Concentrix Corp (CNXC) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Concentrix Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the call over to Vice President, Investor Relations, David Stein. Please go ahead.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Concentrix 2023 年第三季財務業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）我現在想將電話轉給投資人關係副總裁 David Stein。請繼續。

Thank you, Latif, and good evening. Welcome to the Concentrix Corporation Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. As a result of the combination earlier this week, we now operate as one Concentrix Webhelp. This call is the property of Concentrix Webhelp and may not be recorded or rebroadcast without written permission. This call contains forward-looking statements that address our expected future performance and that, by their nature, address matters that are uncertain. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements.

謝謝你，拉蒂夫，晚上好。歡迎參加 Concentrix Corporation 2023 財年第三季財報電話會議。由於本週早些時候的合併，我們現在作為一個 Concentrix Webhelp 進行運作。此通話屬於 Concentrix Webhelp 的財產，未經書面許可不得錄製或轉播。本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述涉及我們預期的未來業績，並且就其性質而言，涉及不確定的事項。這些不確定性可能導致我們未來的實際結果與我們的前瞻性陳述中表達的結果有重大差異。

We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments. Please refer to today's earnings release in our most recent filings with the SEC for additional information regarding uncertainties that could affect our future financial results. This includes the risk factors provided in our annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings.

我們不承諾因新資訊或未來事件或發展而更新我們的前瞻性陳述。請參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中今天發布的收益報告，以了解有關可能影響我們未來財務業績的不確定性的更多資訊。這包括我們在 10-K 表格年度報告和隨後向 SEC 提交的文件中提供的風險因素。

Also during the call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures, including free cash flow, non-GAAP operating income, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP EPS and adjusted constant currency revenue growth. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures is available in the news release and on the company Investor Relations website under Financials.

此外，在電話會議期間，我們還將討論非 GAAP 財務指標，包括自由現金流量、非 GAAP 營業收入、調整後 EBITDA、非 GAAP 每股盈餘和調整後恆定貨幣收入成長。這些非公認會計原則措施的調節可在新聞稿和公司投資者關係網站的「財務」下找到。

With me on the call are Chris Caldwell, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Andre Valentine, our Chief Financial Officer. Chris will provide a summary of our operating performance and growth strategy, and Andre will cover our financial results and business outlook. Then we'll open the call for your questions. Now I'll turn the call over to Chris.

與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Chris Caldwell；和我們的財務長安德烈·瓦倫丁。克里斯將總結我們的經營業績和成長策略，安德烈將介紹我們的財務表現和業務前景。然後我們將打開電話詢問您的問題。現在我將把電話轉給克里斯。

Thank you, David. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our third quarter earnings call. We are thrilled to have you with us as we discuss our performance in the third quarter and the exciting news that we have closed our transformative combination with Webhelp. We're pleased that we executed to deliver revenue and profit growth with strong cash flow in the third quarter. We experienced continued stable demand for high-value and technology-infused services, achieved solid new business signings, and our continued focus on business mix drove margin expansion.

謝謝你，大衛。大家好，感謝您今天參加我們的第三季財報電話會議。我們很高興您能與我們一起討論我們第三季的業績以及我們已經完成與 Webhelp 的變革性合併的令人興奮的消息。我們很高興我們在第三季度實現了收入和利潤成長以及強勁的現金流。我們對高價值和技術含量高的服務的需求持續穩定，新業務簽約穩固，我們對業務組合的持續關注推動了利潤率的擴張。

We entered the fourth quarter with a strong pipeline of opportunities that we believe will continue to drive our growth into 2024. Our reported revenue in the third quarter was $1.63 billion. On an organic constant currency basis, revenue grew 1.7%. Our third quarter non-GAAP operating income increased to $231 million and adjusted EBITDA increased to $269 million, both growing by over 4% compared with last year. Solid execution yielded 10 basis point improvements in both our non-GAAP OI and adjusted EBITDA margins over last year.

我們帶著一系列強大的機會進入第四季度，我們相信這些機會將繼續推動我們的成長直至 2024 年。我們報告的第三季度收入為 16.3 億美元。在有機固定貨幣基礎上，營收成長了 1.7%。我們第三季的非 GAAP 營業收入增至 2.31 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 增至 2.69 億美元，均較去年增長超過 4%。穩健的執行使我們的非 GAAP OI 和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率比去年提高了 10 個基點。

Our non-GAAP EPS was $2.71 per share compared with $2.95 per share last year, largely reflecting the impact of expected higher interest rates. Given our continued organic growth, strong free cash flow generation and the accretive Webhelp combination, we are pleased to raise the quarterly dividend by 10%. This increased quarterly dividend translates to $1.21 per share on an annualized basis. We continue to grow in each of our strategic verticals, which more than offset continued volume softness with a few select large clients as we discussed last quarter.

我們的非 GAAP 每股盈餘為 2.71 美元，去年為每股 2.95 美元，很大程度上反映了預期利率上升的影響。鑑於我們持續的有機成長、強勁的自由現金流產生以及增值的 Webhelp 組合，我們很高興將季度股息提高 10%。增加的季度股息按年化計算為每股 1.21 美元。我們在每個策略垂直領域繼續成長，這足以抵消我們上季度討論的一些精選大客戶的持續銷售疲軟。

From a Catalyst perspective, we gained experience -- we again experienced sequential quarterly revenue growth with our digital CX solutions. Our unique digital IT service capabilities with thousands of staff able to design, deploy and integrate technology-infused solutions at scale differentiates us significantly from our traditional CX peers.

從 Catalyst 的角度來看，我們獲得了經驗——我們的數位 CX 解決方案再次實現了季度營收的環比成長。我們擁有獨特的數位 IT 服務能力，擁有數千名員工，能夠大規模設計、部署和整合技術注入的解決方案，這使我們與傳統的 CX 同行顯著不同。

From a sales perspective, we continue to focus on our sell as one approach with our combined Catalyst and CX operations, design, build and run services. During the quarter, we saw steady demand across multiple geographies and verticals as clients continue to look for differentiated ways to service their customers while managing their cost structure.

從銷售的角度來看，我們繼續專注於將 Catalyst 和 CX 營運、設計、建置和運行服務結合起來的銷售方式。在本季度，我們看到多個地區和垂直領域的需求穩定，因為客戶繼續尋求差異化的方式來服務客戶，同時管理其成本結構。

While clients are still signing smaller deals that ramp more slowly, we are pleased with the higher complexity work that we will be performing with these new wins. We also see a strong pipeline of opportunities as a combined Concentrix Webhelp organization that we would not have been able to pursue prior to the combination.

雖然客戶仍在簽署規模較小的交易，且成長速度較慢，但我們對這些新勝利將要執行的更高複雜性的工作感到滿意。我們也看到，作為合併後的 Concentrix Webhelp 組織，我們擁有大量的機會，而在合併之前我們無法獲得這些機會。

From an operating perspective, we are delivering exceptional service with record client attainment scores this quarter. Our focus remains on being the best partner for our clients' relationships and winning more opportunities within each account. The more technology-infused services we provide to our clients the stickier our relationships become.

從營運角度來看，我們本季提供了卓越的服務，客戶滿意度得分創歷史新高。我們的重點仍然是成為客戶關係的最佳合作夥伴，並在每個客戶中贏得更多機會。我們為客戶提供的技術融入服務越多，我們的關係就越牢固。

Notably, we've accelerated our progress in the quarter deploying generative AI solutions, both internally and with select clients. From an internal productivity perspective, our AI and Alex-based recruiting platform now supports 8.6 million career site visits and processes 3.3 million applications already this year. It has already allowed our team to scale more cost effectively, and we see additional benefits as we continue to roll out across our enterprise.

值得注意的是，我們在本季度加快了在內部和特定客戶中部署生成式人工智慧解決方案的進度。從內部生產力的角度來看，我們基於人工智慧和 Alex 的招聘平台今年已支援 860 萬次職業網站訪問並處理 330 萬份申請。它已經使我們的團隊能夠更有效地擴展規模，並且隨著我們繼續在整個企業中推廣，我們看到了額外的好處。

Our AI-based workforce management solution optimizes concurrent scheduling and peak management for now over 115,000 of our staff where we see better utilization and user experience for the team. This again will have additional benefits as we scale up to the rest of our workforce. Our most widely used proprietary AI smart assist product improves productivity through automation for over 190 team members now to easily access the tools and provide visibility to the information required to performs the jobs every day easier.

我們基於人工智慧的勞動力管理解決方案優化了目前超過 115,000 名員工的同時調度和尖峰管理，我們看到團隊的利用率和使用者體驗得到了更好的體現。當我們擴展到其他員工時，這將再次帶來額外的好處。我們使用最廣泛的專有人工智慧智慧輔助產品透過自動化提高了生產力，現在超過 190 名團隊成員可以輕鬆存取工具並提供對日常工作所需資訊的可見性，從而更輕鬆地執行工作。

From the ability for AI to enhance our client services, we use an AI-based quality automation platform to drive insights from 100% of our customer interactions where deployed. Now across tens of thousands of seats, the platform has reviewed 129 million interactions to date, delivering 20% to 30% improvements in audit efficiency and insights into customers' clients that see high value.

從人工智慧增強客戶服務的能力來看，我們使用基於人工智慧的品質自動化平台從部署的 100% 客戶互動中獲取洞察。該平台目前擁有數萬個席位，迄今已審查了 1.29 億次互動，審計效率提高了 20% 至 30%，並深入了解了具有高價值的客戶的客戶。

Our proprietary learning bot utilizes AI to simulate real-world customer scenarios for over 60,000 team members during training, establishing better speed to proficiency, reducing new higher average processing time and improving effectiveness by 5% to 10% in the ramp period. And our cognitive AI bots developed for client-specific implementations will handle over 900 million customer interactions by the end of this year, delivering significant value for our clients and a higher margin service for us.

我們專有的學習機器人利用 AI 在培訓期間為超過 60,000 名團隊成員模擬真實客戶場景，提高熟練程度，減少新的更高平均處理時間，並將提升期間的效率提高 5% 至 10%。我們為客戶特定實施開發的認知人工智慧機器人到今年年底將處理超過 9 億次客戶互動，為我們的客戶帶來巨大的價值，並為我們提供更高利潤的服務。

We are actively investing in additional generative AI solutions to further enhance workforce productivity and improve the quality of interactions with customers. We are on track to deploy our AI tools across nearly 80% of our legacy operations business by year-end and start wide deployment of the tool within our new clients from our combination with Webhelp shortly.

我們正在積極投資其他生成式人工智慧解決方案，以進一步提高員工生產力並提高與客戶互動的品質。我們預計在年底前在近 80% 的傳統營運業務中部署我們的 AI 工具，並很快透過與 Webhelp 的結合開始在我們的新客戶中廣泛部署該工具。

Turning to AI with our clients. We are also collaborating with some of the world's largest companies to design, build and run generative AI in few solutions across the services value chain. Working with one of our large technology clients in the key project this quarter, we use generative AI to power 35% efficiency gains and deliver releases 30% faster than traditional methods in their software development life cycle.

與我們的客戶一起轉向人工智慧。我們也與一些世界上最大的公司合作，在整個服務價值鏈的少數解決方案中設計、建構和運行生成式人工智慧。在本季的關鍵專案中，我們與一家大型技術客戶合作，使用生成式人工智慧將效率提高了 35%，並且在軟體開發生命週期中交付版本的速度比傳統方法快了 30%。

During the quarter, we also delivered a proof of concept for generative AI knowledge management that builds 3D modeling and augmented reality solutions for a global retail client that couldn't cost effectively be done before. Catalyst also launched its first deployment of our new generative AI-infused offering AnyPaaS that we have been developing for close to 2 years.

在本季度，我們還交付了生成式 AI 知識管理的概念驗證，為全球零售客戶建立 3D 建模和擴增實境解決方案，而這在以前是無法實現的。 Catalyst 也首次部署了我們新的人工智慧注入產品 AnyPaaS，我們已經開發了近 2 年。

For our first implementation, we seamlessly transitioned the entire CCaaS tech staff of a health care client in less than 8 hours, enabling fully automated generative AI experiences for patients and advisers with our generative AI intelligence insights and reporting capabilities. Historically, this would have taken weeks to months to transition. This has resulted in substantial savings for our clients and a new revenue opportunity for our business.

在我們的首次實施中，我們在不到8 小時的時間內無縫過渡了醫療保健客戶的整個CCaaS 技術人員，利用我們的生成式AI 智能洞察和報告功能，為患者和顧問提供全自動的生成式AI 體驗。從歷史上看，這需要幾週到幾個月的時間才能完成過渡。這為我們的客戶節省了大量成本，並為我們的業務帶來了新的收入機會。

For another key client, we are now working exclusively to train and test a generative AI tool in advance of it becoming customer-facing. Using a combination of automation and humans and our unique knowledge of the customer base and domain knowledge, we are building hundreds of thousands of different subject matter conversations to train the AI across multiple categories with a plan to increase the scope to 1 million conversations in the next 6 months.

對於另一個關鍵客戶，我們現在正在專門訓練和測試生成式人工智慧工具，然後再面向客戶。利用自動化和人類的結合以及我們對客戶群和領域知識的獨特知識，我們正在建立數十萬個不同主題的對話來訓練跨多個類別的人工智慧，並計劃將範圍擴大到 100 萬個對話未來6 個月。

With all of these examples and with many more we have deployed and are working on, I hope it is evident that we see opportunity to grow revenue and be more efficient with AI and see this as a net benefit to our industry. Now let's turn our attention to the Webhelp combination that sets the stage for a new chapter in our business offering evolution. This combination is a historic milestone in our industry.

透過所有這些範例以及我們已經部署和正在研究的更多範例，我希望我們能夠明顯看到透過人工智慧增加收入和提高效率的機會，並將其視為我們行業的淨收益。現在讓我們將注意力轉向 Webhelp 組合，它為我們的業務產品發展的新篇章奠定了基礎。此次合併是我們產業的歷史性里程碑。

As a combined organization, Concentrix Webhelp possesses distinct strategic advantages that we believe increases our differentiation and will drive our success as a transformative force in the industry. This combination brings new expertise such as know your customer and anti-money laundering and payment services for our financial clients, IT services at scale in EMEA, deeper domain expertise in a number of our core verticals and helps create a robust footprint spanning 70-plus countries, enabling us to offer tailored solutions on a global scale.

作為一個聯合組織，Concentrix Webhelp 擁有獨特的策略優勢，我們相信這些優勢可以增強我們的差異化優勢，並將推動我們作為產業變革力量的成功。此次合併帶來了新的專業知識，例如為我們的金融客戶提供了解客戶、反洗錢和支付服務、歐洲、中東和非洲地區的大規模IT 服務以及我們許多核心垂直領域更深入的領域專業知識，並有助於創建跨越70 多個國家的強大業務足跡國家，使我們能夠在全球範圍內提供量身定制的解決方案。

We also gained over 1,000 new clients that we believe have the ability to spend on services and capabilities that Concentrix historically has offered. Our commitment to nurturing a supportive and inclusive workforce is further reinforced by the harmonious integration of our cultures, which are globally renowned for their excellence and workplace practices and commitment to ESG.

我們也獲得了 1,000 多個新客戶，我們相信這些客戶有能力購買 Concentrix 歷史上提供的服務和功能。我們文化的和諧融合進一步強化了我們對培養支持性和包容性員工隊伍的承諾，這些文化因其卓越的工作場所實踐和對 ESG 的承諾而享譽全球。

We have a clear path to positive financial returns from the combination with Webhelp. We are well on track to achieve enhanced revenue growth, profitability and non-GAAP EPS accretion within the first year. We expect double-digit accretion in non-GAAP EPS in the second year, further underscoring the financial strength of the combination.

透過與 Webhelp 的結合，我們有一條明確的途徑來獲得正面的財務回報。我們預計在第一年內實現收入成長、獲利能力和非公認會計準則每股收益的成長。我們預期第二年非公認會計準則每股盈餘將達到兩位數成長，進一步凸顯合併後的財務實力。

In addition to these compelling benefits, our integration process is on schedule, and we are confident that we will achieve cost synergies of $120 million by the third year, including $75 million in the first year post close with substantial progress made already. Since the announcement, we have been able to spend more time with the Webhelp team, which has given us great confidence that this transaction is the right investment.

除了這些令人矚目的優勢之外，我們的整合進程正在按計劃進行，我們有信心到第三年將實現1.2 億美元的成本協同效應，其中第一年的成本協同效應將達到7500 萬美元，並且已經取得了實質進展。自從宣布這一消息以來，我們能夠花更多的時間與 Webhelp 團隊相處，這讓我們非常有信心這筆交易是正確的投資。

We expect the integration work to be completed within 12 months, and I would like to welcome all of our new game changers to the Concentrix Webhelp team. I would also like to welcome our 2 new Board members, Olivier Duha, Webhelp Co-Founder and CEO, who becomes Vice Chair of our Board of Directors; and Nicolas Gheysens, a GBL Partner and Director.

我們預計整合工作將在 12 個月內完成，我歡迎所有新的遊戲規則改變者加入 Concentrix Webhelp 團隊。我還要歡迎我們的 2 位新董事會成員，Webhelp 聯合創始人兼執行長 Olivier Duha，他將成為我們的董事會副主席；以及 GBL 合夥人兼董事 Nicolas Gheysens。

Finally, I would like to thank our exceptional staff for their commitment to execution, our clients for their trust, our talented Board of Directors for their support and mentorship and our investors for your continued support. We look forward to an exciting and prosperous year ahead. And now I'll turn the call over to Andre. Andre?

最後，我要感謝我們傑出的員工對執行的承諾，感謝客戶的信任，感謝我們才華橫溢的董事會的支持和指導，感謝我們的投資者的持續支持。我們期待著激動人心和繁榮的一年。現在我將把電話轉給安德烈。安德烈？

Well, thank you, Chris, and hello, everyone. We're excited to have closed our combination with Webhelp earlier this week. Adding Webhelp's talented global staff strengthens our value proposition and solidifies our position as a leading global CX solutions company. Before I provide additional details on the completion of the transaction, I'll first review our third quarter results, then I'll conclude with guidance for the fourth quarter, including anticipated contributions from Webhelp.

嗯，謝謝你，克里斯，大家好。我們很高興本週早些時候完成了與 Webhelp 的合併。 Webhelp 才華橫溢的全球員工的加入增強了我們的價值主張，並鞏固了我們作為全球領先的 CX 解決方案公司的地位。在提供有關完成交易的更多詳細資訊之前，我將首先回顧我們第三季的業績，然後我將提供第四季度的指導，包括 Webhelp 的預期貢獻。

In the third quarter, revenue increased the non-GAAP profit improved, reflecting continued strong execution. Both our organic constant currency revenue growth rate and our non-GAAP operating income came in within our guidance ranges with non-GAAP operating income exceeding the midpoint of our guidance.

第三季度，收入增加，非公認會計原則利潤改善，反映出持續強勁的執行力。我們的有機固定貨幣收入成長率和非 GAAP 營業收入均在我們的指導範圍內，其中非 GAAP 營業收入超過了我們指導的中點。

Additionally, our strong cash flow generation reinforces our confidence in achieving our full year expectation of generating over $500 million in free cash flow, not including contributions from Webhelp. The 3.4% increase in reported revenue in the quarter included a 1.7 point positive year-over-year impact from the acquisition of ServiceSource in July 2022.

此外，我們強勁的現金流產生增強了我們實現全年預期的信心，即產生超過 5 億美元的自由現金流（不包括 Webhelp 的貢獻）。本季報告營收成長 3.4%，其中包括 2022 年 7 月收購 ServiceSource 帶來的年比 1.7 個百分點的正面影響。

There was no meaningful impact from currency fluctuations on reported revenue growth in the quarter. On organic constant currency revenue basis, revenue grew 1.7%, reflecting a continuation of themes from the prior quarter. Strong growth in health care, banking, financial services and insurance, e-commerce and travel, offset by continued volume softness with a few large clients in the communications and consumer electronics industries.

貨幣波動對本季報告的收入成長沒有重大影響。在有機固定貨幣收入基礎上，營收成長了 1.7%，反映出上一季主題的延續。醫療保健、銀行、金融服務和保險、電子商務和旅遊領域強勁成長，但被通訊和消費性電子產業少數大客戶的銷售持續疲軟所抵銷。

Revenue increased in each of our 4 strategic verticals in the quarter, with growth from health care clients leading the way, up approximately 17% on both an as reported and organic constant currency basis. Revenue from retail, travel and e-commerce clients posted 8% growth as reported and 7% on a constant currency organic basis, including double-digit growth with travel clients.

本季度，我們的 4 個策略垂直領域的收入均有所增長，其中醫療保健客戶的成長領先，按報告和有機固定貨幣計算，收入增長約 17%。零售、旅遊和電子商務客戶的收入按報告增長 8%，按固定匯率有機計算增長 7%，其中旅遊客戶的收入實現兩位數增長。

Revenue from banking, financial services and insurance clients grew by 5% on reported basis and 6% on an organic constant currency basis. Revenue from technology and consumer electronics clients grew 6% as reported and about 1% on an organic constant currency basis. Revenue from communications clients decreased by 8% as reported and 9% on an organic constant currency basis. Revenue from clients in our other vertical decreased 9% as reported and about 8% on an organic constant currency basis in the third quarter.

來自銀行、金融服務和保險客戶的收入按報告基礎增長 5%，以有機固定貨幣基礎增長 6%。據報道，來自科技和消費電子客戶的收入成長了 6%，以有機固定匯率計算成長了約 1%。據報告，來自通訊客戶的收入下降了 8%，以有機固定貨幣計算下降了 9%。據報告，第三季來自我們其他垂直行業客戶的收入下降了 9%，以有機固定匯率計算下降了約 8%。

Turning to profitability. Non-GAAP operating income was $231 million in the third quarter compared with $222 million last year. Our non-GAAP operating margin was 14.1%, up 10 basis points from 14% in the third quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $269 million compared with $258 million in the third quarter of last year. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.5%, up 10 basis points from 16.4% in the third quarter last year.

轉向盈利能力。第三季非公認會計準則營業收入為 2.31 億美元，去年同期為 2.22 億美元。我們的非 GAAP 營業利潤率為 14.1%，比去年第三季的 14% 上升 10 個基點。調整後 EBITDA 為 2.69 億美元，去年第三季為 2.58 億美元。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 16.5%，比去年第三季的 16.4% 上升了 10 個基點。

Third quarter interest expense was $49 million, up $29 million from the prior year quarter. Included in the increase was approximately $14 million of interest costs related to the Webhelp combination. This included a charge of approximately $11 million in fees associated with our bridge financing for the Webhelp transaction. It also includes approximately $3 million in interest expense on our senior notes that were issued on August 2, net of interest earnings on the invested proceeds. The remainder of the increase in interest expense was due to higher interest rates as expected.

第三季利息支出為 4,900 萬美元，比去年同期增加 2,900 萬美元。增加的費用包括與 Webhelp 合併相關的約 1400 萬美元的利息成本。其中包括與我們為 Webhelp 交易提供過橋融資相關的約 1,100 萬美元費用。它還包括我們 8 月 2 日發行的優先票據的約 300 萬美元利息支出（扣除投資收益的利息收入）。利息支出增加的其餘部分是由於預期的利率上升。

Other expense of approximately $6 million in the third quarter included a $2 million mark-to-market adjustment related to the purchase price currency hedge for the Webhelp transaction. The remainder of this line item in the P&L relates to foreign currency losses. The non-GAAP tax rate for the quarter was 26.3%. Non-GAAP net income in the third quarter was $141 million compared with $154 million last year. The decrease primarily reflects higher interest expense and the change in other income expense, which more than offset the increase in non-GAAP operating income.

第三季約 600 萬美元的其他費用包括與 Webhelp 交易的購買價格貨幣對沖相關的 200 萬美元的以市價調整。損益表中該行項目的其餘部分與外幣損失有關。該季度的非 GAAP 稅率為 26.3%。第三季非 GAAP 淨利為 1.41 億美元，去年同期為 1.54 億美元。這一下降主要反映了利息支出的增加和其他收入支出的變化，這遠遠抵消了非公認會計原則營業收入的成長。

Earnings per share were $2.71 on a non-GAAP basis compared to $2.95 in the third quarter of last year. GAAP operating results for the third quarter included $40 million of amortization of intangibles, $18 million of expenses related to acquisition-related and integration expenses and $11 million of share-based compensation expense.

以非公認會計準則計算，每股收益為 2.71 美元，而去年第三季為 2.95 美元。第三季 GAAP 營運業績包括 4,000 萬美元的無形資產攤銷、1,800 萬美元的收購相關和整合費用以及 1,100 萬美元的股權激勵費用。

Turning to cash flow. Our third quarter cash flow from operations totaled $211 million and capital expenditures were $44 million. This resulted in record third quarter quarterly free cash flow of $167 million. We continue to expect free cash flow for the full year to exceed $500 million, excluding the cash flow contribution of Webhelp in the fourth quarter and transaction and integration costs.

轉向現金流。我們第三季的營運現金流量總額為 2.11 億美元，資本支出為 4,400 萬美元。這導致第三季自由現金流達到創紀錄的 1.67 億美元。我們繼續預計全年自由現金流將超過 5 億美元，不包括第四季度 Webhelp 的現金流貢獻以及交易和整合成本。

During the quarter, we paid a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share. As Chris mentioned, our Board has raised our quarterly dividend to $0.3025 per share to be paid during the fourth quarter. This increase to our quarterly dividend reflects our financial strength, our confidence in the future and our commitment to disciplined capital deployment.

本季度，我們支付了每股 0.275 美元的季度股息。正如 Chris 所提到的，我們的董事會已將第四季度支付的季度股息提高至每股 0.3025 美元。我們季度股利的增加反映了我們的財務實力、對未來的信心以及我們對嚴格資本部署的承諾。

Share repurchases resumed in the quarter after our proxy statement filing related to the Webhelp transaction. We repurchased 320,000 shares of our stock for approximately $27 million in the third quarter. Repurchases in the third quarter were made at an average price of approximately $84 per share. At the end of the quarter, we had $312 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization.

在我們提交與 Webhelp 交易相關的委託書後，股票回購在本季恢復。第三季度，我們以約 2,700 萬美元的價格回購了 320,000 股股票。第三季的回購平均價格約為每股 84 美元。截至本季末，我們的股票回購授權剩餘 3.12 億美元。

Moving to the balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, cash and cash equivalents were $2.11 billion and total debt outstanding was $3.97 billion. Net debt was $1.86 billion at the end of the third quarter, a decrease of $117 million from the end of the second quarter and a decrease of $218 million since the beginning of the year. At the end of the third quarter, the elevated cash level reflects funds on hand to complete the Webhelp transaction.

轉向資產負債表。截至第三季末，現金及現金等價物為21.1億美元，未償債務總額為39.7億美元。第三季末淨債務為18.6億美元，較第二季末減少1.17億美元，較年初減少2.18億美元。第三季末，現金水準的上升反映了完成 Webhelp 交易的手頭資金。

The balance -- the debt balance at the end of the quarter includes $2.15 billion of senior unsecured notes issued to partially fund the Webhelp transaction and $1.85 billion outstanding on our term loan. Our $1.04 billion revolving credit facility was undrawn at the end of the quarter, and there were no borrowings outstanding on our $500 million accounts receivable securitization facility.

餘額－本季末的債務餘額包括為部分資助 Webhelp 交易而發行的 21.5 億美元優先無擔保票據以及我們未償還的 18.5 億美元定期貸款。我們的 10.4 億美元循環信貸額度在本季末尚未提取，我們的 5 億美元應收帳款證券化額度也沒有未償還借款。

At the end of the third quarter, net leverage was 1.7x on a trailing 4 quarters pro forma basis. On Monday, we executed on the closing of the Webhelp combination. To complete the combination, we paid approximately $525 million to Webhelp shareholders, paid off Webhelp debt of approximately $1.9 billion, issued 14.9 million shares to Webhelp shareholders and incurred a EUR 700 million 2-year note payable to Webhelp shareholders bearing interest at 2%.

截至第三季末，以過去 4 季的預估計算，淨槓桿率為 1.7 倍。週一，我們執行了 Webhelp 組合的收盤。為了完成合併，我們向Webhelp 股東支付了約5.25 億美元，償還了約19 億美元的Webhelp 債務，向Webhelp 股東發行了1,490 萬股股票，並向Webhelp 股東支付了7 億歐元的2 年期票據，利率為2%。

After the closing, we had cash and cash equivalents totaling approximately $440 million and gross debt of approximately $5.3 billion. Net debt upon closing was $4.85 billion, which represents net leverage of approximately 3.2x on a pro forma adjusted EBITDA basis. The primary components of our gross debt on the balance sheet post closing were $2.15 billion in senior notes, $2.14 billion in term loan borrowings, approximately $750 million in notes payable to Webhelp shareholders and $215 million in borrowings outstanding under our accounts receivable securitization.

交易完成後，我們的現金和現金等價物總計約為 4.4 億美元，總債務約 53 億美元。成交時的淨債務為 48.5 億美元，以預計調整後 EBITDA 計算，淨槓桿約 3.2 倍。交割後資產負債表上我們總債務的主要組成部分是21.5 億美元的優先票據、21.4 億美元的定期貸款、約7.5 億美元的應付Webhelp 股東的票據以及應收帳款證券化項下的2.15 億美元的未償還借款。

Our revolving credit facility remained undrawn. The issuance of shares to Webhelp shareholders increased our outstanding share count to approximately 66.6 million shares. Regarding the $2.15 billion of senior notes, on the day the combination closed, we entered into cross-currency swap arrangements for a total notional amount of $500 million of the notes. The arrangements effectively convert $250 million each of the 2026 and 2028 notes in the synthetic euro-based debt at lower prevailing interest rates.

我們的循環信貸額度仍未提取。向 Webhelp 股東發行股票使我們的流通股數量增加至約 6,660 萬股。對於價值 21.5 億美元的優先票據，在合併結束當天，我們就名義總額為 5 億美元的票據達成了跨貨幣互換安排。這些安排實際上將 2026 年和 2028 年各 2.5 億美元的票據以較低的現行利率轉換為合成歐元債務。

In addition to aligning the currency of a portion of our interest payments to the organization's euro-denominated cash flows, the swaps also reduced the weighted average interest rate of the $2.15 billion notes from approximately 6.70% to approximately 6.36%. As we said when we announced the Webhelp transaction, the combination of our strong free cash flow generation and adjusted EBITDA growth gives us a clear path to reducing leverage, and we're committed to reducing our net leverage to about 2x adjusted EBITDA within 2 years after the transaction closed.

除了使我們部分利息支付的貨幣與該組織以歐元計價的現金流量一致外，互換還將 21.5 億美元票據的加權平均利率從約 6.70% 降低至約 6.36%。正如我們在宣布Webhelp 交易時所說，我們強大的自由現金流產生和調整後EBITDA 成長的結合為我們提供了降低槓桿率的明確途徑，我們致力於在2 年內將淨槓桿率降低至調整後EBITDA的約2 倍交易結束後。

Regarding our capital allocation priorities, our focus is on organic growth, the successful integration of Webhelp, realizing the planned synergies and repaying debt. We are committed to investment-grade principles. We will prioritize paying down debt and reducing our net leverage while continuing our dividend and disciplined share repurchases to offset the dilution of equity grants.

關於我們的資本配置優先事項，我們的重點是有機成長、Webhelp 的成功整合、實現計劃的協同效應和償還債務。我們致力於投資等級原則。我們將優先償還債務和降低淨槓桿率，同時繼續派息和嚴格的股票回購，以抵消股權授予的稀釋。

Now I'll turn my attention to the business outlook for the fourth quarter, including anticipated contributions from Webhelp. The Webhelp contribution in the fourth quarter guidance includes forecasted financial performance for a period of slightly more than 2 months. For the fourth quarter, we now expect reported revenue to be in a range of $2.19 billion to $2.215 billion based on current exchange rates.

現在我將把注意力轉向第四季的業務前景，包括 Webhelp 的預期貢獻。 Webhelp 在第四季度指引中的貢獻包括對略多於 2 個月的時間內的財務表現的預測。根據目前匯率，我們目前預計第四季報告營收將在 21.9 億美元至 22.15 億美元之間。

Our fourth quarter expectations reflect approximately 2% to 3% of pro forma constant currency growth for the combined organization if the combination had occurred at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2022. Excluding the effect of the Webhelp combination, our expected constant currency growth in the fourth quarter would be consistent with the prior guidance for the full year.

如果合併發生在2022 年第四季初，我們對第四季度的預期反映了合併後組織的預期恆定貨幣成長率約為2% 至3%。排除Webhelp 合併的影響，我們預期的恆定貨幣成長率為第四季將與先前的全年指引保持一致。

Our profitability expectations for the fourth quarter include non-GAAP operating income in a range of $330 million to $340 million. At the midpoint of our guidance, this equates to a non-GAAP operating income margin of approximately 15.2%, an increase of 10 basis points over the prior year. Excluding the effect of the Webhelp combination, our expected non-GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter will be consistent with the prior guidance for the full year 2023.

我們對第四季的獲利預期包括 3.3 億至 3.4 億美元的非 GAAP 營業收入。依照我們指引的中位數，這相當於非 GAAP 營業利潤率約為 15.2%，比前一年增加 10 個基點。排除 Webhelp 合併的影響，我們預計第四季度的非 GAAP 營業收入將與先前對 2023 年全年的指引保持一致。

We expect net interest expense in the fourth quarter to be approximately $72 million with an effective tax rate of 26% and a weighted average diluted share count of approximately 62 million shares. Note that the average diluted share count for the fourth quarter is less than the 66.6 million outstanding shares post close as a result of the mid-quarter timing of the close.

我們預計第四季的淨利息支出約為 7,200 萬美元，有效稅率為 26%，加權平均稀釋後股份數量約為 6,200 萬股。請注意，由於收盤時間為季度中期，因此第四季度的平均稀釋股數少於收盤後的 6,660 萬股流通股。

Accordingly, we expect non-GAAP EPS for the fourth quarter to be in a range of $3.03 per share to $3.15 per share. This expectation for non-GAAP EPS assumes no impact from other income and expense due to the unpredictability of future foreign currency movements. We continue to expect the business to generate robust cash flows with free cash flow for the combined organization to be in the range of $200 million to $225 million excluding any transaction and integration costs in the fourth quarter.

因此，我們預計第四季非 GAAP 每股盈餘將在每股 3.03 美元至 3.15 美元之間。由於未來外匯變動的不可預測性，對非公認會計原則每股收益的預期沒有受到其他收入和支出的影響。我們仍預期該業務將產生強勁的現金流，合併後的組織的自由現金流將在 2 億至 2.25 億美元之間，不包括第四季度的任何交易和整合成本。

Our business outlook does not include transaction and integration costs associated with the Webhelp combination or any future acquisitions. Also not included in the guidance are impacts from future foreign currency fluctuations. We continue to expect the Webhelp operations to generate approximately $3 billion of revenue and approximately $500 million of adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2023, with the combined organization yielding nearly $9.6 billion in revenue and nearly $1.6 billion in combined EBITDA on a pro forma basis for the full fiscal year 2023.

我們的業務前景不包括與 Webhelp 合併或任何未來收購相關的交易和整合成本。未來外匯波動的影響也不包括在指引中。我們仍預期 Webhelp 業務將在 2023 年全年產生約 30 億美元的收入和約 5 億美元的調整後 EBITDA，合併後的組織預計將產生近 96 億美元的收入和近 16 億美元的合併 EBITDA 2023 財年。

We expect earnings per share accretion of mid- to high single digits in the first full year after close and double-digit appreciation -- accretion in the second year. We also expect to realize $75 million in synergies in the first year after closing, growing to $120 million in synergies in year 3. We plan to provide guidance for 2024 on our fourth quarter results call.

我們預計，在每股盈餘達到兩位數升值之後，第一個全年每股盈餘將成長至中高個位數，第二年將成長。我們還預計在交易完成後的第一年實現 7500 萬美元的協同效應，並在第三年增長到 1.2 億美元的協同效應。我們計劃在第四季度業績電話會議上提供 2024 年的指導。

In closing, the Webhelp combination has joined 2 leading CX providers into a global platform for growth and value creation, bringing clients from growing markets, further diversifying our marquee client list and significantly increasing our presence in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Our range and global reach of high-value services and additional capabilities have been expanded enhancing support for clients that both companies couldn't adequately serve independently.

最後，Webhelp 組合已將2 家領先的CX 供應商納入一個全球成長和價值創造平台，吸引來自不斷成長的市場的客戶，進一步豐富我們的大客戶名單，並顯著提高我們在歐洲、拉丁美洲和非洲的業務。我們的高價值服務和附加能力的範圍和全球覆蓋範圍得到了擴大，增強了對兩家公司無法獨立提供充分服務的客戶的支援。

We have a strong track record of success integrating prior combinations, which will make the combination and integration more seamless. And we believe this highly complementary union creates a unique customer engagement offering that will keep our business resilient through business cycles. We're excited about the combination with Webhelp. We look forward to the growth and value it will create in the future. At this point, Latif, please open the line for questions.

我們在整合先前的組合方面擁有良好的成功記錄，這將使組合和整合更加無縫。我們相信，這種高度互補的聯盟創造了獨特的客戶參與產品，將使我們的業務在整個商業週期中保持彈性。我們對與 Webhelp 的結合感到非常興奮。我們期待它未來創造的成長和價值。拉蒂夫，現在請打開提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Ruplu Bhattacharya of Bank of America.

（操作員指令）我們的第一個問題來自美國銀行的 Ruplu Bhattacharya。

Andre, if you can -- I was wondering if you can kind of simplify what the contribution is from Webhelp for fourth quarter revenues, operating margin and EBITDA. You gave a lot of details, but I'm not sure I got all of that. So can you please specify how much is the revenue contribution, operating income contribution? And what is the core business doing in the fourth quarter?

Andre，如果可以的話，我想知道您是否可以簡化一下 Webhelp 對第四季度營收、營業利潤率和 EBITDA 的貢獻。你提供了很多細節，但我不確定我是否了解了所有細節。那麼您能具體說明一下收入貢獻、營業收入貢獻是多少嗎？那麼第四季的核心業務在做什麼呢？

Yes. So happy to do that, Ruplu. So I'll start with revenue. So from a revenue perspective, the legacy Concentrix operations pre-Webhelp are very much in line with the prior guidance. So the prior guidance for the full year, Ruplu, was to grow 2% to 3% for the full year. And so that will be -- the contribution from the Concentrix operations will be in line with that guidance. So that kind of covers that.

是的。很高興這麼做，魯普魯。所以我將從收入開始。因此，從收入角度來看，Webhelp 先前的遺留 Concentrix 營運非常符合先前的指引。因此，Ruplu 先前對全年的指導是全年增長 2% 至 3%。因此，Concentrix 營運部門的貢獻將符合此準則。所以這涵蓋了這一點。

Webhelp certainly accretive to the overall growth rate as we expected, and it will be here in the fourth quarter. So that's that. From a margin perspective, really, if you go back to when we announced the transaction, the margin profiles of the 2 businesses were very, very close, both from an EBITDA perspective and a non-GAAP OI perspective. And so included in the guidance, you can pretty much -- at the midpoint, that 15.2% non-GAAP OI margin, you can pretty much apply that to both sides.

正如我們預期的那樣，Webhelp 無疑會增加整體成長率，並將在第四季度實現。就是這樣。從利潤率的角度來看，實際上，如果你回顧我們宣布交易時，你會發現，無論是從 EBITDA 角度還是從非 GAAP OI 角度來看，兩家公司的利潤率狀況都非常非常接近。因此，在指南中，您幾乎可以在中間點，15.2% 的非 GAAP OI 利潤率，您幾乎可以將其應用到雙方。

Depreciation is a little bit -- we've talked about this in the past for Webhelp, a little bit higher as a percentage of revenue. So you might see 10, 20 basis points or so higher adjusted EBITDA margin coming from the Webhelp side. But again, very complementary from a margin perspective in Q4. And then expect significant margin improvement as synergies start to roll in, in earnest as we move into 2024.

折舊有一點——我們過去曾針對 Webhelp 討論過這一點，佔收入的百分比略高一些。因此，您可能會看到 Webhelp 方面的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 10、20 個基點左右。但從第四季的利潤率角度來看，這又是非常互補的。然後，隨著我們進入 2024 年，協同效應開始顯現，預計利潤率將顯著改善。

And again, just to clarify, I mean, based on what you just said, would that imply like about $500 million on the revenue contribution from Webhelp in fiscal 4Q? And then can you talk about the below-the-line items like below operating income? Can you remind us what the interest expense is going to be in the fourth quarter as well as are there any other expenses? I think you said there was also integration costs. What is the estimate for that for the fourth quarter?

再次澄清一下，我的意思是，根據您剛才所說的，這是否意味著 Webhelp 在第四財季的營收貢獻約為 5 億美元？然後您能談談下面的營業收入等離線項目嗎？您能否提醒我們第四季的利息支出是多少以及還有其他支出嗎？我想你說過還有整合成本。第四季的預計是多少？

Yes. So integration costs in a quarter are a little hard to give an exact estimate on. So overall, the integration costs what we said about those is they would be 1 for 1 matching the synergy number. So $120 million total in integration costs, somewhat front loaded with roughly $80 million or so in the first year, I believe, and $40 million in the second. So think of that, that $80 million, think of -- will that equate to in 2 months, and you're probably in line there. The other part of your question, I missed it -- oh, the revenue contribution. I think you're a little low at $500 million. The contribution from Webhelp is higher than that.

是的。因此，一個季度的整合成本很難給出準確的估計。因此，總的來說，我們所說的整合成本是，它們將是 1 對 1 與協同效應數字相符的。因此，整合成本總計 1.2 億美元，我相信第一年大約有 8,000 萬美元左右，第二年則有 4,000 萬美元。所以想想，那 8000 萬美元，想想——這相當於 2 個月後的金額，你可能會在那裡排隊。你問題的另一部分，我錯過了——哦，收入貢獻。我認為你的5億美元有點低。 Webhelp 的貢獻比這還要高。

Okay. And maybe for my last one, maybe I'll ask one to Chris. So you talked about working on some AI -- generative AI projects. So Chris, when we think about this, I mean, based on the experience you have now, clients want to understand the impact of generative AI. Do you think -- I mean, in the past, you said like 10% to 15% of volumes can get impacted.

好的。也許對於我的最後一個，也許我會向克里斯要一個。所以你談到了一些人工智慧——生成式人工智慧專案的工作。所以克里斯，當我們考慮這個問題時，我的意思是，根據你現在的經驗，客戶希望了解生成式人工智慧的影響。您認為嗎？我的意思是，您過去說過 10% 到 15% 的交易量可能會受到影響。

I mean how has your thought changed if at all now that you're doing more of these projects? And do you think that impact varies by end market use case? And how should we think about that? I mean, any way to quantify this at this point in the cycle?

我的意思是，既然你正在做更多這樣的項目，你的想法有什麼改變嗎？您認為這種影響是否因終端市場用例而異？我們該如何思考這個問題？我的意思是，有什麼方法可以在週期的這一點上量化這一點嗎？

Ruplu, so a couple of different points there. I think when we talk about 10% to 15% of transactions can be automated, that's what we're doing on a yearly basis, regardless of generative AI or RPA or anything else that's coming along with it. And what we've talked about is that generative AI can probably increase that by a little bit, but not dramatically more than that from what we're seeing as we deploy these practices.

Ruplu，有幾個不同的點。我認為，當我們談論 10% 到 15% 的交易可以自動化時，這就是我們每年所做的事情，無論生成式 AI 或 RPA 或隨之而來的其他任何東西。我們所討論的是，生成式人工智慧可能會稍微增加一點，但不會比我們部署這些實踐時所看到的顯著增加。

What's offsetting that is the new revenue streams that we're seeing by deploying these new technologies, both from design, implementation and running the new technologies and curating the content that goes along with it. And as we kind of talked in some of the prepared remarks, even net new areas that we're deploying our own platforms where we're getting net new revenue flows that are coming in for that. So that clearly is what we're focused on offsetting any revenue headwinds as well as taking more share within the clients.

抵消這一影響的是我們透過部署這些新技術所看到的新收入流，包括設計、實施和運行新技術以及策劃與之相關的內容。正如我們在一些準備好的發言中談到的那樣，甚至是我們正在部署自己的平台的淨新領域，我們也因此獲得了新的淨收入流。因此，這顯然是我們致力於抵消任何收入不利因素以及在客戶中獲得更多份額的重點。

I think what we're seeing right at the moment is that we are able to deploy generative AI faster than some of our clients can actually deploy it. And so we're seeing the benefits in our operating cost structure and scalability that we called out a number that are starting to get to scale. And hopefully, we'll see additional benefits from those as we get them to -- across the entire enterprise, including the new Webhelp combination, which I think offsets any kind of cost mitigation that we might have from any impact from a revenue perspective that's coming in from automation, if that makes sense.

我認為我們目前看到的是，我們部署生成式人工智慧的速度比我們的一些客戶實際部署它的速度要快。因此，我們看到了營運成本結構和可擴展性方面的優勢，我們稱這些優勢已經開始擴大規模。希望我們能在整個企業中看到這些帶來的額外好處，包括新的 Webhelp 組合，我認為這可以抵消我們可能從收入角度產生的任何影響所帶來的任何類型的成本緩解，即來自自動化，如果這有意義的話。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Oliver Davies of Redburn Atlantic.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題來自 Redburn Atlantic 的 Oliver Davies。

I guess a couple of questions. Just firstly, in terms of you kind of held the revenue growth guidance for the Concentrix legacy business. So can you just talk about what you're seeing in terms of underlying volumes? And new client decision, I guess, it looks like health care kind of accelerated in the quarter as most of the other sectors were pretty similar to the last quarter. And I guess following on from that, you said a client still looking to offshore where possible or has anything changed on that front?

我想有幾個問題。首先，就您而言，您掌握了 Concentrix 傳統業務的營收成長指引。那麼您能談談您所看到的基礎交易量嗎？我想，新客戶的決策看起來醫療保健在本季度有所加速，因為大多數其他行業與上季度非常相似。我想接下來，您說客戶仍然在可能的情況下尋求離岸，或者這方面有什麼變化嗎？

Oliver, so to answer your first question, what we're seeing is kind of continued consumer, I'll call it, budgeting for new consumer electronic devices, subscription spending, other things that are somewhat discretionary. So we continue to see those volumes depressed across some of our larger clients. But the volume is now becoming more steadily depressed if that makes sense. It's more stable versus what we saw at the beginning of the year where it tends to fluctuate.

奧利佛，回答你的第一個問題，我們看到的是一種持續的消費者，我稱之為，新消費電子設備的預算，訂閱支出，以及其他有些可自由支配的事情。因此，我們繼續看到一些大客戶的交易量下降。但如果這是有道理的話，現在成交量正變得越來越低迷。與我們在年初看到的傾向於波動的情況相比，它更加穩定。

We are seeing growth in the strategic verticals that we've called out, primarily because of net new wins and net new services we're putting into those verticals, such as the health care vertical, banking, financial services. And even travel, we're doing quite well at. And we still see travel, despite sort of my comments about consumers cutting back in some areas, being quite robust into the future from a volume expectation perspective.

我們看到我們所提到的策略垂直領域的成長，主要是因為我們在這些垂直領域投入了淨新勝利和淨新服務，例如醫療保健垂直領域、銀行、金融服務。甚至在旅行方面，我們也做得很好。儘管我對消費者在某些領域削減開支的評論有所評論，但從數量預期的角度來看，我們仍然看到旅遊業在未來相當強勁。

From just an overall offshoring, nearshoring comment, as we've talked about before, clients, for the most part, are very focused on managing their cost structure. And so pretty much the majority of all new transactions and deals and ramps of existing clients are tending to be done at the most cost-effective shore environment, whether that be nearshore or offshore. Very few starts -- in fact, very, very, very few starts are starting out onshore at a higher cost structure. It's just not in clients' budgets right at the moment.

正如我們之前討論過的那樣，從整體離岸、近岸外包的評論來看，客戶在很大程度上非常注重管理其成本結構。因此，幾乎所有新交易、現有客戶的交易和增產都傾向於在最具成本效益的岸上環境中完成，無論是近岸還是離岸。很少有啟動項目——事實上，非常非常非常少的啟動項目是在陸上以較高的成本結構啟動的。只是目前不在客戶的預算之內。

Okay. Great. And then maybe one for Andre just on the free cash flow, just it looks to be driven by working capital. So could you just comment on the reasons for that in terms of free cash flow?

好的。偉大的。然後，對安德烈來說，可能只是自由現金流，它看起來是由營運資本驅動的。那麼您能否從自由現金流方面評論一下原因？

Andre, you're not coming through.

安德烈，你過不去。

Sorry about that. We muted ourselves for a second. So Oli, you're right. The improvement in free cash flow is largely coming from working capital improvements. And that's really just a focus on the blocking and tackling of getting bills out on time and collected on time, which drove roughly a 2-day improvement from the prior quarter in our days sales outstanding.

對於那個很抱歉。我們沉默了一會兒。所以奧利，你是對的。自由現金流的改善主要來自於營運資本的改善。這實際上只是專注於阻止和解決按時發出賬單和按時收集的問題，這使得我們的銷售未結帳比上一季提高了大約 2 天。

So it's really just an increased focus on that. It's always been a focus, but just really good execution by the team in getting the bills out and getting them collected. And we think it's sustainable as we move forward. Feel very, very confident about the free cash flow guide for the fourth quarter and feel really good about hitting the guide that we set out at the very beginning of the year to generate without Webhelp $0.5 billion or more of free cash flow this year. We're definitely on track to do that if you look at how we've done through 3 quarters.

所以這實際上只是更加關注這一點。這一直是一個焦點，但團隊在發出帳單和收集帳單方面執行得非常好。我們認為隨著我們的前進，這是可持續的。對第四季度的自由現金流指南感到非常非常有信心，並且對達到我們年初制定的指南感到非常滿意，因為今年 Webhelp 沒有產生 5 億美元或更多的自由現金流。如果你看看我們三個季度的表現，我們肯定會做到這一點。

(Operator Instructions) We stand by for our next question which comes from the line of Divya Goyal of Scotiabank.

（操作員指示）我們等待下一個問題，該問題來自豐業銀行的 Divya Goyal。

So Andre, you briefly addressed the part of my question, which was on the guide that you've provided. So Chris addressed that there is some continued, how should I say, slowdown in the macro that's been noted across the business. What level of confidence can we see in terms of the overall guidance that you provided for Q4? And how should we expect the business to perform going forward, considering, obviously, what's going on with the AI transformation alongside the macro impact?

安德烈，您簡要回答了我的問題部分，該部分位於您提供的指南中。因此，克里斯指出，整個企業都注意到宏觀經濟持續放緩，怎麼說呢。我們對您為第四季度提供的整體指導有何信心？顯然，考慮到人工智慧轉型以及宏觀影響的情況，我們該如何預期業務未來的表現？

Actually, Divya, what I was -- sorry why don't I take that because it ties into some of the AI conversation that we're talking about. So a couple of different points to it. When we look at our guidance for Q4, what we've kind of stated before is that we've stripped out the seasonality of the business that historically has been in Q4, primarily based on what we saw last year.

事實上，Divya，我就是——抱歉，我為什麼不接受這個，因為它與我們正在談論的一些人工智慧對話有關。所以有幾個不同的點。當我們查看第四季度的指導時，我們之前說過的是，我們已經剔除了歷史上第四季度的業務季節性，主要基於我們去年看到的情況。

And so when we're talking to our clients and we're looking at their volumes, we're seeing that sort of flatness from a seasonality perspective come through. As I also mentioned, what we're seeing is sort of a steady rate of business from the clients that have seen decreased volumes based on consumer demand. And those are kind of continuing through and they've been kind of trailing as we have expected for the last number of weeks in last quarter. So we're kind of looking at that as pulling through to Q4 as well.

因此，當我們與客戶交談並查看他們的交易量時，我們發現從季節性角度來看，這種平穩性已經出現。正如我還提到的，我們看到的是客戶的業務量保持穩定，但由於消費者需求而導致業務量減少。這些正在持續進行，正如我們在上個季度最後幾週所預期的那樣，它們一直處於落後狀態。因此，我們也將其視為延續到第四季。

And then on the third element from a generative AI perspective, right now, we're seeing generative AI as an additive revenue to our business, where we're doing the consulting, we're doing the implementations, we're doing the proof of concepts, we are getting services for building out the models and managing those models as they start to come into production. And so that has really no impact in our fourth quarter outside of the revenue that we expected that's already been booked -- or sorry, that's been sold, and now we're going into the implementation and billing phase.

然後，從生成式人工智慧的角度來看第三個要素，現在，我們將生成式人工智慧視為我們業務的附加收入，我們正在做諮詢，我們正在做實施，我們正在做證明在概念方面，我們正在獲得建立模型並在模型開始投入生產時對其進行管理的服務。因此，除了我們預計已經預訂的收入之外，這對我們第四季度實際上沒有任何影響——或者抱歉，已經售出，現在我們正在進入實施和計費階段。

That's helpful. Just following on this thought process here, I wanted to understand, have you been seeing any pricing pressure or conversely any margin benefits, given the automation that you are trying to bring across the customers?

這很有幫助。繼續這個思考過程，我想了解，考慮到您試圖為客戶帶來的自動化，您是否看到任何定價壓力或相反的任何利潤收益？

Yes. So we do see pricing pressure in the highly transactional business. And as we've talked about it, that's about 10% of our business, although it continues to decline. If you think about it back in February, it was about 13%. Now it's down to 10%. And our goal is obviously to continue to drive that down. In that part of the segment -- part of the business, it's very easy to ramp. It's quite commodity-based business.

是的。因此，我們確實看到了高度交易性業務的定價壓力。正如我們所討論的，這約占我們業務的 10%，儘管這一比例仍在持續下降。如果你回想一下 2 月的情況，大約是 13%。現在已經下降到10%了。我們的目標顯然是繼續降低這種情況。在這個細分市場的一部分——業務的一部分，它很容易實現成長。這是一個以商品為基礎的業務。

And there are certainly people who are chasing it for revenue. Our preferences to more focus on the higher-value services and win that business by quality of service, but not worry about it if it goes away from just a pure pricing perspective. In the higher-value services, we're seeing it much more stable from a pricing environment. Clients are more focused on the security, the work that you're doing, they're focused on compliance of the work that you're doing. They're focused on consistency of the work. They're focused on how you're going to actually deliver the outcomes.

當然也有人為了收入而追逐它。我們更傾向於更專注於更高價值的服務，並透過服務品質贏得業務，但如果它脫離純粹的定價角度，也不必擔心。在更高價值的服務中，我們看到它的定價環境更加穩定。客戶更關注安全性、您正在做的工作，他們更關注您正在做的工作的合規性。他們注重工作的一致性。他們關注的是你將如何實際交付結果。

And so therefore, where we're putting in technology, where we're putting in sort of this automation for driving better efficiencies internally, that is what is supporting our margin stability within those clients. And we expect that, that will continue on as we continue to execute on our strategy.

因此，在我們投入技術、投入某種自動化以提高內部效率的地方，這就是支持我們在這些客戶中的利潤穩定性的原因。我們預計，隨著我們繼續執行我們的策略，這種情況將繼續下去。

(Operator Instructions) As there appear to be no further questions in queue, this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

（操作員說明）由於隊列中似乎沒有其他問題，因此今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。