Deluxe Corp (DLX) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Deluxe quarterly earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Today's call is being recorded.

女士們先生們，感謝你們的支持，並歡迎參加豪華季度收益電話會議。（操作員說明）今天的通話正在錄音。

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to your host, Vice President of Strategy and Investor Relations, Brian Anderson. Please go ahead.

現在，我想將會議交給主持人、策略與投資者關係副總裁布萊恩安德森 (Brian Anderson)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and welcome to the Deluxe fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 earnings call. Joining me on today's call are Barry McCarthy, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Chip Zint, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝營運商，歡迎參加 Deluxe 第四季和 2023 年全年財報電話會議。參加今天電話會議的還有我們的總裁兼執行長 Barry McCarthy；和我們的財務長 Chip Zint。

At the end of today's prepared remarks, we will take questions. Before we begin and as seen on the current slide, I'd like to remind everyone that comments made today regarding management's intentions, projections, financial estimates, and expectations about the company's future strategy or performance are forward-looking in nature as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

在今天準備好的發言結束後，我們將回答問題。在我們開始之前，正如當前幻燈片所示，我想提醒大家，今天發表的有關管理層的意圖、預測、財務估計以及對公司未來戰略或業績的期望的評論本質上是前瞻性的，如1995年私人證券訴訟改革法案。

Additional information about factors that may cause actual results to differ from projections is set forth in the press release we furnished today in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, and in other company SEC filings.

有關可能導致實際結果與預測不同的因素的更多信息，請參見我們今天在截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的年度 10-K 表格以及其他公司向 SEC 提交的文件中提供的新聞稿。

On the call today, we'll discuss non-GAAP financial measures, including comparable adjusted revenue, adjusted and comparable adjusted EBITDA, adjusted and comparable adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow.

在今天的電話會議上，我們將討論非 GAAP 財務指標，包括可比調整後收入、調整後和可比調整後 EBITDA、調整後和可比調整後 EBITDA 利潤率、調整後每股收益和自由現金流。

In our press release today's presentation and our filings with the SEC, you'll find additional disclosures regarding the non-GAAP measures, including reconciliations of these measures to the most comparable measures under US GAAP. Within the materials, we are also providing reconciliations of GAAP EPS to adjusted EPS, which may assist with your modeling.

在我們今天的新聞稿和向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，您會發現有關非公認會計原則措施的其他披露，包括這些措施與美國公認會計原則下最可比的措施的調節。在材料中，我們還提供 GAAP 每股收益與調整後每股收益的調節，這可能有助於您的建模。

Now I'll turn it over to Barry.

現在我把它交給巴里。

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report our strong results, growing comparable adjusted EBITDA dollars, expanding comparable adjusted EBITDA margins, and driving robust operating leverage for both the fourth quarter and the full-year 2023. Importantly, these results also accompanied improved free cash flows, and they further demonstrate the strength of our focused portfolio of offerings. This provides us a strong foundation for continued growth and the execution of the North Star as we progress into 2024.

謝謝布萊恩，大家早安。我很高興地報告我們的強勁業績，可比調整後 EBITDA 美元不斷增長，可比調整後 EBITDA 利潤率擴大，並推動第四季度和 2023 年全年強勁的營運槓桿。重要的是，這些結果也伴隨著自由現金流的改善，它們進一步證明了我們重點產品組合的強度。這為我們進入 2024 年時持續成長和執行北極星計畫奠定了堅實的基礎。

Before reviewing the 2023 results in more detail, I'd like to first provide five key highlights from the past year. First, the enterprise achieved its third consecutive year of organic revenue growth. And this year, we also leveraged our scale to grow profits faster than revenue. We have clearly changed the company's trajectory.

在更詳細地回顧 2023 年結果之前，我想先提供過去一年的五個關鍵亮點。首先，該企業實現了連續第三年有機收入成長。今年，我們也利用規模優勢，實現利潤成長快於營收成長。我們顯然改變了公司的發展軌跡。

Second, we launched the enterprise-wide North Star initiative, which will nearly double our current cash flow run rate and add $80 million of incremental run-rate adjusted EBITDA by 2026. During 2023, we took actions to unlock $40 million of annualized incremental adjusted EBITDA for these goals. We will continue to execute additional value-creating initiatives within the program, unlocking further opportunity throughout 2024 and beyond. I'll provide more details about our North Star progress in a bit.

其次，我們啟動了全企業範圍的北極星計劃，到 2026 年，該計劃將使我們當前的現金流運行率幾乎翻倍，並增加 8000 萬美元的增量運行率調整後 EBITDA。2023 年，我們採取行動，為這些目標釋放 4,000 萬美元的年度增量調整 EBITDA。我們將繼續在該計劃內執行更多創造價值的舉措，在 2024 年及以後釋放更多機會。我稍後將提供有關北極星進展的更多詳細資訊。

Third, we expanded profits, growing comparable adjusted EBITDA by more than 3% compared to 2022, enabling us to improve our net debt position by more than $80 million versus the prior year-end levels. This was a $140 million improvement from our peak 2023 level at the end of the first quarter.

第三，我們擴大了利潤，與 2022 年相比，可比調整後 EBITDA 增加了 3% 以上，使我們的淨債務狀況比上年末水準提高了 8,000 萬美元以上。這比第一季末 2023 年的峰值水準提高了 1.4 億美元。

As we've discussed, lowering our net debt while simultaneously investing for growth and maintaining our dividend remain our clear capital allocation priorities. We're well positioned for continued improvement of our overall leverage ratio as we begin 2024 and execute against our North Star plans.

正如我們所討論的，降低淨債務，同時投資成長和維持股息仍然是我們明確的資本配置優先事項。從 2024 年開始並按照我們的北極星計劃執行，我們已做好充分準備，繼續提高整體槓桿率。

Fourth, we continue to be very pleased with the performance of Deluxe merchant services, built from the First American acquisition in 2021. And finally, performance of our check business continues to exceed expectations, outperforming market and secular decline forecasts. We were particularly pleased to expand check EBITDA margins by 40 basis points during 2023, accompanying a modest rate of revenue decline. Chip will cover this more in his comments.

第四，我們仍對 2021 年收購 First American 後建立的 Deluxe 商業服務的表現感到非常滿意。最後，我們的支票業務的表現繼續超出預期，超越市場和長期下降的預測。我們特別高興的是，在 2023 年期間，支票 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 40 個基點，同時收入略有下降。Chip 將在他的評論中詳細介紹這一點。

These results reflect our continued strong customer retention and service levels and ongoing wins in this space. This performance also highlights the strength of our execution and durability of the cash flows from our print businesses and check in particular.

這些結果反映了我們持續強勁的客戶保留率和服務水準以及在該領域的持續勝利。這項績效也突顯了我們的執行力和印刷業務（尤其是支票業務）現金流的持久性。

Now to provide some brief details of our full-year performance. Similar to last quarter, Chip will speak to both reported and comparable adjusted numbers, but I will focus here on comparable adjusted results, which we believe best reflect our underlying business performance, given our recent targeted business exits.

現在簡單介紹一下我們全年的業績。與上季類似，奇普將談到報告和可比較調整後的數據，但我將在這裡重點關注可比調整後的結果，考慮到我們最近的目標業務退出，我們認為這最能反映我們的基本業務績效。

For full-year 2023, revenue was $2.2 billion, up about $6 million or 30 basis points year over year. While our growth rate was modest, importantly, this was our third consecutive year of organic sales-driven revenue growth, demonstrating our clear change in trajectory as further shows our transformation into payments and data company.

2023 年全年營收為 22 億美元，年增約 600 萬美元，即 30 個基點。雖然我們的成長率不大，但重要的是，這是我們連續第三年實現有機銷售驅動的收入成長，這表明我們的軌跡發生了明顯的變化，進一步表明我們向支付和數據公司的轉型。

Total adjusted EBITDA dollars increased 3.2% from 2022, reflecting significant operating leverage across our portfolio as we signaled within our guidance expectations for both 2023 and 2024 at our recent Investor Day. Growing earnings faster than revenue or delivering operating leverage is a key objective of the North Star execution plan.

調整後 EBITDA 總額較 2022 年增長 3.2%，反映了我們投資組合的巨大營運槓桿，正如我們在最近的投資者日對 2023 年和 2024 年的指導預期中所暗示的那樣。獲利成長快於營收成長或提供營運槓桿是北極星執行計畫的關鍵目標。

We're particularly pleased with this full-year results. These overall results demonstrate the strength of our combined portfolio, and we're pleased to reiterate our 2024 guidance this morning, reflecting expected continuation of this revenue and strong earnings expansion. Chip will cover more in a moment.

我們對全年業績感到特別滿意。這些總體結果證明了我們合併後的投資組合的實力，我們很高興今天早上重申我們的 2024 年指導，反映了這一收入的預期持續和強勁的盈利擴張。晶片稍後會覆蓋更多內容。

Moving on to some high-level operating segment highlights. For the full year, payments revenue grew 1.8%, while adjusted EBITDA dollars grew 5.7%, and overall margins expanded 80 basis points from 2022. We're pleased with the overall trajectory of the merchant business while continuing to work toward improvements within the areas of the B2B business, which encountered some challenges during the second half of 2023.

接下來是一些高層營運部門的亮點。全年支付營收成長 1.8%，調整後 EBITDA 成長 5.7%，整體利潤率較 2022 年成長 80 個基點。我們對商家業務的整體發展軌跡感到滿意，同時繼續致力於 B2B 業務領域的改進，該業務在 2023 年下半年遇到了一些挑戰。

As we've highlighted in prior quarterly calls, the payments segment achieved overall growth and margin expansion despite several linear headwinds impacting demand across the portfolio as well as some non-recurring revenue results within the prior-year comparison.

正如我們在先前的季度電話會議中所強調的那樣，儘管存在一些線性阻力影響了整個投資組合的需求，並且與上年相比也出現了一些非經常性收入結果，但支付部門還是實現了整體增長和利潤率擴張。

Our merchant services business led the way with a strong finish to 2023. We were particularly pleased with the fourth-quarter performance of this business, which posted 8.7% growth versus the fourth quarter of 2022. That is from the implementation of the large new win we discussed previously.

我們的商業服務業務一路領先，並在 2023 年取得了強勁的成績。我們對該業務第四季的業績感到特別滿意，與 2022 年第四季相比成長了 8.7%。這是我們之前討論過的大型新勝利的實施。

This strong finish helps drive the overall 4.8% growth of merchant services revenue for the full year. Our One Deluxe cross-selling model further contributed to these results. Continued investment in our technology, driving feature and functionality enhancements for our merchant offerings, along with our strong demonstrated customer service capabilities, underpin our continuing optimism for merchant services.

這一強勁的業績有助於推動全年商家服務收入整體成長 4.8%。我們的 One Deluxe 交叉銷售模式進一步促成了這些結果。對我們技術的持續投資，推動我們商家產品的特性和功能增強，以及我們強大的客戶服務能力，支撐了我們對商家服務的持續樂觀態度。

Moving now to our strong results within data solutions. Overall, the data-driven marketing business performed well during 2023, driving overall data segment revenue growth of 4.3% for the full year. While the previously noted quarter-to-quarter impact from a campaign-oriented nature of the DDM business was seen in our Q4 results, we are confident the prospects for this business remain strong as reflected in the 2023 Annual Results.

現在轉向我們在數據解決方案方面取得的強勁成果。整體而言，數據驅動的行銷業務在2023年表現良好，帶動全年整體數據部門營收成長4.3%。雖然我們在第四季度業績中看到了先前提到的 DDM 業務以活動為導向的性質所產生的季度影響，但我們相信該業務的前景仍然強勁，正如 2023 年年度業績所反映的那樣。

Our solid full-year DDM growth rate benefited from FI partners seeking low-cost deposit customers and continuing expansion of their business banking account offerings. We also continued our extension into non-FI and other less-interest-rate-sensitive market verticals as we have discussed on prior calls.

我們全年 DDM 的穩健成長率得益於金融合作夥伴尋求低成本存款客戶以及持續擴大其商業銀行帳戶產品。正如我們在之前的電話會議中討論的那樣，我們也繼續擴展到非金融機構和其他對利率不太敏感的垂直市場。

Excluding the first half web hosting revenue results within the data segment, the remaining DDM business grew approximately 7% during 2023, consistent with our longer-term expectations for the business. We remain very pleased with the potential for continued growth and margin expansion opportunities in this area as the business benefits from increasing scale.

剔除上半年資料領域的網站寄存收入結果，剩餘的 DDM 業務在 2023 年成長約 7%，與我們對該業務的長期預期一致。我們對這一領域持續成長和利潤擴張的潛力感到非常高興，因為業務受益於規模的擴大。

Shifting now to our print businesses comprised of our promotional Solutions and checks segments, combined, these businesses generated $1.3 billion in annual revenue during 2023 with a blended adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 32%.

現在轉向由促銷解決方案和支票部門組成的印刷業務，這些業務在 2023 年的年收入合計為 13 億美元，混合調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 32%。

Consistent with our guidance for full-year 2023, the combined print businesses experienced an overall revenue decline of just over 1%, while blended EBITDA margins across the combined segments expanded 50 basis points, highlighting our solid execution capability.

與我們對 2023 年全年的指引一致，合併後的印刷業務整體收入下降略高於 1%，而合併後業務部門的綜合 EBITDA 利潤率則擴大了 50 個基點，凸顯了我們堅實的執行能力。

Before concluding, I also want to share a brief progress report on the North Star initiative. Our long-term goal is to unlock $80 million of incremental comparable adjusted EBITDA and $100 million of incremental free cash flow, all by 2026.

在結束之前，我還想分享一份關於北極星計畫的簡短進度報告。我們的長期目標是到 2026 年實現 8,000 萬美元的增量可比調整後 EBITDA 和 1 億美元的增量自由現金流。

As we noted in December, our initial [org simplification] actions implemented late in the third quarter will drive annualized adjusted EBITDA improvement of $40 million against our overall North Star target of $130 million. As a reminder, our overall target of $130 million of EBITDA improvement helps offset the impacts of expected secular decline within our print businesses, generating the overall net $80 million run rate EBITDA improvement objectives.

正如我們在 12 月指出的，我們在第三季末實施的初步[組織簡化]行動將推動年化調整後 EBITDA 提高 4000 萬美元，而我們的總體北極星目標為 1.3 億美元。提醒一下，我們 1.3 億美元 EBITDA 改善的總體目標有助於抵消印刷業務預期長期下滑的影響，從而實現 8000 萬美元的 EBITDA 整體淨運轉率改善目標。

The $40 million impact from our 2023 actions will contribute toward the expanded earnings expectations included within our 2024 guidance range. As the current slide reflects, the 2024 incremental workstreams will unlock additional value from both cost savings and revenue-enhancing initiatives. We'll provide further North Star updates during our first-quarter earnings call in May.

我們 2023 年行動帶來的 4000 萬美元影響將有助於擴大我們 2024 年指導範圍內的獲利預期。正如目前投影片所反映的，2024 年增量工作流程將從節省成本和增加收入的措施中釋放額外價值。我們將在五月的第一季財報電話會議上提供進一步的北極星更新。

To summarize, our overall 2023 results reflect, a, strong momentum, sustaining organic revenue growth, operating leverage, and increasing cash flow generation; b, further acceleration of our progress against our clear capital allocation priorities under North Star; c, a more focused and rationalized portfolio of offerings will enable additional clarity across the organization's growth objective; and d, the completion of our infrastructure investments, including our upgraded ERP, which went live one year ago, will serve as a foundation for our continued optimization of processes and efficiency across the enterprise.

總而言之，我們 2023 年的整體業績反映了：a、強勁的勢頭、持續的有機收入成長、營運槓桿和不斷增加的現金流生成； b、進一步加快我們在北極星下明確的資本配置優先事項的進展； c、更集中和合理化的產品組合將使整個組織的成長目標更加清晰； d、基礎設施投資的完成，包括一年前上線的升級版ERP，將為我們持續優化整個企業的流程和效率奠定基礎。

Before passing this to Chip, I want to thank my fellow Deluxers for another strong year, for their unwavering dedication to our customers and the communities that we serve, and for their continued commitment in transforming Deluxe into a modern payments and data company.

在將這一消息轉交給Chip 之前，我要感謝我的Deluxe 同事們又度過了強勁的一年，感謝他們對我們的客戶和我們所服務的社區的堅定不移的奉獻，並感謝他們持續致力於將Deluxe 轉變為現代支付和數據公司。

Over to you, Chip.

交給你了，奇普。

Thank you, Barry, and good morning, everyone. As Barry noted, we were very pleased with our overall Q4 and full-year 2023 progress, particularly our strong cash flow generation and the improvement of our leverage ratio during the year.

謝謝你，巴里，大家早安。正如 Barry 指出的那樣，我們對 2023 年第四季和全年的整體進展感到非常滿意，特別是我們強勁的現金流產生和年內槓桿率的改善。

I'll begin today reviewing some of the consolidated highlights for the year before moving on to the operating segment results and reaffirmation of the 2024 guidance we provided at our recent Investor Day event. For the full year on a reported basis, we posted total revenue of $2.192 billion, down 2%, driven by the impact of our recent divestitures but increasing 0.3% year over year on a comparable adjusted basis.

今天，我將首先回顧今年的一些綜合亮點，然後再討論營運部門的業績，並重申我們在最近的投資者日活動中提供的 2024 年指導。根據報告，我們公佈的全年總收入為 21.92 億美元，下降 2%，受近期資產剝離的影響，但以可比調整後計算，年增 0.3%。

We reported full-year GAAP net income of $26 million or $0.59 per share for the year, down from $65 million or $1.50 per share in 2022. This reduction was primarily driven by higher interest cost and the impact from the hosting business exit.

我們公佈的全年 GAAP 淨利潤為 2,600 萬美元，即每股 0.59 美元，低於 2022 年的 6,500 萬美元，即每股 1.50 美元。這項減少主要是由於利息成本上升以及託管業務退出的影響所致。

Full-year adjusted EBITDA was $417 million, up $13 million or 3.2% on a comparable adjusted basis from last year. Adjusted EBITDA margins were 19%, improving 50 basis points on a comparable adjusted basis. Total adjusted EBITDA dollars reflecting prior-year comparisons, inclusive of our focused business exits, declined 0.2% for the year, while EBITDA margins improved 30 basis points.

全年調整後 EBITDA 為 4.17 億美元，與去年相比增加 1,300 萬美元，即 3.2%。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 19%，在可比較調整基礎上提高了 50 個基點。反映上年比較的調整後 EBITDA 總額（包括我們重點業務退出）今年下降了 0.2%，而 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 30 個基點。

Full-year adjusted EPS came in at $3.32, down from $4.8 in 2022, primarily driven by impacts from our 2022 and 2023 in-year business exits, increased interest expense, and changes to taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

全年調整後每股收益為 3.32 美元，低於 2022 年的 4.8 美元，這主要是受到 2022 年和 2023 年年內業務退出、利息支出增加以及稅收、折舊和攤銷變化的影響。

Now turning to our operating segment details, beginning with our payments and data solutions segments. Payments grew fourth-quarter revenue by 2% year over year to $175 million, with merchant services growing 8.7% year over year as Barry noted. The balance of the segment saw declines of 5.1% during the quarter as we lap some one-time receivables hardware revenues during Q4 of 2022.

現在轉向我們的營運部門詳細信息，首先是我們的支付和數據解決方案部門。巴里指出，第四季支付營收年增 2%，達到 1.75 億美元，商業服務年增 8.7%。由於我們在 2022 年第四季放棄了一些一次性應收帳款硬體收入，該部門的餘額在本季度下降了 5.1%。

We also continued to see some year-over-year volume softness within the lockbox business as we previously signaled could continue. Overall payments adjusted EBITDA margins improved by 260 basis points to 24.2% during the quarter with adjusted EBITDA dollars growing around 7x the rate of revenue, expanding 14.3%.

我們也繼續看到密碼箱業務的銷售量比去年同期出現一些疲軟，正如我們之前暗示的那樣，這種情況可能會持續下去。本季度，總付款調整後 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 260 個基點，達到 24.2%，調整後 EBITDA 美元增長率約為收入的 7 倍，增幅為 14.3%。

These results were driven by both the scaling benefits of the strong merchant growth as well as continued improvement of the margin profile for the B2B payments offerings, estimated to have improved by more than 300 basis points during the period despite the year-over-year revenue headwinds.

這些結果是由商家強勁成長帶來的規模效益以及 B2B 支付產品的利潤狀況持續改善所推動的，儘管收入同比增長，但預計在此期間仍提高了 300 個基點以上逆風。

For the full year, segment revenue grew 1.8% year over year to $691 million, led by the solid 4.8% growth within merchant services. The balance of the segment revenues experienced a 1.3% year-over- year decline for the full year. This result was inclusive of some continued demand softness within lockboxes noted as well as lapping several non-recurring revenue contributors during the second half of 2022.

全年，該部門營收年增 1.8% 至 6.91 億美元，其中商業服務業務實現 4.8% 的穩健成長。全年該部門收入餘額較去年同期下降1.3%。這一結果包括了注意到的密碼箱內一些持續的需求疲軟，以及 2022 年下半年的幾個非經常性收入貢獻者。

We noted during our last call that in the third quarter of 2022, we temporarily processed a large amount of one-time volume due to an extended outage experienced by a competitor in the remittance space. 2023 results for B2B payments also lapped some non-recurring revenues related to one-time sales of remote deposit capture or RDC, hardware, and other receivable services during the fourth quarter of 2022.

我們在上次電話會議中指出，由於競爭對手在匯款領域經歷了長時間的中斷，我們在 2022 年第三季暫時處理了大量一次性交易量。 2023 年 B2B 支付業績也超過了 2022 年第四季度與遠端存款捕獲或 RDC、硬體和其他應收服務一次性銷售相關的一些非經常性收入。

Despite these overall revenue results falling below our expectation, our actions to drive operational improvements, particularly within the lockbox footprint of the B2B business, continued to help drive strong margin outcomes for the year.

儘管整體營收結果低於我們的預期，但我們推動營運改善的行動，特別是在 B2B 業務的密碼箱足跡內，繼續幫助推動今年強勁的利潤率結果。

For the full year, B2B adjusted EBITDA dollars are estimated to have expanded by approximately 6%, in line with the overall mid-single digit result for the full payments segment. For the total payments segment, full-year adjusted EBITDA growth outpaced the 1.8% top-line expansion, increasing 5.7% to $153 million, while adjusted EBITDA margins improved 80 basis points to finish at 22.1% for the year, consistent with our ongoing expectations.

全年，B2B 調整後 EBITDA 美元預計將成長約 6%，與整個支付領域的整體中個位數結果一致。對於總支付業務，全年調整後 EBITDA 成長超過 1.8% 的營收擴張，成長 5.7% 至 1.53 億美元，而調整後 EBITDA 利潤率提高 80 個基點，全年達到 22.1%，與我們的持續預期一致。

Our margin optimization initiatives set us up well to capitalize on growth opportunities within the merchant and B2B markets going forward. We remain confident that payments will achieve overall mid-single-digit growth for the coming periods, consistent with the overall outlook we shared during Investor Day.

我們的利潤優化計劃使我們能夠很好地利用未來商業和 B2B 市場的成長機會。我們仍然相信，未來一段時期的支付將實現總體中個位數成長，這與我們在投資者日分享的整體前景一致。

Finally, as a reminder, during the second half of 2023, we made the decision to exit our payroll and HR end lines of businesses via executed conversion agreements. We will be partnering with Paychex in the US with Payworks in Canada, working to ensure seamless transitions of our existing clients across these lines of business.

最後，提醒一下，在 2023 年下半年，我們決定透過執行轉換協議退出薪資和人力資源終端業務。我們將與美國的 Paychex 和加拿大的 Payworks 合作，努力確保我們現有客戶在這些業務領域的無縫過渡。

As a result of these anticipated conversions expected to take place throughout 2024, we will begin to discuss results for B2B payments on a comparable adjusted basis, similar to how we reported during 2023 for both the promotional and data solutions segments.

由於這些預期轉換預計將在 2024 年發生，我們將開始在可比較調整的基礎上討論 B2B 支付的結果，類似於我們在 2023 年報告促銷和數據解決方案領域的情況。

As a reminder, the payroll and HR end lines of businesses comprise just under 4% of our payments segment revenue, inclusive of both US and Canadian businesses. And these platforms require significant ongoing capitalized software development and other investments, which the enterprise can now redeploy towards more strategically aligned growth areas.

需要提醒的是，薪資和人力資源終端業務僅占我們支付部門收入的不到 4%，包括美國和加拿大的業務。這些平台需要大量持續的資本化軟體開發和其他投資，企業現在可以將其重新部署到更具策略一致性的成長領域。

As Barry noted during his comments, fourth-quarter data results were reflective of some of the quarter-to-quarter volatility exhibited within the DDM business, notably in comparison to some outsized year-over-year third-quarter performance we experienced.

正如巴里在評論中指出的那樣，第四季度的數據結果反映了 DDM 業務中出現的一些季度波動，特別是與我們經歷的第三季度同比表現相比。

Data's Q4 comparable adjusted revenue decreased 7.5% year over year to $44 million. On a reported basis, inclusive of 2022 revenues from the now-divested web hosting business, data's revenue declined just under 30% from the fourth quarter of 2022. As we noted a year ago, the data-driven marketing business saw several customers accelerate campaigns pulling planned data spend into Q4 of 2022. This year-over-year impact is a primary driver of the isolated fourth-quarter comparisons for the segment on a comparable adjusted basis.

Data 的第四季可比調整後營收年減 7.5% 至 4,400 萬美元。根據報告，包括現已剝離的網站寄存業務的 2022 年收入，Data 的收入較 2022 年第四季下降了近 30%。正如我們一年前指出的那樣，數據驅動的行銷業務看到一些客戶加速了行銷活動，將計劃的數據支出拉至 2022 年第四季。這種同比影響是該細分市場在可比較調整基礎上進行單獨第四季度比較的主要驅動力。

Adjusted EBITDA margins for the quarter decreased from 22.9% to 16.6% on a comparable adjusted basis, again, reflecting the timing impacts surrounding year-to-year DDM campaigns noted above. We continue to believe a multi-quarter view of the DDM business remains the best indicator of our continuing strong performance.

在可比較調整基礎上，本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率從 22.9% 下降至 16.6%，再次反映了上述年度 DDM 活動的時間影響。我們仍然相信 DDM 業務的多季度視圖仍然是我們持續強勁業績的最佳指標。

For the full year data solutions' comparable adjusted revenue increased 4.3% year over year to $239 million. On a reported basis, data declined 10.7%. Keeping in mind, we completed the divestiture of our web hosting and logo businesses on June 29, 2023. Data's adjusted EBITDA margins declined 60 basis points for the full year on a comparable adjusted basis to 23.3%, again, reflecting inclusion of the slightly higher margin profile of the hosting offerings for one-half of the year.

全年數據解決方案的可比調整後營收年增 4.3%，達到 2.39 億美元。據報道，數據下降了 10.7%。請記住，我們於 2023 年 6 月 29 日完成了網站寄存和商標業務的剝離。Data 全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率在可比調整基礎上下降了 60 個基點，降至 23.3%，這再次反映了今年半年託管產品略高的利潤率。

As Barry noted, excluding the declining trajectory for the exit of hosting and logo lines of business from the 2023 results, the DDM business expanded revenue by 7% compared to the prior year. For 2024, we remain confident that the remaining data business will achieve mid-single-digit revenue growth rates on a comparable adjusted basis and low 20% adjusted EBITDA margin rate expectations consistent with what we shared during our December Investor Day presentation.

正如 Barry 指出的那樣，從 2023 年業績中排除託管和徽標業務退出的下降軌跡，DDM 業務的收入比前一年增長了 7%。對於2024 年，我們仍然有信心剩餘的數據業務將在可比調整基礎上實現中等個位數的收入增長率，以及20% 的調整後EBITDA 利潤率預期，這與我們在12 月投資者日演示中分享的內容一致。

Turning now to our print businesses, promo, and checks, promo's fourth-quarter revenue was $142 million, declining 7.3% on a comparable adjusted basis, driven by some demand softness during the fourth quarter relative to some of the seasonal uplift experienced during Q4 of 2022. On a reported basis, revenue declined 7.7% year over year.

現在轉向我們的印刷業務、促銷品和支票，促銷品第四季度的收入為1.42 億美元，按可比調整後下降7.3%，這是由於第四季度的需求相對於去年第四季度經歷的一些季節性增長 有所疲軟。2022 年。根據報告，營收年減 7.7%。

Adjusted EBITDA margins declined 240 basis points year over year to 16.9%, reflecting some of the lower-volume impacts as well as higher year-over-year logistics costs, some of which resulted from our continuing transition of the promo production footprint towards less manufacturing sites.

調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率年減 240 個基點至 16.9%，反映出產量下降的一些影響以及同比物流成本的上升，其中一些原因是我們不斷將促銷生產足跡轉向減少製造網站。

For the full year, promo revenue finished at $542 million, declining 1.5% year over year on a comparable adjusted basis in line with our expectations as we continue to work towards prioritizing stronger margin offerings within the portfolio.

全年促銷收入為 5.42 億美元，按可比調整後同比下降 1.5%，符合我們的預期，因為我們繼續努力優先考慮投資組合中更強勁的保證金產品。

Inclusive of prior-year divested business results, promo revenue reflected a 3.8% decline on a reported basis. Adjusted EBITDA margins for the year were 14.9%, increasing 80 basis points versus 2022 and maintaining mid teen levels consistent with our stated expectations. For 2024, we continue to expect low- to mid-single-digit comparable adjusted revenue declines with adjusted EBITDA margins remaining in the mid-teens.

包括上一年剝離的業務表現在內，促銷收入在報告基礎上下降了 3.8%。今年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 14.9%，比 2022 年增加 80 個基點，並保持在中位數水平，與我們既定的預期一致。2024 年，我們繼續預期可比調整後營收將出現低至中個位數的下降，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率仍將維持在十幾歲左右。

Finally, as Barry noted, checks performance in both the fourth quarter and for full-year 2023 exceeded expectations. For the fourth quarter, revenue increased just under $0.5 million from the prior year to $176 million.

最後，正如巴里指出的那樣，第四季度和 2023 年全年的檢查業績都超出了預期。第四季的營收比前一年增加了近 50 萬美元，達到 1.76 億美元。

Fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA margins expanded 230 basis points to 44.8% as many of the seasonal logistics and other surcharges experienced in our cost of goods sold during Q4 of 2022 did not repeat. Check's full-year 2023 revenue was $721 million, declining 1.1% year over year, while adjusted EBITDA margins were 44.4%, expanding 40 basis points and consistent with our long-term expectations towards maintenance of mid-40s margins profile.

第四季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 230 個基點，達到 44.8%，因為我們在 2022 年第四季度銷售的商品成本中經歷的許多季節性物流和其他附加費沒有重複。Check 2023 年全年營收為 7.21 億美元，年減 1.1%，而調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 44.4%，擴大 40 個基點，符合我們維持 40 多歲中期利潤狀況的長期預期。

These overall results helped to contribute to our overall EBITDA leverage across the enterprise. For 2024, we continue to expect low to mid-single-digit revenue declines for both the check and combined credit portfolio of offerings. Our investment in print-on-demand technology continues to be a strong contributor towards our expectation to maintain the margin profile of this business.

這些整體結果有助於提高我們整個企業的整體 EBITDA 槓桿率。到 2024 年，我們繼續預期支票和組合信貸產品組合的收入將出現低至中個位數的下降。我們對按需印刷技術的投資仍然是我們維持該業務利潤率預期的重要貢獻者。

Turning now to our balance sheet and cash flow, we ended the year with a net debt level of $1.52 billion, down $83 million from $1.6 billion last year, consistent with our ongoing commitment to debt reduction as a top capital allocation priority for the enterprise. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 3.6 times at the end of the year, also improving from the 3.8 times ratio a year ago. As we've noted, our long-term strategic target remains approximately 3 times leverage.

現在轉向我們的資產負債表和現金流，我們年底的淨債務水準為15.2 億美元，比去年的16 億美元減少了8,300 萬美元，這與我們一貫致力於將減少債務作為企業資本配置的首要任務相一致。截至年底，我們的淨負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 3.6 倍，也較一年前的 3.8 倍有所改善。正如我們所指出的，我們的長期策略目標仍然是大約 3 倍槓桿。

Free cash flow, defined as cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures was a very strong $63.5 million in the quarter, up from $37 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, driven by improved working capital, lower year-over-year capital spending, and improved operating results, partially offset by higher interest and cash tax payments.

自由現金流（定義為經營活動提供的現金減去資本支出）在本季達到 6,350 萬美元，高於 2022 年第四季的 3,700 萬美元，原因是營運資本改善、資本支出同比下降，以及改善的經營業績，部分被利息和現金稅支付的增加所抵銷。

This was a continuation of the quarterly sequential improvement trend we have seen since the second quarter of the year, noting that first-quarter free cash flows are typically our seasonally lowest results. The first quarter is impacted by annual employee compensation payments and other seasonality impacts such as annual license and maintenance payments. Thus, we would expect another negative free cash flow quarter for the first quarter of 2024.

這是我們自今年第二季以來看到的季度環比改善趨勢的延續，並指出第一季自由現金流通常是我們季節性最低的結果。第一季受到年度員工薪資支付和其他季節性影響（例如年度許可證和維護費用）的影響。因此，我們預計 2024 年第一季自由現金流將再次出現負值。

For the full year, free cash flow was $97.7 million, increasing $10.8 million from $86.9 million in 2022. This figure exceeded our revised guidance range, primarily as a result of better-than-expected working capital efficiency and lower cash restructuring spend related to North Star. This strong free cash flow performance, combined with adjusted EBITDA results above our forecasted midpoint, led to a leverage ratio better than our projections shared at our Investor Day.

全年自由現金流為 9,770 萬美元，比 2022 年的 8,690 萬美元增加 1,080 萬美元。這一數字超出了我們修訂後的指導範圍，主要是由於營運資金效率優於預期以及與北極星相關的現金重組支出較低。這種強勁的自由現金流表現，加上調整後的 EBITDA 結果高於我們預測的中點，導致槓桿比率優於我們在投資者日分享的預測。

We were very pleased with the overall operating cash flows achieved during 2023 and our ability to continue our de-levering path, consistent with our clear capital allocation priorities. Our Board approved a regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share on all outstanding shares. The dividend will be payable on March 4, 2024, to all shareholders of record as a market closing on February 20, 2024.

我們對 2023 年實現的整體營運現金流以及我們繼續去槓桿化道路的能力感到非常滿意，這符合我們明確的資本配置優先事項。我們的董事會批准對所有流通股派發每股 0.30 美元的定期季度股息。該股將於 2024 年 3 月 4 日向 2024 年 2 月 20 日收盤時登記在冊的所有股東支付。

Turning now to our 2024 guidance, I'm pleased to reaffirm the expectations for 2024 that we shared in early December, keeping in mind all figures are approximate and reflect the impact of our targeted business divestitures over the past 24 months.

現在轉向我們的 2024 年指導，我很高興重申我們在 12 月初分享的對 2024 年的預期，記住所有數字均為近似值，反映了我們在過去 24 個月內目標業務剝離的影響。

Revenue of $2.14 billion to $2.18 billion, reflecting flat to 2% comparable adjusted growth versus 2023. adjusted EBITDA of $400 million to $420 million, reflecting between 2% and 7% comparable adjusted growth. Adjusted EPS of $3.10 to $3.40, reflecting 1% to 11% comparable adjusted growth, and free cash flow of $60 million to $80 million.

營收為 21.4 億美元至 21.8 億美元，與 2023 年相比，可比調整後成長率持平至 2%。調整後 EBITDA 為 4 億美元至 4.2 億美元，反映可比調整後成長 2% 至 7%。調整後每股收益為 3.10 美元至 3.40 美元，反映了 1% 至 11% 的可比調整後增長，自由現金流為 6000 萬美元至 8000 萬美元。

Also, in order to assist with your modeling, our guidance assumes the following: interest expense of $120 million to $125 million; an adjusted tax rate of 26%; depreciation and amortization of $150 million, of which acquisition amortization is approximately $55 million; an average outstanding share count of 44.5 million shares; and capital expenditures of approximately $100 million. This guidance is subject to, among other things, prevailing macroeconomic conditions, including interest rates, labor supply issues, inflation, and the impact of other divestitures.

此外，為了幫助您進行建模，我們的指南假設如下： 利息支出為 1.2 億至 1.25 億美元；調整後的稅率為26%；折舊和攤提1.5億美元，其中購置攤銷約5,500萬美元；平均流通股數為 4,450 萬股；資本支出約1億美元。除其他因素外，該指導意見還受到當前宏觀經濟條件的影響，包括利率、勞動力供應問題、通貨膨脹以及其他資產剝離的影響。

To summarize, we are very pleased with our fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 results. We look forward to continuing the momentum in 2024, focused on executing against a comprehensive North Star plan and continuing organic revenue growth, EBITDA expansion, and strong free cash flow.

總而言之，我們對第四季和 2023 年全年業績感到非常滿意。我們期待在 2024 年繼續保持這一勢頭，專注於執行全面的北極星計劃並持續實現有機收入增長、EBITDA 擴張和強勁的自由現金流。

Operator, we are now ready to take questions.

接線員，我們現在準備好回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Lance Vitanza, TD Cowen.

（操作員指令）Lance Vitanza，TD Cowen。

Thanks, guys, and good job on the quarter. You gave a lot of information about the fourth quarter. So maybe just to sort of focus on the upcoming first quarter -- and Chip, I did hear your comments regarding the seasonality in terms of free cash flow.

謝謝大家，祝本季工作順利。您提供了很多有關第四季度的信息。因此，也許只是為了關注即將到來的第一季——奇普，我確實聽到了您對自由現金流的季節性的評論。

But could you maybe talk about the impact of seasonality on the operating segments themselves in the typical seasonality that you'd expect from 4Q to 1Q and how you think that might translate into not only revenue performance in the quarter, in the first quarter, but sort of what we should be thinking about for margins? And then I've got one other question as well. Thanks.

但是，您能否談談季節性因素對營運部門本身的影響，您預計從第四季度到第一季度的典型季節性因素，以及您認為這不僅會轉化為第一季度的收入表現，而且會轉化為第一季的營收表現。我們應該考慮什麼利潤？然後我還有另一個問題。謝謝。

Good morning. So keeping in mind we don't guide quarterly, I will try our best to help you because I realize we have a lot going on, especially with rolling in more forecasted exits this year. So let me start at the highest level and then I can give you a little bit of color by segment.

早安.因此，請記住，我們不會按季度提供指導，我會盡力為您提供幫助，因為我意識到我們有很多事情要做，特別是今年有更多的預測退出。因此，讓我從最高級別開始，然後我可以逐段為您提供一些顏色。

So the easiest way to think about it is the seasonality change from the fourth quarter we just reported into what to expect in the first quarter. And so if you look over the last few years, we typically would step down about 3% in total revenues from the fourth quarter into the first. And so that would be how I would think about the overall baseline resetting to reflect the seasonality. And the most material seasonality item we have is within the promo business, which has tax forms and other seasonal items.

因此，最簡單的思考方法是我們剛剛報告的第四季度的季節性變化與第一季的預期。因此，如果你回顧過去幾年，我們通常會將總收入從第四季下降到第一季約 3%。這就是我如何考慮整體基線重置以反映季節性。我們擁有的最重要的季節性項目是促銷業務，其中包括稅表和其他季節性項目。

So I would start out with my guidance. Again, we don't guide directly, but my assumption to you would be take that fourth quarter revenue result, haircut it by about 3% to get to the baseline starting point for the year. And then often, that is a question of how much growth will we drive relative to our full-year guidance range. So that will be towards the lower end of our zero to two range.

所以我會從我的指導開始。同樣，我們不會直接提供指導，但我對您的假設是，將第四季度的收入結果削減約 3%，以達到今年的基準起點。通常，問題是相對於全年指導範圍，我們將推動多少成長。因此，這將接近我們的零到二範圍的下限。

So at the highest level, and I think a haircut of 2% off of what we just did in the fourth quarter is a solid place to reflect the enterprise. That will help factor in the seasonal change of the data business. The data business isn't necessarily seasonal, as we've said, but it's got the campaign-oriented flexibility across the quarters. And of course, we had a lower quarter in the fourth quarter.

因此，在最高層面上，我認為與我們剛剛在第四季度所做的相比削減 2% 是反映企業情況的一個可靠的地方。這將有助於考慮數據業務的季節性變化。正如我們所說，數據業務不一定是季節性的，但它在各個季度都有以活動為導向的靈活性。當然，我們第四季的業績有所下降。

So using that haircut now, that math I just gave you, you'll capture the typical seasonality of the promo business as well as be able to capture what we think would be kind of the DDM business picking back up in the first quarter as well as the impact of the exits we would anticipate.

因此，現在使用我剛剛給您的數學計算，您將捕獲促銷業務的典型季節性，並能夠捕獲我們認為第一季 DDM 業務回升的情況正如我們預期的那樣。

Then as you think about the margin profile of that business, what I would say is with that math, you'll get to what should be our lowest-volume quarter of the year. And so obviously, if you think about the corporate cost structure or the mix across the portfolio, you're spreading somewhat of fixed costs across the lowest volume periods.

然後，當您考慮該業務的利潤狀況時，我想說的是，透過數學計算，您將獲得我們今年銷量最低的季度。顯然，如果您考慮公司成本結構或整個投資組合的組合，您就會將一定程度的固定成本分攤到銷售最低的時期。

So my guidance would be to take the Q4 ending EBITDA margin rate and drop it by about 200 bps here in the first quarter to set you up for the roughly EBITDA margin rate. And then, I think from an EPS perspective, you can take all the figures I guided and consider those relatively consistent across the year, relatively linear, and you can get to that point.

因此，我的指導是採用第四季度末的 EBITDA 利潤率，並在第一季將其下降約 200 個基點，以便為您設定大致的 EBITDA 利潤率。然後，我認為從每股盈餘的角度來看，你可以採用我指導的所有數據，並考慮那些全年相對一致、相對線性的數據，你就可以達到這一點。

And so I think that anchors you guys on the right starting point for the year. And as I said, that would represent the lower mark of the year-around revenues as well as EBITDA. So revenues, we would expect to pick up as the year goes on and other seasonal aspects come in. And then of course, as we execute North Star, we bring in more -- more of our -- both our revenue and cost initiatives. EBITDA should grow throughout the year, working its way towards our guidance range. So hopefully, that's helpful in terms of giving you the overall trajectory color as well as a bit across the segments.

所以我認為這讓你們在今年有了正確的起點。正如我所說，這將代表全年收入和 EBITDA 的較低值。因此，隨著時間的推移和其他季節性因素的出現，我們預計收入將會增加。當然，當我們執行北極星時，我們帶來了更多——更多的——我們的收入和成本計劃。EBITDA 全年都會成長，朝著我們的指導範圍努力。因此，希望這有助於為您提供整體軌跡顏色以及跨段的顏色。

Very helpful, thank you. And then just a final question for Barry, regarding the payments segment, we noticed the Michael Reed departure. Could you remind me, was he one of the guys that you brought into Deluxe as part of the new wave of leadership?

非常有幫助，謝謝。然後是巴里的最後一個問題，關於支付領域，我們注意到邁克爾·里德（Michael Reed）的離職。您能提醒我一下，他是您作為新一波領導層的一部分帶入豪華酒店的人之一嗎？

And in any case, could you comment on why he left, who's taking over for him, did the transition -- I know you still serving, as I believe, or the plan is for him to be an adviser to the company. But did the transition perhaps impact the results in the fourth quarter? Might it impact results in 2024 and so forth? Thank you.

無論如何，你能否評論一下他離開的原因、誰將接替他、進行了過渡——我知道你仍在任職，正如我所相信的那樣，或者計劃是讓他擔任公司顧問。但這種轉變可能會影響第四季的業績嗎？它可能會影響 2024 年等的結果嗎？謝謝。

Lance, the first thing I'd want to say is to highlight the great performance in the merchant business. That business continues to outperform our expectation, and you saw the great performance in Q4 as a result of the big win we had announced earlier. I think it's real evidence of the cross-sell ability of the company to help grow that business.

Lance，我想說的第一件事是強調商業業務的出色表現。該業務的表現繼續超出我們的預期，您看到了第四季度的出色表現，這是我們之前宣布的重大勝利的結果。我認為這是公司交叉銷售能力有助於發展業務的真實證據。

And the B2B side of the business, we're increasingly moving that business towards the software as a service aspect of the business. And we are investing there while we are continuing to win market share on the lockbox side of the business. And the lockbox business was a little bit softer this period, and we didn't have some of the recurring things that we saw in Q4 of last year.

在業務的 B2B 方面，我們越來越多地將業務轉向軟體即業務的服務方面。我們正在那裡進行投資，同時我們繼續贏得密碼箱業務的市場份額。這時期的密碼箱業務有點疲軟，我們沒有出現去年第四季看到的一些重複出現的情況。

I'm very grateful for all the great things that Mike did to help get the company and the B2B business moving in the right direction, and he is continuing as an advisor to help us on the transition. That business is reporting to me today while we find a successor, and specifically, we're looking to it sort of add more capabilities to the team around the growth area, which is software as a service.

我非常感謝 Mike 為幫助公司和 B2B 業務朝著正確的方向發展所做的一切偉大的事情，他將繼續擔任顧問，幫助我們完成轉型。該業務今天向我匯報，同時我們正在尋找繼任者，具體來說，我們希望它能夠為團隊圍繞成長領域（即軟體即服務）增加更多功能。

So we're grateful for all that Mike did. We are really optimistic about the future of that business and payments in general.

所以我們感謝邁克所做的一切。我們對該業務和支付的未來非常樂觀。

Thanks. And maybe just one quick follow up, if I could, regarding lockbox. Would you describe -- I mean, I think, in the past, you've described that business in somewhat of a long-term secular decline. And I'm just wondering, I mean, shouldn't we expect that business to kind of be industry wide, that business to be sort of down mid-single digits from here on out?

謝謝。如果可以的話，也許只是關於密碼箱的一個快速跟進。您能否描述一下——我的意思是，我認為，在過去，您描述了該業務在某種程度上處於長期衰退狀態。我只是想知道，我的意思是，我們不應該期望該業務在整個行業範圍內，從現在開始該業務會下降到中個位數嗎？

And I'm wondering, when you talk about a little bit of softness, was it softness relative to that? Or do I have it wrong and that's a business that in a better period would be flat or perhaps even growing?

我想知道，當你談到一點點柔軟時，它是相對於此的柔軟嗎？或者我理解錯了，在更好的時期，這項業務會持平甚至成長？

So first of all, I think it's important to talk about the complexion of the B2B business in total, and it's roughly split between the lockbox business and the growing the software as a service business.

首先，我認為有必要談談 B2B 業務的整體複雜性，它大致分為密碼箱業務和不斷增長的軟體即服務業務。

And so on the lockbox side of the business, yes, there are secular headwinds in that space. But what you've seen us do over the last couple of years is that we have significant market share gains or we help win new business. And then that helps mitigate the decline there, and we've had some very significant wins there.

因此，在業務的密碼箱方面，是的，該領域存在長期阻力。但您在過去幾年中看到我們所做的是，我們獲得了顯著的市場份額成長，或者我們幫助贏得了新業務。這有助於緩解那裡的下滑，而且我們在那裡取得了一些非常重大的勝利。

And then you saw, of course, in the fourth quarter of last year where we took on volume from a competitor that had an outage that helped us deliver a really terrific result in Q4 of last year. We've got a big pipeline, and we think we'll continue to add clients on lockbox to provide some stability. But to be clear, we're focusing more and more on the software as a service side of the business because we see that as the future.

當然，你會看到，在去年第四季度，我們從競爭對手那裡獲得了銷量，而該競爭對手發生了一次停電，這幫助我們在去年第四季度取得了非常出色的業績。我們有一個很大的管道，我們認為我們將繼續在密碼箱上添加客戶端以提供一定的穩定性。但需要明確的是，我們越來越關注軟體即業務的服務面，因為我們認為這是未來。

We had a successful launch of our new receivables product, and it has got an opportunity next week to be in front of hundreds of customers at our annual customer event where we'll be sharing more details, expect to build more leads, and help that side of the business accelerate.

我們成功推出了新的應收帳款產品，下週它有機會在我們的年度客戶活動中面對數百名客戶，我們將在活動中分享更多細節，期望建立更多潛在客戶，並幫助實現這一目標業務方面加速。

I would just add that you're right, Lance, that the lockbox business in aggregate is generally in decline like the rest of the paper parts of our business. We continue ourselves to innovate in different ways to move it to more digital. We're really focused on the efficiency of that business and improving the margins and profitability, which, as you heard in our previous remarks, we did a lot of that this year through site consolidation and other efficiency initiatives.

我想補充一點，蘭斯，你是對的，密碼箱業務總體上與我們業務的其他紙質部分一樣正在下降。我們繼續以不同的方式進行創新，使其更加數位化。我們真正關注的是該業務的效率以及提高利潤和盈利能力，正如您在先前的評論中所聽到的那樣，我們今年透過網站整合和其他效率舉措做了很多工作。

Even despite the softness, the volume challenges we had, we were able to expand margins there, which is really a testament to the opportunity we have to not only continue to look for opportunities to partner with customers and take on more volume, but to continue to run those operations in a more efficient way and expand EBITDA margins for that business as well as B2B in totality.

儘管經濟疲軟，我們面臨銷售挑戰，但我們仍然能夠擴大利潤率，這確實證明了我們不僅要繼續尋找與客戶合作並擴大銷售的機會，而且要繼續以更有效率的方式經營這些業務，並擴大該業務以及B2B 整體的EBITDA 利潤率。

Super helpful. Thanks, guys. Congrats again.

超有幫助。多謝你們。再次恭喜。

Charlie Strauzer, CJS.

查理·斯特勞澤，CJS。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. If we could focus a little bit on the free cash flow guidance, the $60 million to $80 million you had provided there, they're coming off of a pretty strong '23. Looking at the guidance, what are the drivers and assumptions built into that guidance range? And then what could potentially impede you from exceeding that range?

早安.感謝您回答我的問題。如果我們能稍微關註一下自由現金流指導，即您在那裡提供的 6000 萬至 8000 萬美元，它們正處於相當強勁的 23 年時期。查看指導意見，該指導範圍內的驅動因素和假設是什麼？那麼什麼可能會阻礙你超出這個範圍呢？

Yeah. Thank you, Charlie, and good morning. Thank you for joining us. I think I want to first acknowledge the obvious that I did lower that free cash flow guidance range on the Q3 call from our original full-year guidance of $80 million to $100 million for 2023, down to $60 million to $80 million. And I did that based off two factors, as you'll recall.

是的。謝謝你，查理，早安。感謝您加入我們。我想我想先承認一個明顯的事實，即我確實將第三季電話會議的自由現金流指導範圍從最初的2023 年全年指導8000 萬美元至1 億美元下調至6000 萬美元至8000 萬美元。您還記得，我這樣做是基於兩個因素。

I did that based off where we were year to date through the third quarter as well as through the introduction of North Star, adding more potential cash restructuring charges as we set the company up. It was the responsible [and nice] thing to do to reset that range at the time.

我是根據今年第三季迄今為止的情況以及透過引入北極星來做到這一點的，在我們成立公司時增加了更多潛在的現金重組費用。在當時重置這個範圍是負責任的[而且很好]的事情。

Now, however, we didn't change our internal focus on running our cash flow and continuing to optimize things across the portfolio. So when you look at our final result coming in way ahead of where I reset guidance to, that was really a function of the incredible work the team's done to really work on working capital efficiency.

然而，現在我們並沒有改變我們的內部重點，即營運現金流並繼續優化整個投資組合。因此，當你看到我們的最終結果遠遠領先於我重置的指導時，這實際上是團隊為真正提高營運資本效率所做的令人難以置信的工作的結果。

I was very impressed with how the team worked inventory down as the year progressed. As an example, as soon as we got through the ERP upgrade, the team worked very hard, working through all of the challenges we had dealt with around inventory starting back in 2021. You think about supply chain disruptions, inflation, as well as the ERP project. We finally got the chance to work through and really bring that down, which was a great working capital efficiency for us

隨著時間的推移，團隊如何減少庫存，這給我留下了深刻的印象。舉個例子，我們一完成 ERP 升級，團隊就非常努力地工作，解決了我們從 2021 年開始處理的庫存挑戰。您會想到供應鏈中斷、通貨膨脹以及 ERP 專案。我們終於有機會解決並真正解決這個問題，這對我們來說是一個很好的營運資金效率

We were also very efficient on our DSO and other levers. So I do want to acknowledge that it's been a great thing and I'm very pleased with what the team did. As I look ahead, I'm holding the guidance range at $60 million to $80 million for this year, consistent to what I did before. And again, across the two-year period now with the beat in 2023, that's a net positive. Over a two-year period, we're driving more free cash flow.

我們的 DSO 和其他槓桿也非常有效率。所以我確實想承認這是一件偉大的事情，我對團隊所做的感到非常滿意。展望未來，我將今年的指導範圍維持在 6,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元，與我之前的做法一致。再說一次，在 2023 年的這兩年期間，這是一個淨正面的結果。在兩年的時間裡，我們正在推動更多的自由現金流。

But as I look ahead right now, in this moment, after having just come off a really strong fourth quarter, I walk it down this way. I think about the 98 we just delivered in 2023. We have to, off the top, take off estimated impacts from the business exits, which on a cash basis is roughly $15 million. I then got to look at that working capital picture I just took you through.

但當我現在展望未來時，在剛結束了一個非常強勁的第四節之後，我會沿著這條路走下去。我想到了 2023 年我們剛剛交付的 98 架。我們必須先剔除業務退出的估計影響，以現金計算約為 1500 萬美元。然後我查看了我剛剛帶您瀏覽的營運資金狀況。

And while it was a fantastic source of cash in 2023, at this point in time, I'm planning it to be more of a net neutral; not an inflow, not an outflow. On the lower end of my range, it would be an outflow. But on the upper end, it's neutral. And I think there's an opportunity to maybe drive more. So just set that there.

雖然它在 2023 年是一個極好的現金來源，但在這個時間點，我計劃它更像是一個網路中立的；不是流入，也不是流出。在我的範圍的下限，這將是資金流出。但在高端，它是中性的。我認為也許有機會開車更多。所以只需將其設置在那裡即可。

And then lastly, we do expect as we've said before to spend a little bit less cash restructuring, call it roughly [$10 million]. But again, it could be a range. We don't have perfect visibility to restructuring spend as you would anticipate through the kind of one-time nature of it. But right now, in my construction, I'm assuming it's about $10 million lower.

最後，正如我們之前所說，我們確實希望減少現金重組的支出，粗略地稱之為[1000萬美元]。但同樣，它可能是一個範圍。我們對重組支出沒有完全的了解，正如您透過其一次性性質所預期的那樣。但現在，在我的構建中，我假設它會減少約 1000 萬美元。

So that leaves room for the operations to still improve to get us into that range. And my view would be give us time in the year to start to execute and see how we do. And I think the levers to drive it upwards would be continued improvement around working capital as well as potentially lower restructuring charges. And then the lower end of the range that we've set here, I think, is a very responsible place to be.

因此，這為我們的營運仍有改進的空間，以讓我們進入這個範圍。我的觀點是，今年給我們時間開始執行，看看我們做得如何。我認為推動其上漲的槓桿將是營運資本的持續改善以及可能降低的重組費用。我認為，我們在這裡設定的範圍的下限是一個非常負責任的地方。

And the last thing I'll just call out, as you know, again, I just want to reiterate across that two-year period how we're ahead of where we thought we'd be in December. And so we ended the year at 3.6 times leverage. In December, \we estimated that would be 3.8, getting to 3.7 by the end of this year.

最後我要強調的是，正如你們所知，我只想重申在這兩年期間我們如何領先 12 月的預期。因此，我們年底的槓桿率為 3.6 倍。12 月份，我們預計該數字為 3.8，到今年年底將達到 3.7。

We're already at three six, so very pleased with where we are on that journey. If you've taken the midpoint of our free cash flow range or taken the midpoint of our EBITDA range, that would suggest we're going to end this year between 3.6, 3.5, depending on the round. And so again, just really pleased with that progress getting ahead of a critical strategic priority for us. It's all positive.

我們已經三點六分了，對我們目前的狀況非常滿意。如果您採用了我們的自由現金流範圍的中點或我們的 EBITDA 範圍的中點，那就表示我們今年將在 3.6 至 3.5 之間結束，具體取決於輪次。再說一遍，我們對這項進展超出了我們的關鍵策略優先事項感到非常高興。這都是正面的。

Great. And just a segue to the balance sheet, if rates were to come down, are there other opportunities potentially to repay some of the debt or do some swaps we were ever to reduce durations expense?

偉大的。就資產負債表而言，如果利率下降，是否有其他機會償還部分債務或進行一些掉期以減少久期費用？

Yes. So keep in mind right now with the swaps we did throughout the last five quarters, effectively, we're at approximately 75% fixed rate, which removes a lot of the current volatility in the markets. As we plan this year, we are planning no change in the interest rates.

是的。因此，請記住，現在我們在過去五個季度進行的掉期交易，實際上，我們的固定利率約為 75%，這消除了市場當前的大量波動。按照我們今年的計劃，我們計劃不改變利率。

We, of course, are remaining very cognizant of what the Fed is doing and staying really in tune with what their updates are. But the way we put our guidance out, we're assuming no change in the rates. And obviously, if they start to come down, that would be a reason why we would go into the lower end of our $120 million to $125 million range. We don't see them going up.

當然，我們仍然非常了解聯準會正在做什麼，並與他們的最新動態保持一致。但我們提出指導意見的方式是假設利率沒有變動。顯然，如果它們開始下降，這將是我們進入 1.2 億至 1.25 億美元區間下限的原因。我們沒有看到它們上升。

The reason we would drift upwards would be if free cash flow timing across the year was a little bit more back-end loaded and we had to draw down on revolving debt earlier in the year, just drive more internal cash costs.

我們之所以會向上移動，是因為如果全年的自由現金流時間安排有點後端負載，那麼我們就必須在今年早些時候動用循環債務，從而推動更多的內部現金成本。

To your direct question about just the refinancing side, what I would say is we still sit here with ample time. So our next major maturity on our credit facility, our Term Loan A and our revolver is not until the end of June of 2026. We will obviously not let that debt go current. So that gives us effectively the better part of the year to just start to get educated on what the market situation is, see what our alternatives are, and really leverage our bank group for advice and guidance and a perspective on what we should do.

對於你關於再融資方面的直接問題，我想說的是，我們仍然坐在這裡，有充足的時間。因此，我們的信貸安排、定期貸款 A 和循環貸款的下一個主要到期日要到 2026 年 6 月底。我們顯然不會讓這筆債務繼續流動。因此，這實際上讓我們在今年的大部分時間裡開始了解市場狀況，看看我們的替代方案是什麼，並真正利用我們的銀行集團提供建議和指導以及我們應該做什麼的觀點。

So we don't have a crystal ball on what interest rates will be, come that period of time a year from now, or what the market will look like from a capital markets perspective. But rest assured, we're going to get working on it early so that we address that well ahead of that debt becoming current.

因此，我們無法預測一年後的那段時間利率會是多少，或是從資本市場的角度來看市場會是什麼樣子。但請放心，我們將儘早著手解決這個問題，以便在債務成為現實之前解決這個問題。

And obviously, the hope would be that we can do that in a way that our weighted average interest rate cost comes down. But if not, we'll continue to de-lever to bring the debt balance down and continue to bring our debt costs down over time.

顯然，我們希望能夠以降低加權平均利率成本的方式做到這一點。但如果沒有，我們將繼續去槓桿化，以降低債務餘額，並隨著時間的推移繼續降低我們的債務成本。

Thanks for taking my questions.

感謝您回答我的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Marc Riddick, Sidoti.

（操作員說明）Marc Riddick，Sidoti。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. So I wanted to -- you actually covered a great deal of where I was going to go with the last answer, so I do appreciate that. I was just wondering, curious as to maybe if you could give us a quick reminder, an update as to the timing of some of the tech spend or any -- if there's anything lumpy that we should be thinking about for the first half of the year as far as the spending is?

你好。大家，早安。所以我想——你實際上在最後一個答案中涵蓋了我將要討論的很多內容，所以我真的很感激。我只是想知道，好奇您是否可以給我們一個快速提醒，更新一些技術支出的時間安排或任何 - 是否有任何我們應該在上半年考慮的問題一年的支出是多少？

Let me just start by giving a sort of framework on how '24 is different than the last couple of years. So we have completed all of our investments in modernizing our infrastructure. So you'll recall last year at this time, we went live with our ERP, which was the last piece of that infrastructure spending.

讓我先給一個框架，說明「24」與過去幾年有何不同。因此，我們已經完成了基礎設施現代化的所有投資。所以你會記得去年的這個時候，我們啟用了 ERP，這是基礎設施支出的最後一部分。

So we are complete with that now, fully modernized all of our core operating systems, moving them into the cloud. So this year, we are spending less on those infrastructure items and focusing more on investing in the businesses where we can generate growth, specifically in payments and data.

所以我們現在已經完成了，對我們所有的核心作業系統進行完全現代化，並將它們轉移到雲端。因此，今年，我們減少了在這些基礎設施項目上的支出，並更專注於投資能夠帶來成長的業務，特別是支付和數據領域。

So while Chip said that we expect to slow down the spending a bit, we also expect slightly less on restructuring expense. I think the big point to note here is that the spending is shifting towards things that are going to drive more growth rather than simply stabilizing and improving our -- and modernizing our infrastructure.

因此，雖然奇普表示我們預計會稍微放慢支出，但我們也預期重組費用會略有減少。我認為這裡值得注意的一點是，支出正在轉向那些能夠推動更多成長的事情，而不是簡單地穩定和改善我們的基礎設施，並使我們的基礎設施現代化。

What do you want to add?

您想添加什麼？

Yeah, Marc, I think your question, there's multiple layers to it. So I'll try my best to predict where you're going and just clarify if I'm not getting it there. But on the CapEx side, we guided $100 million. As Barry just said, we've really moved through obviously, the ERP. We've moved mostly through the site consolidation. So what you're really starting to anchor on through [prod dev], software development. So I don't really think that $100 million is going to be very lumpy. I think it can be relatively linear across the period. You're going to see us continue to invest on the right high-return growth initiatives there.

是的，馬克，我認為你的問題有多個層面。所以我會盡力預測你要去的地方，並澄清如果我沒有到達那裡。但在資本支出方面，我們指導了 1 億美元。正如巴里剛才所說，顯然我們確實已經完成了 ERP。我們主要透過網站整合進行了移動。那麼，您真正開始透過[產品開發] 來錨定的是軟體開發。所以我真的不認為 1 億美元會很不穩定。我認為在整個時期內它可以是相對線性的。您將看到我們繼續在那裡投資於正確的高回報成長計劃。

If your question is getting towards more of the restructuring charges Barry alluded to a little bit, last year, our overall restructuring charges were $90 million. And keep in mind, that was doing a number of things: ERP at the front end of the year, site consolidation as well as the lockbox optimization in the middle, and then the launch of North Star towards the end.

如果您的問題涉及巴里提到的更多重組費用，那麼去年我們的整體重組費用為 9000 萬美元。請記住，我們做了很多事情：年初的 ERP、中期的站點整合和密碼箱優化，以及年底推出的 North Star。

As we've said before, we still believe that's kind of the peak of overall restructuring spending for us start to see it coming down. I could see the range of restructuring spending this year somewhere between $60 million to $80 million. Again, you can't really perfectly estimate it with the nature of it, but that's really all North Star.

正如我們之前所說，我們仍然認為這是整體重組支出的頂峰，我們開始看到它下降。我預計今年的重組支出範圍在 6,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元之間。再說一次，你無法真正完美地根據它的性質來估計它，但這確實是北極星。

And so in the $90 million we spent last year, roughly $45 million of that was North Star related. We've guided to you guys that overall North Star spend would be between $115 million to $135 million. So spending around $60 million to $80 million this year puts us near our job there through the end of this year, with obviously the remaining charges to occur in the early 2025 timeframe. So hopefully, that overall perspective gives you what you're looking for.

因此，在我們去年花費的 9000 萬美元中，大約有 4500 萬美元與北極星有關。我們已經告訴大家，North Star 的整體支出將在 1.15 億至 1.35 億美元之間。因此，今年花費約 6,000 萬至 8,000 萬美元，使我們能夠在今年年底前完成工作，顯然剩餘費用將在 2025 年初發生。因此，希望這個整體視角能夠為您提供您正在尋找的東西。

No, that's perfect. I appreciate that. Thank you. And then I know it's early, but I was wondering if it was too early to see if there was any insights or any feedback you're receiving from clients as far as planning, or if there's anything that maybe has changed as far as general views -- as far as your client activity since the Investor Day? Thanks.

不，那是完美的。我很感激。謝謝。然後我知道現在還為時過早，但我想知道現在是否還為時過早，看看您是否從客戶那裡收到了有關規劃的任何見解或反饋，或者就一般觀點而言是否有任何可能發生的變化－自投資者日以來您的客戶活動情況如何？謝謝。

So a couple of top-line things for you there. We continue to be pleased with how our pipeline is expanding across all of our businesses. And we're continuing to see benefit from our ability to cross sell the whole One Deluxe model that we've talked about previously.

所以有一些最重要的事情要告訴你。我們仍然對我們的管道在所有業務中的擴展感到滿意。我們繼續看到我們交叉銷售我們之前討論過的整個 One Deluxe 型號的能力所帶來的好處。

I think we're also seeing a decent consumer spending. That's obviously early, but so far, early indications seem encouraging. And we've got pretty good line of sight in the DDM business because we have understanding of how clients will be rolling out their programs across the rest of the year.

我認為我們也看到了不錯的消費者支出。這顯然還為時過早，但到目前為止，早期跡像似乎令人鼓舞。我們對 DDM 業務有很好的了解，因為我們了解客戶將如何在今年剩餘時間內推出他們的計劃。

And so what I would tell you is what we're seeing today is very consistent with what we shared at Investor Day, which gives us confidence to affirm the guidance we provided you back in December, and we believe we're going to have a really solid year and moving our transformation forward.

因此，我要告訴您的是，我們今天看到的情況與我們在投資者日分享的內容非常一致，這讓我們有信心確認我們在12 月份向您提供的指導，並且我們相信我們將會有一個非常堅實的一年，推動我們的轉型向前發展。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

We have no further questions in our queue at this time. I will turn the call back to Brian Anderson for closing remarks.

目前我們的隊列中沒有其他問題。我將把電話轉回給布萊恩·安德森（Brian Anderson），讓他發表結束語。

Thank you, Krista. Before we conclude, I'd like to share that management will be participating at the JPMorgan Global High Yield & Leveraged Finance Conference on February 26 and 27, and at the Wolfe FinTech Forum on March 13 and 14 during the quarter.

謝謝你，克里斯塔。在結束之前，我想告訴大家，本季管理層將參加2 月26 日至27 日舉行的摩根大通全球高收益和槓桿金融會議，以及3 月13 日至14 日舉行的沃爾夫金融科技論壇。

Thanks again for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you all again in May as we share our first-quarter 2024 results.

再次感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待在 5 月再次與大家交談，分享我們的 2024 年第一季業績。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。