FTI Consulting Inc (FCN) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the FTI Consulting third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, today's event is being recorded.

歡迎參加 FTI Consulting 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作說明）請注意，今天的活動正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mollie Hawkes, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將把會議交給投資人關係主管莫莉·霍克斯。請繼續。

Good morning. Welcome to the FTI Consulting conference call to discuss the company's third quarter 2025 earnings results as reported this morning. Management will begin with formal remarks, after which they will take your questions.

早安.歡迎參加 FTI Consulting 的電話會議，討論公司今天上午公佈的 2025 年第三季收益結果。管理階層將先作正式致辭，之後會回答各位的問題。

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this conference call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, including the company's outlook and expectations for the full year 2025 based on management's current beliefs and expectations. These forward-looking statements involve many risks and uncertainties, assumptions and estimates and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements.

在會議開始之前，我想提醒大家，本次電話會議可能包含《私人證券訴訟改革法案》意義上的前瞻性陳述，包括公司基於管理層當前信念和預期對 2025 年全年的展望和預期。這些前瞻性陳述涉及許多風險和不確定性、假設和估計以及其他因素，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類陳述有重大差異。

For a discussion of risks and other factors that may cause actual results or events should differ from those contemplated by forward-looking statements, investors should review the safe harbor statement in the earnings press release issued this morning, a copy of which is available on our website at www.fticonsulting.com as well as other disclosures under the heading of Risk Factors and forward-looking Information in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and in our other SEC filings.

有關可能導致實際結果或事件與前瞻性聲明中所設想的結果或事件存在差異的風險和其他因素的討論，投資者應查閱今天早上發布的盈利新聞稿中的安全港聲明，該聲明的副本可在我們的網站 www.fticonsulting.com 上查閱，以及我們在截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的年度報告表格 10-K）、表格 10-K 10-Q）和我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的其他文件中「風險因素和前瞻性資訊」標題下的其他揭露資訊。

Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this earnings call and will not be updated. FTI Consulting assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

投資者請注意，不要過度依賴任何前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅代表截至本次財報電話會議之日的信息，不會進行更新。除適用法律要求外，FTI Consulting 不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而更新這些前瞻性聲明的義務。

On the call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures A discussion of any non-GAAP financial measures addressed on this call and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the press release and accompanying financial tables that we issued this morning.

在電話會議上，我們將討論一些非GAAP財務指標。本次電話會議中討論的任何非GAAP財務指標以及與最直接可比較的GAAP指標的調節表均包含在我們今天早上發布的新聞稿和隨附的財務表格中。

Lastly, there are two items that have been posted to the Investor Relations section of our website for your reference. These include a quarterly earnings presentation and an Excel and PDF of our historical financial and operating data, which have been updated to include our third quarter 2025 results.

最後，我們網站的投資者關係版塊已發布兩份文件供您參考。其中包括季度收益報告以及我們歷史財務和營運數據的 Excel 和 PDF 文件，這些數據已更新至包含我們 2025 年第三季的業績。

With these formalities out of the way, I'm joined today by Steve Gunby, our CEO and Chairman; and Paul Linton, our Interim Financial Officer and Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer.

完成這些手續後，今天與我一同出席的有我們的首席執行官兼董事長史蒂夫·岡比，以及我們的臨時財務官兼首席戰略和轉型官保羅·林頓。

At this time, I'll turn the call over to our CEO and Chairman, Steve Gunby.

現在，我將把電話轉交給我們的執行長兼董事長史蒂夫岡比。

Thank you, Mollie. Welcome, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today. As I hope you've seen this morning, this morning, we reported once again, record results with EPS and adjusted EPS of $2.60 per share, which is up over 40% over a year ago. As always, there are onetime factors that influence these numbers, and this quarter, they overall did happen to cut positively. So as we always say during the quarters and in not so good quarters, we should never take one of our quarters and multiply it by four.

謝謝你，莫莉。歡迎各位，感謝大家今天蒞臨。正如我希望你們今天早上看到的，我們今天早上再次公佈了創紀錄的業績，每股收益和調整後每股收益均為 2.60 美元，比一年前增長了 40% 以上。像往常一樣，有一些一次性因素會影響這些數字，而本季這些因素總體上確實出現了正向下降。所以，就像我們常說的，在季度末和不太好的季度裡，我們永遠不應該把我們的一個季度乘以四。

But even normalizing for the onetime factors, this was a record quarter, a quarter I would call spectacular and a set of results that to me was particularly gratifying given that we delivered these results in the face of major headwinds in two of our businesses and while continuing to invest in all of our businesses. So there are different ways that one can tell the story of this quarter. One is to go business by business to talk about the terrific performances we had in Corp Fin and FLC and StratCom and how those performances more than overcame these areas of shortfall, and Paul will review the business in that way.

但即使剔除一次性因素，這仍然是一個創紀錄的季度，我稱之為精彩絕倫的季度，考慮到我們在兩項業務面臨重大逆境的情況下，並且繼續投資於我們所有的業務，取得這樣的成績讓我感到格外欣慰。所以，講述本季故事的方式有很多種。一種方法是逐一進行分析，談談我們在公司財務、財務法律諮詢和策略溝通方面取得的出色表現，以及這些表現如何彌補了這些領域的不足，保羅將以這種方式回顧業務。

With your permission, I'd like to see if I can put a higher level lens on the quarter, a bit of a more holistic, integrated lens and try to tie the results of this quarter, some of the topics that we have talked about over the years, some of the underlying philosophies, the set of strategies that our teams have been driving not only business by business but as a whole, and not only quarter-by-quarter but now for close to a decade.

如果您允許，我想從更高的層面，更全面、更綜合的角度來審視本季度，並嘗試將本季度的業績與我們多年來討論的一些話題、一些基本理念以及我們的團隊一直在推動的一系列戰略聯繫起來，這些戰略不僅是針對單個業務，而是作為一個整體，不僅是針對每個季度，而是近十年來一直在推進的。

Over the years, you've heard us talk a lot about organic growth while focusing on high-valued areas where we believe we have a right to win. The problem with those words is that they could just be slogans. What we have tried to do in this company is to turn them into much more than slogans.

多年來，你們經常聽到我們談論有機成長，同時專注於我們認為有理由成功的高價值領域。這些話的問題在於它們可能只是口號。我們公司一直努力做的，就是讓它們不僅僅是口號。

What we've tried to do is to turn them into core philosophies into approaches and approaches that have teeth, teeth that require actions in times that are sometimes comfortable but also operate in times when adhering to those values might not be so comfortable, for example, when adhering to those values might hurt earnings for a particular business in a particular quarter.

我們努力將它們轉化為核心理念，轉化為切實可行的方法，這些方法需要在有時舒適的時期採取行動，但也需要在堅持這些價值觀可能不太舒適的時期採取行動，例如，當堅持這些價值觀可能會損害特定企業在特定季度的收益時。

This goal of ours for organic growth reflects several core beliefs that we are committed to, that are tied to what we believe is necessary to deliver for all three of the critical stakeholders, the stakeholders that matter in our business. One is making a fundamental difference for our clients and second is building a place where great people want to be at where great people can build great fulfilling careers, and doing both of those while, at the same time, delivering real value for you, our shareholders.

我們追求有機成長的目標體現了我們所秉持的幾個核心信念，這些信念與我們認為必須為所有三個關鍵利害關係人（即我們業務中重要的利害關係人）提供的價值息息相關。第一，為我們的客戶帶來根本性的改變；第二，打造一個優秀人才渴望加入並建立充實職涯的地方；同時，在實現這兩點的同時，也為我們的股東創造真正的價值。

There are a number of tenets underlying them. Let me summarize the key one. The first one is the easy one. It's the most obvious one. We are a client service business, which means at our core, we have to target being the best at helping our clients. That's a general statement for professional services. In our case, it means helping clients in key matters in high-stake situations.

它們背後有許多基本原則。讓我總結一下關鍵點。第一個比較簡單。這是最顯而易見的。我們是一家以客戶服務為核心的企業，這意味著我們的核心目標是竭盡全力幫助我們的客戶。這是對專業服務的一般性描述。對我們而言，這意味著在高風險情況下幫助客戶處理關鍵事項。

Aspiring to be the best in times of crisis or urgency requires us to make sure we have the right leading expertise. And it's important to define leading expertise right. It's not only defined as people who intellectually know what could be done or intellectually know what needs to be done, but people who have been on the front line of major crises and opportunities have actually been able to help clients deliver in those situations.

在危機或緊急情況下，要做到最好，就必須確保我們擁有正確的領先專業知識。正確定義領先專業技術至關重要。它不僅指那些在理智上知道可以做什麼或在理智上知道需要做什麼的人，而且指那些身處重大危機和機會前線，並實際上能夠幫助客戶在這些情況下取得成功的人。

The third point is maybe less obvious, but it's a consequence of those first two points, which is the core determinant of our growth and our experience is rarely whether there's a market out there. They almost always is. The challenge almost always is much more around eliminating supply side constraints, which in turn, means continually committing, continually in good quarters and bad quarters, committing to enhancing our team, supporting the growth and promotion of core committed professionals and making ourselves over time increasingly the most attractive place for terrific folks outside the firm.

第三點可能不太明顯，但它是前兩點的結果，也是我們成長的核心決定因素，而我們的經驗很少取決於是否有市場。他們幾乎總是如此。挑戰幾乎總是更多地在於消除供應方面的限制，而這反過來意味著，無論業績好壞，我們都要不斷致力於提升團隊實力，支持核心敬業專業人員的成長和晉升，並隨著時間的推移，使我們自己成為公司外部優秀人才最具吸引力的地方。

And of course, it requires not only getting the folks in or promoting the folks, but making sure when you do that, they feel supported, investing behind them as they have conviction about where they can double down on our core business or when they see they can find new adjacencies they can believe they can win in or where they find geographies they think they can seize.

當然，這不僅需要招募人員或提拔人員，還要確保在這樣做的時候，他們感到被支持，被投資，因為他們確信自己可以在哪些方面加倍投入我們的核心業務，或者當他們看到可以贏得的新領域，或者當他們發現可以佔領的地域時。

These principles, as we discussed, are far from rocket science and they are easy to mouth. They're also easy to commit to when businesses are soaring. The rubber hits the road is what you do when the businesses are not storing, when a business is down in a quarter or struggling. Let me take those principles and see if I can give some insight into what I think drove the quarter, first, for the businesses that soared this quarter and then for the two businesses that had some challenges.

正如我們討論過的，這些原理遠非高深莫測，而且很容易理解。當企業蓬勃發展時，他們也很容易做出承諾。真正考驗企業實力的是，當企業沒有庫存，或企業季度業績下滑或經營困難時，你才會採取實際行動。讓我運用這些原則，看看我能否對本季業績成長的驅動因素給予一些見解，首先是本季業績飆升的企業，然後是本季面臨一些挑戰的兩家企業。

When you look at the results this quarter for CorpFin, FLC or StratCom, you can talk about the great things that happened in the quarter, the jobs won, the market conditions that helped and, of course, there are those. What that sort of short-term lens misses is just how much the current quarter reflects the activities and, I believe, the courage that was shown by key leaders in those segments and sub-segments, not only this quarter or this year but last year in two, three and four years ago in quarters where certain businesses weren't soaring, but where the leaders and the individuals involved had conviction about the propositions we are driving and had confidence and the team’s leading those efforts.

當你查看本季 CorpFin、FLC 或 StratCom 的業績時，你可以談論本季發生的重大事件、贏得的職位、有利的市場條件，當然還有其他一些因素。這種短視的視角忽略了本季業績在多大程度上反映了各業務板塊和子板塊的關鍵領導者所展現的活動和勇氣，不僅是本季度或今年，也包括去年、兩三年前甚至四年前，在某些業務並未蓬勃發展的季度裡，但領導者和相關人員對我們正在推進的方案充滿信心，並且對領導這些工作的團隊充滿信心。

Let me see if I can illustrate that first with CorpFin. CorpFin had another record quarter with multiple sub-businesses delivering double-digit growth year-over-year, and those results obviously reflect some things that happened this year.

我先用公司金融來舉例說明一下。CorpFin 又迎來了一個創紀錄的季度，多個子業務實現了兩位數的同比增長，這些業績顯然反映了今年發生的一些事情。

But importantly, at its core, my belief is that CorpFin's powerful results, first, primarily reflect major convictions and did decisions made in quarters past, bold bets that the leaders that behind in businesses that weren't performing at that time or on adjacent businesses that, at that point in time, we're unproven. There are so many examples of that CorpFin I can't possibly do them all justice but let me touch on a few.

但更重要的是，我認為 CorpFin 的強勁業績，首先主要反映了過去幾季做出的重大信念和決策，以及領導者們大膽押注於當時業績不佳的業務或當時尚未得到驗證的相鄰業務。企業融資方面的例子太多了，我不可能一一列舉，但讓我簡單談談其中幾個。

In the UK, we've always had a great creditor rights business. and we always support that business. But the team there also had a set of people there who believed they could add an adjacent business, a leader insolvency business. And they bet on that team, a set of bids that has turned out to be a great growth engine for us this quarter and, we believe, going forward.

在英國，我們一直擁有非常優秀的債權權益業務，我們也始終支持這項業務。但該團隊中也有一些人認為他們可以增加一項相鄰的業務，即領先的破產清算業務。他們押注於這支隊伍，事實證明，這支隊伍在本季度成為了我們強大的成長引擎，而且我們相信，未來也會如此。

In Germany, it was around committing to and supporting and building on a terrific team in Anders which, as you may remember, shortly after they came, they significant headwinds when the German government launched the moratorium on bankruptcy during COVID. That confidence is being rewarded right now, yes, in terms of the terrific restructuring results in the quarter, but also with Germany now becoming a platform for a broader set of businesses that we can grow behind.

在德國，關鍵在於致力於支持和發展安德斯的優秀團隊。你可能還記得，他們剛來不久，就遇到了很大的阻力，因為德國政府在新冠疫情期間啟動了破產暫停令。這種信心現在得到了回報，不僅體現在本季出色的重組成果上，也體現在德國現在正成為一個更廣泛的業務平台，我們可以依靠它來成長。

We've talked about Australia a number of times, the transformation that happened there because we had confidence on the quality of the people on the ground and the vision they had, a vision that saw a way to get us from a distant player in restructuring to the number one or two player in restructuring, but also that they saw that was a way to turn FTI as a whole into a destination of choice across segments for great professionals, a vision that I believe is fully underway to being fulfilled.

我們已經多次談到澳大利亞，以及那裡發生的轉變，因為我們對當地員工的品質和遠見充滿信心。他們的遠見卓識不僅讓我們從重組領域的落後參與者躍升為重組領域的第一或第二名，而且還讓FTI整體成為各領域優秀專業人士的首選目的地。我相信，這個願景正在逐步實現。

These bets are in adjacencies and businesses that were struggling, the quarter's results also reflect bets we've made in the last several years to continue to invest in businesses where we've always been strong. The teams have avoided the mist of being complacent or sitting on their laurels. They've doubled down in core businesses like restructuring, adding talent in verticals where we thought we could even be stronger like health care or airlines, all of which has led us to winning some of the biggest jobs in both of those industries over the last few years.

這些投資都投向了那些曾經舉步維艱的鄰近行業和企業，本季的業績也反映了我們在過去幾年中所做的投資，即繼續投資於我們一直很擅長的行業。各隊避免了陷入自滿或固步自封的陷阱。他們在重組等核心業務上加倍投入，並在我們認為可以做得更好的垂直領域（如醫療保健或航空業）增加人才，所有這些都使我們在過去幾年中贏得了這兩個行業中一些最大的項目。

There are so many other examples I could go to, but let me just pick one last one for CorpFin, which is the key best we've made in transactions, which were bets behind a terrific leadership team. And I believe that the quality of that team would allow us to gain significant market share in a market where we weren't as well-known as we thought we should be.

我還可以舉出很多其他例子，但讓我最後再舉一個關於企業融資的例子，這是我們在交易方面取得的最大成功，也是對一支傑出的領導團隊的信任和支持。我相信，憑藉這支團隊的實力，我們能夠在原本知名度不如預期的市場中獲得顯著的市場份額。

As a result, that business has not only grown significantly over the last four or five years, it even grew in the first half of this year when transaction volumes generally in the markets were down.

因此，該業務不僅在過去四到五年裡取得了顯著成長，而且在今年上半年市場交易量普遍下降的情況下，也實現了成長。

A point I think is important. None of those businesses decisions in those businesses was automatically profitable in the quarter they were made. Most of those decisions actually cost us money initially. They were, of course, not decisions made lightly. We have disciplined teams that were made with discipline with focus on questions like, do we have the right proposition?

我認為這一點很重要。這些企業所做的那些商業決策，沒有一項能在做決策的當季自動獲利。實際上，這些決定最初大多會讓我們損失金錢。當然，這些決定並非草率做出。我們擁有紀律嚴明的團隊，這些團隊的組建注重紀律，並專注於諸如「我們提出的方案是否正確？」之類的問題。

Do we actually have the right team that will take accountability and be able to deliver on those propositions? But where we had those teams and the right proposition, our leadership has encouraged to bet and support those bets, yes, in good quarters, but also in the quarters that were not so good. The results we are showing this quarter reflect those commitments. And in my mind, they celebrate the commitments that these folks made.

我們是否真的擁有合適的團隊，能夠承擔責任並兌現這些承諾？但是，只要我們有合適的團隊和合適的方案，我們的領導層就會鼓勵我們去下注和支持這些投資，是的，在業績好的季度，也在業績不太好的季度。本季所取得的業績反映了我們所做的這些承諾。在我看來，他們是在慶祝這些人所做的承諾。

Let me talk about some analogous moves that the FLC leadership team has made. Some of you will remember that FLC's adjusted EBITDA was essentially flat for a while or, rather, it was zigzagging around a relatively flat line for a fair number of years. And during those years, we often talked on calls like this about investments we are making, overseas in certain businesses and in the United States. And during many of those years, it was hard to see the effect of those investments on bottom line performance.

讓我來談談FLC領導團隊採取的一些類似措施。你們當中有些人可能還記得，FLC 的調整後 EBITDA 有一段時間基本上保持平穩，或者更確切地說，它在相當長的幾年裡圍繞著一條相對平坦的線上下波動。在那些年裡，我們經常像這樣在電話裡談論我們正在進行的投資，包括海外的某些企業和美國的投資。在那些年裡，很難看出這些投資對公司獲利的影響。

The reality was that within those investments were some investments that didn't work, and we had to take corrective action. What I think it was harder to see, however, was that within those investments were also powerful investments that were working, that were building on the historical strengths of FLC and helping liberate and make more visible to the market, so the underlying power of what we have always had in FLC, for example, the buildup of a much more prominent and much more well-known financial services practice, which today is not only winning some of the biggest jobs to the market but is now also a key destination for leading people who want to join us, including 15 new SMBs and this year.

現實情況是，這些投資有些投資並不成功，我們必須採取糾正措施。然而，我認為更難看到的是，這些投資中也包含著一些行之有效的強大投資，它們鞏固了FLC的歷史優勢，並幫助FLC釋放潛力，使其在市場上更加引人注目。例如，FLC一直以來所擁有的潛在力量，例如，建立一個更加突出、更加知名的金融服務業務，如今不僅贏得了市場上一些最大的項目，而且也成為了希望加入我們的頂尖人才的重要目的地，包括今年新增的15家中小企業。

We're continuing to build on our cybersecurity practice, not only in the US, but now also overseas and to broaden it into adjacencies where we believe we have the right to win such as the national security practice. We're building our risk and investigations practice more generally, not only by investing in great promotions and terrific lateral hires to enhance our capabilities, but also by figuring out ever better ways to link our deep R&I experts with our experts in financial services and other regulated industries and leverage one of our most critical assets, our core data and analytics team that has always been on the leading edge for core data and analytics services and increasingly is on the leading edge with respect to AI.

我們正在不斷壯大我們的網路安全業務，不僅在美國，現在也在海外，並將其擴展到我們認為我們有權獲勝的鄰近領域，例如國家安全業務。我們正在更廣泛地發展我們的風險和調查業務，不僅透過投資優秀的晉升和傑出的橫向招聘來增強我們的能力，而且還通過不斷探索更好的方法，將我們深厚的風險和調查專家與我們在金融服務和其他受監管行業的專家聯繫起來，並利用我們最重要的資產之一，即我們的核心數據和分析團隊，該團隊一直處於前沿數據和分析團隊的前沿。

Year-to-date, FLC's revenues are up double digit and adjusted segment EBITDA is up more than 60%. Some of that is due to great things that happened in the quarter. Most of it to me is due to the vision, the power, and the coverage of the investments that FLC has made not just this year or last year but in the last two, three and four years.

今年迄今為止，FLC 的營收實現了兩位數的成長，調整後的分部 EBITDA 成長超過 60%。部分原因是由於本季發生的一些重大事件。在我看來，這主要歸功於FLC的遠見卓識、強大實力以及投資覆蓋面，不僅是今年或去年，而是過去兩三年甚至四年來的種種舉措。

Turning to StratCom. StratCom, as some of you may remember was the first business that we had to turn around a decade ago. And the team, if you don't remember, turned it around almost immediately. And it has been a great growth story since. But of course, just because it's a great growth story doesn't mean there haven't been zigs and zags. And Mark and the team will note we've got a lot of zigs and zags over these 10 years, including a slow period in '24.

轉向戰略溝通。StratCom，你們中的一些人可能還記得，是我們十年前第一個需要扭轉局面的企業。如果你不記得了，那支球隊幾乎立刻就扭轉了局面。此後，它一直保持著強勁的成長勢頭。當然，即便這是一個偉大的成長故事，也不代表它一路走來一帆風順。馬克和他的團隊會注意到，這 10 年來我們經歷了許多曲折，包括 2024 年的一段低迷時期。

This year, StratCom's revenue is up also double digit, and its segment EBITDA is up 34%. Some of this year's results have to do with disciplined action StratCom took in areas where it didn't think it had all the ingredients to win. But a huge amount of the growth has to do with the team's multiyear commitment to increasing our power in the core areas that aspires to win at high stakes areas like public affairs or corporate reputation, places like crisis communications or cyber communications.

今年，StratCom 的營收也實現了兩位數的成長，其部門 EBITDA 成長了 34%。今年取得的一些成果與策略溝通部門在一些它認為自己不具備所有製勝要素的領域採取的有紀律的行動有關。但這種成長很大程度上歸功於團隊多年來致力於增強我們在核心領域的實力，力求在公共事務或企業聲譽等高風險領域，以及危機溝通或網路溝通等領域取得勝利。

StratCom has had multiple ways it's invested behind that vision over the last few years. But the primary one has been to add talent wherever it is founded, a bit from the outside but actually a lot inside committing to promote that talent, when the talent was ready, even if that happened to be in a quarter that was slow.

在過去幾年裡，StratCom 透過多種方式投資支持這個願景。但最主要的一點是，無論在哪裡，都要補充人才，一部分來自外部，但更多的是來自內部，致力於提拔人才，當人才準備好時，即使這恰好發生在淡季。

If you look at the SMD headcount in StratCom today, two-thirds of the SMDs are new within the last five years, promoted during good times but also with conviction during slow periods. It is that sort of conviction that has allowed us through the various flat periods and the zags to always return this business to its powerful growth trajectory and why we have so much conviction in it going forward.

如果看看 StratCom 目前的 SMD 人員數量，就會發現三分之二的 SMD 都是在過去五年內新上任的，他們是在形勢好的時候晉升的，也是在形勢不好的時候憑藉實力晉升的。正是這種信念，讓我們能夠度過各種低迷時期和起伏，始終讓這項業務重回強勁的成長軌道，也正是這種信念，讓我們對它的未來充滿信心。

Let me try to take the same principles and apply them to the businesses that have faced challenges this year. As you know, Tech is having a tough year in the Compass Lexecon business and ECon has been hit substantially this year on the top line but even more on the bottom line. The questions we look at always when we have base businesses like that or two.

讓我試著運用同樣的原則，將它們應用到今年面臨挑戰的企業。如你所知，科技業對 Compass Lexecon 而言今年形勢嚴峻，ECon 今年的營收受到了相當大的衝擊，利潤受到更大的衝擊。當我們擁有像這樣的一個或兩個基礎業務時，我們總是會考慮這些問題。

First, do we have confidence in the team? Do we have confidence in the propositions that, that team is driving? And then second, depending on the first one, what do we do? And when Anders was struggling in Germany, we looked at it. And we ended up saying, wow, this is a great team. Okay, there's moratoria in bankruptcy. This is a great team. So we move to second question which is, okay, how do we support this great team and get it back on the growth trajectory that it deserves?

首先，我們對球隊有信心嗎？我們是否對該團隊提出的方案有信心？其次，根據第一個問題，我們該怎麼辦？當安德斯在德國遇到困難時，我們關注到了他。最後我們都說，哇，這真是個很棒的團隊。好的，破產程序中有暫停期。這是一支很棒的團隊。所以我們轉向第二個問題，那就是，好的，我們如何支持這支優秀的團隊，讓它重回應有的成長軌道？

And we have the same sort of discussions and questions when we looked at Australia and many of these other situations I talked about. So we applied those lenses to these businesses. When you look at the Tech business and you apply that lens, you say, wow, we've had the fastest organic growth in the industry in the last five years. You find a team that for a long time has been an early adopter of the most advanced technologies, machine learning and AI technologies, topics that are critical for the future.

當我們審視澳洲以及我提到的許多其他情況時，我們也進行了類似的討論，提出了同樣的問題。所以我們將這些視角運用在這些企業身上。當你審視科技業並運用這種視角時，你會說，哇，在過去的五年裡，我們實現了業內最快的自然成長。你會發現，這支團隊長期以來一直是機器學習和人工智慧等最先進技術的早期採用者，而這些技術對未來至關重要。

When you talk to our clients, particularly our most prominent clients, you hear people and they see us ever more as their go-to partner for the highest stakes, most complicated litigation M&A-related second requests. I walk away from those thoughts and those conversations with the sense that this is a business that even if a quarter is slow, we should be not only investing in but be excited to invest in.

當你與我們的客戶交談時，特別是與我們最重要的客戶交談時，你會發現他們越來越把我們視為處理最高風險、最複雜的併購相關訴訟二次請求的首選合作夥伴。帶著這些想法和談話，我意識到，即使某個季度業績不佳，我們不僅應該投資這個行業，而且應該對投資這個行業感到興奮。

When you look at Compass Lexecon, you see, yes, we look lots of rainmakers this year. But you also say that Compass Lexecon still by far the leading brand in the industry. I think just three weeks ago or four weeks ago, we had 66 Compass Lexecon professionals as named to Lexology's 2025 competition guide, of course, once again, by far the most of any firm. You see that no firm has the global scale that we have, not only in the US and Europe but in Latin America and China.

當你查看 Compass Lexecon 時，你會發現，是的，我們今年有很多業績突出的公司。但您也提到，Compass Lexecon 仍然是業界遙遙領先的品牌。我想就在三週前或四周前，我們有 66 位 Compass Lexecon 專業人士入選 Lexology 2025 年競爭指南，當然，這再次遠遠超過任何其他公司。您可以看到，沒有任何一家公司擁有我們這樣的全球規模，不僅在美國和歐洲，而且在拉丁美洲和中國也是如此。

And when I talk with Dan Fischel in the European and American and Asian leisure teams, people acknowledge, yes, we've lost some rainmakers. I think collectively, the belief is that today, we have the best set of experts that this firm has ever had. We believe we do by the way, need to get out there and introduce some of these experts to the market, something Compass Lexecon has never been that focus on. But I think everyone in Compass Lexecon is extraordinarily excited about the talent we've been able to attract to the firm and its prospects.

當我與歐洲、美洲和亞洲休閒旅遊團隊的丹·菲舍爾交談時，人們承認，是的，我們失去了一些業績突出的人才。我認為大家普遍認為，如今我們擁有公司有史以來最優秀的專家團隊。我們認為，順便說一句，我們需要走出去，把這些專家介紹給市場，而 Compass Lexecon 一直以來都不太關注這一點。但我認為 Compass Lexecon 的每個人都對我們能夠吸引到公司的優秀人才及其發展前景感到無比興奮。

And so when we looked at these two businesses, we come to the conclusion, these are businesses, these are teams of propositions that are worth investing in. And so then you have to figure out what those investments look like.

因此，當我們審視這兩家企業時，我們得出結論：這些企業，這些業務組合，都值得投資。所以接下來你就得弄清楚這些投資具體是什麼樣的。

In the Tech business, it's meant first that we continue to go after talent. A number of our competitors in this industry are stressed and that always creates a good opportunity to go after talent and use that talent to support geographical expansion or further movements into AI topics or other relevant business expansions. But in this case, at this point in time, it is clearly also meant continuing to make sure we are investing in Tech's leadership position in AI. And so this year, we've done those sorts of investments around the course of the year, and we will continue to do so.

在科技業，這意味著我們首先要繼續追逐人才。我們產業中的許多競爭對手都面臨壓力，這總是為我們提供了一個好機會去爭取人才，並利用這些人才來支持地域擴張或進一步進軍人工智慧領域或其他相關業務擴張。但就目前情況而言，這顯然也意味著要繼續確保我們投資於科技在人工智慧領域的領導地位。因此，今年我們一直在進行這類投資，並且我們將繼續這樣做。

In Compass Lexecon, the most important initial investment was in retaining our staff in the face of competitive pressures. More recently, what we found is a lot of terrific people wanted to join us. And so in addition to retaining the bulk of our staff, we've announced 28 new senior hires in Compass Lexecon this year, by far a record for Compass Lexecon and a move that, of course, is a very positive thing for the medium term, but we also all know how that works out in the near term, which is the cost comes first and the revenue comes later, the set of results that you clearly see reflected in this quarter's P&L.

在 Compass Lexecon，最重要的初期投資是在競爭壓力下留住員工。最近，我們發現有很多優秀的人想要加入我們。因此，除了保留大部分員工外，我們今年還宣佈在 Compass Lexecon 新增 28 名高級管理人員，這遠遠超過了 Compass Lexecon 的記錄，當然，從中長期來看，這是一件非常積極的事情，但我們也都知道這在短期內會如何發展，那就是成本清晰的體現，收入其次，這組結果在本季度的損益表中得到了清晰的體現。

We make these sorts of investments in Tech and Compass Lexecon and previously in CorpFin and FLC and StratCom for multiple reasons. We have three core constituents we have to make sure we'll keep in our minds. And so we make these investments for all three. First of all, it's important for our clients. Our brand position is to be the leaders serving our clients.

我們出於多種原因對 Tech 和 Compass Lexecon 進行此類投資，之前也曾對 CorpFin、FLC 和 StratCom 進行過此類投資。我們必須牢記三個核心要素。因此，我們對這三者都進行了這些投資。首先，這對我們的客戶來說很重要。我們的品牌定位是成為服務客戶的領導者。

So we have to continue to invest behind leading experts in leading-edge technologies. So we make our investments for clients. We also do it because it's important that our best professionals who are killing themselves in the market know that we're willing to support them not only when the quarters are good, but during quarters that are challenging.

因此，我們必須繼續投資於尖端技術領域的頂尖專家。所以，我們為客戶進行投資。我們這樣做也是因為，讓那些在市場中拼盡全力的優秀專業人士知道，我們不僅在業績好的時候支持他們，而且在業績不好的時候也願意支持他們，這一點非常重要。

We also do it with a view towards our shareholders, where we believe we have fabulous businesses or sub-businesses were making these sorts of investments will allow them over time to resume what they've been in the past, great businesses who do have zigs and zags, but have zigs and zags around fundamentally upward sloping lines.

我們這樣做也是為了我們的股東，我們相信我們擁有一些非常棒的業務或子業務，進行這類投資將使它們隨著時間的推移恢復到過去的樣子，成為偉大的企業，它們雖然會有起伏，但這些起伏基本上都是沿著上升的曲線發展。

Paul is eager to do his first CFO report so let me close in a minute here. And let me close by coming back to the quarter if I can. $2.60 of EPS. $2.60 in the face of all the investments we are making and all those headwinds I talked about. Guidance for the year that suggests notwithstanding all those investments, notwithstanding all those headwinds, unless something goes unexpectedly wrong in the fourth quarter, this team will deliver the 11th year in a row of adjusted EPS growth.

保羅急於完成他的第一份財務長報告，所以我在這裡簡單總結一下。最後，如果可以的話，我想再談談本季的情況。每股收益2.60美元。考慮到我們所有的投資以及我之前提到的所有不利因素，最終的每股盈餘只有2.60美元。年度業績指引表明，儘管進行了所有這些投資，儘管面臨所有這些不利因素，但除非第四季度出現意外情況，否則該團隊將連續第 11 年實現調整後每股收益增長。

It's, of course, great to have a great quarter and it's nice to have another up year as nice as those results are. And they're nice in and of themselves, of course, right? To me, what's far more significant is when you think about what we just discussed, the mechanisms that allowed us to get here because the power of those mechanisms that we've now seen across all of those segments, and not just this year but across all of those years and across multiple geographies, to me, suggests more than a good quarter or a year. They suggest resilience. They suggest underlying power, and they suggest blasting power and extendability.

當然，季度業績出色固然令人高興，而且今年業績持續成長，這樣的結果也令人欣喜。它們本身當然也很不錯，對吧？對我來說，更重要的是，當我們思考我們剛才討論的內容時，會發現正是這些機制讓我們走到今天這一步，因為我們現在在所有這些領域，不僅是今年，而是過去這麼多年和多個地區，所看到的這些機制的力量，在我看來，意味著一個季度或一年的業績遠不止於此。它們表明了韌性。它們暗示著潛在的力量，也暗示著爆發力和可擴展性。

To me, they leave me ever more convinced, and probably I didn't need that much convincing, but ever more convinced about the incredible potential of this enterprise going forward. It leaves me, and I hope, you believing that we are so much closer to the beginning of this journey that the company can be on than we are to the end.

對我來說，他們讓我更確信（也許我並不需要那麼多說服），但我確實更確信這家企業未來擁有巨大的潛力。這讓我，也希望讓你們相信，我們距離公司這段旅程的開始比終點要近得多。

With that, let me turn this over to Paul. Paul?

接下來，我將把發言權交給保羅。保羅？

Thank you, Steve. Good morning, everybody. I am pleased to take you all through a record quarterly performance during my first earnings call as interim CFO. But before I do that, before I turn to our results and updated guidance, I want to take a moment to thank my talented colleagues across the globe for their tremendous efforts that contributed to the quarter. And I also want to thank our strong finance team for their support and for making my transition quite smooth.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。大家早安。我很高興在作為臨時財務長的首次財報電話會議上，向大家介紹我們創紀錄的季度業績。但在此之前，在我介紹我們的業績和最新指引之前，我想花一點時間感謝全球各地才華橫溢的同事們，感謝他們為本季所做的巨大努力。我還要感謝我們強大的財務團隊給予的支持，使我的過渡工作非常順利。

As Steve said, we delivered spectacular results, record results on the top and bottom line at the company level with record performance in CorpFin and FLC and solid as well as solid revenue growth in StratCom, which more than offset year-over-year declines in ECon and Tech. You may recall in February when we shared our initial revenue guidance, we said that to meet the midpoint of our range, we would need to have strong revenue growth in each of our four other business segments because of the headwinds we expected in ECon.

正如史蒂夫所說，我們取得了輝煌的成績，公司層面的營收和利潤均創歷史新高，企業財務和財務法律諮詢部門的業績創歷史新高，戰略傳播部門的收入也實現了穩健增長，這足以抵消經濟諮詢和技術部門同比下降的業績。您可能還記得，在 2 月我們分享了最初的營收預期時，我們曾表示，為了達到預期範圍的中點，由於我們預期 ECon 會面臨不利因素，我們需要在其他四個業務部門實現強勁的營收成長。

This quarter, we delivered on that. We reported double-digit year-over-year organic revenue growth when you combine revenue across CorpFin, FLC, Tech and StratCom. Year-to-date, we have delivered record top and bottom-line performance in CorpFin, FLC and StratCom. And despite the headwinds Steve described in ECon and Tech, our adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA are up 9% and 8.3%, respectively, year-to-date, demonstrating the breadth and resiliency of our platform.

本季度，我們實現了這一目標。如果將企業財務、財務法律、科技和策略傳播的收入合併計算，我們實現了兩位數的年增長有機收入成長。今年迄今為止，我們在企業財務、財務法律和策略傳播領域均取得了創紀錄的營收和利潤。儘管史蒂夫在《經濟與科技》一書中描述了一些不利因素，但我們今年迄今為止的調整後每股收益和調整後 EBITDA 分別增長了 9% 和 8.3%，這表明我們平台的廣度和韌性。

Turning to our third quarter results in more detail. Revenue of $956.2 million increased 3.3% compared to the prior year quarter. Earnings per share of $2.60 increased 41% compared to the prior year quarter. Net income of $82.8 million increased 25% compared to the prior year quarter. SG&A of $199.5 million compared to SG&A of $206 million in Q3 of 2024, the decrease was primarily due to lower compensation and the gain related to a legal settlement, which was partially offset by higher bad debt.

接下來，我們將更詳細地分析第三季業績。營收為9.562億美元，較上年同期成長3.3%。每股收益為 2.60 美元，比上年同期增長 41%。淨利潤為 8,280 萬美元，比上年同期成長 25%。2024 年第三季銷售、一般及行政費用為 1.995 億美元，而 2024 年第三季為 2.06 億美元，下降的主要原因是薪酬減少和與法律和解相關的收益，但部分被更高的壞帳所抵銷。

Year-to-date, our SG&A has fluctuated quarter-to-quarter due to some onetime benefits, particularly in the first quarter of 2025 and, to a lesser extent, this quarter. We currently expect our Q4 SG&A to be more in line with Q2 2025 level.

今年迄今為止，由於一些一次性收益，我們的銷售、一般及行政費用逐季度波動，尤其是在 2025 年第一季度，以及在較小程度上，本季度。我們目前預計第四季度銷售、一般及行政費用將與 2025 年第二季的水平更加接近。

Third quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $130.6 million or 13.7% of revenue compared to $102.9 million or 11.1% of revenue in the prior year quarter. Our third quarter effective tax rate of 25.9% compared to 25.1% in Q3 of 2024. For the full year, we expect our effective tax rate to be between 22% and 24%. Weighted average shares outstanding, or WASO, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025 of 31.8 million shares compared to 35.9 million shares in the prior year quarter.

2025 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 1.306 億美元，佔營收的 13.7%，而上年同期為 1.029 億美元，佔營收的 11.1%。我們第三季的實際稅率為 25.9%，而 2024 年第三季的實際稅率為 25.1%。我們預計全年實際稅率將在 22% 至 24% 之間。截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日的第三季度，加權平均流通股數（WASO）為 3,180 萬股，而上年同期為 3,590 萬股。

Billable headcount decreased 3% and non-billable headcount increased 0.8% compared to the prior year quarter reflecting in part headcount actions we took in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of this year. Sequentially, billable headcount was 84%, which included 331 new joiners from university campuses, our largest class ever.

與去年同期相比，可計費員工人數減少了 3%，不可計費員工人數增加了 0.8%，這部分反映了我們在 2024 年第四季和今年第一季採取的人員調整措施。按季度計算，可計費員工人數佔 84%，其中包括來自大學校園的 331 名新員工，這是我們有史以來規模最大的一屆員工。

Now I'll share some insights at the segment level. In CorpFin, revenue of $404.9 million increased 18.6% compared to the prior year quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher demand for restructuring and transaction services and higher realized bill rates for our transformation and strategy services. We delivered double-digit revenue growth across all three of CorpFin's core businesses with restructuring up 18%, transactions up 30% and transformation strategy up 10% compared to Q3 2024.

現在我將分享一些細分領域的見解。公司金融業務收入為 4.049 億美元，比上年同期成長 18.6%。成長的主要原因是重組和交易服務的需求增加，以及轉型和策略服務的實際計費率提高。與 2024 年第三季相比，CorpFin 的三大核心業務均實現了兩大的營收成長，其中重組業務成長 18%，交易業務成長 30%，轉型策略業務成長 10%。

Adjusted segment EBITDA of $96.4 million or 23.8% of segment revenue compared to $57.9 million or 17% of segment revenue in the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily due to higher revenue, which was partially offset by an increase in variable compensation and SG&A expenses.

經調整後的分部 EBITDA 為 9,640 萬美元，佔分部收入的 23.8%，而去年同期為 5,790 萬美元，佔分部收入的 17%。這一增長主要是由於收入增加，但部分被可變薪酬和銷售、一般及行政費用的增加所抵消。

In the third quarter, restructuring represented 46%, transformation strategy represented 27% and transactions represented 27% of segment revenue. This compares to 47% for restructuring, 28% for transformation and strategy and 25% for transactions in Q3 of 2024.

第三季度，重組業務佔分部營收的 46%，轉型策略業務佔 27%，交易業務佔 27%。相較之下，2024 年第三季重組佔 47%，轉型和策略佔 28%，交易佔 25%。

Sequentially, CorpFin revenue increased 6.8% driven by double-digit top line growth in transactions and transformation strategy, while restructuring revenue was up 1%. Adjusted segment EBITDA increased by 18.1%, primarily due to higher revenue, which was partially offset by an increase in variable compensation and SG&A.

環比來看，企業財務收入成長了 6.8%，這主要得益於交易和轉型策略兩位數的收入成長，而重組收入成長了 1%。調整後的分部 EBITDA 成長了 18.1%，主要原因是收入增加，但部分被可變薪酬和銷售、一般及行政費用的增加所抵銷。

Notably, year-to-date, our restructuring revenue is up 11% and as our long-term commitment to investing behind the best professionals has allowed us to expand our position as a global leader. We are winning major mandates in key geographies, including the US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, and Australia, among others.

值得注意的是，今年迄今為止，我們的重組收入成長了 11%，我們對投資最優秀專業人才的長期承諾使我們能夠擴大我們作為全球領導者的地位。我們在包括美國、英國、德國、西班牙、法國和澳洲等在內的重要地區贏得了重大授權。

We're also seeing increased activity with commercial banks and other types of lenders as some recent alleged fraud has created pockets of stress. These are situations where our strong restructuring relationships and leading investigation position in FLC mean that our experts get more than our fair share calls for the largest, most complex mandates.

我們也看到，由於最近一些涉嫌詐欺事件造成了一些壓力，商業銀行和其他類型的貸款機構的活動也隨之增加。在這些情況下，我們強大的重組關係和在 FLC 的領先調查地位意味著我們的專家獲得了遠超我們應得份額的最大、最複雜的委託任務。

Equally important, our transactions revenue was up 16% year-to-date even though transaction volumes globally are down slightly. And because of the investments we've made over the last five years, we have broadened our services, and we are seeing, on average, much larger engagements than we had even a couple of years ago.

同樣重要的是，儘管全球交易量略有下降，但我們今年的交易收入仍成長了 16%。由於我們在過去五年裡進行的投資，我們擴大了服務範圍，而且我們看到，平均而言，我們的業務規模比幾年前大得多。

Turning to FLC. Revenue of $194.7 million increased 15.4% compared to the prior year quarter. This increase was primarily due to higher realized bill rates for risk and investigations, data and analytics and construction solutions services and a higher demand for risk and investigation services, which includes particularly strong growth in our EMEA region.

轉向 FLC。營收達 1.947 億美元，較上年同期成長 15.4%。這一成長主要是由於風險與調查、數據與分析以及建築解決方案服務的實際計費率提高，以及對風險與調查服務的需求增加，其中在歐洲、中東和非洲地區的成長尤為強勁。

Adjusted segment EBITDA of $42.6 million or 21.9% of segment revenue compared to $20 million or 11.8% of segment revenue in the prior year quarter. The increase was due to higher revenue primarily driven by higher realized bill rates and lower SG&A expenses, which was partially offset by an increase in variable compensation.

經調整後的分部 EBITDA 為 4,260 萬美元，佔分部營收的 21.9%，而去年同期為 2,000 萬美元，佔分部營收的 11.8%。成長主要歸因於收入增加，而收入增加主要得益於實際帳單費率提高和銷售、一般及行政費用降低，但部分被可變薪酬的增加所抵消。

Sequentially, revenue increased 4.4% primarily due to an increase in risk and investigation revenue. Adjusted segment EBITDA increased 36.6%, primarily due to higher revenue and lower SG&A. Year-to-date, FLC revenue is up 11% and adjusted EBITDA is up 62%. This improvement has been driven by leadership team efforts to bring a broader set of product offerings, including our ability to analyze complex data sets for our clients' most pressing problem.

從環比來看，收入成長了 4.4%，主要原因是風險和調查收入的增加。調整後的分部 EBITDA 成長了 36.6%，主要原因是收入增加和銷售、一般及行政費用降低。今年迄今為止，FLC 的營收成長了 11%，調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 62%。這項進步得益於領導團隊為客戶帶來更廣泛的產品組合所做的努力，包括我們分析複雜資料集以解決客戶最迫切問題的能力。

This is a leadership team that is committed to investing behind the best people, a team with an incentive structure, which you may recall we introduced last year, that's closely aligned with driving profitability and, most important, a team that is partnering side-by-side with their clients as they navigate major disruptions that are often found on the front page.

這是一個致力於投資最優秀人才的領導團隊，一個擁有激勵機制的團隊（您可能還記得我們去年推出了該機制），該機制與提高盈利能力密切相關，最重要的是，這是一個與客戶並肩合作，共同應對經常出現在頭版頭條的重大變革的團隊。

Our ECon segment revenue of $173.1 million decreased 22% compared to the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to lower demand for non-M&A related antitrust and M&A-related antitrust services. which was partially offset by higher realized bill rates for non-M&A-related antitrust services and higher demand for financial economic services.

我們的ECon業務部門營收為1.731億美元，比上年同期下降了22%。下降的主要原因是與非併購相關的反壟斷服務以及與併購相關的反壟斷服務的需求減少，但這一降幅被與非併購相關的反壟斷服務實際收費率的提高以及金融經濟服務需求的增加部分抵消。

Adjusted segment EBITDA loss of $4.6 million compared to an adjusted segment EBITDA of $35.2 million or 15.9% of segment revenue in the prior year quarter. The decrease in adjusted segment EBITDA was primarily due to lower revenue and an increase in forgivable loan amortization, which was partially offset by lower variable compensation salaries, which includes an 8.2% decline in billable headcount.

經調整後的分部 EBITDA 虧損 460 萬美元，而上年同期經調整後的分部 EBITDA 為 3,520 萬美元，佔分部營收的 15.9%。調整後分部 EBITDA 的下降主要是由於收入下降和可豁免貸款攤銷增加，但部分被可變薪酬下降所抵消，其中包括計費員工人數下降 8.2%。

Sequentially, revenue decreased 9.7% primarily due to lower M&A related to antitrust, international arbitration and non-M&A-related antitrust revenue. Adjusted segment EBITDA decreased $18.7 million, primarily due to lower revenue.

與上一季相比，收入下降了 9.7%，主要原因是與反壟斷相關的併購、國際仲裁和非併購相關的反壟斷收入減少。調整後的分部 EBITDA 減少了 1,870 萬美元，主要原因是收入下降。

We issued $18 million in forgivable loans net of repayments this quarter following $72 million and $162 million in forgivable loans to existing and new employees and affiliates net of repayments in Q2 and Q1, respectively. The majority of these loans are in the ECon segment. Forgivable loan amortization generally ranges from three to six years.

本季度，我們發放了扣除還款後的1800萬美元可豁免貸款；此前，我們分別在第二季度和第一季度向現有員工、新員工和關聯公司發放了扣除還款後的7200萬美元和1.62億美元的可豁免貸款。這些貸款大部分屬於電子商務領域。可豁免貸款的攤銷期限通常為三至六年。

As Steve said, our ECon business has faced significant headwinds this year. In nine months into the year, the headwinds have been even more challenging than we expected at the start of the year for several reasons. First, the comps to retain professionals was even more competitive than we anticipated. Second, we attracted even more great professionals, which had a larger cost impact than we expected. Third, the antitrust market has been weaker than we expected this year, particularly in EMEA, where we have had some large jobs continue to wind down, but we have not been impacted by competitive pressures.

正如史蒂夫所說，我們的ECon業務今年面臨巨大的逆風。今年已經過去九個月了，由於多種原因，我們面臨的逆風比年初預想的還要大。首先，為了留住專業人才，薪資競爭比我們預想的還要激烈。其次，我們吸引了更多優秀的專業人才，比我們預期的成本影響更大。第三，今年的反壟斷市場比我們預期的要疲軟，尤其是在歐洲、中東和非洲地區，雖然我們的一些大型計畫仍在逐步結束，但我們並未受到競爭壓力的影響。

And fourth, we have legacy revenue that continues to ramp down at a time when revenue from new professionals is ramping up more slowly.

第四，傳統收入持續下降，而新專業人士帶來的收入成長速度卻較為緩慢。

From a cost perspective, we believe we have stabilized the business as the cost of retaining and attracting new professionals is now reflected in our P&L.

從成本角度來看，我們認為我們已經穩定了業務，因為留住和吸引新專業人員的成本現在反映在我們的損益表中。

In Tech, revenue of $94.1 million decreased 14.8% compared to the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to lower demand for M&A-related second request and information governance, privacy, and security services. Adjusted segment EBITDA of $13.6 million or 14.5% of segment revenue compared to $16.5 million or 14.9% of segment revenue in the prior year quarter. The decrease was primarily due to lower revenue, which was partially offset by a decrease in compensation, which includes lower as-needed consultant costs as well as lower SG&A expenses.

科技業營收為 9,410 萬美元，較上年同期下降 14.8%。下降的主要原因是併購相關的二次請求以及資訊治理、隱私和安全服務的需求減少。經調整後的分部 EBITDA 為 1,360 萬美元，佔分部收入的 14.5%，而去年同期為 1,650 萬美元，佔分部收入的 14.9%。下降的主要原因是收入減少，但部分被補償金的減少所抵消，補償金的減少包括按需諮詢費用的減少以及銷售、一般及行政費用的減少。

Sequentially, revenue increased 12.5% as we saw an uptick in demand for M&A-related second request services. Adjusted segment EBITDA increased $8.4 million, primarily due to higher revenue and lower SG&A expenses, which was partially offset by an increase in compensation. Worth noting, nearly all of the revenue decline year-to-date in our Tech segment has been driven by lower demand for M&A-related second request services. As a reminder, we delivered record second request services in the first three quarters of 2024 before we saw a sharp drop off of activity in Q4 2024.

由於併購相關二次請求服務的需求上升，營收季增了 12.5%。調整後的分部 EBITDA 增加了 840 萬美元，主要原因是收入增加和銷售、一般及行政費用減少，但部分被薪資增加所抵銷。值得注意的是，今年迄今為止，我們科技部門的收入下降幾乎全部都是由於對併購相關二次請求服務的需求下降所致。提醒一下，我們在 2024 年前三個季度提供了創紀錄的二次請求服務，但在 2024 年第四季度，我們的業務量急劇下降。

Revenue in our StratCom segment of $89.4 million increased 7.4% compared to the prior year quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher demand for corporate reputation services with particular strength in our crisis, people and transformation and cyber services, reflecting increased demand for our expertise during these times of disruption and pain.

StratCom 部門的營收為 8,940 萬美元，比上年同期成長 7.4%。此次成長主要是由於對企業聲譽服務的需求增加，尤其是在危機、人員和轉型以及網路安全服務方面，這反映出在當前動盪和痛苦時期，人們對我們專業知識的需求增加。

Adjusted segment EBITDA of $16.9 million or 18.9% of segment revenue compared to $12.1 million or 14.6% of segment revenue in the prior year quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher revenue and lower SG&A expenses, which was partially offset by an increase in viral compensation.

經調整後的分部 EBITDA 為 1,690 萬美元，佔分部收入的 18.9%，而去年同期為 1,210 萬美元，佔分部收入的 14.6%。成長主要歸因於收入增加和銷售、一般及行政費用減少，但病毒感染補償金的增加部分抵消了這一增長。

Sequentially, revenue in StratCom decreased 12.9%, primarily due to an $8.3 million decline in pass-through revenue and lower financial communications and public affairs revenue. Notably, adjusted segment EBITDA only declined $1.6 million as the decline in revenue was largely driven by lower margin pass-through revenue. This was partially offset by lower compensation and SG&A expenses. Year-to-date, StratCom has delivered record revenue and adjusted EBITDA.

StratCom 的收入環比下降 12.9%，主要原因是轉嫁收入下降 830 萬美元，以及財務通訊和公共事務收入減少。值得注意的是，經調整後的分部 EBITDA 僅下降了 160 萬美元，因為收入下降主要是由於利潤率較低的轉嫁收入所致。較低的薪酬和銷售、管理及行政費用部分抵銷了這一影響。今年迄今為止，StratCom 已實現創紀錄的收入和調整後 EBITDA。

Let me now discuss key cash flow and balance sheet items. Net cash provided by operating activities of $201.9 million for the quarter compared to $219.4 million for the prior year quarter. The year-over-year decrease in net cash provided by operating activities was primarily due to lower cash collections and an increase in income tax payment, which was partially offset by lower operating cost expenses.

現在讓我來談談現金流量表和資產負債表的關鍵項目。本季經營活動產生的淨現金流為 2.019 億美元，而去年同期為 2.194 億美元。經營活動產生的淨現金流量較去年同期下降，主要是由於現金收入減少和所得稅支出增加，但部分被較低的營運成本支出所抵銷。

During the quarter, we repurchased 1.426 million shares at an average price per share of $164.18 or a total cost of $234.1 million. After quarter end, we repurchased 459,610 shares at an average price per share of $15.23. As you may have seen in our earnings press release, our Board of Directors authorized an additional $500 million for share repurchases.

本季度，我們以每股平均價格 164.18 美元回購了 142.6 萬股股票，總成本為 2.341 億美元。季度末，我們以每股平均15.23美元的價格回購了459,610股股票。正如您可能在我們的獲利新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們的董事會批准了額外的5億美元用於股票回購。

Cash and cash equivalents of $146 million on September 30, 2020, compares to $386.3 million on September 30, 2024, and $152.8 million at June 30, 2025. Total debt net of cash of $364 million on September 30, 2025, compared to $317.2 million on June 30, 2025. The sequential increase in total debt net of cash was primarily due to share repurchases.

截至 2020 年 9 月 30 日，現金及現金等價物為 1.46 億美元，而截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日為 3.863 億美元，截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日為 1.528 億美元。截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，扣除現金後的總債務為 3.64 億美元，截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日為 3.172 億美元。扣除現金後的總債務環比增加，主要是因為股票回購。

Now turning to our guidance. Given the stronger-than-expected performance in the third quarter, we're updating our full year 2025 guidance for revenue and EPS as follows. We now estimate revenue will range between $3.685 billion and $3.75 billion, which compares to our previous range between $3.66 billion and $3.76 billion. We now estimate EPS will range between $7.62 and $8.12. And we now expect adjusted EPS will range between $8.20 and $8.70, which compares to our previous range of $7.80 to $8.40. The variance between EPS and adjusted EPS is related to the special charge in the first quarter of 2025.

現在來看我們的指導意見。鑑於第三季業績強於預期，我們對 2025 年全年營收和每股盈餘的預期更新如下。我們現在預計收入將在 36.85 億美元至 37.5 億美元之間，而我們之前的預計範圍是 36.6 億美元至 37.6 億美元。我們現在預計每股盈餘 (EPS) 將在 7.62 美元至 8.12 美元之間。同時，我們預計調整後每股收益將在 8.20 美元至 8.70 美元之間，高於我們先前預測的 7.80 美元至 8.40 美元。每股盈餘與調整後每股盈餘之間的差異與 2025 年第一季的特殊費用有關。

Our guidance is shaped by several key considerations. Fourth quarter is typically a weaker quarter for us because of a seasonal business slowdown as our clients and professionals may take time off during the holidays, especially after such a busy year in many of our segments, particularly CorpFin and FLC.

我們的指導原則是基於以下幾個關鍵考慮因素。第四季通常是我們業績較弱的季度，因為季節性業務放緩，我們的客戶和專業人員可能會在假期休假，尤其是在我們許多業務板塊（特別是企業融資和財務法律諮詢）經歷瞭如此繁忙的一年之後。

Second, while we believe we have stabilized our ECon business from a cost perspective and we expect a gradual return to revenue growth over the next several quarters, the timing of this improvement is not yet certain.

其次，雖然我們相信我們已經從成本角度穩定了 ECon 業務，並且我們預計在接下來的幾個季度中收入將逐步恢復成長，但這種改善的時機尚不確定。

Third, we continue to welcome top notch senior professionals, and we expect to build teams behind them. Year-to-date, we have announced 79 SMD affiliate hires, which compares to 33 and 39 announced hires in 2024 and 2023 over the same time period, respectively. And finally, our assumptions define a midpoint and the range of guidance around that midpoint. We recognize that actual results can be beyond that range.

第三，我們繼續歡迎頂尖的高級專業人才，並希望在他們身後組建團隊。今年迄今為止，我們已宣布了 79 名 SMD 附屬公司員工的招聘，而 2024 年和 2023 年同期分別宣布了 33 名和 39 名員工的招聘。最後，我們的假設定義了一個中點以及圍繞該中點的指導範圍。我們認識到實際結果可能超出這個範圍。

Before I close, I want to reiterate four key themes that I believe continue to underscore the strength of our company. First, as the result this quarter demonstrate, we have a set of businesses that are uniquely diverse and resilient. Despite the major headwinds we've had this year in ECon and Tech, our company as a whole delivered not just strong but record performance this quarter.

在結束發言之前，我想重申四個關鍵主題，我認為這些主題將繼續凸顯我們公司的實力。首先，如本季的結果所示，我們擁有一系列具有獨特多樣性和韌性的企業。儘管今年我們在經濟和科技領域遇到了很大的不利因素，但我們公司整體在本季不僅取得了強勁的業績，而且創下了歷史新高。

Second, we believe that the deep expertise of our professionals is what sets us apart. The expertise of our people allows them to be ever more in demand by our clients as they navigate complex and ever-increasing dislocation globally.

其次，我們認為我們專業人員的深厚專業知識使我們脫穎而出。憑藉我們員工的專業技能，我們的客戶在應對全球日益複雜和不斷加劇的動盪局勢時，越來越需要他們的幫助。

Third, we remain committed to attracting the best people when they are available, irrespective of short-term headwinds. These key senior hires span across the company including antitrust, transactions, financial services, cybersecurity, risk and investigations and corporate reputation.

第三，無論短期內面臨何種不利因素，我們始終致力於吸引最優秀的人才。這些關鍵的高階人才招募涵蓋公司各部門，包括反壟斷、交易、金融服務、網路安全、風險與調查以及企業聲譽。

And fourth, our balance sheet remains strong. We have the ability to boost shareholder value, first and foremost, through organic growth, as we have shown through acquisitions when we find the right fit and, of course, by repurchasing shares as we have done this year.

第四，我們的資產負債表依然穩健。我們有能力提升股東價值，首先是透過內生成長，正如我們在找到合適的收購目標時所展現的那樣，當然，還有像我們今年所做的那樣，透過回購股票。

With that, let me turn it back over to Steve.

那麼，現在讓我把麥克風交還給史蒂夫。

Thank you, Paul. Before we go to the questions just in case some folks on the call don't know Paul. Paul has been here for 11 years. He's been a key member of the Executive Committee, one of my right-hand folks. We hired him in 11 years ago shortly after I joined, I guess, as the Head of Strategy. And he's been a key contributor in 11 years as this company has soared.

謝謝你，保羅。在開始提問之前，以防電話會議中有些人不認識保羅。保羅在這裡工作了11年。他一直是執行委員會的重要成員，也是我的得力助手之一。我剛加入公司不久（大概是 11 年前），我們就聘請了他，擔任策略主管。在過去的11年裡，他一直是公司發展壯大的關鍵貢獻者。

I was so pleased that he volunteered to serve as Interim CFO, although he does claim I voluntold him. But either way, Paul thank you for taking on the role. Let me also take one moment to thank Ajay Sabherwal for nine years of real dedication here at FTI. He has contributed a lot and his commitment to this firm in helping it reaches potential was always evident. I'm looking forward to seeing him tonight and seeing him going forward, and all of us wish him best in his next endeavors.

他主動請纓擔任臨時財務官，我感到非常高興，儘管他聲稱是我主動告訴他的。但無論如何，保羅，感謝你接受這個角色。我還要藉此機會感謝 Ajay Sabherwal 九年來在 FTI 的辛勤工作。他為公司做出了許多貢獻，他對公司發揮潛力的奉獻精神始終顯而易見。我期待今晚見到他，也期待他未來的發展，我們都祝福他在未來的工作和生活中一切順利。

With that, let me open the floor for questions.

接下來，我將接受各位提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Andrew Nicholas, William Blair.

安德魯·尼古拉斯，威廉·布萊爾。

I wanted to start on Economic Consulting, and I apologize, a multi-parter here. I guess trying to understand if you could unpack how much of the top line performance in the quarter was maybe market driven versus some of the talent dynamics that you mentioned. Also with costs having now stabilized, is there still conviction in EBITDA for that segment bottoming in the second half of this year? And then lastly, any impact that you expect from the US government shutdown?

我原本想從經濟諮詢的角度來談起，我很抱歉，這將會是一個由多部分組成的系列文章。我想了解的是，您能否分析一下本季營收成長有多少是市場因素驅動的，又有多少是您提到的某些人才因素驅動的。鑑於成本目前已經趨於穩定，是否仍有信心該業務板塊的 EBITDA 將在今年下半年觸底？最後，您預期美國政府停擺會產生什麼影響？

Okay. Let me just -- the US government shutdown, EBITDA bottoming. Remind me the first one there, Andrew. By the time I wrote it.

好的。讓我簡單說一下——美國政府停擺，EBITDA觸底。安德魯，提醒我第一個是哪一個。在我寫這篇文章的時候。

Yes. How much of the revenue kind of decline you'd attribute to just broader market conditions versus some of the talent transition going on this year?

是的。您認為收入下滑有多少是由於整體市場環境造成的，又有多少是今年的人才流動造成的？

Yes. If I had to guess on the first one, it'd probably be, I'm guessing, two-third to the talent transition and one-third towards market conditions. That's a guess. If I'm way off, we'll correct that, but I think that's close enough to a guess in a different place, Paul.

是的。如果讓我猜測第一個問題的原因，我猜三分之二是人才轉型，三分之一是市場狀況。那隻是我的猜測。如果我猜錯了，我們會糾正的，但我認為在另一個地方的猜測已經足夠接近了，保羅。

US government, very hard to say. We are getting in our businesses still leads for things. I think whether that is because people believe the government will not be shut down long or whether -- so if there's an extended shutdown, you have to believe it starts to affect things. But so far, we haven't seen much effect is what I would say.

美國政府，很難說。我們仍在為業務發展尋找方向。我認為這可能是因為人們相信政府不會長期停擺，或者——如果政府長期停擺，人們就會相信這會開始影響到很多事情。但就目前來看，我們還沒有看到太大的效果。

Has EBITDA bottomed out? I think you correctly got a sense that the bulk of the costs are now reflected in this. I think what we have is a war going on between the runoff of the legacy work and how fast we can generate new work and how fast the markets that were slow come back. I would say I'm cautious about that. I don't think we can commit to this having been a bottoming out yet.

EBITDA 是否已經觸底？我認為你正確地意識到，大部分成本現在都反映在這上面了。我認為我們現在面臨的是一場戰爭，一方是舊業務的後續影響，另一方是我們創造新業務的速度，以及那些曾經緩慢復甦的市場恢復的速度。我對此持謹慎態度。我認為我們現在還不能斷言這已經觸底反彈。

I think we've done a great job of adding talent. It turns out that Compass Lexecon has never really marketed itself before. And so we're finally starting an effort to make sure that the market knows all the talent is out there. And then the market has to know that the talent is with us now and then you have to get the initial lead and then there's senior time, and then eventually you get the big work with the junior time that you make a lot of money on.

我認為我們在人才引進方面做得非常出色。原來 Compass Lexecon 以前從未真正做過市場推廣。因此，我們終於開始努力，確保市場知道所有的人才都在那裡。然後市場必須知道我們現在擁有人才，然後你必須獲得最初的領先地位，然後是資深人士的時間，然後最終你才能在初級階段獲得大項目，從而賺很多錢。

And so that's a multi-quarter type of thing to get the realization on all the new people. I would say a lot of the legacy work is runoff, but there's still stuff to run off. And so the war between those two, I'm not quite sure. It could be trumped by whether the markets come back faster or slower than us. So I think you don't want to count on an immediate turnaround in EBITDA, although there's always fourth quarter effects also in Compass Lexecon because the law firms collect at the end of the year and we get collections and so forth.

所以，要讓所有新進員工都到位，就需要幾個季度的時間。我認為許多遺留工作都已成為次要任務，但仍有一些工作需要完成。所以，關於這兩個人之間的戰爭，我不太清楚。市場復甦的速度比我們快或慢，可能會決定一切。所以我認為你不應該指望 EBITDA 立即好轉，儘管 Compass Lexecon 也總是會受到第四季度的影響，因為律師事務所會在年底收款，我們也會收到收款等等。

So there's a lot of noise in the fourth quarter. The way I'm thinking about this business is I am fundamentally really positive over it in the multiyear time frame. Now what the first half of next year looks like and how fast it starts to turn around is still a question where we're working through. Does that at least give you a sense, Andrew?

所以第四季有很多幹擾因素。我對這家公司的看法是，從根本上來說，我對它在未來幾年的發展前景非常樂觀。明年上半年的情況如何，以及何時才能開始好轉，這仍然是我們正在努力解決的問題。安德魯，這至少能讓你有個大概了解吧？

Yes. No, that's helpful. I appreciate you handling or responding to all the different pieces of my question. Next one is just on the transactions practice. Could you unpack that strength a bit further?

是的。不，這很有幫助。感謝您處理或回覆我問題的各個部分。接下來是關於交易練習的。您能否進一步闡述這種優勢？

How much is market driven versus some of the operational or execution momentum that you described in your remarks? Because I think that's one of the higher quarters in that practice certainly that we've seen. So any more color there would be great.

您在演講中提到的營運或執行動力，有多少是市場驅動的？因為我認為這絕對是我們所見過的該類病例中較高的比例之一。所以如果能再多一些顏色就更好了。

Yes. That one, and maybe Paul has better data than I do. My sense qualitatively is the bulk of that is our b***** team. I got to tell you, it's really fun to see. And certainly, the bulk of it over the last few years, when the markets weren't growing and we were because of really good leadership and just leadership throughout the ranks of the team, not just -- the guy running it was terrific, but also throughout the ranks. Just it's a great team that has conviction in their propositions. They've been out in the market. And where we've gotten trial with people, people want to buy more.

是的。確實如此，或許保羅掌握的數據比我的更好。就我個人感覺而言，大部分責任都在我們這群混蛋身上。我得告訴你，這真的很有趣。當然，過去幾年市場沒有成長，而我們卻實現了成長，這主要歸功於我們優秀的領導，以及整個團隊的領導力，不僅僅是負責人非常出色，而是整個團隊都表現出色。這是一個很棒的團隊，他們對自己的主張充滿信心。它們已經推出市場了。而凡是經過試用的人，都表示想要購買更多。

And then as I think Paul mentioned, what we have done is, as we first -- years ago, we had no credibility in this space. And then you build credibility. And as you have credibility, it gives you the opportunity to introduce other services. And so that's what's happened this year. I mean, not sure whether the jobs are up as much as the size of the jobs because we're now credible with people, and we introduce other services.

正如保羅所提到的那樣，我們所做的，就像我們最初——幾年前，我們在這個領域沒有任何信譽一樣。然後你就能建立信譽。而且，由於你擁有信譽，這為你提供了介紹其他服務的機會。所以，這就是今年發生的事情。我的意思是，我不確定工作崗位數量的增加是否與工作規模的增加一樣多，因為我們現在在人們心中有了信譽，而且我們還推出了其他服務。

And people say, Wow, you're good at that too. Look, there's going to be zig zags in that business because it's driven by market, but I am fundamentally bullish about that over the next years.

人們會說：“哇，你也很擅長這個。”你看，這個行業肯定會有起伏，因為它受市場驅動，但我對未來幾年這個行業的前景基本上持樂觀態度。

Great. And then maybe last one for me. Just on FLC, another really good quarter despite what I think are maybe some more challenging end market conditions as I understand that some of that is incentive driven and some of the changes that you made internally, also price realization. On the price piece specifically, is that something that you think can continue into next year or even multiple years from here? Or should we think about that kind of rate increase dynamic being more kind of specific to '25?

偉大的。這或許是我最後一個了。就 FLC 而言，儘管我認為終端市場環境可能更具挑戰性，但又是一個非常好的季度。據我了解，部分原因是激勵機制驅動的，以及你們內部做出的一些改變，還有價格實現。具體到價格方面，您認為這種情況會持續到明年，甚至未來幾年嗎？或者我們應該認為這種利率上漲動態更特定於 2025 年？

Let me answer that two ways. I think, look, we have rate potential across our business across every segment still there. I mean, if you look at the major law firms that we have been working with, they over the last five years have raised their rates way more than we have. And so we are engaging and catch up. Having said that, I would say the FLC team this past year made a major catch-up.

我從兩個方面來回答這個問題。我認為，你看，我們業務的各個領域都仍然存在著價格上漲的潛力。我的意思是，如果你看看我們一直在合作的那些大型律師事務所，你會發現他們在過去五年裡提高收費的幅度遠遠超過了我們。所以我們正在積極參與並迎頭趕上。話雖如此，我認為 FLC 團隊在過去一年裡取得了巨大的進步。

So I wouldn't want people to say, oh, that sort of catch-up is something that we can do every year. What we can do is to continue to build on it, but it would be more likely in a more modest way than it's shown up in the numbers this year. Does that help?

所以我不想讓人說，哦，這種交流活動我們可以每年都做。我們可以繼續在此基礎上發展，但發展速度可能會比今年的數據所顯示的要慢一些。這樣有幫助嗎？

Yes.

是的。

James Yaro, Goldman Sachs.

James Yaro，高盛集團。

Steve, I wanted to touch a little bit on the impact of AI on your business. Perhaps you could just touch on which businesses are impacted. And then if you could possibly maybe differentiate between positive and negative impacts when you discuss the various businesses.

史蒂夫，我想稍微談談人工智慧對你業務的影響。或許您可以簡單談談哪些企業受到了影響。然後，如果您在討論各種企業時能夠區分正面影響和負面影響，那就更好了。

Yes. Look, can I maybe frame that a little bit at a higher level and then come back to your question? Look, I've gotten into AI as any CEO has. And one of the most interesting quotations I ever saw was by Bill Gates about all new technologies. And what Bill said three years ago was that every new fundamental technology has followed the same pattern.

是的。聽著，我能不能先從更高的層次來闡述這個問題，然後再回到你的問題上來？你看，我和其他CEO一樣，也開始涉足人工智慧領域了。我見過的最有趣的語錄之一是比爾蓋茲對所有新技術的評價。比爾三年前說過，每項新的基礎技術都遵循同樣的模式。

It's ignored for a while, then there's immense hype. The hype is overhyped for a lot of people. It's going to change your life, James, and how you raise your children in the next two weeks. And then the delusion sets in 18 or 24 months later.

它先是被忽視了一段時間，然後突然就火了起來。對很多人來說，這種炒作有些過頭了。詹姆斯，這件事將會改變你的人生，也會改變你未來兩週的育兒方式。然後，18 或 24 個月後，這種錯覺就開始出現了。

And I think we're seeing that pattern with AI. Now the other point that he made is, and it's when the delusion sets in that the real revolution begin. And you saw that in the Internet when the initial Google and Facebook and Uber, these were not things in the first few years. These were things for people who persisted and rethought and rethought and rethought that created the world.

我認為我們在人工智慧領域也看到了這種模式。他提出的另一點是，當人們產生錯覺時，真正的革命就開始了。你在網路上也看到了這一點，當Google、Facebook 和 Uber 在最初幾年的時候，這些都還不是現在的樣子。這些都是那些堅持不懈、反覆思考、不斷反思，最終創造世界的人們所創造的。

It's a big -- I think this is what's happening with AI now. The solution is setting in. It's obviously been transformative for NVIDIA. But I think the standard statistic is for 80% of companies out there right now, they're not seeing any impact, positive or negative from their investments in AI.

這是一個很大的問題——我認為這就是人工智慧現在正在發生的事情。解決方案正在逐步落實。這顯然對英偉達產生了變革性的影響。但我認為，目前普遍的統計數據是，80% 的公司都沒有從他們在人工智慧方面的投資中獲得任何影響，無論是積極的還是消極的。

We are seeing impact and we're seeing positive impact. We haven't found much tremendous impact yet on our internal operations and cost out, that sort of stuff that people search. Where we're finding it is in our client work. And it's different types of things. We've developed some tools that are powerful tools that help enhance our position in large-scale investigations.

我們看到了影響，而且是正面的影響。我們目前還沒有發現對內部營運和成本產生太大影響，也沒有發現人們搜尋的這類問題。我們在為客戶工作時發現了這一點。而且是不同類型的事物。我們開發了一些強大的工具，這些工具能夠幫助我們在大規模調查中佔據更有利的地位。

These are tools that we call Ariadne and IQ.AI, and that's just really part and parcel of us being to deliver on what we've historically been able to deliver and just do it in superior ways. We have started to get some major new work, some it small, but some of it is major new work, where we have been called on to help investigate where AI algorithms have potentially been used by major institutions in ways that violate regulatory stature.

這些工具我們稱之為 Ariadne 和 IQ.AI，這實際上就是我們繼續履行我們過去一直能夠履行的職責，並以更卓越的方式完成這項工作的必然組成部分。我們已經開始接到一些重要的新工作，有些工作規模較小，但有些工作規模很大，我們被要求協助調查大型機構可能以違反監管規定的方式使用人工智慧演算法的情況。

And I think we are leading edge in our ability to do that sort of work. And we've had some pretty big assignments in that. And then we are being called more smaller early-stage things to help do like either communications around AI strategies or early-stage assessments of what AI could do to the strategies of various businesses.

我認為我們在完成這類工作方面處於領先地位。我們在這方面承擔了一些相當重要的任務。然後，我們被要求參與更多規模較小的早期階段項目，例如圍繞人工智慧策略的溝通，或對人工智慧可能對各種企業的策略產生的影響進行早期評估。

It's not yet, I would say, cumulatively across the whole enterprise. It's not transformative as a part of these economics, but I think it is the prelude for transformative going forward. And we're pretty excited about our position by making sure we're staying attached to it, but also as our tech team has done really well of trying to position ourselves as the people who can demystify it and find the real applications, the real use cases that make a difference and avoid the pitfalls. And I think that's where we're trying to take it. Does that help, James?

就整個企業而言，目前還沒有出現這種情況。它本身並不具有變革性，但我認為它是未來變革性的序幕。我們對目前的處境感到非常興奮，因為我們不僅確保自己始終堅守這一立場，而且我們的技術團隊也做得非常出色，他們努力將自己定位為能夠揭開其神秘面紗、找到真正應用、真正能產生影響的用例並避免陷阱的人。我認為這就是我們努力的方向。這樣有幫助嗎，詹姆斯？

That's really helpful. Just maybe one clarifying question there as this is a question that I do receive a lot. So I think you walked through a lot of the positives that AI could potentially generate for the business over time. I just want to make sure that I understand and get your thoughts. So you're not seeing today or expect in the future much in the way of any sort of negative impact on billable hours across the business.

這真的很有幫助。這裡可能還有一個需要澄清的問題，因為我經常收到這樣的問題。所以我覺得你已經詳細闡述了人工智慧隨著時間的推移可能為企業帶來的許多正面影響。我只是想確保我理解了你的想法。因此，目前您不會看到，將來也不會看到，整個業務的計費工時會受到任何負面影響。

Look, I think you would expect, of course -- look, I think back in the day, and this is before your time but also before mine, James, when accountants were totaling up spreadsheets and then Excel was created, the number of accountants needed to total down column and across went away. Any new technology changes the work required and changes some of the commodity held into the work. And we are constantly monitoring that across our business. I will say that I feel more worried about that if I had 25:1 leverage businesses with primarily junior people.

你看，我想你當然會這麼想──你看，我想在過去，這在你出生之前，也在我的出生之前，詹姆斯，當會計師們還在用電子表格匯總數據的時候，後來Excel出現了，就不需要那麼多會計師來匯總列和行了。任何新科技都​​會改變所需的工作，也會改變工作中所包含的一些商品。我們會在整個業務範圍內持續監控這種情況。如果我經營的是槓桿率為 25:1 的企業，而且員工大多是初級員工，我會更擔心這種情況。

Our business is experts in court testifying or experts doing like the ready dare stuff, flying on -- I think it was analogous to ready dare, the guy who flew on oil derricks when they're on fire and put out the fire. That's not a commodity while maybe building an oil derrick is. And so I think we're going to be positioned really well. But of course, we're always looking for ways to substitute technology for hours and create efficiencies and figuring out ways to price those things for our clients. Does that address that part of the question, James?

我們的業務是讓專家出庭作證，或者讓專家做類似“準備就緒”之類的事情，比如飛上——我認為這類似於“準備就緒”，就是那個在油井著火時飛上去滅火的人。那不算是一種商品，而建造石油鑽井平台或許算。所以我認為我們會處於非常有利的位置。當然，我們一直在尋找以科技取代工時、提高效率的方法，並思考如何為客戶合理定價。詹姆斯，這樣回答了問題的這一部分嗎？

That's really helpful. Just one last one for me. Maybe just on the restructuring side of things. I think if I calculate it correctly, you reached another all-time high this quarter, which is obviously very positive. Maybe you could just help us think about the outlook for this business going forward.

這真的很有幫助。最後一個給我。或許只是在重組方面。如果我計算正確的話，我認為你們本季又創下了歷史新高，這顯然是一個非常積極的信號。或許您能幫我們思考一下這家企業未來的發展前景嗎？

Bankruptcies have continued to tick up modestly off admittedly a low base and your business continues to grow.

儘管破產數量基數較低，但仍小幅上升，而您的企業也持續成長。

Yes, I think in I'll take that one. So yes, quarter-over-quarter, we were up about 1%. So the business continues to be quite strong, and we continue to see, as I said, strength in multiple geographies, which we think will continue to position us for some of the larger mandates, both creditor side as well as company side. So I think we think the market will continue to benefit us as we continue to maintain or grow share there.

是的，我想我會選擇那個。是的，與上一季相比，我們成長了約 1%。因此，公司業務仍然非常強勁，正如我所說，我們在多個地區都看到了強勁的成長勢頭，我們認為這將繼續使我們處於有利地位，能夠獲得一些更大的委託，無論是債權人方面還是公司方面。所以我認為，隨著我們繼續保持或擴大市場份額，市場將繼續使我們受益。

Tobey Sommer, Truist.

Tobey Sommer，Truist。

This is Tyler Barishaw on for Tobey. I want to go back to Economic Consulting. How should we be thinking about the margin level for next year in that business?

這是替補托比上場的泰勒·巴里肖。我想重返經濟諮詢業。我們該如何看待該業務明年的利潤率水準？

We should think about it hard is what I would say, Tyler. Look, there's so many dynamics in that business. I can't give a prediction next year. I mean, I don't think we typically give predictions at the segment level and certainly not now for next year. I think it's so much the right question.

泰勒，我的建議是，我們應該好好考慮一下。你看，這個行業裡有很多複雜的因素。我無法預測明年的情況。我的意思是，我認為我們通常不會對細分市場進行預測，現在當然更不會對明年進行預測。我覺得這個問題提得太好了。

I think what I would say is I have a lot of confidence in the multiyear trajectory of that business. We wouldn't have been making all these investments this year. How quickly we turn it around is a real question. And I wouldn't get overly bullish. But I wouldn't be overly cautious about the multiyear trajectory for that business either.

我想說的是，我對這家企業未來的發展前景非常有信心。我們今年本來不會進行這麼多投資。我們能多快扭轉局面，這的確是個問題。我不會過於樂觀。但我對這家企業未來幾年的發展軌跡也不必過於謹慎。

Does that at least help a little bit, Tyler?

這樣至少能幫到你一點吧，泰勒？

It does. What about headcount growth? Should we expect similar levels of headcount growth across the whole business for next year as well? Or maybe some trends you're seeing in the fourth quarter would be helpful.

確實如此。員工人數成長如何？我們是否應該預期明年整個公司的員工人數成長水準也與此類似？或許您在第四季觀察到的一些趨勢會很有幫助。

Look, I think this year, the headcount growth year-over-year is lower than we have historically done. I mean, we have had the same strategy, but different years, different things happen. And if you remember here in the fourth quarter and the first quarter, we've stressed some certain underperforming positions and so forth. And so I think our headcount growth year-over-year here is among the lowest since I've been here.

我認為，今年的員工人數年增率低於我們以往的水平。我的意思是，我們一直採取同樣的策略，但不同的年份，不同的情況也會發生不同的事。如果你還記得的話，在第四季度和第一季度，我們專注於了一些表現不佳的領域等等。因此，我認為我們這裡的人員年增長率是我來這裡以來最低的。

We haven't changed our fundamental headcount growth story. I hope you heard my opening, and I hope you communicated a sense of conviction and bullishness about the future of this company. So we have to grow heads. Now how we differentiate that among segments and subsegments by geography depends a lot on individual circumstances and whether we're long in some headcount or short in some headcount. So I probably can't go into the individual subpoints.

我們的基本人員成長策略並沒有改變。我希望你們聽到了我的開場白，也希望你們能感受到我對公司未來的信心和樂觀。所以我們必須長點腦筋。現在，我們如何按地理位置區分各個細分市場和子細分市場，很大程度上取決於具體情況，以及我們某些部門的人員數量是否過多或過少。所以我可能無法詳細討論各個子要點。

But if you wanted to go back to our longer-term history to project headcount growth for the majority of the world, that's probably a better prediction than using the last 12 months. Does that help, Tyler?

但如果你想回顧我們更長遠的歷史，預測全球大部分地區的人員成長情況，那麼這可能比使用過去 12 個月的數據更能準確預測未來情況。這樣有幫助嗎，泰勒？

It does.

確實如此。

Let me say thank you all. I think we went over a couple of minutes. Thank you all for your continued attention, and we look forward to taking this company forward. Thank you.

請容許我向大家表示感謝。我想我們超時了幾分鐘。感謝大家一直以來的關注，我們期待帶領公司繼續向前發展。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位蒞臨今天的報告會。現在您可以斷開線路了，祝您有美好的一天。