year, adjusted free cash flow was $668 million, with conversion of approximately 75% representing a $131 million improvement or 24% when compared to 2023.

轉向現金流。正如我們全年所強調的那樣，由於季節性因素，第四季度是我們自由現金流產生最強勁的季度，2024 年也不例外。截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的三個月，調整後的自由現金流為 3.07 億美元，調整後的自由現金流轉換率為 127%。全年調整後的自由現金流為 6.68 億美元，轉換率約為 75%，與 2023 年相比增加了 1.31 億美元，增幅為 24%。

Free cash flow generation has been and continues to be a priority across APi, and we are pleased that we were able to meet our increased adjusted free cash flow conversion target of 75% for the year. At the end of the year, our net leverage ratio was approximately 2.2 times well below our long-term net leverage target of 2.5 times even as we continue margin accretive bolt-on M&A. As we look forward to 2025, we expect to continue to grow our free cash flow providing us a significant opportunity for value-enhancing capital deployment.

自由現金流的產生一直是 APi 的首要任務，我們很高興能夠實現今年 75% 的調整後自由現金流轉換目標。儘管我們繼續進行利潤增值的附加併購，但截至年底，我們的淨槓桿率約為 2.2 倍，遠低於我們 2.5 倍的長期淨槓桿率目標。展望 2025 年，我們預期自由現金流將持續成長，為我們提供增值資本部署的重要機會。

Finally, we are happy to announce that we have successfully remediated all prior year material weaknesses and have concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2024. And maybe I'll go off script for a second to express my gratitude to all of our leaders in our branches, in our companies and the central team that did just a great job to get us there. I am grateful.

最後，我們很高興地宣布，我們已成功糾正所有前幾年的重大缺陷，並得出結論，截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日，我們對財務報告的內部控制是有效的。也許我應該暫時離開演講稿，向我們各分會、各公司以及中央團隊的所有領導者表示感謝，是他們為我們實現這一目標做出了巨大的貢獻。我很感激。

Turning to our 2025 guidance. Based on current foreign exchange rates, we expect full year reported net revenues of $7.3 billion to $7.5 billion, representing a return to traditional rates of organic growth in net revenues, driven by high single-digit organic growth in inspection service and monitoring revenues in Safety Services, and a return to mid-single-digit organic growth in our Specialty Services segment, following the first quarter, which is impacted by challenging weather-related comparables.

轉向我們的 2025 年指導。根據目前的外匯匯率，我們預計全年報告淨收入將在 73 億美元至 75 億美元之間，代表淨收入將恢復到傳統的有機增長率，這得益於安全服務中的檢驗服務和監控收入的高個位數有機增長，以及我們的專業服務部門在第一季度受到惡劣天氣相關可比數據影響後恢復到中等個位數有機增長。

We expect full year adjusted EBITDA of $970 million to $1.02 billion which represents adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 10% to 15% on a fixed currency basis and adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.4% at the midpoint, which is up 70 basis points versus 2024.

我們預計全年調整後 EBITDA 為 9.7 億美元至 10.2 億美元，以固定貨幣計算，調整後 EBITDA 成長約 10% 至 15%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率（中間值為 13.4%），比 2024 年上升 70 個基點。

In 2025, we expect to continue to make progress in terms of free cash flow growth. With the 2025 adjusted free cash flow conversion target of approximately 75%, while returning to organic revenue growth. In terms of the first quarter, we expect reported net revenues of $1.625 billion to $1.675 billion, this guidance represents reported revenue growth of 2% to 5% and a low single-digit organic net revenue decline at the midpoint.

2025年，我們預計自由現金流成長方面將持續取得進展。2025年調整後的自由現金流轉換目標約為75%，同時恢復有機收入成長。就第一季而言，我們預計報告淨收入為 16.25 億美元至 16.75 億美元，這一預期代表報告收入增長 2% 至 5%，中間值有機淨收入將出現低個位數下降。

We expect first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $185 million to $195 million, which represents adjusted EBITDA growth of approximately 7% to 13% on a fixed currency basis and adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.5% at the midpoint, up 60 basis points versus last year.

我們預計第一季調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.85 億美元至 1.95 億美元，以固定貨幣計算，調整後的 EBITDA 成長約為 7% 至 13%，以中間值計算，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.5%，比去年同期上升 60 個基點。

For 2025, we anticipate interest expense to be approximately $145 million, depreciation to be approximately $90 million; CapEx to be approximately $100 million, and our adjusted effective cash tax rate to be approximately 23%. We expect corporate expenses to be between $30 million and $35 million per quarter with some timing variability throughout the year. We expect our adjusted diluted weighted average share count to be approximately $284 million for the year.

到 2025 年，我們預計利息支出約為 1.45 億美元，折舊約為 9,000 萬美元；資本支出約為 1 億美元，調整後有效現金稅率約為 23%。我們預計公司每季的支出將在 3,000 萬美元至 3,500 萬美元之間，全年的時間會有所不同。我們預計今年調整後的稀釋加權平均股數約為 2.84 億美元。

I will now turn the call back over to Russ.

現在我將把電話轉回給拉斯。

Thanks, David. Nice job. Our record results in 2024 once again demonstrate the strength of our recurring revenue services focused business model and the ongoing execution of our strategy by our teammates. We begin 2025 with positive momentum and the demand for the services we offer is strong across the global platform. We remain relentlessly focused on growing inspection, service and monitoring revenue.

謝謝，大衛。幹得好。我們在 2024 年取得的創紀錄業績再次證明了我們以經常性收入服務為中心的業務模式的實力以及我們的隊友對我們策略的持續執行。我們以積極的勢頭開啟了 2025 年，全球平台對我們提供的服務的需求強勁。我們始終堅持不懈地致力於增加檢查、服務和監控收入。

That combined with the accelerating growth in our backlog provides a solid foundation for returning to traditional rates of organic growth in 2025, while continuing to expand our margins. We remain focused on creating sustainable shareholder value by delivering on our 13/60/80 targets with the near-term focus on generating adjusted EBITDA margins of 13% or more this year.

再加上我們積壓訂單的加速成長，為 2025 年恢復傳統的有機成長率奠定了堅實的基礎，同時繼續擴大我們的利潤率。我們將繼續致力於創造可持續的股東價值，實現 13/60/80 的目標，近期重點是在今年實現 13% 或更高的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

As a reminder, we will be hosting an Investor Day on May 21 in New York for professional investors where we will be detailing new meaningfully higher long-term financial targets and updates to our strategic plan.

提醒一下，我們將於 5 月 21 日在紐約為專業投資者舉辦投資者日，屆時我們將詳細介紹新的、更具意義的更高的長期財務目標和戰略計劃的更新。

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

現在，我想將電話轉回給接線員，並開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Ashish Sabadra, RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場 (RBC Capital Markets) 的 Ashish Sabadra。

This is David on for Ashish. Congrats on the good results here. Just curious if you could double-click on some of the key variables that will drive EBITDA margin expansion to 13%, 13%-plus going forward?

這是 David 為 Ashish 拍攝的。恭喜您取得如此好的成績。我只是好奇，您是否可以雙擊一些將推動 EBITDA 利潤率擴大至 13%、13% 以上的關鍵變數？

And thank you for joining us, and thank you for your question. I would say that it's -- we're pounding the same drop. And the different levers that we continue to pull would start with disciplined customer and project selection. And as I like to share with people it's really customer selection and making sure that we're working with people that really value the services that we provide and the field leaders that we are going to deploy to their sites.

感謝您加入我們，也感謝您的提問。我想說的是——我們正在遭受同樣的打擊。我們將繼續採取的不同措施將從嚴謹的客戶和專案選擇開始。我想與大家分享的是，這實際上是客戶的選擇，並確保我們與真正重視我們提供的服務的人以及我們將部署到他們站點的現場領導者合作。

Next, I would say, is improved mix as we continue to improve the percentage of our revenue that comes from inspection service and monitoring. If you remember in our prepared remarks, we have grown that from 52% of total net revenues in 2023 to 54% in 2024 on our way to our target of 60%. Price continues to be a lever for us to stay focused on. I would say procurement is another opportunity for us that we feel like we're still in the early innings of. We think that there's tremendous opportunity for us there.

接下來我想說的是，隨著我們繼續提高來自檢查服務和監控的收入百分比，我們將改善產品組合。如果您還記得我們準備好的發言稿，我們已經從 2023 年佔總淨收入的 52% 增長到 2024 年的 54%，並朝著 60% 的目標邁進。價格仍然是我們需要關注的槓桿。我想說採購對我們來說是另一個機會，我們覺得我們仍處於早期階段。我們認為那裡對我們來說有著巨大的機會。

I would also say Chubb value capture. We're getting to the point where we're going to stop talking about Chubb value capture and be talking about it like it's business as usual.

我還會說 Chubb 的價值捕獲。我們現在已經不再談論 Chubb 價值獲取，而是像談論正常業務一樣談論它。

But we're $90 million into our $125 million target, and we continue to make really good progress there. I would say, what we call business process transformation, which is basically working towards more shared services and utilizing the scale of the company. That would be another lever strategic M&A is a lever.

但我們已經完成了 1.25 億美元的目標中的 9000 萬美元，並且我們繼續取得良好的進展。我想說，我們所說的業務流程轉型，本質上就是致力於提供更多的共享服務並利用公司的規模。這將是另一個策略併購的槓桿。

And like I always like to tell people, we have the opportunity to just be better. And I saw a report just yesterday that showed kind of branch performance across our -- the portfolio of our business, and we continue to pull our branches forward, and we've got branches that are well north of 20% from an EBITDA margin perspective, which means we've got other branches that are kind of mid-single digit, and we need to continue to bring those branches along and there's -- and we know what the playbook is there.

就像我總是喜歡告訴人們的那樣，我們有機會變得更好。昨天我看到一份報告，顯示了我們各個業務部門的業績表現——我們的業務組合，我們繼續推動我們的部門向前發展，從 EBITDA 利潤率的角度來看，我們有些部門的利潤率遠遠超過 20%，這意味著我們還有一些部門的利潤率處於中等個位數，我們需要繼續推動這些部門的發展，我們知道那裡的策略是什麼。

So -- but the levers that we're going to pull in the drum we're going to beat is going to be the same.

所以——但是我們要拉動的槓桿和要敲擊的鼓是一樣的。

Kathryn Thompson, Thompson Research Group.

凱瑟琳·湯普森，湯普森研究小組。

And a very nice job on the year and achievements since going public. Want to step back and look at the force for the traces is something that you have focused on early on as a public company in terms of recurring revenues in particular how to manage through various cyclical downturns.

上市以來，我們在這一年做了非常出色的工作，取得了非常可觀的成績。想要退一步看看痕蹟的力量，這是您作為一家上市公司早期就關注的經常性收入方面的問題，特別是如何度過各種週期性衰退。

As we look at the resegmentation going forward, where are we today in terms of how you think about managing your business in light of some concern about economic slowdown? And how is your business model set up to manage these fluctuations.

當我們展望未來的重新細分時，考慮到對經濟放緩的擔憂，您目前如何考慮管理您的業務？您的商業模式是如何建立來應對這些波動的？

Thanks, Kathryn. And I always appreciate the perspective that you bring to the calls and to your questions, actually. I feel like if you look at the evolution of the business, every year, we continue to build a greater sense of resilience into our model. And it really starts with that whole idea of driving inspection service and monitoring to 60% of our total net revenues. And that's where the resiliency component of it comes in, which becomes -- provides the opportunity for us to be more immune to any sort of fluctuations that you're going to see in the economy.

謝謝，凱瑟琳。事實上，我一直很欣賞您在電話和問題中表達的觀點。我覺得如果你觀察一下業務的發展，你會發現每年我們都在不斷地為我們的模式建立更強的彈性意識。而這一切的開始都是從將檢驗服務和監控提升到我們總淨收入的 60% 這一想法開始的。這就是它的彈性部分發揮作用的地方，它為我們提供了機會，使我們對經濟中將看到的任何波動具有更強的免疫力。

Mean that includes even potential cost increases associated with tariffs. We price our inspection and service work in real time. So we're able to pass those increased costs on very quickly to our clients. And so that's one of the more significant opportunities for us.

這意味著甚至包括與關稅相關的潛在成本增加。我們即時對我們的檢查和服務工作進行定價。因此，我們能夠很快地將這些增加的成本轉嫁給我們的客戶。所以這對我們來說是一個更重要的機會。

We also feel like being focused on inspection service and monitoring allows us to be more selective in the project work we do. And in one of Adam's slide decks, we have a typical branch or a branch that we really impose the inspection first mindset on -- and one of the things that you can see is that the project gross margins improve as your inspection service and monitoring revenue mix improves because it gives you the opportunity to be more selective on the project work that you do, and that helps build resiliency.

我們也認為，專注於檢查服務和監控可以讓我們在進行專案工作時更有選擇性。在亞當的幻燈片之一中，我們有一個典型的分支機構，或者說我們真正將檢查優先的思維模式強加於其上——您可以看到的事情之一是，隨著檢查服務和監控收入組合的改善，項目毛利率也會提高，因為它讓您有機會更有選擇性地開展項目工作，這有助於增強彈性。

So like I look at our business today versus where our business was in 2008, 2009, and we've got a tremendous amount of progress. And I feel like we're in a really good place.

因此，我將我們今天的業務與 2008 年、2009 年的業務進行比較，我們發現我們已經取得了巨大的進步。我感覺我們現在的處境非常好。

The last thing I would say about our ability to manage any sort of fluctuations in the economy is that our cost model is basically 75% -- 70%, 75% variable, which means that if needed, we have the opportunity to flex very, very quickly. And I think if you go back and look at our results in 2020 when COVID landed, you saw us exercise that muscle really showed a positive result as we worked our way through very much an unknown time. So I hope I addressed your question adequately.

關於我們管理任何經濟波動的能力，我要說的最後一件事是，我們的成本模型基本上是 75% - 70%，75% 是可變的，這意味著如果需要，我們有機會非常非常迅速地調整。我認為，如果你回顧一下我們在 2020 年新冠疫情爆發時的成果，你會看到，在我們努力度過一個非常未知的時期時，我們鍛鍊的那塊肌肉確實顯示出了積極的結果。所以我希望我已經充分回答了你的問題。

Yes. Very much appreciate that. And one follow-up just more tactically about the commentary about project delays. Is it more weather, permitting, financing? Or is it more related to large projects or more kind of a localized market, small project issue.

是的。非常感謝。關於專案延遲的評論，還有一個更具策略性的後續問題。是否更多的是天氣、許可證、融資？或者它更多地與大型專案或更多本地化市場、小型專案問題相關。

And just really bigger picture, trying to understand, is this more onetime or more something that we'll be managing throughout the year?

而從更廣闊的角度來看，我們試著去理解，這是一次性的事情還是需要我們全年管理的事情？

Yes, Kathryn. So what I would say is that the project delays and everything else that we cited last year are mostly behind us. We have a government clients that I would say, continues to kind of get in their own way to a certain degree. But what I would also tell you is that we are smarter than we were last year, and I think we have built that into our plan, understanding that it was -- would be more herky-jerky.

是的，凱瑟琳。所以我想說的是，我們去年提到的專案延遲和其他所有問題基本上都已成為過去。我想說，我們有一些政府客戶，他們在某種程度上仍然會繼續妨礙我們。但我還要告訴你們的是，我們比去年更加聰明，我認為我們已經將這一點納入了我們的計劃，我們明白今年的計劃將會更加坎坷。

So I think that we learned a lesson to a certain degree about how to plan for that work and to make sure that we're deploying our resources so that we can just do a better job of forecasting and budgeting and how we lay out the work and how we're deploying our resources, probably more than anything.

所以我認為我們在一定程度上學到瞭如何規劃這項工作以及如何確保我們部署資源，以便我們能夠更好地進行預測和預算，以及如何安排工作以及如何部署資源，這可能比任何事情都重要。

And as we move into this year, I would say that Q1 is more normal this year than it was last year. Last year, if you recall, was an extremely positive year as it relates to weather. Q1 has always been our, so to speak, quietest quarter of the year because of seasonality in weather and that's proven to be true as we dealt with more, I guess, what I would consider normal weather conditions in this year, and we're just dealing with that.

隨著我們進入今年，我想說今年第一季比去年更正常。如果你還記得的話，去年是天氣極為良好的一年。由於天氣的季節性，第一季一直是我們一年中最平靜的季度，事實證明確實如此，因為我們今年處理的更多是我認為正常的天氣狀況，而我們只是在處理這些狀況。

Tim Mulrooney, William Blair.

提姆·馬爾羅尼、威廉·布萊爾。

Yes. I just want to build on Kathryn's question a little bit. Can you just level set us where we stand with respect to those project delays that you're experiencing late last year, I think there were three that you called out publicly for a headwind of $150 million in 2024. And we get a lot of questions on those. So I'm curious on those specific have those move forward?

是的。我只是想稍微補充一下凱瑟琳的問題。您能否簡單介紹一下您去年年底遇到的那些專案延期的情況？我記得您公開提到有三個項目延期，預計到 2024 年將造成 1.5 億美元的損失。我們收到了很多關於這些問題的疑問。所以我很好奇這些具體的事情有沒有進展？

And then are there any other large specialty projects out there where you are seeing unexpected delays early on here in 2025? Is there a fourth, is there a fit?

那麼，在 2025 年初，是否還有其他大型專業專案出現意外延誤？有第四個嗎？合適嗎？

No. So of the three, I guess, and this is built into our plan already. But of the three, I would say that one is done. One is this government entity that I mentioned, and we've built it into the plan. We're doing the work as we speak.

不。所以我想，這三者已經納入我們的計劃中了。但在這三者中，我想說有一個已經完成了。一個是我提到的這個政府實體，我們已經將其納入計劃。我們說話的同時就在做工作。

And so that is proceeding forward. And the third was started off as a permitting issue and then became a right-of-way issue and there was, I guess, natural gas lines running into [duct bank] and things like that. And so that slowed things down, but we have people on the job site. And I would say that the seasonality associated with winter work has slowed it down, but the work is progressing.

這就是正在向前推進的事情。第三個問題開始是許可問題，然後成為通行權問題，我猜想其中有天然氣管道進入[管道庫]之類的事情。雖然這減慢了進度，但我們還是有人在工作現場。我想說的是，冬季工作的季節性減緩了工作進度，但工作仍在進展。

And as kind of the winter season gets behind us, we expect the work to ramp up but that's all been appropriately factored into our plan. And do I know like what four or five is there's stuff happening all the time. And I like -- we had a semiconductor customer in our North American safety business that went through some changes on one of their large expansions that delayed that project last year as well. We just don't happen to talk about that as much. And there's always -- on the project side of your business, there's always delays and things that happen.

隨著冬季的過去，我們預計工作量會增加，但這一切都已適當地納入我們的計劃中。我知道四五是什麼狀況嗎？那裡總是有事情發生。我喜歡——我們北美安全業務中有一個半導體客戶，他們在一次大型擴張中經歷了一些變化，這也導致去年該專案被推遲。我們只是很少談論這個。而且，在業務的專案方面，總是會出現延誤和其它事情發生。

So is there anything like what we experienced last year that we're anticipating this year? No. We feel like we're more prepared as we move into 2025. So as I sit here right now, there is no number four.

那麼，我們今年是否也期待發生類似去年所經歷的事情呢？不。我們感覺，隨著邁入 2025 年，我們已經做好了更充分的準備。所以當我現在坐在這裡時，沒有第四個數字。

Okay. That's really helpful. And I think really helps put that conversation to the side. Just building on that a little bit more, you did mention that one federal project. I guess, I'm curious, this is something else we get questions on.

好的。這真的很有幫助。我認為這確實有助於將這一主題放在一邊。再進一步說，您確實提到了那個聯邦計畫。我想，我很好奇，這是我們遇到的另一個問題。

How much of your specialty business? I guess how much of your business overall is driven by projects that are funded even partially by federal funds like that federal rural broadband project. Just curious if there's any notable government exposure risk that you could highlight on investors given everything that's going on in lines.

您的專業業務有多少？我猜想你們的業務有多少是由那些部分由聯邦資金資助的計畫所推動的，例如聯邦農村寬頻計畫。我只是好奇，考慮到目前發生的一切，是否存在任何值得注意的政府風險需要向投資者強調。

Yes. I don't -- I mean, -- as it relates to us, I mean, it's not material in our total revenue. I'd have to have Adam circle back with you and try to give you some more specific figures. I would just be guessing. As I sit here, I mean, the deed -- act or whatever you want to call that, that had some impact and some uncertainty, but that's, I think, more about the government getting in its own way.

是的。我的意思是，就我們而言，這並不重要，因為它對我們的總收入來說並不重要。我必須讓亞當再次與您聯繫並嘗試為您提供一些更具體的數字。我只是猜測。當我坐在這裡時，我的意思是，這個行為——無論你想怎麼稱呼它，它都產生了一些影響和不確定性，但我認為這更多的是政府在阻礙自己。

then about whether the funding is not there. We don't do a tremendous amount of federal government work that, so to speak, if your question is directed towards dose and whether some of that could get cut. That wouldn't have we had a direct impact on us. But like I said, when even going all the way back to when the infrastructure bill was originally signed whatever two years ago now, a riding tide flow all boats. And if a bunch of stuff gets cut, and that would have probably more of a negative effect on the overarching industry, which you expect to have some trickle-down effect that would come at a much later date as people continue to work through their backlogs and everything else.

然後是資金是否不存在。我們沒有做大量的聯邦政府工作，可以這麼說，如果你的問題是關於劑量以及是否可以削減其中的一些。那不會對我們產生直接的影響。但就像我說的，即使回溯到兩年前基礎建設法案最初簽署的時候，一切進展順利。如果一大堆東西被削減，這可能會對整個行業產生更負面的影響，你預計這會產生一些涓滴效應，這種效應會在很久以後才出現，因為人們會繼續處理積壓的工作和其他所有事情。

So I'm not sitting here super concerned about it. We obviously -- I think from my chair, what we are watching more closely is tariffs and the effect that tariffs could have on inflation, making sure that we're protecting ourselves in our proposals today, for potential increases in the cost of the products that we provide to our customers.

所以我坐在這裡並不太擔心這件事。顯然，我認為從我的角度來看，我們正在密切關注關稅以及關稅對通貨膨脹可能產生的影響，確保我們在今天的提案中保護自己，以防我們向客戶提供的產品成本可能增加。

The most notable commodity that we continue to watch is steel pipe prices, and we've seen a small increase in steel pipe prices. But this is something that we actually anticipated when the election over and we saw that the new administration will be taking over, we knew that President Trump he likes to use tariffs. And so it's not like it was a surprise and not like it was something that we didn't see coming. It's just a matter of making sure that we're protecting ourselves.

我們持續關注的最值得關注的商品是鋼管價格，我們已經看到鋼管價格小幅上漲。但這實際上是我們在選舉結束後就預料到的事情，我們看到新政府即將上台，我們知道川普總統喜歡使用關稅。所以這並不是什麼意外，也不是我們沒有預料到的事情。這只是為了確保我們保護好自己。

Josh Chan, UBS.

瑞銀的 Josh Chan。

David. Maybe one quick question on guidance. You did mention that Q1 is impacted by weather. I guess does that mean it has a disproportionate impact on specialty? And could you just kind of talk to whether the 5% type of organic growth you had in safety in Q4 is roughly sustainable for the year?

大衛。也許有一個關於指導的快速問題。您確實提到 Q1 受到天氣的影響。我猜這是否意味著它對專業的影響不成比例？您能否談談第四季度安全方面 5% 的有機成長是否能夠大致持續到全年？

Yes. Thanks, Josh. Thanks for the question. I guess what I'd say about our Q1 guidance and the impact on weather is Q1 is going to look a lot like Q4. And as we get into Q2, Q3 and Q4, we'll start seeing the specialty business return to more traditional rates of growth.

是的。謝謝，喬希。謝謝你的提問。我想說的是，對於我們第一季的指導以及天氣的影響，第一季將與第四季非常相似。隨著進入第二季、第三季和第四季度，我們將開始看到專業業務恢復到更傳統的成長率。

But the growth formula and safety will be largely the same in Q1 and all of 2025 as it was in the fourth quarter in 2024.

但 2025 年第一季及全年的成長公式和安全性與 2024 年第四季大致相同。

Great. That's great to hear. And then a question for Russ on your branches. So you mentioned, obviously, certain branches have 20%-plus margins and others that what do you say are the key factors that kind of differentiate whether a branch is in that high versus the low profitability bucket?

偉大的。聽到這個消息真是太好了。然後我想問 Russ 關於你的分支的一個問題。所以您提到，顯然某些分支機構的利潤率超過 20%，而其他分支機構的利潤率則高達 20%，您認為區分分支機構利潤率高低的關鍵因素是什麼？

Thanks for that softball. And I would say that, number one, it starts with the branch leader, and we need to have really good quality branch leaders leading all of our branches. And inside those branches, we have multiple departments, and we need to have really good people leading those departments. And I think that's something -- that's where it starts.

謝謝你的壘球。我想說，首先，一切都從分支機構領導開始，我們需要有真正優秀的分支機構領導來領導我們所有的分支機構。在這些分支機構中，我們有多個部門，我們需要真正優秀的人才來領導這些部門。我認為這就是事情的開始。

And second would be adopting this inspection first mindset and making sure that we're developing bringing on inspection sales leaders in those branches to start selling that inspection because we know we're going to get to $3 to $4 of pull-through service work that's going to come alongside that.

第二，要採用這種「檢查優先」的思維方式，並確保我們正在培養這些分支機構的檢查銷售領導者來開始銷售該檢查產品，因為我們知道我們將獲得隨之而來的 3 到 4 美元的拉動式服務工作。

And that takes a lot of energy and effort. And then I would say that the second component of the following that recipe is making sure that you're disciplined from a customer and a project selection perspective. But it's going to 100% start with the branch leader and then it's going to be adopting that inspection first mindset and really putting that playbook to work.

這需要花費大量的精力和努力。然後我想說，方案的第二個組成部分是確保你從客戶和專案選擇的角度遵守紀律。但它將 100% 從分支機構領導開始，然後採用先檢查的思維方式，並真正將該劇本付諸實踐。

Stephanie Moore, Jefferies.

史蒂芬妮摩爾，傑富瑞集團。

This is -- on for Stephanie Moore. So I just wanted to talk about M&A expectations for the year, leverage pretty in check. I guess, what are you guys seeing on the M&A front, how competitive is this space? And as you think about M&A, are you looking to do it -- you see safety space or do a bit more on the elevator spaces any comments around there? And if the last one is any willingness to do another large platform deal I guess I'll leave it there.

這是——史蒂芬妮·摩爾的演講。所以我只想談談今年的併購預期，槓桿率相當可控。我想，你們在併購上看到了什麼，這個領域的競爭有多激烈？當您考慮併購時，您是否希望這樣做 - 您看到安全空間或在電梯空間方面做得更多，對此有何評論？如果最後一個人願意再做一筆大型平台交易，我想我會就此打住。

Yes. Thank you so much. And so there's a lot of ground to really cover there. So we shared that we spent roughly $250 million on bolt-on M&A at really mid-single-digit multiples. That has been a key tenet of our M&A playbook, if you will.

是的。太感謝了。因此，這裡確實有很多內容需要覆蓋。因此，我們表示，我們花費了大約 2.5 億美元用於附加併購，投資倍數實際上只有中等個位數。如果你願意的話，這一直是我們併購策略的關鍵原則。

Our plan and our goal is to execute kind of similarly this year. So we plan to spend hopefully another $250 million on bolt-on M&A through the course of this year.

我們的計劃和目標是今年執行類似的計劃和目標。因此，我們計劃在今年再投入 2.5 億美元用於附加併購。

I would say that the priorities there would be in the fire, life safety space, the security space and the elevator and escalator space. That doesn't mean that we wouldn't -- if we found a really highly profitable say, HVAC service business or something like that, that we wouldn't take a peek at it. But our priorities are primarily going to be in those buckets.

我想說，優先考慮的是消防、生命安全領域、保全領域以及電梯和自動扶梯領域。這並不意味著我們不會——如果我們發現一個真正利潤豐厚的行業，例如暖通空調服務業務或類似業務，我們就不會去研究它。但我們的首要任務還是放在這些方面。

I'm going to say that from an international perspective, we feel like we continue to make progress in our -- with our international business. And so we are opening up the aperture a little bit, and we're looking at some opportunities internationally. Where we've been, I don't know if reluctance is the right word, but we just didn't feel like we were necessarily ready to be doing bolt-on M&A in our international business.

我想說的是，從國際角度來看，我們感覺我們的國際業務正在繼續取得進展。因此，我們正在稍微開放一些範圍，並在國際上尋找一些機會。就我們所處的情況而言，我不知道用「不情願」這個詞是否恰當，但我們只是覺得我們還沒有準備好在國際業務中進行附加併購。

We've done one to date. And but we are really looking at some opportunities internationally right now as we speak, that we think would be great bolt-on opportunities. So we're going to spend some time there. And I suspect that we'll get a couple of things accomplished internationally this year. As it relates to the elevator and escalator space, what I've been sharing publicly is that our goal is to do one first and do it really well.

到目前為止我們已經完成了一個。但我們現在確實正在尋找一些國際上的機會，我們認為這將是很好的附加機會。所以我們要在那裡待一段時間。我認為我們今年將在國際上完成一些事情。就電梯和手扶梯領域而言，我一直公開表示，我們的目標是先做一件事，並把它做好。

And what I mean by that is that when we do bolt-on M&A, the company that's going to receive that bolt-on, if you will, needs to be able to integrate it. And we have an integration team here led by a very strong leader -- and -- but she's more of a quarter back and a coach and a facilitator and she basically helps the business. So the business has to be able to really receive it and integrate it. And we haven't done any bolt-on M&A with elevated since the acquisition. So we need to do one, see how the company does with that.

我的意思是，當我們進行附加併購時，接受附加併購的公司需要能夠進行整合。我們這裡有一個整合團隊，由一位非常強大的領導者領導——但她更像是一個四分衛、一個教練和一個推動者，她基本上是在幫助企業。因此企業必須能夠真正接收並整合它。自收購以來，我們還沒有與 Elevated 進行過任何附加併購。所以我們需要做一個，看看公司如何處理。

And if they do well, and then we'll turn around and we'll do another one. And I think the worst thing that we could do would be overwhelm them with two or three bolt-ons right out of the gate. So we're going to take a measured approach and make sure that we're being smart about how we approach that. And then I guess maybe the last comment I would say is that, our pipeline remains robust, and we see a lot of opportunity for us to continue to do bolt-on M&A across the breadth of our business and really specifically in the United States. The market remains highly fragmented, and we think that there's a lot of opportunity for us to continue to complement our geographic footprint through bolt-on M&A.

如果他們做得好，我們就會轉而做另一個。我認為我們能做的最糟糕的事情就是一開始就用兩三個附加措施壓倒他們。因此，我們將採取謹慎的態度，並確保我們能夠明智地處理這個問題。然後我想我最後要說的是，我們的管道依然強勁，我們看到了很多機會，可以繼續在我們的業務範圍內，特別是在美國進行附加併購。市場仍然高度分散，我們認為我們有很多機會透過附加併購來繼續補充我們的地理覆蓋範圍。

From a transformational M&A perspective, we continue to do work on a number of different opportunities in the space. We are very, very disciplined, and we need to make sure that there's the right opportunity. Do I think that we're in a position where we're going to put another leg under the stool, like we feel like we did with the elevator and escalator space, not so sure about that. I mean, we've just really got into the elevator and escalator space. So I feel like there's just a lot of work for us to do.

從轉型併購的角度來看，我們將繼續致力於該領域的許多不同機會。我們非常非常自律，我們需要確保有正確的機會。我是否認為我們正處於一個可以在凳子下放另一條腿的位置，就像我們對電梯和自動扶梯空間所做的那樣，對此我不太確定。我的意思是，我們剛剛真正進入電梯和自動扶梯領域。所以我覺得我們還有很多工作要做。

We've said it today again that we think that's a $1 billion platform for us. And I think we have a lot of work to do to demonstrate to yourself and to others that this is something that we can execute on. And so the focus will be on the verticals that we're operating in today. And I don't want to say that we wouldn't because that's a -- that would be a little bit of putting ourselves in the corner. But right now, as we sit here, I think the focus is on what we have. Are there some bigger things out there that are of interest to us, for sure.

我們今天再次表示，我們認為這對我們來說是一個價值 10 億美元的平台。我認為我們還有很多工作要做，以向你自己和其他人證明這是我們可以執行的事情。因此，重點將放在我們今天營運的垂直領域上。我不想說我們不會這樣做，因為那樣的話，我們就有點把自己逼到絕境了。但現在，當我們坐在這裡時，我認為重點是我們所擁有的。當然，是否存在一些更大的事情讓我們感興趣。

And -- but it needs to be at the right valuation for us. And specifically in the fire life safety space, you're seeing some of the larger companies, the multiples that these businesses are trading for are in our opinion, much too high. And we feel like we're going to stay disciplined and stay focused. And if the right opportunity comes along, we'll do the work and we'll dig in and -- and we'll make sure that we're doing right by our shareholders.

而且——但它需要對我們來說是正確的估值。特別是在消防生命安全領域，您會看到一些較大的公司，我們認為這些企業的交易倍數太高了。我們覺得我們會保持紀律並保持專注。如果出現合適的機會，我們就會努力工作，全力以赴，確保為股東做出正確的貢獻。

Great. And I guess just on the revenue guidance, I guess, to achieve the high end of the guidance. Could you talk about some of the drivers that you would need to see there I know you talked about FX. So if you could just, I guess, based on FX today, we just have like a currency impact, pricing expectations. Are you expecting that to continue running mid-single digit in the year, I guess just any drivers that would get you to the high end of the guidance would be helpful.

偉大的。我想，僅就收入指導而言，我想，就能達到指導的高端。您能否談談您需要了解的一些驅動程式？我知道您談到了 FX。因此，我想，如果您能根據今天的外匯情況，我們就會知道貨幣影響和定價預期。您是否預計今年的成長率將繼續保持在個位數的中段？我想任何能夠讓您達到指導上限的驅動因素都會有所幫助。

Yes. Thank you for that question. I guess what I'd say on that is our revenue guide for the year is largely based on the flywheel that we've talked about in the past, which is mid to upper single-digit growth in service revenue, low mid-single-digit project revenue growth, and that really gets you to the midpoint of our guide.

是的。謝謝你的提問。我想說的是，我們今年的收入指南主要基於我們過去談到的飛輪，即服務收入的中高個位數增長，項目收入的中低個位數增長，這實際上使您達到了我們指南的中點。

So when you think about what are the factors that could get you more to the top end obviously, it's continued acceleration and progress on the service side. But I'd say it's probably looking more towards that project book and how quickly or if that gets over the low to mid-single digit that's the foundation of our guide and our growth story.

因此，當您考慮哪些因素可以使您更接近高端時，顯然是服務的持續加速和進步。但我想說，它可能更關注的是專案書，以及它如何快速或是否能超過低到中等個位數，這是我們的指南和成長故事的基礎。

The only thing I would add to David's remarks is price will obviously play a factor in that for us. And we need to make sure that we're diligent about taking price where we can and also the end markets that we play in. And one of the things when you think about -- even my remarks about our branch leaders and the importance of our branch leaders. One of the areas that our branch leaders need to be the most strategic is in the -- with who they choose to deploy their people to, i.e., who their customers are going to be which is a direct relation to the end markets that they choose to play in. And there are certain end markets that are much stronger and much more resilient to some of the macros that are going out there.

對於大衛的評論，我唯一想補充的是價格顯然會成為影響我們決策的因素。我們需要確保我們能夠勤勉地取得價格，並確保我們所處的終端市場也能夠獲得價格。當您思考其中一件事時——甚至是我對我們的分支機構領導及其重要性的評論。我們的分行領導需要具備最具策略性眼光的領域之一是－他們選擇將員工部署到誰那裡，也就是他們的客戶是誰，這與他們選擇進入的終端市場有直接關係。某些終端市場更強大，對某些宏觀因素的抵禦能力也更強。

And then last thing, and David kind of touched on this, but we could open the spigot if we wanted to and -- but that would be at the expense of margin. And we need to demonstrate to you and to our investors that we can grow in that mid-single-digit organic rate and still expand our margins simultaneously. And we believe that -- well, we're going to do it, and we're going to show you that we can do it.

最後一件事，大衛提到了這一點，但如果我們願意，我們可以打開水龍頭 - 但那將以犧牲利潤為代價。我們需要向您和我們的投資者證明，我們可以以中位數個位數的自然成長率成長，同時仍能擴大我們的利潤率。我們相信－我們會做到的，我們會向你們證明我們可以做到。

Andy Wittman, Baird.

安迪威特曼，貝爾德。

So Russ, I mean you've been asked this question I'm about to ask several times. So I wanted to just see on the strategic outlook for your business? And you noted that the multiples for pure-play fire life safety companies are trading at multiples that you're not interested in paying for your shareholders? I mean these are reportedly in the high teens or maybe even a little better than that.

拉斯，我的意思是，你已經被問過這個問題好幾次了。所以我只是想看看貴公司的策略前景？您是否注意到，純粹從事消防生命安全業務的公司的本益比是您不願意為股東支付的？我的意思是，據報導這些數字在十幾位，甚至可能比這更好一點。

So just with the benefit of some of these trades happening in the marketplace, does that change how you're looking at the composition of your business and the specialty business, in particular, strategically with some of these trades having happened.

那麼，僅僅由於市場上發生的一些交易的好處，這是否會改變您對業務和專業業務構成的看法，特別是在發生一些交易的情況下從策略上改變。

Thanks, Andy. I was wondering when we're going to get to you. So I hope you're well. And we continue -- and I think I alluded to it in my remarks. I mean, we continue to look at I'm telling you, we really look at all aspects of our business, not just specialty.

謝謝，安迪。我想知道我們什麼時候才能到達你那裡。我希望你一切都好。我們繼續——我想我在我的演講中提到了這一點。我的意思是，我們會繼續關注，我告訴你，我們確實關注我們業務的各個方面，而不僅僅是專業方面。

Like if we have a branch that's in our North American safety business, it's not performing, I'm thinking of one actually that we closed last year. And so we look at every aspect of our business, and we have expectations that it's going to be additive to our long-term margin expansion goals. And there's a direct correlation between EBITDA margin and valuations that our shares will ultimately trade at, and we understand and we know that. So we're taking the approach as we sit here today that we are going to do selective pruning across our business, including specialty.

例如，如果我們在北美安全業務中有一個分支機構，但其表現不佳，我想到的實際上是我們去年關閉的一個分支機構。因此，我們審視業務的各個方面，並期望這將有利於我們實現長期利潤擴張目標。EBITDA 利潤率和我們股票最終交易的估值之間存在直接關聯，我們理解並且知道這一點。因此，我們今天在這裡採取的方法是，對我們的業務（包括專業業務）進行選擇性修剪。

If we have businesses that don't fit our long-term margin expansion goals, and we have some work that we know that we have to continue to do there. And we will continue to evaluate all options for our business and make sure that we're making the best decisions for our shareholders long term. But as it sits right now, today, that's the tack and that's the approach that we're taking.

如果我們的業務不符合我們的長期利潤擴張目標，我們知道我們必須繼續在那裡做一些工作。我們將繼續評估我們業務的所有選擇，並確保我們為股東的長期利益做出最佳決策。但就目前的情況來看，這就是我們今天採取的策略和方法。

Fair enough. Then I just wanted to kind of get a little bit more detail on the transformation costs in the quarter. They were a market step up this quarter over any other quarter really in your company's history. And so I was wondering what drove that in the quarter so high.

很公平。然後我只是想更詳細地了解本季的轉型成本。本季的市場表現比貴公司歷史上任何其他季度都更佳。所以我想知道是什麼原因導致本季的成長率如此之高。

And so I was wondering what drove that in the quarter so high. The budget for this number is in 2025, given that it's relatively significant here in the fourth quarter, I don't know if there's going to be a continuation of this level of transformation costs going forward.

所以我想知道是什麼原因導致本季的成長率如此之高。這個數字的預算是在2025年，考慮到它在第四季相對重要，我不知道未來是否會繼續保持這種水準的轉型成本。

Yes. Thanks for the question, Andy. I'll handle this one. So when you look at what we've got in our adjustments, contingent consideration will largely carry over into 2025 -- we've got nonservice pension costs and benefit. That can be a good guy in some years. That can be a bad guidance some years, and we're going to continue to adjust that out because we believe that doing so gives us and investors a clear view of the underlying performance of our business.

是的。謝謝你的提問，安迪。我會處理這個。因此，當您查看我們的調整結果時，或有對價將在很大程度上延續到 2025 年——我們有非服務性退休金成本和福利。幾年後，他可能會成為一個好人。在某些年份，這可能是一個糟糕的指導，我們將繼續調整，因為我們相信這樣做可以讓我們和投資者清楚地了解我們業務的基本表現。

We had restructuring costs in the quarter. Those are largely related to our Chubb value capture program. Those did increase in the fourth quarter versus the rest of the year, and we expect that to come to an end in 2025 as we close out that program. And then VPT costs, as you mentioned, were up in the quarter.

本季我們有重組成本。這些主要與我們的 Chubb 價值獲取計劃有關。與今年其他時間相比，第四季度的增幅確實有所增加，我們預計，隨著該計劃的結束，這種情況將在 2025 年結束。然後，正如您所提到的，VPT 成本在本季度有所上漲。

Now that's cost where we include integration costs for the Chubb business, the elevated transaction. It's also a bucket where we include costs for our SOX deployment, the final steps of our cyber build-out and things like that. And so as we go into 2025, we largely -- we expect the SOX deployment work now is behind us. We're in the very last inning of our cyber rollout.

現在，我們將 Chubb 業務的整合成本和交易費用納入成本。這也是一個儲存桶，其中包括我們的 SOX 部署成本、網路建設的最後步驟等。因此，當我們進入 2025 年時，我們基本上——我們預計現在的 SOX 部署工作已經完成。我們正處於網路防禦部署的最後一階段。

And so I guess what you could expect to see in 2025 is integration costs, should we do a larger platform type deal or any system IT investment costs as we look towards opportunities to capture our benefits from our global scale and our global platform.

因此，我想您在 2025 年可以預期看到的是整合成本，我們是否應該進行更大的平台類型交易或任何系統 IT 投資成本，因為我們正在尋求機會從我們的全球規模和全球平台中獲取利益。

Jon Tanwanteng, CJS Securities.

Jon Tanwanteng，CJS 證券。

-- Just you mentioned the semiconductor project that pushed out. Obviously, one of your large customers has had difficulties with management and kind of profitability in the last year. And we know that the CHIPS Act may have some issues as well in terms of funding with what's going on in the Trump administration. I'm just wondering if you see any risk there and what kind of exposure you might have for that customer or semiconductors in general -- ?

——剛才您提到了推出的半導體專案。顯然，您的一位大客戶去年在管理和盈利方面遇到了困難。我們知道，在川普政府的政策下，《CHIPS 法案》在資金方面可能也存在一些問題。我只是想知道您是否認為有任何風險，以及您對該客戶或整個半導體行業可能面臨什麼樣的風險-- ？

Well, this slippage had nothing to do with money. It had everything to do -- I mean they -- I mean, I'm just trying to think of what I can't say or not say. I mean, I want to be respectful to our client. And -- but this had nothing to do with funding or money. I mean everything is moving forward.

嗯，這種下滑與金錢無關。它與一切有關——我的意思是它們——我的意思是，我只是試著想想我不能說或不能說。我的意思是，我想尊重我們的客戶。而且——但這與資金或金錢無關。我的意思是一切都在向前發展。

They just made -- they made some changes in the leadership. It is probably the best way for me to put it. They made some changes in the leadership of the project. And when you make these major projects, when they make changes like that, it just is going to be -- it's going to take some time to smooth things out. And that's all done, and that's all behind them and moving forward.

他們剛剛對領導層做出了一些變動。這或許是我能想到的最好的表達方式。他們對專案的領導層做了一些變動。當你進行這些重大計畫時，當他們做出這樣的改變時，就需要一些時間來理清事情。這一切都已經完成，一切都已過去，我們將繼續前進。

And I would say that there they're committed and regardless of what happens with the CHIPS Act. So I'm not worried about it. I'm not concerned about it. I mean I think that's one of the things that is positive about our -- is positive about our business versus some of the peers that folks want to compare us to. Like so on some of these larger, whether it's data centers or semiconductor facilities or even some of these advanced manufacturing facilities, we're -- for us, like on the fire side or fire life safety, like a large project-related contract is $8 million, $9 million.

我想說的是，無論《兒童保護服務法案》如何實施，他們都會致力於此。所以我並不擔心。我並不擔心這個。我的意思是，我認為這是我們的積極方面之一——與人們想要與我們比較的一些同行相比，我們的業務是積極的。就像一些較大的項目，無論是資料中心還是半導體設施，甚至是一些先進的製造設施，對我們來說，例如在火災方面或消防生命安全方面，一個大型項目相關的合約價值 800 萬美元、900 萬美元。

It's not $400 million. You know what I mean, so that if something gets delayed, it's material. I mean that $400 million, say, HVAC MEP contract gets delayed, that's going to cause a hole in whoever is doing that work. And for us, if we're doing the fire, it's $8 million. And so that's not material.

這不是4億美元。你知道我的意思，所以如果某件事被推遲了，那它就是實質的。我的意思是，比如說，價值 4 億美元的 HVAC MEP 合約被推遲，這會給從事這項工作的人帶來麻煩。對我們來說，如果我們要滅火，費用是 800 萬美元。所以這並不重要。

And it's much easier for us to just kind of move past that and kind of keep the train moving down the tracks. And I mean that's one of the reasons that we're building our business the way we're building it. I mean, I don't really -- I mean, I love the fact that the data center market is as hot as it is, and we want to make sure that we're doing everything to take advantage of it. But at the end of the day, we still want the inspection service and monitoring more than we want the project work. And that's how we're building our model.

對我們來說，這樣就更容易克服這個問題，讓火車繼續沿著軌道行駛。我的意思是，這就是我們以這種方式開展業務的原因之一。我的意思是，我並不真的——我的意思是，我喜歡資料中心市場如此火爆的事實，我們希望確保我們正在盡一切努力利用它。但最終，我們仍然更需要檢查服務和監控，而不是專案工作。這就是我們建構模型的方式。

And we want to do -- we want to do project work for our clients where we're doing the inspection service and monitoring. And that is just a violent difference in our approach compared to some of our peers in the industry. So I don't feel like we've got that same level of risk as, say, other firms would have.

我們想要為我們的客戶進行專案工作，提供檢查服務和監控。這與業內一些同行相比，我們在方法上有著顯著的不同。因此，我覺得我們面臨的風險不像其他公司那麼大。

Got it. That is very helpful, Russ. And then a question for David. I think I heard you say you expect interest expense to be $145 million this year, which would be flat. I was wondering how that lines up with your expectation free cash flow and capital allocation for acquisitions and other things.

知道了。這非常有幫助，拉斯。然後問大衛一個問題。我想我聽到您說過，您預計今年的利息支出為 1.45 億美元，與去年持平。我想知道這與您對收購和其他事項的自由現金流和資本配置的預期如何。

Yes. Thanks for the question, John. Yes, you did hear right, we expect our interest rate guide for the full year 2025 to be $145 million. That feeds into our adjusted free cash flow conversion guide of 75%, which is still going to give about 10% more than 10% year-over-year increase in adjusted free cash flow for the business.

是的。謝謝你的提問，約翰。是的，您沒聽錯，我們預計 2025 年全年的利率指引為 1.45 億美元。這符合我們 75% 的調整後自由現金流轉換指南，這仍將為企業帶來比去年同期 10% 的調整後自由現金流成長約 10% 以上。

I guess what I'd say about our adjusted free cash flow guidance is that we'll be invested in net working capital to grow the business organically in 2025, and we'll improve our working capital rate in order to fund that.

我想說的是，關於我們調整後的自由現金流指引，我們將投資淨營運資本，以便在 2025 年實現業務的有機增長，並且我們將提高營運資本率以為此提供資金。

I'm just wondering why the interest expense isn't expected to go down. I don't know if you're spending it on other things.

我只是想知道為什麼利息支出預計不會下降。我不知道您是否將其花在其他事情上。

Yes. John, it's as much of an accounting question as it is anything else. We had a prior period, I'd say, good guide to interest expense in 2024 that we don't expect to repeat in 2025.

是的。約翰，這既是一個會計問題，也是一個其他問題。我想說，我們之前對 2024 年的利息支出有一個很好的指導，我們預計 2025 年不會重複這種情況。

-- That concludes our question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Russ Becker, President and CEO, for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

——我們的問答環節到此結束。現在，我將把電話轉回給總裁兼執行長拉斯貝克爾 (Russ Becker)，請他作最後發言。請繼續。

Thank you so much. In closing, I would like to thank all of our team members 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.

太感謝了。最後，我要感謝我們團隊的所有成員對我們業務的持續支持和奉獻。我們相信，我們的員工是一切事物的基礎。沒有他們，我們就不存在。

I would also like to thank our long-term shareholders as well as those that are new are 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, everybody, for taking the time to join our call.

我還要感謝我們的長期股東以及最近加入我們的新股東的支持。我們感謝您對 APi 的所有權，我們期待在今年剩餘時間內向您通報我們的進展。感謝大家抽空參加我們的電話會議。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，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。