ICON PLC (ICLR) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the ICON plc Q1 2024 Results Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 ICON plc 2024 年第一季業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand over to Kate Haven, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將工作交給投資者關係副總裁凱特海文 (Kate Haven)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good day, and thank you for joining us on this call covering the quarter ended March 31, 2024. Also on the call today, we have our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler; our CFO, Brendan Brennan; and Senior Vice President of Corporate and Commercial Finance, Emer Lyons. I would like to note that this call is webcast and that there are slides available to download on our website to accompany today's call.

謝謝。美好的一天，感謝您參加本次電話會議，涵蓋截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的季度。我們的財務長布倫丹·布倫南；埃默·里昂 (Emer Lyons) 企業和商業財務高級副總裁。我想指出的是，這次電話會議是網路直播，並且可以在我們的網站上下載幻燈片以配合今天的電話會議。

Certain statements in today's call will be forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and information currently available, including current economic and industry conditions. Actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied by forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, and listeners are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

今天電話會議中的某些陳述將是前瞻性陳述。這些陳述基於管理層當前的預期和當前可獲得的信息，包括當前的經濟和行業狀況。由於與公司業務相關的風險和不確定性，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異，聽眾請注意，前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來績效。

Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in the SEC reports filed by the company, including its Form 20-F filed on February 23, 2024.

前瞻性陳述僅截至其作出之日，我們不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。有關這些前瞻性陳述相關風險和不確定性的更多信息，請參閱該公司向 SEC 提交的報告，包括 2024 年 2 月 23 日提交的 20-F 表格。

This presentation includes selected non-GAAP financial measures, which Steve and Brendan will be referencing in their prepared remarks. For a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, please refer to the press release section titled Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.

本簡報包括選定的非公認會計準則財務指標，史蒂夫和布倫丹將在準備好的發言中引用這些指標。有關最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的介紹，請參閱標題為「簡明合併營運報表」的新聞稿部分。

While non-GAAP financial measures are not superior to or a substitute for the comparable GAAP measures, we believe certain non-GAAP information is more useful to investors for historical comparison purposes. Included in the press release and the earnings slides, you will note a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures.

雖然非公認會計原則財務指標並不優於或替代可比較的公認會計原則指標，但我們認為某些非公認會計原則資訊對於投資者進行歷史比較更有用。在新聞稿和收益幻燈片中，您會注意到非公認會計原則措施的調節。

Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share excludes stock compensation expense, restructuring costs, foreign currency gains and losses, amortization and transaction-related and integration-related costs and their respective tax benefits.

調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨利潤和調整後的稀釋每股收益不包括股票補償費用、重組成本、外幣損益、攤銷以及交易相關和整合相關成本及其各自的稅收優惠。

We will be limiting the call today to 1 hour. (Operator Instructions)

我們今天將通話時間限制為 1 小時。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to hand the call over to our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler.

我現在想將電話轉交給我們的執行長史蒂夫卡特勒博士。

Thank you, Kate, and good day, everyone. ICON's performance in quarter 1 marked a strong start to the year, combining solid financial results, an impressive uptick in business awards and excellent adjusted earnings growth.

謝謝你，凱特，大家好。 ICON 第一季的業績標誌著今年的強勁開局，結合了穩健的財務業績、商業獎項的令人印象深刻的增長以及出色的調整後盈利增長。

Net business wins were a record in the quarter, exceeding $2.65 billion as our comprehensive scaled offering continues to fuel our leadership position in clinical development. The market trends we saw early in quarter 1 continued throughout the balance of the quarter, characterized by stabilizing demand within the biotech customer base as well as a continuation of the robust demand we have consistently seen from large pharma customers.

本季淨業務收入創歷史新高，超過 26.5 億美元，我們全面的規模化產品繼續鞏固我們在臨床開發領域的領導地位。我們在第一季初看到的市場趨勢在整個季度的剩餘時間內持續存在，其特點是生物技術客戶群的需求穩定以及我們從大型製藥客戶那裡看到的持續強勁需求的延續。

Underlying demand drivers are incrementally more positive through quarter 1, with biotech funding increasing over 50% on a year-over-year basis in quarter 1, according to BioCentury, and large pharma R&D spend figures indicating low single-digit growth for the full year, in line with previous expectations. Proposal volumes are at healthy levels, with overall RFP volume increasing low double digits on a trailing 12-month basis.

根據 BioCentury 的數據，第一季潛在的需求驅動因素逐漸變得更加積極，第一季生技資金年增超過 50%，而大型製藥研發支出數據顯示全年低個位數成長，符合先前的預期。提案量處於健康水平，整體 RFP 量在過去 12 個月中以低兩位數增長。

In quarter 1, net bookings grew 10% on a year-over-year basis, resulting in a book-to-bill of 1.27x in the quarter and increasing our trailing 12-month book-to-bill ratio to 1.24.

第一季度，淨預訂量年增 10%，導致該季度的訂單出貨比達到 1.27 倍，並將我們過去 12 個月的訂單出貨比提高至 1.24。

We had a robust business development performance across all operational segments, with notable strength in our large pharma full-service solutions segment as well as in our laboratory business.

我們在所有營運部門都擁有強勁的業務發展業績，在大型製藥全方位服務解決方案部門以及實驗室業務方面具有顯著的實力。

While it's early in quarter 2, to date, we have seen a continuation of these trends across customer segments, and we remain positive on the outlook for the full year. We expect book-to-bill to be in the range of 1.2 to 1.3x on a quarterly basis, maintaining our previous target range and expectation for an average book-to-bill of 1.25x for the full year 2024.

雖然現在才進入第二季初期，但迄今為止，我們已經看到這些趨勢在各個客戶群中持續存在，並且我們對全年前景保持樂觀。我們預計每季的訂單出貨比將在 1.2 至 1.3 倍之間，維持我們先前的目標範圍和 2024 年全年平均訂單出貨比 1.25 倍的預期。

One of our important strategic initiatives as we came into 2024 was the focused rebranding of our dedicated biotech solutions business, ICON biotech. We saw an opportunity to enhance our market position within the biotech segment with customers that historically associated ICON with a large pharma focus. ICON biotech is the world's largest dedicated biotech CRO, with approximately 8,000 staff that are exclusively committed to that segment and understand the unique needs of the biotech customers we support. We are committed to optimally serving this key customer group and believe we can best do so through our current dedicated structure.

進入 2024 年，我們的重要策略舉措之一是對我們的專用生物技術解決方案業務 ICON biotech 進行重點品牌重塑。我們看到了一個機會，可以提高我們在生物技術領域的市場地位，與那些歷史上將 ICON 與大型製藥公司聯繫在一起的客戶合作。 ICON Biotech 是全球最大的專業生物技術 CRO，擁有約 8,000 名員工，專門致力於該領域，了解我們所支援的生物技術客戶的獨特需求。我們致力於為這一關鍵客戶群提供最佳服務，並相信透過我們目前的專用結構可以最好地做到這一點。

Following the rebrand activity in quarter 4 last year, I am pleased to report that we are already seeing positive momentum in terms of customer receptivity and an increased win rate in this segment.

繼去年第四季的品牌重塑活動之後，我很高興地向大家報告，我們已經看到了客戶接受度方面的積極勢頭以及該細分市場獲勝率的提高。

In addition to our focused efforts within the biotech segment, we continue to drive forward our leadership in large pharma. Growing strategic partnerships is a critical element to this strategy, which not only includes the execution of new strategic partnerships, but renewing and expanding existing customer relationships.

除了我們在生物技術領域的重點努力外，我們還繼續推動我們在大型製藥領域的領導地位。不斷發展的策略夥伴關係是該策略的關鍵要素，其中不僅包括執行新的策略合作夥伴關係，還包括更新和擴大現有的客戶關係。

In quarter 1, we were successful in renewing a long-standing top 20 pharma partnership, primarily utilizing full-service solutions. The renewal reinforces our strong delivery, history of execution for this important customer and our collective team's collaboration to drive efficiency across their development portfolio.

第一季度，我們主要利用全方位服務解決方案，成功續簽了與 20 強製藥公司的長期合作關係。此次更新加強了我們強大的交付能力、對這一重要客戶的執行歷史以及我們集體團隊的協作，以提高整個開發組合的效率。

Another important factor in ICON's ability to secure and grow our customer partnerships is through the development of innovative solutions across our portfolio. We are excited about the future potential of our comprehensive and cost-effective offering in clinical trial tokenization. This end-to-end approach follows patients longitudinally through their health care journey beyond their participation in a clinical trial.

ICON 能夠確保和發展客戶合作夥伴關係的另一個重要因素是透過我們的產品組合開發創新解決方案。我們對我們在臨床試驗標記化方面全​​面且具有成本效益的產品的未來潛力感到興奮。這種端到端的方法除了參與臨床試驗之外，還縱向追蹤病患的醫療保健歷程。

The surge in drug development in areas like diabetes and obesity has increased the need to collect and analyze long-term follow-up safety, efficacy and health expenditure data. We are anticipating greater market, regulatory and reimbursement requirements in the future, hence the need to deliver broader, more comprehensive insights that ultimately drive increased value for our customers.

糖尿病和肥胖症等領域藥物開發的激增增加了收集和分析長期追蹤安全性、有效性和健康支出數據的需求。我們預計未來會有更大的市場、監管和報銷要求，因此需要提供更廣泛、更全面的見解，最終為我們的客戶帶來更大的價值。

Turning to our financial performance in quarter 1. Our team delivered another period of strong results across a number of measures. Total revenue increased 6% on a year-over-year basis. Gross margin of 29.9% increased 10 basis points over quarter 1 2023. And total SG&A expense decreased 90 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 8.7% of total revenue, driving a very strong adjusted EBITDA growth of 11.3% over quarter 1 2023.

談到我們第一季的財務表現。總收入較去年同期成長6%。毛利率為 29.9%，較 2023 年第一季成長 10 個基點。

This resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.2% in the quarter, up 100 basis points year-on-year. Given the performance on adjusted EBITDA growth and the continued paydown of our Term Loan B debt, we saw excellent year-over-year growth in adjusted earnings per share of 20%.

這導致本季調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 21.2%，較去年同期成長 100 個基點。鑑於調整後 EBITDA 成長的表現以及我們定期貸款 B 債務的持續償還，我們看到調整後每股收益年增 20%。

The execution of our capital deployment strategy continued as planned in the first quarter. We closed the previously announced acquisition of HumanFirst in January, a leader in the field of digital health technology selection. This important capability is strategically aligned with our approach to providing an enhanced integrated offer. Combination of our leading clinical outcome assessment capabilities and digital health technology selection offers the ability for customers to optimize clinical trial design and enhance data collection quality.

第一季我們的資本部署策略繼續按計劃執行。我們於 1 月完成了先前宣布的數位健康技術選擇領域領導者 HumanFirst 的收購。這項重要功能在策略上與我們提供增強型整合產品的方法保持一致。我們領先的臨床結果評估能力和數位健康技術選擇相結合，使客戶能夠優化臨床試驗設計並提高數據收集品質。

As we've previously noted, our capital deployment priority remains M&A. And we continue to actively evaluate assets that will strategically and operationally enhance the current areas of our service portfolio.

正如我們之前指出的，我們的資本部署重點仍然是併購。我們將繼續積極評估資產，這些資產將在策略上和營運上增強我們服務組合的當前領域。

After positive rating changes from S&P and Moody's in the back half of 2023, moving ICON back to investment-grade status, we began the execution of the planned refinancing of our variable rate debt in quarter 1. This included a successful repricing of our existing Term Loan B in the quarter, reducing our interest rate by 25 basis points as well as the removal of our credit adjustment spread.

2023 年下半年，標準普爾和穆迪的評級發生積極變化，將ICON 恢復為投資級狀態後，我們開始在第一季執行計劃的可變利率債務再融資。重新定價本季的貸款 B，將我們的利率降低了 25 個基點，並取消了我們的信用調整利差。

In parallel, we improved the terms of our revolver facility. And we are working closely with our banking partners to progress refinancing of our debt. This will allow us to better utilize our balance sheet and provide more certainty on our annual interest expense. We continue to expect our full year interest expense will be in the range of $200 million to $230 million this year.

同時，我們改進了左輪手槍設施的條件。我們正在與銀行合作夥伴密切合作，推動債務再融資。這將使我們能夠更好地利用我們的資產負債表，並為我們的年度利息支出提供更多的確定性。我們仍預期今年全年利息支出將在 2 億至 2.3 億美元之間。

We are updating our full year 2024 guidance range to account for our financial performance in quarter 1 and the positive market environment we've seen so far this year. We expect revenue to be in the range of $8.48 billion to $8.72 billion, an increase of 4.4% to 7.4% over full year 2023. Additionally, we expect adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $14.65 to $15.15, an increase of 14.5% to 18.5% on a year-over-year basis.

我們正在更新 2024 年全年指導範圍，以考慮我們第一季的財務業績以及今年迄今為止我們所看到的積極的市場環境。我們預計營收將在 84.8 億美元至 87.2 億美元之間，比 2023 年全年增長 4.4% 至 7.4%。增長18.5%。

The new ranges maintain the midpoint of our previous guidance range, reflecting an outlook that is consistent in terms of overall market activity and our performance year-to-date.

新的範圍維持了我們先前指導範圍的中點，反映出整體市場活動和我們今年迄今的業績的前景是一致的。

Before I hand it over to Brendan for further detail on our financial performance, I want to provide a brief update on our previously announced CFO transition. As we indicated earlier this month, Brendan has decided to depart ICON after a long and very successful tenure in our finance organization of the company, and importantly, as our CFO for the past 12 years.

在我將其交給 Brendan 以了解有關我們財務業績的更多詳細資訊之前，我想簡要介紹一下我們先前宣布的財務長過渡的最新情況。正如我們本月早些時候表示的那樣，Brendan 在我們公司的財務組織中度過了長期且非常成功的任期，並且更重要的是，在過去12 年中擔任了我們的首席財務官之後，決定離開ICON。

While we're sorry to see Brendan go, we understand his desire to take on the new challenge in his career, moving to a different industry. And we are very grateful for his significant contributions to our organization over the past 18 years.

雖然我們對布倫丹的離開感到遺憾，但我們理解他渴望接受職業生涯中的新挑戰，轉向不同的行業。我們非常感謝他在過去 18 年為我們組織做出的重大貢獻。

As previously noted, we have commenced a process with a large global recruitment firm to identify our next Chief Financial Officer, which includes both external and internal candidates for the role. We plan to provide additional updates on this process and transition period as we progress. In the meantime, Brendan is firmly in his role as the CFO, and we have not made any changes to our broader finance organization as a result of this announcement.

如前所述，我們已與一家大型全球招聘公司開始確定下一任財務長的流程，其中包括該職位的外部和內部候選人。我們計劃隨著進展提供有關此流程和過渡期的更多更新。同時，布倫丹（Brendan）堅定地擔任財務官，我們並未因本公告而對更廣泛的財務組織做出任何改變。

Finally, we are looking forward to our upcoming Investor Day, which will take place on May 30 in New York City. The leadership team of ICON will be present at this important event, and further details will be made available on our website in the coming week.

最後，我們期待即將到來的投資者日，將於 5 月 30 日在紐約市舉行。 ICON 的領導團隊將出席這項重要活動，更多詳細資訊將在下週在我們的網站上公佈。

In closing, I want to thank all of our colleagues at ICON for their dedicated efforts in quarter 1 in continuing to support our mission in bringing new therapies to patients around the world.

最後，我要感謝 ICON 的所有同事在第一季的不懈努力，繼續支持我們為世界各地的患者提供新療法的使命。

Brendan, I'll now turn it over to you.

布倫丹，我現在把它交給你。

Thanks, Steve. I appreciate the kind words and want to reiterate my commitment to ensuring a smooth transition. We plan to work closely with Steve and our broader management team to accomplish this.

謝謝，史蒂夫。我感謝這些客氣話，並想重申我對確保平穩過渡的承諾。我們計劃與史蒂夫和我們更廣泛的管理團隊密切合作來實現這一目標。

Turning to our financial results in quarter 1. In quarter 1, ICON achieved gross business wins of $3.11 billion, and recorded $460 million worth of cancellations. This resulted in a solid level of net awards in the quarter of $2.65 billion and a net book-to-bill of 1.27.

轉向我們第一季的財務表現。這導致本季淨獎勵達到 26.5 億美元，淨訂單出貨比達到 1.27。

With the addition of new awards in quarter 1, our backlog grew to a record $23.4 billion, representing an increase of 2.5% on quarter 4 of 2023 or an increase of 10.1% year-over-year. Our backlog burn was 9.2% in the quarter, slightly down from the quarter 4 levels, and we anticipate similar levels through the remainder of the year.

隨著第一季新獎項的增加，我們的積壓訂單成長至創紀錄的 234 億美元，較 2023 年第四季成長 2.5%，年增 10.1%。本季我們的積壓訂單消耗率為 9.2%，略低於第四季的水平，我們預計今年剩餘時間將保持類似水平。

Revenue in quarter 1 was $2,090 million. This represents a year-on-year increase of 5.7% or 5.4% on a constant currency basis.

第一季營收為 20.9 億美元。這意味著年增 5.7%，以固定匯率計算成長 5.4%。

Overall, customer concentration in our top 25 customers decreased from quarter 4 2023. Our top 5 customers represented 26% of revenue in quarter 1; our top 10 represented 41.4%; while our top 25 represented 62%.

整體而言，我們前 25 位客戶的客戶集中度較 2023 年第 4 季有所下降。前 10 名佔 41.4%；而我們的前 25 名則佔 62%。

Gross margin for the quarter was 29.9% compared to 30.4% in quarter 4 2023. Gross margin increased 10 basis points over gross margin of 29.8% in quarter 1 2023.

本季的毛利率為 29.9%，而 2023 年第四季為 30.4%。

Total SG&A expense was $181.7 million in quarter 1 or 8.7% of revenue. This was in line with the prior quarter on total percent of revenue. In the comparable period last year, total SG&A expense was $189.6 million or 9.6% of revenue.

第一季的 SG&A 支出總額為 1.817 億美元，佔營收的 8.7%。這與上一季總收入百分比一致。去年同期，SG&A 費用總額為 1.896 億美元，佔營收的 9.6%。

Adjusted EBITDA was $444 million for the quarter or 21.2% of revenue. In the comparable period last year, adjusted EBITDA was $399.1 million or 20.2% of revenue, representing a very strong year-on-year increase of 11.3%, an expansion of 100 basis points in margin.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 4.44 億美元，佔營收的 21.2%。去年同期，調整後 EBITDA 為 3.991 億美元，佔營收的 20.2%，年比強勁成長 11.3%，利潤率擴大了 100 個基點。

Adjusted operating income for quarter 1 was $411.4 million, a margin of 19.7%. This was an increase of 11.6%; adjusted operating income of $368.7 million; and margin of 18.6% in quarter 1 of 2023.

第一季調整後營業收入為 4.114 億美元，利潤率為 19.7%。增幅為 11.6%；調整後營業收入為 3.687 億美元； 2023 年第一季的利潤率為 18.6%。

Net interest expense was $65.8 million for quarter 1. We continue to expect the full year interest expense to total approximately $200 million to $230 million in 2024.

第一季的淨利息支出為 6,580 萬美元。

The effective tax rate was 16.5% for the quarter. We continue to expect the full year 2024 adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 16.5%.

該季度的有效稅率為 16.5%。我們繼續預期 2024 年全年調整後有效稅率約為 16.5%。

Adjusted net income attributable to the group for the quarter was $288.5 million, a margin of 13.8% equating to an adjusted earnings per share of $3.47, an increase of 19.7% year-over-year.

該季度調整後歸屬於該集團的淨利潤為 2.885 億美元，利潤率為 13.8%，相當於調整後每股收益為 3.47 美元，年增 19.7%。

In the first quarter, the company recorded $7 million of transaction- and integration-related costs. U.S. GAAP income from operations amounted to $285.5 million or 13.7% of revenue during quarter 1. U.S. GAAP net income in quarter 1 was $187.4 million or $2.25 per diluted share compared to $1.41 per share for the equivalent prior year period, an increase of 16%.

第一季度，該公司記錄了 700 萬美元的交易和整合相關成本。美國公認會計原則營運收入為2.855 億美元，佔第一季收入的13.7%。美元，成長16% 。

Net accounts receivable was $1,146 million at 31st of March 2024. This compares with a net accounts receivable balance of $1,088 million at the end of quarter 4 of 2023. DSO was 49 days at March 31, 2023, a decrease of 5 days from quarter 1 2023.

截至2024 年3 月31 日，應收帳款淨額為11.46 億美元。 ，DSO 為49 天，較第一季減少5 天2023 年。

Cash from operating activities in the quarter was $327.1 million. And free cash flow was $300 million in the quarter, an increase of 102% on a year-over-year basis.

本季經營活動產生的現金為 3.271 億美元。該季度自由現金流為 3 億美元，年增 102%。

While DSO increased sequentially, we continued to target mid-40s in terms of DSO on a full year basis, albeit we can have fluctuations on the timing of payments that can influence total DSO in any particular quarter.

雖然 DSO 連續增加，但我們繼續將全年 DSO 的目標定為 40 多歲，儘管我們的付款時間可能會出現波動，從而影響任何特定季度的總 DSO。

At March 31, 2024, cash totaled $398 million, and net debt totaled $3.5 billion, leaving a net debt position of $3.1 billion. This compared to net debt of $3.4 billion at December 31, 2023, and net debt of $4.2 billion at March 31, 2023. Capital expenditure during the quarter was $27.2 million.

截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日，現金總額為 3.98 億美元，淨債務總額為 35 億美元，淨負債部位為 31 億美元。相較之下，截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的淨債務為 34 億美元，截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的淨債務為 42 億美元。

From a capital deployment perspective, we made a payment of $275 million on Term Loan B facility in quarter 1 and ended the quarter with a leverage ratio of 1.8x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. Given the successful repricing of our Term Loan B and our intention to refinance our existing debt, we do not anticipate making discretionary payments in quarter 2 at this time.

從資本部署的角度來看，我們在第一季向定期貸款 B 融資支付了 2.75 億美元，本季結束時，淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 的槓桿率為 1.8 倍。鑑於我們的定期貸款 B 已成功重新定價，並且我們打算為現有債務再融資，我們預計目前不會在第二季度進行酌情付款。

After successfully deleveraging over the past few years as well as our return to investment-grade rated company, we feel we are well positioned from a balance sheet perspective to deploy more capital opportunistically for M&A as well as potential share repurchase. Our preferred use of capital remains M&A, and we have a number of opportunities in the pipeline that we are currently engaged on, which would add scale and capability to fast-growing strategic areas of our portfolio.

在過去幾年成功去槓桿化以及回歸投資級評級公司之後，我們認為從資產負債表的角度來看，我們處於有利位置，可以機會性地為併購和潛在的股票回購部署更多資本。我們首選的資本用途仍然是併購，我們目前正在進行的管道中有許多機會，這將增加我們投資組合中快速成長的策略領域的規模和能力。

Our key assumptions behind the full year guidance remain in place: effective tax rate of 16.5%; free cash flow target of circa $1.1 billion; CapEx spend in the range of $150 million to $200 million; and interest expense in the range of $200 million to $230 million, all for the full year 2024.

我們全年指導背後的關鍵假設仍然存在：有效稅率為 16.5%；自由現金流目標約11億美元；資本支出在 1.5 億至 2 億美元之間； 2024 年全年的利息支出為 2 億至 2.3 億美元。

Finally, I would also like to sincerely thank our ICON employees around the world for their hard work and dedication in delivering our strong performance in quarter 1.

最後，我還要衷心感謝我們世界各地的 ICON 員工的辛勤工作和奉獻精神，讓我們在第一季取得了強勁的業績。

Operator, we are now ready for questions.

接線員，我們現在準備好提問了。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Charles Rhyee at TD Cowen.

謝謝。 （操作員說明）第一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Charles Rhyee。

This is Adam on for Charles. We've seen an uptick in emerging biopharma funding. I'm wondering if you can give us a sense of what's usually the general time frame for that to flow into RFPs, bookings and then ultimately revenue. You guys noted seeing stabilizing biotech demand. I'm wondering if you guys are already starting to see in the robust growth in net wins this quarter biotech contribute?

這是查爾斯的亞當。我們看到新興生物製藥資金的增加。我想知道您能否讓我們了解流入 RFP、預訂以及最終收入的一般時間範圍。你們注意到生物技術需求趨於穩定。我想知道你們是否已經開始看到本季生物技術貢獻的淨收益的強勁成長？

Sure. So overall, we've seen a solid increase in RFPs in the quarter in the sort of low double-digit sort of area. But the biotech funding, as you've noted, it certainly has picked up very nicely. We haven't seen that necessarily come through so much on the RFPs just yet. And I would expect that's probably going to be delayed a quarter or 2. So we would expect somewhere in the second half of the year for the results of that biotech funding, assuming it continues, of course, to come through in terms of awards and then as we get towards the end of the year and even into next year, to hit the revenue line.

當然。總體而言，我們看到本季的 RFP 呈現兩位數低位區域穩定成長。但正如您所指出的，生物技術資金的成長確實非常好。我們還沒有看到 RFP 上有這麼多必要的內容。我預計這可能會推遲一個季度或兩個季度。年底甚至明年時，就會達到營收線。

So I think what we've seen -- we continue to see solid demand in the biotech. But the real uptick and the opportunity, I think, going forward is probably more weighted towards the end of the year, couple of quarters delay and then as we get into early next year on the revenue side of things.

所以我認為我們所看到的——我們繼續看到生物技術領域的強勁需求。但我認為，真正的上升和機會，未來可能會在今年年底、幾個季度的延遲以及我們進入明年初的收入方面更加重要。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from Max Smock at William Blair.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Max Smock。

Steve, you called out a continuation of positive trends here in the second quarter. Results were solid, and you had a great quarter for bookings. Given things seem to be moving in the right direction here, can you just walk through the rationale for taking down the high end of your guidance range for 2024?

史蒂夫，您指出第二季度積極趨勢的延續。結果很不錯，這個季度的預訂量也很不錯。鑑於事情似乎正在朝著正確的方向發展，您能否簡單介紹一下降低 2024 年指導範圍上限的理由？

Yes, Max. It's still early in the year. And of course, we have -- I mean we've narrowed the guidance, as you've noted, quite significantly now, so on both the EPS and the revenue side. And because it's still early in the year, we feel it's not appropriate necessarily to increase the midpoint of guidance. It was really just a matter of we're pretty confident about that midpoint as we announced it initially. And so we feel, at this point, the right thing to do is just to narrow that guidance.

是的，馬克斯。現在還早。當然，我的意思是，正如您所指出的，我們已經大幅縮小了指導範圍，無論是每股收益還是收入方面。而且由於現在還處於年初，我們認為不一定要提高指導中點。這其實只是我們對最初宣布的中點非常有信心的問題。因此，我們認為，在這一點上，正確的做法就是縮小指導範圍。

We'll certainly be looking at what we'll be doing in the next couple of months. And as we get to the July call, we'll see where we are. But inevitably in our business, there are puts and calls things, some headwinds and some tailwinds. And overall, as we're only 3 months into the year from an announced results point of view, we felt it was the right thing to do was to narrow because we're confident about the midpoint, but not to move that midpoint at this point.

我們肯定會考慮在接下來的幾個月裡我們要做什麼。當我們召開 7 月的電話會議時，我們會看到我們現在的情況。但在我們的業務中，不可避免地會出現看跌期權和看漲期權，有一些逆風，也有一些順風。整體而言，從公佈業績的角度來看，今年才剛過去 3 個月，我們認為縮小範圍是正確的做法，因為我們對中點充滿信心，但此時不要移動中點觀點。

Understood. Maybe just to clarify quickly on RFPs. You mentioned up low double digits in total. Do you have that breakdown or how that breaks down between biotech and large pharma? And then how does each of those buckets compare to where they were at, at the end of last year?

明白了。也許只是為了快速澄清 RFP。你提到的總數是低兩位數。您是否了解生物技術和大型製藥公司之間的這種細分或如何細分？那麼，與去年年底相比，這些桶子中的每一個桶的情況如何呢？

And then it sounds like, based on your prior answer a few minutes ago, you would actually expect RFPs to get better from here given the lag between funding and that ultimately, showing up in RFP flow. I just wanted to make sure I understood that commentary correctly.

然後，聽起來，根據您幾分鐘前的先前回答，考慮到資金與最終出現在 RFP 流程之間的滯後，您實際上會期望 RFP 從這裡開始變得更好。我只是想確保我正確理解了該評論。

Yes. I mean to answer the second part of your question first, yes, we do think there is a bit of a lag period there. So the better funding environment that we've all seen in the first quarter or so, we talked about that, we think that's going to flow through probably in the second half of the year. So to be absolutely crystal clear on that, there's a lag of at least a couple of quarters there.

是的。我的意思是先回答你問題的第二部分，是的，我們確實認為那裡有一點滯後期。因此，我們在第一季左右看到了更好的融資環境，我們談到了這一點，我們認為這可能會在今年下半年出現。因此，為了絕對清楚地表明這一點，至少存在幾個季度的滯後。

In terms of the -- we don't really split out too much the RFP data. But qualitatively, certainly, large pharma continues to be strong, and we've seen that. The biotech's also been solid, perhaps not quite as strong, but it does seem to be on the uplift.

就 - 我們並沒有真正拆分太多 RFP 資料。但從品質上來說，大型製藥公司確實繼續保持強勁，我們已經看到了這一點。生物技術也很穩固，也許沒有那麼強大，但它似乎確實在上升。

So if I look at, say, low double digits, large pharma is well above that. Biotech is probably more in the mid-singles if I had to put a number on it. And it's -- as I say, it's solid, strong. We're seeing some -- plenty of good opportunities in the biotech space.

因此，如果我看一下，比如說，低兩位數，大型製藥公司就遠高於這個數字。如果我必須給出一個數字的話，生物技術可能會更多地處於中路。正如我所說，它是堅固的、強大的。我們在生物技術領域看到了很多好的機會。

We've been successful. Our win rate in that biotech space has gone up over the last quarter or so. So we feel good about the solutions and the propositions we're putting in front of customers and their receptivity to those.

我們已經成功了。我們在生物技術領域的勝率在過去一個季度左右有所上升。因此，我們對我們向客戶提出的解決方案和主張以及他們的接受度感到滿意。

But as I say, overall, the very solid, very constructive environment on the RFP front and we feel good about where the market is heading overall.

但正如我所說，整體而言，RFP 方面的環境非常堅實、非常有建設性，我們對市場的整體發展方向感到滿意。

(Operator Instructions) Next question is from Casey Woodring at JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Casey Woodring。

So your book-to-bill target for the year is 1.25 on average, the midpoint of that 1.2, 1.3 range. I know bookings fluctuate on a quarterly basis. But given the strong start to the year and the improving funding backdrop, do you think you can sustain quarterly bookings above that 1.25 number?

因此，今年的訂單出貨比目標平均為 1.25，即 1.2、1.3 範圍的中點。我知道預訂量每季都會波動。但考慮到今年的強勁開局和不斷改善的融資背景，您認為您可以將季度預訂量維持在 1.25 以上嗎？

And then on that point, from a quarterly phasing perspective, if we see similar bookings in 2Q here that we saw in 1Q, above 1.25, is it fair to assume that there would be upside to the back half of the year?

然後在這一點上，從季度階段的角度來看，如果我們在第二季度看到與第一季類似的預訂量，高於 1.25，那麼可以公平地假設今年下半年會有上漲空間嗎？

Casey, we've had a good quarter on the bookings. It was very solid. And then we're really pleased with the way that the market is sort of moving. I'm not going to get ahead of ourselves in terms of going above the 1.25. I think that's a solid target that we have.

凱西，我們這個季度的預訂情況不錯。它非常堅固。然後我們對市場的走勢感到非常滿意。我不會超出 1.25 的範圍。我認為這是我們的一個堅實的目標。

We'll see how the biotech funding and the environment sort of contributes to RFP opportunities in the back end as we've talked about. It's not out of the question that we could be above that. But I think at this stage, we'll stick with our 1.2 to 1.3 and then -- and being somewhere in the middle of that on an average basis across the quarters. That's the way we think about it.

正如我們所討論的，我們將看到生物技術資金和環境如何為後端的 RFP 機會做出貢獻。我們不可能超越這個目標。但我認為在現階段，我們將堅持 1.2 到 1.3，然後——並且在整個季度的平均水平上處於中間位置。這就是我們的想法。

If we got above that, I'm not sure. Revenue takes a bit of a while to flow through. A lot of the work we're still winning is oncology. Our burn rate is around 9.2. I don't see that going up anytime soon. So there may be some modest impact if we have a particularly strong second quarter on the business wins. But I'm not certainly going to promise that at this stage.

如果我們超出這個範圍，我不確定。收入需要一段時間才能流轉。我們仍在贏得的許多工作都是腫瘤學。我們的燃燒率約為 9.2。我認為這種情況不會很快上升。因此，如果我們第二季的業務表現特別強勁，可能會產生一些適度的影響。但現階段我不一定會做出這樣的承諾。

I think we feel like the opportunities are flowing through nicely. As I say, it's very early in the second quarter, but the opportunities are flowing through nicely. We have a good opportunity list, and I feel confident about our performance in Q2, but it's very early days on that front. And we feel as that plays out, we'll come to July, and we'll adjust our forecast and where we're going.

我認為我們感覺機會正在順利流過。正如我所說，現在是第二季度的早期，但機會正在順利流逝。我們有一個很好的機會清單，我對我們在第二季的表現充滿信心，但在這方面現在還處於早期階段。我們覺得隨著這種情況的發生，我們將到七月，我們將調整我們的預測和我們的前進方向。

So overall, positive, strong, constructive, but we're not ready to declare victory and to push too fast ahead despite what you'd like us to do.

總的來說，積極、強大、有建設性，但我們還沒有準備好宣布勝利，也沒有準備好推進得太快，儘管你們希望我們做什麼。

Got it. That's helpful. And then maybe just a quick follow-up. Can you talk about your win rate in the quarter? And maybe elaborate on how much of the bookings growth you saw was the result of share gains versus trial growth coming back?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後也許只是快速跟進。能談談本季的勝率嗎？也許可以詳細說明您看到的預訂成長有多少是份額成長與試用成長回歸的結果？

Our win rate was consistent with where it's been. Certainly, the large pharma win rate has been very positive, being (inaudible), and that's been consistent. Biotech certainly came back in the quarter very well. So we feel we're making a lot of progress in the biotech space with the opportunities that we've pitched. And we've got some good opportunities in the hopper for the second quarter.

我們的勝率與以往一致。當然，大型製藥公司的獲勝率非常積極，（聽不清楚），而且這是一致的。生物技術在本季的表現確實非常好。因此，我們認為利用我們所提供的機會，我們在生物技術領域取得了巨大進展。我們在第二季的漏斗中有一些很好的機會。

So we feel that we're on our game nicely with the biotech. That story, the rebranding that we put in place towards the end of last year is really starting to gain some traction with customers.

所以我們覺得我們與生物技術的合作非常順利。這個故事，我們在去年年底實施的品牌重塑確實開始吸引客戶。

We have a number of very significant opportunities. Some of these biotech opportunities are really large trials, really large programs, and we've been successful on a number of them. So we feel we're in a good place.

我們有許多非常重要的機會。其中一些生物技術機會是非常大型的試驗、非常大型的項目，我們在其中一些項目上取得了成功。所以我們覺得我們處於一個很好的位置。

And the hit rate, strike rate, call it what you like, it's not as high, of course, in biotech as it is in large pharma where we tend to have the strategic partnerships, but we compete very strongly and increasingly strongly in that space. And we feel the rebranding approach is really starting to pay dividends along with the good people and the good team we have on the biotech space.

命中率、成功率，隨便你怎麼稱呼它，當然，在生物技術領域，它不像在大型製藥公司那麼高，我們傾向於建立戰略合作夥伴關係，但我們在該領域的競爭非常激烈，而且越來越激烈。我們認為，品牌重塑方法確實開始與我們在生物技術領域擁有的優秀人才和優秀團隊一起帶來紅利。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from Ann Hynes at Mizuho Securities.

（操作員指令）您的下一個問題來自瑞穗證券的 Ann Hynes。

You both mentioned M&A as a priority in your prepared remarks. Can you just remind us what type of services or needs that you think ICON is missing?

你們在準備好的發言中都提到併購是優先事項。您能否提醒我們您認為 ICON 缺少哪些類型的服務或需求？

And then secondly, your DSOs, down year-over-year, but they did tick up sequentially. If you could provide some more data on that, that would be great.

其次，您的 DSO 年比下降，但確實連續上升。如果您能提供更多這方面的數據，那就太好了。

Sure, I'll take the M&A, and then I'll let Brendan handle the DSO question. We've been fairly clear in the past that M&A is a priority, and it is around adding capabilities to services and functions that we currently have in the organization.

當然，我會接受併購，然後讓 Brendan 處理 DSO 問題。我們過去已經相當清楚，併購是優先事項，它是圍繞著為我們目前在組織中擁有的服務和職能增加能力。

So we're looking to uptick. It could be in the laboratory space. It could be in the site space. It could be in the other parts of the business. Devices, there's a number of areas that we feel we could move that sort of functional service area within our organization up to being either 1 or 2 in the market.

所以我們希望有所上升。它可能在實驗室空間。它可能在站點空間中。它可能在業務的其他部分。設備方面，我們認為我們可以將組織內的此類功能服務領域提升到市場上的第 1 個或第 2 個領域。

Overall, of course, we feel we're very -- we're equal #1 or even a little ahead in some areas. Certainly on the FSP space, we're, by far, the #1 player. On the full service space, we're very close to being the #1 player, if not the #1 player.

當然，總的來說，我們覺得我們非常——我們在某些​​領域與第一名持平，甚至領先一點。當然，在 FSP 領域，我們是迄今為止排名第一的玩家。在全面的服務領域，我們非常接近成為第一，即使不是第一。

But there are areas within that business, as I said, laboratories, sites, devices up that we feel that are within our bailiwick and within our wheelhouse, but it could be upticked from a revenue and operational point of view to help us to really provide a little more scale in some of those areas. So those are the sorts of areas we're focused on.

但正如我所說，該業務中的某些領域，如實驗室、場地、設備，我們認為它們在我們的管轄範圍內和我們的駕駛室內，但從收入和運營的角度來看，這些領域可以提高，以幫助我們真正提供其中一些領域的規模更大一些。這些就是我們關注的領域。

We have a number of those opportunities in the hopper. And as you've seen, our finances and our balance sheet now lend themselves much more effectively to making those transactions.

我們在漏斗中有很多這樣的機會。正如您所看到的，我們的財務和資產負債表現在可以更有效地進行這些交易。

We've done a couple relatively recently with HumanFirst and BioTel. They were relatively small. We're looking to continue that, but to uptick in terms of the revenue and EBITDA contribution that these new ones would make to the overall P&L.

我們最近與 HumanFirst 和 BioTel 合作完成了一些專案。它們相對較小。我們希望繼續這樣做，但要提高這些新產品對整體損益表的收入和 EBITDA 貢獻。

Brendan, do you want to take DSO?

Brendan，你想參加 DSO 考試嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Ann. I was still heartened, I suppose, by the level of cash from operations and free cash flow, which is very strong in the quarter. So I'm very happy that we're making a lot of progress from where we were in the past, albeit yes, we did see a 2-day attenuation in the DSO from Q4 to Q1.

是的。謝謝，安。我想，我仍然對本季非常強勁的營運現金水準和自由現金流感到振奮。因此，我很高興我們比過去取得了很大進展，儘管是的，我們確實看到 DSO 從第四季度到第一季度出現了 2 天的衰減。

I don't think there's anything particular there. We said we would continue to focus on being in the mid-40s for the full year. So that's obviously our goal. We had -- unfortunately, Easter just happened to have hit, that Easter holiday period happened to hit at the exact end of the quarter, 31st of March. Easter was early this year. So that didn't help.

我不認為那裡有什麼特別的。我們說過，全年我們將繼續專注於 40 多歲。這顯然是我們的目標。不幸的是，我們碰巧遇到了復活節假期，復活節假期恰好在季度末，即 3 月 31 日到來。今年的復活節提前了。所以這沒有幫助。

But it's a couple of days. So that's something I think we can recoup as we go through the course of the year and still overall, happy with the cash flows, which were very strong in the quarter.

但這是幾天的事。因此，我認為我們可以在這一年中收回成本，總體而言，我們對本季非常強勁的現金流感到滿意。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from Dan Leonard at UBS.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Dan Leonard。

Steven, I was hoping maybe you could elaborate a bit further on your improved win rate in biotech.

史蒂文，我希望你能進一步詳細說明你在生技領域提高勝率的情況。

Dan, I could give you a million reasons why we've improved that. It's a multifactorial thing. We've had some great opportunities and the team, I think we have a new leadership in, in the biotech space. And they're doing a good job in bringing our organization really through in that in terms of our customers and biotech traction and understanding of what our offering is.

丹，我可以給你一百萬個理由來解釋為什麼我們要改進這一點。這是一個多因素的事情。我們有一些很好的機會，我認為我們的團隊在生物技術領域有一個新的領導。在我們的客戶和生物技術吸引力以及對我們產品的理解方面，他們在使我們的組織真正度過難關方面做得很好。

We have, as I said, 8,000 people in that. That story is resonating well with the biotech customers. They recognize -- I mean as you all know, it's typical for biotech customers to at least have some sort of consideration for smaller CROs because they believe they can be more fast and agile.

正如我所說，我們有 8,000 人。這個故事引起了生物技術客戶的共鳴。他們認識到——我的意思是你們都知道，生物技術客戶通常至少會對小型 CRO 進行某種考慮，因為他們相信小型 CRO 可以更快、更敏捷。

At the end of the day, we have 8,000 people dedicated to running the biotech and they can -- they have a -- with their new leadership have an autonomy and an ability to move that business and to make decisions in that business in a quick and an agile manner.

歸根結底，我們有 8,000 名致力於運營生物技術的人員，他們可以——他們有——在新的領導層下擁有自主權和能力來推動該業務并快速做出該業務的決策和敏捷的態度。

And I think so we've addressed that, albeit within the framework of a large and very financially stable and viable company. And so that's the benefit that we're trying to get both to our biotech customers, and that's resonating very well.

我認為我們已經解決了這個問題，儘管是在一家財務非常穩定且可行的大型公司的框架內。這就是我們試圖為我們的生物技術客戶帶來的好處，並且引起了很好的共鳴。

I've had a couple of discussions with them myself, and they understand what we bring now to the biotech space, that dedicated resource and that financial stability and ability to bring innovation and creativity and agility to their projects.

我自己與他們進行了幾次討論，他們了解我們現在為生物技術領域帶來了什麼，即專用資源、財務穩定性以及為他們的專案帶來創新、創造力和敏捷性的能力。

So as we have our senior managers sort of double down and focus in on these key opportunities in terms of engaging with customers, talking to them, understanding their needs, putting to them the various innovations and solutions that we can as an organization present, it's starting to really resonate nicely.

因此，當我們的高級經理加倍努力並專注於這些關鍵機會時，與客戶接觸，與他們交談，了解他們的需求，向他們提供我們作為一個組織可以提供的各種創新和解決方案，這是開始產生很好的共鳴。

And it's, as I say, turned into a -- gave us a nice uptick on the win rate. There's no one reason that this sort of thing happens. But it is, I think, a trend, and I do believe it will continue.

正如我所說，它變成了——讓我們的勝率有了很大的提高。發生這種事情沒有任何原因。但我認為這是一種趨勢，我相信這種趨勢將會持續下去。

And a related follow-up, I just want to make sure I understand better the biotech rebrand. A couple of years ago at your Analyst Day, you talked about your dedicated business units for biotech, 8,000 employees and such. So what exactly changed at the end of the year?

以及相關的後續行動，我只是想確保我更理解生技品牌重塑。幾年前，在您的分析師日上，您談到了您的生物技術專用業務部門、8,000 名員工等。那麼年底到底發生了什麼變化呢？

I don't know that much changed operationally from our point of view. What I think we've done now is communicate that better to customers and to engage our -- like I said, we have new leadership in there, and they've done a really nice job in making that connection with customers personally and on a face-to-face basis.

從我們的角度來看，我不知道操作上有多大變化。我認為我們現在所做的是更好地與客戶溝通，並讓我們的——就像我說的那樣，我們有新的領導層，他們在與客戶建立個人和客戶聯繫方面做得非常好。面對面的基礎上。

So there's an element of ICON being known, I think, as a larger pharma CRO in the past, and that's quite valid and continues as you well know. But we also do a significant amount of work, about 30%, 35% of our work is in the biotech space. And that's -- so it's a very important segment for us.

因此，我認為，ICON 的一個元素在過去作為一個較大的製藥合約研究組織 (CRO) 廣為人知，這是非常有效的，並且正如您所知，這一點仍在繼續。但我們也做了大量的工作，大約 30%、35% 的工作是在生技領域。這對我們來說是一個非常重要的部分。

As you all know, there's a lot of innovation in drug development comes out of the biotech, there's certain drug research comes out of the biotech. A lot of the new drugs, I think it was something like 40% of new drugs we've got to market last year through FDA were originated in the biotech space.

眾所周知，藥物開發中有許多創新來自生物技術，某些藥物研究也來自生物技術。我認為去年我們透過 FDA 上市的新藥中有 40% 左右都是源自於生技領域。

So they make a huge contribution to the drug development landscape. And being a key provider and a key partner of that segment is really important. So I think they better understand that.

因此，他們為藥物開發領域做出了巨大貢獻。成為該細分市場的主要提供者和主要合作夥伴非常重要。所以我認為他們更好地理解這一點。

Now we've been able to communicate that better. Our marketing message is getting out there. But probably more important than marketing messages is our key senior leaders in that team have been out talking with customers and having them understand what it means to have 8,000 people available to them and for them to be able to put the innovation with that level of financial viability. It's a communication thing, and I think we're really starting to get on top of that now.

現在我們已經能夠更好地溝通了。我們的行銷訊息正在傳播出去。但可能比行銷訊息更重要的是，我們團隊中的主要高階領導者一直在與客戶交談，讓他們了解擁有 8,000 名員工以及他們能夠將創新與財務水平相結合意味著什麼。這是一個溝通的問題，我認為我們現在真的開始解決這個問題了。

Yes. And I think it's an important point, Dan, that you made that structurally, actually, it isn't different than what we presented at the Analyst Day in terms of having a dedicated segment to biotech with those dedicated resources. It's really around that customer perception and making sure people understand that, which is what we're redoubling efforts on and not making the structural changes there.

是的。我認為這是很重要的一點，丹，你在結構上提出了這一點，實際上，這與我們在分析師日上提出的沒有什麼不同，即擁有專門的生物技術部門和這些專用資源。這實際上是圍繞客戶的看法並確保人們理解這一點，這就是我們加倍努力的方向，而不是在那裡進行結構性改變。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from Mike Ryskin at Bank of America.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Mike Ryskin。

Great. And Brendan, I want to say congrats and wishing you the best going forward. I know you'll still be here for the next couple of calls, but still, it's good working with you.

偉大的。布倫丹，我想說恭喜你，並祝你未來一切順利。我知道接下來的幾個電話您仍會在這裡，但與您合作還是很愉快。

Thanks, Michael.

謝謝，麥可。

Yes. I want to focus a little bit on the big pharma segment a little bit or customer group a little bit. I think in your prepared remarks, you called out a continuation of robust demand. You talked about R&D for the group for 2024 seems to be pretty stable, in line with prior.

是的。我想稍微關註一下大型製藥業或客戶群。我認為您在準備好的演講中提到了需求的持續強勁。您談到2024年集團的研發似乎相當穩定，與之前一致。

I just want to get a sense of how much of that is already locked in when we think where we are in the year in April. Is there a risk of that changing as you go forward? I know budgets can be set, but there's also news this morning of Bristol announcing job cuts, 2,200 layoffs. So there's still some things that are fluid in that end market. So just curious how those conversations have evolved year-to-date and sort of upside/downside risk for the rest of the year?

我只是想了解一下，當我們思考四月的情況時，其中有多少已經鎖定。隨著您的前進，這種情況是否有改變的風險？我知道預算是可以設定的，但今天早上還有消息稱布里斯托爾宣布裁員，裁員 2,200 人。因此，終端市場仍存在一些變化。那麼只是好奇這些對話今年迄今為止是如何演變的以及今年剩餘時間的上行/下行風險？

Yes, right. Mike, I'll take it, and Brendan might want to jump in. As you said, we've seen pretty strong demand in the large pharma space. And it's not just this quarter. It's been really over the last 12, 18 months. Nothing has changed in that for now.

是的，沒錯。麥克，我會接受，布倫丹可能想加入。而且不僅僅是這個季度。過去 12、18 個月確實如此。目前情況沒有任何改變。

Have some of the larger companies changed their models or adjusted their budgets? And the absolute answer is yes to that. We've seen a little -- we've certainly seen some of that in the first quarter where revenues have gone down and up in different areas.

一些較大的公司是否改變了他們的模式或調整了他們的預算？絕對的答案是肯定的。我們已經看到了一些——我們確實在第一季看到了一些情況，不同領域的收入有所下降和上升。

We're very encouraged by -- we're encouraged by the overall growth of the organization because certainly, outside our top 10, on a year-on-year basis, we've seen significant revenue uptick in growth. And that's not necessarily all sort of smaller customers. Our own, the biotech customers, some of them are quite large for us. So it doesn't exactly equate when you go outside top 10 or outside the top 25 to be smaller and biotech customers.

我們對組織的整體成長感到非常鼓舞，因為當然，在我們的前 10 名之外，我們已經看到了收入的顯著增長。這不一定是所有小型客戶。我們自己的生物技術客戶，其中一些對我們來說相當大。因此，當您走出前 10 名或前 25 名之外，成為規模較小的生物技術客戶時，這並不完全等同。

But that segment has certainly increased. And there's 1 or 2 in the upper echelons of our revenue group that have come down a bit because of the things that you just mentioned, budget cuts and some challenges they have with patent extensions, et cetera, et cetera.

但這一細分市場確實有所增加。由於您剛才提到的事情、預算削減以及專利延期等方面的一些挑戰，我們收入集團的高層中有 1 或 2 家公司的收入有所下降。

So it's quarter-to-quarter, it can go one way or the other. Sometimes we finish a significant project at the end of last year, and then the revenue falls off a little bit for the first quarter. That sort of thing happens.

因此，它是按季度進行的，可以是一個方向，也可以是另一個方向。有時我們在去年年底完成了一個重要的項目，然後第一季的收入略有下降。就會發生這樣的事情。

Overall, we see a very stable and very strong demand in the large pharma. And as I think I talked about sort of 3% to 4%, but we believe we're taking market share in that space. And a good part of our growth is due to our strong operational delivery in that space.

總體而言，我們看到大型製藥公司的需求非常穩定且非常強勁。我認為我談到了 3% 到 4%，但我們相信我們正在該領域佔據市場份額。我們的成長很大一部分歸功於我們在該領域強大的營運交付。

And so it's a strong and a continuing market for us. And we believe, while it will be puts and calls and ups and downs and some customers will have greater budget challenges, and many of them have some significant patent life challenges or loss of exclusivity issues coming up over the next -- that's a relatively common theme. It's a constant thing that they deal with on a regular basis. It means they have to do more R&D to bring new compounds through. So overall, we feel good about that space.

因此，這對我們來說是一個強大且持續的市場。我們相信，雖然會出現看跌期權、看漲期權、起伏，一些客戶將面臨更大的預算挑戰，而且他們中的許多人將面臨一些重大的專利壽命挑戰或接下來會出現的排他性喪失問題，但這是一個相對常見的問題主題。這是他們經常處理的事情。這意味著他們必須進行更多的研發才能推出新化合物。總的來說，我們對這個空間感覺良好。

Yes. No, I think just reflecting on it, one of the things that we talked about at the start of our call is we have actually seen pretty decent traction from the large pharma group and probably more on the full service side of the house as well as we've come into '24, and that's been heartening.

是的。不，我想只是反思一下，我們在電話會議開始時討論的一件事是，我們實際上看到了大型製藥集團相當不錯的吸引力，可能更多是在公司的全方位服務方面以及我們已經進入24 世紀了，這令人振奮。

But you also see in our statistics that we continue to diversify as a customer base. The customer base continues to diversify. And so that large concentration is always going to be there as part of our piece. It's always part of how CROs are built, but it continues to diversify. And to Steve's point, some go up, some go down.

但您也可以從我們的統計數據中看到，我們的客戶群繼續多元化。客戶群持續多元化。因此，高度的專注始終是我們作品的一部分。它始終是 CRO 構建方式的一部分，但它繼續多樣化。就史蒂夫而言，有些上升，有些下降。

What we're focused on as an organization is that in holistic terms, we're moving in the right direction. I feel we have a market, both in pharma and biotech, that really does support that. So yes, that's what we want to see continuing is that diversification increasing over time.

作為一個組織，我們關注的是，從整體來看，我們正在朝著正確的方向前進。我覺得我們在製藥和生技領域都有一個市場，確實支持這一點。所以，是的，我們希望繼續看到多元化隨著時間的推移而增加。

Okay. That's helpful, and appreciate it. If I could squeeze in a quick follow-up, going back to the CFO transition. It sounds like you never know, but you might not be able to sort of announce a successor until later in the year, but you've got the Analyst Day coming up in May. So anything you can say in terms of what we should look forward to from the event?

好的。這很有幫助，並且很感激。如果我能抽出時間快速跟進一下，回到財務長的過渡。聽起來你永遠不知道，但你可能要到今年晚些時候才能宣布繼任者，但五月的分析師日即將到來。那麼您對我們應該對這次活動有何期待有什麼想說的嗎？

Well, you can look forward to our plans for the next few years, Mike, and where we are and what our innovation is and how we're going to move the organization forward, in terms of at the Investor Day anyway. But we certainly will provide an update on our CFO transition at the Investor Day. We'll have some further information on it, I think, at that time, although it's still relatively early days.

好吧，麥克，你可以期待我們未來幾年的計劃，以及我們的現狀、我們的創新是什麼以及我們將如何推動組織向前發展，無論如何，就投資者日而言。但我們肯定會在投資者日提供財務長過渡的最新資訊。我想，到那時我們將會獲得一些進一步的訊息，儘管現在還處於相對早期的階段。

Having said that, we're moving fairly quickly. We've engaged a global recruitment firm. We already have interest from some very good candidates. No one, of course, who's going to approach Brendan's abilities.

話雖如此，我們的進展相當快。我們聘請了一家全球招聘公司。我們已經引起了一些非常優秀的候選人的興趣。當然，沒有人能夠達到布蘭登的能力。

Thank you, Steve. Thank you. I appreciate that.

謝謝你，史蒂夫。謝謝。我很感激。

But unless we can clone him in the next 6 months, we're -- it's -- we do have to replace him. And of course, as I mentioned, we wish him all the best.

但除非我們能在未來 6 個月內克隆他，否則我們確實必須取代他。當然，正如我所提到的，我們祝他一切順利。

But we have already some interest with some very good candidates, candidates who run public companies. And so we feel good about the position we're in. And as I say, we'll -- the Investor Day is not far away. It's only, what is it, a month away or so? So we won't have any sort of definitive announcement for you at that point, but I'll certainly give you an update on where we are.

但我們已經對一些非常優秀的候選人產生了一些興趣，他們是經營上市公司的候選人。因此，我們對自己所處的位置感到滿意。只是，這是什麼，一個月左右？因此，屆時我們不會向您發布任何明確的公告，但我肯定會向您提供有關我們進展的最新資訊。

And we have, as I say, some fairly tight timelines in terms of long lists and shortlists and making appointments. And we do anticipate that we'll have somebody on board within the course of this year. That's the expectation.

正如我所說，在長名單、入圍名單以及任命方面，我們有一些相當緊迫的時間表。我們確實預計今年內會有人加入。這就是期望。

And I do hope they'd be able to overlap with Brendan and learn a little from him as he heads out the door. But -- so that's where we are. We feel that we're in a reasonable place, given fairly early on in the search.

我確實希望他們能夠與布倫丹重疊，並在他走出去時向他學習一些東西。但是——這就是我們現在的情況。我們覺得我們處於一個合理的位置，在搜尋的早期階段就給了這一點。

(Operator Instructions) Next question comes from Eric Coldwell at Baird.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Baird 的 Eric Coldwell。

I wanted to go back to the biotech rebranding and the improved win rate and your double-down focus there. I'm curious if you could share with us the number of small biotechs that you work with, whether you want to call that emerging biopharma, pre-revenue clients, however you wish to define them and then how that number has changed?

我想回到生物技術的品牌重塑、獲勝率的提高以及你對那裡的雙重關注。我很好奇您是否可以與我們分享您合作的小型生技公司的數量，您是否想將新興生物製藥公司稱為收入前客戶，無論您希望如何定義它們，然後這個數字是如何變化的？

And then also, what that is as a percent of revenue and/or backlog? I think a couple of years ago, it was laid out as somewhere around, if I remember, about 16% of revenue the way you used to define it. So if you could give us an update on that.

然後，這佔收入和/或積壓訂單的百分比是多少？我想幾年前，如果我沒記錯的話，按照你過去定義的方式，它大約是收入的 16%。那麼您能否向我們提供最新情況。

And then with this focus, is it on the really small, really early-stage biotech clients? Or is it more mid and large biotech where you're just looking to further penetrate a more mature biotech segment? I'm curious on how broad the focus is, how deep you're going in terms of the nascency of some of these clients, their size, et cetera?

然後，重點是那些非常小的、真正處於早期階段的生物技術客戶嗎？還是您只是想進一步滲透到更成熟的生物技術領域？我很好奇關注的範圍有多大，您對其中一些客戶的新生程度、規模等的了解有多深？

Okay. I mean there's a lot in that question, Eric. So I'll try to unpick it a little bit. The biotech rebrand, we think of biotech overall, as I indicated, sort of low 30% of our revenues, in that sort of number. But the number I think we talked about a few years ago was on our capital market dependent type biotechs, the ones that are really required to go out and raise money, and that's around 15%. So we work with a variety of biotechs in the vicinity of -- I'm not even sure exactly how many, but it's around the 500 sort of number. It's a lot.

好的。我的意思是這個問題有很多內容，埃里克。所以我會嘗試稍微取消它。生物技術品牌重塑，正如我所指出的，我們認為生物技術整體上占我們收入的 30%，這個數字很低。但我認為我們幾年前談論的數字是我們的資本市場依賴型生技公司，這些公司確實需要出去籌集資金，大約是 15%。因此，我們與附近的各種生物技術公司合作——我甚至不確定具體有多少，但大約有 500 家左右。很多。

And we do anything from small consulting projects with them to very, very large-scale Phase III in the hundreds of millions of dollars with some of them. They're an entity in themselves. They work in a different way to large pharma and hence, having a different focus on them or having a group of people who focus on them differently in terms of their ability to engage, in terms of our opportunity to input on their trial design, on their development programs. It's a very different market, quite frankly. And one that our people, I think, are increasingly working in extremely well.

我們與他們一起做任何事情，從小型諮詢項目到與其中一些項目一起進行數億美元的非常非常大規模的第三階段項目。他們本身就是一個實體。他們的工作方式與大型製藥公司不同，因此，對他們有不同的關注，或者有一群人對他們的關注不同，他們的參與能力，我們有機會參與他們的試驗設計，他們的發展計劃。坦白說，這是一個非常不同的市場。我認為，我們的員工在這方面的工作越來越出色。

And I think, as I said, with the rebrand, the customers are understanding that and appreciating that. And also while they recognize our expertise and resources, they also recognize our financial viability and stability, which I think is something that's very important when these customers want to take a drug right through to market rather than just to partner up with a large pharma.

我認為，正如我所說，透過品牌重塑，客戶正在理解並欣賞這一點。此外，在他們認可我們的專業知識和資源的同時，他們也認識到我們的財務可行性和穩定性，我認為當這些客戶想要將藥物直接推向市場而不僅僅是與大型製藥公司合作時，這一點非常重要。

So we offer them a different strategic option, these companies going forward. And that's, I think, extremely valuable to them and we've been able to sort of communicate that to them, the market that's in. I hope that gives you a little bit of a flavor for what that group of customers is.

因此，我們為他們提供了不同的策略選擇，讓這些公司持續前進。我認為，這對他們來說非常有價值，我們已經能夠向他們以及所處的市場傳達這一點。

If I could just throw one more in, then I'll jump off. Head count's been flat over the last year, and you are growing in the mid-single digits. I'm just curious what your thoughts are on labor productivity, retention and then also hiring demands as 2024 progresses and maybe moving into 2025 if current trends continue.

如果我能再丟一個進去，我就會跳下去。員工人數與去年持平，但正在以中等個位數成長。我只是好奇，隨著 2024 年的進展，如果當前趨勢持續下去，可能會進入 2025 年，您對勞動生產力、留任率以及招聘需求有何看法。

Sure. Well, you're right, yes. We haven't increased head count dramatically. It's been very flat over the last 12 months or so, and yet, we have been able to increase revenue.

當然。嗯，你是對的，是的。我們沒有大幅增加員工人數。在過去 12 個月左右的時間裡，情況非常平穩，但我們仍然能夠增加收入。

A good part of the reason is our strategy around our efficiency. We've been able to bring in and use the bots, machine learning. AI has been a significant contributing factor. Our IT group has done an excellent job in bringing that in.

很大一部分原因是我們圍繞效率的策略。我們已經能夠引入並使用機器人和機器學習。人工智慧是一個重要的貢獻因素。我們的 IT 團隊在引入這一點方面做得非常出色。

I think we talked about 2 million hours of time last year, and we've got a target of something like 3.5 million for this year. So that's a really important part of it.

我想我們去年討論了 200 萬小時的時間，今年我們的目標是 350 萬小時。所以這是其中非常重要的一環。

The optimization of the location of our workforce is also an important part of it. We have a terrific team here at ICON who work really hard. And they were very efficient and who understands the need to continue to be more efficient. And that's a really important part of what we do.

優化我們的勞動力佈局也是其中的重要組成部分。 ICON 擁有一支出色的團隊，他們工作非常努力。他們非常高效，並且理解繼續提高效率的必要性。這是我們工作中非常重要的一部分。

And I think the other part of it is the systems and technology that we're continually able to deploy around the organization has given our smart people the opportunity to be more efficient and to operate and to get more done within the same amount of time.

我認為另一部分是我們能夠在組織周圍不斷部署的系統和技術，使我們的聰明人有機會提高效率，在相同的時間內進行操作並完成更多工作。

So all of those things, I think, have helped us to keep our head count pretty flat. I think it's gone up 100 or so over the year. And it's really allowed us to be continually more productive.

因此，我認為所有這些事情都幫助我們保持了員工數量的穩定。我認為這一年增加了100左右。它確實讓我們能夠持續提高工作效率。

We have to do that. We set ourselves a goal of being -- of increasing at least several percent in productivity each year to allow us to be -- to continue to be the efficient organization we can be.

我們必須這樣做。我們為自己設定了一個目標，即每年至少提高幾個百分點的生產力，以便我們能夠繼續成為高效的組織。

The other part that I think that's helped is on the retention. Again, the team, the managers in the organization have done a terrific job in continuing to engage people in a way that's brought our retention up to -- it's in the high 80s now.

我認為這有幫助的另一部分是保留。再說一遍，團隊、組織中的經理在繼續吸引員工方面做得非常出色，這使我們的保留率達到了 80 多歲。

We're -- I don't know there's a time we've had better retention in the organization. It's quite extraordinary really, the way it's improved on a quarter-by-quarter basis really over the last couple of years post COVID.

我不知道我們在組織中曾經有過更好的保留率。這確實是非常了不起的，在新冠疫情之後的過去幾年裡，它逐季改善的方式確實如此。

So we're well -- we're in much better retention than we had pre-COVID and probably better retention than we've had at any time in our history, I would have thought. And again, I guess it's a tribute to the managers and the leaders of the organization, who've created an environment around here that people want to work in, and people feel engaged in. So I'd give them the credit on that front. But it's all helped us to become more efficient and hence, to avoid having to increase our head count in line with our revenue.

所以我們很好——我們的保留率比新冠疫情之前要好得多，而且可能比我們歷史上任何時候都好，我想。再說一次，我想這是對組織的經理和領導者的致敬，他們在這裡創造了一個人們願意工作、讓人感覺投入的環境。但這一切都幫助我們提高了效率，從而避免了根據收入增加員工人數。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from Patrick Donnelly at Citi.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自花旗銀行的派崔克唐納利。

Maybe on the back of that last one on head count piece, it's probably one for Brendan. Just on the margin side, obviously, SG&A has been a nice lever. Can you talk about, is that still heading towards 8 here in the relative near term?

也許在最後一張人數統計的背面，可能是布倫丹的。顯然，就利潤而言，SG&A 是一個很好的槓桿。您能否談談，短期內是否仍將朝著 8 的方向發展？

And obviously, you guys are talking about 50 bps overall. But can you just talk about the margin dynamics, FSP, that shift has seemed to quiet down a little bit. I guess it's just because service has been strong for you guys, better margins on that front. But again, can you just talk about, I guess, the SG&A levers? Is it still right to think about that 8% near term? And then again, that FSP shift, where it feels like you guys have that well under control, but if you want to talk to that as well.

顯然，你們談論的整體速度是 50 bps。但你能談談利潤動態嗎？我想這只是因為你們的服務很強大，這方面的利潤更高。但我想，可以談談 SG&A 槓桿嗎？短期內考慮 8% 是否仍然正確？再說一遍，FSP 的轉變，感覺你們已經很好地控制了，但如果你也想談論這一點。

Yes, Patrick. Well, I think from the -- just maybe starting off with the gross margin piece. And I think we kind of clearly indicated coming into this year that we still are targeting to be in around where we were in the current quarter, in around that 30% mark for the full year.

是的，派崔克。嗯，我認為可能只是從毛利率部分開始。我認為我們已經明確表示，進入今年，我們的目標仍然是保持本季度的水平，即全年增長 30% 左右。

And obviously, there's lots of moving parts underneath that. Steve made reference to our efficiency as an organization. You made reference to the fact that we're talking a little bit more last year about FSP, albeit full service has been much more impactful so far this year. And that obviously has a little bit of shift in the margin profile.

顯然，其之下有許多活動部件。史蒂夫提到了我們作為一個組織的效率。您提到我們去年更多地談論了 FSP，儘管今年到目前為止全面服務的影響力要大得多。顯然，這會導致利潤率發生一些變化。

But it's taken account of in terms of our forecast gross margin there in around the 30% mark. So yes, those pieces are kind of baked in, if you like, in terms of margin shift. And we feel that we can sustain that 30% gross margin in that profile.

但考慮到我們預測的毛利率約為 30%。所以，是的，如果你願意的話，這些部分是在利潤轉移方面被考慮在內的。我們認為我們可以維持 30% 的毛利率。

As I kind of mentioned on numerous calls in the past, our leverage that we expect, and we talked about 50 bps of expansion in 2024, is predominantly on SG&A. I think you can see we're making good progress on that. I had referenced that was where we expected to see the margin leverage this year.

正如我過去在多次電話會議中提到的那樣，我們預期的槓桿率，以及我們談到的 2024 年擴張 50 個基點，主要集中在 SG&A。我想你可以看到我們在這方面取得了良好的進展。我曾提到，這是我們預期今年的保證金槓桿率的水平。

And yes, we always -- we're assiduous cost managers as you well know. And we look to bring efficiency using the same pieces that Steve referenced in terms of our gross margin efficiencies or our technology, the use of systems and the use of machine learning, AI and robotics to ensure that we're as efficient as an organization and people spend their time working on value-added work as opposed to (inaudible) or things that can't be automated.

是的，如您所知，我們始終是孜孜不倦的成本管理者。我們希望使用史蒂夫在我們的毛利率效率或技術、系統的使用以及機器學習、人工智慧和機器人技術的使用方面提到的相同部分來提高效率，以確保我們與組織一樣高效，人們將時間花在加值工作上，而不是（聽不清楚）或無法自動化的事情。

So that's where we continue to look at. And I think that will probably predominantly be the large way we will be leveraging our margin and cost base, not just this year but into the future. So yes, we're making good progress, and would like to see that progress continue.

這就是我們繼續關注的地方。我認為這可能是我們利用利潤和成本基礎的主要方式，不僅是今年，而且是未來。所以，是的，我們正在取得良好進展，並希望看到這種進展繼續下去。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from Justin Bowers at Deutsche Bank.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的賈斯汀·鮑爾斯。

So we'll stick with large pharma here. Can you talk a little bit about the velocity of decision-making amongst the large pharma clients with respect to either new programs or to outsourcing approaches relative to last year and some of the concerns there?

因此，我們將繼續選擇大型製藥公司。您能否談談大型製藥客戶相對於去年在新專案或外包方法方面的決策速度以及其中的一些擔憂？

And then, just with respect to outsourcing penetration, I think historically, we thought we've seen the industry grow, let's say, 1 or 2 points per year there. Is that still intact for 2024 and the next couple of years?

然後，就外包滲透率而言，我認為從歷史上看，我們認為我們已經看到該行業的成長，可以說，每年增長 1 或 2 個百分點。到 2024 年以及接下來的幾年，這種情況是否仍然完好無損？

Sure. Justin, I mean, I'll answer your second part first. Penetration, yes, 1% to 2% a year, 100, 200 bps, I think, is the way to think about it. And that's what we think about it. We think there's still plenty of upside over the next decade or 2. Maybe there's no doubt a ceiling, maybe at 70%, 75%, but we're probably only at sort of 50%, 55% now. So I think there's still plenty of room for upside on the penetration side.

當然。賈斯汀，我的意思是，我會先回答你的第二部分。滲透率，是的，每年 1% 到 2%，100、200 個基點，我認為，這是思考這個問題的方式。這就是我們的想法。我們認為未來十年或兩年仍有很大的上升空間。所以我認為滲透率方面仍然有很大的上升空間。

And of course, it varies depending on which company you're at. A large pharma, it's going to be lower than it is in the biotech where we'll typically do pretty much everything for them.

當然，這取決於您所在的公司。對於一家大型製藥公司來說，它的價格將低於生物技術領域，我們通常會為他們做幾乎所有的事情。

In terms of velocity decision, I don't think we see any particular change in the velocity decision. Things can take some time, and sometimes they happen very quickly. A rescue project can be made, a decision to be made in a week. If it's a large development program with a new asset in a significant indication, that could take 3 to 6 months really depending on the individual customer, on their circumstances, on whether they're raising money or not.

就速度決策而言，我認為我們沒有看到速度決策有任何特定的變化。事情可能需要一些時間，有時它們發生得很快。可以製定救援計劃，一周內做出決定。如果這是一個大型開發項目，其中一項新資產具有重大意義，則可能需要 3 到 6 個月的時間，具體取決於個別客戶、他們的情況以及他們是否籌集資金。

I don't see any much difference between large pharma and between biotech. Sometimes the biotechs take a fair bit of time on these things. Possibly they're a little faster in terms of making decisions. But I'm not sure I notice too much of a difference on that one, and I certainly haven't noted any elongation of the decision velocity over the last quarter or 2. I think that that's continued at about the same rate as normal.

我認為大型製藥公司和生技公司之間沒有太大區別。有時生技公司會在這些事情上花費相當多的時間。可能他們做決定的速度要快一些。但我不確定我是否注意到這方面有太大差異，而且我當然沒有註意到過去一兩個季度決策速度有任何延長。

Understood. Yes, I was just thinking in terms of the higher impact of the IRA and the rate environment last year and how that changed so quickly. But I'll take the rest off-line. Appreciate the question.

明白了。是的，我只是在考慮 IRA 和去年利率環境的更大影響以及這種變化如何如此之快。但我會把剩下的部分下線。感謝這個問題。

Okay. Thanks, Justin.

好的。謝謝，賈斯汀。

Thanks, Justin.

謝謝，賈斯汀。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from David Windley at Jefferies.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 David Windley。

My first question, Steve, you've both mentioned a couple of times about large pharma and FSO being strong to start off the year. You also mentioned the client renewal on that front. I wondered if those are one and the same or if the large pharma and FSO uplift is broader than just that one client renewal. Maybe you can give some color around that.

我的第一個問題，史蒂夫，你們都多次提到大型製藥公司和 FSO 在今年年初表現強勁。您也提到了這方面的客戶續訂。我想知道這些是否相同，或者大型製藥公司和 FSO 的提升是否比僅僅一個客戶續約更廣泛。也許你可以給它一些顏色。

Well, the particular renewal that we've had is particularly in full service. So that's certainly the case. But I think it goes -- the full service sort of comeback, if that's the way to put it, goes a bit beyond that one customer.

嗯，我們所進行的特別更新是在全方位服務方面。所以情況確實如此。但我認為，全方位服務的回歸，如果可以這麼說的話，超出了單一客戶的範圍。

Typically, in our industry, we see a little bit swings and roundabouts, and the pendulum goes one way and comes back the other. I think a year or so ago, we were seeing a push more towards functional. I think that's now starting to come back, and we're seeing maybe a little bit more of a -- I wouldn't say it's a tidal wave or a tsunami, but there is probably an attenuation of that push towards FSP. And perhaps it's coming back a little bit on the full service.

通常，在我們的行業中，我們會看到一些波動和迂迴，鐘擺向一個方向移動，然後從另一個方向返回。我認為大約一年前，我們看到了更多的功能性推動。我認為這種情況現在開始捲土重來，我們可能會看到更多的情況——我不會說這是一場浪潮或海嘯，但對 FSP 的推動可能會減弱。也許它會在全面服務上有所回升。

What we probably are seeing more than anything is an increase in these -- what we call these blended models where particularly large pharma, of course, want to do or want to have the facility to do both, both the more functional approach, and the more full service approach if that makes sense.

我們最可能看到的最重要的是這些的增加——我們稱之為混合模型，特別是大型製藥公司當然想要做或想要擁有做這兩件事的設施，既更實用的方法，又是如果有意義的話，更全面的服務方法。

So on a project, they might do their data management, medical writing or stats, or whatever, through a functional service agreement. But the clinical and the project management for the particular trial or the particular program would be more on a full service basis.

因此，在一個專案中，他們可能會透過功能服務協議進行資料管理、醫學寫作或統計等。但特定試驗或特定項目的臨床和專案管理將更多地建立在全方位服務的基礎上。

So those -- and we feel like we're very well positioned to be able to accommodate those sorts of solutions. We are the biggest on the FSP provider, and we obviously have a very significant footprint in full service as well.

因此，我們覺得我們處於非常有利的位置，能夠適應這些類型的解決方案。我們是最大的 FSP 供應商，顯然我們在全方位服務方面也佔有非常重要的地位。

So that our ability to put those models together is, I think, unprecedented in the industry. And so when we add that and we add our technology and our site networks to it, we can put together a really compelling offering for these large pharma customers.

因此，我認為我們將這些模型組合在一起的能力在業界是前所未有的。因此，當我們添加這一點並添加我們的技術和網站網路時，我們可以為這些大型製藥客戶提供真正引人注目的產品。

Great. And then switching subjects, following up on some comments around data strategy, and you talked about tokenization. I guess I'm thinking about your internal Symphony asset, but probably also reliance on external data assets. And maybe you could just comment on your current thoughts on data strategy and then also kind of how critical is data versus maybe the analytics, what you do with the data, how you bring the data to the sites, things like that? And maybe put -- talk about what is your data strategy currently. And then how important is the data strategy in the context of actually delivering at the site level?

偉大的。然後轉換主題，跟進有關數據策略的一些評論，您談到了標記化。我想我正在考慮您的內部 Symphony 資產，但也可能考慮對外部資料資產的依賴。也許您可以評論一下您目前對數據策略的想法，然後也可以評論一下數據與分析相比有多重要，您如何處理數據，如何將數據帶到網站，諸如此類的事情？也許可以談談您目前的數據策略是什麼。那麼，在站點層級實際交付的背景下，資料策略有多重要？

Sure. Let me start with the tokenization. The Symphony business that we have within the organization is a critical part of our business from the tokenization level. And I'm really excited about this tokenization because I think it gives us the ability to follow up patients in a very cost-effective manner for an extended period of time, well beyond the clinical trial.

當然。讓我從標記化開始。從代幣化層面來看，我們組織內的 Symphony 業務是我們業務的關鍵部分。我對這種標記化感到非常興奮，因為我認為它使我們能夠以非常經濟有效的方式在較長時間內追蹤患者，遠遠超出臨床試驗的時間。

So when you think about as we get into more of these obesity type trials where we have to treat thousands of patients over an extended period of time and the ability to collect data very cost effectively with the (inaudible) offers us a huge opportunity. And it offers our customers a huge opportunity.

因此，當您考慮到我們進行更多此類肥胖類型試驗時，我們必須在較長時間內治療數千名患者，並且透過（聽不清楚）非常經濟有效地收集數據的能力為我們提供了巨大的機會。它為我們的客戶提供了巨大的機會。

If you think back in the day when those of you who are old enough to remember the Vioxx challenges around cardiovascular events in the painkiller, if they'd been able to tokenize a lot of that -- a lot of those patients, they'd have been able to put in context those cardiovascular events and potentially have a different outcome.

如果你回想一下，當你們這些年紀足夠大的人還記得止痛藥中萬絡對心血管事件的挑戰時，如果他們能夠將其中的許多內容標記化——很多這樣的患者，他們會已經能夠將這些心血管事件放在背景中，並可能產生不同的結果。

But -- and that's the way I'm thinking about the ability for us to tokenize patients in this obesity space, in the diabetes space, where we're doing that again to some of these really large-scale clinical trials. We've been away a bit from these large-scale clinical trials in the industry.

但是，這就是我思考我們在肥胖領域、糖尿病領域對患者進行標記的能力的方式，我們正在對一些真正大規模的臨床試驗再次這樣做。我們已經遠離了業界的這些大規模臨床試驗。

We got into rare diseases and very specific, small, 100-patient studies were big studies. Now I think the opportunity going forward is to get into some of these really large ones. And I think our ability to tokenize these patients and to follow them up and to provide that data to customers on a long-term basis is really exciting.

我們研究了罕見疾病，非常具體的、小型的、100 名患者的研究是大型研究。現在我認為未來的機會是進入其中一些非常大的領域。我認為我們對這些患者進行代幣化、追蹤他們並長期向客戶提供這些數據的能力非常令人興奮。

In terms of our data strategy, we continue to not necessarily want to own all the data. We obtain data from a number of different sources. Symphony is a really important part of that. But we have our lab data. We have a number of external sources of data around -- from Citeline and organizations, [so that includes scores]. We have our clinical -- our trial management system. And what we're bringing together from a number of different sources is an ability through our technology then to identify patients for trials and to find those patients and get those patients into clinical trials.

就我們的數據策略而言，我們仍然不一定希望擁有所有數據。我們從許多不同的來源獲取數據。交響樂是其中非常重要的一環。但我們有實驗室數據。我們有許多外部資料來源——來自 Citeline 和組織，[因此包括分數]。我們有我們的臨床試驗管理系統。我們從許多不同的來源收集到的能力是透過我們的技術識別患者進行試驗並找到這些患者並使這些患者進入臨床試驗的能力。

One of our initiatives in the innovation space is through an organization called Veradigm, where we can actually utilize their electronic medical records and go out and find patients and bring patients in and have patients referred to our clinical trials.

我們在創新領域的舉措之一是透過一個名為 Veradigm 的組織，在那裡我們可以實際利用他們的電子病歷，出去尋找患者，將患者帶入並讓患者轉介到我們的臨床試驗中。

So that's early days on that one. We're trying that out on a number of trials, particularly in some of these more rare disease trials. But the ability for us to access data that we don't necessarily own but we have access to and we can bring together and collate through our system, through our OneSearch system, which you've seen no doubt at the Investor Day. And you'll see some more of this technology at our Investor Day in New York in -- next month. We'll show you what we've been doing and what we're able to do in terms of bringing these disparate sorts of data together, presenting them in a way that allows us to take actions and take -- and make insights into where we find patients for clinical trials.

所以現在還處於早期階段。我們正在許多試驗中進行嘗試，特別是在一些較罕見的疾病試驗中。但是，我們有能力存取我們不一定擁有但我們可以存取的數據，並且我們可以透過我們的系統、透過我們的OneSearch 系統進行匯總和整理，毫無疑問，您在投資者日上已經看到了這一點。您將在下個月於紐約舉行的投資者日看到更多此類技術。我們將向您展示我們一直在做什麼以及我們能夠做什麼，將這些不同類型的數據整合在一起，以一種使我們能夠採取行動並深入了解哪些情況的方式呈現它們我們尋找患者進行臨床試驗。

For us, it's all about delivering patients into clinical trials and doing that in a really cost-effective and a timely basis. And our whole data strategy is aligned towards that.

對我們來說，最重要的是讓患者參與臨床試驗，並以真正具有成本效益且及時的方式進行。我們的整個數據策略都與此相一致。

I know it's a bit of a high-level answer. We'll be able to give you a bit more information on this, David, at the Investor Day in New York in a month's time.

我知道這是一個有點高水準的答案。大衛，我們將在一個月後的紐約投資者日向您提供更多相關資訊。

Brendan, congrats on your career at ICON. Appreciate working with you.

Brendan，恭喜您在 ICON 的職業生涯。很高興與您合作。

Thanks, Dave. Appreciate that.

謝謝，戴夫。感謝。

(Operator Instructions) The next question is from Elizabeth Anderson at Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Elizabeth Anderson。

Maybe pivoting off of what Dave just asked, how do we think about the current market for real-world evidence? I mean I think that there's like some -- maybe 2 phenomenon going on, maybe some sort of cyclical element on it and also maybe some sort of structural changes as we've seen, obviously, the rise in AI and that kind of thing impacting the market.

或許從戴夫剛才問的問題出發，我們如何看待目前的現實世界證據市場？我的意思是，我認為有一些——也許有兩種現象正在發生，也許有某種週期性因素，也可能有某種結構性變化，正如我們所看到的，顯然，人工智慧的興起和影響的事情市場。

Could you sort of give us what you sort of view as what's going on there with your business and sort of where you see the competitive landscape shaking out over the next year or 2?

您能否告訴我們您對您的業務的看法以及您認為未來一兩年競爭格局將發生怎樣的變化？

Elizabeth, yes, we continue to see real world as a really important part of the landscape and what we need to do. Symphony's a part of that, and we have other sources of real-world evidence as well. I mentioned the Veradigm opportunity.

伊莉莎白，是的，我們仍然將現實世界視為景觀和我們需要做的事情的重要組成部分。 Symphony 是其中的一部分，我們還有其他現實世界證據來源。我提到了 Veradigm 的機會。

So it's -- we see continued interest in there. We see opportunity for growth in there, particularly as we get, as I say, these larger-scale trials. I think real world is going to be continuing and again going to grow significantly. So there's a lot there.

因此，我們看到人們對此持續感興趣。我們看到了那裡的成長機會，特別是正如我所說，當我們進行這些更大規模的試驗時。我認為現實世界將繼續下去，並將再次顯著增長。所以那裡有很多東西。

I don't think we see any sort of major shift right now. But I think as the obesity drugs really start to be developed or the new round of them start to be developed, we'll see an increasing role for real-world evidence and the ability to access it and to take in such from them.

我認為我們現在沒有看到任何重大轉變。但我認為，隨著肥胖藥物真正開始開發或新一輪藥物開始開發，我們將看到現實世界證據以及獲取和吸收這些證據的能力發揮越來越大的作用。

So I could rave on for hours about real world. I won't do that. But again, you'll hear more about that at our Investor Day in a couple of weeks.

所以我可以對現實世界讚不絕口幾個小時。我不會那樣做。但同樣，您將在幾週後的投資者日聽到更多相關資訊。

Great. And congrats, Brendan. It's been a pleasure.

偉大的。恭喜，布倫丹。這是我的榮幸。

Thanks, Elizabeth. Cheers.

謝謝，伊麗莎白。乾杯。

(Operator Instructions) Next question is from Jack Meehan of Nephron Research.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Nephron Research 的 Jack Meehan。

Just one question. In the past, in the deck, you've also given us the contribution from the #1 customer as well. Was just curious how they're doing. What was their contribution in the quarter?

只有一個問題。過去，在牌組中，您也向我們提供了第一名客戶的貢獻。只是好奇他們怎麼樣了。他們在本季的貢獻是什麼？

Yes, Jack. It's Brendan here. It was similar to last quarter, in that kind of 8% to 9% range. I think we wanted to move away from being overly focused on 1 customer. I think I made the point earlier in the call that we are seeing a more diversified company as we go forward. And it aligns again with our quarterly filings with the SEC that we would carve out 1 to 5. So that's the way we'll be showing that as we go forward.

是的，傑克。我是布倫丹。與上季類似，在 8% 到 9% 的範圍內。我認為我們希望擺脫過度關注 1 個客戶的情況。我想我早些時候在電話會議中就說過，隨著我們的前進，我們將看到一家更加多元化的公司。它再次與我們向 SEC 提交的季度文件一致，我們將劃分出 1 到 5 個部分。

(Operator Instructions) Next question is from Luke Sergott at Barclays.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Luke Sergott。

Great. Can you talk about like the pass-throughs, the trends that you're seeing here in the current quarter and the elevated booking -- your bookings that you had for this quarter? Anything to step up there? We're just trying to find anything, I guess, to pick at or find issue with.

偉大的。您能否談談您在本季看到的轉售趨勢以及預訂量的增加（您本季的預訂量）？有什麼可以上去的嗎？我想，我們只是想找到任何東西來挑剔或發現問題。

No luck there, Luke. Brendan here. Obviously, we had a very solid quarter in terms of bookings, but that wasn't based on elevated pass-throughs or anything like that. We had a very solid direct fee book-to-bill as well, up to similar. So no, nothing there to particularly get you guys worried about. It was a very solid quarter across the organization and very much in terms of direct fee also.

運氣不太好，路克。布倫丹在這裡。顯然，我們在預訂方面有一個非常穩定的季度，但這並不是基於增加的直通率或類似的東西。我們也有非常穩定的按訂單直接收費，達到類似水準。所以不，沒有什麼特別讓你們擔心的。這是整個組織非常穩定的季度，就直接費用而言也是如此。

(Operator Instructions) Next comes from Jack Wallace at Guggenheim Partners.

（操作員說明）接下來來自古根漢合夥人公司的傑克華萊士。

This is Mitch on for Jack. Most of mine have been asked and answered, but maybe just one on therapeutic mix. Is there anything to note in regards to changes in mix in the first quarter or in the pipeline?

這是米奇為傑克代言的。我的大部分問題都被問到並得到了回答，但也許只有一個關於治療組合的問題。關於第一季或管道中的組合變化，有什麼需要注意的嗎？

Mitch, no, not really. We continue with a good 40% of our work in the oncology space. And then the rest of them are sort of between 10 and 15, the [ME victors], vaccines, CNS, cardiovascular. It might mix it -- it go up and down a little bit on a trial if a big trial comes in, but really, still the most -- it's not most, it's not more than 50%, but about 40% of work's oncology and rare disease. And so that tends to dominate our portfolio.

米奇，不，不是真的。我們將繼續在腫瘤學領域進行 40% 的工作。然後剩下的大概在 10 到 15 之間，[ME 勝利者]、疫苗、中樞神經系統、心血管。它可能會混合起來——如果進行大型試驗，它會在試驗中上下浮動一點，但實際上，仍然是最多的——不是最多，不超過 50%，而是大約 40% 的腫瘤學工作和罕見疾病。因此，這往往會主導我們的投資組合。

(Operator Instructions) This comes from Jailendra Singh at Truist Securities.

（操作員說明）這來自 Truist Securities 的 Jailendra Singh。

Congrats, Brendan, as well. Just wanted to ask about BIOSECURE Act and what you guys are hearing from your global pharma customers. And even this act process, if you see this act having any implications for the CRO industry and global CRO players like ICON?

也恭喜布倫丹。只是想詢問一下《BIOSECURE 法案》以及你們從全球製藥客戶那裡聽到的情況。即使是這個法案的過程，您是否認為這個法案對 CRO 產業和像 ICON 這樣的全球 CRO 參與者有任何影響？

Yes. Jailendra, I won't profess to be an expert in the implications of the BIOSECURE Act, but there are potential issues. I think it's probably more for our -- it's more a question for our pharma customers in terms of their access to CDMOs and those sorts of organizations and the potential, particularly, I think, in China for some challenges in terms of supply.

是的。 Jailendra，我不會自稱是 BIOSECURE 法案影響方面的專家，但有潛在的問題。我認為這對我們的製藥客戶來說可能更重要，因為他們獲得 CDMO 和此類組織的機會以及潛力，特別是我認為在中國面臨供應方面的一些挑戰。

And I guess if it's supply of a drug product, there may potentially be some implications for supply or clinical trial supplies. But really, our pharma brethren are pretty smart people, and they plan very well for these sorts of things. So I'd be very surprised if we saw any really material impact.

我想如果是藥品的供應，可能會對供應或臨床試驗供應產生一些影響。但實際上，我們的製藥兄弟都是非常聰明的人，他們對這類事情計劃得很好。因此，如果我們看到任何真正的實質影響，我會感到非常驚訝。

I know there are some concerns about it. They've expressed those to the government. But I think the supply chain challenge, I think, has been ongoing now for several years. And I think they're thinking and I think they've already thought very hard about where they get particularly the manufacturing of their drug, their APIs done. And so I don't see much implication for us certainly in the short term.

我知道有人對此有些擔憂。他們已向政府表達了這些意見。但我認為供應鏈挑戰已經持續好幾年了。我認為他們正在思考，而且我認為他們已經非常認真地思考他們從哪裡獲得特別是藥物的製造和 API 的生產。因此，我認為短期內對我們沒有太大影響。

Okay. So I think we're at end of the questions. So thank you, operator. We will -- I want to thank you all for joining our call today and for your continued interest in ICON.

好的。所以我想我們的問題已經結束了。謝謝你，接線生。我們將會——我要感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議以及對 ICON 的持續關注。

We look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming Investor Day in New York City and providing you with an opportunity to spotlight the important work we do here at ICON. Thank you, all, and have a good day.

我們期待在即將到來的紐約投資者日見到你們，並為你們提供一個機會來重點關注我們在 ICON 所做的重要工作。謝謝大家，祝你有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。發言者請稍候。