Everforth, Inc. (EFOR) 2019 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, we do appreciate your patience, and welcome to the ASGN Second Quarter 2019 Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

各位女士、先生，我們非常感謝各位的耐心等候，並歡迎參加 ASGN 2019 年第二季財報發布電話會議。(接線員指示) 提醒各位，本次會議將被錄音。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Kimberly Esterkin. Please go ahead.

現在我想把會議交給本次會議主持人 Kimberly Esterkin。請開始。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for ASGN's Second Quarter 2019 Conference Call. With me are Ted Hanson, President and Chief Executive Officer; Rand Blazer, President of Apex Systems; George Wilson, President of ECS; and Ed Pierce, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，接線員。下午好，感謝各位今天參加 ASGN 2019 年第二季電話會議。與我一同出席的有總裁兼執行長 Ted Hanson；Apex Systems 總裁 Rand Blazer；ECS 總裁 George Wilson；以及財務長 Ed Pierce。

Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that our commentary contains forward-looking statements. Although we believe these statements are reasonable, they are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and as such, 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 any obligation to update statements made on this call.

在開始之前，我想提醒各位，我們的評論包含前瞻性陳述。雖然我們相信這些陳述是合理的，但其仍受某些風險與不確定性影響，因此我們的實際結果可能與這些陳述存在重大差異。其中部分風險與不確定性已在今日新聞稿及我們向 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任何義務。

For your convenience, our prepared remarks and supplemental materials can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.asgn.com.

為方便各位，我們的事先準備講稿與補充資料可在我們網站 investors.asgn.com 的投資人關係專區找到。

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

也請注意，在本次電話會議中，我們將引用若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標，例如調整後 EBITDA、調整後淨利與自由現金流。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日新聞稿中。

I will now turn the call over to President and Chief Executive Officer, Ted Hanson. Ted?

現在我將把電話交給總裁兼執行長 Ted Hanson。Ted？

Thank you, Kimberly, and thank you all for joining us today. I'm very pleased to report that we delivered solid financial and operational performance for the second quarter. Over the past 3 months, ASGN generated revenue growth well ahead of market rates in addition to producing industry-leading profitability and strong free cash flow.

謝謝你，Kimberly，也謝謝各位今天加入我們。我很高興向各位報告，我們在第二季交出了穩健的財務與營運表現。在過去 3 個月中，ASGN 的營收成長遠高於市場成長率，同時也創造了業界領先的獲利能力與強勁的自由現金流。

Our go-to-market strategy enables us to provide our clients higher-value services via our differentiated delivery model, making us a more agile, effective competitor in the IT services industry. Since our strategic acquisition of ECS, we vastly expanded our cybersecurity, cloud computing, AI, machine learning, IT modernization and advanced science and engineering services. Our government and commercial IT consulting solution services continue to grow at an even faster pace than our traditional staff augmentation work.

我們的市場進入策略使我們能透過差異化的交付模式，為客戶提供更高價值的服務，讓我們在 IT 服務產業中成為更敏捷、更有效的競爭者。自從策略性收購 ECS 以來，我們大幅擴展了資安、雲端運算、AI、機器學習、IT 現代化，以及先進科學與工程服務。我們的政府與商業 IT 顧問解決方案服務持續以比傳統人力派遣業務更快的速度成長。

I would now like to provide a brief overview of ASGN's results for the second quarter, including each of our segments: Apex, ECS and Oxford. Rand and George will discuss Apex and ECS, respectively, in more detail later during today's call.

接下來我想簡要概述 ASGN 第二季的業績表現，包括我們各個事業部門：Apex、ECS 與 Oxford。Rand 與 George 將在今天稍後的會議中，分別更詳細地說明 Apex 與 ECS。

ASGN delivered strong top line performance for the second quarter with revenues totaling $972.3 million, up 10.7% year-over-year and at the midpoint of our guidance. This growth was driven primarily by strong performance from our Apex and ECS segments, each of which saw double-digit revenue increases year-over-year. Excluding certain onetime adjustments, which Ed will discuss shortly, all of our results for the quarter fell within our guidance ranges.

ASGN 第二季營收合計 9.723 億美元，年增 10.7%，落在我們財測區間的中點，展現強勁的營收表現。此成長主要由 Apex 與 ECS 兩個部門的強勁表現所帶動，兩者的營收皆呈現年增雙位數。排除某些一次性調整（Ed 稍後將說明）後，我們本季所有結果皆落在財測區間內。

Apex, our largest segment, generated revenues of $628.5 million, up 10.8% year-over-year. This above-industry growth was driven by strong performance in our commercial top account portfolio and a continued high rate of growth in our consultative work.

Apex 作為我們最大的部門，營收為 6.285 億美元，年增 10.8%。此高於產業的成長，主要來自我們商業端主要客戶組合的強勁表現，以及顧問式業務持續維持高成長率。

ECS outperformed expectations with revenues of $190.6 million, up 22.8% year-over-year and sequential growth in its contract backlog of 9.5%. Excluding the $15.6 million contribution from DHA in the quarter, revenue growth of ECS was 12.7% year-over-year, an acceleration compared with the preceding quarter.

ECS 的表現超出預期，營收為 1.906 億美元，年增 22.8%，其合約積壓（backlog）亦較前一季成長 9.5%。若排除本季來自 DHA 的 1,560 萬美元貢獻，ECS 的營收年增為 12.7%，相較前一季呈現加速。

ECS continues to successfully bid for contracts to provide unique high-end IT services and solutions to the federal government. During the second quarter, ECS secured $360 million in contract awards, which translates into a very strong book-to-bill of 1.9x. Initial indications show bookings trending positively into the third quarter. Today and going forward, we will speak about new wins and services we are now able to offer our clients in our commercial and government IT solutions consulting businesses.

ECS 持續成功競標合約，為聯邦政府提供獨特的高階 IT 服務與解決方案。在第二季，ECS 取得 3.60 億美元的合約得標金額，換算為非常強勁的接單出貨比（book-to-bill）1.9 倍。初步跡象顯示，接單動能在第三季仍呈正向趨勢。從今天起以及未來，我們將談及在商業與政府 IT 解決方案顧問業務中，我們目前已能為客戶提供的新得標與新服務。

The Oxford Segment reported revenues totaling $153.2 million, a slight decline of 1.7% over the prior year period. The decrease in revenues was largely the result of a decline in our permanent placement work, the majority of which resides in our CyberCoders business. Higher-than-expected turnover at CyberCoders led to internal execution challenges, which impacted our productivity and drove the decline in the Oxford Segment revenues for the second quarter. We are addressing these challenges head on, and we will continue to keep you updated on our efforts.

Oxford 部門本季營收合計 1.532 億美元，較去年同期小幅下滑 1.7%。營收下滑主要是因為我們的永久派遣（permanent placement）業務下降，而該業務多數集中在 CyberCoders 事業。CyberCoders 的離職率高於預期，導致內部執行面臨挑戰，影響生產力，並造成 Oxford 部門第二季營收下滑。我們正正面處理這些挑戰，並將持續向各位更新我們的改善進展。

Our consolidated gross margin for the quarter, although ahead of much of the industry, compressed about 70 basis points year-over-year. This compression primarily related to the lower mix of perm placement revenues, which was down 7/10 of 1 percentage point.

本季合併毛利率雖仍領先產業多數同業，但較去年同期收縮約 70 個基點。此收縮主要與永久派遣營收占比下降有關，該占比下滑了 0.7 個百分點。

As you know, permanent placement revenues gross margins are close to 100%. Our adjusted EBITDA totaled $114.2 million for the second quarter, also within our guidance. This resulted in a corresponding margin of 11.7%. After adjusting for the cash portion of the CEO transition expenses, which was $1.8 million, adjusted EBITDA totaled $116 million with a corresponding margin of 11.9%.

如各位所知，永久派遣營收的毛利率接近 100%。我們第二季調整後 EBITDA 為 1.142 億美元，也落在財測區間內。相對應的 EBITDA 利潤率為 11.7%。若再調整執行長交接費用中的現金部分（為 180 萬美元），調整後 EBITDA 為 1.16 億美元，相對應利潤率為 11.9%。

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $63.1 million or $1.18 per diluted share, which approximated the midpoint of our guidance range for Q2, excluding the onetime effect of the CEO transition expenses.

本季調整後淨利為 6,310 萬美元，或稀釋後每股 1.18 美元；若排除執行長交接費用的一次性影響，該結果約等同於我們第二季財測區間的中點。

For the second quarter, free cash flow totaled $88.1 million. After paying down $83 million in debt during Q2, our leverage ratio was 2.40x our trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA at quarter-end. Going forward, we estimate our leverage ratio will be approximately 2.23x at the end of the third quarter and roughly 2.0x at the end of 2019, barring any share repurchases or acquisitions.

第二季自由現金流合計 8,810 萬美元。在第二季償還 8,300 萬美元債務後，截至季末，我們的槓桿比率為過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的 2.40 倍。展望未來，在不進行庫藏股回購或併購的前提下，我們估計槓桿比率在第三季末約為 2.23 倍，並在 2019 年底約為 2.0 倍。

We have consistently stated that once we reduced our leverage ratio to 2.5x or below, we would evaluate additional ways to return value to our shareholders.

我們一再表示，一旦將槓桿比率降至 2.5 倍或以下，我們將評估以其他方式為股東創造回報。

With that said, at the end of the second quarter, our Board of Directors approved a $250 million stock repurchase plan as part of a balanced capital allocation strategy that not only includes debt repayment, but also includes investments in our organic growth and in strategic acquisitions. Now that we have reached and exceeded our target leverage ratio, we have the right plan in place to buy back our shares. These repurchases do not preclude us from making strategic acquisitions. ASGN is an acquirer of choice and M&A remains a core component of our long-term growth plan. We have an active pipeline of prospective acquisition targets in place that we are currently evaluating to support our ongoing business operations.

基於此，截至第二季末，我們董事會核准了一項 2.50 億美元的股票回購計畫，作為平衡的資本配置策略之一；該策略不僅包含償還債務，也包含對內生成長及策略性併購的投資。既然我們已達成並超越目標槓桿比率，我們已具備適當的計畫來回購公司股票。這些回購並不排除我們進行策略性併購。ASGN 是首選的併購方，而併購仍是我們長期成長計畫的核心組成。我們目前有一個活躍的潛在併購標的管線，正在評估中，以支持我們持續的業務營運。

We are focused on adding high-value IT consulting services and solutions as well as expanding our capabilities and footprint in the federal government space. Overall, it was a very strong quarter by all measures. And I'm confident that we are headed down the right path to continue to achieve above-industry growth as we position ASGN for today, tomorrow and the future.

我們專注於增加高價值的 IT 顧問服務與解決方案，同時擴大我們在聯邦政府領域的能力與版圖。整體而言，各項指標都顯示這是一個非常強勁的季度。我也有信心，我們正走在正確的道路上，將持續實現高於產業的成長，並讓 ASGN 為今天、明天以及未來做好定位。

I'll now turn the call over to Rand Blazer to speak in further detail about Apex's second quarter performance. Rand?

我現在把電話交給 Rand Blazer，請他更詳細說明 Apex 第二季的表現。Rand？

Great. Thank you, Ted. The Apex segment, which consists of Apex Systems and Creative Circle business units, again reported solid results for the quarter. As Ted reported, revenues totaled $628.5 million, up 10.8% over Q2 2018 with margins in line year-over-year, reflecting a steady pricing environment.

很好。謝謝你，Ted。Apex 部門由 Apex Systems 與 Creative Circle 兩個業務單位組成，本季再次繳出穩健成績。如 Ted 所述，營收合計為 6.285 億美元，較 2018 年第二季成長 10.8%，毛利率與去年同期一致，反映定價環境穩定。

Let me now provide a bit of color on our quarterly results. For the quarter, the Apex segment's performance was driven by a number of factors, including Apex Systems again led the way with double-digit revenue growth in 4 of the 8 industry verticals we service, including Aerospace & Defense, Financial Services, Consumer & Industrial and Technology industry accounts.

我再補充一些本季業績的背景說明。本季 Apex 部門的表現由多項因素帶動，其中 Apex Systems 再次領先，在我們服務的 8 個產業垂直領域中有 4 個實現兩位數營收成長，包括航太與國防、金融服務、消費與工業，以及科技產業客戶。

Healthcare posted high single-digit growth. The remaining 3 industry verticals, including Life Sciences, Telecommunications and Business Services, posted very slight negative year-over-year revenue growth.

醫療保健業務呈現高個位數成長。其餘 3 個產業垂直領域，包括生命科學、電信與商業服務，年對年營收成長略為負成長。

Apex Systems' top accounts achieved double-digit revenue growth that continues to outpace our overall top line growth. Retail or branch-centric accounts grew more slowly.

Apex Systems 的主要客戶（top accounts）達成兩位數營收成長，持續快於我們整體營收成長。零售或以分支據點為主的客戶成長較慢。

Although Creative Circle's revenue growth remained lower than our expectations, we saw growth in our top accounts this past quarter as we leveraged our account relationships with these accounts across the segment.

雖然 Creative Circle 的營收成長仍低於我們的預期，但本季我們透過在部門內運用與這些客戶的帳戶關係，看到主要客戶出現成長。

Growth in consulting work across our Apex and Oxford segments also continues to outpace our expectations and overall revenue growth rate. Led by Apex, our growth rate in consulting is more than 2.5x the growth rate of our other services, and it is approaching low teens as a percentage of our business.

我們在 Apex 與 Oxford 兩個部門的顧問服務（consulting）成長也持續超出預期，並且快於整體營收成長率。在 Apex 帶動下，我們顧問服務的成長率超過其他服務成長率的 2.5 倍，且其占我們業務的比重正接近低十位數百分比（low teens）。

I want to highlight one of our engagements with a Fortune 500 transportation company to give you a sense of the consulting opportunities we are seeing with our client accounts. For this client, we are responsible for supporting large-scale software development projects using the Agile method for operations support, fuel management, scheduling and traveler eligibility systems. We are finding that we can enhance our value for our client's accounts by stepping into this type of work, providing both domain and IT expertise and methodology and by taking responsibility for our work.

我想以我們與一家《財富》500 大運輸公司的合作案為例，讓各位了解我們在客戶端看到的顧問服務機會。對該客戶而言，我們負責支援大型軟體開發專案，採用敏捷（Agile）方法，涵蓋營運支援、燃料管理、排程與旅客資格系統。我們發現，透過承接這類工作、提供產業領域與 IT 專業及方法論，並對我們的工作成果負責，能提升我們對客戶帳戶的價值。

We remain excited about these opportunities capitalizing on our consulting solution offerings, and we look forward to continuing to service our clients in these areas.

我們對這些運用顧問解決方案產品所帶來的機會仍感到振奮，並期待持續在這些領域為客戶提供服務。

In summary, I'm pleased with the Apex segment's performance in revenue and margins. Given our strong performance in Q2 2018, our Q2 2019 results are particularly impressive.

總結來說，我對 Apex 部門在營收與毛利率方面的表現感到滿意。考量我們在 2018 年第二季的強勁表現，2019 年第二季的成果尤其令人印象深刻。

I'll now turn the call over to George Wilson to speak about the ECS segment. George?

我現在把電話交給 George Wilson，請他談談 ECS 部門。George？

Thank you, Rand. ECS achieved strong performance in the second quarter of 2019 as we continue to execute our strategy to provide advanced technical solutions coupled with deep subject matter expertise and address our customers' most pressing needs via large and durable prime contracts. ECS' growth continues to be significantly ahead of industry averages for peer companies operating in the federal technology space.

謝謝你，Rand。ECS 在 2019 年第二季表現強勁，我們持續執行策略：提供先進技術解決方案並結合深厚的主題領域專業，透過大型且具持久性的主承包合約（prime contracts）來滿足客戶最迫切的需求。ECS 的成長仍顯著領先於在聯邦政府科技領域營運的同業平均水準。

As Ted noted, ECS revenues grew by 22.8% on a reported basis and 12.7% after adjusting for the $15.6 million contribution from DHA, acquired in the first quarter of this year. DHA's post-acquisition performance is exceeding our expectations and the integration of DHA is progressing ahead of schedule and as is the expansion of its EBITDA margin. We have seen top line revenue synergies with recent contract awards, have found opportunities to cross-sell our cloud and cyber capabilities. And with DHA's preferred mix of 100% fixed price and time and materials, we see opportunities for additional EBITDA margin expansion.

如 Ted 所提，ECS 營收以報表口徑年增 22.8%；若調整今年第一季收購的 DHA 所貢獻的 1,560 萬美元後，年增為 12.7%。DHA 併購後的表現超出我們預期，整合進度也超前時程，EBITDA 利潤率的擴張亦是如此。我們已在近期合約得標中看到營收端的協同效益，也發現可交叉銷售我們的雲端與資安能力的機會。此外，DHA 偏好的合約組合為 100% 固定價格（fixed price）與工時加材料（time and materials），我們也看到進一步擴張 EBITDA 利潤率的機會。

In the second quarter, we received a total of $360 million in contract awards, of which approximately 85% were attributable to new contract awards and revenue growth under existing contracts. This resulted in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.9 for the quarter, another period of very strong performance on the business development front. Some recent awards contributing to our growth include a competitive cybersecurity award to design and deploy the next-generation continuous diagnostics and monitoring dashboard or CDM 2.0 for federal civilian agencies and an award to deliver the next-generation U.S. Marine Corps aviation training management information system. This award positions ECS as the leader in both ground and aviation training information systems for the Marine Corps.

第二季我們合計取得 3.60 億美元的合約得標，其中約 85% 來自新合約得標以及既有合約下的營收成長。因此本季接單出貨比（book-to-bill）為 1.9，業務開發面再度呈現非常強勁的表現。促成成長的近期得標案包括：一項競標取得的資安合約，為聯邦民間機構設計並部署下一代持續診斷與監控儀表板（CDM 2.0）；以及一項合約，交付下一代美國海軍陸戰隊航空訓練管理資訊系統。此項得標使 ECS 成為海軍陸戰隊地面與航空訓練資訊系統的領導者。

We have also seen an expanded demand for delivery of our innovative AI and cloud solutions and services to defense, federal, state and commercial customers as well as continued strong demand for use of the ECS-designed, built and deployed secure but unclassified network and operational enclaves delivering key technical solutions and services to an expanding list of customers. ECS cyber capabilities and technology partnerships continue to expand along with our list of customer -- commercial clients as ECS approaches 1 million endpoints under protection through our advanced cyber threat defense platform, which includes AI-based zero-day threat detection, automated cyber hygiene, continuous risk assessment and threat sharing across multiple platforms.

我們也看到國防、聯邦、州政府與商業客戶對我們創新 AI 與雲端解決方案及服務的需求擴大；同時，對於採用由 ECS 設計、建置並部署的安全但非機密網路（secure but unclassified network）與作業隔離區（operational enclaves）以提供關鍵技術解決方案與服務的需求也持續強勁，客戶名單不斷擴大。隨著 ECS 的資安能力與技術合作夥伴關係持續擴展，我們的客戶名單（包含商業客戶）也在增加；目前透過我們先進的資安威脅防禦平台，ECS 受保護的端點數接近 100 萬個。該平台包含以 AI 為基礎的零日威脅偵測、自動化資安衛生（cyber hygiene）、持續風險評估，以及跨多平台的威脅分享。

Our recent successes illustrate how our cyber solutions are addressing the rising volume and velocity of cyber threats. As always, we continue to invest heavily in our technology partnerships, solution architects and internal capabilities through continuous training and certification of our workforce. We are also tracking several acquisition opportunities to strengthen our technical capabilities and deepen our customer relationships.

我們近期的成功案例顯示，我們的資安解決方案正因應網路威脅在數量與速度上的上升。一如既往，我們持續在技術合作夥伴、解決方案架構師，以及透過對員工持續訓練與認證所建立的內部能力上大力投資。我們也在追蹤數個併購機會，以強化技術能力並深化客戶關係。

Looking forward, the number and the size of new business opportunities continue to grow. Proposal activity has remained at record levels the past 2 quarters and shows no sign of retreating. At the current time, we have a backlog of proposals submitted and awaiting award nearing $2 billion, another all-time high.

展望未來，新業務機會的數量與規模持續成長。過去兩季提案活動維持在歷史高檔，且沒有回落跡象。目前我們已提交並等待授標的提案在手量接近 20 億美元，再創歷史新高。

At the end of the second quarter, ECS had $1.9 billion in total contract backlog, which equates to a healthy coverage ratio of 2.7x our trailing 12-month revenue.

截至第二季末，ECS 的合約在手總額（contract backlog）為 19 億美元，相當於過去 12 個月營收的 2.7 倍，覆蓋比率健康。

I will now turn the call over to Ed Pierce to discuss ASGN's consolidated financial results for the quarter. Ed?

我現在把電話交給 Ed Pierce，請他說明 ASGN 本季的合併財務結果。Ed？

Thanks, George. Revenues, earnings and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter were generally at the midpoint of our guidance after adjusting for 2 onetime charges, which I will discuss momentarily.

謝謝你，George。本季的營收、獲利與調整後 EBITDA，在調整兩項一次性費用後，整體大致落在我們財測區間的中點；我稍後會說明這兩項費用。

Revenues for the quarter were up 10.7% year-over-year on the same number of billable days as the second quarter of last year, and the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange were not significant. Revenues included a $15.6 million contribution from DHA, which was acquired in the first quarter of this year, and excluding that contribution, revenues were up 8.9%.

本季營收在與去年第二季相同的可計費天數下，年增 10.7%，外匯匯率變動的影響並不顯著。營收包含今年第一季收購的 DHA 所貢獻的 1,560 萬美元；若排除該貢獻，營收年增 8.9%。

Gross margin for the quarter was 29.3%, which was at the low end of our guidance and down approximately 70 basis points year-over-year. The compression was the result of: one, a lower mix of permanent placement revenues, which was 3.8% for the quarter, down from 4.5% in the second quarter of last year; and two, the inclusion of DHA, which carries a lower gross margin than ECS as a whole.

本季毛利率為 29.3%，位於我們財測區間的低端，且年對年下降約 70 個基點。毛利率下滑原因為：第一，永久派遣（permanent placement）營收占比下降，本季為 3.8%，低於去年第二季的 4.5%；第二，納入 DHA，而 DHA 的毛利率低於整體 ECS。

Excluding DHA, the gross margin for ECS was up year-over-year, while our consolidated assignment gross margin was the same as the second quarter of last year.

若排除 DHA，ECS 的毛利率年對年上升；而我們合併口徑的派遣（assignment）毛利率則與去年第二季相同。

SG&A expenses were $198.8 million for the quarter and included 2 onetime charges totaling $8.6 million, which were comprised of: one, CEO transition expenses of $5.3 million, which included $3.5 million in stock-based compensation; and two, the write-off of certain foreign trademarks totaling $3.3 million. Excluding these charges, SG&A expenses were $190.2 million, which was at the low end of our guidance.

本季SG&A費用為1.988億美元，包含兩項一次性費用合計860萬美元，分別為：其一，執行長交接費用530萬美元，其中包含350萬美元的股票基礎薪酬；其二，沖銷若干海外商標合計330萬美元。排除這些費用後，SG&A費用為1.902億美元，位於我們指引區間的低端。

Net income for the quarter was $43.1 million, which included the after tax effects of the 2 onetime charges totaling $6.7 million. Excluding these onetime charges, net income was $49.8 million, which approximates the midpoint of our guidance. Adjusted net income was $58.9 million. And excluding the after tax effects of the onetime CEO transition expenses, was $63.1 million and at the midpoint of our guidance.

本季淨利為4,310萬美元，其中包含兩項一次性費用的稅後影響合計670萬美元。排除這些一次性費用後，淨利為4,980萬美元，約為我們指引的中點。調整後淨利為5,890萬美元。此外，若再排除一次性執行長交接費用的稅後影響，則為6,310萬美元，且位於我們指引的中點。

Adjusted EBITDA was $114.2 million or 11.7% of revenues. Excluding the cash portion of the CEO transition expenses of $1.8 million, adjusted EBITDA was $116 million or 11.9% of revenues.

調整後EBITDA為1.142億美元，約占營收的11.7%。排除執行長交接費用中180萬美元的現金部分後，調整後EBITDA為1.16億美元，約占營收的11.9%。

Cash flows from operating activities were $96.5 million and free cash flow was $88.1 million or 9.1% of revenues. Free cash flows for the quarter reflected the sequential quarterly reduction of 2.8 days in DSOs. During the quarter, we paid down $83 million of our debt. And since the acquisition of ECS, we have paid down debt approximately $350 million and reduced our leverage ratio from 3.75x to 2.4x.

營運活動現金流為9,650萬美元，自由現金流為8,810萬美元，約占營收的9.1%。本季自由現金流反映DSO（應收帳款週轉天數）較前一季連續下降2.8天。本季我們償還了8,300萬美元的債務。自收購ECS以來，我們已償還約3.5億美元債務，並將槓桿比率由3.75倍降至2.4倍。

Now I would like to make a few comments on our Q3 guidance. We estimate revenues of $993 million to $1.003 billion, which implies year-over-year growth of 9.5% to 10.7% on a reported basis. Estimated billable days are 63, which is 1/2 day more than the third quarter of last year. We also assume that changes in foreign currency exchange rates during the quarter will not be significant and that there will be a slight sequential decline in the mix of permanent placement revenues.

接下來我想就我們第三季指引做幾點說明。我們預估營收為9.93億至10.03億美元，按報告基礎計算，意味著年增9.5%至10.7%。預估可計費天數為63天，較去年第三季多半天。我們也假設本季外匯匯率變動不會顯著，且永久派遣（perm placement）營收占比將較前一季略為下降。

We estimate that gross margin will range from 29% to 29.3%. This range assumes the gross margin on assignment revenues will be flat sequentially and that the gross margin at ECS will be sequentially lower as a result of a higher mix of revenues from cost-plus contracts and the effect on revenues from time and materials contracts of the one additional holiday in Q3. We estimate net income will range from $52.5 million to $56.1 million and that our adjusted EBITDA will range from $115 million to $120 million or 11.6% to 12% of revenues.

我們預估毛利率將介於29%至29.3%。此區間假設派遣（assignment）營收的毛利率與前一季持平，且ECS的毛利率將因成本加成（cost-plus）合約營收占比提高，以及第三季多一個假日對工時與材料（time and materials）合約營收的影響，而較前一季下降。我們預估淨利將介於5,250萬至5,610萬美元，調整後EBITDA將介於1.15億至1.20億美元，約占營收的11.6%至12%。

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

我現在把電話交回給Ted做結語。Ted？

Thanks, Ed. As we look to the second half of 2019 and into 2020, we are on the right path to continue to deliver valuable services to our clients and strong results to our shareholders. Our scale, breadth of services and differentiated delivery model has us positioned well to serve our clients across the government services and commercial markets while continuing to take market share.

謝謝，Ed。展望2019年下半年並進入2020年，我們正走在正確的道路上，持續為客戶提供有價值的服務，並為股東帶來強勁成果。我們的規模、服務廣度與差異化交付模式，使我們能在政府服務與商業市場中良好地服務客戶，同時持續取得市占。

We have long, trusted customer relationships with over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies as well as major defense and federal government agencies. These relationships and our growing government solutions business and commercial IT consulting and managed services business, enable us to maintain a sustainable business model and margins that can withstand economic cycles.

我們與超過300家《財富》500大企業，以及主要國防與聯邦政府機構，建立了長期且互信的客戶關係。這些關係，加上我們持續成長的政府解決方案業務，以及商業IT顧問與託管服務業務，使我們得以維持可持續的商業模式與能夠承受景氣循環的利潤率。

I'd like to thank you for your time today and for your support of ASGN.

感謝各位今天撥冗參與，也感謝各位對ASGN的支持。

In closing, I would also like to thank our employees, our stockholders and our Board of Directors for placing their trust in me to lead ASGN. We look forward to continuing to share our progress on future quarterly calls.

最後，我也要感謝我們的員工、股東以及董事會，信任我來領導ASGN。我們期待在未來的季度電話會議中持續與各位分享我們的進展。

We will now open the call to your questions. Operator?

現在我們開放提問。接線員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from the line of Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

(接線員指示) 我們的第一個問題來自BMO Capital Markets的Jeff Silber。

Just had a couple of quick questions on guidance. If I look at the adjusted EBITDA margin guidance, it looks like you're projecting it to be down, if my math is correct, about 40 to 80 basis points year-over-year and flat to slightly down sequentially. Can you just give us some color why that is?

我有幾個關於指引的簡短問題。如果我看調整後EBITDA利潤率指引，按我的計算，你們似乎預期年比會下降約40到80個基點，且較前一季持平到略降。能否請你們說明一下原因？

Yes. Thanks for the question. Ed, do you want to talk about our guidance for the third quarter?

是的。謝謝你的提問。Ed，你要談談我們第三季的指引嗎？

Yes. Jeff, year-over-year, and you may remember this from last year, we -- Q2, or Q3 of last year was our highest adjusted EBITDA margin of all the quarters. And we had a favorable variance that quarter of about 60 basis points in our expense margin, and that's really the big driver for the difference between last year and this year. And as it relates to sequentially, it's mix related. I mean, we gave commentary as it relates to our SG&A expense margins, and that's only up slightly. And our gross margin is going to be maybe about as much as 30 basis points down sequentially. And again, it's mix. ECS will be a bigger part of the business as a result of their high growth. And the other thing is that we're expecting a slight decline in ECS margins sequentially for the reasons I mentioned on the call.

好的。Jeff，就年比而言，你可能還記得去年——去年第二季，或更正，去年第三季是我們所有季度中調整後EBITDA利潤率最高的一季。而且那一季我們的費用率有約60個基點的有利差異，這確實是今年與去年差異的主要驅動因素。至於季比，則與組合（mix）有關。我的意思是，我們已就SG&A費用率做了說明，那只會小幅上升。而我們的毛利率季比可能會下降最多約30個基點。同樣地，這也是組合因素。由於ECS的高成長，ECS將在整體業務中占更大比重。另外，我們也預期ECS利潤率季比會略降，原因如我在電話會議中提到的。

In addition to that, Jeff, you've got perm placement revenues, which although sequentially, we expect will grow, that they may be a lower part of the mix, that certainly affects the gross margin. Otherwise, we expect our assignment margin work to be consistent from second quarter to third.

此外，Jeff，永久派遣（perm placement）營收雖然我們預期季比會成長，但其占比可能較低，這當然會影響毛利率。除此之外，我們預期派遣（assignment）毛利率從第二季到第三季將保持一致。

Okay. Great. That's helpful. And on the perm side, you mentioned in your prepared remarks about higher-than-expected turnover in CyberCoders. Can you just talk a little bit about what's happening there and how you plan to address that?

好的。了解。這很有幫助。另外在永久派遣方面，你在事先準備的講稿中提到CyberCoders的人員流動高於預期。能否談談那邊發生了什麼，以及你們打算如何因應？

Well, it's an active market. So I think that they have experienced more turnover than they have in the past. In addition, predominantly most of their business is done in the Technology vertical. That's a pretty difficult space right now because it's so candidate-driven. So there's a couple -- we're making a couple modifications or reacting to that, if you will. You can see that we've reallocated some of our team out of California, and we're actually going to be opening up in both Florida and Texas, which we're excited about, and those will be good markets, as well as a few other things internally that we think will help promote more tenure and therefore, help us to continue to grow the perm revenues in that business.

嗯，市場很活躍。所以我認為他們經歷的人員流動比過去更多。此外，他們的業務主要集中在科技垂直領域。目前那是一個相當困難的領域，因為非常以候選人為主導。因此有幾點——我們正在做一些調整，或說是對此做出反應。你可以看到我們已將部分團隊從加州重新配置出去，而且我們實際上將在佛羅里達州與德州開點，我們對此感到很興奮；那些都會是很好的市場；另外內部也還有幾項措施，我們認為將有助於提升任職年限，進而幫助我們持續成長該業務的永久派遣營收。

We'll go to the line of Gary Bisbee with Bank of America.

接下來請Bank of America的Gary Bisbee提問。

I guess, the first question, Ted, now that you've got a quarter under your belt in the new role, any changes you're looking to make, whether it's to the team or focus areas or anything else that's worth calling out?

我想第一個問題是，Ted，現在你在新職務上已經做了一季，你是否打算做任何改變——不論是團隊、聚焦領域或其他值得提出的事項？

Gary, I don't think anything worth calling out. I mean, we've talked about this at the end of the second quarter, and I think we've been pretty steady around it here in the third, is that we have the right strategy in place. We're certainly making really good headway in terms of IT services and the business units that serve that marketplace, and we'll stay focused on that. The transition has gone very smoothly. There hasn't been any interruption, if you will, in terms of how our divisions have performed or distractions of any kind. So I don't think you'll see any hard right turns. We're going to stay after it, both in the commercial and the government marketplace and keep increasing our penetration of the IT services market.

Gary，我認為沒有什麼特別值得提出來說明的。我的意思是，我們在第二季末已經談過這件事，而我認為在第三季我們在這方面也一直相當穩定，也就是我們已經有正確的策略到位。我們在IT服務以及服務該市場的各個事業單位方面，確實取得了非常好的進展，我們也會持續專注於此。轉換過程非常順利。可以說，我們各事業部的表現沒有任何中斷，也沒有任何分心或干擾。所以我不認為你會看到任何急轉彎式的改變。我們會持續推進，無論是在商業市場或政府市場，並持續提高我們在IT服務市場的滲透率。

Okay. And then just given the increasingly tight labor markets, pockets of skill shortages and all that, I realize that's all beneficial to demand for the business. But can you talk about on the supply of candidates and finding people and the ability to close business, I guess, how is the tighter labor markets impacting the business? And are there any of your businesses that are more or less impacted at this point?

好的。接著，考量到勞動市場日益緊俏、部分技能短缺等等，我知道這些對業務需求都有利。但你能否談談在候選人供給、找人以及成交能力方面，我想問的是，勞動市場更緊俏對業務的影響是什麼？而在目前這個時間點，你們是否有某些業務受到的影響較大或較小？

Well, I think that within the IT spectrum, talent has been tough, if you will, for many, many years. And so I don't think the dynamic of that is new necessarily. You can see in our supplemental information that most of our growth has come not through bill rate increase, although we've had a little bit of that. Most of it has come through volume of new work, which is helpful. We like to have a balance of both of those things, which we do. And I think that just exhibits the fact that we're able to find the talent as we need it in order to work on these projects. Rand, would you add anything else to that?

嗯，我認為在IT領域的人才供給，坦白說，多年來一直都很吃緊。所以我不覺得這樣的動態本質上有什麼新鮮之處。你可以在我們的補充資訊中看到，我們的大部分成長並非來自費率（bill rate）上調，雖然我們確實有一點點。大部分成長來自新增工作量的增加，這是有幫助的。我們希望這兩者能保持平衡，而我們確實做到了。我認為這也顯示出，我們能在需要時找到人才來投入這些專案。Rand，你要不要再補充一下？

No. Ted, I think all our indicators, as you said, are kind of up. We've increased the pipeline of candidates that we draw upon. We've increased the number of placements we've made. We've increased the fill ratios, if you will, the metrics we use to measure the flow of candidate to us and then to the client. And we see no disruption in that despite what we hear so much as a tight labor market. So I think everything you said, Ted, it's steady as we go here. Okay?

沒有。Ted，我認為如你所說，我們所有指標都算是往上走。我們擴大了可供我們運用的候選人來源管道。我們增加了完成的派遣／媒合數量。我們也提高了填補率（fill ratios），也就是我們用來衡量候選人流入我們、再到客戶端的那些指標。儘管外界一直在談勞動市場緊俏，我們並未看到這方面有任何干擾。所以我認為你說得都對，Ted，我們就照既定步調穩健前進。好嗎？

And then just one last one, if I could. Just any update on the progress with the changes you've been making at Oxford in recent quarters with the go-to-market strategy and whatnot and just where we are on that?

最後再問一題，如果可以的話。想請你更新一下，近幾季你們在Oxford所做的調整進展，包括市場進入（go-to-market）策略等等，目前進度到哪裡了？

Yes. I think Oxford continues to institutionalize its sales methodologies and the things that we've been working over, which we've talked many times about in past quarters. Two bright spots this quarter, although the revenue didn't quite meet our expectation, if you look at their volume of work in the supplemental information, they were up mid-single digits in terms of billable hours worked. They had a slight decrease in their bill rate, which made their growth kind of 1%-ish year-over-year, if you look at that. And I think that we just stick with these things. We're definitely reaching customers in a methodical way, according to the strategies we laid out. We're definitely cross-selling services, so able to do more with one customer than we used to do in the past. And so we stick with those things and continue to move forward. We're excited about their EBITDA margins this quarter. They actually improved beyond our expectations, which was a positive. So there's some good signs there in terms of productivity.

好的。我認為Oxford持續在制度化其銷售方法論，以及我們一直在推動的那些事項，這些我們在過去幾季也多次談過。本季有兩個亮點，雖然營收沒有完全達到我們的預期，但如果你看補充資訊中的工作量，他們在可計費工時方面呈現中個位數成長。他們的費率略有下降，因此若以年對年來看，成長大約是1%左右。我認為我們就是持續把這些事情做下去。我們確實依照既定策略，以有系統的方法觸及客戶。我們也確實在交叉銷售服務，因此能在單一客戶身上做得比過去更多。所以我們會堅持這些作法並持續向前推進。我們對他們本季的EBITDA利潤率感到振奮。實際上它的改善幅度超出我們預期，這是正面的。因此在生產力方面確實有一些良好跡象。

We'll go to the line of Edward Caso with Wells Fargo.

我們接著請Wells Fargo的Edward Caso提問。

I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your intent on repurchasing stock. You talked about getting a leverage down below 2.5 to do it. Is that a hard and fast rule? Or sort of how much could be there in the future? Is there an attempt to keep the option dilution down? Is there an intent to take advantage of a depressed stock price?

我想請你談談你們回購股票的意圖。你提到要把槓桿降到2.5以下才會做。那是一個硬性規定嗎？或者未來大概可能有多少空間？是否有想要把選擇權稀釋控制在較低水準？是否有意圖利用目前偏低的股價？

Thanks, Ed. We have been -- although I don't know if it's a hard and fast rule, in those words, it's certainly a commitment that we've made to our investors and to the other people that are interested, that we would pay our debt down post acquisitions until we got to 2.5 or lower. So I think now that we're at that range, we can certainly look to exercise our ability to repurchase shares under this facility. Every capital dollar here competes for its best use. We've said many times that we believe acquisitions are the highest and best use of our capital. So to the extent something is ready to go there, that's our preferred pathway. Should something not be at the lip of the cup, we definitely feel like we're at a place where we could take advantage of reinvesting capital now that we're under 2.5 to repurchase our shares. So it's good that we have those options. And I think that our story there remains consistent with how we've handled that in the past.

謝謝你，Ed。我們一直——雖然我不確定是否能用「硬性規定」這樣的字眼，但這確實是我們對投資人以及其他關注我們的人所做出的承諾：在併購之後，我們會先償還債務，直到槓桿降到2.5或更低。所以我認為，既然我們現在已在那個區間內，我們當然可以考慮運用這項額度下回購股份的能力。在這裡，每一塊資本資金都要競爭其最佳用途。我們多次表示，我們相信併購是資本最高、最好的用途。因此，只要那邊有合適且成熟的機會，那會是我們偏好的路徑。若沒有任何案子已經近在眼前，我們也確實覺得，既然槓桿已低於2.5，我們現在有條件透過回購股份來重新投入資本、把握機會。所以我們有這些選項是好事。而我認為我們在這方面的論述，仍與過去的做法一致。

I guess my other question is related. You've talked about acquisitions in the government space. Curious what your interest level is on the commercial side, any new areas of focus? And then the M&A on the government side has had a depressive effect on your gross margin and your EBITDA margin. Is that -- should we continue to expect that sort of compression as we work our models into the out quarters?

我另一個問題也相關。你們談到在政府領域的併購。我好奇你們對商業端的興趣程度如何，是否有新的聚焦領域？另外，政府端的併購對你們的毛利率與EBITDA利潤率造成了下壓效果。這種——我們是否應該預期在接下來幾季、把模型往外推時，仍會看到這類的利潤率壓縮？

Yes. Well, Ed, there's a lot to that question. So let me take it in pieces. On the commercial side, we certainly are prospecting for potential acquisitions. We feel like we have a great account portfolio in our commercial segments that we serve that not only want to use us for staff augmentation, but also would like us to step into higher-value works. And to the extent we can find the right capabilities, if you will, in the industry segments that are important to us, then it would be great to make acquisitions there and just raise our capability and enhance our value proposition to the CIO.

是的。嗯，Ed，這個問題涵蓋很多內容。我分段來回答。在商業端，我們當然也在尋找潛在的併購標的。我們覺得在我們所服務的商業領域中，我們擁有很好的客戶組合；這些客戶不僅希望我們提供人力增補（staff augmentation），也希望我們能切入更高價值的工作。因此，只要我們能在對我們重要的產業領域中找到合適的能力（capabilities），那麼在那裡進行併購、提升我們的能力並強化我們對CIO的價值主張，會是很棒的事。

We've said on the government side that acquisition is an important part of our strategy there as we move ECS from where it is today to $1 billion and beyond. I don't believe as we stay on that path that we will make acquisitions that would ultimately hurt our progress towards our 5-year plan on our margins. I mean, we've laid out a 5-year plan in 2018 for ASGN that we thought we could get to $5 billion and that we could increase our EBITDA margins to between 12% and 12.5%. And I think growing ECS, both organically and with key acquisitions that support the solutions they want to be in, that we can still manage both ends of that. And then was there a third part to that, Ed?

至於政府端，我們已經說過，隨著我們把ECS從目前的規模推進到10億美元甚至更高，併購是該策略的重要一環。我不認為在我們沿著這條路走下去時，會去做那些最終會傷害我們朝5年計畫利潤率目標前進的併購。我的意思是，我們在2018年為ASGN提出了一個5年計畫，認為我們可以達到50億美元規模，並把EBITDA利潤率提升到12%到12.5%之間。我認為，透過有機成長以及能支持其想要切入之解決方案領域的關鍵併購來擴大ECS，我們仍然可以同時兼顧這兩端。另外，Ed，你剛剛是不是還有第三個部分？

No. You got it.

不。你說對了。

Next in queue, we'll go to the line of Mark Marcon with R.W. Baird.

下一位排隊提問的是來自 R.W. Baird 的 Mark Marcon。

I was wondering, when we take a look at the customer data both for Apex and Oxford, there is a decline in terms of the average number of customers. But obviously, on Apex, you continue to do really well. So I'm just wondering is that part of a deliberate strategy with regards to focusing on key accounts or how should we think about that?

我想請教，當我們看 Apex 與 Oxford 的客戶數據時，平均客戶數似乎在下降。但顯然在 Apex 這邊你們仍然表現得非常好。所以我想了解，這是否部分是刻意的策略，例如聚焦於關鍵客戶？或我們應該如何看待這件事？

Rand, do you want to take that?

Rand，你要回答這題嗎？

Yes. I think, Mark, I wouldn't say it's a deliberate strategy to cull out clients, if you will. We certainly are focused on Fortune 500, now the Fortune 1000. I think what we've seen this past quarter a little bit is the smaller or branch-centric account began to slow down their spend in general. So I don't know that we're walking away from anything. It's just that it's not as brisk as some of the other business we're facing. So it ebbs and flows. Mark, I think generally speaking, though, Apex will largely be a Fortune 500, Fortune 1000 account service provider. Having said that, there will be some ebb and flow in the account base and certainly in the retail account base. Okay?

是的。Mark，我不會說這是一個刻意要剔除客戶的策略。我們確實聚焦於《財富》500 強，現在也擴及《財富》1000 強。我想我們在本季看到的一點是，較小型或以分支機構為主的客戶，其整體支出開始放緩。所以我不認為我們是在放棄任何業務。只是相較於我們面對的其他業務，這部分沒有那麼活躍。因此會有起伏。Mark，一般而言，Apex 大多會是《財富》500 強、《財富》1000 強客戶的服務供應商。話雖如此，客戶基礎當然會有一些起伏，零售客戶基礎也同樣如此。可以嗎？

Okay. And what would you say the primary reason is for those retail accounts potentially curtailing a little bit of their spending? Is it just what we're reading about from a general macro perspective or anything else that you would call out?

好的。那你認為這些零售客戶可能稍微縮減支出的主要原因是什麼？只是我們從整體總體環境讀到的那些因素，還是你會特別指出其他原因？

I think maybe some of it is -- look, it's hard to generalize. I'd say it just depends on the segment, the market segment they're in. Some of it is the smaller accounts can't compete for resources in the same way the bigger accounts can. So you've seen bill rate expansion, not just with us, but with some of our competitors. When it gets a little more expensive to hire these people, the smaller accounts tend to take the back seat. It goes part and parcel, Mark, to what I've said always that technology ripples through the economy through industries. Your big banks, telecommunication, technology companies are first. Government is last. Small retail accounts oftentimes are in that ending pool. And mostly, it's their ability to compete for the resources, where they're embracing technologies as quickly as the others are, so -- but no, I think it's just maybe just kind of where we are in that quarter.

我想其中一部分可能是——你看，這很難一概而論。我會說這取決於他們所處的產業區隔與市場區隔。有些較小的客戶在爭取資源方面，無法像大型客戶那樣競爭。因此你看到費率上升，不只是我們，部分競爭對手也一樣。當雇用這些人才的成本變得更高時，小型客戶往往就會退居次要。Mark，這也與我一直說的相呼應：科技會透過各產業在經濟中層層擴散。大型銀行、電信、科技公司會最先採用。政府則是最後。小型零售客戶往往在那個最後的群體裡。主要是他們在爭取資源的能力，以及他們採用科技的速度是否能跟上其他人——所以，不，我想這可能只是我們在那一季所處的位置。

Okay. Great. And then with regards to just the guidance that you're giving, can you give a little bit of granularity with regards to what your expectations are for ECS? It looks like you had a lot of success there. Looks like DHA is performing well. What percentage of revenue would you anticipate coming from government?

好的。很好。另外，關於你們提供的財測指引，能否更細緻地談談你們對 ECS 的預期？看起來你們在那裡非常成功。DHA 似乎也表現良好。你們預期政府業務會占營收的百分之多少？

Mark, the growth rate that we reported for Q2, you can -- for ECS, you can pretty much expect will be about what we do for Q3.

Mark，我們在第二季所公布的 ECS 成長率，你大致可以預期第三季也會是差不多的表現。

Okay. And how else would you characterize the Apex and Oxford segments?

好的。那你會如何描述 Apex 與 Oxford 這兩個部門的情況？

We don't give growth rates by division, okay, but I think it's pretty similar to what it's been, okay, along the same sort of trajectory.

我們不提供按事業部劃分的成長率，好嗎？但我認為大致與先前相近，沿著同樣的軌跡。

Okay. And then can -- Rand, can you talk a little bit about Creative Circle and what you're seeing there?

好的。那——Rand，你能談談 Creative Circle，以及你們在那邊看到的情況嗎？

Well, I think Creative Circle -- Ted, I'll go ahead if you agree here.

嗯，我想 Creative Circle——Ted，如果你同意的話，我先說。

Yes. Please.

是的。請。

Look, I think we've talked about in the past about Creative Circle really had a niche place and supported ad agencies and some of the creative work companies are doing in revenue generation marketing activities. And that world is being turned upside down. You can read about the ad agency work, you can read about digital marketing. And when you get into more digital marketing, you have a different set of competitors that come into it, the other staffing firms, consulting firms. So the world has changed a bit for them over the past 2 or 3 years, and with that, we've seen some dilution in their growth rate, if you will. They have held very steady on margins. We are also focusing on, I think, a more balanced portfolio of accounts, Mark, both big accounts and small accounts, weaning off of ad agencies, if you will, going direct to the client -- to the end client. All that's in transition.

你看，我想我們過去談過，Creative Circle 一直有其利基定位，主要支援廣告代理商，以及企業在創造營收的行銷活動中所做的一些創意工作。而那個世界正在被徹底顛覆。你可以看到關於廣告代理商業務的報導，也可以看到關於數位行銷的報導。當你更深入數位行銷時，會出現一套不同的競爭者，包括其他人力派遣公司、顧問公司。所以在過去兩三年，他們所處的環境確實有些改變，而隨之而來的，是我們看到他們的成長率有所稀釋。但他們的毛利率一直維持得很穩定。我們也在聚焦於更均衡的客戶組合，Mark，包含大客戶與小客戶，逐步降低對廣告代理商的依賴，改為直接面向客戶——也就是最終客戶。這些都在轉型中。

Having said that, in the quarter, they had a really good strong year last year, as you know, certainly in quarters 2, 3 and 4. In the first 2 quarters of this year, they've come off of that a little bit, but they're still, if you look at other creative marketing companies, they're performing very well compared to their, if you will, peers, but not the growth rate we want. But the good news is we want them to hold their margins and they are doing that. Now they're going to benefit from some of the cross-selling we're doing between Apex, Oxford and Creative Circle around large and bigger accounts. We are going to be pushing some things where I think we can help push, but we don't want to dilute the margins at this point. But on the other side, they've had 2 years now to adjust to this changing market. So I think they're getting through that and I think things will improve for them.

話雖如此，上個年度他們表現非常強勁，你也知道，尤其是第二、第三與第四季。今年前兩季相較之下略有回落，但如果你看其他創意行銷公司，他們相對於同業（如果你願意這麼說）仍然表現得很好，只是成長率不是我們想要的。但好消息是，我們希望他們維持毛利率，而他們確實做到了。此外，他們也會受惠於我們在 Apex、Oxford 與 Creative Circle 之間，針對大型與更大型客戶所做的交叉銷售。我們會推動一些我認為能夠協助推進的事情，但此刻我們不希望稀釋毛利率。另一方面，他們已經有兩年的時間去調整以因應這個變動中的市場。所以我認為他們正在度過這段調整期，情況也會改善。

Perfect. And then just 2 more on the guidance real quick. The 53.6 million share count for Q3 in terms of the guidance that we ended up, 53.4 million, you continue to get the debt down, so we could potentially buy back more stock and that could end up being a conservative number as it relates to the 53.6 million, is that correct?

非常好。再就指引快速問兩個。第三季指引的加權平均股數是 5,360 萬股，而我們最後是 5,340 萬股；你們持續降低負債，所以我們可能會回購更多股票，因此 5,360 萬股這個數字可能偏保守，這樣理解對嗎？

I don't think if I'd qualify it as conservative, but the 53.6 million assumes that we are not buying back stock, okay? But we most likely will. So you're right, the number could come in lower than what we're forecasting.

我不確定我會把它稱為保守，但 5,360 萬股是假設我們不回購股票，好嗎？但我們很可能會回購。所以你說得對，實際數字可能會低於我們的預測。

Great. And just to absolutely clarify with regards to the Q3 margin guide, it's really the perm and the ECS as a percentage of the mix that's really driving things, there's nothing else?

很好。另外，為了完全釐清第三季毛利率指引，主要是因為永久職缺（perm）與 ECS 在組合中的占比變化在驅動，沒有其他因素，對嗎？

If you're talking about the gross margin, yes.

如果你指的是毛利率，是的。

Right. And can you elaborate on the SG&A as well?

對。那你也能說明一下 SG&A 嗎？

Well, I think in the -- we're pretty clear in the prepared remarks in terms of sequentially how much of an increase we will have over what we reported in Q2, and it's about $0.5 million.

嗯，我想我們在事先準備的講稿裡已經很清楚說明了，按季比較相對於第二季我們將增加多少，約為 50 萬美元。

And next in queue, we'll go to the line of Tobey Sommer with SunTrust.

接下來排隊的下一位，我們轉到 SunTrust 的 Tobey Sommer 線上。

Ted, in the context of your long-term margin goals, as you kind of work past the CyberCoders turnover issue, should we look for CyberCoders to be rebuilt up to its prior percentage of sales? Or is that going to be a margin headwind over the next couple of years? Kind of how are you going to manage that?

Ted，在你們長期利潤率目標的脈絡下，當你們逐步走出 CyberCoders 人員流動的問題後，我們是否應該預期 CyberCoders 會重建回到先前占銷售額的比例？還是說這會在未來幾年成為利潤率的逆風？你們打算如何管理？

I don't expect that it will be a margin headwind. I mean, that business has proven over a long period of time that it has good steady growth prospects and that its EBITDA model has been fairly consistent. So I don't believe that could be a headwind, Tobey.

我不預期這會成為利潤率的逆風。我的意思是，這項業務長期以來已證明它具有良好且穩健的成長前景，而且其 EBITDA 模型一直相當一致。所以我不認為那會成為逆風，Tobey。

Okay. So you do intend to kind of build it back? Okay. And then, with respect to ECS, could you give a little color about contract durations and the mix of contract type in your submitted bids? Sort of what does that convey about the margin outlook for the business?

好的。所以你確實打算把它重建回去？好的。另外，關於 ECS，你能否就你們所提交投標中的合約期限以及合約類型的組合提供一些說明？這對該業務的利潤率展望傳達了什麼？

Sure. I'll let George talk to that. George?

當然。我讓 George 來談這個。George？

Yes. Thanks, Ted, and thanks, Tobey. So yes, let's talk about margins for a second here. We don't give out segment margins, but I will tell you that the ECS EBITDA margin is second to only one other company in our industry space. In terms of growth rates, pro forma as well as stand-alone, we're 2x the industry average in our peer group. Our book-to-bill, we've reported our contract backlog has increased 9.5%. And our contract mix has moved more and more toward time and materials and fixed price with the DHA acquisition. And over the last year, we've doubled their EBITDA margins from where they were a year ago.

是的。謝謝你，Ted，也謝謝你，Tobey。那我們先談一下利潤率。我們不提供分部利潤率，但我可以告訴你，ECS 的 EBITDA 利潤率在我們產業領域中僅次於另一家公司。就成長率而言，無論是備考（pro forma）或單體（stand-alone），我們在同業同儕群中都是產業平均的 2 倍。就 book-to-bill 而言，我們已揭露合約積壓（backlog）增加了 9.5%。而且隨著 DHA 的收購，我們的合約組合愈來愈偏向按工時與材料（time and materials）以及固定價格（fixed price）。並且在過去一年，我們把他們的 EBITDA 利潤率相較一年前提高到 2 倍。

So we're seeing a lot of positive movements in terms of our EBITDA margins, our growth and our contract backlog. The submitted awaiting award that I said was close to $2 billion. And the activity increases, I only see that going up over the next couple of quarters. And I do see also that our book-to-bill, which over the last trailing 12 months, you know how the book-to-bill can go quarter-by-quarter, you can get a little bit of something that's just one time, but over the last 12 months, it's 1.5. So we're on a pretty good tear in terms of growth and in terms of an increase in our margins in our space.

因此，我們在 EBITDA 利潤率、成長以及合約積壓方面都看到許多正向變化。我提到的已提交、等待授標的金額接近 20 億美元。而活動量的增加，我只看到在接下來幾個季度會持續上升。另外我也看到，我們的 book-to-bill 在過去 12 個月的滾動期間為 1.5；你知道 book-to-bill 可能會按季度波動，有時會出現一些一次性的因素，但就過去 12 個月而言是 1.5。所以就我們領域而言，我們在成長以及利潤率提升方面都處於相當強勁的上升趨勢。

And the other thing I'll talk about is that the type of work that we're winning, the recent awards, we've had this one, the recent awards that we'll announce next quarter because we picked them up in the last 30 days, are all very high-end, very long duration, prime contracts with very mission-focused customers that are benefiting from the positive environment in the space and congressional plus-ups and stuff like that. So yes, we feel pretty bullish about it.

另外我想談的是，我們正在贏得的工作類型、近期的得標——包括這一筆，以及我們將在下個季度宣布的近期得標（因為是在最近 30 天內拿到的）——全部都是非常高端、期限很長的主承包（prime）合約，客戶也都非常聚焦於任務（mission-focused），並且受惠於該領域的正向環境以及國會追加撥款（plus-ups）之類的因素。所以是的，我們對此相當樂觀。

Great. Really, what I was -- the first part of my question was getting after contract duration, which I understand is being elongated in the industry and for yourselves. It renders, from the outside, book-to-bill and contract awards to be a tool of limited utility when we're trying to forecast because the contract awards could be for a longer term. So could you parse that out? If you were to have apples-to-apples term, would the contract awards over the last 12 months still be a nice positive figure, over 1?

很好。其實我問題的第一部分是想了解合約期限；我理解在產業內、以及你們這邊，合約期限正在拉長。從外部來看，這會使 book-to-bill 和合約授標在我們嘗試做預測時，成為效用有限的工具，因為合約授標可能涵蓋更長的期間。所以你能否把這部分拆解一下？如果用可比的期限（apples-to-apples）來看，過去 12 個月的合約授標仍會是一個不錯的正向數字、仍大於 1 嗎？

Yes, typically what we're doing are 3- to 5-year contracts is what we're -- so, okay?

是的，通常我們做的是 3 到 5 年期的合約——我們是這樣做的——所以，好嗎？

So George, I'd say there's -- you don't see a meaningful difference in the contract duration in these -- through DHA and some other awards we've had, a higher move towards time and materials. So Tobey, I think to your question, I don't know that, that portrays anything different, if you will, for us in terms of how we expect to play that out in the future.

所以 George，我會說——你不會在這些合約期限上看到有意義的差異；透過 DHA 以及我們拿到的其他一些案子，合約類型更往按工時與材料的方向移動。所以 Tobey，我想就你的問題而言，我不確定那是否在我們對未來如何展開（play that out）的預期上，呈現出任何不同之處。

Yes. No, it's same contract -- average contract length to what we've got.

是的。沒有，合約相同——平均合約長度跟我們現有的一樣。

Okay. Ted, how do you plan on managing the headcount growth internally with respect to kind of hitting your revenue growth targets in -- across the different businesses, if you could provide a little bit of color?

好的。Ted，你打算如何在內部管理人力（headcount）成長，以便達成你們在各項不同業務上的營收成長目標？如果可以的話，能否提供一些說明？

Yes. Well, look, we're always investing in ourselves. Typically, what you'll see is our headcount growth, and I've said this before, trails slightly the rate of growth of the business. So we're always investing in ourselves to grow organically. We're also always striving for, expecting and getting, higher levels of productivity here. They always needs to keep benching up. So I mean, I think our plan on a constant basis is to continue to invest in the people aspect of our business in order to help us to grow, but you should expect it to be just a little bit less than the rate of growth of the business because we do expect that increase in productivity.

是的。嗯，你看，我們一直都在投資自己。通常你會看到我們的人力成長——我以前也說過——會略微落後於業務的成長速度。所以我們一直在投資自己以推動有機成長。我們也一直在努力、期待並且實際達成更高的生產力水準。我們也一直需要把人才儲備（bench）補強。所以我的意思是，我們的計畫是持續投資於業務中的人才面向以協助成長，但你應該預期人力成長會比業務成長率略低一些，因為我們確實預期生產力會提升。

Next in queue, we'll go to the line of Seth Weber, RBC Capital Markets.

接下來排隊的下一位，我們轉到 RBC Capital Markets 的 Seth Weber 線上。

I think on the last quarterly call, you gave some exit rate trends for the first quarter for Apex and Oxford. I was wondering if you could -- if you'd be willing to do that again here for this quarter.

我記得在上一季的電話會議上，你們提供了第一季 Apex 和 Oxford 的一些期末（exit rate）趨勢。我想請問你們是否可以——是否願意在這一季也再提供一次？

Sure, Seth. So in the past, we've given you data on this call for how the first 2 weeks have been versus the 2 weeks of the quarter in the prior year. I think as our business evolves, it becomes less meaningful, especially now with ECS being nearly 20% of the business, and they don't have a metric, if you will, of that regard that helps. I will tell you that if we would have published the information, the first 2 weeks of this year would have been up high single digits over the same period last year. But it's not very predictive, in my estimation, of where the business is headed. So I would take that with a grain of salt.

當然可以，Seth。過去我們在這通電話上提供過數據，說明本年度前兩週相較於前一年同季度前兩週的表現。我認為隨著我們的業務演進，這變得比較沒有意義，尤其是現在 ECS 已接近占整體業務的 20%，而他們並沒有一個在這方面有幫助的指標。我可以告訴你，如果我們當時公布這個資訊，今年前兩週相較去年同期會是高個位數的成長。但以我估計，這對於預測業務走向並不是很有預測性。所以我會建議你對此保留一些彈性解讀。

Okay. Fair enough. And I guess, I know you're not giving segment revenue guidance, but just on the Oxford business being down here in the second quarter, do you think that's representative -- I mean, directionally, is that representative of how we should think about it as this transition takes a little bit of time to work its way through? Or I'm just trying to think through how long this process might take when you think that growth stays negative here through the next couple of quarters?

好的。可以理解。另外我想，我知道你們不提供分部營收指引，但就 Oxford 這項業務在第二季下滑而言，你認為這是否具有代表性——也就是方向上，這是否代表我們應該如何看待它，因為這個轉型需要一些時間才能逐步完成？或者我只是想釐清，當你們認為接下來幾個季度成長仍會維持負值時，這個過程大概會需要多久？

So remember, the Oxford division, if you will, and the Oxford Segment are 2 different things. So slight growth in the Oxford business in the second quarter. In the segment, though, it was offset by revenue loss, if you will, at CyberCoders. So the Oxford business did slightly grow and expanded its EBITDA margins. And our expectations are that Oxford business will continue to grow there. There are pieces of it that are growing nicely. There are others that are coming up. And we look to do better in the future. So we do expect them to grow. However, I think to Ed's comments earlier, we are -- CyberCoders is a mix of the business. And remember, it's plus or minus $25 million out of the $1 billion in revenues for the quarter. We think that, that may be a slightly lower mix, if you will, in the third quarter and our guidance reflects that.

所以請記住，所謂的 Oxford 事業部（division）與 Oxford 事業群（Segment）是兩個不同的概念。因此，Oxford 業務在第二季出現些微成長。不過在事業群層面，這被 CyberCoders 的營收下滑（如果你願意這麼說）所抵銷。所以 Oxford 業務確實小幅成長，且其 EBITDA 利潤率也有所擴張。我們的預期是 Oxford 業務將會持續成長。其中有些部分成長得相當不錯。也有一些部分正在追趕上來。我們希望未來能做得更好。因此我們確實預期它們會成長。不過，我想呼應 Ed 先前的評論，我們——CyberCoders 只是業務組合的一部分。而且請記得，在本季 10 億美元營收中，它的影響大約是正負 2,500 萬美元。我們認為第三季它在組合中的占比可能會略低一些（如果你願意這麼說），我們的指引也反映了這點。

Next in queue, we'll go to the line of Kevin McVeigh with Crédit Suisse.

接下來排隊的提問，我們請 Crédit Suisse 的 Kevin McVeigh 這一路。

This is Palmer on for Kevin. Maybe one for George. Looking at DHA, can you expand on the revenue synergies you mentioned in the prepared remarks and some of the cross-selling that you folks talked about?

我是 Palmer，代 Kevin 發言。可能有一題想問 George。談到 DHA，你能否進一步說明你在事先準備的講稿中提到的營收協同效益，以及你們談到的一些交叉銷售？

Ted, would you like me to take that now?

Ted，你希望我現在回答嗎？

Yes. Please, George.

是的。請說，George。

Yes, sure. Okay. So they were very, very heavy into the FBI, Department of Justice. We had presence in the Department of Justice as well. We've been doing for the last 9 years, the combined DNA Index System development. So there are some opportunities that we targeted and we won together in that realm. As well as what we're finding is their deep relationships with a lot of the customers and their length of time that they've been in with working with these customers, we're finding that our capabilities in cloud and particularly -- and then cyber are benefiting these customers as we reach out and talk to them. And so we're being able to do some cross-selling there as well.

好的，當然。好。他們在 FBI 與司法部（Department of Justice）方面的比重非常、非常高。我們在司法部也有布局。過去 9 年來，我們一直在做「綜合 DNA 索引系統」（Combined DNA Index System）的開發。因此在那個領域，我們鎖定了一些機會，並且一起贏得了案子。另外，我們也發現，他們與許多客戶有非常深厚的關係，而且與這些客戶合作的時間很長；當我們主動接觸並與他們溝通時，我們在雲端能力、尤其是——以及資安方面的能力，正在讓這些客戶受益。因此我們也能在那裡進行一些交叉銷售。

And then the last thing that we're doing, again, is that we found that their relationships and their program managers and some of their technologists are just outstanding in terms of some of the ways that we can use their skill sets and cross-sell back in some of the contracts that we've also had. I remember, last quarter, I think we announced that we won the FBI's red team blue team contract, which is to run all the red team blue teams for the FBI. And so again, we're able to move some of their relationships, some of their capabilities and strengthen our ability to serve that customer as well. So it's been a good positive experience on both sides, which is what you want when you go do an acquisition like this.

再來，我們正在做的最後一件事同樣是：我們發現他們的人脈關係、他們的專案經理以及部分技術人員都非常出色，讓我們能以他們的技能組合在我們既有的一些合約中加以運用，並反向進行交叉銷售。我記得上季我們宣布贏得了 FBI 的紅隊藍隊合約，也就是負責執行 FBI 全部的紅隊藍隊工作。因此同樣地，我們能把他們的一些關係與能力帶進來，強化我們服務該客戶的能力。所以這對雙方而言都是很好的正向經驗，而這正是你進行這類併購時所希望看到的。

(Operator Instructions) We'll go to the line of Surinder Thind with Jefferies.

（接線員指示）我們接著請 Jefferies 的 Surinder Thind 這一路。

I'd like to start with the deal pipeline. Can you maybe provide a little bit of additional color there in terms of when you're looking at deals, what the valuations kind of look at this point in time? And then maybe, from an opportunities perspective, the balance of kind of looking at something maybe a little bit more strategic versus maybe, I'll say, a more financial-oriented acquisition, one that can be rolled right into your existing business, any thoughts there would be appreciated.

我想先從交易案源（deal pipeline）開始。你能否就目前在看案子時的估值水準，提供一些額外的說明？另外，從機會的角度來看，在偏策略性的標的與偏財務導向的併購（也就是可以直接併入你們既有業務的那種）之間的取捨或平衡，你們有什麼想法？若能分享將不勝感激。

Look, I think that a couple of things there. So the pipeline is strong, it's active and we're doing a lot of work there to evaluate opportunities there. I would say there is a lot of competition out there for good businesses, but at the same time, that's not necessarily new here in the technology space. And so it's an environment that we're used to working and evaluating and working through. If you think about acquisitions for us in the future, I think we've been pretty clear that we're very happy with our account portfolio, both into the gov space and in the commercial space, and we continue to grow that and add important clients. But what we'll continue to make a sticky with those clients is to have the right solution sets for them. And so acquiring businesses that have key solution sets that we see in the marketplace and the customers that we serve is very important. And to the extent we can find those and bring those to bear, integrate them into our businesses and provide those services to the customer, that's going to be positive for our business over the long haul.

我想這裡有幾點。首先，案源很強、很活躍，我們也投入大量工作來評估相關機會。我會說，市場上對優質企業的競爭非常激烈，但同時，這在科技領域其實也不是什麼新鮮事。因此這是我們熟悉、也習慣在其中運作、評估並推進的環境。如果你思考我們未來的併購，我想我們一直很清楚地表示，我們對自身的客戶組合非常滿意，無論是在政府端或商業端；我們也會持續成長並新增重要客戶。但要讓這些客戶對我們更「黏著」（sticky），關鍵在於提供他們正確的解決方案組合。因此，收購擁有關鍵解決方案組合的企業——也就是我們在市場上看到、且我們所服務的客戶需要的那些——非常重要。只要我們能找到這些標的、把它們帶進來、整合到我們的業務中，並向客戶提供這些服務，長期而言都會對我們的業務帶來正面影響。

That's helpful. And then in terms of just some of the disclosures, it looks like there's been a slight change. One of them is you used to provide like staffing consultant numbers by the different divisions. It looks like you guys have moved to kind of more of a total hours worked component there or disclosure. And then also in the past, it appeared that maybe there was more quantitative disclosures around your organic growth rates in the -- within each of the segments or within each of the divisions or the subdivisions. Any thoughts on that at this point?

這很有幫助。另外就一些揭露項目來看，似乎有些微變動。其中之一是，你們過去會按不同事業部提供派遣顧問（staffing consultant）人數。看起來你們已改為揭露「總工時」或「工作時數」的構成。此外，過去似乎也有更多關於各事業群、各事業部或子事業部內部有機成長率的量化揭露。對於目前這些變動，你們有什麼想法嗎？

I think the one change that we made in the supplemental information is to give you the number of billable hours worked for the Apex and Oxford segments versus just consultant headcount. That's a truer reflection of the volume of work going on. So that's a minor change. I don't think it's material to anything other than just to try to give you a better metric around that.

我想我們在補充資訊中做的那個變動，是提供 Apex 與 Oxford 事業群的可計費工時（billable hours）數，而不是只提供顧問人數。這能更真實地反映實際的工作量。所以這只是個小變動。我不認為它對任何事情有重大影響，主要只是希望提供一個更好的衡量指標。

(Operator Instructions) And speakers, currently we have no additional questions in queue. Please do continue.

（接線員指示）各位講者，目前等候提問的隊列中沒有其他問題。請繼續。

Great. Well, I want to thank everyone for being here with us today on the call. We look forward to being with you in 90 days to discuss our third quarter. And as always, we appreciate your interest in ASGN and look forward to speaking with you soon. Thanks.

好的。我想感謝各位今天參與我們的電話會議。我們期待在 90 天後再與各位相會，討論我們的第三季表現。一如既往，我們感謝各位對 ASGN 的關注，也期待很快再與各位交流。謝謝。

And that does conclude our conference for today. We thank you for your participation and for using the AT&T Executive TeleConference. You may now disconnect.

以上即為今天的電話會議內容。感謝各位的參與，並使用 AT&T Executive TeleConference。各位現在可以掛線。