Barrett Business Services Inc (BBSI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss BBSI's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.

大家下午好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議，討論 BBSI 截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的第四季度和全年財務業績。

Joining us today are BBSI's President and CEO, Mr. Gary Kramer; and the company's CFO, Mr. Anthony Harris. Following their remarks, we will open the call for your questions.

今天加入我們的是 BBSI 總裁兼首席執行官 Gary Kramer 先生；以及公司的首席財務官 Anthony Harris 先生。在他們發言之後，我們將開始徵集您的問題。

Before we go further, please take note of the company's safe harbor statement within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statement provides important cautions regarding forward-looking statements. The company's remarks during today's conference call will include forward-looking statements. These statements along with other information presented that does not reflect historical fact are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those implied by these forward-looking statements.

在我們進一步討論之前，請注意公司在 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的安全港聲明。該聲明提供了有關前瞻性聲明的重要警告。該公司在今天的電話會議上發表的言論將包括前瞻性陳述。這些陳述以及其他不反映歷史事實的信息受到許多風險和不確定性的影響。實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述所暗示的結果存在重大差異。

Please refer to the company's recent earnings release and to the company's quarterly and annual results, annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information about the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性明示或暗示的結果不同的風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱公司最近的收益發布以及公司的季度和年度業績以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的年度報告-尋找陳述。

I would like to remind everyone that this call will be available for replay through April 1, 2023, starting at 8:00 p.m. ET tonight. A webcast replay will also be available via the link provided in today's press release as well as available on the company's website at www.bbsi.com.

我想提醒大家，這個電話會議可以在 2023 年 4 月 1 日之前重播，從晚上 8 點開始。今晚東部時間。還可以通過今天新聞稿中提供的鏈接以及公司網站 www.bbsi.com 上的鏈接觀看網絡直播重播。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to the President and Chief Executive Officer of BBSI, Mr. Gary Kramer. Sir, please go ahead.

現在我想把電話轉給 BBSI 的總裁兼首席執行官 Gary Kramer 先生。先生，請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. We had a successful quarter, both financially and operationally, which capped off a record year. We consistently exceeded our internal estimates for client retention, net client adds and work-side employee growth, all of which led to better-than-expected financial results.

謝謝。大家下午好，感謝您加入電話會議。我們有一個成功的季度，無論是在財務上還是在運營上，都為創紀錄的一年畫上了句號。我們在客戶保留率、淨客戶增加和工作方面的員工增長方面始終超出我們的內部估計，所有這些都導致了好於預期的財務業績。

Before I speak to the financial performance, I would like to recap some of the key operational and strategic accomplishments for the year. We continue to build out our corporate sales effort and increase the top of the funnel by focusing on lead generation via an omnichannel digital campaign, which brought on new clients and new referral partners. We continue to invest in new geographies, and we are now operational in 14 asset-light markets. We have refined our expansion model, where we attract and hire great people, train them well, apply the lessons we learned in a COVID environment for how to operate remotely and package with our digital initiatives to help grow their market penetration.

在談到財務業績之前，我想回顧一下今年的一些關鍵運營和戰略成就。我們繼續加強我們的企業銷售工作，並通過全渠道數字活動專注於潛在客戶的產生，從而增加漏斗的頂部，從而帶來新客戶和新的推薦合作夥伴。我們繼續投資新的地區，我們現在在 14 個輕資產市場開展業務。我們改進了我們的擴張模式，我們吸引和僱用優秀人才，對他們進行良好培訓，應用我們在 COVID 環境中學到的如何遠程操作的經驗教訓，並與我們的數字計劃相結合，以幫助提高他們的市場滲透率。

We launched 3 new products. The first is BBSI Benefits. We now offer health insurance plus ancillary benefits. This is a fully insured program where we take no underwriting risk. This offering is made available and delivered seamlessly through our myBBSI portal. The second is BBSI U, a learning management portal that our clients can purchase, which contains various catalogs consisting of HR and compliance, risk and safety, leadership and professional skills. This offering is also delivered through our myBBSI portal. The third is BBSI recruiting. We've built out recruiting hubs in every region that support our branch network and now provide recruiting services for our PEO clients.

我們推出了 3 款新產品。首先是 BBSI 福利。我們現在提供健康保險和附加福利。這是一個完全保險的計劃，我們不承擔任何承保風險。該產品可通過我們的 myBBSI 門戶網站無縫提供和交付。第二個是 BBSI U，這是一個我們的客戶可以購買的學習管理門戶網站，其中包含各種目錄，包括人力資源和合規性、風險和安全、領導力和專業技能。此產品還通過我們的 myBBSI 門戶提供。三是BBSI招聘。我們在每個地區都建立了支持我們分支網絡的招聘中心，現在為我們的 PEO 客戶提供招聘服務。

We also successfully renewed our workers' compensation facility and received better pricing and better terms and now have no downside and only share in the upside of our disciplined underwriting operations. And we also made further advancements on our Employer of Choice Initiative and earned The Great Place to Work designation for the second year in a row. All of these efforts strategically put us in position for promising top line and bottom line growth in 2023 and beyond.

我們還成功地更新了我們的工人賠償機制，並獲得了更好的定價和更好的條款，現在沒有任何不利因素，只能分享我們紀律嚴明的承銷業務的好處。我們還進一步推進了我們的最佳雇主計劃，並連續第二年獲得最佳工作場所稱號。所有這些努力都在戰略上使我們能夠在 2023 年及以後實現有前途的收入和利潤增長。

Moving to our financial results. During the quarter, our gross billings increased 8% over the prior year quarter. To note, this quarter had one less business day than the prior year quarter. Regarding our client and WSE stack, we continue to execute on our various strategies to increase the top of the sales funnel, and I am pleased to say that we once again exceeded our expectations in Q4. The next trend that we previously discussed is that we've been able to sell and support larger clients with our upgraded technology stack and national PEO licenses. This continues to progress favorably, and the average size of the clients that we are adding are larger than the average size of the clients that are running off.

轉向我們的財務業績。本季度，我們的總賬單比去年同期增長了 8%。需要注意的是，本季度比上一季度少了一個工作日。關於我們的客戶和 WSE 堆棧，我們繼續執行我們的各種策略來增加銷售漏斗的頂部，我很高興地說我們在第四季度再次超出了我們的預期。我們之前討論的下一個趨勢是，我們已經能夠通過升級的技術堆棧和國家 PEO 許可證來銷售和支持更大的客戶。這繼續有利地進展，我們正在添加的客戶端的平均大小大於正在流失的客戶端的平均大小。

Regarding client runoff, our retention continues to be stronger than pre-pandemic levels. I'd like to attribute that to the work we do with our clients and the value our teams provide. The result of all these efforts or what I refer to as controllable growth is that we added approximately 4,100 worksite employees year-over-year from net new clients. Our client hiring was softer than we forecasted in the quarter, and the net result was a 6% increase in our average worksite employees over the prior year quarter. In 2022, we averaged the most worksite employees in BBSI's history. Our growth in worksite employees is a combination of our controllable growth plus our clients' hiring.

關於客戶流失，我們的保留率繼續高於大流行前的水平。我想將這歸因於我們與客戶所做的工作以及我們團隊提供的價值。所有這些努力的結果或我所說的可控增長是我們從淨新客戶中同比增加了大約 4,100 名工作場所員工。我們的客戶招聘比我們在本季度預測的要疲軟，最終結果是我們的平均工作場所員工比去年同期增加了 6%。 2022 年，我們平均僱用了 BBSI 歷史上最多的工地員工。我們在工作場所員工的增長是我們可控增長加上客戶招聘的結合。

Moving to our staffing operations. Our staffing business declined by 13% over the prior year quarter and was lower than anticipated. This decrease is a combination of many factors, including, but not limited to, demand, supply, weather, and it varies by geography. Anthony will give some regional color for what we're seeing in our markets. I mentioned previously that we made investments in our recruiting operations, and we are seeing positive results with BBSI recruiting where we provide recruiting services for our PEO clients. When we place a candidate, we receive a recruiting fee, and then as the candidate joins the client's payroll, we realize PEO revenue. On a year-to-date basis, we've placed 375 candidates with 189 PEO clients and generated over $3 million of recruiting fees. We expect this to increase as we introduce this product to more clients.

轉到我們的人員配置操作。我們的人員配備業務比去年同期下降了 13%，低於預期。這種下降是許多因素的結合，包括但不限於需求、供應、天氣，並且因地理位置而異。 Anthony 將為我們在市場上看到的事物賦予一些區域色彩。我之前提到過，我們對招聘業務進行了投資，我們在 BBSI 招聘方面看到了積極的成果，我們為 PEO 客戶提供招聘服務。當我們安排候選人時，我們會收到招聘費，然後當候選人加入客戶的工資單時，我們就會實現 PEO 收入。從年初至今，我們已經為 189 名 PEO 客戶安排了 375 名候選人，並產生了超過 300 萬美元的招聘費用。隨著我們向更多客戶介紹該產品，我們預計這一數字會增加。

Moving to the field operational updates. We are very pleased with the progress of entering new markets with our asset-light model. Our market development managers are doing well and achieving their goals of adding and servicing new clients and new referral partners. Our first 3 classes have all graduated and are attacking their 14 new markets. Our results thus far are better than we expected and are exceeding our internal return hurdle rate, and we anticipate opening additional new markets in 2023.

移動到現場操作更新。我們對輕資產模式進入新市場的進展感到非常高興。我們的市場開發經理做得很好，並實現了增加和服務新客戶和新推薦合作夥伴的目標。我們的前 3 個班級已經全部畢業，正在攻打他們的 14 個新市場。迄今為止，我們的業績好於我們的預期，並且超過了我們的內部回報率，我們預計將在 2023 年開闢更多新市場。

Regarding our product update, we successfully executed on the sales and service of BBSI Benefits, our new health insurance offering. As a refresher, we rolled this out to a limited number of existing clients in select markets for the 1/1/23 enrollment season. Our intent was to perfect our craft and then shift our focus to California and to add new prospects. This will not move the needle for revenue or profit in 2023 as we targeted a very small cohort of clients, but we anticipate that this will provide material contribution as we look to the future of BBSI.

關於我們的產品更新，我們成功地執行了我們新的健康保險產品 BBSI Benefits 的銷售和服務。作為回顧，我們在 23 年 1 月 1 日的註冊季向特定市場中的有限數量的現有客戶推出了此功能。我們的目的是完善我們的工藝，然後將我們的重點轉移到加利福尼亞並增加新的前景。這不會改變 2023 年的收入或利潤，因為我們針對的是一小部分客戶，但我們預計這將在我們展望 BBSI 的未來時做出重大貢獻。

I am pleased to say that we had a very successful soft launch in these markets. Our sales, underwriting, operations and IT all worked in unison as intended. We have successfully sold our medical and ancillary products to approximately 70 clients and have about 1,200 members on our various plans. More importantly, we have gained the confidence through our repetitions and are now bringing this product into all markets for existing clients as well as new prospects. BBSI Benefits is now open for business in every market. In addition to our benefits offering, we also launched BBSI U late in the fourth quarter. This is a learning management portal that our clients can purchase and contains various training catalogs. This does not replace our experts in the field, but will be a valuable tool that complements our offering. It is still early days as this just launched, but we've added over a dozen clients already. We view this as an additional product that will help us retain and add new business.

我很高興地說，我們在這些市場進行了非常成功的軟啟動。我們的銷售、承保、運營和 IT 都按預期協同工作。我們已經成功地向大約 70 位客戶銷售了我們的醫療和輔助產品，並且我們的各種計劃中有大約 1,200 名成員。更重要的是，我們通過重複獲得了信心，現在正在將該產品推向現有客戶和新潛在客戶的所有市場。 BBSI Benefits 現已在每個市場開展業務。除了提供福利外，我們還在第四季度末推出了 BBSI U。這是我們的客戶可以購買的學習管理門戶，其中包含各種培訓目錄。這不會取代我們在該領域的專家，但將成為補充我們產品的寶貴工具。它剛剛推出還處於早期階段，但我們已經添加了十幾個客戶。我們將此視為將幫助我們保留和增加新業務的附加產品。

To emphasize this point, last month, we had an existing client in the Northwest, who began to shop us as they were looking for a learning tool and quickly stayed with BBSI and purchased 87 licenses.

為了強調這一點，上個月，我們在西北地區有一個現有客戶，他們在尋找學習工具時開始購買我們，並很快留在 BBSI 併購買了 87 個許可證。

Next, I'd like to shift and speak to the 2023 plan. We know that we have consecutive quarters of great momentum. We know that our client retention is strong and that our sales efforts are resulting in more business opportunities. We know that our prospects continue to be larger. We know that we have (technical difficulty) products to offer. We know that we have been executing to our product road map, while achieving our controllable growth goals. I have never been more optimistic about what we can control.

接下來，我想談談 2023 年計劃。我們知道我們有連續幾個季度的強勁勢頭。我們知道我們的客戶保留率很高，我們的銷售努力帶來了更多的商機。我們知道我們的前景會繼續擴大。我們知道我們有（技術難度）產品可以提供。我們知道我們一直在執行我們的產品路線圖，同時實現我們可控的增長目標。我對我們可以控制的事情從未如此樂觀。

However, times are growing more challenging for business owners, given tight labor market, record inflation, expiring government subsidies, supply chain challenges and a rising interest rate environment. Due to these conditions, we believe that our client hiring will slow in 2023 and have reflected accordingly in our [gross billings] outlook. This is an unknown, and we may be wrong, but we always are on the side of caution when we set our targets. Based upon our optimism of things we can control, slightly offset with slower economic conditions, we are confident that we can continue to grow our business and our profitability at our long-term targets.

然而，鑑於勞動力市場緊張、創紀錄的通貨膨脹、政府補貼到期、供應鏈挑戰和利率上升環境，企業主面臨的挑戰越來越大。由於這些情況，我們認為我們的客戶招聘將在 2023 年放緩，並相應地反映在我們的 [gross billings] 前景中。這是一個未知數，我們可能是錯的，但我們在設定目標時總是站在謹慎的一邊。基於我們對我們可以控制的事情的樂觀態度，略微抵消了經濟狀況放緩的影響，我們相信我們可以繼續按照我們的長期目標發展我們的業務和盈利能力。

Now I'm going to turn the call over to Anthony for his prepared remarks.

現在我要把電話轉給安東尼聽他準備好的發言。

Thanks, Gary, and hello, everyone. I am pleased to report that we finished the year with strong results as gross billings increased 13% in 2022 to $7.4 billion versus $6.6 billion in 2021. This strong growth is from a combination of better-than-expected growth from net new clients as well as stronger-than-expected hiring and wage increases within our existing customer base. In addition, we achieved strong earnings leverage for the year with diluted earnings per share increasing 31% to $6.54 compared to $5 in the prior year.

謝謝，加里，大家好。我很高興地向大家報告，我們以強勁的業績結束了這一年，2022 年的總營業額增長了 13%，達到 74 億美元，而 2021 年為 66 億美元。這種強勁的增長得益於淨新客戶好於預期的增長以及由於我們現有客戶群的招聘和工資增長強於預期。此外，我們今年實現了強勁的收益槓桿，稀釋後每股收益從上一年的 5 美元增長 31% 至 6.54 美元。

Looking more closely at our Q4 results, net income was $11.5 million compared to $10.6 million in Q4 '21. Our Q4 PEO gross billings increased 8% over the prior year quarter to $1.9 billion, while staffing revenues decreased 13% over the prior year to $29 million. As Gary noted, our increase in PEO gross billings in Q4 was once again driven by stronger-than-expected growth from net new clients in the quarter as well as higher average billings per WSE. Our average billing per WSE increased 3.3% in the quarter, driven primarily by rising wages in our existing employee base. Our client wages have been resilient, and will continue to drive billing growth going into 2023.

仔細觀察我們第四季度的業績，淨收入為 1150 萬美元，而 21 年第四季度為 1060 萬美元。我們第四季度的 PEO 總賬單比上年同期增長 8% 至 19 億美元，而員工收入比上年下降 13% 至 2900 萬美元。正如 Gary 指出的那樣，我們第四季度 PEO 總賬單的增長再次受到本季度淨新客戶強於預期的增長以及每個 WSE 更高的平均賬單的推動。本季度我們每個 WSE 的平均賬單增長了 3.3%，這主要是由於我們現有員工群的工資上漲。我們的客戶工資一直具有彈性，並將繼續推動 2023 年的賬單增長。

We mentioned last quarter that we continue to watch for slower growth from client hiring in our PEO client base, and we have seen the pace of hiring slow in Q4 relative to prior quarters. Clients associated with residential construction and manufacturing have been most affected, driven primarily by economic conditions. However, adverse weather across the West Coast in December and continuing into 2023 also served as a headwind to our construction accounts. Other sectors, like hospitality, logistics and services have not seen a slowdown in hiring in Q4.

我們在上個季度提到，我們繼續關注我們的 PEO 客戶群中客戶招聘的增長放緩，而且我們已經看到第四季度的招聘速度與前幾個季度相比有所放緩。與住宅建築和製造業相關的客戶受到的影響最大，主要受經濟狀況的驅動。然而，12 月橫跨西海岸並持續到 2023 年的惡劣天氣也對我們的建築業務造成不利影響。酒店、物流和服務等其他行業在第四季度的招聘並未放緩。

Looking at PEO gross billings growth by region versus the prior year fourth quarter, the East Coast grew 15%, Southern California grew 13%, Mountain States grew 13%. Northern California grew by 1% and the Pacific Northwest was flat. The weather impacts, I mentioned earlier, were most significant in Northern California and Pacific Northwest regions. The net result of higher starting wages, but slower client hiring is that we continue to expect growth from existing customers in 2023, but at a slower rate than we saw in 2022. As a reminder, we are not anticipating significant incremental revenue from our health benefits offering until after the January 1, 2024 enrollment season.

看看按地區劃分的 PEO 總賬單增長與去年第四季度相比，東海岸增長了 15%，南加州增長了 13%，山地州增長了 13%。北加州增長了 1%，而太平洋西北部則持平。我之前提到的天氣影響在北加州和太平洋西北地區最為顯著。起薪較高但客戶招聘速度放緩的最終結果是，我們繼續預計 2023 年現有客戶的增長速度將低於我們在 2022 年看到的速度。提醒一下，我們預計我們的健康收入不會顯著增加福利提供至 2024 年 1 月 1 日入學季之後。

Looking more closely at the decline in staffing revenues. We noted in the previous quarter that the drivers of our slowing revenue varied by region, and that has continued to be the case through year-end. Our primary challenge in the Mountain States continues to be the availability of labor to fill client orders, as unemployment rates remain at all-time lows. And then in the Pacific Northwest, our staffing billings are more weighted toward agricultural services, and weather and core harvests have resulted in lower billings. Our California regions are more weighted toward light industrial staffing services, and we have seen decreases in demand there due to softening economic conditions.

更仔細地觀察員工收入的下降。我們在上一季度注意到，我們收入放緩的驅動因素因地區而異，這種情況一直持續到年底。我們在山區國家面臨的主要挑戰仍然是勞動力的可用性來滿足客戶訂單，因為失業率仍處於歷史最低水平。然後在太平洋西北地區，我們的人員配置賬單更傾向於農業服務，天氣和核心收成導致賬單減少。我們的加利福尼亞地區更側重於輕工業人員配備服務，我們發現由於經濟狀況疲軟，那裡的需求有所下降。

As Gary noted, we're in the process of leveraging our staffing infrastructure to roll out expanded recruiting and talent acquisition services for our PEO clients. We have seen positive early results in this space. And as these services grow, we'll begin to generate higher average margin rates in staffing as we earn placement fees. Overall, our expectation is that staffing revenues will decline in 2023 due to these ongoing challenges in the labor market and economy.

正如 Gary 指出的那樣，我們正在利用我們的人員配置基礎設施為我們的 PEO 客戶推出擴展的招聘和人才獲取服務。我們已經在這個領域看到了積極的早期成果。隨著這些服務的增長，我們將開始在人員配置方面產生更高的平均利潤率，因為我們將賺取安置費。總體而言，我們預計，由於勞動力市場和經濟面臨的這些持續挑戰，2023 年員工收入將下降。

Moving to our overall gross margin results. Our gross margin rate is again trending ahead of prior year through Q4 with continued cost savings from [lower] workers' compensation expense in the quarter, while our pricing has remained in line with plan. Workers' compensation expense continues to benefit from favorable claim frequency trends and the fourth quarter included a favorable actuarially determined reduction of prior year estimated liabilities of $600,000. As a reminder, our workers' compensation exposure is now primarily covered by our fully insured program with no downside risk to BBSI for future adverse claim development. However, BBSI can still participate in any favorable development on claim costs in future periods.

轉到我們的整體毛利率結果。到第四季度，我們的毛利率再次高於上一年，本季度 [降低] 工人補償費用持續節省成本，而我們的定價與計劃保持一致。工傷賠償費用繼續受益於有利的索賠頻率趨勢，第四季度包括精算確定的有利的前一年估計負債減少 600,000 美元。提醒一下，我們的工人賠償風險現在主要由我們的全額保險計劃承保，BBSI 沒有因未來不利索賠發展而面臨的下行風險。但是，BBSI 仍可以在未來期間參與索賠成本的任何有利發展。

With regards to pricing, we continue to see stability in the workers' compensation market. And while the market remains competitive, any pricing adjustments we are making are in line with cost savings. For 2023, we expect this trend to continue. Any pricing adjustments would be well matched to ongoing cost savings, resulting in overall gross margin rates in line with 2022.

在定價方面，我們繼續看到工人賠償市場的穩定。雖然市場仍然具有競爭力，但我們正在進行的任何定價調整都符合成本節約。到 2023 年，我們預計這一趨勢將繼續下去。任何定價調整都將與持續的成本節約相匹配，從而使整體毛利率與 2022 年持平。

Turning to operating expenses. SG&A for the quarter was in line with our plan and included increases associated with the launch of our health benefits offering, as well as higher commissions and employee profit sharing as a result of achieving strong results. Looking ahead to 2023, we are anticipating slower SG&A growth than in 2022. 2023 will include additional investments in our benefits offering of approximately $1.5 million as we increase capacity for our nationwide rollout. But even with these investments, we still expect favorable earnings leverage in 2023, in line with our long-term targets.

轉向運營費用。本季度的 SG&A 符合我們的計劃，包括與推出健康福利產品相關的增加，以及由於取得強勁業績而增加的佣金和員工利潤分享。展望 2023 年，我們預計 SG&A 的增長速度將低於 2022 年。2023 年將包括對我們提供約 150 萬美元福利的額外投資，因為我們會增加在全國范圍內推出的能力。但即使進行了這些投資，我們仍預計 2023 年將實現有利的盈利槓桿，這符合我們的長期目標。

Moving to our invested assets. Our investment portfolios earned $1.6 million in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the prior year. As we noted in prior quarters, with the rapid increase in interest rates in the year, our fixed income portfolios are in an unrealized loss position. However, we intend to hold these securities and our portfolio continue to be managed conservatively with an average duration of 3.8 years, average quality of investment at AA, an average book yield of 2.3%.

轉向我們的投資資產。我們的投資組合在第四季度賺取了 160 萬美元，與去年持平。正如我們在前幾個季度所指出的那樣，隨著年內利率的快速上升，我們的固定收益投資組合處於未實現虧損狀態。然而，我們打算持有這些證券，我們的投資組合繼續保守管理，平均期限為 3.8 年，平均投資質量為 AA，平均賬面收益率為 2.3%。

Turning to the balance sheet, we had $160 million of unrestricted cash and investments at December 31 compared to $132 million at September 30. The increase is primarily due to cash generated through operations and the timing of payroll tax payments. As a reminder, BBSI is completely debt free, and we do not incur increased expenses associated with higher interest rates. As we look at our accomplishments in 2022, we generated strong profitable growth with gross billings increasing 13% and earnings per share increasing 31%, well ahead of target. We expanded our growth potential with the successful launch of our new health benefits offering and other products and accelerated geographic expansion to our asset-light model, and we returned significant capital to shareholders through our dividend and stock buyback.

轉向資產負債表，我們在 12 月 31 日擁有 1.6 億美元的不受限制的現金和投資，而 9 月 30 日為 1.32 億美元。增加的主要原因是運營產生的現金和工資稅支付的時間。提醒一下，BBSI 完全沒有債務，我們不會因利率上升而增加開支。回顧 2022 年的成就，我們實現了強勁的盈利增長，總收入增長 13%，每股收益增長 31%，遠超目標。我們通過成功推出新的健康福利產品和其他產品擴大了我們的增長潛力，並加速了我們輕資產模式的地域擴張，並且我們通過股息和股票回購向股東返還了大量資本。

Continuing under the Board's $75 million share repurchase program, in the fourth quarter, BBSI repurchased 92,000 shares at an average price of $87.92. In 2022, we have now repurchased nearly 8% of the company's shares outstanding through total purchases in the year of more than $47 million. The company also paid $2 million in dividends in the quarter and reaffirmed its dividend for the following quarter. We have now paid $8.5 million in dividends year-to-date, bringing total capital return to shareholders in the year to $56 million.

根據董事會 7500 萬美元的股票回購計劃，BBSI 在第四季度以平均 87.92 美元的價格回購了 92,000 股股票。到 2022 年，我們已經通過當年超過 4700 萬美元的總購買量回購了公司近 8% 的已發行股票。該公司還在本季度支付了 200 萬美元的股息，並重申了下一季度的股息。我們今年迄今已支付 850 萬美元的股息，使本年度股東的總資本回報達到 5600 萬美元。

Turning to our outlook for 2023. We expect gross billings to increase between 5% and 8%. We expect average worksite employees to increase between 2% and 4%. We expect gross margin as a percent of gross billings to be between 3.0% and 3.15% and. We expect our effective annual tax rate to remain between 27% and 28%.

談到我們對 2023 年的展望。我們預計總收入將增長 5% 至 8%。我們預計平均工地員工人數將增加 2% 至 4%。我們預計毛利率佔總收入的百分比在 3.0% 至 3.15% 之間，並且。我們預計我們的有效年稅率將保持在 27% 至 28% 之間。

I will now turn the call back to the operator for questions.

我現在將把電話轉回接線員詢問問題。

(Operator Instructions) We take our first question from the line of Chris Moore with CJS Securities.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 CJS 證券公司的 Chris Moore。

It's Pete Lukas, for Chris. Just starting with the health care benefits rollout. You mentioned no significant revenue until January '24 enrollment. Just wondering what the main focus for you is in the short run there. Does it change how you price at a client? And are there any additional short-term risks from introducing health care?

我是皮特盧卡斯，代表克里斯。剛開始推出醫療保健福利。您提到在 24 年 1 月註冊之前沒有可觀的收入。只是想知道短期內您的主要關注點是什麼。它會改變您對客戶的定價方式嗎？引入醫療保健是否會帶來額外的短期風險？

Well, that was like 4 questions. I'll try to answer all of them, but feel free to see you back up if I missed it. We had to make sure we perfected our craft before we took this to the masses, which is why we went with the laser approach of only doing for existing clients that already had benefits outside of California, right? And that was to make sure that the product, the people, the IT, the operations, that everything worked and then we had the confidence that we can scale it, right? So that's why we went with a soft launch, and we are very pleased with our soft launch.

嗯，這就像 4 個問題。我試著回答所有這些問題，但如果我錯過了，請隨時看到你回來。在將其推向大眾之前，我們必須確保我們完善了我們的工藝，這就是為什麼我們採用激光方法，只為已經在加利福尼亞以外地區受益的現有客戶做事，對吧？那是為了確保產品、人員、IT、運營，一切正常，然後我們有信心我們可以擴展它，對嗎？所以這就是我們進行軟啟動的原因，我們對我們的軟啟動非常滿意。

Because we're pleased with the soft launch, now we're saying it's -- BBSI Benefits is open for business, and that's when we're going to start to sell in every geography now, right? So in California, we're selling -- in California, we're selling to new or selling to existing, and now we're selling to everybody throughout the country. So we're ready for it. Benefits, in general, the majority of your benefit programs peg around a 1/1 effective date, which is why we know that the work we're doing now to bring on clients. We're going to bring some on throughout the year. But we know a lot of the work that we're doing in '23 is when we're going to recognize those clients as revenue in '24 when they roll into the new program. So that's why we have a little bit of a bridge to get to 24%.

因為我們對軟啟動感到滿意，所以現在我們說它 - BBSI Benefits 對業務開放，那是我們現在開始在每個地區銷售的時候，對嗎？因此，在加利福尼亞州，我們正在銷售——在加利福尼亞州，我們正在向新的或現有的市場銷售，現在我們正在向全國各地的所有人銷售。所以我們準備好了。福利，一般來說，您的大部分福利計劃都在 1/1 生效日期左右掛鉤，這就是為什麼我們知道我們現在正在做的工作是為了吸引客戶。我們將在全年推出一些產品。但我們知道我們在 23 年所做的很多工作是當我們將這些客戶納入新計劃時將其確認為 24 年的收入。所以這就是為什麼我們有一點橋可以達到 24%。

I don't know if that answered all your questions, Peter?

彼得，我不知道這是否回答了你所有的問題？

Yes. Very helpful. And just one more for me. In terms of the gross billing growth guidance of 5% to 8%. Just how do you think about that in terms of what would have to happen to be outside of that range, either above or below? Just what's kind of the main factors driving that are in your mind?

是的。很有幫助。還有一個給我。就 5% 至 8% 的毛收入增長指導而言。您如何看待超出該範圍（高於或低於該範圍）的情況？您認為主要的驅動因素是什麼？

Yes. I feel like I feel like below would have to be some extreme event, think of like a pandemic again. I feel pretty comfortable with the low that it's not going to be below the low. If I think of the upside, there's more upside in our guide than I would say downside, and that's based upon where is our clients' growth going to go as far as WSE adds as far as wage inflation, how are we going to do with our controllable growth, which is clients we add and WSEs that they have and clients that run off and WSEs they have, and that's our net controllable. And we've had a good track record of that over the past 2 years, and we feel real good with our controllable growth. So just in general, if I was going to point to away, I would feel it has a bias to be more up and down, but we're cautious just because it's early in the year, and really, we don't have that crystal ball to see where the economy is going to be in Q3, Q4.

是的。我覺得我覺得下面一定是一些極端事件，想想又像是一場大流行病。我對它不會低於低點的低點感到很舒服。如果我想到上行空間，我們指南中的上行空間比我所說的下行空間要多，這是基於我們客戶的增長將走向何方，就 WSE 而言，就工資通脹而言，我們將如何處理我們的可控增長，即我們增加的客戶和他們擁有的 WSE，以及流失的客戶和他們擁有的 WSE，這是我們的淨可控。在過去的兩年裡，我們在這方面有著良好的記錄，我們對可控的增長感到非常滿意。所以總的來說，如果我要指向遠方，我會覺得它有更多的上下波動，但我們很謹慎，因為現在是年初，而且真的，我們沒有那個水晶球，看看經濟將在第三季度、第四季度走向何方。

We take our next question from the line of Jeff Martin with ROTH MKM.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jeff Martin 和 ROTH MKM。

Kramer, I wondered if you could elaborate the accounting side, maybe more of a question for Anthony, but I know, Kramer, you have a CFO background. But the placement and recruiting side of the business, that's relatively new. Maybe remind us when you kick that off, $3 million is pretty substantial amount of fees associated with that. How does the accounting work on that? Is that reported on a gross or net basis? And what kind of margin contribution does that have relative to, say, a temporary staffing position?

克萊默，我想知道你是否可以詳細說明會計方面，也許更多的是安東尼的問題，但我知道，克萊默，你有首席財務官的背景。但是業務的安置和招聘方面相對較新。也許在您開始時提醒我們，300 萬美元是相當可觀的相關費用。會計是如何處理的？這是按毛額還是淨額報告的？相對於臨時員工職位，這有什麼樣的保證金貢獻？

Well, Kramer's quickly forgotten all of his accounting knowledge. This is Anthony, Jeff. Yes. So that's a great point. So this product has been rolled out in Q3 and Q4, primarily of this current year, but it's really just getting started. We said positive early results. We're really going to start to see that more in 2023. So our staffing product historically has been much more traditionally aligned to the temp labor market, light industrial temp labor specifically. And we have always done some permanent placement and early conversion in that model.

好吧，克萊默很快就忘記了他所有的會計知識。這是安東尼，傑夫。是的。所以這是一個很好的觀點。所以這個產品已經在第三季度和第四季度推出，主要是今年，但它真的才剛剛開始。我們說了積極的早期結果。我們真的會在 2023 年開始看到更多。因此，從歷史上看，我們的人員配置產品在傳統上更符合臨時勞動力市場，特別是輕工業臨時工。我們一直在該模型中進行一些永久性安置和早期轉換。

Really, the change here is that we're taking those skill sets and those capabilities for recruiting, applicant tracking, screening and going and saying, we'll do recruiting and placement for all of our PEO clients, which is obviously a much larger group of companies, much broader range of roles. And with that will also receive on average higher placement fees with those companies than we were in the existing staffing clients. So as we do that, the important thing is for our current staffing presentation in the income statement, we bill for all the wages of our employees and then a markup on top of that. And so that is kind of grossed up on the income statement.

真的，這裡的變化是我們正在利用這些技能和能力進行招聘、申請人跟踪、篩選，然後說，我們將為我們所有的 PEO 客戶進行招聘和安置，這顯然是一個更大的群體公司，角色範圍更廣。與這些公司相比，我們在現有員工客戶中的平均安置費也將更高。因此，當我們這樣做時，重要的是對於我們當前在損益表中的人員配置介紹，我們為員工的所有工資開具賬單，然後在其之上加價。因此，這在損益表上有點嚴重。

These new fees obviously would just be a placement fee with very little, if any, direct cost of sales component. So they're very high margin, but won't have as big of an impact on the top line on the staffing revenue there. So as we see that, we'll begin to see margins increase. It's obviously a much higher margin rate on those revenues. We'll see how that builds. We don't have a guide to what that number would be in '23 yet, but you will start to see margin rates improve in staffing even with less of a significant impact on the top line.

這些新費用顯然只是安置費，幾乎沒有直接銷售成本。所以他們的利潤率非常高，但不會對那裡的員工收入的頂線產生那麼大的影響。因此，當我們看到這一點時，我們將開始看到利潤率增加。這些收入的利潤率顯然要高得多。我們將看看它是如何構建的。我們還沒有關於 23 年這個數字的指南，但你會開始看到員工配置的利潤率有所提高，即使對頂線的影響較小。

Yes. And I'll give you the non-accounting answer. With this new product, because the payroll is not included in the revenue, we think in '23, we can be in a position with our staffing revenue decreases. Our profitability in the Staffing segment could increase.

是的。我會給你非會計答案。有了這個新產品，因為工資不包括在收入中，我們認為在 23 年，我們的員工收入可能會減少。我們在人員配備部門的盈利能力可能會增加。

That sounds great. I wondered if you could characterize the renewal period. You renewed probably the bulk of your clients in January and February. Curious how that year-end transition and into the renewal season has progressed, how that retention compares with the past couple of years?

聽起來不錯。我想知道你是否可以描述更新期的特徵。您可能在 1 月和 2 月續訂了大部分客戶。好奇年終過渡和續訂季節的進展情況，與過去幾年相比，留存率如何？

Yes, good question. We really do forensics on the 1/1 cycle. So we look at all clients that are from 12/15 to 1/15 that we add or run off and look at the WSEs and kind of compare that year-over-year. 2023 we added more clients and more WSEs. We had a little more runoff and a little more runoff of WSEs. But our net WSEs that we added for the 1/1 selling season, it was almost the -- it was slightly at or a little better than where we were for the 1/1/22 selling season. So we feel like we're starting in a good spot for the '23 season. And we feel better because we've got the benefits offering coming and things like that.

是的，好問題。我們確實在 1/1 週期上進行取證。因此，我們查看了從 12/15 到 1/15 的所有客戶，這些客戶是我們添加或流失的，並查看了 WSE 並進行了逐年比較。 2023 年我們增加了更多客戶和更多 WSE。我們有更多的徑流和更多的 WSE 徑流。但是我們為 1/1 銷售季添加的淨 WSE 幾乎是 - 它略高於或略好於我們在 1/1/22 銷售季的水平。所以我們覺得我們在 23 賽季的開局不錯。我們感覺好多了，因為我們得到了即將到來的好處和類似的東西。

But the one thing I would say, which is still a little bit of an unknown for us in Q1 was -- you know this being in Southern Cal, Jeff, the weather we've had in California and even the weather we're still having up in California has definitely slowed our January payrolls for some of our construction clients and January and into February a little bit, but we feel good that it's going to rebound and it's really temporary just based upon the weather.

但我要說的一件事，在第一季度對我們來說仍然有點未知——你知道這是在南加州，傑夫，我們在加州的天氣，甚至我們現在的天氣在加利福尼亞州確實減緩了我們一些建築客戶的 1 月份工資單以及 1 月份和 2 月份的工資單，但我們感覺很好，它會反彈，而且這真的只是暫時的，只是取決於天氣。

Yes, it makes sense. And then I was just curious, not so much quantitatively, but qualitatively, we've been in a low workers' comp rate environment for years now. How much do you think that hampered your growth? And do you see any signs of that of easing?

是的，這是有道理的。然後我只是很好奇，不是數量上的，而是質量上的，我們多年來一直處於低工人薪酬環境中。你認為這在多大程度上阻礙了你的成長？你看到任何放鬆的跡象嗎？

Yes. I mean if you think of inflation, inflation is rampant everywhere and in workers' comp, you're going to see it in the medical side. And that's really what everybody in the market is talking and thinking about is how is the inflationary effect going to affect the medical and then possibly the indemnity. Just in general, you've got all things pointing that workers' comp premium rates have to go up. And we've seen that over the last, I'll say, 15, 18 months, not as quickly as I would like, that's why we're still being thoughtful on our underwriting.

是的。我的意思是，如果你想到通貨膨脹，通貨膨脹無處不在，在工人補償中，你會在醫療方面看到它。這確實是市場上每個人都在談論和思考的是通貨膨脹效應將如何影響醫療，然後可能影響賠償。總的來說，所有的事情都表明工人的補償費率必須上升。我們已經看到，在過去的 15、18 個月裡，沒有我想要的那麼快，這就是為什麼我們仍在考慮我們的承銷。

We're very careful with our price to risk selection. But in general, it's bottomed and it's coming up. It's just not going to be -- whenever you have a rate action, a rate action is always slower than a loss action. So it's coming up, but it's coming up a little slower than we would like.

我們在選擇風險價格時非常謹慎。但總的來說，是見底了，又要上來了。只是不會——只要你有利率行動，利率行動總是比損失行動慢。所以它即將到來，但它的到來比我們想要的要慢一點。

Okay. And then just last one, if I could. You mentioned an incremental $1.5 million investment in the BBSI Benefits offering. How much is that on top of the annualized incremental SG&A from, say, 2022?

好的。然後是最後一個，如果可以的話。您提到了對 BBSI 福利產品的 150 萬美元增量投資。除了從 2022 年開始的年化增量 SG&A 之外，還有多少？

On a percentage basis, it's approximately 1%.

按百分比計算，大約為 1%。

1% of net revenue?

淨收入的 1%？

'22 -- sorry, '22 SG&A.

'22——對不起，'22 SG&A。

But I guess I got to rephrase this question. What was the investment in the benefits strategy during 2022. I know we got an incremental $1.5 million this year. Just trying to get a sense of what the cumulative number is.

但我想我必須重新表述這個問題。 2022 年福利戰略的投資是多少？我知道我們今年增加了 150 萬美元。只是想了解一下累計數字是多少。

Yes. No, it's a good question, sorry. It was about $2 million in 2022.

是的。不，這是個好問題，抱歉。到 2022 年約為 200 萬美元。

And a lot of that was weighted towards the back half of the year. And then the other thing you have to keep in mind, it's -- in '23, we are going to have some income that is coming in that's going to offset those expenses for the health care specifically from the commissions and things we're going to make on being the seller of the health insurance.

其中很多都集中在今年下半年。然後你必須記住的另一件事是 - 在 23 年，我們將獲得一些收入，這將抵消醫療保健的這些費用，特別是來自佣金和我們正在進行的事情成為健康保險的賣方。

We will take the next question from the line of Vincent Colicchio with Barrington Research.

我們將從 Barrington Research 的 Vincent Colicchio 那裡接聽下一個問題。

Yes. Gary, curious, you had mentioned that you're starting to see hiring slow in the client base. What is the trend you're seeing in wage inflation? Is that also coming in?

是的。加里，好奇的是，你提到你開始看到客戶群的招聘速度很慢。您在工資通脹方面看到的趨勢是什麼？這也進來了？

Wage inflation slowed down a little bit, but it's still there. And we're still going to have -- as we think of '23, we're still going to have a tailwind to growth for wage inflation just for -- think of folks that got raises sometime in the midpoint of the year of '22. We're going to be realizing that in '23 over a softer comp. So we feel like we got a little bit of a tailwind for wage inflation, and we feel like our WSE growth from our client hiring is going to slow in '23 compared to '22 just because of the macroeconomic conditions.

工資通脹有所放緩，但仍然存在。而且我們仍然會 - 正如我們想到的'23，我們仍然會為工資通脹增長提供順風 - 想想那些在'年中的某個時候加薪的人22.我們將在 23 年通過更柔和的組合意識到這一點。因此，我們覺得我們的工資上漲有點順風，而且我們覺得我們的 WSE 客戶招聘增長在 23 年將比 22 年放緩，這僅僅是因為宏觀經濟狀況。

I forget when you started targeting larger clients, but have you seen the average size of new clients? You already mentioned the average size of new clients is the ones you're losing are small, the ones you're gaining. I'm just curious if that average size of new clients is growing over time?

我忘了你什麼時候開始瞄準大客戶的，但你有沒有看到新客戶的平均規模？您已經提到新客戶的平均規模是您失去的客戶很小，而您獲得的客戶很小。我很好奇新客戶的平均規模是否會隨著時間的推移而增長？

I would say, our average size is holding pretty consistent now over the last 4 quarters. But it is quite a spread of -- if you went back and looked at '18 and prior for clients we were adding, it's like a -- compared to pre-pandemic, I'd say it took us 2 clients to add pre-pandemic to equal one of the clients we add now.

我會說，我們的平均規模在過去 4 個季度中保持相當穩定。但這相當廣泛——如果你回頭看看 18 年和之前我們添加的客戶，這就像——與大流行前相比，我想說我們花了 2 個客戶來添加預-大流行等於我們現在添加的客戶之一。

Okay. And are you finding it easier to -- I know you had struggled to attract leaders for the asset-light groups. Is that getting easier? And how does that affect your calculus and how many groups you launched in '23?

好的。你是否發現它更容易——我知道你一直在努力為輕資產集團吸引領導者。是不是越來越容易了？這對您的微積分有何影響，以及您在 23 年成立了多少個小組？

So we launched Class 1 in the beginning of '22, and that class did very well. They added about -- in the year they added, I think it was about 22 clients and 250-ish WSEs. Since then, we launched Class 2 and Class 3, that was really at the back end of '22, where they were selling in December or January into '23. We had a challenging time finding folks, I would say, until after the summer of '22. But I can tell you we've got a really good class of folks that are in there now. We are going to start to look to hire again in Q2 with the idea of hiring Q2, train in Q3, so they can sell in Q4.

所以我們在 22 年初推出了 Class 1，那個課程表現非常好。他們增加了大約 - 在他們增加的那一年，我認為大約有 22 個客戶和 250 個 WSE。從那時起，我們推出了 Class 2 和 Class 3，它們實際上是在 22 年末，他們在 12 月或 1 月銷售到 23 年。我想說，直到 22 年夏天之後，我們都很難找到人。但我可以告訴你，我們現在有一群非常優秀的人。我們將開始考慮在第二季度再次招聘，我們的想法是在第二季度招聘，在第三季度進行培訓，這樣他們就可以在第四季度進行銷售。

Okay. And last one for me. What is your thinking about M&A? Will you become proactive if, in fact, valuations come in '23. And are they coming in? I'll say the market has slowed some with the rising of rates -- interest rates. We're starting to see more action in '23 than we did in the back half of '22, as far as [SIMS] come across the desk, our company is getting ready to get come out. I can tell you that the valuations we're seeing are getting to more realistic levels than where they were in, say, '21 when things were a little frothy. But we are still -- we still are active in of the market. And if we see something that fits well, good people, good product, good company, we would pull the trigger.

好的。最後一個給我。您對併購有何看法？事實上，如果估值在 23 年出現，你會變得積極主動嗎？他們進來了嗎？我會說隨著利率的上升，市場已經放緩了一些 - 利率。我們開始在 23 年看到比 22 年後半段更多的行動，只要 [SIMS] 出現在辦公桌前，我們公司就準備好出來了。我可以告訴你，我們所看到的估值正在達到比他們所處的水平更現實的水平，比如 21 年，當時情況有點泡沫。但我們仍然 - 我們仍然活躍於市場。如果我們看到合適的東西，好人，好產品，好公司，我們就會扣動扳機。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take a next question from the line of Marc Riddick with Sidoti.

（操作員說明）我們將回答 Marc Riddick 和 Sidoti 的下一個問題。

I wanted to touch a little bit on the guide content. Actually, I wanted because a lot of my questions already answered, but I was curious about the tax rate that was mentioned. It maybe was a little too kinder than maybe I was expecting. Is that a function of a geographic revenue mix? Or is there something else taking place there with the tax rate?

我想稍微談談指南的內容。其實我想要，因為我的很多問題都已經回答了，但是我對提到的稅率很好奇。它可能比我預期的要友善一點。這是地理收入組合的功能嗎？還是稅率有其他變化？

Our tax rate is always varied for a couple of reasons, including geography and some of our underlying mix with our subsidiaries. That said, the rate for '23 is expected to be very much in line with '22. And really, I would say that's kind of our baseline for a normal rate going forward.

我們的稅率總是因多種原因而變化，包括地理位置和我們與子公司的一些潛在組合。也就是說，'23 的比率預計與'22 非常一致。真的，我想說這是我們未來正常利率的基線。

Okay. And then as far as the hiring commentary that you made as far as going into ramping up in the second quarter, I was wondering if there was a general ballpark magnitude that you had in mind as far as what you were looking to add and the idea that having them to be productive, but I guess, by the fourth quarter, I think is what the commentary was. But what type of magnitude we'd be thinking about for the hiring pickup there?

好的。然後就您就第二季度的增加所做的招聘評論而言，我想知道就您要添加的內容和想法而言，您是否有一個大致的估計讓他們變得富有成效，但我想，到第四季度，我認為這就是評論的內容。但是我們會考慮那裡的招聘人數增加到什麼程度呢？

Yes. I mean if we think of where we've added so far, we did a fair amount in Texas. We've done Oklahoma. We've done Detroit. We've done Chicago. We've done some in the Northeast, which gets you to those 14. The way we think about this, in general, is not as much about the market, but about the talent. So when we start to recruit for this in '23, we'll post in [20] markets. And really, it comes down to how many good folks do we think -- because really we're looking for somebody who's going to be an entrepreneur and a grower and a builder. So they're not an easy skill set to find. But we'll post it in 20 markets. And then depending upon how the interviews are going, we'll take 6 or 10 of the best folks. It will be based upon where -- it will be based upon the person and not based upon the geography.

是的。我的意思是，如果我們考慮到目前為止我們添加的地方，我們在德克薩斯州做了相當多的事情。我們已經完成了俄克拉何馬州。我們已經完成了底特律。我們已經完成了芝加哥。我們在東北做了一些，這讓你達到了那 14 個。總的來說，我們考慮這個問題的方式不是關於市場，而是關於人才。因此，當我們在 23 年開始為此招聘時，我們將在 [20] 個市場發布。實際上，這取決於我們認為有多少好人——因為我們真的在尋找將要成為企業家、種植者和建設者的人。所以他們不是一個容易找到的技能。但我們會在 20 個市場發布它。然後根據面試的進展情況，我們將選出 6 或 10 名最優秀的人。它將基於地點——它將基於人而不是基於地理。

Got it. And then the last thing for me, and you actually touched on this, and I just wanted to follow up on a little bit the commentary on weather and kind of how it's kind of played into the beginning of this year, which, of course, has been historic in many ways. I was wondering, as you had that in mind for the guide is the thought process that maybe some of those construction projects will really just sort of be pushed out into next year? Or do you get the sense that there's a chance to sort of for there to be catch up through the year?

知道了。然後對我來說最後一件事，你實際上談到了這一點，我只是想跟進一點關於天氣的評論以及今年年初它是如何發揮作用的，當然，在許多方面都具有歷史意義。我想知道，正如您所想的那樣，指南是思考過程，也許其中一些建設項目真的會被推遲到明年？或者你是否覺得有機會在這一年中趕上來？

It's an unknown, unfortunately. The weather had a couple of bad weeks in December, but January was really where we saw the bad weather. So our January cash revenue number was a little lower than we expected, but we saw it pull back some in February, but then weather came again in California, and we haven't seen those payroll cycles yet that are going to run. So we don't know if it's -- I hate to say the word transitory, I feel like that's a dirty word now, but we don't know if it's transitory or if it's going to come back.

不幸的是，這是一個未知數。 12 月的天氣有幾個糟糕的星期，但 1 月才是我們真正看到惡劣天氣的地方。因此，我們 1 月份的現金收入數字略低於我們的預期，但我們看到它在 2 月份回落了一些，但隨後加利福尼亞的天氣又來了，我們還沒有看到那些將要運行的工資單週期。所以我們不知道它是否——我討厭說暫時這個詞，我覺得現在這是一個骯髒的詞，但我們不知道它是暫時的還是會回來。

(Operator Instructions) Thank you. Again, ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Kramer for closing remarks. Over to you, sir.

（操作員說明）謝謝。再次，女士們先生們，我們的問答環節已經結束。我現在想把電話轉回給 Kramer 先生作結束語。交給你了，先生。

Thank you. I would just like to take the time to thank all the BBSI professionals. Everybody in the company worked hard. We had a great year, and I'm looking forward to '23 to be a better year than we had in '22. I've never been more optimistic about the company. Thank you, everybody, for your support, and we'll talk again in the quarter.

謝謝。我只想花時間感謝所有 BBSI 專業人員。公司裡的每個人都很努力。我們度過了美好的一年，我期待 23 年成為比 22 年更好的一年。我對這家公司從未如此樂觀。謝謝大家的支持，我們下季度再談。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。女士們，先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。