Casella Waste Systems Inc (CWST) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Casella Waste Systems, Inc., Q2 2025 conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Casella Waste Systems, Inc. 2025 年第二季電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Brian Butler, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給今天的發言人、投資者關係副總裁 Brian Butler。請繼續。

Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the call. Today, we'll be discussing our second quarter 2025 results, which were released yesterday afternoon. This morning, I'm joined with John Casella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Casella Waste Systems; Ned Coletta, our President; Brad Helgeson, our Chief Financial Officer; and Sean Steves, our Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Casella Waste operations.

謝謝你，丹尼爾。早安，感謝您參加我們的電話會議。今天，我們將討論昨天下午發布的 2025 年第二季業績。今天上午，我與卡塞拉廢物處理系統公司董事長兼首席執行官約翰·卡塞拉、總裁內德·科萊塔、首席財務官布拉德·赫爾格森以及卡塞拉廢物處理業務高級副總裁兼首席營運官肖恩·史蒂夫斯一起出席了會議。

After a review of these results and an update on the company's activities and business environment, we'll be happy to take your questions. 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.

在審查這些結果並更新公司活動和商業環境後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。但首先請注意，我們對公司未來預期、計畫和前景所作的各種評論均構成《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款所指的前瞻性陳述。

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 Form 10-Q, which is on file with the SEC. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views on 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.

由於各種重要因素，包括我們提交給美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 的最新 10-Q 表「風險因素」部分中討論的因素，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中所述的結果存在重大差異。此外，任何前瞻性陳述僅代表我們截至今日的觀點，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間點更新前瞻性陳述，但即使我們的觀點發生變化，我們也明確表示不承擔任何這樣做的義務。

These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to today, August 1, 2025. Also during this call, we'll 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 our press release filed on Form 8-K with the SEC.

這些前瞻性陳述不應被視為代表我們截至 2025 年 8 月 1 日之後任何日期的觀點。此外，在本次電話會議中，我們將參考非公認會計準則財務指標。這些非公認會計準則 (Non-GAAP) 指標並非依照公認會計準則 (GAAP) 編製。非公認會計準則 (Non-GAAP) 財務指標與最直接可比較的公認會計準則 (GAAP) 指標的調節表（只要無需付出過多努力即可獲得）已包含在我們向美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 提交的 8-K 表格新聞稿中。

And with that, I will now turn over the call to John Casella to begin our discussion. John?

現在，我將把電話交給約翰·卡塞拉，開始我們的討論。約翰？

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2025 conference call. In June, we probably ran the Nasdaq opening bell to commemorate Casella's 50th anniversary. This milestone marks our evolution from a single truck operation in Vermont to a leading provider of waste, recycling, and resource management services across the Northeast and now into the Mid-Atlantic.

謝謝，布萊恩，大家早安。歡迎參加我們的 2025 年第二季電話會議。6 月份，我們大概敲響了納斯達克開市鐘，以紀念卡塞拉成立 50 週年。這一里程碑標誌著我們從佛蒙特州的單一卡車營運公司發展成為東北部乃至中大西洋地區領先的廢棄物、回收和資源管理服務提供者。

Over five decades of growth, our dedicated team has consistently delivered exceptional service and industry leadership, all while staying true to our core values and working toward a cleaner and more sustainable future. I'd like to sincerely thank all of our employees for their hard work and commitment every day.

五十年來，我們敬業的團隊始終致力於提供卓越的服務和行業領導力，同時始終秉持我們的核心價值觀，致力於創造更清潔、更永續的未來。我衷心感謝所有員工每天的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。

The celebration was not only a reflection of our past, but also a reaffirmation of our vision for the future. It highlighted the strength of our culture, the resilience of our business model and the deep trust we've built with our customers and communities. We are incredibly proud of the legacy we've created and energized by the opportunities ahead.

這次慶祝活動不僅回顧了我們的過去，也重申了我們對未來的願景。它凸顯了我們文化的力量、我們商業模式的彈性以及我們與客戶和社區建立的深厚信任。我們對自己創造的輝煌感到無比自豪，並為未來的機會注入新的活力。

Turning to the quarter. We delivered another strong performance in Q2, with robust growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Year-to-date, we've achieved record first half adjusted free cash flow over $70 million, more than $30 million above the same period last year. These results reflect solid execution, meaningful contributions from our recent acquisitions.

轉向本季。我們在第二季再次取得了強勁的業績，營收和調整後的 EBITDA 均實現了強勁成長。今年迄今為止，我們上半年調整後的自由現金流創下了歷史新高，超過 7,000 萬美元，比去年同期高出 3,000 多萬美元。這些結果反映了我們近期收購的穩健執行和有意義的貢獻。

Pricing remains healthy with solid waste pricing up 5% year over-year. We continue to execute well on our operating plans, driving meaningful margin improvement across our legacy business. This performance has been partially offset by some growing pains in the Mid-Atlantic as we work through the transition to our systems and getting the acquired fleet up to our standards, we are executing on a plan to rapidly get this performance on track. Elsewhere, landfill volumes were up nicely year over year, and our Resource Solutions segment continued to perform very well, driven by improved performance at our upgraded recycling facilities.

價格維持健康，固體廢棄物價格較去年同期上漲 5%。我們繼續良好地執行我們的營運計劃，推動我們傳統業務的利潤率顯著提高。這一業績在一定程度上被中大西洋地區的一些成長煩惱所抵消，因為我們正在努力過渡到我們的系統並使收購的船隊達到我們的標準，我們正在執行一項計劃，以迅速使這一業績步入正軌。在其他方面，垃圾掩埋量比去年同期大幅增加，而我們的資源解決方案部門繼續表現良好，這得益於我們升級的回收設施性能的提高。

We've now completed six acquisitions year-to-date, representing about $90 million annualized revenues, and we're excited about the pending acquisition of Mountain State Waste, which will expand our footprint in Pennsylvania and also into West Virginia, adding another $30 million in annualized revenues.

今年迄今為止，我們已經完成了六項收購，年化收入約為 9,000 萬美元，我們對即將進行的對 Mountain State Waste 的收購感到非常興奮，這將擴大我們在賓夕法尼亞州和西弗吉尼亞州的業務範圍，增加 3,000 萬美元的年化收入。

We look forward to welcoming their employees and customers to the Casella family and integrating their operations into our broader network. Our M&A pipeline remains full of targets that align perfectly with our strategy and our strong balance sheet positions us to continue to pursue and complete these deals opportunistically.

我們期待歡迎他們的員工和客戶加入 Casella 大家庭，並將他們的業務融入我們更廣泛的網絡中。我們的併購管道仍然充滿了與我們的策略完美契合的目標，我們強勁的資產負債表使我們能夠繼續抓住機會，完成這些交易。

Looking ahead, we raised our full year revenue guidance reflecting on the continued strength of our core pricing and acquisition activity and reaffirmed our adjusted EBITDA and adjusted free cash flow guidance ranges representing another year of record financial results.

展望未來，我們提高了全年營收預期，反映了我們核心定價和收購活動的持續強勁，並重申了調整後的 EBITDA 和調整後的自由現金流預期範圍，代表著另一年創紀錄的財務業績。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Brad to walk through the financials in more detail.

接下來，我會把話題交給布萊德，讓他更詳細地介紹財務狀況。

Thanks, John. Good morning, everyone. Revenues in the second quarter were $465.3 million, up $88.2 million or 23.4% year over year with $67.1 million from acquisitions, including rollover and $21 million from organic growth or 5.6%. Solid waste revenues were up 27.1% year over year, with price up 5% and volume down 0.8%. Within solid waste, price in the collection line of business was up 4.9% in the quarter, led by 5.9% price in frontload commercial and volume was down 1.2%.

謝謝，約翰。大家早安。第二季營收為 4.653 億美元，比去年同期成長 8,820 萬美元，增幅為 23.4%，其中 6,710 萬美元來自收購（包括展期），2,100 萬美元來自有機成長，增幅為 5.6%。固體廢棄物收入較去年同期成長27.1%，價格上漲5%，數量下降0.8%。在固體廢棄物方面，本季收集業務的價格上漲了 4.9%，其中前裝商業價格上漲了 5.9%，而數量下降了 1.2%。

We However, year over year volume trends improved from the first quarter with indications of a stable economy in our markets. Price in the disposal line of business was up 5.8% and volume up 0.6% year over year. Results in the landfill business were strong, with total tonnes up 9.5%, including higher third-party MSW and C&D volumes and over 12% growth in internal volumes.

然而，與第一季相比，同比銷售趨勢有所改善，顯示我們市場的經濟穩定。處置業務的價格較去年同期上漲5.8%，數量上漲0.6%。垃圾掩埋業務業績強勁，總噸位成長 9.5%，其中包括第三方 MSW 和 C&D 量的增加以及內部量成長 12% 以上。

We feel that we have meaningful opportunities to grow volumes further at our sites. But it's safe to say that the persistent market headwinds that we experienced last year are behind us. We drove price 8.2% at the transfer stations with flat volume in the quarter.

我們認為，我們有重大機會進一步增加我們工廠的產量。但可以肯定地說，我們去年經歷的持續的市場逆風已經過去了。本季度，我們將中轉站的運輸量持平的價格提高了 8.2%。

Resource Solutions revenues were up 10.2% year over year with recycling other processing revenue up 9.6% and national accounts, up 10.6%. Within Resource Solutions processing operations, our average recycled commodity sales price was down 16% year over year, with softer markets across the board and most commodities now selling below five-year averages. Notwithstanding market pressures, our contract structures share this risk with our customers by adjusting tip fees in down markets. So the net impact of lower prices on our revenue was just 1.6% or less than $1 million.

資源解決方案營收年增 10.2%，回收其他加工收入成長 9.6%，全國帳戶收入成長 10.6%。在資源解決方案加工業務中，我們的平均再生商品銷售價格年減了 16%，整個市場都較為疲軟，大多數商品的售價都低於五年平均水準。儘管面臨市場壓力，我們的合約結構仍透過在低迷市場中調整小費來與客戶分擔此風險。因此，降價對我們收入的淨影響僅為 1.6% 或不到 100 萬美元。

Processing volume and revenue terms was up 8.6%, driven by higher volumes at the Boston and Willimantic recycling facilities. Within national accounts revenue, price was up 5.9% and volume up 1.9%. Adjusted EBITDA was $109.5 million in the quarter, up $17.9 million or 19.5% year over year with contribution from acquisitions, including rollover and organic growth.

受波士頓和威利曼蒂克回收設施產量增加的推動，處理量和收入增加了 8.6%。在國民帳戶收入中，價格上漲了 5.9%，數量上漲了 1.9%。本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.095 億美元，年增 1,790 萬美元，增幅 19.5%，主要得益於收購（包括展期和有機成長）的貢獻。

Adjusted EBITDA margin was 23.5% in the quarter, down approximately 75 basis points year over year. Bridging the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA margin, acquisitions contributing at lower initial margins than our overall business presented a headwind of 85 basis points.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 23.5%，年減約 75 個基點。彌補調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的同比變化，收購帶來的初始利潤率低於我們的整體業務，帶來了 85 個基點的阻力。

The base business on a same-store basis expanded margins by 10 basis points overall with legacy footprint operations growing margins by over 100 basis points, but the Mid-Atlantic region representing a near-term headwind as we continue to work through business integration and synergy execution impacted by ongoing system conversions and delays in truck deliveries.

同店基礎業務的利潤率總體擴大了 10 個基點，其中傳統業務的利潤率增長了 100 多個基點，但中大西洋地區代表著短期阻力，因為我們將繼續致力於業務整合和協同執行，受到持續的系統轉換和卡車交付延遲的影響。

I should note that these headwinds are transitory and represent margin expansion opportunity in the future, which we expect to see in 2026. Cost of operations were $308.1 million in the quarter, up $64.3 million year over year, with $48.2 million of the increase from acquisitions and $16.1 million in the base business.

我應該指出，這些不利因素是暫時的，代表著未來的利潤擴張機會，我們預計將在 2026 年看到這個機會。本季營運成本為 3.081 億美元，比去年同期增加 6,430 萬美元，其中 4,820 萬美元的成長來自收購，1,610 萬美元的成長來自基礎業務。

General and administrative costs were $54.5 million in the quarter, up $7.3 million year over year. Depreciation and amortization costs were up $21.7 million year over year with $16.1 million resulting from the recent acquisition activity, including the amortization of acquired intangibles. As a reference, G&A associated with acquisitions was approximately 24% of acquired revenues in the quarter as compared to 15% for our base business.

本季一般及行政費用為 5,450 萬美元，較去年同期增加 730 萬美元。折舊和攤銷成本年增 2,170 萬美元，其中 1,610 萬美元來自最近的收購活動，包括收購無形資產的攤提。作為參考，與收購相關的一般及行政費用約佔本季收購收入的 24%，而我們的基礎業務這一比例為 15%。

Adjusted net income was $23 million in the quarter or $0.36 per diluted share, up $1.3 million and down $0.01 per share. GAAP net income was $5.2 million in the quarter impacted by a $6.9 million increase in amortization of acquired intangibles. Net cash provided by operating activities was $139.6 million in the first six months 2025, up $59.9 million year over year, driven by EBITDA growth and more normalized seasonal working capital flows as compared to 2024.

本季調整後淨收入為 2,300 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.36 美元，增加 130 萬美元，每股減少 0.01 美元。本季 GAAP 淨收入為 520 萬美元，受收購無形資產攤銷增加 690 萬美元的影響。2025 年頭六個月，經營活動提供的淨現金為 1.396 億美元，年增 5,990 萬美元，這得益於 EBITDA 成長以及與 2024 年相比更加正常化的季節性營運資金流。

DSO was 34 days, down 2 days from year-end and 4 days year over year. Adjusted free cash flow was $70.8 million, a record for the first six months and representing approximately 40% of our full year guidance. Capital expenditures were $121.9 million, up $47 million year over year, including $40 million of upfront onetime investment in recent acquisitions.

DSO 為 34 天，比年底減少 2 天，較去年同期減少 4 天。調整後的自由現金流為 7,080 萬美元，創下前六個月的最高紀錄，約占我們全年預期的 40%。資本支出為 1.219 億美元，比去年同期增加 4,700 萬美元，其中包括近期收購的 4,000 萬美元前期一次性投資。

As of June 30, we had $1.16 billion of debt and $218 million of cash. Our consolidated net leverage ratio for purposes of our bank covenants was 2.39 times and our $700 million revolver remained undrawn. Our liquidity and leverage profile will enable us to be optimistic in continuing to execute on our growth strategy and robust M&A pipeline.

截至 6 月 30 日，我們的債務為 11.6 億美元，現金為 2.18 億美元。我們的銀行契約綜合淨槓桿率為 2.39 倍，且仍有 7 億美元的循環信貸額度未提領。我們的流動性和槓桿狀況將使我們能夠樂觀地繼續執行我們的成長策略和強勁的併購管道。

As announced in our press release yesterday, we updated some of our guidance ranges for 2025. We raised our revenue guidance to a midpoint of $1.83 billion in light of acquisition activity to date. However, we reaffirmed our range on adjusted EBITDA as the contribution from our announced acquisition activity since establishing guidance has not yet exceeded the original range and we remain cautious on the pace of synergy execution this year in the Mid-Atlantic region.

正如我們昨天在新聞稿中宣布的那樣，我們更新了 2025 年的一些指導範圍。鑑於迄今為止的收購活動，我們將營收預期上調至18.3億美元的中點。然而，我們重申了調整後EBITDA的預期範圍，因為自製定預期以來，我們宣布的收購活動帶來的貢獻尚未超過最初的預期範圍，並且我們對今年中大西洋地區協同效應的執行速度仍持謹慎態度。

We also raised the bottom end of our ranges on adjusted EBITDA -- adjusted free cash flow, or -- and cash flow from operating activities based on the strength of cash flow year-to-date and our confidence in the second half.

我們也根據年初至今的現金流強度和下半年的信心，提高了調整後 EBITDA（調整後自由現金流）和營運活動現金流的區間底線。

Regarding cash flow, I should note that we will not see a benefit from the recent tax legislation in 2025, as we would not have been a federal cash taxpayer in any event. However, the provisions of the tax bill, most significantly the reinstatement of bonus depreciation will certainly benefit our tax position in the future, deferring and ultimately reducing our eventual federal cash tax burden.

關於現金流，我應該指出，我們不會從 2025 年的最新稅收立法中看到好處，因為無論如何我們都不會成為聯邦現金納稅人。然而，稅收法案的規定，最重要的是恢復獎金折舊，肯定會有利於我們未來的稅收狀況，推遲並最終減少我們最終的聯邦現金稅負擔。

With that, I'll turn it over to Ned.

說完這些，我就把麥克風交給 Ned。

Thanks, Brad, and good morning, everyone. As highlighted in our earnings release yesterday, we delivered another strong quarter of growth with solid performance across key financial metrics. Organic trends remained positive in the second quarter, with solid waste pricing up 5% year over year and total company volumes up 30 basis points with particular strength in Resource Solutions and landfill volumes.

謝謝，布拉德，大家早安。正如我們昨天發布的收益報告中所強調的那樣，我們又實現了強勁的成長，各項關鍵財務指標均表現穩健。第二季有機趨勢仍保持積極，固體廢棄物價格年增 5%，公司總產量上漲 30 個基點，資源解決方案和垃圾掩埋量特別強勁。

Collection operations made meaningful improvement. We completed 11 routing projects that reduced both route gates and driver headcount required. Operational productivity in our Eastern and Western regions remained strong with direct labor and overtime costs flat on a trailing 12-month basis. This helped to offset cost pressures in our Mid-Atlantic region, where labor costs are currently running hundreds of basis points higher than in other regions.

收集工作取得了有意義的進展。我們完成了11個路線項目，減少了路線閘口數量和所需的駕駛員人數。東部和西部地區的營運效率保持強勁，直接人工和加班成本在過去12個月內保持穩定。這有助於抵消我們中大西洋地區的成本壓力，該地區的勞動力成本目前比其他地區高出數百個基點。

As John mentioned, truck delivery delays and system conversions in the Mid-Atlantic had a domino impact in the quarter, delaying route optimization, automation and other cost synergies from being recognized as quickly as expected. We do expect 55 additional trucks to deliver in late 2025 to the Mid-Atlantic region with nearly 40 of these trucks being automated. In our Resource Solutions segment, adjusted EBITDA increased $1.8 million in the second quarter, mainly driven by improved efficiencies at our recently upgraded Willimantic in Boston recycling processing facilities.

正如John所提到的，中大西洋地區的卡車配送延遲和系統轉換在本季產生了骨牌效應，導致路線優化、自動化和其他成本協同效應未能如預期快速顯現。我們預計到2025年底，中大西洋地區將新增55輛卡車，其中近40輛將自動化。在我們的資源解決方案部門，第二季調整後的 EBITDA 增加了 180 萬美元，這主要得益於我們最近升級的波士頓 Willimantic 回收處理設施的效率提高。

This operational strength, along with our floating, processing and SRA fees more than offset the impact of weaker commodity prices, which declined roughly $20 a tonne or 16% year over year. Landfill volumes were up significantly, with total volumes up 88,000 tonnes year over year or 9.5%, with increased internalization driving a 55,000 tonne increase or roughly 13%.

這種營運優勢，加上我們的浮動、加工和 SRA 費用，足以抵消大宗商品價格疲軟的影響，大宗商品價格年減約 20 美元/噸，即 16%。垃圾掩埋量大幅增加，總量年增 88,000 噸，增幅 9.5%，其中內部化增加導致掩埋量增加 55,000 噸，增幅約為 13%。

We also continue to source more construction and demolition tonnes, mainly due to the previously announced competitor landfill closure on Long Island, which had been a headwind throughout 2024. Since opening in mid-2024, our McKean Landfill has successfully accepted over 400 railcars and process close to 2,000 containers of waste. We're building out a new rail offload transfer building at the site to expand the range of materials that can be handled from the current containerized MSW to also include gondolas of MSW, C&D, and soils.

我們還將繼續採購更多的建築和拆除噸位，這主要是由於先前宣布的長島競爭對手垃圾掩埋場關閉，這對 2024 年全年來說是一個阻力。自 2024 年中期開放以來，我們的麥基恩垃圾掩埋場已成功接收了 400 多輛火車車廂並處理了近 2,000 個垃圾容器。我們正在現場建造一座新的鐵路卸貨轉運大樓，以擴大可處理材料的範圍，從目前的貨櫃式城市固體廢物 (MSW) 到包括城市固體廢物、建築垃圾和土壤的貨車。

We expect these upgrades to be completed in the first half of 2026. And at that time, we'll work to drive additional internalization to the site and also selectively attract new customers and material streams. We also continue to execute well against our acquisition strategy, as John mentioned, closing three additional deals in the second quarter, totaling over $40 million of annualized revenues.

我們預計這些升級將於 2026 年上半年完成。屆時，我們將努力推動網站的進一步內部化，並選擇性地吸引新客戶和材料流。正如約翰所提到的，我們也繼續很好地執行我們的收購策略，在第二季又完成了三筆交易，年化收入總計超過 4,000 萬美元。

Additionally, we're really excited about the agreement to acquire Mountain State Waste, which will expand our geographic footprint and added incremental $30 million of annualized revenues after it closes. As we enter the second half of 2025, our acquisition pipeline remains robust with over $500 million of annualized revenue opportunities.

此外，我們對收購 Mountain State Waste 的協議感到非常興奮，這將擴大我們的地理覆蓋範圍，並在收購完成後增加 3,000 萬美元的年收入。隨著我們進入 2025 年下半年，我們的收購管道依然強勁，年化收入機會超過 5 億美元。

Our balance sheet remains strong with leverage under 2.4 times and total liquidity of approximately $900 million. Our outlook for the remainder of 2025 remains positive, supported by continued execution of our acquisition strategy in a resilient, sustainable organic growth model. Our limited exposure to commodity prices and tariffs further reinforces our confidence in delivering consistent results.

我們的資產負債表依然強勁，槓桿率低於 2.4 倍，總流動資金約 9 億美元。我們對 2025 年剩餘時間的展望依然樂觀，這得益於我們繼續以有彈性、可持續的有機成長模式執行收購策略。我們對商品價格和關稅的有限影響進一步增強了我們實現持續成果的信心。

With that, I'll turn it back to the operator for questions. Thank you.

說完這些，我將把問題轉回給接線生。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Tyler Brown, Raymond James.

泰勒布朗、雷蒙詹姆斯。

Hey, good morning, guys. Can you all hear me?

嘿，大家早安。你們聽得到我說話嗎？

Sure. Yeah, good morning, Tyler.

當然。是的，早上好，泰勒。

Hey, morning. So Ned, can we just kind of start with the Mid-Atlantic. So it seems like maybe that group is lagging a little bit. Maybe can you talk about some of the reasons why? And I think you're implementing an ERP there, but big picture, once that new system is in place, won't there be a substantial pricing opportunity in that market in '26 because I was under the impression that pushing price was kind of, call it, logistically difficult and cash collections were kind of slow on that legacy system.

嘿，早安。 Ned，我們可以先從中大西洋地區開始聊天嗎？因此看起來該群體可能有點落後。您能談談其中的一些原因嗎？我認為你正在那裡實施 ERP，但從大局來看，一旦新系統到位，26 年該市場是否會出現大量的定價機會，因為在我的印像中，推動價格在後勤上有點困難，而且在那個遺留系統上現金收集有點慢。

Yeah. Great question, Tyler. So if we flash back in time, there's always those moments where you make R&D decision, and we may be made one that's been a little bit painful. When we acquired the businesses originally from GFL, we decided to actually stay in the same billing operating system they have been operating.

是的。好問題，泰勒。因此，如果我們回顧過去，總是會有一些做出研發決策的時刻，而我們可能會做出一些有點痛苦的決策。當我們最初從 GFL 收購這些業務時，我們決定保留他們一直在運作的相同計費作業系統。

And it was more of an R&D decision for us to see how it work, and if there's something that would work for the rest of our business Flash board, it's not a great system. There's not great analytics. It's not great routing capabilities. There's a lot of issues.

對我們來說，這更像是一個研發決策，看看它是如何運作的，如果有什麼東西可以適用於我們其餘的業務閃存板，那麼它就不是一個很好的系統。沒有很好的分析。路由功能不太好，有很多問題。

So about nine months ago -- eight months ago, we decided to move to our legacy billing system, which is still to test the time. It's been amazing called Soft Tap, but upgrading to the latest version. So we're very rapidly doing so in the Mid-Atlantic. But as I mentioned, it is a bit of a domino effect because not all those businesses are running in the exact same billing system today.

大約九個月前 - 八個月前，我們決定轉向我們的傳統計費系統，目前仍有待測試。它被稱為 Soft Tap，非常神奇，但要升級到最新版本。因此，我們在中大西洋地區正在迅速進行這項工作。但正如我所提到的，這有點像多米諾骨牌效應，因為目前並非所有這些企業都採用完全相同的計費系統。

We haven't been able to move all newly acquired businesses onto that system. And then the truck delays just compounds the whole thing where we have delegate automation, routing synergies. So we're not feeling bad about our plans or synergy expectations. It's just taking longer. To your question about pricing, you're 100% right about it. There is not the same level of visibility around elasticity, around pricing that we have in our legacy systems. So there's opportunity there as well.

我們尚未能夠將所有新收購的業務轉移到該系統。然後，卡車延誤只會使整個事情變得更加複雜，而我們有委託自動化和路線協同作用。所以我們對我們的計劃或協同效應預期並不感到難過。只是需要更長的時間。對於您關於定價的問題，您完全正確。我們的傳統系統在彈性和定價方面缺乏同等程度的可見性。所以那裡也有機會。

Okay. So I'll try to ask this question, we'll see what you give me. But what would you say the synergy EBITDA benefit could be from that group of assets in '26. I mean is this a couple of million bucks? Or is this $10 million or more? Just any color?

好的。所以我會嘗試問這個問題，看看你能給我什麼答案。但是您認為 26 年該組資產的協同 EBITDA 效益是多少呢？我的意思是這需要幾百萬美元嗎？還是這個數字是 1000 萬美元或更多？任何顏色都可以嗎？

Yes. So we haven't fully built out our budget for next year, and we're still working through the steps here. But on the routing side, this will come in over the course of a couple of years as you're aware. And we have said there is ultimately as much as $6 million -- $5 million, $6 million, $7 million of benefit over several years as we automate that fleet.

是的。因此，我們還沒有完全制定明年的預算，我們仍在執行這裡的步驟。但在路由方面，如您所知，這將在幾年內實現。我們說過，隨著車隊自動化，幾年內最終將帶來高達 600 萬美元、500 萬美元、600 萬美元、700 萬美元的收益。

On the back office side, there's millions of dollars of benefit over. I wouldn't say it's all at once, but as we get the systems issues resolved, so you're looking at $5 million to $10 million over a couple of years. We'll give a better idea on the pacing of that when we get our budget pulled together.

在後台方面，我們獲得了數百萬美元的收益。我不會說一次性就能拿到，但隨著系統問題的解決，預計幾年內就能拿到500萬到1000萬美元。當我們把預算匯總起來後，我們會對此速度提出更好的想法。

Okay. Yeah. That's very helpful. And then can we turn to Mountain State. So I'm just kind of curious about what some of the dynamics are in West Virginia. Is that a disposal neutral market? Can you internalize that through a transfer station? Just what's the market structure there? And then it looks like they have a really nice set of assets. Will that kind of serve as a mini platform in that region?

好的。是的。這非常有幫助。然後我們可以轉向山地州。所以我只是有點好奇西維吉尼亞州的一些動態。這是一個處置中性市場嗎？你能透過中轉站將其內部化嗎？那裡的市場結構到底是怎麼樣的？看起來他們擁有一套非常好的資產。這是否會成為該地區的一個小型平台？

It will, the majority of -- a good portion of the assets are in Pennsylvania and the expansion into West Virginia. The expansion into West Virginia is through into Morgantown, which is a very -- it's a terrific MSA in West Virginia, a lot of growth there because of the university. So it's a secondary tertiary market that were similar to some of our other markets.

大部分資產都在賓夕法尼亞州，並擴展到西維吉尼亞州。西維吉尼亞州的擴張是透過摩根敦進行的，摩根敦是西維吉尼亞州一個非常棒的大都市統計區，由於大學的存在，那裡發展迅速。因此，它是一個與我們的其他一些市場類似的二級三級市場。

I think that there is an opportunity for us to continue to build off of that platform. There are operations we do go into Ohio and Kentucky with the West Virginia assets. So there is an opportunity for us to add to that platform on a go-forward basis.

我認為我們有機會繼續利用該平台進行建設。我們確實利用西維吉尼亞州的資產在俄亥俄州和肯塔基州開展業務。因此，我們有機會在未來不斷擴展該平台。

As you may be aware, it's a franchise market. So they have these lifetime franchise agreements that come with part of the acquisition. And in those markets, we would either be the sole provider or there might be several providers. but you have a franchise agreement where you're picking up customers within a defined rate structure. But it's a very nice, well-run, profitable business with great assets.

您可能知道，這是一個特許經營市場。因此，他們與部分收購者簽訂了終身特許經營協議。在這些市場中，我們要么是唯一的供應商，要么可能有多個供應商。但您有一個特許經營協議，您可以在規定的費率結構內吸引客戶。但這是一家非常好的、經營良好、獲利豐厚且資產豐富的企業。

Yeah, definitely looks like it. My last one here, just -- Brad, this is a minutia modeling question. But why did the interest expense guidance dropped so much? Was that -- I mean, it doesn't look like the debt balance really moved and I'm doubting the coupon move that much. Just what was going on there?

是的，看起來確實如此。我的最後一個問題是——布拉德，這是一個細節建模問題。但利息支出預期為何下降如此之多？是嗎——我的意思是，看起來債務餘額並沒有真正變動，而且我對票息變動也表示懷疑。那裡到底發生了什麼事？

I think just as the year progresses, we're just refining our view and letting some of the conservatism on that line out is really bottom line.

我認為隨著時間的推移，我們只是在完善我們的觀點，並讓一些保守主義觀點消失，這才是真正的底線。

Okay, yeah, I just wanted to go over that. Alright, thank you guys.

好的，是的，我只是想再說一次。好的，謝謝大家。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Adam Bubes, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的亞當布貝斯 (Adam Bubes)。

Hi, good morning, I had a follow-up on the Mid-Atlantic dynamic. Just to put a finer point on it, is this a case where it's slower than expected synergy realization? Or are we also realizing incremental cost in the Mid-Atlantic year over year that's impacting that margin bridge associated with the integration?

大家好，早安，我對中大西洋地區的動態進行了追蹤。更確切地說，這是否是一個協同效應實現速度比預期慢的情況？或者我們也意識到中大西洋地區逐年增加的成本正在影響與整合相關的利潤橋樑？

It's just slower synergy realization. We expect the trucks to deliver sooner, which would have allowed us to do more automation, taking other trucks, labor off the road. We've also, as I mentioned, with Tyler, we really are having to move back to legacy Casella order-to-cash system with an upgrade. The system we took over from GFL isn't allowing us the flexibility to achieve our business model the way we expected. So it's a little bit more of a delay there. But nothing --

這只是協同效應實現得比較慢。我們預計卡車能夠更快地交付，這將使我們能夠實現更多自動化，從而減少其他卡車和勞動力的上路。正如我所提到的，有了 Tyler，我們確實必須升級回傳統的 Casella 訂單到現金系統。我們從 GFL 接管的系統不允許我們以預期的方式靈活地實現我們的商業模式。所以那裡的延遲有點大。但什麼也沒有——

The first half of the year, truck delivery was a significant issue. The majority -- a good portion of the trucks that are coming in, the 55 that are coming in before the end of the year, a good portion of those go to the Mid-Atlantic. So that will allow Sean and his team to really go after some of the synergies that we weren't able to capture.

上半年，卡車配送是一個重要議題。大多數——很大一部分進來的卡車，也就是今年年底前進的 55 輛，其中很大一部分都開往大西洋中部。因此，這將使肖恩和他的團隊能夠真正實現一些我們未能實現的協同效應。

Understood. And then I think you closed on $40 million annualized revenues incremental into a quarter. Can you just expand on the details of those transactions in terms of geographic and business mix, any other details?

明白了。然後我認為你在一個季度內就實現了 4000 萬美元的年化收入增量。您能否從地理和業務組合方面詳細說明這些交易的細節，還有其他細節嗎？

Yeah. We don't typically give out the names, but we had one acquisition that was into our Western region. It's an existing market. We'll be able to truck in develop synergies with that. We'll ultimately be able to consolidate routes, foods solid acquisition.

是的。我們通常不會透露具體名稱，但我們在西部地區進行了一次收購。這是一個現有的市場。我們將能夠利用這一點來發揮協同效應。我們最終將能夠整合路線、食品和固體採購。

We had two other acquisitions in the Mid-Atlantic. One is a very direct overlay which will have nice synergies over the next couple of -- next year plus it's in Delaware to Southern PA and then a second acquisition in PA that is a bridge between two operations sits right in between had some overlay, but it expands territory slightly. So it's all really nice fits and acquisitions we've been working on for a period of time and have good synergy value.

我們在大西洋中部地區還有另外兩筆收購。一個是非常直接的覆蓋，它將在未來幾年產生很好的協同效應——明年，再加上它在特拉華州到賓夕法尼亞州南部，然後在賓夕法尼亞州的第二次收購是兩個業務之間的橋樑，它正好位於兩者之間，有一些覆蓋，但它略微擴大了領土。因此，這些都是我們一段時間以來一直在努力實現的非常好的配對和收購，並且具有良好的協同價值。

And then last one for me. Thinking back to the second half of last year, I think you had some margin headwinds from insurance events, incentive comp, and lower landfill volumes were also a headwind with landfill volumes having recovered now and lapping some of those headwinds from last year, is it fair to think margins could expand at or better than the sort of 50 basis points of underlying margin expansion trend? Or how should we think about the sequential margin expansion in the back half of the year? Thanks.

這是我的最後一個。回想去年下半年，我認為你們的利潤率受到了保險事件、激勵補償和垃圾掩埋量減少等因素的阻礙，而垃圾掩埋量現在已經恢復，並抵消了去年的一些阻力，那麼，認為利潤率可以達到或超過潛在利潤率擴張趨勢的 50 個基點是否合理？或者我們應該如何看待下半年利潤率的連續擴大？謝謝。

Yeah. Good question. And certainly, the -- this is Brad. Certainly, the landfill business flipping from a headwind to a tailwind will be a nice driver of margin expansion year-over-year in the second half. I would say, though, that the margins implied by the fact that we raised our revenue guidance, we held our guidance range on adjusted EBITDA, that implies slightly softer margins than we had expected for the second half.

是的。好問題。當然，這是布拉德。當然，垃圾掩埋業務從逆風轉為順風將成為下半年利潤率年增的良好驅動力。不過，我想說的是，我們提高了營收預期，維持了調整後 EBITDA 的預期範圍，這意味著利潤率會比我們預期的下半年略低。

And that's really, again, the -- not to keep harping on it, but it's the Mid-Atlantic. So I think what we're seeing is 50, 60 basis point of kind of same-store margin improvement. In the first half, the legacy operations have exceeded that. And then Mid-Atlantic was a bit of a drag. So I think the pace at which we can execute on the synergies, get trucks delivered, et cetera, that's really going to tell the tail for the second half on margins. But you have those different factors that are going to be impacting it.

再說一遍，這確實是——我不想再重複這個話題了，但它是大西洋中部地區。所以我認為我們看到的是同店利潤率提高了 50 到 60 個基點。上半年，遺留業務的規模已經超過了這個水準。然後中大西洋就有點拖戲了。因此，我認為我們實現協同效應、交付卡車等的速度將真正決定下半年的利潤率。但不同的因素都會對其產生影響。

Great, thanks so much.

太好了，非常感謝。

Trevor Romeo, William Blair.

特雷弗羅密歐、威廉布萊爾。

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. I was just hoping you could maybe speak -- hoping you could speak to the volume performance in the quarter and the outlook. I think, Brad, you mentioned indications of stable economy in your markets and clearly some good trends in the landfill. You've also got some of the Brookhaven factors and your own internalization initiatives, I guess. So hoping you can maybe just talk to like what you're seeing in the cyclical areas of volume and help us parse out the underlying trends in your markets versus the more Casella specific trends?

嘿，大家早安。感謝您回答這些問題。我只是希望您能談談——希望您能談談本季的銷售表現和前景。布拉德，我想您提到了貴國市場經濟穩定的跡象，以及垃圾掩埋場的一些明顯良好趨勢。我想，您也有一些布魯克海文因素和您自己的內部化舉措。所以希望您能談談您在週期性成交量領域看到的情況，並幫助我們分析您所在市場的潛在趨勢與卡塞拉特有的趨勢？

Sure. Hey, Trevor. So if you recall in the first quarter, we talked in particular about a really soft environment for roll off and the time we weren't really sure was that weather and it was a difficult weather in the North -- weather quarter in the Northeast. Was it weather? Or was there some underlying economic weakness at play as well? That business has recovered nicely. I don't think we're seeing a booming economy by any respect. But things have stabilized.

當然。嘿，特雷弗。因此，如果您還記得，在第一季度，我們特別談到了一個非常疲軟的滾動環境，當時我們不太確定的是天氣，那是北方的一個艱難的天氣——東北部的天氣季度。是天氣原因嗎？或者也存在一些潛在的經濟疲軟因素？該業務已恢復良好。我認為我們根本就沒看到經濟繁榮。但情況已經穩定下來。

And so the year over year numbers from a volume perspective, really across the board are stronger in the second quarter than they were in the first quarter. Ned mentioned something in his prepared remarks that I don't want to necessarily let it go unnoticed.

因此，從銷售角度來看，第二季的年比數據確實全面強於第一季。內德在他的準備好的發言中提到了一些事情，我不想忽視它。

Our volume overall across solid waste and resource solutions was actually positive year over year. We tend to break up how we talk about volume between those two business lines. But overall, including recyclables, including our national accounts business, our collection business and of course, landfills, it's actually a pretty good volume story.

我們固體廢棄物和資源解決方案業務的整體銷售實際上同比增長。我們傾向於將這兩個業務線的銷售分開來討論。但總體而言，包括可回收物、我們的國家帳戶業務、我們的收集業務，當然還有垃圾掩埋場，這實際上是一個相當不錯的數量故事。

Yeah. And it does reflected in our bond staff, Brad. But it is important to note that a good degree of the volume increase in the landfill was in our life line, almost 60,000 tonnes and that really reflects, one, getting synergies derived from acquisitions that we've done over the last two years as we've rolled off contracts.

是的。這確實反映在我們的債券工作人員布拉德身上。但值得注意的是，垃圾掩埋場的垃圾量增加很大一部分是在我們的生命線上，幾乎是 60,000 噸，這確實反映了，首先，我們在過去兩年中隨著合約的履行而進行的收購產生了協同效應。

And also just -- our efforts over the last year to put new transportation lanes in place and ensure that transfer stations are getting to our landfills to create that value. So another strong quarter there by our team of getting that job done and delivering those benefits.

而且，我們去年也努力開闢新的運輸路線，並確保轉運站能夠到達我們的垃圾掩埋場，從而創造價值。因此，我們的團隊又一個季度表現強勁，完成了這項工作並帶來了這些好處。

Okay. Thank you, both. That's really helpful there. And then Sorry, I just wanted to go back one more time to I guess, the Mid-Atlantic. I think you talked about the systems and the fleet, I think, in detail already. But I think one comment I caught from Ned was labor running much hotter and if I look at your expense details, and I think direct labor costs were up like 170 basis points year over year as a percentage of revenue. So maybe just a little more detail on what's going in there. Is it primarily just not having any automated trucks yet? Or is something else going on with labor there?

好的。謝謝你們兩位。這真的很有幫助。然後抱歉，我只是想再回到一次中大西洋地區。我認為您已經詳細討論了系統和艦隊。但我認為我從 Ned 那裡聽到的一個評論是勞動力成本上升得更快，如果我看一下你的費用明細，我認為直接勞動力成本佔收入的百分比同比上升了 170 個基點。因此，也許可以更詳細地了解那裡發生的事情。主要是因為還沒有自動化卡車嗎？或者那裡的勞動力還發生了什麼其他問題？

Yeah. So we've mentioned this a few times where the labor cost as a percentage of revenue or net revenue in the Mid Atlantic, it's much higher than our legacy hauling businesses in the Northeast. And that's because there's a lack of automation, a lack of optimization of routes and it won't get all solved at once. This is going to take years to solve as we get new trucks into fleet, as we look to automate certain municipal contracts.

是的。我們已經多次提到這一點，中大西洋地區的勞動成本佔收入或淨收入的百分比遠高於我們在東北部的傳統運輸業務。這是因為缺乏自動化，缺乏路線優化，而且這些問題無法一次解決。隨著我們向車隊投入新卡車，並尋求實現某些市政合約的自動化，解決這個問題將需要數年時間。

But right now, we have a much higher degree of labor servicing the same revenue base in that market, which is a great opportunity, as we've mentioned a few times, we thought we're going to yield that opportunity a little bit faster in 2025 and now with truck delays is coming a little slower, but the opportunity is there. So we expect that to start coming down, and we expect that to be a real tailwind into the future where we can start taking that labor out of that business model.

但目前，我們在該市場擁有更高程度的勞動力來服務相同的收入基礎，這是一個很好的機會，正如我們多次提到的那樣，我們認為我們將在 2025 年更快地實現這一機會，現在卡車延誤的速度有所減慢，但機會就在那裡。因此，我們預計這一數字將開始下降，我們預計這將成為未來的真正順風，我們可以開始將勞動力從這個商業模式中剔除。

More broadly across the business, Trevor, we are seeing labor costs at sort of the upper end of our cost back from an inflation standpoint. Overall, we think we're comfortably covering cost inflation with our pricing programs as we aim to do. But labor has been one of the higher running line items candidly from an (inaudible) standpoint.

特雷弗，從更廣泛的業務角度來看，從通貨膨脹的角度來看，勞動成本處於成本的高端。總體而言，我們認為我們可以輕鬆地透過定價計劃來彌補成本上漲，正如我們所期望的那樣。但坦白說，從（聽不清楚）的角度來看，勞動力一直是運作中費用較高的項目之一。

Got it. All right, thank you all. Really appreciate it.

知道了。好的，謝謝大家。真的很感激。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Jim Schumm, TD Cowen.

吉姆·舒姆，TD Cowen。

Hey, good morning, thanks guys. So yeah, just on the collection pricing, it looks like a fairly significant dip in the second quarter sequentially, you went from 5.8% in Q1 to 4.9%, which seems pretty unusual quarter to quarter sequentially there. What's driving that?

嘿，早上好，謝謝大家。所以，是的，僅從收藏定價來看，第二季度環比下降幅度相當大，從第一季的 5.8% 下降到 4.9%，這似乎與上一季環比下降幅度相當不尋常。是什麼原因導致的呢？

So Jim, it's Brad. Part of the issue is mix. So across the lines of business, front-end commercial has been our strongest line of business from a pricing standpoint. Roll-off has been the relative weakest. And of course, in the first quarter, the much less roll-off activity there is in the second quarter. So the best I could explain it is it's sort of a re-weighting of the business line rather than a same-store decline in pricing trends?

吉姆，我是布拉德。部分問題在於混合。因此，從定價的角度來看，在整個業務線中，前端商業一直是我們最強大的業務線。滾降一直是相對較弱的。當然，第一季的滾動活動要少得多。所以我能給的最好解釋是，這是一種業務線的重新加權，而不是同店定價趨勢的下降？

Yeah. We also -- we had great pricing in the front-load line of business in the quarter. (inaudible) laid out and very strong pricing in the residential line of business as well. But our pricing was a bit weaker in the roll off. And we've been -- as we exited the spring and volumes were a bit weaker than we expected, we didn't test market last as much as we may in certain years. We're looking for those volumes. And it really isn't into June into July that we really were able to start pushing price a bit more in the roll-off line of business, and we're starting to see that come more now.

是的。我們也—本季我們在前期業務線上的定價非常好。 （聽不清楚）在住宅業務線上的定價也非常強勁。但我們的定價在滾動方面有點弱。而且我們已經——隨著春季的結束，銷量比我們預期的要弱一些，我們沒有像某些年份那樣對市場進行盡可能多的測試。我們正在尋找那些卷。實際上，直到 6 月到 7 月，我們才真正開始在下線業務中稍微提高價格，現在我們開始看到這種情況的發生。

Okay. Great. Thanks. And then what's the longer-term outlook for Resource Solutions? I mean can this grow as quickly as solid waste? Or does it become proportionally smaller over time?

好的。偉大的。謝謝。那麼資源解決方案的長期前景如何？我的意思是它能像固體廢物一樣快速生長嗎？或者它會隨著時間的推移而相應變小？

I think that the evolution of Resource Solutions in terms of providing the services that our customers are looking for, whether it's colleges and universities, municipalities, industrial customers. I think that the Resource Solutions part of the business or materials management, as we call it, is going to continue to grow at a fairly rapid pace. We have tremendous opportunity in the Mid-Atlantic as an example. We're just beginning to scratch the surface. We put the sales team in place, obviously.

我認為資源解決方案的發展在於提供客戶所需的服務，無論是學院和大學、市政當局或工業客戶。我認為，我們所謂的資源解決方案業務或材料管理部分將繼續以相當快的速度成長。例如，我們在大西洋中部地區擁有巨大的機會。我們才剛開始觸及表面。顯然，我們已經組建了銷售團隊。

We're beginning to work that at this point in time. But when you think about Mid-Atlantic, as an example, from a resource solutions standpoint, we've got tremendous opportunities from an industrial standpoint to really add a lot of value to the business on a go forward. So I think that we're going to continue to see resource solutions grow at a fairly rapid pace.

我們現在正開始著手這項工作。但是，以中大西洋地區為例，從資源解決方案的角度來看，我們從工業角度獲得了巨大的機會，可以為未來的業務真正增加許多價值。因此我認為我們將繼續看到資源解決方案以相當快的速度成長。

Okay. Got it. Thanks. And if I could just squeeze one more in, if you don't mind. Thank you. CapEx as a percent of sales has sort of been running 12% to 13% over the past few years. It seems you kind of high relative to maybe your landfill composition to me. So how do you see that evolving over time? What's the right sort of capital intensity, where do we land in, I don't know, three, four years?

好的。知道了。謝謝。如果您不介意的話，我可以再多說一點。謝謝。過去幾年，資本支出佔銷售額的百分比一直維持在 12% 到 13% 之間。在我看來，您的垃圾掩埋場成分可能有點高。那麼，您認為隨著時間的推移，這種情況會如何發展？什麼樣的資本密集度才適合？三年、四年後我們會達到什麼程度？

Yeah. It's -- Jim, it's going to go up and down, of course, as you know, based on our schedule for landfill cell development. The collection business, just trucks and containers, that tends to be 6% to 7% of revenue. Landfill could bring that number up significantly depending on how busy the construction schedule is for a particular year.

是的。這是——吉姆，當然，正如你所知，它會根據我們的垃圾掩埋場開發計劃而上下波動。收集業務（僅卡車和貨櫃）通常佔收入的 6% 至 7%。根據某一年的施工進度，垃圾掩埋場可能會使這個數字大幅增加。

I'd also point out kind of the unique factor given the relative significance of our acquisition activity is that when we acquire businesses, we tend to -- not in all cases, but generally, we tend to have pretty significant upfront CapEx as we try in one shot, bring their asset base up to our standards in terms of the fleet, in terms of the facilities. So certainly, that is a factor as well. And one that again, for us, given the relative importance of acquisition activity is probably a bit different from our competitors

我還想指出，考慮到我們收購活動的相對重要性，一個獨特的因素是，當我們收購企業時，我們傾向於——雖然不是在所有情況下，但一般來說，我們傾向於有相當大的前期資本支出，因為我們試圖一次性將他們的資產基礎提升到我們的標準，包括車隊和設施。所以當然這也是一個因素。對我們來說，考慮到收購活動的相對重要性，這可能與我們的競爭對手略有不同

Understood. Great, thanks for the answers, guys. Appreciate it.

明白了。太好了，謝謝大家的回答。非常感謝。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Stephanie Moore, Jefferies.

史蒂芬妮摩爾，傑富瑞集團。

Hi, good morning, thank you. I wanted to maybe touch on a bigger picture question here. And given the current administration does appear to be a bit more amenable to larger scale M&A. If that changes your acquisition strategy at all? Or if there's anything you can call out from a pipeline standpoint? Thank you.

嗨，早上好，謝謝。我想在這裡談一個更宏觀的問題。鑑於現任政府似乎確實更願意接受更大規模的併購。這是否會改變您的收購策略？或者從管道角度您能指出什麼嗎？謝謝。

Yeah. I don't think that it really changes our strategy at all, Stephanie. I think that we've indicated that we see great opportunity on the Eastern Seaboard. There are some larger companies there. But we're still focused on solidifying the investment that we have in the Northeast, solidifying the investment that we've just made in the Mid-Atlantic in terms of taking advantage of those platforms, continuing to add tuck-ins to those platforms as well.

是的。我認為這根本不會改變我們的策略，史蒂芬妮。我認為我們已經表明我們看到了東海岸的巨大機會。那裡有一些較大的公司。但我們仍然專注於鞏固我們在東北地區的投資，鞏固我們剛剛在中大西洋的投資，以利用這些平台，並繼續為這些平台增添吸引力。

And then obviously, looking for additional platforms down the Eastern Seaboard. So I don't think that it changes our strategy from an M&A standpoint at all. Certainly beneficial in terms of the tax depreciation, et cetera. It's very positive in terms of how we look at that with regard to the M&A activity on a go-forward basis from a tax perspective, very positive.

然後顯然，尋找東海岸的更多平台。因此，我認為從併購的角度來看，這根本不會改變我們的策略。從稅收折舊等方面來看肯定是有益的。從稅務角度來看，我們對未來的併購活動的看法非常積極，非常積極。

Excellent. And then I was hoping if maybe you could give us a bit more of an update on McKean. I know you called out some good investments and opportunities there. But as we think about just the timing of maybe some of those investments starting to come due to fruition here and any potential impact we can expect to see over the course of the next 24 months or so. Thank you.

出色的。然後我希望您能給我們一些有關麥基恩的最新消息。我知道您提到了一些好的投資和機會。但當我們思考這些投資可能開始取得成果的時機以及我們預計在未來 24 個月左右看到的潛在影響時。謝謝。

Yeah. So McKean first became operational late last spring, and we started off very slowly, and we sort of ramped the site more at this spring. But to date, we're only taking containerized MSW. So like in 12 high boxes, we offload gantry train, run them up to face the landfill. On our permit decide stipulate that we're going to offload any gondolas.

是的。因此，McKean 於去年春末首次投入運營，起步非常緩慢，直到今年春天我們才開始逐步擴大規模。但到目前為止，我們只接收集裝箱裝的都市固體廢棄物。因此，我們將 12 個高箱子從龍門列車上卸下，然後將它們開到垃圾掩埋場對面。我們的許可證規定我們將卸載所有吊船。

So loose MSW, loose C&D or contaminated sales, we need to do so inside building. So we've always had plans to add a transfer station, transfer building at the site. We had all the rail track outlay to do that, and we're starting to build that building now. We'll expect that to be completed into the first quarter. And that will allow us actually to complete some vertical integration initially with one of our transfer stations, we'll look to move there.

因此，對於散落的都市固體廢棄物、散落的建材和建築廢棄物或受污染的物品，我們需要在建築物內處理。因此，我們一直計劃在現場增設一個轉運站和轉運大樓。我們已經擁有了所有的鐵路軌道支出來實現這一目標，現在我們開始建造這棟建築。我們預計這將在第一季完成。這實際上將使我們能夠首先與我們的一個中轉站完成一些垂直整合，我們將考慮將其轉移到那裡。

But it also opens up some additional streams of waste from third parties that we may consider. As we've said for a long time, we've never opened McKean to just become a big third-party commercial site. It's really a lot of it is defense for the Northeast for the next 5 to 10 years as there's a lot of risk around disposal capacity. But we want to make money at the site. We want to have great returns.

但它也帶來了一些來自第三方的額外廢物流，我們可能會考慮。正如我們長期以來所說的那樣，我們從來沒有將 McKean 開放為一個大型第三方商業網站。其中很大一部分是為了未來 5 到 10 年內東北地區的防禦，因為處置能力存在很大的風險。但我們想透過該網站賺錢。我們希望獲得豐厚的回報。

So getting this building completed, ramping up volumes a bit more all part of that strategy. So we expect McKean to be a positive volume contributor through 2026, and we'll let you know as we get that volume rent scheduled together.

因此，完成這座建築並進一步提高產量都是該策略的一部分。因此，我們預計到 2026 年，麥基恩 (McKean) 將成為積極的銷售貢獻者，我們將在匯總銷售租金後通知您。

Yeah, I think it's fair to say that there's a really nice opportunity for us to open up McKean for some select customers, two or three select customers that could be a base on a go-forward basis, particularly, as Ned said, after we get completion of the building, then we'll be able to take the combos, which really opens up our opportunity.

是的，我認為可以說，這對我們來說是一個非常好的機會，可以向一些特定客戶開放 McKean，兩三個特定客戶可以作為未來的基礎，特別是，正如 Ned 所說，在我們完成建設之後，我們就可以採取組合，這確實為我們打開了機會。

Meanwhile, the team has really done a great job of getting up to speed operationally. They're moving the containers. They're really getting the experience and the operating wherewithal to be able to perform at a high level there. So we're pretty excited about that. And once we're able to broaden what we can take there with the building, it's going to be a positive in '26.

同時，該團隊在加快營運速度方面確實做得非常出色。他們正在移動集裝箱。他們確實獲得了在那裡實現高水準表現的經驗和營運能力。所以我們對此感到非常興奮。一旦我們能夠擴大建築的用途，那麼 26 年將會取得正面成果。

And just as a footnote to what Ned mentioned about the investment to bring on the capability to accept gondola waste. You'll notice in the reconciliation of our guidance numbers in the press release. This quarter, we have aligned for McKean Rail. There was a lot of spend, of course, last year, hadn't really factored into our forecasting for this year until we decided to have this capability. So that's why there's an additional number in the reconciliation to free cash flow.

這只是對 Ned 提到的有關投資以提高接收纜車廢物的能力的補充。您會在新聞稿中註意到我們指導數字的核對。本季度，我們已與 McKean Rail 達成協議。當然，去年有很多支出，直到我們決定擁有這種能力時，這些支出才真正計入我們今年的預測。這就是為什麼在與自由現金流的對帳中會出現額外的數字。

Understood, thank you.

明白了，謝謝。

You're welcome.

不客氣。

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to John Casella for closing remarks.

謝謝。我目前沒有其他問題。現在我想請約翰·卡塞拉致最後總結。

Thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning and look forward to all of you joining us for our third quarter call in October. Thanks, everybody, and have a great day.

感謝大家今天早上加入我們，並期待大家參加我們十月份的第三季電話會議。謝謝大家，祝大家有個愉快的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。