Evertec Inc (EVTC) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the EVERTEC's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Kevin Hunt of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 EVERTEC 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。今天的電話會議正在錄音。此時，我想將電話轉給投資者關係部的凱文·亨特（Kevin Hunt）。請繼續。

Thank you, and good afternoon. With me today are Mac Schuessler, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Joaquin Castrillo, our Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，下午好。今天與我在一起的有我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Mac Schuessler；以及我們的首席財務官 Joaquin Castrillo。

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this call may contain forward-looking statements and should be considered in conjunction with cautionary statements contained in our earnings release in the company's most recent periodic SEC report. During today's call, management will provide certain information that will constitute non-GAAP financial measures under SEC rules such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per common share. Reconciliation to GAAP measures and certain additional information are also included in today's earnings release and related supplemental slides, which are available in the Investor Relations section of our company website at www.evertecinc.com.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，應與公司最近定期 SEC 報告中的收益發布中包含的警示性陳述結合起來考慮。在今天的電話會議中，管理層將提供某些信息，這些信息將構成 SEC 規則下的非 GAAP 財務指標，例如調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨利潤和調整後的每股普通股收益。今天的收益發布和相關補充幻燈片中還包含了 GAAP 措施的調節和某些附加信息，這些信息可以在我們公司網站 www.evertecinc.com 的投資者關係部分中找到。

I'll now hand over the call to Mac.

我現在將把電話轉給 Mac。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. We delivered strong first quarter results, which benefited from both increased sales volume and transactions as well as contributions from acquisitions, a testament to the strength of our business model.

謝謝大家，大家下午好。我們取得了強勁的第一季度業績，這得益於銷量和交易的增加以及收購的貢獻，這證明了我們業務模式的實力。

On today's call, I will start with some highlights from the quarter and then we'll turn it over to Joaquin, who will provide further details on our first quarter results as well as an update to our expectations for the rest of the year, which includes raising our guidance for 2023.

在今天的電話會議上，我將從本季度的一些亮點開始，然後我們將其交給華金，他將提供有關我們第一季度業績的更多詳細信息以及我們對今年剩餘時間的預期的最新信息，其中包括提高我們對 2023 年的指導。

Before I begin with the summary of our financial results, I would like to highlight that we are revising our adjusted EBITDA calculation to exclude the effect of noncash unrealized gains and losses from foreign currency remeasurement. This will better present the overall financial performance of our core business and facilitate comparison with industry peers while also aligning to our credit agreement definition of adjusted EBITDA. This change will also translate to changes in our adjusted net income and adjusted EPS metrics. For clarity and comparability, we have recast prior period numbers to conform to this revised calculation.

在開始總結我們的財務業績之前，我想強調一下，我們正在修改調整後的 EBITDA 計算，以排除外幣重新計量帶來的非現金未實現損益的影響。這將更好地呈現我們核心業務的整體財務業績，並有助於與同行進行比較，同時也符合我們調整後 EBITDA 的信貸協議定義。這一變化也將轉化為我們調整後淨利潤和調整後每股收益指標的變化。為了清楚起見和可比性，我們重新計算了前期數據，以符合此修訂後的計算。

Beginning on Slide 4. Total revenue was approximately $160 million for the first quarter, an increase of 6% compared to the first quarter of 2022. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $67 million, a decrease of 8% when compared with the prior year recast amount of $73 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 42%, in line with our expectations, and adjusted earnings per share was $0.69, an increase of 5% from the prior year quarter's recast adjusted EPS of $0.66. We generated operating cash flow of $55 million, and we returned approximately $10 million to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Additionally, our liquidity remained strong at $368 million as of March 31.

從幻燈片 4 開始。第一季度總收入約為 1.6 億美元，較 2022 年第一季度增長 6%。調整後 EBITDA 約為 6700 萬美元，較上年重算金額下降 8% 7300 萬美元。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 42%，符合我們的預期，調整後每股收益為 0.69 美元，比去年同期調整後每股收益 0.66 美元增長 5%。我們產生了 5500 萬美元的運營現金流，並通過股息和股票回購向股東返還了約 1000 萬美元。此外，截至 3 月 31 日，我們的流動性依然強勁，為 3.68 億美元。

Moving on to our Puerto Rico update on Slide 5. We experienced strong growth in both merchant acquiring and payment processing with Business Solutions down as expected due to the impact of the Popular transaction. Merchant Acquiring revenue was up 13% year-over-year, driven by sales volume increases, mix of cards and pricing initiatives. Payments Puerto Rico was up 21% year-over-year, with strength coming from POS processing as transactions grew 11% year-over-year and ATH Móvil, which continues to drive growth for the segment as well as contribution from the small acquisition completed last year and that will anniversary Q2.

接下來是幻燈片 5 上的波多黎各更新。由於熱門交易的影響，我們在商戶收單和支付處理方面都經歷了強勁增長，而業務解決方案則按預期下降。受銷量增長、信用卡組合和定價舉措的推動，商戶收單收入同比增長 13%。 Payments Puerto Rico 同比增長 21%，其中 POS 處理業務同比增長 11%，ATH Móvil 繼續推動該領域的增長，同時完成的小型收購也做出了貢獻去年，第二季度將是周年紀念日。

Our Business Solutions segment revenue was down 11% year-over-year, as expected, due primarily to the business sold as part of the Popular transaction. We are pleased to announce that we have extended our issuing relationship with Oriental for an additional 7 years, which provides further proof of the strength of the ATH network with key institutions on the island. Oriental has been a long-term partner of the ATH network, one of the top 3 financial institutions in Puerto Rico and will now continue to issue ATH branded cards through 2030.

正如預期，我們的業務解決方案部門收入同比下降 11%，這主要是由於作為熱門交易的一部分出售了業務。我們很高興地宣布，我們與東方銀行的發行關係又延長了7年，這進一步證明了ATH與島上主要機構的網絡實力。 Oriental 一直是波多黎各三大金融機構之一 ATH 網絡的長期合作夥伴，現在將在 2030 年之前繼續發行 ATH 品牌卡。

With this extension, we have now extended issuing relationships over the medium term with the top 3 banks in Puerto Rico. Finally, a few comments on the macro environment in Puerto Rico. While the overall backdrop remains positive, the economic data has clearly begun to moderate on many fronts. The unemployment rate remained at 6% in the first quarter, still at the lowest level in decades, but largely unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2022. The economic activity index has begun to moderate, with an increase in January at less than 1% and a reduction in February of approximately 20 basis points when compared to the prior year. On a positive note, travel and tourism continued to recover with total airline passengers up 9.3% year-over-year in March. But on the negative side, auto sales in the month of March were down 4% from a year ago. So while we remain optimistic about our own business, we are not assuming significant tailwinds from the overall economy.

通過此次延期，我們現在擴大了與波多黎各三大銀行的中期發行關係。最後，對波多黎各的宏觀環境進行一些評論。儘管總體背景依然樂觀，但許多方面的經濟數據顯然已開始放緩。第一季度失業率維持在6%，仍處於幾十年來的最低水平，但與2022年第四季度基本持平。經濟活動指數開始放緩，1月份增幅不足1%，與去年同期相比，2 月份下降了約 20 個基點。從積極的方面來看，旅行和旅遊業繼續復甦，3 月份航空旅客總數同比增長 9.3%。但不利的一面是，3 月份汽車銷量同比下降 4%。因此，儘管我們對自己的業務保持樂觀，但我們並不認為整體經濟會帶來重大推動力。

Turning now to Latin America on Slide 6. LatAm revenue was up 23% year-over-year in the quarter. We continue to experience strong organic growth and revenue contribution from the BBR acquisition completed in the third quarter of last year. In this quarter, we also had a partial contribution from the PaySmart acquisition that we announced in February. I'm also pleased to announce another key business win with an important partner in LatAm that further strengthens our strategy in the region. We have expanded our relationship with Mercado Libre to process their issuance of credit cards in Mexico. Recall that we currently process debit cards for Mali in Mexico and more recently in Chile. We expect this new business to ramp over the next few quarters with a more meaningful contribution in 2024 and beyond.

現在轉向幻燈片 6 上的拉丁美洲。本季度拉丁美洲收入同比增長 23%。我們繼續經歷去年第三季度完成的 BBR 收購帶來的強勁有機增長和收入貢獻。在本季度，我們還從 2 月份宣布的 PaySmart 收購中獲得了部分貢獻。我還很高興地宣布與拉丁美洲的重要合作夥伴取得了另一項重大業務勝利，這進一步加強了我們在該地區的戰略。我們擴大了與 Mercado Libre 的關係，以處理他們在墨西哥發行的信用卡。回想一下，我們目前在墨西哥和最近在智利處理馬里的借記卡。我們預計這項新業務將在未來幾個季度不斷增長，並在 2024 年及以後做出更有意義的貢獻。

Finally, aligned with our focus on capital deployment, I'm pleased to welcome Alberto Lopez Gaffney as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development. Alberto joined us in March and his hiring further demonstrates our commitment to our strategic objective of continuing to diversify the company and execute on M&A as a key driver of both growth and diversification.

最後，為了配合我們對資本部署的關注，我很高興歡迎阿爾貝托·洛佩茲·加夫尼 (Alberto Lopez Gaffney) 擔任企業發展執行副總裁。 Alberto 於三月加入我們，他的聘用進一步表明了我們對繼續實現公司多元化並執行併購作為增長和多元化關鍵驅動力的戰略目標的承諾。

With that, I will now turn it over to Joaquin to provide a more in-depth look at our first quarter results and our increased outlook for 2023.

現在，我將把它交給 Joaquin，以更深入地介紹我們第一季度的業績以及我們對 2023 年的展望。

Thank you, Mac, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝你，麥克，大家下午好。

Turning to Slide 8, you will see the consolidated first quarter results for EVERTEC. Total revenue for the first quarter was $159.8 million, up approximately 6% compared to $150.2 million in the prior year. We experienced strong growth across most payment segments, both in Puerto Rico and LatAm, driven primarily by increasing transaction volumes and the contribution of 3 small acquisitions completed over the past year, partially offset by the revenue sold as part of the Popular transaction.

轉向幻燈片 8，您將看到 EVERTEC 第一季度的綜合業績。第一季度總收入為 1.598 億美元，比上年同期的 1.502 億美元增長約 6%。我們在波多黎各和拉丁美洲的大多數支付領域都經歷了強勁增長，這主要是由於交易量的增加以及過去一年完成的 3 筆小型收購的貢獻，部分被作為大眾交易一部分出售的收入所抵消。

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $67.1 million, a decrease of approximately 8% from $72.7 million in the prior year as recast. As Mac mentioned, beginning with this quarter, we have modified our definition of adjusted EBITDA to exclude the impact of noncash unrealized gains and losses related to foreign currency remeasurement. This will better present the overall financial performance of our core business and facilitate comparison with industry peers, while also aligning to our credit agreement definition of adjusted EBITDA.

本季度調整後 EBITDA 為 6710 萬美元，比去年調整後的 7270 萬美元減少約 8%。正如 Mac 提到的，從本季度開始，我們修改了調整後 EBITDA 的定義，以排除與外幣重新計量相關的非現金未實現損益的影響。這將更好地呈現我們核心業務的整體財務業績，並便於與同行進行比較，同時也符合我們調整後 EBITDA 的信貸協議定義。

This change will also translate to changes in our adjusted net income and adjusted EPS metrics. We have recast results from prior periods to conform to this new presentation, and you can find those details in our press release. All of my comments about growth rates are based on the recast numbers from prior periods. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 42%, a 640 basis point decrease compared to the prior year. The decrease in margin reflects the impact of the Popular transaction that we have discussed on previous calls, higher personnel costs as well as higher expenses related to acquisitions. Adjusted net income for the quarter was $45.6 million, a decrease of approximately 5% as compared to the prior year, primarily reflecting the lower adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by a lower-than-expected tax rate.

這一變化也將轉化為我們調整後淨利潤和調整後每股收益指標的變化。我們重新調整了前期結果，以符合新的演示文稿，您可以在我們的新聞稿中找到這些詳細信息。我所有關於增長率的評論都是基於之前時期的重鑄數字。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 42%，比上年下降 640 個基點。利潤率的下降反映了我們在之前的電話會議中討論過的熱門交易的影響、更高的人員成本以及與收購相關的更高費用。該季度調整後淨利潤為 4560 萬美元，較上年同期下降約 5%，主要反映調整後 EBITDA 較低，但部分被低於預期的稅率所抵消。

Our adjusted effective tax rate in the quarter was 9.5%, reflecting benefits in certain jurisdictions that will likely be given back in future quarters. We continue to expect the tax rate for the full year to range from 16% to 17%. Adjusted EPS was $0.69 for the quarter, an increase of approximately 5% compared to the prior year with the increase being driven by a lower share count as a result of the shares received and retired in consideration for assets sold as part of the Popular transaction and our share repurchase activity throughout 2022.

我們本季度調整後的有效稅率為 9.5%，反映了某些司法管轄區的福利，這些福利可能會在未來幾個季度返還。我們繼續預計全年稅率在 16% 至 17% 之間。本季度調整後每股收益為 0.69 美元，與上年相比增長約 5%，增長的原因是股票數量減少，這是由於作為大眾交易一部分出售的資產而收到和退役的股票，以及我們在 2022 年全年進行股票回購活動。

Moving on to Slide 9. I will now cover our segment results, starting with Merchant Acquiring. In the first quarter, Merchant Acquiring net revenue increased approximately 13% year-over-year to approximately $40.3 million. This increase was driven primarily by strong sales volume growth, mainly in the first 2 months of the quarter and moderating as we exited the month of March. We saw increased sales volume across most categories, in part attributed to new merchant adds and strong organic growth. We also benefited from the effect of pricing initiatives, most of which were put in place throughout last year that improved our overall spread.

轉到幻燈片 9。我現在將介紹我們的細分結果，從商戶收單開始。第一季度，商戶收單淨收入同比增長約 13%，達到約 4030 萬美元。這一增長主要是由銷量強勁增長推動的，主要是在本季度的前 2 個月，隨著 3 月份的結束，銷量增長放緩。我們看到大多數類別的銷量都有所增加，部分原因是新商家的增加和強勁的有機增長。我們還受益於定價舉措的影響，其中大部分是去年實施的，改善了我們的整體價差。

We also expect moderation in our spread growth as we begin to anniversary some of these initiatives throughout the rest of the year. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $15.6 million, down approximately 9%. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 38.7%, down approximately 920 basis points as compared to last year, reflecting the impact of the revenue share implemented as part of the Popular transaction as well as some higher processing costs from the Payment Puerto Rico segment as we continue to see a declining average ticket per transaction when compared to last year.

我們還預計，隨著我們在今年剩餘時間開始紀念其中一些舉措，我們的價差增長將會放緩。該部門調整後 EBITDA 為 1,560 萬美元，下降約 9%。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 38.7%，比去年下降約 920 個基點，反映了作為熱門交易一部分實施的收入分成的影響，以及支付波多黎各部門處理成本較高的影響（我們繼續看到）與去年相比，每筆交易的平均門票有所下降。

On Slide 10, you will see the results for the Payment Services Puerto Rico and the Caribbean segment. Revenue for the segment in the first quarter was $48.4 million, up approximately 21%, driven by strong transaction growth and the contribution from the tuck-in acquisition completed in the second quarter of last year. POS transactions were up 11% from prior year and aligned to the trends observed in Merchant Acquiring, where the first 2 months of the quarter were very strong and starting to moderate as we exited the month of March.

在幻燈片 10 上，您將看到波多黎各和加勒比地區支付服務部分的結果。第一季度該部門的收入為 4840 萬美元，增長約 21%，這主要得益於強勁的交易增長以及去年第二季度完成的補充收購的貢獻。 POS 交易量比去年同期增長 11%，與商家收單中觀察到的趨勢一致，該季度的前 2 個月非常強勁，並在 3 月份結束後開始放緩。

ATH Móvil, specifically the business app continues to drive important growth for the segment with sales volume growth of approximately 48% year-over-year. This segment also continues to benefit from increases in transaction processing and monitoring revenues recognized for services provided to the Payment Services Latin America segment. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $27.9 million, up approximately 17% compared to last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 57.6%, down 220 basis points as compared to last year. The margin decline was due to an increase in provisions for operational losses and higher professional fees, partially offset by leverage from the strong revenue growth.

ATH Móvil，特別是商業應用程序，繼續推動該細分市場的重要增長，銷量同比增長約 48%。該部門還繼續受益於為支付服務拉丁美洲部門提供的服務所確認的交易處理和監控收入的增加。該部門調整後 EBITDA 為 2790 萬美元，比去年增長約 17%。調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 57.6%，較去年下降 220 個基點。利潤率下降的原因是運營損失準備金增加和專業費用增加，但收入強勁增長的槓桿作用部分抵消了這一影響。

On Slide 11, you will see the results for our Payment Services LatAm segment. Revenue for the segment in the first quarter was $35.3 million, up approximately 23% as compared to last year. We continue to see strong organic growth with existing customers across the region, complemented by the addition of both the BBR acquisition completed in the third quarter of last year, and a small contribution from the PaySmart acquisition that we announced in late February. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $10.4 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 29.3%, down approximately 410 basis points as compared to last year due primarily to higher personnel costs, which is a function of increased headcount, both organic and via acquisitions and also higher salaries due in part to foreign currency fluctuations in the region.

在幻燈片 11 上，您將看到我們的支付服務拉丁美洲細分市場的結果。第一季度該部門的收入為3530萬美元，比去年增長約23%。我們繼續看到該地區現有客戶的強勁有機增長，加上去年第三季度完成的 BBR 收購以及我們在 2 月底宣布的 PaySmart 收購的小幅貢獻。該部門調整後的 EBITDA 為 1,040 萬美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 29.3%，與去年相比下降了約 410 個基點，這主要是由於人員成本增加，這是由於員工數量增加（包括有機增長和收購）以及更高的工資造成的部分原因是該地區的外匯波動。

On Slide 12, you will find the results for the Business Solutions segment. Business Solutions revenue for the first quarter was down approximately 11% to $55.7 million and aligned with our expectations. The decline is mainly a result of a tough comparable quarter in the prior year that wasn't impacted by the effects of the Popular transaction that closed during the third quarter, mainly the revenue sold and the effect of CPI. For the quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $22.4 million and adjusted EBITDA margin was 40.2%, down approximately 710 basis points as compared to last year. The adjusted EBITDA margin decrease was primarily driven by the impacts from the Popular transaction, which include the effects of revenues sold, which were higher margin as well as higher operational costs driven by supplies for our printing business which have been impacted by inflation.

在幻燈片 12 上，您將找到業務解決方案部分的結果。第一季度商業解決方案收入下降約 11% 至 5570 萬美元，與我們的預期一致。下降的主要原因是上一年的可比季度表現不佳，並未受到第三季度完成的大眾交易的影響，主要是銷售收入和消費物價指數的影響。本季度調整後 EBITDA 為 2240 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 40.2%，比去年下降約 710 個基點。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率下降主要是受到大眾交易的影響，其中包括銷售收入的影響，即利潤率上升，以及受通貨膨脹影響的印刷業務供應導致的運營成本上升。

Moving to Slide 13. You will see a summary of Corporate and Other. Our first quarter adjusted EBITDA was a negative $9.1 million, a decrease of approximately 21% compared to prior year. Our adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of total revenue was 5.7%, up slightly when compared to the prior year.

轉到幻燈片 13。您將看到公司和其他的摘要。第一季度調整後 EBITDA 為負 910 萬美元，比去年同期下降約 21%。調整後的 EBITDA 佔總收入的百分比為 5.7%，與上年相比略有上升。

Moving on to our cash flow overview on Slide 14. Our beginning cash balance was approximately $216 million, including restricted cash of approximately $18 million. Net cash provided by operating activities was $55 million, a nearly $13 million decrease compared to the prior year, mainly as a result of lower net income and fluctuations in working capital as we paid down certain accrued liabilities. Capital expenditures were approximately $13 million, and we continue to anticipate approximately $70 million of CapEx for the full year 2023.

接下來是幻燈片 14 上的現金流概述。我們的期初現金餘額約為 2.16 億美元，其中包括約 1800 萬美元的限制性現金。經營活動提供的現金淨額為 5500 萬美元，比上年減少近 1300 萬美元，主要是由於我們償還了某些應計負債而導致淨利潤下降和營運資金波動。資本支出約為 1,300 萬美元，我們繼續預計 2023 年全年資本支出約為 7,000 萬美元。

We paid down the outstanding balance on our revolving credit facility of $20 million, approximately $5 million in long-term debt payments and $6 million withholding taxes on share-based compensation, which resulted in a total net debt decrease of approximately $31 million. We paid cash dividends of $3 million, and we repurchased approximately 188,000 shares of common stock at an average price of $33.35 for a total of approximately $6 million. We have approximately $72 million available for future use under the company's share repurchase program. Our ending cash balance as of March 31 was $193 million, and this included approximately $19 million of restricted cash. Additionally, we recently announced another $0.05 dividend to be paid on June 2 to shareholders of record as of May 1.

我們償還了 2000 萬美元循環信貸額度的未償餘額、約 500 萬美元的長期債務支付以及 600 萬美元的股權激勵預扣稅，這使得淨債務總額減少了約 3100 萬美元。我們支付了 300 萬美元的現金股息，並以平均價格 33.35 美元回購了約 188,000 股普通股，總計約 600 萬美元。根據公司的股票回購計劃，我們有大約 7200 萬美元可供未來使用。截至 3 月 31 日，我們的期末現金餘額為 1.93 億美元，其中包括約 1900 萬美元的限制性現金。此外，我們最近還宣布將於 6 月 2 日向 5 月 1 日登記在冊的股東支付 0.05 美元的股息。

Moving to Slide 15. You will find a summary of our debt as of March 31. Our quarter ending net debt position was approximately $236 million, comprised of approximately $174 million of unrestricted cash and approximately $410 million of total short-term borrowings and long-term debt. Our weighted average interest rate was 5.3%. Our net debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA was approximately 0.9x. As of March 31, total liquidity was approximately $368 million. This balance excludes restricted cash and includes the available borrowing capacity under our revolver.

轉到幻燈片 15。您將看到截至 3 月 31 日的債務摘要。我們季度末的淨債務頭寸約為 2.36 億美元，其中包括約 1.74 億美元的非限制性現金以及約 4.1 億美元的短期借款和長期借款總額。定期債務。我們的加權平均利率為5.3%。我們的淨債務與過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的比率約為 0.9 倍。截至3月31日，流動資金總額約為3.68億美元。該餘額不包括受限制的現金，包括我們的左輪手槍下的可用借款能力。

Moving to Slide 16. I will now provide you with an update to our 2023 outlook as well as some comments on the remainder of the year. Given our Q1 results and additional visibility, we are raising our guidance and now expect revenue to be in a range of $644 million to $652 million, representing growth of 4% to 5.4% and continue to expect adjusted EBITDA margin to range between 42% to 43%. We now expect adjusted earnings per share of $2.59 to $2.68. On a GAAP basis, earnings per share is anticipated to be between $1.80 to $1.90. We had a strong first quarter, driven by better-than-expected performance from our Puerto Rico Payment segment and even though some of the drivers of this growth are expected throughout the remainder of the year, we are considering some moderation over the next few quarters given the trends observed during the month of March, and we have -- and what we have seen through April.

轉到幻燈片 16。我現在將為您提供 2023 年展望的最新信息以及對今年剩餘時間的一些評論。鑑於我們第一季度的業績和更多的可見性，我們正在提高我們的指導，現在預計收入將在 6.44 億美元至 6.52 億美元之間，增長 4% 至 5.4%，並繼續預計調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將在 42% 至 42% 至43%。我們目前預計調整後每股收益為 2.59 美元至 2.68 美元。按照 GAAP 計算，每股收益預計在 1.80 美元至 1.90 美元之間。在波多黎各支付部門好於預期的業績推動下，我們第一季度表現強勁，儘管預計今年剩餘時間將出現一些增長驅動因素，但我們正在考慮在接下來的幾個季度進行一些調整考慮到 3 月份觀察到的趨勢，以及我們在 4 月份所看到的情況。

In terms of adjusted earnings per share, we are also anticipating that our non-GAAP effective tax rate is expected to come back to more normalized levels over the remaining quarters and we continue to anticipate our full year non-GAAP effective tax rate to range between 16% and 17%. We have not considered any additional share repurchases as part of our outlook.

就調整後每股收益而言，我們還預計，我們的非公認會計原則有效稅率預計將在剩餘季度內恢復到更加正常化的水平，並且我們繼續預計全年非公認會計原則有效稅率將介於16%和17%。我們並未將任何額外的股票回購視為我們展望的一部分。

In terms of the segments, we now expect our Merchant Acquiring revenue to grow in the mid-single digits. We expect our payments processing Puerto Rico segment to grow in the high single digits and expect year-over-year growth to slow down starting in the second quarter as we anniversary the tuck-in acquisition completed last year. We continue to anticipate our Payments LatAm segment to grow in the mid- to high teens for the full year with a strong second quarter but we'll see year-over-year growth slowed down in the third quarter as we anniversary the BBR acquisition completed last year.

就細分市場而言，我們現在預計我們的商戶收單收入將實現中個位數增長。我們預計我們的波多黎各支付處理業務將以高個位數增長，並預計從第二季度開始，隨著去年完成收購的周年紀念日，同比增長將放緩。我們繼續預計，我們的拉丁美洲支付業務全年將實現中高雙位數增長，第二季度將表現強勁，但隨著 BBR 收購完成周年紀念日，我們將看到第三季度同比增長放緩去年。

In Business Solutions, we are expecting a low to mid-single-digit reset for the full year, with the second quarter resembling our first quarter and turning to positive growth in the second half of the year as we anniversary the Popular transaction in the third quarter.

在商業解決方案方面，我們預計全年將出現低至中個位數的重置，第二季度與第一季度類似，並在下半年轉向正增長，因為我們慶祝了第三季度的熱門交易四分之一。

In summary, we are pleased with our results in the first quarter and the trends we see in the business. We look forward to hopefully seeing you in person at upcoming conferences in the coming months.

總之，我們對第一季度的業績以及我們在業務中看到的趨勢感到滿意。我們期待在未來幾個月即將召開的會議上見到您本人。

Operator, please go ahead and open the line for questions.

接線員，請繼續撥打電話提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question will come from Vasu Govil with KBW.

我們的第一個問題將來自 KBW 的 Vasu Govil。

I guess the first question, can you talk a little bit about the change in quarterly cadence that you saw from Jan, Feb to March and then relative to March, where April trends are tracking just to give us a sense for like the magnitude of moderation?

我想第一個問題是，您能否談談從一月、二月到三月以及相對於三月的季度節奏的變化，四月趨勢的跟踪只是為了讓我們了解適度的程度？

Sure. Vasu, this is Joaquin. I'll use kind of sales volume. So we started January in the high single-digit range, and we exited March in close to the 4% sales volume growth range, April is trending similar to March. And so that's kind of the level of decline that we saw on a sequential basis.

當然。瓦蘇，這是華金。我將使用銷量。因此，我們 1 月份開始時處於高個位數範圍，3 月份結束時銷量增長接近 4%，4 月份的趨勢與 3 月份相似。這就是我們連續看到的下降水平。

Got it. And then just I got the comment on the pricing initiative still helping growth. Is -- have you disclosed sort of when we might see those lap and sort of impact the growth rate this year?

知道了。然後我就收到了關於定價舉措仍然有助於增長的評論。您是否透露過我們何時會看到這些單圈並對今年的增長率產生某種影響？

We implemented this throughout the year last year, but I would say that most of the price initiatives took place between Q2 and Q3. So we will probably start to see those lap in the second half of Q2 and throughout Q3.

我們去年全年都實施了這一舉措，但我想說，大部分價格舉措都是在第二季度和第三季度之間進行的。因此，我們可能會在第二季度後半段和整個第三季度開始看到這些圈速。

Got it. And then one quick one for you, Mac. I know you've talked about M&A as being a strategic priority for you. Any update on whether you were seeing valuations adjust to a level where you think the probability of actually completing a larger size deal may be increasing? And then, I guess, if you could also give us an update on what the pipeline looks like today. Any indication on whether that has increased as fintechs are struggling more and sort of the complexion of size of the deals in the pipeline?

知道了。然後給你一份快速的，Mac。我知道您曾說過併購是您的戰略重點。您是否看到估值調整至您認為實際完成更大規模交易的可能性可能會增加的水平，有任何更新嗎？然後，我想，您是否也可以向我們介紹一下目前管道的最新情況。有沒有跡象表明，隨著金融科技公司的處境更加艱難以及正在醞釀的交易規模的複雜性，這種情況是否有所增加？

Sure. So yes, thanks, Vasu. As we announced earlier, we hired a new EVP to run the area, who was actually the CFO of Despegar, which basically is Expedia of Latin America. He has a lot of M&A and investment and banking experience, and we're excited to onboard him in March. What I would say is valuations are starting to move a little bit, but I wouldn't say there's complete capitulation because even the public markets have bounced back up.

當然。所以是的，謝謝，瓦蘇。正如我們之前宣布的，我們聘請了一位新的執行副總裁來管理該地區，他實際上是 Despegar 的首席財務官，該公司基本上就是拉丁美洲的 Expedia。他擁有豐富的併購、投資和銀行業務經驗，我們很高興能在三月份加入他。我想說的是，估值開始略有波動，但我不會說市場完全投降，因為即使是公開市場也已經反彈。

So hopefully, during the back half, we'll continue to see pricing settle. As far as the pipeline, we have a pretty active pipeline that we're going through different opportunities across the region. We are looking at deals that are similarly sized to what we've executed in the past, and frankly, some deals that potentially could be larger as well.

因此，希望在下半年，我們將繼續看到定價穩定下來。就管道而言，我們有一個相當活躍的管道，我們正在整個地區尋找不同的機會。我們正在尋找與我們過去執行過的規模相似的交易，坦率地說，一些交易也可能規模更大。

Super helpful. And if I can squeeze in one last one. Have you knock-on effect from everything that's going on in the U.S. banking industry and the turmoil you're seeing here, any knock-on effects from that in any part of your business?

超級有幫助。如果我能擠進最後一張的話。美國銀行業發生的一切以及您在這裡看到的動盪是否對您的業務的任何部分產生了連鎖反應？

No. We -- I mean, we haven't seen an effect. And in fact, the local banks, a couple of them have already announced earnings and they had great quarters. And so we've been sort of insulated from that.

不，我們——我的意思是，我們還沒有看到效果。事實上，當地銀行，其中有幾家已經公佈了收益，並且季度業績表現出色。所以我們已經免受這種影響。

Our next question comes from (inaudible) with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個問題來自（聽不清）德意志銀行。

Congrats on the results. Just wanted to ask a few more follow-up questions on the macro situation in Puerto Rico. So you talked about lower ticket sizes in your prepared remarks. I know at your last update, you had mentioned inflation being 6% in Puerto Rico. So just wondering your thoughts on the trends for inflation through the remainder of the year? Do you expect ticket sizes to continue decreasing? And then you also mentioned travel and leisure being up 9% in March. Just wondering, is that in line with your expectations? And then do you -- can you share what your sort of travel assumption that you have baked into your current 2023 guidance?

祝賀結果。只是想再問一些有關波多黎各宏觀形勢的後續問題。因此，您在準備好的發言中談到了較低的門票尺寸。我知道在您上次更新時，您提到波多黎各的通貨膨脹率為 6%。那麼只是想知道您對今年剩餘時間通脹趨勢的看法？您預計門票金額會繼續減少嗎？然後您還提到 3 月份旅遊和休閒增長了 9%。只是想知道，這符合你的期望嗎？那麼您能分享一下您在當前 2023 年指南中納入的旅行假設嗎？

So yes, I'll try to break that up into a few pieces and if I miss one, I'll come back. I would say that in terms of travel and leisure, we don't necessarily have a specific expectation flowing through -- all I will say the reason for that is that in general, right, tourism for Puerto Rico is only about 5% to 8% of total GDP contribution. So it's not a huge factor in just the general macroeconomic environment. Obviously, it's something that we track, and it's important in the sense of volume from specific verticals but it's not a huge driver to our business. In terms of average ticket sizes, this is something that we've been calling out for a few quarters. We know that given the stimulus that we saw, the stimulus effect on consumption over the past couple of years, average tickets really got to a level that were higher than usual.

所以是的，我會嘗試將其分成幾部分，如果我錯過了一個，我會回來。我想說的是，就旅遊和休閒而言，我們不一定有特定的期望——我想說的原因是，總的來說，波多黎各的旅遊業只有大約 5% 到 8%佔 GDP 總貢獻的百分比。因此，這不僅僅是總體宏觀經濟環境的一個重要因素。顯然，這是我們跟踪的東西，從特定垂直領域的數量來看它很重要，但它並不是我們業務的巨大驅動力。就平均門票金額而言，這是我們幾個季度以來一直呼籲的。我們知道，考慮到我們看到的刺激措施，過去幾年對消費的刺激作用，平均門票確實達到了高於平時的水平。

Inflation has kind of get them or get the average little bit higher than what we expected for a longer period of time. But we continue to have an expectation that average ticket will slowly come back to normalization and that is part of the guidance that we've put forth. What was the other question, I'm sorry?

通貨膨脹在某種程度上使它們或使平均水平略高於我們在較長一段時間內的預期。但我們仍然期望平均票價將慢慢恢復正常，這是我們提出的指導的一部分。抱歉，另一個問題是什麼？

No, I think you touched on it. That also makes me think, I know last quarter, you had highlighted that the funds coming into Puerto Rico were expected to be flat in '23 versus '22, is that still the case?

不，我想你已經觸及到了。這也讓我想到，我知道上個季度，您曾強調進入波多黎各的資金預計在 23 年與 22 年持平，情況仍然如此嗎？

We continue to expect that to be the case, that's correct.

我們仍然期望情況如此，這是正確的。

Got it. And then just for my follow-up, wondering if you can give a little more color on the expanded relationship with Mercado Libre. Obviously, it sounds like very exciting moving beyond just the debit. So maybe you can talk about how material your current partnership with Mali is, what the new business entails and kind of how significant you think the new relationship can be to the LatAm business going forward?

知道了。接下來是我的後續行動，想知道您是否可以對與 Mercado Libre 擴大的關係提供更多的信息。顯然，除了借方之外，這聽起來非常令人興奮。那麼也許您可以談談您目前與馬里的合作關係有多重要，新業務需要什麼，以及您認為新關係對未來拉丁美洲業務的重要性如何？

Yes. So this is Mac. I mean, look, Mercado Libre is probably the best brand, particularly e-commerce brand in the region. So testament that they do business, they started with the debit card business in Mexico, then we picked up their debit card business in Chile. And now that they're doing credit with us in Mexico is good from a financial perspective, but it's great reputationally as well. The credit cards are being issued to both consumers and merchants to conduct business. And I don't know if you want to add anything on the materiality.

是的。這就是麥克。我的意思是，看，Mercado Libre 可能是最好的品牌，尤其是該地區的電子商務品牌。所以證明他們做生意，他們從墨西哥的借記卡業務開始，然後我們在智利接手了他們的借記卡業務。現在他們在墨西哥向我們提供信貸從財務角度來看是件好事，而且聲譽也很好。信用卡向消費者和商家發行以開展業務。我不知道您是否想在重要性方面添加任何內容。

No, we haven't broken out the materiality. What we have said in the bus though is both of these, let's say, our debit relationship and the credit relationship now with Magali who have really started from the ground up in terms of issuance. So these are businesses that need a little bit of time to ramp up and actually build out the portfolio. So it becomes more meaningful to the overall business. Having said that, they have been contributors to the growth that we're seeing organically in our Latin America segment.

不，我們還沒有突破物質性。不過，我們在公共汽車上所說的就是我們現在與 Magali 的借方關係和信貸關係，而 Magali 在發行方面確實是從頭開始的。因此，這些企業需要一點時間來提升並實際建立投資組合。因此，它對整體業務變得更有意義。話雖如此，他們一直為我們在拉丁美洲市場看到的有機增長做出了貢獻。

And exceeded our forecast, right? They exceeded our forecast, both of those. So we're optimistic.

並且超出了我們的預測，對嗎？他們都超出了我們的預測。所以我們很樂觀。

Our next question comes from Bob Napoli with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題來自鮑勃·納波利和威廉·布萊爾。

So Mac, Joaquin, you become more active now that the deal with Banco Popular is completed on the M&A front, how are the deals done that you've completed so far? How are the integrations going? I mean are you feeling confident? Are these -- as you look at future deals that you kind of have that M&A machine and the integration working well.

Mac、Joaquin，自從與 Banco Pop 的交易在併購方面完成後，您變得更加活躍，到目前為止您完成的交易進展如何？整合進展如何？我的意思是你有信心嗎？當你審視未來的交易時，這些併購機器和整合運作良好嗎？

Yes. So Bob, I would say, generally, if you look at the deals we've done over time, the biggest marquee brands that we've discussed and announced are on those new platforms. So if you look at Mercado Libre, Santander Chile, they're both running in Santander Uruguay, they're running on intellectual property that we acquired, and we integrated that well. We were able to bring up new customers, changing it from a licensing model to a processing model. If you look at Grupo Aval, the second largest bank in Colombia, they're running on the e-commerce gateway that we purchased. So we think we've done a good job of buying things at the right valuation, things where we had revenue synergies and we were able to expand our business.

是的。所以鮑勃，我想說，一般來說，如果你看看我們長期以來所做的交易，我們討論和宣布的最大的品牌都在這些新平台上。因此，如果你看看智利桑坦德銀行的 Mercado Libre，他們都在烏拉圭桑坦德銀行運營，他們都在我們獲得的知識產權上運營，而且我們整合得很好。我們能夠吸引新客戶，將其從許可模式轉變為處理模式。如果你看看哥倫比亞第二大銀行 Grupo Aval，他們正在我們購買的電子商務網關上運行。因此，我們認為我們在以正確的估值購買東西方面做得很好，這些東西我們具有收入協同效應並且我們能夠擴展我們的業務。

We always do a postmortem and we learn from those to make sure that we continue to improve on each and every acquisition because each is different, right? It may be a different country, different type of technology. Again, sometimes we're pivoting the model from licensing to processing. But in aggregate, I think we've been very pleased from time to time, there are mistakes that we make that we correct and we're very -- I try to do that in an agile way. But so far, we think we've done a good job buying stuff at the right price and then integrating it and getting the synergies.

我們總是進行事後分析，並從中學習，以確保我們繼續改進每一次收購，因為每一次收購都是不同的，對嗎？它可能是不同的國家、不同類型的技術。同樣，有時我們會將模型從許可轉向處理。但總的來說，我認為我們時不時地感到非常高興，我們犯了一些錯誤，我們會糾正這些錯誤，我們非常 - 我嘗試以敏捷的方式做到這一點。但到目前為止，我們認為我們已經做得很好，以合適的價格購買東西，然後將其整合併獲得協同效應。

As we look forward, we hope to do more M&A. So that's why we're -- we have a new leader. I mean the team that did it in the past has done a fantastic job. It's just we want to do now more over a shorter period of time. So we put more emphasis both of my time when I look at how I've stacked my direct report team, but also bringing in an additional leader in building out that team and because that's going to be a big focus.

展望未來，我們希望進行更多併購。這就是為什麼我們——我們有了一位新的領導者。我的意思是，過去做到這一點的團隊做得非常出色。只是我們現在想在更短的時間內做更多的事情。因此，當我審視如何組建我的直接報告團隊時，我們會更加重視，同時也會在建立該團隊時引入一名額外的領導者，因為這將是一個重點。

Great. And then the good growth in Payment Services Puerto Rico, also Latin America. How much was the inorganic portion of that? Can you give some color on what the acquisitions have added?

偉大的。然後，波多黎各和拉丁美洲的支付服務也出現了良好的增長。其中無機部分有多少？您能否介紹一下這些收購增加了什麼？

You mean in terms of every segment specifically or you...

你的意思是具體到每個細分市場，或者你......

I don't know, however you want to give it, I guess, if you want to give a broad like the inorganic revenue growth in the quarter or something like that would be helpful.

我不知道，無論你想給出什麼，我想，如果你想給出一個廣泛的數據，比如本季度的無機收入增長或類似的數據，將會有所幫助。

Yes, we don't break that out. So we do have that playing in some of the numbers we've got in Puerto Rico and to your point in LatAm. We would say the organic growth rate is healthy, but we don't break that out separately.

是的，我們不會打破這一點。因此，我們確實在波多黎各和拉丁美洲的一些數字中發揮了作用。我們會說有機增長率是健康的，但我們不會單獨細分。

Correct. What I would say, Bob, right, we try to give some additional highlights as part of the prepared remarks to kind of help at least with the cadence. In Puerto Rico, we did acquire or completed the stocking in Q2. So we are expecting a slowdown, right, in the year-over-year growth just because we're anniversarying that. And you can see that we're still expecting high single-digit growth in the second for the year. So you can kind of back in to more or less what that's going to be on a go-forward basis without M&A. And in Latin America, I know it's a little bit more (inaudible) because we do have 2 acquisitions flowing through them. But the most meaningful one, which is the one we acquired in Chile last year, we will anniversary in the third quarter. So we are expecting somewhat of a slowdown to what you're seeing today from a year-over-year growth perspective as we're anniversarying that in Q3 and still expecting high teens growth, right, for the full year, which you can also kind of back into more or less what the impact would be.

正確的。我想說的是，鮑勃，對，我們嘗試提供一些額外的亮點，作為準備好的評論的一部分，以至少在節奏上有所幫助。在波多黎各，我們確實在第二季度收購或完成了庫存。因此，我們預計同比增長將會放緩，因為我們正在慶祝這一點。您可以看到，我們仍然預計今年第二季度將實現高個位數增長。因此，您可以在不進行併購的情況下或多或少地回到未來的情況。在拉丁美洲，我知道這個數字要多一點（聽不清），因為我們確實有兩次收購在其中進行。但最有意義的是我們去年在智利收購的，我們將在第三季度週年紀念。因此，我們預計從同比增長的角度來看，您今天看到的情況會有所放緩，因為我們正在慶祝第三季度的周年紀念，並且仍然預計全年將出現高青少年增長，您也可以或多或少會產生什麼影響。

And just lastly, sneak one in. On the other partnerships, the Citibanamex and the SumUp. I think SumUp is a really interesting partner, a great partner there as well. Can you give any color on how those partnerships are adding to growth or if they're being successful?

最後，偷偷溜進來。關於其他合作夥伴，Citibanamex 和 SumUp。我認為 SumUp 是一個非常有趣的合作夥伴，也是一個很棒的合作夥伴。您能否說明這些合作夥伴關係如何促進增長或者它們是否取得成功？

Yes. So I'll start with SumUp, which was the one we announced last quarter similar to Mercado Libre, we are very excited about SumUp, one, they have similar aspects to Mercado in terms of their regional presence. But in the same manner, similar in that this is a brand-new portfolio we're not acquiring or, let's say, going to an existing business where we can migrate a pay portfolio of cards or transactions and get profitability ramped up very quickly. This is something that needs to grow into a more meaningful part of the business, but it certainly has (inaudible) to be that. In the case of Citibanamex, we continue to work with Citi across multiple countries in the region and trying to get that product sold. As we've said in the past, they are using our technology at the back end, but they are kind of leading this in terms of getting in front of clients and selling.

是的。因此，我將從 SumUp 開始，這是我們上季度宣布的與 Mercado Libre 類似的產品，我們對 SumUp 感到非常興奮，其一，他們在區域存在方面與 Mercado 具有相似的方面。但以同樣的方式，相似之處在於，這是一個全新的投資組合，我們不會收購，或者說，進入一個現有的業務，我們可以遷移卡或交易的支付組合，並迅速提高盈利能力。這是需要發展成為業務中更有意義的部分的東西，但它確實（聽不清）是這樣。就 Citibanamex 而言，我們繼續與該地區多個國家的花旗合作，並努力銷售該產品。正如我們過去所說，他們在後端使用我們的技術，但他們在面對客戶和銷售方面處於領先地位。

Yes, because on the Citibanamex, you have to get the customer up and then you have to get their vendors up. So it's sort of a...

是的，因為在 Citibanamex 上，你必須讓客戶站起來，然後你必須讓他們的供應商站起來。所以這有點像...

I mean also a slightly longer sales process because of the nature of the product that's being sold.

我的意思是，由於所銷售產品的性質，銷售流程也稍長一些。

Our next question comes from Jamie Friedman with Susquehanna.

我們的下一個問題來自薩斯奎哈納的傑米·弗里德曼。

Congrats on a good start to the year. Mac, I'm just wondering at a high level, what so far has surprised you that you didn't expect? I know we're only 4 months in, but any kind of bigger-picture takeaways about what you've seen so far?

祝賀今年有一個良好的開端。 Mac，我只是想知道，到目前為止，有什麼事情讓你感到驚訝，而你沒有預料到？我知道我們的研究才過去 4 個月，但您對迄今為止所看到的情況有什麼更宏觀的了解嗎？

From the business, the strength of the consumer, I think, has surprised everybody. I mean if you look at vis-a-vis you look at some of our peers beat, so I think the strength of the consumer has been surprising, not only through Q1 earnings season, but just in general, if you look, but that's been the biggest surprise. Other than that, I think we're executing very well. And like I said, we're very focused on M&A, but the strength of the consumer has surprised I think the entire industry.

從商業角度來看，我認為消費者的力量讓所有人都感到驚訝。我的意思是，如果你看看我們的一些同行擊敗的情況，所以我認為消費者的力量令人驚訝，不僅在第一季度財報季，而且在一般情況下，如果你看的話，但那就是是最大的驚喜。除此之外，我認為我們執行得很好。正如我所說，我們非常關注併購，但消費者的力量令我認為整個行業感到驚訝。

Okay. And then just as my follow-up, Joaquin, sometimes you enumerate the quarters of the period of comparison that -- so we can get the modeling right. So can you just remind us last year, was there anything in the Q2 or the second half? I know there's a lot. But if you could just remind us about when some of those things were, if you can think of it off the top of your head, I think that would be helpful as we try and kind of clean up the model.

好的。然後，正如我的後續行動，華金，有時你會列舉比較期間的季度 - 這樣我們就可以得到正確的建模。那麼您能否提醒我們去年第二季度或下半年有什麼事情嗎？我知道有很多。但是，如果您能提醒我們其中一些事情發生的時間，如果您能立即想到它，我認為這將有助於我們嘗試清理模型。

Sure. I'll kind of go through some of the key ones that we called out as I just mentioned to Bob, we will anniversary the tuck-in acquisition that we did in Puerto Rico in the second quarter. That's in the Payment Puerto Rico segment. I would say that in the Latin America segment, we will anniversary the BBR acquisition in Chile in the third quarter. So that's an important item for that segment. And then in Business Solutions, we have the Popular transaction impacting the third quarter mostly, right, where we had the sale of assets, plus we also had the CPI credit. And most of the impacts related to that will flow through Business Solutions, although we do have a small piece that flows through Payments Puerto Rico. I would say that the one for, as we said last year, is a much cleaner quarter. And if you look at what we just reported for Q1, assimilate to what kind of what we said at the end of the fourth quarter that Q4 is a good baseline as to what we expected for 2023.

當然。我將回顧一下我剛才向鮑勃提到的一些關鍵問題，我們將慶祝第二季度在波多黎各進行的收購。那是在波多黎各支付部分。我想說，在拉丁美洲領域，我們將在第三季度慶祝收購智利的 BBR 週年紀念日。所以這是該細分市場的一個重要項目。然後在商業解決方案中，我們有對第三季度影響最大的熱門交易，對吧，我們出售了資產，而且我們還有 CPI 信貸。與此相關的大部分影響將通過業務解決方案產生，儘管我們確實有一小部分通過波多黎各支付產生。我想說，正如我們去年所說，這是一個更加清潔的季度。如果你看看我們剛剛報告的第一季度的內容，就會明白我們在第四季度末所說的，第四季度是我們對 2023 年預期的良好基準。

Our next question comes from John Davis with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自約翰·戴維斯和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

Mac, you just said kind of the consumer has held up better to start the year but if I look at the guide, you guys raised a little bit less than the beat in the first quarter. So just curious, versus 3 months ago, kind of how do you think about macro and kind of your guide and is there more conservatism based on the back half of the year? Just any sort of macro commentary would be helpful.

Mac，你剛才說消費者在今年年初表現得更好，但如果我看一下指南，你們籌集的資金比第一季度的節拍要少一些。所以只是好奇，與 3 個月前相比，你如何看待宏觀和你的指導，以及下半年是否有更多的保守主義？任何形式的宏觀評論都會有所幫助。

So I'll start, John, and maybe Mac can just chime in. What I would say is, look, we're certainly surprised by the strength of the consumer, and it was mostly reflected, as I mentioned, in the first 2 months of the quarter where it really started off really strong. We have seen that kind of taper down to more what we expected when we started the year coming -- kind of getting out of March and into April. So we're certainly looking at those trends and taking that into consideration as we model the rest of the year. I would say that if you look at our guidance for the full year, it still considers right, a positive economic backdrop for us to be able to perform at that level. And as Mac just said, we continue to operate very well. What the strength of the consumer is something that we need to continue to monitor closely because inflation is still high, rates are still high, and we have this declining trend that we saw during the first quarter.

所以我要開始了，約翰，也許 Mac 可以插話。我想說的是，看，我們確實對消費者的力量感到驚訝，正如我提到的，這主要反映在前兩個中本季度的幾個月裡，它的開局確實非常強勁。我們已經看到這種情況逐漸減少到我們新年伊始時的預期——從三月到四月。因此，我們肯定會關注這些趨勢，並在對今年剩餘時間進行建模時將其考慮在內。我想說的是，如果你看看我們全年的指導，它仍然被認為是正確的，積極的經濟背景使我們能夠達到這一水平。正如 Mac 剛才所說，我們繼續運營得很好。我們需要繼續密切關註消費者的實力，因為通脹仍然很高，利率仍然很高，而且我們看到了第一季度出現的下降趨勢。

Yes. I mean, as consumers exhaust the excess cash from the Feds and as rates stay high, take the effect that the Feds wanted to take, we do believe the back half is going to be weaker than the first half.

是的。我的意思是，隨著消費者耗盡美聯儲的多餘現金，並且利率保持在高位，考慮到美聯儲想要採取的效果，我們確實相信後半段將弱於上半年。

Okay. That's helpful. And then, Mac, obviously, we've talked a lot about capital allocation so far on this call and M&A, hired new Head of Corp Dev. But just -- we're almost a year from the BPOP transaction, which kind of frees you up, if you will. Where are you willing to take leverage? How big of a deal or kind of are you willing to do? You've done a bunch of nice tuck-ins throughout your time at EVERTEC. But just curious like what the appetite is to do a bigger deal and where you would take leverage given that we're now under a turn on leverage?

好的。這很有幫助。然後，Mac，顯然，到目前為止，我們在這次電話會議和併購中討論了很多關於資本配置的問題，聘請了新的公司開發主管。但只是 - 我們距離 BPOP 交易已經快一年了，如果您願意的話，這可以讓您解放出來。你願意在哪裡發揮槓桿作用？您願意做多大的交易或種類？在 EVERTEC 工作期間，您已經做了很多不錯的事情。但只是好奇，想做一筆更大的交易的意願是什麼，考慮到我們現在正處於槓桿作用的轉折點，你會在哪裡利用槓桿？

Look, I mean, we would look at 3 to 4x for the right deal. We do want to be very cautious, I think back to one of the previous questions to make sure the bigger the deal, the higher the conviction and the more the execution risk, and we're very aware of that. But we would do a larger deal. We are looking at some things that are larger than we have in the past. I mean, look, we can't talk about the deal that we have one, but we are looking at things that are more sizable than in the past.

聽著，我的意思是，我們會考慮 3 到 4 倍的價格來獲得合適的交易。我們確實希望非常謹慎，我回想一下之前的問題之一，以確保交易規模越大，信念就越高，執行風險就越大，我們非常清楚這一點。但我們會做更大的交易。我們正在研究一些比過去更大的事情。我的意思是，我們不能談論我們已經達成的協議，但我們正在考慮比過去規模更大的事情。

Okay. Great. And then last one for me. Just any update on Chile. Obviously, you made interest net market a few years ago. We had COVID. Just curious kind of how that partnership is going? Any color there?

好的。偉大的。然後是我的最後一張。只是關於智利的任何更新。顯然，您幾年前就創建了利息淨市場。我們有新冠病毒。只是好奇這種合作關係進展如何？那裡有什麼顏色嗎？

Yes. I mean, look, Santander Chile was the first major deal that created a lot of excitement at the company because we had bought Petro or PayGroup, and then we turned it into processing business and brought up the most successful bank in Chile. The partnership is going incredibly well. They've significantly exceeded their expectations. And as you know so well that they expanded into Uruguay with us. Chile is a market we love, right? We -- because of this business and because of our legacy business that we purchased there. It's a sizable market for us when you look at the whole company is one of our largest markets outside of Puerto Rico, and it's performed well.

是的。我的意思是，看，桑坦德智利公司是第一筆讓公司興奮不已的重大交易，因為我們收購了 Petro 或 PayGroup，然後我們將其轉變為處理業務，並建立了智利最成功的銀行。合作關係進展得非常順利。他們的表現大大超出了他們的預期。正如您所知，他們與我們一起擴展到烏拉圭。智利是我們喜愛的市場，對嗎？我們——因為這項業務，也因為我們在那裡購買的遺留業務。當你看看整個公司時，這對我們來說是一個相當大的市場，是我們在波多黎各以外最大的市場之一，而且表現良好。

Our next question comes from James Faucette with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的詹姆斯·福賽特。

This is Jeff Goldstein on for James. Just on the slowing volume trends you called out. Can you expand on if there are particular markets where that is most pronounced? Is there anything notable to call out by vertical, maybe just some more color around those trends would be helpful.

我是詹姆斯的傑夫·戈德斯坦。就你所說的成交量放緩趨勢而言。您能否詳細說明一下是否存在這種情況最明顯的特定市場？有什麼值得注意的垂直方向，也許圍繞這些趨勢添加一些顏色會有所幫助。

Sure. I'll give you what we have visibility to, right? This is mostly in the Puerto Rico segment. So that's where we're kind of seeing the very good first half of the quarter and then moderating to kind of the exit of March and April. And I wouldn't say it's in any specific vertical. The truth is we did see strength across all verticals. We did see the average ticket pretty much come down also in all verticals. So there isn't any one thing that I could call out and say, is the main fact or the main, let's say, vertical that's starting to moderate. I would say that is a general comment at this point, that's how we're seeing it.

當然。我會給你我們能看到的東西，對嗎？這主要是在波多黎各部分。因此，我們看到本季度上半年表現非常好，然後在 3 月和 4 月逐漸退出。我不會說它是在任何特定的垂直領域。事實是，我們確實看到了所有垂直領域的實力。我們確實看到所有垂直領域的平均票價也幾乎下降了。因此，我可以指出沒有任何一件事是主要事實或主要的，比如說，垂直領域開始放緩。我想說這是目前的一般性評論，這就是我們的看法。

Okay. Got it. And then recession resilience continues to be a popular topic. So maybe you can remind us in a potential recession, how protected you view revenue? And then on the cost side as well, what leverage do you have to pull to protect margins? Just how should we think about that?

好的。知道了。然後，經濟衰退恢復能力仍然是一個熱門話題。那麼也許您可以提醒我們，在潛在的經濟衰退中，您如何看待收入的保護？然後在成本方面，您必須利用什麼槓桿來保護利潤？我們應該如何思考這個問題呢？

I mean, look, the one thing Puerto Rico is a bit of a unique market. One is 40% of the population against federal subsidies. And those typically don't go away if you get a recession. In fact, those could increase. So then you had the opportunity for the continued funding coming in from the Feds, from the hurricane and the pandemic. And that's still some sub-people size that is about another $50 billion, right? And that's what some of the banks have said they anticipate as well. So that does create some type of insulation against a recession because those are federal funds that would be less likely to be impacted.

我的意思是，你看，波多黎各是一個有點獨特的市場。一是40%的人口反對聯邦補貼。如果經濟衰退，這些通常不會消失。事實上，這些數字可能會增加。因此，你有機會從美聯儲、颶風和大流行病中獲得持續的資金。這仍然是大約 500 億美元的子人群規模，對吧？一些銀行表示，這也是他們的預期。因此，這確實創造了某種形式的抵禦經濟衰退的隔離措施，因為這些聯邦基金不太可能受到影響。

From a cost perspective, look, we -- if you look at what we've done with our margins over time, not only in Puerto Rico, but in Latin America, we're very focused on managing our margins, and we still have the ability to continue to look at labor arbitrage between our different locations, and we'll continue to look for opportunities with our vendors.

從成本角度來看，如果你看看我們隨著時間的推移對利潤所做的事情，不僅在波多黎各，而且在拉丁美洲，我們非常注重管理我們的利潤，而且我們仍然有有能力繼續研究不同地點之間的勞動力套利，我們將繼續尋找與供應商合作的機會。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our next question is a follow-up from Bob Napoli with William Blair.

我們的下一個問題是鮑勃·納波利 (Bob Napoli) 和威廉·布萊爾 (William Blair) 的後續提問。

I just wanted to follow up on PaySmart/Brazil, I guess, if you would. I mean, Brazil is obviously a massive market. There's a lot of players down there, and you don't just make 1 acquisition in Brazil. Do you have a broader Brazil strategy? And how is PaySmart looking early days, but just broadly your thoughts around getting a lot bigger potentially in Brazil.

我想，如果你願意的話，我只是想跟進 PaySmart/巴西。我的意思是，巴西顯然是一個巨大的市場。那裡有很多球員，你不只是在巴西進行一筆收購。您有更廣泛的巴西戰略嗎？ PaySmart 早期的情況如何，但總的來說，您對在巴西發揮更大潛力的想法。

Great question, Bob. So as you know, we've had a small business in Brazil when we bought PayGroup. PaySmart actually gives us an issuing business there with some great customers. Brazil, we believe, is an important market. It's a significant portion of Latin America in general. It's by far the largest market. It is a market that we're interested in if we can find the right opportunities. So we like the market. We do think you've got to buy the right asset, you've got to have a good local team, and you've got to be able to differentiate yourself. And so far, we've been able to do that with small acquisitions, and we'll continue to look at the market. And if we can find something bigger that -- where we feel like we have a differentiated advantage and we can manage it better or create some synergies by combining it, we would absolutely do it in Brazil.

好問題，鮑勃。如您所知，當我們收購 PayGroup 時，我們在巴西有一家小企業。 PaySmart 實際上為我們提供了一個發行業務，並擁有一些優秀的客戶。我們相信，巴西是一個重要的市場。總體而言，它是拉丁美洲的重要組成部分。這是迄今為止最大的市場。如果我們能找到合適的機會，這就是我們感興趣的市場。所以我們喜歡這個市場。我們確實認為你必須購買合適的資產，你必須擁有一支優秀的本地團隊，並且你必須能夠使自己脫穎而出。到目前為止，我們已經能夠通過小型收購來做到這一點，我們將繼續關注市場。如果我們能找到更大的東西——我們覺得我們擁有差異化優勢，並且我們可以更好地管理它或通過結合它來創造一些協同效應，我們絕對會在巴西做到這一點。

And then just on the -- what you're looking at from an M&A perspective, anything -- should we expect more of the same? Are there other areas or other technologies you'd like to acquire? Just any thoughts on the types of businesses or if we could see technology acquisitions?

然後就——你從併購的角度來看什麼——我們是否應該期待更多相同的事情？您還想獲得其他領域或其他技術嗎？對業務類型有什麼想法，或者我們是否可以看到技術收購？

Yes. So Bob, we are thinking very broadly. We're looking at our franchise and what strategic advantages we have in the region from both the existing customer set that we have and what additional products could we sell them. The infrastructure that we have and how could we leverage that infrastructure to run other products more cost-effectively. So we're looking at adjacent businesses that we think make sense both commercially and from an operating perspective that would make sense for us. So we'll look at products, we will look to expand into geographies in a larger way, like you mentioned, potentially in Brazil. But we want to make sure that being part of EVERTEC makes the target a better company and create value. But we are looking wide at adjacencies as well.

是的。所以鮑勃，我們的思考非常廣泛。我們正在研究我們的特許經營權，以及我們在該地區現有的客戶群中擁有哪些戰略優勢，以及我們可以向他們銷售哪些其他產品。我們擁有的基礎設施以及我們如何利用該基礎設施以更具成本效益的方式運行其他產品。因此，我們正在尋找我們認為對我們有意義的商業和運營角度的相鄰業務。因此，我們將關注產品，我們將尋求以更大的方式擴展到更大的地區，就像您提到的那樣，可能是在巴西。但我們希望確保成為 EVERTEC 的一部分使目標成為更好的公司並創造價值。但我們也在廣泛關注鄰近地區。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mac Schuessler for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將會議轉回給麥克·舒斯勒（Mac Schuessler）發表閉幕詞。

I just want to thank everyone for joining the call today, and we look forward to seeing you over the coming months at different conferences. Thank you. Good night.

我只想感謝大家今天加入電話會議，我們期待在未來幾個月的不同會議上見到您。謝謝。晚安。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。