信達思 (CTAS) 2026 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Cintas Corporation announces fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full year results conference call. Today's call is being recorded.

各位好，歡迎參加 Cintas Corporation 公布 2026 會計年度第四季及全年業績的電話會議。今天的電話會議將被錄音。

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Jared Mattingley, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

此刻，我想把電話會議交給 Jared Mattingley 先生，副總裁、財務主管暨投資人關係負責人。先生，請開始。

Thank you, Ross, and thank you for joining us. With me are Todd Schneider, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jim Rozakis, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; and Scott Garula, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will discuss our fiscal 2026 fourth quarter results. After our commentary, we will open the call to questions from the analysts.

謝謝你，Ross，也謝謝各位加入我們。與我一同出席的有：總裁兼執行長 Todd Schneider；執行副總裁兼營運長 Jim Rozakis；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Scott Garula。我們將討論 2026 會計年度第四季的業績。在我們的說明之後，我們將開放分析師提問。

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《私人證券訴訟改革法》為前瞻性陳述提供民事訴訟的安全港保護。本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，反映公司目前對未來事件及財務表現的看法。這些前瞻性陳述受風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與我們可能討論的內容出現重大差異。相關事項請參閱我們最近向美國證券交易委員會提交文件中的討論。

I'll now turn the call over to Todd.

我現在把電話會議交給 Todd。

Thank you, Jared. And thank you all for joining us. On today's call, I will start with an overview of our fourth quarter and full year performance and thoughts on the year ahead. Jim will provide further detail on segment performance and Scott will walk through additional financial details and assumptions for our fiscal 2027 outlook. We are very pleased with our fourth quarter results to close out fiscal 2026.

謝謝你，Jared。也謝謝各位加入我們。在今天的電話會議上，我將先概述我們第四季與全年表現，並分享對未來一年的看法。Jim 將就各事業部門表現提供更多細節，Scott 則會說明更多財務細節，以及我們對 2027 會計年度展望的其他假設。我們對 2026 會計年度收官的第四季業績感到非常滿意。

We delivered robust top line growth and strong profitability underscoring the strength of our value proposition across each of our businesses. In the fourth quarter, total revenue increased 8.9% to $2.91 billion. Our organic revenue growth rate, which adjusts for the impacts of acquisitions and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, was 8.4%. We continue to execute at a high level across each of our business segments. Turning to profitability.

我們實現了強勁的營收成長與穩健的獲利能力，凸顯我們在各項業務中的價值主張之強韌。第四季總營收成長 8.9%，達 29.1 億美元。我們的有機營收成長率（已調整併購與外匯匯率波動的影響）為 8.4%。我們持續在各個業務部門維持高水準的執行力。接著談獲利能力。

Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 51%, the same as the third quarter, which was an all-time high and up approximately 130 basis points from the prior year. Operating income as a percent of revenue was 23.2% and grew to $673 million, an increase of 12.7% over the prior year. Adjusting for UniFirst-related transaction expenses, adjusted operating income as a percent of revenue was 23.6%, representing a year-over-year increase of roughly 120 basis points. Diluted earnings per share of $1.26 grew 15.6% over the prior year.

第四季毛利率為 51%，與第三季相同；第三季為歷史新高，且較去年同期提升約 130 個基點。營業利益率為 23.2%，營業利益增至 6.73 億美元，較去年同期成長 12.7%。若調整與 UniFirst 相關的交易費用，調整後營業利益率為 23.6%，年增約 120 個基點。稀釋每股盈餘為 1.26 美元，較去年同期成長 15.6%。

Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $1.29, an increase of 18.3% compared to $1.09 in last year's fourth quarter. These results conclude an outstanding fiscal year for Cintas.

本季調整後稀釋每股盈餘為 1.29 美元，較去年第四季的 1.09 美元成長 18.3%。這些結果為 Cintas 畫下卓越的 2026 會計年度句點。

For the full year 2026, revenue was approximately $11.26 billion, an 8.9% increase over fiscal 2025. Organic revenue growth was 8.3% for the year. This marks the 55th year of the last 57 years that we have grown both our top and bottom lines. Our strong top-line performance highlights the durability of our business model in all macro environments.

2026 會計年度全年營收約為 112.6 億美元，較 2025 會計年度成長 8.9%。全年有機營收成長為 8.3%。這是過去 57 年中第 55 年，我們的營收與獲利（上、下線）皆實現成長。我們強勁的營收表現凸顯了我們商業模式在各種總體環境下的韌性。

It shows how our culture continues to be our biggest differentiator. It shows how we are capitalizing on the opportunity of a total addressable market that is massive and it shows that we have a long runway for future growth of customers of all sizes across all industries. Gross margin for the year was 50.7%, up 70 basis points from the prior year.

這也顯示我們的企業文化仍是最大的差異化因素。這顯示我們正把握龐大的可服務市場（TAM）機會，也顯示我們在各產業、各種規模客戶的未來成長仍有很長的跑道。全年毛利率為 50.7%，較去年提升 70 個基點。

Over the last four years, we have expanded our gross margin by 450 basis points, demonstrating our culture of positive discontent, challenging ourselves to continuously improve the business while continuing to provide better products and services to our customers. Fiscal 2026 operating margin reached 23.1%.

過去四年，我們的毛利率累計擴張 450 個基點，展現我們「正向不滿足」的文化：不斷挑戰自我、持續改善業務，同時持續為客戶提供更好的產品與服務。2026 會計年度營業利益率達到 23.1%。

When you adjust for the UniFirst-related transaction expenses, adjusted operating margin was 23.3% expanding by 50 basis points compared to fiscal 2025. This represents an all-time high for our company, achieved while we continue to make strategic investments in the business. Adjusted diluted earnings per share for the year were $4.94, up 12.3% versus $4.40 last year. In March, we gave full year EPS guidance in the range of $4.86 to $4.90. That guidance excluded UniFirst transaction expenses.

若調整與 UniFirst 相關的交易費用，調整後營業利益率為 23.3%，較 2025 會計年度擴張 50 個基點。這是公司歷史新高，且是在我們持續對業務進行策略性投資的同時達成。全年調整後稀釋每股盈餘為 4.94 美元，較去年的 4.40 美元成長 12.3%。3 月時，我們給出的全年 EPS 指引區間為 4.86 至 4.90 美元；該指引不包含 UniFirst 交易費用。

Against this guidance, full year EPS, excluding transaction expenses, was $4.94. This excellent performance reflects consistent execution by our team, regardless of the macro environment. Our balanced approach to capital allocation remains a key pillar of our value creation strategy. In the fourth quarter and throughout fiscal 2026, we deployed capital across each of our priorities.

相較於該指引，排除交易費用後的全年 EPS 為 4.94 美元。這項優異表現反映我們團隊不論總體環境如何，皆能持續穩健執行。我們在資本配置上的均衡做法，仍是價值創造策略的關鍵支柱。在第四季以及整個 2026 會計年度，我們依照各項優先事項部署資本。

First, we prioritize investments back into the business in many forms, including our products, technology and people. Second, we love M&A, and we continue to pursue strategic acquisitions in our route-based businesses. Lastly, we look to return capital to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks. We will continue to prioritize these areas moving forward.

第一，我們優先以多種形式再投資於業務，包括產品、科技與人才。第二，我們熱衷於併購（M&A），並持續在我們以路線服務為基礎的業務中尋求策略性收購。最後，我們透過股利與庫藏股回購向股東返還資本。未來我們將持續優先推動這些領域。

Looking ahead to fiscal 2027, our outlook reflects confidence in our business model. As we will discuss in more detail, we expect fiscal 2027 revenue in the range of $12.1 billion to $12.25 billion, implying total growth of 7.4% to 8.7%.

展望 2027 會計年度，我們的展望反映對商業模式的信心。如我們稍後將更詳細討論，我們預期 2027 會計年度營收介於 121 億至 122.5 億美元，意味總成長率為 7.4% 至 8.7%。

We expect fiscal 2027 adjusted diluted EPS between $5.36 and $5.50 which represents 8.5% to 11.3% growth. Scott will provide more context on our assumptions for the guidance later in the call. Once again, we were named to the prestigious Fortune 500 for the tenth consecutive year. It is an honor to be recognized among the most successful and respected companies. As I've said before, our culture is our greatest competitive advantage.

我們預期 2027 會計年度調整後稀釋每股盈餘介於 5.36 至 5.50 美元，代表成長 8.5% 至 11.3%。Scott 將在稍後的電話會議中，針對指引假設提供更多背景說明。我們再次入選享有盛名的《財富》500 強，且已連續第十年上榜。能在最成功且最受尊敬的企業之列獲得肯定，我們深感榮幸。如我先前所說，我們的文化是我們最大的競爭優勢。

Our employee partners pride themselves on delivering the highest quality products and services to help our customers manage their businesses better. Our drive for continuous improvement is a key component of our culture. We remain positioned to achieve long-term growth and value creation.

我們的員工夥伴以提供最高品質的產品與服務為榮，協助客戶更好地管理其業務。持續改善的動力是我們文化的關鍵組成。我們仍具備實現長期成長與價值創造的有利定位。

Before I turn the call over to Jim, I'd like to provide a brief update on our acquisition of UniFirst. Based on the limited due diligence we've been able to complete, we remain confident for the substantial long-term value creation for our combined customers, partners, and shareholders.

在我把電話會議交給 Jim 之前，我想就我們收購 UniFirst 一事提供簡要更新。基於我們目前能完成的有限盡職調查，我們仍對合併後為我們的客戶、夥伴與股東帶來可觀的長期價值創造充滿信心。

When we announced the transaction in March, we indicated the merger was subject to approval by UniFirst shareholders, regulatory clearances in both the US and Canada and other customary closing conditions. The merger was approved by UniFirst shareholders in June. The regulatory process is ongoing. As expected, we did receive a second request from the FTC, similar to what we experienced with the G&K acquisition.

當我們在3月宣布該交易時，我們指出合併仍須取得UniFirst股東核准、在美國與加拿大兩地取得監管機關核准，以及其他慣常的交割條件。該合併已於6月獲UniFirst股東核准。監管審查程序仍在進行中。如預期，我們確實收到了FTC的第二次資訊要求，與我們在收購G&K時的經驗類似。

We continue to work toward obtaining regulatory clearance and completing the other closing conditions. We remain optimistic that the deal will close during the second half of calendar 2026. In order to avoid creating speculation, we will not be providing any additional commentary on this process. We will update the market going forward as appropriate.

我們將持續推進取得監管核准並完成其他交割條件。我們仍樂觀預期該交易將於2026曆年下半年完成交割。為避免引發臆測，我們將不再就此流程提供任何額外評論。未來我們將在適當時點向市場更新。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim for additional insights on our operational performance.

接下來，我將把電話會議交給Jim，請他就我們的營運表現提供更多見解。

Thank you, Todd, and good morning, everyone. Our business continued to perform at a high level in the fourth quarter. We're adding many new customers, two-thirds of which transitioned to a managed rental program after initially handling it on their own. Each of these new customers rely on Cintas for their image, safety, cleanliness and compliance needs. We also continue to sell additional products and services to our existing customer base.

謝謝你，Todd，各位早安。我們的業務在第四季持續維持高水準表現。我們新增了許多新客戶，其中三分之二在最初自行處理後，轉為採用託管式租賃方案。這些新客戶皆仰賴Cintas滿足其形象、安全、清潔與合規需求。我們也持續向既有客戶群銷售更多產品與服務。

Retention rates remain very attractive, and pricing was close to our historical levels. Turning to our segment performance. In the fourth quarter, we saw strong results across all of our business segments. Organic growth by business was 7.9% for Uniform Rental Facility Services, 13.2% for First Aid and Safety Services, 10.7% for Fire Protection Services and Uniform Direct Sales decreased by 4%. As we've done in the past, I'll provide the revenue mix of our Uniform Rental Facility Services segment for the quarter.

留存率仍相當具吸引力，定價也接近我們的歷史水準。接著談各事業部門表現。第四季我們在所有業務部門均看到強勁成果。各業務的有機成長率為：制服租賃與設施服務7.9%、急救與安全服務13.2%、消防防護服務10.7%，而制服直銷則下滑4%。如同以往，我將提供本季制服租賃與設施服務部門的營收組合。

Keep in mind that mix can fluctuate slightly between quarters. In the fourth quarter, Uniform Rental represented 47% of Uniform Rental Facility Services segment revenue. Dust control was 20%. Hygiene services were 16%, Shop towels were 3%; linen, including wipes, towels, aprons was 11% and catalog sales were 3%. Gross margin percentage by business in the fourth quarter was 50.2% for Uniform Rental and Facility Services, 57.9% for First Aid and Safety Services, 50.8% for Fire Protection Services, and 42% for Uniform Direct sales.

請記住，組合在各季度之間可能會有些微波動。第四季，制服租賃占制服租賃與設施服務部門營收的47%。防塵控制占20%。衛生服務占16%，擦拭布占3%；布草（含擦拭巾、毛巾、圍裙）占11%，型錄銷售占3%。第四季各業務的毛利率為：制服租賃與設施服務50.2%、急救與安全服務57.9%、消防防護服務50.8%，以及制服直銷42%。

Gross margin for the Uniform Rental Facility Services segment increased 120 basis points from last year. Strong top line growth continues to generate leverage, which is helping to expand margins. We also benefited from technology investments, a high-performing supply chain team that's effectively navigating a dynamic macro environment as well as ongoing process improvement initiatives.

制服租賃與設施服務部門的毛利率較去年提升120個基點。強勁的營收成長持續帶來營運槓桿，有助於擴大毛利率。我們也受惠於科技投資、一支高績效的供應鏈團隊有效因應多變的總體環境，以及持續推動的流程改善計畫。

Gross margin for the First Aid and Safety Services segment increased 110 basis points from last year. Our investments continue to generate strong top line growth that has helped expand margin. These long-term investments are in things such as needed route capacity, leadership development, management trainees, technology and selling resources in this business.

急救與安全服務部門的毛利率較去年提升110個基點。我們的投資持續帶來強勁的營收成長，並有助於擴大毛利率。這些長期投資包括：所需的路線產能、領導力培育、管理培訓生、科技，以及該業務的銷售資源等。

Gross margin for the Fire Protection Services segment was 50.8%, an all-time high. As we've noted in prior quarters, this segment can see some variability due to revenue mix and ongoing integration of acquisitions. While margins may go up and down from quarter to quarter as we grow our national footprint, we like the long-term fundamentals of the fire business and remain committed to investing appropriately for future growth. Our adjusted incremental profit margins in the fourth quarter were effectively 38%, the highest over the last five quarters.

消防防護服務部門毛利率為50.8%，創歷史新高。如我們在前幾季所提到，該部門的表現可能因營收組合與持續整併收購案而出現一定波動。隨著我們擴大全國版圖，毛利率可能在季度間上下起伏，但我們看好消防業務的長期基本面，並將持續承諾為未來成長進行適當投資。我們第四季的調整後增量利潤率約為38%，為過去五季最高。

For the year, we finished right at 30% when you adjust for the transaction-related expenses in the current year and $15 million gain on a one-time sale in the prior year. This is in the heart of our stated range of 25% to 35%, which allows us to invest for long-term growth while still expanding margins. Our value proposition continues to resonate in a dynamic macro environment. All types of customers, regardless of the industry they operate in, seek reliable business partners to help manage their operations. Reduce the administrative burden and ensure consistent service that allows them to focus on running their core business.

以全年來看，若調整本年度與交易相關費用，以及前一年度一次性出售所帶來的1,500萬美元收益，我們的結果約為30%。這正落在我們所述25%至35%的區間核心，讓我們能在擴大利潤率的同時，仍可投資於長期成長。在多變的總體環境下，我們的價值主張持續引起共鳴。各類型客戶不論所處產業，都在尋求可靠的商業夥伴來協助管理其營運，降低行政負擔並確保服務一致性，使其能專注於經營核心業務。

That demand is creating ongoing opportunities for Cintas. We serve a diversified customer base and our solutions are widely utilized across our 4 strategic vertical markets: healthcare, hospitality, education and state and local government, which continue to be solid contributors to our growth. Our addressable market remains very large, and our track record shows we can drive growth across various economic cycles. Before I hand it over to Scott, I want to share a brief customer example that shows how Cintas helps businesses elevate their brand and strengthen their image in the marketplace. We recently added a customer on the East Coast, that is in what we refer to as the specialty trade sector.

這樣的需求正為Cintas帶來持續的機會。我們服務多元化的客戶群，我們的解決方案廣泛應用於四大策略垂直市場：醫療保健、餐旅、教育，以及州與地方政府；這些市場持續成為我們成長的穩健貢獻者。我們的可服務市場仍然非常龐大，而我們的過往紀錄顯示，我們能在不同經濟循環中推動成長。在把電話交給Scott之前，我想分享一個簡短的客戶案例，說明Cintas如何協助企業提升品牌並強化其在市場上的形象。我們最近在美國東岸新增了一位客戶，屬於我們所稱的專業技術工種（specialty trade）領域。

The employees were required to purchase their own workwear to meet the company's appearance standard, which ultimately fell short of ownership's expectations. After learning about the breadth and quality of the Cintas offering through our marketing efforts, they reached out to learn more. We introduced them to our product line, which delivers high-quality professional workwear for virtually every job imaginable.

員工原本必須自行購買工作服以符合公司的外觀標準，但最終仍未達到業主的期望。在透過我們的行銷活動了解Cintas產品與服務的廣度與品質後，他們主動聯繫以進一步了解。我們向他們介紹了我們的產品線，可為幾乎所有可想像的工作提供高品質的專業工作服。

Once the employees have the opportunity to wear the Cintas ComfortFlex Pro garments, they were pleased with the quality, appearance and functionality. The owners value the consistent professional image they created and management now leverages the uniform program as part of its recruiting strategy. This is another example of how the breadth and quality of our products and services helps our value proposition resonate with businesses of all types and sizes.

當員工有機會穿上Cintas ComfortFlex Pro服裝後，他們對其品質、外觀與功能性都感到滿意。業主重視由此建立的一致且專業的形象，而管理層如今也將制服方案作為招募策略的一部分。這是另一個例子，說明我們產品與服務的廣度與品質如何讓我們的價值主張在各種規模與類型的企業中引起共鳴。

I'll now turn it over to Scott for more detail on our financials, capital allocation and assumptions for our guidance for fiscal 2027.

接下來我將把電話交給Scott，請他更詳細說明我們的財務狀況、資本配置，以及我們對2027會計年度財測的假設。

Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone. As Todd highlighted, fiscal 2026 was a year of outstanding financial performance for Cintas. Our balance sheet remains healthy, and we continue to generate significant cash flow. We generated $709.1 million in operating cash flow, our strongest cash flow generation of the year. We invested in the business by making capital expenditures of $96 million during the quarter and making acquisitions totaling $61.9 million.

謝謝你，Jim，各位早安。如Todd所強調，2026會計年度是Cintas財務表現極為出色的一年。我們的資產負債表仍然健全，並持續產生可觀的現金流。我們創造了7.091億美元的營運現金流，為本年度現金流創造能力最強的一季。我們在本季以9,600萬美元的資本支出投資於業務，並進行總額6,190萬美元的併購。

We also returned capital to our shareholders in the form of dividends totaling $180.6 million. Our effective tax rate for the fourth quarter was 21.2% 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. For the full year, the effective tax rate was 20.2%.

我們也以股利形式向股東返還資本，合計1.806億美元。第四季的有效稅率為21.2%，去年同期為22.1%。兩個季度的稅率皆受到若干一次性項目影響，主要為與股票基礎給付相關的稅務會計影響。全年有效稅率為20.2%。

Throughout fiscal 2026, our capital allocation was in line with our long-term priorities and was supported by robust cash generation. We invested $395.1 million in capital expenditures representing 3.5% of revenue, which is in line with our historical CapEx intensity. We deployed $164.5 million towards acquisitions in our route-based businesses, adding new customers and expanding our capabilities.

在 2026 會計年度期間，我們的資本配置與長期優先事項一致，並受惠於強勁的現金創造能力。我們投入 3.951 億美元於資本支出，占營收 3.5%，與我們歷史上的資本支出強度一致。我們在以路線為基礎的業務上投入 1.645 億美元用於併購，新增客戶並擴展我們的能力。

In addition, we returned $1.7 billion to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases. This was the second largest return of capital we have made for a fiscal year. Our annual dividend remains an important component of shareholder return, and our share buyback program continues to be executed opportunistically.

此外，我們透過股利與庫藏股回購向股東返還 17 億美元。這是我們在單一會計年度所進行的第二大規模資本返還。我們的年度股利仍是股東報酬的重要組成，而我們的股票回購計畫也持續以機會性方式執行。

Todd has already provided our fiscal 2027 guidance ranges for revenue and adjusted EPS. Let me add a bit more context on our assumptions. Fiscal 2027 will have one more workday than 2026. This will positively impact total growth by about 40 basis points. We are not assuming additional acquisitions in our guidance.

Todd 已經提供了我們 2027 會計年度營收與調整後 EPS 的指引區間。我再補充一些關於我們假設的背景。2027 會計年度將比 2026 年多一個工作日。這將使整體成長率增加約 40 個基點。我們在指引中未假設額外的併購。

Our guide assumes a constant foreign currency exchange rate, and we anticipate interest expense net, to be around $105 million in fiscal 2027. Our effective tax rate for fiscal 2027 is expected to be similar to the fiscal 2026 rate of 20.2%. The guide does not include the impact of any future share buybacks or significant economic disruptions or downturns, and our guidance excludes nonrecurring transaction costs related to the UniFirst acquisition.

我們的指引假設外匯匯率維持不變，且我們預期 2027 會計年度的淨利息費用約為 1.05 億美元。我們預期 2027 會計年度的有效稅率將與 2026 會計年度的 20.2% 類似。該指引未包含任何未來股票回購的影響，也未納入重大經濟擾動或衰退的影響，且我們的指引排除與 UniFirst 併購相關的一次性交易成本。

With that, I'll turn it back to Todd for some closing remarks.

接下來，我把時間交還給 Todd 做一些結語。

Thank you, Scott. As we enter fiscal 2027, we remain encouraged by the momentum in our business. Our results demonstrate the power of our strategy and the critical value we provide in addressing customers' image, safety, cleanliness, and compliance needs. We are focused on delivering exceptional service to our customers while continuing to invest in our company and our people to support sustainable growth and profitability. We appreciate the trust our customers place in Cintas.

謝謝你，Scott。在我們邁入 2027 會計年度之際，我們對業務動能仍感到振奮。我們的成果展現了策略的力量，以及我們在協助客戶滿足形象、安全、清潔與合規需求方面所提供的關鍵價值。我們專注於為客戶提供卓越服務，同時持續投資於公司與員工夥伴，以支持可持續的成長與獲利能力。我們感謝客戶對 Cintas 的信任。

We will continue to work every day to earn that trust. I want to thank our almost 50,000 employee partners for their dedication. It's your hard work that drives our success.

我們將每天持續努力以贏得這份信任。我要感謝我們近 50,000 名員工夥伴的投入奉獻。正是你們的辛勤工作推動了我們的成功。

I'll now turn it back over to Jared.

我現在把時間交回給 Jared。

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

謝謝，Todd、Jim 和 Scott。以上為我們事先準備的發言。接下來我們很樂意回答分析師的提問。請每位只提一個問題，如有需要可再追問一次。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Manav Patnaik, Barclays Capital.

(接線員指示) Barclays Capital 的 Manav Patnaik。

I guess, Todd, first question, obviously, 55 out of 57 years always an impressive stat to talk about. When you look forward, given the uncertainty of the macro environment, can you just talk about some of the things you're looking out for that perhaps would make you pivot one way or the other from the way you're already operating today?

我想，Todd，第一個問題，顯然 57 年中有 55 年的紀錄一直都是很令人印象深刻的數據。展望未來，考量到總體環境的不確定性，你能否談談你們正在留意哪些事項，可能會讓你們相較於目前的營運方式，轉向採取不同的作法？

It seems like we've been operating in an uncertain macro environment for so many years now. We stay focused on what we can control. There are certain things that are out of our control, geopolitics and other items that affect inflows and outflows, but nevertheless, we stay focused on investing in our business, controlling what we can control, investing in our people, trying to position our people so that they can be sustainably successful and provide more value to the customers.

看起來我們已經在不確定的總體環境中運作很多年了。我們仍專注於我們能掌控的事情。有些事情不在我們掌控之內，例如地緣政治以及其他會影響資金流入與流出的因素，但即便如此，我們仍專注於投資我們的業務、掌控我們能掌控的部分、投資我們的人才，並嘗試讓我們的夥伴能夠以可持續的方式取得成功，為客戶提供更多價值。

It's an incredibly competitive environment out there for partners, working partners for customers, and for shareholders. And we take that very seriously and we invest appropriately so that we can be sustainably successful.

在夥伴、為客戶服務的工作夥伴，以及對股東而言，外部環境都極具競爭性。我們非常重視這一點，並做出適當投資，以便能夠持續成功。

And I think our track record of 55 out of 57 paints a pretty darn good picture. That being said, we're always on edge, and we're trying to see around the corner and invest appropriately. So we think that the future looks bright. Can't control everything, but we are focused on what we can control. And the last thing I would add is that when we look at the future, that total addressable market is so massive that it allows for opportunities for us in various economic cycles.

我認為我們 57 年中有 55 年的紀錄已經描繪出相當不錯的圖像。話雖如此，我們始終保持警覺，努力提前洞察並做出適當投資。因此我們認為未來前景光明。我們無法掌控一切，但我們專注於我們能掌控的事情。最後我想補充的是，當我們看向未來時，整體可服務市場（TAM）非常龐大，使我們在不同經濟循環中都能擁有機會。

So we're not strictly dependent upon that. We certainly love when GDP is thriving and employment's thrive -- all that, we love all that. But because of the opportunity out there and because of how we help customers run a better business, the opportunities are virtually endless for us. And that paints a pretty good picture for the opportunity ahead.

因此我們並非嚴格依賴單一因素。我們當然喜歡 GDP 蓬勃成長、就業強勁——這些我們都很喜歡。但由於外部機會以及我們如何協助客戶把企業經營得更好，我們的機會幾乎是無窮無盡的。這也為未來的機會描繪出相當不錯的圖像。

All right. Great. That's good to hear. And just on the guidance. I know it's kind of typically the way you start with a little bit of conservatism.

好的。很好。很高興聽到。再來關於指引。我知道你們通常一開始會帶有一些保守性。

But just specific to the implied incremental margins. Are there any moving pieces or comps or anything for the rest of the year that we should keep in mind when considering that?

但就隱含的增量利潤率而言，有沒有任何變動因素、比較基期或其他事項，是我們在評估今年其餘時間時需要留意的？

Manav, this is Scott. I appreciate the question. We really like the guide. We believe the guide is strong. When you look at the midpoint of our EPS -- adjusted diluted EPS guide implies EPS growth of 10%.

Manav，我是 Scott。謝謝你的問題。我們非常喜歡這份指引。我們認為這是一份強勁的指引。以我們 EPS——調整後稀釋 EPS 指引的中位數來看，隱含的 EPS 成長為 10%。

And to your question about incrementals, this has been a question that we've received really throughout the year. We finished the year really strong with our incremental margins of effectively 38% and for the year, when you take into consideration the onetime sale, the year finished right at 30% incrementals. And our guide for fiscal year of '27 has incremental margins in that range of 30% to 32%, which is right in the heart of our stated range of 25% to 35%.

至於你提到的增量利潤率，這確實是我們幾乎整個年度都收到的問題。我們在年末表現非常強勁，增量利潤率實際上約為 38%；而就全年而言，若將一次性出售因素納入考量，全年最終約為 30% 的增量利潤率。我們對 2027 會計年度的指引，增量利潤率落在 30% 到 32% 的區間，正位於我們所述 25% 到 35% 區間的核心位置。

And as Todd alluded to, first and foremost, the momentum that we have in the business on top line revenue is -- provides a tailwind when it comes to incremental margins. Our supply chain continues to be a strategic difference maker for us. And some of the operational initiatives that you've heard us talk about, continue to have an impact on margin expansion and incremental margins.

如 Todd 所提到的，首先也是最重要的是，我們在營收端的業務動能——在增量利潤率方面提供了順風。我們的供應鏈持續是我們的策略性差異化關鍵。以及你們聽我們談到的一些營運倡議，仍持續對利潤率擴張與增量利潤率產生影響。

Manav, this is Todd. I would just add to what Scott said, first off, we feel really good about our guide. It's a very strong guide. Our objectives are to grow our top line in mid to high single digits and grow our bottom line, our EPS in double digits, and we're guiding right towards that. You'll see -- running a business isn't linear so you'll see items, our results bounce between quarter to quarter.

Manav，我是 Todd。我只想在 Scott 的說法上再補充一點，首先，我們對這份指引感覺非常好。這是一份非常強勁的指引。我們的目標是讓營收以中到高個位數成長，並讓獲利端、也就是 EPS 以雙位數成長，而我們的指引正朝著這個方向。你會看到——經營企業並非線性，因此你會看到我們的結果在各季之間有所波動。

But throughout the year, we're hitting right where we -- our objectives are. Those incrementals might bounce from quarter to quarter. But we ran 30% last year and we expect to run right around 30% again this coming year. So we feel really good about our guide and our approach and understand that it will bounce back and forth a little bit, but we like where we're positioned.

但在全年期間，我們的表現正好落在——也就是符合——我們的目標。那些增量可能會在各季度之間上下波動。但我們去年跑出30%，而我們預期接下來這一年也會大約維持在30%左右。因此，我們對我們的指引與做法感到非常有信心，也理解它會有些來回波動，但我們喜歡目前所處的位置。

Tim Mulrooney, William Blair.

Tim Mulrooney，William Blair。

I just want to build on that last one while we're talking about it because I just did some back-of-the-envelope math so I could be wrong, but I was getting the incrementals for 2027, a little bit below that 30% to 32% range. There's a lot of moving pieces here. So I could be just not doing the math right, but maybe asking it a different way is what do you expect for operating margin expansion on a basis points level, '27 versus '26.

我想在我們談到這點時延伸上一題，因為我剛做了一些粗略的心算，所以我可能算錯，但我算出來2027年的增量率似乎略低於30%到32%的區間。這裡有很多變動因素。所以可能是我數學沒算對，但換個方式問：你們預期營業利益率擴張（以基點計）在'27相較'26會是多少？

And can you also talk about the headwinds and tailwinds, for example, energy costs? Do you -- is that -- what's your assumption for basis points impact there. I think there's an ERP implementation, and anything else I might be missing that you would consider material to that?

另外你們也能談談逆風與順風嗎，例如能源成本？你們——那個——你們對那部分的基點影響假設是什麼？我想有一個ERP導入，還有其他我可能漏掉、但你們會認為對此具有重大影響的因素嗎？

Tim, good question. I guess to answer the first part of your question. When we're looking at the implied incrementals in the guide being in that 30% to 32% range, you need to take a look at the midpoint and the high point of our revenue guide. And that's how you arrive at that 30% to 32% incremental margin. In terms of your question about the implied margin expansion, when you look at the guide, it implies margin expansion really throughout the range.

Tim，問得好。我想先回答你問題的第一部分。當我們看指引中隱含的增量落在30%到32%區間時，你需要看我們營收指引的中點與高點。你就是這樣得出30%到32%的增量利潤率。至於你問到隱含的利潤率擴張，當你看這份指引時，它在整個區間內都隱含了利潤率擴張。

On the low end, it's a 10 basis point increase. And on the high point of the range, it's 60 basis points. So again, just to reiterate, we really feel good about the guide. We feel that the guides align with the stated ranges that we've talked about. And some of the headwinds you brought up energy.

在區間低端，是增加10個基點。而在區間高端，是60個基點。所以再次重申，我們對這份指引確實感覺良好。我們認為這些指引與我們先前談到的既定區間一致。至於你提到的一些逆風，例如能源。

And this was something that we talked about on the third quarter call that certainly, higher gas prices had an impact in Q4. Energy costs were up about 20 basis points year over year and sequentially. And if you think about that, Q4 represented one of the most volatile periods of prices at the pump in recent memory, and the impact was minimal. It was 20 basis points. And we talked about that on the third quarter call.

這也是我們在第三季電話會議上談過的，汽油價格走高確實在第四季造成影響。能源成本年對年與季對季都上升了約20個基點。如果你想想，第四季是近年來加油站油價波動最劇烈的時期之一，但影響很小。只有20個基點。我們在第三季電話會議上也談過。

And if you think about that and just go through the math, only about 60% of our energy costs are related to fuel for our vehicles, which translates to about 100 basis points. So if you see, on average, a 20% increase in fuel prices at the pump, that's going to translate to 20 bps. If it's 30, it will be 30 bps. And those are things that we have confidence that we can offset with our operational initiatives. What we've got implied in the guide is we do have -- we're assuming an uptick in energy expenses for next year and think about that in terms of being on par with what we experienced in Q4.

而如果你把這點納入考量並做一下計算，我們的能源成本只有大約60%與車輛燃料相關，換算大約是100個基點。所以如果你看到加油站燃油價格平均上漲20%，那就會轉換成20個基點。如果是30%，就會是30個基點。而這些我們有信心可以透過營運改善措施來抵消。我們在指引中隱含的是——我們確實有——假設明年能源費用會上升，並把它視為大致與我們在第四季所經歷的水準相當。

Okay. So 10 to 60 bps, that does help clarify things. Energy headwind maybe in that 20 bps range for next year. All very clear, no follow-up needed.

好的。所以10到60個基點，這確實有助於釐清。明年的能源逆風可能在20個基點左右。都很清楚，不需要追問。

George Tong, Goldman Sachs.

George Tong，高盛。

Could you provide some additional color on customer budgets and purchasing behaviors, how they have been trending over the past quarter? And what's assumed for fiscal 2027?

你們能否就客戶預算與採購行為提供更多說明，過去一季的趨勢如何？以及對2027財年的假設是什麼？

George, this is Jim. I'll take that question. And coming off the year, we were quite pleased with the growth rates on the year, and we certainly saw our customers quite responsive to our value proposition across the board, and we're expecting similar based upon the guide moving into the next fiscal year. Maybe if I can unpack that a little bit more and you think about where some of those growth levers are coming from and what are the key contributors to it.

George，我是Jim。我來回答這個問題。回顧全年，我們對年度成長率相當滿意，而且我們確實看到客戶對我們的價值主張在各方面都很有回應；根據指引，我們預期進入下一個財年也會類似。也許我可以再多拆解一點，談談這些成長槓桿的來源，以及主要貢獻因素是什麼。

Number one, a lot of credit is to our employee partners who do a fantastic job and execute at an extraordinarily high level. We often speak about our culture being a key differentiator for us. And of course, our frontline employee partners are the ones that are creating that culture and that passion for customer satisfaction and growth out in the field.

第一，要把很多功勞歸於我們的員工夥伴，他們做得非常出色，並以極高水準執行。我們常說企業文化是我們的關鍵差異化因素。當然，我們第一線的員工夥伴正是在現場打造這種文化與對客戶滿意度與成長的熱情。

It also speaks a little bit to the size of the opportunity that's out there and the fact that there is 16 million to 20 million businesses in North America and even after all the years of success that we've had, we only have a little bit over 1 million business customers. So it's just a vast opportunity for us to continue to get our value proposition out and understood. And really, the third component is how much our value proposition resonates in all economic cycles.

這也部分反映了外部機會的規模：北美有1,600萬到2,000萬家企業，即便我們多年來取得成功，我們也只有略高於100萬家企業客戶。因此，對我們而言，持續把我們的價值主張推廣出去並讓市場理解，仍是一個非常龐大的機會。而第三個要素，則是我們的價值主張在各種經濟循環中都能引起共鳴。

And especially today, as we began the call in Q&A, looking at macro uncertainty. That uncertainty creates a tremendous amount of opportunity for us as people are looking to really focus on their core business, and outsourcing becomes a really attractive lever for them to go to. So when I think about the growth inputs that are part of our algorithm, we always start with new business and new business continues to be strong. We are able to convert customers over and about two-thirds of that new business continues to be from no-programmers, certainly nice contributions from our verticals. So new business continued well last year, and we'd expect that moving forward.

尤其是今天，正如我們在Q&A開場提到的宏觀不確定性。這種不確定性為我們創造了巨大的機會，因為人們希望更專注於其核心業務，而外包就成為他們非常有吸引力的槓桿。所以當我思考我們演算法中的成長投入時，我們總是從新業務開始，而新業務持續強勁。我們能夠轉換客戶，其中約三分之二的新業務仍來自沒有既有方案的客戶（no-programmers），我們的垂直領域也有不錯的貢獻。因此，新業務去年表現良好，我們預期未來也會如此。

Retention rates are at all-time highs. So we really like the -- again, how customers are receiving our services and how much they're satisfied with it. Pricing is really right at historical levels and maybe slightly above historical, but immaterial in nature. And then penetration of our current customers and cross-sell continues to be performing quite well. So you think about the backdrop of growth really attractive opportunity for us and how that manifests as all four of our growth levers are performing well, and we expect that moving forward.

留存率創下歷史新高。所以我們非常喜歡——再次強調——客戶如何接受我們的服務，以及他們的滿意度有多高。定價大致處於歷史水準，可能略高於歷史，但影響不大。而對現有客戶的滲透與交叉銷售也持續表現相當不錯。因此，從成長背景來看，對我們而言是非常有吸引力的機會；而其呈現方式就是我們四個成長槓桿都運作良好，我們也預期未來會持續如此。

Andrew Steinerman, JPMorgan Securities.

Andrew Steinerman，摩根大通證券。

Can you hear me? This is Alex Hess on for Andrew Steinerman. Just wanted to maybe touch briefly on the gross margin expansion. Obviously, there's a lot in the news about supply chain pressures and fuel costs. And you guys just had a pretty significant step-up basically across the business on the gross margin front.

你們聽得到我嗎？我是代替Andrew Steinerman的Alex Hess。我想簡短觸及一下毛利率擴張。顯然，新聞上有很多關於供應鏈壓力與燃料成本的報導。而你們在毛利率方面基本上在整個業務都出現了相當顯著的躍升。

Could you maybe outline, you guys speak to supply chain excellence a lot, but what that sort of looks like in practice for you guys, what we should expect on that line for next year? And then just -- I know people keep hammering on the incremental margin question. But when you guys are running that comparison for us, are you comparing adjusted to adjusted GAAP to GAAP? Are there any sort of add-backs we need to be thinking of when we're building our models out.

你們能否概述一下，你們經常談到供應鏈卓越，但對你們而言在實務上大概是什麼樣子？我們對明年在這方面應該有什麼預期？另外就是——我知道大家一直在追問增量利潤率的問題。但當你們為我們做那個比較時，你們是在拿調整後對調整後、GAAP 對 GAAP 來比嗎？我們在建立模型時，有沒有任何需要納入考量的加回項目？

Alex, this is Todd. I'll start. And just to answer the back half of your question. It's adjusted to adjusted is the way you should be thinking about it. Going back to the gross margin, you're right, there's plenty of uncertainty out in the marketplace.

Alex，我是 Todd。我先開始。先回答你問題的後半段。你應該把它理解為調整後對調整後（adjusted to adjusted）。回到毛利率，你說得對，市場上確實存在很多不確定性。

And we've dealt with whether it's tariffs or which -- and not only tariffs how they impact us, but how they affect our customer base. Fuel prices have been, as Scott mentioned, bouncing around all over and -- but we stay focused on extracting out inefficiencies in our business, and our team has done a great job. Our supply chain team is a strategic advantage. They've done an outstanding job, they have the advantage of being able to source through multiple vendors across very diverse geographic opportunities. So it's been a real advantage for us so that we can have the products available for our customers and do so at rates that are very competitive.

我們一直在應對，不管是關稅或其他因素——而且不只是關稅如何影響我們，也包括它們如何影響我們的客戶群。燃料價格如 Scott 提到的，一直在大幅波動——但我們仍專注於消除業務中的低效率，我們的團隊做得非常出色。我們的供應鏈團隊是一項策略性優勢。他們表現卓越，並具備能透過多家供應商、在非常多元的地理機會中進行採購的優勢。因此這對我們而言是很大的優勢，使我們能為客戶提供充足的產品供應，並以非常具競爭力的價格做到這一點。

So we feel really good about that. I think Jim will speak a little bit about some of our operational efforts there with operational excellence, that has helped us to extract out the inefficiency in our business and improve that gross margin. Jim?

所以我們對此感覺非常好。我想 Jim 會談一談我們在營運卓越方面的一些營運作為，這些作為幫助我們消除業務中的低效率並提升毛利率。Jim？

Yeah. Alex, I'll start on what are our key inputs towards driving gross margin expansion. Maybe worth noting that we do expect that gross margin can move a little bit quarter to quarter. We don't expect that it's going to just continuously rise, as you know, running a business isn't linear, and you'll have different investments from time to time. But with that said, we are very focused on revenue growth as a key contributor to our gross margin expansion, as that creates leverage.

好的。Alex，我先從推動毛利率擴張的關鍵投入因素談起。也許值得一提的是，我們確實預期毛利率可能會在季度之間有些波動。我們不預期它會一路持續上升；如你所知，經營企業不是線性的，且你會不時進行不同的投資。但即便如此，我們仍非常專注於營收成長，因為它是毛利率擴張的關鍵貢獻者，能帶來槓桿效應。

And leverage shows up in the form of route density, overall size of individual customers certainly shows up in capacity utilization of our plants and our routes in our other business units. So that would be a really important key contributor for us on margin expansion. Todd mentioned a little bit on material costs and the great work that our supply chain team continues to do in managing that. And we've talked about our strategy and how well diversified we are in our global supply chain team, not only from different vendors, but different sources and geographically diverse across the globe. That continues to be a strategic advantage for us.

而槓桿效應會以路線密度的形式呈現；單一客戶的整體規模也會反映在我們工廠的產能利用率，以及我們其他事業單位的路線產能利用率上。因此，這會是我們毛利率擴張非常重要的關鍵貢獻因素。Todd 也稍微提到原物料成本，以及我們供應鏈團隊在管理這方面持續做出的出色工作。我們也談過我們的策略，以及我們全球供應鏈團隊的高度多元化，不僅在不同供應商上，也在不同來源上，並且在全球各地具備地理多樣性。這持續是我們的一項策略性優勢。

Our garment sharing program that we've deployed in the rental business in particular, that's a piece of technology that has been really important to us in managing our material cost, specifically while we're growing as we are growing today, that has led to great customer satisfaction, recognition of revenue and cost control and we have runway on our process there. Operational excellence in our production facilities has been one that's been really valuable to us and will continue to be valuable to us that is both labor and overall energy control within the plants.

我們在租賃業務中特別推行的服裝共享計畫（garment sharing program），這是一項對我們非常重要的技術，有助於我們管理原物料成本；尤其在我們像現在這樣成長的同時，它帶來了很高的客戶滿意度、營收認列與成本控管，而且我們在該流程上仍有很大的發揮空間。我們生產設施的營運卓越也一直非常有價值，且未來仍將持續有價值，這涵蓋了工廠內的勞動力與整體能源控管。

And then, of course, we round out with SmartTruck across our service platform. And when you take the revenue and then you put service -- you put SmartTruck in, we really get some nice leverage on service and we'd expect to be able to continue that moving forward. Maybe worth noting also is that we always have other initiatives that we are working on, and those initiatives are to support our overall financial goals.

然後，當然，我們也在整個服務平台上導入 SmartTruck。當你把營收成長再加上服務——也就是導入 SmartTruck——我們在服務端就能取得很好的槓桿效應，我們也預期未來能持續推進。另外也值得一提的是，我們一直都有其他正在推動的倡議，而這些倡議都是為了支持我們整體的財務目標。

Todd talked about that as being part of our culture, that's part of our standard operation procedures that we're working towards those, finding other ways to become more efficient, extracted those inefficiencies. So we expect to continue that movement forward.

Todd 談到這是我們文化的一部分，這也是我們標準作業程序的一部分；我們會朝這些方向努力，尋找其他提升效率的方法，消除那些低效率。因此我們預期會持續向前推進。

Joshua Chan, UBS.

Joshua Chan，UBS。

I guess my first question is on the TAM penetration that you guys are talking about. Within the rental business, where do you see kind of the biggest movement in terms of shift towards rental program? And what verticals are you having more of the success in this penetration?

我想我的第一個問題是關於你們提到的 TAM 滲透率。在租賃業務中，你們認為在轉向租賃方案方面，最大的變化動能在哪裡？以及你們在滲透方面較成功的是哪些垂直產業？

Josh, it's Jim. Thanks for the question. And again, we continue to see high demand in all of our product lines. So we're experiencing growth across all of our product lines, and we're really indifferent as to how we start the relationship with the customer. They can start with any one of our products and/or services, including inside and outside of the rental business in any way that we can begin to establish a relationship and trust and get to know that customer.

Josh，我是 Jim。謝謝你的問題。同樣地，我們持續看到我們所有產品線都有很高的需求。因此我們在所有產品線都在成長，而且我們其實不太在意與客戶關係是從哪一個切入點開始。他們可以從我們任何一項產品和／或服務開始，包括租賃業務內外；只要能以任何方式開始建立關係與信任，並更了解該客戶即可。

We're okay with that. And we've got multiple examples of how that would continue to work. The verticals are all performing quite well for us. I did bring an example of one customer to just illustrate a little bit of what this may look like in practicality, what is this penetration and cross-selling, how does that play out in real life. So we had a long-standing uniform customer, well over 20-year uniform customer in the retail automotive industry with multiple sites.

我們對此沒有問題。而且我們有多個例子可以說明這如何持續運作。各個垂直產業對我們而言表現都相當不錯。我確實帶了一個客戶的例子，只是為了稍微說明在實務上可能會是什麼樣子：這種滲透與交叉銷售，在現實生活中是如何發生的。我們有一位長期制服客戶，在零售汽車產業，合作超過 20 年，且有多個據點。

And in a business review, we had a conversation with them about what challenges they were seeing in the marketplace, obviously, a dynamic macro environment. And one of the core principles that they were working towards is getting their local management team to focus more on their customers and focus more on their core business. And we look for ways that we could help them with that scenario.

在一次業務回顧中，我們與他們討論了他們在市場上看到哪些挑戰，顯然宏觀環境變動很大。他們努力推動的一個核心原則，是讓在地管理團隊把更多精力放在他們的客戶上，並更聚焦於核心業務。而我們也在尋找能協助他們達成該情境的方法。

We identified that they were spending a lot of time managing things like hygiene supplies for their restrooms, cleaning chemicals, and PPE, and that it was a local general manager who was responsible to order all of that through their distribution center, maintain stock inventories, I think you get the picture. They ultimately decided to give us a chance to leverage our route infrastructure and the fact that we're on site with them on a regular basis.

我們發現他們花了很多時間在管理例如洗手間的衛生用品、清潔化學品，以及 PPE（個人防護裝備）等事項；而且是由當地的總經理負責透過他們的配送中心下單、維持庫存水位，我想你大概能想像那個情況。他們最後決定給我們一個機會，讓我們運用我們的路線基礎設施，以及我們會定期到他們現場服務的事實。

After trialing it at a few of their stores, they recognized right away that this was a cost savings, a time savings, and a much more efficient way for them to go meet that need. So they took that spend that they had with someone else. They redirected it over to us, and we were able to go ahead and penetrate those products, further penetration in our rental business and cross-selling with our First Aid and Safety business as well. So it shows up in a lot of different ways, but the opportunity is quite large.

在幾家門市試行之後，他們立刻意識到這能節省成本、節省時間，且是更有效率的方式來滿足該需求。因此他們把原本花在其他供應商的支出，轉移到我們這裡；我們也得以進一步滲透這些產品，提升我們租賃業務的滲透率，並同時與我們的急救與安全（First Aid and Safety）業務進行交叉銷售。所以它會以很多不同方式呈現，但機會相當大。

Great. That makes a lot of sense. And then on First Aid, I think there was some understanding that in the prior year, we were lapping some kind of onetime type of revenue, but yet the First Aid growth was pretty strong this quarter. So I guess -- was there anything onetime this quarter as well? And maybe you can talk about any new products that you're launching within First Aid that's driving growth also.

很好。這很有道理。接著談到急救（First Aid），我記得大家有些共識是，去年我們是在比較基期中包含某種一次性收入的情況下進行比較，但本季急救業務的成長仍然相當強勁。所以我想問——本季是否也有任何一次性因素？另外也請談談你們在急救業務中推出的任何新產品，是否也在帶動成長。

Josh, you're right. Last year, the First Aid business grew 18.5% in Q4 and this year it was 13.2% organic to organic. So just outstanding performance. That was a heck of a comp that they had to overcome, and the team is executing at a high level. As far as items and products in the pipe, we don't give away too much.

Josh，你說得沒錯。去年第四季急救業務成長了18.5%，而今年則是13.2%的有機對有機成長。所以表現非常出色。那是個必須克服的高比較基期，而團隊的執行力非常到位。至於管線中的項目與產品，我們不會透露太多。

We like having a competitive advantage in the marketplace and launching our products. But I'll say this, part of our culture is we're constantly working on improving our products, existing products and identifying additional products and services that we can bring to the marketplace, and the First Aid business is really good at that. All of our businesses are.

我們喜歡在市場上保有競爭優勢並推出我們的產品。但我可以這麼說，我們文化的一部分就是持續改善我們的產品——既有產品——並辨識我們還能帶到市場的其他產品與服務，而急救業務在這方面做得非常好。我們所有事業都是如此。

But the opportunity out there for the First Aid business is so large because there's so many businesses that we don't do business with. And Jim talked about in his example earlier that we'll have people that will redirect monies to us, but they're all solving for these objectives somehow, they're spending monies on these subjects.

但急救業務在外部的機會非常大，因為還有很多企業我們尚未與其往來。而Jim先前的例子也提到，我們會遇到一些客戶把資金重新導向到我們這裡，但他們其實都是在以某種方式解決這些目標——他們本來就會在這些議題上花錢。

We just wanted to redirect them to us because we think we can do it better for them. And that's working quite well in each of our businesses and First Aid's been a shining star for many years now.

我們只是希望把這些支出導向我們，因為我們認為能替他們做得更好。而這在我們各個事業都運作得相當順利，急救業務多年來一直是最亮眼的明星。

Jasper Bibb, Truist Securities.

Jasper Bibb，Truist Securities。

I was just hoping you could maybe unpack the contribution to organic growth this quarter from net wearers. And then I guess if you could outline how you're thinking about the wearer levels in your fiscal '27 guidance, too, that would be great.

我想請你們或許可以拆解一下，本季有機成長中來自淨穿著者（net wearers）的貢獻。另外，如果也能說明一下你們在2027財年（fiscal '27）指引中，對穿著者水準的思考方式，那就太好了。

Jas, thanks for the question. This is Todd. We don't give a specific KPI on wearers. But I'll say this, our -- each of our areas of our business are performing well. Jim spoke about our growth from current customers, is doing quite well.

Jas，謝謝你的問題。我是Todd。我們不會提供穿著者（wearers）的特定KPI。但我可以說，我們——各個業務領域的表現都很好。Jim也提到，我們來自既有客戶的成長表現相當不錯。

And some of that shows up in wearers and it shows up in other areas of our business. But when we have people in our customer's place of business on a regular basis, those employee partners have eyes, ears and minds and they see opportunities. Whether that opportunity is additional wearers, or products and services that we can help solve for the customer better than what they're currently doing it. That's where our focus is in addition to taking great care of the customer, it all goes together and obviously driving new business. So it all goes into the formula and it's working for us quite well.

其中一部分會反映在穿著者上，也會反映在我們業務的其他面向。但當我們的人員定期在客戶的營業場所服務時，這些員工夥伴會有眼睛、有耳朵、有想法，他們能看到機會。不論那個機會是增加穿著者，或是我們能提供的產品與服務，能比客戶目前的做法更好地解決問題。這就是我們的重點：除了把客戶照顧好之外，這些都是相互連結的，當然也包括帶動新業務。所以這一切都會納入整體公式，而目前對我們來說運作得相當好。

We haven't really touched on the Fire yet. It's been a really nice growth story for you guys. I was hoping you could maybe just talk about broad expectations for that business next year?

我們其實還沒怎麼談到消防（Fire）業務。對你們來說這一直是個很不錯的成長故事。我想請你們談談對明年該業務的整體預期？

And obviously, you're doing some pretty significant investments in the tech platform, too. Just hoping maybe you could refresh us on how you're thinking about the long-term margin opportunity for that business.

而且很明顯你們也在技術平台上做了相當重大的投資。也想請你們更新一下，對該業務長期毛利率/利潤率機會的看法。

Sure. I'll start on the Fire business, and we're really pleased with the fourth quarter of the Fire business. And obviously, they perform well, highest gross margin that we've seen within that business. And so we're pleased with the execution, great work by the team. I would expect that you'll see some variability to gross margin in that business moving forward.

當然。我先從消防業務開始，我們對消防業務第四季的表現非常滿意。很明顯他們表現很好，達到我們在該業務中所見過的最高毛利率。因此我們對執行成果感到滿意，團隊做得很棒。我預期未來你會看到該業務的毛利率有一些波動。

That business, as you know, a little bit can be impacted by revenue mix in a particular quarter. But also, we're still building out our national footprint in the Fire Protection business. And as we do that, we will make strategic acquisitions, and some of those acquisitions will run at productivity numbers and profitability that are far below Cintas, and it takes some time for us to go in and implement our playbook and get the overall productivity up to Cintas performance standards. That takes a little bit of time. But as we've demonstrated this past year, certainly something that we're comfortable being able to go and do.

如你所知，該業務在某一季可能會受到營收組合的些微影響。此外，我們仍在擴建消防防護（Fire Protection）業務的全國版圖。在此過程中，我們會進行策略性併購，而其中一些併購標的在生產力指標與獲利能力上會遠低於Cintas水準；我們需要一些時間導入我們的作業手冊（playbook），把整體生產力提升到符合Cintas的績效標準。這需要一點時間。但如同我們在過去一年所展現的，這確實是我們有把握能做到的事情。

We will have an SAP implementation in Fire that was scheduled for this upcoming fiscal year that will have about a 100 basis point annual headwind for the Fire Protection business. So we're expecting a little bit of volatility in that gross margin. But overall, we do love the fundamentals of the Fire business. We'll continue to invest in the Fire business for long-term growth and believe that it can be a good contributor to Cintas in the future.

我們在消防業務將進行一項SAP導入，原本排定在即將到來的這個財年，對消防防護業務的年度影響約為100個基點的逆風。因此我們預期毛利率會有一些波動。但整體而言，我們非常看好消防業務的基本面。我們會持續投資消防業務以追求長期成長，並相信未來它能成為Cintas的重要貢獻來源。

Jason Haas, Wells Fargo.

Jason Haas，Wells Fargo。

I'm curious if you could talk about the impact that automation in manufacturing has had on your business historically? And do you like foresee any, like, I guess, potential headwinds there's maybe some more manufacturing processes get automated.

我想了解你們能否談談，製造端自動化過去對你們業務的影響？以及你們是否預見任何潛在逆風——例如更多製造流程被自動化之後。

Jason, thanks for the question. This is Todd. First of all, our customers have been automating for years. So that is certainly in our run rate of what we've experienced in the past. We are automating and throughout our facilities as well.

Jason，謝謝你的問題。我是Todd。首先，我們的客戶多年來一直在推動自動化。因此這當然已經反映在我們過去經驗的常態水準（run rate）之中。我們也正在我們的各項設施中推動自動化。

We're not in the technology business, but every business is in the technology business. So automation plays a role with for us internally and for our customers. And just to think about it from that standpoint, automation plays a -- probably a larger role in manufacturing goods producing than it does in services providing. And our business 25 years ago was 70% of our customers were goods producing and 30% were service providing. And today, it's exact opposite.

我們不是科技公司，但每一家企業都是科技公司。因此自動化對我們內部以及對我們的客戶都扮演一定角色。從這個角度來看，自動化在製造、也就是生產商品的領域，所扮演的角色——可能比在提供服務的領域更大。而我們25年前的業務結構是：70%的客戶是商品生產型，30%是服務提供型。而今天正好相反。

It's 30% goods producing and 70% services providing. So certainly, automation plays roles in our business and our customers' business in different ways depending upon the business. But it's absolutely plays a component. And as that occurs, it doesn't change our outlook whatsoever from our perspective because the opportunity out there is so massive for us. We do business with a little over 1 million customers. There's 16 million to 20 million businesses out there. And they're all solving these needs that we can provide in some manner.

現在是30%商品生產型、70%服務提供型。所以自動化確實會在我們的業務以及客戶的業務中，以不同方式發揮作用，取決於各自的產業型態。但它絕對是一個構成要素。而即便如此，從我們的角度來看，這完全不會改變我們的展望，因為外部機會對我們而言非常龐大。我們服務的客戶略多於100萬家。外面有1,600萬到2,000萬家企業。而他們都在以某種方式解決這些需求，而我們都能以某種形式提供。

So we just want to redirect those monies to us and -- because we think we can do it better. And it's our job to position our people to make that clear to our customers and the prospects, and we're working diligently to do just that.

所以我們只是想把那些資金導向我們這邊——因為我們認為我們能做得更好。而我們的工作就是讓我們的團隊做好定位，向客戶與潛在客戶清楚傳達這一點，我們也正為此努力不懈。

That's great. Certainly makes sense. And then as a follow-up, just wanted to circle back on pricing. And just to understand, given that there's maybe some more inflationary you talked about fuel costs, are you taking a little bit more price to offset some of that? And what's the customer reception been to those price increases?

太好了。確實很有道理。接著作為追問，我想再回到定價這一塊。想了解一下，考量到你提到可能有更多通膨因素、例如燃料成本，你們是否會多拿一點價格來抵消其中一部分？客戶對這些漲價的接受度如何？

Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. And yeah, I would say our pricing is generally in line with our historical levels. As we mentioned earlier, may be slightly elevated, but immaterial in nature. And our philosophy is really to take a long-term approach when it comes to pricing.

是的。非常感謝你的提問。我會說，我們的定價整體上大致與歷史水準一致。如同我們先前提到的，可能略有提高，但幅度不大、影響也不具實質性。而我們在定價上的理念，確實是採取長期取向。

We know customers have choices of ways that they can go satisfy the needs here, and we want to continue to ensure we're providing the most valuable program possible. So as Todd mentioned earlier, our objective is that we want to remove inefficiencies out of our business as our primary way of expanding margins. It's expedient to just pass pricing along to the customers, but not great for the long term. So we want to make sure we continue keeping that long-term approach.

我們知道客戶有多種選擇可以滿足這裡的需求，而我們希望持續確保我們提供的是最具價值的方案。因此如 Todd 先前提到的，我們的目標是以移除業務中的低效率作為擴大利潤率的主要方式。把價格直接轉嫁給客戶是最快的方法，但對長期而言並不好。所以我們要確保持續維持這種長期取向。

Now we believe it's strategic, and the environment calls for some price increases as we saw back in '22, '23 with persistent and historical levels of elevation and wage increases. We certainly have demonstrated we can take pricing, but it's not our preferred method and not a large component of our growth algorithm.

當我們認為這是策略所需、且環境也需要一些漲價時——就像我們在 2022、2023 年看到的那樣，成本長期且處於歷史高位，包括薪資上升——我們確實會採取提價。我們也已經證明我們有能力提價，但這不是我們偏好的方法，也不是我們成長公式中的主要組成。

Seth Weber, BNP Paribas.

Seth Weber，法國巴黎銀行（BNP Paribas）。

I wanted to ask about your comments about growing the Fire business into a national platform. Can you just talk about the competitive environment when you're out bidding for deal, bidding for other assets? Just sort of how you're positioning that business relative to some of the other growing competitors that are out there?

我想問一下你們提到要把 Fire 業務發展成全國性平台的評論。你能談談你們在外部競標交易、競標其他資產時的競爭環境嗎？也就是說，相較於其他正在成長的競爭對手，你們如何定位這項業務？

Seth, we really like the Fire business. It's the only business that we're in, where you legally have to have it for our customers. And so as a result, the TAM is some word beyond massive. So it is -- the opportunity out there is incredible. It's a service business.

Seth，我們非常喜歡 Fire 這項業務。這是我們所從事的唯一一項業務，客戶在法律上必須要有它。因此，TAM（總可服務市場）可以說是「巨大」都不足以形容。所以外部的機會非常驚人。這是一門服務型業務。

And because everybody is served in some manner, unless you're talking about new construction, which really isn't a focus for us. So it's a service business. We're investing appropriately to have a footprint. As Jim mentioned, as you plant new flags in markets, short term, there are some headwinds on margin, but we see the opportunity is so large that we want to make sure that we're investing appropriately to provide those levels of service to customers across the country. That being said, technology plays a role in that as we roll out SAP.

而且因為每個人都會以某種方式被服務到，除非你談的是新建工程，而那其實不是我們的重點。所以這是一門服務型業務。我們正以適當的力度投資，以建立服務據點版圖。如 Jim 提到的，當你在各個市場插旗時，短期內利潤率會有一些逆風，但我們看到機會非常大，因此我們要確保以適當的力度投資，才能在全國範圍為客戶提供相應水準的服務。話雖如此，隨著我們推動 SAP 上線，科技也在其中扮演角色。

We think that will provide some real value to not only our people but to our customers to help them with the levels of service that we can provide them. So we're big fans of the business. See an incredible runway, and we're investing appropriately to attack that opportunity.

我們認為這不僅能為我們的員工，也能為客戶帶來實質價值，協助他們獲得我們所能提供的服務水準。所以我們是這項業務的忠實支持者。我們看到非常長的成長跑道，並且正以適當的力度投資來把握這個機會。

Appreciate that. And then just maybe on CapEx, it was I think, 3.5% this year, had been maybe closer to 4% in the last couple of years. Do you think while you're waiting for the UniFirst deal to close, does CapEx kind of come down a little bit while you're waiting to see what happens with the acquisition? And then as you sort of figure out what assets are where and where you can utilize the UniFirst assets? Or do you think CapEx kind of stays in the 3.5% to 4% range for this year?

感謝說明。接著可能想問一下資本支出（CapEx）。我記得今年大約是 3.5%，過去幾年可能更接近 4%。你認為在等待 UniFirst 交易完成期間，CapEx 會不會因為等待收購結果而稍微下降？以及當你們逐步釐清哪些資產在哪裡、以及哪些地方可以運用 UniFirst 的資產之後？還是你認為今年 CapEx 仍會維持在 3.5% 到 4% 的區間？

Yes, Seth, this is Scott. I appreciate the question. Yes. CapEx for the year came in at that 3.5% of revenue right within the range that we've stated, 3.5% to 4%. And like other things, CapEx can vary from quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year based on the timing of different initiatives.

是的，Seth，我是 Scott。謝謝你的問題。是的。本年度 CapEx 約為營收的 3.5%，落在我們先前所說的 3.5% 到 4% 區間之內。而且和其他項目一樣，CapEx 會因不同計畫的時點安排，在季度之間、年度之間有所波動。

Jim mentioned one of the initiatives operational excellence, and that really is centered on increasing the capacity of our production facilities on the uniform space without investing in capital really through process improvement and engineering. And that would be an example of an initiative that would have a positive impact on our CapEx spend. So I'm not expecting any variation in fiscal year '27 or really beyond relative to CapEx and still believe that we'll be in that 3.5% to 4% range.

Jim 提到其中一項計畫是營運卓越，而其核心是在制服業務領域，透過流程改善與工程手段提升我們生產設施的產能，而不是透過資本投入。這就是一個會對我們 CapEx 支出帶來正面影響的例子。因此，我不預期在 2027 財年或甚至更往後，CapEx 會出現明顯變化；我仍然相信我們會落在 3.5% 到 4% 的區間。

Seth, I'll just add that, first off, the deal has not closed. We're running two separate businesses. And I wouldn't read into the 3.5% saying, well, they're getting ready for UniFirst so they're not investing appropriately. We're running our business in the normal course when we close, then we'll be able to make a really good assessment and give you a better view of what that will mean for us moving forward. But we're running separate businesses and running it the normal course.

Seth，我再補充一下：首先，這筆交易尚未完成。我們目前是以兩個獨立的業務在運作。所以不要因為 3.5% 就解讀成「他們在為 UniFirst 做準備，所以沒有適當投資」。我們是在正常情況下經營我們的業務；等交易完成後，我們才能做出非常好的評估，並讓你更清楚了解這對我們未來意味著什麼。但目前我們是分開經營，並按正常節奏運作。

Toni Kaplan, Morgan Stanley.

Toni Kaplan，摩根士丹利。

Earlier, you were asked about automation. And I was hoping you could give some examples of what you're doing in the automation and robotics side within your own business to try to maximize efficiencies.

先前有人問到自動化。我希望你能舉一些例子，說明你們在自身業務中，在自動化與機器人方面做了哪些事情，以最大化效率。

Toni, thanks for the question. We don't like to give away too much of what -- where we're investing, but I'll just give you a little color. Now there are certain areas like supply chain distribution, manufacturing, where automation is a little bit more clear. We've been investing in automation in our rental facilities to help us with things like automatic sortation that is really bearing fruit for us.

Toni，謝謝你的問題。我們不太想透露太多我們投資的內容與方向，但我可以稍微補充一些背景。像供應鏈配送、製造等領域，自動化相對更直觀。我們一直在租賃工廠投資自動化，協助我們做例如自動分揀之類的事情，而這確實已經為我們帶來成果。

And then there's other areas of automation that we consider automation that you may not -- may not be a robot or it might not be -- might be another nature of automation, such as the garment sharing that Jim spoke of and such as SmartTruck. So all that plays into the role of automation. It's throughout our business and has been and will continue to be.

另外還有一些我們也視為自動化的領域，你可能不一定會——不一定是機器人，或不一定是——可能是另一種性質的自動化，例如 Jim 提到的服裝共享（garment sharing），以及 SmartTruck。所以這些都屬於自動化的一部分。它遍布我們整個業務，過去如此，未來也會持續。

Terrific. And then I wanted to ask about the different verticals that you're in. Have you noticed any really accelerating or any more on sort of a hold? Which markets have been good and bad for you at this point?

很好。接著我想問一下你們所處的不同垂直領域。你們是否注意到有任何領域正在明顯加速，或有些則比較停滯？目前哪些市場對你們來說表現好、哪些表現較差？

Toni, this is Jim. I'll take that question. And overall, we really like the verticals that we've organized around. Those are verticals that are performing quite well for us and we're seeing strong performance really across the board there. Certainly, I may note earlier or spoke about healthcare.

Toni，我是 Jim。我來回答這個問題。整體而言，我們非常喜歡我們所圍繞建立的各個垂直領域。這些垂直領域對我們而言表現相當出色，我們也看到整體各方面都有強勁表現。當然，我先前可能也提到或談到過醫療保健。

Healthcare continues to be a tremendous avenue for us for revenue. Our customers really appreciate the value proposition we bring in the healthcare space. So we continue to plant new flags in healthcare and then certainly cross-sell and upsell with our current customer base, really like the state and local government business, and that continues to perform well. Education continues to perform well, hospitality. So they all performed above the overall company growth, and that certainly speaks to why we organize around those spaces.

醫療保健仍然是我們營收的一條極為重要的途徑。我們的客戶非常認同我們在醫療保健領域所帶來的價值主張。因此，我們持續在醫療保健領域插旗拓展，並且當然也會在現有客戶基礎上進行交叉銷售與向上銷售；像是州與地方政府業務也同樣如此，且持續表現良好。教育持續表現良好，旅宿業亦然。因此，這些領域的表現都高於公司整體成長，而這也正說明了我們為何要圍繞這些領域來組織。

And it's not just a sales strategy we organize around them. We organize our product line around them, we organize our service model around them. And we think that we've picked a lot of the right verticals, and they are performing quite well for us.

而且我們圍繞它們組織，不只是銷售策略而已。我們也圍繞它們來規劃產品線，圍繞它們來設計服務模式。我們認為我們選對了許多垂直領域，而它們對我們而言確實表現相當好。

Connor Cerniglia, AllianceBernstein.

Connor Cerniglia，AllianceBernstein。

Maybe just building off the prior question. Can you talk a little bit more about the healthcare vertical, given healthcare employment has been really one of the only sectors that has been adding jobs at a healthy clip. How has your progress been? Is it well outperforming other verticals? Or is it pretty balanced within healthcare as growth coming from new account wins? Or is it more same account growth from existing customers who add more headcount?

也許延續前一個問題。鑑於醫療保健就業一直是少數仍以健康速度增加就業的產業之一，能否請你多談一些醫療保健這個垂直領域？你們的進展如何？它是否明顯優於其他垂直領域？或者在醫療保健內部相對均衡，成長主要來自新客戶贏單？還是更多來自既有客戶同一帳戶的成長，因為他們增加了人力編制？

Thank you for the question, Connor. Yes, our healthcare business is going quite well. And you're right, the -- you look at how healthcare as a component of GDP, how it's growing, the jobs -- so we chose well in picking that vertical and it's not -- don't just think about it as, hey, they sell customers in that area. We organize around that vertical. So we think of products, we think of services.

謝謝你的提問，Connor。是的，我們的醫療保健業務進展得相當順利。你說得沒錯——你看醫療保健作為 GDP 的一個組成部分如何成長、就業如何增加——所以我們在選擇這個垂直領域上選得很好；而且不要只把它想成「我們在那個領域賣給客戶」。我們是圍繞那個垂直領域來組織。因此我們會從產品、服務的角度來思考。

We think of technology. We think of dedicated routing structures. So that way, we can solve those needs for those customers better and better and uniforms play a role in that, but we have plenty of products and services that are -- that we service into the healthcare sector.

我們會從技術的角度思考。我們會思考專屬的路線/配送架構。如此一來，我們就能更好、持續更好地解決那些客戶的需求；制服在其中扮演一個角色，但我們也有大量產品與服務是提供給醫療保健產業的。

And you asked about is it growing faster. Any time we have a focused vertical, we expect it to grow faster than the average because there's that much focus and efforts and resources put on that. And the healthcare business is growing better than average for us, and we expect it to, just like we do all of our verticals.

你也問到它是否成長更快。只要我們有一個聚焦的垂直領域，我們就預期它會比平均成長更快，因為我們投入了大量的專注、努力與資源。醫療保健業務對我們而言確實是高於平均的成長，我們也預期它會如此，就像我們對所有垂直領域的期待一樣。

Great. And then maybe just a follow-up. Given margin expansion has been pretty healthy this past quarter. My math might be wrong, but I thought it was 120 basis points if you account for the UniFirst transaction costs. It seems like the investments you've been making over the past year are starting to pay off.

很好。那再追問一下。鑑於本季的利潤率擴張相當健康。我的計算可能有誤，但如果把 UniFirst 交易成本納入考量，我以為大約是 120 個基點。看起來你們過去一年所做的投資開始見到成效。

Looking ahead, can you talk about the incremental investments you plan on making if any, it seems -- my sense is it would be smaller than the ones we saw in the past year. But any color on that front would be helpful.

展望未來，能否談談你們計畫進行的增量投資（如果有的話）？看起來——我的感覺是——會比過去一年看到的投資規模更小。但若能就這方面提供一些說明會很有幫助。

Well, Connor, we're always investing because we see the opportunity ahead. We had a great Q4, great margin expansion, incrementals. But you're going to see it from quarter to quarter. Certainly, incrementals will bounce a little bit. And we're thinking long term.

嗯，Connor，我們一直都在投資，因為我們看見前方的機會。我們第四季表現很棒，利潤率擴張、增量利潤率也很不錯。但你會看到它在各季之間有所波動。當然，增量利潤率會有些起伏。而我們是以長期為思考。

We're thinking long term as we approach customers and investments in our business -- but over a year, we would expect that those -- that will hit our guide. And I think if history is any indication of the future that will occur. But we're pleased with our Q4 and our year, and we're pleased with our guide ahead. But we will -- we're not slowing up. We're running separate business from UniFirst, we're investing as appropriate, running it just as we always would.

我們在接觸客戶以及對業務進行投資時，都是以長期為思考——但以一年來看，我們預期這些會反映在我們的財測指引中。我想如果歷史能對未來有所指引，這會發生。不過我們對第四季與全年表現感到滿意，也對接下來的指引感到滿意。但我們不會——不會放慢腳步。我們是與 UniFirst 分開運作的業務，我們會在適當時持續投資，並一如既往地經營。

And maybe I'll just add one little bit of color on that. Just regarding the incrementals in the fourth quarter, coming at 37.7%, adjusted 37.7% effectively 38% that didn't represent a step change in our strategy. We are continuing to invest in our business. We continue to look at the opportunity in front of us with the unserved marketplace, the robust amount of wearers that are available out there, I mean, there's 180 million people that go to work in North America, they're all wearing something. We only have 5 million wearers.

我再補充一點說明。關於第四季的增量利潤率，為 37.7%，調整後 37.7%（實際上接近 38%），這並不代表我們策略出現了階段性的改變。我們仍會持續投資於業務。我們持續關注眼前的機會：未被服務的市場、可觸及的龐大穿著者（wearers）族群——北美有 1.8 億人每天去上班，他們都穿著某些東西。而我們只有 500 萬名穿著者。

There's over 100 million of those are in NAICS codes that we're organized around. So just a tremendous amount of runway. So we're going to continue to invest. And a little bit of what you saw this past year was some comps from the prior year had a little bit more of an influence on that incremental margin as we had really outsized performance in the first half of fiscal '25 relative to incrementals. And then we got a little bit more favorable comp in the fourth quarter.

其中有超過 1 億人位於我們所圍繞組織的 NAICS 產業分類代碼之中。因此跑道非常長。所以我們會持續投資。而你在過去一年看到的一部分情況，是因為與前一年的比較基期對增量利潤率有較多影響；我們在 2025 會計年度上半年相對於增量利潤率有非常突出的表現。到了第四季，我們的比較基期就稍微更有利一些。

So we spell that to say that we're going to continue to invest in the business, and we're comfortable anywhere in the range of our incrementals, and we're less focused on one quarter versus the next quarter. But holistically over the year, we expect to deliver strong mid- to high single-digit growth rates, expand margin and deliver 10%-plus EPS growth.

所以我們要表達的是：我們會持續投資於業務；在我們增量利潤率的區間內，我們對任何水準都感到自在；我們較不會把焦點放在某一季相對於下一季。但從全年整體來看，我們預期能交出強勁的中到高個位數成長率、擴大利潤率，並帶來 10% 以上的 EPS 成長。

Curtis Nagle, Bank of America.

Curtis Nagle，美國銀行。

Great. So maybe just first, a very quick one, just which quarter the extra workday going to hit in? Just that would be helpful for the model -- and then secondarily, just going back on the supply chain efficiencies, maybe just in terms of kind of rank ordering or maybe putting in innings, some of the larger opportunities that you called out, like the plant efficiency, SmartTruck. Kind of where does that stand? Where do you see the biggest, I guess, opps for this year?

很好。那也許先一個很快的問題：多出來的那一天工作日會落在哪一季？這對模型會很有幫助——另外，回到供應鏈效率的部分，或許就你們提到的一些較大機會做個排序，或用棒球局數來比喻一下進度，例如工廠效率、SmartTruck。

And kind of anything new coming into the mix for this year that you're excited about.

以及今年是否有任何新的項目加入組合，讓你們特別感到興奮？

Curtis, this is Scott. I'll answer the question on the Workday differential. As I mentioned, there is one more workday in fiscal year '27 compared to fiscal year '26, which represents about 40 basis points on revenue growth. When you look at it quarter by quarter, the first quarter of fiscal year '27 has one extra day than fiscal year '26. The second quarter has the same number of workdays.

Curtis，我是 Scott。我來回答關於工作日差異的問題。如我提到的，2027 會計年度相較於 2026 會計年度多 1 個工作日，約相當於營收成長 40 個基點。若按季度來看，2027 會計年度第一季比 2026 會計年度多 1 天。第二季的工作日數相同。

The third quarter has one less work day, and then the fourth quarter has one more workday than fiscal year '26. So really, when you look at each of the quarters, there's a workday differential in each quarter with the exception of Q2 for one extra day for the entire year.

第三季少了一個工作日，而第四季則比 2026 會計年度多一個工作日。所以實際上，當你看每一季時，除了第二季之外，每一季都有工作日差異；全年合計則是多一天。

Curtis, regarding supply chain and business efficiencies, extracting out those inefficiencies. I would -- they all contribute. They're all important to us. We have a culture here of positive discontent. We always have initiatives because we want to extract out those inefficiencies to run a better business.

Curtis，關於供應鏈與營運效率、把那些低效率剔除出來。我會說——它們都會有所貢獻。它們對我們都很重要。我們這裡有一種「正向不滿足」的文化。我們總是有各項倡議，因為我們想把那些低效率剔除掉，讓業務運作得更好。

Jim talked about that we were operating in a very competitive environment as costs go up and people want to be paid more, we don't just pass that along to the customer because we recognize customers have choices. So as a result, we have to find other ways to improve our business. And we always have a long list of initiatives, and that's part of our culture, and we will continue to execute upon that. And those opportunities continue to be in front of us.

Jim 談到，我們是在一個競爭非常激烈的環境中運作；當成本上升、大家也希望薪資更高時，我們不會只是把這些轉嫁給客戶，因為我們知道客戶有選擇。因此，我們必須找到其他方式來改善我們的業務。而且我們一直都有一長串的倡議，這是我們文化的一部分，我們也會持續落實執行。而這些機會仍然持續擺在我們面前。

So we feel quite good about where we're positioned there. And that culture is what drives us to be constantly seeing ahead around the corner and leveraging our positive discontent to get better.

所以我們對自己在那方面的定位感到相當有信心。而這種文化驅動我們不斷地向前看、提前預判，並運用我們的「正向不滿足」來變得更好。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC Capital Markets.

Ashish Sabadra，RBC Capital Markets。

This is Will Qi on for Ashish Sabadra. I appreciate you guys squeezing us in. Maybe just a bit on the macro side. I wonder if you could give us a little bit more color, I guess, on visibility for hiring trends across the verticals. Healthcare has been strong, but just any other kind of vertical commentary you might be able to provide.

我是 Will Qi，代 Ashish Sabadra 發言。感謝你們把我們安排進來。也許從總體面來問一下。我想知道你們是否能提供更多細節，關於各垂直產業的招募趨勢可見度。醫療保健一直很強勁，但還有沒有其他垂直領域的看法可以分享。

I'm happy to start. Jim, you can speak to anything we're seeing in the customer base. But Will, we are -- we read the same prints that you do. We understand where the employment picture is -- as I mentioned, we're not dependent upon employment. We love it when employment is strong.

我很樂意先回答。Jim，你也可以談談我們在客戶端看到的情況。不過 Will，我們——我們看的數據跟你們一樣。我們了解就業情勢目前的狀況——如我提到的，我們不依賴就業。當就業強勁時我們當然很樂見。

That usually bodes well for the economy and GDP. But we're not employment dependent. And I think we've demonstrated that over the years that we grow in multiples of employment. We grow in multiples of GDP. And there are certain sectors that are doing better than others.

那通常對經濟與 GDP 是個好兆頭。但我們不依賴就業。而且我認為多年來我們已經證明，我們的成長是就業成長的數倍。我們的成長也是 GDP 成長的數倍。而且有些產業表現確實比其他產業更好。

Jim mentioned, I think we've chosen very well our verticals. They seem to be some of the shining stars on the employment side. But we can help customers in so many different ways. And as mentioned earlier, they were spending money on solving for these image, safety, cleanliness and compliance needs already. Just we're trying to redirect it to us because we think we can do better.

Jim 提到，我想我們在選擇垂直領域方面做得很好。它們似乎是就業面的一些亮點。但我們能以很多不同方式協助客戶。而且如先前提到，他們本來就已經在花錢解決形象、安全、清潔與合規等需求。我們只是希望把這些支出導向我們，因為我們認為我們能做得更好。

Jim, anything you're seeing in the customer base on those types of trends?

Jim，你在客戶端對這類趨勢有看到什麼嗎？

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the only thing maybe I would add to that is we have an extraordinarily broad customer base. So we see puts and takes across all the customers, and that is pretty typical that we would see on a normal basis. But if you go into digging beneath the headlines on the jobs reports, it certainly supports a narrative that Todd just gave.

有。有。我的意思是，我想我唯一可能補充的是，我們的客戶基礎非常廣泛。所以我們在所有客戶之間都會看到此消彼長的變化，而這在一般情況下也很常見。但如果你深入看就業報告標題之下的細節，它確實支持 Todd 剛才所說的敘事。

You continue to see nice growth in healthcare, education, hospitality, you see some in state and local government. Specialty trades is an area that continues to perform fairly well. And the biggest headlines as far as the weaker areas tend to be around white-collar jobs, which is not as important an end market for us for our uniform rental business. So I'd say puts and takes across the board. We like where we are, but we do not need that robust revenue growth to continue to grow the organization.

你仍然會看到醫療保健、教育、旅宿業有不錯的成長，州與地方政府也有一些。專業技術工種（specialty trades）仍是持續表現相當不錯的領域。而就較弱的領域而言，最大的新聞標題往往集中在白領工作，這對我們的制服租賃業務來說並不是那麼重要的終端市場。所以我會說整體上各有消長。我們喜歡我們目前的位置，但我們不需要那種非常強勁的營收成長，組織也能持續成長。

And the question-and-answer period has concluded. I will turn the call back over to Jared to close out the call.

問答環節到此結束。我將把電話交回 Jared 來做結語。

Thank you, Ross, and thank you for joining us this morning. We will issue our first quarter of fiscal 2027 financial results in September. We look forward to speaking with you again at that time. Thank you.

謝謝你，Ross，也謝謝各位今天早上加入我們。我們將於 9 月發布 2027 會計年度第一季的財務結果。我們期待屆時再與各位交流。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。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以掛線。