Granite Construction Inc (GVA) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. My name is Jamie, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Granite Construction Inc. 2024 Fourth Quarter Conference Call. Today's event is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

大家早安。我叫傑米，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Granite Construction Inc. 2024 年第四季電話會議。今天的活動正在錄製中。（操作員指令）

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Vice President of Investor Relations, Mike Barker. Sir, you may begin.

現在我很高興將發言權交給投資人關係副總裁 Mike Barker。先生，您可以開始啦。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to be here today with President and Chief Executive Officer, Kyle Larkin; and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Staci Woolsey. Please note that today's earnings presentation will be available on the Events and Presentations page of our Investor Relations website.

早安，感謝您加入我們。我很高興今天能與總裁兼執行長 Kyle Larkin 一起來到這裡；以及執行副總裁兼財務長 Staci Woolsey。請注意，今天的收益報告將在我們投資者關係網站的活動和演示頁面上發布。

We begin today with a brief discussion regarding forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Some of the discussion today may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are estimates reflecting the current expectations and best judgment of senior management regarding future events, occurrences, opportunities, targets, growth, demand, strategic plans, circumstances, activities, performance, shareholder value, outcomes, outlook, guidance, objectives, committed and awarded projects or CAP and results. Actual results could differ materially from statements made today. Please refer to Granite's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these forward-looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

今天我們首先簡要討論前瞻性陳述和非公認會計準則指標。今天的一些討論可能包括 1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案所定義的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述是反映高階管理層對未來事件、情況、機會、目標、成長、需求、策略計劃、情況、活動、績效、股東價值、結果、展望、指導、目標、承諾和授予的專案或 CAP 和結果的當前預期和最佳判斷的估計。實際結果可能與今天的聲明有重大差異。請參閱 Granite 最新的 10-K 和 10-Q 文件，以獲得可能影響這些前瞻性聲明的風險因素的更完整描述。除非法律要求，否則公司不承擔更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

Certain non-GAAP measures may be discussed during today's call and from time to time by the company's executives. These include, but are not limited to, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share. The required disclosures regarding our non-GAAP measures are included as part of our earnings press releases and in company presentations, which are available on our website, graniteconstruction.com under Investor Relations.

公司高層可能會在今天的電話會議中以及不時討論某些非公認會計準則指標。這些包括但不限於調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率、調整後的淨收入和調整後的每股盈餘。有關我們的非公認會計準則指標的強制性披露包含在我們的收益新聞稿和公司介紹中，您可以在我們的網站 graniteconstruction.com 的“投資者關係”部分找到。

Now I would like to turn the call over to Kyle Larkin.

現在我想將電話轉給凱爾拉金 (Kyle Larkin)。

Good morning. First, I want to thank our teams across the company for enabling us to achieve another record year for Granite. Their dedication and hard work drives our success. From safety to revenue, profitability and cash flow, it was truly an outstanding year for the company.

早安.首先，我要感謝公司各團隊，是他們幫助我們讓 Granite 再創紀錄。他們的奉獻和努力推動了我們的成功。從安全到收入、獲利能力和現金流，對公司來說這確實是傑出的一年。

Before we dive into the results, I want to take a moment to acknowledge all the people impacted by the terrible fires in Southern California. Thankfully, our employees are safe, and we are fortunate that there were no significant impacts to our projects.

在我們深入了解結果之前，我想花點時間感謝所有受到南加州可怕火災影響的人。值得慶幸的是，我們的員工很安全，而且我們的專案沒有受到重大影響，這讓我們感到很幸運。

As we look ahead to 2025, I believe it is fair to say that Granite is a transformed company. Our teams are focused on growing our businesses while also generating strong cash flow and delivering consistent profitability. We also continue to explore potential acquisitions as we evaluate opportunities to build upon and expand our vertically integrated strategy into new markets. As we work towards our 2027 financial targets, we believe both the construction and materials segments have many opportunities to grow revenue and increase margin in 2025 and over the coming years.

展望 2025 年，我相信可以公平地說，Granite 是一家轉型的公司。我們的團隊專注於發展業務，同時創造強勁的現金流並實現持續的獲利能力。我們正在評估將我們的垂直整​​合策略拓展到新市場的機會，並將繼續探索潛在的收購。在我們努力實現 2027 年財務目標的過程中，我們相信建築和材料部門在 2025 年及未來幾年都有很多機會增加收入和提高利潤。

Now let's turn to the results from the fourth quarter, starting with the construction segment. As discussed in previous quarters, we believe that we continue to experience the strongest market that I have seen throughout my career, excluding only the short-lived housing bubble.

現在讓我們來看看第四季的業績，從建築部門開始。正如前幾季所討論的那樣，我們相信，我們將繼續經歷我職業生涯中所見過的最強勁的市場，僅排除短暫的房地產泡沫。

State transportation budgets are near record levels across our footprint. These state budgets are supported by the Federal Infrastructure Bill or IIJA. In California, our largest revenue state, the proposed 2025-2026 fiscal year transportation budget increased meaningfully in the key areas of local assistance and capital outlay projects from the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year forecast.

我們所涵蓋範圍內的州交通預算都接近歷史最高水準。這些州預算由聯邦基礎設施法案（IIJA）支持。在我們收入最大的州加州，擬議的2025-2026財政年度交通預算在地方援助和資本支出項目等關鍵領域較2024至2025財年的預測有顯著增加。

California transportation funding is supported by the SB1 Gas Tax and the Infrastructure Bill, and these funding sources will generate further opportunities for growth in 2025 and beyond as allocations move to active projects and as ultimately payments are made to contractors. Regarding the IIJA, due to the difference between the timing of allocations of funds to states and when the money is spent on projects, we believe the Infrastructure Bill will continue to support our industry for many years to come, with the majority of funds remaining to be spent when the bill terminates in 2026.

加州的交通資金由 SB1 汽油稅和基礎設施法案支持，隨著撥款轉移到活躍項目並最終支付給承包商，這些資金來源將在 2025 年及以後創造進一步的成長機會。關於 IIJA，由於向各州分配資金的時間與將資金用於專案的時間不同，我們相信《基礎設施法案》將在未來許多年繼續支持我們的行業，其中大部分資金將在 2026 年法案終止時花掉。

These strong markets support our outlook as approximately 75% of our construction segment is publicly funded. The remainder comes from our private work, which primarily consists of water infrastructure services, drilling and infrastructure for mines, commercial site development such as data centers and rail infrastructure, including constructing intermodal facilities. These markets have been strong over the last several years, and we see a number of opportunities to continue to grow our presence in them in 2025 and beyond.

這些強勁的市場支持了我們的前景，因為我們約 75% 的建築部門是由公共資金資助的。其餘則來自我們的私人工作，主要包括水基礎設施服務、礦場鑽探和基礎設施、資料中心等商業場地開發以及鐵路基礎設施，包括建設多式聯運設施。這些市場在過去幾年中一直表現強勁，我們看到了在 2025 年及以後繼續擴大我們在這些市場影響力的眾多機會。

During the fourth quarter, we once again bid on and won more work than the prior year. There are a number of projects where we are awaiting formal word, and those projects have not been included in our 2024 CAP.

在第四季度，我們再次競標並贏得比前一年更多的工作。有許多項目我們正在等待正式批准，這些項目尚未納入我們的 2024 年 CAP。

I am very pleased by the performance of our estimating teams in the quarter. Although we saw a decrease in CAP since the third quarter, we expect CAP to increase in 2025, and the quality of our backlog should continue to improve and strengthen to what we believe to be the best project portfolio in our history. With the work that we have in CAP and the opportunities in front of us on the bid schedule, we are in a good position to achieve our organic growth expectations and realized improvement in segment gross margin in excess of 1% in 2025.

我對我們的估算團隊在本季的表現感到非常滿意。儘管自第三季以來我們看到 CAP 有所下降，但我們預計 CAP 將在 2025 年增加，並且我們的積壓訂單品質應該會繼續改善和加強，我們認為這將是我們歷史上最好的項目組合。憑藉我們在 CAP 中所做的工作以及投標時間表上面臨的機遇，我們有能力實現我們的有機增長預期，並在 2025 年實現分部毛利率超過 1% 的提升。

Moving to the materials segment, 2024 was a pivotal year. In the beginning of the year, we reorganized our operational structure to better align the materials leadership with the business. The materials organization made significant progress during 2024 as we implemented price increases in both aggregates and asphalt, improved efficiency by adding several new modernized plants, and completed multiple automation projects. All these efforts helped drive a year-over-year increase of cash gross profit margin.

對材料領域來說，2024 年是關鍵的一年。今年年初，我們重組了營運結構，以便更好地將材料領導層與業務部門協調起來。2024 年，材料組織取得了重大進展，我們實施了骨材和瀝青的價格上漲，透過增加幾個新的現代化工廠提高了效率，並完成了多個自動化專案。這些努力均推動現金毛利率年增。

It was a great year for the materials segment, and we expect even a higher level of performance going forward, starting with price increases in 2025, a high single digits for aggregates, and low single digits for asphalt. Investment in our materials business has been a priority within our capital allocation strategy, as seen through materials-led M&A, reserve expansion, and plant and facilities upgrades and enhancements. In 2024, we increased our aggregate reserves by 20% year-over-year to 1.6 billion tons. As in the construction segment, we believe that the market environment will drive organic revenue growth, and we are encouraged that we ended 2025 with an increase in materials backlog compared to 2024.

這是材料領域豐收的一年，我們預計未來的表現將更加出色，首先是 2025 年價格上漲，骨材價格將上漲至高個位數，瀝青價格將上漲至低個位數。在我們的資本配置策略中，對材料業務的投資一直是優先事項，這體現在以材料為主導的併購、儲備擴張以及工廠和設施的升級和增強。2024年，我們的總儲量年增20%，達到16億噸。與建築業一樣，我們相信市場環境將推動有機收入成長，我們很高興看到 2025 年底的材料積壓量與 2024 年底相比有所增加。

In addition to strategic materials investments within CapEx, I expect we will grow the business through further M&A in 2025. We have a target of completing two or three deals a year as we focus on strengthening our western and southeastern footprints. There are numerous M&A opportunities in the market, and we have added experienced leadership to our corporate development team as we position ourselves to be more active in M&A.

除了資本支出中的策略性材料投資外，我預計我們將在 2025 年透過進一步的併購來發展業務。我們的目標是每年完成兩到三筆交易，因為我們專注於加強我們在西部和東南部的影響力。市場上有大量的併購機會，我們已為企業發展團隊增添經驗豐富的領導階層，以便更積極參與併購活動。

With the efforts of our centralized materials leadership, strategic CapEx investment, and M&A, I believe our margins will continue to expand over the next three years as we work towards our consolidated 2027 adjusted EBITDA margin target of 12% to 14%.

我相信，在我們集中的材料領導、策略資本支出投資和併購的努力下，我們的利潤率將在未來三年繼續擴大，因為我們正努力實現 2027 年合併調整後 EBITDA 利潤率 12% 至 14% 的目標。

Now I'll turn it over to Staci to review our financial performance for the quarter.

現在我將把話題交給 Staci 來回顧我們本季的財務表現。

Thanks, Kyle. 2024 was a banner year for Granite, with year-over-year increases in a number of areas. Revenue increased 14% to $4 billion. Gross profit increased 44% to $573 million. Adjusted net income increased 45% to $214 million. Adjusted EBITDA increased 44% to $402 million. And operating cash flow increased 148% to $456 million.

謝謝，凱爾。 2024 年是 Granite 輝煌的一年，多個領域的表現都達到年成長。營收成長 14% 至 40 億美元。毛利成長44%至5.73億美元。調整後淨收入成長45%至2.14億美元。調整後 EBITDA 成長 44% 至 4.02 億美元。營運現金流增加148%，至4.56億美元。

I'm proud of the hard work our teams have put in to implement our strategy. These strong financial results validate the strategic decisions we introduced at the beginning of 2022 and our organizational realignment in 2024. With the steps we've taken, we are well positioned to achieve our 2025 guidance as we continue to march toward our 2027 financial targets.

我為我們的團隊為實施策略所付出的艱苦努力感到自豪。這些強勁的財務表現驗證了我們在 2022 年初推出的策略決策和 2024 年的組織調整。透過採取這些措施，我們有能力實現 2025 年的預期，並將繼續朝 2027 年的財務目標邁進。

Now let's discuss the results for the quarter. In the construction segment, revenue increased $28 million or 3% year-over-year to $821 million. This increase in revenue was primarily driven by our acquired companies. This was a strong result despite some project delays that we discussed last quarter.

現在讓我們討論一下本季的業績。在建築領域，營收年增 2,800 萬美元，達到 8.21 億美元，成長 3%。收入的成長主要得益於我們收購的公司。儘管我們上個季度討論過一些專案延遲，但這仍然是一個強勁的業績。

Construction segment gross profit improved $56 million to $128 million with segment gross profit margin of 16%. The significant increase in gross profit margin was driven by our higher-quality project portfolio.

建築部門毛利增加 5,600 萬美元，達到 1.28 億美元，部門毛利率為 16%。毛利率的大幅提升得益於我們更優質的項目組合。

We have maintained our discipline on project pursuits, we are focused on our home markets, and we are prioritizing best value projects where we can leverage our established relationships to deliver larger projects while minimizing risk. This strategy has resulted in an improved project portfolio, which has produced margin expansion that we believe will continue into 2025.

我們在專案追求上始終保持紀律，我們專注於本土市場，我們優先考慮最有價值的項目，我們可以利用我們已建立的關係來交付更大的項目，同時最大限度地降低風險。這項策略帶來了專案組合的改善，並帶來了利潤率的擴大，我們相信這種趨勢將持續到 2025 年。

In the materials segment, revenue increased $16 million year-over-year to $156 million with gross profit up slightly to $23 million. The increase in materials revenue was primarily due to acquired businesses. Cash gross profit increased $7 million year-over-year to $37 million or 21% for the quarter.

在材料部門，營收年增 1,600 萬美元至 1.56 億美元，毛利小幅上漲至 2,300 萬美元。材料收入的增加主要得益於收購的業務。本季現金毛利年增 700 萬美元，達到 3,700 萬美元，增幅 21%。

The investments we are making in our materials business, including M&A, have resulted in additional depreciation, depletion and amortization in the segment. As a result, we report cash gross profit margin in order to show the impacts of our aggregate and asphalt pricing as well as our plant production efficiencies without the impact of depreciation, depletion and amortization.

我們在材料業務方面進行的投資（包括併購）導致該部門的折舊、耗竭和攤提增加。因此，我們報告現金毛利率是為了顯示我們的骨材和瀝青定價以及工廠生產效率的影響，而不受折舊、耗竭和攤提的影響。

For the full year, cash gross profit margin improved by 240 basis points year-over-year to 21.4%. This is a significant improvement in our first year following our reorganization and we are looking forward to further advancement as we execute on our operating strategy.

全年現金毛利率年增240個基點至21.4%。這是我們重組後第一年的顯著進步，我們期待在執行營運策略時取得進一步的進步。

Adjusted EBITDA for the full year increased $123 million to $402 million, which is an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10%. As a reminder, our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance had assumed gains on sales of assets, which were not fully realized in the quarter.

全年調整後 EBITDA 增加 1.23 億美元至 4.02 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 10%。提醒一下，我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率指引假設資產出售收益，但該收益在本季並未完全實現。

Turning to cash. We had another outstanding quarter of cash generation and ended the year with operating cash flow of $456 million or 11% of revenue. This is up from $184 million or 5% of revenue in 2023. Our strong cash flow in 2024 was driven by the implementation of our new business model and process improvements, resulting in a substantial reduction in days sales outstanding.

轉向現金。我們又度過了一個現金創造能力出色的季度，年底的營運現金流為 4.56 億美元，佔營收的 11%。這比 2023 年的 1.84 億美元或收入的 5% 有所上升。我們 2024 年強勁的現金流得益於我們新業務模式和流程改善的實施，從而大幅減少了應收帳款週轉天數。

Our transformed business is generating the predictable profitability and cash flow that we expected, and positions us to strategically invest in the company. For 2025, our target operating cash flow margin is 9% of revenue, already at the low end of our 2027 target range of 9% to 11%.

我們轉型後的業務正在產生我們預期的可預測的獲利能力和現金流，並使我們能夠對公司進行策略性投資。到 2025 年，我們的目標營業現金流利潤率為收入的 9%，已經處於 2027 年目標範圍 9% 至 11% 的低端。

We ended the year with $586 million in cash and marketable securities and we have $334 million in availability under our revolving credit facility. We are in a great position to execute on our capital allocation priorities, which include growth and maintenance capital investments, M&A, maintaining our dividend and share repurchases to offset dilution from stock-based compensation.

截至年底，我們的現金和有價證券為 5.86 億美元，我們的循環信貸額度下有 3.34 億美元的可用資金。我們處於有利地位，可以執行我們的資本配置重點，包括成長和維護資本投資、併購、維持股息和股票回購，以抵消股票薪資的稀釋。

As we said on our last quarterly earnings call, we expected to return value to shareholders through share repurchases, and we repurchased 300,000 shares under our Board-approved share repurchase plan during the fourth quarter. This brought our total repurchases during 2024 to 525,000 shares.

正如我們在上次季度收益電話會議上所說的那樣，我們希望透過股票回購為股東帶來價值，並且我們在第四季度根據董事會批准的股票回購計劃回購了 300,000 股。這使得我們在 2024 年的總回購量達到 525,000 股。

Now let's turn to our 2025 guidance. We expect revenue to grow to a range of $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion. This guidance captures organic growth in line with our target of 6% to 8% and includes the results of Dickerson & Bowen for a full year. We have entered 2025 with a strong CAP portfolio and robust bidding opportunities ahead of us.

現在讓我們來看看 2025 年的指導。我們預計營收將成長至 42 億美元至 44 億美元之間。該指引體現了符合我們 6% 至 8% 目標的有機成長，並包含了 Dickerson & Bowen 全年的表現。我們已經進入 2025 年，擁有強大的 CAP 投資組合和強勁的投標機會。

As we continue to grow, the efficiency of our SG&A expense is a priority across the company. In 2025, we expect our SG&A to be approximately 9% of revenue, inclusive of an estimated $45 million in stock-based compensation expense. We anticipate increased stock-based compensation in 2025 driven by improved performance and share price appreciation.

隨著我們的不斷發展，銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 的效率已成為整個公司的首要任務。到 2025 年，我們預計銷售、一般及行政費用將佔收入的約 9%，其中包括預計 4,500 萬美元的股票薪資費用。我們預計，由於業績提升和股價上漲，2025 年股票薪酬將會增加。

We expect our adjusted EBITDA margin range to be 11% to 12% of revenue. With improved execution across our transformed construction project portfolio, strong macro market environment and high-performing materials business, we expect to realize an increase in gross profit margin to achieve our adjusted EBITDA margin range.

我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率範圍為營收的 11% 至 12%。隨著我們轉型後的建築項目組合執行力的提升、強勁的宏觀市場環境和高性能材料業務，我們預計將實現毛利率的成長，以實現調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率範圍。

Finally, we expect to invest in our business through CapEx in the range of $140 million to $160 million. This range contemplates strategic materials investments of approximately $50 million to expand reserves and complete further automation projects as we work to grow the materials business.

最後，我們預計透過資本支出 (CapEx) 向我們的業務投資 1.4 億至 1.6 億美元。該範圍考慮了約 5000 萬美元的戰略材料投資，以擴大儲備並完成進一步的自動化項目，以努力發展材料業務。

Now I'll turn it back over to Kyle.

現在我將話題轉回給凱爾。

Thanks, Staci. I'll close with the following points. Our teams did a tremendous job in 2024 and that's reflected in our record year. We're excited about the strong construction market and the opportunities ahead of us to build CAP in 2025, while also organically growing revenue in alignment with our new guidance.

謝謝，史黛西。最後我想談談以下幾點。我們的團隊在 2024 年做出了巨大的貢獻，這反映在我們創紀錄的一年中。我們對強勁的建築市場和 2025 年建造 CAP 的機會感到興奮，同時也能根據我們的新指引實現收入有機成長。

We are following the changes coming out of Washington and believe that there is tremendous support to maintain and improve our nation's highways, roads, bridges, ports and airports. We expect the current level of funding for this critical infrastructure to continue well beyond the IIJA.

我們正在關注華盛頓的變化，並相信他們將為維護和改善我們國家的高速公路、道路、橋樑、港口和機場提供巨大的支持。我們預計，對這項關鍵基礎設施的現有資助水準將在 IIJA 結束後持續很長時間。

Our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance for 2025 of 11% to 12% represents a 10% to 20% increase from where we ended 2024. While we have made tremendous strides over the last three years, particularly in this past year, I believe that we are just starting to show the earnings power of our vertically integrated model. Our cash generation in 2024 has been exceptional, and we have the CAP, market and strategic plan to continue to be an industry leader in 2025 and over the coming years.

我們對 2025 年的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率預期為 11% 至 12%，較 2024 年底的水準成長 10% 至 20%。雖然我們在過去三年，特別是過去的一年裡取得了巨大的進步，但我相信我們才剛開始展現垂直整合模式的獲利能力。我們在 2024 年的現金創造能力非常出色，並且我們擁有 CAP、市場和戰略計劃，以在 2025 年及未來幾年繼續成為行業領先者。

Finally, while I am confident in our ability to grow organically, I'm equally excited about the prospects of growing our business through M&A. We're evaluating bolt-ons in our existing markets and also platform opportunities in new markets as we continue to strengthen our position as America's infrastructure company.

最後，雖然我對我們的有機成長能力充滿信心，但我對透過併購實現業務成長的前景也同樣感到興奮。我們正在評估現有市場的附加功能以及新市場的平台機會，以繼續鞏固我們作為美國基礎設施公司的地位。

Operator, I will now turn it back to you for questions.

接線員，現在我將把問題轉回給您。

(Operator Instructions) Steven Ramsey, Thompson Research Group.

（操作員指示）史蒂文·拉姆齊（Steven Ramsey），湯普森研究小組。

Maybe to start with the low end of the sales guidance implies a modest decline and even at that low end of sales, the low end of EBITDA margin still implies meaningful expansion. So maybe you can talk to what would occur to drive that, the low end of sales and then in that scenario, what would drive the margin expansion?

也許首先，銷售指引的低端意味著適度下降，即使在銷售額的低端，EBITDA 利潤率的低端仍然意味著有意義的擴張。那麼也許您可以談談什麼因素會推動銷售額的低端成長，然後在這種情況下，什麼因素會推動利潤率的擴大？

Steven, so I think when we look at our guidance that we put out for 2025, it's -- the midpoint of 4.3% is in line with that 6% to 8% longer-term organic growth rate that we put out through 2027. So I think we feel pretty good about that 4.3 midpoint today -- $4.3 billion midpoint today. And I would just remind everybody, that is somewhere on the low end because it doesn't include any inorganic M&A acquisitions for the company. So I think that is what we believe is somewhat of a base case for the company.

史蒂文，所以我認為，當我們查看我們為 2025 年制定的指導方針時，4.3% 的中點與我們在 2027 年制定的 6% 至 8% 的長期有機成長率一致。所以我認為我們對今天的 4.3 中點——今天 43 億美元的中點——感覺相當滿意。我只是想提醒大家，這個數字處於較低水平，因為它不包括該公司的任何無機併購。所以我認為這在某種程度上是公司的基本情況。

I think when we look at EBITDA margin expansion, our CAP is really strong. As we mentioned, it's the highest quality CAP, but we believe we've had in our company history. We talked on our last call about how our construction margins are really going to increase. Percent, a little bit higher as we came into 2025. So I think our guidance certainly reflects that improvement.

我認為，當我們看 EBITDA 利潤率擴張時，我們的 CAP 確實很強勁。正如我們所提到的，這是我們公司歷史上最高品質的 CAP。我們在上次電話會議上討論了我們的建築利潤率實際上將如何增加。到 2025 年，百分比將會略高一些。因此我認為我們的指導肯定反映了這種改善。

We've also been looking at our materials business and driving margin expansion through pricing, automation investments, standardizing how we do our materials business from an operational excellence perspective. We're seeing those investments and efforts pay off as well. So we think getting up into that midpoint of 11.5% is a nice step up. And again, it's still in line with where we headed directionally through 2027.

我們也一直在關注我們的材料業務，並透過定價、自動化投資來推動利潤率的擴大，從卓越營運的角度標準化我們的材料業務方式。我們也看到這些投資和努力得到了回報。因此我們認為達到 11.5% 的中間點是一個不錯的進步。而且，這仍然與我們 2027 年的發展方向一致。

Okay. That's great. And then on the scenario that you hit the high end of the targets closer to 12%, that's two years ahead of the 2027 targets where that low end is 12%. Maybe it depends on how you get there. But if you hit the high end of the guide, does that give you the confidence to potentially raise the 2027 targets?

好的。那太棒了。然後，假設您達到接近 12% 的目標高端，這將比 2027 年的目標提前兩年，而 2027 年的低端目標是 12%。也許這取決於你如何到達那裡。但是，如果達到了指南的高端，是否有信心提高 2027 年的目標？

Maybe. I mean, I think really what we're looking at in our business is we still have opportunities in our marketplace to raise margins. We still have opportunities to perform at a higher level. That's going to help get us up towards that 12% into the range of 12% to 13%.

或許。我的意思是，我認為我們真正關注的是，我們在市場上仍然有機會提高利潤率。我們仍有機會表現得更高。這將幫助我們將目標提高到 12% 到 13% 之間。

I think to be balanced for us to really get up into that 14% or even higher, we're going to have to make the right capital investments in our business, and that's going to take that cash to be generated this year, which is really strong operating cash flows that we expect to continue. We can reinvest in the markets that we're in, strengthen really those home market positions, which should allow us to get some margin expansion if we do the right deals in our existing markets.

我認為，為了實現平衡，我們真正達到 14% 甚至更高的目標，我們必須對我們的業務進行正確的資本投資，這將需要今年產生的現金，我們預計這種強勁的經營現金流將會持續下去。我們可以對我們所在的市場進行再投資，真正加強本土市場的地位，如果我們在現有市場上做正確的交易，這將使我們能夠獲得一些利潤擴大。

We're still looking to build out that Southeast platform. That has really strong EBITDA margins in that part of our business. And we're looking for other opportunities, that would be EBITDA margin accretive. So if we make the right investments in our existing business and the future businesses, I think that's what's going to push us above that 14%.

我們仍在尋求拓展東南平台。我們的這部分業務的 EBITDA 利潤率確實很高。我們正在尋找其他機會，以提高 EBITDA 利潤率。因此，如果我們對現有業務和未來業務做出正確的投資，我認為這將推動我們超越 14%。

Okay. That's great. And then last one for me. I wanted to think more about vertically integrated revenue and the growth you're achieving from that category of the business. Maybe just kind of order of magnitude, how vertically integrated revenue trended in 2024 on a year-over-year basis? And do you think vertically integrated revenue grows at a faster pace than the total sales guidance of the company in 2025?

好的。那太棒了。這對我來說是最後一個。我想更多地考慮垂直整合的收入以及您從該業務類別中實現的成長。也許只是數量級，2024 年垂直整合收入較去年同期趨勢如何？您是否認為垂直整合的營收成長速度將快於公司 2025 年的總銷售預期？

Yes. I would say that it's pretty consistent with the overall business. Our VI revenue is certainly growing at a fast pace. The market environment continues to be really strong. A good example is if you just look at the California market, and we provided some information today regarding what we anticipate for the '25, '26 budget for Caltrans is up 10%. So we do think that we see really strong markets across really our entire network of businesses. And so I would expect that VI market to continue to grow for us and our businesses should follow.

是的。我想說的是，這與整體業務非常一致。我們的 VI 收入確實正在快速成長。市場環境持續強勁。一個很好的例子是，如果你只看加州市場，我們今天提供了一些信息，關於我們預計加州交通部 25、26 年預算將增加 10%。因此，我們確實認為，我們整個業務網絡的市場都非常強勁。因此，我預計 VI 市場將持續成長，我們的業務也將隨之成長。

Michael Dudas, Vertical Research Partners.

邁克爾·杜達斯（Michael Dudas），垂直研究合作夥伴。

Kyle, maybe you could share with us as you look at regionally in home markets and some of the growing markets you have, some of the puts and takes on how 2025 should roll out. Generally, obviously, from your overall guidance, it's quite supportive. It seems like across the board, but maybe a little bit of sense of where things could be better, where things could catch up and what opportunities it might be for you to maybe grow some of your businesses at a faster rate than you would have thought because of the stronger demand in the market.

凱爾，也許您可以與我們分享您對國內區域市場和一些不斷增長的市場的看法，以及 2025 年應該如何開展的一些展望和看法。總的來說，顯然從你們的整體指導來看，這是非常支持的。這似乎是全面的，但也許你會對哪些方面可以變得更好、哪些方面可以迎頭趕上以及由於市場需求更強勁，你可能會獲得哪些機會，讓你的一些業務以比你想像的更快的速度增長。

Well, again, I think it's really strong across all of our geographies, which I think really is just reflective of the strong market -- the strong public market that we see now for a while and the strong public market that we expect to see for quite some time.

嗯，我再說一次，認為它在我們所有地區都非常強勁，我認為這實際上只是反映了強勁的市場——我們現在看到的強勁的公開市場以及我們預計在相當長一段時間內會看到的強勁的公開市場。

As we mentioned, the private market for us continues to be robust as well. I think one of the things that I want to highlight is Q4 was a really strong big quarter for us, and we actually picked up around $450 million more in low bids relative to where we were in Q4 2023. So we expect those projects to get awarded, and that would -- they would flow into our CAP in Q1 and even Q2. So we expect to really start building our CAP back up.

正如我們所提到的，我們的私人市場也持續強勁。我想強調的一件事是，第四季度對我們來說是一個非常強勁的大季度，與 2023 年第四季相比，我們實際上在低價競標中獲得了約 4.5 億美元的收益。因此，我們預計這些項目將會獲得獎勵，而且它們將在第一季甚至第二季流入我們的 CAP。因此，我們希望真正開始重新建立我們的 CAP。

Again, we expect the market to continue to be strong. Over the long haul, we do expect our CAP to continue to trend upwards. So I think just across the board, we feel really good about the markets.

我們再次預期市場將持續保持強勁。從長遠來看，我們確實預期我們的 CAP 將繼續呈上升趨勢。因此我認為，總體而言，我們對市場感到非常滿意。

And then on the margin front, is the shifting moving the best value versus the deal. Is that something that's going to aid the margin improvement? I'm sure it's aided to date, and will continue to improve it.

然後在利潤方面，轉移是相對於交易的最佳價值。這是否有助於提高利潤率？我確信它迄今為止有所幫助，並將繼續改進它。

And has there been a trend of executing through the P&L at a better rate than what the as-sold margin would be into the projects? Is there a helpful trend that could certainly help you keep the margin targets that you're putting out, seems at least quicker than you had anticipated just several months ago?

並且，是否存在透過損益表以比專案銷售利潤更好的比率執行的趨勢？是否存在一種有益的趨勢，可以幫助您保持所設定的利潤目標，而且似乎至少比您幾個月前預期的要快？

Yes. What was the second half of your question there, Mike? I'm not sure I got what you were asking.

是的。麥克，你問題的後半部是什麼？我不確定我是否明白你所問的。

What executing, like, from whatever the margin you have to book, relative to executing through the P&L, and you'll be -- are you achieving at levels, above levels, below levels? Is that a trend that could be helpful to expanding the margins that you produce from the backlog -- on the conversion of the backlog?

例如，無論您要預訂多少利潤，相對於透過損益表執行，您都將實現什麼目標 - 您是否達到了一定水平，高於水平，還是低於水平？這種趨勢是否有助於擴大您從積壓訂單轉換中產生的利潤？

Yeah, okay. Thanks for clarifying that. Yeah, so from a best value versus bid build, I think as an overall CAP balance, it's pretty consistent with the last couple of years. And one of the things that we did in 2023, if you look back and kind of the step up between '22 and '23, we added a lot of best value type projects into our CAP. As we've spoken previously, it takes a couple of years and as an average for those projects to go from the construction manager portion of the contract into the general contractor portion where we actually do the construction work. So we're seeing a lot of those converting over today. So that's going to allow us to perform more of those best value contracts as we move forward.

嗯，好的。感謝您澄清這一點。是的，因此從最佳價值與出價構建來看，我認為作為整體 CAP 平衡，它與過去幾年非常一致。我們在 2023 年所做的事情之一，如果你回顧 2022 年和 2023 年之間的進步，我們在我們的 CAP 中添加了很多最有價值的項目。正如我們之前所說，這些項目平均需要幾年時間才能從合約的施工經理部分進入我們實際進行施工工作的總承包商部分。因此我們今天看到很多人都在轉變。因此，這將使我們能夠在未來履行更多最有價值的合約。

I think from a margin perspective, yes, we can do larger, more complex projects without taking on the risk profile that certainly we saw with some of the larger design build contracts in the past. So all in all, we do feel as though the execution on projects and the backlog has improved. And that's a combination of going back in time and really derisking our business and really setting our teams up for success as an organization. So we still have execution risk in any given year, but the execution risk that we have in our business today is not even comparable to where we were two, three years ago.

我認為從利潤角度來看，是的，我們可以做更大、更複雜的項目，而不必承擔我們過去在一些較大的設計建造合約中看到的風險。總的來說，我們確實感覺到專案執行情況和積壓工作有所改善。這就是回顧過去、真正降低業務風險以及真正為我們的團隊作為一個組織取得成功做好準備的結合。因此，在任何一年我們仍然存在執行風險，但我們今天業務中面臨的執行風險甚至與兩三年前的執行風險無法相比。

Jerry Revich, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的傑瑞·雷維奇（Jerry Revich）。

I'm wondering if you can just talk about the range of free cash flow expectations for '25? Really good free cash conversion, '24. How do you expect '25 to look in the range of outcomes, if you wouldn't mind bracketing it?

我想知道您是否可以談談 25 年的自由現金流預期範圍？確實很好的免費現金轉換，'24。如果您不介意的話，您認為 25 年在結果範圍內會是什麼樣子？

Yes. We have -- we're really happy with our overall total cash flow and our free cash flow conversion was at a pretty high performance for the year. If you look at our balance sheet at the end of last year, we had a good amount of receivables that we were able to collect and have really strong performance in the first half of 2024. And now we're at a more normalized level. And for operating cash flow, targeting our 9% of revenue for 2025 and free cash flow targeting around the range of about 50% of EBITDA going forward.

是的。我們對我們的整體現金流感到非常滿意，而且我們今年的自由現金流轉換表現相當高。如果您查看我們去年年底的資產負債表，您會發現我們擁有大量能夠收回的應收帳款，並且在 2024 年上半年表現非常強勁。現在我們已處於更正常化的水平。對於營運現金流，我們的目標是到 2025 年達到收入的 9%，而自由現金流的目標是未來達到 EBITDA 的 50% 左右。

Super. And then in terms of -- in the fourth quarter, really strong free cash generation, you worked on receivables. Can you just talk about were there any project closeouts or anything along those lines because I think margins were at the low end of the expectation range. I'm wondering how much of that was project closeouts to drive cash flow? Or if there's any linkage to that?

極好的。然後就第四季而言，真正強勁的自由現金產生，你們致力於應收帳款。您能否談談是否有任何項目收尾或類似情況，因為我認為利潤率處於預期範圍的低端。我想知道其中有多少是透過專案結算來推動現金流？或者兩者之間是否存在關聯？

In the fourth quarter, there wasn't any big significant closeout or one-off items that were unusual. We -- sometimes there are some milestone payments, and we did collect one large milestone payment on an ongoing project in December, and that was really related to being able to work a little bit further into the quarter related to weather. But as far as other larger claims or closeout things, there wasn't anything related to that.

第四季度，沒有出現重大清倉事件或不尋常的一次性項目。我們 — — 有時會有一些里程碑付款，我們確實在 12 月收到了正在進行的項目的一筆大型里程碑付款，這實際上與能夠在與天氣相關的季度進一步開展工作有關。但就其他較大的索賠或清盤事宜而言，並沒有任何與此相關的事情。

Okay. Super. And lastly, Kyle, can you just talk about your expectations for inflation in '25 and what you folks are bidding into contracts, labor, materials? Can you just flesh out for us what you folks are seeing and bidding based on?

好的。極好的。最後，凱爾，你能談談你對 25 年通貨膨脹的預期，以及你們對合約、勞動力和材料的競標情況嗎？您能否向我們詳細說明您所看到的內容和競標依據？

Yes. I think just in general, we see inflation dropping down a little bit. I mean, obviously, it's moving around. But I think inflation right now, we anticipate being closer to that 3%. So a lot of that already is factored into our pricing, certainly on the asphalt side of things and the price increases that we put out would already be considering inflation.

是的。我認為總體而言，我們看到通貨膨脹有所下降。我的意思是，顯然它在移動。但我認為，我們預計目前的通膨率將接近 3%。所以很多因素已經考慮到我們的定價中，當然就瀝青方面而言，我們制定的價格上漲已經考慮到了通膨因素。

But all in all, our contracting today again, it's very different. So we -- all of our contracts that we get into on the construction side for sure, are 100% designed. We have coverage on the supplier side, the contractor side, which really protects us in some regards from price fluctuations certainly when it relates to inflation. So we feel really good about our ability to mitigate that risk, but we do expect inflation to go up a little bit this year.

但總而言之，我們今天再次簽訂的合約是非常不同的。因此，我們在建築方面簽訂的所有合約肯定都是 100% 經過設計的。我們對供應商和承包商都有保障，這在某種程度上確實保護了我們免受價格波動的影響，尤其是在通貨膨脹的情況下。因此，我們對自己降低風險的能力感到非常滿意，但我們確實預計今年通膨率將略有上升。

Jean Veliz, D.A. Davidson.

Jean Veliz，地方檢察官戴維森。

You previously mentioned an expected gain on sales of assets of $17 million in the fourth quarter. It doesn't look as though that was realized. So does something large there get pushed out in 2025 in -- and if so, can you clarify how much and when?

您之前提到，預計第四季資產銷售收益為 1700 萬美元。但這似乎尚未實現。那麼，2025 年是否會推出一些大型專案——如果會，您能否說明一下推出的數量和時間？

Yes. Yes, that's right. So we did expect a gain on sale of a certain asset in Q4, that isn't going to get completed, and we expect that to be completed in 2025. And that's not considered in our guidance today. So that sale completes in 2025. That would be one of the items that will move us up in terms of our guidance.

是的。是的，沒錯。因此，我們確實預期第四季某項資產的出售將帶來收益，但這不會完成，我們預計將在 2025 年完成。我們今天的指導中沒有考慮到這一點。因此該銷售將於 2025 年完成。這將是推動我們提高指導水準的項目之一。

And going back to adjusted EBITDA margins at the midpoint of the bridge is 150 basis points. Can you talk about what you expect to come from construction segment versus materials segment in delivering that?

回到調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率，橋樑中點為 150 個基點。您能否談談您對建築部門和材料部門實現這一目標的期望？

Yes. As I mentioned last quarter, just over 1% or so come out of construction, the balance would come out of materials. So our CAP is really high-quality CAP. We feel good about it. We feel good about the market environment that we're in. We think we can still continue to raise prices on the construction side. So we feel pretty good about that 1.5% improvement year-over-year.

是的。正如我上個季度提到的，大約 1% 來自建築業，其餘來自材料業。所以我們的 CAP 是真正高品質的 CAP。我們對此感覺很好。我們對所處的市場環境感到滿意。我們認為在建築方面仍可繼續提高價格。因此，我們對同比增長 1.5% 感到非常滿意。

Got it. And just last one for me. Just a little more context on the outlook you're seeing in 2025. Can you provide a little more color on the improvements in CAP that you have seen so far in the first quarter? And given it's also taken into account, it's a slower revenue burn rate quarter.

知道了。對我來說這只是最後一個。關於您所看到的 2025 年前景，請再多介紹一下背景。您能否詳細介紹一下第一季迄今看到的 CAP 改進情況？而且考慮到這些因素，本季的營收消耗速度較慢。

Well, I think we expect the long-term outlook at CAP to be really positive. As the market has been healthy, we continue to win work. So again, as I mentioned, additional $450 million in low bids in Q4 versus the prior year in Q4 is pretty significant. So we expect that to get into CAP in Q1 and Q2.

嗯，我認為我們預計 CAP 的長期前景將會非常樂觀。由於市場一直健康，我們不斷贏得工作。所以，正如我剛才提到的，與去年同期相比，第四季度的低價投標增加了 4.5 億美元，這是相當可觀的。因此我們預計它將在第一季和第二季進入 CAP。

Obviously, CAP can come up and down a little bit based on some of these best value projects and when we win them, it can be lumpy. But over the long haul, we believe we're going to continue to build CAP. And our CAP has gotten stronger and stronger over the last two or three years, and we expect our CAP to continue to get stronger in this healthy market environment.

顯然，基於一些最有價值的項目，CAP 可能會有一點上下波動，而當我們贏得這些項目時，它可能會波動很大。但從長遠來看，我們相信我們將繼續建造 CAP。過去兩三年來，我們的 CAP 變得越來越強，我們預計在這種健康的市場環境下，我們的 CAP 將繼續變得越來越強。

From a revenue burn perspective, it's always one of the variabilities for us is Q1 and Q4 in terms of weather. And we're getting some weather certainly out in the West today and this week. But I think it's been pretty average so far this year. We'll have to see how things shake out for the rest of the quarter. And of course, weather-wise in Q4, we still got a ways to go to see how that turns out for us. But yes, so far, we're on track for 2025.

從收入消耗的角度來看，第一季和第四季的天氣始終是我們面臨的變化之一。今天和本周西部地區肯定會出現一些天氣。但我認為今年到目前為止還算比較平均。我們將必須觀察本季剩餘時間的情況如何。當然，就第四季度的天氣狀況而言，我們還有很長的路要走，看看結果如何。但確實，到目前為止，我們已經按計劃實現 2025 年的目標。

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll be concluding today's question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Kyle for any closing remarks.

女士們、先生們，今天的問答環節就到此結束。我想將發言權交還給凱爾，請他做最後發言。

Okay. Well, thank you for joining the call today. 2024 was another record year for safety and financial performance. As always, we want to thank our teams for everything they did to make 2024 such a success. I know we are all excited to continue to raise the bar in 2025. Thank you for joining the call and your interest in Granite. We look forward to speaking with you all soon.

好的。好吧，感謝您今天的電話會議。 2024 年是安全與財務業績再創紀錄的一年。像往常一樣，我們要感謝我們的團隊為 2024 年取得如此成功所做的一切。我知道我們都很高興在 2025 年繼續提高標準。感謝您參加電話會議並關注 Granite。我們期待很快與大家交談。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's presentation and conference call. We do thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

女士們、先生們，今天的演講和電話會議到此結束。我們非常感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路了。