Everforth, Inc. (EFOR) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the ASGN Incorporated fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Kimberly Esterkin of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

各位好，歡迎參加 ASGN Incorporated 2025 年第四季及全年財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 現在我很榮幸介紹今天的主持人：投資人關係部的 Kimberly Esterkin。謝謝。您可以開始了。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today for ASGN's soon to Everforth's fourth quarter and full year 2025 conference call. With me are Ted Hanson, Chief Executive Officer; Shiv Iyer, President; and Marie Perry, Chief Financial Officer.

各位下午好。感謝各位今天參加 ASGN（即將更名為 Everforth）的 2025 年第四季及全年電話會議。與我一同出席的有：執行長 Ted Hanson、總裁 Shiv Iyer，以及財務長 Marie Perry。

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

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有重大差異。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。為方便各位，我們的事先準備講稿與補充資料可於 investors.asgn.com 網站的投資人關係專區查閱。

Please also note that on this call, we will be referencing certain non-GAAP 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 GAAP and non-GAAP measures are included in today's press release.

也請注意，本次電話會議將引用若干非 GAAP 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於今日新聞稿中。

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

接下來我將把電話會議交給執行長 Ted Hanson。

Thank you, Kim, and thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. As we begin 2026, I want to thank everyone who joined us for our Investor Day this past November. And if you've not had a chance to view the presentation, a replay of the webcast is available on our website. Our Investor Day provided a valuable platform to showcase our Next Wave growth strategy and the significant progress we made in our transition toward higher value, higher-margin technology and digital engineering solutions. At this event, we also had the opportunity to introduce several of our solutions leaders, presentations brought to life our advanced capabilities in AI, cybersecurity and enterprise platforms.

謝謝你，Kim，也感謝各位參加我們 2025 年第四季及全年財報電話會議。在我們邁入 2026 年之際，我想感謝所有在去年 11 月參加我們投資人日的朋友。若您尚未觀看簡報，我們網站上提供網路直播的重播。投資人日為我們提供了寶貴的平台，展示我們的 Next Wave 成長策略，以及我們在轉型至更高價值、更高毛利的科技與數位工程解決方案方面所取得的重大進展。在該活動中，我們也有機會介紹多位解決方案領導人，相關簡報生動呈現了我們在 AI、資安與企業平台方面的先進能力。

AI is now a dominant driver of demand with nearly 80% of enterprises planning to increase their AI spending in 2026. These investments are driving growth in solution capabilities, vital to the successful deployment of the AI enterprise-wide. Shiv Iyer, our President, will speak more on that shortly.

AI 現已成為需求的主導驅動力，近 80% 的企業計畫在 2026 年增加其 AI 支出。這些投資正推動解決方案能力的成長，而這對於在企業範圍內成功部署 AI 至關重要。我們的總裁 Shiv Iyer 稍後將就此進一步說明。

Turning to our fourth quarter 2025 results, which we previewed with you in our recent Quinnox announcement. ASGN Delivered solid results for the quarter. Revenues of $980.1 million were at the top end of our guidance range, with IT consulting revenues comprising 63% of the total, up from 59% in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 11%, exceeding our expectation. Commercial consulting bookings hit a record $444.4 million, translating to a book-to-bill of 1.3 times for the quarter and 1.2 times on a trailing 12-month basis.

接著談我們 2025 年第四季的業績（我們已在近期 Quinnox 公告中向各位預告）。ASGN 本季交出穩健成果。營收為 9.801 億美元，位於我們財測區間的上緣；其中 IT 顧問服務營收占總營收 63%，高於去年同期的 59%。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 11%，優於我們的預期。商業顧問服務接單金額創下 4.444 億美元新高，對應本季接單/出單比（book-to-bill）為 1.3 倍，過去 12 個月滾動基礎為 1.2 倍。

Volume of new consulting work continues to grow, as our customers increasingly recognize the importance of preparing data, building infrastructure and deploying enterprise platforms to harness the full potential of AI.

新的顧問專案量持續成長，因為客戶愈來愈認知到：為了充分發揮 AI 的潛力，必須先做好資料準備、建置基礎架構並部署企業平台。

In our Federal segment, new contract awards totaled $144.2 million or a book-to-bill of 0.9 times on a trailing 12-month basis. Federal contract backlog was approximately $3 billion at quarter end or a coverage ratio of 2.5 times the segment's trailing 12-month revenues. In addition to traditional holiday-related seasonality, the lengthy government shutdown delayed new award activity in the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, we are seeing solid pent-up demand in Q1 and increased Defense Intelligence and National Security budgets, position our federal business strongly for the future. As we discussed at our Investor Day, our clients are increasingly seeking us out as one of their strategic technology partners.

在聯邦業務部門，新合約得標總額為 1.442 億美元，過去 12 個月滾動基礎的接單/出單比為 0.9 倍。截至季末，聯邦合約在手訂單約為 30 億美元，覆蓋比率為該部門過去 12 個月滾動營收的 2.5 倍。除傳統與假期相關的季節性因素外，冗長的政府停擺也使第四季的新得標活動延後。儘管如此，我們在第一季看到穩健的遞延需求，加上國防情報與國家安全預算增加，使我們的聯邦業務在未來具備強勁定位。如同我們在投資人日所討論的，客戶愈來愈把我們視為其策略性科技合作夥伴之一，並主動尋求與我們合作。

To meet this demand, we've been proactively transforming our business. advancing our solution capabilities, developing proprietary assets and accelerators and partnering with leading technology companies to better serve our clients' IT needs.

為了滿足這項需求，我們一直在主動推動業務轉型：提升解決方案能力、開發自有資產與加速器，並與領先的科技公司建立合作夥伴關係，以更好地滿足客戶的 IT 需求。

Continuing this transformation momentum in the first half of 2026, we will be adopting a new customer and investor-facing brand Everforth, unifying our commercial and federal brands under a single dynamic identity, our transition to Everforth, a name rooted in for progress is designed to unlock our scale as an enterprise and increase cross-selling by bringing the breadth of our solutions to our enterprise clients, all while supporting continued revenue growth and margin expansion.

為延續這股轉型動能，我們將在 2026 年上半年採用新的、面向客戶與投資人的品牌 Everforth，將我們的商業與聯邦品牌整合於單一且具活力的識別之下。我們向 Everforth 的轉型——這個名稱根植於「向前進步」的理念——旨在釋放我們作為企業的規模效益，透過把我們解決方案的廣度帶給企業客戶來提升交叉銷售，同時支持營收持續成長與利潤率擴張。

While organic revenue growth remains a primary focus, we will also pursue strategic acquisitions that enhance our solutions capabilities and technology partnerships. I'm pleased to report, just two weeks ago, we announced our intent to acquire Quinnox, an agile, results-driven digital solutions provider. As an acquirer of choice, we employ a proven, repeatable acquisition strategy, our M&A playbook, which is guided by well-defined strategic filters and rigorous financial criteria. The acquisition of Quinnox followed this disciplined approach. From a strategic standpoint, joining forces with Quinnox represents a key step forward in our long-term strategy to enhance our digital engineering and global delivery capabilities.

在有機營收成長仍為首要重點的同時，我們也將尋求能強化解決方案能力與科技合作夥伴關係的策略性併購。我很高興報告，就在兩週前，我們宣布有意收購 Quinnox——一家敏捷、以成果為導向的數位解決方案供應商。作為首選收購方，我們採用一套經驗證、可重複的併購策略（我們的 M&A 作戰手冊），其以明確的策略篩選條件與嚴謹的財務標準為指引。收購 Quinnox 即遵循此一紀律化方法。從策略面來看，與 Quinnox 攜手合作，是我們長期策略中的關鍵一步，可提升我們的數位工程與全球交付能力。

Like ASGN, Quinnox is exceptionally client-centric, maintaining customer relationships for well over a decade. We're excited to leverage their established client connections to broaden our market presence, and as we did with GlideFast and TopBloc, pilled Quinnox's capabilities across our gold nugget commercial client base. From a financial perspective, Quinnox is an accretive transaction that strengthens our market position without compromising the strength of our balance sheet or our financial flexibility. Our disciplined approach to capital allocation enables us to make strategic acquisitions like Quinnox, while still investing organically and buying back our shares.

與 ASGN 一樣，Quinnox 以客戶為中心的程度非常突出，與客戶維持超過十年的合作關係。我們很期待運用其既有的客戶連結來擴大我們的市場版圖；並如同我們對 GlideFast 與 TopBloc 所做的，將 Quinnox 的能力在我們優質的商業客戶基礎中加以複製推廣。從財務角度來看，Quinnox 是一筆具增益（accretive）的交易，可在不削弱我們資產負債表實力或財務彈性的前提下，強化我們的市場地位。我們在資本配置上的紀律，使我們得以進行如 Quinnox 這類策略性併購，同時仍能投入有機投資並回購自家股票。

In the fourth quarter, we generated $93.7 million in free cash flow and bought back $64.2 million in shares. We continued to repurchase shares in the first quarter and with the newly a approved $1 billion share repurchase program, we are well positioned to provide sustainable shareholder returns. To build upon our discussion, let me now turn the call over to our President, Shiv Iyer, to speak about Quinnox's digital engineering capabilities and global delivery strength.

第四季我們創造了 9,370 萬美元的自由現金流，並回購了 6,420 萬美元的股票。我們在第一季持續回購股票；在新近核准的 10 億美元股票回購計畫支持下，我們已具備良好條件提供可持續的股東報酬。為延續我們的討論，接下來我把電話會議交給總裁 Shiv Iyer，請他談談 Quinnox 的數位工程能力與全球交付優勢。

Thanks, Ted. It's great to speak with everyone this afternoon. It has certainly been a busy and productive start to the new year, and I shared Ted's enthusiasm about the acquisition of Quinnox. Over the past few months, I've had the opportunity to meet with Quinnox's executive team. It is very clear from our meetings that there is a strong cultural fit between our organizations.

謝謝你，Ted。很高興今天下午能與各位交流。新年伊始確實忙碌且成果豐碩，我也同樣對收購 Quinnox 感到振奮。在過去幾個月，我有機會與 Quinnox 的管理團隊會面。從我們的會談中可以非常清楚地看出，兩個組織在文化上高度契合。

Cultural alignment is at the heart of the successful acquisition and integral to the comprehensive process that shapes the M&A playbook Ted discussed. During our Investor Day, we spoke about our journey towards becoming a top-tier technology and digital engineering company. And I'm proud to report that we're well on our way to expanding our digital engineering capabilities. Fourth quarter bookings for application engineering and services practice nearly doubled quarter-over-quarter.

文化契合是成功併購的核心，也是 Ted 所討論、塑造併購（M&A）作戰手冊之全面流程中不可或缺的一環。在我們的投資人日（Investor Day）上，我們談到了邁向成為頂尖科技與數位工程公司的旅程。我很自豪地報告，我們正穩步擴展數位工程能力。第四季應用工程與服務實務的接單量較前一季幾乎翻倍。

By integrating Quinnox's deep expertise in application management and modernization, analytics and enterprise platforms into our existing practice, we will immediately expand our market share. In addition, Quinnox's alliance partnerships with companies such as AWS, Databricks, Salesforce, SAP and Calypso complement our own partner network and will enable us to co-create agile future-ready solutions that accelerate value for our customers.

透過將 Quinnox 在應用管理與現代化、分析以及企業平台方面的深厚專業整合進我們既有的實務中，我們將立即擴大市占率。此外，Quinnox 與 AWS、Databricks、Salesforce、SAP 及 Calypso 等公司的聯盟夥伴關係，能補強我們自身的合作夥伴網絡，並使我們得以共同打造敏捷、面向未來的解決方案，加速為客戶創造價值。

The ability to deliver complex digital engineering capabilities is key for us to be competitive. Quinnox significantly enhances our delivery capability and broadens our delivery footprint with its highly mature global capability centers in India. These centers will form the foundation of our offshore delivery platform and complement our best-in-class nearshore operations in Mexico. As a leader in offshore delivery, Quinnox deploys cutting-edge technologies, including AI across its delivery model. Quinnox's proprietary assets combined with an AI-first workforce, help promote automation, compliance, speed to value for every single client.

具備交付複雜數位工程能力的實力，是我們保持競爭力的關鍵。Quinnox 透過其在印度高度成熟的全球能力中心，顯著提升我們的交付能力，並擴大我們的交付版圖。這些中心將成為我們離岸交付平台的基礎，並與我們在墨西哥一流的近岸營運相互補強。作為離岸交付的領導者，Quinnox 在其交付模式中部署尖端技術，包括全面導入 AI。Quinnox 的專有資產結合 AI 優先（AI-first）的人才隊伍，有助於推動自動化、合規並加速價值實現，惠及每一位客戶。

As Ted emphasized, we are an acquirer of choice, and I'd like to believe that part of that strong reputation comes from our unique market positioning. We have the scale of a large IT services player, but also the velocity and agility of the start-up. An agile results-driven digital technology company like Quinnox, aligned seamlessly with our business objectives and supports our long-term growth strategy. With that as background, let's turn to our industry performance for the fourth quarter. In our Commercial segment, year-over-year growth was driven by a combination of improvements in health care accounts, which improved by mid-teens and consumer and industrial accounts, which improved by low teens.

正如 Ted 所強調，我們是首選的併購方（acquirer of choice），我相信這份強勁聲譽的一部分來自我們獨特的市場定位。我們具備大型 IT 服務業者的規模，同時也擁有新創公司的速度與敏捷性。像 Quinnox 這樣敏捷、以成果為導向的數位科技公司，與我們的業務目標無縫一致，並支持我們的長期成長策略。在此背景之下，讓我們轉向第四季的產業表現。在商業（Commercial）部門，年增成長來自醫療保健客戶（提升至十幾個百分點的中段）以及消費與工業客戶（提升至十幾個百分點的低段）的改善組合所帶動。

Growth in the health care industry was seen across our provider pharmaceutical and biotech clients. In the consumer and industrial space, industrial saw the largest improvement, followed by materials and utilities accounts. We also achieved low single-digit revenue growth in the TMT vertical as compared to the prior year. Looking sequentially, on a billable day adjusted basis, we saw growth in four of our five commercial segment industries. Health care accounts posted mid-single-digit improvements with growth in payers, providers and pharmaceutical accounts.

醫療保健產業的成長遍及我們的醫療服務提供者、製藥與生技客戶。在消費與工業領域，工業的改善幅度最大，其次為材料與公用事業客戶。相較前一年，我們在 TMT 垂直領域也達成低個位數的營收成長。若以序列（逐季）觀察，並以可計費天數調整後為基礎，我們在商業部門五個產業中的四個出現成長。醫療保健客戶錄得中個位數改善，成長來自付款方（payers）、服務提供者（providers）以及製藥客戶。

TMT also improved mid-single digits with telecom, e-commerce and software and services all increasing. In addition, as we anticipated on our last quarter's call, the financial services industry returned to sequential growth on a billable day adjusted basis, picking up low single-digit improvements from the third quarter of 2025. Within this industry, we achieved sequential improvements in wealth management, regional banks, diversified financials and insurance accounts.

TMT 也改善至中個位數，電信、電商以及軟體與服務皆呈增加。此外，正如我們在上一季電話會議中所預期，金融服務產業在可計費天數調整後的基礎上恢復序列成長，較 2025 年第三季提升低個位數。在該產業內，我們在財富管理、區域銀行、多元金融與保險客戶方面皆取得序列改善。

In our Federal segment, we track our revenues across four types of customers, which are Defense & Intelligence, National Security, Civilian and other Clients. Defense, Intelligence and National Security accounts continue to comprise approximately 70% of our total government revenues. Government-sponsored entities such as USPS, state and local customers and commercial entities comprise our other clients' categories. The other clients category saw mid-teens growth year-over-year due to expansion of our data, AI and modernization efforts for USPS as well as increases in cybersecurity work for commercial clients. Defense and Intelligence revenues improved low single digits year-over-year due in part to additional funding for Project Maven, a flagship geospatial AI contract for the Department of War.

在聯邦（Federal）部門，我們按四類客戶追蹤營收，分別為國防與情報（Defense & Intelligence）、國家安全（National Security）、民用（Civilian）及其他客戶（other Clients）。國防、情報與國家安全客戶仍約占我們政府總營收的 70%。由政府資助的機構（如 USPS）、州與地方客戶以及商業實體構成我們「其他客戶」類別。由於我們為 USPS 擴大資料、AI 與現代化工作，以及為商業客戶增加資安工作，「其他客戶」類別年增達十幾個百分點的中段成長。國防與情報營收年增低個位數，部分原因是「Maven 計畫」（Project Maven）獲得額外資金支持；該計畫是戰爭部（Department of War）旗艦級的地理空間 AI 合約。

For those who have not had a chance to view our Investor Day presentation, I highly recommend watching the video on Project Maven, an incredible case study in mission-ready AI. Moving from industries to solutions. As Ted highlighted at the beginning of today's call, we continue to secure projects that strengthen technology infrastructure and enable governance readiness for enterprise-wide AI usage. Let me provide a few examples from the fourth quarter.

若各位尚未觀看我們投資人日的簡報，我強烈建議觀看關於 Maven 計畫（Project Maven）的视频，這是一個任務就緒（mission-ready）AI 的精彩案例研究。從產業轉到解決方案。如同 Ted 在今天電話會議一開始所提到的，我們持續取得能強化科技基礎設施、並使企業範圍 AI 使用具備治理就緒（governance readiness）的專案。我提供幾個第四季的例子。

For a top five US bank, our financial service industry experts were engaged to improve the bank's testing, automation and governance ecosystem, working hand-in-hand with our clients, we deployed a bank-wide modernization program across online banking, mobile platforms and partner integrations, vastly improving our clients' enterprise-wide functionality and governance.

針對一家美國前五大銀行，我們的金融服務產業專家受邀協助改善該行的測試、自動化與治理生態系；我們與客戶密切合作，在網路銀行、行動平台與合作夥伴整合等面向推動全行現代化計畫，大幅提升客戶在企業範圍的功能性與治理能力。

Also within Financial Services, our team helped a major US online banking and credit card company, maintain its system performance as it underwent the merger with another major financial institution. As a part of this DevOps project, our engineering and applications team coordinated infrastructure changes, monitored system health and managed the building, testing and deploying of software to ensure a smooth transition at the two banks joined forces.

同樣在金融服務領域，我們的團隊協助一家美國大型網路銀行與信用卡公司，在其與另一家大型金融機構合併期間維持系統效能。作為此 DevOps 專案的一部分，我們的工程與應用團隊協調基礎設施變更、監控系統健康狀況，並管理軟體的建置、測試與部署，以確保兩家銀行合併時能平順過渡。

On the theme of data migration, during the fourth quarter, our telecom industry experts partnered with Snowflake for whom we are an elite AI data and cloud services partner to enable a major US connectivity and communications company to centralize marketing data from a variety of external vendor systems in Snowflake. Now in the first quarter of 2026, we are laying a governed foundation for Snowflake's Cortex, Snowflake's native AI/ML capability that will enable our clients to securely run built-in features such as large language models, AI-powered apps and Gen AI insights. AI's explosive growth powered by soaring energy demand is driving unprecedented expansion in data center capacity worldwide.

以資料遷移為主題，在第四季，我們的電信產業專家與 Snowflake 合作；我們是其菁英級 AI 資料與雲端服務合作夥伴，協助一家美國大型連線與通訊公司，將來自多個外部供應商系統的行銷資料集中至 Snowflake。而在 2026 年第一季，我們正為 Snowflake 的 Cortex 建立具治理的基礎；Cortex 是 Snowflake 原生的 AI/ML 能力，可讓客戶安全地運行內建功能，例如大型語言模型、AI 驅動應用與生成式 AI 洞察。AI 的爆發式成長，加上能源需求飆升，正推動全球資料中心容量以前所未有的速度擴張。

Our cloud and infrastructure team actively collaborating with clients and rapidly scaling their AI data center fleets. For example, we're currently partnering with a major hyperscaler to operationalize multiple data centers on what is already one of the largest AI data center campuses in the world. For this project, we are responsible for managing the hyperscalers critical environments and leading the complex logistics required to deploy and integrate the data center's advanced system.

我們的雲端與基礎設施團隊正積極與客戶合作，並快速擴大其 AI 資料中心機群規模。例如，我們目前正與一家主要超大規模雲端業者（hyperscaler）合作，在全球最大 AI 資料中心園區之一上，將多座資料中心投入營運。在此專案中，我們負責管理該超大規模業者的關鍵環境，並主導部署與整合資料中心先進系統所需的複雜物流作業。

Ultimately, scaling AI from concept to production requires addressing long-standing challenges of fragmented tools, governance complexity and resource constraints. In response to these inherent challenges, in November, we launched our AI factory, a unified framework designed by our joint commercial and government AI teams to empower organizations to integrate AI seamlessly into their core business strategies.

歸根結底，將 AI 從概念擴展到正式上線（production），需要解決長期存在的工具分散、治理複雜度與資源限制等挑戰。為回應這些內在挑戰，我們於 11 月推出 AI 工廠（AI factory）——由我們商業與政府 AI 團隊共同設計的統一框架，旨在賦能組織將 AI 無縫整合至其核心業務策略中。

Understanding the challenges around safe and secure AI deployments, our teams have been particularly focused on our solutions related to AI governance. Our federal cybersecurity experts have been busy demoing our AI Factory's Watchtower, a monitoring tool with built-in trust ops to both our federal and commercial clients. In addition to building our own assets and accelerators, we're partnering with enterprise platforms to co-deliver high-impact solutions to our commercial and federal clients.

理解安全且可靠的 AI 部署所面臨的挑戰，我們的團隊特別聚焦於 AI 治理相關解決方案。我們的聯邦資安專家近期忙於向聯邦與商業客戶展示 AI 工廠的 Watchtower——一款具備內建信任運維（trust ops）的監控工具。除了打造我們自有的資產與加速器之外，我們也正與企業平台合作，共同交付高影響力的解決方案給我們的商業與聯邦客戶。

Starting with our Federal segment. In the fourth quarter, we were awarded additional funding by the Department of Homeland Security and the agency's continuous diagnostic and mitigation program office to deploy Elastic's AI capabilities at scale. Our federal team posts more Elastic-certified engineers than any other organization other than Elastic itself and was recently named the Elastic's top services partner of the year.

先從我們的聯邦業務部門談起。在第四季，我們獲得國土安全部（DHS）及該機構之持續診斷與緩解（CDM）計畫辦公室追加經費，用以大規模部署 Elastic 的 AI 能力。我們的聯邦團隊擁有的 Elastic 認證工程師人數，除 Elastic 本身外，為所有組織之最，且近期獲評為 Elastic 年度最佳服務合作夥伴。

In addition to Elastic, we continue to be a leading ServiceNow provider in the federal space, leveraging ServiceNow's Agentic capabilities in new initiatives across the Department of Homeland Security, war and energy. We also recently established a strategic partnership with Wiz, a rapidly growing cloud security company in the process of being acquired by Google. In the fourth quarter, we won our first engagement with Wiz for the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, establishing our footprint in the high-value federal health care market.

除 Elastic 之外，我們在聯邦領域仍是領先的 ServiceNow 供應商，並在國土安全部、國防與能源等新計畫中運用 ServiceNow 的 Agentic 能力。我們近期也與 Wiz 建立策略合作夥伴關係；Wiz 是一家快速成長的雲端資安公司，目前正處於被 Google 收購的流程中。在第四季，我們與 Wiz 贏得了首個為醫療保險與醫療補助服務中心（CMS）提供服務的專案，建立我們在高價值聯邦醫療保健市場的布局。

On the commercial side of our business, we continue to make great progress in advancing our positioning with Workday. During the fourth quarter, we were selected as one of the first partners approved to deploy Paradox. Workday's candidate experience agent. Paradox uses conversational AI, simplify interactions and deliver better experiences. Conversational AI use cases are growing rapidly.

在商業業務方面，我們持續在強化與 Workday 的定位上取得重大進展。在第四季，我們獲選為首批獲核准可部署 Paradox 的合作夥伴之一。Paradox 是 Workday 的候選人體驗代理（candidate experience agent）。Paradox 採用對話式 AI，簡化互動並提供更佳體驗。對話式 AI 的使用情境正快速成長。

As a part of our Salesforce 360 partnership, for example, we are integrating Agentforce into Slack to enable clients to search their Salesforce CRM with ease. As we expand our value proposition as Everforth, Salesforce, ServiceNow and Workday will all be central to our cross-platform AI strategy. These are just a few of the many advanced solutions capabilities we deployed in the fourth quarter. We're excited about the future and look forward to continuing to advance our Next Wave growth strategy.

例如，作為我們 Salesforce 360 合作的一部分，我們正將 Agentforce 整合至 Slack，使客戶能輕鬆搜尋其 Salesforce CRM。隨著我們以 Everforth 擴展價值主張，Salesforce、ServiceNow 與 Workday 都將成為我們跨平台 AI 策略的核心。以上僅是我們在第四季部署的眾多先進解決方案能力中的幾項。我們對未來充滿期待，並期待持續推進我們的 Next Wave 成長策略。

With that, I'll turn the call over to our CFO, Marie Perry, to discuss ASGN's fourth quarter 2025 performance and first quarter 2026 guidance.

接下來，我把電話交給我們的財務長 Marie Perry，請她說明 ASGN 2025 年第四季表現以及 2026 年第一季指引。

Thanks, Shiv. For the fourth quarter, revenues totaled $980.1 million, at the top end of our guidance range and relatively consistent with the prior year period. Revenues from our Commercial segment were $698.6 million, an increase of 0.9% compared to the prior year and up 2.2% sequentially on a billable day adjusted basis. Assignment revenue totaled $359.2 million, a decline of 12% year-over-year, reflecting continued softness in portions of our commercial segment that are more sensitive to changes in the macroeconomic cycle.

謝謝，Shiv。第四季營收合計 9.801 億美元，位於我們指引區間的上緣，且與去年同期大致一致。商業部門營收為 6.986 億美元，較去年同期成長 0.9%，並在按可計費天數調整後較前一季成長 2.2%。派遣（Assignment）營收合計 3.592 億美元，年減 12%，反映我們商業部門中對總體經濟循環變化較敏感的部分仍持續疲弱。

Revenue from our Commercial Consulting, the largest of our high-margin revenue stream totaled $339.4 million, an increase of 19.2% year-over-year. Excluding TopBloc, which we acquired in March of 2025, consulting revenues improved mid-single digits year-over-year. Revenues from our federal government segment were $281.5 million, a decrease of 3.7% year-over-year.

我們的商業顧問（Commercial Consulting）營收（為我們高毛利營收來源中規模最大者）合計 3.394 億美元，年增 19.2%。若排除我們於 2025 年 3 月收購的 TopBloc，顧問營收年增為中個位數。聯邦政府部門營收為 2.815 億美元，年減 3.7%。

Turning to margins. Gross margin for the fourth quarter of 2025 was 28.9%, consistent with the prior year. Gross margin for our Commercial segment was 32.6%, which is in line with the prior year. Gross margins from our federal government segment was 19.9%, a decline of 60 basis points year-over-year, due primarily to the loss of higher-margin contracts related to DOJ. The impact of DOJ will anniversary in March of 2026.

接著談毛利率。2025 年第四季毛利率為 28.9%，與去年同期一致。商業部門毛利率為 32.6%，與去年同期相當。聯邦政府部門毛利率為 19.9%，年減 60 個基點，主要因與司法部（DOJ）相關的高毛利合約流失。DOJ 的影響將於 2026 年 3 月進入同比基期（anniversary）。

SG&A for the quarter was $210.5 million,compared to $197.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. SG&A expenses included $10.7 million in acquisition, integration and strategic planning expenses, these items were not included in our previously announced guidance estimates. Also relative to guidance, our estimates assumed an effective tax rate of 28%. In the fourth quarter, our effective tax rate was 36.4%, above the 28% forecast, driven primarily by discrete onetime items not included in our guidance.

本季銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A）為 2.105 億美元，對比 2024 年第四季的 1.979 億美元。SG&A 費用包含 1,070 萬美元的併購、整合與策略規劃費用；這些項目未納入我們先前公布的指引估算。此外，相較於指引，我們的估算假設有效稅率為 28%。第四季有效稅率為 36.4%，高於 28% 的預測，主要由未納入指引的一次性離散項目所致。

For the fourth quarter, net income was $25.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $107.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 11% above our guidance range driven mainly by greater mix of commercial segment revenues. At quarter end, cash and cash equivalents was $161.2 million, and we had approximately $455 million available on our $500 million senior secured revolver. Our net leverage ratio was 2.4 times at the end of the quarter.

第四季淨利為 2,520 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 為 1.079 億美元。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 11%，高於我們的指引區間，主要由於商業部門營收占比提高所帶動。季末現金及約當現金為 1.612 億美元，且我們在 5 億美元的優先擔保循環信貸額度（revolver）中，約有 4.55 億美元可用。季末淨槓桿比率為 2.4 倍。

As Ted previously mentioned, we had very strong free cash flow generation in the fourth quarter. Free cash flow was $93.7 million, a conversion rate of approximately 87% of adjusted EBITDA, well above our conversion target rate of 60% to 65%.

如 Ted 先前提到，我們在第四季的自由現金流創造非常強勁。自由現金流為 9,370 萬美元，約為調整後 EBITDA 的 87% 轉換率，顯著高於我們 60% 至 65% 的轉換率目標。

We continue to deliver value to our shareholders. And in the quarter, we deployed roughly $64.2 million of our free cash flow to repurchase 1.4 million shares at an average share price of $46.05. On a full year basis, free cash flow was also strong and totaled $288.1 million or 68.2% of adjusted EBITDA. We deployed $170.1 million of free cash flow to repurchase 3.1 million shares in 2025 at an average price of $55. We have approximately $972 million remaining on our $1 billion share repurchase authorization.

我們持續為股東創造價值。本季我們運用約 6,420 萬美元的自由現金流，以每股平均 46.05 美元回購 140 萬股。以全年計，自由現金流同樣強勁，合計 2.881 億美元，約為調整後 EBITDA 的 68.2%。我們在 2025 年運用 1.701 億美元的自由現金流，以平均 55 美元回購 310 萬股。在 10 億美元的庫藏股回購授權中，我們尚餘約 9.72 億美元可用。

Reemphasizing Ted's prior commentary, our strong free cash flow is a hallmark of our business model. it provides a strategic advantage that enables us to fund growth initiatives, opportunistically repurchase shares and invest in strategic M&A, all while maintaining a healthy balance sheet. By following a disciplined and balanced approach to capital allocation, we can invest in high-return opportunities and prudently manage our leverage, driving sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders. With that in mind, in January, we signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Quinnox for $290 million in cash. The acquisition, which remains subject to HSR approval, is anticipated to close in March.

再次強調 Ted 先前的評論，我們強勁的自由現金流是我們商業模式的標誌。它提供策略優勢，使我們得以在維持健全資產負債表的同時，為成長計畫提供資金、伺機回購股票並投資策略性併購。透過遵循嚴謹且均衡的資本配置方法，我們能投資於高報酬機會並審慎管理槓桿，為股東創造可持續的長期價值。基於此，我們於 1 月簽署具約束力的最終購買協議，以 2.90 億美元現金收購 Quinnox。該收購案仍須取得 HSR 核准，預計於 3 月完成交割。

Post close, we anticipate our net leverage ratio will be approximately 2.9 times after funding the acquisition with cash and borrowings on our revolver. We are committed to reducing our debt over time to bring our net leverage closer to our 2.5 times target. We will, however, continue to opportunistically balance capital deployment with organic investments and share repurchases.

交割完成後，在以現金及動用循環信貸借款支付收購資金後，我們預期淨槓桿比率約為 2.9 倍。我們承諾將隨時間推進降債，使淨槓桿更接近 2.5 倍的目標。不過，我們仍將在有利時機下，持續在資本投放、內生成長投資與股票回購之間取得平衡。

Turning to guidance. Our financial estimates for the first quarter of 2026 are set forth in our earnings release and supplemental material. These estimates are based on current market conditions and assumes no further deterioration in the markets we serve. Guidance also assumes 62 billable days in the first quarter, which is the same number of billable days as the year ago period and one more day than the fourth quarter of 2025. We typically see a low single-digit decline in revenue in the fourth quarter to the first quarter despite the increase in the sequential billable day due to a seasonal reset that occurs annually.

接著談指引。我們對 2026 年第一季的財務估計已載於新聞稿與補充資料中。這些估計係基於目前市場狀況，並假設我們所服務的市場不再進一步惡化。指引亦假設第一季有 62 個可計費天數，與去年同期相同，且較 2025 年第四季多 1 天。儘管可計費天數較前一季增加，但由於每年例行的季節性重置，我們通常會看到第四季到第一季的營收出現低個位數下滑。

Our quarterly estimates do not include any acquisition, integration and strategic planning expenses. As we highlighted during our Investor Day, we are streamlining our technology systems and deploying strategic efforts to generate sizable structural cost savings for our business. These cost savings are progressing as planned and will ramp up further over the coming quarters. Our first quarter guidance incorporates two additional considerations. With regards to adjusted EBITDA margin, the first quarter typically sees an approximate 100 basis point decrease sequentially related to our annual payroll tax reset.

我們的季度預估不包含任何併購、整合及策略規劃費用。正如我們在投資人日所強調的，我們正在精簡技術系統，並推動策略性舉措，以為業務帶來可觀的結構性成本節省。這些成本節省正按計畫推進，並將在未來幾個季度進一步加速釋放。我們對第一季的指引納入兩項額外考量。就調整後 EBITDA 利潤率而言，第一季通常會因年度薪資稅重置而出現約 100 個基點的季比下降。

In addition, our first quarter guidance does not include a contribution from Quinnox. Quinnox Is expected to generate low to mid-teens revenue growth in 2026 over 2025 revenues of approximately $100 million. We anticipate nine months of Quinnox 2026 revenues will be incorporated into our full year financials. Quinnox also anticipates adjusted EBITDA margins in the low 20% range for the year. With that as background, for the first quarter of 2026, we are estimating revenues of $960 million to $980 million, net income of $25.8 million to $29.4 million, adjusted EBITDA of $93.5 million to $98.5 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.7% to 10.1%.

此外，我們的第一季指引未包含 Quinnox 的貢獻。預期 Quinnox 在 2026 年相較 2025 年約 1 億美元的營收，將帶來低至中十位數百分比的營收成長。我們預期 Quinnox 於 2026 年的九個月營收將納入我們的全年財務報表。Quinnox 亦預期全年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約在 20% 出頭的區間。在此背景下，對於 2026 年第一季，我們預估營收為 9.6 億至 9.8 億美元，淨利為 2,580 萬至 2,940 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 9,350 萬至 9,850 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 9.7% 至 10.1%。

Thank you. I'll now turn the call back over to Ted.

謝謝。我現在把電話交回給 Ted。

Thanks, Marie. We entered the new year energized by the progress we've achieved and the robust foundation we've established. Our strategic initiatives are firmly in place, and our strong balance sheet and disciplined approach to capital allocation empowers us to pursue growth opportunities with confidence. The acquisition of Quinnox is a great example of our M&A playbook in action, and directly aligns with the strategy to enhance our digital engineering and global delivery capabilities as we highlighted at our recent Investor Day.

謝謝，Marie。我們以對已取得的進展與所建立的穩健基礎感到振奮的心情迎接新的一年。我們的策略性計畫已穩固到位，而我們強健的資產負債表與嚴謹的資本配置方式，讓我們能有信心地追求成長機會。收購 Quinnox 是我們併購（M&A）作戰手冊落實的絕佳例子，並且與我們在近期投資人日所強調、強化數位工程與全球交付能力的策略直接一致。

The upcoming launch of Everforth our new unified customer an investor-facing brand, debuting in the first half of this year also marks a transformative step in our Next Wave growth strategy and will enhance our operational efficiency and scale. Ultimately, by integrating cutting-edge technology, world-class engineering and deep expertise, we are very well positioned to adapt and thrive in today's rapidly evolving AI-driven business landscape.

即將推出的 Everforth——我們全新的統一客戶與投資人對外品牌，預計於今年上半年亮相——也標誌著我們「Next Wave」成長策略的轉型性一步，並將提升我們的營運效率與規模化能力。最終，透過整合尖端科技、世界級工程能力與深厚專業，我們已具備非常有利的定位，能在當今快速演進、由 AI 驅動的商業環境中調整並茁壯成長。

That concludes our prepared remarks. I want to thank all our employees for your incredible efforts this past year. Your unwavering commitment to our clients is evident and will most certainly guide us to success in 2026.

以上為我們預先準備的發言。我要感謝所有員工在過去一年付出的卓越努力。你們對客戶堅定不移的承諾有目共睹，並且必將引領我們在 2026 年取得成功。

With that, let's open up the call to questions.

接下來，我們開放提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

Jeff Silber，BMO 資本市場。

I wanted to focus on, I guess, your M&A strategy. If you can tell us what is your focus? I know you've been a little bit more acquisitive over the past year. What are you looking for, or how comfortable are you in terms of continued leverage?

我想聚焦在你們的併購策略。你們的重點是什麼？我知道你們在過去一年併購動作更積極一些。你們在尋找什麼？或者就持續提高槓桿而言，你們的舒適度如何？

So Jeff, thanks for the question. I'll just go back to the Investor Day. Obviously, organic growth first. That's always the primary focus. We're beginning sequentially and soon year-over-year to get back to organic growth rates here on a positive basis.

Jeff，謝謝你的問題。我先回到投資人日的內容。顯然，首先是有機成長。那永遠是首要重點。我們正逐季改善，並且很快會在年比基礎上回到正向的有機成長率。

If you think about the acquisition strategy, overall, at the highest level, it's identifying solution capabilities that we see are in the greatest need of our enterprise clients and then pulling those acquired solution capabilities across our enterprise account base our acquisition GlideFast and ServiceNow ecosystem was a great example of that.

如果你從最高層次來看併購策略，核心是在辨識我們認為企業客戶最需要的解決方案能力，然後把所收購的解決方案能力導入並擴展到我們的企業客戶帳戶基礎中；我們收購 GlideFast 以及其 ServiceNow 生態系就是很好的例子。

Our acquisition of most recently a TopBloc within the Workday system, another example of that. And now with Quinnox, real digital engineering capabilities, deep and complex systems and being able to deploy that across this account base and with it getting an offshore platform delivery capability was really the point here. But again, it's solution capabilities that we see are in demand, and I think the good thing about this, Jeff, is we get to see these because we're sitting at the table with our clients, understanding their strategic IT roadmaps, and then we could pull back from that and say, can we position for that organically? Or is this an opportunity to buy versus build, if you will, from an M&A standpoint.

我們最近收購的 TopBloc（在 Workday 系統領域）也是另一個例子。而現在透過 Quinnox，我們獲得真正的數位工程能力、深厚且複雜的系統專長，並能將其部署到這個客戶帳戶基礎；同時也取得離岸平台的交付能力，這正是此次交易的重點。但再說一次，重點是我們看到市場需求的解決方案能力；我認為這件事的好處在於，Jeff，我們能看見這些需求，因為我們與客戶同桌，了解他們的策略性 IT 藍圖，然後我們可以回推並判斷：我們能否以有機方式布局？或者從併購角度來看，這是否是一個「買進而非自建」的機會。

And I'm sorry, the second part of the question was, are you comfortable being with leverage?

抱歉，你問題的第二部分是：你們對槓桿水準是否感到自在？

Yes. Well, look, I think we're, post acquisition, going to be at 2.9. I mean I would say that still very modestly leveraged. So one, we have to have confidence in our numbers going forward, which we have visibility to, two, we have to have confidence in the target and their ability to generate the revenues and EBITDA they expect coming in. And then three, we have to have a pathway if we're going to take on a modest amount of leverage to get the acquisition done to see a path to delever back below our target of 2.5.

是的。我想，併購完成後，我們的槓桿將在 2.9 左右。我會說這仍然是非常溫和的槓桿。第一，我們必須對未來的數字有信心，而我們確實具備可見度；第二，我們必須對標的及其創造其預期營收與 EBITDA 的能力有信心；第三，如果我們為了完成收購而承擔適度槓桿，我們必須看得到一條去槓桿的路徑，回到低於我們 2.5 的目標水準。

And so I think all three of those things are in line, if you will, this time. And you know, Jeff, from past acquisitions when we've made larger platform acquisitions, we've levered up to 3.8 times, probably on six different occasions. And within 18 to 24 months, delevered right back down below our target of 2.5.

因此，我認為這三點這次都已到位。而且你也知道，Jeff，過去我們做過較大型的平台型收購時，我們曾在大約六次情況下把槓桿拉高到 3.8 倍。並且在 18 到 24 個月內，就把槓桿降回到低於我們 2.5 的目標。

Tobey Sommer, Truist Securities.

Tobey Sommer，Truist Securities。

Along the same lines of acquisitions, how do you think about the capital allocation retention between filling back your stock, which is a multiple that you can see in buying commercial IT consulting businesses that carry higher margin and usually are growing more quickly than sort of the mothership, but also such a premium to the aggregate multiple of the company.

同樣延續併購的話題，你們如何看待資本配置的取捨：一方面是回購股票（以你們目前可見的估值倍數來看），另一方面是收購商業 IT 顧問公司——這些公司通常利潤率更高、成長也往往比母公司更快，但其交易倍數也通常高於公司整體的綜合倍數。

Yes. Well, look, Tobey, I think on the one hand, doing share repurchases is a very accretive thing, especially where the stock is trading today, but we have to be mindful that that's also a permanent retirement of capital, right? And there's some investment that needs to go into the firm, both organically and pointed towards M&A to position the firm to where we need to be for the future. And we're very fortunate that at this scale, we can do both, both are accretive.

是的。Tobey，我想一方面，進行股票回購是非常具增益性的事情，尤其是在目前股價水準下；但我們也必須留意，這同時代表資本的永久性退出，對吧？而公司也需要投入一些資金，不論是有機投資，或是用於併購，以讓公司在未來達到我們需要的位置。我們很幸運，在這樣的規模下，我們可以兩者兼顧，而且兩者都具增益性。

As you said, the acquisition is accretive to growth rates, to gross margins, to EBITDA margins, to cash flow and to strategy. And so I think the two of those work hand-in-hand. So we're certainly mindful of that. But you can't be all one or the other. You have to have a strategy around both.

如你所說，併購對成長率、毛利率、EBITDA 利潤率、現金流以及策略面都是具增益性的。因此我認為兩者是相輔相成的。所以我們當然會留意這點。但你不能只做其中一個、完全不做另一個。你必須同時對兩者都有一套策略。

Okay. And then for the government consulting business, what's your outlook for that? OBBBA funding has been sort of slow to percolate through indeed mortgage way into actual contracts and revenue and profit. We do have a budget behind us. But do you think there's an opportunity for your book-to-bill to kind of materially improve with the convergence of those items over the next two or three quarters?

好的。接著就政府顧問業務而言，您對其前景有何看法？OBBBA 的資金確實一直較慢才逐步滲透，從而轉化為實際合約、營收與獲利。我們確實有預算作為後盾。但您是否認為，隨著這些因素在未來兩到三個季度逐步匯聚，貴公司的接單出貨比（book-to-bill）有機會出現實質改善？

Yes. We kind of are where we were coming out of the third quarter. The only difference was we had a shutdown, which kind of slowed things down for a number of weeks longer than anyone anticipated. But I think in the back half of the quarter, award activity was moving along I think here in the first month of January, we've obviously been dealing with getting past a shutdown, which, by and large, we have except for on the Department of the Homeland Security side. And I think as that gets resolved, the cycle is moving here. And I expect award activity to be strong in the areas that are getting budget support which is Department of Defense and Security and Intelligence.

是的。我們大致上仍處於第三季結束時的狀態。唯一的差別是我們遇到政府關門，這使得進度比任何人預期的都多放慢了好幾週。但我認為在本季後半段，授標活動正在推進；而在一月的第一個月，我們顯然一直在處理關門後的恢復，整體而言除了國土安全部那一側之外，基本都已經走出來了。我認為隨著那邊問題獲得解決，整個週期正在推進。我預期在獲得預算支持的領域，授標活動會很強勁，也就是國防部以及安全與情報相關領域。

And I think we're well positioned for that. So as always, something comes up in this industry segment that seems to push things down the road a bit, but the budget is certainly there now. We feel good about our positioning there. And from a solution capability, I mean we play exactly where dollars are being shifted towards. So I think all those things lined up, I think it's just a matter of timing.

我認為我們在這方面的布局很到位。所以一如既往，這個產業分部總會出現一些事情，似乎會讓進度再往後推一點，但現在預算確實已經到位。我們對自身在那裡的定位感到樂觀。而從解決方案能力來看，我們切入的位置正好就是資金正在轉移投入的方向。所以我認為這些因素都已經對齊了，接下來只是時間點的問題。

And what we said coming out of the third quarter was we thought there would be heavy award activity in the first half of the year. And and those would begin to be realized in terms of growth in the second half of the year. And I think that's still the case.

我們在第三季結束時所說的是，我們認為上半年會有大量授標活動。而且這些授標將在下半年開始以成長的形式反映出來。我認為情況仍然如此。

Okay. The last one for me, with respect to gross margin within Government Consulting. What's reasonable, sustainable range for gross margin here hopefully a post-DOJ as well?

好的。我最後一個問題是關於政府顧問業務的毛利率。在這裡，合理且可持續的毛利率區間是多少——也希望是在 DOJ 影響消退之後？

Yes. Marie, do you want to take that one?

是的。Marie，你要回答這題嗎？

Certainly. So to your point, DOJ we will lap in March of '26. And so we've really seen consistently what we've talked about less than 2% of total revenues, which probably equates to about $15 million on a steady state for federal gross margin, it's probably closer to the 20% gross margin and maybe a little more to that.

當然。如你所說，DOJ 的影響我們會在 2026 年 3 月完成同比基期（lap）。因此我們一直看到、也一直如我們所談到的，DOJ 佔總營收不到 2%，在穩態下大概相當於約 1,500 萬美元；就聯邦業務毛利率而言，可能更接近 20% 的毛利率，甚至可能略高一些。

Surinder Thind, Jefferies.

Surinder Thind，Jefferies。

Ted, can you provide maybe a bit more color on this idea that the client demand for AI is beginning to pick up and you're starting to see demand drive there on the consulting side of the business and maybe talk about the push/pull versus are there maybe offsets within the staffing business? Or how should we think about the clients' desire to fully transform and use your services on the consulting side, but then maybe internally, they want to use some of the tools to be more efficient and the impact on staffing.

Ted，你能否就「客戶對 AI 的需求開始回升」這個觀點提供更多細節？你們在顧問業務端開始看到需求帶動，能否談談推拉因素，以及在人力派遣（staffing）業務中是否有一些抵消？或者我們應該如何看待：客戶一方面希望全面轉型並在顧問端使用你們的服務，但另一方面他們可能在內部使用一些工具來提升效率，這對 staffing 的影響是什麼？

Yes. Well, let me take the second. I'll let Shiv take the first. I think what's going on in the staffing program is two things, Surinder. I mean, obviously, that business is kind of sequentially steady. So I don't see a lot of movement either way on the program opening up wider or having less volume sent through it, it's certainly at a moderated level. And I think it's because really there's a buying behavior change going on with our clients, where they used to open up that staffing very wide and let resources flood in to work on internal projects.

是的。我先回答第二部分。第一部分我讓 Shiv 來回答。Surinder，我認為 staffing 計畫正在發生兩件事。顯然，那個業務在環比上大致持平。所以我沒有看到計畫在「更大幅度開放」或「流量更少」方面有太多變動；它確實維持在一個較為溫和的水準。我認為原因在於，我們的客戶正在發生採購行為的改變：過去他們會把 staffing 開得很寬，讓大量資源湧入去做內部專案。

I think they're being very judicious about that. It's a way that they control spend. And also, it's a way they further control outcomes, right? As if the client more and more is making investments in certain technology outcomes they want to get to, but they're doing it on an outcome basis, where there's real scope, real delivery that they can see what the investment is and what the return is. And with that being impacted by AI, I really don't think it is not what we view, but I think it's more around the two things I just mentioned. Shiv on the first part of that?

我認為他們現在在這方面非常審慎。這是他們控制支出的方式之一。同時，這也是他們進一步控制成果的方式，對吧？因為客戶愈來愈多是在投資某些他們想達成的技術成果，但他們是以「成果」為基礎來做，也就是有明確範疇、明確交付，他們能看見投資是什麼、回報是什麼。至於 AI 對此的影響，我其實不認為是我們所看到的那種直接影響；我認為更多是我剛提到的那兩點。Shiv，第一部分你來補充？

Look, I think you're right, AI is a big driver of demand on a number of dimensions. If I were to put a spectrum to it all the way from using AI for different use cases, which are either industry specific or sort of horizontal customer service, any of those. So a lot of work around readiness and modernization of the application stack as well as data.

你說得沒錯，AI 在多個面向都是需求的重要驅動因素。如果要用一個光譜來描述，從使用 AI 於不同使用情境（use cases）開始，這些情境可能是產業特定的，也可能是較為通用的客戶服務等，各種都有。因此有大量工作圍繞在就緒度（readiness）以及應用程式堆疊（application stack）的現代化，還有資料層面。

And what we're actually seeing is even for clients that have done some of the readiness work finding that scaling is still challenging because of interoperability considerations because of just not having a framework to manage this massive AI applications that are being developed and to be put into production, govern, traceability, all of those elements. So demand across the spectrum, whether clients are getting ready or if they're ready how do you actually take advantage of the technology at scale.

而我們實際看到的是，即便對於已經做了一些就緒工作（readiness work）的客戶而言，擴大規模仍然具有挑戰，原因包括互通性（interoperability）的考量，以及他們缺乏一個框架來管理這些正在被開發並要投入生產環境的大量 AI 應用——治理、可追溯性（traceability）等各個要素。所以整個光譜上的需求都存在：不論客戶是在做準備，或是已經準備好了、接下來要如何在規模化的情況下真正利用這項技術。

That's helpful. And then as a follow-up, could you maybe elaborate on the cost savings plan and what it means for 2026. I think in the prepared comments, you talked about generating sizable structural cost savings. And that these are going to ramp up over the coming quarters. So just any color on magnitude run rates, anything like that, that would be helpful.

這很有幫助。接著追問一下，你能否再多談談成本節省計畫，以及它對 2026 年意味著什麼？我記得在事先準備的發言中，你提到要產生可觀的結構性成本節省。而且這些節省會在接下來幾個季度逐步放大。所以任何關於規模、run rate 等方面的補充說明都會很有幫助。

So as we kind of noted in the end it related to the cost savings, so we gave a net $80 million of cost savings, if you will, over the three-year period, indicated that, that cost savings would be kind of moderate in '26, but really building in '27 and '28. The reference in the prepared remarks was really around the acquisition integration and strategic planning costs of $10.7 million.

關於成本節省，我們在最後其實有提到：我們給的是三年期間合計淨額 8,000 萬美元的成本節省（如果你願意這麼稱呼的話），並指出這些節省在 2026 年會相對溫和，但會在 2027 與 2028 年逐步建立起來。在事先準備的發言中提到的，主要是與併購整合與策略規劃相關的成本 1,070 萬美元。

Maggie Nolan, William Blair.

Maggie Nolan，William Blair。

The commercial consulting growth, I think it was nearly 20% year-over-year. Can you talk about the mix of that? Like what was project based versus maybe longer duration manage your platform-led work and then tie that into how you're thinking about revenue visibility in the coming year 2026.

商業顧問業務的成長，我記得年增接近 20%。你能談談其中的組成嗎？例如有多少是專案型（project-based），相對於可能是較長週期的託管（managed）或平台導向（platform-led）的工作？並請把這點連結到你們對 2026 年收入可見度的看法。

We've seen growth across the board, Maggie. It's a lot of transaction or project-based implementation work, whether it's around our enterprise platforms. We've seen a pretty significant growth, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks in our application engineering and services space, which has been growing pretty rapidly.

Maggie，我們看到的是全面性的成長。其中有很多是交易型或專案型的導入（implementation）工作，不論是圍繞我們的企業平台。我們也看到相當顯著的成長——如我在事先準備的發言中提到——在我們的應用工程與服務領域，該領域一直在相當快速地成長。

Our data and AI work is actually also growing pretty rapidly from that perspective. And so we are seeing demand across the board for our solution set. It's a mix of sort of, as you rightly pointed out, more longer-term projects. And I would say, implementation driven projects. We're seeing a pretty healthy mix of both of those. We're also seeing more fixed price improvements in our pricing from a project perspective.

從這個角度來看，我們的資料與 AI 相關工作其實也在相當快速地成長。因此，我們看到市場對我們整體解決方案組合的需求是全面性的。正如你剛才正確指出的，這其中混合了較長期的專案。我也會說，還有以導入為主的專案。我們看到這兩者的組合相當健康。從專案角度來看，我們也看到在定價上有更多固定價格的改善。

So as you look forward from a revenue outlook perspective, we also noted our booking bookings for the fourth quarter which were a pretty significant number, ending up at a very healthy book-to-bill of about 1.3 plus, which really gives us a pretty good platform to build on. Now keep in mind, as we continue to pivot our business we're constantly trying to improve the more long-term piece of the consulting business. It's -- we're still wrapping up that curve.

所以，從營收展望的角度往前看，我們也提到第四季的接單（bookings）是一個相當可觀的數字，最終形成約 1.3 以上、非常健康的接單出帳比（book-to-bill），這確實為我們提供了一個很好的發展平台。請記住，隨著我們持續調整業務方向，我們一直在努力改善顧問業務中較長期的那一部分。這——我們仍在走完那條曲線。

So we still have a lot of work that has finite starts and ends. Which sometimes results in bookings converting into revenue over time, right, typically happens to the end of Q4 to Q1 where we see revenues ramp up a little bit more slower than usual. But that mix is constantly improving, and that's what we're striving to do is to get more secure longer-term projects, so we don't have to deal with ebbs and flows.

因此，我們仍有很多工作是有明確開始與結束的。這有時會導致接單隨時間逐步轉換為營收，對吧，通常發生在第四季末到第一季之間，我們會看到營收爬升得比平常稍微慢一些。但這個組合正在持續改善，而我們努力的方向就是取得更穩定的長期專案，這樣就不必面對起伏波動。

That's helpful can you talk a little bit as well from an market perspective obviously, health care and consumer and industrial looks pretty good. What are you seeing in terms of financial services or TMT and any early commentary on budgets for 2026 from clients now that they finish their budgeting processes?

這很有幫助。你也能從市場角度談一下嗎？顯然，醫療保健、消費與工業看起來相當不錯。那在金融服務或 TMT 方面你們看到什麼？另外，客戶現在完成 2026 年預算流程後，你們對 2026 年預算有沒有任何初步評論？

Look, I think we're seeing a pretty steady demand, I would say. And it's not like we're -- as we've said before and I said in my prepared remarks, our sequential improvement in financial services was outside of the big banks. So those are the ones we're actually waiting and watching in terms of a pivot. So we're still trying to get an early read. As Ted said before, some of the flow of demand that we're seeing on the staffing side from requisitions and everything else is holding steady.

我想我們看到的需求相當穩定。而且並不是說我們——正如我們之前說過的、我也在準備好的發言中提到，我們在金融服務的環比改善主要來自大型銀行以外的部分。所以我們其實正在等待並觀察大型銀行是否會出現轉向。因此我們仍在嘗試取得更早期的判讀。如 Ted 先前所說，我們在人力派遣端從職缺需求（requisitions）等各方面看到的需求流量仍維持穩定。

So still trying to get a better handle. So we've not seen what I would call a massive inflection in demand. I think demand is holding steady to moderately positive. We are seeing more uptick in demand in both TMT and Software and Services, as I noted, because of all the work that is happening around data centers and data center build-out and the demand for those services.

所以我們仍在努力掌握得更清楚。我們尚未看到我所謂需求出現大幅拐點。我認為需求維持穩定到溫和正向。正如我提到的，我們確實看到 TMT 以及軟體與服務的需求有更多上升，因為資料中心相關工作、資料中心建置擴張正在發生，並帶動對這些服務的需求。

So Maggie, if you think about it sequentially, four or five industries up Q3 to Q4. That's certainly a positive. That's a better progress than we've had from an industry standpoint. And then for the fourth quarter, three industries of the five up year-on-year, right, kind of held back by what's going on with big banks and also what's going on in the services space.

所以 Maggie，如果你從環比來看，有四到五個產業從第三季到第四季是成長的。這當然是正面的。從產業面來看，這是比我們過去更好的進展。而在第四季，五個產業中有三個是年增的，對吧，主要受到大型銀行的情況以及服務領域的情況所拖累。

So it's a progress if we'll say. And so we're cautiously optimistic. But we -- I would say we need to see some inflection in the big bank area to really contribute to the total to move forward at a little higher pace than what we're seeing right now.

所以可以說是有進展。因此我們保持審慎樂觀。但我會說，我們需要看到大型銀行領域出現一些拐點，才能真正對整體做出貢獻，並以比目前更快一些的速度向前推進。

Kevin McVeigh, UBS.

Kevin McVeigh，瑞銀（UBS）。

Great. I just want to clarify, was there any impact in the quarter from the government shutdown?

很好。我想確認一下，本季是否受到政府停擺的任何影響？

So there was a small impact from the government shutdown during the quarter, we mostly had a programmed in at the beginning. It went on for a few weeks longer, obviously, than we thought. But was material to the outcome for the entire quarter.

本季政府停擺確實有一些小幅影響，我們在一開始大多已經把它納入預期。很顯然，它比我們原先想的多持續了幾週。但對整個季度的最終結果而言是具重大影響的。

Got it. It's helpful. And then you comment on the offshore capability through Quinnox were interesting. Is that enhancing what you have? Or is that just new capabilities that you're bringing offshore?

了解。這很有幫助。另外，你提到透過 Quinnox 的離岸能力，這點很有意思。這是在強化你們既有的能力嗎？還是只是把新的能力帶到離岸？

Well, it's all new capabilities we're bringing offshore. We have a very small presence in India driven by some of our past acquisitions, largely in the realm of those platforms of ServiceNow and Infor. But this brings a whole new set of complex mature delivery capability across sort of the application life cycle, whether it's application modernization management, whether it's modern application development, a lot of digital integration capabilities, which are critical as clients are looking to make some of these AI solutions work from an interoperability perspective. and also some very specific capabilities around platforms around sales force, Calypso and even SAP. So it's, frankly, a lot of truly incremental net new, but in a much more advanced complex global delivery model.

嗯，這些都是我們帶到離岸的全新能力。我們在印度的據點非常小，主要是由過去一些併購所帶來，且多半集中在 ServiceNow 與 Infor 這些平台領域。但這次帶來的是一整套全新的、複雜且成熟的交付能力，涵蓋應用程式生命週期各個面向——不論是應用現代化管理、現代應用開發，還是大量的數位整合能力；當客戶希望從互通性（interoperability）的角度讓這些 AI 解決方案真正運作起來時，這些能力都至關重要。同時也包含一些非常特定的平台能力，例如 Salesforce、Calypso，甚至 SAP。所以坦白說，這在很大程度上是真正增量的全新能力，而且是以更先進、更複雜的全球交付模式來提供。

That's helpful. And then just my last real quick. Do you have any contracts with DHS?

這很有幫助。最後一個很快的問題。你們有和國土安全部（DHS）簽約嗎？

We do. So we're -- they're obviously a pillar customer of ours, an important customer, a lot of important cybersecurity work and other work I think that, look, as we go through this, obviously, they're going to be adjudicating the the funding here for DHS, and there are certain things and odds. I don't think any of that affects our work. We don't do a lot or anything that touches some of the areas that are kind of adds in the conversation in the further funding of DHS going forward.

有的。所以我們——他們顯然是我們的重要支柱客戶之一，是很重要的客戶；我們有許多重要的資安工作以及其他工作。我想，隨著事情推進，他們顯然會就 DHS 的資金進行裁定，會有一些事項與機率。但我不認為那些會影響我們的工作。我們做的並不多，或幾乎沒有觸及一些在未來 DHS 追加資金討論中被提到的那些領域。

Mark Marcon, Baird.

Mark Marcon，Baird。

Ted and Shiv, I'd just like to step back to some of your initial commentary with regards to AI. Obviously, there's been a lot in the news about AI regarding SaaS companies, data retrieval services, et cetera. And what I'm wondering is when you're taking a look at your client base writ large. To what extent are you seeing them just focus on AI? And to what extent are you also seeing like we've had other companies that have basically said that they felt like some of their clients were basically stalling on some legacy or more traditional kind of SaaS implementations because they wanted to see how AI was going to shake out and what needed to be done.

Ted 和 Shiv，我想回到你們一開始關於 AI 的一些評論。顯然，新聞上有很多關於 AI 的報導，涉及 SaaS 公司、資料擷取服務等等。我想問的是，當你們從整體客戶基礎來看。你們看到他們在多大程度上只是聚焦在 AI？以及你們在多大程度上也看到——就像我們聽到其他公司說的——他們覺得有些客戶基本上在一些舊有或較傳統的 SaaS 導入上暫緩，因為他們想先看看 AI 最終會如何發展、以及需要做哪些事情。

And now that they've -- some of them have come to the conclusion that maybe they're not quite ready, and so they're proceeding with some projects that they previously stalled and that there was some releasing of pent-up demand. Are you seeing any of that? And when we think about the industry groups that are picking up and are seeing good sequential growth. To what extent of that is pure AI type projects as opposed to more legacy or traditional projects.

而現在他們——其中一些人——得出的結論是也許他們還沒完全準備好，因此他們開始推進一些先前暫緩的專案，並釋放了一些被壓抑的需求。你們有看到這種情況嗎？另外，當我們思考那些正在回升、且環比成長良好的產業群組時。其中有多大程度是純 AI 類型的專案，而不是較舊有或傳統的專案？

Look, I think, Mark, let me start by saying we're not seeing that, right? I don't think we're seeing large client signals that say that they're stopping implementation projects because they think AI can do what those platforms can do for them, right? And as Ted and I have repeatedly maintained these enterprise platforms, at least for our large clients, we don't believe are going anywhere anytime soon because of just the nature of those systems and how interconnected they are to the workflows and the processes and where the canonical data truth resides within those organizations. So that's sort of the first part of the question.

你看，我想，Mark，先讓我從這點開始：我們沒有看到那種情況，對吧？我不認為我們看到大型客戶發出訊號說，他們因為覺得 AI 能做到那些平台能為他們做的事，就停止推動導入專案，對吧？而且如同 Ted 和我一再強調的，這些企業級平台——至少對我們的大型客戶而言——我們不認為短期內會消失，因為那些系統的本質，以及它們與工作流程、作業程序的高度互相連結，還有在那些組織內「權威資料真實來源」（canonical data truth）所在的位置。所以這大概是問題的第一部分。

In terms of your second part, look, we're seeing healthy demand across, as I said, all our capability areas. Look, if you think about -- I talked about application engineering services, a lot of that is focused on both legacy technologies as well as new product development that these companies are doing. I talked about data and AI growing very, very fast for us. So a lot of work both in data but also pure AI around use cases around governance, around scalability and trust in AI. So the demand pattern is pretty healthy across the solution stack. Mark, I don't think there's a -- we're seeing any massive shift of funds or other stop some things and go fund and mass AI projects at scale.

至於你第二部分的問題，你看，正如我說的，我們在所有能力領域都看到健康的需求。你想想——我談到應用工程服務，其中很大一部分聚焦在既有（legacy）技術，以及這些公司正在進行的新產品開發。我也提到資料與 AI 對我們而言成長非常、非常快。因此有大量工作一方面在資料領域，另一方面也有純 AI 的工作，圍繞各種使用案例，包括治理、可擴展性，以及對 AI 的信任。所以整個解決方案堆疊的需求型態相當健康。Mark，我不認為我們看到任何——大規模的資金轉移，或是停止某些事情，轉而在大規模層級去資助大型 AI 專案。

Great. That's what I thought. I just wanted to confirm that. And then with regards to Quinnox, if I'm getting the right information, it looks like they have between 1,500 and 1,888 people. Is that kind of a bench model? And how quickly can that business scale with some of the cross-selling that you're going to end up bringing in? And what sort of gross margins do they typically produce?

很好。這跟我想的一樣。我只是想確認一下。另外，關於 Quinnox，如果我拿到的資訊正確，看起來他們大約有 1,500 到 1,888 人。那是一種 bench（待命人力）模式嗎？而且在你們接下來會帶來一些交叉銷售的情況下，那個業務能多快擴張？以及他們通常能產出什麼樣的毛利率？

Yes. So great questions. So typically, let me start with the numbers you have are accurate. They're roughly somewhere between the -- around the 2,000 number, if you may, Mark? It's a very, very robust platform and can actually scale pretty rapidly depending on how we choose to sort of -- and the speed at which we want to take it and deploy it across our base, if you may.

是的。所以問題問得很好。先從你提到的人數來說，你的數字是正確的。他們大概就在——如果可以這麼說，Mark——接近 2,000 人左右。這是一個非常、非常強健的平台，實際上可以相當快速地擴張，取決於我們選擇如何——以及我們希望以多快的速度把它推進並部署到我們的客戶基礎上，如果可以這麼說。

And because it's a very well-run machine in terms of its talent supply chain, the ability to scale. And I may have mentioned it in previous it runs at an attrition level that is half of what the industry average is, which is great because part of the challenge in scaling up tends to be just the ability to replace and replenish talent in India. So all pretty positive, positive. The gross margins are in the high close -- I would say, low 40s and EBITDA margins in the 20s.

而且就人才供應鏈而言，這是一部管理得非常好的機器，具備擴張能力。我之前可能提過，他們的離職率只有產業平均的一半，這很棒，因為擴張的一大挑戰往往在於能否在印度補充與替換人才。所以整體都相當正面、相當正面。毛利率在較高的——我會說是 40% 出頭的區間，而 EBITDA 利潤率在 20% 左右。

And I think, Mark, if we -- if they maybe have something of note, I'd say different about this versus our past acquisitions as they come into the first year. We really think that because of their ability to scale on their platform, in India from a resource standpoint and the need from our client base to engage in the opportunities here with them that we can go a little faster on the revenue synergy side. than maybe we would in a difficult acquisition in the first year.

而且我想，Mark，如果要說他們有什麼值得注意、也就是相較於我們過去併購案在併入第一年時的不同之處，我會說：我們真的認為，因為他們在印度的平台具備資源面快速擴張的能力，加上我們客戶基礎對於與他們一起把握這些機會的需求，我們在營收協同效益方面可以走得更快——可能比起第一年遇到較棘手的併購案時更快。

So our hope is that those synergies appear a little sooner. But that will -- we'll be careful about picking a finite number of opportunities and really engaging thoughtfully as we do that. But one of the most attractive things about this acquisition beyond their solution capabilities and their global delivery footprint was the fact that they could naturally scale up very quickly.

所以我們希望那些協同效益能更早顯現。但我們——會謹慎挑選有限數量的機會，並在推進時深思熟慮地投入。不過，這次併購最吸引人的地方之一，除了他們的解決方案能力與全球交付版圖之外，還在於他們能夠很自然地、非常快速地擴編。

And if you'll remember, we did the same thing in our nearshore operation when we acquired Intersys, which had maybe about 1,000 resources that we moved pretty quickly up to about 2,000 on an organic basis. So we think the same opportunity exists here.

而且如果你還記得，我們在近岸（nearshore）營運上收購 Intersys 時也做了同樣的事；當時他們大概有 1,000 名資源，我們以有機方式很快把規模提升到大約 2,000 人。所以我們認為這裡也存在同樣的機會。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back to CEO, Ted Hanson for closing remarks.

我們已到達問答環節的尾聲。我想把時間交還給執行長 Ted Hanson，請他做結語。

Great. Well, thank you, everyone, for attending our fourth quarter and 2025 earnings release, and we look forward to speaking with you in a short number of weeks in the latter half of April on our Q1 2026 earnings call. Have a great evening.

很好。那麼，感謝各位參加我們第四季與 2025 年度財報發布會；我們也期待在四月下半月、再過幾週後，於我們 2026 會計年度第一季（Q1 2026）財報電話會議上與各位交流。祝各位今晚愉快。

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以掛線。感謝您的參與。