ICON PLC (ICLR) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the ICON plc Q3 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) And please also note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like turn the conference over to Kate Haven. Please go ahead.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 ICON plc 第三季財報電話會議和網路廣播。 （操作員指示）另請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。我現在想把會議交給凱特·海文。請繼續。

Good day, and thank you for joining us on this call covering the quarter ended September 30, 2024. Also on the call today, we have our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler; our outgoing CFO, Brendan Brennan, our incoming CFO Nigel Clerkin; and Senior Vice President of Corporate and Commercial Finance, Emer Lyons.

您好，感謝您參加本次電話會議，涵蓋截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日的季度。今天參加電話會議的還有我們的執行長 Steve Cutler 博士；我們即將卸任的財務長布倫丹‧布倫南 (Brendan Brennan)、即將上任的財務長奈傑爾‧克萊金 (Nigel Clerkin)；埃默·里昂 (Emer Lyons) 企業和商業財務高級副總裁。

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，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。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現有信息，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中明示或暗示的結果有重大差異，請聽眾注意，前瞻性陳述並非對未來績效的保證。

Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they're 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 at SEC reports filed by the company, including its Form 20-K we have 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，請參閱該公司提交的 SEC 報告，包括我們於 2024 年 2 月 23 日提交的 20-K 表格。

This presentation includes selected non-GAAP financial measures, which Stephen 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.

本簡報包括選定的非GAAP 財務指標，Stephen 和Brendan 將在他們準備的發言中引用這些指標，以介紹最直接可比較的GAAP 財務指標，請參閱標題為「簡明合併營運報表」的新聞稿部分。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。

Included in the GAP 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 in their respective tax benefit.

在新聞稿和收益幻燈片的 GAP 中，您會注意到非 GAAP 指標、調整後 EBITDA、調整後淨利潤和調整後稀釋每股收益（不包括股票補償費用、重組成本、外幣損益）的調整表、攤銷和交易相關以及整合相關成本在各自的稅收優惠中。

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 the call over to our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler.

我們將今天的電話會議限制為一小時，因此，為了節省時間，我們要求參與者將每個問題保留在一個以內。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. Before I begin my remark on this quarter, I wanted to briefly welcome and introduce our incoming CFO, Nigel Clerkin, who is joining us on the call today. Nigel is an accomplished executive with excellent experience across both biopharma and pharma services organizations in the public and private setting. We are thrilled to have him join our executive team at ICON. In addition, auto extend my sincere thanks to Brendan, as this will be his last call with us concluding a highly successful career at ICON. Thank you, Brendon, for your partnership and many contributions.

謝謝你，凱特。在開始談論本季之前，我想簡要地歡迎並介紹我們即將上任的財務長奈傑爾·克萊金 (Nigel Clerkin)，他今天將參加我們的電話會議。Nigel 是一位卓有成就的高階主管，在公共和私人環境的生物製藥和製藥服務組織中擁有豐富的經驗。我們很高興他加入我們 ICON 的執行團隊。此外，汽車向 Brendan 致以誠摯的謝意，因為這將是他最後一次與我們通話，結束在 ICON 非常成功的職業生涯。感謝布倫登的合作和許多做出的貢獻。

Moving to the results for the quarter. Simply put, our ICON results for the third quarter were not in line with expectations we had previously anticipated. As in any period we forecast we have a number of risks and opportunities that are identified across our business, but generally counterbalance as we progress through the close of the quarter.

轉向本季的業績。簡而言之，我們第三季的 ICON 業績與我們先前的預期不符。與我們預測的任何時期一樣，我們的業務中存在許多風險和機遇，但隨著季度末的進展，這些風險和機會通常會相互抵消。

In this most recent quarter, we identified risks materialize to a greater extent than expected. And despite our efforts, the identified opportunities did not offset this impact, resulting in a greater deviation from forecasted results than we would typically see. This was due to three main reasons. First, we are seeing a small number of top customers who are experiencing continued cost pressures and are implementing actions to manage the development spend more tightly. Second, within our biotech business, slower decision making, and capital allocation, bid to award delays and flow trial starts. And finally, we had a large number of project delays and cancellations late in the quarter within our fast burn vaccine area that materially impacted revenue.

在最近一個季度，我們發現風險的出現程度比預期更大。儘管我們付出了努力，但已發現的機會並沒有抵消這種影響，導致與預測結果的偏差比我們通常看到的更大。這是由於三個主要原因。首先，我們看到少數頂級客戶正面臨持續的成本壓力，並採取措施更嚴格地管理開發支出。其次，在我們的生物技術業務中，決策和資本分配速度較慢，投標獎勵延遲和流動試驗開始。最後，在本季末，我們的快速疫苗領域出現了大量專案延遲和取消，這對收入產生了重大影響。

To provide more details about each of these challenges, the first was attributable to lower than anticipated revenue contribution from two of our largest customers, that are undergoing development model transitions, which we have been supporting them with -- since the start of the year. As we have previously highlighted, we are seeing an increasing emergence of hybrid development models amongst the largest pharma customer base, which is uniquely positioned ICON to win a disproportionate share of these large partnership opportunities.

為了提供有關這些挑戰的更多詳細信息，第一個挑戰是由於我們兩個最大客戶的收入貢獻低於預期，這兩個客戶正在進行開發模式轉型，自今年年初以來，我們一直在為他們提供支持。正如我們之前強調的，我們看到最大的製藥客戶群中越來越多地出現混合開發模式，這使得 ICON 能夠在這些大型合作機會中贏得不成比例的份額。

Heightened focus on portfolio prioritizations, leading to tighter development spending mode through the quarter delaying the expected ramp-up of new work that was forecast to begin in the new models. What this has resulted in studies closing out in the previous model without the counterbalancing revenue from new studies as expected. While this creates pressure from a revenue perspective in the near term, which we have reflected in our full-year revenue guidance, we do believe this is an isolated impact that will be increasingly offset by growth outside of these two accounts as we move forward. And is underpinned by the revenue growth we've seen outside of these customers, which we expect to be in the mid-single digits on a year-over-year basis for full 2024.

對投資組合優先順序的高度關注，導致本季度開發支出模式收緊，從而推遲了預計將在新車型中開始的新工作的啟動。這導致研究在先前的模型中結束，而沒有像預期的那樣抵消新研究的收入。雖然這從短期內的收入角度造成了壓力（我們已在全年收入指引中反映出來），但我們確實認為這是一種孤立的影響，隨著我們的前進，它將逐漸被這兩個帳戶以外的成長所抵消。並受到我們在這些客戶之外看到的收入成長的支撐，我們預計 2024 年全年的同比收入將達到中個位數。

The second issue was slower than expected activity in our biotech segment, both from a development perspective, which impacted our total level of new awards as well as in operation prioritization decisions, which resulted in negative study modifications and delays in study startup that occurred in the quarter. While we continue to see a positive level of overall opportunity flow in this segment, customers continue to operate with caution in terms of the overall use of their capital.

The second issue was slower than expected activity in our biotech segment, both from a development perspective, which impacted our total level of new awards as well as in operation prioritization decisions, which resulted in negative study modifications and delays in study startup that occurred in the四分之一.雖然我們繼續看到該細分市場的整體機會流處於積極水平，但客戶在資本的整體使用方面繼續謹慎運作。

This is impacting the speed of decision making on both awarded new work and how quickly customers are starting new trial activity. We saw several decisions on large award opportunities delay into quarter four as customers require additional time to review final scope specifications before making award decisions which are anticipated to take place this quarter.

這影響了新作品的決策速度以及客戶開始新試用活動的速度。我們看到一些關於大型授獎機會的決定被推遲到第四季度，因為客戶在做出預計將於本季度做出的授獎決定之前需要額外的時間來審查最終範圍規範。

Lastly, we saw an outsized level of vaccine related cancellations quarter three, totaling approximately 20% of overall cancellations, which combined with slower COVID activity, is also contributing to the lower than expected revenue in the second half of this year. As these programs are fast burning in nature than were expected to start in the quarter.

最後，我們在第三季看到與疫苗相關的取消數量過大，總計約佔整體取消的 20%，再加上新冠疫情活動放緩，也導致了今年下半年收入低於預期。由於這些計劃本質上正在快速燃燒，超出了本季預期的啟動速度。

While we are dissatisfied with the performance this quarter and the reduction in guidance for the factors contributing to the results are well understood by our team and we are taking decisive action to manage them appropriately. We will deliver on one of our strengths, which is expertly managing costs, this includes aligning our resources in the right locations globally to best support our customers and the critical projects as we continue to act as a strategic partner and deliver on our commitments for not just the short term but their long-term needs. We have already implemented plans to improve processes and reduce overall costs across the organization. and we expect to see some benefits of these actions in quarter four and more fully as we move into 2025.

雖然我們對本季度的業績不滿意，但我們的團隊充分理解對影響結果的因素的指導的減少，並且我們正在採取果斷行動來適當地管理它們。我們將發揮我們的優勢之一，即熟練地管理成本，這包括在全球適當的地點調整我們的資源，以最好地支持我們的客戶和關鍵項目，同時我們繼續充當戰略合作夥伴並兌現我們的承諾只是短期的，但他們的長期需求。我們已經實施了改進流程並降低整個組織整體成本的計劃。我們預計將在第四季度看到這些行動的一些好處，並在進入 2025 年時看到更充分的好處。

This includes accelerating actions we already undertaking as an organization with 40,000 plus employees assessing spans and layers across our organization to determine optimal levels of oversight and utilization to drive efficiencies. Finally, we continue to increase our adoption of automation and the use of technology across our business to leverage our scale and center of excellence model.

這包括加快我們作為一個擁有 40,000 多名員工的組織已經採取的行動，評估整個組織的跨度和層級，以確定最佳的監督和利用水平，以提高效率。最後，我們繼續在整個業務中增加自動化的採用和技術的使用，以利用我們的規模和卓越中心模型。

We remain confident in the underlying health of our business, the progress we are making in building critical partnerships and our continued ability to deliver for our customers. Now large pharma business. We have been successful in renewing all strategic partnerships this year. And I'm very pleased to announce the award of another top 10 strategic partnership, which was finalized in quarter three. ICON was selected for the breadth and depth of our capabilities, including a therapeutic experience and expertise as well as our innovative approach in addressing challenges across the development continue.

我們對我們業務的基本健康狀況、我們在建立重要合作夥伴關係方面取得的進展以及我們持續為客戶提供服務的能力充滿信心。現在是大型製藥公司。今年我們成功地更新了所有策略夥伴關係。我非常高興地宣布另一個十大戰略合作夥伴的獎項，該獎項已於第三季最終確定。ICON 之所以被選中，是因為我們能力的廣度和深度，包括治療經驗和專業知識，以及我們在應對整個發展過程中的挑戰的創新方法。

The addition of this new competitive win brings our new strategic partnership count within the top 30 pharma to 3 in the past 12 months, clearly showing our momentum in gaining market share in this important space. These relationships are already delivering increased opportunity flow to our pipeline and new awards to our business. We are seeing a notable increase in therapeutic areas such as carrier and metabolic diseases, with new award growth increasing over 50% on a trailing 12-month basis, which is helping to offset the drop off in vaccines.

這一新的競爭勝利的加入使我們在過去 12 個月內與前 30 名製藥公司的新戰略合作夥伴數量達到了 3 個，這清楚地表明了我們在這一重要領域獲得市場份額的勢頭。這些關係已經為我們的管道帶來了更多的機會，並為我們的業務帶來了新的獎項。我們看到帶因者疾病和代謝性疾病等治療領域的顯著增長，過去 12 個月的新獎項增長超過 50%，這有助於抵消疫苗數量的下降。

In quarter three, we had solid growth in our total backlog of 9.4% on a year-over-year basis, with strength in new awards from laboratory, an early phase services. However, there was an increase in total cancellations in the quarter driven by an outsized number of vaccine programs relative to our normal expectations.

第三季度，憑藉實驗室和早期服務的新獎項，我們的總積壓量較去年同期穩定成長 9.4%。然而，由於疫苗項目數量相對於我們的正常預期過多，導致本季取消的總數增加。

Relative to when we started this year, we saw a more meaningful transitions in our business than anticipated with a significant level of COVID-related work moving out of this calendar year. Two of our large customers undergoing more significant development model shifts with resulting cost pressures and the biotech market that is taking longer to recover and remains cautious. Despite these circumstances, we have still managed the business to drive revenue growth of 5.6%, excluding COVID related revenue and adjusted earnings per share growth of 13.5%, both on a year-to-date basis.

與今年年初相比，我們的業務發生了比預期更有意義的轉變，大量與新冠病毒相關的工作將在今年結束。我們的兩位大客戶正在經歷更重大的開發模式轉變，從而帶來成本壓力，而生技市場需要更長的時間才能恢復並保持謹慎。儘管有這些情況，我們仍管理該業務，推動收入成長 5.6%，不包括新冠疫情相關收入，調整後每股收益成長 13.5%，均為年初至今。

We remain encouraged that opportunities across the totality of our business continue to track positively given the contribution from new strategic partnerships as well as increased opportunity flow from biotech, which we believe is still supportive of holding at least a 1.2 times net book-to-bill ratio on a trailing 12-month basis. Fundamentally, our view has not changed in our mid to long-term outlook for our industry and the opportunities for ICON. We continue to deliver for our customers across all segments of our business, and we'll appropriately manage our business as we transition through what is a more challenging environment in the near term, the specific customers and as a result for ICON.

鑑於新戰略合作夥伴關係的貢獻以及生物技術機會流的增加，我們仍然感到鼓舞的是，我們整個業務的機會繼續積極跟踪，我們相信這仍然支持保持至少 1.2 倍的淨訂單出貨比過去12 個月的比率。從根本上來說，我們對產業中長期展望以及 ICON 機會的看法沒有改變。我們將繼續為業務各個領域的客戶提供服務，並且在我們過渡到短期內更具挑戰性的環境時，我們將適當管理我們的業務、特定客戶以及 ICON 的結果。

As we look forward to 2025, we are not yet issuing specific guidance for the full year, but plan to do so as we normally do in January, when we present at the JP Morgan conference. At a high level, provided the opportunity levels continue through the balance of the year, we would anticipate continuing to target a book-to-bill of 1.2times to 1.3 times on a trailing 12-month basis. We would note that we are seeing an uptick in pass-throughs as a more meaningful component of total trial costs even in non-vaccine areas of the portfolio, which is expected to start to reflect in our overall revenue mix next year.

展望 2025 年，我們尚未發布全年的具體指引，但計劃像往常一樣，在 1 月出席摩根大通會議時發布具體指引。在較高水準上，如果機會水準在今年餘下時間持續下去，我們預計將繼續將過去 12 個月的訂單出貨比目標定為 1.2 倍至 1.3 倍。我們注意到，即使在投資組合的非疫苗領域，我們也發現傳遞作為總試驗成本中更有意義的組成部分而有所增加，預計這將開始反映在我們明年的整體收入組合中。

While there are certain large pharma customers in our portfolio that remains challenged in their spending outlook for next year, our initial view on growth outside of the specific customers is positive and indicative overall spend growth. While recovery in the biotech segment has been slower than we anticipated relative to start of this year, larger opportunities have been increasingly moving into the pipeline and our performance this quarter from a business development perspective will be an important determining factor to growth in this segment for ICON next year. In totality, we would anticipate revenue growth in the low to mid-single digit range for the full year, which takes into account the expected headwinds, which we expect will have a greater impact in the first half of the year.

儘管我們的投資組合中的某些大型製藥客戶明年的支出前景仍然面臨挑戰，但我們對特定客戶之外的成長的初步看法是積極的，並且具有指示性的總體支出增長。儘管相對於今年年初，生物技術領域的復甦速度比我們預期的要慢，但更大的機會正在越來越多地進入管道，從業務發展的角度來看，我們本季度的業績將成為該領域成長的重要決定因素。總體而言，考慮到預期的不利因素，我們預計全年收入成長將在低至中個位數範圍內，我們預計這些不利因素將在今年上半年產生更大的影響。

We continue to be extremely well positioned to take market share and grow in new and existing accounts, as evidenced by the recent strategic partnership wins we have accumulated since our union with PRI. The potential for these new partnerships to offset the aforementioned headwinds is very real as we move into 2025, and this in addition to the growth of our strategic customers gives us confidence that icon will emerge from this transition period, even better positioned and diversified across our customer base.

我們繼續處於非常有利的位置，能夠佔據市場份額並在新客戶和現有客戶中實現成長，自與 PRI 聯盟以來我們最近累積的策略合作夥伴關係就證明了這一點。隨著我們進入2025 年，這些新的合作關係抵消上述不利因素的潛力是非常真實的，除了我們策略客戶的成長之外，這也讓我們相信，圖標將在這個過渡時期脫穎而出，在我們的業務範圍內實現更好的定位和多元化。

We remain committed to our capital deployment strategy, which is focused on executing M&A in the areas of the portfolio. We would like to strategically expand our capability and presence, principally in our ancillary businesses such as laboratory services, site and patient solutions, as well as select geographic areas such as Asia Pacific. We have opportunities in our pipeline that we are actively engaged on that could be executed in the short term.

我們仍然致力於我們的資本部署策略，重點是在投資組合領域執行併購。我們希望策略性地擴大我們的能力和影響力，主要是在實驗室服務、現場和患者解決方案等輔助業務以及亞太地區等特定地理區域。我們正在積極參與我們的管道中的機會，這些機會可以在短期內執行。

In addition, we have stated we would opportunistically evaluate deploying capital towards share repurchase, which we did late in quarter three. Totally $100 million worth of stock repurchased. We have recently secured authorization for a further $250 million for share repurchases, which gives us a total of $650 million now available for further repurchases. We anticipate remaining active in opportunistic share repurchases through the balance of this year. And beyond.

此外，我們也表示，我們將機會主義地評估將資本部署到股票回購上，我們在第三季末就這樣做了。回購了價值總計1億美元的股票。我們最近獲得了額外 2.5 億美元的股票回購授權，這使我們現在可用於進一步回購的資金總額達到 6.5 億美元。我們預計今年剩餘時間將繼續積極進行機會性股票回購。甚至更遠。

Before I hand over to Brendan, I want to extend my thanks as always to our hard-working and dedicated employees across the globe that are committed to driving our mission and supporting our customers and accelerating the development programs. Brendan.

在我把工作交給布倫丹之前，我想一如既往地向我們全球辛勤工作、敬業的員工致以謝意，他們致力於推動我們的使命、支持我們的客戶並加速開發計劃。布倫丹.

Thanks Steve. In quarter three, ICON achieve gross business wins of $2,832 million, a decrease of 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. In addition, we recorded $504 million worth cancellations, resulting in net awards in the quarter of $2,328 million a net book-to-bill of 1.15 times. With the addition of new awards in Q3, our backlog grew to a record $24.3 billion, representing an increase of 2.1% on quarter two of '24 of Q3 of 2023 on increase of 9.4% year over year. Our backlog burn was 8.5% in the quarter, down from quarter two levels.

謝謝史蒂夫。第三季度，ICON 實現總業務收入 28.32 億美元，年減 7.3%。此外，我們還記錄了價值 5.04 億美元的取消訂單，導致本季的淨獎勵為 23.28 億美元，淨訂單出貨比為 1.15 倍。隨著第三季新獎項的增加，我們的積壓訂單成長至創紀錄的 243 億美元，較 2023 年第三季的第二季成長 2.1%，年成長 9.4%。本季我們的積壓訂單消耗率為 8.5%，低於第二季的水準。

Revenue in Q3 was $2.03 billion, this represents a year-on-year decrease of 1.2% or 1% on a constant currency basis. Overall customer concentration in our top 25 customers increase from Q2 2024, for our top 5 customers represented 24.8% of revenue in Q3, our top 10 represented 40.6%. While our top 25 represented 62.9%.

第三季營收為 20.3 億美元，年減 1.2%，以固定匯率計算下降 1%。從 2024 年第二季開始，前 25 名客戶的整體客戶集中度增加，前 5 名客戶佔第三季營收的 24.8%，前 10 名客戶佔 40.6%。而我們的前 25 名則佔 62.9%。

Gross margin for the quarter were 29.5%, a decrease of 40 basis points on quarter two 2004. Gross margin decreased 30 basis points over gross margin of 29.8% from quarter 3 of 2023. SG&A expense was $180.4 million in Q3 or 8.9% of revenue. This is an increase of 20 basis points on the prior quarter at 8.7% revenue in the comparable period last year, total SG&A expense was $180.1 million or 8.8% of revenue.

該季度的毛利率為 29.5%，比 2004 年第二季下降了 40 個基點。毛利率較 2023 年第三季的 29.8% 下降了 30 個基點。第三季的 SG&A 費用為 1.804 億美元，佔營收的 8.9%。這比上一季成長了 20 個基點，佔去年同期營收的 8.7%，SG&A 費用總額為 1.801 億美元，佔營收的 8.8%。

Adjusted EBITDA was $418.8 million for the quarter, or 20.6% of revenue in the comparable period last year Adjusted EBITDA was $432.5 million or 21% of revenue, representing a year-over-year decrease of 3.2% of the contraction of 40 basis points in margin. Adjusted operating income for Q3 was $383.8 million, a margin of 18.9% this was a decrease of 4.3% on an adjusted operating income of $401.1 million, a margin of 19.5% for the quarter 3 of 2023.

本季調整後 EBITDA 為 4.188 億美元，佔去年同期營收的 20.6% 調整後 EBITDA 為 4.325 億美元，佔營收 21%，年減 3.2%，收縮 40 個基點利潤。第三季調整後營業收入為 3.838 億美元，利潤率為 18.9%，較 2023 年第三季調整後營業收入 4.011 億美元（利潤率為 19.5%）下降了 4.3%。

Net interest expense was $49.4 million for the quarter. We continue to expect that full-year interest expense to total approximately $210 million for 2024. Effective the tax rate was 16.5% the quarter, and we continue to expect full year 2024 adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 16.5%. Adjusted net income for the quarter were $279.2 million, a margin of 13.8%, equating to adjusted earnings per share $3.35, an increase of 1.5% year over year.

該季度淨利息支出為 4,940 萬美元。我們仍預期 2024 年全年利息支出總額約為 2.1 億美元。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%。該季度調整後淨利潤為 2.792 億美元，利潤率為 13.8%，相當於調整後每股收益 3.35 美元，年增 1.5%。

In the third quarter compared recorded $7.9 million of transaction and integration related costs US GAAP income from operations amounted to $285.4 million or 14.1% of revenue during Q3. US GAAP net income in quarter three was $197.1 million, or $2.36 per diluted share compared to $1.97 per share for the equivalent prior year period, an increase of 19.8%.

相較之下，第三季的交易和整合相關成本為 790 萬美元，按美國公認會計原則 (US GAAP) 營運收入為 2.854 億美元，佔第三季收入的 14.1%。第三季美國公認會計原則淨利為 1.971 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 2.36 美元，去年同期每股收益為 1.97 美元，成長 19.8%。

Net accounts receivable was $1.172 million at the targeted on September 2024. This compares with net accounts receivable balance of $1.198 million at the end of quarter two 2004. DSO was 52 days at September 30, 2024, an increase of three days from quarter three 2023, an increase of one day from June 30, 2024.

2024 年 9 月的目標應收帳款淨額為 117.2 萬美元。相較之下，2004 年第二季末的應收帳款淨額為 119.8 萬美元。截至2024年9月30日，DSO為52天，比2023年第三季增加了3天，比2024年6月30日增加了1天。

Cash from operating activities in the quarter was $402.7 million and free cash flow was $359.4 million in the quarter, an increase of 15% on a year-over-year basis. We saw nice improvement in cash collections in quarter three despite the ongoing dynamic presence for our customers, particularly large pharma organizations looking to hold onto cash longer up ticking competitive credit terms. Despite this dynamic, we remain on track to achieve our original full-year guidance of free cash flow of circa $1.1billion.

本季經營活動現金為 4.027 億美元，自由現金流為 3.594 億美元，較去年同期成長 15%。儘管我們的客戶，尤其是希望在競爭性信貸條件下更長時間地持有現金的大型製藥組織持續活躍，但我們在第三季度看到現金收款有了很大改善。儘管存在這種動態，我們仍有望實現最初的全年自由現金流指引約 11 億美元。

At September 30, 2024, cash totaled $695.5 million in debt totaled $3.4 billion, giving a net debt position of $2.7 billion, fiscal period two net debt of $2.9 billion June 30, 2024, and net debt of $3.7 billion at September 30, 2023. Capital expenditure during the quarter was $43.3 million. We ended the quarter to a leverage ratio of 1.6 times net debt to adjusted EBITDA.

截至2024年9月30日，現金總額為6.955億美元，債務總額為34億美元，淨債務部位為27億美元，截至2024年6月30日的第二財期淨負債為29億美元，截至2023年9月30日的淨債務為37億美元。該季度的資本支出為 4,330 萬美元。本季結束時，我們的槓桿率為淨債務與調整後 EBITDA 的 1.6 倍。

Our key assumptions behind the full year guidance are largely unchanged, an effective tax rate of 16.5%, free cash flow target of circa $1.1 billion, CapEx spend of circa $150 million and interest expense in the range of $210 million all for the full year 2024.

我們對全年指引的關鍵假設基本上保持不變，2024 年全年的有效稅率為 16.5%，自由現金流目標約為 11 億美元，資本支出約為 1.5 億美元，利息支出約為 2.1 億美元。

With all of that said, we'll now open it up for questions. Operator.

說了這麼多，我們現在開始問問題。操作員。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Elizabeth Anderson, Evercore.

伊莉莎白安德森，《Evercore》。

Hi, guys. Thanks so much for the question and welcome Nigel . Can you maybe provide us a little bit more color on sort of your confidence around pharma 2025 budgets in terms of your top customers? Like are they in our utility to have good visibility at this point that they've all sort of stepped there spending and cut levels that you see it all of them are reducing spending in certain areas? Do you feel like you have a good grasp on that? I just want to kind of understand that a little bit further as we think about [uncertain] that sort of fourth quarter and then into 2025, Thank you

嗨，大家好。非常感謝您的提問並歡迎奈傑爾。您能否為我們提供更多關於您對頂級客戶的 2025 年製藥預算的信心？就像他們在我們的公用事業中是否有良好的可見性，他們都已經採取了相應的支出並削減了水平，你看到他們都在減少某些領域的支出嗎？您覺得您對此掌握得很好嗎？我只是想進一步了解這一點，因為我們考慮[不確定]第四季度以及 2025 年的情況，謝謝

So I think overall, we see the large pharma market in totality seem to be growing at a reasonable rate, mid- low to mid-single digits. Obviously, we're more exposed in a couple of cases to a couple of large customers. And it's somewhat of a different story. We do believe I think as we get into 2025 that we'll see the bottom of that is the slowdown with those particular customers that we have and will start to move upwards probably more towards the back end of 2025.

因此，我認為總體而言，我們看到大型製藥市場總體似乎以合理的速度成長，中低到中個位數。顯然，在某些情況下，我們更接觸了一些大客戶。這是一個不同的故事。我們確實相信，進入 2025 年，我們將看到我們擁有的那些特定客戶的成長放緩，並將在 2025 年底開始上升。

So we do have some visibility, certainly in terms of one of them, we think we have some clear visibility, but probably at the bottom as we had towards the end of this year. The other it's a little less clear to be very honest, but we do think we're approaching that point. And by the middle of next year, we will be sort of moving on the on the upslope away from some of the declines we've seen with those particular customers.

因此，我們確實有一些可見性，當然就其中之一而言，我們認為我們有一些清晰的可見性，但可能像今年年底那樣處於底部。老實說，另一個不太清楚，但我們確實認為我們正在接近這一點。到明年年中，我們將擺脫我們在這些特定客戶身上看到的一些下降的局面，繼續走上坡路。

So overall, I think this is a large pharma market is a net positive, as I say, that 3% to 4%, 3% to 5%. And so we believe will benefit from that, particularly with the strategic partnerships that we've been successful in winning over the last couple of years, really. So overall, we see it as a is on the medium to long long-term policy. But we've got some a transition period to work through over the next two to three quarters.

所以總的來說，我認為這是一個大型製藥市場是淨積極的，正如我所說，3％到4％，3％到5％。因此，我們相信將從中受益，特別是我們在過去幾年中成功贏得的策略夥伴關係。因此總體而言，我們將其視為一項中長期政策。但我們需要在接下來的兩到三個季度內完成一些過渡期。

Michael Cherny, Leerink Partners.

邁克爾·切爾尼，Leerink Partners。

Good morning and thanks for taking the question. Maybe if I can follow on a similar trend to Elizabeth question, but tied to biotech demand, you're not the only company that signaling any type of concerns or worries about the state of decision-making, the biotech market. As you think through the various different constituencies that you work with across biotech. Was there anything you can glean about various pockets of strength and weakness versus the state versus status of where these companies said from a venture funding perspective, similar to the former question, where does that comfort factor lie about the pace of our tech recovery, given that obviously market why it's been a bit slower than we all would have anticipated?

早上好，感謝您提出問題。也許如果我可以遵循與伊麗莎白問題類似的趨勢，但與生物技術需求相關，那麼您並不是唯一一家對決策狀況、生物技術市場表示任何類型的擔憂或擔憂的公司。當您思考與生物技術領域合作的各種不同群體時。從創投的角度來看，你是否可以收集到這些公司的各種優勢和劣勢以及這些公司所說的狀態，類似於前一個問題，考慮到我們的技術復甦速度，舒適因素在哪裡？市場為什麼比我們預期的慢？

Yeah, Michael, it probably will probably a little less certain in terms of biotech. We've been calling the end of the biotech challenge for several quarters now and clearly, as we've seen in this quarter, we're not there yet. We see the same data you do in terms of their funding, there is a good start of the year that it with slow in the middle of the year and in September seem to be positive. And we're getting the same sort of vibes from our customers in terms of their allocation, they seem to be able to raise capital, particularly to good signs.

是的，邁克爾，在生物技術方面可能不太確定。幾個季度以來，我們一直在呼籲生物技術挑戰的結束，但顯然，正如我們在本季度所看到的那樣，我們還沒有到那一步。我們看到的數據與您在融資方面所做的數據相同，今年有一個良好的開端，但在年中和 9 月的成長緩慢，似乎是積極的。我們的客戶在分配方面也得到了同樣的感受，他們似乎能夠籌集資金，特別是在有良好跡象的情況下。

But allocating and they have been they have delayed decisions, that have delayed awards, of the scope projects. There has been some uptick in the cancellation sort of. We ended the challenges in the biotech segment just yet. We do believe I think long term, it will be positive and we will move back to a very solid position. And I think there's certainly data that would support that, but I think the next again, the next two to three quarters, it remains somewhat uncertain. We do see, as I say, some optimism in the segment in terms of the RFPs numbers we're seeing through the solid, certainly solid enough.

但是分配和他們已經推遲了範圍項目的決定，推遲了授予。取消的情況增加。我們剛結束了生物技術領域的挑戰。我們確實相信，從長遠來看，這將是積極的，我們將回到非常穩固的地位。我認為肯定有數據支持這一點，但我認為接下來的兩到三個季度，它仍然有些不確定。正如我所說，我們確實看到了該領域的一些樂觀情緒，從我們看到的可靠的、當然足夠可靠的 RFP 數字來看。

There's plenty of opportunity in our pipeline, but it's nailing that opportunity data and converting even those awards into to our projects that start in the bone revenue with the at the right. And it did to the extent that we expect is up is where the challenges lie. And I think we're not quite at the bottom of that yet. So I'm sorry if I'm not able to give you sort of filled a definitive answer on that, but we continue to find that one probably the most the most challenging aspect of our business.

我們的管道中有很多機會，但它正在確定這些機會數據，並將這些獎項轉化為我們從右側的骨收入開始的項目。它達到了我們預期的程度，這就是挑戰所在。我認為我們還沒有完全了解這一點。因此，如果我無法就此問題向您提供明確的答案，我很抱歉，但我們仍然發現這可能是我們業務中最具挑戰性的方面。

Luke Sergott, Barclays.

盧克·瑟戈特，巴克萊銀行。

Thanks, guys. I guess as you think about the recovery year and into '25 in the market kind of being that low single digit growth and you guys typically growing at the high end of that, is that still save assumption here as we think about '25? And then you also think about the margin implications here that the flexibility or model and like that model 1/ hybrid business that you could provide allows a lot of flexibility to scale up and down resources pretty quickly. So given this is late in the year, understandable hits in Q4, but how do you right size those and how we think about that margin progression as the as the business starts to ramp back up?

謝謝，夥計們。我想，當你考慮復甦年和進入 25 年時，市場的成長是低個位數成長，而你們通常會在高端成長，當我們考慮 25 年時，這仍然是保存假設嗎？然後，您還要考慮這裡的利潤影響，即靈活性或模型以及您可以提供的模型 1/混合業務允許很大的靈活性，可以快速擴展和縮減資源。因此，考慮到今年晚些時候，第四季度的衝擊是可以理解的，但是隨著業務開始回升，您如何正確調整這些規模以及我們如何考慮利潤率的成長？

Yeah, Lucas, I think we said pretty clearly on the call. We're not going to provide any sort of guidance for next year. We're looking hard at the business, certainly over the next three or four months and will provide a guidance in January as we normally do. Having said that, we do believe we can grow next year. It's probably going to be more in the low to mid-single digits at this point. That's kind of our certainly our expectation. We don't make any projections on margins at this point. You know, out there, mix of our business is changing with the vaccine studies coming through in some uptick in the functional work being counteracted and all and offset by some progress on the full service, particularly with these new strategic partners that are coming in on a full-service basis. So there's puts and calls from a margin point of view in both on both was we do, as I say, we do expect revenue growth. Let's say that's what we'll be working for. But at the moment, we're not going to be too specific about that. We will be, as we said, as we get to a JPMorgan in January,

是的，盧卡斯，我想我們在電話中說得很清楚了。我們不會為明年提供任何形式的指導。我們正在認真研究業務，當然在接下來的三四個月內，並將像往常一樣在一月份提供指導。話雖如此，我們確實相信明年我們能夠實現成長。目前可能會更多地處於中低個位數。這當然是我們的期望。目前我們不對利潤率做出任何預測。你知道，隨著疫苗研究的進展，我們的業務組合正在發生變化，功能性工作的一些上升被抵消，而所有這些都被全方位服務的一些進展所抵消，特別是與這些即將加入的新戰略合作夥伴一起。因此，從保證金的角度來看，我們兩者都存在看跌期權和看漲期權，正如我所說，我們確實預計收入增長。假設這就是我們要努力的目標。但目前，我們不會對此說得太具體。正如我們所說，當我們在一月份接觸摩根大通時，

Justin Bowers, Deutsche Bank.

賈斯汀·鮑爾斯，德意志銀行。

Hi, good afternoon. And just stepping back to a large pharma two-part question on the development model changes in the replenishment cycle? How much visibility do you have into this dynamic persisting? Or is this a step change in that funnel? And then is the messaging there that these two customers will sort of be a headwind into 2025. And then the rest of that customer cohort the top 20 would then grow.

嗨，下午好。回到大型製藥公司關於補貨週期中開發模式變化的兩部分問題？您對這種持續存在的動態有多少了解？或者這是該漏斗中的一步改變？還有消息稱，這兩位客戶將成為 2025 年的阻力。然後剩下的前 20 名客戶群就會成長。

To answer your second question first, Justin I think that's a reasonable way to characterize it. We certainly see growth outside of our top two, I think the extent of around 6%, and we're happy to see that. And that's all of fueled in many cases by more full service work, better margin work. And so we think this is a nice offset on that front. In terms of the more functional, is that a permanent, these things are never permanent of these things tend to wax and wane, depending on who's in charge of the company and what the operating model du jour is.

先回答你的第二個問題，賈斯汀，我認為這是描述它的合理方式。我們當然看到了前兩名之外的成長，我認為成長幅度約為 6%，我們很高興看到這一點。在許多情況下，這一切都是由更全面的服務工作和更好的利潤工作所推動的。所以我們認為這在這方面是一個很好的補償。就功能性而言，是永久性的，這些東西從來都不是永久性的，這些東西往往會盛衰，取決於公司的負責人以及當前的營運模式。

We have some opportunity, I think due to working both models effectively in both models, we talked about our hybrid model and our ability because we are the largest functional provider, to provide hybrid functional and full-service components of any sort of development program will portfolio. So we've well, we do believe we're very well positioned, no matter which way the market goes to be able to prosecute and and to win that will that work.

我們有一些機會，我認為由於在兩種模型中有效地運行兩種模型，我們討論了我們的混合模型和我們的能力，因為我們是最大的功能提供商，提供任何類型的開發計劃的混合功能和全方位服務組件資料夾。因此，我們確實相信我們處於非常有利的位置，無論市場採取哪種方式，我們都能夠起訴並贏得勝利。

But as I said at the moment, we are seeing that pushed towards a more functional approach persisting at least in several of our top customers. But it is being offset to some extent by some movement towards full service in other parts of the business. And of course, our biotech customers, they're all full service. So as always, yes, there's puts and calls and as of the offset's tailwinds and headwinds on this thing, I think generally we feel the market overall will progressing nicely. If we can prosecute and execute our projects as we believe we can, we believe we can get some modest margin uptick. But that whole remains to be seen. And as I said, we're not going to be specific about 2025 or beyond. Just at this point.

但正如我目前所說，我們看到，至少在我們的幾個頂級客戶中，這種趨勢一直在持續朝著更實用的方法發展。但它在某種程度上被業務其他部分向全面服務邁進的一些舉措所抵消。當然，我們的生技客戶，他們都提供全方位服務。因此，與往常一樣，是的，有看跌期權和看漲期權，並且就偏移量的順風和逆風而言，我認為總體上我們認為市場整體進展良好。如果我們能夠像我們相信的那樣推進和執行我們的項目，我們相信我們可以獲得一些適度的利潤成長。但這整體還有待觀察。正如我所說，我們不會具體說明 2025 年或以後的情況。就在此時。

Ann Hynes, Mizuho.

安海因斯，瑞穗。

Yeah, good morning. Thank you. And just the long-term goals you provided at the recent Investor Day for 2027, it seems like the environment has changed. Do you think it's still possible by 2027, what you see now I mean what you see now to at least hit maybe the low end? And as you can do it on the revenue side, when you take care capital to share repurchase to at least have the EPS goals?

是的，早安。謝謝。僅從您在最近的投資者日提供的 2027 年長期目標來看，環境似乎已經改變了。您認為到 2027 年仍有可能嗎？就像您在收入方面可以做到這一點一樣，當您謹慎使用資本進行股票回購時，至少要實現每股盈餘目標？

Yeah, that's a question where we're looking at very hard. We certainly will be looking at very hard over the next couple of months as we come towards the end of the year a bit. But to give you a high-level answer on that, we do believe we're well positioned to be able to achieve those goals, but perhaps towards the lower end of the range and perhaps too, towards the end of 2027 might be the caveats I would give you that, but we certainly haven't given up on those goals, we believe were as this is a well positioned in the marketplace to gain market share.

是的，這是我們正在認真研究的問題。隨著年底的臨近，我們肯定會在接下來的幾個月中非常認真地考慮。但為了給您一個高水準的答案，我們確實相信我們有能力實現這些目標，但也許是在目標範圍的下限，也許到 2027 年底可能是需要注意的地方我會給你這個，但我們當然沒有放棄這些目標，我們相信這是一個在市場上獲得市場份額的有利位置。

We do believe we're gaining market share, particularly with the strategic customers. And as we move through this transition period, as I said, the next two to three quarters, we believe we're going to be in a good place to be able to accelerate our growth in the more medium term and move back towards achieving the sort of goals we put out at our at our Investor Day on in my -- as I say, that's more towards the lower end. And we're certainly prepared to do utilize our balance sheet to prosecute the share buyback options. And we also have very much in the market on the M&A side of things where we can bring in our components of the business to supplement what we already have and to improve the performance of what we already had, that certainly the the push on the M&A side of things. So we do believe we've got the tools and the toolkit. We do believe we've got the balance sheet and we do believe we've got the people and the strategies to achieve the goals that we hear that we set out at.

我們確實相信我們正在贏得市場份額，特別是策略客戶的份額。正如我所說，隨著我們度過這個過渡期，在接下來的兩到三個季度，我們相信我們將處於一個良好的位置，能夠在更中期加速我們的成長，並重新實現我們在投資者日上提出的目標——正如我所說，這更接近低端。我們當然準備好利用我們的資產負債表來實施股票回購選擇。我們在併購方面也有很多市場，我們可以引入我們的業務組成部分來補充我們已有的業務並提高我們已有業務的績效，這當然會推動併購事情的一面。所以我們確實相信我們已經擁有了工具和工具包。我們確實相信我們已經有了資產負債表，我們也確實相信我們已經有了人員和策略來實現我們所設定的目標。

Patrick Donnelly, Citi.

派崔克唐納利，花旗銀行。

Hey, guys, thanks for taking the questions. I wanted to follow up with Luke's question on the margin stuff. I guess, can you frame up what you guys are going to do on the cost side, if the magnitude is possible, I would certainly be helpful for who's trying to figure out when you look at the second half year, implying EBITDA margin somewhere around 20%. We've got a fair number to think about next year and just recall from previous would sort of help us contextualize that.

嘿，夥計們，感謝您提出問題。我想跟進盧克關於邊際問題的問題。我想，你們能在成本方面製定一下你們要做什麼嗎？ 。我們有相當多的數字需要考慮明年，只要回想去年的情況就可以幫助我們了解這一點。

Yeah, Patrick, in terms of cost, I think I think it has been noted we've acted fairly quickly to realign our cost base with the work that we have in the backlog and the work that's proceeding in the back of the absolute priority for us is to make sure that our customers have the resources they need to get there. The critical projects done that is that is priority absolute number one, and we were very focused on doing that.

是的，帕特里克，就成本而言，我想我認為已經註意到，我們已經採取了相當快的行動，根據我們積壓的工作以及絕對優先事項中正在進行的工作來重新調整我們的成本基礎。的目標是確保我們的客戶擁有實現這一目標所需的資源。完成的關鍵項目絕對是第一要務，我們非常專注於這樣做。

Having said that, we do recognize that an adjustment on the cost base is important and we're pulling a number of levers, whether it be spans the control, what are we looking at where we have excess of people in certain areas that we are looking very hard at doing that and taking decisive action. So I'll leave it there. I do believe it will have some impact on quarter 4, not a huge impact, but really that impact will be as we get into 2025.

話雖如此，我們確實認識到對成本基礎的調整很重要，我們正在拉動許多槓桿，無論是跨越控制，我們在考慮什麼，我們在某些​​領域有過剩的人員非常努力地考慮這樣做並採取果斷行動。所以我會把它留在那裡。我確實相信這會對第四季度產生一些影響，雖然不是巨大的影響，但真正的影響將在我們進入 2025 年時產生。

And I do believe we have some other areas we can look at as well, and we will it's not just the one off. We're going to continue to look at what we need to do on a cost base and we do it well, something I think you would all know is one of our key strengths. We manage our costs very well. We don't wait around. And then hopefully the best we actually take action and we're doing that right now. And I think that's an issue important component and something you should take some confidence in that we will address them whenever you want to address on. Brendan do you want to address that?

我確實相信我們還可以關注其他一些領域，而且我們將不僅僅關注這一領域。我們將繼續考慮在成本基礎上需要做什麼，並且我們做得很好，我想你們都知道這是我們的關鍵優勢之一。我們很好地管理成本。我們不等待。希望我們能真正採取行動，而我們現在正在這樣做。我認為這是一個重要組成部分，您應該有信心，只要您想解決，我們就會解決它們。布倫丹你想解決這個問題嗎？

I think, you know, just from my perspective, obviously, this is a big services organization. It takes time to move that shift in terms of cost base. And I think it's appropriate comments in terms of and showing that we have delivered to customers. That's obviously [pharma's] importance to us as an organization. This is kind of a -- it's a bit of an odd quarter from a because it's very effective quarter as well as everything else. But over the 19 years, I can tell you definitively it's not one or two people that focus on the cost base and icon. It's everyone it out.

我認為，從我的角度來看，顯然這是一個大型服務組織。就成本基礎而言，轉變這種轉變需要時間。我認為這是恰當的評論，表明我們已經向客戶交付了產品。這顯然是[製藥]對我們作為一個組織的重要性。這是一個有點奇怪的季度，因為這是一個非常有效的季度以及其他一切。但19年來，我可以明確地告訴你，關注成本基礎和圖標的不是一兩個人。大家都出來了

So I think that's something to bear in mind as you go forward here that this organization will continue to challenge itself, to continue to push itself. And as Steve said in his opening comments, that has the quality of the strategy to do that. So I think that's probably I would have without going too far into giving indications of our guidance is next year, but I think that's the point you need to recall.

所以我認為，當你在這裡前進時，要記住這一點，這個組織將繼續挑戰自己，繼續推動自己。正如史蒂夫在開場白中所說，這具有實現這一目標的戰略品質。因此，我認為我可能不會過多地表明我們明年的指導，但我認為這是您需要記住的一點。

David Windley, Jefferies.

大衛溫德利，傑弗里斯。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to come back to big pharma was a little different angle. Steve, with the partnerships that you had at the time on the PRA on acquisition or merger and the ones that you in one sense, as you highlighted this morning, you got pretty broad on footprint cross top 20 or top 25. And I guess my question is twofold. one is that this is how much of the wallet do these partnerships avail of and maybe that's mixed in different categories or whatever, but I'm just interested in and what cases are you kind of paying the client and in what cases might you only being one therapeutic area or only in one service or something like that?

嗨，早安。感謝您提出我的問題。我想回到大型製藥公司的角度有點不同。史蒂夫，透過您當時在PRA 上就收購或合併建立的合作夥伴關係，以及您在某種意義上的合作夥伴關係，正如您今天早上強調的那樣，您在前20 名或前25 名中的足跡相當廣泛。我想我的問題是雙重的。一是這些合作夥伴利用了多少錢包，也許是混合在不同的類別或其他什麼中，但我只是感興趣，在什麼情況下你會向客戶付款，在什麼情況下你可能只會一個治療領域或僅在一項服務或類似的事情？

And then with that footprint and that opportunity to interact with those clients at that higher level. And to the point that you made about development model changes, how much of this is kind of major adjustment by big pharma to the outlook that they have loss of exclusivity cycle, a new pricing dynamic in the U.S. and really re-evaluating returns on invested R&D and repositioning or pivoting pipeline. And the bottom line on this part of the question really is it just these two for our we only kind of midway through a lot of big pharma clients doing these times these types of things? Thanks.

然後有了這個足跡和與更高層級的客戶互動的機會。就您所說的開發模式變化而言，其中有多少是大型製藥公司對他們失去排他性週期、美國新的定價動態以及真正重新評估投資回報的前景所做的重大調整研發和重新定位或調整管道。這部分問題的底線確實是這兩個，對我們來說，我們只是在許多大型製藥客戶做這些類型的事情的中間？謝謝。

Right. Okay. That's correct question. Let me start with the first one. In terms of the sort of share of wallet or what we do with the strategic, it really does vary. In-- I would say in most cases, we are selected as the 1 of 1, 1 of 2, or 1 of 3 perhaps 1 of 4, but it's usually in the sort of up to 3 -- 1 or 2 cases where the sole provider, but that doesn't happen very often. More 1 of 3, and we do get access to their entire outsourcing portfolio.

正確的。好的。這是正確的問題。讓我從第一個開始。就錢包的份額或我們的策略而言，確實有所不同。在——我想說的是，在大多數情況下，我們被選為1 中的1、2 中的1 或3 中的1，或4 中的1，但通常是在最多3 - 1 或2種情況下，唯一的提供者，但這種情況並不經常發生。多了 3 個中的 1 個，我們就可以存取他們的整個外包產品組合。

And so we have the opportunity to bid and we bid usually against the other 1 or the other two. And -- If we've been doing the work in Phase 2, we have an inside run. And if we believe this is a good job in Phase 2, it's almost a non-compete if that makes sense. And so obviously, it'd be hold us to execute prosecutor our trials well with those strategic partners and we build those partnerships and get that work almost on either non-compete base.

因此我們有機會投標，並且我們通常與其他 1 或另外兩個投標。而且──如果我們一直在做第二階段的工作，我們就會陷入內部競爭。如果我們認為這是第二階段的好工作，那麼這幾乎就是一種競業禁止（如果這是有道理的）。顯然，我們必須與這些戰略合作夥伴一起很好地執行檢察官的審判，我們建立這些夥伴關係，並幾乎在非競爭基礎上進行這項工作。

In terms of -- there are 1 or 2 where it's more therapeutically focused or if you like we had been in that case, there's probably less competition. So we may be allocated the cardiovascular side of things or the oncology side of things, other metabolic side of things. And in that case, we'll get the bid and unless our pricing is well out of whack or there's some questions, we won't to be in a competitive situation, we've already negotiated rate card, terms and conditions, etcetera. So it's a less competitive situation, although we're probably -- we are working within a more narrow slice of that of their portfolio.

就這一點而言，有 1 或 2 個地方更注重治療，或者如果你喜歡我們在這種情況下的表現，那麼競爭可能會較少。因此，我們可能會分配心血管方面的事物或腫瘤學方面的事物，以及事物的其他代謝方面的事物。在這種情況下，我們將得到投標，除非我們的定價完全不正常或存在一些問題，否則我們不會處於競爭狀態，我們已經協商了價目表、條款和條件等。因此，這是一個競爭較少的情況，儘管我們可能 - 我們正在他們的投資組合中更狹窄的部分內工作。

In terms of whether these models that we're moving to a we've seen over the last couple of years moving into a part of a major adjustment in our response to pricing challenges, IRA's, patent cliffs, etcetera. That's a hard one to answer, Dave. It really is. We do see this sort of models tend to be correlated with certain manages and certain leadership styles.

至於我們正在轉向的這些模型是否是我們在過去幾年中看到的，是我們應對定價挑戰、IRA、專利懸崖等重大調整的一部分。這是一個很難回答的問題，戴夫。確實如此。我們確實看到這種模型往往與某些管理者和某些領導風格相關。

And when new people come into organizations, they tend to apply on the management of the outsourcing model that they've seen work before that they like. And so as it may be as much to do with the individuals in charge of the development spend and the development organization in the pharma than it is on any sort of particular price pressure or patent cliffs, etcetera. We do think -- we see things going both ways, no, due to a more functional approach, some customer, the more recent wins have been to a more full-service approach, again, offsetting any pressures on and on a margin line from the functional.

當新人進入組織時，他們傾向於應用他們之前見過的、他們喜歡的外包模式的管理。因此，這可能與製藥公司負責開發支出的個人和開發組織有關，而不是與任何特定的價格壓力或專利懸崖等有關。我們確實認為，我們看到事情是雙向的，不，由於更實用的方法，一些客戶，最近的勝利是更全面的服務方法，再次抵消了利潤線上的任何壓力功能性的。

And so it goes both ways. I don't think there's any sort of particular tsunami already sort of trend or that's movie across the industry one way or the other, quite frankly. And so we take it in those terms. In terms of customers responding to some of the regulatory challenges they face Inevitably, they talk about those and they work through some move in a more functional basis and some are moving in a more full-service spaces. And some it's because there pipelines are so follow of their requirement to develop drugs is so critical because they are growing so fast that they are tending to outsource, and that tends to be in a more full service base.

所以這是雙向的。坦白說，我不認為任何一種特定的海嘯已經成為一種趨勢，或者整個行業的電影都這樣或那樣。所以我們就這樣看待它。就客戶應對他們不可避免地面臨的一些監管挑戰而言，他們會談論這些挑戰，並且他們會在更實用的基礎上採取一些舉措，有些則轉向更全面的服務空間。有些是因為管道對開發藥物的要求非常重要，因為它們增長得如此之快，以至於它們傾向於外包，而且往往是在更全面的服務基礎上。

So I think it's a long way of telling you that it's not particularly correlated with any particular regulatory or external factor. It's a multitude of things, and each customer or each pharma has their own set of circumstances and they pick them up models based on those.

所以我認為這是一個很長的方式告訴你它與任何特定的監管或外部因素沒有特別相關。事情有很多，每個客戶或每個製藥公司都有自己的情況，他們會根據這些情況選擇模型。

I think it does add quickly, Dave, that and it has presented us, though with a lot of opportunity. I think it's fair to say over the last 18 months, we've probably seen more activity, right? That's been caused by buying some of these concerns from a macro perspective, whether it be the IRA or some of the other issue that has come up and caused large pharma to take a hard look at how their development organizations are structured and where were they need to get to over time.

戴夫，我認為它確實迅速增加了這一點，並且它給我們帶來了很多機會。我認為可以公平地說，在過去 18 個月中，我們可能看到了更多的活動，對嗎？這是由於從宏觀角度購買了其中一些擔憂而引起的，無論是 IRA 還是其他一些已經出現的問題，導致大型製藥公司認真審視其開發組織的結構以及他們需要在哪裡隨著時間的推移到達。

Obviously, the outlooks are going to be different on a customer-by-customer basis. But that gives us an opportunity to go and really fight for or continue to defend our position in existing partnerships and have an opportunity to win new ones. And obviously, we've been successful winning three new large partnerships in the last 12 months, and that's critical in terms of our growth outlook for the future. So it's not necessarily a negative in terms of in all these customers looking at and looking harder around and their development spend and opportunities.

顯然，不同客戶的前景會有所不同。但這使我們有機會真正爭取或繼續捍衛我們在現有合作夥伴關係中的地位，並有機會贏得新的合作關係。顯然，我們在過去 12 個月內成功贏得了三個新的大型合作夥伴關係，這對我們未來的成長前景至關重要。因此，對於所有這些正在更加努力地審視周圍的客戶以及他們的開發支出和機會而言，這並不一定是負面的。

Max Smock, William Blair.

馬克斯·斯莫克，威廉·布萊爾。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. I just wanted to make sure I understand the drivers behind the miss on gross bookings versus the miss on revenue here because a lot of the factors you mentioned at the top of the call, the only one that really struck me as being more tied to new bookings and not burn rate was the award from small biotech. So -- can you just walk through kind of whatever the key drivers of that shortfall in net bookings specifically?

嘿，早安。感謝您回答我們的問題。我只是想確保我了解總預訂量下降與收入下降背後的驅動因素，因為你在電話會議頂部提到的很多因素，唯一真正讓我印象深刻的是與新產品更相關。是預訂量而不是燃燒率。那麼，您能具體介紹一下造成淨預訂量短缺的主要驅動因素嗎？

And if it really is just small biotech slowing down on the front end, Is it fair to assume that, that cohorts taking a meaningful step back over the last couple of months here, just given the size of that booking step down that we saw in the third quarter? Thank you.

如果這真的只是小型生物技術在前端放緩，那麼可以公平地假設，在過去的幾個月裡，這群人在這方面邁出了有意義的一步，只是考慮到我們在第三季度？謝謝。

Yeah, I think if you had asked me for one month of the major reason match on the bookings shortfall, it is the delay in decisions, particularly from the smaller and biotech customers. They are despite the fact that, yes, there's a cap. We know the capital markets have been a bit uncertain and volatile, and that's up and down every month seems to be a different one,

是的，我想如果你問我一個月的預訂量短缺的主要原因，那就是決策的延遲，特別是來自小型和生物技術客戶的決策延遲。儘管事實上是有上限的，但他們還是這麼做了。我們知道資本市場有點不確定和波動，每個月的漲跌似乎都不一樣，

But they even the ones that have been able to raise capital, they seem to have there are delays and they do seem to be reprioritize even some of their current programs. So it really I think it will we did come down to slowness in decision making in the biotech segment as the main reason, we fell a little short of our target 1.2x to 1.3x. Having said that, as I indicated in my comments, there are some good opportunities in the pipeline.

但即使是那些能夠籌集資金的公司，他們似乎也出現了延誤，而且他們似乎確實重新調整了當前專案的優先順序。因此，我認為我們確實將生物技術領域決策緩慢作為主要原因，我們略低於 1.2 倍至 1.3 倍的目標。話雖如此，正如我在評論中指出的那樣，正在醞釀一些很好的機會。

And the RFP flow continues to be solid across both segments of our market, both large pharma and biotech. And so with that, I'd like to think it's a it's a one off a short-term issue. But as I said previously, again, the biotech segment is a bit volatile at the moment. And I'm not quite sure we're ready to call at the end of that volatility or uncertainty. So that may well continue. But I do think that going forward, I say 1.2x to 1.3x on a trailing 12-month basis is a very achievable goal for us.

我們的兩個市場領域（大型製藥公司和生物技術公司）的 RFP 流量持續保持穩定。因此，我認為這只是一個短期問題。但正如我之前所說，生物技術領域目前有點不穩定。我不太確定我們是否準備好在波動或不確定性結束時呼籲。因此，這種情況很可能會持續下去。但我確實認為，展望未來，我認為過去 12 個月的 1.2 倍到 1.3 倍對我們來說是一個非常可實現的目標。

Michael Ryskin, Bank of America.

麥可‧萊斯金，美國銀行。

Great. This might be related to your last point just now on net bookings and some volatility in biotech. But earlier in your prepared remarks, kind of talked about two things that happened during the quarter, both risks materialize into a greater extent and some of the opportunities not offsetting. So just trying to think about the revised guide for '24 and your comments about low single digit mid-single digit for 2025.

偉大的。這可能與您剛才關於網路預訂的最後一點以及生物技術的一些波動有關。但在您之前準備好的講話中，談到了本季發生的兩件事，這兩種風險都在更大程度上實現，而一些機會並未抵消。因此，請考慮一下 24 年修訂後的指南以及您對 2025 年低個位數中個位數的評論。

Maybe putting it this way. Are you more worried about the risks are being more protracted? And I'm thinking about the two pharma that you talked about the reprioritization there? Or do you feel less confident in some new opportunities offsetting which has two components to adjust more when revisiting the guide?

也許可以這麼說。您是否更擔心風險會變得更持久？我正在考慮您談到的兩家製藥公司的優先順序調整？或者，您是否對一些新的機會抵消信心不足，其中有兩個部分需要在重新訪問指南時進行更多調整？

Good question Micheal. Of this year in our business, there are always risks and there are always opportunities. And as I said in my prepared remarks, in this quarter, for the first time in probably 55 or 60 quarters that I've been involved in the company, there really was a very substantial difference in what played out. The risks well outweighed the opportunities.

好問題，麥可。今年我們的業務，總有風險，也總有機會。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，在這個季度，在我參與該公司的大約 55 個或 60 個季度中，這是第一次，所發生的情況確實發生了非常重大的變化。風險遠大於機會。

I think going forward will reformulate and relook at what those risks and opportunities are and be able to be a little bit more accurate, if that's the right word in terms of in terms of how we I think the world is going to go and how it's going to come in. Quarter three, as you all know is a is probably the most challenging quarter in the year, given that the August is very quiet, our customers are away, sites are away, it's sometimes difficult to get the information you're looking for and then everyone comes back in September and down to a number of key decisions as to whether you make your book-to-bill number or not.

我認為未來將重新制定和重新審視這些風險和機會是什麼，並且能夠更加準確一點，如果這個詞對於我們我認為世界將如何發展以及它如何發展而言是正確的的話要進來了。眾所周知，第三季度可能是一年中最具挑戰性的季度，因為八月份非常安靜，我們的客戶不在，網站不在，有時很難獲得您正在尋找的信息，然後每個人都會在九月份回來，並做出一些關鍵決定，例如是否達到訂單到帳單數量。

And so it is a challenging quarter when things don't hit and they don't go as we'd expect that the very short term impact the plays out as it has for us in this quarter. I don't see going forward that way that we're going to have this sort of quarter. In fact, I would hope when I'm not going to size the sort of quarter on a regular basis. We've got a pretty good track record, as I said, over the last 50 or 60 quarters. So we've been reporting atleast that I and Brendan have been involved in reporting and we feel our track record is pretty good about the one quarter changes that are recognized and disappointment.

因此，這是一個充滿挑戰的季度，事情沒有發生，也沒有像我們預期的那樣發展，短期影響會像本季對我們產生的那樣。我不認為我們會出現這樣的季度。事實上，我希望當我不定期調整該季度的規模時。正如我所說，在過去 50 或 60 個季度中，我們取得了相當不錯的業績記錄。因此，我們至少一直在報道，我和布倫丹參與了報道，我們認為我們的記錄非常好，有一個季度的變化是公認的和令人失望的。

And certainly, the quarter as it is not up to our expectations, but I don't think our process is fundamentally broken. I think we need to just look at ourselves a little bit more closely and make sure that we are projecting and forecasting in a way that is reflective of those risks. But I don't see the risks necessarily outweighing the opportunity to bring more so going forward than they have in the past.

當然，這個季度沒有達到我們的預期，但我不認為我們的流程從根本上被破壞了。我認為我們需要更仔細地審視自己，並確保我們的預測和預測能夠反映這些風險。但我並不認為風險一定大於機遇，使未來的發展比過去更多。

I think importantly Mike, we are -- we have reflected in the forecast for Q4 in terms of that impact, obviously, from those issues we saw that came up in Q3 continuing in Q4. And obviously, we've anticipated that in terms of the updated guide. So we haven't made any different assumptions around opportunities outweighing that in a different way than what had played out this quarter.

我認為重要的是，麥克，我們已經在第四季度的預測中反映了這種影響，顯然，從我們看到的第三季度出現的那些問題到第四季度繼續存在。顯然，我們在更新的指南中已經預料到了這一點。因此，我們沒有以與本季的情況不同的方式對機會做出任何不同的假設。

Dan Leonard, UBS Equities.

丹‧倫納德，瑞銀股票。

Hi, thanks. Another question on large pharma demand, which I think is similar to David's as we're all trying to guess who is customer number two. We can come up with half a dozen names that fits a descriptor in your press release, which is why begs the question was other this issue is really isolated or not. So are there some examples you can you share where perhaps the headlines and see revenue growth with the customers?

你好，謝謝。關於大型製藥需求的另一個問題，我認為這與大衛的類似，因為我們都在試圖猜測誰是第二號客戶。我們可以想出六個符合你們新聞稿中描述的名字，這就是為什麼我們會問這個問題是否真的是孤立的。那麼，您是否可以分享一些可能成為頭條新聞並與客戶一起看到收入成長的範例？

And if I can ask a second part, same question elsewhere in the R&D supplier landscape, looking at equipments, suppliers, for example, they've been talking about large pharma weakness for a good 18 months now. So what comfort do you have that there isn't some take through the python phenomenon going on here where you're just getting hit with a lag. And we could be talking about tests for a good while longer?

如果我可以問第二部分，在研發供應商領域的其他地方也有同樣的問題，例如設備、供應商，他們已經談論大型製藥公司的弱點已經有 18 個月了。那麼，這裡沒有發生任何Python現象，而你只是受到了滯後的影響，你還有什麼安慰呢？我們還可以再討論測試一段時間嗎？

Dan, I'm not quite sure I understood your first question.Do you want to go in and run that once again, please?

丹，我不太確定我是否理解你的第一個問題。

Yes. The first question. So you mentioned two customers in large pharma, right? And one of whom I guess we can presume is Pfizer in. We're all trying to guess who is customer number two. And we're looking at your descriptors around pipeline prioritization and development models. And just trying to map, though, is the headlines.

是的。第一個問題。所以你提到了兩個大型製藥公司的客戶，對嗎？我想我們可以推測輝瑞就是其中之一。我們都在猜測誰是第二號客戶。我們正在查看您關於管道優先順序和開發模型的描述符。然而，僅僅試圖繪製地圖就成了頭條新聞。

There's half a dozen names that investors can readily come up with, which is what is begging the question on whether or not the issues are isolated. And I wonder if one of the ways to on to address that is perhaps you could share examples where there had been some negative headlines, but you're still growing despite that that because of all the reasons you talked about earlier, if that would help, add some comfort.

投資人可以輕易想出六個名字，這就引出了這些問題是否是孤立的問題。我想知道解決這個問題的方法之一也許是你可以分享一些例子，其中有一些負面的頭條新聞，但儘管如此，由於你之前談到的所有原因，你仍在成長，如果這會有所幫助，增加一些舒適感。

Let me take that, we're not going to be a little bit and talk about specific customers, at least with the name specific customers that you noted that. But I think it's that we believe they are the issues that we have with these customers are isolated to them. And it's not that they are the only ones moving in the direction they are with the changing their development model moving towards a more functional approach is that the issue for us, of course, they are very significant customers for us and they're both going in the same direction that have a similar rate of knots.

讓我這麼說，我們不會稍微討論特定客戶，至少不會討論您提到的特定客戶的名稱。但我認為我們相信我們與這些客戶之間的問題與他們無關。這並不是說他們是唯一朝著這個方向前進的人，他們正在改變他們的開發模式，轉向更實用的方法，這對我們來說是個問題，當然，他們對我們來說是非常重要的客戶，他們都在具有相似節率的相同方向。

And so that's the specific issues that we have the and to be a bit more specific on that as they change their model, we anticipate -- we certainly anticipated a decline revenues from a certain part of their business in terms of the full-service work. What we also expected was a much more significant uptick in the functional business, and that's really where the what what hasn't happened so much. And so the different than the sort of differential, if you like, has become much more expansive but much more expanded than we had anticipated at the beginning of the year. And even as we went midway through the year.

這就是我們遇到的具體問題，更具體一點，當他們改變他們的模式時，我們預計——我們當然預計在全方位服務工作方面，他們業務的某些部分的收入會下降。我們也預期功能業務將出現更顯著的成長，而這確實是尚未發生的事情。因此，如果你願意的話，這種差異已經變得更加廣泛，而且比我們年初預期的要廣泛得多。即使我們已經過了年中。

So that that is that differential of what they -- they would award us versus what they have in what that and that's really because they haven't been doing that work because of the budget cuts. I think they've been cutting back on the pipeline and so that it is very specific. We do believe it is is somewhat is totally isolated to the. So it's not that others aren't moving in -- are not doing similar things, but they're certainly not having the sort of impact that they have on our on our portfolio and our level of work that out that will help to clarify that.

這就是他們給予我們的獎勵與他們所擁有的獎勵之間的差異，這實際上是因為由於預算削減，他們沒有做這項工作。我認為他們一直在削減管道，因此它是非常具體的。我們確實相信它在某種程度上是完全孤立的。因此，並不是說其他人沒有搬進來——沒有做類似的事情，但他們肯定不會對我們的投資組合和我們的工作水平產生那樣的影響，這將有助於澄清這一點。

In terms of the other -- some other customers or other sorry, of companies in related industries and they have commentary on the large pharma levels, I can't comment specifically on their businesses or what they do. We don't see this as a sort of something that's going to extend further, we do see it as a relatively isolated issue. That's happening, as I say, with two of our largest we work, though, with all of the large pharma customers and across the totality, as I said of the business, we feel pretty good about where that's going. And we certainly feel pretty good about the opportunity to gain market share.

就其他方面而言——一些其他客戶或其他相關行業的公司，他們對大型製藥水平有評論，我無法具體評論他們的業務或他們所做的事情。我們不認為這是一種會進一步擴展的問題，我們確實認為這是一個相對孤立的問題。正如我所說，這種情況正在發生，我們合作的兩家最大的公司，以及所有大型製藥客戶以及整個行業，正如我所說的業務，我們對進展感到非常滿意。我們當然對獲得市場份額的機會感到非常滿意。

We believe we're doing and we believe going forward will be able to do that more. And we'll reflect that more in our growth rates in them in the more mid to long term than we will in the short term. We're still working through, as I said, this transition period as we move that those that pig through the snake, to sort of coin your analogy, we believe we're going to be a good position to grow the entirety of that, that segment in a more consistent and a over a long term manner.

我們相信我們正在這樣做，我們相信未來可以做得更多。我們將在中長期內比短期內更能反映它們的成長率。正如我所說，我們仍在努力度過這個過渡時期，因為我們將那些豬穿過蛇，用你的比喻來說，我們相信我們將成為發展整體的一個好位置，以更加一致和長期的方式進行細分。

So overall, I'll keep saying , we see medium to long term, constructive and positive on the market and on our ability to grow within it. It's a transition period here for two to three quarters that we're working through. And as you've seen from our guidance, we've got a challenging quarter in Q4 to deliver, and we're going to do that and then we'll move into next year. And on the basis of what we got in in January, we'll give you a flavor for what's going to happen there.

因此，總的來說，我會繼續說，我們認為市場以及我們在其中成長的能力是中長期的、建設性的和積極的。我們正在經歷兩到三個季度的過渡期。正如您從我們的指導中看到的那樣，我們在第四季度將面臨一個充滿挑戰的季度，我們將做到這一點，然後我們將進入明年。根據我們一月份的情況，我們將讓您了解那裡將要發生的事情。

Jailendra Singh, Truist Securities.

Jailendra Singh，Truist 證券公司。

Thank you, and thanks for taking my questions. Just a quick clarification, which can be just yes or no answer. That low to mid-single digit growth rate for 2025, is that organic? Or you're including M&A there? And then my main question on backlog burn rate of decline of 60 basis points sequentially. Can you share some details around how much of the drop was driven by business mix versus like some of the non-vaccine related opportunities not converting to revenues in the quarter?

謝謝你，也謝謝你回答我的問題。只是快速澄清一下，可以是或否的答案。2025 年的低至中個位數成長率是有機的嗎？還是你在那裡包括併購？然後我的主要問題是積壓訂單消耗率連續下降 60 個基點。您能否分享一些細節，說明業務組合導致的下降有多少，以及本季未轉化為收入的一些非疫苗相關機會？

And how do you think about these non-vaccine opportunities coming back and future? Just trying to understand how should we think about burn rate beyond Q4? Clearly Q4 looks like similar to Q3, but I'm thinking about the long-term burn run rate expectations.

您如何看待這些非疫苗機會的回歸和未來？只是想了解我們應該如何考慮第四季之後的燒錢率？顯然，第四季看起來與第三季相似，但我正在考慮長期燒錢運行率預期。

Okay. So I think about low to mid Jailendra, we think about organic on that front. I will just be straight up with the on that one. That's our expectation. That is not guidance or I want to reiterate that is not guidance. We haven't done that. We'll do that in January. So hold your horses on that one. But that's where we normally place our expectations. In terms of vaccines burn, as I say from a previous call, we pushed out some significant vaccine work into next year.

好的。所以我考慮了中低階的Jailendra，我們考慮了這方面的有機產品。我會直截了當地說那件事。這是我們的期望。這不是指導，或者我想重申這不是指導。我們還沒有這樣做。我們將在一月份這樣做。所以，把你的馬放在那一個上。但這就是我們通常寄予期望的地方。在疫苗燃燒方面，正如我在之前的電話會議中所說，我們將一些重要的疫苗工作推遲到了明年。

That as of I guess, apart from some positives and some challenges for us, as the mix of directly and pass through changes, the pass-throughs go up quite substantially with that work, which has some pressure on our margins in the certainly in the first half of the years that will burn through. But then on the positive side, of course, it does burn quickly significantly faster than our sort of normal rate of burn and so with that in mind, we would expect and look to see a modest, very modest overall improvement in our burn rate. Assuming that happens, that will explain a bit volatile and has been pushed back.

截至我猜想，除了對我們來說有一些積極因素和一些挑戰之外，隨著直接和傳遞變化的混合，傳遞量隨著這項工作的增加而大幅增加，這對我們的利潤率造成了一定的壓力前半年將會燃燒殆盡。但當然，從積極的一面來看，它的燃燒速度確實比我們正常的燃燒速度要快得多，因此考慮到這一點，我們預計並希望看到我們的燃燒速度有適度的、非常適度的整體改善。假設這種情況發生，這將解釋有點不穩定並已被推遲。

And so at the moment, it's happening. The initial stages of those draws on the underway. We are recruiting patients, albeit on a fairly modest way, and that was always the plan. So that work is has started and we do expect it to come into next year. But as I say, vaccine -- this vaccine work is notoriously volatile and challenging, but it does help us very much from a burn point of view and an ability to push a reasonable growth rate in 2025. I hope that answers your question.

目前，這種情況正在發生。這些項目的初始階段正在進行中。我們正在招募患者，儘管是以相當溫和的方式，這一直是我們的計劃。這項工作已經開始，我們預計明年會進行。但正如我所說，疫苗——這項疫苗工作是出了名的不穩定和具有挑戰性，但從燃燒的角度來看，它確實對我們有很大幫助，並且有能力在2025 年推動合理的增長率。我希望這能回答你的問題。

Eric Coldwell, Baird.

埃里克·科德威爾，貝爾德。

Thank you. Why is unbilled revenue up 45% year over year? And have you sold receivables this period or year to date? And then my follow-up or other add on here is what company did you buy at the end of 3Q and what is the impact of that? Thank you

謝謝。為什麼未入帳收入年增 45%？本期或本年迄今您是否曾出售過應收帳款？然後我的後續或其他補充是您在第三季末購買了哪家公司，其影響是什麼？謝謝

Hi Eric, it's Brendan here . I might take the first part of the -- first two parts of that question. Just in terms of the unbilled position, this is just this is the market we live. And now we've seen a lot of another say this is predominantly driven by the large pharma customers as well in relation to know their new contracting procedures over the last 12 months. We have seen them pushing them milestones again, trying to have fewer milestones in contracts and sometimes in a very on a new works that has that definitely has impacted us from a from an absolute perspective in terms of that unbilled level.

嗨，艾瑞克，我是布倫丹。我可能會回答該問題的前兩部分的第一部分。就未計費位置而言，這就是我們生活的市場。現在我們看到很多人說這主要是由大型製藥客戶推動的，也與了解他們在過去 12 個月的新合約程序有關。我們看到他們再次推動里程碑，試圖在合約中減少里程碑，有時在新作品中，從絕對角度來看，這肯定對我們的未計費水平產生了影響。

I think you'll see from the cash receipts for the quarter, obviously, we're still in good, nick and still targeting to make the free cash flow target for the year. But absolutely it's a matter of focus for the organization as we go forward. I think one of the other compounding factors is we have seen less upfront elements of pass-through payments. When -- they're looking at balance sheets of our size, you don't see that many people that kind of volunteering the piece. In terms of -- listen we manage our debtor book appropriately over time. I think that is fair, I think we have done a decent job at that.

我想你會從本季的現金收入中看到，顯然，我們仍然處於良好狀態，並且仍然致力於實現今年的自由現金流目標。但這絕對是我們前進過程中組織關注的重點議題。我認為其他複雜因素之一是我們看到轉手支付的前期元素較少。當他們查看我們規模的資產負債表時，你不會看到有很多人自願參與這項工作。聽著，我們隨著時間的推移適當地管理我們的債務人帳簿。我認為這是公平的，我認為我們在這方面做得很好。

Some of the large customers have payment methodologies that immediately put you into looking at and things like customer programs effectively that have we had some elements of cost to them. That is fair, but that's just the way they're operating at this level now. And we've seen that from a couple of our large customers. So to that extent, we operate within those models, albeit it, it's not widespread across the book of business. And I think then on the second --

一些大客戶的付款方式會立即讓您考慮有效的客戶計劃之類的事情，我們對他們有一些成本要素。這是公平的，但這就是他們現在在這個水平上的運作方式。我們從一些大客戶身上看到了這一點。因此，從這個意義上說，我們在這些模型中運作，儘管它在整個商業領域並不普遍。然後我想在第二個--

I mean, I think that we did make a relatively modest size acquisition relating to an organization in Eastern Europe to supplement our Eastern European capabilities and they work in the biotech segment. I work in the Functional segment, are they made an immaterial contribution to Q3. And frankly, it's relative it's a relatively small contribution to the Q4 as well. But that's the that's the source of the majority of the increase in headcount. We also see an uptick in our functional service group, and we brought on some billable or revenue generating people from now for our functional group in the quarter. And that's that's also part of that increase in headcount. So I hope that explains that to you, Eric.

我的意思是，我認為我們確實對東歐的一個組織進行了相對較小的收購，以補充我們東歐的能力，他們從事生物技術領域的工作。我在職能部門工作，他們對第三季做出了無形的貢獻嗎？坦白說，這是相對的，對第四季的貢獻也相對較小。但這就是員工人數增加的大部分來源。我們也看到我們的職能服務團隊增加，並且從現在開始我們在本季為我們的職能團隊引進了一些可計費或創造收入的人員。這也是員工人數增加的一部分。所以我希望這能向你解釋這一點，埃里克。

Matt Sykes from Goldman Sachs.

高盛的馬特·賽克斯。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. Maybe just going back to the identified opportunities, it didn't materialize in the quarter. Were there any specific seems to others did materialize? Was a price was a breach. I mean anything that you can kind of call out that the reason why those didn't materialize or there is really a case-by-case basis? Thank you.

您好，感謝您提出我的問題。也許只是回到已確定的機會，但它在本季度並未實現。在其他人看來是否有任何具體的實現？價格是否違規。我的意思是你可以指出的任何事情沒有實現的原因或確實存在具體情況的基礎？謝謝。

Matt every case is different. I think if there is one theme, it was really around the biotech segment and some uncertainty about whether they were able to get that in some cases get the funding for the work, and that's always a factor -- with some of these companies, then there courses with what they have, They are looking to look at their development program and make sure they are developing in the right indication, and there's some delay around that.

馬特每個案例都不同。我認為，如果有一個主題，它實際上是圍繞生物技術領域，以及他們是否能夠在某些情況下獲得工作資金的一些不確定性，這始終是一個因素 - 對於其中一些公司來說，然後他們正在研究他們的發展計劃並確保他們正在按照正確的指示發展，並且在這方面存在一些延遲。

As I say, delays around funding or gaining funding from it as well. So it really, as i said it was more a biotech thing, and it was probably more around the availability of finance. We obviously talk to our customers before we take awards and before we start projects and make sure that they are well funded, that they have the capital to do that. We are very cautious about that, making sure that there balance sheet they have that money that we didn't sort of hold up or not taken the wall on that basis at all, but it really is, I think, reflective of the continued challenges within the funding environment, biotech that caused those delays.

正如我所說，資金或從中獲得資金的延遲。所以，正如我所說，這實際上更多是生物技術的事情，而且可能更多地與融資的可用性有關。顯然，在獲獎和啟動專案之前，我們會與客戶交談，並確保他們有充足的資金，有足夠的資本來做到這一點。我們對此非常謹慎，確保他們的資產負債表上有我們沒有保留的資金，或者根本沒有在此基礎上建造隔離牆，但我認為，這確實反映了持續的挑戰在融資環境中，生物技術導致了這些延誤。

Jack Meehan, Nephron Research.

傑克·米漢，腎單位研究。

Thank you. Steve, a question for you or do you think any of this relates to customers assessing their concentration of work with ICON. So I look back when you did the PRA deal, it probably the most seamless CRO acquisition I've ever seen, but there's been this question whether maybe a sponsored are rightsizing their budgets, maybe ICON is seeing some disproportionate pressure because of the concentration went up with PRA, even though you are a few years in the deal. I was curious if that's come up at all.

謝謝。Steve，請問您一個問題，或者您認為這是否與客戶評估他們與 ICON 的工作重點有關。所以我回顧一下當你完成PRA 交易時，這可能是我見過的最無縫的CRO 收購，但有一個問題，贊助商是否正在調整其預算，也許ICON 面臨著一些不成比例的壓力，因為集中度與 PRA 合作，即使您已參與該交易幾年。我很好奇這是否真的出現了。

And then one question for Brendan can you just -- the comment on growing role on pass -through in 2025? is that a way to think about what that might mean in terms of a drag relative to revenue growth?

然後有一個問題要問 Brendan，您能否評論一下 2025 年傳遞作用日益增強的情況？這是考慮相對於收入成長的拖累意味著什麼的一種方式嗎？

Yeah, Jack, in terms of the concentration of customers, I think it's fair to say that one or two have looked at if PRA and ICON were significant providers in the previous mix and now, we've come together. They've looked at that and they've been in one or two cases brought on another competitor. I think that's what we expected. And that happens in most of the cases, the cases I can think of that's happened. We've continued to outperform, we've continued to deliver and that it probably has been the source of some challenge in terms of continued revenue growth within those customers.

是的，傑克，就客戶集中度而言，我認為可以公平地說，一兩個人已經研究過 PRA 和 ICON 是否是之前組合中的重要提供商，而現在，我們走到了一起。他們已經研究過這一點，並且已經在一兩起案件中起訴了另一位競爭對手。我想這正是我們所期望的。這種情況在大多數情況下都會發生，我能想到的情況都發生過。我們繼續表現出色，繼續交付，這可能是這些客戶收入持續成長面臨一些挑戰的根源。

But we feel like we've continued to develop. But yeah, so as you do these unions and you get access to other customers through the scale that we've been developed and we've been pretty clear upfront about the new strategic partners we brought on. There are one or two cases, I think being an extra competitor brought in, It's not that we've gone out as an extra competitor has brought in, which has made increased or at least made the competition to continue. Do you want to?

但我們覺得我們在繼續發展。但是，是的，當你建立這些聯盟時，你可以透過我們已經發展的規模來接觸其他客戶，而且我們對我們帶來的新策略合作夥伴已經非常清楚了。有那麼一兩個情況，我認為引入了一個額外的競爭者，並不是說我們因為引入了一個額外的競爭者而退出了，這使得競爭增加或至少使得競爭繼續下去。你想要_____嗎？

Yes. I think Jack, your question probably relates to my answer on the last one, which is we're not seeing the same quantum of both payments on pass-throughs anymore, but that doesn't change the quantum of pass-through it just changed the cash flow. So in terms of how it impacts next year, we haven't seen a decrease in the absolute quantum of pass- thorough that we're seeing as an organization.

是的。我認為傑克，你的問題可能與我對上一個問題的回答有關，即我們不再看到相同數量的傳遞付款，但這並沒有改變傳遞的數量，它只是改變了現金流。因此，就其明年的影響而言，我們並沒有看到我們作為一個組織所看到的徹底傳遞的絕對量有所減少。

And as a consequence, there's no additional drag as a result of change in mix of pass-throughs. That remains relatively consistent. The only thing that pushes that up and down, of course, as we've talked about a little bit of vaccines and particularly cover studies, which obviously might have an impact depending on the timin of some.

因此，傳遞組合的變化不會產生額外的阻力。這仍然相對一致。當然，唯一推動這一點的因素是，我們已經討論了一些疫苗，特別是覆蓋研究，這顯然可能會產生影響，這取決於某些人的時間。

Casey Woodring, JP morgan.

凱西·伍德林，JP摩根。

Great. Thank you for fitting me. And I'm just curious to hear you guys working its way through of to preclinical and discovery pipeline working its way through to clinical here in this current volatile environment, wondering if this is really just a two to three quarter dynamic or transition period as Steve, you kind of referred to it as working through several customer's rightsizing budgets? Or if this is really the start of a longer slowdown in pipeline progression, just based on what you're seeing on the preclinical side? Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝你讓我適應。我很好奇聽到你們在當前動蕩的環境中從臨床前和發現管道一直到臨床，想知道這是否真的只是史蒂夫那樣的二到三季度的動態或過渡期，你是否將其稱為透過幾個客戶的調整預算來進行工作？或者，如果這真的是管道進展長期放緩的開始，僅僅基於您在臨床前方面看到的情況？謝謝。

Yeah. Sure Casey. No, unequivocally, we believe this is related to our those 2 larger customers and the biotech uncertainties and the vaccines, it's not something we're seeing flowing through from preclinical. there's link between preclinical and particularly large Phase 2, Phase 3 business is pretty tenuous in the short medium term. Perhaps in the very long term, you might get some sort of -- but there' such an attrition rate of compounds from the preclinical into the into the early clinic and Phase 2 that you've got to have an enormous impact on preclinical, I think really to do it to impact the clinical stage book.

是的。當然是凱西。不，明確地說，我們相信這與我們的兩個大客戶以及生物技術的不確定性和疫苗有關，這不是我們從臨床前看到的情況。臨床前和特別大的二期、三期業務之間的聯繫在中短期內相當脆弱。也許從長遠來看，你可能會得到某種——但是從臨床前到早期臨床和第二階段的化合物損耗率如此之高，你必須對臨床前產生巨大的影響，我想想真要做到影響臨床階段的書。

So I would completely reject any thesis that that's playing into this. It really is, we believe a fairly isolated and relatively short-term issue that they're working through here, and we expect that within the next two, three quarter, will be moving well through it.

所以我會完全拒絕任何與此相關的論文。確實如此，我們相信他們正在解決一個相當孤立且相對短期的問題，我們預計在接下來的兩個、三個季度內將順利解決這個問題。

Yes. And i'll just add quickly, actually in the early phase, more in the Phase 1 space, it's actually been quite good in terms of overall activity and particularly on the award front. We called that out, obviously, in addition to labs being a nice performer for us in the quarter. So actually, we're not seeing that even on the early and -- early stages of our business.

是的。我會快速補充一下，實際上在早期階段，更多的是在第一階段，就整體活動而言，特別是在獎項方面，實際上相當不錯。顯然，除了實驗室在本季表現出色之外，我們還指出了這一點。所以實際上，即使在我們業務的早期階段，我們也沒有看到這一點。

Charles Rhyee, TD Cowen.

查爾斯‧萊伊 (Charles Rhyee)，TD 考恩 (TD Cowen)。

Hi, Thanks for squeezing me in. Just for Steve, you mentioned earlier about capital deployment and you're looking at a bunch of opportunities in the short term. Can you give us a little bit more sense would these be more material than the one that you just talked about in Eastern Europe. Maybe -- and i guess the follow-on that is anything to suggest that you couldn't do both M&A and buy back shares, given where your leverage is currently?

你好，謝謝你拉我進來。就史蒂夫而言，您之前提到了資本部署，並且您正在尋找短期內的大量機會。您能否給我們更多的了解，這些是否比您剛才在東歐談到的更重要？也許——我想接下來的事情表明，考慮到你目前的槓桿水平，你不能同時進行併購和回購股票？

I'll answer your second question first, Charles, no we believe we can do both we believe our balance sheet -- and our cash lease has been excellent this quarter. So we believe we're in a strong position from balance sheet point of view to be able to deploy either in M&A, and or in share buyback, we'll be opportunistic certainly on the on the share buyback side of things. The size of the M&A opportunities we're contemplating. They are not huge transformational. They are similar size to the one I described previously.

我先回答你的第二個問題，查爾斯，不，我們相信我們可以做到這兩點，我們相信我們的資產負債表——而且我們的現金租賃本季表現出色。因此，我們相信，從資產負債表的角度來看，我們處於有利地位，能夠在併購和/或股票回購方面進行部署，我們肯定會在股票回購方面抓住機會。我們正在考慮的併購機會的規模。它們並沒有帶來巨大的改變。它們的大小與我之前描述的相似。

We are looking to supplement and to improve our current operations. So whether it be in the lab space, whether it be in the patient, or site space potentially in late phase real world, those sorts of areas are the areas that we think we can make a sensible acquisition that can actually improve our overall performance. So it's more than just what we bring in from a revenue and EBITDA, point of view, it's what can -- what we can synergistically from revenue and obviously from a cost, but from a revenue and performance point of view, if we can prosecute our projects better for our customers. We are able to burn revenue all that good stuff.

我們正在尋求補充和改進我們目前的營運。因此，無論是在實驗室空間，無論是在患者中，還是在現實世界的後期階段，這些領域都是我們認為可以進行明智收購的領域，實際上可以提高我們的整體績效。因此，這不僅僅是我們從收入和 EBITDA 的角度帶來的東西，而是我們可以從收入和顯然從成本中協同獲得的東西，但從收入和績效的角度來看，如果我們能夠起訴的話我們的項目更好地為我們的客戶服務。我們能夠消耗所有這些好東西的收入。

You all know about that. So those are the sorts of areas we're looking at areas where we can really turbocharge, if you like, our clinical operations particularly in the Phase 2, Phase 3, area and burn that work, get that work done for our customers more effectively and more efficiently. So those are the areas we look at.

你們都知道這一點。因此，如果您願意的話，我們正在尋找能夠真正增強我們的臨床操作的領域，特別是在第二階段、第三階段，區域和燃燒工作，更有效地為我們的客戶完成工作並且更有效率。這些就是我們關注的領域。

In the interest of time. We will end the question and answer session. And I would like to hand back to Steve Cutler for closing remarks. Thank you.

為了時間的利益。我們將結束問答環節。我想請史蒂夫·卡特勒作結束語。謝謝。

Okay. Thank you, operator, and thank you all for attending the call today. We're not where we anticipated to be at this point of the year, and when you look at the underlying business, excluding the factor that was outlined, we are continuing to outperform the market, and our market position does continue as we expand the number of partnerships we have within the top 30 pharma group. And we are obviously, very focused on continuing to help our customers who are under pressure to structure there development organizations in a more efficient way for their pipelines of the future. So overall, we remain very constructive on our mid-term growth prospects and optimistic that we can progress our performance over the short term very effectively. Thanks all for attending.

好的。謝謝接線員，也謝謝大家今天參加電話會議。我們在今年的這個時候還沒有達到我們預期的水平，當你看看基礎業務時，排除上述因素，我們將繼續跑贏市場，隨著我們擴大業務範圍，我們的市場地位確實會持續下去。在30 強製藥集團中擁有的合作夥伴數量。顯然，我們非常專注於繼續幫助我們的客戶，他們面臨著以更有效的方式建立未來管道的開發組織的壓力。因此，總體而言，我們對中期成長前景仍然非常有建設性，並樂觀地認為我們可以在短期內非常有效地提高我們的業績。感謝大家的出席。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。謝謝。