信達思 (CTAS) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Cintas Corporation announces Fiscal 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Release Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Jared Mattingley, Vice President and Treasurer, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎來到 Cintas Corporation 宣布的 2024 財年第三季財報發布電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音。現在，我想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管 Jared Mattingley 先生。請繼續，先生。

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 2024 third quarter results. After our commentary, we will open the call to questions from analysts. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor from civil litigation for forward-looking statements.

感謝您加入我們。與我在一起的是總裁兼執行長 Todd Schneider；和麥克漢森，執行副總裁兼財務長。我們將討論 2024 財年第三季業績。在我們的評論之後，我們將開始接受分析師提問。 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》為前瞻性聲明提供了避免民事訴訟的安全港。

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. I will now turn the call over to Todd.

本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，反映了公司目前對未來事件和財務表現的看法。這些前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們可能討論的結果有重大差異。我建議您參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中有關這些觀點的討論。我現在將把電話轉給托德。

Thank you, Jared. Due to the outstanding dedication and execution of our employees, whom we call partners, we delivered very strong results for our third quarter. Total revenue for the third quarter grew 9.9% to $2.41 billion. The revenue dollars represent record quarterly revenue. We are pleased with the performance of each of our businesses. Our revenue growth remains robust and we have good momentum in the business.

謝謝你，賈里德。由於我們的員工（我們稱之為合作夥伴）的出色奉獻和執行力，我們第三季取得了非常強勁的業績。第三季總營收成長 9.9%，達到 24.1 億美元。收入美元代表創紀錄的季度收入。我們對每項業務的表現感到滿意。我們的營收成長依然強勁，業務勢頭良好。

New business remains strong. Our sales team continues to operate at a high level. We are seeing broad success across the many verticals, particularly within our focus verticals as well as our cross-selling efforts and penetration of new products and services within our existing customers. Retention levels are strong and remain at very attractive levels. Our strong revenue growth flowed through to our bottom line. Gross margin for the third quarter increased 220 basis points to a record 49.4%, an increase of 14.9%. Operating income was a record 21.6%, an increase of 16.6%.

新業務依然強勁。我們的銷售團隊繼續保持高水準運作。我們在許多垂直領域都取得了廣泛的成功，特別是在我們的重點垂直領域以及我們的交叉銷售努力以及新產品和服務在現有客戶中的滲透。保留率很高，並且保持在非常有吸引力的水平。我們強勁的營收成長影響了我們的利潤。第三季毛利率成長220個基點至創紀錄的49.4%，年增14.9%。營業收入創歷史新高21.6%，較去年成長16.6%。

Diluted EPS grew a robust 22.3% to $3.84. Cash flow remains strong. Net cash provided by operating activities in the third quarter grew 32.8% over the prior year. In the third quarter, we continued to invest in our businesses through capital expenditures of $107 million.

稀釋後每股收益強勁成長 22.3% 至 3.84 美元。現金流依然強勁。第三季經營活動提供的現金淨額比去年同期成長32.8%。第三季度，我們透過 1.07 億美元的資本支出繼續投資於我們的業務。

During the third quarter, we made acquisition purchases of $111 million. On March 15, we paid shareholders $137.6 million in quarterly dividends, an increase of 17.1% from the amount paid the previous March. Our strong cash flow gives us flexibility to choose how we deploy our capital and through 3 quarters, we have deployed over $1.4 billion of capital across our priorities of capital expenditures, acquisitions, dividends and buybacks.

第三季度，我們進行了 1.11 億美元的收購。 3月15日，我們向股東支付了1.376億美元的季度股息，比上年3月支付的金額增加了17.1%。我們強勁的現金流使我們能夠靈活地選擇如何部署資本，在三個季度中，我們已經在資本支出、收購、股息和回購等優先事項上部署了超過 14 億美元的資本。

I would like to thank our employees whom we call partners for their continued focus on our customers, our shareholders and each other. Before turning the call over to Mike to provide details of our third 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 $9.48 billion to $9.56 billion to a range of $9.57 billion to $9.6 billion, a total growth rate of 8.6% to 8.9%. Also, we are raising our annual diluted EPS expectations from a range of $14.35 to $14.65 to a range of $14.80 to $15, a growth rate of 13.9% to 15.5%. Mike?

我要感謝我們的員工（我們稱之為合作夥伴），感謝他們對我們的客戶、股東和彼此的持續關注。在將電話轉給麥克以提供我們第三季業績的詳細資訊之前，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。我們將年收入預期從 94.8 億美元至 95.6 億美元上調至 95.7 億美元至 96 億美元，總成長率為 8.6% 至 8.9%。此外，我們還將年度攤薄每股收益預期從 14.35 美元至 14.65 美元上調至 14.80 美元至 15 美元，成長率為 13.9% 至 15.5%。麥克風？

Thanks, Todd, and good morning. Our fiscal 2024 third quarter revenue was $2.41 billion compared to $2.19 billion last year. The organic revenue growth rate adjusted for acquisitions, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and a difference in the number of workdays, was 7.7%. Total growth was positively impacted by 170 basis points due to the extra workday. We remind you as you update your models for next fiscal year that there will be 2 less workdays compared to this current fiscal year.

謝謝托德，早安。我們 2024 財年第三季的營收為 24.1 億美元，而去年為 21.9 億美元。經收購、外幣匯率波動和工作天數差異調整後的有機收入成長率為 7.7%。由於額外的工作日，總增長受到了 170 個基點的積極影響。我們提醒您，當您更新下一財年的模型時，與本財年相比，工作日將減少 2 個。

Each quarter next year, we'll have 65 workdays, which means the first and the fourth quarters will each have 1 less workday than this fiscal year. Organic growth by business was 7.1% for Uniform Rental and Facility Services, 11.5% for First Aid and Safety Services, 13.9% for Fire Protection Services and Uniform Direct Sale was down 3.9%. Gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal '24 was $1.19 billion compared to $1.03 billion last year, an increase of 14.9%. Gross margin as a percent of revenue was 49.4% for the third quarter of fiscal '24 compared to 47.2% last year, an increase of 220 basis points.

明年每季我們將有 65 個工作天，這意味著第一季和第四季將比本財年減少 1 個工作天。按業務劃分，制服租賃和設施服務有機成長 7.1%，急救和安全服務成長 11.5%，消防服務成長 13.9%，制服直銷下降 3.9%。 24財年第三季的毛利率為11.9億美元，與去年的10.3億美元相比，成長了14.9%。 24財年第三季毛利率佔營收的百分比為49.4%，與去年的47.2%相比，成長了220個基點。

Strong volume growth, technology improvements and continued operational efficiencies helped generate this strong gross margin. Gross margin percentage by business was 48.8% for Uniform Rental and Facility Services, 56.3% for First Aid and Safety Services, 48.8% of Fire Protection Services and 41.1% for Uniform Direct sale. Gross margin for the Uniform Rental and Facility Services segment increased 170 basis points from last year. Energy was a tailwind of 40 basis points. In addition, we continue to leverage our strong revenue growth, our technology investments and extract inefficiencies out of the business through our Six Sigma and engineering teams.

強勁的銷售成長、技術改進和持續的營運效率幫助實現了強勁的毛利率。按業務劃分的毛利率為：制服租賃和設施服務為 48.8%，急救和安全服務為 56.3%，消防服務為 48.8%，制服直銷為 41.1%。制服租賃和設施服務部門的毛利率比去年增加了 170 個基點。能源是 40 個基點的順風車。此外，我們繼續利用我們強勁的收入成長和技術投資，並透過我們的六西格瑪和工程團隊消除業務效率低下的問題。

Our technology investments have allowed us to improve garment sharing among our plants, which improves material cost. Our SmartTruck technology allows us to improve our route efficiencies and provide route densities to our existing routes, which positively impacts truck purchasing, labor and energy. Our Six Sigma and engineering teams have helped us create efficiencies in the plant that allow us to maximize the utilization of our plant equipment, labor and energy.

我們的技術投資使我們能夠改善工廠之間的服裝共享，從而降低材料成本。我們的 SmartTruck 技術使我們能夠提高路線效率並為現有路線提供路線密度，這對卡車採購、勞動力和能源產生積極影響。我們的六西格瑪和工程團隊幫助我們提高了工廠的效率，使我們能夠最大限度地利用工廠設備、勞動力和能源。

Gross margin for the First Aid and Safety Services segment increased 470 basis points from last year. Strong revenue growth continues to help expand our margins in this segment. Strong revenue performance in some of our high-margin recurring revenue products like AED Rentals, Eyewash Stations and WaterBreak continues to provide a healthy revenue mix. Our technology investment in SmartTruck continues to provide route optimization and improved efficiencies. And our First Aid dedicated distribution center allows us to lower product costs. All of these contribute to improved gross margins.

急救和安全服務部門的毛利率比去年增加了 470 個基點。強勁的收入成長繼續幫助我們擴大該領域的利潤。我們的一些高利潤經常性收入產品（例如 AED 租賃、洗眼站和 WaterBreak）的強勁收入表現繼續提供健康的收入組合。我們對 SmartTruck 的技術投資持續提供路線優化和提高效率。我們的急救專用配送中心使我們能夠降低產品成本。所有這些都有助於提高毛利率。

Selling and administrative expenses increased 90 basis points from last year. The increase was driven by investments in selling resources, technology and our management trainee program as well as costs associated with an agreement in principle to settle the purported class action contract dispute brought by Plaintiff, City of Laurel. We determined that settling the claim is in the best interest of Cintas. The total monetary payment agreed to in the proposed settlement, including the 60 basis points recognized in this quarter is $45 million.

銷售和管理費用比去年增加了 90 個基點。這一增長是由於對銷售資源、技術和管理培訓生計劃的投資，以及與原則上解決原告勞雷爾市提起的集體訴訟合約糾紛協議相關的成本推動的。我們確定解決索賠符合 Cintas 的最佳利益。擬議和解協議中同意的貨幣支付總額（包括本季確認的 60 個基點）為 4,500 萬美元。

We expect that the settlement costs will not impact our financials in future periods. As Todd mentioned earlier, we generated strong cash flow. For the year, our free cash flow increased 31.6%. This has allowed us to invest back into the business, which has resulted in capital expenditures of 4.3% for the year. Our investments include technology to grow the top line and expand margins automation to improve efficiencies in our plants and additional processing capacity where needed.

我們預計結算成本不會影響我們未來的財務狀況。正如托德之前提到的，我們產生了強勁的現金流。今年，我們的自由現金流成長了 31.6%。這使我們能夠重新投資於業務，導致今年的資本支出達到 4.3%。我們的投資包括用於增加收入和擴大利潤的技術，自動化，以提高我們工廠的效率，並在需要時增加處理能力。

We expect capital expenditures to finish around 4.25% of revenue for the year. Operating income of $520.8 million compared to $446.8 million last year. Operating income as a percentage of revenue was 21.6% in the third quarter of fiscal '24 compared to 20.4% in last year's third quarter, an increase of 120 basis points. Our effective tax rate for the third quarter was 19.9% compared to 22.1% last year. The tax rates in both quarters were impacted by certain discrete items, primarily the tax accounting impact for stock-based compensation.

我們預計今年資本支出將佔營收的 4.25% 左右。營業收入為 5.208 億美元，去年為 4.468 億美元。 24財年第三季營業收入佔營收的百分比為21.6%，而去年第三季為20.4%，成長了120個基點。我們第三季的有效稅率為 19.9%，去年為 22.1%。兩季的稅率均受到某些​​離散項目的影響，主要是股票薪資的稅務會計影響。

Net income for the third quarter was $397.6 million compared to $325.8 million last year. This year's third quarter diluted EPS of $3.84 compared to $3.14 last year, an increase of 22.3%. Todd provided our annual financial guidance. Related to the guidance, please note the following: fiscal '24 interest expense is expected to be $99 million compared to $109.5 million in fiscal '23, predominantly as a result of less variable rate debt. Our fiscal '24 effective tax rate is expected to be 20.6%. This compares to a rate of 20.4% in fiscal '23.

第三季淨利為 3.976 億美元，去年同期為 3.258 億美元。今年第三季攤薄後每股收益為3.84美元，較去年的3.14美元成長22.3%。托德提供了我們的年度財務指導。與該指引相關，請注意以下內容：24 財年的利息支出預計為 9,900 萬美元，而 23 財年的利息支出為 1.095 億美元，這主要是由於可變利率債務減少。我們 24 財年的有效稅率預計為 20.6%。相較之下，2023 財年的成長率為 20.4%。

Our guidance does not include the impact of any future share buybacks. As I mentioned earlier, we expect that the proposed settlement will not impact our financials in future periods. And accordingly, there is no impact on our guidance. Guidance includes $17.4 million of acquired revenue for the fourth quarter. This revenue includes the impact of the recently announced acquisitions during the third quarter. That concludes our prepared remarks.

我們的指導不包括任何未來股票回購的影響。正如我之前提到的，我們預計擬議的和解方案不會影響我們未來的財務狀況。因此，這對我們的指引沒有影響。指導包括第四季 1740 萬美元的收購收入。該收入包括最近宣布的第三季收購的影響。我們準備好的演講到此結束。

Now we are happy to answer your questions from the analysts. Please ask just one question and a single follow-up if needed. Thank you.

現在我們很高興回答分析師提出的問題。如果需要，請僅提出一個問題並進行一次後續行動。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) We will now take our first question from Manav Patnaik from Barclays Capital.

（操作員說明）我們現在將回答巴克萊資本 (Barclays Capital) 的 Manav Patnaik 提出的第一個問題。

This is [Ronan Kennedy] on for Manav. Can I just ask with regards to the strong margin performance, could you kind of assess or characterize the contributions from whether it's the SmartTruck, the Six Sigma, the engineering, extracting of inefficiencies, but also how we should think about those as drivers in the context of the sustainability of the margins, if you could elaborate on that, please?

我是馬納夫的[羅南·肯尼迪]。我可以問一下，關於強勁的利潤表現，您能否評估或描述一下智慧卡車、六西格瑪、工程、提取低效率的貢獻，以及我們應該如何將這些視為驅動因素？利潤可持續性的背景，請您詳細說明一下？

Thank you for your question, Ronan. When you think about the gross margin, it really starts with our culture, how we run our business, the expectations we have, the intensity of which we run it and the focus. That being said, there are many, many inputs to those numbers. Certainly, our investments that we are making are paying off, the investments in SmartTruck, the investments in our Six Sigma team, the investment in our engineering team, the investment in our supply chain organization are all helping us to improve those results. So I can't give you an exact number with hey, SmartTruck gave us X basis points, what have you. There are many inputs and we're pleased with the investments that we've made, and we're pleased with the leadership and the culture of the organization where they're focused on driving those results, providing a better experience for our customers and providing a better experience for our employee partners.

謝謝你的提問，羅南。當你考慮毛利率時，它實際上始於我們的文化、我們經營業務的方式、我們的期望、我們經營業務的強度和重點。話雖如此，這些數字有很多很多的輸入。當然，我們所做的投資正在得到回報，對 SmartTruck 的投資、對 6 Sigma 團隊的投資、對工程團隊的投資、對供應鏈組織的投資都在幫助我們改善這些結果。所以我無法給你一個確切的數字，嘿，SmartTruck 給了我們 X 個基點，你有什麼。有很多投入，我們對我們所做的投資感到滿意，我們對組織的領導力和文化感到滿意，他們專注於推動這些結果，為我們的客戶提供更好的體驗，為我們的員工合作夥伴提供更好的體驗。

That's helpful. And then with regards to obviously strong performance on the top line as well, can you just talk about the contributions from new business and penetration versus expectations, how pricing is trending and also retention, please?

這很有幫助。然後，關於營收的明顯強勁表現，您能否談談新業務和滲透率與預期的貢獻，定價趨勢和保留率如何？

Yes. Good question. So when we think about our growth, again, there's many contributing factors. We really like where we are from a growth standpoint. The internal growth, certainly -- we like the acquisitions that we've made, really good businesses. But when we think about the components of it, certainly, pricing is a component, but it is not the majority. The majority of our growth is from volume growth and that's really pleasing to us because we want to be able to grow our business in that manner.

是的。好問題。因此，當我們再次思考我們的成長時，有很多促成因素。從成長的角度來看，我們真的很喜歡我們現在的處境。當然，內部成長－我們喜歡我們所做的收購，這些都是非常好的業務。但當我們考慮它的組成部分時，定價當然是一個組成部分，但不是大部分。我們的成長大部分來自銷售成長，這讓我們非常高興，因為我們希望能夠以這種方式發展我們的業務。

Pricing has moderated and it's much closer to historical. And that's exactly what we had planned throughout the year. Where we're really benefiting is from our new business. Our team is performing at a high level. Our service organization is -- the retention levels are very attractive. And then we're cross-selling appropriately. We have a great breadth of products and services that we want to make sure that our customers and our prospects are aware of. And so we're benefiting kind of across all -- that kind of -- we are benefiting across all of those areas and they're all big contributing factors. But we like where we are, and we like how we're growing the business.

定價已經放緩，並且更接近歷史水平。這正是我們全年的計劃。我們真正受益的是我們的新業務。我們的團隊表現出高水準。我們的服務組織是－保留水準非常有吸引力。然後我們適當地進行交叉銷售。我們擁有廣泛的產品和服務，我們希望確保我們的客戶和潛在客戶了解這些產品和服務。因此，我們在所有領域都受益，我們在所有這些領域都受益，它們都是重要的促成因素。但我們喜歡我們所處的位置，也喜歡我們發展業務的方式。

And our next question comes from Josh Chan from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Josh Chan。

Could you talk about the -- I guess, piggybacking on the prior question, could you talk about the sustainability of growth that you're seeing, now that pricing has moderated to a historical level. Do you see the current run rate staining based on what you're seeing out there talking to customers and retention rate dynamics and all that?

您能否談談——我想，結合之前的問題，您能否談談您所看到的增長的可持續性，因為定價已降至歷史水平。您是否根據與客戶交談的內容和保留率動態以及所有其他內容看到當前的運行率染色？

Yes, Josh. Again, we like where we are from a growth standpoint. The exciting thing is there's -- we service a little over 1 million customers. There are 16 million businesses in North America. We think there's an incredible runway for us. So we're selling to -- about 60% of our new accounts come from no-programmers and that is continuing. So we're seeing great results from talking to prospects and showing them a better way to do it than they are today.

是的，喬許。同樣，從成長的角度來看，我們喜歡我們現在的處境。令人興奮的是——我們為略多於 100 萬的客戶提供服務。北美有 1600 萬家企業。我們認為我們有一條令人難以置信的跑道。因此，我們的銷售對像大約有 60% 的新客戶來自非程式設計師，而且這種情況仍在持續。因此，透過與潛在客戶交談並向他們展示比現在更好的方法，我們看到了很好的結果。

Now that doesn't necessarily mean that, that is new spend. They might be spending that money somehow. It's just we're redirecting it to do it better, smarter, faster, in some cases, even less expensive than the way they're doing it. So we think the runway is very attractive because of the number of prospects that are out there and our business -- or excuse me, our buying proposition resonating with prospects and customers. So we expect that we like where we are from a growth standpoint. As I mentioned, we like how we're growing, and we want to continue in that manner.

現在這並不一定意味著，那是新的支出。他們可能會以某種方式花掉這筆錢。只是我們正在重新調整它的方向，使其做得更好、更聰明、更快，在某些情況下，甚至比他們的做法更便宜。因此，我們認為這條跑道非常有吸引力，因為那裡有大量的潛在客戶和我們的業務——或者對不起，我們的購買主張與潛在客戶和客戶產生了共鳴。因此，我們希望從成長的角度來看，我們喜歡我們現在的處境。正如我所提到的，我們喜歡我們的成長方式，並且我們希望繼續以這種方式發展。

That's great color. And for my follow-up, you talked about incremental margins being in the 20% to 30% range historically. And now you're sort of at the higher end of that in recent years. Is this the right level of incremental margins going forward on revenue growth that comes ahead.

那顏色真棒。在我的後續行動中，您談到了歷史上增量利潤率在 20% 到 30% 的範圍內。現在你已經處於近年來的高端。這是未來營收成長的正確增量利潤水準嗎？

Yes. Well, we recognize the math of 20% to 30% incremental margins. We need to be at the higher end of that in order to continue to improve our margins and we're focused on doing that. We're doing so by extracting out those inefficiencies, getting really good leverage on our revenue growth, so many, many ways. But running a business is not linear. And so we know there's going to be some puts and takes and some quarters will be higher and some won't be as high. But generally speaking, we like that range and I prefer the higher end than the lower end. That's for sure.

是的。嗯，我們知道 20% 到 30% 增量利潤的數學原理。我們需要達到更高的目標，才能繼續提高我們的利潤率，我們正致力於做到這一點。我們透過消除這些低效因素，透過多種方式實現收入成長，從而實現這一目標。但經營企業並不是線性的。所以我們知道將會有一些看跌期權和看跌期權，有些季度會更高，有些季度不會那麼高。但總的來說，我們喜歡這個範圍，而且我更喜歡高端而不是低端。這是肯定的。

And our next question comes from Heather Balsky from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的希瑟‧巴爾斯基。

I was hoping if you could just talk about the M&A you did this quarter, kind of what attracted you to the assets? And then just an update on how to think about M&A going forward.

我希望您能談談本季進行的併購，是什麼吸引您選擇這些資產？然後是關於如何思考未來併購的最新資訊。

I'm certainly happy to start, Mike -- Heather regarding M&A. So it's an important component for us. You certainly cannot pace M&A. So they kind of come as they do, and it takes 2 to dance. But I can tell you the 2 that we announced this past quarter are great businesses, first off, really good operators, really attractive businesses. In the case of the one in Kentucky, it provided us with some needed capacity in that region of the country.

我當然很高興開始，麥克-希瑟關於併購。所以它對我們來說是一個重要的組成部分。你當然無法加速併購速度。所以他們就這樣來了，需要兩個人才能跳舞。但我可以告訴你，我們上個季度宣布的兩個都是偉大的企業，首先，非常好的運營商，非常有吸引力的企業。就肯塔基州的情況而言，它為我們提供了該國該地區所需的一些能力。

In addition to the added capacity, we were able to absorb that volume into 7 of our facilities. So some really nice synergies allows us to -- as we're closer to the customers to spend more time with the customer and less time driving. So that's important to us. In the case of the acquisition in the M&A in Pennsylvania, we did not acquire any additional capacity. But in that case, we were able to absorb it into 16 of our facilities.

除了增加產能外，我們還能夠將此容量吸收到我們的 7 個設施中。因此，一些非常好的協同效應使我們能夠——因為我們離客戶更近，所以我們可以花更多的時間與客戶在一起，減少開車的時間。所以這對我們很重要。在賓州的併購中，我們沒有獲得任何額外的產能。但在這種情況下，我們能夠將其吸收到我們的 16 個設施中。

So again, attractive synergies, more time with the customer, less time driving. In those cases, we also then get to talk to our new customers about the broader breadth of products and services that we have. So we think it's -- overall, it's very attractive. As I mentioned, it takes 2 to dance. You can't pace it. But in this case, these were 2 really attractive businesses, great operators that really made sense for us.

再說一次，有吸引力的協同效應，更多的時間與客戶相處，更少的駕駛時間。在這些情況下，我們還可以與新客戶討論我們擁有的更廣泛的產品和服務。所以我們認為總的來說，它非常有吸引力。正如我所提到的，跳舞需要兩個人。你無法控制它的節奏。但在這種情況下，這是兩個非常有吸引力的業務，是對我們來說真正有意義的優秀營運商。

Maybe a couple of added points. As Todd said, these are great acquisitions, and we've had a handful of them this fiscal year. Each of the 2 that Todd talked about is less than $20 million in annual revenue. The $17.4 million that we gave you in our prepared remarks, includes the impact of those. But keeping in mind, we've made acquisitions all year long. And so that fourth quarter impact would include all of the acquisitions we've made throughout the last 12 months. Just something to keep in mind as you're thinking about our fourth quarter.

也許還有幾點補充。正如托德所說，這些都是偉大的收購，本財年我們已經進行了一些收購。托德談到的這兩家公司的年收入都低於 2,000 萬美元。我們在準備好的演講中向您提供的 1740 萬美元包括了這些影響。但請記住，我們全年都在進行收購。因此，第四季度的影響將包括我們過去 12 個月進行的所有收購。當您思考我們的第四季度時，請記住一些事情。

And our next question comes from Andy Wittmann from R.W. Baird. (Operator Instructions)

我們的下一個問題來自 R.W. Baird 的 Andy Wittmann。 （操作員說明）

I'm sorry about that. Mike, I just want to build on that last question where you were commenting on the M&A contribution. Is there any in your fourth quarter guidance, is there a change in your fundamental outlook for the company, recognizing that it is up now somewhat on these 2 -- somewhat larger acquisitions that you did? And then as an addendum to that, was this 60 basis points or $45 million legal settlement that you just talked about, was that included and considered in your initial guidance? Or are you absorbing that and still able to raise your guidance here?

對此我很抱歉。麥克，我只想以您評論併購貢獻的最後一個問題為基礎。在您的第四季度指導中，您對公司的基本前景是否有任何變化，因為您認識到公司現在在這兩項規模較大的收購中有所上升？作為補充，您剛才談到的 60 個基點或 4500 萬美元的法律和解是否包含在您的初步指導中並考慮在內？或者你正在吸收這一點並且仍然能夠在這裡提高你的指導？

Yes. So Andy, I already forgot your first part of the question. What was your first part?

是的。安迪，我已經忘記你問題的第一部分了。你的第一部分是什麼？

First question is your fundamental outlook for business unchanged -- is your fundamental outlook unchanged for 4Q? Or is there a change...?

第一個問題是您對業務的基本前景沒有變化——您對第四季度的基本前景有變化嗎？或有什麼變化嗎...？

Yes, I apologize. No. As Todd talked about. Our market remains very large. The momentum in the business remains good. The adoption remains good. And the guide for the fourth quarter is right where we want to be in terms of sort of the stated profile of growth that we want to have. And so all of that put together with not really any change in customer behavior would mean, no continued performance like we've seen, and we continue to like the momentum of the business.

是的，我道歉。不，正如托德所說。我們的市場仍然很大。業務動能依然良好。採用率依然良好。就我們所希望的成長而言，第四季的指南正是我們想要達到的目標。因此，所有這些加在一起，加上客戶行為沒有真正發生任何變化，就意味著不會像我們所看到的那樣持續表現，而且我們仍然喜歡業務的勢頭。

As it relates to your second question, the 60 basis points, that was not contemplated in the initial guide from the beginning of the year, and that was simply absorbed through -- well, in this third quarter, the 60 basis points simply absorbed.

因為它涉及到你的第二個問題，即 60 個基點，這在年初的最初指南中沒有考慮到，而只是被吸收了——嗯，在第三季度，60 個基點被簡單地吸收了。

And our next question comes from George Tong from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的喬治唐。

Can you provide an update on the external selling environment, including how client budgets and sales cycles are performing?

您能否提供有關外部銷售環境的最新信息，包括客戶預算和銷售週期的執行情況？

Yes. I'm certainly happy to start, George. We haven't really seen much of a change in sales cycle. As far as our -- the interest in our products and services remains good. We're always continuing to invest in new products and services, tweaks, I guess, certainly to them to make it as attractive to the prospects and the customers as possible. But we're not seeing a change. Momentum continues to be good, outsourcing still resonates.

是的。我當然很高興開始，喬治。我們並沒有真正看到銷售週期有太大變化。就我們而言，人們對我們的產品和服務的興趣仍然很好。我們一直在繼續投資新產品和服務，我想，當然是對他們進行調整，以使其對潛在客戶和現有客戶盡可能有吸引力。但我們沒有看到任何變化。勢頭依然良好，外包仍引起共鳴。

And we're seeing, as I mentioned earlier, the new program market is -- it's still really, really large, and we've become pretty darn proficient at and presenting to those prospects to help them run a better business. And we help them with all the products and services we provide. And as I mentioned, it's not always new money. Usually, they're spending something is just redirecting it to us to do it better, faster, smarter, cheaper type thing.

正如我之前提到的，我們看到新的專案市場仍然非常非常大，而且我們已經非常精通並向這些潛在客戶展示內容，以幫助他們經營更好的業務。我們透過提供的所有產品和服務為他們提供幫助。正如我所提到的，它並不總是新資金。通常，他們花的錢只是將其重新導向給我們，以便我們做得更好、更快、更聰明、更便宜。

Got it. That's helpful. And then separately, can you talk a little bit about your focus verticals, including health care? How much additional runway is there for these focus verticals to serve as a tailwind to organic revenue growth?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後，您能否單獨談談您的重點垂直領域，包括醫療保健？這些重點垂直產業還有多少額外的跑道可以成為有機收入成長的動力？

Yes. So George, so it's in our internal growth. So it is helping us. That focus is helping us to organize around the customer and provide the products and services that they want and that has been a good strategy for us over the past number of years. So we like all the verticals we're in. We find them very attractive whether it's health care, hospitality, education, state, local government business, it's all attractive, and we're organized around it, and our value proposition is resonating with them.

是的。喬治，我們的內在成長也是如此。所以它正在幫助我們。這一重點幫助我們圍繞客戶進行組織並提供他們想要的產品和服務，這對我們來說是過去幾年的一個很好的策略。所以我們喜歡我們所處的所有垂直行業。我們發現它們非常有吸引力，無論是醫療保健、酒店、教育、州、地方政府業務，它們都很有吸引力，我們圍繞它進行組織，我們的價值主張與人們產生共鳴。他們。

And our next question comes from Tim Mulrooney from William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自威廉布萊爾的提姆馬爾魯尼。

This is [Lu McCann] on for Tim Mulrooney. So I wanted to ask 2, just on first -- I'll start with the first one and then move on to the second one after. But First Aid and Safety has been growing at a double-digit rate for quite a few quarters in a row now. I know there's a penetration story here with your established base of Uniform customers. But I'm also curious if new product introductions are an important driver of this growth. How much of your growth in that segment is from new product introductions?

這是蒂姆·馬爾魯尼的[盧·麥肯]。所以我想問 2 個，就在第一個——我將從第一個開始，然後再問第二個。但急救和安全業務已經連續幾季以兩位數的速度成長。我知道這裡有一個關於您已建立的製服客戶群的滲透故事。但我也很好奇新產品的推出是否是這種成長的重要驅動力。您在該領域的成長有多少來自於新產品的推出？

Luke. We really like the First Aid business, part of our culture is continued innovation. So we're always looking at improving our processes, improving our products, improving our services. So it's always a component. I cannot give you a number of, hey, it was X basis points of growth due to a product rollout or what have you. But I can tell you this, the value proposition in the First Aid business and all of our businesses. But First Aid, as you asked about, it's really resonating. And the mix of business that we have there is really good. And we're able to be better sourcers, better providers of products with our investment in our distribution center.

路克.我們非常喜歡急救業務，持續創新是我們文化的一部分。因此，我們一直在尋求改善我們的流程、改進我們的產品、改善我們的服務。所以它始終是一個組件。我無法給你一些數字，嘿，由於產品推出或其他什麼原因，這是 X 個基點的成長。但我可以告訴你這一點，即急救業務和我們所有業務的價值主張。但正如你所問的那樣，《急救》確實引起了共鳴。我們在那裡的業務組合非常好。透過對配送中心的投資，我們能夠成為更好的採購商、更好的產品供應商。

So when you have a robust supply chain that allows us to get products to the customers in a really timely fashion, it puts us in a great spot to be successful. So yes, cross-sell, we're absolutely -- we want all of our customers, whether they're uniform or fire or a direct sale customer, we want them all to know about our First Aid business. And we try to make sure that, that occurs in many different conduits, but it's -- yes, we're benefiting from that cross-sell.

因此，當您擁有強大的供應鏈，使我們能夠及時向客戶提供產品時，我們就處於成功的有利位置。所以，是的，交叉銷售，我們絕對希望我們所有的客戶，無論他們是製服客戶、消防客戶還是直銷客戶，我們希望他們都了解我們的急救業務。我們試圖確保這種情況發生在許多不同的管道中，但是，是的，我們正在從交叉銷售中受益。

Understood. Really helpful. And maybe just sticking on First Aid and Safety here. As you think about that segment of your business, does it feel like you've essentially built out the full suite of products and services there? Or at some point, should we expect to potentially hear more about other product introductions as you continue to build out the portfolio? Is the room here for more is essentially what I'm curious to know.

明白了。真的很有幫助。也許只是在這裡堅持急救和安全。當您考慮您的該業務部分時，是否感覺您基本上已經在那裡建立了全套產品和服務？或者在某個時候，當您繼續建立產品組合時，我們是否應該期望聽到更多有關其他產品介紹的資訊？我很想知道這裡還有更多空間嗎？

Yes, Luke. Yes, again, I'll go back to our culture. Our culture is such that we are constantly innovating and pushing ourselves to be -- to provide the best products and services. And so you'll see more of that to come. We're constantly innovating to put our partners in the best position, our employee partners in the best position to provide the most value for our customers.

是的，盧克。是的，我會再次回到我們的文化。我們的文化是我們不斷創新並推動自己提供最好的產品和服務。所以你會看到更多這樣的事情發生。我們不斷創新，讓我們的合作夥伴處於最佳位置，讓我們的員工合作夥伴處於最佳位置，為我們的客戶提供最大價值。

And maybe one added comment, Luke, when we think about this business, you may have heard us speak to umbrellas of image, safety, cleanliness and compliance. And when we think about this business, safety is a fairly large umbrella. And when our First Aid and Safety people are speaking with customers and thinking about that innovation that Todd talked about, we're thinking quite broadly about how do we keep our customers, how do we help our customers keep their employees safe and that can mean opportunities into the future. And that's the way we look at it from a broad perspective.

也許還有一點補充，盧克，當我們思考這項業務時，您可能聽過我們談到形象、安全、清潔和合規性。當我們考慮這個行業時，安全是一個相當大的保護傘。當我們的急救和安全人員與客戶交談並思考托德談到的創新時，我們會廣泛思考如何留住客戶，如何幫助客戶保證員工的安全，這可能意味著未來的機會。這就是我們從廣泛的角度看待它的方式。

And our next question comes from Andrew Steinerman from JPMorgan Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通證券的安德魯斯坦納曼。

In the quarter, when you look at your rentals and Facility Services segment, how much of the growth is actually coming from Uniforms versus Ancillary services? And directionally, like is there good growth in both? And also, if you can make a comment about ad stops within Uniforms.

在本季度，當您查看租賃和設施服務部門時，有多少成長實際上來自製服服務與輔助服務？從方向上看，兩者都有良好的成長嗎？另外，您是否可以對制服中的廣告停止發表評論。

Andrew, as you know, we don't give out those specific numbers. But directionally, to your question, yes, we're seeing growth across them at all. There's good demand for our uniform business and our facility services business, frankly, for all of our business products and services. So nothing to point out to one particular area there. As far as add-stops, there's a -- we haven't really seen a change to our customer behavior there. So it's, I'll call it, kind of business as usual. There are many inputs to that number. But nevertheless, I'd say it's kind of business as usual.

安德魯，如你所知，我們不會給出這些具體數字。但從方向上來說，對於你的問題，是的，我們看到了它們的成長。坦白說，我們的製服業務和設施服務業務對我們所有的業務產品和服務都有很大的需求。所以沒有什麼可以指出那裡的某個特定區域。就添加停止而言，我們還沒有真正看到客戶行為發生變化。所以，我稱之為，一切如常。該數字有很多輸入。但儘管如此，我還是想說一切如常。

And our next question comes from Jasper Bibb from Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Jasper Bibb。

I wanted to follow up on the earlier discussion on First Aid. The gross margin there was really impressive at 56% this quarter, but you also had SG&A up 25% from the prior year. So could you provide just maybe a bit of color on the investments you're making in that business? And when do you think the First Aid segment should start to deliver a bit more margin leverage over that SG&A base.

我想跟進之前關於急救的討論。本季毛利率高達 56%，令人印象深刻，但 SG&A 也比去年增加了 25%。那麼您能否提供一些有關您在該業務中進行的投資的資訊？您認為急救部門什麼時候應該開始在 SG&A 基礎上提供更多的利潤槓桿。

Yes, Jasper, as I mentioned, we really like the business, and it's performing really well and we're investing appropriately. The amount of prospects out there are massive. And to Mike's point earlier, the value proposition is resonating. We talk about the mantra in that business is what's more important to a business than the health and safety of their employees and their customers.

是的，賈斯珀，正如我所提到的，我們真的很喜歡這項業務，而且它的表現非常好，我們正在適當地投資。那裡的前景是巨大的。正如麥克之前所說，這一價值主張正在引起共鳴。我們談論的商業格言是，對企業來說，比員工和客戶的健康和安全更重要。

So that is resonating. We're in a great position to invest to provide those products and services. So we're doing just that. And so we're investing in selling resources. We're investing in marketing resources because we really like where we are and it makes sense to invest. And I think you're seeing it show up in the operating margin and the gross margin.

所以這是引起共鳴的。我們處於有利位置，可以投資提供這些產品和服務。所以我們就是這麼做的。因此，我們正在投資銷售資源。我們正在投資行銷資源，因為我們真的很喜歡我們所處的位置，而且投資是有意義的。我認為你會看到它出現在營業利潤率和毛利率中。

Yes. Each quarter this year has been 22% or higher, which is quite a big improvement from a year ago. And so as Todd said, we want to continue to invest in the long-term growth of all of our businesses, and you can really see those investments playing out particularly in the gross margin line of First Aid and Safety.

是的。今年每季都是22%以上，比一年前有很大進步。正如托德所說，我們希望繼續投資於我們所有業務的長期成長，你可以真正看到這些投資的效果，特別是在急救和安全的毛利率方面。

But we love the margins. They're up quite a bit over the last few years, and we'll continue to invest as we see appropriate.

但我們喜歡利潤。它們在過去幾年中增長了很多，我們將繼續在我們認為合適的情況下進行投資。

It makes sense. And then just I was hoping to get an update on what you're seeing for expense growth on labor and fleet-related costs in the quarter.

這說得通。然後我只是希望了解您所看到的本季勞動力和車隊相關成本費用增長的最新情況。

Jasper, good question. Certainly, labor is an important component. We want to make sure that we're providing attractive wages, competitive wages. And we've spoken on previous calls that we were not flat-footed when it came to the wage inflation that I'd say North America has seen over the past few years. So we've been in a good position, and we like where we are from that perspective. And here's what's really exciting is we have -- I mentioned earlier, our Six Sigma teams, our engineering teams, they're helping us to automate certain items to bring transformation technology to portions of our business, whether it's SmartTruck or plant efficiencies that allows us to mitigate that subject as best as possible.

賈斯珀，好問題。當然，勞動力是一個重要的組成部分。我們希望確保提供具有吸引力、有競爭力的薪資。我們在先前的電話會議中說過，在談到過去幾年北美出現的薪資上漲問題時，我們並沒有措手不及。所以我們一直處於一個很好的位置，從這個角度來看我們喜歡我們現在的位置。真正令人興奮的是我們——我之前提到過，我們的六西格瑪團隊、我們的工程團隊，他們正在幫助我們實現某些專案的自動化，從而將轉型技術引入我們的部分業務，無論是智慧卡車還是工廠效率，我們會盡可能地緩解這個問題。

And so we're investing and have invested for years in those organizations, and it's paying off and what we're seeing with our total labor costs as we manage through and make sure we're still in a really good spot to be competitive and attract the very best people.

因此，我們正在對這些組織進行投資，並且已經投資了多年，它正在得到回報，我們在管理總勞動力成本時看到了這一點，並確保我們仍然處於具有競爭力的良好位置，吸引最優秀的人才。

And our next question comes from Ashish Sabadra from RBC.

我們的下一個問題來自 RBC 的 Ashish Sabadra。

I just wanted to focus on the Google partnership. I was wondering if you can provide an update on that front. I believe you've already migrated your SAP onto the GCP and how should we think about those benefits that you may have seen in the quarter, but also benefits as we go forward?

我只是想關注谷歌的合作關係。我想知道您是否可以提供這方面的最新情況。我相信您已經將 SAP 遷移到 GCP 上，我們應該如何考慮您在本季可能看到的好處以及我們未來發展的好處？

Good question, Ashish. I would characterize -- well, first off, we have a great relationship with Google. You're correct. We did migrate to the Google Cloud platform. And I would characterize it as we're in the early innings there.

好問題，阿什什。我想說的是——首先，我們與Google有著良好的關係。你是對的。我們確實遷移到了 Google Cloud 平台。我將其描述為我們正處於早期幾局。

And so we certainly hope to maximize our relationship and put our employee partners in a position to provide more value and to be as successful as possible because we believe there are tools that will be available to us to provide more value to the customers and to put our people in a better position to provide that value, which makes them more successful. So early innings, but we're optimistic about where that can go.

因此，我們當然希望最大化我們的關係，讓我們的員工合作夥伴能夠提供更多價值並盡可能取得成功，因為我們相信我們可以使用一些工具為客戶提供更多價值，並讓我們的員工能夠獲得更多的價值。我們的員工能夠更好地提供這種價值，從而使他們更加成功。雖然還處於早期階段，但我們對接下來的發展持樂觀態度。

That's very helpful color. And if I can ask a quick accounting clarifying question. So in the balance sheet, the Uniform and other rental items and service that moderated sequentially quarter-to-quarter. I was just wondering, if you can provide any color on what's driving that? Is that better efficiency or anything on that front?

這是非常有用的顏色。如果我能問一個快速的會計澄清問題。因此，在資產負債表中，制服和其他租賃項目和服務逐季放緩。我只是想知道，你是否可以提供任何顏色來說明是什麼推動了這一點？是效率更高還是其他方面更好？

Yes, Todd talked a little bit about how we are working on all pieces of the business, but certainly one of those is inventory and he touched on a little bit of garment sharing. So you can think about when we improve garment sharing, for example, we don't need to inject as many new garments into that in-service inventory. So the more sharing means better utilization of our existing in-service inventory. And it means we don't have to add as much into the in-service inventory from new purchases.

是的，托德談到了我們如何處理業務的各個方面，但其中之一肯定是庫存，他談到了一些服裝共享。因此，您可以考慮一下，當我們改進服裝共享時，例如，我們不需要向正在使用的庫存注入那麼多新服裝。因此，更多的共享意味著更好地利用我們現有的在用庫存。這意味著我們不必從新購買的產品中添加太多的在用庫存。

That's one of the areas. Certainly, though, there are others like improved sourcing as well. Volume growth, as Todd said, remains really strong. And so what we're seeing is some nice offsetting of the volume growth with some of these initiatives.

這是其中之一。當然，還有其他一些措施，例如改進採購。正如托德所說，銷售成長仍然非常強勁。因此，我們看到其中一些舉措很好地抵消了銷售成長。

And our next question comes from Stephanie Moore from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的史蒂芬妮摩爾 (Stephanie Moore)。

I wanted to continue the discussion on the pretty impressive margin front for the quarter. I appreciate the color in terms of kind of discussing the route optimization, the merchandise management, Six Sigma and the likes. But maybe if you could provide a little bit of color of your major initiatives, which ones you think are kind of still in the early innings where we could kind of continue to see some more improvement or accelerated improvement. And then maybe taking it a step further, what is next for you guys in terms of other areas of opportunity that haven't been as major focus yet.

我想繼續討論本季令人印象深刻的利潤率。我很欣賞在討論路線優化、商品管理、六西格瑪等方面的色彩。但也許您可以提供一些您的主要舉措的色彩，您認為哪些舉措仍處於早期階段，我們可以繼續看到更多改進或加速改進。然後也許更進一步，在尚未成為主要關注點的其他機會領域，你們的下一步是什麼。

From our strategic initiatives that we're focused on how can we impact our business in total, certainly our material costs, our energy, our labor. And Mike referred to earlier, our energy spend is down 40 basis points. But that's not all just price. Those initiatives that we referred to earlier, the material cost is a -- our 2 largest costs, our material cost and labor.

從我們的策略計劃來看，我們專注於如何影響我們的整體業務，當然是我們的材料成本、能源和勞動力。麥克之前提到，我們的能源支出下降了 40 個基點。但這不僅僅是價格。我們之前提到的那些舉措，材料成本是我們最大的兩個成本，我們的材料成本和勞動力。

So we're very focused on driving efficiencies in all those areas because to Mike's earlier point, we love the volume growth, but we don't want to sacrifice margin because of the volume growth is so robust that we've got these strategic initiatives to extract these inefficiencies out of our business. And I wouldn't speak to anyone in particular that it's in the earlier innings or the others.

因此，我們非常專注於提高所有這些領域的效率，因為根據邁克之前的觀點，我們喜歡銷量增長，但我們不想犧牲利潤，因為銷量增長如此強勁，以至於我們採取了這些戰略舉措消除我們業務中的這些低效率問題。我不會特別跟任何人談論這是在前幾局或其他局。

We've got a nice runway for forward for doing that. A little bit of that is our culture is that we're constantly trying to innovate and push ourselves to be better. So I think you'll see that continue. As far as acceleration, it's built in. We're constantly doing it. So I think we're focused on -- there are incremental margins and this is an important component of making sure we can hit those numbers.

我們為前鋒提供了一條很好的跑道來做到這一點。我們的文化之一是我們不斷嘗試創新並推動自己變得更好。所以我想你會看到這種情況繼續下去。就加速而言，它是內建的。我們一直在這樣做。因此，我認為我們的重點是——增加利潤，這是確保我們能夠達到這些數字的重要組成部分。

Yes. The only thing I might add is we are certainly in the very early innings of technology and we believe there's a nice runway there. Todd talked about just the recent migration to the Google Cloud and that creates a foundation for us to do some interesting things moving forward.

是的。我唯一要補充的是，我們確實處於技術的早期階段，我們相信那裡有一條很好的跑道。 Todd 談到了最近向 Google Cloud 的遷移，這為我們未來做一些有趣的事情奠定了基礎。

And our next question comes from Scott Schneeberger from Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自奧本海默的斯科特·施尼伯格。

It's Daniel on for Scott. Could you please speak to the outlook for Uniform Direct Sales and Fire Protection as well as some perspective on the margins for All Other going forward, please?

丹尼爾替補斯科特。您能否談談統一直銷和消防業務的前景以及對所有其他業務未來利潤率的一些看法？

I'll start on the outlook. And Mike, if you want to speak to the margins. The Uniform Direct Sale business is a strategic business for us. We have some really large strategic accounts, whether it's national accounts or in the hospitality, gaming area of our business. And so a strategic meaning that those customers spend a lot more money with us not just with garment direct sale but also outside of that.

我將從展望開始。麥克，如果你想對邊緣人說話。制服直銷業務對我們來說是一項策略性業務。我們擁有一些非常大的策略客戶，無論是國民帳戶或是我們業務的飯店、博彩領域。因此，戰略意義在於，這些客戶不僅在服裝直銷方面，而且在其他方​​面都在我們這裡花費了更多的錢。

So that's important. That being said, that business certainly can be a little lumpy due to the nature of it with rollouts and purchases. But we like where we're positioned there. We like the value proposition where we are there. So we think the outlook is very positive there. As far as the fire business, it's been a great business for us. The results over the last several years, we've seen great revenue growth. We've seen great margin improvement. And it's the only business we're in where you legally have to have those products and services. So we think it's -- the outlook is really positive because of the prospects that are out there and the runway we see for opportunity. So Mike, if you want to comment on margin?

所以這很重要。話雖這麼說，由於推出和購買的性質，該業務肯定會有點不穩定。但我們喜歡我們所處的位置。我們喜歡我們所處的價值主張。所以我們認為那裡的前景非常樂觀。就消防業務而言，這對我們來說是一項偉大的業務。過去幾年的結果是，我們看到了收入的巨大增長。我們已經看到利潤率大幅提高。這是我們從事的唯一一個合法必須擁有這些產品和服務的業務。所以我們認為，由於前景和我們看到的機會，前景非常樂觀。麥克，您想對保證金發表評論嗎？

Sure. So as Todd said, the fire business, in particular, the margins have increased quite a bit in the last handful of years and we've seen a lot of the same initiatives and other initiatives specific to that business really take off like we've seen in our other businesses. The one thing I might point out there, we did see some increase in SG&A in the fire business year-over-year, and we're starting to get into that SAP implementation for the fire business.

當然。正如托德所說，特別是消防業務，在過去幾年中，利潤率有了相當大的增長，我們已經看到許多相同的舉措和針對該業務的其他舉措確實取得了成功，就像我們已經看到的那樣在我們的其他業務中也能看到。我可能要指出的一件事是，我們確實看到消防業務的 SG&A 逐年增加，我們開始為消防業務實施 SAP。

So we might see a little bit of pressure as we move into fiscal '25 on the fire margins, the overall margins because of that investment in that move. But as you've seen with our rental and First Aid and Safety businesses, once we understand how to use that and get proficient at it, it can create some really nice opportunities. So maybe a little bit of -- we've seen some great improvement, maybe a little bit of next year and the following year pressure on SG&A because of that implementation.

因此，當我們進入 25 財年時，由於對這項措施的投資，整體利潤率可能會面臨一些壓力。但正如您在我們的租賃、急救和安全業務中看到的那樣，一旦我們了解如何使用並精通它，它就可以創造一些非常好的機會。因此，也許有一點——我們已經看到了一些巨大的改進，也許明年和下一年的 SG&A 壓力會因為實施而受到一些影響。

But we certainly expect those margins to continue to improve in the longer term from a Uniform Direct Sale margin perspective. As Todd said, that business is going to go up and down. It's going to be a little bit bumpy from quarter to quarter. And because of that, the margins will be as well. So I don't think there's anything specific to call out other than it isn't quite as consistent of a business as the other 3 that we have.

但從統一直銷利潤率的角度來看，我們當然預期這些利潤率將在長期內繼續提高。正如托德所說，這項業務會起起落落。每季都會有點坎坷。正因為如此，利潤率也會如此。因此，我認為沒有什麼特別值得指出的，只是它的業務不如我們的其他 3 個業務那麼一致。

And our next question comes from Shlomo Rosenbaum from Stifel, Nicolaus.

我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Shlomo Rosenbaum，Nicolaus。

Todd, can you talk a little bit about the macro environment with regard to employment and specifically, if you could touch upon some of the areas where they're looking for more automation to reduce the employment due to raises in minimum wage in areas like California, are you -- how exposed are you to those kind of verticals? And then after that, I have a follow-up.

托德，您能談談有關就業的宏觀環境嗎？具體來說，您是否可以談談他們正在尋求更多自動化以減少由於加州等地區最低工資上漲而導致的就業的一些領域，您對此類垂直行業的接觸程度如何？之後，我有一個後續行動。

Yes, from a macro environment, as I mentioned, we haven't seen much change in our customer behavior. Certainly, there's always some puts and takes. And as you mentioned, our employers under pressure to figure out ways to automate things because wage inflation that has occurred and will continue to occur. It's occurred for many, many years.

是的，從宏觀環境來看，正如我所提到的，我們的客戶行為並沒有太大變化。當然，總是會有一些投入和收穫。正如您所提到的，我們的雇主面臨著尋找自動化方法的壓力，因為薪資上漲已經發生並將繼續發生。這種事已經發生很多很多年了。

Now there is also some -- the infrastructure bills that are out there, the onshoring, I can't speak to specifics of, oh, boy, we're benefiting from this or this is a headwind here. But generally, we like the spot we're in. And we think it's the macro environment where -- it's been reasonably stable. And that's -- we find that attractive and we can be really successful in that environment.

現在還有一些——基礎設施法案、外包，我無法具體說明，哦，天哪，我們正在從中受益，或者這是這裡的逆風。但總的來說，我們喜歡我們所處的位置。我們認為這是宏觀環境——它一直相當穩定。那就是——我們發現這很有吸引力，我們可以在這種環境中真正取得成功。

Just for a follow-up, you have a competitor there that was spun out, say, 6 months ago, and I was just wondering, has there been any change in the environment with them competitively in terms either positively or negatively? I mean have you seen any changes in the way that they bid? Are you taking more business from them? Maybe you could just comment in general.

作為後續行動，你有一個競爭對手，比如說，6 個月前就被分拆出來了，我只是想知道，他們的競爭環境是否發生了積極或消極的變化？我的意思是，您發現他們的出價方式有任何變化嗎？您是否從他們那裡獲得了更多業務？也許你可以籠統地發表評論。

Yes. Shlomo, I would characterize it's pretty well business as usual. They're a very good competitor, always have been. I'm sure they always will be, and we have a great deal of respect for them, and it's a very competitive environment. It always has been as far as -- as long as I've been with the company, it has been, and I'm sure it will be in the future. But we're focused on putting our employee partners in the best position to be successful in providing our customers the best value proposition. So really, none of that has changed.

是的。什洛莫，我認為一切照常進行。他們是非常優秀的競爭對手，一直都是。我相信他們永遠都會如此，我們非常尊重他們，而且這是一個競爭非常激烈的環境。只要我在公司工作，它就一直如此，而且我確信將來也會如此。但我們專注於讓我們的員工合作夥伴處於最佳位置，以便成功為我們的客戶提供最佳價值主張。所以說真的，這一切都沒有改變。

And our next question comes from Kartik Mehta from Northcoast Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Kartik Mehta。

Todd, you have been able to execute extremely well this year, beat guidance. And as you look at the business, is that the result of maybe metrics like nonprogrammers being a little bit better than you thought? Is it sales being better than you thought? Maybe you're just more cautious about the economy that actually happened. If you look at why you've been able to do better, what would you point to?

托德，今年你的執行力非常好，超越了指導。當您審視業務時，這是否是非程式設計師等指標比您想像的要好一點的結果？銷量是不是比你想像的要好？也許你只是對實際發生的經濟狀況更加謹慎。如果你看看為什麼你能夠做得更好，你會指出什麼？

Yes. Kartik, it starts with our culture and our expectations of our employee partners and the pace and the intensity of which they run. But that being said, our value proposition is really resonating and each of the businesses we're in, the First Aid business, we spoke about it's very good. Outsourcing is resonating nicely.

是的。 Kartik，它始於我們的文化和我們對員工合作夥伴的期望以及他們的運作速度和強度。但話雖這麼說，我們的價值主張確實引起了共鳴，我們所從事的每一項業務，即急救業務，我們都談到它非常好。外包引起了很好的共鳴。

Maybe it has to do with -- it's not as easy to hire people as it has been in the past. So if you want someone to outsource it, it's that much more attractive. We like the spot we're in. And we have exceeded our internal expectations and we're pleased with that. But we're -- it's -- there are so many inputs to it because we're trying to focus on providing better products, better services, better technologies to make our people more successful and to make our customers that much happier.

也許這與——僱用人員不像過去那麼容易有關。因此，如果您希望有人將其外包，那就更具吸引力。我們喜歡我們所處的位置。我們已經超越了我們的內在期望，我們對此感到滿意。但我們——確實——有如此多的投入，因為我們正在努力專注於提供更好的產品、更好的服務、更好的技術，讓我們的員工更成功，讓我們的客戶更快樂。

So a lot of inputs, but we like where we're positioned and we're continuing to invest for the future.

有很多投入，但我們喜歡我們的定位，我們將繼續為未來投資。

And just 1 follow-up. You obviously discussed M&A a lot. I'm wondering, and I know some of these acquisitions can take years to come to fruition. But as you look at the market today, are you seeing any change in the pricing environment, maybe what expectations are from sellers? Or has it remained about the same?

並且只有 1 個後續行動。您顯然多次討論了併購。我很想知道，而且我知道其中一些收購可能需要數年才能取得成果。但當你觀察今天的市場時，你是否看到定價環境有任何變化，也許賣家的期望是什麼？還是它仍然保持不變？

Yes, Kartik, good question. I wouldn't speak to any change there. It's more about certain events might cause them, whether it's an owner's age or succession or there's many different life events that would cause them to make a move. And it's more about that. To your point, it's in certain cases, these are decades in the making. And you can't really pace them. But when they are ready, we're ready. And we are highly acquisitive, very interested in M&A from all shapes and sizes, big, little, medium, everything in between, we think it's -- we're very interested.

是的，卡蒂克，好問題。我不會談論那裡的任何變化。更多的是某些事件可能會導致他們搬家，無論是業主的年齡或繼承人，還是有許多不同的生活事件會導致他們採取行動。更重要的是。就你的觀點而言，在某些情況下，這需要幾十年的時間。而且你無法真正控制他們的節奏。但當他們準備好時，我們也準備好了。我們非常熱衷於收購，對各種類型和規模的併購非常感興趣，無論是大的、小的、中的，還是介於兩者之間的一切，我們認為我們非常感興趣。

And our next question comes from Toni Kaplan from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的東尼卡普蘭。

I wanted to ask a question on the focus verticals. Are you able to share sort of the growth between focused verticals versus non-focused ones? And how do you assess whether to add a new vertical into that sort of focused designation? Is there a different go-to-market strategy for focused verticals as well?

我想問一個關於垂直焦點的問題。您能否分享一下重點垂直產業與非重點垂直產業之間的成長？您如何評估是否要在這種重點指定中新增新的垂直領域？對於重點垂直產業是否也有不同的進入市場策略？

Well, I'll say this about our focused verticals. I certainly expect them to grow faster than the business in general. And when you have an organized approach in your eyes around customer base, you certainly expect that. And we've chosen what we think are really good verticals that are very attractive. So yes, I can't give you a specific of, boy, it's adding X amount of basis points to our total growth, but we think we've chosen well.

好吧，我會談談我們重點關注的垂直領域。我當然希望他們的成長速度比整個企業更快。當您對客戶群有一個有組織的方法時，您當然會期望這一點。我們選擇了我們認為非常好的、非常有吸引力的垂直產業。所以，是的，我不能給你具體的，男孩，它為我們的總增長增加了 X 個基點，但我們認為我們選擇得很好。

And we're always analyzing what should we have another one or should we not? And what's the best way and it really gets down to what puts our employee partners in the best position to be successful and what creates the most value for the customer base. So we're looking -- we're evaluating always doing that, but we like where our investment is at this point.

我們總是在分析什麼是我們應該擁有的，或者我們不應該擁有的？什麼是最好的方法，這實際上取決於什麼能讓我們的員工合作夥伴處於成功的最佳位置，以及什麼為客戶群創造最大價值。所以我們正在尋找——我們正在評估是否總是這樣做，但我們喜歡我們目前的投資方向。

Terrific. I wanted to also ask about your marketing budget and whether you've increased that year-over-year. I recently heard some Cintas commercials on Bloomberg Radio, for example. Just wondering if that's coincidence or if there's been a greater push towards more marketing?

了不起。我還想問一下你們的行銷預算以及你們是否逐年增加了。例如，我最近在彭博廣播電台聽到了一些 Cintas 廣告。只是想知道這是否是巧合，或者是否有更大的推動力來進行更多的行銷？

Yes, Toni. First off, thank you. I'm glad to hear that. The algorithm is working, and it's hitting our target audience. So I wouldn't say there's been a step change there. It's just trying to be -- make sure our investment is well placed, and we're trying to leverage analytics and technology to make sure that the investment is deriving the very best ROI as possible. So it's just a matter of tweaks versus a step change in investment.

是的，托尼。首先，謝謝你。我很高興聽到這個消息。該演算法正在發揮作用，並且正在吸引我們的目標受眾。所以我不會說那裡發生了一步變化。我們只是想確保我們的投資到位，並且我們正在努力利用分析和技術來確保投資獲得盡可能最佳的投資回報。因此，這只是調整與投資的逐步變化的問題。

At this time, there are no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back over to Jared for closing remarks.

目前，沒有其他問題了。我想將電話轉回給賈里德，讓其結束語。

Thank you for joining us this morning. We will issue our fourth quarter of fiscal '24 financial results in July. We look forward to speaking with you again at that time. Thank you.

感謝您今天早上加入我們。我們將於 7 月發布 24 財年第四季的財務表現。我們期待屆時再次與您交談。謝謝。

This concludes today's conference 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。您現在可以斷開連線。