ICON PLC (ICLR) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the ICON PLC Q2 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 ICON PLC 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。（操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。

I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Kate Haven. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的第一位演講者凱特·海文 (Kate Haven)。請繼續。

Good day and thank you joining us on this call covering the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Also, on the call today, we have our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler --

大家好，感謝您參加本次電話會議，討論截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日的季度。此外，今天的電話會議還邀請了我們的執行長史蒂夫·卡特勒博士--

Kate are now live, please go ahead.

Kate 現已上線，請續。

Can you hear me? Good day and thank you for joining us on this call covering the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Also, on the call today, we have our CEO, Dr. Steve Cutler; our CFO, Nigel Clerkin.

你聽得到我嗎？您好，感謝您參加本次電話會議，討論截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日的季度。此外，今天的電話會議還有我們的執行長史蒂夫·卡特勒博士和財務長奈傑爾·克萊金。

Hello, operator.

您好，接線生。

And our COO, Barry Bell. 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.

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

Actual results may differ materially from those stated or implied by forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, and listeners are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

由於與公司業務相關的風險和不確定性，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述所明示或暗示的結果有重大差異，請注意，前瞻性陳述並不能保證未來的績效。

Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and uncertainties related to these forward-looking statements may be found in SEC reports filed by the company, including the Form 20-F filed on February 21, 2025.

前瞻性陳述僅截至其作出之日有效，我們不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。有關這些前瞻性陳述的風險和不確定性的更多信息，可在公司提交的美國證券交易委員會報告中找到，包括 2025 年 2 月 21 日提交的 20-F 表。

This presentation includes selected non-GAAP financial measures, which Steve and Nigel will be referencing in their prepared remarks. For a presentation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, please refer to the press release section titled condensed consolidated statements of operations. While non-GAAP financial measures are not superior to or a substitute for the comparable GAAP measures, we believe certain non-GAAP information is more useful to investors for historical comparison purposes.

本次演講包括精選的非 GAAP 財務指標，史蒂夫和奈傑爾將在他們準備好的發言中引用這些指標。有關最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的介紹，請參閱新聞稿部分「簡明合併營業報表」。雖然非公認會計準則財務指標並不優於或取代可比較的公認會計準則指標，但我們認為某些非公認會計準則資訊對於投資者進行歷史比較更有用。

Included in the press release and the earnings slides, you will note a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share excludes stock compensation expense, restructuring costs, foreign currency gains and losses amortization and transaction-related and integration-related costs and their respective tax benefits. 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.

在新聞稿和收益幻燈片中，您會注意到非公認會計準則 (GAAP) 指標的對帳。調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨收入和調整後的每股攤薄收益不包括股票薪酬費用、重組成本、外幣損益攤銷以及交易相關和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一小時，因此請與會者為了節省時間，將問題限制在每個人的提問數量上。

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

現在我想將電話交給我們的執行長史蒂夫卡特勒博士。

Thank you, Kate. ICON's second quarter results showed good progress across a number of key areas as we navigated ongoing volatility in the broader clinical development market. Gross business awards increased 11% on a sequential basis over quarter 1, with notable wins from several biotech customers as well as the continued ramp-up of several large pharma partnerships that have been added in the last 18 months.

謝謝你，凱特。ICON 的第二季業績表明，在我們應對更廣泛的臨床開發市場持續波動的過程中，多個關鍵領域取得了良好進展。總業務獎項比第一季環比增長了 11%，其中包括來自幾家生物技術客戶的顯著勝利以及過去 18 個月內增加的幾家大型製藥合作夥伴關係的持續增加。

Our revenue performance was ahead of expectations assisted by higher pass-through revenue in the quarter. This dynamic helped to increase our burn rate slightly to 8.2% in quarter 2 and was in line with our expectations of holding a stable burn rate as we progress through this year.

由於本季更高的轉嫁收入，我們的收入表現超出了預期。這種動態幫助我們在第二季將燒錢率略微提高到 8.2%，這符合我們今年維持穩定燒錢率的預期。

While study delays and the elongation of timelines from contracting to start date have presented a headwind to this metric, there are a number of initiatives we are focused on to improve cycle times and ultimately increase burn rate, which is showing promising results on in-flight studies.

雖然研究延遲以及從簽訂合約到開始日期的時間延長對這一指標造成了阻力，但我們仍重點採取了一些舉措來縮短週期時間並最終提高燒錢率，這在飛行研究中顯示出了有希望的結果。

Through execution of our cost management initiatives across the business as well as continued automation, we saw progression in adjusted EBITDA dollars sequentially. Gross margin improved over quarter 1 to 28.3%, and SG&A costs reduced by $9 million year-over-year, demonstrating our ability to optimize our efficient global operations.

透過在整個業務範圍內實施成本管理計劃以及持續的自動化，我們看到調整後的 EBITDA 美元連續成長。毛利率較第一季提高至 28.3%，銷售、一般及行政費用年減 900 萬美元，證明了我們優化高效全球營運的能力。

Overall, adjusted EBITDA margin increased over quarter 1 to 19.6%, with solid cost control offsetting higher pass-through revenue. This translated to a 2% increase in earnings per share sequentially, resulting in adjusted earnings per share of $3.26. While we achieved solid conversion on the opportunities that went to decision in this quarter, our net book-to-bill result of 1.02 times was negatively impacted by elevated cancellations as we anticipate.

總體而言，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率較第一季增長至 19.6%，穩健的成本控制抵消了更高的轉嫁收入。這意味著每股收益環比成長2%，調整後每股收益為3.26美元。雖然我們在本季促成決策的商機轉換率取得了穩健的提升，但正如我們預期，訂單取消量增加對1.02倍的淨訂單出貨比產生了負面影響。

Overall, cancellations increased sequentially and on a year-over-year basis in the quarter, driven by the cancellation of one of the large next-generation COVID vaccine trials. We saw a similar trend to recent periods where the mix of cancellations across customer groups, excluding the large COVID study was in line with our relative distribution of revenue.

總體而言，由於一項大型下一代 COVID 疫苗試驗被取消，本季取消的數量較上季和年比均有所增加。我們看到了與最近時期類似的趨勢，即不包括大型 COVID 研究在內的各個客戶群體的取消情況組合與我們的相對收入分配一致。

The reason for cancellations remain broad-based, ranging from decisions related to portfolio rationalization and reprioritization to negative clinical trial results. As we look forward to the second half of the year, we expect largely similar conditions to persist in the market. While challenges remain, we entered the third quarter with an encouraging level of actionable opportunities in the pipeline. We have seen good momentum in our ability to win across customer segments.

取消的原因仍然多種多樣，從與投資組合合理化和重新排序相關的決定到負面的臨床試驗結果。展望下半年，我們預期市場將持續呈現大致相似的狀況。儘管挑戰依然存在，但進入第三季度，我們已擁有令人鼓舞的可操作機會。我們已經看到了我們在贏得各個客戶群方面取得良好進展的能力。

With our scale and differentiated offering, we are presenting compelling clinical solutions that can deliver optimal efficiencies for customers, positioning us well in an increasingly competitive market. Further, despite the fact that net bookings will continue to be challenged by elevated cancellations and extended decision-making in the near term, we believe that as market conditions stabilize, cancellations will return to historic levels and net business wins will increase.

憑藉我們的規模和差異化產品，我們提供引人注目的臨床解決方案，為客戶提供最佳效率，使我們在競爭日益激烈的市場中佔據有利地位。此外，儘管短期內淨預訂量將繼續受到取消量增加和決策時間延長的挑戰，但我們相信，隨著市場狀況的穩定，取消量將恢復到歷史水平，淨業務收益將會增加。

In addition, the current need for many large pharmas to address their loss of patent exclusivity in the short to medium term, necessitates continue and, in many cases, increased investment in their late-stage development pipelines. In quarter 2, we began to see early but encouraging signs of this in the market with increased M&A and licensing activity amongst large pharma companies.

此外，目前許多大型製藥公司需要在短期至中期內解決其專利獨佔權喪失的問題，這需要繼續，並且在許多情況下，增加對其後期開發管道的投資。在第二季度，我們開始在市場上看到這種早期但令人鼓舞的跡象，大型製藥公司的併購和授權活動增加。

At ICON, we are well positioned to benefit from this activity given our significant number of established strategic relationships across large pharma companies, alongside our differentiated biotech offering. We have seen recent notable wins across our business where we have leveraged the strength of our existing relationships and experience with smaller biotech organizations that were acquired by midsized and large pharma companies to then broaden our relationships with those acquiring organizations.

在 ICON，我們與眾多大型製藥公司建立了策略關係，並能提供差異化的生物技術產品，因此我們完全有能力從這項活動中受益。我們最近在整個業務中取得了顯著的勝利，我們利用與被中型和大型製藥公司收購的小型生物技術組織現有的關係和經驗，擴大了與這些收購組織的關係。

In fact, in quarter 2, two of our largest boards where we're a midsized pharma company, where we successfully expanded our relationship that originated with one of their acquired biotech companies. ICON's demonstrated performance in the delivery of prior studies was a key consideration in the further development of this expanded relationship.

事實上，在第二季度，我們與兩家最大的董事會（一家中型製藥公司）成功擴大了與他們收購的生物技術公司的關係。ICON 在先前研究中表現出的表現是進一步發展此擴展關係的關鍵考慮因素。

We updated our full year guidance to reflect our expectation for higher pass-through revenue this year, including the restart of next-generation COVID vaccine (inaudible) that resumed activity in quarter 2 and is actively dosing patients. We remain confident in the prudent approach we took in setting our full year outlook in April and have kept our assumptions consistent regarding macro conditions through the balance of the year.

我們更新了全年指引，以反映我們對今年更高轉嫁收入的預期，包括重新啟動下一代 COVID 疫苗（聽不清楚），該疫苗已於第二季度恢復活動並正在積極為患者給藥。我們仍然對 4 月制定全年展望時採取的審慎態度充滿信心，並在今年餘下時間裡對宏觀環境的假設保持一致。

These factors result in our revised guidance range increasing by $100 million at the low end to $7.85 billion and the high end of the range remaining unchanged at $8.15 billion, increasing the midpoint to $8 billion. Given the expected range to our full year revenue is largely related to increased pass-through revenue, we are maintaining the midpoint of our adjusted earnings per share guidance range at $13.50.

這些因素導致我們修改後的指導範圍下限增加了 1 億美元，達到 78.5 億美元，上限保持不變，為 81.5 億美元，中點增加至 80 億美元。鑑於我們全年收入的預期範圍主要與增加的轉嫁收入有關，我們將調整後的每股盈餘指引範圍的中點維持在 13.50 美元。

While we were pleased to see progress across financial and bookings metric in quarter 2, I also want to highlight developments in key operational areas in our broader business. Our customer and site satisfaction scores have shown positive momentum, driven by accelerated site activation, patient recruitment and trial completion.

雖然我們很高興看到第二季財務和預訂指標的進步，但我也想強調我們更廣泛業務中關鍵營運領域的發展。在站點激活、患者招募和試驗完成加速的推動下，我們的客戶和站點滿意度評分呈現出積極的勢頭。

In addition, we continue to focus on further investments to strengthen our offering and expertise where we can develop distinct advantages to our customers through delivery of novel solutions. One of these areas has been to advance our capabilities in key therapeutic areas that have been growing rapidly in the market, such as obesity and related metabolic diseases.

此外，我們將繼續專注於進一步投資，以加強我們的產品和專業知識，透過提供新穎的解決方案為我們的客戶創造獨特的優勢。其中一個領域是提升我們在市場上快速成長的關鍵治療領域的能力，例如肥胖症和相關代謝疾病。

ICON launched a center for obesity this year, a purpose-built network of over 100 US sites that will ultimately have access to over 10,000 prescreened potential patients in this key disease area. Our strategic approach streamline start-up activities such as contracting, site training and documentation harmonization, leading to targeted site activation in 30 days or less.

ICON 今年成立了一個肥胖症中心，這是一個由 100 多個美國站點組成的專用網絡，最終將可以接觸到這一關鍵疾病領域的 10,000 多名經過預先篩選的潛在患者。我們的策略方法簡化了啟動活動，例如簽約、現場培訓和文件協調，從而可以在 30 天或更短的時間內實現目標現場啟動。

In addition, 85% of these sites operate on the same integrated technology platform, allowing for improved efficiencies in processes across enrollment and recruitment as well as in real-time monitor. Separately, our digital innovation strategy continues to produce meaningful appliance advances across our business. Our AI center of excellence and operational teams collaborate to identify processes and opportunities to develop AI-enabled tools to enhance our delivery of services.

此外，85%的站點都在同一個整合技術平台上運營，從而提高了招生、招聘流程和即時監控的效率。另外，我們的數位創新策略持續為我們的業務帶來有意義的設備進步。我們的人工智慧卓越中心和營運團隊合作尋找流程和機會來開發支援人工智慧的工具，以增強我們的服務交付。

Our latest development centers on protocol digitization process to extract information from a trial protocol and then set up standard documentation and system specifications before the trial begins, which is currently highly manual in nature. This AI agent, which is now utilized in the laboratory setting intelligently reads protocol data, identifies the relevant tests and auto populate data to create the study deliverable.

我們最新的發展集中在協議數位化過程，從試驗協議中提取信息，然後在試驗開始前建立標準文件和系統規範，目前該過程本質上是高度手動的。該人工智慧代理目前在實驗室環境中使用，可以智慧地讀取協議數據、識別相關測試並自動填充數據以創建研究成果。

This is enabling ICON to achieve upper quartile performance metrics for our sponsors, allowing significantly reduced study start-up times and improve overall project timelines as well as overall quality. This is a tangible example of how we are adopting AI to evolve our offering in a way that is considered practical and most importantly, driving efficiency in the overall clinical trial process for our customers.

這使得 ICON 能夠為我們的贊助商實現上四分位數績效指標，從而顯著縮短研究啟動時間並改善整體專案時間表和整體品質。這是一個具體的例子，說明我們如何採用人工智慧以實用的方式改進我們的產品，最重要的是，提高客戶整個臨床試驗過程的效率。

Our financial position remains very strong, and we continue to be disciplined in our approach to capital deployment. In quarter 2, we again repurchased $250 million in shares and our Board also approved a new share repurchase authorization for up to $1 billion, an increase of $500 million from what was remaining on our prior authorization.

我們的財務狀況依然強勁，並且我們在資本配置方面繼續保持嚴謹的態度。在第二季度，我們再次回購了價值 2.5 億美元的股票，董事會也批准了一項新的最高 10 億美元的股票回購授權，比先前授權的剩餘金額增加了 5 億美元。

We remain active in evaluating potential acquisition opportunities that will enhance our offering alongside continued internal investment in areas that will help fuel our growth, such as key technology platforms and tools, capabilities in our labs and other services.

我們仍在積極評估潛在的收購機會，以增強我們的產品服務，同時繼續在有助於推動我們成長的領域進行內部投資，例如關鍵技術平台和工具、我們實驗室的能力和其他服務。

As the leading provider of clinical development services in the industry, it is incumbent upon us to continue to innovate and evolve our offering to meet the needs of our customers and our strong financial position affords us the ability to continue to invest in key strategic growth areas, while also returning capital to shareholders.

作為業界領先的臨床開發服務供應商，我們有責任繼續創新和改進我們的產品以滿足客戶的需求，而我們強大的財務狀況使我們能夠繼續投資於關鍵策略成長領域，同時向股東返還資本。

June marked the 35th Anniversary of ICON's Foundry in Dublin, Ireland. We have evolved significantly as an organization since that time, going from a team of five to 40,000 individuals. I'd like to thank the employees of ICON that have joined us on this path that was set out in 1990 to be the global leader in clinical development for their hard work and ongoing commitment to the customers we serve.

六月是愛爾蘭都柏林 ICON 鑄造廠成立 35 週年。從那時起，我們作為一個組織發生了巨大的變化，團隊規模從 5 人擴大到 40,000 人。我要感謝 ICON 的員工，感謝他們自 1990 年起加入我們，成為臨床開發領域的全球領導者，感謝他們的辛勤工作和對我們所服務客戶的持續承諾。

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

我現在將其交給奈傑爾來審查我們的財務結果。奈傑爾？

Thanks, Steve. Revenue in quarter 2 was $2.017 billion, representing a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%. Revenue was up approximately 1% sequentially on quarter 1, 2025. Overall, customer concentration in our top 25 customers was aligned with quarter 1, 2025. Our top five customers represented 25% of revenue in the quarter. Our top 10 represented 39.7%, while our top 25 represented 65.6%.

謝謝，史蒂夫。第二季營收為20.17億美元，年減4.8%。2025 年第一季營收季增約 1%。整體而言，我們前 25 家客戶的客戶集中度與 2025 年第一季保持一致。我們前五大客戶佔本季營收的 25%。我們的前 10 名佔 39.7%，而前 25 名佔 65.6%。

Adjusted gross margin for the quarter was 28.3% compared to 29.9% in quarter 2, 2024 and up 10 basis points on quarter 1, 2025. Adjusted SG&A expense was $174.8 million in quarter 2 or 8.7% of revenue. Relative to the comparative period last year, adjusted SG&A was down by $8.6 million in quarter 2.

本季調整後毛利率為 28.3%，而 2024 年第二季為 29.9%，較 2025 年第一季上升 10 個基點。第二季調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用為 1.748 億美元，佔營收的 8.7%。與去年同期相比，第二季調整後的銷售、一般及行政費用下降了 860 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA was $396 million for the quarter, an increase of $5.4 million sequentially. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 10 basis points over quarter 1, 2025 to 19.6% of revenue. Adjusted operating income for quarter 2 was $357.4 million, while adjusted net interest expense was $46.6 million. The effective tax rate was 16.5% for the quarter. We continue to expect the full year 2025 adjusted effective tax rate to be approximately 16.5%.

本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 3.96 億美元，比上一季增加 540 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率較 2025 年第一季增加 10 個基點，達到營收的 19.6%。第二季調整後的營業收入為 3.574 億美元，調整後的淨利息支出為 4,660 萬美元。本季有效稅率為16.5%。我們繼續預計 2025 年全年調整後有效稅率約為 16.5%。

Adjusted net income for the quarter was $259.5 million, equating to adjusted earnings per share of $3.26, a decrease of 13.1% year-over-year or an increase of 2.2% on quarter 1, 2025. US GAAP income from operations amounted to $209.2 million or 10.4% of quarter 2 revenue. US GAAP net income in quarter 2 was $183 million or $2.30 per diluted share, compared to $1.76 per share for the equivalent prior year period, an increase of 30.7%.

本季調整後淨收入為 2.595 億美元，相當於調整後每股收益 3.26 美元，年減 13.1%，季減 2025 年第一季成長 2.2%。美國 GAAP 營業收入為 2.092 億美元，佔第二季營收的 10.4%。第二季美國 GAAP 淨收入為 1.83 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 2.30 美元，去年同期每股收益為 1.76 美元，成長 30.7%。

From a cash perspective, quarter 2 had cash from operating activities coming in at $146.2 million and free cash flow of $113.9 million. While overall cash collections were solid in quarter 2, our free cash flow was lower than quarter 1, reflecting the timing of interest and tax payments as well as restructuring expenses.

從現金角度來看，第二季經營活動現金流入 1.462 億美元，自由現金流為 1.139 億美元。雖然第二季度整體現金回款穩健，但我們的自由現金流低於第一季度，這反映了利息和稅款支付的時間以及重組費用。

At June 30, 2025, cash totaled $390.4 million and debt totaled $3.4 billion, leaving a net debt position of $3.0 billion. This was broadly in line with net debt at March 31, 2025, of $2.9 billion. We ended the quarter with a leverage ratio of 1.9 times net debt to adjusted trailing 12-month EBITDA.

截至 2025 年 6 月 30 日，現金總額為 3.904 億美元，債務總額為 34 億美元，淨債務為 30 億美元。這與 2025 年 3 月 31 日的 29 億美元淨債務基本一致。本季末，我們的槓桿率為淨債務與調整後過去 12 個月 EBITDA 的 1.9 倍。

Our balance sheet position remains very strong, and we continue to execute our disciplined capital deployment strategy. We are focused on an approach to deployment that balances further investment in strengthening our business, while also returning capital to shareholders. We made significant share repurchases in quarter 2, totaling $250 million at an average price of $146 per share. We plan to remain active in buying back shares in the near term with our total current authorization now expanded to $1 billion.

我們的資產負債表狀況依然強勁，我們將繼續執行嚴謹的資本配置策略。我們專注於一種部署方法，即在進一步投資加強業務的同時，向股東返還資本。我們在第二季進行了大量股票回購，總額為 2.5 億美元，平均價格為每股 146 美元。我們計劃在短期內繼續積極回購股票，目前我們的總授權金額已擴大至 10 億美元。

With that, we'll now open it up for questions.

好了，我們現在開始回答問題。

(Operator instructions)

（操作員指示）

Elizabeth Anderson, Evercore ISI.

伊麗莎白·安德森，Evercore ISI。

Hi guys, thanks so much for the question and congrats on the really nice quarter. I was wondering if you could give us a little bit more detail, Steve, maybe about what you're seeing in terms of different market segments, maybe sort of biotech versus pharma, or if there's any sort of difference in terms of demand inflection that you're seeing by these?

大家好，非常感謝您的提問，並祝賀您度過了一個非常愉快的季度。史蒂夫，我想知道您是否可以提供一些更詳細的信息，例如您在不同細分市場方面看到的情況，例如生物技術與製藥行業的情況，或者您在需求變化方面看到的情況是否存在差異？

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Sure, Elizabeth. Things haven't changed dramatically over the last few months since our first quarter call, the environment is pretty much the same. Certainly, from an RFP basis, we've seen a modest uptick sort of in the mid-single-digit range. That's probably been more in the Biotech segment than it has been in the large Pharma segment. We've certainly seen some positives in that respect in terms of our early phase business and our Phase III business. So those areas are looking positive.

當然，伊麗莎白。自從我們第一季電話會議以來的幾個月裡，情況並沒有太大變化，環境基本上相同。當然，從 RFP 的角度來看，我們看到了中等個位數範圍內的適度上漲。這可能在生物技術領域比在大型製藥領域更為常見。就我們的早期業務和第三階段業務而言，我們確實看到了這方面的一些積極因素。因此這些領域看起來是正面的。

We're also pleased within the wins that we've won -- we've been able to start to really leverage the partnerships that we've been able to secure over the last 18 months or two years. So the team has done a nice job in bringing those partnerships on and not just winning initial projects but expanding within those partnerships.

我們也對所取得的勝利感到高興——我們已經能夠開始真正利用過去 18 個月或兩年內所建立的合作關係。因此，該團隊在建立這些合作夥伴關係方面做得很好，不僅贏得了初始項目，而且還在這些合作夥伴關係中不斷擴展。

So overall, we see a reasonably constructive development sort of environment, if you like, across the business, probably a little bit more in biotech that in large pharma, we tend to look at these things on a trailing 12-month basis rather than a quarter basis. Within the quarter, there's a fair -- still a fair bit of volatility, things go up and down. But on a trailing 12-month basis, it looks positive.

因此，總體而言，我們看到了一個相當建設性的發展環境，如果你願意的話，在整個行業中，生物技術領域可能比大型製藥行業更加如此，我們傾向於以過去 12 個月而不是季度為基礎來看待這些事情。本季內，仍有相當大的波動，情況有起有落。但從過去 12 個月來看，情況看起來是正面的。

Michael Cheerney, Learrink Partners.

邁克爾·切爾尼 (Michael Cheerney)，Learrink Partners。

Good morning and thanks for taking the question. Maybe if I can just dive Steve, a little bit more into that biotech comment. You're not the only CRO that's talked about biotech improvements over the course of the quarter. This seems to slight lag somewhat in the face of the general biotech funding environment.

早上好，感謝您回答這個問題。或許我可以和史蒂夫更深入地探討那條生技評論。您並不是本季唯一一位談論生物技術改進的 CRO。與整體生物技術融資環境相比，這似乎略有滯後。

I appreciate the cautious optimism here, but what do you think is getting more awards over the finish line in terms of what drove the better bookings performance? And how do you think that factors into the current funding environment in terms of bookings wins to bookings conversion?

我很欣賞這種謹慎的樂觀態度，但您認為，在推動更好的預訂業績方面，什麼因素會為最終的獎項帶來更多獎勵？您認為從預訂勝利到預訂轉化，這對當前的融資環境有何影響？

Yes, Michael, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves on the biotech -- on the positive biotech. As I said, that's on a trailing 12-month basis. Within the quarters and across the quarters, it has been a little bit more volatile, and we're still going to continue to see caution in terms of decision-making times, et cetera, et cetera.

是的，邁克爾，我們不想在生物技術——積極的生物技術——上走得太遠。正如我所說，這是基於過去 12 個月的數據。在各個季度內以及跨季度，情況都變得更加不穩定，我們仍將在決策時間等方面繼續保持謹慎。

But we are seeing -- I mean, overall, it does seem to be moving in the right direction. Three of the top four awards that we had during the quarter were in the Biotech segment. So we were pleased with our performance in terms of winning some fairly substantial biotech project as I said through the top four.

但我們看到——我的意思是，總的來說，它似乎確實在朝著正確的方向發展。我們在本季獲得的四大獎項中有三個來自生技領域。因此，正如我在前四名中所說的那樣，我們對自己在贏得一些相當大的生物技術項目方面的表現感到滿意。

Notwithstanding that, as I said, the large pharma also starting to contribute with those expenses on the partnership side of things. So there is a little bit of a perhaps a confluence, if you like, or it's not quite lining up, I suppose, where you see with the biotech funding. I suspect there's probably a bit of a lag here, and we're seeing that there's some positivity starting to come through that we're encouraged about. But we're certainly not declaring victory just at this point, and we wait to continue that biotech progress.

儘管如此，正如我所說，大型製藥公司也開始在合作方面投入這些費用。因此，如果你願意的話，我認為在生技融資方面可能存在一些融合，或者說並不完全一致。我懷疑這裡可能存在一些滯後，我們看到一些積極因素開始出現，這讓我們感到鼓舞。但我們當然不會就此宣布勝利，我們還在等待生物技術的持續進步。

Patrick Donnelly, Citi.

花旗銀行的 Patrick Donnelly。

Hey guys, thank you for taking the questions. Steve, maybe another one on just the bookings side, nice to see the results come through there. Do you see things change at all as the quarter progressed? Obviously, again, a few of your peers sounded better as well the last few days. They caught people a little bit by surprise. Did things turn as the quarter went?

嘿夥計們，感謝你們回答問題。史蒂夫，也許只是預訂方面的問題，很高興看到結果。隨著本季的進展，您是否看到情況有所變化？顯然，最近幾天，您的一些同事聽起來也好多了。他們讓人有點驚訝。隨著本季的進展，情況有變化嗎？

Did you hear any changes from the pharma customers, just given all the noise on tariffs, MFN, et cetera. It sounds like, again, biotech maybe was a little bit better, but -- just curious in terms of breaking that down and how things progress during the quarter, and what that means for the go forward, again, do you feel pretty confident that we have turned the corner a little bit here on the cancel and the book-to-bill should continue to trend in the right direction?

考慮到關稅、最惠國待遇等諸多因素，您是否聽過製藥客戶的任何變化？聽起來，生物技術可能要好一點，但是——只是好奇如何細分它以及本季度的情況如何進展，以及這對未來意味著什麼，您是否非常有信心我們已經在取消方面取得了一些進展，並且訂單出貨比應該繼續朝著正確的方向發展？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Pat, we feel constructive on the environment and moving forward on the environment. But as I say, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. I think our pharma sponsors are probably they've at least heard all the bad news, and they're probably digesting that bad news and working through.

帕特，我們對環境感到有建設性，並且正在推動環境向前發展。但正如我所說，我們不想走太遠。我認為我們的製藥贊助商可能至少已經聽到了所有壞消息，並且他們可能正在消化這些壞消息並努力解決。

And it's not all bad news. I mean there's some -- some positives coming out in terms of opportunities for early review within FDA. We've seen the reduction in animal testing, which I think will help the tax -- some potentially even tax benefits for R&D that's done in the US So it's not -- I think our customers are sort of looking at it, seeing that there's -- it's starting to settle down a little bit.

但也不全然是壞消息。我的意思是，就 FDA 內部早期審查的機會而言，出現了一些積極的進展。我們已經看到動物試驗的減少，我認為這將有助於稅收——甚至可能為在美國進行的研發提供稅收優惠，所以這不是——我認為我們的客戶正在關注它，看到——它開始有點穩定下來。

And hence, their plans and their spending plans, notwithstanding the patent cliffs that they need to confront are also looming and they need to make those decisions. So I think things are starting to move forward. But it's still a sort of somewhat volatile and uncertain environment that we're working in. We were very encouraged by the gross bookings. That was 10% improvement over the previous quarter was something I was really pleased about. The team was very pleased about.

因此，他們的計劃和支出計劃，儘管他們需要面對專利懸崖，但也迫在眉睫，他們需要做出這些決定。所以我認為事情開始向前發展了。但我們的工作環境仍有些不穩定和不確定。總預訂量令我們非常鼓舞。與上一季相比，這一數字提高了 10%，我對此感到非常高興。團隊對此感到非常高興。

We did a good job on. But it remains to be seen as to whether those opportunities -- I mean we certainly have opportunities in the pipeline. No question about that, some actionable -- good actionable opportunities. We need to continue that. Obviously, I've mentioned the cancellations will continue to be elevated, certainly in the very short term. So we've got to manage that through. But we see a constructive environment, albeit I don't think we're quite through everything just yet.

我們做得很好。但這些機會是否還有待觀察——我的意思是我們肯定有機會。毫無疑問，有一些可行的——良好的可行機會。我們需要繼續這樣做。顯然，我已經提到取消的數量將繼續增加，當然在短期內。所以我們必須解決這個問題。但我們看到了一個建設性的環境，儘管我認為我們還沒有完全完成所有事情。

David Windley, Jefferies LLC.

大衛溫德利（David Windley），Jefferies LLC。

Hi, good morning, good afternoon, thanks for taking my question. My question is focused on your partnerships and it's a multiparter, as you might imagine or anticipate. You talked about progress in those partnerships. I think in some meetings that we had with you, with Barry in particular, there was some discussion about one of those recent partnerships being somewhat expanded or restructured to give you access to more of that customer's wallet.

大家好，早安，下午好，感謝您回答我的問題。我的問題集中在你們的合作關係上，正如你們想像或預料的那樣，這是一個多方面的問題。您談到了這些夥伴關係的進展。我認為在我們與您，特別是與巴里舉行的一些會議中，我們討論了最近的合作夥伴關係之一，該合作夥伴關係將有所擴大或重組，以便您能夠獲得更多客戶的資金。

And I wondered if you could maybe talk about that a little bit on what expanded opportunity and if you've already seen benefit from that? And then second point here was -- or the second part of the question is that I think your strategy has been to also replicate the success that you've had in kind of top 25 focused partnerships and pursue some of that same type of structure down market. And I wondered what progress or what opportunity you see there.

我想知道您是否可以稍微談談擴大的機會以及您是否已經從中受益？然後這裡的第二點是 - 或者問題的第二部分是，我認為您的策略是複製您在前 25 個重點合作夥伴關係中取得的成功，並在低端市場中追求一些相同類型的結構。我想知道您在那裡看到了什麼進展或機會。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Sure. Maybe I'll let crake at the first part, Dave. And then Barry might jump in on -- specifically on when we made some progress in the top 25 or so. It is -- let's be honest, it remains and probably had intensified -- the competitive nature of the business has probably intensified a little bit over the last, I'd say, three to six months.

當然。也許我應該先看第一部分，戴夫。然後巴里可能會加入進來——特別是當我們在前 25 名左右取得一些進展時。說實話，這種情況仍然存在，而且可能已經加劇了——我想說，在過去三到六個月裡，業務的競爭性質可能已經加劇。

And so as we get approached by customers to look at partnerships and even reget partnerships and again, better sales, our approach of being the scale operation that we are is we look to do more of their work. And that's been -- we've been able to help them on efficiencies in exchange for getting a greater share of that wallet. And that's generally been a successful strategy for us. So it continues to be a strategy we're pursuing.

因此，當客戶與我們聯繫以尋求合作夥伴關係甚至重新建立合作夥伴關係並再次獲得更好的銷售時，我們進行規模化營運的方法就是尋求為他們做更多的工作。那就是——我們能夠幫助他們提高效率，以換取他們獲得更多的份額。總體而言，這對我們來說是一個成功的策略。因此這將繼續成為我們推行的策略。

And as I say, it's one of the larger players, I believe we have an advantage in that space and that we cover all of the areas that they want to outsource and we cover all the areas that they're developing. So that's been working well for us.

正如我所說，它是較大的參與者之一，我相信我們在該領域具有優勢，我們涵蓋了他們想要外包的所有領域，我們涵蓋了他們正在開發的所有領域。這對我們來說非常有效。

We've also been pushing that down to the more into the mid-sized companies as well. And we've made some of our recent partnerships have really been in that area of the business. And again, we're seeing, while they don't have quite the volume of spend the larger farmers have, they are customers and they are companies that do have a significant amount of work and we can engage them and write it right across the business. So I'll let Barry perhaps jump in on any sort of specifics on that front.

我們也一直在將這個理念推廣到更多的中型公司。我們最近建立的一些合作夥伴關係確實涉及該業務領域。而且，我們看到，雖然他們的支出規模不如大型農場主那麼多，但他們是客戶，也是有大量工作要做的公司，我們可以與他們合作，並在整個業務中發揮重要作用。因此，我會讓巴里來談談這方面的任何具體問題。

Yes, David, on the first part of your question, I guess I'm slow to comment too much on any 1 partnership. But I can certainly think of an example where we were brought into a partnership for the full service component of that relationship was significantly smaller. That being the component we had access to than the FSP component, which we were not at that stage partnered on -- and since coming in, the customer has decided to pivot much more heavily toward that blended full service model that we're party to, which gives us some cause for optimism as we continue to progress that relationship.

是的，大衛，關於你問題的第一部分，我想我不會對任何一種合作關係發表太多評論。但我當然可以想到一個例子，當我們建立合作關係時，該關係的全方位服務部分要小得多。這是我們可以訪問的組件，而不是 FSP 組件，在那個階段我們還沒有成為其合作夥伴——自從加入以來，客戶已經決定更加積極地轉向我們參與的混合全服務模式，這讓我們有理由對繼續發展這種關係感到樂觀。

I think your second point is also well made. We have had encouraging success in recent times about broadening the partnership base across the top 25. And really, we look at those partnerships between maybe 20 and 60 of those companies between 20 and 60 as a zone of some opportunity, and we continue not just to add customers in that domain, but also to broaden these out from more transactional relationships to deeper opportunities where you have more qualified RFP flow, perhaps a deeper engagement with that customer.

我認為你的第二點也說得很好。近期，我們在擴大與前 25 名企業的合作夥伴關係方面取得了令人鼓舞的成功。實際上，我們將這些公司中約 20 到 60 家之間的合作關係視為一個充滿機會的區域，我們不僅會繼續在該領域增加客戶，還會將這些關係從更多的交易關係擴展到更深層次的機會，從而獲得更合格的 RFP 流程，或許還能與該客戶進行更深入的互動。

So yes, that is the plan, not just to see a broader base of or a (inaudible) outside the both to develop more, what I'll call, portfolio relationships in that segment and continue to build on that. And that remains the strategy, and I'm encouraged by the progress.

是的，這就是計劃，不僅僅是看到更廣泛的基礎或（聽不清楚）之外的更多東西，我稱之為該領域的投資組合關係，並繼續在此基礎上發展。這仍然是我們的策略，我對所取得的進展感到鼓舞。

Justin Bowers, Deutsche Bank.

德意志銀行的賈斯汀·鮑爾斯。

Hi, good afternoon and good morning everyone. Steve and Barry, can you help us understand some of the new opportunities that are -- that you're seeing in your funnel and your pipeline. It seems like RFP growth has been pretty solid over the last few quarters. Is that across the board, large pharma-related biotech related? And what do we need to see in the industry for that to start to convert and monetize into bookings?

大家下午好，早安。史蒂夫和巴里，你們能否幫助我們了解你們在頻道和管道中看到的一些新機會？看起來，過去幾季 RFP 的成長相當穩健。這是否與大型製藥公司相關的生物技術全面相關？那麼，我們需要在行業中看到什麼才能將其轉化為預訂並將其貨幣化？

Yes, Justin, I mean there's a couple of aspects to that. Therapeutically, oncology continues to be the main sort of ball curve like of our backlog and our new wins. We're an effective oncology shop, and we have a very good unit both in biotech and in the large pharma space. So I'd say that's an area.

是的，賈斯汀，我的意思是這有幾個方面。從治療角度來看，腫瘤學仍然是我們積壓工作和新勝利的主要球曲線。我們是一家高效率的腫瘤科診所，在生物技術和大型製藥領域都擁有非常優秀的部門。所以我認為這是一個領域。

We've certainly seen an opportunity in the metabolism, cardiovascular, we call the cardiovascular and metabolism. That's really, I think, around the obesity mash, NASH, callout you like indication. That's an area that we've seen tick up as well. I think those are probably the two sort of main movers, if you like.

我們確實看到了新陳代謝、心血管方面的機會，我們稱之為心血管和新陳代謝。我認為這確實與肥胖症、NASH 有關，您喜歡指出這些跡象。我們也看到這個領域正在蓬勃發展。如果你願意的話，我認為這可能是兩個主要推動因素。

The COVID vaccine work remains at about 1% to 2% of our backlog and about of our revenue. We haven't seen much of an uptick in that one. Although, of course, as we've talked about that study moving ahead.

COVID 疫苗工作仍占我們積壓工作量的 1% 至 2%，約占我們收入的 1%。我們還沒有看到這方面有太大的上漲。當然，正如我們討論過的，這項研究正在向前推進。

In terms of phases, as I mentioned in my remarks, early phase has moved forward nicely. And we also see Phase III moving forward. So it's a little bit of a customs focusing their attention, obviously, on their Phase III assets and moving them to market. That makes a lot of sense. But also they're not forgetting about moving some of their early assets through -- through as well.

就階段而言，正如我在演講中提到的，早期階段進展順利。我們也看到第三階段正在推進。因此，這顯然是海關將注意力集中在其第三階段資產上並將其推向市場。這很有道理。但他們也沒有忘記轉移部分早期資產。

So I'm encouraged by the long-term opportunities that, that presents as well. So overall, we're, as I say, constructive on the market or it hasn't changed dramatically, but we certainly see some nice progress over the last quarter or so.

因此，這也帶來了長期機遇，令我感到鼓舞。所以總的來說，正如我所說，我們對市場持建設性態度，或者說它並沒有發生巨大的變化，但我們確實看到過去一個季度左右取得了一些不錯的進展。

Jack Meehan, Nephron Research.

傑克·米漢（Jack Meehan），腎元研究。

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I think everybody is trying to take in the early results from some of the CROs and I feel like we only have a piece of the aperture here with the bigger guys reporting. Steve, I was wondering if you could comment on what you think is happening in terms of share dynamics in the industry. Just any color on what you're seeing in terms of win rate would be helpful.

謝謝。大家好。我認為每個人都在嘗試從一些 CRO 那裡獲取早期結果，而我覺得我們在這裡只得到了一些大公司報告的一小部分資訊。史蒂夫，我想知道您是否可以評論一下您認為該行業的股票動態情況。只要您在勝率方面看到任何顏色，就會有所幫助。

Yes, Jack, it's always hard to get too specific about share dynamics. I was very pleased with our gross wins. And as I said, we're fairly broad-based in those wins across the customer segments that we service. So that was a pleasing aspect of it.

是的，傑克，對於股票動態，總是很難說得太具體。我對我們的總勝利感到非常高興。正如我所說，我們在所服務的客戶群中取得了相當廣泛的勝利。這是令人高興的一點。

I sense that we are being successful in moving our market share forward, but it's hard to be too quantitative on that. It's something that we try to monitor as much as we can, but the market data that we have is variable and somewhat volatile, to be honest with you. We're certainly seeing progress in the Biotech segment. We -- our FSP business has -- continues to grow. We've made nice progress in our early phase business. Our lab business is growing in the teens.

我感覺我們在提高市場份額方面取得了成功，但很難對此進行量化。我們會盡力監控這一點，但說實話，我們掌握的市場數據是可變的，而且有些不穩定。我們確實看到了生物技術領域的進步。我們的 FSP 業務持續成長。我們的早期業務取得了良好的進展。我們的實驗室業務正在快速成長。

And so a lot of nice aspects of our businesses that are moving forward and reflecting -- I think in areas that do indicate that we are gaining share, not just in the functional business, but also in the full service business and in the perryclinical sides of our business labs, early phase imaging, et cetera, et cetera. So overall, as I say, constructive, but we're not getting too far ahead of ourselves.

因此，我們的業務有很多好的方面正在向前發展和反映——我認為在某些領域確實表明我們正在獲得份額，不僅是在功能性業務，而且在全方位服務業務以及我們業務實驗室的臨床方面、早期成像等等。所以總的來說，正如我所說，這是有建設性的，但我們不會走得太遠。

Eric Coldwell, Baird.

埃里克·科德威爾，貝爾德。

I'm going to have to dial star 1 a lot sooner next time. I think I've rewritten my question list 8 times in a row now.

下次我將必須更早撥打星號 1。我想我已經連續 8 次重寫了我的問題清單。

So I'll ask a clarification and then maybe try to wing a bigger topic. On the clarification, Steve, you've talked a couple of times about the cancels remaining elevated short term. If we've done the math right, it looks like ex the BARDA cancel, you were probably around that 2.5% of backlog that has historically marked the higher end of a range for you. Are you seeing more of that ZIP code? Or are you actually signaling something higher than that?

因此我會要求澄清，然後嘗試討論一個更大的主題。關於澄清，史蒂夫，你已經多次談到短期內取消量仍然居高不下。如果我們的計算正確的話，看起來就像 BARDA 取消的情況一樣，您的積壓量可能在 2.5% 左右，這在歷史上標誌著您積壓量範圍的較高端。您看到更多該郵遞區號的資訊了嗎？還是你實際上在發出比這更高層次的信號？

Well, I think what we're saying, Eric, is that the current level of cancellations, we would expect is likely to sort of continue in that sort of ballpark in the near term. That's the way we're looking at it. So I hope that clarifies your question.

嗯，埃里克，我想我們要說的是，我們預計目前的取消水平在短期內可能會繼續保持這種水平。我們就是這樣看待這個問題的。我希望這能澄清你的問題。

So I think we were at $916 million. I think that was not a number from a cancellation number. And we would expect a broadly similar number in the next quarter. In the near term before we would see or anticipate some attenuation of that Q4 and perhaps in the Q4.

所以我認為我們的金額是 9.16 億美元。我認為這不是取消號碼。我們預計下一季的數字大致相同。在短期內，我們會看到或預期第四季會出現一些減弱，甚至可能在第四季出現。

Yes, the market and the environment continues to be volatile and continue to be a little uncertain. And so we're not declaring victory on the cancellations back to what it had been historical norms. Just at this point, as I say, in the near term, we're expecting to see some -- still some fairly significant cancelations.

是的，市場和環境持續波動，並且持續存在一些不確定性。因此，我們不會宣布取消已經取得勝利，而是會恢復到歷史常態。正如我所說，就在此時，在短期內，我們預計仍會看到一些相當重要的取消情況。

There was a backup question, I think we'll give -- we'll tell a break, I think because pushing staff.

有一個備用問題，我想我們會給予 - 我們會告訴一個休息時間，我想是因為推動員工。

Sorry about that. Yes, just I guess more big picture here. We've had you and several of your peers have highlighted a trend towards higher pass-through in direct revenue in the moment. It seems like most are suggesting that it has to do with mix changes and at least in some cases, mix changes.

很抱歉。是的，我只是猜想這裡有更多宏觀圖景。您和您的幾位同事都強調過，目前直接收入的轉嫁趨勢越來越高。似乎大多數人都認為這與混合變化有關，至少在某些情況下與混合變化有關。

But is there something more -- is there something broader coming in a different twist or dynamic that either clients are asking you to do more on the pass-throughs or somehow, we're seeing study site inflation or some other form of inflation really kicking in again. Is it just some audit and the timing and the moment of when things are hitting and you're recognizing these pass-throughs?

但是，是否還有其他因素——是否存在更廣泛的因素，以不同的方式或動態出現，要么客戶要求您在傳遞方面做更多工作，要么我們看到研究地點通貨膨脹或其他形式的通貨膨脹再次出現。這是否只是一些審計以及事情發生的時間和時刻，並且您認識到這些傳遞？

It just -- it does seem to be a bit of an industry-wide mantra right now, but some of the bookings and some of the revenue growth increases have been skewed much more to indirect revenue than perhaps we've seen here in recent quarters.

這確實似乎是目前整個行業的口頭禪，但有些預訂量和一些收入成長更偏向間接收入，而這可能比我們在最近幾季看到的情況要多得多。

Yes. I mean, it's a question we ask ourselves a lot as well, Eric, to be honest. And there are various reasons for I'll let Barry have a crack at that one.

是的。我的意思是，說實話，埃里克，這也是我們經常問自己的問題。我讓巴里嘗試這個方法有幾個原因。

I think you nailed it in the question, Eric. I think this is overwhelmingly a business mix trend that you're seeing. Steve already talked about the uptick in cardiometabolic opportunity flow and indeed revenue flow over the course of the last year. I think that's a significant contributor. And I don't think there's anything below the line that we've seen that would speak to other trends.

我認為你的問題很準確，艾瑞克。我認為這是您所看到的絕大多數業務組合趨勢。史蒂夫已經談到了去年心臟代謝機會流和收入流的上升。我認為這是一個重要的貢獻者。我不認為我們所看到的這條線以下的任何東西可以說明其他趨勢。

You get lots of calls. Yes, I'm sure rates are up about a period of time. But the number one driver here, as I would see it. I think as we have observed it in our own numbers, is that this is driven by the therapeutic mix primarily of the studies that we're running.

您接到了很多電話。是的，我確信利率在一段時間內會上漲。但在我看來，他是這裡的頭號司機。我認為，正如我們在自己的數據中觀察到的那樣，這主要是由我們正在進行的研究的治療組合所驅動的。

Jailendra Singh, Turist Securities.

Jailendra Singh，旅遊證券公司。

Thank you. Thanks for taking my question. If this makes Eric feel better, he just told my pass-through question. Anyway, I want to actually switch to my other question about getting your updated thoughts on the pricing environment a little bit more. What exactly are you seeing in large pharma and EPP, some other of your peers have talked about getting a little bit more open to taking a little bit more pricing concession. Just curious if you can share your thoughts on the pricing environment in both EPP and large pharma.

謝謝。感謝您回答我的問題。如果這能讓艾瑞克感覺好些，他只是告訴了我一個直截了當的問題。無論如何，我實際上想轉到我的另一個問題，即進一步了解您對定價環境的最新看法。您在大型製藥公司和 EPP 中究竟看到了什麼？您的其他一些同行談到要更加開放地接受更多的價格優惠。只是好奇您是否可以分享您對 EPP 和大型製藥公司的定價環境的看法。

Sure. So again, I'll have a crack at it and then Barry might jump in, Jailendra. I think, as I said in my prepared remarks, we are seeing probably a more intense pricing environment going forward. Our customers, as we've talked about going through that -- how they're dealing with the patent clips, and they're expecting more and more value.

當然。所以，我會再嘗試，然後 Barry 可能會加入，Jailendra。我認為，正如我在準備好的演講中所說的那樣，我們可能會看到未來更加激烈的定價環境。正如我們所討論的，我們的客戶正在經歷這樣的過程——他們如何處理專利片段，並且他們期望獲得越來越高的價值。

And so we are in a competitive -- very competitive environment. We talk about typically, it's a competitive environment. It's always competitive. It's probably intensified a little bit more, I think, more recently. And we're -- we believe we have some good opportunities to gain market share. But I'll let Barry talk perhaps a little bit about how we're competing in that environment.

因此，我們處在一個競爭非常激烈的環境中。我們通常談論的是一個競爭環境。競爭總是激烈的。我認為，最近這種現象可能會加劇。我們相信我們有一些很好的機會來獲得市場份額。但我會讓巴瑞稍微談談我們在那種環境中如何競爭。

Yes. I think Steve is right. I think while it's always been competitive, it perhaps has notched up a little bit, as you might imagine. I guess the first thing to say is I don't know anybody who thinks that product development wouldn't benefit from greater cost efficiency. So we see it as our role to create value through reducing the cost of clinical development.

是的。我認為史蒂夫是對的。我認為，儘管競爭一直很激烈，但正如你所想像的那樣，它可能已經有所進步。我想首先要說的是，我不知道有誰會認為產品開發不會從更高的成本效率中受益。因此，我們認為我們的職責是透過降低臨床開發成本來創造價值。

And while all competitive advantage is time bound, where we identify competitive advantage to our technologies, through our strategies, through our superior execution and we're able to bring a competitive price point versus the competition. We're going to do that. We're very happy to do that.

雖然所有競爭優勢都受時間限制，但我們可以確定我們的技術競爭優勢，透過我們的策略，透過我們卓越的執行，我們能夠帶來與競爭對手相比具有競爭力的價格點。我們會這麼做的。我們非常樂意這麼做。

On the other side, we also see value and volume and where significant opportunities come across. We're happy to get started to make sure we win that incumbency in the large pharma as we've talked about and continue to build a broader base in the biotech community. So I think on both of those metrics, it's fair to say it's pretty competitive out there and maybe touch up on where it was before.

另一方面，我們也看到了價值和數量以及重大機會。我們很高興開始確保我們在大型製藥公司中贏得主導地位，正如我們所討論的，並繼續在生物技術界建立更廣泛的基礎。因此，我認為從這兩個指標來看，可以說它的競爭力相當強，甚至可能達到以前的水平。

But -- for us, the key remains, can we bring higher confidence in the time, the cost and the predictability of trial execution plans to our customers. We still see that as probably the number one metric notwithstanding perhaps a slight uptick in the competitiveness (inaudible).

但是—對我們來說，關鍵仍然是，我們能否讓客戶對試驗執行計畫的時間、成本和可預測性更有信心。儘管競爭力可能略有上升，但我們仍然認為這可能是最重要的指標（聽不清楚）。

Luke Sergut, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的盧克‧塞爾古特 (Luke Sergut)。

Awesome. Great at risk of just diarrhea the mouth. I just want to figure this out, like so you have a big step-up in bookings. You have a big step-up in revenue, we've seen it across all the other ones. This kind of came out of nowhere and every company is talking about this coming from biotech, despite lack of funding data and all the data and channel checks to the contrary.

驚人的。腹瀉的風險很大。我只是想弄清楚這一點，這樣你的預訂量就會大幅增加。你們的收入有了很大的成長，我們在所有其他公司也看到了這一點。這種情況突然出現，每家公司都在談論生物技術方面的這種現象，儘管缺乏資金數據，而且所有數據和管道檢查都表明情況並非如此。

And then everybody is talking about metabolic and faster burning, higher pass-through trials. So like is there a risk here that there's just an air pocket that could be coming from -- you get some big bolus of like a couple of quarters of these big metabolic trials, and then they're a lot faster burning, shorter duration, et cetera? That's like the first part.

然後每個人都在談論代謝和更快的燃燒，更高的通過試驗。那麼，這裡是否存在風險，可能只是因為存在氣穴——你在幾個季度的大型代謝試驗中獲得了一些大劑量的推注，然後它們的燃燒速度更快，持續時間更短，等等？這就像第一部分。

And then the second part is, I mean, just metabolic coming on or just from recent M&A doesn't really add up to the massive step-up we've seen across the board. And so just trying to like foot the bill with what's been going on in general because out of 1Q, nobody really sounded positive on the demand environment.

然後第二部分是，我的意思是，僅僅是新陳代謝或只是最近的併購併不能真正達到我們所看到的全面大幅提升。因此，我們只是試圖根據整體情況來買單，因為在第一季中，沒有人對需求環境真正樂觀。

Yes. Well -- yes, well, I hesitate to be your therapist, Luke, but let me have a crack. Yes, let's just drop down to the sort of therapeutic area. We do see the metabolic the obesity side of things being an ongoing in the long-term trend that is going to fuel us in our portfolio, our backlog for some time to come. I mean this is a huge -- it's a huge market.

是的。嗯——是的，嗯，盧克，我猶豫著是否要成為你的治療師，但請讓我嘗試一下。是的，讓我們直接討論治療領域。我們確實看到代謝和肥胖方面是一個持續的長期趨勢，這將在未來一段時間內為我們的投資組合和積壓業務提供動力。我的意思是，這是一個巨大的——一個巨大的市場。

There are lots of opportunities for improving those drugs, whether it be how they're administered, or the side effect profile is -- and they are going to need to be large-scale trials that are in the scheme of things, relatively easy to recruit. And I don't think it's easy, but relatively compared to your difficult oncology trial, they should on faster, they should be larger.

有很多機會可以改進這些藥物，無論是如何使用它們，還是副作用概況——而且它們需要進行大規模的試驗，這些試驗在計劃中，相對容易招募。我認為這並不容易，但與困難的腫瘤學試驗相比，它們應該進展得更快，規模也更大。

So we think there's a long and a significant opportunity there for us and hence our obesity Center of Excellence. So that I talked about. It's not just though in the metabolic. You look at things like mass, as they call it now rather than that. That's an area that we're seeing a lot of activity, a lot of companies doing a lot of work, here a lot of progress being made in the oncology continues to be a driver.

因此我們認為這對我們以及我們的肥胖卓越中心來說是一個長期而重大的機會。這就是我所說的。這不僅發生在新陳代謝中。你看到的是像質量這樣的東西，現在人們這樣稱呼它，而不是那樣。我們看到這個領域有很多活動，很多公司做了很多工作，腫瘤學領域的許多進展繼續成為推動力。

And even in the CVT space cardiovascular space, we're seeing some significant opportunities as well. So -- but therapeutically, there are, I think, a number of areas of medical science thing and then bringing new drugs to market hasn't gone away. There's still a huge area of unmet medical need and a lot of very important therapeutic areas that I think we can help to it.

即使在 CVT 心血管領域，我們也看到了一些重大機會。所以 — — 但從治療角度來看，我認為，醫學科學的許多領域都在研究新藥，並將新藥推向市場，但這並沒有消失。仍有大量未滿足的醫療需求，我認為我們可以在許多非常重要的治療領域提供幫助。

So I don't think it's an air pocket. But I think as I've said a number of times, this -- it is a somewhat volatile environment. And as you say, the biotech funding doesn't really support necessarily the torque and what we're seeing here. But I think that may be a little bit in the lag. And I think we're seeing some companies get funded that are that do have some good signs. We're able to access those companies.

所以我不認為這是一個氣穴。但我認為，正如我多次說過的，這是一個有點不穩定的環境。正如您所說，生物技術資金並不一定能真正支持我們在這裡看到的扭矩。但我認為這可能有點滯後。我認為我們看到一些公司獲得資助確實有一些好的跡象。我們能夠訪問這些公司。

Our win rate within that segment is improving. We feel good about what we're offering in that segment. Now certainly, our win rate in the large Pharma segment continues to be very strong. And as I said, we're leveraging the partnerships in that large Pharma segment.

我們在該領域的勝率正在提高。我們對於我們在該領域提供的產品感到滿意。毫無疑問，我們在大型製藥領域的成功率仍然非常高。正如我所說，我們正在利用大型製藥領域的合作關係。

So overall, I'll say it again, we feel constructive without feeling over the top on where this is going. Could there be a little bit of a slow? Yes, there could be. There's no question, there could be -- I don't sure we're quite out of the woods yet, as I say.

所以總的來說，我再說一遍，我們感覺很有建設性，但對事情的進展沒有感到過分。速度能慢一點嗎？是的，有可能。毫無疑問，可能會有──正如我所說，我不確定我們是否已經完全脫離困境。

But we're happy to have had a decent quarter, particularly from a gross bookings point of view, and we feel we can continue that. The material is in the pipeline in the sausage machine to make these sort of numbers to continue. And as I said, notwithstanding some continued elevation on cancels, we still see some optimism moving -- as we move into the back end of the year. Do you want to add to that?

但我們很高興本季的業績表現不錯，特別是從總預訂量的角度來看，而且我們覺得我們可以繼續保持這種勢頭。材料在香腸機的管道中不斷產生這些數字。正如我所說，儘管取消數量持續增加，但隨著我們進入年底，我們仍然看到一些樂觀情緒在湧動。您想補充一下嗎？

No, I think you covered it. It might have been Patrick early on, who asked about whether there was a pivot point during the quarter. I don't think there was. And I suppose what's harder to convey than just the opportunity flow is a more qualitative assessment of what I think, Steve, you just alluded to it. We were pretty satisfied as we moved through the quarter that there was some attractive opportunities that were transactable.

不，我想你已經涵蓋了。可能是帕特里克早些時候詢問過本季是否存在一個轉折點。我認為沒有。我認為比機會流更難傳達的是對我的想法進行更定性的評估，史蒂夫，你剛才提到了這一點。我們非常滿意，因為本季出現了一些有吸引力的可交易機會。

And as we came out of Q2 into Q3, nobody's seeing a couple of (inaudible) and declaring the permanent summer. But we do feel like qualitatively, there's some encouraging observations there, but this is not a straight-line industry, things can move relatively quickly. So conservatively optimistic with the signs that we're seeing. I think it's a fair summation.

當我們從第二季進入第三季時，沒有人看到幾個（聽不清楚）並宣布永久夏季。但我們確實覺得從品質來看，有一些令人鼓舞的觀察結果，但這不是一個直線產業，事情可以相對較快地發展。因此，對於我們看到的跡象，我們持保守樂觀的態度。我認為這是一個公平的總結。

Max Smock, William Blair.

馬克斯史莫克、威廉布萊爾。

Hey, good morning, good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe just a quick one here for Nigel. On the burn rate, it seems like the midpoint of the guide implies about a 20 basis points step down in the second half of this year. Even though you've kicked off that faster burning COVID trial, is there just -- is that just conservatism? Or is there something else that we should kind of be thinking about that's driving that implied step down.

嘿，早上好，下午好。感謝您回答我們的問題。也許這只是對 Nigel 的一個簡短介紹。就燒錢率而言，指南的中點似乎意味著今年下半年燒錢率將下降約 20 個基點。即使你們已經啟動了速度更快的 COVID 試驗，但這只是——僅僅是保守主義嗎？或者我們是否應該考慮其他因素來推動這種隱含的下降。

Yes, Max. No, look, I think our view on the burn rate fundamentally is it will be broadly stable through the course of the year. Look, that is what's built into the guide. It was what we had assumed back in April, and as Steve mentioned earlier, fundamentally, our underlying assumptions in terms of the backdrop remains the same. So we still expect book-to-bill at roughly the same level through the rest of the year. And within that as well, then the burn rate being broadly consistent as well.

是的，馬克斯。不，看，我認為我們對燒錢率的看法從根本上是它將在全年保持大致穩定。瞧，這就是指南中的內容。這是我們四月所假設的，正如史蒂夫之前提到的，從根本上來說，我們在背景方面的基本假設仍然是一樣的。因此，我們仍然預計今年剩餘時間內訂單出貨比將保持大致相同的水平。並且在此範圍內，燃燒率也大致保持一致。

The step-up in the revenue guide, again, is fundamentally really driven by the increased pass-throughs that we're seeing. So look, let's see where we end up ultimately in terms of the end of the year. But at this point, we expect burn rate to be broadly stable over the balance of the year and somewhere around 8% for the full year.

再次強調，收入指南的提升從根本上來說實際上是由我們所看到的傳遞率的增加所推動的。那麼，讓我們看看到年底我們最終會取得什麼成果。但目前，我們預計今年餘下的資金消耗率將基本保持穩定，全年資金消耗率將在 8% 左右。

Charles Rhyee, TD Cowen.

查爾斯·瑞伊（Charles Rhyee），考恩（Cowen）TD。

Yeah, thanks for taking further. Maybe if I could just add some clarifications just from some of the stuff earlier. Steve, I think you said that for next quarter, you're expecting sort of cancellations to be similar to this quarter around $900 million and something million, but this quarter included the $300 million cancellation of the COVID trial.

是的，感謝您的進一步了解。也許我可以針對之前的一些內容添加一些說明。史蒂夫，我想您說過，對於下個季度，您預計取消的金額將與本季度類似，約為 9 億美元，但本季包括因 COVID 試驗而取消的 3 億美元。

So -- are we expecting more like something that sort -- or you're seeing a step-up in maybe what does that mean for book-to-bill expectations for next quarter? And then I think last quarter, you gave sort of a breakdown of FX impact, sort of the COVIDn trial impact. Maybe for Nigel, if you can give us a sense for this quarter as well as sort of those components in the rev guide?

那麼 - 我們是否期待更多這樣的事情 - 或者您看到這可能意味著下個季度的訂單出貨比預期會有所上升？然後我想上個季度，你對外匯影響以及 COVIDn 試驗影響進行了細分。也許對於 Nigel 來說，您是否可以讓我們了解本季的情況以及轉速指南中的那些組成部分？

Okay. So Charles, let me be clear on the cancels. We're expecting to see a -- in the same sort of post code as what we saw this quarter from a -- the fact that we did call out the BARDA cancel earlier on. And so you were aware of that. That doesn't make it exceptional. There are -- we have some cancels and we get -- we will be putting them into our numbers in the third quarter.

好的。那麼查爾斯，讓我清楚地解釋一下取消的情況。我們預計會看到與本季度相同的郵政編碼，事實上我們早些時候確實呼籲過 BARDA 取消。所以您知道這一點。但這並沒有什麼特別之處。我們有一些取消訂單的情況，我們會將它們計入第三季的資料中。

So the number will be in the same sort of post code.What it will be only 1/3 of the way through the quarter. We're working on these things. These things some slow, some delays on -- so it's -- but don't think of it as a dot think of it as BARDA an exceptional item, I would say, at this stage.

因此，數字將採用相同的郵遞區號。這將僅是本季度的 1/3。我們正在致力於這些事情。這些事情有些進展緩慢，有些延遲——所以——但不要把它看作是一個點，而要把它看作是 BARDA 的一個特殊項目，我想說，在這個階段。

But I think certainly, but the very near term, that's the expectation. As we -- I think as we get into fourth quarter into next year, I think things will normalize, that's our expectation. But again, that remains to be seen and will depend upon the environment becoming a little less volatile, a little less uncertain. (inaudible) I'll leave you for the COVID.

但我認為肯定會，但就短期而言，這就是預期。我認為，隨著我們進入明年第四季度，情況將會正常化，這是我們的預期。但同樣，這還有待觀察，並將取決於環境是否變得不那麼動盪、不那麼不確定。（聽不清楚）我會離開你去處理 COVID。

Yes, Charles. So on the guide change from April to today, FX is really neutral. You remember most of that dollar shift that we saw over the last few months had already happened actually by the end of April when we came out of the April guidance. So there's really no impact in terms of our revenue guidance change from FX its fundamentally driven from the uptick in pass-throughs.

是的，查爾斯。因此，從 4 月到今天的指導變化來看，外匯確實是中性的。您記得，我們在過去幾個月中看到的大部分美元轉變實際上在 4 月底我們發布 4 月份指引時就已經發生了。因此，就我們的收入指導變化而言，外匯實際上沒有影響，其根本原因是傳遞量的增加。

And maybe just circling back, Mark, on the burn rate point, while we do think it will be broadly 8% for the year hold the pattern between Q3 and Q4 will depend a bit on the pass-through activity, in particular, that COVID study. So at this point, it's ramping well. (inaudible) that we see that burn a bit faster in Q3 than in Q4. So you might see a slightly better burn rate in the nearer term, Q3 versus Q4, but let's see how that evolves. So hopefully, that's helpful Charles.

馬克，也許只是回到燒錢率的問題上，雖然我們確實認為全年的燒錢率大致會保持在 8%，但第三季度和第四季度之間的模式將在一定程度上取決於傳導活動，特別是那項 COVID 研究。因此，目前來看，它進展順利。 （聽不清楚）我們發現第三季的燃燒速度比第四季快一點。因此，您可能會看到近期第三季度的燒錢率略好於第四季度，但讓我們看看情況如何發展。希望這對查爾斯有幫助。

And actually, Charles, just really -- I didn't answer your other question around book-to-bill. Our expectation on book-to-bill would be again in the same ballpark as what we did this quarter, notwithstanding the, as I say, continued elevation on cancellations. So we -- as I said, we have some strong opportunities in the pipeline. We feel very focused. We feel like those opportunities are actionable and real. And so we feel that the similar ish book-to-bill is certainly possible.

實際上，查爾斯，我還沒有回答您關於訂單出貨比的其他問題。儘管正如我所說，訂單取消量持續增加，但我們對訂單出貨比的預期將與本季大致相同。所以，正如我所說，我們有一些很好的機會。我們感覺非常專注。我們覺得這些機會是切實可行的。因此，我們認為類似的訂單出貨比是完全可能的。

And just to underline that, Charles, yes. Look, we've assumed roughly a 1x book to build over the balance of the year, which does reflect elevated counsels continuing through that period as well. And that's reflected in the guide that we've put out.

查爾斯，我只是想強調一下，是的。你看，我們假設在今年餘下的時間裡，書的數量大約會達到 1 倍，這也確實反映了在這段時間內持續不斷的提升的建議。這反映在我們發布的指南中。

Casey Woodring, J.P. Morgan.

凱西‧伍德林 (Casey Woodring)，摩根大通 (J.P. Morgan)。

Good morning. This is Sebastian Sandler on for Casey. Thanks for taking my question. So you called out licensing activity among large pharma in your prepared remarks. In terms of your operations in China, given some of the recent sizable pharma licensing deals with Chinese biotechs you've seen since last quarter, -- can you just walk us through ICON's role in these types of deals and how you see this dynamic playing out for ICON? Do you think Chinese biotechs will rely primarily on Chinese CROs. Or does pharma acquire these assets and run the remaining trials through ICON?

早安.這是凱西 (Casey) 的塞巴斯蒂安桑德勒 (Sebastian Sandler)。感謝您回答我的問題。因此，您在準備好的發言中呼籲大型製藥公司進行許可活動。就您在中國的營運而言，鑑於您自上個季度以來看到的與中國生物技術公司達成的一些規模較大的製藥許可交易，您能否向我們介紹一下 ICON 在這類交易中扮演的角色，以及您如何看待這種動態對 ICON 的影響？您認為中國生技公司將主要依賴中國 CRO 嗎？或者製藥公司是否收購這些資產並透過 ICON 進行剩餘的試驗？

And then lastly, what percentage of your revenue is coming from China now? I think in the past, you've called out China not being a large part of the business. So I was just wondering how this has trended in recent times.

最後，現在你們的收入有多少比例來自中國？我認為過去您曾指出中國在該業務中所佔比例不大。所以我只是想知道最近這種趨勢如何。

Okay. You've got a couple of questions in there, Sebastian. So let me try to unpick some of that. First of all, let me do the easy ones. Revenue in China approximately 3%-ish. So low single digits. We have about 1,200 people in China. It's a good operation, one of our -- one of the best operations we have in the company, well staffed some really good, strong people.

好的。賽巴斯蒂安，你有幾個問題。因此，讓我試著解開其中的一些疑問。首先，讓我先做些簡單的。中國的收入約為3%左右。如此低的個位數。我們在中國有大約1200名員工。這是我們公司最好的業務之一，配備了一些非常優秀、強大的員工。

We have some good connections with the Chinese biotech industry. And this is -- I mean, there's a lot happening in China, as you all know. I mean, I think it's something like 1/3 of the new clinical trial starts globally are happening in China. And they're not all happening outside of China.

我們與中國生物技術產業有著良好的聯繫。這是——我的意思是，正如你們所知，中國發生了很多事情。我的意思是，我認為全球大約三分之一的新臨床試驗都在中國進行。而且這些情況並不全都發生在中國以外。

But there's a lot of activity. And certainly, the Chinese government is giving a lot of focus on biotech. And we have a number of customers in the US who are accessing portfolios and accessing new compounds and drugs and opportunities and licensing opportunities from Chinese companies.

但有很多活動。當然，中國政府非常重視生物技術。我們在美國擁有許多客戶，他們正在獲取中國公司的投資組合、新化合物、新藥物、新機會和新許可機會。

And we've been lucky enough to partner with them to develop some of those drugs. We see that as being a nice albeit more longer-term, medium- to longer-term fuel for our business. And we certainly see China as being a source of innovation and of new compounds in the next, again, realistically medium to long-term, three to five years. This doesn't happen overnight.

我們很榮幸能與他們合作開發其中一些藥物。我們認為這對我們的業務來說是一個不錯的、儘管是更長期的、中期到長期的推動力。我們確實認為，在未來三到五年內，也就是中長期內，中國將成為創新和新化合物的來源。這不是一朝一夕就能實現的。

But certainly, the Chinese are putting a huge amount of focus on their pharmaceutical and biotech industries, helping their companies. And those companies are not using local CROs to do international trials. They certainly use them in to -- to do trials within China. That's -- that's certainly an area that they have locked down.

但可以肯定的是，中國人正將大量精力放在製藥和生技產業，以幫助其企業。而這些公司並沒有使用當地的 CRO 來進行國際試驗。他們肯定會用它們來——在中國進行試驗。那是——那肯定是他們已經封鎖的區域。

But in terms of doing global trials, trials in the west for registration in Europe and for registration in the US they're turning to organizations like ICON to do those sort of trials. And we're very happy to see that. We have those connections. We have a strong business development team in China, which is going to allow us to absolutely make those connections and develop that business.

但就進行全球試驗、在西方進行試驗以便在歐洲註冊以及在美國註冊而言，他們正在求助於 ICON 等組織來進行此類試驗。我們很高興看到這一點。我們有這些聯繫。我們在中國擁有強大的業務開發團隊，這將使我們能夠建立聯繫並發展業務。

So I'm optimistic about China, albeit, this is not a short-term thing. This is a more longer-term partnership like with a country as much as anything else, and we certainly see some benefits over the longer term.

因此我對中國持樂觀態度，儘管這不是短期的事。這是一種與國家之間更長期的夥伴關係，與其他任何關係一樣，我們當然會看到一些長期利益。

Michael Riskin, Bank of America.

美國銀行的麥可‧里斯金。

Great, thanks for taking the question. It'll do I got 1 big one, just a quick clarification. On the clarification, you talked about competitive environment and sort of how you see that evolving. If you could just expand on that a little bit in terms of where you're seeing the most competition in terms of who you're running into the most? Is it -- is it a big three where you're seeing a little more competition or maybe some of the more niche players are really the smaller CROs out there, just where you see that environment ramping up in the last three or six months?

太好了，謝謝你回答這個問題。可以的，我有一個大問題，只需快速澄清一下。在澄清方面，您談到了競爭環境以及您如何看待這種環境的發展。您能否稍微詳細說明一下，您認為哪裡的競爭最激烈，以及您遇到的競爭對手是誰？您是否看到這三大巨頭之間的競爭更加激烈？或者，一些較小眾的參與者實際上是規模較小的 CRO，而您只是看到這種環境在過去三到六個月內逐漸升溫？

And then -- or if there's any other way for you to break it down in terms of therapeutic area or customer class. And then the other question I was going to have was on the cost controls you talked about earlier this year that you've implemented. I just -- obviously, you maintained your EPS numbers and some of your margin (inaudible) cost. But if you could update how that's going and how you think about leveraging the cost out of the business as you go through the rest of the year, if you do see some of the improvements in bookings continue?

然後—或者您是否有其他方法可以根據治療領域或客戶類別進行細分。然後我要問的另一個問題是關於您今年早些時候談到的、已經實施的成本控制。我只是——顯然，你維持了你的每股盈餘數字和部分利潤（聽不清楚）成本。但是，如果您可以更新進展情況，以及您如何考慮在今年剩餘時間內利用業務成本，您是否看到預訂量繼續有所改善？

Okay, Michael. I'll take the second part of the question, and then Barry might talk about the competitive environment, what you're seeing in the large pharma and the biotech space. Certainly our cost controls, we've made good progress, and we continue to make good progress. I think we have a reputation industry as being pretty good cost managers and the team has done an excellent job in looking at that and in working that through, we've reduced our SG&A like $9 million year-on-year.

好的，麥可。我將回答問題的第二部分，然後 Barry 可能會談論競爭環境，以及您在大型製藥和生物技術領域看到的情況。當然，我們的成本控制已經取得了良好的進展，並且我們將繼續取得良好的進展。我認為我們在行業中享有良好的成本管理聲譽，並且團隊在研究和實施這一方面做得非常出色，我們已將銷售、一般和行政費用 (SG&A) 同比減少了 900 萬美元。

We continue to focus on that. The AI that I talked about, the technology, the bots that we've been deploying in doing much -- the more routine sort of work has been very effective for us and continues to drive down our overall SG&A costs. And that ultimately improves our efficiency.

我們將繼續關注這一點。我談到的人工智慧、技術以及我們部署的機器人，在許多常規工作中都發揮了重要作用，並且對我們非常有效，並持續降低我們的整體銷售、一般和行政費用 (SG&A) 成本。這最終提高了我們的效率。

As Barry alluded to that being a very important component of us being actively competitive on the pricing side of things with our larger customers and with the biotech customers for that matter. But certainly in the partnerships, that gives us an opportunity to compete actively and we're doing that very effectively.

正如巴里所提到的，這是我們在價格方面與大客戶以及生物技術客戶積極競爭的一個非常重要的因素。但毫無疑問，在合作中，這給了我們積極競爭的機會，而且我們正在非常有效地做到這一點。

So I'm really pleased with the way we're managing our costs. We have more to do, and it's an ongoing challenge for us. But whether we do it throughout the way where we're optimizing our labor force, effectively supporting our labor force and our (inaudible) with new technology and AI, it's all gripmill, and it's something that we take very seriously. Barry, you want to add the competitive environment?

所以我對我們的成本管理方式非常滿意。我們還有很多事情要做，這對我們來說是一個持續的挑戰。但是，無論我們是否透過優化勞動力、利用新技術和人工智慧有效地支持勞動力和（聽不清楚）來實現這一點，這都是我們非常重視的事情。巴里，你想增加競爭環境嗎？

Yes. And the two honestly, are linked. I mean, the teams really have done an excellent efficiency over the course of the year, productivity and utilization of on a broad basis right across the company on a year-over-year basis. That doesn't just help us with cost controls. That also helps us to get these studies delivered for customers.

是的。說實話，這兩者是有連結的。我的意思是，這些團隊在過去一年中確實實現了出色的效率，與去年同期相比，整個公司的生產力和利用率都有所提高。這不僅幫助我們控製成本。這也有助於我們將這些研究成果提供給客戶。

So on the competitive environment, I guess we're still ICON. We're happy to compete with anybody. And by and large, we do. But particularly in the pharma space, I think you're probably in the right neighborhood. These are large, global, diverse partnerships across broad portfolios of different therapeutic modalities we do tend to run into the more established players more and more. I guess it's a harder market for others to compete in.

因此，在競爭環境中，我想我們仍然是 ICON。我們很樂意與任何人競爭。整體來說，我們確實如此。但特別是在製藥領域，我認為你可能處於正確的位置。這些都是大型的、全球性的、多樣化的合作夥伴關係，涉及不同的治療方式的廣泛組合，我們確實傾向於越來越多地遇到更成熟的參與者。我想對其他人來說，這個市場競爭會更加激烈。

That's somewhat more diversified in the biotech space, particularly at the earlier phase biotech end of the market. As I say, some of the larger biotechs pushing into the midsized space, they start to become more like portfolio accounts with multiple studies, covenants in (inaudible), et cetera. So probably a slightly different dynamic across those two market segments, but with a bias towards larger, more global and more diversified competitors.

生物技術領域的市場更加多樣化，特別是在生物技術市場的早期階段。正如我所說，一些較大的生技公司正在進入中型領域，它們開始變得更像擁有多項研究、契約（聽不清楚）等的投資組合帳戶。因此，這兩個細分市場的動態可能略有不同，但都偏向規模更大、更全球化、更多樣化的競爭對手。

Rob Cotterell, Cleveland Research.

克利夫蘭研究公司的羅布·科特雷爾（Rob Cotterell）。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. Just in terms of the medium-term revenue and booking outlook, can you talk about elevated near-term pass-throughs, but also increased price intensity -- are those offsetting factors? Or does one outweigh the other in terms of future bookings? And then can you remind us how these kinds of posture are flowing through to the quarterly booking and backlog numbers for 2Q?

嗨，早安。感謝您回答我們的問題。僅就中期收入和預訂前景而言，您能否談談近期轉嫁率的提高以及價格強度的增加 - 這些是抵消因素嗎？或者從未來預訂量來看，其中一個比另一個更有優勢？然後您能否提醒我們這些態勢是如何影響第二季度的季度預訂量和積壓訂單量的？

Sorry, Rob, Rob or ion from you, but I don't think we got the second part of that question, unfortunately. But -- do you want to take the first part in terms of the medium term pass-through.

抱歉，Rob，Rob 或者說你，但不幸的是，我認為我們沒有得到這個問題的第二部分。但是—您是否想從中期傳導的角度來考慮第一部分？

Do you want to just repeat the questions, Rob, we kind of got a little bit distracted with the feedback.

羅布，你想重複這些問題嗎？我們對回饋有點分心了。

Can you hear me now. Yes, can you hear me now?

現在你能聽到我說話嗎？是的，你現在聽得到我說話嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Yes.

是的。

Yeah. All right, great. Thank you. So I guess first was just on the -- how we should how we should pair the comments around higher near-term pass-throughs, but increased price competition? And do those two offset each other? Or does one outweigh the other positive or negative? And then the second question was how to treat the near-term elevated pass-throughs in terms of bookings and backlog for the second quarter?

是的。好的，太好了。謝謝。所以我想首先要考慮的是——我們應該如何將有關近期傳導率較高但價格競爭加劇的評論結合起來？這兩者會互相抵消嗎？或其中一個的正面或負面作用大於另一個？然後第二個問題是如何處理第二季預訂量和積壓量的近期提升？

Maybe I'll do the first one, and maybe Nigel might jump in to Barry on the second one. Certainly, offsetting between higher pass-throughs and price competition, I don't really see it as an offset. I mean, price competition is what it is, and it tends to be around the direct fees.

也許我會做第一個，也許奈傑爾會加入巴瑞做第二個。當然，對於更高的轉嫁率和價格競爭之間的抵消，我並不認為這是一種抵消。我的意思是，價格競爭就是這樣，而且它往往圍繞著直接費用。

So our margin producing revenue, whereas pass-throughs don't have any margin in them and they tend to be what they are what they are. I mean customers don't necessarily ask us to reduce on those. The fact that they go up and we talked about that from a therapeutic point of view, whether they'd be around vaccine studies or metabolism study, obesity is -- it helps us on the top line, but certainly doesn't produce any margin for us.

因此，我們的利潤可以產生收入，而直通業務則不包含任何利潤，而且它們往往就是它們本來的樣子。我的意思是客戶不一定會要求我們減少這些。事實上，它們的上升以及我們從治療的角度討論的這個問題，無論是圍繞疫苗研究還是新陳代謝研究，肥胖症——它有助於我們實現營收成長，但肯定不會為我們帶來任何利潤。

And so I don't really see them as offset in price competition tends to be around those direct fees. So I hope that gives you some sort of flavor for how we consider that price competition, as I say, is that will potentially hurt our margin. But as Barry talked about earlier in the call, we have some pretty creative and innovative ways of being able to deliver these studies in a way that doesn't impact our margins as much.

因此，我並不認為價格競爭的抵銷往往圍繞著那些直接費用。所以我希望這能讓您了解我們如何看待價格競爭，正如我所說，這可能會損害我們的利潤。但正如巴里早些時候在電話會議上談到的那樣，我們有一些非常有創意和創新的方式，能夠以對我們的利潤影響不大的方式進行這些研究。

And so we can be competitive on price without sacrificing too much on margin. That's the way we try to do it. And that's -- the team has been very successful in that so far. Do you want to talk about possible.

因此，我們可以在價格上具有競爭力，而不需要犧牲太多的利潤。這就是我們嘗試去做的方式。到目前為止，該團隊在這方面取得了巨大的成功。你想談談可能性嗎？

Yes, sure. And Rob, on bookings. So pass-throughs are just part of the gross wins basically, it's the Citi award is both direct fee and pass-through. So it's it's not a particular factor there other than, obviously, the comment around just pass-throughs generally being an increasing proportion of what we're seeing.

是的，當然。還有 Rob，關於預訂。因此，轉嫁費用基本上只是總收益的一部分，花旗銀行的獎勵既包括直接費用，也包括轉嫁費用。因此，除了關於傳遞的評論顯然在我們所看到的比例普遍增加之外，這並不是一個特定的因素。

But -- so that's all I'd say -- and then we obviously talked about elevated cancels in Q2 and the likelihood of those continuing as being the other factor in terms of the overall book-to-bill number. So I wouldn't call out anything particular on pass-throughs in terms of that pattern into the future. We were more commenting on it in relation to the change in the revenue guide from April to now being driven by the higher pass-through pattern we're seeing currently in revenue.

但是——這就是我要說的全部——然後我們顯然討論了第二季度取消訂單量增加以及這些訂單繼續取消的可能性，這是影響整體訂單出貨比的另一個因素。因此，我不會對未來的模式傳遞做出任何特別的評論。我們對此的評論更多與四月份至今的收入指南變化有關，這是由我們目前看到的收入更高的傳遞模式所驅動。

Thank you. There are no further questions. I will hand back to the speakers for any closing comments.

謝謝。沒有其他問題了。我將把發言者交還給發言者，請他們發表結束語。

Thank you, operator. As we navigate current conditions, we're pleased with the progress we made in quarter 2 and remain focused on capitalizing on the opportunities we have in front of us. We thank you all for joining the call and for your support in ICON. Good afternoon.

謝謝您，接線生。在應對當前情況的同時，我們對第二季度取得的進展感到滿意，並將繼續專注於利用我們面前的機會。我們感謝大家參加這次電話會議並感謝你們對 ICON 的支持。午安.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接了。