Belden Inc (BDC) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, welcome to this morning's Belden Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results Call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Aaron Wellington. Please go ahead.

女士們、先生們，感謝你們的耐心等待，歡迎參加今天早上的百通報告 2023 年第四季和全年業績電話會議。提醒一下，此通話正在錄音。（接線生指示）我現在想將電話轉給 Aaron Wellington。請繼續。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Belden's Fourth Quarter 2023 earnings conference call. With me today are Belden's President and CEO, Ashish Chand and Senior Vice President and CFO, Jeremy parks. Ashish will provide a strategic overview of our business, and then Jeremy will provide a detailed review of our financial and operating results followed by Q&A.

大家早安，感謝您參加百通 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有百通總裁兼執行長 Ashish Chand 和資深副總裁兼財務長 Jeremy Parks。Ashish 將提供我們業務的策略概述，然後 Jeremy 將詳細審查我們的財務和營運業績，然後進行問答。

We issued our earnings release earlier this morning and have prepared a slide presentation that we will reference on this call, press release presentation and transcript of these prepared remarks are currently available online at investor.belden.com.

我們今天早上早些時候發布了收益報告，並準備了幻燈片演示文稿，我們將在本次電話會議上參考，新聞稿演示文稿和這些準備好的言論的文字記錄目前可在Investor.belden.com上線上取得。

Turning to Slide 2 in the presentation. During this call, management will make certain forward-looking statements in reliance upon the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. For more information, please review today's press release in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K.

前往簡報中的投影片 2。在本次電話會議中，管理階層將根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款做出某些前瞻性聲明。欲了解更多信息，請查看我們最新的 10-K 表格年度報告中今天發布的新聞稿。

Additionally, during today's call, management will reference adjusted or non-GAAP financial information in accordance with Regulation G, the appendix to our presentation and the Investor Relations section of our website contains a reconciliation of the most closely associated GAAP financial information to the non-GAAP financial information we communicate.

此外，在今天的電話會議中，管理層將根據G 條例引用調整後或非GAAP 財務信息、我們演示文稿的附錄和我們網站的投資者關係部分包含最密切相關的GAAP 財務信息與非GAAP 財務信息的調整表。我們傳達的 GAAP 財務資訊。

I will now turn the call over to our President and CEO, Ashish Chand.

我現在將把電話轉給我們的總裁兼執行長 Ashish Chand。

Thank you, Aaron, and good morning, everyone. We really appreciate you joining us today as we host this morning's call, I'm days away from my first anniversary as President and CEO of Belden also has been accomplished this past year, and I'm excited about the opportunity we have going forward to transform Belden and increase shareholder value.

謝謝你，亞倫，大家早安。我們非常感謝您今天加入我們主持今天早上的電話會議，距離我擔任百通總裁兼首席執行官一周年紀念日也已經過去了幾天，我對我們即將迎來的機會感到興奮改造Belden 並增加股東價值。

Let's turn to slide 4 for a summary of the major accomplishments we achieved in the fourth quarter and full year 2023. As a reminder, I will be referring to adjusted results today first, let me take a moment and Patent Development team for the excellent performance wrapping up a successful quarter and there.

讓我們轉向投影片 4，總結我們在第四季和 2023 年全年取得的主要成就。提醒一下，我今天將首先提到調整後的結果，讓我花點時間和專利開發團隊一起回顧成功的季度的出色表現。

For the fourth quarter, our revenue and EPS both exceeded the high-end of our guidance as our solutions transformation continues to drive incremental demand and margin expansion. Revenue for the quarter totaled $551 million and EPS came in at $1.46.

第四季度，我們的營收和每股盈餘都超過了我們指導的上限，因為我們的解決方案轉型繼續推動需求增量和利潤率擴張。該季度收入總計 5.51 億美元，每股收益為 1.46 美元。

For the fourth quarter, orders increased sequentially by 4%, indicating stability in our end markets. Importantly, we experienced single-digit sequential order growth and both segments, Industrial Automation Solutions and Enterprise Solutions.

第四季訂單季增 4%，顯示我們的終端市場穩定。重要的是，我們的工業自動化解決方案和企業解決方案兩個領域的訂單都實現了個位數的持續成長。

Entering the quarter, our markets were experiencing many headwinds. I'm encouraged to see relative stability in the fourth quarter that produced results exceeding our expectations. Second, as we wrapped up another transformational year, our business performed well and we were able to achieve record full year earnings per share of $6.83, up 7% year-over-year.

進入本季度，我們的市場遇到了許多阻力。我很高興看到第四季度的相對穩定，其結果超出了我們的預期。其次，當我們結束另一個轉型的一年時，我們的業務表現良好，全年每股收益達到創紀錄的 6.83 美元，比去年同期成長 7%。

I would like to point out that after achieving record earnings per share in 2023, this marks two consecutive years of record EPS performance despite demand and destocking challenges in the second half of 2023, our revenue was only down 4% for the full year and through successful execution, we were able to expand our margins.

我想指出的是，儘管2023 年下半年面臨需求和去庫存挑戰，但在2023 年實現創紀錄的每股收益之後，這標誌著連續兩年創紀錄的每股收益表現，但我們全年的收入僅下降了4%。成功的執行，我們能夠擴大我們的利潤。

Gross margins for a robust 38.5%, up 270 basis points, and EBITDA margins ended at 17.4%, up 40 basis points year-over-year. Third, our business is generating meaningful cash flow, and we are deploying capital consistent with our capital allocation priorities.

毛利率高達 38.5%，較去年同期成長 270 個基點，EBITDA 利潤率為 17.4%，較去年同期成長 40 個基點。第三，我們的業務正在產生有意義的現金流，我們正在根據我們的資本配置優先事項部署資本。

Free cash flow for the year was strong at $217 million roughly flat with the prior total. With ample free cash flow, our team took steps to reinvest in high-return opportunities, although we invested nearly $110 million in strategic M&A designed to strengthen our solutions and enhance growth.

今年的自由現金流強勁，為 2.17 億美元，與先前的總額大致相當。憑藉充足的自由現金流，我們的團隊採取措施對高回報機會進行再投資，儘管我們在策略併購上投資了近 1.1 億美元，旨在加強我們的解決方案並促進成長。

Further, we returned over $200 million to shareholders, mostly through share repurchases. Over the last year, we purchased 2.3 million shares or approximately 5% of the total shares outstanding.

此外，我們也透過股票回購向股東返還了超過 2 億美元。去年，我們買了 230 萬股股票，約佔已發行股票總數的 5%。

Since 2022, our share repurchase program has returned approximately $350 million to shareholders resulting in the purchase of 4.9 million shares, reducing total shares outstanding by more than 10%.

自 2022 年以來，我們的股票回購計畫已向股東返還約 3.5 億美元，購買了 490 萬股股票，使流通股總數減少了 10% 以上。

After deploying over $300 million in 2023 in M&A and share repurchases, our leverage remains low at 1.4 times. This leaves us with significant financial flexibility to execute upon our strategic plans while staying around our targeted net leverage ratio of 1.5 times.

在 2023 年部署超過 3 億美元用於併購和股票回購後，我們的槓桿率仍保持在 1.4 倍的低點。這使我們擁有巨大的財務靈活性來執行我們的策略計劃，同時保持 1.5 倍的目標淨槓桿率。

Please turn to slide 5, before we dig deeper into our results for the quarter. Now I wanted to pause momentarily and reflect on the progress Belden has made during our solutions transformation. For those new to Belden, we began a transformation in early 2020 in our industrial business.

在我們深入研究本季的業績之前，請翻到投影片 5。現在我想暫停一下，反思百通在​​解決方案轉型過程中的進展。對於百通的新進員工來說，我們在 2020 年初開始了工業業務的轉型。

Our main objectives were to bring together disparate Belden products, focus on data needs and ultimately engage with customers in a different way to solve problems. Since then, we've been working feverishly behind the scenes to break down barriers, add new solutions skills internally and invest heavily in our customer innovation centers or CICs, of which we just opened the fifth in India recently.

我們的主要目標是將不同的百通產品整合在一起，專注於數據需求，並最終以不同的方式與客戶互動來解決問題。從那時起，我們一直在幕後狂熱地工作，以打破障礙，在內部增加新的解決方案技能，並對我們的客戶創新中心或CIC 進行大力投資，最近我們剛剛在印度開設了第五個中心。

Our focus has been centered around key verticals with complex challenges with our enhanced solutions strategy, we work to simplify otherwise complex solutions and deepen our relationship with customers. Over the past few years, we have grown our solutions business meaningfully and see a runway for much more growth and opportunity. By focusing on customer problems and working to provide high-quality products and solutions. We are winning in the marketplace.

我們的重點一直圍繞著具有複雜挑戰的關鍵垂直領域，透過增強的解決方案策略，我們致力於簡化原本複雜的解決方案並加深與客戶的關係。在過去的幾年裡，我們的解決方案業務取得了有意義的發展，並看到了更多成長和機會的跑道。透過專注於客戶問題並致力於提供高品質的產品和解決方案。我們正在市場上獲勝。

Over the past market cycles our business has performed admirably with a 6% revenue CAGR meaningful improvements in gross margins, which led to a 140 basis point expansion in our EBITDA margins. Improved growth combined with margin expansion has led to impressive improvements in our earnings per share. This resulted in a 15% CAGR since starting our transformation.

在過去的市場週期中，我們的業務表現出色，營收複合年增長率為 6%，毛利率顯著提高，這導致我們的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 140 個基點。成長的改善與利潤率的擴大相結合，導致我們的每股盈餘顯著提高。自轉型開始以來，複合年增長率為 15%。

We have reconfigured our business to improve organic growth and prioritize higher value added products and solutions. And the results have been meaningful and impressive. If you look at Belden today compared to where we were four years ago, you will see massive changes underway, and I'm pleased to see these changes impact our financials so vividly.

我們重新配置了業務，以改善有機成長，並優先考慮更高附加價值的產品和解決方案。結果是有意義且令人印象深刻的。如果您將今天的百通與四年前相比，您會看到正在發生的巨大變化，我很高興看到這些變化如此生動地影響我們的財務狀況。

We ended 2023 with a new record for EPS and expect our business to perform similarly over the next cycle with increased revenue and record earnings.

2023 年，我們的每股盈餘創下了新紀錄，預計我們的業務在下一個週期也將表現類似，收入增加，獲利創紀錄。

Finally, please turn to slide 6 for a review of our capital allocation priorities and action during the past cycle. From a capital allocation perspective, much has been accomplished during our transition. First, we divested from two businesses that were underperforming and no longer aligned with our solution strategy. As a result of both sales, combined with our impressive free cash flow, we generated approximately $1.3 billion of capital.

最後，請參閱投影片 6，回顧我們上一週期的資本配置優先事項和行動。從資本配置的角度來看，我們在轉型過程中已經取得了許多成就。首先，我們剝離了兩項表現不佳且不再符合我們的解決方案策略的業務。透過這兩次銷售，加上我們令人印象深刻的自由現金流，我們創造了大約 13 億美元的資本。

On the right-hand side of the page, you can see where those funds are invested. First, over the last five years, we returned approximately $500 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends and buybacks have accelerated this past two years as we purchased approximately $350 million in stock and reduced our shares outstanding by over 10%.

在頁面的右側，您可以看到這些資金的投資地點。首先，在過去五年中，我們透過股票回購和股利向股東返還了約5 億美元，而過去兩年，我們購買了約3.5 億美元的股票並將流通股減少了10% 以上，加速了回購速度。

Second, our M&A activity has been steady with a total of 10 acquisitions deploying approximately $400 million in capital. And finally, the bulk of the past had too much leverage. As part of our new strategy, we sought to reduce our leverage to a more reasonable 1.5 times target, which we achieved these past two years.

其次，我們的併購活動一直穩定，總共完成了 10 項收購，動用了約 4 億美元的資本。最後，過去的大部分時間都擁有太多的影響力。作為我們新策略的一部分，我們力求將槓桿率降低至更合理的 1.5 倍目標，我們在過去兩年實現了這一目標。

Our low leverage provides us with more flexibility during times like these to continue to invest in our business, seek out attractive acquisition targets and return capital to shareholders. This slide is a perfect illustration of our capital allocation priorities and action and how you can expect to see us operate in the future.

我們的低槓桿率在這樣的時期為我們提供了更大的靈活性，可以繼續投資我們的業務、尋找有吸引力的收購目標並向股東返還資本。這張投影片完美地說明了我們的資本配置優先事項和行動，以及您對我們未來營運的期望。

So please turn to slide 7 for a quick summary of a few noteworthy customer wins during the quarter. These wins help highlight how our go-to-market strategy is evolving and showcased real-world examples of our solutions in the marketplace.

因此，請參閱投影片 7，快速總結本季一些值得關注的客戶勝利。這些勝利有助於凸顯我們的市場進入策略的演變，並展示了我們解決方案在市場上的真實範例。

First, on the industrial automation side, our team succeeded in winning a project with one of the largest public transportation networks in Germany, a customer who's having issues with passenger experience, real-time position, tracking of assets and predictive maintenance.

首先，在工業自動化方面，我們的團隊成功贏得了德國最大公共交通網絡之一的項目，該客戶在乘客體驗、即時位置、資產追蹤和預測性維護方面存在問題。

Working with Belden, we have developed a comprehensive solution to improve the network and solve critical pain points in passenger experience. I'm pleased to report that we won a $6 million agreement with a major health care customer as an end-to-end solutions provider. This specific customers looking to solve key data and network issues and brought the team to our CIC in Chicago for a demo.

我們與百通合作開發了全面的解決方案來改善網路並解決乘客體驗中的關鍵痛點。我很高興地向您報告，我們作為端到端解決方案提供者與一家主要醫療保健客戶簽訂了價值 600 萬美元的協議。這些特定客戶希望解決關鍵數據和網路問題，並將團隊帶到我們位於芝加哥的 CIC 進行演示。

They were very impressed with the consultants and solutions and ultimately awarded Belden the contract on top of eliminating multiple previous product suppliers and awarding us that business as well. This win highlights the power of our CICs and how the strategy not only showcases our solutions, but also helps us gain share in the marketplace.

他們對顧問和解決方案印象深刻，最終將合約授予百通，並取消了多家先前的產品供應商，並將該業務也授予了我們。這場勝利凸顯了我們 CIC 的力量，以及該策略不僅展示了我們的解決方案，而且還幫助我們贏得了市場份額。

Finally, as we have discussed previously, we are working hard to streamline our Enterprise Solutions segment and move it down the solutions part in the same way we did for Industrial Automation a few years prior. I'm proud to share that our team is gaining traction in the marketplace by selling enterprise and broadband products across key distribution partners.

最後，正如我們之前討論的那樣，我們正在努力簡化我們的企業解決方案部門，並將其向下移動到解決方案部分，就像我們幾年前為工業自動化所做的那樣。我很自豪地告訴大家，我們的團隊透過在主要分銷合作夥伴之間銷售企業和寬頻產品而在市場上獲得了關注。

In the past, Belden operated with walls between markets and products that limited our opportunity by breaking down these walls and silos. Operationally, we can bring our products to market in a more comprehensive way, which lays the foundation for true solution sales. This work is important as we continue down our solutions path, and these wins are examples of how things are changing.

過去，百通在市場和產品之間設有隔離牆，打破這些隔離牆和孤島限制了我們的機會。在營運上，我們可以更全面地將我們的產品推向市場，這為真正的解決方案銷售奠定了基礎。當我們繼續沿著我們的解決方案道路前進時，這項工作非常重要，這些勝利就是事情正在改變的例子。

I will now request Jeremy Parks to provide additional insight into our fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial performance.

我現在請求 Jeremy Parks 提供有關我們第四季度和 2023 年全年財務業績的更多見解。

Thank you, Ashish. I will start my comments with results for the fourth quarter and the full year 2023, followed by a review of our segment results, a discussion of the balance sheet and cash flow performance, and finally, our outlook. As a reminder, I will be referencing adjusted results today.

謝謝你，阿什什。我將從第四季度和 2023 年全年的業績開始我的評論，然後回顧我們的部門業績，討論資產負債表和現金流表現，最後是我們的前景。提醒一下，我今天將引用調整後的結果。

Now please turn to Slide 8. In our presentation for a review of our fourth quarter results. Fourth quarter revenue decreased 16% year-over-year and was down 18% organically to $551 million, exceeding the high end of our guidance of $530 million.

現在請翻到幻燈片 8。在我們回顧第四季業績的演講中。第四季營收年減 16%，有機下降 18%，至 5.51 億美元，超出了我們指導的上限 5.3 億美元。

As expected, we experienced softness in industrial automation with revenues decreasing 17% organically and Enterprise Solutions revenue decreasing 19% organically. Orders for the fourth quarter were up 4% sequentially, with slight upticks in both segments.

正如預期的那樣，我們經歷了工業自動化領域的疲軟，收入有機下降了 17%，企業解決方案收入有機下降了 19%。第四季訂單季增 4%，兩個細分市場均略有成長。

We ended the quarter with a book to bill of [0.96], reflecting a more stable order environment. Gross profit margins were 38.2%, expanding 40 basis points compared to the prior year. EBITDA came in at $88 million, with EBITDA margins down 140 basis points to 16%.

本季結束時，我們的訂單出貨比為 [0.96]，反映出訂單環境更加穩定。毛利率為38.2%，較上年提高40個基點。EBITDA 為 8,800 萬美元，EBITDA 利潤率下降 140 個基點至 16%。

Decremental margins for the second half performed as expected, down 20%, in line with our targets. Net income in the quarter was $61 million from $76 million in the prior year period. EPS was $1.46 above the high end of our guidance range of $1.20.

下半年利潤率下降 20%，符合預期，符合我們的目標。本季淨利為 6,100 萬美元，上年同期為 7,600 萬美元。每股收益為 1.46 美元，高於我們指導範圍 1.20 美元的上限。

Please note that relative to prior guidance, we experienced a favorable tax rate that resulted in a $0.15 benefit for the quarter. The benefit was the result of our continual tax planning efforts and certain discrete tax items.

請注意，相對於先前的指導，我們享受了優惠的稅率，為本季帶來了 0.15 美元的收益。這項好處是我們持續的稅務規劃工作和某些離散稅務專案的結果。

Now please turn to slide 9 in our presentation for a review of our full year 2023 results. Full year revenue decreased 4% year over year and was down 4% organically to $2.5 billion. By segment, Industrial Automation experienced a 1% decline in revenue organically and Enterprise Solutions experienced an 8% decline in revenue organically.

現在請翻到我們簡報中的投影片 9，回顧我們 2023 年全年業績。全年營收年減 4%，有機下降 4% 至 25 億美元。以細分市場劃分，工業自動化的收入有機下降了 1%，企業解決方案的收入有機下降了 8%。

Gross profit margins were 38.5%, expanding 270 basis points compared to the prior year. Our business is benefiting from favorable product mix as we continue to deliver solutions that typically consist of more higher margin active components.

毛利率為38.5%，較上年增加270個基點。我們的業務受益於有利的產品組合，因為我們繼續提供通常由更多利潤率更高的主動組件組成的解決方案。

EBITDA was down 1% year over year to $438 million, with EBITDA margins up 40 basis points to 17.4%. Net income for the year was $293 million, up 3% from $285 million in the prior year. And finally, EPS increased 7% to a record $6.83, up from $6.41 in the prior year.

EBITDA 年減 1%，至 4.38 億美元，EBITDA 利潤率成長 40 個基點，至 17.4%。本年度淨利為 2.93 億美元，比上年的 2.85 億美元成長 3%。最後，每股盈餘 (EPS) 成長 7%，達到創紀錄的 6.83 美元，高於去年的 6.41 美元。

Turning now to Slide 10 in the presentation for a review of our business segment results for the quarter. For the quarter, performance by segment was aligned with our expectations. Orders were soft as our markets experienced continued slowness, combined with the lingering impact of destocking.

現在轉向簡報中的投影片 10，回顧我們本季的業務部門業績。本季，各細分市場的業績符合我們的預期。由於我們的市場持續放緩，加上去庫存的影響揮之不去，訂單疲軟。

For the fourth quarter, revenue in our Industrial Automation Solutions segment was down 16% compared to the prior year, and EBITDA was down 18%. Orders in Industrial Solutions were up 7% sequentially and down 19% year over year. For the quarter we experienced particular weakness in our discrete end markets, which continued to exhibit customer destocking.

第四季度，我們的工業自動化解決方案部門的營收比去年同期下降了 16%，EBITDA 下降了 18%。工業解決方案訂單季增 7%，年減 19%。本季度，我們的離散終端市場尤其疲軟，客戶庫存持續減少。

For the fourth quarter, revenue in our Enterprise Solutions segment was down 17% compared to the prior year and EBITDA was down 29%. Orders in Enterprise Solutions were up 1% sequentially and down 2% year over year. As expected, we continue to see customer destocking in both the smart buildings and broadband markets. Longer-term, we anticipate meaningful growth in broadband as the investment cycle ramps up.

第四季度，我們的企業解決方案部門的營收比去年同期下降了 17%，EBITDA 下降了 29%。企業解決方案訂單季增 1%，年減 2%。正如預期的那樣，我們繼續看到智慧建築和寬頻市場的客戶去庫存。從長遠來看，我們預計隨著投資週期的加快，寬頻將出現有意義的成長。

Now onto slide 11 for a review of our segment results. For the full year for the full year 2023 in the Industrial Automation Solutions segment, revenue decreased by 1% year over year. For the full year, revenue was off in discrete manufacturing, partially offset by growth in other markets, including process, mass transit and energy.

現在轉到投影片 11，回顧我們的細分結果。2023年全年工業自動化解決方案領域營收年減1%。全年來看，離散製造業的收入有所下降，部分被加工、公共運輸和能源等其他市場的成長所抵銷。

Industrial Automation segment EBITDA increased year over year to $287 million and EBITDA margins were 20.7% for the year, with margins expanding by 100 basis points.

工業自動化部門 EBITDA 年成長至 2.87 億美元，全年 EBITDA 利潤率為 20.7%，利潤率擴大了 100 個基點。

Turning now to our enterprise segment, for the full year 2023, in the Enterprise Solutions segment, revenue decreased by 6% year over year. We saw a moderate decrease in most of our end markets as customers continued to work through inventory and Enterprise Solutions segment EBITDA margins were 13.3% for the year compared to 13.5% in the prior year, down 20 basis points due to lower volume leverage.

現在轉向我們的企業部門，2023 年全年，企業解決方案部門的收入年減了 6%。由於客戶繼續處理庫存和企業解決方案部門的EBITDA 利潤率為13.3%，與上一年的13.5% 相比，我們看到大多數終端市場適度下降，由於銷售槓桿率較低，下降了20 個基點。

Next, please turn to Slide 12 for our balance sheet and cash flow highlights. Our cash and cash equivalents balance at the end of the fourth quarter was $597 million compared to $688 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Our financial leverage was 1.4 times net debt to EBITDA at the end of the fourth quarter.

接下來，請翻到投影片 12，了解我們的資產負債表和現金流重點。截至第四季末，我們的現金和現金等價物餘額為 5.97 億美元，而 2022 年第四季為 6.88 億美元。截至第四季末，我們的財務槓桿是淨債務與 EBITDA 的 1.4 倍。

As we communicated before, we intend to maintain net leverage of approximately 1.5 times going forward. We have a reasonable level of debt, much lower than in the past with no maturities until 2027. In addition, all of our debt is fixed with an average interest rate of approximately 3.5% for the fourth quarter.

正如我們之前溝通過的，我們打算未來將淨槓桿率維持在約 1.5 倍。我們的債務水平處於合理水平，遠低於過去，直到 2027 年才到期。此外，我們所有的債務都是固定的，第四季的平均利率約為 3.5%。

For the foutth quarter, our trailing 12 month free cash flow was $217 million, just slightly below prior year levels. We continue to have ample liquidity to deploy towards high return opportunities even as we manage through a dynamic environment. In 2023, we invested nearly $110 million in new and complementary businesses and returned over $200 million to shareholders.

第四季度，我們過去 12 個月的自由現金流為 2.17 億美元，略低於去年同期水準。即使我們在動態的環境中進行管理，我們仍然擁有充足的流動性來部署高回報機會。2023 年，我們向新的互補業務投資了近 1.1 億美元，並向股東返還了超過 2 億美元。

Please turn to Slide 13 for our updated outlook. First, we have decided to provide guidance one quarter at a time aligned with the short-cycle nature of our business during these challenging times, our focus will remain on execution for the first quarter.

請參閱投影片 13 以了解我們最新的展望。首先，我們決定在這些充滿挑戰的時期根據我們業務的短週期性質，每次提供一個季度的指導，我們的重點仍然是第一季的執行。

We anticipate challenges from the prior year to continue, including customer destocking and other temporary headwinds. Relative to the fourth quarter, we expect end demand to be stable with revenue down slightly in line with normal seasonal pattern.

我們預計去年的挑戰將繼續存在，包括客戶去庫存和其他暫時的不利因素。相較於第四季度，我們預期終端需求將穩定，營收略有下降，符合正常的季節性模式。

If you recall, the first quarter is typically our weakest quarter seasonally, and we would expect that trend to continue for 2024. For the first quarter, assuming current market conditions do not deteriorate further, we expect sales in the range of $505 million to $520 million and adjusted EPS in the range of $1 to $1.10.

如果你還記得的話，第一季通常是我們季節性最弱的季度，我們預計這種趨勢將持續到 2024 年。假設當前市場狀況不會進一步惡化，我們預計第一季銷售額將在 5.05 億美元至 5.2 億美元之間，調整後每股收益將在 1 美元至 1.10 美元之間。

That concludes my prepared remarks, I would like to turn the call back to Ashish.

我準備好的發言到此結束，我想把電話轉回給阿什許。

Thank you, gentlemen. Stepping back, the fourth quarter was challenging with many uncertainties to navigate the view, the current softness is temporary, but demand reacting to the economic environment and customers continuing to destock.

謝謝你們，先生們。退一步來說，第四季度充滿了挑戰，存在許多不確定性，目前的疲軟是暫時的，但需求對經濟環境和客戶繼續去庫存做出了反應。

Over the short-term, we see stability in our business, and I'm hopeful that we will see an uptick in the back half there, the long-term secular drivers and investment cycles that remain. And after we get on the other side of this weakness, we expect to see higher revenue and EPS through the next cycle over the next few quarters, what can you expect from us?

從短期來看，我們的業務保持穩定，我希望我們能夠看到下半年的成長，長期驅動因素和投資週期仍然存在。在克服這一弱點後，我們預計在接下來的幾個季度的下一個週期中會看到更高的收入和每股盈餘，您對我們有何期望？

First, you can expect us to continue to focus on execution and managing our margins to enhance shareholder value. We will have a balanced focus on continuing to invest in our solutions transformation, whilst at the same time working to achieve incremental and decremental margins as we have in the past.

首先，您可以期望我們繼續專注於執行和管理利潤，以提高股東價值。我們將平衡地專注於繼續投資於我們的解決方案轉型，同時像過去一樣努力實現利潤的增量和遞減。

Second, you can expect us to continue to drive solution sales with an enhanced focus on breaking down the barriers in our Enterprise Solutions segment and leveraging our world-class products across a broader customer base.

其次，您可以期望我們繼續推動解決方案銷售，更加重視打破企業解決方案領域的障礙，並在更廣泛的客戶群中利用我們的世界級產品。

Our CICs are now in full swing, and we expect to gain leverage on our investments in the quarters and years to come. And finally, you can expect us to continue with a capital allocation framework and invest a healthy free cash flow into high-return opportunities. That means first and foremost, investing in organic growth. Over the past cycle, we delivered a 6% revenue CAGR with 4% of that from organic growth.

我們的 CIC 目前正在全面展開，我們預計將在未來幾季和幾年內獲得我們的投資槓桿。最後，您可以期望我們繼續採用資本配置框架，並將健康的自由現金流投資於高回報機會。這首先意味著投資於有機成長。在過去的周期中，我們的營收複合年增長率為 6%，其中 4% 來自有機成長。

So this will continue to be our primary focus. After that, we will continue to seek out bolt-on acquisitions that enhance our solutions offering. And finally, we will look to return capital to shareholders primarily through share repurchases.

因此，這將繼續是我們的首要關注點。此後，我們將繼續尋求補強收購，以增強我們的解決方案產品。最後，我們將主要透過股票回購向股東返還資本。

Looking forward, our portfolio is well positioned, and our balance sheet is strong. We will continue to execute operationally through these challenges and look for opportunities to seize the moment and gain share where possible.

展望未來，我們的投資組合定位良好，資產負債表強勁。我們將繼續應對這些挑戰，並尋找機會抓住時機並盡可能獲得份額。

To close, I would like to take a moment and recognize the contributions of our associates this past quarter. And now I appreciate your efforts and would like to thank you for your support as we continue to transform Belden for a challenging environment. Thank you for your hard work.

最後，我想花一點時間來表彰我們的員工在上個季度所做的貢獻。現在，我感謝您的努力，並感謝您在我們繼續改造百通以適應充滿挑戰的環境時所提供的支持。感謝你的努力。

That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the call to questions.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。接線員，請打開電話提問。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員說明）

William Stein, Truist Securities.

威廉·斯坦，Truist 證券公司。

Great. Thanks for taking my question. And let me offer my congratulations on the surprisingly good results and outlook today. Your guidance as you highlighted aligns with normal seasonality and yet you're still talking about customer destocking and, you know, weak demand levels.

偉大的。感謝您提出我的問題。讓我對今天令人驚訝的良好成果和前景表示祝賀。正如您所強調的，您的指導符合正常的季節性，但您仍在談論客戶去庫存以及需求水平疲軟。

It does to feel a little bit at odds to me and I'm trying to understand if you believe that the weakness that we saw in Q3 and Q4 is essentially behind us now, or are we still going through it and done any details or nuances that would help me understand, cyclical positioning would really help. Thank you.

這確實讓我感覺有點矛盾，我試圖了解您是否認為我們在第三季度和第四季度看到的弱點現在基本上已經過去了，或者我們是否仍在經歷它並完成任何細節或細微差別這將幫助我理解，週期性定位確實會有幫助。謝謝。

So first of all, thank you, Ron, for your kind words. So we saw Q4 as a stable period, right. So we saw orders sequentially growing slightly across the businesses. We think Q1 will follow a similar pattern essentially, and I'll fear with the sequential adjustment typically we go about 7%, 8% down from Q4 to Q1 just with normal seasonality.

首先，謝謝羅恩的客氣話。所以我們認為第四季是一個穩定的時期，對吧。因此，我們看到各企業的訂單連續略有成長。我們認為第一季基本上會遵循類似的模式，我擔心，在正常季節性的情況下，連續調整通常會比第四季到第一季下降約 7%、8%。

So it's nothing different in terms of that extended period of stability. Now if you remember, we previously guided that the first half of '24 is the period when we would see this destocking phenomenon and it's at its peak. And then in the back half we would see normalization. So for now, we I don't actually think it's different from what we previously expected.

因此，就延長的穩定期而言，這並沒有什麼不同。現在，如果你還記得的話，我們之前指導說，24 年上半年是我們會看到這種去庫存現象的時期，並且達到了頂峰。然後在後半段我們會看到正常化。所以目前來說，我們其實並不認為這與我們之前的預期有什麼不同。

And I don't think we can say that the destocking period is behind us, but I think we can say that we are going through the stable process of destocking as expected. And you know, based on all the other indicators we have at the macro level, including PMIs now, we are heading in the right direction.

我不認為我們可以說去庫存期已經過去，但我認為我們可以說我們正在經歷預期的穩定的去庫存過程。你知道，根據我們在宏觀層面掌握的所有其他指標，包括現在的採購經理人指數，我們正朝著正確的方向前進。

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. And one follow-up, if I may. I'm hoping you can talk a bit about at the CICs, the pacing of investment there. You noted that you opened your [51] recently. Are we should we expect more of these going forward? And whether the CICs have changed your relationship with the channel at all in your anticipated revenue through the channel relative to direct like it?

好的。這很有幫助。謝謝。如果可以的話，還有一個後續行動。我希望你能在中投公司談談那裡的投資節奏。您注意到您最近打開了您的 [51]。我們是否應該期待更多這樣的事情發生？與直接管道相比，CIC 是否徹底改變了您與管道的關係？透過管道獲得的預期收入是否有所改變？

Yes. And also I think in fact that you have actually visited bump of the CICs of so you've seen it for ourselves. We had announced initially that we will build five of Big CICs across of all we just finished that process of we are planning to roll out something some smaller format versions, call mini CICs in more locations that will get connected to these big five hubs.

是的。而且我認為事實上您已經參觀了 CIC 的高峰，所以您已經親眼目睹了它。我們最初宣布，我們將在剛剛完成的所有過程中建立五個大型 CIC，我們計劃推出一些較小格式的版本，在更多位置調用迷你 CIC，以連接到這五個大型中心。

Now what we've noticed is, as you know, we've seen this with our associates in Stuttgart type of first 12 months or so, It's a lot about customers getting familiar with our technology and then it moves to the second phase where people invest in time and validation testing and large solution design.

現在我們注意到，如您所知，我們在斯圖加特的同事在前 12 個月左右的時間裡就看到了這一點，這很大程度上是關於客戶熟悉我們的技術，然後進入第二階段，人們投資時間和驗證測試以及大型解決方案設計。

And then it gets really interesting, and we see it massive elevation in success or in win rates with customers wants to get to that stage. For most of our channel partners, io including those that do value add for our customers. They did not have those kinds of investments. They didn't have the infrastructure where they could demonstrate to a customer a complex solution.

然後它變得非常有趣，我們看到成功率或客戶想要達到這個階段的獲勝率大幅提高。對於我們的大多數通路合作夥伴來說，包括那些為我們的客戶增值的通路合作夥伴。他們沒有此類投資。他們沒有可以向客戶展示複雜解決方案的基礎設施。

So the CSC has actually become really a positive element in that partnership because now they can bring the customers over and they can show how all those different products work together, which previously they would have to just talk about. So yes, I think the CICs turned out to be great investments.

因此，CSC 實際上已成為這種合作關係中的一個積極因素，因為現在他們可以將客戶帶過來，並且可以展示所有這些不同的產品如何協同工作，而以前他們只能談論這些。所以，是的，我認為中投公司是一項偉大的投資。

We just talked about earlier on the call about an example where a customer came in for a regular technology update visit. And then we ended up with a big contract. So and then of this customer was actually brought in by a partner. So that dynamic is very positive.

我們剛剛在電話會議的早些時候談到了一個客戶定期進行技術更新訪問的範例。然後我們最終簽訂了一份大合約。原來這個客戶居然是合作夥伴帶進來的。所以這種動態是非常正面的。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Chris Dankert, Loop Capital.

克里斯·丹克特，Loop Capital。

Hi, good morning. I guess first off, as we're looking at the first quarter guidance here. I assume guidance is calling for both segments to be down a similar amount on a year-over-year basis. Can you just confirm that that? would be helpful Yes.

早安.我想首先，因為我們在這裡查看第一季的指導。我認為指導意見要求這兩個部門比去年同期下降類似的數額。能確認一下嗎？會有幫助的 是的。

Yes, that's right, Chris.

是的，沒錯，克里斯。

Okay, perfect. And I guess what bigger picture perspective, I am still thinking [EPS of $8] target in the back of the slide deck here. Maybe just kind of talk through the rationale on keeping that target unchanged, thinking about getting from here to there, perhaps?

好的，完美。我猜想更大的前景是什麼，我仍然在考慮幻燈片後面的 [EPS 8 美元] 目標。也許只是談談保持該目標不變的基本原理，考慮從這裡到那裡，也許？

Yes. So the [$8] EPS in 2025 is still our target, and it's driven by our belief in the longer-term fundamentals in the business. It's also supported by the investments we've continue to make through the cycle. We just talked about the CICs in the prior question, and it's not just the CICs. It's the overall, product, R&D, known solution selling capabilities.

是的。因此，2025 年的 [8 美元] 每股盈餘仍然是我們的目標，這是由我們對業務長期基本面的信念所驅動的。它也得到了我們在整個週期中繼續進行的投資的支持。我們剛才在上一個問題中談到了CIC，而且不只是CIC。它是整體、產品、研發、已知解決方案的銷售能力。

Chris, we feel at this point that out, we were actually slightly ahead when we had articulated the target previously in '22, we said EPS would grow at about 12%. We have multiple levers to get there, including organic growth, of course, the bolt-on M&A, share buybacks, et cetera.

克里斯，我們現在認為，當我們在 22 年之前闡明目標時，我們實際上稍微領先了一點，我們說每股收益將增長約 12%。我們有多種手段可以實現這一目標，當然包括自然成長、補強併購、股票回購等。

And then we were ahead in the first half of '23 of that 12% CAGR. And with our current guidance, we need to kind of be in that 8% CAGR to in '24 and '25. We still have two years to go and we feel that the investments we've made will pay off handsomely once we get to the other side of this cycle of this destocking phenomenon.

然後我們在 23 年上半年以 12% 的複合年增長率領先。根據我們目前的指導，我們需要在 24 年和 25 年實現 8% 的複合年增長率。我們還有兩年的時間，我們認為，一旦我們進入去庫存現象週期的另一端，我們所做的投資就會得到豐厚的回報。

So it may not be linear. So I can't articulate a simple linear formula here, but it's just based on the fundamentals in the market, our investments and the fact that we were slightly had previously, we still believe we'll get there.

所以它可能不是線性的。所以我在這裡無法闡明一個簡單的線性公式，但它只是基於市場的基本面、我們的投資以及我們之前稍微有過的事實，我們仍然相信我們會實現這一目標。

Yeah, I appreciate the color and then glad to hear that there's still a lot of competence and necessitate that hitting that goal. Excuse me, if I could sneak one last one. And maybe just a quick comment on what you're seeing in data center. I know there's a couple of different indicators in terms of how healthy that market is, but any comments on what you're seeing in data center would be great?

是的，我很欣賞這種顏色，然後很高興聽到仍然有很多能力並且有必要實現這個目標。對不起，如果我能偷偷地放最後一張。也許只是對您在資料中心看到的內容進行快速評論。我知道有幾個不同的指標來衡量市場的健康程度，但是您在資料中心看到的任何評論都會很好嗎？

Yes, so that that business has continued to do well for us for two reasons. First, as you remember, probably from previous discussions, we were not overly focused on the hyperscale market. We were focused more on helping customers in specialized areas like health care, hospitality, Finance of federal, those kinds of markets to build out data centers.

是的，因此該業務對我們來說繼續表現良好，原因有二。首先，正如您所記得的，可能從先前的討論來看，我們並沒有過度關注超大規模市場。我們更專注於幫助醫療保健、飯店、聯邦金融等專業領域的客戶建立資料中心。

And they see that as part of the overall solutions approach that that we bring to that market. Obviously, with the advent of more machine learning and AI, the need for data has multiplied even in those markets. So we continue to see data centers as a fairly attractive. And though it's obviously had some ups and downs more recently just given the inventory dynamics, but at a base level, if you look at our pipeline, we have more and more customers coming to us right now asking us to design solutions that include data centers.

他們認為這是我們為該市場帶來的整體解決方案的一部分。顯然，隨著更多機器學習和人工智慧的出現，即使在這些市場中，對數據的需求也成倍增加。因此，我們仍然認為資料中心相當有吸引力。儘管考慮到庫存動態，最近顯然出現了一些起伏，但在基本層面上，如果你看看我們的管道，我們現在有越來越多的客戶來找我們，要求我們設計包括資料中心在內的解決方案。

Understood. Well, thanks so much for the color and best of luck in '24 here.

明白了。嗯，非常感謝你的顏色，祝你 24 年好運。

Thanks, Chris.

謝謝，克里斯。

Mark Delaney, Goldman Sachs.

馬克·德萊尼，高盛。

Yes, good morning and thanks very much for taking my questions. First question around inventory levels, how much inventory do you think was reduced at distributors in the fourth quarter? And if you have visibility into it to attract customers as well.

是的，早上好，非常感謝您回答我的問題。關於庫存水準的第一個問題，您認為第四季度經銷商的庫存減少了多少？如果您也能了解它來吸引客戶。

And where do you think inventory levels in distribution and direct customers will be at the end of the first quarter compared to normal levels?

您認為第一季末分銷商和直接客戶的庫存水準與正常水準相比會是多少？

Yes, I'll take that one, Mark. So inventory in the fourth quarter was down pretty significantly. In the fourth quarter I think this is a multi-quarter process as we as inventory comes down at distribution, I think there's really two elements here you have to keep in mind, which is the reduction at distribution and then the reduction at end customers.

是的，我要那個，馬克。因此，第四季的庫存大幅下降。在第四季度，我認為這是一個多季度的過程，因為我們的庫存在分銷時下降，我認為這裡確實有兩個因素必須牢記，即分銷時的減少，然後是最終客戶的減少。

So machine builders, OEM.s or other end users. And so I think that's a little bit more difficult to quantify in the fourth quarter. It's hard to give you an exact number, but a significant amount of the reduction that we saw in Q4 was it's related to inventory.

機器製造商、OEM 或其他最終用戶也是如此。所以我認為第四季的量化有點困難。很難給你一個確切的數字，但我們在第四季度看到的大量減少與庫存有關。

Thanks, Jeremy. And a second question, you're just trying to better understand how you're looking at margins and operating expense levels in 1Q? I think implied EBIT margins are about 12.5% to 12.6% at the midpoint. So I think that would suggest gross margins are holding up at pretty healthy levels. OpEx dollars seem to be staying at a lower absolute level, but any more specifics you can provide on how to think about gross margins and OpEx in 1Q? And if there's anything temporary in there, one-time reductions in OpEx that that may not repeat throughout the balance of the year would be helpful to better understand.

謝謝，傑里米。第二個問題，您只是想更了解您如何看待第一季的利潤率和營運費用水平？我認為隱含息稅前利潤率中位數約為 12.5% 至 12.6%。因此，我認為這表明毛利率保持在相當健康的水平。營運支出似乎保持在較低的絕對水平，但您能提供更多關於如何考慮第一季毛利率和營運支出的具體資訊嗎？如果其中存在任何臨時性的情況，那麼營運支出的一次性削減（這種情況在一年中可能不會重複）將有助於更好地理解。

So gross margins, I think, will continue to be pretty strong. You may see a little bit of a tick down in gross margins from Q4 to Q1 just because volume is lower. So there will be a bit of an impact from just lower volume leverage.

因此，我認為毛利率將繼續保持強勁。您可能會看到從第四季度到第一季的毛利率略有下降，只是因為銷量較低。因此，較低的成交量槓桿將會產生一些影響。

On the OpEx side, we're going to continue to manage OpEx pretty closely to hit the decremental targets that we've given. And so we'll manage that tight. We don't have plans to do additional some headcount reductions in the first half of the year. Remember, we took a productivity action in the fourth quarter, so we'll manage OpEx and I wouldn't expect OpEx to be going up in Q1 versus where we were in Q4.

在營運支出方面，我們將繼續密切管理營運支出，以實現我們給出的遞減目標。所以我們會嚴格管理。我們沒有計劃在今年上半年進行額外的裁員。請記住，我們在第四季度採取了生產力行動，因此我們將管理營運支出，我預計第一季的營運支出不會比第四季上升。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Sure.

當然。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Reuben Garner, The Benchmark Company.

魯本·加納，基準公司。

Good morning, everyone.

大家，早安。

Good morning.

早安.

Can we I think last quarter you noted an expectation that broadband would probably recover the earliest. It sounds like you're sort of seeing similar sequential movements in both enterprise and industrial automation. Do you still have an internal expectation that you'll see and a broadband snapback first and maybe industrial automation and smart buildings sort of later in the fiscal year?

我認為上個季度您曾表示預計寬頻可能會最早恢復。聽起來您似乎在企業和工業自動化中看到了類似的連續運動。您是否仍然有一個內部預期，即您將首先看到寬頻快速恢復，也許工業自動化和智慧建築會在本財年晚些時候看到？

So we're going to be remember, we've talked more about the kind of macro view at that point that broadband demand. It was so robust. It had support from Federal spending. And in general, all the large MSOs we partner with, they had no noticeable change in their posture towards capital expenditure and adding subscribers, right? That hasn't changed.

所以我們要記住，我們已經更討論了寬頻需求的宏觀觀點。它是如此堅固。它得到了聯邦支出的支持。總的來說，我們合作的所有大型 MSO 在資本支出和增加用戶方面的態度沒有明顯變化，對嗎？這一點沒有改變。

So we if anything we are encouraged with it. You know, the reports you've seen now we've had a chance to kind of delve deeper into the customer plans. The one thing I will say is that these are your own complex supply chains that depend on a number of products coming together of which we supply a portion and sometimes because of the complex procurement process, even though the end demand is fine, you may see some timing.

因此，如果有什麼的話，我們會受到鼓勵。您知道，您現在看到的報告讓我們有機會更深入地研究客戶計劃。我要說的一件事是，這些是您自己的複雜供應鏈，依賴許多產品組合在一起，其中我們提供一部分，有時由於複雜的採購流程，即使最終需求很好，您可能會看到一些時機。

So at this point, we don't see anything different to what we had previously guided in terms of strength in the broadband end markets. We've seen a little bit of timing in broadband, but nothing that takes us away from expectations. It's within a few percentage points here or there.

因此，目前我們認為寬頻終端市場的實力與我們先前的指導沒有任何不同。我們已經看到了寬頻領域的一些時機，但沒有什麼讓我們偏離預期。這裡或那裡的誤差在幾個百分點之內。

So, you know, to give a simple answer to your question, we still expect broadband and demand come back first, and we feel that, you know, given some minor changes in timing, et cetera. We'll see our broadband business follow that.

所以，你知道，為了對你的問題給出一個簡單的答案，我們仍然期望寬頻和需求首先恢復，而且我們認為，考慮到時間安排等方面的一些細微變化。我們將看到我們的寬頻業務隨之而來。

Yes. Maybe the only thing I'll add here, Ruben, for your benefit is that keep in mind that the broadband seasonality in Q1 is a little bit more significant because those products are going in the network. So typically Q1 is not a particularly strong quarter in broadband. Once we hit the spring. Usually we see volumes increase in that business.

是的。魯本，為了您的利益，我在這裡唯一要補充的是，請記住，第一季的寬頻季節性更為重要，因為這些產品正在進入網路。因此，第一季通常不是寬頻領域特別強勁的季度。一旦我們碰到了春天。通常我們會看到該業務的銷量增加。

Okay, great. And then we sort of touched on this, but I just wanted to kind of hopefully give maybe a bridge on a year-over-year basis, Jeremy, if possible, the gross margin performance in the quarter was really strong considering the top line environment. Can you kind of walk us through how how you are able to sustain those kind of gross margin levels in the face of volume down as much as it was?

好的，太好了。然後我們談到了這一點，但我只是希望能夠在同比基礎上架起一座橋樑，傑里米，如果可能的話，考慮到營收環境，本季度的毛利率表現非常強勁。您能否向我們介紹一下，在銷量大幅下降的情況下，您如何能夠維持這樣的毛利率水準？

Yes. I mean, you've got for sure, we've got pressure coming from some from the negative leverage and the volumes coming down. So you've got to absorb those fixed costs on a smaller amount of volume, but the offset is that is positive mix. So I think where we've been strong is in our highest margin products.

是的。我的意思是，可以肯定的是，我們面臨一些來自負槓桿和交易量下降的壓力。因此，你必須以較小的數量來吸收這些固定成本，但抵消的是，這是一個積極的組合。所以我認為我們的優勢在於利潤率最高的產品。

So some of the actives and switches and other things that we're selling as part of our solutions. The reality is if you look at the products that are really held in inventory at customers and at distributors, it's probably disproportionately things like cable and some lower margin products.

因此，我們作為解決方案的一部分出售一些主動元件和開關以及其他東西。現實情況是，如果你看看客戶和分銷商真正庫存的產品，你會發現其中可能不成比例的是電纜和一些利潤率較低的產品。

So the bulk of the impact that we've seen volume-wise has been in some lower margin products. I think you've got negative leverage, but then that's offset by by positive mix. And so that's how we've been able to hold margins and up to the past 12 months.

因此，我們在銷售方面看到的大部分影響是在一些利潤率較低的產品中。我認為你有負槓桿，但隨後它被正組合所抵消。這就是我們在過去 12 個月內能夠保持利潤的方式。

Understood. Thanks for taking the questions and good luck.

明白了。感謝您提出問題，祝您好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Rob Jamieson, UBS.

羅布·賈米森，瑞銀集團。

Good morning and congrats on the results and solid guidance today, mature. Appreciate all the detail that you've provided this morning. I guess for me, just within Industrial Automation Solutions, can you maybe provide us a little color on what you saw on in the fourth quarter, maybe even full year just across the different end markets like between discrete Process and Energy and mass transit?

早安，恭喜今天的成果和紮實的指導，成熟了。感謝您今天早上提供的所有細節。我想對我來說，就工業自動化解決方案而言，您能否為我們提供一些關於您在第四季度甚至全年不同終端市場（例如離散過程和能源以及公共交通之間）所看到的情況的資訊？

Yeah. So you know, obviously, discrete has been less robust than the second half of '23, and that was driven largely by the destocking phenomenon and maybe to some extent by the interest rate environment where people slowed down some of the projects.

是的。所以你知道，顯然，離散業務的表現不如 23 年下半年強勁，這主要是由去庫存現象推動的，也許在某種程度上是由人們放慢了一些項目的利率環境推動的。

We even noted, as we've mentioned previously, that some of the reshoring projects industry, it slowed down because there was a shortage of labor. They don't have enough people to either build or operate those plants.

我們甚至注意到，正如我們之前提到的，一些回流項目行業由於勞動力短缺而放緩。他們沒有足夠的人員來建造或運作這些工廠。

So in Q3, we saw that come down. If you remember, orders were down almost just over 20% actually sequentially and POS was down at that point, about 8%. Now in Q4, we saw that holding stabilize. Orders are up about 7% sequentially versus a flattish and we've seen other indicators leading indicators, including PMI that show that it's heading in the right direction.

所以在第三季度，我們看到這一數字有所下降。如果你還記得的話，訂單實際環比下降了近 20% 以上，而 POS 則下降了約 8%。現在在第四季度，我們看到這種情況保持穩定。訂單環比增長約 7%，與持平相比，我們看到其他指標領先，包括 PMI，表明其正朝著正確的方向發展。

So discrete is still an area where we expect of some weakness and then it will come back once this inventory cycle is we get to the other side. But meanwhile, we did see a significant growth in our process markets and in mass transit. In mass and especially because of our high focus on providing this full mission critical solution, we have a number of engagements.

因此，離散領域仍然是我們預計會出現一些疲軟的領域，一旦我們到達庫存週期的另一邊，這種疲軟就會捲土重來。但同時，我們確實看到流程市場和公共交通的顯著成長。總的來說，特別是由於我們高度重視提供完整的關鍵任務解決方案，我們進行了許多合作。

These tend to be more long term. They don't get impacted, Rob, so much by inventory changes, et cetera, and we have a fairly robust pipeline there. But yes, so to answer your question, it was more a discrete more linked to the inventory phenomenon, and I think it's stable now.

這些往往是更長期的。羅布，他們不會受到庫存變化等的太大影響，而且我們在那裡有一個相當強大的管道。但是，是的，所以回答你的問題，它更像是一種與庫存現象更相關的離散現象，我認為它現在很穩定。

Perfect. That helps. Thank you very much. And then I guess just like last one, a higher level. You talked a lot about the CIC and the success there. I guess, maybe two things, an update on kind of conversions with customers that have come through the door.

完美的。這有幫助。非常感謝。然後我想就像上一個一樣，更高的水平。您談了很多關於 CIC 及其成功的事情。我想，也許有兩件事，即與進門的客戶的轉換類型的更新。

And then maybe just some high-level thoughts on outside of just the solution and attacking the right KPIs for your customers. Maybe can you talk a little bit about other investments that you've made in software or middleware solutions like on like Horizon?

然後，也許只是解決方案之外的一些高層想法，並為您的客戶制定正確的 KPI。也許您能談談您在軟體或中間件解決方案（例如 Horizo​​n）方面所做的其他投資嗎？

Yes. So there are a few things happening. So first of all, on the CICs, you know, typically when we engage with customers in the long term for a data or network solution, our success would be about [a third] of the customers would convert eventually, which is fairly healthy.

是的。所以發生了一些事情。首先，在 CIC 上，您知道，通常當我們與客戶長期接觸數據或網路解決方案時，我們的成功將是大約[三分之一]的客戶最終會轉換，這是相當健康的。

We've seen that once we get a customer to invest in a validation test at CIC, that rate might actually go up [2 to 3 times], that's fairly significant change that we see in that in that customer engagement. And we've seen more and more instances now where customers come to us typically with a complex kind of idea in their heads. And then we walk them back a little bit talk about the KPIs I want to address.

我們已經看到，一旦我們讓客戶投資 CIC 的驗證測試，該比率實際上可能會上升 [2 到 3 倍]，這是我們在客戶參與度方面看到的相當重大的變化。我們現在已經看到越來越多的例子，客戶來到我們這裡時通常腦子裡有一個複雜的想法。然後我們再帶他們回來談談我想要解決的 KPI。

So for example, we previously mentioned we worked with this utility company in Spain and their KPI was the average time it took to find a fault in the network, and they were experiencing a 140 minutes on average. And we were able to take that down about 35 minutes. And they saved obviously a lot of money through a better revenue than saving on fines. So it's interesting.

例如，我們之前提到我們與西班牙的這家公用事業公司合作，他們的 KPI 是發現網路故障所需的平均時間，他們平均經歷了 140 分鐘。我們在大約 35 分鐘內就將其刪除了。與節省罰款相比，他們透過更好的收入顯然節省了很多錢。所以這很有趣。

Each customer typically comes initially with a and my network design, we walk them back to KPIs. We design a better workflow and data flow. And then we get another part of this, obviously is how we bring different sources and destinations of data together and Belden Horizon has turned out to be a really a phenomenal our experience for most of our customers because it's very neutral. It doesn't.

每個客戶最初通常都會有一個我的網頁設計，我們會讓他們回到 KPI。我們設計了更好的工作流程和資料流。然後我們得到了另一個部分，顯然是我們如何將不同的資料來源和目的地整合在一起，而Belden Horizo​​n 對我們的大多數客戶來說確實是一種非凡的體驗，因為它非常中立。事實並非如此。

It's not application software. It's not designed to do anything with the data other than cleanse it sorted and connected to different Connect, different sources to different destinations.

它不是應用軟體。除了清理、排序並連接到不同的 Connect、不同的來源到不同的目的地之外，它的設計目的不是對資料執行任何操作。

One interesting thing that's happening by the way with Horizon as we are now testing more and more offering data and service, although we're not we haven't yet commercialized that. And now we've had requests now to incorporate more machine learning and AI into Horizon, which we have been doing. And the example I like two quarters.

Horizo​​n 正在發生一件有趣的事情，因為我們現在正在測試越來越多的數據和服務，儘管我們還沒有將其商業化。現在我們收到了將更多機器學習和人工智慧納入 Horizo​​n 的請求，我們一直在這樣做。我喜歡兩個季度的例子。

So imagine a factory which has cobots and a worker may be walking into the off of a robotic arm and with machine learning on our edge devices and some form of an LLM in Horizon, we can actually stop that robotic arm without anything going to the cloud because otherwise, there's too much latency and somebody might get injured, right?

因此，想像一下，一家擁有協作機器人和工人的工廠可能會走進機械手臂，透過我們的邊緣設備上的機器學習和Horizo​​​​n 中某種形式的法學碩士，我們實際上可以停止該機械臂，而無需任何東西進入雲端因為否則的話，等待時間太長，有人可能會受傷，對嗎？

So those kinds of applications, they're not always the ones that get a lot of attention in the media as AI applications for the save lives and save time and the increased productivity. And that's where we are going with that whole software layer, which has turned out to be an exciting journey, even for us in terms of London.

因此，這些類型的應用程式並不總是作為拯救生命、節省時間和提高生產力的人工智慧應用程式而受到媒體的廣泛關注。這就是我們整個軟體層的目標，事實證明這是一次令人興奮的旅程，即使對於我們在倫敦也是如此。

So again, a lot of interesting things happening, but I think you are thinking about it the right way, a customer KPI is getting impacted and the software really making a big difference in that.

再說一遍，發生了很多有趣的事情，但我認為您正在以正確的方式思考它，客戶 KPI 正在受到影響，而軟體確實在這方面產生了很大的影響。

Awesome. Thanks so much.

驚人的。非常感謝。

There are no further questions at this time, I would like to turn the call back over to Aaron Remington for any closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題，我想將電話轉回給亞倫·雷明頓 (Aaron Remington)，讓其發表結束語。

Thank you, operator, and thank you, and thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. If you have any questions, please contact the IR team here at Belden or e-mail address is investor.relations@belden.com. Thank you.

謝謝接線員，謝謝大家，謝謝大家參加今天的電話會議。如果您有任何疑問，請聯絡 Belden 的 IR 團隊或電子郵件地址 Investor.relations@belden.com。謝謝。

This does conclude today's conference call you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束，您現在可以掛斷電話了。