Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (CWST) 2026 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Casella Waste Systems, Inc. first-quarter 2026 conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please advise that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Jason Mead, Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

各位好，感謝您耐心等候。歡迎參加 Casella Waste Systems, Inc. 2026 年第一季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 請注意，今天的會議將被錄音。現在我想把會議交給今天的第一位講者，財務資深副總裁兼財務主管 Jason Mead。請開始。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on the call. Today, we'll be discussing our first-quarter 2026 results, which were released yesterday afternoon. This morning, I'm joined by Ned Coletta, President and Chief Executive Officer of Casella Waste Systems; and Brad Helgeson, our Chief Financial Officer. 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.

各位早安，感謝您加入本次電話會議。今天我們將討論 2026 年第一季的業績，該業績已於昨天下午發布。今天早上與我一同出席的有 Casella Waste Systems 總裁兼執行長 Ned Coletta，以及我們的財務長 Brad Helgeson。在回顧這些結果並更新公司活動與業務環境之後，我們很樂意回答各位的提問。

But first, please note that various remarks we 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 Form 10-K, which is on file with the SEC.

但首先，請注意，我們就公司未來預期、計畫與前景所作的各項評論，均構成《1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法》安全港條款所界定的前瞻性陳述。由於多項重要因素，實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述所示存在重大差異，包括我們最近一期已向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交之 Form 10-K 中「風險因素」章節所討論的因素。

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views 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.

此外，任何前瞻性陳述僅代表我們截至今日的觀點，不應被依賴為代表我們在任何後續日期的觀點。雖然我們未來可能選擇在某個時間點更新前瞻性陳述，但即使我們的觀點有所改變，我們亦明確聲明不負任何更新義務。

These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as any date subsequent to today, May 1, 2026. Also during the call, we'll be referring to non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP measures are 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 efforts are included in our press release filed on Form 8-K with the SEC. And with that, I'll now turn it over to Ned to begin today's discussion.

這些前瞻性陳述不應被依賴為代表我們在今日（2026 年 5 月 1 日）之後任何日期的觀點。此外，在本次電話會議中，我們將提及非 GAAP 財務衡量指標。這些非 GAAP 指標係依一般公認會計原則編製。在不需付出不合理努力即可取得的範圍內，非 GAAP 財務衡量指標與最直接可比之 GAAP 指標的調節表，已包含於我們以 Form 8-K 向 SEC 提交的新聞稿中。接下來，我將把時間交給 Ned，開始今天的討論。

Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We are very pleased with our performance in the first quarter and the strong start it provides for 2026. Our team executed well across the business, delivering solid financial results and margin expansion that exceeded our budget while also advancing our strategic priorities. We combine disciplined positive pricing, steady core operations, and meaningful acquisition activity to position the business for a strong year.

各位早安，感謝大家今天加入我們。我們對第一季的表現非常滿意，這也為 2026 年帶來強勁的開局。我們的團隊在各項業務上執行到位，交出穩健的財務成果並實現利潤率擴張，超出我們的預算，同時也推進了我們的策略重點。我們結合嚴謹且正向的定價、穩健的核心營運，以及具實質意義的併購活動，使公司具備迎接強勁年度表現的良好定位。

Importantly, the momentum we are seeing is broad-based. It reflects the consistency of our operating model and the continued focus of our teams on execution, safety, and customer service. Revenues for the quarter were $457.3 million or up 9.6% year over year. Growth was driven by contributions from acquisitions and the base business with strong pricing across our collection, in disposal lines and continued strength in our Resource Solutions segment, particularly in national accounts.

重要的是，我們所看到的動能是全面性的。這反映了我們營運模式的一致性，以及各團隊持續專注於執行、安全與客戶服務。本季營收為 4.573 億美元，年增 9.6%。成長主要來自併購貢獻與基礎業務表現：我們在收運與處置業務線均展現強勁定價，同時資源解決方案（Resource Solutions）部門持續強勢，尤其是在全國性客戶（national accounts）方面。

Pricing continues to perform well and remains a core driver of our results. Solid waste pricing was up 5.1% overall, including 5.3% in the collection line of business and 4.7% in disposal. From a volume perspective, the quarter played out largely as we expected, with slightly negative volumes mainly due to the challenging winter weather across our footprint.

定價持續表現良好，仍是我們業績的核心驅動因素。整體固體廢棄物定價上升 5.1%，其中收運業務線上升 5.3%，處置業務上升 4.7%。就量的角度而言，本季整體走勢大致符合我們預期，量略為負成長，主要是因我們營運版圖內冬季天候嚴峻所致。

Despite these headwinds, total landfill tonnes were up year over year, including increases in both MSW and C&D volumes with C&D volumes actually up 13% year over year [as to] landfills. These results reflect the strength of our sales pipeline, all of our internalization efforts over the last 1.5 years and our unique landfill asset positioning in the Northeast. Further, we are well positioned for the seasonal upswing in volumes that we see in the spring, and we've seen positive trends through April.

儘管面臨這些逆風，垃圾掩埋場總進場噸數仍較去年同期增加，MSW 與 C&D 量皆成長，其中 C&D 量在垃圾掩埋場實際年增 13%。這些結果反映了我們銷售管線的強勁、過去一年半來各項內部化（internalization）工作的成效，以及我們在美國東北地區獨特的掩埋場資產布局。此外，我們已為春季通常出現的季節性量能回升做好準備，且我們在 4 月已看到正向趨勢。

On the cost side, our fuel recovery program worked effectively in the quarter with floating fees fully offsetting the increase in fuel costs across our business. This continues to be an important component of our ability to manage risk and produce stable and predictable operating results. As we've emphasized, our focus remains on disciplined execution to offering level. Our teams continue to make progress on route optimization, fleet efficiency, and automation, and we're seeing those efforts translate into our results.

在成本方面，我們的燃料回收機制於本季運作有效，浮動費率已完全抵銷全公司燃料成本的上升。這仍是我們管理風險並產生穩定、可預測營運成果的重要組成。如我們一再強調，我們的重點仍是以嚴謹的執行落實到各項服務層級。我們的團隊持續在路線最佳化、車隊效率與自動化方面取得進展，並看到這些努力反映在業績表現上。

Adjusted EBITDA increased 12.3% year over year, and we delivered 50 basis points of margin expansion in the quarter. Safety is our first priority in our operations every day. And we continue to invest in safety initiatives, including the expansion of our Triage programs to minimize the cost associated with workers' compensation claims and the implementation of the Lytx in-cab AI technology across our entire fleet in 2026.

調整後 EBITDA 年增 12.3%，本季我們實現 50 個基點的利潤率擴張。安全是我們每日營運的第一優先。我們也持續投資於安全措施，包括擴大我們的 Triage 計畫，以降低與勞工補償理賠相關的成本，以及在 2026 年於全車隊導入 Lytx 車內 AI 技術。

The Lytx system is helping our drivers with real-time coaching to reduce unsafe behaviors. This leads to lower incidents and strengthens our overall safety culture. These efforts have resulted in better safety performance with our key OSHA metric, TRIR, improving by 20% year over year.

Lytx 系統透過即時教練指導協助駕駛降低不安全行為。這可降低事故發生並強化整體安全文化。這些努力帶來更佳的安全表現，我們的關鍵 OSHA 指標 TRIR 年減 20%。

We have also attracted several excellent new leaders to Casella over the last several months, including Chris Rains as our new Chief Revenue Officer, joining in March. We're excited to have these accomplished executives join our team, adding key skills through our already strong leadership team.

過去幾個月，我們也為 Casella 延攬了多位優秀的新領導者，包括 3 月加入、擔任新任營收長（Chief Revenue Officer）的 Chris Rains。我們很高興這些卓越的高階主管加入團隊，為我們本已強大的領導團隊增添關鍵能力。

In the Mid-Atlantic, we've made significant progress on our integration efforts. We've migrated nearly all customers to our new lead-to-cash system and integrated customer payment portal and we are on track to complete the remaining migrations by the end of next week. This is an important milestone as it allows us to shift our focus from systems migration to the exciting work of recognizing operational synergies through route consolidations, automation, and facility consolidations.

在中大西洋地區（Mid-Atlantic），我們的整合作業已取得顯著進展。我們已將幾乎所有客戶移轉至新的 lead-to-cash 系統與整合式客戶付款入口網站，並預計在下週末前完成其餘移轉。這是一個重要里程碑，因為它使我們能將重心從系統移轉，轉向透過路線整併、自動化與設施整併來實現營運綜效的工作。

As guided, we're on track to cut $5 million of operating costs in 2026 and another $10 million over the next two years. From a technology and efficiency standpoint, we continue to make steady progress. On the customer side, we've been investing in key platforms to improve customer experience, including the launch of our new payment portal last month, and the planned rollout of the new Casella app in the second quarter. We also continue to develop our e-commerce capabilities. These efforts are focused on improving the customer experience while also yielding cost efficiencies.

依照先前指引，我們正按計畫在 2026 年削減 500 萬美元營運成本，並在接下來兩年再削減 1,000 萬美元。在科技與效率方面，我們持續穩步推進。在客戶端，我們持續投資關鍵平台以改善客戶體驗，包括上月推出新的付款入口網站，以及計畫於第二季推出新的 Casella App。我們也持續發展電商能力。這些努力旨在提升客戶體驗，同時帶來成本效率。

At the same time, we remain focused on reducing G&A costs, and we are on track with our previously announced $15 million in targeted G&A savings over the next three years. As mentioned last quarter, these savings will come in three phases, with the first phase yielding in the second half of 2026 as we implement credit card convenience fees.

同時，我們仍專注於降低 G&A 成本，並正按先前宣布的計畫，在未來三年達成 1,500 萬美元的目標 G&A 節省。如上季所提，這些節省將分三個階段實現，第一階段將在 2026 年下半年、我們導入信用卡便利費（convenience fees）時開始貢獻。

The second phase will come in 2027 as we eliminate redundant system costs, and the last phase will come throughout '27 and '28 as we automate back-office functions and take out costs. Across these initiatives, we're also focusing on AI-enabled tools in investing in data infrastructure to support further capabilities. Over time, we expect these investments to generate additional leverage across our back office and yield additional efficiency gains.

第二階段將在 2027 年實現，屆時我們將消除重複的系統成本；最後階段將在 2027 年與 2028 年期間逐步實現，透過自動化後勤辦公室（back-office）職能並移除相關成本。在這些計畫中，我們也聚焦於 AI 賦能工具，並投資資料基礎設施以支援進一步的能力。長期而言，我們預期這些投資將為後勤部門帶來更多槓桿效益，並帶來額外的效率提升。

We continue to make great permitting progress on our expansion efforts at the Hakes and Hyland landfills in New York. With the Hakes permit expected by the third quarter of 2026 and the Hyland permit expected by the first quarter of 2027. As we previously mentioned, we're working to more than double the annual permit at Hyland from 460,000 tonnes a year to 1 million tonnes a year, while also working to add 60 years of capacity.

我們持續在紐約的 Hakes 與 Hyland 掩埋場擴建計畫上，於許可申請方面取得重大進展。Hakes 的許可預計於 2026 年第三季取得，Hyland 的許可預計於 2027 年第一季取得。如先前所提，我們正推動將 Hyland 的年度許可量由每年 460,000 公噸提高至 100 萬公噸以上，同時也致力於新增 60 年的容量。

At the Hakes, C&D landfill, we're permitting a 10-plus year expansion. Additionally, we completed the new rail transfer station at the McKean landfill in the last month, allowing us now to accept materials from both gondolas and intermodal containers, including internalized MSW volumes from Massachusetts later this year.

在 Hakes 的 C&D（建築與拆除）掩埋場，我們正在申請一項 10 年以上的擴建許可。此外，我們於上個月完成了 McKean 掩埋場的新鐵路轉運站，使我們現在可同時接收敞車（gondolas）與聯運貨櫃（intermodal containers）的物料，包括今年稍晚將自麻薩諸塞州內部化的 MSW（一般生活垃圾）量。

Our McKean land flow is a great rail option for the Northeastern waste that does not have access to local disposal. As a reminder, about 30% of the waste that's generated in the Northeast needs to be exported given the lack of disposal capacity in our markets.

我們的 McKean 陸運流向是一個很好的鐵路選項，可服務無法取得當地處置資源的美國東北部廢棄物。提醒一下，由於我們市場的處置容量不足，美國東北部產生的廢棄物約有 30% 需要外運。

The McKean landfill is proximate to dense populations in the Northeast and is one of only a few rail surf landfills that can service the market given the capital intensity and logistical complexity. Acquisitions remain an important component of our growth strategy, and we've had a strong start to the year. We have completed four acquisitions so far in 2026, representing approximately $150 million of annualized revenues. This includes the Star Waste acquisition which closed on April 1 and adds approximately $100 million of annualized revenues.

McKean 掩埋場鄰近美國東北部人口稠密區，且由於資本投入高與物流複雜度高，能以鐵路服務該市場的掩埋場屈指可數，而 McKean 正是其中之一。併購仍是我們成長策略的重要組成，我們今年開局強勁。截至 2026 年目前為止，我們已完成四項併購，對應約 1.5 億美元的年化營收。其中包括 4 月 1 日完成交割的 Star Waste 併購案，新增約 1 億美元的年化營收。

These transactions continue to align well with our strategy of building density within our existing footprint. Star Waste is an excellent example of that approach with strong overlap in Massachusetts and clear opportunities for integration and operational improvements. Our teams are making great progress on integration with an early focus on safety, onboarding our new team members in aligning integration plans.

這些交易持續與我們在既有版圖內提升密度的策略高度一致。Star Waste 是此策略的絕佳例證，於麻薩諸塞州與我們的業務重疊度高，且具備明確的整合與營運改善機會。我們的團隊在整合方面進展良好，初期重點放在安全、讓新團隊成員順利到位（onboarding），並使整合計畫一致對齊。

At the same time, our acquisition pipeline remains very strong, and we have our number of tuck-in opportunities in later stages that fit well within our existing markets. Overall, we feel very good about our execution year-to-date, and we believe we have a solid outlook for the remainder of the year, including adjusted free cash flow growth of roughly 14% at the midpoint of guidance.

同時，我們的併購案源（pipeline）仍然非常強勁，且有多個符合我們既有市場的補強型（tuck-in）機會已進入較後期階段。整體而言，我們對今年迄今的執行表現感到非常滿意，並認為今年剩餘期間展望穩健；以指引中位數計，調整後自由現金流成長約 14%。

Our business proved its resiliency in the quarter as we beat our budget, expanded margins by 65 basis points in the base business and fully recovered rapidly rising fuel costs. I want to thank our employees for their continued focus on safety, service, and execution. And with that, I'll turn it over to Brad to walk through the financials in more detail.

本季我們的業務展現韌性：不僅優於預算，基礎業務的利潤率擴張 65 個基點，且迅速上升的燃料成本也已完全回收。我要感謝全體員工持續專注於安全、服務與執行。接下來我把時間交給 Brad，請他更詳細說明財務表現。

Thanks, Ned, and good morning, everyone. Revenues in the first quarter were $457.3 million, up $40.2 million, 9.6% year over year with $23.9 million from acquisitions, including rollover and $16.2 million from same-store growth or 3.9%.

謝謝 Ned，各位早安。第一季營收為 4.573 億美元，年增 4,020 萬美元，年增率 9.6%；其中 2,390 萬美元來自併購（含承接/延續效應 rollover），同店成長貢獻 1,620 萬美元，或 3.9%。

Solid waste revenues were up 10% year over year, with price up 5.1% and volume down 2.5%. Within solid waste, price in the collection line of business was up 5.3% in the quarter, led by 6.5% price at roll-off and 6% price in front load commercial. As a reminder, our reported price figure represents realized price net of rollbacks, not gross price increases and is more comparable to what several of our peers report as yield.

固體廢棄物營收年增 10%，其中價格上升 5.1%，量下滑 2.5%。在固體廢棄物中，收運（collection）業務線本季價格上升 5.3%，主要由開放式貨櫃（roll-off）價格上升 6.5% 以及前裝式商用（front load commercial）價格上升 6% 所帶動。提醒一下，我們揭露的價格指標為扣除回退（rollbacks）後的已實現價格，而非名目（gross）調價幅度；其可比性更接近同業所稱的 yield（收益率/實現單價）。

Collection volume was down 2.1%, with softer roll-off volumes in particular during a quarter of difficult weather. Price in the full line of business was up 4.7% including 4.3% third-party price at the landfills. Rental volumes overall were up 19,000 tonnes or 2.3% in the quarter, with internalize volume up 13,000 tonnes and third-party volume up 6,000 tonnes.

收運量下滑 2.1%，在天候不佳的一季中，尤其是 roll-off 量較疲弱。處置（disposal）業務線價格上升 4.7%，其中包括掩埋場第三方價格上升 4.3%。掩埋量（tonnage）整體增加 19,000 公噸或 2.3%；其中內部化量增加 13,000 公噸，第三方量增加 6,000 公噸。

The Landfill business is strong coming out of the winter months, and we anticipate improved year over year third-party pricing in 2026 of 4% to 5%, consistent with our guidance expectation for 5% price growth overall in the solid waste business.

掩埋場業務在冬季過後表現強勁；我們預期 2026 年第三方定價年增 4% 至 5%，與我們對固體廢棄物業務整體價格成長 5% 的指引一致。

You'll note that we are providing additional detail in our press release starting this quarter to break out disposal pricing volume between landfills and transfer stations. These metrics transfer stations give visibility to disposal market trends generally across our footprint, but not represent significant EBITDA contribution on a line of business basis in the same way that landfills do.

各位會注意到，從本季起我們在新聞稿中提供更多細節，將掩埋場與轉運站的處置定價與量分別揭露。轉運站的這些指標可讓外界了解我們版圖內整體處置市場趨勢，但就業務線而言，其對 EBITDA 的貢獻並不像掩埋場那樣顯著。

Resource Solutions revenues were up 8% year over year with recycling and other processing revenue down 2.7%, impacted by lower commodity prices and national accounts up 20.7%. Within Resource Solutions processing operations, our average recycled commodity revenue per tonnw was down 22% year-over-year though the market has stabilized, and we expect the negative year over year comparisons to moderate as we move through the year.

資源解決方案（Resource Solutions）營收年增 8%；其中回收與其他處理營收下滑 2.7%，受較低的大宗商品價格影響，而全國性客戶（national accounts）營收成長 20.7%。在資源解決方案的處理營運中，我們每噸平均回收商品收入年減 22%；儘管市場已趨於穩定，我們預期隨著年度推進，年對年負向比較將逐步收斂。

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 commodity prices on our revenue was only about $1 million. Note that this full picture is not reflected in our processing price statistic because further offset is generated by our floating SRA fee, which shares risk with our collection customers at the curve and has passed back to the recycling facilities intercompany. Processing volume and revenue terms was up 6%.

儘管面臨市場壓力，我們的合約架構會在市場下行時調整傾倒費（tip fees），與客戶共同分擔此風險，因此大宗商品價格下跌對我們營收的淨影響僅約 100 萬美元。請注意，這個完整影響並未反映在我們的處理價格統計中，因為我們的浮動 SRA 費用可進一步抵銷；該費用與收運客戶在曲線（curve）上分攤風險，並以公司內部交易（intercompany）回傳至回收處理設施。處理量與處理營收（按條款）成長 6%。

National Accounts continues to grow nicely with volume growth of 11.2% and price of 4.4%. It's worth noting the contribution of national accounts to our overall collection business. As I mentioned, we reported a volume decline in third-party collection revenue in our Solid Waste business in the quarter, but this does not reflect the work that we do to service our national account sales with our own trucks, which is intercompany.

全國性客戶持續良好成長，量成長 11.2%，價格成長 4.4%。值得一提的是，全國性客戶對我們整體收運業務的貢獻。如我所述，本季我們在固體廢棄物業務中揭露第三方收運營收的量下滑，但這並未反映我們以自有車隊服務全國性客戶銷售的工作量，因其屬公司內部交易（intercompany）。

Including this new business coming via national accounts, we would have added 1% to the collection volume statistic for the Solid Waste segment. We generated $3.6 million in additional revenue in the quarter from higher fees, including our floating fee programs for recycled commodity and fuel risk. As Ned mentioned, we successfully covered all of the increase in fuel costs in the quarter with minimal lag as diesel prices rose quickly.

若將透過全國性客戶帶來的新增業務納入，我們固體廢棄物部門的收運量指標將增加 1%。本季我們因費率提高（包括回收商品與燃料風險的浮動費率方案）而新增 360 萬美元營收。如 Ned 所提，我們在本季柴油價格快速上升時，幾乎沒有滯後地成功回收了全部燃料成本增幅。

Adjusted EBITDA was $97.1 million in the quarter, up $10.7 million or 12.3% year over year with $4.4 million of contribution from acquisitions, including rollover and over 7% organic growth. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 21.2% in the quarter, up approximately 50 basis points year over year overall.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 9,710 萬美元，年增 1,070 萬美元或 12.3%；其中併購（含 rollover）貢獻 440 萬美元，且有超過 7% 的有機成長。本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 21.2%，整體年增約 50 個基點。

Bridging the year-over-year change in adjusted EBITDA margin, new acquisitions contributing at lower initial EBITDA margins than our overall business, diluted margins by 15 basis points in the quarter. The base business, excluding new acquisitions completed in the past 12 months, expanded margins on a same-store basis by 65 basis points.

就調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的年對年變動拆解而言，新併購案初期 EBITDA 利潤率低於公司整體水準，使本季利潤率稀釋 15 個基點。基礎業務（排除過去 12 個月內完成的新併購）在同店基礎上利潤率擴張 65 個基點。

Recall, the privately held businesses that we acquire typically operate at lower margins, which can create short-term margin dilution. As we integrate these businesses, capture synergies and apply our operating model, they become margin expansion opportunities over time, creating a regenerative benefit as we continue to execute on our acquisition strategy.

請記得，我們收購的民營企業通常以較低利潤率營運，可能造成短期利潤率稀釋。隨著我們整合這些企業、取得綜效並導入我們的營運模式，它們將隨時間推進轉化為利潤率擴張機會；在我們持續執行併購策略的過程中，形成一種可再生的效益。

Cost of operations were $308.9 million in the quarter, up $28.5 million year over year, with $17.2 million of the increase from acquisitions, and $11.3 million in the base business including $1.9 million from higher fuel costs, which we covered with our fuel recovery program.

本季營運成本為 3.089 億美元，年增 2,850 萬美元；其中增加額有 1,720 萬美元來自併購，基礎業務增加 1,130 萬美元（包括燃料成本增加 190 萬美元，而我們已透過燃料回收方案予以涵蓋）。

General and administrative costs were $58.1 million in the quarter, up $1.6 million year over year. As I said last quarter, 2026 will be a pivotal year as we laid the groundwork with better systems and process for becoming more efficient in our back office and generating better scale as we continue to grow transitioning to lower G&A as a percentage of revenue beginning in 2027.

本季一般及行政費用為5,810萬美元，較去年同期增加160萬美元。如同我在上一季所說，2026年將是關鍵的一年，因為我們已透過更好的系統與流程打下基礎，使後勤部門更有效率，並在持續成長的同時產生更佳的規模效益，並自2027年起使一般及行政費用占營收比重開始下降。

Depreciation and amortization costs were up $6.5 million year over year with $5 million resulting from acquisition activity in the past 12 months, including the amortization of acquired intangibles. Adjusted net income was $12.8 million in the quarter or $0.20 per diluted share, up $0.6 million and $0.01 per share.

折舊與攤銷費用較去年同期增加650萬美元，其中500萬美元來自過去12個月的併購活動，包括對併購取得之無形資產的攤銷。本季調整後淨利為1,280萬美元，或稀釋後每股0.20美元，較去年同期增加60萬美元及每股0.01美元。

GAAP net income was lower by $0.7 million in the quarter on higher acquisition expenses and additional costs associated with the organics facility closure in the quarter. Net cash provided by operating activities was $62.3 million in the quarter, up $12.1 million year over year or 24%, driven by EBITDA growth. DSO was 34 days at March 31.

本季GAAP淨利因較高的併購費用，以及與本季有機業務設施關閉相關的額外成本而減少70萬美元。本季營運活動提供之淨現金為6,230萬美元，較去年同期增加1,210萬美元或24%，主要由EBITDA成長帶動。截至3月31日，DSO為34天。

Adjusted free cash flow was $30.7 million, up 5% year over year.. Capital expenditures were $50 million, down $5.5 million year over year with $9.2 million of upfront investment in recent acquisitions. As of March 31, we had $1.16 billion of debt and $127 million of cash with our consolidated net leverage ratio for purposes of our bank comes at 2.29 times.

調整後自由現金流為3,070萬美元，較去年同期增加5%。資本支出為5,000萬美元，較去年同期減少550萬美元，其中920萬美元為近期併購的前期投資。截至3月31日，我們有11.6億美元的債務與1.27億美元的現金；就銀行計算口徑而言，我們的合併淨槓桿比率為2.29倍。

On a pro forma basis for the acquisitions closed on April 1, including Star Waste, our leverage ticked up to approximately 2.75. We still have approximately $500 million in available liquidity, which will enable us to be opportunistic in continuing to execute on our growth strategy and robust acquisition pipeline.

以4月1日完成交割的併購（包括Star Waste）之備考基礎計算，我們的槓桿比率小幅上升至約2.75倍。我們仍有約5億美元的可用流動性，這將使我們能把握機會，持續執行成長策略與強勁的併購管線。

As laid out in our press release yesterday, we updated financial guidance for 2026 to reflect acquisitions closed to date. We increased guidance for revenue to a range of $2.06 billion to $2.08 billion, an increase of $90 million; adjusted EBITDA to a range of $473 million to $483 million, an increase of $18 million; and adjusted free cash flow to a range of $200 million to $210 million, an increase of $5 million.

如同我們昨日新聞稿所述，我們更新了2026年的財務指引，以反映截至目前已完成交割的併購。我們將營收指引上調至20.6億至20.8億美元區間，增加9,000萬美元；將調整後EBITDA指引上調至4.73億至4.83億美元區間，增加1,800萬美元；並將調整後自由現金流指引上調至2.00億至2.10億美元區間，增加500萬美元。

As a reminder, we completed the acquisition of Mountain State Waste on January 1 and it was included in our original guidance for the full year. We completed three more acquisitions, including Star Waste on April 1, so this guidance revision reflects approximately $120 million of new annualized revenue for nine months of the year.

提醒一下，我們已於1月1日完成對Mountain State Waste的收購，且其已納入我們原先的全年指引。我們在4月1日又完成另外三項收購（包括Star Waste），因此本次指引修訂反映了約1.2億美元新增年化營收在本年度九個月期間的貢獻。

Guidance further assumes adjusted EBITDA margins of approximately 20% and adjusted free cash flow with a typical conversion from EBITDA reflecting the incremental impact on net interest costs as we finance the transaction entirely with cash on hand and borrowing on our revolver.

指引亦假設調整後EBITDA利潤率約為20%，且調整後自由現金流與EBITDA之間維持典型轉換率，同時反映因我們以手上現金及循環信貸額度（revolver）借款全額融資該交易而帶來的淨利息成本增量影響。

We have not yet increased our guidance for the base business after the first quarter. However, we are well positioned relative to our internal plan, and we'll reevaluate guidance in future quarters.

在第一季之後，我們尚未上調基礎業務的指引。不過，我們相對於內部計畫的表現處於有利位置，並將在未來季度重新評估指引。

With that, operator, would you please open the line for Q&A.

接下來，接線員，請為問答環節開放線路。

(Operator Instructions) Adam Bubes, Goldman Sachs.

(接線員指示) Adam Bubes，高盛。

I think you spoke about $30 million of cost reduction over three years between G&A and Mid-Atlantic synergies. I think that translates to something like 50 basis points of additional annual average margin expansion. I know there's always moving pieces and unanticipated bad guys. But all else equal, should we be thinking about a period of outsized margin expansion over the next couple of years?

我想你提到在三年內，於一般及行政費用與中大西洋地區協同效益之間可實現3,000萬美元的成本削減。我想這大概相當於每年平均額外約50個基點的利潤率擴張。我知道總會有一些變動因素與意料之外的負面因素。但在其他條件不變下，我們是否應該預期未來幾年會出現一段利潤率擴張較為顯著的期間？

It's Brad. Yeah, I think you should. We've always talked about over time. And as you said, there are puts and takes in any given quarter or year. But, generally, we like to get 50 basis points of recurring margin expansion in the base business over time.

我是Brad。是的，我認為你應該這麼想。我們一直談的是隨時間推進。而如你所說，在任何一個季度或年度都會有利有弊的因素拉扯。但整體而言，我們希望基礎業務隨時間推進能取得50個基點的經常性利潤率擴張。

Given the, I'll call it, pent-up synergy opportunity in the Mid-Atlantic, it's been delayed by certain factors and the opportunities we see to start to get to the G&A line as a percentage of revenue in a way that the company hasn't really been able to before. We do see an above brand margin improvement opportunity over the next two to three years, I think that's a fair assumption.

考量到我稱之為中大西洋地區「累積待釋放」的協同效益機會，先前因某些因素而延後，以及我們看到的機會能開始在一般及行政費用占營收比重上取得改善，這是公司過去其實不太能做到的。我們確實看到未來兩到三年有高於常態的利潤率改善機會，我認為這是合理的假設。

Great. And then you recently remarked, I think that the closure on Ontario could work out to be EBITDA neutral. Can you just talk about the moving pieces there? Presumably the closure could result in lost external tonnes and maybe longer transportation distances, but I think there are some offsets. So can you just help us think through the different moving pieces?

了解。另外你最近提到，我想是安大略的關閉可能會在EBITDA層面大致持平。你能談談其中的變動因素嗎？推測關閉可能會導致外部噸數流失以及運輸距離變長，但我想也有一些抵消因素。所以能否協助我們梳理不同的變動因素？

Yes, sure. And we'll work on additional information on this over the next several years. But right now, we plan to close the Ontario landfill in December 31, 2028. And as you're aware, we've been working on two important permit increases in New York for a number of years going on five to six years now. And the most important, Hyland, where we're moving the tonnage up from 460,000 tonnes to 1 million tonnes a year.

好的，當然可以。我們也會在未來幾年就此提供更多資訊。但目前我們計畫在2028年12月31日關閉安大略掩埋場。如你所知，我們多年來一直在紐約推動兩項重要的許可量提升，至今已約五到六年。其中最重要的是Hyland，我們將年處理量從46萬噸提高到100萬噸。

Ontario does roughly 750,000 to 800,000 tonnes a year. Mainly MSW, but there are C&D volumes that go into the site. So we will look as Ontario's winding down, we will look to shift volumes that were historically going into Ontario to both Hakes and Hyland and more and more of them into Hyland over that time period. And what's really important to note here is Ontario is our most expensive aerospace in the company to build and operate each year. And Hakes and Hyland represents some of the least expensive to build and operate each year.

安大略每年約處理75萬至80萬噸。主要是MSW（一般生活垃圾），但也有C&D（建築與拆除廢棄物）量進入該場址。因此，隨著安大略逐步退場，我們將把過去進入安大略的量轉移至Hakes與Hyland，並在這段期間把越來越多的量導向Hyland。而此處非常重要的一點是，安大略是我們公司每年建置與營運成本最高的場址。相較之下，Hakes與Hyland則是每年建置與營運成本最低的一些場址。

So we'll have it in capital efficiency, we'll have operating efficiency, and as you can do the simple math, it doesn't track ton per tonne. But as we look at it from an EBITDA standpoint, we should be pretty neutral during that period. On an operating income basis, we'll actually come out the other side with a benefit, it will improve both our operating income and net income as we close Ontario.

因此我們在資本效率上會有改善，在營運效率上也會有改善；而且做個簡單的數學計算，雖然它不會逐噸一比一對應。但從EBITDA角度來看，在那段期間我們應該能大致維持中性。若以營業利益來看，等安大略關閉後我們反而會受益，關閉安大略將提升我們的營業利益與淨利。

Great. And then last one for me. Can you just provide an update on where we are along the landfill gas program? I know you're not putting up dollars, but could still be a nice royalty stream. How are you thinking about the timing of the ramp there?

很好。最後一題。你能更新一下掩埋場氣體計畫目前進度嗎？我知道你們不需要投入資金，但仍可能帶來不錯的權利金收入。你們如何看待其放量（ramp）的時間點？

Yeah. This has been an interesting journey. So the first thing to note, I think everyone on the line notices, but we should reinforce is that we chose many years ago to not develop and invest in RNG facilities ourselves. So we've chosen partners through selection processes to develop these sites and they've invested all of the capital to develop each of the sites and bring them online.

是的。這是一段很有意思的歷程。首先要指出的是，我想線上的每個人都注意到了，但我們仍要再次強調：我們在多年前就選擇不自行開發並投資RNG（可再生天然氣）設施。因此我們透過遴選流程選定合作夥伴來開發這些場址，而他們投入所有資本來開發各個場址並使其上線營運。

We've had mixed results, frankly. It's taken far longer for these developers to develop projects and come online successfully. And it's frankly a bit of complexity as well. As you know, managing the landfill and managing gas at the landfill appropriately within permit compliance doesn't always align with creating the best pipeline quality of gas.

坦白說，我們的成果好壞參半。這些開發商推動專案開發並成功上線所花的時間遠比預期更久。而且坦白說，這也帶來一定的複雜性。如你所知，掩埋場的管理，以及在符合許可規範下妥善管理掩埋場氣體，並不總是與產出最佳管線品質氣體的目標一致。

So we have four projects online today. We have our project at Juniper Ridge Maine, which is an RKMBP project. We have our project at North Country in New Hampshire. It's a Viridi project. And then we have two new projects that came online in Q1, both with Waga at our Chemung and Hyland landfills. And they're all kind of in shakedown stage right now, and they're generating -- we expect this year several million dollars of EBITDA from overall the portfolio of these assets.

所以我們今天有四個專案已上線。我們在緬因州 Juniper Ridge 的專案，是一個 RKMBP 專案。我們在新罕布夏州 North Country 的專案。那是一個 Viridi 專案。接著我們在第一季還有兩個新專案上線，都是與 Waga 合作，位於我們的 Chemung 與 Hyland 掩埋場。它們目前都還算是在試運轉階段，正在產生——我們預期今年整體這些資產組合將帶來數百萬美元的 EBITDA。

There's a wide range of outcomes, and we'll be watching very closely over the next quarter or two quarters and getting additional information out to the Street. The Waga projects, in particular, appear to be operating very well in these early shakedown stages, but I think we're a little early to start calling the exact production levels of each of these. Just to give you a sense, like we're running 25,000 MMBtus a month at Chemung, Hyland, North Country right now in the shakedown phase, just to give you a sense of scale.

結果的範圍可能很廣，我們會在接下來一季或兩季非常密切地觀察，並向市場提供更多資訊。尤其是 Waga 的專案，在這些早期試運轉階段看起來運作得非常好，但我認為現在要開始判定各專案的確切產量水準還稍嫌太早。給你一個概念，例如我們目前在 Chemung、Hyland、North Country 的試運轉階段，每月大約跑 25,000 MMBtu，讓你了解一下規模。

Trevor Romeo, William Blair.

Trevor Romeo，William Blair。

I wanted to ask maybe one or two on Star Waste. So it sounds like a good deal. I guess, $100 million of revenue, but how should we think about the current margin profile for that business? And then I think they had done something like 8 acquisitions in the last four years themselves. So what are your thoughts on where they are from an operating efficiency perspective and how they kind of integrated the deals that they had done?

我想就 Star Waste 問一到兩個問題。聽起來這是一筆不錯的交易。我想，營收 1 億美元，但我們應該如何看待這個業務目前的利潤率概況？另外我記得他們自己在過去四年做了大概 8 起併購。所以你們對他們在營運效率方面的狀況，以及他們如何整合先前做過的交易，有什麼看法？

Yeah. Trevor, it's Brad. So our assumption for guidance purposes and external conversation is about 20% EBITDA margin. I mean it's broadly consistent with other acquisitions that we've acquired. I think, like with most or all of our acquisitions, we're going to seek to get those margins up materially over time. Given in particular, where Star fits into our existing business in the Greater Boston area, growth opportunities that unlocks for us, particularly on the south side of Boston, we're actually really bullish on the opportunity to improve that business within the Casella footprint over time.

是的。Trevor，我是 Brad。所以就指引與對外溝通而言，我們的假設大約是 20% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。這大致上與我們收購過的其他案子一致。我想，跟我們大多數或所有收購案一樣，我們會希望隨時間推進，讓這些利潤率有顯著提升。特別是考量 Star 在大波士頓地區與我們既有業務的契合度，以及它為我們解鎖的成長機會，尤其是在波士頓南側，我們其實非常看好在 Casella 版圖內，隨時間推進改善這項業務的機會。

And on your integration point, the entrepreneur who funded -- founded Star (inaudible) really did things the right way, hit a great team. They invested heavily in systems and process and they were integrating these small tuck-ins as they went along. And we bought a great company who's operating extremely well, has a strong management team, as I said, is a nice platform for growth into the future.

至於你提到的整合點，創業者——也就是創辦 Star 的那位（聽不清）——確實把事情做得很到位，建立了一支很棒的團隊。他們在系統與流程上投入很多，並且在一路進行的同時整合這些小型併購（tuck-ins）。我們買到的是一家營運非常出色的好公司，擁有強大的管理團隊；如我所說，這也是一個很好的平台，能支持未來成長。

This is not a fix it one. Sometimes you buy companies that we spend quite a bit of time working on fixing things and having to overinvest to get them to a certain standard, this is backed by a great PE firm Clairvest, that is putting some excellent capital into it. As an example, they just completed a great retrofit to their construction and demo processing facility, transfer station and processing facility and had state-of-the-art technology in the facility. So we're buying something that's a very nice platform and integrates well with our business.

這不是那種需要「買來修」的案子。有時候我們會買到一些公司，需要花不少時間去修正問題，並且必須超額投資才能把它們拉到某個標準；但這家公司背後有一家很棒的私募基金 Clairvest 支持，並且投入了相當優質的資本。例如，他們剛完成對其建築與拆除（C&D）處理設施、轉運站與處理設施的一次很棒的改造升級，並在設施中導入最先進的技術。所以我們買到的是一個非常好的平台，且能與我們的業務良好整合。

Yeah. And you mentioned recent acquisitions the company has made something that's somewhat unique with this acquisition is they have some potential future acquisitions in their pipeline that will flow into our efforts going forward.

是的。你提到公司近期做過的收購；這次收購有一點相對獨特的是，他們的管線裡還有一些潛在的未來收購案，接下來會納入我們後續的推進工作。

That's interesting. Okay. And maybe just a quick follow-up on Star again. I think you mentioned, I think the transfer station coming on in McKean could take volumes from Massachusetts now. So just in terms of kind of the disposal and maybe internalization opportunities with this deal, anything there or just maybe anything broadly on the synergy opportunities you could point out?

這很有意思。好的。那我再快速追問一個關於 Star 的問題。我想你提到，McKean 的轉運站啟用後，現在可以承接來自麻薩諸塞州的量。所以就處置端以及可能的內部化機會來看，這筆交易在這方面有什麼值得注意的？或者更廣泛地說，你能指出哪些協同效益機會嗎？

Yeah. So in this first phase, we're looking at it as more of how do our trucks, Casella's trucks pre-acquisition route to their transfer station. can we take advantage of that from a route synergy standpoint. Initially, the materials from that transfer station will continue to go to third-party sites. They have attractive contracts with several third-party disposal sites.

是的。所以在第一階段，我們更多是從路線協同的角度來看：我們的車隊、也就是 Casella 在收購前的車隊，如何改道到他們的轉運站，我們能否從路線協同上受益。一開始，從該轉運站出來的物料仍會繼續送往第三方場址。他們與多個第三方處置場址有具吸引力的合約。

We'll look at that long term to see if there's an internalization opportunity. But that's not one of the first phases of synergy. If we're able to advance permits in New Hampshire over the next several years and develop additional landfill capacity in New Hampshire, it would be very strong vertical integration there.

長期來看，我們會評估是否存在內部化的機會。但那不是第一階段協同效益的重點之一。如果我們能在未來幾年推進新罕布夏州的許可，並在新罕布夏州開發更多掩埋容量，那將會形成非常強的垂直整合。

Yes. Okay. Great. If you don't mind, maybe one more quick one. Just on the national accounts business because I think obviously very strong growth there. I think that business has a sort of a margin mix impact. So if you think about that growing, call it, double the rate of the company. Maybe you could just remind us kind of the incremental margins on that business and whether that makes the 65 basis points of base business margin you're talking about, maybe we keep them better on an underlying basis?

是的。好的。很好。如果你不介意，我再問最後一個快問。關於全國性客戶（national accounts）業務，因為我想那邊顯然成長非常強勁。我認為那項業務對利潤率組合會有一些影響。所以如果你把它視為以公司整體兩倍的速度成長，你能否提醒我們那項業務的增量利潤率大概是多少？以及這是否意味著你提到的基礎業務利潤率提升 65 個基點，在更底層的基礎上其實可能更好？

Yeah, it's a good question. So we love that business. Obviously, as you alluded to, the growth profile, it's very little capital investment. It helps to drive business back across our Solid Waste segment to the extent that there are customers that are coming in to the national account sales effort that are serviced, ultimately by our own trucks. That's the kind of work that we love.

是的，這是個好問題。我們很喜歡那項業務。如你所提到的，它的成長曲線很好，而且資本投資非常少。在某種程度上，它也有助於把業務帶回我們的固體廢棄物部門——也就是當全國性客戶銷售團隊引進的客戶，最終是由我們自己的車隊提供服務時。這就是我們喜歡的那種工作。

Really, the solutions-based sales effort aligns really well with Casella and our strengths and our focus areas. So it's a great business. The only footnote, I guess, from a financial standpoint is low market because it's low capital and the nature of the business. So on an EBITDA margin basis, it's mid-single digits, mid- to upper-single-digit EBITDA margin. So if you were to pull national accounts out that would be accretive to our EBITDA margin. But obviously, there are many other factors that lead us to think this is a great business that we want to push forward.

基本上，這種以解決方案為導向的銷售方式，與 Casella 以及我們的優勢與聚焦領域非常契合。所以這是一門很棒的業務。我想從財務角度唯一需要補充的是，它的利潤率較低，因為它是低資本、且業務性質如此。因此以 EBITDA 利潤率來看，大約是中個位數，約中到高個位數的 EBITDA 利潤率。所以如果把全國性客戶業務剔除，會對我們的 EBITDA 利潤率有增厚效果。但顯然還有許多其他因素，使我們認為這是一門很棒、我們想持續推進的業務。

Tyler Brown, Raymond James.

Tyler Brown，Raymond James。

I want to come back to the 4.3% landfill price number. I think that number last quarter was 2.5%. So that's a really nice acceleration. But can you kind of talk about what drove that acceleration? Was the issue more about last quarter being a bit lower? Or was it a more concerted effort this quarter? Just any color on that metric specifically?

我想回到掩埋場價格 4.3% 這個數字。我記得上季是 2.5%。所以這是很不錯的加速。但你能否談談是什麼驅動了這個加速？問題比較像是上季偏低？還是這一季有更有意識、更集中的努力？就這個指標本身，能否提供一些補充說明？

Yeah. So we're working hard to get more process and discipline around our sales efforts up and down the company and great new hire and Chris Rains. And about 1.5 years ago, our longtime lead of Landfill sales stepped away, and that responsibility was kind of absorbed across a couple of other places. And we frankly didn't have enough management of pipeline, quality of revenue, and what we're doing. And we rebuilt that through 2025, and we're working to further advance it now under Chris' leadership.

是的。我們正努力在全公司上下的銷售工作上建立更多流程與紀律，也新聘了一位很棒的人才 Chris Rains。大約 1.5 年前，我們長期負責掩埋場銷售的主管離開了，而那項責任就被分散到其他幾個單位吸收。坦白說，我們對於銷售管線的管理、營收品質，以及我們在做什麼，管理力道不夠。我們在 2025 年期間重建了這套機制，現在也在 Chris 的領導下持續推進、進一步提升。

So I think it's one part like -- we didn't get the job done as well as we could have gone it done. And two, frankly, for a little bit there. There's a one rail move that was ramping up out of New Jersey that was putting a little downward pressure on the overall Northeastern environment, that rail move is full now as a third-party company is moving waste out of New Jersey out to Ohio really don't have a lot of excess capacity in that system. So they never directly took one of our customers, but generally probably a little bit of pressure on the overall environment as well.

所以我認為這是一部分原因——我們沒有把工作做得像我們本可以做得那麼好。第二，坦白說，在那段時間。有一個從新澤西州逐步放量的單線鐵路運輸，對整體美國東北部市場環境造成了一些下行壓力；現在那條鐵路運輸已經滿載，因為有一家第三方公司正把廢棄物從新澤西州運到俄亥俄州，而該系統確實沒有太多多餘運能。所以他們從未直接搶走我們的任何客戶，但整體而言，可能也對整體環境造成了一些壓力。

Okay. Okay. That's helpful. And then quickly on Star. Just to be clear, they are not or at least not materially in heavily flow-controlled markets tied to the Massachusetts burner. So internalization could be an opportunity long term? I just want to understand that.

好的。好的。這很有幫助。然後快速問一下 Star。為了釐清，他們並沒有——或至少沒有在很大程度上——處於與麻薩諸塞州焚化爐相關、且高度受流向管制（flow-controlled）的市場。所以長期來看，內部化（internalization）可能是一個機會？我只是想確認我理解得對不對。

Yeah. There is no flow control in those markets. But as with any major metropolitan market, traffic matters in the positioning of assets matter, so as Brad said earlier, we're really strong today, Boston, Boston North to the West, stars very strong to the south from the positioning of their hauling businesses. And it really gives us the opportunity to grow in those markets.

是的。那些市場沒有流向管制。但就像任何大型都會市場一樣，交通狀況很重要、資產的區位也很重要；所以如 Brad 先前所說，我們目前在波士頓、波士頓以北到西側非常強，而 Star 由於其清運業務的區位配置，在南側非常強。這確實讓我們有機會在那些市場成長。

We've had the strongest organic collection growth over the last decade in the Greater Boston market. And you kind of think about this from our sustainability, our resource solutions approach, the integration with our state-of-the-art recycling facility in that market, we've sold a lot of really premier customers, and we've grown share of wallet. And we think we can kind of expand upon the success Star has had in a similar way over the next coming years.

在過去十年裡，我們在大波士頓市場的有機收運成長是最強的。從我們的永續、資源解決方案策略來看，結合我們在該市場的最先進回收設施，我們拿下了許多非常優質的客戶，並提升了客戶錢包份額（share of wallet）。我們認為，未來幾年我們可以用類似方式，進一步擴大 Star 既有的成功。

Okay. Great. And then Brad, just to help us on Q2 margins. So I know that there's a normal step-up because it kind of unthaw, if you will, up in the Northeast. Revenue kind of takes a step up sequentially. But then you've got acquisitions that are dilutive by nature, fuel is dilutive by nature. Can you just give us any color on how we should think about margins either sequentially or year over-year, just to kind of get us in the right spot.

好的。很好。然後 Brad，想請你幫我們理解一下第二季的利潤率。我知道通常第二季會有一個正常的跳升，因為美國東北部開始解凍（如果你願意這麼說的話）。營收在季比上會上台階。但你們又有併購，按性質會稀釋；燃料按性質也會稀釋。你能否提供一些看法，讓我們知道利潤率不論是季比或年比該怎麼思考，好讓我們的預期落在正確的位置。

Yeah. So as you pointed out, sequentially, margins are much better in the second quarter and then advancing into the third quarter in our business, particularly given our geography. On a year-over-year basis, I mean you really mentioned the two main factors that we'll be dealing with this second quarter, which is fuel surcharges. I mean we'll see where fuel goes over the second quarter, but higher fuel costs that are covered by our recovery fees or, of course, margin dilutive and the acquisitions. So we'll see how the acquisitions impact things.

好的。如你所指出，從季比來看，我們的利潤率在第二季會明顯更好，並在第三季進一步提升，特別是考量到我們的地理分布。從年比來看，你其實提到了我們第二季要面對的兩個主要因素：燃料附加費。我們會觀察第二季油價走勢，但由回收費用（recovery fees）所涵蓋的較高燃料成本，當然會稀釋利潤率；以及併購。所以我們會看看併購對整體的影響。

Another point I would make on the base business, just thinking about your modeling quarter over quarter is the synergies in the Mid-Atlantic and also actually the G&A savings that Ned had mentioned earlier, those will be more back-end loaded. So we'll start to see, as we've completed the consolidation of the Mid-Atlantic onto our system.

另外一點，若從本業來看、用於你們做季對季模型的思考：中大西洋地區的協同效益，以及 Ned 先前提到的 G&A（一般與行政）節省，這些會比較偏向後段釋放。因此，隨著我們完成把中大西洋地區整合到我們的系統上，我們會開始看到……

We're going to start to see those benefits in the second quarter of the synergy realization, but that's really a Q3 and Q4 story more so -- and then the convenience fees that Ned mentioned are entirely back-end loaded. So Q2, we'll see where we end up. There are some headwinds as you mentioned. But our focus is really on frankly, the third quarter and the fourth quarter for this year and then, of course, going into 2027.

我們會在第二季開始看到協同效益實現帶來的好處，但那更像是第三季與第四季的故事——另外，Ned 提到的便利費（convenience fees）完全是後段釋放。所以第二季我們就看最後落點如何。如你所提，確實有一些逆風。但我們的重點其實是第三季與第四季，然後當然也包括邁向 2027 年。

Right. But if your kind of updated guidance is flattish on the margin line with the dilution. So is it crazy to think it could be slightly down in Q2 on a year-over-year basis, up sequentially though?

了解。但如果你們更新後的指引是在利潤率那一行，考量稀釋後大致持平。那麼，會不會太離譜去想：第二季年比可能會小幅下滑，但季比仍會上升？

It's a really good question. That's not crazy to think that way.

這是個非常好的問題。這樣想並不離譜。

But to be clear, the base business will be the positive acquisitions could weigh on it slightly negative. We weren't able to get fully under the hood on [Star centousa] and a [DOJ] process on the customers to wrap all of those things until really day one, Tyler. We're digging in now and really looking at the progression of what we can do there. So as we said, probably little more overhang on margins of 20%-ish to start with and look to improve from there.

但要說清楚，本業會是正向；併購可能會讓它略偏負面。在 [Star centousa] 以及 [DOJ] 流程下，我們在第一天之前無法把客戶等各項細節完全摸透、深入了解。我們現在正在深入挖掘，並仔細看我們能做什麼、以及推進的節奏。所以如我們所說，一開始利潤率可能會有大約 20% 左右的些許壓力，之後再設法改善。

Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure I had that. And then just last one, if I can, Ned. This is a bit of a periphery question, but I'm kind of curious about it. So I think in Massachusetts, there are a couple of larger landfills -- sorry, ash landfills that are set to close in coming years that are kind of related to some of the burners. How do you think that's going to play? And what do you think and how will they deal with that excess ash?

好的。好。我只是想確認我理解正確。最後一個問題，如果可以的話，Ned。這有點偏題，但我有點好奇。我想在麻薩諸塞州，有幾個較大的掩埋場——抱歉，是灰渣掩埋場——預計在未來幾年關閉，且與一些焚化爐相關。你覺得這會怎麼發展？以及你認為他們會如何處理那些多出的灰渣？

Yeah. So it needs to go somewhere and it needs to go to Subtitle D landfill. So that will take up capacity in the marketplace is something that really hasn't been discussed. I can't get into a lot of details there, but we believe there's some real value working with some of our peers across the waste-to-energy business on certain of those streams, and it's an area that we've been actively engaged, and we think there's some value creation over time. And hopefully, we'll have more to report.

是的。它必須有地方去，而且必須進到 Subtitle D 掩埋場。因此這會占用市場上的容量，而這點其實還沒有被充分討論。我不能在這裡談太多細節，但我們相信，與我們在廢轉能（waste-to-energy）業務上的一些同業，就其中某些料流合作，具有實質價值；我們也一直在積極推進，我們認為隨時間推移會創造一些價值。希望之後我們能有更多可以報告的內容。

But it's a great point. I think the easiest part of the point is those landfills are closing or filling up. And that ash, the further you move it, the more expensive it gets, and we've got some great in-market solutions. Our McKean rail facility actually fits very, very well with some of the burn plants as well.

但這點提得很好。我認為最直觀的一部分是：那些掩埋場正在關閉或接近填滿。而灰渣運得越遠，成本就越高；而我們在當地市場內有一些很好的解決方案。我們的 McKean 鐵路設施其實也非常、非常適合搭配其中一些焚化廠。

And Tyler, you mentioned Massachusetts landfills, but there's -- as a reminder, there's also a lot of ash that goes into the Brookhaven landfill on Long Island, which is going to be closing ash over the next few years.

Tyler，你提到麻薩諸塞州的掩埋場，但——提醒一下——也有大量灰渣會進到長島的 Brookhaven 掩埋場，而該掩埋場在未來幾年也將停止接收灰渣並關閉。

Yeah, that's as much as 400,000 tonnes a year that goes into that landfill today. And the Brookhaven landfill, that caused a little up when it was closing from a C&D standpoint, but it's still open for ash through the next two years and to be closed at that point in time.

是的，目前每年大約有多達 40 萬噸進到那座掩埋場。Brookhaven 掩埋場在 C&D（建築與拆除廢棄物）面向關閉時曾造成一些波動，但它仍會在接下來兩年持續對灰渣開放，並在那個時間點關閉。

And there's still -- and we talk about this sometimes, it ebbs and flows. As we look out over the next 10 years, there's still a lot of disposals coming offline in the Northeast. And as you pointed out, some of these sites are just taking ash. But at any point in time, you could go through a year period of time where you have a little bit more capacity like we did in 2025 of rail, then that fills up, people look to the next phase of sites closing. So I think the long-term horizon is still the same as we've been talking about for years. There's a supply-demand imbalance in these markets and our in-market capacity is very valuable and we'll continue to have pricing power.

而且仍然——我們有時也會談到這點，情況會起起伏伏。展望未來10年，東北地區仍有大量處置場將陸續退場。如你所指出，其中一些場址只是接收飛灰。但在任何一個時間點，你可能會遇到某一年度期間，像我們在2025年那樣，鐵路運輸的處置能力稍微多一些；之後這些容量就會被填滿，大家就會轉而關注下一波場址關閉的階段。所以我認為長期的趨勢仍與我們多年來一直在談的一樣。這些市場存在供需失衡，而我們在市場內的處置容量非常有價值，我們也將持續擁有定價能力。

Jim Schumm, TD Cowen.

Jim Schumm，TD Cowen。

So that's actually my question, is I wanted you guys to address a little bit more the supply/demand situation in the Northeast because I think a lot of investors are solely focused on rail or hearing rail is moving waste out and maybe you look at some of the landfill pricing recently, which is sub-5%, which maybe is not that impressive to some folks. And there's a concern that landfill pricing is going to be depressed longer term. So I just wanted to get your views.

所以這其實就是我的問題：我希望你們能再多談一點東北地區的供需狀況，因為我認為很多投資人只專注在鐵路，或是聽到鐵路正在把廢棄物運出去；再加上你看最近一些掩埋場的價格調漲，大概不到5%，對某些人來說可能不算特別亮眼。因此有人擔心掩埋場的定價在長期會被壓抑。所以我想聽聽你們的看法。

We've talked about you've talked about a couple of moving parts. But like what is your longer-term view on your Northeast landfill pricing. From time to time, you are going to see these rail projects move waste out. But when you guys look at the closures, what does that mean for pricing in 2027, 2028, 2029? Can you get -- is it more mid-single digits? Can you get upper single digits at some point? Or like how are you guys thinking about that?

我們談過——你也提到——有幾個變動因素。但你們對東北地區掩埋場定價的長期看法是什麼？不時會看到這些鐵路專案把廢棄物運出去。但當你們看待這些關閉事件時，對2027、2028、2029年的定價意味著什麼？你們能做到——會是中個位數的漲幅嗎？有機會在某個時間點做到高個位數嗎？或者你們是怎麼思考的？

Yeah. Thanks for the question. So if we look at the last decade plus, pricing at the landfills has generally been mid-single digits in its range from a couple of lows for us and in 2025, the highs as much as 8% or 9% during that time period. And it really depends. I mean, you need to look at the book of business.

是的。謝謝你的問題。如果我們回顧過去十年以上，掩埋場的定價一般落在中個位數區間；在這段期間，我們也曾有幾次較低的年份，而在2025年則出現過高達8%或9%的高點。而這真的取決於情況。我的意思是，你需要看業務組合（book of business）。

So some of our outside years also have a relationship with big large contracts that might be renewing in those periods, and there might be step-ups in those contracts. So they have a five-year contract and the market continues to tighten over the five years, you might get some of those outsized pricing years around those resets.

因此，我們某些較遠期年度的表現，也與一些大型合約在那些期間到期續約有關，而這些合約可能會有階梯式調價（step-ups）。所以如果是五年期合約，而市場在這五年內持續收緊，你可能會在這些合約重置（reset）時，看到某些定價特別突出的年份。

But generally, we're kind of stacking up that mid-single digits. And I think we feel really confident that if we can price at those levels, we'll have a great economic outcome and returns for shareholders. I said it to Tyler a minute ago, and I feel the same way. If you look at all the sites that we'll be closing over the next decade, there's not enough space for all of this waste in the marketplace. So then you start to look at what are the alternatives.

但整體而言，我們大致就是把中個位數的漲幅一層一層疊上去。而且我認為我們非常有信心，只要能以這樣的水準定價，就能帶來很好的經濟成果與股東報酬。我剛才也跟Tyler說過，我的看法一樣。如果你看未來十年我們將關閉的所有場址，市場上沒有足夠的空間來容納這些廢棄物。接著你就會開始思考替代方案是什麼。

The best alternatives are in market, right, where you can use a truck, move the waste via long-haul trough to a landfill or to a waste-to-energy plant. The more expensive solution both capital and operating costs is to move it via rail. It's far more expensive, but it's the only viable option as in-market capacity comes out.

最好的替代方案是在市場內，對吧？也就是用卡車，透過長途運輸把廢棄物送到掩埋場或垃圾焚化發電廠（waste-to-energy plant）。而在資本支出與營運成本上更昂貴的解決方案，是用鐵路運輸。那會貴得多，但當市場內的處置容量退出時，這是唯一可行的選項。

So we see that as a tailwind for us over the next number of years as well. Sites will be closing. We've got a great outlook on capacity. We have over 25 years at our sites today. We've got some important expansions in progress -- process that are working well, and we expect to land those in the next year. And we look at the backdrop, which should be positive over the next decade.

因此我們也把這視為未來幾年的順風因素。場址將會關閉。我們對容量的前景非常樂觀。我們目前各場址的剩餘年限合計超過25年。我們也有一些重要的擴建案正在推進——流程運作良好，我們預期在明年完成落地。而我們看整體環境，未來十年的背景應該是正面的。

Okay. Great. And then I just wanted to ask you another question I get from investors a lot is you have this network of landfills in the Northeast and then you make this platform acquisition into the Mid-Atlantic and then you're growing west or southeast from there. But you don't really have any landfills in this -- in this area. So you kind of McKean in Pennsylvania, but what is the -- how should people think about your collection margins, what is the sort of the ultimate goal? I mean can you earn 30% margins without a landfill in Mid-Atlantic geography? Or is it more like should we be thinking more like 25%? And I know that you guys have said it's closer to 20% right now, and let's think about 25%, I think, over the next couple of years. But longer term, is there upside to that 25% number?

好的。很好。接著我還想問另一個我常從投資人那裡聽到的問題：你們在東北有一個掩埋場網絡，然後你們在中大西洋地區做了一筆平台型收購（platform acquisition），接著再往西或往東南擴張。但你們在這個——在這個區域其實沒有掩埋場。所以你們在賓州有McKean，但大家應該如何看待你們的收運（collection）利潤率？最終目標是什麼？我的意思是，在中大西洋地理區域沒有掩埋場的情況下，你們能做到30%的利潤率嗎？還是說我們應該更偏向用25%來思考？我知道你們也說過目前大概接近20%，並且在未來幾年把目標放在25%左右。但長期來看，25%這個數字還有上行空間嗎？

Yeah. So one of the things that's important to note is we use market-based pricing at all of our landfill or recycling facilities or transfer stations. So we charge our self market-based rates. So if you look at our Collection business, say, in the Northeast, where it's vertically integrated, the margins produced by that Collection business are apples-to-apples to Mid-Atlantic because we're charging intercompany market-based rates.

是的。有一點很重要：我們在所有掩埋場、回收設施或轉運站都採用市場化定價（market-based pricing）。也就是我們對內部也按市場價格計費。因此如果你看我們在東北的收運業務（那裡是垂直整合的），該收運業務產生的利潤率，與中大西洋是可直接對比的，因為我們在公司內部採用市場化的轉移價格（intercompany market-based rates）。

And we generally generate about 30% EBITDA margins on our collection line of business. In the Mid-Atlantic today, our margins are roughly 20%. This is not because we don't have landfills. This is because we have work to do. This is a business that the quality of the truck fleet was lacking. There wasn't enough density in certain parts, quality of revenue.

而我們的收運業務線一般可產生約30%的EBITDA利潤率。目前在中大西洋，我們的利潤率大約是20%。這不是因為我們沒有掩埋場。而是因為我們還有改善工作要做。這個業務的車隊品質不足。在某些區域的密度不夠、營收品質也有待提升。

And we've got strategies around each of these points, and we've laid out a plan for the next three years as we put more automated trucks in the fleet, collapse routes to add about $15 million of EBITDA to that market, which will translate to mid-20% margins. Having landfills is a great thing and having the vertical integration. But what also is important is having the right transfer assets.

我們針對上述每一點都有相應策略，也已提出未來三年的計畫：隨著我們在車隊中導入更多自動化卡車、整併路線，為該市場增加約1,500萬美元的EBITDA，這將轉化為中20%區間的利潤率。擁有掩埋場、具備垂直整合當然是好事。但同樣重要的是擁有合適的轉運資產（transfer assets）。

So you can get your trucks off the road, consolidate waste, and then be able to look to multiple disposal options. And much of our focus right now in the Mid-Atlantic is either on buying or developing the right transfer assets in that marketplace that will allow us to successfully continue to grow.

這樣你就能讓卡車更快離開道路、集中整併廢棄物，然後可以選擇多種處置方案。而我們目前在中大西洋的重點，很大一部分就是在該市場收購或開發合適的轉運資產，讓我們能夠成功地持續成長。

And we've had some great progress here. We've bought an excellent transfer station last year in the third quarter. We're working on some additional opportunities. We have a new recycling facility we just bought on April 1. We're working on developing another recycling facility ourselves. So you'll look to see that margin progression come up and we do look at over time is apples to apples, and we'll be able to have the trajectory, hopefully, over the number of years to get the same 30% margin level.

我們在這方面已取得很好的進展。去年第三季我們收購了一座非常優質的轉運站。我們也在推進一些額外的機會。我們在4月1日剛收購了一座新的回收設施。我們也在自行開發另一座回收設施。因此你會看到利潤率逐步上升；而我們也認為，長期來看在可比基礎上，我們有望在未來數年走出同樣的軌跡，達到30%的利潤率水準。

Yeah. And I just sort of add on to that is not air market is created equal, of course, from a disposal perspective. So having the security of disposal capacity in our markets in New England, let's say, upstate New York is incredibly strategically valuable. You contrast that with the Mid-Atlantic Eastern Pennsylvania will be a great example, there's plenty of landfill capacity down there.

是的。我只是補充一下，從處置的角度來看，當然不是每個市場都一樣。因此，在我們新英格蘭市場（比如紐約州北部）擁有處置產能的保障，具有極高的策略價值。相較之下，以中大西洋地區的賓夕法尼亞州東部為例，那邊的掩埋場容量相當充足。

We like the landfill business. It would help margins. We wouldn't turn down the opportunity to own landfill there, but it's not a strategic imperative. I think the focus, as Ned said, the focus down there is really going to be building out our transfer station network so that we can most efficiently access the disposal sites that are down there.

我們喜歡掩埋場業務。它有助於提升利潤率。我們不會拒絕在那裡擁有掩埋場的機會，但這並非策略上的必要條件。我認為重點，如 Ned 所說，那邊的重點將會是擴建我們的轉運站網路，以便我們能以最高效率使用那邊的處置場址。

Tami Zakaria, JPMorgan.

Tami Zakaria，摩根大通。

Congrats on the nice results. We've seen the CPI tick up lately. So can you remind us how any acceleration in the headline CPI impacts your pricing maybe on the entire parts of the portfolio? And is there a typical lag?

恭喜取得不錯的成果。我們最近看到 CPI 有所上升。所以你能否提醒我們，整體 CPI 的加速會如何影響你們的定價，可能涵蓋投資組合的哪些部分？以及通常會有多大的滯後？

Yes. So, hey, Tami, it's Brad. It does impact our pricing on some of our business. most notably, municipal contracts, that direct relationship between the contract pricing and the underlying inflation index. But as a reminder, 70%, 75% of our collection business is open market, meaning we just have service agreements directly with customers where pricing is wherever we want to set it and whatever the market will bear and whatever is appropriate given our underlying cost inflation. So I would say, directionally, it impacts us, but actually not necessarily directly because we have total flexibility to react to the circumstances.

是的。嗨，Tami，我是 Brad。它確實會影響我們部分業務的定價，最明顯的是市政合約，合約價格與基礎通膨指數之間存在直接關聯。但提醒一下，我們收運業務中有 70%、75% 是開放市場，也就是我們直接與客戶簽訂服務協議，定價取決於我們想設定的水準、市場可承受的程度，以及在我們自身成本通膨之下何者才是合適的。所以我會說，方向上它會影響我們，但不一定是直接影響，因為我們有完全的彈性去因應各種情況。

But I think higher CPI prints in a certain way to do allow maybe a bit more pricing spread. But as Brad said, 70%, 75% of our book of business, we can price it well, and we've shown that amazing flexibility over time. Last year, we talked about this. We saw our price/cost spread narrow more than we wanted to in the first half of the year. And we came out on a select group of customers with a second set of price increases in the last half of the year. And we thought that was an important thing to do to get that spread back to where we believe it should be. So we're trying to be really dynamic. But of course, the CPI print is something we're always looking at, but we're also looking at our own cost profile where we need to be.

不過我認為，較高的 CPI 數據在某種程度上確實可能讓我們有更大的定價利差空間。但如 Brad 所說，我們 70%、75% 的業務量是可以好好定價的，而且我們也展現了長期以來驚人的彈性。去年我們談過這點。我們看到上半年價格/成本利差收斂得比我們希望的更快。因此在下半年，我們針對一部分客戶推出了第二輪漲價。我們認為這麼做很重要，能把利差拉回到我們認為應有的水準。所以我們努力保持非常動態。當然，CPI 數據是我們一直在看的，但我們也同時在看自身的成本結構以及我們需要達到的水準。

Shlomo Rosenbaum, Stifel.

Shlomo Rosenbaum，Stifel。

Net, it was just echoing that it was really good to see that third-party landfill pricing stepping back up. And you talked about two factors, one of your own, just putting in more effort and ensuring appropriate pricing and getting good business. And the other one was rail. Just in terms of the impact over the last few quarters and then the turnaround, would you say that it was more a matter of turning around because the rail -- the competitor just kind of filled up already over there?

Ned，我只是呼應一下，看到第三方掩埋場定價回升真的很好。你提到兩個因素：一個是你們自身更努力、確保定價合理並取得優質業務。另一個是鐵路。就過去幾季的影響以及後來的反轉而言，你會說這次回升更多是因為那個鐵路——競爭對手那邊基本上已經滿載了嗎？

And the other aspect I want to just dig a little bit into is, do you have a sense in terms of the comparison between the rail pricing and what you're getting at your own transfer stations and tipping at the landfills? Just at what point would it make more sense for someone else to add a lot more capital and just go ahead and add more capacity through rail.

我還想再深入一點的是，你是否了解鐵路運輸的定價，與你們自有轉運站的處理費（tipping）以及掩埋場的處置費之間的比較？也就是說，在什麼情況下，對其他人而言更有意義去投入更多資本，透過鐵路來新增更多產能？

I guess what I'm trying to just get at is to understand the risk of kind of something just popping up again? Or is it something that is unlikely because the amount of capital would be very expensive? And right now, given the comparability of cost is not worth it?

我想了解的是，是否存在某種風險，類似的事情會再次突然出現？還是說這不太可能，因為所需資本會非常昂貴？而且以目前的成本可比性來看並不划算？

Yeah. Great questions. So I'll start off with your first question around the pricing in the quarter and the pricing trajectory at our landfills. As I mentioned earlier, I think it was one part kind of pipeline management and quality of revenue we are seeking and managing the customer base. And one part looking at certain rail roof that was ramping up out of New Jersey over the last several years that they gave some negative pricing pressure to the overall marketplace.

是的。問題很好。我先從你第一個問題談起，關於本季的定價以及我們掩埋場的定價走勢。如我先前提到的，我認為一部分是管線管理，以及我們追求的營收品質與客戶組合管理。另一部分則是觀察某些鐵路路線，過去幾年從新澤西逐步放量，對整體市場帶來了一些負面的定價壓力。

If you look at -- there's only a few landfills that except railways from the Northeast or just railways in general. And a few of them have some excess capacity, but they're very expensive to get to, and it takes a long time in a lot of rail exchanges. A few of them are a bit closer to the market and more reasonably cost. And if we look at both sides of that equation, one, the capacity to actually move more railcars each day out of certain transfer stations, and two, the actual capacity at these landfills against their daily permits, you're seeing both sides that have constraint today.

如果你看——能接收來自東北部的鐵路運輸（或一般鐵路運輸）的掩埋場其實只有少數幾個。其中有幾個確實有一些多餘容量，但到達成本非常高，而且需要很長時間、經過多次鐵路轉運。也有幾個離市場更近、成本相對合理。而如果我們看這個等式的兩端：第一，某些轉運站每天實際能多送出多少節車廂；第二，這些掩埋場在其每日許可量下的實際容量——你會看到兩端目前都存在限制。

And the last factor, and we heard about one of our competitors talked about this on their earnings call last week. Generally, I would say the major companies who have rail service landfills, including Casella, we're not looking at these as merchant sites where we're looking to get the lowest cost waste. We're looking at these as long-term defensive strategies to take care of our own customers.

最後一個因素是，我們也聽到某位競爭對手在上週的財報電話會議中提到。一般來說，我會說擁有鐵路服務掩埋場的主要公司（包括 Casella）並不把這些視為「商業型（merchant）」場址，也就是去追求最低成本的廢棄物。我們把它們視為長期的防禦性策略，用來照顧我們自己的客戶。

And we talked -- we heard this one company talk about how the vast majority of their rail move was really tied to their own tonnes in New York, state in New York City and looking to gain certainty there of cost and certainty of disposal. And Casella looks at through the same lens and I know others do as well, where this isn't a merchant play to seek the bottom of the market.

我們也談到——我們聽到那家公司提到，他們絕大多數的鐵路運量其實都與他們自己在紐約州、紐約市的噸數高度綁定，目的是在那裡取得成本確定性與處置確定性。Casella 也是用同樣的角度來看，我也知道其他公司同樣如此；這不是一種商業型操作，去追逐市場底部。

This is very capital intensive, very costly move to material. So coming back to your point, this one competitor is ramping up capacity. They're at capacity today on the transfer side forming the trains and they're generally at capacity at the landfill side. So they're going to look to returns and pricing quality. They don't have room for a lot more tonnes.

這是一項資本密集、把物料移動出去成本非常高的作法。所以回到你的觀點，這位競爭對手正在提升產能。但他們目前在轉運端（編組列車）已經滿載，而在掩埋場端通常也接近滿載。因此他們會更著重於報酬與定價品質。他們沒有太多空間再增加更多噸數。

So yeah, I think through periods like this, what we do is we look at returns on our sites, and we're laser-focused on taking the right materials in at the right price and long-term return profiles because the scarcity is real, and you can't replicate any of these assets.

所以是的，我認為在這樣的時期，我們會做的是檢視我們場址的報酬，並且高度聚焦於以正確的價格接收正確的物料，以及長期的報酬輪廓，因為稀缺性是真實存在的，而這些資產無法被複製。

Okay. Great. Then I just wanted a little bit more tactically in the quarter, you drove that large EBITDA margin outperformance. And even though in the beginning of the year, you were talking about there being more margin expansion in the second half of the year. And really drove pretty good margin expansion this quarter. And I was wondering what went better than expected just from an operational perspective, like what surprised you? Or where were you able to really execute better than you thought you would?

好的。很好。接著我想更戰術性地問一下，本季你們帶動了 EBITDA 利潤率的大幅超預期表現。而且即便年初你們還在談下半年會有更多的利潤率擴張。但這一季就已經推動了相當不錯的利潤率擴張。我想知道從營運角度來看，哪些地方比預期更好、讓你們感到意外？或者你們在哪些方面的執行力比原先預想的更強？

One example of where we did a little bit better than we expected and better year over year was on the maintenance side. So in the Mid-Atlantic, where, as Ned was talking about, where just on the cusp of completing our system integration and --

有一個例子是，我們在維修保養方面的表現比預期稍好，而且年對年也更好。所以在中大西洋地區，如 Ned 剛才提到的，我們正接近完成系統整合，而且--

Next week, Brad. Next week.

下週，Brad。下週。

Next week. There you go. To be in a position to execute on our synergy plan. But we've also -- as we've been working on that, we've received delivery of a large number of trucks into that market. And so the ongoing maintenance costs, equipment rental for us to keep trucks on the road to keep customer service. We no longer have a need for those. So that's just one example, not necessarily the old story, but that's been a nice tailwind for us.

下週。就是這樣。讓我們能夠處於可執行協同計畫的位置。但同時——在我們推進這些工作的過程中，我們也已經在那個市場收到了大量卡車的交付。因此，為了讓卡車持續上路、維持客戶服務而產生的持續維護成本與設備租賃費用，我們已經不再需要了。所以這只是其中一個例子，不一定是老故事，但這對我們來說是一股不錯的順風。

Okay. If I could just squeeze one more in. Would you mind just going over the volumes in terms of year-over-year growth along the various lines that are kind of cyclical. So the special ways to see indeed, the temporary poles, just the things that people are looking at to see where things are going cyclically.

好的。如果我可以再塞一個問題。你介意簡單回顧一下各條業務線中那些較具週期性的量（volume）在年對年成長方面的表現嗎？例如特殊廢棄物、臨時電線桿之類的，這些是大家用來觀察景氣循環走向的指標。

Yes. So on the -- first off, on the Collection side, the portion of our Collection business that is most cyclically impacted is the roll-off business. The roll-off was down a little over 3% year over year. So that's something that we look at and [point to for] where the economy might be impacting us. In our case, I think it was probably more weather than it was economy, but that's an area we look at.

是的。先從——首先，在收運（Collection）端，我們收運業務中受景氣循環影響最大的是翻斗箱（roll-off）業務。翻斗箱年對年下滑了略高於3%。所以這是我們用來觀察經濟可能如何影響我們的指標之一。就我們的情況而言，我認為可能更多是天氣因素而非經濟，但這確實是我們會關注的領域。

On the landfills, we saw MSW stronger. We saw C&D stronger. C&D would be a potentially economically cyclical volume stream. One area where we did see relative weakness year-over-year, which impacted us on mix was special waste volumes. So again, that's another area where we don't have perfect knowledge on whether that's weather, whether that's uncertainty given the fact that we're at war and projects not moving forward, hard to know exactly, but that's another area where we may have seen it.

在掩埋場方面，我們看到一般固體廢棄物（MSW）更強。我們看到建築與拆除（C&D）更強。C&D 可能是一條在經濟上具週期性的量來源。有一個我們看到年對年相對疲弱、並在組合（mix）上影響我們的領域，是特殊廢棄物量。所以同樣地，我們也無法完全確定那是天氣、還是因為我們正處於戰爭狀態而帶來的不確定性、導致專案未能推進；很難精準判斷，但那也是我們可能看到影響的另一個領域。

Yeah. In a particularly cold winter, though, many of those jobs, whether they be infrastructure jobs or the start major construction projects where you're digging out contaminated soils or even just industrial jobs where you're dredging out industrial lagoons and things like that, like they're just not happening at the same pace in the winter and not to blame the weather, but when it gets really cold, you're just not doing that work.

是的。不過在特別寒冷的冬季，許多工作——不論是基礎建設工程，或是啟動大型建案、需要挖除受污染土壤的工程，甚至只是工業類工作，例如清淤工業潟湖之類——在冬天的進度本來就不會一樣快；也不是要怪天氣，但當真的很冷時，你就是不會以同樣的節奏去做那些工作。

Harold Antor, Jefferies.

Harold Antor，Jefferies。

This is Harold Antor on for Steph Moore. Just one for me. I guess just on the pricing front, I think you did 5.1% in the quarter and the guide at around 5%. So I guess, typically, 1Q is a high watermark. So I guess, will we expect I guess this implies kind of consistent pricing at these levels for the rest of the year. I guess what's kind of driving that? Do you expect second-half pricing to ramp just given improvement in the Mid-Atlantic? Anything there? And I guess just on -- could you remind us how churn performed in the quarter? I think the industry has been seeing better churn metrics in the quarter. So I just wanted to get a sense for what churn around for you guys and how that -- and if you're doing -- making any investments on the tech side that's improving that?

我是 Harold Antor，代 Steph Moore 提問。我這邊只有一個問題。我想在定價方面，你們本季大概是 5.1%，而指引大約在 5%。所以我想通常第一季是高水位。那我想這是否意味著今年剩餘時間的定價大致會維持在這些水準、相對一致？背後主要驅動因素是什麼？你們是否預期下半年定價會因中大西洋地區改善而加速上升？這部分有什麼看法？另外，能否提醒我們本季客戶流失率（churn）的表現如何？我想整個產業本季的 churn 指標似乎有改善。所以我想了解你們的 churn 大概在什麼水準，以及——你們是否在科技端做了任何投資來改善這點？

Yeah. Hey, Harold, it's Brad. So we feel pretty good about the trend of pricing as we look forward to the end of the year. I guess a couple of points to highlight. One, and really, this is really a function of the price number that we report. We're not reporting the price increases that we go out with and then see that number erode as prices are rolled back over the course of the year.

是的。嗨，Harold，我是 Brad。我們對定價趨勢、展望到今年底，感覺相當不錯。我想強調幾點。第一，而且這其實與我們所揭露的價格數字的計算方式有關。我們並不是先報出我們對外提出的漲價幅度，然後再看那個數字在一年中因為價格回退（rollback）而被侵蝕。

I mean that's a net number of rollbacks. So it's not one that all else being equal, should deteriorate over the course of the year. The other important point I think for us right now is the Mid-Atlantic. So given where we are with systems consolidation, we've had very limited ability to assess pricing across the customer base, assess profitability, and implement our pricing programs with the intelligence and specificity that we do in the rest of our business. So we would expect that to be a consistent tailwind over the course of the second half of this year and into next year on pricing.

我的意思是，那是一個扣除回退後的淨數（net number of rollbacks）。所以在其他條件相同下，它不應該在一年中逐步惡化。我認為對我們而言，另一個很重要的點是中大西洋地區。由於我們正處於系統整併階段，我們在整個客戶基礎上評估定價、評估獲利能力，以及以我們在其他業務中所具備的那種洞察力與精準度來推行定價方案的能力，一直非常有限。因此，我們預期這會在今年下半年、以及延續到明年，對定價形成持續的順風。

As far as technology and Ned hinted at this in his prepared remarks, we're actually on the cusp of rolling out an app and really a different way of accessing the customer and meeting the customer where they want to do business, where they can pick up an app and sign up for service rather than picking up the phone.

至於科技方面，Ned 在事先準備的發言中也提到，我們其實正處於推出一款 App 的臨界點，這將是一種真正不同的方式來接觸客戶、在客戶想要的方式下與其交易；客戶可以拿起手機用 App 申請服務，而不是拿起電話。

Yes. In our digital customer engagement, e-commerce activities are right now across about 60% of our markets will be across 100% in the third quarter. And this is actually our fastest-growing sales channel, as you can imagine, and we're rejiggering our back office, our sales alignment to support the growth as well.

是的。我們的數位客戶互動與電商活動目前已覆蓋約 60% 的市場，第三季將覆蓋到 100%。而且如你所想，這其實是我們成長最快的銷售通路；我們也正在重新調整後台與銷售配置，以支援這項成長。

William Grippin, Barclays.

William Grippin，Barclays。

Great. I appreciate you squeezing me in. Just one -- quick one here. But given the Star Waste acquisition on April 1, and that was kind of a chunkier deal, could you just elaborate a little bit on how you're thinking about maybe balancing leverage versus further tuck-in M&A over the balance of the year and just your capacity to do that following Star Waste.

很好。謝謝你讓我插個問題。我這邊只有一個——很快的問題。但考量到你們在 4 月 1 日完成 Star Waste 的收購，而且那算是一筆比較大的交易，你能否多談一點你們如何在今年剩餘時間裡，在槓桿水準與進一步的小型併購（tuck-in M&A）之間取得平衡，以及在完成 Star Waste 後你們進行這些動作的能力？

Yeah. I mentioned in the prepared remarks that pro forma for Star and the other two acquisitions that we closed on April 1, we're at about 2.75 leverage. That has room to grow. We don't aspire to be highly levered. I think a key tenet of our capital allocation strategy and capital strategy generally has been to maintain moderate leverage to stay nimble and for risk management purposes.

是的。我在事先準備的發言中提到，以 Star 以及我們在 4 月 1 日完成的另外兩筆收購來看，按備考（pro forma）計算，我們的槓桿大約是 2.75 倍。這還有上升空間。我們並不追求高槓桿。我認為我們資本配置策略以及整體資本策略的一個關鍵原則，是維持適度槓桿，以保持靈活性並用於風險管理。

That all being said, at 2.75, we do have capacity to move down a bit higher. And for immediate quickly emerging opportunities, we have about $500 million of available liquidity. So we're not done. We're looking at a lot of attractive opportunities. Our pipeline is healthy, and we'll see what we can cross over the course of the year.

話雖如此，在 2.75 倍的水準下，我們確實有能力再往上提高一些。而對於近期快速浮現的機會，我們大約有 5 億美元的可用流動性。所以我們還沒結束。我們正在看很多有吸引力的機會。我們的案源管線很健康，接下來就看今年內能完成哪些交易。

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I will now turn it back to Ned Coletta for closing remarks.

謝謝。目前看起來沒有其他問題。我現在把時間交回給 Ned Coletta 作結語。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again in early August to discuss our second-quarter results. Everyone, have a wonderful day and weekend. Thank you.

謝謝各位今天加入我們。我們期待在 8 月初再次與各位交流，討論我們第二季的業績結果。祝各位有個美好的一天與週末。謝謝。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝各位參與今天的電話會議。本次議程到此結束。您現在可以掛線。