ICON PLC (ICLR) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the ICON Q4 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 ICON 第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand you over to your speaker today, Kate Haven. Please go ahead.

現在我想把今天的發言人交給凱特海文 (Kate Haven)。請繼續。

Good day, and thank you for joining us on this call covering the quarter and year ended December 31, 2024. Also on the call today, we have our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler; our CFO, Nigel Clerkin; and our COO, Barry Balfe. 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.

您好，感謝您參加本次電話會議，會議內容涵蓋截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日的季度和年度。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；我們的財務長 Nigel Clerkin；以及我們的營運長 Barry Balfe。我想指出的是，本次電話會議是網路直播的，您可以在我們的網站上下載與今天的電話會議配套的幻燈片。今天電話會議中的某些陳述將是前瞻性陳述。

These statements are based on management's current expectations and information currently available, including current economic and industry conditions. Actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied by forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, and listeners are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be found in the SEC reports filed by the company, including the Form 20-F filed on February 23, 2024. This presentation includes selected non-GAAP financial measures, which Steve and Nigel will be referencing in their prepared remarks.

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。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明確或暗示的結果有重大差異，並且請聽眾注意，前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來的績效。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，請參閱公司提交的 SEC 報告，包括 2024 年 2 月 23 日提交的 20-F 表。本次演講包括精選的非 GAAP 財務指標，Steve 和 Nigel 將在其準備好的發言中引用這些指標。

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. 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. We will be limiting the call today to 1 hour and would therefore ask participants to keep their questions to 1 each in the interest of time.

若要了解最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標，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，出於歷史比較的目的，某些非公認會計準則資訊對投資者更有用。在新聞稿和收益幻燈片中，您會注意到非公認會計準則指標的對帳。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。我們將今天的通話時間限制為 1 小時，因此請參與者為了節省時間將每個人的問題限制在 1 個以內。

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

現在我想把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 remarks on the quarter, I wanted to briefly introduce our newly appointed COO, Barry Balfe, who is joining us on the call today. Barry has had a long and successful tenure at ICON over the last 20 years in both full service and FSP roles, most recently leading our large pharma business. He brings to the role extensive experience in establishing and growing large strategic partnerships that have delivered clear and sustainable value for our customers. This is a key component of our growth strategy that Barry will focus on strengthening across our midsize customer segment going forward.

謝謝你，凱特。在我開始對本季度的發言之前，我想先簡單介紹一下我們新任命的首席營運長巴里·巴爾夫 (Barry Balfe)，他將參加今天的電話會議。過去 20 年來，Barry 在 ICON 長期任職並取得了成功，擔任全方位服務和 FSP 職務，最近領導我們的大型製藥業務。他在建立和發展大型策略合作夥伴關係方面擁有豐富的經驗，為我們的客戶帶來了明確和可持續的價值。這是我們成長策略的關鍵組成部分，Barry 將在未來重點加強我們中型客戶群的成長策略。

Turning to the results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024. ICON's performance was in line with the expectations we set out when reporting quarter 3, with both revenue and adjusted earnings per share results at the midpoint of our full year guidance range. Moving to this year, we are reaffirming our full year guidance range that we issued last month. which reflects the current transition period in which we are operating. Our current views on the overall environment are consistent with what we saw at the start of this year with evidence of positive leading indicators alongside a continuing backdrop of cautiousness and volatility.

談到 2024 年第四季和全年業績。ICON 的業績符合我們在第三季報告中提出的預期，其收入和調整後每股盈餘均處於我們全年指引範圍的中點。展望今年，我們重申上個月發布的全年指引範圍。這反映了我們目前所處的過渡時期。我們目前對整體環境的看法與今年年初的情況一致，有證據表明領先指標呈正面趨勢，但謹慎和波動的背景仍在持續。

Overall opportunity flow improved in quarter 4 and was broadly based across the business. Biotech market, the dynamic of careful capital allocation is continuing, where companies are being more cautious in how they are deploying their spend across their development programs. While we saw progress in terms of awards in this division in the quarter, decision-making and speed of trial starts is not yet back to a normalized time frame. From a large pharma perspective, the picture continues to be mixed.

第四季整體機會流有所改善，並且遍及整個業務領域。在生技市場中，謹慎的資本配置動態仍在繼續，各公司在如何在其開發專案中部署支出方面更加謹慎。雖然我們在本季度看到該部門在獎項方面取得了進展，但決策和審判開始的速度尚未恢復到正常的時間範圍。從大型製藥公司的角度來看，情況仍然好壞參半。

Some customers are well placed for R&D spending growth this year, and others face budgetary pressures or have already gone through reprioritization exercises. While this type of activity can result in disruption in terms of overall spend, in some cases, it also affords ICON an opportunity to engage further, precipitating opportunities to help alleviate problems within their portfolio or development functions. We are seeing particular strength in demand from our recent strategic alliances and have a number of current partnership opportunities extending beyond the top 20 pharma cohort in our pipeline for this year. This, in addition to the improving indicators in biotech, provides us with visibility to accelerated growth as we move through this current transition period in our business. We were also encouraged by the improved performance from a business development perspective in quarter 4 with gross bookings of $3.06 billion, increasing 8% sequentially and 3% year-over-year.

一些客戶今年的研發支出預計將成長，而其他客戶則面臨預算壓力或已經經歷了優先排序的調整。雖然此類活動可能會導致整體支出混亂，但在某些情況下，它也為 ICON 提供了進一步參與的機會，有助於緩解其投資組合或開發職能中的問題。我們看到最近的策略聯盟的需求特別強勁，並且今年我們有許多合作機會，超越了我們計劃中的前 20 名製藥企業。加上生物技術指標的不斷改善，這為我們在當前業務轉型期看到加速成長提供了可見性。我們也對第四季業務發展表現的改善感到鼓舞，總預訂額為 30.6 億美元，較上季成長 8%，較去年同期成長 3%。

We made good progress in awards within our Biotech business executing on the improved pipeline and opportunity flow in that division.

我們在生物技術業務獎項方面取得了良好進展，這得益於該部門管道和機會流的改善。

Unfortunately, this better performance in gross bookings was offset by an uptick in overall cancellations in the quarter, which totaled $651 million and this resulted in a net book-to-bill ratio of 1.18x in quarter 4 and 1.2x on a trailing 12-month basis. Cancellations impacted all divisions without a particular concentration in any therapeutic area. These canceled trials, some of which were expected to run in quarter 1 will pressure near-term revenue and margin as a result but were contemplated when we issued our full year 2025 guidance in January.

不幸的是，總預訂量的良好表現被本季整體取消量的上升所抵消，總額達到 6.51 億美元，導致第 4 季的淨訂單出貨比為 1.18 倍，過去 12 個月的淨訂單出貨比為 1.2 倍。取消影響了所有部門，且不特別注意任何治療領域。在這些被取消的試驗中，有些原計劃在第一季進行，這將對近期的收入和利潤造成壓力，但我們在 1 月份發布 2025 年全年業績指引時就已經考慮到了這一點。

With the addition of our new awards in quarter 4, our backlog grew to $24.7 billion at the end of 2024, representing an increase of 1.4% on quarter 3, 2024 or increase of 8.3% year-over-year. Our backlog burn was 8.4% in the quarter, slightly down from quarter 3 levels. With regard to our COVID-related work this year, I'm pleased to advise that there are no issues with funding related to the 2 large-scale next-generation vaccine studies we are supporting. One is now actively screening patients and moving forward as planned. The other trial has been delayed by the sponsor, and we are working with them on plans to resume later in the year.

隨著第四季新獎項的加入，我們的積壓訂單在 2024 年底成長至 247 億美元，比 2024 年第三季成長 1.4%，年成長 8.3%。本季我們的積壓訂單消耗率為 8.4%，略低於第三季的水準。關於我們今年與 COVID 相關的工作，我很高興地告知大家，我們支持的兩項大規模下一代疫苗研究的資金沒有問題。目前，我們正在積極篩檢患者，並按計劃推進工作。另一項試驗已被申辦方推遲，我們正在與他們合作制定計劃，以便在今年稍後恢復該試驗。

This has been considered in our guidance reaffirmation, and we continue to monitor the situation carefully.

我們在重申指導意見時已經考慮到了這一點，並將繼續密切關注情況。

As we navigate the current volatility in our market and headwinds within our portfolio, we remain focused on investing in the key factors that are continuing to differentiate ICON and are delivering value for our customers. Our digital innovation strategy is a critical component of how we can transform clinical delivery by seamlessly integrating AI and key technology advancements into clinical research. By uniting technology, unique data assets and excellent service delivery, we are seeing better outcomes for customers across several key matrix. Year-over-year, this is delivering 10% faster site activation, 33% fewer nonrecruiting sites and 24% increase in trials completed on time. We're building on that success with the planned launch of several new solutions this year that will improve efficiencies in areas such as resource forecasting and site contracting.

在應對當前市場波動和投資組合不利因素的同時，我們仍將重點投資於那些能夠繼續使 ICON 脫穎而出並為客戶帶來價值的關鍵因素。我們的數位創新策略是透過將人工智慧和關鍵技術進步無縫整合到臨床研究中來改變臨床服務的關鍵組成部分。透過整合技術、獨特的數據資產和卓越的服務交付，我們在多個關鍵矩陣中為客戶帶來了更好的結果。與去年同期相比，站點啟動速度提高了 10%，未招募站點減少了 33%，按時完成的試驗增加了 24%。我們將在此基礎上再接再厲，計劃今年推出幾款新的解決方案，以提高資源預測和現場承包等領域的效率。

As our customers evaluate and change their development models, it is incumbent upon ICON to understand their goals and support their evolving needs. Each customer situation is unique. But what most are seeking is a provider that can offer them innovative solutions with the flexibility and agility to adapt to the needs of their portfolios. Importantly, this evolves as customers acquire new companies, assets or adjust prioritization to a functional or full-service model in their portfolios. ICON's deep partnership experience and ability to customize solutions is a critical element of our differential advantage in the CRO market, providing value and delivering key outcomes with customers.

當我們的客戶評估和改變他們的開發模式時，ICON 有責任了解他們的目標並支援他們不斷變化的需求。每個顧客的情況都是獨一無二的。但大多數人尋求的是一家能夠為他們提供創新解決方案的供應商，能夠靈活、敏捷地適應其投資組合的需求。重要的是，隨著客戶收購新公司、新資產或調整其投資組合中的功能性或全方位服務模式的優先級，這種情況也會隨之發展。ICON 豐富的合作夥伴經驗和客製化解決方案的能力是我們在 CRO 市場中差異化優勢的關鍵要素，能夠為客戶提供價值並實現關鍵成果。

Embedded in our culture of innovation is our focus on the continued progression of automation across our organization. It not only fuels our ability to drive better solutions for our customers, but it has also enabled us to lead the industry in the adoption and implementation of robotic process automation, a tool that makes us more competitive and efficient organization. We exceeded our target of 3.5 million hours delivered in 2024 and are on the way to achieving over 5 million hours in 2025, which will save over $100 million in total costs annually compared to what they would have been without these automations. We have a number of key areas we're focused on improving this year, including pharmacovigilance, document management, laboratory services and internal processes across finance and commercial functions. In addition to the elements of our automation strategy that will enable us to better leverage our cost base across the organization, we have been executing our plans for further cost management.

我們的創新文化根植於我們對整個組織自動化持續進步的關注。它不僅增強了我們為客戶提供更好解決方案的能力，還使我們能夠在行業中引領採用和實施機器人流程自動化，這項工具使我們更具競爭力和更有效率的組織。我們超額完成了 2024 年 350 萬小時的目標，並預計在 2025 年實現超過 500 萬小時的目標，與沒有這些自動化相比，每年將節省超過 1 億美元的總成本。我們今年專注於改善多個關鍵領域，包括藥物警戒、文件管理、實驗室服務以及財務和商業職能的內部流程。除了我們的自動化策略要素能夠讓我們更好地利用整個組織的成本基礎之外，我們也一直在執行進一步的成本管理計畫。

ICON has a long track record of successful cost management. And as we continue to see the market volatility, we are taking measures to ensure our cost base is aligned to the demand environment. This began in quarter 4, and focuses primarily on the alignment of resources globally to support our customers' needs across all segments. Reflecting back on 2024. Despite the more challenging backdrop, our team delivered full year revenue growth of 2% and adjusted earnings per share of 9.5%, both on a full year and year-over-year basis.

ICON 在成本管理方面擁有長期的成功經驗。隨著市場波動不斷加劇，我們正在採取措施確保我們的成本基礎與需求環境保持一致。這項工作始於第四季度，主要專注於全球資源的協調，以支援各個領域的客戶需求。回顧2024年。儘管面臨更多挑戰，我們的團隊仍實現了全年營收成長 2%，調整後每股收益成長 9.5%，無論是全年還是同比。

Importantly, we also achieved our target on free cash flow of $1.1 billion for the full year, an increase of 10% over full year 2023. Amidst the market volatility we are experiencing currently, there are a number of areas across our business that are positively impacting our performance and positioned us for a return to targeted growth in the midterm. Our lab and early phase business are moving forward well, and we have seen continued strength in therapeutic areas such as cardiometabolic diseases as well as oncology with new award growth increasing in the double digits in both areas on a full-service basis in 2024. In quarter 4, we won a significant level of work from a new midsized customer in our biotech division with a well-positioned oncology pipeline. These program wins were attributable to the strong team and clear strategy at ICON, leveraged from the positive experience and solid relationships that our team had built with a smaller biotech that this midsized customer had acquired.

重要的是，我們也實現了全年 11 億美元的自由現金流目標，比 2023 年全年成長 10%。在當前我們經歷的市場波動中，我們業務中的許多領域都對我們的業績產生了積極影響，並使我們有望在中期恢復目標成長。我們的實驗室和早期業務進展順利，我們看到心臟代謝疾病以及腫瘤學等治療領域的持續強勁發展，到 2024 年，這兩個領域的全方位服務新獎項增長率都將達到兩位數。在第四季度，我們生物技術部門的一家新的中型客戶贏得了大量工作，該客戶擁有良好的腫瘤學產品線。這些專案的成功歸功於 ICON 強大的團隊和明確的策略，這得益於我們團隊與這家中型客戶收購的一家小型生物技術公司建立的積極經驗和牢固的關係。

While we are pleased to see the momentum in new awards in these important therapeutic areas and new partnerships, they will take time to contribute to revenue. We continue to expect that pass-through revenue mix will increase in the first half of 2025, which will pressure our EBITDA margin. From a bookings perspective, we are maintaining our target of a book-to-bill ratio of at least 1.2x our trailing 12-month basis, which we believe is supported by the overall opportunity flow we are seeing across the totality of our business.

雖然我們很高興看到這些重要治療領域的新獎項和新的合作夥伴關係的勢頭，但它們仍需要時間才能為收入做出貢獻。我們繼續預計，2025 年上半年直通收入結構將增加，這將對我們的 EBITDA 利潤率帶來壓力。從預訂量的角度來看，我們維持的訂單出貨比目標至少是過去 12 個月的 1.2 倍，我們相信這得到了我們在整個業務中看到的整體機會流的支持。

We saw good evidence of this already this year with a large Phase III full service award from 1 of our new strategic alliance partners in the cardiometabolic space in quarter 1. This underscores ICON's ability to elevate historically transactional relationships to the level of enterprise partnerships with our scaled and diversified offering. Our strong balance sheet position enables us to continue to execute our capital deployment strategy, prioritizing share repurchase activity in the short term, alongside highly strategic M&A transactions to further scale our service offerings.

今年我們已經看到了很好的證據，第一季我們從心臟代謝領域的一家新的策略聯盟夥伴那裡獲得了一筆大型的 III 期全方位服務獎。這凸顯了 ICON 能夠憑藉其規模化和多樣化的產品將歷史交易關係提升至企業合作夥伴關係的水平。我們強勁的資產負債表狀況使我們能夠繼續執行我們的資本配置策略，優先考慮短期內的股票回購活動，同時進行高度策略性的併購交易，以進一步擴大我們的服務範圍。

Finally, while we continue to work through a somewhat uncertain environment, I believe the fundamentals of our business and the market within which we operate remains strong, supporting an improved outlook in 2026. During this time, we are focusing on our core operations and customer delivery positioning ICON to emerge from this period as a more resilient organization able to take full advantage of the many opportunities that lie ahead.

最後，雖然我們繼續在有些不確定的環境中工作，但我相信我們的業務基本面和我們經營的市場依然強勁，支持 2026 年前景改善。在此期間，我們將專注於我們的核心業務和客戶交付，使 ICON 在這段時期脫穎而出，成為一個更具彈性的組織，能夠充分利用未來的許多機會。

Before I close out my prepared remarks, I want to thank all our employees at ICON for their efforts in 2024, a year in which we supported over 400 customers across 1,500 studies.

在結束我的準備好的演講之前，我想感謝 ICON 的所有員工在 2024 年所做的努力，在這一年中，我們為 1,500 項研究中的 400 多名客戶提供了支持。

I'll now hand it over to Nigel for a further review of our financial results. Nigel?

我現在將其交給奈傑爾，以便進一步審查我們的財務結果。奈傑爾？

Thanks, Steve. Revenue in quarter 4 was $2.04 billion, representing a year-on-year decrease of 1.2%. For the full year 2024, revenue was $8.28 billion, an increase of 2% over 2023. In quarter 4, overall customer concentration in our top 25 customers increased from quarter 3 2024. Our top 5 customers represented 26.2% of revenue in the quarter.

謝謝，史蒂夫。第四季營收為20.4億美元，年減1.2%。2024 年全年營收為 82.8 億美元，比 2023 年成長 2%。第四季度，我們前 25 大客戶的整體客戶集中度較 2024 年第三季增加。我們前五大客戶佔本季營收的 26.2%。

Our top 10 represented 42.3% while our top 25 represented 64.4%. Gross margin for the quarter was 29.6% and 29.7% for the year compared to 30.4% and 29.9% in quarter 4 and full year 2023, respectively. Total SG&A expense was $181 million in quarter 4 or 8.9% of revenue. For the full year, total SG&A expense was $727 million or 8.8% of revenue, a decline from total SG&A expense of $733 million or 9% of revenue for the full year 2023. Adjusted EBITDA was $423 million for the quarter or 20.7% of revenue.

我們的前 10 名佔 42.3%，而前 25 名佔 64.4%。本季毛利率為 29.6%，全年毛利率為 29.7%，而第四季和 2023 年全年分別為 30.4% 和 29.9%。第四季銷售、一般及行政開支總額為 1.81 億美元，佔營收的 8.9%。全年銷售、一般及行政管理費用總額為 7.27 億美元，佔營收的 8.8%，低於 2023 年全年銷售、一般及行政管理費用總額 7.33 億美元，佔營收的 9%。本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 4.23 億美元，佔營收的 20.7%。

In the comparable period last year, adjusted EBITDA was $448 million or 21.7% of revenue, representing a year-on-year decrease of 5.7%. For the full year 2024, adjusted EBITDA totaled $1.74 billion or 21% of revenue an increase of 2.5% over full year 2023 and a 10 basis point increase in adjusted EBITDA margin. Adjusted operating income for quarter 4 was $385 million, a margin of 18.9%. Net interest expense was $47 million for quarter 4 and $205 million for the full year 2024. On a full year basis, net interest expense declined $110 million or 35%.

去年同期，調整後 EBITDA 為 4.48 億美元，佔營收的 21.7%，年減 5.7%。2024 年全年，調整後的 EBITDA 總計 17.4 億美元，佔營收的 21%，較 2023 年全年成長 2.5%，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率增加 10 個基點。第四季調整後營業收入為 3.85 億美元，利潤率為 18.9%。第四季淨利息支出為 4,700 萬美元，2024 年全年淨利息支出為 2.05 億美元。全年來看，淨利息支出下降 1.1 億美元，降幅 35%。

The effective tax rate was 16.5% for the quarter as well as for the full year 2024. Adjusted net income for the quarter was $282 million, a margin of 13.8% equating to adjusted earnings per share of $3.43, a decrease of 0.9% year-over-year. For the year, we reported adjusted earnings per share of $14, an increase of 9.5% over 2023. In the fourth quarter, the company recorded $8 million of transaction and integration-related costs. U.S.

本季和 2024 年全年的有效稅率均為 16.5%。本季調整後淨收入為 2.82 億美元，利潤率為 13.8%，相當於調整後每股收益為 3.43 美元，年減 0.9%。我們報告今年的調整後每股收益為 14 美元，比 2023 年增長 9.5%。第四季度，該公司記錄了 800 萬美元的交易和整合相關成本。我們。

GAAP income from operations amounted to $297 million or 14.6% of revenue during quarter 4. U.S. GAAP net income in quarter 4 was $260 million or $3.16 per diluted share compared to $2.60 per share for the equivalent prior year period, an increase of 21.5%. For the year, we recorded U.S. GAAP net income per diluted share of $9.53, up from $7.40 in 2023.

第四季度，GAAP 營業收入為 2.97 億美元，佔營收的 14.6%。第四季美國 GAAP 淨收入為 2.6 億美元，即每股攤薄收入 3.16 美元，去年同期每股 2.60 美元，成長 21.5%。我們今年的美國 GAAP 每股攤薄淨利潤為 9.53 美元，高於 2023 年的 7.40 美元。

Net accounts receivable was $1.07 billion at December 31, 2024. This compares with a net accounts receivable balance of $1.17 billion at the end of quarter 3, 2024. DSO was 47 days at December 31, 2024, a decrease of 5 days from quarter 3, 2024 and flat from quarter 4, 2023. Cash from operating activities in the quarter was $338 million and free cash flow was $277 million in the quarter bringing our full year 2024 free cash flow to a total of $1.1 billion, in line with our target for the year and representing an increase of 10% over full year 2023.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日，淨應收帳款為 10.7 億美元。相較之下，2024 年第三季末的淨應收帳款餘額為 11.7 億美元。2024 年 12 月 31 日的 DSO 為 47 天，比 2024 年第三季減少 5 天，與 2023 年第四季持平。本季經營活動產生的現金為 3.38 億美元，本季自由現金流為 2.77 億美元，使我們 2024 年全年自由現金流總額達到 11 億美元，符合我們今年的目標，比 2023 年全年增長 10%。

At December 31, 2024, cash totaled $539 million and debt totaled $3.4 billion, leaving a net debt position of $2.9 billion. This compared to net debt of $2.7 billion at September 30, 2024, and net debt of $3.8 billion at December 31, 2023. We ended the quarter with a leverage ratio of 1.7x net debt to adjusted EBITDA. Our balance sheet is very strong but we remain disciplined as we consider opportunities for further capital deployment. Our overall strategy is focused in the near term on a balanced approach to deployment in favor of share repurchases as well as opportunistic M&A execution.

截至 2024 年 12 月 31 日，現金總額為 5.39 億美元，債務總額為 34 億美元，淨債務狀況為 29 億美元。相較之下，2024 年 9 月 30 日的淨債務為 27 億美元，2023 年 12 月 31 日的淨債務為 38 億美元。本季結束時，我們的淨負債與調整後 EBITDA 的槓桿率為 1.7 倍。我們的資產負債表非常強勁，但我們在考慮進一步資本部署的機會時仍保持紀律。我們近期的整體策略重點是採取平衡的部署方式，有利於股票回購以及機會性的併購執行。

We made significant share repurchases in quarter 4, totaling $400 million at an average price of $217 given our view on the dislocation in the valuation of the company, which brought our full year total share repurchase amount to $500 million in 2024 at an average price of $229. We plan to remain active in buying back shares in the near term and have secured an additional $750 million authorization from our Board of Directors, bringing our total current authorization to $1 billion. We will also continue to evaluate M&A opportunities to further scale our current service offerings in strategic areas that can support future growth. With that, we'll now open it up for questions.

鑑於我們對公司估值錯位的看法，我們在第四季度進行了大量股票回購，總額為 4 億美元，平均價格為 217 美元，這使我們 2024 年全年總股票回購額達到 5 億美元，平均價格為 229 美元。我們計劃在短期內繼續積極回購股票，並已從董事會獲得額外 7.5 億美元的授權，使我們目前的總授權金額達到 10 億美元。我們也將繼續評估併購機會，以進一步擴大我們在策略領域的現有服務範圍，以支持未來成長。現在，我們可以開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Justin Bowers, DB.

（操作員指令）賈斯汀鮑爾斯，DB。

Can you discuss the demand environment and how that's evolving for both large pharma and biotech customers? And then a quick follow-up on that is -- you talked about the strength in Phase I, and we've heard about that across the industry as well. And should we view that as a leading indicator for what's to come down the pipe in Phase 2 and beyond over the next year or 2?

您能討論一下大型製藥和生技客戶的需求環境及其發展嗎？然後快速的跟進一下——您談到了第一階段的優勢，我們整個行業也都聽說過這一點。我們是否應該將其視為未來一兩年內第二階段及以後發展的領先指標？

Sure, Justin. So in terms of what we're seeing in the environment for both large and biotech, I think as I said, our RFP numbers have been very solid. Certainly, the back end of the year, fourth quarter, they were up somewhat. And across the last 12 months, stable in the large pharma and up sort of low single digits in the biotech. So we're seeing some good opportunities come through the pipeline being reasonably full.

當然，賈斯汀。因此，就我們所看到的大型企業和生物技術企業的環境而言，我認為正如我所說的，我們的 RFP 數字非常穩健。當然，今年年底，也就是第四季度，它們有所上漲。在過去的 12 個月中，大型製藥公司的股價保持穩定，生技公司的股價則呈現個位數低漲。因此，我們看到一些好的機會透過相當充實的管道到來。

Of course, that needs to translate into wins and then revenue, of course. But overall, the demand environment we see has been pretty solid right across the segments there. So overall, I think we're in a good place there. In terms of early phase and bringing through, as I mentioned in my notes or in my scripted comments, we are seeing some improvements and some growth in our early phase business. It's a modest part of our overall organization, of course, but it's a very important part.

當然，這需要轉化為勝利，然後才是收入。但整體而言，我們看到各領域的需求環境都相當穩固。所以總的來說，我認為我們處於良好的狀態。就早期階段和實現而言，正如我在筆記或腳本評論中提到的那樣，我們看到早期業務有一些改進和成長。當然，這只是我們整個組織中很小的一部分，但卻是非常重要的一部分。

And we are seeing some nice uptick there, both from an RFP and a revenue point of view, not dramatic, but it's certainly a trend that we're liking to see. Whether that translates into more Phase II, Phase III business, I think, is something we could debate for days, but we won't do that. We haven't traditionally seen a lot of pull through Phase I through to Phase II, Phase III. But having said that, particularly with the smaller companies, the biotechs, there is some potential for that to happen. But I cautiously to make too much of a correlation between growth in Phase 1 and that subsequent to the same sort of growth in Phase 2, across the business, across the industry, there's a correlation, I believe, and I think good success or compounds coming through in Phase 1 will tend to lead to more opportunities in Phase II/III, but it's a fairly loose correlation, I would say.

無論從 RFP 還是收入的角度來看，我們都看到了一些不錯的上升趨勢，雖然不是很明顯，但這肯定是我們希望看到的趨勢。我認為，這是否會轉化為更多的第二階段、第三階段的業務，是我們可以爭論幾天的問題，但我們不會這樣做。傳統上，我們並未看到第一階段到第二階段、第三階段的大量進展。但話雖如此，特別是對於規模較小的公司、生技公司來說，這種情況還是有可能發生。但我謹慎地避免在第一階段的成長和隨後的第二階段的同類成長之間建立過多的關聯，我相信，在整個業務、整個行業中，存在著一種關聯，並且我認為在第一階段取得的良好成功或複合效應往往會為第二/第三階段帶來更多的機會，但我想說，這種關聯相當鬆散。

Patrick Donnelly, Citi.

花旗銀行的 Patrick Donnelly。

Steve, maybe on the back of that, it sounds like the demand environment, you sound okay on it in general, again, maybe a little bit of optimism in there. You obviously gave a very wide range, particularly on the earnings side to start the year a month ago. Are you feeling any different today than a month ago? Are things firming up a little bit? I guess when we think about that range, 13% to 15%, particularly what could lead us to the bottom end there?

史蒂夫，也許在此基礎上，聽起來就像是需求環境，你對此總體上感覺還不錯，也許其中有一點樂觀。顯然，您給出了一個非常廣泛的範圍，特別是關於一個月前年初的盈利方面。您今天的感覺與一個月前有什麼不同嗎？事情有一點點穩固嗎？我想，當我們考慮 13% 到 15% 這個範圍時，具體是什麼可能導致我們到達那裡的底端？

Or are you feeling a little bit better about maybe edging towards the midpoint or above. And then on the back of that, if I could, for Nigel, just how you think about the margins as we go through the year, the moving pieces, what are the cost actions you guys are looking at if things do soften a little bit.

或者您是否感覺好一點，可能接近中點或更高。在此基礎上，如果可以的話，對於奈傑爾來說，您如何看待這一年中的利潤率、變動因素，如果情況確實有所緩和，您會採取哪些成本行動。

Yes. Patrick, I really don't think the situation has changed much from where we were 4 to 6 weeks ago at JPM. We talked about -- we have provided a wide range because there is some caution, and we are seeing some volatility in the market. And so I don't have a lot more to say really from what we said is mixed. There is some -- there are some challenges out there.

是的。派崔克，我真的不認為摩根大通的情況與四到六週前相比發生了很大變化。我們討論過——我們提供了廣泛的範圍，因為存在一些謹慎因素，並且我們看到市場存在一些波動。因此，從我們所說的內容來看，我實際上沒有太多可說的。存在一些－存在一些挑戰。

There are certainly a number of opportunities out there, which would lead us to the upper end of that range, but there are also, of course, some risks there, which would push us in the bottom. So at the moment, we're, as I say, reaffirming guidance, we think that's the right thing to do. The range of guidance on both revenue and EPS remains the same because we're really only a month to month or so down the track. We'll, I think, be able to narrow that range as we get obviously further into the year. I'll leave Nigel with the margin question.

當然，有很多機會可以讓我們達到這個範圍的上限，但當然也存在一些風險，這些風險可能會讓我們跌到谷底。因此，正如我所說，目前我們正在重申指導方針，我們認為這是正確的做法。收入和每股盈餘的指導範圍保持不變，因為我們實際上只經歷了一個月左右的時間。我認為，隨著時間的推移，我們能夠縮小這個範圍。我將把利潤問題留給奈傑爾。

Yes, Patrick, so consistent on the margins as well from what you would have heard us say before, essentially. When you look at our full year margin in 2024 at an EBITDA level, it was about 21%. And for this year, just given some of the pressures we talked about before, particularly the pass-through Steve mentioned in H1, especially, we would expect our full year margins to be probably somewhere around 1% lower this year. Within that, lower in H1 and obviously then higher in H2, just given the cadence of some of that pass-through activity and also then the cost adjustment actions that are sort of ongoing at ICON typically. So hopefully, that gives you a flavor for us.

是的，帕特里克，從您之前聽到我們所說的內容來看，邊緣情況基本上是一致的。如果以 EBITDA 水準來衡量我們的 2024 年全年利潤率，則約為 21%。而就今年而言，考慮到我們之前談到的一些壓力，特別是史蒂夫提到的上半年的轉嫁壓力，我們預計今年全年利潤率可能會下降 1% 左右。其中，上半年較低，下半年顯然較高，這只是考慮到一些傳遞活動的節奏，以及 ICON 通常會進行的成本調整行動。所以希望這能讓您感受到我們的風格。

Luke Sergott, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的盧克‧塞戈特 (Luke Sergott)。

I just kind of wanted to get a sense of the 4Q bookings strength. You guys had a really big step-up there sequentially. Anything that we've seen outside of typical seasonality over the last few years. So can you just talk about like what the makeup of that bookings are more FSP or more like low-cost lower-priced business? Is there any type of trend there weighting towards a small versus large pharma?

我只是想了解一下第四季的預訂實力。你們在那裡取得了巨大的進步。過去幾年我們看到的任何與典型季節性無關的現象。那麼，您能否談談這些預訂的構成更多的是 FSP 還是更像低成本低價業務？是否存在某種趨勢，傾向小型製藥公司而非大型製藥公司？

And then kind of how this leads into your jump off into Q1 and how we should think about that?

那麼這會如何引出您進入 Q1 的問題以及我們應該如何看待這個問題？

Sure, Luke. The strength in Q4 was probably more around the biotech segment actually in terms of the wins we are able to secure. We brought in a number -- a couple of significant full-service biotech opportunities, which I think will all go well as they start up, albeit there's always a ramp-up period. Large pharma was more muted, I would say, in Q4. But overall, we were very pleased with the gross number that we're able to pick up cancellations.

當然，盧克。從我們能夠獲得的勝利來看，第四季的優勢實際上可能更多地來自於生物技術領域。我們引入了一些重要的全方位服務生物技術機會，我認為這些機會在啟動時都會進展順利，儘管總會有一個上升期。我想說，大型製藥公司在第四季的表現比較低調。但總體而言，我們對取消訂單的總數感到非常滿意。

As I mentioned in my call -- in my notes, were a little elevated, and that was sort of across the different segments. Nothing -- perhaps a little bit more in large pharma actually in the end rather than biotech. But again, fairly well spread and no particular therapeutic area there. So we were pleased with the improvement in the wins on the biotech side of things, and that's continued in terms of the opportunities that we're seeing. They're not quite ready to declare victory.

正如我在電話會議中提到的那樣 - 在我的筆記中，水平有所提高，並且這種提高涉及不同的部分。沒有什麼——也許最終大型製藥公司實際上比生物技術公司多一點。但同樣，此病傳播相當廣泛，且沒有特定的治療領域。因此，我們對生物技術方面的勝利的改善感到高興，而且就我們所看到的機會而言，這種勝利還在繼續。他們還沒準備好宣布勝利。

But we do see some green shoots in that space and then some opportunity as we get into 2025, obviously, and then in 2026. And so we'll play that through. We need to continue that momentum, if you like, from a business development point of view. And I think we have the pipeline to be able to do that, and that should then start to translate into some solid revenue gains as we get later in this year and into 2026.

但我們確實看到了該領域的一些復甦跡象，而且顯然在 2025 年和 2026 年將會出現一些機會。所以我們會把這個玩法講完。如果你願意，從業務發展的角度來看，我們需要繼續保持這種勢頭。我認為我們有能力做到這一點，並且到今年晚些時候以及 2026 年，這將開始轉化為穩定的收入成長。

Ann Hynes, Mizuho.

安海因斯（Ann Hynes）、瑞穗（Mizuho）。

Can you talk about pricing trends in both segments, biotech and large pharma just competitive pricing trends? And also in relation to your last question, on the biotech strength, do you think you're gaining share from competitors? Or do you think it's just the underlying market gaining strength again?

您能談談生物技術和大型製藥領域的定價趨勢以及競爭性定價趨勢嗎？另外關於您的最後一個問題，就生技實力而言，您認為您是否正在從競爭對手那裡獲得市場份額？還是您認為這只是基礎市場再次走強？

Let me take the biotech one first, and then I'm going to hand over to Barry to talk a bit more about pricing trends that he's seen within these segments. I think it's a little early to get too bullish around gaining share on the biotech market. And we have -- we have some work to do there. I think we've made some solid progress, but I think we still have some work to do. We're pleased with the opportunities we're seeing.

讓我先談談生物技術領域，然後我將把時間交給 Barry，讓他進一步談談他在這些領域看到的定價趨勢。我認為現在對在生物技術市場上獲得份額過於樂觀還為時過早。而且我們——我們在那裡還有一些工作要做。我認為我們已經取得了一些實質的進展，但我認為我們還有一些工作要做。我們對所看到的機會感到高興。

I was very pleased with the business development performance. We now need to turn that into solid operational performance and revenue. And I'd like to get that question again in a quarter or 2 because I think at that point, we'll be able to sort of be a bit more definitive about the progress we're making in terms of market share. Happy with progress, but I think more to do in that space.

我對業務發展表現非常滿意。我們現在需要將其轉化為穩健的營運績效和收入。我希望在一兩個季度後再次回答這個問題，因為我認為到那時，我們將能夠更明確地了解我們在市場份額方面取得的進展。對進展感到高興，但我認為在該領域還有很多事情要做。

Pricing trends, Barry?

定價趨勢，巴里？

I don't think there's a whole lot to report on in terms of changes on competitiveness or otherwise of pricing. It's always been competitive. It remains the case. I think in the biotech space, we tend to compete on the amount of certainty and clarity we can give to customers, not just straight up sticker price on a particular study. So the quality of strategy, the experience and indications, the degree to which we can bring not only speed but also predictability tends, honestly, if anything, to be a bigger factor than the last couple of points on price.

我認為，在競爭力或定價方面的變化方面，沒有太多值得報告的內容。競爭一直很激烈。情況依然如此。我認為在生技領域，我們傾向於在向客戶提供的確定性和清晰度方面展開競爭，而不僅僅是某項特定研究的標價。因此，策略的品質、經驗和跡象，以及我們能夠帶來的速度和可預測性的程度，老實說，如果有的話，比價格的最後幾點更重要。

And as we've said before, in large pharma, the real competition on price tends to be at these periodic refresh points for the large preferred providerships rather than at the point of award of individual studies. So nothing really to report in terms of how that played out in the quarter, certainly nothing different than previously reported quarters.

正如我們之前所說，在大型製藥公司中，真正的價格競爭往往發生在大型優先供應商的定期更新點，而不是在單一研究授予時。因此，就本季的表現而言，沒有什麼可報告的，肯定與先前報告的季度沒有什麼不同。

David Windley, Jefferies.

傑富瑞（Jefferies）的戴維·溫德利（David Windley）。

And Barry, congrats on the promotion. I'm going to ask a multi-parter maybe predictably but I'll headline it by saying my driving point here, Steve, is around kind of burn rate essentially and getting that some of the points you made about still slow decision-making. So the trend in the industry and that's gotten a lot of lip service has been FSP. We got that back in a couple of different surveys. But -- and my point there, I guess, is that FSP and particularly the way you guys book FSP and backlog would drive a higher burn rate.

巴里，祝賀你升職。我將要問一個多方問題，這可能是可以預見的，但我首先要說的是，史蒂夫，我在這裡的推動點本質上是關於燒錢率，並了解到你提到的一些關於決策仍然緩慢的觀點。因此，產業趨勢和得到很多口頭支持的就是 FSP。我們在幾項不同的調查中得到了這個答案。但是 — — 我的觀點是，FSP，特別是你們預訂 FSP 和積壓訂單的方式會導致更高的燒錢率。

But then ICON has actually won a couple of full-service partnerships that you've highlighted recently, and I'm not clear on how much business from those partnerships might be flowing into backlog and that might have an opposite effect on burn rate. So punchline here is you talked about burn rate being slower. You talked about still slow decision-making. I'm curious about how FSP mix is shifting in your business and backlog. I just want to hear you talk out more how the demand environment that sounds like it's getting better is not necessarily immediately translating into a revenue outlook that you had to guide a little lower when you came out in January.

但 ICON 實際上已經贏得了您最近強調的幾個全方位服務合作夥伴關係，我不清楚這些合作夥伴關係中有多少業務可能會流入積壓訂單，這可能會對燒錢率產生相反的影響。因此，這裡的妙處在於你談到燃燒率變慢了。您剛才談到決策過程仍然緩慢。我很好奇 FSP 組合在您的業務和積壓訂單中是如何變化的。我只是想聽您多談談，聽起來越來越好的需求環境並不一定會立即轉化為您在一月份發佈時必須稍微降低的收入前景。

That's okay, Dave. We know you well. You've almost answered your own question, Dave, to be honest with you, because you've got it pretty much right. FSP certainly does burn more consistently, more reliably and faster and full service less so. And of course, we wait for ramp up.

沒關係，戴夫。我們很了解你。戴夫，老實說，你幾乎已經回答了你自己的問題，因為你的回答基本上正確。FSP 的確燃燒得更穩定、更可靠、更快速，但全方位服務則不然。當然，我們等待產量上升。

And there's often there are probably more delays with a full service sort of project, particularly in the biotech space, some of those delays relate to decision-making and how quickly we can get started. I was really pleased with our performance in the quarter in relation to -- and I think you mentioned a couple of the strategic partnerships, new strategic partnerships that we won and we've been able to secure work from actually 2 of those new strategic partnerships that has gone into the backlog and that will play through certainly starting in this year, but it will have a limited impact because again, it's a relatively slow burn. And they are full-service projects that will help us to deliver a really solid margins. So there's a number of things pros and cons, tailwinds and headwinds on that. The FSP work that we won wasn't any more than we normally expect to win in a quarter.

全方位服務專案通常可能會出現更多延遲，特別是在生物技術領域，其中一些延遲與決策以及我們開始的速度有關。我對我們本季的表現感到非常滿意——我想您提到了我們贏得的幾個戰略合作夥伴關係、新戰略合作夥伴關係，實際上我們已經能夠從其中兩個新戰略合作夥伴關係中獲得工作，這些合作夥伴關係已經積壓，並且肯定會從今年開始發揮作用，但影響有限，因為再次強調，這是一個相對緩慢的過程。這些都是全方位服務的項目，能夠幫助我們達到真正可觀的利潤。因此，這方面有許多優點和缺點、有利和不利因素。我們贏得的 FSP 工作並不比我們通常預計在一個季度內贏得的多。

So to the extent that, that will maintain or help us maintain the burn rate, the full service might slow it down a little bit. So I'll ask Nigel to maybe comment a little bit on the burn rate going forward because that is an area that we're obviously working on very hard to progress.

因此，在能夠維持或幫助我們維持燒錢率的範圍內，全方位服務可能會稍微減慢燒錢速度。因此，我想請奈傑爾就未來的燒錢率發表一些評論，因為這是我們顯然正在努力推進的領域。

Yes, Dave, getting back to the point, I don't think really FSP is any materially different in terms of proportion of our business than it has been if that was part of your underlying question. So that's not really a driver. It's more to the point Steve said, and you've heard us talk about before, we are seeing, obviously, a broader trend of more complex trials, which do take longer to start up and so on. We do continue to see delays in biotechs just driving forward with awards that have been already made. So those trends still are there.

是的，戴夫，回到正題，如果這是你潛在問題的一部分的話，我認為 FSP 在我們業務的比例方面與過去並沒有什麼實質性的不同。所以這並不是真正的驅動因素。正如史蒂夫所說，你之前也聽我們討論過，我們顯然看到一種更廣泛的趨勢，即試驗變得更加複雜，啟動時間也變得更長等等。我們確實看到生物技術公司在繼續推遲已經頒發的獎項的頒發。因此這些趨勢仍然存在。

And then to Steve's point, we've had some nice wins on the full service side as well. So we obviously exited the year at about 8.4% burn rate. So I'd say it will be in the low 8s again through the course of the year, broadly similar.

正如史蒂夫所說，我們在全方位服務方面也取得了一些不錯的勝利。因此，我們今年的燒錢率顯然約為 8.4%。因此，我認為全年這個數字將再次徘徊在 8% 以下，大致相似。

Jailendra Singh, Truist Securities.

Jailendra Singh，Truist Securities。

I want to go back to biotech market. It looks like you're calling trends there, still relatively mixed, some positive sign, but still some delayed decision-making. How do I reconcile that with a commentary from some of your peers? One of your peers pointed to pretty stable trends there. Another CRO talked about funding still being a challenge.

我想回到生技市場。看起來你所說的趨勢仍然相對混雜，有一些積極的跡象，但仍然有一些延遲的決策。我該如何將此與某些同行的評論相協調呢？您的一位同事指出那裡的趨勢相當穩定。另一位 CRO 表示資金仍然是一個挑戰。

Is that primarily a function of type of biotech clients you work with and related to that, as you guys -- have you guys been able to figure out 1 or 2 things which might be driving these decision-making delays? And what kind of catalyst or clarity they're looking for.

這主要取決於您合作的生物技術客戶類型嗎？以及他們正在尋找什麼樣的催化劑或清晰度。

Yes, it's a multifactorial question, that one, Jailendra. I think you characterized it well. We are seeing continued volatility and continued sort of mixed environment in the biotech space. I think last year 2024 was a good year overall from a biotech funding or capital raising perspective. But it was volatile and it was up and down.

是的，這是一個多因素的問題，賈倫德拉。我認為你描述得很準確。我們看到生物技術領域持續波動且環境混雜。我認為從生技融資或籌資的角度來看，2024 年整體來說是好的一年。但它極不穩定，時大時小。

And I think I got whiplash looking at the numbers each month. So -- and I think what -- also, if you look at -- if you dig into the sort of characteristics of that, it wasn't particularly well spread across a large number of -- it was concentrated in certain biotechs who had some very good signs or some very good opportunities. And so when it's not distributed as evenly as you'd like, it probably continues to challenge us in terms of how those customers, particularly the ones who weren't so well funded allocate their capital. So I do think that's a component of the volatility and the challenge that we see in the biotech environment going forward.

我覺得每個月看到這些數字我都快被嚇傻了。所以 — — 而且我認為 — — 此外，如果你看一下 — — 如果你深入研究它的特徵，你會發現它並沒有特別好地分佈在大量領域 — — 它集中在某些具有非常好的跡像或非常好的機會的生物技術公司中。因此，當資金分配不如您所願時，我們可能會繼續面臨挑戰，即如何讓那些客戶，特別是那些資金不太充足的客戶分配他們的資本。因此，我確實認為這是我們未來生物技術環境中波動性和挑戰的一個因素。

Notwithstanding that, as I say, the RFPs were in a reasonably solid place, up, as I said, low single digits. We would like to think and we would expect that, that will continue. And if we see continued development and upticking of the capital markets, I think we're starting to see some green shoots there. I don't think I'm quite ready to declare victory. But we do see some optimistic signs in the biotech segment, and it's an area that I think we're very focused on, and I think we can make some good market share gains in the more medium term.

儘管如此，正如我所說，RFP 處於一個相當穩固的位置，正如我所說，上升了個位數。我們希望並且期望這種情況能夠持續下去。如果我們看到資本市場的持續發展和上漲，我認為我們將開始看到一些復甦的跡象。我認為我還沒有準備好宣布勝利。但我們確實在生物技術領域看到了一些樂觀的跡象，我認為這是我們非常關注的領域，我認為我們可以在中期內獲得良好的市場份額成長。

Jack Meehan, Nephron Research.

傑克‧米漢（Jack Meehan），腎元研究室。

Just had a guidance question for you, which is great to hear from you, what your visibility into the 2025 revenue forecast is in terms of revenue coverage, I know some of your peers provide that stat, just be helpful to hear that. And then also, what sort of book-to-bill do you think you need in order to hit the forecast to kind of make up whatever gap there is?

我剛剛向您提出了一個指導性問題，很高興收到您的來信，就收入覆蓋率而言，您對 2025 年收入預測的預見是什麼，我知道您的一些同行提供了該統計數據，聽到這些很有幫助。而且，您認為需要什麼樣的訂單出貨比才能達到預測，從而彌補存在的差距？

So Nigel might take that one, Jack, if you don't mind?

所以奈傑爾可能會選擇這個，傑克，如果你不介意的話？

Yes. Jack, I mean, obviously, we've talked about there is increased uncertainty. There is volatility out there. That is why we've given a wider range. So forgive me if we're not going to give you more specifics in terms of coverage, et cetera.

是的。傑克，我的意思是，顯然我們已經討論過不確定性的增加。那裡存在波動。這就是我們提供更廣泛範圍的原因。因此，如果我們不能向您提供有關覆蓋範圍等方面的更多具體信息，請原諒我。

Frankly, at this point, it's early in the year. Steve talked about the various pieces that are moving around, but again, we've reaffirmed the range. And let's keep plugging through the year.

坦白說，目前來說，今年還處於初期。史蒂夫談到了正在移動的各種部件，但我們再次重申了範圍。讓我們繼續努力度過這一年。

And I think from a book-to-bill, Jack, as I mentioned, we're targeting 1.2x. I think there possibly will be some volatility in that number, but that 1.2x on a trailing 12-month basis is the target that we have. It's the -- and we would like to think we would expect to be very close to that on a trailing 12 month, but I think there quite will be some volatility in that number.

傑克，正如我所提到的那樣，我認為從訂單出貨比來看，我們的目標是 1.2 倍。我認為這個數字可能會有一些波動，但過去 12 個月的 1.2 倍是我們的目標。這是——我們希望在未來 12 個月內能夠非常接近這個數字，但我認為這個數字會有相當大的波動。

Max Smock, William Blair.

馬克斯·斯莫克，威廉·布萊爾。

Congrats, Barry on the new role. I wanted to follow up on some of the COVID commentary you all made during the prepared remarks. Just on the BARDA COVID contract specifically, how much of that is still in your backlog? And how much are you baking into revenue from the contract this year at the midpoint? And how much should we expect to remain as we head into 2026?

恭喜巴里獲得新職位。我想跟進一下大家在準備好的發言中對 COVID 的評論。具體來說，就 BARDA COVID 合約而言，您還積壓了多少合約？今年合約中期收益是多少？那麼，當我們進入 2026 年時，我們預計還會剩下多少呢？

We have -- the BARDA work is still in our backlog. The COVID work is still in our backlog at about a low single-digit number. As I said in my prepared remarks, one of those studies is moving ahead very actively. We're -- I think it's actually today, we start screening or in a couple of days, we start screening. The other one has been delayed for unrelated -- for reasons unrelated to funding to the more technical aspects of the trial.

我們——BARDA 的工作仍然積壓著。我們積壓的 COVID 工作數量仍然大約是個位數。正如我在準備好的演講中所說，其中一項研究正在非常積極地推進。我認為我們實際上是今天就開始篩檢，或者過幾天就開始篩檢。另一項試驗因與試驗技術方面資金無關的原因而被延後。

But we -- that has not been canceled. It remains in our backlog. We would hope -- it's more hope than expectation that, that would come back towards the back end of the year. And that's what we're -- that's what we're planning for or expecting. But we're being careful as we forecast and the reaffirmation of guidance, as I said, makes -- takes all of that into consideration, Max.

但我們——這並沒有被取消。它仍在我們的積壓工作中。我們希望——更多的是希望而不是期望，這一數字將在年底恢復。這就是我們所計劃或期待的。但是我們在預測和重申指導方針時要非常謹慎，正如我所說的那樣，我們會把所有這些都考慮進去，馬克斯。

So the COVID work remains important to us. The vaccine work remains important to us. But it's not a huge part of our portfolio or backlog. Vaccine work is in the low single digits, sort of on the backlog side of things. So while it's important because it burns fast back to Dave's question, it gets moving quickly.

因此，對抗 COVID 的工作對我們來說仍然很重要。疫苗工作對我們來說仍然很重要。但它並不是我們投資組合或積壓訂單的重要組成部分。疫苗接種工作目前處於個位數的低位，有點積壓的狀態。因此，雖然它很重要，因為它很快就會回到戴夫的問題，但它很快就會開始行動。

It's not a huge part of our portfolio. And so I'll leave it at that.

它不是我們投資組合中很大的一部分。我就不多說了。

Yes. So Max, obviously, we won't give the individual contract contributions as we never do in our business. But in totality across the business in terms of the COVID contribution for the year, we would expect it would tick up a bit from the full year '24 in that and represents about low single digits in totality for COVID-related business in 2025.

是的。所以馬克斯，很明顯，我們不會提供個人合約捐款，因為我們在業務中從來沒有這樣做過。但就全年 COVID 業務的貢獻而言，我們預計它將比 24 年全年略有上升，到 2025 年 COVID 相關業務的貢獻總額將達到約個位數。

Michael Cherny, Leerink.

邁克爾·切爾尼（Michael Cherny），Leerink。

This is Ahmed Muhammad on for Michael Cherny. I know that you mentioned you are managing costs in the volatile operating environment, which is obviously prudent. How are you thinking about the trade-off on these off cutting versus your views on growth?

這是艾哈邁德‧穆罕默德 (Ahmed Muhammad)，取代麥可‧切爾尼 (Michael Cherny)。我知道您提到在動盪的營運環境中管理成本，這顯然是謹慎的。您如何看待這些削減與您的成長觀點之間的權衡？

I think I got your question related to costs in relation to the delivering the work. I think that the trade-offs there. I mean, obviously, we're a somewhat challenging, and we call it a transition year 2025 as we move through. We do have to be very active in aligning our cost base with the work that we have in the backlog and the work that's burning in the backlog. I'll ask Barry to comment a little bit in a minute because he has, overall, the largest part of the business in terms of our cost allocations.

我想我已經知道您關於完成工作所需成本的問題了。我認為存在著權衡。我的意思是，顯然，我們面臨一些挑戰，我們稱 2025 年為過渡年。我們確實必須非常積極地將我們的成本基礎與我們積壓的工作和積壓的工作結合起來。稍後我將請巴里發表一點評論，因為從成本分配方面來看，他總體上佔據了業務的最大份額。

But there is certainly some work being done to realign those costs and to maintain our margins and to get to where we want to be from an EPS point of view, and that's we're very active on that, and we've got a good track record of doing that. So we won't be too specific about where those cost reductions are happening, but it is something that's obviously occupying us pretty assiduously at the moment. Do you want to comment more?

但確實我們正在做一些工作來重新調整這些成本，保持我們的利潤率，並從每股收益的角度達到我們想要的目標，而且我們在這方面非常積極，而且我們在這方面有著良好的記錄。因此，我們不會太具體地說明這些成本削減發生在哪裡，但這顯然是我們目前正在非常努力地做的事情。您想發表更多評論嗎？

Yes. I think as Steve said, cost control is an ongoing competence at ICON. It's nothing out of the ordinary. And for us, we obviously manage our cost base in order to ensure that we execute on growth opportunities where they exist or make adjustments where appropriate. So we're certainly continuing to invest in the business where there's opportunities to accelerate growth, and we'll manage our costs appropriately in order to do that.

是的。我認為正如史蒂夫所說，成本控制是 ICON 的持續能力。這沒什麼不尋常的。對我們來說，我們顯然要管理我們的成本基礎，以確保我們能夠抓住現有的成長機會或在適當的時候做出調整。因此，我們肯定會繼續投資於有機會加速成長的業務，並且會適當地管理成本以實現這一目標。

Elizabeth Anderson, Evercore ISI.

伊麗莎白·安德森（Elizabeth Anderson），Evercore ISI。

I was wondering, one, if you could talk about sort of the growth of FSP and bookings versus, say, a year ago? Is that sort of still on trend to see sort of a softening and maybe a more balance between FSO and FSP in the bookings. Secondly, can you talk about anything that would change your typical free cash flow conversion in 2025 versus what we saw in 2024?

我想知道，第一，您能否談談與一年前相比 FSP 和預訂量的增長？這種趨勢是否仍然會出現，即看到 FSO 和 FSP 之間的預訂量有所減弱，甚至更加平衡。其次，您能否談談與 2024 年相比，2025 年的典型自由現金流轉換有何變化？

Okay. Elizabeth, I'll let Barry have a crack at the FSP question, and then Nigel might talk about cash flow.

好的。伊莉莎白，我會讓巴里解答一下 FSP 問題，然後奈傑爾可能會談談現金流。

I think I'll just repeat what Steve said a little earlier, Elizabeth, which is FSP hasn't changed fundamentally as proportion of our business. I think that's reflected, generally speaking, in the awards in the backlog and in the revenue. So nothing material there. Obviously, there's waxes and wanes on individual customers across quarter-to-quarter. But as a percentage of the overall business, I don't honestly have anything to report as a departure there.

伊莉莎白，我想我只是重複史蒂夫剛才說的話，即 FSP 在我們的業務中所佔的比例並沒有發生根本性的變化。我認為，一般來說，這反映在積壓獎項和收入中。因此那裡沒有任何實質的東西。顯然，各季度中個人客戶的數量都有所增減。但作為整體業務的一部分，老實說，我並沒有什麼可以報告的偏離。

Nigel, perhaps you take the free cash flow?

奈傑爾，也許你會利用自由現金流？

Yes, Elizabeth. So cash flow, we obviously continue to manage cash flow very strongly. The company has a good record on that and finished 2024 really well, hitting the $1.1 billion free cash flow target that we set out. Within the year, you will have seen us mention before, there was an uptick in our unbilled revenue amount during the year of about $400 million through the end of Q3 and we did manage to start to make some inroads into that in Q4. It came down by about $75 million, but there still remains north of $300 million of a disconnect there, i.e.

是的，伊麗莎白。因此，我們顯然會繼續大力管理現金流。該公司在這方面有著良好的記錄，並在 2024 年取得了非常好的成績，實現了我們設定的 11 億美元的自由現金流目標。在這一年中，您可能已經看到我們之前提到過，截至第三季末，我們的未開票收入金額上升了約 4 億美元，並且我們確實在第四季度開始取得一些進展。雖然下降了約 7500 萬美元，但仍存在 3 億美元的缺口，即。

revenue was ahead of billings.

收入超過帳單。

So inherently, that should impact free cash flow for this year to the tune of around that amount. Obviously, we are working hard to try and mitigate the impact of that as we go through the year. And again, pleased to see we've already made some progress on that in the fourth quarter. But directionally, you should expect it to be lower than 2024 because of that factor.

因此，從本質上講，這將對今年的自由現金流產生約該數額的影響。顯然，我們正在努力嘗試並試圖減輕這一影響。我很高興看到我們在第四季度已經取得了一些進展。但從方向上看，由於這個因素，你應該預期它會低於 2024 年。

Casey Woodring, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的凱西‧伍德林 (Casey Woodring)。

My first is just -- you talked about customers evaluating and changing development models. And you also mentioned some of the new solutions you're launching. Can you just elaborate on that? Are these new solutions something customers are now asking for -- and also curious if customers have shifted their percentage of outsourcing spend versus in-sourcing here as a result of these changing development models. And if you still assume that 100 to 200 basis points of annual outsourcing penetration in the market moving forward.

我的第一個問題是—您談到了客戶評估和改變開發模型。您還提到了您正在推出的一些新解決方案。能詳細解釋一下嗎？這些新的解決方案是否是客戶現在所要求的？如果你仍然假設未來市場外包滲透率每年將達到 100 到 200 個基點。

Okay. Casey, you got your 3 questions and they're nicely done. I'll let Barry go with the development model.

好的。凱西，你提出了 3 個問題，而且回答得很好。我會讓巴里採用開發模式。

I think when we talk about changing development models, what we're really talking about is matching their partnering or sourcing strategy to their revolving development strategy. And insofar as we've called out a trend largely among the more established companies. It has been that, by and large, everybody is doing some work in-house, some work on an in-source and some work on an outsourced basis. And we've tried to make a virtue out of meeting customers where they are and customizing our solutions to account for their preferences. So yes, that certainly is a very major point of engagement with our customers.

我認為，當我們談論改變發展模式時，我們真正談論的是將他們的合作夥伴或採購策略與他們的循環發展策略相匹配。就我們目前所見，這種趨勢主要出現在較成熟的公司。整體而言，每個人都在內部做一些工作，在內部進行一些工作，在外包一些工作。我們致力於根據客戶需求客製化解決方案，滿足他們的喜好，從而實現共贏。是的，這確實是我們與客戶互動的一個非常重要的點。

There's not a one-size-fits-all approach. And that's been something that's played out very well for us as we've seen that heightened period of activity for preferred providership refreshes and re-ups over the last 18 months or so. Of course, we are blending new capabilities when we talk about new solutions. It's not just about how we blend the modalities. It's about new capabilities.

並不存在一種放諸四海皆準的方法。這對我們來說是一件非常好的事情，因為我們看到在過去的 18 個月左右優先供應商更新和重新簽約的活動非常活躍。當然，當我們談論新的解決方案時，我們正在融合新的能力。這不僅關乎我們如何融合各種模式。這是關於新功能的事情。

And Steve already alluded to, I think I spoke about when we win, it tends to be because we can apply our processes, our systems, our technologies to demonstrate greater confidence in trial execution planning. So time to start, better predictability recruitment rates, increased site performance and ultimately reduce time and cost. So these are certainly things that we tend to see.

史蒂夫已經提到過，我想我談到當我們獲勝時，往往是因為我們可以運用我們的流程、我們的系統、我們的技術來展示對試驗執行計劃的更大信心。因此，現在就開始吧，提高招募率的可預測性，提高站點效能，最終減少時間和成本。所以這些肯定是我們傾向於看到的事情。

To the tail end of your question about FSO/FSP dynamics, I think there are certainly more people doing some FSP than there were 5 years ago. But as I said, I think it was to [Elizabeth], there isn't a material difference in the proportion of our business that is FSO or FSP. As we move towards these blended solutions, we tend to be doing both models with a greater proportion of our customers and we tend to be incumbent with a greater proportion of that customer universe. So nothing major to report in terms of the proportionality of FSO and FSP, but certainly those conversations focusing on blending and making sure we are better able to customize those models.

關於你關於 FSO/FSP 動態的問題的結尾，我認為現在做 FSP 的人肯定比 5 年前多。但正如我所說的，我認為對伊麗莎白來說，我們的業務中 FSO 或 FSP 的比例並沒有實質差異。當我們轉向這些混合解決方案時，我們傾向於對更大比例的客戶採用兩種模式，並且我們傾向於承擔更大比例的客戶群的責任。因此，在 FSO 和 FSP 的比例方面沒有什麼重要的事情要報告，但這些討論肯定側重於融合並確保我們能夠更好地自訂這些模型。

And then just on the outsourcing spend and the penetration, Casey, we remain pretty positive and pretty constructive in the long term in terms of R&D budgets moving ahead, an outsourcing spend continuing to penetrate has continued to move up at around 100 bps a year. That's what we've seen really over the last, I don't know, 15 or 20 years ever since I've been doing this in this business. And while it might go down and up a little bit year-to-year, we remain pretty constructive on the market. The value, I think that our industry and it's not just ICON, but our industry brings to the pharma, I think most enlightened pharma development managers really do recognize the flexibility, the innovation and the can-do approach that we take. And I think that's -- that's something that our industry brings to pharma development.

然後就外包支出和滲透率而言，Casey，就未來的研發預算而言，從長遠來看，我們仍然非常積極和具有建設性，外包支出的滲透率持續以每年約 100 個基點的速度增長。自從我從事這個行業以來，我不知道已經有 15 年或 20 年了，我們確實看到這種情況。儘管它可能逐年下降或上升，但我們對市場仍然持相當樂觀的態度。我認為，我們的行業（不僅僅是 ICON）為製藥業帶來的價值是，我認為大多數開明的製藥開發經理確實認識到我們採取的靈活性、創新性和積極進取的態度。我認為這是我們的產業為製藥業發展帶來的貢獻。

And I think that's going to continue, and I think that's going to continue to allow our market to continue to grow.

我認為這種情況將會持續下去，我認為這將會使我們的市場繼續成長。

Charles Rhyee, TD Cowen.

查爾斯·瑞（Charles Rhyee），TD Cowen。

This is Lucas on for Charles. I wanted to ask about elevated cancellations in 4Q, just if there's any common themes amongst these cancellations, obviously, a big step up in 4Q and then in terms of that trend kind of moving forwards, others have indicated that cancellations could continue into the early part of 2025. So I guess, what are your guys' expectations for this trend moving forward? And then is there any assumption built into your revenue guide that assumes this does continuing forward?

盧卡斯代替查爾斯上場。我想問一下第四季度取消量上升的情況，這些取消量是否有任何共同點，顯然，第四季度取消量大幅上升，就這種趨勢而言，其他人表示，取消量可能會持續到 2025 年初。那我想問一下，你們對於這趨勢的未來發展有何期待呢？那麼，您的收入指南中是否存在任何假設，表明這種情況會持續下去？

Yes. As I said in my prepared remarks, we saw it was a fairly even spread across the business in terms of the cancellations, not just for Q4, but as we look back over 2024 in its entirety. So nothing much really to call out there, possibly a little bit more in the large pharma space over the full year. But as we've said, biotech continued to be challenged a little bit in terms of their availability capital and I would expect the cancellations would continue to be on the higher side of normal. I'll put it that way, as we go through 2025.

是的。正如我在準備好的發言中所說的那樣，我們發現，就取消量而言，整個業務的分佈相當均勻，不僅是第四季度，而且回顧整個 2024 年。因此，實際上沒有什麼可說的，全年而言，大型製藥領域的成長可能會稍微多一些。但正如我們所說的那樣，生物技術在可用資本方面繼續面臨一些挑戰，我預計取消的數量將繼續高於正常水平。我會這樣說，因為我們將迎來 2025 年。

And until we're really in a situation where the capital markets are really back and fully available to biotech. Some of the science has been flushed out, some of the more fragile science has been flushed out, if I could put it that way. I think we'll find that it will be a little bit more on the elevated side. Having said that, we were very pleased, as I said, with our gross booking number and the opportunities in the pipeline. I think it suggests that can continue at our targeted rate.

直到我們真正處於資本市場真正回歸並完全向生物技術開放的境地。一些科學已經被沖走，一些比較脆弱的科學已經被沖走，如果我可以這樣說的話。我認為我們會發現它會稍微偏高一些。話雖如此，正如我所說，我們對我們的總預訂數量和即將獲得的機會感到非常滿意。我認為這表明我們的目標利率可以繼續維持。

And I think we've got some real opportunity there. So overall, we're very optimistic, notwithstanding the fact that we do believe the cancels will be sort of perhaps a more elevated factor part of our life going forward. And that is all contemplated and considered as we've done the guide and the -- as we reaffirm our guidance as well. We've thought that through. We've made some projections on that front, and we believe we've taken that all into account.

我認為我們在那裡確實有一些機會。因此，總體而言，我們非常樂觀，儘管我們確實相信取消可能會成為我們未來生活中更重要的因素。我們在製定指南時已經考慮並考慮了這些，並且我們也重申了我們的指導。我們已經仔細考慮過了。我們在這方面做出了一些預測，我們相信我們已經將所有這些都考慮在內了。

Matt Sykes, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的馬特·賽克斯 (Matt Sykes)。

A lot has been asked, but I just want to focus on one topic regarding policy uncertainty and specifically the reports of FDA head count reductions. Have you had any kind of comments or feedback from your customers in terms of how that might impact their business and pipeline progression? And then as you reflect on your own business, any kind of impact that, that could have to you? I know there's a lot of uncertainties, but just would love to get your view on that.

已經有很多問題了，但我只想關註一個有關政策不確定性的話題，特別是有關 FDA 員工人數削減的報告。您是否收到過客戶關於這可能會如何影響他們的業務和管道進展的任何評論或回饋？然後當您反思自己的業務時，這會對您產生什麼影響？我知道還存在著許多不確定性，但我還是想聽聽您的看法。

Matt, we haven't had any specific comment or at least I haven't from -- I think the team is shaking their head here around what's happening within the FDA and potential reductions in headcount, et cetera, et cetera. There's -- as you quite rightly noted, a fair bit of uncertainty in terms of what's happening in health and human services with the recent appointment of the new secretary. We don't think that's necessarily -- it's all going to be bad. We think there's some potential opportunities for us in that space, as regulations get challenged, I think that could be a positive for us. We have heard some talk around from our customers around the potential for small molecules to be extended the same sort of patent protection as the large molecules within the IRA Act, I think that would be a positive for our customers.

馬特，我們還沒有收到任何具體的評論，至少我沒有收到——我認為團隊對 FDA 內部發生的事情以及可能裁員等感到困惑。正如您正確指出的那樣，隨著新部長的任命，衛生與公共服務領域的情況存在相當大的不確定性。我們認為這不一定——一切都會變得更糟。我們認為該領域存在一些潛在的機會，隨著法規受到挑戰，我認為這對我們來說可能是有利的。我們聽到一些客戶談論小分子有可能在 IRA 法案中獲得與大分子相同的專利保護，我認為這對我們的客戶來說是一件好事。

We've heard some positive commentary from our customers in terms of where even the President and the new administration and the new health and human service sector will go in terms of as I said, regulation, but also in terms of wanting to get more information, wanting to get more data on things like vaccines. And so you want more data on trial, you need to do more trials. And so I think overall, there's -- it's probably more positive than negative in terms of the new administration. Not to say that there aren't some risks. And certainly, to agree with you in that it's very early days at this point and very hard to -- we're really just speculating.

我們聽到了一些來自客戶的正面評價，他們對於總統、新政府以及新的衛生與人類服務部門在監管方面的走向，以及他們希望獲得更多資訊、希望獲得更多有關疫苗等方面的數據。因此，如果您想獲得更多的試驗數據，您需要進行更多試驗。因此我認為整體而言，對於新政府而言，正面因素可能多於負面因素。並不是說沒有風險。當然，我同意你的觀點，現在還為時過早，很難——我們只是在推測。

But we're certainly not totally downbeat on that. We believe there's going to be a lot of good things brought forward by the new administration, and we think we can benefit from them.

但我們對此當然並非完全悲觀。我們相信新政府將會帶來很多好事，我們認為我們可以從中受益。

Michael Ryskin, Bank of America.

美國銀行的邁克爾·里斯金（Michael Ryskin）。

Great. Steve, I kind of want to go back and ask maybe a big picture question. And I'm thinking back to last quarter's earnings call when you frame sort of your updated view on what happened on 3Q. And if I remember correctly, you kind of framed it from the perspective of every period you forecast there are risks and opportunities that are unknown to you as you're going in and sometimes you capitalize an opportunity, sometimes you avoid the risks or vice versa. And you kind of framed 3Q as a lot more of the risk to materialize and a lot fewer of the opportunities, but still sort of being in that general range you look at.

偉大的。史蒂夫，我想回過頭來問一個大問題。我回想起上個季度的財報電話會議，當時您對第三季發生的事情提出了最新的看法。如果我沒記錯的話，你是從每個時期的角度來建構的，你預測在你進入的時候會出現你未知的風險和機遇，有時你會利用機遇，有時你會避免風險，反之亦然。而且您認為第三季的風險會更大，機會會更少，但仍然處於您所看到的大致範圍內。

I just want to get -- now that you have fourth quarter under your belt, you've got January and most of February, has your perspective on those ranges kind of been the same in terms of balancing the risk and the reward, the opportunities and the downside going forward? And what I'm trying to get back to is your comments on how biotech played out in the fourth quarter, how bookings played out? Your thoughts on the gross booking wins and the cancellations. Are you still operating in that sort of same environment where it's a little bit of a balance and coming down to execution to get to the upper end of that?

我只是想知道——現在您已經經歷了第四季度、一月份和二月份的大部分時間，在平衡風險和回報、機會和不利因素方面，您對這些範圍的看法是否相同？我想問的是，您對生物技術在第四季度的表現和預訂情況有何評論？您對總預訂量和取消量的看法。您是否仍在同樣的環境中運營，需要一點平衡，並透過執行達到最優效果？

The short answer is absolutely yes. We've analyzed the risks within our portfolio, within the opportunities that we've had and our finance team has been doing sterling work in looking at that and evaluating and quantifying what those risks are.

簡短的回答是肯定的。我們分析了我們的投資組合中的風險以及我們所擁有的機會，我們的財務團隊一直在努力研究、評估和量化這些風險。

And on the other side, we're also looking at the opportunities and what can potentially come into the organization in terms of opportunities or RFPs or work that we know about now. And then, of course, we always expect that some things that we don't know about will come in. As I say, it's still very early in the year. So our evaluation continues. We've taken a good look at ourselves, I think, in the -- over the last couple of months, and I think we've done -- we did a good job in Q4 and quantifying those opportunities and those risks.

另一方面，我們也在尋找機會，以及就我們目前所知的機會、RFP 或工作而言，哪些可能為組織帶來好處。當然，我們總是預料到會出現一些我們不知道的事情。正如我所說，今年還處於初期。因此我們的評估仍在繼續。我認為，在過去的幾個月裡，我們對自己進行了認真的審視，我們在第四季做得很好，量化了這些機會和風險。

I believe our guidance, as I think everybody is well aware is remains wide. And that's for a reason. We are in a very volatile environment. And so characterizing those opportunities and the risks is probably a little bit more challenging. There are probably more of them both ways, and they may be a little larger in some ways as well.

我相信我們的指導方針仍然很廣泛，我想大家都很清楚這一點。這是有原因的。我們處在一個非常不穩定的環境。因此，描述這些機會和風險可能更具挑戰性。這兩種方式可能都更多，而且在某些方面也可能更大一些。

So that's why we've maintained our wide range on both EPS and revenue, and that will continue, at least for the next few months. We'll obviously consider that as we get to our first quarter earnings call and probably our second quarter earnings call and wherever we can look at what those risks and opportunities are and look to narrow that range. But at the moment, we still see, as I have characterized a somewhat mixed environment where there are plenty of opportunities, but there are also some risks as well, and we want to be very transparent about that. And we've considered those as we've gone forward and as we've set the guidance ranges, which we did back in January.

這就是為什麼我們保持每股收益和收入的較大範圍波動，而且這種情況至少在接下來的幾個月內還會繼續。我們在召開第一季財報電話會議和第二季財報電話會議時顯然會考慮到這一點，無論我們在哪裡都可以查看這些風險和機遇，並尋求縮小這一範圍。但目前，正如我所描述的，我們仍然看到一個有點混合的環境，其中存在大量機遇，但也存在一些風險，我們希望對此保持非常透明。我們在製定指導範圍時已經考慮到了這些問題，早在一月份我們就這樣做了。

Josh Waldman, Cleveland Research.

克利夫蘭研究公司的喬許‧沃爾德曼 (Josh Waldman)

Steve, I believe you mentioned stronger RFP activity end of year. I guess, was this above normal seasonality. And at this point, do you think there's anything unique about the current environment that suggests there could be maybe more of a disconnect between RFP flow and revenue conversion versus historical patterns? Or do you still feel pretty confident RFP flow remains a good indicator of near-term demand?

史蒂夫，我相信你提到過年底更強勁的 RFP 活動。我猜，這是否高於正常的季節性？在這一點上，您是否認為當前環境有什麼獨特之處，表明與歷史模式相比，RFP 流程和收入轉換之間可能存在更大的脫節？或者您仍然非常有信心 RFP 流量仍然是近期需求的良好指標？

Josh, I think RFP flow is a somewhat reasonable, I'll put it that way, indicator of future revenue, but it's not perfect and not by a long way. We have within those RFPs, I think I've said it to you all before. About 1/3, we win, about 1/3 we lose and about 1/3 gets canceled, as an RFP. And so when you look at those -- and that varies a bit, obviously, within the various segments of the business. But ultimately, the work we win in tradition -- well, over the last several years has tended to be slower burn oncology, rare disease, Nigel talked all about it, where we've had the opportunity to win vaccine work or increasingly, as we talked about on the -- well, we've made some progress in the cardiometabolic space.

喬希，我認為 RFP 流程在某種程度上是合理的，我會這樣說，它是未來收入的指標，但它並不完美，而且還差得很遠。我們在這些 RFP 中已經提到過，我想我之前已經跟你們說過了。作為 RFP，我們大約有 1/3 獲勝，大約有 1/3 失敗，大約有 1/3 被取消。所以當你看到這些時 — — 顯然，在業務的不同部分，情況會有所不同。但最終，我們在傳統上贏得的工作——嗯，在過去幾年中往往是進展較慢的腫瘤學、罕見疾病，奈傑爾談到了這一切，我們有機會贏得疫苗工作，或者越來越多地，正如我們所討論的——嗯，我們在心臟代謝領域取得了一些進展。

We believe that work will burn a bit faster. So from that point of view, as the therapeutic mix sort of shifts within the RFP portfolio work that we have in the backlog, we do have the potential to improve our burn rate and move our revenues forward. But I think it's a little early to say that the sort of uptick that we saw at the back end of the year or the positive signs that we saw in the back end of the year are going to convert into revenue in the very short term. I tend to look at the RFPs across a trailing 12-month basis. And on that basis, on the large pharma space, we were stable but relatively flat on the biotech side, we were up, but it was sort of low single digits.

我們相信工作會燃燒得更快一些。因此從這個角度來看，隨著我們積壓的 RFP 組合工作中治療組合的轉變，我們確實有潛力改善我們的燒錢率並增加我們的收入。但我認為，現在說我們在年底看到的上升趨勢或積極跡象將在短期內轉化為收入還為時過早。我傾向於以過去 12 個月為基礎來查看 RFP。在此基礎上，在大型製藥領域，我們的業績保持穩定，但相對持平；在生物技術方面，我們的業績有所上升，但也只是個位數的低點。

So there's -- while the back end of the year was positive over the longer sort of 12-month period, it was -- they were fairly stable. And positively, and I'm constructive on it, but I don't think it's going to necessarily drive a large amount of revenue into -- or more than we would expect normally into 2025. I'd just leave it at that.

因此，儘管與較長的 12 個月期間相比，今年末的情況是積極的，而且相當穩定。從正面來看，我對此持建設性態度，但我不認為它一定會帶來大量收入——或超過我們通常預期的 2025 年收入。我就不說了。

So there's no more questions in the queue at the moment.

目前隊列中沒有其他問題。

Okay. So thank you, operator, and thank you all for attending the call today. I want to close by reiterating my confidence in the underlying fundamentals of our industry, the strength of the ICON offering and our strong position in the market. We'll continue to navigate this environment as we did in quarter 4, investing in our business to take advantage of the opportunities we see across the market and advance our innovative solutions for customers. Thanks for joining us and your support of ICON.

好的。所以謝謝接線員，也謝謝大家今天參加電話會議。最後，我想重申我對我們行業的基本面、 ICON 產品的優勢以及我們在市場上的強勢地位的信心。我們將像第四季度一樣繼續應對這種環境，投資我們的業務，利用我們在整個市場上看到的機會，為客戶提供創新的解決方案。感謝您的加入我們以及對 ICON 的支持。

And this concludes today's conference call. Thanks for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。