Archrock Inc (AROC) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. Welcome to the Archrock third-quarter 2024 conference call. Your host for today's call is Megan Repine, Vice President of Investor Relations at Archrock. I will now turn the call over to Ms. Repine. Please go ahead.

早安.歡迎參加 Archrock 2024 年第三季電話會議。今天電話會議的主持人是 Archrock 投資者關係副總裁 Megan Repine。現在我將把電話轉給雷皮恩女士。請繼續。

Thank you, Julianne. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us on today's call. With me today are Brad Childers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Archrock; and Doug Aron, Chief Financial Officer of Archrock. Yesterday, Archrock released its financial and operating results for the third quarter of 2024. If you have not received a copy, you can find the information on the company's website at www.archrock.com.

謝謝你，茱麗安。大家好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議。今天與我一起的是 Archrock 總裁兼執行長 Brad Childers；以及 Archrock 財務長 Doug Aron。昨日，Archrock 公佈了 2024 年第三季的財務和營運業績。如果您尚未收到副本，您可以在公司網站 www.archrock.com 上找到該資訊。

During this call, we will make forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 based on our current beliefs and expectations as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Archrock's management team. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

在本次電話會議中，我們將根據我們目前的信念和預期以及 Archrock 管理團隊所做的假設和目前掌握的信息，做出《1934 年證券交易法》第 21E 條所定義義的前瞻性陳述。儘管管理階層認為此類前瞻性聲明所反映的預期是合理的，但無法保證此類預期將被證明是正確的。

Please refer to our latest filings with the SEC for a list of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements made during this call. In addition, our discussion today will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted net income, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross margin, and adjusted gross margin percentage. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to our GAAP financial results, please see yesterday's press release and our Form 8-K furnished to the SEC.

請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新文件，以了解可能導致實際結果與本次電話會議中前瞻性陳述的結果有重大差異的因素清單。此外，我們今天的討論將參考某些非 GAAP 財務指標，包括調整後的淨收入、調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的毛利率和調整後的毛利率百分比。有關這些非 GAAP 財務指標與我們的 GAAP 財務結果的對賬，請參閱昨天的新聞稿和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的 8-K 表。

I'll now turn the call over to Brad to discuss Archrock's third-quarter results and to provide an update of our business.

現在我將把電話轉給布拉德，討論 Archrock 的第三季業績並提供我們的業務最新情況。

Thank you, Megan. And good morning, everyone. Archrock drove tremendous performance during the third quarter, building on the strong results and momentum we've delivered all year. Archrock's excellent assets, customer service, and execution continue to drive consistency in our overall performance and enhanced earnings power. We're excited to have successfully completed the acquisition of TOPS at the end of August, which is net income and cash flow accretive, expands our business with blue-chip customers in the Permian, and establishes Archrock as the leader in electric motor drive compression.

謝謝你，梅根。大家早安。Archrock 在第三季取得了出色的業績，這得益於我們全年的強勁業績和發展勢頭。Archrock 的優良資產、客戶服務和執行力持續推動我們整體績效的穩定和獲利能力的增強。我們很高興在 8 月底成功完成了對 TOPS 的收購，這將增加我們的淨收入和現金流，擴大我們與二疊紀藍籌客戶的業務，並確立 Archrock 在馬達驅動壓縮領域的領先地位。

The durability of our positive outlook is further supported by the strong market, including high levels of new bookings and forecasted increases in natural gas and oil production, which will serve as the foundation for an opportunity-rich market in 2025 and beyond. With that backdrop, let me start today's call with a summary of key highlights from the third quarter.

強勁的市場進一步支持了我們樂觀前景的持久性，包括高水準的新訂單和預測的天然氣和石油產量成長，這將為 2025 年及以後充滿機會的市場奠定基礎。基於此背景，讓我以第三季主要亮點的總結來開始今天的電話會議。

We delivered adjusted net income of $47 million, which is a 53% increase compared to a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA of $151 million was up more than 25% versus the prior-year period. Our contract compression operations and aftermarket services segments delivered record-setting adjusted gross margins due to continued pricing improvement, enhanced efficiency, and the resulting profitability gains.

我們實現調整後淨收入 4,700 萬美元，較去年同期成長 53%。調整後 EBITDA 為 1.51 億美元，較去年同期成長 25% 以上。由於價格持續改善、效率提高以及由此帶來的獲利成長，我們的合約壓縮營運和售後服務部門實現了創紀錄的調整後毛利率。

And we continue to increase shareholder returns. We raised our quarterly dividend per share by 13% compared to a year ago, all while maintaining robust dividend coverage of 3 times. In addition, we continued repurchasing shares under our share buyback authorization.

我們也會繼續提高股東回報。與去年同期相比，我們將季度每股股息提高了 13%，同時保持了 3 倍的強勁股息覆蓋率。此外，我們也根據股票回購授權繼續回購股票。

The good news is twofold. The third-quarter performance I just described reflects significant outperformance in Archrock's operations before taking into account the positive impact of the TOPS acquisition. I continue to be excited by the magnitude of the operational and financial improvements we've already achieved with our platform transformation. And with the third quarter, including only one month of TOPS results, the best is yet to come as we continue to integrate this high-quality and high-margin operation, building an even more prosperous Archrock. As Doug will discuss in more detail, we raised our full-year 2024 guidance to reflect this outperformance in our operation and the addition of TOPS.

好消息有兩點。我剛剛描述的第三季業績反映出，在考慮 TOPS 收購的正面影響之前，Archrock 的營運表現顯著優異。我對我們透過平台轉型所取得的營運和財務改進的幅度感到非常興奮。第三季僅公佈了一個月的 TOPS 業績，隨著我們繼續整合這高品質、高利潤的業務，打造更繁榮的 Archrock，最好的事情還在後頭。正如 Doug 將更詳細地討論的那樣，我們上調了 2024 年全年業績指引，以反映我們營運的優異表現和 TOPS 的加入。

Next, I'd like to share our perspective on the market. As we've discussed for several quarters, this is a highly constructive market for compression. Like gathering systems, processing plants, and pipelines, compression is mission-critical infrastructure for natural gas transportation and for oil production.

接下來我想分享我們對市場的看法。正如我們幾個季度以來所討論的那樣，對於壓縮來說，這是一個高度建設性的市場。與收集系統、加工廠和管道一樣，壓縮是天然氣運輸和石油生產的關鍵基礎設施。

Given the structural increase in natural gas demand ahead, the midstream sector, compression industry, and Archrock are all on the cusp of an expanding opportunity set. A wave of global LNG projects that have already been approved and sanctioned are expected to result in a sustained call on US natural gas production beginning in 2025.

鑑於未來天然氣需求的結構性成長，中游產業、壓縮產業和 Archrock 都處於不斷擴大的機會之巔。預計，已獲批准和認可的全球一系列液化天然氣計畫將從2025年開始對美國天然氣生產產生持續需求。

And more recently, additional electrical generation to support AI and data center buildouts in the US is a developing trend that augments the opportunity set for natural gas. Our customers will need our equipment, our service and our people to move gas to market to satisfy this additional demand, and about 70% of our operating fleet is deployed on midstream gathering applications to do just that.

最近，為支援美國人工智慧和資料中心建設而增加的電力生產是一個發展趨勢，這增加了天然氣的機會。我們的客戶需要我們的設備、服務和人員將天然氣推向市場以滿足這一額外需求，而我們約 70% 的營運車隊部署在中游收集應用中就是為了實現這一目標。

For the other 30% deployed in gas lift applications for oil production, we see an equally exciting outlook. As more oil is produced, the demand for compressors directed at gas lift also increases. Through the acquisition of TOPS, we have strategically grown our leverage to the Permian, which sits on the low end of the cost curve and is expected to lead the US in oil and gas production growth well into the future.

對於其餘 30% 用於石油生產的氣舉應用，我們看到了同樣令人興奮的前景。隨著石油產量的增加，對氣舉壓縮機的需求也隨之增加。透過收購 TOPS，我們策略性地擴大了對二疊紀盆地的影響力，該盆地的成本處於曲線的低端，預計未來將引領美國石油和天然氣產量的成長。

As you would expect in the opportunity-rich market I just described, customer demand for contract compression horsepower to be placed into service in 2025 and even into 2026 is elevated. And we expect to be an integral participant in developing the compression infrastructure required to meet that demand.

正如您在我剛才描述的充滿機會的市場中所預料的那樣，客戶對於 2025 年甚至 2026 年投入使用的合約壓縮馬力的需求將會上升。我們希望成為開發滿足該需求所需的壓縮基礎設施的重要參與者。

Moving to our contract operations segment, we've repositioned our compression operations to focus on the two most profitable segments of the market: large midstream compression units and electric motor drive compression units. The benefits of this strategy are paying off in our utilization, pricing, and profitability.

轉向我們的合約營運部門，我們重新定位了我們的壓縮運營，專注於市場上最賺錢的兩個部分：大型中游壓縮裝置和電動馬達驅動壓縮裝置。這項策略的好處已在我們的利用率、定價和獲利能力上得到體現。

Our fleet remained fully utilized during the quarter, with utilization exiting the quarter at 95%. At quarter end, we had 4.2 million operating horsepower, up from 3.6 million last quarter. On the pre-acquisition fleet, we delivered approximately 37,000 in active horsepower growth, excluding non-core active asset sales of 3,000 horsepower. In addition, the former TOPS electric motor drive operating fleet grew to 544,000 horsepower as of the end of September.

本季我們的船隊保持滿載狀態，季末的利用率達到 95%。截至季末，我們的運行馬力為 420 萬馬力，高於上一季的 360 萬馬力。在收購前的車隊中，我們實現了約 37,000 匹馬力的活躍馬力成長，不包括 3,000 匹馬力的非核心活躍資產銷售。此外，截至 9 月底，前 TOPS 電動馬達驅動營運車隊的功率已增至 544,000 匹馬力。

On bookings activity, with robust market demand and excellent customer service, our sales team again secured strong contract operations bookings at pricing levels that were higher than in the previous quarter. We have a strong backlog of newbuild equipment starts for 2025 and have already begun to sign contracts for 2026.

在預訂活動方面，憑藉強勁的市場需求和卓越的客戶服務，我們的銷售團隊再次以高於上一季的價格水平獲得了強勁的合約營運預訂。我們有大量 2025 年新建設備訂單積壓，並且已經開始簽署 2026 年的合約。

Our team continues to realize additional price increases on our operating fleet and cost efficiently deliver industry-leading safety performance and equipment run times to our customers. This resulted in record monthly revenue horsepower and adjusted gross margin on both an Archrock stand-alone basis and on a combined basis. Our adjusted gross margin percentage was an impressive 67%, up 300 basis points year over year.

我們的團隊繼續實現營運車隊的額外價格上漲，並以經濟高效的方式向客戶提供業界領先的安全性能和設備運行時間。這使得 Archrock 的月收入馬力和調整後毛利率均創下歷史新高，無論是單獨計算還是合併計算。我們的調整後毛利率達到了令人印象深刻的67%，年增300個基點。

I remain ambitious about margin performance in 2025 given the sustained benefits I expect from investments into inventory and communication technologies and the expansion of our electric motor drive capabilities.

鑑於我預計對庫存和通訊技術的投資以及電動馬達驅動能力的擴展將帶來持續的收益，我對 2025 年的利潤率表現仍然充滿信心。

We closed on the acquisition of TOPS at the end of August, just one month after announcement. I'm excited with how well integration is going. I'm pleased to share that everything we have seen through integration has confirmed the value of this acquisition for our shareholders, our customers, and Archrock.

我們在 8 月底完成了對 TOPS 的收購，距離宣布收購僅一個月。我對整合的進展非常順利感到非常興奮。我很高興地告訴大家，我們透過整合看到的一切都證實了這項收購對我們的股東、客戶和 Archrock 的價值。

Yesterday, we announced revised guidance for 2024, including outperformance in our pre-acquisition business and four months of TOPS, and I remain confident in our ability to deliver the transaction's accretion targets for 2025. This includes a 10% increase to earnings per share and at least a 20% increase to cash available for dividend per share in 2025. Doug will cover our updated guidance in more detail.

昨天，我們宣布了 2024 年的修訂指引，包括收購前業務的優異表現和四個月的 TOPS，我仍然對我們實現 2025 年交易增值目標的能力充滿信心。這包括每股收益增加 10% 以及 2025 年每股股息現金增加至少 20%。Doug 將更詳細地介紹我們更新後的指南。

Turning to our aftermarket services segment, the team delivered another outstanding quarter. This level of performance and consistency in results is the best we have seen in a long time. Revenues remained elevated as great service is driving repeat business with customers. We delivered a record third-quarter adjusted gross margin percentage of 26% as we continue to focus on high-quality and high-margin work.

談到我們的售後服務部門，團隊又取得了一個出色的季度成績。這種水準的表現和結果的一致性是我們長期以來所見過的最佳的。由於優質的服務推動了客戶回頭業務，收入得以持續成長。由於我們繼續專注於高品質、高利潤的工作，我們第三季調整後的毛利率達到了創紀錄的 26%。

Next, let me turn to our financial and capital allocation strategy. Our strategy continues to be rooted in a returns-based approach that balances our leverage position, investment in high-quality opportunities presented by the market, and returns to shareholders. First, we have an industry-leading balance sheet and leverage position and continue to target a leverage ratio of between 3 to 3.5 times. This underpins our ability to execute on our plans and opportunistically adapt to market conditions.

接下來，我來談談我們的財務和資本配置策略。我們的策略繼續植根於以回報為基礎的方法，平衡我們的槓桿地位、對市場提供的高品質機會的投資以及股東回報。首先，我們擁有領先業界的資產負債表和槓桿率，並持續將槓桿率目標設定在3至3.5倍之間。這鞏固了我們執行計劃和適時適應市場條件的能力。

The second objective is investing in profitable growth opportunities presented by the market. Given the pricing and profitability improvements that we continue to drive in our business, our corporate ROIC is forecasted to be well in excess of our cost of capital in 2024 and is expected to continue to move higher as we invest in large midstream and electric motor drive newbuild horsepower to support our exceptional and growing customer base.

第二個目標是投資市場提供的獲利成長機會。鑑於我們繼續在業務中推動定價和盈利能力的改善，我們預計2024 年的企業投資回報率將遠遠超過我們的資本成本，並且隨著我們在大型中游和電機驅動方面的投資，預計投資回報率將繼續走高新建馬力來支持我們卓越且不斷成長的客戶群。

The IRRs at which we expect to invest newbuild capital are strong in the mid- to high teens with paybacks between five and six years. This is an ideal time for investment as we are capturing significantly improved levels of profitability and beginning to reap the benefits of a multi-year strategic transformation to standardize our fleet and digitize our platform.

我們預期投資新建資本的 IRR 將達到中高水平，回報期為五至六年。這是投資的理想時機，因為我們正在獲得顯著提高的獲利水平，並開始收穫多年戰略轉型帶來的收益，以實現船隊標準化和平台數位化。

We're delivering a higher level of service for our customers, which commands a higher price and further supports long-term returns and shareholder value creation. During this period of market expansion, we're working to balance an abundant and attractive opportunity set with customers' demand for capital discipline and return of capital. We're focused on funding this growth CapEx with a combination of cash flow from operations and support from modest non-strategic asset sale proceeds as we continue to high-grade our fleet.

我們為客戶提供更高水準的服務，從而獲得更高的價格並進一步支持長期回報和股東價值創造。在市場擴張期間，我們致力於在豐富而有吸引力的機會與客戶對資本紀律和資本回報的需求之間取得平衡。我們專注於透過營運現金流量和適度的非策略性資產出售收益支持來為這項成長型資本支出提供資金，同時繼續提升我們的船隊水準。

And finally, we're committed to returning capital to investors. The Archrock Board of Directors approved the second increase in Archrock's quarterly cash dividend for 2024 and fourth increase in the last two years, reflecting our confidence in enduring demand growth for natural gas and our transform platform, which is delivering excellent and consistent results. And we have significant financial capacity to continue increasing cash returns to shareholders while maintaining a prudent dividend coverage ratio.

最後，我們致力於向投資者返還資本。Archrock 董事會批准了 2024 年 Archrock 季度現金股利的第二次增加以及過去兩年內的第四次增加，這反映了我們對天然氣需求持續增長以及我們的轉型平台正在提供出色且持續的業績的信心。我們擁有強大的財務能力，可以在保持審慎的股息覆蓋率的同時繼續增加股東的現金回報。

It's been an exceptionally busy, productive, and rewarding time at Archrock. Our transform platform is delivering meaningful and consistent growth in quarterly revenue, profitability, and cash flows. At the same time, the TOPS acquisition strengthens our financial profile and enhances our ability to execute on our strategic plans. It allows us to invest additional retained cash flow into the business to take advantage of the robust market we're currently seeing while further increasing cash returns to shareholders.

這是 Archrock 一段異常忙碌、富有成效且有回報的時光。我們的轉型平台正在實現季度收入、獲利能力和現金流的有意義且持續的成長。同時，TOPS 收購增強了我們的財務狀況並提高了我們執行策略計畫的能力。它使我們能夠將額外的保留現金流投資到業務中，以利用我們目前看到的強勁市場，同時進一步增加股東的現金回報。

As we talked about in prior earnings calls, Archrock is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, a testament to the company's legacy of adaptability. While many compression companies have come and gone, Archrock's operation has endured and become the premier US natural gas compression company. I want to extend gratitude to our employees for enabling us to deliver the best performance in the company's history and for continuing to shape our great story.

正如我們在之前的財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，Archrock 今年正在慶祝成立 70 週年，這證明了該公司適應能力的傳統。儘管許多壓縮公司紛紛倒閉，但 Archrock 的業務一直堅持下來，並成為美國首屈一指的天然氣壓縮公司。我要向我們的員工表示感謝，感謝他們讓我們取得了公司歷史上最好的業績，並繼續寫下我們偉大的故事。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Doug for a review of our third-quarter performance and updated 2024 guidance.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給 Doug，讓他回顧我們第三季的業績並更新 2024 年的指引。

Thanks, Brad, and good morning. Archrock delivered another quarter of strong financial results. Net income for the third quarter of 2024 was $38 million. Excluding the $9 million of transaction-related costs and a $3 million debt extinguishment loss and adjusting for the associated tax impact, we delivered adjusted net income of over $47 million.

謝謝，布拉德，早安。Archrock 又一個季度取得了強勁的財務業績。2024年第三季淨收入為3,800萬美元。除去 900 萬美元的交易相關成本和 300 萬美元的債務清償損失，並根據相關稅務影響進行調整後，我們實現的調整後淨收入超過 4,700 萬美元。

We reported adjusted EBITDA of $151 million for the third quarter 2024. We delivered an increase in adjusted gross margin of $22 million on a sequential basis due to significant outperformance in our pre-acquisition business as well as one month contribution from the TOPS acquisition, which closed at the end of August.

我們報告 2024 年第三季的調整後 EBITDA 為 1.51 億美元。由於我們收購前的業務表現優異，以及 8 月底完成的 TOPS 收購帶來的一個月貢獻，我們的調整後毛利率比上季增加了 2,200 萬美元。

Our third-quarter results further benefited from net gain on the sale of non-strategic assets of $2.2 million. For the third quarter, growth capital expenditures totaled $42 million. Through the end of the third quarter, we've deployed $182 million of growth CapEx and high-return projects to meet the strong customer demand we're seeing, primarily in associated gas basins such as the Permian.

我們第三季的業績進一步受惠於出售非策略資產的淨收益 220 萬美元。第三季度，成長資本支出總計 4,200 萬美元。截至第三季末，我們已部署了 1.82 億美元的成長資本支出和高回報項目，以滿足我們看到的強勁客戶需求，主要在二疊紀等相關天然氣盆地。

Included in the third-quarter number is $12 million in Archrock funded newbuild CapEx that was previously ordered by TOPS. Maintenance and other CapEx for the third quarter of 2024 was $28 million. Maintenance CapEx was down sequentially due primarily to fewer overhauls during the third quarter.

第三季的數字包括由 Archrock 資助的 1,200 萬美元新建資本支出，該支出先前由 TOPS 訂購。2024 年第三季的維護和其他資本支出為 2,800 萬美元。維護資本支出較上季下降，主要由於第三季大修次數減少。

Turning to the balance sheet, during the quarter, we funded the cash portion of the total consideration for the TOPS transaction with a combination of equity and debt to keep us on track to achieve our financial targets, including our objective of maintaining a consistent leverage ratio of 3 to 3.5 times. We raised net proceeds of $256 million through a common stock offering in July.

談到資產負債表，在本季度，我們透過股權和債務相結合的方式為 TOPS 交易總對價的現金部分提供資金，以使我們能夠實現財務目標，包括保持一致的槓桿率的目標至3.5倍。我們於 7 月透過普通股發行籌集了 2.56 億美元的淨收益。

In August, we issued $700 million aggregate principal amount of 6 5/8 senior notes due 2032. We also tendered for $200 million aggregate principal amount of 6 7/8 senior notes due 2027 with $300 million of principal amount remaining on that bond. This brought our period-end total long-term debt to $2.2 billion.

8 月份，我們發行了總本金額為 7 億美元的 2032 年到期的 6 5/8 優先票據。我們還投標了總額為 2 億美元的 6 7/8 優先票據，該票據於 2027 年到期，剩餘本金為 3 億美元。這使得我們期末的長期債務總額達到 22 億美元。

Our leverage ratio at quarter end was 3.57 times. As it relates to our leverage ratio, note that our leverage ratio is calculated as total debt divided by our trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA for Archrock and for the TOPS acquisition. Given our expectation for continued strong performance in our underlying business as well as strong future earnings power from the TOPS assets, we expect to be back inside of our stated leverage range of 3 to 3.5 times by the end of this year, which is impressive given the earnings power on the horizon for the acquired electric motor drive business.

我們季末的槓桿率為 3.57 倍。至於我們的槓桿率，請注意，我們的槓桿率計算方法為總債務除以 Archrock 和 TOPS 收購過去 12 個月的調整後 EBITDA。鑑於我們對基礎業務持續強勁表現的預期以及 TOPS 資產未來強勁的盈利能力，我們預計到今年年底槓桿率將回到我們所述的 3 至 3.5 倍範圍內，這是令人印象深刻的所收購的電動馬達驅動業務未來的獲利能力。

Turning to shareholder returns, we recently declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.175 per share or $0.70 on an annualized basis. This reflected an increase of 6% over the Archrock second-quarter 2024 dividend level and an increase of 13% over the Archrock third-quarter 2023 dividend level. Cash available for dividend for the third quarter of 2024 totaled $93 million, leading to impressive quarterly coverage on the increased dividend amount of 3 times.

談到股東回報，我們最近宣布第三季股息為每股 0.175 美元或年化股息 0.70 美元。這比 Archrock 2024 年第二季的股息水準成長了 6%，比 Archrock 2023 年第三季的股息水準成長了 13%。2024 年第三季可用於分紅的現金總額為 9,300 萬美元，季度股利覆蓋率達到令人印象深刻的 3 倍。

Importantly, we believe the increase in discretionary cash flow from the addition of TOPS will further enhance our financial flexibility and capacity to increase dividends to our shareholders over time. In addition to increasing the dividend this quarter, we repurchased approximately 650,000 shares for $12.1 million at an average price of $18.63 per share. This leaves $38 million in remaining capacity for additional share repurchases.

重要的是，我們相信，增加 TOPS 帶來的可自由支配現金流的增加將進一步增強我們的財務靈活性和隨著時間的推移增加股東股息的能力。除了本季增加股息外，我們還以每股 18.63 美元的平均價格回購了約 65 萬股，價值 1,210 萬美元。這樣還剩下 3,800 萬美元的額外股票回購容量。

As you saw in our earnings release issued yesterday, Archrock increased its 2024 annual guidance to reflect year-to-date outperformance in the company's pre-acquisition business and to include the TOPS acquisition. Our revised guidance reflects four months of results from the transaction. We are raising our 2024 adjusted EBITDA range of $575 million to $585 million. In contract operations, we expect full-year revenue to be in the range of $970 million to $980 million, with adjusted gross margin percentages of between $66 and 67% for the year as we continue to realize high levels of utilizations, benefit from price increases, and add TOPS' high-quality fleet.

正如您在我們昨天發布的收益報告中看到的那樣，Archrock 提高了其 2024 年年度指引，以反映該公司收購前業務的年初至今的優異表現，並包括 TOPS 收購。我們的修訂指南反映了交易四個月的結果。我們將 2024 年調整後 EBITDA 範圍從 5.75 億美元提高至 5.85 億美元。在合約營運方面，我們預計全年收入將在9.7 億美元至9.8 億美元之間，全年調整後的毛利率將在66% 至67% 之間，因為我們繼續實現高利用率，受益於價格上漲，並加入TOPS的優質車隊。

In our AMS business, we now expect a full-year revenue range -- full-year revenue to range from $180 million to $185 million, with adjusted gross margin percentages of 22% to 23%. We are focused on defending the profitability gains we've worked hard to achieve.

在我們的 AMS 業務中，我們現在預計全年收入範圍 - 全年收入在 1.8 億美元至 1.85 億美元之間，調整後的毛利率百分比為 22％至 23％。我們專注於捍衛我們努力實現的獲利成長。

Turning to growth capital, on a full year basis, our updated expectation is approximately $260 million. As we continue to anticipate $190 million in growth CapEx for our pre-acquisition business, the $70 million increase is exclusively related to the addition of the TOPS backlog and the remaining payments to packagers at delivery.

談到成長資本，按全年計算，我們最新的預期約為 2.6 億美元。由於我們繼續預期收購前業務的資本支出將增加 1.9 億美元，因此 7,000 萬美元的增幅完全與 TOPS 積壓訂單的增加以及交付時支付給包裝商的剩餘款項有關。

This backlog is substantially committed to customers, and the horsepower is expected to be placed in the field during the fourth quarter with a small portion extending into 2025. Of note, we've raised approximately $24 million so far this year through non-strategic equipment sales to support our newbuild investment program.

這些積壓訂單大部分都已承諾提供給客戶，預計第四季將投入使用，一小部分將延續到 2025 年。值得注意的是，今年迄今為止，我們已經透過非策略性設備銷售籌集了大約 2,400 萬美元，以支持我們的新建投資計畫。

Maintenance CapEx is forecasted to be approximately $85 million. Although our electric motor drive business will require less maintenance on a per-horsepower basis, the gross amount will be towards the high end of our prior guidance to account for our larger fleet. Other CapEx, which consists of capital for vehicles, technology, and real estate, is expected to be around $25 million.

維護資本支出預計約 8500 萬美元。儘管我們的電動馬達驅動業務按每馬力計算所需的維護較少，但為了適應我們更大的車隊，總維護金額將接近我們之前預期的高端。其他資本支出包括車輛、技術和房地產資本，預計約 2500 萬美元。

In summary, the significant outperformance in our pre-acquisition business, the continued deployment of innovative technology and expanded electric motor drive fleet, result in an increase to our 2024 adjusted EBITDA guidance expectation and set a strong foundation for even higher levels of customer service, operational execution, and profitability in 2025. We have an opportunities-rich market and expect to invest in higher-return opportunities to profitably grow our business while prioritizing and growing shareholder returns and maintaining an industry-leading balance sheet.

綜上所述，我們收購前業務的出色表現、創新技術的持續部署以及電機驅動車隊的擴大，使我們對2024 年調整後EBITDA 的預期有所提高，並為更高水平的客戶服務奠定了堅實的基礎。我們擁有一個充滿機會的市場，並期望投資於更高回報的機會，以實現業務盈利增長，同時優先考慮和增加股東回報並保持行業領先的資產負債表。

Julianne, we are now ready to open the line for questions.

朱麗安，我們現在可以接受提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Jim Rollyson, Raymond James.

（操作員指示）Jim Rollyson，Raymond James。

Hey. Good morning, everyone, and nice job on the quarter again. Brad, you talked about the margin performance, which was obviously really strong. And I'm curious just to maybe understand the moving parts a little bit. We can calculate, obviously what kind of revenue per horsepower per month did.

嘿。大家早安，希望本季你們的工作再創佳績。布拉德，你談到了利潤率表現，這顯然非常強勁。我很好奇，只是想稍微了解一下其中的活動部件。我們可以計算一下，顯然每馬力每個月能帶來什麼樣的收入。

Cost obviously came down here. And I'm just trying to understand what the moving parts are between the legacy performance and then maybe what one month of TOPS actually introduced and how repeatable this kind of 67-plus percent gross margin is.

顯然，成本已經下降了。我只是想要了解傳統表現和一個月的 TOPS 實際表現之間的變動因素，以及這種 67% 以上的毛利率的可重複性如何。

Yeah, so when we look at the stand-alone business, Jim, that was the vast bulk of the contribution to the outperformance in the quarter, coming in at 66.8% before including the performance from TOPS. So it's a really strong quarter for the underlying business. And the drivers of that have been really important work that we've been executing on now for several quarters and in fact, years.

是的，當我們看待獨立業務時，吉姆，這是本季出色表現的絕大部分貢獻，在包括 TOPS 的表現之前，這一比例達到了 66.8%。因此對於基礎業務而言這是一個非常強勁的季度。而推動這一目標實現的確實是我們幾個季度以來，甚至幾年來一直在執行的非常重要的工作。

It really reflects the strong utilization and pricing environment we have, plus the investments we've made in technology that's both in the form of telemetry and communications to help us drive a much more responsive business model for the benefit of our customers, and candidly, for the benefit of cost.

它確實反映了我們擁有的強大的利用率和定價環境，以及我們在遙測和通訊技術方面的投資，這些投資幫助我們推動了一種更具響應能力的業務模式，使我們的客戶受益，坦率地說，為了節省成本。

We've also reaped some rewards for reduced pricing in lube oil in the business. And so that's a part of it, too. But you're seeing outperformance driven by both revenue and cost on the underlying business as being the biggest driver for that outperformance in the quarter.

我們也因潤滑油價格的降低而獲得了一些回報。這也是其中的一部分。但您會看到，基礎業務的收入和成本共同推動了業績優異，這是本季業績優異的最大驅動力。

I imagine with TOPS kind of adding on to that that this probably should be a pretty sustainable type of number. Maybe switching gears toward the follow up -- go ahead, sorry.

我想，如果 TOPS 能夠對此進行添加，這個數字可能會是一個相當可持續的數字。也許要轉換話題進行後續行動——繼續吧，抱歉。

It's not just sustainable. The addition of TOPS is going to continue to expand our margins. We're very ambitious about what we get to do with margins going forward, both with the acquisition and the integration fully of the TOPS operation, plus the future benefits of the transformation we've been investing in for the last few years.

它不僅僅是可持續的。TOPS 的加入將繼續擴大我們的利潤率。我們對未來的利潤率抱持著非常雄心勃勃的目標，包括收購和全面整合 TOPS 業務，以及過去幾年我們一直在投資的轉型所帶來的未來利益。

Yes. That's exciting. And maybe one, I don't know for Brad or Doug, but you referenced the $70 million of CapEx that's in the updated growth CapEx budget. I think you said $12 million came out of the third quarter, so like $58 million in the fourth quarter. As you roll into '25 and just thinking about this generally going forward, how do you think about allocating growth CapEx between the traditional legacy business and the electric motor drive TOPS business?

是的。這真令人興奮。也許有一個，我不知道布拉德或道格是誰，但你提到了更新的成長資本支出預算中的 7000 萬美元資本支出。我記得您說過第三季的支出為 1200 萬美元，那麼第四季的支出為 5800 萬美元。當您進入25年並思考未來的發展時，您如何考慮在傳統遺留業務和電動馬達驅動 TOPS 業務之間分配成長資本支出？

Overall, we expect our investment in electric motor drive as a percent of our capital allocation for newbuild equipment to continue to expand. The legacy business was running at about between 20% and 30% of our newbuild CapEx being allocated to electric motor drive, both new unit acquisition as well as conversions of gas drives into electric motor drives.

整體而言，我們預期對電動馬達驅動的投資佔新建設備資本配置的百分比將持續增加。我們新建資本支出中約有 20% 到 30% 用於傳統業務，用於電動馬達驅動，包括新設備的收購以及將燃氣驅動轉換為電動馬達驅動。

Going forward, we expect that percentage to increase to more like 40% -- to 40% and 50%. It's too early. We haven't finished our allocation of what we think we're going to be doing in 2025. But I know that percentage is going up as the market is looking to increasingly electrify in the oilfield.

展望未來，我們預計該比例將增加到 40% 左右，甚至是 40% 和 50%。還太早。我們還沒有完成 2025 年要做的事情的分配。但我知道，隨著市場對油田電氣化的追求日益增強，這一比例正在上升。

That's helpful. Thanks, guys.

這很有幫助。謝謝大家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Selman Akyol, Stifel.

塞爾曼·阿克約爾（Selman Akyol），Stifel。

Thank you. Good morning. Congratulations on a nice quarter. Maybe in your opening comments, you talked about the period of market expansion. And I'm just curious, as you sit today and you see the electric coming, sort of where are we in this period -- go to the baseball analogy, what inning, but just how much longer does this have to run?

謝謝。早安.恭喜您度過了一個愉快的季度。也許您在開場白中談到了市場擴張時期。我只是很好奇，當您今天坐著看到電流來臨時，我們處於這個時期的哪個階段——以棒球為例，哪一局，但這還要持續多久？

A couple of thoughts, Selman. Number one, unlike a nine-inning game or even with over time, this doesn't end. So I don't know. There's never a ninth inning. So it means that the analogy can be difficult to implement. But when we look at the market ahead, the market is robust. That's both for demand for natural gas as well as for oil production.

塞爾曼，我有幾點想法。首先，與九局比賽或加時賽不同，這場比賽不會結束。所以我不知道。從來沒有第九局。所以這意味著這個類比可能難以實現。但當我們展望未來市場時，我們會發現市場是強勁的。這既適用於天然氣需求，也適用於石油生產。

What we are seeing in the marketplace from our customers, what we're seeing in forecasts across the board is that we are at a very early stage of expanding the infrastructure to support the amount of natural gas production required to help power of the world. And so both through the export of LNG now with increasing demand for AI and data centers, we see that the energy consumption that will be fueled by natural gas is going to continue to expand for a while.

我們從市場上的客戶看到的情況以及從各方面的預測來看，我們正處於擴大基礎設施的早期階段，以支持世界電力所需的天然氣產量。因此，透過現在液化天然氣的出口以及對人工智慧和資料中心的需求不斷增加，我們看到由天然氣推動的能源消耗將在一段時間內持續擴大。

On oil production, we're highly leveraged to the Permian Basin. We have 30% of our fleet now on gas lift to support oil production. And as the lowest cost basin out there, we think that the demand on the Permian oil production is poised to grow. So the position we have, leveraging against natural gas production, which is going to grow in oil production out of the Permian, which we believe is going to grow and support as to the growth, puts us in a strong position. And I would say it's early innings overall in the market, but also in a game that doesn't actually have a ninth inning.

在石油生產方面，我們高度依賴二疊紀盆地。目前，我們有 30% 的石油開採船隊採用氣舉方式來支持石油生產。作為成本最低的盆地，我們認為二疊紀石油產量的需求將會成長。因此，我們利用天然氣產量來推動二疊紀石油產量的成長，我們相信二疊紀石油產量也會成長，這讓我們處於有利地位。我想說，從市場來看，這總體來說還處於早期階段，但實際上這場比賽並沒有第九局。

All that's fair. But then you also talked about sort of reconfiguring some compression with electric motors. And is that continued? Should we just continue to expect, I guess, margins and duration to continue to head higher?

一切都很公平。但隨後您也談到了使用電動馬達重新配置某種壓縮方式。這種情況還會持續嗎？我想，我們是否應該繼續預期利潤率和持續時間將繼續走高？

I mentioned in the prior set of comments that we are very ambitious about where margin gets to continue to go based on our investment in our platform; the use of telemetry and communications technologies to help drive efficiencies in the field; certainly, the size, the increasing size of our overall horsepower in our fleet on gathering; and the addition of electric motor drive. We believe these factors are very constructive to support margin expansion going forward.

我在之前的評論中提到過，基於我們對平台的投資，我們對利潤的持續成長抱持著非常大的野心；使用遙測和通訊技術來幫助提高現場效率；當然，我們艦隊的整體馬力不斷增加；並增加了電動馬達驅動。我們相信這些因素對於支持未來利潤率擴大非常有利。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Gabe Moreen, Mizuho.

瑞穗的加布‧莫林 (Gabe Moreen)。

Gabe, you might be on mute.

加布，你可能靜音了。

Julianne, maybe let's put him back in the queue and go to our next question.

朱利安，也許我們應該把他放回隊伍並進入我們的下一個問題。

Doug Irwin, Citi.

花旗銀行的道格‧歐文 (Doug Irwin)。

Thanks for the question. Maybe just to start with a follow up on CapEx. You called out the increase this year being tied to TOPS, and I realize you're still working through the '25 budget. But just curious how we should think about the right run rate for the combined business here moving forward, if you could maybe talk about some directional gate posts around '25.

謝謝你的提問。也許只是從跟進資本支出開始。您提到今年的成長與 TOPS 掛鉤，我知道您仍在努力完成 25 年的預算。但我只是好奇我們應該如何考慮未來合併後業務的正確運行率，如果你可以談談'25 左右的一些方向性門柱的話。

Yeah. It's too early for us to really give guidance for 2025. We will give guidance early next year. What I would share is that when you look at our overall CapEx for the last couple of years, those levels as well as our overall capital allocation approach, we've been very disciplined in investing in high-quality and high-return assets and driving profitability. With the TOPS acquisition, we know we're going to continue to benefit from that momentum and look to invest in this durable profitable business going forward. So we'll be in a position to share more with you at the beginning of the year.

是的。現在對我們來說，給予 2025 年的真正指引還為時過早。我們將於明年初提供指導。我想說的是，當你回顧我們過去幾年的整體資本支出、這些水平以及我們的整體資本配置方法時，你會發現我們在投資高品質、高回報的資產方面非常謹慎，並且推動盈利能力。透過收購 TOPS，我們知道我們將繼續受益於這一勢頭，並期待在未來對這項持久盈利的業務進行投資。因此我們將能夠在年初與大家分享更多資訊。

Understood. We'll hold tight for next year. Then maybe just a follow-up on capital returns. Obviously, cash in the buyback program this quarter again. Just wondering how you're thinking about the right mix, the dividend growth versus buybacks moving forward? If we can maybe see an acceleration in buyback activity here now that the TOPS is closed?

明白了。我們會堅持到明年。然後可能只是資本回報的後續。顯然，本季回購計畫再次兌現。只是想知道您如何考慮正確的組合，股息成長與未來回購？現在 TOPS 已經關閉，我們是否可以看到回購活動加速？

When I outlined the capital allocation framework in the prepared part of the call, I was trying to emphasize in the balance between all of these priorities that what we see right now is an expansionary market ahead. So we do see an increase in call for CapEx to be devoted to investing in growth.

當我在電話會議的準備部分概述資本配置框架時，我試圖強調在所有這些優先事項之間的平衡中，我們現在看到的是一個擴張性的市場。因此，我們確實看到對資本支出用於投資成長的呼聲增加。

And secondly, when it comes to measuring that against share buybacks, we are definitely not price insensitive. And so it's a function also of what we think is the internal value generation versus the price of the stock. So in measuring that, we look at our own internal investment opportunity to balance buybacks on the one side versus investing in the business on the other.

其次，當與股票回購進行衡量時，我們絕對不會對價格不敏感。因此，它也是我們認為的內部價值創造與股票價格的函數。因此，在衡量這一點時，我們會考慮自己的內部投資機會，以平衡回購與業務投資。

And then finally, I got to point out that we have an incredible set of blue-chip customers. They want our services, they want our equipment, and they want our people to support their growth. And we need to be there for them when they're calling on us to expand with them in their production.

最後，我要指出的是，我們擁有一群令人難以置信的藍籌客戶。他們需要我們的服務，他們需要我們的設備，他們希望我們的員工能支持他們的成長。當他們要求我們與他們一起擴大生產時，我們需要為他們提供幫助。

Understood. Appreciate that detail. Thanks.

明白了。感謝這個細節。謝謝。

Gabriel Moreen, Mizuho Securities.

瑞穗證券的加布里埃爾莫林 (Gabriel Moreen)。

Sorry about that earlier, guys. Okay, so quick questions. I think in the last call, you mentioned about dry gas area seeing some horsepower shift. Just wondering kind of what the latest that you're seeing there. And I think some of your competitors and probably you as well as mentioned in the past about power provision in the Permian, not to use too much alliteration, being a challenge for deploying incremental electric units. I'm just wondering what your current read is of that situation?

大家，我很抱歉之前就這麼做。好的，請問一些簡單問題。我想在上次通話中，您提到了乾氣區域的馬力變化。只是想知道您在那裡看到了什麼最新消息。我想你們的一些競爭對手，可能還有你，都曾提到過二疊紀盆地的電力供應，對於部署增量電力裝置來說，這是一個挑戰。我只是想知道您目前對這種情況有何看法？

So Gabe, I think I got two questions in there. One, what's going on in dry gas plays; and number two, with the installation of electrical being limited, potentially gated by the expansion of power availability, what do we think about that, what our commentary on that? Did I get the two questions correct?

那麼 Gabe，我想我有兩個問題。第一，乾氣田的情況如何；第二，由於電力安裝受到限制，可能受到電力供應擴張的限制，我們對此有何看法，我們對此有何評論？這兩題我答對了嗎？

Yes. That's correct.

是的。沒錯。

Yeah, thanks. So number one, in dry gas plays, the market is actually pretty good. We actually saw an incremental growth in the Haynesville in the quarter. Nothing like what we see in the Permian, but definitely measurable, and we're happy to see that as gas production coming out of the Haynesville stepped up a bit.

是的，謝謝。首先，在乾氣領域，市場其實相當不錯。我們實際上看到海恩斯維爾在本季度實現了增量增長。雖然與我們在二疊紀盆地看到的不一樣，但絕對是可以測量的，我們很高興看到海恩斯維爾的天然氣產量增加。

In other dry gas plays, candidly, I described the market as flat and otherwise showing evidence of long-term slow harvesting on which we're participating and still driving a nice operation and good profitability throughout our operations. 80% of the growth that we see in the horsepower right now is in the Permian. So I just wanted to put the dry gas context in response to your question. But there's still money to be made for a very long time in several of these places. So that's one.

在其他乾氣領域，坦白說，我將市場描述為持平的，並且顯示出長期緩慢收穫的證據，我們正在參與其中，並且仍然在整個運營過程中推動良好的運營和良好的盈利能力。我們現在看到的馬力成長80%來自於二疊紀。所以我只是想用乾氣體來回答你的問題。但其中幾個地方在很長一段時間內仍然可以賺錢。這就是其中之一。

And then on power being a gating item for the Permian electrification, we're absolutely seeing signs of that with several of our customers, and yet our order book for electric motor drive is substantial. And I'm going to point out that typically, our customers only commit to contracting with us for units when they have their infrastructure plan in place.

然後，關於電力是二疊紀電氣化的關鍵項目，我們在幾位客戶身上確實看到了這一點的跡象，但我們對電動馬達驅動的訂單量卻很大。我要指出的是，通常我們的客戶只有在製定了基礎設施計劃後才會承諾與我們簽訂合約。

So for the most part, what we're seeing is still a strong order book for electric motor drive. Power is a gating item. Our customers are responsible for that, and for the most part, most of our customers are able to get their power in place ahead of our compression arriving on site.

因此，在大多數情況下，我們看到的電動馬達驅動訂單仍然強勁。電源是一個門控項目。我們的客戶對此負責，並且在大多數情況下，大多數客戶能夠在我們的壓縮設備到達現場之前準備好電源。

Thanks, Brad. Maybe if I could just squeeze one follow up on that last answer, it's a little bit of a roundabout way trying to ask about '25 legacy TOPS CapEx. But when you made the acquisition, was it really important to you to kind of preserve the slots that TOPS may have had with different fabricators to manufacture new units. And if you don't, for example, use that, those orders or keep that level of order book, do you end up losing that going forward and getting like -- and getting placed in the back of the queue? Sorry, long-winded question there.

謝謝，布拉德。也許如果我能擠出時間對最後一個答案進行跟進，那麼試圖詢問 25 年遺留 TOPS 資本支出就有點拐彎抹角了。但是，當您進行收購時，保留 TOPS 可能與其他製造商合作生產新產品的庫存對您來說真的很重要嗎？例如，如果您不使用這些訂單或不保留該等級的訂單簿，那麼您最終會失去這些訂單嗎？抱歉，這個問題有點冗長。

I think I got it. The short answer, no. We were not -- no part of the transaction was really driven by any supply chain concerns or need to expand our ability to acquire electric motor drive units. We don't have any doubt or any perceived limits on our ability to acquire the equipment that we need.

我認為我明白了。簡短的回答是，不是。我們並不是——交易的任何部分實際上都不是出於任何供應鏈問題或需要擴大我們購買電動馬達驅動裝置的能力。我們對於我們獲取所需設備的能力沒有任何懷疑或察覺到任何限制。

On the other hand, the only caveat to that, I would point out, is that what we did acquire with TOPS is an excellent set of assets, a great management team, superior field staff that understand how to drive electric motor drive, as well as a supply chain that has worked effectively and efficiently for that operation. And so while we are not limited -- we don't believe we're limited on the availability of electric motor drive for us to acquire. We were happy to step in to the quality supply chain they also have.

另一方面，我要指出的唯一警告是，我們透過 TOPS 獲得的是一套優秀的資產，一支優秀的管理團隊，以及了解如何推動電動馬達驅動的優秀現場工作人員，作為一個為該業務有效且高效運作的供應鏈。因此，雖然我們沒有受到限制——但我們不認為我們在獲取電動馬達驅動方面受到限制。我們很高興能夠加入他們擁有的優質供應鏈。

Got that. Thanks very much.

明白了。非常感謝。

Steve Ferazani, Sidoti.

史蒂夫費拉扎尼、西多蒂。

Good morning, Brad, Doug, appreciate all the detail on the call. I wanted to flip to the smaller side of the business, but really impressive margin as well in the third quarter, the aftermarket business, 26% plus gross margin. Anything onetime or -- in nature, anything to do with the mix? Or is there anything sustainable in terms of that type of margin, which I don't think we've ever seen in aftermarket before?

早安，布拉德、道格，感謝通話中提供的所有詳細資訊。我想談談業務規模較小的方面，但第三季的利潤率也確實令人印象深刻，售後業務的毛利率為 26% 以上。一次性的東西或－本質上，與混合有關的東西嗎？或者從利潤率的角度來看，是否存在可持續的情況，我認為我們以前從未在售後市場中見過這種情況？

Appreciate the question and appreciate that comment. There's nothing onetime about the performance that we're seeing right now. So it's not noisy at all. It's a very clean set of results driven by the operations. On the mix, the improving margins do reflect an increasing mix of more service which is higher margin compared to parts, which is comparatively lower margin.

感謝你的提問，也感謝你的評論。我們現在看到的表現並沒有什麼一次性的東西。所以一點也不吵。這是由操作驅動的一組非常清晰的結果。從產品組合來看，利潤率的提高確實反映了服務產品組合的增加，與零件產品相比，服務產品的利潤率更高，而零件產品的利潤率相對較低。

And third, what's really being reflected in this margin, I believe, is the quality of the team that we feel for our customers. Just like in contract operations right now, the value of a great set of field technicians, well managed to execute on projects, is reaping some reward from the marketplace because labor is very valuable. And so we're able to both do higher margin and higher quality work for our customers and pull through those results.

第三，我相信，這項利潤率真正反映的是我們對客戶所抱持的團隊特質。就像目前的合約營運一樣，一群優秀的現場技術人員，在專案執行方面管理得當，正在從市場上獲得一定的回報，因為勞動力非常有價值。因此，我們既能為客戶提供利潤更高、品質更高的工作，又能實現這些成果。

That's helpful. Thank you. My follow up, I just want to ask about, when you made the TOPS acquisition, you talked about it being more cash flow accretive than even EBITDA accretive. And we're certainly seeing that. Your maintenance CapEx guidance, you really just went to the higher end of the range, even though you've significantly expanded the portfolio.

這很有幫助。謝謝。我的後續問題，我只想問一下，當您進行 TOPS 收購時，您說過它帶來的現金流增量甚至比 EBITDA 增量還要大。我們確實看到了這一點。儘管您已經顯著擴展了投資組合，但您的維護資本支出指導實際上只是達到了範圍的高端。

When we think about the high grading of the fleet over the last three years, now you've added this younger electric motor drive fleet, does that put a cap on your maintenance CapEx and provide you the opportunity to generate a lot more cash flow on that revenue?

當我們考慮過去三年車隊的高等級時，現在你又增加了這支年輕的電動驅動車隊，這是否會限制你的維護資本支出，並為你提供機會產生更多的現金流那筆收入？

Let me speak to the CapEx side of the question. And that is -- because the TOPS fleets, both electric motor drive and younger, that will be basically accretive to our -- ability to save on a per horsepower basis on maintenance CapEx going forward. So the benefit of that cash flow that you're citing will accrue to us over time for sure.

讓我談談該問題的資本支出方面。這是因為 TOPS 車隊（包括電動馬達驅動的和較新的車隊）基本上可以增加我們在未來按馬力節省維護資本支出的能力。因此，您提到的現金流帶來的利益肯定會隨著時間的推移而累積。

The only caution I throw out and balance that off is that we just went through a significant inflationary period over the last 2.5 years, 3 years. And the impact of that inflation is something that we're absolutely seeing come through in our overall parts spend. And so now we have maintenance activity ahead that's going to have to account for that inflationary pressure that is going to come through in maintenance CapEx.

我唯一要提醒的是，我們剛剛在過去的 2.5 年到 3 年裡經歷了一段嚴重的通膨時期。我們確實看到通貨膨脹的影響在我們的整體零件支出中顯現出來。所以現在我們面臨的維護活動必須考慮維護資本支出中所出現的通膨壓力。

Needless to say, we are aggressively looking to mitigate that with price increases as well as great execution on those projects. I'm just giving the heads up that it's hard not to see those -- that inflationary pressure come through in the cost of maintenance CapEx, which doesn't have a direct revenue offset on the income statement.

不用說，我們正在積極尋求透過提高價格以及出色地執行這些項目來緩解這一影響。我只是提醒大家，很難不看到這些——通膨壓力體現在維護資本支出的成本中，而這在損益表中沒有直接的收入抵銷。

So absolutely, we expect the TOPS acquisition to be beneficial to cash flow for CapEx, as you pointed out. And we also see, however, inflationary pressure coming through on CapEx differently than we've seen in prior periods.

因此，正如您所指出的，我們絕對預計 TOPS 收購將有利於資本支出的現金流。然而，我們也看到，通膨壓力對資本支出的影響與前期不同。

Very helpful. Thanks, Brad. Thanks, Doug.

非常有幫助。謝謝，布拉德。謝謝，道格。

Blake McLean, Daniel Energy Partners.

布萊克麥克萊恩，丹尼爾能源夥伴。

Thank you very much. Good morning. A lot of good information already shared, but I thought maybe I'd ask one kind of bigger-picture question. And it's around the opportunities you're seeing in power demand growth. We agree with you guys that it's very early innings here. Midstream operators continue to talk a bunch about the growing opportunity set. And I was wondering, could you just talk a little bit about how you work with those teams to explore those opportunities and kind of how much visibility that gives you guys as you look out over the business over the next X number of years?

非常感謝。早安.已經分享了很多好的信息，但我想我可能會問一個更大層面的問題。這與您在電力需求成長中看到的機會有關。我們同意你們的看法，現在還處於早期階段。中游業者繼續大談日益增長的機會。我想知道，您能否簡單談談您如何與這些團隊合作探索這些機會，以及在未來 X 年內展望業務時，這能為您帶來多少可見度？

Well, as you know, we don't directly provide the power. In fact, the customers typically procure the power, so we're one step removed first, just on the procurement side. And then second, and to address your direct question, in looking at the increased power demand coming out of data centers and AI, what we do on that market is much like what we do for the LNG market.

嗯，如你所知，我們不直接提供電力。事實上，客戶通常會採購電力，因此在採購方面，我們先行一步。其次，回答你的直接問題，在研究資料中心和人工智慧帶來的電力需求成長時，我們在該市場上所做的工作與我們在液化天然氣市場上所做的工作非常相似。

And that is try to follow the market demand by project, try to understand which customer's gases or gas is likely to be sourced, support that project, and then ensure that we're partnering as well as we can with the customers that are going to participate in that production.

那就是嘗試按照項目來追蹤市場需求，嘗試了解哪些客戶的氣體或氣體可能被採購，支持該項目，然後確保我們盡可能與將要採購的客戶建立合作夥伴關係。

The same thing is true on the power side. We're watching the projects as they develop as best we can, trying to understand which customers are positioning to supply the gas, and ensuring that we have great relationships, partnerships, and effective customer service with those customers. So we're one step removed from directly being able to give you more commentary on that, just given our position in the marketplace.

電源方面也是如此。我們正在盡最大努力專注於專案的發展，試圖了解哪些客戶準備供應天然氣，並確保我們與這些客戶保持良好的關係、夥伴關係和有效的客戶服務。因此，鑑於我們在市場上的地位，我們無法直接向您提供更多評論。

Got it, thanks. And then the other one I had for you guys was really more specific on the TOPS acquisition, ongoing integration there. Anything you would share with respect to more details on lessons learning -- lessons being learned along the way, synergy capture relative to expectations, anything like that? I know it's early, but --

明白了，謝謝。然後我要為你們提供的另一個資訊更具體地涉及 TOPS 收購及其持續的整合。您能分享更多關於經驗教訓的細節嗎——一路上學到的經驗教訓、相對於預期的協同效應，諸如此類的事情？我知道現在還早，但是--

Sure. I shared in my commentary, the prepared commentary that the integration is going well. There are no negative surprises. And in fact, the more we partner with the TOPS team and integrate with their operation to the Archrock platform, the more optimistic I am about the long-term benefits of this acquisition to our shareholders, our customers in Archrock.

當然。我在我的評論、準備好的評論中分享了整合進展順利的情況。沒有任何負面意外。事實上，我們與 TOPS 團隊的合作越多，並將他們的營運融入 Archrock 平台，我對此次收購給我們的股東、Archrock 的客戶帶來的長期利益就越樂觀。

I'm going to add that when we approach the acquisition from day one, we had a compatible culture, operating philosophy, a very similar approach on investing in technology that is telemetry, communications, and automation to drive our businesses. And we're finding a lot of opportunities in how we get to exploit that kind of attribute that we both shared to drive better service.

我要補充一點，當我們從第一天開始進行收購時，我們就有了兼容的文化、經營理念，以及在投資遙測、通訊和自動化等技術以推動我們業務發展方面的非常相似的方法。我們發現了很多機會，可以利用我們共同的屬性來提供更好的服務。

And I'll also point out that we've done a few acquisitions over the years, Elite in 2019 and Mid-Con back in 2014, and now TOPS in 2024, and we have had a track record of very successful integration of these operations into the Archrock platform. I believe this one will be no different and maybe better than any of the prior acquisitions.

我還要指出的是，我們多年來進行過幾次收購，2019 年收購了 Elite，2014 年收購了 Mid-Con，現在又在 2024 年收購了 TOPS，我們在整合這些業務方面有著非常成功的記錄進入Archrock 平台。我相信這次收購與之前的任何收購沒有什麼不同，甚至可能更好。

Thanks for that. And one just more specific one there. Can you talk just a little bit about the unique market drivers in the gas lift market? Have you guys seen changes in operator behavior as it relates to gas lift versus other artificial lift options, anything you would share there?

謝謝。還有一個更具體的。能否簡單談談氣舉市場中獨特的市場驅動因素？你們是否看過與氣舉和其他人工舉升方式相關的操作員行為的變化，有什麼可以分享的嗎？

No. We've not seen any change in that dynamic. We still see strong demand for compression for use as gas lift, and we think that it is the dominant approach, especially in the Permian market today.

不。我們沒有看到這種動態有任何變化。我們仍然看到對用於氣舉的壓縮的強勁需求，我們認為這是主導方法，特別是在當今的二疊紀市場。

Good. Thank you all very much for the time.

好的。非常感謝大家抽空。

Thank you.

謝謝。

There are no more questions. Now I'd like to turn the call back over to Mr. Childers for final remarks.

沒有其它問題了。現在我想將電話轉回給奇爾德斯先生，請他做最後的演講。

Thank you, everyone, for participating in our call today. Archrock's underlying business performance remains outstanding, and we're excited about the TOPS transaction, its integration, which we believe will create substantial value for our shareholders. I look forward to updating you next quarter on our progress. Thank you, everyone.

感謝大家參加我們今天的電話會議。Archrock 的基礎業務表現依然出色，我們對 TOPS 交易及其整合感到非常興奮，我們相信這將為我們的股東創造巨大價值。我期待著下個季度向您通報我們的進展。謝謝大家。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。