信達思 (CTAS) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Cintas' First Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Release Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Paul Adler, Vice President and Treasurer, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir. Pardon the interruption Mr. Adler, we're unable to hear you.

大家好，歡迎參加 Cintas 2023 財年第一季度收益發布電話會議。今天的電話正在錄音。在這個時候，我想把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管 Paul Adler 先生。請繼續，先生。請原諒打擾阿德勒先生，我們聽不到你的聲音。

Thank you. Yes, we were still on mute. So thank you for joining us. With me is Todd Schneider, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Mike Hansen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will discuss our fiscal 2023 first quarter results. After our commentary, we will open the call to questions from analysts.

謝謝你。是的，我們仍然處於靜音狀態。所以感謝您加入我們。與我同行的是總裁兼首席執行官 Todd Schneider；以及執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Mike Hansen。我們將討論我們的 2023 財年第一季度業績。在我們發表評論後，我們將向分析師提問。

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor from civil litigation for forward-looking statements. This conference call contains forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views as to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those we may discuss. I refer you to the discussion on these points contained in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

1995 年的《私人證券訴訟改革法案》為前瞻性陳述提供了避免民事訴訟的安全港。本次電話會議包含反映公司當前對未來事件和財務業績的看法的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們可能討論的結果大不相同。我建議您參考我們最近提交給證券交易委員會的文件中關於這些要點的討論。

I'll now turn the call over to Todd.

我現在把電話轉給托德。

Thank you, Paul. We are pleased with our start to our fiscal year 2023. First quarter total revenue grew 14.2%. Each of our businesses increased revenue at a double-digit rate. The benefits of our strong revenue growth flowed through to our bottom line. Excluding a onetime gain recorded in last year's first quarter selling and administrative expenses, operating income margin increased 20 basis points, and EPS grew 12.3%.

謝謝你，保羅。我們對 2023 財年的開始感到滿意。第一季度總收入增長了 14.2%。我們的每項業務都以兩位數的速度增加了收入。我們強勁的收入增長帶來的好處流向了我們的底線。剔除去年第一季度銷售和管理費用的一次性收益，營業利潤率增長了 20 個基點，每股收益增長了 12.3%。

Our sales force continues to add new customers and penetrate and cross-sell our existing customer base. Businesses prioritize all we provide, including image, safety, cleanliness and compliance. In challenge with labor scarcity and rising costs, businesses continue to turn to Cintas to help them get ready for the work day. I thank our employees, whom we call partners, for their continued focus on our customers, our shareholders and each other.

我們的銷售人員繼續增加新客戶，並滲透和交叉銷售我們現有的客戶群。企業優先考慮我們提供的一切，包括形象、安全、清潔和合規。面對勞動力稀缺和成本上升的挑戰，企業繼續求助於 Cintas 來幫助他們為工作日做好準備。我感謝我們的員工，我們稱之為合作夥伴，他們持續關注我們的客戶、股東和彼此。

Turning now to our business units. The Uniform Rental and Facility Services operating segment revenue for the first quarter of fiscal '23 was $1.70 billion compared to $1.51 billion last year. Organic revenue growth was 12.3%. Revenue growth was driven mostly from increased volume. Additionally, price increases contributed at a higher level than historically. We believe such a mix of revenue drivers, volume versus price, is healthy and supportive of continued long-term growth.

現在轉向我們的業務部門。 23財年第一季度統一租賃和設施服務運營部門的收入為17億美元，而去年為15.1億美元。有機收入增長為 12.3%。收入增長主要來自銷量增長。此外，價格上漲的貢獻高於歷史水平。我們認為，這種收入驅動因素（數量與價格）的組合是健康的，並支持持續的長期增長。

Our First Aid and Safety Services operating segment revenue for the first quarter was $234.2 million compared to $199.1 million last year. Organic revenue growth was 15.8%. This rate reflects the continued momentum of our First Aid Cabinet business, which continues to grow more than 20%. Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE, while still elevated compared to pre-COVID levels, declined again on a sequential basis. We welcome this mix shift because the cabinet service is a more consistent revenue stream that has higher profit margins in PPE.

我們第一季度的急救和安全服務運營部門收入為 2.342 億美元，而去年為 1.991 億美元。有機收入增長為 15.8%。這一比率反映了我們急救櫃業務的持續增長勢頭，該業務繼續增長超過 20%。個人防護裝備（PPE）雖然仍高於 COVID 之前的水平，但仍連續下降。我們歡迎這種混合轉變，因為櫥櫃服務是一種更一致的收入來源，在 PPE 中具有更高的利潤率。

Our Fire Protection Services and Uniform Direct Sale businesses are reported in the All Other segment. All Other revenue was $234.5 million compared to $189.7 million last year. The Fire business organic revenue growth rate was 17.4%, and the Uniform Direct Sale business organic growth rate was 44.1%.

我們的消防服務和統一直銷業務在所有其他部門報告。所有其他收入為 2.345 億美元，而去年為 1.897 億美元。消防業務有機收入增長率為 17.4%，統一直銷業務有機增長率為 44.1%。

Before turning the call over to Mike to provide additional details on our first quarter results, I'll provide our updated financial expectations for our fiscal year. We are increasing our financial guidance. We are raising our annual revenue expectations from a range of $8.47 billion to $8.58 billion to a range of $8.58 billion to $8.67 billion. Also, we are raising our annual diluted EPS expectations from a range of $11.90 to $12.30 to a range of $12.30 to $12.65. Mike?

在將電話轉給邁克以提供有關我們第一季度業績的更多詳細信息之前，我將提供我們對本財年的最新財務預期。我們正在增加我們的財務指導。我們正在將年收入預期從 84.7 億美元到 85.8 億美元提高到 85.8 億美元到 86.7 億美元。此外，我們將年度攤薄後每股收益預期從 11.90 美元至 12.30 美元提高到 12.30 美元至 12.65 美元。麥克風？

Thanks, Todd, and good morning. Our fiscal 2023 first quarter revenue was $2.17 billion compared to $1.9 billion last year. The organic revenue growth rate adjusted for acquisitions, divestitures and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations was 13.9%. Gross margin for the first quarter of fiscal '23 was $1.03 billion compared to $902.8 million last year, an increase of 13.9%. Gross margin as a percent of revenue was 47.5% for the first quarter of fiscal '23 compared to 47.6% last year. Energy expenses comprised of gasoline, natural gas and electricity were a headwind, increasing 30 basis points from last year.

謝謝，托德，早上好。我們 2023 財年第一季度的收入為 21.7 億美元，而去年為 19 億美元。經收購、剝離和外匯匯率波動調整後的有機收入增長率為 13.9%。 23財年第一季度的毛利率為10.3億美元，而去年同期為9.028億美元，增長了13.9%。 23財年第一季度毛利率佔收入的百分比為47.5%，而去年為47.6%。包括汽油、天然氣和電力在內的能源支出是不利因素，比去年增加了 30 個基點。

Gross margin percentage by business was 47.5% for Uniform Rental and Facility Services, 49.6% for First Aid and Safety Services, 48.8% for Fire Protection Services and 37.3% for Uniform Direct sale. Operating income of $440.1 million compared to $394.1 million last year. Excluding last year's first quarter gain totaling $12.1 million and recorded in selling and administrative expenses, fiscal '23 first quarter operating income increased 15.2% and operating income margin increased 20 basis points to 20.3% from 20.1% last year. Our effective tax rate for the first quarter was 14.8% compared to 11% last year. The tax rate can move from period to period based on discrete events, including the amount of stock compensation expense.

統一租賃和設施服務的毛利率為 47.5%，急救和安全服務為 49.6%，消防服務為 48.8%，統一直銷為 37.3%。營業收入為 4.401 億美元，而去年為 3.941 億美元。剔除去年第一季度總計 1210 萬美元的收益併計入銷售和管理費用後，23 財年第一季度營業收入增長 15.2%，營業利潤率從去年的 20.1% 增長 20 個基點至 20.3%。我們第一季度的有效稅率為 14.8%，而去年為 11%。稅率可以根據離散事件從一個時期轉移到另一個時期，包括股票補償費用的金額。

Net income for the first quarter was $351.7 million compared to $331.2 million last year. Last year's first quarter diluted EPS contained $0.09 from the previously mentioned gain and related income tax expense. Excluding the gain and the related income tax expense, this year's diluted EPS of $3.39 compared to $3.02 last year, an increase of 12.3%. First quarter operating cash flow increased 13.8%. On June 15, 2022, we paid shareholders $97.7 million in quarterly dividends. Also during the quarter, we purchased $210.8 million of Cintas' common stock under our buyback program.

第一季度的淨收入為 3.517 億美元，而去年為 3.312 億美元。去年第一季度攤薄後每股收益包含 0.09 美元，來自前面提到的收益和相關所得稅費用。剔除收益和相關所得稅費用，今年攤薄後每股收益為 3.39 美元，比去年的 3.02 美元增長 12.3%。第一季度經營現金流量增長 13.8%。 2022 年 6 月 15 日，我們向股東支付了 9770 萬美元的季度股息。同樣在本季度，我們根據我們的回購計劃購買了 2.108 億美元的 Cintas 普通股。

We continue to allocate capital in many ways to improve shareholder return. Our strong balance sheet and cash flow enable us to do so consistently. Todd provided our annual financial guidance. Related to the guidance, please note the following: fiscal '22 included not only the gain on sale of operating assets in the first quarter, but also a gain on an equity method investment in the third quarter. Excluding these items, fiscal '22 operating income was $1.55 billion, a margin of 19.7% and diluted EPS was $11.28. Please see the table in our earnings press release for more information.

我們繼續以多種方式分配資本以提高股東回報。我們強大的資產負債表和現金流使我們能夠始終如一地做到這一點。托德提供了我們的年度財務指導。與指導相關，請注意以下幾點：22 財年不僅包括第一季度出售經營資產的收益，還包括第三季度權益法投資的收益。不包括這些項目，22 財年的營業收入為 15.5 億美元，利潤率為 19.7%，攤薄後每股收益為 11.28 美元。有關更多信息，請參閱我們的收益新聞稿中的表格。

Fiscal '23 operating income is expected to be in the range of $1.72 billion to $1.76 billion, compared to $1.55 billion in fiscal '22 after excluding the gains. Fiscal '23 interest expense is expected to be approximately $110 million compared to $88.8 million in fiscal '22 due in part to higher interest rates. Our fiscal '23 effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 20%. This compares to a rate of 17.9% in fiscal '22 after excluding the gains and their related tax impacts. The expected higher effective tax rate will negatively impact fiscal '23 diluted EPS by approximately $0.32 and diluted EPS growth by approximately 290 basis points.

'23 財年的營業收入預計在 17.2 億美元至 17.6 億美元之間，而 '22 財年扣除收益後的營業收入為 15.5 億美元。 '23 財年的利息支出預計約為 1.1 億美元，而 '22 財年的利息支出為 8880 萬美元，部分原因是利率較高。我們的 23 財年有效稅率預計約為 20%。相比之下，扣除收益及其相關稅收影響後，22 財年的稅率為 17.9%。預期較高的有效稅率將對 23 財年攤薄每股收益產生約 0.32 美元的負面影響，攤薄每股收益增長約 290 個基點。

Our financial guidance does not include the impact of any future share buybacks, and we remain in a dynamic environment that can continue to change. Our guidance contemplates a stable economy and excludes pandemic-related setbacks or economic downturns.

我們的財務指導不包括任何未來股票回購的影響，我們仍然處於一個可以繼續變化的動態環境中。我們的指導考慮了穩定的經濟，不包括與大流行相關的挫折或經濟衰退。

I'll turn it back over to Paul.

我會把它還給保羅。

That concludes our prepared remarks. Now we are happy to answer questions from the analysts. Please ask just 1 question and a single follow-up if needed. Thank you.

我們準備好的發言到此結束。現在我們很高興回答分析師的問題。如果需要，請僅提出 1 個問題和一次跟進。謝謝你。

(Operator Instructions) We'll now take our first question from Ashish Sabadra of RBC Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們現在將回答加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的 Ashish Sabadra 的第一個問題。

I was wondering if you could just comment on the new business trend, specifically around signing up new customers. Have you seen any changes there? And any signs of elongation of sales cycle, particularly for larger customers?

我想知道您是否可以就新的業務趨勢發表評論，特別是在註冊新客戶方面。你看到那裡有什麼變化嗎？是否有任何銷售週期延長的跡象，尤其是對於大客戶而言？

Ashish, this is Todd. Thanks for the question. Yes, our new business is quite robust. We continue to be very successful in converting over no programmers into our programs in all of our businesses with the exception of Fire, which obviously they're all -- everyone's a programmer in that business. But we're having really good success there.

阿什，這是托德。謝謝你的問題。是的，我們的新業務相當穩健。我們繼續非常成功地在我們所有業務中將沒有程序員轉換為我們的程序，除了 Fire，很明顯他們都是——每個人都是該業務的程序員。但我們在那裡取得了非常好的成功。

And we look at the total addressable market, and it's still incredibly large and growing. So that's exciting for us. But as far as the sales cycle, I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that the sales cycle is elongating. We've got really good momentum in our new business. I'm very encouraged by that. And as we've spoken about in the past, some of our investments that we have made are really paying off big in the form of some of our unique products in our rental line with our Carhartt products, our Chef Works and we've got a CareFlex line of scrubs through Landau that's really successful in our restroom -- unique restroom lines.

我們看看整個潛在市場，它仍然非常大並且還在增長。所以這對我們來說很令人興奮。但就銷售週期而言，我還沒有看到任何能讓我相信銷售週期正在延長的事情。我們的新業務發展勢頭很好。我對此感到非常鼓舞。正如我們過去所說，我們所做的一些投資確實以我們在租賃線上的一些獨特產品的形式獲得了豐厚的回報，包括我們的 Carhartt 產品、我們的 Chef Works 和我們有穿過 Landau 的 CareFlex 系列磨砂膏在我們的衛生間中非常成功——獨特的衛生間系列。

And then our First Aid business, just the breadth of products that we're offering is really helping us get in the door and provide great products and services to our customers. We're also seeing our investments in technology that we've made, whether it's our garment tracking that is giving us a real advantage in the marketplace, our garment dispensing that we've seen.

然後是我們的急救業務，我們提供的產品的廣度確實幫助我們進入市場並為我們的客戶提供優質的產品和服務。我們還看到了我們在技術上的投資，無論是我們的服裝追踪給我們帶來了市場上的真正優勢，還是我們已經看到的服裝分配。

And I've spoken about our MyCintas portal, which is unique and an advantage in the marketplace. It makes it easier to do business with us, and that's important for our customers and gives our sales partners confidence in walking in the door. So some really good things in -- heading in that direction.

我已經談到了我們的 MyCintas 門戶，它是獨一無二的，並且在市場上具有優勢。它使與我們做生意變得更容易，這對我們的客戶很重要，也讓我們的銷售合作夥伴有信心走進門來。所以一些非常好的事情 - 朝著那個方向前進。

That's very helpful color. And obviously, great to see that strong momentum in the top line. Maybe just on the margins. The question around energy, it looks like oil prices might be rolling off here, or at least the fuel prices may be rolling off, but the natural gas prices are going up. How should we think about those puts and takes on the energy front for the rest of the year?

這是非常有用的顏色。顯然，很高興看到頂線的強勁勢頭。也許只是在邊緣。關於能源的問題，看起來油價可能會在這裡下跌，或者至少燃料價格可能會下跌，但天然氣價格正在上漲。在今年餘下的時間裡，我們應該如何看待那些在能源領域的投入和投入？

Yes. So when you think about our energy spend, certainly, it's up over where we were a year over prior. It's down 10 basis points sequentially. Trying to anticipate exactly where that's going to head is challenging, certainly. But I can tell you this, we're focused on efficiencies that we can drive in our business that will lower our needs for natural gas and lower our needs for gas at the pump, and we're leveraging those.

是的。因此，當您考慮我們的能源消耗時，當然，它比我們一年前的水平要高。它連續下降了10個基點。當然，試圖準確預測未來的發展方向是一項挑戰。但我可以告訴你，我們專注於提高業務效率，這將降低我們對天然氣的需求並降低我們對泵氣的需求，我們正在利用這些。

And that's helping us. That helps us with our CO2 emissions, and it helps us with our efficiencies in our business and our spend. And we're confident we can continue to make strides there. So that's -- where exactly natural gas prices will go this winter with what's going on in Europe and other areas, it's tough to tell for sure. But we'll manage through it, and we see opportunities to improve in our business and we're leveraging that.

這對我們有幫助。這有助於我們減少二氧化碳排放，並幫助我們提高業務和支出的效率。我們相信我們可以繼續在那裡取得進展。所以這就是 - 今年冬天天然氣價格究竟會在歐洲和其他地區發生什麼，很難確定。但我們會度過難關，我們看到了改善業務的機會，我們正在利用它。

Ashish, I might add that right around 60% of our energy spend is the gas -- or gas and diesel. And the remainder is electricity and natural gas. So the natural gas is a smaller component of that energy spend. More of it is the price at the pump, which as you suggested, is coming down.

Ashish，我可能會補充說，我們大約 60% 的能源消耗是天然氣——或天然氣和柴油。其餘的是電力和天然氣。因此，天然氣在能源消耗中所佔的比例較小。更多的是泵的價格，正如你所建議的，它正在下降。

And we'll now take our next question from George Tong of Goldman Sachs.

我們現在將向高盛的 George Tong 提出下一個問題。

In the quarter, approximately what percentage of new business growth came from the no programmer market.

在本季度，大約有多少百分比的新業務增長來自無程序員市場。

George, this is Todd. The majority of our accounts are -- come from no programmers. So that is -- that trend has been consistent over the years and continues. And in a marketplace where it's still difficult for employers to find people to work offering a value of this and the way we handle it with uniforms is attractive for them.

喬治，這是托德。我們的大多數帳戶都不是來自程序員。這就是——這種趨勢多年來一直是一致的，並且還在繼續。在一個雇主仍然很難找到提供這種價值的人的市場中，我們用制服處理它的方式對他們很有吸引力。

So it's another benefit for customers. And they see that as an opportunity to attract their employees and retain their employees. And we have one heck of an offering when it comes to that, that makes it really attractive for people. So I'd say those trends continue as they have been in the past.

因此，這對客戶來說是另一個好處。他們認為這是吸引員工和留住員工的機會。在這方面，我們有一個非常棒的產品，這使得它對人們非常有吸引力。所以我想說這些趨勢像過去一樣繼續存在。

Got it. Can you provide an update on uniform demand trends from the health care vertical?

知道了。您能否提供有關醫療保健垂直領域統一需求趨勢的最新信息？

Yes, certainly. So the health care vertical is a very attractive vertical for us. It's growing nicely. Demographics are such in the United States and Canada that, that demand will continue. And we're seeing -- we have some unique offerings in that area with garment dispensing and our unique scrub line that makes it attractive.

是的，當然了。所以醫療保健垂直對我們來說是一個非常有吸引力的垂直。它長得很好。美國和加拿大的人口結構如此，這種需求將持續下去。我們正在看到——我們在該領域提供了一些獨特的產品，包括服裝分配和我們獨特的磨砂線，使其具有吸引力。

There are certainly other items that are -- that we lent into the health care market, whether it'd be in acute or non-acute. But we're -- we really like what we're seeing there from that demand. And I'll just -- I'll give you one example of a hospital that about 6 months ago, we sold a scrub rental program into that account.

當然還有其他項目——我們藉給醫療保健市場，無論是急性的還是非急性的。但我們 - 我們真的很喜歡我們從需求中看到的東西。我只是 - 我會給你一個醫院的例子，大約 6 個月前，我們向該帳戶出售了一個磨砂租賃計劃。

And it was a nice -- very nice size customer that you would recognize the name. In that case, the nurses that we were providing the program to, they were laundering the products at home. And the nurse has voiced a concern about safety, meaning, hey, what am I taking home? I'm laundering it? Am I laundering it correctly? And in that case, they chose Cintas because of a few things. One is our technology that we've deployed, that's unique that allows us to manage inventory for them, which provides the requisite access to the product, which is really, really important and also helps control their costs based upon how we manage that inventory. But also improves the safety aspect of it, separate from being an employee benefit. Because those, what I'll call, potentially contaminated goods or scrubs, they don't go home. We launder them appropriately via our hygienic process, hygienically cleaning process, which allows them to have the confidence that they're processed correctly and one that has improved safety.

這是一個很好的 - 非常好的尺寸客戶，你會認出這個名字。在那種情況下，我們向其提供該計劃的護士，他們正在家裡清洗產品。護士表達了對安全的擔憂，意思是，嘿，我要帶什麼回家？我洗嗎？我洗得對嗎？在那種情況下，他們選擇 Cintas 是因為一些原因。一個是我們部署的技術，這是獨一無二的，它允許我們為他們管理庫存，這提供了對產品的必要訪問，這非常非常重要，並且還有助於根據我們管理庫存的方式控制他們的成本。但也提高了它的安全性，與員工福利分開。因為那些，我稱之為潛在污染的商品或磨砂膏，它們不會回家。我們通過我們的衛生流程、衛生清潔流程對它們進行適當的清洗，這使它們能夠確信它們得到了正確的處理並且提高了安全性。

And just as an anecdote, I mentioned that was about 6 months ago, just recently we sold a microfiber white rental program to that same hospital. And so they use microfiber wipes in many ways, but -- and the most obvious one is when they're cleaning guest rooms or patient rooms, we should say.

作為一個軼事，我提到大約 6 個月前，就在最近我們向同一家醫院出售了超細纖維白色租賃計劃。所以他們在很多方面都使用超細纖維擦拭巾，但是——我們應該說，最明顯的一種是在他們打掃客房或病房時。

In this case, that particular hospital, they were purchasing those wipes and then they were having the, I'll call them, the hospital employees, or EBS type folks, that were cleaning those on their on-premise laundry. And in that case, they chose Cintas because it was able to -- we were able to reduce their labor costs. They're having troubles getting access to labor.

在這種情況下，那家特定的醫院，他們購買了這些濕巾，然後他們有，我會打電話給他們，醫院員工或 EBS 類型的人，他們在他們的內部洗衣店清潔這些濕巾。在那種情況下，他們選擇了 Cintas，因為它能夠——我們能夠降低他們的勞動力成本。他們很難獲得勞動力。

And then, again, we're processing those in a manner where they can have great confidence that they're processed correctly with a hygienically clean process. So you asked your original question, George, was about uniform demand in hospitals, which is quite good. But it also -- there's so much that we can provide to those hospitals. And I just want to give one example to just give a little color around that.

然後，再一次，我們正在以一種讓他們非常有信心通過衛生清潔的過程正確處理它們的方式來處理它們。所以你問了你最初的問題，喬治，是關於醫院的製服需求，這很好。但它也 - 我們可以為這些醫院提供很多東西。我只想舉一個例子來給它一點顏色。

I will now take our next question from Andy Wittmann of Baird.

我現在將向 Baird 的 Andy Wittmann 提出我們的下一個問題。

I guess, Mike, I just wanted to talk a little bit about what is implied in the guidance here. Maybe a couple of different ways to think about that. But how much conservatism is baked into the guidance? I know you made a couple of comments in the prepared remarks.

我想，邁克，我只是想談談這裡的指導所暗示的內容。也許有幾種不同的方式來考慮這一點。但是，指導中包含了多少保守主義？我知道你在準備好的評論中發表了一些評論。

Is there any change maybe sequentially to the guidance the way you're factoring in the macro outlook? And maybe any leading indicators that you can give us that gives us confidence that the economy is performing at the rate that you think it is.

與您考慮宏觀前景的方式一樣，指導方針是否有任何變化？也許你能給我們的任何領先指標讓我們相信經濟正在以你認為的速度運行。

Well, so let me start, Andy, with the guidance. The guidance implies -- and we're 60 days past when we gave the initial guidance. The guidance implies a really good growth through the rest of the year. But as you know, we do face some tougher comps as we saw the business pick up last year -- throughout the year.

好吧，讓我從指導開始吧，安迪。該指導暗示——我們給出最初指導的時間已經過去了 60 天。該指導意味著今年剩餘時間的增長非常好。但如您所知，我們確實面臨一些更艱難的競爭，因為我們看到去年的業務回升 - 全年。

And so we would expect a little bit of deceleration from the growth levels of where we are, but still healthy growth and ending the year in a range of 9% to over 10%. And we like the momentum of the business today. And our expectation right now is that we're not seeing any change in the value that our customers are seeing, and we're not changing -- we're not seeing any change in the way -- in the economy, I'll say.

因此，我們預計我們目前的增長水平會出現一點減速，但仍然是健康的增長，並且年底的增長幅度在 9% 到 10% 以上。我們喜歡今天的業務發展勢頭。我們現在的期望是，我們沒有看到客戶所看到的價值發生任何變化，而且我們沒有改變——我們沒有看到方式發生任何變化——在經濟方面，我會說。

Now maybe I'll flip to margins briefly. Our margin expectation remains that we will see margin improvement during the year in that range that we provided. It certainly contemplates that margin improvement even in a pretty challenging type of economic environment. So the guidance is a little bit better than we gave 60 days ago, part because of the first quarter, part because of the momentum that we see in the business.

現在也許我會簡單地翻到頁邊空白。我們的利潤率預期仍然是，我們將在我們提供的這一範圍內看到今年的利潤率改善。即使在極具挑戰性的經濟環境中，它當然也考慮到利潤率的提高。因此，該指導比我們 60 天前給出的要好一些，部分原因是第一季度，部分原因是我們在業務中看到的勢頭。

Now as it relates to trying to dissect what the economic picture is going to look like for the rest of the year, look, it's -- that's -- that can be pretty difficult, right? I mean, there are some who say we may be in a recession today. There are some who would say, we may be in a recession early 2023. Some would say we may be in a recession late in '23.

現在，當它涉及到試圖剖析今年剩餘時間的經濟情況時，看，這 - 那是 - 這可能非常困難，對吧？我的意思是，有些人說我們今天可能會陷入衰退。有人會說，我們可能會在 2023 年初陷入衰退。有人會說，我們可能會在 23 年末陷入衰退。

The Fed has come out and said GDP for '23 is going to be 1.2%. It's hard to predict what we're going to see in the economic picture as we move forward. But what we know is that the momentum in our business today is really good. The value proposition that our customers see and our prospects see, they're reacting very positively to it. And because of that and many other factors, we believe that momentum can continue along with healthy margins. And that's what we've given you in our guidance. Does that help answer that question a bit?

美聯儲已經出來說 23 年的 GDP 將達到 1.2%。在我們前進的過程中，很難預測我們將在經濟形勢中看到什麼。但我們所知道的是，我們今天的業務發展勢頭非常好。我們的客戶和我們的潛在客戶看到的價值主張，他們對此反應非常積極。由於這個和許多其他因素，我們相信這種勢頭可以隨著健康的利潤率而繼續下去。這就是我們在指導中為您提供的內容。這有助於回答這個問題嗎？

It does. I guess I wanted to then follow up with a question on, I guess, overall customer retention levels, considering that you're getting above historical averages in price increases, I thought maybe it would be helpful to comment on that.

確實如此。我想我想隨後提出一個關於整體客戶保留水平的問題，考慮到您的價格上漲高於歷史平均水平，我認為對此發表評論可能會有所幫助。

And you guys have talked about the sales [engine] in a couple of different ways. But if you look at sales productivity on a per head basis, is that metric up on a year-over-year basis as well?

你們已經以幾種不同的方式談論了銷售[引擎]。但是，如果您按人均計算銷售生產力，該指標是否也同比上升？

Andy, thanks for the question. This is Todd. First off, on retention, yes, our retention is very good. We like where that is. We like the momentum around that. We're organizing around it appropriately to make sure that we're meeting and exceeding our customers' demands. And we like our -- the product and service offering that we have. And the customers find it attractive.

安迪，謝謝你的問題。這是托德。首先，關於留存率，是的，我們的留存率非常好。我們喜歡那個地方。我們喜歡這方面的勢頭。我們正在圍繞它進行適當的組織，以確保我們滿足並超越客戶的需求。我們喜歡我們擁有的產品和服務。客戶覺得它很有吸引力。

I mentioned some of the products and the technology that we have that are unique, and the customers like it. I think they also like our approach that we took over the past couple of years about being really flexible and empathetic with them as they were going through -- what they went through the various businesses through calendar '21 and calendar '22 -- '20 and '21, I should say, with the pandemic.

我提到了我們擁有的一些獨特的產品和技術，並且客戶喜歡它。我認為他們也喜歡我們在過去幾年中採取的方法，即在他們經歷時非常靈活和同情他們——他們通過日曆 '21 和日曆 '22 - '20 經歷了各種業務和'21，我應該說，與大流行。

So I think that was -- that is benefiting us because they saw that we were -- we understood what they were challenged with, and we pivoted to provide them what they needed, instead of just telling them, hey, here's what you were contracted to buy. So I think all that is paying off.

所以我認為這對我們有利，因為他們看到了我們——我們了解他們面臨的挑戰，我們轉向為他們提供他們需要的東西，而不是僅僅告訴他們，嘿，這就是你的合同買。所以我認為這一切都得到了回報。

As far as productivity and new business, yes, we like it. It's up. And we are -- certainly, we love our sales force. There -- we think they're well trained, well positioned. When sales partners have confidence in the products and the technology and the services that they're going to provide, that confidence is powerful. And it's showing itself in productivity and we like that.

就生產力和新業務而言，是的，我們喜歡它。它起來了。我們——當然，我們熱愛我們的銷售隊伍。那裡 - 我們認為他們訓練有素，定位良好。當銷售合作夥伴對他們將要提供的產品、技術和服務充滿信心時，這種信心就會變得強大。它在生產力方面表現出來，我們喜歡這樣。

We're also deploying other types of technology via our investment with SAP. That's paying off in a number of ways. I'll just give you one as it relates to sales, which is investing in technology that allows for, what I'll call, best next prospect for a sales partner. Meaning instead of just calling blindly on businesses, we want to drive to our sales team who are -- who will be the next best prospect to call which, through analytics, we can tell them where to spend their time. And that's better for the partner, that's better for our company. Again, that provides more confidence. And yes, so that -- those types of investments are paying dividends for us.

我們還通過對 SAP 的投資部署其他類型的技術。這在很多方面都得到了回報。我只給你一個與銷售有關的問題，即投資於技術，讓我稱之為銷售合作夥伴的最佳下一個前景。這意味著，我們不想只是盲目地打電話給企業，而是希望我們的銷售團隊——誰將成為下一個最好的潛在客戶，通過分析，我們可以告訴他們把時間花在哪裡。這對合作夥伴更好，對我們公司也更好。同樣，這提供了更多的信心。是的，所以——這些類型的投資正在為我們帶來紅利。

We can now take our next question from Tim Mulrooney of William Blair.

我們現在可以向威廉布萊爾的蒂姆穆魯尼提出我們的下一個問題。

We know energy was a slight headwind to margins in the quarter relative to last year, but gross margins were only down 10 basis points. So I was curious how some of the other cost buckets are trending? How are labor costs trending? Were those a headwind or a tailwind to margins? And anything else big to point out here like maybe materials and supplies.

我們知道，與去年相比，能源在本季度的利潤率略有下降，但毛利率僅下降了 10 個基點。所以我很好奇其他一些成本桶的趨勢如何？勞動力成本趨勢如何？這些是利潤的逆風還是順風？還有其他需要指出的重要內容，例如材料和用品。

Tim, maybe I'll start on that. From a gross margin perspective, you're right, we're down 10 basis points from last year in a period where total energy expenses are up 30 basis points. We're up 190 basis points sequentially. And so we've seen some nice improvement there.

蒂姆，也許我會從那個開始。從毛利率的角度來看，你是對的，在總能源支出上升 30 個基點的時期，我們比去年下降了 10 個基點。我們連續上漲 190 個基點。所以我們在那裡看到了一些不錯的改進。

And look, when you think about that rental number of 47.5%, that's a really good gross margin for us. We've only been higher than that a few times, and that certainly is a much greater gross margin than we saw pre-pandemic. So we like the -- where we are in that space. We like the sequential improvement in the gross margin, which is pretty good.

看，當你考慮到 47.5% 的租金數字時，這對我們來說是一個非常好的毛利率。我們只比這個高了幾次，這肯定比我們在大流行前看到的毛利率要高得多。所以我們喜歡 - 我們在那個空間中的位置。我們喜歡毛利率的連續改善，這非常好。

And we're doing it while we have -- we've seen such good growth in volume over the course of the last year, and we're able to be pretty flat overall in gross margins while we're investing in the business. So in other words, that volume growth over the last 12 months has certainly created the need for additional capacity, particularly in our laundry facilities, and we're investing as we should because we certainly want to make sure we have the capacity to serve the customer.

我們正在這樣做——在過去的一年中，我們的銷量增長如此之快，而且在我們投資業務的同時，我們的毛利率總體上相當平穩。換句話說，過去 12 個月的銷量增長無疑創造了對額外容量的需求，特別是在我們的洗衣設施方面，我們正在盡我們所能進行投資，因為我們當然希望確保我們有能力為顧客。

And so nothing -- I would say nothing unusual to point out in there other than we continue to make the progress that we want to make. The only other thing I might say about that gross margin is we're seeing an all-time high in our First Aid and Safety business. And we continue to like the way that business is trending and the mix back towards that First Aid business that we love so much.

所以沒什麼 - 除了我們繼續取得我們想要取得的進展之外，我想說沒有什麼不尋常的地方可以指出。關於毛利率，我唯一要說的另一件事是，我們的急救和安全業務創下歷史新高。我們繼續喜歡這種業務趨勢的方式，以及我們非常喜歡的急救業務的組合。

Todd mentioned that the first Aid Part of that business is over 20% growth still. And we've seen some really nice movement there. So again, nothing real specific to point out, other than making good sequential progress and certainly continuing to invest for our future growth.

托德提到，該業務的急救部分仍有超過 20% 的增長。我們在那裡看到了一些非常好的運動。再說一次，除了取得良好的連續進展並肯定會繼續為我們的未來增長投資之外，沒有什麼特別要指出的。

Yes, thanks Mike. I guess my follow-up, we'll just stick on that point, the First Aid and Safety gross margin really stuck out to me in the quarter. I mean, you're almost at 50% gross margin in that business, well above what we'd normally see there. Are there any extraordinary items to call out there that help drive those strong results that wouldn't necessarily repeat moving forward? Just trying to understand how to think about gross margins in First Aid moving forward as we model out the business for the rest of the year.

是的，謝謝邁克。我想我的後續行動，我們會堅持這一點，急救和安全毛利率在本季度真的很突出。我的意思是，您在該業務中的毛利率幾乎為 50%，遠高於我們通常在那裡看到的水平。是否有任何非凡的項目可以幫助推動那些不一定會重複向前發展的強勁結果？只是想了解在我們為今年剩餘時間的業務建模時如何考慮急救中的毛利率。

Sure. Tim, this is Todd. We're proud of the gross margin improvement that we've made in the First Aid business. It is reflective certainly of the shift of the mix of the business. But I wouldn't say that there's anything that is out of the ordinary where you'd say, oh my goodness, what's -- is there something that -- a one-timer. So no.

當然。蒂姆，這是托德。我們為我們在急救業務中取得的毛利率提高感到自豪。這無疑反映了業務組合的轉變。但我不會說有什麼不尋常的地方，你會說，哦，天哪，什麼是——有什麼東西——一次性的。所以不行。

Now that being said, we're -- certainly there will be puts and takes of the First Aid business gross margin throughout the year. Don't think of it as a linear progression upward. It's -- we're making investments. We're growing that business really attractively. We are certainly leveraging -- trying to -- leverage very much as best we can the revenue growth that we're getting.

話雖如此，我們 - 當然，全年都會有急救業務的毛利率。不要將其視為向上的線性進展。這是 - 我們正在投資。我們正在以非常有吸引力的方式發展該業務。我們當然正在盡可能地利用——試圖——盡可能地利用我們所獲得的收入增長。

But we've got to -- we've -- as Mike pointed out in all of our businesses, we've got to invest to meet the demand. And we're doing exactly that and trying to do it as intelligently and as efficiently as possible. But we're really happy with the demand levels that we're seeing and we're going to make sure we're positioned to meet those demand levels.

但我們必須——我們已經——正如邁克在我們所有的業務中指出的那樣，我們必須投資以滿足需求。我們正在這樣做，並試圖盡可能智能和高效地做到這一點。但我們對我們看到的需求水平感到非常滿意，我們將確保我們能夠滿足這些需求水平。

Okay. That's really helpful. Congrats on a nice quarter.

好的。這真的很有幫助。祝賀一個不錯的季度。

We can now take our next question from Manav Patnaik of Barclays.

我們現在可以從巴克萊的 Manav Patnaik 那裡提出下一個問題。

I can appreciate, obviously, all the trends are very strong today. As you said, no economic weakness you're seeing in your businesses. But maybe you can help us with typically if that does start impacting your customers? Like how quickly do you see it? How quickly do they react? And I guess, what do you do in response to that?

顯然，我可以理解，今天所有的趨勢都非常強勁。正如您所說，您在企業中沒有看到經濟疲軟。但是，如果這確實開始影響您的客戶，也許您通常可以幫助我們？比如你看到它的速度有多快？他們的反應速度有多快？我想，你會怎麼做？

Yes. So Manav, a good question. We're not seeing it in our customer base today. And as a reminder, we're -- as of Friday, it will be 4 months into our fiscal year. And where we see it? How well -- what's this recession? Are we in one? As Mike said, is there one coming in the first half of '23? The back half? We're not trying to predict all that, but we are staying acutely aware.

是的。所以Manav，一個很好的問題。我們今天沒有在我們的客戶群中看到它。提醒一下，我們 - 截至週五，這將是我們財政年度的 4 個月。我們在哪裡看到它？有多好——這次衰退是什麼？我們合一嗎？正如邁克所說，23 年上半年會有人來嗎？後半部？我們並沒有試圖預測這一切，但我們保持敏銳的意識。

But we're positioning ourselves to make sure that we can grow in all types of economic cycles. And as a reminder, we've grown in 51 out of the last 53 years, the only exception being The Great Recession. We certainly hope that any recession that comes is not as severe as what that was.

但我們正在定位自己，以確保我們能夠在所有類型的經濟周期中增長。提醒一下，在過去的 53 年中，我們已經成長了 51 年，唯一的例外是大蕭條。我們當然希望任何即將到來的衰退都不會像過去那樣嚴重。

And so we -- and what I'll call in whatever the traditional type of recession, if that comes, then we expect good performance. We expect to grow. We have traditionally grown in multiples of GDP and jobs growth in the past. Mike spoke of our products and services are highly valued. You think about cleanliness, safety, image and compliance. Those are buying motives that are stronger today than they were in the past, certainly stronger than what they were even pre-pandemic.

因此，我們 - 以及我所說的任何傳統類型的衰退，如果出現這種情況，那麼我們預計會有良好的表現。我們期望增長。過去，我們傳統上的增長是 GDP 和就業增長的倍數。邁克談到我們的產品和服務是高度重視的。您會考慮清潔度、安全性、形象和合規性。這些購買動機今天比過去更強烈，甚至比大流行前更強烈。

Our products and services are more diversified. Today, our customer base is more diversified today than it was in the past. Today, we're 70% services and 30% goods producing, so that diversification, we think, will help us. And when you think about NAICS codes, we have no 3-digit NAICS codes that is greater than 10%. So again, a really nice diversification there.

我們的產品和服務更加多元化。今天，我們的客戶群比過去更加多樣化。今天，我們 70% 的服務和 30% 的商品在生產，因此我們認為多元化會對我們有所幫助。當您考慮 NAICS 代碼時，我們沒有超過 10% 的 3 位數 NAICS 代碼。再說一次，那裡的多元化非常好。

We have also invested, as we've talked about in the past calls in our vertical sales approach, which we think gives nice diversifications into when you think about government and you think about health care, higher education, those types. We've spoken about our momentum that we think is really, really good. And also our strong cash flow, we think that will allow us to be opportunistic as we -- whenever we are into a recession, if that is today or in the future, we're going to be well positioned to make sure we're successful.

正如我們過去談到的那樣，我們還投資了我們的垂直銷售方法，我們認為當你想到政府和醫療保健、高等教育等這些類型時，我們認為這種方法可以很好地多樣化。我們已經談到了我們認為非常非常好的勢頭。還有我們強勁的現金流，我們認為這將使我們能夠像我們一樣投機取巧——每當我們陷入衰退，如果是今天或將來，我們將做好準備，以確保我們成功的。

Okay. Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe, Mike, if you could just remind us of your mix on the debt side between fixed and floating, whether you hedge just as we track these interest rate increases?

好的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後也許，邁克，如果你能提醒我們你在固定和浮動之間的債務方面的組合，你是否在我們跟踪這些利率上升時對沖？

Sure. We have -- as of the end of August, Manav, we've got about $500 million in commercial paper or other short-term variable debt. And the rest of our debt is fixed or senior notes. We do have some of our '27 maturities. The interest rates locked on those. Those are right now, as you can imagine, a fair amount in the money.

當然。我們有 - 截至 8 月底，Manav，我們有大約 5 億美元的商業票據或其他短期可變債務。我們的其餘債務是固定或優先票據。我們確實有一些'27到期。利率鎖定在那些上面。正如您可以想像的那樣，這些現在是一筆可觀的金額。

So that's where we are today. And look, that the -- we like that. We like a little bit of that short-term debt because it gives us optionality. We can pay that down if we feel like we want to, or we can certainly have more space to use that if we needed to.

這就是我們今天所處的位置。看，我們喜歡這樣。我們喜歡這種短期債務，因為它給了我們選擇權。如果我們願意，我們可以支付這筆費用，或者如果需要，我們當然可以有更多的空間來使用它。

And we can now take our next question from Andrew Steinerman of JPMorgan.

我們現在可以從摩根大通的 Andrew Steinerman 那裡提出下一個問題。

It's Andrew. I just wanted to get a quick thought from you about organic revenue growth for the balance of the year from kind of each First Aid, Fire, Uniform Direct. Those had particularly strong first quarters. I definitely heard your general comments about tougher comps. And like do you think each of these 3 should be double-digit organic growers this year?

是安德魯。我只是想從您那裡快速了解一下今年餘下時間裡各種急救、消防、統一直銷的有機收入增長。那些第一季度特別強勁。我肯定聽到了你關於更嚴格的比賽的一般評論。和你一樣，你認為這三個今年應該是兩位數的有機種植者嗎？

Andrew, thank you for the question. When I think about each of our businesses, we don't give guidance based upon each of them individually. But I'll just provide some -- maybe some top line thoughts. I'm really -- I haven't done the calculus on what it would be for the year, but I'm just thinking about the -- through the Qs 2 through 4 for each.

安德魯，謝謝你的問題。當我考慮我們的每一項業務時，我們不會單獨根據每一項業務提供指導。但我只會提供一些——也許是一些最重要的想法。我真的 - 我還沒有對今年的情況進行微積分，但我只是在考慮 - 通過 Qs 2 到 4 每個。

I would think about Uniform Rental, Fire and the First Aid business, all being high single digits at the balance of the year. Keeping in mind that there was some PPE in the First Aid business in our Q3, which will provide a tougher comp for sure.

我會考慮制服租賃、消防和急救業務，在今年的餘額中都是高個位數。請記住，我們第三季度的急救業務中有一些個人防護裝備，這肯定會提供更嚴格的補償。

And then in our Uniform Direct Sale business, we're going to be up against much tougher comps. So I would think of that from high single to flat, to maybe even negative in Q4 based upon the significant comps that we're up against there, which is obviously a little bit more lumpy business.

然後在我們的統一直銷業務中，我們將面臨更加艱難的競爭。所以我會考慮從高單到平，甚至可能在第四季度出現負值，這取決於我們在那裡面臨的重要組合，這顯然是一個更不穩定的業務。

Just say that last part again, about Uniform Direct Sale, high single digit, but then you said flat. Just you were talking about Q2 through 4. Just say the last part again, about Uniform Direct sales.

再說一遍最後一部分，關於統一直銷，高個位數，但你說的是平的。剛才你在談論 Q2 到 4。再說一遍最後一部分，關於統一直銷。

Yes. So when you think about the Uniform Direct sale business, again, a lumpier business, high single to in -- from Q2 through 4. Think about high single down to closer to flat to maybe even negative in Q4 due to negative sales growth, due to the negative -- or excuse me, the significant comps that we'll be up against on the back half of the year.

是的。因此，當您考慮統一直銷業務時，再一次，這是一個更笨重的業務，從第二季度到第四季度。考慮到由於銷售負增長，第四季度高單價下降到接近持平甚至可能為負數，因為負面的——或者對不起，我們將在今年下半年面臨的重大競爭。

And we can now take our next question from Faiza Alwy of Deutsche Bank.

我們現在可以從德意志銀行的 Faiza Alwy 那裡提出下一個問題。

I guess I'm curious, like what has gone better than what you expected when you first gave the guide a couple of months ago, especially as it relates to revenues? I know you mentioned better pricing. And I'm curious if the pricing update has been better than expected, or is it better new business?

我想我很好奇，幾個月前你第一次提供指南時，有什麼比你預期的要好，尤其是在收入方面？我知道你提到了更好的定價。我很好奇定價更新是否好於預期，還是新業務更好？

I know you mentioned the health care vertical, in particular. So just more perspective on like what you think really drove the outperformance, specifically in the rental business.

我知道你特別提到了醫療保健垂直領域。因此，請更多地了解您認為真正推動業績優異的因素，特別是在租賃業務方面。

Great. Faiza, thanks for the question. It's Todd. I'll start. If Mike, you want to chime in. There's many contributing inputs to our positive growth that we're seeing. New business is quite good as we spoke about. But retention and penetration is very attractive as well.

偉大的。 Faiza，謝謝你的提問。是托德。我會開始的。如果邁克，你想插話。我們看到的積極增長有很多貢獻。正如我們所說，新業務非常好。但保留和滲透也非常有吸引力。

We continue to improve upon our cross-sell. And then as you mentioned, pricing is certainly playing a larger role than it did historically as it should, because of the levels of cost increase that we are seeing via -- whether it's labor or material cost and what have you.

我們繼續改進我們的交叉銷售。然後正如你所提到的，定價肯定比它在歷史上應該發揮的作用更大，因為我們看到的成本增加水平——無論是勞動力成本還是材料成本，以及你有什麼。

So I think, just generally speaking, we like the key inputs that we're seeing. I mentioned earlier our diversification into those various businesses, verticals, et cetera, they're all -- we like the momentum we're seeing in all of those. So pretty widespread.

所以我認為，一般來說，我們喜歡我們看到的關鍵輸入。我之前提到過我們在這些不同的業務、垂直領域等方面的多元化，它們都是——我們喜歡我們在所有這些領域中看到的勢頭。所以相當普遍。

Great. And then just a follow-up on the labor environment. I don't know if you're seeing some easing in the environment in your business at this point. And I'm curious how you think about that going forward? So is that -- as the labor environment eases, is that a benefit for you? Or is that maybe more of a headwind from a competitive perspective?

偉大的。然後只是對勞動環境的跟進。我不知道此時您是否看到您的業務環境有所緩解。我很好奇你對未來的看法？那麼，隨著勞動環境的緩和，這對你有好處嗎？還是從競爭的角度來看，這可能更像是一個逆風？

Good question. On labor, I'd say easing a bit, but that's relative. It is still a very challenging environment. But maybe not as quite as challenging as it was 6 months ago, 8 months ago, but still quite challenging.

好問題。在勞動方面，我會說放鬆一點，但這是相對的。這仍然是一個非常具有挑戰性的環境。但也許不像 6 個月前、8 個月前那樣具有挑戰性，但仍然相當具有挑戰性。

And we are in constant pursuit of attracting and retaining the very, very best people. We think that gives us a competitive advantage in the marketplace. So when we look out and say, okay, what does that mean to us? We're constantly in pursuit of that. So any easing of the labor market would certainly be welcome from a standpoint of making it a little bit easier to run at lower RPMs.

我們一直在追求吸引和留住最優秀的人才。我們認為這給了我們在市場上的競爭優勢。所以當我們向外看並說，好吧，這對我們意味著什麼？我們一直在追求這一點。因此，從讓以較低的 RPM 運行更容易的角度來看，任何勞動力市場的放鬆肯定都會受到歡迎。

But here's what I know is we -- our team figures it out. And they have -- they are staffed at the appropriate levels to meet our customers' demand. They've done one heck of a job in fighting through all these challenges over the past couple of years to make sure that we're positioned to be successful. So whatever the environment, our team will figure it out. We've shown that building in the past. We'll pivot appropriately. But -- so we'll manage through it.

但我所知道的是我們——我們的團隊已經解決了。他們有——他們配備了適當級別的人員來滿足我們客戶的需求。在過去的幾年裡，他們在應對所有這些挑戰方面做得非常出色，以確保我們能夠成功。因此，無論環境如何，我們的團隊都會弄清楚。我們已經展示了過去的建築。我們將適當調整。但是 - 所以我們將通過它進行管理。

And we'll now take our next question from Heather Balsky of Bank of America.

我們現在將向美國銀行的希瑟·巴爾斯基提出下一個問題。

On the new customer growth front, could -- you already touched on health care earlier in the Q&A. But where else are you seeing some of the momentum? Are there additional verticals where you're seeing outside growth or you're targeting verticals you haven't been in the past. It would be great to get color on that.

在新客戶增長方面，您可能已經在問答環節早些時候談到了醫療保健。但是你在哪裡看到了一些勢頭？是否有其他垂直領域您看到了外部增長，或者您的目標是您過去從未涉足的垂直領域。在上面塗上顏色會很棒。

Heather, thanks for the question. Again, our experience is very broad in our -- the successes that we're seeing. But I'll just give you one -- another example that might provide a little color in one of our verticals we -- where we're calling on the government sector.

希瑟，謝謝你的提問。同樣，我們的經驗非常廣泛 - 我們所看到的成功。但我只會給你一個——另一個例子，它可能會在我們的一個垂直領域提供一點色彩——我們正在呼籲政府部門。

There's one particular city that I won't mention, but you'll know the name of it. About a year ago, we sold a uniform program into that city. And as an example there, that was into the sanitation, transportation, parks and recreation-type departments. And in that case, they were using a local provider before we took over that account.

有一個特定的城市我不會提及，但你會知道它的名字。大約一年前，我們向那個城市出售了一個統一項目。作為一個例子，那就是衛生、交通、公園和娛樂類部門。在這種情況下，在我們接管該帳戶之前，他們正在使用本地提供商。

And they chose us, in that case, because they liked our -- our garment offering was better, meaning they felt we had better more attractive garments that their employees wanted to wear. Our garment tracking technology helped them to reduce costs, meaning less lost garments and what have you.

在這種情況下，他們選擇了我們，因為他們喜歡我們——我們提供的服裝更好，這意味著他們覺得我們有更好的、更具吸引力的服裝，他們的員工想穿。我們的服裝追踪技術幫助他們降低了成本，這意味著更少丟失的服裝和您擁有的東西。

And then our -- as I mentioned earlier, our investment into our MyCintas web portal makes it -- made it easier for them to do business with us, so -- which reduces their administrative time and just is helpful for them.

然後我們 - 正如我之前提到的，我們對 MyCintas 門戶網站的投資使他們更容易與我們開展業務，因此 - 這減少了他們的管理時間並且對他們有幫助。

So that was about a year ago. And then if you fast forward, just recently, we sold them a First Aid Cabinet service to all those departments and even more municipal buildings. And in that case, previously, they had ordered all their First Aid products online. So they were a new programmer. They were ordering it from whomever online, and then they were essentially doing all that work and filling those cabinets themselves.

那是大約一年前的事了。然後，如果您快進，就在最近，我們向所有這些部門甚至更多市政建築出售了急救櫃服務。在這種情況下，以前，他們已經在網上訂購了所有的急救產品。所以他們是一個新的程序員。他們從網上的任何人那裡訂購，然後他們基本上完成了所有這些工作並自己裝滿了這些櫥櫃。

And coincidentally, the sales lead for that opportunity came from our uniform service provider. So while there, the uniform service provider was speaking to the customer, and they said, "hey, we're -- we need help here". So the uniform service provider passed it on to our -- the appropriate person and our First Aid service provider.

巧合的是，這個機會的銷售線索來自我們的製服服務提供商。因此，在那裡，制服服務提供商正在與客戶交談，他們說，“嘿，我們 - 我們需要幫助”。因此，統一服務提供商將其傳遞給我們的適當人員和我們的急救服務提供商。

In that case, they chose us because, again, a better management of the products. And we're able to help them manage the products better, improve their compliance, reduce their costs, and remove their need to administer the program. So you think about what businesses are challenged with, in this case, it's a -- it was a city government, but it's still -- they're still running it as a business where they have to meet their customers' demands and their employees' demands.

在這種情況下，他們選擇了我們，因為同樣是為了更好地管理產品。我們能夠幫助他們更好地管理產品、提高合規性、降低成本並消除他們管理計劃的需要。因此，您考慮一下企業面臨的挑戰，在這種情況下，它是-這是一個市政府，但仍然是-他們仍然將其作為企業運營，必須滿足客戶和員工的需求' 需要。

And that's, I think, another example of just how we are growing our business and why it's attractive for businesses, sticky, good retention, good cross-sell, and that shows itself in new business. Hopefully, that color helps a little bit.

我認為，這就是我們如何發展業務以及為什麼它對企業具有吸引力、粘性、良好的保留率、良好的交叉銷售以及在新業務中表現出來的另一個例子。希望這種顏色能有所幫助。

Yes. And then just a question on pricing. Can you just walk us through where you are in the process of taking, I guess, this outsized pricing you've been taking? When did it start? Kind of when do you start to anniversary it? Just trying to think through the flow-through as we progress over the next few quarters.

是的。然後只是一個關於定價的問題。你能告訴我們你正在接受的過程，我猜，你一直在接受這個超大的定價嗎？什麼時候開始？你什麼時候開始紀念日呢？隨著我們在接下來的幾個季度中取得進展，我們只是想通過流程來思考。

Well, Heather, pricing is -- it's a local subject. It's a customer-by-customer subject, meaning some businesses are doing better than others. And -- but as we look at that, when inflation kicked in to much higher degrees, then that required us to make sure that our price adjustments were higher than historical as well.

好吧，Heather，定價是 - 這是一個本地主題。這是一個逐個客戶的主題，這意味著一些企業比其他企業做得更好。而且——但是當我們看到這一點時，當通貨膨脹率上升到更高的程度時，這就要求我們確保我們的價格調整也高於歷史水平。

So you can think about it that way. When inflation was -- went to above historical levels, that's when we adjust the pricing at above historical levels. And as far as what that means moving forward, that will depend upon the -- what inflation does moving forward.

所以你可以這樣想。當通貨膨脹率高於歷史水平時，我們就會將定價調整至高於歷史水平。至於這意味著什麼，這將取決於 - 通貨膨脹會如何向前發展。

So I don't have a crystal ball as it applies to that or recession, what have you, but we're paying very, very close attention to all those inputs and we'll manage it appropriately.

所以我沒有適用於經濟衰退或經濟衰退的水晶球，你有什麼，但我們非常非常密切關注所有這些投入，我們會適當地管理它。

We'll now take our next question from Seth Weber of Wells Fargo Securities.

我們現在將向富國銀行證券的塞思韋伯提出下一個問題。

I actually had a pricing question as well, kind of a similar question. So Todd, I guess I'm trying to understand how much of the price increases that you guys have been pushing through are just purely tied to inflation? And how much of it is Cintas just trying to get more for the value prop that you're offering today?

我實際上也有一個定價問題，有點類似的問題。所以托德，我想我想了解你們一直在推動的價格上漲有多少純粹與通貨膨脹有關？ Cintas 有多少只是想為您今天提供的價值道具獲得更多？

So I'm trying to understand, will pricing revert back to its traditional level if inflation recedes? Or do you think that pricing can be structurally higher for Cintas just based on the greater value that you're offering to your customers kind of today versus history, if that makes sense?

所以我想了解，如果通脹回落，定價會恢復到傳統水平嗎？或者，您是否認為 Cintas 的定價在結構上會更高，僅基於您現在為客戶提供的價值相對於歷史而言，如果這是有道理的？

Yes, Seth, it's a fair question. As I think about our customer base, we've such a broad customer base. So -- some of them, we have contractual commitments. Some of them, we have the ability to adjust prices closer to inflation or what have you. So it's very, very broad, and it really depends on the particular customer and the health of that customer as well.

是的，賽斯，這是一個公平的問題。當我想到我們的客戶群時，我們擁有如此廣泛的客戶群。所以 - 其中一些，我們有合同承諾。其中一些，我們有能力調整價格接近通貨膨脹或你有什麼。所以它非常非常廣泛，它實際上取決於特定客戶以及該客戶的健康狀況。

But here's what I can tell you is that we take a long-term approach. We don't think about our customers in quarters or fiscal years. We think about them in -- over decades. And that approach has really paid off -- paid big dividends for us.

但我可以告訴你的是，我們採取了長期的方法。我們不會按季度或財政年度考慮我們的客戶。我們在幾十年內考慮它們。這種方法確實得到了回報——為我們帶來了巨大的紅利。

Now we are constantly trying to improve the value that we provide to our customers. That being said, when the inflation is at the levels it's at, it requires us to adjust prices at above historical. When inflation comes back down, and we certainly hope and expect that, that will occur, then I think you can think of our price adjustments to be back closer to more historical.

現在，我們不斷努力提高我們為客戶提供的價值。話雖如此，當通脹處於其水平時，它要求我們將價格調整到高於歷史水平。當通脹回落時，我們當然希望並期望這種情況會發生，那麼我認為您可以認為我們的價格調整更接近歷史水平。

We're now -- am I constantly trying to improve the value to our customers? Absolutely. That pursuit will be in perpetuity. And the marketplace determines how that pricing is handled appropriately.

我們現在——我是否一直在努力提高對客戶的價值？絕對地。這種追求將是永恆的。市場決定瞭如何適當地處理定價。

Seth, I might add 2 things. One, you bring up kind of the structure of our pricing. And we're generally the highest price relative to our competition in the space. So in other words, we don't leave with price generally. We believe that our products, our service, they are better. And that generally means we are at higher price points than our competition. And I don't expect that, that would change.

賽斯，我可能會添加兩件事。一，你提出了我們的定價結構。相對於我們在該領域的競爭，我們通常是最高的價格。所以換句話說，我們一般不會帶著價格離開。我們相信，我們的產品，我們的服務，都更好。這通常意味著我們的價格高於競爭對手。而且我不認為那會改變。

As Todd said, we are continuing to look for ways of even improving that value more in the future. But I don't see that type of pricing changing because of the inflation going up and down. We believe that we can command the best prices because our products are better, like Carhartt and other products like that, and our service is just better.

正如托德所說，我們將繼續尋找在未來進一步提高該價值的方法。但我不認為這種定價會因為通貨膨脹上下波動而發生變化。我們相信我們可以得到最好的價格，因為我們的產品更好，比如 Carhartt 和其他類似的產品，而且我們的服務也更好。

The other thing I might add is our pricing, as Todd said, is customer by customer and local. And it's not necessarily a -- we have to offset or we look to offset inflation immediately. Generally speaking, we want to do the best for our customers and continue to add the right value. But we also know that given the way our cost structure works, we don't have to necessarily immediately offset inflation.

我可能要補充的另一件事是，正如托德所說，我們的定價是逐個客戶和本地客戶。這不一定是 - 我們必須抵消或我們希望立即抵消通貨膨脹。一般來說，我們希望為客戶做到最好，並繼續增加正確的價值。但我們也知道，鑑於我們的成本結構運作方式，我們不一定要立即抵消通貨膨脹。

We get, for example, the products that we rent in our rental business, we get to amortize them, right? And so if we do have to take a cost increase, we get -- we certainly get visibility before that hits our P&L because that has to go through the manufacturing process. Then it gets to our locations and then it amortizes over a period of time. And so we can have multiple price increases before that hits our P&L.

例如，我們得到了我們在租賃業務中租用的產品，我們可以攤銷它們，對嗎？因此，如果我們確實必須增加成本，我們會得到 - 我們肯定會在影響我們的損益表之前獲得可見性，因為這必須通過製造過程。然後它到達我們的位置，然後在一段時間內攤銷。因此，在影響我們的損益之前，我們可以進行多次價格上漲。

And that ability to anticipate and manage our cost structure as well as our pricing, it's reflected in the fact that even in this pretty darn difficult environment, we've been able to increase our margins year-over-year, certainly excluding those onetime gains. But we've been able to continue to increase our margins during that period of time.

這種預測和管理我們的成本結構以及定價的能力，這反映在這樣一個事實中，即使在這個非常困難的環境中，我們也能夠逐年增加我們的利潤率，當然不包括那些一次性收益.但在那段時間裡，我們已經能夠繼續增加我們的利潤率。

So I just give you that color to say we are very thoughtful about the way we price, and we are thoughtful about the way we anticipate the costs within our cost structure. And it works because we're able to increase our margins in a pretty difficult inflationary environment in each of the last 4 quarters.

所以我只是給你那種顏色，說我們對我們的定價方式非常周到，我們對我們在成本結構中預測成本的方式很周到。它之所以奏效，是因為我們能夠在過去 4 個季度的每個季度都在相當困難的通脹環境中提高利潤率。

Yes. No, it makes total sense, Mike. I appreciate it, guys. That's super helpful. And that's really all I had today.

是的。不，這完全有道理，邁克。我很感激，伙計們。這非常有幫助。這就是我今天所擁有的一切。

We'll now take our next question from Shlomo Rosenbaum of Stifel.

我們現在將向 Stifel 的 Shlomo Rosenbaum 提出我們的下一個問題。

It's pretty noticeable that the cost of goods sold is up only like $10 million sequentially. But when I look at the SG&A, it's up like $46 million. And usually, when you have some kind of inflationary prices, I would have thought it hit COGS more. Maybe you could explain to us what the changes were in SG&A? And was there some kind of significant investments in production or anything like that? And maybe if you can bring it down to kind of the unit level.

很明顯，商品的銷售成本環比僅上漲了 1000 萬美元。但當我查看 SG&A 時，它增加了 4600 萬美元。通常，當你有某種通脹價格時，我會認為它對 COGS 的影響更大。也許您可以向我們解釋一下 SG&A 的變化是什麼？是否在生產或類似方面進行了某種重大投資？也許如果你能把它降低到單位級別。

Well, Shlomo, I'll speak to the SG&A piece of this. Yes, we did have some sequential increase. But Shlomo, if you look at going back to -- I've got -- going back to fiscal '15, our first quarter SG&A is usually the highest of the year. I'll throw out the pandemic impacted year. But our first quarter is usually the highest SG&A quarter of the year, and that's been consistent for a number of years. And that's simply because of some things like we have higher payroll taxes when our equity compensation vests at that period of time. It usually happens in the first quarter. We tend to have a little bit more stock options that create more payroll taxes.

好吧，Shlomo，我會和 SG&A 談談這件事。是的，我們確實有一些連續的增長。但是 Shlomo，如果你回顧一下——我已經知道了——回到 15 財年，我們的第一季度 SG&A 通常是一年中最高的。我會扔掉受大流行影響的年份。但我們的第一季度通常是一年中最高的 SG&A 季度，而且多年來一直如此。這僅僅是因為當我們的股權補償在那段時間歸屬時，我們有更高的工資稅。它通常發生在第一季度。我們傾向於擁有更多的股票期權，從而產生更多的工資稅。

We tend to have some beginning of the year meetings and other things that happen. But year-over-year, if you pull that gain out that we've been talking about, where our SG&A is down 40 basis points. And so we like -- we do like the movement of that SG&A. And gosh, if you go back to pre-pandemic, Q1 of 2020, we're down almost 300 basis points. If you go back to 2019's SG&A, we're down 260 basis points.

我們往往有一些年初會議和其他事情發生。但與去年同期相比，如果你把我們一直在談論的收益拿出來，我們的 SG&A 下降了 40 個基點。所以我們喜歡 - 我們確實喜歡 SG&A 的運動。天哪，如果你回到大流行前的 2020 年第一季度，我們將下跌近 300 個基點。如果你回到 2019 年的 SG&A，我們會下跌 260 個基點。

My point, Shlomo is, this is not unusual for us to have a first quarter higher SG&A because of just the way that our business works and the timing. But year-over-year, we continue to make really good performance in that. And in this case, down 40 basis points.

我的觀點是，Shlomo 是因為我們的業務運作方式和時間安排，第一季度的 SG&A 較高對我們來說並不罕見。但與去年同期相比，我們繼續在這方面取得非常好的表現。在這種情況下，下跌 40 個基點。

Okay. And then maybe you can also talk about the higher revenue kind of translated into margin for 2 of the units. But for kind of the other unit, it didn't look like it's translating exactly the same way. Is there something that was -- is there a mix item in terms of what was being sold over there?

好的。然後也許您還可以談論轉化為 2 個單位的利潤率的更高收入。但對於其他單位來說，它的翻譯方式看起來並不完全相同。有沒有什麼東西——就在那裡出售的東西而言，有沒有混合項目？

And then just maybe you can just touch on your expectation for cash flow for the end of the year. With such strong revenue, should we expect there to be a working capital drag so we wouldn't necessarily see revenue grow the same way that we would see earnings grow?

然後也許你可以談談你對今年年底現金流的預期。有瞭如此強勁的收入，我們是否應該預期會出現營運資金拖累，因此我們不一定會看到收入增長與我們看到收益增長的方式相同？

Shlomo, I'll talk to the all other first. I'm not sure if you're talking year-over-year, that gain that we've referred to a number of times is in the all other. And so you have to make sure that you're stripping out that gain, 14.7% for the quarter for us, that is a pretty good quarter.

Shlomo，我先和其他人談談。我不確定你是否在談論年復一年，我們多次提到的收益在所有其他方面。因此，您必須確保消除該季度的收益，對我們來說本季度為 14.7%，這是一個相當不錯的季度。

But as Todd mentioned a little bit ago, that Uniform Direct sale piece that can tend to move up and down a bit and be more inconsistent from quarter to quarter, and that's a bit of what we've seen in this quarter. So once you pull out the gain from last year where we had that outsized operating margin in all other, we're at a pretty good spot at 14.7%, and it more than anything is attributable to that lumpiness in the Uniform Direct Sale business.

但正如托德之前提到的那樣，統一直銷商品可能會上下波動，並且每個季度都更加不一致，這就是我們在本季度看到的一些情況。因此，一旦您從去年的收益中提取出我們在所有其他方面都擁有超大營業利潤率的收益，我們處於一個相當不錯的位置，為 14.7%，而這最重要的是歸因於統一直銷業務的這種不穩定。

As it relates to our cash flow, look, we like where the cash flow is. We're -- our operating cash flow is up 13.7% year-over-year. Free cash flow is up 7%. And look, from quarter-to-quarter, there can be puts and takes. But generally speaking, our cash flow is really good. And I expect that we'll see a continued, very good conversion from net income to operating cash flow.

因為它與我們的現金流有關，看，我們喜歡現金流在哪裡。我們 - 我們的經營現金流量同比增長 13.7%。自由現金流增長了 7%。並且看，從一個季度到另一個季度，可能會有看跌期權。但總的來說，我們的現金流真的很好。我預計我們會看到從淨收入到經營現金流的持續、非常好的轉換。

Now when we grow, and we've been growing quite nicely, we have always been a bit of a drag in working capital because our AR tends to go up as we grow, our uniforms in service and other items in service tends to grow -- go up as we grow, and that certainly has happened. But we're still turning that into really good cash flow, and I would expect that, that's going to continue for the rest of the year.

現在，當我們成長時，而且我們一直在成長得很好，我們的營運資金總是有點拖累，因為我們的 AR 會隨著我們的成長而上升，我們的服役制服和其他服役物品往往會增長 - - 隨著我們的成長而上升，這當然已經發生了。但我們仍在將其轉化為非常好的現金流，我預計這種情況將持續到今年餘下的時間。

We're going to probably be a little bit higher in CapEx during this fiscal '23 year because we've -- again, we've kind of come from a pandemic period where we didn't need to grow capacity. And we've really seen some nice growth over the course of the last -- more than fiscal year. And that certainly means we do some investing. And so you're going to see a little bit of an increase in CapEx, but right in the range where we've guided to that 3% to 3.5% of revenue.

在本財年的 23 年，我們的資本支出可能會更高一些，因為我們 - 再一次，我們有點來自不需要增加產能的大流行時期。在過去的整個過程中，我們確實看到了一些不錯的增長——超過了財政年度。這當然意味著我們會進行一些投資。因此，您會看到資本支出略有增加，但就在我們指導收入的 3% 到 3.5% 的範圍內。

And we can now take our next question from Scott Schneeberger of Oppenheimer.

我們現在可以從奧本海默的 Scott Schneeberger 那裡提出我們的下一個問題。

I think kind of go back to the recession question, the essence of the question is going to be visibility. It's been asked a few times on the call, but your guidance -- your quarter is obviously quite strong, and the guidance is certainly ambitious. And I view you guys as generally pretty conservative.

我認為有點回到衰退問題，問題的本質將是知名度。在電話會議上被問過幾次，但是你的指導——你的季度顯然很強大，而且指導肯定是雄心勃勃的。我認為你們通常相當保守。

So things must look really good for you right now and through the end of the fiscal year. So not to have kind of asked this, but I want to delve in a little bit deeper. When do you see when you're working with your customers, something like going back to past recessions, what are the first signs you see? How do they manifest? And what type of visibility do you have into, okay, that's going to affect our numbers weeks, months, quarters later? If you could just tell us kind of going back to past recession, how that takes shape.

因此，從現在到本財年末，情況一定對你來說非常好。所以不要問這個問題，但我想更深入地研究一下。當你與客戶合作時，你什麼時候看到，比如回到過去的經濟衰退，你看到的第一個跡像是什麼？它們是如何體現的？你有什麼類型的可見性，好吧，這會在幾週、幾個月、幾個季度後影響我們的數字？如果你能告訴我們回到過去的衰退，那是如何形成的。

Scott, this is Todd. Thanks for the question. Mike, certainly, if you want to chime in. When we think about -- again, are we in a recession? Technical, is one coming in early '23, late '23? How severe? We don't know those items, but we are watching it very closely.

斯科特，這是托德。謝謝你的問題。邁克，當然，如果你想插話的話。當我們再次考慮時，我們是否處於經濟衰退中？技術上，是在 23 年初還是 23 年末推出？有多嚴重？我們不知道這些項目，但我們正在密切關注。

When you think about our customer base, how might it show up? Will customers -- if their demand is being impacted, then they're going to look for ways to cut their costs. Is that in getting -- they'll look at their P&L and say, okay, what's the biggest things I can move on. And frankly, we're not usually top of their list. So -- and the reason being is because our spend per customer is pretty small.

當您考慮我們的客戶群時，它會如何顯示？客戶是否願意——如果他們的需求受到影響，那麼他們將尋找降低成本的方法。是這樣嗎？他們會查看他們的損益表並說，好吧，我可以繼續做的最大的事情是什麼。坦率地說，我們通常不是他們的首選。所以 - 原因是因為我們每個客戶的支出非常少。

But that being said, will they reduce their needs for certain services, reduce quantities of products that they need? Certainly, those types of things can happen if their demand is being impacted. So those are the items that we look for is -- are customers reducing their needs because their demand of their business is such that they don't need as much. So I'd say that would be one of the certainly bigger categories that we look for. Mike, any other thoughts, but those are -- that was the first one that came to mind.

但話雖如此，他們會減少對某些服務的需求，減少他們需要的產品數量嗎？當然，如果他們的需求受到影響，這些類型的事情就會發生。所以這些是我們尋找的項目 - 客戶是否減少了他們的需求，因為他們對業務的需求使得他們不需要那麼多。所以我會說這將是我們尋找的更大的類別之一。邁克，任何其他想法，但那些是 - 這是第一個浮現在腦海中的想法。

I think that's true. We may see some of those kinds of signs. We may see a couple of our customers go out of business, depending on the type of recession. But the other thing that I think is really important is we've grown through lots of recessions in the last 50 years. And we have also sold a lot of new business through every recession.

我認為這是真的。我們可能會看到一些這樣的跡象。根據經濟衰退的類型，我們可能會看到一些客戶倒閉。但我認為真正重要的另一件事是，我們在過去 50 年中經歷了多次衰退。在每次經濟衰退期間，我們還出售了大量新業務。

And so even if we start to see some signs that the customers are paying a little bit more attention to their spending, we know this that we're not asking them generally to spend new money, it's spend it with us. And we'll help them with our programs to reduce their own work content. In other words, they can -- they find their people can do more with less because we're able to take some work away from them and we're not necessarily asking them to spend new dollars.

因此，即使我們開始看到一些跡象表明客戶正在更加關注他們的支出，我們也知道我們通常不會要求他們花新錢，而是花在我們身上。我們將通過我們的計劃幫助他們減少他們自己的工作內容。換句話說，他們可以——他們發現他們的員工可以事半功倍，因為我們能夠從他們身上拿走一些工作，而且我們不一定要求他們花新的錢。

So we -- look, we're going to be paying attention to all different kinds of things within the economy. But we know this, we're going to sell a lot of new business. We're going to sell to new programmers. We're going to help our customers reduce their own work content. And that's why we feel -- we not only do we love the momentum that we have but as we look forward, that value proposition is still resonating very, very well. We've said that a number of times. And we don't see that changing. And so we feel pretty good. And we generally -- our guidance is a reflection of that and we like where we're headed.

所以我們 - 看，我們將關注經濟中所有不同類型的事物。但我們知道這一點，我們將出售很多新業務。我們要賣給新的程序員。我們將幫助我們的客戶減少他們自己的工作內容。這就是為什麼我們覺得——我們不僅喜歡我們所擁有的動力，而且在我們展望未來的時候，這個價值主張仍然非常非常好地引起共鳴。我們已經說過很多次了。我們沒有看到這種變化。所以我們感覺很好。我們通常 - 我們的指導反映了這一點，我們喜歡我們前進的方向。

Excellent. That sounds good. I think a good follow-on there. You've alluded to M&A, but we haven't really discussed it on this call. How is the environment right now? Are you seeing more opportunities? Or is that pretty steady? Any commentary on multiples? Is that something that's looking more attractive, less attractive?

出色的。聽起來不錯。我認為這是一個很好的後續。你提到了併購，但我們在這次電話會議上還沒有真正討論過。現在環境怎麼樣？你看到更多的機會了嗎？還是相當穩定？對倍數有什麼評論嗎？那是看起來更有吸引力，更不吸引人的東西嗎？

Yes, Scott, this is Todd. Deal flow is good. We love our balance sheet. We love our position in the marketplace. That being said, those M&A type of opportunities, they're tough to pace them, tough to -- there's various items that cause things to flip the switch for someone to sell their business.

是的，斯科特，這是托德。交易流程很好。我們喜歡我們的資產負債表。我們熱愛我們在市場中的地位。話雖這麼說，那些併購類型的機會，他們很難把握，很難 - 有各種各樣的項目會導致事情發生轉變，讓某人出售他們的業務。

But I can tell you this, we're really well positioned. We love our balance sheet, love our team and the ability to manage through any M&A. And we think that, that's going to be an opportunity for us in the future, and we're well positioned for it.

但我可以告訴你，我們的定位非常好。我們熱愛我們的資產負債表，熱愛我們的團隊以及通過任何併購進行管理的能力。我們認為，這將是我們未來的機會，我們已經做好了準備。

That being said, again, it's tough to pay some, but deal flow looks good. And I don't see anything that's all that different from a multiple standpoint in the marketplace. So we'll -- we're interested in any and all opportunities from an M&A standpoint, and we'll continue to push for those.

話雖如此，仍然很難支付一些費用，但交易流程看起來不錯。從市場的多個角度來看，我看不出有什麼不同。因此，我們將 - 從併購的角度來看，我們對任何和所有機會都感興趣，我們將繼續推動這些機會。

We can now take our final question from Toni Kaplan of Morgan Stanley.

我們現在可以從摩根士丹利的托尼卡普蘭那裡得到最後一個問題。

Wanted to ask a longer-term margin question. If I look back about 2 years ago, your EBITDA margin like really meaningfully stepped up to mid-20s. At the beginning, I think you're benefiting from travel -- reduced travel during the pandemic and health care costs. You've really been able to keep it at that level. And I know you talked about adjusting your cost structure at the beginning of the pandemic. But basically, what type of expenses have you been able to adjust so that you can stay at this mid-20s EBITDA level. Just how sustainable is it? It seems like it is but wanted to just get some additional color there.

想問一個長期保證金問題。如果我回顧大約 2 年前，你的 EBITDA 利潤率就像真正有意義地上升到 20 年代中期。一開始，我認為您從旅行中受益——在大流行期間減少了旅行和醫療保健費用。你真的能夠把它保持在那個水平。我知道您在大流行開始時談到了調整成本結構。但基本上，您可以調整哪些類型的費用，以便您可以保持在 20 年代中期的 EBITDA 水平。它的可持續性如何？看起來是這樣，但只是想在那裡獲得一些額外的顏色。

Yes. Toni, this is Todd. You're absolutely correct. And when we look forward, we see incremental margins. We talk about 20% to 30%, and we see that in our future. And we are leveraging certainly the top line very nicely. We manage our variable cost, I think, quite well. The team is very, very good at that. And -- but we're also getting efficiencies from some of our digital transformation that we've talked about in the past.

是的。托尼，這是托德。你完全正確。當我們展望未來時，我們會看到增量利潤。我們談論 20% 到 30%，我們會在未來看到這一點。我們當然很好地利用了頂線。我認為，我們很好地管理了可變成本。團隊非常非常擅長這一點。而且 - 但我們也從我們過去談到的一些數字化轉型中獲得了效率。

You see that -- certainly, energy is a big subject today, but we've talked about our smart truck proprietary routing technology that's helping us reduce idle time and drive time, which obviously helps with our energy spend, but it helps with CO2 emissions as well.

你看——當然，能源是今天的一個大主題，但我們已經談到了我們的智能卡車專有路由技術，它幫助我們減少空閒時間和駕駛時間，這顯然有助於我們的能源消耗，但它有助於減少二氧化碳排放也是。

And one of the things we talk about around here is that we don't make money when the wheels are moving in our trucks. So getting those efficiencies is very important. We're extracting other efficiencies via our investment with SAP, with our inventory control programs that are allowing us to get better reuse of our products in our stock rooms, which also helps improve turnaround time for our customers.

我們在這裡談論的一件事是，當車輪在我們的卡車中移動時，我們不會賺錢。因此，獲得這些效率非常重要。我們通過與 SAP 的投資來提高其他效率，我們的庫存控制計劃使我們能夠更好地在庫存室中重複使用我們的產品，這也有助於縮短客戶的周轉時間。

We think it's very, very important, which gives us an advantage in the marketplace. I mentioned in our last call, we have an operational excellence dashboard that provides us better transparency into the efficiency levels at each of our production facilities. So that is significant, right? So we're able to understand the efficiency levels of our facilities not by having to be there in-person every day, but by understanding the metrics of our operational excellence dashboard in real time.

我們認為這非常非常重要，這使我們在市場上具有優勢。我在上次電話會議中提到，我們有一個卓越運營儀表板，可以讓我們更好地了解每個生產設施的效率水平。所以這很重要，對吧？因此，我們能夠了解我們設施的效率水平，而不必每天都親自到場，而是通過實時了解我們卓越運營儀表板的指標。

So I guess it's a blessing that we have those opportunities to improve. It's frustrating that we have opportunities to improve, but we're focused on improving those and extracting those efficiencies. So that will allow us to continue to provide good incremental margins, separate from the items that I mentioned before with some of the other technologies that we've deployed with making it a better win for customers and how they're doing business with us.

所以我想我們有這些改進的機會是一件幸事。令人沮喪的是，我們有機會改進，但我們專注於改進這些並提高效率。因此，這將使我們能夠繼續提供良好的增量利潤，與我之前提到的項目分開，我們已經部署了一些其他技術，使其成為客戶更好的勝利，以及他們如何與我們開展業務。

So yes, as we look forward, we're going to continue to extract those efficiencies and provide what we think are attractive incremental margins.

所以是的，正如我們所期待的那樣，我們將繼續提高這些效率並提供我們認為有吸引力的增量利潤。

Great. And on a more sort of current basis, any changes to contract structure, changes in contract lengths, any increasing the minimum thresholds for clients? Anything to call out there?

偉大的。在當前的基礎上，合同結構的任何變化，合同長度的變化，是否增加了客戶的最低門檻？有什麼要叫的嗎？

Toni, I would say it's nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly, we take a very long-term approach with our customers. They take a long-term approach with us. And we make sure that we're positioned to meet their needs and exceed them and provide products and services that they really value.

托尼，我想說這沒什麼不尋常的。當然，我們對客戶採取非常長期的方法。他們對我們採取長期的態度。我們確保我們能夠滿足他們的需求並超越他們，並提供他們真正重視的產品和服務。

And so that's what we're doing in the marketplace, and that tends to show itself in -- I'll just call it long-term relationships. Others might call those contracts, but I call them long-term relationships with our customers.

這就是我們在市場上所做的事情，這往往會表現出來——我稱之為長期關係。其他人可能會稱之為合同，但我稱之為與客戶的長期關係。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the call back to Mr. Paul Adler for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我現在想把電話交回給保羅·阿德勒先生做閉幕詞。

Well, thank you for joining us this morning. We will issue our second quarter of fiscal '23 financial results in late December. We look forward to speaking with you again at that time. Have a good day.

嗯，謝謝你今天早上加入我們。我們將在 12 月下旬發布 23 財年第二季度的財務業績。屆時，我們期待再次與您交談。祝你有美好的一天。

This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。