Brightview Holdings Inc (BV) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and a warm welcome to the BrightView First Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Candice, and I will be your operator for today's call. (Operator Instructions)

早上好，熱烈歡迎參加 BrightView 2023 財年第一季度收益電話會議。我叫 Candice，我將是您今天電話的接線員。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to hand you over to our host, Faten Freiha, Vice Principal (sic) [Vice President] of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想把你交給我們的東道主 Faten Freiha，他是投資者關係副校長（原文如此）[副總裁]。請繼續。

Good morning. Thank you for joining BrightView's First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Andrew Masterman, Chief Executive Officer; and Brett Urban, Chief Financial Officer, are on the call. Please remember that some of the comments made today, including responses to questions and information reflected on the presentation slides are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially from those projected.

早上好。感謝您加入 BrightView 的 2023 財年第一季度收益電話會議。安德魯·馬斯特曼，首席執行官；首席財務官 Brett Urban 正在接聽電話。請記住，今天發表的一些評論，包括對問題的回答和演示幻燈片中反映的信息，都是前瞻性的，實際結果可能與預測結果存在重大差異。

Please refer to the company's SEC filings for more detail on the risks and uncertainties that could impact the company's future operating results and financial condition. Comments made today will also include a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to comparable GAAP financial measures are provided in today's press release.

有關可能影響公司未來經營業績和財務狀況的風險和不確定性的更多詳細信息，請參閱公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。今天發表的評論還將包括對某些非 GAAP 財務指標的討論。今天的新聞稿中提供了與可比較的 GAAP 財務措施的調節。

Disclaimers on forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial measures apply both to today's prepared remarks as well as the Q&A.

前瞻性陳述和非 GAAP 財務措施的免責聲明適用於今天準備好的評論和問答。

I'll now turn the call over to BrightView's CEO, Andrew Masterman.

我現在將電話轉給 BrightView 的首席執行官安德魯馬斯特曼。

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. We are pleased to start fiscal 2023 with a strong first quarter underpinned by robust organic growth, acquisition benefits, disciplined cost management and a steadfast focus on executing our growth strategy to continue to drive momentum in our business.

早上好，感謝大家今天加入我們。我們很高興以強勁的有機增長、收購收益、嚴格的成本管理以及堅定地專注於執行我們的增長戰略以繼續推動我們的業務發展勢頭為支撐，以強勁的第一季度開始 2023 財年。

We delivered (inaudible) consecutive quarter of land organic growth, and we grew our annual snow contracts in the mid-single digits. And our development business continued to deliver excellent organic growth. From a profitability standpoint, adjusted EBITDA exceeded the high end of our guidance, driven by the strength of our top line, pricing efforts, improved operating performance and disciplined cost management. Investments we made over the last few years in our sales force and technology are driving the strength and durability of our top line results, and these benefits are being realized in our profitability. Our priority is clear. We will continue to execute on our strategic plan to deliver solid organic growth, focusing on elements we can control, while implementing initiatives to mitigate against externally driven headwinds and improve profitability.

我們實現了（聽不清）連續一個季度的土地有機增長，並且我們的年度降雪合同增長了中等個位數。我們的開發業務繼續實現出色的有機增長。從盈利能力的角度來看，調整後的 EBITDA 超出了我們指導的上限，這得益於我們的收入實力、定價努力、改善的經營業績和嚴格的成本管理。我們在過去幾年中對銷售人員和技術的投資正在推動我們的頂級業績的實力和持久性，這些好處正在我們的盈利能力中實現。我們的優先事項很明確。我們將繼續執行我們的戰略計劃以實現穩健的有機增長，專注於我們可以控制的因素，同時實施舉措以減輕外部驅動的不利因素並提高盈利能力。

Looking into fiscal year 2023, I would like to emphasize my conviction that despite the low snowfall, we intend to deliver strong organic growth and margin expansion in both our land and development businesses. Let me begin by reviewing the highlights for the first quarter on Slide 4. Revenue performance was supported by robust organic growth across maintenance and development as well as accretive M&A transactions. Land Organic growth of 1.5% was driven by new sales growth, stabilized retention rates and ancillary growth.

展望 2023 財年，我想強調我的信念，即儘管降雪量不大，但我們打算在我們的土地和開發業務中實現強勁的有機增長和利潤率擴張。首先讓我回顧一下幻燈片 4 上第一季度的亮點。收入表現受到維護和開發以及增值併購交易的強勁有機增長的支持。 Land Organic 增長 1.5% 是由新的銷售增長、穩定的保留率和輔助增長推動的。

We benefited from additional hurricane cleanup revenue in the Fort Myers area, which was offset by significant rain across our coastal markets impacting ancillary installations. Our snow services business consists of annual contracts and our results vary based on actual snowfall realization. In Q1, our snow services revenue grew by 50% organically relative to the prior year, reflecting 6% growth in annual contracts and 44% in snow volume realization.

我們受益於邁爾斯堡地區的額外颶風清理收入，這被我們沿海市場影響輔助設施的大雨所抵消。我們的雪地服務業務包括年度合同，我們的結果因實際降雪量而異。第一季度，我們的雪地服務收入比上一年有機增長 50%，反映出年度合同增長 6%，雪量實現增長 44%。

It's important to note that in the prior year, we experienced significantly below average snowfall. Even with this quarter's growth, snowfall was about 15% below historical averages in our footprint for Q1 of fiscal 2023. The segment delivered 5.9% organic growth this quarter, underscoring a clear momentum in the business. Our team is working hard on expanding our customer base.

值得注意的是，在前一年，我們的降雪量明顯低於平均水平。即使本季度有所增長，降雪量仍比我們 2023 財年第一季度足蹟的歷史平均水平低約 15%。該部門本季度實現了 5.9% 的有機增長，凸顯了該業務的明顯發展勢頭。我們的團隊正在努力擴大我們的客戶群。

And as a result, our backlog is extremely robust. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $49 million, significantly above the high end of our guidance range of $44 million, driven by organic growth, pricing benefits as well as continued recovery in our development margins. Adjusted EBITDA certainly benefited from a snow increase. However, margin flow-through was lower than expected due to significantly below average snowfall in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic.

因此，我們的積壓工作非常強勁。本季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 4,900 萬美元，大大高於我們 4,400 萬美元指導範圍的上限，這主要得益於有機增長、定價優勢以及我們開發利潤率的持續復甦。調整後的 EBITDA 肯定受益於降雪量的增加。然而，由於東北部和大西洋中部的降雪量明顯低於平均水平，利潤率低於預期。

Total consolidated adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.4%, reflects 20 basis points year-over-year improvement, underscoring our focus on profitability and supporting our long-term expectations of improving margins over time. From a balance sheet perspective, we entered into hedge agreements that effectively fixed interest rates on 70% of our total current debt or approximately $1 billion.

總合併調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 7.4%，反映了 20 個基點的同比增長，強調了我們對盈利能力的關注，並支持我們隨著時間的推移提高利潤率的長期預期。從資產負債表的角度來看，我們簽訂了對沖協議，有效地將利率固定在我們當前債務總額的 70% 或大約 10 億美元上。

Through these agreements, we kept our exposure to interest rate headwinds and structured a hedge that enables us to benefit with rates decline. Brett will have more details in his remarks about our debt management. And importantly, we remain disciplined stewards of capital and continue to manage capital expenditures prioritize select accretive acquisitions and target improving our leverage ratio through EBITDA growth.

通過這些協議，我們保持了對利率逆風的敞口，並構建了一個對沖機制，使我們能夠從利率下降中獲益。布雷特將在他關於我們債務管理的評論中提供更多細節。重要的是，我們仍然是紀律嚴明的資本管家，並繼續管理資本支出，優先考慮選擇增值收購，並通過 EBITDA 增長來提高我們的槓桿率。

Before I get into a strategic update on the business, let's turn to Slide 5 to review snowfall data, the largest variable to our results for the first and second quarters. On the left-hand side, the slide showcases snowfall averages in our top 3 markets for the first quarter versus the prior year. As you can see, Denver snowfall came in above historical averages. While at the same time, snowball in Chicago and Boston were significantly below average.

在我進入業務戰略更新之前，讓我們轉到幻燈片 5 來查看降雪數據，這是我們第一季度和第二季度結果的最大變量。在左側，幻燈片展示了我們前 3 個市場第一季度與去年相比的平均降雪量。如您所見，丹佛的降雪量高於歷史平均水平。與此同時，芝加哥和波士頓的滾雪球效應明顯低於平均水平。

Across our footprint for the first quarter, snowfall was at 85% of the 30-year average compared to the 30% in the prior year. We experienced snowfall in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. However, we saw little to no snow events in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, our 2 largest regions with higher levels of self-performance and margins. Therefore, while our top line benefited from snow removal services, the benefit to our adjusted EBITDA was lower than expected. As we have noted in the past, snow margin is driven by many factors, including when, where, how much and how often it snows and will change every year.

在我們第一季度的足跡中，降雪量為 30 年平均值的 85%，而去年為 30%。我們在中西部和太平洋西北部經歷了降雪。然而，我們在東北部和大西洋中部這兩個自我表現和利潤水平較高的最大地區幾乎沒有看到降雪事件。因此，雖然我們的收入受益於除雪服務，但我們調整後的 EBITDA 的收益低於預期。正如我們過去所指出的，降雪量受許多因素影響，包括何時、何地、下雪量和頻率，並且每年都會發生變化。

Looking ahead to Q2, it's prudent to call out that snowfall totals in January of 2023 are significantly below historical averages, particularly on the East Coast, which represents 60% of our total snow business. As you can see, snowball averages in January across our total footprint are down from the prior year. Furthermore, the elevated temperatures indicated that snow levels will likely remain low. As a result, we are guiding to a second quarter adjusted EBITDA range with the snow expectation that reflects this reality.

展望第二季度，謹慎的做法是指出 2023 年 1 月的降雪總量明顯低於歷史平均水平，尤其是在占我們總降雪業務 60% 的東海岸。如您所見，1 月份我們總足蹟的滾雪球平均值低於上一年。此外，氣溫升高表明降雪量可能會保持在較低水平。因此，我們正在引導第二季度調整後的 EBITDA 範圍與反映這一現實的雪預期。

Brett will provide the detailed guidance in his remarks. Let's move to Slide 6 to review our top line growth drivers, which remain unchanged. Our sales force is driving strong sales growth across our entire business. Their consistent execution drives the confidence behind our expectation for robust organic growth in fiscal year 2023. We continue to see solid customer demand in our contract-based business, ancillary penetration remains high, and our development pipeline remains robust.

布雷特將在他的發言中提供詳細的指導。讓我們轉到幻燈片 6 來回顧我們保持不變的頂線增長動力。我們的銷售團隊正在推動整個業務的強勁銷售增長。他們一貫的執行推動了我們對 2023 財年強勁有機增長的預期背後的信心。我們繼續看到客戶對我們基於合同的業務的強勁需求，輔助滲透率仍然很高，我們的開發管道仍然強勁。

Importantly, we are not seeing any indications of a slowdown in our landscaping markets. On the technology front, our digital innovation across a number of platforms has helped drive net new growth, and it is one of the reasons we continue to enjoy organic growth that exceed industry rates. Our initiatives around digital implementation tools have a time horizon of several years as we continue to roll out enhancements based on customer feedback. Our streamlined customer engagement tool, BV Connect, enables us to continue to transform the industry and our business into a more digital and future-focused organization.

重要的是，我們沒有看到任何景觀美化市場放緩的跡象。在技術方面，我們跨多個平台的數字創新幫助推動了新的淨增長，這也是我們繼續享受超過行業水平的有機增長的原因之一。隨著我們繼續根據客戶反饋推出增強功能，我們圍繞數字實施工具的舉措將持續數年。我們簡化的客戶參與工具 BV Connect 使我們能夠繼續將行業和我們的業務轉變為一個更加數字化和麵向未來的組織。

Furthermore, our integrated suite of applications drives efficiency, seamless acquisition integration and robust data analytics. The net result being superior operational efficiencies with better service quality and safety. Over time, technology investments will drive enhanced customer engagement and retention as well as team member engagement.

此外，我們的集成應用程序套件可提高效率、無縫採集集成和強大的數據分析。最終結果是卓越的運營效率以及更好的服務質量和安全性。隨著時間的推移，技術投資將推動增強客戶參與度和保留率以及團隊成員參與度。

Let's turn to Slide 7 to discuss our strategic M&A, which remains a key growth pillar. Our acquisition strategy is focused on increasing our density and leadership positions in existing local markets, entering attractive new geographic markets, expanding our portfolio of landscape enhancement services and improving technical capabilities in specialized services.

讓我們轉到幻燈片 7 來討論我們的戰略併購，這仍然是一個關鍵的增長支柱。我們的收購戰略側重於增加我們在現有本地市場的密度和領導地位，進入有吸引力的新地理市場，擴大我們的景觀美化服務組合，並提高專業服務的技術能力。

Most recently, we completed our acquisition of Smith’s Tree Care, a leading service provider based in Newport News, Virginia. In addition, we acquired Island Plant Company, or IPC, a leading commercial landscaping provider on the island of Maui and Hawaii. With IPC, we have further expanded our presence and strengthened our leadership position in this very attractive market. We believe BrightView is now the leading landscaping provider in Hawaii. In addition to the Hawaii market over the last 2 years, through attractive and accretive M&A deals, we have meaningfully expanded our presence and build a strong leadership position in Minnesota and Boise, Idaho to excellent high-growth MSAs. As we have said on our last call, we are focused on select strategic transactions at very attractive valuations that will add significant shareholder value over time.

最近，我們完成了對位於弗吉尼亞州紐波特紐斯的領先服務提供商 Smith's Tree Care 的收購。此外，我們還收購了毛伊島和夏威夷領先的商業園林綠化供應商 Island Plant Company (IPC)。通過 IPC，我們進一步擴大了我們的影響力並加強了我們在這個極具吸引力的市場中的領導地位。我們相信 BrightView 現在是夏威夷領先的園林綠化供應商。除了過去 2 年的夏威夷市場外，通過有吸引力和增值的併購交易，我們有意義地擴大了我們的業務，並在明尼蘇達州和愛達荷州博伊西建立了強大的領導地位，以實現卓越的高增長 MSA。正如我們在上次電話會議上所說，我們專注於以極具吸引力的估值選擇戰略交易，隨著時間的推移，這些交易將顯著增加股東價值。

Importantly, our M&A pipeline remains robust, with more than $700 million of opportunity, enabling us to continue to execute on our expansion strategy and deliver robust free cash flow over time. Let's now move to Slide 8 to discuss our cost structure. We continue to take a disciplined and strategic approach to managing our costs as evidenced by our margin expansion in the first quarter. While we have seen strong top line growth in our business over the last 2 years, total profitability has been impacted by a number of externally driven factors, including variability in our snow business, historically high inflation rates and most recently, a spike in fuel prices.

重要的是，我們的併購管道依然強勁，擁有超過 7 億美元的機會，使我們能夠繼續執行我們的擴張戰略，並隨著時間的推移提供強勁的自由現金流。現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 8 來討論我們的成本結構。我們繼續採取有紀律的戰略方法來管理我們的成本，我們在第一季度的利潤率擴張就證明了這一點。雖然我們在過去兩年中看到我們業務的強勁收入增長，但總盈利能力受到許多外部驅動因素的影響，包括我們的雪業務的可變性、歷史高通脹率以及最近的燃油價格飆升.

We are determined and focused on managing through these headwinds to enhance our profitability and better position the company for the long term. And we have taken measures in each of our business segments to enhance and improve our profitability and help offset these headwinds. In our land maintenance business over the last couple of years, wage rates and material costs have risen significantly.

我們決心並專注於應對這些不利因素，以提高我們的盈利能力，並為公司的長期發展做好準備。我們在每個業務部門都採取了措施來增強和提高我們的盈利能力，並幫助抵消這些不利因素。在過去幾年中，在我們的土地維護業務中，工資率和材料成本顯著上升。

Through our pricing initiatives, which we began implementing in the second half of last year, we succeeded in offsetting these increases. In recent quarters, the pricing benefits we realized were masked by the unexpected spike in fuel costs. We took a balanced approach with customers, absorbed some of the incremental fuel costs while focusing on strategic pricing initiatives, improving ancillary penetration and attracting larger and more profitable clients.

通過我們從去年下半年開始實施的定價舉措，我們成功地抵消了這些增長。在最近幾個季度，我們實現的定價優勢被燃料成本的意外飆升所掩蓋。我們對客戶採取平衡的方法，吸收部分增量燃料成本，同時專注於戰略定價計劃，提高輔助滲透率並吸引更大、更有利可圖的客戶。

While the spike in fuel has subsided, we remain diligent in balancing customer relationships, fuel surcharges and market dynamics. Turning now to our snow business. While this business is highly reliant on a mount and geography of snowfall, our goal remains to improve and stabilize the margin profile over time.

雖然燃油價格飆升已經平息，但我們仍在努力平衡客戶關係、燃油附加費和市場動態。現在轉向我們的雪業務。雖然這項業務高度依賴降雪量和降雪量，但我們的目標仍然是隨著時間的推移改善和穩定利潤率。

As we have said in the past, we began the expansion of our self-performance snow business, self-performing snow management where services are performed through direct labor without subcontractors, secures higher margins, eliminates the middleman and increases reliability. Furthermore, we are investing in our snow removal equipment to drive operational efficiencies. In summary, our snow leadership team is intently focused on rightsizing crews, converting our equipment to enable efficiencies and managing subcontractor usage more effectively. Due to lower snowfall, the benefit from these actions will be modest for fiscal year 2023.

正如我們過去所說，我們開始擴展我們的自我執行雪業務，自我執行雪管理，在沒有分包商的情況下通過直接人工執行服務，確保更高的利潤，消除中間商並提高可靠性。此外，我們正在投資除雪設備以提高運營效率。總而言之，我們的雪地領導團隊專注於精簡工作人員、改造我們的設備以提高效率並更有效地管理分包商的使用。由於降雪量減少，這些行動在 2023 財年的收益將不大。

However, we believe these efforts will benefit total margins over time. Let's move to our development business, which has been historically impacted by the increase in material costs. As you know, we shifted contract lead times to allow 10 to 15 days of pricing commitments compared to 3 to 6 months historically. And this has resulted in significant improvement in our development margins in the last couple of quarters. Our development team is focused on targeting larger, high-margin projects to continue to drive margin expansion over time. As we look ahead to the second half of the year, we are extremely encouraged by our project pipeline, which has surpassed our expectations. As a result of these efforts, we continue to expect development margins to improve by approximately 40 to 60 basis points in total for fiscal 2023. Lastly, let's discuss our overhead and support team structure. We are intensely focused on optimizing our costs while continuing to invest in the growth of our business.

然而，我們相信隨著時間的推移，這些努力將有利於總利潤率。讓我們轉向我們的開發業務，該業務歷來受到材料成本增加的影響。如您所知，我們改變了合同交貨時間，允許 10 到 15 天的定價承諾，而歷史上是 3 到 6 個月。這導致我們在過去幾個季度的開發利潤率有了顯著提高。我們的開發團隊專注於瞄準更大的、高利潤的項目，以隨著時間的推移繼續推動利潤增長。展望下半年，我們對超出預期的項目儲備感到非常鼓舞。由於這些努力，我們繼續預計 2023 財年的開發利潤率將總共提高約 40 至 60 個基點。最後，讓我們討論一下我們的管理費用和支持團隊結構。我們非常專注於優化成本，同時繼續投資於我們業務的增長。

The vast majority of our expenses are related to labor and material costs, which are variable. Importantly, our decentralized operational model provides ample flexibility in managing the support and overhead expenses on a regional basis. From a fixed cost standpoint, our teams have done a great job managing expenses with an eye towards driving efficiencies and maintaining a disciplined approach.

我們的絕大部分開支與勞動力和材料成本有關，這些成本是可變的。重要的是，我們的分散式運營模式在區域基礎上管理支持和管理費用方面提供了充分的靈活性。從固定成本的角度來看，我們的團隊在管理費用方面做得很好，著眼於提高效率和保持紀律嚴明的方法。

Brett will share more insight on this in his remarks. This fiscal year, we remain committed to very strict cost management protocols. We are curbing hiring, bringing outsourced operations in-house and thoroughly managing overhead expenditures. We're reducing T&E expenses, strategically managing marketing costs and reducing reliance on third quarter consultants.

布雷特將在他的發言中分享更多關於這方面的見解。本財年，我們仍然致力於非常嚴格的成本管理協議。我們正在減少招聘，將業務外包到內部，並徹底管理間接費用。我們正在減少 T&E 費用，戰略性地管理營銷成本並減少對第三季度顧問的依賴。

Importantly, these actions are manifesting in our results as we have kept our SG&A levels in line and scaled our corporate costs relative to business growth. Our prudent expense management supports our continued investments in business growth to further drive top line momentum. Before turning it over to Brett, let's move to Slide 9 to review our ESG efforts.

重要的是，這些行動體現在我們的結果中，因為我們使我們的 SG&A 水平保持一致，並根據業務增長調整了我們的企業成本。我們審慎的費用管理支持我們對業務增長的持續投資，以進一步推動收入增長。在將其交給 Brett 之前，讓我們轉到幻燈片 9 來回顧我們的 ESG 工作。

As the company dedicated to designing, developing and maintaining the best landscapes on earth, prioritizing sustainable solutions is core to who we are. ESG is not only integral to our business strategy and deeply rooted throughout all aspects of our operations, but also a key component of our value proposition. On February 1, we published our second ESG report, highlighting our achievements for fiscal 2022 across environmental, social and governance pillars.

作為一家致力於設計、開發和維護地球上最佳景觀的公司，優先考慮可持續解決方案是我們的核心。 ESG 不僅是我們業務戰略不可或缺的一部分，深深植根於我們運營的各個方面，而且還是我們價值主張的關鍵組成部分。 2 月 1 日，我們發布了第二份 ESG 報告，強調了我們在 2022 財年在環境、社會和治理支柱方面取得的成就。

From an environmental perspective, we continue to make progress against reducing our carbon footprint by investing in a cleaner fleet and converting our 2-cycle gas powered equipment to rechargeable electric models. Let me further illustrate our progress with a couple of recent examples. First, we tested and deployed one of the first all-electric (inaudible) 250 trucks in the U.S. and are excited to convert our fleet over time. Second, started -- starting in January 2023, all new management vehicles ordered by the team members across our footprint will be either electric or hybrid. These initiatives will enable us to continue to make progress against our commitments and to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel. From a social perspective, we continue to diversify our workforce, and we accelerated our commitment to foster inclusion and belonging by launching a formal DE&I strategy. Over the past 5 years, the number of women managers increased by 60% and management team members identifying as Hispanic have more than doubled. Importantly, protecting our employees continues to be a top priority, our industry-leading safety record remains below the industry average. Inspiring people and nurturing landscapes is at the heart of what we do every single day at BrightView.

從環境的角度來看，我們通過投資更清潔的車隊並將我們的 2 循環燃氣動力設備轉換為可充電電動模型，在減少碳足跡方面繼續取得進展。讓我用最近的幾個例子進一步說明我們的進展。首先，我們在美國測試並部署了首批全電動（聽不清）250 卡車之一，並且很高興隨著時間的推移轉換我們的車隊。其次，開始——從 2023 年 1 月開始，團隊成員在我們足跡內訂購的所有新管理車輛都將是電動或混合動力。這些舉措將使我們能夠繼續在兌現承諾方面取得進展，並減少對化石燃料的依賴。從社會角度來看，我們繼續使我們的員工隊伍多樣化，並且我們通過啟動正式的 DE&I 戰略加快了促進包容和歸屬感的承諾。在過去的 5 年裡，女性經理的數量增加了 60%，而被認定為西班牙裔的管理團隊成員增加了一倍多。重要的是，保護我們的員工仍然是重中之重，我們行業領先的安全記錄仍低於行業平均水平。鼓舞人心和培育景觀是我們每天在 BrightView 所做工作的核心。

Looking ahead, I believe our purposeful ESG strategy positions us for continued success, while supporting our team members and our clients' needs and sustainability objectives.

展望未來，我相信我們有目的的 ESG 戰略使我們能夠繼續取得成功，同時支持我們的團隊成員和客戶的需求以及可持續發展目標。

I'll now turn the call over to Brett, who will discuss our financial performance in greater detail.

我現在將電話轉給布雷特，他將更詳細地討論我們的財務業績。

Thank you, Andrew, and good morning to everyone. I'm pleased to start the year with a strong first quarter, anchored by robust top line growth and margin improvement. I'm thankful to our team members who continue to execute at the highest levels to support our business and drive solid financial performance. Our priorities remain the same: consistently growing our business, improving our profitability enhancing our balance sheet and executing on capital allocation plans that create long-term shareholder value. With that, let me now provide a snapshot of our first quarter results.

謝謝你，安德魯，大家早上好。我很高興以強勁的第一季度開始今年，這得益於強勁的收入增長和利潤率的提高。我感謝我們的團隊成員，他們繼續以最高水平執行以支持我們的業務並推動穩健的財務業績。我們的優先事項保持不變：持續發展我們的業務，提高我們的盈利能力，改善我們的資產負債表，並執行創造長期股東價值的資本分配計劃。有了這個，現在讓我提供我們第一季度業績的快照。

Moving to Slide 11. Total revenue for the first quarter increased by 10.8%, supported by 5.5% total organic growth. Maintenance revenues increased by 10.3%, driven by 5.5% organic growth and M&A contributions of $21 million. Our maintenance business was supported by land organic growth of 1.5% and snow organic growth of 50.5%. In quarters where we have a strong increase in snow revenues, land organic growth tends to fall close to the low end of our long-term organic plans as we are not engaged in as much land work compared to the prior year. Development revenues increased by 12.7% compared to the prior year. The increase was driven by a combination of strong organic growth of 5.9% and M&A contributions of approximately $11 million. We remain very optimistic about our development business and pipeline of projects for fiscal '23. Turning now to profitability and the details on Slide 12. Total adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $49 million, up 14% compared to the prior year, and reflected adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 20 basis points.

轉到幻燈片 11。第一季度總收入增長 10.8%，受總有機增長 5.5% 的支持。在 5.5% 的有機增長和 2100 萬美元的併購貢獻的推動下，維護收入增長了 10.3%。我們的維護業務得到了 1.5% 的陸地有機增長和 50.5% 的雪地有機增長的支持。在我們的雪收入大幅增長的季度，土地有機增長往往會下降到接近我們長期有機計劃的低端，因為與上一年相比，我們沒有從事那麼多的土地工作。開發收入比上年增長 12.7%。這一增長是由 5.9% 的強勁有機增長和約 1100 萬美元的併購貢獻共同推動的。我們對 23 財年的開發業務和項目管道仍然非常樂觀。現在轉向盈利能力和幻燈片 12 的詳細信息。第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 總額為 4900 萬美元，比去年同期增長 14%，反映出調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 20 個基點。

The improvement in our adjusted EBITDA was driven by enhanced operating performance across both of our segments as well as disciplined cost management. In the Maintenance segment, adjusted EBITDA of $50.5 million, was up 11.5% or approximately $5 million from the prior year, and adjusted EBITDA margins expanded by 20 basis points. The improvement in our adjusted EBITDA was driven by solid land contract growth, improvement in our ancillary services and snow revenue increases relative to the prior year.

我們調整後的 EBITDA 的改善是由我們兩個部門的經營業績提高以及嚴格的成本管理推動的。在維護部門，調整後的 EBITDA 為 5050 萬美元，比上年增長 11.5% 或約 500 萬美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 20 個基點。我們調整後的 EBITDA 的改善是由堅實的土地合同增長、我們的輔助服務改善和雪收入相對於上一年的增加所推動的。

Importantly, our pricing efforts offset the rise in labor and material costs. In the Development segment, adjusted EBITDA increased by 13.8% for the first quarter, and adjusted EBITDA margin was up 10 basis points year-over-year. This improvement was driven by strong revenues and continued disciplined cost management, which were partially offset by the costs associated with the mix of projects relative to the prior year.

重要的是，我們的定價努力抵消了勞動力和材料成本的上漲。在開發部門，第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 13.8%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率同比增長了 10 個基點。這一改善是由強勁的收入和持續嚴格的成本管理推動的，這部分被與上一年相關的項目組合相關的成本所抵消。

Our development projects change from year-to-year and the timing and mix can impact quarterly comparisons. Looking ahead, we expect these mix-related costs to normalize and we continue to anticipate fiscal '23 development margin improvement of 40 to 60 basis points relative to the prior year.

我們的開發項目每年都在變化，時間和組合會影響季度比較。展望未來，我們預計這些與組合相關的成本將正常化，我們繼續預計 23 財年的開發利潤率將比上一年提高 40 至 60 個基點。

For fiscal Q1, corporate expenses represented 2.8% of revenue, implying a 10 basis point improvement relative to the prior year and demonstrating our focus on cost management. Before I turn to our balance sheet, I want to take a minute and showcase our disciplined expense management on Slide 13. The top chart shows revenue since fiscal '19, and the bottom chart shows GAAP SG&A expense as a percentage of total revenue.

對於第一財季，公司支出佔收入的 2.8%，比上一年提高 10 個基點，表明我們對成本管理的關注。在我轉向我們的資產負債表之前，我想花點時間在幻燈片 13 上展示我們嚴格的費用管理。上圖顯示自 19 財年以來的收入，下圖顯示 GAAP SG&A 費用佔總收入的百分比。

Over the last 4 years, we delivered top line results while improving SG&A trends. Since fiscal '21, our SG&A ratio improved by 100 basis points while we added about $300 million in top line revenue. As of Q1 fiscal '23 on a trailing 12-month basis, our SG&A ratio is in line with fiscal '19 levels despite significant inflation during this time. In addition, we consistently improved our corporate cost as a percentage of revenue over the last 4 quarters. And most importantly, we were able to achieve all of this while investing in our sales force and technology to drive momentum in our business.

在過去 4 年中，我們在改善 SG&A 趨勢的同時取得了頂級業績。自 21 財年以來，我們的 SG&A 比率提高了 100 個基點，同時我們的收入增加了約 3 億美元。截至 23 財年第一季度連續 12 個月，我們的 SG&A 比率與 19 財年的水平一致，儘管這段時間通貨膨脹率很高。此外，在過去 4 個季度中，我們不斷改善公司成本佔收入的百分比。最重要的是，我們能夠實現所有這一切，同時投資於我們的銷售隊伍和技術以推動我們的業務發展。

As Andrew noted, we are committed to remain very prudent managers of cost especially given the current inflationary environment and low snowfall expectations for this year. As we look ahead, we believe these cost management trends will be sustained and will deliver margin expansion over the long term. Let's now move to Slide 14 to discuss debt and interest expense. We are taking a proactive approach to managing our debt in terms of maturity and rates.

正如安德魯指出的那樣，我們致力於保持非常謹慎的成本管理，特別是考慮到當前的通貨膨脹環境和今年降雪量較低的預期。展望未來，我們相信這些成本管理趨勢將持續下去，並將帶來長期的利潤增長。現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 14 來討論債務和利息支出。我們正在採取積極主動的方法來管理到期日和利率方面的債務。

First, we are extremely pleased to have refinanced our debt back in April of 2022 with favorable terms and no significant maturity until 2029. Second, we hedged $1 billion of our current debt that was swap in collar instruments. Looking at current SOFR rates and compared with the blended rates we locked in for our hedges, we have effectively saved about $10 million in interest expense on an annual basis relative to our prior estimate. We are pleased to have capped our interest expense with these hedge agreements. As a result, we now expect total cash interest expense to be approximately $100 million for fiscal '23, $27 million for the second quarter, and we anticipate under $100 million for fiscal 2024.

首先，我們非常高興能夠在 2022 年 4 月以優惠的條件為我們的債務再融資，並且在 2029 年之前沒有重大到期日。其次，我們對沖了 10 億美元的當前債務，這些債務是通過套環工具掉期的。查看當前的 SOFR 利率並與我們為對沖鎖定的混合利率相比，相對於我們先前的估計，我們每年有效地節省了約 1000 萬美元的利息費用。我們很高興通過這些對沖協議限制了我們的利息支出。因此，我們現在預計 23 財年的總現金利息支出約為 1 億美元，第二季度為 2700 萬美元，我們預計 2024 財年將低於 1 億美元。

Let's now turn to Slide 15 to review our capital expenditures, debt and free cash flow. Net CapEx for the first quarter was $26 million compared to $28 million in the prior year, reflecting a 70 basis point year-over-year decrease as a percentage of revenue. We are taking a very disciplined approach to our capital expenditures, which is evident through our Q1 results. In addition, we enhanced our target for fiscal '23 to be 3% to 3.25% of total revenue compared to the 3.5% we provided last quarter.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 15 來回顧我們的資本支出、債務和自由現金流。第一季度淨資本支出為 2600 萬美元，上年同期為 2800 萬美元，佔收入的百分比同比下降 70 個基點。我們對我們的資本支出採取了非常有紀律的方法，這從我們的第一季度業績中可以明顯看出。此外，我們將 23 財年的目標提高到總收入的 3% 至 3.25%，而上一季度我們提供的是 3.5%。

We expect this benefit to our free cash flow by $10 million to $15 million for prior expectations. Sequentially, net debt was up modestly and leverage was 4.9x roughly in line with Q4 as expected. The sequential increase in our debt is consistent with historical periods where we typically see an increase in debt levels in the first quarter of the year. As we continue to improve our adjusted EBITDA performance, we expect our leverage ratio to improve over time. For Q1 of fiscal '23, our free cash flow usage was $55 million compared to the $50 million in the prior year. While our cash flow benefited from enhanced operating performance, this improvement was offset by the $13 million year-over-year increase in cash interest expense as expected. Excluding the interest rate headwind, we saw improvement in our free cash flow year-over-year. Let's now turn to Slide 16 to review our cash profile. As we said on our last call, the strength of our business fundamentals gives us the confidence to anticipate cash improvement in fiscal '23. This improvement will be driven by a number of factors, which are laid out on the slide. We are pleased to have improved upon 2 of these factors, which will drive the incremental benefit of about $20 million to free cash flow. We are very encouraged by the strengthening of our cash position for fiscal '23, which enables us to continue to invest in our business to drive growth while also lowering our leverage ratio.

我們預計這將使我們的自由現金流比之前的預期增加 1000 萬至 1500 萬美元。隨後，淨債務溫和上升，槓桿率為 4.9 倍，與預期的第四季度大致一致。我們債務的連續增加與我們通常在今年第一季度看到債務水平增加的歷史時期一致。隨著我們繼續改善調整後的 EBITDA 業績，我們預計我們的槓桿率會隨著時間的推移而提高。對於 23 財年的第一季度，我們的自由現金流使用量為 5500 萬美元，而去年為 5000 萬美元。雖然我們的現金流受益於經營業績的提高，但這一改善被現金利息支出按預期同比增長 1300 萬美元所抵消。排除利率不利因素，我們的自由現金流同比有所改善。現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 16 來查看我們的現金概況。正如我們在上次電話會議上所說，我們業務基本面的實力讓我們有信心預計 23 財年的現金狀況會有所改善。這種改進將由許多因素驅動，這些因素已在幻燈片中列出。我們很高興改進了其中兩個因素，這將推動自由現金流增加約 2000 萬美元的收益。我們對 23 財年現金狀況的加強感到非常鼓舞，這使我們能夠繼續投資於我們的業務以推動增長，同時降低我們的槓桿率。

Let's now turn to Slide 17 to review our outlook for the second quarter of fiscal '23. As you can see on the slide, we expect total revenues of $610 million to $650 million and total adjusted EBITDA of $33 million to $43 million. Our guidance assumes 2% to 3% organic growth in land despite the heavy rainfall affecting our West Coast markets in January. And we are on track to deliver our eighth consecutive quarter of land organic growth. We continue to expect our pricing efforts to offset increases in labor and material costs, and we expect fuel to be neutral to our profitability if fuel prices remain consistent with prior year averages. For our snow business, we are forecasting $100 million in revenues at the low end and $140 million at the high end for the second quarter.

現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 17 來回顧我們對 23 財年第二季度的展望。正如您在幻燈片中看到的那樣，我們預計總收入為 6.1 億至 6.5 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 總額為 3300 萬至 4300 萬美元。儘管 1 月份的強降雨影響了我們的西海岸市場，但我們的指導假設土地有機增長為 2% 至 3%。我們有望實現連續第八個季度的土地有機增長。我們繼續期望我們的定價努力能夠抵消勞動力和材料成本的增加，如果燃料價格與去年的平均水平保持一致，我們預計燃料對我們的盈利能力將保持中性。對於我們的雪地業務，我們預測第二季度的低端收入為 1 億美元，高端收入為 1.4 億美元。

In addition, our guidance assumes that snowfall will remain significantly below average in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, our 2 largest regions with higher levels of self-performance and margins. For development, we expect top line contraction for the second quarter of approximately 8% due to the mix of timing of projects. However, we anticipate that margins will expand by 20 to 40 basis points as the team focuses on disciplined cost management. We expect this revenue contraction to be more than offset by the expected growth in the second half of the year. As a result, for the second half of the year, we expect development organic growth to be approximately 10%, resulting in mid- to high single-digit organic growth for the year substantially above our long-term plans of 2% to 3%.

此外，我們的指導假設東北部和大西洋中部的降雪量將明顯低於平均水平，這兩個地區是我們最大的兩個地區，具有較高的自我表現和利潤率。對於開發，我們預計第二季度的營收將收縮約 8%，原因是項目時間安排的組合。然而，我們預計隨著團隊專注於嚴格的成本管理，利潤率將增加 20 至 40 個基點。我們預計這一收入收縮將被下半年的預期增長所抵消。因此，對於今年下半年，我們預計發展有機增長約為 10%，導致全年實現中高個位數有機增長，大大高於我們 2% 至 3% 的長期計劃.

We remain optimistic about the strength of our business, its underlying fundamentals and our prospects ahead. For the full year 2023, as Andrew mentioned, despite the low snowfall, we intend to deliver strong organic growth and margin expansion in both our land and development business.

我們對我們的業務實力、基本面和未來前景保持樂觀。對於 2023 年全年，正如安德魯提到的那樣，儘管降雪量很少，但我們打算在我們的土地和開發業務中實現強勁的有機增長和利潤率擴張。

Before turning the call back to Andrew, let's turn to Slide 18 to highlight our capital allocation priorities. Our robust cash flow generative business model affords us the flexibility to execute our M&A strategy and continue to drive robust long-term profitable growth. We remain opportunistic and strategic in allocating capital effectively to fund our accretive acquisitions.

在將電話轉回給安德魯之前，讓我們轉到幻燈片 18 以強調我們的資本配置優先事項。我們強大的現金流生成業務模型使我們能夠靈活地執行我們的併購戰略，並繼續推動強勁的長期盈利增長。我們在有效分配資本以資助我們的增值收購方面仍然保持機會主義和戰略性。

Additionally, we are focused on improving our leverage ratio over time, primarily by growing adjusted EBITDA. Ultimately, our goal remains to effectively deploy capital and drive shareholder value.

此外，我們專注於隨著時間的推移提高我們的槓桿率，主要是通過增加調整後的 EBITDA。最終，我們的目標仍然是有效配置資本和推動股東價值。

With that, let me turn the call back over to Andrew.

有了這個，讓我把電話轉回給安德魯。

Thanks, Brett. Now let's turn to Slide 20 to wrap up. It is clear that we have a strong, resilient and agile business. We are leaders in our industry with an unparalleled customer value proposition, supported by the investments behind digital services and sustainability. We serve marquee customers across various end markets. Our business and customer mix give us the agility to continue to thrive in a rapidly changing environment.

謝謝，布雷特。現在讓我們轉到幻燈片 20 結束。很明顯，我們擁有強大、有彈性和敏捷的業務。我們是行業的領導者，擁有無與倫比的客戶價值主張，並得到數字服務和可持續發展背後的投資支持。我們為各個終端市場的大型客戶提供服務。我們的業務和客戶組合使我們能夠靈活地在瞬息萬變的環境中繼續蓬勃發展。

Secular trends, including moving towards electrical equipment and limiting water usage are in our favor and position us well competitively. We have invested heavily in our capabilities in these areas to be able to address our customers' needs. We have multiple opportunities, organic and M&A that will power our growth and drive long-term profitability. Importantly, we are executing against our growth initiatives and driving strong momentum in our business.

長期趨勢，包括轉向電氣設備和限制用水，對我們有利，使我們處於有利的競爭地位。我們在這些領域的能力上投入了大量資金，以便能夠滿足客戶的需求。我們有多種機會，有機和併購將推動我們的增長並推動長期盈利能力。重要的是，我們正在執行我們的增長計劃並推動我們業務的強勁勢頭。

We are close to delivering on 2 years of consecutive quarter-over-quarter land organic growth. Our strong business fundamentals and strategic plans give us confidence that we continue to be poised for long-term profitable growth. In summary, we are pleased with our results and proud of our financial and strategic progress amid a dynamic environment. We are executing on our key growth drivers investing in our sales team and technology, which power net new customers and improve the ancillary penetration, leading to solid organic growth.

我們即將實現連續 2 年的季度環比土地有機增長。我們強大的業務基礎和戰略計劃使我們有信心繼續為長期盈利增長做好準備。總之，我們對我們的結果感到滿意，並為我們在充滿活力的環境中取得的財務和戰略進展感到自豪。我們正在執行對我們的銷售團隊和技術進行投資的主要增長驅動因素，這會為淨新客戶提供動力並提高輔助滲透率，從而實現穩健的有機增長。

At the same time, we are maintaining a prudent approach to managing our SG&A expense, which is currently in line with fiscal year 2019 levels despite the inflationary environment. Our M&A strategy continues to be a reliable and sustainable source of growth and our disciplined pricing efforts build on that expansion and support our ability to offset cost headwinds.

與此同時，我們保持謹慎的方法來管理我們的 SG&A 費用，儘管存在通貨膨脹環境，但目前該費用與 2019 財年的水平一致。我們的併購戰略仍然是可靠和可持續的增長來源，我們有紀律的定價努力建立在這種擴張的基礎上，並支持我們抵消成本逆風的能力。

Our disciplined cost management has enabled us to continue to invest in the business through sales force and technology investments to continue to drive growth. Importantly, we are dedicated to positioning the business to thrive in the face of external macro headwinds, changing secular trends and regulatory requirements. I am confident that our efforts will continue to position us for success over the near and long term.

我們嚴格的成本管理使我們能夠繼續通過銷售人員和技術投資對業務進行投資，以繼續推動增長。重要的是，我們致力於將業務定位在面對外部宏觀逆風、不斷變化的長期趨勢和監管要求的情況下蓬勃發展。我相信，我們的努力將繼續使我們在近期和長期取得成功。

I remain as optimistic as ever about our future, and I thank our teams for their dedicated response to the winter storms and their continued attention to designing, creating, maintaining and enhancing the best landscapes on earth.

我對我們的未來一如既往地樂觀，我感謝我們的團隊對冬季風暴的專注應對，以及他們對設計、創造、維護和改善地球上最好的景觀的持續關注。

Thank you for your interest and for your attention this morning. We'll now open the call for your questions.

感謝您今天早上的關注和關注。我們現在將打開您的問題的電話。

(Operator Instructions) So our first question comes from the line of Bob Labick of CJS Securities.

（操作員說明）所以我們的第一個問題來自 CJS 證券公司的 Bob Labick。

So I wanted to start with the spring contract renewal environment. Last year, you were able to get some reasonable pricing to offset some of the headwinds at that time, headwinds had shifted. There's -- fuel is different, everything else. How does the contract renewal environment? And what are your thoughts on getting some price given the rapidly changing macro environment?

於是就想著手spring續約環境。去年，你能夠獲得一些合理的定價來抵消當時的一些不利因素，不利因素已經轉移。有 - 燃料不同，其他一切。續約環境如何？鑑於快速變化的宏觀環境，您對獲得一些價格有何看法？

Yes, Bob, it is quite a dynamic environment out there. And as we sit here today, fuel costs are about where they were last year at the same time. And so some of those headwinds we face towards the second and third quarter last year subsided to a certain degree. All that being said, we're in the midst of those negotiations across the board in all of our regions.

是的，鮑勃，那裡是一個充滿活力的環境。當我們今天坐在這裡時，燃料成本大約與去年同期持平。因此，我們在去年第二和第三季度面臨的一些不利因素在一定程度上消退了。綜上所述，我們正在所有地區進行全面談判。

And I am happy to say that recently, we just did a review over our January results, and we're actually seeing good acceptance by our customers and actually are ahead of where we were last year and making sure that we're getting price covering the inflationary trends we're seeing in the marketplace.

我很高興地說，最近，我們剛剛對 1 月份的結果進行了審查，我們實際上看到了客戶的良好接受度，並且實際上領先於去年，並確保我們的價格得到覆蓋我們在市場上看到的通貨膨脹趨勢。

Okay. That sounds super. So -- and you gave some comments, not numbers in terms of guidance, but in terms of margin growth for the year, is that -- you're expecting EBITDA margin growth in the second half? Or is that the full year number? Or I wasn't entirely sure how to interpret the EBITDA margin growth comment for the -- go ahead, sorry.

好的。聽起來超級棒。所以——你給出了一些評論，不是指導方面的數字，而是今年利潤率增長方面的——你預計下半年 EBITDA 利潤率增長嗎？還是那是全年數字？或者我不完全確定如何解釋 EBITDA 利潤率增長評論 - 繼續，抱歉。

Yes, sure, sure. And let me kind of a couple it between our 2 segments. If we start out with the maintenance segment, there's no variable out there. We just don't know exactly how much it's going to snow. So I can't really guide specifically on what's going to happen for the entire segment. What I can say is that in the land portion of that segment is we're going to unquestionably see margin expansion there. That will be evidenced and very clear as you look at Q3 and Q4 results because those won't have any snow in them. We see the underlying position that you saw in Q1 of land margin expanding. And yes, we said that snow was better.

是的，當然，當然。讓我在我們的 2 個細分市場之間進行一些比較。如果我們從維護部分開始，那裡就沒有變量了。我們只是不知道到底要下多少雪。因此，我無法真正具體指導整個細分市場將會發生什麼。我能說的是，在該細分市場的陸地部分，我們無疑會看到那裡的利潤率擴張。當您查看第三季度和第四季度的結果時，這將得到證明並且非常清楚，因為它們不會有任何下雪。我們看到您在第一季度看到的土地利潤擴大的基礎狀況。是的，我們說雪更好。

We also said that the snow margins actually weren't quite where we thought they would be. And it was land, which we really helped us out on the maintenance side of the business. In development, again, we saw in Q1, expansion of margins happen. We know as we look out with not only top line growth helping propel that in the second half of the year. But overall, our development segment, we're expecting to see margin expansion in that segment as well, giving us in total in the land portion non-snow of maintenance and the development segment, we're expecting to see margin expansion in both of those areas.

我們還說過雪邊實際上並不完全是我們認為的那樣。這是土地，我們在業務的維護方面確實幫助了我們。在發展方面，我們再次在第一季度看到利潤率擴大。我們知道，當我們展望未來時，不僅收入增長有助於推動今年下半年的增長。但總的來說，我們的開發部門，我們預計該部門的利潤率也會擴大，使我們在維護和開發部門的非雪地土地部分，我們預計這兩個部門的利潤率都會擴大那些地區。

Okay. Super. Last one for me, I'll get back in queue. Can you just talk about the labor and staffing environment out there? Are you -- how are you doing in terms of your, I guess, utilization your staffing? Are you having to pay overtime because of lack of labor availability? Or what's the environment like? And how is that -- how are you expecting it to play out for the rest of the year?

好的。極好的。最後一個給我，我會回到隊列中。你能談談那裡的勞動力和人員配置環境嗎？你 - 我猜你在利用你的員工方面做得如何？您是否因為缺乏勞動力而不得不支付加班費？或者環境怎麼樣？那怎麼樣 - 你期望它在今年餘下的時間裡發揮什麼作用？

Right now, sitting here in February, this is not our peak time of employment, and we really are going to be coming up on that as we get into April and May as we bring more people on board. So right now, we are not seeing a significant problem in attracting folks across the entire business. And typically, every year, in the April to May period, we bring on over 5,000 people as we ramp up.

現在，2 月坐在這裡，這不是我們的就業高峰期，我們真的會在進入 4 月和 5 月時解決這個問題，因為我們會吸引更多的人加入。所以現在，我們沒有看到在整個企業中吸引人們的重大問題。通常，在每年的 4 月至 5 月期間，我們會增加 5,000 多人。

One thing to note is that we believe that this year with some of the changes that have done in the H2B program sponsored by the government that we're actually seeing a higher degree of reliability in securing H2B labor in advance of the season, which is going to help us as we look at filling those positions with the growth that we see coming our way.

需要注意的一件事是，我們相信今年政府贊助的 H2B 計劃發生了一些變化，我們實際上看到在賽季前確保 H2B 勞動力的可靠性更高，這是將在我們考慮用我們看到的增長來填補這些職位時幫助我們。

Our next question comes from the line of Tim Mulrooney of William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Tim Mulrooney。

Just a couple of clarification questions from me on the guide. So first, on maintenance land. So your business grew, I think, 1.5% organically in the first quarter, and your guide assumes a pickup in the second quarter, I think, like to 2.5% despite the harder comparisons with last year. So can you just walk us through the various factors that are helping to drive this expected acceleration on a tougher comp?

我只是在指南中提出了幾個澄清問題。首先，在維護土地上。因此，我認為您的業務在第一季度有機增長了 1.5%，而您的指南假設第二季度有所回升，我認為，儘管與去年的比較更為艱難，但仍會達到 2.5%。那麼，您能否向我們介紹一下有助於在更強硬的比賽中推動這種預期加速的各種因素？

Sure. Yes, Tim, what we're seeing is out there, and we're seeing it every single quarter is what we call our net new measurement, which gives us confidence about going forward. And that net new is a combination of new contracts, minus losses, and then increasing price and scope kind of all mixed together.

當然。是的，蒂姆，我們所看到的就在那裡，我們每個季度都看到它就是我們所說的淨新衡量標準，這讓我們對前進充滿信心。那個淨新是新合同的組合，減去損失，然後增加價格和範圍，所有這些都混合在一起。

And as we see that, we're seeing continued acceleration into the quarters, which gives us a lot of confidence about that as we see going forward. Of course, you have to have ancillary penetration if it comes along with that contract, that's the one variable we can't specifically tell exactly what that's going to be in a given quarter. But in the contract base, which is the kind of the bedrock of the company, we're seeing that solid growth coming in, which gives us that confidence to be able to forecast that higher level of growth as we get to the back half.

正如我們所看到的那樣，我們看到季度持續加速，這讓我們對未來充滿信心。當然，如果它與該合同一起出現，你必須有輔助滲透，這是一個我們無法具體說明在給定季度內會發生什麼的變量。但在合同基礎上，這是公司的基石，我們看到穩健的增長正在到來，這讓我們有信心能夠在我們進入後半段時預測更高水平的增長。

Yes, I know that net new is a key KPI for you guys. So it's good to hear that is moving in the right direction. I'll let someone else ask about ancillary. I want to stick to the guide here. So now moving to your cost section.

是的，我知道淨新是你們的關鍵 KPI。所以很高興聽到它正朝著正確的方向發展。我會讓別人問輔助的。我想堅持這裡的指南。所以現在轉到你的成本部分。

I mean, you noted that SG&A on an LTM basis is near 2019 levels as a percentage of sales. My question is, is that your expectation for fiscal 2023, somewhere in that low 17% range because our model is closer to 18%. So I just want to make sure we all get our models right here.

我的意思是，您注意到 LTM 基礎上的 SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比接近 2019 年的水平。我的問題是，您對 2023 財年的預期是在 17% 的較低範圍內，因為我們的模型接近 18%。所以我只想確保我們都能在這裡找到我們的模型。

Yes. We expect that to continue. Now the variables obviously is going to be is how much it snows or not. And so that's going to change the numerator, right, depending on what the sales are actually there, I should (inaudible). So outside, I think when you look at our overall dollar levels of spend, you take that percentage and kind of look at, that is kind of more the trajectory that we're going at as a business.

是的。我們希望這種情況繼續下去。現在變量顯然是下雪或不下雪的程度。因此，這將改變分子，對，取決於實際銷售額，我應該（聽不清）。所以在外面，我認為當你看看我們整體的美元支出水平時，你會看到那個百分比並有點看，這更像是我們作為一家企業要走的軌跡。

Got it. That's very helpful. One more quick one for me. You lowered your CapEx projection by $10 million to $15 million. Can you just talk about what investments you're planning to make that you no longer think it's necessary to make this year, just we always think about, are they cutting in the growth CapEx or what's going away? So anything there?

知道了。這很有幫助。對我來說再快一點。您將資本支出預測降低了 1000 萬美元至 1500 萬美元。你能不能談談你計劃進行哪些投資，你認為今年不再需要進行這些投資，只是我們一直在想，他們是在削減增長資本支出還是正在消失？那有什麼嗎？

Tim, it's Brett. And I just think this shows kind of the resilience of our business and one of the levers we can pull when we kind of see a low snow quarter coming, we look at the balance sheet and determine what leverage we can pull CapEx being one of them, right? I think if you look at kind of the minimum level of CapEx of the business, just maintaining our equipment is probably around 2.5%. So we're still guiding to 3%, 3.25% which I would say we're still investing in some growth on top of that while maintaining. But I think the key point is really this is the lever we can use to offset some of the cash that we're going to potentially lose from low snow to kind of pull down that CapEx level a bit in years like that.

蒂姆，我是布雷特。我只是認為這顯示了我們業務的彈性，以及當我們看到低雪季即將到來時我們可以拉動的槓桿之一，我們查看資產負債表並確定我們可以拉動資本支出的槓桿是其中之一， 正確的？我認為，如果您查看業務的最低資本支出水平，僅維護我們的設備可能約為 2.5%。所以我們仍然指導 3%，3.25%，我想說我們仍然在保持增長的同時投資於一些增長。但我認為關鍵在於，這是我們可以用來抵消我們可能因低雪而損失的一些現金的槓桿，從而在這樣的年份裡稍微降低資本支出水平。

Yes, Tim, we don't expect this to impact the business. In fact, if you look at the investments we've made over the course of the last 5 or 6 years, we've actually improved the age of our fleet by about a year over that period of time. So whenever we see a downturn or shift in any part of our business, these are the kinds of things that we can do on a short-term basis without really affecting any of the growth initiatives that we have in place.

是的，蒂姆，我們預計這不會影響業務。事實上，如果你看看我們在過去 5 或 6 年中所做的投資，我們實際上已經將我們機隊的年齡在這段時間內提高了大約一年。因此，每當我們看到業務的任何部分出現低迷或轉變時，這些都是我們可以在短期內做的事情，而不會真正影響我們現有的任何增長計劃。

Our next question comes from the line of Phil Ng from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Phil Ng。

This is Maggie on for Phil. My first question on the 2Q guide, the sales number makes sense. But on the decline in EBITDA dollars and margins, can you kind of parse out how much of that is loss of new volume versus some of those development timing headwinds you called out or any other incremental headwinds baked in there?

這是菲爾的瑪吉。我對 2Q 指南的第一個問題，銷售數字是有道理的。但是，在 EBITDA 美元和利潤率下降的情況下，您能否分析出其中有多少是新銷量的損失與您提到的一些開發時間逆風或其中烘烤的任何其他增量逆風？

Yes, Maggie, you can basically take the entire shortfall in our guide relative to prior expectations, it is almost 100% to a shortfall in snow. And that's really what it is. If you can think about -- back in 2020, we talked about some of the drop-through rates that we have on revenue. It's the same situation where a shortfall in revenue drops through at about a negative 30% on margins. So at each million dollars, that's about $300,000 less of EBITDA relative to the snow levels.

是的，Maggie，您基本上可以了解我們指南中相對於之前預期的全部不足，這幾乎是 100% 的降雪不足。事實就是如此。如果你能想一想——早在 2020 年，我們就談到了我們在收入方面的一些下降率。同樣的情況是，收入短缺導致利潤率下降約 30%。因此，以每百萬美元計算，EBITDA 相對於降雪量減少約 300,000 美元。

So if you just take that kind of calculation, that really pretty much takes into consideration. The other aspects of our business are actually doing quite well. And so as you look at the underlying land performance, the underlying margin performance and development, we're seeing good momentum there. It's just masked by the fact that the snow levels are happening.

因此，如果您只進行這種計算，那確實會考慮很多。我們業務的其他方面實際上做得很好。因此，當您查看潛在的土地表現、潛在的利潤率表現和發展時，我們看到了良好的勢頭。它只是被降雪量正在發生的事實所掩蓋。

Yes. And I would be a little bit more specific. I think it's exactly right. Almost 100% of the change in guide is snow related. And if you look at Snow last Q2, we had $208 million of snow revenue posted last Q2. This quarter, the midpoint of the guide is $120 million of snow revenue. So an $88 million decline in snow revenues at the midpoint of the guide. If you apply around the 30% margin to that guide, it's an additional $26 million. So the midpoint of our guide, with the same amount of snow revenue last year, it would have been in the mid-60s from an EBITDA perspective and showing margin improvement of almost 100 basis points. And if you kind of look at our guide now, I use to echo Andrew's comment, it is 100% snow-driven, and really just the lack of snowfall specifically in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

是的。我會更具體一點。我認為這是完全正確的。指南中幾乎 100% 的變化都與雪有關。如果你看看去年第二季度的 Snow，我們在第二季度發布的雪收入為 2.08 億美元。本季度，指南的中點是 1.2 億美元的雪收入。因此，在指南的中點，降雪收入減少了 8800 萬美元。如果您對該指南應用大約 30% 的利潤率，則會額外增加 2600 萬美元。因此，我們指南的中點，如果去年的雪收入相同，從 EBITDA 的角度來看，它應該在 60 年代中期，並且顯示利潤率提高了近 100 個基點。如果你現在看看我們的指南，我過去常常回應安德魯的評論，它是 100% 雪驅動的，實際上只是東北和大西洋中部地區特別缺乏降雪。

Okay. Okay. That's very clear. And then my second question, how do the development headwinds in 2Q impact how you're thinking about the segment for the full year? And can you kind of remind us how much visibility you have to those projects flowing through and maybe how that's driving your confidence in the 10% organic growth you're talking about in the back half?

好的。好的。這很清楚。然後我的第二個問題，第二季度的發展逆風如何影響你對全年細分市場的看法？你能不能提醒我們你對這些項目的可見度有多大，也許這會如何推動你對你在後半部分談論的 10% 有機增長的信心？

Yes. We have very good visibility, let's say, 6 months out with our development pipeline. And the situation we're at right now in Q2 is really just the timing of projects. As you know, these projects come in, they come out. They're just depending on when the subcontractors before us get done.

是的。我們有很好的知名度，比方說，我們的開發管道有 6 個月的時間。我們現在在第二季度所處的情況實際上只是項目的時間安排。如您所知，這些項目進來，他們出來。他們只是取決於我們之前的分包商何時完成。

And so the timing of these projects that we're seeing in Q2 is slightly less than it was the prior Q2. But we know right now that as we look at our backlog and this is a book backlog, this is not forecast backlog. These are projects that are signed. And frankly, from where we're at in landscaping, we're the last one of the projects. So these buildings are being constructed as we speak. These landscaping projects are going to happen, and we're very confident that 10% plus organic growth in the back half of the year will happen, which will give us kind of that mid- to high single-digit total organic growth for development in the fiscal '23.

因此，我們在第二季度看到的這些項目的時間比之前的第二季度略少。但我們現在知道，當我們查看我們的積壓時，這是一本書積壓，這不是預測積壓。這些是已簽署的項目。坦率地說，從我們在景觀美化方面所處的位置來看，我們是最後一個項目。因此，就在我們說話的時候，這些建築物正在建造中。這些景觀美化項目將會發生，我們非常有信心在今年下半年實現 10% 以上的有機增長，這將為我們的發展帶來中高個位數的總體有機增長財政'23。

Our next question comes from the line of George Tong of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 George Tong。

January snowfall is now tracking below historical levels high, as you noted. Can you elaborate on the assumptions around February and March snowfall that you're embedding into your guidance. And overall, how much conservatism is baked into your outlook?

正如您所指出的，1 月的降雪量現在低於歷史最高水平。您能否詳細說明您在指南中嵌入的 2 月和 3 月降雪前後的假設。總的來說，你的觀點中有多少保守主義？

Yes. So George, as you look at the range, we factored in clearly January, no snow at all on the I-95 corridor. As we look at February, we're factoring in the range, frankly, at the midpoint is a very low snowfall in the I-95 corridor.

是的。所以喬治，當你看範圍時，我們清楚地考慮了 1 月，I-95 走廊上根本沒有下雪。當我們看 2 月時，我們正在考慮範圍，坦率地說，中點是 I-95 走廊的降雪量非常低。

At the low end of our range, we are factoring in no snow environment in I-95 with continuing performance in the Midwest and Rocky Mountains, which we've seen historically happened. So in summary, at the low end of the range is continued no snow in the corridor with average though in the Midwest in Rocky Mountains and at the high end of the range, says that actually in the second half of February and into March, there is a return to kind of normalized snow in that I-95 corridor.

在我們範圍的低端，我們將 I-95 的無雪環境考慮在內，並在中西部和落基山脈持續表現，這是我們在歷史上看到的情況。因此，總而言之，在範圍的低端，雖然在落基山脈的中西部和範圍的高端，走廊中的平均水平仍然沒有降雪，實際上是在 2 月下半月和 3 月，是 I-95 走廊中正常化雪的回歸。

Got it. That's helpful. And then diving into the land business, perhaps ancillary services. Can you talk a little bit about the uptake there, how trends are performing and especially given potentially the macro sensitivity of ancillary in the more discretionary in nature of ancillary services, if you expect to see any volatility there or any pullback in spend as we potentially head into a macro slowdown?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後潛入土地業務，也許是輔助服務。你能談談那裡的吸收情況，趨勢如何表現，特別是考慮到輔助服務在更具自由裁量性質的情況下可能具有宏觀敏感性，如果你預計那裡會出現任何波動或支出回落，因為我們可能進入宏觀經濟放緩？

Yes. We're not seeing any indications of our customers reducing their amount of inquiries on ancillary spending from the properties. And in fact, as you're seeing increasing return to work happening out in the marketplace and in commercial buildings, you're seeing increasing travel for hospitality type areas. We're actually seeing continued investment in properties and external environments that really fuel our ancillary part of our business. And so we don't see that happening as we're at sit here today.

是的。我們沒有看到任何跡象表明我們的客戶減少了對物業輔助支出的查詢量。事實上，當你看到市場和商業建築中的工作回報率增加時，你會看到酒店類區域的旅行增加。我們實際上看到了對房地產和外部環境的持續投資，這些投資真正推動了我們業務的輔助部分。因此，當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們沒有看到這種情況發生。

And also, frankly, well, this may be a temporary situation due to the lack of snowfall, the budgets that typically were allocated towards snow removal will likely be able to be freed up to a certain point to be allocated towards ancillary services as we move into the spring.

而且，坦率地說，好吧，由於沒有降雪，這可能是暫時的情況，通常分配給除雪的預算可能會釋放到某個點，以便在我們移動時分配給輔助服務進入春天。

Our next question comes from the line of Justin Hauke of Robert W. Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Robert W. Baird 的 Justin Hauke。

Most of my questions have been answered. I've got kind of 2 technical ones here. I guess, first, congrats on the putting the hedge in place and on so much of your debt and saving the cash interest expense, that's great. But I guess I wanted to ask, so the gains on that hedge, it looks like there was about $3 million in the quarter.

我的大部分問題都已得到解答。我這裡有 2 個技術問題。我想，首先，祝賀您實施了對沖，減少瞭如此多的債務並節省了現金利息支出，這太棒了。但我想我想問一下，那個對沖的收益，看起來這個季度大約有 300 萬美元。

And I don't see that backed out of your EBITDA reconciliation. And so I'm just clarifying whether that is backed out and what we should expect, how you would treat that going forward since there's such a large hedge in place now?

而且我認為這不會從您的 EBITDA 對賬中得到支持。因此，我只是想澄清這是否已被取消以及我們應該期待什麼，既然現在有如此大的對沖，您將如何看待這一點？

Yes. Justin, this is Brett. You look at our Q1 results should be backed out of interest -- interest related. We did have a hedge about $0.5 billion hedges that rolled off the last quarter was Q1 of this quarter we just finished. And essentially, I have to comment. I mean if you think about the headwind is entered into about 70% of our total debt, we feel very excited about that. Not only that it's going to essentially save $10 million of cash interest on an annual basis. But since we've done that, we've actually seen rates tick up slightly from the time we put that hedge in.

是的。賈斯汀，這是布雷特。你看我們第一季度的結果應該是出於興趣——與興趣有關。我們確實有大約 5 億美元的對沖，這些對沖是在我們剛剛完成的本季度第一季度推出的。從本質上講，我必鬚髮表評論。我的意思是，如果你考慮逆風進入我們總債務的大約 70%，我們對此感到非常興奮。不僅如此，它每年基本上可以節省 1000 萬美元的現金利息。但自從我們這樣做以來，我們實際上已經看到利率從我們進行對沖時開始略有上升。

So we feel great that we've made that move and it's essentially capping our maximum amount of interest for the year and giving us some opportunity given the floor that we have in one of the hedges to share some upside if rates were to revert course.

因此，我們感到非常高興，我們已經採取了這一舉措，它實質上限制了我們今年的最高利息，並給了我們一些機會，因為我們在其中一個對沖中有底線，如果利率要逆轉，我們可以分享一些上行空間。

Okay. So I guess, the $3 million gain in the P&L is adjusted to the interest expense and reconciliation.

好的。所以我猜，損益表中的 300 萬美元收益已根據利息支出和對賬進行了調整。

That's correct.

這是正確的。

Okay. I just want to make sure. And then my second question is, if you could just give us an update on the amount of acquisition revenue in total you're assuming now for the year based on the wrap from the acquisitions last year and then plus you've done another 3 so far year-to-date. So just to kind of -- obviously, you always -- there's more that could come in, but just what you have already in place on the '23...

好的。我只是想確定一下。然後我的第二個問題是，如果你能告訴我們你現在假設的今年收購收入總額的最新情況，基於去年收購的總結，然後再加上你又做了 3 次，所以年初至今。所以只是有點——顯然，你總是——還有更多的東西可以進來，但是你在 23 年已經到位的東西……

Yes, I'll take that again. This is Brett. If you look at our first quarter results, and we did have a significant amount of acquisitions we did in years past. But thinking back to our guide in Q4 -- our statements in Q4. This year, we're looking at about 2% acquisition growth in the company. That would be around $40 million. In years past, we've kind of guided more towards 3%. And then we've outpaced that 3%. Look, we're continuing to be strategic and opportunistic in acquisitions. We've made 3 so far in fiscal '22.

是的，我會再拿那個。這是布雷特。如果你看一下我們第一季度的業績，我們確實在過去幾年進行了大量收購。但回想一下我們在第四季度的指南——我們在第四季度的聲明。今年，我們預計公司的收購增長率約為 2%。那將是大約 4000 萬美元。在過去的幾年裡，我們有點傾向於 3%。然後我們已經超過了 3%。看，我們在收購中繼續保持戰略性和機會主義。到目前為止，我們已經在 22 財年取得了 3 項成就。

I will say we've spent significantly less on that line through kind of Q1, Q2 combined, wherein prior years, we've spent upwards of $50 million to $60 million through 2 quarters. And now we're south of $15 million. So we're balancing our debt levels and our acquisitions. We're going to continue to be opportunistic in doing that. But we're guiding to about 2% growth in total in the P&L through acquisition this year.

我要說的是，在第一季度、第二季度的總和上，我們在這條線上的支出要少得多，而前幾年，我們在兩個季度的支出超過了 5000 萬至 6000 萬美元。而現在我們已經超過了 1500 萬美元。所以我們正在平衡我們的債務水平和我們的收購。我們將繼續在這方面投機取巧。但我們預計今年通過收購實現損益總額增長約 2%。

Okay. Great. So no change there either. All right.

好的。偉大的。所以那裡也沒有變化。好的。

Our final question comes from Andrew Steinerman of JPMorgan.

我們的最後一個問題來自摩根大通的 Andrew Steinerman。

Andrew, I know predicting snowfall is difficult and you just gave us your sense of this winter. But do you feel like we might be in a situation with temperatures warming over time where kind of lower snowfall is the more typical situation kind of over the winters ahead?

安德魯，我知道預測降雪很困難，你剛剛給了我們你對這個冬天的感覺。但是你是否覺得我們可能會隨著時間的推移而出現氣溫變暖的情況，而降雪量減少是未來冬季更典型的情況？

Yes. It's a clear question. This year was the third year in a row of a La Nina effect, which caused the situation where you have lower snowfall in the East Coast and higher in the West. I think if we talk to someone who lives in California or folks who live in the Seattle or Nevada, they did not experience a lower snowfall. In fact, they've experienced a higher average snowfall. And that's not where our primary footprint is.

是的。這是一個明確的問題。今年是連續第三年出現拉尼娜效應，這導致了東海岸降雪量減少而西部降雪量增加的情況。我認為，如果我們與住在加利福尼亞的人或住在西雅圖或內華達的人交談，他們並沒有經歷過較低的降雪量。事實上，他們經歷了更高的平均降雪量。那不是我們的主要足跡所在。

But I do believe as we look out into years where potentially we're going to see a non La Nina effect is that you should see some return to more of a normalized pattern. You did see it 2 years ago in February, where we had actually the highest level of snow ever recorded in February of '21. So while, certainly, this has been a tough year and unprecedented low situation in snow in that I-95 corridor, I think it's too early to call to say that, that's any kind of a permanent type of a situation reducing profile. But certainly, it's something that we're constantly monitoring and studying as much as we can about those weather trends.

但我確實相信，當我們展望未來可能會出現非拉尼娜效應的年份時，你應該會看到一些回歸到更多的正常模式。您確實在 2 年前的 2 月看到過它，實際上我們在 2021 年 2 月經歷了有記錄以來的最高降雪量。因此，當然，雖然今年是艱難的一年，I-95 走廊的降雪情況前所未有，但我認為現在就斷言還為時過早，這是任何一種永久性的減少情況的情況。但可以肯定的是，我們一直在盡可能多地監測和研究這些天氣趨勢。

As there are no additional questions waiting at this time, I'd like to hand the call back over to management team for closing remarks.

由於此時沒有其他問題等待，我想將電話轉回給管理團隊以作結束語。

Great. Thank you very much. And once again, I'd like to thank everyone for participating in the call today for your interest in BrightView, and we look forward to speaking with you when we report our second quarter results. Stay safe and be well.

偉大的。非常感謝。再一次，我要感謝大家參加今天的電話會議，感謝您對 BrightView 的興趣，我們期待在報告第二季度業績時與您交談。保持安全並保持健康。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes BrightView's First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Have a great day ahead. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們，先生們，BrightView 2023 財年第一季度收益電話會議到此結束。祝你有美好的一天。您現在可以斷開線路。