Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands Fiscal 2022 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Charlotte McLaughlin, Vice President of Investor Relations. Charlotte, please go ahead.

早上好，歡迎參加 Acuity Brands 2022 財年第四季度和全年收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。我現在想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁 Charlotte McLaughlin。夏洛特，請繼續。

Thank you, Liz. Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands Fiscal 2022 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Call. As a reminder, some of our comments today may be forward-looking statements based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available to our management at this time. These beliefs are known -- subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control, including those detailed in our periodic SEC filings. Please note that our company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements.

謝謝你，麗茲。早上好，歡迎參加 Acuity Brands 2022 財年第四季度和全年收益電話會議。提醒一下，我們今天的一些評論可能是基於管理層的信念和假設以及目前我們管理層目前可獲得的信息的前瞻性陳述。這些信念是眾所周知的——受到已知和未知風險和不確定性的影響，其中許多可能超出我們的控制範圍，包括我們定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中詳述的那些。請注意，我們公司的實際結果可能與預期存在重大差異，我們不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。

Reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial metrics with their corresponding GAAP measures, are available in our 2022 fourth quarter and full year earnings release, which is available on our website at www.investors.acuitytbrands.com. With me this morning is Neil Ashe, our Chairman, President and CEO, who will provide an update on our strategy and highlights from the last quarter and full year; and Karen Holcom, our Senior Vice President and CFO, who will walk us through our fourth quarter and full year performance as well as provide an outlook for our full fiscal year 2023.

某些非 GAAP 財務指標與其相應 GAAP 指標的對賬可在我們的 2022 年第四季度和全年收益發布中獲得，該發布可在我們的網站 www.investors.acuitytbrands.com 上獲得。今天早上和我在一起的是我們的董事長、總裁兼首席執行官 Neil Ashe，他將提供我們戰略的最新情況以及上一季度和全年的亮點；我們的高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Karen Holcom 將帶領我們完成第四季度和全年的業績，並為我們的 2023 財年提供展望。

There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of this call. (Operator Instructions) We are webcasting today's conference call live. Thank you for your interest in Acuity Brands. I will now turn the call over to Neil Ashe.

本次電話會議結束時將有機會進行問答。 （操作員說明）我們正在現場直播今天的電話會議。感謝您對 Acuity Brands 的關注。我現在將把電話轉給 Neil Ashe。

Thank you, Charlotte. Good morning, and thank you to everyone joining us on the call. We continue to deliver strong results in the fourth quarter, concluding what has been a very good fiscal 2022. We had strong demand across our end markets, and we demonstrated the ability to capture price and drive volume through product vitality and service in both our lighting and spaces businesses throughout this fiscal year. We delivered solid operating profit and EPS growth, and we, again, created permanent shareholder value through share repurchases.

謝謝你，夏洛特。早上好，感謝大家加入我們的電話會議。我們在第四季度繼續取得強勁的業績，結束了非常好的 2022 財年。我們的終端市場需求強勁，我們展示了通過照明產品的活力和服務來捕捉價格和推動銷量的能力並在本財年開展業務。我們實現了穩健的營業利潤和每股收益增長，我們再次通過股票回購創造了永久的股東價值。

Both our lighting and spaces businesses have delivered strong results throughout 2022. Starting with ABL. Our team made good progress on product vitality and service initiatives. Our product vitality efforts are the combination of new product introductions and improvements to our existing portfolio to ensure that our products are more valuable to our customers and more profitable for us. These product vitality efforts are being recognized. We won awards across our portfolio for design and innovation, including several Red Dot design awards for architectural lighting, EC&M magazine recognized our contractor select stack pack as a category award winner for Product of the Year, and we received a BrightStar award for software and controls from LED magazine.

我們的照明和空間業務在整個 2022 年都取得了強勁的業績。從 ABL 開始。我們的團隊在產品生命力和服務舉措方面取得了不錯的進展。我們的產品活力努力是結合新產品的推出和對我們現有產品組合的改進，以確保我們的產品對我們的客戶更有價值並為我們帶來更多利潤。這些產品生命力的努力正在得到認可。我們在設計和創新方面贏得了整個產品組合的獎項，包括建築照明的多個紅點設計獎，EC&M 雜誌將我們的承包商精選堆棧包評為年度產品類別獎得主，並且我們獲得了軟件和控制方面的 BrightStar 獎來自 LED 雜誌。

Our service initiatives are also being recognized by the industry. We were named Supplier of the Year by each of the 2 largest buying groups in the industry, IMARK and AB. Throughout 2022, we've been focused on satisfying customer demand. To do that through the global supply chain conditions, we have continued to prioritize 3 key activities: first, investing in supplier relationships; second, empowering our teams to secure components in the open market; and third, reengineering products to available components. While these challenges have continued, our focus has remained the same.

我們的服務舉措也得到了業界的認可。我們被業內最大的兩個採購集團 IMARK 和 AB 評為年度供應商。在整個 2022 年，我們一直專注於滿足客戶需求。為了通過全球供應鏈條件做到這一點，我們繼續優先考慮 3 項關鍵活動：首先，投資於供應商關係；其次，授權我們的團隊在公開市場上保護組件；第三，將產品重新設計為可用組件。儘管這些挑戰仍在繼續，但我們的關注點始終如一。

In the fourth quarter, when our ABL business encountered sourcing interruptions with a few electronic components, we were able to leverage our strong supplier relationships to finish the quarter with a strong August.

在第四季度，當我們的 ABL 業務遇到一些電子元件的採購中斷時，我們能夠利用我們強大的供應商關係以強勁的 8 月結束本季度。

I'd now like to highlight 2 other important aspects of our business. The first is Contractor Select. Contractor Select is a collection of the most important everyday lighting and lighting control products. We have done, and we continue to do significant work on product vitality in this portfolio. This work allows us to be competitive from a value perspective and the results have been impressive. Contractor Select is growing faster than our broader portfolio and provides a consistent foundational relationship with electrical distributors. Second, as we pass the 1-year anniversary of our acquisition of the OSRAM DS business, I want to update you on our progress.

我現在想強調我們業務的另外兩個重要方面。第一個是承包商選擇。 Contractor Select 是最重要的日常照明和照明控制產品的集合。我們已經做到了，並且我們將繼續在這個產品組合中的產品活力方面做大量工作。這項工作使我們從價值角度具有競爭力，結果令人印象深刻。 Contractor Select 的增長速度超過了我們更廣泛的產品組合，並與電氣經銷商建立了一致的基礎關係。其次，在我們收購歐司朗 DS 業務一周年之際，我想向您介紹我們的最新進展。

We have successfully integrated the business with our go-to-market product and supply chain efforts. We have rebranded the product portfolio to OPTATRONIc as part of our eldoLED product family. We have begun to integrate more OPTOTRONIc drivers in our luminaire portfolio, we have grown our OEM sales and we have successfully integrated the production facility into our Mexico operations. The acquisition is delivering on our expectations towards more of the technology in our luminaires, expand our OEM channel, and take greater control of our electronic supply chain.

我們已成功地將業務與我們的上市產品和供應鏈工作相結合。作為我們 eldoLED 產品系列的一部分，我們已將產品組合更名為 OPTATRONIC。我們已經開始在我們的燈具產品組合中集成更多的 OPTOTRONIC 驅動器，我們已經增加了我們的 OEM 銷售額，並且我們已經成功地將生產設施整合到我們的墨西哥業務中。此次收購實現了我們對更多燈具技術的期望，擴大了我們的 OEM 渠道，並更好地控制了我們的電子供應鏈。

Now moving to our Intelligent Spaces Group. The Spaces team also had a very solid quarter, delivering net sales growth and expanding profit as we continue to make spaces smarter, safer and greener. Distech had strong sales in the fourth quarter, notably in the sales of our Eclipse controller, which uses open protocol technology to control and monitor systems and buildings, including heating, ventilation, lighting and other functions, essentially acting like the brain of the building. The data generated is then used to optimize energy consumption and occupancy comfort in a building or space. Atrius continues to roll out new and improved applications. In the fourth quarter, we launched product improvements to our Atrius locator, which enables customers to track high-value assets within their spaces and Atrius' vision that can improve customer experiences by managing traffic in a space.

現在轉到我們的智能空間組。 Spaces 團隊也有一個非常穩健的季度，隨著我們繼續讓空間變得更智能、更安全和更環保，實現了淨銷售額增長和利潤擴大。 Distech 在第四季度的銷售強勁，尤其是我們的 Eclipse 控制器的銷售，它使用開放協議技術來控制和監控系統和建築物，包括供暖、通風、照明和其他功能，基本上就像建築物的大腦一樣。然後使用生成的數據來優化建築物或空間中的能源消耗和居住舒適度。 Atrius 繼續推出新的和改進的應用程序。在第四季度，我們推出了對 Atrius 定位器的產品改進，使客戶能夠跟踪其空間內的高價值資產，以及 Atrius 的願景，即通過管理空間中的交通來改善客戶體驗。

Now I want to spend a minute on capital allocation. Our capital allocation priorities remain the same. Our priorities are to invest for growth in our current businesses, invest in acquisitions, maintain our dividend and allocate capital for share repurchases when we perceive there is an opportunity to create permanent value for shareholders. Earlier this month, we announced Philippe Brzusczak as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy. Philippe reports to me, and will be responsible for evaluating mergers and acquisitions and building strategic relationships.

現在我想花一分鐘的時間來討論資本配置。我們的資本配置優先事項保持不變。當我們認為有機會為股東創造永久價值時，我們的優先事項是投資於我們當前業務的增長、投資於收購、維持我們的股息並為股票回購分配資本。本月早些時候，我們宣布 Philippe Brzusczak 擔任企業發展和戰略高級副總裁。 Philippe 向我匯報，並將負責評估併購和建立戰略關係。

As I reflect on our fiscal 2022, we've had a good year. We have successfully repositioned the company at the intersection of sustainability and technology. Our businesses developed a technology that saves our customers' energy and reduces their carbon emissions. We are positioned for long-term growth by taking advantage of 2 of the most important megatrends, minimizing the impacts of climate change and maximizing the impacts of technology. Acuity Brands Lighting is the largest lighting and lighting control company in North America. We have dramatically improved our product vitality, and we have demonstrated that we could serve business when others could not. Our Intelligent Spaces Group has differentiated technology in building controls and management systems with Distech, and with Atrius, we are beginning to effectively demonstrate the benefits of connecting the edge to the cloud.

當我回顧我們的 2022 財年時，我們度過了美好的一年。我們已經成功地將公司重新定位在可持續發展和技術的交叉點。我們的業務開發了一種技術，可以節省客戶的能源並減少他們的碳排放。我們利用兩個最重要的大趨勢，最大限度地減少氣候變化的影響並最大限度地提高技術的影響，從而實現長期增長。 Acuity Brands Lighting 是北美最大的照明和照明控制公司。我們極大地提高了我們的產品生命力，並且我們證明了我們可以在別人做不到的時候為企業服務。我們的 Intelligent Spaces Group 在與 Distech 建立控制和管理系統方面擁有差異化技術，並且與 Atrius 一起，我們開始有效地展示將邊緣連接到雲的好處。

We've changed how the company works with the introduction of our better, smarter, faster operating system. Better, smarter, faster is the combination of processes, tools and ways of working that spans from strategy to people, to operating rhythms, to problem solving. It is unique to our organization, and allows us to drive strategic alignment, manage, change and deliver results.

通過引入我們更好、更智能、更快的操作系統，我們改變了公司的工作方式。更好、更智能、更快的是流程、工具和工作方式的結合，從戰略到人員，到運營節奏，再到問題解決。它對我們的組織來說是獨一無二的，使我們能夠推動戰略調整、管理、改變和交付成果。

At the same time, we have purposely transitioned the company to be a values-driven organization. We have 7 shared values. Some of our values like integrity, owner's mindset and community are fairly common. Others like time and curiosity are more distinctive to acuity. Collectively, they serve as a decision-making framework that empowers our associates. The combination of better, smarter, faster and our shared values allows us to operate more efficiently with greater distribution of responsibility and accountability throughout the company. It is how we will continue to improve our businesses, respond quickly and effectively in changing economic environments and successfully operate additional businesses in the future.

同時，我們有意將公司轉變為價值驅動的組織。我們有 7 個共同的價值觀。我們的一些價值觀，如誠信、所有者的心態和社區是相當普遍的。時間和好奇心等其他因素對敏銳度更具特色。總的來說，它們作為一個決策框架，賦予我們的員工權力。更好、更智能、更快和我們共同的價值觀相結合，使我們能夠更有效地運營，並在整個公司內分配更大的責任和問責制。這就是我們將如何繼續改進我們的業務，在不斷變化的經濟環境中快速有效地做出反應，並在未來成功運營更多業務的方式。

Our organization is clear on how we create value. We create value by growing net sales, turning those sales into cash and not growing the balance sheet as fast. We have overhauled our total rewards framework so that everyone in the organization is aligned with this. We've also demonstrated that we are effective capital allocators. We have made investments in our current businesses. We have successfully made and integrated acquisitions, and we have repurchased almost 20% of our company, creating permanent shareholder value.

我們的組織清楚我們如何創造價值。我們通過增加淨銷售額、將這些銷售額轉化為現金而不是快速增長資產負債表來創造價值。我們已經徹底改革了我們的總體獎勵框架，以便組織中的每個人都與此保持一致。我們還證明了我們是有效的資本配置者。我們對現有業務進行了投資。我們已經成功完成並整合了收購，我們已經回購了公司近 20% 的股份，創造了永久的股東價值。

Now looking to our fiscal 2023 and beyond, we're excited about how far we have come, and our prospects for the future. While we expect 2023 to continue to be a dynamic environment, we are confident in our ability to execute. We are well positioned in a variety of end markets. We are continuing to invest in product vitality and service, and we have developed a culture that supports change and is committed to improving.

現在展望我們的 2023 財年及以後，我們對我們已經走了多遠以及對未來的前景感到興奮。雖然我們預計 2023 年將繼續是一個充滿活力的環境，但我們對我們的執行能力充滿信心。我們在各種終端市場中處於有利地位。我們將繼續投資於產品活力和服務，我們已經形成了一種支持變革並致力於改進的文化。

Now I'll turn the call over to Karen, who will update you on our 2022 performance and provide a more specific outlook for 2023.

現在我將把電話轉給凱倫，他將向您介紹我們 2022 年的表現，並提供更具體的 2023 年展望。

Thank you, Neil. 2022 was a strong year for Acuity. For the first time, we crossed over $4 billion in annual net sales. Our gross profit margin was 41.8%. Our operating profit increased by $82 million year-over-year, and we grew diluted EPS 32% to $11.08 for fiscal 2022. We continue to allocate capital effectively through the repurchase of approximately 3 million of our outstanding shares.

謝謝你，尼爾。 2022 年對 Acuity 來說是強勁的一年。我們的年淨銷售額首次超過 40 億美元。我們的毛利率為41.8%。我們的營業利潤同比增長了 8200 萬美元，我們在 2022 財年的攤薄後每股收益增長了 32% 至 11.08 美元。我們繼續通過回購約 300 萬股流通股來有效分配資本。

In the fourth quarter, we continued to have strong net sales growth. Net sales of $1.1 billion were 12% higher than the prior year, with both the ABL and ISG business segments contributing to the growth. As Neil mentioned, we've now had OPTOTRONICS for a full year, and the incremental sales impact of that acquisition was only 1% in the fourth quarter. We delivered gross profit margin of 41.7% despite the lower production levels at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

第四季度，我們繼續保持強勁的淨銷售額增長。淨銷售額為 11 億美元，比上年增長 12%，ABL 和 ISG 業務部門均對增長做出了貢獻。正如 Neil 所說，我們現在擁有 OPTOTRONICS 整整一年，而此次收購對第四季度的增量銷售影響僅為 1%。儘管第四季度初的生產水平較低，但我們實現了 41.7% 的毛利率。

Operating profit in the fourth quarter was $150 million, and adjusted operating profit was $170 million.

第四季度營業利潤為 1.5 億美元，調整後營業利潤為 1.7 億美元。

Finally, we continued to grow earnings per share. Our diluted earnings per share of $3.48 was an increase of $0.76 or 28% year-over-year, while our adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.95 increased $0.68 or 21% over the prior year. Share repurchases made throughout fiscal 2022 favorably impacted adjusted diluted EPS by $0.30 during the fourth quarter.

最後，我們繼續增加每股收益。我們的每股攤薄收益為 3.48 美元，同比增長 0.76 美元或 28%，而調整後的每股攤薄收益為 3.95 美元，同比增長 0.68 美元或 21%。在整個 2022 財年進行的股票回購對第四季度調整後的攤薄每股收益產生了 0.30 美元的有利影響。

I now want to expand on our segment performance. Net sales of ABL increased to just over $1 billion, an increase of 11% compared with the prior year, driven largely by strong performance within the independent sales network, which grew 11%, and the direct sales network, which grew 13%.

我現在想擴展我們的細分市場表現。 ABL 的淨銷售額增至略高於 10 億美元，比上年增長 11%，這主要得益於獨立銷售網絡的強勁表現，增長了 11%，直銷網絡增長了 13%。

ABL's operating profit was $151 million, an increase of $2 million versus the prior year. This quarter, operating profit was impacted by 3 key factors: first, higher cost of inventory; second, increased cost for transportation to deliver our products to the customer; and finally, higher commission rates for certain project business.

ABL 的營業利潤為 1.51 億美元，比上一年增加了 200 萬美元。本季度，營業利潤受到三個關鍵因素的影響：第一，庫存成本上升；其次，增加了將我們的產品交付給客戶的運輸成本；最後，某些項目業務的佣金率更高。

Now moving on to ISG. The Spaces segment also had a very strong year and improved both net sales and operating profit. Sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 were $61 million, an increase of $11 million or 22% versus the prior year. ISG's operating performance also improved while we continue to invest in the business.

現在轉到 ISG。空間部門也有非常強勁的一年，並提高了淨銷售額和營業利潤。 2022 年第四季度的銷售額為 6100 萬美元，比上年增加 1100 萬美元或 22%。在我們繼續投資該業務的同時，ISG 的經營業績也有所改善。

Operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2022 increased $8 million to $10 million.

2022 年第四季度的營業利潤增加了 800 萬美元至 1000 萬美元。

Moving to cash flow. We generated $316 million of cash flow from operating activities for the full year of fiscal 2022. This was down $92 million from the prior year, primarily because we invested in working capital, particularly inventory to support our growth. I am pleased by our progress in the fourth quarter, during which we decreased inventory by $95 million.

轉向現金流。我們在 2022 財年全年從運營活動中產生了 3.16 億美元的現金流。這比上一年減少了 9200 萬美元，主要是因為我們投資了營運資金，特別是庫存以支持我們的增長。我對我們在第四季度取得的進展感到高興，在此期間我們減少了 9500 萬美元的庫存。

We invested $57 million or 1.4% of net sales in capital expenditures during the full year fiscal 2022. Finally, we invested $107 million to repurchase approximately 600,000 shares during the fourth quarter, which means that for the full year of fiscal 2022, we have invested around $512 million in repurchasing approximately 3 million shares.

我們在 2022 財年全年投資了 5700 萬美元或淨銷售額的 1.4% 用於資本支出。最後，我們在第四季度投資了 1.07 億美元回購了大約 60 萬股股票，這意味著在 2022 財年全年，我們已投資約 5.12 億美元回購約 300 萬股股票。

I would now like to spend a few minutes to talk through our 2023 outlook. After the call, you will find this outlook in the supplemental deck that will be available on our website. We are going to provide annual guidance anchored around net sales and adjusted diluted EPS. We will also provide other assumptions to help you with the construction of your models.

我現在想花幾分鐘來談談我們對 2023 年的展望。電話會議結束後，您將在我們網站上提供的補充資料中找到此展望。我們將圍繞淨銷售額和調整後的攤薄每股收益提供年度指導。我們還將提供其他假設來幫助您構建模型。

For full year fiscal 2023, our expectation is that net sales will be within the range of $4.1 billion and $4.3 billion for total AYI. This is based on the assumptions that ABL will generate sales growth in the low to mid-single digits and ISG will generate sales growth in the low to mid-teens. As Neil mentioned, we expect that fiscal 2023 will continue to be a dynamic environment. As we move from 2022 to 2023, our level of sales growth is returning to more normal levels. We are focused on any changes in the economic outlook, and we are prepared to react as necessary in the future.

對於 2023 財年全年，我們預計總 AYI 的淨銷售額將在 41 億美元和 43 億美元之間。這是基於以下假設：ABL 將產生低至中個位數的銷售增長，而 ISG 將產生低至中位數的銷售增長。正如尼爾所說，我們預計 2023 財年將繼續是一個充滿活力的環境。隨著我們從 2022 年到 2023 年，我們的銷售增長水平正在恢復到更正常的水平。我們關注經濟前景的任何變化，並準備在未來做出必要的反應。

Our expectation is that annual adjusted diluted earnings per share will be within the range of $13 and $14.50 for total AYI. You will recall that last year, we focused our framework on net sales and also on gross margin as we focused on product vitality and demonstrating our ability to manage the price/cost relationship. We are pleased with our performance on these metrics. And for fiscal 2023, our outlook will use the more traditional metrics of net sales and adjusted diluted EPS, as I've described.

我們的預期是，AYI 總額的年度調整後稀釋每股收益將在 13 美元至 14.50 美元之間。您會記得，去年，我們將框架重點放在淨銷售額和毛利率上，因為我們專注於產品活力和展示我們管理價格/成本關係的能力。我們對我們在這些指標上的表現感到滿意。正如我所描述的，對於 2023 財年，我們的展望將使用更傳統的淨銷售額和調整後的稀釋每股收益指標。

The supplementary deck I mentioned will detail other key assumptions that should help you get to adjusted operating profit and adjusted EBITDA. We will not be providing quarterly guidance.

我提到的補充甲板將詳細介紹其他關鍵假設，這些假設應該有助於您獲得調整後的營業利潤和調整後的 EBITDA。我們不會提供季度指導。

I also want to provide you with some qualitative context for these numbers. As you know, our quarters have historically been subject to seasonality, and we expect that we will be largely consistent during fiscal 2023. We are continuing to deal with the global supply chain challenges, particularly around component shortages, and we are continuing to work through some of the higher cost inventory. This could result in margins that are a little lower in the first part of the year as compared to later in the year. Our capital allocation strategy in 2023 is unchanged. We will continue to generate cash and allocate capital effectively, prioritizing investments for growth in our current businesses, investing in acquisitions, maintaining our dividend and allocating capital for share repurchases.

我還想為您提供這些數字的一些定性背景。如您所知，我們的季度歷來受季節性影響，我們預計在 2023 財年我們將基本保持一致。我們將繼續應對全球供應鏈挑戰，尤其是在零部件短缺方面，我們將繼續努力解決一些成本較高的庫存。與今年晚些時候相比，這可能導致今年上半年的利潤率略低。我們在 2023 年的資本配置策略保持不變。我們將繼續有效地產生現金和分配資本，優先投資以促進我們當前業務的增長，投資於收購，維持我們的股息並為股票回購分配資本。

Just before I turn the call to the operator for questions, I want to leave you with this. We are very pleased with our performance in fiscal 2022. We exceeded $4 billion in net sales. We made improvements to the business, and we increased our profitability. We continue to allocate capital effectively and deliver permanent value for our shareholders. Thank you for joining us today. I will now pass you over to the operator to take your questions.

就在我將電話轉給接線員提問之前，我想把這個留給你。我們對 2022 財年的業績感到非常滿意。我們的淨銷售額超過 40 億美元。我們改進了業務，提高了盈利能力。我們繼續有效地分配資本並為我們的股東創造永久價值。感謝您今天加入我們。我現在將您轉給接線員回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Tim Wojs with Baird.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Tim Wojs 和 Baird。

Maybe just -- I have one kind of question on the business and then another kind of bigger picture question. But I guess, if we get into an environment where Acuity -- I guess, an environment where maybe we have less inflation, does that change how Acuity goes to market at all? I guess, in other words, are you going to kind of change how you kind of react around product vitality service, those types of things in a different inflationary environment?

也許只是 - 我有一種關於業務的問題，然後是另一種更大的問題。但我想，如果我們進入一個 Acuity 的環境——我猜，一個通貨膨脹率可能較低的環境，這會改變 Acuity 進入市場的方式嗎？我想，換句話說，你是否會改變你對產品活力服務的反應方式，在不同的通貨膨脹環境中這些類型的事情？

Tim, that's a good question, and thanks for asking it. The short answer is no. We feel like those product vitality and increase in the service levels are foundational to our long-term performance. And they've obviously served us well in an inflationary environment. And I think they're going to be equally as important in a more normalized environment. The ability to have products, which deliver value to customers and higher profits to us is essential. And so we've really pushed that on the product vitality front, and we're -- we've made a lot of progress there.

蒂姆，這是一個很好的問題，感謝您提出這個問題。最簡潔的答案是不。我們覺得這些產品活力和服務水平的提高是我們長期業績的基礎。在通貨膨脹的環境中，它們顯然為我們提供了很好的服務。而且我認為它們在更加規範化的環境中將同樣重要。擁有能夠為客戶帶來價值並為我們帶來更高利潤的產品的能力至關重要。因此，我們確實在產品活力方面推動了這一點，而且我們 - 我們在這方面取得了很大進展。

And on the service front, I still think we have a lot of room for improvement. As we come -- as we all continue to work our way through these component challenges and try to get to more normalized lead times and such, those are foundational to how I think we remain differentiated from the rest of the lighting industry.

而在服務方面，我仍然認為我們還有很大的改進空間。隨著我們的到來——隨著我們所有人繼續努力應對這些組件挑戰並努力實現更標準化的交貨時間等，我認為這些是我認為我們與其他照明行業保持差異化的基礎。

Okay. Okay. Good. And is there any way to kind of put numbers around vitality? I don't know if it's percentage of sales or how you kind of frame that, maybe what the margins kind of generally look like on a new product versus what's it's replacing?

好的。好的。好的。有什麼辦法可以在活力周圍加上數字？我不知道是銷售額的百分比還是您如何看待這一點，也許新產品的利潤率與它正在取代的產品相比通常是什麼樣的？

Yes. So I want to emphasize a couple of things on product vitality just that we mentioned in the prepared remarks, which is, when we say product vitality, we mean that as the combination of new product introductions and improvements to our existing portfolio. So we're doing both of those. And we are generally going to touch 20% to 30% of our product portfolio per year with those efforts, which -- the combination of which are what's driving the benefit. And that's up materially from where we would have been 3, 4, 5 years ago?

是的。所以我想強調一下我們在準備好的評論中提到的關於產品活力的幾件事，也就是說，當我們說產品活力時，我們的意思是新產品的推出和對我們現有產品組合的改進的結合。所以我們正在做這兩件事。我們通常會通過這些努力每年觸及我們產品組合的 20% 到 30%，這些努力的結合是推動收益的因素。與我們 3、4、5 年前的情況相比，這大大提高了？

Okay. Good. And then maybe just a bigger picture question on the agent channel. So over the last, I'd say, 6 months, we've seen just kind of higher agent consolidation in the industry and some rapid changes. I guess it's probably driven by some of the OEM consolidation that we've seen, but I guess as you look at the agent channel, do you see a trend towards more consolidation? And if that is a trend, is that positive for the industry and Acuity?

好的。好的。然後可能只是代理頻道上的一個更大的問題。所以在過去的 6 個月裡，我們看到了行業中更高的代理整合和一些快速的變化。我想這可能是由我們看到的一些 OEM 整合推動的，但我想當您查看代理渠道時，您是否看到更多整合的趨勢？如果這是一種趨勢，這對行業和 Acuity 是否有利？

Yes. So we feel really good about our independent sales network and our collection of agents. We are in the process of kind of working through those agents and improving some of our representatives in different markets, which we feel really good about. What I say to our agents is that we're strategically dependent on each other. They need us and we need them. And as long as their business is good with us, we're good with them.

是的。因此，我們對我們獨立的銷售網絡和我們的代理商集合感覺非常好。我們正在與這些代理商合作，並改善我們在不同市場的一些代表，我們對此感覺非常好。我對我們的代理人說的是，我們在戰略上相互依賴。他們需要我們，我們也需要他們。只要他們的生意對我們好，我們就對他們好。

And -- but the world is changing, and we're going forward, and our first choice is to take them with us. And as a result, we have a natural gravitation of the best agent in each of these local markets wanting to be aligned with the largest and best player. And so I see that continuing. The -- as you mentioned, there is a fair amount of change that's going on kind of down market on some of the other independent sales agents. And that creates, frankly, an opportunity for us, we think, and our local agents in each market going forward.

而且——但世界正在發生變化，我們正在前進，我們的第一選擇是帶上他們。因此，我們自然而然地吸引了這些本地市場中最好的經紀人，他們希望與最大和最好的球員保持一致。所以我看到這種情況還在繼續。 - 正如你所提到的，其他一些獨立銷售代理的市場正在發生相當大的變化。坦率地說，這為我們創造了機會，我們認為，以及我們在每個市場的當地代理商都在前進。

Our next question comes from John Walsh with Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的約翰沃爾什。

A lot of very interesting things happening, but maybe we can just dive into some questions on the guidance. So just looking at the $4.1 billion to $4.3 billion, just wondering if you could talk about the visibility into that number. I'm thinking if there's price carryover, if there's any kind of stimulus carryover from infrastructure and Jobs Act or maybe even the IRA. And then obviously, you're not really a backlog business, but you have been carrying some backlog through fiscal 2022. So just anything around that touching on those things, the confidence on that revenue number.

發生了很多非常有趣的事情，但也許我們可以深入探討一些關於指導的問題。所以只要看看 41 億到 43 億美元，就想知道你是否可以談談這個數字的可見性。我在考慮是否存在價格結轉，是否有任何來自基礎設施和就業法案甚至愛爾蘭共和軍的刺激結轉。然後很明顯，你並不是一個真正的積壓業務，但你在 2022 財年一直有一些積壓。所以，關於這些事情的任何事情，對收入數字的信心。

Yes. Thanks, John. So as we indicated in the prepared remarks, we expect fiscal 2023 to be a dynamic environment. And so one of the things that I've told our team is that our plan shouldn't be predicated on our ability to predict the economic environment better than everyone else can. And so a lot of the work that we have done and are doing is to try and make our organization as dynamic as possible to respond to what we see going forward.

是的。謝謝，約翰。因此，正如我們在準備好的評論中指出的那樣，我們預計 2023 財年將是一個充滿活力的環境。所以我告訴我們團隊的一件事是，我們的計劃不應該建立在我們比其他人更好地預測經濟環境的能力上。因此，我們已經完成和正在做的很多工作都是試圖讓我們的組織盡可能地充滿活力，以應對我們所看到的未來。

So specifically, as we look to the net sales guidance that we gave you, Karen gave you kind of the breakdown between ABL and ISG. So first, on the ABL side, as you indicated, we continue to carry higher than normal backlog. And we continue to see, as I said at the last quarter, things are more the same than they are different right now. So that's the -- that's kind of what's baked into those assumptions for ABL. On ISG, the assumptions there are that we continue to grow in the low to mid-teens as we continue to take share in controls and we begin to accelerate the software at Atrius.

所以具體來說，當我們查看我們給你的淨銷售指導時，Karen 給了你 ABL 和 ISG 之間的分類。因此，首先，在 ABL 方面，正如您所指出的，我們的積壓訂單繼續高於正常水平。正如我在上個季度所說的那樣，我們繼續看到，現在的情況與其不同，不如說是相同的。所以這就是 - 這就是 ABL 的這些假設中所包含的內容。在 ISG 上，假設隨著我們繼續在控制中佔有份額並且我們開始在 Atrius 加速軟件，我們將繼續在中低端增長。

So net-net, we don't have a perfect crystal ball, but we're confident in our ability to execute, and this is our best estimate of where we think we're going to be for the year.

所以網網，我們沒有完美的水晶球，但我們對自己的執行能力充滿信心，這是我們對今年的最佳估計。

Great. And then maybe another 1 for you, Neil. You highlighted your business development higher. Obviously, your balance sheet is very strong. You've bought back shares during fiscal 2022. Obviously, the market is very choppy right now. But kind of as you look at the world, what are the expectations you would set for us around balance sheet deployment and usage over, I don't know, the next 6 to 12 months?

偉大的。然後也許再給你一個，尼爾。您更突出了您的業務發展。顯然，您的資產負債表非常強勁。你在 2022 財年回購了股票。顯然，現在市場非常動盪。但是，當您放眼世界時，您對我們在資產負債表部署和使用方面的期望是什麼，我不知道，接下來的 6 到 12 個月？

Yes. So let me expand the aperture a little bit, please, John, beyond 6 to 12 months and think kind of over the next couple of years. We've purposely been very, very consistent about our priorities. We're going to invest in our current businesses. We're going to invest in M&A. We're going to maintain our dividend, and we're going to use capital for share repurchase when the opportunity presents itself. That framework remains the same.

是的。約翰，請讓我把範圍擴大一點，超過 6 到 12 個月，然後想想接下來的幾年。我們故意非常非常一致地對待我們的優先事項。我們將投資於我們目前的業務。我們將投資併購。我們將維持我們的股息，並在機會出現時將資本用於股票回購。該框架保持不變。

On the acquisition front, I believe that as we look forward over the next year or 2 years, we're better positioned to integrate -- execute, integrate and manage additional businesses based on all the work that we've done around better, smarter, faster and the rest of the company. And, as you mentioned, the market is a little choppy, though, the world is coming back to us a little bit from a valuation perspective. So we would expect over the next couple of years that M&A will become a more important component of our capital allocation.

在收購方面，我相信隨著我們對未來一年或兩年的展望，我們能夠更好地整合——基於我們所做的所有工作，執行、整合和管理更多的業務，更好、更聰明，更快和公司的其餘部分。而且，正如你所提到的，市場有點波濤洶湧，不過，從估值的角度來看，世界正在回歸我們身邊。因此，我們預計未來幾年併購將成為我們資本配置中更重要的組成部分。

Good end to the year and good luck on '23.

祝你今年年底好運，23 年好運。

Our next question comes from Chris Snyder with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的克里斯·斯奈德。

So I also wanted to ask about the guide and just kind of some back of the envelope math. If I take the midpoint, it seems like margins next year are down year-on-year at the midpoint of EPS in sales. So I guess, correct me if that thinking is wrong, but if it's right, can you just maybe talk about what are the margin headwinds next year? Is it on the price/cost side? Is it more on the SG&A investment in the Spaces group? Any color there would be helpful.

所以我也想問一下指南和一些粗略的數學。如果我取中點，明年的利潤率似乎在銷售額的中點處同比下降。所以我想，如果這種想法是錯誤的，請糾正我，但如果它是正確的，你能不能談談明年的利潤逆風是什麼？是在價格/成本方面嗎？是否更多關於對 Spaces 集團的 SG&A 投資？那裡的任何顏色都會有幫助。

Yes, Chris, Karen and Charlotte will follow up with you and help you build the model after the call. Resident in these, obviously, EPS is growing year-on-year. The -- and we talked about -- we talked through the net sales guidance. So as you cascade that down, no, it doesn't imply margin degradation. As Karen indicated, we expect to work through the first part of next year with continued inconsistency and some component availability, which impacts our ability to level load the factories, one; and two, some higher cost inventory related to -- that's in inventory right now related to higher container costs historically. But we feel pretty solid about where we're going for next year.

是的，克里斯、凱倫和夏洛特會在電話會議後跟進您並幫助您建立模型。顯然，在這些地方，每股收益正在逐年增長。 - 我們談到了 - 我們通過淨銷售指導進行了討論。因此，當您將其級聯下來時，不，這並不意味著利潤率下降。正如凱倫所說，我們預計明年上半年將繼續存在不一致和一些組件可用性，這會影響我們平衡工廠負載的能力，一個；第二，一些成本較高的庫存與歷史上較高的集裝箱成本有關。但是我們對明年的發展方向感到非常堅定。

I appreciate that. Then I guess also does the guide, obviously, the company has done a lot of buybacks the past couple quarters. Does the guide assume incremental buybacks next year or anything on the M&A side that we should be thinking about as we kind of build into that framework?

我很感激。然後我想指南也是如此，顯然，該公司在過去幾個季度進行了很多回購。該指南是否假設明年會進行增量回購，或者在我們構建該框架時我們應該考慮的併購方面的任何事情？

Yes. Chris, when you see the deck that we'll post to our website after the call, you'll see we're giving an estimate of share repurchases for next year in the range of $125 million to $150 million. So that's assumed in our assumptions for 2023, but we've not built anything in for M&A.

是的。克里斯，當你看到我們將在電話會議後發佈到我們網站上的套牌時，你會看到我們對明年的股票回購估計在 1.25 億美元到 1.5 億美元之間。所以這是我們對 2023 年的假設中的假設，但我們沒有為併購做任何事情。

Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Glynn with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自克里斯托弗·格林和奧本海默的觀點。

So it's kind of interesting. You spent a little more emphasis on Atrius this quarter. IGS has been largely defined by Distech, but I think with Atrius, you mentioned a couple functionality improvements. And I think it's been a story of active piloting the last few years. So wondering what sort of transition and inflections you're anticipating for the ability to scale the software piece there?

所以有點意思。您在本季度更加強調了 Atrius。 IGS 主要由 Distech 定義，但我認為對於 Atrius，您提到了一些功能改進。我認為這是過去幾年積極試點的故事。所以想知道你期待什麼樣的過渡和變化來擴展軟件塊的能力？

Yes. Thanks for the question. On Atrius, you're exactly accurate. We've really been focused on improving the product and adding additional functionality to it, largely with an emphasis on the impact on buildings. So you'll see us -- that's why we've been talking about building insights and you'll see some of the work that -- the new product introduction that we talked about an improvement that, we talked about locator and vision are really all about those spaces. We don't feel like we're yet at an inflection point with Atrius, and we don't assume that. But we're confident in the work that we've been doing.

是的。謝謝你的問題。在 Atrius 上，您完全準確。我們一直專注於改進產品並為其添加額外的功能，主要是強調對建築物的影響。所以你會看到我們——這就是為什麼我們一直在談論建立洞察力，你會看到一些工作——我們談到了改進的新產品介紹，我們談到了定位器和願景所有關於這些空間。我們不覺得我們還處於與 Atrius 的轉折點，我們也不假設。但我們對我們一直在做的工作充滿信心。

And it's worth taking a second to talk about the edge to cloud opportunities. So when we talk about the edge, that's obviously with Distech. We have powerful edge computing inside spaces that control those spaces and generate the data that can be used, as we mentioned, to control everything that happens in that space. And then the data creates options to increase additional functionality in those spaces, some of which currently exists and some of which we're building forward towards the future. So, no, I don't think we've turned to an inflection point yet on Atrius, but we are excited about the possibility of edge to cloud, and we're excited about our ability to compete effectively in the developing market around edge to cloud.

值得花一點時間談談雲計算的優勢。因此，當我們談論邊緣時，顯然是與 Distech 相關的。正如我們所提到的，我們在空間內部擁有強大的邊緣計算，可以控制這些空間並生成可用於控制該空間中發生的一切的數據。然後數據創建選項以增加這些空間中的附加功能，其中一些當前存在，其中一些我們正在朝著未來發展。所以，不，我認為我們尚未在 Atrius 上轉向拐點，但我們對邊緣到雲的可能性感到興奮，我們對我們在圍繞邊緣的發展中市場有效競爭的能力感到興奮到雲。

Great. And the other 1 was on the ABL margins in the quarter down a bit sequentially, a little more year-over-year pressure than in the earlier quarters. You did mention the discrete kind of call out and some supplier relationship for -- relationships in the quarter and some make good in August. But are those 2 connected?

偉大的。另一個 1 在本季度的 ABL 利潤率上比前幾個季度略有下降，同比壓力略大於前幾個季度。你確實提到了離散類型的呼叫和一些供應商關係——本季度的關係和一些在 8 月份的關係。但是這兩個有聯繫嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes. Chris, there's a couple of things going on in the ABL margins that we've highlighted. So first, as Neil mentioned, we are working through some of that higher cost inventory related to the increased container costs from earlier in the year. That was one factor that impacted it. Definitely, the component shortages that we've experienced had some impact on our ability to level load our facilities, particularly earlier in the first couple of months of the quarter. And then we did see costs for freight to our customers. So the outbound freight to the customers also increased in addition to the higher commissions that I mentioned. So that really kind of impacted the margins at ABL this quarter.

是的。克里斯，我們已經強調了在 ABL 邊距中發生的幾件事。因此，首先，正如尼爾所說，我們正在處理與今年早些時候集裝箱成本增加相關的一些成本較高的庫存。這是影響它的一個因素。毫無疑問，我們所經歷的組件短缺對我們平衡設施負載的能力產生了一些影響，尤其是在本季度的前幾個月。然後我們確實看到了客戶的運費成本。因此，除了我提到的更高的佣金外，客戶的出境運費也增加了。因此，這確實影響了本季度 ABL 的利潤率。

Okay. The commission rate is stable, right? Or did the rate adjust?

好的。佣金率是穩定的，對吧？還是匯率調整了？

The commission rate went up slightly because of the project work and some of the higher rates on that project business.

由於項目工作以及該項目業務的一些較高的佣金率，佣金率略有上升。

Our next question comes from Joe O'Dea with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Joe O'Dea。

Just wanted to expand on the ABL question for the quarter. If you could, can you size what the revenue and margin impact was from some sourcing interruptions? And then when you talk about higher cost of inventory, can you give any sense of how much of that still needs to kind of flush out through the P&L? What kind of a margin headwind we're looking at there?

只是想擴展本季度的 ABL 問題。如果可以，您能否估算出一些採購中斷對收入和利潤的影響？然後，當您談到更高的庫存成本時，您能知道其中還有多少需要通過損益表沖掉嗎？我們在那裡看到什麼樣的利潤逆風？

Yes. Joe, so looking at the sizing impact of ABL, we're not going to kind of break out the different pieces of how much that impact was. We talked about the OPTOTRONICS had a 1% impact. So you can look at the rest of that. And know that in the quarter, because of the several price increases that we've had, we were a little bit more price this quarter than what we've historically seen earlier in the year, just to give you some idea of the ABL size impact.

是的。喬，所以看看 ABL 的規模影響，我們不會分解影響有多大的不同部分。我們談到了 OPTOTRONICS 有 1% 的影響。所以你可以看看剩下的。並且知道在本季度，由於我們已經進行了幾次價格上漲，我們本季度的價格比我們今年早些時候歷史上看到的要高一點，只是為了讓您對 ABL 大小有所了解影響。

And then on the question for the margins, we talked about working through some of the higher cost inventory at the beginning of the year as well as some of the component shortages. So for the balance of the year, you'd probably see a little bit lighter in the first part than you would in the second part of the year.

然後關於利潤率問題，我們談到了在年初解決一些成本較高的庫存以及一些組件短缺問題。因此，對於今年的剩餘時間，您可能會看到第一部分比第二部分要輕一些。

Okay. And then I guess we'll see when the slides come out, but I wanted to ask on kind of how to think about segment margins? So it looks to me like based on kind of midpoints, you'd be implying similar types of margins in '23 versus '22, not sure about kind of mix between gross margin and SG&A, what that contributes. But trying to kind of think through the segment pieces of it after we've seen really strong margins in ISG over the last couple of quarters, and whether or not that's moving up or whether kind of what we've seen in 2022 at the segment level is sort of a pretty good indication of what we should be seeing in '23 at the respective segments?

好的。然後我想我們會看到幻燈片什麼時候出來，但我想問一下如何考慮段邊距？所以在我看來，基於某種中點，你會暗示 23 年和 22 年的利潤率相似，不確定毛利率和 SG&A 之間的混合，這會產生什麼影響。但是，在我們在過去幾個季度看到 ISG 的利潤率非常高之後，嘗試仔細思考一下它的細分市場，以及這是否在上升，或者我們在 2022 年在該細分市場看到的情況是否如此level 可以很好地表明我們應該在 23 年的各個細分市場看到什麼？

Yes, Joe, I'll take that and answer it at a strategic and qualitative level. So big picture with ABL, we -- as I mentioned earlier, we feel like our product vitality efforts and our service level efforts have positioned us in a better place in the industry. So that would allow us to maintain these margins and hopefully increase them over time. As we look at ISG, obviously, they had a really good quarter in performance. That demonstrates what's possible there.

是的，喬，我會從戰略和定性層面回答這個問題。與 ABL 的大局一樣，我們 - 正如我之前提到的，我們覺得我們的產品活力努力和我們的服務水平努力使我們在行業中處於更好的位置。因此，這將使我們能夠保持這些利潤，並有望隨著時間的推移而增加它們。當我們看 ISG 時，很明顯，他們有一個非常好的季度表現。這證明了那裡的可能性。

Our expectation is that we'll continue to invest as necessary for that growth and for that growth to continue for a longer period of time. So this isn't a margin point, but for example, we're investing in capacity for Distech so that we can increase their manufacturing capacity for additional controllers.

我們的期望是，我們將繼續為這種增長和這種增長持續更長的時間進行必要的投資。所以這不是一個邊際點，但例如，我們正在投資 Distech 的產能，以便我們可以增加他們的製造能力以生產更多的控制器。

So the short-term answer is, yes, we're expecting similar margins for next year, and we're positioning ourselves for the opportunity to expand those margins over time.

所以短期的答案是，是的，我們預計明年的利潤率會相似，我們正在為自己定位，以便有機會隨著時間的推移擴大這些利潤率。

That's helpful. If I could sneak 1 more in. I'm curious about the pricing power that goes with product vitality and then how that flows through in a hyperinflationary environment. So are you getting what you think is sort of properly compensated for that vitality in this environment? Or it sounds like if we see deflation, there's continued pricing opportunity because of the value you're delivering?

這很有幫助。如果我能再偷偷摸摸1。我很好奇產品活力帶來的定價能力，以及在惡性通貨膨脹環境中如何流動。那麼，您是否得到了您認為在這種環境中的活力得到適當補償的東西？或者聽起來，如果我們看到通貨緊縮，由於您提供的價值，還有持續的定價機會？

Yes. That's a really good question. And obviously, we spent a lot of time kind of debating that. On the -- from an entire industry perspective, and I'll use us as representative, we've made 7 price increases in our last fiscal year. That's more than -- obviously, I haven't been in the industry that long, but that's more than anyone in our company can remember. So it's dramatically kind of changed the dynamic of the pricing environment. And so I would observe, it's not as linear as the question would imply that we introduced a new product, therefore, we can charge more for it. It really is a little bit more dynamic than that.

是的。這是一個非常好的問題。顯然，我們花了很多時間來辯論這個問題。關於 - 從整個行業的角度來看，我將使用我們作為代表，我們在上一財年已經進行了 7 次價格上漲。這不僅僅是——很明顯，我在這個行業工作的時間不長，但這比我們公司任何人都記得的要多。因此，它極大地改變了定價環境的動態。所以我會觀察到，它不像問題暗示我們推出了新產品那樣線性，因此，我們可以為此收取更多費用。它確實比這更有活力。

What has been consistent, though, is that between the combination of our product vitality, our ability to serve and our channel positions in the marketplace, we've been able to realize more of that volume and more of that price. Obviously, the input costs in this year moved more than we had anticipated. And so we got -- we found ourselves chasing that a little bit, but I think that's true of pretty much everybody. So then as we look forward to a more normalized environment, that's where I think our product vitality and service will actually be that much more important.

然而，始終如一的是，在我們的產品活力、我們的服務能力和我們在市場中的渠道地位的結合之間，我們已經能夠實現更多的數量和更多的價格。顯然，今年的投入成本變動超出了我們的預期。所以我們得到了——我們發現自己在追逐這一點，但我認為幾乎每個人都是如此。因此，當我們期待一個更加正常化的環境時，我認為我們的產品活力和服務實際上將變得更加重要。

So while it allowed us to take volume in this kind of in this choppy market of 2022, as we look forward, I think what we're doing is building a more consistent position in the marketplace where contractors, distributors, lighting specifiers know that we have the highest quality and highest value products for them, and we can service them on a consistent basis, which I believe will bode well for us from a share and margin perspective going forward.

因此，雖然它使我們能夠在 2022 年這個波濤洶湧的市場中獲得這種銷量，但正如我們所期待的那樣，我認為我們正在做的是在市場上建立一個更加一致的地位，讓承包商、分銷商、照明規範者知道我們為他們提供最高質量和最高價值的產品，我們可以為他們提供一致的服務，我相信從未來的份額和利潤率的角度來看，這對我們來說是個好兆頭。

Our next question comes from Jeffrey Sprague with Vertical Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自垂直研究合作夥伴的 Jeffrey Sprague。

You really broke up. It was unclear who you were calling. Neil, the answer to that question plays a little bit into kind of what was on my mind. Obviously, with kind of FIFO inventory, we would expect some higher cost stuff of coming through with a lag. But given all the price that you've got, I would have thought kind of your price cost equation was getting better. And at least, in this quarter, I guess, it got worse, right? And so I just wonder if you could kind of address that. And maybe just tie it to kind of the second question I had.

你們真的分手了。不清楚你打電話給誰。尼爾，這個問題的答案有點影響我的想法。顯然，對於先進先出的庫存，我們預計會有一些成本更高的東西出現滯後。但是考慮到你得到的所有價格，我會認為你的價格成本方程會變得更好。至少，在這個季度，我猜，情況變得更糟了，對吧？所以我只是想知道你是否可以解決這個問題。也許只是將它與我遇到的第二個問題聯繫起來。

Sounds like you're quite pleased with how Contractor Select is performing. But I wonder if you are seeing a clear mix down in the business in light of kind of the inflationary pressure. So it sounds like you're pleased you can offer that offering, but do you see actually some kind of pain in the market where price is forcing people to mix down into other products?

聽起來您對 Contractor Select 的表現非常滿意。但我想知道，鑑於通脹壓力，您是否看到業務出現明顯的下滑。所以聽起來你很高興你能提供這種產品，但你是否真的看到市場上的某種痛苦，價格迫使人們混入其他產品？

Yes, Jeff, there's a couple of good questions in there. So first, on the lag, it's just math. So container costs were, what, $16,000, $18,000 a few months ago, and they're more in the $6,000 to $8,000 range now just for context and those spikes. So those are going to work themselves through. I would say big picture, what we're pleased about is that we could deliver the blended margin based on based on all of the factors on volume, on price and on mix. So strategically, with our Contractor Select portfolio, we feel very, very good about where we are and where we're going, and we think it's really important because it does provide that foundational relationship with the the distribution industry, the electrical distributors that I mentioned earlier, and it does become a solid and core piece of where we're going forward. And we've obviously demonstrated with these margin levels that we can both be competitive from a value perspective in the marketplace and deliver margin at the same time.

是的，傑夫，裡面有幾個很好的問題。所以首先，在滯後上，這只是數學。因此，幾個月前集裝箱成本是 16,000 美元、18,000 美元，而現在它們更多地在 6,000 美元到 8,000 美元的範圍內，僅用於上下文和那些峰值。因此，這些將自行解決。我想說的是大局，我們很高興的是，我們可以根據數量、價格和組合的所有因素來提供混合利潤率。因此，從戰略上講，通過我們的 Contractor Select 產品組合，我們對自己所處的位置和前進的方向感到非常非常好，我們認為這非常重要，因為它確實提供了與配電行業的基礎關係，即我認為的電氣分銷商前面提到過，它確實成為我們前進的堅實和核心部分。我們顯然已經通過這些利潤率水平證明了我們既可以從市場價值的角度具有競爭力，又可以同時提供利潤率。

As it relates to kind of trade downs in the inflationary environment, that is something that, obviously, is always happening. But I would tell you as anecdotally that the performance of our architectural portfolio, so the things which are -- I think we would all generally consider more at the top of our product portfolio, has been stronger this year than in -- certainly in any time since I've been at the company. So it's really a healthy -- we're really healthy across the portfolio. We're significantly more healthy across the portfolio -- our portfolio at the high, the middle and the more value components, which is how we've delivered kind of the volume, the margin and the mix as you see it. And that's what we feel good about going forward.

由於它與通貨膨脹環境中的貿易下降有關，顯然，這是一直在發生的事情。但我會告訴你，我們的架構組合的性能，所以我認為我們通常會在我們的產品組合的頂部考慮更多的事情，今年比今年更強大——當然在任何自從我在公司以來。所以這真的很健康——我們在整個投資組合中都很健康。我們在整個投資組合中明顯更加健康——我們的投資組合處於高、中和更多價值的組成部分，這就是我們如何交付您所看到的數量、利潤和組合的方式。這就是我們對前進的感覺。

Great. And maybe just a follow-up on the capital deployment strategy. It does seem like you're sort of on schedule. Like if I go back to the July 2021 meeting, right? It was kind of like we're focused on bolt-ons and 18 months from now we'll be thinking about bigger things, and you make this higher. And sounds like you're struggling to cultivate a pipeline. I just wonder if you could provide a little bit of color on kind of the nature of the sort of things you would consider adding to the portfolio? I would think we're talking adjacencies, but are you talking more than that? Or could we actually see outright diversification in the portfolio as you pursue this strategy?

偉大的。也許只是資本部署戰略的後續行動。看起來你有點按計劃進行。就像我回到 2021 年 7 月的會議一樣，對吧？這有點像我們專注於螺栓連接，從現在開始的 18 個月後，我們將考慮更大的事情，而你把它做得更高。聽起來你正在努力培養管道。我只是想知道你是否可以提供一些關於你會考慮添加到投資組合中的東西的性質的顏色？我認為我們在談論鄰接，但你說的不止這些嗎？或者，當您採用這種策略時，我們真的可以看到投資組合的徹底多元化嗎？

Yes, Jeff, good questions. And I don't want to get too far out in front of ourselves. Obviously, we will always consider bolt-ons. So -- and one person's definition of adjacency may be different than a different person's definition of adjacency. So we'll obviously, we continue to look at things which are kind of in the sweet spot of the things that we are currently doing or very close there to. We are -- obviously, we had the OSRAM OPTOTRONICS acquisition, which has performed really well for us and was good for our organization to go through a meaningful integration process like that.

是的，傑夫，好問題。而且我不想在自己面前走得太遠。顯然，我們將始終考慮螺栓連接。所以——一個人對鄰接的定義可能與另一個人對鄰接的定義不同。因此，很明顯，我們會繼續關注那些處於我們目前正在做的事情或非常接近的事情的最佳位置的事情。我們——顯然，我們收購了歐司朗光電，這對我們來說表現非常好，並且有利於我們的組織經歷這樣一個有意義的整合過程。

We see very interesting adjacencies currently in the pipeline around our Spaces Group, which are both on the Distech side and on the Atrius side. And then we need to earn our -- I wouldn't call it outright diversification, but we've said consistently that we're positioned in front of megatrends, specifically minimizing the impact of climate change and maximizing the impact of technology. Obviously, those things -- those 2 megatrends affect everything. So that can be a relatively liberal definition. But we think there are going to be long-term growth opportunities inside that realm that we're focused on.

我們看到目前正在圍繞我們的 Spaces Group 進行非常有趣的鄰接，這些鄰接在 Distech 方面和在 Atrius 方面。然後我們需要贏得我們的 - 我不會稱之為徹底的多元化，但我們一直說我們處於大趨勢的前面，特別是盡量減少氣候變化的影響和最大限度地提高技術的影響。顯然，那些事情——這兩個大趨勢影響著一切。所以這可以是一個相對自由的定義。但我們認為在我們關注的領域內會有長期的增長機會。

Our next question comes from Ryan Merkel with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ryan Merkel 和 William Blair。

My first question was just a clarifying question on the gross margin cadence. So it sounds like -- and tell me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like the second half gross margins will improve due to better access to components, which will help factory productivity and then also lower costs. And I'm wondering, do you have line of sight to better access to components? And then which one of those is more important, or are they equally important?

我的第一個問題只是一個關於毛利率節奏的澄清問題。所以聽起來 - 如果我錯了，請告訴我，但聽起來下半年毛利率會因為更好地獲得組件而提高，這將有助於工廠生產力，然後也降低成本。我想知道，您是否可以更好地訪問組件？那麼其中哪一個更重要，或者它們同樣重要？

Yes. I'll take it, Karen. The -- first of all, on line of sight. One of the things that we emphasized is that we've invested significantly in our supplier relationships. We are establishing long-term multiyear relationships with some of the key component suppliers on the electronic side. So the -- we expect that to over time be -- to provide more consistency. Specifically, what we were working through in the first half of the, fourth quarter and the first half of the year is knowing when exactly those components will come so that we can schedule everything else around them. So, obviously, you can't build a luminaire without a driver, you can't build a driver without certain chips. And so if we end up with short uncertain pacemaker items than we need to adjust.

是的。我會接受的，凱倫。 ——首先，在視線範圍內。我們強調的一件事是，我們在供應商關係上投入了大量資金。我們正在與電子方面的一些關鍵組件供應商建立長期多年的合作關係。所以——我們希望隨著時間的推移——提供更多的一致性。具體來說，我們在上半年、第四季度和上半年所做的工作是了解這些組件的確切時間，以便我們可以安排圍繞它們的其他一切。因此，很明顯，沒有驅動器就無法製造燈具，沒有特定芯片就無法製造驅動器。因此，如果我們最終得到較短的不確定起搏器項目，我們就需要進行調整。

So we're working to be better planners on the demand side and on the supply side so that we can smooth that, and that should -- we should expect some benefits for that towards the middle or later part of next year. That's the majority of it.

因此，我們正在努力在需求方面和供應方面成為更好的規劃者，以便我們能夠平滑這一點，這應該 - 我們應該期待明年年中或下半年的一些好處。這是大部分。

Secondarily, as we -- we won't kind of beat this 1 to death, but the container prices that we're working through will work through -- that inventory will work through in the first half of this year.

其次，因為我們——我們不會打敗這個 1，但我們正在努力的集裝箱價格將通過——庫存將在今年上半年通過。

Yes. Okay. That's helpful. And then I just had a follow-up on the deflation question because it's a question I get from investors. We've obviously seen freight rates coming down quite a bit, raw material prices have come down. So the question is, will the lighting industry have to reduce prices? Or are you going to keep the extra profits? What is your view there? It sounds like you expect to keep the extra profits?

是的。好的。這很有幫助。然後我剛剛對通縮問題進行了跟進，因為這是我從投資者那裡得到的問題。我們顯然已經看到運費大幅下降，原材料價格已經下降。那麼問題來了，照明行業會不會要降價呢？還是你打算保留額外的利潤？你在那裡有什麼看法？聽起來您希望保留額外的利潤？

Well, I would note that even though those prices have come down off their highs, they're larger -- they're higher than they were before. So on a relative basis, there still is -- there still are -- kind of the general market is an inflationary -- is an inflationary market. We believe, as I've said before, that the combination of our product vitality and our service levels allows us to earn a different place at the table maybe than we have had before with our collection of channels. And so the key to longer-term success will be our ability to continue to drive the product vitality so that we can deliver value to customers and make more margin for ourselves in the process.

好吧，我會注意到，即使這些價格已經從高點回落，它們也更大——它們比以前更高。所以在相對的基礎上，仍然存在 - 仍然存在 - 總體市場是通貨膨脹的 - 是通貨膨脹的市場。正如我之前所說，我們相信，我們的產品活力和我們的服務水平相結合，使我們能夠在餐桌上贏得與以前通過我們的渠道集合不同的位置。因此，長期成功的關鍵將是我們繼續推動產品活力的能力，以便我們能夠為客戶提供價值並在此過程中為自己創造更多利潤。

And then to be able to service business more consistently, and therefore, be lower cost to do business with than any of our customers. So another element of delivering value. And we feel like the more value we can deliver, the more of that we can share.

然後能夠更一致地為業務服務，因此，與我們的任何客戶做生意的成本都更低。因此，傳遞價值的另一個要素。我們覺得我們可以提供的價值越多，我們可以分享的價值就越多。

Got it. Great. Okay. Last one for me is just back to the assumptions for the sales guidance, and I appreciate you don't have a crystal ball, but could you help with maybe what are you assuming for lighting industry growth or maybe even nonres? And then for volume and price, I don't know if you want to give a number, but is 1 contributing more than the other?

知道了。偉大的。好的。對我來說，最後一個只是回到銷售指導的假設，我很感激你沒有水晶球，但你能幫忙看看你對照明行業增長或什至是非資源的假設嗎？然後對於數量和價格，我不知道您是否要給出一個數字，但是1比另一個貢獻更多嗎？

Yes. So I don't want to imply a level of precision that we didn't -- that we don't want to imply. So big picture, on the ABL side, we have taken share. We continue to -- we expect to continue taking share. So #1. #2 is, as Karen has indicated, we do have a fair amount of price that we are working through. And volume right now, unit volume is largely dependent on our ability to manufacture it. So those 2 things are highly consistent. But I would -- but our ABL sales expectations are that we will outperform the market, and that's resident in these assumptions.

是的。所以我不想暗示我們沒有的精確度——我們不想暗示。如此大的畫面，在 ABL 方面，我們已經分享了。我們繼續 - 我們希望繼續分享。所以#1。 #2 是，正如凱倫所說，我們確實有一個合理的價格，我們正在努力。而現在的體積，單位體積很大程度上取決於我們的製造能力。所以這兩件事是高度一致的。但我會 - 但我們的 ABL 銷售預期是我們將跑贏市場，這存在於這些假設中。

Our next question comes from Jeff Osborne with Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jeff Osborne 和 Cowen。

Just 2 quick ones on my side. Neil, I was wondering if you could walk us through the nature of the supply chain challenges. Is it something on the analog chip side or power supplies, can you just elaborate on what the challenges were in the early part of the quarter?

我這邊只有 2 個快速的。尼爾，我想知道你能否帶我們了解供應鏈挑戰的本質。是模擬芯片方面還是電源方面的問題，您能否詳細說明本季度早期的挑戰是什麼？

Yes. It's -- as I said, it was related to specific pacemaker items in our drivers that then we use to manufacture the luminaires. So the -- as I indicated in the earlier answer, we do have line of sight to those components over time. It's just they didn't come when they were supposed to in June and July. So that was the hold up.

是的。正如我所說，它與我們驅動器中的特定起搏器項目有關，然後我們用它來製造燈具。所以 - 正如我在之前的答案中指出的那樣，隨著時間的推移，我們確實可以看到這些組件。只是他們沒有在六月和七月的時候來。所以這就是拖延。

Maybe just a quick follow-up on that then. What the -- post OSRAM, what percentage of your luminaires that you're manufacturing, broadly speaking, would have an internal acuity eldoLED and OSRAM driving it? I'm Just trying to get a perspective.

也許只是對此的快速跟進。什麼 - 歐司朗之後，從廣義上講，您製造的燈具中有多少百分比會有內部敏銳度 eldoLED 和歐司朗驅動它？我只是想獲得一個觀點。

Yes. No, it's not yet quite half. so we are still both a large consumer of external drivers and obviously, a large OEM provider of external drivers now.

是的。不，還不到一半。所以我們仍然是外部驅動程序的大消費者，顯然，現在是外部驅動程序的大型 OEM 供應商。

Got it. And then the last 1 I had just quickly is on the project business. You mentioned the heightened commissions. I was just curious what the pipeline is on the project business? Projects are still kind of hanging out in there, if those are moving forward and being released, what's your expectation for 2023?

知道了。然後我剛剛快速完成的最後一個是項目業務。你提到了提高的佣金。我只是好奇項目業務的管道是什麼？項目仍然在那裡閒逛，如果這些項目正在推進並發布，您對 2023 年的期望是什麼？

So as I said, we -- I guess the -- unfortunately, the simplest answer is things currently are more the same than they are different. So our -- our agents have -- are still successful bidding businesses. There is still a lot of project work that is in the work that they are doing. And we maintain -- currently maintain higher-than-normal backlog. So we don't -- as I said earlier in the call, we don't have a crystal ball for 6 -- 3, 6, 9, 12 months, 16, 18, whatever months out. But as of right now, things are more the same than they are different.

正如我所說，我們——我猜——不幸的是，最簡單的答案是，目前的情況與其不同，不如說是相同的。所以我們的——我們的代理人——仍然是成功的投標企業。他們正在進行的工作中還有很多項目工作。我們維持——目前維持高於正常水平的積壓。所以我們沒有——正如我之前在電話會議中所說，我們沒有水晶球 6、3、6、9、12 個月、16、18 個月，無論幾個月。但就目前而言，事物的相同之處多於不同之處。

Our next question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Brian Lee。

I have 2 questions. I'll try to get in here quickly. It definitely sounds like there's price tailwinds into 2023. Would you characterize those as kind of similar to what you saw in '22? Or maybe kind of level set us on the year-on-year? It seems like the price strategy is a lot more fluid than maybe what you've done in the past just based on your comments. So just wondering if there's any way to think about what price impact is being embedded in your views for '23?

我有 2 個問題。我會盡快進入這裡。聽起來肯定會在 2023 年出現價格逆風。您會將這些描述為與您在 22 年看到的類似嗎？或者也許某種水平使我們同比增長？僅根據您的評論，價格策略似乎比您過去所做的更加靈活。所以只是想知道是否有任何方法可以考慮在您對 23 年的看法中嵌入了什麼樣的價格影響？

Yes, Brian, you're right. With 7 price increases over the course of the year, it is a bit more dynamic than it has been historically. So as Neil mentioned, we do expect to see a little bit heavier mix of price, but also as we regain kind of footing with the component supply, we expect volume to be there as well. But pricing will have an impact year-over-year.

是的，布賴恩，你是對的。一年中有 7 次價格上漲，它比歷史上更具活力。因此，正如 Neil 所提到的，我們確實希望看到價格組合稍微重一些，但隨著我們重新獲得組件供應的基礎，我們預計銷量也會出現。但定價將逐年產生影響。

Okay. Fair enough. And then on the margin guidance, I know there's been a number of questions around this, but the margin is lower in the first half and then picking up in the second half. You kind of walked us through the different pieces around supply chain and utilization. Any way you can kind of quantify this first half, second half dynamic? I assume this is still in the context of your 42% gross margin target range you've outlined in the past, but sort of how big is that delta expected to be as we move through the cadence of the next several quarters?

好的。很公平。然後關於保證金指導，我知道圍繞這個問題有很多問題，但上半年保證金較低，然後在下半年回升。您向我們介紹了圍繞供應鍊和利用的不同部分。有什麼方法可以量化這上半年、下半年的動態？我認為這仍然在您過去概述的 42% 毛利率目標範圍的背景下，但是隨著我們通過接下來幾個季度的節奏，預計該增量會有多大？

Yes. So big picture, Brian, what we're trying to do is provide an annual outlook about kind of where we think we're going to go strategically and what that will mean from a -- both a top line perspective and then ultimate productivity perspective. As I said, our organization is focused on how we create value, which is to grow net sales, turn it into cash and to grow the balance sheet as fast. And so that's what you'd see here -- everyone here focused on if you were kind of walking the halls. So we wanted to provide the additional color within the year to -- just to highlight kind of what we're working through as we go through that. But we think, long term, as I said that our goal is to maintain and increase margins. And so we -- that's why we wanted to provide the transparency.

是的。所以大局，布賴恩，我們試圖做的是提供年度展望，說明我們認為我們將在戰略上走向何方，以及從頂線角度和最終生產力角度來看這意味著什麼.正如我所說，我們的組織專注於我們如何創造價值，即增加淨銷售額，將其轉化為現金並儘快增加資產負債表。所以這就是你在這裡看到的——如果你在大廳裡走，這裡的每個人都專注於。所以我們想在一年內提供額外的顏色——只是為了突出我們正在經歷的事情。但我們認為，從長遠來看，正如我所說，我們的目標是維持和增加利潤率。所以我們——這就是我們想要提供透明度的原因。

I'm sure Karen and Charlotte can help you on the model construct. And there will also be additional information in the presentation, which will help with that as well.

我相信凱倫和夏洛特可以幫助你構建模型。演示文稿中還將提供其他信息，這也將對此有所幫助。

Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions in queue at this time. I'd like to turn the call back to Neil Ash for any closing remarks.

謝謝你。目前我沒有在隊列中顯示更多問題。我想將電話轉回給 Neil Ash 以獲取任何結束語。

Thank you, Liz, and thank you all for joining us this morning. We are pleased with our strong results in the fourth quarter and throughout 2022. And we're excited about how far we've come and our prospects for the future. While we expect 2023, as we've said through the questions and the construct of our expectations to be a dynamic environment, we're really confident about our ability to execute. We're well positioned in a variety of end markets. We're continuing to invest in product vitality and in service. And we developed, most importantly, a culture that supports change and is committed to improving. So thank you for your interest in our company, and we look forward to talking to you again real soon.

謝謝你，Liz，謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。我們對第四季度和整個 2022 年的強勁業績感到高興。我們對我們已經取得的進展以及對未來的前景感到興奮。雖然我們預計 2023 年，正如我們通過問題和構建我們的預期將成為一個動態環境所說的那樣，但我們對我們的執行能力非常有信心。我們在各種終端市場中處於有利地位。我們將繼續投資於產品活力和服務。最重要的是，我們發展了一種支持變革並致力於改進的文化。因此，感謝您對我們公司的關注，我們期待很快再次與您交談。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。