HEICO Corp (HEI.A) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the HEICO Corporation First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Call. My name is Samara, and I'll be today's operator. Certain statements in this conference call will constitute forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and contingencies. HEICO's actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by those forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include the severity, magnitude and duration of public health threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic, HEICO's liquidity and the amount and timing of cash generation; lower commercial air travels, airline fleet changes or airline purchasing decisions, which could cause lower demand for our goods and services.

歡迎參加 HEICO Corporation 2024 年第一季財務業績電話會議。我叫薩馬拉，我是今天的接線生。本次電話會議中的某些陳述將構成前瞻性陳述，這些陳述受到風險、不確定性和意外事件的影響。 HEICO 的實際結果可能與這些前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。可能導致此類差異的因素包括公共衛生威脅（例如 COVID-19 大流行）的嚴重性、規模和持續時間、HEICO 的流動性以及現金產生的金額和時間；商業航空旅行減少、航空公司機隊變化或航空公司採購決策減少，這可能會導致對我們的商品和服務的需求下降。

Product specification costs and requirements, which could cause an increase to our cost to complete contracts; governmental and regulatory demands, export policies and restrictions; reductions in defense, space or homeland security spending by U.S. and/or foreign customers or competition from existing and new creditors, which could reduce our sales. Our ability to introduce new products and services at profitable pricing levels, which could reduce our sales or sales growth; product development or manufacturing difficulties, which could increase our product development and manufacturing costs and delay sales; our ability to make acquisitions, including obtaining any applicable domestic and/or foreign governmental approvals and achieve operating synergies from acquired businesses; customer credit risk, interest, foreign currency exchange and income tax rates; and economic conditions, including the effects of inflation within and outside of the aviation, defense, space, medical, telecommunications and electronic industries, which could negatively impact our costs and revenues.

產品規格成本和要求，這可能會導致我們完成合約的成本增加；政府和監管要求、出口政策和限制；美國和/或外國客戶減少國防、太空或國土安全支出，或來自現有和新債權人的競爭，這可能會減少我們的銷售。我們以有利可圖的定價水準推出新產品和服務的能力，這可能會降低我們的銷售或銷售成長；產品開發或製造困難，這可能會增加我們的產品開發和製造成本並延遲銷售；我們進行收購的能力，包括獲得任何適用的國內和/或外國政府批准以及從收購的業務中實現營運協同效應；客戶信用風險、利息、外匯和所得稅率；和經濟狀況，包括航空、國防、航太、醫療、電信和電子產業內外的通貨膨脹的影響，這可能會對我們的成本和收入產生負面影響。

Parties listening to this call are encouraged to review all of HEICO's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to filings on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law. Now I'll turn the call over to Laurans Mendelson, HEICO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

我們鼓勵聽取本次電話會議的各方審查 HEICO 向美國證券交易委員會提交的所有文件，包括但不限於表格 10-K、表格 10-Q 和表格 8-K 上的文件。我們不承擔公開更新或修改任何前瞻性聲明的義務，無論是由於新資訊、未來事件或其他原因，除非適用法律要求。現在我將把電話轉給 HEICO 董事長兼執行長 Laurans Mendelson。

Thank you, Samara and welcome to everybody on this call. We thank you for joining us, and we welcome you to the HEICO First Quarter Fiscal '24 Earnings Announcement Teleconference. I am Larry Mendelson and Chairman and CEO of HEICO Corporation. I am joined here this morning by Eric Mendelson, HEICO's Co-President and President of HEICO's Flight Support Group, Victor Mendelson, HEICO's Co-President and President of HEICO's Electronic Technologies Group; and Carlos Macau, our Executive Vice President and CFO.

謝謝您，薩馬拉，歡迎參加本次電話會議的所有人。我們感謝您加入我們，並歡迎您參加 HEICO 24 年第一季財報電話會議。我是拉里·門德爾森 (Larry Mendelson)，HEICO 公司董事長兼執行長。今天上午，HEICO 聯席總裁兼HEICO 飛行支援集團總裁 Eric Mendelson 和HEICO 聯席總裁兼HEICO 電子技術集團總裁 Victor Mendelson 與我一起來到這裡。以及我們的執行副總裁兼財務長卡洛斯·澳門。

Before reviewing our operating results in detail, I would like to take a moment and thank all of HEICO's talented team members for delivering another very, very strong quarter. Your continued focus on exceeding customer expectations and operating at peak performance level continued to fuel our excellent financial results. I personally have never been more optimistic about the future of HEICO.

在詳細回顧我們的營運表現之前，我想花一點時間感謝 HEICO 所有才華橫溢的團隊成員，感謝他們又交付了一個非常非常強勁的季度。您持續專注於超越客戶期望並以最佳績效水準運營，繼續推動我們取得優異的財務表現。我個人對 HEICO 的未來從未如此樂觀。

I would now like to summarize the highlights of our first quarter fiscal '24 record results. Consolidated operating income and net sales in the first quarter of fiscal '24, improved by 39% and 44%, respectively as compared to the first quarter of fiscal '23. These results reflect mainly a 12% organic net sales growth in Flight Support, commercial aerospace products and services as well as the impact from our profitable fiscal '23 and '24 acquisitions. Consolidated net income increased 23% to $114.7 million or $0.82 per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal '24 and that was up from $93 million or $0.67 per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal '23.

現在我想總結一下我們 24 年第一季創紀錄業績的亮點。與 23 財年第一季相比，24 財年第一季的綜合營業收入和淨銷售額分別成長了 39% 和 44%。這些結果主要反映了飛行支援、商業航空航太產品和服務領域 12% 的有機淨銷售額成長，以及我們 23 財年和 24 財年獲利收購的影響。 24 財年第一季的合併淨利潤成長了 23%，達到 1.147 億美元，即稀釋後每股 0.82 美元，高於 23 財年第一季的 9,300 萬美元，即稀釋後每股 0.67 美元。

Net income attributable to HEICO in the first quarter of fiscal '24 and '23 were both favorably impacted by a discrete income tax benefit from stock option exercises. The benefit in the first quarter of fiscal '24, net of controlling interest, was $13.3 million, and that was up from $6.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. Consolidated EBITDA increased 43% to $224.4 million in the first quarter of fiscal '24, and that was up from $157.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. I mean that is an enormous increase, if I say so myself. The Flight Support Group set an all-time quarterly net sales and operating income record in the first quarter of fiscal '24, improving 67% and 63% respectively, over the first quarter of fiscal '23. The increases principally reflect the impact from our fiscal '23 acquisition of Wencor and 12% organic growth mainly attributable to increased demand within our aftermarket replacement parts and repair and overhaul parts and services.

24 財年和 23 財年第一季 HEICO 的淨利潤均受到股票選擇權行使帶來的離散所得稅優惠的有利影響。 24 財年第一季的收益（扣除控股權益）為 1,330 萬美元，高於 23 財年第一季的 610 萬美元。 24 財年第一季的綜合 EBITDA 成長了 43%，達到 2.244 億美元，高於 23 財年第一季的 1.571 億美元。我的意思是，如果我自己這麼說的話，這是一個巨大的成長。飛行支援集團在 24 財年第一季創造了有史以來的季度淨銷售額和營業收入記錄，比 23 財年第一季分別成長 67% 和 63%。這一成長主要反映了我們 23 財年收購 Wencor 的影響以及 12% 的有機成長，這主要歸因於我們的售後更換零件以及維修和大修零件和服務的需求增加。

Our net debt-to-EBITDA was 2.79x as of January 31, '24, and that was down from 3.0x as of August 31, '23. When we acquired Wencor, our pro forma leverage ratio was slightly above 3x. And we had projected pro forma leverage to be 2x within 12 to 18 months post-acquisition.

截至 2024 年 1 月 31 日，我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率為 2.79 倍，低於截至 2023 年 8 月 31 日的 3.0 倍。當我們收購 Wencor 時，我們的預期槓桿率略高於 3 倍。我們預計收購後 12 至 18 個月內備考槓桿率將達到 2 倍。

At this time, I am pleased to report that we continue to remain on track to achieve this target. Cash flow provided by operating activities increased 46% to $111.7 million in the first quarter fiscal '24 and that was up from $76.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. We continue to forecast strong cash flow from operations for fiscal '24. In January '24, we paid our regular semiannual cash dividend of $0.10 per share, and this represented our 91st consecutive semiannual cash dividend since 1979. In January '24, we were honored to announce that I received the Kenn Ricci Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award from the Living Legends of the Aviation Organization. The Living Legends of Aviation recognition is given to remarkable people of extraordinary accomplishment in aviation, including entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, astronauts, record breakers, pilots who become celebrities and celebrities who have become pilots.

此時，我很高興地報告，我們將繼續保持在實現這一目標的軌道上。 24 財年第一季營運活動提供的現金流量成長了 46%，達到 1.117 億美元，高於 23 財年第一季的 7,670 萬美元。我們持續預測 24 財年的營運現金流將強勁。 24 年1 月，我們支付了每股0.10 美元的定期半年度現金股息，這是我們自1979 年以來連續91 次支付半年度現金股息。24 年1 月，我們很榮幸地宣布，我獲得了肯·里奇終身航空企業家獎航空組織的活生生傳奇。 「活著的航空傳奇」獎項旨在表彰在航空領域取得非凡成就的傑出人士，包括企業家、創新者、行業領袖、宇航員、紀錄打破者、成為名人的飛行員以及成為飛行員的名人。

I was profoundly humbled and honored that this storied and a unique organization would include me with such aviation and space pioneers for this special honor. However, in my opinion, the honor really belongs to HEICO's 10,000-plus team members who are the ones that make HEICO the great company that it is.

我深感謙卑和榮幸，這個傳奇且獨特的組織將讓我與這些航空和航太先驅一起獲得這項特殊榮譽。然而，在我看來，這份榮譽確實屬於HEICO的一萬多名團隊成員，正是他們讓HEICO成為如此偉大的公司。

Now let me discuss our recent acquisition activity. In December '23, we entered into an exclusive license and acquired certain assets for the capability to support Boeing 737NG/777 cockpit display and legacy display products line from Honeywell International. We do expect the exclusive license and asset acquisition to be accretive to our earnings in the year following closing. The acquisition broadens our avionics capability and it's another example of ways that HEICO has grown into adjacent markets to increase our overall value proposition to customers and the industry.

現在讓我討論一下我們最近的收購活動。 2023 年 12 月，我們從霍尼韋爾國際公司獲得了獨家許可並收購了某些資產，以支援波音 737NG/777 駕駛艙顯示器和傳統顯示產品線。我們確實預計獨家授權和資產收購將在交易完成後的一年內增加我們的收入。此次收購擴大了我們的航空電子設備能力，也是 HEICO 向鄰近市場發展、提高我們對客戶和產業整體價值主張的另一個例子。

At this time, I would now like to introduce Eric Mendelson who is Co-President of HEICO and President of HEICO's Flight Support Group. He will discuss the first quarter results of the Flight Support Group. Eric?

現在我想介紹一下HEICO聯合總裁兼HEICO飛行支援集團總裁Eric Mendelson。他將討論飛行支援小組第一季的表現。艾瑞克？

The Flight Support Group's net sales increased 67% to a record $618.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal '24, up from $371.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. The net sales increase in the first quarter of fiscal '24 reflects the impact from our profitable fiscal '23 acquisition of Wencor which continues to perform above our expectations as well as strong 12% organic growth. The organic net sales growth mainly reflects high teens organic net sales growth from both our aftermarket replacement parts and repair and overhaul parts and services product lines. The Flight Support Group's operating income increased 63% to a record $136 million in the first quarter of fiscal '24, up from $83.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. The operating income increase in the first quarter of fiscal '24 principally reflects the pre-mentioned net sales growth, partially offset by higher, as expected, intangible asset amortization expenses due to the Wencor acquisition well as increased inventory obsolescence expense.

24 財年第一季度，飛行支援集團的淨銷售額成長了 67%，達到創紀錄的 6.187 億美元，高於 23 財年第一季的 3.713 億美元。 24 財年第一季的淨銷售額成長反映了我們在 23 財年收購 Wencor 的利潤所帶來的影響，Wencor 的表現繼續高於我們的預期，並且實現了 12% 的強勁有機增長。有機淨銷售成長主要反映了我們的售後更換零件以及維修和大修零件和服務產品線的高兩位數有機淨銷售額成長。飛行支援集團的營業收入在 24 財年第一季成長了 63%，達到創紀錄的 1.36 億美元，高於 23 財年第一季的 8,360 萬美元。 24財年第一季的營業收入成長主要反映了前面提到的淨銷售成長，但部分被Wencor收購導致的無形資產攤銷費用增加（如預期）以及庫存報廢費用增加所抵銷。

The Flight Support Group's operating margin was 22% in the first quarter of fiscal '24 as compared to 22.5% in the first quarter of fiscal '23. The Flight Support Group's operating margin before intangible amortization expense was 24.8% in the first quarter of fiscal '24 versus 24.3% in the first quarter of fiscal '23. The small decrease in operating margin principally reflects a slightly lower gross profit margin in the previously mentioned higher expected intangible asset amortization expense due to the Wencor acquisition partially offset by lower performance-based compensation expense.

飛行支援集團 24 財年第一季的營業利潤率為 22%，而 23 財年第一季的營業利潤率為 22.5%。 24 財年第一季度，飛行支援集團不計無形攤銷費用的營業利潤率為 24.8%，而 23 財年第一季為 24.3%。營業利潤率小幅下降主要反映了前面提到的因收購 Wencor 而導致的預期無形資產攤銷費用較高，毛利率略有下降，但業績補償費用的降低部分抵消了這一影響。

Now I would like to introduce Victor Mendelson, Co-President of HEICO and President of HEICO's Electronic Technologies Group, to discuss the first quarter results of the Electronic Technologies Group.

現在我想介紹HEICO聯席總裁兼HEICO電子技術集團總裁Victor Mendelson，討論電子技術集團第一季業績。

Thank you, Eric. The Electronic Technologies Group's operating income was $55.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal '24 -- excuse me, jumped ahead. The Electronic Technologies Group's net sales increased 12% to $285.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal '24 up from $255.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. The net sales increase is mainly attributable to the impact from our fiscal '23 acquisitions and a double-digit increase in organic net sales of our aerospace products, partially offset by lower organic net sales of our other electronics, medical and space products. We continue to forecast strong net sales and earnings growth for the remainder of fiscal '24.

謝謝你，埃里克。電子科技集團 24 財年第一季的營業收入為 5,530 萬美元——對不起，大幅成長。電子科技集團的淨銷售額在 24 財年第一季成長了 12%，達到 2.859 億美元，而 23 財年第一季為 2.551 億美元。淨銷售額的成長主要歸因於我們23 財年收購的影響以及我們的航空航太產品有機淨銷售額的兩位數成長，部分被我們其他電子、醫療和航太產品有機淨銷售額的下降所抵消。我們繼續預測 24 財年剩餘時間的淨銷售額和獲利成長將強勁。

The Electronic Technologies Group's operating income was $55.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal '24 as compared to $56.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal '23. We expect higher net sales and profit margins in the quarters ahead and over the long term. This is due to our shipment schedule supported by our near-record backlog, combined with the revenues we expect because of our new product research and development activities. The slight operating income decreased principally resulted from our subsidiary shipment schedules of our record backlogs with fewer shipment in the first quarter than scheduled in future quarters, something that was scheduled prior to the quarter start and is in line with our internal plan.

電子科技集團 24 財年第一季的營業收入為 5,530 萬美元，而 23 財年第一季的營業收入為 5,650 萬美元。我們預計未來幾季和長期內的淨銷售額和利潤率將會更高。這是由於我們的出貨計畫得到了接近創紀錄的積壓訂單的支持，再加上我們新產品研發活動帶來的預期收入。營業收入小幅下降主要是由於我們的子公司出貨計劃創紀錄的積壓，第一季的出貨量比未來幾個季度的計劃要少，這是在季度開始之前計劃的，並且符合我們的內部計劃。

For those familiar with our last earnings call and our public interaction since then, you will remember that we said to expect high results variability quarter to quarter this year with the first quarter being our weakest quarter. So this proceeded just as expected. Naturally the less favorable product sales mix resulted in lower SG&A efficiencies also recognizing our large record backlogs and our forward growth potential, we increased new product research and development investment, which increased expenses in the quarter so that we can gain revenue in future quarters.

對於那些熟悉我們上次財報電話會議以及此後我們的公開互動的人來說，您會記得我們說過，預計今年季度與季度之間的業績波動很大，第一季是我們最弱的季度。所以事情的進展就如預期的。當然，不太有利的產品銷售組合導致銷售、管理和管理(SG&A) 效率降低，同時認識到我們大量的創紀錄的積壓訂單和未來的成長潛力，我們增加了新產品研發投資，這增加了本季度的費用，以便我們能夠在未來幾季獲得收入。

As I sit here today, I'm very pleased that we made those investments and that we continue to fully fund these activities which provide the important forward growth. Importantly our net sales increased an acquisition cost in the first quarter of fiscal '23 related to the closing of an acquisition were beneficial to our results.

當我今天坐在這裡時，我很高興我們進行了這些投資，並繼續為這些提供重要未來成長的活動提供充分資金。重要的是，我們的淨銷售額增加了 23 財年第一季與收購完成相關的收購成本，這對我們的業績有利。

The ETG's operating margin was 19.3% in the first quarter of fiscal '24 as compared to 22.2% in the first quarter of fiscal '23. This acquisition related amortization was around 400 basis point what we and others to be -- consider to be our true margin was closer to 23.5%. Again we expect the margin, both before and after amortization to improve materially in the quarters ahead. The lower margin principally reflects what I just discussed namely the product sales mix due to the shipment schedule, higher new product research and development expenses as well as increased selling, general and administrative expenses as a percent of net sales which supports our forecasted strong net sales and earnings growth for the remainder of fiscal '24, partially offset by the previously mentioned lower acquisition costs. For the full year, we expect SG&A expenses to decrease as a percentage of net sales as our net sales increase.

ETG 24 財年第一季的營業利益率為 19.3%，而 23 財年第一季的營業利益率為 22.2%。此次收購相關的攤銷約為 400 個基點，我們和其他人認為我們的真實利潤率接近 23.5%。我們再次預計攤銷前和攤銷後的利潤率將在未來幾季大幅改善。較低的利潤率主要反映了我剛才討論的內容，即由於發貨計劃而導致的產品銷售組合、更高的新產品研發費用以及銷售、一般和管理費用佔淨銷售額的百分比的增加，這支持了我們預測的強勁淨銷售額以及 24 財年剩餘時間的盈利增長，部分被前面提到的較低的購置成本所抵消。就全年而言，隨著淨銷售額的增加，我們預期銷售、管理及行政費用佔淨銷售額的百分比將會下降。

I now turn the call back over to Larry Mendelson.

我現在將電話轉回給拉里·門德爾森。

Thank you, Victor. I think it should be clear to everyone on this call that Victor and we are expecting a quite different result from ETG from the second quarter through the end of the year. And in the first quarter, some people, I think, misunderstood and they said, "Oh, ETG is not doing well." And I think Victor explained it very well. So you understand that it is a lumpy business and the sales and earnings should come through from the second to the fourth quarter.

謝謝你，維克多。我認為參加這次電話會議的每個人都應該清楚，Victor 和我們預計 ETG 從第二季到年底的結果將截然不同。在第一季度，我認為有些人誤解了，他們說，“哦，ETG 做得不好。”我認為維克多解釋得很好。所以你知道這是一個不穩定的業務，銷售和利潤應該在第二季到第四季實現。

As we look ahead to the remainder of fiscal '24, we continue to anticipate net sales growth in both the Flight Support and ETG principally driven by contributions from our fiscal '23 and '24 acquisitions as well as demand for the majority of our products. Notably, we fully expect future ETG quarters to be materially stronger than the first quarter. In addition, we plan to continue our commitment to developing new products and services with further market penetration as well as maintaining our financial strength and our flexibility.

當我們展望 24 財年的剩餘時間時，我們繼續預期飛行支援和 ETG 的淨銷售額成長主要受到我們 23 財年和 24 財年收購的貢獻以及對我們大多數產品的需求的推動。值得注意的是，我們完全預計未來 ETG 季將明顯強於第一季。此外，我們計劃繼續致力於開發新產品和服務，進一步滲透市場，並保持我們的財務實力和靈活性。

In closing, I would again like to thank our incredible team members for their continued support and commitment to HEICO. Our strategy of growing a highly diversified portfolio of excellent businesses continues to produce favorable results for all shareholders. Our end markets are very healthy and fiscal '24 is looking to be another great year. Thank you for your continued confidence. And as I said before, I have never been more bullish about HEICO's future.

最後，我要再次感謝我們優秀的團隊成員對 HEICO 的持續支持與承諾。我們發展高度多元化的優秀業務組合的策略繼續為所有股東帶來有利的結果。我們的終端市場非常健康，24 財年有望又是個偉大的一年。感謝您一直以來的信任。正如我之前所說，我對 HEICO 的未來從未如此樂觀。

One other comment. We do not now give any guidance. Some analysts have asked us to give guidance. We prefer not to. However, I have said publicly that our goal is to grow net income 15% to 20% annually compounded. Over the last 30 to 33 years, I think, we have done that and the actual growth has been somewhere around 18% or 19%. I can tell you that based on everything that I know at this moment, and based upon our -- what we expect for the future of this year. I clearly am highly confident that we will attain that 15% to 20% growth in the current year and that without any future acquisitions which we might make.

另一則評論。我們現在不提供任何指導。一些分析師要求我們提供指導。我們寧願不這樣做。不過，我曾公開表示，我們的目標是淨利潤年複合成長 15% 至 20%。我認為，在過去 30 到 33 年裡，我們已經做到了這一點，實際成長率約為 18% 或 19%。我可以告訴你們，基於我目前所知道的一切，以及我們對今年未來的期望。我顯然非常有信心，我們今年將實現 15% 至 20% 的成長，並且未來無需進行任何收購。

So with that, I would like to turn the call back to our operator, Samara, and open the call for questions from listeners. I thank you again very much. Samara?

因此，我想將電話轉回給我們的接線員薩馬拉，並開始詢問聽眾的問題。我再次非常感謝你。薩馬拉？

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Robert Spingarn with Melius Research.

（操作員說明）我們將回答 Melius Research 的 Robert Spingarn 提出的第一個問題。

This is Scott Mikus on for Rob Spingarn. Eric, I wanted to ask you some of the U.S. airlines, they've readjusted their capacity growth plans for the year. Some of that's due to aircraft delivery delays or the GTF issues, but some of it's -- just are concerns related to the U.S. domestic market being overcapacitized. So are you seeing any change in order patterns from customers where maybe the low-cost carriers are slowing down their orders but the large network carriers, like United and Delta are accelerating their orders?

這是 Scott Mikus 為 Rob Spingarn 配音。 Eric，我想問美國的一些航空公司，他們已經重新調整了今年的運能成長計畫。其中一些是由於飛機交付延誤或 GTF 問題造成的，但還有一些只是與美國國內市場產能過剩有關的擔憂。那麼，您是否發現客戶的訂單模式發生了任何變化，也許低成本航空公司正在放慢訂單速度，但大型網路航空公司（例如聯合航空和達美航空）正在加快訂單速度？

So thanks for your question, Scott. With regard to what we see in the market, the market continues to be extremely strong across the board. I think yes, the large commercial carriers are particularly strong. There has been a little bit of weakness in -- with some of the lower-cost carriers. But nothing really pronounced at this point. There are natural order patterns where things can get a little lumpy shift around. So I don't want to -- I wouldn't want to predict any weakness there. Right now, there continues to be a shortage of parts. Airlines are still in need of parts, are still trying to grow their inventory. So we see the market as very strong.

謝謝你的提問，斯科特。就我們在市場上看到的情況而言，市場繼續全面強勁。我想是的，大型商業業者特別強大。一些低成本航空公司存在一些弱點。但目前還沒有什麼真正明顯的事情。在自然的秩序模式中，事物可能會出現一些不穩定的變化。所以我不想——我不想預測那裡有任何弱點。目前，零件仍然短缺。航空公司仍然需要零件，仍在努力增加庫存。所以我們認為市場非常強勁。

Okay. Got it. And then I wanted to ask, you've owned Wencor for about a little more than half a year. So I was just wondering if you could share some of the best practices that Wencor has learned from HEICO? And what are some of the best practices that HEICO has learned from Wencor so far?

好的。知道了。然後我想問一下，您擁有 Wencor 大約半年多了。所以我想知道您是否可以分享 Wencor 從 HEICO 中學到的一些最佳實踐？到目前為止，HEICO 從 Wencor 學到了哪些最佳實踐？

Yes, that's a good question. The Wencor acquisition has been exceeding expectations in every single area, the business, the people, the strategy, it's been incredibly strong. And we had very high expectations for it, and they are even beating those numbers. Specifically, looking at areas of best practices. I would say that HEICO is particularly strong in the technical arena. Wencor is also strong in the technical arena. But I think there are some things where Wencor has been able to benefit from us as well as HEICO benefiting from Wencor and other areas. And then in particular, in the e-commerce area. I think Wencor has been able to benefit HEICO in that area.

是的，這是一個好問題。 Wencor 的收購在每個領域都超出了預期，無論是業務、人員還是策略，都非常強大。我們對此抱有很高的期望，他們甚至超過了這些數字。具體來說，就是尋找最佳實踐領域。我想說HEICO在技術領域特別強。 Wencor 在技術領域也很強大。但我認為，Wencor 在某些方面能夠從我們這裡受益，HEICO 也能夠從 Wencor 和其他領域中受益。尤其是在電子商務領域。我認為 Wencor 已經能夠在該領域使 HEICO 受益。

So we see continued synergies without integration. So we -- our plan is to continue to operate Wencor for the time being or for the foreseeable future as an independent business. And that's the DNA of HEICO. That's how we operate all of the HEICO businesses, and we want Wencor to continue, obviously, to have its own P&L, its own strategy, its own team members and HEICO is strongest when each of the individual business units take care of themselves and coordinate with the other ones.

因此，我們看到了持續的協同效應，而無需整合。因此，我們的計劃是暫時或在可預見的將來繼續作為獨立企業經營 Wencor。這就是 HEICO 的 DNA。這就是我們經營所有HEICO 業務的方式，顯然，我們希望Wencor 繼續擁有自己的損益表、自己的策略、自己的團隊成員，而當每個單獨的業務部門都能照顧好自己並進行協調時，HEICO就會變得最強大。與其他人。

So I would say that I look at the cooperation between HEICO and Wencor is somewhat analogous between the cooperation, if you look at a number of the European airline groups. We look at Lufthansa and Swiss or Air France and KLM or British Airways and Iberia and they maintain their independence, their separate touch and feel and relationships with the customers, separate people, but they coordinate some of the activities behind the scenes, making sure that they're -- the schedules and the product offerings are supportive of each other. And that's what we've been able to do very successfully. So Wencor continues as an individual autonomous business, no plan to change that.

所以我想說，如果你看看一些歐洲航空公司集團，我認為 HEICO 和 Wencor 之間的合作有點類似。我們來看看漢莎航空和瑞士航空、法國航空和荷蘭皇家航空、英國航空和西班牙航空，他們保持著獨立性、獨立的觸感和感覺以及與客戶、獨立人員的關係，但他們協調一些幕後活動，確保他們的時間表和產品供應是相互支持的。這就是我們能夠非常成功地做到的。因此，Wencor 繼續作為一家獨立自主的企業，沒有計劃改變這一點。

And we are making sure that we provide tremendous value to our customers as a result of making sure we don't have, for example, product development overlap, where we rationalized some of the repair offerings in various centers of excellence focused on different products and technology. So our customers have been very happy as a result of the acquisition and are really excited about where we're headed there. And I think they really want to reward us with a significant additional new business. They view HEICO in a very different light as a result of the Wencor merger.

我們確保為客戶提供巨大的價值，因為我們確保沒有產品開發重疊，我們合理化了各個卓越中心專注於不同產品的一些維修服務，技術。因此，我們的客戶對此次收購感到非常高興，並對我們的發展方向感到非常興奮。我認為他們確實希望透過一項重要的額外新業務來獎勵我們。由於 Wencor 合併，他們對 HEICO 的看法截然不同。

And we'll take our next question from Noah Poponak with Goldman Sachs.

我們將回答高盛的諾亞·波波納克提出的下一個問題。

Last quarter, you had talked about the ETG margin for the full year being around 24%, that segment operating margin. Does that stand such that you'd have one or 2 quarters above that? And I know you don't give quarterly guidance, but given the variability here, I don't know if it makes sense to just speak to the shape of that over the remaining 3 quarters of the year?

上個季度，您曾談到全年 ETG 利潤率約為 24%，即該部門的營業利潤率。這樣的話，你的收入是否會比這個數字高出一、兩個季度？我知道你們不會提供季度指導，但考慮到這裡的變化，我不知道只談論今年剩餘 3 個季度的情況是否有意義？

Sure. Noah, this is Victor. The answer to your question is yes. And as to the shape of it over the remaining quarters, I think that the year should build. I'm not sure yet that the fourth quarter is a little far out, whether the fourth quarter finishes above or a little less than the third quarter, and the third is our high point or fourth is our high point, not sure about that. But at this point, and based on the shipment schedules, that's how we think it will play out.

當然。諾亞，這是維克多。你的問題的答案是肯定的。至於剩下幾個季度的情況，我認為今年應該會有所進展。我還不確定第四節是否有點遙遠，第四節的成績是否高於或略低於第三節，第三節是我們的高點還是第四節是我們的高點，不確定。但目前，根據發貨時間表，我們認為這就是結果。

Okay. And Eric, on the FSG margin, the full year look was around 21% on the GAAP segment operating margin. And I think you guys had also said you expected the first quarter to be the low point of the year. So I don't know, maybe you could update us on how you see that playing out through the rest of the year or if there's a new number for the full year, given what you did in the first quarter?

好的。 Eric 表示，就 FSG 利潤率而言，全年 GAAP 部門營業利潤率約為 21%。我想你們也說過，你們預期第一季將是今年的最低點。所以我不知道，也許您可以向我們介紹您如何看待今年剩餘時間的情況，或者考慮到您在第一季所做的事情，全年是否有新的數字？

Well, the first quarter was very strong at 22%. And when you add back the (inaudible) amortization, we get to about 24.8%, so extremely strong. We anticipate continued strength. I think I want to be a little bit conservative going forward. We often go ahead and we come out with our budgets and our numbers and our folks end up beating those numbers. But maybe Carlos wants to shed some light specifically on that.

嗯，第一季非常強勁，達到 22%。當你加回（聽不清楚）攤銷時，我們達到了大約 24.8%，非常強勁。我們預計將繼續走強。我想我想在未來保持一點保守。我們經常繼續前進，提出我們的預算和數字，而我們的員工最終會超過這些數字。但也許卡洛斯想特別闡明這一點。

Noah, it's Carlos. I don't think my view on the segment -- can you hear me okay? So I was going to say, I don't think my mind has changed on what the segment should produce this year. Back in December when we were sort of looking out, and I got the margin question. I felt like the FSG was probably between 21% and 22% OI margin, that's what I felt the company would do for the year. We could always do better than that, but that's what we planned. And so -- and we did plan on having a strong first quarter in the FSG. So I think that, that thesis continues to hold up. But of course, as we get into the second quarter and we get to the next call, we'll I'll see if I can tighten that range up for you.

諾亞，是卡洛斯。我不認為我對這一段的看法──你聽得到我說話嗎？所以我想說，我認為我對今年該部門應該生產什麼的想法沒有改變。早在 12 月，當我們在觀望時，我就收到了保證金問題。我覺得 FSG 的 OI 利潤率可能在 21% 到 22% 之間，這就是我認為公司今年會做的事情。我們總是可以做得更好，但這就是我們的計劃。因此，我們確實計劃在 FSG 中實現強勁的第一季。所以我認為，這個論點仍然成立。但當然，當我們進入第二季並進行下一次電話會議時，我們會看看是否可以為您收緊該範圍。

Okay. I appreciate that. One other thing I wanted to ask, I guess, it's kind of for everyone, but you're in this unique position now vis-a-vis PMA and pricing in the aftermarket that's maybe more unique than we've seen in a long time because your peers in the -- that build and sell spare parts have had such strong pricing for 2-plus years now. We don't really know exactly how you price PMA, presumably, that gap has widened, maybe it has widened a lot. And so you have the opportunity to take more price than you normally do or take more share than you normally do or both. And I'm curious to hear you talk about how you will strategically manage which of those you want to go after and how you will look to triangulate that over the medium term here?

好的。我很感激。我想問的另一件事，我想，這對每個人來說都是如此，但你現在相對於 PMA 處於獨特的地位，而且售後市場的定價可能比我們長期以來看到的更加獨特因為製造和銷售備件的同業在兩年多的時間裡一直擁有如此強勁的定價。我們真的不知道你們如何給 PMA 定價，想必這個差距已經擴大了，也許已經擴大了很多。因此，您有機會獲得比平常更高的價格或獲得比平常更多的份額，或者兩者兼而有之。我很想聽你談論如何策略性地管理你想要追隨的那些人，以及你將如何在中期對此進行三角測量？

Noah, that's a great and insightful question. The short answer is I think we need to do both. We need to adjust pricing to reflect our increased costs. and we also need to grow market share. So that is the strategy. We have a number of customers who have been purchasing parts at fairly old prices before there was cost inflation. So we need to make sure that we pass along our cost increases. And I think our customers are very understanding of that.

諾亞，這是一個偉大而富有洞察力的問題。簡而言之，我認為我們需要兩者都做。我們需要調整定價以反映增加的成本。我們還需要擴大市場佔有率。這就是策略。我們有許多客戶在成本上漲之前就以相當舊的價格購買零件。因此，我們需要確保轉嫁成本增加。我認為我們的客戶非常理解這一點。

Some customers get it and are just fine and go ahead and incorporate the other -- the new pricing. Other customers want to have the discussion over it, and we -- obviously, we don't show them what our costs are, but we explain what's happened to our costs, and this is only reasonable. So honestly, I think that our pricing has been a lot more conservative and gentle then it could be.

一些客戶接受了它並且感覺很好，然後繼續合併另一個——新的定價。其他客戶希望對此進行討論，而我們 - 顯然，我們不會向他們展示我們的成本是多少，但我們會解釋我們的成本發生了什麼，這是合理的。老實說，我認為我們的定價比實際情況要保守和溫和得多。

Our competitors are substantially raising prices, we're seeing now last night from a -- I don't want to call out the OEM, but it's an OEM that everybody knows and they increased price twice last year, once 10% and another time 18%. And by the way, I will mention it was not TransDigm. So I know people are very interested in the TransDigm story, but it was not TransDigm. So it shows how pervasive the price increases are. So I think that we've been very mild. And I think, frankly, with costs going up and the need to spend additional dollars on new product development that it would be reasonable to have additional increases. And I think we'll be able to capture market share at the same time.

我們的競爭對手正在大幅提高價格，我們昨晚看到——我不想點名 OEM，但這是一家人人都知道的 OEM，他們去年提價兩次，一次是 10%，另一次是18%。順便說一句，我要提到的是，這不是 TransDigm。所以我知道人們對 TransDigm 的故事非常感興趣，但這不是 TransDigm。由此可見，價格上漲是多麼普遍。所以我認為我們一直都非常溫和。坦白說，我認為，隨著成本的上升以及需要在新產品開發上花費額外的資金，額外增加費用是合理的。我認為我們將能夠同時佔領市場份額。

So I don't think those 2 are mutually exclusive. We've -- if you talk to the airlines, I mean nobody wants the price increase, as you say. But the airlines all recognize that HEICO has been extremely gentle with regards to price increase. And frankly, in areas where we have been more restrictive on price increase, we anticipate significant share gains as well.

所以我不認為這兩者是互相排斥的。如果你與航空公司交談，我的意思是，正如你所說，沒有人希望漲價。但航空公司都承認，HEICO在漲價方面表現得極為溫和。坦白說，在我們對價格上漲採取更嚴格限制的領域，我們預期份額也會大幅成長。

We'll take our next question from Scott Deuschle with Deutsche Bank.

我們將回答德意志銀行斯科特‧德施勒 (Scott Deuschle) 提出的下一個問題。

Eric, did Boeing's challenges in January have any impact to FSG Specialty Products growth in the quarter?

Eric，波音 1 月遇到的挑戰對 FSG 特種產品本季的成長有影響嗎？

Yes. I would say they did. Boeing had some challenges and as a result, the new bill has been impaired. So that definitely had an impact on specialty products. I would also like to point out that while specialty product sales were a little soft, and caused the reported organic growth rate to be, if you will, understated because the aftermarket growth rate was very high teens. A lot of the -- we're very bullish on the future. And a lot of what specialty products does is on the defense side. And as you know, in a lot of missile defense and space programs, rocket motor programs, these are very long lead time items. So our order book is extremely strong. We're very, very bullish on the future. We feel that we're well embedded. We've got some great secular trends we are the low-cost, high-quality, sole-source producer on most of the stuff, and we think that the future will be very good.

是的。我想說他們做到了。波音公司遇到了一些挑戰，因此新法案受到了損害。所以這肯定對特色產品產生了影響。我還想指出，雖然特種產品銷售有點疲軟，但如果你願意的話，導致報告的有機成長率被低估，因為售後市場成長率非常高。我們對未來非常樂觀。很多特種產品的作用都是在防禦方面。如您所知，在許多導彈防禦和太空計劃、火箭發動機計劃中，這些都是交貨時間非常長的項目。所以我們的訂單量非常強勁。我們對未來非常非常樂觀。我們覺得我們已經融入其中。我們有一些很棒的長期趨勢，我們是大多數產品的低成本、高品質、獨家生產商，我們認為未來會非常美好。

So I'm not at all concerned about the specialty products being down. And I think Boeing also will get their act together. I mean, obviously, they've got some challenges that we've all read about but Boeing is still a great company. And I think that they'll get that all figured out, and it will permit our specialty products to grow at sort of more historic rates.

所以我一點也不擔心特色產品的下滑。我認為波音公司也會齊心協力。我的意思是，顯然，他們面臨著一些我們都讀過的挑戰，但波音仍然是一家很棒的公司。我認為他們會弄清楚這一切，這將使我們的特色產品以更具歷史性的速度成長。

Okay. So it would be fair to think that maybe some of that Boeing related weakness is probably lingered in the February, but the growth in the space and defense side allows you to return to growth overall in specialty products next quarter?

好的。因此，可以公平地認為，也許波音相關的一些弱點可能會在二月份持續存在，但太空和國防方面的增長使您能夠在下個季度恢復特種產品的整體增長？

I need to look at specifically with regard to next quarter, but what you're saying sounds logical.

我需要具體關注下個季度，但你所說的聽起來很合乎邏輯。

Okay. And then Victor, are you able to quantify how much R&D was up at ETG in the quarter? And then if there's any specific areas of investment you can talk about, I think that would be pretty interesting to hear.

好的。 Victor，您能否量化本季 ETG 的研發成長了多少？然後，如果您可以談論任何特定的投資領域，我認為聽到這會很有趣。

It was pretty broad-based. There were places I think where somewhere I know that we invested more than in the past. But I would say pretty broad-based scenario, which is good because I like to see -- and we like to see that all of our companies are investing in R&D. R&D was up by about I believe in the quarter about 25%, 24%, something like that. So it was a significant increase for us.

它的基礎相當廣泛。我認為在某些地方，我知道我們的投資比過去更多。但我想說的是基礎相當廣泛的情況，這很好，因為我喜歡看到——而且我們希望看到我們所有的公司都在研發方面進行投資。我相信本季研發費用增加了 25%、24% 左右。所以這對我們來說是一個顯著的成長。

Okay. And then last question. Victor, were there any changes in your F-35 content with the shift to [TR3] ?

好的。然後是最後一個問題。 Victor，隨著轉向 [TR3]，您的 F-35 內容是否有任何變化？

By the way, it's closer to 22%, I think, was the net increase for ETG alone in the quarter. Yes, that for [ETG] in the quarter. I'm sorry, the question you just asked. Could you repeat that, please?

順便說一句，我認為，光是 ETG 在本季度的淨成長就接近 22%。是的，本季的 [ETG] 就是這樣。抱歉，你剛才問的問題。你再說一遍，好嗎？

Yes. It was whether there are any changes in F-35 content with the shift to [TR 3]?

是的。是F-35的內容隨著轉向[TR 3]是否有改變？

I don't think it's material to us. We do have in a fuel business as F-35 content. But overall, it's not a material change.

我認為這對我們來說並不重要。我們在燃料業務中確實有 F-35 的內容。但總體而言，這並不是一個實質的改變。

We'll take our next question from Larry Solow with CJS Securities.

我們將回答 CJS 證券的 Larry Solow 提出的下一個問題。

Eric, thanks for the color on Wencor and also just the segment. Just a couple of follow-ups on that. So the high-teens growth, you're experiencing -- I think it's relative comping to a mid-20s growth last year. So pretty remarkable, congrats to that. Obviously, end market demand sounds like it's still growing. But can you give us a little more color on where else those gains are coming from? Just kind of bucketing market share gains? Are there obviously some of that's still occurring. The inventory levels, you mentioned still low, but are they building back up if some of that still creating some of the differences in to end market demand and the growth you're reporting, you catch up the maintenance maybe? I'm just trying to figure out the -- trying to gap the difference there.

Eric，感謝 Wencor 的色彩以及片段。只是對此進行了一些後續行動。所以，你正在經歷的十幾歲的增長——我認為這與去年二十多歲的增長是相對的。非常了不起，對此表示祝賀。顯然，終端市場需求聽起來仍在成長。但您能給我們更多的資訊來說明這些收益還來自哪裡嗎？只是一種市場佔有率成長的方式嗎？顯然其中一些事情仍在發生嗎？您提到的庫存水準仍然很低，但如果其中一些庫存水準仍然對終端市場需求和您報告的成長產生一些差異，那麼它們是否會回升，您可能會趕上維護？我只是想弄清楚——試圖縮小其中的差異。

Yes. Larry, I'd be happy to answer that. The strength within site support on the aftermarket side has really been across the board. I would say, in general, a little more strength in the parts side as compared to the repair side. Airlines are finding the equipment hard. It's more difficult to get things repaired, but in general, I would say the parts side is a little bit stronger, but the repair side is also doing very well as well. As far as market share gains, we continue to grow market share. Our customers are really happy with us. And speaking with our sales head yesterday, I have specific information from a number of customers that they really are very, very happy as a result of the Wencor acquisition.

是的。拉里，我很樂意回答這個問題。售後市場方面的現場支援確實是全面的。我想說，一般來說，與維修方面相比，零件方面的強度更大一些。航空公司發現這些設備很困難。修理東西比較困難，但總的來說，我會說零件方面稍強一些，但修理方面也做得很好。就市場份額的成長而言，我們將繼續擴大市場份額。我們的客戶對我們非常滿意。昨天與我們的銷售主管交談時，我從一些客戶那裡得到了具體信息，他們對 Wencor 的收購感到非常非常高興。

While HEICO was always a significant player in the space. And so it was Wencor, the fact that we've come together and we can offer a broader product line, a broader suite of products is really significant. And a fair amount of energy was spent in each business focusing on capturing as much as it could. And now by creating more of these centers of excellence, where each business focus is on where it has a true competitive advantage it doesn't need to, if you will, reinvent the wheel, makes a lot of sense. And our customers are really happy about that because we're able to provide a much fuller suite of offering to the customers and they recognize that this is true structural advantage that they can benefit from as opposed to more niche-oriented strategy. So market share gains, we have had some pricing gains. I don't have a breakout between the two. But I wouldn't say that market share is definitely the leading number there.

而 HEICO 一直是該領域的重要參與者。所以這就是 Wencor，事實上我們走到了一起，我們可以提供更廣泛的產品線、更廣泛的產品套件，這一點非常重要。每項業務都投入了大量的精力，專注於盡可能多地捕獲數據。現在，透過創造更多這樣的卓越中心，每個企業都將重點放在具有真正競爭優勢的地方，如果您願意的話，就不需要重新發明輪子，這是很有意義的。我們的客戶對此感到非常高興，因為我們能夠為客戶提供更全面的產品組合，並且他們認識到這是真正的結構性優勢，他們可以從中受益，而不是更以利基為導向的策略。因此，市場佔有率增加，我們的定價也有所提高。我兩者之間沒有突破。但我不會說市場佔有率絕對是那裡的領先數字。

Got it. And I appreciate that. And then just switching gears to question, Victor. Just on the quarter and the outlook, it sounds like aerospace had some good follow-through and it was a little slow last year, at least on deliveries, but that just sounds like that's continuing to return to growth mode. Just in terms of the other categories, I know it sounds like you mentioned a few there was just slower due time in electronic medical consumer space, and those sound like they're all higher margin categories. I think on the last call, you guys had mentioned that there would be some of those, I think maybe the electronics piece would be slower. Is that still the case? Has anything changed in terms of your sort of full year outlook for ETG in terms of revenue composition and growth?

知道了。我很欣賞這一點。然後就換個話題來提問，維克多。就季度和前景而言，聽起來航空航天業有一些良好的後續行動，去年的速度有點慢，至少在交付方面是這樣，但這聽起來像是在繼續恢復成長模式。就其他類別而言，我知道聽起來您提到了一些電子醫療消費領域的到期時間較慢，而這些聽起來都是利潤率較高的類別。我想在上次通話中，你們提到會有一些，我想電子零件可能會慢一些。現在還是這樣嗎？您對 ETG 全年收入組成和成長的展望有什麼變化嗎？

So overall, all in for the year right now, I think our expectations are pretty much what they were at the -- during our last call. It is the general markets that all-in gave up ground in the quarter as we expected they would. We're beginning to see some, what I'd call, the proverbial green shoots in a few of the businesses, but we're still not running at order levels higher than prior year. And I -- as I kind of talked about before, I expect that sometime over the next couple of quarters, orders to start to reverse overall. And then -- one second. Thank you.

總的來說，今年的一切，我認為我們的期望與上次電話會議時的預期差不多。正如我們預期的那樣，本季整體市場全面下跌。我們開始看到一些業務出現了我所說的“綠芽”，但我們的訂單水平仍然沒有高於去年。正如我之前談到的，我預計在接下來幾季的某個時候，訂單將開始全面逆轉。然後——一秒鐘。謝謝。

(inaudible) off here in the room. And then I would expect that if you factor in lead times onto the backlog -- on to the orders and so on, as we get later in the year, that starts to turn overall in the right direction in terms of revenue.

（聽不清楚）就在房間裡。然後我預計，如果你將交貨時間考慮到積壓訂單以及訂單等因素中，正如我們在今年晚些時候得到的那樣，就收入而言，整體上開始朝著正確的方向轉變。

Got you. Okay. Great. And then just lastly, Carlos, I think the tax rate, a little lower this quarter. I know you usually get those stock comp benefit in Q1. And any change to the full year outlook?

明白你了。好的。偉大的。最後，卡洛斯，我認為本季的稅率略低。我知道您通常會在第一季獲得這些股票補償收益。全年展望有何變化？

No. I think for the full year, I continue to think we'll run between 20% and 21%, Larry. I think the effective tax rate we have in the first quarter here is about what I expected. I thought we'd catch about half our effective rate for the year this quarter, and then we make it up more normalized rate in Qs 2, 3 and 4 but no real surprises. It played out the way I thought it would slightly better than last year's benefit, but still in line with history and what we've seen in the past.

不。拉里，我認為全年的成長率將保持在 20% 到 21% 之間。我認為第一季的有效稅率與我的預期相符。我認為本季我們會達到全年有效利率的一半左右，然後我們在第 2、3 和 4 季將其提高到更正常化的利率，但沒有真正的驚喜。我認為它的表現會比去年的收益稍好一些，但仍然符合歷史和我們過去所看到的情況。

And we'll take our next question from Peter Arment with Baird.

我們將回答 Peter Arment 和 Baird 提出的下一個問題。

Victor, maybe just a quick one on if you're still seeing lingering impacts from the supply chain, and that's also a factor that's kind of impacting you on the top line.

維克多（Victor），如果您仍然看到供應鏈的揮之不去的影響，也許只是快速說明一下，這也是影響您收入的一個因素。

Thanks for asking. It's a good question. We're not seeing much of it. It has really improved, whether it's exactly back to normal. I'm not sure because I'm not sure what the new normal will be, in fact, but I wouldn't -- I would say that at this point, supply chain is almost back to where it was. And the -- the labor market is -- has been challenging for a while and continues to be. And so I would say that impacts us as much, if not more, probably these days than the supply chain, just getting good, qualified people into the businesses.

謝謝你的詢問。這是一個好問題。我們沒有看到太多。確實有所改善，無論是否完全恢復正常。我不確定，因為事實上我不確定新常態會是什麼，但我不會——我想說，在這一點上，供應鏈幾乎回到了原來的狀態。勞動市場一段時間以來一直充滿挑戰，而且仍然如此。因此，我想說，如今，這對我們的影響可能與供應鏈一樣大，甚至更大，只是讓優秀、合格的人才進入企業。

And maybe if you could just update us on how your -- how (inaudible) is doing after owning the business now for, I guess, almost a year, right?

也許你可以向我們介紹一下你的——（聽不清楚）在擁有這家公司之後的最新情況，我想，差不多一年了，對吧？

Yes, we're very happy we own it. It's doing essentially as we expected and a lot of good potential ahead. Also, they're looking at a number of acquisitions we've been able to bring to them, they bring up some. We'll see whether they transpire. But a lot of good things happening there and so far, so good.

是的，我們很高興擁有它。它的表現基本上符合我們的預期，未來將有很大的潛力。此外，他們正在考慮我們能夠為他們帶來的一些收購，他們提出了一些。我們將看看它們是否會發生。但那裡發生了很多好事，到目前為止，一切都很好。

Great. And a quick one for Carlos. Carlos, just rough expectations on how you're thinking about interest expense for the year. I know the goal is obviously to continue to delever.

偉大的。對卡洛斯來說，這是一個快速的過程。卡洛斯，只是對您如何看待今年利息支出的粗略預期。我知道目標顯然是繼續去槓桿。

Yes. I mean -- so right now, if everything plays out, I'm expecting our interest expense quarterly to run $35 million to $37 million. That's pretty much what -- we booked this quarter about $38 million. So I think as we pay some debt down, if we catch a break on a few rate cuts, you never know. I have a sort of tailing off a little bit at -- that also is a function, Peter of how quickly I can pay the debt down depending on how many businesses Eric, Victor and Larry want to buy will certainly influence that during the year.

是的。我的意思是，現在，如果一切順利，我預計我們的季度利息支出將達到 3500 萬至 3700 萬美元。差不多就是這樣——我們本季預訂了約 3800 萬美元。因此，我認為，當我們償還一些債務時，如果我們在幾次降息中休息一下，你永遠不會知道。我有點減少——這也是一個功能，彼得，我能多快償還債務取決於埃里克、維克多和拉里想要購買的企業數量，這肯定會影響這一年的情況。

Got it. I appreciate all the details and Larry, congrats on the award.

知道了。我很欣賞所有的細節，拉里，祝賀你獲獎。

I just might add something to -- this is Victor, what Carlos had to say. We continue to look at acquisitions. Most are in our historical -- overwhelmingly in our historical size. And we have an excellent acquisition pipeline, very strong. Again, whether we do that remains to be seen. But we will continue to those acquisitions that would fit the right way while being mindful of the importance of reducing debt and capital structure.

我可能會補充一些內容——這是維克多，卡洛斯不得不說的話。我們持續關注收購。大多數都在我們的歷史範圍內——絕大多數是在我們的歷史範圍內。我們擁有優秀的收購管道，非常強大。同樣，我們是否這樣做還有待觀察。但我們將繼續進行那些適合正確方式的收購，同時牢記減少債務和資本結構的重要性。

Just to further expand on what Victor said, it's completely correct. It's a balancing act. We are in the business of expanding, creating cash flow and bottom line income. And if we see an outstanding acquisition, we will make it. At the same time, we have to watch our debt level, and we're trying to reduce it. So as you saw, we made a Honeywell acquisition recently because we believe it will be very accretive and very positive cash flow. So we made the decision to acquire it by using debt which reduced our ability to reduce our debt to overall debt. But on the bottom line, it was helpful to HEICO and actually where you get more income and debt. So the balance actually benefits the ratio of debt to EBITDA. But anyway, this is all a balancing act and we watch it very, very carefully because, as you know, we are focused on bottom line cash flow. So we will make these acquisitions when they are very, very desirable and we might have to use some debt, but we'll take each one as it comes.

只是為了進一步擴展維克多所說的話，這是完全正確的。這是一種平衡行為。我們致力於擴張、創造現金流和底線收入。如果我們看到一項出色的收購，我們就會成功。同時，我們必須注意我們的債務水平，並且我們正在努力降低它。正如您所看到的，我們最近收購了霍尼韋爾，因為我們相信這將帶來非常增值且非常積極的現金流。因此，我們決定透過債務來收購它，這降低了我們將債務減少到整體債務的能力。但從根本上來說，這對 HEICO 有幫助，而且實際上你可以獲得更多收入和債務。因此，這種平衡實際上有利於債務與 EBITDA 的比率。但無論如何，這都是一種平衡行為，我們非常非常仔細地觀察它，因為如你所知，我們專注於底線現金流。因此，當這些收購非常非常理想時，我們就會進行這些收購，我們可能必須動用一些債務，但我們會接受每項收購。

We are here to grow HEICO bottom line cash flow. Again, it's a balancing act, and we're very careful with it.

我們致力於增加 HEICO 的現金流底線。再說一遍，這是一種平衡行為，我們對此非常小心。

We'll take our next question from Sheila Kahyaoglu with Jefferies.

我們將回答 Sheila Kahyaoglu 和 Jefferies 提出的下一個問題。

Victor, I'm going to start with you if it's okay, given the ETG margins spotlight. You gave us some color on R&D up 20%, so it implies about 100 basis points of margin pressure. Can you maybe talk about the less favorable sales mix, how much it was maybe even pricing into the mix as well just on the bridge and how we think about that improvement, as you said, Q3 and Q4 are headed to be better and should we expect a similar sub-20% rate in Q2?

Victor，考慮到 ETG 利潤率備受關注，如果可以的話我將從你開始。您給了我們一些關於研發成長 20% 的信息，因此這意味著大約 100 個基點的利潤壓力。您能否談談不太有利的銷售組合，甚至可能在橋上定價多少，以及我們如何看待這種改進，正如您所說，第三季度和第四季度將會更好，我們應該這樣做嗎？預計第二季的成長率會低於 20%？

Sure. Sheila, a couple of things. One, I would be surprised to see a sub-20% rate in Q2. Number two, the sales difference was not based on pricing, it was based on the shipment schedule. So we -- I would call it a fairly normal pricing environment, which means in some instances, the customers can accept the prices that recognize our cost that maybe higher and other instances we have longer term contracts where pricing is a lot thin. So it's kind of a normal scenario on the pricing side. Really, on the revenue side, it was all about the shipment schedule and when things were supposed to ship. It's not necessarily, by the way, the production rate. So we try to keep the facilities level loaded. Our businesses try to stay level loaded in production. But it depends upon when the order is due for delivery or acceptance and test by the customer, that dictates a lot of how it works for us. So again, just to emphasize, I would expect north of 20% GAAP margin -- operating margin on the quarter, which, of course, would be north of 24% the true margin, excluding intangibles amortization.

當然。希拉，有幾件事。第一，如果第二季的利率低於 20%，我會感到驚訝。第二，銷售差異不是基於定價，而是基於出貨時間表。因此，我將其稱為相當正常的定價環境，這意味著在某些情況下，客戶可以接受承認我們成本可能更高的價格，而在其他情況下，我們有長期合同，定價非常薄弱。因此，這在定價方面是一種正常情況。事實上，在收入方面，這一切都與發貨時間表和發貨時間有關。順便說一句，這不一定是生產力。因此，我們盡力保持設施水平負載。我們的企業努力維持生產負荷水準。但這取決於訂單何時交付或客戶接受和測試，這在很大程度上決定了我們的運作方式。再次強調，我預計本季的 GAAP 利潤率（營運利潤率）將高於 20%，當然，這將高於真實利潤率（不包括無形資產攤銷）的 24%。

Got it. Any sort of color on the mix impact in the quarter in terms of margin headwind?

知道了。就利潤逆風而言，對本季的混合影響有何影響？

Not really other than the shipment schedules in our higher-margin businesses were lower than they had been in the prior period and that brings down the margin. But I don't want to break out which business is what margins, but I think our business...

實際上，除了我們利潤率較高的業務的發貨時間表低於上一時期外，這導致了利潤率的下降。但我不想透露哪些業務的利潤率是多少，但我認為我們的業務...

Well, hopefully not. Eric, one for you if it's okay. Wencor, how do we think about this revenue synergy is the best? Is the best way to look at it based on a number of PMA parts? And the sales per part is about 4x greater at HEICO than it is at Wencor. So if you have that marketing channel, is that a potential way to think about the sales opportunity? Or how are you thinking about it?

好吧，希望不是。艾瑞克，如果可以的話，給你一份。 Wencor，我們如何看待這種所得綜效是最好的？最好的方法是基於許多 PMA 零件來看待它嗎？ HEICO 的每個零件銷售額約為 Wencor 的 4 倍。那麼，如果您擁有該行銷管道，這是考慮銷售機會的潛在方式嗎？或者說你怎麼想的？

That is -- that's one way to think about it. I'm also really looking at it as how the product sets are very complementary, number one. Number two, without getting into specific customers, I would say there are a number of extremely strong relationships, sales relationships on the Wencor side as well as the HEICO side. And I think that we can help each other. The businesses can help each other with sharing those relationships and just basically one hand, helping the other. If you look historically, we've taken up our margins over the last decade that you covered us quite significantly and frankly, an even beat where I thought they would be.

也就是說——這是思考這個問題的一種方式。我也確實將其視為第一，產品組是如何非常互補的。第二，在不涉及特定客戶的情況下，我想說 Wencor 方面以及 HEICO 方面都有許多非常牢固的關係、銷售關係。我認為我們可以互相幫助。企業可以透過分享這些關係來互相幫助，基本上只是一方面幫助對方。如果你從歷史的角度來看，我們在過去十年裡已經佔據了我們的利潤，你對我們的報導非常顯著和坦率，與我認為的水平持平。

And I think that there is more potential in that regard. There's some -- there's a lot of sharing that also can occur over on the repair side in terms of DER repairs as well as they're already using the PMA parts. So I think that, that's an advantage. In the defense side, we're already cooperating and working together, whereas orders used to go out to third-party companies that are now being placed internally, and that's very strong likewise over in our specialty manufacturing. There's a lot of product that our specialty manufacturing group can build for our other businesses including Wencor, and we're really pushing that as well. So I think it's just a very broad-based level of cooperation, as I said, without integration. When you've got really talented people who are running these businesses, who have really mastered their businesses, we find that by getting them autonomy, that's very intrinsically motivating feature. And that's not something that exists in many companies.

我認為在這方面還有更大的潛力。在 DER 維修方面，維修方面也可以進行大量共享，而且他們已經在使用 PMA 零件。所以我認為這是一個優勢。在國防方面，我們已經在合作和共同努力，而訂單過去是發給第三方公司的，現在是在內部下達的，這在我們的專業製造領域也非常強大。我們的專業製造團隊可以為包括 Wencor 在內的其他業務生產許多產品，我們也確實在推動這一點。因此，正如我所說，我認為這只是基礎非常廣泛的合作，沒有整合。當你有真正有才華的人來經營這些業務，他們真正掌握了自己的業務時，我們發現透過讓他們自主，這是非常內在的激勵特徵。而這在許多公司中並不存在。

If you look at HEICO overall across all of HEICO, we've got roughly 100 business heads and for a company of our size to have 100 people of this talent and skill set where they performed so well and they really enjoy what they do because of way that they're treated, I think that's the real synergy here. It's not going to be from knocking out little costs here and there. I mean, yes, there's an opportunity to do that. And for example, in trade shows, in a number of the trade shows, Paris, Farmborough and others will have booths together. So HEICO and Wencor will be together. There'll be certain other trade shows where they can be separate. And we want the businesses to each have their own strategy and to really take responsibility for the results. So I think that's why we're getting these benefits.

如果你從整個HEICO 的整體情況來看，我們有大約100 名業務負責人，對於我們這樣規模的公司來說，擁有100 名具有這種才能和技能的員工，他們表現得非常好，而且他們真的很喜歡自己所做的事情，因為我認為這才是真正的協同作用。這不會是透過到處削減很少的成本來實現的。我的意思是，是的，有機會這樣做。比如說在貿易展覽會上，在一些貿易展覽會上，巴黎、法姆伯勒等都會一起有攤位。所以 HEICO 和 Wencor 會在一起。還會有某些其他貿易展覽，它們可以分開舉行。我們希望每個企業都有自己的策略，並且真正對結果負責。所以我認為這就是我們獲得這些好處的原因。

I'll take our next question from Mariana Perez Mora with Bank of America.

我將回答美國銀行瑪麗安娜·佩雷斯·莫拉 (Mariana Perez Mora) 提出的下一個問題。

So first of all, congratulations, Larry, on the award. My first question is about R&D, follow-up on ETG R&D. What are the main trends? Because you said like it's pretty much across the board increase. But what are the main trends that are driving this increase in R&D? What are the opportunities that you guys are seeing that actually are calling for this increase R&D? Is this the particular technology, is it the trend, is it the -- I don't know, an end market? Could you please discuss that.

首先，恭喜拉里獲獎。我的第一個問題是關於研發的，後續ETG的研發。主要趨勢是什麼？因為你說過，這幾乎是全面成長。但推動研發成長的主要趨勢是什麼？你們看到哪些機會實際上需要增加研發？這是特定的技術嗎？這是趨勢嗎？我不知道，這是終端市場嗎？能討論一下嗎？

Sure, this is Victor. It is a very good question. And by the way, when I say across the board, it doesn't mean in every business, but it's kind of -- I should clarify what I mean by that is the majority of the business or sort of the super majority of the businesses. It is what I could call, the trend. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity for our businesses or newer and evolved products. Sometimes it's not just what you would consider revolutionary change, right? It's not necessarily developing something that is wholly new. In our case, it is more typically evolutionary and it is an improvement on an earlier version or iteration of a product. And so what we're seeing in a high number of our customers is demand for what you would consider our next generation of products. So it's not just technology based. It's not for example as though there is a new design that has been developed. Like Bluetooth came up many years and everybody was implementing Bluetooth. It's not like that. It's more responsive to the individual needs of our customers.

當然，這是維克多。這是一個非常好的問題。順便說一句，當我說全面時，這並不意味著在每個企業中，但它是一種 - 我應該澄清我的意思是大多數企業或絕大多數企業。這就是我所說的趨勢。對於我們的企業或更新和發展的產品來說，存在著巨大的機會。有時這不僅僅是您認為的革命性變化，對嗎？它不一定是開發全新的東西。在我們的例子中，它更典型的是進化性的，是對產品的早期版本或迭代的改進。因此，我們在大量客戶中看到的是對我們下一代產品的需求。所以這不僅僅是基於技術。例如，這並不是說已經開發了新的設計。就像藍牙已經出現很多年一樣，每個人都在使用藍牙。不像那樣。它能夠更好地滿足客戶的個人化需求。

And are usually customers calling for this improvement? How this like R&D, how you pay, what arenas, what specific products are still are on the option?

客戶通常會要求這種改進嗎？研發怎麼樣，如何支付，哪些領域，哪些具體產品仍可選擇？

So we leave it to each one of our businesses to make those choices. In some cases, it's customer-initiated. In other cases, it's initiated by our subsidiaries or somewhere in between. I mean our businesses had regular meetings and visits and calls with customers. And so they're aware of new programs, the customer may be on. New designs that they might need. And that's probably the most typical but it runs the gamut, depending on the architecture of the particular business as well as the products. But the key to it is, one, a willingness to always invest and respond to the customer needs depending upon the history and relationship with the customer, the likelihood that they will, in fact, turn into orders. I mean let's be honest, there are companies who will always ask their suppliers, their vendors, partners to develop something on their dime.

因此，我們讓每個企業做出這些選擇。在某些情況下，這是由客戶發起的。在其他情況下，它是由我們的子公司或介於兩者之間的某個機構發起的。我的意思是我們的企業與客戶定期舉行會議、拜訪和通話。因此他們知道客戶可能正在使用新程式。他們可能需要的新設計。這可能是最典型的，但它涵蓋了所有領域，具體取決於特定業務和產品的架構。但其關鍵在於，第一，願意根據歷史記錄和與客戶的關係以及客戶實際轉化為訂單的可能性，始終投資並回應客戶需求。我的意思是，說實話，有些公司總是要求他們的供應商、供應商、合作夥伴自掏腰包開發一些東西。

And then they may not buy it. So that is a factor that we consider is what is the history with the customer? Are they likely to, in fact, convert to orders? Is there a PO standing behind it? Are they on a program of record, for example, if it's defense and where do they stand with that program? What Intel are we getting in the broader community? What do we hear from our other partners, customers, even trade shows, government people, things like that. So each business, though, is responsible for that. And that, to be honest, the beauty, I think, of our company is that it's not from on high, it is experts talking with experts. We believe in devolving those decisions down at the lowest level to be able to understand the customer best.

然後他們可能不會買。因此，我們考慮的一個因素是與客戶的歷史記錄是什麼？事實上，他們有可能轉化為訂單嗎？後面有PO嗎？他們是否有記錄在案的計劃，例如，如果是國防，他們對該計劃的立場如何？我們在更廣泛的社區中獲得了什麼英特爾？我們從其他合作夥伴、客戶、甚至貿易展覽、政府人員等聽到了什麼。因此，每個企業都有責任為此負責。老實說，我認為我們公司的美妙之處在於它不是來自高處，而是專家與專家之間的對話。我們相信將這些決策下放到最低級別才能最好地了解客戶。

And my last one is on M&A. Could you please discuss when you do acquisitions like the recent Honeywell licenses (inaudible), they are adjacent opportunities for you. But I could imagine that a company like this or a license could be able to unlock more upside opportunity in terms of revenues under the HEICO ecosystem compared to if this license ends up in another third-party MRO shop. Like can you please discuss how you think about those outside opportunities and how long it could take to actually see them?

我的最後一篇是關於併購的。您能否討論一下當您進行像最近的霍尼韋爾許可證（聽不清楚）這樣的收購時，它們對您來說是相鄰的機會。但我可以想像，與該許可證最終落入另一家第三方 MRO 商店相比，這樣的公司或許可證能夠在 HEICO 生態系統下的收入方面釋放更多上升機會。您能否討論一下您如何看待這些外部機會以及實際看到它們可能需要多長時間？

Sure. Mariana, this is Eric. I'd be happy to answer about that. So HEICO has done a number of licensing deals over the last decade. So we're very well experienced on doing those licensing deals. And in particular, when you look at the component repair footprint, HEICO has got 19 individual MRO businesses just within Flight Support. And then over in ETG, there are another number of them there as well. So we've been able to buy these licenses and basically take the technology and put it into a business that's already incredibly experienced in that market niche and really understands the technology.

當然。瑪麗安娜，這是艾瑞克。我很樂意回答這個問題。因此，HEICO 在過去十年中完成了許多授權交易。因此，我們在進行這些許可交易方面擁有豐富的經驗。特別是，當您查看組件維修足跡時，HEICO 在飛行支援範圍內擁有 19 家獨立的 MRO 業務。然後在 ETG 中，也有另外一些人。因此，我們已經能夠購買這些許可證，並基本上採用該技術並將其投入到在該市場領域已經擁有令人難以置信的經驗並且真正了解該技術的企業中。

So when we buy a license, we're able then to go out to the customer with people who can hit the ground running in many cases, are already working with the customer on other items, and it's really a seamless experience. So I think that there is plenty of opportunity for HEICO in this area to continue to grow in adjacent white spaces.

因此，當我們購買許可證時，我們就可以與在許多情況下可以立即投入使用的人員一起去見客戶，並且已經在其他項目上與客戶合作，這確實是一種無縫的體驗。因此，我認為 HEICO 在這一領域有很多機會在鄰近的空白空間中繼續發展。

I can tell you that our reception at the customers for the Honeywell product has been extremely strong. They've been very happy about that. They're used to our experience with regard to quality, turn time and price. So the reception has been very strong. So I think that it was a great move for both Honeywell as well as for HEICO as well as for our customers. There's just a net benefit increase to the industry here. So I think that there is additional opportunity for us.

我可以告訴您，客戶對霍尼韋爾產品的歡迎度非常高。他們對此感到非常高興。他們習慣了我們在品質、週轉時間和價格方面的經驗。所以反應非常強烈。因此，我認為這對霍尼韋爾、HEICO 以及我們的客戶來說都是一個偉大的舉措。這裡的產業只是淨效益增加。所以我認為我們還有額外的機會。

And we'll take our next question from Gautam Khanna with TD Cowen.

我們將回答 Gautam Khanna 和 TD Cowen 提出的下一個問題。

Congrats on the award. A lot of questions have been asked and answered. I was wondering if you guys are seeing any difference in activity level in the direct channel versus the indirect and maybe you could just talk by market, whether it be aftermarket, whether it be OE, if you're seeing anything discernibly different -- restocking, destocking in the distributor channel and the like.

恭喜獲獎。已經提出並回答了很多問題。我想知道你們是否發現直接通路與間接通路的活動水平有任何差異，也許你們可以按市場來討論，無論是售後市場，還是原廠設備，如果你們看到任何明顯的不同——補貨、經銷商通路去庫存等。

Yes. We're -- Gautam, this is Eric. So you want to know how we're doing with regard to aftermarket and OE on order pattern or what you like me to comment on?

是的。我們是－高塔姆，這是艾瑞克。那麼您想知道我們在售後市場和原廠訂單模式方面做得如何，或者您希望我評論什麼？

Maybe just distributors, defense and aero, like is there -- are you seeing any differences in those order patterns versus selling direct outside of the distribution channel.

也許只是分銷商、國防和航空領域，就像那裡一樣——您是否發現這些訂單模式與在分銷渠道之外直接銷售有任何差異。

Well, so our distribution businesses are doing extremely well. They're continuing to gain market share. They have the right inventories. I think our customers are very happy as a result of working with them. Likewise over in the PMA area where we -- and the repair area where we sell direct, it's likewise -- it's the same thing. So I would say a very good strength in both. With regard to product availability on the flight support side, things are tough where, frankly, our vendors are quite behind. And I think our results could be even better if they were able to shift the overdue backlog. And this is really across the board in the parts area.

嗯，所以我們的分銷業務做得非常好。他們正在繼續獲得市場份額。他們有合適的庫存。我認為我們的客戶對與他們的合作感到非常高興。同樣，在我們的 PMA 領域以及我們直接銷售的維修領域，也是同樣的事情。所以我想說兩者都有很好的優勢。就飛行支援方面的產品可用性而言，情況很困難，坦白說，我們的供應商相當落後。我認為，如果他們能夠轉移逾期的積壓，我們的結果可能會更好。這在零件領域確實是全面的。

I would say both the PMA as well as the distribution. I think there have been some raw material challenges as a result of the sanctions. And then, of course, as Victor alluded to with regard to labor, that continues to be a challenge. But definitely, the supply chain is tight. There really isn't -- there's no excess capacity. Things are very tight. And we're hoping that by the end of '24, things normalize, Frankly, I would have thought by now things would have normalized more. But unfortunately, our vendors are -- they're really struggling. Things will get better after November in a lot of ways.

我想說的是 PMA 和發行版。我認為制裁帶來了一些原料方面的挑戰。當然，正如維克多在勞動力方面提到的那樣，這仍然是一個挑戰。但可以肯定的是，供應鏈很緊張。確實不存在——不存在產能過剩。事情非常緊迫。我們希望到 24 年底，事情會正常化，坦白說，我以為現在事情會變得更正常。但不幸的是，我們的供應商確實在苦苦掙扎。十一月之後，很多方面情況都會好轉。

Yes. And Carlos, you mentioned -- you talked about the 21% to 22% Flight Support margins is sort of the right ballpark and I think previously, you said the cycle would be somewhere in that range as well. I mean, is there any -- like what is the -- it sounds like Wencor is going better. There is some pricing opportunity, as you've mentioned in response to Noah's question, I'm just curious, like what is your confidence longer term of maybe doing better than that, forget fiscal '24, but just looking at...

是的。卡洛斯，你提到 - 你談到 21% 到 22% 的飛行支援利潤率是一個正確的大概範圍，我想之前你說過週期也會在這個範圍內。我的意思是，有沒有什麼——比如什麼——聽起來溫科進展得更好了。正如您在回答諾亞問題時提到的那樣，存在一些定價機會，我只是很好奇，例如您對長期可能做得更好的信心是什麼，忘記 24 財年，但只是看看…

Highly confident. I mean I think if you look back over the last decade, just if you want to do a history lesson, go back from pre-COVID and just look back 10 years, and you'll see a pattern of where the FSG continually ekes out 20, 30, 40 basis points a year. I mean, sometimes it's a little flatter. But if you look at that trend, I think we're returning to that. I think we -- that's on an annual basis, by the way. I think we're heading in that direction. We can't continue to grow at a breakneck pace. I think we're at a pretty high growth level right now. And at some point, we get back to what I'll call a normal business cycle, and that's when you'll see our margin take those nice incremental jumps up.

高度自信。我的意思是，我認為如果你回顧過去十年，如果你想上一堂歷史課，從新冠疫情之前回顧過去十年，你會看到 FSG 不斷苦苦掙扎的模式每年20、30、40個基點。我的意思是，有時它有點平坦。但如果你看看這一趨勢，我認為我們正在回歸這一趨勢。順便說一句，我認為我們是每年一次。我認為我們正在朝這個方向前進。我們不能繼續以驚人的速度成長。我認為我們現在處於相當高的增長水平。在某些時候，我們會回到我所說的正常商業週期，那時你會看到我們的利潤率出現了良好的增量跳躍。

Until then, with our end markets being as hard as they are, the margin could fluctuate a little bit based on volumes, what we're selling. But I do think at some point when this hyper growth scenario we're in softens and gets back to, I don't want to say business as usual, but a more customary demand in the market, I would say that, that incremental eke out of growth north, small increments is what we would expect to see.

在那之前，由於我們的終端市場非常艱難，利潤可能會根據我們銷售的數量而略有波動。但我確實認為，在某些時候，當我們所處的這種超高速增長場景軟化並恢復時，我不想說一切照舊，而是市場上更習慣的需求，我會說，增量eke正在增長北部之外，我們預計會看到小幅增量。

By the way, as far as the 21% to 22% I mean I feel very confident that we're going to wind up in there. We always could do better. But for modeling and thinking about the business, that's why I keep your focus in that area.

順便說一句，就 21% 到 22% 而言，我的意思是我非常有信心我們最終會進入那裡。我們總是可以做得更好。但是對於業務建模和思考，這就是為什麼我讓您專注於該領域。

(Operator Instructions) And we'll take our next question from Bert Subin with Stifel.

（操作員說明）我們將回答 Bert Subin 和 Stifel 提出的下一個問題。

Maybe, Eric, first question for you. You talked about pricing being a primary growth driver when it comes to new customers just relative to existing customers where it's more a function of inflation pass-through. Can you just talk about what your new customer strategy is and maybe what percent of sales come from new customers in a given year? And just also, is this a new customer increasingly an internationally based customer?

也許，艾瑞克，你的第一個問題。您談到，相對於現有客戶而言，定價是新客戶的主要成長動力，而現有客戶更多是通膨傳導的函數。您能否談談您的新客戶策略是什麼，以及某一年銷售額中來自新客戶的百分比是多少？而且，這個新客戶是否逐漸成為國際客戶？

Yes, it's a good question, Bert. We don't have that many new customers, and that's pretty much because we deal with everybody. So occasionally, when an airline gets formed, there can be a new one. I would say that our biggest opportunity is to continue to increase our market penetration with our existing customers. So that really is where the big opportunity is as opposed to new ones. I mean we do get new ones, but we're pretty much dealing with everybody in the world. So like a new airline gets created, there wouldn't be that type of opportunity.

是的，這是一個好問題，伯特。我們沒有那麼多新客戶，這很大程度上是因為我們與所有人打交道。因此，有時，當航空公司成立時，可能會有一家新航空公司。我想說，我們最大的機會是繼續提高現有客戶的市場滲透率。因此，這確實是巨大機會而不是新機會的所在。我的意思是我們確實有新的，但我們幾乎是在和世界上的每個人打交道。因此，就像一家新航空公司成立一樣，就不會有這種機會。

And just a clarification there, Eric, just in terms of the pricing, if you're having sort of greater market share gains or market penetration, is that a different sort of function like if you're selling an existing product to an existing customer, you're pricing that, I guess, more gently in terms of just passing through inflation instead of maybe into market. But if you're selling them a new product, is that an opportunity when you think about margins?

艾瑞克，請澄清一下，就定價而言，如果您獲得了更大的市場份額收益或市場滲透率，那麼這是一種不同的功能，就像您向現有客戶銷售現有產品一樣，我想，你的定價更溫和，只是透過通貨膨脹而不是進入市場。但如果你向他們銷售新產品，當你考慮利潤時，這是一個機會嗎？

The answer is yes. So if a customer is buying a product and it's under contract, then obviously, they would have price protection for the terms of the contract, the duration of the contract if that's what it's provided for. And of course, there are different things which matter to different customers. So we're very accommodating there. However, if a customer -- if that customer wants to start buying a part that they haven't purchased, then they would get a price based on the new list price as opposed to what the old price was. So there's definitely a big incentive to get started and get locked in with us as early as possible.

答案是肯定的。因此，如果客戶購買產品並且產品簽訂了合同，那麼顯然，他們將獲得合約條款和合約期限的價格保護（如果合約有規定的話）。當然，對於不同的客戶來說，有不同的事情需要考慮。所以我們在那裡非常包容。但是，如果客戶想要開始購買他們尚未購買的零件，那麼他們將獲得基於新標價而不是舊價格的價格。因此，儘早開始並與我們合作肯定有很大的動力。

Okay. Got it. Super help, Larry. Just one follow-up. Were you reaffirmed your view towards 15% to 20% earnings growth that you sort of highlighted last quarter for FY '24, at least based on what you're seeing today. If we were to get to the end of the year and you were to outpace, I guess, on the positive side, the 20% mark, I'm just curious if you think that would be more a function of FSG, ETG or faster debt paydown?

好的。知道了。超級幫忙，拉里。只是一個後續行動。您是否重申了您對 24 財年上季度所強調的 15% 至 20% 盈利增長的看法，至少根據您今天所看到的情況。如果我們到了今年年底，我想，從積極的一面來看，你會超過 20%，我只是好奇你是否認為這更多是 FSG、ETG 或更快的函數償還債務？

Well, it could be the result of all 3. And however, we try to control earnings growth. We really do. And HEICO, I think investors like consistency. I know we're probably the largest single investor in our company to get 401(k) and Carlos and -- so we like consistency. We don't like to go up 1 year, down the other. In order to do that and to generate cash flow, so we don't get over leverage. We'd like to continue to be within 15% to 20%. So it is possible we could go over 20%. At this point, everything I know in my -- our own thought projections, we will be within 15% to 20% -- would we go over it, it's possible. But at this moment, I wouldn't predict that.

嗯，這可能是所有這三個因素的結果。但是，我們試圖控制獲利成長。我們確實如此。至於 HEICO，我認為投資者喜歡一致性。我知道我們可能是我們公司獲得 401(k) 和 Carlos 的最大單一投資者 - 所以我們喜歡一致性。我們不喜歡一年上漲，另一年下跌。為了做到這一點並產生現金流，我們就不會過度槓桿化。我們希望繼續保持在 15% 到 20% 之間。所以我們有可能超過 20%。在這一點上，我所知道的一切——我們自己的想法預測，我們將在 15% 到 20% 之內——如果我們回顧一下它，這是可能的。但此時此刻，我不會預測這一點。

Again, I am conservative. And however, I do say that my own guesstimate is that we will be within 15% to 20%. So I don't know if that answers your question. But the other thing is I see that both of our businesses are really very strong. You've heard the whole story. And Victor has described the first quarter of ETG is really a weak quarter because we couldn't ship and these various things. The backlog supports a huge increase from the second to the fourth quarter. So we should see the ETG definitely level out and return to what I would call reasonably normal profitability. Flight Support similarly is very strong, too. And with the Wencor acquisition and the possibilities of gaining some of the synergies, which we're doing very slowly and we want to build it in. But it's a long answer to your question, but I really think at this point, we'll be within 15% to 20% growth. And if we go over, I can't predict who might do it.

再次強調，我是保守派。然而，我確實說我自己的猜測是我們將在 15% 到 20% 之間。所以我不知道這是否回答了你的問題。但另一件事是我看到我們兩家公司的業務都非常強大。你已經聽過整個故事了。 Victor 表示 ETG 第一季確實是一個疲軟的季度，因為我們無法出貨以及諸如此類的事情。積壓訂單支持第二季至第四季的大幅成長。因此，我們應該看到 ETG 肯定會趨於平穩，並恢復到我所說的相當正常的獲利能力。飛行支援同樣也很強。隨著Wencor 的收購以及獲得一些協同效應的可能性，我們進展非常緩慢，我們希望將其融入其中。但這對你的問題來說是一個很長的答案，但我真的認為在這一點上，我們會成長幅度在 15% 到 20% 之間。如果我們過去了，我無法預測誰會這麼做。

We'll take our next question from Louis Raffetto with Wolfe Research.

我們將回答沃爾夫研究公司的路易斯·拉菲托提出的下一個問題。

Carlos, you talked about expecting, I guess, FSG to be pretty strong in 1Q. Was there anything specific there on mix? I'm just trying to bridge sort of the 100 basis point clean margin sequential improvement with sales that weren't sort of too dissimilar from last quarter?

卡洛斯，您談到預計 FSG 在第一季會表現強勁。混音方面有什麼具體的內容嗎？我只是想將 100 個基點的淨利潤連續改善與與上季度並沒有太大差異的銷售聯繫起來？

There was -- I would say that the -- we had strong performance in parts is kind of leading the pack. The repair was close second. Specialty products were soft and went behind. I think that based on shipments. That business is a little more predictable, believe it or not, than the parts and repair business are. So we had anticipated that the specialty products has slowed down slightly in Q1 and it did, and we have expectations, it's going to be fine for the rest of the year. But I don't -- there is -- if your question is, is there any one-off or strange mix? No, this has pretty much played out the way I thought it would.

我想說的是，我們在零件方面的強勁表現在某種程度上處於領先地位。修復工作緊隨其後。特產疲軟，落後。我認為這是基於出貨量。不管你信不信，該業務比零件和維修業務更容易預測。因此，我們預計特種產品在第一季會略有放緩，而且確實如此，而且我們預計今年剩餘時間都會好起來。但我不——有——如果你的問題是，是否有任何一次性或奇怪的混合？不，這一切幾乎按照我的預期進行了。

All right. Great. And then, Victor, just one for you. You laid out strong aerospace in the quarter and then some of those other markets. I didn't hear anything on defense. So I know it's a big part of the business, just making sure how that did in the quarter. You've seen -- I know you kind of have seen some sequential improvement. Does that continue this quarter? Did we step back at all?

好的。偉大的。然後，維克多，就給你一個。你們在本季佈局了強大的航空航太市場，然後是其他一些市場。我沒有聽到任何防守的聲音。所以我知道這是業務的重要組成部分，只是確定本季的表現如何。你已經看到了——我知道你已經看到了一些連續的改進。這個季度這種情況還會持續嗎？我們有退後一步嗎？

Yes, Louis, it's continued overall all-in to grow. And so what I was segmenting out was the areas that were weak as before, but defense is as we expect and moving in the right direction.

是的，路易斯，整體上它仍在繼續增長。因此，我所分割的是像以前一樣薄弱的領域，但防守正如我們所期望的那樣，並且正在朝著正確的方向發展。

All right. Great. And then, Larry, just one for you. you kind of talked about balancing M&A and leverage. So I guess as we think about the rest of the year, is really -- would you be willing to go above 3x leverage if you saw a deal that would put you there? Or is that kind of a hard limit?

好的。偉大的。然後，拉里，只為你準備一份。您談到了平衡併購和槓桿。因此，我想，當我們考慮今年剩餘時間時，如果您看到一項交易可以讓您達到 3 倍以上的槓桿率，那麼您是否願意將槓桿率提高到 3 倍以上？還是這是一種硬性限制？

The answer is if it was super sensational and it really added to the bottom line, and we looked at it and the payback as a result of it would drop us below the 3x back into the 2x area, we might consider it. We're very careful with debt and also interest rates are very, very high. So to make these acquisitions now because of interest rates, it's a little bit harder.

答案是，如果它非常轟動並且確實增加了利潤，並且我們研究了它，並且由於它而導致的回報將使我們低於 3 倍，回到 2 倍區域，我們可能會考慮它。我們對債務非常謹慎，而且利率也非常非常高。因此，現在由於利率的原因進行這些收購有點困難。

So to answer your question, it would have to be something sensational to make us go above 3x. And so far, I have not seen something so sensational. So I think it's highly unlikely but as we get from, say, just under 3x as we head to 2x, which we estimate in the press release, we said 12 to 18 months from the time we incurred the debt and that's -- we believe that's accurate. But along the way, we might find, as we did with Honeywell, a very accretive cash flow and EPS acquisition which would actually make the ratio, if you do the arithmetic, you make the ratio of debt-to-EBITDA would go down because of the earnings that it would produce, we would do that.

因此，要回答你的問題，必須有一些聳人聽聞的事情才能讓我們的成長率超過 3 倍。而且到目前為止，我還沒有見過如此聳人聽聞的事情。所以我認為這不太可能，但當我們從略低於 3 倍到我們在新聞稿中估計的 2 倍時，我們說從我們產生債務之日起 12 到 18 個月，那就是——我們相信這是準確的。但一路走來，我們可能會發現，就像我們對霍尼韋爾所做的那樣，一項非常增值的現金流和每股收益收購，這實際上會產生這個比率，如果你進行算術計算，你會發現債務與EBITDA 的比率會下降，因為它將產生的收入，我們會這樣做。

So again, that's why I say it takes a lot of thought process. We just don't make acquisitions willy-nilly. And remember one thing, that the Mendelsons as a family and our 401(k) we're there to protect that [nest egg]. And we're going to be very careful in incurring any kind of debt, and we don't want to get into any kind of financial problem. We have great cash flow. We have a great business. It's growing nicely. So we'll be very careful with that debt. I don't know if that answers your question.

再說一次，這就是為什麼我說這需要大量的思考過程。我們不會隨意進行收購。請記住一件事，門德爾森一家和我們的 401(k) 計劃是為了保護[儲蓄]。我們將非常小心地承擔任何類型的債務，我們不想陷入任何類型的財務問題。我們有大量的現金流。我們的生意很好。它長得很好。所以我們會非常小心地處理這筆債務。我不知道這是否回答了你的問題。

And there are no additional questions.

沒有其他問題。

Well, I would like to again thank everyone on this call for their interest in HEICO. We are available if you have other questions, you can contact Carlos, Eric, Victor, myself. And if you don't, we look forward to speaking to you on the second quarter earnings teleconference. That's the end of this teleconference. And again, thank you. Have a wonderful day.

好吧，我想再次感謝這次電話會議中的每個人對 HEICO 的興趣。如果您有其他問題，您可以聯絡卡洛斯、艾瑞克、維克多和我本人。如果您不這樣做，我們期待在第二季財報電話會議上與您交談。本次電話會議到此結束。再次謝謝您。祝你有美好的一天。

And this concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。