Acuity Brands Inc (AYI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Acuity Brands Fiscal 2024 third 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.

早安，歡迎參加 Acuity Brands 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁夏洛特·麥克勞克林 (Charlotte McLaughlin)。夏洛特，請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to the Acuity Brands Fiscal 2024 third quarter earnings call. On the call with me this morning are Neil Ashe, our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Office; and Karen Holcolm, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Today's call will include updates on our strategic progress and our fiscal 2024 third quarter performance.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加 Acuity Brands 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。今天早上與我通話的有我們的董事長、總裁兼執行長尼爾‧阿什 (Neil Ashe)；以及我們的資深副總裁兼財務長 Karen Holcolm。今天的電話會議將包括我們的策略進展和 2024 財年第三季業績的最新資訊。

There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end of this call. As a reminder, some of our comments today may be forward looking statements. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As detailed on slide 2 of the accompanying presentation.

本次電話會議結束時將有一個問答機會。提醒一下，我們今天的一些評論可能是前瞻性陳述。我們希望這些前瞻性聲明受到 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款的約束。

Reconciliations of certain non-GAAP financial metrics with their corresponding GAAP measures are available in our 2024 second quarter earnings release and supplemental presentation, both of which are available on our Investor Relations website at www.investors.acuitybrands.com. Thank you for your interest in Acuity Brands. I will now turn the call over to Neil Ashe .

我們的2024 年第二季收益發布和補充簡報中提供了某些非GAAP 財務指標與其相應GAAP 衡量標準的對賬，這兩個數據均可在我們的投資者關係網站www.investors.acuitybrands. com 上取得。感謝您對 Acuity Brands 的興趣。我現在將把電話轉給尼爾·阿什。

Thank you, Charlotte, and thank you all for joining us this morning. In our fiscal 2024 third quarter, we delivered solid results. We increased our adjusted operating profit, adjusted operating profit margin and adjusted diluted earnings per share.

謝謝你，夏洛特，也謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。在 2024 財年第三季度，我們取得了穩健的業績。我們增加了調整後的營業利潤、調整後的營業利潤率和調整後的稀釋每股收益。

We generate strong free cash flow and we allocated capital effectively to drive value. In our lighting and lighting controls business, we continued to expand profitability while we focus on returning the business to growth.

我們產生強勁的自由現金流，並有效分配資本以推動價值。在我們的照明和照明控制業務中，我們繼續擴大獲利能力，同時專注於使業務恢復成長。

In our Intelligent Spaces business, the growth rate and overall performance remains impressive. In ABL, we increased our adjusted operating profit $2 million to $162 million and increased our adjusted operating profit margin 100 basis points to 18% on $42 million less sales. These results are being driven by our ongoing efforts to increase product vitality, elevate service levels, use technology to improve and differentiate our products and how we operate the business and to drive productivity.

在我們的智慧空間業務中，成長率和整體業績仍然令人印象深刻。在 ABL，我們將調整後營業利潤增加了 200 萬美元，達到 1.62 億美元，並將調整後營業利潤率提高了 100 個基點，達到 18%，銷售額減少了 4,200 萬美元。這些成果的推動因素是我們不斷努力提高產品活力、提升服務水準、利用技術改進和差異化我們的產品以及我們的業務運作方式和提高生產力。

We define product vitality as a combination of new product introductions and improvements to our existing portfolio with the intention of making products that are more valuable for our customers and more profitable for us. A great example of this is the last (inaudible), which we recently introduced to the market. This luminaire as a modern and sustainable alternative to traditional LED panels and can be in all indoor applications, including commercial office and [Taser] 12 schools.

我們將產品活力定義為新產品推出和現有產品組合改進的結合，旨在製造對客戶更有價值、為我們帶來更多利潤的產品。一個很好的例子是我們最近向市場推出的最後一個（聽不清楚）。該燈具是傳統 LED 面板的現代且可持續的替代品，可用於所有室內應用，包括商業辦公室和 [Taser] 12 所學校。

Frame offers our customers value as a result of three things. The first is flexibility of design. The frame comes in three different size options with switchable technology to offer different [lumen output] and color temperatures.

Frame 透過三件事為我們的客戶提供價值。首先是設計的靈活性。該框架提供三種不同尺寸選項，採用可切換技術，以提供不同的[流明輸出]和色溫。

The second is it's lightweight design and patented snap connections that allow for quick assembly and ease of installation. And the third is that it costs less to package and ship as a result of it's minimal, sustainable packaging.

第二個是它的輕量化設計和專利的卡扣連接，可以快速組裝並易於安裝。第三，由於採用最小化、可持續的包裝，包裝和運輸成本更低。

I'd now like to spend a few minutes talking about our differentiated product portfolios made to order, design select and contractor select and how they are creating the most effective way for our end users and contractors to get what they need, when they need it for their specific projects. The majority of our products are made to order, which uses our entire portfolio to create limitless design options for our customers. From concept to creation, we meet their requirements.

我現在想花幾分鐘談談我們定制的差異化產品組合、設計選擇和承包商選擇，以及他們如何為我們的最終用戶和承包商創建最有效的方式，以便在他們需要時獲得他們需要的東西對於他們的具體項目。我們的大部分產品都是按訂單生產的，這利用我們的整個產品組合為客戶創造無限的設計選擇。從概念到創作，我們滿足他們的要求。

I'd like to share a few examples with you. We've been working on the restoration of the Michigan central station in Detroit, where with the original lighting blueprints from 1912 and recreated them as current generation LED fixtures. When combined with our controls, these fixtures, deliver energy savings and create distinct event lighting to deliver a completely unique solution. We are also able to adapt our existing lighting and lighting controls portfolio.

我想與大家分享幾個例子。我們一直致力於修復底特律的密西根中央車站，使用 1912 年的原始照明藍圖並將其重新打造為當前世代的 LED 燈具。當與我們的控制裝置結合時，這些燈具可以節省能源並創造獨特的活動照明，從而提供完全獨特的解決方案。我們也能夠調整現有的照明和照明控制產品組合。

For example, this quarter, we met the retrofit requirements of a large retail customer by using the base design of several key fixtures and combining them with our controls to create a unique tailored solutions.

例如，本季度，我們透過使用幾個關鍵裝置的基礎設計並將其與我們的控制項相結合來創建獨特的客製化解決方案，從而滿足了大型零售客戶的改造要求。

And finally, we have specialty brand known for innovation like Alight, Luminous and Eureka, which meet the needs of lighting, specifiers and different spaces ranging from offices to health care to schools.

最後，我們擁有以創新而聞名的專業品牌，如 Alight、Luminous 和 Eureka，它們滿足照明、規格說明以及從辦公室、醫療保健到學校等不同空間的需求。

Next, design select takes to eliminate this design options for made to order and curate them into an offering that delivers a highly productive approach to project design with either selection and service predictability. Whether our customer needs their products in three weeks or three months, we were able to satisfy their time lines. We deliver highly configurable product options for superior solutions by incorporating a broad portfolio of our trusted brands and offering end light embedded controls.

接下來，設計選擇需要消除這種客製化的設計選項，並將它們整理成一個產品，透過選擇和服務可預測性，為專案設計提供高效的方法。無論我們的客戶需要三週還是三個月內的產品，我們都能滿足他們的時間要求。我們透過整合我們值得信賴的品牌的廣泛產品組合併提供端燈嵌入式控制，為卓越的解決方案提供高度可配置的產品選項。

And the final part of our differentiated portfolio is contractor select. About 300 high volume products that are used in common everyday lighting applications, designed to be stocked and result. We have been able to create a portfolio that offers quality products that our customers one at competitive prices, while at the same time allow, we are distributor partners to achieve higher returns. We also continue to make investments for future growth. Prioritizing new verticals, where we have not historically competed or where we are underpenetrated.

我們差異化產品組合的最後一部分是承包商選擇。大約 300 種用於常見日常照明應用的大批量產品，旨在庫存和結果。我們已經能夠創建一個產品組合，以具有競爭力的價格為客戶提供優質產品，同時允許我們作為經銷商合作夥伴獲得更高的回報。我們也繼續為未來的成長進行投資。優先考慮新的垂直領域，這些領域是我們歷史上沒有競爭過或滲透率不足的領域。

We have recently entered the refueling vertical, which includes service stations, convenience stores and quick service restaurants. We are reimagining the cuts -- reimagining the customer experience using solutions specifically developed for these applications.

我們最近進入了加油垂直領域，包括加油站、便利商店和快餐店。我們正在重新構想削減——使用專門為這些應用程式開發的解決方案重新構想客戶體驗。

In addition to our other existing products sales from our lighting and lighting control portfolio. This is the vertical where we have not broadly completed. And earlier this week, we have announced and we have signed one of the leading independent sales agents positioning us well to compete in this established and growing market. This builds upon our discussion last quarter around entering the horticulture market.

除了我們的照明和照明控制產品組合中的其他現有產品銷售。這是我們尚未廣泛完成的垂直領域。本週早些時候，我們宣布並簽署了一家領先的獨立銷售代理商，使我們能夠在這個成熟且不斷成長的市場中競爭。這是建立在我們上季度關於進入園藝市場的討論的基礎上的。

This is another example of a vertical where we had not historically competed and where we have long-term opportunities for growth. We continue to be recognized by the industry. This quarter, we were awarded three Red Dot Design Awards for product design. One of the most sought after distinctions for design and quality.

這是我們歷史上沒有競爭過但擁有長期成長機會的垂直產業的另一個例子。我們不斷得到業界的認可。本季度，我們的產品設計榮獲三項紅點設計獎。最受歡迎的設計和品質特徵之一。

We won for in-line by Luminous, which we profiled in our first quarter earnings call. [Fatal] by Eurika and Mochi by Cyclone. Fatal is a high-performance rain fixture with an elevated design that produces an evenly distributed glow and is available with multiple size and mounting options for use in commercial spaces and other indoor environments.

我們贏得了 Luminous 的線上獎，我們在第一季的財報電話會議上對此進行了介紹。 [致命] 尤里卡 (Eurika) 與旋風 (Cyclone) 的莫奇 (Mochi)。 Fatal 是一款高性能防雨燈具，採用升高設計，可產生均勻分佈的光芒，並提供多種尺寸和安裝選項，適用於商業空間和其他室內環境。

2024, marks the tenth consecutive year that our Eurika brand has won a Red Dot Design Award and Fatal brings us total product wins in this category to '20. Mochi is a contemporary zone street lights that offers precision elimination for use in infrastructure projects where safety is a priority, including city, residential street, and commercial buildings. It's innovative design offers multiple configurations in addition to a patented latch that allows for easy maintenance access without compromising security. This is the first red dot when for our cycle purity.

2024 年，標誌著我們的 Eurika 品牌連續第十年榮獲紅點設計獎，而 Fatal 使我們在該類別中獲獎的產品總數達到「20」。 Mochi 是一款現代區域路燈，可提供精確消除功能，適用於優先考慮安全的基礎設施項目，包括城市、住宅街道和商業建築。它的創新設計除了專利閂鎖之外還提供多種配置，可在不影響安全性的情況下輕鬆維護。這是我們的循環純度的第一個紅點。

In addition, we were awarded 21 Bright Star Awards from LEDs magazine, which acknowledges innovation and lighting, components and controls. For products across 14 of our brands, including [active lux] [Hydrils] and [NN Life].

此外，我們還獲得了 LEDs 雜誌頒發的 21 項亮星獎，該雜誌表彰了創新和照明、組件和控制。適用於我們 14 個品牌的產品，包括 [active lux]、[Hydrils] 和 [NN Life]。

Now moving on to our Intelligent Spaces group. Our mission and our intelligent spaces business is to make spaces smarter, safer and greener through our strategy of connecting the edge to the cloud.

現在轉到我們的智慧空間小組。我們的使命和智慧空間業務是透過邊緣與雲端的連接策略，讓空間變得更智慧、更安全、更環保。

Distech has the best edge control devices in the market while Atrius will be the best in cloud applications. In spaces, we are focused on where we compete and what we can control to expand our addressable market. As part of our geographic expansion this quarter, we continued to add systems integrator capacity in the UK, Australia and Asia.

Distech 擁有市場上最好的邊緣控制設備，而 Atrius 將是雲端應用領域最好的。在太空領域，我們專注於我們的競爭領域以及我們可以控制哪些內容來擴大我們的目標市場。作為本季地域擴張的一部分，我們繼續增加在英國、澳洲和亞洲的系統整合商產能。

We partner with the best SIs in specific geographies to sell our full suite of Distech and Atrius products. In May, we hosted our key SI partners and end users at our European Connect Conference in Marseille. It was a great success, and we look forward to hosting our North American Connect Conference in Nashville later this year. At Connect, the Distech resets move sensor that we discussed in the first quarter continued to generate positive reviews.

我們與特定地區最好的 SI 合作，銷售我們的全套 Distech 和 Atrius 產品。 5 月，我們在馬賽舉辦了歐洲互聯大會，接待了主要 SI 合作夥伴和最終用戶。這是一次巨大的成功，我們期待今年稍後在納許維爾舉辦我們的北美連接會議。在 Connect 上，我們在第一季度討論的 Distech 重置行動感測器繼續獲得正面評價。

As a reminder, this is an advanced seven in one ceiling mounts at sensor that is able to detect occupancy and provide feedback on occupancy and requirements and build spaces. We also showcased our refrigeration offering, which included the upgraded Distech key to term smart access, a personalized secure portal that provides real-time refrigeration system data that can troubleshoot system issues, prevent unnecessary [bot] site visits and save our customers money. The device talks to us all Distech term sensors and controls and allows on-site and remote monitoring for one or multiple site locations.

提醒一下，這是一種先進的七合一天花板安裝感測器，能夠偵測佔用情況並提供有關佔用情況和要求以及建築空間的回饋。我們還展示了我們的製冷產品，其中包括升級後的Distech 術語智能訪問密鑰，這是一個個性化的安全門戶，提供實時製冷系統數據，可以解決系統問題，防止不必要的[機器人] 站點訪問並為我們的客戶節省金錢。該設備與我們所有 Distech 術語感測器和控制進行通信，並允許對一個或多個站點位置進行現場和遠端監控。

And this quarter, our spaces products received recognition from several industry leaders. Our Distech resets move, one best AI tech innovation for intelligent buildings at [ICON] 2024 last week, having also won an Excellence Award in 2024 electrical review and data center review earlier in the quarter.

本季度，我們的空間產品獲得了多個行業領導者的認可。我們的 Distech 重置舉措是上週在 [ICON] 2024 上智慧建築的最佳人工智慧技術創新，還在本季早些時候的 2024 年電氣審查和數據中心審查中獲得了卓越獎。

Our Distech Controls Eclipse Apex controller, won a Product of the Year Award at the 2024 consulting specifying engineer awards. And Atrius won best ESG in climate reporting software from ESG investing magazine for the second consecutive year and won top product of 2024 by ENE leader. Now turning to our outlook, in our lighting business, our order rate continued to grow year-over-year in the third quarter. We built backlog as our orders exceeded our shipments. This backlog will be served in the coming quarters.

我們的 Distech Controls Eclipse Apex 控制器在 2024 年諮詢指定工程師獎中榮獲年度產品獎。 Atrius連續第二年榮獲《ESG投資》雜誌評選的最佳氣候報告軟體ESG獎，並榮獲ENE Leader頒發的2024年度最佳產品獎。現在轉向我們的展望，在我們的照明業務中，第三季我們的訂單率持續年增。由於訂單超過了發貨量，我們積壓了訂單。此積壓訂單將在未來幾季內完成。

As we enter the fourth quarter, the order rate trend is likely to continue, and we will remain focused on returning the business to growth while expanding margins and generating strong free cash flow.

隨著我們進入第四季度，訂單率趨勢可能會持續下去，我們將繼續專注於使業務恢復成長，同時擴大利潤率並產生強勁的自由現金流。

Our Spaces business continues to grow impressively and is becoming a more important part of our company. Our performance is and continues to be strong, and we will continue to allocate capital to expand our addressable market.

我們的空間業務繼續令人印象深刻地成長，並正在成為我們公司更重要的一部分。我們的業績現在並將繼續保持強勁，我們將繼續分配資本來擴大我們的目標市場。

Now I'll turn the call over to Karen, who will give you an update on our third-quarter performance.

現在我將把電話轉給凱倫，她將向您介紹我們第三季業績的最新情況。

Thank you, Neil, and good morning to everyone on the call. We continue to deliver solid performance in our third quarter with both our Lighting and Spaces businesses delivering margin improvement. We increased our adjusted diluted earnings per share, and we generated strong year to date operating cash flow.

謝謝你，尼爾，祝所有參加電話會議的人早安。我們在第三季持續保持穩健的業績，照明和太空業務的利潤率均有所提高。我們增加了調整後的稀釋每股收益，並且年初至今產生了強勁的營運現金流。

We allocated capital effectively and continue to make progress on our strategic priorities. For total, AYI we generated net sales in the third quarter of $968 million, which was $32 million or 3% below the prior year as a result of the lower net sales in our lighting and lighting controls business.

我們有效配置資本，並持續在策略重點上取得進展。總體而言，AYI 第三季的淨銷售額為 9.68 億美元，比上年同期減少 3,200 萬美元，即 3%，這是由於我們的照明和照明控制業務淨銷售額下降所致。

Our Spaces business continued to experience strong growth of 15% in the quarter. We continue to deliver year-over-year margin improvement. During the third quarter, our adjusted operating profit was up $4 million from last year on a $32 million decline in sales, and we expanded our adjusted operating profit margin to 17.3%, an increase of 100 basis points from the prior year.

我們的空間業務在本季繼續強勁成長 15%。我們持續實現利潤率年增。第三季度，我們的調整後營業利潤比去年增加了 400 萬美元，而銷售額下降了 3,200 萬美元，我們將調整後營業利潤率擴大到 17.3%，比上年增加了 100 個基點。

This increase was driven largely by the significant year-over-year improvement in our gross profit margin, and we continue to exit our strategy and drive margin through product vitality, the management of price and cost and productivity improvements. During the quarter, our adjusted diluted earnings per share of $4.15 increased $0.4 or 11% over the prior year, due to higher net income and lower shares outstanding.

這一成長主要是由於我們的毛利率同比顯著提高，我們繼續退出我們的策略，並透過產品活力、價格和成本管理以及生產力提高來提高利潤率。本季度，由於淨利潤增加和流通股減少，我們調整後的稀釋每股收益為 4.15 美元，比上年增加 0.4 美元，即 11%。

In ABL, net sales were $899 million, a decrease of 5%. However, as Neil said earlier in this call, our order rates are higher year-over-year. While the independent sales network was down as a result of the challenging comparable last year. This quarter was a good quarter for corporate account, which benefited from a large retail relight project.

ABL 的淨銷售額為 8.99 億美元，下降 5%。然而，正如尼爾在本次電話會議早些時候所說，我們的訂單率比去年同期更高。由於去年的可比性挑戰，獨立銷售網絡有所下降。本季對企業帳戶來說是一個不錯的季度，受益於大型零售重新點燃專案。

Adjusted operating profit increased to $162 million on lower net sales, while we delivered improved adjusted operating profit margin of 18% and 100 basis points improvement over the prior year.

由於淨銷售額下降，調整後營業利潤增至 1.62 億美元，同時我們的調整後營業利潤率提高了 18%，比上年提高了 100 個基點。

Net sales and Intelligent Spaces for the third quarter were $ 76 million, an increase of 15% of this debt continued to grow. The integration is key to term is now complete and keeping them products are now product line under the Distech controls product portfolio. Adjusted operating profit and intelligence basis was $17 million, with the adjusted operating profit margin at 22.9%, a 340 basis points improvement over the prior year.

第三季智慧空間淨銷售額為7,600萬美元，較去年同期成長15%，這與債務持續成長有關。整合是關鍵，期限現已完成，並將其產品保留在 Distech 控制產品組合的產品線中。調整後營業利潤和情報基礎為 1,700 萬美元，調整後營業利潤率為 22.9%，比上年提高 340 個基點。

Now turning to our cash flow performance. We generated $445 million of cash flow from operating activities year to date, and we are earning attractive returns on the cash that we have on our balance sheet.

現在轉向我們的現金流表現。年初至今，我們的經營活動產生了 4.45 億美元的現金流，我們的資產負債表上的現金也獲得了可觀的回報。

We continue to allocate capital consistent with our priorities. Year to date, we invested $41 million in capital expenditures. We acquired the assets of Arise Horticulture lighting, we increased our dividend per share 15% and allocated approximately $89 million to repurchase over 454,000 shares. Since the beginning of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, we have repurchased approximately 9.5 million shares at an average price of about $145 per share, which was funded by organic cash flow. This amounts to about 24% of the then outstanding shares.

我們繼續根據我們的優先事項分配資本。今年迄今為止，我們投資了 4,100 萬美元的資本支出。我們收購了 Arise Horticulture lighting 的資產，將每股股息提高了 15%，並撥款約 8,900 萬美元回購超過 454,000 股股票。自2020財年第四季初以來，我們以每股約145美元的平均價格回購了約950萬股股票，資金來源為有機現金流。這相當於當時流通股的 24% 左右。

We continue to demonstrate solid performance. We delivered improved margins and increased adjusted diluted earnings per share. We generated strong cash flow from operations, and we continue to allocate capital effectively. Thank you for joining us today. I will now pass you over to the operator to take your questions.

我們持續展現穩健的表現。我們提高了利潤率並增加了調整後的稀釋每股盈餘。我們透過營運產生了強勁的現金流，並且繼續有效地配置資本。感謝您今天加入我們。現在我將把您轉交給接線員回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Christopher Glynn, Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）克里斯托弗·格林，奧本海默。

Thanks. Good morning. Looking at the continuing gross margin performance in all the execution there, curious if the service model streamlining initiatives, particularly the deployment of design select is pacing a faster than expectations perhaps?

謝謝。早安.看看所有執行中的持續毛利率表現，好奇服務模型簡化計劃（特別是設計選擇的部署）的速度是否比預期更快？

Hey, good morning, Chris. Thanks for the question. So we're pleased with our performance on margin expansion. As you know, this has been a multiyear process, and it's been focused really on the strategy of product vitality, increasing service levels, using our technology to different and how we operate the business and then driving productivity.

嘿，早上好，克里斯。謝謝你的提問。因此，我們對利潤率擴張的表現感到滿意。如您所知，這是一個多年的過程，它的重點實際上是產品活力策略、提高服務水平、利用我們的技術實現不同以及我們如何運營業務，然後提高生產力。

So this is a point on that path. I'd highlight really around product vitality and our ability, as we said in the prepared remarks to both deliver more value to the -- to our end users as well as make more -- make product profitable for us.

所以這是這條道路上的一個點。我要重點強調的是產品的活力和我們的能力，正如我們在準備好的評論中所說，既要為我們的最終用戶提供更多價值，又要為我們的產品創造更多利潤。

So obviously, that's a number of things design select is among those things. It's actually pacing where we expected. So it is not the primary driver of the improvement here, which highlights the trend that we're on and the length of the path we still have the travel there.

顯然，設計選擇包含很多事情。實際上，它的節奏符合我們的預期。因此，它並不是這裡改進的主要驅動力，這突顯了我們所處的趨勢以及我們仍然需要走的路的長度。

So we're pleased. I'd also highlights that you'll remember we acquired the Optotronic business from Osram. So we control more of the technology that is in our luminaire. That gives us significant flexibility, both in our design and our operation. So we're pleased with the continued and performance and it is attributable to multiple different things working in harmony.

所以我們很高興。我還要強調的是，您會記得我們從歐司朗收購了光電業務。因此，我們可以控制更多燈具中的技術。這為我們的設計和營運提供了極大的靈活性。因此，我們對持續的表現感到滿意，這歸因於多種不同事物的協調配合。

Thanks. Appreciate all that color. And then the positive book to bill notable, an interesting caveat the revenue being a little short of estimates out there, and I think it's from third straight quarter of positive year-over-year orders. I'm curious if the patterns weekly, monthly are still pretty consistent or perhaps they're getting a little more streaky in the front month or two?

謝謝。欣賞所有這些顏色。然後，值得注意的是，積極的賬簿，一個有趣的警告是，收入略低於預期，我認為這是來自連續第三個季度的同比訂單。我很好奇每週、每月的模式是否仍然相當一致，或者可能在前兩個月變得更加不穩定？

Yeah. So this quarter, as we said, our orders exceeded our shipments. The order rate has been relatively consistent throughout the year. So as Karen mentioned in her remarks, our production target -- we did not meet our production targets in the quarter, which is our -- we built backlog. So why our orders exceeded our shipment. So we're working on that. We'll sort that out obviously going forward and we will satisfy that backlog.

是的。因此，正如我們所說，本季我們的訂單超過了出貨量。全年訂單率相對穩定。正如凱倫在演講中提到的，我們的生產目標——我們沒有達到本季的生產目標，這是我們的——我們積壓了訂單。那麼為什麼我們的訂單超過了我們的出貨量。所以我們正在努力解決這個問題。顯然，我們會在未來解決這個問題，並滿足積壓的工作。

The big picture, we are cautiously optimistic. I would say about the future, the power of the diversity of our portfolio is really demonstrating instead of both in this quarter and as we go forward.

整體來看，我們持謹慎樂觀的態度。我想說的是，關於未來，我們投資組合多樣性的力量正在真正展現出來，而不是在本季和我們未來的發展中。

So I'd highlight the corporate accounts business, where while that is the definition of streaky to your question because we meet large customers when they're ready, it's a very attractive piece of business that is that we are uniquely positioned to serve in the industry. So things like that happens tricky, things like [CNI] have been relatively consistent. So that builds us a a strong foundation, so that we can adapt to where opportunity is in the market.

因此，我要強調企業客戶業務，雖然這是您問題中「條紋」的定義，因為我們會在大客戶準備好時與他們會面，但這是一項非常有吸引力的業務，因為我們處於獨特的地位，可以在行業。所以這樣的事情發生起來很棘手，像[CNI]這樣的事情一直相對一致。這為我們奠定了堅實的基礎，使我們能夠適應市場中的機會。

And then we'll continue to invest to add new areas of competition for the lighting business specifically, and we'll talk about spaces, I'm sure later. But there we talked about horticulture and petroleum. So the streaky places, as Karen identified was around corporate accounts, which is a very attractive piece of business for us.

然後我們將繼續投資，專門為照明業務增加新的競爭領域，我相信稍後我們將討論空間。但在那裡我們討論了園藝和石油。因此，正如凱倫所指出的那樣，不穩定的地方是企業客戶，這對我們來說是一項非常有吸引力的業務。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Ryan Merkel, William Blair.

瑞恩·梅克爾、威廉·布萊爾。

Hey, thanks for taking the questions. I wanted to ask as well on the order rate growth. Neil, can you just talk about which end markets you're seeing positive trends and maybe by geography where things are a bit stronger?

嘿，感謝您提出問題。我還想問一下訂單率的成長。尼爾，您能談談您在哪些終端市場看到了正面的趨勢嗎？

Yeah, I'll start and Karen add color as you see see fit. Let me first start by the disaggregated revenue. We've seen consistency in the C&I channel, as I said earlier. So that's our agent to project business throughout the country. And that has been stronger in areas where you expect like myself, areas where there are growth kind of in the country obviously, again. Strengthen and corporate accounts and the opportunities that we have there, longer term strength in our infrastructure.

是的，我會開始，凱倫添加你認為合適的顏色。讓我先從分類收入開始。正如我之前所說，我們已經看到 C&I 管道的一致性。這就是我們在全國範圍內代理的專案業務。在你像我一樣期望的領域，這種情況更加強勁，在該國顯然有增長的領域，再次。加強我們在那裡的企業客戶和機會，以及我們基礎設施的長期實力。

So we are taking longer live orders, if you will. So that satisfy over a longer period of time time that we have in the past. So we've talked about the city of Philadelphia, Hall of Fame, for example. There are others that that look and smell and smell like that. So yes, I mean, it is not -- we are in a market where everything is up and to the right. But our diversity of opportunity is presenting us the ability to continue to have a relatively consistent order rate. Karen, anything you'd like to add?

因此，如果您願意的話，我們將接受更長期限的訂單。這樣我們就可以在過去更長的時間內得到滿足。例如，我們討論了費城、名人堂。還有其他一些看起來、聞起來、聞起來都像那樣。所以，是的，我的意思是，事實並非如此——我們所處的市場一切都朝著好的方向發展。但我們的機會多樣性使我們有能力繼續保持相對穩定的訂單率。凱倫，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yeah. The only thing I would like to add, Ryan, is that when we looked ahead, infrastructure continues to show positive signs. It's not landing yet, but the quoting activity is really strong. So as we look ahead, I think we have the portfolio that service that business and see it as an opportunity for us.

是的。瑞安，我唯一想補充的是，當我們展望未來時，基礎設施繼續顯示出積極的跡象。雖然還沒落地，但是報價活動確實很旺盛。因此，當我們展望未來時，我認為我們擁有為該業務提供服務的產品組合，並將其視為我們的機會。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then I wanted to go back to the comment you made about not shipping maybe as well as you could have and you're going to address that. Can you just talk about that? And then when do you think you'll solve that?

知道了。好的。這很有幫助。然後我想回到您關於不發貨的評論，也許您可以做到這一點，您將解決這個問題。能簡單談談嗎？然後你認為什麼時候才能解決這個問題？

Yeah. So as we said, our orders exceeded our shipments, which means we generated backlog during the quarter. That backlog will be executed and shipped. And the reason is we didn't meet our daily production targets and there are a handful of reasons for that. None of which are alarming and and we are in the process of addressing them all. So we'll sort those out and over the course of this quarter, in the next quarter, and we'll be back to where we want to be.

是的。正如我們所說，我們的訂單超過了發貨量，這意味著我們在本季度產生了積壓。此積壓訂單將被執行並出貨。原因是我們沒有達到每日生產目標，原因有很多。這些都並不令人擔憂，我們正在解決所有這些問題。因此，我們將在本季和下個季度中解決這些問題，然後我們將回到我們想要的目標。

All right. Thanks. I'll pass it.

好的。謝謝。我會通過它。

Thanks, Ryan.

謝謝，瑞安。

Tim Wojs, Baird.

提姆·沃伊斯，貝爾德。

Hey, everybody. Good morning. Just to start just on getting into kind of the refueling and kind of the C-store market. I guess maybe just if you could step back and kind of talk about maybe why Acuity didn't address that market in the first place? And how maybe the unit economics of that business and independent compare to kind of your existing portfolio?

嘿，大家。早安.剛開始進入加油和便利商店市場。我想也許你可以退後一步，談談為什麼 Acuity 最初沒有涉足這個市場？該業務和獨立業務的單位經濟效益與您現有的投資組合相比如何？

Yeah. So it's a good question. So if you'll allow me, Tim, I'll just elevate for a second to say that, I think one of the perceptions in about Acuity Brands lighting and inclusive of our own is that because we're the largest in North America, we assume we're the largest in North America, which means we aren't always good at seeing the opportunities where we didn't compete.

是的。所以這是一個好問題。因此，如果你允許我，蒂姆，我想稍微說一下，我認為對 Acuity Brands 照明和我們自己的包容性的看法之一是，因為我們是北美最大的，我們假設我們是北美最大的公司，這意味著我們並不總是善於發現我們沒有競爭的機會。

So we are highly focused on where we do compete and we historically were less focused on where we didn't compete. So the refueling vertical, as an example of where we didn't compete, and so we paid some attack pension, but not enough attention to what that business was. And they were for any number of reasons focus. We had all other things to do, et cetera.

因此，我們高度關注我們參與競爭的領域，而從歷史上看，我們不太關注我們沒有競爭的領域。因此，加油垂直領域，作為我們沒有競爭的一個例子，因此我們支付了一些攻擊退休金，但對這項業務的關注不夠。他們出於多種原因而受到關注。我們還有其他事情要做，等等。

As we've focused the company now on finding these opportunities to grow where we are either not competing or not competing fulsomely, we've started to identify a rich niches where we want to and verticals where we want to go compete. The refueling one is an obvious one. So it's attractive for the size of the ultimate market at the end user base or an end basis, number one.

由於我們現在將公司的重點放在尋找這些我們沒有競爭或競爭不充分的領域的成長機會，因此我們已經開始確定我們想要競爭的豐富利基市場和我們想要競爭的垂直領域。加油是顯而易見的。因此，它對於最終用戶群或最終基礎的最終市場規模具有吸引力，第一。

Number two, it's an attractive competitive market with effectively limited competitors. So we decided to enter that business organically because obviously we can create a ton of value by building an attractive sized business in that vertical.

第二，這是一個有吸引力的競爭市場，競爭對手實際上有限。因此，我們決定有機地進入該業務，因為顯然我們可以透過在該垂直領域建立有吸引力的規模業務來創造大量價值。

So we invented new fixtures that support the core of that, which is canopy lighting. Those fixtures are at least as -- but in most cases, more competitive than what's currently in the marketplace. Those fixtures than pair with a lot of the rest of our portfolio to serve the rest of the facility. So imagine yourself on our EV charging lot or a gas station. And what that really is a canopy area and a facility where retail and food is sold, which obviously we excel in evidence our corporate accounts this quarter.

因此，我們發明了支援其核心的新燈具，即天篷照明。這些裝置至少比目前市場上的產品更具競爭力，但在大多數情況下。這些固定裝置與我們產品組合中的許多其他裝置配對，為設施的其他部分提供服務。想像一下您自己在我們的電動車充電站或加油站。這實際上是一個天篷區域和一個零售和食品銷售的設施，顯然我們在本季度的公司帳目中表現出色。

So when you put those two together, that creates an attractive market for us to go service. And I want to commend our teams for their ability to organically develop the product portfolio at a really rapid pace so that we can meet that market. So then we get to do other things we're really good at like go and recruit the top independent sales agent in that market to represent us. And so we're optimistic about our ability to do this in this vertical and for it to be a an attractive part of our portfolio going forward.

因此，當你將這兩者放在一起時，就會為我們的服務創造一個有吸引力的市場。我想讚揚我們的團隊以非常快的速度有機開發產品組合的能力，以便我們能夠滿足這個市場。因此，我們可以做其他我們真正擅長的事情，例如招募該市場中頂級的獨立銷售代理來代表我們。因此，我們對我們在這個垂直領域做到這一點的能力感到樂觀，並使其成為我們未來投資組合中有吸引力的一部分。

Okay, great. And then maybe at a higher level question also, but on SG&A, we've seen that kind of right now to maybe 32% or so of sales. I know this year, it's been kind of a little walk in terms of the sales numbers. But I guess as you look out over the next couple of years, I mean, when would you expect to start to see leverage on the heightened SG&A expense?

好的，太好了。也許還有更高層次的問題，但在 SG&A 方面，我們現在看到這種情況可能佔銷售額的 32% 左右。我知道今年的銷售數字略有上升。但我想，當你展望未來幾年時，我的意思是，你預計什麼時候開始看到SG＆A費用增加的槓桿作用？

So I'll start and then Karen will add actual real color to the conversation, but [specific] big picture on SG&A, I want to highlight it is SDNA. So there's their sales and marketing and then there's the distribution that is -- that we recognized in that number. So the distribution part of that is really part of our operations and we are addressing that going forward to improve that. But that currently generally moves basically in line with our volume.

所以我會開始，然後凱倫將為對話添加真正的色彩，但[具體]關於 SG&A 的大局，我想強調它是 SDNA。因此，這是他們的銷售和行銷，然後是我們在該數字中認識到的分銷。因此，分銷部分實際上是我們營運的一部分，我們正在解決這個問題，並繼續改進。但目前整體上與我們的交易量基本一致。

So if we put that aside, then from an operating expense -- and then sales and marketing, obviously is driven by the largely by the commissions we pay to the independent sales network. Within operating expenses than our priority and where our investment has been, has been around technology. So we have historically been underinvested in technology and realized as a result not as many of the benefits as we could.

因此，如果我們把這一點放在一邊，那麼營運費用以及銷售和行銷費用顯然主要是由我們向獨立銷售網路支付的佣金所驅動的。在營運費用中，我們的首要任務和投資重點是技術。因此，我們歷來對科技的投資不足，因此沒有實現盡可能多的好處。

So our priority there on the investment is to drive technology, which is helping to deliver some of the gross margin performance and will ultimately be more leverageable going forward. Karen?

因此，我們投資的首要任務是推動技術發展，這有助於實現部分毛利率表現，並最終提高未來的槓桿率。凱倫？

The other thing, I would point out is that if you look at the dollar investment quarter-to-quarter and fiscal 2024, we've been pretty consistent. So as we look to return the business to growth, I think that's where it will have a real opportunity to leverage our current level of fixed investments.

我要指出的另一件事是，如果你看看每季和 2024 財年的美元投資，我們一直都非常一致。因此，當我們希望業務恢復成長時，我認為這將是一個真正的機會來利用我們目前的固定投資水準。

Okay, great. Thanks a lot.

好的，太好了。多謝。

Joe O'Dea, Wells Fargo.

喬奧迪，富國銀行。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions.

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。

Good morning, Joe.

早安，喬。

I wanted to start on cash now at about $700 million and just thinking about deployment opportunities, any color on the M&A pipeline and also the potential size of what's within that and the stocks now and then sort of double digits from highs earlier this year? So does that give you an opportunity to sort of reconsider deployment and think about reengaging on repo or more?

我現在想以大約 7 億美元的現金開始，只考慮部署機會、併購管道的任何顏色以及其中的潛在規模，以及股票不時從今年早些時候的高點上漲兩位數？那麼，這是否讓您有機會重新考慮部署並考慮重新參與回購或更多活動？

Yeah, Joe, this is Karen, I'll start and then Neil can add more color on the M&A pipeline. Our free cash flow, we're really pleased with where we are year to date were $404 million of free cash flow, and we continue to invest in the business.

是的，喬，這是凱倫，我先開始，然後尼爾可以為併購管道添加更多色彩。我們的自由現金流，我們對今年迄今為止 4.04 億美元的自由現金流感到非常滿意，我們將繼續投資於該業務。

So our first priority is always to invest in our current businesses as for growth, when you see us doing this through our product vitality efforts. I'm also pleased to announce new [Lansing] this unlinked then yesterday.

因此，當您看到我們透過產品活力努力做到這一點時，我們的首要任務始終是投資於我們當前的業務以實現成長。我也很高興地宣布昨天沒有連結的新[蘭辛]。

We read our Distech facility and we are expanding those operations both in Lyon and in Montreal to support the growth for that business. So that is our first priority is to invest our current businesses for growth.

我們閱讀了我們的 Distech 工廠，並且正在擴大在里昂和蒙特利爾的業務，以支持該業務的成長。因此，我們的首要任務是投資我們現有的業務以實現成長。

Neil will talk more about the M&A pipeline. We did increase our dividend, if you recall this year. So our third priority is to increase our dividend. And for the first time in January, we increased it by 15% and maintain that level of dividend after this this quarter.

尼爾將更多地談論併購管道。如果你還記得今年的話，我們確實增加了股息。所以我們的第三個優先事項是增加股息。一月份我們首次將股息增加了 15%，並在本季度之後維持了這一水平。

And then finally, share repurchases as you acknowledged. So we've said it before when our share price is high, we buy, less when our share price is low, we buy more. And we really have demonstrated that consistently over the past four years, allowing us to buy a significant amount of our shares back over that time.

最後，正如您所承認的那樣，進行股票回購。所以我們之前說過，當我們的股價高時，我們買的少，當我們股價低的時候，我們買的多。在過去的四年裡，我們確實證明了這一點，使我們能夠在這段時間內回購大量股票。

So we would feel really good how we've allocated that capital today, Neil?

那麼，尼爾，我們今天對資本的分配方式會感到非常滿意嗎？

Yeah. So I'll emphasize a couple of things that Karen said, first is that we're investing for growth in our current businesses, evidence, horticulture, petroleum and the expansion at this tech, et cetera. So we were appropriately we recognize that -- we can create a ton of value with organic growth funded by our cash flow.

是的。因此，我要強調凱倫所說的幾件事，首先是我們正在投資於當前業務、證據、園藝、石油以及這項技術的擴張等方面的成長。因此，我們正確地認識到——我們可以透過現金流資助的有機成長創造大量價值。

On the M&A, we recognize also that we can expand the portfolio and expand the company in the process. And so we have a robust pipeline of small and medium-sized acquisitions that fit very well with our strategy going forward. And our priority there is around the spaces business where you've seen us do things like term, there are more like that. There are opportunities for us to increase our addressable market and the things that we can control and the manner in which we can control them. And so we're working on that.

在併購方面，我們也認識到我們可以在此過程中擴大產品組合併擴大公司規模。因此，我們擁有強大的中小型收購管道，非常適合我們的未來策略。我們的首要任務是圍繞空間業務，您已經看到我們做了諸如術語之類的事情，還有更多類似的事情。我們有機會擴大我們的潛在市場以及我們可以控制的事物以及我們可以控制它們的方式。所以我們正在努力解決這個問題。

We also have of a developing strong pipeline in the lighting business as well, where we may have the opportunity to put capital work in an attractive ways. But again, we're disciplined. We -- what we look for one needs to align with our strategy. Two, we need to understand how we can integrate and on operate that. Three, we need to understand its impact on our business, our company and our financial performance. And then fourth, we have to have the opportunity to acquire it at the appropriate valuation.

我們在照明業務方面也擁有強大的開發管道，我們可能有機會以有吸引力的方式進行資本工作。但我們再次強調，我們是有紀律的。我們－我們所尋找的東西需要與我們的策略保持一致。第二，我們需要了解如何整合和操作它。第三，我們需要了解它對我們的業務、我們的公司和我們的財務表現的影響。第四，我們必須有機會以適當的估值收購它。

So these things take time. I'd like to say, opportunity knocks, it doesn't come when it's called. So we will continue to prosecute those opportunities. But we feel really good about the pipeline and and where we could potentially be over the next couple of years.

所以這些事情需要時間。我想說的是，機會來敲門，但它並不是當它召喚時就來了。因此，我們將繼續抓住這些機會。但我們對管道以及未來幾年可能達到的目標感到非常滿意。

So helpful details. I appreciate it. And then just wanted to ask on sort of industry indicators versus demand trends you're seeing, I think headline figures seeing some softness in softer than expected. ABL revenue wasn't all that surprising when we look at ABI and Dodge Momentum. But it sounds like that was maybe more sort of internally related and the commentary on order activity is encouraging.

如此有用的細節。我很感激。然後只是想問您所看到的行業指標與需求趨勢，我認為整體數據顯示出一些比預期更疲軟的疲軟。當我們觀察 ABI 和 Dodge Momentum 時，ABL 的收入並不那麼令人驚訝。但聽起來這可能更多是內部相關的，而且對訂單活動的評論令人鼓舞。

And so just when you're looking at those indicators and you're seeing the end market, what are the disconnects between the two such that the underlying demand that you're seeing in orders is still pretty healthy?

因此，當您查看這些指標並看到最終市場時，兩者之間存在哪些脫節，以至於您在訂單中看到的潛在需求仍然相當健康？

Yeah. I would say a couple things on that, Joe. So first is that we're the largest in the market. So obviously, we're going to be affected by the market. Our growth algorithm and straightforward. So the impact of the market, one. It's our ability to take share, two, and it's our ability to grow and things three. So you're seeing in some of that, we're really all three of those in our order rate.

是的。喬，我想就此說幾句話。首先，我們是市場上最大的。顯然，我們將受到市場的影響。我們的成長演算法簡單明了。那麼市場的影響，一。第二是我們獲取份額的能力，第三是我們成長的能力。所以你可以看到，我們的訂單率確實包含了這三個因素。

The -- as we as we mentioned, we did build backlog during the quarter. So on a natural basis, sales could have been a little bit higher in this quarter, but those will be satisfied in the next quarter.

正如我們所提到的，我們確實在本季度積壓了訂單。因此，自然而然地，本季的銷售額可能會稍高一些，但下個季度就會得到滿足。

We -- as we've talked about a fair amount, we are as you know, I am data-focused. And so I'd prefer to talk about what we know versus what we think. So the regression work that we do on a consistent basis would demonstrate that we are outperforming what our historical performance would suggest that we would do. So that is the combination of all of that we done before. We have not been able to convincingly predict exactly where -- use an outside, specific single outside variable to consistently predict what the market will be.

我們——正如我們已經談論過的那樣，正如你所知，我們以數據為中心。因此，我更願意談論我們所知道的和我們所想的。因此，我們在一致的基礎上進行的回歸工作將證明我們的表現優於我們的歷史表現所表明的我們會做的事情。這就是我們之前所做的所有工作的組合。我們無法令人信服地準確預測——使用外部的、特定的單一外部變數來一致地預測市場將會是什麼樣子。

So ABI, for example, is just one of the metrics that we use Dodge's. But one of the metrics there we use. When we consolidate those and we are we are -- we do this every month and we are and we iterate and we tried to make our model better and better and it is getting better. And the other takeaway is that we're outperforming what the data would suggest that, that we would do, which means that we're outperforming our both our past and the industry metrics.

例如，ABI 只是我們使用 Dodge 的指標之一。但我們使用的指標之一。當我們整合這些時，我們就是——我們每個月都會這樣做，我們會迭代，我們試圖讓我們的模型變得越來越好，而且它正在變得越來越好。另一個要點是，我們的表現超出了數據顯示的結果，這意味著我們的表現超出了我們的過去和行業指標。

And then just one clarification related to the production that you talked about in the quarter, can you just size with their revenue impact is? And do you expect to fully capture that in the fourth quarter?

然後，只有一個與您在本季度談到的生產相關的澄清，您能否根據其收入影響來確定規模？您期望在第四季度完全抓住這一點嗎？

Yeah. So we've -- and we've talked about this during kind of the last couple of years as things have we saw around. We have orders, those turns into backlog, we produce that and then it shifts. So we don't have a phenomenon or orders are canceled.

是的。因此，我們在過去幾年中就我們所看到的情況討論了這個問題。我們有訂單，這些訂單變成了積壓訂單，我們生產訂單，然後訂單發生變化。所以我們沒有出現訂單被取消的現象。

So orders are orders for us. So it's just a matter of when we ship. The second thing I'd highlight is that we were focused on, as we've said, returning the lighting business to growth. That will happen in either this quarter, the next quarter based on how we trend that out.

所以訂單就是我們的訂單。所以這只是我們何時出貨的問題。我要強調的第二件事是，正如我們所說，我們的重點是讓照明業務恢復成長。這將在本季度或下季度發生，具體取決於我們的趨勢。

So we like to focus on the longer term and our ability to grow this business. We're confident in our ability to continue to grow the lighting business. And we're confident in our operating performance and our ability to continue that as well.

因此，我們希望專注於長期目標和發展這項業務的能力。我們對繼續發展照明業務的能力充滿信心。我們對我們的經營業績以及繼續保持這一業績的能力充滿信心。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Jeffrey Sprague, Vertical Research Partners.

Jeffrey Sprague，垂直研究夥伴。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Just -- I want to come back to kind of the production just because -- it's actually a little surprising to hear it in an environment where demand is a particularly strong, right? It sounds like you're trying to ramp up to some higher level. And then here it's multiple things not like one thing perhaps like a supplier dropping the ball.

謝謝。大家，早安。只是 - 我想回到製作的類型只是因為 - 在需求特別強勁的環境中聽到它實際上有點令人驚訝，對吧？聽起來你正試圖提升到更高的水平。這裡有很多事情，而不是像供應商失誤那樣的一件事。

So can you give us a little bit more color on what happened? and sort of those said a little bit about quarter two, you get it cleaned up, but it just kind of sounds a bit surprising that this would have manifested across several different inputs.

那麼你能給我們更多關於發生的事情的資訊嗎？有點像第二季度那樣，你把它清理乾淨了，但這聽起來有點令人驚訝，這會在幾個不同的輸入中反映出來。

Yeah, Jeff. First of all, I want to emphasize what I said, which is not alarming. And we have now developed the consistency of communication where we'll tell you exactly kind of what we're thinking about and we won't throw kind of either suppliers under the bus or not answered the question.

是的，傑夫。首先，我想強調我所說的，這並不令人擔憂。我們現在已經建立了溝通的一致性，我們將準確地告訴您我們正在考慮的事情，我們不會讓任何供應商陷入困境或不回答問題。

There is nothing alarming about this production. We had a -- the core issue is a mild labor. We didn't -- a labor issue, which is we didn't ramp up labor as fast as we needed to because we didn't think we would need to ramp it up that fast. We can solve that problem and relatively short order and solve that going forward.

這個作品並沒有什麼令人擔憂的。我們的核心問題是輕度分娩。我們沒有——勞動力問題，即我們沒有按照我們需要的速度增加勞動力，因為我們認為我們不需要那麼快地增加勞動力。我們可以解決這個問題和相對較短的訂單，並繼續解決這個問題。

So this is not as I said, there is nothing alarming about this -- and its impact going forward. So we feel really good. I will tell you a preview what our internal communication is, which we're sending out and about 30 minutes, which is that as we've improved our company, our expectations for our own performance are higher.

所以這並不像我說的那樣，這及其未來的影響沒有什麼令人擔憂的。所以我們感覺非常好。我會告訴你我們的內部溝通的預覽是什麼，我們正在發送大約30分鐘，這就是隨著我們改進了我們的公司，我們對自己績效的期望更高了。

So we are holding ourselves to a higher standard and so I don't think many companies would have called out that we missed our production targets this quarter, but our expectations for our own performance are higher and so -- and our team's expectations for our performance are higher. So again, nothing alarming here. We will sort this out and and go forward.

因此，我們對自己要求更高的標準，所以我認為不會有很多公司會指出我們沒有達到本季的生產目標，但我們對自己業績的期望更高，所以——我們的團隊對我們的期望性能更高。再說一次，這裡沒有什麼值得警惕的。我們將解決這個問題並繼續前進。

And then on the other side of the equation, the other gross margins continue to look impressive, which I hear production problem, I think down gross margins up gross margins right at that one point into the discussion today is that design select us not the primary driver. Can you just maybe elaborate what -- you pointed to product vitality service levels and productivity? I mean, is that the order of magnitude, is there anything in particular that stands out on the gross margins? I know direct price discussion as a bit anathema, but maybe just talk about what's going on the price cost side in aggregate.

然後在等式的另一邊，其他毛利率仍然看起來令人印象深刻，我聽說這是生產問題，我認為在今天討論的這一點上，降低毛利率提高毛利率是設計選擇我們而不是主要因素司機。您能否詳細說明您提到的產品活力服務水準和生產力？我的意思是，在這個數量級上，毛利率上有什麼特別突出的地方嗎？我知道直接的價格討論有點令人厭惡，但也許只是談論價格成本方面的總體情況。

Yeah. So let's do spend a few minutes on this, Jeff. Thanks for for the question. So let me first start with product vitality, and I'll use the frame which we focused on as an example. That is and we've talked about several big fixture prop projects over the course of the last couple of years that have done something similar, which is -- we are delivering a higher value products to marketplace was significantly less content.

是的。傑夫，讓我們花幾分鐘討論一下這個問題。感謝您的提問。因此，讓我先從產品活力開始，我將使用我們關注的框架作為範例。也就是說，我們在過去幾年中討論了幾個大型固定道具項目，這些項目做了類似的事情，那就是——我們正在向市場提供更高價值的產品，但內容卻明顯減少。

So as you saw in the images, this is literally a snap together fixture that replaces a panel and in the ceiling of an office or K [through] 12 school, for example. So they're significantly less content in that fixture. So obviously, our ability to drive margin with less material is much higher.

正如您在圖像中看到的那樣，這實際上是一個卡扣式固定裝置，可以取代面板，例如安裝在辦公室或 K [通過] 12 學校的天花板上。所以他們在那場比賽中的內容要少得多。顯然，我們用更少的材料提高利潤的能力要高得多。

Second, I would say on the pricing front, we have been, as we've said, we've become very strategic about how we price. So, and our size strategy is very clear on the Contractor Select portfolio, which is 300 high-volume products, which are designed to be stocked and resold. We are we are very competitive from a price perspective, although not not the lowest price and we are the most competitive from a value perspective.

其次，我想說在定價方面，正如我們所說，我們對於定價方式已經變得非常具有戰略意義。因此，我們對承包商精選產品組合的規模策略非常明確，該產品組合包含 300 種大批量產品，旨在庫存和轉售。從價格角度來看，我們非常有競爭力，儘管不是最低的價格，但從價值角度來看，我們是最具競爭力的。

In other words, what you get for your money. So switchable technology and other things, we've created an opportunity for the end user to be able to trust those products in each of their projects. And we've created the opportunity for distributors to earn higher returns because when they focus on our products, they know that they don't have to carry as much inventory. They also don't have to carry as much exogenous inventory. In other words, inventory of other folks.

換句話說，你花錢就能得到什麼。因此，可切換技術和其他東西，我們為最終用戶創造了一個機會，讓他們能夠在每個專案中信任這些產品。我們為經銷商創造了獲得更高回報的機會，因為當他們專注於我們的產品時，他們知道他們不必攜帶那麼多庫存。他們也不必攜帶那麼多的外源庫存。換句話說，就是其他人的庫存。

The third thing I'd highlight, which I addressed a little bit earlier in one of the questions was the now fully integrated performance of our [elderly] and OPTOTRONIC drivers. So by controlling the electronics in our luminaries in our controls, we have largely completed that vertical integration, which gives us a number of advantages among them as margin.

我要強調的第三件事是我們的[老年]和 OPTOTRONIC 驅動程式現在完全整合的效能，我在其中一個問題的前面已經提到了這一點。因此，透過在我們的控制器中控制燈具中的電子設備，我們基本上完成了垂直整合，這為我們帶來了許多優勢，例如利潤。

So and then finally, we continue to have opportunity to us to increase service levels and drive productivity. So as I mentioned earlier in the call, we're on a path here. We're not a destination and so -- and each one of those is working together. And the cumulative effect of that is what we think it's really good performance.

最後，我們繼續有機會提高服務水準並提高生產力。正如我之前在電話中提到的，我們正走在這條路上。我們不是目的地，因此，每個人都在共同努力。我們認為它的累積效應才是真正出色的表現。

Great. Thanks for that. I'll leave it there.

偉大的。感謝那。我會把它留在那裡。

Thanks, Jeff.

謝謝，傑夫。

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

謝謝，目前我沒有在隊列中顯示任何其他問題。我想將電話轉回給尼爾·阿什，請他發表結束語。

Thank you. We appreciate you all for joining us today. So as we've talked about consistently, we are focused on returning our Lighting -- Lighting control business to growth while we continue to drive margins and strong cash flow. We feel like our Spaces businesses' performance is impressive and growing and we have opportunities to continue to grow our portfolio over time.

謝謝。我們感謝大家今天加入我們。因此，正如我們一直在談論的那樣，我們專注於使我們的照明——照明控制業務恢復成長，同時繼續提高利潤率和強勁的現金流。我們認為我們的空間業務表現令人印象深刻且不斷成長，隨著時間的推移，我們有機會繼續擴大我們的產品組合。

So with that, we will get back to work and deliver on the fourth quarter and we'll talk to you soon. I hope you all have a good day.

因此，我們將重新開始工作並在第四季度交付成果，我們很快就會與您聯繫。我希望你們都有美好的一天。

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。您現在可以斷開連線。