Hirequest Inc (HQI) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the HireQuest Incorporated second quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, John Nesbett, IMS Investor Relations. John, the floor is yours.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 HireQuest Incorporated 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）請注意本次會議正在錄製中。我現在將會議轉交給主持人 IMS 投資者關係部門的約翰·內斯貝特 (John Nesbett)。約翰，地板是你的。

Thank you. I'd like to welcome everyone to the call. Hosting the call today are HireQuest's CEO Rick Hermanns; and Chief Financial Officer, Steve Crane.

謝謝。我謹歡迎大家致電。今天主持電話會議的是 HireQuest 執行長 Rick Hermanns；和財務長史蒂夫·克蘭。

I'd take a moment to read the Safe Harbor statement. This conference call contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended.

我會花點時間閱讀安全港聲明。本次電話會議包含經修訂的 1933 年證券法第 27A 條和經修訂的 1934 年證券交易法第 21E 條定義的前瞻性陳述。

These forward-looking statements in terms such as anticipate, expect, intend, may, will, should or other comparable terms involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future.

這些前瞻性陳述涉及預期、期望、打算、可能、將會、應該或其他類似術語，因為它們與事件相關並取決於未來將發生的情況，因此涉及風險和不確定性。

These statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of higher questions, members of its management, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in the HireQuest periodic reports filed with the SEC and actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements.

這些陳述包括有關更高問題的意圖、信念或當前期望、其管理層成員以及此類陳述所依據的假設的陳述。和不確定性，包括向SEC 提交的HireQuest 定期報告中所述的風險和不確定性，以及實際結果可能與此類前瞻性聲明中預期的結果有重大差異。

Except as required by federal securities law. HireQuest undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed conditions and I would now like to turn the call over to the Chief Executive Officer of HireQuest, Rick Hermanns, Please go ahead, Rick.

聯邦證券法要求的除外。HireQuest 沒有義務更新或修改前瞻性陳述以反映變化的情況，我現在想將電話轉給 HireQuest 執行長 Rick Hermanns，請繼續，Rick。

Good afternoon. Our second quarter of 2024 was characterized by sustained profitability as we continue to mitigate costs, leverage our unique franchising model and execute on our business strategy. We are focused on driving enhanced results as the market for staffing solutions slowly recovers from what has been a particularly difficult environment for the industry overall.

午安.隨著我們繼續降低成本、利用我們獨特的特許經營模式並執行我們的業務策略，我們 2024 年第二季的特點是持續獲利。隨著人力資源解決方案市場從整個產業特別困難的環境中緩慢復甦，我們致力於推動績效的提升。

Despite these headwinds, HireQuest has performed well compared to its peers. We believe that we are beginning to see a leveling out of this downward trend on the daily pay and commercial staffing side of our business. As year-over-year declines have lessened compared to recent quarters, HireQuest direct in particular generated franchise royalties that exceeded Q2 '23 levels.

儘管存在這些不利因素，HireQuest 與同行相比仍表現良好。我們相信，我們業務的日薪和商業人員配置方面已開始看到這種下降趨勢趨於穩定。與最近幾季相比，年減幅度有所縮小，尤其是 HireQuest direct 產生的特許權使用費超過了 23 年第二季的水平。

And system wide sales were only just a little bit below last year, and we're not where we'd like to be, but we're noticing some encouraging trends that suggest that the market is finally beginning to find a baseline. We continued to prioritize expense reduction in the quarters, while reducing our SG&A by 6% to $5.3 million compared to$ 5.6 million in the second quarter of 2023.

全系統銷售額僅比去年略低一點，而且我們還沒有達到我們想要的目標，但我們注意到一些令人鼓舞的趨勢，表明市場終於開始找到基線。我們繼續優先考慮本季的費用削減，同時將 SG&A 削減 6%，至 530 萬美元，而 2023 年第二季為 560 萬美元。

Core SG&A, which excludes workers' comp, the MRI network ad fund and nonrecurring charges declined 7.6% to $4.6 million. Workers' compensation expense, in particular decreased by $143,000 in the quarter as the changes we made early this earlier this year, again to flow through. Our SG&A in the latter half of 2023 was impacted by negative developments of our '22-'23 workers' comp policy year. And at this point, we do not see anything that would suggest that our workers' comp will reach those levels this year.

核心SG&A（不包括工人補償、MRI 網路廣告基金和一次性費用）下降 7.6%，至 460 萬美元。隨著我們今年稍早做出的改變再次生效，本季的工人賠償費用尤其減少了 143,000 美元。我們 2023 年下半年的銷售及管理費用受到「22-23 工人補償政策年」負面發展的影響。目前，我們沒有看到任何跡象表明我們的工人薪酬今年將達到這些水平。

As always, M&A is a key part of our growth strategy. Our track record of acquisitions includes numerous businesses that have allowed us to penetrate both new geographic regions and staffing verticals, significantly expanding our addressable market.

一如既往，併購是我們成長策略的關鍵部分。我們的收購記錄包括眾多業務，這些業務使我們能夠滲透到新的地理區域和人員配置垂直領域，從而顯著擴大了我們的目標市場。

Moreover, we've seen increased opportunities for M&A related to the current market environment and continue to evaluate these as they are made available to us. In December of 2022, we acquired MRI Network with the intention of expanding our business into that into the higher-margin executive search segment.

此外，我們看到與當前市場環境相關的併購機會增加，並在獲得這些機會時繼續對其進行評估。2022 年 12 月，我們收購了 MRI Network，旨在將我們的業務擴展到利潤率更高的獵人頭領域。

Overall, this has been a positive acquisition for us despite the industry headwinds it's faced when we acquired the business, it had been declining and we stated that we expected the trend to continue in the near to medium term.

總的來說，這對我們來說是一次積極的收購，儘管我們收購該業務時面臨行業阻力，它一直在下降，我們表示，我們預計這一趨勢將在中短期內持續下去。

Unfortunately, we couldn't have predicted the extended downturn, the executive search market has experienced, which has exacerbated the problem. We are encouraged by the sequential growth in system sales over Q1 2024, following five straight quarters of decline. And we've realized some of the revenue and operational synergies we expected.

不幸的是，我們無法預測獵人頭市場所經歷的長期低迷，這加劇了問題。我們對 2024 年第一季系統銷售額在連續五個季度下降後的環比增長感到鼓舞。我們已經實現了我們預期的一些收入和營運協同效應。

But again, the state of the market has been an impediment and the business is down significantly from where it was at the end of 2022. It's difficult to trying to time the economy as well we all know, while we have a very strong understanding of the staffing market and believe that a strategic combination of organic growth and M&A allows us to most efficiently grow our business. We continue to diligently evaluate opportunities that have the potential to enhance our staffing offerings and create meaningful value for our shareholders regardless of the economic environment.

但市場狀況再次成為障礙，業務較 2022 年底大幅下降。我們都知道，很難把握經濟的時機，但我們對人力資源市場有非常深入的了解，並相信有機成長和併購的策略結合使我們能夠最有效地發展我們的業務。無論經濟環境如何，我們都會繼續努力評估有潛力增強我們的員工隊伍並為股東創造有意義的價值的機會。

We take a long-term approach to our business which allows us to deliver improved results in changing market environments. In the time since our command center merger back in the summer of 2019, so literally, we are five years after the merger, we've driven strong growth that has consistently outpaced the broader staffing industry.

我們對業務採取長期方針，這使我們能夠在不斷變化的市場環境中取得更好的成果。自 2019 年夏天我們的指揮中心合併以來，從字面上看，合併已經五年了，我們推動了強勁的成長，一直超過了更廣泛的人力資源產業。

Our five year adjusted EBITDA CAGR, for example, has considerably exceeded the industry average and our five year system sales CAGR of 17% from 2018 to 2023 is more than double almost all the other commercial or professional staffing companies in our peer group.

例如，我們的五年調整後EBITDA 複合年增長率大大超過了行業平均水平，從2018 年到2023 年，我們的五年系統銷售複合年增長率為17%，是同行集團中幾乎所有其他商業或專業人力資源公司的兩倍多。

This progress is a validation of several key aspects of our business, one that our model's not only working but outperform outperforming the broader staffing sector. A franchising model provides HireQuest and our franchisees with the flexibility to meet the needs of a wide spectrum of customers that can differ based on size, location, staffing vertical, therefore maximizing our addressable market and the value of our offerings.

這項進展驗證了我們業務的幾個關鍵方面，即我們的模型不僅有效，而且表現優於更廣泛的人力資源部門。特許經營模式為HireQuest 和我們的特許經營商提供了靈活性，可以滿足各種客戶的需求，這些客戶可能因規模、地點、垂直人員配置而有所不同，從而最大限度地提高我們的目標市場和產品價值。

Two, we have very strong economics despite a down market and are well positioned to take full advantage of opportunities once the industry recovers. While we're not immune to market conditions, our consistent performance across differing economic landscapes demonstrates the strength of our business and ability to capitalize on a strong market.

第二，儘管市場低迷，我們的經濟仍然非常強勁，一旦產業復甦，我們就能夠充分利用機會。雖然我們無法免受市場條件的影響，但我們在不同經濟狀況下的一致表現證明了我們的業務實力和利用強大市場的能力。

The staffing industry is cyclical and we have a strong track record of staying the course regardless of the economic landscape. We have a proven growth strategy and believe that we are very well-positioned to weather short term headwinds, such as the soft employment market, or down economy, and forge ahead on the path to long-term value creation.

人力資源產業具有週期性，無論經濟狀況如何，我們都有堅持到底的良好記錄。我們擁有行之有效的成長策略，並相信我們有能力應對短期逆風，例如疲軟的就業市場或經濟低迷，並在創造長期價值的道路上奮勇前進。

I'll now pass the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Steve Crane, who will provide a closer look at our second quarter results. Steve?

我現在將把電話轉給我們的財務長 Steve Crane，他將詳細介紹我們第二季的業績。史蒂夫？

Thank you, Rick, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Total revenue for the second quarter of 2024 was $8.7 million compared to $9 million in the same quarter last year, which is a decrease of 3.4%.

謝謝你，瑞克，大家下午好。感謝您今天加入我們。2024年第二季總營收為870萬美元，較去年同期的900萬美元下降3.4%。

Our total revenues made up of two components franchise royalties, which is very much our primary source of revenue and service revenue, which is generated from certain services and interest charged to our franchisees as well as other miscellaneous revenue.

我們的總收入由特許權使用費兩部分組成，特許權使用費是我們的主要收入來源和服務收入，服務收入來自向特許經營商收取的某些服務和利息以及其他雜項收入。

Franchise royalties for the second quarter were $8.2 million compared to $8.7 million for the same quarter last year. Underlying the royalties are system wide sales, which are not part of our revenue, but are helpful contextual performance indicator. System-wide sales reflect sales at all offices including those classified as discontinued.

第二季特許經營費為 820 萬美元，去年同期為 870 萬美元。特許權使用費的基礎是系統範圍內的銷售額，這不是我們收入的一部分，但有用的上下文績效指標。全系統銷售額反映了所有辦公室的銷售額，包括那些被歸類為停產的辦公室的銷售額。

System-wide sales for the second quarter were $146.1 million compared to $157 million for the same period in 2023. Service revenue was $479,000 for the second quarter compared to $245,000 for the same quarter a year ago. Service revenue is composed of interest charged to our franchisees on overdue accounts receivable, service fees, other miscellaneous revenue, and MRI networks advertising fund revenue.

第二季全系統銷售額為 1.461 億美元，而 2023 年同期為 1.57 億美元。第二季服務收入為 479,000 美元，而去年同期為 245,000 美元。服務收入包括向加盟商收取的逾期應收帳款利息、服務費、其他雜項收入以及 MRI 網路廣告基金收入。

Service revenue can fluctuate from quarter to quarter based on a number of factors, including growth in system-wide sales, changes in accounts receivable, insurance renewals, and similar dynamics.

服務收入可能會因多種因素而逐季度波動，包括全系統銷售額的成長、應收帳款的變化、保險續保和類似的動態。

SG&A expenses for the second quarter were $5.3 million compared to $5.6 million in the prior year period, a decrease of 6%. In the second quarter, workers' compensation expense was approximately $547,000, a decrease of approximately $143,000 from $690,000 in the second quarter of 2023. Generally workers' compensation expense or benefit will fluctuate based on several different factors.

第二季的銷售、管理及行政費用為 530 萬美元，較上年同期的 560 萬美元下降 6%。第二季工人賠償費用約為 547,000 美元，比 2023 年第二季的 69 萬美元減少約 14.3 萬美元。一般來說，工人的補償費用或福利會根據幾個不同的因素而波動。

Also included in our SG&A were salaries and benefits, which continues to be the largest component of our operating expenses. In the second quarter of 2024, we recognized $2.7 million in compensation related expenses, a decrease of 15% compared to $3.1 million in the second quarter of 2023 related to headcount reductions, mostly around the MRI integration.

我們的銷售及管理費用還包括薪資和福利，這仍然是我們營運支出的最大組成部分。2024 年第二季度，我們確認了 270 萬美元的薪酬相關費用，與 2023 年第二季度的 310 萬美元相比下降了 15%，這些費用與裁員相關，主要圍繞 MRI 整合。

Net income, which includes income from operations, adjusted for miscellaneous items, interest income taxes and discontinued operations was $2 million in the second quarter of 2024, in line with $2 million in the prior year period.

2024 年第二季的淨利（包括經雜項、利息所得稅和終止經營業務調整後的營運收入）為 200 萬美元，與去年同期的 200 萬美元持平。

Net income from continuing operations for the quarter was $2.1 million or $0.15 per diluted share, which was flat with net income from continuing operations of $2.1 million were $0.15 per diluted share in the second quarter last year.

本季持續營運淨利為 210 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.15 美元，與去年第二季持續營運淨利 210 萬美元、稀釋後每股收益 0.15 美元持平。

Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2024, it was $4 million compared to $3.9 million in the prior year period. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 47% compared to 43% in the prior year period. A detailed reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income was provided in our 10-Q, which was filed this afternoon.

2024 年第二季調整後 EBITDA 為 400 萬美元，而去年同期為 390 萬美元。本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 47%，而去年同期為 43%。今天下午提交的 10-Q 報告中提供了調整後 EBITDA 與淨利潤的詳細調整表。

Moving on now to the balance sheet. Our current assets at June 30, 2024, were $57.7 million compared to $51.5 million at December 31, 2023. Current assets as of June 30, 2024, included $614,000 in cash and $49.9 million of net accounts receivable.

現在轉向資產負債表。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，我們的流動資產為 5,770 萬美元，而 2023 年 12 月 31 日為 5,150 萬美元。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的流動資產包括 614,000 美元現金和 4,990 萬美元應收帳款淨額。

Our current assets at December 31, 2023, included $1.3 million of cash and $44.4 million of net accounts receivable. Current assets exceeded current liabilities by $20.6 million at June 30, 2024, versus year end 2023, when working capital was $15.7 million.

截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日，我們的流動資產包括 130 萬美元現金及 4,440 萬美元應收帳款淨額。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，流動資產超過流動負債 2,060 萬美元，而 2023 年底的營運資本為 1,570 萬美元。

Current liabilities were 64.2% of current assets at June 30, 2024, versus 69.4% of current assets at December 31, 2023. At June 30, 2024, we had $15.7 million drawn on our credit facility and another $24.6 million in availability, assuming continued covenant compliance.

截至2024年6月30日，流動負債佔流動資產的64.2%，截至2023年12月31日，流動負債佔流動資產的69.4%。截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，我們已從信貸額度中提取了 1,570 萬美元，另有 2,460 萬美元可用（假設繼續遵守契約）。

We believe our credit facility provides us with flexibility and room for short term working capital needs as well as the capacity to capitalize on potential acquisitions. We have paid a regular quarterly dividend since the third quarter of 2020. Continuing that pattern, we paid a $0.06 per common share dividend on June 17, 2024, to shareholders of record as of June third. We expect to continue to pay a dividend each quarter, subject to the Board's discretion.

我們相信，我們的信貸安排為我們提供了短期營運資金需求的靈活性和空間，以及利用潛在收購的能力。自2020年第三季以來，我們定期支付季度股息。延續此模式，我們於 2024 年 6 月 17 日向截至 6 月 3 日登記在冊的股東支付了每股普通股 0.06 美元的股息。我們預計將繼續每季支付股息，具體取決於董事會的決定。

With that, I will turn the call back over to Rick for some closing comments.

至此，我會將電話轉回給 Rick，徵求一些結束語。

Thank you, Steve. I'd like to thank our employees and franchisees for their hard work and dedication in this past quarter, and we look forward to generating value for our stakeholders as we progress into the latter half of 2024. With that, we can now open the line to questions.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。我要感謝我們的員工和加盟商在過去一個季度的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，我們期待在 2024 年下半年為我們的利害關係人創造價值。這樣，我們現在就可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Kevin Steinke, Barrington Research.

（操作員說明）Kevin Steinke，Barrington Research。

I wanted to talk about your comments about improving staffing market. You mentioned a slow recovery, but I'm assuming that you saw some recovery in the second quarter and just trying to get a feel for what you've seen in the market thus far through the first five, six weeks of third quarter?

我想談談您對改善人才市場的看法。您提到了緩慢的復甦，但我假設您在第二季度看到了一些復甦，並且只是想了解一下您在第三季的前五、六週迄今為止所看到的市場情況？

Yeah, I would definitely throughout the second quarter, there was an improvement. There was definitely an improvement, particularly in year-over-year comparisons that trend towards sort of the improvement has continued into the third quarter. So we've actually had a couple of weeks where we've actually exceeded the prior year, which is we hadn't we hadn't seen that in more than a year. So that's why we're cautiously optimistic.

是的，我肯定會在整個第二季度有所進步。確實有所改善，特別是在同比比較中，這種改善趨勢一直持續到第三季。因此，我們實際上已經有幾週的時間實際超過了前一年，這是我們一年多來沒有看到的。這就是我們謹慎樂觀的原因。

Now, obviously, sort of the market stumbled here the last couple of weeks, if there's none of that ends up translating into the real economy, we're knocked off track again. But again, we've definitely seen an improving trend.

現在，顯然，過去幾週市場在某種程度上陷入了困境，如果這些最終都無法轉化為實體經濟，我們就會再次偏離軌道。但我們再次肯定看到了改善的趨勢。

And you mentioned HireQuest's direct actually being up year over year in the second quarter, are there any particular occupational categories that you maybe drill down into that are driving an improvement? Or is it kind of across the board? Just wondering what you're seeing in that piece of the business?

您提到 HireQuest 的直接收入實際上在第二季度同比增長，您可能會深入研究哪些特定的職業類別正在推動改善？或者說是全面的？只是想知道您在這方面看到了什麼？

And that's a good question. So it's more geographic than it is, let's say, job category, but it is construction. Our strongest, our strongest offices are those that are construction related. We've had a recovery in a couple of markets where we had had a few down quarters that are definitely regaining their stride.

這是一個好問題。因此，它比工作類別更具地域性，但它是建築業。我們最強大、最強大的辦公室是那些與建築相關的辦公室。我們在幾個市場中實現了復甦，在這些市場中我們經歷了幾個季度的下滑，但這些市場肯定正在恢復步伐。

And we were battling a couple of comparisons where we had some good sized Snelling clients that had fallen off and that they've started to be replaced by new business. So it's not necessarily the old clients having come back, but there are new ones sort of stepping up and filling in. So again, we're cautiously optimistic about Q3. And I've been going back to your original question, definitely it's construction. That's the best for us.

我們正在進行一些比較，我們有一些規模較大的 Snelling 客戶，這些客戶已經流失，並且已經開始被新業務取代。因此，不一定是老客戶回來了，而是有新客戶加入並填補了空缺。因此，我們對第三季再次持謹慎樂觀態度。我一直回到你原來的問題，肯定是建築。這對我們來說是最好的。

Okay. That's helpful. So the part of the business that you called out still facing some meaningful headwinds in MRI executive search and have you seen any stabilization in that part of the business or green shoots? I'm just wondering what's your feeling about that business you're seeing as we move into the second half year.

好的。這很有幫助。那麼，您提到的這部分業務在 MRI 高管搜尋中仍然面臨著一些有意義的阻力，您是否看到這部分業務有任何穩定或萌芽？我只是想知道，當我們進入下半年時，您對您所看到的業務有何看法。

So I would say there are two different factors that are involved. One, as stated in our prepared remarks and really going back to what we had put out in December '22 when we acquired MRI, MRI was losing offices and franchisees for a number of years. And so part of that downward trend, it is related simply to the organization, the number of units itself.

所以我想說這涉及兩個不同的因素。第一，正如我們在準備好的發言中所述，實際上回到我們在 22 年 12 月收購 MRI 時所發布的內容，MRI 多年來一直在失去辦事處和特許經營商。因此，這種下降趨勢的一部分與組織、單位數量本身有關。

The remaining offices were then obviously subjected to what is clearly a bad environment for executive search. As far as green shoots, it definitely was better in Q2 than it was in Q3. Let's say, if you exclude the effect of offices that had left the system. That said, it's still significantly more challenging than the staffing.

剩下的辦公室顯然面臨著對於高階主管獵人頭來說顯然很糟糕的環境。就新芽而言，第二季肯定比第三季更好。假設您排除已離開系統的辦公室的影響。也就是說，它仍然比人員配置更具挑戰性。

Literally, staffing has come back to being at least for our offices have come back to a point where we're effectively flat, whereas the scaled-up executive search is still has a somewhat less downward trend, but a downward trend nonetheless.

從字面上看，人員配備已經恢復到至少我們辦公室的水平，而擴大後的高階主管搜尋仍然有下降趨勢，但仍然是下降趨勢。

Okay. And I know within MRI, I think they have a meaningful portion in terms of IT placement and technology on? I have heard some comments that there might be some signs of stabilization or recovery in that market. I don't know if that's something you might have seen?

好的。我知道在 MRI 中，我認為他們在 IT 佈局和技術方面有意義的部分？我聽到一些評論稱該市場可能出現一些穩定或復甦的跡象。不知道你是否也看過這樣的情況呢？

That's a great question. And so yes, there's been a little bit, but not as let's say, as good as in other segments, but it's really been a mixed bag as well. I think that there's some -- you can just point that, let's say the financial sector and say, those MRI offices are doing well and the others aren't because, again, a lot of those go to -- many of our MRI offices are very focused on sort of specific, not even just specific industries, but even I say, categories within that industry.

這是一個很好的問題。是的，確實有一點，但不如其他領域那麼好，但它確實也是一個魚龍混雜的情況。我認為有一些——你可以指出，比如說金融部門，那些 MRI 辦公室做得很好，而其他的則不然，因為，同樣，很多人都去了——我們的許多 MRI 辦公室他們非常關注某種特定的，甚至不僅僅是特定的行業，甚至我說的是該行業內的類別。

And so they don't move in a very predictable fashion. And so I can't just sit there and say healthcare has done well and tech has done poorly or vice versa. It truly is all over the board. I wish I could give you a better answer, but that's the truth.

因此它們不會以非常可預測的方式移動。因此，我不能只是坐在那裡說醫療保健做得很好而科技做得很差，反之亦然。這確實是全面的。我希望我能給你一個更好的答案，但事實就是如此。

Okay. Yeah, fair enough. Looking at the core SG&A expenses, $4.6 million in the second quarter, that's down from $4.9 million in the first quarter, I believe on I think you might have talked last quarter about some actions you have taken. I am just trying to get a sense of if you've taken some costs out in terms of the core SG&A and if $4.6 million is more of a run rate for the second half.

好的。是的，很公平。看看核心 SG&A 支出，第二季為 460 萬美元，低於第一季的 490 萬美元，我相信您可能在上個季度談到了您所採取的一些行動。我只是想了解您是否在核心 SG&A 方面扣除了一些成本，以及 460 萬美元是否更多是下半年的運行率。

Yeah, I mean, we've definitely taken some steps. We were doing the last earnings call, there were already several cuts that had already been made that clearly hadn't worked their way through the income statement. And so the $4.6 million as far as for the core SG&A, there's really nothing. There's nothing to drive that up at this point that would be predictable. I mean, sometimes bills for large expenses come in at weird times, but if anything, there's probably even a bit more downward pressure on it versus upward pressure, we're really being careful with our costs.

是的，我的意思是，我們確實已經採取了一些措施。我們正在進行最後一次財報電話會議，已經進行了幾項削減，但顯然沒有在損益表中發揮作用。因此，就核心 SG&A 而言，460 萬美元實際上沒什麼。目前還沒有什麼可以預測的因素可以推動這一點。我的意思是，有時大筆費用的帳單會在奇怪的時間出現，但如果有的話，與上行壓力相比，下行壓力可能更大，我們真的很小心我們的成本。

Okay. That's helpful. And lastly, I just wanted to ask about the M&A environment. I think you mentioned you're seeing increased opportunities, given some of the recent pressures on the staffing industry, if you could just speak to the pipeline and valuation expectations by sellers, et cetera.

好的。這很有幫助。最後，我想問一下併購環境。我想你提到，考慮到人力資源產業最近面臨的一些壓力，如果你能談談賣家的管道和估值預期等，你會看到更多的機會。

So the deals are out there. There are opportunities like they always exist, but there are more at least in our experience, there are more. They're still not necessarily at valuations that we think are appropriate for this environment. And so we're still working on sort of matching what we're willing to offer with what's being expected.

所以優惠就在那裡。機會總是存在的，但至少在我們的經驗中，還有更多。它們的估值仍然不一定符合我們認為適合當前環境的水平。因此，我們仍在努力將我們願意提供的內容與預期相匹配。

But the deals are out there and we've gotten close and we've ended up whiffing on a few of them. But we're still actively engaged. And obviously, though prices are still certainly better now than what they were a year and a half ago. So we think we're getting closer to that point where we'll be able to execute on some of them. But again, we're always looking at that.

但交易已經存在，我們已經接近完成，並且最終我們對其中的一些交易感到滿意。但我們仍然積極參與。顯然，儘管現在的價格肯定比一年半前要好。因此，我們認為我們已經越來越接近能夠執行其中一些任務的時刻了。但話又說回來，我們一直在關注這一點。

Now I say that it might be it might be a year, maybe two years before we hit something and there's no promise in that whatsoever. But again, the deals are out there.

現在我說，可能需要一年，也許兩年，我們才能取得成果，但無論如何都沒有任何希望。但話又說回來，優惠就在那裡。

Right. Okay. Understood. That makes sense and so yeah, well, that's what I had, I will turn it back over. Thanks for taking questions.

正確的。好的。明白了。這是有道理的，所以是的，這就是我所擁有的，我會把它翻過來。感謝您提出問題。

Thank you. Our next question we had I'm not sure if the client has dropped the line. (Operator Instructions) Okay. I'm not seeing any further questions come into the queue. So I will now hand back over to the management team for any closing remarks.

謝謝。我們的下一個問題是我不確定客戶是否掛斷了電話。（操作員指示）好的。我沒有看到任何其他問題進入隊列。因此，我現在將把閉幕詞交還給管理團隊。

Well, again, I want to thank everybody for joining us on this call. We look forward to the second half of the year, which I probably really wouldn't have been able to say at this point last year. And so we are cautiously optimistic. Again, we thank you for your continued interest in the company and confidence in the company. And we just look forward again to speaking with you again in a quarter. Thank you very much.

好吧，我想再次感謝大家加入我們這次電話會議。我們對下半年充滿期待，去年這個時候我可能真的無法說出這一點。因此我們持謹慎樂觀的態度。我們再次感謝您對公司的持續關注和對公司的信心。我們期待在一個季度內再次與您交談。非常感謝。

Thank you very much. This now concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.

非常感謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開電話線並度過美好的一天。感謝您的參與。