Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands Fiscal 2023 First Quarter 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，歡迎來到 Acuity Brands 2023 財年第一季度財報電話會議。 （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, Crystal. Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands Fiscal 2023 First Quarter Earnings Call. As a reminder, some of our comments today may be forward-looking statements based on our management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available to our management at this time. These beliefs are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control, include 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. Reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial metrics and their corresponding GAAP measures are available in our 2023 first quarter earnings release, which is available on our Investor Relations website at www.investors.acuitybrands.com.

謝謝你，水晶。早上好，歡迎來到 Acuity Brands 2023 財年第一季度財報電話會議。提醒一下，我們今天的一些評論可能是基於我們管理層的信念和假設以及我們管理層目前可獲得的信息的前瞻性陳述。這些信念受到已知和未知的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。某些非 GAAP 財務指標及其相應的 GAAP 措施的對賬可在我們的 2023 年第一季度收益發布中找到，該發布可在我們的投資者關係網站 www.investors.acuitybrands.com 上獲取。

With me this morning is Neil Ashe, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, who will provide an update on our strategy and first quarter highlights; then Karen Holcom, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will walk us through our financial performance.

今天早上和我在一起的是我們的董事長、總裁兼首席執行官尼爾·阿什，他將介紹我們的戰略和第一季度亮點的最新情況；然後是我們的高級副總裁兼首席財務官 Karen Holcom，她將向我們介紹我們的財務業績。

(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.

（操作員說明）我們正在網絡直播今天的電話會議。感謝您對 Acuity Brands 的關注。我現在將電話轉給 Neil Ashe。

Thank you, Charlotte. Happy New Year to all of you joining us on the call this morning.

謝謝你，夏洛特。祝大家在今天早上加入我們的電話會議，新年快樂。

We delivered solid results in the first quarter of fiscal 2023 as we continue to demonstrate our ability to drive sales growth through product vitality and service in both our lighting and spaces businesses. We expanded adjusted operating profit, substantially grew adjusted diluted earnings per share and generated strong cash flow from operations. We again created permanent shareholder value through share repurchases.

我們在 2023 財年第一季度取得了穩健的業績，因為我們繼續展示了我們通過照明和空間業務的產品活力和服務來推動銷售增長的能力。我們擴大了調整後的營業利潤，大幅增加了調整後的攤薄每股收益，並產生了強勁的運營現金流。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 started the year with strong sales performance. First, in the Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls business. Our strategy of increasing product vitality and service levels continues to be a key differentiator for our customers. Our Contractor Select portfolio continues to be an excellent example of where these efforts are creating value.

我們的照明和空間業務在年初都取得了強勁的銷售業績。首先，在 Acuity Brands Lighting 和 Lighting Controls 業務中。我們提高產品活力和服務水平的戰略仍然是我們客戶的關鍵差異化因素。我們的 Contractor Select 產品組合仍然是這些努力創造價值的絕佳範例。

As a reminder, Contractor Select is a collection of the most important everyday lighting and lighting control products made up of a limited number of products with high product vitality and high service levels. This portfolio includes products from the Lithonia Lighting, Juno, Sensor Switch and IOTA brands and competes effectively in the electrical distributor and retail channels.

提醒一下，Contractor Select是最重要的日常照明和照明控制產品的集合，由數量有限的產品組成，具有高產品生命力和高服務水平。該產品組合包括 Lithonia Lighting、Juno、Sensor Switch 和 IOTA 品牌的產品，並在電氣分銷商和零售渠道中有效競爭。

An example of continued product vitality in the Contractor Select portfolio, this quarter was the reintroduction of the upgraded DSX family of outdoor lighting. These products are used for commercial outdoor lighting as well as area lighting for schools, retail and other everyday workspaces. The refresh focused on improving the design and increasing the control functions, including the ability to embed our nLight wireless controls. It is a significant step forward in enhancing our outdoor offering.

Contractor Select 產品組合的持續產品活力的一個例子是，本季度重新推出升級後的 DSX 戶外照明系列。這些產品用於商業戶外照明以及學校、零售店和其他日常工作場所的區域照明。更新的重點是改進設計和增加控制功能，包括嵌入我們的 nLight 無線控件的能力。這是在增強我們的戶外產品方面向前邁出的重要一步。

Our focus on a concentrated offering with high product vitality and high service levels allows us to deliver high end user satisfaction at attractive levels of profitability. Our product vitality strategy addresses several of our priorities, including our sustainability efforts. This quarter, in our A-Light brand, we launched a trio of sustainable products, lean, stitch and wings that are marketed to office, commercial and other similar customers. These products have a number of innovations, including collapsible designs and the use of new materials. For example, the materials in the wings products are 100% recyclable.

我們專注於具有高產品活力和高服務水平的集中產品，使我們能夠以有吸引力的盈利水平提供高終端用戶滿意度。我們的產品活力戰略解決了我們的幾個優先事項，包括我們的可持續發展努力。本季度，在我們的 A-Light 品牌中，我們推出了三款可持續產品，lean、stitch 和 wings，面向辦公室、商業和其他類似客戶。這些產品有多項創新，包括可折疊設計和新材料的使用。例如，翅膀產品中的材料是 100% 可回收的。

Additionally, the collapsible design means the products contain less packaging waste and take up less shipping space, which reduces the amount of fuel consumed during transportation as well as our shipping costs. The feedback on these products has been positive across the design and specification community and has been recognized.

此外，可折疊設計意味著產品包含更少的包裝廢物並佔用更少的運輸空間，從而減少了運輸過程中消耗的燃料量以及我們的運輸成本。對這些產品的反饋在整個設計和規範社區中都是積極的，並得到了認可。

Our A-Light brand is leading by focusing on innovative design and sustainability, and I'm pleased to announce that this quarter, our A-Light team won 2 GRAND PRIX DU DESIGN Awards that celebrate the work of designers and architects who improve the quality of life in the built environment.

我們的 A-Light 品牌通過專注於創新設計和可持續性而處於領先地位，我很高興地宣布，本季度，我們的 A-Light 團隊贏得了 2 項 GRAND PRIX DU DESIGN Awards，以表彰提高質量的設計師和建築師的工作建築環境中的生活。

We are also making progress on our strategy of improving service levels. We are beginning to satisfy more of our late backlog and decrease lead times as component availability becomes more stable. One of the core reasons our service continues to be differentiated is our manufacturing facilities in Mexico. Not only are they strategically located, but they are also productive and very innovative. Our team of associates there is highly engaged and aligned to our values. I visited in December, and I was impressed by the changes that they are making in staffing and employee engagement that will help us adapt to evolving market conditions.

我們在提高服務水平的戰略方面也取得了進展。隨著組件可用性變得更加穩定，我們開始滿足更多的後期積壓並減少交貨時間。我們的服務繼續保持差異化的核心原因之一是我們在墨西哥的製造工廠。它們不僅地理位置優越，而且生產力高且極具創新性。我們的員工團隊高度敬業並與我們的價值觀保持一致。我在 12 月訪問過，他們在人員配置和員工敬業度方面所做的改變給我留下了深刻的印象，這將幫助我們適應不斷變化的市場條件。

Finally, this quarter, we took the decision to exit our Sunoptics daylighting business and our Winona custom architectural lighting solutions. These businesses were no longer strategically relevant, and we do not expect them to meet our financial expectations in the future. We will continuously evaluate which businesses we operate and where we choose to compete. Karen will talk more about this in her comments.

最後，本季度，我們決定退出 Sunoptics 採光業務和 Winona 定制建築照明解決方案。這些業務不再具有戰略相關性，我們預計它們未來不會滿足我們的財務預期。我們將不斷評估我們經營的業務以及我們選擇競爭的領域。凱倫將在她的評論中更多地討論這一點。

Now moving to our Intelligent Spaces Group. The spaces team delivered good sales and operating profit growth this quarter. Both Distech and Atrius were successful in winning several new key customers and expanding services to existing customers. Our Distech product portfolio of controls and sensors is winning in the marketplace, largely in North America and France, and it has broader applicability. Therefore, we are focusing on increasing the addressable market for Distech. The first step is expanding the geographic markets that we serve. This effort is off to a promising start in the U.K. We are assembling the right group of independent systems integrators and are already delivering customer wins, including a large multimillion dollar multiyear contract.

現在轉到我們的智能空間組。空間團隊本季度實現了良好的銷售和營業利潤增長。 Distech 和 Atrius 都成功地贏得了幾個新的主要客戶並擴大了對現有客戶的服務。我們的 Distech 控制器和傳感器產品組合在市場上贏得了成功，主要是在北美和法國，並且具有更廣泛的適用性。因此，我們專注於增加 Distech 的潛在市場。第一步是擴大我們服務的地理市場。這項工作在英國取得了良好的開端。我們正在組建合適的獨立系統集成商團隊，並且已經贏得了客戶，包括數百萬美元的多年期合同。

In October, I was in Europe and had the opportunity to visit a large mixed-use construction site in Lyon, which was using a full suite of our Distech products to control the entire space. This installation is a great example of the power of a full Distech implementation with HVAC, lighting and shake control throughout all areas and for all tenants of the space. We look forward to continuing our market penetration in France, while we grow the U.K.

10 月，我在歐洲有機會參觀了里昂的一個大型混合用途建築工地，該工地使用我們全套的 Distech 產品來控制整個空間。這個裝置是一個很好的例子，展示了一個完整的 Distech 實施的力量，在所有區域和空間的所有租戶中都有 HVAC、照明和振動控制。我們期待在發展英國的同時繼續滲透法國市場。

Moving to capital allocation. During the quarter, we repurchased just under 0.5 million shares, which brings the total amount repurchased since May of 2020 to just over 20% of our shares outstanding at an average price of approximately $140. 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.

轉向資本配置。在本季度，我們回購了近 50 萬股股票，這使得自 2020 年 5 月以來回購的總金額達到我們已發行股票的 20% 以上，平均價格約為 140 美元。我們的資本配置重點保持不變。當我們認為有機會為股東創造永久價值時，我們的首要任務是投資於我們當前業務的增長、投資於收購、維持我們的股息並分配資本用於股票回購。

Now looking to the rest of fiscal 2023. There are 2 themes that we are focused on. First, there's obviously uncertainty around the economy, inflation and interest rates, which we know will affect our business over time. Second, we believe that as component availability improves, lead times will improve and backlog levels will return to normal. We are beginning to see this in our business. We are well positioned in a variety of our end markets and our continuing investment in product vitality and service positions us well for these dynamic environments. Our organization continues to adapt to the changing requirements of our customers. And as a result, we have positioned ourselves not to predict the future perfectly, but rather to adapt to whatever comes our way.

現在展望 2023 財年的剩餘時間。我們關注兩個主題。首先，經濟、通貨膨脹和利率顯然存在不確定性，我們知道這會隨著時間的推移影響我們的業務。其次，我們相信隨著組件可用性的提高，交貨時間將縮短，積壓水平將恢復正常。我們開始在我們的業務中看到這一點。我們在各種終端市場中處於有利地位，我們對產品活力和服務的持續投資使我們能夠很好地適應這些動態環境。我們的組織不斷適應客戶不斷變化的需求。結果，我們將自己定位為不能完美地預測未來，而是要適應我們遇到的任何事情。

Finally, before I hand over to Karen, I want to congratulate our team on the accomplishments detailed in our 2022 EarthLIGHT report. Our products and services save our customers' energy and reduce their carbon emissions, and we are proud to announce our commitment to achieving net zero by 2040. As part of this, we have been working with the science-based targets initiative to establish new interim targets to further reduce our Scopes 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions. This is both good for the environment and good for our business.

最後，在我交給 Karen 之前，我想祝賀我們的團隊在 2022 EarthLIGHT 報告中詳述的成就。我們的產品和服務可為客戶節省能源並減少碳排放，我們很自豪地宣布我們承諾到 2040 年實現淨零排放。為此，我們一直在與基於科學的目標倡議合作，建立新的臨時目標進一步減少範圍 1、2 和 3 碳排放的目標。這既有利於環境，也有利於我們的業務。

Now I'll turn the call over to Karen, who will update you on our first quarter performance and provide a strategic update.

現在我將電話轉給 Karen，他將向您介紹我們第一季度的業績並提供戰略更新。

Thank you, Neil. Our first quarter of 2023 was a solid start to the year. We delivered good sales growth and strong adjusted diluted EPS growth. We improved adjusted operating profit, grew cash flow from operations and continued to allocate capital effectively.

謝謝你，尼爾。我們 2023 年第一季度是今年的良好開端。我們實現了良好的銷售增長和強勁的調整後攤薄每股收益增長。我們改善了調整後的營業利潤，增加了經營現金流，並繼續有效地配置資本。

As Neil mentioned, during the first quarter of fiscal 2023, we took the opportunity to strategically review our portfolio and sold our Sunoptics business. This business provided dome skylights and smoke vents to several different types of commercial buildings. We also announced plans to discontinue our Winona custom architectural lighting solutions by the end of the fiscal year. As a result, we took nonrecurring charges of $22 million or $0.52 per diluted share related to impairments, severance, accelerated amortization and a loss on the sale of the Sunoptics business.

正如尼爾所說，在 2023 財年第一季度，我們藉此機會對我們的投資組合進行了戰略性審查，並出售了我們的 Sunoptics 業務。該企業為多種不同類型的商業建築提供圓頂天窗和排煙口。我們還宣布計劃在本財年末停止使用我們的 Winona 定制建築照明解決方案。因此，我們承擔了 2200 萬美元或攤薄後每股 0.52 美元的非經常性費用，這些費用與減值、遣散費、加速攤銷和出售 Sunoptics 業務的損失有關。

In the first quarter, we generated net sales of approximately $1 billion, which was 8% higher than the prior year, largely due to price. Both the ABL and ISG businesses contributed to the growth during the quarter. Operating profit in the first quarter of $109 million and adjusted operating profit was $140 million. The higher adjusted operating profit was a result of the good gross profit performance as we continue to manage price and costs. However, the fall-through of the higher sales to adjusted operating profit was lower because of the impact of strategic decisions made for fiscal 2023 around commissions.

第一季度，我們產生了約 10 億美元的淨銷售額，比上年增長 8%，這主要是由於價格。 ABL 和 ISG 業務都為本季度的增長做出了貢獻。第一季度營業利潤為 1.09 億美元，調整後營業利潤為 1.4 億美元。較高的調整後營業利潤是由於我們繼續管理價格和成本，毛利潤表現良好。然而，由於 2023 財年圍繞佣金的戰略決策的影響，較高銷售額對調整後營業利潤的影響較小。

Finally, we continued to grow adjusted earnings per share. Our diluted earnings per share of $2.29 was a decrease of $0.17 or 7% year-over-year as a result of the $0.52 of nonrecurring charges I detailed before, while our adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.29 increased $0.44 or 15% over the prior year. The growth in adjusted diluted earnings per share was due to higher operating profit, benefits from foreign currency and lower shares outstanding due to the share repurchases.

最後，我們繼續增加調整後的每股收益。由於我之前詳述的 0.52 美元的非經常性費用，我們 2.29 美元的攤薄每股收益同比減少 0.17 美元或 7%，而我們調整後的 3.29 美元攤薄每股收益比之前增加 0.44 美元或 15%年。調整後攤薄每股收益的增長是由於更高的營業利潤、外匯收益和股票回購導致的流通股減少。

I now want to expand on our segment performance. Net sales of ABL grew to $947 million, an increase of 7% compared with the prior year. This increase was driven by higher year-over-year sales in our independent sales network, the direct channels, corporate accounts and the retail channel. ABL's operating profit was $118 million, a decrease of $10 million versus the prior year, with ABL adjusted operating profit relatively flat year-over-year. The lower fall-through rate was primarily the result of higher commissions, as I mentioned previously.

我現在想擴展我們的細分市場表現。 ABL 的淨銷售額增長至 9.47 億美元，比上年增長 7%。這一增長是由於我們的獨立銷售網絡、直接渠道、公司賬戶和零售渠道的銷售額同比增長所致。 ABL 的營業利潤為 1.18 億美元，比上年減少 1000 萬美元，ABL 調整後的營業利潤同比持平。正如我之前提到的，較低的失敗率主要是佣金較高的結果。

Now moving to ISG. The spaces segment had a strong quarter and improved both net sales and operating profit. Sales in the first quarter of 2023 were $57 million, an increase of $10 million or 22% versus the prior year. During the quarter, Distech had strong performance across a variety of projects and was able to work down a significant amount of backlog from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 as component availability improved. ISG's operating performance also improved due to the higher sales and benefits from the mix of products as we cleared some of that backlog. Operating profit in the first quarter of 2023 increased to $8 million this quarter.

現在轉向 ISG。空間部門本季度表現強勁，淨銷售額和營業利潤均有所提高。 2023 年第一季度的銷售額為 5700 萬美元，比上年增長 1000 萬美元或 22%。在本季度，Distech 在多個項目中表現強勁，並且隨著組件可用性的提高，能夠從 2022 財年第四季度開始減少大量積壓。 ISG 的經營業績也有所改善，因為我們清理了一些積壓的訂單，從而提高了產品組合的銷售額和收益。 2023 年第一季度營業利潤本季度增至 800 萬美元。

Now moving to cash flow. We generated $187 million of cash flow from operating activities for the first 3 months of fiscal 2023, an increase of $103 million over the prior year's first quarter. As a reminder, last year, we invested in inventory in order to support our growth as well as insulate our production facilities from inconsistent supply availability, with the intention of working down that inventory over several quarters, which we have done. We are now down 13 inventory days from the peak in February of 2022. We also invested $18 million in capital expenditures during the first quarter of fiscal 2023 and $78 million to repurchase approximately 0.5 million shares during the first quarter.

現在轉向現金流。 2023 財年前 3 個月，我們從經營活動中產生了 1.87 億美元的現金流，比去年第一季度增加了 1.03 億美元。提醒一下，去年，我們投資於庫存以支持我們的增長並使我們的生產設施免受供應可用性不一致的影響，目的是在幾個季度內減少庫存，我們已經做到了。我們現在比 2022 年 2 月的峰值減少了 13 個庫存天數。我們還在 2023 財年第一季度投入了 1800 萬美元的資本支出，並在第一季度投入了 7800 萬美元回購約 50 萬股股票。

Before I turn the call to the operator for questions, I want to reiterate the following. We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter of 2023. We delivered solid sales growth and strong adjusted diluted EPS, our outlook for 2023 remains unchanged, and we continue to position ourselves to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and to continue to allocate capital effectively.

在我將電話轉給接線員提問之前，我想重申以下內容。我們對 2023 年第一季度的業績感到滿意。我們實現了穩健的銷售增長和強勁的調整後攤薄每股收益，我們對 2023 年的展望保持不變，我們將繼續定位自己以快速適應不斷變化的市場條件並繼續配置資本有效地。

Thank you for joining us today. I will now pass you over to the operator to take your questions.

感謝您今天加入我們。我現在將您轉交給接線員回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Tim Wojs from Baird.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自 Baird 的 Tim Wojs。

Nice job and Happy New Year. Maybe just on the backlog, Neil, it does sound like you made some progress kind of working that down. Any thoughts on kind of when you think the backlog returned to more of a normalized level? And I guess on the supply chain, could you compare and contrast where the supply chain is performing today maybe relative to 6 or 9 months ago?

幹得好，新年快樂。也許只是在積壓工作上，尼爾，聽起來你確實在處理這些方面取得了一些進展。當您認為積壓恢復到更正常的水平時，您有什麼想法嗎？我想在供應鏈上，您能否比較和對比供應鏈今天的表現與 6 或 9 個月前的表現？

Yes, sure. So there's a fair amount to unpack there, Tim. Thanks for the question. So big picture, our expectation is that as component availability becomes more consistent, and it is more consistent, although not yet back to normal, so it's -- I don't think that the industry or we are completely out of the woods yet on that. But we are starting to see some more consistent availability, then that will enable us to reduce lead times. So that's obviously a positive.

是的，當然。因此，蒂姆，那裡有相當多的東西可以打開。謝謝你的問題。總的來說，我們的期望是隨著組件可用性變得更加一致，而且它更加一致，雖然還沒有恢復正常，所以它 - 我認為這個行業或我們還沒有完全走出困境那。但是我們開始看到一些更一致的可用性，這將使我們能夠減少交貨時間。所以這顯然是積極的。

Along the way, we'll be working through that backlog. So as we've said over the last several quarters, and I would say the -- your question implies probably pretty accurate, off the top of my head, probably second or third fiscal quarter of last year was when we peaked on our absolute level of backlog. And so we've been working down through that over the course of the last couple of quarters and will continue over the next quarter or 2 to be working through that. That should get us to a more normal relationship between order intake and lead times and net sales, which we think is net -- obviously going to be a net positive. We don't know exactly how long that will take. So that's just an estimate, but that's -- I think, round numbers, that's about right.

在此過程中，我們將處理積壓的工作。因此，正如我們在過去幾個季度所說的那樣，我會說 - 你的問題可能非常準確，在我的腦海中，去年第二或第三個財政季度可能是我們達到絕對水平的頂峰的積壓。因此，在過去幾個季度中，我們一直在努力解決這個問題，並將在下一個或兩個季度繼續努力解決這個問題。這應該讓我們在訂單接收和交貨時間與淨銷售額之間建立更正常的關係，我們認為這是淨銷售額 - 顯然將是淨積極的。我們不知道這需要多長時間。所以這只是一個估計，但我認為，四捨五入的數字是正確的。

Okay. Okay. Good. And then maybe, Karen, just on the commission comment, could you elaborate, I guess, what exactly that was in the quarter? And I guess if that's isolated to the fiscal quarter? Or is it just going to generally be a higher level of commissions for the year?

好的。好的。好的。然後也許，凱倫，就佣金評論而言，我猜你能否詳細說明這個季度到底是什麼？我想這是否與財政季度無關？還是今年的佣金水平通常會更高？

Yes. Thanks, Tim. There are several things going on in commissions this year. And what we're really focused on is investing in future business. So for example, we've made some investments and changes to our direct sales force commissions to position them for the upcoming future infrastructure business. And we've also invested to secure a certain project business. So I think what you'll see is that this is going to continue through the balance of the year at this level.

是的。謝謝，蒂姆。今年的佣金中發生了幾件事情。我們真正關注的是投資未來的業務。因此，例如，我們對我們的直接銷售人員佣金進行了一些投資和更改，以將其定位於即將到來的未來基礎設施業務。我們還進行了投資以確保某個項目業務的安全。所以我想你會看到，這將在今年餘下的時間裡繼續保持在這個水平上。

Our next question will come from Chris Snyder from UBS.

我們的下一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的 Chris Snyder。

I wanted to start with one on capital allocation for Neil. In the past, when you've provided your framework, M&A always kind of came in above buybacks. But over the last year or 2 now, really all the capital has gone towards buybacks. And I think most of the [rate] with the multiples we've seen compressed in the marketplace, that was the right use of capital. But as we look forward here, can you talk about is that starting to shift more in favor of M&A? Could you maybe talk about any sort of M&A pipeline? And then specifically, the types of assets the company is looking for? Because in the past, the -- you talked about maybe tech assets to build out the ISG group, but also maybe looking at semi-adjacent industrial verticals to kind of deploy some of the software tech assets across them.

我想從尼爾的資本分配開始。過去，當你提供你的框架時，併購總是高於回購。但在過去的一兩年裡，實際上所有的資金都用於回購。而且我認為我們在市場上看到的倍數壓縮的大多數 [rate]，都是對資本的正確使用。但正如我們在這裡展望的那樣，你能談談開始更多地轉向支持併購嗎？你能談談任何類型的併購渠道嗎？然後具體來說，公司正在尋找的資產類型是什麼？因為在過去，你談到了可能建立 ISG 集團的技術資產，但也可能關注半相鄰的垂直行業，以便在它們之間部署一些軟件技術資產。

Yes. Thanks, Chris. So we've been consistent since I've been here about our priorities for capital allocation. We'll invest in our current businesses, we'll invest in M&A, we'll maintain our dividend, and we'll use capital for share repurchases when we feel like there's an opportunity. So over the course of the last several years, obviously, our value has been less than the general market's value, and it's created an opportunity for us, as I said in my comments, to repurchase over 20% of the company at about a little less than $140 per share. So we feel really good about that capital allocation.

是的。謝謝，克里斯。因此，自從我來到這里以來，我們就資本配置的優先事項一直保持一致。我們將投資於我們當前的業務，我們將投資於併購，我們將維持我們的股息，並且當我們覺得有機會時，我們將使用資本回購股票。所以在過去幾年裡，很明顯，我們的價值一直低於一般市場的價值，正如我在評論中所說，這為我們創造了一個機會，以大約一點點的價格回購公司 20% 以上的股份每股不到 140 美元。所以我們對這種資本配置感覺非常好。

The world, as you indicated, is starting to change and come back to us a little bit. So as valuations on other assets start to come back to more reasonable levels, then we do feel confident in our ability to deploy capital going forward. So the first thing that we did, obviously, was the OSRAM OPTOTRONIC's acquisition for our lighting and lighting controls business, which allows us to control the technology in our luminaires to develop an OEM, a broader OEM channel and to take greater control of our electronics supply chain, which obviously has borne significant strategic fruit.

正如您所指出的，世界正在開始改變並一點點回到我們身邊。因此，隨著其他資產的估值開始回到更合理的水平，我們確實對我們未來部署資本的能力充滿信心。因此，顯然，我們做的第一件事是收購 OSRAM OPTOTRONIC，用於我們的照明和照明控制業務，這使我們能夠控制我們燈具中的技術，以開發 OEM、更廣泛的 OEM 渠道並更好地控制我們的電子產品供應鏈，顯然已經結出顯著的戰略成果。

So as we look forward, we have a pretty solid pipeline of interesting opportunities most notably in areas where we can expand the addressable market of our Intelligent Spaces Group. And we're seeing acquisitions of all different sizes there. So we'll continue to evaluate, obviously, our ability to generate cash, which is significant. So we were very pleased with the operating cash flow this quarter. As Karen indicated, we're paying down the investment we made in working capital last year. And that positions us with plenty of capital to meet all of our capital allocation priorities.

因此，展望未來，我們擁有大量有趣的機會，尤其是在我們可以擴大智能空間集團可尋址市場的領域。我們在那裡看到了各種不同規模的收購。因此，顯然，我們將繼續評估我們產生現金的能力，這很重要。因此，我們對本季度的經營現金流感到非常滿意。正如 Karen 所指出的，我們正在償還去年在營運資金方面的投資。這使我們擁有充足的資本來滿足我們所有的資本配置優先事項。

And I just want to kind of follow up on operating leverage. Can you just talk about the confidence in the ability to generate operating leverage as the environment starts to normalize. And the reason I ask is, this quarter, gross margin was flat year-on-year, and the company realized healthy high single-digit growth, but operating margin was down year-on-year. I mean I know investing in growth is a big priority. So just kind of through this, any thoughts or confidence in the ability to generate operating leverage through the rest of the year or even into the following year.

我只想跟進一下經營槓桿。您能否談談在環境開始正常化時產生運營槓桿的能力的信心。我問的原因是，本季度毛利率同比持平，公司實現了健康的高個位數增長，但營業利潤率同比下降。我的意思是我知道投資增長是重中之重。因此，通過這種方式，對在今年餘下時間甚至下一年產生經營槓桿的能力的任何想法或信心。

Yes. We're confident in our ability to generate operating leverage. So as Karen indicated, and I'll elaborate a little bit. I think if you -- when you see us over the course of time, so from 2020, '21, '22, '23 and beyond, and you would see a -- and if you look at that period in retrospect, you probably see, obviously, last year, we had a significant growth in net sales that was not -- we did not grow margins quite as fast, and you'll see us grow margins now as we start to bring those things together. So those haven't been perfectly synchronous, but we're generally pleased with the decisions we've made and our ability to take share.

是的。我們對我們產生經營槓桿的能力充滿信心。正如 Karen 指出的那樣，我會詳細說明一下。我想如果你——當你在一段時間內看到我們，那麼從 2020 年、21 年、22 年、23 年及以後，你會看到——如果你回顧那個時期，你可能很明顯，去年我們的淨銷售額有了顯著增長，但我們的利潤率增長速度沒有那麼快，你會看到我們現在開始把這些東西結合在一起，利潤率也在增長。所以這些並不是完全同步的，但我們總體上對我們做出的決定和我們分享的能力感到滿意。

So now as our focus is on generating that margin and leverage going forward, as Karen indicated, we've made some investments in commissions, kind of anecdotally, we invested in Holophane so that they could be positioned to -- for the infrastructure dollars that we expect to be coming. We've changed out a couple of our agencies. So we've talked about New York, and I think others have talked about Atlanta as example. So there are a series of these things which add up to a net investment in commissions, but not a permanent change in the percentage of sales that we invest in commissions.

因此，正如 Karen 所指出的那樣，現在我們的重點是產生利潤和槓桿作用，我們已經對佣金進行了一些投資，有趣的是，我們投資了 Holophane，以便他們能夠定位 - 用於基礎設施美元我們預計會來。我們已經改變了我們的幾個機構。所以我們討論了紐約，我想其他人也以亞特蘭大為例。所以有一系列這些東西加起來就是佣金的淨投資，但我們投資於佣金的銷售額百分比並不是永久性的變化。

One moment for our next question, please. And our next question will come from Joe O'Dea from Wells Fargo.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題將來自富國銀行的 Joe O'Dea。

I want to start -- could you just help a little bit with the bridge from fourth quarter margins to first quarter margins, if we take it both from a gross margin and an SG&A approach, what it was that sort of led you to be able to achieve kind of flattish gross margin sequentially? And then similarly, on the SG&A, is that all a function of commissions or anything else going on there?

我想開始 - 如果我們從毛利率和 SG&A 方法來看，你能不能稍微幫助一下從第四季度利潤率到第一季度利潤率的橋樑，是什麼讓你能夠連續實現某種持平的毛利率？然後類似地，在 SG&A 上，這都是佣金的功能還是那裡發生的任何其他事情？

Yes, I'll start, and then Karen, keep me honest here. So sequentially, I think the -- Joe, as you know, we have lower sales in the first quarter versus fourth quarter. So the ability to deliver consistent gross margin was a solid performance on the gross profit side. That was largely driven by 2 things. One is our ability to maintain price. And the second was our ability to maintain the levels of productivity in our own production facilities. And then on the operating expense side, as Karen has indicated, really the whole story has been commissions. So that relatively mild increase in investment in commissions is what has delivered the operating profit where it is. And as I said to Chris' question, we're confident that over time, we can leverage those expenses.

是的，我會開始，然后凱倫，讓我在這裡誠實。因此，我認為 - 喬，如你所知，我們第一季度的銷售額低於第四季度。因此，能夠提供一致的毛利率是毛利方面的可靠表現。這主要是由兩件事驅動的。一是我們維持價格的能力。其次是我們在自己的生產設施中保持生產力水平的能力。然後在運營費用方面，正如 Karen 所指出的那樣，整個故事實際上都是佣金。因此，佣金投資相對溫和的增長是實現營業利潤的原因。正如我對克里斯的問題所說的那樣，我們相信隨著時間的推移，我們可以利用這些費用。

Yes. And, Joe, the only other thing I would add is, when you -- when I mentioned the ISG in my opening comments, they did have a really strong margin performance this quarter as they -- their electronic component availability improved, and they were able to clear some of the backlog that really did result in some favorable margin for them.

是的。而且，喬，我唯一要補充的是，當你 - 當我在開場評論中提到 ISG 時，他們本季度確實有非常強勁的利潤率表現 - 他們的電子元件可用性得到改善，而且他們是能夠清除一些積壓的訂單，這確實為他們帶來了一些有利的利潤。

Got it. That's all helpful. And then on the demand environment, I know we're just sort of days into the calendar flip, but I'm just curious as you're seeing sort of supply chain ease and maybe a little bit more comfort out there and at the same time, some of the macro uncertainty that you touched on, just as we think about sort of cadence over the last few months, anything you're seeing in terms of sort of shifts in demand, whether you're seeing a little bit more caution and wait and see. Obviously, we see kind of the ABI over the past couple of months, but sort of what you're tracking on the most real time on the demand front.

知道了。這都是有幫助的。然後在需求環境上，我知道我們只是進入了日曆翻轉的幾天，但我很好奇你看到供應鏈的某種程度的緩解，同時可能會更加舒適時間，你提到的一些宏觀不確定性，就像我們考慮過去幾個月的節奏一樣，你在需求變化方面看到的任何東西，你是否看到了更多的謹慎拭目以待。顯然，我們在過去幾個月看到了某種 ABI，但也看到了您在需求方面最實時跟踪的情況。

Yes. So Joe, I'll start and Karen add to anything that you want to on this. So obviously, we're focused on the economy. So inflation, the Fed, interest rates, et cetera. And we obviously don't have a crystal ball better than the market. So we're paying attention to that. As I indicated, there's 2 other things that we are paying a lot of attention to. The first is that as component availability, as you indicated, supply chain, there will be -- we will start to be able to return to more normal lead times. And so that transition will impact -- probably impact demand for a short period of time as we work through where people have probably bought ahead a little bit so that they could ensure that they have availability.

是的。所以 Joe，我將開始，Karen 可以添加任何您想添加的內容。很明顯，我們專注於經濟。所以通貨膨脹、美聯儲、利率等等。而且我們顯然沒有比市場更好的水晶球。所以我們正在關注這一點。正如我所指出的，還有兩件事是我們非常關注的。首先是作為組件可用性，正如您所指出的那樣，供應鏈將會 - 我們將開始能夠恢復到更正常的交貨時間。因此，這種轉變將影響 - 可能會在短時間內影響需求，因為我們正在研究人們可能已經提前購買的地方，以便他們可以確保他們有可用性。

An example of that would be distributors that would have stage and store inventory in their inventory. So that would be where a contractor or a distributor or a project would have bought earlier than normal on their lighting and lighting controls, and they would have done that for any number of reasons, but the 2 most obvious would be to ensure that they have the product when they needed it, number 1; and 2, they might have bought ahead of some price increases as their -- so that they could capitalize on those lower prices. So we expect that to -- the combination of those things to impact demand over -- kind of over the next several periods. We don't know exactly how much and when, but we expect those to affect us. But net-net, we were confident in our ability to continue to take share in the industry and -- through our product vitality and our service levels, which are tools that we did not have in our toolkit the last time we faced an economic environment like this.

這方面的一個例子是在他們的庫存中有舞台和商店庫存的分銷商。因此，承包商、分銷商或項目會比正常情況下更早地購買他們的照明和照明控制，他們會出於多種原因這樣做，但最明顯的兩個是確保他們有在他們需要時提供產品，排名第一； 2，他們可能會在價格上漲之前購買——這樣他們就可以利用這些較低的價格。因此，我們預計 - 這些因素的組合會影響需求 - 在接下來的幾個時期內。我們不知道確切的數量和時間，但我們希望這些會影響我們。但是，net-net，我們對我們繼續在行業中佔有份額的能力充滿信心 - 通過我們的產品活力和我們的服務水平，這些是我們上次面對經濟環境時我們工具包中沒有的工具像這樣。

One moment for our next question, please. And our next question will come from Christopher Glynn from Oppenheimer.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題將來自奧本海默的克里斯托弗格林。

Happy Monday, everybody. So on the improving lead times and getting some backlog out, Karen did a little bit of drill down into ISG with the margins there. Curious, as pertains to ABL, are you seeing a pathway to have more predictable level loading of the factories that might be a little gross margin opportunity as the year goes on?

大家星期一快樂。因此，在改進交貨時間和解決一些積壓問題上，Karen 深入研究了 ISG 的利潤。好奇，就 ABL 而言，您是否看到了一種途徑，可以使工廠的負載水平更可預測，隨著時間的推移，這可能是一個小的毛利率機會？

Yes. Thanks, Chris. Is happy Monday an oxymoron? I wanted to check, and thank you all for showing up at 8 o'clock on a Monday for this call. Big picture, yes, we are moving -- we are trying to move towards more level loading of our facilities on the ABL side. So to take 2 steps back on the electronic component supply. So obviously, and I mentioned earlier, we bought OSRAM now, referred to as OPTOTRONIC for 3 reasons: one, to control the technology in our luminaires; the second, to expand our exposure to the OEM market; and the third is to take greater control of our supply chain.

是的。謝謝，克里斯。快樂星期一是矛盾的嗎？我想核實一下，謝謝大家週一 8 點出現在這個電話會議上。大局觀，是的，我們正在移動——我們正試圖在 ABL 側向我們的設施加載更多水平。因此，在電子元件供應方面採取 2 個步驟。很明顯，我之前提到過，我們現在購買了歐司朗，簡稱為 OPTOTRONIC，原因有 3 個：第一，控制我們燈具中的技術；第二，擴大我們在OEM市場的曝光率。第三是更好地控制我們的供應鏈。

So over the course of the last year, when the kind of the market was -- when we had just bought it and the market was bouncing around, we prioritized OEMs so that we could demonstrate to the market that they were -- we were serious about being in that business. We believe that, as we go forward, we have now have the opportunity to take greater control of that electronic supply chain. So that is obviously the pacemaker items have been on the electronic component and driver side. So as we start to take more control over that, we think we will have more control and the ability to have greater level loading over time.

所以在去年的過程中，當市場的類型是——當我們剛剛購買它並且市場正在反彈時，我們優先考慮原始設備製造商，這樣我們就可以向市場證明他們是——我們是認真的關於從事該行業。我們相信，隨著我們的前進，我們現在有機會更好地控制電子供應鏈。所以這顯然是起搏器項目在電子元件和驅動程序方面。因此，當我們開始對此進行更多控制時，我們認為我們將擁有更多控制權，並且能夠隨著時間的推移獲得更大的關卡加載。

The level loading won't be perfect, obviously, because that will be balanced by lower absolute levels of backlog as we lower lead time to get more -- in a more normal operating rhythm. But yes, we believe that net-net, we are in a position to better level load our facilities going forward and via taking greater control over electronic supply chain.

顯然，水平加載不會是完美的，因為隨著我們以更正常的操作節奏縮短交貨時間以獲得更多，這將通過較低的絕對積壓水平來平衡。但是，是的，我們相信 net-net，我們能夠通過更好地控制電子供應鏈來更好地平衡我們設施的負載。

Great. And on the follow-up, it pertains to Sunoptics and some of the Winona discontinues. What's the associated revenue and cost savings with those? And should we be considering those in our annual model? Or does it just kind of dovetail with the guidance framework that you laid out last quarter and reiterated by reference today?

偉大的。在後續行動中，它與 Sunoptics 和一些 Winona 停產有關。與這些相關的收入和成本節省是多少？我們應該在我們的年度模型中考慮這些嗎？或者它只是與您上個季度製定並今天通過參考重申的指導框架相吻合？

Yes. Let me just take a -- put this in context first, and then Karen, you can answer the specifics on the financials. We do want to get in front of changes that we see in the marketplace. And so we're going to constantly evaluate the businesses that we compete in. And Sunoptics was an acquisition from about 2013 or so, I think that just frankly wasn't performing anymore. And our Winona custom business was just that a custom business that we didn't expect to perform in the upcoming environment. But these are also demonstrations of our willingness and ability to make decisions that we think are going to impact the business going forward. Each of these were -- so we will absorb the impact of these in our guidance, both to top line and the profitability going forward, and that was contemplated, obviously, in our -- in Karen's comments about this year.

是的。讓我做一個——首先把它放在上下文中，然后凱倫，你可以回答財務方面的細節。我們確實想走在我們在市場上看到的變化的前面。因此，我們將不斷評估我們參與競爭的業務。Sunoptics 是大約 2013 年左右的收購，我認為坦率地說，它已經不再表現了。而我們的 Winona 定制業務正是我們不希望在即將到來的環境中執行的定制業務。但這些也表明我們願意並有能力做出我們認為會影響未來業務的決策。這些中的每一個都是 - 所以我們將在我們的指導中吸收這些影響，包括對頂線和未來盈利能力的影響，這顯然是在我們的預期中 - 在凱倫對今年的評論中。

One moment for our next question, please. And our next question will come from Ryan Merkel from William Blair.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題將來自 William Blair 的 Ryan Merkel。

I just had a couple of follow-ups. My first question is on gross margin. Is the shape of gross margins, it's still the same where the second half is going to be better than the first half? Or has that changed because componentry is a little bit easier to get?

我剛剛進行了幾次跟進。我的第一個問題是關於毛利率。毛利率的形狀是否仍然相同，下半年會好於上半年？還是因為組件更容易獲得而改變了？

Yes, Ryan, when we talked last quarter, we did talk about some of the pressures that we would see and some of the higher cost inventory started to flow through in the first half of the year. So that really hasn't changed. Our perspective is that inventory will continue to flow through in the first half of the year. And so that should indicate some opportunity for improvement in the back half as well as to what Neil mentioned earlier with the opportunity for more level loading of our facilities and to have more control over the electronics in our supply chain.

是的，瑞安，當我們上個季度談話時，我們確實談到了我們將看到的一些壓力，一些成本較高的庫存在今年上半年開始流動。所以這真的沒有改變。我們的觀點是庫存將在今年上半年繼續流動。因此，這應該表明後半部分有一些改進的機會，以及尼爾之前提到的，有機會提高我們設施的負載水平，並更好地控制我們供應鏈中的電子產品。

Got it. Okay. And then a follow-up on SG&A. I think you said you're going to leverage SG&A this year. When do you expect to do that? Does that happen in 2Q? And can you just unpack what changes from 1Q? I'm not sure I heard that.

知道了。好的。然後是 SG&A 的後續行動。我想你說你今年要利用 SG&A。你預計什麼時候這樣做？這會發生在第二季度嗎？你能解開第一季度的變化嗎？我不確定我是否聽到了。

Yes. So thanks for the opportunity to clarify that because that's not what I said. Chris' question, I think, was, are we confident that we can leverage SG&A? And yes, we are confident that we can leverage SG&A. The change in the first quarter sequentially from the fourth quarter in the SG&A number was primarily around the investment and commissions that Karen outlined. And that was positioning us for future growth not a permanent change in the rate of commission. So we see those commissions. We expect those commission investments to continue through the next couple of quarters in relation to sales. So don't expect us to leverage that line. Obviously, we will constantly be evaluating our operating expenses and especially if the market changes. But all of that's contemplated in the guidance that Karen provided.

是的。所以感謝有機會澄清這一點，因為那不是我說的。我認為克里斯的問題是，我們是否有信心可以利用 SG&A？是的，我們有信心可以利用 SG&A。從第四季度開始，第一季度 SG&A 數字的變化主要圍繞 Karen 概述的投資和佣金。這使我們為未來的增長做好了準備，而不是佣金率的永久性變化。所以我們看到了這些佣金。我們預計這些佣金投資將在未來幾個季度繼續與銷售相關。所以不要指望我們利用這條線。顯然，我們將不斷評估我們的運營費用，尤其是在市場發生變化時。但所有這些都在 Karen 提供的指導中有所考慮。

And our next question will come from Jeffrey Sprague from Vertical Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Vertical Research Partners 的 Jeffrey Sprague。

I guess maybe next Monday will be happy Monday, if we are all off for MLK day. So I feel like we're beating a dead horse with this commission question, but I'm a little bit confused here. It sounds like you're paying higher commissions today for potentially better sales in some future period. Is something else going on here, which is kind of the ability to retain salespeople or kind of just labor costs, labor availability? And why would you be kind of front loading commission costs for this potential future infrastructure revenues and the like?

我想如果我們在 MLK 日都休息的話，下週一可能會很開心。所以我覺得我們在這個佣金問題上打敗了一匹死馬，但我在這裡有點困惑。聽起來您今天支付更高的佣金是為了在未來某個時期可能獲得更好的銷售。這裡還有其他事情發生嗎，這是一種留住銷售人員的能力，或者只是勞動力成本，勞動力可用性？為什麼你會為這種潛在的未來基礎設施收入等提前加載佣金成本？

Yes. So let me be a little bit more granular, Jeff, which I think will give you some more insight and color. So on the infrastructure side, we are evolving how we take Holophane to market with our direct sales and some agency relationships. So in some cases, we're paying double -- we're paying double commissions on existing business. We will work through that over time so that, that will return to a more normal level. And second, as we indicated earlier, as we make sometimes some changes in markets like New York, which we've talked about, or Atlanta or others around the country, we incur some period costs as we make those transitions that show up in the commissions line.

是的。所以讓我更詳細一點，傑夫，我認為這會給你更多的洞察力和色彩。因此，在基礎設施方面，我們正在改進如何通過我們的直銷和一些代理關係將 Holophane 推向市場。所以在某些情況下，我們支付雙倍的費用——我們為現有業務支付雙倍的佣金。隨著時間的推移，我們將努力解決這個問題，以便恢復到更正常的水平。其次，正如我們之前指出的那樣，由於我們有時會在我們談到的紐約或亞特蘭大或全國其他地方等市場做出一些改變，因此我們在進行這些轉變時會產生一些期間成本，這些轉變會出現在佣金線。

Understood. And then just on Distech, the international opportunities that appear to be unfolding, can you just give me a sense of kind of the total footprint? Is it now just U.K. and France and Europe? Are you looking at other markets? Maybe just give us a sense of kind of the plan there, maybe it's kind of a 2- or 3-year plan, it sounds like, but to rule that out more broadly.

明白了。然後就 Distech 而言，似乎正在展開的國際機會，你能給我一個總體足蹟的感覺嗎？現在只有英國、法國和歐洲嗎？你在看其他市場嗎？也許只是讓我們對那裡的計劃有所了解，也許這是一個 2 年或 3 年的計劃，聽起來像是，但要更廣泛地排除這種可能性。

Yes. Thanks for the question. So Distech is a very attractive business. So they have the best technology in the market. They compete effectively on the building management control sensor market. And it's largely been focused on North America and France. So we have good penetration in France. We have developing penetration in the U.S. And, yes, the technology is applicable in multiple markets. And so it is a multiyear strategy. So first is the U.K. The second will be to start to grow. We have a very small business, but we have -- we'll have a developing business in non-China Asia, which we think provides a large opportunity. So net-net, we think we can continue to push this geographic expansion. And the theme around Distech will be -- we do have a better mousetrap so now we want to increase the addressable market.

是的。謝謝你的問題。所以 Distech 是一個非常有吸引力的行業。所以他們擁有市場上最好的技術。他們在樓宇管理控制傳感器市場上有效競爭。它主要集中在北美和法國。所以我們在法國有很好的滲透率。我們在美國的滲透率不斷提高，是的，該技術適用於多個市場。因此，這是一項多年戰略。所以首先是英國。其次是開始增長。我們的業務非常小，但我們有——我們將在亞洲以外的地區開展業務，我們認為這提供了巨大的機會。所以 net-net，我們認為我們可以繼續推動這種地域擴張。圍繞 Distech 的主題將是——我們確實有一個更好的捕鼠器，所以現在我們想增加潛在市場。

One moment for our next question, please. And our next question will come from Brian Lee from Goldman Sachs.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題將來自高盛的 Brian Lee。

Happy New Year. Maybe just zooming out a little bit at a couple of bigger picture questions. I know you don't like to talk about price too granularly, but you've mentioned over the course of the past several quarters, including earlier today, that price increases have been a tailwind, and you've had multiple price increases, obviously, in the past year. Any sense just kind of, again, big picture, what the outlook is for pricing given input costs, freight? They seem to be coming back in now. Any feedback from customers and/or peers around whether you'd expect some level of price to give back here through 2023?

新年快樂。也許只是縮小一些更大的圖片問題。我知道你不喜歡過於細化地談論價格，但你在過去幾個季度中提到過，包括今天早些時候，價格上漲是一個順風，而且你有多次價格上漲，顯然, 在過去的一年裡。任何意義上，再一次，大局，考慮到投入成本、運費，定價的前景如何？他們現在似乎要回來了。來自客戶和/或同行的任何反饋，關於您是否期望到 2023 年這裡會回饋某種水平的價格？

Yes. So, Brian, big picture on price. Over the course of the last couple of years, we've done several things, which will ultimately impact price. The first is to dramatically increase our product vitality. So we're delivering better value through our products to our end users through productivity in those products and the relationship between what they're getting and what they're paying for it. The second is that we've been strategic about our pricing. We price based on market conditions so that we can compete effectively in everyday products, and we can win the projects that we like to win.

是的。所以，布賴恩，價格大圖。在過去的幾年裡，我們做了幾件事，最終會影響價格。首先是大幅提升我們的產品生命力。因此，我們通過這些產品的生產力以及他們得到的東西和他們為此付出的代價之間的關係，通過我們的產品向我們的最終用戶提供更好的價值。第二個是我們對定價具有戰略意義。我們根據市場情況定價，以便我們可以在日常產品中有效競爭，並且我們可以贏得我們喜歡贏得的項目。

That combination of product vitality, having the right product at the right price, at the right value for customers, and our ability to manage price strategically has been what has allowed us to deliver the results in the past market that we've encountered. We think those tools are really valuable in the market that we expect to encounter going forward. So having the kind of the best products at the right price in the right place, the ability to make margin when we do that and the ability to price strategically based on a difference between, say, everyday products and choosing, which projects we want to win is really valuable going forward.

產品活力、以合適的價格提供合適的產品、為客戶提供合適的價值以及我們戰略性地管理價格的能力的結合，使我們能夠在過去的市場中取得成功。我們認為這些工具在我們預計未來會遇到的市場中非常有價值。因此，在合適的地方以合適的價格擁有最好的產品，在這樣做時能夠賺取利潤，並且能夠根據日常產品和選擇我們想要的項目之間的差異進行戰略定價勝利對前進真的很有價值。

Okay. Fair enough. All makes sense. And then I guess maybe related to that a little bit, just China reopening, again, the comment around freight costs starting to normalize. Any updated thoughts on just sort of the competitive landscape, especially from overseas suppliers?

好的。很公平。一切都說得通。然後我想可能與此有關，只是中國重新開放，再次，關於運費的評論開始正常化。關於競爭格局的任何最新想法，尤其是來自海外供應商的想法？

Yes. No, it's always a good question, and we have tremendous respect for competition. We consider competition as a gift. Having said that, just to reiterate, about 20% of our product is sourced from Asia, about 60% is manufactured in North America, as I indicated, Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. So -- 60% in Canada and 20% in the U.S. So what that allows us to do is compete effectively with whoever the new competitors are. So just like everyone else, we've dealt with challenges getting our products out of Asia and here. So net-net, while we expect there to -- on the margin be a little bit more competition, obviously, we've been competing effectively in the same market they have.

是的。不，這始終是一個好問題，我們非常尊重競爭。我們將競爭視為禮物。話雖如此，但重申一下，我們大約 20% 的產品來自亞洲，大約 60% 是在北美製造的，正如我所指出的，墨西哥、美國和加拿大。所以 - 60% 在加拿大，20% 在美國。所以這讓我們能夠做的是與新的競爭對手進行有效競爭。因此，就像其他人一樣，我們已經應對了將我們的產品運出亞洲和這裡的挑戰。所以淨網，雖然我們預計會有更多的競爭，但很明顯，我們一直在他們擁有的同一個市場上有效競爭。

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

我現在不會在隊列中顯示更多問題。我想將電話轉回給 Neil Ashe 以聽取任何結束語。

First of all, thank you all for joining us as we indicated early on a Monday morning. We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter. We had solid results. We're well positioned in our end user markets, both on the lighting and lighting control side and increasingly on the Intelligent Spaces side, where we're working to expand our addressable market. We expect the kind of the continuation of the current trends in the economy, and we're pleased with our ability to be adaptable to whatever the market sends our way. So with that, we'll send you on your way. And we hope you have a great rest of your day, and we look forward to talking to you again soon.

首先，感謝大家在周一早上加入我們。我們對第一季度的表現感到滿意。我們取得了不錯的成績。我們在我們的最終用戶市場中處於有利地位，無論是在照明和照明控制方面，還是在智能空間方面，我們正在努力擴大我們的目標市場。我們期待當前經濟趨勢的延續，我們很高興我們有能力適應市場向我們發送的任何方式。因此，我們會送你上路。我們希望您今天休息得愉快，我們期待很快再次與您交談。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.

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。每個人，祝你有美好的一天。