Graco Inc (GGG) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and welcome to the fourth-quarter conference call for Graco Inc.

早上好，歡迎參加 Graco Inc. 第四季電話會議。

If you wish to access the replay for this call, you may do so by visiting the company website at www.graco.com.

如果您希望存取本次通話的重播，您可以造訪公司網站 www.graco.com。

Graco has additional information available in a PowerPoint slide presentation which is available as part of the webcast player. At the request of the company, we will open the conference up for your questions and answers after the opening remarks from management. During this call, various remarks may be made by management about their expectations, plans and prospects for the future. These remarks constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated as a result of various risk factors including those identified in Item 1A of the company's 2023 annual report on Form 10-K and in Item 1A of the company's most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. These reports are available on the company's website at www.graco.com and the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and speak only as of the time they are made. The company undertakes no obligation to update these statements in light of new information or future events.

Graco 在 PowerPoint 幻燈片簡報中提供了更多信息，該簡報可作為網路廣播播放器的一部分使用。應公司要求，在管理階層致開幕詞後，我們將開放會議供大家提問與解答。在這次電話會議中，管理層可能會就他們對未來的期望、計劃和前景發表各種評論。這些言論構成了《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款所指的前瞻性聲明。由於各種風險因素，實際結果可能與所示的結果有重大差異，包括公司 2023 年 10-K 表年度報告第 1A 項和公司最新 10-Q 表季度報告第 1A 項中確定的風險因素。這些報告可在公司網站 www.graco.com 和美國證券交易委員會網站 www.sec.gov 上查閱。前瞻性陳述反映管理階層目前的觀點，且僅代表其作出時的觀點。本公司不承擔根據新資訊或未來事件更新這些聲明的義務。

I will now turn the conference over to Chris Knutson, Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer.

現在，我將會議交給副總裁、財務主管兼首席會計官 Chris Knutson。

Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining our call.

大家早安，感謝大家參加我們的電話會議。

I'm here today with Mark Sheahan and David Lowe.

今天我和 Mark Sheahan 以及 David Lowe 一起來到這裡。

I will provide a brief overview of our quarterly results before turning the call over to Mark for additional commentary.

我將簡要概述我們的季度業績，然後將電話轉給馬克以進行進一步評論。

Yesterday, Graco reported fourth quarter sales of $549 million, a decrease of 3% from the same quarter last year. Acquisitions contributed 3% sales growth in the quarter. Excluding acquisitions, fourth quarter sales decreased 6%. The effect of currency translation had no significant impact on sales. Reported net earnings decreased 1% to $109 million for the quarter or $0.63 per diluted share. Excluding the impact of business reorganization charges, excess tax benefits from stock option exercises and other prior year items, adjusted non-GAAP net earnings were $110 million or $0.64 per diluted share, a decrease of 20%. The gross margin rate decreased 200 basis points in the quarter. Realized pricing was not enough to offset sales volume declines occurring in all segments, unfavorable product and channel mix and acquisition related impacts. Machining and assembly hours declined on lower sales volume and inventory reduction efforts.

昨日，Graco 公佈第四季銷售額為 5.49 億美元，較去年同期下降 3%。收購貢獻了本季3%的銷售額成長。不計收購，第四季銷售額下降 6%。貨幣換算的影響對銷售額沒有顯著影響。本季報告的淨利潤下降 1% 至 1.09 億美元，或每股攤薄收益 0.63 美元。不包括業務重組費用、股票選擇權行使的超額稅收優惠和其他去年項目的影響，調整後的非 GAAP 淨利潤為 1.1 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 0.64 美元，下降 20%。本季毛利率下降了200個基點。實際定價不足以抵銷所有部門的銷售量下滑、不利的產品和通路組合以及與收購相關的影響。由於銷售量下降和庫存減少，機械加工和組裝工時減少。

Total operating expenses increased $19 million or 15% in the quarter mainly due to business reorganization costs of $7 million, expenses from acquired operations of $7 million and litigation costs in the contractor segment associated with a trial that concluded in December of 2024 of $7 million. Total spend related to this legal matter was $9 million for the quarter and $16 million for the year. Reductions in volume and earnings-based expenses of $6 million partially offset this increase. Lower gross margin along with increased expenses during the quarter resulted in an operating margin rate of 24% compared to 30% for the same quarter last year. Excluding business reorganization costs, industrial segment operating margin rate for the quarter was 33% compared to 37% for the same quarter last year.

本季總營運費用增加了1,900 萬美元，即15%，主要原因是業務重組成本700 萬美元、收購業務費用700 萬美元以及與2024 年12 月結束的審判相關的承包商部門訴訟費用700 萬美元。本季與該法律問題相關的總支出為 900 萬美元，全年為 1,600 萬美元。600萬美元的數量和基於收益的支出的減少部分抵消了這一增長。本季毛利率下降加上費用增加導致營業利益率為 24%，而去年同期為 30%。不計業務重組成本，本季度工業部門營業利益率為33%，去年同期為37%。

And the process segment operating margin rate for the quarter was 29% compared to 28% for the same quarter last year. Excluding acquisitions and related costs, business reorganization charges and litigation spending previously mentioned, contractor segment operating margin rate for the quarter was 27% compared to 29% for the same quarter last year. Total company operating margin rate excluding these impacts for the quarter was 29%, a decline of 1 percentage point compared to the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of the pension settlement charge in 2023, interest and other increased $2 million during the quarter driven primarily by increased interest income on cash held. The adjusted effective tax rate was 21.5% for the quarter due mainly to the unfavorable effects of foreign earnings taxed at higher rates.

本季流程部門營業利益率為 29%，去年同期為 28%。不包括前面提到的收購和相關費用、業務重組費用和訴訟支出，承包商部門本季的營業利潤率為 27%，而去年同期為 29%。剔除這些影響後，本季公司整體營業利益率為29%，較去年同期下降1個百分點。不包括 2023 年退休金結算費用的影響，本季利息和其他費用增加了 200 萬美元，主要由於持有現金的利息收入增加。本季調整後有效稅率為 21.5%，主要原因是較高稅率的海外收益產生不利影響。

Cash provided by operations totaled $622 million for the year, a decrease of $29 million from last year driven mostly by lower net earnings. Cash provided by operations as a percent of reported net earnings is 128% for the year. Significant year-to-date uses of cash include repurchases of 399,000 shares for $31 million, acquisitions of $242 million, dividends of $172 million and capital expenditures of $107 million of which, $67 million related to facility expansion projects. These cash uses were offset by share issuances of $66 million.

全年經營活動提供的現金總額為 6.22 億美元，比去年減少 2,900 萬美元，主要原因是淨利潤下降。經營活動提供的現金佔報告淨收益的百分比為當年的 128%。年初至今的重大現金用途包括以 3,100 萬美元回購 399,000 股、收購 2.42 億美元、派發股息 1.72 億美元和資本支出 1.07 億美元，其中 6,700 萬美元與設施擴建項目有關。這些現金用途被 6,600 萬美元的股票發行所抵銷。

A few comments as we move forward to 2025. Based on current exchange rates, assuming the same volumes, mix of products and mix of business by currency as in 2024, movement in foreign currencies would have an unfavorable impact of approximately 1 percentage point on net sales and 2 percentage points on net earnings for the full year of 2025. Unallocated corporate expenses are projected to be $39 million to $42 million. The effective tax rate is expected to be 19.5% to 20.5%, excluding any impact from excess tax benefits from stock -- related to stock option exercises and other one-time items. We expect capital expenditures to be approximately $50 million to $60 million as we have now completed expansion projects for nearly all of our operations.

在我們邁向 2025 年之際，有幾點評論。根據目前匯率，假設 2024 年的銷售量、產品組合和業務貨幣組合相同，外幣變動將對公司的淨銷售額產生約 1 個百分點的不利影響，對公司的淨收益產生約 2 個百分點的不利影響。 2025 年全年。未分配的公司費用預計為 3,900 萬至 4,200 萬美元。預計有效稅率為 19.5% 至 20.5%，不包括與股票選擇權行使和其他一次性項目相關的股票超額稅收優惠的影響。我們預計資本支出約為 5,000 萬至 6,000 萬美元，因為我們現在已經完成了幾乎所有業務的擴建項目。

And finally, effective January 1, 2025, the company moved to a global customer centric operating structure resulting in a non-recurring business reorganization charge of $8 million in the fourth quarter. Annual savings is estimated to be approximately $16 million. The new operating structure consists of three segments: industrial, expansion markets and contractor. The industrial segment consists of the newly formed industrial division and the powder division. The company's previous industrial and lubrication equipment divisions along with the process transfer equipment business that was part of the company's process division combined to form the new global industrial division. The powder division remains unchanged. The company's environmental, semiconductor, high pressure valves and electric motors businesses together with select future ventures and acquisitions in new or adjacent markets have been combined to create the newly formed expansion market segment.

最後，自 2025 年 1 月 1 日起，公司將轉向以全球客戶為中心的營運結構，導致第四季的非經常性業務重組費用為 800 萬美元。預計每年可節省約 1,600 萬美元。新的營運結構由三個部分組成：工業、擴張市場和承包商。工業部門由新成立的工業部門和粉體部門組成。該公司先前的工業和潤滑設備部門以及公司製程部門旗下的製程轉移設備業務合併組成了新的全球工業部門。粉末部門維持不變。該公司的環境、半導體、高壓閥門和電動馬達業務與在新市場或鄰近市場的精選未來投資和收購相結合，創造了新形成的擴張市場領域。

The contractor segment remains unchanged as a reporting segment relative to prior periods. Segment operating results will be reported under the new organizational structure beginning with the first quarter of 2025. Segment information recast to conform to this new structure is available as supplemental information.

與前期相比，承包商分部作為報告分部保持不變。從 2025 年第一季開始，分部經營績效將依照新的組織架構報告。為符合此新結構而重新編纂的分部資訊可作為補充資訊提供。

I'll now turn the call over to Mark for further segment and regional commentary.

現在，我將把電話轉給馬克，讓他發表進一步的專題和地區評論。

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，克里斯。大家早安。

All my comments will be on an organic constant currency basis.

我的所有評論都將以有機固定貨幣為基礎。

I'd like to start today by welcoming Corob to the Graco team. We closed the acquisition in November and integration activities are underway. Initial results have been as expected, generating 3% revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Corob brings high tech dispensing and mixing solutions to Graco in the growing paint and coating machinery and manufacturing category. This acquisition will enable us to leverage our existing products and channel while expanding our global manufacturing footprint. Overall, the year has been challenging and the business landscape has been soft across many of our end markets. Declines in key industrial markets in China along with weakness in our semiconductor business drove much of the decline during the year.

今天首先我想歡迎 Corob 加入 Graco 團隊。我們於 11 月完成了收購，整合活動正在進行中。初步結果符合預期，第四季營收成長了 3%。Corob 為 Graco 在日益增長的油漆和塗料機械和製造領域帶來了高科技分配和混合解決方案。此次收購將使我們能夠利用現有的產品和管道，同時擴大我們的全球製造足跡。總體而言，這一年充滿挑戰，我們許多終端市場的業務前景疲軟。中國主要工業市場的衰退以及我們半導體業務的疲軟是造成今年大部分下滑的原因。

The softness continued into the fourth quarter resulting in a 6% sales decline. These results were driven by lower sales volume in all segments and regions except process, North America and contractor, Asia Pacific. Sales in the process segment improved during the quarter as we had growth across major project categories including vehicle service, industrial lubrication and environmental. While we continue to see revenue declines in the semiconductor markets globally, we had growth in North America in the quarter and have seen positive booking momentum in all regions.

這種疲軟態勢持續至第四季度，導致銷售額下降 6%。這一結果是由於除北美加工業務和亞太承包商業務外，所有部門和地區的銷售量下降所致。由於汽車服務、工業潤滑和環境等主要項目類別均實現成長，本季流程部門的銷售額有所改善。雖然我們看到全球半導體市場的收入持續下降，但本季北美市場實現了成長，並且所有地區的預訂動能都呈現正態勢。

Protective coatings activities remain strong with growth in all regions. In particular, the container market has improved throughout the year in Asia Pacific. As Chris previously discussed, the reported results were lower during the fourth quarter compared to the rest of the year. However, excluding initiatives and unusual items in the quarter, revenue declined 6% resulting in a 12% reduction in operating earnings, which is consistent with the full year. The slower markets allowed us to speed up our M&A and reorganization activities that we believe will set us up for future growth. As we enter 2025, we expect these initiatives to drive incremental volume along with our pricing actions resulting in strong incremental margins.

防護塗料業務維持強勁成長動能。其中，亞太地區貨櫃市場全年表現良好。正如克里斯之前所討論的，第四季度的報告結果與今年其他時間相比有所下降。然而，若不計入本季的舉措和不尋常項目，收入下降了 6%，導致營業收入下降了 12%，與全年情況一致。市場放緩使我們能夠加快併購和重組活動，我們相信這將為我們未來的成長奠定基礎。隨著我們進入 2025 年，我們預計這些舉措將與我們的定價行動一起推動銷售增量，從而帶來強勁的增量利潤。

In addition, our M&A pipeline remains active, and we're excited about the possibilities the new organizational structure can bring as we focus on new and adjacent markets.

此外，我們的併購管道仍然活躍，我們對新組織結構在專注於新市場和鄰近市場時可能帶來的可能性感到興奮。

Now turning to some commentary on our segments and regions. Contractor declined 3% for the quarter and was down 1% for the year driven primarily by softness in the US housing and remodeling markets. Protective coatings were a bright spot with growth across all regions for both the fourth quarter and for the year. Steady performance in this market has been helped by infrastructure investments, increases in container market along with rail, marine and fireproofing. While the current construction environment remains mixed and pressures on housing affordability are likely to continue, our new products have been successful and are expected to contribute to growth.

現在來談談我們的部分和地區的一些評論。承包商本季下降 3%，全年下降 1%，主要原因是美國住房和改造市場疲軟。防護塗料是一個亮點，第四季度和全年所有地區均實現成長。基礎設施投資、貨櫃市場以及鐵路、海運和防火市場的成長助力該市場的穩定表現。儘管當前的建築環境仍然好壞參半，住房負擔能力的壓力可能持續存在，但我們的新產品取得了成功，預計將促進成長。

During the fourth quarter, we launched the new PowerShot XT electronic powered airless paint gun which allows contractors to spray all day on a single charge. This product along with additional 2025 releases and the full year impact of our 2024 launches gives us optimism as we enter the new year despite a mixed picture in the global construction markets. Industrial segment revenue declined 13% for the quarter and was down 6% for the full year. China was weak particularly in our sealants and adhesives products which impacts many of our key end markets such as automotive, solar and battery.

在第四季度，我們推出了新型 PowerShot XT 電子無氣噴漆槍，承包商只需充電一次即可進行全天噴塗。儘管全球建築市場的狀況好壞參半，但這款產品以及 2025 年發布的其他產品以及 2024 年發布產品的全年影響讓我們在進入新的一年時充滿樂觀。工業部門營收本季下降 13%，全年下降 6%。中國市場尤其疲軟，尤其是在密封劑和黏合劑產品方面，這影響了我們的許多主要終端市場，例如汽車、太陽能和電池。

Despite the revenue declines, incoming order activity in China throughout 2024 has been steady albeit at a lower level than 2023. We have seen positive signs as coating activity has been improving and our sales team has expressed optimism as we enter the new year. The timing of completion and acceptance of powder finishing systems also resulted in a decline in the quarter. Booking activity in the powder division has improved and we carry a slightly larger than normal backlog into the new year. Despite the tough year, the new industrial teams are energized by the full suite of Graco products and are focused on executing under the new customer centric approach.

儘管收入下降，但 2024 年全年中國訂單活動一直保持穩定，儘管水準低於 2023 年。我們看到了積極的跡象，塗料活動一直在改善，我們的銷售團隊對進入新的一年表示樂觀。粉末塗料系統完工驗收的時間也導致了本季的下滑。粉末部門的預訂活動有所改善，新的一年我們的積壓訂單量略高於正常水平。儘管這是艱難的一年，但新的工業團隊在全套 Graco 產品的幫助下仍然充滿活力，並專注於在新的以客戶為中心的模式下開展工作。

Process was flat for the quarter but down 8% for the year. Growth across Americas was offset by declines across EMEA and Asia Pacific. Sales in the fourth quarter were the largest of the year and grew sequentially by 13%. Total revenue for the quarter was consistent with the prior year quarterly run rates. Order activity increased low double digits for the quarter and our quarterly bookings were the largest we have seen in the past two years. However, backlog is back to normal which contributed heavily to the prior year sales, especially in the semiconductor market.

本季流程持平，但全年下降了 8%。歐洲、中東和非洲地區以及亞太地區的下滑抵消了美洲地區的成長。第四季的銷售額是今年以來最高的，季增了 13%。本季的總收入與去年同期的季度運行率一致。本季的訂單活動成長了兩位數，我們的季度預訂量是過去兩年來最高的。不過，積壓訂單已恢復正常，這對去年的銷售貢獻很大，尤其是在半導體市場。

Moving on to our outlook. Our team demonstrated resilience, overcoming both commercial and operational obstacles in a challenging year with the dedication and resolve to define our company. We continue to generate strong cash flow, and our balance sheet gives us flexibility. Over the past five years, we've invested heavily in our manufacturing footprint and automation capabilities which puts us in a good position to meet future demand. Heading into 2025, we do anticipate that some of the challenging end market conditions we experienced last year will persist, but we are optimistic that the worst is behind us. Therefore, we are initiating a full year outlook for 2025 of low single digit sales growth on an organic constant currency basis.

繼續我們的展望。我們的團隊表現出了韌性，在充滿挑戰的一年裡，以奉獻精神和決心克服了商業和營運方面的障礙，從而定義了我們的公司。我們繼續產生強勁的現金流，我們的資產負債表為我們提供了靈活性。在過去五年中，我們對製造足跡和自動化能力進行了大規模投資，這使我們有能力滿足未來的需求。展望 2025 年，我們確實預計去年經歷的一些具有挑戰性的終端市場條件將持續存在，但我們樂觀地認為，最糟糕的時期已經過去。因此，我們預計 2025 年全年銷售額將以有機固定匯率計算實現低個位數成長。

In closing, I'd like to thank our employees, suppliers, customers and distributor partners around the world for their contributions throughout the year. It's been challenging but in Graco fashion, we've been able to overcome the hurdles and set ourselves up for future long term growth.

最後，我要感謝我們遍佈全球的員工、供應商、客戶和經銷商合作夥伴一年來的貢獻。這是一個充滿挑戰的過程，但以 Graco 的方式，我們能夠克服困難，為未來的長期發展做好準備。

While there are many things that contribute to our culture, it's our loyal and hard working employees that make this company great.

儘管有許多因素影響著我們的文化，但正是我們忠誠而勤奮的員工才使得公司變得偉大。

That concludes our prepared remarks.

我們的準備好的演講到此結束。

Operator, we're ready for the first question.

接線員，我們已準備好回答第一個問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Deane Dray, RBC Capital Markets.

加拿大皇家銀行資本市場 (RBC Capital Markets) 的 Deane Dray。

Mark, you provided good color regarding geographies and end markets. But can you just frame for us how about versus your expectations? I mean China has been weak, but it sounded like it stayed weak and same on semiconductor being soft. But just kind of versus your expectations about the quarter. And then you also typically provide orders for the past six weeks. You said things have been steady. But if you could give us that data point, that would be a great start.

馬克，您對地理和終端市場提供了很好的描述。但您能否為我們描述一下與您的期望相比情況如何？我的意思是中國一直很弱，但聽起來它仍然很弱，半導體也很疲軟。但這與您對本季的預期有些出入。然後您通常還會提供過去六週的訂單。您說情況一直很穩定。但如果你能給我們這個數據點，那將會是一個很好的開始。

Yeah. I'll give it a shot here. I think expectation-wise, I would say that our process division overperformed our expectations and I think it was mostly in areas our environmental business was good, our LED businesses were good. And our high-pressure valve business was also good. And I would say that came in a little bit stronger than what we had hoped in the booking activity there looks pretty good too as we head into 2025. I would say industrial came in less than what we were expecting. They did have a very tough comp in the fourth quarter. We knew that. We were expecting that their revenues could be impacted by that. But really the declines in Asia Pacific and in our sealant and adhesive business were pretty sharp compared to what we experienced last year in Q4.

是的。我將在這裡嘗試一下。我認為從預期來看，我們的流程部門的表現超出了我們的預期，我認為這主要是因為我們的環境業務和 LED 業務表現良好。我們的高壓閥門業務也表現良好。我想說的是，這一數字比我們預期的預訂活動要強勁一些，而且隨著我們進入 2025 年，預訂活動看起來也相當不錯。我想說工業的成長低於我們的預期。他們在第四節確實面臨著非常艱難的比賽。我們知道這一點。我們預計他們的收入可能會受到影響。但與去年第四季相比，亞太地區以及我們的密封劑和黏合劑業務的下滑確實相當劇烈。

And then contractor I think also underperformed a little bit in terms of our expectations. We just didn't see the large kind of year end orders that we might have normally gotten in a normal year. And I think that had something to do with the fact that the conditions are still fairly sluggish across a lot of the end markets. And we experienced that really throughout the year. So if I look at the full year contractor business being down 1%, I think is really good performance in a challenging economic environment.

然後我認為承包商的表現也有點不符合我們的預期。我們只是沒有看到正常年份通常會收到的大量年終訂單。我認為這與許多終端市場狀況仍然相當低迷有關。我們全年都經歷著這樣的情況。因此，如果我看到全年承包商業務下降了 1%，我認為在充滿挑戰的經濟環境下，這確實是一個很好的表現。

When it comes to the order rates and outlook and how we got to the low single digit guide, I mean we really did look at what we've seen in the back half of last year to help guide us in putting those numbers together and then comparing that to what we actually experienced on the billing side and that's how we got to those numbers. And I would say that with regard to the recent activity that we've seen, I think it kind of lines up with the guide at this point.

至於訂單率和前景，以及我們如何獲得低個位數的指引，我的意思是，我們確實參考了去年下半年的情況，以幫助指導我們將這些數字匯總在一起，然後將其與我們在計費方面實際經歷的情況進行比較，我們就得到了這些數字。我想說，就我們看到的最近活動而言，我認為它目前與指南是一致的。

And just the second question, I know we're still early in the process, but lots of questions and anticipations of how tariffs might play out. And Graco is in a unique position and look, this is not new. We've been through this before, but just a lot of this is reminding us. But the idea here, you're unique in that. You have a concentrated manufacturing footprint in the Minneapolis area less globally than some of your peers. How does that present itself, as a risk or just different impact on tariffs? And how does that factor into your typical January price increase, one price increase per year? Would you delay that? How might that impact as well?

第二個問題，我知道我們還處於這個過程的早期階段，但是對於關稅將如何發揮作用，仍有許多疑問和預期。而且 Graco 的地位和外觀非常獨特，這並不是什麼新鮮事。我們以前也經歷過這樣的事情，但這些事情都在提醒我們。但這裡的想法是，你是獨一無二的。與其他同行相比，你們在明尼阿波利斯地區的製造業足跡不太集中。這是如何表現出來的？那麼，這對每年一月份的典型價格上漲（一次價格上漲）有何影響？你會推遲那件事嗎？這又會產生什麼影響呢？

We didn't specifically factor tariffs in because a lot of times, well, when you put your price list out and you talk to distributors, you got to give them enough notice ahead of time. So we did that kind of late third quarter, early fourth quarter of '24 before all the tariff talk became more significant. We have run some math here at the company. We don't claim to be experts when it comes to what's actually going to get implemented versus what's talked about. But at least in terms of what we've heard of verbalized and what impact it might have to Graco, it looks like it's something that we could manage.

我們沒有特別考慮關稅，因為很多時候，當你拿出價格表並與分銷商交談時，你必須提前給他們足夠的通知。因此，我們在2024年第三季末和第四季初在所有關稅談判變得更加重要之前就做了這樣的事情。我們在公司裡進行了一些數學計算。當談到實際要實施的內容和所討論的內容時，我們不敢聲稱自己是專家。但至少從我們所聽到的言論以及它可能對 Graco 造成的影響來看，這似乎是我們可以應對的事情。

We didn't factor it into the January price increase, but as you know, if we need to, we could always make a decision to do some other pricing actions if it becomes more significant for us. What I will say is that the talk that we've heard with respect to tax rates is interesting. The discussion about providing preferential corporate tax rates for companies that manufacture in the United States, that could be really nice for us because we, as you know, have a footprint that is really highly concentrated here in North America. And so to the extent that does take shape, that could be beneficial to Graco.

我們沒有將其計入一月份的價格上漲中，但如你所知，如果需要，如果它對我們來說變得更重要，我們總是可以決定採取一些其他定價行動。我想說的是，我們聽到的有關稅率的討論很有趣。關於為在美國製造的公司提供優惠企業稅率的討論對我們來說真的很好，因為如你所知，我們的業務高度集中在北美。因此，只要這項計劃得以實施，這將對 Graco 有利。

(Operator Instructions) Mike Halloran, Baird.

（操作員指示）麥克·哈洛倫，貝爾德。

So just clarifying the outlook quick. If I peel that back, it sounds like you're saying if you look at the current order rates and then you layer on, call it normal conversion based on last year's incidences and call it relatively normal seasonality, that's how you get to the low single digits? In other words, not really embedding any real improvement here. Just kind of a steady state from current levels and that should be enough or am I missing that?

因此，我們只需快速澄清一下觀點。如果我仔細分析一下，聽起來你是說，如果你看看當前的訂單率，然後你將其稱為基於去年發生率的正常轉化，並將其稱為相對正常的季節性，這就是你得出低價的原因個位數？換句話說，這裡實際上並沒有嵌入任何真正的改進。從目前的水平來看，這只是一種穩定狀態，這就足夠了，還是我忽略了這一點？

Yeah. I think that's accurate. I mean I always tell people -- I think I've told you personally that our ability to forecast isn't real great just because of the fact that we're such a short cycle business. But as I think we said in the comments, the incoming levels of orders have been fairly consistent throughout the back half of the year. And so we feel confident. At least it feels like things have evened out. We do have our pricing actions which should be helpful. We've got some new products that we're launching, which should be helpful. And all of that factored into our analysis and what we're coming up with on the outlook for the year.

是的。我認為這是準確的。我的意思是我總是告訴人們——我想我已經親自告訴過你了，我們的預測能力並不是很好，只是因為我們是一個短週期的業務。但我認為正如我們在評論中所說的那樣，今年下半年的訂單量一直相當穩定。因此我們充滿信心。至少感覺事情已經平息了。我們確實採取了定價行動，這應該是有幫助的。我們即將推出一些新產品，這應該會有所幫助。所有這些都考慮在我們的分析和我們對今年的展望中。

Yeah. This is David. I would add that again, going back to the comments, the -- I would say the big negatives, the areas that we've talked about in China, in particular, in our industrial, specifically our adhesive and sealant space as well as the semiconductor space, with the rates that we see now, the big negatives that we were experiencing throughout the year have flatlined. And with the sort of performance we saw in most of our businesses in 2024 and certainly in the back half along with what I would say flattish performance in those three or four markets that had been excessively negative give us a pretty good degree of comfort that we should be looking at growth with normal seasonality in markets like contractor.

是的。這是大衛。我想再次補充一點，回到評論中，我想說的是，我們在中國討論過的最大的負面因素，特別是在我們的工業領域，特別是我們的黏合劑和密封劑領域，以及半導體領域，以我們現在看到的利率來看，我們全年經歷的巨大負面因素已經趨於平穩。鑑於我們在 2024 年以及下半年大部分業務的表現，以及我認為在三四個過於負面的市場中表現平淡，我們非常放心應該關注承包商等市場中正常季節性的增長。

And then two margin questions if I may. First, Chris was a speed beam in there which I appreciate. However, just want to make sure I understand the moving pieces on the contractor margins. So I think you were implying 27% of the apples for apples to margins versus last year I think excluding all the one timers and excluding the acquisition. If you think about what the margin would look like on a forward base or just in this quarter, if you exclude, called the step up charges associated with bringing Corob, what would that look like and how do we think about what the representative run rate looks like from here once all that's normalized?

如果可以的話，我還有兩點邊緣問題。首先，我很欣賞克里斯的速度。但是，我只是想確保我了解承包商利潤的變動情況。因此，我認為您暗示的利潤率為 27%，而去年同期則不包括所有一次性交易和收購。如果你考慮一下未來利潤率會是什麼樣子，或者只是在這個季度，如果你排除與引入 Corob 相關的逐步增加的費用，那會是什麼樣子，我們如何看待代表性運行率從現在起，一切看起來都正常化了？

So I think, Mike, with the step up charges, we've had one time charges related to the acquisition of about $3 million in there. So if you take that into account with the contractor, you're probably going to look at somewhere for this quarter, somewhere in that 25% to 26% range if you just subtract everything else out.

因此，麥克，我認為，隨著逐步收費的增加，我們已經產生了與收購相關的一次性費用，其中約 300 萬美元。因此，如果您與承包商一起考慮到這一點，那麼您可能會看到本季的某個地方，如果您減去其他所有費用，範圍就在 25％ 到 26％ 之間。

And then the reorganization savings. It's a big number, a little bigger than what I was expecting. Twofold, one, is that expected to be realized starting in the first quarter? And then secondarily, how does that shake out across the segments and where does that show up?

然後是重組儲蓄。這是一個很大的數字，比我預期的要大一點。有兩個方面，第一，預計從第一季開始實現嗎？其次，它在各個部分是如何表現出來的以及表現在哪裡？

I would say, yes, it should start right away. The -- there was a concerted effort to get the hard -- I'd say that the heavy lifting done in Q4, and it was completed. And that's reflect -- the cost side of it is reflected in the charges. And across the organization, we're working with the new arrangement. And so you should see those benefits beginning right in the beginning of the -- here in the first quarter.

我想說，是的，它應該立即開始。我們齊心協力，努力完成這項艱鉅的任務——我想說，第四季的重任已經完成了。這就是反映－成本方面反映在收費上。我們整個組織都在按照新的安排進行工作。因此，您應該從第一季初就看到這些好處。

I would say that in terms of thinking about the segments under the new structure, the heaviest lifting was certainly done in the contractor space where we were -- in the industrial space, where we were combining several different parts of the legacy Graco organization. But contractor and the expansion markets also played a role and you'll see benefits in varying degrees across all three.

我想說，從考慮新架構下的各個部分來看，最繁重的工作肯定是在承包商領域完成的，在工業領域，我們將傳統 Graco 組織的幾個不同部分合併在一起。但承包商和擴張市場也發揮了作用，您將在這三者中看到不同程度的好處。

I will say, Mike, if you're going to split it out between the different segments, that the charges as they're put in there for each of the segments today is a good proxy as to what the savings will run next year. And as you put it into the new segment structure, we're moving about two-thirds of the revenue from the process segment to industrial and the cost and the savings should be allocated similarly.

我要說的是，麥克，如果你要把它分成不同的部分，那麼今天每個部分的費用就可以很好地代表明年的節省金額。正如您將其放入新的細分結構中一樣，我們將把大約三分之二的收入從流程細分轉移到工業細分，成本和節省也應以類似的方式分配。

Saree Boroditsky, Jefferies.

薩裡‧博羅迪茨基 (Saree Boroditsky)，傑富瑞 (Jefferies)。

So just building on the orders questions, I think during the last earnings call, you saw some improvement in the incoming order rates over the prior six weeks. In this release, you guys have obviously talked about consistent rates in the fourth quarter. So did you see orders slow down post October and what have you seen more recently?

因此，僅基於訂單問題，我認為在上次財報電話會議上，您會看到過去六週的訂單率有所改善。在本次發布中，你們顯然談到了第四季的穩定利率。那麼，您是否發現 10 月以後訂單量有所放緩，最近您又發現了什麼？

Yeah. We did see a little bit of a slowdown. It kind of surprised us. I want to say the November, December orders were softer than what we had seen in the early part of the quarter. And in terms of how it -- how the quarter played out versus my expectations, I think I answered that previously. Pretty good and the process grew a little bit of a disappointment and contractor and a larger disappointment in the industrial. And the recent -- the most recent order trends that we've seen, again, we believe that they're supportive of the low single digit guide that we've given for the year.

是的。我們確實看到了一點點放緩。這讓我們有點吃驚。我想說的是，十一月和十二月的訂單比本季初的情況要疲軟。至於本季的表現與我的預期如何，我想我之前已經回答過這個問題了。相當不錯，但過程有點令人失望，承包商和工業界也更失望。而且，我們看到的最近的訂單趨勢再次證明，它們支持我們為今年給出的低個位數指導。

And then your 2025 outlook chart, I believe you used your prior segment. So just curious if you could break it out on how you're thinking about the updated industrial and expansion markets in your traditional pie chart framework.

然後是您的 2025 年展望圖表，我相信您使用了之前的部分。我很好奇您是否可以在傳統的餅圖框架中闡述您如何看待更新的工業和擴張市場。

Yeah. Again, I do believe that we are looking for growth in both those groups on a full year basis, but we do recognize that there still will be some challenges and I think that that's really what we tried to reflect in the charts.

是的。我再次強調，我確實相信我們希望這兩個部門在全年都實現成長，但我們也意​​識到仍會面臨一些挑戰，我認為這也是我們試圖在圖表中反映出來的。

Matt Summerville, D.A. Davidson.

馬特·薩默維爾，地方檢察官戴維森。

So Mark, with respect to this reorganization and kind of Graco's historical M&A practice, how are you changing the way the net is cast if you will and what kinds of things are you may be willing to look at that maybe wouldn't have hit the radar screen of some of your predecessors? How should we be thinking about that?

那麼馬克，關於這次重組和 Graco 的歷史併購實踐，如果你願意的話，你如何改變撒網的方式，以及你可能願意研究哪些可能不會影響的事情？我們該如何思考這個問題？

Yeah. It's a good question and I might actually just expand a little bit to talk a little bit about why we're doing the reorg and what we expect to get from it. M&A is part of it, but it's not the full story.

是的。這是一個好問題，我實際上可以稍微擴展一下，談談我們為什麼要重組以及我們期望從中得到什麼。併購是其中的一部分，但不是全部。

So really there's a number of things that we believe are going to be the result of what we've done. Number one, we want to leverage our customers and our channel better by combining the industrial, the LED, the process group with the diaphragm pumps. We really do believe that we'll be able to offer a more full complete picture of Graco product to our channel partners as opposed to having several people interact with those channel partners and their customers.

因此，我們確實相信我們所做的事情將會產生很多結果。首先，我們希望透過將工業、LED、製程組與隔膜泵結合起來，更好地利用我們的客戶和通路。我們確實相信，我們將能夠向我們的通路合作夥伴提供更全面的 Graco 產品訊息，而不是讓幾個人與這些通路合作夥伴及其客戶進行互動。

The customers are very common across those product lines and the channel partners are also very common. So that is one thing that we hope to get. We also hope to have operational efficiencies by eliminating a lot of the overlap that existed in the company across those separate business units and primarily, in the areas of sales, marketing and engineering. And that's really what you've seen in terms of the benefits that we're going to get out of the costs that we've taken out.

這些產品線的客戶非常常見，通路夥伴也非常常見。所以這是我們希望得到的一件事。我們也希望透過消除公司各個獨立業務部門之間（主要是銷售、行銷和工程領域）的重疊來提高營運效率。這確實就是您所看到的我們從已削減的成本中獲得的效益。

We also will be focusing more on a global organization, taking down the matrix structure that we had previously. So that our teams can focus on global customers and global accounts and make the investment decisions and allocate the resources appropriately as they see fit and not have to go to a regional leader to ask for approval and to get the allocation of the funds and the resources that they need that way.

我們也將更加關注全球組織，取消先前的矩陣結構。這樣我們的團隊就可以專注於全球客戶和全球帳戶，並根據自己的意願做出投資決策並適當分配資源，而不必去找區域領導來獲得資金和資源的分配他們需要那樣的方式。

With respect to M&A, we created this group called Expansion Markets. And what we put in there were our legacy semiconductor business, our environmental business and our high-pressure valve business. And we've asked that team to really evaluate those assets and look for ways to expand them really with a focus on can we do more in those areas? Do we like them? We think that there's opportunities and if we put up a focus on it, we think that there's a better chance of us being able to expand there.

關於併購，我們成立了一個名為「擴展市場」的團隊。我們投入的是我們傳統的半導體業務、環境業務和高壓閥門業務。我們已要求團隊真正評估這些資產，並尋找真正擴大這些資產的方法，並專注於我們能否在這些領域做得更多？我們喜歡它們嗎？我們認為這裡存在著機遇，如果我們集中精力，我們認為我們就有更好的機會在那裡擴張。

But in addition to that, we've also asked that group to work with our strategy team and our corporate development team to look for new sandboxes for Graco to plan beyond the stuff that we would have looked at historically. We are sorting through some areas right now. We got a couple of things that we're looking at. I don't want to share those with you, but we're talking about fairly sizable fluid handling markets and applications that the company hasn't historically been involved with. And we do the detailed work. We want to make sure that it makes sense. We want to figure out the strategic fit for the company and to the extent that things line up. Then we start to identify targets, and we go after those things.

但除此之外，我們也要求小組與我們的策略團隊和企業發展團隊合作，為 Graco 尋找新的沙箱，以便規劃超出我們過去所研究的內容的計畫。我們現在正在整理一些區域。我們正在關註一些事情。我不想與您分享這些，但我們正在談論該公​​司以前從未涉及過的相當大的流體處理市場和應用。我們做詳細的工作。我們希望確保它是有意義的。我們希望找到適合公司的策略，並確定事態發展的程度。然後我們開始確定目標，並追求那些目標。

So I think it opens up the lens a little bit for us. We never really had anybody at the company that was looking beyond what we currently had in the portfolio. And so I think that that's really what that group is charged with doing.

所以我認為這為我們開拓了一點視野。我們公司裡從來沒有人真正關注過我們現有投資組合之外的事情。所以我認為這確實是該小組的職責。

As a follow up and maybe I just missed it, I don't remember you guys talking about this sort of litigation that was seemingly ongoing for a period that has since wrapped up. Can you maybe talk a little bit about the genesis and kind of the conclusion? And I guess did I hear that you've had $16 million of what we should consider to be non-recurring charges this year? And I guess would that have hit the segment? Would that have hit corporate? More detail on that would be helpful.

作為後續問題，也許我只是錯過了，我不記得你們談論過這種似乎持續了一段時間但後來已經結束的訴訟。您能否稍微談一談其起源和結論？我是否聽說您今年已經有 1,600 萬美元的我們認為是非經常性費用？我猜這會對該領域產生影響嗎？這會對企業造成打擊嗎？更多詳細資訊將會很有幫助。

Yeah. $16 million is a correct number. It was in the contractor business. It was litigation that I really don't want to comment about. It's done. It's been taken care of and we're going to move off of it.

是的。 1600 萬美元是一個正確的數字。它從事承包商業務。這是一場訴訟，我真的不想評論。完成了。我們已經處理好了，我們將離開它。

So all of it -- just to be clear, Mark, all of that $16 million hit contractor segment operating profit and you did -- in none of your financials, you did not non-GAAP any of that out this year, correct?

所以，馬克，需要明確的是，這 1600 萬美元全部影響了承包商部門的營業利潤，而你們在今年的所有財務報表中都沒有列出任何非 GAAP 數據，對嗎？

That is correct. Yeah. We -- that was the full year number and I think we had what, $8 million or $9 million in the fourth quarter.

正確。是的。這是全年數字，我認為第四季我們的收入大概是 800 萬美元或 900 萬美元。

$9 million in the fourth quarter.

第四季為 900 萬美元。

We did -- the segment chart on I think page 13 of the slide deck for contractor does a pretty good job of breaking the special items out including the litigation.

我們確實這樣做了——我認為承包商幻燈片第 13 頁的分段圖表很好地列出了包括訴訟在內的特殊項目。

Bryan Blair, Oppenheimer.

布萊恩布萊爾，奧本海默。

I was hoping if you could offer a little more color on the early innings of Corob integration. What continues to excite your team? If there have been any surprises to date? And you having now owned the asset for a bit, curious if you're willing to share 2025 outlook for revenue and margin contribution. And perhaps more importantly, looking forward, where your team thinks profitability can climb medium term?

我希望您能對 Corob 整合的早期階段提供更多詳細資訊。什麼讓您的團隊持續興奮？到目前為止有沒有什麼驚喜？現在您已經擁有該資產一段時間了，我想知道您是否願意分享 2025 年的收入和利潤貢獻前景。或許更重要的是，展望未來，您的團隊認為中期獲利能力能提升到什麼程度？

Yeah. I'd say it's early days, Bryan, but we've been pleased with the revenue so far. I mean for the eight weeks that we've owned it or whatever it's been. We like the team a lot. We feel pretty confident that they've got good momentum as we enter into 2025. We are expecting growth. It's not going to be anything heroic but probably the low single digit growth for that group is what we're aiming for 2025. And all in all, we're excited on a number of fronts, but in particular, the business, it doesn't have a tremendously strong footprint here in North America. And we believe that with the great brand that we have and the good reputation that Graco has with some of the larger companies that purchase this equipment, we feel like we'll at least have a good chance at being able to introduce Corob to those customers. Whether we're successful or not is really depends on us and how good of a job that we do. But we think that it could open up some doors that the Corob would have had a harder time opening on their own as a smaller independent company.

是的。布萊恩，我想說現在還為時過早，但我們對目前的收入感到滿意。我指的是我們擁有它的八週時間或其他的時間。我們非常喜歡這支球隊。我們非常有信心，在進入 2025 年時，他們將擁有良好的發展勢頭。我們期待成長。這不會是什麼了不起的事，但到 2025 年，我們設定的目標可能是讓該群體實現低個位數的成長。總而言之，我們對許多方面都感到興奮，但特別是在業務方面，它在北美還沒有佔據很大的份額。我們相信，憑藉我們擁有的優秀品牌以及 Graco 在購買此設備的一些大型公司中享有的良好聲譽，我們覺得我們至少有很好的機會向這些客戶介紹 Corob 。我們是否成功實際上取決於我們自己以及我們所做的工作有多好。但我們認為，它可能會打開一些大門，而這些大門如果 Corob 作為一家規模較小的獨立公司獨自打開，可能會比較困難。

It's encouraging to hear that you're expecting growth in China for the year admittedly against easy comps. But nonetheless, that momentum is a good guide. I'm wondering if you could just offer a little more detail on what you're seeing on a run rate basis and perhaps comments on whether Corob relationships factor into or influence your confidence in returning to growth this year.

很高興聽到您預計今年中國市場將實現成長，儘管與同類產品相比成長幅度不大。但無論如何，這種勢頭是一個很好的指引。我想知道您是否可以提供一些更詳細的信息，說明您在運行率方面看到的情況，並評論一下 Corob 關係是否會影響您今年恢復增長的信心。

Yeah. I think with respect to China, it's more of the Graco legacy business. We think we've kind of gotten through the worst of it. I would say that it's, I'll call it plateaued or gotten to the point where we've reached equilibrium, and our hope is that now that we'll get some upside as the market grows a little bit and we implement our pricing actions, and our team feels fairly confident. Obviously, we have easier comps that factors into the equation as well.

是的。我認為就中國而言，這更多的是 Graco 的傳統業務。我們想我們已經度過了最糟糕的時期。我想說的是，我稱之為穩定期，或者已經達到了平衡點，我們希望隨著市場稍微增長，我們實施定價行動，現在我們會獲得一些上行空間，我們的團隊對此非常有信心。顯然，我們還有更簡單的計算公式。

So it's more on the legacy side of the operation that we feel like China should get back to a growth trajectory here in 2025. Corob does give us a little bit more exposure in AP. We're excited about their India manufacturing footprint. We think that there's some opportunities there for us to perhaps leverage that. And it just gives us a little bit more of a presence in that country where I think as I said before, that's a country that we've had on our radar for a while to grow the Graco presence.

因此，我們認為，從營運的遺留方面來看，中國應該在 2025 年恢復成長軌跡。Corob 確實讓我們在 AP 中獲得了更多的曝光。我們對他們在印度的製造足跡感到非常興奮。我們認為，我們或許可以利用一些機會。這只會讓我們在那個國家有更大的影響力，我想正如我之前所說，那個國家是我們一直在關注的，以擴大 Graco 的影響力。

I should leave well enough alone. I would just add, we did have some nice feedback from the new industrial sales team and leadership in China last week. And optimistic going into this year, even about some areas that were soft for us, very soft for us in 2024. Markets like battery, solar and automotive. And we see some -- we already are seeing a little bit of project activity that was absent during much of the year last year.

我應該置之不理。我想補充一點，上週我們確實收到了來自中國新的工業銷售團隊和領導層的良好回饋。我們對今年抱持樂觀態度，即使對於一些對我們來說比較疲軟的領域，在 2024 年對我們來說也是非常疲軟的。電池、太陽能和汽車等市場。我們看到了一些——我們已經看到了一些去年大部分時間都沒有出現的項目活動。

Joe Ritchie, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的喬·里奇。

So I'm just trying to make sure I fully understand the one-off that could be potential good guy in 2025. And so if I'm looking at slide 5, you've got the business reorg cost of $8 million that goes away, the incremental litigation costs of $13 million that goes away. And I think I heard you say that there's the savings from the reorg is a -- it should be $16 million. Is that all expected in 2025, and did I get all of that right?

所以我只是想確保我完全理解這個可能在 2025 年成為好人的一次性事件。因此，如果我看投影片 5，您會發現 800 萬美元的業務重組成本消失了，1,300 萬美元的增量訴訟成本也消失了。我想我聽到您說過，重組可以節省 1600 萬美元。這一切都是在 2025 年預期會發生的嗎？

I will say, Joe, on the litigation, that is the change from '23 to '24. The total spend for the year on the litigation was $16 million that'll go away. But you did get the other pieces right.

喬，關於訴訟，我要說的是，這是從 23 年到 24 年的變化。全年訴訟總支出為 1,600 萬美元，這筆錢將會消失。但其他部分你都做對了。

So about $40 million in total. Is there anything that should be offsetting this? Obviously, we'll get a better understanding of how volumes turn out for the year but any major offsets we need to consider from a margin standpoint?

所以總計約4000萬美元。有什麼東西可以抵銷這種影響嗎？顯然，我們將更好地了解今年的銷售情況，但從利潤率的角度來看，我們需要考慮任何主要的抵消因素嗎？

So I don't see anything that would be major that would offset that.

因此，我認為沒有任何重大舉措能夠抵銷這項影響。

And then my one last question, and just thinking about the expansion markets, clearly, it was very helpful to have all the supplemental data going back to '22. Clearly '22, '23, great growth years. '24, the expansion markets were down quite a bit. I guess as you kind of think about -- it's kind of odd to see expansion markets down but I know that there's probably some tough comps there as well. But as you think about the trajectory of those businesses in 2025, is the assumption that these businesses will outgrow your remaining portfolio and just any color around that would be helpful.

然後我的最後一個問題，僅僅考慮擴張市場，顯然，將所有補充數據追溯到'22 年是非常有幫助的。顯然，22、23 年是偉大的增長年。 '24，擴張市場大幅下滑。我想，正如您所想的那樣——看到擴張市場下滑有點奇怪，但我知道那裡可能也存在一些艱難的競爭。但是，當您思考 2025 年這些業務的發展軌跡時，我們會假設這些業務的成長速度將超出您剩餘的投資組合，而任何圍繞這一假設的顏色都會有所幫助。

Yeah. I think if you were to look at the pieces, I think the semiconductor is really the wild card there. And that was the main reason for the reduction in '24. And we do expect that that market is going to be firmer and that we'll get back to a little bit of growth there in that '25. The other two businesses have been pretty steady performers with some decent growth here in '24 for our environmental business. We kind of expect that to continue. And same thing on the high-pressure valve.

是的。我認為，如果你看一下這些部分，我認為半導體確實是其中的不確定因素。這就是 24 年減少的主要原因。我們確實預計該市場將會更加堅挺，並且我們將在2025年恢復一點成長。另外兩項業務表現相當穩定，我們的環境業務在2024年取得了不錯的成長。我們預計這種情況將會持續下去。高壓閥上的情況也是一樣。

Jeff Hammond, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

KeyBanc 資本市場公司的 Jeff Hammond。

Just on a contractor, a couple questions. One, last year, I think your new product timing was more 2Q versus 1Q based on time. And I'm just wondering how you're thinking about that comp and new products coming in. And then just with kind of rates stuck high, lower existing homes, lower new home sales, kind of what you're hearing from the field paint stores contractors about just the paint business in particular?

只是關於承包商，幾個問題。首先，從時間來看，我認為去年你們的新產品發佈時間更多是在第二季度，而不是第一季。我只是想知道您如何看待該公司以及即將推出的新產品。然後，由於利率居高不下，現有房屋銷售量下降，新房銷售量下降，您是否從現場油漆店承包商那裡聽到了有關油漆業務的具體情況？

Yeah. You're right. I think you're correct that our new product launches last year came in a little bit late for CED. I think they were in Q2 versus Q1. So perhaps that creates a little bit easier comp for them in the first quarter than what you might see in the second quarter. But I'll let you guys figure that out and do the modeling on that piece of it. The market itself, I think is, I'll call it stable to potentially improving. Housing starts are kind of projected to be flat here in '25. New home sales are projected to come up a little bit. And that does help us because every time somebody moves, they tend to fix it up or paint it and then the new people move in, and they repaint it again. So to the extent that the existing home sales actually trend up, I think that would be favorable for us.

是的。你說得對。我認為您說得對，我們去年推出的新產品對於 CED 來說有點晚了。我認為他們處於 Q2 而非 Q1。因此，這或許會為他們在第一季帶來比第二季更容易的競爭優勢。但我會讓你們弄清楚這一點，並對它的那部分進行建模。我認為市場本身處於穩定且有改善的趨勢。預計25年住房開工量將持平。預計新屋銷售將略有上升。這確實對我們有幫助，因為每次有人搬家，他們都會把它修繕或粉刷一新，然後新人搬進來，他們又會把它重新粉刷一新。因此，如果現有房屋銷售實際上呈上升趨勢，我認為這對我們有利。

Remodelings kind of hanging in there. Interest rates, like you guys know more about that than I do, but they appear to be stable to maybe slightly favorable for us. And I think on the commercial side, we're expecting just a real small amount of growth there as well. So you put the whole thing together and I feel like it's at least as favorable market as what we've had in the last couple of years, maybe a little bit of upside.

改造工作還在進行中。利率，就像你們比我更了解這一點一樣，但它們似乎穩定，甚至可能對我們來說略微有利。我認為在商業方面，我們也預期那裡只會有少量的成長。所以，把所有事情綜合起來，我覺得這至少和過去幾年一樣是一個有利的市場，甚至可能還有一點上漲空間。

And then just on the comment about timing and powder coatings. Is that business that shifted from 4Q to 1Q and is there a magnitude you can give?

然後只是關於時間和粉末塗料的評論。該業務是否從第四季度轉移到了第一季度，您可以給出一個幅度嗎？

I don't think so. I think that really, it really relates back to, if you look at last year's Q4 and you look at the industrial numbers that was put up, a lot of that was like powder project activity. And so the fact that we just didn't get that in Q4 this year really created kind of a tough comp for that group. I think we said in the comments that their backlog right now is actually a little bit higher than what it would normally be. So we feel pretty good about how things are trending here for that part of the business as we head into '25. I don't think there's any real meaningful shift that you should be thinking about from this should have gone in '24 but it's going to wind up in '25.

我不這麼認為。我認為這確實與去年第四季公佈的工業數據有關，其中許多都像是粉末專案活動。所以，我們今年第四季未能實現這一目標，確實給該集團帶來了一定程度的困難。我想我們在評論中說過，他們現在的積壓量實際上比正常情況下要高一點。因此，當我們邁入25年時，我們對這部分業務的發展趨勢感到非常滿意。我不認為你應該考慮任何真正有意義的轉變，這應該在'24年發生，但它將在'25年結束。

Yeah, that's the one -- that's certainly one area where we have a little longer visibility than in most of our legacy businesses. Mark's right. We're carrying what looks to be a little bit of a backlog above normalized levels for the size of the business. And we also saw some firmness in, I would say order rates as the fourth quarter wound up. That left us with a, I would say a positive ish feeling as we get into this year and bodes well maybe not just for Q1 and Q2, but how the business could play out on the second half of the year.

是的，這是其中之一——這肯定是我們比大多數傳統業務擁有更長遠可見度的一個領域。馬克是對的。我們的積壓訂單看起來比我們的業務規模正常水準要多一些。隨著第四季的結束，我們也看到訂單率回升。我想說，這給我們帶來了一種積極的感覺，因為我們即將進入今年，這不僅預示著第一季和第二季的良好發展，也預示著今年下半年業務的發展前景。

And then just last one on the one timer. So $3 million of step up from the acquisition. Is that done or do you have some carry over in the first half?

然後只剩下一個計時器了。因此，此次收購將增加 300 萬美元。那已經完成了嗎或是你在上半部還保留著一些內容？

We'll have some carry over through the first quarter. But after the first quarter, we'll have gone through all of the step up.

我們將會把一些結轉延續到第一季。但第一季結束後，我們就完成了所有的升級。

Ross Sparenblek, William Blair.

羅斯·斯帕倫布萊克、威廉·布萊爾。

This is Sam Karlov on for Ross.

這是山姆·卡洛夫，代替羅斯上場。

Regarding the strength in the legacy America's process segment, is there anything to read into as it relates to QUANTM electric pumps? And are there any updates on where you think you are in the customer trial phase?

就傳統美國工藝領域的實力而言，與 QUANTM 電動幫浦相關的內容有什麼可解讀的嗎？您認為目前客戶試用階段的進展如何？

Yeah. I don't think there's anything in particular. I think it was just across the board kind of general strength. A lot of it actually was in our lubrication businesses which have been good, but they did have a nice strong finish of the year.

是的。我認為沒有什麼特別的事情。我認為這只是一種全面的綜合實力。其中很大一部分實際上都來自於我們的潤滑業務，這些業務一直表現良好，但我們今年確實取得了不錯的成績。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指令）

Andrew Buscaglia, BNP Paribas.

法國巴黎銀行的安德魯‧布斯卡利亞 (Andrew Buscaglia)。

Yeah. I just wanted to clarify. So I mean a little extra commentary on Corob. Yeah. So it sounds like we should assume sort of mid-single digit contribution to sales this year. Could you clarify that? And then what about quantifying anything on EPS accretion? Whether it's year one or year two, can you make any statements there?

是的。我只是想澄清一下。所以我的意思是對 Corob 做一些額外的評論。是的。因此聽起來我們應該假設今年的銷售貢獻會達到中位數個位數。你能澄清一下嗎？那麼如何量化 EPS 的增值呢？不管是第一年還是第二年，你能做出什麼聲明嗎？

Yeah. I think the mid-single digit -- low single. Well, I think if you just annualize the revenue, I mean it's probably 4% to 5%. It'll help our growth rate in 2025. So you just add that on top. And I think we're looking at it to be slightly accretive of the EPS for the full year, but Chris would -- he would give --

是的。我認為是中等個位數-低個位數。嗯，我認為如果你只是將收入按年化，那麼它大概是 4% 到 5%。這將有助於我們 2025 年的成長率。因此您只需將其添加到頂部即可。我認為，我們認為這將略微增加全年的每股收益，但克里斯會——他會給出--

It's probably going to be accretive in 2026 for the full year as we get through some of the one-time costs and things happening this year. That's kind of the estimate right now.

隨著我們解決一些一次性成本和今年發生的問題，2026 年全年的利潤可能會實現增值。這是目前的估計。

And then, obviously, you guys are signaling a little bit more M&A ahead potentially. Can you talk about your thoughts on accretion when you make these deals? And then for investors that might be concerned around your return on invested capital, which is very strong, any thoughts about how you're thinking about returns and protecting that number?

然後，顯然，你們暗示未來可能會有更多的併購。您能談談在達成這些交易時對增值的想法嗎？然後對於那些可能關心您的投資資本回報率的投資者來說，您的投資資本回報率非常高，您對如何考慮回報並保護這個數字有什麼想法嗎？

Well, we definitely think that buyer’s discipline is the way that we justify any major capital project. And philosophically, that's the way we try to approach our acquisitions, which is one of the reasons why over the last couple of years, we -- there have been some interesting transactions and some large transactions, but the multiples have been pretty -- have remained, I'd say a little more elevated some of the deals in the niche industrial space, especially if they're in the pharma or the healthcare or some of the higher growth spaces.

嗯，我們確實認為買方紀律是我們證明任何重大資本項目合理性的方式。從哲學上講，這就是我們進行收購的方式，這也是為什麼在過去幾年裡，我們進行了一些有趣的交易和一些大交易，但倍數相當高的原因之一。 ，一些利基工業領域的交易會更加活躍，特別是製藥、醫療保健或一些高成長領域。

And with all that said, that we are optimistic that the sell side activity, especially on the part of the PE companies could represent an opportunity for some interesting business opportunities. Our team in development stays very close to the banks and they have reasons to believe there could be some interesting meaningfully sized properties in the flow control space coming to market later in the -- in Q1 and Q2. So we're looking -- I would say we're looking for good merchandise. That's number one. That I've learned from experience is we want to buy good businesses. And yes, you do have to maintain a buyer's discipline. And we will see with changes in interest rates and with decent properties coming to market how that plays out in the upcoming year, but we remain very optimistic. And as Mark said, our financial position gives us the flexibility to move very quickly when we see the right kind of opportunity such as is the case with Corob last year.

綜上所述，我們樂觀地認為，賣方活動，特別是私募股權公司方面的活動，可能代表一些有趣的商業機會。我們的開發團隊與銀行保持著非常密切的聯繫，他們有理由相信，在未來的第一季和第二季度，流量控制領域可能會出現一些有趣且規模有意義的資產進入市場。所以我們正在尋找——我想說我們正在尋找好的商品。這是第一點。我從經驗中了解到，我們希望收購優秀的企業。是的，你確實必須保持買家的紀律。隨著利率的變化和優質房產進入市場，我們將看到明年情況將如何發展，但我們仍然非常樂觀。正如馬克所說，當我們看到合適的機會時，我們的財務狀況使我們能夠靈活地迅速採取行動，例如去年 Corob 的情況。

And David, maybe just following on that comment, are the deals you're looking at, is -- are these opportunities where you see some sort of margin potential where you can improve them? Are you mostly after companies that are already fairly fine-tuned? It just get you into the different adjacent market and help you grow from there?

大衛，也許只是接著那則評論，您正在考慮的交易是否是您認為可以提高利潤潛力的機會？您主要關注的是那些已經相當完善的公司嗎？它只是讓你進入不同的相鄰市場並幫助你從那裡發展？

Well, I think it depends. I mean this is one person's view and we welcome other points of view. I think we have an open mind when we go in. We certainly are interested in those niche market opportunities that have the characteristics of the markets that we're already in. Meeting essential needs for businesspeople, business to business. We like recurring revenue, et cetera. We do understand from our own experience that sometime when we go in and we buy businesses that maybe have been held privately or maybe by a founding family, they haven't always had the capital to inject in the business to bring their plant and equipment up to what I would call the kind of expectations we have for our operations.

嗯，我認為這要視情況而定。我的意思是，這只是一個人的觀點，我們歡迎其他觀點。我認為我們在進入時要保持開放的心態。我們當然對那些具有我們現有市場特徵的利基市場機會感興趣。滿足商務人士、企業對企業的基本需求。我們喜歡經常性收入等等。從我們自身的經驗中我們確實了解到，有時當我們進入併購買可能由私人或創始家族持有的企業時，他們並不總是有資本注入企業來提高他們的廠房和設備我將其稱之為我們對自身營運的期望。

And frequently, when we have brought our capital to some of the opportunities that we pursued over the years, powder coating, in the semiconductor space, et cetera, that has represented a real margin improvement opportunity. And so I certainly like that attribute although the underlying businesses were good ones to start with.

通常，當我們將資本投入到多年來追求的一些機會時，粉末塗料、半導體領域等等，這代表著真正的利潤提升機會。因此我確實喜歡這個屬性，儘管一開始的基礎業務就很好。

Yeah. I'll just add on that we run DCF models. We're looking to get double digit rates of return for our shareholders. We aren't looking at companies that we can't help them either grow their top line or expand their margins. And so we feel like the businesses that we have acquired, we've got a good track record of being able to do that and that's really what we're targeting.

是的。我只想補充一點，我們運行 DCF 模型。我們希望為股東實現兩位數的回報率。我們不會關注那些無法幫助其增加營業收入或擴大利潤的公司。因此，我們覺得，我們所收購的企業在這方面有著良好的記錄，而這正是我們的目標。

There are no further questions. I will now turn the conference over to Mark Sheahan.

沒有其它問題了。現在我將會議交給馬克·希恩。

Okay. Well, that concludes today's call. I want to thank you for participating and have a good day.

好的。好的，今天的通話到此結束。我想感謝您的參與並祝您有愉快的一天。

This concludes our conference for today. Thank you all for participating. Have a nice day. All parties may now disconnect.

今天的會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。祝你今天過得愉快。各方現在都可以斷開連線。