Heidrick & Struggles International Inc (HSII) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Heidrick & Struggles Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

下午好，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加海德思哲 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Now at this time, I'd like to turn things over to Mr. Steve Horwitz, Interim Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

現在這個時候，我想把事情交給投資人關係臨時主管 Steve Horwitz 先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and welcome to our 2023 third quarter conference call.

謝謝，歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第三季電話會議。

Before we begin, we'd like to congratulate VP of IR, Suzanne Rosenberg, on her newborn and a wonderful addition to our Heidrick family. While she is on maternity leave for the quarter and year-end, I will be serving as the Interim Head of IR, having been placed through the On-Demand Talent group.

在開始之前，我們要祝賀 IR 副總裁蘇珊娜·羅森伯格 (Suzanne Rosenberg) 的新生兒，並為我們的 Heidrick 家族增添了一位出色的新成員。當她在季度和年末休產假時，我將透過按需人才小組擔任 IR 的臨時主管。

Moving on to the business of the day. Joining me on today's call is our President and CEO, Krishnan Rajagopalan; and Chief Financial Officer, Mark Harris. We posted our accompanying slides on the IR homepage of our website at heidrick.com, and we encourage you to view these slides for additional context to our prepared remarks.

繼續今天的事。與我一起參加今天電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Krishnan Rajagopalan；和首席財務官馬克·哈里斯。我們在 heidrick.com 網站的 IR 主頁上發布了隨附的幻燈片，我們鼓勵您查看這些幻燈片，以了解我們準備好的評論的更多背景資訊。

Please note that in the materials presented today, we may refer to non-GAAP financial measures that we believe provide additional insight into our underlying results. Reconciliations between these non-GAAP financial measures and the most comparable GAAP measures may be found in the earnings press release.

請注意，在今天提供的資料中，我們可能會參考非公認會計準則財務指標，我們認為這些指標可以為我們的基本結果提供更多見解。這些非公認會計原則財務指標與最具可比性的公認會計原則指標之間的調節可以在收益新聞稿中找到。

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.

此外，在我們的言論中，我們可能會做出某些前瞻性陳述。我們要求您參考今天新聞稿中包含的安全港語言。

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

克里希南，我現在把電話轉給你。

Thank you, Steve. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。大家下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。

Before we turn to our results, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the terrorist attacks on Israel that occurred a few weeks ago and the tragic events continuing to unfold in Israel and Gaza. Our thoughts go out to the countless people whose lives have been lost and changed forever. As a firm, we condemn all acts of terror and violence and reject all forms of racism and hate. We continue to focus on ensuring the safety and well-being of our colleagues and supporting friends and families around the world who have been impacted by these devastating events.

在我們討論結果之前，我想花一點時間承認幾週前發生的針對以色列的恐怖襲擊以及以色列和加薩地帶繼續發生的悲慘事件。我們向無數失去生命並永遠改變生活的人們表示哀悼。作為一家公司，我們譴責所有恐怖和暴力行為，並拒絕一切形式的種族主義和仇恨。我們繼續致力於確保同事的安全和福祉，並支持世界各地受到這些毀滅性事件影響的朋友和家人。

Now turning to our financial results. We're very pleased with our third quarter results where we delivered $263 million of revenue, which was at the upper end of guidance and within $1 million from being the largest third quarter in our history. Our revenue was 3% stronger than last year's third quarter, a return to year-over-year growth. With our continued focus on robust profitability, we're also proud to have achieved our 13th consecutive quarter of double-digit adjusted EBITDA margin.

現在轉向我們的財務表現。我們對第三季的業績非常滿意，我們實現了 2.63 億美元的收入，處於指導值的上限，距離我們歷史上最大的第三季收入僅差 100 萬美元。我們的營收比去年第三季成長了 3%，恢復了年成長。隨著我們持續專注於強勁的獲利能力，我們也很自豪能夠連續第 13 個季度實現兩位數的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

Our execution this quarter was impressive, especially given the uncertain macro environment in which we have been operating. Clearly, geopolitical risk has also meaningfully increased over the past few weeks, which will make our markets harder to navigate. But we're prepared to do so, just as we have in the past. It's important to note, however, that while we've historically demonstrated our ability to execute in difficult environments, these factors, among many others, make it difficult for anyone to accurately predict exactly what business conditions will look like over the coming few quarters and beyond. In response to current conditions, our clients are creating a wide range of scenario planning expectations based on a range of outcomes, as we are as well.

我們本季的執行情況令人印象深刻，特別是考慮到我們營運所處的宏觀環境不確定。顯然，過去幾週地緣政治風險也顯著增加，這將使我們的市場更加難以駕馭。但我們已經準備好這樣做，就像我們過去所做的那樣。然而，值得注意的是，雖然我們歷來證明了我們在困難環境中執行的能力，但這些因素以及其他許多因素使任何人都很難準確預測未來幾季的業務狀況，以及超過。為了應對當前的情況，我們的客戶正在根據一系列結果創建廣泛的情境規劃期望，我們也是如此。

With that as a backdrop, I want to be explicitly clear that regardless of how the economy moves in the short to medium term, we'll remain relentlessly focused on executing our One Heidrick strategy. As I mentioned before, this strategy encompasses the two main areas we focus on with our clients as their global leadership adviser: first, we bring the best talent to their companies, whether it's permanent executive-level talent or on-demand talent; and second, we help leadership and organizations to be more effective through our consulting and now our digital offering.

以此為背景，我想明確表示，無論經濟在中短期內如何發展，我們都將繼續堅持不懈地專注於執行我們的 One Heidrick 戰略。正如我之前提到的，這項策略涵蓋了我們作為客戶的全球領導顧問所關注的兩個主要領域：首先，我們為他們的公司帶來最優秀的人才，無論是永久的高階主管級人才還是按需人才；其次，我們透過我們的諮詢和現在的數位產品幫助領導層和組織提高效率。

In doing so, we are continuing our decades-long position as a global market leader within Executive Search while also investing in the diversification of our product offerings. Alongside our Executive Search services, we have a clear set of diversified solutions, which includes offerings in On-Demand Talent, Heidrick Consulting and the relatively soon to be contributor, Heidrick Digital. These diversified solutions now represent nearly 25% of our revenues, providing higher growth potential for the broader Heidrick & Struggles enterprise while also beginning to lessen the impact of revenue cyclicality that have always existed within Executive Search. These diversified solutions also make us a stronger partner to our clients as we're able to provide them with a more comprehensive suite of talent, leadership and human capital offerings.

在此過程中，我們將繼續保持數十年來作為獵人頭領域全球市場領導者的地位，同時也投資於我們產品的多元化。除了我們的高階主管獵頭服務外，我們還擁有一套清晰的多元化解決方案，其中包括 On-Demand Talent、Heidrick Consulting 和相對較早的貢獻者 Heidrick Digital 提供的服務。這些多元化的解決方案目前占我們收入的近 25%，為更廣泛的海德思哲企業提供了更高的成長潛力，同時也開始減輕獵人頭領域一直存在的收入週期性的影響。這些多元化的解決方案也使我們成為客戶更強大的合作夥伴，因為我們能夠為他們提供更全面的人才、領導力和人力資本產品。

Critically, our diversified approach is more important than ever. Our clients' talent and human capital needs are continuing to grow and evolve and at a much faster pace. For example, rapid business transformations, including more recent AI-driven ones, are putting even more demands on leadership talent. Topics such as cybersecurity and sustainability are growing in importance for Boards and companies. And there's a continued push-pull around leader and employee expectations and culture related to remote, hybrid and traditional workplace environments. As our clients navigate through these needs, we're working closely with them, advising them on these issues and providing them with a set of integrated talent and human capital advisory services in ways that previously have not been available to them.

至關重要的是，我們的多元化方法比以往任何時候都更加重要。我們客戶的人才和人力資本需求正在以更快的速度持續成長和發展。例如，快速的業務轉型，包括最近由人工智慧驅動的轉型，對領導人才提出了更高的要求。網路安全和永續發展等主題對於董事會和公司來說越來越重要。與遠距、混合和傳統工作環境相關的領導者和員工期望以及文化存在持續的推拉。當我們的客戶滿足這些需求時，我們與他們密切合作，就這些問題向他們提供建議，並以他們以前無法獲得的方式為他們提供一套全面的人才和人力資本諮詢服務。

Now turning to each of our businesses, beginning with Executive Search. There has been a modest slowdown, reflecting macro and portfolio mix changes within the verticals in which we operate. While global technology services and financial services experienced some headwinds, all other practice groups grew year-over-year. Generally, the search business has been somewhat stabilized over the last few quarters, and our pricing remains strong. Demand has been more resilient with CEO, divisional CEO, supply chain, financial officers and Board of Director roles.

現在轉向我們的每一項業務，從高階主管獵人頭開始。成長速度略有放緩，反映出我們經營的垂直產業內宏觀和投資組合的變化。儘管全球技術服務和金融服務遇到了一些阻力，但所有其他業務部門都在逐年成長。總體而言，搜尋業務在過去幾季已經有所穩定，我們的定價仍然強勁。執行長、部門執行長、供應鏈、財務官員和董事會角色的需求更具彈性。

Now as we talk about demand stabilization, we should keep in mind that the last few years have included an abnormally low demand period during the pandemic, followed by an abnormally high demand environment as companies began to refocus on future leadership needs. To more effectively measure our progress, it makes sense to take a longer-term view and a more comprehensive look at the growth patterns.

現在，當我們談論需求穩定時，我們應該記住，過去幾年在疫情期間經歷了異常低的需求時期，隨後隨著企業開始重新關注未來的領導力需求，出現了異常高的需求環境。為了更有效地衡量我們的進展，有必要從更長遠的角度、更全面地審視成長模式。

From the beginning of 2017 until now, we have delivered a very respectable 7.5% compound annual growth rate. Additionally, the business has been meaningfully profitable, producing north of $50 million in adjusted EBITDA in 8 of the last 10 quarters, including nearly $52 million this quarter. This profitability is very important to us as it helps us drive investments in our diversified solutions.

從2017年初到現在，我們實現了非常可觀的7.5%的複合年增長率。此外，該業務還實現了可觀的盈利，過去 10 個季度中有 8 個季度的調整後 EBITDA 超過 5,000 萬美元，其中本季接近 5,200 萬美元。這種獲利能力對我們來說非常重要，因為它有助於我們推動對多元化解決方案的投資。

Turning to diversified solutions. In On-Demand Talent, we're very excited that our strategic acquisition of Atreus continues to drive outsized growth, and we now have a larger presence in Europe as a result of the acquisition. Additionally, demand in the Americas is showing strength. As I mentioned last quarter, we realigned our sales efforts to more directly pursue target good market opportunities, and this realignment has enabled us to focus on the large talent constraints impacting our clients in areas such as AI, HR, CFO and CISO roles. For example, we're seeing an increased number of opportunities and roles for AI business applications, for interim finance leaders, for event-driven strategic implementations and for leadership in uncertain situations, while the labor market remains very tight and we're able to fill these interim positions effectively because of our expansive network of On-Demand Talent. At the same time, talent application volume is at the highest level ever.

轉向多元化的解決方案。在按需人才方面，我們對 Atreus 的策略性收購繼續推動超額成長感到非常興奮，由於此次收購，我們現在在歐洲擁有更大的業務。此外，美洲的需求也顯示出強勁的勢頭。正如我上季度提到的，我們重新調整了銷售工作，以更直接地追求目標良好的市場機會，這種調整使我們能夠專注於在人工智慧、人力資源、財務長和首席資訊安全長等領域影響客戶的巨大人才限制。例如，我們看到人工智慧業務應用程式、臨時財務領導者、事件驅動的策略實施以及不確定情況下的領導力的機會和角色越來越多，而勞動力市場仍然非常緊張，我們能夠由於我們龐大的按需人才網絡，您可以有效地填補這些臨時職位。同時，人才申請量也創歷史最高水準。

Diving deeper into the tight labor market, our ability to combine Executive Search and On-Demand Talent is one powerful illustration of our One Heidrick strategy where we're providing our clients with an expanded set of complementary talent offerings. For example, if a company is rapidly expanding, they may have difficulty quickly filling all of their positions. By partnering with us, while they're working towards the placement of a permanent executive, they can also tap into our vast network of senior independent talent to fill vacant roles on an interim basis. In addition, there are numerous opportunities to help with high-priority project-related work.

深入研究緊張的勞動力市場，我們將高階主管獵人頭和按需人才結合的能力有力地體現了我們的 One Heidrick 策略，即我們為客戶提供一套擴展的互補人才產品。例如，如果一家公司正在迅速擴張，他們可能很難快速填補所有職位。透過與我們合作，他們在努力安置永久主管的同時，也能利用我們龐大的高階獨立人才網絡來臨時填補空缺職位。此外，還有大量機會協助完成高優先順序的專案相關工作。

Another key component of our diversified solutions offering is the Heidrick Consulting segment. As a reminder, the focus of our consulting business is to help clients with leadership assessment and development; to help them align around purpose, culture and strategy; and to provide pragmatic DE&I solutions. This quarter, the consulting business achieved solid organic year-over-year growth and inorganic growth like the businessfourzero, or B4Z, business.

我們多元化解決方案的另一個關鍵組成部分是海德思哲諮詢部門。提醒一下，我們諮詢業務的重點是幫助客戶進行領導力評估和發展；幫助他們圍繞目標、文化和策略保持一致；並提供務實的DE&I解決方案。本季度，諮詢業務實現了穩健的有機年增長和無機增長，例如 Businessfourzero（或 B4Z）業務。

As I mentioned last quarter, our backlog was fairly encouraging, and that strength continued through the third quarter. We did see some of those projects that were on hold begin to flow through the business, and that execution has been a positive driver of our revenues.

正如我上季度提到的，我們的積壓訂單相當令人鼓舞，而這種強勁勢頭持續到了第三季。我們確實看到一些被擱置的項目開始在業務中流通，而這種執行一直是我們收入的積極推動力。

In addition to the nice growth of confirmations compared to last year, we increased our consultant head count from 72 to 90. This helped drive the meaningful revenue growth we achieved compared to last year through purpose-driven culture and leadership projects. As part of the One Heidrick strategy and similar to our On-Demand Talent business, the significant amount of these projects were referred by our search business.

除了與去年相比確認人數大幅增長之外，我們還將顧問人數從72 人增加到90 人。這有助於推動我們透過目標驅動的文化和領導力項目實現與去年相比顯著的收入成長。作為 One Heidrick 策略的一部分，與我們的按需人才業務類似，這些項目的大量內容是由我們的搜尋業務推薦的。

And finally, I'll discuss Heidrick Digital. As we know, this business has the opportunity to be a large contributor to our diversified solutions, albeit further down the road. We feel strongly that the opportunity for our digital offerings, especially Heidrick Navigator, will be significant. When companies take a systematic approach to viewing their talent, they can make better leadership decisions. Whether it's in identifying leaders to promote internally, more effectively aligning leadership talent to business needs, retaining top talent or ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion goals are being met, our offering enables companies to maximize the value of their human capital.

最後，我將討論海德思哲數位公司。正如我們所知，該業務有機會成為我們多元化解決方案的重要貢獻者，儘管未來會更遙遠。我們堅信，我們的數位產品（尤其是 Heidrick Navigator）的機會將是巨大的。當公司採取系統化的方法來審視他們的人才時，他們可以做出更好的領導決策。無論是尋找領導者進行內部晉升、更有效地將領導人才與業務需求結合起來、留住頂尖人才，還是確保實現多元化、公平和包容性目標，我們的產品都能幫助企業實現人力資本價值的最大化。

To that end, we're excited to share that we converted one of our first early access partners from our Heidrick Navigator pilot program into a 3-year subscription. This is great early proof-of-concept success measure. Looking ahead through 2024, we'll be focused on our early adopters, and we're responding to their feedback with periodic opportunities to convert them into subscription clients. We're excited that the feedback for Navigator has been universally positive. The success of the digital offering has also allowed us to target higher volume assessment engagements for Heidrick Consulting. Again, we're still very early in our Heidrick Digital business journey, but we're excited by some of our early successes.

為此，我們很高興與大家分享，我們將首批早期訪問合作夥伴之一從 Heidrick Navigator 試點計劃轉變為 3 年訂閱。這是一個很好的早期概念驗證成功衡量標準。展望 2024 年，我們將重點放在早期採用者，並定期提供將他們轉變為訂閱客戶的機會來回應他們的回饋。我們很高興 Navigator 得到了普遍的正面回饋。數位產品的成功也使我們能夠為海德思哲諮詢提供更高數量的評估業務。再說一次，我們的海德思哲數位業務之旅仍處於早期階段，但我們對早期的一些成功感到興奮。

Now you've all heard me speak quite a bit today about the One Heidrick strategy and how all our businesses are strategically linked. Before we conclude, I'll share a client example that illustrates how our different businesses work together to provide a more diversified comprehensive solution. This example is that of a large company that recently IPO-ed. Their goals were to drive expansion into new markets, accelerate the pace of change in innovation, transform their culture to pursue more strategic growth opportunities, reshape their leadership team and further globalize their business. Our search team introduced the client to our consulting team to perform assessments on potential COO successors from within their organization. After conducting the assessment, they decided that they would continue their search externally with us.

現在你們都已經聽我講了很多關於 One Heidrick 策略以及我們所有業務如何策略連結在一起的內容。在結束之前，我將分享一個客戶範例，說明我們不同的業務如何共同努力提供更多元化的綜合解決方案。這個例子是一家最近首次公開募股的大公司。他們的目標是推動新市場擴張、加速創新變革步伐、轉變文化以尋求更具策略性的成長機會、重塑領導團隊並進一步實現業務全球化。我們的搜尋團隊將客戶介紹給我們的諮詢團隊，以對其組織內潛在的首席營運長繼任者進行評估。進行評估後，他們決定繼續與我們進行外部搜尋。

The comprehensive nature of our approach, coupled with our clear analysis, gave this client the confidence in our ability to be their leadership adviser and has led to a stronger partnership. We now have multiple projects in place with them to drive organization-wide culture change, executive team acceleration and CEO succession planning. This example really gets to the heart of what we are accomplishing with so many of our clients, which is to be their leadership adviser, guiding them to be a stronger company.

我們方法的全面性，加上我們清晰的分析，使該客戶對我們成為他們的領導力顧問的能力充滿信心，並促成了更牢固的合作夥伴關係。我們現在與他們合作實施了多個項目，以推動整個組織的文化變革、執行團隊加速和執行長繼任計劃。這個例子真正觸及了我們為眾多客戶所實現的核心目標，即成為他們的領導顧問，並指導他們成為一家更強大的公司。

So in closing, we continue to be a market leader, and we're relentlessly focused on our One Heidrick strategy, bringing clients the best permanent executive and on-demand talent and helping leadership be more effective through our consulting and digital offerings. Looking ahead, we will continue to develop our diversified solutions as we provide broader, more comprehensive offerings for talent and human capital challenges at the executive level. The fundamentals of the business are solid, and we're excited by the opportunities in front of us.

因此，最後，我們將繼續成為市場領導者，並不懈地專注於我們的One Heidrick 策略，為客戶提供最優秀的長期管理人員和按需人才，並透過我們的諮詢和數位產品幫助領導層更加有效。展望未來，我們將繼續發展多元化的解決方案，為高階主管層面的人才和人力資本挑戰提供更廣泛、更全面的產品。業務的基礎很穩固，我們對眼前的機會感到興奮。

Finally, a big thank you to the Heidrick team for their continued hard work and incredible dedication to our clients.

最後，非常感謝海德思哲團隊的持續辛勤工作和對客戶的難以置信的奉獻。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mark.

我現在想把電話轉給馬克。

Thank you, Krishnan, and good afternoon and evening to everyone on today's call. Today, I will start off with a review of our third quarter results, which came in at the upper end of our guidance, demonstrating strong execution by our team in all business segments. As Krishnan mentioned, growth through our diversified solutions and continued strong profitability remain at the forefront of what we're trying to accomplish for our shareholders in 2023 and beyond.

謝謝克里希南，今天電話會議的大家下午好，晚上好。今天，我將首先回顧我們第三季的業績，該業績處於我們指導的上限，展示了我們團隊在所有業務部門的強大執行力。正如 Krishnan 所提到的，透過我們的多元化解決方案實現成長和持續強勁的獲利能力仍然是我們在 2023 年及以後努力為股東實現目標的首要目標。

Before I dive in the consolidated results for the quarter, I'd like to highlight some numbers associated with our diversified solutions. As Krishnan mentioned, this platform consists of our On-Demand Talent and Heidrick Consulting businesses and will soon include Heidrick Digital. These businesses now represent nearly 25% of total revenue, a considerable change from the 9% when we embarked upon this journey in 2018. In fact, our diversified solutions quadrupled in that time, going from $63 million to $257 million on an annualized basis today or an annual growth rate of 32%. Our strategy will be to continue to invest in these businesses, and we expect they will become increasingly part of our bottom line profitability.

在深入研究本季的綜合業績之前，我想強調一些與我們多元化解決方案相關的數字。正如 Krishnan 所提到的，該平台由我們的 On-Demand Talent 和 Heidrick Consulting 業務組成，並且很快將包括 Heidrick Digital。這些業務現在佔總收入的近25%，與我們2018 年踏上這段旅程時的9% 相比，已經有了很大的變化。事實上，我們的多元化解決方案在那段時間翻了兩番，從年化6,300 萬美元增至如今的2.57 億美元或年增率為32%。我們的策略將是繼續投資這些業務，我們預計它們將越來越成為我們獲利能力的一部分。

Moving on to this quarter's results. On a consolidated basis, third quarter revenue was $263.2 million or 3.1% above revenue for the third quarter of 2022. More specifically, Executive Search revenue decreased 6.6% from Q3 2022 to $198.8 million.

繼續看本季的業績。合併後，第三季營收為 2.632 億美元，比 2022 年第三季營收成長 3.1%。更具體地說，獵人頭收入較 2022 年第三季下降 6.6%，至 1.988 億美元。

Looking at our regional performance compared to the prior quarters, we saw Americas Search revenue was down 8%, Europe was up 8% and Asia Pacific was down 22%. This performance was in line with our expectations due to normal seasonality. Compared to last year's third quarter, we saw a 5% reduction in confirmations. Consultant productivity on a trailing 12-month basis in the third quarter was $1.9 million and compares with $2.5 million in the trailing 12 months of the third quarter of 2022. This is right in the middle of the range we expect in a post-pandemic environment where technology has been enhanced, embraced and accepted by the market.

與前幾季相比，我們的區域業績顯示，美洲搜尋收入下降了 8%，歐洲成長了 8%，亞太地區下降了 22%。由於正常的季節性因素，這一表現符合我們的預期。與去年第三季相比，我們發現確認數量減少了 5%。第三季過去 12 個月的顧問生產力為 190 萬美元，而 2022 年第三季過去 12 個月的顧問生產力為 250 萬美元。這正好處於我們在大流行後環境中預期的範圍的中間位置技術得到增強、被市場接受、接受。

Turning to On-Demand Talent. Revenue was $41.1 million, up 77% compared to the third quarter of 2022. As we have previously discussed, this growth was driven by the positive effects of our Atreus acquisition. Backing out the acquisition for a more comparative results, we saw our legacy On-Demand Talent business revenue fall by approximately 16% compared to the same period last year. While we saw drops in wins, average project sizes and the number of extensions, this seemed consistent with the market. However, we are expecting to see strength in our markets in the short to medium term.

轉向按需人才。營收為 4,110 萬美元，比 2022 年第三季成長 77%。正如我們之前討論的，這一成長是由我們收購 Atreus 的正面影響所推動的。為了獲得更具可比性的結果而放棄收購，我們發現我們傳統的按需人才業務收入與去年同期相比下降了約 16%。雖然我們看到勝利、平均項目規模和擴展數量有所下降，但這似乎與市場情況一致。然而，我們預計在中短期內我們的市場將會走強。

Heidrick Consulting's third quarter revenue grew 22% year-over-year to $23.3 million, partially due to the acquisition of B4Z. And even without their contributions, our legacy HC business was up nearly 10%. Our business is benefiting from the approach to invest in both organic and inorganic growth where 1 plus 1 equals 3 or greater. In addition to revenue growth, we delivered a 17% increase in confirmations from the previous quarter, and we increased the number of consultants by 25% to 90, which we believe will have strong returns in the future. Plus, we're currently in the investment and scaling phase, and we look forward to delivering continued success with the combination of organic of the Heidrick Consulting business, along with future acquisitions that fit within our strategic vision.

Heidrick Consulting 第三季營收年增 22% 至 2,330 萬美元，部分原因是收購了 B4Z。即使沒有他們的貢獻，我們的傳統 HC 業務也成長了近 10%。我們的業務受益於有機成長和無機成長的投資方式，其中 1 加 1 等於 3 或更大。除了收入成長之外，我們的確認數量較上一季增加了 17%，顧問人數增加了 25% 至 90 人，我們相信這將在未來帶來強勁回報。此外，我們目前正處於投資和擴展階段，我們期待透過海德思哲諮詢業務的有機結合以及符合我們策略願景的未來收購來持續取得成功。

Turning to operating expenses. Including recent acquisitions, we saw salary and benefits increased 2.5% from the third quarter of 2022. Variable compensation decreased $13.5 million year-over-year due to a decrease in production. Fixed compensation increased $9.2 million over the third quarter of 2022 due to base salary and payroll taxes, the deferred compensation plan and other costs, partially offset by decreases in RSU amortization and retirement benefits. As a percentage of net revenue, salary and benefits were 63.5% versus 67.2% last year.

轉向營運費用。包括最近的收購在內，我們看到工資和福利較 2022 年第三季增長了 2.5%。由於產量下降，可變薪酬同比減少 1,350 萬美元。由於基本工資和工資稅、遞延薪酬計劃和其他成本，固定薪酬比 2022 年第三季增加了 920 萬美元，部分被 RSU 攤銷和退休福利的減少所抵消。薪資和福利佔淨收入的比例為 63.5%，去年為 67.2%。

General and administrative expenses increased to $37.6 million or 14.3% of net revenue compared to 12.6% of net revenue in the third quarter of 2022. The increase is due to intangible amortization and accretion costs from acquisitions, office occupancy costs and marketing, partially offset by a decrease in other costs.

一般及管理費用增加至3,760 萬美元，佔淨收入的14.3%，而2022 年第三季佔淨收入的12.6%。這一增長是由於收購、辦公室佔用成本和營銷產生的無形攤銷和增值成本造成的，但部分被其他成本的減少。

Last, we remain focused on progressing the development of Heidrick Navigator and our other digital assets through R&D spending. R&D spend for the third quarter was $5.6 million or 2.1% of net revenue versus $5.4 million or 2.1% of net revenue in the third quarter of 2022. Overall, the spending is consistent with prior quarters.

最後，我們仍然專注於透過研發支出來推動 Heidrick Navigator 和其他數位資產的開發。第三季的研發支出為560 萬美元，佔淨收入的2.1%，而2022 年第三季的研發支出為540 萬美元，佔淨收入的2.1%。整體而言，支出與前幾季一致。

As we continue to incorporate M&A activity into our business, we must also record noncash charges related to purchase accounting. Therefore, in terms of underlying profitability, and consistent with comments we made in the previous quarter, we view adjusted EBITDA as the best proxy of our operating performance of the business, and we'll use this going forward, as we're doing internally. In the third quarter, adjusted EBITDA was $32.3 million compared to $33.3 million in the third quarter of 2022. As Krishnan mentioned, we recorded our 13th consecutive double-digit adjusted EBITDA margin at 12.3%, which compares to 13% last year.

隨著我們繼續將併購活動納入我們的業務，我們還必須記錄與採購會計相關的非現金費用。因此，就基本獲利能力而言，與我們在上一季發表的評論一致，我們認為調整後的EBITDA 是我們業務經營業績的最佳代表，我們將在未來使用這一點，就像我們內部所做的那樣。第三季調整後EBITDA 為3,230 萬美元，而2022 年第三季為3,330 萬美元。正如Krishnan 所提到的，我們連續13 次實現兩位數調整後EBITDA 利潤率為12.3%，而去年為13% 。

On a segment basis, Executive Search remains very profitable, even with the decrease in revenue, with an adjusted EBITDA of $51.9 million compared to $51.5 million in the third quarter of 2022 or a margin of 26.1% compared to 24.2%, respectively. On-Demand Talent recorded an adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.6 million versus a gain of $0.2 million in the third quarter of 2022. However, as we've discussed, we expect EBITDA margins to continue to be negligible while we both reposition ourselves in the market and invest in people and technology to capture more of this expanding market. Finally, Heidrick Consulting posted an adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.2 million compared to a $1.4 million loss in the same quarter last year as we continue to invest in the business to build scale.

從細分市場來看，即使收入下降，高階主管獵人頭業務的獲利能力仍然很高，調整後的EBITDA 為5,190 萬美元，而2022 年第三季為5,150 萬美元，利潤率為26.1%，而2022年第三季為24.2%。 On-Demand Talent 的調整後 EBITDA 虧損 60 萬美元，而 2022 年第三季則獲利 20 萬美元。然而，正如我們所討論的，我們預計 EBITDA 利潤率將繼續微不足道，而我們都在市場上重新定位並投資於人員和技術，以佔領這個不斷擴大的市場的更多份額。最後，海德思哲 (Heidrick Consulting) 公佈調整後 EBITDA 虧損 220 萬美元，而去年同期虧損 140 萬美元，因為我們繼續投資該業務以擴大規模。

Finally, adjusted net income for the quarter was $15 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $0.73, which is down from the $20.5 million in adjusted diluted EPS of $1 in the same quarter last year due to the factors just discussed.

最後，由於剛才討論的因素，該季度調整後淨利潤為 1500 萬美元，調整後稀釋每股收益為 0.73 美元，低於去年同期 2050 萬美元，調整後稀釋每股收益 1 美元。

Now I'll turn to the balance sheet. At the end of the third quarter, our cash and marketable securities increased sequentially by $95 million to $334 million from the previous quarter but was down to $122 million by the same quarter last year. The year-over-year decrease is due to our acquisition of BTG, B4Z, Atreus and Executive Search expansions in Finland, South Africa and South America.

現在我將轉向資產負債表。第三季末，我們的現金和有價證券比上一季連續增加 9,500 萬美元，達到 3.34 億美元，但去年同期下降到 1.22 億美元。年比下降是由於我們收購了 BTG、B4Z、Atreus 以及在芬蘭、南非和南美洲的高階主管獵人頭擴張。

Taking a closer look at how we prioritize the uses of cash, we first take care of our current operations and then we believe our next greatest returns will come from reinvesting our cash and inorganic opportunities that accelerate our strategy and are accretive to our shareholders, bottom line. When we believe we have discretionary cash that isn't needed for the previous mentioned priorities, we will then review our dividend policy followed by potential stock repurchases.

仔細研究我們如何優先考慮現金的使用，我們首先處理我們當前的運營，然後我們相信我們的下一個最大回報將來自對我們的現金和無機機會的再投資，這些機會加速我們的戰略並為我們的股東帶來增值，底部線。當我們認為我們擁有前面提到的優先事項不需要的可自由支配現金時，我們將審查我們的股利政策，然後進行潛在的股票回購。

Moving forward, while there is pressure on corporate spending in the market, we're still seeing good demand signals and strong fundamentals across our business lines. Therefore, we expect the fourth quarter to be strong compared to last year, allowing us to finish another year north of the $1 billion in revenue. That said, turning to our fourth quarter 2023 revenue guidance, we expect to range between $240 million and $260 million.

展望未來，儘管市場上的企業支出面臨壓力，但我們仍然看到良好的需求訊號和整個業務線強勁的基本面。因此，我們預計第四季將比去年強勁，使我們的營收能夠再次超過 10 億美元。也就是說，轉向 2023 年第四季的營收指引，我們預期營收範圍在 2.4 億至 2.6 億美元之間。

As I mentioned last quarter, we'll continue to leverage our leading Executive Search business and grow our diversified solutions segment as they carry different macro risks, which tend to be less cyclical and more predictable. While they generally carry lower margins versus Executive Search and, therefore, will put pressure on our enterprise EBITDA margins, I would point out that they are expected to grow aggregate dollars in both EBITDA and bottom line, which is expected to expand our EPS in the future.

正如我上季度提到的，我們將繼續利用我們領先的獵頭業務並發展我們的多元化解決方案部門，因為它們具有不同的宏觀風險，而這些風險往往週期性較小且更可預測。雖然它們的利潤率通常低於高階主管獵頭，因此會給我們的企業EBITDA 利潤率帶來壓力，但我要指出的是，預計它們的EBITDA 和利潤總額都會成長，這預計將擴大我們的每股收益未來。

With that, Krishnan and I will be glad to take your questions.

克里希南和我將很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question this afternoon from Kevin Steinke at Barrington Research.

（操作員說明）今天下午我們將回答 Barrington Research 的 Kevin Steinke 提出的第一個問題。

I want to start out by asking about your comment about a moderate slowdown in Executive Search. This is something, I guess, you've mentioned on the last couple of calls. But I just was wondering if that comment was meant to indicate that things have slowed down meaningfully since your second quarter call or is it kind of as it was several months ago in terms of the overall pace of the demand environment in search.

我想先詢問您對高階主管獵頭適度放緩的評論。我想，您在最近幾次通話中已經提到過這一點。但我只是想知道，該評論是否意味著自第二季電話會議以來，情況已經明顯放緩，或者就搜尋需求環境的整體節奏而言，情況是否與幾個月前一樣。

Yes. Kevin, thanks. Yes, look, I would say that we have been in a choppy environment for a bit of time, and it kind of feels the same to us, though, there are many more macro things we're talking about today than we were even a month ago. So we think it's a choppy environment. We think talent is constrained still in this choppy environment. Decision-making is a little bit slower than what we've seen in the past. But I don't want to say that it's worse than in the second quarter. It sort of feels the same to me and it feels like it's going to continue a little bit as well.

是的。凱文，謝謝。是的，你看，我想說的是，我們已經處於一個不穩定的環境中一段時間了，而且我們的感覺也是一樣的，不過，我們今天談論的宏觀事物比我們過去的要多得多。一個月前。所以我們認為這是一個不穩定的環境。我們認為，在這種動盪的環境中，人才仍然受到限制。決策制定比我們過去看到的要慢一些。但我不想說比第二季更糟。我也有同樣的感覺，而且感覺還會繼續下去。

Okay. That's good to hear. And you did mention on the consulting side of the business that some projects that had been delayed have started up. Maybe could you just talk about the rationale from the client side to start up those projects? Or what might have been the impetus to move forward that might have gotten them past the hurdles that they had been kind of concerned about before?

好的。聽起來還不錯。您確實在業務諮詢方面提到，一些被推遲的項目已經啟動。也許您可以從客戶端談談啟動這些專案的基本原理嗎？或者什麼可能是前進的動力，讓他們克服之前擔心的障礙？

Yes. Look, I would say the majority of those hurdles look like trying to prioritize their own business in the first and second quarter as clearly wanting to go on particularly culture and leadership journeys with us but getting their priorities together, getting their teams together. And so they signed up for the project work, thinking that they could kick it off, and I think they felt far more comfortable about where their own teams were and what their priorities were to be able to engage with us on these projects. I think it's nothing more than that but just how do you prioritize.

是的。聽著，我想說，這些障礙中的大多數看起來像是試圖在第一季度和第二季度優先考慮自己的業務，因為顯然希望與我們一起進行特別的文化和領導之旅，但將他們的優先事項放在一起，讓他們的團隊聚集在一起。因此，他們報名參加了該專案工作，認為他們可以啟動它，我認為他們對自己的團隊所處的位置以及能夠與我們參與這些專案的優先事項感到更加放心。我認為無非就是這樣，而是你如何決定優先順序。

Okay. Great. And you mentioned again there the realignment in the On-Demand Talent sales effort. I know it's still early days, but any indications early on of some of the benefits of that realignment or what you would hope to accomplish going forward with that initiative.

好的。偉大的。您再次提到了按需人才銷售工作的重新調整。我知道現在還為時過早，但任何早期跡像都表明該調整的一些好處，或者您希望透過該計劃實現什麼目標。

Super. Yes. Look, we definitely feel we're beginning to see green shoots from that initiative. So we've got a lot of metrics in place that we look at, the number of conversations people are having, opportunity pipelines, et cetera. And those have all pointed way up now from where they were in the middle, so we're feeling good about that. We're able to bring sales and the talent side of the equation together a little bit closer. We've got a couple of very targeted projects as well on initiatives that we see out there where talent is scarce and we've got opportunity. We call them our greenhouse projects. AI would be one of them, and we're seeing nice momentum in there as well, to be able to put part-time or interim people in place on those kinds of projects. So that's why we're feeling pretty good about that sales realignment.

極好的。是的。看，我們確實覺得我們已經開始看到該計劃的萌芽。因此，我們有許多我們關注的指標，人們正在進行的對話數量、機會管道等等。現在這些都比中間的位置向上，所以我們對此感覺良好。我們能夠將銷售和人才方面的關係更加緊密地結合在一起。我們還有一些非常有針對性的項目以及我們看到的人才稀缺但我們有機會的舉措。我們稱它們為溫室計畫。人工智慧將是其中之一，我們也看到了良好的勢頭，能夠在此類專案中安排兼職或臨時人員。這就是為什麼我們對銷售調整感到非常滿意。

Okay. I also wanted to ask about digital, and congratulations on converting one of the pilot programs to a per year subscription. Just I don't know if you can give any sense about how you look to establish subscription prices. I mean, is that completely fixed? Is there any variation based on volume or usage? Or I guess, any insight in just kind of the pricing model that you could provide.

好的。我還想詢問有關數位化的問題，並祝賀您將其中一個試點計劃轉變為按年訂閱。只是我不知道您是否能說明您如何確定訂閱價格。我的意思是，這完全固定了嗎？根據數量或使用情況是否有任何變化？或者我猜，您可以提供對定價模型的任何見解。

Sure. Let me give it a try, Kevin. So I think the first one is there'll be the typical upfront fee, if you will, for installing and making sure that everything kind of goes at the outset of putting everything in place. Then you would have a subscription fee. That's really based off the user count. And there's two different elements to that. The first one, obviously, is the number of users that you have. Obviously, the more, the per pricing would come down. And the other thing that we do is we do benchmark that off some other SaaS companies to see what the pricing and the market really is in terms of a fair value of what we charge for it. So we kind of get our nods, if you will, from the market as well as the upfront fee in order to put everything kind of in place. So it's a combo. You can figure that again, typically, whatever we put in place would more or less have a 2- or 3-year runway in front of it in terms of how we would build the business and expectations of how we build that business.

當然。讓我嘗試一下，凱文。所以我認為第一個是，如果你願意的話，將會有典型的預付費用，用於安裝並確保一切都在安裝到位的一開始就進行。然後您將需要支付訂閱費用。這實際上是基於用戶數量的。其中有兩個不同的要素。顯然，第一個是您擁有的用戶數量。顯然，數量越多，單價就會下降。我們做的另一件事是，我們對其他一些 SaaS 公司進行基準測試，以了解定價和市場的真實情況，即我們收取的費用的公允價值。因此，如果你願意的話，我們會從市場以及預付費用中獲得認可，以便將一切落實到位。所以這是一個組合。你可以再想一想，通常情況下，無論我們採取什麼措施，就我們如何建立業務以及對如何建立業務的期望而言，前面或多或少都會有一個 2 或 3 年的跑道。

Okay. Perfect. That's helpful. And just lastly, I wanted to ask about the acquisition pipeline. You mentioned there that acquisitions continue to be a top priority for capital allocation. Maybe what you're seeing in this environment and if the pipeline has change at all just based on the macro outlook.

好的。完美的。這很有幫助。最後，我想問一下收購通路的情況。您提到收購仍然是資本配置的首要任務。也許您在這種環境中看到的情況以及管道是否發生了變化，這只是基於宏觀前景。

The only thing you see on the pipeline is that the pipeline always continues to be quite strong. I mean just to be clear, the first priority is always our organic operations, right? And we still believe that we've got things to do in terms of technology development for On-Demand Talent, Heidrick Consulting, some event there, et cetera. So please don't underestimate the fact that we are spending money rightfully on what we currently hold today in inorganic as kind of the second priority.

您在管道上看到的唯一一件事是管道始終保持相當強勁。我的意思是要明確一點，首要任務始終是我們的有機運營，對吧？我們仍然相信，在 On-Demand Talent、Heidrick Consulting、那裡的一些活動等方面的技術開發方面，我們還有很多事情要做。因此，請不要低估這樣一個事實：我們正在正確地花錢購買我們目前持有的無機物，這是第二要務。

On the second priority of inorganic, pipeline is strong. Still, some things are probably outside our reach in terms of pricing structure, et cetera. And I don't believe really what we've seen -- even though we've seen an increase in interest rates, I think I saw somewhere where they said credit cards were at 28% in credit card interest rates. That hasn't really impacted a lot of the financings that I would have expected to see as of yet in terms of people going back, trying to get their Series G and H on, so to speak. So that will most likely, I think, start to come to focus in Q4, Q1 and Q2 next year. And I think then real valuations probably come within striking distance of where we think we can be accretive to our shareholders. So that's kind of the way that we see it.

無機第二，管道強。儘管如此，在定價結構等方面，有些事情可能超出了我們的能力範圍。我並不真的相信我們所看到的——儘管我們已經看到利率上升，但我想我在某個地方看到他們說信用卡的信用卡利率為 28%。可以這麼說，這並沒有真正影響我預計到目前為止會看到的許多融資，因為人們會回去嘗試進行 G 輪和 H 輪融資。因此，我認為，這很可能會在明年第四季、第一季和第二季開始成為焦點。我認為，實際估值可能與我們認為可以為股東增值的水平相差不遠。這就是我們的看法。

We go now to Tobey Sommer at Truist Securities.

現在我們請來 Truist 證券公司的 Tobey Sommer。

I was wondering if you could help bridge us to profitability in some of the smaller businesses that you're investing in and managing for growth given the market opportunity that you see. I think investors kind of want to understand what that looks like and need more information to construct a vision of sort of what the company's future financial profile will be.

我想知道您是否可以幫助我們在您所投資和管理的一些小型企業中實現盈利，因為您看到了市場機會。我認為投資者有點想了解這是什麼樣子，並且需要更多資訊來建立公司未來財務狀況的願景。

Let me see if I can try and answer that, Tobey. I think what you're currently seeing, look, in terms of Executive Search and our EBITDA margins on that side of the business, I think you have it and it's obviously a very scaled business, and that's always going to kind of remain in that mid-20s context. I think if you're asking me long term -- I'll answer it both ways, long-term and short term. I think long-term On-Demand Talent, as we discussed, is an 8% to 12% margin business, depending on the weighting between the U.S. and Europe and how those kind of forces play out. I think in terms of Heidrick Consulting, as we've talked about, we're at that near breakeven point. And again, as we get scale into the business, it should be at 10% to 12%, maybe a little bit higher, if we can get scale into that business, and that's where we expect to come out.

讓我看看我是否可以嘗試回答這個問題，托比。我認為你目前所看到的，就高階主管獵頭和我們在業務方面的 EBITDA 利潤率而言，我認為你已經擁有了它，而且這顯然是一個規模非常大的業務，而且這將永遠保持下去20 年代中期的背景。我想，如果你問我長期的問題，我會從長期和短期兩方面來回答。我認為，正如我們所討論的，長期按需人才是一項利潤率為 8% 至 12% 的業務，具體取決於美國和歐洲之間的權重以及這些力量的發揮作用。我認為就海德思哲顧問公司而言，正如我們所討論的，我們正處於接近損益平衡點。再說一次，當我們擴大業務規模時，如果我們能夠擴大業務規模，它應該是 10% 到 12%，也許更高一點，這就是我們期望的結果。

And then I think on the digital side, once it kind of grows, scales, we get the amortization kind of covered off, and moving ourselves past that point, we'd be in the, what I'll call, the low 30s in terms of what that margin on a SaaS because we have the upfront fees and everything else that we don't try to get a lot of margin on. We're trying to get them up, and that's the benefits on the back of that. So that's where we would expect us to be. I think the overall EBITDA margins long term for our business are still probably mid-teens because you've got a couple of those that would go way too down from what we have in Executive Search, and then you've got the digital side that will go way too up from Executive Search. So long-term vision, that's what we're trying to see.

然後我認為在數字方面，一旦它增長、規模化，我們就可以覆蓋攤銷，並超越那個點，我們將處於我所說的 30 多歲的低點就SaaS 的利潤而言，因為我們有預付費用以及其他我們不會試圖獲得大量利潤的其他費用。我們正在努力讓他們站起來，這就是這樣做的好處。這就是我們所期望的。我認為，從長遠來看，我們業務的整體 EBITDA 利潤率可能仍然在十幾歲左右，因為有一些利潤率比我們在高管獵頭方面的水平要低得多，然後你就得到了數字方面將從高階主管搜尋中走得太遠。長期願景，就是我們想要看到的。

I think your next question, which is embedded, is when are we going to get there? My honest assessment is I think on the On-Demand Talent side, it's still very much in two different forces: one, getting the sales force correlated correctly, which is really the whole retransition of what we're trying to do; and the second element is looking at the technology side of it and really putting an investment into that because I think that's going to pay dividends down the road in terms of our ability to scale that and really try to help the margins kind of release themselves.

我認為你的下一個問題是我們什麼時候能實現這個目標？我誠實的評估是，我認為在按需人才方面，它仍然很大程度上取決於兩種不同的力量：其一，使銷售人員正確關聯，這實際上是我們正在嘗試做的事情的整個重新轉變；第二個要素是著眼於技術方面，並真正對其進行投資，因為我認為這將在我們擴大規模的能力方面帶來紅利，並真正嘗試幫助利潤釋放。

And then Heidrick Consulting, I think it's there. As we've talked about a million times, it's really all about scale. And again, I think that's going to be a 10% to 12%, hopefully, revenue growth long-term business, and then you can figure out really in terms of how we get to $150 million to $200 million of revenue, what it's going to take to get there outside of inorganic. And of course, inorganic can accelerate us, but it's about the best line of sight I can give you. I don't know if that helps you a bunch.

然後是海德思哲諮詢公司，我想它就在那裡。正如我們已經談論過一百萬次一樣，這實際上取決於規模。再說一次，我認為這將是一個 10% 到 12% 的長期業務，希望收入成長，然後你就可以真正弄清楚我們如何獲得 1.5 億到 2 億美元的收入，它會發生什麼採取無機到達那裡。當然，無機物可以加速我們的速度，但這只是我能給你的最佳視線。我不知道這是否對你有幫助。

Sure. I appreciate that perspective and that color. With respect to the Executive Search business, particularly in the North American geography, could you speak to the degree to which being a resident in the city where a company is headquartered is required at this point? I'm sure there's been a decent amount of ebb and flow in recent years as a result of the pandemic, but I kind of wanted to get a snapshot of where that is currently, if there are any implications of that for the business, in demand and sort of the aperture that you can do your recruiting. And do you have an expectation for a trend along those lines going out in the future?

當然。我欣賞那種視角和那種色彩。關於獵人頭業務，特別是在北美地區，您能談談目前對公司總部所在城市居民的要求嗎？我確信近年來由於大流行而出現了相當大的潮起潮落，但我想了解一下目前的情況，如果這對業務有任何影響的話，您可以進行招聘的需求和範圍。您對未來的趨勢有預期嗎？

Yes. And is your question on the candidate side or on the Heidrick side of where our offerings are.

是的。您的問題是關於我們的產品在候選人方面還是海德思哲方面？

On the candidate and customer employer side, not specifically your internal preferences, but more market-related.

在候選人和客戶雇主方面，不是專門針對您的內部偏好，而是更多與市場相關。

Sure. Yes. Look, we're seeing a lot more flexibility on that in terms of recruitment and the ability to look across, particularly the U.S., for talent. I think many leadership roles have changed from 5 days a week to expecting somebody to be in the office 2 to 3 days a week, so there's that movement which support that. So we're definitely looking more across the U.S. Having said that, people want people to have a home office and want people to commit, particularly on our leadership jobs, to be resident in that home office as well. So that requirement is still there but with flexibility more than ever before.

當然。是的。看，我們在招募和尋找人才的能力方面看到了更大的靈活性，特別是在美國。我認為許多領導角色已經從每週 5 天變成了每週 2 到 3 天在辦公室，所以有支持這一點的運動。因此，我們肯定會在美國各地進行更多關注。話雖如此，人們希望人們擁有一個家庭辦公室，並希望人們承諾，特別是在我們的領導工作中，也常駐在該家庭辦公室。因此，這項要求仍然存在，但比以往任何時候都更加靈活。

And have you felt a change in any demand or customer conversations as a result of the emerging Middle East conflict? I'm sure it's not necessarily a large exposure for the firm geographically. But where you are present, could you speak to what the last 3 weeks have sort of looked like for your business?

由於中東衝突的出現，您是否感覺到需求或客戶對話改變了？我確信這對公司來說不一定是一個很大的地理風險。但如果您在場，您能否談談過去三週您的業務狀況如何？

Yes. I mean look, we have a small team in Israel and there are projects there that are clearly people evaluating and getting delayed, but that's a small bit of work. In the rest of the world, we haven't seen an impact yet. In the last couple of weeks, we've got our eye on that, we're talking to the teams and we haven't seen anything yet.

是的。我的意思是，我們在以色列有一個小團隊，那裡的專案顯然是人們在評估並被推遲的，但這只是一小部分工作。在世界其他地方，我們還沒有看到影響。在過去的幾周里，我們已經注意到了這一點，我們正在與團隊交談，但我們還沒有看到任何結果。

We'll go next to now to Marc Riddick at Sidoti.

接下來我們將採訪西多蒂的馬克·里迪克。

A lot of my questions have been answered. I was just sort of curious if you could maybe elaborate a little bit more on some of the AI-driven opportunities in your prepared remarks that you talked a bit about. And maybe you could share a little bit about maybe how you feel as though you're positioned from a talent standpoint to begin to work on those opportunities and how they may evolve going forward.

我的許多問題都得到了解答。我只是有點好奇你是否可以在你準備好的演講中詳細闡述一些人工智慧驅動的機會。也許你可以分享一些關於你從人才的角度來看你的感受，以及你如何看待這些機會，以及它們未來將如何發展。

Sure. Yes. So look, we've got AI, as we think about it, in 3 buckets. The first bucket, obviously, is a service offering that we offer to clients on helping them with their AI needs. And in that conversation, we have tons of conversations in project work that's emerging as a result of that. So that's the first bucket.

當然。是的。所以看，我們認為人工智慧分為三個部分。顯然，第一個目標是我們提供給客戶的服務，幫助他們滿足人工智慧需求。在那次對話中，我們在專案工作中進行了大量的對話，這些對話也是由此產生的。這就是第一個桶子。

The second bucket is basically into our tools that we use with clients and others and being able to leverage AI for that. We already do that. I mean, so for example, on the digital side with Heidrick Navigator, AI is a component to that, which is why we partnered with Eightfold AI. And we're looking at a whole host of other things that we are piloting now inside the firm to figure out how does it impact matching, how does it impact a whole host of other things.

第二個桶基本上是我們與客戶和其他人一起使用的工具，並能夠利用人工智慧來實現這一點。我們已經這樣做了。我的意思是，例如，在 Heidrick Navigator 的數字方面，人工智慧是其中的一個組成部分，這就是我們與八重人工智慧合作的原因。我們正在研究我們現在在公司內部試點的一系列其他事情，以弄清楚它如何影響匹配，它如何影響許多其他事情。

And the third leg to our AI is all of our business processes that we've got that enable us to run more efficiently, and we're looking at all different approaches over there from simply data and analytics and taking that to the next level with gen AI. We've already kind of established a pretty good platform on technology for search, but now how can we leverage that even further, how can we combine our databases using AI to leverage information people are gathering on individuals and bring that to one spot in a far easier way. So there's all kinds of technology that's out there.

我們人工智慧的第三條腿是我們擁有的所有業務流程，使我們能夠更有效地運行，我們正在研究所有不同的方法，從簡單的數據和分析，並將其提升到一個新的水平一代人工智能。我們已經建立了一個相當好的搜尋技術平台，但現在我們如何進一步利用它，我們如何使用人工智慧結合我們的資料庫來利用人們收集的個人信息，並將其帶到一個地方更簡單的方法。所以有各種各樣的技術。

I think the advantage or where I feel good about our team and talent here is we're working very collaboratively on it. We've got lots of pilots going. We're reporting out on it regularly. And we're sharing it with the firm as well, in what things are working, what things aren't, what kind of prompts can people be using, how do you create greater efficiency. So that's kind of the approach that we're taking on this and probably more to come on it soon.

我認為優勢或說我對我們的團隊和人才感到滿意的地方是我們在這方面的合作非常緊密。我們有很多飛行員。我們定期對此進行報告。我們也與公司分享，哪些事情有效，哪些事情無效，人們可以使用什麼樣的提示，如何提高效率。這就是我們正在採取的方法，並且可能很快就會採取更多方法。

That's very helpful. I appreciate that. And I was wondering if you could also then -- a quick follow-up as to maybe what we're seeing with visibility with projects, assignments and the like. Granted, we're going into sort of the fourth quarter and the seasonality of holidays and what have you, but I was wondering if you're seeing any difference in that level of visibility that you would normally have or if it's similar to what you would see at this time of the year.

這非常有幫助。我很感激。我想知道您是否也可以 - 快速跟進我們在專案、作業等方面的可見性可能看到的情況。誠然，我們即將進入第四季度和假期的季節性以及您有什麼，但我想知道您是否發現您通常擁有的能見度水平有任何差異，或者是否與您的類似每年的這個時候都會看到。

Yes. Look, I think it's fairly similar. I think we have macro concerns that are out there that are emerging day-to-day. So we're keeping an eye on that to figure out how does that impact, going back to the previous question as well, our visibility and thoughts on markets, does it hit supply chain, does it hit oil, what does it do. So we're keeping an eye on that right now. I would say that it's pretty consistent to what we've seen before. And throughout the year, we've been pleased to see that. As I referenced, we've seen more CEO searches this year than ever before. So we're tracking trend lines like that and AI searches and things like that, that we can keep our eye on that are markers for where the market is going as well.

是的。你看，我覺得還蠻相似的。我認為我們對宏觀的擔憂每天都在出現。因此，我們正在密切關注這一點，以弄清楚這種影響是如何影響的，同時回到先前的問題，我們對市場的可見性和想法，它是否會影響供應鏈，是否會影響石油，它會做什麼。所以我們現在正在關注這一點。我想說這與我們之前看到的非常一致。在這一年中，我們很高興看到這一點。正如我所提到的，今年我們看到執行長的搜尋比以往任何時候都多。因此，我們正在追蹤這樣的趨勢線和人工智慧搜尋之類的東西，我們可以密切關注它們也是市場走向的標誌。

We'll take a follow-up question now from Tobey Sommer.

我們現在將接受 Tobey Sommer 提出的後續問題。

Just wanted to ask you a question about that CEO search comment and sort of the year-to-date demand. Do you have good data in your Executive Search marketplace to indicate whether there's simply going to be an elevated velocity of turnover as a result of the baby boomers are on the cusp of it? This is something we've talked about in and around the industry for, gosh, decades, and I'm wondering if you've got sort of evidence and a basis for describing a change that could last for a period of years.

只是想問你一個關於執行長搜尋評論和今年迄今為止的需求的問題。您的獵人頭市場中是否有可靠的數據來表明，由於嬰兒潮世代正處於風口浪尖，人員流動率是否會提高？這是我們在行業內外討論了幾十年的事情，天哪，我想知道你是否有證據和基礎來描述可能持續數年的變化。

Yes. Sort of the way I think about that is that we weren't surprised with seeing elevated number of CEO searches this year just based on conversations that we have, understanding the demographics, et cetera, and also people kind of having run the race on COVID a bit and experienced a great resignation of potentially their teams as to where people were at this stage. So we weren't surprised by that. If we forecast ahead, what we would imagine and would expect to see is changes on teams as a result of that. Often, CEO changes lead to changes among the executive teams as well. So we would be forecasting that, that talent is short and there may be changes that happen over there. As to how much longer the CEO change wave lasts, I don't think I can predict that too much better than what we kind of have seen today.

是的。我的想法是，我們對今年執行長搜尋數量的增加並不感到驚訝，僅僅基於我們進行的對話、了解人口統計數據等，以及人們在新冠病毒方面的競爭有點，並經歷了潛在的團隊對於人們在這個階段的位置的巨大辭職。所以我們對此並不感到驚訝。如果我們提前預測，我們會想像並期望看到的是團隊因此而發生的變化。通常，執行長的變動也會導致執行團隊的變動。所以我們預測，人才短缺，那裡可能會改變。至於執行長換屆浪潮會持續多久，我認為我無法比我們今天所看到的情況更好地預測。

(Operator Instructions) And gentlemen, it appears we have no further questions today. Mr. Rajagopalan, I'd like to hand things back to you for any closing comments.

（操作員說明）先生們，看來我們今天沒有其他問題了。 Rajagopalan 先生，我想將所有的事情交還給您，以徵求您的結束意見。

Super. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for your participation and continued support. Look, we're very encouraged by our results and continue to see good demand signals despite this broader macro uncertainty. So in tandem with navigating the economic challenges, we remain focused on growing our business and continue to execute on our diversification strategy.

極好的。謝謝。感謝大家的參與和持續的支持。看，我們對我們的結果感到非常鼓舞，儘管存在更廣泛的宏觀不確定性，但我們仍然看到良好的需求訊號。因此，在應對經濟挑戰的同時，我們仍然專注於發展我們的業務，並繼續執行我們的多元化策略。

We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter. Thank you very much.

我們期待下個季度再次與您交談。非常感謝。

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, that will conclude the Heidrick & Struggles Q3 2023 Earnings Call. Again, we'd like to thank you all so much for joining us and wish you all a great evening. Goodbye.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，海德思哲 2023 年第三季財報電話會議到此結束。再次，我們非常感謝大家加入我們，並祝大家有個愉快的夜晚。再見。