Armstrong World Industries Inc (AWI) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us, and welcome to the Third Quarter 2025 Armstrong World Industries, Inc. Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions]

女士們、先生們，感謝各位的到來，歡迎參加阿姆斯壯世界工業公司2025年第三季財報電話會議。[操作說明]

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Theresa Womble, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. You may begin.

現在我很高興將會議交給投資者關係和企業傳播副總裁 Theresa Womble 主持。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Nicole, and welcome, everyone, to our call this morning. Today, we have Vic Grizzle, our CEO; and Chris Calzaretta, our CFO, to discuss Armstrong World Industries Third Quarter 2025 results and rest of year outlook. We have provided a presentation to accompany these results that is available on the Investors section of the Armstrong World Industries website.

謝謝妮可，也歡迎各位參加今天上午的電話會議。今天，我們邀請了執行長 Vic Grizzle 和財務長 Chris Calzaretta，來討論 Armstrong World Industries 2025 年第三季業績和下半年展望。我們已提供一份簡報來配合這些結果，該簡報可在 Armstrong World Industries 網站的投資者關係部分找到。

As a reminder, our discussion of operating and financial performance will include non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of the SEC Regulation G. A reconciliation of these measures with the most directly comparable GAAP measures is included in the earnings press release and in the appendix of the presentation we issued this morning.

再次提醒，我們對經營和財務績效的討論將包括符合美國證券交易委員會G條例定義的非GAAP財務指標。這些指標與最直接可比較的GAAP指標的調節表已包含在獲利新聞稿和我們今天早上發布的簡報的附錄中。

Again, both are available on the Investor Relations website. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements that represent the view we have of our financial and operational performance as of today's date, October 28, 2025. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may differ materially from those expected or implied. We provide a detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties in our SEC filings, including the 10-Q we issued earlier this morning. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement beyond what is required by applicable securities law.

同樣，這兩份文件都可以在投資者關係網站上找到。在本次電話會議中，我們將發表一些前瞻性聲明，這些聲明代表了我們截至 2025 年 10 月 28 日對公司財務和營運績效的看法。這些聲明涉及風險和不確定性，可能與預期或暗示的風險和不確定性有重大差異。我們在提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中詳細討論了風險和不確定性，包括我們今天早上發布的 10-Q 表格。除適用證券法要求外，我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

Now I will turn the call over to Vic.

現在我將把電話交給維克。

Thank you, Theresa, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today to discuss our third quarter 2025 results, the progress we are making on our initiatives to deliver consistent, profitable top line growth and our expectations for the remainder of the year.

謝謝 Theresa，大家早安，感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議，討論我們 2025 年第三季度的業績、我們在實現持續盈利的營收增長方面取得的進展以及我們對今年剩餘時間的預期。

Today, we announced record-setting third quarter net sales and earnings results with strong mineral fiber average unit value, or AUV, a second consecutive quarter of mineral fiber volume growth and double-digit net sales growth in Architectural Specialties. On a consolidated basis, we delivered year-over-year top line growth of 10%, resulting in record-setting quarterly net sales with robust performance in both our Mineral Fiber and Architectural Specialty segments.

今天，我們宣布了創紀錄的第三季度淨銷售額和盈利業績，其中礦物纖維平均單位價值（AUV）強勁增長，礦物纖維銷量連續第二個季度增長，建築特種產品淨銷售額也實現了兩位數增長。從綜合來看，我們的營收年增了 10%，季度淨銷售額創下歷史新高，礦物纖維和建築特種材料業務均表現強勁。

Consolidated company adjusted EBITDA increased 6%, while adjusted net earnings per share increased 13% and along with strong double-digit free cash flow growth in both the quarter and in the year-to-date period, allowing for execution across all our capital allocation priorities. This includes the increase in our quarterly dividend of 10% we announced last week and our latest architectural specialty acquisition of a Canadian wood sealing manufacturer geometric.

公司合併調整後 EBITDA 成長 6%，調整後每股淨收益成長 13%，加上本季和年初至今的強勁兩位數自由現金流成長，使得我們能夠執行所有資本配置優先事項。這包括我們上週宣布的季度股息增加 10%，以及我們最新收購的加拿大木材密封劑製造商 geometric（一家建築專業公司）。

These results were driven by our differentiated and resilient business model, along with solid operational and commercial execution across our enterprise that once again allowed us to overcome lingering market softness and some timing-related cost headwinds. I want to take this opportunity to thank our teams across the company that continue to execute at the highest level that make these consistently strong results possible.

這些成果得益於我們差異化且具韌性的商業模式，以及我們企業內部穩健的營運和商業執行，這再次使我們能夠克服持續的市場疲軟和一些與時間相關的成本不利因素。我想藉此機會感謝公司各團隊，正是他們持續保持最高水準的執行力，才使得我們能夠取得如此持續強勁的業績。

So thank you. Like the last several quarters, we have remained laser-focused on operational efficiency, commercial execution and our growth initiatives as we continue to navigate a dynamic and uncertain macroeconomic backdrop. These efforts not only contributed to strong top line growth, but also continue to support our industry-leading profit margins even as we dealt with timing-related costs this quarter.

所以，謝謝你。與過去幾季一樣，我們始終專注於營運效率、商業執行和成長計劃，同時繼續應對動態且不確定的宏觀經濟環境。這些努力不僅促進了營收的強勁成長，而且即使在本季度我們應對了與時間相關的成本，也繼續支撐著我們行業領先的利潤率。

While Chris will discuss these in a bit more detail, it's worth noting, without these timing-related expenses, we would again have expanded EBITDA margin in the Mineral Fiber segment and at the total company level. And we remain poised to deliver margin expansion for the full year on both of these metrics. Despite these timing-related expenses with our consistent underlying execution, the building blocks of Armstrong's formula for profitable growth remains strong and on full display in the third quarter.

雖然 Chris 會更詳細地討論這些內容，但值得注意的是，如果沒有這些與時間相關的費用，我們在礦物纖維部門和整個公司層面的 EBITDA 利潤率將會再次擴大。我們依然有信心在全年實現這兩項指標的利潤率成長。儘管有這些與時間相關的支出，但我們持續的基本執行力依然強勁，阿姆斯壯獲利成長模式的基石在第三季得到了充分展現。

And as a reminder, what these building blocks are. They include, first, our focus on delivering consistent AUV growth in Mineral Fiber, all driven by the innovation and quality that feeds the category dynamic to mix up and our best-in-class service levels supported by technology that help us earn our pricing in the marketplace. Secondly, our laser focused on achieving consistent annual productivity gains throughout our operations. Thirdly, our investments to expand our product offerings and capabilities to continue our successful penetration in the Architectural Specialties segment. And lastly, our investments in digital growth initiatives like Project Works and Canopy that drive volume, AUV and contribute to margin expansion.

提醒一下，這些基本組成是什麼。首先，我們專注於在礦物纖維領域實現持續的 AUV 成長，這得益於創新和質量，它們推動了品類動態的融合，以及我們一流的服務水平，而技術支援則幫助我們在市場上贏得定價權。其次，我們重點關注在整個營運過程中實現持續的年度生產力成長。第三，我們加大投資，擴大產品供應和能力，以繼續成功滲透建築特殊材料領域。最後，我們還投資了 Project Works 和 Canopy 等數位成長計劃，這些計劃推動了銷量、平均單車銷量 (AUV) 的成長，並有助於利潤率的提升。

In the third quarter in our Mineral Fiber segment, net sales increased 6% versus 2024 results primarily driven by strong AUV growth and positive contribution from sales volumes. This marks the first time since 2022 that we reported back-to-back quarters of mineral fiber volume growth.

第三季度，我們礦物纖維業務部門的淨銷售額比 2024 年同期成長了 6%，主要得益於 AUV 的強勁成長和銷售量的正面貢獻。這是自 2022 年以來，我們首次連續兩季實現礦物纖維銷售成長。

This volume result was slightly ahead of our expectations as demand conditions in our markets remain relatively stable compared to our expectation of a modest slowdown expected mostly in the more discretionary type renovation activity. That said, the most notable volume growth driver was strong commercial execution and the contribution from our growth initiatives continuing to gain traction, enabling above-market growth rates as well as positively contributing to our strong AUV performance. Adjusted EBITDA in the Mineral Fiber segment also grew 6%, reaching a third quarter record and a continuation of our strong performance in 2025. On a year-to-date basis through September, Mineral Fiber EBITDA has increased 9% with margins expanding 160 basis points on a year-over-year basis in overall flattish market conditions.

由於我們市場的需求狀況相對穩定，而我們先前預期需求會略有放緩，尤其是在非必需品類型的裝修活動中，因此此次銷售結果略高於我們的預期。儘管如此，最顯著的銷售成長驅動因素是強勁的商業執行力以及我們成長計畫持續取得成效，從而實現了高於市場平均水平的成長率，並對我們強勁的 AUV 業績做出了積極貢獻。礦物纖維業務的調整後 EBITDA 也成長了 6%，達到第三季的記錄，並延續了我們在 2025 年的強勁業績。截至 9 月份，礦物纖維業務的 EBITDA 年成長 9%，利潤率年增 160 個基點，而整體市場環境較為穩定。

Importantly, we continue to expect strong Mineral Fiber adjusted EBITDA margin performance for the full year of approximately 43% and which would be the highest full year results since our last high watermark in 2019. Now before moving to discuss Architectural Specialties results, I'd like to take a moment to highlight some of the ongoing efforts within our Mineral Fiber plants that contributed to our results as they have all year.

重要的是，我們繼續預計全年礦物纖維調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將保持強勁增長，約為 43%，這將是自 2019 年創下歷史新高以來最高的全年業績。在討論建築特種產品業績之前，我想花點時間重點介紹一下我們礦物纖維工廠正在進行的一些努力，這些努力像全年一樣，為我們取得的業績做出了貢獻。

First, we continue to generate solid productivity gains in our operations at a similar rate as in the second quarter, and this helped partially offset the timing-related expenses I mentioned earlier. We also continued our execution at a high level on quality and service. One measure we use to gauge our quality and service to customers at our Mineral Fiber plants is called our perfect order measure that combines 6 different metrics that determine a perfect order in the eyes of our customer.

首先，我們的營運生產力持續穩定提高，成長速度與第二季類似，這有助於部分抵銷我之前提到的與時間相關的費用。我們在品質和服務方面也繼續保持高水準的執行力。我們在礦物纖維工廠衡量產品品質和服務的一個指標稱為完美訂單指標，它結合了 6 個不同的指標，從客戶的角度確定完美的訂單。

The way it works is if any line item on a customer order misses any of these metrics, it's a 0 on the scale of a 100% perfect order. These metrics include things like accurate order fill rates and on-time delivery and billing quality. It's a tough measure and rightly so, as this is what our customers expect and are willing to pay for. I'm pleased to report that our plant teams delivered a record result in this measure this quarter.

其運作方式是，如果客戶訂單中的任何一項未達到這些指標中的任何一項，則該訂單在 100% 完美訂單的評級中為 0 分。這些指標包括訂單準確完成率、準時交貨率和帳單品質等。這是一個嚴厲的措施，而且理應如此，因為這是我們的客戶所期望的，也是他們願意為此付費的。我很高興地報告，本季我們的工廠團隊在這項指標上取得了創紀錄的成績。

Its service and quality results like these that builds customer trust and loyalty that enables the retention of customers and pricing support for the value that we create. Now moving to the Architectural Specialties segment. Our third quarter net sales in this segment increased 18% and driven by the benefits of both our 2024 acquisitions, Freeform and Ziner along with solid organic growth. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment increased 10% and generating an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 19%.

正是憑藉著這樣的服務和品質成果，我們才能建立起客戶的信任和忠誠度，從而留住客戶，並為我們所創造的價值提供定價支援。現在進入建築專業領域。該業務部門第三季淨銷售額成長了 18%，這得益於我們 2024 年收購的 Freeform 和 Ziner 以及穩健的內生成長。該業務部門的調整後 EBITDA 成長了 10%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 19%。

On an organic basis, adjusted EBITDA margins for the segment remained in line with our long-term target of 20% and for the second quarter in a row despite these timing-related expenses mentioned earlier. I'm pleased with how we continue to leverage our Architectural Specialties network, and together with our new acquisitions, and the benefits of more architectural specialty products incorporated into our Projectworks platform, we continue to improve our ability to win more projects. And this is most evident in the continuation of double-digit growth in orders and backlog for our architectural specialty products. We're also excited to welcome another acquisition, geometric to our growing portfolio of products and solutions.

從有機成長的角度來看，該業務板塊的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率仍與我們 20% 的長期目標保持一致，並且連續第二個季度實現了這一目標，儘管存在前面提到的與時間相關的費用。我對我們繼續利用建築專業網絡的方式感到滿意，加上我們新的收購，以及更多建築專業產品融入我們的 Projectworks 平台所帶來的好處，我們不斷提高贏得更多項目的能力。這一點在我們建築特種產品的訂單和積壓訂單持續保持兩位數成長方面體現得最為明顯。我們也很高興地歡迎另一家公司——Georgial——加入我們不斷成長的產品和解決方案組合。

Based in British Columbia, Canada, Geometric is a leading designer and manufacturer of wood acoustical ceilings and wall systems that expands the variety of wood species we can offer our customers. with 9 complementary wood species across multiple products, including highly sought after Western Hemlock, this company strengthens our Wood portfolio and adds geographic diversification to our manufacturing footprint. Geometric's on-trend products and design, expand our portfolio with more of the warm wood looks and biophilic designs that are in high demand from architects and owners.

Geometric公司總部位於加拿大不列顛哥倫比亞省，是領先的木質吸音天花板和牆面系統設計製造商，其產品拓展了我們可為客戶提供的木材種類。該公司擁有9種互補木材，涵蓋多種產品，其中包括備受追捧的西部鐵杉。 Geometric的加入增強了我們的木材產品組合，並豐富了我們的生產佈局，實現了地理多元化。Geometric 的潮流產品和設計，透過更溫暖的木質外觀和親生物設計，擴展了我們的產品組合，這些產品深受建築師和業主的青睞。

The Western Canadian production location also enhances our ability to serve our customers in Canada and on the West Coast. We're excited to welcome the Geometric team to Armstrong's industry-leading specialties platform. Along with our acquisitions, we continue to be delighted by how our digital initiatives are progressing and making a positive contribution to both our segments. I mentioned Projectworks earlier as it continues to gain traction with architects, designers and contractors by quickly providing visualization of complex designs, eliminating the waste and the design process and providing a complete bill of goods for clear and simple ordering.

位於加拿大西部的生產基地也增強了我們為加拿大和美國西海岸客戶提供服務的能力。我們非常高興地歡迎 Geometric 團隊加入 Armstrong 業界領先的特殊產品平台。除了收購之外，我們對數位化舉措的進展感到欣喜，這些舉措對我們的兩個業務板塊都做出了積極貢獻。我之前提到過 Projectworks，因為它能夠快速提供複雜設計的視覺化效果，消除設計過程中的浪費，並提供完整的物料清單以便清晰簡單地訂購，因此越來越受到建築師、設計師和承包商的青睞。

With increasing demands on limited construction labor availability, Projectworks provides significant productivity value to our customers and strengthens our ability to hold on to project specifications throughout the construction process and ultimately improve our win rates in the market. Again, in both the Mineral Fiber and Architectural Specialty segments.

隨著對有限的建築勞動力的需求不斷增長，Projectworks 為我們的客戶提供了顯著的生產力價值，增強了我們在整個施工過程中堅持專案規範的能力，並最終提高了我們在市場上的中標率。同樣，在礦物纖維和建築特殊材料領域都是如此。

Another one of our digital initiatives contributing nicely in the quarter is Canopy. Canopy like Projectworks benefits both our business segments by providing an easy way for smaller customers to access a wide range of products through an online education and selling platform. And I'm pleased to share that the Canopy platform had both record sales and EBITDA in the quarter and continues to be a key differentiator for Armstrong.

本季我們另一個貢獻良好的數位化措施是 Canopy。Canopy 和 Projectworks 一樣，透過線上教育和銷售平台，為小型客戶提供便捷的方式來獲取各種產品，從而使我們的兩個業務部門都受益。我很高興地宣布，Canopy 平台在本季度實現了創紀錄的銷售額和 EBITDA，並繼續成為 Armstrong 的關鍵差異化因素。

Now I'll pause and turn it over to Chris for more detail on our financial results.

現在我暫停一下，把麥克風交給克里斯，讓他詳細介紹我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Vic, and good morning to everyone on the call. As a reminder, throughout my remarks, I'll be referring to the slides available on our website. And please note that Slide 3 details our basis of presentation. Beginning on Slide 6, we summarize our third quarter Mineral Fiber segment results. Mineral Fiber net sales were up 6% in the quarter, primarily driven by favorable AUV of 6% and a slight increase in volumes. The growth in AUV was primarily due to favorable like-for-like pricing with a modest contribution from mix. The benefits of increased volumes and favorable mix were driven by the strong execution of our commercial sales organization along with benefits from our growth initiatives.

謝謝Vic，也祝福所有參加電話會議的朋友們早安。再次提醒各位，在我的發言過程中，我將參考我們網站上提供的幻燈片。請注意，投影片 3 詳細介紹了我們的簡報基礎。從第 6 張投影片開始，我們總結了第三季礦物纖維業務部門的表現。本季礦物纖維淨銷售額成長 6%，主要得益於平均單價成長 6% 以及銷量略有成長。AUV 的成長主要歸功於有利的同類產品定價，產品組合的貢獻較小。銷售成長與產品組合最佳化帶來的好處，得益於我們商業銷售組織的強而有力執行以及我們成長計畫的成效。

Mineral Fiber segment adjusted EBITDA grew by 6% and adjusted EBITDA margin was 43.6% and Q3 Mineral Fiber EBITDA growth was primarily driven by the fall-through of AUV, contribution from our WAVE joint venture on strong price cost benefits and slightly higher mineral fiber volume versus the prior year. As Vic mentioned, our results were negatively impacted this quarter by some timing-related discrete costs in both segments. In Mineral Fiber, these costs primarily related to an increase in medical claims above our normal run rate which mainly impacted manufacturing costs. In addition, our strong year-to-date financial performance and updated full year outlook resulted in higher incentive compensation in the quarter, which primarily impacted SG&A. We do not expect the third quarter SG&A results to be indicative of our go-forward run rate.

礦物纖維業務調整後 EBITDA 成長 6%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 43.6%。第三季礦物纖維 EBITDA 成長主要得益於 AUV 業務的下滑、WAVE 合資企業強勁的價格成本效益以及礦物纖維銷量較上年略有增長。正如 Vic 所提到的，本季我們的業績受到了兩個業務部門一些與時間相關的離散成本的負面影響。在礦物纖維領域，這些成本主要與醫療索賠數量超過正常水平有關，這主要影響了製造成本。此外，我們強勁的年初至今財務表現和更新後的全年展望導致本季激勵性薪酬增加，這主要影響了銷售、一般及行政費用。我們預期第三季銷售、一般及行政費用業績並不能反映我們未來的營運速度。

As a result of these in-quarter cost headwinds, Mineral Fiber adjusted EBITDA margin compressed 30 basis points over the prior year. For the Mineral Fiber segment, the total discrete costs in the quarter represented approximately $5 million of an outsized headwind, which is reflected in both manufacturing and SG&A expenses. Excluding this cost headwind, adjusted EBITDA margin in the Mineral Fiber segment would have expanded in the quarter versus the prior year period.

由於本季成本方面的不利因素，礦物纖維調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率比去年同期下降了 30 個基點。對於礦物纖維業務部門而言，本季的總離散成本構成了約 500 萬美元的巨大不利因素，這反映在製造費用和銷售、一般及行政費用中。排除此成本不利因素，礦物纖維業務部門的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率在本季將比去年同期有所成長。

On Slide 7, we discuss our Architectural Specialties or AS segment results, where we highlight net sales growth of 18% and this growth was driven primarily by contributions from our 2024 acquisitions, the Forman Zane, both of which continued to perform better than expected as well as a 6% increase in organic sales driven by growth across most of our specialty product categories.

在第 7 張幻燈片中，我們討論了建築特種產品或 AS 部門的業績，重點介紹了 18% 的淨銷售額增長，這一增長主要得益於我們 2024 年收購的 Forman Zane 的貢獻，這兩家公司都繼續表現優於預期，此外，由於我們大多數特種產品類別的增長，有機銷售額也增長了 6%。

AS segment adjusted EBITDA grew 10% with an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 19% which includes the dilutive impact of our recent acquisitions. On an organic basis, we are pleased to have achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 20%. Q3 EBITDA growth was driven by the benefit of higher net sales, partially offset by higher manufacturing costs as well as an increase in SG&A expenses.

AS 業務部門調整後 EBITDA 成長 10%，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 19%，其中包括我們近期收購帶來的稀釋影響。從有機成長的角度來看，我們很高興實現了約 20% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。第三季 EBITDA 成長主要得益於淨銷售額的成長，但部分被更高的製造成本以及銷售、一般及行政費用的增加所抵銷。

Higher SG&A expenses were primarily due to our 2024 acquisitions, in addition to an increase in selling expenses driven primarily by higher net sales as well as additional investments in selling capabilities.

銷售、一般及行政費用增加主要是由於我們 2024 年的收購，此外，銷售費用增加主要是由於淨銷售額增加以及對銷售能力的額外投資。

Slide 8 highlights our third quarter consolidated company metrics. We delivered 10% sales growth and 6% adjusted EBITDA growth with total company adjusted EBITDA margin compression. Additionally, adjusted diluted net earnings per share grew 13%. Incremental volume from both segments, strong AUV performance and solid equity earnings from WAVE drove our adjusted EBITDA growth in the third quarter versus the prior year period.

第 8 張投影片重點介紹了我們第三季的公司綜合指標。我們實現了 10% 的銷售額成長和 6% 的調整後 EBITDA 成長，但公司整體調整後 EBITDA 利潤率卻有所下降。此外，經調整後的稀釋每股淨收益成長了13%。兩大業務部門的銷售成長、強勁的 AUV 表現以及 WAVE 業務板塊穩健的股權收益，推動了我們第三季度調整後 EBITDA 相對於去年同期的成長。

These benefits more than offset higher SG&A expenses, which were primarily driven by our 2024 acquisitions. As well as the previously mentioned impact of discrete costs in the quarter. At the total company level, the total discrete costs in the quarter were approximately $6 million, which impacted both manufacturing and SG&A expenses. Excluding this cost headwind, adjusted EBITDA margin at the total company level would have expanded slightly in the quarter versus the prior year period.

這些收益足以抵銷更高的銷售、一般及行政費用，而這些費用主要是由於我們在 2024 年進行的收購而增加的。除了前面提到的季度離散成本的影響之外。從公司整體層面來看，本季各項獨立成本總計約 600 萬美元，對製造費用及銷售、一般及行政費用均有影響。排除此成本不利因素，本季公司整體調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將比去年同期略有成長。

Turning to Page 9, we highlight our year-to-date consolidated company metrics, which reflect double-digit net sales and adjusted EBITDA growth with margin expansion. Through the first 9 months of the year, with sales up 14% and adjusted EBITDA up 15% margins expanded 20 basis points versus the prior year period, which includes the year-to-date dilutive impact of our 2024 acquisitions. Adjusted diluted net earnings per share increased 21% and and adjusted free cash flow increased 22%. The drivers of year-to-date adjusted EBITDA growth are similar to the previously mentioned third quarter drivers.

翻到第 9 頁，我們將重點介紹我們今年迄今為止的合併公司指標，這些指標反映了兩位數的淨銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 成長以及利潤率擴張。今年前 9 個月，銷售額成長 14%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 15%，利潤率較上年同期成長 20 個基點，其中包括我們 2024 年收購專案年初至今的稀釋影響。經過調整後的稀釋每股淨收益成長了 21%，經調整後的自由現金流成長了 22%。今年迄今為止調整後 EBITDA 成長的驅動因素與前面提到的第三季驅動因素類似。

Slide 10 shows our year-to-date adjusted free cash flow performance versus the prior year. The 22% increase was driven primarily by higher cash earnings, lower income tax payments and dividends from our WAVE joint venture partially offset by an increase in capital expenditures as we continue to invest back into the business. Our demonstrated ability to consistently deliver strong adjusted free cash flow allows us to execute on all of our capital allocation priorities.

第 10 張幻燈片顯示了我們今年迄今為止的調整後自由現金流表現與前一年相比的情況。22% 的成長主要得益於現金收益增加、所得稅支出減少以及來自 WAVE 合資企業的股息，但部分被資本支出增加所抵消，因為我們將繼續對業務進行再投資。我們持續提供強勁的調整後自由現金流的能力，使我們能夠執行所有資本配置優先事項。

As a reminder, these are first to reinvest back into the business with a disciplined focus on opportunities that deliver high returns. Among our year-to-date investments was the enhancement of manufacturing capability at one of our mineral fiber plants to support the growth of our Temp lock energy-saving sealing offering.

再次提醒大家，這些資金將先再投資於業務，並有條不紊地專注於能帶來高回報的機會。今年迄今為止，我們的投資包括提升我們的一家礦物纖維工廠的生產能力，以支持我們節能密封產品 Temp lock 的成長。

Target investments such as these underscore our commitment to executing our growth strategy while maintaining a balanced capital allocation approach. Our second capital allocation priority is to execute strategic acquisitions and partnerships that add unique attributes for capabilities to our business that will create value. Recently, in the third quarter, we acquired the issued and outstanding shares of geometric for a purchase price of $7.5 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments for working capital and future earn-out potential.

此類目標投資凸顯了我們致力於執行成長策略，同時保持平衡的資本配置方式。我們的第二個資本配置重點是執行策略性收購和合作，為我們的業務增添獨特的能力屬性，從而創造價值。最近，在第三季度，我們以 750 萬美元的收購價收購了 geometric 的已發行和流通股，並根據慣例在交割後對營運資本和未來獲利潛力進行調整。

Lastly, our third priority is to provide direct returns to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. On this front, then as Vic mentioned, last week, we announced a 10% increase to our quarterly dividend, marking the seventh consecutive annual increase since the inception of our dividend program in 2018. This increase reflects our Board of Directors' continued confidence in our growth strategy and ability to consistently generate strong adjusted free cash flow.

最後，我們的第三個優先事項是透過股利和股票回購為股東提供直接回報。在這方面，正如 Vic 上週提到的，我們宣布將季度股息提高 10%，這是自 2018 年我們推出股息計劃以來連續第七年提高股息。這一成長反映了我們董事會對我們成長策略和持續產生強勁調整後自由現金流的能力的持續信心。

Additionally, in the third quarter, we provided a direct return of $40 million comprised of $13 million in dividends and $27 million of repurchased shares. As of September 30, 2025, we have $583 million remaining under the existing share repurchase authorization. With a healthy balance sheet and ample available liquidity we remain well positioned to execute our strategy.

此外，在第三季度，我們直接返還了 4,000 萬美元，其中包括 1,300 萬美元的股息和 2,700 萬美元的股票回購。截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，我們現有的股票回購授權下還有 5.83 億美元。憑藉健康的資產負債表和充足的流動資金，我們仍然處於執行策略的有利位置。

Slide 11 shows our updated full year 2025 guidance. With strong year-to-date net sales and adjusted EBITDA growth and stabilizing market conditions, we are raising our full year guidance across all key metrics. We are pleased with the full year double-digit growth outlook for net sales, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted diluted net earnings per share and adjusted free cash flow. We now expect full year Mineral Fiber volume to be flat to down 1%, an improvement from our prior expectation of flat to down low single digits due to stabilizing market conditions. We expect AUV growth of approximately 6%, modestly lower than prior expectations on slightly stronger big box volume than expected in the third quarter.

第 11 張投影片展示了我們更新後的 2025 年全年業績指引。由於今年迄今淨銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 成長強勁，且市場狀況趨於穩定，我們提高了全年所有關鍵指標的預期。我們對全年淨銷售額、調整後 EBITDA、調整後稀釋後每股淨收益和調整後自由現金流的兩位數成長前景感到滿意。由於市場狀況趨於穩定，我們現在預計全年礦物纖維銷量將持平或下降 1%，這比我們之前預期的持平或下降個位數百分比有所改善。我們預計 AUV 成長約為 6%，略低於先前的預期，原因是第三季大型門市銷量略高於預期。

Additionally, we expect full year AS sales growth to be approximately 29%, driven by robust contributions from our 2024 acquisitions, coupled with high single-digit AS organic growth. We continue to expect full year margin expansion in both segments with a Mineral Fiber adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 43% and an AS adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 19%. The with an organic adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 20%.

此外，我們預計全年 AS 銷售額成長約為 29%，這主要得益於 2024 年收購帶來的強勁貢獻，以及 AS 業務的高個位數內生成長。我們繼續預期全年兩個業務部門的利潤率都將擴大，礦物纖維業務調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 43%，AS 業務調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率約為 19%。其有機調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 20%。

Additionally, we now expect full year adjusted free cash flow growth of $342 million to $352 million or 15% to 18% over the prior year. Our improved outlook for adjusted free cash flow growth is primarily driven by higher expected net cash provided by operating activities excluding an approximately $21 million full year cash tax benefit related to the tax reform bill that was passed in July.

此外，我們現在預計全年調整後自由現金流將成長 3.42 億美元至 3.52 億美元，比上年增長 15% 至 18%。我們對調整後自由現金流成長前景的改善，主要得益於經營活動產生的預期淨現金增加，但不包括與 7 月通過的稅收改革法案相關的約 2,100 萬美元的全年現金稅收優惠。

As a reminder, this onetime cash tax benefit relates to unamortized research and development tax credit fully recognizable under the act in 2025 and is excluded from our full year adjusted free cash flow guidance reconciliation, which is a normalized metric. Note that sales, adjusted EBITDA and cash flow contributions from our recent acquisition of Geometric are not expected to be material for the full year. With our strong year-to-date results and robust full year outlook, we are confident that we will finish 2025 strong and enter 2026 with momentum.

提醒一下，這項一次性現金稅收優惠與 2025 年根據該法案可完全確認的未攤銷研發稅收抵免有關，並且已從我們全年調整後的自由現金流指引調節表中排除，該調節表是一個標準化的指標。請注意，我們近期收購 Geometric 帶來的銷售額、調整後 EBITDA 和現金流貢獻預計不會對全年產生重大影響。憑藉今年迄今的強勁業績和穩健的全年展望，我們有信心在 2025 年取得佳績，並以強勁勢頭進入 2026 年。

And now I'll turn it back to Vic for further comments before we take your questions.

現在我將把麥克風交還給Vic，請他再做進一步評論，之後我們再回答大家的問題。

Thanks, Chris. 2025 is proving to be another strong performance year for Armstrong as we've successfully navigated uncertainty at the macroeconomic level and its ripple effect on our end markets. It's been a challenging year to call in terms of the level of market activity.

謝謝，克里斯。 2025年對阿姆斯壯來說又是一個業績強勁的年份，我們成功應對了宏觀經濟層面的不確定性及其對終端市場的連鎖反應。就市場活躍程度而言，今年的走勢難以預測。

As you all recall, in February, we were expecting the market to be softer in the first half of the year given the transition to the new administration and its potential new policies and then a modest pickup in the back half once there was more clarity around what these new policies would be. However, beginning in April and through the second quarter, the macroeconomic outlook became cloudier as the impact of more significant tariffs increased the level of uncertainty, which led us to modestly adjust our volume outlook for the back half of the year.

大家應該還記得，2月的時候，我們預期由於新政府上台及其潛在的新政策，上半年市場會比較疲軟，然後在下半年隨著這些新政策的明朗化，市場會略有回升。然而，從 4 月開始，一直到第二季度，隨著更重大的關稅的影響加劇了不確定性，宏觀經濟前景變得更加不明朗，這導致我們略微調整了下半年的銷售預期。

Now sitting here today, we have not seen the anticipated modestly softer market conditions, but rather more of the same of flattish kind of stabilizing market conditions and we expect these market conditions to continue for the remainder of the year. The Dodge first time bidding activity data in terms of the number of projects continues to be at lower levels.

目前來看，我們並沒有看到預期的市場略微走軟，而是延續了先前的平穩穩定市場狀況，我們預計這種市場狀況將在今年餘下的時間裡持續下去。從專案數量來看，道奇公司首次投標活動的數據仍處於較低水準。

However, the value of projects being bid overall has increased ahead of inflation and was up nicely in the quarter. I look at actual starts, which reflects how much of this bidding activity turns into actual projects was mostly flat and coincides with the overall market conditions that we're currently experiencing. Looking at specific verticals. Our recent research from JLL provides some positive signs for the office market. After 2 years of stabilization and signs of leasing footprints beginning to expand U.S. office vacancy rates declined in the third quarter for the first time in 7 years.

然而，總體而言，投標項目的價值增長超過了通貨膨脹率，並且在本季度實現了不錯的增長。我關注實際開工情況，這反映了有多少投標活動最終轉化為實際項目，結果顯示開工情況基本上持平，與我們目前經歷的整體市場狀況相符。著眼於特定垂直領域。仲量聯行最近的研究為辦公大樓市場帶來了一些正面的訊號。經過兩年的穩定和租賃規模開始擴大的跡象，美國辦公大樓空置率在第三季7年來首次下降。

Their research notes that as occupancy of Class A offices increases the need for renovating Class B office space is expected to accelerate. Factors influencing these trends include a continuation of return to office mandates and the potential for lower interest rate environment. While we've discussed that New York and cities across the Sunbelt have been quicker to recover, their research now shows strengthening across more regions in the U.S. And this is encouraging data for the office vertical that represents about 30% of our demand profile.

他們的研究指出，隨著 A 級辦公室入住率的提高，B 級辦公室空間的翻新需求預計將會加快。影響這些趨勢的因素包括繼續實施復工復產指令以及利率環境可能走低。雖然我們之前討論過紐約和陽光地帶的各個城市復甦速度較快，但他們的研究現在表明，美國更多地區的經濟正在復甦。這對占我們需求約 30% 的辦公大樓市場來說是一個令人鼓舞的數據。

The transportation vertical remains strong from a bidding and start perspective. An additional tranche of funds was recently released by the federal government, specifically for airport projects, and we continue to expect airports and other transportation hubs to be a multiyear opportunity for Armstrong. Within these stabilizing market conditions, our Architectural Specialties segment is experiencing broad-based strength in quoting and ordering, which in part is driven by Armstrong's ability to provide the broadest portfolio of specialty products with our industry-recognized commitment to service and quality.

從競標和啟動的角度來看，運輸業依然強勁。聯邦政府最近撥付了一筆額外的資金，專門用於機場項目，我們仍然期待機場和其他交通樞紐能為阿姆斯壯帶來多年的發展機會。在當前市場環境趨於穩定的情況下，我們的建築特種產品部門在報價和訂單方面表現出廣泛的強勁勢頭，這部分得益於 Armstrong 能夠提供最廣泛的特種產品組合，以及我們業內公認的對服務和品質的承諾。

In addition, we're continuing to see benefits from the sales and marketing optimization program that I mentioned last quarter. We've strategically realigned the commercial team to drive greater efficiency and unlock selling capacity to better serve both our A&D customers and our distribution partners and more effectively sell our industry-leading product portfolio.

此外，我們繼續看到我上個季度提到的銷售和行銷優化計劃帶來的益處。我們對商業團隊進行了戰略調整，以提高效率並釋放銷售能力，從而更好地服務於我們的航空航天和國防客戶以及分銷合作夥伴，並更有效地銷售我們行業領先的產品組合。

These changes alongside our ongoing innovation and growth initiatives are contributing to strong performance, delivering above-market performance. In terms of recent product innovation, we continue to be excited by the opportunity for our TEMPLOK Energy saving sealing products to drive future growth. With TEMPLOK's innovative use of face change materials, these ceiling products help regulate temperature in buildings and can meaningfully reduce the energy used for cooling and heating. We've also completed some successful validation projects, including a pilot project with the Palm Springs Unified School District in California using TEMPLOK.

這些變化，加上我們持續的創新和成長舉措，正在促成強勁的業績，實現高於市場平均的業績。就近期產品創新而言，我們對TEMPLOK節能密封產品能推動未來成長的機會感到興奮不已。TEMPLOK 採用創新的面材變化技術，使這些天花板產品能夠幫助調節建築物內的溫度，並顯著降低冷氣和加熱所需的能源。我們也完成了一些成功的驗證項目，包括與加州棕櫚泉聯合學區合作的 TEMPLOK 試點計畫。

The results were compelling. Classrooms equipped with TEMPLOK experienced a measurable reduction in cooling energy demand and a nearly 2-hour delay before air conditioning was needed. Findings like these across the country and in various verticals, including education, health care and offices, are validating the energy saving potential of our technology and reinforce our belief that TEMPLOK could ultimately become the standard across the ceiling category.

結果令人信服。配備 TEMPLOK 系統的教室冷氣能源需求明顯降低，空調啟動時間也延遲了近 2 小時。全國各地以及教育、醫療保健和辦公室等各個垂直領域的類似發現，都驗證了我們技術的節能潛力，並強化了我們對 TEMPLOK 最終可能成為天花板類別標準的信念。

As the innovation leader, we are committed to continue to innovate to make these energy-saving products even better and more cost effective. This month, we launched an upgraded TEMPLOK product line that is now part of our sustained portfolio of products that meets the industry's most stringent sustainability requirements. In addition, the latest version of TEMPLOK has improved passive heating and cooling capacity at a higher fire rating and increased thermal comfort attributes. This makes it even more attractive and specifiable by architects and designers and more compelling for building owners and operators.

身為創新領導者，我們致力於不斷創新，使這些節能產品更加出色、更具成本效益。本月，我們推出了升級版的 TEMPLOK 產品線，該產品線現已成為我們持續產品組合的一部分，符合業界最嚴格的永續性要求。此外，最新版本的 TEMPLOK 提高了被動式暖氣和冷氣能力，防火等級更高，熱舒適性也得到了提升。這使得它對建築師和設計師更具吸引力和可自訂性，對建築業主和營運商也更具吸引力。

In the quarter, as Chris mentioned, we also completed a capital project at our Macon, Georgia plant to expand production capacity for this new upgraded version of the product.

正如克里斯所提到的，本季我們也在喬治亞州梅肯工廠完成了一個資本項目，以擴大該產品新升級版本的產能。

In closing, with the strong results achieved thus far in 2025, we are expecting continued momentum and a strong close to the year. As our financial guidance indicates, we expect 2025 to be another record year with double-digit top and bottom line growth as we once again outperformed the market. Our consistent AUV growth, Architectural Specialties penetration innovation leadership and productivity gains remain our building blocks for profitable growth, and these building blocks, coupled with a healing office vertical and ongoing contributions from our growth initiatives, positions us well for another year of profitable growth in 2026.

最後，鑑於 2025 年迄今取得的強勁成果，我們預計這一勢頭將持續下去，並預計在年底取得佳績。正如我們的財務預測所示，我們預計 2025 年將是另一個創紀錄的年份，營收和利潤將實現兩位數成長，我們將再次跑贏市場。我們持續的 AUV 成長、建築專業滲透創新領導地位和生產力提升仍然是我們實現盈利增長的基石，這些基石，加上辦公垂直領域的復甦和我們增長計劃的持續貢獻，使我們為 2026 年的又一個盈利增長年奠定了良好的基礎。

And with that, now we'll be happy to take your questions.

那麼，現在我們很樂意回答您的問題。

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Susan Maklari, Goldman Sachs.

【操作員說明】您的第一個問題來自高盛的蘇珊·馬克拉里。

Your nice job on the quarter, Vic. My first question is, can you talk a bit about the benefit that you're seeing from the new products? How that's helping the mix component of that AUV in there? And also how that's coming through in terms of the strength of quoting and bidding activity that you talked to in your comments?

Vic，你這季做得很好。我的第一個問題是，您能否談談您從新產品中看到的好處？這對其中AUV的混合成分有何幫助？還有，您在評論中提到的報價和投標活動的力度，又是如何體現出來的呢？

Yes. Susan, on our mix we continue to do very well at the high end of our portfolio. The even recent years, our innovation around a smoother, wider look, our higher acoustical performance and the combination of the look and the higher couscous is really coming through in 2025 again. We're growing at near double digits at the high end of our portfolio.

是的。蘇珊，就我們的投資組合而言，我們在高端投資組合方面繼續表現非常出色。近年來，我們在更流暢、更寬廣的外觀、更高的聲學性能以及外觀與更高品質的結合方面所做的創新，在 2025 年再次得到了充分體現。我們投資組合中高端產品的成長率接近兩位數。

And again, just really confirms that the technology that we're bringing to the marketplace at the high end and where the products are most specified, which is at the high end is where Armstrong continues to do very, very well with our innovation. That's really on the mineral fiber side because that's how we measure mix is at the Mineral Fiber business.

這再次證實，我們推向高端市場的技術，以及產品規格最高的領域——高端市場，正是 Armstrong 憑藉創新持續取得巨大成功的領域。這其實是礦物纖維方面的工作，因為礦物纖維業務就是用這種方式來衡量混合比例的。

In the Architectural Specialty business, although we don't measure mix the same way there because of the custom nature of that business, the innovation that we're bringing to the marketplace in both metal and wood, our turf, our [FFELP] products, they're all making an impact driving what as I reported, double-digit orders and backlog growth in Architectural Specialties. And that's really important. The new products are really important there to make sure that we're winning the large renovations and the new construction projects.

在建築特殊材料業務中，雖然由於該業務的定制性質，我們沒有以同樣的方式衡量組合，但我們在金屬和木材、草坪、[FFELP]產品方面為市場帶來的創新，正如我所報告的，都在推動建築特種材料業務的訂單和積壓訂單實現兩位數增長。這一點非常重要。新產品對於確保我們贏得大型翻新和新建項目至關重要。

So really pleased with how our innovation is driving mix in both the mineral fiber and the Architectural Specialty business. And again, double-digit growth in our Architectural Specialty business like that, both in orders and backlog is really encouraging because we all know the market is not growing double digits. And so this is a good measure of how well we're penetrating and participating in that market.

非常高興看到我們的創新如何推動礦物纖維和建築特殊材料業務的融合發展。再次強調，我們的建築特種業務在訂單和積壓訂單方面都實現了兩位數的成長，這真的令人鼓舞，因為我們都知道市場並沒有實現兩位數的成長。因此，這可以很好地衡量我們滲透和參與該市場的程度。

Yes. No, absolutely, that's a great. Now that all sounds really good. And I guess building on that rate, Architectural Specialties is getting close to that 20% margin target that you've had out there. Can you talk about the forward trajectory of that as we continue to see these acquisitions coming through? And how we should think about where that can go over the course of the next year? If -- the environment does stay more challenging like it is today?

是的。不，當然，那太好了。聽起來一切都很好。我猜以這個速度，建築特種產品公司應該很快就能達到你們設定的 20% 的利潤率目標了。隨著這些收購案的不斷完成，您能否談談未來的發展趨勢？那麼，我們該如何思考它在未來一年內的發展方向呢？如果──環境真的像今天這樣充滿挑戰呢？

Yes. Susan, I'm really proud of how our teams have driven the improvements over the last 4 years really in Architectural Specialties every year, making an impact on operating leverage and doing a great job in the marketplace and pricing our products. And organically, even with some of the timing-related headwinds that Chris mentioned, organically, we're at the 20% level. And we expect for this year, for the first time, on this side of the pandemic is to get back to that 20% level organically.

是的。蘇珊，我為我們的團隊在過去 4 年中取得的進步感到非常自豪，尤其是在建築特種產品領域，我們每年都取得了顯著的進步，提高了營運效率，並在市場和產品定價方面做得非常出色。即使像克里斯提到的那樣，存在一些與時間相關的不利因素，但從自然增長的角度來看，我們已經達到了 20% 的水平。我們預計今年，在疫情之後，將首次實現自然恢復到 20% 的水平。

And of course, Susan as the base gets bigger and our Architectural Specialty business, organically, we can offset more and more acquisitions as we add them on. As you know, most of the acquisitions we're buying are dilutive until they get scaled up on our platform and then we're able to drive the operating leverage to the 20% or greater. The forward look on this is we've said very publicly -- we think this is a really good spot for us to be as long as we have double-digit growth opportunities in the marketplace. As long as we're continuing to penetrate the market and take share, we don't want to optimize on margins at the expense of growth.

當然，隨著公司規模的擴大和建築專業業務的有機成長，我們可以抵消越來越多的收購帶來的損失。如您所知，我們收購的大多數公司在在我們的平台上擴大規模之前都會稀釋股權，之後我們才能將營運槓桿提高到 20% 或更高。我們對未來的展望已經公開表示過——只要市場上有兩位數的成長機會，我們就認為這對我們來說是一個非常好的局面。只要我們能夠繼續打入市場並擴大市場份額，我們就不想為了追求利潤率而犧牲成長。

And so as long as we have that growth curve in front of us, and we do see that ahead of us still for several years. We like greater than 20%, but we don't need to optimize much greater than that at the expense of growth. That's kind of how we're going to run the business.

所以，只要我們面前還有成長曲線，而且我們確實看到這種成長勢頭還會持續好幾年。我們喜歡大於 20% 的效果，但我們不需要為了優化效果而犧牲成長。這就是我們經營這家公司的方式。

Your next question comes from the line of Tomohiko Sano, JPMorgan.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的佐野智彥。

My first question is EBITDA margin pressure. So, while sales and EPS was strong, both consolidated and segment EBITDA margins declined year-over-year in 2Q. Could you elaborate on the timing-related cost headwinds, such as higher incentive compensation and medical costs and how you expect this to trend in 4Q and into 2026, please?

我的第一個問題是 EBITDA 利潤率壓力。因此，儘管銷售額和每股盈餘表現強勁，但第二季合併和分部 EBITDA 利潤率均較去年同期下降。請您詳細說明與時間相關的成本不利因素，例如更高的激勵性薪資和醫療成本，以及您預計這些因素在第四季和 2026 年的發展趨勢？

Yes. Chris, do you want to take that.

是的。克里斯，你想拿嗎？

Sure, yes. So on the SG&A side, let me just start with just an overarching comment around our mindset around cost control and the continued thinking around employing a cost control mindset, even in more stabilizing market conditions that we mentioned in our prepared remarks, so in the quarter, we had highlighted higher SG&A costs in the Mineral Fiber segment. And that was really driven by higher incentive compensation costs.

當然可以。在銷售、一般及行政費用方面，我首先想就我們的成本控制理念以及我們持續採用成本控制理念發表一些總體看法，即使在我們準備好的發言稿中提到的市場環境更加穩定的情況下也是如此。因此，在本季度，我們重點強調了礦物纖維部門較高的銷售、一般及行政費用。這實際上是由更高的激勵性薪酬成本所驅動的。

These are related both to our annual incentive plan and our longer-term incentive plan. And the driver of these costs really relate to our year-to-date financial performance and our updated full year outlook that I commented on in my remarks. And I also said we don't expect this third quarter SG&A results in Mineral Fiber to be indicative of our quarterly run rate moving forward.

這些都與我們的年度激勵計劃和長期激勵計劃有關。這些成本的真正驅動因素與我們今年迄今為止的財務業績以及我剛才在演講中提到的更新後的全年展望有關。我還說過，我們預期礦物纖維業務第三季的銷售、管理及行政費用結果並不能反映我們未來每季的業績水準。

Vic mentioned the thinking around continuing to get leverage on our investments, and that certainly is the case. We look to get operating leverage out of our SG&A investment base. We'll continue to be mindful of the rate and pace of our spending again, the compensation. The incentive compensation costs were really timing in nature, and we're an outsized cost in the third quarter.

Vic提到了繼續利用投資槓桿的想法，這當然是事實。我們希望從銷售、管理及行政費用投資中獲得經營槓桿效應。我們將繼續關注支出的速度和節奏，以及薪資待遇。激勵性薪酬成本實際上具有時間性，而且我們在第三季承擔了巨額成本。

Let me take the second part of your question next around medical and just take a step back a bit and talk about the higher medical costs that we experienced in the third quarter. We're self-insured from a medical perspective. So when higher medical claims are incurred, they impact the P&L directly. And what we saw was an uptick in several high-cost claims in the third quarter, and these claims were above our normal run rate of medical experience.

接下來，我想回答您關於醫療問題的第二部分，先退一步，談談我們在第三季經歷的較高醫療成本。從醫療角度來看，我們是自保的。因此，當醫療索賠金額較高時，會直接影響損益表。我們看到第三季幾起高額理賠案件增加，這些理賠案件高於我們正常的醫療經驗發生率。

So, while we do experience medical costs in the ordinary course, the number and the magnitude of what we saw in Q3 was atypical and be very unusual to see that level of medical claims in consecutive quarters as well.

因此，雖然我們在正常情況下確實會產生醫療費用，但我們在第三季度看到的醫療費用數量和規模都是非典型的，而且在連續幾個季度看到如此高水平的醫療索賠是非常不尋常的。

Thank you, Chris. And my follow-up is macro and market trends. You talk about office and also transportation mainly. But could you talk about education, health care and data centers in those kind of particle into Q4 and 2026 expectation, please?

謝謝你，克里斯。我的後續關注點是宏觀經濟和市場趨勢。你主要談論的是辦公室和交通方面的內容。但是，您能否談談教育、醫療保健和資料中心等領域在第四季和 2026 年的預期發展？

Yes. The Education and Healthcare segments continue to be I would say, stabilized as we experienced throughout the year. So no real inflection in health care and education that we're seeing. In fact, health care remains slightly positive, both on the new construction and the renovation forecast that we're seeing. So I would say kind of stabilized activity levels in the health care and education.

是的。教育和醫療保健部門繼續保持穩定，正如我們今年所經歷的那樣。所以，我們目前還沒有看到醫療保健和教育領域有真正的轉捩點。事實上，無論是新建項目還是翻新項目的預測，醫療保健產業仍然略微向好。所以我覺得醫療保健和教育領域的活動水準基本上已經穩定下來了。

Of course, the data center is -- the opportunity continues to be very robust and we're very active in participating in that with our new products. We have a new launch of tile products as well as some of the grid products that that we've been talking to you about. We're also launching some additional structural grid products to go along to target that marketplace.

當然，資料中心領域的機會仍然非常強勁，我們也積極利用我們的新產品參與其中。我們推出了一系列新的瓷磚產品，以及一些我們之前跟您提到的網格產品。我們還將推出一些額外的結構網格產品，以瞄準該市場。

So it's an exciting opportunity, and it continues to have a lot of growth behind it, in addition to what we're seeing in transportation and the green shoots that I'm talking about in office.

所以這是一個令人興奮的機會，而且它還有很大的成長潛力，此外，我們在交通運輸領域也看到了發展，正如我在辦公室裡所說的，它還展現出一些積極的跡象。

Your next question comes from the line of Keith Hughes, Truist Securities.

你的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Keith Hughes。

So, these SG&A expenses is health care related, would those most likely come down over the next quarter or two to something more consistent than what we've seen in the past? Is that the message you're trying to [indiscernible] ?

所以，這些銷售、一般及行政費用與醫療保健相關，這些費用在未來一兩個季度內是否有可能下降到比我們過去看到的更穩定的水平？這就是你想表達的意思嗎？[聽不清楚]？

Yes. I think, Keith, it's fair to assume that both on the incentive comp and the medical side that they'd be kind of more at a normal run rate again, very atypical to see the outsized impact that we saw in Medical this quarter. And again, that wasn't tied to a specific operation or events, but yes, to your point, not the expectation going forward.

是的。基思，我認為可以合理地假設，無論是激勵性薪酬還是醫療方面，它們都將恢復到正常的運行速度，本季度醫療方面出現如此巨大的影響是非常不尋常的。再次強調，這與具體的行動或事件無關，但正如你所說，這並非未來的預期。

And what's the outlook for manufacturing costs in the next few periods or is inflation starting to creep in to the inputs?

未來幾個時期製造業成本前景如何？通貨膨脹是否開始影響投入成本？

Yes, I'd say on the manufacturing side, I mean, for sure, we have inflation, but our ability to continue to drive productivity in our plants remains one of the value creation drivers and building blocks of the business. So I'd expect more of a run rate that we saw through the first couple of quarters of this year.

是的，就製造業而言，我的意思是，當然，我們面臨通貨膨脹，但我們持續提高工廠生產力的能力仍然是創造價值的驅動力和業務的基石之一。所以我預計其運行速度會更接近今年前兩個季度的水平。

Again, continued strength in both a continued cost control mindset across the enterprise, coupled with our productivity programs and productivity gains.

再次強調，企業持續維持成本控制理念，加上我們的生產力提升計畫和生產力提高，都增強了我們的優勢。

Okay. Final question for Vic. I hear what you're saying on the office on the Class B moving to Class A. Has that started to occur yet in quantities that are moving the numbers or as offices a [indiscernible] category?

好的。最後一個問題問維克。我明白你說的B級辦公室升格為A級辦公室的情況。這種情況是否已經開始出現，並且數量足以推動辦公室數量的增長，或者說，這類辦公室屬於[聽不清楚的]類別？

Yes. It seems to be a lot of ground level activity, which -- so it's moved from some of the bidding activity and some of the start activity that we've been tracking into. What I'm hearing in the marketplace from our regional team so that there's more tenant improvement-type projects on the ground there.

是的。看起來有很多基層活動，這——所以它已經從我們一直在追蹤的一些競標活動和一些啟動活動轉移到了基層活動。我從區域團隊了解到，市場上有許多租戶裝修類型的專案正在進行中。

So I think we're just beginning to see some of that. So I wouldn't say they're needle movers, it's -- they're real -- it's a stabilized I would say, vertical at this point and with some green shoots in terms of the improvement that could be out there going into 2026.

所以我覺得我們才剛開始看到這些跡象。所以我不會說它們是能帶來重大改變的因素，它們是實實在在的——我認為目前已經穩定下來，呈垂直增長態勢，並且在2026年之前，市場可能會出現一些改善的跡象。

Your next question comes from the line of Adam Baumgarten, Vertical Research Group.

你的下一個問題來自 Vertical Research Group 的 Adam Baumgarten。

Question on the AUV just on the home center mix. It sounds like that impacted year-over-year mix benefits in the quarter. I know you said it was positive and maybe less so than it's been in prior quarters. I guess do you expect that mix headwind to abate in the fourth quarter. And then if we think about the August price increase starting to flow through, should you see some level of year-over-year AUV improvement in the fourth quarter?

關於家用中心混合產品中的AUV的問題。聽起來這影響了本季同比產品組合效益。我知道你說過情況整體良好，但可能不如前幾季那麼好。我猜你認為這種不利因素會在第四季減弱。那麼，如果我們考慮到 8 月的價格上漲開始顯現，您是否會看到第四季度 AUV 同比有所改善？

Yes, you're right, Adam, the -- as you know, the retail business is a limited set of products and lower AUV. So when we get some additional strength in 1 of those -- well, in that channel, you're right, it does drag down the overall mix. I will say, we still -- these are profitable products and they're profitable contributors to our bottom line.

是的，你說得對，亞當，如你所知，零售業的產品種類有限，平均單價較低。所以，當我們在其中一個通道中獲得一些額外的力量時——嗯，你說得對，在那個通道中，它確實會拉低整體混音的效果。我想說的是，這些產品仍然盈利，並且對我們的利潤做出了重要貢獻。

So we like that volume. But you're right, on the AUV line, it can be a drag a bit on our normal AUV run rates. And that's what we experienced in the third quarter. We don't expect that to continue into the fourth quarter. I just will caveat that, that sometimes this is not forecastable in terms of some of their inventory replenishment or even drawdowns as we've reported on in quarters past. But -- we're not expecting that to continue into the fourth quarter at this stage.

所以我們喜歡這個銷售量。但你說得對，在 AUV 生產線上，這可能會稍微拖慢我們正常的 AUV 運行速度。這就是我們在第三季所經歷的。我們預計這種情況不會持續到第四季。我只想補充一點，正如我們過去幾季報導的那樣，他們的一些庫存補充甚至減少情況有時是無法預測的。但是——我們目前預計這種情況不會持續到第四季。

And I would just add on to that and say, we still expect a strong AUV quarter in Q4. Again, that was the big box that we mentioned in the third quarter kind of pressured the full year outlook, if you will, but still expecting a strong Q4 and about 6% AUV for the full year.

我還要補充一點，我們仍然預計第四季度 AUV 將表現強勁。再次強調，我們在第三季提到的大問題確實給全年前景帶來了壓力，但我們仍然預計第四季度業績強勁，全年平均單價成長率約為 6%。

Got it. Great. And then just switching gears to AS, just given kind of the strong backlog and order commentary that you made and some level of visibility, especially on larger projects, are you still or should we expect growth next year and maybe any kind of additional color in terms of end markets and kind of what's getting you excited about 2026 at this point?

知道了。偉大的。然後我們換個話題來談談AS，鑑於您之前提到的強勁的積壓訂單和訂單情況，以及一定的可見性，尤其是在大型項目方面，您是否仍然或我們應該期待明年的增長？關於終端市場，您能否再提供一些資訊？目前來看，2026年有哪些面向讓您感到興奮？

Yes. I mean what's encouraging, Adam, in our order rate and our backlog build is not just for the rest of the year, which it is contributing to the rest of the year and our confidence for the rest of the year, but how it's building for '26. So yes, we would expect to continue to grow in 2026. Again, almost irrespective of what the market is doing because as you know, most of our growth there is really through penetration, really taking share.

是的。我的意思是，亞當，令人鼓舞的是，我們的訂單率和積壓訂單量不僅對今年剩餘時間有貢獻（這確實對今年剩餘時間以及我們對今年剩餘時間的信心有所貢獻），而且還對 2026 年的業績增長起到了推動作用。所以，是的，我們預計2026年將繼續成長。再說一遍，幾乎與市場走勢無關，因為正如你所知，我們在那裡的成長主要來自滲透，真正搶佔市場份額。

So our expectations and the way it's building in our backlog, we would expect growth in '26.

因此，根據我們的預期以及積壓訂單的成長情況，我們預計 2026 年將實現成長。

Your next question comes from the line of Rafe Jadrosich, Bank of America.

你的下一個問題來自美國銀行的拉夫·賈德羅西奇。

I wanted to just follow up on some of the comments on office, which has obviously been sort of a headwind for, I think you guys said 7 years. Can you talk about if that comes back or we start to see an improvement? Is there any either ASP or margin tailwinds, like particularly either on the Class A side or anything from a regional perspective? And are you seeing like specific green shoots on like San Francisco or New York, is that meaningful in any way?

我想就辦公室的一些評論做個後續回應，顯然，辦公室在過去的7年裡一直給我們帶來了一些阻力，我想你們也說過。您能談談這種情況是否會再次出現，或者我們是否開始看到好轉嗎？是否存在任何有利於平均售價或利潤率的利多因素，例如A級股方面，或從區域角度來看？你是否在舊金山或紐約等地看到一些明顯的復甦跡象？這是否具有任何意義？

Well, I think what the data is showing now, and I mentioned this in my prepared remarks is how it's broadening out beyond some of the major cities and the Sunbelt as we've talked about how the South has been actually an early recovery zone for the office segment.

我認為，目前的數據顯示，正如我在準備的演講稿中提到的，這種情況正在從一些主要城市和陽光地帶向外擴散，正如我們之前討論過的，南方實際上是辦公大樓市場的早期復甦區。

So in addition to that, what the research says it's actually much broader now. In fact, into 18 regions across the country are starting to see some positive activity there, both on leasing front and of course, that drives the renovation activity in the market. So that's encouraging. I think, as I mentioned earlier, we're still very early into seeing some of this work actually land into the marketplace. But the -- certainly, the signs are encouraging and supported by some of the forecasts that we're looking at as well.

所以除此之外，研究表明，現在的範圍實際上要廣泛得多。事實上，全國已有 18 個地區開始出現一些積極的活動，無論是在租賃方面，當然，這也推動了市場上的翻新活動。這令人鼓舞。我認為，正如我之前提到的，我們距離看到這些成果真正進入市場還處於非常早期的階段。但是——當然，種種跡象令人鼓舞，我們也正在關注的一些預測也支持這一點。

Got it. Okay. And then I understand it like sort of it's tough to give a volume outlook into '26. But wondering if do you have any at least directional visibility on cost inflation, AUV, SG&A, any of those points as we think about trends into next year and just like specific puts and takes?

知道了。好的。然後我了解到，要對 2026 年的銷售量做出預測是很難的。但我想知道，在考慮明年的趨勢以及具體的買賣決策時，您是否對成本通膨、AUV、SG&A 等任何方面有任何方向性的了解？

It's Chris. I'd say at this point, we're still preparing our modeling and and going through assessing the market, et cetera, for 2026. But if I could just take a step back and just talk a little bit about the building blocks of the business and what we've talked about in terms of AUV growth, our ability to continue to drive productivity and really how we're thinking about SG&A investments and margins next year.

是克里斯。我想說，目前我們仍在準備建模，並對 2026 年的市場等進行評估。但如果我能退後一步，談談業務的基石，以及我們討論過的 AUV 成長、我們繼續提高生產力的能力，以及我們明年對 SG&A 投資和利潤率的真正思考。

I'd say our thinking in the mindset really hasn't changed. I think those value creation drivers are in place. We'll continue to invest and invest back into the business where they are the highest returns and I think we'll absolutely be thinking about EBITDA growth and margin expansion heading into next year. But absent that, too soon to formulate any more details around the specific inputs of those. But I'd be thinking about the -- the value creation drivers of this business on a relatively consistent basis going forward. Vic, I don't know if you want to add anything more.

我認為我們的思維方式並沒有真正改變。我認為這些價值創造驅動因素已經到位。我們將繼續投資並再投資於回報最高的業務，我認為我們明年肯定會考慮 EBITDA 成長和利潤率擴張。但如果沒有這些，現在就制定更多關於這些具體投入的細節還為時過早。但我會持續思考──這家企業的價值創造驅動因素。維克，我不知道你是否還有什麼要補充的。

I think that's well said.

我覺得說得很好。

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Biros, Thompson Research Group.

你的下一個問題來自湯普森研究集團的布萊恩·比羅斯。

Last quarter, your outlook was for a slightly softer second half kind of driven by that uncertainty with discretionary commercial work you expect to slow a lot of commentary today around market stabilizing here. Can you just help compare the current outlook to your expectations from 3 months ago, kind of what stabilizing really means in the scenario? I guess really just what is driving that kind of positive change from uncertain to stable.

上個季度，由於商業活動方面的不確定性，你預計下半年業績將略有下滑，而今天許多評論都圍繞著市場穩定展開。您能否幫忙將目前的情況與您三個月前的預期進行比較，說明在這種情況下「穩定」的真正意義？我想真正值得探討的是什麼因素推動了這種從不確定到穩定的正向轉變。

Yes, Brian, thank you for the question. It's a good question because if you remember, the way we talked about some of the smaller, more discretionary type renovation activity is where we have the least amount of visibility in the marketplace, right? It doesn't involve an architect and they tend to be, again, smaller in nature. So it kind of shows up through distribution.

是的，布萊恩，謝謝你的提問。這是一個很好的問題，因為如果你還記得的話，我們之前討論過一些規模較小、可自由支配的裝修活動，而這類活動在市場上的可見度最低，對吧？它不需要建築師，而且它們的規模通常也比較小。所以它在某種程度上是透過分銷管道體現出來的。

So -- and really full disclosure of that, we don't have great visibility. And we've been using prior models to kind of predict what happens there because we know because it's highly discretionary, it can move to the sidelines very quickly in higher degrees of uncertainty in the marketplace. We saw that. We experienced that in prior years, namely in 2022. And so with the forecast for the back half of lower economic activity, lower GDP and expecting some of that activity overall in the economy to slow down.

所以——坦白說，我們的能見度並不高。我們一直在使用先前的模型來預測那裡會發生什麼，因為我們知道，由於它是高度可自由支配的，在市場不確定性較高的情況下，它可能會很快轉移到場外。我們看到了。我們在前幾年就經歷過這種情況，尤其是在 2022 年。因此，預計下半年經濟活動將減少，GDP將下降，並且預計整體經濟活動將放緩。

We expected that to create some uncertainty -- additional uncertainty that would affect this discretionary renovation activity. As we all know, some of the economic activity has actually been revised upward. And we've not seen the slowdown in that discretionary work as we were expecting. And remember, it was a slightly modest, so it wasn't a significant downturn, but just some softening there. We did not see that. But I'll say, Brian, most encouraging in the quarter was on the volume side was the contribution from our initiatives and our growth initiatives.

我們預計這將造成一些不確定性——額外的不確定性將影響這項可自由支配的翻新活動。我們都知道，部分經濟活動數據其實已被向上修正。而且，我們並沒有看到非必需工作量像預期的那樣放緩。而且請記住，這只是略微溫和的下滑，所以並非大幅下跌，只是略有放緩而已。我們沒有看到這一點。但布萊恩，我要說的是，本季銷售最令人鼓舞的是我們各項措施和成長措施所做出的貢獻。

Given a little flatter plane here we can really start to see the impact of our growth initiatives above and beyond what is still relatively flattish to softer market conditions. So really pleased by that. And sitting here today, where we are into the fourth quarter, we continue to not see a softening in that discretionary renovation activity pipeline. And so we're basically calling the rest of the year as we've been experiencing all year and this kind of more stabilized flattish market conditions and then executing very well there to expand margins, grow our earnings and our top line double digits.

如果市場稍微平坦一些，我們就能真正開始看到我們的成長舉措所帶來的影響，而這也超出了目前相對平坦甚至疲軟的市場環境。對此我真的非常高興。如今已進入第四季度，我們仍然沒有看到非必需的翻新活動疲軟的跡象。因此，我們基本上將今年剩餘時間的預期與今年以來所經歷的類似，即市場環境更加穩定平穩，然後我們將很好地執行策略，擴大利潤率，實現兩位數的盈利和營收增長。

Good to hear. And then second question, I guess, on the Mineral Fiber margins strong this quarter, even with the discrete expenses, excluding discrete expenses. Can you just help unpack that number a little bit more here that you provided some drivers, but maybe just putting it really in the context around this level of margin you have with this level of volume and kind of just how that compares historically?

很高興聽到這個消息。第二個問題，我想問的是，本季礦物纖維的利潤率強勁，即使計入了一次性支出，但不包括一次性支出也是如此。您能否再詳細解釋一下您提供的一些驅動因素，但能否將其放在您目前的利潤率水平和銷售水平的背景下，並與歷史數據進行比較？

Because it's -- I believe it's a good number, a lower volume base. So just any more context around how you guys are thinking about that.

因為——我認為這是一個不錯的數字，一個較低的成交量基數。所以，你們還能再補充一些關於你們對此的看法嗎？

Yes. That's again, another good question. Let me take that, and Chris, I'll let you add some color to this. But I mean, really, when you look at in spite of some of those those unusual and atypical expenses that Chris talked about, we delivered a 44% EBITDA margin in the Mineral Fiber segment. That's really strong. And so when you think about for the rest of the year, we're going to finish at 43%, as I was saying in my prepared remarks. And that's back to the highest watermark that we experienced before the pandemic in 2019.

是的。這又是一個好問題。讓我來接手，克里斯，你來為它上色。但我的意思是，真的，儘管克里斯提到了一些不尋常和非典型的支出，我們在礦物纖維業務部門實現了 44% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。那真的很強。所以，展望今年剩餘的時間，我們將以 43% 的成績結束，正如我在準備好的演講稿中所說。這又回到了我們在2019年疫情爆發前所經歷的最高水位。

So we're really encouraged by the way the business underlying is performing. And the building blocks of that again is really making sure we're getting good price realization to more than offset inflation in the marketplace, which we're continuing to do very well. selling a richer mix into the marketplace, which we're doing very well, slightly offset a little bit, as we talked about earlier on the retail channel. And then productivity, continuing to drive meaningful productivity in our plants to help us offset inflationary costs. So that's what leads to really good margin performance in the business. And we expect that to continue.

因此，我們對公司業務的良好表現感到非常鼓舞。而這一切的基礎在於確保我們獲得良好的價格實現，從而能夠抵消市場上的通貨膨脹，而我們在這方面一直做得很好。此外，我們還在市場上銷售更豐富的產品組合，這方面我們也做得很好，正如我們之前在零售通路上討論的那樣，這在一定程度上抵消了通貨膨脹的影響。然後是生產力，持續提高我們工廠的生產力，以幫助我們抵消通貨膨脹成本。這就是企業獲得良好利潤率的原因。我們預計這種情況還會持續。

And Chris, I'll let you add any additional color there.

克里斯，剩下的顏色就交給你來加。

Yes, absolutely. You hit on all the key building blocks. The only additional item to mention there in terms of mineral fiber EBITDA margins is the contribution from wave equity earnings expected to grow about 6% this year. So again, with that contribution, really pleased with the overall EBITDA margin for the Mineral Fiber segment.

是的，絕對的。你已經掌握了所有關鍵要素。就礦物纖維 EBITDA 利潤率而言，唯一需要提及的額外項目是波浪權益收益的貢獻，預計今年將成長約 6%。所以，有了這部分貢獻，我對礦物纖維業務的整體 EBITDA 利潤率非常滿意。

Your next question comes from the line of Garik Shmois, Luke Capital.

你的下一個問題是來自 Garik Shmois，Luke Capital。

This is Zack Pacheco on for Garik. Maybe just 1 more on the mineral fiber margin over 43%, that pre-pandemic level, do you guys kind of see a natural cap getting over that through maybe just the industry dynamics or your level of investment? Or how do you kind of view taking that next step above that pre-pandemic level?

這是紮克·帕切科代替加里克上場。礦物纖維利潤率或許可以再提高 1%，超過 43%（疫情前的水平），你們認為透過產業動態或你們的投資水平，是否會出現一個自然上限來突破這個水平？或者，您如何看待在疫情前水平之上邁出下一步？

Yes, it's a common question we get. And honestly, we just keep pointing back to the building blocks, what the drivers of margin. And really, and that's a good measure of the efficiency in how we run the business, right, in terms of making sure we're pricing and getting enough price to cover inflationary dynamics and driving productivity in the plants, innovating to make sure that we're bringing higher-margin products, higher AUV and value products to the marketplace.

是的，這是我們常被問到的問題。說實話，我們始終堅持關注構成利潤的基本要素，也就是利潤率的驅動因素。實際上，這很好地衡量了我們經營業務的效率，對吧？這體現在我們確保定價合理，獲得足夠的價格來應對通貨膨脹，提高工廠的生產力，並透過創新確保我們向市場推出利潤率更高、AUV（單位面積產量）更高、價值更高的產品。

Those same building blocks we were just talking about, I think as long as those are present, and we continue to invest behind those, which we're committed to do, we continue to look for greater efficiency and greater margins from here.

我認為，只要我們剛才談到的那些基本要素存在，並且我們繼續對這些要素進行投資（我們也致力於這樣做），我們就會繼續尋求更高的效率和更大的利潤率。

Understood. And then just quickly an update on the Geometric acquisition from earlier in the quarter and kind of just the M&A environment in general, as you guys see it.

明白了。然後，簡單報告本季早些時候對 Geometric 的收購情況，以及你們眼中的併購環境現狀。

Yes, the Geometric is a great add for our business, our architectural specialty business and in particular for the wood platform, which is one of the fastest-growing platforms in the Architectural Specialty business. It's -- so an exciting on-trend look and feel that architects and owners are looking for -- and this really adds 2 real dimensions of competitive advantage.

是的，幾何圖形對我們的業務，特別是我們的建築專業業務，尤其是木材平台來說，是一個很好的補充。木材平台是建築專業業務中成長最快的平台之一。它擁有建築師和業主所追求的令人興奮的潮流外觀和感覺，這確實增加了兩個真正的競爭優勢。

Number one, the extension of the product portfolio to include a greater number of species, really on-trend type species in our wood portfolio. And it gives us a geographic advantage also by being out West. So it's a really great add to the portfolio. And we like these kinds of acquisitions that bring competitive advantage, additional capabilities for us to bring into the architect's offices with the rest of our portfolio.

第一，擴大產品組合，在我們的木材產品組合中加入更多種類的木材，真正符合潮流的木材種類。而且，地處西部也為我們帶來了地理優勢。所以，它絕對是投資組合中的絕佳補充。我們喜歡這類收購，它們能帶來競爭優勢，為我們帶來額外的能力，讓我們能夠將這種能力與我們其他的產品組合一起帶給建築師事務所。

So it's a good example. It's on the smaller side, but we're open for business in terms of or acquisitions. We have a dedicated team that's getting up every day and working our pipeline. And we believe there's more of these bolt-on type acquisitions out there for our Architectural Specialty business. So more to come on that front as well.

所以這是一個很好的例子。規模較小，但我們對收購業務持開放態度。我們擁有一支敬業的團隊，他們每天都在努力工作，推進我們的生產流程。我們相信，對於我們的建築專業業務而言，還有更多類似的補充性收購機會。所以這方面還有更多消息可以分享。

Operator Your next question comes from the line of John Lovallo, UBS.

接線生：您的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的約翰‧洛瓦洛。

As well here. I guess the first I guess the first question is just on the Mineral Fiber volumes up slightly in the quarter. How do you think the performance there compared to the underlying market?

這裡也是如此。我想第一個問題是關於礦物纖維銷售在本季略有成長的情況。您認為該股的表現與大盤相比如何？

Yes, it's really hard to put a very precise number on that. But when the markets are flat, they're anywhere from plus or minus 1, maybe 0.5 point either way. So -- but what we do know is that the growth initiatives and the volume contribution from our growth initiatives really was a nice contributor to the overall upside that you saw that we experienced in the quarter. markets are still relatively soft. So these flattish conditions can actually be reflective of these -- of the market activity at a lower level that we've been experiencing all year.

是的，這很難給出一個非常精確的數字。但當市場橫盤整理時，它們的波動範圍在正負 1 點到正負 0.5 點之間。所以——但我們確實知道的是，成長計劃及其帶來的銷售貢獻，確實對我們本季整體業績的成長起到了很好的推動作用。儘管市場仍然相對疲軟。因此，這種相對平穩的市場狀況實際上可能反映了我們今年以來一直經歷的較低水準的市場活動。

So I think that's the best way I could describe it, John, in terms of how the overall market is performing.

所以，約翰，我認為這是我能想到的描述整體市場表現的最佳方式。

Okay. Got it. And then sticking on Mineral Fiber, it looks like sales to the distribution channel were actually very strong, up 9% year-over-year. What drove this kind of relative strength compared to the other channels?

好的。知道了。再來看礦物纖維，分銷通路的銷售額似乎非常強勁，較去年同期成長 9%。與其他管道相比，是什麼因素造就了這種相對優勢？

Yes. I'd say, John, just to continue to point to our strong commercial execution, really, again, coupled with the initiatives that Vik mentioned. We continue to be pleased with the level of performance there in the quarter and are excited about just the way that we've executed in that particular part of the market.

是的。約翰，我想說的是，我們強大的商業執行力確實功不可沒，再加上維克提到的那些舉措。我們對本季在該領域的業績表現感到滿意，並對我們在該特定市場領域的執行方式感到興奮。

Your next question comes from the line of Philip Ng, Jefferies.

你的下一個問題來自 Philip Ng 和 Jefferies 的行列。

Question for Chris. Can you give us an update how you're thinking about inflation broadly for the full year, some of the major inputs and whatnot? And the pace in the back half and then in terms of productivity, you sound pretty upbeat about what's still in front of you.

問克里斯一個問題。能否簡單介紹一下您對全年通膨的整體看法，包括一些主要因素等等？至於後半程的節奏以及生產力面，聽起來你對未來充滿信心。

Should we expect a pretty consistent steady dose of productivity that you still have available for 2026 to kind of tap into?

我們是否可以期待您在 2026 年仍能保持相當穩定的生產力水平，以便充分利用？

Sure. Yes. Thanks for the question, Phil. Yes, I'll take the second part of that first. In terms of productivity, yes, pleased with our level of productivity in our plants, certainly year-to-date in the quarter and what we're expecting for the full year. And going back to our comments around the value creation drivers in the building blocks of the business, I feel very confident about our ability to continue to get those productivity gains on a go-forward basis.

當然。是的。謝謝你的提問，菲爾。是的，我先回答第二部分。就生產力而言，是的，我們對工廠的生產力水準感到滿意，尤其是本季迄今的生產力以及我們對全年的生產力的預期。回到我們之前關於企業基本要素價值創造驅動因素的討論，我對我們未來繼續提高生產力的能力非常有信心。

From an inflation perspective, just a reminder in terms of, call it, the categories of inflation. In Mineral Fiber, about 35% of our inflation of COGS is raw materials and then energy is about 10%. Freight is about 10%. So from a total input cost perspective for the full year, we're out looking low single-digit inflation with freight about flat compared to prior year. Raws in that low single-digit inflation range and then energy in that low double-digit inflation range. So hopefully, that gives you a little bit more color around the bits and pieces of how we're thinking about inflation on a percentage basis versus prior year 425.

從通貨膨脹的角度來看，這裡簡單回顧一下通貨膨脹的類別。在礦物纖維產業，我們商品成本的約 35% 為原料成本，能源成本約佔 10%。運費約10%。因此，從全年總投入成本的角度來看，我們預期通貨膨脹率將維持在個位數低位，而運費與前一年相比基本持平。原物料通膨率處於個位數低位區間，能源通膨率處於兩位數低位區間。希望這能讓您更清楚地了解我們如何以百分比的形式考慮通貨膨脹，並與前一年 425 年的情況進行比較。

And Chris, any big nuances between front half versus back half in terms of some of those inflation components if it's moderating or it's been pretty steady all year.

克里斯，就某些通膨因素而言，上半年和下半年之間是否有任何重大細微差別，例如通膨是否趨於緩和，或者是否全年都相當穩定。

Yes, I'd say slightly moderating a bit in the back half, but not significantly.

是的，我覺得後半段節奏稍微緩和了一些，但變化不大。

Okay. That's helpful. And Vic, AS has been a home run for you guys, really strong growth, strong organic growth. And I think you pointed out in your prepared remarks, orders and backlogs are still growing at a double-digit clip. And I think you mentioned if you could grow at double-digit clip. I mean 20% EBITDA margin is a good way to think about the business in the medium and longer term.

好的。那很有幫助。Vic，AS 對你們來說絕對是一次巨大的成功，成長非常強勁，而且是強勁的自然成長。正如您在準備好的發言稿中指出的那樣，訂單和積壓訂單仍在以兩位數的速度增長。我想你有提到過，如果能以兩位數的速度成長就好了。我的意思是，20% 的 EBITDA 利潤率是衡量企業中長期發展的一個好指標。

So my question really comes down to, obviously, you have some really tough comps in the first half of '25. What's a good way to think about organic growth in that business when we look out at 2026. Is it double digit is the right way to think about it? Or that's a number that includes M&A? I just want to be mindful of the tougher comps next year.

所以我的問題歸根結底是，很顯然，2025 年上半年你們會遇到一些非常艱難的競爭。展望 2026 年，我們該如何看待該產業的有機成長？以兩位數來思考這個問題是否正確？或者說，這個數字包含了併購交易？我只是想提醒自己，明年的比賽會更加艱難。

Yes. On the organic side, we've been running in the high single digits this year. And we'll stop short to forecast what that looks like for next year. But again, with the double-digit growth in our order intake, a lot of that's organic. So I would expect the growth for next year organically to continue to be at a really good clip. What exactly that is relative to this year yet. I think we still have to do our work and our modeling on that to accurately answer that. But I still expect good solid organic growth in that business in addition to the inorganic bolt-on acquisitions, and we expect to continue.

是的。今年，我們的有機產品銷售量一直維持在個位數高點。至於明年的情況如何，我們就不做預測了。但同樣，我們訂單量的兩位數成長，其中許多都是自然成長。因此，我預計明年有機成長將繼續保持良好的勢頭。具體而言，這與今年的情況有何關係？我認為我們仍然需要繼續進行相關工作和建模，才能準確回答這個問題。但我仍然預計，除了非有機收購之外，該業務還將保持良好的穩健內生成長，我們預計這種情況會持續下去。

Phil, if I could come back to -- yes, my comment on the moderating versus back half was really around what we expected back in July. So if I were to take a look at the fourth quarter relative to our actual run rate for the first 9 months of the first 3 quarters, a little bit of an uptick in energy and a little bit of an uptick in raws, but it's really not that big. But relative to July, a moderating expectation versus where we were last quarter for the full year.

菲爾，如果我能回到——是的，我關於中場休息和下半場比賽的評論實際上與我們在7月份的預期差不多。所以，如果我看一下第四季相對於前三個季度前九個月的實際運行率，能量和原材料都有小幅上升，但實際上上升幅度並不大。但與 7 月相比，全年預期有所緩和，與上個季度相比有所下降。

Your final question comes from the line of Stephen Kim, Evercore ISI.

你的最後一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Stephen Kim。

This is Atish for Steve. Just one quick one for me. You touched on it a little bit in the prepared remarks, but could you talk a little bit more about the digital initiatives and kind of how you've seen that the impact of that grow over time and involve over time, maybe some lessons learned.

這是史蒂夫的阿提什。我只問一個問題。您在準備好的發言稿中稍微提到了這一點，但您能否再多談談數位化舉措，以及您如何看待這些舉措的影響隨著時間的推移而增長和擴大，以及您從中吸取的一些經驗教訓？

Yes. The ones that I called out in my prepared remarks around Project work, let me just start there for a second because I think this is an automated software platform that takes the intelligence of a long time of designing ceilings and automates those design rules and a platform that can help architects really expedite the iterations on different types of designs or iterations of designs. And that's a huge productivity tool that the architects are learning about as we get more and more products onto the platform to meet their needs.

是的。我之前在關於專案工作的準備發言中提到的那些，讓我先從這裡開始說起，因為我認為這是一個自動化軟體平台，它利用了長期以來設計天花板的經驗，並自動執行這些設計規則，而且這個平台可以幫助建築師真正加快不同類型設計或設計迭代的速度。隨著越來越多的產品上線以滿足建築師的需求，他們逐漸了解這是一個巨大的生產力工具。

In addition to that, because of this automated platform is based on historical data, we can pump out very accurate bill of materials that allows them to really predict the project costing and also the ordering for the contractor. If you think about these really complex projects, there's a lot of parts and pieces that go into the installation of these on the job site, and we can get really precise with exactly the number of pieces and components that have to go.

此外，由於此自動化平台是基於歷史數據，我們可以產生非常準確的物料清單，使他們能夠真正預測專案成本以及承包商的訂單。想想這些非常複雜的項目，在施工現場安裝這些設備需要很多零件，我們可以非常精確地計算需要安裝的零件和組件的數量。

And that's really attractive for the contractor community to not have to guess about how much they need of something. So for both of those customer bases, this Projectworks platform, continues to grow every quarter, more and more users and more and more activity. And we're really pleased with, we think when we look at the data, the win rate of projects that go through project works is higher than when they don't because of the value that we're creating with architects and the contractors.

對於承包商群體來說，不必猜測自己需要多少東西，這真的很有吸引力。因此，對於這兩個客戶群而言，Projectworks 平台每季都持續成長，使用者越來越多，活動也越來越多。我們非常高興，我們認為，從數據來看，經過專案工作的專案的成功率高於沒有經過專案工作的項目，因為我們與建築師和承包商一起創造了價值。

So we continue to be very encouraged by the traction it's getting in the communities that we're operating in. Canopy was the other one that continues to adjust itself and serve the smaller customer that we feel like kind of falls through the cracks that doesn't really know where to go or how to get their sealing repaired or replaced and it leads them through an educational process that gets them to placing an order. It's turning out to be a very effective platform, and we continue to improve it every quarter on making it even better and better of a customer experience.

因此，我們對該產品在我們營運所在社區的進展感到非常鼓舞。Canopy 是另一家不斷調整自身並服務於小型客戶的公司，我們覺得這些客戶有點被忽視了，他們不知道該去哪里或如何修理或更換密封件，Canopy 通過教育過程引導他們下單。事實證明，這是一個非常有效的平台，我們每季都會不斷改進它，以提供越來越好的客戶體驗。

And so I was really pleased with the traction that it's getting, not only at the top line, setting a record top line but really, the profitability of that platform, delivering a record EBITDA level of performance and contributing now to the overall business.

因此，我對它所取得的進展感到非常滿意，不僅在營收方面創下了紀錄，而且該平台的盈利能力也達到了創紀錄的 EBITDA 水平，並為整體業務做出了貢獻。

So those 2 digital initiatives I was talking about, I think that's a little bit more color behind them, but we continue to get really good operating leverage on both of those investments.

所以，我剛才提到的兩項數位化舉措，我認為現在對它們有了更詳細的了解，但我們繼續從這兩項投資中獲得非常好的營運槓桿。

With no further questions in the queue, I will turn the call back over to Vic Grizzle for closing remarks.

由於沒有其他問題需要提問，我將把電話轉回給 Vic Grizzle，請他做總結發言。

Great. Thank you. Thank you all for joining our call today. Again, we're on track to have another record year in 2025, really pleased with both double-digit top and double-digit bottom and maybe mostly the traction that we're getting with our investments and the way that we're expanding margins in the business.

偉大的。謝謝。感謝各位今天參加我們的電話會議。再次，我們預計在 2025 年再創佳績，對這兩位數的漲幅和跌幅都非常滿意，尤其令我們感到欣慰的是，我們的投資取得了進展，並且我們正在擴大業務利潤率。

So we're excited for finishing the year strong and setting up what is going to be another exciting year in 2016. Thank you again for joining our call.

所以我們很高興能以強勁的勢頭結束今年，並為即將到來的2016年做好準備，相信這將是另一個令人興奮的年份。再次感謝您參加我們的電話會議。

Thank you again for joining us today. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

再次感謝您今天蒞臨。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線了。