Astronics Corp (ATRO) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Astronics Corporation second quarter 2024 financial results conference call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) Please also note today's event is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 Astronics Corporation 2024 年第二季財務業績電話會議。所有參與者將處於僅聽模式。（操作員說明）也請注意今天的活動正在錄製中。

At this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Debra Pawlowski. Ma'am, please go ahead.

現在，我想把發言權交給黛布拉‧帕夫洛夫斯基 (Debra Pawlowski)。女士，請繼續。

Thanks, Jamie, and good afternoon, everyone. We certainly appreciate your time today and your interest in Astronics.

謝謝傑米，大家下午好。我們非常感謝您今天抽出寶貴的時間以及您對 Astronics 的興趣。

Joining me on the call are Pete Gundermann, our Chairman, President and CEO; and Dave Burney, our Chief Financial Officer. You should have a copy of our second quarter 2024 financial results, which crossed the wires after the market closed today. If you do not have the release, you can find it on our website at astronics.com.

與我一起參加電話會議的還有我們的董事長、總裁兼執行長 Pete Gundermann；以及我們的財務長戴夫伯尼 (Dave Burney)。您應該擁有我們 2024 年第二季財務業績的副本，該業績在今天收盤後公佈。如果您沒有該版本，您可以在我們的網站 astronics.com 上找到它。

As you are aware, we may make some forward-looking statements during the formal discussion and the Q&A session of this conference call. These statements apply to future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties as well as other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is stated here today. These risks and uncertainties and other factors are provided in the earnings release as well as with other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You can find these documents on our website or at sec.gov.

如您所知，我們可能會在本次電話會議的正式討論和問答環節中做出一些前瞻性陳述。這些陳述適用於受風險和不確定性以及其他可能導致實際結果與今天所述結果有重大差異的因素影響的未來事件。這些風險和不確定性以及其他因素在收益報告以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中提供。您可以在我們的網站或 sec.gov 上找到這些文件。

During today's call, we will also discuss some non-GAAP measures. We believe these will be useful in evaluating our performance. You should not consider the presentation of this additional information in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. We have provided reconciliations of non-GAAP measures with comparable GAAP measures in the tables that accompany today's release.

在今天的電話會議中，我們還將討論一些非公認會計準則措施。我們相信這些將有助於評估我們的績效。您不應孤立地考慮此附加資訊的呈現，也不應將其視為根據 GAAP 準備的結果的替代品。我們在今天發布的表格中提供了非公認會計準則衡量指標與可比較公認會計準則衡量指標的調整表。

With that, let me turn the call over to Pete to begin. Peter?

接下來，讓我把電話轉給皮特開始。彼得？

Thank you, Debbie, and good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for tuning into our call. We're going to talk about second quarter results obviously, dig into some specifics of the recent refinance efforts, or refinance process that we went through earlier in July, and close the call by talking through our expectations for the remainder of 2024.

謝謝黛比，大家下午好。感謝您收聽我們的電話。顯然，我們將討論第二季的業績，深入探討最近再融資工作的一些細節，或者我們在 7 月初經歷的再融資流程，並透過討論我們對 2024 年剩餘時間的預期來結束電話會議。

So long story short, we feel that the second quarter was a very good quarter for Astronics. Simply put, strong sales, improving margins and very strong bookings. Our Aerospace segment, which is just shy of 90% of our sales year-to-date had a very good quarter.

長話短說，我們認為第二季對於 Astronics 來說是一個非常好的季度。簡而言之，銷售強勁，利潤率提高，預訂量非常強勁。我們的航空航太業務占我們今年迄今銷售額的 90%，季度業績非常好。

Our Test segment, approximately 10% of our sales had what I would term as a reset quarter. We'll get into the segment results a little bit later, but as I already mentioned, we also, after the quarter close, accomplished a refinance in early July, which we feel is a very important step forward for the financial health of our company.

我們的測試部分，大約占我們銷售額的 10%，我稱之為重置季度。我們稍後會介紹部門業績，但正如我已經提到的，我們還在季度結束後於7 月初完成了再融資，我們認為這對於我們公司的財務健康而言是向前邁出的非常重要的一步。

Running through some overall consolidated numbers, again, sales of $198 million exceeded our guidance for the quarter. That's happened a handful of times recently, has become a little bit of a trend. Up 14% year-over-year in the comparator quarter and up 7% sequentially from the first quarter.

透過一些整體綜合數據來看，1.98 億美元的銷售額再次超出了我們對本季的指導。這種情況最近發生過幾次，已經成為一種趨勢。比較季度年增 14%，較第一季較上季成長 7%。

The sales level marks a return, frankly, to pre-pandemic levels. The sales level was enabled by positive trends that continue to propel us forward. And these are things that we talked about the last few calls. I'm not going to go into them a whole lot of detail, but we continue to see moderating inflation.

坦白說，銷售水平標誌著回到了大流行前的水平。銷售水準的實現得益於繼續推動我們前進的積極趨勢。這些是我們在最近幾次電話會議中討論過的事情。我不會詳細討論它們，但我們繼續看到通膨放緩。

We continue to see price increases that we have implemented taking hold and beginning to have an effect on our business. And most importantly, our supply chain, which is very much global in nature, continues to improve.

我們繼續看到我們已經實施的價格上漲並開始對我們的業務產生影響。最重要的是，我們的供應鏈本質上是全球化的，並且持續改善。

Also, our workforce turnover has reduced from the very high levels of 2022 and 2023, and the efficiency of our workforce is improving, and I expect will continue to improve. A [tidbit] of number which may surprise you, it did me when we ran these numbers, our workforce currently totals about 2,600 people and 43% of them at the end of the second quarter had been with us for less than three years.

此外，我們的勞動力流動率較 2022 年和 2023 年的高水準有所下降，而且我們勞動力的效率正在提高，我預計將繼續提高。有一個數字可能會讓您感到驚訝，當我們計算這些數字時，我感到驚訝，我們的員工總數目前約為 2,600 人，其中 43% 在第二季末在我們工作了不到三年。

That's almost half, and it's a much higher percentage than what we are typically accustomed to. I don't think it's unique. I think a lot of companies in our space are dealing with the same realities, and it makes it challenging to step on the gas and immediately have a response in terms of organizational efficiency. But we're getting better and it's starting to show in our financials.

這幾乎是一半，而且比我們通常習慣的比例要高得多。我不認為這是獨一無二的。我認為我們領域的許多公司都面臨著同樣的現實，這使得加強力並立即在組織效率方面做出反應變得具有挑戰性。但我們正在變得更好，這開始體現在我們的財務狀況上。

The income statement is improving with the sales level. Dave will talk through a lot of the details in just a few minutes. The adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was 10.2%, up from 9.1% last year or $20.2 million compared to $15.9 million. That's an improvement, but we expect more of it as we go through the year as our sales continue to climb and as our supply chain continues to improve and as our workforce efficiency and quality improves, and as price increases continue to take hold.

損益表隨著銷售水準的提高而改善。戴夫將在幾分鐘內討論很多細節。本季調整後 EBITDA 為 10.2%，高於去年的 9.1%，即 2,020 萬美元，去年同期為 1,590 萬美元。這是一種進步，但隨著我們的銷售額持續攀升、我們的供應鏈不斷改善、我們的勞動力效率和品質不斷提高以及價格繼續上漲，我們預計這一年的進步會更大。

Also, and it shouldn't be understated, demand continues to be very strong. Our second quarter bookings were $219 million. That's a book-to-bill of 1.11, and it was strong demand really across our range of product lines. It's really nice when you have a high shipping quarter and an even higher booking quarter that makes you feel really confident about the near-term future of the business.

此外，不應低估的是，需求仍然非常強勁。我們第二季的預訂量為 2.19 億美元。訂單出貨比為 1.11，我們整個產品線的需求確實非常強勁。當您擁有較高的發貨季度和更高的預訂季度時，這真的很好，這讓您對業務的近期未來充滿信心。

Our 12-month bookings at the end of the second quarter were $783 million. That again is a number that's approaching pre-pandemic levels. And we ended the quarter with a record backlog again of $633 million, with importantly $402 million scheduled to ship in the second half of 2024.

截至第二季末，我們的 12 個月預訂金額為 7.83 億美元。這個數字再次接近大流行前的水平。本季結束時，我們的積壓訂單再次達到創紀錄的 6.33 億美元，其中重要的是 4.02 億美元計劃在 2024 年下半年發貨。

Looking at our segments, simply put, again aerospace, our Aerospace segment had a really nice quarter. It's 90% of our consolidated sales. And basically, as Aerospace goes, Astronics goes. Solid growth of 11.7% year-over-year, $177 million in revenue with good margin improvement. Dave will talk through those details in a second. I want to spend a few minutes talking about Test and what I described earlier as a reset quarter.

看看我們的部門，簡單地說，還是航空航天，我們的航空航天部門有一個非常好的季度。這是我們綜合銷售額的 90%。基本上，隨著航空航太的發展，天文學也隨之發展。營收年增 11.7%，達到 1.77 億美元，利潤率大幅提高。戴夫將在一秒鐘內詳細討論這些細節。我想花幾分鐘討論測試以及我之前描述的重置季度。

We had a restructuring in April that I think we talked about on our first quarter call, and it was designed to save about $4 million annually beginning in the current quarter, the third quarter of 2024. So that restructuring was accomplished. And as part of that, we closed a facility in Texas, a smaller one, about 30 people or so, and consolidated those results in our Orlando headquarters.

我們在 4 月進行了重組，我想我們在第一季的電話會議上談到了這一點，其目的是從當前季度（即 2024 年第三季）開始每年節省約 400 萬美元。這樣重組就完成了。作為其中的一部分，我們關閉了德克薩斯州的一家工廠，規模較小，約 30 人左右，並將這些結果整合到我們的奧蘭多總部。

It's similar to a consolidation we implemented last year of an operation up in the Boston area and another one that we have announced but not yet accomplished for a smaller UK operation. All of these are designed to simplify the business, simplify the operations, and lower costs, and we're well underway with that effort.

這類似於我們去年在波士頓地區實施的一項合併，以及我們已經宣布但尚未完成的另一項針對較小的英國業務的合併。所有這些都是為了簡化業務、簡化營運和降低成本，我們正在順利進行這方面的工作。

An unfortunate development in the second quarter was an estimate to complete adjustment of $3.5 million for a couple of revenue over time or otherwise people might know it as a percentage of completion jobs in our transit test business. These resulted in sales and margin reductions of $3.5 million in the quarter, and it's basically a result of doing a ground-up review of those programs and learning or deciding or discovering that we weren't as far along in terms of a development effort as we thought we were.

第二季度的一個不幸的進展是，預計隨著時間的推移，一些收入將完成 350 萬美元的調整，否則人們可能會知道它占我們交通測試業務完成工作的百分比。這些導致本季的銷售額和利潤減少了 350 萬美元，基本上是對這些計劃進行徹底審查的結果，並了解到或決定或發現我們在開發工作方面並沒有像以前那樣走得那麼遠。我們以為我們是。

We should get that revenue back over the next few quarters. The contribution on it is something we're going to have to wait and see what that's all about. But that was a negative development for our Test business, but we feel sets us up pretty good for the second half of the year getting it behind us.

我們應該在接下來的幾個季度內收回收入。我們必須等待，看看它的貢獻是什麼。但這對我們的測試業務來說是一個負面的發展，但我們覺得這為我們下半年的發展奠定了良好的基礎。

Most importantly, in the second quarter we were finally awarded that radio test contract by the US Army that you've heard me talk about almost for two years now. It was an IDIQ or indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for radio test equipment that is designed to allow the US Army to test its full range of radios proactively and to diagnose failures in the field or in the lab or wherever. It is a big program. It's funded to be $215 million.

最重要的是，在第二季度，我們終於獲得了美國陸軍的無線電測試合同，您已經聽我談論了近兩年了。這是一份無線電測試設備 IDIQ 或無限期交付、無限數量合同，旨在讓美國陸軍能夠主動測試其全系列無線電設備，並在現場、實驗室或任何地方診斷故障。這是一個大計劃。資金總額為 2.15 億美元。

We understand that there's clearly demand in the field at the Army to consume that amount of money, and we expect that it will be consumed in the coming years. The initial contract came with an award for $15.5 million and $7.2 million of that was recognized as revenue in the second quarter. We expect the majority of the remainder, a total of about $10 million to $12 million, will be recognized over the course of 2024.

我們了解到，陸軍戰場上顯然需要消耗這筆資金，我們預計這筆錢將在未來幾年內消耗掉。最初的合約金額為 1550 萬美元，其中 720 萬美元被確認為第二季的收入。我們預計剩餘的大部分（總計約 1,000 萬至 1,200 萬美元）將在 2024 年得到認可。

And that initial delivery order was for engineering, qualification and low-rate initial production tests. The question remains, when will full rate production begin? And we don't know the answer to that yet. We have some tests we need to get through as part of the initial LRIP award.

最初的交付訂單用於工程、資格認證和低速初始生產測試。問題仍然是，什麼時候開始全速生產？我們還不知道答案。作為最初 LRIP 授予的一部分，我們需要完成一些測試。

We also are dependent on the Army getting through some of their tests. Our best guess is that it's mid-2025 or later, but probably will be commenced by the early part of 2026. More on that as it happens over the coming months. For that program, along with the cost reductions that we've implemented, we expect we'll put the test business on a much better footing compared to where it's been over the last quarter, last few quarters.

我們也依賴陸軍通過一些測試。我們最好的猜測是 2025 年中期或更晚，但可能會在 2026 年初開始。未來幾個月將會有更多相關內容。對於該計劃，加上我們已經實施的成本削減，我們預計與上個季度、前幾季相比，我們將使測試業務處於更好的基礎上。

Finally, the refinance that we announced early in July. This is a big deal for our company. It is basically a larger improved ABL revolver facility combined with a reduced less expensive term loan and the combination of the two in sum provides us a lower combined interest rate, much lower amortization compared to what we had before, an improved level of available liquidity, and friendlier covenants.

最後是我們在七月初宣布的再融資。這對我們公司來說是一件大事。它基本上是一個更大的改進的ABL 循環設施，加上減少的較便宜的定期貸款，兩者的組合為我們提供了更低的綜合利率、比我們以前低得多的攤銷、提高的可用流動性水平，以及更友善的契約。

In sum, it's an important step towards the recovery of our company and gives us the flexibility financially to make the investments we need to make to realize the opportunities that are ahead of us in the near future.

總之，這是我們公司復甦的重要一步，使我們在財務上具有靈活性，可以進行所需的投資，以實現在不久的將來我們面臨的機會。

I'll turn it over to Dave at this point to talk through some of the details of the quarter and the refinance package. Dave?

此時我將把它交給戴夫，討論本季和再融資方案的一些細節。戴夫？

All right. Thanks, Pete. As Pete discussed, we continued our strong momentum into the second quarter with consolidated sales growth of 14%, with strength across most product lines and notable increases in demand from the commercial transport and defense markets. Consolidated revenue was $198.1 million, and this is the highest we've seen since the fourth quarter of 2019.

好的。謝謝，皮特。正如 Pete 所討論的，我們在第二季度繼續保持強勁勢頭，綜合銷售額增長 14%，大多數產品線均表現強勁，商業運輸和國防市場的需求顯著增長。合併收入為 1.981 億美元，這是自 2019 年第四季以來的最高水準。

It's difficult to make comparisons to 2023 as we're still fighting through the pandemic parts shortages and high inflation and hadn't yet reimplemented bonus plans. I think it's more relevant for the most part to compare performance to the first quarter of this year, sequentially.

很難與 2023 年進行比較，因為我們仍在應對大流行的零件短缺和高通膨，並且尚未重新實施獎金計劃。我認為，在大多數情況下，將業績與今年第一季的業績進行連續比較更有意義。

As we frequently point out, there is inherently strong operating leverage in our business. The double-digit growth in sales compared with the second quarter last year translated into a 21% gross margin, which was up 220 basis points compared with last year, while operating margin improved 240 basis points to 3.8%.

正如我們經常指出的那樣，我們的業務本質上具有強大的營運槓桿。與去年第二季相比，銷售額達到兩位數成長，毛利率達到 21%，比去年提高 220 個基點，營業利潤率提高 240 個基點，達到 3.8%。

While these improvements are nice, our sales and profit were actually dampened by about $3.5 million due to an increase of estimated costs to complete that Pete had mentioned on mass transit test contracts. And this has had the effect of lowering sales and related margins by the same amount as the percentage of completion on those contracts was reduced. Also, $1.3 million of restructuring and severance costs, primarily in the Test segment, were recorded in the quarter.

雖然這些改進很好，但由於完成皮特在公共交通測試合約中提到的估計成本增加，我們的銷售額和利潤實際上減少了​​約 350 萬美元。這導致銷售額和相關利潤率下降，其幅度與這些合約完成百分比的下降幅度相同。此外，本季還記錄了 130 萬美元的重組和遣散費用，主要是在測試部分。

Consolidated operating income was $7.6 million and represents 45% operating leverage on the incremental sales over the first quarter of 2024. Adjusting for the estimated cost to complete revisions and the restructuring and severance costs, our consolidated operating profit would have been $12.4 million or about 6%.

合併營業收入為 760 萬美元，佔 2024 年第一季增量銷售額的 45% 營業槓桿。調整完成修訂的估計成本以及重組和遣散成本後，我們的綜合營業利潤將為 1,240 萬美元，即 6% 左右。

Still not where we want to be which is up in the double digits, but on the right track. As we've stated before, we feel we should be a company that should be able to achieve EBITDA margins in the high teens at least, and that translates to operating income in the 14% to 15% range for us.

仍然沒有達到我們想要的目標，即兩位數的成長，但走在正確的軌道上。正如我們之前所說，我們認為我們應該成為一家至少能夠實現 EBITDA 利潤率在十幾歲左右的公司，這意味著我們的營業收入在 14% 到 15% 範圍內。

Sequentially, compared with the first quarter of this year, consolidated SG&A increased $1.3 million, primarily related to restructuring and severance costs of the Test segment, slightly higher legal costs, and being partially offset by lower equity compensation.

隨後，與今年第一季相比，合併SG&A增加了130萬美元，主要與測試部門的重組和遣散費、法律成本略高以及股權薪酬下降所部分抵銷。

Sequentially, again, corporate expenses declined by about $1 million as the first quarter had roughly $1 million of annual equity compensation granted and recognized in the quarter primarily to directors. We expect the $6.8 million in corporate costs to be about the run rate for the rest of the year.

隨後，公司費用再次下降約 100 萬美元，因為第一季主要向董事授予和確認了約 100 萬美元的年度股權薪酬。我們預計 680 萬美元的企業成本與今年剩餘時間的運作率大致相同。

Looking at the segments compared again to the first quarter, Aerospace operating profit grew 59% on an 8% sales increase. The $19.3 million in operating profit for the Aerospace segment was its highest since the first quarter of 2019.

與第一季相比，航空航太業務營業利潤成長 59%，銷售額成長 8%。航空航天部門的營業利潤為 1,930 萬美元，創 2019 年第一季以來的最高水準。

The sequential improvement was a result of a strong contribution margin on the incremental sales and improved operating efficiency. Test sales were flat compared with the first quarter, while the operating loss increased $2.3 million to $5.3 million compared with the first quarter.

連續改善是由於增量銷售的強勁貢獻率和營運效率的提高。測試銷售額與第一季持平，而營業虧損則較第一季增加 230 萬美元至 530 萬美元。

Test sales reflects $7 million of revenue and related profit from the recently awarded 4549T radio test contract. Included in the Test segment loss was the $1.1 million in severance and restructuring costs and the $3.5 million reduction to sales related to the transit programs. Excluding these, the Test segment would have approached breakeven. As we continue to execute on new programs to grow revenue, we expect that the Test segment will approach breakeven by the end of the year.

測試銷售額反映了最近授予的 4549T 無線電測試合約帶來的 700 萬美元收入和相關利潤。測試部門的損失包括 110 萬美元的遣散費和重組成本以及與交通計劃相關的銷售額減少 350 萬美元。排除這些，測試部分將接近盈虧平衡。隨著我們繼續執行新計劃以增加收入，我們預計測試部門將在年底前實現盈虧平衡。

That's not to say we think this segment should operate at breakeven as we believe this business should also be able to achieve double-digit operating profit. But for that to happen, the top line needs to improve, and we need to get past the current program mix, which has weak profit profiles. 4549T will provide a significant step towards higher volumes with solid margin profile.

這並不是說我們認為該部門應該達到損益平衡，因為我們認為該業務也應該能夠達到兩位數的營業利潤。但要做到這一點，收入需要改善，我們需要克服當前利潤狀況不佳的計畫組合。4549T 將在實現更高產量和穩定利潤方面邁出重要一步。

We've taken steps to simplify the business, as Pete mentioned, by consolidating facilities and reducing the workforce during the last quarter, and we should see the impact of that as we move forward into next year.

正如皮特所提到的，我們已經採取措施簡化業務，在上個季度整合了設施並減少了勞動力，當我們進入明年時，我們應該會看到其影響。

Moving on to the balance sheet. As we announced on July 11, we amended and expanded our asset-based revolving line of credit and refinanced the term loan. The refinancing included an expanded asset-based line of credit and a smaller, lower-cost term loan.

繼續看資產負債表。正如我們在 7 月 11 日宣布的那樣，我們修改並擴大了基於資產的循環信貸額度，並對定期貸款進行了再融資。再融資包括擴大以資產為基礎的信貸額度和規模較小、成本較低的定期貸款。

The revolving line of credit was expanded to a $200 million maximum subject to the borrowing base, with an interest rate of SOFR plus 2.5% to 3%, varying based on our consolidated leverage ratio. We're currently at SOFR plus 3%.

根據借款基礎，循環信貸額度擴大至最高 2 億美元，利率為 SOFR 加 2.5% 至 3%，具體利率根據我們的綜合槓桿率而變化。我們目前處於 SOFR 加 3% 的水平。

At closing, we had $128 million drawn on the facility and total availability of about $50 million. The new $55 million term loan interest rate -- reduced the interest rate by approximately 200 basis points to 325 basis points to SOFR plus 5.5% to SOFR plus 6.75% depending on our leverage ratio, and importantly, reduced the mandatory annual principal payments from $9 million to $550,000 annually, saving us $8.5 million annually in principal payments. We're currently at SOFR plus 6.75% on that.

交易結束時，我們從該設施中提取了 1.28 億美元，總可用金額約為 5000 萬美元。新的5500 萬美元定期貸款利率- 將利率降低約200 個基點至325 個基點（SOFR 加5.5%）至SOFR 加6.75%（取決於我們的槓桿率），重要的是，將強制性年度本金支付從9 美元減少每年 10 萬至 55 萬美元，每年節省本金 850 萬美元。我們目前的 SOFR 加上 6.75%。

In all, the refinancing improved liquidity, reduced our annual cash cost for debt service by about $10 million to $11 million, and provided overall greater financial flexibility. The term note and the revolving credit facility both expire in July 2027.

總而言之，再融資改善了流動性，將我們每年的償債現金成本降低了約 1,000 萬至 1,100 萬美元，並提供了整體更大的財務靈活性。定期票據及循環信貸安排均將於 2027 年 7 月到期。

Jumping forward a bit, this refinancing since it was completed in the third quarter will have an impact on our third quarter income statement. As the refinancing was a third quarter event, our third quarter will reflect some onetime costs relating to the write-off of some deferred financing costs from the old term loan and the revolving credit facility and the payment of the call premium on the old term note.

向前跳一點，自第三季完成以來的再融資將對我們第三季的損益表產生影響。由於再融資是第三季的事件，我們的第三季將反映一些一次性成本，這些成本與沖銷舊定期貸款和循環信貸便利的一些遞延融資成本以及支付舊定期票據的贖回溢價有關。

These costs total approximately $7.5 million. About $7 million of these costs will be reflected in the third quarter as a loss on extinguishment of debt in our income statement with the residual $0.5 million recorded as interest expense in the third quarter.

這些成本總計約為 750 萬美元。其中約 700 萬美元將在第三季作為債務清償損失反映在我們的損益表中，剩餘的 50 萬美元將在第三季記錄為利息支出。

Our blended cash interest rate today is roughly 9.5% but could move if SOFR rates change or our leverage or drawn balance changes. Additionally, we'll have noncash amortization of the new upfront fees classified as interest expense of approximately $500,000 per quarter.

目前我們的混合現金利率約為 9.5%，但如果 SOFR 利率發生變化或我們的槓桿或提取餘額發生變化，利率可能會發生變化。此外，我們還將對歸類為利息支出的新預付費用進行非現金攤銷，每季約為 50 萬美元。

Although it might not appear this way, we have been focusing resources on managing our inventory. Inventory increased a modest 0.6% compared with the first quarter and reflects the continued delay in several new programs that have moved out one or two quarters. We continue to target mid-3 times turns per year for 2024 and a goal of over four turns per year in 2025, which gets us back to a more acceptable inventory turnover rate.

儘管看起來可能並非如此，但我們一直在集中資源來管理我們的庫存。與第一季相比，庫存小幅增長了 0.6%，這反映出幾個已經搬出一兩個季度的新項目的持續延遲。我們繼續設定 2024 年每年週轉次數為 3 次左右的目標，並在 2025 年設定每年週轉次數超過 4 次的目標，這使我們回到了更可接受的庫存週轉率。

CapEx was $1.8 million in the quarter and $3.4 million year-to-date, and we are planning CapEx for the full year to be in the range of $17 million to $22 million, so a pickup in the second half of the year. Much of that is related to machinery and equipment and test equipment that we need for the new programs that we're winning. We had no activity on our ATM program in the quarter and are not anticipating any further activity with that program.

本季的資本支出為 180 萬美元，年初至今為 340 萬美元，我們計劃全年的資本支出在 1700 萬美元至 2200 萬美元之間，因此下半年會有所回升。其中大部分與我們贏得的新項目所需的機械設備和測試設備有關。本季我們的 ATM 計劃沒有任何活動，並且預計該計劃不會有任何進一步的活動。

And this concludes my remarks. Pete, back to you.

我的發言到此結束。皮特，回到你身邊。

Okay. With respect to the remainder of 2024, in our first quarter call we identified three watch items, which we felt would be important for how 2024 was going to shape up and work out. The first one was whether the demand groundswell that we have been seeing for many quarters up to that point would continue. The second one was whether we would get the 4549T contract award in a timely manner. And the third was, what would Boeing rates do with respect to their demand signals for us?

好的。關於 2024 年剩餘時間，在第一季電話會議中，我們確定了三款手錶產品，我們認為這對 2024 年的發展和發展非常重要。第一個問題是，迄今為止我們已經看到的多個季度的需求激增是否會持續下去。第二個問題是我們能否及時獲得4549T合約。第三個問題是，波音的費率會對我們的需求訊號產生什麼影響？

The good news for today is that all three of those things seem to be in pretty good shape. We've talked about demand already. $219 million of bookings in the second quarter very well answered that question and we continue to be pretty optimistic about our prospects in the market. So demand continues to be very strong and is a helpful tailwind as we move into the second half of the year.

今天的好消息是，這三件事似乎都處於良好狀態。我們已經討論過需求。第二季 2.19 億美元的預訂量很好地回答了這個問題，我們仍然對市場前景非常樂觀。因此，需求仍然非常強勁，當我們進入今年下半年時，這是一個有益的推動力。

The 4549T radio test contract with the Army came a little later than we'd hoped, but it still got into the second quarter, which is what the plan was. As we started the quarter, we are thinking again that will provide $10 million to $12 million of revenue over the course of 2024, and it already did $7.2 million of that in the second quarter.

與陸軍的 4549T 無線電測試合約比我們希望的要晚一些，但它仍然進入了第二季度，這就是計劃。在本季開始時，我們再次考慮在 2024 年提供 1,000 萬至 1,200 萬美元的收入，而第二季已經實現了 720 萬美元的收入。

It will be a reduced rate in the third quarter and the fourth quarter, but the important thing here is that the sooner we get through that engineering low-rate production portion of the program, the sooner we will get into full rate production. Again, assuming that's consistent with the Army's expectations. We think it is.

第三季和第四季的產量將會降低，但重要的是，我們越早完成該計畫的工程低速生產部分，就越早進入全速生產。再次假設這與陸軍的期望一致。我們認為是的。

Finally, Boeing rates, I'm not going to tell this crowd on our call anything they don't already know, Boeing is committing to or has the goal to get up to 38 ships a month by the end of 2024. I talked in our last call that they had held us at 30 to 35 ships a month.

最後，波音公司表示，我不會在電話會議上告訴大家他們還不知道的任何事情，波音公司承諾或目標是到 2024 年底每月增加 38 艘船。我在上次電話中談到，他們每月限制我們 30 到 35 艘船。

They're still doing that, so we don't think they're building at that rate. They're building inventory apparently, but they don't want to turn their supply chain down and then try to turn it back up later in the year. We're expecting, although we don't know, that we will stay at this 30, 35 ships per month over the rest of the year.

他們仍在這樣做，所以我們認為他們沒有以這個速度建造。他們顯然正在建立庫存，但他們不想關閉供應鏈，然後嘗試在今年稍後恢復供應。儘管我們不知道，但我們預計，在今年剩餘時間裡，我們將保持每月 30 到 35 艘船的數量。

And eventually, they will accelerate beyond 38 a month. I'm sure they're planning that sometime in 2025. And when that happens, our rate probably will not increase accordingly while they burn off inventory. But that's where that arrangement stands for us at this point.

最終，他們的速度將超過每月 38 次。我確信他們計劃在 2025 年的某個時候這樣做。當這種情況發生時，我們的利率可能不會相應增加，而他們會消耗庫存。但這就是我們目前的安排。

So given all that, we are increasing our revenue guide to, for the year, to the range of $780 million to $800 million, that's up from the initial $760 million to $795. That would be a 15% increase over 2023 at the midpoint of the range. I mentioned earlier that at the end of the second quarter, we had scheduled a backlog of $402 million for the second half of the year.

因此，考慮到所有這些，我們將今年的收入指引從最初的 7.6 億美元提高到 795 美元，從最初的 7.6 億美元提高到 7.8 億美元到 8 億美元。這將比 2023 年增長 15%，處於該範圍的中點。我之前提到，在第二季末，我們計劃下半年積壓 4.02 億美元。

If you take our first half actual shipments and if we were to be successful shipping everything we've got scheduled in the second half, we would already be at the low end of that range without any additional book and ship orders over the course of the year. Now that was all as of the end of the second quarter.

如果你看一下我們上半年的實際發貨量，如果我們要成功發貨下半年安排的所有貨物，那麼我們已經處於該範圍的低端，並且在整個過程中沒有任何額外的預訂和發貨訂單。現在這都是第二季末的事情了。

We typically do get a healthy amount of book-and-ship business, so assuming supply chain keeps up and assuming our capacity continues to develop, we should be in pretty comfortable shape with that stated range of $780 million to $800 million. We also announced in our press release that we are forecasting third quarter revenue of $195 million to $205 million, midpoint obviously $200 million, which is a relatively small step-up from our actual Q2 revenue that we're reporting today.

我們通常確實擁有大量的預訂和運輸業務，因此假設供應鏈保持不變並假設我們的產能繼續發展，我們應該處於相當舒適的狀態，達到規定的 7.8 億美元至 8 億美元的範圍。我們也在新聞稿中宣布，我們預計第三季營收為 1.95 億美元至 2.05 億美元，中點顯然為 2 億美元，這與我們今天報告的第二季實際收入相比，增幅相對較小。

But again, put the range on there for a reason. We have been in recent quarters pretty consistently at or above the high end of our ranges, and we haven't changed our forecasting technique significantly from last quarter to this quarter. If we were, however, in the third quarter to be at the midpoint of that range, again, $195 million to $205 million, that would imply something in the fourth quarter like $207 million to get to the midpoint of our new range of $780 million to $800 million.

但同樣，將範圍放在那裡是有原因的。最近幾季我們一直處於或高於我們範圍的高端，並且從上個季度到本季度我們沒有顯著改變我們的預測技術。然而，如果我們在第三季度再次達到該範圍的中點，即 1.95 億美元至 2.05 億美元，則意味著第四季度將達到 2.07 億美元，達到我們新範圍 7.8 億美元的中點。億美元。

I just spit a whole bunch of numbers out there. They're all in the press release to digest. But what it basically means is that we are anticipating a continued ramp in top line growth over the next couple of quarters. We believe that we have reset our test business so that it will not be anywhere near as big a drag on our financial results going forward.

我只是吐出一大堆數字。它們都在新聞稿中供消化。但這基本上意味著我們預計未來幾季營收將持續成長。我們相信，我們已經重新調整了測試業務，這樣它就不會對我們未來的財務表現造成那麼大的拖累。

And if you look at the change from the first quarter to the second quarter and the marginal contribution in our Aerospace business in particular, we think we're set up for a pretty healthy close to the year, a pretty exciting close to the year in terms of recovery from the pandemic and rebuilding our income statement.

如果你看看第一季到第二季的變化，特別是我們航空航太業務的邊際貢獻，我們認為我們已經做好了迎接今年非常健康的準備，一個非常令人興奮的接近年底從大流行中恢復並重建我們的損益表。

And I think that concludes our prepared remarks. Jamie, we can open up the floor for questions at this point.

我認為我們準備好的發言就到此結束。傑米，我們現在可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Jon Tanwanteng, CJS Securities.

（操作員指示）Jon Tanwanteng，CJS 證券。

Nice job on the bookings and the recovery here. I was wondering if you were still comfortable with the mid-teens EBITDA margin exiting the year. I think you've talked about that several times or maybe just below that. I know you're trying to get higher than that. But is that still in the picture with the way the backlog is and how your supply and prices are improving through the year?

這裡的預訂和恢復工作做得很好。我想知道您是否仍然對今年的 EBITDA 利潤率感到滿意。我想你已經多次談論過這個問題，或者可能只是在下面談論過這個問題。我知道你正在努力達到更高的高度。但從積壓情況以及全年供應和價格改善情況來看，這是否仍然存在？

Yeah, I think it's going to be close. I think we've got a very healthy backlog, and we've demonstrated the incremental margins that should get us there if our top line does what we think it might do. The other obvious unknown at this point is how our Test business is going to respond to all the changes that happened in the second quarter.

是的，我認為它會很接近。我認為我們有一個非常健康的積壓，並且我們已經展示了增量利潤，如果我們的營收達到我們認為可能做到的那樣，那麼我們應該能夠實現這一目標。目前另一個明顯的未知數是我們的測試業務將如何應對第二季發生的所有變化。

We're hoping that it makes big incremental contribution simply by avoiding the big hits. I would say it's going to be a push, but we think we have a good shot at being there. Dave, what would you say?

我們希望它能夠透過避免重大打擊來做出巨大的增量貢獻。我想說這將是一個推動力，但我們認為我們很有機會實現這一目標。戴夫，你會說什麼？

Yeah, I think I would echo that. You make an assumption that we don't have any of these odd things that we had in the second quarter here with adjustments -- significant adjustments to the estimated cost to complete that program and severance. I think getting up into the double digits and mid-teen area is an achievable level of adjusted EBITDA.

是的，我想我會回應這一點。你假設我們沒有第二季發生的任何奇怪的事情，並進行了調整——對完成該計劃和遣散費的估計成本進行了重大調整。我認為調整後的 EBITDA 達到兩位數和中位數是可以實現的水平。

Got it. And when do you think cash flow will start to catch up to the earnings? It looks like you built some working capital here. I know you're working on inventory trends, obviously, but is there any thoughts on kind of when that actually converges and how much capital you might see this year?

知道了。您認為現金流什麼時候會開始趕上收益？看起來你在這裡建立了一些營運資金。顯然，我知道您正在研究庫存趨勢，但是對於何時真正趨同以及今年您可能會看到多少資本，您有什麼想法嗎？

Yeah. I won't give you a quantitative answer here, but qualitatively, definitely the second half of the year is going to be a significant improvement in cash flows.

是的。我不會在這裡給你一個定量的答案，但從定性上來說，下半年現金流肯定會顯著改善。

Okay. And then when do you expect Test revenue to ramp as we go through -- as you start executing on this contract? Is that mid next year? Or do we have to wait until '26 before you get out of this program, this low rate initial production?

好的。然後，當您開始執行這份合約時，您預計測試收入何時會增加？是明年年中嗎？或者我們必須等到 26 年才能退出這個低速初始生產計畫？

Yeah. I think we're going to have to wait and see on that one, Jon. As best we -- we just won the program a month ago. We had a kickoff meeting with the Army, so we learned a little bit about what their intentions are. And it seems like this original $15 million delivery order will be followed by another similarly sized delivery order of further engineering development work for TPSs, for test program sets that need to be done and some other ancillary engineering requirements. Your question at its core is, when are we going to get into production?

是的。我想我們得等等看，喬恩。作為最好的我們——我們一個月前剛剛贏得了這個項目。我們與陸軍舉行了啟動會議，因此我們了解了一些他們的意圖。看起來這個最初的 1500 萬美元交付訂單之後將是另一個類似規模的交付訂單，用於 TPS 的進一步工程開發工作，用於需要完成的測試程序集和一些其他輔助工程要求。您的核心問題是，我們什麼時候投入生產？

And I don't -- we are thinking that that will be at the earliest the middle of next year, but it could be slower than that. It really depends in how long it takes us to get our part done because we have a lot of things to do. But also, the Army has to do their part. We obviously don't control how they allocate resources internally to these kinds of tasks. But we'll know more about that, and I expect that will be a regular part of the conversation in these calls every quarter going forward.

我不認為——我們認為這最早會在明年年中，但可能會比這慢。這實際上取決於我們需要多長時間才能完成我們的部分，因為我們有很多事情要做。但陸軍也必須盡自己的一份心力。顯然，我們無法控制他們如何在內部為此類任務分配資源。但我們會對此有更多了解，我預計這將成為未來每個季度電話會議中討論的常規部分。

Okay. Last one, if I could sneak one in there. Just any thoughts on what happened to Delta, if that will flow through to you as one of your customers? Does there an impact on the operations have any effect on their spending?

好的。最後一張，如果我能偷偷放進去的話。作為您的客戶之一，您對達美航空發生的事情有什麼想法嗎？對營運有影響嗎？

No. Not significantly, no. Their longer-term plans stay in place. We don't -- we can't really comment on what happened to them or why, but we don't see any ramifications directly for us as a result of that whole issue.

不。不顯著，不。他們的長期計劃保持不變。我們不能真正評論他們發生了什麼或為什麼，但我們沒有看到整個問題對我們產生任​​何直接影響。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Michael Ciarmoli, Truist.

邁克爾·恰莫利，真理主義者。

Hey, good evening, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Pete, I guess just on the -- you've got the line of sight here, you've got the bookings, the backlog. And yes, it certainly sounds like Boeing wants to protect its suppliers. I mean do you have the visibility of what you're shipping direct to Boeing, what you're shipping direct to Airbus?

嘿，晚上好，夥計們。感謝您提出問題。皮特，我想就在——你已經看到這裡了，你已經收到了預訂和積壓的訂單。是的，聽起來波音確實希望保護其供應商。我的意思是，您是否了解直接運送給波音的貨物、直接運送給空中巴士的貨物？

And I guess simultaneously what's going to the two big seating suppliers and carriers? I mean it just seems like there's so many different cross guards out there on these production rates. You did call out some inventory in the channel presumably. But do you have that line of sight from the bookings?

我想同時這兩個大型座椅供應商和營運商會怎麼樣？我的意思是，在這些生產力上似乎有很多不同的交叉後衛。您可能確實調出了頻道中的一些庫存。但你能從預訂中看到這樣的視線嗎？

I would say that the bookings are driven mostly by demand for updating -- a big portion of our bookings are driven by demand for updating in-flight entertainment and connectivity equipment. We ship to channels that aren't always correlated with production rates, right? They generally are two airlines ultimately, and they may go to line-fit installation or they may go to retrofit installation.

我想說，預訂量主要是由更新需求驅動的——我們的預訂量很大一部分是由更新機上娛樂和連接設備的需求所驅動的。我們運送到的通路並不總是與生產力相關，對吧？他們最終通常是兩家航空公司，他們可能會進行線上安裝，也可能會進行改裝安裝。

And I think the simplest thing I can say about our booking trends is that it's robust. I mean, there's a lot of demand for both retrofit and I think preparation for increased line-fit rates. We're not thinking that there's a whole lot of inventory being built up there.

我認為關於我們的預訂趨勢，我能說的最簡單的一句話就是它很強勁。我的意思是，對改造的需求很大，而且我認為為提高生產線安裝率做好了準備。我們不認為那裡有大量庫存。

Obviously, if Boeing can't get their 87 rate up and can't get their 37 rate up, then sooner or later that becomes an issue and things change. But it seems to us that the world is expecting those rates to go up and they're planning accordingly.

顯然，如果波音不能提高 87 的利率，也不能提高 37 的利率，那麼遲早這會成為一個問題，事情會改變。但在我們看來，全世界都預期這些利率會上升，而且他們正在製定相應的計畫。

I think part of it, I think you and I had this discussion also separately, that for better or for worse, the interior parts of the industry like seats and interiors and some of the other ancillary parts, tend to be problematic for aircraft production in terms of the suppliers getting out and being on time and having all the quality that everybody wants.

我認為部分原因是，我想你和我也分別進行了討論，無論好壞，該行業的內部部件（如座椅和內飾以及其他一些輔助部件）往往會給飛機生產帶來問題。準時交貨並具有每個人都想要的所有品質的條件。

And so it tends to be one of the last places I think that the industry is going to want to slow down or cut back. I think they're looking at this opportunity as a way to maybe get ahead of the curve a little bit and deliver more product and get on time. So all the things that we worry about or struggle with, I don't think building inventory in the channel is a major concern at this point.

因此，它往往是我認為該行業最不希望放緩或削減規模的地方之一。我認為他們正在將這個機會視為一種可能領先一點、交付更多產品並按時交付的方式。因此，我們擔心或掙扎的所有事情，我認為目前在渠道中建立庫存並不是主要問題。

Got it. And then any -- are you see anything -- any behavioral or demand changes? I know you talked about airline retrofit. It seems like some of the low-cost carriers are having their struggles, and Southwest, maybe that could be a tailwind given they're going to finally move to the 21 Century here. But any noticeable difference between the majors, the discount carriers?

知道了。然後，您是否看到任何行為或需求變化？我知道你談到了航空公司改造。一些廉價航空公司似乎正在苦苦掙扎，而西南航空，也許這可能是一股順風，因為他們最終要邁入 21 世紀。但是各大折扣航空公司之間有什麼明顯的差別嗎？

Not really. I mean, Southwest has become a major customer for us this year. We're going to have revenue approaching the $20 million range, something like that. They are kind of catching up. They're one of our biggest certainly North American airlines that hadn't invested heavily in our product.

並不真地。我的意思是，西南航空今年已成為我們的主要客戶。我們的收入將接近 2000 萬美元左右。他們正在迎頭趕上。他們是我們最大的北美航空公司之一，但沒有在我們的產品上投入大量資金。

They are doing so now. There are some fleets on some airlines where decisions are getting pushed out because of the inability for the OEMs to deliver the airplanes that the airlines want. I mean that's definitely happening. And we are seeing that in certain situations.

他們現在正在這樣做。由於原始設備製造商無法交付航空公司所需的飛機，一些航空公司的一些機隊的決定被推遲。我的意思是這肯定會發生。我們在某些​​情況下看到了這一點。

But I mean, you step back and you look at our overall booking trends, we put that chart on the back of our press release, and I think it pretty effectively tells a story for a couple of years now. The booking bars are significantly ahead of the shipping bars, and that's ultimately not just building inventory, that's increasing strong demand kind of across the customer base. We're very much enjoying it and like to see it continue.

但我的意思是，你退後一步，看看我們的整體預訂趨勢，我們將該圖表放在新聞稿的背面，我認為它非常有效地講述了幾年來的故事。預訂欄明顯領先運輸欄，這最終不僅僅是建立庫存，而是增加了整個客戶群的強勁需求。我們非常喜歡它，並希望看到它繼續下去。

Got it. And then just last one for me, just shifting over to Test. The EAC in the quarter on the transit program, I mean, is there any additional risk on that contract? Did the BAC sort of write down the margin on a go-forward basis? Or do you have some residual kind of tail risk on this program? Just trying to understand if this is the front end of EACs or you think this kind of cleans it all up.

知道了。然後對我來說就是最後一個，只是轉移到測試。我的意思是，本季 EAC 就交通計畫提出的問題是，該合約是否有任何額外風險？BAC 是否在未來的基礎上減記了利潤？或者這個專案是否存在某種殘留的尾部風險？只是想了解這是否是 EAC 的前端，或者您認為這樣可以清理所有內容。

It's a very fair question based on our history here with this particular product line. But the way we've developed so far in terms of consolidating effort and shutting down ancillary operations and the fact that we're at the very tail end of the programs that are in question, leads us to believe that we're in pretty good shape.

根據我們在此特定產品線的歷史，這是一個非常公平的問題。但到目前為止，我們在鞏固努力和關閉輔助業務方面所取得的進展，以及我們正處於相關計劃的最後階段的事實，使我們相信我們的情況相當不錯形狀。

I mean, certainly, we took the reserve that we took or the adjustment that we took with an idea that that's all there's going to be. There might be more going forward at the smaller marginal end, but we don't see that at this point, and we're hoping for something quite a bit different.

我的意思是，當然，我們採取了我們採取的儲備或我們採取的調整，我們認為這就是全部。在較小的邊緣端可能會有更多的進展，但我們目前還沒有看到這一點，我們希望看到一些完全不同的東西。

Okay. Got it. Perfect. Thank you.

好的。知道了。完美的。謝謝。

Scott Lewis, Lewis capital.

斯科特劉易斯，劉易斯首府。

Congrats on the nice quarter. I've got kind of a conceptual question about price increases. I know you guys are probably trying to capture the material cost increase you've seen. But I wonder if you're thinking about the increase in cost of capital with a kind of much higher interest rate environment?

恭喜這個美好的季度。我有一個關於價格上漲的概念性問題。我知道你們可能正在努力捕捉所看到的材料成本的增加。但我想知道您是否正在考慮在利率高得多的環境下資本成本的增加？

And maybe also your increased cost of protecting your IP. Do you think you have the ability to kind of capture those in your price increases going forward?

也許還增加了保護智慧財產權的成本。您認為您有能力在未來的價格上漲中捕捉這些影響嗎？

Yeah. I think the whole industry has exercised some muscles that had been kind of dormant for many, many years in terms of how to manage inflation. And we certainly have learned or relearned things that we knew a long time ago in terms of protecting ourselves in contracts and also identifying in our business those areas where we can increase prices on certain spares opportunities and one-off buys or retrofit buys or things like that.

是的。我認為整個行業已經鍛鍊了一些在如何管理通貨膨脹方面多年來一直處於休眠狀態的肌肉。我們當然已經學習或重新學習了我們很久以前就知道的事情，在合約中保護自己，並在我們的業務中確定我們可以提高某些備件機會和一次性購買或改造購買或諸如此類的價格的領域。那。

I think the whole industry is kind of shaking off the cobwebs and has gotten pretty good at that. And I would say we have too. I think we're doing a pretty good job of it. Our material cost is significantly higher than our direct labor cost. But we're protecting ourselves contractually on both sides with inflation indices and things like that that I think will leave us in a much stronger position.

我認為整個行業正在擺脫蜘蛛網，並且在這方面已經做得很好。我想說我們也有。我認為我們在這方面做得很好。我們的材料成本明顯高於我們的直接勞動成本。但我們透過通貨膨脹指數和類似的東西在雙方合約上保護自己，我認為這將使我們處於更有利的地位。

I'll also say that I think it's been such, so severe, not so much today but over the last two years, inflation pressures have been so significant, and they're so pervasive and everybody feels it, so that it was not terribly difficult to raise prices.

我還要說，我認為這麼如此、如此嚴重，今天還沒有那麼嚴重，但在過去的兩年裡，通膨壓力如此之大，而且如此普遍，每個人都感受到了，所以不是很嚴重。難提高價格。

Our customers were surprisingly accommodating because they were going through the same thing also from all suppliers. There was kind of an accepted understanding that you could change price levels and nobody liked it, we didn't like doing it ourselves, but you kind of had to, and everybody knew that. I do think that's kind of changing. I think it's going to be harder in the future to get those kind of price increases than it has been over the last year.

我們的客戶出奇地樂於助人，因為他們也從所有供應商經歷了同樣的事情。人們普遍認為，你可以改變價格水平，但沒有人喜歡它，我們不喜歡自己這樣做，但你必須這樣做，每個人都知道這一點。我確實認為這正在改變。我認為，未來實現這種價格上漲將比去年更加困難。

So I think everything is going to quiet down, but those long-term programs that are multiyear, when those come up for renegotiation, there will be big increases. And I think everybody involved on both sides of those kind of programs are aware of that. This dynamic will continue for two or three years even if the kind of ambient inflation rate drops back to the Fed's goal of 2% to 3%.

因此，我認為一切都會平靜下來，但那些多年期的長期計劃，當這些計劃重新談判時，將會大幅增加。我認為參與此類計劃雙方的每個人都意識到了這一點。即使環境通膨率回落至聯準會2%至3%的目標，這種動態也將持續兩到三年。

And then just my last question, have you seen anything with EV TOL programs either picking up or slowing down? What have you seen there?

我的最後一個問題是，您是否看到 EV TOL 計劃有所加快或放緩？你在那裡看到了什麼？

Well, we are actively involved with a number of those EV programs on a fee-for-service or kind of an off-the-shelf architecture that we've developed for certain critical technologies. I would say the general nature of the industry is that in-service dates have slipped a little bit, maybe got a little bit more realistic compared to where they were initially. I think we're also entering a phase or have been in a phase for a while here where funding is going to be more challenging, especially for the startups.

嗯，我們積極參與了許多電動車項目，這些項目是按服務收費或我們為某些關鍵技術開發的現成架構。我想說的是，這個行業的普遍性質是，服役日期比最初的情況有所推遲，也許變得更加現實。我認為我們也正在進入一個階段，或者已經進入一個階段一段時間了，融資將變得更具挑戰性，特別是對於新創公司而言。

And I guess our feeling is that the airplanes are going to fly and the FAA and the ASA are going to figure out a certification path. The question is whether the business cases are going to develop in time to make a real industry out of it.

我想我們的感覺是飛機將會飛行，美國聯邦航空局和美國航空安全局將會找出一條認證途徑。問題是商業案例是否能夠及時發展以形成真正的產業。

And it will be interesting to watch. We are involved, as I said. We're not betting the farm by any stretch. But for people who are interested in that part of the industry, if it develops anywhere near some of the more optimistic scenarios that are out there, we should benefit pretty substantially from it.

看起來會很有趣。正如我所說，我們參與其中。無論如何，我們都不會把賭注押在農場上。但對於對該行業的這一部分感興趣的人來說，如果它的發展接近現有的一些更樂觀的情況，我們應該從中受益匪淺。

Okay, great.

好的，太好了。

(Operator Instructions) John Tanwanteng, CJS Securities.

（操作員指示）John Tanwanteng，CJS 證券。

Just wondering if you could give an update on litigation and expected expenses as you go through the year and beyond that.

只是想知道您是否可以提供今年及以後訴訟和預期費用的最新情況。

It's been pretty quiet, actually. We have a couple of -- activity will pick up towards the end of the year depending on a couple of decisions that we're expecting, particularly in France and in the US on the Teradyne manner. We pretty strongly won in both those jurisdictions, but the other side appeals and the court has an obligation or a willingness to hear the appeal.

事實上，一直很安靜。我們有一些活動將在年底前回升，具體取決於我們預期的一些決定，特別是在法國和美國以泰瑞達的方式。我們在這兩個司法管轄區都取得了相當大的勝利，但對方提出上訴，法院有義務或願意聽取上訴。

And then depending on how that appeal is handled, will influence where we go from there. I think the exciting thing about it from my perspective is that it's the middle of 2024 already and we are thinking that there's a good chance that both of these things are wrapped up before we get to the end of 2025. And that sounds like a long ways off, but when you look at how long these things have been going on, we're pretty excited about that.

然後，根據上訴的處理方式，將影響我們的發展方向。我認為，從我的角度來看，令人興奮的事情是，現在已經是 2024 年中期了，我們認為這兩件事很有可能在 2025 年底之前完成。這聽起來似乎還很遙遠，但是當你看看這些事情已經持續了多久時，我們對此感到非常興奮。

Okay. Great. And then just -- I may be getting ahead of myself here, but as your cash flow starts to improve and accumulate, what are your priorities for the cash flow? Obviously, you have to catch up on some CapEx, maybe get up to a level that's more normalized for you. But beyond that, what is the expectation for capital allocation?

好的。偉大的。然後，我可能有點言過其實了，但隨著你的現金流開始改善和積累，你的現金流優先事項是什麼？顯然，您必須趕上一些資本支出，也許達到對您來說更正常的水平。但除此之外，資本配置的預期是什麼？

I would say the first thing that we would be wanting to do would be to pay down our debt a little bit. Debt load is a little bit higher than we would like it for kind of a normal run rate situation. I mean in the past, we would lever up to these levels or even a little bit higher on the heels of an acquisition, but not having done an acquisition, this is a debt level that we would like to see reduced.

我想說，我們想做的第一件事就是償還一點債務。債務負擔比我們在正常運作率情況下希望的要高一些。我的意思是，在過去，我們會在收購後將槓桿提高到這些水平，甚至更高一點，但在沒有進行收購的情況下，這是我們希望看到降低的債務水平。

And that's a function of what happens to our income statement and our cash flow over the foreseeable future. We do expect that the acquisition world is going to wake up a little bit. It's been pretty slow from our perspective. Certainly, deals are getting done, but there isn't much of a flow that we would be interested in.

這是我們的損益表和可預見的未來現金流量變化的函數。我們確實預期收購界將會有所甦醒。從我們的角度來看，這是相當緩慢的。當然，交易正在完成，但沒有太多我們感興趣的流程。

And I guess I would say that we feel we have such an opportunity ahead of us just to execute on the backlog that we have in place and the opportunities that we've won frankly, including during the pandemic, that our best way to create value is to execute on what we have on our plate in front of us. Acquisitions will be a secondary pursuit when our balance sheet makes us more capable there. Our first priority is simply to execute and take on debt. Dave, I don't know if you'd describe it any differently?

我想我會說，我們覺得我們面前有這樣的機會，只需執行我們現有的積壓工作以及我們坦率地贏得的機會，包括在大流行期間，這是我們創造價值的最佳方式就是執行我們面前的事。當我們的資產負債表使我們更有能力時，收購將成為次要的追求。我們的首要任務就是執行和承擔債務。戴夫，我不知道你是否會有不同的描述？

No, I'd say that that's the priority is to execute. And as we move through the next 12 months, rebuild our dry powder and liquidity and kind of be ready for next year.

不，我想說的是，執行是首要任務。當我們度過接下來的 12 個月時，重建我們的乾粉和流動性，並為明年做好準備。

Yeah. Got it. Thank you, guys.

是的。知道了。謝謝你們，夥計們。

And ladies and gentlemen, with that and showing no additional questions, ends today's question and answer session as well as today's conference. We do thank you for attending today's presentation and now disconnect your lines.

女士們先生們，沒有提出任何其他問題，今天的問答環節以及今天的會議就結束了。我們非常感謝您參加今天的演示，現在請掛斷您的電話。