Huron Consulting Group Inc (HURN) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to Huron Consulting Group's webcast to discuss financial results for the third quarter 2025. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎收看 Huron Consulting Group 的網路直播，我們將討論 2025 年第三季的財務表現。（操作員說明）提醒各位，本次電話會議正在錄音。

Before we begin, I would like to point all of you to the disclosure at the end of the company's news release for information about any forward-looking statements that may be made or discussed on this call.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家注意公司新聞稿末尾的披露信息，其中包含有關本次電話會議中可能作出或討論的任何前瞻性聲明的信息。

The news release is posted on Huron's website. Please review that information. Along with the filings with the SEC for a disclosure of factors that may impact subjects discussed in this afternoon's webcast. The company will be discussing one or more non-GAAP financial measures. Please look at the earnings release and on Huron's website for all of the disclosures required by the SEC, including reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP numbers.

新聞稿已發佈在 Huron 的網站上。請查閱相關資訊。同時，也向美國證券交易委員會提交了文件，披露可能影響今天下午網路直播中所討論主題的因素。本公司將討論一項或多項非GAAP財務指標。請查看收益報告和 Huron 網站上的所有信息，以了解美國證券交易委員會要求披露的所有信息，包括與最可比的 GAAP 數據的核對。

And now I would like to turn the call over to Mark Hussey, Chief Executive Officer and President of Huron Consulting Group. Mr. Hussey, please go ahead.

現在，我想把電話交給 Huron Consulting Group 的執行長兼總裁 Mark Hussey。胡西先生，請繼續。

Good afternoon, and welcome to Huron Consulting Group's third quarter 2025 earnings call. With me today are John Kelly, our Chief Financial Officer; and Ronnie Dail, our Chief Operating Officer.

下午好，歡迎參加 Huron Consulting Group 2025 年第三季財報電話會議。今天陪同我的是我們的財務長約翰凱利和我們的營運長羅尼戴爾。

Our third quarter performance was strong, driven by growth across all three operating segments. Company-wide revenues before reimbursable expenses or RBR grew 17% in the third quarter including 10% organic growth, reflecting a robust demand environment for our services and strong execution by our teams.

第三季業績表現強勁，得益於三大營運部門的全面成長。公司整體收入（扣除可報銷費用或 RBR 前）在第三季度增長了 17%，其中包括 10% 的內生增長，這反映了我們服務的強勁需求環境以及我們團隊的出色執行力。

We're also pleased with our continued margin expansion and earnings per share growth in the third quarter consistent with our financial goals. The combination of our deep industry expertise and breadth of capabilities has positioned us as a partner of choice for our clients as they continue to face persistent financial challenges and regulatory disruption.

我們對第三季利潤率持續擴大和每股收益成長感到滿意，這與我們的財務目標一致。憑藉我們深厚的行業專業知識和廣泛的能力，我們已成為客戶在持續面臨財務挑戰和監管變革時的首選合作夥伴。

We believe strong demand across our core end markets positions us well to achieve our full year 2025 RBR in the earnings guidance of establishing a solid base for continued growth in 2026.

我們相信，核心終端市場的強勁需求使我們能夠很好地實現 2025 年全年 RBR 獲利預期，並為 2026 年的持續成長奠定堅實的基礎。

I'll now share some additional insights into our third quarter performance. In the Healthcare segment, we achieved record RBR during the third quarter. Growing 20% over the third quarter of 2024. Organic Healthcare segment RBR grew 19% over the third quarter of 2024, excluding the results of our recent acquisition of Eclipse Insights, as well as the Studer Education business, which was divested at the end of 2024.

接下來，我將分享一些關於我們第三季業績的補充見解。在醫療保健領域，我們第三季實現了創紀錄的RBR。預計到 2024 年第三季將成長 20%。2024 年第三季度，有機醫療保健部門的 RBR 成長了 19%，不包括我們最近收購 Eclipse Insights 的業績，以及在 2024 年底剝離的 Studer 教育業務的業績。

The increase in RBR in the quarter was driven by broad-based demand across the entire segment, including our performance improvement, financial advisory, revenue cycle managed services, strategy and innovation, and digital offerings. Third quarter RBR or Healthcare consulting and managed services capability grew 27% over the third quarter of 2024.

本季 RBR 的成長是由整個業務部門的廣泛需求推動的，包括我們的業績提升、財務諮詢、收入週期管理服務、策略與創新以及數位化產品。第三季 RBR 或醫療保健諮詢和管理服務能力比 2024 年第三季成長了 27%。

Demand for our performance improvement offerings remains robust across the market. And we believe this is the strongest environment for our performance improvement offerings we have seen.

市場對我們性能提升產品的需求依然強勁。我們相信，這是我們迄今為止所見過的最適合我們提升績效方案的環境。

In addition to record revenue growth, we've also seen continued strong pipeline and sales conversion, continuing at high levels in the third quarter and through the first month of the fourth quarter. Primary driver of demand for our health care offerings is continued margin pressure for our Healthcare provider clients. A proven track record of delivering demonstrable ROI for our clients, sets us apart from our competitors and positions Huron as a go-to trust and partner organizations experiencing financial strength.

除了創紀錄的收入成長外，我們還看到銷售管道和銷售轉換率持續強勁成長，在第三季和第四季的第一個月繼續保持在高水準。推動我們醫療保健產品需求的主要因素是醫療保健提供者客戶持續面臨的利潤壓力。我們擁有為客戶帶來可證明的投資回報率的良好記錄，這使我們從競爭對手中脫穎而出，並將 Huron 定位為擁有雄厚財務實力的首選信託和合作夥伴組織。

Our performance improvement solutions have consistently delivered improved revenue and cash flow yield, reduced operating costs, and improved patient experience among key operating and financial metrics in addition to those. Increasingly, our performance improvement engagements have a broader scope, integrating our strategy, financial advisory and digital offerings, to better and more uniquely address our clients' challenges, and this has led to an increase in the average size of our health care engagements.

除了上述指標外，我們的績效改善方案還持續提高了收入和現金流收益率，降低了營運成本，並改善了病患體驗等關鍵營運和財務指標。我們的績效改善專案範圍越來越廣，整合了我們的策略、財務諮詢和數位化服務，以更好地、更獨特地應對客戶的挑戰，這也導致我們醫療保健專案的平均規模不斷擴大。

Hospitals and health systems continue to prepare for reduced funding and decreases in insured patient volumes, driven by shifts in the Medicaid reimbursement model. At the same time, pressures persist to improve access and evolved care delivery models in the face of workforce shortages. The combination of these factors creates an unsustainable operating environment for many organizations. And with the combination of these factors, health care providers are increasingly turning to Huron, we evaluate their strategic, financial, and operational options to strengthen their competitive positions. We continue to expand the use of AI and automation across our offerings to drive value creation for our clients and increase the efficiency of our service delivery.

由於醫療補助報銷模式的轉變，醫院和醫療系統繼續為資金減少和投保患者數量下降做好準備。同時，在勞動力短缺的情況下，改善醫療服務取得途徑和改善醫療服務模式的壓力仍然存在。這些因素綜合起來，為許多組織造成了不可持續的經營環境。鑑於上述種種因素，醫療保健機構越來越多地轉向 Huron，我們會評估他們的策略、財務和營運選擇，以增強他們的競爭地位。我們將持續擴大人工智慧和自動化技術在我們各項產品和服務中的應用，以創造客戶價值並提高服務交付效率。

We're increasingly advising our clients on how to govern and deploy the rapidly expanding array of AI and automation solutions available to them while partnering with them to deploy solutions that will yield demonstrable results and value.

我們越來越多地為客戶提供建議，幫助他們管理和部署快速成長的人工智慧和自動化解決方案，同時與他們合作部署能夠產生可證明的結果和價值的解決方案。

We highlight an example within our revenue cycle managed services business, which has delivered 20% RBR growth in the first three quarters in 2025 compared to the year-to-date Q3 period last year.

我們以收入週期管理服務業務為例，該業務在 2025 年前三個季度實現了 20% 的收入週期收入成長，與去年同期相比。

Revenue cycle managed services can be delivered in conjunction with the consulting offerings or sold as a stand-alone offering, depending on the clients' needs. Revenue cycle Managed Services drive improved revenue cycle and yield and cost savings for our clients and are complementary to our revenue cycle consulting capability. Among many other AI and automation use cases, we've established and deployed machine learning models that have helped us lower our costs while boosting collections for clients.

根據客戶的需求，收入週期管理服務可以與諮詢服務一起提供，也可以作為獨立服務出售。收入週期管理服務可幫助客戶改善收入週期、提高收益並節省成本，並且是我們收入週期諮詢能力的補充。除了其他許多人工智慧和自動化應用案例外，我們還建立並部署了機器學習模型，這些模型幫助我們降低了成本，同時提高了客戶的收款率。

The breadth of our offerings and our strong reputation in the market and along with our ability to deliver tangible results to our clients, positions us well to capitalize on robust market demand, as our clients address the ongoing financial pressures on margins and the changing regulatory and technology landscape.

我們廣泛的產品和服務、在市場上的良好聲譽，以及為客戶帶來切實成果的能力，使我們能夠很好地利用強勁的市場需求，因為我們的客戶正在應對利潤率持續面臨的財務壓力以及不斷變化的監管和技術環境。

Turning to Education segment, RBR also achieved a record growing 7% in the third quarter of 2025 over the prior year quarter. The increase in RBR in the quarter was driven by strong demand for our strategy and operations, research, and digital offerings.

再來看教育板塊，RBR在2025年第三季也實現了創紀錄的成長，比去年同期成長了7%。本季 RBR 的成長主要得益於市場對我們的策略與營運、研究和數位產品的強勁需求。

Our education team has done a terrific job supporting our clients and sustaining our growth trajectory during this unprecedented time in the higher education industry. Many colleges and universities are managing the impact declines in research funding and lower enrollment in both domestic and international students as well as overall policy uncertainty.

在高等教育產業面臨前所未有的挑戰之際，我們的教育團隊出色地支持了我們的客戶，並保持了我們的成長勢頭。許多高校正在應對科學研究經費減少、國內外學生入學人數下降以及整體政策不確定性所帶來的影響。

Net tuition pricing pressures persist as students and parents seek affordable education and job training alternatives. And similar to our health care clients, our education clients are navigating through disruption and a strained financial environment. As a result, we're turning to Huron for health. Our comprehensive set of offerings, including performance improvement, spans the entire university, taking Huron the trusted partner of choice for clients looking for a partner who can comprehensively address these issues.

由於學生和家長尋求價格合理的教育和職業培訓替代方案，學費價格上漲的壓力持續存在。與我們的醫療保健客戶類似，我們的教育客戶也正在應對行業動盪和緊張的財務環境。因此，我們轉向休倫尋求健康。我們提供全面的服務，包括績效改進，涵蓋整個大學，使 Huron 成為客戶尋求能夠全面解決這些問題的合作夥伴的首選值得信賴的合作夥伴。

We continue to see robust demand for digital transformation projects and have been very pleased with our team's win rate in this area throughout the year. Our clients' investments in digital transformation are driven by the need to modernize their data and technology foundations and take advantage of newer technologies, including AI and automation.

我們持續看到市場對數位轉型專案的強勁需求，並且對我們團隊在這一領域的全年中標率感到非常滿意。我們的客戶對數位轉型的投資，是出於對其數據和技術基礎進行現代化改造，並利用人工智慧和自動化等新技術的需求。

One area that's particularly wide for AI and automation is research administration. We've seen this validated by the success of the solutions we've developed to date that enable administrative staff to focus on greater value-added activities, such as research compliance or managing more awards.

人工智慧和自動化應用最廣泛的領域之一是科學研究管理。我們已經從我們迄今為止開發的解決方案的成功中看到了這一點，這些解決方案使行政人員能夠專注於更有價值活動，例如研究合規性或管理更多獎項。

Let me share an example. We developed an AI offering to automate the input and processing of data across thousands of reps, drastically reducing the set of time freeing up research and administration capacity. While we're actively delivering these AI solutions to our clients directly, they can also incorporate the functionality into our research managed services offerings to optimize our delivery and so for growth.

我舉個例子。我們開發了一款人工智慧產品，可以自動輸入和處理數千名代表的數據，從而大幅減少所需時間，釋放研究和管理能力。雖然我們正在積極地直接向客戶提供這些人工智慧解決方案，但他們也可以將這些功能融入我們的研究管理服務產品中，以優化我們的交付，從而促進成長。

Approving credentials, credit for offerings, and deep client relationships have positioned us very well to serve our education and research clients as they navigate this period of high disruption. We believe our strong positioning and competitive advantage in this industry will drive continued growth, consistent with the goals that we discussed at our Investor Day earlier this year.

憑藉著認可的資格、課程學分以及與客戶的深厚關係，我們能夠更好地為教育和研究客戶提供服務，幫助他們度過這段充滿挑戰的時期。我們相信，我們在該行業的強大地位和競爭優勢將推動持續成長，這與我們在今年稍早的投資者日上討論的目標一致。

Now let me turn to the Commercial segment. In the third quarter of 2025, we also achieved record RBR. Commercial segment RBR grew 27% over the prior year quarter. The increase in RBR was driven by our acquisitions of AXIA and Treliant as well as continued organic growth from our commercial digital business. This growth was partially offset by lower demand for our strategy and financial advisory offerings during the quarter. I will note, after both our strategy and financial advisory offerings, we've seen an inflection point in market demand and saw improved sales conversion over the course of the third quarter and into October.

現在讓我來談談商業部分。2025年第三季度，我們也實現了創紀錄的RBR。商業部門 RBR 比上年同期成長 27%。RBR 的成長得益於我們對 AXIA 和 Treliant 的收購，以及我們商業數位業務的持續內生成長。這一增長被本季對我們策略和財務諮詢服務需求的下降部分抵消。我要指出的是，在我們推出策略和財務諮詢服務之後，我們看到了市場需求的轉折點，並且在第三季和10月份，銷售轉換率有所提高。

Our commercial digital business has continued to grow despite a more challenging demand environment. And we further integrated our strategy and operations expertise across our consulting and digital capabilities, which has strengthened our competitive advantage and positioned us to drive above-average growth during the quarter.

儘管市場需求環境更具挑戰性，但我們的商業數位業務仍持續成長。我們進一步整合了諮詢和數位化能力的策略和營運專長，這增強了我們的競爭優勢，並使我們能夠在本季度實現高於平均水準的成長。

During the quarter, we acquired Wilson Perumal & Company, a leading strategy and operations consulting firm serving the commercial markets. We believe the combination of Innosight's long-term strategy and innovation offerings and Wilson Perumal's strategic execution and operations focused offerings creates a more comprehensive platform for our clients to realize more immediate financial savings that could help drive transformation while they refine their strategies to deliver sustainable growth.

本季度，我們收購了 Wilson Perumal & Company，這是一家服務於商業市場的領先策略和營運顧問公司。我們相信，Innosight 的長期策略和創新產品與 Wilson Perumal 的策略執行和營運重點產品的結合，將為我們的客戶創造一個更全面的平台，使他們能夠實現更直接的財務節省，從而在完善策略以實現可持續增長的同時，推動轉型。

As we shared at our Investor Day, another pillar of our commercial strategy was to further integrate our commercial offerings to enhance our go-to-market strategy. We've seen significant advancement in this area, including several key wins that demonstrate our competitive advantage.

正如我們在投資者日上分享的那樣，我們商業策略的另一個支柱是進一步整合我們的商業產品，以增強我們的市場進入策略。我們在該領域取得了顯著進展，包括幾項關鍵勝利，這些勝利證明了我們的競爭優勢。

For example, we're one of the leading partners focused on helping CFOs transform their finance organizations. They become more impactful strategic partners in their businesses. Through advanced enterprise performance management capabilities and built upon these competencies by aligning our strategy consulting, data, AI, and automation expertise with our cloud EPM offerings to compete and win against some formidable incumbents and competitors.

例如，我們是領先的合作夥伴之一，致力於幫助財務長們改造他們的財務組織。他們會成為各自企業中更有影響力的策略夥伴。憑藉先進的企業績效管理能力，並在此基礎上，將我們的策略諮詢、數據、人工智慧和自動化專業知識與我們的雲端 EPM 產品相結合，與一些強大的現有企業和競爭對手競爭並取得勝利。

We're also leveraging AI and advanced analytics to further enhance our competitive advantage while delivering increased value to our clients. For example, we're combining our deep manufacturing expertise for their data, AI, and broader technology capabilities to leverage predictive modeling for preventive maintenance, which has resulted in significant savings for one of our manufacturing clients.

我們也利用人工智慧和進階分析技術，進一步增強我們的競爭優勢，同時為客戶創造更大的價值。例如，我們將我們深厚的製造專業知識與他們的數據、人工智慧和更廣泛的技術能力相結合，利用預測模型進行預防性維護，這為我們的一位製造客戶節省了大量成本。

While we remain in the early stages of execution of our integrated commercial strategy, our industry and capability strengths are already proving to be differentiated in our key end markets and offerings of focus.

雖然我們仍處於綜合商業策略執行的早期階段，但我們的產業和能力優勢已經在我們重點關注的終端市場和產品中展現出差異化優勢。

Now let me turn to our outlook for the year. Today, we're updating our annual guidance by narrowing our RBR guidance to a range of $1.65 billion to $1.67 billion, affirming our adjusted EBITDA guidance range of 14% to 14.5% of RBR and increasing our adjusted non-GAAP EPS to a range of $7.50 to $7.70.

現在讓我來展望一下今年的情況。今天，我們更新了年度業績指引，將 RBR 指引範圍縮小至 16.5 億美元至 16.7 億美元，確認調整後 EBITDA 指引範圍為 RBR 的 14% 至 14.5%，並將調整後非 GAAP 每股指引範圍提高至 7.50 美元至 7.70 美元。

Midpoint of our RBR guidance reflects strong year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter, so we expect the underlying demand for our offerings across all segments will continue. In 2025, we demonstrated our ability to sustain accelerated RBR growth and margin expansion despite a more challenging macroeconomic and regulatory environments. Our market-tested strategy and durable balanced portfolio of offerings, coupled with disciplined execution, and continues to deliver strong financial performance for our business and our shareholders.

我們 RBR 指引的中點反映了第四季度強勁的同比增長，因此我們預計所有細分市場對我們產品的潛在需求將繼續保持。2025年，我們證明了即使在更具挑戰性的宏觀經濟和監管環境下，我們仍然能夠維持加速的RBR成長和利潤率擴張。我們經過市場檢驗的策略和持久均衡的產品組合，加上嚴謹的執行，持續為我們的業務和股東帶來強勁的財務表現。

Now let me turn it over to John for a more detailed discussion of our financial results. John?

現在，我將把發言權交給約翰，讓他更詳細地討論一下我們的財務表現。約翰？

Thank you, Mark, and good afternoon, everyone. Before I begin, please note that I will be discussing non-GAAP financial measures such as EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow. Our press release, 10-Q, and Investor Relations page on the Huron website have reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures, along with the discussion of why management uses these non-GAAP measures why management believes they provide useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and operating results.

謝謝你，馬克，大家下午好。在開始之前，請注意，我將討論一些非GAAP財務指標，例如EBITDA、調整後EBITDA、調整後淨收入、調整後每股盈餘和自由現金流。我們的新聞稿、10-Q 表格以及 Huron 網站上的投資者關係頁面提供了這些非 GAAP 指標與最可比較 GAAP 指標的調整表，並討論了管理層為何使用這些非 GAAP 指標，以及管理層為何認為這些指標可以為投資者提供有關我們財務狀況和經營業績的有用資訊。

Before discussing our financial results for the quarter, I'd like to discuss several housekeeping items. First, our third quarter 2025 results in the Healthcare segment exclude the operating results from the Studer Education business, which was divested on December 31, 2024.

在討論本季財務表現之前，我想先討論幾個事項。首先，我們 2025 年第三季的醫療保健業務表現不包括 Studer Education 業務的營運業績，該業務已於 2024 年 12 月 31 日剝離。

Our Healthcare segment results do include a full quarter of operating results from our acquisition of Eclipse Insights, which it closed in June of this year. And finally, we closed on the acquisitions of Treliant in Wilson Perumal in July and September of 2025, respectively. Commercial segment results for the third quarter of 2025, do include the results of Treliant and Wilson Perumal starting from the dates of their respective acquisitions.

我們的醫療保健業務部門業績包含了我們收購 Eclipse Insights 後的完整季度營運業績，該收購已於今年 6 月完成。最後，我們分別在 2025 年 7 月和 9 月完成了對 Treliant 在 Wilson Perumal 的收購。2025 年第三季的商業部門業績包括 Treliant 和 Wilson Perumal 從各自收購之日起的業績。

Now, I will share some of the key financial results from the third quarter. RBR for the third quarter of 2025 was a record $432.4 million, up 16.8% from $370 million in the same quarter of 2024. Organic RBR, which excludes the RBR generated by all acquisitions completed subsequent to the third quarter of 2024 and the RBR generated by the Studer Education business in the third quarter of 2024 grew 10.2% over the prior year quarter, led by 18.6% organic RBR growth in our Healthcare segment.

現在，我將分享第三季的一些主要財務表現。2025 年第三季的 RBR 達到創紀錄的 4.324 億美元，比 2024 年同期的 3.7 億美元成長了 16.8%。有機 RBR（不包括 2024 年第三季之後完成的所有收購產生的 RBR 以及 2024 年第三季 Studer 教育業務產生的 RBR）比上年同期增長 10.2%，其中醫療保健部門的有機 RBR 增長了 18.6%。

As Mark mentioned, we achieved another quarter of record RBR, reflects robust market demand for our offerings and is a testament to our highly talented and dedicated teams and their ability to deliver high-quality, innovative offerings to our clients.

正如馬克所提到的，我們又實現了創紀錄的季度 RBR，這反映了市場對我們產品的強勁需求，也證明了我們才華橫溢、敬業奉獻的團隊有能力為客戶提供高品質、創新的產品。

Net income for the third quarter of 2025 was $30.4 million or $1.71 per diluted share compared to net income of $27.1 million or $1.47 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2024. As a percentage of total revenues, net income decreased to 6.9% in the third quarter of 2025 compared to 7.2% in the third quarter of 2024.

2025 年第三季淨利為 3,040 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 1.71 美元，而 2024 年第三季淨利為 2,710 萬美元，即每股攤薄收益 1.47 美元。2025 年第三季淨利佔總營收的比例下降至 6.9%，而 2024 年第三季為 7.2%。

Our effective income tax rate in the third quarter of 2025 was 28.7%, higher than the statutory rate, inclusive of state income taxes, primarily due to certain non-deductible expense items. We now expect an effective tax rate in the range of 23% to 25% for the full year.

2025 年第三季度，我們的實際所得稅率為 28.7%，高於法定稅率（包括州所得稅），主要原因是某些不可扣除的費用項目。我們現在預計全年實際稅率將在 23% 至 25% 之間。

Adjusted EBITDA was $67.4 million in Q3 2025 or 15.6% of RBR compared to $54.9 million or 14.8% of RBR in Q3 2024. The increase in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was primarily due to increases in Healthcare and Education segment operating income, excluding the impact of segment depreciation and amortization and segment restructuring charges, partially offset by an increase in unallocated corporate expenses, excluding the impact of the change in the market value of our deferred compensation liability and transaction-related expenses and decreased commercial segment operating income.

2025 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 6,740 萬美元，佔 RBR 的 15.6%，而 2024 年第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 5,490 萬美元，佔 RBR 的 14.8%。本季度調整後 EBITDA 的成長主要歸因於醫療保健和教育部門營業收入的成長（不包括部門折舊和攤銷以及部門重組費用的影響），部分被未分配公司費用的增加（不包括遞延薪酬負債市場價值變動的影響和交易相關費用）以及商業部門營業收入的下降所抵消。

Adjusted net income was $37.4 million, $2.10 per diluted share in Q3 2025 compared to $31.1 million or $1.68 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2024, resulting in a 25% increase in adjusted diluted earnings per share over Q3 2024.

2025 年第三季調整後淨收入為 3,740 萬美元，每股攤薄收益 2.10 美元，而 2024 年第三季為 3,110 萬美元，每股攤薄收益 1.68 美元，因此，2025 年第三季調整後每股攤薄收益比 2024 年第三季增長了 25%。

Now I'll discuss the performance of each of our operating segments. The Healthcare segment generated 51% of total company RBR during the third quarter of 2025. This segment posted record RBR of $219.5 million, up $36.4 million or 19.9% from the third quarter of 2024. Third quarter of 2025 included an inorganic contribution of $6.5 million of RBR from our acquisitions, while 2024 included $3.4 million of RBR from the Studer Education business, which was divested in 2024.

現在我將討論我們各個營運部門的表現。2025 年第三季度，醫療保健業務占公司總 RBR 的 51%。該業務板塊的 RBR 創歷史新高，達到 2.195 億美元，比 2024 年第三季成長 3,640 萬美元，增幅達 19.9%。2025 年第三季包括我們收購的 650 萬美元 RBR 的非有機貢獻，而 2024 年包括來自 Studer Education 業務的 340 萬美元 RBR，該業務已於 2024 年剝離。

Excluding the impact of these items, our organic growth rate in the Healthcare segment was 18.6% in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in the prior year.

剔除這些項目的影響，2025 年第三季度，我們醫療保健領域的有機成長率為 18.6%，而去年同期為 18.6%。

Increase in RBR in the quarter was driven by broad-based demand across all of our offerings in this segment and led by strong growth in our performance improvement, financial advisory, and revenue cycle managed services offerings.

本季 RBR 的成長是由該領域所有產品的廣泛需求推動的，其中績效改善、財務諮詢和收入週期管理服務產品的強勁成長尤為顯著。

Operating income margin for Healthcare was 30.9% in Q3 2025 compared to 27.1% in Q3 2024. The increase in margin was primarily due to revenue growth that outpaced an increase in salaries and related expenses for our revenue-generating professionals and a decrease in salaries and related expenses for our support personnel. We now expect full year operating income margin for the Healthcare segment to be in the 29% to 31% range.

2025 年第三季醫療保健產業的營業利潤率為 30.9%，而 2024 年第三季為 27.1%。利潤率的提高主要是由於收入增長超過了創收專業人員的工資和相關費用的增長，以及支持人員的工資和相關費用的下降。我們現在預計醫療保健業務的全年營業利潤率將在 29% 至 31% 之間。

The Education segment generated 30% of total company RBR during the third quarter of 2025. The Education segment posted record RBR of $129.4 million, up $8.4 million or 6.9% from the third quarter of 2024. The increase in RBR in the quarter was driven by strong demand for our strategy and operations, research and digital offerings.

2025年第三季度，教育業務部門貢獻了公司總收入的30%。教育板塊的 RBR 創歷史新高，達到 1.294 億美元，比 2024 年第三季成長 840 萬美元，增幅達 6.9%。本季 RBR 的成長主要得益於市場對我們的策略與營運、研究和數位化產品的強勁需求。

The inorganic RBR contribution from our acquisitions was $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2025. The operating income margin for Education was 25.7% for Q3 2025 compared to 24.1% for the same quarter in 2024. The increase in margin was primarily due to revenue growth that outpaced an increase in compensation costs for our revenue-generating professionals.

2025 年第三季度，我們透過收購實現的非有機 RBR 貢獻為 220 萬美元。2025 年第三季教育業務的營業利益率為 25.7%，而 2024 年同期為 24.1%。利潤率的成長主要是因為收入成長超過了創收專業人員薪酬成本的成長。

The Commercial segment generated 19% of total company RBR during the third quarter of 2025, posted record RBR of $83.4 million up $17.5 million or 26.6% from the third quarter of 2024. The increase in RBR was driven by $19.6 million of incremental from our acquisitions of AXIA, Treliant to Wilson Perumal.

2025 年第三季度，商業部門貢獻了公司總 RBR 的 19%，創下 RBR 紀錄，達到 8340 萬美元，比 2024 年第三季度增長了 1750 萬美元，增幅達 26.6%。RBR 的成長主要得益於我們收購 AXIA、Treliant 和 Wilson Perumal 帶來的 1,960 萬美元增幅。

Operating income margin for the Commercial segment was 16.4% for Q3 2025, compared to 24.5% for the same quarter in 2024.

2025 年第三季商業部門的營業利潤率為 16.4%，而 2024 年同期為 24.5%。

Decline in margin in the quarter was primarily driven by increases in salaries and related expenses for our revenue-generating professionals, contractor expenses as percentages of RBR. The decline in margin is reflective of an increased mix shift toward our digital offerings during the quarter as well as the transition period for certain acquisitions that we expect to become accretive in 2026. We expect our operating margins in this segment to be in a range of approximately 16% to 18% for full year 2025, reflecting these factors.

本季利潤率下降的主要原因是創收專業人員的薪資和相關費用增加，以及承包商費用佔 RBR 的百分比上升。利潤率下降反映了本季我們產品組合向數位化產品方向的轉變，以及我們預計在 2026 年將帶來收益的某些收購項目的過渡期。受這些因素影響，我們預計 2025 年全年該業務板塊的營業利潤率將在 16% 至 18% 之間。

As Mark mentioned, for both our strategy and financial advisory offerings, we've seen an inflection point and saw improved sales conversion over the course of the third quarter and into October.

正如馬克所提到的，無論是我們的策略諮詢還是財務諮詢服務，我們都看到了轉折點，並且在第三季和10月份的銷售轉換率都有所提高。

Corporate expenses not allocated at the segment level and excluding corporate restructuring charges, were $56.5 million in Q3 2025 compared to $46.8 million in Q3 2024. Unallocated corporate expenses in the third quarter of 2025 included $2.7 million of expense related to the increase in the liability of our deferred compensation plan, compared to $2.3 million of expense in the third quarter of 2024. These amounts are offset by the change in market value of the investment assets used to fund that plan, which is reflected in other income.

2025 年第三季未按業務部門分配且不包括公司重組費用的公司支出為 5,650 萬美元，而 2024 年第三季為 4,680 萬美元。2025 年第三季未分配的公司支出包括與遞延薪酬計畫負債增加相關的 270 萬美元支出，而 2024 年第三季的支出為 230 萬美元。這些金額會被用於資助該計劃的投資資產的市場價值變化所抵消，而這種變化會反映在其他收入中。

Excluding the impact of the deferred compensation plan and restructuring expense in both periods, unallocated corporate expenses increased $9.3 million in the third quarter of 2025, primarily driven by increases in salaries and related expenses for our support personnel, software and data hosting expenses, and legal and third-party professional expenses related to our programmatic acquisition activity during the quarter.

在剔除遞延薪酬計畫和重組費用在兩個時期的影響後，2025 年第三季未分配的公司費用增加了 930 萬美元，主要原因是支援人員的薪資和相關費用增加、軟體和資料託管費用增加，以及與本季度我們的程式化收購活動相關的法律和第三方專業費用增加。

Now turning to the balance sheet and cash flows. Cash flow from operations in the third quarter of 2025 was $93.8 million. During the quarter, we used $8.5 million to invest in capital expenditures, inclusive of internally developed software costs, resulting in free cash flow of $85.3 million. We expect full year free cash flow to be in the range of $165 million to $185 million, net of cash taxes and interest and excluding non-cash stock compensation.

現在來看資產負債表和現金流量表。2025 年第三季經營活動產生的現金流量為 9,380 萬美元。本季度，我們投入 850 萬美元用於資本支出，包括內部開發的軟體成本，產生了 8,530 萬美元的自由現金流。我們預計全年自由現金流將在 1.65 億美元至 1.85 億美元之間，扣除現金稅和利息，不包括非現金股票補償。

DSO came in at 76 days in the third quarter of 2025 compared to 78 days for the second quarter of 2025, compared to 86 days for the third quarter of 2024. The decrease in DSO reflects the impact of collections on certain larger health care and education projects in alignment with the contractual payment schedules.

2025 年第三季的應收帳款週轉天數為 76 天，而 2025 年第二季為 78 天，2024 年第三季為 86 天。DSO 的下降反映了收款對某些大型醫療保健和教育項目的影響，這些項目與合約付款計劃相符。

Total debt as of September 30, 2025, was $611 million, consisting entirely of our senior bank debt. We finished the quarter with cash of $23.9 million from net debt of $587.1 million. This was a $9.7 million decrease in net debt compared to Q2 2025, which incorporates the share repurchases and acquisition payments made during the quarter.

截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，總債務為 6.11 億美元，全部由我們的優先銀行債務構成。本季末，我們現金餘額為 2,390 萬美元，淨債務為 5.871 億美元。與 2025 年第二季相比，淨債務減少了 970 萬美元，其中包括本季進行的股票回購和收購付款。

Our leverage ratio as defined in our senior bank agreement, was 2.3 times adjusted EBITDA as of September 30, 2025, compared to 1.9 times adjusted EBITDA as of September 30, 2024. We continue to expect our year-end leverage ratio to be approximately 2.0 times full year adjusted EBITDA.

根據我們的高級銀行協議中定義的槓桿率，截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，我們的調整後 EBITDA 為 2.3 倍，而截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日，該比率為 1.9 倍。我們仍然預計，我們年底的槓桿率約為全年調整後 EBITDA 的 2.0 倍。

In the third quarter, we used $18.6 million to repurchase approximately 147,000 shares, bringing our total year-to-date share repurchases to $152.5 million approximately 1,085,000 shares, representing 6.1% of our common stock outstanding as of December 31, 2024. As of September 30, 2025, $112.6 million remained available for share repurchases under the current share repurchase authorization from our Board of Directors.

第三季度，我們用 1,860 萬美元回購了約 147,000 股股票，使我們今年迄今的股票回購總額達到 1.525 億美元，約 1,085,000 股，佔截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日我們已發行普通股的 6.1%。截至 2025 年 9 月 30 日，根據董事會目前的股票回購授權，仍有 1.126 億美元可用於股票回購。

Finally, let me turn to our guidance for the full year 2025. As Mark mentioned, today, we are updating our annual guidance by narrowing our RBR guidance to a range of $1.65 billion to $1.67 billion, affirming our adjusted EBITDA guidance range of 14% to 14.5% of RBR and increasing our adjusted non-GAAP EPS and to a range of $7.50 to $7.70.

最後，讓我談談我們對 2025 年全年的指導方針。正如馬克今天提到的，我們將更新年度業績指引，將 RBR 指引範圍縮小至 16.5 億美元至 16.7 億美元，確認調整後 EBITDA 指引範圍為 RBR 的 14% 至 14.5%，並將調整後非 GAAP 每股收益提高至 7.50 美元至 7.70 美元。

Thanks, everyone. I would now like to open the call to questions. Operator?

謝謝大家。現在我來接受提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Andrew Nicholas, William Blair.

（操作說明）安德魯·尼古拉斯，威廉·布萊爾。

I wanted to just start on performance improvement and really consulting within the Healthcare segment this quarter, really seems to have popped quarter-over-quarter. So I know you hit on a little bit in your prepared remarks, but just a little bit more color on all that's going on in that business, what's driving it, how the pipeline looks, how you're hiring there -- and maybe somewhat relatedly, if there's anything onetime in nature or unsustainable in the quarterly print. I think you mentioned larger-sized engagements, but just more insight into just how well that business did in this quarter?

我本季只想著手提升績效，並在醫療保健領域進行顧問工作，看來本季業績確實較上季大幅成長。我知道您在準備好的發言稿中已經略有提及，但還是想更詳細地介紹一下該業務的現狀、驅動因素、業務發展情況、招聘情況——以及可能與之相關的，季度報告中是否存在任何一次性或不可持續的內容。我想您提到了規模較大的項目，但能否更深入地了解該業務在本季的具體表現？

Yeah, Andrew, this is Mark. I'll start and then John can provide some additional color commentary. The comment I made was that this is perhaps the strongest market that we've ever seen, and it is really broad as well. And what we've seen is really just a reaction to collective margin pressures. If you take a step back to the macro, what's driving that is very simply and a continuing trend reimbursements from the government and from commercial payers are not keeping pace with cost increases and challenges. And that is hard to fix on a sustainable basis without some pretty deep transformation of your business and your operations and at the same time, finding ways to continue to grow because you can't cost your way out of that.

是的，安德魯，這是馬克。我先開始，然後約翰可以提供一些補充評論。我的評論是，這可能是我們見過的最強勁的市場，而且市場範圍也非常廣泛。我們所看到的，其實只是對集體利潤壓力的一種反應。如果從宏觀角度來看，造成這種情況的原因很簡單，而且是一個持續的趨勢，那就是政府和商業支付方的報銷額跟不上成本成長和挑戰。如果不進行相當深刻的業務和營運轉型，就很難從根本上解決這個問題，同時還要找到繼續發展的方法，因為你無法透過降低成本來解決這個問題。

And so that leads us to for Huron because we are so integrated in terms of how we go to market across the full scope of our offerings. We are finding that we resonate very well with clients of many sizes in many markets from AMCs to regional national systems it's giving us just a time to shine for the integration that's happened over the last several years.

因此，對於 Huron 而言，這是因為我們在所有產品和服務的市場推廣方面都實現了高度整合。我們發現，我們與各個市場中各種規模的客戶都產生了很好的共鳴，從 AMC 到區域性國家系統，這給了我們一個機會，讓我們能夠充分展現過去幾年整合帶來的成果。

And it's all founded in as I said before, demonstrable ROI. So if you don't get real results for clients, you're not going to get rehired in this market, everyone talks to one or others. So it is very important to have a very strong reputation, and that's also propelling us is that we've been able to deliver on behalf of our clients.

正如我之前所說，這一切都建立在可證明的投資報酬率之上。所以，如果你不能為客戶帶來真正的成果，在這個市場裡你就不會被再次聘用，每個人都會和其中一兩個人交談。因此，擁有良好的聲譽非常重要，而我們能夠代表客戶交付成果也是推動我們前進的動力。

We have a team of people who are incredibly passionate about serving clients and care deeply about Healthcare and the culture all plays into that as well. So I think right now, it's been a time that you've seen the best of what we could ever have hoped to see out of our Healthcare team and it continues not only in just the performance improvement area, but you're seeing that in managed services as well, where that offering continues to grow and resonate within the market. So it's -- as I said before, there's a pretty significant broad-based support and demand with that.

我們擁有一支對服務客戶充滿熱情、對醫療保健事業無比關心的團隊，而這一切都與我們的文化息息相關。所以我認為，目前我們已經看到了醫療保健團隊所能達到的最佳狀態，而且這種狀態不僅體現在績效改進領域，也體現在管理服務領域，該服務的產品不斷增長，並在市場上引起共鳴。所以——正如我之前所說，這方面有相當廣泛的支持和需求。

John, do you want to add some color?

約翰，你想加點顏色嗎？

Yeah, Mark, I'll add Andrew some commentary just on the pipeline as well as its head count within Healthcare. So from a pipeline perspective, even after some of the sales activity that we've seen so far this year and the strengthening revenue run rate. The pipeline still sits on a record high levels at this point, which is really encouraging to us.

是的，馬克，我會補充一些安德魯關於人才儲備以及醫療保健領域人員數量的評論。因此，從銷售管道的角度來看，即使在今年迄今為止我們看到了一些銷售活動以及不斷增強的收入成長率之後。目前管道輸送量仍處於歷史高位，這讓我們感到非常鼓舞。

We had a third quarter that reflected really strong sales conversions. I'd say, as we start the fourth quarter here, that trend has definitely continued during the first month of the fourth quarter.

第三季銷售轉換率表現非常強勁。我想說，隨著第四季度的開始，這種趨勢在第四季度的第一個月裡肯定仍在繼續。

Digging a little deeper on that pipeline, consistent with Mark said, I think it's a mix of clients that are both going through current financial strain as well as clients that are looking at some of their recent regulatory actions, some of the pressure that may be coming as it relates to Medicaid or research funding and trying to get ahead of it before we get a year or two down the road and they feel increased pressures related to those things.

更深入地了解一下這條管道，正如馬克所說，我認為這其中既包括目前面臨財務困境的客戶，也包括正在關注近期監管行動、以及可能即將到來的與醫療補助或研究經費相關的壓力，並試圖在一兩年後感受到與這些方面相關的更大壓力之前做好準備的客戶。

Increasingly, we're seeing -- Mark alluded to this as well. But increasingly, we're seeing scopes of projects that are larger than what we've seen in the past. And part of that reason is -- not only is it performance improvement, but there's a strategy element, there's a financial advisory element. There's a digital element. More and more, we're seeing pull-through of really the entire set of capabilities that we have in Healthcare.

我們越來越看到──馬克也暗示過這一點。但我們看到，現在的專案規模越來越大，比以往任何專案都要大。部分原因是──它不僅關乎績效提升，也包含策略要素和財務諮詢要素。其中包含數位化元素。我們越來越看到我們在醫療保健領域的所有能力都得到了充分的發揮。

And Mark mentioned our revenue cycle managed services business. That's an area that also is really standing out as a bright spot, both in terms of new sales to new clients in that area, but also the opportunity to expand at existing clients based on really good performance by our teams on those projects. So all those things together give us a lot of encouragement in the Healthcare segment.

馬克也提到了我們的營收週期管理服務業務。就新客戶而言，這確實是一個亮點，不僅體現在向新客戶銷售產品方面，也體現在基於我們團隊在這些專案中的出色表現，為現有客戶拓展業務的機會方面。綜上所述，所有這些因素都給了我們在醫療保健領域很大的啟發。

On the head count side, you do absolutely see us leaning into this demand in terms of our head count additions. Excluding the managed services head count, saw some significant head count adds in the Healthcare segment. That's really building out the capacity that we need to have in order to not only deliver on closing out this year, but also based on our expectations that we're off to a strong start for 2026 as well.

在人員配備方面，我們確實在增加人員配置方面積極回應這項需求。除去託管服務部門的員工人數，醫療保健部門的員工人數顯著增加。這確實有助於我們建立所需的能力，不僅是為了完成今年的工作，也是為了實現我們對 2026 年開局強勁的預期。

And then you do see the continued managed services head count build. A lot of that is our India head count for that part of the business, and that's really related to some of the opportunities that we're seeing there as well.

然後，你會看到託管服務人員數量持續增加。這其中很大一部分是我們印度業務部門的員工人數，而且這確實與我們在那裡看到的一些機會有關。

Perfect. John, maybe I'll pick up on the last comment there. Just in terms of setting up for next year. Healthcare obviously has very good momentum. You have some deals that you've closed throughout this year that should help growth as well. Any comments that you'd make on '26 broadly? I know you gave a multiyear target at your Investor Day earlier this year. Just wondering if we should expect anything meaningfully different from that framework next year or maybe puts and takes for us to consider as we think about '26?

完美的。約翰，或許我會注意到你最後那則評論。只是為了明年做準備。醫療保健產業顯然發展勢頭良好。今年你達成的一些交易也應該有助於業務成長。關於26號選舉，您有什麼想說的嗎？我知道您在今年早些時候的投資者日上給出了一個多年目標。我只是想知道，明年我們是否應該期待這個框架會有什麼實質的不同，或是在考慮2026年的時候，我們有哪些需要考慮的優缺點？

Yeah, Andrew, obviously, we're still going through our planning process and considering next year. So we're not in a position to really guide to that yet, which I know isn't what you're asking, but -- generally speaking, I think I'd go back to that Investor Day and the framework that we put out there. And I'd say a factor that we've now talked about for a couple of calls is that we have seen increased demand over the past couple of quarters related to areas that we discussed. So that's certainly a favorable item and gives us confidence in that model that we put out there at Investor Day.

是的，安德魯，很顯然，我們仍在進行規劃，並考慮明年的情況。所以，我們目前還無法就此給出明確的指導，我知道這並不是你想要的，但是——總的來說，我認為應該回到投資者日以及我們當時提出的框架。我想說，我們在之前的幾次電話會議中都談到了一個因素，那就是在過去的幾個季度裡，我們看到與我們討論過的領域相關的需求增加。所以這無疑是一個利好消息，也讓我們對投資人日上提出的模型更有信心。

And if you think about the range of outcomes for next year, continued execution on those types of projects might be the type of thing that would put you towards the higher end of that range. But I think the best thing we do would be to go back to that multiyear model that we discussed in March.

如果你考慮明年可能出現的各種結果，繼續執行這些類型的專案可能會讓你獲得更高的結果。但我認為我們最好的做法是回到我們在三月討論過的多年期模式。

Great. And if I could just squeeze one more in. On commercial, you talked about seeing an inflection point in demand over the course of third quarter or at least as third quarter progressed and then into October. Anything else that you could add there? Like what is driving that improved conversion? Is there anything in the end markets where you participate that has made that what is driving that, I guess, is the question?

偉大的。如果我能再擠出一個就好了。在商業方面，您提到在第三季或至少隨著第三季的推進以及進入 10 月份，需求出現了拐點。還有什麼可以補充的嗎？是什麼因素推動了轉換率的提升？在你參與的終端市場中，是否存在某種因素導致了這種情況？我想，這才是問題的關鍵。

Andrew, I'll take that one. I think if you look at what we said was the strategy and financial advisory. I'll take financial advisory first. So I think it's pretty clear if you look at the broader market, you've seen competitors who have seen an uptick in their demand and the restructuring and turnaround arena. And that's trickling into our business now as well. That gives us a very strong confidence.

安德魯，我來做這個。我認為，如果你看看我們所說的策略和財務諮詢。我先接受財務諮詢。所以我覺得很明顯，如果你放眼整個市場，你會發現競爭對手的需求上升，而且重組和轉虧為盈領域也出現了成長。現在這種趨勢也逐漸滲透到我們的業務中了。這給了我們極大的信心。

The sales conversion on those types of opportunities are really short between when they come into the door when we actually start executing. So that's certainly a momentum factor coming into Q4 that we were alluding to.

從客戶上門到我們真正開始執行，這類銷售機會的轉換率非常低。所以，這無疑是我們之前提到的進入第四季的一個重要推動因素。

And then even on the strategy side, where we've seen this combination of going to market within the earliest days of the Wilson Perumal's some nice, continued momentum there that has shifted perhaps what we have seen for some softness earlier in the year. We feel like that's certainly a good trajectory as well.

即使在策略方面，我們也看到威爾遜·佩魯馬爾(Wilson Perumal)在上市初期就取得了不錯的成績，並保持了良好的發展勢頭，這或許扭轉了我們今年早些時候看到的疲軟局面。我們也覺得這當然是個很好的發展方向。

Tobey Sommer, Truist.

Tobey Sommer，Truist。

I want to start with a broad question. How is your hiring capability in the company's infrastructure from your perspective ahead of what looks like it could be a decently long period of rapid growth?

我想先提一個比較廣泛的問題。從您的角度來看，在公司即將迎來一段相當長的快速成長期之際，貴公司的招募能力如何？

Tobey, this is John. I can start. Mark can provide any color commentary. We feel really good about that. I think -- you hear us talk a lot, Tobey, about the culture that we've been able to build here at Huron.

托比，這位是約翰。我可以開始了。馬克可以提供任何精彩的評論。我們對此感到非常滿意。托比，我想——你經常聽到我們談論我們在休倫建立的文化。

There's two tangible things that, that does for us. It leads to lower attrition rates than you see across the industry, a lot of other places, and it also makes it a really attractive platform to attract people into. And so you've seen in that increase in head count numbers over the past couple of quarters, our ability to find the talent that we needed to add that talent. And there's nothing that really gives us pause about being able to continue to do that and really leaning into the demand that we're seeing right now.

它為我們帶來了兩件實實在在的好處。與整個產業和許多其他地方相比，這使得員工流失率更低，也使它成為一個非常有吸引力的平台，能夠吸引人們加入。因此，在過去幾個季度中，員工人數的成長表明我們有能力找到我們需要的人才來補充團隊。我們完全有信心繼續這樣做，並真正滿足我們目前看到的需求。

Yeah. I think well said, the only thing I just maybe just put stop on that comment is strong culture for us is one of the most important things that we focus on. We start with that. It's why people join us. It's why -- if they try some other areas, they rejoin us. And for us, it is -- we think one of our most important strategic advantages in the market is just having a great place that people choose to come to work.

是的。我覺得說得很好，我唯一想補充的是，強大的企業文化是我們最關注的事情之一。我們就從這裡開始。這就是人們加入我們的原因。這就是為什麼——如果他們嘗試其他領域，他們最終還是會加入我們。對我們來說，的確如此——我們認為我們在市場上最重要的策略優勢之一就是擁有一個人們樂於來工作的絕佳場所。

Perfect. In education, how would you describe customer decision-making? Do your customers feel like they're through the worst of the turbulence and volatility around policy tax, et cetera, which seemed at least based on media flow to peak in late 2Q, early 3Q?

完美的。在教育領域，你會如何描述顧客的決策過程？您的客戶是否感覺他們已經度過了圍繞政策稅收等方面的動盪和波動最嚴重的時期？這些動盪和波動似乎至少根據媒體報導來看，在第二季末、第三季初達到了頂峰。

And Tobey, I believe you're seeing, I would call it, in equilibrium right now. You're seeing decisions made for the long term relative to like the comments we made about the digital transformation projects. We're also seeing not a gut reaction to some of the more short-term challenges, taking a much more thoughtful way of evaluating what the options are going forward. And as a result, when you look over the course of the year relative to the disruptions that were potentially at the beginning of the year, we've really demonstrated our ability to kind of weather through this time. And we feel like the outlook is pretty stable at this point.

托比，我相信你現在看到的，我稱之為，一種平衡狀態。您可以看到，我們針對數位轉型專案所做的評論表明，決策都是著眼於長遠的。我們也看到，對於一些短期挑戰，人們並沒有做出本能的反應，而是採取了更深思熟慮的方式來評估未來的各種選擇。因此，回顧這一年，考慮到年初可能出現的各種幹擾，我們已經充分證明了我們有能力度過這段時期。我們認為目前前景相當穩定。

On Managed Services, where headcount growth is very, very high. Can you talk about how you're going to fully absorb those people, how investors should have confidence that it's attached to projects and revenue that should ramp and maybe what your outlook is for long-term utilization among those folks?

在託管服務領域，人員成長非常非常快。您能否談談您將如何全面吸收這些人，投資者如何相信這與能夠逐步增長的項目和收入掛鉤，以及您對這些人長期利用率的展望？

Yeah, Tobey, we have very high utilization. It's one of the highest areas of utilization in the firm for our managed resources, teams, there is not a lot of space between conversion of sales and the hiring of resources there. So there's a tight correlation there. It's not one of those situations where we're doing a lot of hiring in advance of anticipated demand -- the sales cycle for a lot of these types of projects tend to be a little bit longer, so that gives us the ability to -- during that period, make sure that we've got the resources that we need in the right geographies that we need to be able to serve the client and what they're particular needs are.

是的，托比，我們的利用率非常高。這是公司管理資源和團隊利用率最高的領域之一，銷售轉換和資源招募之間的間隔並不長。所以它們之間有密切的關聯。這不是我們會提前大量招募以滿足預期需求的情況——這類專案的銷售週期往往比較長，因此我們有能力——在此期間，確保我們在合適的地區擁有所需的資源，以便能夠服務客戶並滿足他們的特定需求。

But so far, we've been able to manage that in a measured way despite the big number of head count add that you see.

但到目前為止，儘管人員增加數量很大，我們仍然能夠以一種穩健的方式進行管理。

Tobey, I'll add there in India. The culture is just as strong as it is in the US. And it's a wonderful team. It translates into low turnover among that team. And so when people join us, we're just getting them that stay a lot longer it takes pressure off hiring when you need to. And so -- that's one of the key reasons that culture is such an important asset for us.

托比，我還要補充一下，我在印度。這裡的文化和美國一樣根深蒂固。這是一個很棒的團隊。這意味著該團隊的人員流動率很低。因此，當人們加入我們時，他們往往會待得更久，這減輕了我們在需要招募時的壓力。所以——這就是文化對我們來說如此重要的關鍵原因之一。

Just two other small ones like, (inaudible). In restructuring, we saw some good wins in the news, how is the team winning bigger jobs?

還有另外兩個小的，例如，（聽不清楚）在重組方面，我們看到了一些好消息，團隊是如何贏得更大專案的呢？

We've always had opportunities to win at larger engagements. I'd say, while our size is more of a boutique the reputation of quality that we have in delivery, particularly on restructuring assignments where we're representing at the client on the debtor side has been very, very strong. And it's pretty broad across a number of different industries.

我們一直都有機會在大型專案中獲勝。我想說，雖然我們的規模更像是一家精品公司，但我們在交付品質方面的聲譽，尤其是在重組任務中代表債務人一方的聲譽，一直非常非常強。而且它在許多不同的行業中都應用得相當廣泛。

So it's really that reputation and just getting into the market and having the relationships, not only the referral sources, whether the law firms or private equity, private debt. It's been a good, consistent source of demand for us because of the reputation we built.

所以，真正重要的是聲譽，以及進入市場並建立人脈關係，而不僅僅是推薦來源，無論是律師事務所、私募股權公司還是私人債務公司。由於我們建立的良好聲譽，它一直是我們穩定可靠的需求來源。

And then last one for me. With respect to Healthcare, what's the outlook for performance fees typically when demand is accelerating and very strong. There's a favorable mix that direction. What's the outlook there?

最後，也是我最後一個問題。就醫療保健產業而言，在需求加速成長且非常強勁的情況下，績效費的前景如何？那方面形勢有利。那裡的前景如何？

Tobey, that's a good question. And as you know, but just as a reminder, we're -- we work with our clients on whatever type of arrangement that they're most comfortable with. That's what's important to us. So there can be some variability around that over time. In fact, despite the growth that you see this year, from a revenue perspective, from a margin perspective in our Healthcare business, we've actually had a lower percent of contingent-based fees in 2025 than we did in 2024.

托比，問得好。如您所知，但還是要提醒一下，我們—我們會與客戶合作，制定他們最舒適的任何安排。這對我們來說很重要。因此，隨著時間的推移，這方面可能會有一些波動。事實上，儘管今年從收入和利潤率的角度來看，我們的醫療保健業務有所成長，但 2025 年的按結果付費比例實際上低於 2024 年。

And that just reflective of clients this year that had more of a preference for fixed fee type work. With all that said, based on some of the sales activity in the back half of the year, I think we have seen more clients interested to your point, in performance-based fee arrangements. So if I were to play that forward likely in 2026, my expectation is that, that percent of revenue that's tied to performance-based fees may go back up again to the level it was at in 2024.

這正好反映了今年客戶更傾向於固定收費類型的工作。綜上所述，根據下半年的銷售情況來看，我認為我們看到更多客戶對您所說的按績效收費的安排很感興趣。因此，如果我預測到 2026 年，我的預期是，與績效相關的費用所佔收入的百分比可能會再次上升到 2024 年的水平。

Bill Sutherland, Benchmark.

Bill Sutherland，基準。

Mark, I think in your prepared comments, I think I caught this correctly. You said there's increasing competition in the commercial side in digital. Did I hear that right?

馬克，我覺得在你事先準備好的評論中，我理解對了。你說過，數位領域的商業競爭日益激烈。我沒聽錯吧？

No, I don't think it was exactly that, Bill. I'd just say we have been performing well in that market. I don't think there's any real change in the competitive environment there.

不，我不認為事情就是這樣，比爾。我只想說，我們在該市場表現一直不錯。我認為那裡的競爭環境並沒有任何實質的改變。

Okay. I misheard that I'm glad you clarified. In the Education Group, I know that you guys have talked in terms of the other two groups as far as the pipeline still being very active and the sales conversion is strong. Coming sort of the third quarter. Does that also apply to education? I don't remember you specifically saying that?

好的。我聽錯了，很高興你澄清了。我知道教育集團的各位已經談到了其他兩個集團的情況，即銷售管道仍然非常活躍，銷售轉換率也很高。大概在第三季。這是否也適用於教育領域？我不記得你具體說過這話？

Yeah, Bill, it's John. The -- we had record sales conversions in the second quarter of this year. We didn't get a record status during the third quarter, but it was still strong sales conversions during the quarter. And we're bumped to the fourth quarter now, and we're off to a really good start from the fourth quarter perspective, too. So we continue to see strength there as well.

是的，比爾，我是約翰。今年第二季度，我們的銷售轉換率創下了歷史新高。第三季我們沒有創下銷售紀錄，但該季度的銷售轉換率仍然很高。現在我們已經進入第四節了，而且從第四節的角度來看，我們的開局也非常好。因此，我們也繼續看到這方面的力量。

And John, when you were talking about the segments and the expected margin range for the year. Did you give education or I missed it?

約翰，你剛才談到各個細分市場以及今年的預期利潤率範圍時。你有講授課程嗎？還是我錯過了？

I didn't -- the reason is there was no change in it, so that it's consistent with where we're at for, which is 23% to 25% the year.

我沒有——原因是它沒有變化，所以它與我們目前的水平一致，即每年 23% 到 25%。

Okay. That makes sense. And then the last one, I mean, obviously, like everybody else in the world, thinking more about the AI side of things. And curious about the percentage of your book that you're seeing that has at least somewhat of an AI focus. And with that, are you finding yourself able to build the resources internally sufficient to meet demand? Or could that be -- could that be an area where a small acquisition would be helpful?

好的。這很有道理。最後一點，我的意思是，很顯然，就像世界上其他人一樣，更多在思考人工智慧方面的事情。我很想知道您出版的書籍中，有多少比例的內容至少在某種程度上與人工智慧相關。那麼，您是否能夠建立足夠的內部資源來滿足需求呢？或者，這是否意味著——這是否意味著小規模收購會有所幫助？

Yeah, Bill, before John jumps in I'll give you more of the color. Let me just say that we view the opportunity related to AI and automation as a positive for our business. And hopefully, that came through the remarks. Because we're not a large scale [NEO] and using scale and infrastructure to lower the cost or we're not a generalist firm, we're a trusted implementation partner. So when we're working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, it creates opportunities to work with them because we understand their business processes, the industries and so we can easily work hand-in-hand with them.

是的，比爾，在約翰插話之前，我先給你補充一些細節。我想說的是，我們認為人工智慧和自動化帶來的機會對我們的業務來說是正面的。希望這一點能從演講中傳達出來。因為我們不是大型的[NEO]公司，利用規模和基礎設施來降低成本，或者我們不是一家綜合性公司，所以我們是值得信賴的實施合作夥伴。因此，當我們與客戶並肩工作時，就創造了與他們合作的機會，因為我們了解他們的業務流程和產業，所以我們可以輕鬆地與他們攜手合作。

So we think that we actually see this as very much a net positive for our business over time. So John, you want to maybe provide some color on -- that's finding its way into the numbers?

所以我們認為，從長遠來看，這實際上對我們的業務來說是一個非常積極的淨結果。約翰，你想不想就此提供一些細節——也就是它如何體現在數據中——進行更深入的分析？

Yeah, Bill, if you think about our digital business, which is a little bit north of 40% of our total revenue, somewhere in the 15% to 20% range of that total revenue is work that's directly related to AI type projects. I would say though, as time goes on, I think that, that line gets even blurrier because there's increasingly, there's some aspect of automation or AI involved in many, many of the digital projects that we're working on and a much higher percent of the revenue.

是的，比爾，如果你想想我們的數位業務，它占我們總收入的 40% 以上，那麼在這 15% 到 20% 的總收入中，有一部分是與人工智慧類型的項目直接相關的工作。不過，我認為隨著時間的推移，這條界線會變得越來越模糊，因為我們正在進行的許多數位專案中越來越多地涉及自動化或人工智慧，並且收入佔比也越來越高。

I'd say, to extend even beyond digital. When you look at some of our performance improvement consulting, for example, I'd say at the Managed Services part of our business, which is another one that Mark alluded to, I'd say, automated solutions, use of AI or to help our clients drive the types of outcomes that they're looking for. That's becoming a bigger part of the equation.

我認為，這甚至可以超越數位領域。例如，看看我們的一些績效改善諮詢服務，例如我們業務中的管理服務部分（這也是馬克提到的），我會說，自動化解決方案、人工智慧的應用，或幫助我們的客戶實現他們所期望的結果。這在問題中扮演的角色越來越重要。

In terms of our talent, I think we're at a really good starting place. If you think again about for us, our starting point is 40% of our revenue out of the gate is coming from consultants with the specialization and technology, specialization in digital. So the evolution here to some of the more advanced technologies easier leap for those consultants. And it's really just part of the evolution of the tools that they already have expertise deploying. So I think we're taking advantage of that high digital fluency that we have at Huron.

就我們的天賦而言，我認為我們已經有了一個非常好的起點。如果你再想想我們，我們的起點是，我們一開始就有 40% 的收入來自擁有專業知識和技術（特別是數位科技）的顧問。因此，對於這些顧問來說，向一些更先進技術的演進會更容易一些。這其實只是他們已經熟練的工具演進的一部分。所以我認為我們正在充分利用休倫大學師生高度的數位化素養。

(Operator Instructions) Kevin Steinke, Barrington Research.

（操作說明）凱文‧史坦克，巴林頓研究公司。

Great. So you talked about the strong demand in education that you're seeing for digital transformation projects. Just wondering about the mix in terms of the type of projects there. I know in the past; you've talked about really the potential of student life cycle systems and the growth opportunity that offered there for you versus implementation of traditional ERP system. So just wondering a little bit more about any color on the types of implementations you're seeing in the mix there?

偉大的。您剛才談到了教育領域對數位轉型專案的強勁需求。想了解那裡的項目類型構成。我知道您過去曾談到學生生命週期系統的潛力，以及它為您帶來的發展機會，與實施傳統的 ERP 系統相比，這些機會更具優勢。所以，我想更詳細地了解您目前看到的各種實現方式的具體情況？

Yeah. Right now, Kevin, it's been really, I would call it, in core ERP financials, HCM full suite type implementations a little bit lighter on the student side. So I'd say our comments are targeted more toward core ERP.

是的。凱文，就目前而言，我所說的核心 ERP 財務、HCM 全套實施，在學生方面確實比較少見。所以我覺得我們的評論更多是針對核心ERP系統。

And Kevin, as I was thinking about your question, another -- another good point to make, I think this is very true in some of these education ERP projects that we're seeing. In order for our clients to be able to unlock some of the benefits of automation and AI, having a solid data structure, a solid technology infrastructure is critical. You actually can't do it at any scale unless you've made some of those investments in the underlying foundation.

凱文，當我思考你的問題時，還有一點——還有一個很好的觀點，我認為這在我們看到的一些教育 ERP 項目中非常適用。為了讓我們的客戶能夠充分利用自動化和人工智慧的優勢，擁有穩固的資料結構和強大的技術基礎設施至關重要。實際上，除非你在基礎建設方面進行了一些投資，否則你不可能大規模地做到這一點。

So I think that's part of the reason we're seeing such good demand right now for those types of offerings as clients who are not only on trying to reset the foundation because they're on dated tools now that they need to get and to the more modern platforms, but also because they know that's the stage for the next round of investments in AI-based functionality.

所以我認為這部分解釋了為什麼我們現在看到這類產品的需求如此旺盛，因為客戶不僅想要重塑基礎，因為他們現在使用的工具已經過時，需要遷移到更現代的平台，而且還因為他們知道這是下一輪基於人工智慧的功能投資的階段。

Right. Okay. That's helpful. I just want to ask about utilization rate on the consulting side in the quarter. Step down sequentially from the second quarter.

正確的。好的。那很有幫助。我只想了解本季諮詢業務的使用率。從第二季開始逐步降低。

I'm assuming that's related to some of the ramped-up hiring you did there. And just maybe you could talk about the opportunity for utilization to improve going forward as more projects ramp up and how that can contribute to your margin expansion going forward?

我猜這和你在那裡加大招募力度有關。或許您可以談談隨著更多專案啟動，未來利用率有機會提高，以及這如何能幫助您擴大未來的利潤率？

You got it exactly right, Kevin, that lower utilization that you see during the quarter was related to that account additions that we made to really support demand. So we're in a little bit of investment mode here. I'd say in the back half of the year to build out the team to not only deliver on the opportunity we see in the back half of this year, but also -- set stage for next year as well.

凱文，你說得完全正確，本季較低的利用率與我們為了真正滿足需求而增加的帳戶有關。所以我們現在有點投資的意味。我認為，在今年下半年，我們應該加強團隊建設，不僅要抓住今年下半年的機會，也要為明年做好準備。

So I think from a long-term perspective, we'd expect ourselves to be able to get back up to the upper 70% range overall that you've seen us hit in other quarters. But I think you may see -- you saw it this quarter, you may see for another quarter or two a little bit of pressure on that metric as we're building out the team, getting ready to continue to grow the business.

所以我認為從長遠來看，我們預計整體業績能夠恢復到我們在其他季度達到的 70% 以上的水平。但我認為你可能會看到——你在本季度已經看到了——在接下來的一個或兩個季度裡，隨著我們組建團隊，準備繼續發展業務，該指標可能會面臨一些壓力。

Okay. Great. I think most of my other questions have been answered, so I'll turn it back over.

好的。偉大的。我覺得我其他的問題大部分都得到了解答，所以我就把這個問題轉回去問了。

Thank you seeing no more questions in the queue. I'd like to turn the call back to Mr. Hussey. Sir?

謝謝，隊列中沒有其他問題了。我想把電話轉回給胡西先生。先生？

Thanks for spending time with us this afternoon, and we look forward to speaking with you again in February when we announce our fourth quarter results. Have a good evening.

感謝您今天下午抽出時間與我們交流，我們期待在二月份公佈第四季度業績時再次與您見面。祝你晚上愉快。

That concludes today's conference call. Thank you, everyone, for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。