Forward Air Corp (Delaware) (FWRD) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for joining Forward Air Corporation's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Release Conference Call. Before we begin, I'd like to point out that both the press release and webcast presentation for this call are accessible on the Investor Relations section of Forward Air's website at www.forwardaircorp.com. With us this morning are CEO, Tom Schmitt; and CFO, Rebecca Garbrick.

感謝您參加前進航空公司 2023 年第三季財報發布電話會議。在我們開始之前，我想指出，本次電話會議的新聞稿和網路廣播演示均可在 Forward Air 網站 www.forwardaircorp.com 的投資者關係部分取得。今天早上與我們在一起的有首席執行官湯姆·施密特 (Tom Schmitt)；和財務長麗貝卡·加布里克。

By now, you should have received the press release announcing our third quarter 2023 results which was furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K and on the wire yesterday after the market closed. Please be aware that certain statements in the company's earnings press release announcement and on this conference call are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements which are based on expectations, intentions and projections regarding the company's future performance, anticipated events or trends and other matters that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our expected fourth quarter 2023 and fiscal year 2023.

到目前為止，您應該已經收到了宣布我們 2023 年第三季業績的新聞稿，該新聞稿以 8-K 表格形式提交給 SEC，並在昨天收盤後透過網路發送。請注意，公司收益新聞稿和本次電話會議中的某些陳述屬於 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述，包括基於對公司業績的預期、意圖和預測的陳述。未來業績、預期事件或趨勢以及其他非歷史事實的事項，包括有關我們預計2023 年第四季和2023 財年的聲明。

These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For additional information concerning these risks and factors, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the press release and webcast presentation relating to this earnings call.

這些陳述並非對未來績效的保證，並受到已知和未知的風險、不確定性和其他因素的影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。有關這些風險和因素的更多信息，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件以及與本次財報電話會議相關的新聞稿和網絡廣播演示。

Listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this call. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law. During the call, there may also be a discussion of financial metrics that do not conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP.

請聽眾不要過度依賴這些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅代表本次電話會議之日的情況。除非法律要求，否則本公司不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。在電話會議期間，也可能會討論不符合美國公認會計原則或公認會計準則的財務指標。

Management uses non-GAAP measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business and make operating decisions. Definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the press release issued, which is available in the Investors tab on our website.

管理階層在內部使用非公認會計準則衡量標準來了解、管理和評估我們的業務並做出營運決策。這些非公認會計準則衡量標準與其最直接可比較的公認會計準則衡量標準的定義和調節包含在發布的新聞稿中，該新聞稿可在我們網站的「投資者」標籤中找到。

And now I'd like to turn the conference over to Tom Schmitt, CEO of Forward Air.

現在我想將會議交給 Forward Air 執行長湯姆·施密特 (Tom Schmitt)。

Thank you, Rich, and good morning to all of you on the call. Let me start by addressing our performance and our trends first. On our last earnings call, I did say that this freight recession is tricky. And I did talk about Intermodal and Truckload, we're lagging the LTL recovery. That was still the case for our third quarter. And also LTL itself, we had a weak July, and we were still showing negative year-over-year volume trends in July. That was in LTL turning towards flat in August and we had positive volume trends in September.

謝謝你，里奇，祝所有參加電話會議的人早安。讓我先談談我們的業績和趨勢。在我們上次的財報電話會議上，我確實說過這次貨運衰退很棘手。我確實談到了多式聯運和卡車裝載，我們的零擔復甦滯後。我們第三季的情況仍然如此。還有零擔運輸本身，我們的 7 月表現疲軟，而且 7 月的同比成交量仍然呈負趨勢。零擔運輸量在 8 月趨於持平，而 9 月我們的銷售趨勢呈現正面趨勢。

August and September, both ended up in 85% of our territory. And October is showing further volume improvements. Over the past couple of years and especially in the past few months, you gave us a lot of feedback around our LTL focus and around corporate clarity. We are listening and we are stepping up. Our Grow Forward program is all about LTL. It's about rigorous focus on high-value freight, priced appropriately with industry-leading service in a cleansed operating environment and accessing a larger customer and revenue base.

8月和9月，都涵蓋了我們85%的領土。十月銷量進一步改善。在過去的幾年裡，尤其是在過去的幾個月裡，您就零擔運輸重點和公司透明度向我們提供了許多回饋。我們正在傾聽，我們正在加緊努力。我們的「Grow Forward」計劃就是關於零擔運輸的。它嚴格關注高價值貨運，在潔淨的營運環境中提供適當的行業領先服務定價，並獲得更大的客戶和收入基礎。

That strategy of Grow Forward remains unchanged and first results can be seen in our OR trends. When we announced on August 10, the acquisition of Omni, that was all about going after more of that $15 billion high-value freight LTL market. That fourth [12th] block of Grow Forward accessing a larger customer and revenue base. We will execute that focus organically in 3 ways. First and foremost, growing with the core, and that's the most important part. Our domestic forwarders have been our core partners since our beginning, and we're growing with them again.

「向前發展」的策略保持不變，第一個結果可以在我們的 OR 趨勢中看到。當我們在 8 月 10 日宣布收購 Omni 時，就是為了爭奪價值 150 億美元的高價值貨運零擔市場的更多份額。 「Grow Forward」的第四個 [12] 區塊將獲得更大的客戶和收入基礎。我們將透過三種方式有機地執行這項重點。首先，也是最重要的，與核心一起成長，這是最重要的部分。自成立以來，我們的國內貨運代理一直是我們的核心合作夥伴，我們將再次與他們一起成長。

In fact, since we announced on August 10, the acquisition of Omni, we actually have grown with our domestic forwarders customers. We have given them our commitment that we will continue to give them the service and terms that will make them win more business. And we'll scorecard track revenue with them, win rates for them and make sure that we do everything possible to make them win more business with us. We will not confuse efforts with results with them.

事實上，自從我們8月10日宣布收購Omni以來，我們實際上已經與國內貨運代理客戶一起成長了。我們向他們承諾，我們將繼續為他們提供服務和條款，使他們贏得更多業務。我們將用記分卡追蹤他們的收入、他們的贏得率，並確保我們盡一切可能讓他們與我們贏得更多業務。我們不會將努力與結果混為一談。

Secondly, we will sell full steam direct to those customers who do not work with forwarders. With the August announcement, it should have been clear to everyone that we believe in our superior service, and we want to make it available to everyone, large, medium and small. Half the market uses forwarders, and we want to make them win more. The other half does not, and we're going now fully after that other half as well, building out our direct sales force significantly over the next few months. And also, we will be laser sharp on getting the volume and pricing sweet spot right for door-to-door service and for direct service.

其次，我們將直接向那些不與貨運代理合作的客戶全力銷售。透過八月份的公告，每個人都應該清楚地知道我們相信我們的優質服務，並且我們希望向每個人（無論大、中、小型）提供服務。一半的市場使用貨代，我們希望讓他們贏得更多。另一半則不然，我們現在也將全力追隨另一半，在接下來的幾個月內大力建立我們的直銷隊伍。此外，我們將竭盡全力為上門服務和直接服務找到合適的數量和定價最佳點。

When you look at our numbers, you see we still have work to do on getting the volume pricing sweet spot right for direct and for door-to-door. The third point, we will leave more corporate clarity. Starting in Q1 2024, LTL will be its own reporting segment. And over the next few weeks, we are finalizing clear, short and midterm targets, action and dashboards, laying out very specifically our increased LTL revenue plans, margin plans and the percentage of LTL as a revenue of the overall company. Corporate clarity is something we will be living more. Portfolio review in an accelerated fashion is a big part of that.

當您查看我們的數據時，您會發現我們仍有工作要做，以確保直接和送貨上門的批量定價最佳點。第三點，我們將讓企業更清楚。從 2024 年第一季開始，LTL 將成為自己的報告部門。在接下來的幾週內，我們將最終確定明確的短期和中期目標、行動和儀表板，非常具體地列出我們增加的零擔收入計劃、利潤計劃以及零擔佔整個公司收入的百分比。我們將更加追求企業的透明度。加速的投資組合審查是其中一個重要的部分。

Forward focus is LTL and what's essential to make LTL stronger. With that, Rich, let's open it up for the lines for comments and for questions.

向前關注是LTL，也是讓LTL 變得更強的關鍵。 Rich，讓我們打開評論和提問線路。

The floor is now open for questions and comments. (Operator Instructions) We will begin with the line of Jack Atkins with Stephens.

現在可以提問和評論。 （操作員說明）我們將從傑克·阿特金斯（Jack Atkins）和史蒂芬斯（Stephens）的線路開始。

Okay. Great. So, Tom, I guess maybe if we can start with the -- maybe double-clicking a bit on the organic strategy related to your LTL business. I think part of that requires building out your commercial team and your commercial organization. Could you talk a bit about the investments that you either have made or you might need to make there to really kind of be able to expand your direct to shipper strategy over the next couple of years?

好的。偉大的。所以，湯姆，我想也許我們可以從 - 也許雙擊與您的零擔業務相關的有機策略開始。我認為其中一部分需要建立你的商業團隊和商業組織。您能否談談您已經進行的投資或您可能需要進行的投資，以便真正能夠在未來幾年內擴展您的直接托運人策略？

Yes, Jack. So first of all, as you know, over the first 40 years, we exclusively dealt with our domestic forwarder and other intermediary partners. And then 2 years ago, we started in a small way, selling direct, and we went to small, medium-sized businesses that do not use third parties, that do not use forwarders. That check, we have built out very, very slowly and consistently. It's grown over the last few months. It's a commercial team of 20-plus people.

是的，傑克。首先，如您所知，在前 40 年裡，我們專門與國內貨運代理商和其他中介合作夥伴打交道。然後兩年前，我們以小規模的方式開始，直接銷售，我們去了不使用第三方、不使用貨運代理的中小型企業。我們以非常非常緩慢且持續的方式進行了這項檢查。它在過去幾個月裡有所增長。這是一個20多人的商業團隊。

We have a very, very strong seasoned leader in place, actually leaders with Erika Tolar and Jennifer Johnson, hires that we've made in the last 1.5 years and more recently in one case. Nancee Ronning, our Chief Commercial Officer, has developed with her team a very specific plan over the next few weeks to the next year, to 2 years from now to tripling or quadrupling this sales force with sales leaders that are proven in the space of selling direct.

我們有一位非常非常強大、經驗豐富的領導者，實際上是埃里卡·托拉爾(Erika Tolar) 和詹妮弗·約翰遜(Jennifer Johnson) 等領導者，我們在過去1.5 年以及最近的一個案例中聘用了他們。我們的首席商務官Nancee Ronning 與她的團隊制定了一項非常具體的計劃，從未來幾週到明年，從現在到兩年，將銷售隊伍增加三倍或四倍，並配備在銷售領域得到證明的銷售領導者。直接的。

We also are very clear, Jack, that we have to not to make this an investment year, but in fact, cut costs and redirect energy and resources from other places and invested in the direct sales force. But -- so what we slowly started 2 years ago with small, medium-sized businesses is only, now it's full force, fair game. That's the benefit of the August 10th announcement that we became very clear about making sure that we are accessing that other half of the high-value LTL market, small, medium and large. What you should be expecting is a road map with specific resources in that space over the next few weeks.

傑克，我們也非常清楚，我們必須不讓今年成為投資年，但事實上，我們要削減成本，將精力和資源從其他地方轉移到直銷隊伍上。但是，兩年前我們慢慢開始針對中小型企業的只是現在，它是全力以赴、公平的遊戲。這就是 8 月 10 日宣布的好處，我們非常明確地確保我們正在進入高價值 LTL 市場的另一半，無論是小型、中型還是大型。您應該期待的是未來幾週內包含該領域特定資源的路線圖。

This is going to be a doubling and tripling of that sales force within the next 18 months. And you should also expect us to go with revenue and margin numbers and percentage of overall company revenue that comes both from indirect sales with our partners and direct sales that we are building out. That road map should be extremely specific with milestones, targets and dates. But to be very clear, we're talking about a multi-exiting of the effort that we started 2 years ago in a short time frame.

未來 18 個月內，銷售隊伍將增加一倍或三倍。您還應該期望我們提供收入和利潤率數字以及公司總收入的百分比，這些收入來自與合作夥伴的間接銷售和我們正在建立的直接銷售。該路線圖應該非常具體，包括里程碑、目標和日期。但要非常明確的是，我們正在談論的是我們兩年前在短時間內開始的努力的多重退出。

Okay. Okay. That's -- that will be encouraging to see, I think, as you guys disclose that. And when you think about your network, both whether it's your terminal infrastructure or your first and final mile capabilities, do you need to make any investments there to execute on the direct shipper strategy? Or do you feel like you have the infrastructure in place to be able to execute on that?

好的。好的。我認為，當你們披露這一點時，看到這一點將會令人鼓舞。當您考慮您的網路時，無論是您的碼頭基礎設施還是您的第一英里和最後一英里功能，您是否需要在那裡進行任何投資來執行直接托運人策略？或者您覺得您擁有能夠執行此操作的基礎設施嗎？

Yes, we're going to continue to do internal expansion. If you think about this year, we actually did in the first 10 months. We did 5 new locations with the Land Air Express acquisition early in the year. And then we opened up our third Chicago area LTL terminal. So we did 6 this year already. We said a couple of years ago, we expect at least 30 over the next 5 years, i.e., about 6 per year with the strategy that we're now deploying and more aggressively than just going for SMB direct.

是的，我們將繼續進行內部擴張。如果你想想今年，我們實際上在前 10 個月就做到了。今年年初，我們透過收購 Land Air Express 開設了 5 個新地點。然後我們開設了第三個芝加哥地區零擔碼頭。今年我們已經做了 6 個。我們幾年前說過，我們預計未來 5 年內至少有 30 個，即每年大約 6 個，採用我們現在正在部署的策略，並且比僅僅採用 SMB direct 更積極。

That terminal expansion of game plan may have to be accelerated also. We are very clear that this is not only about recruiting and deploying world-class sales leaders. This also obviously needs to have an operating environment, a customer service environment, the pricing environment that goes with it. So that is all part of that overall plan.

遊戲計劃的終端擴展可能也必須加快。我們非常清楚，這不僅僅是招募和部署世界級的銷售領導者。這顯然還需要有一個營運環境、一個客戶服務環境、以及與之相伴的定價環境。這就是總體計劃的一部分。

Again, our strategy has been very consistent. It's accessing as much of the high-value LTL freight market as possible, direct and indirect. The tactics that we're going to be pursuing much more aggressively are organic, and that's, I think, what you're going to be seeing in this plan very, very specifically. This is, Jack, where I become very German, analytical nerdy, and you'll see some of that output.

同樣，我們的策略非常一致。它正在盡可能地直接和間接地進入高價值零擔貨運市場。我們將更積極地推行的策略是有機的，我認為，這就是你將在這個計劃中非常非常具體地看到的內容。傑克，這就是我變得非常德國式的分析書呆子的地方，你會看到其中的一些輸出。

Okay. That -- I think everyone will appreciate that, Tom. And I guess maybe last question, I'll turn it over, but it's -- it's the elephant in the room, which is Omni and the pending acquisition there. And I know you guys are probably pretty limited on what you can say. But I guess, what are the next steps here? I mean, what should we be looking for from an investor perspective moving forward? And at what point are we going to maybe see some resolution of this? Just -- what can you tell us about the next steps related to Omni?

好的。那——我想每個人都會感激這一點，湯姆。我想也許最後一個問題，我會把它翻過來，但它是——這是房間裡的大象，這是 Omni 和那裡懸而未決的收購。我知道你們能說的話可能非常有限。但我想，下一步是什麼？我的意思是，從投資人的角度來看，我們未來該尋找什麼？我們什麼時候才能看到這個問題的解決方案？只是 - 您能告訴我們有關 Omni 的後續步驟嗎？

Yes. We feel very strongly that we are not under an obligation to close, that the conditions for closing have not been met. And that actually does put us into a position to consider options including termination. I'm a big fan of "when things get longer, they don't get better." So we should be getting out of the circus and into our business 100% full time as quickly as possible.

是的。我們強烈認為我們沒有義務關閉，關閉的條件尚未滿足。這實際上確實讓我們能夠考慮包括終止在內的選項。我非常喜歡「當事情變得更長時，它們不會變得更好」。因此，我們應該盡快走出馬戲團，100%全職投入我們的業務。

So if we have this conversation again in our next earnings call, I think I did certainly miss my objective. So that's all I can say on this, but we strongly feel that the obligations to close have not been met and the termination is an opportunity that we can seize if we choose to do so.

因此，如果我們在下一次財報電話會議中再次進行這樣的對話，我想我確實沒有達到我的目標。這就是我對此能說的全部內容，但我們強烈認為關閉的義務尚未得到履行，如果我們選擇這樣做，終止是我們可以抓住的機會。

We'll now go to the line of Scott Group with Wolfe Research.

現在我們將轉到 Scott Group 和 Wolfe Research 的產品線。

So maybe Tom, can you -- any color you can share on any discussions you've had with Omni since your update a week ago and any degree of confidence of getting out of this transaction and why you feel confident you can? And then just separately, when you talk about portfolio review. Maybe just give us a little bit more color of what's on the table of stuff to be sold?

那麼，湯姆，您能分享一下自一周前更新以來您與 Omni 進行的任何討論嗎？您對擺脫這筆交易有何信心？為什麼您有信心能夠做到這一點？然後，當你談論作品集審查時，就單獨進行。也許只是讓我們對待售物品的桌子上有什麼有更多的了解？

Yes. Scott, on the first topic, I think I said what at this point, I should say and can say we feel very strongly that the obligation to close is not there, and the termination is an option. Obviously, Omni has been a business partner and a good customer of ours. We're going to see -- looking for ways to make sure that, that's getting preserved and enhanced. But there's not more I can say. I mean I think I did say, Scott -- I mean I just talked with Jack, that longer is not better.

是的。史考特，關於第一個主題，我想我說了此時我應該說的話，並且可以說我們非常強烈地認為關閉的義務不存在，終止是一種選擇。顯然，Omni 一直是我們的業務合作夥伴和良好客戶。我們將尋找方法來確保這一點得到保留和增強。但我無話可說。我的意思是，我想我確實說過，斯科特——我的意思是我剛剛和傑克談過，時間越長並不是越好。

So we are looking for a resolution, obviously, quickly, but that's all we should be talking about this. It's much more, I think, full calories and useful calories spent on kind of what we do and what we can control, and that's what I just gave some highlights on with the building out of the direct sales force in addition to serving our world-class intermediaries and make them win more. On portfolio review, it is what we always do. If you remember, every single supporting business line has to make the LTL business better and has to be essential for it, and it also has to live up to its own financial expectations.

因此，我們顯然正在快速尋求解決方案，但這就是我們應該討論的全部內容。我認為，更多的是，將完整的卡路里和有用的卡路里花在我們所做的事情和我們可以控制的事情上，這就是我剛剛強調的一些重點，除了服務我們的世界之外，還建立了直銷隊伍——階級中介，讓他們贏得更多。在投資組合審查上，這是我們一直在做的事情。如果你還記得的話，每一條支撐業務線都必須使零擔業務變得更好，並且必須是零擔業務必不可少的，而且還必須達到其自身的財務預期。

If you remember 3 years ago, that was no longer the case for one of our supporting business lines. It had to fulfill its service to pool retail distribution business, and we sold it. And all I'm making sure that we are clear on is, we are accelerating that portfolio review, looking at other supporting businesses. But obviously, we don't talk about M&A one direction or the other before it's done. But just be rest assured, we hear loud and clear that supporting business lines have to be essential to making LTL the main show. And when that's no longer the case and they served their purpose, then graduation is coming.

如果您還記得 3 年前，我們的支援業務線之一已不再是這種情況。它必須履行其匯集零售分銷業務的服務，我們把它賣掉了。我要確保的是，我們正在加快投資組合審查，尋找其他支援業務。但顯然，在併購完成之前我們不會談論某個方向或另一個方向的併購。但請放心，我們清楚地聽到，支援業務線對於使零擔運輸成為主要節目至關重要。當情況不再如此並且他們達到了他們的目的時，畢業就到了。

Okay. And I guess, I understand you're limited in how much more you can say, but can you at least share what conditions have not been met?

好的。我想，我知道你能說的內容有限，但你至少能分享哪些條件尚未被滿足嗎？

There is actually -- in our release that we put out on Thursday last morning, Scott, we do speak to access to material information, for instance, in a timely manner. But we actually, I think, are putting out there 2 specific paragraphs in the merger agreement. So that's -- and the merger agreement is public record. So that's certainly something you can look up. The most important part of it is we control what we control. We are managing our business. We are -- we did say on August 10, we are going after all of the high-value LTL market, direct and indirect, and we are just doing more of that faster now organically.

事實上，斯科特，在我們週四早上發布的新聞稿中，我們確實談到了及時獲取重要資訊的問題。但我認為，我們實際上在合併協議中列出了兩個具體段落。所以，合併協議是公開記錄的。所以這當然是您可以找到的內容。其中最重要的部分是我們控制我們所控制的東西。我們正在管理我們的業務。我們確實在 8 月 10 日說過，我們正在瞄準所有高價值零擔市場，無論是直接的還是間接的，而且我們現在正在有機地更快地做更多的事情。

Okay. And then just shifting gears to the guidance, maybe either Tom or Rebecca. Can you just share what's -- I know that we did some debt transactions in the quarter, are we capturing higher interest expense in this guidance? What are the margin assumptions in here? I just want to understand the moving pieces here with the guidance?

好的。然後只需將齒輪轉向引導，也許是湯姆或麗貝卡。您能否分享一下—我知道我們在本季進行了一些債務交易，我們在本指南中是否獲得了更高的利息支出？這裡的保證金假設是什麼？我只是想在指導下了解這裡的移動部分？

Yes. So first, Scott, happy to talk through some of that. So we gave an adjusted guidance and we put up a note into our earnings release suggesting that we wouldn't be able to reconcile those adjustments, but we believe that, that interest expense that we're putting on is high-yield notes and then other fees on our term loan B that those would be considered part of our non-GAAP. So they wouldn't be part of the adjusted EPS that we've provided.

是的。首先，斯科特很高興能談談其中的一些內容。因此，我們給出了調整後的指導，並在收益發布中添加了註釋，表明我們無法協調這些調整，但我們相信，我們所投入的利息支出是高收益票據，然後我們的定期貸款B 的其他費用將被視為我們的非公認會計準則的一部分。因此，它們不會成為我們提供的調整後每股收益的一部分。

I think from a margin standpoint, Q4 is looking a bit like Q3. When we think about it, we think there's a bit of a muted peak for the LTL business. Intermodal gets a bit worse in Q4 just from a seasonality standpoint. So there was a little bit of a comparison, if you will, between Q3 and Q4 as you're thinking about it from a guidance standpoint.

我認為從利潤率的角度來看，第四季看起來有點像第三季。當我們思考這個問題時，我們認為零擔業務的高峰期有點淡。僅從季節性角度來看，多式聯運在第四季的情況變得更糟。因此，如果您願意的話，當您從指導的角度考慮時，可以對第三季和第四季進行一些比較。

The one thing, Scott, specifically on the LTL volumes, right, the volumes are getting better and we see that momentum continuing. What we in all fairness are fully focused on and still need to get better at is finding that volume pricing sweet spot for the door-to-door business and for the direct business. The airport-to-airport business, obviously, we have lived for 42 years. So we've got a very good understanding of how to price that for maximum profitability.

斯科特，有一件事，特別是零擔運輸量，對吧，運輸量正在變得更好，我們看到這種勢頭仍在繼續。平心而論，我們完全專注並且仍然需要做得更好的是找到送貨上門業務和直接業務的批量定價最佳點。顯然，機場到機場的業務我們已經生活了 42 年。因此，我們非常了解如何定價以獲得最大利潤。

We still need to be able to get that came up for the direct business and for the door-to-door business. That's what's reflected in some of the muted numbers that you're looking at for Q4 guidance.

我們仍然需要能夠為直接業務和送貨上門業務提供這一點。這就是您在第四季度指導中看到的一些低迷數字所反映的內容。

We'll now go to the line of Bruce Chan with Stifel Nicolaus.

現在我們將轉到陳小龍和斯蒂菲爾·尼古拉斯的路線。

Tom, Rebecca. I just want to focus a little bit big picture here for a second. Obviously, there are some, maybe questions or concerns or uncertainties about the underlying business strategy. And I just want to get a sense of when you speak with your core legacy customers, what are they most worried about? And what are you doing to convince them that the fundamentals of your value proposition are still sound?

湯姆，麗貝卡。我只想暫時關註一下大局。顯然，潛在的業務策略可能存在一些問題、擔憂或不確定性。我只是想了解一下，當您與核心傳統客戶交談時，他們最擔心的是什麼？您正在採取哪些措施讓他們相信您的價值主張的基礎仍然健全？

Yes. I mean, the good news is, I mean, obviously, we've known not just the companies, but most importantly, the players who had those business partners and customers extremely well. I mean our sales leadership and frontline people have worked with them for a long time. So there is a strong relationship and there's also a strong understanding of kind of what makes them win.

是的。我的意思是，好消息是，我的意思是，顯然，我們不僅了解這些公司，而且最重要的是，我們了解那些擁有這些業務合作夥伴和客戶的參與者。我的意思是我們的銷售領導層和第一線人員已經與他們合作了很長時間。因此，我們之間存在著牢固的關係，並且對他們獲勝的原因也有深刻的理解。

I'm going to see actually one of them this afternoon, and we have a very open conversations. So what they obviously were concerned about with the acquisition announcement on August 10 is someone else getting preferential treatment. Are we still going to support them and make them win more business? And what do I think, we are very focused on and what we have been successful with is, can you measure each other by our actions and by our results much more so than by our words?

今天下午我實際上要見其中一位，我們進行了非常開放的對話。因此，他們顯然對 8 月 10 日的收購公告感到擔憂的是其他人得到了優惠待遇。我們還會支持他們並讓他們贏得更多業務嗎？我認為，我們非常關注並且我們取得成功的是，你們能否透過我們的行動和我們的結果來衡量彼此，而不是透過我們的言語來衡量？

At the end of the day, my test with our domestic forwarder business partners is when you use Forward Air, are you winning more business than you did without Forward Air? Are you making more margin and that you can keep score of that, but we can keep score of the revenue. And then when you use us, what's the win rate when you use us? Is that going up or down? And Bruce, what we're doing is we have those very specific scorecards in place with those customers. And if at the end of the month and end of the quarter and we're actually keeping those scorecards up-to-date on a monthly basis, those business partners see they're actually winning more business and they're making more money when they use us.

歸根結底，我對國內貨運代理業務合作夥伴的考驗是，當您使用Forward Air時，您是否比沒有Forward Air贏得了更多業務？您是否賺取了更多利潤，您可以對此進行評分，但我們可以對收入進行評分。那麼當你使用我們的時候，你使用我們的勝率是多少？這是上升還是下降？布魯斯，我們正在做的是為這些客戶制定非常具體的記分卡。如果在月底和季度末，我們實際上每月更新這些記分卡，那麼這些業務合作夥伴就會看到他們實際上贏得了更多業務，並且在以下情況下賺了更多錢：他們利用我們。

And every single time they go to bat, their percentage of winning actually looks better than it did 3 or 6 months ago. They say, "Okay, this still works for us." And in all fairness, since August 10, it's now been more than 2.5 months. Our domestic forwarder customers are using us 14% more than they did before the announcement. So despite a lot of kind of, I guess, straight talk and some of the emotional conversations, the strength and depth of those relationships is very, very, very profound.

而且每次他們擊球時，他們的獲勝率實際上看起來都比三、六個月前好。他們說：“好吧，這對我們仍然有效。”平心而論，從8月10日至今，已經過去2.5個多月了。我們的國內貨運代理客戶使用我們的服務比發佈公告之前增加了 14%。因此，儘管有很多，我想，直言不諱和一些情感對話，但這些關係的強度和深度是非常、非常、非常深刻的。

And I think we're living that and we're keeping score together. And as long as we are well intending competent and make them win more business and move heaven and earth to do so, they're going to keep growing with us. And that's an and, not an or also accessing the direct sales, the direct market.

我認為我們正在經歷這樣的生活，我們正在共同努力。只要我們有良好的意願，有能力讓他們贏得更多業務，並竭盡全力做到這一點，他們就會與我們一起成長。這是一個“和”，而不是“或”也進入直銷、直接市場。

With a small SMB focus that we've had for the last 2 years, we got our kind of training gear in place to make sure that we actually ask all the questions upfront to make sure that we are not stepping on our partner's toes. We were actually going after a market that's complementary and additional to our domestic forwarder business partner market.

過去兩年我們一直專注於中小型企業，因此我們配備了適當的培訓設備，以確保我們實際上預先提出了所有問題，以確保我們不會踩到合作夥伴的腳趾。我們實際上正在尋找一個與我們的國內貨運代理業務合作夥伴市場互補和補充的市場。

And so we tried that out with SMB. Now we're going to continue doing that, and we're going to go medium-sized and large customers also. So much more of that, but we are not rookies to that game. But we do still need to get better on finding the volume and pricing sweet spot, selecting the right freight, pricing it correctly. And again, some of the conservatism into our Q4 numbers is reflecting the fact that we still have untapped upside on the pricing side for the business that's direct and that's door-to-door.

因此我們在 SMB 上進行了嘗試。現在我們將繼續這樣做，我們也將面向中型和大型客戶。還有更多，但我們不是這個遊戲的新手。但我們仍然需要更好地找到數量和定價的最佳點，選擇正確的運費，並正確定價。同樣，我們對第四季度數據的一些保守態度反映出這樣一個事實，即我們在直銷和送貨上門業務的定價方面仍有尚未開發的上升空間。

Okay. Great. That's really helpful. And maybe just a follow-up. You talked a lot about metrics and then KPIs for your customers. Obviously, one of the important ones is service. Can you just talk about how things like damage claims on-time metrics have trended through the quarter from last quarter? And when you think about some of the coming changes to your business and your network, what are the investments that you need to make in order to maintain those levels of service?

好的。偉大的。這真的很有幫助。也許只是後續行動。您談論了很多關於客戶的指標和 KPI。顯然，其中重要的一點就是服務。您能否談談損失索賠按時指標等指標與上季度相比整個季度的趨勢如何？當您考慮您的業務和網路即將發生的一些變化時，您需要進行哪些投資才能維持這些服務水準？

Yes. Bruce, it's interesting. When we actually did the third-party study last year on looking -- having a third party, this was SJ Consulting ShipMatrix, looking at the entire U.S. LTL market, millions and millions of data points and looking for speed, on-time performance, claims ratios. And we came out on top of each one of those metrics over world-class companies. The others are hunting and chasing us. They are very good at what they do, and it always keeps us sharp when they're looking to get better, too.

是的。布魯斯，這很有趣。當我們去年實際上進行第三方研究時，有一個第三方，那就是 SJ Consulting ShipMatrix，它著眼於整個美國 LTL 市場，數以百萬計的數據點，並尋找速度、準時性能，索賠比率。我們在每項指標上都超過了世界一流的公司。其他人正在狩獵和追趕我們。他們非常擅長自己所做的事情，當他們希望變得更好時，這也總是讓我們保持敏銳。

But we have objectively the lowest claims ratio in the LTL market in the U.S. We have objectively the best on-time performance once you actually eliminate or at least make parallel all the exemptions and exceptions. So that takes a lot of investment, which we are obviously making in our terminal network. Our operations team led by Chris Ruble is world-class, but we're not taking this for granted. We have absolutely top-notch competitors that are chasing us, but we are the best at what we do.

但客觀上，我們在美國零擔市場上擁有最低的索賠率。一旦您真正消除或至少平行所有豁免和例外，我們客觀上就擁有最好的準時表現。因此，這需要大量投資，而我們顯然正在對終端網路進行投資。我們由 Chris Ruble 領導的營運團隊是世界一流的，但我們並不認為這是理所當然的。我們有絕對一流的競爭對手在追趕我們，但我們在我們所做的事情上是最好的。

In terms of investments, anything from making sure that the flows in the terminals are efficient. There's technology we're deploying. We have a great kind of business partner with our CIO, Jay Tomasello and his team that's making sure that the flows are the most direct flows between inbound and outbound floors, that we can actually always locate the freight. We have obviously a guaranteed service on top, so that we have a last in, first out rule in place.

就投資而言，從確保碼頭的流量有效率開始。我們正在部署一些技術。我們與我們的 CIO Jay Tomasello 和他的團隊有一個很好的業務合作夥伴，他們確保進貨和出貨樓層之間的流量是最直接的流量，這樣我們實際上總是可以找到貨物。顯然，我們有最有保障的服務，因此我們有後進先出的規則。

There is significant safety investments, there's significant operational investments that we are making and we're going to continue making those. The best service in the industry doesn't happen. It actually is -- obviously an outcome of investments and technology is a big one, both on the safety side as well as on the operational efficiency side.

我們正在進行大量的安全投資和營運投資，並且我們將繼續進行這些投資。業內最好的服務不會發生。事實上，顯然是投資的結果，技術是一個重要的結果，無論是在安全方面還是在營運效率方面。

Okay. Great. And then just directionally, with the changes in the mix and the changes in the business, have those metrics been flat, up, down?

好的。偉大的。然後就方向而言，隨著組合的變化和業務的變化，這些指標是持平、上升還是下降？

So with the increased focus on door-to-door and also direct, especially going forward, the investment itself, I think, is still as a percentage of overall revenue going to be somewhat stable. What we do have to do, Bruce, is we do have to get more into making sure that the customer service aspects, the pricing aspects are going to be equally sharp as they were in airport-to-airport. So there may be a small uptick there for a short period of time.

因此，隨著人們越來越關注送貨上門和直接送貨，尤其是在未來，我認為投資本身佔總收入的百分比仍然會保持一定的穩定。布魯斯，我們要做的是，我們必須投入更多精力，確保客戶服務方面、定價方面與機場之間的服務一樣清晰。因此，短期內可能會出現小幅上漲。

But again, this is why I said before, we have to find the money in other spaces. This cannot be an investment year coming up. But yes, we do have to build out that door-to-door and the direct service, not just on the sales side, as I said before, but also on the supporting team side. So you will see an investment there that has to come from other resources and expenses inside the company. Cost management is certainly going to be a top priority to make sure that we can funnel those types of energy and resources into the direct space.

但同樣，這就是為什麼我之前說過，我們必須在其他空間找到錢。今年不可能是即將到來的投資年。但是，是的，我們確實必須建立上門服務和直接服務，不僅是在銷售方面，正如我之前所說，還包括支援團隊方面。因此，您會看到那裡的投資必須來自公司內部的其他資源和費用。成本管理無疑將成為首要任務，以確保我們能夠將這些類型的能源和資源集中到直接領域。

We'll now move along to the line of Stephanie Moore with Jefferies Group.

現在我們將沿著傑富瑞集團 (Jefferies Group) 的 Stephanie Moore 的路線前進。

Hi, good morning. I wanted to maybe follow up on -- I'd like to follow up on a point you just made, Tom, in your comment about how domestic forwarders are using more -- kind of using more of your service in the last couple of months. It seems like the underlying freight environment is still pretty weak and the forwarding environment is still pretty weak. So what do you think is driving maybe the stepped-up engagement?

早安.湯姆，我想跟進您剛才在評論中提出的關於國內貨運代理如何在過去幾個月中更多地使用您的服務的觀點。看來基礎貨運環境仍然相當疲軟，貨運環境仍然相當疲軟。那麼您認為是什麼推動了參與度的提升？

Yes. So we all -- if you look at the entire industry, and that's definitely true to a smaller extent for us also, we did have temporary dislocations. The first one was obviously Yellow capacity that went temporarily out of the market, 9% of the doors. Obviously, those shipments still have to be moved and they went to other providers. You saw some of the first-class rate companies reporting, I would bet you that some of them like Saia would have had quite a bit of what otherwise in the past, would have been a Yellow business.

是的。所以我們所有人——如果你看看整個行業，這對我們來說在較小程度上也是如此，我們確實遇到了暫時的混亂。第一個顯然是暫時退出市場的黃色產能，佔 9%。顯然，這些貨物仍然需要轉移，並轉移給其他供應商。你看到一些一流的評級公司的報告，我敢打賭，像 Saia 這樣的公司中的一些公司將會擁有相當多的黃色業務。

We had some of that, too, less than the others because the freight mix -- freight overlap between Yellow and us is perhaps less fully developed as it was between the Yellow and some of the other first-class class freight companies. So -- and then Estes obviously had an unfortunate and we are very familiar with that because we lived through a cyber attack ourselves in 2020 incident on cybersecurity. That also temporarily, I think, shifted some volumes.

我們也有一些，但比其他公司少，因為貨運組合——Yellow 和我們之間的貨運重疊可能不像 Yellow 和其他一些一流貨運公司之間那樣充分發展。那麼，埃斯蒂斯顯然遭遇了不幸，我們對此非常熟悉，因為我們自己在 2020 年網路安全事件中經歷了一次網路攻擊。我認為，這也暫時改變了一些數量。

Having said all of that, if I look at specifically September and as I look at October, it seems like on the high-value LTL freight side, this is less consumer discretionary and more industrial. There is actually a bit more momentum in the demand that we are seeing. When we talk with our business partners, yes, imports from Asia are still muted, but the LTL environment clearly is better than it was towards the end of Q4 last year, Q1 this year, Q2 this year.

話雖如此，如果我具體觀察 9 月份和 10 月份，似乎在高價值零擔貨運方面，非必需消費品較少，工業行業較多。我們看到的需求實際上有更多的動力。當我們與業務合作夥伴交談時，是的，來自亞洲的進口仍然低迷，但零擔環境顯然比去年第四季末、今年第一季、今年第二季要好。

So there's a bit of a spring in the step for the Forward industry from the Yellow and the Estes temporary dislocation, but the trends overall are more sound right now. I still am not high-fiving myself here for a huge peak, but this is a better LTL environment right now than it was 3 months ago or 6 months ago.

因此，從黃色和埃斯蒂斯的暫時錯位來看，前鋒行業的步伐有點春天，但目前整體趨勢更加健康。我仍然不會在這裡為一個巨大的高峰擊掌，但現在的零擔環境比 3 個月或 6 個月前更好。

So maybe just following up on that. Is it -- would it be reasonable to say that with the dislocation from Yellow that maybe some of this high-value freight that 6 months ago, the likes of your public LTL -- like the other LTL players, the Saia's and ODs, maybe they would have moved some of this high-value freight. But now given the tighter capacity environment, they kind of were giving some of that freight back to you guys? Is that a fair assessment or no?

所以也許只是跟進一下。是不是——可以合理地說，隨著 Yellow 的混亂，也許 6 個月前的一些高價值貨物，比如你們的公共 LTL——就像其他 LTL 參與者、Saia 和 OD 一樣，也許他們會轉移一些高價值的貨物。但現在鑑於運力環境更加緊張，他們是否會將部分運費回饋給你們？這是一個公平的評估還是不公平？

I wish they were that generous, but I think they know better than that. No. So -- that's why I said before, I do believe the Yellow dislocation helped the industry on pricing discipline all up, but it also helped some of the players with gaining new volumes. We did get some volumes through our intermediaries for long-haul Yellow business and also some events business. But we were clearly, from a pure volume perspective, less of beneficiary than some of the class rate companies were.

我希望他們能那麼慷慨，但我認為他們比這更了解。不。所以——這就是為什麼我之前說過，我確實相信黃色錯位有助於整個行業的定價紀律，但它也幫助一些參與者獲得了新的銷售。我們確實透過我們的中介機構獲得了一些長途黃色業務和一些活動業務的銷售。但從純粹的銷售角度來看，我們顯然比一些等級公司的受益者少。

And I do not have the impression that this is a ripple effect where Yellow business went to Saia, Old Dominion and their high-end business went to us. I do believe domestic forwarders, frankly, are just gaining more business, getting more business and when they compete with us as part of the contest, they're just -- their win rates are going up. So I do see a better LTL environment going into the fourth quarter.

我不認為這是黃色業務流向 Saia、Old Dominion 以及他們的高端業務流向我們的連鎖反應。坦白說，我確實相信國內貨運代理正在獲得更多業務，當他們作為競爭的一部分與我們競爭時，他們的勝率正在上升。因此，我確實看到第四季的零擔環境會更好。

Again, the reason why the numbers look probably somewhat muted or conservative is us being very much aware that we need to figure out the pricing and volume sweet spot for door-to-door and direct the same way we have worked on that many, many years on the airport-to-airport side.

同樣，這些數字看起來可能有些溫和或保守的原因是我們非常清楚，我們需要找出門到門的定價和數量最佳點，並像我們在許多方面所做的那樣直接進行指導在機場到機場方面工作了多年。

Okay. Got it. And then just following up there, can you talk a little bit about your plans for a GRI or general rate increase in here going into the fourth quarter or into 2024? I know some of the other LTL players have kind of announced where they stay kind of looking out for the next 12 months. So any update on the timing?

好的。知道了。接下來，您能否談談您在第四季或 2024 年的 GRI 或整體利率上漲計劃？我知道其他一些 LTL 玩家已經宣布了他們未來 12 個月的焦點。那麼具體時間有更新嗎？

Yes. We are very consistent when it comes to the process here. So [Stephen] and Katie Fox and their pricing team towards November, we announced for the following year. We work with our customers directly so that there's predictability and they can actually build those increases into their budgets. They are driven obviously by investments. We talked about terminal investments. We talked about safety investments.

是的。我們在流程方面非常一致。因此，[Stephen] 和 Katie Fox 以及他們的定價團隊在 11 月之前宣布了下一年的價格。我們直接與客戶合作，以便具有可預測性，他們可以將這些增加實際納入他們的預算。它們顯然是由投資驅動的。我們談到了終端投資。我們討論了安全投資。

And also, obviously, in some cases, there's wage adjustments that we have to make sure we finance and fund. So there's always going to be a GRI. It's always the first Monday in February. So that gives predictability to our business partners for their budgeting season themselves. And I think the ranges that you saw in the last couple of years, 2021 was the high end with 7.9%. Some of the lower numbers you have seen is 5.9%. Somewhere in between those two numbers is probably going to be the GRI for 2024.

而且，顯然，在某些情況下，我們必須確保我們提供資金和資金進行薪資調整。所以總是會有一個 GRI。這總是二月的第一個星期一。因此，這為我們的業務合作夥伴提供了對其預算季節的可預測性。我認為你在過去幾年看到的範圍，2021 年是 7.9% 的高端。您看到的一些較低的數字是 5.9%。 2024 年的 GRI 可能介於這兩個數字之間。

Perfect. And then lastly for me, and just taking kind of a big picture view, and I appreciate your commentary about kind of building out that direct sales network and going after that incremental TAM in the premium LTL space. So as you're kind of building out organically, the direct sales team, what do you need to do to kind of make sure you're preserving your existing relationships with the domestic forwarders?

完美的。最後對我來說，只是從大局出發，我很欣賞您關於建立直銷網絡並在優質 LTL 領域追求增量 TAM 的評論。因此，當您有機地建立直銷團隊時，您需要做什麼來確保保持與國內貨運代理的現有關係？

I think we talked about what you kind of had in place if the Omni transaction went through. But if it is all kind of done internally, organically, what would be the strategy to kind of preserve your existing relationships while also going after some of the [MetroPark] business?

我想我們討論瞭如果 Omni 交易成功的話你會採取什麼措施。但如果這一切都是內部有機完成的，那麼在保留現有關係的同時還要追求一些[MetroPark]業務的策略是什麼？

Yes. So Stephanie, obviously, a huge focus for all of us here to get that right. But again, I think as a reminder, of that estimate and that estimate is probably very conservative because it's about 6 years old data, $15 billion high-value LTL market. That values the no damages, high-speed, hitting high time windows. Of that $15 billion, roughly speaking, half of it gets transacted between shippers and companies like us directly, the other half goes through intermediaries.

是的。因此，史蒂芬妮顯然是我們所有人的一大關注點，以實現這一目標。但我再次提醒大家，這個估計可能非常保守，因為這是大約 6 年的數據，價值 150 億美元的高價值零擔市場。這重視無損壞、高速、高時間窗口。粗略地說，在這 150 億美元中，一半是在托運人和我們這樣的公司之間直接進行交易的，另一半是透過中介機構進行的。

So if you take that, the one thing we have to absolutely nail is, when we go after half that's not being transacted through intermediaries, we have to be extremely explicit asking the questions upfront, are you using forwarders, have you worked with forwarders, are you intending to use forwarders? And if they do, then obviously, we're going to do everything possible to make that forwarder keep and win that business because they probably have it for a reason. Those companies may not have a sophisticated large transportation or supply chain department because they use those forwarders in essence to be that department for them.

因此，如果你這麼認為，我們必須絕對確定的一件事是，當我們追查一半不是透過中介機構進行交易時，我們必須非常明確地預先提出問題，您是否使用貨運代理，您是否與貨運代理合作過，您打算使用轉發器嗎？如果他們這樣做了，那麼顯然，我們將盡一切可能讓該貨運代理商保留並贏得該業務，因為他們擁有它可能是有原因的。這些公司可能沒有複雜的大型運輸或供應鏈部門，因為他們本質上使用這些貨運代理商作為他們的部門。

So -- but that's -- again, the team did a great job, Melissa Feeser and her colleagues kind of over the last 2 years and now increasingly Jennifer and Erika, making sure we ask those questions upfront, and we don't -- and we go by the facts, obviously. In 2 years, there were a handful of instances where there was some noise, literally a handful in thousands of interactions. So we have our training wheels in place here. We know how to ask those probing questions. We know how to actually qualify for that. Stephanie, we will only win if we keep and re-earn the trust of our domestic forwarders by making sure we get this very, very right that this is an and, not an or, and it's complementary, not overlapping.

所以——但那是——再說一次，團隊做得很好，梅麗莎·費瑟和她的同事們在過去兩年裡做得很好，現在詹妮弗和埃里卡也越來越多，確保我們提前提出這些問題，而我們沒有——顯然，我們以事實為依據。兩年內，出現了一些噪音的情況，實際上是數千次互動中的極少數。所以我們的輔助輪就位在這裡。我們知道如何提出那些探索性的問題。我們知道如何真正獲得資格。史蒂芬妮，只有我們保持並重新贏得國內貨運代理的信任，確保我們非常非常正確地認識到這是一個“與”，而不是“或”，並且它是互補的，而不是重疊，我們才能獲勝。

A gray zone here is the end. It's got to be something that's black or white, and we have those probing questions to make very certain it's black and white. There is half of the market that gets transacted directly between the shipper and transportation providers, and we need to make sure we identified that half of the market correctly.

這裡的灰色地帶就是終點。它必須是非黑即白的，我們有這些探究性的問題來確保它是非黑即白的。有一半的市場是在托運人和運輸提供者之間直接進行交易的，我們需要確保我們正確地識別了這一半的市場。

We'll now go to the line of Bascome Majors with Susquehanna.

現在我們將與薩斯奎哈納隊一起進入巴斯科姆少校隊。

Rebecca, I think to help us reconcile the guidance without necessarily guiding non-GAAP things that you can't guide, is there any way that you could give us some bookends on what operating income for the expedited freight or intermodal segments are underlying that guide?

麗貝卡，我認為，為了幫助我們協調指導方針，而不一定指導您無法指導的非公認會計原則的事情，您是否可以給我們一些書擋，說明該指南基礎上的加急貨運或聯運部分的營業收入？

Yes. I mean, happy to give you a bit of some flavor there. I think when we think about expedited freight, we think about the margin. We are expecting a bit of some margin -- a bit of some margin expansion as we look from Q3 to Q4, not much, but I do think there is a little bit there. When we move down a bit to intermodal, as I mentioned, from a seasonality standpoint, just looking at the intermodal business, Q3 is typically stronger than Q4, and that, in fact, does hold true as we think about the guide to Q4. So we will see a step down from intermodal from Q3 to Q4.

是的。我的意思是，很高興為您帶來一些風味。我認為當我們考慮加急貨運時，我們會考慮利潤。我們預計會有一些利潤——從第三季到第四季來看，利潤會有所擴張，雖然不多，但我確實認為有一點。正如我所提到的，當我們稍微轉向多式聯運時，從季節性的角度來看，僅考慮多式聯運業務，第三季度通常強於第四季度，事實上，當我們考慮第四季度的指南時，這一點確實成立。因此，我們將看到聯運從第三季下降到第四季。

And are you talking specifically margins or operating profit on both of those signals?

您是在具體談論這兩個訊號的利潤率還是營業利潤嗎？

Operating margins.

營業利潤率。

On the -- Tom, this is a legal question. I don't know if you have someone from inside or outside counsel available or if you can just comment loosely. But the shareholder plaintiffs did appeal the ruling in your favor late last week. Any update on how long that would take to have some resolution on whether or not that appeal will be heard would be helpful?

關於－－湯姆，這是一個法律問題。我不知道您是否有內部或外部顧問，或者您是否可以發表寬鬆的評論。但股東原告上週晚些時候確實對對您有利的裁決提出了上訴。任何關於需要多長時間才能就上訴是否得到審理的解決方案的更新會有幫助嗎？

Yes. So -- and I'll tell you, obviously, what I know. So there is -- you're absolutely correct on this. I don't know whether everybody is following this. This had to be with the -- had to do with the temporary restraining order and that 3 plaintiffs, former employees and shareholders in Greenville and at the Chancery court actually received and that temporary restraining order was lifted, which means there's no -- we actually, frankly, appreciated that outcome because it does mean, and that's very important, we're doing things the right way.

是的。所以——顯然，我會告訴你我所知道的。所以，你在這一點上是完全正確的。不知道大家有沒有關注這個。這必須與臨時限制令有關，格林維爾和衡平法院的 3 名原告、前員工和股東實際上收到了臨時限制令，這意味著我們實際上沒有收到臨時限制令。坦白說，我對這一結果表示讚賞，因為這確實意味著，這非常重要，我們正在以正確的方式做事。

I always say we're not a hotdog stand. We need to make sure that we get things -- we get the right things done, but we also do them the right way. You're right, Bascome. There was a -- I'm not sure whether the term appeal is technically correct, but there was -- the plaintiff is asking the judge one more time to reconsider to getting a temporary restraining order in place, and there is a hearing and/or ruling this afternoon in Greenville about that. So there should be more news coming out of Greenville within the next hours or less.

我總是說我們不是熱狗攤。我們需要確保我們有所作為——我們完成正確的事情，但我們也以正確的方式做事。你是對的，巴斯科姆。我不確定上訴一詞在技術上是否正確，但原告再次要求法官重新考慮是否實施臨時限制令，並且舉行了聽證會和/或今天下午在格林維爾對此做出裁決。因此，在接下來的幾個小時或更短時間內，格林維爾應該會傳出更多消息。

I think it's a 4:00 meeting, so it's more like 6, 7 hours from now. So that's still undergoing. Again, our focus is -- and we have a very, very seasoned mature team here. Our focus is on controlling the things we can control. There's a very small group here, certainly Rebecca and me included, Michael Hance, our Chief Legal Officer, included that need to guide us through some of the ongoing kind of navigation of litigation issues. The other 99.99% of our team need to be fully focused on finishing this year strong.

我認為這是 4:00 的會議，所以距離現在更像是 6、7 小時。所以這仍在進行中。再說一遍，我們的重點是──我們這裡有一支非常非常經驗豐富的成熟團隊。我們的重點是控制我們可以控制的事情。這裡有一個非常小的團隊，當然包括麗貝卡和我，還有我們的首席法律官邁克爾漢斯，他們需要指導我們解決一些正在進行的訴訟問題。我們團隊的其他 99.99% 的成員需要全力以赴地完成今年的任務。

And the guidance, I think, is conservative. But let's just be -- let it be what it is and just keep finishing the year strong. We have a very clear strategy. We have a lot of untapped upside. We told the world on August 10 that we're going after this untapped upside, which is going after it organically because that's what we can control right now.

我認為，指導意見是保守的。但我們就這樣吧——就這樣吧，繼續以強勁的勢頭結束這一年。我們有一個非常明確的策略。我們還有很多未開發的優點。我們在 8 月 10 日告訴全世界，我們正在追求這種尚未開發的優勢，這是有機地追求它，因為這是我們現在可以控制的。

Two big picture questions to close. The direct sales strategy was always part of your attempt to Grow Forward. In August, we found out that you thought doing that acquisitively might be a better path to achieving that end and now you're pivoting back to really doubling down on the organic direct sales strategy. Can you talk a little bit about what drove the change of heart and what didn't work as fast as you hoped it would in the first year or 2 of that and why it can work now?

兩個大問題要結束。直銷策略始終是您「向前發展」嘗試的一部分。八月份，我們發現您認為收購可能是實現這一目標的更好途徑，而現在您正轉向真正加倍努力實施有機直銷策略。您能否談談是什麼促使您改變主意，以及在第一年或第二年沒有像您希望的那樣快速發揮作用的因素以及為什麼現在可以發揮作用？

Yes. So first of all, Bascome, I think you characterized this exactly the way we're looking at this. The strategy has been very clear. To your point, the tactics over the last several months looked like they were shifting back and forth between 2 alternative approaches. The good news is those approaches don't have to be alternatives. Some of them can be complementary and additive.

是的。首先，Bascome，我認為您對這一問題的描述與我們看待此問題的方式完全一致。策略已經非常明確了。就您而言，過去幾個月的策略看起來像是在兩種替代方法之間來回轉換。好消息是這些方法不必是替代方案。其中一些可以是互補的和相加的。

The reason why, Bascome, I fully believe that we can go full steam direct now is at least twofold. The first one is we do have 2 years of experience, basically doing the direct selling in a small way with going after small-, medium-sized businesses that do not use forwarders. So we kind of know how to ask the qualifying questions, what the right high-value freight is. And we started getting better with pricing for it. And again, there's still untapped upside, as I said before. So that's some experience that we can bring to bear.

巴斯科姆，我完全相信我們現在可以全力以赴的原因至少有兩個。第一個是我們確實有2年的經驗，基本上是做小規模的直銷，針對不使用貨代的中小型企業。所以我們知道如何提出資格問題，什麼是正確的高價值貨運。我們開始在定價方面做得更好。再說一次，正如我之前所說，仍有尚未開發的上行空間。這是我們可以運用的一些經驗。

I think the second reason is now that we -- on August 10 announced that we are going after that entire direct space, I think we have a license to do it. We, in the past, almost felt constrained because as a company for 4 decades, all we did was working with great business partners, domestic forwarders, and that's in essence all we did. And we started getting our toes into the water with small, medium-sized business. On August 10, we announced that we're going to go after the entire direct market that does not use forwarders.

我認為第二個原因是我們 - 8 月 10 日宣布我們將追尋整個直接空間，我認為我們擁有這樣做的許可證。過去，我們幾乎感到受到限制，因為作為一家公司，四十年來，我們所做的只是與偉大的商業夥伴、國內貨運代理合作，而這本質上就是我們所做的一切。我們開始涉足中小型企業。 8 月 10 日，我們宣布將打擊整個不使用貨代的直接市場。

So I think just announcing it, having the tough customer conversations gives us a license to do now what we never felt we had a license to do. So I think that's a mind share and mentality issue.

所以我認為，只要宣布這一消息，進行艱難的客戶對話，就可以讓我們獲得許可去做我們從未覺得自己有許可做的事情。所以我認為這是一個思想共享和心態問題。

The last thing I do want to mention, I mentioned before, the somewhat nerdy analytic old German mind. We do have a very, very strong Chief Commercial Officer with Nancee Ronning, who has the type of analytical structured thinking and approach that goes together in her case also with a great way of leading teams, developing teams and also having a great relationship kind of building mentality with customers.

我想提的最後一件事，我之前提到過，有點書呆子的分析老德國頭腦。我們確實有一位非常非常強大的首席商務官南希·羅寧(Nancee Ronning)，她具有分析性的結構化思維和方法，在她的案例中，她還具有領導團隊、發展團隊以及建立良好關係的良好方式。與客戶建立心態。

So I think between having started to doing the SMB; secondly, announcing we're going to do it now for the entire direct market; and third, having the right leadership in place, we've got the ingredients now, Bascome, that we didn't have 3 or 4 years ago.

所以我認為在開始做​​中小企業之間；其次，宣布我們現在要針對整個直銷市場這樣做；第三，有了正確的領導，巴斯科姆，我們現在已經具備了三、四年前所沒有的要素。

Thank you for walking through that, Tom. I'm going to ask one more big picture question and then pass it on here. But -- I mean it's frankly been difficult for investors to keep up since early August. This war has kind of grown on several fronts, expanded to include your acquisition target itself late last week. I realized you can't talk about the specific path forward given the myriad legal issues involved, but -- if you were to go to sleep today and wake up in February to your 4Q release and initial '24 outlook and everything has gone to plan from your perspective over those 4 months. What are your customers, employees and investors looking at for the company's structure, strategy and go-forward outlook?

謝謝你經歷了這一切，湯姆。我將再問一個大問題，然後將其傳遞到這裡。但是——我的意思是，坦白說，自八月初以來，投資者很難跟上。這場戰爭在多個方面都有所發展，上週晚些時候還擴大到了你的收購目標本身。我意識到，考慮到所涉及的無數法律問題，你無法談論具體的前進道路，但是- 如果你今天睡覺並在2 月份醒來看到你的第4 季度發布和最初的'24 展望，那麼一切都按計劃進行從你的角度來看這 4 個月。您的客戶、員工和投資者對公司的結構、策略和未來前景有何看法？

Yes. So -- and Bascome, I truly appreciate and I'm very grateful to our team and also to our business partners for having had support and patience over the last several months. All we were doing is pursuing our strategy of Grow Forward. We talked about this before. And yes, I think the fact that we were exploring different tactics getting to a larger customer and revenue-based direct cost a lot of emotional upheaval on multiple fronts. And I realize that I'm sorry for that, and I apologize for that because that's obviously not what we intended to do here.

是的。所以，巴斯科姆，我真的很感激我們的團隊以及我們的業務夥伴在過去幾個月給予的支持和耐心。我們所做的一切都是為了追求「向前發展」策略。我們之前談過這個。是的，我認為我們正在探索不同的策略來吸引更大的客戶和基於收入的直接成本，這一事實在多個方面造成了極大的情緒波動。我意識到我對此感到抱歉，我為此道歉，因為這顯然不是我們打算在這裡做的。

We are doing the right thing. We are the best company in the high-value freight space, and we're working through our Grow Forward strategy to get to provide that type of world-class service to more customers and business partners. And it's been a bit rocky over the last several months trying to get to the best path to execute here. Four months from now, when we all wake up in February to our Q4 release and an outlook for 2024, I certainly will do everything possible to have stability in place so that we know kind of how we're going to go forward organically with that strategy.

我們正在做正確的事。我們是高價值貨運領域中最好的公司，我們正在努力實施「向前發展」策略，以便為更多客戶和業務合作夥伴提供這種世界一流的服務。在過去的幾個月裡，試圖找到最佳的執行路徑時遇到了一些困難。四個月後，當我們在 2 月醒來看到第四季度的發布和 2024 年的展望時，我當然會盡一切可能保持穩定，以便我們知道如何有機地向前推進戰略。

Secondly, I would expect us to be extremely mathematical with a multiyear scorecard of LTL revenue, LTL margins and LTL as a percentage of overall company revenue. And third, I would expect that, that corporate clarity with our portfolio review will have yielded consequences by then.

其次，我希望我們能夠非常數學化地制定零擔收入、零擔利潤率以及零擔占公司總收入的百分比的多年計分卡。第三，我預計，到那時，公司對我們的投資組合審查的明確性將會產生後果。

We'll now go to the line of Christopher Kuhn with The Benchmark Company.

現在我們將轉到 The Benchmark Company 的 Christopher Kuhn 的路線。

Tom, Rebecca. Kind of maybe just to the extent if you did take on some Yellow and SD's volume, your sort of thought process around keeping that volume. Do you think some of that then kind of settles somewhere else? Or do you feel confident you can keep some of that?

湯姆，麗貝卡。可能只是在某種程度上，如果你確實接受了一些 Yellow 和 SD 的音量，你圍繞著保持該音量的思考過程。你認為其中一些會在其他地方解決嗎？或者你有信心可以保留其中的一些嗎？

Yes. So again, Chris, the one thing and I think we even talked about this before, I strongly believe based on data sets that we saw from 1 week to the next like over the last 2 or 3 months, we were a volume beneficiary from those 2 dislocations but we were much less a volume beneficiary than some of the great class freight companies.

是的。所以，克里斯，有一件事，我想我們之前甚至討論過這一點，我堅信，根據我們從一周到下一周（例如過去2 或3 個月）看到的數據集，我們是這些的批量受益者2 錯位，但與一些大型貨運公司相比，我們的受益量少得多。

So we're talking literally a couple or 3 percentage points, not 8 or 10. And -- but the business that we were going after was long-haul business that fits us well, and it also was some events business. So my sense is what came here for a reason, it wasn't a hell of a lot, but what came here should have come here and is going to be here to stay. So those volume trends that we're seeing right now, I expect to continue seeing them.

因此，我們實際上談論的是幾個或三個百分點，而不是 8 個或 10 個百分點。而且 - 但我們追求的業務是非常適合我們的長途業務，而且也是一些活動業務。所以我的感覺是，來到這裡是有原因的，不是很多，但來到這裡的東西應該​​來到這裡，並且會留在這裡。因此，我們現在看到的這些數量趨勢，我預計將繼續看到它們。

Okay. And then just as you go after sort of the larger customers for your direct sales, I know you're going after customers that don't use forwarders, but do forwarders market to them? And will you be stepping on some of your customers' toes as you try to grow the large businesses?

好的。然後，就像您追求較大的客戶進行直接銷售一樣，我知道您正在追求不使用貨運代理的客戶，但是貨運代理會向他們推銷嗎？當您嘗試發展大型業務時，您是否會觸怒某些客戶？

Yes. So this is again where, Chris, we have to get this as black and white as possible. Gray is not helpful here. So I mean -- but fundamentally, if you look at this, go into the automotive industry, go into the -- like some of the industrial verticals, you do have companies and they are in the same space, and some of them say, transportation and supply chain for us is a core competency. And others say, in the same industry, that's not something that's core to us. We're going to use a world-class company to help us with that.

是的。所以，克里斯，這又是我們必須盡可能黑白分明的地方。灰色在這裡沒有幫助。所以我的意思是 - 但從根本上來說，如果你看看這個，進入汽車行業，進入 - 就像一些工業垂直領域，你確實有公司並且它們處於同一領域，其中一些人說，運輸和供應鏈對我們來說是核心競爭力。還有人說，在同一個產業，這不是我們的核心。我們將聘請一家世界一流的公司來幫助我們實現這一目標。

And all we have to do is it's very surgical. We have developed the right questions to make sure we understand, are we dealing with a company that basically uses forwarders as their supply chain transportation department or are we dealing with a company that has built out that capability and has 50 or 80 people sitting in their operations, research and transportation floor and doing all of that themselves. And if it's the latter, these people tend to not use forwarders.

我們要做的就是像外科手術一樣進行。我們已經提出了正確的問題，以確保我們理解，我們是在與一家基本上使用貨運代理作為其供應鏈運輸部門的公司打交道，還是在與一家已經建立了這種能力並擁有50 或80 名員工的公司打交道。營運、研究和運輸樓層，所有這些都由他們自己完成。如果是後者，這些人往往不會使用轉發器。

I was at DB Schenkar for 3 years between 2015 and 2018, and we had customers in the same industry embracing us and the same industry, other customers telling us, "Sorry, no need for you. We're going to deal with the transportation providers directly."

2015 年至 2018 年，我在 DB Schenkar 工作了 3 年，我們有同行業的客戶擁抱我們，同行業的其他客戶告訴我們，「抱歉，不需要你了。我們要處理運輸問題」直接提供者。 」

So I'm very used with that two-pronged complementary approach. And it's actually -- as we saw in the last 2 years, very well executed by our sales team with the SMB space. It's fairly -- if you go about it in a disciplined way, it's fairly doable to find out which of these two you're dealing with. So Chris, I would not expect that stepping on our partners toes at all.

所以我非常習慣這種雙管齊下的互補方法。實際上，正如我們在過去兩年中看到的那樣，我們的中小企業領域銷售團隊執行得非常好。這是公平的——如果你以一種有紀律的方式去做，那麼找出你正在處理的這兩者中的哪一個是相當可行的。所以克里斯，我根本沒想到會踩到我們合作夥伴的腳趾。

Our final questioner for today will be Scott Group with Wolfe Research.

我們今天的最後一位提問者是沃爾夫研究公司的斯科特集團。

Follow-up. I just want to, again, follow up on a few things I heard today. So Tom, when you talked about a mid-80s OR in the last couple of months, is that the whole expedited segment or it's just a piece of that?

跟進。我只想再次跟進我今天聽到的一些事情。那麼湯姆，當你談到 80 年代中期或過去幾個月時，這是整個加急部分還是只是其中的一部分？

That's just LTL, and that's the type of OR view and mindset that you're going to be seeing next year starting Q1 systemically.

這只是 LTL，這就是您將從明年第一季開始系統地看到的 OR 視圖和心態類型。

And then -- so within LTL, can you -- maybe can you give us a sense of if it's at a mid-80s OR, what's the airport-to-airport OR doing versus what's the door-to-door OR doing right now?

然後 - 所以在零擔運輸中，你能不能 - 也許你能讓我們了解一下，如果是在 80 年代中期，或者，機場到機場或現在正在做什麼，而門到門或現在正在做什麼？

Yes. So we have not made that public. And -- but again, this may be something we may want to do for those dashboards that we're going to be developing. We're obviously tracking both of them separately. Our airport-to-airport always was the most profitable part of our business. And again, it's our efforts. So if you think of one more in the high teens and perhaps the other one more in the low teens that directionally gets you there. But we need to clearly get better and better with direct and door-to-door.

是的。所以我們還沒有公開這一點。而且——但同樣，這可能是我們想要為我們將要開發的儀表板做的事情。顯然我們正在分別跟踪他們兩個。我們的機場到機場始終是我們業務中最賺錢的部分。再說一遍，這是我們的努力。因此，如果您在十幾歲的時候再考慮一個，也許在十幾歲的時候再考慮另一個，那麼您就會直接到達那裡。但我們顯然需要在直航和送貨上門方面做得越來越好。

Some of the class rate companies are clearly demonstrating that it's possible to get into 85, 80 and sub 80 ORs when you sell door-to-door. So there's certainly a discipline that we still need to get better at but it's certainly not rocket science to get there.

一些等級率公司清楚地表明，當您上門銷售時，有可能獲得 85、80 和低於 80 的 OR。因此，確實有一門學科我們仍然需要改進，但要實現這一目標肯定不是火箭科學。

Right. I mean, I guess, ultimately, what I'm trying to get to is you keep saying you really, really want to grow this LTL business, the door-to-door business. But you said multiple times on the call like that you still haven't figured out the sweet spot of volume and price in this door-to-door business. So I guess, strategically, I'm just sort of struggling a little bit, like if it's a business we haven't figured out yet, why are we so gung-ho about growing it? I'm -- just like I said, I'm a little confused.

正確的。我的意思是，我想，最終我想表達的是，您一直說您真的非常想發展零擔業務，即門到門業務。但您在電話中多次表示，您仍然沒有找到這種送貨上門業務中數量和價格的最佳點。所以我想，從戰略上講，我只是有點掙扎，就像如果這是一個我們還沒有弄清楚的業務，為什麼我們如此熱衷於發展它？我──就像我說的，我有點困惑。

Yes, it's -- well, let me give the opportunity people choose to be confused. So let me take that opportunity away. The door-to-door business, when we went into that 6, 7 years ago, the main reason to go into it was that the TAM is at least 10x of airport-to-airport. So in terms of just the addressable market, it's a much bigger pond in which we can fish in.

是的，這是——好吧，讓我給人們一個選擇感到困惑的機會。所以讓我奪走這個機會吧。門到門業務，當我們六、七年前進入這個行業時，進入這個行業的主要原因是 TAM 至少是機場到機場的 10 倍。因此，就潛在市場而言，這是一個更大的池塘，我們可以在其中釣魚。

Secondly, when you sell direct to people who do not use forwarders, you also potentially deal with a much larger margin potential because there is no other group in between that's also looking to make a margin off of that opportunity. And third, we do have some verticals, and we have some customers in the direct space that margin-wise work beautifully. So we know it's vast in terms of the TAM. We know that the margin potential and look at some of the best class freight companies, also look at the pure math formula of not having an intermediary in this case.

其次，當您直接向不使用貨運代理的人銷售產品時，您還可能面臨更大的利潤潛力，因為中間沒有其他群體也希望從該機會中獲取利潤。第三，我們確實有一些垂直領域，並且我們在直接空間中有一些客戶，這些客戶在利潤方面表現出色。所以我們知道它的 TAM 是巨大的。我們知道利潤潛力，並研究了一些最好的貨運公司，也研究了在這種情況下沒有中介的純數學公式。

So there's -- it's a vast market. It has huge margin potential. And in pockets, Scott, in pockets we are seeing that we actually can make very, very good margins with it. All we have to do is just to make it the main priority for us to do it more comprehensively across the board.

所以這是一個廣闊的市場。它具有巨大的利潤潛力。在口袋裡，史考特，在口袋裡，我們看到我們實際上可以利用它來獲得非常非常好的利潤。我們要做的只是把它當作我們的首要任務，更全面、更全面地去做。

And then just the last thing, if I may. So assuming you're able to get out of this Omni transaction and obviously save a lot of capital, do you think about deploying that capital to -- there's a whole lot of Yellow terminals about to come to market, like if you want to actually become an LTL, maybe we need some of those terminals. How do you think about that?

如果可以的話，最後一件事。因此，假設您能夠擺脫 Omni 交易，並且顯然可以節省大量資金，您是否考慮將這些資金部署到——有大量黃色終端即將上市，就像您實際上想要的那樣成為零擔運輸，也許我們需要其中一些終端。您對此有何看法？

Yes. So we obviously clearly have our capital priority kind of set, which organic growth always is number one. You could actually argue that the building out organic -- the direct sales business and then having an accelerated terminal expansion would go well together. So yes, we clearly would be looking at organic growth, including making sure we have the network in place as something that would be a great use for our capital.

是的。因此，我們顯然已經確定了資本優先順序，有機成長始終是第一位的。你實際上可以說，建立有機的直銷業務，然後加速終端擴張，會很好地結合在一起。所以，是的，我們顯然會考慮有機成長，包括確保我們的網路能夠充分利用我們的資本。

And Scott, you just mentioned one very particular application with the Yellow terminals. We -- so that would come first and foremost. And then we have our regular priority set between M&A, which would be typically smaller tuck-ins, but it could be tuck-ins in the LTL space. And then we obviously have dividends, which we always stick to and buybacks. All of that, I think, has quite a bit of briefing room with the termination opportunity of the Omni transaction.

斯科特，您剛剛提到了黃色終端的一個非常特殊的應用程式。我們——所以這將是首要的。然後，我們在併購之間設定了常規優先級，這通常是較小的整合，但也可能是零擔空間的整合。然後我們顯然還有股息，我們一直堅持股息和回購。我認為，所有這些都與 Omni 交易的終止機會有相當大的簡報空間。

And that concludes Forward Air's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Please remember that this webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of Forward Air's website at www.forwardaircorp.com shortly after this call. You may now disconnect.

Forward Air 2023 年第三季財報電話會議至此結束。請記住，本次電話會議後不久，將在 Forward Air 網站 www.forwardaircorp.com 的投資者關係部分提供此網路廣播。您現在可以斷開連線。