Heidrick & Struggles International Inc (HSII) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone. My name is [Colin] and I will be you conference operator for today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Fourth Quarter 2022 Heidrick & Struggles Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Ms. Suzanne Rosenberg, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

今天是個好日子。我叫 [Colin]，我將擔任今天的會議接線員。此時，我想歡迎大家參加海德思哲 2022 年第四季度電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，今天的通話正在錄音中。現在我很高興將會議轉交給投資者關係副總裁 Suzanne Rosenberg 女士。請繼續，女士。

Thank you, and welcome to our 2022 fourth quarter and fiscal year-end conference call. Joining me on today's call is our President and CEO, Krishnan Rajagopalan; and Chief Financial Officer, Mark Harris. We posted our company's slides on the IR homepage of our website at heidrick.com, and we encourage you to view these slides for additional context.

謝謝，歡迎參加我們 2022 年第四季度和財年末的電話會議。和我一起參加今天電話會議的是我們的總裁兼首席執行官 Krishnan Rajagopalan；和首席財務官 Mark Harris。我們在 heidrick.com 網站的 IR 主頁上發布了我們公司的幻燈片，我們鼓勵您查看這些幻燈片以了解更多背景信息。

Please note that in the materials presented today, we may refer to non-GAAP financial measures that we believe provide additional insight into underlying results. A reconciliation between these non-GAAP financial measures and the most comparable GAAP measures may be found in the earnings press release. Also in our remarks, we may make certain forward-looking statements. We ask that you please refer to the safe harbor language also contained in today's press release.

請注意，在今天提供的材料中，我們可能會參考非 GAAP 財務指標，我們認為這些指標可以提供對基本結果的額外洞察。這些非 GAAP 財務指標與最具可比性的 GAAP 指標之間的對賬可在收益新聞稿中找到。同樣在我們的評論中，我們可能會做出某些前瞻性陳述。我們要求您參考今天的新聞稿中也包含的安全港語言。

With that Krishnan, I'll now turn the call over to you.

有了那個克里希南，我現在把電話轉給你。

Thank you, Suzanne. Good afternoon, everyone. 2022 was another excellent year for our company as we managed our business through a heightened geopolitical threats and global economic uncertainty, while successfully navigating the turn coming out of the pandemic and delivering for our clients. I'm pleased to report we surpassed $1 billion in annual net revenue for a second consecutive year and beat last year's record by 7% or 10% on a constant currency basis. Additionally, we maintained our intense focus on profitability and delivered strong full year operating margins of 10.5% and adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.7%.

謝謝你，蘇珊娜。大家下午好。 2022 年對我們公司來說又是輝煌的一年，因為我們在地緣政治威脅和全球經濟不確定性加劇的情況下管理我們的業務，同時成功地度過了大流行病的轉折期並為我們的客戶提供服務。我很高興地報告，我們的年度淨收入連續第二年超過 10 億美元，並且以固定匯率計算比去年的記錄高出 7% 或 10%。此外，我們繼續高度關注盈利能力，實現了 10.5% 的強勁全年營業利潤率和 12.7% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

Our adjusted diluted earnings per share was $3.84 per share, which is meaningfully above the pre-pandemic levels. Overall, our strong performance was achieved even as we invested strategically in digital assets that we didn't have the previous year and despite unfavorable foreign exchange rates and the market slowdown. As we've discussed, the pace of business has been extraordinary over the past 2 years, and as expected, we've seen the market slowdown from these extremes. Nevertheless, our business in January remained on pace with our strong fourth quarter performance, and we expect to continue operating above the heightened levels achieved during the pre-pandemic record years of 2018 and 2019. As a result of our team's efforts, we believe we're strongly positioned to deliver sustainable growth and great value to all our stakeholders.

我們調整後的攤薄每股收益為每股 3.84 美元，大大高於大流行前的水平。總體而言，即使我們戰略性地投資於上一年沒有的數字資產，並且儘管不利的匯率和市場放緩，我們仍取得了強勁的業績。正如我們所討論的那樣，過去 2 年的業務發展速度非同尋常，而且正如預期的那樣，我們已經看到市場從這些極端情況中放緩。儘管如此，我們 1 月份的業務與我們強勁的第四季度業績保持同步，我們預計將繼續高於 2018 年和 2019 年大流行前創紀錄年份所達到的更高水平。由於我們團隊的努力，我們相信我們' 有能力為我們所有的利益相關者提供可持續增長和巨大價值。

In 2022, we made significant progress on our financial, operational and strategic objectives, which are paramount to the ongoing transformation of our firm. This progress is the result of the strategy we began implementing over the last few years, and we've seen our efforts come to fruition. Executive Search continues to serve as a powerful cornerstone of our business. On-Demand Talent is gaining significant traction with clients. Hybrid Consulting is growing and enabling us to deepen our client relationships with our advisory services, and we are successfully executing on a foundational road map with our digital assets as a pilot Heidrick Navigator with several clients.

2022 年，我們在財務、運營和戰略目標方面取得了重大進展，這對我們公司的持續轉型至關重要。這一進展是我們在過去幾年開始實施的戰略的結果，我們已經看到我們的努力取得了成果。獵頭繼續作為我們業務的強大基石。 On-Demand Talent 越來越受到客戶的青睞。 Hybrid Consulting 正在發展，使我們能夠通過我們的諮詢服務加深我們的客戶關係，並且我們正在使用我們的數字資產作為試點 Heidrick Navigator 與多個客戶成功執行基礎路線圖。

In 2022, our dedicated efforts to solidify Heidrick as a leader in providing compelling and differentiated solutions to our clients were further underscored when we advanced our strategy to achieve a more balanced revenue profile between our search and non-search businesses. As a reminder, the key focus of ours is to aggressively develop and grow our non-search businesses, both organically and inorganically while maintaining the great strength we have in Executive Search. For context, historically, our search business has comprised more than 90% of our total revenue. And in just the past 2 years, our revenue has shifted to 84% search and 16% non-search while still growing our Executive Search base.

2022 年，當我們推進戰略以在搜索和非搜索業務之間實現更平衡的收入狀況時，進一步強調了我們為鞏固 Heidrick 作為為客戶提供引人注目和差異化解決方案的領導者所做的不懈努力。提醒一下，我們的重點是積極發展和發展我們的非搜索業務，包括有機和無機的，同時保持我們在獵頭方面的強大實力。就上下文而言，從歷史上看，我們的搜索業務占我們總收入的 90% 以上。在過去的 2 年裡，我們的收入已經轉移到 84% 的搜索和 16% 的非搜索，同時我們的 Executive Search 基數仍在增長。

Now with our recent acquisition of Atreus in the On-Demand Talent space, coupled with our growth expectations for the segment overall, we expect to accelerate the diversification of our revenue stream in the near term. With respect to our recent acquisition, Atreus is a leading provider of the On-Demand Talent in Germany. And this acquisition builds on the diversification strategy we amplified in 2021 when we acquired Business Talent Group, the leading player at the high end of On-Demand Talent in the U.S. Atreus allows for meaningful geographic and financial expansion of our On-Demand Talent business, thereby strengthening our overall efforts to diversify the full breadth of Executive Talent and leadership advisory services we offer to our clients.

現在，隨著我們最近在按需人才領域收購 Atreus，再加上我們對整個細分市場的增長預期，我們預計將在短期內加速我們收入流的多元化。關於我們最近的收購，Atreus 是德國領先的按需人才供應商。此次收購建立在我們於 2021 年擴大的多元化戰略之上，當時我們收購了美國高端按需人才領域的領先企業 Business Talent Group。從而加強我們的整體努力，使我們為客戶提供的高管人才和領導力諮詢服務全面多樣化。

Drilling down on this a bit, On-Demand Talent presents an immense market opportunity for Heidrick. Of course, in today's tight labor market environment, on demand is a compelling option for companies. But looking beyond today, this is still a nascent market, and we believe we're only in the first inning of how this business can create incredible value and impact. Many corporations have begun to experiment with On-Demand Talent and we're seeing positive results, but relatively few are harnessing its full potential. We continue to see acceleration in demand and more opportunities for interim talent and project services as it provides our clients with immediate additional bandwidth with highly experienced professionals.

深入研究這一點，按需人才為海德瑞克提供了巨大的市場機會。當然，在當今緊張的勞動力市場環境下，按需服務對企業來說是一個很有吸引力的選擇。但展望今天，這仍然是一個新生市場，我們相信我們只是處於這項業務如何創造令人難以置信的價值和影響的第一局。許多公司已經開始嘗試按需人才，我們看到了積極的結果，但相對較少的公司正在利用其全部潛力。我們繼續看到對臨時人才和項目服務的需求加速增長和更多機會，因為它為我們的客戶提供了經驗豐富的專業人員的即時額外帶寬。

Over time, we believe companies will look to On-Demand Talent as an option whenever they need to augment their talent capabilities. Why? Because On-Demand Talent offers unique advantages relative to traditional alternatives. In many cases, it's the quickest way for companies to obtain the expertise they need. It allows companies to be more agile and flexible with capacity and cost. It allows them to access a level of talent that they may not be able to track as effectively with a full-time hire. It may be easier for companies to manage or integrate On-Demand Talent, and it may just be less expensive cost proposition. It's truly a powerful alternative, and we believe most companies are only beginning to realize the full benefits. Importantly, the need for On-Demand Talent solution isn't geographically bound. We believe there are significant opportunities for scale and reach globally. Beyond organic growth, we anticipate bolt-on M&A will be a tool for scaling this business as we continue to implement our strategy by identifying targets that align with our strategic vision, fit our culture and deliver strong returns to our shareholders. At an operational level, our business made meaningful strides and is well positioned for 2023. I'll provide a little context by segment.

隨著時間的推移，我們相信公司會在需要增強人才能力時將按需人才作為一種選擇。為什麼？因為 On-Demand Talent 提供了相對於傳統替代方案的獨特優勢。在許多情況下，這是公司獲得所需專業知識的最快方式。它使公司在容量和成本方面更加敏捷和靈活。它使他們能夠接觸到他們可能無法通過全職僱用有效追踪的人才水平。公司可能更容易管理或整合按需人才，而且成本可能更低。它確實是一個強大的替代方案，我們相信大多數公司才剛剛開始意識到它的全部好處。重要的是，對按需人才解決方案的需求不受地域限制。我們相信，在全球範圍內擴大規模和影響力存在重大機遇。除了有機增長，我們預計補強併購將成為擴展該業務的工具，因為我們將通過確定符合我們戰略願景、適合我們文化並為股東帶來豐厚回報的目標來繼續實施我們的戰略。在運營層面，我們的業務取得了有意義的進步，並為 2023 年做好了準備。我將按細分市場提供一些背景信息。

To start, Executive Search revenue and confirmations in the fourth quarter were down against the extraordinary performance last year but remained well above the pre-pandemic levels. Globally, we remain focused on growing search efficiently by optimizing our go-to-market strategy and deepening client relationships across all industries. I think it's also important to note that at the Board and C-suite level where we operate, there is still a very much a war for talent being driven by the burgeoning demand in areas such as digital transformation, DD&I, ESG, sustainability and private equity, along with a variety of tech and digital hybrid roles, which are continuing to emerge in every industry practice. In 2023, we expect Executive Search to continue to operate at a very healthy level as these broader market themes continue.

首先，第四季度的獵頭收入和確認人數低於去年的非凡表現，但仍遠高於大流行前的水平。在全球範圍內，我們仍然專注於通過優化我們的上市戰略和深化所有行業的客戶關係來有效地增加搜索。我認為同樣重要的是要注意，在我們運營的董事會和最高管理層層面，在數字化轉型、DD&I、ESG、可持續性和私人領域等領域不斷增長的需求推動下，人才爭奪戰仍在激烈進行股權，以及各種技術和數字混合角色，這些角色在每個行業實踐中都在不斷湧現。到 2023 年，我們預計隨著這些更廣泛的市場主題繼續存在，Executive Search 將繼續以非常健康的水平運行。

In our On-Demand Talent segment, we saw revenue decline slightly, both sequentially and year-over-year in Q4. But on a full year basis, revenue reached $91 million versus $67 million for the 9 months up period in 2021. The fourth quarter performance was somewhat impacted by economic headwinds, but overall, we continue to see strong demand across industries as clients get more comfortable with the benefits of high-end On-Demand Talent and use it for situations ranging from growth, performance improvement and transformation. Also during the second half of 2022, we made additional investments in sales and marketing. We expect to experience the benefits of this in the coming quarters.

在我們的按需人才部門，我們看到第四季度的收入環比和同比略有下降。但從全年來看，收入達到 9100 萬美元，而 2021 年的前 9 個月為 6700 萬美元。第四季度的業績在一定程度上受到了經濟逆風的影響，但總體而言，隨著客戶變得更加舒適，我們繼續看到各行業的強勁需求利用高端按需人才的優勢，將其用於增長、績效提升和轉型等各種情況。同樣在 2022 年下半年，我們對銷售和營銷進行了額外投資。我們希望在未來幾個季度體驗到這一點的好處。

As I mentioned earlier, we believe On-Demand Talent has a robust value proposition, particularly during the economic downturn, there are long-term trends that favor growth in this segment. We expect On-Demand Talent to expand and grow total revenue contribution in 2023, both organically and with the recent acquisition of Atreus.

正如我之前提到的，我們認為 On-Demand Talent 具有強大的價值主張，特別是在經濟低迷時期，長期趨勢有利於該領域的增長。我們預計 On-Demand Talent 將在 2023 年通過有機增長和最近收購 Atreus 擴大和增加總收入貢獻。

Now shifting to Heidrick Consulting. This business is on a strong growth trajectory and continues to garnish strong demand driven by clients needing help with identifying and developing future-ready leaders, culture purpose and organization as well as defining and implementing pragmatic DE&I programs. In addition to revenue increases for both the quarter and the year, Heidrick Consulting meaningfully improved its margins and narrowed its operating loss. A key driver of the improvements we have seen in this business is a deliberate strategic shift from more transaction-oriented projects, the longer-term client journey. As the fluid macroeconomic environment persists, we expect retention, team development, return to office issues and culture enhancements to remain at the forefront of our clients' priorities, providing ample opportunity to sustain strong growth within Hundred Consulting.

現在轉向 Heidrick Consulting。該業務正處於強勁的增長軌道上，並繼續滿足客戶的強勁需求，這些客戶需要幫助確定和培養面向未來的領導者、文化目標和組織，以及定義和實施務實的 DE&I 計劃。除了本季度和全年的收入增長外，Heidrick Consulting 還顯著提高了利潤率並縮小了運營虧損。我們在該業務中看到的改進的一個關鍵驅動力是從更面向交易的項目、更長期的客戶旅程中進行的有意識的戰略轉變。隨著不斷變化的宏觀經濟環境持續存在，我們預計保留、團隊發展、重返辦公室問題和文化提升仍將是我們客戶的首要任務，從而為 Hundred Consulting 保持強勁增長提供充足的機會。

Turning to our digital assets. We're very excited about Heidrick Navigator, our digital platform currently invaded testing with several clients. We designed Navigator to serve as a digital solution for companies to help manage their leadership team holistically as an asset and enables clients to systematically assess talent versus the ad hoc manual approaches that (inaudible) today. Navigator [declines] in areas such as succession planning and developing rising leaders among many other scenarios, using analytics and AI to make key leadership positions.

轉向我們的數字資產。我們對 Heidrick Navigator 感到非常興奮，我們的數字平台目前正在與多個客戶進行入侵測試。我們將 Navigator 設計為公司的數字解決方案，以幫助將其領導團隊作為資產進行整體管理，並使客戶能夠系統地評估人才與當今（聽不清）的臨時手動方法。 Navigator [下降]在許多其他場景中的繼任計劃和發展新興領導者等領域，使用分析和人工智能擔任關鍵領導職位。

We have received positive feedback in the market and from our beta clients as we work with them to implement and operationalize the platform. We look forward to the opportunities Navigator brings to our business as we believe its potential scale and growth prospects are unique and differ from other businesses. More specifically, our Navigator business will operate predominantly as a subscription-based model versus a more traditional consulting and engagement led model. That said, Heidrick Navigate will require some time to build a distinguished user base and to sign contracts increase and total value rises, we expect the platform to meaningfully contribute to top and bottom line results.

當我們與他們合作實施和運營該平台時，我們在市場和我們的測試版客戶那裡收到了積極的反饋。我們期待 Navigator 為我們的業務帶來機遇，因為我們相信它的潛在規模和增長前景是獨一無二的，與其他業務不同。更具體地說，我們的 Navigator 業務將主要作為基於訂閱的模式運營，而不是更傳統的諮詢和參與主導模式。也就是說，Heidrick Navigate 將需要一些時間來建立杰出的用戶群並增加簽訂合同和增加總價值，我們預計該平台將對頂線和底線結果做出有意義的貢獻。

We anticipate our broader ongoing investments in R&D will continue to provide us needed digital assets and no (inaudible) property to support the firm as a whole, and we believe that a portion of these investments will continue to be dedicated to further developing Heidrick Navigator as we launch and incubate this part of our business.

我們預計我們在研發方面更廣泛的持續投資將繼續為我們提供所需的數字資產，而不是（聽不清）財產來支持整個公司，我們相信這些投資的一部分將繼續致力於進一步開發 Heidrick Navigator 作為我們推出並孵化了這部分業務。

In 2023, we plan to continue to build on the operational excellence we are delivering on today. While our business experienced a headwind in the second half of 2022, we're still running well beyond the prepended levels and are confident in our ability to remain at strong levels throughout 2023. We believe that our diversification strategy not only strengthens our client relationships, but also lessens the cyclical nature of our business as our higher growth complementary businesses are less severely impacted by slowdowns or recessionary conditions. We project that this strategy, together with the support and strength of our balance sheet will allow us to continue executing and progressing our strategic vision for the company.

到 2023 年，我們計劃繼續在我們今天提供的卓越運營的基礎上再接再厲。儘管我們的業務在 2022 年下半年遇到了逆風，但我們的運行仍然遠遠超出了預先設定的水平，並且有信心我們有能力在整個 2023 年保持強勁水平。我們相信，我們的多元化戰略不僅加強了我們的客戶關係，但也減少了我們業務的周期性，因為我們的高增長互補業務受經濟放緩或衰退條件的影響較小。我們預計這一戰略以及我們資產負債表的支持和實力將使我們能夠繼續執行和推進我們對公司的戰略願景。

And of course, none of this would be possible without our amazing team of people around the world. We continue to maintain a strong culture of developing terrific talent in-house and promoting from within. I'm pleased to share that in 2022, we named 23 exceptional individuals to partner in 31 to principal. These are incredibly talented colleagues who clearly demonstrated what it takes to run fast and deliver results. I could not be more excited about the quality of our team at Heidrick.

當然，如果沒有我們遍布全球的出色團隊，這一切都不可能實現。我們繼續保持在內部培養優秀人才和從內部提拔的強大文化。我很高興與大家分享，在 2022 年，我們任命了 23 位傑出人士作為合作夥伴，其中 31 位擔任負責人。這些都是非常有才華的同事，他們清楚地展示了快速運行和交付結果所需的條件。我對 Heidrick 團隊的素質感到非常興奮。

To close our 2022 performance advantageously positions Heidrick hired to continue delivering strong results, anchored by our powerful search business. We remain steadfast on furthering our strategic path, and we look forward to leveraging our M&A playbook across future opportunities. As we strive for a well-balanced business portfolio, our focus will be on growth and diversification, which reflects our clients' need for a broader, more comprehensive set of solutions for talent and human capital challenges at the Executive and Board levels.

為了結束我們 2022 年的業績，我們聘請海德瑞克在我們強大的搜索業務的支持下繼續提供強勁的業績。我們仍然堅定地推進我們的戰略道路，我們期待在未來的機會中利用我們的併購劇本。在我們努力實現均衡的業務組合的過程中，我們的重點將放在增長和多元化上，這反映了我們的客戶需要更廣泛、更全面的解決方案來應對高管和董事會層面的人才和人力資本挑戰。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Mark.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給馬克。

Thank you, Krishnan, and good afternoon to our investors, employees and analysts. Today, I'd like to begin with an overview of some of our 2022's key performance metrics, which reflect another terrific year delivered by the Heidrick team. Then I'll go into the fourth quarter financial results, discuss our strong balance sheet, share our Q1 outlook and close with some final comments on the future. Following that, we're happy to take your questions.

謝謝 Krishnan，祝我們的投資者、員工和分析師下午好。今天，我想首先概述我們 2022 年的一些關鍵績效指標，這些指標反映了 Heidrick 團隊又一個出色的一年。然後我將介紹第四季度的財務業績，討論我們強勁的資產負債表，分享我們的第一季度展望，並以對未來的最後評論結束。之後，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

Before turning to 2022, I wanted to congratulate all the Heidrick team on the exceptional achievement of $1.1 billion in consolidated net revenue, the highest level in our company's history and a 7% increase from last year's record achievement. With a clear vision in place and flawless execution by our incredible teams and it's an exciting time to be Heidrick as we progress towards our goals and continue building for our future. Given our current success, coupled with our financial strength, we are set up perfectly to prudently invest in growth through innovation and differentiation. We see attractive opportunities emerging, which we intend to capitalize on in 2023, while maintaining our disciplined, opportunistic approach to capital allocation to maximize shareholder returns.

在談到 2022 年之前，我想祝賀所有海德思團隊取得了 11 億美元的綜合淨收入這一非凡成就，這是我們公司歷史上的最高水平，比去年的創紀錄成就增長了 7%。憑藉我們令人難以置信的團隊的清晰願景和完美執行，在我們朝著目標前進並繼續為我們的未來建設的過程中，成為海德瑞克是一個激動人心的時刻。鑑於我們目前的成功，再加上我們的財務實力，我們完全可以通過創新和差異化來審慎地投資於增長。我們看到有吸引力的機會正在出現，我們打算在 2023 年加以利用，同時保持我們有紀律、機會主義的資本配置方法，以最大限度地提高股東回報。

Let me now share some of the full year highlights of 2022. I First, I'd like to congratulate each of our segments for achieving record revenue and delivering impressive year-over-year growth. Executive Search revenue increased 4% to nearly $902 million, reaching a historical high with all regions increasing on a constant currency basis and the majority of our industry practices exhibiting growth over the prior year.

現在讓我分享 2022 年的一些全年亮點。首先，我要祝賀我們的每個部門都實現了創紀錄的收入並實現了令人印象深刻的同比增長。獵頭收入增長 4%，達到近 9.02 億美元，創下歷史新高，所有地區均按固定匯率計算增長，我們的大多數行業實踐都比上一年有所增長。

On-Demand Talent segment revenue grew from approximately $67 million to $91 million or 37%, demonstrating the power of the combined Heidrick platform. We're extremely excited about the future of On-Demand Talent, including our recent acquisition of Atreus, which furthers our growth prospects in the global interim talent space.

按需人才部門的收入從大約 6,700 萬美元增長到 9,100 萬美元，增幅為 37%，展示了合併後的 Heidrick 平台的強大功能。我們對 On-Demand Talent 的未來感到非常興奮，包括我們最近對 Atreus 的收購，這進一步推動了我們在全球臨時人才領域的增長前景。

In Heidrick Consulting, we saw revenue increase 19% to a record breaking $80 million, while confirmation values increased 15% and search preferred work was up 6%. Profitability also remained strong with adjusted EBITDA of $136.7 million and adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.7%.

在 Heidrick Consulting，我們看到收入增長了 19%，達到創紀錄的 8000 萬美元，而確認值增長了 15%，搜索首選工作增長了 6%。盈利能力也保持強勁，調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.367 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 12.7%。

With that, now let me turn to the fourth quarter, which is strong across the board. Net revenue for the fourth quarter was $235.7 million. In Executive Search, net revenue was $192.7 million with declines in each region when compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. Given the fourth quarter of 2021 is a very tough comparison, we posted a strong $2.3 million in productivity per consultant for 2022 versus $2.4 million last year. As a reminder, over time, we believe productivity will modulate between $1.8 million and $2 million per consultant, 12% over 2019 pre-pandemic level.

有了這個，現在讓我轉向第四季度，這是全面強勁的。第四季度淨收入為 2.357 億美元。在 Executive Search 中，淨收入為 1.927 億美元，與 2021 年第四季度相比每個地區的收入都有所下降。鑑於 2021 年第四季度是一個非常艱難的比較，我們公佈了 2022 年每位顧問的生產力為 230 萬美元，而 240 萬美元去年。提醒一下，隨著時間的推移，我們認為每位顧問的生產力將在 180 萬美元至 200 萬美元之間調整，比 2019 年大流行前的水平高出 12%。

On-Demand Talent recorded revenue of $22.4 million, which is a slight decline versus the prior year period. As Krishnan mentioned, we have aligned our sales and marketing resources to meet the heightened demand in this business, and we expect to see the impact of these investments later this year. In addition, we're particularly excited to have added Atreus to our On-Demand Talent portfolio, which provides us with an excellent partner to expand our platform in Europe. Given the large total addressable market for Heidrick's On-Demand Talent services, we believe we will see considerable growth here for the foreseeable future.

On-Demand Talent 的收入為 2240 萬美元，與去年同期相比略有下降。正如 Krishnan 所提到的，我們已經調整了我們的銷售和營銷資源以滿足該業務不斷增長的需求，我們預計將在今年晚些時候看到這些投資的影響。此外，我們特別高興將 Atreus 添加到我們的按需人才組合中，這為我們提供了一個優秀的合作夥伴來擴展我們在歐洲的平台。鑑於 Heidrick 的按需人才服務的潛在市場總量很大，我們相信在可預見的未來我們將在這裡看到可觀的增長。

Turning to Heidrick Consulting. Fourth quarter net revenue rose to $20.7 million, up 11.6% compared to the prior year period and up 17.5% on a constant currency basis. Coupled with revenue growth in the fourth quarter, this segment also cut its operating loss in half in the fourth quarter of 2022 when compared to the prior year period as we generated strong scale to this business. We continue to see strong demand for future-ready leaders in culture with retention dynamics being a big topic for our clients. We're particularly encouraged by the strength in Heidrick Consulting backlog with year-end backlog up 22% in December 2021, which bodes well for 2023. We believe Heidrick Consulting is uniquely positioned to tackle client demand with the current market environment, and we foresee strong growth in this segment as we move forward.

求助於 Heidrick Consulting。第四季度淨收入增至 2070 萬美元，比去年同期增長 11.6%，按固定匯率計算增長 17.5%。加上第四季度的收入增長，該部門在 2022 年第四季度的營業虧損也比去年同期減少了一半，因為我們對該業務產生了強勁的規模。我們繼續看到對面向未來的文化領導者的強烈需求，保留動態是我們客戶的一個重要話題。我們對 Heidrick Consulting 積壓的實力感到特別鼓舞，2021 年 12 月年終積壓增加了 22%，這預示著 2023 年是個好兆頭。我們相信 Heidrick Consulting 在滿足當前市場環境下的客戶需求方面具有獨特的優勢，我們預計隨著我們的前進，這一領域的強勁增長。

Now let me turn to operating expenses. With lower comparative quarterly net revenue naturally comes lower compensation variable costs. As a result, consolidated salaries and benefits expense of $156.8 million in the quarter was down $47.3 million versus the prior year period and represented 66.5% of net revenues compared to 71.5% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Looking at general and administrative expenses, we saw a decrease of 24% to $35.5 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. However, sequentially, expenses increased due to higher travel and entertainment costs as well as expenses associated with Atreus acquisition process. In the fourth quarter, G&A margin settled in at 15.1% compared to 16.4% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Moving forward, we should expect to see G&A as a percentage of net revenue of approximately 15%, maybe slightly lower.

現在讓我談談運營費用。相對較低的季度淨收入自然會帶來較低的薪酬可變成本。因此，本季度綜合工資和福利費用為 1.568 億美元，比去年同期減少 4730 萬美元，占淨收入的 66.5%，而 2021 年第四季度為 71.5%。看看一般和行政費用，我們與 2021 年第四季度相比，減少了 24% 至 3550 萬美元。但是，由於差旅和娛樂成本以及與 Atreus 收購過程相關的費用增加，費用環比增加。第四季度，G&A 利潤率穩定在 15.1%，而 2021 年第四季度為 16.4%。展望未來，我們預計 G&A 占淨收入的百分比約為 15%，可能略低。

Additionally, we saw R&D costs of $6.1 million in the quarter, in line with our annual expectations of $20 million. We anticipated R&D will continue to be an important aspect of our changing business, particularly in the development of Heidrick Navigator, and we expect R&D investments to be approximately $25 million in 2023. Our goal is that the benefits from our R&D efforts will be utilized across our future offerings, such as our digital asset business, Executive Search, Heidrick Consulting and On-Demand Talent segment. Adjusted EBITDA was $30.9 million compared to $36.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.1%, slightly higher than the 12.9% adjusted EBITDA margin recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.

此外，我們在本季度看到研發成本為 610 萬美元，符合我們 2000 萬美元的年度預期。我們預計研發將繼續成為我們不斷變化的業務的一個重要方面，特別是在 Heidrick Navigator 的開發方面，我們預計 2023 年的研發投資將達到約 2500 萬美元。我們的目標是我們研發工作的收益將用於整個行業我們未來的產品，例如我們的數字資產業務、獵頭、海德思哲諮詢和按需人才部門。調整後的 EBITDA 為 3090 萬美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 3680 萬美元，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 13.1%，略高於 2021 年第四季度記錄的 12.9% 的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

In Executive Search, adjusted EBITDA was $56.1 million compared to $57.8 million in the prior year period. On-Demand Talent recorded adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.4 million versus a gain of $2.1 million in the prior year period. And in Heidrick Consulting adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.1 million, narrowed by more than half from a loss of $4.8 million in the prior year period. We finished the fourth quarter with an effective tax rate of approximately 30%, leading to adjusted net income of $16.1 million compared to $20.8 million from the prior year period and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.78 versus $1.02 in the fourth quarter of 2021. The decrease in bottom line metrics is largely the result of R&D spending, coupled with a step down in revenue.

在獵頭業務中，調整後的 EBITDA 為 5610 萬美元，上年同期為 5780 萬美元。 On-Demand Talent 的調整後 EBITDA 虧損為 140 萬美元，而去年同期為盈利 210 萬美元。 Heidrick Consulting 調整後的 EBITDA 虧損為 210 萬美元，比去年同期的 480 萬美元虧損減少了一半以上。我們以大約 30% 的有效稅率結束了第四季度，導致調整後的淨收入為 1610 萬美元，而去年同期為 2080 萬美元，調整後的攤薄每股收益為 0.78 美元，而 2021 年第四季度為 1.02 美元。底線指標的下降主要是研發支出的結果，加上收入下降。

Turning to our balance sheet. At December 31, we ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities of $621.6 million, which is $76 million more than last year. As we discussed before, the company's cash position typically builds through the year as employee bonuses are accrued, which are mostly paid out in the first half of the year, along with their associated taxes and related costs.

轉向我們的資產負債表。截至 12 月 31 日，我們在本季度末的現金和現金等價物以及有價證券為 6.216 億美元，比去年增加 7600 萬美元。正如我們之前討論的那樣，隨著員工獎金的累積，公司的現金狀況通常會在一年內建立起來，這些獎金大部分在今年上半年支付，連同相關稅費和相關成本。

Before I turn to expectations for the first quarter, I'd like to reiterate how pleased we are with the acquisition of Atreus, which closed on February 1. As you can see in today's press release, we acquired Atreus for initial consideration of $33.5 million, which was paid in the first quarter of this year, and we'll make future payments in 2023 upon the completion of Atreus' 2022 statutory audit. In 2026, the former shareholders of Atreus are eligible to receive an additional payment, subject to achievement of certain agreed upon financial metrics. Moving forward, Atreus' financials will be included in our On-Demand Talent segment beginning in February.

在談到對第一季度的預期之前，我想重申我們對 2 月 1 日完成的對 Atreus 的收購感到非常高興。正如您在今天的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們以 3350 萬美元的初步代價收購了 Atreus ，已於今年第一季度支付，我們將在 Atreus 的 2022 年法定審計完成後於 2023 年支付未來款項。 2026 年，Atreus 的前股東有資格獲得額外付款，前提是要達到某些商定的財務指標。展望未來，從 2 月開始，Atreus 的財務將被納入我們的按需人才部分。

Now let me turn to the first quarter 2023 guidance. Given we expect to return to a more normalized run rate, both in Heidrick's project revenue and effective productivity (inaudible) and acknowledging external macro factors, particularly with the foreign exchange interest rate environment. We believe our first quarter net revenue will be in the range of $235 million to $255 million. As we look forward, we remain committed to the ongoing transformation of Heidrick to our diversification strategy and moving towards a 50-50 revenue split between our search and non-search businesses. We expect to maintain a strong Executive Search position, while we considerably grow and expand our On-Demand Talent, Heidrick consulting and digital asset businesses. As we move through this transition, we expect Heidrick to take on new and exciting initiatives while also being active in M&A to further grow our business and expand our new geographies.

現在讓我談談 2023 年第一季度的指導意見。鑑於我們預計 Heidrick 的項目收入和有效生產力（聽不清）以及承認外部宏觀因素，特別是外匯利率環境，都將恢復到更正常化的運行率。我們相信我們第一季度的淨收入將在 2.35 億美元至 2.55 億美元之間。展望未來，我們將繼續致力於 Heidrick 的持續轉型，以實現我們的多元化戰略，並在我們的搜索業務和非搜索業務之間實現 50-50 的收入分配。我們希望保持強大的獵頭地位，同時大幅發展和擴展我們的按需人才、海德思哲諮詢和數字資產業務。在我們經歷這一轉變的過程中，我們期望海德思採取新的和令人興奮的舉措，同時積極參與併購，以進一步發展我們的業務並擴大我們的新地域。

In conclusion, Christian and I noted at the outset, we're very pleased with our performance in 2022. But moreover, we look forward to continuing to progress against our goals and further our transformation effort to deliver maximum shareholder value. With that Krishnan and I would be glad to take your questions.

總之，克里斯蒂安和我一開始就指出，我們對 2022 年的表現感到非常滿意。但此外，我們期待繼續朝著我們的目標前進，並進一步努力轉型以實現股東價值最大化。有了那個 Krishnan 和我很樂意回答你的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll hear first today from Kevin Steinke with Barrington Research.

（操作員說明）我們今天將首先從 Barrington Research 的 Kevin Steinke 那裡聽到。

Congratulations on the solid results. I wanted to just start off first by asking about the On-Demand Talent segment. Obviously, you remain bullish long term on the growth prospects there. You didn't reference a bit of some project delays related to the economy. Is there anything more you could expand on there? And at the same time, I think you noted that you expected that business to grow organically in 2023. So can you also comment on that? And how much do you see those new sales and marketing resources contributing to that growth?

祝賀你取得了不錯的成績。我想首先詢問按需人才部分。顯然，您長期看好那裡的增長前景。你沒有提到一些與經濟相關的項目延誤。還有什麼可以擴展的嗎？同時，我想你注意到你預計該業務將在 2023 年實現有機增長。那麼你能對此發表評論嗎？您認為這些新的銷售和營銷資源對這種增長有多大貢獻？

Yes. Kevin, Krishnan here. Thank you. Yes. I mean I think what we saw and what you feel in these markets is a general slowdown in decision-making, which causes even projects like On-Demand Talent to slow down a bit. And that's some of that we started experiencing. And I fully expect that as we come out of this that that optionality of On-Demand Talent will be the first one that companies would be able to pull on as well. So we're expecting it to rebound from that perspective. We've added more sales capability as we referenced before, not only to what we call our Heidrick channel, but also outside of that to be able to drive that. And so we should be able to see some good organic growth from ODT as a result of those actions.

是的。凱文，這裡是克里希南。謝謝。是的。我的意思是，我認為我們在這些市場上看到的和你感受到的是決策制定的普遍放緩，這甚至導致像按需人才這樣的項目也有所放緩。這就是我們開始經歷的一些事情。而且我完全希望，隨著我們走出這一步，按需人才的選擇性將成為公司也能夠利用的第一個。因此，我們預計它會從這個角度反彈。正如我們之前提到的那樣，我們已經增加了更多的銷售能力，不僅是我們所謂的 Heidrick 渠道，而且還包括能夠推動它的渠道。因此，由於這些行動，我們應該能夠從 ODT 看到一些良好的有機增長。

So with regard to the Atreus acquisition, can you just maybe give us a little more color if possible on how the deal came about as you've been looking at the company a while and just maybe how the process and valuation and everything came together for you?

所以關於 Atreus 的收購，如果可能的話，你能不能給我們更多關於交易是如何發生的，因為你已經觀察了這家公司一段時間，也許過程和估值以及一切是如何結合在一起的你？

We're happy to take that question. It's the typical process of what we do with a lot of the companies that we kind of looked at. One we'd like to kind of internally source that. So we've got a great business development group that looked at lots of parts around the world in terms of On-Demand Talent really kind of doing a heat map, trying to make sure we understand kind of where the good places, good locations are that would be able for us to springboard into. We really found as it pertains to Atreus, a real outstanding partner through preliminary conversations.

我們很高興回答這個問題。這是我們與我們研究過的許多公司合作的典型流程。我們想從內部採購一個。所以我們有一個很棒的業務發展小組，他們在按需人才方面研究了世界各地的很多地方，確實在做一個熱圖，試圖確保我們了解好的地方、好的位置在哪裡那將使我們成為跳板。通過初步對話，我們確實發現 Atreus 是一個真正出色的合作夥伴。

And as you kind of -- imagine Kevin, it just kind of takes a life of its own where the engagement becomes more in depth, we get a lot of good back and forth. And then, of course, we go into our full mode of looking at the diligence, looking at the models, thinking to ourselves how the business kind of come together, what we always look for is that 1 plus 1 equals 3 or better with what already we had a good strong foundation in the acquisition of BTG. So that's really kind of what brought it all together. And then the economics of the deal, the structure the deal are just something that's always kind of live and goes through its normal course and process. And I think we got to really an excellent agreement for both parties, so.

就像你一樣 - 想像一下凱文，它只是一種自己的生活，參與變得更加深入，我們來回有很多好處。然後，當然，我們進入我們的完整模式，查看盡職調查，查看模型，思考業務是如何結合在一起的，我們一直在尋找的是 1 加 1 等於 3 或更好我們已經在收購 BTG 方面打下了堅實的基礎。因此，這確實是將它們結合在一起的原因。然後是交易的經濟性，交易的結構總是活生生的，並且會經歷其正常的過程和過程。我認為我們真的為雙方達成了一個很好的協議，所以。

And we strongly believe Germany is our first critical step of looking at Europe and really taking a strong step into Europe. We already had a very good step with BTG and what they were developing in Europe, et cetera. So this really kind of puts an excellent team together to let us penetrate that market even more. That's our goal.

我們堅信，德國是我們審視歐洲並真正向歐洲邁出堅實一步的關鍵的第一步。我們已經與 BTG 以及他們在歐洲等地開發的產品邁出了非常好的一步。因此，這確實將一支優秀的團隊聚集在一起，讓我們進一步深入該市場。這就是我們的目標。

Yes, that leads to my next question. I was going to ask if you view Atreus and then their offering is leverageable across more of continental Europe or is that more of a Germany specific offering. So could you comment on that or maybe the potential for other acquisitions in that space within Europe?

是的，這引出了我的下一個問題。我想問你是否查看 Atreus，然後他們的產品可以在更多的歐洲大陸使用，或者更多的是德國特定的產品。那麼，您能否對此發表評論，或者在歐洲該領域進行其他收購的可能性？

Yes. It's a great question. Look, it's predominantly Germany. Having said that, there are projects that M&A out of Germany that they have done in international locations as well. But if we really want to scale it inside of another geography, it will probably need the talent in that geography to be able to do it. So -- but we think that the leverage points of places like Atreus really are one along the client site, okay? There are so many clients that they're working with that we can even leverage with BTG, and we're beginning to do that already, where German clients who have a presence in the United States or in the U.K. being able to work with them in a more seamless fashion. So there's a lot of client leverage that we'll get as a result of that.

是的。這是一個很好的問題。看，主要是德國。話雖如此，有些項目是在德國以外的地方進行的併購項目。但如果我們真的想在另一個地域內擴展它，它可能需要那個地域的人才才能做到。所以 - 但我們認為像 Atreus 這樣的地方的槓桿點確實是客戶站點上的一個，好嗎？他們正在與如此多的客戶合作，我們甚至可以利用 BTG，而且我們已經開始這樣做了，在美國或英國開展業務的德國客戶能夠與他們合作以更無縫的方式。因此，我們將因此獲得很多客戶影響力。

Just wanted to ask more broadly too, about the macroeconomic environment. And if you've seen any changes in the pace of decision-making on the Executive Search side, I think you referenced that you expect 2023 to be a healthy year for that business. But just any -- a little bit more uncertainty creeping into the minds of clients, it's a kind of war for talent pretty much a good hedge against that, I suppose.

只是想更廣泛地詢問宏觀經濟環境。而且，如果您看到獵頭方面的決策速度有任何變化，我認為您提到了您預計 2023 年將是該業務健康的一年。但只是任何 - 有點更多的不確定性悄悄進入客戶的頭腦，這是一種人才戰爭，我想這是一個很好的對沖。

Yes. Look, I think that we -- if we take a step back a lot of 2022, we're -- I used the analogy before running 100 miles an hour, okay? So things, as we referenced in the fourth quarter there slowed down. But they slowed down to a point where we're still running faster than we ran in 2018 and 2019, which were darn healthy years. And we continue to see that in our numbers, okay? So I think that's sort of how we're feeling right now as to what the pace looks like. We think that some of the thematic issues, like you referenced there, the war for talent, the underneath their kind of the themes of transformation of digital of sustainability of ESG, DE&I, all of these things and things like private equity are still continuing charge the market quite a bit.

是的。看，我認為我們 - 如果我們後退很多 2022 年，我們 - 我在以每小時 100 英里的速度運行之前使用了這個類比，好嗎？因此，正如我們在第四季度提到的那樣，事情放緩了。但他們放慢了速度，我們仍然比 2018 年和 2019 年跑得更快，那是非常健康的年份。我們繼續在我們的數字中看到這一點，好嗎？所以我認為這就是我們現在對節奏的感覺。我們認為一些主題問題，就像你在那裡提到的，人才爭奪戰，在他們的 ESG、DE&I 可持續性數字化轉型主題之下，所有這些事情以及私募股權之類的事情仍在繼續收費市場相當多。

So there is momentum in there, and we feel good about that. That's what we're speaking to. It isn't clearly the 100 miles an hour of '21 or '22, but still healthy levels of Executive Search work that we're seeing. The decision-making is taking a little bit longer, but that's part of that process of slowing debt.

所以那裡有動力，我們對此感覺很好。這就是我們所說的。這顯然不是 21 年或 22 年的每小時 100 英里，但我們看到的獵頭工作仍然處於健康水平。決策制定的時間稍長一些，但這是減緩債務進程的一部分。

Just lastly, I wanted to ask about Heidrick Navigator, and you mentioned some good ongoing pilots with clients. Just how are you thinking of progress or time line to a broader rollout?

最後，我想問一下 Heidrick Navigator，您提到了一些正在與客戶進行的良好試點。您如何看待更廣泛推出的進展或時間表？

Yes, that's -- thank you for that question as well. Look, I think that Heidrick Navigator we're really excited about it. We've got -- when we started with a couple of betas and now it's expanded beyond that, and there's a strong pipeline behind there as well. And I just want to again reiterate what is it? It's a digital solution for clients that's going to help them manage their leadership population holistically as an asset, okay. That's traditionally managing a reasonably ad hoc way through Excel files and PowerPoint deck, et cetera. Some clients are pretty excited to think about this asset, which they all value so much in a different manner. So that's the exciting thing.

是的，也就是——謝謝你提出這個問題。看，我認為我們對 Heidrick Navigator 真的很興奮。我們有——當我們從幾個測試版開始時，現在它已經擴展到更遠的地方，而且背後也有一個強大的管道。我只想再次重申它是什麼？這是一種面向客戶的數字解決方案，可以幫助他們將領導群體作為一種資產進行整體管理，好吧。傳統上，這是通過 Excel 文件和 PowerPoint 平台等合理的臨時方式進行管理。一些客戶對這項資產感到非常興奮，他們都以不同的方式非常重視這項資產。這就是令人興奮的事情。

We've actually gotten quite positive feedback in the market from our beta clients, in fact, not only endorsing our work, but even serving as a reference for us to get other pilots. So that's exciting. So what we're going to do is we'll be focused in 2023 on continuing to ensure the success of the beta clients and growing that beta client group and a pipeline of early adopters, we'll continue to provide commentary on market feedback, our beta program, early adopter pipeline as the year progresses, with the expectation to begin to share commentary on bookings and other key business metrics in early 2024 as we grow the revenue of this business. So bookings will translate in this kind of a subscription-based model to revenue a little bit over time. But that's roughly the timing of what we're trying to get done here.

事實上，我們已經從我們的測試客戶那裡得到了相當積極的市場反饋，事實上，不僅認可我們的工作，甚至可以作為我們獲得其他飛行員的參考。所以這很令人興奮。因此，我們要做的是在 2023 年專注於繼續確保測試版客戶的成功並擴大測試版客戶群和早期採用者的渠道，我們將繼續對市場反饋發表評論，我們的測試計劃，隨著時間的推移，早期採用者管道，隨著我們這項業務收入的增長，預計將在 2024 年初開始分享對預訂和其他關鍵業務指標的評論。因此，隨著時間的推移，預訂將以這種基於訂閱的模式轉化為收入。但這大致就是我們在這裡嘗試完成的時間。

We'll hear next now from Marc Riddick with Sidoti.

接下來我們將聽到 Marc Riddick 和 Sidoti 的談話。

So I want to touch a little bit on one of the things that was mentioned was some of the increase in activity around travel and meeting folks in person, if I heard that correctly. So if you could touch a little bit on that, maybe if we're seeing -- is there much of a differentiation in pickup either by industries, geographies? Or like so maybe you could put a little bit more on that, I'm sort of curious as to where we're getting to see more folks who want to be seen face-to-face?

因此，如果我沒聽錯的話，我想談一談所提到的其中一件事，那就是圍繞旅行和與人會面的活動有所增加。所以，如果你能稍微談談這個，也許如果我們看到 - 行業和地區的提貨有很大差異嗎？或者像這樣也許你可以多說一點，我有點好奇我們在哪裡可以看到更多想要面對面的人？

Yes, Marc, I'll try to tackle that, and Krishnan can kind of chime in. What we're starting to see is definitely where we're trying to get back in front of our clients. We feel that it is important to do that. We've started to see a pickup in terms of those travel costs. Having put that into its context, it's still not the same levels of 2018 and 2019. So we still believe the G&A side of it, as I made in my prepared remarks, they'll be around 15% as a percentage of revenue, maybe a little bit less. So it's not going to go back up to the 20s. But nonetheless, we still think it's a very important part to see our clients to be in front of them. I think with candidates, again, I still think Zooms are the first wave as they go through the interview processes, maybe the second part of it, but obviously, towards the final part of the interview process. It's becoming more of a live meeting, meeting with candidates, et cetera.

是的，馬克，我會努力解決這個問題，克里希南可以插話。我們開始看到的肯定是我們試圖回到客戶面前的地方。我們認為這樣做很重要。我們已經開始看到這些差旅費用有所回升。考慮到這一點，它仍然與 2018 年和 2019 年的水平不同。所以我們仍然相信它的 G&A 方面，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，它們將佔收入的 15% 左右，也許少一點。所以它不會回到20年代。但是儘管如此，我們仍然認為看到我們的客戶出現在他們面前是一個非常重要的部分。我認為對於候選人來說，我仍然認為 Zooms 是面試過程中的第一波，也許是面試的第二部分，但顯然，在面試過程的最後部分。它變得更像是現場會議，與候選人會面等等。

So we're just starting to see a little bit more of that, but certainly not to the old levels. And our best gut based on conversations, I still think people are in 2x to 3x a week for the most part. And so we're still going to see some activity work and try to go in and see our clients. But because there's a more limited window to do so where people were in Monday through Friday, another in 2 or 3 days, and they're really busy those 2 and 3 days. It puts a natural kind of hedge on that getting 2 out of control.

所以我們才剛剛開始看到更多，但肯定不會達到舊水平。而我們基於對話的最佳直覺，我仍然認為人們大部分時間每週 2 到 3 次。因此，我們仍將看到一些活動在起作用，並嘗試進去見我們的客戶。但是因為這樣做的窗口更有限，人們在周一到週五，另一個在 2 或 3 天內，他們真的很忙那 2 和 3 天。它為 2 失控提供了一種自然的對沖。

And then (inaudible) if you could touch a little bit on -- I mean, certainly, the headlines have been out there for quite some time as far as light-off particularly in the tax space and maybe more so lately in financials. (inaudible) talk a little bit about what you're seeing in talent availability from those actions or perhaps other things and maybe what we -- what you're expecting to see maybe without too much of a crystal ball, but what we're expecting to see as far as talent availability through the year?

然後（聽不清）如果你能稍微談談——我的意思是，當然，頭條新聞已經出現了很長一段時間，特別是在稅收領域，最近在金融領域可能更是如此。 （聽不清）談談你從這些行動或其他事情中看到的人才可用性，也許我們 - 你期望看到的可能沒有太多水晶球，但我們正在希望看到全年的人才可用性？

Yes. So it's Krishnan here, Marc. Thanks for that question. Look, I think the majority of those layoffs aren't at the level that we operate at, okay? So Number 1. So we're not seeing that level of candidate appear on our radar screen, okay? Having said that, I think that in the cases where VPs and others are being touched by these kinds of layoffs. We are seeing that emerge. I think in the tech sector, things have slowed down as they ramped up so fast that needed to slow down and people are trying to make more strategic choices now. It doesn't mean there's no hiring going on in tech, just to be clear. It's just a slower process right now and very strategic in terms of choices that they're making rather than hiring multiple people in one fell swoop. So that's what really what we're beginning to see happen.

是的。馬克，這裡是克里希南。謝謝你的問題。看，我認為大部分裁員都沒有達到我們運營的水平，好嗎？所以第一。所以我們沒有看到那個級別的候選人出現在我們的雷達屏幕上，好嗎？話雖如此，我認為在副總裁和其他人受到此類裁員影響的情況下。我們正在看到這種情況的出現。我認為在科技行業，事情已經放緩，因為它們增長得如此之快以至於需要放緩，人們現在正試圖做出更多的戰略選擇。這並不意味著技術領域沒有招聘，只是要明確一點。現在這只是一個較慢的過程，而且就他們做出的選擇而言非常具有戰略意義，而不是一口氣僱用多個人。這就是我們開始看到的真正情況。

I guess, depending on what happens in the economy and what level of the layoffs to get to, we'll see what happens with the availability. But we still see in our space, we're still seeing the war for talent occurring inside of the spaces that Heidrick operates in today.

我想，根據經濟情況以及裁員的程度，我們將看看可用性會發生什麼。但我們仍然在我們的空間中看到，我們仍然看到在 Heidrick 今天經營的空間內發生人才爭奪戰。

And then (inaudible) touch a little bit on -- and I may have missed this, so forgive me if I did. But what if you could touch a little bit about your current views on the potential acquisition pipeline availability, valuations and the length?

然後（聽不清）觸摸一點——我可能錯過了這個，如果我錯過了請原諒我。但是，如果您能稍微談談您目前對潛在收購管道可用性、估值和長度的看法呢？

Sure, Marc, I'm trying to answer that better. Can you give me just a little more color on what you're looking for?

當然，馬克，我正在嘗試更好地回答這個問題。你能給我更多關於你正在尋找的東西的顏色嗎？

Sure. I'm looking at potential targets and sort of maybe what you're seeing out there as far as what's available and whether valuations are about the same as they were 3 to 6 months ago? Or are focusing a little more rational with their expectations or not?

當然。我正在尋找潛在的目標，也許你在那裡看到了什麼可用的東西，以及估值是否與 3 到 6 個月前大致相同？或者他們的期望是否更加理性？

Yes. Well, rationality. Well, obviously, look, we just did a deal with Atreus, I would say that it was a very rational deal on both parties. I think both parties do a fine job of coming to a good agreement that benefits them both. In terms of our pipeline, our pipeline remains, again, strong with interest rates going up, cost of capital going up, companies that may not be as mature as we are, et cetera. And our need of capital or balance sheet, it definitely points them in the direction towards us. And I think there is some rationality. I think it's still very much a mix. In my experience to really get what I would call market rationality to your pipeline, you need a bit of slowdown to be a little bit more perpetual longer and tail.

是的。嗯，理性。好吧，顯然，看，我們剛剛與 Atreus 達成了交易，我想說這對雙方來說都是非常理性的交易。我認為雙方在達成對雙方都有利的良好協議方面做得很好。就我們的管道而言，我們的管道再次保持強勁，利率上升，資本成本上升，公司可能不像我們那麼成熟，等等。而我們對資本或資產負債表的需求，無疑將他們指向了我們的方向。我認為有一些合理性。我認為它仍然是一個混合體。根據我的經驗，要真正讓你的管道獲得我所謂的市場理性，你需要稍微放慢速度才能變得更持久、更持久。

People start to realize that it's not just -- it's not going to impact me or it's not going to impact valuations for long and we'll come right back. So I'll try to hold my breath and wait for it to pass. So that's always kind of the trick of waiting to see if that kind of comes in to fold. But we definitely have conversations within Executive Search, Heidrick Consulting, with On-Demand Talent with a lot of different types of companies in different industries that we look at all the time. So I will say it's gotten a little bit better, but I still think it's got a way to go, and I think only time potentially with uncertainty, which is really what this market is right now. Especially the numbers that have just been coming out, still make it look very uncertain in terms of 2 hikes, 4 hikes, 6 hikes who knows and people know it's going up. So cost of capital is certainly not going to get cheaper.

人們開始意識到這不僅僅是——它不會影響我，也不會長期影響估值，我們會馬上回來的。所以我會試著屏住呼吸，等待它過去。所以這總是一種等待看是否棄牌的技巧。但我們肯定會在 Executive Search、Heidrick Consulting 和 On-Demand Talent 內部與我們一直關注的不同行業的許多不同類型的公司進行對話。所以我會說它已經好一點了，但我仍然認為它還有很長的路要走，而且我認為只有時間可能存在不確定性，這就是這個市場現在的情況。尤其是剛剛公佈的數字，就 2 次加息、4 次加息、6 次加息而言，人們仍然知道它在上升，這看起來非常不確定。因此，資本成本肯定不會變得更便宜。

(Operator Instructions) We'll move on to Tobey Sommer with Truist Securities.

（操作員說明）我們將轉到 Truist Securities 的 Tobey Sommer。

I was wondering if you could start out by maybe telling us what you're hearing from your best and biggest clients about their demand. And I imagine at least some of those buy across your business units.

我想知道你是否可以先告訴我們你從最好和最大的客戶那裡聽到的關於他們需求的信息。我想至少其中一些人會跨業務部門購買。

Sure. Yes. So Tobey, I think if I start with tech, we're basically seeing it go a bit slower. I think there are topics inside tech that are still quite hot. AI, things like that, where there is high and going on. There's a lot of functional hiring still happening inside of the tech industry as well. But likely, some of the growth ideas are a bit slower than they were in the past. Inside of industrial, we're seeing with with everything that all the conversations happening around energy, about energy transitions, there's lots of work that's going on and momentum inside of that. I think with sort of tech-enabling industrial companies, there's lots of work going inside of that. So those are themes that are -- that seem to be pretty strong. We're seeing a lot of CEO (inaudible) activity in the consumer space, probably more so than we've seen in a while. So that's a theme that's inside there.

當然。是的。所以 Tobey，我認為如果我從技術開始，我們基本上會看到它發展得有點慢。我認為技術內部的一些話題仍然很熱門。人工智能，諸如此類的事情，在高潮和持續的地方。科技行業內部仍在進行大量職能招聘。但很可能，一些增長想法比過去慢了一點。在工業內部，我們看到所有圍繞能源發生的對話，關於能源轉型，有很多工作正在進行，其中有很多動力。我認為對於某種支持技術的工業公司，其中有很多工作要做。所以這些主題是 - 似乎非常強大。我們在消費者領域看到了很多 CEO（聽不清）活動，可能比我們一段時間以來看到的更多。所以這是裡面的一個主題。

Private equity is still operating at a higher level than it was pre-pandemic is what I'd want you to know for us as we see it. It isn't at the frothy levels that it was in 2021, but still operating at a pretty strong level over there. In healthcare, life sciences, medical devices, health care services, things like that are pretty strong. Biotech is trying to find its way is what I'd say. So those are strong areas. And in Financial Services, we're seeing -- we continue to see work in the payment space as a theme was something that's strong growth. Probably the one that's sort of going a bit slower is the banking sector, but the rest of the sector is insurance. Insurance is still quite hot. There's a lot of activity going in there. So we've got it organized sector by sector, but that gives you an idea of some of the work that we're seeing.

私募股權的運營水平仍高於大流行前水平，這是我想讓你知道的。它不像 2021 年那樣處於泡沫水平，但仍處於相當強勁的水平。在醫療保健、生命科學、醫療設備、醫療保健服務等領域非常強大。生物技術正在努力找到它的方式就是我要說的。所以這些都是強項。在金融服務領域，我們看到——我們繼續看到支付領域的工作是一個強勁增長的主題。可能有點慢的是銀行業，但該行業的其餘部分是保險業。保險還是挺火的。那裡有很多活動。所以我們已經按部門組織了它，但這讓你對我們看到的一些工作有所了解。

How do you go about of assessing the sort of classic build versus buy in your capital deployment? Because you've opted to continue to assemble On-Demand businesses, the acquisition yet are pursuing an internal approach for Navigator. How were those sort of conclusions, the right ones from your perspective?

在您的資本部署中，您如何評估經典構建與購買的類型？因為您選擇繼續組裝按需業務，所以此次收購仍在為 Navigator 尋求一種內部方法。這些結論如何，從你的角度來看是正確的嗎？

Okay. Let me try to talk about that a little bit, Tobey, and then I'll have Krishnan jump in. In terms of the On-Demand Talent side of it, we absolutely got both, okay. So we look at both internal build as well as a buy. And we look at it both in terms of an ROI for our shareholders and what makes the most sense, but also the experience of making sure that we're competitive.

好的。 Tobey，讓我試著談談這個，然後我會讓 Krishnan 加入進來。就按需人才方面而言，我們絕對兩全其美，好吧。因此，我們同時關注內部構建和購買。我們不僅從股東的投資回報率和最有意義的方面來看待它，而且還從確保我們具有競爭力的經驗的角度來看待它。

So for example, when you take a look at Germany and Atreus to build the time it would take to drop the revenues, the process, the systems, the people, that could be a 3 to 5-year journey and you can accelerate that journey by combining yourself and coming together with a great partner like Atreus which does 2 things. One, yes, it accelerates you, but also from a competitive advantage point of view, it takes what we consider a very key business and kind of ties it on with us right away versus trying to build them at the same time, potentially them partnering with one of our competitors or with somebody who can become one of our competitors. So a lot goes into that thought. A lot of discussion happens at the board level with management teams trying to make sure we're really executing on the right decision.

因此，舉例來說，當你看看德國和 Atreus 來建立減少收入、流程、系統、人員所需的時間時，這可能是 3 到 5 年的旅程，你可以加快這個旅程通過結合自己並與像 Atreus 這樣的偉大合作夥伴一起做兩件事。第一，是的，它可以加速你的發展，但從競爭優勢的角度來看，它需要我們認為非常關鍵的業務，並立即將其與我們聯繫起來，而不是試圖同時建立它們，可能它們會合作與我們的競爭對手之一或可以成為我們競爭對手之一的人。這個想法涉及很多。董事會層面進行了大量討論，管理團隊試圖確保我們真正執行的是正確的決策。

On the other element, Krishnan, maybe you want to jump in on. Yes.

在另一個方面，Krishnan，也許你想加入進來。是的。

Sure. Yes. So on something like or on Heidrick Navigator, I mean, Number 1, we don't think there's another asset out there that does what we're trying to do. So buying it really wasn't a choice. Having said that, there are some things we're good at. We have the IP. We have the insight on a variety of these topics that we think we can bring. So we partner. As we referenced before, we partnered with a world-class human capital AI firm, (inaudible) AI to be able to drive the solution. So Heidrick is not necessarily the tech group that's building this. So we have an exclusive partnership with them to be able to build it and do that. So we do think about that from that context. But we've got a lot of IP. We've got a lot of insight, and this is an idea that is being well received in the marketplace, and there's no solution to go by.

當然。是的。所以在諸如 Heidrick Navigator 之類的東西上，我的意思是，第一，我們認為沒有其他資產可以做我們正在嘗試做的事情。所以買它真的不是一個選擇。話雖如此，但有些事情我們很擅長。我們有知識產權。我們對我們認為可以帶來的各種主題都有深刻的見解。所以我們合作。正如我們之前提到的，我們與世界一流的人力資本人工智能公司合作，（聽不清）人工智能能夠推動解決方案。所以 Heidrick 不一定是建造它的科技集團。因此，我們與他們建立了獨家合作夥伴關係，以便能夠構建它並做到這一點。所以我們確實是從那個背景下考慮的。但是我們有很多知識產權。我們有很多見解，這是一個在市場上很受歡迎的想法，沒有解決方案。

Numbers of question that I may have missed, and I apologize if I did. But what's embedded in your revenue guidance for the first quarter? What's organic revenue and -- or you could just give us a specific Atreus and other acquired revenue and we'll back it out.

我可能錯過了很多問題，如果我錯過了，我深表歉意。但是您第一季度的收入指導中包含什麼？什麼是有機收入——或者你可以給我們一個特定的 Atreus 和其他獲得的收入，我們會支持它。

What would you consider organic? And the reason I asked the question, I'm not trying to be a bit silly. But we've had other acquisitions that we've had in the past as well. We've had business Talent Group now for a couple of years as well as partnership. So are you meaning just to Atreus since that's really the latest?

你會認為什麼是有機的？我問這個問題的原因，並不是想變得有點傻。但我們過去也進行過其他收購。我們現在已經擁有商業人才集團以及合作夥伴關係幾年了。那麼你是只對 Atreus 說的，因為那真的是最新的嗎？

Anything that's been acquired in the last 12 months that wasn't present in the year ago period, I think it's a classic definition.

過去 12 個月內獲得但一年前不存在的任何東西，我認為這是一個經典定義。

Yes. I mean for the most part, that's simply Atreus and that would be in our On-Demand Talent segment. And the way that I would kind of give you some thoughts around that. We disclosed, I believe, $61 million in 2021 revenue. And you would expect on a growth rate to 23% since we know there'll be headwinds, high single, low double-digit type growth rates from that point -- data point will probably put you in the right ballpark for 2023. Now do remember we closed on February 1, so 11/12 of that, Tobey, if you will. But the last 12 months, that's pretty much been it.

是的。我的意思是，在大多數情況下，這只是 Atreus，那將屬於我們的按需人才部分。我會給你一些想法的方式。我相信，我們披露了 2021 年的 6100 萬美元收入。你會期望增長率達到 23%，因為我們知道從那時起會有逆風，高單位數，低兩位數類型的增長率——數據點可能會讓你在 2023 年處於正確的範圍內。現在做請記住，我們在 2 月 1 日關閉，所以 11/12，托比，如果你願意的話。但在過去的 12 個月裡，幾乎就是這樣。

Now we've had acquisitions and Executive Search side that pertains to some of our Nordic regions, et cetera, but they're pretty small. So I don't think they're really meaningful in terms of what we're looking at.

現在我們已經有了與我們的一些北歐地區相關的收購和獵頭方面，等等，但它們非常小。因此，我認為就我們正在研究的內容而言，它們並沒有真正的意義。

Do you have an expectation you could share with us for capital expenditures that for internal R&D and software development that will roll through the income statement and be capitalized this year?

您是否期望您可以與我們分享今年將通過損益表滾動並資本化的內部研發和軟件開發的資本支出？

Capitalized, that's a good question. So we talked about this year, again, probably in the range of 2025 kind of throwing through the P&L. I think on the capitalized side of it, we probably look more around the $5 million to $10 million would be on the capitalization that strictly pertain to capitalized software development costs that we would have on there. Those would typically be amortized, again, 3 to 5 years depending on which part of the software that we're looking at and the longevity and the useful life. But those would probably be about the right numbers.

大寫，這是個好問題。所以我們再次談到了今年，可能在 2025 年的範圍內拋出損益表。我認為在它的資本化方面，我們可能更多地關注 500 萬到 1000 萬美元的資本化，這與我們在那裡的資本化軟件開發成本嚴格相關。這些通常會再次攤銷 3 到 5 年，具體取決於我們正在查看的軟件的哪個部分以及壽命和使用壽命。但這些可能是正確的數字。

And last one for me. How do you think about cyclical? You've got a portfolio of businesses that you're expanding and you're coming out with a service here that will be a subscription. Do you think your expansion areas are sort of not cyclical or cyclical in a different way than the cornerstone search business?

最後一個給我。你如何看待週期性的？您擁有正在擴展的業務組合，並且您將在這裡推出一項訂閱服務。您是否認為您的擴展領域不是周期性的，或者與基石搜索業務的周期性不同？

Yes. I mean I think there's a couple of questions there. One, cyclicality, one of the wind blows, kind of which one faces, no pressure, which one faces, a little bit of pressure, which one faces, a lot of pressure. So I think that we're building things that that definitely face less pressure that we see in correlation to macro headwinds, okay? I think the On-Demand business as it matures, has the potential to have a different cycle associated with it as well, because as they're saying, we're in the first inning of that game. And as the adoption of that grows and continues, it's going to have a different cycle, we believe, than what it has today, and that gets to be proven, okay? But it's in the early stages in terms of how people start using that as it comes to the market.

是的。我的意思是我認為那裡有幾個問題。一，週期性，一種風吹過，一種面對，沒有壓力，一種面對，一點壓力，一種面對，很大的壓力。所以我認為我們正在構建的東西肯定比我們看到的與宏觀逆風相關的壓力要小，好嗎？我認為隨著點播業務的成熟，它也有可能有一個與之相關的不同周期，因為正如他們所說，我們正處於這場比賽的第一局。隨著對它的採用的增長和持續，我們相信，它的周期將與今天不同，這將得到證明，好嗎？但就人們如何開始使用它進入市場而言，它還處於早期階段。

The subscription model business, that's one that -- the headwinds that typically those face once they get up and running is on new subscriptions and new clients. So that's a different kind of cycle that all those companies face. But the first goal is to build that high-value user base that we have. I don't know if that's...

訂閱模式業務就是這樣一種業務——一旦啟動並運行，通常面臨的不利因素是新訂閱和新客戶。所以這是所有這些公司都面臨的一種不同的周期。但首要目標是建立我們擁有的高價值用戶群。我不知道那是不是...

That is helpful. If I could sneak in one more. If there is a little bit more oscillation in the average revenue per Consultant and Executive Search and we sort of bounce around that band that you said we expect to settle in between 1.8% in the low 2s? Is there -- how do we think about margins in that context? Is there a significant difference in either the segment or corporate margin at a 1.8%, 2% or 2.2%?

這很有幫助。如果我能再偷偷溜進來一次就好了。如果每個顧問和獵頭的平均收入有一點波動，我們會在你說的那個區間反彈，我們預計會穩定在 1.8% 的低 2 之間？在這種情況下，我們如何看待利潤率？ 1.8%、2% 或 2.2% 的部門或公司利潤率是否存在顯著差異？

No, I think when you look at it from a segment point of view, I would not expect a meaningful difference in Executive Search or the enterprise as much. So as you know, we would do 2 things, Tobey. I think the first one is we would assess the longevity of that oscillation. And if we felt like it was permanent, right? Those are different actions than temporary. Our view -- and this happened during COVID, where we felt like 2021 was going to come back strong. Now clearly, it came back stronger than we anticipated, but still it came back strong.

不，我認為當你從細分的角度來看它時，我不希望在 Executive Search 或企業中有如此大的有意義的差異。正如你所知，我們會做兩件事，Tobey。我認為第一個是我們將評估這種振蕩的持續時間。如果我們覺得它是永久性的，對嗎？這些是不同於臨時的行動。我們的觀點——這發生在 COVID 期間，我們覺得 2021 年會強勢回歸。現在很明顯，它比我們預期的更強大，但它仍然很強大。

Our view is even if there is a mild or short or low depth of recession that 2024 will be a good bounce back year for the most part. We've got our reasons for believing it. So my comment is, I think it'd be very temporary at that level if it were to break through the bottom end of that band. And we want to make sure that we don't, again, be $0.01-wise and a pound foolish and to make sure that we've got the team ready to go for 2024 and to be able to execute on the strategy. And that strategy, in my opinion, paid off very, very well for us in '21 and '22.

我們的觀點是，即使出現溫和、短暫或低深度的衰退，2024 年在很大程度上也將是一個很好的反彈年。我們有理由相信它。所以我的評論是，我認為如果它要突破該波段的底部，那將是非常暫時的。我們希望確保我們不會再一次在 0.01 美元和一英鎊之間變得愚蠢，並確保我們已經讓團隊準備好迎接 2024 年並能夠執行該戰略。在我看來，這種策略在 21 年和 22 年為我們帶來了非常非常好的回報。

(inaudible) no other questions at this time, I'd like to turn things back to Krishnan for closing remarks.

（聽不清）此時沒有其他問題，我想把事情轉回 Krishnan 的結束語。

Thank you. So just if I summarize, we're extremely pleased with the results that we announced today. We continue to operate in a dynamic market that's got very consistent demand for human capital services across many offerings. We're working hard to continue to deliver exceptional value to our Heidrick clients and growth to our Heidrick shareholders, all within the framework of a clear strategic vision. We thank you for joining, and we look forward to updating you on the next quarter call. Thank you.

謝謝。因此，如果我總結一下，我們對今天宣布的結果非常滿意。我們繼續在一個充滿活力的市場中運營，該市場對許多產品的人力資本服務有著非常一致的需求。我們正在努力工作，繼續為我們的 Heidrick 客戶提供卓越的價值，並為我們的 Heidrick 股東帶來增長，所有這一切都在清晰的戰略願景框架內。感謝您的加入，我們期待在下一個季度的電話會議上為您更新。謝謝。

And again, that will conclude today's conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect.

再一次，今天的會議到此結束。謝謝大家加入我們。您現在可以斷開連接。