ICON PLC (ICLR) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for joining us on this call covering the quarter ended June 30, 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.

您好，感謝您參加本次電話會議，會議內容涵蓋截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的季度。參加今天電話會議的還有我們的執行長史蒂夫·卡特勒博士、財務長布倫丹·布倫南以及企業與商業財務高級副總裁埃默·里昂斯。

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. 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.

我想指出的是，這次電話會議是網路直播的，您可以在我們的網站上下載今天的電話會議的幻燈片。今天電話會議中的某些陳述將是前瞻性陳述。這些聲明是基於管理層當前的預期和當前可用的信息，包括當前的經濟和行業狀況。

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.

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所明示或暗示的結果有重大差異，請注意，前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來的績效。

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 SEC reports filed by the company, including the Form 20-F filed on February 23, 2024.

前瞻性陳述僅截至其作出之日有效，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的風險和不確定性的更多信息，可在公司提交的美國證券交易委員會報告中找到，包括 2024 年 2 月 23 日提交的 20-F 表。

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. 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.

本次演講包括精選的非 GAAP 財務指標，史蒂夫和布倫丹將在他們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，請參閱新聞稿部分「簡明合併營業報表」。雖然非公認會計準則財務指標並不優於或取代可比較的公認會計準則指標，但我們認為某些非公認會計準則資訊對於投資者進行歷史比較更有用。

Included in the press release and the earnings slides, you will note a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures. 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.

在新聞稿和收益幻燈片中，您會注意到非公認會計準則 (GAAP) 指標的對帳。調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨收入和調整後的每股攤薄收益不包括股票薪酬費用、重組成本、外幣損益、攤銷和交易相關及整合相關成本及其各自的稅收優惠。

We will be limiting the call today to one hour and would therefore ask participants to keep their questions to one each in the interest of time. I would now like to hand over the call to our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler.

我們將今天的通話時間限制為一小時，因此請與會者為了節省時間，將問題限制在每位與會者只提出一個問題。現在我想把電話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 results in quarter two continued our positive year-to-date trajectory of growth, marked by solid financial performance and further success in securing new business across our segments. Net business wins and backlog grew by 7% and 10%, respectively, year over year as our leading scaled offering continues to resonate with our customers, uniquely positioning ICON to meet increasing demand for innovative and flexible solutions in clinical development.

謝謝你，凱特，大家好。ICON 第二季的業績延續了我們年初至今的積極成長軌跡，其特點是穩健的財務表現和在各個部門取得新業務的進一步成功。由於我們領先的規模化產品繼續引起客戶的共鳴，淨業務勝利和積壓訂單分別同比增長 7% 和 10%，使 ICON 具有獨特的優勢，能夠滿足臨床開發中對創新和靈活解決方案日益增長的需求。

We remain encouraged by the leading indicators in our market that support a solid demand environment, including continued growth in RFP flow and the overall consistent level of opportunities we are seeing across our customer segments. While biotech funding levels attenuated slightly in quarter two from a robust start in quarter one, we see this market continuing to stabilize and have seen a modest uptick in RFPs on a trailing 12-month and sequential basis within this segment.

我們仍然對市場領先指標感到鼓舞，這些指標支持了穩健的需求環境，包括 RFP 流量的持續成長以及我們在客戶群體中看到的整體一致的機會水準。雖然第二季生物技術融資水準較第一季的強勁開局略有下降，但我們看到該市場正在持續穩定，並且在過去 12 個月和連續期間內，該領域的 RFP 數量均出現小幅上升。

Importantly, customer sentiment appears to be improving, and we remain optimistic around the contribution to midterm growth, this important customer segment represents. In the large pharma segment, we see continued opportunity to win and expand our support of the many customers seeking novel solutions. While macro challenges and budget uncertainties remain a factor at the forefront in their overall spending decisions, we have seen continued prioritization around the development of late-stage clinical pipeline assets to advance drugs to market.

重要的是，客戶情緒似乎正在改善，我們對這個重要客戶群對中期成長的貢獻仍然持樂觀態度。在大型製藥領域，我們看到了持續贏得客戶的機會，並擴大了我們對尋求新解決方案的眾多客戶的支援。儘管宏觀挑戰和預算不確定性仍然是其整體支出決策中最重要的因素，但我們看到，他們繼續優先考慮開發後期臨床管線資產，以推動藥物推向市場。

We believe this provides a certain degree of stabilization to the demand patterns in this area of the market that have largely been steady through more volatile macroeconomic periods in recent years. Our offering in large pharma is particularly well placed to serve customers, seeking flexible blended solutions encompassing both full service and functional elements of delivery with our proven agility and scalability in both service areas.

我們相信，這將在一定程度上穩定這一市場領域的需求模式，而近年來，在宏觀經濟較為動盪的時期，這一市場領域的需求模式基本上保持穩定。我們在大型製藥公司提供的服務特別適合為客戶服務，尋求靈活的混合解決方案，涵蓋全方位服務和交付的功能要素，並在兩個服務領域擁有經過驗證的靈活性和可擴展性。

One of the key strategic initiatives we laid out at our Investor Day in May was extending our leadership in the large pharma market through our blended solutions offering and our differentiated ability to customize a model for customers. This increasingly important approach was critical to our success in securing another new strategic partnership with a rapidly growing top 30 pharma company for full-service solutions in quarter two.

我們在五月的投資者日上提出的一項關鍵策略舉措是透過我們提供的混合解決方案和為客戶量身定制模型的差異化能力來擴大我們在大型製藥市場的領導地位。這種日益重要的方法對於我們在第二季度成功與一家快速發展的排名前 30 位的製藥公司建立新的策略合作夥伴關係以提供全方位服務解決方案至關重要。

We were selected for this partnership due to our ability to partner with this customer in creating a tailored operational solution that was optimized to fit their evolving needs. Our deep understanding of various outsourcing models and the ability to pivot between them was a key differentiating point for ICON as well as our portfolio of integrated clinical services that will create value in areas such as site and patient solutions and laboratory services.

我們之所以被選中與該客戶建立合作夥伴關係，是因為我們有能力與該客戶合作，共同創建客製化的營運解決方案，並針對其不斷變化的需求進行最佳化。我們對各種外包模式的深刻理解以及在它們之間轉換的能力是 ICON 以及我們的綜合臨床服務組合的關鍵區別點，它將在站點和患者解決方案以及實驗室服務等領域創造價值。

This reinforces our recent success in building partnerships outside of our top tier customers, creating a well-diversified and balanced portfolio that is not overly concentrated to a particular customer or therapeutic area. Specifically, in the first half of this year, we were able to grow revenue outside our top five customers by over 8%, illustrating the success we are having in executing our portfolio and developing our top tier customers of the future.

這鞏固了我們近期在與頂級客戶之外建立合作夥伴關係方面取得的成功，從而創建了一個多元化且均衡的投資組合，不會過度集中於特定客戶或治療領域。具體來說，今年上半年，我們在前五大客戶之外的收入成長了 8% 以上，這表明我們在執行產品組合和開發未來頂級客戶方面取得了成功。

As we continue to grow and scale our company, we remain focused on leveraging the unique blend of experience and capability we have in not only winning but executing and expanding large-scale strategic partnerships that create strong value for both our customers and ICON. While our perspective on this year's demand environment has remained consistent, we did receive an update late in the quarter pertaining specifically to next-generation COVID vaccine trials that will cause an impact to our full year revenue in 2024 due to the delayed start of these studies.

隨著我們公司不斷發展壯大，我們將繼續專注於利用我們獨特的經驗和能力，不僅贏得而且執行和擴大大規模戰略合作夥伴關係，為我們的客戶和 ICON 創造強大的價值。雖然我們對今年需求環境的看法始終如一，但我們在本季末收到了有關下一代 COVID 疫苗試驗的最新消息，由於這些研究的推遲開始，這將對我們 2024 年的全年收入造成影響。

There were two primary but separate issues that affected the start of these trials. One was a delay in sponsors receiving regulatory guidance that was required before commencing trial enrollment pertaining to new variant specifications. And the second was investigational product-related issues that caused a delay in enrollment. We are working closely with our development partners to ensure efficient and timely execution of these high-priority studies that continue to be of critical importance to our customers and the safety and health of our communities.

有兩個主要但獨立的問題影響了這些試驗的開始。一是申辦方延遲收到在開始與新變體規範相關的試驗登記之前所需的監管指導。第二個是與研究產品相關的問題導致入組延遲。我們正在與我們的開發夥伴密切合作，以確保高效、及時地執行這些高優先級的研究，這些研究對我們的客戶以及我們社區的安全和健康仍然至關重要。

To be clear, these studies have not been canceled, and our expectation is that these trials will enroll the majority of patients in 2025 with start-up related activities having already commenced in some instances. With these anticipated changes, we now expect our COVID-related revenue to be approximately 1.5% to 2% of total revenue for the full year in 2024, representing a year-over-year headwind of approximately 200 basis points to total revenue.

需要明確的是，這些研究並沒有被取消，我們預計這些試驗將在 2025 年招募大多數患者，並且在某些情況下啟動相關的活動已經開始。考慮到這些預期的變化，我們現在預計與 COVID 相關的收入將佔 2024 年全年總收入的約 1.5% 至 2%，這意味著總收入將年比將下降約 200 個基點。

While we're disappointed by these unanticipated one-off project delays, these do happen in our industry, and they are limited to one specific area within our business. We remain confident in the strength and delivery of our underlying service offering as well as the benefits of a diversified mix of customers and therapeutic areas that constitute our entire portfolio.

雖然我們對這些意外的一次性專案延遲感到失望，但這種情況確實發生在我們的行業中，並且僅限於我們業務中的一個特定領域。我們對我們基礎服務的實力和交付以及構成我們整個產品組合的多元化客戶和治療領域的優勢仍然充滿信心。

Our business performance, excluding COVID, has been very solid, with revenue growing 8% year to date over the first half of 2023 and is helping to offset some of the negative headwinds we are now expecting from both foreign exchange and the COVID-specific state delays.

除了 COVID 之外，我們的業務表現非常穩健，2023 年上半年迄今的收入成長了 8%，並有助於抵消我們目前預期的外匯和 COVID 特定國家延誤帶來的一些負面阻力。

To that end, given the excellent margin delivery year to date through strong project execution and cost control across the business as well as further leverage of our global business services model, we are increasing our full-year adjusted EBITDA margin expectation to 21.7% at the midpoint of our range, an increase of 80 basis points on a year-over-year basis.

為此，鑑於今年迄今透過強有力的專案執行和整個業務的成本控制以及進一步利用我們的全球業務服務模式而實現的出色利潤交付，我們將全年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率預期提高至區間中點的 21.7%，比去年同期增加 80 個基點。

This outperformance, coupled with expected savings on full-year interest expense is supporting the increase of our full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance, which we now expect to be in the range of $15 to $15.20 an increase of 17.3% to 18.8% over the full year 2023. With the consistent trends in our broader demand environment, our expectation on book to bill remain in the range of 1.2 times to 1.3 times on a quarterly basis, maintaining our previous target range.

這一優異表現，加上預計全年利息支出的節省，支持了我們上調全年調整後每股收益預期，我們目前預計該預期將在 15 美元至 15.20 美元之間，比 2023 年全年增長 17.3% 至 18.8%。由於我們更廣泛的需求環境趨勢一致，我們對訂單出貨比的預期仍保持在每季 1.2 倍至 1.3 倍的範圍內，維持我們先前的目標範圍。

Turning to financial performance in quarter two, net bookings grew 7% on a year-over-year basis, resulting in a book-to-bill of 1.2 times in the quarter and sustaining our trailing 12-month book-to-bill ratio of 1.24 times. We again saw a strong performance in our large pharma business, particularly in full-service solutions as well as for operational delivery services in data sciences, which notably secured a new sole provider award in the quarter.

談到第二季的財務業績，淨預訂量年增 7%，導致本季訂單出貨比為 1.2 倍，並維持了過去 12 個月 1.24 倍的訂單出貨比。我們的大型製藥業務再次表現強勁，特別是在全方位服務解決方案以及數據科學領域的營運交付服務方面，尤其值得一提的是，該業務在本季度獲得了新的獨家供應商獎。

Total revenue increased 5.3% on a constant currency year-over-year basis in the quarter. Gross margin of 29.9% increased 30 basis points over quarter two 2023, and total SG&A expense decreased 40 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 8.7% of total revenue, driving another quarter of strong adjusted EBITDA growth of 9% over quarter two 2023. This resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.2% in the quarter, up 70 basis points year on year.

本季總營收以固定匯率計算年增 5.3%。毛利率為 29.9%，較 2023 年第二季增加 30 個基點，銷售、一般及行政費用總額較去年同期下降 40 個基點，至總營收的 8.7%，推動調整後 EBITDA 再創季度強勁成長，較 2023 年第二季成長 9%。這使得本季調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 21.2%，較去年同期成長 70 個基點。

With strong margin delivery through our P&L, in addition to the benefits of our debt refinancing, we saw excellent year-over-year growth in adjusted earnings per share of approximately 21%. Following the successful repricing of our existing term loan B facility earlier this year, we continued our strategy of further refinancing our variable debt in quarter two.

透過我們的損益表實現強勁的利潤率，加上債務再融資的好處，我們的調整後每股收益年增約 21%。繼今年稍早成功重新定價現有定期貸款 B 類工具後，我們在第二季繼續實施進一步再融資浮動債務的策略。

We completed our inaugural SEC bond offering total $2 billion -- offering totaling $2 billion in early May, which was met with very strong investor interest and initial order book of circa $15 billion. The proceeds of this offering were allocated to the repayment of our fixed term loan B debt, resulting in a current capital structure, which has approximately 72% of our debt subject to fixed rates.

我們於 5 月初完成了首次 SEC 債券發行，總額為 20 億美元，引起了投資者的強烈興趣，初始訂單額約為 150 億美元。此次發行的收益用於償還我們的固定期限貸款 B 債務，從而形成了當前的資本結構，其中約 72% 的債務受固定利率約束。

As we noted at our Investor Day in May, this now provides us visibility to a reduction of approximately $110 million in interest expense over 2023, resulting in expected total full-year interest expense in the range of $200 million to $210 million for 2024.

正如我們在 5 月的投資者日上所指出的那樣，這使我們能夠看到 2023 年的利息支出減少約 1.1 億美元，從而預計 2024 年全年利息支出總額將在 2 億至 2.1 億美元之間。

Importantly, this was a great milestone for our company in completing our first investment-grade bond offering and providing increased balance sheet flexibility as we look to continue to optimally deploy capital on a go-forward basis. As we have previously stated, we remain focused on M&A as the priority use of capital in the near term with a focus on strategic assets that continue to differentiate our clinical offering and drive value for our customers. However, as communicated previously, we have authorization from our Board of Directors for a share repurchase program of up to $500 million to be deployed opportunistically on an ongoing basis if the appropriate assets cannot be secured at the right price.

重要的是，這對我們公司來說是一個重要的里程碑，我們完成了首次投資等級債券發行，並提高了資產負債表的靈活性，我們希望在未來繼續以最佳方式配置資本。正如我們之前所說，我們仍然將併購作為短期內資本的優先使用，重點關注那些能夠繼續區分我們的臨床產品並為我們的客戶創造價值的策略資產。然而，正如先前所傳達的，如果無法以合適的價格獲得適當的資產，我們已獲得董事會授權，可以持續適時地部署高達 5 億美元的股票回購計劃。

We are updating our full year 2024 guidance range to account for the delayed COVID-related projects as well as foreign exchange headwinds due to the strengthening US dollar since our quarter one report. We now expect revenue to be in the range of $8.45 billion to $8.55 billion, an increase of 4.1% to 5.3% over full year 2023. As I noted earlier, we are increasing our full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $15 to $15.20, an increase of 17.3% to 18.8% on a year-over-year basis, reflecting our strong margin delivery and continued cost management.

我們正在更新 2024 年全年指導範圍，以考慮到與 COVID 相關的項目的延遲以及自我們第一季度報告以來美元走強造成的外匯逆風。我們現在預計營收將在 84.5 億美元至 85.5 億美元之間，比 2023 年全年增長 4.1% 至 5.3%。正如我之前提到的，我們將全年調整後每股收益預期上調至 15 美元至 15.20 美元，年增 17.3% 至 18.8%，這反映了我們強勁的利潤率和持續的成本管理。

Before I close out my prepared remarks, I want to provide a brief update on our CFO transition. We continue to make good progress on our search for a new CFO, and we now have a small number of very strong candidates remaining in the process. We expect to make a more detailed announcement regarding this transition later in the current quarter.

在我結束準備好的演講之前，我想先簡單介紹一下我們的財務長的過渡。我們在尋找新任財務長方面繼續取得良好進展，目前我們仍有少數非常優秀的候選人留在招募流程中。我們預計將在本季稍後就這一轉變發布更詳細的公告。

Finally, I want to extend my sincere thanks to all of our colleagues at ICON for their many efforts in the quarter and the first half of this year in supporting our customers and helping to accelerate their development programs to bring new therapies to patients around the world. Brendan, I'll now hand it over to you to review our financial performance in more detail.

最後，我要向 ICON 的所有同事表示誠摯的感謝，感謝他們在本季度和今年上半年為支持我們的客戶並幫助加速他們的開發計劃以便為世界各地的患者帶來新的治療方法所做的許多努力。布倫丹，現在我將交給你更詳細地審查我們的財務表現。

Thanks, Steve. In quarter two, ICON achieved gross business wins of $3.07 billion, an increase of 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. In addition, we recorded $493 million worth of cancellations resulting in net awards in the quarter of $2.58 billion and net book to bill of 1.22 times.

謝謝，史蒂夫。第二季度，ICON 實現總業務利潤 30.7 億美元，年增 7.4%。此外，我們記錄了價值 4.93 億美元的取消，導致本季淨獎勵達到 25.8 億美元，淨帳面出帳率為 1.22 倍。

With the addition of the new awards in quarter two, our backlog grew to a record $23.8 billion, representing an increase of 2% on quarter one of 2024 or an increase of 9.9% year over year. Our backlog burn was 9.1% in the quarter, slightly down from quarter one levels.

隨著第二季新獎項的加入，我們的積壓訂單成長至創紀錄的 238 億美元，比 2024 年第一季成長 2%，年增 9.9%。本季我們的積壓訂單消耗率為 9.1%，略低於第一季的水準。

Revenue in quarter two was $2.120 billion. This represented a year-on-year increase of 4.9% or 5.3% on a constant currency basis. Overall, customer concentration in our top 25 customers decreased from quarter one, 2024.

第二季營收為21.2億美元。以固定匯率計算，年增 4.9%，或成長 5.3%。整體而言，從 2024 年第一季起，我們前 25 家客戶的客戶集中度有所下降。

Our top five customers represented 24.7% of revenue in quarter two. Our top 10 represented 39.3%, and our top 25 represented 60.9%. Gross margin for the quarter was 29.9%, consistent with quarter one, 2024, as expected. Gross margin increased 30 basis points over gross margin of 29.6% in quarter two 2023.

我們前五大客戶佔第二季營收的 24.7%。我們的前 10 名佔 39.3%，前 25 名佔 60.9%。本季毛利率為29.9%，與2024年第一季一致，符合預期。毛利率較2023年第二季的29.6%的毛利率增加了30個基點。

Total SG&A expense was $183.5 million in quarter two or 8.7% of revenue. This was in line with the prior quarter on total percent of revenue basis. In the comparable period last year, total SG&A expense was $182.9 million or 9.1% of revenue.

第二季銷售、一般及行政費用總額為 1.835 億美元，佔營收的 8.7%。這與上一季的總收入百分比一致。去年同期，銷售、一般及行政費用總額為 1.829 億美元，佔營收的 9.1%。

Adjusted EBITDA was $450.4 million for the quarter or 21.2% of revenue. In the comparable period last year, adjusted EBITDA was $414.2 million or 20.5% of revenue, representing a very solid year-on-year increase of 8.7%, an expansion of 70 basis points in margin.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 4.504 億美元，佔營收的 21.2%。去年同期，調整後的 EBITDA 為 4.142 億美元，佔營收的 20.5%，年增 8.7%，利潤率擴大 70 個基點。

Adjusted operating income for the quarter two was $417.3 million, a margin of 19.7%. This was an increase of 8.7%, adjusted operating income of $383.8 million, a margin of 19% in quarter two of 2023.

第二季調整後的營業收入為 4.173 億美元，利潤率為 19.7%。2023 年第二季度，調整後的營業收入為 3.838 億美元，利潤率為 19%，增幅為 8.7%。

Net interest expense was $42.9 million for quarter two. We're continuing to the full year interest expense to total approximately $200 million to $210 million in 2024, with a roughly even split in total remaining interest expense for the remaining two quarters of the year. 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%.

第二季淨利息支出為 4,290 萬美元。我們將繼續將 2024 年全年利息支出總額定為約 2 億至 2.1 億美元，並將當年剩餘兩季的剩餘利息支出總額大致均等分配。本季有效稅率為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 $312.6 million, a margin of 14.7%, equating to adjusted earnings per share of $3.75, an increase of 20.6% year over year. In the second quarter, the company recorded $6.8 million of transaction and integration-related costs and $45.8 million of restructuring costs.

本季歸屬於集團的調整後淨收入為 3.126 億美元，利潤率為 14.7%，相當於調整後每股收益為 3.75 美元，年增 20.6%。第二季度，該公司記錄了 680 萬美元的交易和整合相關成本以及 4,580 萬美元的重組成本。

US GAAP income from operations amounted to $229.9 million or 10.8% of revenue during quarter two. US GAAP net income in quarter two was $146.9 million or $1.76 per diluted share compared to $1.40 per share for the equivalent prior year period, an increase of 25.7%.

第二季度，美國 GAAP 營業收入達 2.299 億美元，佔營收的 10.8%。第二季美國 GAAP 淨收入為 1.469 億美元，即每股 1.76 美元，去年同期每股 1.40 美元，成長 25.7%。

Net accounts receivable was $1.198 billion at June 30, 2024. This compares with net accounts receivable balance of $1.146 billion at the end of quarter one, 2024. DSO was 51 days at June 30, 2024, a decrease of one day from quarter two 2023 and an increase of two days from March 31, 2024. Cash from operating activities in the quarter was $218.6 million, and free cash flow was $182.4 million in the quarter, an increase of 6% on a year-over-year basis.

截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，淨應收帳款為 11.98 億美元。相較之下，2024 年第一季末的淨應收帳款餘額為 11.46 億美元。2024 年 6 月 30 日的 DSO 為 51 天，比 2023 年第二季減少一天，比 2024 年 3 月 31 日增加兩天。本季經營活動現金為2.186億美元，本季自由現金流為1.824億美元，較去年同期成長6%。

We continue to see customers seeking more competitive contracted credit terms as well as a desire to hold on to cash longer given the higher interest rate environment we're currently in. This dynamic is primarily focused on our large pharma customer growth, which has been growing faster at ICON and is thus driving greater impact on our overall DSO profile.

我們繼續看到客戶尋求更具競爭力的合約信貸條款，並且鑑於我們目前所處的較高利率環境，他們希望持有現金更長時間。這一動態主要集中在我們的大型製藥客戶成長上，該成長在 ICON 中成長更快，因此對我們的整體 DSO 狀況產生了更大的影響。

At June 30, 2024, cash totaled $506.6 million and debt totaled $3.4 billion, leaving a net debt position of $2.9 billion. This compared to net debt of $3.1 billion at March 31, 2024, and net debt of $4 billion at June 30, 2023. Capital expenditure during the quarter was $36.3 million.

截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日，現金總額為 5.066 億美元，債務總額為 34 億美元，淨債務為 29 億美元。相較之下，2024 年 3 月 31 日的淨債務為 31 億美元，2023 年 6 月 30 日的淨債務為 40 億美元。本季資本支出為 3,630 萬美元。

From a capital deployment perspective, $2 billion of cash from the successful investment-grade bond was used to repay $2.014 billion of our Term Loan B facility. Additionally, our revolving credit facility was undrawn at the end of quarter two.

從資本配置角度來看，成功發行的投資等級債券中的 20 億美元現金用於償還 20.14 億美元的 B 類定期貸款。此外，我們的循環信貸額度在第二季末尚未提取。

From a capital deployment perspective, as Steve indicated, our priorities for capital to be centered on M&A where we can acquire assets that further strengthen our portfolio of services and value proposition for customers.

從資本配置的角度來看，正如史蒂夫所指出的，我們的資本重點集中在併購上，我們可以收購資產，進一步加強我們的服務組合和客戶價值主張。

Our pipeline of opportunities is healthy. Yet, we remain disciplined in our approach to evaluating acquisitions that will meet our criteria from a strategic and financial perspective. We also continue to consider opportunistic share repurchase given our strong balance sheet position.

我們的機會管道是健康的。然而，我們仍然嚴格地按照策略和財務角度評估符合我們標準的收購。鑑於我們強勁的資產負債表狀況，我們也將繼續考慮機會性股票回購。

Our key assumptions behind the full year guidance remain in place, an 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 $210 million, all for the full year 2024. Finally, I would like to also thank our ICON employees for their dedicated efforts in quarter two. Operator, we are now ready for questions.

我們對全年指引背後的關鍵假設保持不變，即有效稅率為 16.5%，自由現金流目標約為 11 億美元，資本支出在 1.5 億美元至 2 億美元之間，利息支出在 2 億美元至 2.1 億美元之間，所有這些假設都是針對 2024 年全年的。最後，我還要感謝我們的 ICON 員工在第二季的辛勤工作。接線員，我們現在可以回答問題了。

(Operator Instructions) Justin Bowers, Deutsche Bank.

（操作員指示）德意志銀行的賈斯汀·鮑爾斯。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. In terms of what you're seeing with large pharma, what inning are we in in terms of some of the announcements that we've seen, let's say, over the last six months, and how they're approaching IRA? And what opportunities does that present for you outside of the core clinical business?

你好。大家早安。就您所看到的大型製藥公司的情況而言，根據過去六個月中我們看到的一些公告，我們處於什麼階段，以及他們如何處理 IRA？除了核心臨床業務之外，這還為您帶來了哪些機會？

The core clinical business, you mean in terms of budget discussions or budget cuts, Justin, is that where you can?

核心臨床業務，你的意思是在預算討論或預算削減方面，賈斯汀，你能做到嗎？

Yes, that's right, Steve.

是的，沒錯，史蒂夫。

Yeah, that's always hard to tell. But I suspect we're into the middle of any. I'm thinking four, fifth, even sixth. I think we've seen a number of companies make fairly public announcement. Certainly, some of our top customers have been in that cohort.

是的，這總是很難說。但我懷疑我們正處於其中。我認為是第四個、第五個、甚至第六個。我認為我們已經看到許多公司發布了相當公開的聲明。當然，我們的一些頂級客戶就屬於這群人。

And so, I think -- but I think we're seeing that starting to get through. And we're pretty optimistic about large pharma growth in terms of R&D spend. And in terms of outsourcing growth going forward, that's what we see in our RFP numbers.

所以，我認為——但我認為我們看到這一點開始顯現。我們對大型製藥公司在研發支出方面的成長非常樂觀。就未來外包成長而言，這正是我們在 RFP 數字中看到的。

Certainly, on the trailing 12-month basis from large pharma, we're in the low-double-digits, even pushing up a little bit higher than that. And so, we're pretty optimistic around where large pharma is going.

當然，從大型製藥公司過去 12 個月的數據來看，我們的成長率處於低兩位數，甚至略高於這個數字。因此，我們對大型製藥公司的發展方向非常樂觀。

Sometimes, as I think I've said before on these calls, the cost cuts and the budgets, while they do have an immediate impact, long-term they think more about how they spend their money. And we can benefit from that. And I think that applies to your second part of your question around the IRA. They are thinking about how best to deploy their capital.

有時，正如我之前在這些電話中所說的那樣，削減成本和預算雖然確實會產生直接影響，但從長遠來看，他們更多地考慮如何花錢。我們可以從中受益。我認為這適用於您關於愛爾蘭共和軍問題的第二部分。他們正在思考如何最好地配置他們的資本。

I've been to one or two strategic partnership meetings recently where they've been very open saying that they're not where they want to be. And they think outsourcing and strategic partnerships is one of the ways they're going to improve their efficiency, their speed, their cost competitiveness.

我最近參加了一兩次策略夥伴會議，他們非常坦率地表示，他們還沒有達到自己想要的水平。他們認為外包和策略合作是提高效率、速度和成本競爭力的方法之一。

And so I'm encouraged by that attitude by an open attitude that many of our larger pharma customers are taking and the opportunities that they're presenting to us even as they go through the considerations around IRA and even budget cuts, it does, I think, present us with opportunity in the term.

因此，我對這種態度感到鼓舞，我們的許多大型製藥客戶都採取了開放的態度，他們向我們提供的機會，即使他們正在考慮 IRA 甚至削減預算，我認為，這確實為我們提供了機會。

David Windley, Jefferies.

傑富瑞的戴維溫德利 (David Windley)。

Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Steve, I guess I'm interested. I appreciate your comments on large pharma. If I could sneak in two-parter. Biotech, you had both at AR converts in June and then again on the call, talked about attenuation in funding. I wanted to understand, is that just a funding comment or did you also see that flow through to your activity?

謝謝。早安.感謝您回答這個問題。史蒂夫，我想我很有興趣。我很感謝您對大型製藥公司的評論。如果我能偷偷加入兩部分的話。生物技術方面，您在 6 月的 AR 轉換會上以及隨後的電話會議上都談到了資金的衰減。我想了解一下，這只是一個資金評論，還是您也看到了它流向您的活動？

And then thinking about your -- the pace of business flowing not only into backlog, but through backlog burn rate just very moderately declining as has been the case for the industry for a long time. Just wanted to understand if that's what we should set as our expectation going forward or do some of the global business services and your new functional center of excellence approach have the ability to stem that tide?

然後想想你的——業務流入的速度不僅在於積壓訂單，而且積壓訂單的消耗率也在非常適度地下降，就像這個行業長期以來的情況一樣。只是想了解這是否是我們未來應該設定的期望，或者一些全球業務服務和新的卓越功能中心方法是否有能力阻止這種趨勢？

Sure. Let me take the biotech first. We continue to see constructive improvement in the biotech market. I think we're all aware that the first quarter was pretty strong from an overall funding. Second quarter, perhaps not so strong. And so my comment was related to some of the attenuation in the funding side of things on the biotech in the second quarter.

當然。我首先談談生物技術。我們持續看到生物技術市場出現建設性改善。我想我們都知道，從整體融資情況來看，第一季表現相當強勁。第二季度也許不那麼強勁。因此，我的評論與第二季度生物技術領域資金方面的一些衰減有關。

Although I think year to date, we see a very positive constructive progress in that biotech funding area. In terms of the activity, we're still seeing opportunities, something like 50% to 60% of the opportunities that we have in the pending pipeline.

儘管我認為今年迄今為止，我們看到生物技術融資領域取得了非常積極的建設性進展。就活動而言，我們仍然看到機會，大約有 50% 到 60% 的機會處於待處理狀態。

I'm talking about significantly to the top 25 are in the biotech space. And these are very substantial opportunities. So we feel there's plenty of opportunity and the plenty of projects coming through.

我指的是前 25 名的公司大多屬於生技領域。這些都是非常重要的機會。因此，我們覺得有很多機會和很多項目正在湧現。

Interestingly, as we look at the cancellations in the biotech and the RFP area, we typically talk about biotech dollars coming through and not so much what actually gets decided on. So we've seen actually in quarter two, a reduction in the number of cancels in the pending side of things.

有趣的是，當我們查看生物技術和 RFP 領域的取消情況時，我們通常會談論生物技術資金的到位，而不是實際決定的內容。因此，我們實際上在第二季度看到，待處理方面的取消數量有所減少。

In other words, proposals that come to us, and we bid on, a proportion of those always get canceled never actually come to a decision. We've seen a reduction in that. And that I think gives me some encouragement in terms of the rigor and the robustness of our pending pipeline.

換句話說，我們收到並投標的提案中，有一部分總是被取消，實際上從未做出決定。我們已經看到這種情況有所減少。我認為，這給了我一些鼓勵，讓我對我們即將進行的管道的嚴謹性和穩健性感到鼓舞。

And as I said, of the top 25 opportunities, about half of them are in the biotech segment. So it really shows that the biotech are coming through. They're serious about offering us opportunities, and they are substantial opportunities.

正如我所說，在前 25 個機會中，大約有一半屬於生物技術領域。這確實表明生物技術正在取得成功。他們認真地為我們提供機會，而且是實質的機會。

We're talking about very significant multimillion dollar, tens of millions of dollars of opportunities. So I'm pretty optimistic around where the biotech market is going and around the opportunities that we're going to have to execute on those opportunities.

我們正在談論價值數百萬美元、數千萬美元的重大機會。因此，我對生物技術市場的發展方向以及我們將要抓住的機會非常樂觀。

In terms of backlog burn, it did tick down a little bit. And I think that's a consequence of the makeup of our backlog. As you know, a lot of it is oncology. And that will continue to be the case. Our centers of excellence will help to mitigate that downturn. But I don't think it's necessarily going to change the overall challenge there or the overall trend.

就積壓訂單量而言，確實有所下降。我認為這是我們積壓訂單造成的結果。如您所知，其中許多是腫瘤學。這種情況將會持續下去。我們的卓越中心將有助於緩解這種衰退。但我不認為這必然會改變那裡的整體挑戰或整體趨勢。

We will still see a push pat down. We're down at around 9%. We may push under that a little bit in the more medium term. I think what will give us an opportunity is as we get into some of these other therapeutic areas in cardiovascular and metabolic, these COVID trials will help us as well. And so as we improve the mix of the -- or at least change the mix of our portfolio, I think, that's the opportunity from a start -- from a burn point of view.

我們仍會看到推擠式拍打。我們下降了約 9%。從中期來看，我們可能會稍微推動這項進程。我認為，當我們進入心血管和代謝等其他治療領域時，這些 COVID 試驗也會對我們有所幫助，這將為我們帶來機會。因此，當我們改善投資組合時 - 或至少改變我們的投資組合時，我認為，從燒錢的角度來看，這是一個從一開始就存在的機會。

The other thing is, as we said at our Investor Day as well, we have a very clear and strong initiative around our study start-up program, which is starting to pay some dividends and starting to improve. So I do think that will be a mitigating factor as well. And we'll be able to get study started and get patients in and burn revenue a little bit more faster, which is also a good thing, of course, for customers as we complete those projects on time or even ahead of time.

另一件事是，正如我們在投資者日所說的那樣，我們圍繞學習啟動計劃有一個非常明確和強有力的舉措，該計劃已開始帶來一些回報並開始改善。所以我確實認為這也是一個緩解因素。我們將能夠開始研究，讓患者參與進來，並更快地消耗收入，當然，這對客戶來說也是一件好事，因為我們可以按時甚至提前完成這些項目。

So there's a number of things we're doing. And I think we see on the horizon as an opportunity to improve our backlog burn. But that oncology and rare disease portfolio composition is always going to be a continued challenge.

我們正在做很多事情。我認為，我們看到了改善積壓工作的一個機會。但腫瘤學和罕見疾病組合的組成始終是持續的挑戰。

Max Smock, William Blair.

馬克斯史莫克、威廉布萊爾。

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. I wanted to follow-up on the small biotech and get an update around some of the traction that you're making with your revamped small biotech offering that you've been talking about over the last couple of quarters here and just how that revamped offering has translated into your win rate here in the second quarter of this year. Thank you.

你好。早安.感謝您回答我們的問題。我想跟進小型生物技術公司的情況，並了解您在過去幾個季度中一直在談論的改進後的小型生物技術產品所取得的一些進展，以及改進後的產品如何轉化為您在今年第二季度的成功率。謝謝。

I think it's still early days, Max, in that. We have, as we said at the Investor Day, rebranded our biotech offering, I think we said at the Investor Day, we're known as a large pharma CRO. So this is a process, and this is something that's going to take a little bit of time.

馬克斯，我認為現在還為時過早。正如我們在投資者日所說的那樣，我們已經重新命名了我們的生物技術產品，我想我們在投資者日說過，我們被稱為大型製藥 CRO。所以這是一個過程，而且需要一點時間。

We are seeing some progress. As I said, we've got a lot of opportunity to prosecute in that pending pipeline. And I think the next couple of quarter, probably in the next 12 months, we'll determine how successful that refocus and rebranding is. So I think it's a little early to call -- to declare victory in that space.

我們看到了一些進展。正如我所說，我們有很多機會在未決案件中進行起訴。我認為在接下來的幾個季度，可能是在接下來的 12 個月內，我們將確定重新聚焦和重塑品牌的成功程度。因此我認為現在宣布該領域的勝利還為時過早。

We're seeing certainly -- certainly, we're seeing some progress in terms of opportunities to bid on. And we've won our share of those. But I'd like to perhaps give that question another quarter or two before we really give you a definitive answer.

我們確實看到——確實，我們在競標機會方面看到了一些進展。我們已經贏得了屬於自己的那一份。但我想再花一兩個季度來討論這個問題，然後我們才能真正給出明確的答案。

Elizabeth Anderson, Evercore ISI.

伊麗莎白·安德森，Evercore ISI。

Hi. Maybe sticking on the biotech team. Obviously, in earlier this year we saw a massive increase in funding come through and moderating its positive trend in the second quarter. Have you seen -- where are we in that bolus that we saw in the first quarter coming through?

你好。也許會繼續留在生技團隊。顯然，今年早些時候我們看到資金大幅增加，而第二季度其積極趨勢有所緩和。您是否看到了——我們在第一季看到的那種推注現在處於什麼位置？

I'm sure the answer is that it varies somewhat. But are those still coming in the RFP stage? Or are they starting to convert? How do we think about that in terms of the opportunity that that presents?

我確信答案是有所不同。但這些還處於 RFP 階段嗎？還是他們開始轉變了？就其帶來的機會而言，我們如何看待它？

Yeah. It's a good question, Elizabeth. I think it's fair to say that we're starting to see that early year funding flow through. And as I said, the cancellations in the funding area, in the proposal, it seemed to be down in the second quarter.

是的。這是個好問題，伊莉莎白。我認為可以公平地說，我們開始看到年初的資金流入。正如我所說，在提案中，融資領域的取消似乎在第二季有所下降。

So I'm really encouraged by that opportunity. This seems to be a much more robust pipeline of pending opportunities, which I think is good news for us.

所以我真的對這個機會感到鼓舞。這似乎是一個更強大的待決機會管道，我認為這對我們來說是個好消息。

We are seeing that push up in the mid-single digits. Even sequentially, we've seen progress on that Q1 to Q2. And so again, I'm encouraged. In terms of awards and then converting to revenue, I think we're probably still a couple of quarters away. I think maybe Q4 early next year is going to be when that starts to play through. But overall, we're starting to see that, but we're at the early part of that progress if that makes sense.

我們看到這個數字正以個位數中段的速度上升。即使按順序來看，我們也看到了第一季到第二季的進展。因此，我再次受到鼓舞。就獎項以及轉化為收入而言，我認為我們可能還需要幾個季度的時間。我認為也許明年年初的第四季就會開始顯現這一現象。但總的來說，我們開始看到這一點，但如果說得通的話，我們正處於這項進展的早期階段。

Patrick Donnelly, Citi.

花旗銀行的 Patrick Donnelly。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. Steve, maybe one for you just on the bookings trends, pretty solid first half year. Is it still right to think about that mid-1, 2 range. Any changes to your level of confidence? Obviously, the RFP flow and things like that support it. But just curious, obviously, last quarter sounded really good coming off that 1.27.

嘿，大家好。感謝您回答這些問題。史蒂夫，也許您可以就預訂趨勢提出一個看法，而上半年的預訂趨勢相當穩健。考慮 1、2 中間範圍是否仍然正確？您的信心程度有任何變化嗎？顯然，RFP 流程和類似的東西支持它。但只是好奇，顯然，上個季度聽起來真的很好，超過了 1.27。

Just wanted to take your temperature on the book-to-bill trends. And then just a quick housekeeping one for Brendan. On the revenue guide. It seems like if you back out the COVID piece, the core actually moved up over $50 million. I just want to make sure I'm doing the math on that correctly. I appreciate it guys.

只是想了解訂單出貨趨勢。然後為 Brendan 做一個簡單的整理工作。關於收入指南。看起來，如果你退出 COVID 部分，核心部分實際上增加了 5000 多萬美元。我只是想確保我的計算是正確的。我很感謝你們。

Sure, I'll take -- maybe I'll take the first one, and I'll leave the second one to Brendan, Patrick. We feel pretty good about where we are on the book to bill, 1.22 this quarter, 1.27 last quarter. 1.2 to 1.3 is where we think we'll be and what we need to do in order to continue the growth trajectory of the company. So there's certainly nothing that's happened in the last couple of months that would change our view on that. So I'll leave it at that.

當然，我會接受──也許我會接受第一個，而第二個則留給布倫丹、派崔克。我們對目前的訂單出貨比狀況感到十分滿意，本季為 1.22，上季為 1.27。我們認為我們的訂單出貨比將會達到 1.2 到 1.3 的水平，這也是我們需要做的事情，以便延續公司的成長軌跡。因此，過去幾個月發生的任何事情都不會改變我們對此的看法。所以我不再談論這個了。

We're optimistic. As I said, the RFP cancellation seems to be down. I'm encouraged by that. The RFP opportunities seem to be continuing to move forward across the segments, not just in large pharma, where it's continue -- where we are doing well, but across the midsized companies and the biotechs as well.

我們很樂觀。正如我所說，RFP 取消的情況似乎有所減少。我對此感到鼓舞。RFP 機會似乎在各個領域繼續向前發展，不僅僅是在大型製藥公司（我們在這方面做得很好），而且在中型公司和生物技術公司中也是如此。

So overall, we're pretty constructive, pretty optimistic on where we think the market will be and what we think we can deliver at the back end of the year in terms of a book to bill. Brendan, do you want to take the core question?

因此，總體而言，我們對市場走向以及我們在今年年底能夠實現的訂單出貨比持相當建設性和樂觀的態度。布倫丹，你想回答核心問題嗎？

Sure. Yes. The -- I think Patrick, it's well observed. When Steve called it when he was talking through his points, we've seen good elements of growth in our core, ex-COVID, we talked about being up for the first half of the year, 8%. And also outside of our top five, there's good growth and diversification of our customer base. And so that top we're an additional 8%.

當然。是的。我認為派崔克觀察得很透徹。當史蒂夫在闡述他的觀點時，我們看到了核心業務的良好成長因素，除了 COVID 之外，我們談到今年上半年的成長 8%。除了前五名客戶之外，我們的客戶群也呈現良好的成長和多樣化。因此我們又增加了 8%。

So absolutely. I think when you look at the component parts of the guidance, what you see is that circa $150 million of headwind from COVID. And also, we talked to the fact that we were a bit of a headwind on FX there of $20 million.

絕對是如此。我認為，當您查看指南的組成部分時，您會看到 COVID 帶來的約 1.5 億美元逆風。此外，我們還談到了我們在外匯方面面臨 2000 萬美元的阻力。

So I think that the revised $100 million decrease does show good strength outside of those elements and certainly good elements of growth there as I listed at the start.

因此，我認為修訂後的 1 億美元減幅確實顯示出除了這些因素之外的良好實力，當然也顯示出我在開始時列出的良好成長因素。

Michael Ryskin, Bank of America.

美國銀行的邁克爾·里斯金（Michael Ryskin）。

Great. Thanks for taking the question guys. I want to focus on the margin rate. As you said, solid progress in 2Q and you're raising the guide for the year. Looks like you're guiding to roughly 22% EBITDA margin in the second half just to get to that full-year number.

偉大的。謝謝大家回答這個問題。我想重點關註一下保證金率。正如您所說，第二季度取得了穩步進展，並且提高了全年的指導。看起來您預計下半年的 EBITDA 利潤率將達到約 22%，才能達到全年的數字。

So I just want to dig into that a little bit further. You called out project execution, cost controls, efficiencies, things like that. But just curious if you could go into that a little bit deeper. Do you expect those to continue going forward?

所以我只是想進一步深入探討這個問題。您提到了專案執行、成本控制、效率等等。但我只是好奇您是否可以更深入地探討一下這個問題。您預計這些情況會持續下去嗎？

And I'm just asking that in the context of at your Analyst Day just a couple of months ago, you talked about 22.5% for 2027. So you're already hitting 22% in the second half of the year. Just curious about the sustainability of that and how we should think about that as a jumping off point? Thanks.

我只是想問一下，就在幾個月前的分析師日上，您談到了 2027 年的 22.5%。所以下半年的成長率已經達到 22% 了。只是好奇它的可持續性以及我們應該如何將其視為起點？謝謝。

Yeah, Michael, let me give you some high-level thoughts on that, then Brendan might jump in on a little more of the detail. Overall, I'm really pleased with the way the margins continue to progress and expand. We've done a number of -- it's not just in the SG&A area. It's across the gross margin as well.

是的，邁克爾，讓我給你一些關於這個問題的宏觀想法，然後布倫丹可能會更詳細地講一下。總的來說，我對利潤率的持續成長和擴大感到非常高興。我們已經做了很多工作——不僅僅是在銷售、一般和行政費用領域。這也與毛利率有關。

I think we're up 30 bps on a year in gross margin due to good strong execution from our team. And that's -- I'm really proud of the way the team has delivered on the work we have. They're very efficient, and it enables us to be very aggressive. And on the money when we bid on these more strategic partnerships, the pricing environment is getting challenging in some of those areas.

我認為，由於我們團隊的出色執行力，我們的毛利率在一年內上升了 30 個基點。這就是——我為團隊完成的工作方式感到非常自豪。他們非常高效，這使我們能夠非常積極地行動。當我們競標這些更具策略性的合作關係時，某些領域的定價環境變得越來越具有挑戰性。

But I have -- we have a lot of confidence in our ability to deliver margins or deliver work above the theoretical margins that we bid on. So we have a good strong execution team that's helping us on the gross-margin line.

但我有信心——我們有能力提供利潤或交付高於我們投標的理論利潤的工作。因此，我們擁有一支優秀的、強大的執行團隊，可以幫助我們實現毛利率。

On the SG&A side, as I've said before, we have a very, very good global business services team that continues to challenge itself with respect to where they're located. The automation, AI, our IT team have done a great job in moving that food, as you can see on the headcount, we're pretty much flat over the year and we've been able to grow the business.

在銷售、一般及行政費用方面，正如我之前所說，我們擁有一支非常非常優秀的全球業務服務團隊，該團隊不斷挑戰自身所在地點。自動化、人工智慧和我們的 IT 團隊在運輸食品方面做得非常出色，正如您在員工人數上看到的，我們的員工人數在一年內基本上持平，而且我們已經能夠發展業務。

So I think that shows you that we are focused on cost, but we're focused on getting more efficient, and that's important because of the -- some of the challenges that we get as we say, compete for these strategic partnerships.

所以我認為這顯示我們關注的是成本，但我們也關注的是提高效率，這一點很重要，因為我們面臨的一些挑戰，正如我們所說，就是爭奪這些策略夥伴關係。

So overall, we're up I think 80 bps on the EBITDA number, and that's a combination of both. And I certainly see us being able to -- you can't keep doing that. You've obviously got there's some limits to that. But we're challenging those limits. My former boss is to say every ceiling becomes a floor, and that's the way we're approaching it. Brendan, maybe on a more specific basis, you can give us a few thoughts.

因此，總體而言，我認為我們的 EBITDA 數字上升了 80 個基點，這是兩者的結合。我當然認為我們能夠——但你不能一直這樣做。顯然，這是存在一些限制的。但我們正在挑戰這些極限。我以前的老闆說每個天花板都會變成地板，這就是我們處理這個問題的方式。布倫丹，也許您可以更具體地告訴我們一些想法。

Yeah. No, maybe -- that's all correct. I think, Michael, to your question, circa 22% in the second half, just to give a guide on that piece is broadly incorrect as well. So obviously, we're looking for good margin expansion.

是的。不，也許——完全正確。邁克爾，對於你的問題，我認為下半年大約是 22%，僅僅給出這方面的指導意見也是大體上不正確的。顯然，我們正在尋求良好的利潤率擴張。

As Steve said, it's going to come from both alleles of the business is cost control right across the organization. So we expect to see gross margin expansion in the second half and continued and really, really good cost control in our SG&A. And that showcase drive up to that overall position for 2021 for the full year, but certainly in the range of 2022 in the second half.

正如史蒂夫所說，它將來自業務的兩個方面，即整個組織的成本控制。因此，我們預計下半年毛利率將會擴大，並且銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A）成本控制將會持續並取得非常好的效果。這項展示將推動 2021 年全年的整體排名上升，但肯定會在 2022 年下半年的範圍內。

Eric Coldwell, Baird.

埃里克·科德威爾，貝爾德。

Thank you. Good afternoon. So first one, it's probably a bit of a nuanced question, but these COVID delays. Is that part of the equation on the EBITDA margin increase because those programs at least historically typically came with higher pass-throughs so you'll have perhaps a less negative mix from that revenue headwind?

謝謝。午安.首先，這可能是一個有點微妙的問題，但這些 COVID 造成了延誤。這是 EBITDA 利潤率增加的一部分嗎？因為這些項目至少在歷史上通常伴隨著更高的轉嫁，所以您可能會因為收入逆風而受到較少的負面影響？

Eric, it's Brendan here. Yeah, that's absolutely correct. Obviously, as we went into the second half of the year and as we were thinking about our forecasting and our guidance for the start of the year, we were expecting those programs to hit in the second half, predominantly there obviously, as we talked about, the majority of the going to be delayed out into the very end of this year into 2025. Still good work. They'll get done, but just delayed.

艾瑞克，我是布倫丹。是的，完全正確。顯然，當我們進入下半年，當我們考慮我們對年初的預測和指導時，我們預計這些項目將在下半年實現，主要是在那裡，顯然，正如我們所討論的，大部分項目將被推遲到今年年底到 2025 年。仍然做得很好。他們會完成，但只是被推遲了。

That certainly will have a positive gross margin impact as we continue to ramp up other parts of our business that we were expecting and as we talked about, are coming through well as we go into the second half of the year. So yes, I do think that will have a positive gross margin mix impact.

隨著我們繼續擴大我們預期的其他業務部分，這肯定會對毛利率產生積極的影響，正如我們所說的，隨著我們進入下半年，這些業務部分將表現良好。所以是的，我確實認為這將對毛利率組合產生積極的影響。

Thank you. And then on the DSO, you made really nice progress through 2023 with sequential improvements. Now, it's ticked back up into the last year average range here over the last couple of quarters.

謝謝。然後在 DSO 方面，到 2023 年，你們取得了非常好的進展，並不斷改進。現在，在過去的幾個季度裡，這一數字已經回升至去年的平均值。

You mentioned a -- it was either a more competitive environment or a continuation of a more competitive environment? And then I just want to clarify which is it? Is it that the competitive environment continues, but you're getting more mix from larger pharmas that are traditionally more competitive or asking for more, I should say? Or has it actually -- has the pressure to delay payments actually increased?

您提到—這是一個更具競爭力的環境還是更具競爭力的環境的延續？然後我只想澄清一下它是哪一個？競爭環境是否仍在繼續，但你會從傳統上更具競爭力的大型製藥公司獲得更多組合，或者應該說要求更多？或者實際上——延遲付款的壓力實際上增加了嗎？

I'll try that one from a high level and then again, Brendan can jump in. Eric, certainly, on the pricing environment, I do think it has ramped up a little bit in the last, I want to say, a few months even. And maybe that's -- you tend to get involved in some of these more strategic meetings. And I'm aware of some of the requests and the asks that our larger pharma partners are looking for, particularly for these more strategic relationships.

我會從高層次嘗試這一點，然後布倫丹可以再次加入。埃里克，當然，就定價環境而言，我確實認為它在過去幾個月裡有所上漲。也許那是——您傾向於參與一些更具策略性的會議。我知道我們的大型製藥合作夥伴正在尋求一些請求和要求，特別是這些更具策略性的關係。

When they're going to commit themselves to a three-to-five-year type of relationship, they're looking for the best possible rates they can get, and it gets pretty hairy at times. And there are one or two of our competitors who are willing to entertain some daresay fairly unconventional rates.

當他們打算建立三到五年的關係時，他們會尋求盡可能好的利率，但有時情況會變得非常棘手。我們有一兩個競爭對手願意接受一些相當不尋常的利率。

We're not going there. And I think that's not the whole market. But there are one or two out there who are moving in that direction. And I think our customers can see through a lot of that. But it does present something of a challenge.

我們不會去那裡。我認為這還不是整個市場。但有一兩個人正在朝這個方向努力。我認為我們的客戶能夠看透其中的許多內容。但它確實帶來了一些挑戰。

And as I said before to the previous question, I feel confident that our delivery and our execution can manage any challenges we have on that top line because we are able to typically deliver a 200 bps to 400 bps ahead of what we usually propose. I'll leave Brendan to talk on a little bit more on the DSO side of things.

正如我之前回答上一個問題時所說的那樣，我相信我們的交付和執行可以應對我們在營收方面遇到的任何挑戰，因為我們通常能夠比通常提出的目標提前 200 bps 到 400 bps 交付。我會讓布倫丹再多談一些 DSO 方面的事情。

Thanks, Steve. Yes, Eric, I think there's two really taking points to note here. First off, obviously, we've been very successful in our large pharma group, and we've seen probably more expansion in our business. So certainly, the mix of our customer base that is that larger proportion, certainly, the revenues that come from them and consequently, the billing of the DSO is probably pushed more towards customers who do push us on credit terms. There's no question about that. So the mix is one piece.

謝謝，史蒂夫。是的，艾瑞克，我認為這裡有兩點確實值得注意。首先，顯然，我們的大型製藥集團非常成功，而且我們的業務可能還有進一步的擴展。因此，我們客戶群的組成中佔比較大，當然收入也來自於他們，因此 DSO 的帳單可能更傾向於那些以信用條件推動我們的客戶。毫無疑問。因此混合物是一個整體。

I would say in terms of the competitiveness, in terms of DSO and credit terms, I would say that internally, really more internally is from the pharma companies themselves. As we know, when the very first question was about the implications of IRA and the mix of costs, Pharma companies are very focused on maintaining their cash balances and some of them have specific issues where they really need to do that in 2024 and into 2025.

我想說，就競爭力、DSO 和信貸條款而言，我想說，從內部來看，實際上更多的內部因素來自製藥公司本身。我們知道，當第一個問題是關於 IRA 的影響和成本組合時，製藥公司非常注重維持其現金餘額，其中一些公司面臨著具體問題，他們確實需要在 2024 年和 2025 年做到這一點。

So I think the push on this from a credit terms perspective has been much more driven rather than by competition between CROs, but actually from the actual pharma company based themselves and the folks that they're working with to manage their cost base and their R&D spend as well as our cash balances over the next couple of years.

因此，我認為從信用條款的角度來看，推動這一進程的動機更多地不是來自 CRO 之間的競爭，而是來自製藥公司本身以及與他們合作的人員，以管理他們的成本基礎和研發支出以及未來幾年的現金餘額。

If I could go back to Steve's response on the pricing competitiveness, we heard earlier in the week from your competitor that is much more biotech focused that they felt like, perhaps, if anything, maybe the pricing competitiveness got a little easier in recent months that it was worse a couple of quarters ago and before.

如果我可以回到史蒂夫關於定價競爭力的回應，我們在本週早些時候從你的競爭對手那裡聽說，該競爭對手更加註重生物技術，他們覺得，也許，如果有的話，最近幾個月的定價競爭力可能變得容易一些，而幾個季度前和之前的情況更糟。

Your mix is obviously a bit more skewed or balanced but skewed more to, big pharma than that competitor. Is this a nuance on pricing, big pharmas are -- you're seeing big pharmas get a bit more competitive, particularly in strategic deals?

您的產品組合顯然有些偏向或平衡，但更偏向大型製藥公司，而不是競爭對手。這是定價方面的細微差別嗎？大型製藥公司－您是否看到大型製藥公司的競爭力增強，特別是在策略交易方面？

Are you seeing the same thing in your smallest biotech base? Or could perhaps you align with your competitors' comments that maybe that cohort, given the funding and the better mood is a little less focused on price today than it was a few quarters ago.

你在最小的生物技術基地也看到了同樣的情況嗎？或者您是否同意競爭對手的評論，即考慮到資金和更好的情緒，也許該群體今天對價格的關注程度比幾個季度前有所降低。

Yeah. Eric, I think you characterized it very well. That's exactly the way we said it. We don't -- we're not seeing the sort of pricing discussions and pricing pressure that we see in the biotech space as we do in the large pharma space.

是的。艾瑞克，我認為你描述得非常好。我們就是這麼說的。我們沒有看到像在大型製藥領域那樣在生物技術領域看到的那種定價討論和定價壓力。

But it's kind of the way it's always been. When you have these large strategic partnerships, three to five years, hundreds of millions of dollars annually, they're looking, and they tend to negotiate these upfront and we all line up and do the beauty parade.

但它一直都是這樣的。當你擁有這些大型戰略合作關係時，三到五年，每年數億美元，他們正在尋找，他們傾向於提前談判，我們都排隊進行選美遊行。

As you'd expect, they're looking for optimal terms. Brendan, I referenced it in terms of credit terms, pricing and all of that sort of stuff. And so it is a very competitive process, because once you're in there, you're competing with one other or maybe two others.

正如您所料，他們正在尋找最佳條款。布倫丹，我參考了信用條款、定價以及所有這類東西。所以這是一個競爭非常激烈的過程，因為一旦你進入這個行業，你就得與另一個人或另外兩個人競爭。

So that's typically the way it goes. And expect that. On the other hand, as you've quite rightly said in the biotech space and our competitors had it pretty well as well. I think the pricing, well, it's always competitive and we compete with them and others.

事情通常都是這樣的。並期待這一點。另一方面，正如您正確指出的那樣，在生物技術領域，我們的競爭對手也表現得相當不錯。我認為定價始終具有競爭力，我們與他們和其他人競爭。

It's not quite as intense because you tend to be one-off projects, one program, one trial, maybe there's some follow-on if you've got other indications to develop. But it's a different type of environment. And I think one that lends itself to a slightly different outcome in terms of pricing, although, of course, the volume is not there in the end.

它並不是那麼激烈，因為你傾向於一次性專案、一個程序、一次試驗，如果你有其他跡象需要開發，也許會有一些後續行動。但這是一種不同類型的環境。我認為這在定價方面會產生略微不同的結果，儘管最終的數量當然不會有太大變化。

Luke Sergott, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的盧克‧塞戈特 (Luke Sergott)。

Great. Thanks guys. I just want to dig in on the enrollment delays. And you're talking about how they're not canceled. And they're coming back. So can you give us a sense of the timing of, how we should think about those rolling back on?

偉大的。謝謝大家。我只是想深入了解入學延遲的情況。而您正在談論為什麼它們沒有被取消。他們正在回來。那麼，您能否告訴我們，我們應該如何考慮恢復這些措施的時機呢？

And then, more high-level is like, the delays were they caused more from you lacking those functions and having to subcontract out or partner with somebody else? And then, would those issues been rectified if you guys had those functions internally.

然後，更高層次的情況是，延遲是否更多是由於您缺乏這些功能而不得不分包或與其他人合作造成的？那麼，如果你們內部有這些功能，這些問題會被修正嗎？

No, let me take the second part of your question first, Luke. No, the advice we were looking for, the regulatory advice was really from the agencies in terms of the variance that we needed to be in the comparator. So that was -- it was very specifically with the agency.

不，盧克，讓我先回答你問題的第二部分。不，我們所尋求的建議，監管建議實際上來自機構，涉及我們在比較器中需要的差異。所以這是 — — 這是與該機構非常具體的。

It wasn't something that we were able to provide. We could have obviously had our opinion that the customer was looking for the agency advice. So it wasn't anything that we didn't have that would have mitigated. We needed that advice.

這不是我們能夠提供的。我們顯然可以認為客戶正在尋求代理商的建議。所以這不是我們沒有的可以緩解的事情。我們需要這個建議。

And the other part of it was the investigational product as well. So there were very specific issues, nothing that we could have actually done it. Of course, we jumped in and tried were of it possible to help, but it wasn't anything we didn't have.

其中另一部分也是研究產品。所以存在一些非常具體的問題，我們實際上無法做到。當然，我們盡力提供協助，但我們也無能為力。

In terms of the delays, we got the news in June, and so it was pretty clear that there was going to be a delay. It's not that they actually work has stopped. We're actually going to be enrolling around 400 patients in one of the trials this year. And that will be starting in late August, September. So the work is moving along, certainly on one of the trials.

關於延遲，我們在六月收到了訊息，因此很明顯會出現延遲。這並不意味著他們的工作已經停止。實際上，我們今年將在一項試驗中招募約 400 名患者。這將在八月底或九月開始。因此，工作正在順利進行，其中一項試驗也正在進行中。

The bulk of the enrollment will not really be until early next year. And so that's because of the delays we've had, but the initial part of one of the studies will happen, the start-up work will start, but it's not going to be material enough to impact. And, obviously, the bulk of the enrollment with the investigator fees and our direct fees on our monitoring and management where the bulk of the revenue is recognized as that work gets done. So that won't happen until next year.

大部分入學人數實際上要到明年年初才會真正開始。這是因為我們遇到了延誤，但其中一項研究的初始部分將會進行，啟動工作將會開始，但它不會產生足夠大的影響。顯然，大部分的招募費用來自研究人員的費用以及我們監控和管理的直接費用，大部分的收入是在工作完成後確認。所以這要到明年才會發生。

Jailendra Singh, Truist Securities.

Jailendra Singh，Truist Securities。

Thank you and thanks for taking my questions. I actually want to follow-up on comment around guidance, excluding COVID and FX, stable to improving. As you think about the business over the past six months compared to expectations heading into the year, what are some of the key areas? Will you highlight that trends either macro front or from the company specific have been coming in better than your expectations? And what are the areas you will see that they are not -- they didn't play out as well as you expected? Again, I'm focused on core trends, excluding COVID and FX?

謝謝您，也謝謝您回答我的問題。我實際上想跟進有關指導的評論，不包括 COVID 和 FX，穩定到改善。當您回顧過去六個月的業務並與今年的預期進行比較時，您認為關鍵領域有哪些？您能否強調一下，無論是宏觀趨勢還是公司具體趨勢都比您的預期要好？您認為在哪些方面他們的表現不如您所期望的那麼好？再次強調，我關注的是核心趨勢，不包括 COVID 和 FX？

Jailendra, I may take that one, it's Brendan here. Obviously, when we looked at the modeling for the organization as we came into this year, obviously, we were talking about different quantum’s of COVID work. And, obviously, we've spoken to that extensively on this call.

Jailendra，我可以接受這個，我是 Brendan。顯然，當我們審視今年組織的模型時，我們顯然在談論 COVID 工作的不同量。顯然，我們在這次電話會議中已經詳細討論了這個問題。

The positive signs, as we've talked about a little bit already is kind of some of our growth customers actually have done very well during the course of this year. And that's really customers that are outside of that top five.

正如我們已經談到的，積極的跡像是，我們的一些成長客戶在今年實際上表現得非常好。而這其實都是前五名之外的客戶。

We've seen really very strong pleasing growth coming from them. There're some developing relationships there that we, as Steve referenced in his prepared remarks, we see as a big customers of the future.

我們確實看到了他們非常強勁的成長勢頭。正如史蒂夫在準備好的演講中提到的那樣，我們正在發展一些關係，我們將其視為未來的大客戶。

That -- and adding to that the fact that we continue to do well on signing new major relationships. All of these things are very significant positives in that core business. So that continues at good price. As we said, our top five, we grew year over year at 8%. And that's been driven by some of the good growth, probably maybe even a little bit ahead of our expectations as we came into the year.

除此之外，我們在簽署新的重大合作關係方面繼續表現良好。所有這些對於核心業務來說都是非常重要的正面因素。因此價格仍然保持良好。正如我們所說，我們的前五名同比增長了 8%。這是由一些良好的成長所推動的，甚至可能略高於我們今年的預期。

But as I said, probably more importantly, those new customer relationships that we continue to win are going to obviously be what really keeps us going as we go forward in the more medium-term. So still very much believe in our medium-term growth outlook as we talked about in our New York conference.

但正如我所說，或許更重要的是，我們不斷贏得的那些新客戶關係顯然將成為我們在中期繼續前進的真正動力。因此，我們仍然非常相信我們在紐約會議上談到的中期成長前景。

Jack Meehan, Nephron Research.

傑克·米漢（Jack Meehan），腎元研究。

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I wanted to talk a little bit about expectations around the burn rate. So it stepped down a little bit sequentially here. Just based on the business that's coming in the door and some of the adjustments you made, can you just talk about how you think it trends through the remainder of the year? And do you think it were kind of at a bottoming point here as we enter 2025?

謝謝。大家好。我想談談對燒錢率的預期。因此，它在這裡逐漸下降了一點。僅根據即將開展的業務和您所做的某些調整，您能否談談您認為今年剩餘時間的趨勢如何？您是否認為，當我們進入 2025 年時，情況已經到了谷底？

Jack, hi, it's Brendan here again. Obviously, we did step down a little bit in the current quarter. We were 9.1% in Q2. As we look at Q3 and Q4 and you look at our guidance, obviously, it's not terribly hard for the math to see that it will be kind of stepping down a little probably into the high 8%s as we think about the back half of the year. That's really still very solid when we look at our mix of backlog that we have.

傑克，嗨，我是布倫丹，我又來了。顯然，我們在本季確實有所下降。我們第二季的成長率為 9.1%。當我們回顧第三季度和第四季度，並查看我們的指引時，顯然，從數學上不難看出，當我們考慮下半年時，它可能會略微下降至 8% 的高位。當我們查看我們積壓的訂單組合時，這確實仍然非常可靠。

The trend in the longer term here has been one that has seen it decreasing, and that's as much to do with the mix of the business that we have. Obviously, a lot of that is oncology, longer term in nature in the business. It just takes longer to burn through.

從長期來看，這一趨勢是下降的，這與我們的業務組合有很大關係。顯然，其中許多是腫瘤學，從業務性質上來說，是長期的。只是需要更長的時間才能燒完。

It's all solid business wins. We've obviously talked about the fact that we have some fast born vaccine work, which we think will kick in, in 2025. So there is opportunity to push back on that a little bit. But the way I would look at it is it's more about -- from our perspective, it's more about trying to lessen the impact of the backlog burn rate dropping over time.

這些都是實實在在的商業勝利。我們顯然已經談到了這樣一個事實，即我們已經有一些快速誕生的疫苗工作，我們認為這些工作將在 2025 年發揮作用。因此有機會對此進行稍微推遲。但我的看法是——從我們的角度來看，這更多的是試圖減少積壓消耗率隨時間下降的影響。

So really, what we're always trying to do and we'll continue to do in 2025 is to really have that impact as little as possible. Could we see some uptick maybe with different vaccine mixes as we go into 2025? It will very much depend on obviously business wins performance between now and the end of the year. But certainly, we will -- you can absolutely be guaranteed that we will continue to make sure that we convert as much as we can in each quarter, and that will remain a significant focus for the company.

所以實際上，我們一直在努力做的並且我們將在 2025 年繼續做的就是盡可能地減少這種影響。進入 2025 年，我們是否會看到不同疫苗組合帶來的一些上升趨勢？這顯然很大程度上取決於從現在到年底的業務表現。但當然，我們會——您絕對可以保證，我們將繼續確保每個季度盡可能多地轉換，這將仍然是公司的重點。

Dan Leonard, UBS

瑞銀集團（UBS）的丹·倫納德（Dan Leonard）

Thank you. Can you discuss whether or not your view on the long-term durability of COVID vaccine work has changed?

謝謝。您能否討論一下您對 COVID 疫苗工作長期持久性的看法是否發生了變化？

I don't know that it's changed much. We see the percentages of revenue from our COVID vaccine work is moderately dropping. But we do feel there's going to be opportunities such as we're talking about today for the new next-generation vaccines and even other vaccines that are coming through for similar type as COVID 20.

我不知道它有很大變化。我們發現，來自 COVID 疫苗工作的收入百分比正在適度下降。但我們確實覺得，就像我們今天談論的新一代疫苗，甚至針對與 COVID 20 類似的其他疫苗，都會存在機會。

So there's -- I think this is going to be an ongoing part -- albeit a fairly modest part of our work in the long term. But it will be fairly volatile as well. These trials are typically, as you would expect, very large trial, very material trials. And so when they hit and when they happen, they will have quite a significant impact as it did during the pandemic.

所以 — — 我認為這將是一個持續的部分 — — 儘管從長遠來看這只是我們工作中一個相當小的部分。但它也會相當不穩定。正如您所預料的，這些試驗通常都是規模非常大、非常重要的試驗。因此，當它們來襲時，它們將產生相當大的影響，就像大流行期間一樣。

It's hard to predict the future in terms of what's going to happen at pandemic-wise. But I think certainly, the regulators, the agencies, the governments around the world are very conscious about the potential for future pandemic, wanting to be well prepared to that much better prepared than they were for the recent one.

就疫情而言，很難預測未來會發生什麼事。但我認為，世界各地的監管機構、機構和政府都非常清楚未來發生大流行病的可能性，希望能做好充分準備，比最近的疫情準備得更充分。

And I do think that will mean there will be opportunities for us. Next Gen or whatever that may be. But it won't be -- it will be hard to predict. It will be inconsistent. It will be volatile. That's all I can say. And it's -- I don't have a crystal ball in front of me, Dan. So it's difficult to sort of put to any specifics on it.

我確實認為這意味著我們將有機會。下一代或無論什麼。但事實並非如此——這很難預測。這將是不一致的。它將是不穩定的。我只能說這麼多。而且──我面前沒有水晶球，丹。因此很難對此做出任何具體說明。

Yeah. The way that we talked about it, Dan, was that it wouldn't be -- it would be somewhat similar to other infectious disease areas like flu that we see on an annual basis being, call it, 1% to sometimes 2% of revenue for us that it could be somewhere in that range on an ongoing basis.

是的。丹，我們談論它的方式是，它不會——它有點類似於其他傳染病領域，例如流感，我們每年都會看到它，它占我們收入的 1% 到 2%，它可能會持續處於這個範圍內。

Obviously, our expectation based on the work that we had won was higher than that this year. But certainly, something like that on a longer-term basis, we don't think would be out of the realm of possibility. But of course, we'll depend on, obviously, the size of those trials and what we see come in ultimately.

顯然，基於我們所贏得的作品，我們對今年的期望更高。但可以肯定的是，從長期來看，這樣的事情並非不可能。但當然，我們顯然將取決於這些試驗的規模以及最終的結果。

Jack Wallace, Guggenheim Securities.

古根漢證券公司的傑克華萊士。

Yes. Thanks, team. I wanted to quickly push back on the accounts receivables. Again, it sounds like you're rarely not willing to bet too much on price, but in terms of you winning some additional share inside of your larger customers, is the strength of your balance sheet, an asset for yours to be able to be a little bit more competitive than maybe some of your competitors on payment terms?

是的。謝謝，團隊。我想盡快償還應收帳款。再說一遍，聽起來您很少不願意在價格上投入太多，但就您在大客戶中贏得一些額外份額而言，您的資產負債表的實力是否是一項資產，使您能夠在付款條件上比一些競爭對手更具競爭力？

Thanks, Jack. It's Brendan here. Listen, I think all of -- I think this is a competitive piece that goes into those conversations. As I mentioned earlier on in my answering a different question, it is a big requirement from the pharma companies themselves. That's as much to help them in their own cash flow issues and their own issues that they have generally speaking at the moment. So I think everybody has met with the same response from large pharma on this, all the competitors.

謝謝，傑克。我是布倫丹。聽著，我認為所有——我認為這是這些對話中一個具有競爭力的部分。正如我之前回答另一個問題時提到的，這是製藥公司本身的重大要求。這在很大程度上幫助他們解決自己的現金流問題以及目前普遍遇到的問題。所以我認為每個人對此都從大型製藥公司、所有競爭對手那裡得到了相同的反應。

I think the strength of our balance sheet certainly gives us an ability here, yeah. And that's something that we've looked at in the past. And we've always thought our balance sheet and the strength of our balance sheet is a competitive advantage in our marketplace.

我認為我們資產負債表的強勁無疑賦予了我們這種能力，是的。這是我們過去研究過的事情。我們一直認為我們的資產負債表和資產負債表的實力是我們在市場上的競爭優勢。

And we'll use that wherever and whenever we can, be that deployment of capital from an M&A perspective or be that in the ability to negotiate deals with our customers. So yeah, we'll use everything that we have in our ourselves for our advantage to make sure we'll continue to be winning business and competitive.

我們將隨時隨地利用這項優勢，無論是從併購角度部署資本，還是與客戶談判交易。所以，是的，我們將利用我們所擁有的一切優勢，確保我們能夠繼續贏得業務並保持競爭力。

Casey Woodring, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的凱西‧伍德林。

Great. Thank you for taking my question. So just cancellations in the quarter were slightly above 2% of beginning backlog, which has been your quarterly guide over time, but they're up 7% sequentially. So just wondering if there's anything to read into there.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。因此，本季的取消量略高於期初積壓量的 2%，這是您一直以來的季度指南，但環比增長了 7%。所以我只是想知道那裡是否有任何值得閱讀的內容。

Steve, you mentioned earlier in the call that cancellations related to funding were down in the second quarter. And then just on the GLP-1 front, a few larger pharma companies have made some progress in the last couple of months. So curious if the recent updates we've seen in that space has changed your view on the GLP-1 contribution in the near to medium term? Thanks for squeezing me in.

史蒂夫，您之前在電話會議中提到，第二季與融資相關的取消數量有所下降。僅在 GLP-1 方面，一些較大的製藥公司在過去幾個月中取得了一些進展。所以很好奇我們在該領域看到的最新更新是否改變了您對 GLP-1 近期到中期貢獻的看法？謝謝你把我擠進來。

Sure. Casey, you're right. There was a very, very modest uptick on cancels in the quarter. I don't think -- we're not reading anything into that, really at this stage. We feel the portfolio has been prosecuted pretty well.

當然。凱西，你說得對。本季取消的數量僅出現了非常小幅的成長。我不認為——目前我們還沒有對此做出任何解讀。我們認為該投資組合的執行情況相當好。

There's -- cancers can be volatile, can be up and down in this business. That's really why we exist in case things don't work. So we can't complain too much about that, but we don't see any trend, any particular trend in that space.

在這個行業中，癌症的發生率可能不穩定，時高時低。這就是我們存在的原因，以防萬一事情不順利。所以我們不能對此抱怨太多，但我們沒有看到任何趨勢，任何特定的趨勢。

In terms of the GLP-1s, we're encouraged by the research and the opportunities that are coming through in that space, particularly more in the large pharma area. And we're also encouraged by some of the strategic partnerships we've won that are also working actively in that area.

就 GLP-1 而言，我們對該領域的研究和機會感到鼓舞，特別是在大型製藥領域。我們也對我們贏得的一些在該領域積極開展工作的策略夥伴關係感到鼓舞。

So there's plenty of, again, opportunity and constructive positivity going forward in the GLP-1. We feel we're well placed for those very large-scale trials. We're well known as probably the best of the vaccine, CROs in the industry. And these trials in the GLP-1s, be they new or when the new indications are going to be very large trials.

因此，GLP-1 未來仍有許多機會和建設性的積極性。我們覺得自己已經為這些大規模試驗做好了準備。我們可能是業界最優秀的疫苗 CRO。這些 GLP-1 試驗，無論是新的還是有新適應症的，都將是非常大規模的試驗。

And so our scale, our infrastructure is well-positioned to really be able to put those trials and to execute those trials really well. And our technology in terms of tokenization is going to allow us to do them in a really efficient manner.

因此，我們的規模和基礎設施都具備良好的條件進行這些試驗，並且能夠很好地執行這些試驗。我們的標記化技術將使我們能夠以非常有效的方式完成這些工作。

So again, I'm very positive about the future around the -- whether it be obesity or cardiometabolic areas, diabetes. There's -- and these trials will also burn a bit faster than some of the rare disease or the oncology studies we have. So it's a good place, and I'm looking forward to see more opportunity in that space, and we're starting to see that.

所以，我對未來非常樂觀──無論是肥胖症、心臟代謝領域或糖尿病。而且這些試驗的進展速度也會比我們進行的一些罕見疾病或腫瘤學研究還要快。所以這是一個好地方，我期待看到該領域有更多機會，而且我們已經開始看到這一點了。

Matt Sykes, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的馬特·賽克斯 (Matt Sykes)。

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for squeezing me in. Just on capital deployment, I know you have the buyback authorization you've talked about wanting to be active in M&A. Is this like an either/or decision for you? Can you do both depending on the potential size of the M&A transaction? How are you thinking about prioritizing those two capital deployment efforts?

你好。早安.謝謝你把我擠進來。就資本部署而言，我知道您擁有回購授權，您曾說過希望積極參與併購。對您來說，這是一個非此即彼的決定嗎？根據併購交易的潛在規模，您是否可以同時進行這兩項工作？您如何考慮優先考慮這兩項資本部署工作？

I think we've been fairly clear, Matt, that M&A will be our focus. That's -- and we do have a number of opportunities in the pipeline at the moment that we feel are a good chance of moving forward over the next realistically six months or so. We have some targets in terms of the areas we want to prosecute in and that's around sites, at around late stage, around labs.

馬特，我想我們已經非常清楚，併購將是我們的重點。那就是——目前我們確實有很多機會，我們認為這些機會很有可能在未來六個月左右取得進展。就我們想要起訴的領域而言，我們有一些目標，即圍繞場地、圍繞後期階段、圍繞實驗室。

We've talked about those areas. And that's all starting to move together. Normally these things always take a little longer than we'd like. And of course, there's -- we're not going to overpay in this area. But we do have some good opportunities in that space around how we facilitate the prosecution of our clinical work and improve our offering. That's really where we're focusing on that space.

我們已經討論過這些領域。一切都開始一起運作。通常這些事情總是比我們希望的要花更長的時間。當然，我們不會在這個領域付出過高的價格。但我們在該領域確實有一些很好的機會，可以促進我們的臨床工作並改善我們的服務。這確實是我們關注的重點。

Having said that, I've also said we want to stay -- we’ve been in sort of 1.5 to 2.5 in terms of ratio of adjusted EBITDA. And so, as we get towards the end of the year, we'll be -- without any M&A, we'll be approaching getting below that. And so we will be, of course, considering what the opportunities are for buying back, and we won't be shy where we see those opportunities.

話雖如此，我也說過我們希望保持——就調整後的 EBITDA 比率而言，我們的比率一直保持在 1.5 到 2.5 之間。因此，隨著年底的臨近，如果沒有任何併購，我們的目標就會接近這個水平。因此，我們當然會考慮回購的機會，我們不會羞於抓住這些機會。

Again, I wouldn't say it very clearly, M&A is the focus, and we do have some opportunities. But we want to use our balance sheet as Brendan has already said. We have a very strong balance sheet, and we're a good player in that market. And so we're going to continue to use it. We're certainly not going back to the days perhaps of five or 10 years ago when we really had very little debt at all. We think that's -- it's a reasonable place to be, and we feel good about our positioning in that space.

再說一次，我不會說得很清楚，併購是重點，我們確實有一些機會。但正如布倫丹所說，我們想使用我們的資產負債表。我們的資產負債表非常強勁，我們是該市場的優秀參與者。因此我們將繼續使用它。我們肯定不會回到五年或十年前幾乎沒有債務的時代。我們認為這是一個合理的位置，我們對自己在該領域的定位感到滿意。

There are no further questions. I would like to turn the conference back to Steve Cutler for closing remarks.

沒有其他問題了。我想請史蒂夫‧卡特勒 (Steve Cutler) 致閉幕詞。

Okay. Thank you, operator. I think we certainly see some -- a very constructive market going forward and certainly plenty of opportunity for ICON. There's no doubt there'll be a little volatility, but with the biotech funding stabilizing and our opportunities increasing within large pharma, we feel like this is a good place to be, and we feel in a very strong position to be able to benefit from that constructive market.

好的。謝謝您，接線生。我認為我們確實看到了一些——未來市場非常有建設性，而且對 ICON 來說肯定有很多機會。毫無疑問會出現一些波動，但隨著生物技術資金的穩定和我們在大型製藥公司內的機會的增加，我們覺得這是一個很好的位置，我們覺得自己處於非常有利的位置，能夠從這個建設性的市場中受益。

So thank you for joining the call today, your continued interest and support of ICON, we do appreciate. We look forward to further updates as we continue our progress in partnering with our customers and accelerating their critical medicines to the patients who need them. Thanks all and have a good day.

感謝您今天參加電話會議，我們非常感激您對 ICON 的持續關注和支持。我們期待進一步的更新，因為我們將繼續與客戶合作，並加快將關鍵藥物提供給需要的患者。謝謝大家，祝大家有個愉快的一天。