Everforth, Inc. (EFOR) 2017 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the third quarter 2017 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) And as a reminder, today's conference is being recorded.

各位女士、先生，感謝您稍候，歡迎參加2017年第三季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 並提醒各位，今天的會議將被錄音。

I'll now turn the conference over to Ed Pierce. Please go ahead.

我現在把會議交給 Ed Pierce。請開始。

Thank you. And good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that our presentation contains forward-looking statements. Although we believe these statements are reasonable, they are subject to risks and uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially from those statements. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are described in today’s press release and in our SEC filings. We do not assume the obligation to update statements made on this call. For your convenience, prepared remarks can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

謝謝。各位下午好，感謝各位今天加入我們。在開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們的簡報包含前瞻性陳述。雖然我們相信這些陳述是合理的，但其仍受風險與不確定性影響，我們的實際結果可能與這些陳述有重大差異。其中部分風險與不確定性已在今天的新聞稿以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中說明。我們不承擔更新本次電話會議中所作陳述的義務。為方便各位，事先準備的講稿可在我們網站的投資人關係（Investor Relations）專區查閱。

Please note that on this call we'll be referencing certain non-GAAP measures such as adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income. These non-GAAP measures are intended to supplement the comparable GAAP measures. Reconciliations between the GAAP and the non-GAAP measures are included in today's press release.

請注意，在本次電話會議中，我們將引用某些非 GAAP 指標，例如調整後 EBITDA 與調整後淨利。這些非 GAAP 指標旨在補充可比較的 GAAP 指標。GAAP 與非 GAAP 指標之間的調節表已包含在今天的新聞稿中。

I will now turn the call over to Peter Dameris, our CEO, who will provide an overview of the results for the quarter. Peter?

我現在把電話會議交給我們的執行長 Peter Dameris，由他提供本季業績概覽。Peter？

Thank you, Ed. I would like to welcome everyone to the On Assignment 2017 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. With Ed and me today are Ted Hanson, President of On Assignment; and Rand Blazer, President of Apex Systems.

謝謝你，Ed。我想歡迎各位參加 On Assignment 2017 年第三季財報電話會議。今天與 Ed 和我一同出席的還有：On Assignment 總裁 Ted Hanson，以及 Apex Systems 總裁 Rand Blazer。

During our call today, I will give a review of the markets we serve and our financial highlights, followed by a discussion of the performance of our operating segment by Ted and Rand. I will then turn the call over to Ed for more detailed review and discussion of our third quarter results and our estimates for the fourth quarter of 2017. We will then open the call up for questions.

在今天的電話會議中，我將回顧我們所服務的市場與財務重點，接著由 Ted 與 Rand 討論各營運部門的表現。之後我會把電話會議交給 Ed，更詳細地回顧並討論我們第三季的結果，以及我們對 2017 年第四季的預估。接著我們將開放提問。

Now on to the third quarter results. Our results for the third quarter exceeded the high end of our previously announced financial estimates for adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share and were within the range of our estimates for revenues and gross margins. Revenue for the quarter was $667.1 million, up 6% year-over-year or 6.6% on a same billable day and constant currency basis. This marks the 15th consecutive quarter that our company grew above the IT staffing industry's projected annual growth rate.

接下來談第三季結果。我們第三季的結果在調整後 EBITDA 與每股盈餘方面，超出先前公布之財務預估區間的上緣，營收與毛利率則落在我們預估區間內。本季營收為 6.671 億美元，年增 6%；若以相同可計費天數與固定匯率基礎計算，則成長 6.6%。這是我們公司連續第 15 個季度的成長率高於 IT 人力派遣產業預估的年度成長率。

Our growth rate, reflected, among other things, continuing deepening of many large new customer relationships that we have established over the last 4 years, the continuing increase in the rate of adoption of our delivery model, an improvement of the operating performance of Oxford and CyberCoders and continuing expansion of our statement of work business.

我們的成長率反映了多項因素，其中包括：過去 4 年我們建立的許多大型新客戶關係持續深化、我們交付模式的採用率持續提升、Oxford 與 CyberCoders 的營運表現改善，以及我們工作說明書（statement of work）業務的持續擴張。

Third quarter year-over-year revenue growth was negatively affected approximately $1 million from the Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and $5.3 million from 0.5 fewer billable day basis in the third quarter of 2017 versus the third quarter of '16. The acquisition of StratAcuity added $3 million in revenue during the third quarter.

第三季年對年營收成長約受到哈維與艾瑪颶風影響而減少約 100 萬美元，並因 2017 年第三季相較 2016 年第三季少了 0.5 個可計費天數而減少 530 萬美元。StratAcuity 的收購在第三季增加了 300 萬美元營收。

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $83.4 million or 12.5% of the revenues compared to $77.8 million or 12.4% of the revenues in the third quarter of 2016. Cash generation continues to be at or above our expectations.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 8,340 萬美元，占營收 12.5%；相較之下，2016 年第三季為 7,780 萬美元，占營收 12.4%。現金創造能力持續達到或高於我們的預期。

Financial performance in the quarter was driven by strong revenue growth at Apex Systems, Creative Circle and CyberCoders. Revenue growth came from our local, mid-market and large national accounts, reflecting strong customer demand. Our size and service offering allows us to grow faster than the published staffing industry growth rates, and we believe that we are well positioned to generate solid above-market revenue growth into the future.

本季的財務表現主要由 Apex Systems、Creative Circle 與 CyberCoders 的強勁營收成長所帶動。營收成長來自我們的在地、中型市場與大型全國性客戶，反映出客戶需求強勁。我們的規模與服務組合使我們能以快於已公布的人力派遣產業成長率的速度成長；我們相信，公司具備良好定位，未來可持續創造穩健的、優於市場的營收成長。

Our IT business continues to see high demand from its customers driven, in part, by greater adoption of our staff augmentation as a viable alternative to outsourcing, offshoring and consulting. Wage inflation continues to be manageable.

我們的 IT 業務持續看到客戶端的高度需求，部分原因在於客戶更廣泛採用我們的增補人力（staff augmentation）作為外包、離岸外包與顧問服務的可行替代方案。薪資通膨仍在可控範圍內。

With respect to recent production, our weekly assignment revenues, which excludes conversion, billable expenses and direct placement revenues, averaged $49.5 million for the last 2 weeks, up 5.5% over the same period in 2016.

就近期產能而言，我們每週派遣營收（不含轉換、可計費費用與直接媒合安置營收）在最近兩週平均為 4,950 萬美元，較 2016 年同期成長 5.5%。

Since the closing of the Creative Circle acquisition on June 5, 2015, we have repaid $286.5 million of our debt. Our leverage ratio was 2.08x trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA as of September 30, 2017. We estimate our leverage ratio will be approximately 1.91x by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.

自 2015 年 6 月 5 日完成 Creative Circle 收購以來，我們已償還 2.865 億美元的債務。截至 2017 年 9 月 30 日，我們的槓桿比率為過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的 2.08 倍。我們估計到 2017 年第四季末，槓桿比率約為 1.91 倍。

As you will recall, we announced on June 13, 2016, that our Board of Directors authorized a new $150 million share repurchase program. Since the inception, we have repurchased approximately 2.4 million shares at an average price of $42.81. During this third quarter, we repurchased 999,618 shares at an average price of $47.90. We intend to continue to execute our share repurchase program based on share price and market conditions.

各位應該記得，我們於 2016 年 6 月 13 日宣布董事會核准一項新的 1.5 億美元庫藏股回購計畫。自計畫啟動以來，我們已以平均每股 42.81 美元回購約 240 萬股。在本第三季，我們以平均每股 47.90 美元回購 999,618 股。我們打算依股價與市場狀況持續執行庫藏股回購計畫。

During the quarter, we repriced our term loan and revolver facilities, resulting in a 25 basis point reduction in each facility and the interest rate. We believe that based on our current outstanding debt balances, these repricings will save us approximately $1.6 million annually, assuming no further repricing.

本季期間，我們重新訂價了定期貸款與循環信用額度（revolver）融資，兩項融資的利率各降低 25 個基點。我們相信，依目前未償債務餘額計算，在假設不再進一步重新訂價的情況下，這些重新訂價每年可為我們節省約 160 萬美元。

We continue to see signs that the ongoing debate regarding the on-demand workforce or gig economy is accelerating the usage of contract labor. Fractionalization of human capital by using the staffing industry's services is the only way to avoid the risk of misclassifications of employees as independent contractors. Our customers have and are realizing this, and that is why we believe the secular growth opportunities for the entire professional staffing industry are so attractive. We also believe that we are well positioned to serve our IT customers' needs as technology rapidly evolves and is adopted.

我們持續看到跡象顯示，圍繞隨需勞動力或零工經濟（gig economy）的持續辯論，正在加速契約勞動的使用。透過使用人力派遣產業的服務來將人力資本分割化（fractionalization），是避免將員工誤分類為獨立承攬人之風險的唯一方式。我們的客戶已經並且正在意識到這一點，這也是為什麼我們認為整個專業人力派遣產業的結構性成長機會如此具吸引力。我們也相信，隨著科技快速演進並被採用，我們具備良好定位以滿足 IT 客戶的需求。

Throughout this year, we continued to benefit from the ongoing debate regarding H-1B visa reform and further adoption of our development and deployment model, i.e. staff augmentation. Recent signed executive orders have only further solidified the trend towards adoption of our model versus offshoring.

在今年全年，我們持續受惠於關於 H-1B 簽證改革的持續辯論，以及我們開發與部署模式的進一步採用，也就是增補人力（staff augmentation）。近期簽署的行政命令更進一步鞏固了相較於離岸外包，市場轉向採用我們模式的趨勢。

I would now like to turn the call over to Ted Hanson, who will review the operations of the segments and then over to Rand. Ted?

我現在想把電話會議交給 Ted Hanson，他將回顧各部門的營運，之後再交給 Rand。Ted？

Thanks, Peter. Revenues from our Apex and Oxford segments grew collectively 6% year-over-year. Both segments performed about as we expected coming into the quarter. Apex Systems, our largest division, continued to achieve growth rates above the market growth rate and led the performance of their segment, which Rand will discuss in a few minutes. Creative Circle performed slightly better than our initial expectations, and Life Sciences performed slightly below our expectations coming into the quarter. In the Oxford segment, CyberCoders and our Life Sciences Europe divisions both grew nicely above their respective market growth rate. Demand in the end markets we serve, IT, creative digital marketing, engineering and life sciences remain steady.

謝謝，Peter。我們 Apex 與 Oxford 兩個部門的營收合計年增 6%。兩個部門的表現大致符合我們在進入本季時的預期。Apex Systems 是我們最大的事業部，持續達成高於市場成長率的成長，並帶動其部門表現；Rand 將在幾分鐘後進一步說明。Creative Circle 的表現略優於我們最初的預期，而 Life Sciences 的表現則略低於我們在進入本季時的預期。在 Oxford 部門中，CyberCoders 與我們的 Life Sciences Europe 事業部皆以明顯高於各自市場成長率的速度良好成長。我們所服務的終端市場——IT、創意數位行銷、工程與生命科學——需求仍維持穩定。

Now on to the results of the Oxford segment. The Oxford segment is comprised of Oxford core; CyberCoders, our permanent placement business; and Life Sciences Europe. For the third quarter of 2017, Oxford segment revenues were $149.6 million, down 4% year-over-year and down 3.3% on a same billable day basis. Revenues decreased 0.9% for the segment on a sequential basis and increased 1% based on same billable days. The impact of the hurricanes in Houston and Florida had a negligible effect on third quarter revenues. However, we do expect that Hurricane Irma, which caused our Oxford Palm Beach Gardens national recruiting center to close for nearly 1 production week, will have a larger impact on revenues in the fourth quarter of 2017.

現在來看 Oxford 部門的業績結果。Oxford 部門由 Oxford core、CyberCoders（我們的永久派遣業務）以及 Life Sciences Europe 組成。2017 年第三季，Oxford 部門營收為 1.496 億美元，年減 4%，以相同可計費天數基礎計算則下降 3.3%。以季比計，該部門營收下降 0.9%；以相同可計費天數基礎計算則增加 1%。休士頓與佛羅里達的颶風對第三季營收影響可忽略不計。然而，我們預期颶風 Irma 將對 2017 年第四季營收造成較大影響；該颶風使我們位於 Palm Beach Gardens 的 Oxford 全國招募中心關閉近 1 個生產週。

Oxford core revenues, which account for 74.8% of the segment revenues, were down mid-single digits year-over-year but were slightly better than our initial forecast. The decline in revenue is attributable to the successful completion of 2 large projects in the fourth quarter of last year, which we have mentioned on this call in prior quarters. Despite the difficulty in growing over these significant projects on a year-over-year basis, Oxford core revenues are growing sequentially on an adjusted per billable day basis. We continue our hard work in this unit to improve growth rates and profitability levels, which I will address in a few moments.

Oxford core 營收占該部門營收的 74.8%，年減中個位數百分比，但略優於我們最初的預測。營收下滑主要歸因於去年第四季成功完成 2 個大型專案；我們在前幾季的電話會議中也曾提及。儘管在年對年基礎上要超越這些重大專案的基期具有挑戰，Oxford core 營收在經調整的每可計費天數基礎上仍呈現季增。我們持續在此單位努力改善成長率與獲利水準，我將在稍後幾分鐘內說明。

CyberCoders, our permanent placement service offering, which accounts for 95.8% of segment's permanent placement revenues, was up low single digits year-over-year. CyberCoders momentum was positive throughout the quarter.

CyberCoders（我們的永久派遣服務），占該部門永久派遣營收的 95.8%，年增低個位數百分比。CyberCoders 在整個季度的動能皆為正向。

Our Life Sciences offering in Europe, the smallest contributor to total segment revenue, were up year-over-year high single digits, primarily due to a favorable foreign exchange rate or 2.2% on a constant currency basis and were solidly above our initial forecast. Demand for life sciences skill sets in their Benelux geographic markets remains strong.

我們在歐洲的 Life Sciences 服務為該部門總營收中最小的貢獻者，年增高個位數百分比，主要受惠於有利的外匯匯率；若以固定匯率基礎計算則為 2.2%，且明顯高於我們最初的預測。Benelux 地區市場對生命科學相關技能的需求仍然強勁。

Gross margin for the segment was 41.8%, up 110 basis points year-over-year, which was slightly ahead of our initial expectations for the quarter. Improvement in gross margin was primarily driven by higher contribution of revenue from CyberCoders and improving pay-to-bill margin within the Oxford core business.

該部門毛利率為 41.8%，年增 110 個基點，略高於我們對本季的初始預期。毛利率改善主要由 CyberCoders 營收占比提高，以及 Oxford core 業務中 pay-to-bill 毛利率的改善所帶動。

Based on the above and better expense management within the Oxford core unit specifically, the segment's adjusted EBITDA results exceeded both our expectations and the prior year as well as coming in above the second quarter of 2017. Much of the hard work pointed at improving lost EBITDA margin at Oxford core is now beginning to show itself in this quarter's results. During the third quarter and moving into the fourth, we are squarely focused on repositioning our go-to-market strategy and installing a more progressive sales strategy in order to find better growth on the top line. While we expect to finish these activities in the coming weeks, we do not expect to see the fruits of those activities until midyear 2018.

基於上述因素，並且特別是在 Oxford core 單位更佳的費用管理之下，該部門的調整後 EBITDA 表現超出我們的預期與去年同期，且也高於 2017 年第二季。針對改善 Oxford core EBITDA 利潤率流失所投入的大量努力，現在開始在本季結果中顯現。在第三季並延續至第四季，我們將重點放在重新定位我們的 go-to-market 策略，並導入更具前瞻性的銷售策略，以尋求營收端更佳的成長。雖然我們預期在未來幾週完成這些工作，但預期要到 2018 年年中才會看到這些活動的成果。

I will now turn the call over to Rand Blazer. Rand?

接下來我把電話交給 Rand Blazer。Rand？

Great. Thanks, Ted. Thanks for the summary. On the Apex segment side, which consists of Apex Systems, Apex Life Sciences and Creative Circle business units, reported -- these units reported solid revenue results for the quarter. Revenues for the segment were $517.5 million. That's up 9.3% year-over-year on a reported basis and up 10.2% on a same billable day basis, as Peter and Ted both mentioned earlier. And again, there was 0.5 fewer billing days in this quarter compared to the same third quarter of last year. Apex Systems, which accounts for 74.8% of the segment's revenues, reported double-digit revenue growth once again. Our Creative Circle unit was up mid-single digits. And the Life Sciences unit, including the impact of the StratAcuity acquisition, was up low single digits in the third quarter on a same billable day year-over-year basis. It should be noted that Apex segment's revenue growth remained strong despite the hurricanes experienced in this quarter. While there was certainly some impact to revenues in the quarter, the full impact of the hurricanes may include some impact in future quarters as our clients continue to rebuild and get back to normal conditions, and I think Ted mentioned that just a few meters ago.

很好。謝謝你，Ted。謝謝你的摘要。在 Apex 部門方面，該部門由 Apex Systems、Apex Life Sciences 與 Creative Circle 等業務單位組成——這些單位本季回報了穩健的營收表現。該部門營收為 5.175 億美元。以申報口徑計算年增 9.3%，以相同可計費天數基礎計算則年增 10.2%，如同 Peter 與 Ted 先前提到的。同樣地，本季相較去年同一個第三季少了 0.5 個計費天數。Apex Systems 占該部門營收的 74.8%，再次繳出兩位數的營收成長。我們的 Creative Circle 單位年增中個位數百分比。Life Sciences 單位（包含 StratAcuity 併購的影響）在第三季以相同可計費天數的年對年基礎計算，年增低個位數百分比。值得注意的是，儘管本季遭遇颶風，Apex 部門的營收成長仍維持強勁。雖然本季營收確實受到一些影響，但颶風的完整影響可能也會延伸至未來幾季，因為我們的客戶仍在重建並恢復正常營運狀態；我想 Ted 在幾分鐘前也提到過。

Gross margin for the segment was 30.1%, which was 20 basis points lower than the third quarter of 2016, due mostly to a lower mix of perm placement revenues across the segment. Pricing otherwise, that is the bill rate and pay rate differentials, remained stable to slight increases in our end markets. Our segment's EBITDA contribution continues to reflect very high conversion of gross profit to EBITDA across all 3 segment units. This performance continues to be driven by continued improvement in the productivity of our sales, delivery and infrastructure teams.

該部門毛利率為 30.1%，較 2016 年第三季低 20 個基點，主要因為整個部門的永久派遣營收占比下降。除此之外，定價面——也就是計費單價與支付單價的差額——在我們的終端市場維持穩定至小幅上升。本部門的 EBITDA 貢獻持續反映出三個業務單位皆具備將毛利高度轉化為 EBITDA 的能力。此表現持續受惠於我們銷售、交付與基礎建設團隊生產力的持續提升。

Now as we usually do on these calls, we'll give you some insights with respect to the factors driving Apex Systems, which is our IT staffing divisions revenue. Apex Systems revenue growth was the highest in our segment and is propelled by a number of factors, including, first, continued high growth in our accounts in 4 of the 7 industry verticals we service with double-digit revenue growth in aerospace, defense; technology; consumer industrial; and financial services industry accounts. Business services, telecommunications and healthcare industry accounts also exhibited positive growth year-over-year. Our top accounts continue to lead the way with double-digit year-over-year growth, while retail accounts showed improved performance with low single-digit growth year-over-year. Our bookings and SOW-type work remained strong in the quarter and continue to exceed our expectations, which I think Peter noted earlier. Finally, as mentioned, field productivity continued strong in the quarter, as I mentioned, supporting Apex Systems revenue and unit EBITDA performance.

接著如同我們在這些電話會議中一貫的做法，我們將就推動 Apex Systems（我們 IT 人力派遣事業部營收）的因素提供一些洞見。Apex Systems 的營收成長在本部門中最高，並由多項因素推動，包括：第一，我們所服務的 7 個產業垂直領域中，有 4 個領域的主要客戶帳戶持續維持高成長，於航太與國防、科技、消費者工業，以及金融服務等產業帳戶皆呈現兩位數營收成長。商業服務、電信與醫療保健產業帳戶也呈現年對年正成長。我們的前幾大客戶帳戶持續以年對年兩位數成長領先，而零售帳戶表現改善，年對年成長為低個位數百分比。本季我們的接單（bookings）與 SOW 類型工作維持強勁，且持續超出我們的預期，我想 Peter 先前也提到過。最後，如前所述，本季前線生產力持續強勁，如我所提，支撐了 Apex Systems 的營收與單位 EBITDA 表現。

Now turning to our other units. Creative Circle grew its revenue in mid-single digit levels in the quarter and continues to post lower results in perm placement revenue versus our expectations. We also saw some up and down in job order flow for assignment revenues in the quarter, impacting overall revenue performance, particularly in late July and August. Our Life Sciences business was up 3.8%, including the impact of StratAcuity acquisition, but down slightly organically in revenue growth for the quarter. Overall, as I said, the Apex segment had another solid quarter with double-digit same billing day adjusted revenue growth with each of its business units contributing steady margins.

現在轉到其他單位。Creative Circle 本季營收成長為中個位數百分比，但其永久派遣營收仍持續低於我們的預期。本季我們也看到派遣（assignment）營收的職缺需求流量（job order flow）出現一些起伏，影響整體營收表現，特別是在 7 月下旬與 8 月。我們的 Life Sciences 業務年增 3.8%（包含 StratAcuity 併購的影響），但本季若以有機成長來看，營收成長略為下滑。整體而言，如我所說，Apex 部門本季再度繳出穩健表現；以相同計費天數調整後的營收成長達兩位數，且各業務單位皆貢獻穩定的利潤率。

With that, I'll turn it over to Ed Pierce. Ed?

接下來，我把電話交給 Ed Pierce。Ed？

Thanks, Rand. Our reported revenue growth for the quarter was 6%, which was in line with our previously announced estimates. After adjusting for year-over-year differences in billable days and foreign exchange rates, our growth rate for the quarter was approximately 6.6%. Revenues for the quarter, as mentioned earlier, were adversely impacted approximately $1 million from the hurricanes and related flooding in Texas and Florida and also included a $3 million contribution from StratAcuity, which was acquired in August.

謝謝你，Rand。我們本季公布的營收成長為6%，與我們先前公布的預估一致。在調整可計費天數的年對年差異以及外匯匯率影響後，本季成長率約為6.6%。如先前所提，本季營收因德州與佛州的颶風及相關洪災而受到約100萬美元的不利影響，並且也包含了8月收購的StratAcuity所貢獻的300萬美元。

Assignment revenues for the quarter were $634.3 million, up 6.4% year-over-year. Permanent placement revenues were $32.7 million, down 0.8% year-over-year. CyberCoders, which accounts for approximately 63.2% of our consolidated permanent placement revenues, grew 2.3% year-over-year. Our perm placement revenues at our other divisions were down.

本季派遣（Assignment）營收為6.343億美元，年增6.4%。永久安置（Permanent placement）營收為3,270萬美元，年減0.8%。CyberCoders約占我們合併永久安置營收的63.2%，年增2.3%。我們其他事業部的永久安置營收則下滑。

Our Apex segment, which accounted for 77.6% of consolidated revenues, grew 9.3% year-over-year. Our Oxford segment, which accounted for 22.3% (sic) [22.4%] of revenues, was down 4% year-over-year, mainly, as Ted mentioned earlier, related to lower revenues from 2 large projects that were largely completed last year. If you exclude the revenues from these 2 projects, revenues for the segment were flat year-over-year.

我們的Apex部門占合併營收的77.6%，年增9.3%。我們的Oxford部門占營收的22.3%（原文如此）[22.4%]，年減4%，主要如Ted先前提到，與兩個大型專案的營收較低有關，這兩個專案在去年已大致完成。若排除這兩個專案的營收，該部門營收年對年持平。

Gross margin for the quarter was 32.7%, which was in line -- actually at the high end of our range -- of our previously announced estimates. And gross margin was down 20 basis points year-over-year due to lower mix of permanent placement revenues, which was 4.9% of revenues, down from 5.2% in the third quarter of last year.

本季毛利率為32.7%，符合——實際上位於我們先前公布預估區間的高端。毛利率年對年下降20個基點，原因是永久安置營收占比降低；永久安置營收占營收的4.9%，低於去年第三季的5.2%。

SG&A expenses were $149.2 million or 22.4% of revenues. After adjusting for $1.5 million in acquisition, integration and strategic planning expenses, which were not in our financial estimates, our SG&A expenses were below our financial -- our previously announced financial estimates. This favorable variance was primarily due to lower compensation expense as average staffing consultant headcount for the quarter was below forecasted levels. Based on our current hiring and turnover estimates, our average headcount levels should be more in line with our targets for the fourth quarter.

本季SG&A費用為1.492億美元，占營收22.4%。在調整1,500萬美元的併購、整合與策略規劃費用（未納入我們的財務預估）後，我們的SG&A費用低於我們先前公布的財務預估。此有利差異主要來自薪酬費用較低，因本季平均派遣顧問人數低於預測水準。依據我們目前的招募與離職率預估，第四季的平均人數水準應會更貼近我們的目標。

Interest expense for the quarter was $7.1 million, down from $8.3 million in the third quarter of last year. Interest expense for the quarter included $0.8 million in costs related to the 2 amendments to the -- to our credit facility that lowered our interest rate 25 basis points. The year-over-year decrease in interest expense reflected a lower outstanding borrowings due to debt repayments and lower interest rates as a result of the amendments to the facility.

本季利息費用為710萬美元，低於去年第三季的830萬美元。本季利息費用包含80萬美元，係與我們對授信額度所做的兩次修訂相關的成本，該修訂使我們的利率下調25個基點。利息費用年對年下降反映未償借款因償債而降低，以及因授信修訂而帶來的較低利率。

Our effective tax rate for the fourth quarter was 35.1%, down from 37.8% in the preceding quarter. It's a sequential improvement, primarily related to an increase in our hiring-related tax credits. The provision also benefited from $0.4 million in excess tax credits related to stock-based compensation. The additional hiring-related tax credits and the excess tax benefits on stock-based compensation were not included in our financial results. For the fourth quarter, we estimate that our effective tax rate will be approximately 38.5% before any benefit we might derive from excess tax credits.

我們第四季的有效稅率為35.1%，低於前一季的37.8%。這是季對季的改善，主要與我們聘僱相關稅額抵減增加有關。本期稅費亦受惠於與股票基礎給付相關的超額稅額抵減40萬美元。額外的聘僱相關稅額抵減以及股票基礎給付的超額稅務利益未納入我們的財務結果。就第四季而言，在未計入任何可能來自超額稅額抵減的利益之前，我們估計有效稅率約為38.5%。

Net income for the quarter was $34.9 million or $0.66 per diluted share. That's up from $29.8 million or $0.55 per diluted share in the third quarter of last year.

本季淨利為3,490萬美元，或稀釋後每股0.66美元。高於去年第三季的2,980萬美元，或稀釋後每股0.55美元。

Adjusted EBITDA, as Peter mentioned, for the quarter was $83.4 million. Cash flows from operating activities were $53.7 million; and free cash flow, a non-GAAP measure, was $48.9 million. During the quarter, we used cash of $47.9 million to repurchase approximately 1 million shares of our common stock. During the 12 months ended September 30, 2017, we generated free cash flow of $169.1 million, of which we used $78.5 million to repurchase stock, $51.5 million to pay down our debt and $25.9 million to acquire StratAcuity. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, we paid down our debt by an additional $14 million.

如Peter所提，本季調整後EBITDA為8,340萬美元。營業活動現金流量為5,370萬美元；自由現金流（非GAAP衡量）為4,890萬美元。本季我們使用4,790萬美元現金回購約100萬股普通股。在截至2017年9月30日的12個月內，我們產生自由現金流1.691億美元，其中7,850萬美元用於回購股票、5,150萬美元用於償還債務，以及2,590萬美元用於收購StratAcuity。在本季結束後，我們又額外償還了1,400萬美元的債務。

Now turning to our financial results (sic) [estimates] for the fourth quarter. We're estimating revenues of $658 million to $668 million; net income of $30.9 million to $32.7 million or $0.59 to $0.62 per diluted share; adjusted EBITDA of $77.5 million to $80.5 million. As in the past, these estimates do not include any acquisition, strategy or integration expenses or do they include the effects of excess tax benefits related to stock-based compensation. Our estimates assume that growth in Creative Circle will be mid-single digits and that StratAcuity will generate approximately $5 million in revenues.

接著談我們第四季的財務結果（原文如此）[預估]。我們預估營收為6.58億至6.68億美元；淨利為3,090萬至3,270萬美元，或稀釋後每股0.59至0.62美元；調整後EBITDA為7,750萬至8,050萬美元。如同以往，這些預估不包含任何併購、策略或整合費用，也不包含與股票基礎給付相關的超額稅務利益之影響。我們的預估假設Creative Circle的成長為中個位數百分比，且StratAcuity將貢獻約500萬美元營收。

Our revenue estimates assume 60 billable days, which is 0.2 fewer than the fourth quarter of last year and 2.6 fewer than the preceding quarter. As you may note, each billable day is approximately $11 million in revenues. Now looking on a same billable day basis, our implied year-over-year growth rate for the fourth quarter ranges from 6.3% to 7.9% or 5.5% to 7.1%, excluding the estimated contribution from StratAcuity.

我們的營收預估假設有60個可計費天數，較去年第四季少0.2天，較前一季少2.6天。如各位可能注意到，每一個可計費天數約相當於1,100萬美元營收。以相同可計費天數基礎來看，我們第四季隱含的年對年成長率介於6.3%至7.9%；若排除StratAcuity的預估貢獻，則介於5.5%至7.1%。

I will now turn the call back over to Peter for some closing remarks. Peter?

我現在把電話交回給Peter做一些結語。Peter？

Thank you, Ed. We continue to believe our scale, size and breadth of services has us well positioned to take advantage of what we believe will be historic secular growth for the staffing industry and dynamic changes in the technology world as it moves more into the digital one. While the entire On Assignment team is very proud of our performance, we remain focused on continuing to profitably grow our business and increase our rate of growth. We would like to, once again, thank our many loyal, dedicated and talented employees whose efforts have allowed us to progress to where we are today.

謝謝你，Ed。我們仍然相信，憑藉我們的規模、體量與服務廣度，我們已處於有利位置，能把握我們認為將是人力派遣產業歷史性的長期結構性成長，以及科技世界在更走向數位化過程中的動態變化。雖然整個On Assignment團隊都為我們的表現感到非常自豪，但我們仍專注於持續以獲利方式成長並提升成長速度。我們也想再次感謝眾多忠誠、敬業且才華洋溢的員工，正是他們的努力讓我們走到今天。

We would like to now open the call up to participants for questions. Operator?

我們現在開放與會者提問。接線員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from the line of Tobey Sommer with SunTrust.

(接線員指示) 我們的第一個問題來自SunTrust的Tobey Sommer。

Peter, wanted to ask you a question on the H-1B visa reform. Do you have an expectation over the medium to long term as to what that can do to the industry's growth rate and perhaps your growth rate with exposure to SOW work?

Peter，我想就H-1B簽證改革問你一個問題。就中長期而言，你是否預期這會如何影響產業的成長率，以及在你們有SOW（工作說明書）業務曝險的情況下，可能如何影響你們的成長率？

I can't put an absolute number on it. But based on the conversations and the flow of work, we're seeing that customers, as we've said previously, are defaulting to our development deployment model versus the offshore model for a variety of reasons: certainty, quality, political flowback. And so things that may have previously gone offshore are now being done with domestic labor, and we see that continuing. I know that there's been some published data with regard to the usage of H-1B and L-1B visas and it's down. And we think that, that will continue to be spotlighted and highlighted and that, that will drive people to our delivery model versus the offshore model.

我無法給出一個絕對的數字。但根據我們的對話以及工作流的情況，我們看到客戶——如同我們先前所說——基於多種原因：確定性、品質、政治層面的反彈，而傾向於採用我們的本土開發交付模式，而不是離岸模式。因此，過去可能外包到海外的工作，現在改由國內勞動力來完成，我們也看到這個趨勢將會持續。我知道有一些已發布的數據顯示，H-1B 與 L-1B 簽證的使用量正在下降。我們認為這將持續受到關注與聚焦，而這也會促使更多人選擇我們的交付模式，而非離岸模式。

Could you update us on what your plans are to increase your internal sales-generating headcount? You talked about a more normalized rate in the fourth quarter. Kind of how should we think about that going forward?

您能否更新一下你們增加內部、能帶來銷售產出的員工人數的計畫？你提到第四季會回到較正常的速度。那麼往後我們應該如何看待這件事？

Yes. It's no more -- there's been no change throughout 2017. We said it's more of a normal hiring year for us, which is kind of 6% to 8%. And it ebbs and flows at times where based on availability and bandwidth. Sometimes we're better at onboarding people on a particular quarter, sometimes we get backed up. But it's just a normal hiring year, and we continue to expand our talented team.

是的。2017 年以來沒有任何改變。我們說過，對我們而言這是一個較正常的招募年度，大約是 6% 到 8%。而且會隨著可用人選與產能而時有起伏。有時我們在某一季更擅長讓新人順利到職（onboarding），有時則會出現積壓。但這就是一個正常的招募年度，我們也會持續擴充我們的優秀團隊。

Okay. Last question from me, and I'll get in the queue. From an Oxford perspective, I think you described sequential growth and we grow over the 2 large projects here in the fourth quarter. Is there anything else to think about in terms of comparisons as we enter '18? Or do we have a little bit of sequential momentum so that the easier comparisons will just flow through into growth?

好的。我最後一個問題，問完我就去排隊。從 Oxford 的角度來看，我想你描述了序列成長，而且第四季這裡有兩個大型專案帶動我們成長。在我們進入 2018 年時，還有沒有其他在比較基期上需要考量的因素？或者我們是否有一些序列動能，使得較容易的比較基期會自然轉化為成長？

Well, I'm going to turn that over to Ted, but I think the real takeaway this quarter is that we've previously told you beyond the flatness of the growth, although Oxford grew about 6% year-over-year in calendar year 2016, the EBITDA margin had eroded. And Ted and the team at Oxford did a good job of recovering a fair amount of that EBITDA margin in this third quarter. Ted, please add to that.

嗯，我把這個問題交給 Ted，但我認為本季真正的重點是：我們先前告訴各位，除了成長趨於平坦之外——雖然 Oxford 在 2016 年曆年年增約 6%——但 EBITDA 利潤率曾經下滑。而 Ted 以及 Oxford 的團隊在第三季做得很好，收復了相當一部分的 EBITDA 利潤率。Ted，請補充。

Tobey, the only probably thing I would add is you're right. The comps may be a little bit easier into '18, for sure. We also said that it's going to take us a couple of quarters to really get our sales strategy institutionalized and get that sales culture going in the direction that we wanted. So I think the organization is ready. They're excited, but we're patient, if you will, to make sure that, that gets done the right way.

Tobey，我可能唯一要補充的是，你說得沒錯。進入 2018 年後，比較基期確實可能會容易一些。我們也提到，真正要把銷售策略制度化，並把銷售文化推向我們希望的方向，可能需要幾個季度。所以我認為組織已經準備好了。大家很興奮，但我們也會保持耐心，確保這件事以正確的方式完成。

Next we have a question from Kevin Mcveigh with Deutsche Bank.

接下來是 Deutsche Bank 的 Kevin Mcveigh 提問。

Great. Peter, I wanted to spend a minute on the cycle. In terms of -- and the reason I say that is we're kind of 8 years into this recovery, and it seems like we're starting to finally see some real meaningful growth that's kind of eluded us throughout this recovery. Was that just more optimism across CEOs? And any thoughts on whether or not that continues independent of the tax bill or just sentiment out there because, I mean, it clearly seems like the revenue is starting to reaccelerate given where the guidance is in Q4 relative to the numbers you just put up in Q3?

很好。Peter，我想花一點時間談談景氣循環。之所以這麼說，是因為這波復甦大概已經 8 年了，而我們似乎終於開始看到一些真正有意義的成長——這在整個復甦期間一直有點缺席。那只是因為 CEO 們普遍更樂觀嗎？另外，你對於這是否會在不受稅改法案影響的情況下持續，有什麼看法？還是只是市場情緒使然？因為很明顯，從第四季指引相對於你們剛公布的第三季數字來看，營收似乎正在重新加速。

Yes. I mean, Kevin, the way I would respond to it is clearly all businesses are economically sensitive, but what's really been driving our business when we've had unnatural burdens to natural growth because of legislation or sequestration has been the greater adoption of our delivery model, and we're not only seeing it on a staff aug basis. We're really seeing our statement of work, our SOW business grow because it's -- when you combine the control and the quality of working on an SOW basis versus offshore project consulting that customers like that as one more arrow in their quiver, so to speak. And we're seeing continued adoption of technology. We'll continuously build out our digital strategies. We're starting to see much more productive activity in the defense space. We're seeing budgets getting approved, and so all the economic data points to higher GDP growth. But what I just went through has really been what's been driving the business, and we haven't seen any pullback with regard to rate of adoption of our service offering. And that's what we continue to be most excited about. I mean, Rand, why don't you give him a little bit of -- more color on the SOW space and how that is growing compared to other delivery models?

是的。Kevin，我的回應是：很明顯所有企業都對經濟敏感，但在我們的業務上，當立法或預算凍結（sequestration）等因素對自然成長造成非正常負擔時，真正驅動我們業務的是市場對我們交付模式的更廣泛採用；而且我們不只是在人力派遣（staff aug）方面看到這點。我們也確實看到我們的工作說明書（SOW）業務在成長，因為——當你把以 SOW 方式合作所帶來的控管與品質，與離岸專案顧問相比——客戶喜歡把它當作他們工具箱裡的另一支箭。我們也看到科技持續被採用。我們會持續建構我們的數位策略。我們開始在國防領域看到更具生產力的活動。我們看到預算正在獲得核准，因此所有經濟數據都指向更高的 GDP 成長。但我剛才所說的那些，才是真正一直在驅動業務的因素；而且就我們服務方案的採用速度而言，我們沒有看到任何回落。這也是我們持續最感到振奮的地方。Rand，要不你再補充一些關於 SOW 領域的細節，以及它相較於其他交付模式的成長情況？

Well, I think you've hit all the key points here, Peter. But CIOs across corporate America are recognizing in the IT world that there's many -- we've talked about this with many of you before the different sources of talent to support their IT projects. And what we see is they see what I call some of the best-in-breed staffing firms as being able to step into other roles, consultative roles, take on managed services, bring some offshore stuff onshore. I think part and parcel to that goes the fact that they want more than just butts in seats, which is traditional staffing model. They are looking for us to, on some cases, take on certain amount of accountability for building a workforce for them, helping manage the workforce for productivity while they focus on other mainstream pieces of their business. So just back to the initial premise, and I think Peter was hitting on this. Look, I think maybe the economy is picking up a little bit, but the other side is technology is a real enabler of many companies, both on the revenue growth side and the improvement of performance. So all these things are happening all at one time for us and it's good. We're obviously taking advantage of it.

嗯，我想你已經點到所有關鍵重點了，Peter。但美國企業界的 CIO 們在 IT 領域正逐漸認知到——我們之前也和各位談過——支持其 IT 專案的人才來源有很多種。而我們看到的是，他們認為我所稱的一些一流（best-in-breed）的人力派遣公司，能夠切入其他角色、顧問式角色，承接託管服務（managed services），並把一些離岸工作移回在岸（onshore）。與此相伴的是，他們想要的不只是「把人塞到座位上」，也就是傳統的人力派遣模式。在某些情況下，他們希望我們承擔一定程度的責任：為他們建立一支人力隊伍，協助管理這支隊伍以提升生產力，讓他們能把重心放在業務中其他更核心的部分。所以回到最初的前提，我想 Peter 也在強調這點。你看，經濟或許正在稍微回溫，但另一方面，科技是許多公司的真正推動力，無論是在營收成長端或是績效改善端。因此，這些事情同時在我們身上發生，這是好事。我們顯然正在把握這個機會。

Yes, for sure. Is there any way to frame the SOW? How much that's kind across the organization at this point in terms of kind of where we are in that phase of the growth?

是的，確實。有沒有什麼方式可以界定 SOW 的規模？就目前而言，它在整個組織中的占比大概是多少，以便我們理解目前處於成長的哪個階段？

Well, let me address. We're not breaking that out specifically, but it's in the multiple of hundreds of millions of dollars.

嗯，我來回答。我們不會特別把這個拆分揭露，但規模是數億美元等級。

Next question comes from the line of Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Jeff Silber。

Just wanted to go back to the discussion you had earlier about the growth in staffing consultants. I know it's choppy, but was there something specifically going on? It looks like the decline was at Oxford. Was it an issue in terms of finding and onboarding people. Did you have more turnover than usual? Any color would be great.

我想回到你們先前談到的人力派遣顧問人數成長的討論。我知道這個數字會有波動，但是否有什麼特定因素在發生？看起來下滑是在 Oxford。是因為招募與到職（onboarding）人員方面的問題嗎？你們的流動率是否比平常更高？任何補充說明都會很有幫助。

Yes. So I'm going to go first and then really turn it over to Ted for detail. But the reduction in headcount at Oxford was a conscious decision. We had tried some things in 2017 that really didn't pan out the way we ended on paper, and we saved some of that SG&A and redirected some of it and some of it's to come. Ted, you want to further flesh that out.

是的。所以我先說，然後再把細節交給 Ted。但牛津（Oxford）的人力縮減是有意識的決策。我們在 2017 年嘗試了一些做法，但結果並沒有像我們在報表上呈現的那樣奏效；因此我們省下了一部分 SG&A，並把其中一部分重新配置，另外也有一部分將在之後體現。Ted，你要不要再補充說明一下。

Yes. I think we're poised like the rest of the organization. We'd like to grow our headcounts within the parameters that Peter laid out before, and what we've been focused on here in the first 2 quarters of the year is productivity. And I think now we're ready to add to our team and to get back to more normal levels of headcount.

是的。我認為我們和組織其他部分一樣，已經蓄勢待發。我們希望在 Peter 先前所說的範圍內擴增人力，而我們今年前兩季在這裡的重點一直是生產力。我想現在我們已準備好為團隊增員，並回到較正常的人力水準。

Okay. Fair enough. Switching gears to the StratAcuity acquisition. Life Sciences I know used to be a much bigger component of this company. It's relatively small now. So was interesting thing that you made an acquisition in that vertical this past quarter. Is that an area that we're going to expect to see more acquisitions that you're going to be focusing on expanding?

好的。合理。換個話題談 StratAcuity 的收購案。我知道生命科學過去曾是這家公司更大的組成部分。現在相對較小。所以你們在本季於該垂直領域做了一筆收購，這點很有意思。這是否是一個我們可以預期你們會進行更多收購、並且會著重擴張的領域？

Well, the reason we did the StratAcuity deal, Jeff, is, one, they had a great position in the New England market, which is probably the most important in the clinical research space. Their average bill rate is close to $90 an hour, and they did interesting work in the medical device, regulatory, engineering space, clinical research space. And because of it being a high-skill, high bill rate space, it helped nicely for that core unit. So you could expect us to want to continue to build out our clinical research, our engineering and regulatory affairs space in the life sciences world. We will organically continue to grow our scientific business, but this was really a clinical regulatory business that we acquired.

Jeff，我們之所以做 StratAcuity 這筆交易，原因是：第一，他們在新英格蘭市場有很強的地位，而那可能是臨床研究領域最重要的市場。他們的平均計費率接近每小時 90 美元，且在醫療器材、法規、工程、臨床研究等領域做了很有意思的工作。而且因為這是一個高技能、高計費率的領域，對我們的核心單位有很好的助益。因此你可以預期，我們會希望在生命科學領域持續擴建我們的臨床研究、工程以及法規事務版圖。我們會持續以有機方式成長我們的科學業務，但這次收購的其實是一個臨床法規業務。

Got it. And then just one question for you, Ed. Can you give us what we should expect for interest expense in the fourth quarter?

了解。接著 Ed，我還有一個問題。你能否告訴我們第四季利息費用大概會是什麼水準？

I'd say, well, let me -- well, we gave you what the debt was as of end of the third quarter. We told you that we paid an additional $14 million down, and then the interest rate is approximately LIBOR plus, I think, 1.75%. I think we gave you the number that it was, 7.1%, and that included amortization. It included $800,000 related to the amendment. So you could assume that interest is going to come in somewhere around 6.2% or so.

我會說——嗯，讓我——我們已經告訴你截至第三季末的債務水準。我們也告訴你我們又額外償還了 1,400 萬美元，然後利率大約是 LIBOR 加上我記得是 1.75%。我想我們也給了你當時的數字是 7.1%，而那包含攤銷。其中也包含與修訂案相關的 80 萬美元。所以你可以假設利息大概會落在 6.2% 左右。

The next question comes from the line of Mark Marcon, RW Baird.

下一個問題來自 RW Baird 的 Mark Marcon。

I was wondering if you could talk just a little bit about what you're seeing on the Apex side. It sounds like things are going really well with a number of the verticals doing particularly well, but you also mentioned in the commentary a little bit about fluctuations in July and August. Could you just elaborate a little bit there and how we should think about it?

我想請你們稍微談一下你們在 Apex 這邊看到的情況。聽起來有不少垂直領域表現特別好、整體進展很順利，但你們在評論中也提到 7 月和 8 月有一些波動。能否再多說明一下，以及我們應該如何看待這件事？

Yes. So I'll let Rand address most of it, but just -- I know we were speaking quickly. But the fluctuations in July and August was just a simple commentary of that job order flow at Creative Circle. It wasn't as to Apex Systems. And while Creative is still growing less than we want, it has definitely moved positively from what we saw in June. I mean, as you just saw, I think this week, IPP, they're still seeing some challenges worldwide; North America, a little bit better. But with all that said, it's a great business, it's a great market and the team is working to restore the growth rates. As it relates to Apex, Rand, you want to add color to that, Systems?

是的。我會讓 Rand 來回應大部分內容，不過——我知道我們剛剛講得很快。但 7 月和 8 月的波動，只是針對 Creative Circle 的職缺訂單流量做的簡單評論。那不是在說 Apex Systems。而且雖然 Creative 的成長仍低於我們希望的水準，但相較於 6 月所見，確實已經有正向改善。我的意思是，正如你剛看到的，我想是這週，IPP 仍在全球範圍內看到一些挑戰；北美則好一些。但即便如此，這仍是一門很棒的業務、很棒的市場，團隊也正在努力恢復成長率。至於 Apex 方面，Rand，你要不要就 Systems 再補充一些說明？

Well, Mark, I think we've been reporting for a lot of quarters now that Apex Systems is doing well, and it's really across all of our accounts in all 7 industries. Now most of the 7 industries we've seen double-digit growth through most of the quarters in the last year, 1.5. You saw we've listed out the industries that we still have double-digit growth. Aerospace, defense, you'd expect, Mark, right. It's kind of a little bit of an uptick, technology accounts, consumer industrial, getting more into the technology spend. I think with the growth of economy and financial services industry continues to be a market-leading industry for technology adoption and continued improvement in their operations and business. So -- but the other 3 industries are great. Healthcare has been a great, growing business for us for a long time. They've gotten to be a pretty substantial part of our business, but they are still growing strong single-digit numbers, as we said in the text here. So does that give you some sense, Mark? Does that answer your question?

Mark，我想我們已經連續很多季都在報告 Apex Systems 表現良好，而且確實是橫跨我們所有客戶、涵蓋全部 7 個產業。在這 7 個產業中，多數在過去一年到一年半的大部分季度都呈現兩位數成長。你也看到我們列出了仍維持兩位數成長的產業。航太、國防——你會預期如此，對吧，Mark。這有點上行；科技客戶、消費與工業，也更深入到科技支出。我認為隨著經濟成長，金融服務業仍是科技採用與持續改善其營運與業務的市場領先產業。所以——不過另外 3 個產業也很不錯。醫療保健長期以來一直是我們很棒、持續成長的業務。它已成為我們業務中相當可觀的一部分，但如同我們在這段文字所說，仍以強勁的個位數成長。所以這樣是否讓你有一些概念，Mark？有回答到你的問題嗎？

I appreciate it. And then just going back to just the Creative Circle. So basically in September, it sounds like maybe things actually stabilized, and you didn't see as much of an order fluctuation. Is that correct or...

謝謝。再回到 Creative Circle。所以基本上在 9 月，聽起來情況可能其實已經穩定下來，你們沒有看到那麼多訂單波動。是這樣嗎，還是……

Well, that's...

嗯，那是……

So go ahead, Ted -- oh, Peter, respond.

那你先說，Ted——喔，Peter，你回應。

Please do.

請說。

Yes, Mark. That's exactly right. I think we reported at the end of the last quarter that our May -- April, May months were very strong in Creative Circle. June dropped off, and we use that as a basis for the forecast for our Q3. When we saw July and August a little choppy, definitely down in perm revenues and then September stabilizing and moving up a little more nicely. So that's -- but it's a little bit of an up-and-down world. And Peter mentioned some of our big competitors were all in negative growth territory. And of course, we're in good positive, so the mid-single-digit growth territory. So all things, as Peter said, we're not getting the growth we want, but we're obviously still growing strong and it's a little jagged. But you're right. September was a little better than we saw late July and August.

是的，Mark。完全正確。我想我們在上一季末報告過，Creative Circle 的 5 月——4 月、5 月都非常強勁。6 月下滑，而我們以此作為第三季預測的基礎。當我們看到 7 月和 8 月有些顛簸，永久職（perm）營收明顯下滑，然後 9 月趨於穩定並且回升得更好一些。所以就是——但這是一個有點上下起伏的環境。Peter 提到我們一些大型競爭對手都處於負成長區間。而當然，我們仍是良好的正成長，大約在中個位數成長區間。所以整體而言，如 Peter 所說，我們沒有達到想要的成長，但顯然仍在穩健成長，只是走勢有點不平順。不過你說得對。9 月確實比 7 月下旬和 8 月看到的情況好一些。

Great. And it sounds like you're basically gaining some share relative to the overall market because if you take a look at all the large public agencies, I mean, they basically said things are more choppy. It also sounds like maybe Accenture is doing a little bit more in the space. How are you thinking about expanding in that space because it sounds like there's a lot of interesting dynamics?

很好。而且聽起來你們基本上是在相對於整體市場取得一些市占，因為如果你看看所有大型上市同業，我是說，他們基本上都表示情況更為顛簸。也聽起來或許 Accenture 在這個領域做得更多一些。你們如何思考在這個領域擴張？因為聽起來裡面有很多有趣的動態？

Well, Accenture is definitely expanding and are -- is a dominant player. It seems like they're buying one agency a week, digital creative agency a week, and they have a different model. And they're a very, very good relevant player in the space, but the market is big enough. And people come to us versus Accenture because of the difference in the model and the flexibility. We still have, I think, so much opportunity to grow that business organically that throwing SG&A at it versus trying to acquire $20 million, $30 million division and then dealing with the integration of it is probably not what we would do in that particular group. It's still not at a maturity level where it can grow double digits. It's still a lot of greenfield opportunity when we acquired the business. I forget, Rand, what we said. Did we say there were 22 additional markets that we thought we could open into? And I think we've opened 11, so we still have some greenfield opportunities. So that's where you should see us moving, Mark.

嗯，Accenture 的確在擴張，而且是——是一個主導性的玩家。看起來他們幾乎每週買一家代理商、每週買一家數位創意代理商，而且他們的模式不同。他們在這個領域是非常、非常優秀且相關性很高的玩家，但市場夠大。而客戶會選擇我們而不是 Accenture，是因為模式差異與彈性。我們仍然有——我認為——非常多的機會可以用有機方式成長；與其把 SG&A 砸下去、或是去收購一個 2,000 萬、3,000 萬美元的部門再去處理整合，這大概不是我們在那個團隊會做的事。它還沒到成熟到能以雙位數成長的階段。自從我們收購這項業務以來，仍有很多綠地機會。我忘了，Rand，我們當時怎麼說的。我們是不是說我們認為還有 22 個額外市場可以進入並開點？我想我們已經開了 11 個，所以仍然有一些綠地機會。所以，Mark，你應該會看到我們往這個方向推進。

Great. And then just as a segue to that, you've done a great job in terms of pinning down the debt. Debt load is quite manageable. Can you talk a little bit about the environment in terms of the types of properties that you might be looking at? Or should we think about more tuck-ins like StratAcuity? Or could there be something a little bit more strategic, expanding what you're doing in SOW, et cetera?

很好。接著順著這個話題，你們在壓低負債方面做得很出色。負債水位相當可控。你能談談在目前環境下，你們可能會看的標的類型嗎？或者我們應該把它想成更多像 StratAcuity 這種補強型（tuck-in）併購？或者也可能有更具策略性的案子，去擴大你們在 SOW 等方面正在做的事情？

Well, we're patient, disciplined acquirers. We feel that we're acquisition-ready based on a debt basis and on an operational basis. Some of the hard work that Ted's done over at the Oxford segment starting to pay some early dividends. And it's just finding the right match, and we're out there doing it. But we're not sitting idle, either. I mean, we bought $47 million of our own stock in the last 90 days. So we felt pretty good about being able to do that, pay down debt and have multiple conversations about future acquisition.

嗯，我們是有耐心、守紀律的收購方。我們覺得以負債基礎以及營運基礎來看，我們已經具備進行併購的準備。Ted 在 Oxford 事業部那邊做的一些艱難工作，開始帶來一些早期成果。接下來就是找到合適的匹配，我們也正在外面積極尋找。但我們也不是閒著不做。我是說，我們在過去 90 天回購了 4,700 萬美元的自家股票。所以我們對於能夠做到這件事、同時還能償還債務，並且就未來併購進行多方對話，感覺相當不錯。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from the line of Gary Bisbee with RBC Capital Markets.

(接線員指示) 下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Gary Bisbee。

I guess the first question is on perm. We've seen from some of the other large players some improvement there. And I guess what's holding the business back? I mean, good to see CyberCoders return to positive growth, but it's still fairly anemic overall. Is there any particular factor you point to and any -- what would you look for to think that might get better more broadly?

我想第一個問題是關於永久職（perm）。我們從其他一些大型同業那邊看到這部分有些改善。那我想，是什麼在拖累你們的業務？我是說，很高興看到 CyberCoders 回到正成長，但整體仍相當疲弱。你會指向任何特定因素嗎？以及——你會觀察什麼來判斷這個情況可能會更廣泛地好轉？

Yes. Gary, what I would tell you is we're predominantly a staff augmentation firm. And we're seeing in the division CyberCoders, whose primary business model is contingent search, doing well. I mean, they have some grow-over issues at time. There's clearly a short -- a tightness with regard to qualified labor, but they grew year-over-year. We saw some falloff on year-over-year growth as it relates to conversion fees in perm in the other divisions, Lab Support, Creative, Apex, which -- that's not their primary focus. And we do it willingly and we try to do it and have focused on it, but it's predominantly done to support the customer. What I would tell you, which is going to sound like a backhanded compliment, is we just reported a 12.5% EBITDA margin, which is up from 12.4% in the third quarter of '16. And our total contribution from perm and conversion fees went down to 4.9% from 5.2%. So the durability of our EBITDA margin actually increased because the contribution from perm decreased. So we feel pretty good about the profit generation of the business despite the perm being relatively flat.

是的。Gary，我會告訴你的是，我們主要是一家人力派遣（staff augmentation）公司。而我們看到 CyberCoders 這個部門——其主要商業模式是或然式搜尋（contingent search）——表現不錯。我是說，他們有時會遇到一些成長基期的問題。很明顯地，合格勞動力供給偏緊，但他們仍然年增。至於其他部門 Lab Support、Creative、Apex，我們看到與永久職轉換費（conversion fees）相關的年增成長有所下滑——而那並不是他們的主要重點。我們也願意做、也嘗試去做並且有聚焦，但主要是為了支援客戶。我會告訴你一件事，聽起來可能像是帶點反向稱讚：我們剛公布 EBITDA 利潤率 12.5%，高於 2016 年第三季的 12.4%。而我們來自永久職與轉換費的總貢獻占比，從 5.2% 降到 4.9%。所以我們的 EBITDA 利潤率耐久性其實提高了，因為永久職的貢獻下降。因此，儘管永久職相對持平，我們對這門生意的獲利能力仍感覺相當不錯。

Okay, fair enough. One area that there was some upside it looked like was somewhat lower growth in SG&A spend. Is that just the cadence of headcount on the sales side? Or was there anything else that stands out there?

好的，合理。有一個看起來有些上行的地方，是 SG&A 支出成長稍微低一些。那只是銷售端人頭數的節奏問題嗎？還是還有其他特別突出的因素？

That's good. It's just that identification, attraction, onboarding, and that comes and goes sometimes. But our forecast with the fourth quarter assumes that we're going to hire at a slightly faster pace than we did in the third quarter. You see that there's 2.6 fewer billable days in the fourth versus the third of '17, which basically is about $29 million of revenue. So we feel pretty good entering the fourth quarter, and our SG&A that we estimated assumes slightly faster hiring.

這個問題很好。主要就是辨識、招募、到職（onboarding），而這些有時候會有起伏。但我們對第四季的預測假設，我們的招募速度會比第三季稍微快一些。你會看到 2017 年第四季相較第三季少了 2.6 個可計費天數（billable days），這基本上約等於 2,900 萬美元的營收。所以我們對進入第四季的狀況感覺相當不錯，而我們估計的 SG&A 也是假設招募會稍微加速。

Okay. And then just on Oxford. As we think about the fourth quarter, so you've said you begin to lap those 2 losses. You also commented that the hurricane impacted your recruiting center in Florida there. Should Oxford flatten out? Or would it be right to assume adding it all up and down again at maybe at a lesser pace? Any thoughts on that?

好的。接著談 Oxford。當我們思考第四季時，你們說會開始跨過（lap）那兩個虧損案的比較基期。你們也提到颶風影響了你們在佛州的招募中心。Oxford 會趨於持平嗎？或者把這些因素加總起來，較合理的假設是它仍會下滑，只是速度較慢？你們有什麼看法？

Ted, why don't you answer that first, and then I'll go second.

Ted，你先回答，然後我再補充。

Yes. I would say our national recruiting center in Palm Beach Gardens is one of our biggest for Oxford. And so when they're shut down, they have lost workdays. And obviously that, there's a bill to that, and so we can't quantify what the impact to that be, but there could be -- we feel like there could be a lost workweek at the end of the third -- towards the end of third quarter that affects the fourth quarter. As you think about the fourth quarter for Oxford, as we begin to lap those 2 projects, we've seen a trend where our growth rate has been down less year-over-year for the last couple of quarters. And I think our projections are that trend will continue. Whether we get to positive growth or not will be another question, but I think the momentum is there in the trend that we've seen for the last 2 quarters.

是的。我會說我們位於 Palm Beach Gardens 的全國招募中心，是 Oxford 最大的據點之一。所以當它關閉時，就會損失工作天數。而且很明顯地，這會帶來成本，因此我們無法量化其影響會是多少，但可能——我們覺得在第三季末、接近第三季末的時候，可能會損失一個工作週，進而影響第四季。至於 Oxford 的第四季，當我們開始跨過那兩個專案的比較基期時，我們看到一個趨勢：過去幾季我們的年增下滑幅度在縮小。我想我們的預測是這個趨勢會持續。至於能否轉為正成長則是另一個問題，但我認為從過去兩季看到的趨勢來看，動能是存在的。

Gary, don't have anything, really, to add to that.

Gary，關於那點我真的沒有什麼要補充的。

Okay. Just one last question, Peter. The -- you've outgrown the industry for an extended period. You continue to look terrific on the top line versus everyone else. And so I ask the question totally acknowledging that. But if GDP growth does pick up and we start to see the business animal spirits increasing a little a bit, what, if any, are the gating factors to delivering faster revenue growth at this point? I mean, would you expect if we have a year of 2.5% GDP relative to 1.5% last year, do that next year that the business would accelerate from that perspective? Or were there some other factors that play, other than your story about your model continuing to win in large places?

好的。Peter，最後一個問題。你們在相當長一段時間內都跑贏產業。相較於其他所有人，你們的營收端表現依然非常亮眼。所以我完全認同這點來提問。但如果GDP成長確實回升，我們開始看到企業的動物精神稍微增強，那麼在目前這個時間點，要實現更快的營收成長，有哪些（如果有的話）關鍵限制因素？我的意思是，如果明年GDP有2.5%（相較去年1.5%）這樣的一年，你會預期業務在這方面加速嗎？還是除了你所說你們的模式在大型客戶持續勝出之外，還有其他因素在起作用？

Well, look, we're reporting this above-market growth rate, and we're not firing on all cylinders. We had a deceleration of -- even though it's above market, a deceleration in top line growth at Creative. We've had negative year-over-year growth at Oxford and we think we've done some solid work to improve those, and there has been flatness at the small unit Life Sciences. And if we have faster GDP growth with the hard work that the management team has done, we should be able to grow faster because we're firing on more cylinders than we are right now. There's always the supply-demand imbalance. And growing faster is going to put even more pressure on the supply that's out there, but we tend to do a pretty good job of recruiting. So even in a tighter supply environment, because of our order flow and the attractiveness of our orders versus someone else's, we think we will get more than our fair share of people to work for us. I mean, we're putting over 21,000 people, IT professionals, clinical research, digital creative people to work every day. So we really do have a brand and an awareness in the marketplace as it relates to customers and technical resources, and we think that we will continue to have that advantage.

嗯，你看，我們報告的是高於市場的成長率，但我們並沒有全力運轉。在Creative方面，即使仍高於市場，我們的營收成長也出現了放緩。Oxford的年對年成長為負，我們認為已做了一些扎實的工作來改善；而小型單位Life Sciences則呈現持平。如果GDP成長更快，再加上管理團隊所做的努力，我們應該能成長得更快，因為我們會比現在啟動更多引擎。供需失衡一直都在。更快的成長會對現有供給帶來更大壓力，但我們在招募方面一向做得不錯。因此即使在供給更吃緊的環境下，憑藉我們的訂單流量，以及我們的訂單相較他人的吸引力，我們認為能吸引到超過我們應得份額的人才來為我們工作。我的意思是，我們每天讓超過21,000名人才上工，包括IT專業人士、臨床研究人員、數位創意人才。所以就客戶與技術資源而言，我們在市場上確實有品牌與知名度，我們也認為將持續保有這項優勢。

Next question comes from the line of Tim McHugh with William Blair.

下一個問題來自William Blair的Tim McHugh。

Just to clarify on Creative. I think you made the comment basically trends improved versus July and August, I guess. But the kind of mid-single-digit growth you're guiding to for the next quarter is still the same as you were talking about, I guess, you had seen in June. So is that conservatism? Or did things get worse in July and August and you've improved from there? Can you just -- can you clarify that?

我想釐清一下Creative。我記得你提到趨勢相較於7月和8月有所改善。但你們對下季所指引的中個位數成長，看起來仍和你們說6月看到的情況差不多。所以這是保守嗎？還是7月和8月變得更糟，之後才有所改善？你能不能——能否釐清一下？

Well, what we said was July and August was a little choppy. September was more of a traditional upward trend that we've seen, reflective of what that business can do. There's normal fourth quarter seasonality. And no, we're not back to mid-teens growth, but we're pointing in a different direction than we were in June.

嗯，我們說的是7月和8月有點起伏不定。9月則更像我們以往看到的傳統上升趨勢，反映出那項業務能做到的表現。第四季有正常的季節性。而且不，我們還沒有回到十幾%的成長，但我們的方向已不同於6月時的情況。

Okay. That's helpful. The -- I think on Oxford, you got asked about kind of the SG&A, and you talked about some of the initiatives. On gross margin side, that was also really strong. Is there anything besides perm strength that kind of changed?

好的。這很有幫助。我想在Oxford方面，有人問到SG&A，你也談到一些措施。毛利率那邊也非常強勁。除了正職（perm）業務強勁之外，還有什麼因素改變了嗎？

I'll let Ted address but it was hard work with bill/pay spread expanded. Ted?

我讓Ted來回答，不過這是辛苦努力把bill/pay價差拉大。Ted？

Yes. The bill/pay work is hand-to-hand combat every day, so I think that's just good management by the teams. And there's very little perm in that business, and so all the margin expansion in the Oxford core piece was related to bill/pay and then the pickup we noted from the CyberCoders contribution.

是的。bill/pay的工作每天都是短兵相接，所以我認為這就是團隊良好管理的成果。而且那項業務的正職（perm）占比很小，因此Oxford核心部分的所有毛利擴張都與bill/pay有關，另外還有我們提到的CyberCoders貢獻帶來的提升。

And the last question we have in queue comes from the line Mark Marcon with RW Baird.

我們隊列中的最後一個問題來自RW Baird的Mark Marcon。

I have a follow-up. With regards to the guidance that you've provided in terms of revenue, can you talk just a little bit about how we should think about the core Apex? Are you assuming that the trends continue there in terms of what we ended up seeing during the third quarter? Or is there any variation?

我有個追問。關於你們提供的營收指引，你能稍微談談我們應該如何看待Apex核心業務嗎？你們是否假設那裡的趨勢會延續第三季我們看到的情況？還是會有任何變化？

Yes. Mark, we've gotten ourselves a little bit into the cycle of getting you so much data, and we specifically broke out the Creative group because there've been a deceleration. But you should assume from our silence that there's no reason for us to discuss specific growth rates for Apex.

是的。Mark，我們有點進入一個循環，給了你們太多資料；我們之所以特別把Creative團隊拆出來，是因為那裡出現了放緩。但你可以從我們沒有特別提及來推斷：我們沒有理由去討論Apex的具體成長率。

And we have no further questions in queue.

目前隊列中沒有其他問題。

All right. Well, we thank you for your attention and look forward to reporting our results for the fourth quarter. Thank you very much.

好的。感謝各位的關注，我們期待在第四季公布我們的業績。非常感謝。

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference call. I want to thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive TeleConference. You may now disconnect.

各位女士、先生，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與，並使用AT&T Executive TeleConference。您現在可以掛線。