Brady Corp (BRC) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2026 Brady Corporation earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

各位好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加 Brady 公司 2026 年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Ann Thornton, CFO. Please go ahead.

現在我把會議交給今天的主講人，財務長安‧桑頓女士。請開始吧。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Brady Corporation fiscal 2026 first quarter earnings conference call. The slides for this morning's call are located on our website at www.bradycorp.com/investors. We will begin our prepared remarks on slide number 3.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加布雷迪公司2026財年第一季財報電話會議。本次會議的幻燈片已上傳至公司網站www.bradycorp.com/investors。我們將從第三張投影片開始發言。

Please note that during this call, we may make comments about forward-looking information. Words such as expect, will, may, believe, forecast and anticipate are just a few examples of words identifying a forward-looking statement. It's important to note that forward-looking information is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties which could significantly impact expected results. Risk factors were noted in our news release this morning and in Brady's fiscal 2025 Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC in September.

請注意，在本次電話會議中，我們可能會提及前瞻性資訊。諸如“預期”、“將”、“可能”、“相信”、“預測”和“預期”等詞語只是識別前瞻性陳述的幾個例子。需要注意的是，前瞻性資訊受多種風險因素和不確定因素的影響，這些因素和不確定因素可能會對預期結果產生重大影響。這些風險因素已在今天上午的新聞稿以及Brady公司於9月份向美國證券交易委員會提交的2025財年10-K表格中提及。

Also, please note that this teleconference is copyrighted by Brady Corporation and may not be rebroadcast without the consent of Brady. We will be recording this call and broadcasting it on the Internet. As such, your participation in the Q&A session will constitute your consent to being recorded.

另請注意，本次電話會議受 Brady 公司版權保護，未經 Brady 公司許可不得轉播。我們將錄製本次通話並在網路上發布。因此，您參與問答環節即表示您同意被錄音。

I'll now turn the call over to Brady's President and Chief Executive Officer, Russell Shaller. Russell?

現在我將把電話轉給布雷迪公司的總裁兼執行長拉塞爾·沙勒。拉塞爾？

Thank you, Ann, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. This morning, we released our fiscal 2026 1st quarter financial results. We had a good start to the year with organic sales growth of 2.8% and adjusted earnings per share growth of 8%.

謝謝安，也謝謝各位今天參加我們的會議。今天上午，我們發布了2026財年第一季的財務表現。今年開局良好，有機銷售額成長2.8%，調整後每股盈餘成長8%。

Our Americas and Asia region reported strong organic sales growth of 4.7% and our Europe and Australia region reported a significant improvement in adjusted segment profit of 15%. This was a direct result of the actions we took to streamline our cost structure in the region last year. Our team executed well, and we have started the year on a positive note.

我們的美洲和亞洲地區實現了強勁的有機銷售成長，增幅達4.7%；歐洲和澳洲地區的調整後分部利潤也顯著提升了15%。這直接得益於我們去年在該地區採取的成本結構優化措施。我們的團隊執行得非常出色，新年伊始便取得了良好的開端。

Before we go into Brady's financial details, I want to talk a bit about our connected products. Brady has spent the last several years building out a marking and tracing solution that is uniquely easy to use for our customers. As an example is our fantastic new app called [Brady Scan], which is available in Android and Apple versions.

在詳細介紹 Brady 的財務狀況之前，我想先談談我們的連網產品。過去幾年，Brady 致力於打造一套易於使用的標記和追蹤解決方案，力求為客戶帶來最佳體驗。例如，我們全新推出的出色應用程式 [Brady Scan] 就提供安卓和蘋果版本。

It is an industrial barcode scanning app that consolidates the entire scanning workflow and communicate seamlessly with our printers. You can instantly generate scannable barcodes with both image to barcode and speech to barcode technology. A built-in security check monitors from malicious QR codes and error correction automatically repairs damage QR codes, resulting in maximum readability. You can scan and input barcode values directly into Google sheet with no download or export required. And every barcode scan is automatically geo-tagged, allowing for complete traceability with location accuracy.

這是一款工業條碼掃描應用程序，它整合了整個掃描工作流程，並能與我們的印表機無縫對接。您可以使用影像轉條碼和語音轉條碼技術即時產生可掃描的條碼。內建的安全檢查功能可監控惡意二維碼，並自動糾錯修復損壞的二維碼，從而最大限度地提高可讀性。您可以直接掃描條碼並將其值輸入到 Google 試算表中，無需下載或匯出。此外，每次條碼掃描都會自動添加地理標籤，從而實現完全可追溯且位置精準。

Our goal with this app is to make barcode reading, barcode generation and barcode printing an entirely seamless experience for our users, making track and trace easier than ever before. With this software, our customers can use their phone to create barcodes, instantly send those barcodes to a Brady printer, print them on our high-performance adhesive labels and created a time and location stamp with our geo locator. This is one of the many steps we are taking to integrate our lasers, readers and printers into a single, easy-to-use platform.

我們開發這款應用程式的目標是為用戶提供完全無縫的條碼讀取、生成和列印體驗，使追蹤溯源比以往任何時候都更加便捷。透過這款軟體，我們的客戶可以使用手機創建條碼，並立即將其發送到 Brady 印表機，列印到我們高效能的黏性標籤上，同時利用我們的地理定位器創建時間和位置戳記。這是我們為將雷射、讀取器和印表機整合到一個易於使用的單一平台而採取的眾多舉措之一。

Now, I'll turn it over to Ann to provide more details on our financial results. Ann?

現在，我把麥克風交給安，讓她詳細介紹一下我們的財務表現。安？

Thank you, Russell. We had a good start to the year. Organic sales grew 2.8% in the quarter, which was led by our Americas and Asia region with organic growth of 4.7% in the quarter. We also reported strong growth in our adjusted pretax income as well as our adjusted diluted earnings per share in the quarter, while funding a significant increase in R&D. And we finished the quarter in a net cash position, which continues to give us the ability to invest in both organic opportunities and strategic acquisitions in the future.

謝謝羅素。今年開局不錯。本季有機銷售額成長2.8%，其中美洲和亞洲地區的有機成長最為顯著，達4.7%。此外，本季調整後稅前利潤和調整後攤薄每股收益也實現了強勁增長，同時研發投入也大幅增加。本季末，我們保持淨現金頭寸，這使我們能夠繼續投資於未來的有機成長機會和策略性收購。

Slide number 4 details our quarterly sales trends. Organic sales were up 2.8%. Acquisitions added 3.2% and foreign currency translation increased sales by 1.5% for total sales growth of 7.5% in the quarter.

第 4 張投影片詳細介紹了我們的季度銷售趨勢。有機銷售額成長 2.8%。收購貢獻了 3.2% 的成長，外幣折算使銷售額成長了 1.5%，本季總銷售額成長了 7.5%。

Turning to slide number 5. This details our quarterly gross margin trending. Our gross profit margin was 51.5% this quarter compared to 50.3% in the first quarter of last year. In last year's first quarter, we closed on the acquisition of Gravotec, which requires purchase accounting adjustments to recognize the fair value of inventory acquired. These adjustments reduced last year's reported gross profit margin by 110 basis points in the quarter.

請看第五張投影片。這張投影片詳細展示了我們本季的毛利率趨勢。本季我們的毛利率為51.5%，去年同期為50.3%。去年第一季度，我們完成了對Gravotec的收購，這需要進行購買會計調整以確認所收購存貨的公允價值。這些調整導致去年同期報告的毛利率下降了110個基點。

So without this acquisition-related adjustment, gross profit margin was 51.4% last year. Our gross profit margin continues to be strong as we realize the benefits from our sales growth coming from our engineered products.

因此，若不計入此次收購相關的調整，去年的毛利率為51.4%。隨著我們工程產品銷售成長帶來的收益，我們的毛利率依然保持強勁。

Turning to slide number 6, you'll find our SG&A expense trending. SG&A was $117.6 million this quarter compared to $111.8 million in the first quarter of last year. As a percent of sales, SG&A was 29% compared to 29.7% last Q1. If you exclude amortization expense from each of the periods presented, as well as other nonrecurring acquisition-related costs incurred in last year's first quarter, and SG&A was 27.7% of sales in the first quarter compared to 28.3% of sales in last year's first quarter, which is a decline of 60 basis points. We continue to invest in growth through acquisitions and to our sales -- or excuse me, through additions to our sales force as well as selected geographic expansion in Southeast Asia, which were more than funding with efficiencies throughout our SG&A support functions.

翻到第6張投影片，您會發現我們的銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）趨勢。本季SG&A為1.176億美元，去年同期為1.118億美元。 SG&A佔銷售額的百分比為29%，去年同期為29.7%。如果從各期間中剔除攤銷費用以及去年同期發生的與收購相關的其他非經常性成本，則本季SG&A佔銷售額的27.7%，而去年同期為28.3%，下降了60個基點。我們繼續透過收購和銷售成長進行投資——或者更準確地說，是透過擴充銷售團隊以及在東南亞進行選擇性地域擴張，這些投資不僅用於提升SG&A支援職能的效率，而且資金也得到了充分利用。

Slide number 7 details the trending of our investments in research and development. We continue to increase our investment in R&D within both our organic business as well as our acquisitions from last year. R&D expense was $23.3 million or 5.7% of sales this quarter which was an increase from $18.9 million or 5% of sales last year. We funded a 23% increase in R&D in the quarter and still grew the bottom line. We've proven over time that our best ROI comes from our engineered products.

第7張投影片詳細介紹了我們在研發上的投資趨勢。我們持續加大研發投入，包括自身業務以及去年收購的業務。本季研發支出為2,330萬美元，佔銷售額的5.7%，高於去年同期的1,890萬美元（佔銷售額的5%）。本季研發投入成長了23%，同時仍實現了淨利成長。我們已證明，我們最佳的投資報酬率來自於自主研發的產品。

Russell just discussed our new app, Brady Scan, and we have a very exciting lineup of products that launched this year.

Russell 剛剛介紹了我們的新應用 Brady Scan，我們今年也推出了一系列非常令人興奮的產品。

Turning to slide number 8. This shows the trending of our pretax earnings. Pretax earnings on a GAAP basis increased 16.5% from $58.8 million to $68.5 million in the quarter. If you exclude amortization from both periods and exclude other acquisition-related charges we incurred in last year's Q1, pretax earnings increased to 7.6% from $68.6 million to $73.8 million.

請看第8張投影片。這張投影片展示了我們稅前利潤的趨勢。以美國通用會計準則（GAAP）計算，本季稅前利潤成長16.5%，從5,880萬美元增至6,850萬美元。如果剔除兩個期間的攤銷費用以及去年第一季產生的其他收購相關費用，稅前利潤則成長7.6%，從6,860萬美元增至7,380萬美元。

Slide number 9 details the trending of our net earnings and EPS. Our net income increased 15.3% in the quarter from $46.8 million to $53.9 million. Excluding amortization from both periods as well as the other acquisition-related charges from last year, our net income increased 7.1% from $54.2 million to $58 million. GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.13 compared to $0.97 per share last year. Excluding amortization from both periods and the acquisition-related charges from last year, our adjusted diluted earnings per share improved from $1.21 per share from $1.12 per share last year, which was an increase of 8%.

第9張投影片詳細介紹了我們的淨利和每股盈餘趨勢。本季淨利成長15.3%，從4,680萬美元增至5,390萬美元。剔除兩期間的攤銷以及去年同期其他收購相關費用後，淨利成長7.1%，從5,420萬美元增至5,800萬美元。以美國通用會計準則（GAAP）計算，稀釋後每股收益為1.13美元，去年同期為0.97美元。剔除兩個期間的攤銷以及去年同期收購相關費用後，調整後稀釋後每股收益從去年同期的1.12美元增至1.21美元，增幅為8%。

We had another strong earnings quarter resulting from our organic sales growth and the cost reduction actions that we took last year in selected parts of our business.

由於有機銷售成長以及去年在部分業務領域採取的成本削減措施，我們又迎來了一個強勁的獲利季度。

Slide number 10 details our cash generation. Operating cash flow increased 42.5% to $33.4 million in the first quarter of this year compared to $23.4 million in the first quarter of last year. And free cash flow increased 38.8% to $22.4 million in Q1 of this year compared to $16.1 million in last year's Q1. We're constantly focused on making the best cash-based decisions throughout our organization which gives us the ability to invest in our business and return funds to our shareholders through share buybacks and dividends.

第10張投影片詳細介紹了我們的現金流狀況。今年第一季度，經營現金流年增42.5%，達到3,340萬美元，去年同期為2,340萬美元。自由現金流年增38.8%，達2,240萬美元，去年同期為1,610萬美元。我們始終致力於在整個公司範圍內做出最佳的現金決策，這使我們能夠投資於業務發展，並透過股票回購和分紅向股東返還資金。

Turning to slide number 11, you'll find the impact that our historical cash generation has had on our balance sheet. As of October 31, we were in a net cash position of $66.8 million. Our approach to capital allocation is consistent, which is to fund organic sales growth and efficiency opportunities. This includes investing in new product development, sales generating resources, capability-enhancing CapEx and automation-focused CapEx. We have the ability to invest throughout the economic cycle so that we're always positioned to drive future sales growth and profit improvements. And we're focused on consistently increasing our dividends.

翻到第11頁投影片，您將看到我們歷史現金流對資產負債表的影響。截至10月31日，我們的淨現金部位為6,680萬美元。我們的資本配置策略一貫如此，即為內生銷售成長和效率提升機會提供資金。這包括投資新產品開發、銷售成長資源、能力提升型資本支出、以及自動化相關的資本支出。我們有能力在整個經濟週期中進行投資，從而始終保持領先地位，推動未來的銷售成長和利潤提升。同時，我們也致力於持續提高股利。

In September, we announced our 40th consecutive year of annual dividend increases, which was an incredible milestone and is a [street] that we're very proud of. From here, we're disciplined and opportunistic for both acquisitions and share buybacks. We're focused on identifying acquisitions with clear synergies to Brady, and we have the ability to fund our organic business, our dividend, M&A opportunities and share buybacks. We repurchased 55,000 shares for $4.1 million in the first quarter, which was an average price of $73.69 per share.

9月份，我們宣布連續第40年提高年度股息，這是一個令人矚目的里程碑，我們為此感到非常自豪。展望未來，我們將秉持嚴謹的態度，積極掌握收購和股票回購的機會。我們專注於尋找與Brady業務具有明顯協同效應的收購目標，並且我們有能力為公司內部成長、股利支付、併購機會和股票回購提供資金。第一季度，我們以410萬美元的價格回購了5.5萬股股票，平均每股價格為73.69美元。

Slide number 12 outlines our fiscal 2026 guidance. We are increasing the bottom end of our full year fiscal 2026 previously announced adjusted diluted EPS guidance range from $4.85 per share to $5.15 per share with a new range of $4.90 per share to $5.15 per share. So a $0.05 increase to the bottom end. Our GAAP EPS guidance range was updated to reflect acquisition-related amortization as well as to increase the bottom end also by $0.05, which we now expect to range from $4.57 per share to $4.82 per share. Our adjusted diluted EPS guidance range represents a range of growth of between 6.5% to 12% over 2025.

第12張投影片概述了我們2026財年的業績指引。我們將先前公佈的2026財年全年調整後攤薄每股收益（EPS）指引範圍下限從每股4.85美元至5.15美元上調至每股4.90美元至5.15美元，下限提高了0.05美元。我們更新了GAAP每股盈餘指引範圍，以反映收購相關攤銷，並將下限同樣提高了0.05美元，目前預計指引範圍為每股4.57美元至4.82美元。我們調整後的稀釋每股盈餘指引範圍代表著較2025年成長6.5%至12%。

We expect organic sales growth in the low single-digit percentages for the full year ending July 31, 2026. Other elements of our fiscal year 2026 guidance include an income tax rate of approximately 21%, depreciation and amortization expense of approximately $44 million and capital expenditures of approximately $40 million. Potential risks to our guidance, among others, include potential strengthening of the US dollar, inflationary pressures that were unable to offset in a timely enough manner or an overall slowdown in economic activity.

我們預計截至2026年7月31日的整個財年，有機銷售額成長率將維持在個位數百分比。 2026財年業績指引的其他要素包括：所得稅率約21%，折舊和攤提費用約4,400萬美元，資本支出約4,000萬美元。可能影響業績指引的風險包括美元走強、通膨壓力未能及時得到有效抵消，以及整體經濟活動放緩等。

Now, I'll turn it back over to Russell to cover our regional results and to provide some closing thoughts before Q&A. Russel?

現在，我將把發言權交還給羅素，讓他介紹我們地區的比賽結果，並在問答環節之前做一些總結發言。羅素？

Thanks, Ann. Slide 13 details the financial results of our Americas and Asia region. Sales were $268.9 million this quarter, which were up 9.6% from Q1 last year. Organic sales growth was 4.7% and acquisitions added the remaining 4.9% of our growth. We saw growth in most of our major product lines with significant growth of nearly 19% in the Wire Identification product line.

謝謝，安。第13張投影片詳細介紹了我們美洲和亞洲地區的財務表現。本季銷售額為2.689億美元，較去年第一季成長9.6%。其中，有機成長4.7%，收購貢獻了剩餘的4.9%。我們的大多數主要產品線均實現了成長，其中電線識別產品線成長尤為顯著，增幅接近19%。

Wire ID has been leading our organic sales growth company-wide for the last three years with data centers being a key end market. Our high-performance adhesive materials are ideal for the critical labor requirements in data centers.

在過去三年中，Wire ID一直是該公司整體有機銷售成長的領頭羊，資料中心是其關鍵終端市場。我們高性能的黏合劑材料完美契合資料中心對人工成本的高要求。

Our Asia business performed well with total organic sales growth of 11.9%, which was led by our business in Japan. We saw growth throughout the region, including China, where we grew slightly by 0.8%, which means that our business outside of China, combined for nearly 20% growth in the quarter.

我們的亞洲業務表現良好，有機銷售額成長11.9%，其中日本業務的成長特別顯著。整個亞洲地區均實現成長，包括中國市場，中國市場成長0.8%。這意味著，除中國以外的業務在本季合計成長近20%。

Asia also contributed a significant amount of growth in segment profit in the Americas and Asia region in the quarter, which was a result of both organic sales growth and the cost reduction actions that we took in China last year. Our reported segment profit in Americas and Asia region increased 9% to $59.9 million, and segment profit as a percentage of sales was 22.3%.

本季度，亞洲業務也為美洲和亞洲地區的業務利潤成長做出了顯著貢獻，這得益於內生性銷售成長以及我們去年在中國採取的成本削減措施。我們報告的美洲和亞洲地區業務利潤成長9%至5,990萬美元，業務利潤佔銷售額的22.3%。

If you exclude the impact of amortization in both the current quarter and last year's Q1 as well as our other nonrecurring acquisition-related expenses last year, segment profit increased 6.3%. Similar to past years, we are increasing our investment in R&D, which is the driving factor of our organic sales growth, both now and in the future.

若剔除本季及去年第一季攤銷的影響，以及去年其他非經常性收購相關費用，分部獲利成長6.3%。與往年一樣，我們正加大研發投入，研發是我們當前及未來有機銷售成長的主要動力。

We are experiencing a tariff headwind in the US compared to last year's Q1. While we continue to take steps to reduce their impact, last quarter, we projected net incremental expense of between $8 million and $12 million for fiscal 2026. As of the end of Q1, we are now projecting full year impact to be at the low end of this range, so approximately $8 million.

與去年第一季相比，我們目前在美國面臨關稅方面的不利影響。儘管我們持續採取措施以減輕其影響，但上個季度我們預計2026財年的淨增量支出將在800萬美元至1200萬美元之間。截至第一季末，我們預計全年影響將處於該範圍的下限，約為800萬美元。

Slide 14 details the financial results of Europe and Australia region. Sales were $136.4 million this quarter. Organic sales declined 0.8% and foreign currency translation added 4.3% for total growth of 3.5% in the region this quarter. Both Europe and Australia continue to operate in challenging macro conditions for industrial manufacturers, yet we nearly returned to organic sales growth in the quarter. Sales declines in our People Identification and Safety and Facility Identification product lines, but we saw growth in our Wire ID products in the quarter.

第14張投影片詳細介紹了歐洲和澳洲地區的財務表現。本季銷售額為1.364億美元。有機銷售額下降0.8%，外幣折算貢獻4.3%，該地區本季總成長率為3.5%。歐洲和澳洲的工業製造商仍面臨嚴峻的宏觀經濟環境，但我們本季幾乎恢復了有機銷售成長。人員識別和安全設施識別產品線的銷售額有所下降，但我們的線控識別產品在本季度實現了成長。

Organic sales in Europe declined 0.9% and increased slightly by 0.3% in Australia. Despite the 0.8% decline in organic sales, we reported a significant improvement in segment profit in the region. Our reported segment profit in Europe and Australia increased 42.8% in the quarter, to $18.7 million, and segment profit as a percentage of sales was 13.7%.

歐洲地區的有機銷售額下降了0.9%，而澳洲則小幅成長了0.3%。儘管有機銷售額下降了0.8%，但我們報告稱該地區的業務利潤顯著提升。本季度，歐洲和澳洲的業務利潤成長了42.8%，達到1,870萬美元，業務利潤佔銷售額的13.7%。

If you exclude the impact of amortization in both the current quarter and last year's Q1 as well as other nonrecurring acquisition-related expenses last year, segment profit increased 15% compared to the prior year. We took several actions last year to reduce our cost structure in both Europe and Australia, and we're seeing this payback in our profit results this year.

如果剔除本季和去年第一季的攤銷影響以及去年其他非經常性收購相關費用，該部門獲利較上年同期成長15%。去年，我們採取了多項措施來降低歐洲和澳洲的成本結構，而這些措施已在今年的利潤表現中獲得回報。

We started the year with some solid momentum. We're growing organic sales mid-single digits in America and Asia, and were nearly returned to growth in Europe and Australia. Even with the subdued global macroeconomic environment for industrial companies, I am super excited about the business we acquired and over the past year as well as fantastic technology that we are adding to our portfolio, such as the Brady Scan app that I truly believe the addition of our direct part marking product line and the ease-of-use features we are adding throughout our product portfolio enables us to help our customers improve their productivity.

今年年初我們發展勢頭強勁。我們在美洲和亞洲的有機銷售額實現了中等個位數的成長，在歐洲和澳洲也幾乎恢復了成長。儘管全球宏觀經濟環境對工業企業而言較為低迷，但我對我們過去一年收購的業務以及我們不斷添加到產品組合中的出色技術感到非常興奮，例如Br​​ady Scan應用程式。我堅信，我們新增的直接零件標記產品線以及我們在整個產品組合中添加的易用性功能，將使我們能夠幫助客戶提高生產效率。

With that, I'd like to turn it over for Q&A. Operator, would you please provide instructions to our listeners?

接下來，我想把時間交給問答環節。接線員，請您為聽眾朋友講解一下操作步驟。

(Operator Instructions) Steve Ferazani, Sidoti.

（操作說明）Steve Ferazani，Sidoti。

I appreciate the detail on the call. Russell, I was a little bit surprised on the strength of the gross margin better than it was in the second half, sort of flat versus if you adjust the year ago quarter, but the year ago quarter didn't include tariff impacts. So I'm trying to figure out, one, is it getting better compared to 3Q and 4Q because you're more effectively offsetting with price? Or was it just a particularly strong mix quarter? If you can help us out a little more detail on the gross margin?

感謝您在電話會議上提供的詳細資訊。 Russell，我對毛利率的強勁表現略感意外，比下半年好一些，如果與去年同期相比則基本持平，但去年同期的數據並未計入關稅影響。所以我正在思考，第一，毛利率較第三季和第四季有所改善，是因為你們更有效地利用了價格來抵銷關稅影響嗎？還是僅僅因為本季產品組合表現特別出色？您能否就毛利率提供更詳細的資訊？

Yes. The biggest impact was both price and working on our supply chain and moving things around a little bit. As a truly global manufacturer, we do have some ability to move things around and to look at which companies -- countries, excuse me, we should be producing and sourcing from. So I think like any good manufacturer, you do what you can to offset macroeconomic effects, and that's basically what we're doing. I'm happy to say we were projecting $8 million to $12 million.

是的。最大的影響體現在價格以及供應鏈的調整和一些環節的調整。作為一家真正的全球化製造商，我們確實有一定的能力進行調整，並考慮應該從哪些公司——或者更準確地說，哪些國家——進行生產和採購。所以我認為，任何優秀的製造商都會盡力抵銷宏觀經濟的影響，而這正是我們所做的。我很高興地告訴大家，我們預計的損失在800萬美元到1200萬美元之間。

I think through a lot of efforts from a lot of people at Brady, we're headed towards the very low end of that range. And that was also contributed to why we bumped the bottom end of our guidance up $0.05.

我認為，在布雷迪公司眾多員工的共同努力下，我們正朝著預期範圍的下限邁進。這也是我們將預期下限調高0.05美元的原因之一。

Got it. That's helpful. Higher R&D we've seen over the last couple of quarters. Is this a more reasonable run rate? And is that primarily because of the acquisitions you've made? Or you just feel like there's better returns that can be made from some of these product investments?

明白了，這很有幫助。過去幾季我們看到研發投入增加。這個投入水準是否更合理？這主要是因為你們進行的收購嗎？還是你們覺得某些產品投資還能帶來更高的報酬？

So certainly, the 5, 7 or so that we're at right now is due to the acquisitions. And over time, probably the next couple of quarters, we'll decide if there's overlapping R&D efforts, there's probably some at the margin. I would consider 5.5, give or take, kind of the situation, we should be in for the next few quarters. So there will be a little bit of streamlining of that effort, not really significant. We did have some onetime events in R&D.

所以，目前我們研發投入的5到7左右，一定是因為收購。隨著時間的推移，可能在接下來的幾個季度裡，我們會評估研發投入是否有重疊，可能會有一些重疊。我認為未來幾季，我們的研發投入應該在5.5左右。因此，我們會對研發投入進行一些精簡，但幅度不大。我們的研發投入中也確實有一些一次性項目。

But as you point out, or as I pointed out in the call, R&D continues to be the absolute best investment we can make organically. And I don't really have a per se target on where it should be, but we can say directionally 5.5 for the next year or so.

但正如你所指出的，或者正如我在電話會議中指出的，研發仍然是我們能夠進行的最佳有機投資。我並沒有一個具體的目標值，但我們可以大致預測未來一年左右的研發投入將維持在5.5%左右。

Okay. That's helpful. When you're thinking about the cost-out actions you took last year, did we see most of it this quarter that the plant consolidation and some of the workforce reductions. Have we seen the full benefit? Or is there more to come?

好的，這很有幫助。回顧去年採取的成本削減措施，本季是否已經看到了大部分成效，例如工廠合併和部分裁員？這些措施是否已經發揮了全部作用？還是說還有後續措施？

I would say there's probably 80% plus you've seen in Q1. There's still some more things that we're going to get. We certainly don't need to and wouldn't take any additional restructuring charges. We have nothing anticipated at this point. But again, like everybody that's managing their company.

我想說，第一季大概已經完成80%以上了。還有一些事情我們尚未完成。我們當然不需要也不會承擔任何額外的重組費用。目前我們沒有任何預期。但話說回來，就像所有管理公司的人一樣。

We continue to look for ways to improve our efficiency and drive a little bit more to the bottom line. So I'm going to say 80% done, still a little bit more to go.

我們一直在尋找提高效率、提升獲利能力的方法。所以我覺得已經完成了80%，還有一些工作要做。

Excellent. And if I could just ask briefly on cash conversion was better than it was the year ago quarter. Typically, Q1 is your lowest. But are you expecting you can get cash conversion back closer to 100% this year? Or is that a little bit too much of a reach?

太好了。我可以簡單問一下現金轉換率是否比去年同期有所改善嗎？通常來說，第一季是最低的。您預計今年的現金轉換率能恢復到接近100%嗎？還是說這個目標有點太高了？

That's a reasonable target, Steve, and good observation on your part that usually is a little bit lower for us in Q1. That's just due to timing of annual incentive payments and things like that. But we're definitely pleased with the improvement in Q1.

史蒂夫，這個目標很合理，你的觀察也很到位，我們第一季的表現通常會略低一些。這主要是因為年度激勵獎金的發放時間等因素所造成的。但我們對第一季的業績提升非常滿意。

We expected that to come last year was a little bit more suppressed than we would typically see in Q1. A lot of that was due to timing, and our cash conversion kind of normalized out a little bit more toward the end of the year. So that's a reasonable expectation to see that cash conversion level improve this year.

我們預計去年第一季的現金流會比往年同期略低。這主要是由於時間因素，而且我們的現金轉換率在年底前逐漸恢復正常。因此，我們有理由預期今年的現金轉換率會有所改善。

If the inventory line still seems pretty high, is that because of the acquisitions or the consolidation or a few things?

如果庫存水準仍然很高，是因為收購、合併還是其他一些原因造成的？

A few things. Honestly, there's a little bit due to the acquisitions, but they're not overly very large either. So we made some decisions a few years ago to stock, more of our absolute highest running products. It's like that's a few years, some changes in our supply chain. We did move production of several printer lines as planned quite a while.

有幾點。說實話，一部分原因是收購，但規模不算太大。幾年前，我們決定增加一些銷售量最高的產品的庫存。這幾年，我們的供應鏈也做了一些調整。我們之前也按計劃轉移了幾條印表機生產線。

Asia that also requires higher -- so a little bit of everything kind of around the edges that's causing that increase in inventory. And we're always looking for opportunities to work on those levels, but we -- and we would expect it to probably not increase too terribly much from here and kind of normalize capital to more of a neutral level.

亞洲的需求也更高——所以各種因素都導致了庫存增加。我們一直在尋找機會來降低庫存水平，但我們預計庫存不會再大幅增長，而是將資本水準調整到一個更中性的水平。

I would say, if I can add one more piece of color a lot of the traditional Brady businesses, the signage and the identification products are very quick conversion cycle from the time we get in order to -- through manufacturing and selling it. And so you don't need to have as much inventory as a laser or a reader, which is really a finished good. So a thing -- we absolutely will be in a higher inventory position than what traditional Brady would have been, not a lot higher because that's still a small percentage of our sales, but that is going to add a couple of points to our overall inventory.

我想說，如果我能再增加一種顏色，很多傳統的布雷迪業務，比如標牌和標識產品，從下單到生產銷售的周期都非常短。因此，它們不需要像雷射切割機或閱讀器那樣儲備大量的庫存，因為雷射切割機或閱讀器是成品。所以，我們的庫存水準肯定會比傳統的布雷迪業務高一些，但不會高很多，因為這部分業務在我們銷售額中所佔的比例仍然很小，不過確實會讓我們整體庫存增加幾個百分點。

Keith Housum, Northcoast Research.

Keith Housum，北海岸研究公司。

Russell, I notice your guide for the Australia and -- I'm sorry, Europe and Australia segment suggest perhaps low single-digit growth by year-end, but you guys had a slight decline this quarter. Anything that you're seeing out there that gives you further confidence that, that segment will be able to turn it around based on some of the challenges they have in the macro environment as we see today?

羅素，我注意到你對澳洲和——抱歉，應該是歐洲和澳洲——市場的預測顯示，到年底可能實現個位數低成長，但你們本季略有下滑。鑑於目前宏觀環境面臨的一些挑戰，你現在看到的這些因素是否讓你更有信心，該市場能夠扭轉頹勢？

Yes. So I'm facing this on what I read in a lot of economists that have said that the calendar year of 2026 is supposed to be better than the calendar year of 2025. Frankly, we really haven't seen much. It hasn't gotten any worse over the last several quarters, but we haven't seen what euphemistically are called green shoots. The services sector, which we don't participate in seems to be doing a little bit better in Spain and some of the [vacationey] countries.

是的。我看到很多經濟學家都說2026年的情況會比2025年好，但我對此感到擔憂。坦白說，我們並沒有看到什麼明顯的改善。過去幾季情況沒有惡化，但我們也沒有看到所謂的「復甦跡象」。我們沒有涉足的服務業在西班牙和一些度假國家似乎表現得稍微好一點。

But if you look at core manufacturing in Germany, France and the UK just not seeing a lot of movement, not getting worse, not getting better, but we -- if we're going to turn the corner, it's at least one or two quarters out from now.

但如果你看看德國、法國和英國的核心製造業，你會發現它們並沒有太大的變化，既沒有惡化也沒有好轉，但是——如果我們想要扭轉局面，那至少還需要一到兩個季度的時間。

Great. And in terms of Brady Scan, first off, congratulations. I know it's been on your list of things to get done for a while now. Is it out now? And I guess, perhaps any color you can provide in terms of who you think the target audience will be for that?

太好了。關於 Brady Scan，首先恭喜你。我知道你一直想做這件事，它現在已經發布了嗎？另外，你能不能透露一下你認為它的目標受眾是誰？

Is it your entire base? Or is there a certain segment? And then finally, how many of your products will be linked to or be able to benefit from Brady Scan?

是您的整個客戶群嗎？還是只針對某個特定群體？最後，您的產品中有多少會與 Brady Scan 關聯或能夠從中受益？

Yes. So there's two parts to it. One is we're being, I think, good friends to the economy in general. So the Brady Scan app has a consumer version that has no adware, no [bloatware] and isn't trying to take your data backhauling it to wherever. So that's a free version for 50 scans or so a month, which I think for most consumers is more than enough.

是的。這包含兩個面向。首先，我認為我們對整體經濟是有益的。 Brady Scan 應用程式有一個消費者版本，不含廣告軟體和臃腫軟體，也不會試圖將你的資料傳輸到任何地方。這個免費版本每月提供約 50 次掃描，我認為這對大多數消費者來說已經足夠了。

The industrial version actually is going to form part of the backbone of our connected products. Right now, it works seamlessly with our printers and our readers, which I talked about. The next step we'll get it to engage directly with our lasers and our other marking technology.

工業版實際上將成為我們互聯產品的核心組成部分。目前，它能與我們的印表機和讀取器無縫協作，正如我之前提到的。下一步，我們將使其能夠直接與我們的雷射和其他打標技術對接。

So it's -- I'm going to say we're about halfway through it. There's still a lot more software that needs to get done. But I love the first iteration. I think it's a very clean and easy-to-use app. Understanding there is really more tailored towards industrial users.

所以，我覺得我們大概完成一半了。還有很多軟體需要開發。但我很喜歡第一個版本。我認為它是一款非常簡潔易用的應用程式。而且它確實更適合工業用戶。

We just kind of threw in the consumer users as a nice freebie for some of our customers and friends. But you're encouraged to download it. It's got an Apple version, and it's got a Android version. And as of this weekend [did it] just gone up, and we only had 5 star reviews. So there you go.

我們只是把它當作一份小禮物送給一些客戶和朋友，算是送給消費者的一份福利。不過，我們鼓勵大家下載體驗。它有蘋果版和安卓版。就在這個週末，它剛剛上線，而且目前為止全是五星級好評。就是這樣。

Congratulations. And then it's been a year since you've had Gravotech, you guys added [Metco] -- hopefully I am saying that right earlier this quarter. Any line of sight to revenue synergies coming from the -- I guess, both of the acquisitions and then just the progress you've made over the past year?

恭喜！收購 Gravotech 已經一年了，你們還收購了 Metco——希望我沒記錯的話，是在本季初。這兩項收購以及過去一年的進展，能否帶來營收綜效？

Yes. So a couple of things. We've absolutely gone through a product road map and decided which business is focusing on which end markets. With that said, I think they are working in a very tough environment, in fact, more than Brady as a whole because the core segment that we're looking for them to excel at is heavy industrial manufacturing, which is amongst the weakest segments currently out there. So the fact they're doing okay. What I think is a pretty awful environment is good. We really need that to turn around.

是的。有幾點要說明。我們已經制定了產品路線圖，並確定了各個業務部門專注於哪些終端市場。話雖如此，我認為他們面臨的環境非常艱難，實際上比整個Brady公司面臨的環境還要艱難，因為我們希望他們能夠脫穎而出的核心領域是重工業製造業，而這恰恰是目前市場上最薄弱的領域之一。所以，他們目前的表現尚可，這本身就是一件好事。我認為，在如此糟糕的環境下，他們能夠取得這樣的成績實屬不易。我們真的需要扭轉這種局面。

One of their key customers is the automotive and automotive supply chain, not a great place right now, but it will come back. We're very confident. And we -- more importantly, we're confident in going after mid-sized manufacturers, which is really kind of the heart of Brady's business. So we feel good, very, very early. Brady makes long-term strategic bets.

他們的主要客戶之一是汽車及汽車供應鏈，目前這個行業情況不太好，但我們相信它會復甦。我們對此非常有信心。更重要的是，我們有信心開拓中型製造商市場，這才是布雷迪業務的核心所在。所以，我們目前感覺良好。布雷迪注重長期戰略佈局。

We have a core thesis that we believe everything is ultimately going to get marked in production. And this is ensures that we have that capability over the next 5 to 10 years. So still a work in progress. We feel good initially, but with a lot more to go.

我們的核心理念是，我們相信一切最終都會在生產中體現。這確保了我們在未來5到10年內具備這種能力。所以，這項工作仍在進行中。我們目前感覺良好，但還有很長的路要走。

Great. Appreciate that. And final question for me. Gross margin is another solid quarter for you guys, even with the tariff headwinds. I know you guys are hesitant to suggest that gross margins can be above that 50% range, but yet you guys have been able to deliver that the challenges that you've had.

太好了，非常感謝。最後一個問題。即使受到關稅影響，你們的毛利率依然維持了穩健的季度表現。我知道你們不太願意承認毛利率能超過50%，但你們克服了重重挑戰，依然取得了這樣的成績。

And I know you also are emerging -- a lot of your growth coming from your emerging products. Any more thoughts about gross margins and where they perhaps can go going forward?

我知道你們也正處於發展初期——你們的許多成長都來自新興產品。關於毛利率以及未來的發展方向，您還有什麼想法嗎？

Yes. So -- and I sound like I'm very repetitive on this because I answered it always the same way. Our engineered products, all things being equal, are probably 60%-ish gross margin versus our more commodity products are 40%-ish. So the more we have engineered products, the more our gross margin will expand but we don't have a target because all of these products are delivering significant cash flow and return on invested capital. So yes, there's a little bit of help due to our portfolio as it slowly changes.

是的。所以——我知道我好像一直在重複這個問題，因為我的回答總是一樣。在其他條件相同的情況下，我們自主研發產品的毛利率大概在60%左右，而一般商品的毛利率大概在40%左右。因此，自主研發產品越多，我們的毛利率就會越高，但我們沒有設定目標，因為所有這些產品都能帶來可觀的現金流和投資報酬率。所以，是的，隨著產品組合的逐步調整，我們的毛利率確實會有一些提升。

Right now, of course, the offsetting effect has been some tariffs that hasn't helped by any stretch. But I do not have a target. We know we could push pricing higher to expand our gross margins at the expense of demand reduction. So we're really trying to spend most of our time getting more Brady products into more people's hands because I even add our gross margins -- money flows through to the bottom line. So we need to keep pushing on growth more than margin expansion. Thank you.

當然，目前一些關稅措施起到了抵消作用，無疑地雪上加霜。但我沒有設定目標。我們知道，我們可以提高價格來擴大毛利率，但這會導致需求下降。因此，我們目前正努力將大部分精力放在讓更多人買到Brady產品上，因為即便考慮到毛利率——利潤最終都會轉化為利潤。所以我們需要繼續推動成長，而不是一味追求利潤率的提升。謝謝。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Russell Shaller, CEO for closing remarks.

目前我不再接受其他提問。現在我將把發言權交還給執行長羅素·沙勒，請他作總結發言。

Thank you for your time today and for your questions. Brady is on a journey to help our customers have a safe and productive workplace. Our visual Safety and Facility Identification portfolio, combined with Brady's productivity solutions help our customers comply with a wide variety of regulations, including the upcoming [GS1] standards and new European Union product labeling requirements. Even with a challenging tariff regime and a tough manufacturing macro environment, we are growing sales and increasing profitability.

感謝您今天抽出時間並提出問題。 Brady致力於協助客戶打造安全且有效率的工作場所。我們豐富的視覺化安全和設施識別產品組合，結合Brady的生產力解決方案，協助客戶遵守各類法規，包括即將實施的[GS1]標準和歐盟新的產品標籤要求。即使面臨充滿挑戰的關稅制度和嚴峻的製造業宏觀環境，我們依然實現了銷售額和獲利能力的成長。

As always, we're keeping our focus on what we can control and continue to move forward with long term consistently in mind. Our increased investment in R&D is a direct reflection of our view on the long term as our engineered products have proven to be the primary driver of our growth. We pride ourselves on the diversity of our end markets and our R&D investment gives us the ability to engage with an ever broader set of customers. We do expect to continue to be impacted by incremental tariffs but we believe that our global manufacturing presence and largely in-country manufacturing as well as our geographic diversification helps us to mitigate some of this effect.

一如既往，我們將專注於可控因素，並始終專注於長期發展。我們加大研發投入，正是對長遠發展的直接體現，因為我們自主研發的產品已被證明是我們成長的主要動力。我們為終端市場的多元化而感到自豪，研發投入使我們能夠與更廣泛的客戶群合作。我們預計關稅的逐步提高仍將對我們產生影響，但我們相信，我們遍布全球的生產佈局、主要在各國本土進行的生產以及地理多元化有助於我們減輕部分影響。

We're being creative and we're adapting quickly and a very proud of the team and their tireless efforts in this changing environment. I'm optimistic for the rest of the year and the long term for Brady's ability to continue to deliver improved results for our shareholders.

我們積極創新，快速適應變化，並為團隊及其在不斷變化的環境中付出的不懈努力感到非常自豪。我對今年餘下的時間以及布雷迪公司未來長期發展充滿信心，相信它能夠繼續為股東帶來更好的業績。

Thank you for your time this morning. Operator, you may disconnect the call.

感謝您今天上午抽出時間。接線員，您可以掛斷電話了。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以斷開連線了。