Descartes Systems Group Inc (DSGX) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Descartes quarterly results call. My name is Brandon, and I'll be your operator for today. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Scott Pagan, and you may begin, sir.

下午好，歡迎來到笛卡爾季度業績電話會議。我叫布蘭登，今天我是你的接線員。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，正在錄製此會議。我現在將電話轉給 Scott Pagan，您可以開始了，先生。

Thanks, and good afternoon, everyone. Joining me on the call today are Ed Ryan, CEO; and Allan Brett, CFO. And I trust that everyone has received a copy of our financial results press release that was issued earlier today.

謝謝，大家下午好。今天和我一起參加電話會議的是首席執行官 Ed Ryan；和首席財務官 Allan Brett。我相信每個人都收到了我們今天早些時候發布的財務業績新聞稿的副本。

Portions of today's call, other than historical performance, include statements of forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements are made under the safe harbor provisions of those laws. These forward-looking statements include statements related to our assessment of the current and future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia, Ukraine context on our business and financial condition; Descartes' operating performance, financial working conditions; Descartes' gross margins and any growth in those gross margins; cash flow and use of cash, our application to commence a normal course issuer bid and potential purchases pursuant to such bid; our business outlook; baseline revenues, baseline operating expenses and baseline calibration; anticipated and potential revenue losses and gains; anticipated recognition and expensing of specific revenues and expenses; potential acquisitions and acquisition strategy; cost reduction and integration initiatives and other matters that may constitute forward-looking statements.

今天電話會議的部分內容，除歷史表現外，還包括適用證券法含義內的前瞻性信息聲明。這些聲明是根據這些法律的安全港條款作出的。這些前瞻性陳述包括與我們評估 COVID-19 大流行以及俄羅斯、烏克蘭背景對我們的業務和財務狀況的當前和未來影響相關的陳述；笛卡爾的經營業績、財務工作情況； Descartes 的毛利率和這些毛利率的任何增長；現金流量和現金使用，我們開始正常課程發行人投標的申請以及根據該投標的潛在購買；我們的業務前景；基線收入、基線運營費用和基線校準；預期和潛在的收入損失和收益；特定收入和費用的預期確認和支出；潛在的收購和收購戰略；降低成本和整合舉措以及其他可能構成前瞻性陳述的事項。

These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Descartes to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors are outlined in the press release and the section entitled certain factors that may affect future results in documents filed and furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the OSC and other securities commissions across Canada, including our management's discussion and analysis filed today.

這些前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險、不確定性、假設和其他因素，這些因素可能導致 Descartes 的實際結果、業績或成就與此類前瞻性陳述所暗示的預期結果、業績或成就存在重大差異。在向證券交易委員會、OSC 和加拿大其他證券委員會提交和提供的文件中，標題為可能影響未來結果的某些因素的部分概述了這些因素，包括我們管理層今天提交的討論和分析。

We provide forward-looking statements solely for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans early into the future. We caution such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. We don't undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions of any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statement is based except as required by law. And with that, I'm going to turn the call over to Ed.

我們提供前瞻性陳述的目的僅僅是為了提供有關管理層當前預期和未來早期計劃的信息。我們警告此類信息可能不適合用於其他目的。我們不承擔或接受任何義務或承諾公開發布任何前瞻性陳述的任何更新或修訂，以反映我們預期的任何變化或任何此類陳述所依據的事件、條件、假設或情況的任何變化，除非根據法律要求。有了這個，我要把電話轉給埃德。

Great. Thanks, Scott, and welcome, everyone to the call. We kicked off the new fiscal year right with record financial results. These were our best results ever across a host of different metrics. I'll hit some highlights for you. But first, let me give you a road map for this call. I'll start with highlighting some aspects of our financial results, speak to current business conditions and identify where we're making investments to grow our business. I'll then hand it over to Allan, who will go over the Q1 financial results and some corporate finance matters in more detail. I'll then come back and provide an update on some corporate matters and how our business is calibrated, and we'll then open it up to the operator to coordinate the Q&A portion of the call.

偉大的。謝謝斯科特，歡迎大家來電。我們以創紀錄的財務業績開啟了新的財政年度。這些是我們在許多不同指標上的最佳結果。我會為你打一些亮點。但首先，讓我為您提供本次電話會議的路線圖。我將首先強調我們財務業績的某些方面，談談當前的業務狀況，並確定我們在哪些方面進行投資以發展我們的業務。然後我會把它交給艾倫，他將更詳細地審查第一季度的財務結果和一些公司財務問題。然後我會回來提供一些公司事務的最新情況以及我們的業務是如何校準的，然後我們會把它開放給接線員來協調電話的問答部分。

So let's get started by looking at Q1. We had record high revenues of $116.4 million, up 18% from a year ago. Net income was $23.1 million, up 26% from a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was a record high of $51.2 million, up 23% from a year ago, and this was with a $500,000 drag compared to FX rates from a year ago or $300,000 from FX rates last quarter.

因此，讓我們從第一季度開始。我們的收入創歷史新高，達到 1.164 億美元，比一年前增長 18%。淨收入為 2310 萬美元，比一年前增長 26%。調整後的 EBITDA 創下 5120 萬美元的歷史新高，比一年前增長 23%，這與一年前的匯率相比有 500,000 美元的拖累，比上一季度的匯率有 300,000 美元的拖累。

We generated (sic)[$44.4 million] in cash from operations or 87% of our adjusted EBITDA. Our adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue was 44%. All of these metrics were ahead of our plans, so a very strong financial quarter for us. At the end of the quarter, we had $211 million in cash, and we're debt free with an undrawn $350 million line of credit. We remain well capitalized, cash-generating, debt-free and ready to continue to invest in our business.

我們從運營中產生了（原文如此）[4440 萬美元] 現金，占我們調整後 EBITDA 的 87%。我們調整後的 EBITDA 佔收入的百分比為 44%。所有這些指標都超出了我們的計劃，因此對我們來說是一個非常強勁的財政季度。在本季度末，我們擁有 2.11 億美元的現金，而且我們沒有債務，還有 3.5 億美元的未動用信貸額度。我們仍然資本充足、產生現金、無債務，並準備繼續投資我們的業務。

So I'd like to address 3 areas. One, why we did well this past quarter; two, what the market conditions are that we're operating in right now; and three, where we're making investments. On the first point, our focus at Descartes has been on building a consistent, predictable and sustainable business that is resilient to changes in the market conditions. So as I described some key contributors to our performance last quarter, you're going to hear some common themes from past conference calls and our previous successes, and that's by design.

所以我想談談 3 個領域。第一，為什麼我們在上個季度表現出色；第二，我們現在經營的市場條件是什麼；第三，我們在哪裡進行投資。關於第一點，我們在 Descartes 的重點是建立一個一致、可預測和可持續的業務，以適應市場條件的變化。因此，正如我在上個季度描述了我們業績的一些主要貢獻者一樣，您將從過去的電話會議和我們之前的成功中聽到一些共同的主題，這是設計使然。

Key things that helped us grow last quarter include past investments are paying off in a sustained -- or with sustained organic growth. We continue to see good organic growth in our business year-over-year. We see this as a payoff from the targeted investments we've made in sales and marketing over past quarters. Our biggest change in sales and marketing was growing a group that's now aligned by different pillars of our business and geographically. In the past, we're purely organized and engaging with customers by geography. But as we've grown and matured, we've moved to our further -- to further solution specification to be able to focus on customer-centric engagement that helps customers drive more value from our solutions.

幫助我們上個季度增長的關鍵因素包括過去的投資在持續或持續的有機增長中得到回報。我們的業務同比繼續保持良好的有機增長。我們認為這是過去幾個季度我們在銷售和營銷方面進行的有針對性投資的回報。我們在銷售和營銷方面最大的變化是發展了一個團隊，該團隊現在由我們業務的不同支柱和地域組成。過去，我們純粹是按地域組織和接觸客戶。但隨著我們的成長和成熟，我們已經轉向更進一步的——進一步的解決方案規範，以便能夠專注於以客戶為中心的參與，幫助客戶從我們的解決方案中獲得更多價值。

Second is real-time visibility contribution. We've been in the visibility business for a long time. It's one of the foundations of the Global Logistics Network. When we started, we were providing purchase order line item visibility from EDI status messages. We've grown with the market to move to real-time visibility, leveraging GPS and other technologies. A few years ago, we joined with MacroPoint to become a leader in the space. Our real-time visibility business continues to grow. We're receiving and tracking more shipments than ever, and our capabilities are expanding across all modes of transportation including identifying available shipment capacity.

其次是實時可見性貢獻。我們從事知名度業務已有很長時間了。它是全球物流網絡的基礎之一。剛開始時，我們提供來自 EDI 狀態消息的採購訂單行項目可見性。我們隨著市場的發展而轉向實時可見性，利用 GPS 和其他技術。幾年前，我們加入了 MacroPoint，成為該領域的領導者。我們的實時可見性業務持續增長。我們接收和跟踪的貨物比以往任何時候都多，我們的能力正在擴展到所有運輸方式，包括確定可用的運輸能力。

The third is strong demand for denied party and sanctioned party screening and tariff changes. We foreshadowed this last quarter and it happened as expected, with geopolitical conflicts escalating in particular, with the war in the Ukraine. Governments around the world have imposed sanctions on particular countries, parties and commodities. There are enormous financial and economic consequences of violating these sanctions. Businesses need to be more diligent than ever in who they are doing business with, who they're employing and who they're importing from or exporting to. A good portion of our content business is specifically focused on this, helping businesses scan for compliance with the various sanction lists around the world. Also with all of the challenges and tariffs because of these geopolitical events, our databases of tariffs and duties have become even more vital for our customers.

三是強烈要求對被拒絕方和被制裁方進行篩选和資費變更。我們預示了最後一個季度，它如預期的那樣發生了，特別是隨著烏克蘭戰爭的升級，地緣政治衝突。世界各國政府對特定國家、政黨和商品實施制裁。違反這些制裁會產生巨大的金融和經濟後果。企業需要比以往任何時候都更勤奮地了解與誰做生意、僱用誰以及從誰進口或向誰出口。我們內容業務的很大一部分專門專注於此，幫助企業掃描是否符合世界各地的各種制裁名單。此外，由於這些地緣政治事件帶來的所有挑戰和關稅，我們的關稅和關稅數據庫對我們的客戶來說變得更加重要。

And the fourth is past acquisitions have contributed well. Those who followed us for some time know that we've taken a consistent measured approach to adding to our business by way of acquisitions. We generally are buying houses that are right in our neighborhood and complement our existing business. If we combine with the business that's not yet at our desired profit level, we take very quick steps to get it there, using Descartes resources and experience to help the business thrive. So it's no surprise that the business positively contributes to our growth post acquisition, and that's our plan.

第四是過去的收購做出了很好的貢獻。關注我們一段時間的人都知道，我們採取了一種一致的衡量方法，通過收購來增加我們的業務。我們通常會購買就在我們附近的房子，以補充我們現有的業務。如果我們與尚未達到預期利潤水平的業務合併，我們會採取非常快速的步驟將其實現，利用笛卡爾的資源和經驗來幫助業務蓬勃發展。因此，該業務對我們收購後的增長做出積極貢獻也就不足為奇了，這就是我們的計劃。

This past quarter was our first quarter with NetCHB in our business, a company I described to you in detail on our last call. They are a very good complement to our existing solutions for freight forwarder and customs brokers. The business has really hit the ground running. We've already had some combined successes, so we're happy to see their contribution in the quarter. So that's how last quarter went. It went very [well]. We performed well and bought some businesses. Things continue to change quickly in the global market though. We built a resilient business that in the past has grown through some very challenging business environments. However, we need to be prudent and cautious when things are changing.

上個季度是我們與 NetCHB 開展業務的第一個季度，我在上次電話會議上向您詳細描述了這家公司。它們是對我們現有的貨運代理和報關行解決方案的很好補充。業務真正開始運轉。我們已經取得了一些共同的成功，所以我們很高興看到他們在本季度做出的貢獻。這就是上個季度的情況。它進行得非常[順利]。我們表現不錯，買了一些生意。不過，全球市場的情況繼續迅速變化。我們建立了一個有彈性的業務，過去在一些非常具有挑戰性的業務環境中發展壯大。但是，在事態有變的時候，我們需要謹慎小心。

Generally, the things impacting supply chain and logistics markets right now fall into 2 categories. The first is conflict and geopolitical issues and the second is economic issues. On the conflict and geopolitical front, there are 3 main things we're monitoring for their impact on logistics and supply chains: one, the war in the Ukraine; two, Brexit; and three, China COVID lockdowns. The war in Ukraine has caused sanctions and retaliatory reactions from countries around the world, even though it's not directly involved in the conflict. As I mentioned, businesses in our space are having to be extra diligent to screen all relationship and shipments for compliance with a myriad of sanctions and restrictions out there.

一般來說，目前影響供應鍊和物流市場的因素分為兩類。首先是衝突和地緣政治問題，其次是經濟問題。在衝突和地緣政治方面，我們主要關注 3 件事情對物流和供應鏈的影響：第一，烏克蘭戰爭；二、脫歐；第三，中國 COVID 封鎖。烏克蘭戰爭引起了世界各國的製裁和報復反應，儘管它沒有直接捲入衝突。正如我所提到的，我們這個領域的企業必須格外勤奮地篩選所有關係和貨物，以符合那裡無數的製裁和限制。

Also changes in tariffs and duties have made sourcing from or shipping to Russia expensive and/or prohibitive. Businesses have had to restructure critical supply relationships to continue operations. Shipments to and from ports in Ukraine and Russia have become very dangerous or blockaded, causing virtually all major carriers and all modes of transportation to travel alternative routes that are sometimes lengthier and more expensive. And recently, we're seeing Russia shutting off supply and energy commodities to neighboring countries, causing disruptions in those supply chains. The wars had a wide range of impact on virtually everyone's supply chain.

關稅和關稅的變化也使得從俄羅斯採購或運往俄羅斯變得昂貴和/或令人望而卻步。企業不得不重組關鍵的供應關係以繼續運營。進出烏克蘭和俄羅斯港口的貨物變得非常危險或被封鎖，導致幾乎所有主要承運商和所有運輸方式都採用有時更長、更昂貴的替代路線。最近，我們看到俄羅斯切斷了對鄰國的供應和能源商品，導致這些供應鏈中斷。戰爭對幾乎每個人的供應鏈都產生了廣泛的影響。

The biggest overall impact has been on energy and commodity markets. These are generally supplied by cables, pipelines or bulk commodity carriers, usually ocean vessels. Not much of Descartes business is in this supply and logistics space. So we haven't seen a big impact on shipment volumes in our business. However, we've seen an impact from our customers, increasing screening for sanctions and/or using technology to look at alternative supply and logistics strategies that back past the region. Inside our own company, we have a limited number of individual contractors in the region helping us. We're fortunate that they're all safe and we've been trying to do what we can to support them and their families.

總體影響最大的是能源和商品市場。這些通常由電纜、管道或大宗商品運輸船（通常是遠洋船隻）提供。在這個供應和物流領域，笛卡爾的業務並不多。因此，我們沒有看到對我們業務的出貨量產生重大影響。但是，我們已經看到來自客戶的影響，他們增加了對製裁的篩选和/或使用技術來研究該地區以外的替代供應和物流策略。在我們自己的公司內部，我們在該地區有數量有限的個體承包商幫助我們。我們很幸運，他們都很安全，我們一直在盡我們所能來支持他們和他們的家人。

The second geopolitical item I flagged was Brexit, specifically issues relating to Ireland. The island of Ireland is divided into the South, which is part of the EU and the North, which is part of the U.K. and therefore, not a part of the EU. A key part of the U.K. Brexit separation from the EU was established in a protocol that would avoid having to put an enforced land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland as that type of separation has been a source of prior trouble and conflict for many years. So rather than have checks on goods going from Northern Ireland to Ireland to the Northern Ireland protocol established filings, declarations, tariffs, duties and checks on goods entering in Northern Island from Great Britain in accordance with EU standards.

我標記的第二個地緣政治項目是英國退歐，特別是與愛爾蘭有關的問題。愛爾蘭島分為南部和北部，南部是歐盟的一部分，北部是英國的一部分，因此不屬於歐盟。英國脫歐與歐盟分離的一個關鍵部分是在一項協議中確立的，該協議將避免在北愛爾蘭和愛爾蘭之間設置強制陸地邊界，因為這種類型的分離多年來一直是先前麻煩和衝突的根源。因此，北愛爾蘭協議不是對從北愛爾蘭到愛爾蘭的貨物進行檢查，而是根據歐盟標準對從英國進入北島的貨物進行備案、申報、關稅、關稅和檢查。

We've been helping many businesses with their filings and declarations for goods going into Northern Ireland. It's been a good business for us over the past year or so. Recently, elections were held in Northern Ireland where, for the first time in history, the political party with a focus on reunifying North and South Ireland, won the most seats in the Northern Ireland government. This party is supportive of the existing Northern Ireland protocol. However, some of the other political parties needed to form a government are not as supportive. All that is to say we'll be continuing to monitor for our customers, the continued viability of the Northern Ireland protocol and whether additional filing and documentation changes will be required by our customers as they continue to adapt to Brexit.

我們一直在幫助許多企業處理進入北愛爾蘭的貨物的備案和申報。在過去一年左右的時間裡，這對我們來說是一項很好的業務。近日，北愛爾蘭舉行大選，以統一北愛爾蘭和南愛爾蘭為目標的政黨歷史上首次贏得北愛爾蘭政府中最多席位。該黨支持現有的北愛爾蘭協議。然而，組建政府所需的其他一些政黨並不那麼支持。這就是說，我們將繼續為我們的客戶監控北愛爾蘭協議的持續可行性，以及我們的客戶在繼續適應英國脫歐時是否需要額外的備案和文件變更。

The third geopolitical item we're monitoring are the COVID lockdowns in China. China has taken an aggressive zero-COVID approach, which has resulted in many businesses in China being shut down while they deal with the outbreaks. This includes manufacturers, distributors, ports and logistics operations. With China being a major source of manufactured goods and components, this has had a big impact on the supply chains of Western companies. We've heard of parts and component shortages in many industries, including the auto and electronics industry, resulting in manufacturing slowdown.

我們正在監測的第三個地緣政治項目是中國的 COVID 封鎖。中國採取了積極的零 COVID 方法，這導致中國的許多企業在應對疫情時被關閉。這包括製造商、分銷商、港口和物流業務。由於中國是製成品和零部件的主要來源地，這對西方公司的供應鏈產生了重大影響。我們聽說過許多行業的零部件短缺，包括汽車和電子行業，導致製造業放緩。

Over the past years, Western companies have had to be very agile to meet supply chain challenges. In response to these China COVID lockdowns, many have saw alternative suppliers in neighboring countries or in parts of China not impacted by the lockdowns. We've seen it to be a challenge for businesses but not a fatal chokepoint. On the logistics front, prior to the lockdowns, ports and carriers were dealing with backlogs and sparse capacity to move goods. With these China COVID lockdowns, we're seeing many of the [CLOCS] and the logistics infrastructure work themselves out, with wait times at U.S. seaports coming way down and prices starting to come down with increased capacity.

在過去的幾年裡，西方公司不得不非常靈活地應對供應鏈挑戰。為了應對這些中國 COVID 封鎖，許多人發現鄰國或中國部分地區的替代供應商沒有受到封鎖的影響。我們認為這對企業來說是一個挑戰，但不是致命的瓶頸。在物流方面，在封鎖之前，港口和承運人正在處理貨物積壓和運力稀少的問題。隨著這些中國 COVID 封鎖，我們看到許多 [CLOCS] 和物流基礎設施自行解決，美國海港的等待時間大幅縮短，價格開始隨著運力的增加而下降。

To date, we've continued to see steady shipment volumes for Asia Pacific. Things seem now to be opening back up right now in China. And in the meantime, we'll continue to monitor the situation for any potential impact on future shipment volumes. So those are some of the major conflict and geopolitical issues impacting supply chain and logistics. But there are also some economic issues impacting our space, many of which are connected in some ways to these events.

迄今為止，我們繼續看到亞太地區的出貨量穩定。現在中國似乎正在重新開放。與此同時，我們將繼續監測局勢對未來出貨量的任何潛在影響。因此，這些是影響供應鍊和物流的一些主要衝突和地緣政治問題。但也有一些經濟問題影響著我們的空間，其中許多在某種程度上與這些事件有關。

The first, inflation. We've seen very high inflation rates in various economies. This has caused price increases, which then has businesses looking at alternative sourcing within their supply chains. We had to manage this in our own business by adjusting pricing to reflect supply costs that have been passed on to us.

第一，通貨膨脹。我們已經看到各個經濟體的通貨膨脹率非常高。這導致價格上漲，然後企業開始在其供應鏈中尋找替代採購。我們必須通過調整定價以反映已轉嫁給我們的供應成本來管理我們自己的業務。

Second, interest rates. Higher interest rates put additional pressure on businesses with leverage, in particular, logistics businesses with hard assets. We're also aware of technology peers and competitors with highly leveraged businesses. As I mentioned earlier, Descartes is debt free. So this is a limited challenge to us right now, and it's potentially an opportunity as highly leveraged private tech businesses could have depressed valuations in the future.

第二，利率。較高的利率給有槓桿作用的企業帶來額外壓力，尤其是擁有硬資產的物流企業。我們還了解擁有高槓桿業務的技術同行和競爭對手。正如我之前提到的，笛卡爾沒有債務。因此，目前這對我們來說是一個有限的挑戰，而且它可能是一個機會，因為高槓桿的私營科技企業未來可能會壓低估值。

The third is currency movements. Global economic and political conflict has caused many currencies to move for our customers. This can also be driving force to looking for alternative sourcing strategies as low-cost offshore jurisdictions suddenly become much more expensive. As I detailed earlier, our own business faced some FX currency headwinds this quarter compared to a year ago. However, we have some natural hedges in our business that doesn't really have us too exposed to any one particular currency movement.

三是貨幣走勢。全球經濟和政治衝突導致許多貨幣對我們的客戶產生影響。這也可能成為尋找替代採購策略的動力，因為低成本的離岸司法管轄區突然變得更加昂貴。正如我之前詳述的那樣，與一年前相比，本季度我們自己的業務面臨一些外匯逆風。然而，我們的業務中有一些自然的對沖，實際上並沒有讓我們太容易受到任何一種特定貨幣變動的影響。

The fourth is fuel costs. Fuel costs are rising. Diesel costs, in particular, are impacting the trucking industry. This puts pressure on companies to more efficiently use their vehicles and sometimes contributes to broader inflation as fuel costs are passed on for our business. Our writing and scheduling business and transportation management business are specifically designed to reduce miles driven, so fuel cost increases often also increase demand for our solutions in this space.

第四是燃料成本。燃料成本正在上升。尤其是柴油成本正在影響卡車運輸業。這給公司帶來了壓力，要求他們更有效地使用他們的車輛，有時還會導致更廣泛的通貨膨脹，因為燃料成本會轉嫁給我們的業務。我們的寫作和調度業務以及運輸管理業務專為減少行駛里程而設計，因此燃料成本的增加通常也會增加對該領域解決方案的需求。

Fifth is labor availability, competition for logistics and supply chain workers remains fierce with many companies exploring alternative sources for workers. More specifically, there's still ongoing negotiations for the West Coast port workers' contract. And while both sides seem committed to a resolution there, the labor disruption there could also contribute to more logistics backlog and alternative logistics strategies.

第五是勞動力供應，物流和供應鏈工人的競爭依然激烈，許多公司都在尋找替代工人來源。更具體地說，西海岸港口工人合同的談判仍在進行中。雖然雙方似乎都致力於解決那裡的問題，但那裡的勞動力中斷也可能導致更多的物流積壓和替代物流戰略。

And the sixth is returns to stores and office workplaces. As the world begins to leave lockdowns, it remains to be seen whether the buying patterns of consumers will return to in-store versus the boom that e-commerce purchases have seen over the pandemic. We strongly believe that e-commerce remains a growth area for the future but probably with more subdued growth rates than seen over the recent past. We continue to see e-commerce as an area of investment for us and even more so if valuations for companies in this space come down. So that's the broader market environment we're in right now.

第六是商店和辦公場所的退貨。隨著世界開始解除封鎖，消費者的購買模式是否會回到店內，而不是電子商務購買在大流行期間出現的繁榮，還有待觀察。我們堅信，電子商務仍然是未來的增長領域，但增長率可能比最近幾年要低。我們繼續將電子商務視為我們的一個投資領域，如果該領域公司的估值下降，則更是如此。這就是我們現在所處的更廣泛的市場環境。

That's certainly a lot going on that impacts supply chain and logistics. As I've said in the past, our business generally does well where things are changing. When our customers are changing sourcing and logistics strategies, they're generally benefiting from our technology to do so. But we, like every business out there, need to keep an eye on the broader market impact on global trade for the rest of the year. It's one thing if businesses are finding different ways and strategies to still do what they did before, it's entirely another if the world starts doing less overall. For us, especially coming off our financial performance in recent quarters, we remain committed to profitable growth in our business. Our strategy remains to grow our existing business and look for businesses to combine with. So let me speak to each of those.

這肯定會影響供應鍊和物流。正如我過去所說，我們的業務通常在事情發生變化時表現良好。當我們的客戶改變採購和物流策略時，他們通常會從我們的技術中受益。但我們和所有企業一樣，需要在今年餘下時間密切關注更廣泛的市場對全球貿易的影響。如果企業正在尋找不同的方法和策略來繼續做他們以前做過的事情，這是一回事，如果世界開始整體上做的更少，那就完全是另一回事了。對我們來說，尤其是從最近幾個季度的財務業績來看，我們仍然致力於業務的盈利增長。我們的戰略仍然是發展我們現有的業務，並尋找可以與之結合的業務。因此，讓我分別談談。

We've had good recent success with organic growth driven by past investments in sales and marketing. We anticipate continuing those types of investments. Specifically, we'll be continuing investments in the following areas. The first is investing in our customer success group. Our specific goals for this group are to increase customer satisfaction, decrease churn and expand product adoption in our existing customer base. We have a very large customer base of over 20,000 customers. We think we can do great things for our business by serving them better. 2 years ago, we didn't even have a dedicated customer success group, so we anticipate this group is something we'll continue to grow out given our early successes.

我們最近在過去的銷售和營銷投資推動的有機增長方面取得了良好的成功。我們預計會繼續進行這些類型的投資。具體來說，我們將繼續在以下領域進行投資。首先是投資於我們的客戶成功團隊。我們針對這個群體的具體目標是提高客戶滿意度、減少客戶流失並擴大我們現有客戶群的產品採用率。我們擁有超過 20,000 名客戶的龐大客戶群。我們認為我們可以通過更好地為他們服務來為我們的企業做大事。 2 年前，我們甚至沒有一個專門的客戶成功團隊，因此我們預計，鑑於我們早期的成功，這個團隊將繼續壯大。

Second is investing in our marketing technology. Our marketing activities used to be primarily events and trade shows. We've invested in various technologies to improve our search engine optimization, enable account-based marketing and otherwise provide customers and prospects with useful information that lets them know how we can help them with their specific challenges. We've also moved away from 1 big global in-person user group and have moved to several virtual innovation forms that are focused on our particular Descartes solution set.

其次是投資於我們的營銷技術。我們的營銷活動過去主要是活動和貿易展覽。我們投資了各種技術來改進我們的搜索引擎優化，實現基於帳戶的營銷，並以其他方式為客戶和潛在客戶提供有用的信息，讓他們知道我們如何幫助他們應對他們的特定挑戰。我們還從 1 個大型全球面對面用戶組轉移到幾個專注於我們特定的 Descartes 解決方案集的虛擬創新形式。

The third is investing in build-out of our European team. Historically, this team is exclusively geographically structured. We moved to a structure that's both geographic and solution focused. We've expanded the team and brought in broader solution experts, enabling customer-centric engagement across our various solution pillars. On the acquisition front, you can see that we remain active. We've completed 2 acquisitions already this fiscal year. Earlier in the year, we combined with NetCHB, which I mentioned earlier and went through in detail on our last results call.

第三是投資擴建我們的歐洲團隊。從歷史上看，這支球隊完全是地理結構。我們轉向了一種既注重地域又注重解決方案的結構。我們擴大了團隊並引進了更廣泛的解決方案專家，從而在我們的各種解決方案支柱中實現以客戶為中心的參與。在收購方面，你可以看到我們保持活躍。本財年我們已經完成了 2 項收購。今年早些時候，我們與我之前提到的 NetCHB 合併，並在我們上次的結果電話會議上詳細介紹了它。

More recently, we've also combined with Foxtrot. Foxtrot is an investment that complements our existing routing scheduling technologies. Specifically, Foxtrot has strength with machine learning capabilities that will help our customers with iterative improvements to the delivery route plan. This was of particular interest to us given Foxtrot and Descartes have some common customers. Also, Foxtrot's strength in retail food and beverage complements our other previous investments such as GreenMile, making us, in our mind, the premier solution provider in the food and beverage distribution industry. Welcome to everyone from Foxtrot, and we are excited to be working with you.

最近，我們還結合了 Foxtrot。 Foxtrot 是一項補充我們現有路由調度技術的投資。具體來說，Foxtrot 擁有強大的機器學習能力，可以幫助我們的客戶迭代改進配送路線計劃。鑑於 Foxtrot 和 Descartes 有一些共同的客戶，我們對此特別感興趣。此外，Foxtrot 在零售食品和飲料方面的優勢補充了我們之前的其他投資，例如 GreenMile，使我們成為食品和飲料分銷行業的首要解決方案提供商。歡迎來自 Foxtrot 的每個人，我們很高興能與您合作。

We're committed to continue to grow Descartes. These sales and marketing and acquisition investments are designed to keep us on that path. We're very excited about where we are now and our future path. To wrap up, we had great Q1 financial results. That was in part because of the past sales and marketing investments paying off, our solution leadership in certain markets and the contribution of past acquisitions. In the current quarter, there are challenging and changing business conditions caused by geopolitical conflict and economic changes.

我們致力於繼續發展 Descartes。這些銷售和營銷以及收購投資旨在讓我們走上這條道路。我們對我們現在所處的位置和未來的道路感到非常興奮。總而言之，我們取得了出色的第一季度財務業績。這在一定程度上是因為過去的銷售和營銷投資得到了回報，我們在某些市場的解決方案領導地位以及過去收購的貢獻。本季度，地緣政治衝突和經濟變化導致商業環境充滿挑戰和變化。

While we're cautious about how these business conditions will impact the global economy and shipment volumes for the rest of the year, we remain committed to investing in profitable growth for our business through continued sales and marketing investments and business combinations. Once again, thanks to the entire Descartes team for their efforts this past quarter and for the work they're doing right now to help our customers deal with all the change and complexity in the world right now. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Allan to go through our Q1 financial results in more detail. Al?

儘管我們對這些業務狀況將如何影響今年餘下時間的全球經濟和出貨量持謹慎態度，但我們仍致力於通過持續的銷售和營銷投資以及業務合併來投資於我們業務的盈利增長。再次感謝整個 Descartes 團隊在上個季度所做的努力，以及他們現在所做的工作，以幫助我們的客戶應對當今世界的所有變化和復雜性。有了這個，我會把電話轉給艾倫，讓他更詳細地了解我們第一季度的財務業績。艾爾？

Thanks, Ed. As indicated, I'm going to walk you through our financial highlights for our first quarter, which ended on April 30. As Ed mentioned, we are pleased to report record quarterly revenues of $116.4 million this quarter, an increase of 18% from revenues of $98.8 million in Q1 last year. While revenue from our recent acquisitions, including NetCHB and Foxtrot, contribute nicely to this growth, growth in revenues from new and existing customers was once again the main driver of growth this quarter when compared to the same quarter last year.

謝謝，埃德。如前所述，我將向您介紹我們截至 4 月 30 日的第一季度的財務亮點。正如 Ed 所提到的，我們很高興地報告本季度創紀錄的季度收入 1.164 億美元，比收入增長 18%去年第一季度為 9880 萬美元。雖然我們最近收購的收入（包括 NetCHB 和 Foxtrot）為這一增長做出了很好的貢獻，但與去年同期相比，來自新客戶和現有客戶的收入增長再次成為本季度增長的主要驅動力。

In addition, we should mention that there is a decrease in revenue from FX this quarter as the U.S. dollar was stronger compared to the euro, Canadian dollar and British pound when compared to the same period last year. This resulted in almost a $2 million negative impact on revenue from Q1 when compared to Q1 of last year. Excluding FX, revenue growth would have been closer to 20% in Q1 over Q1 last year.

此外，我們應該提到本季度外匯收入有所下降，因為與去年同期相比，美元相對於歐元、加元和英鎊走強。與去年第一季度相比，這對第一季度的收入產生了近 200 萬美元的負面影響。不包括外匯，第一季度的收入增長將比去年第一季度接近 20%。

Consistent with past quarters, our revenue mix in the quarter continued to be very strong, with services revenue increasing 16% to $102.8 million or 88% of total revenue, compared to $88.3 million in the same quarter last year. Service revenue was also up nicely sequentially, increasing over 3% from Q4 last year. License revenues came in at $2.3 million or 2% of revenue in the quarter, up from license revenues of $1.3 million in the first quarter last year, while professional services and other revenue came in at $11.3 million or 10% of revenue, up 23% from $9.2 million in the same period last year as a result of increased professional service engagements.

與過去幾個季度一樣，我們本季度的收入組合繼續非常強勁，服務收入增長 16% 至 1.028 億美元，佔總收入的 88%，而去年同期為 8830 萬美元。服務收入也環比增長良好，比去年第四季度增長超過 3%。本季度許可收入為 230 萬美元，佔收入的 2%，高於去年第一季度的 130 萬美元，而專業服務和其他收入為 1130 萬美元，佔收入的 10%，增長 23%由於專業服務參與的增加，去年同期為 920 萬美元。

Gross margin for the first quarter was 76% of revenue, consistent with the first quarter of last year. Operating expenses increased in the first quarter. This was primarily related to the impact of recent acquisitions, but also from additional labor-related costs, primarily in the sales and marketing areas as we continue to invest in our business in those areas. As a result, we continue to see strong adjusted EBITDA growth of 23% to a record of $51.2 million or 44.0% of revenue for the quarter, up from $41.5 million or 42.0% of revenue in the first quarter last year.

第一季度的毛利率為收入的 76%，與去年第一季度一致。第一季度營業費用有所增加。這主要與近期收購的影響有關，但也與額外的勞動力相關成本有關，主要是在銷售和營銷領域，因為我們繼續在這些領域投資我們的業務。因此，我們繼續看到調整後的 EBITDA 強勁增長 23%，達到創紀錄的 5120 萬美元，佔本季度收入的 44.0%，高於去年第一季度的 4150 萬美元，佔收入的 42.0%。

From a GAAP earnings perspective, net income came in at $23.1 million, up 26% from net income of $18.4 million in the first quarter last year. With these strong operating results, cash flow generated from operations came in at $44.4 million or approximately 87% of adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter, up 9% from operating cash flow of $40.9 million in Q1 last year. As Ed mentioned, we are pleased with these operating results in the first quarter as continued organic growth and solid performance from recent acquisitions resulted in an 18% growth in revenue and more importantly, a 23% growth in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter.

從 GAAP 收益的角度來看，淨收入為 2310 萬美元，比去年第一季度的淨收入 1840 萬美元增長 26%。憑藉這些強勁的經營業績，第一季度經營產生的現金流為 4440 萬美元，約佔調整後 EBITDA 的 87%，比去年第一季度 4090 萬美元的經營現金流增長 9%。正如 Ed 所提到的，我們對第一季度的這些經營業績感到滿意，因為持續的有機增長和近期收購的穩健表現導致收入增長 18%，更重要的是，本季度調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 23%。

We turn our attention to the balance sheet. Our cash balances totaled approximately $212 million at the end of April, almost identical to the cash balances of $213 million we had at the end of January. As we used our cash flow from operations to complete both the NetCHB and Foxtrot acquisitions. As a result, we still have over $200 million of cash available as well as our $350 million operating credit facility to deploy towards future acquisitions. So we continue to be well capitalized to allow us to consider all acquisition opportunities in our market, consistent with our business plan. As part of our press release today, we announced that we have filed with the Toronto Stock Exchange, or TSX, a notice of our intention to commence a Normal Course Issuer Bid or NCIB. Details of the application, which is subject to approval by the TSX are included in today's financial results press release.

我們將注意力轉向資產負債表。截至 4 月底，我們的現金餘額總計約為 2.12 億美元，與 1 月底的現金餘額 2.13 億美元幾乎相同。當我們使用運營現金流來完成 NetCHB 和 Foxtrot 的收購時。因此，我們仍有超過 2 億美元的可用現金以及 3.5 億美元的運營信貸額度可用於未來的收購。因此，我們繼續擁有充足的資本，使我們能夠根據我們的業務計劃考慮市場上的所有收購機會。作為我們今天新聞稿的一部分，我們宣布我們已向多倫多證券交易所或 TSX 提交一份通知，表明我們打算開始正常課程發行人投標或 NCIB。該申請的詳細信息需經 TSX 批准，包含在今天的財務業績新聞稿中。

If the NCIB application is accepted by the TSX, we expect to be permitted to repurchase for cancellation at our discretion during the next 12 months, up to 10% of the public float of Descartes issued and outstanding common shares. If the NCIB application is accepted by the TSX, any purchases under the NCIB will be conducted in the open market or as otherwise permitted, subject to the terms and limitations applicable to such Normal Course Issuer Bid. And they will be made through the facilities of the TSX, the NASDAQ, other designated exchanges or alternative trading systems.

如果 NCIB 申請被 TSX 接受，我們預計將獲准在未來 12 個月內自行決定回購或取消，最高可達笛卡爾已發行和流通普通股公眾持股量的 10%。如果 NCIB 申請被 TSX 接受，則 NCIB 下的任何購買都將在公開市場或在其他允許的情況下進行，但須遵守適用於此類正常課程發行人投標的條款和限制。它們將通過 TSX、納斯達克、其他指定交易所或替代交易系統的設施進行。

If we do make any purchases under the NCIB, we don't know at which prices and at what quantities they will be. However, given the recent volatility that's existed in the public technology company valuations, we thought it prudent to have this type of option available to us, if it was an effective use of capital at the time it is used. At the same time, we should be very clear that we are still very committed to the deployment of capital towards completing acquisitions that will enhance our business. We simply want to have an NCIB structure in place to also be able to explore the use of this capital as appropriate.

如果我們確實根據 NCIB 進行任何採購，我們不知道它們的價格和數量。然而，考慮到最近上市科技公司估值的波動，我們認為，如果在使用資本時有效利用這種選擇權，我們認為向我們提供這種選擇權是明智的。與此同時，我們應該非常清楚，我們仍然非常致力於部署資本來完成收購，這將增強我們的業務。我們只是想建立一個 NCIB 結構，以便能夠酌情探索使用這筆資金。

So we should note the following as we look towards the balance of our fiscal 2023 year. After spending approximately $1.6 million in capital additions in the first quarter, we expect to incur approximately $3 million to $4 million in additional capital expenditures for the balance of this year. After incurring amortization expense costs of $15.0 million in Q1, we expect amortization expense will be approximately $42.2 million for the balance of the year, with this figure being subject to adjustment for FX changes and future acquisitions.

因此，在展望 2023 財年的餘額時，我們應該注意以下幾點。在第一季度支出約 160 萬美元的資本增加後，我們預計今年剩餘時間將產生約 300 萬至 400 萬美元的額外資本支出。在第一季度發生 1,500 萬美元的攤銷費用後，我們預計今年剩餘時間的攤銷費用約為 4,220 萬美元，該數字可能會根據匯率變化和未來收購進行調整。

Our tax rate came in, in Q1 at 24.1% of pretax income, slightly lower than our statutory tax rate, and this was mainly as a result of our recovery of certain benefits in the United States. Looking to the balance of this year, we currently expect that our tax rate will trend closer to our statutory tax rate, so in the range of 25% to 30% of pretax income for the next 3 quarters. However, as always, we should add that our tax rate may fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter from onetime tax items that may arise as we operate internationally across multiple countries.

我們的稅率在第一季度為稅前收入的 24.1%，略低於我們的法定稅率，這主要是由於我們在美國收回了某些福利。展望今年的餘額，我們目前預計我們的稅率將趨於接近我們的法定稅率，因此在未來 3 個季度的稅前收入的 25% 至 30% 之間。然而，一如既往，我們應該補充一點，我們的稅率可能會因我們在多個國家/地區開展國際業務而產生的一次性稅項而逐季波動。

Next, after incurring stock-based compensation expense of $2.8 million in the past quarter, we currently expect stock-based compensation will be approximately $10.9 million for the balance of fiscal 2023, subject to any forfeitures of stock options or share units. And finally, going forward, subject to unusual events and quarterly fluctuations, we expect to continue to see strong cash flow conversion and generally expect cash flow from operations to be between 85% to 95% of our adjusted EBITDA in the quarters ahead. And with that, I'll now turn it over to Ed, who will wrap up with some closing comments and our baseline calibration.

接下來，在上個季度發生 280 萬美元的股票補償費用後，我們目前預計 2023 財年剩餘時間的股票補償費用約為 1090 萬美元，這取決於股票期權或股票單位的任何沒收。最後，展望未來，受不尋常事件和季度波動的影響，我們預計將繼續看到強勁的現金流轉換，並且普遍預計未來幾個季度來自運營的現金流將占我們調整後 EBITDA 的 85% 至 95%。有了這個，我現在將它交給 Ed，他將總結一些結束評論和我們的基線校準。

Great. Thanks, Allan. Before I hit calibration, I just want to hit on some other areas of corporate development for Descartes. We were very pleased to release our first ever ESG report in early May. It's posted on our website, and I'd encourage you all to read it and provide us with feedback as we look at our continued progress on ESG matters. The report identifies many areas where we've progressed so far, such as our positive environmental impact, including helping customers reduce carbon emissions, paper use and fuel consumption, our role in helping customers meeting their own social and governance initiatives, including compliance with economic and trade sanctions, our commitment and investments in data privacy and security, our efforts in developing a diverse capable employee team working in a healthy and rewarding work environment and our commitment to admirable business conduct and ethics.

偉大的。謝謝，艾倫。在進行校準之前，我只想談談笛卡爾企業發展的其他一些領域。我們很高興在 5 月初發布了我們的第一份 ESG 報告。它已發佈在我們的網站上，我鼓勵大家閱讀它並在我們查看我們在 ESG 問題上的持續進展時向我們提供反饋。該報告確定了我們迄今取得進展的許多領域，例如我們對環境的積極影響，包括幫助客戶減少碳排放、紙張使用和燃料消耗，我們在幫助客戶滿足他們自己的社會和治理計劃方面的作用，包括遵守經濟和貿易制裁、我們對數據隱私和安全的承諾和投資、我們努力培養多元化、有能力的員工團隊，在健康和有益的工作環境中工作，以及我們對令人欽佩的商業行為和道德的承諾。

In addition, we'll be hosting our virtual Annual General Meeting of shareholders on June 16 at 10 a.m. The materials for the meeting are available on our website and have otherwise been provided to shareholders. Among the matters being considered, we've nominated 2 additional directors for election at the AGM, bringing the Board to 10 directors. If all nominated directors are elected, our Board will have diverse representation with 60% of the directors identifying as female or a visible minority and 40% of the Board being [female] directors.

此外，我們將於 6 月 16 日上午 10 點召開虛擬年度股東大會。會議材料可在我們的網站上獲取，並已以其他方式提供給股東。在考慮的事項中，我們已提名 2 名額外董事在年度股東大會上進行選舉，使董事會成員達到 10 名。如果所有被提名的董事都當選，我們的董事會將有多元化的代表，其中 60% 的董事被確定為女性或明顯的少數，40% 的董事會是 [女性] 董事。

So now on to calibration. Our business is designed to be predictable and consistent. We believe that stability and reliability are valuable to our customers, employees and our broader stakeholders. To deliver this consistency, we continue to operate from the following principles: our long-term plan is for our business to grow adjusted EBITDA 10% to 15% annually. We are going through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. We take a neutral party approach to building and operating solutions on our Global Logistics Network. We don't favor any particular party. We run our business for all supply chain participants connecting shippers, carriers, logistics service providers and customs authorities.

現在開始校準。我們的業務旨在實現可預測性和一致性。我們相信穩定性和可靠性對我們的客戶、員工和更廣泛的利益相關者都很有價值。為實現這種一致性，我們繼續遵循以下原則：我們的長期計劃是讓我們的業務每年以 10% 至 15% 的速度增長調整後的 EBITDA。我們正在經歷有機增長和收購的結合。我們採取中立方的方式在我們的全球物流網絡上構建和運營解決方案。我們不偏袒任何一方。我們為連接托運人、承運人、物流服務提供商和海關當局的所有供應鏈參與者開展業務。

When we overperform, we try to reinvest that overperformance back in our business. We focus on recurring revenues and establishing relationships with customers for life. We thrive on operating a predictable business that allows us forward visibility to our revenues and investment paybacks. Nothing that's happened in Q1 or that we're seeing right now has had us change our financial and investment plans for this fiscal year, but we're going to be cautious in executing on those plans while we continue to monitor and evaluate the impact on our business and our customers' businesses from the market items I identified earlier.

當我們表現超常時，我們會嘗試將超額表現重新投資到我們的業務中。我們專注於經常性收入並與客戶建立終生關係。我們依靠經營可預測的業務而茁壯成長，這使我們能夠提前了解我們的收入和投資回報。第一季度發生的事情或我們現在看到的一切都沒有讓我們改變本財年的財務和投資計劃，但我們在執行這些計劃時會保持謹慎，同時繼續監測和評估對我們的影響我們的業務和我們客戶的業務來自我之前確定的市場項目。

That same caution was kept in mind as we calibrated our business for Q2. In our annual report, we provided a comprehensive description of baseline revenues based on calibration and their limitations as of May 1, 2022. Using foreign exchange rates of $0.78 to the Canadian dollar, $1.05 to the euro and $1.26 to the pound, we estimate that our baseline revenues for the second quarter of 2023 are approximately $103 million and our baseline operating expenses are approximately $64 million. We consider this to be our baseline calibration of approximately $39 million for the second quarter of 2023 or approximately 38% of our baseline revenues as at May 1, 2022.

當我們為第二季度校准我們的業務時，也牢記同樣的謹慎。在我們的年度報告中，我們全面描述了截至 2022 年 5 月 1 日基於校準的基準收入及其局限性。使用 0.78 美元兌加元、1.05 美元兌歐元和 1.26 美元兌英鎊的匯率，我們估計我們 2023 年第二季度的基準收入約為 1.03 億美元，我們的基準運營費用約為 6400 萬美元。我們認為這是我們對 2023 年第二季度約 3900 萬美元的基準校準，或約占我們截至 2022 年 5 月 1 日基準收入的 38%。

Our targeted adjusted EBITDA operating range for our business remains at 38% to 43% for fiscal 2023. In Q1, we were at 44% above this range. However, in light of the broader uncertainty in the markets, including in the foreign exchange markets, we're not looking at changing our targeted range, but we'll revisit that in future quarters if we continue to overperform and if the market stabilizes. We're already very hard at work on helping our customers deal with these very complex times. We believe that if we focus on making our customers successful, it's our own best chance at achieving our own goal of being a strong and trusted business delivering superior results for customers and shareholders.

在 2023 財年，我們的業務目標調整後 EBITDA 運營範圍仍為 38% 至 43%。在第一季度，我們比該範圍高出 44%。然而，鑑於市場（包括外匯市場）存在更廣泛的不確定性，我們不打算改變我們的目標範圍，但如果我們繼續表現出色並且市場穩定，我們將在未來幾個季度重新考慮這一點。我們已經非常努力地幫助我們的客戶應對這些非常複雜的時期。我們相信，如果我們專注於讓客戶成功，這就是我們實現自己目標的最佳機會，即成為一家強大且值得信賴的企業，為客戶和股東帶來卓越的成果。

Thanks to everyone for joining us on the call today. As always, we're available to talk to you about our business in whatever manner is most convenient for you. And with that, operator, I'll now turn it over to you for the Q&A portion of the call.

感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。一如既往，我們隨時可以以您最方便的方式與您討論我們的業務。有了這個，接線員，我現在將它交給你進行電話的問答部分。

(Operator Instructions) From William Blair, we have Matt Pfau.

（操作員說明）來自威廉布萊爾，我們有馬特普福。

Great quarter. Ed, I wanted to first ask on the acquisition strategy. So when you look at potential targets in your pipeline, have valuation expectations changed at all? And are you seeing more of a willingness to sell within those targets?

偉大的季度。 Ed，我想先問一下收購策略。因此，當您查看管道中的潛在目標時，估值預期是否發生了變化？你是否看到更多的人願意在這些目標範圍內出售？

I think with our smaller tuck-ins, it's business as usual. I don't think they're as impacted by the public markets as maybe the larger acquisition candidates that are maybe deals run by bankers with private equity firms involved. So business as usual for us for the normal course acquisitions that we're all doing. Some of the larger ones, what we've seen so far is what I would expect to see when the public markets turned down, which is with those deals get stalled. They come up with every excuse in the world as to why they're stalling the deal or delaying or not getting the book out or whatever they want to say.

我認為對於我們較小的內褲，一切如常。我不認為他們受到公開市場的影響，因為可能是更大的收購候選者，這些候選者可能是由銀行家與私募股權公司參與的交易。因此，對於我們都在進行的正常課程收購，我們照常營業。一些較大的交易，到目前為止我們所看到的是我期望在公開市場下跌時看到的情況，這些交易會停滯不前。他們想出了世界上所有的藉口來解釋為什麼他們要拖延交易、拖延或不出版這本書，或者他們想說什麼。

But I think at the end of the day, it boils down to, they see what's going on in the public markets, and they're afraid if they go out them right now that there -- that they're going to get a much lower valuation than they initially told their clients. So I think that's why they're in a bit of a whole pattern. This is what we saw and it passed tech downturns as well. Let's see what happens in the coming months, if it continues for any amount of time. I'd expect that some of those deals will come out and they'll come out at a much lower valuation. But there's a little bit of game going on right now for people to try to figure out what's going to happen and the strategy as to whether they go out now or wait, depends on how desperate they are to sell.

但我認為歸根結底，他們看到了公開市場上發生的事情，他們擔心如果他們現在就出去——他們會得到很多估值低於他們最初告訴客戶的估值。所以我認為這就是為什麼他們處於一個完整的模式中。這就是我們所看到的，它也度過了技術低迷期。讓我們看看未來幾個月會發生什麼，如果它持續任何時間。我預計其中一些交易會完成，而且它們的估值會低得多。但是現在有一些遊戲正在進行，人們試圖弄清楚會發生什麼，以及他們是現在出去還是等待的策略取決於他們對銷售的渴望程度。

Got it. And then just maybe it'd be helpful if you could sort of frame how you would think about the impact of a potential recession on Descartes business. If we go back to the Great Recession, your business has evolved quite a bit since then. And then during COVID, there was obviously a drop-off in volumes, which had some impact. But if we were to enter a softer macro here. How do you think about the impact on your business and your ability to manage through that?

知道了。然後，如果您可以對潛在衰退對笛卡爾業務的影響進行某種程度的構想，那也許會有所幫助。如果我們回到大蕭條時期，您的業務從那時起已經發生了很大變化。然後在 COVID 期間，銷量明顯下降，這產生了一些影響。但是如果我們在這裡輸入一個更柔和的宏。您如何看待對您的業務的影響以及您的管理能力？

So I think we're pretty well positioned for it. And first of all, we're coming into it with a lot of tailwinds right now. The supply chains are still clogged up. China's just -- in the past couple of days that they're opening back up, that's going to put more shipments back into the pipeline. And I think we're seeing that on our networks, which is good news. If the world turns into a longer global economy -- global downturn, we'll probably start to see at some point in the future in shipment volumes as well. We don't see it today, but maybe if it continued for a long time or happen and then continued for a long time, we'd certainly start to see with everything else.

所以我認為我們已經做好了準備。首先，我們現在正順勢而為。供應鏈仍然堵塞。中國剛剛——在過去幾天他們重新開放，這將使更多的貨物重新進入管道。我認為我們正在我們的網絡上看到這一點，這是個好消息。如果世界變成一個更長的全球經濟——全球經濟低迷，我們可能會在未來的某個時候開始看到出貨量。我們今天看不到它，但也許如果它持續很長時間或發生然後持續很長時間，我們肯定會開始看到其他一切。

At the same time, last recession, a big recession in '08, we probably fared a lot better than most, and I expect that might happen even more so this time because we're a much more diverse company now, a lot more products and a lot of different reasons that people buy those products that aren't all driven by individual shipments. So we'll see what happens. I don't know any better than anyone else what's going to happen to the world economy, but I like our chances compared to our competitors and a lot of other companies out there.

與此同時，在上一次經濟衰退，08 年的一次大衰退中，我們的表現可能比大多數公司都好得多，我預計這次情況可能會更糟，因為我們現在是一家更加多元化的公司，有更多的產品以及人們購買這些產品的許多不同原因並非全部由單獨發貨驅動。所以我們將看看會發生什麼。我並不比其他人更了解世界經濟將會發生什麼，但與我們的競爭對手和其他許多公司相比，我喜歡我們的機會。

And maybe most important, if the world takes a downturn and every company's valuation gets it, we're not acquirers. So when I look back at '08 and '09, and I think how did that work for us? I go, well, it was painful when we're in it. But at the end of the day, we picked up some of the best acquisitions we've ever gotten at some of the best valuations we've ever gotten during that couple of years, while that recession was taking hold and people were coming out of it. So in a certain sense, we'd look forward to that environment.

也許最重要的是，如果世界經濟低迷並且每家公司的估值都受到影響，我們就不是收購者。所以當我回顧 08 年和 09 年時，我想這對我們有何影響？我去，好吧，當我們在裡面的時候很痛苦。但最終，我們獲得了一些我們曾經獲得的最好的收購，獲得了我們在那幾年獲得的一些最好的估值，而經濟衰退正在蔓延，人們正在走出困境它。所以從某種意義上說，我們期待那種環境。

From Stephens, we have Justin Long.

來自 Stephens，我們有 Justin Long。

I wanted to start with a question on organic growth. Allan, any best estimate you can share on organic growth in the quarter when you adjust for acquisitions and maybe FX as well? And Ed, I think on the last call, you talked about the budget baking in 4% to 6% organic growth for the full year. Is that still your expectation after what you've seen fiscal year-to-date?

我想從有機增長的問題開始。艾倫，當你調整收購和外匯時，你可以分享本季度有機增長的最佳估計嗎？ Ed，我想在最後一次電話會議上，你談到了全年 4% 到 6% 有機增長的預算。在您看到本財年迄今的情況後，這仍然是您的期望嗎？

I'll take the first part and let Ed talk to the way we build our business plan. Organic growth, as you know, we consolidate the operations of the acquisitions we make. So we don't have a specific number, a detailed number. But roughly speaking, if you look to note 3 in the financials with the pro forma disclosure with the acquisitions. If you take that note, if you consider the fact there's a currency headwind of just under $2 million, our organic growth, would I'd estimate somewhere between 12% and 13% in Q1 over Q1 last year, so double-digit organic growth is what we're seeing. To your point on the 4% to 6%, the way we build our business plan, Ed, do you want to comment there?

我將採取第一部分，讓埃德談談我們制定商業計劃的方式。如您所知，有機增長鞏固了我們進行的收購的運營。所以我們沒有一個具體的數字，一個詳細的數字。但粗略地說，如果您在財務報表中註意 3 以及收購的備考披露。如果你注意到這一點，如果你考慮到貨幣逆風略低於 200 萬美元這一事實，我們的有機增長，我估計第一季度比去年第一季度增長 12% 到 13%，所以兩位數的有機增長是我們所看到的。關於 4% 到 6%，我們制定商業計劃的方式，Ed，你想在那裡發表評論嗎？

Yes, sure. Thanks, Justin. We always say around here, we plan for the worst and hope for the best. And when we say 4% to 6%, that's how we plan to operate our business and when it's higher than that like it is right now, we're happy about that. And the other thing that we say here is that we're going to take the excess above the 10% to 15% growth in EBITDA every year and plough it back into our business to try and help grow future results. So I recognize right now, we're well above that and that may continue. But if it does, you're going to see us continue to do the same thing, which is to plough it back into our business and try and make it a better place for the long run for our customers and our shareholders.

是的，當然。謝謝，賈斯汀。我們總是在這裡說，我們做最壞的打算，抱最好的希望。當我們說 4% 到 6% 時，這就是我們計劃經營業務的方式，當它高於現在的水平時，我們對此感到高興。我們在這裡說的另一件事是，我們將每年將超過 10% 至 15% 的 EBITDA 增長用於我們的業務，以試圖幫助增加未來的業績。所以我現在認識到，我們遠遠超過了這一點，而且可能會繼續下去。但如果確實如此，你會看到我們繼續做同樣的事情，那就是將它重新投入到我們的業務中，並努力讓它成為一個對我們的客戶和股東來說更長遠的地方。

Okay. Great. And I guess building on that, you have over $200 million of cash, net cash today. Can you talk about your target for the balance sheet over the next few quarters, let's call it, over the remainder of the fiscal year-end, especially in the context of the potential for share buybacks? How are you thinking about targeted leverage by year-end?

好的。偉大的。我想在此基礎上，您今天擁有超過 2 億美元的現金，淨現金。您能否談談您在未來幾個季度的資產負債表目標，我們稱之為，在本財年末的剩餘時間內，尤其是在股票回購潛力的背景下？您如何考慮年底前的目標槓桿？

Well, we have to see what happens, right? When we're acquisitive, we bought companies. You never know what we're going to be able to get and we'll operate as such, right? I mean we plan on making a lot of money every quarter and continue to grow the amount of money that we make every quarter and put it in the bank and use it to make investments. Now in most cases, I think that investment is going to be to buy companies as we always have done. We just have to see what happens, what companies come along. You never know how big they're going to be and how much they're going to charge on whether we're going to think that's a good deal. What we're evaluating everyone at the best of our ability and trying to make the best decision we can. And I think that the same thing applies for the Normal Course Issuer Bid, right? We see what's going on in the tech market. We wanted to open up that option for ourselves in case the market took a downturn and we overthink that that's the best place to put our money. Not to say that we're doing it or not doing it just to say that we have an option to move quickly if we want to.

好吧，我們得看看會發生什麼，對吧？當我們收購時，我們收購了公司。你永遠不知道我們會得到什麼，我們會這樣運作，對吧？我的意思是我們計劃每個季度賺很多錢，並繼續增加我們每個季度賺的錢，並將其存入銀行並用於投資。現在在大多數情況下，我認為投資將像我們一直做的那樣購買公司。我們只需要看看會發生什麼，會有哪些公司出現。你永遠不知道他們會有多大，他們會收取多少費用，我們是否會認為這是一筆好交易。我們正在盡我們最大的能力評估每個人，並努力做出我們能做的最好的決定。我認為同樣的事情也適用於普通課程發行人投標，對嗎？我們看到了科技市場正在發生的事情。我們想為自己開放這個選項，以防市場低迷，我們過度認為這是我們投資的最佳場所。並不是說我們正在做或不做，只是說如果我們願意，我們可以選擇快速行動。

From Wolfe Research, we have Scott Group.

我們有來自 Wolfe Research 的 Scott Group。

Ed, you were talking about maybe a little bit more of a conservative approach with the calibration. It's not like a pretty sort of normal sequential improvement in the calibration and, obviously, the organic growth is so strong. So I just want to make sure I'm understanding the sort of what you're seeing. Are things actually starting to slow as you see it in your business? Or is it something that you just think may happen? And if it's going to happen, which of the products you think are most likely to see it?

埃德，你說的可能是一種更保守的校準方法。這不像是校準中的一種正常的連續改進，而且很明顯，有機增長非常強勁。所以我只是想確保我理解你所看到的那種情況。正如您在業務中看到的那樣，事情真的開始變慢了嗎？還是您認為可能會發生的事情？如果它要發生，您認為哪些產品最有可能看到它？

No, I see nothing in our business right now. It's slowing down. I read the newspapers and see what people are saying about what might happen in the economy, but we don't have any indication of that in our business at the moment. So I don't know what you're just going to bring, but I think we're pretty well positioned if things do take a downturn and probably in a good position, given our cash and our ability to generate income going forward to take advantage of it if things do turn down, right, to pick up assets at lower prices than we've been asked to pay over the last 5 or 6 years, and we think a lot of these private companies are selling for more than their worth, and that's been frustrating to us. If the economy takes a downturn, we're looking forward to that opportunity. And at the same time, I don't see that right now in our business at all.

不，我現在在我們的業務中看不到任何東西。它正在減速。我閱讀報紙，了解人們對經濟中可能發生的事情的看法，但目前我們的業務中沒有任何跡象表明會發生這種情況。所以我不知道你會帶來什麼，但我認為，如果情況確實出現下滑，我們已經做好了充分的準備，而且考慮到我們的現金和我們未來產生收入的能力，我們可能處於有利地位如果情況確實轉差了，以低於過去 5 或 6 年我們被要求支付的價格收購資產的優勢，我們認為這些私營公司中的很多都以高於其價值的價格出售，這讓我們很沮喪。如果經濟低迷，我們期待著這個機會。與此同時，我現在在我們的業務中根本看不到這一點。

You guys were helpful with the currency headwind to revenue. Is there a way to think about the currency impact to the bottom line to adjusted EBITDA?

你們對貨幣對收入的不利影響很有幫助。有沒有辦法考慮貨幣對調整後 EBITDA 底線的影響？

Yes. Sure, Scott. It's Allan here. Ed mentioned in his notes that we are fairly naturally hedged in that area. We operate in multiple currencies. When the U.S. dollar is strong to the Canadian dollar, it actually benefits us. It hurts us against the euro and the pound. Those things -- when I say that at the EBITDA level, so those things tend to offset each other a little bit. That said, we do watch currency. We had just under $2 million impact on the top line, a minor impact on EBITDA. It was a small negative. So we just continue to watch it and make sure that we don't go off that natural hedge too far. So think of it as fairly muted at the EBITDA level, not immune to it, but fairly muted.

是的。當然，斯科特。這裡是艾倫。埃德在他的筆記中提到，我們很自然地在那個領域進行了對沖。我們以多種貨幣運營。當美元對加元走強時，其實對我們是有利的。它傷害了我們對歐元和英鎊的匯率。那些東西——當我在 EBITDA 水平上這麼說時，這些東西往往會相互抵消一點。也就是說，我們確實關注貨幣。我們對收入的影響略低於 200 萬美元，對 EBITDA 的影響很小。這是一個小缺點。所以我們只是繼續觀察它，並確保我們不會偏離自然對沖太遠。因此，可以將其視為在 EBITDA 水平上相當低調，並非不受其影響，而是相當低調。

Okay. And then Ed, I know there's already been a couple of questions about M&A. But like as you -- as it stands today with where the stock is, what do you think is more likely, executing on the buyback or doing M&A?

好的。然後是 Ed，我知道已經有幾個關於併購的問題。但就像你一樣 - 就目前的股票情況而言，你認為更有可能是執行回購還是進行併購？

I think we're always going to be acquisitive or at least for the foreseeable future, we're -- we believe the winner in our space is going to consolidate the space and put the assets together in the best way, and we plan on being that guy. And I don't have any (inaudible) at all that it will be a trade-off of one versus the other. We're going to keep acquiring companies, and yes, we'll keep the NCIB out there if we can -- if we see an opportunity to do some of that as well and like that investment will be there, too.

我認為我們總是會收購或至少在可預見的未來，我們 - 我們相信我們這個領域的贏家將鞏固這個領域並以最好的方式將資產整合在一起，我們計劃成為那個人。而且我根本沒有任何（聽不清）這將是一個與另一個的權衡。我們將繼續收購公司，是的，如果可以的話，我們將把 NCIB 保留在那裡——如果我們看到有機會也做一些這樣的事情，並且喜歡投資也會在那裡。

From Barclays, we have Raimo Lenschow.

來自巴克萊銀行，我們有 Raimo Lenschow。

This is Jeremy on for Raimo. So I wanted to ask about NetCHB. And as you mentioned, it's the first quarter of contribution. Could you just speak a bit to like how the integration is going overall? And maybe some color on how the customs business is trending?

這是 Raimo 的 Jeremy。所以我想問一下NetCHB。正如你提到的，這是第一季度的貢獻。您能否談談整合的整體進展情況？也許關於海關業務趨勢的一些顏色？

Thanks, Jeremy. Yes. No, it's great. And it's easier than most for us because they're in the exact same business we're in with the Type 86 filings, and we're 1 and 2 in the market, and we just came together. And that's been great for us. We were able to go out and pick up even more customers just in a very short period of time here. And we have maybe medium-term plans to be able to consolidate some of the data processing pools around Type 86 filing and save ourselves some money in the long run. So we're real pleased with the acquisition. We thought we were going to be real pleased with it. Like a lot of acquisitions, we're pretty sure it's going to work and we were with this one for sure that it's going to work well before we pull the trigger on it. And so far, it's proven out to be that and maybe even a little more, so we're happy about it.

謝謝，傑里米。是的。不，這很棒。這對我們來說比大多數人都容易，因為他們與我們從事 86 型申請的業務完全相同，我們在市場上排名第一和第二，我們只是走到了一起。這對我們來說很棒。我們能夠在很短的時間內走出去接更多的客戶。我們可能有中期計劃，能夠圍繞 86 型歸檔整合一些數據處理池，並從長遠來看為我們自己節省一些錢。所以我們對這次收購非常滿意。我們認為我們會對它感到非常滿意。就像很多收購一樣，我們非常確定它會奏效，而且在我們扣動扳機之前，我們確信它會運作良好。到目前為止，事實證明是這樣，甚至可能更多，所以我們對此感到高興。

From Laurentian Bank, we have Nick Agostino.

來自 Laurentian Bank，我們有 Nick Agostino。

I guess just one quick comment just to say, Ed, thanks for the prepared remarks to sort of provide a lot of color on the business, so I appreciate that. So my 1 question is just there's lots of talk about onshoring production as a result of the pandemic. And I'm just wondering if that situation were to happen, should we see, I guess, a change in the mix as to how product is transported maybe, say, more rail and trucking versus shipping or ocean and air? If that would happen, how does that impact your business vis-a-vis, just maybe the different pricing for each mode of transportation? Would it be positive, negative, neutral? Any color there would be appreciated.

我想只是一個簡短的評論，Ed，感謝您準備好的評論，為業務提供了很多色彩，所以我很感激。所以我的第一個問題是，有很多關於大流行導致的外包生產的討論。我只是想知道這種情況是否會發生，我猜我們是否應該看到產品運輸方式的組合發生變化，比如說，更多的鐵路和卡車運輸與海運或海運和空運相比？如果發生這種情況，這對您的業務有何影響，可能只是每種運輸方式的定價不同？它會是積極的、消極的、中性的嗎？那裡的任何顏色都會受到讚賞。

Thanks, Nick. First, I don't know that I completely buy that. I understand it might happen in a few industries and I understand it's an interesting thing to talk about on the news. But compared to the world's shipping volume, I think the products that are going to be near shore, so to speak, are a relatively small portion of that. At the same time, just understand that most products get shipped around the world. Their parts get shipped around the world multiple times to ultimately get manufactured somewhere. And so there's a lot of shipping that goes into making just about everything that we are all looking at right now. I'm looking at the bunch of desk chairs and computers and stuff like that. You probably all looking at similar stuff.

謝謝，尼克。首先，我不知道我完全相信它。我知道這可能會發生在一些行業，而且我知道在新聞中談論它是一件有趣的事情。但與世界的運輸量相比，我認為近岸的產品可以說是其中相對較小的一部分。同時，要知道大多數產品都是在世界各地運送的。他們的零件多次運往世界各地，最終在某個地方製造。因此，我們現在看到的幾乎所有東西都需要大量的運輸。我在看一堆桌椅和電腦之類的東西。你們可能都在看類似的東西。

There's a lot of manufacturing and a lot of shipping that goes into that. And once it's made, it has to get shipped all over the world. So when I hear that concept of we're going to make stuff locally to build, I go okay, first of all, I don't buy that that's going to be the bulk of the world's production. I think it's going to be a relatively small fraction of it. Second, I think there's still going to be a ton of shipping all over the world to do that. And if you move the location of where it's made, you're going to still have to ship it all over the world just from a different location. Certainly, when stuff made closer to an ultimate customer is -- the shipping changes for it. There's more truck and there's less ocean and air. But most products aren't made that way. They're made somewhere and then they're shipped all over the world.

有很多製造和很多運輸。一旦製成，就必須運往世界各地。所以當我聽到我們要在當地製造東西來建造的概念時，我同意，首先，我不相信這將成為世界生產的大部分。我認為這將是其中相對較小的一部分。其次，我認為世界各地仍然會有大量的航運來做到這一點。如果你移動了它的製造地點，你仍然需要從不同的地點將它運送到世界各地。當然，當產品更接近最終客戶時，運輸方式就會發生變化。卡車多了，海洋和空氣少了。但大多數產品不是那樣製造的。它們在某個地方製造，然後運往世界各地。

What I do see happening more and more, and I think it's probably going to happen with a lot more of the world's products is that they're going to be produced in different locations around the world and not because they're trying to get any closer to the customers, but because they are trying to find cheaper locations to manufacture in. China is becoming more expensive right now. And maybe more importantly, they're going to have -- try to have a more diverse production capability, right? If you have 6 plants in China right now, and that's where you produce everything and a bunch of them are shut down because of COVID restrictions. Where you think you're building the next plant? It's probably not going to be in China. And maybe you're going to the Philippines or Vietnam or somewhere else, some other low cost jurisdiction, not because you want to get closer to the consumer because you probably still not going to get closer to the consumer. You may want to find a lower cost jurisdiction to producing. And maybe even more importantly, you want to find a more diverse location of producing.

我確實看到越來越多的事情正在發生，而且我認為世界上更多的產品可能會發生這樣的事情，即它們將在世界各地的不同地點生產，而不是因為他們試圖獲得任何更接近客戶，但因為他們正試圖找到更便宜的製造地點。中國現在變得越來越昂貴。也許更重要的是，他們將擁有——嘗試擁有更多樣化的生產能力，對吧？如果你現在在中國有 6 家工廠，那是你生產所有東西的地方，但由於 COVID 的限制，其中很多工廠都關閉了。您認為您將在哪裡建造下一個工廠？它可能不會出現在中國。也許你要去菲律賓或越南或其他地方，其他一些低成本的司法管轄區，不是因為你想更接近消費者，因為你可能仍然不會更接近消費者。您可能希望找到生產成本較低的司法管轄區。也許更重要的是，您想找到一個更多樣化的生產地點。

So that if there's a problem in one part of the world or in one country, you're not stuck with your entire production getting shut down. So I think that's maybe something that people would focus on more and I think something that's a little closer to reality of what we see in our customer base.

這樣一來，如果世界某個地方或一個國家出現問題，您就不會陷入整個生產停擺的境地。所以我認為這可能是人們會更加關注的事情，而且我認為這更接近我們在客戶群中看到的現實。

Okay. I appreciate that color. I will say, tied to your comment there, I think we saw today Apple announcing production, I think, out of Vietnam trying to move away a little bit from China. So I think they're already echoing your view. So I appreciate that, and I'll pass the line.

好的。我很欣賞那種顏色。我要說的是，根據你在那裡的評論，我想我們今天看到蘋果公司宣布生產，我想，越南試圖從中國轉移一點。所以我認為他們已經在回應你的觀點了。所以我很感激，我會通過這條線。

Yes, my pleasure, in fact, I need to just comment on that because that's the start of this, right? And it used to be -- in fact, if you listen to past calls and I talk about yoyos just to pick the silly product example. That's what started in China 20, 25 years ago, right? You started -- the manufacturing that went there first was the simple stuff. And then people started to get more sophisticated in production in China, and they started to move more and more sophisticated stuff over there to the point where they were manufacturing iPhones there and computer chips and things of that nature. And now you're -- that Apple move we're starting to see, they're doing that in Vietnam. And they're probably going to start to do in other jurisdictions as well as China becomes more expensive and they try to diversify their production capabilities.

是的，我很高興，事實上，我只需要對此發表評論，因為這是這件事的開始，對吧？它曾經是——事實上，如果你聽過去的電話，我談論溜溜球只是為了挑選愚蠢的產品例子。這就是 20、25 年前在中國開始的事情，對吧？你開始了——首先去那裡的製造業是簡單的東西。然後人們開始在中國的生產中變得更加複雜，他們開始將越來越複雜的東西轉移到那裡，以至於他們在那裡製造 iPhone 和計算機芯片以及類似的東西。現在你——我們開始看到蘋果的舉動，他們正在越南這樣做。他們可能會開始在其他司法管轄區做，隨著中國變得更加昂貴，他們試圖使生產能力多樣化。

From Canaccord Genuity, we have Robert Young.

來自 Canaccord Genuity 的 Robert Young。

I was hoping to ask a little bit about the China shutdowns [that happened] there, a couple of big ones in Shenzhen and Shanghai kind of across the 2 quarters. And then I'm sure you're considering part of it in the calibration, but I was wondering if you could just maybe summarize the positive and negative puts and takes around that type of an event. I'm sure there's a lot of companies, your customers are looking at alternate strategies, but then there's volume impact and I'm just trying to get a sense of, as that progresses, how does it impact you?

我想問一些關於那裡[發生的]中國停工的問題，這兩個季度在深圳和上海發生了幾次大停工。然後我確定您在校準中考慮了其中的一部分，但我想知道您是否可以總結正負看跌期權並解決此類事件。我敢肯定有很多公司，您的客戶正在尋找替代策略，但隨後會產生數量影響，我只是想了解一下，隨著這種進展，它對您有何影響？

I think it impacted our customers because they -- some of the products that they wanted to produce, they got shut down in China. Now if you noticed in the paper in the last day or 2, they're opening back up right now. So I think they're still going to a zero-COVID approach, but they're opening things back up, and I think you're going to start to see in the coming days and weeks as plants start to open back up.

我認為這影響了我們的客戶，因為他們 - 他們想要生產的一些產品在中國被關閉了。現在，如果您在前一兩天的報紙上註意到，他們現在正在重新開放。因此，我認為他們仍將採用零 COVID 方法，但他們正在重新開放，我認為隨著工廠開始重新開放，您將在未來幾天和幾週內開始看到。

We did not see that in our network. You can see the results that we just turned in. They're excellent, as good as we could have hoped for. And I think we didn't see the impact of China having some problems and some shutdowns, one, because it didn't go on for that long; and two, maybe more importantly, there was such a backlog coming into it that the carriers -- and remember, we get paid by the shipment for stuff carriers carry, and they were already full. So what it did was probably help buy down some of that backlog that we had out there for months. But I think you're going to see it go right back up right now. And that's what I think there's going to be -- the backlogs will increase if what I'm reading in the newspapers is true.

我們沒有在我們的網絡中看到這一點。您可以看到我們剛剛提交的結果。它們非常好，正如我們所希望的那樣。而且我認為我們沒有看到中國出現一些問題和停工的影響，其一，因為它沒有持續那麼長時間；第二，也許更重要的是，有如此多的積壓，以至於承運人——請記住，我們通過承運人攜帶的貨物獲得報酬，而且他們已經裝滿了。所以它所做的可能是幫助購買了我們幾個月來積壓的一些積壓訂單。但我認為你現在會看到它立即恢復。這就是我認為將會發生的事情——如果我在報紙上讀到的是真的，積壓工作將會增加。

With China opening up and that there's still a backlog right now, and if those plants opening back up, it's going to be a lot more orders going in to fulfill shipments that didn't get ordered 3, 4, 5 weeks ago because the plants were shut down. It's going be interesting dynamic. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but you just heard my guess, and we'll just have to see.

隨著中國的開放，現在仍然有積壓，如果這些工廠重新開放，將會有更多的訂單來完成 3、4、5 週前沒有收到的貨物，因為這些工廠被關閉。這將是有趣的動態。我不知道到底會發生什麼，但你只是聽到了我的猜測，我們只需要拭目以待。

Okay. That's really helpful. And then just maybe a quick summary of what you're seeing out there in the pricing environment with your logistics customers as you said in the past that, I mean, they're doing really well. The pricing environment is very strong for them. Are you still -- are they still enjoying that environment? Is it changing?

好的。這真的很有幫助。然後快速總結一下你在物流客戶的定價環境中看到的情況，正如你過去所說的那樣，我的意思是，他們做得很好。定價環境對他們來說非常強大。你還在——他們還在享受那種環境嗎？它在改變嗎？

I think so. I mean the days you were hearing now were like November, December last year, you were hearing 4x the ocean freight. I think it's come down from there, but it's still elevated for sure in all modes, certainly air's and truck. We don't charge based on their prices, so it doesn't matter to us so much. It's helpful for us when they run a healthy and profitable businesses, and I think they continue to do that right now. They're all having a pretty good time of it at the moment because there's only so much capacity and that lets them raise their prices up. And when they're in a good position, that usually is helpful to us.

我想是這樣。我的意思是你現在聽到的日子就像去年 11 月、12 月，你聽到的是海運費的 4 倍。我認為它是從那裡下降的，但它在所有模式下肯定仍然升高，當然是空中和卡車。我們不根據他們的價格收費，所以這對我們來說並不重要。當他們經營健康且有利可圖的業務時，這對我們很有幫助，我認為他們現在會繼續這樣做。他們現在都玩得很開心，因為容量有限，這讓他們可以提高價格。當他們處於有利位置時，這通常對我們有幫助。

Right. More technology budget?

正確的。更多的技術預算？

I think so. I think when people get more money in their pockets, they go, what should I do with that? And one of the things -- you even hear us talking about in our business. One of the things you do with that and say, let me invest it to make this a better business in the long run. And one of the main places people make investments is in technology. And there's not a head of supply chain in the world right now that's not able to walk into a CEO and say, I want to spend more money to improve our supply chain. That question used to -- was answered with like get out of my office. And here we are 5 years later, and it's, sure, whatever you want to spend. It's a huge problem, and we need to do something about it. And so that really helps guys like us that sell technology to them, which is seen as one of the most cost-effective ways to make an investment in your supply chain.

我想是這樣。我認為當人們口袋裡有更多的錢時，他們就會離開，我該怎麼辦？其中一件事——你甚至聽到我們在談論我們的業務。你用它做的一件事是，讓我投資它，從長遠來看，讓它成為一個更好的企業。人們投資的主要領域之一是技術。現在世界上沒有哪個供應鏈負責人不能走進首席執行官那裡說，我想花更多的錢來改善我們的供應鏈。這個問題過去常常被回答為離開我的辦公室。 5 年後，我們在這裡，當然，無論你想花多少錢。這是一個大問題，我們需要為此做點什麼。因此，這確實有助於像我們這樣向他們出售技術的人，這被視為對供應鏈進行投資的最具成本效益的方式之一。

And we have no further questions at this time.

我們現在沒有其他問題了。

Great. Thanks, operator. Thanks, everyone. We look forward to reporting back to you on Q2 in September. And otherwise, have a great night.

偉大的。謝謝，運營商。感謝大家。我們期待在 9 月的第二季度向您報告。否則，祝你度過一個美好的夜晚。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連接。