Climb Global Solutions Inc (CLMB) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Climb Global Solutions' financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023.

大家早上好，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議，討論 Climb Global Solutions 截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的第二季度財務業績。

Joining us today are Climb's CEO, Mr. Dale Foster; the company's CFO, Mr. Drew Clark; and the company's Investor Relations adviser, Mr. Sean Mansouri with Elevate IR.

今天加入我們的是 Climb 首席執行官 Dale Foster 先生；公司首席財務官德魯·克拉克先生；以及該公司的投資者關係顧問 Elevate IR 的 Sean Mansouri 先生。

By now, everyone should have access to the second quarter 2023 earnings press release, which was issued yesterday afternoon at approximately 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time. The release is available in the Investor Relations section of Climb Global Solutions website at www.climbglobalsolutions.com. This call will also be available for webcast replay on the company's website. Following management's remarks, we will open the call for your questions.

到目前為止，每個人都應該可以查看昨天下午 4:05 左右發布的 2023 年第二季度收益新聞稿。東部時間。該新聞稿可在 Climb Global Solutions 網站 www.climbglobalsolutions.com 的投資者關係部分獲取。此次電話會議還將在公司網站上進行網絡直播重播。在管理層發表講話後，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Mr. Mansouri for introductory comments.

我現在想將電話轉給曼蘇里先生，請其介紹性評論。

Thank you, Carmen. Before I introduce Dale, I'd like to remind listeners that certain comments made on this conference call and webcast are considered forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties as well as assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are also subject to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC. Do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are being made only as of the date of this call. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to any forward-looking statements.

謝謝你，卡門。在介紹Dale 之前，我想提醒聽眾，根據1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》，本次電話會議和網絡廣播中的某些評論被視為前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受到某些已知和未知的因素的影響。風險和不確定性以及可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述中反映的結果存在重大差異的假設。這些前瞻性陳述還受到該公司向 SEC 提交的文件中不時描述的其他風險和不確定性的影響。請勿過分依賴任何前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅截至本次電話會議之日作出。除法律要求外，公司不承擔修改或公開發布任何前瞻性陳述的任何修改結果的義務。

Our presentation also includes certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted gross billings, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income to EPS and effective margin as supplemental measures of performance of our business. All non-GAAP measures have been reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in accordance with SEC rules. You'll find reconciliation charts and other important information in the earnings press release and Form 8-K we furnished to the SEC yesterday.

我們的演示文稿還包括某些非公認會計準則財務指標，包括調整後的總賬單、調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的每股收益淨利潤和有效利潤率，作為我們業務績效的補充指標。根據 SEC 規則，所有非 GAAP 衡量標準均已與最直接可比的 GAAP 衡量標准進行了調整。您可以在我們昨天向 SEC 提供的收益新聞稿和 8-K 表格中找到調節表和其他重要信息。

I'll now turn the call over to Climb's CEO, Dale Foster.

現在我將把電話轉給 Climb 的首席執行官 Dale Foster。

Thank you, Sean, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝肖恩，大家早上好。

During the quarter, we continued to execute on our core initiatives to generate growth within our existing vendor base while adding new innovative vendors to our line card. This led to another period of double-digit growth to the top line in our ninth consecutive quarter of profitability improvement. In addition, throughout the quarter, we made strategic investments in our operating systems, new personnel, sales territory expansion and training and development programs to reinforce our foundation.

在本季度，我們繼續執行我們的核心計劃，以在現有供應商基礎中實現增長，同時向我們的產品線添加新的創新供應商。這導致我們的盈利能力連續第九個季度實現兩位數增長。此外，在整個季度中，我們對操作系統、新人員、銷售區域擴張以及培訓和發展計劃進行了戰略投資，以鞏固我們的基礎。

With a clean and efficient infrastructure and continuous focus on strengthening our line card, we are well positioned to continue our plans to grow -- for growth and profitability as we scale our global footprint. We are committed to a focused line card, which enables us to partner with the most strategic and cutting-edge technology vendors in the market. Out of the 38 brands we evaluated through the second quarter, we signed agreements with only 4 of them.

憑藉清潔高效的基礎設施，並持續致力於加強我們的產品線，我們已做好充分準備，繼續實施我們的增長計劃——隨著我們擴大全球足跡，實現增長和盈利。我們致力於打造專注的產品線，這使我們能夠與市場上最具戰略意義和最前沿的技術供應商合作。在我們第二季度評估的 38 個品牌中，我們僅與其中 4 個簽署了協議。

Quickly touching on a few of our latest wins. First, we partnered with Jamf, a publicly traded company that provides end-to-end systems management and security solutions for an Apple-first environment that is enterprise secure, consumer simple and protects personal privacy.

快速回顧一下我們最新的一些勝利。首先，我們與 Jamf 合作，Jamf 是一家上市公司，為 Apple 優先的環境提供端到端系統管理和安全解決方案，確保企業安全、消費者簡單並保護個人隱私。

Next, we finalized our agreement with Offensive Security, a leading provider of professional workforce development training for cybersecurity. Offensive Security will be a viable cross-sell within our security offerings, which is one of our fastest-growing segments of our business.

接下來，我們與 Offective Security 敲定了協議，該公司是網絡安全專業勞動力發展培訓的領先提供商。進攻性安全將成為我們安全產品中可行的交叉銷售，這是我們增長最快的業務領域之一。

And finally, we signed GitLab to our line card, the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps platform in the world. We look forward to building a prosperous relationship with each of these vendors as we take their products to market.

最後，我們將 GitLab 加入了我們的產品線，這是世界上最全面的人工智能驅動的 DevSecOps 平台。當我們將這些供應商的產品推向市場時，我們期待與他們建立繁榮的關係。

In addition to our vendor wins in April, we entered into a strategic partnership with another distributor called Radius. This unique partnership enabled us to leverage the Radius line card for direct sales in other markets while providing them with an infrastructure trend to transact. In particular, Radius has a strong vendor relationship with Tanium, a cybersecurity and systems management company, which has been a consistent winner in the market with a commitment to selling through the distribution channel. Drew will expand on the mechanics of this partnership later in the call.

除了四月份贏得供應商之外，我們還與另一家名為 Radius 的經銷商建立了戰略合作夥伴關係。這種獨特的合作夥伴關係使我們能夠利用 Radius 線路卡在其他市場進行直接銷售，同時為他們提供交易的基礎設施趨勢。特別是，Radius 與網絡安全和系統管理公司 Tanium 有著牢固的供應商關係，Tanium 一直是市場上的贏家，致力於通過分銷渠道進行銷售。德魯將在稍後的電話會議中詳細闡述這種合作關係的機制。

In late May, we announced our inclusion into the Russell 3000 Index, which became which became effective on June 26. This achievement is a testament to the dedication and consistent execution of our entire global employee network as well as our outstanding customers and vendors. We celebrate this milestone by bringing in -- ringing in the new NASDAQ closing bell in Manhattan a few weeks ago. I couldn't be prouder of the team we've built and look forward to achieving even greater success in the years ahead. As we enter the back half of the year, we have a solid foundation in place to continue driving organic growth with existing vendors while adding new innovative vendors to our line card. We will also continue to evaluate M&A opportunities that can enhance our service and solutions as we -- and as well as our geographic footprint.

5 月下旬，我們宣布納入羅素 3000 指數，該指數於 6 月 26 日生效。這一成就證明了我們整個全球員工網絡以及傑出客戶和供應商的奉獻精神和一貫執行力。我們通過幾週前在曼哈頓敲響納斯達克新收市鐘聲來慶祝這一里程碑。我為我們建立的團隊感到無比自豪，並期待在未來幾年取得更大的成功。隨著進入今年下半年，我們已經具備了堅實的基礎，可以繼續推動現有供應商的有機增長，同時在我們的產品線中添加新的創新供應商。我們還將繼續評估併購機會，以增強我們的服務和解決方案以及我們的地理足跡。

These initiatives, coupled with our robust balance sheet will enable us to execute organic and inorganic growth and profitability objectives in 2023. With that, I will turn the call over to our CFO, Drew Clark, to take you through the financial results. Drew?

這些舉措加上我們穩健的資產負債表將使我們能夠在2023 年執行有機和無機增長以及盈利目標。這樣，我將把電話轉給我們的首席財務官德魯·克拉克(Drew Clark)，他將向您介紹財務業績。德魯？

Thank you, Dale, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，戴爾，大家早上好。

As we review our second quarter financial results, I would like to remind everyone that all comparisons and variance commentary refer to the prior year quarter unless otherwise specified. While we had another strong quarter, it was not quite as boring as the previous 8. So let's jump in.

在我們回顧第二季度財務業績時，我想提醒大家，除非另有說明，否則所有比較和差異評論均指去年同期。雖然我們又經歷了一個強勁的季度，但它並不像前 8 個季度那麼無聊。所以讓我們開始吧。

As reported in our earnings press release, adjusted gross billings or AGB, which is a non-GAAP measure, increased 14% to $274.7 million compared to $241.8 million in the year ago quarter. In addition, net sales in the second quarter of 2023 increased 20% to $81.7 million compared to $67.9 million, which primarily reflects organic growth from new and existing vendors. As we have communicated before, we focus on AGB as the true metric of our growth as the calculation of net sales is influenced by product mix and the respective adjustment to convert AGB to net sales for financial reporting purposes under GAAP.

正如我們在收益新聞稿中所報導的，調整後的總賬單或 AGB（一種非 GAAP 衡量標準）增長了 14%，達到 2.747 億美元，而去年同期為 2.418 億美元。此外，2023 年第二季度的淨銷售額增長 20%，從 6790 萬美元增至 8170 萬美元，這主要反映了新供應商和現有供應商的有機增長。正如我們之前所傳達的，我們將 AGB 作為我們增長的真正指標，因為淨銷售額的計算受到產品組合以及根據 GAAP 為財務報告目的將 AGB 轉換為淨銷售額的相應調整的影響。

In the second quarter, we had an increase in sales of products such as Tintri that included hardware and therefore, a lower adjustment from a TGB-2 net sales. Gross profit in the second quarter increased 10% to $13.7 million compared to $12.5 million. Again, the increase was primarily driven by organic growth from new vendors as well as our existing top 20 vendors in North America and Europe. This growth was partially offset by customers taking advantage of early pay discounts at a greater level than in the prior year. Gross profit as a percentage of adjusted gross billings was 5% compared to 5.2% and as a percentage of net sales was 16.8% compared to 18.4% in the prior year quarter. Both of those impacted by the early pay discounts taken by the customers in 2023 compared to 2022.

第二季度，我們的 Tintri 等產品（包括硬件）的銷售額有所增加，因此 TGB-2 淨銷售額的調整幅度較低。第二季度毛利潤從 1250 萬美元增長 10% 至 1370 萬美元。同樣，這一增長主要是由新供應商以及我們在北美和歐洲現有的前 20 名供應商的有機增長推動的。這一增長被客戶利用比上一年更高水平的提前付款折扣所部分抵消。毛利潤佔調整後總賬單的百分比為 5%，而去年同期為 5.2%；占淨銷售額的百分比為 16.8%，而去年同期為 18.4%。與 2022 年相比，這兩個因素都受到 2023 年客戶提前支付折扣的影響。

SG&A expenses in the second quarter were $11.6 million compared to $7.9 million for the same period in 2022. SG&A as a percentage of adjusted gross billings was 4.2% compared to 3.3% in the year ago period. The increase was primarily attributed to the previously announced and well-deserved onetime, $1.8 million grant of common stock to Dale in April 2023. As most investors are aware, the grant is a noncash charge and has no impact on our adjusted EBITDA. In addition, SG&A increased as a result of investments made to improve our infrastructure, as Dale referenced earlier, including new personnel, ERP and training and development costs.

第二季度的 SG&A 費用為 1160 萬美元，而 2022 年同期為 790 萬美元。SG&A 佔調整後總賬單的百分比為 4.2%，而去年同期為 3.3%。這一增長主要歸因於之前宣布的2023 年4 月向Dale 一次性授予180 萬美元普通股，這是當之無愧的。正如大多數投資者所知，這筆贈款是非現金費用，對我們調整後的EBITDA 沒有影響。此外，正如 Dale 之前提到的，由於為改善我們的基礎設施而進行的投資，包括新人員、ERP 以及培訓和開發成本，SG&A 有所增加。

Commissions, which are variable expense increased over the prior year's quarter due to the growth in AGV. Altogether, our SG&A included approximately $0.4 million of expenses that are nonrecurring in nature. For the second half of the year, we expect SG&A as a percentage of AGB will be more consistent with the most recent trends and decline in 2024 after we've implemented our new ERP and continue to scale our operations.

由於 AGV 的增長，作為可變費用的佣金比去年同期有所增加。總的來說，我們的 SG&A 包括約 40 萬美元的非經常性費用。下半年，我們預計 SG&A 在 AGB 中所佔的百分比將與最新趨勢更加一致，並且在我們實施新的 ERP 並繼續擴大運營規模後，2024 年將出現下降。

It's important to note that our newly formed distribution partnership with Radius has a different economic profile than our typical vendor partnerships. The economics and mechanics are such that we recognize the total AGB generated by Radius. However, we pay Radius 70% of their GP through SG&A as they are effectively running their own sales operation while utilizing our infrastructure to transact business. Despite the different economic profile, this partnership is accretive to net income and adjusted EBITDA. And as Dale mentioned earlier, offers direct cross-sell opportunities with their vendors in other geographies.

值得注意的是，我們與 Radius 新建立的分銷合作夥伴關係與我們典型的供應商合作夥伴關係具有不同的經濟狀況。從經濟學和力學角度來看，我們認識到 Radius 生成的總 AGB。然而，我們通過 SG&A 向 Radius 支付其 GP 的 70%，因為他們在利用我們的基礎設施進行業務交易的同時有效地運營自己的銷售業務。儘管經濟狀況不同，但這種夥伴關係可以增加淨利潤和調整後的 EBITDA。正如戴爾之前提到的，提供與其他地區的供應商直接交叉銷售的機會。

Net income in the second quarter of 2023 was $1.4 million or $0.31 per diluted share compared to $2.8 million or $0.63 per diluted share for the comparable period in 2022. The decrease was primarily attributed to higher SG&A as well as increased early pay discounts. Adjusted net income, a non-GAAP measure, which excludes the onetime stock grant, increased 12% to $3.1 million or $0.72 per diluted share compared to $2.8 million or $0.63 per diluted share for the year ago period.

2023 年第二季度的淨利潤為140 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益0.31 美元，而2022 年同期淨利潤為280 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益0.63 美元。這一下降主要歸因於SG&A增加以及提前工資折扣增加。調整後淨利潤（不包括一次性股票授予的非GAAP 衡量標準）增長了12%，達到310 萬美元，即稀釋後每股0.72 美元，而去年同期為280 萬美元，即稀釋後每股0.63 美元。

Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter increased 4% to $4.7 million compared to $4.5 million. The increase was driven by organic growth from both new and existing vendors, partially offset by investments made in our infrastructure and costs associated with our acquisition of Spinnakar in August of 2022. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of gross profit or effective margin was 34.1% compared to 35.8% in the year ago period. Our effective margin and drop-through were impacted by Radius and the aforementioned increase in customer early pay discounts.

第二季度調整後 EBITDA 增長 4%，從 450 萬美元增至 470 萬美元。這一增長是由新供應商和現有供應商的有機增長推動的，部分被我們的基礎設施投資和我們於2022 年8 月收購Spinnakar 相關的成本所抵消。調整後的EBITDA 佔毛利潤或有效利潤率的百分比為34.1%同比增長 35.8%。我們的有效利潤和直達率受到 Radius 和上述客戶提前付款折扣增加的影響。

Before diving into our liquidity position, I'd like to touch on our new credit facility we closed with JPMorgan Chase in May. The 5-year secured revolving credit facility has a borrowing capacity of up to $50 million and an accordion feature to increase the size of the facility up to $70 million. This facility replaced our previous $20 million secured line of credit with Citibank, which was set to expire in June of this year. Under the new agreement, the interest rate is based on adjusted term SOFR plus 1.5% to 1.75% spread. We look forward to working with the JPMC team as we now have additional capital and flexibility to fund our growth and execute on our strategic initiatives in the years ahead.

在深入探討我們的流動性狀況之前，我想先談談我們五月份與摩根大通達成的新信貸安排。 5 年期有擔保循環信貸額度的借款能力高達 5000 萬美元，並具有手風琴功能，可將額度規模增加至 7000 萬美元。該貸款取代了我們之前向花旗銀行提供的 2000 萬美元擔保信貸額度，該額度將於今年 6 月到期。根據新協議，利率基於調整後期限 SOFR 加上 1.5% 至 1.75% 的利差。我們期待與 JPMC 團隊合作，因為我們現在擁有額外的資本和靈活性來為我們的增長提供資金並在未來幾年執行我們的戰略舉措。

Turning to our balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $43.9 million on June 30, 2023, compared to $20.2 million on December 31, 2022, while working capital increased by $3.4 million during this period, the increase in cash was primarily attributed to the timing of receivable collections and vendor payments. As of June 30, 2023, we had $1.6 million of outstanding debt from the term loan that we closed in April of '22, which the proceeds were used to fund certain capital expenditures. We had no borrowings outstanding under our new $50 million revolving credit facility with JPMC.

轉向我們的資產負債表。 2023年6月30日現金及現金等價物為4,390萬美元，而2022年12月31日為2,020萬美元，而在此期間營運資金增加了340萬美元，現金增加主要歸因於應收賬款催收和供應商付款的時間。截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日，我們在 2022 年 4 月結束的定期貸款中尚有 160 萬美元的未償債務，所得款項用於資助某些資本支出。根據我們與 JPMC 簽訂的新的 5000 萬美元循環信貸安排，我們沒有未償還的借款。

Subsequent to quarter end and consistent with prior quarters, our Board of Directors declared on August 1, 2023, a quarterly dividend of $0.017 per share of our common stock, payable on August 18, 2023, to shareholders of record as of August 14, 2023.

季度末後，與前幾個季度一致，我們的董事會於2023 年8 月1 日宣布，我們的普通股每股季度股息為0.017 美元，將於2023 年8 月18 日支付給截至2023 年8 月14日在冊的股東。

To echo Dale's point earlier, we will continue to utilize our robust liquidity position to evaluate M&A opportunities both domestically and abroad to enhance our service and solutions offerings across existing and future geographies. We look forward to executing our organic and inorganic objectives and delivering another period of strong results in the back half of 2023 and beyond.

為了呼應戴爾之前的觀點，我們將繼續利用我們強大的流動性狀況來評估國內外的併購機會，以增強我們在現有和未來地區提供的服務和解決方案。我們期待著執行我們的有機和無機目標，並在 2023 年下半年及以後再取得強勁成果。

In summary, we are proud of the effort of our global team to generate another quarter of double-digit growth in AGB and operating EPS, which excludes the onetime stock grant.

總之，我們為我們的全球團隊的努力感到自豪，他們的 AGB 和運營每股收益（不包括一次性股票授予）又實現了四分之一的兩位數增長。

This now concludes our prepared remarks. We'll open it up for questions from those participating in the call. Thank you, and now back to you, operator.

我們準備好的發言到此結束。我們將開放電話會議供參與者提問。謝謝您，現在回到您身上，接線員。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Vincent Colicchio with Barrington Research.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Vincent Colicchio。

Yes. Dale, curious, are you seeing any changes in the demand backdrop from last quarter to the current period? In particular, you're seeing any pushback on pricing or any changes in sales cycles?

是的。 Dale，很好奇，從上個季度到本期，您是否看到需求背景有任何變化？特別是，您是否看到定價方面的任何阻力或銷售週期的任何變化？

You're talking about from Q1 to Q2? (inaudible)

你說的是從Q1到Q2嗎？ （聽不清）

I'm sorry?

對不起？

Yes, from Q1 to Q2. So we haven't really seen that. We've seen some of our competitors that are more hardware-centric or centered that they've seen a little slowdown as people have stopped buying a lot of hardware, but we haven't really seen that. We haven't seen it from our vendors. We have seen some consolidation of vendors not going with as many distributors. So they're trimming that. And we've been fortunate enough to make it through those because they're looking at a broad line and then something that's much more strategic and that we typically fit that. And there's not a lot of competition on the strategic side. So I haven't seen really a pullback.

是的，從 Q1 到 Q2。所以我們還沒有真正看到這一點。我們看到一些競爭對手更加以硬件為中心，或者由於人們不再購買大量硬件，他們看到了一些放緩，但我們還沒有真正看到這一點。我們還沒有從我們的供應商那裡看到它。我們看到一些供應商的整合併沒有與那麼多的分銷商合作。所以他們正在削減這一點。我們很幸運能夠通過這些，因為他們正在考慮一個廣泛的路線，然後是更具戰略性的東西，而我們通常適合這一點。而且在戰略方面也沒有太多競爭。所以我還沒有看到真正的回調。

And are you seeing strength in the same technology segments as the prior quarter? Any changes there?

您是否看到與上一季度相同的技術領域的實力？那裡有什麼變化嗎？

We are. I mean we're seeing a little slowdown in the data center side, but we are heavy security, if you look at our -- we put it out in a lot of our marketing, we have 6 segments we focus on, security being one of the biggest ones. A lot of our vendors are all claiming security. And now we're starting to see the, of course, the AI terms propagate into much of their marketing slicks and what they're promoting, but haven't. And we're continually looking for adjacent markets that are outside of our normal 6 categories to say, hey, is this something we should really start diving into and we've got some that we'll probably announce in Q3, Q4.

我們是。我的意思是，我們在數據中心方面看到了一點放緩，但我們有很強的安全性，如果你看看我們的——我們在很多營銷中都提到了這一點，我們有6 個重點關注的領域，安全就是其中之一最大的。我們的許多供應商都聲稱安全。當然，現在我們開始看到人工智能術語傳播到他們的大部分營銷花言巧語和他們所宣傳的產品中，但事實並非如此。我們一直在尋找正常 6 個類別之外的相鄰市場，我們可以說，嘿，這是我們真正應該開始涉足的市場嗎？我們可能會在第三季度、第四季度宣布一些市場。

And did the growth of the top 20 vendors grow in line with the business? Any exceptions there?

前 20 名供應商的增長是否與業務增長一致？有什麼例外嗎？

It was very consistent in terms of the vendor mix in our top 20. We've got some new emerging vendors that are starting to chip away at the top 20. We expect that, that will -- that mix of top 20 will shift slightly as we get to the end of the year and move into 2024.

就我們前 20 名中的供應商組合而言，這是非常一致的。我們有一些新興供應商開始蠶食前 20 名。我們預計，前 20 名的供應商組合將略有變化到了今年年底並進入2024 年。

Vince, if you look at some of the vendors, if you look at some of the sizes, we -- a lot of times, you'll see a vendor that they raised $20 million, $30 million. They have much in revenue. But now we have a couple of vendors we've signed. They're in the $300 million, $400 million range. And they're really accepting distribution as their go-to market. If you've seen a lot of the technology companies, just being a little cautious with the economy, so they're trimming and they're just putting more leverage or expecting more from the channel, which is a good thing for us.

文斯，如果你看看一些供應商，如果你看看一些規模，我們——很多時候，你會看到一家供應商籌集了 2000 萬美元、3000 萬美元。他們的收入很多。但現在我們已經簽約了幾個供應商。它們的價值在 3 億至 4 億美元之間。他們確實接受分銷作為他們的首選市場。如果你看到很多科技公司，只是對經濟持謹慎態度，所以他們正在削減開支，他們只是投入更多槓桿或對渠道抱有更多期望，這對我們來說是一件好事。

And lastly, on the acquisition side, have valuations continued to improve? And if so, does that make you more -- feel better about getting something done here in the near term?

最後，在收購方面，估值是否持續改善？如果是這樣，這是否會讓您對短期內在這裡完成某件事感覺更好？

Yes. If you look at some of the targets, it varies because if it's overseas, the margins are typically higher, so the multiples are typically -- they're looking for a higher multiple. I think some of those have softened a little bit, not drastic. I haven't seen a big change in that.

是的。如果你看一下一些目標，你會發現它有所不同，因為如果是在海外，利潤率通常會更高，所以倍數通常是——他們正在尋找更高的倍數。我認為其中一些已經有所緩和，而不是劇烈。我沒有看到這方面有什麼大的變化。

Next question comes from the line of Howard Root.

下一個問題來自霍華德·魯特。

Dale and Drew, can you hear me okay?

戴爾和德魯，你們能聽到我說話嗎？

We sure can.

我們當然可以。

Sure. So nice job on the quarter, continued nice progress. I got 3 questions, if you won't mind, this morning.

當然。本季度的工作非常好，繼續取得良好進展。今天早上我有 3 個問題，如果你不介意的話。

One more for Drew on the SG&A. So the jump up year-over-year was about $3.7 million, and I understand that the $1.8 million was that onetime stock grant which, hopefully, the Board doesn't do that again. They level load that going forward, so we don't have that issue. But that -- but then there was $400,000, I think you said, Drew, which was these onetime professional service fees that you mentioned in the press release. So that's $2.2 million, but then there's about another $1.5 million year-over-year. But then if I'm looking sequentially, it just went up from $10.3 million to $11.6 million, which is a $1.3 million increase, which isn't even the amount of the stock grant and certainly not that included.

德魯 (Drew) 的另一篇關於 SG&A 的文章。因此，同比增長約為 370 萬美元，據我了解，這 180 萬美元是一次性股票授予，希望董事會不會再這樣做。他們會平衡未來的負載，所以我們不會遇到這個問題。但是，德魯，我想你說過，有 40 萬美元，這就是你在新聞稿中提到的一次性專業服務費。也就是說，這是 220 萬美元，但同比大約還有 150 萬美元。但如果我按順序查看，它只是從 1030 萬美元增加到 1160 萬美元，增加了 130 萬美元，這甚至不是股票授予的金額，當然也不包括在內。

So can you give me a little hint? You level loaded that, what do you expect maybe Q3 or level loaded in Q2? What's the appropriate number of SG&A as we're looking forward on a dollar amount?

那麼你能給我一點提示嗎？你已經加載了這個級別，你期望第三季度或第二季度加載什麼級別？當我們預期的金額是多少時，SG&A 的適當數量是多少？

Yes. On a dollar amount, so part of that delta between the prior year Q and this Q was a variable component, commissions. So if you looked at AGB compared to quarter-over-quarter, commissions were commensurately increased. So we had, again, a variable comp expense, but probably about $500,000 plus in incremental commission expense associated with Q3 -- excuse me, Q2 of 2023. And then we had some payroll-related expense associated with Dale's grant that obviously is not -- will not reoccur in the prior -- the subsequent quarter, that was about $150,000 give or take. So I think on a level-set basis, you'll see us pull back to a level that's going to be probably closer to $10 million, $10.2 million.

是的。以美元金額計算，上一年 Q 與本年度 Q 之間的增量的一部分是可變成分，即佣金。因此，如果你將 AGB 與上一季度相比，就會發現佣金相應增加。因此，我們再次面臨可變補償費用，但可能還有大約500,000 美元加上與第三季度相關的增量佣金費用- 對不起，2023 年第二季度。然後我們有一些與戴爾補助金相關的工資相關費用，但顯然不是 - - 不會在上一季度再次發生 - 下一個季度，大約有 150,000 美元的給予或接受。所以我認為，在設定的水平基礎上，你會看到我們回落到可能接近 1000 萬美元、1020 萬美元的水平。

Okay. Great. Yes. So if you take the $2.2 million off of the $11.6 million, that's what the SG&A would have been for that level of adjusted gross billings.

好的。偉大的。是的。因此，如果從 1160 萬美元中扣除 220 萬美元，這就是調整後總賬單水平的 SG&A。

Howard, I want to add to that, though. So we're going to be opportunistic. And sometimes we -- I think of the whole Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. Sometimes we have to build into what the vendors are asking if they want us to take over the renewals platform, we have to move -- start investing in our team members to do that. And we've done a separate renewals team, and we've had to add to that. So we'll be opportunistic as they're starting to push more things off of their plate and into the channel. Of course, we get paid for that, but usually, it's a little lagging. So we are going to be and do that.

霍華德，不過我想補充一點。所以我們會採取機會主義的態度。有時我們——我會想到整個夢想領域，如果你建造它，他們就會來。有時，我們必鬚根據供應商的要求，如果他們希望我們接管續訂平台，我們必須採取行動 - 開始投資於我們的團隊成員來做到這一點。我們已經建立了一個單獨的續訂團隊，並且我們必須對此進行補充。因此，當他們開始將更多的事情從他們的盤子裡推到渠道中時，我們將是機會主義的。當然，我們會為此獲得報酬，但通常會有點滯後。所以我們將這樣做。

So I don't want to say that that's going to be perfect, but in certain quarters, we have 2 vendors come in and say, "Hey, we want you to do this, this and this, and we want you to run our incumbency program that we don't want to run, and we don't want to have it at another one of your competitors." So it's going to be -- there's some ebbs and flows, but not at the level of last quarter.

所以我不想說這將是完美的，但在某些方面，我們有 2 個供應商進來並說，“嘿，我們希望你這樣做，這個和這個，我們希望你運行我們的我們不想運行一項在職計劃，我們也不想讓你的另一位競爭對手也這麼做。”因此，將會出現一些潮起潮落，但不會達到上季度的水平。

Yes. And Howard, even though we don't provide granular guidance or detailed guidance on a quarterly basis, I can tell you that from an internal perspective, our operating expense was spot on with our internal expectations. And part of that is increased headcount, right? We acquired Spinnakar last year. We brought on some additional headcount that was not reflected in Q2 of 2022. So of, I think, 10-plus Spinnakar employees, I think 7 or 8 of those folks remain with us, including, obviously, Gerard is the Chief Revenue Officer over in EMEA now and still running some significant vendor opportunities there. So we do have some built-in headcount increases that we expected and planned for. So that's part of the year-over-year change in SG&A as well.

是的。霍華德，儘管我們沒有按季度提供精細的指導或詳細的指導，但我可以告訴你，從內部角度來看，我們的運營費用符合我們的內部預期。其中一部分是增加員工人數，對嗎？我們去年收購了 Spinnakar。我們增加了一些未在2022 年第二季度反映出來的員工人數。我認為，在10 多名Spinnakar 員工中，我認為其中7 或8 人仍留在我們身邊，顯然包括杰拉德(Gerard) 擔任首席營收官現在在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，並且仍然存在一些重要的供應商機會。因此，我們確實有一些我們預期和計劃的內部人員增加。因此，這也是 SG&A 同比變化的一部分。

Okay. Fair enough.

好的。很公平。

Second question on adjusted gross billings. I mean, a nice increase year-over-year, up $33 million or 14%. But if I look from quarter 1 to quarter 2, it's down $32 million, not -- sequentially, that wasn't the quarter. I would expect Q4 down, Q1 maybe. But is there a sequential aspect of that? Or what sequentially on that drop in adjusted gross billings, what were you seeing there? And what do you expect kind of going forward?

關於調整後的總賬單的第二個問題。我的意思是，同比增長不錯，增加了 3300 萬美元，即 14%。但如果我從第一季度到第二季度來看，它減少了 3200 萬美元，而不是連續下降，這不是那個季度。我預計第四季度會下降，也許第一季度會下降。但這有先後順序嗎？或者調整後的總賬單連續下降，您在那裡看到了什麼？您對未來有何期望？

Yes, Howard, so again, we were on target with our own internal expectations. What happened in Q1 was a significant, vast transaction that landed in Q1 that we didn't expect. Q2 Spinnakar didn't quite perform at the same level. Vast opportunities got pushed out because of some data center delays over in Western Europe. Data center builds, both new construction and expansion slowed down due to the economic headwinds over Western Europe. Interest rates, obviously, grows. So a lot of the data center owner-operators slowed down some of their process, which, therefore, slowed down some of the vast opportunities that we have with Spinnakar.

是的，霍華德，我們再次達到了我們內部期望的目標。第一季度發生的事情是一筆重大且巨大的交易，這是我們沒有預料到的。 Q2 Spinnakar 的表現並沒有達到同樣的水平。由於西歐一些數據中心的延誤，大量機會被推遲。由於西歐經濟逆風，數據中心建設、新建和擴建均放緩。利率顯然會增長。因此，許多數據中心所有者/運營商放慢了他們的一些流程，從而放慢了我們與 Spinnakar 合作的一些巨大機會。

Nothing's gone off the pipeline. They've just moved out into future quarters. And as we indicated previously, when we acquired Spinnakar and have made the comments each quarter, there is going to be some cyclicality or lumpiness to the Spinnakar acquisition. We're going to have some really strong quarters. We're going to have some ebbs and flows and some dips just because longer sales cycles for some of the vendor products like Deep Instinct and Vast, but they're much larger in size and much higher margins. So we believe that once we get into probably a normalized run rate into 2024 and beyond with some of those vendors, Vast, like as data center-related vendors that will get more consistency quarter-after-quarter, but there's going to be a little bit of lumpiness/roller-coaster over the next several quarters.

一切都還順利。他們剛剛搬到未來的幾個季度。正如我們之前指出的，當我們收購 Spinnakar 並每個季度發表評論時，Spinnaka 的收購將會存在一些週期性或波動性。我們將會有一些非常強勁的季度。我們將會經歷一些起伏和一些下滑，只是因為一些供應商產品（例如 Deep Instinct 和 Vast）的銷售週期更長，但它們的規模更大，利潤率更高。因此，我們相信，一旦我們與其中一些供應商（Vast）進入 2024 年及以後的標準化運行率，就像數據中心相關的供應商一樣，每個季度都會獲得更多的一致性，但會有一點在接下來的幾個季度裡會出現一些波動/過山車。

Okay. And then my last question kind of related there is on forward guidance. I know you don't give it, but at what point will you start at least giving next quarter guidance or some long-term targets? It's kind of the same question every call, it's like what do you see? Where are you in this market? Where are you in the revenue ramp? Is this linear? Is this just starting? Is this starting to meet acquisitions to keep the growth going? It'd be just helpful to kind of get your take on it in this call and then going forward to get more guidance or at least long-term targets for you so we can kind of judge where this company is headed. So what can you say kind of where you are right now and some of the (inaudible)

好的。我的最後一個問題與前瞻性指導有關。我知道你不會給出，但你會在什麼時候開始至少給出下季度的指導或一些長期目標？每次打電話都會問同樣的問題，比如你看到了什麼？你在這個市場的哪個位置？您處於收入增長的哪個階段？這是線性的嗎？這才剛剛開始嗎？這是否開始滿足收購以保持增長的目的？在這次電話會議中了解您的看法，然後為您獲得更多指導或至少是長期目標，這樣我們就可以判斷這家公司的發展方向，這將很有幫助。那麼你能說一下你現在的處境以及一些（聽不清）

I think the best thing -- we just won't give detailed guidance. We're not at that stage right now that we feel comfortable with that. But I can tell you, we can just talk about the industry in general and what we actually see. And I think that anybody that holds for a while has noticed the consolidation in the North American market has happened in distribution as far as acquisitions.

我認為最好的事情是——我們只是不會提供詳細的指導。我們現在還沒有處於對此感到滿意的階段。但我可以告訴你，我們可以只談論整個行業以及我們實際看到的情況。我認為任何持有一段時間的人都已經註意到北美市場的整合已經發生在分銷和收購方面。

In the European market, that is our target, and that is really our greenfield that we're going to be going after. So that we see a lot of targets over there. So that's on the acquisition front. There's plenty of targets. It's almost as many targets that I talked about as our CMO Charles Bass talks about with emerging vendors.

在歐洲市場，這是我們的目標，這確實是我們要追求的綠地。所以我們在那裡看到了很多目標。這就是收購方面的情況。有很多目標。我談到的目標幾乎與我們的首席營銷官 Charles Bass 與新興供應商談到的目標一樣多。

But I still think you need to look at us from the vendors we signed. And if you look at some of the names, of course, unless you're super deep into the technology field, you don't -- you never heard of some of these names. But if you go to Crunchbase, or you'll actually look into them and into what they're actually doing and how they're growing. We believe we should grow and continue to grow organically in that 10% to 15% range because that's what emerging vendors grow at. They don't grow at GDP where an established vendor grows at unless they're acquiring companies. So that's -- our broadline competitors are growing in that 4% -- 3% to 4% GDP range or not growing at all. So that's what we focus as an internal team. That's what we see, and that's what we're going to continually trying to drive to is that emerging vendor.

但我仍然認為你需要從我們簽約的供應商角度來看待我們。當然，如果你看一下其中一些名字，除非你對技術領域非常深入，否則你不會——你從未聽說過其中一些名字。但如果你去 Crunchbase，或者你會真正調查他們，了解他們實際上在做什麼以及他們是如何成長的。我們相信我們應該在 10% 到 15% 的範圍內有機增長並繼續增長，因為這就是新興供應商的增長方向。除非他們收購公司，否則他們的 GDP 增長速度不會達到老牌供應商的增長速度。所以，我們的主要競爭對手的 GDP 增長率在 4%、3% 到 4% 之間，或者根本沒有增長。這就是我們內部團隊關注的重點。這就是我們所看到的，這就是我們將不斷努力推動新興供應商的目標。

As we get more established vendors, yes, we'll see some slowdown because they become a larger piece of it. The margins condense a little bit, and they don't grow fast, but we still consider some of our top vendors as emerging because they're still sub-$1 billion companies.

是的，隨著我們擁有更多成熟的供應商，我們會看到一些放緩，因為他們成為了更大的一部分。利潤率有所下降，而且增長速度並不快，但我們仍然認為我們的一些頂級供應商是新興的，因為他們仍然是價值低於 10 億美元的公司。

Okay. Fair enough, Every quarter, just the more you give guidance and perspective and whatever you can do, especially into next year, the more helpful it is for us to see what's going on and where we're headed. But nice quarter again, great job, continue good work and hope things continue.

好的。公平地說，每個季度，您提供的指導和觀點以及您能做的事情越多，尤其是明年，對我們了解正在發生的事情和前進方向就越有幫助。但又是一個美好的季度，幹得好，繼續做好工作，希望事情能繼續下去。

We have Vincent Colicchio with the follow-up from Barrington Research.

我們邀請了 Vincent Colicchio 和 Barrington Research 的後續報導。

Yes, Dale, you just cited that 10% to 15% growth number for the type of client you work with. Would you say that's sort of the level they're on target for this year, best you can tell?

是的，戴爾，您剛剛提到了與您合作的客戶類型的 10% 到 15% 的增長數字。您認為這就是他們今年的目標水平嗎？

Yes, I mean, that's what we look at individual vendors that we do. I'm not -- I don't want to be held to the overall global piece of it. But if you look at our vendor mix, that is where we're trying to grow at. And there are some things that come at us like I said, we're opportunistic on some of our expenses when we have to build things for a quarter and saying, hey, we have to have this team. But yes, that's our goal. Let's put it that way.

是的，我的意思是，這就是我們對個別供應商的看法。我不——我不想被束縛在全球的整體部分上。但如果你看看我們的供應商組合，就會發現這就是我們努力發展的方向。就像我說的，有些事情發生在我們身上，當我們必須建造一個季度的東西時，我們在一些費用上投機取巧，並說，嘿，我們必須擁有這個團隊。但是，是的，這就是我們的目標。這麼說吧。

And Vincent, I would have stated this earlier as well, and I understand the market's need and investors' need for perhaps a little more guidance along the way. But we're in this for the long game. We're not focused on quarter-to-quarter. As Dale said, we're going to be opportunistic both in our organic growth and organic investments as well as our acquisition opportunities, which that pipeline is fairly robust. But I would say that we're comfortable that our adjusted gross billings will continue to have a low double-digit growth. Quarter-to-quarter may be different, but overall, over the next several years, we're very confident that we'll grow this business at the same rate as our vendor population grows.

文森特，我也會早點聲明這一點，我理解市場的需求和投資者在此過程中可能需要更多的指導。但我們是在打持久戰。我們不關注季度與季度之間的情況。正如戴爾所說，我們將在有機增長和有機投資以及收購機會方面保持機會主義，這些機會相當強勁。但我想說的是，我們對調整後的總賬單將繼續保持兩位數的低增長感到滿意。每個季度可能會有所不同，但總的來說，在接下來的幾年裡，我們非常有信心我們的業務將以與供應商數量增長相同的速度增長。

Okay. And then Dale, one last one. Should we continue to expect you to add approximately 3 vendors each quarter? Is that sort of the game plan?

好的。然後是戴爾，最後一位。我們是否應該繼續期望您每個季度增加大約 3 個供應商？這就是遊戲計劃嗎？

Not really. It's what we actually see and when they're ready to go. Some of them, of course, we want a lot or more excited about signing them as they are signing on or they're going and setting up there for their channel structure. But yes, I mean, sometimes it's going to be a couple, sometimes it might be 5. We're trying to trim but we still continue to trend. We talk about who we add. We really don't talk about what we trim. So we push a lot of vendors over to Climb Elevate, which is now over 500 vendors that they actually transact, but it takes it out of the core client business, so it doesn't get marketing dollars spent on it. It doesn't get any real focus. So there's nothing there other than that be transactional and the systems connection to our customers.

並不真地。這是我們實際看到的以及他們準備出發時的情況。當然，我們希望他們中的一些人在簽約或準備在那裡建立他們的渠道結構時感到更加興奮。但是，是的，我的意思是，有時會是幾個，有時可能是 5 個。我們正在嘗試修剪，但我們仍然繼續流行。我們討論我們添加的人。我們真的不談論我們修剪了什麼。因此，我們將很多供應商推向了 Climb Elevate，現在他們實際與 500 多家供應商進行了交易，但這將其從核心客戶業務中剔除出來，因此不會在其上花費營銷資金。它沒有得到任何真正的焦點。因此，除了交易和與客戶的系統連接之外，沒有其他任何東西。

So we'll continue to do that. We've also launched Climb Elevate over in the U.K. So they're doing the same thing over there. We'll get more efficient. And then with our ERP coming online, we'll all be talking the exact same language and it will make it a little easier for us across the pond.

所以我們將繼續這樣做。我們還在英國推出了 Climb Elevate，所以他們也在英國做同樣的事情。我們會變得更有效率。然後，隨著我們的 ERP 上線，我們都將使用完全相同的語言，這將使我們在大洋彼岸的工作變得更加容易。

Thank you all for your questions. I will pass it back to Dale Foster for final remarks.

謝謝大家的提問。我會將其傳回戴爾·福斯特以供最後評論。

Thank you, operator. Thank you to the shareholders, and thank you to the Climb team globally. We're going to continue to deliver on our core initiatives as a company, and I look forward to talking to you next quarter.

謝謝你，接線員。感謝股東，感謝全球 Climb 團隊。作為一家公司，我們將繼續實施我們的核心計劃，我期待著下個季度與您交談。

Thank you. And this does conclude the conference. You may all disconnect. Thank you.

謝謝。會議到此結束。你們都可以斷開連接。謝謝。