安富利 (AVT) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Avnet fourth quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings call. I would now like to turn the floor over to Joe Burke, Vice President, Treasurer, and Investor Relations for Avnet.

歡迎參加安富利 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。現在我想把發言權交給安富利公司副總裁、財務主管和投資者關係部喬·伯克 (Joe Burke)。

Thank you, operator. I'd like to welcome everyone to the Avnet fourth quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. This morning, Avnet released financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024, and the release is available on the Investor Relations section of Avnet's website along with a slide presentation, which you may access at your convenience.

謝謝您，接線生。歡迎大家參加安富利 2024 財年第四季財報電話會議。今天上午，安富利發布了 2024 財年第四季度和年度財務業績，該新聞稿可在安富利網站的“投資者關係”部分查閱，同時還提供幻燈片演示，您可以隨時訪問。

As a reminder, some of the information contained in the news release and on this conference call contain forward-looking statements that involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Such forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance, and the company's actual results could differ materially from those contained in such statements.

提醒一下，新聞稿和電話會議中包含的一些資訊包含前瞻性陳述，涉及難以預測的風險、不確定性和假設。此類前瞻性陳述並不構成績效保證，本公司的實際結果可能與此類陳述中的結果有重大差異。

Several factors that could cause or contribute to such differences are described in detail in Avnet's most recent Form 10-Q and 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation, and the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements or supply new information regarding the circumstances after the date of this presentation.

安富利公司最新的 10-Q 表和 10-K 表以及隨後向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中詳細描述了可能導致或促成此類差異的幾個因素。這些前瞻性陳述僅代表本簡報發布之日的觀點，本公司不承擔公開更新任何前瞻性陳述或提供有關本簡報發布之日後情況的新資訊的義務。

Please note, unless otherwise stated, all results provided will be non-GAAP measures. The full non-GAAP to GAAP reconciliation can be found in the press release issued today as well as in the appendix slides of today's presentation and posted on the Investor Relations website. Today's call will be led by Phil Gallagher, Avnet's CEO; and Ken Jacobson, Avnet's CFO.

請注意，除非另有說明，所有提供的結果均為非 GAAP 指標。完整的非 GAAP 與 GAAP 對帳表可在今天發布的新聞稿、今天簡報的附錄幻燈片以及投資者關係網站上找到。今天的電話會議將由安富利執行長 Phil Gallagher 和安富利財務長 Ken Jacobson 主持。

With that, let me turn the call over to Phil Gallagher. Phil?

說完這些，讓我把電話轉給菲爾·加拉格爾 (Phil Gallagher)。菲爾？

Thank you, Joe, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 earnings call. For fiscal year 2024, we delivered $23.8 billion in revenues and $5.43 of diluted earnings per share. Looking back on fiscal year '24, we began the year with great momentum from fiscal year '23, which was a record year both for revenues and earnings per share.

謝謝喬，也謝謝大家參加我們的 2024 財年第四季和財報電話會議。2024 財年，我們的營收為 238 億美元，每股攤薄收益為 5.43 美元。回顧 24 財年，我們從 23 財年開始就保持著強勁的發展勢頭，這一年無論是收入還是每股收益都創下了歷史新高。

As 2024 progressed, we faced a softening demand environment, and I want to thank our team for their execution and perseverance in these challenging market conditions. Their continued efforts will allow us to emerge from the crisis stronger as the market recovers.

隨著 2024 年的到來，我們面臨著需求疲軟的環境，我要感謝我們的團隊在這些充滿挑戰的市場條件下的執行力和毅力。他們的持續努力將使我們隨著市場復甦而更強大地走出危機。

Turning to the completed fourth quarter. I'm pleased we delivered another quarter of financial results that exceeded our top line and EPS guidance. In the quarter, we achieved sales of $5.6 billion and adjusted operating margins of 3.5% highlighted by a 4.1% operating margin in our electronic components business. With the structural improvements we have made over the past few years, our EC business has now delivered 10 consecutive quarters of greater than 4% operating margin.

回顧已完成的第四季。我很高興我們又一個季度的財務表現超出了我們的營收和每股盈餘預期。本季度，我們的銷售額達到 56 億美元，調整後的營業利潤率為 3.5%，其中電子元件業務的營業利潤率為 4.1%。透過過去幾年的結構性改進，我們的 EC 業務現已連續 10 個季度實現超過 4% 的營業利潤率。

We also had another good quarter of cash flow generation, primarily the result of executing sound working capital management as we navigate through the market correction. Sequentially, demand declined across most of the end markets we serve.

我們也迎來了另一個良好的現金流產生季度，這主要是因為我們在市場調整過程中實施了良好的營運資本管理。因此，我們服務的大多數終端市場的需求都下降了。

On a year-on-year basis, aerospace and defense was the only end market with increased demand globally. Semiconductor lead times have continued to decrease and remain relatively low for most technologies. And as I mentioned last quarter, the growth in data center build outs surrounding cloud and artificial intelligence is driving longer lead times for certain products, and we would expect this to continue.

與去年同期相比，航空航太和國防是全球唯一需求增加的終端市場。半導體的交付週期持續縮短，並且對於大多數技術而言仍然保持相對較低水準。正如我在上個季度提到的那樣，圍繞雲端運算和人工智慧的資料中心建設的成長正在延長某些產品的交貨時間，我們預計這種情況將持續下去。

On the IP&E side, lead times are generally stable and have returned to what I would characterize as a normal range. And we are seeing increasing demand for some interconnect products and capacitors for certain applications.

在IP&E方面，交貨時間總體穩定，並已恢復到我所認為的正常範圍。我們看到某些應用對某些互連產品和電容器的需求不斷增加。

Our global book-to-bill ratio improved modestly over the last quarter, led by our Asia and Americas regions, both finishing the quarter approaching parity. Our EMEA business, which has a large portion of its business driven by the industrial and transportation end markets, is seeing softer bookings and billings due to lower demand.

上個季度，我們的全球訂單出貨比略有改善，其中亞洲和美洲地區表現最為出色，兩個地區的訂單出貨比在本季末均接近持平。我們的 EMEA 業務很大一部分業務來自工業和運輸終端市場，由於需求下降，其預訂量和帳單量有所下降。

Our backlog is lower as a result of shorter lead times and customers working through their inventory on hand. Cancellations have remained at normal levels. I'm really pleased with the progress our team has made in improving our inventory position. This is a key focus area for our organization, and we still have some work to do.

由於交貨時間較短且客戶正在處理現有庫存，我們的積壓訂單較少。取消量仍保持在正常水準。我對我們的團隊在改善庫存狀況方面取得的進展感到非常高興。這是我們組織關注的一個重點領域，我們還有一些工作要做。

While we have more inventory than we need for near-term demand in some areas, there are other areas where we want to make strategic investments. Having the right inventory is still a key growth enabler and is an important part of our value proposition at the center of the technology supply chain.

雖然在某些地區我們的庫存超過了短期需求的需要，但我們希望在其他地區進行策略性投資。擁有合適的庫存仍然是關鍵的成長推動因素，也是我們技術供應鏈中心價值主張的重要組成部分。

Now with that, let me turn to the fourth quarter results. At the top line, our electronic components business declined on a global basis. In EMEA, demand in the aerospace and defense end market increased sequentially and year-on-year as military budgets have increased across Europe. In the Americas, demand increased sequentially for aerospace and defense, and industrial end markets; and aerospace and defense was strongest on a year-on-year basis.

現在，讓我來談談第四季的業績。從營收來看，我們的電子元件業務在全球出現下滑。在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，隨著整個歐洲的軍事預算增加，航空航太和國防終端市場的需求比去年同期成長。在美洲，航空航太和國防以及工業終端市場的需求較上季成長；航空航太和國防市場較去年同期成長最為強勁。

I mentioned on our last earnings call, we were seeing signs of a bottoming in our Asia region, giving us reasons to be optimistic that the market correction may be nearing its final phase in Asia. So it is notable that our Asia revenues increased sequentially as demand in the industrial, transportation and consumer end markets all increased with transportation showing the best growth on a year-on-year basis. We expect to return to overall year-on-year growth in Asia in either the September or December quarter.

我在上次財報電話會議上提到，我們看到了亞洲地區觸底的跡象，這讓我們有理由樂觀地認為，亞洲市場調整可能即將接近尾聲。值得注意的是，由於工業、運輸和消費終端市場的需求均有所增長，我們的亞洲收入也隨之環比增長，其中運輸業同比增長最為顯著。我們預計亞洲的整體經濟將在九月或十二月季度恢復同比增長。

On the demand creation side, our engineering teams continued to engage with our customers and suppliers on design wins and registrations. This drove increases in revenues on a sequential basis and validates the value proposition we can deliver in any type of market.

在需求創造方面，我們的工程團隊繼續與客戶和供應商就設計勝利和註冊進行合作。這推動了收入的連續成長，並驗證了我們可以在任何類型的市場中提供的價值主張。

Before we get into Farnell's results, I would like to highlight that Rebeca Obregon has been recently named President of Farnell. In her time at Avnet, Rebeca has demonstrated the ability to develop and execute strategy and drive cultural alignment not only with our employees but with our customers and suppliers globally. I'm confident that her experience, relationships and collaborative approach will drive important synergies to accelerate Farnell's profitable growth.

在我們了解 Farnell 的業績之前，我想強調一下，Rebeca Obregon 最近被任命為 Farnell 總裁。在安富利任職期間，Rebeca 展現了製定和執行策略以及推動文化協調的能力，不僅與我們的員工，而且與全球的客戶和供應商。我相信她的經驗、人際關係和協作方式將產生重要的協同效應，加速 Farnell 的獲利成長。

Farnell is not immune to overall market softness, and the fourth quarter sales were down sequentially and year-on-year, similar to the sales trends in our EMEA EC business. Sales were lower sequentially, mostly due to lower demand for semiconductors. Gross margins at Farnell have stabilized and with the previously announced cost reductions which are proceeding as planned, we expect margins to improve over the course of fiscal year 2025.

Farnell 也未能免受整體市場疲軟的影響，第四季度銷售額環比和同比均出現下降，與我們 EMEA EC 業務的銷售趨勢類似。銷售額季減，主要原因是半導體需求下降。Farnell 的毛利率已經穩定，並且隨著先前宣布的成本削減正在按計劃進行，我們預計利潤率將在 2025 財年有所提高。

We continue to expect Farnell's high service offerings to enhance the synergistic collaboration between Farnell and Avnet. The combination allows us to serve our customers from new product introduction to mass production as one Avnet. Avnet is positioned as one of the only broadline global distributors that also has a global high-service distribution business.

我們繼續期待 Farnell 的高品質服務能夠加強 Farnell 和 Avnet 之間的協同合作。此次合併使我們能夠以安富利的名義為客戶提供從新產品推出到批量生產的服務。安富利是唯一同時擁有全球高端服務分銷業務的全球綜合經銷商之一。

As a key player in the global technology supply chain, we continue to leverage our value proposition in other areas, such as demand creation, IP&E, and embedded computing. I've already mentioned our demand creation and engineering capabilities. IP&E continues to be a key focus for our team, and in Q4, we saw a nice increase in this area, particularly in Asia, much of which is related to the build-out of data centers.

作為全球技術供應鏈中的關鍵參與者，我們繼續在其他領域利用我們的價值主張，例如需求創造、IP&E 和嵌入式運算。我已經提到了我們的需求創造和工程能力。IP&E 繼續成為我們團隊關注的重點，在第四季度，我們看到該領域出現了良好的成長，尤其是在亞洲，其中大部分與資料中心的建設有關。

In addition to IP&E and demand creation, we're also focused on driving value through our embedded solutions offerings. OEMs are increasingly looking to move from chip-down manufacturing to using modular compute solutions into their products. Because of this trend, we recently announced the launch of the Tria brand for our business unit that's designed to manufacture embedded compute modules and systems. The new distinct brand will improve our ability to compete with other stand-alone brands in the embedded solutions business.

除了 IP&E 和需求創造之外，我們還專注於透過嵌入式解決方案產品來推動價值。原始設備製造商 (OEM) 越來越希望從晶片製造轉向在其產品中使用模組化運算解決方案。由於這種趨勢，我們最近宣佈為我們的業務部門推出 Tria 品牌，旨在製造嵌入式運算模組和系統。新的獨特品牌將提高我們在嵌入式解決方案業務中與其他獨立品牌競爭的能力。

The market opportunity we target through Tria is just another example of how we have adapted to the changing needs of our customers and the technology offering of our suppliers over the past 103 years. So stay tuned for future updates on our progress in embedded space.

我們透過 Tria 瞄準的市場機會只是我們在過去 103 年裡如何適應客戶不斷變化的需求和供應商提供的技術的另一個例子。因此請繼續關注我們在嵌入式領域進展的未來更新。

To conclude, I continue to feel optimistic about the long-term trends and the demand for technology and the pervasiveness of electronics in so many applications today and in the future. This includes those driven by AI adoption as companies explore innovative ways to leverage its capabilities in both the data center and ultimately, edge computing applications. We are participating in the AI growth trends through sales of components into data centers as well as providing supply chain services surrounding the data center.

總而言之，我仍然對長期趨勢、技術需求以及電子產品在當今和未來眾多應用中的普及性感到樂觀。這包括由人工智慧應用推動的，因為該公司正在探索創新方法來利用其在資料中心和最終的邊緣運算應用中的功能。我們透過向資料中心銷售組件以及提供圍繞資料中心的供應鏈服務參與人工智慧成長趨勢。

This participation is expected to grow over the next several quarters and should positively impact sales across several verticals. I'm excited that Avnet's position at the center of the technology supply chain will allow us to continue to deliver increasing value to our customers and supplier partners.

預計未來幾季參與度將會成長，並將對多個垂直行業的銷售產生積極影響。我很高興安富利在技術供應鏈中心的地位將使我們能夠繼續為我們的客戶和供應商合作夥伴提供越來越大的價值。

As we enter fiscal year '25, the prevailing belief is that the market correction seems to be in its last stages. Our Asia region appears to have bottomed, and we're awaiting signs for a similar bottoming or inflection point to manifest in the Americas and Europe. Until then, we will continue to navigate through this market and control what we can control in anticipation of a brighter demand environment in the quarters to come.

當我們進入25財年時，普遍的看法是市場調整似乎已進入最後階段。我們的亞洲地區似乎已經觸底，我們正在等待美洲和歐洲出現類似的觸底或轉折點的跡象。在此之前，我們將繼續探索這個市場並控制我們能夠控制的範圍，以便在未來幾季看到更光明的需求環境。

Now with that, I'll turn it over to Ken to dive deeper into our fourth quarter results.

現在，我將把時間交給肯，讓他更深入地探討我們的第四季業績。

Thank you, Phil, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Avnet and for joining our fourth quarter earnings call. Our sales for the fourth quarter were approximately $5.6 billion, above guidance and down 15% year-over-year or down 14% in constant currency. On a sequential basis, sales were down 1% in constant currency due to sales declines in the Western regions and below seasonal sales growth in Asia. On a year-over-year basis, sales declined in constant currency, 2% in Asia, 21% in EMEA, and 22% in the Americas.

謝謝你，菲爾，大家早安。感謝您對安富利的關注並參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。我們第四季的銷售額約為 56 億美元，高於預期，年減 15%，以固定匯率計算下降 14%。由於西方地區銷售額下滑以及亞洲地區銷售額季節性成長低於預期，以固定匯率計算，銷售額較上季下降 1%。與去年同期相比，以固定匯率計算，亞洲銷售額下降 2%，歐洲、中東和非洲地區下降 21%，美洲下降 22%。

From an operating group perspective, electronic components sales declined 15% year-over-year and 14% in constant currency. EC sales declined less than 1% quarter-over-quarter in constant currency. Farnell sales declined 16% year-over-year and 15% in constant currency. Farnell sales declined 8% sequentially in constant currency.

從營運集團的角度來看，電子元件銷售額年減 15%，以固定匯率計算下降 14%。以固定匯率計算，EC 銷售額較上季下降不到 1%。Farnell 的銷售額較去年同期下降 16%，以固定匯率計算下降 15%。以固定匯率計算，Farnell 銷售額季減 8%。

For the fourth quarter, gross margin of 11.6% was 92 basis points lower year-over-year and 28 basis points lower sequentially. Our fourth quarter gross margin benefited from the impact of some of the strategic inventory opportunities we mentioned last quarter.

第四季毛利率為 11.6%，年減 92 個基點，季減 28 個基點。我們的第四季毛利率受益於我們上個季度提到的一些戰略庫存機會的影響。

EC gross margin was down sequentially and year-over-year. The sequential decline was primarily due to a lower mix of sales from the Western regions. Farnell gross margin was down sequentially and year-over-year, largely due to continued weak market demand for on-the-board components.

電子商務毛利率比去年同期均有所下降。環比下降主要是由於西部地區銷售組合減少所致。Farnell 的毛利率環比和同比均有所下降，這主要是由於市場對板材的需求持續疲軟。

Turning to operating expenses. SG&A expenses were $450 million in the quarter, down $56 million or 11% year-over-year and down $17 million or 4% sequentially. As a percentage of gross profit dollars, SG&A expenses were flat sequentially at 70%.

談到營運費用。本季銷售、一般及行政費用為 4.5 億美元，年減 5,600 萬美元（下降 11%），季減 1,700 萬美元（下降 4%）。作為毛利的百分比，銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 環比持平，為 70%。

In the fourth quarter, we incurred additional restructuring, integration, and other costs for our previously communicated cost reduction actions at both Farnell and our EC business. These actions included a combination of permanent and temporary cost reductions across all regions. We saw some impact from these actions during the fourth quarter, including at Farnell.

在第四季度，我們因先前溝通過的在 Farnell 和 EC 業務方面削減成本的措施而產生了額外的重組、整合和其他成本。這些措施包括在所有地區實施永久性和臨時性的成本削減措施。我們在第四季度看到了這些舉措的一些影響，包括在 Farnell 方面。

Moving to fiscal 2025, we expect to realize further benefits from those cost reduction actions. However, some of the impact will be offset by operating expense headwinds driven by the start of the new fiscal year. For the fourth quarter, we reported adjusted operating income of $193 million and our adjusted operating margin was 3.5%.

展望 2025 財年，我們預期從這些成本削減措施中獲得更多收益。然而，部分影響將被新財年開始帶來的營運費用逆風所抵銷。第四季度，我們報告的調整後營業收入為 1.93 億美元，調整後營業利潤率為 3.5%。

By operating group, electronic components operating income was $210 million, and EC operating margin was 4.1%. Farnell operating income was $15 million and Farnell operating margin remained at 4%. Farnell's expenses were lower this quarter by approximately $10 million, but this benefit was offset by the sequential sales decline driven by the overall market correction as most of Farnell's business is in EMEA and the Americas.

依營運集團劃分，電子元件營運收入為2.1億美元，EC營運利潤率為4.1%。Farnell 營業收入為 1,500 萬美元，Farnell 營業利潤率維持在 4%。本季度，Farnell 的支出減少了約 1000 萬美元，但由於 Farnell 的大部分業務位於 EMEA 和美洲，因此這一收益被整體市場調整導致的連續銷售額下滑所抵消。

Turning to expenses below operating income. Fourth quarter interest expense of $64 million decreased by $11 million year-over-year and was down $9 million sequentially, primarily due to lower debt levels throughout the quarter. Our adjusted effective income tax rate of 15% was lower than expected in the quarter, driven by various factors, including truing up the full year adjusted effective tax rate of 22% during the fourth quarter.

轉向營業收入以下的支出。第四季利息支出為 6,400 萬美元，年減 1,100 萬美元，較上季減少 900 萬美元，主要原因是整個季度的債務水準較低。本季度，我們的調整後有效所得稅率為 15%，低於預期，這受到多種因素的影響，包括第四季度全年調整後有效稅率為 22%。

Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $1.22 exceeded our expectations for the quarter due to a combination of higher sales, lower interest expense and a lower tax rate. The adjusted EPS benefit from the lower-than-expected interest expense and tax rate was approximately $0.18.

由於銷售額增加、利息支出減少和稅率降低，調整後每股攤薄收益為 1.22 美元，超出了我們對本季的預期。低於預期的利息支出和稅率帶來的調整後每股收益約為 0.18 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet and liquidity. During the quarter, working capital decreased $228 million sequentially, including a decrease in reported inventories of $283 million, a $71 million increase in receivables, and a $16 million increase in payables. Working capital days decreased six days quarter-over-quarter to 110 days. Our return on working capital was essentially flat quarter-over-quarter.

轉向資產負債表和流動性。本季度，營運資本季減 2.28 億美元，包括報告庫存減少 2.83 億美元、應收帳款增加 7,100 萬美元、應付帳款增加 1,600 萬美元。營運資金天數較上月減少 6 天至 110 天。我們的營運資本報酬率與上一季基本持平。

Our inventories were down 5% during the quarter, reflecting decreases in the Americas and EMEA regions of EC and, to a lesser extent, across Farnell. Declines in EC inventories were net of increases in inventories due to strategic opportunities we saw this quarter.

本季我們的庫存下降了 5%，反映了美洲和歐洲、中東和非洲地區的庫存下降，以及 Farnell 整體庫存下降（但幅度較小）。歐盟庫存的下降扣除了本季因我們看到的戰略機會而導致的庫存增加。

Inventory days decreased 5 days sequentially to 104 days. Our near-term goal is to get inventories below $5 billion. As Phil previously mentioned, although our inventories are elevated in certain areas, we will be looking to invest in other areas where it makes sense for our business.

庫存天數季減5天至104天。我們的近期目標是將庫存降至 50 億美元以下。正如菲爾之前提到的，儘管我們的庫存在某些領域有所增加，但我們將尋求在對我們的業務有意義的其他領域進行投資。

Our goal continues to be to ensure we are well positioned to take advantage of the market recovery. We expect to make continued progress heading into fiscal 2025 by adjusting our inventories lower in the areas where they remain elevated.

我們的目標仍然是確保我們能夠充分利用市場復甦的機會。我們期望透過降低庫存（庫存仍然較高）來在 2025 財年繼續取得進展。

Our decrease in working capital led to a decrease in debt of $56 million. We generated $274 million of cash from operations in the quarter, $773 million over the past two quarters, and $690 million for the full fiscal year. We ended the quarter with a gross leverage of 2.7 times, and we had approximately $759 million of available committed borrowing capacity.

我們的營運資本減少導致債務減少 5,600 萬美元。本季我們的營運活動產生了 2.74 億美元的現金，過去兩季產生了 7.73 億美元的現金，整個財年產生了 6.9 億美元的現金。本季末，我們的總槓桿率為 2.7 倍，可用的承諾借款能力約為 7.59 億美元。

With regards to our capital allocation, we continue to prioritize our existing business needs. During the quarter, cash used for CapEx was $26 million, as expected. We expect CapEx to remain at historical levels in fiscal 2025 of approximately $25 million to $35 million per quarter.

關於我們的資本配置，我們繼續優先考慮現有的業務需求。本季度，資本支出所用的現金為 2,600 萬美元，符合預期。我們預計 2025 財年的資本支出將維持在歷史水平，每季約 2,500 萬至 3,500 萬美元。

In the fourth quarter, we paid our quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share or $28 million. We also repurchased approximately $79 million worth of shares, which represented nearly 2% of shares outstanding. As we enter the new fiscal year, we have so far repurchased an additional $46 million of shares in July 2024 and our share price continues to trade below book value, which was $54 a share in the fourth quarter.

第四季度，我們支付了每股 0.31 美元或 2800 萬美元的季度股息。我們也回購了價值約 7,900 萬美元的股票，佔流通股的近 2%。隨著我們進入新的財政年度，到目前為止，我們已在 2024 年 7 月回購了價值 4,600 萬美元的額外股票，我們的股價繼續低於帳面價值，第四季度的帳面價值為每股 54 美元。

Our capital allocation priorities have continued to include returning cash to shareholders. Since the start of fiscal year 2019, we have returned nearly $2 billion to shareholders with nearly $600 million in dividends and nearly $1.4 billion of share repurchases. We have repurchased 32 million shares over that time frame, which has reduced our diluted share count by an average of 5% per year.

我們的資本配置重點仍包括向股東返還現金。自2019財年開始以來，我們已向股東返還近20億美元，其中包括近6億美元的股息和近14億美元的股票回購。在此期間，我們回購了 3,200 萬股股票，這使得我們的稀釋股數每年平均減少 5%。

Share repurchases will continue to be an important part of our capital allocation priorities in fiscal 2025 and beyond. We are targeting a reduction of shares outstanding by at least 5% as well as increasing our dividend during fiscal 2025, thereby continuing our commitment to provide consistent and dependable shareholder returns.

股票回購將繼續成為我們 2025 財政年度及以後資本配置重點的重要組成部分。我們的目標是在 2025 財年將流通股數減少至少 5%，並增加股息，從而繼續履行我們為股東提供持續可靠回報的承諾。

Turning to guidance. For the first quarter of fiscal 2025, we are guiding sales in the range of $5.25 billion to $5.55 billion and diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.80 to $0.90. Our first quarter guidance assumes current market conditions persist and implies a sequential sales change of flat to down 5%, with a greater-than-seasonal sales declines in the Western regions and the lower-than-seasonal sales growth in Asia. On a year-over-year basis, this guidance implies flat sales in Asia as we are close to returning to year-over-year growth in that region.

轉向指導。我們預計2025財年第一季的銷售額將在52.5億美元至55.5億美元之間，攤薄每股收益將在0.80美元至0.90美元之間。我們的第一季業績指引假設當前市場狀況持續，並暗示銷售額環比變化將持平至下降5%，其中西部地區的銷售額降幅將大於季節性，亞洲地區的銷售額增幅將低於季節性。與去年同期相比，這一預期意味著亞洲的銷售額將持平，因為我們即將恢復該地區的年成長。

Assumptions for the first quarter operating expenses include some headwinds specific to variable compensation resets and seasonal increases in stock-based compensation, which will offset some of the cost reduction initiatives we have implemented at Farnell on the EC level. This guidance also assumes similar interest expense compared to the fourth quarter, an effective tax rate of between 21% and 25% and 90 million shares outstanding on a diluted basis.

第一季營運費用的假設包括一些特定於浮動薪酬重置和股票薪酬季節性增加的不利因素，這將抵消我們在 Farnell 在 EC 層面實施的一些成本削減措施。該指引也假設利息支出與第四季相似，有效稅率在 21% 至 25% 之間，且稀釋後流通股數為 9,000 萬股。

Despite our near-term outlook, we still have momentum entering our new fiscal year. We are well positioned and remain focused on capitalizing on growth opportunities once the market improves, which we expect to happen in the coming quarters. Our focus remains on execution over the things we can control as we continue to demonstrate the value that Avnet provides to our customer and supplier partners at the center of the technology supply chain.

儘管我們近期前景不明朗，但我們進入新財年時仍然保持強勁勢頭。我們已做好充分準備，並將繼續專注於在市場好轉後利用成長機會，我們預計這將在未來幾季發生。我們仍然將重點放在執行上，而不是我們可以控制的事情上，因為我們將繼續展示安富利為技術供應鏈中心的客戶和供應商合作夥伴提供的價值。

With that, I'll turn it over to the operator to open up for questions. Operator?

說完這些，我將把時間交給接線員來回答問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) William Stein, Truist Securities.

（操作員指示）William Stein，Truist Securities。

I wanted to ask about a couple of things. Perhaps first, inventory. I think in recent quarters, I'm not sure if you used this word but I would call it spiky or not well dispersed by supplier and maybe also by region or end market. Can you provide an update as to whether that condition improved and your inventory became a bit more dispersed by supplier or we're still in that sort of spiky situation?

我想問幾件事。也許首先是庫存。我認為在最近幾個季度，我不確定您是否使用過這個詞，但我會稱其為尖峰或未按供應商很好地分散，也可能按地區或終端市場分散。您能否提供最新消息，說明這種情況是否有所改善，您的庫存是否因供應商而變得更加分散，或者我們仍然處於這種尖峰狀態？

Yeah. Thanks, Will, and I appreciate the comment. This is Phil. I'll start and then Ken can jump in. I think what you're referring to is, when we talk about our inventory being up -- and it's higher than we want it to be still and we've got goals to get it -- continue to bring down.

是的。謝謝，威爾，我很感謝你的評論。這是菲爾。我先開始，然後肯加入。我認為您指的是，當我們談論庫存增加時 - 而且它仍然高於我們希望的水平，並且我們的目標是繼續降低它。

Even with our own team, it's not up across the board. I think as we've said, it's not like it's up in every single commodity or every single product line. It tends to be a little bit more top heavy, let's say, in five or six lines where maybe it's a little bit more imbalanced, if you will, that we're working down.

即使是我們自己的團隊，也並不是全面達到這個水準。我認為正如我們所說的那樣，它並不存在於每一種商品或每一條產品線中。它往往有點頭重腳輕，比如說，在五六行中，它可能有點不平衡，如果你願意的話，我們正在努力減少它。

And of course, we had, as we've noted two quarters ago, kind of a special buy that we had as well that's starting to come in, which was good for us and good for the customers. So yeah, still a little spiky, I guess, is the right word.

當然，正如我們在兩個季度前指出的那樣，我們也開始進行一種特殊的採購，這對我們和客戶都有好處。是的，我想，「仍然有點尖銳」是正確的詞。

I'll leave it at that. Ken, you want to jump -- so again, not all the inventory, Will. We're still investing in inventory. That's why we deliberately put that in the script so our suppliers know, hey, we know we still -- distribution, you got to have inventory, right? We're just a little imbalanced in certain commodities or certain lines.

我就不多說了。肯，你想跳——所以再說一遍，不是所有的庫存，威爾。我們仍在投資庫存。這就是為什麼我們故意把它放在腳本中，以便我們的供應商知道，嘿，我們知道我們仍然 - 分銷，你必須有庫存，對吧？我們只是在某些商品或某些產品線上有點不平衡。

Well, I'd just say each region is making progress, but it is -- each region has its own kind of situation even though there are some similarities that cross through it. So again, everyone's got some progress to make, but certain regions have had better progress than others. And we'll continue to drive it through the end of the calendar year.

好吧，我只想說每個地區都在取得進步，但事實是——每個地區都有自己的情況，儘管它們之間存在一些相似之處。所以，每個人都需要一些進步，但某些地區的進步比其他地區更好。我們將繼續推動這項進程直到今年底。

One other. As I listened to some of your suppliers or large semi companies that may, some of them maybe not even suppliers anymore, there were two interesting takeaways from my perspective. One was that demand conditions both for orders and for bookings as well were less dispersed by end market, maybe if we take out aerospace/defense, maybe that one in particular has been strong.

另一個。當我聽到你們的一些供應商或大型半導體公司，其中一些甚至可能不再是供應商時，從我的角度來看，有兩個有趣的結論。一是訂單和預訂的需求狀況在終端市場中的分散性較小，如果我們去掉航空航天/國防行業，那麼這個行業可能特別強勁。

But ex that end market, it hasn't been as much of an end market story. It's been much more of a geo story. And the story that the semi companies have told have been that geographically, they saw a meaningful recovery, a big snapback in China. Have you begun to see a similar trend? It didn't sound quite like that in your prepared remarks, so I'm hoping you can clarify. And if you can identify the -- maybe the difference between what you're seeing and what your suppliers are talking about, that might help us understand the broader picture.

但除了終端市場之外，它還不是終端市場的故事。這更像是一個地理故事。半導體公司講述的故事是，從地理位置來看，他們看到了有意義的復甦，中國出現了大幅反彈。您是否開始看到類似的趨勢？您的準備好的發言聽起來不是這樣，所以我希望您能澄清一下。如果你能識別出你所看到的和你的供應商所談論的之間的差異，這可能有助於我們了解更廣泛的情況。

Yeah. Thanks, Will. And your overall statement is correct. There's still the -- demand on bookings is still slower than we'd like to be. I think most suppliers would have said that. We track them as well. They want more visibility, right, because lead times are down and there's just, I would say, false assumption that everything is going to be available anytime anybody wants it, and we know what happens when the market starts to turn. So generally slower. Defense/aero has been -- is fine, actually good. The big down market really, right now, it's affecting us most and most as far as industrial. If you're in data center, hyperscalers, AI, you're probably in pretty good shape.

是的。謝謝，威爾。您的總體陳述是正確的。但預訂需求仍然比我們希望的要慢。我想大多數供應商都會這麼說。我們也追蹤他們。他們想要更多的可見性，對吧，因為交貨時間縮短了，而且我想說，人們錯誤地認為，只要任何人想要，任何東西都可以隨時買到，我們知道當市場開始轉變時會發生什麼。所以整體來說比較慢。防禦/航空一直很好，實際上很好。目前，市場大幅下滑確實對工業領域影響最大。如果您身處資料中心、超大規模資料中心、人工智慧領域，那麼您的狀況可能相當不錯。

As far as Asia Pac or China specific, yeah. We've seen a modest, I wouldn't say robust, but a modest recovery in China. We may or may not be playing in some of those suppliers end markets that you're referring to, particularly the lines that we don't have. They might be more consumer-based. I'm not really sure.

就亞太地區或中國而言，是的。我們看到中國經濟出現了溫和的復甦，雖然不能說是強勁的，但也是溫和的復甦。我們可能正在或可能沒有在您所提到的某些供應商終端市場中開展業務，特別是那些我們沒有的生產線。它們可能更加以消費者為中心。我不太確定。

But we're holding on to China. We're seeing, as we talked about, in Asia, we saw -- just looking at the vertical markets now, we did see some increase in transportation. We did see some increase in, although modest, in consumer space as well and sequentially in industrial. So that's our Asia Pac number in total.

但我們仍堅持留在中國。正如我們所討論的，在亞洲，我們看到——僅從現在的垂直市場來看，我們確實看到運輸量有所增長。我們確實看到消費領域和工業領域都有所成長，儘管幅度不大。這就是我們亞太地區的總數。

But Asia, as we did talk about in the script in total now, including Japan, we're going to see sequential growth either in September or December. Depending how strong September comes, then we'll begin to see year-on-year growth in Asia Pac, which it was a good sign overall as typically the recovery starts in Asia Pac and works its way West. Hope that helps.

但是，正如我們現在在腳本中討論的那樣，包括日本在內的亞洲地區，我們將在 9 月或 12 月看到連續成長。根據 9 月的強勁表現，我們將開始看到亞太地區的年成長，這總體來說是一個好兆頭，因為復甦通常始於亞太地區並向西方蔓延。希望有幫助。

Matt Sheerin, Stifel.

馬特希林（Matt Sheerin），Stifel。

Just following up on Will's question regarding demand. I know you're -- and I appreciate you're just giving September quarter guidance, but it sounds like you're not ready to call the bottom yet, Phil, in North America or Europe. And so given that and what we're hearing from other suppliers, should we expect those two markets to be below seasonal, meaning down sequentially, offset a little bit by Asia so that your overall business may be flat to down sequentially? Is that the right way to think about it at this point?

只是跟進威爾關於需求的問題。我知道你——我很感激你給了 9 月份季度的指導，但聽起來你還沒準備好預測北美或歐洲的底部，菲爾。因此，考慮到這一點以及我們從其他供應商那裡聽到的消息，我們是否應該預計這兩個市場的表現將低於季節性，即環比下降，被亞洲稍微抵消，從而使您的整體業務可能持平或環比下降？這是目前思考這個問題的正確方式嗎？

Yeah, Matt, I think when you think about the guidance, you see the sales decline from last quarter, so obviously, there's an impact there. But it would be a heavy mix shift, primarily Asia from EMEA. So we're seeing definitely lower than seasonal in EMEA. Now, typically September is the seasonally slow quarter for EMEA. You have the vacation periods here in August, so august is usually a pretty weak month. But this is definitely lower than we had hoped or expecting.

是的，馬特，我認為當你考慮指導時，你會看到上個季度的銷售額有所下降，所以顯然這會產生影響。但這將是一次大規模的混合轉變，主要從歐洲、中東和非洲地區轉向亞洲。因此，我們看到歐洲、中東和非洲地區的銷售額肯定低於季節性水準。通常來說，九月是 EMEA 的季節性淡季。八月份是假期，所以八月通常是一個相當淡季的月份。但這肯定低於我們所希望或預期的水平。

But I don't think there's anything we necessarily see that says it's getting worse, but I don't think we're ready to call bottom either, right? Again, EMEA has been our strongest region, so they're having a little bit of softness in industrial, transportation, right? But generally speaking, that business is still very healthy.

但我不認為我們看到的任何東西都表明情況正在變得更糟，但我也不認為我們準備好觸底，對嗎？再說一次，歐洲、中東和非洲地區一直是我們最強大的地區，所以他們在工業、運輸方面有些疲軟，對嗎？但總體來說，該業務仍然非常健康。

I think if you call out -- thanks, Ken --

我想如果你喊出來——謝謝，肯--

Yeah. Actually, Phil, I was actually just talking about the December quarter, kind of looking past September based on your backlog. And then my question was, should you expect that to be below seasonal on those two regions?

是的。實際上，菲爾，我剛才談論的是 12 月季度的情況，根據您的積壓訂單情況來展望 9 月以後的情況。然後我的問題是，您是否應該預期這兩個地區的產量會低於季節性？

December quarter? Okay. Well, we don't give guidance out that far, Matt. Can you hear me okay, Matt? You can, right?

十二月季度？好的。嗯，我們不會給出那麼遠的指導，馬特。你聽得到我說話嗎，馬特？可以，對吧？

Yeah.

是的。

Okay, all right. Well, Asia, we called bottom. I mean, Asia, we see -- we called that last quarter that we think March was the bottom in Asia. And that's, we believe, going to hold true through the calendar year into March. Americas is actually pretty stable right now sequentially. The view into December is still foggy and I would say the same thing for Europe. So it's really just tough to -- there's so many moving pieces. I would like to believe September is pretty much nearing the bottom.

好的，好的。好吧，我們稱亞洲為底部。我的意思是，我們看到亞洲——我們稱上個季度我們認為三月是亞洲的底部。我們相信，這一情況將持續到今年三月。目前美洲實際上相當穩定。展望 12 月，前景仍不明朗，我認為歐洲的情況也是如此。所以這真的很難——有太多變動因素。我想相信九月已經接近底部。

You got to remember, in Europe, we're coming off of June and September quarters a year ago that were all-time record quarters. So we're going against some tough compares on a year-on-year compare as well. But I think it's safe to say the industrial market, in particular, in Europe is down, and that's pretty consistent and that's a big play for us in many of our suppliers in that industrial space in Europe.

你必須記住，在歐洲，我們在去年六月和九月的季度創下了歷史新高。因此，我們也要進行一些同比方面的艱難比較。但我認為可以肯定地說，工業市場，特別是歐洲的工業市場正在下滑，而且這種下滑趨勢相當一致，這對我們在歐洲工業領域的許多供應商來說是一個很大的影響。

Got it. Okay. And then regarding your margin or backing into your margin guidance, it looks like component margins would be below that 4% target that you have. And it also looks like gross margin will be down by at least 20 basis points sequentially. Is that really all mix-driven at this point or are you seeing incremental pricing pressure as well?

知道了。好的。然後關於您的利潤率或支持您的利潤率指導，看起來零件利潤率會低於您設定的 4% 的目標。而且看起來毛利率將比上一季下降至少 20 個基點。目前這真的都是混合驅動的嗎，還是您也看到了增量定價壓力？

Yeah, Matt, it's mostly mix. I think that dip, you're right, it does dip below 4%. We're hoping that's the only quarter, but it may be a couple of quarters. But again, it's a big mix shift primarily to Asia from Europe and that's what's driving a lot of it.

是的，馬特，大部分是混合的。我認為，你是對的，它確實跌到了 4% 以下。我們希望這是唯一的季度，但也可能有幾個季度。但再次強調，這是一個巨大的轉變，主要從歐洲轉向亞洲，這是推動這項轉變的主要因素。

We did mention OpEx being up a little bit, too, from some change in the fiscal year and kind of timing difference, kind of headwinds. But we feel overall really good about our expenses but it will be up from last quarter.

我們確實提到過，由於財政年度的一些變化、時間差異和不利因素，營運支出也略有上升。但我們總體上對我們的支出感覺良好，但它將比上一季上升。

Okay. And just on OpEx, Ken, looking past the September quarter. You talked about some incremental restructuring, so should we expect OpEx to work down from there or not?

好的。就營運支出而言，肯，回顧一下九月季度。您談到了一些漸進式重組，那麼我們是否應該預期營運支出會從那時開始下降？

Yeah, I think modestly but not significantly. You're right.

是的，我認為有點謙虛，但並不重要。你說得對。

Melissa Fairbanks, Raymond James.

梅麗莎·費爾班克斯、雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

I've got one a little related to some of your commentary on the inventories. Just wondering what we can expect moving forward either in terms of investment in end-of-life products. I know you've had some unique kind of strategic opportunities there or maybe some expansion of your supply chain services business.

我有一些與你對庫存的評論有點相關的內容。我只是想知道我們在投資報廢產品方面可以期待什麼進展。我知道你們在那裡擁有一些獨特的策略機遇，或是你們的供應鏈服務業務有所擴展。

Hey, Melissa, this is Ken. Specifically, to end-of-life?

嘿，梅麗莎，我是肯。具體來說，是生命終結的時候嗎？

Yeah.

是的。

I mean, I think there's several suppliers that are doing some, we call it, last time buyer end-of-life programs. I think we don't necessarily love to hold product for those engagements for multiple years, right? We can do something for one, two years. But when you start to talk about beyond that, we look for alternative methods. So we do see that as a historical and current opportunity within our supply chain.

我的意思是，我認為有幾家供應商正在做一些我們稱之為「上次購買者報廢計畫」的事情。我認為我們不一定喜歡為了這些活動而持有產品多年，對嗎？我們可以做一些為期一、兩年的事。但當你開始談論超越這一點的問題時，我們會尋找替代方法。因此，我們確實將其視為我們供應鏈中的歷史和當前機會。

But a lot of stuff, it's cheaper for the customers just to take it, right? So we see some of that being more temporary holds versus the longer term. But we are open to serving whatever the customer needs are, but again, we got to get a fair return for that and with the cost of capital, it becomes more expensive to do those kind of last-time buy holds than it was a couple of years ago.

但對於很多東西來說，顧客直接拿走會比較便宜，對吧？因此，我們認為其中一些是暫時的，而不是長期的。但我們願意滿足客戶的任何需求，但同樣，我們必須獲得公平的回報，而且由於資本成本，進行這種最後一次購買持有的成本比幾年前更高。

But we're seeing pockets of opportunity. I wouldn't say anything meaningful. A lot of the stuff we're seeing on end-of-life is back-to-back type of things where we'll hold it for a little bit to pipeline it, but it gets shipped.

但我們看到了機會。我不會說任何有意義的話。我們看到的許多報廢產品都是連續類型的，我們會將它們保留一段時間以進行管線作業，但之後就會出貨。

Okay. On the supply chain services business, I think this maybe going back to the December quarter or maybe even a conference in the December quarter. You had some opportunities. You onboarded some inventory. I believe it was for an industrial customer. And then you saw potentially some opportunities longer term in the auto space. Can you give us an update on that business?

好的。關於供應鏈服務業務，我認為這可能要追溯到 12 月季度，甚至可能是 12 月季度的會議。你有一些機會。您已入庫一些庫存。我相信它是為一位工業客戶設計的。然後你會看到汽車領域長期潛在的一些機會。能向我們介紹一下該業務的最新進展嗎？

Yeah. I think just overall supply chain as a service is -- there's puts and takes. What I would say is we still see lots of opportunity, in particular, in transportation, but even more broadly. And I guess the other commentary I'd give is some of the legacy supply chain engagements more for, let's say, technology type companies that have been buying components for years. And that's down with the broader market being down, right? So we're optimistic that some of that will start to recover.

是的。我認為整體供應鏈作為一種服務——有得有失。我想說的是，我們仍然看到很多機會，特別是在交通運輸領域，但範圍更廣泛。我想給出的另一個評論是，一些傳統的供應鏈合作更多地針對那些多年來一直在購買零件的技術型公司。這是因為大盤下跌了，對嗎？因此，我們樂觀地認為，部分經濟將開始復甦。

And then that will be on top of some of the new wins. But again, these things take a little while to ramp. But progress being made, but not ready necessarily to give more specific financial metrics there outside of the percentage of inventory, which was roughly 8% this quarter, consistent with last quarter.

這將是一些新的勝利。但同樣，這些事情需要一段時間才能完成。但正在取得進展，但還不一定能提供除庫存百分比之外的更具體的財務指標，本季庫存百分比約為 8%，與上一季一致。

Yeah, okay. Love to see the good progress on the inventories by the way. Maybe if I could squeeze in just one more quick one. We've talked a lot about Asia today, but we've heard about some increasing competitive or pricing pressures in Asia. I'm wondering what you're seeing there, if that's impacting anything? Obviously, Asia has been one of the better performing regions for you. But if you can comment on the competitive dynamics there.

嗯，好的。順便說一句，很高興看到庫存方面取得了良好的進展。也許我可以再擠出一個時間。我們今天談論了很多有關亞洲的問題，但我們聽說亞洲的競爭或定價壓力正在增加。我想知道您在那裡看到了什麼，這是否有影響？顯然，亞洲是你們表現較好的地區之一。但如果您可以評論那裡的競爭動態。

Yeah. Hey, Melissa, thanks for the questions. I appreciate it. This is Phil. Nothing -- you hear from a couple of suppliers in certain markets, maybe even in China, you may have some more indigenous suppliers and whatnot.

是的。嘿，梅麗莎，謝謝你的提問。我很感激。這是菲爾。沒什麼——你會從某些市場的一些供應商那裡聽到消息，甚至可能是在中國，你可能會有一些本土供應商等等。

But overall, Asia is a competitive market all the time. So we're not seeing anything that's out of the norm affecting our business at this point. But we do hear about the -- some of the pricing pressures in certain commodities from certain suppliers. Again, net effect to us has been minimal.

但總體而言，亞洲一直是一個競爭激烈的市場。因此，我們目前沒有發現任何異常情況影響我們的業務。但我們確實聽說了某些供應商對某些商品施加的定價壓力。再次，這對我們而言淨效應微乎其微。

Joe Quatrochi, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的喬‧夸特羅奇 (Joe Quatrochi)。

Just kind of curious on the target of being sub-$5 billion inventory, how long do you think that could take? And then just to clarify, is that including the supply chain service inventory that you're holding as an agent for your customers, or supplier side?

我只是有點好奇，要達到低於 50 億美元的庫存目標，您認為這需要多長時間？然後需要澄清的是，這是否包括您作為客戶或供應商代理商持有的供應鏈服務庫存？

Yeah, Joe, I think that goal -- I would say, that's a net goal. I think there'll be puts and takes throughout the fiscal year. So I'd say, as we get towards the end of our new fiscal year, you should see that be achieved. I think we'll continue to kind of report out what percentage of supply chain. There's nothing near term that we see would be a drastic increase there that would materially change the number, but there will be puts and takes within that number and then we'll update accordingly.

是的，喬，我認為那個目標——我想說，那是一個淨目標。我認為整個財政年度都會有各種變動。所以我想說，隨著我們接近新財政年度的結束，你應該會看到這個目標得以實現。我認為我們會繼續報告供應鏈的百分比。我們認為短期內不會大幅成長，也不會實質地改變這個數字，但這個數字中會有投入和產出，然後我們會進行相應的更新。

Again, we're -- Phil mentioned the kind of pockets that are elevated. That's what we're focused on reducing and we'll continue to give progress updates on where that's at. But clearly, I think there's capacity to invest in inventory, but still reduced overall, is how we're kind of thinking about it.

再說一次，我們──菲爾提到了那種高額的口袋。這就是我們致力於減少的，我們將繼續更新進展。但顯然，我認為庫存投資的能力是有的，但總體上還是在減少，這就是我們對此的看法。

Okay. And then on the -- you talked about the opportunity on the data center side. Just kind of curious, how big is that from a revenue perspective for you today? And how should we think about the margin profile relative to the corporate average?

好的。然後—您談到了資料中心方面的機會。只是有點好奇，從今天的收入角度來看，這對您來說有多大？我們該如何看待相對於企業平均的利潤率狀況？

Yeah, Joe, this is Phil. We [don't] quantify the number. On a relative basis to our total enterprise, it's relatively small, Joe, okay? But we see increased opportunities there and particularly out of our Asia business tied to some of the hyperscalers. And the margin profile has been about average to our typical margin that we're getting from those suppliers or customers.

是的，喬，這是菲爾。我們[不]量化這個數字。相對於我們的整個企業來說，它相對較小，喬，好嗎？但我們在那裡看到了更多的機遇，特別是我們與一些超大規模企業相關的亞洲業務。利潤率狀況與我們從這些供應商或客戶那裡獲得的典型利潤率大致相同。

I think the other opportunity, I believe we talked about in the last call, which makes it a little bit more difficult to measure, is we're -- whether we're selling directly to the hyperscalers or a lot of our OEM customers selling to the hyperscalers and AI, right? So we're, in particular in the industrial space, we've got a lot of customers that we're doing business with, that we're supporting their end customers, are the hyperscalers, if you will. So we're also benefiting from that. We're working to quantify that. It gets more difficult as you can probably imagine. But it's -- either way, the overall ecosystem that gets built out there. As time moves on, we will certainly benefit.

我認為另一個機會，我相信我們在上次電話會議上討論過，這使得衡量起來有點困難，那就是我們 - 無論我們是直接向超大規模企業銷售，還是我們的許多 OEM 客戶向超大規模企業和 AI 銷售，對嗎？因此，特別是在工業領域，我們有很多客戶與我們開展業務，我們為他們的最終客戶提供支持，這些客戶都是超大規模企業。所以我們也從中受益。我們正在努力量化這一點。正如您可能想像的那樣，事情變得更加困難。但無論如何，這是一個已經建立的整體生態系統。隨著時間的推移，我們必將受益。

Ruplu Bhattacharya, Bank of America.

美國銀行的 Ruplu Bhattacharya。

First one is on Farnell. So what do you or Rebeca plan to do different to turn the Farnell business around? And Ken, you talked about margin improvement throughout the next fiscal year at Farnell, how should we think about the cadence of that? I mean, where do you think the margins in Farnell can get to by the end of the fiscal year?

第一個是關於 Farnell 的。那麼您或 Rebeca 計劃採取什麼不同措施來扭轉 Farnell 的業務？肯，您談到了 Farnell 下一財年的利潤率提高，我們應該如何看待這一提高的節奏？我的意思是，您認為到本財政年度結束 Farnell 的利潤率能達到多少？

Yeah. Thanks, Ruplu. I'll go first. I'll let Ken touch on the margin. We do have a plan there and you can imagine we have a walk. So yeah, just overall -- certainly disappointed where we are with Farnell. That said, we're also excited about the opportunity because it becomes a complete tailwind for us as the market recovers.

是的。謝謝，Ruplu。我先走了。我會讓肯觸及邊緣。我們確實有一個計劃，你可以想像我們要去散步。是的，總的來說，我們對 Farnell 的表現感到失望。話雖如此，我們也對這個機會感到興奮，因為隨著市場復甦，它對我們來說是一個完全的順風。

As you know -- yeah, so we announced Rebeca in the role. She's a 25-year veteran of the industry, been with Avnet 18 months and has already jumped in with the team on resetting the strategy and the structure for Farnell.

正如你所知——是的，我們宣布麗貝卡將擔任該角色。她在該行業擁有 25 年的經驗，在安富利工作了 18 個月，並已與團隊一起重新制定 Farnell 的策略和結構。

We talked a couple of quarters ago about the OpEx adjustments at Farnell, which are -- I think we talked about that in the transcripts as well that we are starting to see the net effect there. It's just that that effect of the OpEx did not show up as positive in the OI due to the further softening of the market, particularly in Europe where -- Farnell's largest region.

我們在幾個季度前談到了 Farnell 的營運支出調整，我想我們在記錄中也談到了這一點，我們開始看到它的淨效應。只是由於市場進一步疲軟，尤其是在 Farnell 最大的市場歐洲，營運支出的影響並沒有在營運收益中表現出來。

So we're going to continue to look at the strategy structure, continue to leverage the best of Avnet, okay, in total, with Farnell. As we talked about in the script, we've a unique opportunity there. We continue to invest in the digital front end, the e-commerce front end. We're not slowing down on that at all because we think it's critical for the long-term value prop that we see Farnell can bring Avnet and its shareholders. So stay tuned for more, and I'm sure we'll get more in the one-on-ones with you.

因此，我們將繼續研究策略結構，繼續利用安富利和 Farnell 的優勢。正如我們在劇本中談到的，我們有一個獨特的機會。我們持續投資數位前端、電子商務前端。我們絲毫沒有放慢腳步，因為我們認為這對 Farnell 能為安富利及其股東帶來的長期價值至關重要。因此請繼續關注，我相信我們會在與您的一對一交流中獲得更多資訊。

Ken, anything on the --

Ken，--

Ruplu, I'd just say, I think on the operating margin improvement, when you're going to see it, I think it's pushed out a little bit. The sales obviously were softer than we anticipated going into the quarter, and that's kind of the broader impact of the EMEA market. So at the current level of sales, we're not going to see a lot of improvement.

魯普魯，我只想說，我認為就營業利潤率的提高而言，當你看到它時，我認為它被推後了一點。銷售額顯然比我們預期的要低，這是歐洲、中東和非洲市場更廣泛的影響。因此，在目前的銷售水準下，我們不會看到很大的改善。

The good news is gross margin, we feel pretty good about it being stable, and that's for on-the-board components as well as overall. And the OpEx actions are taking effect, right? We saw a pretty good sequential decline there. So we feel good about those things that we can control. The top line is softer than anticipated and we expect that to continue for at least the next quarter or two. But everything else is in good shape for the recovery.

好消息是毛利率，我們對其穩定性感到很滿意，無論是對於板載組件還是整體而言。OpEx 行動正在生效，對嗎？我們看到那裡出現了相當明顯的連續下降。因此，我們對於自己能夠控制的事情感到滿意。營業收入低於預期，我們預期這種情況至少會持續到下一兩季。但其他一切都有利於經濟復甦。

Okay. Maybe for my follow-up, if I can ask you on your capital allocation priorities. I mean, from the prepared remarks, Phil, it seems like we're nearing the end of the inventory correction in the channel. So how many more quarters do you expect of this correction?

好的。也許作為我的後續行動，我可以詢問您的資本配置優先事項。我的意思是，菲爾，從準備好的發言來看，似乎我們即將接近渠道庫存調整的尾聲。那麼您預計這次調整還會持續多少季度呢？

And in this environment, where would you focus your investments? And how should we think about the trade-off between buybacks or doing any M&A or any other type of investments that you may have? So if you can just kind of weave in like how many more quarters of correction you expect and where do you focus your efforts in terms of investments and capital allocation?

在這種環境下，您的投資重點會在哪裡？我們應該如何考慮回購、併購或任何其他類型的投資之間的權衡？那麼，您是否可以大致了解一下，您預計還會有多少個季度出現調整，以及在投資和資本配置方面您將把精力集中在哪裡？

Yeah, Ruplu, I'll start off by just saying, I think our -- with some of the market turmoil here, we dropped below $50. We've been steadily trading below book value of about $54. So we feel buying back shares is the appropriate use of our capital right now.

是的，Ruplu，首先我想說的是，我認為由於市場的一些動盪，我們的股價跌破了 50 美元。我們的交易價格一直穩定低於帳面價值約 54 美元。因此，我們認為回購股票是目前我們資本的適當用途。

I think we've talked about it. We're not really pursuing M&A aggressively. We're open to listen to things and a lot of things would be capabilities or tuck-in type of opportunities but nothing transformational. And again, we have to support the dividend.

我想我們已經討論過了。我們實際上並沒有積極地進行併購。我們願意傾聽各種聲音，許多聲音都與能力或附加機會有關，但與改變無關。再次強調，我們必須支持股利。

And we still see there's opportunity in inventory. So although it's getting better with our customers, we wouldn't say across the board, every inventory levels are where they should be at, right? So it's still going to take a few quarters to get through the inventory side of things. But we anticipate continuing to invest in ourselves.

我們仍然看到庫存中存在機會。因此，儘管我們的客戶情況越來越好，但我們不會說所有庫存水準都達到了應有的水平，對嗎？因此，仍需要幾個季度的時間來解決庫存問題。但我們預計將繼續對自己進行投資。

That's some combination of our own team and then also when it comes to the capital projects, but we think that's kind of largely subsided itself with the investment into Europe. So again, I think it's going to be mostly buybacks and dividends, some piece of debt pay down depending on where the debt levels are at and continue to drive improvements in the business.

這是我們自己的團隊以及資本項目的某種組合，但我們認為，隨著對歐洲的投資，這在很大程度上已經消退了。所以，我再次認為，這主要將用於回購和分紅，根據債務水平償還部分債務，並繼續推動業務改善。

Gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn it back to Phil Gallagher for closing remarks.

先生們，現在沒有其他問題了。現在我請菲爾·加拉格爾作最後發言。

Great. Thank you very much, and I want to thank everyone for attending today's earnings call. And I look forward to speaking to you again at our first quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings report in October. Have a great rest of the day. Thank you.

偉大的。非常感謝，我要感謝大家參加今天的財報電話會議。我期待在十月的 2025 財年第一季財報中再次與您交談。祝您今天剩餘時間愉快。謝謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路，感謝您的參與。