Astec Industries Inc (ASTE) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

hello. And welcome to the Astec Industries Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 earnings call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded, and it is my pleasure to introduce your host, Steve Anderson, Senior Vice President of Administration and Investor Relations. Mr. Anderson, you may begin.

你好。歡迎參加 Astec Industries 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。提醒一下，本次電話會議正在錄音，我很高興向您介紹主持人，行政和投資者關係高級副總裁史蒂夫·安德森。安德森先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Joining me on today's call are our Co-Founder, Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, and Becky Weinberg, Chief Financial Officer. In just a moment, I'll turn the call over to Jan to provide comments, and then Becky will summarize our financial results.

謝謝大家，大家早安。參加今天電話會議的有我們的共同創辦人、執行長墨菲和財務長貝基·溫伯格。稍後，我會將電話轉給 Jan 提供意見，然後 Becky 將總結我們的財務表現。

Before we begin, I'll remind you that our discussion this morning may contain forward-looking statements that relate to the future performance of the Company, and these statements are intended to qualify for the Safe Harbor liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Factors that could influence our results are highlighted in today's financial news release and others are contained in our filings with the SEC. As usual, we ask that you familiarize yourself with those factors in an effort to provide investors with additional information regarding the Company's results. The Company refers to various US GAAP, which are generally accepted accounting principles and non-GAAP financial measures, which management believes provides useful information to investors. These non-GAAP financial measures have no standardized meaning prescribed by US GAAP and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to the calculation of similar measures for other companies management of the Company does not intend these items to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measures. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in our news release and the appendix of our slide deck. All related earnings materials are posted on our website at w. w. w. dot as dash industries.com, including our presentation, which is under the Investor Relations and Presentations tabs.

在我們開始之前，我要提醒您，我們今天早上的討論可能包含與公司未來業績相關的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述旨在符合《私人證券訴訟改革法案》規定的安全港責任。任何此類聲明都不是對未來業績的保證，並受到某些風險、不確定性和假設的影響。今天的財務新聞稿中強調了可能影響我們業績的因素，其他因素則包含在我們向 SEC 提交的文件中。像往常一樣，我們要求您熟悉這些因素，以便為投資者提供有關公司業績的更多資訊。公司參考了各種美國公認會計原則（US GAAP），這些公認會計原則和非公認會計原則（non-GAAP）財務指標，管理層認為這些為投資者提供了有用的信息。這些非公認會計原則財務指標沒有美國公認會計原則規定的標準化含義，因此不太可能與其他公司的類似指標的計算進行比較。公司管理層不打算將這些項目單獨考慮或作為替代指標相關的公認會計準則措施。我們的新聞稿和投影片附錄中包含 GAAP 與非 GAAP 業績的調整表。所有相關獲利資料均發佈在我們的網站上：w。 w。 w。點作為 dash Industries.com，包括我們的演示文稿，位於“投資者關係”和“演示文稿”選項卡下。

Now I'll turn the call over to Rocco.

現在我將把電話轉給羅科。

Thank you, Steve. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I will begin on Slide 4 with a review of e.l.f. Full year highlights. 2023 was an important year for Astec as we advanced key strategic initiatives such as operational excellence, growing our parts business, new product development and Oracle ERP execution. These efforts enabled us to achieve great results in 2023 and will help us deliver more consistent, profitable growth in the future. I am very proud of what the team has been able to accomplish this year. In 2023, we had record full year sales as end market demand remained solid in both segments. We were particularly encouraged by the steady momentum we saw across the business at the end of the year, with Q4 implied orders growing 27.6% sequentially. I met with many customers at the recent World of Concrete and National Asphalt Paving association events and was encouraged by the positive sentiment. They remain busy and are using our equipment to complete their projects. Their optimism combined with a positive turn in implied orders during Q4, increased funding from the federal highway bill and new product introductions give us confidence in the long term demand outlook for our business. During Q4 2023, our team delivered improved profitability and expanded margins. This is a testament to the team's ability to execute efficiently and apply operational excellence practices. We expanded gross margins 400 basis points and adjusted EPS more than doubled for the full year. a priority for us in 2023 was to build a performance culture that consistently delivers financial results. Our full year results demonstrated that we have made great progress towards this objective. These achievements have laid the foundation for an even higher level of profitability as our business continues to grow. Our Oracle ERP implementation continues to move forward, as indicated by the 2023 milestones we achieved and we will continue to harness the capabilities of the enhanced new systems to drive efficient and effective operations.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。大家早安，感謝您加入我們。我將從幻燈片 4 開始回顧 e.l.f.全年亮點。 2023 年對 Astec 來說是重要的一年，我們推進了關鍵策略舉措，例如卓越營運、發展零件業務、新產品開發和 Oracle ERP 執行。這些努力使我們在 2023 年取得了巨大的成果，並將幫助我們在未來實現更一致、更有利可圖的成長。我對團隊今年所取得的成就感到非常自豪。2023 年，我們的全年銷售額創下歷史新高，這兩個領域的終端市場需求依然強勁。我們對年底整個業務的穩定勢頭感到特別鼓舞，第四季度隱含訂單環比增長 27.6%。我在最近的混凝土世界和國家瀝青鋪路協會活動中會見了許多客戶，並受到正面情緒的鼓舞。他們仍然很忙，並正在使用我們的設備來完成他們的專案。他們的樂觀情緒加上第四季度隱含訂單的積極轉變、聯邦公路法案資金的增加以及新產品的推出，讓我們對我們業務的長期需求前景充滿信心。2023 年第四季度，我們的團隊提高了獲利能力並擴大了利潤率。這證明了團隊高效執行和應用卓越營運實踐的能力。我們全年毛利率提高了 400 個基點，調整後每股盈餘增加了一倍以上。我們 2023 年的首要任務是建立持續交付財務成果的績效文化。我們的全年業績表明，我們在實現這一目標方面取得了巨大進展。這些成就為我們業務的持續成長奠定了更高水準的獲利能力的基礎。正如我們在 2023 年實現的里程碑所示，我們的 Oracle ERP 實施繼續向前推進，我們將繼續利用增強的新系統的功能來推動高效和有效的營運。

Lastly, we published our first corporate sustainability report in December. It was a tremendous team effort to get this project across the finish line. And I would like to acknowledge the hard work done by many individuals to complete this report guided by our core values of safety, devotion, integrity, respect and innovation. This report describes how we strive to do what is right for our customers, employees and the communities in which we operate. Our vision is to build industry-changing solutions that create life-changing opportunities. This inaugural report provides a foundation from which we can move forward with the goal of long-term sustainable growth.

最後，我們在 12 月發布了第一份企業永續發展報告。團隊付出了巨大的努力才使這個計畫衝過終點線。我要感謝許多人在我們安全、奉獻、誠信、尊重和創新的核心價值指導下為完成這份報告所做的辛勤工作。本報告描述了我們如何努力為我們的客戶、員工和我們經營所在的社區做正確的事情。我們的願景是打造改變產業的解決方案，創造改變生活的機會。這份首份報告為我們朝著長期永續成長的目標邁進奠定了基礎。

Turning to Slide 5. As demonstrated over the past few years, we have taken steps to simplify our business by eliminating waste and enhancing processes to improve productivity. We are focused on areas where we add the greatest value, bringing innovation to our customers and working with our dealers to develop best-in-class aftermarket practices. We plan to continue to grow organically and explore opportunities through a disciplined acquisition road map Moving to Slide 6. After taking on the CEO role last year, one of the key priorities I establish was for us to create and embrace a performance culture built on consistent execution, reflecting on the last 12 months. I am pleased to see that we have made progress on this journey as evidenced by our 2023 results and achievements at the same time, we have identified significant additional opportunities to strengthen our business further and have built those into our long-term target goals.

轉到投影片 5。正如過去幾年所證明的那樣，我們已採取措施透過消除浪費和增強流程來提高生產力來簡化我們的業務。我們專注於能夠增加最大價值的領域，為客戶帶來創新，並與我們的經銷商合作開發一流的售後市場實踐。我們計劃繼續有機成長，並透過嚴格的收購路線圖探索機會轉向幻燈片 6。去年擔任執行長後，我制定的關鍵優先事項之一是創建並擁抱基於一致執行的績效文化，這反映了過去 12 個月的情況。我很高興看到我們在這一歷程中取得了進展，2023 年的業績和成就證明了這一點，同時我們也確定了進一步加強我們業務的重要額外機會，並將其納入我們的長期目標中。

I would like to take a few minutes to highlight some notable achievements from the past year. We expanded gross margins by 400 basis points in 2023. We continue to invest to improve processes and deliver innovation, creating positive margin. We will continue these efforts in 2024 addition investments will help us better serve growing markets, and a slate of new products will enable us to provide solutions to customer needs.

我想花幾分鐘時間強調過去一年中取得的一些顯著成就。2023 年，我們將毛利率提高了 400 個基點。我們持續投資改善流程和提供創新，創造正面的利潤。我們將在 2024 年繼續這些努力，額外投資將幫助我們更好地服務不斷增長的市場，一系列新產品將使我們能夠提供滿足客戶需求的解決方案。

Second area we prioritized in 2023 was our dedication to our customers, dealers and shareholders. Accomplishments here included the expansion of our distribution network and the launch of new products that enable dealers and customers to better serve our growing global market. We want to continue prioritizing these elements in 2024 through greater collaboration and increased availability of parts to better serve our customers. These actions to drive an enhanced product offering out to a broader customer audience will enable us to create consistent, profitable growth, promoting the one Asic operating model drives continuous improvement. The implementation of the Oracle ERP system is a great example, as we have launched modules at corporate and one major manufacturing site in 2023 we have implementation plans for additional sites in 2024 and 2025. Operationally, we have made improvements in areas such as parts for rates, which improved 20% in the past two years, we will make additional investments to further improve throughput velocity this year. One constant in our business is our steadfast focus on our core value of safety. This is very important to me and our team. I want our team to go home, healthy and injury-free every day through continuous improvement. We have reduced our recordable injury rate to 1.27, the best in the Company's recent history and very favorable when compared to the industry average. Our goal is zero harm, and we will continue to work to eliminate injuries across our sites.

我們 2023 年優先考慮的第二個領域是我們對客戶、經銷商和股東的奉獻。這裡的成就包括擴大我們的分銷網絡和推出新產品，使經銷商和客戶能夠更好地服務我們不斷成長的全球市場。我們希望透過加強協作和提高零件可用性，在 2024 年繼續優先考慮這些要素，以更好地為我們的客戶服務。這些旨在向更廣泛的客戶群提供增強型產品的行動將使我們能夠創造持續的獲利成長，促進單一 Asic 營運模式推動持續改善。Oracle ERP 系統的實施就是一個很好的例子，我們已在 2023 年在公司和一個主要製造工廠推出了模組，並計劃在 2024 年和 2025 年在其他工廠實施。在營運方面，我們在零件率等方面進行了改進，過去兩年提高了 20％，今年我們將進行額外投資以進一步提高吞吐量速度。我們業務的一個不變特點是我們堅定不移地專注於安全這一核心價值。這對我和我們的團隊來說非常重要。我希望我們的球隊透過不斷的進步，每天都能健康、無傷回家。我們已將可記錄工傷率降低至 1.27，這是該公司近期歷史上最好的水平，與行業平均水平相比非常有利。我們的目標是零傷害，我們將繼續努力消除我們網站上的傷害。

And finally, the Estech team will continue to unite around our long-term objective and new vision statement, which is to build industry-changing solutions that create life-changing opportunities. We will work together to make us take an even greater organization.

最後，Estech 團隊將繼續圍繞我們的長期目標和新願景聲明團結起來，即建立改變行業的解決方案，創造改變生活的機會。我們將共同努力，使我們成為一個更大的組織。

Turning to slide 7, I would like to offer some observations on the current business dynamics. While the macro environment remains uncertain. There are an increasing number of indicators, it point to a stable demand environment with opportunities for growth in our Infrastructure Solutions end markets, demand for asphalt road building and concrete production. Strong dealers need additional inventory, and we are working closely with our dealers to support a growing aftermarket opportunity by further improving the delivery of parts and service for our mobile equipment for material solutions. We saw signals from our annual dealer order writing event that heightened interest rates concerns may weigh on mobile crushing and screening equipment outlook in the near term for the long term. However, demand trends looks favorable due to domestic infrastructure spending and opportunities in international markets. In both groups, we are releasing new products to deliver innovation to our customer needs. Customers are busy and they rely on us to help keep their projects moving forward efficiently. In addition to new product introductions, we are increasing our sales coverage by expanding our dealer network and deploying this since through our direct sales force to further penetrate markets.

轉向投影片 7，我想就當前的業務動態提供一些觀察。而宏觀環境仍存在不確定性。越來越多的指標顯示需求環境穩定，我們的基礎設施解決方案終端市場、瀝青道路建設和混凝土生產的需求都有成長的機會。強大的經銷商需要額外的庫存，我們正在與經銷商密切合作，透過進一步改善材料解決方案行動裝置的零件交付和服務來支持不斷增長的售後市場機會。我們從年度經銷商訂單撰寫活動中看到了訊號，即利率擔憂的加劇可能會在短期內影響移動破碎和篩選設備的長期前景。然而，由於國內基礎設施支出和國際市場的機會，需求趨勢看起來有利。在這兩個組別中，我們都發布了新產品，以提供滿足客戶需求的創新。客戶很忙，他們依靠我們來幫助他們的專案有效推進。除了推出新產品外，我們還透過擴大經銷商網路來擴大銷售覆蓋範圍，並透過我們的直銷團隊進一步滲透市場。

Funding from the federal highway bill continues to be deployed at a growing rate contract awards increased 8.6% in 2023, which is a positive leading indicator for future construction. Funding from federal legislation provides stability for our customers, driving future product and aftermarket demand.

聯邦公路法案的資金繼續以越來越快的速度部署，到 2023 年合約授予量將增加 8.6%，這是未來建設的積極領先指標。來自聯邦立法的資金為我們的客戶提供了穩定性，推動了未來的產品和售後市場需求。

Next, I would like to update you on two of our new products show on slide 8. Both products were launched in 2023 and both have been met with positive reception from our customers. Peterson 50 17 E horizontal grinder was launched in March. The number of units sold and includes rental margins for this product are in line with expectations. And we are on track with our unit forecast in 2020 for cirrhotic RX four or five cold planar was launched in October and is off to a great start new product launches are complex and require teamwork and dedication. I am pleased with the success of these and look forward to presenting more new products at the world of asphalt trade show in Nashville on March 21st three, 27.

接下來，我想向您介紹投影片 8 中展示的兩款新產品的最新情況。這兩款產品均於 2023 年推出，均受到顧客的正面好評。Peterson 50 17 E 臥式磨床於 3 月推出。該產品的銷售單位數量（包括租金利潤）符合預期。我們正在按計劃實現 2020 年肝硬化 RX 四或五冷平面的單位預測，該產品已於 10 月推出，並取得了良好的開端，新產品的發布很複雜，需要團隊合作和奉獻精神。我對這些活動的成功感到高興，並期待在 3 月 21 日三月 27 日於納許維爾舉行的世界瀝青貿易展上展示更多新產品。

Slide 9 shows that backlog continues to normalize from the peak levels experienced in 2022 that were primarily caused by customer reactions through supply chain and logistics constraints. Over the past year, orders have returned to more historic patterns, and we have made progress in converting backlog to sales through investments in throughput and operational excellence initiatives. Implied orders shown on slide 10, increased 27.6% sequentially in Q4 after holding steady through the first three quarters of 2023. While one data point does not make a trend. We were encouraged with the increase in orders. Customer sentiment for Infrastructure Solutions products is positive, while higher interest rates may temper demand for Material Solutions products in the near term industry data point to double digit growth in federal and state road construction, which bode well for our industry in 2024. Combined for our new products and healthy backlog, I'm becoming increasingly confident that 2024 will be a solid year for us.

投影片 9 顯示，積壓訂單繼續從 2022 年的峰值水準恢復正常，這主要是由於供應鏈和物流限制引起的客戶反應造成的。在過去的一年裡，訂單已恢復到更歷史性的模式，並且我們透過對吞吐量和卓越營運計劃的投資，在將積壓訂單轉化為銷售方面取得了進展。投影片 10 中顯示的隱含訂單在 2023 年前三個季度保持穩定後，第四季環比成長 27.6%。雖然一個數據點並不能說明趨勢。訂單的增加令我們深受鼓舞。客戶對基礎設施解決方案產品的情緒是正面的，而較高的利率可能會在短期內抑制對材料解決方案產品的需求。產業數據顯示聯邦和州道路建設將出現兩位數成長，這對2024年我們的產業來說是個好兆頭。結合我們的新產品和健康的積壓訂單，我越來越有信心 2024 年對我們來說將是堅實的一年。

And with that, I will now turn the call over to Becky to discuss. I will detail quarter and full year financial results.

現在，我將把電話轉給貝琪進行討論。我將詳細介紹季度和全年的財務表現。

Thank you, Rocco, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin with the review of our fourth quarter 2020 results on slide 12, sales were 337.2 million, down 3.6% as a slight increase in Infrastructure Solutions was more than offset by Materials Solutions decline by region. Domestic sales growth of 4.1 million was more than offset by softer international sales, but you were down 16.8 million with particular weakness this quarter in Europe, Australia and Canada parts sales grew 2%, which was offset by a decline of 6.9% in equipment sales. Adjusted EBITDA increased 46.8% increase in adjusted EBITDA margins by 340 basis points. The biggest driver was pricing realization and tailwinds for manufacturing efficiencies. We expanded gross margins by 610 basis points to 26.4%. Full year gross margins were 24.7%. Increased SG&A costs were driven by higher planned personnel-related costs and increased consulting and projects overall, we are pleased with the progress and improvements we're making on margins. Adjusted earnings per share increased to $0.9 from $0.34 the prior year, an increase of 164.7%. This figure excludes the transformation program and other costs. The adjusted net effective tax rate for the quarter was 17.3%, a significant decrease from last year. The lower effective tax rate for the current period included an income tax benefit from the utilization of existing net operating losses and corresponding release of valuation allowances. In Brazil and India. Our normalized net effective tax rate for the full year was 22.1%, which was slightly below the 23% to 24% range we had estimated on Slide 13. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 46.8% to $32.6 million, with margin expansion of 340 basis points to 9.7% positive contribution from volume, pricing and mix plus manufacturing efficiencies more than offset the impact from inflation and higher SG&A expenses.

謝謝羅科，大家早安。我將首先回顧幻燈片 12 上的 2020 年第四季業績，銷售額為 3.372 億，下降 3.6%，因為基礎設施解決方案的小幅增長被材料解決方案按地區的下降所抵消。國內銷售成長 410 萬輛，被國際銷售疲軟所抵消，但下降了 1,680 萬輛，尤其是本季歐洲、澳洲和加拿大的零件銷售成長 2%，但被設備銷售下降 6.9% 所抵消。調整後 EBITDA 成長 46.8%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率成長 340 個基點。最大的推動因素是定價實現和製造效率的推動。我們將毛利率提高了 610 個基點，達到 26.4%。全年毛利率為24.7%。SG&A 成本的增加是由於計劃的人員相關成本增加以及諮詢和專案總體增加所致，我們對利潤率方面取得的進展和改進感到滿意。調整後每股收益從上年的 0.34 美元增至 0.9 美元，成長 164.7%。這個數字不包括改造計劃和其他成本。該季度調整後淨有效稅率為17.3%，較去年大幅下降。本期較低的有效稅率包括利用現有淨營業虧損和相應釋放的估價備抵所帶來的所得稅優惠。在巴西和印度。我們全年的標準化淨有效稅率為 22.1%，略低於我們在投影片 13 中估計的 23% 至 24% 範圍。第四季調整後EBITDA 成長46.8%，達到3,260 萬美元，利潤率成長340 個基點，達到9.7%，銷售、定價和產品組合以及製造效率的積極貢獻遠遠抵消了通貨膨脹和銷售管理費用上升的影響。

Moving on to Slide 14. Infrastructure Solutions. Net sales increased slightly to $240 million with domestic growth of 5%, offset by softer international demand. Parts sales were strong this quarter, up 7.2% as we were able to fulfill parts orders for aftermarket demand. Adjusted EBITDA margin for Infrastructure Solutions increased 500 basis points to 14.7%, favorable net volume price and mix outpaced inflation, driving higher gross margins. Net positive manufacturing efficiencies were partially offset by higher SG&A personnel costs.

轉到投影片 14。基礎設施解決方案。淨銷售額小幅成長至 2.4 億美元，國內成長 5%，但被國際需求疲軟所抵銷。本季零件銷售強勁，成長 7.2%，因為我們能夠滿足售後市場需求的零件訂單。基礎設施解決方案的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率增加了 500 個基點，達到 14.7%，有利的淨銷售價格和組合超過了通貨膨脹，推動了更高的毛利率。淨生產效率被較高的 SG&A 人員成本部分抵銷。

Turning to slide 15, Materials Solutions net sales decreased 13.1% to $95.4 million as there were decreases in both international and domestic demand. International sales decreased 28.7% and domestic sales declined 7%. Equipment sales declined 15.7% and parts were down 7.8%. Adjusted EBITDA margins for Materials Solutions increased 50 basis points to 9.3% this was largely due to the positive impact from pricing and manufacturing efficiencies, partially offset by lower volume and mix and an increase in SG&A personnel costs.

轉向投影片 15，由於國際和國內需求下降，Materials Solutions 淨銷售額下降 13.1% 至 9,540 萬美元。國際銷售額下降 28.7%，國內銷售額下降 7%。設備銷售額下降 15.7%，零件銷售額下降 7.8%。材料解決方案的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率增長了 50 個基點，達到 9.3%，這主要是由於定價和製造效率的積極影響，但部分被銷售和產品組合的下降以及 SG&A 人員成本的增加所抵消。

On Slide 16, I'll review our full year results. Sales were 1,000,000,338.2 million, up 5%, with increases in both infrastructure and Materials Solutions due to price cost alignment and stable demand by region. Domestic sales growth of 6.8% was slightly offset by softer international sales, which were down 2.1%. Adjusted EBITDA grew 35.4% and adjusted EBITDA margin increased 260 basis points due to our ability to drive gross margin expansion through pricing initiatives. Adjusted earnings per share also had strong growth at 117.1%, even when factoring in the litigation loss reserve we incurred in the second half of the year.

在投影片 16 上，我將回顧我們的全年業績。銷售額為 1,000,000,338.2 百萬美元，成長 5%，由於價格成本調整和各地區需求穩定，基礎設施和材料解決方案業務均有所成長。國內銷售成長 6.8%，但被國際銷售疲軟（下降 2.1%）所抵銷。由於我們有能力透過定價措施推動毛利率擴張，調整後 EBITDA 成長了 35.4%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率成長了 260 個基點。即使考慮到我們下半年發生的訴訟損失準備金，調整後每股盈餘也強勁成長，達到 117.1%。

Moving to slide 17, we highlight the key drivers of our year-over-year adjusted EBITDA bridge. As previously mentioned, adjusted EBITDA increased 55.4% to $110 million with an EBITDA expansion of 260 basis points to 8.2%. As seen in the chart, the positive impact of net volume, pricing and mix more than offset headwinds from inflation higher SG&A costs. We are proud of the strong expanded margin as our factory investments and pricing realization has come to fruition, and we expect to drive increased EBITDA to deliver long-term shareholder value.

轉到投影片 17，我們重點介紹了同比調整後 EBITDA 橋樑的主要驅動因素。如前所述，調整後 EBITDA 成長 55.4%，達到 1.1 億美元，EBITDA 成長 260 個基點，達到 8.2%。如圖表所示，淨銷售量、定價和組合的正面影響足以抵銷通膨較高的銷售、管理及行政費用帶來的不利影響。隨著我們的工廠投資和定價實現取得成果，我們對利潤率的強勁增長感到自豪，我們預計將推動 EBITDA 的增加，以實現長期股東價值。

Turning to slide 18, our cash and cash equivalents stood at 59.8 million, which generated operating cash flow of 27.8 million compared with a use of cash of $73.9 million in the prior year, difference of 101.7 million. This turnaround was due to improved earnings and the steps we took to improve our working capital. Our liquidity is up slightly from the end of 2020 to positioning us to continue investing in profitable growth initiatives while still maintaining a strong balance sheet.

轉向幻燈片 18，我們的現金和現金等價物為 5,980 萬美元，產生了 2,780 萬營運現金流，而上一年的現金使用量為 7,390 萬美元，差異為 1.017 億美元。這項轉變是由於收入的提高以及我們為改善營運資本而採取的措施。與 2020 年底相比，我們的流動性略有增加，使我們能夠繼續投資於盈利增長計劃，同時仍保持強勁的資產負債表。

Turning to slide 19, we maintain a disciplined capital deployment framework, balancing investments in growth with returning cash to shareholders. We spent 9.1 million on CapEx in the fourth quarter, bringing our full year CapEx to 34.1 million. This is within the range previously communicated. We were pleased to return $11.8 million to shareholders in the form of dividends during 2023 as we continue to direct capital to create the best returns.

轉向投影片 19，我們維持嚴格的資本部署框架，平衡成長投資與向股東返還現金。第四季我們在資本支出上花費了 910 萬美元，使全年資本支出達到 3,410 萬美元。這在之前溝通的範圍內。我們很高興在 2023 年以股息的形式向股東返還 1,180 萬美元，因為我們將繼續引導資本創造最佳回報。

With that, I will now turn it back over to Yakov.

現在，我將把它轉回給雅科夫。

Thank you, Vicki. In closing, on Slide 20, we closed 2023 by delivering strong results in the fourth quarter. I'm confident our teams can deliver even better results during 2024. We have work yet to do, but we are well on our way to delivering enhanced performance for our customers and shareholders. I'm grateful to our employees for their dedication and hard work and to our customers for their loyalty and support.

謝謝你，維基。最後，在投影片 20 中，我們在第四季度取得了強勁的業績，為 2023 年畫上了圓滿的句號。我相信我們的團隊能夠在 2024 年取得更好的成績。我們還有很多工作要做，但我們正在努力為客戶和股東提供更高的業績。我感謝我們的員工的奉獻和辛勤工作，感謝我們的客戶的忠誠和支持。

With that, operator, we are now ready to open the call for question.

接線員，我們現在準備好開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Steve Ferazani, Sidoti.

（操作員說明）Steve Ferazani，Sidoti。

Hi, good morning. This is Alex on for Steve. Thank you for taking questions. And can we start by providing a little bit of color around what's led to the higher margins that higher margin sales are pricing or other factors?

早安.這是亞歷克斯替史蒂夫發言。感謝您提出問題。我們是否可以先提供一些關於導致更高利潤的原因（高利潤銷售是定價或其他因素）的一些資訊？

Yes. Morning, Alan. This is some clear in our like we like we mentioned in previous earnings calls, Q4 is typically a strong quarter for us with regards to some favorable box mix. We've definitely seen that during the quarter, and we also had a strong performance from our Infrastructure Solutions team. And it's difficult to pinpoint one thing, but our teams have obviously done a lot of work on on our past performance. We've done a lot of work around operational excellence and investing in our facilities. And then, you know, we have a positive effect on pricing versus inflation. And as you've seen by the bridges you know that that term effect is getting narrower every quarter and so differently in oh four for the coming year, we expect that to end you move much closer to each other as well.

是的。早安，艾倫。正如我們在之前的財報電話會議中提到的那樣，這一點很明顯，第四季度對我們來說通常是一個強勁的季度，因為有一些有利的盒子組合。我們在本季度確實看到了這一點，而且我們的基礎設施解決方案團隊也表現出色。很難確定一件事，但我們的團隊顯然在過去的表現上做了很多工作。我們圍繞著卓越營運和設施投資做了很多工作。然後，你知道，我們對定價與通貨膨脹產生正面影響。正如您在橋樑上看到的那樣，您知道期限效應每個季度都會變得越來越窄，並且在來年的四年中會有不同的情況，我們預計這最終會讓您彼此更加接近。

Thank you for the context and a follow-up for me. And could you talk a little bit about order rate trends and you're seeing movement towards a positive turn or particular areas of improvement within the backlog?

感謝您為我提供背景資訊和後續行動。您能否談談訂單率趨勢，以及您看到積壓訂單中的正向轉變或特定領域的改進？

Yes, when it when it comes to ordering and and backlog, you know, there's a couple of factors that we are looking at as mentioned in the prepared remarks, I've had the opportunity to speak to many customers already this year as well as concrete National Asphalt Paving association. And our customers are busy and sentiment is positive and we are seeing seeing improved flow from from federal funding. And we obviously mentioned that a lease of new products, and that is that is busy hitting the market right now on the on the opposite side of that, obviously, interest rates are affecting mostly our mobile crushing and screening equipment. And in this year, you know, obviously being an election year, we always expect a little bit of up and down from an order point of view. But overall, we believe that this year is going to be a stable year for us and the implied board versus that, John Deere in Q4 was a positive signal. And so we are we are expecting flat to single digit, some growth for for 2020 meaningful.

是的，當談到訂購和積壓時，你知道，我們正在考慮一些因素，正如準備好的評論中提到的那樣，今年我已經有機會與許多客戶交談了混凝土國家瀝青鋪路協會。我們的客戶很忙，情緒也很積極，我們看到聯邦資金的流量有所改善。我們顯然提到了新產品的租賃，那就是現在正忙著打入市場，而另一方面，顯然，利率主要影響我們的行動破碎和篩分設備。今年，你知道，顯然是選舉年，我們總是期望從訂單的角度來看會出現一些上下波動。但總的來說，我們相信今年對我們來說將是穩定的一年，而隱含的董事會與此相比，約翰迪爾在第四季度是一個積極的信號。因此，我們預計 2020 年將持平至個位數，一些成長是有意義的。

Great. Thank you. And last question for me. Could you talk a little bit more? You've mentioned near plant efficiency and ERP, but I'm curious about some of the timing of margin improvements we might see from those as the implementations develop.

偉大的。謝謝。還有我的最後一個問題。你能再多說一點嗎？您提到了工廠效率和 ERP 附近的情況，但我很好奇隨著實施的發展，我們可能會看到一些利潤率提高的時間。

Yes. So just on on margins as a whole, it comes from various various places. You know that we are continuously working on the left, putting operational excellence. And as you can see with our CapEx last year, we invested quite a bit in our facility in those or continuously now having an effect. And obviously, we saw that in the in the last couple of quarters. And we mentioned already the pricing inflation parity and then our one Asic procurement team, they are and they are really coming together nicely. And we are definitely taking advantage of the size of our stake now across the organization. So so those are all contributing on the GRP side, specifically, we went live on one side last year. We have various sites that will go live here during 2024, and we will have specifically two sites that will go in in Q2. So we expect to see a positive effect of those in future quarters, but for the shorter term, and there's a lot of good work that the teams have already done that term, that should help. And with margins, I think one thing to consider also from a margin point of view and the the level of work that we have in our factories are always a big one item to consider when it comes to having good absorption. And I think our teams are doing a really good job now with improved sales and operations planning processes to plan for resources based on on level. So the teams are well positioned that if the market continues to be strong, that we can take advantage of that. And on certain products, even if the market turns down, we have good visibility now to take the appropriate actions.

是的。因此，就整體而言，它來自各個不同的地方。您知道，我們一直在左側工作，實現卓越營運。正如您去年的資本支出所看到的，我們在這些設施上投入了大量資金，或者現在正在持續產生效果。顯然，我們在過去幾個季度看到了這一點。我們已經提到了定價通膨平價，然後是我們的一個 Asic 採購團隊，他們確實合作得很好。我們肯定會利用我們現在在整個組織中所持股份的規模。所以這些都在 GRP 方面做出了貢獻，具體來說，我們去年在一側上線了。我們有多個網站將於 2024 年上線，其中兩個網站將在第二季上線。因此，我們期望在未來幾季看到這些措施的正面影響，但從短期來看，團隊在這個學期已經做了很多好的工作，這應該會有所幫助。就利潤率而言，我認為從利潤率的角度來看，我們工廠的工作水準始終是要考慮良好吸收的一個重要因素。我認為我們的團隊現在做得非常好，改進了銷售和營運規劃流程，以根據層級規劃資源。因此，團隊處於有利位置，如果市場持續強勁，我們就可以利用這一點。對於某些產品，即使市場下滑，我們現在也有良好的可見性來採取適當的行動。

Yes, I might like to add a reminder as well we had a significant transformation program that's been in play the last two years with one of our sites sites in Chattanooga, and that is coming to a close. We are putting on the final details, which is launching in Q1 here, and then that's the end of that program. As far as the investments and then throughout the remainder of the year, they'll continue to perfect and stabilize. And so we do expect continued margin improvement from that investment impact us in the back half of the year. And then going forward, it will just continue to grow.

是的，我還想提醒一下，過去兩年我們在查塔努加的一個網站上實施了一項重大轉型計劃，該計劃即將結束。我們正在公佈最終的細節，該細節將在第一季啟動，然後該計劃就結束了。就投資而言，以及在今年剩餘的時間裡，它們將繼續完善和穩定。因此，我們確實預計該投資將在今年下半年影響我們的利潤率持續改善。然後展望未來，它將繼續成長。

The other major investment we're making is in our Oman facility in Northern Ireland. We had a capital expansion to their facility, which is still in progress, but will also finish in 2024. And that is specifically what we're calling our gateway to Europe. So we will be launching several new products in that facility once they have the roof, and that will be in the back half of the year and into 2025. So we do see opportunity from our investments too increased our margin, our gross margin and EBITDA margin portfolio.

我們正在進行的另一項重大投資是在北愛爾蘭的阿曼工廠。我們對他們的設施進行了資本擴張，目前仍在進行中，但也將於 2024 年完成。這就是我們所說的通往歐洲的門戶。因此，一旦工廠建成，我們將在該工廠推出多種新產品，這將在今年下半年到 2025 年進行。因此，我們確實看到投資機​​會也提高了我們的利潤率、毛利率和 EBITDA 利潤率組合。

Thank you, Jana and Becky. I really appreciate all the color.

謝謝你們，賈娜和貝琪。我真的很欣賞所有的顏色。

Mig Dobre, RW Baird.

米格·多布雷，RW·貝爾德。

Hey, good morning, guys. I come Joe Grabowski on for Mig this morning. I also wanted to ask about the EBITDA margin, but maybe kind of split it out between segments from the infrastructure EBITDA margin, what's the highest quarter of spend in the past several years, but Materials Solutions margin was some softer. It's softer than it's been in 2023. So maybe kind of talk about margins by segment. And I know Becky, you were just kind of touching upon it, but what is kind of working in infrastructure than maybe it's not flowing through and material solutions?

嘿，早上好，夥計們。今天早上我請喬·格拉博夫斯基代替米格。我還想詢問 EBITDA 利潤率，但也許可以將其從基礎設施 EBITDA 利潤率中拆分出來，這是過去幾年支出最高的季度，但材料解決方案利潤率則有些疲軟。與 2023 年相比，情況更加疲軟。所以也許可以按細分市場討論利潤率。我知道貝基，你剛剛談到了這個問題，但是在基礎設施方面的工作比可能不通過材料解決方案是什麼？

Yes, I would jump for you and I can I can take a first stab at that. When you absolutely in IT Infrastructure Solutions had a really strong performance. And if you look at that group specifically, Q4 is a very strong March quarter and as will be Q1 this year. So part of the sales, a positive influence and we also on the teams have done really well and in driving efficiencies around our plants and the asphalt and concrete plants that we're selling. And you guys have heard us talk in the past around modularization and the work we're doing on that. So we're starting to see the outcomes of that. And so but on the Infrastructure Solutions side, I will also say that over the last three, four years, we've created a very strong correlation of the and that team has obviously had enough time now to execute. And now that we are on. We have a new leader on the material solutions side. We will duplicate what we've done on that side. And we have definitely seen some interest rates having a more significant effect on the material solutions side of the business and specifically with firm with customers not converting into meaningful units due to procured units. So our dealers are carrying a bigger, bigger rental fleet versus soon hope I'm converting those at the end of leases. And the good thing is that and our customers are running the equipment. So it's not that we're not but we have equipment standing and they are running. So as soon as they are starting to convert, those are installed to purchase agreements and our dealers will have to replenish that inventory. And and we we obviously having discussions with our dealer network on a daily basis around that content.

是的，我會為你而跳，我可以，我可以先試試看。當你絕對在IT基礎設施解決方案方面有非常強大的表現。如果你具體觀察這個群體，第四季是一個非常強勁的三月季度，今年第一季也是如此。因此，銷售的一部分，積極的影響，我們的團隊也做得非常好，在提高我們的工廠以及我們銷售的瀝青和混凝土工廠的效率方面。你們過去聽過我們談論模組化以及我們正在做的工作。所以我們開始看到這樣做的結果。因此，在基礎設施解決方案方面，我還要說，在過去的三、四年裡，我們已經創建了非常強大的相關性，而團隊現在顯然有足夠的時間來執行。現在我們開始了。我們在材料解決方案方面有了一位新的領導者。我們將重複我們在這方面所做的事情。我們確實看到一些利率對業務的材料解決方案方面產生了更顯著的影響，特別是對於客戶因採購單位而未轉換為有意義的單位的公司。因此，我們的經銷商擁有越來越大的租賃車隊，而我很快就希望在租賃結束時將其轉換。好消息是我們的客戶正在運行這些設備。所以並不是說我們沒有，而是我們有設備，而且它們正在運行。因此，一旦他們開始轉換，這些就會安裝到購買協議中，我們的經銷商將不得不補充庫存。我們顯然每天都會與我們的經銷商網絡圍繞該內容進行討論。

Okay. Thanks for that color. How my next question would be, I guess international sale of $51 million in the quarter, down 25% year over year. Can you talk about what you're seeing on the international side of the business?

好的。謝謝那個顏色。我的下一個問題是，我猜該季度的國際銷售額為 5,100 萬美元，年減 25%。您能談談您在國際業務上的所見所聞嗎？

Yes, I will say a big piece of that was more timing. And so, you know, obviously, Europe is soft. I think you've heard that from multiple others people in the industry. So Europe is soft, although Europe is not a big part of our business, but then actually view and if you look at our pipeline from an international point of view, we have a very strong pipeline in our quoting funnel, and we have various pieces of equipment that was in transit to international customers. And those those should flow through year and in Q1 so no, actually, I think our investments in our international organization have shown improvements over the last few years. And with the strong pipeline that we have now, we believe that that 2024 will be stronger on the international side.

是的，我會說其中很大一部分是更多的時機。所以，你知道，歐洲顯然很軟弱。我想您已經從業內其他許多人那裡聽說過這一點。所以歐洲很軟，雖然歐洲不是我們業務的重要組成部分，但實際上，如果你從國際角度來看我們的管道，我們的報價管道中有一個非常強大的管道，我們有各種各樣的部分運送給國際客戶的設備。這些應該貫穿全年和第一季度，所以不，實際上，我認為我們對國際組織的投資在過去幾年中有所改善。憑藉我們現在擁有的強大管道，我們相信 2024 年國際方面將會更加強大。

Got it. Okay. And final question for me. Becky, you touched upon the transformation program from I think you had 26 million of charges in 2020 to 29 million in 2023. Maybe just kind of and I'll talk about what is what all is in the transformation program charges and what do you expect those charges will be in 2024 and beyond there?

知道了。好的。對我來說最後一個問題。Becky，您談到了從 2020 年的 2600 萬筆費用到 2023 年的 2900 萬筆費用的轉型計劃。也許只是這樣，我會談談轉型計畫費用是什麼，以及您預計 2024 年及以後的費用是多少？

Absolutely. So we do expect the same kind of range of spending as 24 25 are the rollout to all the sites. And we do expect to conclude on the majority of that program in 2025 with all of our largest sites that manufacture products. And then we'll continue with international sales entities and such that those will be a lighter lift as we go forward.

絕對地。因此，我們確實預期所有網站的推廣都會有與 24 25 相同的支出範圍。我們確實希望在 2025 年與我們所有最大的產品製造工廠完成該計劃的大部分內容。然後我們將繼續與國際銷售實體合作，這樣隨著我們的前進，這些實體將變得更輕鬆。

The on the transformation program, there was two programs as I mentioned, the transformation at our facility here in Chattanooga is concluding this year and so about one of that is and that being a key one for all intents and purposes, so that we won't have those charges going forward.

關於轉型計劃，正如我所提到的，有兩個計劃，我們查塔努加工廠的轉型將於今年結束，因此其中一個計劃是所有意圖和目的的關鍵計劃，因此我們會獲勝。今後不會有這些指控。

The remainder of the transformation is tied to our Oracle rollout. And I'll just remind everyone, it's more than an ERP. So it is we really had disparate systems everywhere in the company. Every site had a different flavor, but we were missing some fundamental basics. So we rolled out a human capital management system we rolled out a customer relationship management tool and we rolled out a corporate consolidation tool, our ERP, and we're doing a transformation management system program. So quite a few heavy on was there, but it will conclude at the end of 25. And we are pretty excited about it because we are already seeing that we have more effective and efficient operations because we went live in manufacturing facility and corporate, and then we went all of the U.S. on human capital management. So the information we're getting, the quickness of the information, the accuracy of the data. I mean, that's really setting us up for future profitability and efficiency.

轉型的其餘部分與我們的 Oracle 部署相關。我只是提醒大家，它不只是一個 ERP。所以我們公司的各個地方確實都有不同的系統。每個網站都有不同的風格，但我們缺乏一些基本的基礎知識。因此，我們推出了人力資本管理系統，推出了客戶關係管理工具，推出了企業整合工具、ERP，我們正在實施轉型管理系統計畫。所以有相當多的重磅活動，但將在 25 月底結束。我們對此感到非常興奮，因為我們已經看到我們擁有更有效和高效的運營，因為我們在製造工廠和企業中投入使用，然後我們在美國各地進行人力資本管理。所以我們得到的信息，資訊的速度，數據的準確性。我的意思是，這確實為我們未來的獲利能力和效率奠定了基礎。

Okay.

好的。

Thanks for taking my questions.

感謝您回答我的問題。

Good luck.

祝你好運。

Larry De Maria, William Blair.

拉里·德·瑪麗亞，威廉·布萊爾。

Thanks to money.

感謝金錢。

Everybody pays one at a time when a lot of our EFT segment now of fresh material solutions and so I'll take that a little bit weak near term, but can you it's that a can you break out backlog by segment? And then secondly, how the Materials Solutions orders do versus expectations, considering the dealer event, I think we were looking for a 70 to 75 million there. Did we hit that number that relevant? Or if you just talk about the orders versus expectations and maybe split out backlog or order size segment?

每個人都一次支付一個，因為我們的許多電子轉帳部門現在都有新鮮材料解決方案，所以我認為近期會有點疲軟，但是你能按部門打破積壓嗎？其次，考慮到經銷商活動，材料解決方案訂單的表現與預期相比，我認為我們正在尋找 7000 至 7500 萬個訂單。我們是否達到了相關的數字？或者，如果您只是談論訂單與預期，並可能拆分積壓訂單或訂單大小部分？

Yes, I'll take a stab at them at the dealer solutions, some event, and we know that the full value came in quite a bit lighter than what we expected term. And Larry, we have about 40 million. Now I will say that we had two or three of our biggest dealers that did not participate in that program this year due to what we explained earlier, and you know the equipment not converting from rental and due to procurement, and we are having discussions with those dealers right now, customers are using equipment, so we might them. We actually expect seeing some of that pricing to take place here in the next couple of months. And so yes, it came out quite a bit later, but know customers are still using equipment. And if you look at the reports of companies in the materials processing space. And all of those companies are expecting a pretty strong 2024. So we feel comfortable that this is more of a timing issue, and we're continuously working with our dealers on on getting what they need to support their customers on the backlog by segment by segment. And I don't think we typically break that out by segment, but obviously Material Solutions saw the biggest reduction year over year from a percentage point of view. And you know, sequentially in the last quarter, both were more or less the same percentage reduction compared to previous years. But we are we fully expect that that bookings here in Q. one and will be in line with what we expect and and potentially be above what it was last year in Q1.

是的，我會在經銷商解決方案中嘗試一下，在某些活動中，我們知道其全部價值比我們預期的要輕得多。拉里，我們大約有 4000 萬。現在我要說的是，由於我們之前的解釋，今年我們有兩三個最大的經銷商沒有參加該計劃，而且您知道設備沒有從租賃轉換為採購，我們正在與現在那些經銷商、客戶正在使用設備，所以我們可能會使用他們。我們實際上預計在接下來的幾個月內會看到其中的一些定價。是的，它發布得很晚，但知道客戶仍在使用設備。如果你看一下材料加工領域公司的報告。所有這些公司都預計 2024 年將表現強勁。因此，我們感到放心，這更多的是一個時間問題，我們正在與我們的經銷商不斷合作，以獲取他們所需的資源，以逐個細分地支援客戶的積壓訂單。我認為我們通常不會按細分市場進行細分，但顯然從百分比的角度來看，材料解決方案的同比下降幅度最大。你知道，在上個季度，與前幾年相比，兩者的下降百分比大致相同。但我們完全預期第一季的預訂量將與我們的預期一致，並可能高於去年第一季的預訂量。

(Operator Instructions) Brian Sponheimer, Gabelli Funds.

（操作員說明）Brian Sponheimer，Gabelli 基金。

And good morning, everyone, and I appreciate all the color on the call. I've just a question about backlog. If we're looking at the 500 or almost 600 million in backlog here five 70 and compares that to 913 million a year ago, you talk about maybe imputed margins and imputed pricing in what is in that backlog maybe relative to a year ago? Or what's what you've seen there and your ability to really van pricing in that backlog is as it's normalized?

大家早安，我很欣賞這通電話中的所有色彩。我只是有一個關於積壓的問題。如果我們查看這裡 5 70 的 500 或近 6 億積壓訂單，並將其與一年前的 9.13 億進行比較，您可能會談論積壓訂單中相對於一年前的估算利潤和估算定價？或者您在那裡看到了什麼以及您在積壓訂單中真正進行貨車定價的能力是正常化的嗎？

No, Brian, I will say we are very confident in the pricing that we have in our backlog. I think our team did an exceptional job of after that 1st year being caught off guard with the inflationary pressures that jumped up so quickly. And so we feel confident about that. We've also already implemented pricing to offset any inflationary expectations for for 2024.

不，布萊恩，我會說我們對積壓訂單中的定價非常有信心。我認為我們的團隊做得非常出色，第一年之後，我們對如此迅速上升的通膨壓力感到措手不及。所以我們對此充滿信心。我們還已經實施了定價，以抵消 2024 年的任何通膨預期。

So are there any within that backlog, are there any potential mechanism in the case inflation and the inflation outlook changes for you adjust price on that. But what is there?

那麼，在這種積壓中是否有任何潛在的機制，在通貨膨脹和通貨膨脹前景變化的情況下是否有任何潛在的機制可供您調整價格。但那裡有什麼呢？

We typically do not have an inflationary adjustment in our contracts post the signing of a deal, and that was the reason why what was it two years ago? Pricing lagged inflation so much. So I think the teams have been much more proactive to anticipate inflation and building that into pricing for future deliveries.

簽署協議後，我們的合約通常不會進行通膨調整，這就是兩年前的情況的原因？定價遠遠落後於通膨。因此，我認為團隊更加主動地預測通貨膨脹並將其納入未來交付的定價中。

I'd appreciate that. And maybe you can help me here if I'm thinking about how 2023 West with FineSim decent quarters to start the year. Obviously, Q3 was a challenge. If we're thinking about the ability to drive profitability in 2024, maybe in a year where infrastructure is up and materials is down on. Can you talk about where your starting point is from a profitability perspective relative to a year ago?

我將不勝感激。如果我正在考慮 2023 年 West 與 FineSim 的良好季度開局，也許你可以幫助我。顯然，第三季是一個挑戰。如果我們考慮的是 2024 年提高獲利能力的能力，也許是基礎設施完善而材料短缺的一年。您能從獲利角度談談與一年前相比您的起點在哪裡嗎？

Well, certainly, certainly we had some we've seen some softness in ag and we don't expect that to continue. We are seeing signs that that will come back. And part of that comes from the fact that on our Infrastructure Solutions side of the house, we are largely direct sales so we don't have the same pressures from. We don't internally have the same pressures from interest rates. Certainly our customers do, but we have some pretty large customers that can weather these storms a little bit more than we can at our size. But on the dealer sales channel, that's where we're seeing the most pressure. And if interest rates come down on I think everybody can read it yourself as the same as I can, but we expect maybe one or two cuts to come next year. If that happens or not, we're not banking on it. But if that happens, then that will give some confidence to our dealer network and they'll be able to carry some more inventory on right now. They're kind of wait and see. They want to see that these rentals convert. But certainly we were pretty pretty pleased every single quarter. There's here we had above 23% gross margin.

嗯，當然，我們確實看到了農業方面的一些疲軟，我們預計這種情況不會持續下去。我們看到這種情況將會捲土重來的跡象。部分原因在於，在我們的基礎設施解決方案方面，我們主要是直接銷售，因此我們沒有相同的壓力。我們內部沒有同樣的利率壓力。當然，我們的客戶會這樣做，但我們有一些相當大的客戶，他們比我們的規模更能經受住這些風暴。但在經銷商銷售通路上，這是我們看到壓力最大的地方。如果利率下降，我想每個人都可以像我一樣自己閱讀，但我們預計明年可能會出現一兩次降息。無論這種情況發生與否，我們都不會指望它。但如果發生這種情況，那麼這將為我們的經銷商網路帶來一些信心，他們現在將能夠攜帶更多庫存。他們有點觀望。他們希望看到這些租金能夠轉換。但當然我們每季都非常滿意。我們的毛利率超過 23%。

Our agenda.

我們的議程。

And we know that we can do better than that as we saw in Q4. So we can get the sales. We feel pretty strong that we have on runway to expand both gross margins as well as EBITDA and profit margins going forward. We're also very confident in our programs that we're rolling out the return on our invested capital. It grew quite a bit this year and finishing the year at 9.9%. So we know that we're tracking very well with our programs that we're spending money on and we make sure that they get our metrics for approval. So we do see quite a bit of opportunity and Jacko mentioned this as well. The other point that gives us confidence is our ability to increase our parts fill rates. We should never have parts in backlog. So that is part of our drop in backlog. We are turning parts and so orders at a regular routine. We want to satisfy the customer in 24 hours when when possible on a little bit longer. We have to manufacture something that's new and old are equal abutment. We've seen very good progress there and but we're not where we want to be. So we'll continue to focus on that. And that should also give us some room for expansion.

我們知道我們可以做得比第四季看到的更好。這樣我們就可以得到銷售量。我們堅信，未來我們有能力擴大毛利率以及 EBITDA 和利潤率。我們對我們的計劃也非常有信心，我們正在推出投資資本的回報。今年成長相當大，年終成長率為 9.9%。所以我們知道我們正在很好地追蹤我們花錢的項目，並確保他們得到我們的批准指標。所以我們確實看到了很多機會，Jacko 也提到了這一點。給我們信心的另一點是我們提高零件填充率的能力。我們永遠不應該有零件積壓。這是我們積壓訂單減少的一部分。我們正在定期轉動零件和訂單。我們希望在 24 小時內讓客戶滿意，如果可能的話，時間可以長一點。我們必須製造出新的和舊的同等的基台。我們在那裡看到了非常好的進展，但我們還沒有達到我們想要的目標。所以我們將繼續關注這一點。這也應該給我們一些擴展的空間。

Hi, Brian.

嗨，布萊恩。

I don't know, Jeff, maybe just an additional comment on that and beat this this year for us. I will say. And if we get the sales and we feel that operationally we have a lot of stability now and in the way we manufacture pricing. And so if the sales are there, we feel that there is an upside to the two profit development. So we're spending a lot of time and effort with our sales teams to drive that to fill the pipeline up and down. And because of all the work that we've done to create more consistency in our business. And that's that should show up positively in the future if we if we materialize to sales, I appreciate that.

我不知道，傑夫，也許只是對此進行補充評論，並為我們今年擊敗了這一點。我會說。如果我們獲得銷售，我們會覺得我們現在的營運和定價方式都非常穩定。因此，如果銷售額存在，我們認為這兩項利潤發展都有好處。因此，我們花費了大量的時間和精力與我們的銷售團隊合作，以推動其上下填補管道。因為我們為提高業務一致性所做的所有工作。如果我們實現銷售的話，這應該會在未來表現出積極的一面，我對此表示讚賞。

I guess one last one, if you'll if you'll allow with the idea that you kind of set a baseline for where profitability is going to go. Balance sheet is in great shape and how do you think about using cash here? Is it buyback you're looking for acquisitions is just fixing what's continuing to fix?

我想最後一個，如果你願意的話，如果你允許的話，你可以為盈利能力的走向設定一個基準。資產負債表狀況良好，您如何看待在這裡使用現金？您正在尋找的回購是否只是為了解決正在繼續解決的問題？

Yes.

是的。

No, good question. Good question, Brian. So from a capital allocation point of view. You know, there's a couple of things that we have on the table. And obviously, CapEx. We we still want to invest in our facilities and so we see CapEx is going to be in that 30, 35 million range. And then I will continue with the dividends up income this past year, that was about 12 million from a buyback point of view, we do have an open program and under the current program design, even if we do start buyback, it hits it will not give us significant volume and just because the way the plan is designed and but we want to make sure we drive down our inventory to obviously fund and pay down the debt that we have on our revolver today, and we are definitely looking at a future acquisition opportunities. The teams are all working on filling that pipeline. And if we can if we find the right company, we will definitely consider that. And I will also just mention that our teams have done a really good job this last year on on things other than just inventory. And if you look at our accounts receivable accounts payable work that the teams have done there, I will say it's in the best shape. It's been in a long time so a lot of work around to using our capital in a good way and driving that and otherwise see in the right direction.

不，好問題。好問題，布萊恩。所以從資本配置的角度來看。你知道，我們有幾件事擺在桌面上。顯然，資本支出。我們仍然希望投資我們的設施，因此我們認為資本支出將在 30、3500 萬美元範圍內。然後我會繼續去年的分紅收入，從回購的角度來看，大約是1200萬，我們確實有一個開放的計劃，並且根據當前的計劃設計，即使我們開始回購，它也會達到目標不會為我們帶來大量的銷量，只是因為計劃的設計方式，但我們希望確保減少庫存，以顯然為我們今天的左輪手槍提供資金和償還債務，我們肯定會展望未來收購機會。各個團隊都在努力填補這一空白。如果可以的話，如果我們找到合適的公司，我們肯定會考慮。我還要提一下，去年我們的團隊在庫存以外的其他方面都做得非常好。如果你看看我們團隊在那裡所做的應收帳款和應付帳款工作，我會說它處於最佳狀態。很長一段時間以來，我們做了很多工作來以良好的方式利用我們的資本並推動這一目標，並在其他方面看到正確的方向。

Reserve is a big focus for us very very

儲備是我們非常非常關注的一個重點

much appreciated and congrats on a good point. It turnaround from Q3 here we do.

非常感謝並祝賀這一點。從第三季開始，情況出現了好轉。

Larry De Maria, William Blair.

拉里·德·瑪麗亞，威廉·布萊爾。

And Herbert, I get disconnected before yet. You noted the obviously the big increase in gross margin for the year, and I think 24.7, obviously about 22nd for Q, we looked at 25.2 or 24 flat, flat up sales transformation program benefits growth in parts. So should that not imply 25% to 26% gross margin and 24. Is that fair or not why?

赫伯特，我以前也斷過聯絡。您注意到今年毛利率明顯大幅增長，我認為 24.7，顯然是 Q 的第 22 位，我們認為 25.2 或 24 持平、持平銷售轉型計劃有利於零件的增長。那麼這是否意味著毛利率為 25% 至 26% 以及 24.這公平不公平，為什麼？

Yes, no, that's that's a good question. And you know, we definitely have various items that we have we are working on and low. You know, I talked about further driving the parts business, the new products that we're releasing and the work we're doing on procurement and I will say the the item that that we are watching very closely is making sure that we have good control in our factories around absorption. And so all the goods that we're working on we are we are expecting margins to to continue the improve. It's just them. It's just a timing timing thing on exactly when it will hit. But and there's definitely a lot of positive momentum around margin development.

是的，不，這是一個好問題。你知道，我們肯定有各種正在開發的項目，而且價格很低。你知道，我談到了進一步推動零件業務、我們正在發布的新產品以及我們正在進行的採購工作，我會說我們正在密切關注的項目是確保我們擁有良好的我們工廠圍繞吸收進行控制。因此，我們正在開發的所有產品都預計利潤率將繼續提高。只是他們。這只是一個時間問題，即它何時發生。但是，利潤率的發展肯定有很多積極的勢頭。

Okay.

好的。

Thanks, Barry. I would say without looking for

謝謝，巴里。我會說無需尋找

Yes, Larry, I might add we're positive on our margin expansion. But just you know, we're cautionary at this point because we do have, you know, several factors, crews that are going to go live with Oracle. We're really confident in where we're positioned there. The teams are on board and great leadership at our sites that are going live that are really driving it from the top down. So if everything goes as planned, we should expect our margin to improve. But we are certainly expecting an uptick here with a range that could be anywhere from 24% to 25.5%.

是的，拉里，我想補充一點，我們對利潤率擴張持正面態度。但您知道，我們在這一點上持謹慎態度，因為您知道，我們確實有幾個因素、將與 Oracle 一起使用的工作人員。我們對自己的定位非常有信心。團隊的參與和我們即將上線的站點的出色領導，真正從上到下推動了這一進程。因此，如果一切按計劃進行，我們的利潤率應該會提高。但我們當然預期增幅可能在 24% 至 25.5% 之間。

Okay.

好的。

Fair enough.

很公平。

Thank you very much for the color.

非常感謝你的顏色。

There are no further questions in queue. I'd like to hand the call back to Steve Anderson for closing remarks.

隊列中沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回給史蒂夫·安德森（Steve Anderson），讓他致閉幕詞。

I think it is I'll thank everyone for being on the call, I'd like to remind you that the asset will be displaying products at the world of asphalt trade show in Nashville, Tennessee on March 25th through March 27th. So if you attend that show, please stop by our booth and say, hello, we appreciate your participation on this call and thank you for your interest in Astec as today's news release indicates this conference call is being recorded. A replay of the conference call will be available through March 13th, 2024, and an archived webcast will be available for 90 days. The transcript will be available under the Investor Relations section of the Astec Industries website within the next seven days. All of that information is contained in the news release that went out earlier this morning. This concludes our call. But as always, I'm happy to connect with the calls later on. Thank you all.

我想我要感謝大家參加電話會議，我想提醒您，該資產將於 3 月 25 日至 3 月 27 日在田納西州納什維爾舉行的世界瀝青貿易展上展示產品。因此，如果您參加該展會，請在我們的展位前停下來並打招呼，我們感謝您參與本次電話會議，並感謝您對 Astec 的興趣，因為今天的新聞稿表明本次電話會議正在錄製中。電話會議重播將持續至 2024 年 3 月 13 日，存檔網路廣播將持續 90 天。該文字記錄將在未來 7 天內在 Astec Industries 網站的投資者關係部分提供。所有這些資訊都包含在今天早上發布的新聞稿中。我們的通話到此結束。但與往常一樣，我很高興稍後再接聽電話。謝謝你們。

Have a good day.

祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路並度過美好的一天。