Casella Waste Systems Inc (CWST) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Casella Waste Systems fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Casella Waste Systems 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Charlie Wohlhuter, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的第一位發言人，投資者關係總監查理沃爾胡特 (Charlie Wohlhuter)。請繼續。

All right. Thank you, Victor. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the call today. With us are John Casella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Casella Waste Systems; Ned Coletta, our President; Brad Helgeson, our Chief Financial Officer; Jason Mead, our Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer; and Sean Steves, our Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Solid Waste Operations.

好的。謝謝你，維克多。早安，感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議。與我們在一起的還有卡塞拉廢棄物系統公司董事長兼執行長約翰‧卡塞拉 (John Casella)；內德·科萊塔，我們的總裁； Brad Helgeson，我們的財務長； Jason Mead，我們的財務資深副總裁兼財務長；史蒂夫（Sean Steves），我們的固體廢棄物業務資深副總裁兼營運長。

Today, we will discuss our fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results, which were released yesterday afternoon. After a review of these results and an update on the company's activities and business environment, we will be happy to take your questions.

今天，我們將討論昨天下午發布的第四季和 2023 年全年業績。在審查這些結果以及公司活動和商業環境的最新資訊後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。

But first, please note that various remarks we may make about the company's future expectations, plans, and prospects constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Safe Harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, which is on file with the SEC.

但首先請注意，我們可能對公司的未來預期、計劃和前景所做的各種評論構成前瞻性陳述，以符合 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中的安全港條款。由於各種重要因素的影響，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述所示的結果存在重大差異，包括我們向 SEC 備案的最新 10-K 表格年度報告的風險因素部分中討論的因素。

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views in any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so even if our views change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to today, February 16, 2024.

此外，任何前瞻性陳述僅代表我們今天的觀點，不應被視為代表我們在任何後續日期的觀點。雖然我們可能選擇在未來某個時候更新前瞻性陳述，但我們特別聲明不承擔任何這樣做的義務，即使我們的觀點發生變化。這些前瞻性陳述不應被視為代表我們自 2024 年 2 月 16 日之後的任何日期的觀點。

Also during this call, we will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, to the extent they are available without unreasonable effort, are included in the appendix of our investor slide presentation, which will be available on the Investors section of our website at ir.casella.com.

此外，在本次電話會議中，我們也將提及非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非公認會計準則衡量指標並非依照公認會計原則制定。非GAAP 財務指標與最直接可比較的GAAP 指標的對帳（只要無需付出不合理的努力即可獲得）包含在我們投資者幻燈片演示文稿的附錄中，該幻燈片演示文稿將在我們網站的投資者部分提供，網址為： .casella.com。

With that, I will now turn it over to Jon Casella to begin our discussion.

現在，我將把它交給喬恩·卡塞拉來開始我們的討論。

Thanks, Charlie. And good morning, everyone, and welcome to our fourth-quarter 2023 conference call.

謝謝，查理。大家早安，歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第四季電話會議。

This was an exceptional year for the company and illustrates the success that we continue to have in terms of executing against our key strategies. I'm excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. First, we will highlight our performance for the year, then I'll pass it on to Brad and Ned, who will provide more specific comments around our results and strategies.

對公司來說，這是非凡的一年，也說明了我們在執行關鍵策略方面繼續取得的成功。我對未來的機會感到興奮。首先，我們將重點介紹我們今年的表現，然後我會將其轉達給布拉德和內德，他們將針對我們的結果和策略提供更具體的評論。

Our performance in 2023 reflects the successful investments we made across our business, deploying capital for return-driven growth. Our focus on our people and operations is helping us improve safety and turnover, while delivering exceptional service and driving more productivity.

我們 2023 年的業績反映了我們在整個業務領域的成功投資，部署資本以實現回報驅動型成長。我們對員工和營運的關注有助於我們提高安全性和營業額，同時提供卓越的服務並提高生產力。

We're also experiencing notable operating benefits from our Boston MRF, following the full equipment upgrade this past summer. I'm also excited to announce that we have similar plans to fully upgrade the processing equipment at our Willimantic, Connecticut, recycling facility later in 2024.

繼去年夏天進行全面設備升級後，我們也從波士頓 MRF 中獲得了顯著的營運效益。我還很高興地宣布，我們有類似的計劃，將於 2024 年稍後全面升級康乃狄克州威利曼蒂克回收工廠的處理設備。

We continue to invest in and further modernize our sustainability infrastructure. Our disciplined approach strikes the right balance between economic returns and providing benefits to the environment. As I noted in our press release yesterday, completing seven acquisitions was an exciting and notable achievement in 2023, given the size and the new markets we've entered.

我們繼續投資並進一步現代化我們的永續發展基礎設施。我們嚴格的方法在經濟回報和環境效益之間取得了適當的平衡。正如我在昨天的新聞稿中指出的那樣，考慮到我們的規模和進入的新市場，2023 年完成七項收購是一項令人興奮且引人注目的成就。

I'm very encouraged by the early results of our Mid-Atlantic region and other acquisitions that we completed in the year. A real shout out to the Mid-Atlantic team, to Kyle and his team, they've done a terrific job of integration and bringing Mid-Atlantic up to speed in terms of the Casella culture.

我對中大西洋地區的早期成果以及我們今年完成的其他收購感到非常鼓舞。真正向中大西洋團隊、凱爾和他的團隊致敬，他們在整合方面做得非常出色，並讓中大西洋加快了卡塞拉文化的步伐。

The level of engagement of our new team members is really impressive. It helped facilitate the transition and integration process. It includes implementing our strategy, developing our sales approach, and evaluating acquisition opportunities.

我們新團隊成員的參與程度確實令人印象深刻。它有助於促進過渡和整合過程。它包括實施我們的策略、制定我們的銷售方法以及評估收購機會。

We really like the growth runway we see ahead for the entire business. In 2023, our operating initiatives in our base business, combined with our growth strategy, allowed us to post double-digit growth across key financial metrics. Revenues were up over 16%, adjusted EBITDA growth top 20%, and for the second consecutive year, adjusted free cash flow growth was up 15%. We expanded our adjusted EBITDA margins 70 basis points, which was an indication of the strength of our operating and pricing programs.

我們真的很喜歡整個業務未來的成長軌道。2023 年，我們基礎業務的營運舉措與我們的成長策略相結合，使我們能夠在關鍵財務指標上實現兩位數的成長。營收成長超過 16%，調整後 EBITDA 成長超過 20%，調整後自由現金流成長連續第二年成長 15%。我們將調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 70 個基點，這顯示了我們營運和定價計畫的實力。

We closed out the year on solid footing in Q4, with 17% adjusted EBITDA growth in our base business and over 200 basis points of margin expansion. As we look to 2024, we have a strong balance sheet, ample liquidity, and are in an excellent position to support further growth in our business.

我們在第四季以堅實的基礎結束了這一年，我們的基礎業務調整後 EBITDA 成長了 17%，利潤率擴張超過 200 個基點。展望 2024 年，我們擁有強勁的資產負債表、充足的流動性，並且處於支持業務進一步成長的絕佳位置。

I'd like to provide a few related comments on the execution of a few of our key strategies and some of the performance of our operations. As you know, a key part of our strategy is improving returns across our disposal assets. And our operating programs have really made this possible.

我想就我們的一些關鍵策略的執行和我們的一些營運績效提供一些相關的評論。如您所知，我們策略的關鍵部分是提高我們處置資產的回報。我們的營運計劃確實使這成為可能。

Despite volumes being down year over year in 2023, we were able to drive higher adjusted EBITDA. This is a testament to our team and the focus on getting the right funds at the right price, improving the mix of our inbound streams, helping to drive our average landfill price per ton up 9.8% in the year, and helping to offset the headwinds from lower disposal costs -- lower disposal volumes. We remain committed to expanding margins and drawing higher returns across our landfill assets.

儘管 2023 年銷售量年減，但我們仍能夠實現更高的調整後 EBITDA。這證明了我們的團隊致力於以合適的價格獲得合適的資金，改善我們的入境流組合，幫助推動我們今年每噸平均垃圾掩埋價格上漲 9.8%，並幫助抵消不利因素來自較低的處置成本——較低的處置量。我們仍然致力於擴大垃圾掩埋場資產的利潤並獲得更高的回報。

On the collection side of the business, I'm especially proud of what we're doing to strengthen our employee base that is enabling us to be safer and more engaged team, resulting in higher returns in this line of business. Yes, ongoing technology investments like adding automated trucks, route optimization, software, onboard computers are driving safety and operating efficiencies higher. But the direct investment in our frontline team are equally as important and valuable. Sean and that team have done a terrific job of supporting the field and really driving our cost of ops down.

在業務的收集方面，我對我們為加強員工基礎所做的努力感到特別自豪，這使我們能夠成為更安全、更敬業的團隊，從而在該業務領域獲得更高的回報。是的，持續的技術投資，如添加自動卡車、路線優化、軟體、車載計算機，正在提高安全性和營運效率。但對我們一線團隊的直接投資同樣重要且有價值。Sean 和他的團隊在支持該領域方面做得非常出色，並真正降低了我們的營運成本。

Over 200 students have graduated from our CDL schools since starting the program. We're seeing great outcomes particularly in lower turnover rates among our graduates in our CDL program. While we're only a couple of months into our new diesel technician program, 20 students have received their certificates so far. And these people-focused initiatives promote greater stability and safety, and quite frankly, the results show it.

自從該計畫啟動以來，已有 200 多名學生從我們的 CDL 學校畢業。我們看到了巨大的成果，特別是在我們的 CDL 課程中，畢業生的流動率較低。雖然我們新的柴油技術員計畫才剛開始幾個月，但迄今為止已有 20 名學生獲得了證書。這些以人為本的措施促進了更大的穩定性和安全性，坦白說，結果表明了這一點。

Our company-wide turnover rate is down nearly 20% year over year in 2023. While key safety metrics such as TRIR improved, as our execution against these key metrics improve, so often does the performance as a company. Probably the most significant thing that I'm proud of is, throughout the immense growth that we had in 2023, we were able to bring our turnover down and improve our safety record, a real tribute to the entire team.

2023 年，我們全公司的員工流動率較去年同期下降近 20%。雖然 TRIR 等關鍵安全指標有所改善，但隨著我們對這些關鍵指標的執行情況有所改善，公司的績效往往也會提高。也許讓我感到自豪的最重要的事情是，在 2023 年我們取得巨大增長的過程中，我們能夠降低營業額並提高我們的安全記錄，這是對整個團隊的真正致敬。

And finally, resource solutions. As I mentioned before, sustainability is woven into the framework of the company and is an area we continually strive to enhance. Similar to our upgraded Boston MRF, which has delivered strong results over the back half of 2023, we are reviewing other facilities where we can improve operating efficiencies and materials recovery. Our next large upgrade, as I said, will be at our Willimantic MRF, slated to begin in the second half of this year.

最後是資源解決方案。正如我之前提到的，永續發展已融入公司的框架中，也是我們不斷努力加強的領域。與我們升級後的波士頓 MRF 在 2023 年下半年取得了強勁成果類似，我們正在審查其他可以提高營運效率和材料回收的設施。正如我所說，我們的下一次大型升級將在 Willimantic MRF 進行，預計今年下半年開始。

Turning to our professional services business, hats off to Paul and Liza. That entire team has done a terrific job of growing our revenues and looking at those opportunities. We won significant additional business throughout 2023 and see lots of potential to continue to grow this business looking ahead.

談到我們的專業服務業務，向 Paul 和 Liza 致敬。整個團隊在增加我們的收入和尋找這些機會方面做得非常出色。我們在 2023 年贏得了大量額外業務，並看到了未來繼續發展這項業務的巨大潛力。

A key driver of this optimism is the potential of new market entries that what they present for more customers for us to win, differentiating our service offerings. Again, a really exciting opportunity for us to really provide those services to those industrial customers in the mid-Atlantic. Very excited about the opportunities that present themselves in front of us looking ahead.

這種樂觀情緒的一個關鍵驅動力是新市場進入的潛力，它們為我們贏得了更多客戶，使我們的服務產品脫穎而出。這對我們來說是一個真正令人興奮的機會，可以真正為大西洋中部的工業客戶提供這些服務。展望未來，我們對呈現在我們面前的機會感到非常興奮。

And wrapping up, exiting 2023, I have to say I am so proud of our entire team: our drivers, our mechanics, our division managers, particularly in those states -- Vermont, New Hampshire, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, where our teams provided service in the midst of what was a catastrophic flooding. I can talk about for a long time some of those divisions that didn't have an operating center, yet they picked up their customers and took care of the communities that depend on us for service. So a big hats off to the entire service team. They did just a fabulous job in 2023.

最後，在2023 年結束時，我必須說，我為我們的整個團隊感到非常自豪：我們的車手、我們的機械師、我們的部門經理，特別是在這些州——佛蒙特州、新罕布夏州、紐約州北部、賓州，我們的團隊在那裡在災難性洪水期間提供服務。我可以長時間談論一些沒有營運中心的部門，但他們接待了客戶並照顧了依賴我們提供服務的社區。向整個服務團隊致敬。他們在 2023 年做得非常出色。

And when you look across the entire organization, from finance, with Ned and Jason, enhancing the capital structure to continue to grow the business; Shelly and Sam in permitting, compliance, and legal, it's just an absolute unbelievable performance for the year; HR, again, I can't say enough about Kelly and the HR team -- onboarded 1,000 people in 2023; and probably most importantly, all of the management team has been able to come through core values training and have a real understanding of what it takes to manage it to sell an extremely exciting year. Very, very significant from a growth perspective, but equally as significant in our ability to bring down turnover and improve our safety record.

當你縱觀整個組織時，從財務到內德和傑森，增強資本結構以繼續發展業務；雪莉和山姆在許可、合規和法律方面，這絕對是今年令人難以置信的表現；人力資源方面，我再說一遍，關於 Kelly 和人力資源團隊，我無法說得太多——到 2023 年將有 1,000 名員工入職；也許最重要的是，所有管理團隊都能夠接受核心價值培訓，並真正了解如何管理才能銷售出極為令人興奮的一年。從成長的角度來看非常非常重要，但對於我們降低營業額和改善安全記錄的能力也同樣重要。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Brad to go through more specifics on the numbers.

接下來，我將把它交給布拉德，讓他詳細了解這些數字。

Okay. Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I've been with the company for a little over three months now, and I'm really thrilled to be part of the team. Ned left some big shoes to fill, but obviously, he remains by my side.

好的。謝謝約翰，大家早安。我在公司工作已經三個多月了，我很高興能成為這個團隊的一員。內德留下了一些大鞋子來填補，但顯然，他仍然在我身邊。

Moving on to the quarter. Revenues in the fourth quarter were $359.6 million, up $87.4 million or 32.1% year over year, with $71.7 million of change driven by acquisition activity and $15.8 million of organic growth, or 5.8%. Solid waste revenues were up 40.4% year over year, with acquisition growth of 34.3%, price up 6.7%, and volumes down 1.4%.

繼續看季度。第四季營收為 3.596 億美元，年增 8,740 萬美元，或 32.1%，其中收購活動驅動的變動為 7,170 萬美元，有機成長為 1,580 萬美元，即 5.8%。固體廢棄物收入年增 40.4%，收購量成長 34.3%，價格上漲 6.7%，數量下降 1.4%。

Revenues in the collection line of business were up 54.8% year over year, with price up 7.2% and volumes down 2%. Volume declines were primarily a result of softness in temporary roll-off activity and customer churn driven by our efforts to improve the quality of revenue and margins in the residential line of business.

採集業務收入年增54.8%，價格上漲7.2%，銷售量下降2%。銷售下降主要是由於我們努力提高住宅業務的收入品質和利潤率而導致的臨時轉期活動疲軟和客戶流失。

Revenues in the disposal line of business were up 8% year over year, with landfill pricing up 6.9%, landfill tons down 3.7%, reflecting softness in C&D volumes in the market, while MSW and special waste volumes were essentially flat.

處置業務收入年增8%，其中垃圾掩埋場定價上漲6.9%，掩埋噸數下降3.7%，反映出市場拆建量疲軟，城市生活垃圾和特殊廢棄物量基本持平。

Resource solutions revenues were up 8.8% year over year, with price up 5.2% across the segment and acquisitions contributing 3.8%. Price growth was driven by an increase of 81%, or $45 per ton, in our average commodity revenue over the historically low prices of Q4 2022, though this was muted by lower tipping fees that adjust to share higher commodity prices with our customers.

資源解決方案營收年增 8.8%，整個細分市場的價格上漲 5.2%，收購貢獻 3.8%。價格成長的推動因素是，我們的平均商品收入較2022 年第四季的歷史最低價格增加了81%，即每噸45 美元，儘管這一點受到小費降低的影響，小費降低是為了與客戶分享更高的商品價格而進行調整的。

Stepping back, recycled commodity prices have ridden a roller coaster over the past two years, with a multiyear peak in the first half of 2022 and trough in the second half, followed by a moderation of volatility and sequential recovery in prices over the course of 2023. Overall, commodity prices were a headwind on revenue for the year, but have now turned positive on a comparable year-over-year basis.

回過頭來看，再生大宗商品價格在過去兩年裡經歷了過山車式的走勢，在 2022 年上半年達到多年高點，在下半年進入低谷，隨後波動性有所緩和，價格在 2023 年連續回升。整體而言，大宗商品價格對今年的營收構成不利影響，但目前與去年同期相比已轉為正值。

But regardless of the direction of prices, the company's model works to preserve returns on its investment in recycling through the cycle, sharing the commodity price risk with our customers via contract structures and our SRA fee. The past two years served as a really good case study.

但無論價格走向如何，該公司的模式都致力於在整個週期中保留回收投資的回報，透過合約結構和我們的 SRA 費用與我們的客戶分擔商品價格風險。過去兩年是一個非常好的案例研究。

National accounts revenue within resource solutions was up 4.2% year over year.

資源解決方案的國民帳戶收入年增 4.2%。

Adjusted EBITDA was $82.2 million in the quarter, up $25.9 million, or 46.1%, year over year, with $16.3 million of the change from acquisitions and $9.7 million, or 17%, from organic growth. At $295 million for the year, adjusted EBITDA came in at the middle of our guidance range as increased at Q3.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 8,220 萬美元，年增 2,590 萬美元，即 46.1%，其中 1,630 萬美元的變化來自收購，970 萬美元的變化來自有機成長，即 17%。今年調整後的 EBITDA 為 2.95 億美元，處於我們第三季成長指引範圍的中間位置。

Solid waste adjusted EBITDA was $74.8 million in the quarter, up $23.5 million year over year, with acquisition, strong pricing, and operating efficiencies driving this growth.

本季固體廢棄物調整後 EBITDA 為 7,480 萬美元，年增 2,350 萬美元，收購、強勁的定價和營運效率推動了這一成長。

Resource solutions adjusted EBITDA was $7.4 million in the quarter, up $2.8 million year over year, driven by the benefits of the Boston MRF retrofit and higher commodity prices.

受波士頓 MRF 改造和商品價格上漲的推動，資源解決方案本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 740 萬美元，年增 280 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA margins were 22.8% for the quarter, which is a Casella record for the fourth quarter, up approximately 210 basis points year over year.

該季度調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 22.8%，創下卡塞拉第四季的紀錄，年增約 210 個基點。

Again, our pricing programs fully offset cost inflation in the quarter, with consolidated price growth of 5.9%, providing 110 basis points spread over inflation, which ran at 4.8% excluding fuel. Inflation has been moderating, but flat sequentially in the quarter and, of course, remains elevated in historical terms.

我們的定價計畫再次完全抵銷了本季的成本通膨，綜合價格成長率為 5.9%，與通貨膨脹率（不包括燃料在內的通貨膨脹率為 4.8%）相比有 110 個基點。通貨膨脹一直在放緩，但本季與上一季持平，當然，從歷史角度來看，通貨膨脹仍然處於較高水平。

In addition to the 110 basis points from net price, further year-over-year margin bridging items include 140 basis points from improved collection operating performance, reflecting labor and cost efficiencies from our operating programs; improved recycling processing performance, again, driven by the Boston MRF retrofit; and lower fuel expense, net of fuel recovery fees.

除了淨價提高 110 個基點外，其他同比利潤橋接項目還包括收款營運績效提高 140 個基點，反映了我們營運計畫的勞動力和成本效率；在波士頓 MRF 改造的推動下，回收處理效能再次得到改善；扣除燃料回收費後，燃料費用更低。

These were offset by a 35-basis-point headwind from lower landfill volumes and higher leachate costs and a 5-basis-point headwind from acquisitions, as the acquired businesses have come in at a slightly lower margin pre-synergies than the existing business. This represents a margin tailwind opportunity, of course, as we execute on our integration and synergy plans.

這些被垃圾掩埋量減少和滲濾液成本上升帶來的35 個基點的阻力以及收購帶來的5 個基點的阻力所抵消，因為收購的業務在協同效應前的利潤率略低於現有業務。當然，隨著我們執行整合和協同計劃，這代表著利潤順風的機會。

Cost of operations in the quarter was up $54.8 million year over year, but down 120 basis points as a percentage of revenue, as the company continues to outpace inflation on the revenue line and operate more efficiently as I've mentioned. $50.1 million of the increase was from acquisitions. So on a same-store basis, cost of operations was down over 200 basis points as a percentage of revenue year over year, which is tremendous performance.

本季的營運成本年增 5,480 萬美元，但佔收入的百分比下降了 120 個基點，因為該公司的收入成長速度繼續超過通貨膨脹，正如我所提到的，營運效率更高。其中 5,010 萬美元的成長來自收購。因此，以同店計算，營運成本佔收入的百分比年減了 200 個基點，這是一個巨大的表現。

General and administrative costs in the quarter were up $7.4 million year over year, but down 110 basis points as a percentage of revenue. $5.3 million of the increase was from acquisitions. The company is investing in the G&A line to support our growth, including adding a new region to manage our Mid-Atlantic operations, but we expect to gain further leverage here over time as we grow.

該季度的一般和管理成本年增 740 萬美元，但佔收入的百分比下降了 110 個基點。其中 530 萬美元的成長來自收購。該公司正在投資 G&A 系列以支持我們的成長，包括增加一個新區域來管理我們的大西洋中部業務，但隨著時間的推移，我們預計隨著我們的發展，我們將在這裡獲得進一步的影響力。

Depreciation and amortization costs were up $21.4 million year over year, with $18.3 million of the increase resulting from the recent acquisition activity. As Ned explained last quarter, we expect heightened D&A for the first few years after each acquisition. To put this in perspective, D&A associated with acquisitions was 25.5% of acquired revenues in the quarter, as compared to 12.6% for the base business.

折舊和攤銷成本年增 2,140 萬美元，其中 1,830 萬美元的增加來自最近的收購活動。正如 Ned 上季度所解釋的那樣，我們預計每次收購後的頭幾年都會加強 D&A。從這個角度來看，與收購相關的 D&A 佔本季收購收入的 25.5%，而基礎業務的比例為 12.6%。

The P&L included a unique non-recurring item in the fourth quarter that I'd like to take a moment to explain. A $3.9 million charge for an event at our Ontario County landfill, where a layer of soil slid down the veneer of a capped section of the landfill. Nobody was hurt, and normal operations were never interrupted. The charge covered the write-off of costs related to the capping work and current period costs for cleanup. Engineering analysis is currently underway to determine root causes and responsibility for the event.

損益表包括第四季度的一個獨特的非經常性項目，我想花點時間解釋一下。在我們安大略縣垃圾掩埋場舉辦的活動中，一層土壤從垃圾掩埋場封頂部分的表面滑落，收取了 390 萬美元的費用。沒有人受傷，正常運作從未中斷。此費用包括沖銷與封頂工作相關的費用和當期清理費用。目前正在進行工程分析，以確定該事件的根本原因和責任。

Our effective tax rate was 31.4% for the full year, as certain non-deductible expenses and discrete items pushed the rates above our statutory rate of approximately 27%.

我們全年的有效稅率為 31.4%，因為某些不可扣除的費用和離散項目使稅率高於我們約 27% 的法定稅率。

Adjusted net income was $7.5 million in the quarter, down $2 million compared to prior year, with the accelerated D&A associated with acquisitions weighing on earnings.

本季調整後淨利潤為 750 萬美元，比去年同期減少 200 萬美元，與收購相關的加速 D&A 影響了獲利。

GAAP net loss was $1.8 million in the quarter, impacted by $5.2 million of expenses related to acquisitions and the $3.9 million landfill capping charge.

本季 GAAP 淨虧損為 180 萬美元，受到 520 萬美元收購相關費用和 390 萬美元垃圾掩埋場封頂費用的影響。

Adjusted EPS was $0.13 in the quarter and $0.94 for the year. GAAP EPS was a loss of $0.03 in the quarter and earnings of $0.46 for the year.

本季調整後每股收益為 0.13 美元，全年調整後每股收益為 0.94 美元。GAAP 每股盈餘本季虧損 0.03 美元，全年獲利 0.46 美元。

The company's acquisition growth strategy is weighing on the bottom line in the near term, with costs incurred to pursue, execute, and integrate acquisitions and accelerated D&A impacting earnings. But it's building significant shareholder value for the long term, and these acquisition-related P&L headwinds will become tailwinds in future years.

該公司的收購成長策略在短期內對公司獲利構成壓力，追求、執行和整合收購以及加速 D&A 所產生的成本會影響收益。但從長遠來看，它正在為股東創造巨大的價值，而這些與收購相關的損益不利因素將在未來幾年成為有利因素。

Adjusted free cash flow was $128.3 million for the full year 2023, up 15% year over year, and in the middle of our increased guidance range at Q3.

2023 年全年調整後自由現金流為 1.283 億美元，年增 15%，位於我們第三季上調指導範圍的中間位置。

Net cash provided by operating activities was $233.1 million for the full year. This was driven by the improved operating performance, partially offset by the cost of higher debt to finance acquisitions and higher outflows from net changes in assets and liabilities.

全年經營活動提供的現金淨額為2.331億美元。這是由營運績效改善所推動的，但部分被收購融資債務成本增加以及資產和負債淨變動導致的流出增加所抵銷。

In that line, DSO was flat year over year at 34 days, but we faced a few headwinds from a working capital standpoint, including higher landfill capping costs.

在這方面，DSO 與去年同期持平，為 34 天，但從營運資金的角度來看，我們面臨一些阻力，包括垃圾掩埋場封頂成本上升。

Relative to our expectations at Q3, capital expenditures ended up coming in a little lighter, as we planned for the heaviest capital spending quarter in the company's history, but delays in equipment deliveries pushed some spend into 2024, which is reflected in our guidance, which I'll discuss shortly.

相對於我們對第三季度的預期，資本支出最終略有減少，因為我們計劃迎來公司歷史上資本支出最重的季度，但設備交付的延遲將部分支出推至2024 年，這在我們的指導中得到了反映。我很快就會討論。

Going the other direction, cash costs for acquisition-related activities came in a bit higher. As of December 31, we had $1.05 billion of debt, $221 million of cash, and available liquidity of $493 million. Our consolidated net leverage ratio, for purposes of our bank covenants, was 2.78 times. Our average cash interest rate was approximately 5%, and we had fixed interest rates on over 75% of our debt. So the balance sheet is in great shape. Our liquidity and leverage profile will enable us to be opportunistic in continuing to execute on our robust M&A pipeline.

另一方面，收購相關活動的現金成本略高。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的債務為 10.5 億美元，現金為 2.21 億美元，可用流動資金為 4.93 億美元。根據我們的銀行契約，我們的綜合淨槓桿率為 2.78 倍。我們的平均現金利率約為 5%，超過 75% 的債務採用固定利率。因此，資產負債表狀況良好。我們的流動性和槓桿狀況將使我們能夠抓住機會繼續執行我們強大的併購管道。

As stated in our press release yesterday, we announced guidance for 2024, and those ranges and relevant underlying assumptions are laid out in our release. At the midpoint, the ranges reflect 18% growth in revenue year over year, 21% growth in adjusted EBITDA, and 13% growth in free cash flow. Our guidance ranges assume a stable economic environment, but reflect a slightly cautious outlook on C&D volumes.

正如我們昨天的新聞稿中所述，我們宣布了 2024 年的指導，這些範圍和相關的基本假設已在我們的新聞稿中列出。在中點，這些範圍反映了營收年增 18%、調整後 EBITDA 成長 21% 以及自由現金流成長 13%。我們的指導範圍假設經濟環境穩定，但反映了對拆建量的略微謹慎的展望。

On the top line, our guidance includes $175 million, or approximately 14%, of acquisition rollover, with approximately 4.5% overall organic growth at the midpoint. While we expect to be acquisitive again in 2024, our guidance does not reflect any further acquisition activity.

在營收方面，我們的指引包括 1.75 億美元（約 14%）的收購展期，其中整體有機成長約為 4.5%。雖然我們預計 2024 年將再次進行收購，但我們的指引並未反映出任何進一步的收購活動。

Organically, in the solid waste business, we expect pricing of 5% to 6%, again ahead of inflation, which for us is still running at approximately 4.5%. We retain pricing flexibility across approximately 70% of our collection revenue, so we're well positioned to respond to changing conditions if necessary as the year progresses. Solid waste volumes are expected to be flat to down 1%, with potential weakness in C&D volumes in the landfill and temporary roll-off businesses reflected in that estimate.

有機地，在固體廢棄物業務中，我們預計定價為 5% 至 6%，再次領先通貨膨脹，對我們來說，通貨膨脹率仍約為 4.5%。我們在約 70% 的收藏收入中保留了定價彈性，因此，隨著時間的推移，如果有必要，我們可以很好地應對不斷變化的情況。固體廢棄物量預計將持平或下降 1%，該估計反映了垃圾掩埋場和臨時滾裝業務的拆建量潛在疲軟。

Bridging 2023 adjusted EBITDA to our guidance, approximately $40 million is acquisition rollover, $5 million is improved performance at the Boston MRF, net of the impacts of downtime to retrofit to Willimantic MRF, as John discussed earlier, and $10 million to $20 million is base business organic growth.

將2023 年調整後的EBITDA 與我們的指導掛鉤，大約4000 萬美元是收購展期，500 萬美元是波士頓MRF 的績效改進，扣除Willimantic MRF 改造停機的影響，正如約翰之前討論的那樣，1000 萬至2000萬美元是基礎業務有機成長。

Our adjusted EBITDA guidance reflects 30 to 50 basis points of margin improvement in 2024.

我們調整後的 EBITDA 指引反映出 2024 年利潤率將提高 30 至 50 個基點。

Bridging margin from 2023, acquisitions are expected to weigh on margins by approximately 10 basis points. The Boston MRF, net of Willimantic downtime, is expected to add approximately 10 to 20 basis points, and organic growth adds 30 to 40 basis points in our guidance, with pricing leverage and our operating programs offset somewhat by softer volumes.

從 2023 年開始，收購預計將使利潤率下降約 10 個基點。在我們的指導中，扣除Willimantic 停機時間後，波士頓MRF 預計將增加約10 至20 個基點，有機成長將增加30 至40 個基點，定價槓桿和我們的營運計畫將在一定程度上被銷售疲軟所抵消。

We expect adjusted free cash flow to grow consistently with our long-term rate of 10% to 15%.

我們預計調整後的自由現金流將按照 10% 至 15% 的長期成長率持續成長。

We anticipate another year of investing significantly in the business, with capital expenditures of approximately $180 million, which includes approximately $20 million for the Willimantic MRF retrofit, $20 million of other non-recurring spend in connection with recent acquisitions, and approximately $5 million to complete the initial startup investment at the McKean Landfill rail project.

我們預計又一年將對該業務進行大力投資，資本支出約為1.8 億美元，其中包括用於Willimantic MRF 改造的約2000 萬美元、與近期收購相關的其他非經常性支出以及約500 萬美元的完成費用麥基恩垃圾掩埋場鐵路計畫的初步啟動投資。

In closing, this is an exciting time in the company's history, as our growth initiatives and operating programs are bearing real fruit and we're well-positioned to continue this momentum into 2024.

最後，這是公司歷史上令人興奮的時刻，因為我們的成長計畫和營運計畫正在取得真正的成果，我們有能力將這一勢頭延續到 2024 年。

Now, I'll turn it over to Ned to add some further color on our strategic initiatives.

現在，我將把它交給內德，為我們的策略舉措增添一些進一步的色彩。

Thanks, Brad, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝布拉德，大家早安。

2023 was an exciting year for Casella, as we continue to execute extremely well against our long-term strategic plan. And this execution is clearly demonstrated in our financial results for the year.

2023 年對卡塞拉來說是令人興奮的一年，我們繼續出色地執行我們的長期策略計畫。這種執行力在我們今年的財務表現中得到了清晰的體現。

This growth was driven by continued execution against our operating efficiency programs, organic revenue growth and pricing initiatives, robust acquisition activity, key development projects, and continued investment in our foundational pillars. As outlined by John earlier, we completed seven acquisitions in 2023 and acquired approximately $315 million of annualized revenues, including the expansion of our footprint into the Mid-Atlantic region.

這一成長的推動因素包括持續執行我們的營運效率計劃、有機收入成長和定價舉措、強勁的收購活動、關鍵開發項目以及對我們基礎支柱的持續投資。正如 John 之前所述，我們在 2023 年完成了七項收購，獲得了約 3.15 億美元的年收入，其中包括將業務擴展到大西洋中部地區。

Completing the acquisitions was just a starting point, and our team has worked very hard through late 2023 and into early 2024 to integrate the newly acquired businesses into our operations, systems, and back office. We are tracking well against pro forma for each acquisition and expect to complete the remaining systems and back office integration work in the coming months.

完成收購只是一個起點，我們的團隊從 2023 年底到 2024 年初一直非常努力，將新收購的業務整合到我們的營運、系統和後台。我們對每次收購的預計情況進行了良好跟踪，並預計在未來幾個月內完成剩餘的系統和後台整合工作。

Kyle Larkin and our new Mid-Atlantic team are doing a great job executing against our operating plan, while working tirelessly on the critical integration efforts. The GFL team has been super helpful, providing transition services and assisting us with successful migration off their systems. And thank you to their entire team.

拉金 (Kyle Larkin) 和我們新的中大西洋團隊在執行我們的營運計劃方面表現出色，同時不知疲倦地致力於關鍵的整合工作。GFL 團隊非常樂於助人，提供過渡服務並協助我們成功遷移出他們的系統。感謝他們的整個團隊。

Our Western region team, led by Michael Stehman, has partnered extremely well with Scott Earl and the Twin Bridges team to quickly advance integration efforts to drive operating synergies and ensure top-notch customer service through that acquired region. With the expansion of our operating footprint into the Mid-Atlantic in 2023, we have built our acquisition pipeline to over $800 million, and we are positioned well to have another strong acquisition year in 2024.

我們由 Michael Stehman 領導的西部地區團隊與 Scott Earl 和 Twin Bridges 團隊合作得非常好，能夠快速推進整合工作，以推動營運協同效應，並確保透過所收購的地區提供一流的客戶服務。隨著 2023 年我們的營運足跡擴展到大西洋中部，我們的收購管道已超過 8 億美元，並且我們已做好充分準備，將在 2024 年迎來另一個強勁的收購年。

On the development side, we continue to invest in return-driven sustainability infrastructure, including the full equipment upgrade on our Boston recycling facility completed in early Q3 '23. As John mentioned, we're tracking ahead of pro forma, with the strong performance driven by higher revenues on additional material recovery, a 35% improvement in productivity at lower to operating costs, and increased our processing throughput. A big thank you to Bob Cappadona and Austin McKnight and the entire team for their excellent leadership, managing through a very complex upgrade process.

在發展方面，我們繼續投資於回報驅動的可持續基礎設施，包括於 23 年第三季初完成的波士頓回收設施的全面設備升級。正如約翰所提到的，我們正在追蹤預計的情況，強勁的業績是由額外材料回收帶來的收入增加、以較低的營運成本提高了 35% 的生產力以及提高了我們的處理吞吐量推動的。非常感謝鮑勃·卡帕多納（Bob Cappadona）和奧斯汀·麥克奈特（Austin McKnight）以及整個團隊的出色領導，管理了非常複雜的升級過程。

Our team also made great progress on the build out of the rail offload infrastructure in McKean, Pennsylvania, landfill, and we expect the facility via online in mid- to late-2024. In this first phase, we're bringing online capacity offload up to 5,000 tons a day of containerized municipal solid waste, soils, and sludges. We expect this operation to ramp slowly over the next few years, as this investment is less about near-term volumes and more about long-term risk management and flexibility, as we want to ensure viable waste disposal outlets long term in the capacity constrained Northeast.

我們的團隊在賓州麥基恩垃圾掩埋場的鐵路卸貨基礎設施建設方面也取得了巨大進展，我們預計該設施將於 2024 年中後期上線。在第一階段，我們每天可在線上卸載 5,000 噸貨櫃城市固體廢棄物、土壤和污泥。我們預計這項業務將在未來幾年緩慢增加，因為這項投資較少關注短期數量，而更專注於長期風險管理和靈活性，因為我們希望確保在產能有限的東北地區長期建立可行的廢棄物處理場。

Finally, we expect our first RNG project at our Juniper Ridge landfill to be online in the first half of 2024. RKF or BP will own and operate the facility while Casella generates a royalty stream from the sale of gas and rings, with zero capital investment. This facility will generate roughly 700,000 MMBtus per year.

最後，我們預計 Juniper Ridge 垃圾掩埋場的第一個 RNG 計畫將於 2024 年上半年上線。RKF 或 BP 將擁有並經營該設施，而卡塞拉則透過銷售天然氣和環獲得特許權使用費，資本投資為零。該設施每年將產生約 700,000 MMBtus。

As we continue to grow as an organization, we're laser focused on maintaining our positive culture and value system by investing in and developing our people and ensuring that we have the right people in the right roles. This has been quite an undertaking with our rapid growth. Over the last year, we've welcomed over 1,000 new employees to Casella through acquisitions, organic growth, and our team did an amazing job effectively onboarding these new team members.

隨著我們作為一個組織的不斷發展，我們專注於透過投資和發展我們的員工並確保我們讓合適的人擔任合適的角色來維護我們積極的文化和價值體系。隨著我們的快速發展，這是一項艱鉅的任務。去年，我們透過收購和有機成長迎來了 1,000 多名新員工來到卡塞拉，我們的團隊在有效地幫助這些新團隊成員入職方面做得非常出色。

Further, we continue to make excellent progress on key technology efforts at Casella, including our program to automate our residential collection fleet, introduce onboard computing in our truck fleet, and improve our customers experience with new digital tools. Sean Steves and the operating teams have done a top-notch job over the last year, executing against our operating plan, while implementing key operating initiatives.

此外，我們在卡塞拉的關鍵技術方面繼續取得出色進展，包括我們的住宅收集車隊自動化計劃、在我們的卡車車隊中引入車載計算，以及透過新的數位工具改善客戶體驗。肖恩·史蒂夫斯（Sean Steves）和營運團隊在過去一年中完成了一流的工作，執行了我們的營運計劃，同時實施了關鍵的營運舉措。

Through the end of 2023, we've automated 56%of our residential fleet, with either automated side loader or Corrado trucks. These efforts are making a positive impact on reducing our cost of service and enhancing our people's safety in the field. The new Mid-Atlantic operations introduce a great additional opportunity to advance fleet in automation, with only 50% of the residential fleet automated today.

到 2023 年底，我們已實現 56% 的住宅車隊自動化，配備自動側裝載機或 Corrado 卡車。這些努力對降低我們的服務成本和提高現場人員的安全產生了積極影響。新的大西洋中部業務為推進車隊自動化帶來了巨大的額外機會，目前只有 50% 的住宅車隊實現了自動化。

We have deployed onboard computers in approximately 70%of our 1,400 truck fleet, and we expect to make additional progress in 2024. The OVCs are enhancing our safety profile on the road, creating additional revenue opportunities, digitizing things like route sheets and automating important data collection used for our operations teams and our customer reporting.

我們已在 1,400 輛卡車車隊中約 70% 部署了車載計算機，預計 2024 年將取得更多進展。OVC 正在增強我們的道路安全狀況，創造額外的收入機會，將路線表等內容數位化，並自動收集用於我們的營運團隊和客戶報告的重要數據。

Kevin Drohan, our CAO, and Keith Landau, our new CIO, effectively partner to launch a new customer payment portal in 2023, marking an important step in our efforts to further digitize and improve our customer experience. We plan to continue to invest in this key area of strategy to ensure our customers have the right tools in the coming years to manage their services and access key data intelligence.

我們的首席行政官 Kevin Drohan 和新任首席資訊長 Keith Landau 有效合作，將於 2023 年推出新的客戶支付門戶，這標誌著我們在進一步數位化和改善客戶體驗方面邁出了重要一步。我們計劃繼續投資這一關鍵戰略領域，以確保我們的客戶在未來幾年擁有正確的工具來管理他們的服務和存取關鍵數據情報。

Looking to 2024, we believe we have a strong opportunity to continue to execute in the key areas to drive further shareholder value and profitable growth.

展望 2024 年，我們相信我們有很大的機會繼續在關鍵領域執行任務，以進一步推動股東價值和獲利成長。

And with that, I'll turn it over to the operator for questions today.

就這樣，我今天會將其轉交給接線員詢問。

(Operator Instructions) John Mazzoni, Wells Fargo.

（操作員說明）John Mazzoni，富國銀行。

Good morning. Maybe you could just touch on -- yeah, thanks, guys. Can we just quickly touch on some of the trends you're seeing within the disposal line, specifically around the volumes. I think we've understood a lot of the Northeast dynamics here. But as you think about pricing on that line item, what are you seeing in terms of tipping fees and other types of early indicators for '24? And how should we think about not only the cadence, but also any step downs or other types of items that might impact the model? Thanks.

早安.也許你可以談談——是的，謝謝，夥計們。我們能否快速談談您在處置線中看到的一些趨勢，特別是圍繞數量的趨勢。我想我們已經了解了很多東北動態。但是，當您考慮該訂單項目的定價時，您對 24 年的小費和其他類型的早期指標有何看法？我們不僅應該如何考慮節奏，還應該如何考慮任何可能影響模型的步驟或其他類型的項目？謝謝。

So overall, the same trends are going to continue in the Northeast. We've had sites closed, and we expect additional sites to permanently close over the coming years. But what's happening and what's happened over the last several months and into early '24 is, as certain sites approach the end of their life, they want to just fill them up and they might even hold price steady or look for additional lines.

總體而言，東北地區將持續出現同樣的趨勢。我們已經關閉了一些站點，並且預計未來幾年將永久關閉更多站點。但過去幾個月和 24 年初發生的事情是，隨著某些網站的生命週期即將結束，他們只想填滿它們，甚至可能保持價格穩定或尋找額外的線路。

And we see this a bit with one of the large construction demo, debris sites, that you're going to close in the next year plus and they're sprinting to the end of the line. As such, we've seen a little pressure on the construction demo side of volumes, but things are stable to positive both in MSW, contaminated soils.

我們在一個大型建築演示中看到了這一點，即碎片場地，你將在明年多關閉，他們正在衝刺到生產線的末端。因此，我們看到建築演示方面的體積有一點壓力，但在城市固體廢物和受污染的土壤中，情況都穩定到積極。

On the pricing side, we've entered 2024 with a robust pricing plan at the landfill, high single-digits again, and it's been well received in the marketplace. These price increases are well justified. Our inflation continues to run high on the landfill development side, capping, closing. Regulatory environment continues to get more and more complex, and we need to get those costs back to the marketplace.

在定價方面，進入 2024 年，我們在垃圾掩埋場製定了穩健的定價計劃，再次達到高個位數，並且在市場上受到了好評。這些價格上漲是合理的。在垃圾掩埋場開發方面，我們的通貨膨脹持續居高不下，封頂、關閉。監管環境持續變得越來越複雜，我們需要將這些成本帶回市場。

So that softness in C&D -- it's probably a little bit less about the economy and the Northeast than it is about just that rush for someone to close their site, get it buttoned up, and then you'll see the other side of that with some additional tightening in the market coming in '25.

因此，C&D 的疲軟——可能與經濟和東北部問題無關，而只是有人急於關閉他們的網站，把它搞定，然後你就會看到事情的另一面25 年市場將進一步收緊。

It clearly bodes well for the next three to five years in terms of how we're looking at pricing for disposal capacity. That disposal capacity is really worth more on a year-over-year basis, so we're pretty excited in terms of the position that we set over the next three to five years from landfill pricing perspective.

就我們如何看待處置能力的定價而言，這顯然預示著未來三到五年的良好前景。與去年同期相比，這種處理能力確實更有價值，因此，從垃圾掩埋場定價的角度來看，我們對未來三到五年的定位感到非常興奮。

And also, in addition to that, we also, as many people know, have invested the capital to make sure that our McKean facility is up and operational. We don't anticipate a significant ramping in 2024 at all, but the facility is up and will be up and operational at the end of this quarter.

此外，除此之外，正如許多人所知，我們還投入了資金，以確保我們的麥基恩工廠正常運作。我們預計 2024 年不會大幅成長，但該設施已建成並將於本季末投入營運。

Got it. Good color. Thank you. And maybe just a quick one on that inflationary trend, it was helpful to get that base rate. But as we think about the price-cost spread in '24, could you just outline some of the main drivers between what you're seeing on the inflation side and outside of fleet, other types of one-time items? And also, if you could quantify, any potential uptick or tailwind from the commodity prices? And I think we understand that you guys have less exposure on that side, but just anything in terms of those inflationary buckets would be very helpful. Thanks.

知道了。顏色好。謝謝。也許只是快速了解通膨趨勢，獲得基本利率是有幫助的。但是，當我們考慮 24 年的價格成本差時，您能否概述您所看到的通貨膨脹方面和車隊之外以及其他類型的一次性物品之間的一些主要驅動因素？此外，如果您可以量化，大宗商品價格是否有任何潛在的上漲或推動作用？我想我們知道你們在這方面的曝險較少，但任何與通貨膨脹相關的事情都會非常有幫助。謝謝。

Yeah, it's Brad. So inflation remains stubbornly high. The company reported inflation north of 5% last year. We've seen that kind of trend down, but gradually. In the fourth quarter, we were running just under 5% and looking at 4.5%. It really is, across the board, what we're seeing particularly stubborn inflation is in outside repairs. Ned alluded to this a second ago. The cost of relaying to the landfills, those are up really across the board. Tires, that's a notable one. Labor is probably pretty consistent with our overall inflation rate.

是的，這是布拉德。因此，通貨膨脹仍居高不下。該公司報告去年通膨率超過 5%。我們已經看到這種趨勢正在下降，但卻是逐漸的。第四季度，我們的成長率略低於 5%，預計為 4.5%。事實上，從整體來看，我們所看到的特別頑固的通貨膨脹是在外部維修中。內德剛才提到這一點。轉運到垃圾掩埋場的成本確實全面上漲。輪胎，這是一個值得注意的。工黨可能與我們的整體通膨率相當一致。

So we're not really taking a view at this point on further material moderating of that number. We assume more or less where we are for the balance of the year. Based on that inflation number, we're targeting 5% to 6% price growth, as we said earlier. That's across collection and disposal and solid waste business, so looking to, plus or minus, maintain that 100-basis-point spread if we can.

因此，我們目前並沒有真正考慮對這一數字進行進一步的實質調整。我們或多或少假設了今年剩餘時間的情況。正如我們之前所說，根據通膨數據，我們的目標是價格成長 5% 至 6%。這涉及收集和處置以及固體廢物業務，因此如果可以的話，希望加減保持 100 個基點的利差。

And commodities -- you asked about commodities. And as you mentioned, our model is such that the commodity prices don't impact us actually that much either way. But commodity prices look like they're going to be up certainly year over year. And the beginning of the year is bearing that out so far.

還有商品──你問的是商品。正如您所提到的，我們的模型是這樣的，即商品價格實際上不會對我們產生太大影響。但大宗商品價格看起來肯定會逐年上漲。到目前為止，今年年初已經證明了這一點。

All right. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Tyler Brown, Raymond James.

泰勒布朗，雷蒙德詹姆斯。

Hey, good morning. First off, Brad, great to hear your voice again on a conference call. But hey, I just wanted to get a little bit more color on the veneer failure, so kind of a multi-part question. But one, John, have you had a slide like this before? Two, I may have missed it, but what was the determined root cause? Was it too much sludge or precipitation? And then three, it happened later in the quarter, so should we expect a spillover of expense into Q1?

嗨，早安。首先，布拉德，很高興在電話會議上再次聽到你的聲音。但是，嘿，我只是想在單板故障上獲得更多的顏色，所以這是一個由多部分組成的問題。但是約翰，你以前有過這樣的幻燈片嗎？第二，我可能錯過了，但確定的根本原因是什麼？是污泥或沉澱過多嗎？第三，它發生在本季晚些時候，那麼我們是否應該預期費用會溢出到第一季？

I'll talk a little bit about the veneer failure. The veneer failure really was stopped by the transportation roads that we had in the facility. And again, as Brad said, no one was hurt. It was a non-issue. It was all done by third parties. We're going through that from a practical standpoint with a third-party contractor, with the engineers, to make a determination as to what caused it.

我將談談單板故障。我們工廠內的運輸道路確實阻止了單板失效。正如布拉德所說，沒有人受傷。這不是問題。這一切都是由第三方完成的。我們正在與第三方承包商和工程師一起從實際角度進行研究，以確定造成這種情況的原因。

It could very well be gas. There's a couple of different perspectives at this point in time, Tyler, but we haven't had the report yet. And we'll obviously go through that in detail and try to make sure that we understand, on a go-forward basis, what additional steps we need to take to make sure that we preclude it from happening in the future.

它很可能是氣體。泰勒，目前有幾種不同的觀點，但我們還沒有收到報告。顯然，我們將詳細討論這一點，並努力確保我們在未來的基礎上了解我們需要採取哪些額外步驟來確保我們防止這種情況在未來發生。

Maybe, Brad, I think that we're --

也許，布拉德，我想我們是--

One additional point -- it's soil on top of the synthetic cap that slid down a slope basically. So there is nothing exposed inside the landfill, no damage to the landfill itself, but it needs to be pulled down and then rebuilt.

還有一點——合成蓋頂部的土壤基本上是從斜坡上滑下來的。所以垃圾掩埋場內部沒有任何東西裸露，對垃圾掩埋場本身沒有任何損壞，但需要將其推倒然後重建。

Okay. No lingering costs?

好的。沒有揮之不去的成本嗎？

We don't believe so at this point in time. That's correct. And we're doing more evaluation, Tyler, but at this point in time, we don't believe there will be any additional costs or any additional work that we're going to need to do.

目前我們不這麼認為。這是正確的。我們正在做更多的評估，泰勒，但目前，我們認為不會有任何額外的成本或我們需要做的任何額外的工作。

Okay, great. And then I got another multi-part question on cash flow. So I think you mentioned that you only have $5 million slated for McKean. So is that spend basically winding down at this point?

好的，太好了。然後我又收到了另一個關於現金流的多部分問題。所以我想你提到你只為麥基恩準備了 500 萬美元。那麼現在這筆支出基本上已經減少了呢？

Number two, there was a $6 million legal settlement payment that you're expecting in '24. What was that?

第二，您預計 24 年將獲得 600 萬美元的法律和解金。那是什麼？

And then three, when does the Southbridge and Potsdam remediation start to sunset? I know that's a multi-part question. I'm sorry about that. But yeah, those are my questions.

第三，南橋和波茨坦修復何時開始日落？我知道這是一個由多個部分組成的問題。對此我很抱歉。但是，是的，這些是我的問題。

Yeah. So in regards to McKean, we are nearly wrapped up with this first phase. We've put in almost a mile worth of spur track switches, a gantry crane offload infrastructure to take off containerized solid waste and containerized soils and sludges. So we're building out the infrastructure to be able to turn on facility up to 5,000 to 6,000 tons a day. As I said earlier, we don't expect to ramp rapidly. This is long-term risk management for the Northeast, as we look at the risk of other sites potentially closing over time.

是的。就麥基恩而言，我們幾乎已經完成了第一階段的工作。我們安裝了近一英里的支線道岔、龍門起重機卸載基礎設施，用於清除貨櫃固體廢物以及貨櫃裝土壤和污泥。因此，我們正在建造基礎設施，以便每天能夠啟動 5,000 至 6,000 噸的設施。正如我之前所說，我們預計不會快速成長。這是東北地區的長期風險管理，因為我們會研究其他站點隨著時間的推移可能關閉的風險。

We'll look to slowly ramp this up. It's not going to be material in our numbers in 2024. The $5 million stepping into '24 is just some of the remaining track work, a little bit more switch work, some of the heavy equipment showing up, articulated trucks with rail systems to take the containers up onto the working phase of the landfill. So it's mainly wrapped up. If we were to ever invest to take construction demo waste at the landfill, we would have additional investments. At this point in time, it's not really in the near-term game plan for our strategy at the site.

我們會慢慢加強這一點。到 2024 年，這對我們的數字不會產生重大影響。24 年投入的500 萬美元只是剩餘軌道工作的一部分，還有更多的轉轍工作，一些重型設備的出現，以及帶有軌道系統的鉸接式卡車，用於將集裝箱運送到垃圾掩埋場的工作階段。所以主要是包起來了。如果我們要投資在垃圾掩埋場處理建築演示廢物，我們將有額外的投資。目前，這並不是我們網站策略的近期計劃。

The $6 million charge that we took back in, I think, the second quarter in relation to the fair labor standards action -- class action lawsuit, that money we expect to go out the door in the first quarter of 2024. And what happened here was there was a class action lawyer who contested that certain of our employees worked through their DOT-mandated lunch breaks. We had clear policies, clear standards, in the organization that that wasn't supposed to ever happen. Our employees do truly need to take lunch breaks.

我認為，我們在第二季度收回了與公平勞工標準行動（集體訴訟）相關的 600 萬美元費用，我們預計這筆錢將在 2024 年第一季支出。這裡發生的事情是，一位集體訴訟律師對我們的某些員工在交通部規定的午休時間內工作提出了異議。我們在組織中有明確的政策、明確的標準，這是不應該發生的。我們的員工確實需要午休。

But in retrospect, our documentation, our systems maybe weren't as great as they could have been for court of law, so we decided to settle with such attorney. And much of that money will go to our employees, our drivers, who were part of the class. So we've done a lot of introspection and change processes and procedures to ensure that our people truly are taking those breaks, and we have the right documentation in place into the future. So it's a culmination of --

但回想起來，我們的文件、我們的系統可能沒有法庭應有的那麼好，所以我們決定跟這樣的律師和解。其中大部分資金將流向我們的員工、我們的司機，他們是班級的一部分。因此，我們進行了大量的反省並改變了流程和程序，以確保我們的員工真正得到了這些休息，並且我們為未來準備了正確的文件。所以這是一個高潮--

Yeah, and it's also -- Tyler, it's also consistent -- the class action attorneys really have targeted the industry.

是的，而且 - 泰勒，這也是一致的 - 集體訴訟律師確實瞄準了這個行業。

Yeah, this is not a Casella one-off situation, John, you're right. So the Potsdam remediation is complete. There's some kind of continuous monitoring into the future, but that superfund site was fully cleaned up. The other joint parties made investments as well. We're really at the end of that.

是的，這不是卡塞拉一次性的情況，約翰，你是對的。至此，波茨坦修復工作已經完成。對未來有某種持續的監控，但那個超級基金網站已經完全清理乾淨了。其他聯合方也進行了投資。我們真的已經結束了。

Southbridge, painfully, we've been working on the final closure approval with the State of Massachusetts for several years now. The site's in great shape. We're ready to enter the post-closure phase. What we've done -- vast majority of investment at the site to get it to that phase, and we just haven't gotten that final regulatory approval and we're working hard to get that, Tyler.

南橋，痛苦的是，我們多年來一直在與馬薩諸塞州進行最終關閉批准的工作。網站狀況良好。我們已準備好進入關閉後階段。我們所做的——絕大多數的投資都是為了讓它進入那個階段，但我們只是還沒有獲得最終的監管批准，我們正在努力爭取批准，泰勒。

Okay, great. Yes, thank you so much. I know that was a multi-part question. Okay, I want to turn to New York. So I know you don't haul in New York, but I'm just curious if you have any thoughts on the recent zone awards there. Do you think that that impacts you at all? And I know that while you don't and you likely won't haul in that market, would it ever make sense to possibly open rail access transfer station in that market to maybe help clear some of those tons to McKean?

好的，太好了。是的，非常感謝。我知道這是一個由多個部分組成的問題。好吧，我想轉向紐約。所以我知道你不在紐約，但我只是好奇你對那裡最近的區域獎有什麼想法。您認為這對您有影響嗎？我知道，雖然你不這樣做，也可能不會進入那個市場，但在那個市場開放鐵路轉運站以幫助將其中一些噸運往麥基恩是否有意義？

Yeah. So New York City completed the waste zones and made the awards. And as you correctly point out, we do not directly participate in New York City. We have historically had some customers that transfer waste out of New York City to our landfills in Upstate, and we continue to have some great customers in that market.

是的。因此，紐約市完成了垃圾區並獲獎。正如您正確指出的那樣，我們不直接參與紐約市的活動。歷史上，我們有一些客戶將廢物從紐約市轉移到我們位於北部的垃圾掩埋場，並且我們在該市場上仍然有一些優秀的客戶。

We didn't enter -- it's not a market that's a real focus for us. However, we will continue to work with some of the transfer stations that won awards, and there may be some opportunities to rail waste to McKean. Those awards were for 10 years, with 10-year renewals at the discretion of New York City. And we have one of the closest sites to the city with a lot of capacity. So it is a great opportunity for us.

我們沒有進入——這不是我們真正關注的市場。不過，我們將繼續與一些獲獎的中轉站合作，可能有一些機會將垃圾運送到麥基恩。這些獎項為期 10 年，紐約市可自行決定是否續展 10 年。我們擁有距離城市最近的站點之一，容量很大。所以這對我們來說是一個很好的機會。

Yeah. I would only add, Tyler, when you look at that, I think 14 of the 20 franchises were awarded to interstate -- action interstate. They have their own facilities and they are rail served, so it's very likely that a very large portion of that waste will go to their facilities.

是的。我只想補充一點，泰勒，當你看到這一點時，我認為 20 個特許經營權中有 14 個被授予州際——州際行動。他們有自己的設施，並且有鐵路服務，因此很可能很大一部分廢物將進入他們的設施。

I think we will have an opportunity as an alternative in terms of the overall disposal capacity in the city. And certainly, there are transfer stations that we're working with right now that we'll be able to continue into the future. But again, got to keep in mind that a good portion of that franchise waste is with interstate.

我認為就城市的整體處置能力而言，我們將有機會作為替代方案。當然，我們現在正在與一些轉運站合作，未來我們將能夠繼續合作。但再次要記住，特許經營浪費的很大一部分是在州際公路上。

Yes, very interesting. My last one, it's kind of in the same vein and you talked about it a little bit on the first question. But it does feel like rail capacity continues to ramp in the Northeast. Are you seeing any measurable impact on disposal price pricing broadly?

是的，非常有趣。我的最後一個，有點類似，你在第一個問題上談了一點。但東北部的鐵路運力確實持續增加。您是否發現對處置價格的定價有任何可衡量的影響？

Yeah. Well, one of the things we've seen, I mentioned this with the one construction demo debris site that's reaching end of life in Long Island, and also with some of the ramp up in rail activity in the Northeast, it kind of ebbs and flows. So a site comes offline in the Northeast. There's a capacity crunch, then some new capacity comes through rail or other alternatives, you see a little bit of a tailing off of volumes.

是的。嗯，我們看到的一件事是，我在長島的一個建築演示殘骸場中提到過這一點，該場址即將報廢，而且隨著東北部鐵路活動的一些增加，它有點衰退和流動。於是東北地區的一個網站就下線了。出現運力緊縮，然後透過鐵路或其他替代方案增加一些新運力，您會看到運量略有下降。

But frankly, that really hasn't impacted our view on pricing or maybe even other market participants because of the inflationary backdrop and just some of the complexity around new and emerging regulations and costs at sites. So you see that a little bit with the volumes, as we said, with construction and demo right now, but it doesn't change our outlook on how we're going to run these sites for the long-term returns. We have to be laser focused on 10-year returns at these sites.

但坦白說，這並沒有影響我們對定價的看法，甚至可能影響其他市場參與者的看法，因為通膨背景以及新出現的法規和現場成本的一些複雜性。因此，正如我們所說，現在的建設和演示在數量上有所體現，但這並沒有改變我們對如何經營這些網站以獲得長期回報的看法。我們必須高度關注這些地點的 10 年回報。

Yeah. No, okay, perfect. Thank you, guys, so much for the time.

是的。不，好吧，完美。謝謝你們，夥伴們，非常感謝你們。

Michael Hoffman, Stifel.

邁克爾·霍夫曼，斯蒂菲爾。

So if we could dig into -- I'd like to talk about volume from a perspective of good volume versus bad volume and purposeful shedding. Good volume to me is MSW, small container business, large container, permanent, versus bad volume is low-quality margins. How do you frame your outlook about those trends? Because I think that's a better story than we might be negative volume in the aggregate.

因此，如果我們能夠深入探討的話，我想從好的成交量與糟糕的成交量以及有目的的脫落的角度來討論成交量。對我來說，好的數量是城市固體廢物、小型貨櫃業務、大型貨櫃、永久性的，而壞的數量是低品質的利潤。您如何看待這些趨勢？因為我認為這是一個比我們可能出現的負交易量更好的故事。

Yeah, that's a great point, Michael. I mean, we didn't get too much into the weeds on that. Brad mentioned it where, if you look at our volume decline in the fourth quarter, it really was highlighted in two areas: construction and demo debris at the landfills that we just discussed. And then on the hauling side, there's a little bit of roll-off on the C&D side and a little bit of residential work.

是的，這是一個很好的觀點，邁克爾。我的意思是，我們對此並沒有太多關注。布拉德提到這一點，如果你看看我們第四季度的銷量下降，你會發現它確實在兩個領域突出：我們剛才討論的垃圾掩埋場的建築和演示碎片。然後在運輸方面，在 C&D 方面有一些滾動和一些住宅工作。

And when we look at that, it was some of our lower-margin work, especially in the residential side. We've been laser focused on making sure we have the right customers, right price. Labor has been a challenge the last couple of years, truck availability. So we're really focused on making sure we get the right return on each stop we have.

當我們看到這一點時，這是我們的一些利潤較低的工作，尤其是在住宅方面。我們一直致力於確保我們擁有合適的客戶和合適的價格。過去幾年，勞動力和卡車可用性一直是一項挑戰。因此，我們真正專注於確保我們在每個站點都能獲得正確的回報。

So some of it's purposeful shedding. We're trying to get customer segments up to a certain margin point, and we're not willing to accept lower than that. On the construction and demo side, probably a little bit of slowing into the fourth quarter. We only see that, I think, in the Northeast, a little bit more slowing there than maybe some other parts of the country. Starting out 2024 in a pretty solid area in that regard, nothing with further sequential declines.

所以有些是有目的的脫落。我們正在努力讓客戶群達到一定的利潤點，我們不願意接受低於這個點的利潤。在建設和演示方面，進入第四季度可能會稍微放緩。我認為，我們只看到東北部的成長速度比全國其他地區要慢一些。從 2024 年開始，這方面的表現相當穩定，不會有進一步的連續下降。

Okay. So the other part of volume, and tying into Tyler's rail commentary, two big competitors on the collection side moved a lot of volume out of the market away from the burners in the fourth quarter. And there was a temporary impact to spot prices, as the burner scrambled to fill because basically their volume is an airplane seat. If they don't get it, they can't backfill it.

好的。因此，另一部分銷量，與泰勒的鐵路評論相結合，收集方面的兩個主要競爭對手在第四季度將大量銷量從燃燒器中移出市場。現貨價格受到了暫時的影響，因為燃燒器爭先恐後地填充，因為它們的體積基本上是一個飛機座位。如果他們沒有得到它，他們就無法回填它。

What is the state of the spot market today? My impression -- our surveys say the spot markets recovered, but they figured this out even in the seasonally weak period. And that's another statement about the quality of underlying unit pricing in the disposal market regardless of volumes.

今日現貨市場狀況如何？我的印像是——我們的調查顯示現貨市場有所復甦，但即使在季節性疲軟時期，他們也發現了這一點。這是關於處置市場中基本單位定價品質（無論數量如何）的另一種說法。

Yeah. So we don't take a lot of tons at our landfills per se, but spot price. We definitely have pretty long-term strategic relationships with various haulers, where we have our own flows of waste. But we take advantage on the other side. We do a lot of work with the burn plants in the Northeast and we've been able to renew some great contracts across our footprint and also take advantage of some of those lower spot prices.

是的。因此，我們的垃圾掩埋場本身並沒有採取大量噸數，而是採取現貨價格。我們肯定與各種運輸商建立了相當長期的策略關係，我們有自己的廢物流。但我們在另一邊利用了優勢。我們與東北部的燃燒工廠做了很多工作，我們已經能夠在我們的足跡上續簽一些重要的合同，並利用其中一些較低的現貨價格。

And we'll always be in the camp of if we can bring waste at the right price point to a third-party site and maybe take advantage of our price point like that, save our long-term landfill capacity for later, we'll make that decision. There's just so much tension long term.

我們將永遠站在這樣的立場：如果我們能夠以合適的價格將廢棄物帶到第三方站點，並且可能利用我們的價格點，為以後保留我們的長期垃圾掩埋能力，我們將做出那個決定。長期來看，壓力非常大。

Historically also, Michael, as you know, we're more than happy to fill that spot capacity and would enter into those agreements to fill that spot capacity for the incinerators in the wintertime. And we have a little bit of that ongoing, but it could be more significant on in terms of our ability to help stabilize that through the course of the winter.

從歷史上看，邁克爾，如您所知，我們非常樂意填補該現貨容量，並將簽訂這些協議以填補冬季焚燒爐的現貨容量。我們正在進行一些工作，但就我們幫助穩定整個冬季的能力而言，這可能更重要。

Yeah. Brad had a number in his script. It's actually important there. So Brad, our average price per ton at the landfills was up, I think, close to 10%.

是的。布拉德的劇本中有一個數字。這實際上很重要。Brad，我認為垃圾掩埋場每噸的平均價格上漲了接近 10%。

10%, yeah.

10%，是的。

10% in the quarter. So I mean, that just shows -- and that's the average across our tons going in and third-party tons --

本季成長 10%。所以我的意思是，這只是表明——這是我們進入的噸數和第三方噸數的平均值--

It's a function of how we're managing the disposal and the mix of waste going in.

它取決於我們如何管理廢物的處置和混合。

We're not lowering for spot prices.

我們不會降低現貨價格。

Okay, that's good to know. And then I think we can all agree that probably inflation's going to end at a higher low than it was the prior 15 years. And none of that should frighten you because you can price. The more important comment, and it's a question at the same time, there's no risk to unit prices, and you can manage your underlying cost of inflation and you can price accordingly. So whether we stay with structurally higher, you're going to be able to price it through and there's no risk to unit price.

好的，很高興知道這一點。然後我認為我們都同意通貨膨脹最終可能會比之前 15 年的低點更高。這些都不應該讓您感到害怕，因為您可以定價。更重要的評論，同時也是一個問題，單價沒有風險，您可以管理潛在的通貨膨脹成本，並可以相應地定價。因此，無論我們在結構上保持較高水平，您都將能夠對其進行定價，並且單價不存在風險。

That's correct. No risk.

這是正確的。沒有風險。

Okay, no risk. And then just to be clear on the landfill --

還好，沒有風險。然後就是要弄清楚垃圾掩埋場--

Particularly with our book of business because of the small amount of municipal contracts that we have, we have the capability to offset inflation.

特別是在我們的業務方面，由於我們擁有少量的市政合同，我們有能力抵消通貨膨脹。

You have a high percent that is open market access to price?

你們有很高的比例是公開市場進入價格嗎？

Correct.

正確的。

And then the landfill liner failure is not a slope failure like --

那麼垃圾掩埋場襯墊破壞不是像斜坡破壞那樣--

It was not a liner. Michael, it was not a liner failure. So when you cap a facility, you put a cap over the top of the existing waste and then synthetic cap. And then on top of that goes the soils, and that's where the veneer failure was. It wasn't a failure of a liner. It was just simply a failure of the cap, the synthetic cap. The dirt over the synthetic cap slid.

這不是班輪。邁克爾，這不是班輪故障。因此，當您對設施進行封蓋時，您需要在現有廢物的頂部放置一個封蓋，然後在合成封蓋上放置。然後最上面的是土壤，這就是單板失效的地方。這不是班輪故障。這只是蓋子（合成蓋子）的故障。合成蓋上的污垢滑落。

Right. And just to be very clear -- but there was a peer company out there that had a true slope failure. Advanced Disposal had one several years ago. This is not a slope failure. That's just to be clear for everybody. It's not disrupting yet revenue, blah, blah, blah. Okay.

正確的。需要澄清的是，有一家同行公司確實發生了斜坡故障。高級處置公司幾年前就有這樣的經驗。這不是斜坡破壞。這只是為了讓每個人都清楚。它還沒有擾亂收入，等等，等等。好的。

No, not at all. It didn't disrupt the operations of the facility. And there was no action from a regulatory standpoint.

一點都不。它沒有擾亂該設施的運作。從監管的角度來看，也沒有採取任何行動。

Okay. And then lastly, the New York City, I think we have to talk about that in two different types of waste. There's the commercial waste, which is what the franchise is about, and then there's residential. What are you most sensitive to as an opportunity? Because I think that commercial volume pretty much had homes before they were franchised and maybe there's a little bit movement. But for the most part, it all had a home where the residential line, it seems like there's more opportunity to take advantage of where they want to move that.

好的。最後，我認為我們必須在紐約市討論兩種不同類型的廢棄物。首先是商業垃圾，這就是特許經營權的目的，然後是住宅垃圾。作為一個機會，你對什麼最敏感？因為我認為商業卷在獲得特許經營權之前幾乎已經擁有了房屋，也許有一點變動。但在大多數情況下，它們都有一個住宅線，似乎有更多的機會利用他們想搬到的地方。

Yeah. As we've said before, I mean, we've had a number of commercial customers coming out of the city to our sites in New York for years, Michael, and those flows are pretty steady. And several of those partners have won contract in this wave as well. So we don't see anything that's a major plus or minus here for Casella in our interactions. There may be -- maybe a little bit of new rail capacity is getting looked at in this city that could be an opportunity, but that's about it from our vantage point.

是的。正如我們之前所說，我的意思是，多年來，我們有許多商業客戶從城市來到我們在紐約的網站，邁克爾，這些流量相當穩定。其中一些合作夥伴也在這波浪潮中贏得了合約。因此，在我們的互動中，我們沒有看到卡塞拉有任何主要的優點或缺點。也許這個城市正在考慮增加一些新的鐵路運力，這可能是一個機會，但從我們的角度來看，這就是了。

Okay. Thank you very much.

好的。非常感謝。

(Operator Instructions) Adam Bubes, Goldman Sachs.

（操作指示）Adam Bubes，高盛。

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I think you mentioned the acquired businesses in 2023 have come in at slightly lower margin pre-synergies than the existing standalone business. Can you just elaborate on that a little more? How much lower are margins coming in? And can you just update us on progress integrating Twin Bridges and GFL assets, any major surprises?

你好。感謝您提出我的問題。我想您提到 2023 年收購的業務的綜效前利潤率略低於現有的獨立業務。能再詳細說明一下嗎？利潤率降低了多少？您能否向我們介紹一下 Twin Bridges 和 GFL 資產整合的最新進展，有什麼重大驚喜嗎？

Yeah. Hi, Michael (sic - Adam) It's Brad. So I mentioned that they're coming in at a lower margin. I'm really talking a slightly lower margin to the tune of, I think, it weighed 5 basis points on margins in the fourth quarter. So I think, really, we view this as very quickly an opportunity as we start to integrate the businesses, continue to integrate the businesses, and capture the synergies. This will become a margin tailwind pretty quickly.

是的。嗨，邁克爾（原文如此 - 亞當），我是布拉德。所以我提到他們的利潤率較低。我實際上是在談論略低的利潤率，我認為它對第四季度的利潤率造成了 5 個基點的影響。因此，我認為，當我們開始整合業務、繼續整合業務並獲得協同效應時，我們很快就會將此視為一個機會。這很快就會成為利潤率的推動因素。

And I think that probably the most significant aspect of those transactions, both of them, GFL and Twin Bridges, no real surprises, Adam. We were able to -- I mean, the relationship that Ned has built with GFL and Jason, the entire team, the transition has gone well. Scott Earl, as Ned said earlier, is working with our folks to really rethink routing and do the things from an integration standpoint that we need to do as quickly as we can. So we're really excited about it. No surprises.

我認為這可能是這些交易中最重要的方面，GFL 和 Twin Bridges 都沒有什麼真正的驚喜，Adam。我們能夠——我的意思是，Ned 與 GFL 和 Jason 以及整個團隊建立的關係，過渡進展順利。正如 Ned 之前所說，Scott Earl 正在與我們的人員合作，真正重新考慮路由，並從整合的角度做我們需要盡快完成的事情。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。沒有什麼驚喜。

If anything, the surprises are on the upside in terms of the participation from both companies and also from Scott in terms of looking at rerouting and the opportunity to really create the value that Brad's talking about that is going to be a tailwind for us shortly. Margins also were not a surprise for us either. So they were a little bit lower, but that's not a surprise either.

如果有什麼不同的話，那就是兩家公司的參與以及斯科特在考慮重新路由方面的參與以及真正創造布拉德所說的價值的機會，這很快就會成為我們的順風車。利潤率對我們來說也不令人意外。所以它們有點低，但這並不奇怪。

And then can you just talk about how much of the targeted synergies are you expecting to realize in 2024? So can you just help us understand the margin ramp of these assets from here?

那麼您能談談您預計在 2024 年實現多少目標綜效嗎？那麼您能否幫助我們了解這些資產的利潤率上升？

Yeah. So we had, in the Mid-Atlantic, about $8 million of synergies being recognized over three years, and we'll get about a third of that from thereabouts in the first year in the Mid Atlantic. And with Twin Bridges in the Capital District, we had about $4 million of synergies recognized over three years and we're probably tracking more to like 50% of that in the first year. We've had some really excellent progress on some early consolidations, and we're feeling great about that and probably a little upside there as well over the three-year period.

是的。因此，我們在大西洋中部地區在三年內獲得了約 800 萬美元的協同效應，我們將在第一年在大西洋中部地區獲得約三分之一的協同效應。透過首都區的 Twin Bridges，我們在三年內獲得了約 400 萬美元的協同效應，我們可能會在第一年追蹤到其中 50% 左右的協同效應。我們在一些早期整合方面取得了一些非常出色的進展，我們對此感覺很好，並且在三年期間可能還有一些上升空間。

Yeah. And that's baked into the margin expansion that's reflected in our guidance. And stepping back, if you add up the synergies for all the deals that were done last year, and I talked about the opportunities we go forward, it's about 100 basis points in total over time. So we'll get some of that this year.

是的。這已融入我們的指導中反映的利潤擴張中。退一步來說，如果你把去年完成的所有交易的協同效應加起來，我談到了我們未來的機會，隨著時間的推移，總共大約有 100 個基點。所以今年我們會得到一些。

And during the GFL and Twin Bridges asset integration period, how are you thinking about the level of M&A you folks can sustain over the next 12 months? And how do higher interest rates change how you're thinking about funding M&A?

在 GFL 和 Twin Bridges 資產整合期間，你們如何看待你們在未來 12 個月內可以維持的併購水準？較高的利率如何改變您對併購融資的看法？

Let me take a part of that for you, Adam. I think that, from an integration standpoint, we couldn't be more happy with the Mid-Atlantic team that Kyle Larkin has put up. And keep in mind, he ran those assets for some of our competitors before coming onboard with Casella. So he's built out an entire team for the Mid-Atlantic.

讓我為你分擔一部分，亞當。我認為，從整合的角度來看，我們對凱爾·拉金（Kyle Larkin）組建的中大西洋團隊感到非常滿意。請記住，在加入卡塞拉之前，他曾為我們的一些競爭對手經營這些資產。所以他為大西洋中部組了一支完整的團隊。

The integration is going extremely well, same thing with Twin Bridges. That's going extremely well as well. So I don't think that the integration of GFL or Twin Bridges is going to have any impact on us in 2024 from an M&A standpoint. We still have significant work to do from an integration standpoint, but from a practical standpoint, we have very significant opportunities for continued growth.

整合進展非常順利，Twin Bridges 也是如此。這也進展得非常順利。因此，從併購的角度來看，我認為 GFL 或 Twin Bridges 的整合不會在 2024 年對我們產生任​​何影響。從整合的角度來看，我們仍然有大量工作要做，但從實際的角度來看，我們有非常重要的持續成長機會。

We've been able to demonstrate the capabilities to integrate those businesses, very significant amount of M&A, and at the same time, bring down a lower safety record, lower turnover. So I think that we did a lot of work over the last year, really looking at where are our weaknesses. We've approached most of those weaknesses. We've hired the people that we needed to in terms of some of the back office challenges of the growth that we've had. So we're pretty excited about where we sit and looking forward to 2024.

我們已經能夠展現整合這些業務的能力，進行大量的併購，同時降低安全記錄和營業額。所以我認為我們去年做了很多工作，真正審視了我們的弱點在哪裡。我們已經解決了大部分弱點。我們已經聘請了我們需要的人員來應對我們成長過程中遇到的一些後台挑戰。因此，我們對目前的情況感到非常興奮，並對 2024 年充滿期待。

And on in the interest rate side, Brad, do you want to hop in? I mean, it's not a concern for us, given --

在利率方面，布拉德，你想加入嗎？我的意思是，這對我們來說不是一個問題，因為--

Yeah, we're over 75% fixed.

是的，我們已經修復了 75% 以上。

And I think that the only thing that it does do is it may change how Ned looks at the financials and how we're looking at it. It may have some impact in terms of how we're modeling acquisitions. It will probably not -- probably has more of an impact in terms of creating more pressure on independents to sell their businesses.

我認為它唯一能做的就是它可能會改變內德對財務狀況的看法以及我們對財務狀況的看法。它可能會對我們如何建模收購產生一些影響。它可能不會——可能會產生更大的影響，給獨立人士更大的壓力來出售他們的業務。

Yeah. And we've got close to $500 million of liquidity right now, both through cash. We've got $220 million of cash. We've got liquidity on our revolver. So we're in a really good position to put money to work for shareholders with positive returns.

是的。我們目前擁有接近 5 億美元的流動資金，都是現金。我們有2.2億美元的現金。我們的左輪手槍有流動性。因此，我們處於非常有利的位置，可以將資金用於為股東帶來正回報。

And to John's point, I mean, we've got a lot of work we're doing on the integration. So it really causes you to look towards quality, strategic fit, and everything that's in our near-term pipeline this year is super high quality, great overlaps, great fit. We're excited about the near-term pipeline.

對於約翰的觀點，我的意思是，我們在整合方面做了很多工作。因此，這確實會讓你專注於品質、策略契合度，而我們今年近期的產品線中的所有產品都是超高品質、高度重疊、非常契合的。我們對近期的管道感到興奮。

Yeah. And I think that, quite honestly, Adam, we've stayed very disciplined in terms of making sure that it's a high-quality acquisition to integrate into the company. And you don't really hear much about the M&A that we pass on.

是的。我認為，老實說，亞當，我們在確保這是一次高品質的收購併融入公司方面一直保持著非常嚴格的紀律。而且你並沒有真正聽說過太多關於我們傳遞的併購的信息。

Great. I appreciate the color. Thanks so much.

偉大的。我很欣賞它的顏色。非常感謝。

(Operator Instructions) And showing no one in the queue, I will turn it back to John Casella for any closing remarks.

（操作員說明）隊列中沒有人，我將把它轉回給約翰·卡塞拉（John Casella）以供結束發言。

Thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. I hope you all have a great holiday weekend. I look forward to discussing our first-quarter 2024 earnings in April. Thanks, everybody. Have a great day and a great holiday weekend. Thank you.

謝謝大家今天早上加入我們。我希望你們都有一個愉快的假日週末。我期待在 4 月討論我們 2024 年第一季的收益。謝謝大家。祝您有個愉快的一天和愉快的假日週末。謝謝。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。大家，祝你有美好的一天。