Descartes Systems Group Inc (DSGX) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The Descartes Systems Group quarterly results conference call. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.

下午好，女士們先生們，歡迎參加笛卡爾系統集團季度業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）此通話錄音時間為 2023 年 5 月 31 日星期三。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Pagan. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給斯科特·帕根。請繼續。

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

非常感謝，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；和首席財務官艾倫·布雷特。我相信每個人都已經收到了今天早些時候發布的財務業績新聞稿。

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 geopolitical and economic uncertainty on our business and financial condition; Descartes' operating performance, financial results and condition; Descartes' gross margins and any growth in those gross margins; cash flow and use of cash; 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. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements 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 in the section entitled certain factors that may affect future results in documents filed and furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the LSE and other securities commissions across Canada, including our management's discussion and analysis filed today. We provide forward-looking statements solely for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. You're cautioned that 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 to 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.

除歷史表現外，今天電話會議的部分內容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做出的。這些前瞻性陳述包括與我們評估地緣政治和經濟不確定性對我們業務和財務狀況的當前和未來影響有關的陳述；笛卡爾的經營業績、財務業績和狀況；笛卡爾的毛利率以及這些毛利率的任何增長；現金流量和現金使用；業務前景；基線收入、基線運營支出和基線校準；預期和潛在的收入損失和收益；具體收入和費用的預期確認和支出；潛在收購和收購策略；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。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，可能導致笛卡爾的實際結果、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。這些因素在新聞稿和向美國證券交易委員會、倫敦證券交易所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中進行了概述，包括我們管理層今天提交的討論和分析。我們提供前瞻性陳述的目的只是為了提供有關管理層當前預期和未來計劃的信息。請注意，此類信息可能不適用於其他目的。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，以反映我們的期望的任何變化或事件、條件、假設或的任何變化。除法律要求外，任何此類聲明所依據的情況。

And with that, let me turn the call over to Ed.

接下來，讓我把電話轉給埃德。

Thanks, Scott. Welcome, everyone, to the call. We had a very strong first quarter to start the year with record financial results. We're excited to go over those with you and give you some perspective about the business environment we see right now. But first, let me give you a road map for the call.

謝謝，斯科特。歡迎大家來電諮詢。我們的第一季度表現非常強勁，並取得了創紀錄的財務業績。我們很高興能與您一起回顧這些內容，並向您提供有關我們目前所看到的商業環境的一些看法。但首先，讓我給你一個通話路線圖。

I'll start with highlighting some aspects of how our business performed in the last quarter. I'll then hand it over to Allan who will go over the Q1 financial results in more detail. I'll then come back and provide an update on how we see the current business environment 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. So let's get started by looking at the quarter.

我將首先強調我們上季度業務表現的一些方面。然後我會將其交給艾倫，他將更詳細地審查第一季度的財務業績。然後我會回來提供有關我們如何看待當前業務環境以及如何調整我們的業務的最新信息。然後我們將向接線員開放，以協調通話的問答部分。讓我們首先來看看這個季度。

Key metrics we monitor include revenues, profits, cash flow from operations and return on our investments. For this past quarter, we had record performance in each of those areas. Total revenues were up 17% from a year ago with services revenues up 21%. Net income and earnings per share were up 27% and 26%, respectively. Income from operations was up 19%, while adjusted EBITDA was up 13% with a slight FX headwind. And we generated almost $49 million in cash from operations, representing 85% of adjusted EBITDA.

我們監控的關鍵指標包括收入、利潤、運營現金流和投資回報。在過去的這個季度，我們在每個領域都取得了創紀錄的業績。總收入較去年同期增長 17%，其中服務收入增長 21%。淨利潤和每股收益分別增長27%和26%。運營收入增長 19%，而調整後的 EBITDA 增長 13%，且受到輕微的外匯阻力。我們從運營中產生了近 4900 萬美元的現金，佔調整後 EBITDA 的 85%。

At the end of the quarter, we had $182 million in cash and were 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. We believe a company like ours is well positioned to continue to thrive in market conditions like these.

截至本季度末，我們擁有 1.82 億美元現金，無債務，還有 3.5 億美元未動用的信貸額度。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。我們相信像我們這樣的公司有能力在這樣的市場條件下繼續蓬勃發展。

As I've said in the past, our investment strategy is heavily influenced by what our customers are looking for from us. An excellent example of that is our recently announced acquisition of Localz where we continue to deploy capital for leading technology and services for our customers. Localz is headquartered in Australia and specializes in helping customers with final mile deliveries. Specifically, they provide an Uber-like tracking experience to the end recipient of a delivery, allowing them to be able to see the real-time progress of the delivery over the final miles. Localz also provides customer self-scheduling deliveries and a click-and-collect solution to help with fulfillment of online purchases.

正如我過去所說，我們的投資策略很大程度上受到客戶對我們的期望的影響。一個很好的例子是我們最近宣布收購 Localz，我們將繼續為客戶的領先技術和服務部署資本。 Localz 總部位於澳大利亞，專門幫助客戶進行最後一英里交付。具體來說，他們為送貨的最終收件人提供類似 Uber 的跟踪體驗，使他們能夠看到最後幾英里的實時送貨進度。 Localz 還為客戶提供自助安排送貨和點擊提貨解決方案，以幫助完成在線購買。

Localz' customer base is mostly in Asia Pacific and Europe. Our focus is to integrate Localz' leading technology stack into our routing and scheduling solutions and make it available through our distribution channels on a worldwide basis. We've already been active in welcoming the Localz team in and had them interacting with our Australian partners and customers. So we're off to a great start. Welcome to the entire Localz team.

Localz 的客戶群主要位於亞太地區和歐洲。我們的重點是將 Localz 的領先技術堆棧集成到我們的路線和調度解決方案中，並通過我們的全球分銷渠道提供。我們已經積極歡迎 Localz 團隊的到來，並讓他們與我們的澳大利亞合作夥伴和客戶進行互動。所以我們有了一個良好的開端。歡迎加入整個 Localz 團隊。

Localz complements our continued investment in final mile deliveries this calendar year. Our February investment in GroundCloud had a partial quarter of contribution to our results and added a robust solution to help independent final mile delivery companies manage their operations with particular specialization for service providers who are performing the bulk of their deliveries for large transportation brands such as FedEx and Amazon.

Localz 補充了我們今年對最後一英里交付的持續投資。我們二月份對 GroundCloud 的投資對我們的業績做出了部分季度的貢獻，並增加了一個強大的解決方案，幫助獨立的最後一英里交付公司管理其運營，特別是為聯邦快遞等大型運輸品牌執行大部分交付的服務提供商提供專業服務和亞馬遜。

What really distinguishes GroundCloud is its specialization and attention to driver safety by delivering easily digestible driver training video content to drivers' mobile devices. Our customers' focus on ESG issues and risk minimization, which include workplace and driver safety, are a good demand driver here. Our focus is on integration of the safety technology with our broader routing and scheduling solutions and anticipate that the go-forward revenue mix will -- with growth will trend more towards Descartes' revenue mix over time where nearly 90% of our business comes from higher-margin recurring revenues.

GroundCloud 的真正與眾不同之處在於其專業性和對駕駛員安全的關注，通過向駕駛員的移動設備提供易於理解的駕駛員培訓視頻內容。我們的客戶對 ESG 問題和風險最小化（包括工作場所和駕駛員安全）的關注是一個良好的需求驅動因素。我們的重點是將安全技術與我們更廣泛的路線和調度解決方案相集成，並預計未來的收入組合將隨著時間的推移而增長，將更多地趨向於笛卡爾的收入組合，其中我們近 90% 的業務來自更高水平的收入組合。 -保證金經常性收入。

While our acquisition engine continues to deliver, our organic operations were the principal contributor to a very successful quarter of growth. I just wanted to highlight a few areas that performed well.

在我們的收購引擎繼續發揮作用的同時，我們的有機運營是本季度非常成功的增長的主要貢獻者。我只是想強調一些表現良好的領域。

The first is real-time visibility. This is an area that we've talked about in the past quarters and continues to be strong. A large part of the logistics market is people moving shipments on other people's assets, whether they be planes, trucks, rails or ships. There also may be many intermediaries involved, including freight brokers, third-party logistics providers and customs brokers. With all those assets, modes of transportation and parties involved, answering the question of where is my shipment is not an easy one. It's also an important question as people have realized over the past few years how vulnerable their businesses are to a dysfunctional supply chain. Our MacroPoint solutions have continued to be market leaders in this space and see strong growth, especially with our integration to our Global Logistics Network, which enables us to easily cross sell MacroPoint embedded directly into a number of Descartes solutions.

首先是實時可見性。這是我們在過去幾個季度中討論過的一個領域，並且繼續保持強勁勢頭。物流市場的很大一部分是人們利用他人的資產（無論是飛機、卡車、鐵路還是船舶）來運輸貨物。還可能涉及許多中介機構，包括貨運經紀人、第三方物流提供商和報關行。考慮到所有這些資產、運輸方式和相關各方，回答我的貨物在哪裡的問題並不是一件容易的事。這也是一個重要的問題，因為人們在過去幾年中已經意識到，他們的企業在供應鏈功能失調的情況下是多麼脆弱。我們的 MacroPoint 解決方案繼續成為該領域的市場領導者，並實現強勁增長，特別是與我們的全球物流網絡集成後，這使我們能夠輕鬆交叉銷售直接嵌入到許多笛卡爾解決方案中的 MacroPoint。

The second is final mile delivery solutions. The same factors that have driven our recent acquisition investments in final mile delivery and the desire for shipment visibility have also driven growth in our organic route optimization operations. Regardless of whether you have your own fleet of delivery vehicles or are contracting out, the recipients' delivery experience is now part and parcel of the product sale. We continue to see strong demand from our customers for technology that enhances the customers' experience, whether it be in the scheduling or delivery process.

二是最後一公里配送解決方案。推動我們最近在最後一英里交付方面進行收購投資的相同因素以及對貨運可見性的渴望也推動了我們有機路線優化業務的增長。無論您是擁有自己的送貨車隊還是外包，收件人的送貨體驗現在都是產品銷售的重要組成部分。我們不斷看到客戶對能夠增強客戶體驗的技術的強烈需求，無論是在調度還是交付過程中。

Third area is e-commerce. We've certainly seen headlines about how e-commerce is not growing as fast as it did during the pandemic. However, those headlines often miss the key: it's still growing. E-commerce continues to be an increasingly more prevalent way of purchasing and e-commerce deliveries flow as a consequence. We've made historic investments to help our customers with this trend, and we continue to see strong volumes in the quarter that contributed to our organic growth.

第三個領域是電子商務。我們當然已經看到過關於電子商務的增長速度沒有大流行期間那麼快的頭條新聞。然而，這些頭條新聞往往忽略了關鍵：它仍在增長。電子商務仍然是一種越來越普遍的購買方式，因此電子商務的交付流程也越來越廣泛。我們進行了歷史性的投資來幫助我們的客戶應對這一趨勢，並且我們繼續看到本季度的強勁銷量，這為我們的有機增長做出了貢獻。

And finally, we have Global Trade Intelligence. This was another strong quarter for our Global Trade Intelligence pillar with some key drivers. You may have seen an increased presence of our data being used by leading publications like The Wall Street Journal to do market analysis, showing the value that customers get from our data mine solutions. We're also continuing to see strong demand for sanctioned party screening as a consequence of continued geopolitical tensions, including from the war in Ukraine and U.S.-China tensions, so a good contributor to growth in the quarter as well.

最後，我們有全球貿易情報。這是我們的全球貿易情報支柱的另一個強勁季度，有一些關鍵驅動因素。您可能已經看到，《華爾街日報》等領先出版物越來越多地使用我們的數據來進行市場分析，這展示了客戶從我們的數據挖掘解決方案中獲得的價值。由於持續的地緣政治緊張局勢（包括烏克蘭戰爭和美中緊張局勢），我們還繼續看到對受制裁方篩查的強勁需求，因此這也是本季度增長的良好貢獻者。

So let me just summarize as I hand it over to Allan to give you the full financial details in the quarter. We had record financial results. The business performed well, and we believe that's a good reflection of the value that our customers continue to get from our solutions and the hard work that our team continues to put in for our customers. We ended the quarter with $182 million in cash, $350 million in available credit and a market opportunity where we can continue to grow the business for our customers, both organically and through acquisition. We remain focused on profitable growth so that we can continue to ensure that our customers have a secure, stable and growing technology partner that can help them with their challenges well into the future.

因此，讓我簡單總結一下，然後將其交給艾倫，向您提供本季度的完整財務詳細信息。我們取得了創紀錄的財務業績。業務表現良好，我們相信這很好地反映了我們的客戶繼續從我們的解決方案中獲得的價值以及我們的團隊繼續為客戶付出的辛勤工作。本季度結束時，我們擁有 1.82 億美元的現金、3.5 億美元的可用信貸以及市場機會，我們可以通過有機方式和收購繼續為客戶發展業務。我們仍然專注於盈利增長，以便能夠繼續確保我們的客戶擁有一個安全、穩定和不斷發展的技術合作夥伴，幫助他們應對未來的挑戰。

My thanks to all Descartes team members for everything they've done to contribute to a great quarter and continuing to have our business in an enviable position for future success.

我感謝所有笛卡爾團隊成員所做的一切，為這個季度的出色貢獻做出了貢獻，並繼續使我們的業務處於令人羨慕的位置，以實現未來的成功。

I'll now turn the call over to Allan to go through our Q1 financial results in more detail. Allan?

我現在將把電話轉給艾倫，以更詳細地了解我們第一季度的財務業績。艾倫？

Thanks, Ed. As indicated, I'm going to walk you through our financial highlights for our first quarter, which ended on April 30.

謝謝，艾德。如前所述，我將向您介紹我們於 4 月 30 日結束的第一季度的財務亮點。

We are pleased to report record quarterly revenues of $136.6 million this quarter, an increase of just over 17% from revenues of $116.4 million in Q1 last year. While revenue from our acquisitions in the past 12 months, in particular, GroundCloud and XPS, contributed to this growth, growth in revenue from new and existing customers was again the main driver in growth this quarter when compared to last year. Consistent with past quarters, our revenue mix in the quarter continued to be very strong, with services revenue increasing 21% to $124.1 million or 91% of total revenue compared to $102.8 million or 88% of revenue in the same quarter last year.

我們很高興地報告本季度創紀錄的季度收入 1.366 億美元，比去年第一季度的 1.164 億美元收入增長了 17% 以上。雖然過去 12 個月的收購收入（特別是 GroundCloud 和 XPS）為這一增長做出了貢獻，但與去年相比，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推動力。與過去幾個季度一樣，我們本季度的收入組合仍然非常強勁，服務收入增長了 21%，達到 1.241 億美元，佔總收入的 91%，而去年同期為 1.028 億美元，佔總收入的 88%。

Services revenue was also up nicely sequentially, increasing over 9% from $113.4 million that we recorded in Q4 last year. License revenues came in lower at only $1.0 million or 1% of revenue in the first quarter, down from license revenues of $2.3 million in the first quarter last year. While professional services and other revenue came in at $11.5 million or 8% of revenue, up 2% from $11.3 million in the same period last year.

服務收入也環比增長，比去年第四季度的 1.134 億美元增長了 9% 以上。許可收入有所下降，僅為 100 萬美元，佔第一季度收入的 1%，低於去年第一季度 230 萬美元的許可收入。專業服務和其他收入為 1,150 萬美元，佔收入的 8%，比去年同期的 1,130 萬美元增長 2%。

In addition, we should mention that there was also a decrease in revenue from FX this quarter. As consistent with the past few quarters, the U.S. dollar continued to be stronger compared to the euro, the Canadian dollar and the British pound compared to the same period last year. This resulted in an over $2 million negative impact on revenue in Q1 when compared to Q1 last year but only had a very small impact on our profitability as we continue to be fairly naturally hedged to the various currency movements. Removing the impact of the recent acquisition as well as the negative impacts from FX that we just mentioned, on a like-for-like basis, we would estimate that our growth in services revenue from new and existing customers would have been just over 9% in the quarter when compared to the same quarter last year, pretty similar to the results we experienced in Q4.

此外，我們應該提到，本季度外匯收入也有所下降。與過去幾個季度一樣，與去年同期相比，美元相對於歐元、加元和英鎊繼續走強。與去年第一季度相比，這對第一季度的收入造成了超過 200 萬美元的負面影響，但對我們的盈利能力的影響非常小，因為我們繼續相當自然地對沖各種貨幣波動。除去最近收購的影響以及我們剛才提到的外彙的負面影響，在同類基礎上，我們估計來自新客戶和現有客戶的服務收入增長將略高於 9%與去年同期相比，本季度的結果與我們在第四季度經歷的結果非常相似。

Gross margin in the first quarter came in at 76% of revenue in the first quarter this year, consistent with gross margin realized in the first quarter last year, as the operating improvements that we continue to see in the business were offset by lower gross margins realized in the recently acquired GroundCloud business.

第一季度的毛利率佔今年第一季度收入的 76%，與去年第一季度實現的毛利率一致，因為我們繼續看到的業務運營改善被較低的毛利率所抵消在最近收購的 GroundCloud 業務中實現了這一點。

Our operating expenses increased in the first quarter. This was primarily related to the impact of the acquisition of GroundCloud but also from additional labor-related costs, primarily in sales, marketing and the R&D areas as we experienced the higher run rate costs from the staffing investments we made throughout the past 12 months.

第一季度我們的運營費用有所增加。這主要與收購 GroundCloud 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、營銷和研發領域，因為我們在過去 12 個月內進行的人員投資導致運行成本較高。

As a result of the higher revenues, offset by the increase in sales, marketing and R&D costs, we continue to see our adjusted EBITDA growth of 13% to a record $57.7 million or 42.2% of revenue in the quarter, up from $51.2 million or 44.0% of revenue in the first quarter last year. As we had indicated at the end of Q4, the addition of the GroundCloud business, while profitable, came to us with much lower adjusted EBITDA margins out of the gate than the rest of our business. The lower margins in that acquired business, as well, to a lesser extent, lower license revenue recognized in the quarter, had a negative impact on our adjusted EBITDA ratio in the first quarter, very much as we expected.

由於收入增加，被銷售、營銷和研發成本的增加所抵消，我們調整後的 EBITDA 繼續增長 13%，達到創紀錄的 5770 萬美元，佔本季度收入的 42.2%，高於 5120 萬美元或佔去年第一季度收入的44.0%。正如我們在第四季度末所指出的，GroundCloud 業務的增加雖然有利可圖，但調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率遠低於我們其他業務。所收購業務的利潤率較低，以及本季度確認的許可收入較低，對我們第一季度調整後的 EBITDA 比率產生了負面影響，這與我們的預期非常相似。

From a GAAP earnings perspective, net income came in at $29.4 million, up 27% from net income of $23.1 million in the first quarter last year.

從 GAAP 收益角度來看，淨利潤為 2940 萬美元，比去年第一季度的 2310 萬美元淨利潤增長 27%。

With these strong operating results, cash flow generated from operations came in at $48.9 million or approximately 85% of adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter, up 10% from operating cash flow $44.4 million or 87% of adjusted EBITDA in Q1 last year. Note that Q1 is typically a seasonally lower cash flow quarter mainly due to the timing of several tax and bonus payments that typically occur in the first quarter each year. Once again, we are pleased with the strong cash collections we realized during the quarter.

憑藉這些強勁的經營業績，第一季度運營產生的現金流量達到 4890 萬美元，約佔調整後 EBITDA 的 85%，比去年第一季度的運營現金流 4440 萬美元（佔調整後 EBITDA 的 87%）增長 10%。請注意，第一季度通常是現金流量季節性較低的季度，主要是由於通常在每年第一季度發生的多項稅收和獎金支付的時間。我們再次對本季度實現的強勁現金回款感到滿意。

So as Ed mentioned earlier, we are very pleased with these operating results in the first quarter as continued organic growth and a solid contribution from our recent acquisitions 17% growth in revenue and, more importantly, 13% growth in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter.

正如埃德之前提到的，我們對第一季度的這些經營業績感到非常滿意，因為持續的有機增長和我們最近的收購帶來的堅實貢獻使收入增長了 17%，更重要的是，本季度調整後 EBITDA 增長了 13%。

If we turn our attention to the balance sheet, our cash balances totaled $182 million at the end of April, down from cash balances of $276 million at the end of January as we used our positive cash flow from operations to complete both the GroundCloud and Localz acquisition. As a result, we still have over $180 million of cash as well as a $350 million undrawn credit facility available for 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.

如果我們將注意力轉向資產負債表，我們的現金餘額截至 4 月底總計 1.82 億美元，低於 1 月底的現金餘額 2.76 億美元，因為我們利用運營產生的正現金流來完成 GroundCloud 和 Localz獲得。因此，我們仍然擁有超過 1.8 億美元的現金以及 3.5 億美元的未提取信貸額度，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。

As we look towards the balance of fiscal 2024, we should note the following. After spending approximately $1.2 million on capital additions in the first quarter, we expect to incur approximately $4 million to $5 million in additional capital expenditures for the balance of this year. After incurring amortization costs of $14.7 million in Q1, we expect amortization expense will be approximately $45 million for the rest or the balance of this year, with this figure being subject to adjustment for foreign exchange changes and future acquisitions.

當我們展望 2024 財年的平衡時，我們應該注意以下幾點。在第一季度花費約 120 萬美元用於資本增加後，我們預計今年剩餘時間將產生約 400 萬至 500 萬美元的額外資本支出。在第一季度產生 1,470 萬美元的攤銷費用後，我們預計今年剩餘時間或剩餘時間的攤銷費用約為 4,500 萬美元，這一數字可能會根據外匯變化和未來收購進行調整。

Our income tax rate in Q1 came in at 22.3% of pretax income, slightly lower than our blended statutory tax rate, and this was mainly a result of a few smaller tax benefits and recoveries realized in the first quarter. Looking into the balance of the year, we currently expect that our tax rate will trend much closer to our expected range of 25% to 30% of pretax income in the next few quarters, meaning that our tax rate for the year is likely to end up in the range of between 23% and 27% of pretax income. However, as always, we should add that our tax rate may fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter from onetime items that may arise as we operate internationally across multiple countries.

第一季度我們的所得稅稅率為稅前收入的 22.3%，略低於我們的混合法定稅率，這主要是由於第一季度實現了一些較小的稅收優惠和回收。展望今年的剩餘情況，我們目前預計未來幾個季度我們的稅率將更加接近我們稅前收入 25% 至 30% 的預期範圍，這意味著我們今年的稅率可能會結束稅前收入的增幅在 23% 至 27% 之間。然而，與往常一樣，我們應該補充一點，我們的稅率可能會因我們在多個國家開展國際業務時可能出現的一次性項目而按季度波動。

Also, after incurring stock-based compensation expense of $2.9 million in the first quarter, we currently expect stock compensation to be approximately $13.6 million for the remainder of fiscal 2024, subject to any forfeitures of stock options or share units.

此外，在第一季度產生 290 萬美元的股票薪酬費用後，我們目前預計 2024 財年剩餘時間的股票薪酬約為 1,360 萬美元，前提是股票期權或股票單位被沒收。

And finally, going forward, subject to unusual events and quarterly fluctuations, we expect to continue to see continued strong cash flow conversion and generally expect cash flow from operations to be between 85% and 90% of our adjusted EBITDA in the quarters ahead.

最後，展望未來，受異常事件和季度波動影響，我們預計現金流量轉換將繼續強勁，並普遍預計未來幾個季度來自運營的現金流量將佔調整後 EBITDA 的 85% 至 90%。

I will now turn it back over to Ed.

我現在將其轉回給埃德。

Thanks, Allan. With Q2 a month in, we remain confident in our business but cautious about the broader economic circumstances that are out there, this continued high interest rates, pervasive conflict in the Ukraine, various recessionary pressures and economic discussion that could impact the freight market. We've seen some companies taking action from impacts they've seen in their business. So for us, we continue to be cautious in the face of uncertainty.

謝謝，艾倫。第二季度已經過去一個月了，我們對我們的業務仍然充滿信心，但對更廣泛的經濟環境、持續的高利率、烏克蘭普遍的衝突、各種衰退壓力以及可能影響貨運市場的經濟討論持謹慎態度。我們看到一些公司因業務受到的影響而採取了行動。所以對於我們來說，面對不確定性，我們繼續保持謹慎的態度。

Supply chain and logistics continues to be a critical business function for our customers regardless of the economic circumstances. I wanted to share some areas that our customers are monitoring and that shape the market that we're currently operating in.

無論經濟形勢如何，供應鍊和物流仍然是我們客戶的關鍵業務功能。我想分享一些我們的客戶正在監控的領域，這些領域塑造了我們目前運營的市場。

First is U.S. ocean container imports are growing but at pre-pandemic levels. Based on public data available through our data mine service, ocean imports have grown month by month since February but are tracking more in line with pre-pandemic levels than the elevated 2021 and 2022 levels. We'll be monitoring growth over the coming months, with May numbers expected in the coming days.

首先，美國海運集裝箱進口量正在增長，但仍處於大流行前的水平。根據我們的數據挖掘服務提供的公共數據，自 2 月份以來，海洋進口量逐月增長，但與大流行前的水平相比，更符合大流行前的水平，而不是 2021 年和 2022 年的高水平。我們將監測未來幾個月的增長情況，預計未來幾天將公佈 5 月份的數據。

The second is that retailers have made good progress in shedding excess inventories. Over the past months, the market saw some decreased ordering from retailers as they dealt with excess inventories. Essentially, some retailers skipped a replenishment cycle, which had an impact on freight demand. We've heard from customers they've had good success in recent months of moving that excess inventory with a potential return to more normalized replenishment cycles on the horizon.

其次，零售商在削減過剩庫存方面取得了良好進展。過去幾個月，市場上零售商因處理過剩庫存而減少了訂單。從本質上講，一些零售商跳過了補貨週期，這對貨運需求產生了影響。我們從客戶那裡得知，他們近幾個月在轉移多餘庫存方面取得了巨大成功，並有可能恢復到更正常化的補貨週期。

The third is freight prices have come down. The recent abnormal replenishment cycles had an impact on demand for freight, which has impacted the spot markets for freight across the different modes of transportation. That's good news for shippers but less good for logistics carriers and intermediaries. Just because prices come down, it doesn't necessarily mean there's a corresponding impact on the number of shipments, just that there's tighter margins on many of these shipments. In terms of how that impacts Descartes' business, the number of shipments is a more important metric. We saw strong volumes through Q1, and we'll be continuing to monitor the shipment volumes over our Global Logistics Network.

三是貨運價格有所下降。近期異常的補貨週期對貨運需求產生了影響，從而影響了不同運輸方式的貨運現貨市場。這對托運人來說是個好消息，但對物流承運人和中介機構來說卻不太好。僅僅因為價格下降，並不一定意味著發貨數量會受到相應影響，只是許多發貨的利潤率會收窄。就這對笛卡爾業務的影響而言，發貨數量是一個更重要的指標。我們在第一季度看到了強勁的銷量，我們將繼續監控我們的全球物流網絡的發貨量。

Fourth is port delays have decreased. During the pandemic, there were tremendous backlogs in ports, with ocean vessels moored waiting since ports couldn't handle the volume. However, ports have caught up and processed these volumes and are back moving goods at pre-pandemic levels. This is a key factor as parties consider lead times for orders.

第四是港口延誤有所減少。疫情期間，港口積壓大量貨物，遠洋船隻因港口無法處理而停泊等待。然而，港口已經趕上了並處理了這些數量，並將貨物運輸恢復到大流行前的水平。這是各方考慮訂單交貨時間的關鍵因素。

Fifth is China origin shipments have increased. China was still dealing with COVID shutdowns and resource availability challenges later than many parts of the world. This resulted in companies sourcing goods from other countries. However, in April, we saw sourcing from China pick up, and we'll be monitoring whether this is a continued growth trend.

五是中國原產地出貨量增加。中國應對新冠疫情導致的停工和資源可用性挑戰的時間仍比世界許多地區晚。這導致公司從其他國家採購商品。然而，四月份，我們看到來自中國的採購有所增加，我們將監測這是否是持續的增長趨勢。

The sixth is fuel costs are lower than a year ago. Diesel and other fuel costs are at lower levels than a year ago, so while Descartes -- so sorry, while carriers and intermediaries maybe seeing some challenges with revenues with freight prices decreasing, they're seeing some relief on the cost side as well.

第六是燃料成本低於一年前。柴油和其他燃料成本低於一年前的水平，因此，雖然笛卡爾非常抱歉，雖然承運商和中介機構可能會看到貨運價格下降帶來的收入挑戰，但他們也看到成本方面有所緩解。

Seventh is some funding challenges for earlier-stage logistics companies. The technology community saw some recent shocks in the availability of capital to earlier-stage technology companies, including those in the logistics and supply chain space. Many of these companies may not have access to further rounds of funding and may be required to consider other strategic alternatives. We'll be monitoring this as we look at our own acquisition strategy.

第七是早期物流公司面臨的一些融資挑戰。科技界最近看到早期科技公司（包括物流和供應鏈領域的科技公司）的資金供應受到了一些衝擊。其中許多公司可能無法獲得進一步的融資，並且可能需要考慮其他戰略選擇。我們將在研究我們自己的收購策略時對此進行監控。

And finally, ESG focus impacts supply chain and logistics. ESG discussions in boardrooms are having a meaningful impact on supply chain and logistics decisions. Our customers are looking for detailed information from their trading partners so they can meet and report on their own ESG goals. We're seeing legislation and regulation in different countries, forcing companies to adopt solutions that will enable them to better monitor and report on their compliance with prohibitions on use of forced labor, environmental impact of their operations and trading with restricted parties.

最後，ESG 重點影響供應鍊和物流。董事會中的 ESG 討論正在對供應鍊和物流決策產生有意義的影響。我們的客戶正在尋找來自貿易夥伴的詳細信息，以便他們能夠實現並報告自己的 ESG 目標。我們看到不同國家的立法和法規迫使公司採取解決方案，使他們能夠更好地監控和報告其對使用強迫勞動的禁令的遵守情況、其業務對環境的影響以及與受限制方的貿易。

So those are some of the things we're hearing from our customers and seeing in our business, things that also inform our calibration for the quarter. Our business is designed to be predictable and consistent and believe the stability and reliability are valuable to our customers, employees and our broader stakeholders.

這些是我們從客戶那裡聽到的以及在我們的業務中看到的一些事情，這些事情也為我們對本季度的校準提供了信息。我們的業務旨在實現可預測和一致，並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來說很有價值。

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 grow 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.

為了實現這種一致性，我們繼續遵循以下原則進行運營。我們的長期計劃是讓我們的業務調整後 EBITDA 每年增長 10% 至 15%。我們通過有機增長和收購相結合來實現增長。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。我們不偏袒任何特定政黨。我們為所有供應鏈參與者開展業務，連接托運人、承運人、物流服務提供商和海關當局。

When we over perform, we try to reinvest that over performance back into our business. We focus on recurring revenues and establishing relationships with customers for life, and we thrive on operating a predictable business that allows us forward visibility to our revenues and investment paybacks.

當我們表現超額時，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，我們致力於經營可預測的業務，使我們能夠提前了解我們的收入和投資回報。

In our Q1 report, we've provided a comprehensive description of baseline revenues, baseline calibration and their limitations. As of May 1, 2023, using foreign exchange rates of $0.74 to the Canadian dollar, USD 1.10 to the euro and USD 1.26 to the Great Britain pound, we estimate that our baseline revenues for the second quarter of 2024 are approximately $120.5 million and our baseline operating expenses are approximately $76 million. We consider this to be our baseline adjusted EBITDA calibration of approximately $44.5 million for the second quarter of 2024 or approximately 37% of our baseline revenues as at May 1, 2023. We continue to expect that we'll operate in an adjusted EBITDA operating margin range of 40% to 45%. Our margin can vary in that range given such things as foreign exchange movements and the impact of acquisitions as we integrate them into our business.

在我們的第一季度報告中，我們全面描述了基準收入、基準校準及其局限性。截至 2023 年 5 月 1 日，使用 0.74 美元兌加元、1.10 美元兌歐元和 1.26 美元兌英鎊的匯率，我們估計 2024 年第二季度的基準收入約為 1.205 億美元，我們的基準運營費用約為 7600 萬美元。我們認為這是我們 2024 年第二季度約 4450 萬美元的基準調整後 EBITDA 校準，約占我們截至 2023 年 5 月 1 日基準收入的 37%。我們仍然預計我們將在調整後 EBITDA 運營利潤率下運營範圍為 40% 至 45%。考慮到外匯波動以及我們將收購整合到我們的業務中時的影響等因素，我們的利潤率可能會在這個範圍內變化。

Last quarter, we flagged that GroundCloud would impact our margin while we completed the integration activities and brought it up to our desired Descartes contribution level. We believe we've made good progress on the integration activities and are not planning for a further impact to our operating margin from where we were at in Q1.

上個季度，我們標記 GroundCloud 將影響我們的利潤，同時我們完成了集成活動並將其提升到我們期望的笛卡爾貢獻水平。我們相信，我們在整合活動方面已經取得了良好進展，並且不打算對我們第一季度的營業利潤率產生進一步的影響。

We got lots of exciting things planned for our business. It remains an uncertain broader economic environment, but we believe our proven track record of execution, solid capital structure and customer focus will serve us well.

我們為我們的業務計劃了許多令人興奮的事情。更廣泛的經濟環境仍然充滿不確定性，但我們相信，我們良好的執行記錄、穩固的資本結構和以客戶為中心將為我們提供良好服務。

I want to thank 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.

我要感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。一如既往，我們可以以您最方便的方式與您討論我們的業務。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator?

然後，我會將電話轉給接線員詢問問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Raimo Lenschow from Barclays.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的Raimo Lenschow。

Congrats on another solid quarter. Ed, just if you think about the cycle that we're kind of living in at the moment, how do you see this continue to play out in terms of like how transportation volumes are continuing to go through -- come through? Like, are we kind of through the worst? That's kind of what it feels like, but I kind of wanted to see your view on that one. And I had one quick follow-up.

祝賀又一個穩定的季度。艾德，如果你想想我們目前所處的周期，你認為這種情況會如何繼續發揮作用，比如運輸量如何繼續經歷——經歷？比如，我們已經度過了最糟糕的時期嗎？就是這種感覺，但我有點想看看你對此的看法。我進行了快速跟進。

It's tough to tell. Depends on the mode of transportation you're talking about. I mean ocean probably had a weaker point a few months ago. We see it strengthening in the last couple of months. I think truck also had some weaker points over the last couple of months. We didn't see that in our network as much because it was growing considerably, specifically with MacroPoint kind of growing its way out of any volume issues our customers were having. And on the air side, it's continued to perform pretty strong, and it looks pretty good to us today.

很難說。取決於你所說的交通方式。我的意思是幾個月前海洋可能有一個弱點。我們看到它在過去幾個月裡有所加強。我認為過去幾個月卡車也有一些弱點。我們在我們的網絡中並沒有看到這種情況，因為它正在大幅增長，特別是隨著 MacroPoint 的發展，我們的客戶遇到了任何數量問題。在空氣方面，它繼續表現強勁，今天對我們來說看起來相當不錯。

I don't know what the future brings exactly. I mean it's a mixed news economy at the moment, as I read the paper. But most of our customers seem to be in pretty good shape. I don't hear any of them sounding fire bells or anything like that. And certainly, the volumes on our network continue to be strong, so we're happy about that.

我不知道未來到底會帶來什麼。我的意思是，正如我讀到的那樣，目前的新聞經濟是好壞參半的。但我們的大多數客戶似乎狀況都很好。我沒有聽到他們拉響火警鈴聲或類似的聲音。當然，我們網絡上的流量繼續強勁，因此我們對此感到高興。

Yes. Okay. Perfect. And then what are you seeing in the field in terms of -- you always were very good in finding good assets and finding them at good prices. Like, where do you see the private market in terms of their understanding of new asset values and valuation levels? Where are we on that journey?

是的。好的。完美的。然後你在這個領域看到了什麼——你總是非常擅長尋找優質資產並以優惠的價格找到它們。比如，您如何看待私募市場對新資產價值和估值水平的理解？我們在這段旅程中處於什麼位置？

Yes. Thank you. It's certainly coming around right now. We're starting to see, I think, the early signs of change in that market. There's still a decent amount of stuff for sale. You can see we got the Localz deal done. That was probably something that we might have struggled to do a year ago because we wouldn't have been able to agree on price, and we were able to do it in the last few months based on the conditions that the company -- smaller technology companies are facing.

是的。謝謝。現在肯定會出現這種情況。我認為，我們開始看到該市場發生變化的早期跡象。仍然有相當數量的東西在出售。您可以看到我們完成了 Localz 交易。這可能是一年前我們可能很難做到的事情，因為我們無法就價格達成一致，但根據公司較小的技術條件，我們在過去幾個月裡做到了這一點。企業面臨。

I think on the smaller end, where we tend to play, we're seeing more stuff that's impacted more quickly by economic uncertainty out there and an unwillingness for people to put money into the market. So if they're losing money or not making much money and the people that historically have invested and maybe perhaps over invested in those areas in the last 4 or 5 years have kind of stopped doing that, all of a sudden were a very attractive choice to people. Our company continues to perform well, and we have a good track record of integrating acquisitions in and making their businesses grow when they get here. So I think that's played well for us, and you can see it in some of the acquisitions that we've done so far. And I think there may be more to come just based on what I'm seeing.

我認為，在我們傾向於參與的較小範圍內，我們看到更多的東西更快地受到經濟不確定性和人們不願意將資金投入市場的影響。因此，如果他們虧損或賺不到多少錢，而過去 4 或 5 年內在這些領域進行過投資、或許過度投資的人們已經停止這樣做，那麼突然間它們就成為了一個非常有吸引力的選擇對人民。我們的公司繼續表現良好，我們在整合收購併讓他們的業務在他們來到這裡時成長方面有著良好的記錄。所以我認為這對我們來說效果很好，你可以從我們迄今為止所做的一些收購中看到這一點。我認為根據我所看到的情況，可能還會有更多的事情發生。

Your next question comes from the line of Matt Pfau from William Blair.

您的下一個問題來自威廉·布萊爾 (William Blair) 的馬特·普福 (Matt Pfau)。

First, I wanted to follow up on one of the comments you made, and I don't know what the exact wording was, but it was something along the lines of some of your customers have taken actions based on macro impacts they've seen in their business. Has that had any impact to Descartes?

首先，我想跟進您發表的其中一條評論，我不知道確切的措辭是什麼，但這與您的一些客戶根據他們所看到的宏觀影響採取的行動類似在他們的業務中。這對笛卡爾有影響嗎？

No, I think we have been in a very fortunate situation where I think while customers, particularly big retailers and manufacturers are probably the first place we saw this in the last 6 months where they were worried about what the economy looked like and they were probably telling us they were kind of putting their foot on the brake and maybe holding back on some investments, they continue to green light their logistics and supply chain investments. So we would hear about them at some of our larger customers, but they were continuing on with their projects because they felt the supply chain and logistics area was an area of focus for them and something they should continue to invest money, even though they were proceeding cautiously in other areas of their business.

不，我認為我們處於一個非常幸運的境地，我認為雖然客戶，特別是大型零售商和製造商可能是我們在過去 6 個月中首先看到這種情況的地方，他們擔心經濟狀況，他們可能是他們告訴我們，他們有點踩剎車，可能會推遲一些投資，但他們繼續為物流和供應鏈投資開綠燈。因此，我們會在一些較大的客戶那裡聽到他們的消息，但他們仍在繼續他們的項目，因為他們認為供應鍊和物流領域是他們關注的一個領域，他們應該繼續投資，儘管他們在其他業務領域謹慎行事。

Got it. And just to follow up with your comments in terms of the acquisition environment and funding pressures that some private companies are seeing. Have you seen that have an impact in terms of some of your customers perhaps becoming less willing to do business with VC-backed companies over fear of what the longevity is there?

知道了。只是想跟進您對一些私營公司所面臨的收購環境和融資壓力的評論。您是否發現這對您的一些客戶產生了影響，他們可能因為擔心公司的壽命而變得不太願意與風險投資支持的公司開展業務？

Yes, I think there's some of that going on right now. There's a lot of talk of that in the logistics trade publications and the risk that you might be in doing that. It's not just a risk of whether it will be there or not. It's a risk of is it going to get sold to somebody else who was going to change the direction soon and do I want to sign up for -- to make a decent-sized investment with someone who might have that happen to them. And the management team that I'm talking to today can't make promises that they can keep for a long time. And I think that's benefited us. We certainly see some of it going on. I think we'll continue to see that happen. And honestly, I think our customers are smart to think that way. I think that is an actual concern. And if you do business with someone that's probably a lot more likely to be around for the long run, you're probably making a smarter decision.

是的，我認為現在正在發生一些事情。物流貿易出版物中有很多關於這一點的討論以及這樣做可能存在的風險。這不僅僅是它是否存在的風險。存在的風險是它會被賣給其他很快就會改變方向的人，而我是否想與可能發生這種情況的人一起進行一筆相當規模的投資。今天與我交談的管理團隊無法做出可以長期履行的承諾。我認為這讓我們受益匪淺。我們當然看到其中一些正在發生。我想我們會繼續看到這種情況發生。老實說，我認為我們的客戶這麼想是很聰明的。我認為這是一個實際的擔憂。如果您與更有可能長期合作的人做生意，您可能會做出更明智的決定。

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Treiber from RBC Capital Markets.

您的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Paul Treiber。

I was just hoping, could you elaborate on one of your earlier points about MacroPoint, and that has been growing even though that the truck market in general has been weak. Does that reflect MacroPoint growing share of wallet or penetration within customers? Or are you seeing continued new customer wins?

我只是希望，您能否詳細說明一下您之前關於 MacroPoint 的觀點之一，儘管卡車市場總體疲軟，但 MacroPoint 一直在增長。這是否反映出 MacroPoint 錢包份額或客戶滲透率不斷增長？或者您是否看到持續贏得新客戶？

Both. I mean MacroPoint has done an excellent job of growing, and I think it's come with new customer wins they were taking away from their competitors. It's also come, over the last several years, with companies saying, "I used to track some of the shipments. I now need to track them all." And that takes a while for companies to roll out. But I think a lot of companies are starting to say, "I'm not going to be selective about what shipments I'm going to track anymore. I'm going to track all of them." And it's just going to be table stakes in their business. And that certainly benefited MacroPoint as they have a large chunk of the industry that's made that decision.

兩個都。我的意思是 MacroPoint 在增長方面做得非常出色，而且我認為這帶來了他們從競爭對手那里奪走的新客戶。在過去的幾年裡，公司也表示，“我曾經跟踪一些貨物。現在我需要跟踪所有貨物。”公司需要一段時間才能推出。但我認為很多公司開始說：“我不會再對要跟踪的發貨進行選擇。我將跟踪所有發貨。”這只是他們業務中的賭注。這無疑使 MacroPoint 受益，因為他們擁有做出這一決定的行業大部分成員。

That's insightful. The other question, just more broadly speaking, despite the freight market perhaps going through a slower period here, your organic growth has been very resilient, much higher than you've averaged in the past. Do you think you're seeing structurally and sustainably higher organic growth than in the past? And then if so, why not take up your long-term 10% to 15% growth outlook, which does include organic growth plus acquisitions?

這很有洞察力。另一個問題，更廣泛地說，儘管貨運市場可能正在經歷一個較慢的時期，但你們的有機增長非常有彈性，遠高於你們過去的平均水平。您認為您看到的結構性和可持續的有機增長是否比過去更高？如果是這樣，為什麼不考慮一下 10% 到 15% 的長期增長前景，其中包括有機增長和收購呢？

We're a "slow and steady wins the race" kind of company. I think we proceed cautiously all the time. If we over perform, that's great news. But I don't know that we see what's going to happen out 5, 10 years. And so we think, hey, this is the rate that we think this market may grow at. Maybe we're doing a little better than that right now. But we're going to continue to run our company like that. So if something bad happened in the future, we're not dramatically impacted by it.

我們是一家“緩慢而穩定地贏得比賽”的公司。我認為我們一直都在謹慎行事。如果我們表現出色，那是個好消息。但我不知道我們能看到 5 年、10 年後會發生什麼。所以我們認為，嘿，這就是我們認為這個市場可能增長的速度。也許我們現在做得比現在好一點。但我們將繼續這樣經營我們的公司。因此，如果將來發生不好的事情，我們不會受到太大影響。

We've seen a lot of people roll by us over the years, screaming from behind them, "We're going to the moon, and we'll see you later." And then in the next couple of years, they implode, and we quietly come behind them and pick up all the pieces. And the reason those things happen is because they overinvest in sales and marketing as they start making promises they're going to grow faster than they can in the long run. And when something goes bad, they implode. Everyone gets fired. The customers get forgotten. And they probably get sold to somebody else. And that's a disaster that we don't want to be a part of.

多年來，我們看到很多人從我們身邊走過，在他們身後尖叫：“我們要去月球，稍後再見。”然後在接下來的幾年裡，它們崩潰了，我們悄悄地走到它們後面，收拾好所有的碎片。發生這些事情的原因是他們在銷售和營銷方面過度投資，因為他們開始承諾從長遠來看他們的增長速度將快於實際水平。當事情變壞時，它們就會崩潰。每個人都會被解僱。顧客被遺忘了。他們可能會被賣給其他人。這是一場我們不想參與的災難。

And just one last question. There's been a lot of enthusiasm in the market recently around AI. How do you see AI impacting the logistics market in your business? And to what degree have you been making investments in AI?

還有最後一個問題。最近市場對人工智能充滿熱情。您如何看待人工智能對您企業的物流市場的影響？您對人工智能的投資程度如何？

Yes. Thanks for asking that. A lot of -- it's impacted us for years. First of all, our routing business has a lot of AI in it before the words AI really became a common discussion point. If you take away our routing solutions work for the last 10 or 15 years, we've been making AI-like decisions for our customers, and our guys have been thinking like that. So we continue to do more and more of that. And with all these IoT devices coming out, we get more and more information that we can help our customers make better and better decisions about how to move their freight around every day.

是的。謝謝你這麼問。很多——它多年來一直影響著我們。首先，在AI這個詞真正成為一個共同的討論點之前，我們的路由業務有很多AI在裡面。如果你不考慮我們過去 10 或 15 年的路由解決方案，我們一直在為客戶做出類似人工智能的決策，我們的員工也一直在這樣思考。所以我們繼續做越來越多的事情。隨著所有這些物聯網設備的出現，我們獲得了越來越多的信息，可以幫助我們的客戶就如何每天運輸貨物做出越來越好的決策。

And that's exciting times for us because we're now at the point where you're looking at our routing systems and going, "How does it know that? Like, I don't understand." And it's all because we're collecting a lot of data points over a long period of time and are able to help our customers figure out things like, "What's that intersection going to look like at 5:00," and "Should I make a left turn or a right turn or completely avoid that intersection and tell them to do it at 3?" And when you can combine millions of those things a day -- those decisions a day for a customer and make pretty damn accurate decisions every day, you help them route their trucks a lot more efficiently and save them a lot of money, which is awesome.

這對我們來說是激動人心的時刻，因為我們現在正處於這樣一個時刻，你在查看我們的路由系統時會說：“它是怎麼知道的？就像，我不明白。”這一切都是因為我們在很長一段時間內收集了大量數據點，並且能夠幫助我們的客戶弄清楚“5:00 那個十字路口會是什麼樣子”以及“我應該讓左轉或右轉，還是完全避開那個路口並告訴他們在 3 點這樣做？”當你每天可以結合數百萬個這樣的事情——每天為客戶做出的這些決定並每天做出非常準確的決定時，你可以幫助他們更有效地安排卡車路線並為他們節省很多錢，這真是太棒了。

In our content and classification space, we are starting to look, over the last 6 to 8 months, at using AI to help our customers more quickly and accurately classify goods so that they can make better decisions about how to make their customs filings, which potentially saves them a lot of money. More internally, and you probably heard this at a lot of software companies, standard routines and standard pieces of code that you can use AI to pull up a chunk of code that you might have taken 3 days to write and now, all of a sudden, you're pulling up a chunk of code in 20 minutes, configuring it to your use case and saving yourself a whole lot of time in the development and engineering process. So we're seeing some of that right now. I think I'm going to see a lot more of that in the future.

在我們的內容和分類領域，在過去的 6 到 8 個月裡，我們開始考慮使用人工智能來幫助我們的客戶更快、更準確地對貨物進行分類，以便他們能夠就如何進行海關申報做出更好的決定，這可能會為他們節省很多錢。在內部，你可能在很多軟件公司都聽說過這樣的說法：標準例程和標準代碼片段，你可以使用人工智能來提取你可能需要 3 天編寫的代碼塊，而現在，突然之間，您可以在 20 分鐘內提取一大塊代碼，將其配置到您的用例，並在開發和工程過程中節省大量時間。所以我們現在看到了其中的一些。我想我將來會看到更多這樣的事情。

And then another obvious one that I think a lot of software companies are doing is better and better customer support and more cost-effective customer support, better interpreting the answers at the questions that customers are going to ask and being able to disperse those answers out to them quickly and often in a self-service model. This all started like 10 years ago. You saw all these customer experience applications that come out. Well, now it's table stakes and really starting to become the norm, and we're using it in our tools. And I think you're going to see us use a lot more of it over the coming years to more quickly answer customers' questions and get them back to solve on the problems that they're actually trying to solve.

我認為許多軟件公司正在做的另一個明顯的事情是越來越好的客戶支持和更具成本效益的客戶支持，更好地解釋客戶將要問的問題的答案，並能夠將這些答案分散出去經常以自助服務模式快速向他們提供服務。這一切都要從 10 年前開始。您看到了所有這些出現的客戶體驗應用程序。好吧，現在它已經成為賭注，並且真正開始成為常態，我們正在我們的工具中使用它。我認為您會在未來幾年看到我們更多地使用它來更快地回答客戶的問題，並讓他們回來解決他們實際試圖解決的問題。

So there's more, but those are the big ones, and I'm happy you asked because I think it's an important topic for the future.

還有更多，但這些都是大問題，我很高興你問這個問題，因為我認為這是未來的一個重要話題。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Justin Long from Stephens.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 Stephens 的 Justin Long。

I wanted to start with a question on organic growth. Allan, I think you mentioned in the services business, organic growth was a little bit over 9%. But could you share what all-in organic growth was in the quarter? And then maybe comment on what you're seeing from a transactional volume perspective on a year-over-year basis.

我想從有機增長的問題開始。艾倫，我想你提到在服務業務中，有機增長略高於 9%。但您能否分享一下本季度的總體有機增長情況？然後也許可以從逐年交易量的角度評論您所看到的情況。

Yes, I'll start with the organic growth one, and Ed may look at -- or talk to you about the volumes. So just over 9% in the services piece of our business, which is the most important piece, the recurring part of our business. Licenses, I mentioned earlier, were down. We had a weaker license number. It's only $1 million, down from $2.3 million and a little bit of drop in some nonrecurring areas, including hardware. So 6.5%, 7% growth organically in total revenues because of those drops. So 9.5% from services leading to a 6.5%, 7% overall organic growth in the business.

是的，我將從有機增長開始，埃德可能會關注或與您討論數量。因此，我們業務的服務部分佔了 9% 以上，這是我們業務中最重要的部分，也是我們業務的經常性部分。我之前提到過，許可證數量減少了。我們的許可證號碼較弱。現在只有 100 萬美元，低於 230 萬美元，而且在一些非經常性領域（包括硬件）也略有下降。由於這些下降，總收入有機增長了 6.5%、7%。因此，9.5% 來自服務，導致業務整體有機增長 6.5%、7%。

And from a volumes perspective, Ed?

從數量的角度來看，埃德？

I mean I commented on the volumes earlier, but let me just comment on some stuff that Allan said. I mean we are a recurring revenue business. We are trying to get all our customers up and running as fast as possible on recurring revenue-type products. I am aware of the license component -- the small license component of our business, the small hardware component of our business and the small professional services and training component of our business. They are not our focus. If we could eliminate all 3 of those and get everyone over to fast installed recurring revenue products, that would be our ideal goal. So we spend most of our time looking at that services line. I'm aware that there's a little bit more to the business than that, but certainly, we're really happy that our highest growth is coming from the area that we think is the most valuable.

我的意思是我之前對這些捲髮表了評論，但讓我只評論艾倫所說的一些內容。我的意思是我們是一家經常性收入企業。我們正在努力讓所有客戶盡快啟動並運行經常性收入型產品。我知道許可證部分——我們業務的小型許可證部分、我們業務的小型硬件部分以及我們業務的小型專業服務和培訓部分。他們不是我們的重點。如果我們能夠消除所有這三個因素並讓每個人都轉向快速安裝的經常性收入產品，那將是我們的理想目標。因此，我們大部分時間都花在研究該服務線上。我知道業務遠不止於此，但當然，我們真的很高興我們的最高增長來自我們認為最有價值的領域。

Understood. And I guess building on one of the earlier questions, when I think about the services business growing over 9% organically, in this economic backdrop in a freight market that's challenged, and we're hearing about a lot of weakness in volumes from the transportation companies, if this type of growth is sustainable and the framework for organic growth is more in that high single-digit range, can you talk about the head count requirements to support that and maybe where sales and marketing head count is today versus pre-pandemic? I'm just curious if you've already ramped enough to support that growth or if we're going to need to see further investment there.

明白了。我想，基於之前的問題之一，當我想到服務業務有機增長超過 9% 時，在貨運市場面臨挑戰的經濟背景下，我們聽到運輸量的大量疲軟公司，如果這種類型的增長是可持續的，並且有機增長的框架更多地處於高個位數範圍內，您能否談談支持這種增長的人員數量要求，以及今天的銷售和營銷人員數量與大流行前的情況？我只是好奇你們是否已經有足夠的資金來支持這種增長，或者我們是否需要看到進一步的投資。

No, I don't think you're going to see us -- let's just say, I think you're going to see us continue to behave the way we have in the past. And for the past 6 or 8 months, I think I've described it to people as we took our foot off the gas and just kind of covered the brake with it in an attempt to be cautious and are still very happy with the growth rates that we're getting given that's the case. We're not the type of company that's going to go invest ahead, too far over our skis, in terms of sales and marketing. We want to have people in place to answer our customers' questions and help them make buying decisions when they're there, but I don't think you're going to see us start to make material additions to sales and marketing beyond what we've done in the past, which I think is, by all accounts, cautious. And I think you're going to see us continue to behave that way.

不，我認為你們不會看到我們——這麼說吧，我認為你們會看到我們繼續像過去那樣行事。在過去的 6 或 8 個月裡，我想我已經向人們描述了這一點，因為我們把腳從油門上移開了，只是用它覆蓋了剎車，試圖保持謹慎，但仍然對增長率感到非常滿意我們得到的就是這種情況。我們不是那種會在銷售和營銷方面進行超前投資的公司。我們希望有人能夠回答客戶的問題並幫助他們做出購買決定，但我認為您不會看到我們開始在銷售和營銷方面做出超出我們能力範圍的實質性補充。過去曾做過這樣的事，我認為從各方面來看都是謹慎的。我想你會看到我們繼續這樣做。

Understood. Congrats on the quarter.

明白了。恭喜本季度。

Thank you very much, Justin.

非常感謝你，賈斯汀。

Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Chan from TD Cowen.

您的下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Daniel Chan。

Ed, you were talking about an expectation for the replenishment cycle to normalize. Just wondering if that is translating into the investments that your customers are making. In other words, are they investing ahead of what may be higher anticipated volumes?

艾德，您談到了對補貨週期正常化的預期。只是想知道這是否會轉化為您的客戶正在進行的投資。換句話說，他們是否會在預期更高的交易量之前進行投資？

Maybe, but my first guess is they're probably thinking a little more long term than that. They went through the pandemic. They had their customers realize that supply chain and logistics is a lot more important than they thought it was. They saw that translate into their business and a need to be able to tell their customers what's going on in the supply chain and logistics world a lot better than they did 5 years ago, and they're making investments to do that right now. I don't think they're -- at least as we talk to them, I don't think they're sitting there thinking about, "How do I make this investment to be better off in the next 6 months." I think they're probably more like, "How do I make this investment to be better off in the next 5 to 10 years." And I'd say that's probably more the way we hear them talking about it.

也許吧，但我的第一個猜測是，他們的考慮可能比這更長遠一些。他們經歷了疫情。他們讓客戶意識到供應鍊和物流比他們想像的要重要得多。他們看到這會轉化為他們的業務，並且需要能夠比 5 年前更好地告訴客戶供應鍊和物流領域正在發生的事情，並且他們現在正在為此進行投資。我不認為他們——至少在我們與他們交談時，我不認為他們坐在那裡思考“我如何讓這項投資在未來 6 個月內變得更好”。我認為他們可能更像是“我如何讓這項投資在未來 5 到 10 年內變得更好”。我想說這可能更多是我們聽到他們談論這個問題的方式。

Now will it benefit them in the next 6 months? Probably. Guy who made the investment last year is probably going to get some benefit out of it this year. Guy who's making it right now is probably going to get some benefit out of it coming into Christmas season this fall. But if I listen to what their thinking was or logic was coming into it, it was probably a longer-term one than just this resupply period.

現在這會讓他們在未來 6 個月內受益嗎？大概。去年進行投資的人今年可能會從中受益。現在正在成功的人可能會在今年秋天的聖誕節期間從中受益。但如果我聽聽他們的想法或邏輯，這可能是一個比補給期更長的時期。

That's helpful. And then maybe a follow-on question on these VC-backed competitors of yours. Shopify made a big splash by divesting its logistics business to Flexport. And Flexport seems to have some similar solutions to you. Are they a competitor that you see often? And does them taking on the Shopify assets change the competitive landscape at all?

這很有幫助。然後也許是關於你的這些風險投資支持的競爭對手的後續問題。 Shopify 將其物流業務剝離給 Flexport 引起了巨大轟動。 Flexport 似乎也有一些與您類似的解決方案。他們是您經常見到的競爭對手嗎？他們收購 Shopify 資產是否會改變競爭格局？

No, no. Flexport is a big customer of ours and a good customer of ours, and we don't compete with them in any way. And nothing about what Shopify did does anything but help us. I mean we were partner with Shopify before this. We're a bigger partner of Flexport now. And we don't compete with them nor do we have any intention of competing with them at any point.

不，不。 Flexport是我們的大客戶，也是我們的好客戶，我們不會以任何方式與他們競爭。 Shopify 所做的一切除了對我們有幫助之外沒有任何幫助。我的意思是，在此之前我們是 Shopify 的合作夥伴。我們現在是 Flexport 更大的合作夥伴。我們不與他們競爭，也無意在任何時候與他們競爭。

Your next question comes from the line of Robert Young from Canaccord Genuity.

您的下一個問題來自 Canaccord Genuity 的 Robert Young。

Maybe a quick clarification on a previous question around the replenishment cycle. You said that retailers skipped a replenishment cycle. It didn't seem to impact your numbers at all, and so I'm just curious why that would be. Is there something to understand there?

也許可以快速澄清之前有關補貨週期的問題。您說零售商跳過了補貨週期。它似乎根本沒有影響你的數字，所以我只是好奇為什麼會這樣。那裡有什麼可以理解的嗎？

I think my first kind of look at that would be we continued to grow through a cycle that wasn't that bad across all the modes of transport that we operate in. Things were down, for sure. Transportation volumes were down, and prices were down significantly for our customers from '21 and '22 to today or, let's say, the last 6 months. But the volumes weren't down that much, and we were growing through that. So we've kind of -- we're growing while volumes are tempering a little bit, and that probably kind of masks it from our perspective. Maybe not from our customers' perspective, they probably suffered a little more because they have prices coming down somewhat dramatically and then volume's coming down a little bit from pre-pandemic or from pandemic times.

我認為我的第一個看法是，我們在一個週期中繼續增長，在我們運營的所有運輸方式中，這個週期都還不錯。當然，情況有所下降。從 21 世紀和 22 世紀到今天，或者說，過去 6 個月，運輸量下降，我們的客戶的價格也大幅下降。但銷量並沒有下降那麼多，而且我們正在通過這一過程實現增長。因此，我們在增長，而銷量卻略有回落，從我們的角度來看，這可能掩蓋了這一點。也許不是從我們客戶的角度來看，他們可能會遭受更多的損失，因為他們的價格大幅下降，然後銷量比大流行前或大流行時期略有下降。

I think that's fine because, during those times, our customers were making tons and tons of money, and we certainly did well in the pandemic. But once they're shipped for full, we could process no more transactions for them. Their prices shot up at that point. Our revenue kind of just stayed along with the high transaction volumes that they were living with. So on the way out of that, I think we probably benefited from that, right? As their backlogs got less and less, their prices went down. We weren't really impacted by that. When they went down below full, they didn't go down below full that much. And as a result, our growth in our business probably made up for it and put us in a position where our numbers look good all the way through.

我認為這很好，因為在那段時期，我們的客戶賺了很多錢，而且我們在疫情中也確實做得很好。但一旦它們全部發貨，我們就無法再為它們處理任何交易。那時他們的價格飆升。我們的收入與他們所承受的高交易量保持一致。因此，在擺脫這種情況的過程中，我認為我們可能從中受益，對嗎？隨著他們的積壓訂單越來越少，他們的價格也隨之下降。我們並沒有真正受到影響。當它們低於滿載時，它們並沒有低於滿載那麼多。因此，我們業務的增長可能彌補了這一點，並使我們的業績始終保持良好狀態。

Okay. Okay. And then maybe just a question around the comment you made about pushing as much as possible into a recurring revenue and towards subscription. I think you start off the answer to that talking about volumes, but I think maybe you're talking about license and hardware. But was there an element to that answer you were talking about moving volumes, volume-related revenue, more into a subscription product? And then I'll pass the line.

好的。好的。然後也許只是一個關於您關於盡可能多地推動經常性收入和訂閱的評論的問題。我認為您首先討論的是數量，但我認為您可能正在討論許可證和硬件。但是，您所說的答案中是否有一個要素是將銷量、與銷量相關的收入更多地轉移到訂閱產品中？然後我就過線了。

No. No, I mean we love our subscription business and we love our transaction business. We actually think our -- in a very odd way for a software company, we're one of the few that you might hear say this, we think our transaction business might even be stronger than our subscription business in a lot of ways. They're all recurring revenue to us. What I was referring to earlier in the call was license fees, pro services, hardware sales that -- we recognize that's a small part of our business. We think our subscription and transactional recurring revenue businesses are the heart of our business and the core to our business and the thing that makes us a great business and differentiates us from a lot of other companies out there. And so when I -- I think my comment was when I hear that the growth is highest in that services business or the recurring revenue business, that's exactly what we're looking for. That's great news for our business and great news for our shareholders.

不，不，我的意思是我們熱愛我們的訂閱業務，我們熱愛我們的交易業務。實際上，我們認為，對於一家軟件公司來說，以一種非常奇怪的方式，我們是少數幾個你可能聽到這樣說的公司之一，我們認為我們的交易業務在很多方面甚至可能比我們的訂閱業務更強大。它們都是我們的經常性收入。我之前在電話中提到的是許可費、專業服務、硬件銷售——我們認識到這只是我們業務的一小部分。我們認為我們的訂閱和交易經常性收入業務是我們業務的核心，也是我們業務的核心，也是我們成為一家偉大企業並使我們與許多其他公司區分開來的原因。因此，當我——我認為我的評論是當我聽說服務業務或經常性收入業務的增長最高時，這正是我們正在尋找的。這對我們的業務來說是個好消息，對我們的股東來說也是個好消息。

Your next question comes from the line of Steven Li from Raymond James.

您的下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Steven Li。

Ed, on GroundCloud and the margin impact, it sounds like Q1 would mark the low point. So based on what you've seen so far from GroundCloud, do the margins stay there for a couple more quarters as you digest? Or can we quickly get back to that 43%, 44% range?

Ed，關於 GroundCloud 和利潤率影響，聽起來第一季度將標誌著低點。那麼，根據您迄今為止從 GroundCloud 看到的情況，在您消化後，利潤率還會保持幾個季度嗎？或者我們可以快速回到 43%、44% 的範圍嗎？

Yes. No, we think we're going to -- first of all, we're thrilled with the GroundCloud investment. We think, in the long run, there's a lot of tailwinds behind it. And we also think it's a business that historically operated at a much lower margin than Descartes did, and there's a lot of opportunity for us there. We're going to push that and continue to try and get it much closer to our margin levels, but I'm not trying to do that so fast that we cause any problems. A couple of quarters is fine, and you'll start to see us continue to move those numbers up over that time. .

是的。不，我們認為我們會——首先，我們對 GroundCloud 的投資感到興奮。我們認為，從長遠來看，其背後有很多有利因素。我們還認為，這個行業歷來的經營利潤率比笛卡爾低得多，而且我們那裡有很多機會。我們將推動這一目標，並繼續努力使其更接近我們的利潤水平，但我不會試圖做得太快，以免造成任何問題。幾個季度就可以了，你會開始看到我們在這段時間內繼續提高這些數字。 。

I don't know, Allan, if you have anything else to say about it, but...

我不知道，艾倫，你對此還有什麼要說的，但是……

No, just it's similar to other acquisitions where we've done, Steven. Where the margins start out low, we will work hard to improve those margins. We'll improve them to whatever level we can get them to. And that depends on product line, what the ultimate high point is, but that's what we'll do over time. And I would expect it to go steady, slow and steady with that. We'll improve it much like we did with MacroPoint.

不，只是這與我們所做的其他收購類似，史蒂文。當利潤率開始較低時，我們將努力提高這些利潤率。我們將把它們提高到我們能達到的任何水平。這取決於產品線，最終的最高點是什麼，但這就是我們隨著時間的推移會做的。我希望它能夠穩定、緩慢、穩定地發展。我們將像改進 MacroPoint 一樣改進它。

I mean, listen, Steven, we're in this for the long run. And I'd much rather do it right than do it fast. We're trying to make sure we make this a great business for the long run. Like a lot of the other businesses we operate in, we're proceeding cautiously to make sure that we get the margins up. But we're not going to rush through it in any way that harms the business.

我的意思是，聽著，史蒂文，從長遠來看，我們是在做這件事。我寧願把事情做得正確，也不願做得太快。我們正在努力確保讓這成為一項長期的偉大業務。與我們經營的許多其他業務一樣，我們正在謹慎行事，以確保提高利潤率。但我們不會以任何損害業務的方式匆忙完成它。

Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Krishnaratne from Scotiabank.

您的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Kevin Krishnaratne。

Just on the shipping strength that you saw in Q1, I think you're now above 2019 levels. Can you talk about -- did you see those same drivers continue on into May? And then what are your thoughts on volumes? I know it's a tough one to answer here, but thoughts maybe on how you're thinking about your guidance for the year in terms of are you anticipating potential for volumes to be above levels that you saw in 2019 in the industry?

僅就您在第一季度看到的運輸實力而言，我認為您現在已經高於 2019 年的水平。你能談談——你是否看到同樣的司機一直持續到五月？那麼您對卷有什麼看法？我知道在這裡回答這個問題很難，但您可能會如何考慮今年的指導，即您是否預計銷量有可能超過 2019 年該行業的水平？

Yes. Thanks for the question. We have -- you'll hear about the May numbers when we release next quarter, so I can't speak to that specifically. I can tell you what customers are telling us and I can tell you some of the trade statistics we're hearing. and certainly, maybe April will give you some indication. We saw February was kind of a low point, and it's trending up in March and April. And we'll see what happens in May. You can probably take a look at some of the trade statistics that we put out in a week or 2. It will give you some indication of that. But if I could use May as an example -- or sorry, April as an example, I'm optimistic about what we see in May. .

是的。謝謝你的提問。當我們下季度發佈時，您會聽到有關 5 月份數據的信息，所以我無法具體談論這一點。我可以告訴你客戶告訴我們什麼，我可以告訴你我們聽到的一些貿易統計數據。當然，也許四月會給你一些指示。我們看到二月是一個低點，而三月和四月則呈上升趨勢。我們將看看五月份會發生什麼。您或許可以看一下我們在一兩週內發布的一些貿易統計數據。它會給您一些指示。但如果我可以用五月作為例子——或者抱歉，以四月為例，我對五月的情況感到樂觀。 。

And we'll see what happens to the rest of the year. I mean I read the newspapers like you do. It's hard for me to figure out exactly what's going to happen with the economy right now. It doesn't seem like it's terrible, but it doesn't seem like it's great. I'm glad that U.S. got a debt deal done or almost done, and we'll see what happens here. But either way, just the way we run our business, I like our chances. We think we're in a very good position and certainly better than a lot of the other companies in our space that we compete against.

我們將看看今年剩餘時間會發生什麼。我的意思是我和你一樣看報紙。我很難弄清楚現在的經濟到底會發生什麼。看起來並不可怕，但又似乎不是什麼了不起。我很高興美國完成或即將完成債務協議，我們將看看這裡會發生什麼。但無論如何，就像我們經營業務的方式一樣，我喜歡我們的機會。我們認為我們處於非常有利的位置，並且肯定比我們領域中的許多其他競爭公司更好。

There are no further questions at this time. I will now hand over to Ed Ryan. Please continue.

目前沒有其他問題。我現在將交給埃德·瑞安 (Ed Ryan)。請繼續。

Hey, thanks, everyone. I appreciate your time on the call today, and we look forward to reporting back on next quarter in a few months. Thanks, and have a great day.

嘿，謝謝大家。感謝您今天接受電話會議，我們期待在幾個月後報告下個季度的情況。謝謝，祝你有美好的一天。

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

女士們、先生們，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。