CRA International Inc (CRAI) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Charles River Associates third quarter 2024 conference call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. The company's earnings release and prepared remarks from CRAs Chief Financial Officer are posted on the Investor Relations section of CRAs website at crai.com.

大家好，歡迎參加 Charles River Associates 2024 年第三季電話會議。請注意，今天的通話正在錄音。該公司的收益報告和 CRA 財務長的準備好的評論已發佈在 CRA 網站 crai.com 的投資者關係部分。

With us today are CRAs President, Chief Executive Officer, Paul Maleh; Chief Financial Officer, Dan Mahoney; and Chief corporate Development Officer, Chad Holmes.

今天與我們在一起的有 CRA 總裁兼執行長 Paul Maleh；財務長 Dan Mahoney；以及首席企業發展長Chad Holmes。

At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Mahoney for opening remark. Dan, please go ahead.

現在，我想請馬奧尼先生致開場白。丹，請繼續。

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. Please note that the statements made during this conference call including guidance on future revenue and non-GAAP EBITDA margin and any other statements concerning the future business operating results or financial condition of CRA including those statements using the terms expect outlook or similar terms are forward-looking statements as defined in section 21 of the Exchange Act.

謝謝你，羅布，大家早安。請注意，本次電話會議中所做的聲明，包括對未來收入和非公認會計準則 EBITDA 利潤率的指引以及有關 CRA 未來業務經營業績或財務狀況的任何其他聲明（包括使用預期前景或類似術語的聲明），均為《交易法》第 21 條定義的前瞻性陳述。

Information contained in these forward-looking statements is based on management's current expectations and is inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements due to many important factors, including the level of demand for our services as a result of changes in general and industry specific economic conditions.

這些前瞻性陳述中包含的資訊是基於管理階層目前的預期，具有內在的不確定性。由於許多重要因素，包括由於一般和行業特定的經濟條件的變化而導致對我們服務的需求水平，實際業績和結果可能與這些聲明中表達或暗示的業績和結果存在重大差異。

Additional information regarding these factors is included in today's release and in CRA's periodic reports including our most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. CRA undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this call.

有關這些因素的更多資​​訊包含在今天的發布版本和 CRA 的定期報告中，包括我們最近向 SEC 提交的 10-K 表年度報告和 10-Q 表季度報告。CRA 不承擔在本次電話會議召開之日後更新任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

Additionally, we will refer to some non-GAAP financial measures and certain measures presented on a constant currency basis on this call. Everyone is encouraged to refer to today's release and related CFO remarks for reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their GAAP comparable measures and descriptions of the calculation of EBITDA and measures presented on a constant currency basis.

此外，我們將在本次電話會議中參考一些非公認會計準則財務指標和以固定匯率為基礎的某些指標。鼓勵每個人參考今天發布的新聞稿和相關的財務長評論，以了解這些非 GAAP 財務指標與其 GAAP 可比指標的對帳以及 EBITDA 計算的描述以及按固定匯率計算的指標。

I will now turn it over to Paul for his report. Paul?

我現在將把報告交給保羅。保羅？

Thanks, Dan, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. CRA continued its run of strong performance into the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Revenue increased by 13.7% year over year to $167.7 million, a record Q3 performance that followed a record breaking Q1 and Q2.

謝謝，丹，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。CRA 在 2024 財年第三季持續保持強勁表現。營收年增 13.7% 至 1.677 億美元，繼第一季和第二季創紀錄之後，第三季再創紀錄。

In fact, the first three quarters of fiscal 2024 represent the three highest revenue quarters in CRA's history. During this period of strong growth, we have continued to manage the business effectively quarterly utilization improved on a year-over-year basis to 76% as consultant headcount decreased slightly compared to the third quarter of 2023.

事實上，2024財年的前三個季度是CRA歷史上收入最高的三個季度。在這一強勁成長期間，我們繼續有效管理業務，由於顧問人數與 2023 年第三季相比略有減少，季度利用率年增至 76%。

We are especially pleased with this level of consultant productivity as the third quarter is a period of significant seasonal transition with large inflows and outflows within our junior consultant ranks. The increase in consultant utilization resulted in part from the continued replenishing of our sales pipeline. Our overall project lead flow increased in the third quarter by 8% year-over-year with conversion rates remaining strong and consistent with historical norms.

我們對顧問的這種生產力水平感到特別滿意，因為第三季度是重要的季節性過渡期，我們的初級顧問隊伍的流入和流出量很大。顧問利用率的提高部分源自於我們銷售管道的持續補充。我們第三季的整體專案線索流量年增 8%，轉換率保持強勁且與歷史常態一致。

This performance outpaced mixed trends in the broader legal market as total case filings declined by 10% year-over-year, while total court judgments increased by 3%. In light of these market conditions, we are especially pleased with the strong growth in our legal and regulatory services which increased revenue nearly 20% year-over-year.

這一表現超過了整個法律市場的混合趨勢，因為總案件數量比去年同期下降了 10%，而法院判決總數增加了 3%。鑑於這些市場狀況，我們對法律和監管服務的強勁增長感到特別高興，該服務的收入同比增長了近 20％。

Our strong utilization and overall execution drove year-over-year growth in profitability as non-GAAP net income earnings per diluted share and EBITDA each increased by more than 50%, far outpacing our revenue growth rate. This performance represents the highest third quarter profitability as measured by net income earnings per share and EBITDA.

我們的強勁利用率和整體執行力推動了盈利能力的同比增長，非公認會計準則每股攤薄淨收入和 EBITDA 分別增長了 50% 以上，遠遠超過了我們的收入增長率。這一業績代表了以每股淨收入和 EBITDA 衡量的第三季最高獲利能力。

And similar to revenue, the first three quarters of fiscal 2024 represent the three highest profitability quarters in the company's history. Our performance was broad-based with seven practices growing revenue year-over-year, five practices, antitrust and competition economics, energy, financial economics, intellectual property, and risk investigations and analytics each grew by more than 10% year-over-year.

與營收類似，2024財年的前三個季度是公司歷史上獲利最高的三個季度。我們的業績表現廣泛，其中七項業務的收入同比增長，反壟斷和競爭經濟學、能源、金融經濟學、知識產權以及風險調查和分析等五項業務的收入同比增長均超過 10％。

I would now like to spend a few minutes highlighting some of the projects delivered during the third quarter. Our Antitrust and Competition Economics practice continued its strong performance as it grew revenue by nearly 30% year-over-year.

現在，我想花幾分鐘重點介紹一下第三季實施的一些專案。我們的反壟斷和競爭經濟業務持續表現強勁，營收年增近 30%。

In fact, the first three quarters of fiscal 2024 represent the three highest revenue quarters in the practice's history. Performance in the third quarter was fueled by continued demand for antitrust and merger related services. Worldwide M&A activity totaled $2.3 trillion during the first nine months of 2024 an increase of 16% compared to year ago levels. The third quarter of 2024 increased 14% compared to the second quarter of the year.

事實上，2024 財年的前三個季度是該公司歷史上收入最高的三個季度。反壟斷和併購相關服務的持續需求推動了第三季的業績。2024 年前 9 個月，全球併購活動總額達到 2.3 兆美元，比去年同期成長 16%。2024年第三季較上年第二季成長14%。

Against this backdrop, CRA worked on transactions across a range of industries and geographies. For example, CRA experts supported parties pursuing strategic transactions across the health care, luxury goods, high tech, and transportation industries. Their work involved defining the relevant product and geographic markets, assessing the changing characteristics, and participants in these markets and evaluating regulators theories of competitive harm.

在此背景下，CRA 開展了跨行業和跨地區的交易。例如，CRA 專家支援各方在醫療保健、奢侈品、高科技和運輸行業中進行策略性交易。他們的工作包括定義相關產品和地理市場、評估這些市場的變化特徵和參與者以及評估監管機構的競爭損害理論。

The practice's work in jurisdictions around the world involve the combination of our expertise and economic theory with the team's empirical expertise. This combination allows our team to process and analyze data in ways that support our clients throughout their interactions with regulators.

該律師事務所在世界各地司法管轄區開展的工作涉及我們的專業知識和經濟理論與團隊的實證專業知識的結合。透過這種結合，我們的團隊能夠以支援客戶與監管機構互動的方式處理和分析數據。

CRA's Antitrust and Competition Economics practice also assisted clients in the context of antitrust inquiries. For example, members of CRA's European team advised Microsoft as it hired certain employees of and entered into associated arrangements with inflection, a developer of AI foundation models and conversational AI tools.

CRA 的反壟斷和競爭經濟實踐也協助客戶進行反壟斷調查。例如，CRA 歐洲團隊的成員為微軟提供諮詢服務，幫助微軟聘用了 AI 基礎模型和對話式 AI 工具開發人員 inflection 的某些員工並達成相關協議。

Alongside a jurisdictional question of whether this constituted a merger, the competition and market authority in the UK investigated whether the hiring would result in a lessening of competition and the development of either foundational models or consumer chat bots. Ultimately, the CMA dismissed both concerns and cleared Microsoft hiring of the employees from inflection.

除了這是否構成合併的管轄權問題之外，英國競爭和市場管理機構還調查了此次招聘是否會導致競爭的減少以及基礎模型​​或消費者聊天機器人的發展。最終，CMA 駁回了這兩方面的擔憂，並批准微軟招募這兩名員工。

CRA's energy practice continues to benefit from the hiring of senior resources early in the year and the additional services that it can now offer CRA's clients. In the third quarter, the practice supported several regional transmission organizations to comply with work orders on transmission planning.

CRA 的能源業務繼續受益於今年年初聘請的高級資源以及現在可以為其客戶提供的額外服務。第三季度，該業務支援多個區域輸電組織遵守輸電規劃工作指示。

The practice also helped multiple utility clients including subsidiaries of NiSource, Liberty and Alliant Energy to develop their integrated resource plans which describes how the utilities resource mix will need to evolve to meet the demand for electricity and the need to retire coal and gas power plants.

該業務還幫助多家公用事業客戶（包括 NiSource、Liberty 和 Alliant Energy 的子公司）制定綜合資源計劃，該計劃描述了公用事業資源組合將如何發展滿足電力需求以及關閉煤炭和天然氣發電廠的需要。

These plans which can take up to a year to develop have been more complicated recently by the rapid increase in data centers, electric vehicles, and manufacturing loads across the country. The practice is also working directly with a number of data center clients to help better understand energy markets and utilities. The team is helping with topics such as supply planning, rate design, and fighting.

這些計劃可能需要長達一年的時間來製定，而最近由於全國範圍內數據中心、電動汽車和製造業負荷的快速增加，計劃變得更加複雜。該機構還直接與許多資料中心客戶合作，以幫助更好地了解能源市場和公用事業。該團隊正在幫助解決供應計劃、費率設計和戰鬥等主題。

Finally, the practice also remained active in the third quarter with the investment community, projects included multiple large due diligence assignments that address electrical transmission portfolios and a distributed energy platform.

最後，該業務在第三季也持續與投資界保持活躍，專案包括多個大型盡職調查任務，涉及電力傳輸組合和分散式能源平台。

During the third quarter, CRA's financial economics practice provided model validation and fair lending testing services to multiple fintech lending platforms and their bank lending partners. Theory provided independent reviews of the statistical soundness of the client's proprietary machine learning models which are used to assess consumer credit in unsecured installment loans and credit card underwriting and evaluated models, potential risk of discrimination.

第三季度，CRA的金融經濟實踐為多個金融科技借貸平台及其銀行借貸合作夥伴提供了模型驗證和公平借貸測試服務。Theory 對客戶專有機器學習模型的統計合理性進行了獨立審查，這些模型用於評估無擔保分期貸款和信用卡承保中的消費者信用，並評估模型中潛在的歧視風險。

Experts from the practice also continue to assist clients involved in litigation. For example, CRA is providing expert testimony to a large bank in a class action mortgage discrimination matter focused on the underwriting of mortgage loans dating back to 2018. In another matter, CRA's assisting clients with economic analysis in a false claims matter relating to mortgage underwriting and loan performance.

該律師事務所的專家也繼續協助捲入訴訟的客戶。例如，加拿大稅務局正在為一家大型銀行提供專家證詞，該證詞涉及一宗集體訴訟抵押貸款歧視案件，該案件主要涉及自 2018 年以來抵押貸款的承銷。在另一件事中，加拿大稅務局正在協助客戶對與抵押貸款承保和貸款表現有關的虛假索賠問題進行經濟分析。

The strong bench of testifying experts within CRA's intellectual property practice worked on several noteworthy litigation engagements during the third quarter. For example, a CRA expert testified on behalf of a leading research university regarding economic damages arising from the infringement of the university's patent covering collaborative robotics.

CRA 智慧財產權業務部門強大的專家證言團隊在第三季度參與了幾起值得關注的訴訟活動。例如，一位 CRA 專家代表一家領先的研究型大學就該大學因侵犯協作機器人專利而造成的經濟損失作證。

The expert presented a reasonable royalty theory based on a comparable transaction with professor-led-start-ups and performed a detailed analysis of the value of royalty and equity components of those agreements. The jury reached a verdict in favor of the university and awarded significant monetary damages.

專家根據與教授主導的新創公司的類似交易提出了合理的特許權使用費理論，並對這些協議的特許權使用費和股權部分的價值進行了詳細分析。陪審團做出了有利於大學的裁決，並判給大學巨額金錢賠償。

And in another jury trial, CRA was retained by one of the top consumer electronic companies to provide economic damage testimony in a patent infringement matter involving charging technology. In light of CRA's economic analysis and expert testimony, the jury awarded damages that were hundreds of millions of dollars left than what the plaintiff requested.

在另一場陪審團審判中，一家頂級消費電子公司聘請 CRA 在涉及充電技術的專利侵權案件中提供經濟損失證詞。根據CRA的經濟分析和專家證詞，陪審團裁定的賠償金額比原告要求的金額高出數億美元。

The third quarter marked the first full quarter with contributions from the IP team added in May and led by Chris Bakewell and Julia Rowe. Integration efforts have continued according to plan. Cross staffing of client projects and joint marketing efforts are well underway and we achieved an important milestone with the opening of our Houston office in August. This new location provides a crucial footprint to serve the highly active patent litigation market in Texas.

第三季是第一個完整季度，IP 團隊在 5 月增加了奉獻，由 Chris Bakewell 和 Julia Rowe 領導。整合工作正按計劃進行。客戶專案的交叉人員配置和聯合行銷工作正在順利進行，我們在八月開設了休士頓辦事處，取得了重要的里程碑。這個新地點為服務德州高度活躍的專利訴訟市場提供了重要的支援。

During the third quarter, CRA's risk investigations and analytics practice was retained on a number of multidisciplinary investigations and disputes across the globe. In the United States, the team was retained to help defend a global financial institution charged with fraud, collusion, and the failure to detect red flags in $100 million Ponzi scheme.

第三季度，CRA 的風險調查和分析實踐在全球範圍內被應用於許多多學科調查和糾紛。在美國，該團隊受聘幫助一家全球金融機構辯護，該機構被指控犯有欺詐、勾結以及未能發現 1 億美元龐氏騙局中的危險信號。

The team provided expert testimony on the soundness of the bank's anti-money laundering policies and procedures in the context of applicable regulations and industry practices at a time in question. In Brazil, CRA was retained by a professional sports league to bet professional potential business partners for future events in the country.

該團隊根據當時適用的法規和行業慣例，就銀行反洗錢政策和程序的健全性提供了專家證詞。在巴西，CRA 受一家職業運動聯盟聘用，為該國未來的賽事尋找專業的潛在商業合作夥伴。

In Europe, CRA's retained to quantify and analyze the flow of funds across various jurisdictions related to sanctioned products. Compared to a strong third quarter of 2023, CRA's Life Sciences practice declined modestly year-over-year. During the quarter, the team continued its work on client opportunity assessments, launch pricing, ongoing expert witness engagements and global policy work assessing the cost of rare diseases.

在歐洲，CRA 負責量化和分析與受制裁產品相關的跨不同司法管轄區的資金流動。與強勁的 2023 年第三季相比，CRA 的生命科學業務較去年同期略有下降。在本季度，該團隊繼續進行客戶機會評估、發布定價、持續的專家證人參與以及評估罕見疾病成本的全球政策工作。

Turning now to guidance through the first three quarters of fiscal 2024 on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal 2023, CRA generated total revenue of $509.4 million and a non-GAAP EBITDA of $65.6 million, achieving a margin of 12.9%, reflecting the continued strength and quality of our business, we are reaffirming our revenue and profit guidance.

現在來看看以固定匯率計算的 2024 財年前三個季度相對於 2023 財年的指引，CRA 的總收入為 5.094 億美元，非 GAAP EBITDA 為 6560 萬美元，利潤率達到 12.9%，反映了我們業務的持續強勁和質量，我們重申我們的收入和利潤率。

For full year fiscal 2024 on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal 2023 we expect revenue in the range of $670 million to $685 million and non-GAAP EBITDA margin in the range of 12.2% to 13.0%. Overall, I'm grateful to all my colleagues for their hard work during the third quarter as we help our clients address their most important challenges.

對於 2024 財年全年，以與 2023 財年相對的固定匯率計算，我們預計營收將在 6.7 億美元至 6.85 億美元之間，非 GAAP EBITDA 利潤率將在 12.2% 至 13.0% 之間。總的來說，我感謝所有同事在第三季的辛勤工作，我們幫助客戶解決了他們最重要的挑戰。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Chad and then to Dan for additional comments. Chad?

說完這些，我將把電話轉給查德 (Chad)，然後轉給丹 (Dan) 以徵求進一步的意見。查德?

Thanks, Paul. Hello everyone. I want to update you on our capital deployment during the quarter. We concluded the quarter with $24.5 million of cash and $60 million of borrowings under our revolving credit facility, resulting in net debt of $35.5 million. These figures reflect $27 million of net payments made during the quarter to reduce borrowings under our revolving credit facility.

謝謝，保羅。大家好。我想向您介紹本季的資本部署情況。本季末，我們的現金餘額為 2,450 萬美元，循環信貸額度下的借款為 6,000 萬美元，淨債務為 3,550 萬美元。這些數字反映了本季為減少循環信貸額度下的借款而支付的 2,700 萬美元淨付款。

The third quarter of 2024 also saw net cash outlays for talent investments of $14.3 million and capital expenditures of $3 million. As a reminder, our capital expenditures are used to fund investments in our IT infrastructure and in our offices to support our consulting teams. Consistent with prior commentary for the full year of fiscal 2024 we expect to spend $16 million to $17 million on total capital expenditures.

2024 年第三季的人才投資淨現金支出為 1,430 萬美元，資本支出為 300 萬美元。提醒一下，我們的資本支出用於資助我們的 IT 基礎設施和辦公室的投資，以支持我們的諮詢團隊。與先前對 2024 財年全年的評論一致，我們預計總資本支出為 1,600 萬至 1,700 萬美元。

We also delivered $2.9 million of dividends to our shareholders during the third quarter, demonstrating our confidence in the quality of the business and reflecting our commitment to return capital to shareholders. Earlier today, we announced a 17% increase in our quarterly cash dividend from $0.42 to $0.49 per common share. This dividend will be payable on December 13, 2024, to shareholders of record as of November 26, 2024.

我們也在第三季向股東派發了 290 萬美元的股息，這顯示了我們對業務品質的信心，也反映了我們向股東回報資本的承諾。今天早些時候，我們宣布季度現金股息將從每股 0.42 美元增加 17% 至 0.49 美元。該股將於 2024 年 12 月 13 日支付給截至 2024 年 11 月 26 日登記在冊的股東。

Year-to-date, we have returned $42.2 million to our shareholders consisting of $8.9 million of dividend payments and $33.3 million for share repurchases. We currently have $13.1 million available under our share repurchase program.

年初至今，我們已向股東返還 4,220 萬美元，其中包括 890 萬美元的股息和 3,330 萬美元的股票回購。我們的股票回購計畫目前有 1,310 萬美元可用。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Dan for a few final comments. Dan?

說完這些，我會把電話轉給丹，請他發表一些最後的評論。擔？

Thanks, Chad. As a reminder, more expansive commentary on our financial results is available in the Investor Relations section of our website under prepared CFO remarks. Before we get to questions, let me provide a few additional metrics related to our performance in the third quarter of fiscal 2024.

謝謝，乍得。提醒一下，關於我們財務表現的更詳細的評論可以在我們網站的「投資者關係」部分的「準備好的財務長評論」中找到。在回答問題之前，讓我先提供一些與我們 2024 財年第三季業績相關的額外指標。

In terms of consultant headcount, we ended the quarter at 978, consisting of 156 officers, 560 other senior staff, and 262 junior staff. This represents a 3.6% decrease compared with the 1,014 consultant headcount reported at the end of Q3, fiscal 2023.

就顧問人數而言，本季末我們共有 978 名顧問，其中包括 156 名官員、560 名其他高級職員和 262 名初級職員。與 2023 財年第三季末報告的 1,014 名顧問人數相比，這一數字下降了 3.6%。

Non-GAAP selling, general and administrative expenses excluding the 2.4% attributable to commissions, the non-employee experts was 16.2% of revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 compared with 16.5% a year ago. The effective tax rate for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 on a non-GAAP basis was 28.5% compared with 18.0% on a non-GAAP basis for the third quarter of fiscal 2023. As a reminder, the prior year tax rate was positively impacted by the release of a reserve in a foreign jurisdiction.

2024 財年第三季度，非 GAAP 銷售、一般及行政費用（不包括歸因於佣金的 2.4%）、非僱員專家費用佔收入的 16.2%，而去年同期為 16.5%。2024 財年第三季的非 GAAP 有效稅率為 28.5%，而 2023 財年第三季的非 GAAP 有效稅率為 18.0%。提醒一下，去年的稅率受到了外國司法管轄區儲備金釋放的正面影響。

Turning to the balance sheet. DSO at the end of the third quarter was 122 days compared with 110 days at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2024. DSO in the third quarter consisted of 78 days of build and 44 days of unbilled.

轉向資產負債表。第三季末的 DSO 為 122 天，而 2024 財年第二季末的 DSO 為 110 天。第三季的 DSO 包括 78 天的建造時間和 44 天的未開票時間。

DSO typically follows a seasonal pattern with increases in the second and third fiscal quarters and a reduction in the fourth fiscal quarter. The fourth quarter, DSO reduction has ranged between 7% and 10% in each of the past three fiscal years.

DSO 通常遵循季節性模式，第二和第三財政季度增加，第四財政季度減少。在過去三個財年中，第四季的 DSO 減幅都在 7% 到 10% 之間。

Based on the quality of our receivables and strength of our cash collections quarter to date, we expect a similar reduction in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. We concluded the third quarter of fiscal 2024 with $24.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and a further $135.9 million of available capacity on our line of credit for total liquidity of $160.4 million.

根據我們的應收帳款品質和本季迄今的現金收款實力，我們預計 2024 財年第四季的降幅也將類似。截至 2024 財年第三季度，我們擁有 2,450 萬美元的現金和現金等價物，以及 1.359 億美元的可用信用額度，總流動資金為 1.604 億美元。

That concludes our prepared remarks. We will now open the call for questions, Rob, please go ahead.

我們的準備好的演講到此結束。我們現在開始提問，Rob，請開始。

(Operator Instructions) Andrew Nicholas, William Blair.

（操作員指令）安德魯·尼古拉斯，威廉·布萊爾。

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. First one, on talent and head count. Just wanted to get an update on how you're thinking about that trajectory going forward, especially in light of really good utilization quarter. Do you feel like you have enough people for the demand that you're seeing?

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我的問題。第一個問題，關於人才和人數。只是想了解您對未來發展軌蹟的看法，尤其是考慮到真正良好的利用率季度。您是否覺得我們有足夠的人員來滿足您所看到的需求？

And within that, and I think Paul you, you alluded to it briefly in the inflows and outflows of junior talent but looks like, we used to see in junior headcount pick up seasonally in the third quarter. I didn't see that this quarter. Anything to call out there or kind of where you sit in terms of the staffing ratio.

在此範圍內，我想保羅您曾簡要提到過初級人才的流入和流出，但看起來，我們過去常常看到初級人才數量在第三季度出現季節性增加。本季我還沒看到這一點。就人員配備比例而言，有什麼需要指出的嗎？

Sure. I think in order to address the headcount -- year over year headcount change in the third quarter, I have to talk about the headcount action taken during Q2, which impacted roughly about 80 consultants. If you take that into account, there is actually an expansion of heads year-over-year in the third quarter.

當然。我認為，為了解決第三季員工人數較去年同期變化的問題，我必須談談第二季採取的員工人數行動，這影響了約 80 名顧問。如果考慮到這一點，第三季度的同比銷量實際上有所增長。

The reason I raised that is what we're trying to do is direct the consulting resources to areas that are busier that have a higher probability of growth in the weeks and months ahead. And so, we are seeing growth in the areas that are driving the business, you see it in the utilization increase to 76%.

我提出這一點的原因是，我們正在嘗試將諮詢資源引導到更繁忙、未來幾週和幾個月內更有可能實現成長的領域。因此，我們看到推動業務發展的領域正在成長，您會看到利用率增加到 76%。

The other thing, I will note that the legal and regulatory area of our portfolio has been growing at a faster rate than the management consulting area. The management consulting area tends to run at a slightly lower utilization than the legal regulatory. And thus, we still have growth opportunities with the headcount that exists because we can run legal and regulatory at a higher clip.

另外，我要指出的是，我們投資組合中的法律和監管領域的成長速度比管理諮詢領域還要快。管理諮詢領域的使用率往往比法律監管領域的使用率略低。因此，我們在現有的員工數量下仍然有成長機會，因為我們可以以更高的速度運行法律和監管工作。

We're active in the market. There's no reluctance to hire, but we're just trying to be prudent with the additions of that and the timing of those additions. But we see no restrictions on the expansion of heads in the quarters ahead.

我們在市場上很活躍。我們並不是不願意招聘，但我們只是想謹慎地增加員工以及選擇增加員工的時機。但我們認為未來幾季內，業務擴張不會受到任何限制。

Great. And maybe since you brought it up, I'll ask about management consulting, hearing from some of your peers, seeing some headlines from privately held companies, it does feel like some of the more strategy focused work has been under pressure year-to-date.

偉大的。既然你提起這個問題，我可能會問一些關於管理諮詢的問題，聽取一些同行的意見，看到一些私營公司的頭條新聞，確實感覺今年迄今為止，一些更注重戰略的工作一直面臨壓力。

Can you talk a little bit about kind of demand dynamics there whether or not there's been any sort of stabilization or further deterioration over the last couple of months in that part of your business?

您能否談談那裡的需求動態？

Sure. I would say, let me talk about the two areas in our Life Sciences practice and then our Energy practice, which are very different stories for both. I would say Life Sciences has been in the stabilization phase for several quarters. What we're seeing is more of a sawtooth pattern in their performance quarter to quarter.

當然。我想說的是，讓我來談談我們的生命科學實踐和能源實踐中的兩個領域，這兩個領域對我們來說是非常不同的故事。我想說生命科學領域已經處於穩定階段好幾季了。我們看到的是其季度業績表現呈現鋸齒狀波動。

And really, what we're waiting for is the opportunity to start executing on some of the growth opportunities that are resident in that practice. I don't have a shrinking practice. I have a practice that is sort of going along that sawtooth quarter to quarter. So that comforts me. I would sure like us to get to the point where we are capitalizing on the growth opportunities that are resident in Life Sciences.

而實際上，我們正​​在等待機會開始執行該實踐中存在的一些成長機會。我沒有縮減的做法。我有一種做法，就是沿著鋸齒形四分之一又四分之一地行進。這讓我感到很安慰。我當然希望我們能夠充分利用生命科學領域的成長機會。

With respect to energy, it's been a wonderful period of time. We're seeing opportunities. We are hiring aggressively to bring the right kind of expertise to our portfolio, and we're being rewarded in the marketplace with strong demand for those services.

就能源而言，這是一段美好的時期。我們看到了機會。我們正在積極招募人才，為我們的投資組合帶來合適的專業知識，而市場對這些服務的需求強勁，也為我們帶來了回報。

So by no means, am I seeing a contraction or even described as a stabilization in the energy practice. I'm actually seeing very strong growth in the current quarter and very optimistic for the quarters ahead for that practice.

因此，我絕對沒有看到能量實踐的收縮，甚至沒有看到能量實踐的穩定性。我實際上看到本季度的成長非常強勁，並且對未來幾個季度的業績非常樂觀。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Thank you, Andrew.

謝謝你，安德魯。

Marc Riddick, The Sidoti & company.

馬克·里迪克 (Marc Riddick)、西多蒂 (Sidoti) 及公司。

Morning,

早晨，

Morning Mark.

早上好，馬克。

So I was wondering, thanks for all the details as far as, what we're seeing, especially on the top line. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the cadence through the quarter, whether that was sort of consistent through the quarter or was it something that picked up? How should we think about how the quarter went by maybe a monthly basis or so?

所以我想知道，感謝您提供我們所看到的所有細節，特別是在頂線方面。我想知道您是否可以稍微談談本季的節奏，是否在整個季度保持一致，還是有所回升？我們應該如何以月為單位來思考本季的進展？

Yeah. I have to admit, I'm a little bit scarred given what I experienced in Q3 of fiscal 2023, where we started with a strong July and then saw a deterioration. This quarter, we started with strength and that strength continued through the month of August and through the month of September.

是的。我必須承認，考慮到我在 2023 財年第三季度的經歷，我感到有點害怕，當時我們的業績從 7 月份的強勁增長開始，然後就開始惡化。本季度，我們開局強勁，這種強勁勢頭持續了整個八月和九月。

So I didn't see any kind of volatility in the performance. Strength led to more strength and we produced really attractive results in a quarter that is definitely impacted by high fringe rates, high vacation rates amongst our consulting colleagues.

因此我沒有看到表現有任何波動。實力不斷增強，我們在本季度取得了非常有吸引力的業績，這無疑受到了我們諮詢同事的高福利率和高休假率的影響。

Okay, great. And then I wanted to shift to antitrust for a moment and I appreciate the commentary that you had there. I was wondering if you could speak to, I mean, maybe what it is that we're seeing generally, is it just a matter of the things that you guys are working on or are larger in scale. Is it about being more complicated? Are these things taking longer, combination of all the above, like, what is it that we're that we're seeing now versus maybe the last few years?

好的，太好了。然後我想暫時轉到反壟斷話題，我很欣賞您的評論。我想知道你們是否可以談談，我的意思是，也許我們普遍看到的只是您正在研究的事情或更大規模的事情。是不是會變得更複雜？這些事情是否需要更長的時間，結合上述所有因素，我們現在看到的與過去幾年相比有什麼不同？

I wish I can say it's because of the strategic decisions of the CEO, but quite frankly, my colleagues in the antitrust and competition economics practice are damn good. They generally amaze me, quarter after quarter with the performance. Because you're talking about the largest practice at CRA, who is able not just to grow with large dollar increments, but still at their scale, able to grow significantly on a percentage basis.

我希望可以說這是因為執行長的策略決策，但坦白說，我的反壟斷和競爭經濟實踐同事非常出色。他們每季的表現都令我驚嘆。因為您談論的是 CRA 最大的業務，它不僅能夠隨著美元的大幅增長而增長，而且仍然能夠保持其規模，在百分比基礎上實現顯著增長。

And they're doing it across the M&A marketplace and the antitrust. Their projects are larger, are longer lived, but I would be remiss in not stating that they're also replenishing the pipeline constantly, that is driving that growth. It is not merely from the expansion of older projects or those older projects continuing.

他們在併購市場和反壟斷領域都這麼做。他們的專案規模更大，週期更長，但如果我不說他們也在不斷補充專案管道，那我就太失禮了，而這正是推動成長的動力。這不僅僅是舊項目的擴張或舊項目的延續。

Yes, we benefit from that, but it's just again, similar to the company as a whole. It's just strength, building on strength. What they're doing is exceptional and I don't want to just brush over it as, OG, they grew 30% in one quarter. That is really remarkable performance.

是的，我們從中受益，但這與整個公司的情況類似。這只是實力，在實力的基礎上進一步增強。他們所做的事情非常出色，我不想對此一帶而過，因為他們在一個季度內就增長了 30％。這真是非凡的表現。

Very, very much so. Maybe we could touch a little bit on -- you made commentary around lead flow. Maybe we could touch a little bit on maybe what you're seeing as far as the conversion and where that is relative to historical norms?

非常非常如此。也許我們可以稍微談談——您對潛在客戶流動發表了評論。也許我們可以稍微談談您所看到的轉變以及它與歷史規範的關係？

Sure. So last year, we had very last -- Q3 of fiscal '23 we had good lead flow, where we fell short is on the conversion of that lead flow to new generating project. This year, we were able to still grow lead flow by 8%. But the big change is we return to our historical norms of converting roughly two-thirds of our leads into revenue generating projects. So we're pretty pleased.

當然。因此，去年，我們在 23 財年第三季獲得了良好的潛在客戶流，但我們的不足之處在於將潛在客戶流量轉化為新的發電項目。今年，我們仍能使銷售線索流量成長 8%。但最大的改變是，我們回歸了歷史常態，即將約三分之二的潛在客戶轉化為創收項目。所以我們非常高興。

With that, the return to historical norms of roughly two-thirds. We've seen that now for about 12 months running. It started in Q4 of fiscal '23 and continued in Q1, in Q2, and Q3. So we're pretty pleased with that. It gave us the confidence to increase guidance at the -- during the Q2 fiscal '24 call. And we've seen nothing to make us regret that increase. We reaffirm guidance, we love the trend that we're on both on the profitability and on the revenue.

這樣一來，大約三分之二的產量就恢復到了歷史正常水準。我們已經連續 12 個月看到這種情況了。它始於 23 財年第四季度，並持續至第一季、第二季和第三季。我們對此非常滿意。這讓我們有信心在 2024 財年第二季電話會議中提高指引。我們並沒有看到任何令我們對此增長感到後悔的事情。我們重申指導方針，我們喜歡獲利能力和收入方面的趨勢。

Okay. And then the last one for me, I'm assuming is there anything that we should be thinking about for fourth quarter relative to any seasonality blips or I would imagine there would be sort of the normal holiday seasonality being taken into account with the maintaining the guidance and the likelihood. But are there any particular blips that we should be aware of or anything out of the ordinary?

好的。對我來說最後一個問題是，我假設我們是否應該考慮第四季度與季節性波動相關的任何事情，或者我認為應該將正常的假期季節性因素考慮在內，以維持指導和可能性。但是，是否存在什麼特別的故障需要我們注意，或者有什麼不尋常的情況呢？

Sure. I assure hope not. Because again, we've enjoyed consistency month to month, quarter to quarter, and I see no indication sitting here today that is going to change in the coming weeks. People are going to take vacations, spend time with their family as they should. But I feel good about where our service portfolio stands today.

當然。我確信希望不會。因為我們每個月、每季都保持著穩定的表現，而且我今天在這裡看到，沒有跡象表明這種情況會在未來幾週內發生變化。人們會去度假，與家人共度美好時光。但我對我們目前的服務組合感到很滿意。

Excellent. Thank you very much.

出色的。非常感謝。

Thank you. Mark.

謝謝。標記。

Kevin Steinke, Barrington Research.

Kevin Steinke, Barrington Research.

Hi, good morning, and congratulations on the continued strong results.

大家早安，恭喜您繼續取得強勁的業績。

Thank you, Kevin.

謝謝你，凱文。

Great. So I wanted to start off by asking about just trends in attrition, I know, that you had seen lower than normal attrition at the junior consultant ranks, which kind of contribute to that head-count action you referenced. Just wondering if you've seen kind of a more normalization there in attrition rates or at least a change from maybe where it was a couple a few quarters ago?

偉大的。因此，我想先問一下人員流失趨勢，我知道，您發現初級顧問級別的人員流失率低於正常水平，這對您提到的人員削減行動有所貢獻。只是想知道您是否看到員工流動率更加正常化，或者至少與幾個季度前的水平相比有所變化？

Sure. This is always a funny topic for me to address because I embrace having low attrition. But the challenge is you're trying to plan for the future, you're trying to plan for your hiring goals for the quarter and year ahead. And having an outlier in those projections just makes it a bit more challenging with it.

當然。對我來說，這始終是一個有趣的話題，因為我喜歡低流失率。但挑戰在於您正在嘗試規劃未來，您正在嘗試規劃未來一個季度和一年的招募目標。而這些預測中的異常值只會使預測變得更具挑戰性。

But our voluntary attrition rates are still trending on the low side for the company as a whole. We are planning accordingly. And I think we've done a pretty good job with that management as you can see through the utilization rate.

但就整個公司而言，自願離職率仍處於較低趨勢。我們正在製定相應計劃。我認為我們在管理方面做得非常好，您可以從利用率中看出這一點。

But I haven't seen anything start to turn in terms of an elevation of those voluntary attrition rates to date. Perhaps if the labor market begins to tighten, we will start seeing a more normalization, but it's nice to see that CRA is still a destination of choice for top consulting talent.

但到目前為止，我還沒有看到自願離職率有任何上升的跡象。也許，如果勞動市場開始收緊，我們將開始看到更正常化的情況，但很高興看到 CRA 仍然是頂尖諮詢人才的首選目的地。

Okay. Got it. Thanks. That's helpful. And I know you covered this pretty extensively in other settings, particularly your most recent Investor Day. But given the US election right around the corner here, can you maybe just review and refresh for investors thoughts on the regulatory environment, potential impact on demand trends for your business in the light of potential administration change.

好的。知道了。謝謝。這很有幫助。我知道您在其他場合已經非常廣泛地討論了這一點，特別是最近的投資者日。但考慮到美國大選即將到來，您能否為投資者回顧並更新對監管環境的看法，以及潛在的政府變動對貴公司業務需求趨勢的潛在影響。

I know there have been some more stringent guidelines put in place with regard to M&A and what have you. So just maybe if you could review all that, that would be helpful.

我知道在併購方面已經出台了一些更嚴格的指導方針，您知道嗎？所以也許如果你能回顧所有這些，那將會很有幫助。

Sure. So there are definitely positive demand drivers and offsets of those demand drivers associated with each potential administration here. I think we have the firm has operated successfully under both these administrations. So I think we're going to -- we are well positioned to adjust as consulting firms have to do constantly, you have to adjust to the needs of your clients.

當然。因此，這裡肯定存在著積極的需求驅動因素，以及與每個潛在管理部門相關的這些需求驅動因素的抵消因素。我認為我們公司在兩屆政府的領導下都成功運作。所以我認為我們會——我們已做好準備，像諮詢公司一樣不斷進行調整，必須根據客戶的需求進行調整。

And I think the strength of the overall service portfolio is going to allow us to do that. I feel unnecessarily ill prepared, but I'm just not informed enough to sit here and tell you M&A will go up and I trust will go down or vice versa. Who knows? But it will be that kind of mix of demand impacts and I think we'll do just fine in the quarters ahead, irrespective of who's elected President.

我認為整體服務組合的實力將使我們能夠做到這一點。我覺得自己沒有必要準備不足，但我只是沒有足夠的資訊坐在這裡告訴你併購將會增加，我相信會下降，反之亦然。誰知道呢？但這將是多種需求影響的結果，我認為無論誰當選總統，我們在未來幾季都會表現良好。

Okay, sounds great. Well, again, congratulations. I'll turn it back over.

好的，聽起來不錯。好吧，再次恭喜你。我會把它轉過來。

Thank you, Kevin, and thank you to everyone for participating. We appreciate your time and interest in CRA. We're going to be participating in meetings with investors in the coming weeks and months, and we look forward to updating you on our progress on our fourth quarter call early next year. With that, that concludes today's call. Thanks again to everyone for joining us today.

謝謝凱文，也謝謝大家的參與。我們感謝您花時間和對 CRA 的關注。我們將在未來幾週和幾個月內參加與投資者的會議，並期待在明年年初的第四季度電話會議上向您通報我們的進展。今天的通話到此結束。再次感謝大家今天的參加。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開您的線路，我們感謝您的參與。