昆泰 (IQV) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the IQVIA Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Thank you.

女士們先生們，謝謝你們的支持。此時，我歡迎大家參加 IQVIA 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，此通話正在錄音。謝謝。

I would now like to turn the call over to Nick Childs, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Mr. Childs, please begin your conference.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係和財務部高級副總裁 Nick Childs。蔡爾茲先生，請開始您的會議。

Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter 2023 earnings call. With me today are Ari Bousbib, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Ron Bruehlman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Eric Sherbet, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Mike Fedock, Senior Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis; and Gustavo Perrone, Senior Director, Investor Relations.

非常感謝。大家，早安。感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有董事長兼執行長 Ari Bousbib； Ron Bruehlman，執行副總裁兼財務長； Eric Sherbet，執行副總裁兼總法律顧問； Mike Fedock，財務規劃與分析資深副總裁；以及投資者關係資深總監 Gustavo Perrone。

Today, we will be referencing a presentation that will be visible during this call for those of you on our webcast. This presentation will also be available following this call in the Events & Presentations section of our IQVIA Investor Relations website at ir.iqvia.com.

今天，我們將引用一個演示文稿，該演示文稿將在本次電話會議期間在我們的網路廣播中為大家展示。本次電話會議後，我們還將在 IQVIA 投資者關係網站 ir.iqvia.com 的「活動和演示」部分提供此簡報。

Before we begin, I would like to caution listeners that certain information discussed by management during this conference call will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, which are discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒聽眾，管理階層在本次電話會議中討論的某些資訊將包含前瞻性陳述。由於與公司業務相關的風險和不確定性，實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異，這些風險和不確定性在公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了討論，包括我們的10-K 表格年度報告和隨後向 SEC 提交的文件。

In addition, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call, which should be considered a supplement to and not a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures is included in the press release and conference call presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO.

此外，我們將在本次電話會議上討論某些非公認會計原則財務措施，這些措施應被視為根據公認會計原則準備的財務措施的補充，而不是替代。新聞稿和電話會議簡報中包含了這些非公認會計準則衡量指標與可比較公認會計準則衡量指標的對照表。我現在想將電話轉給我們的董事長兼執行長。

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our 2023 results.

謝謝你，尼克，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們討論我們 2023 年的表現。

You saw that we had a good quarter. Let me start the call by sharing the latest of what we are seeing in our end markets, along with our key accomplishments for 2023. On the clinical side, demand from our R&DS clients remained strong. Net new bookings for the quarter exceeded $2.8 billion, the second largest quarter in IQVIA history, representing a quarterly book-to-bill of 1.31%. Our quarterly RFP flow was up 13% year-over-year, driven by EBP and large pharma. Our qualified pipeline grew double digits versus prior year. Emerging biotech funding was strong. According to BioWorld, fourth quarter EBP funding was $21.6 billion, the highest quarter in the last 2 years continuing the sequential improvement we've seen throughout the year. For the full year, EBP funding for 2023 was $70.9 billion, up 17% versus the prior year, and that represents the largest year on record if we exclude the outlier years of '20 and '21, when there was dramatic outstanding due to COVID.

你看到我們這個季度表現不錯。首先讓我分享我們在終端市場看到的最新情況，以及我們 2023 年的主要成就。在臨床方面，我們的研發客戶的需求仍然強勁。該季度淨新預訂量超過 28 億美元，是 IQVIA 歷史上第二大季度，季度預訂比為 1.31%。在 EBP 和大型製藥公司的推動下，我們的季度 RFP 流量年增 13%。我們的合格管道與去年相比成長了兩位數。新興生物技術資金強勁。據 BioWorld 稱，第四季度 EBP 資金為 216 億美元，是過去兩年來最高的季度，延續了我們全年看到的連續改善。就全年而言，2023 年的EBP 資金為709 億美元，比上年增長17%，如果我們排除20 世紀20 年代和21 世紀21 年間的異常年份，這將是有史以來最大的一年，當時由於新冠疫情而出現了巨大的未償還債務。

As we close 2023, we're proud of what we have achieved in R&DS. The business booked $10.7 billion of net new business, including record high service bookings of $8.4 billion. Our backlog stands at $29.7 billion, and that's up 9% year-over-year. The business added nearly 400 net new customers in the year. We made great progress with our clinical research strategies. We significantly expanded our R&D site network and management organization through strategic acquisitions that offer clinical research coordination, study feasibility and patient recruitment capability. We further expanded the capabilities of the lab business through the launch of a new synthetic antibody discovery offering, which is differentiated from the traditional animal-derived antibodies that are used by our competitors. And we partnered with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, CEPI, who enhance the world's ability to rapidly conduct clinical research for vaccines and other biological countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases in underdeveloped countries.

2023 年即將結束，我們對研發領域的成就感到自豪。該業務預訂了 107 億美元的淨新業務，其中包括創紀錄的 84 億美元的服務預訂。我們的積壓訂單達 297 億美元，年增 9%。該業務年內淨新增近 400 名客戶。我們的臨床研究策略取得了巨大進展。我們透過提供臨床研究協調、研究可行性和病患招募能力的策略性收購，大幅擴大了我們的研發基地網路和管理組織。我們透過推出新的合成抗體發現產品進一步擴大了實驗室業務的能力，該產品與我們競爭對手使用的傳統動物源抗體不同。我們也與流行病防範創新聯盟 (CEPI) 合作，該聯盟增強了世界在欠發達國家針對新興傳染病快速開展疫苗和其他生物對策臨床研究的能力。

Turning to TAS. The commercial side of our business continues, of course, to face the macro environment that we've described in the past as our clients remain cautious with their spending and their cost containment. Our results in the quarter were slightly better than what we had expected. Although discretionary spending has not yet rebounded to the levels that we expect they will, and it continues to be a headwind. Fundamentally, leading market indicators do point to an upcoming improvement.

轉向TAS。當然，我們業務的商業方面繼續面臨我們過去描述的宏觀環境，因為我們的客戶對其支出和成本控制保持謹慎。我們本季的業績略優於我們的預期。儘管可自由支配支出尚未反彈至我們預期的水平，但它仍然是一個阻力。從根本上講，領先的市場指標確實表明即將出現改善。

For instance, the FDA approved 55 new molecules in 2023 and that's almost 50% more than the prior year and it is the highest level since 2018. The spend on new drug launches by our pharma clients is expected to be over $190 billion over the next 5 years. That's up over 25% compared to the prior 5-year period.

例如，FDA 在 2023 年批准了 55 個新分子，比前一年增加了近 50%，是 2018 年以來的最高水平。我們的製藥客戶在新藥上市上的支出預計將在未來超過 1900 億美元5年。與前 5 年相比，增長了 25% 以上。

Frankly, in our own engagement with customers in the recent past, we noted an improved customer sentiment during the quarter. In fact, the pipeline of opportunities remains strong even as decision timelines remain elongated and negotiations more difficult similar to what we indicated last quarter. Based on these dynamics, we continue to expect demand to pick up, but not before the second half of the year. And as a result, we may see the 2024 sequential trend for TAS to be the inverse of what we experienced in 2023. So we might see revenue growth in the first quarter that resembles the growth of the fourth quarter of 2023, and grow to gradually improve as we move to the back end of the year.

坦白說，在我們最近與客戶的接觸中，我們注意到本季客戶情緒有所改善。事實上，儘管決策時間仍然延長且談判更加困難（與我們上季度表示的情況類似），但機會的管道仍然強勁。基於這些動態，我們繼續預期需求將會回升，但不會在今年下半年之前。因此，我們可能會看到 TAS 2024 年的連續趨勢與 2023 年的情況相反。因此，我們可能會看到第一季的收入增長與 2023 年第四季度的增長類似，並逐漸增長到當我們進入年底時，情況會有所改善。

Now despite the more difficult macro environment, the TAS business had some significant achievements in 2023. We continued expanding our commercial technology and analytics offerings. We, in fact, added 33 new clients on our OCE technology platform. We successfully launched a new software platform, which tracks the performance of 1.6 million drugs covering 600 diseases across 93 countries. We successfully introduced a first-in-kind med tech consumption offering that supports the complex journey that medical devices take as they travel from manufacturer to healthcare providers. And we acquired a quality metric to extend our suite of patient health measurement tools using clinical outcome assessments and patient reported outcomes.

現在，儘管宏觀環境更加困難，TAS 業務在 2023 年仍取得了一些重大成就。我們繼續擴展我們的商業技術和分析產品。事實上，我們在 OCE 技術平台上新增了 33 位新客戶。我們成功推出了一個新的軟體平台，該平台可追蹤 93 個國家/地區 600 種疾病的 160 萬種藥物的性能。我們成功推出了同類首創的醫療科技消費產品，為醫療設備從製造商到醫療保健提供者的複雜旅程提供支援。我們獲得了一個品質指標，透過臨床結果評估和患者報告的結果來擴展我們的患者健康測量工具套件。

Let me now turn to the results for the quarter. Revenue for the fourth quarter grew 3.5% on a reported basis and 2.6% at constant currency compared to last year and excluding COVID-related work from both periods, we grew the top line approximately 6% on a constant currency basis, including approximately 1.5 points of contribution from acquisitions.

現在讓我談談本季的業績。與去年相比，第四季度的營收在報告基礎上增長了3.5%，按固定匯率計算增長了2.6%，如果不包括這兩個時期與新冠病毒相關的工作，我們的收入按固定匯率計算增長了約6%，包括約1.5 個百分點收購貢獻。

Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 5%, reflecting our ongoing cost management discipline. Fourth quarter adjusted diluted EPS of $2.84 faced the continuing headwind of the step-up in interest expense and the U.K. corporate tax rate increase. Excluding the impact of these items, our adjusted diluted EPS growth was 11%.

第四季調整後 EBITDA 成長了 5%，反映了我們持續的成本管理紀律。第四季調整後攤薄每股收益為 2.84 美元，面臨利息支出增加和英國企業稅率上升的持續阻力。排除這些項目的影響，我們調整後的稀釋每股盈餘成長率為 11%。

Now a few highlights of this business activity this quarter. Let's start with TAS. The midsized pharma client awarded IQVIA, a 4-year outsourcing program to support their life cycle strategy of converting established brands to over-the-counter sales in more than 40 countries. Similarly, IQVIA won a 4-year contract with a large pharma client to provide global market intelligence via a single globally accessible source of commercial data.

現在介紹本季這項業務活動的一些亮點。我們先從 TAS 開始。這家中型製藥客戶向 IQVIA 授予了一項為期 4 年的外包計劃，以支持其將成熟品牌在 40 多個國家/地區轉變為非處方藥銷售的生命週期策略。同樣，IQVIA 與一家大型製藥客戶簽訂了一份為期 4 年的合同，透過全球可訪問的單一商業資料來源提供全球市場情報。

In the quarter, we won a significant contract with a large pharma in the dermatology, rheumatology and oncology therapeutic areas. This program will allow our clients to access detailed prescribing patterns in local markets, and enhanced HCP targeting in 18 countries. The CDC selected IQVIA to provide comprehensive monitoring services following the end of the COVID public health emergency status. IQVIA will support the CDC in analyzing data in near real time. On the respiratory virus response, including for influenza and RSV, identifying at-risk groups and improving overall population health.

本季度，我們與一家大型製藥公司在皮膚病學、風濕病學和腫瘤學治療領域贏得了一份重要合約。該計劃將使我們的客戶能夠了解當地市場的詳細處方模式，並增強 18 個國家的 HCP 定位。在新冠肺炎公共衛生緊急狀態結束後，CDC 選擇 IQVIA 提供全面的監測服務。 IQVIA 將支援 CDC 近乎即時地分析數據。關於呼吸道病毒應對措施，包括流感和呼吸道合胞病毒，識別高風險族群並改善整體人口健康。

In the quarter, our Patient Services business, which is showing faster growth within our past segment secured a significant contract with a large pharma that includes adherence monitoring, co-pay support and at-home treatment administration. In our real-world business, the National Health Service of England awarded IQVIA, a large contract to deploy our privacy technology and to enable the NHS efforts to ensure the highest standards of patient data governance and privacy controls.

本季度，我們的患者服務業務在過去的細分市場中表現出更快的增長，與一家大型製藥公司簽訂了一份重要合同，其中包括依從性監測、共同支付支持和家庭治療管理。在我們的現實業務中，英國國家醫療服務體系授予 IQVIA 一份大合同，用於部署我們的隱私技術，並使 NHS 能夠確保患者資料治理和隱私控制的最高標準。

Moving to RDS, a top 5 pharma client selected IQVIA as a key clinical FSP provider. Noteworthy here is that a competitor of ours had been the 100% sole provider previously. This partnership will help the client improve clinical trial oversight and manage costs more effectively.

轉向 RDS，排名前 5 名的製藥客戶選擇 IQVIA 作為主要的臨床 FSP 提供者。值得注意的是，我們的競爭對手先前曾是 100% 獨家供應商。此次合作將幫助客戶改善臨床試驗監督並更有效地管理成本。

In Q4, another top 5 clients awarded IQVIA a full-service Phase II study on ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. IQVIA was selected due to our vast expertise in ALS disease as well as our faster recruitment timelines. In the quarter, a biotech client selected IQVIA to conduct a complex trial for a promising cell and gene therapy targeting myositis, which is an autoimmune disease. We were selected due to our AI capabilities that allow us to identify sites and develop an innovative trial strategy.

在第四季度，另一家排名前 5 的客戶向 IQVIA 授予了 ALS（也稱為盧伽雷氏症）的全方位服務 II 期研究。選擇 IQVIA 是因為我們在 ALS 疾病方面擁有豐富的專業知識以及更快的招募時間表。本季度，生物技術客戶選擇 IQVIA 進行一項複雜的試驗，以開發一種有前景的針對肌炎（一種自體免疫疾病）的細胞和基因療法。我們之所以被選中是因為我們的人工智慧能力使我們能夠識別站點並制定創新的試驗策略。

Also in the quarter, IQVIA expanded its partnership with a major pharma company by securing six new global oncology trials, consisting of a mix of early and late-stage trials. We were chosen due to our expertise in oncology and our ability to efficiently manage large complex trials. A leading biotech firm, selected IQVIA to conduct a program comprised of 3 initial stage studies in cancer research. The client is expanding from local to global development and needed a large-scale partner like IQVIA.

同樣在本季度，IQVIA 擴大了與一家大型製藥公司的合作夥伴關係，並獲得了六項新的全球腫瘤學試驗，其中包括早期和後期試驗。我們被選中是因為我們在腫瘤學方面的專業知識以及我們有效管理大型複雜試驗的能力。一家領先的生物技術公司選擇 IQVIA 來進行一項由 3 項癌症研究初始階段研究組成的計畫。這位客戶正在從本地發展擴展到全球發展，需要像 IQVIA 這樣的大型合作夥伴。

In Q4, IQVIA was awarded a major contract from a top 10 global pharma to become its primary pharmacovigilance platform provider. This multiyear program includes replacing their legacy systems with IQVIA's drug safety monitoring technology which uses generative AI capability to automatically extract adverse event information from unstructured data sources.

第四季度，IQVIA 獲得了一家全球十大製藥公司的重要合同，成為其主要的藥物警戒平台提供者。這個多年計畫包括用 IQVIA 的藥物安全監測技術取代其遺留系統，該技術使用生成式人工智慧功能從非結構化資料來源自動提取不良事件資訊。

Finally, and before I turn it to Ron for a detailed financial review, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate our employees around the world for the nice recognition the company just received. For the seventh consecutive year, IQVIA was named one of the world's most admired companies in Fortune's annual survey. And for the third year in a row, IQVIA was named the #1 most admired company in our category.

最後，在我向羅恩進行詳細的財務審查之前，我想藉此機會感謝並祝賀我們世界各地的員工，他們的公司剛剛獲得了良好的認可。在《財星》年度調查中，IQVIA 連續第七年被評為全球最受尊敬的公司之一。 IQVIA 連續第三年被評為我們類別中最受尊敬的公司第一名。

Lastly, before turning it over to Ron, I'd like to specifically mention the prestigious recognition received by Christina Mack, one of IQVIA's senior leaders, who is the Chief Scientific Officer for our real-world business. Christina was named 2023 PharmaVoice 100 honorary, is a peer-recognized industry-wide honor. We are very proud at IQVIA of Christina's work and our passion for accelerating innovation in healthcare through the use of evidence-based decision-making.

最後，在交給 Ron 之前，我想特別提及 IQVIA 高級領導之一、我們實際業務的首席科學官 Christina Mack 所獲得的享有聲望的認可。 Christina被評為2023年PharmaVoice 100榮譽，是同業公認的全業榮譽。在 IQVIA，我們對 Christina 的工作以及我們透過使用基於證據的決策來加速醫療保健創新的熱情感到非常自豪。

Let me now turn it to Ron for our financial review.

現在讓我請羅恩進行我們的財務審查。

Okay. Thanks, Ari, and good morning, everyone. Let's start by reviewing revenue.

好的。謝謝阿里，大家早安。讓我們先回顧一下收入。

Fourth quarter revenue of $3.868 billion grew 3.5% on a reported basis and 2.6% constant currency. In the quarter, COVID-related revenues were approximately $65 million, which was down about $125 million versus the fourth quarter of 2022. Now excluding all COVID related work from both this year and last, constant currency growth was approximately 6%. And as Ari mentioned, acquisitions contributed about 150 basis points of this growth.

第四季營收為 38.68 億美元，按報告計算成長 3.5%，以固定匯率計算成長 2.6%。本季度，與新冠病毒相關的收入約為6,500 萬美元，與2022 年第四季相比減少了約1.25 億美元。現在排除今年和去年所有與新冠病毒相關的工作，恆定貨幣成長率約為6 %。正如 Ari 所提到的，收購為這一成長貢獻了約 150 個基點。

Technology & Analytics Solutions revenue for the fourth quarter was $1.531 billion, up 2.1% reported and 1.3% constant currency. Excluding all COVID-related work, constant currency growth in TAS was 4%. R&D Solutions fourth quarter revenue of $2.151 billion was up 4.5% reported and 3.7% at constant currency, and excluding all COVID-related where constant currency growth and R&DS was 9% in the quarter. Finally, Contract Sales and Medical Solutions or CSMS fourth quarter revenue of $186 million grew 2.2% reported and 1.7% at constant currency.

技術與分析解決方案第四季營收為 15.31 億美元，以固定匯率計算成長 2.1%，成長 1.3%。排除所有與新冠病毒相關的工作，TAS 的貨幣恆定成長率為 4%。研發解決方案第四季營收為 21.51 億美元，年增 4.5%，以固定匯率計算成長 3.7%，不包括所有與新冠疫情相關的收入，該季度固定匯率成長和研發解決方案為 9%。最後，合約銷售和醫療解決方案或 CSMS 第四季營收為 1.86 億美元，報告成長 2.2%，按固定匯率計算成長 1.7%。

For the full year, revenue was $14.98 billion, growing at 4% on a reported basis and 4.1% at constant currency. COVID-related revenues totaled approximately $420 million for the year. Excluding all COVID-related work from both years, constant currency growth was 9%. Full year Technology & Analytics Solutions revenue was $5.862 billion, up 2% reported, 2.1% at constant currency and excluding all COVID-related work, growth at constant currency in TAS was 6%. In R&D Solutions full year revenue was $8.395 billion, growing 6%, both on a reported and a constant currency basis, and excluding all COVID-related work growth at constant currency in R&DS was 13%. Finally, in CSMS revenue for the full year was $727 million, which was down 2.2% reported and 0.3% at constant currency.

全年營收為 149.8 億美元，按報告計算成長 4%，以固定匯率計算成長 4.1%。今年與新冠病毒相關的收入總計約 4.2 億美元。排除這兩年所有與新冠病毒相關的工作，匯率恆定成長率為 9%。全年技術與分析解決方案營收為 58.62 億美元，成長 2%，以固定匯率計算成長 2.1%，排除所有與新冠病毒相關的工作，TAS 以固定匯率計算成長 6%。研發解決方案全年營收為 83.95 億美元，按報告和固定匯率計算成長 6%，不包括所有與新冠病毒相關的工作，以固定匯率計算，研發解決方案的成長為 13%。最後，CSMS 全年營收為 7.27 億美元，報告下降 2.2%，以固定匯率計算下降 0.3%。

Okay. Moving down to P&L. Adjusted EBITDA was $966 million for the fourth quarter. That represented 5% growth, while full year adjusted EBITDA was $3.569 billion, which was up 6.7% year-over-year. Fourth quarter GAAP net income was $469 million and GAAP diluted earnings per share was $2.54. For the full year, GAAP net income was $1.358 billion or $7.29 of earnings per diluted share. Adjusted net income was $523 million for the fourth quarter and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.84. For the full year, adjusted net income was $1.901 billion in adjusted diluted EPS was $10.20. Excluding the year-over-year impact of the step-up in interest rates and the increase in the U.K. corporate tax rate, adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 11% in the fourth quarter and 12% for the full year.

好的。向下移動到損益表。第四季調整後 EBITDA 為 9.66 億美元。這意味著成長 5%，而全年調整後 EBITDA 為 35.69 億美元，年增 6.7%。第四季 GAAP 淨利為 4.69 億美元，GAAP 攤薄每股收益為 2.54 美元。全年 GAAP 淨利潤為 13.58 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 7.29 美元。第四季調整後淨利為 5.23 億美元，調整後稀釋每股收益為 2.84 美元。全年調整後淨利為 19.01 億美元，調整後稀釋每股收益為 10.20 美元。剔除利率上升和英國企業稅率上升的年比影響，第四季調整後稀釋每股盈餘成長11%，全年成長12%。

Now it's already reviewed, R&D Solutions delivered another really strong quarter of bookings. Our backlog at December 31 stood at a record $29.7 billion. That's up 9.2% year-over-year and 31% over the last 3 years.

現在已經過審核，R&D Solutions 再次實現了強勁的季度預訂量。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的積壓訂單達到創紀錄的 297 億美元。年增 9.2%，較過去 3 年增長 31%。

Okay. Let's turn to the balance sheet. As of December 31, cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.376 billion and gross debt was $13.673 billion . And due to the math that results in net debt of $12.297 billion, our net leverage ratio at year-end was 3.45x trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA. Fourth quarter cash flow from operations was $747 million and capital expenditures was $179 million, which resulted in free cash flow of $568 million for the quarter.

好的。讓我們轉向資產負債表。截至12月31日，現金及現金等價物總額為13.76億美元，負債總額為136.73億美元。根據計算得出的淨債務為 122.97 億美元，我們年底的淨槓桿率為過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的 3.45 倍。第四季營運現金流為 7.47 億美元，資本支出為 1.79 億美元，導致該季度自由現金流為 5.68 億美元。

Now in the quarter, we repurchased $229 million of our shares at an average price of $1.95 per share bringing our full year share repurchase activity to just slightly below $1 billion. This leaves us with just under $2.4 billion of share repurchase authorization remaining under the current program.

在本季度，我們以每股 1.95 美元的平均價格回購了 2.29 億美元的股票，使我們全年的股票回購活動略低於 10 億美元。這使得我們在當前計劃下剩餘的股票回購授權接近 24 億美元。

Now as you know, coming out of the merger, we took advantage of the low interest rate environment and deployed a significant amount of capital for internal investments, acquisitions and share repurchases, which were quite accretive for our shareholders. Now over that period, our net interest expense was relatively steady at around $400 million per year, but at the end of 2022 and through the middle of 2023, we experienced a rapid and unprecedented rise in interest rates, which drove annual interest expense, up by almost $0.25 billion causing our adjusted EPS to be just slightly over flat in 2023.

如您所知，合併後，我們利用低利率環境，部署了大量資金用於內部投資、收購和股票回購，這為我們的股東帶來了相當大的增值。在此期間，我們的淨利息支出相對穩定在每年 4 億美元左右，但從 2022 年底到 2023 年中期，我們經歷了利率的快速且前所未有的上升，這推動了年度利息支出的上升近2.5 億美元導致我們2023 年調整後每股盈餘略高於持平。

Now as you saw in November, we successfully refinanced approximately $2.75 billion of our near-term debt maturities. The strong demand for IQVIA debt that we experienced allowed us to tighten pricing and lock in an average fixed rate below 4.9% for those issuances after swaps. This refinancing extended approximately $2.75 billion of maturities to 2029 and 2031 and we reduced our interest rate risk exposure by locking in over 80% of our debt at fixed rates. With this refinancing, we now expect net interest expense to be approximately $650 million in 2024. Now the forward curves point to a reduction in rates in the future. We've included the current (inaudible) consensus in our 2024 guidance. Further reductions would lower our net interest expense more on our variable rate debt and potentially open opportunities to refinance additional debt in the future.

現在，正如您在 11 月看到的那樣，我們成功為近期到期債務的約 27.5 億美元進行了再融資。我們經歷的對 IQVIA 債務的強勁需求使我們能夠收緊定價，並將掉期後發行的平均固定利率鎖定在 4.9% 以下。此次再融資將約 27.5 億美元的期限延長至 2029 年和 2031 年，我們以固定利率鎖定超過 80% 的債務來降低利率風險敞口。透過此次再融資，我們現在預計 2024 年淨利息支出約為 6.5 億美元。現在遠期曲線顯示未來利率會下降。我們已將目前（聽不清楚）的共識納入我們的 2024 年指南中。進一步削減將進一步降低我們可變利率債務的淨利息支出，並可能為未來的額外債務再融資提供機會。

Now let's go to our 2024 guidance, which I'll review in detail. For the full year, we expect total revenue to be between $15.400 billion and $15.650 billion. This includes approximately $300 million of a step-down in COVID-related work year-over-year and about 100 basis points of contribution from M&A activity and further FX headwind of approximately 50 basis points versus 2023. Our adjusted EBITDA guidance is $3.700 billion to $3.800 billion. Our adjusted diluted EPS guidance is $10.95 to $11.25.

現在讓我們來看看 2024 年指南，我將詳細回顧該指南。我們預計全年總收入將在 154.00 億美元至 156.50 億美元之間。這包括與新冠病毒相關的工作年減約 3 億美元，併購活動的貢獻約 100 個基點，以及與 2023 年相比進一步約 50 個基點的外匯逆風。我們調整後的 EBITDA 指導值為 37 億美元38億美元。我們調整後的稀釋後每股盈餘指引為 10.95 美元至 11.25 美元。

Now this guidance includes about $650 million of interest expense. Approximately $580 million of operational depreciation and amortization expense, an effective income tax rate, just under 20% and an average diluted share count (inaudible) 184 million shares. This guidance also assumes about $2 billion deployment split evenly between acquisitions and share repurchase.

現在，該指導包括約 6.5 億美元的利息支出。營運折舊攤銷費用約 5.8 億美元，有效所得稅率略低於 20%，平均稀釋後股數（聽不清楚）為 1.84 億股。該指南還假設約 20 億美元的部署在收購和股票回購之間平均分配。

Finally, our guidance assumes that foreign currency rates as of February 12 continue for the balance of the year. Now at the segment level, we expect TAS revenue to be between $6 billion and $6.2 billion. Q1 2023 was the last quarter that we had significant COVID-related revenues in TAS. So the COVID step down in TAS will be minimal for the balance of the year. As already mentioned, the guidance now anticipates an improvement in our commercial business towards the back end of the year, which will still result in a year-over-year growth of low to mid-single digits. R&DS revenue is expected to be between $8.7 billion and $8.8 billion. This guidance includes almost the entire $300 million step down in COVID-related revenue. And that represents approximately 350 basis points of headwind to the R&DS growth rate. The guidance also reflects the latest phasing of pass-through revenue which results in an additional headwind of approximately 100 basis points to R&DS year-over-year.

最後，我們的指導假設今年餘下時間繼續採用截至 2 月 12 日的外幣匯率。現在，在細分市場層面，我們預計 TAS 收入將在 60 億美元至 62 億美元之間。 2023 年第一季是我們在塔斯馬尼亞州獲得與新冠肺炎相關的大量收入的最後一個季度。因此，在今年剩餘的時間裡，塔斯馬尼亞州的新冠疫情下降幅度將是最小的。正如已經提到的，該指引現在預計我們的商業業務將在今年年底有所改善，這仍將導致同比低至中個位數的成長。研發收入預計在 87 億美元至 88 億美元之間。該指引幾乎涵蓋了與新冠疫情相關的 3 億美元收入削減。這對 R&DS 成長率來說意味著大約 350 個基點的阻力。該指引也反映了轉嫁收入的最新階段，這導致研發年比增加約100個基點的額外阻力。

Adjusting for the COVID step-down in the pass-through headwind, R&DS revenue growth in 2024 is expected to remain in the high single digits. CSMS revenue is expected to be approximately $700 million, which is down slightly year-over-year.

根據新冠肺炎疫情帶來的傳導阻力進行調整，預計 2024 年研發收入成長將維持在較高的個位數。 CSMS營收預計約7億美元，較去年同期略有下降。

Now let's review the first quarter guidance. For the first quarter, we expect revenue to be between $3.650 billion and $3.725 billion. The decline in COVID-related work is weighted towards the beginning of the year with the largest impact in Q1. Also, we expect mark conditions and TAS to recover only in the back half of the year, as we've said. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter is expected to be between $850 million and $870 million, and adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be between $2.45 and $2.55. Now keep in mind that Q1 is the toughest comparison for adjusted diluted EPS due to the interest rate increases we saw throughout 2023. As we mentioned, our guidance assumes that foreign currency rates as of February 12 continue for the balance of the year.

現在讓我們回顧一下第一季的指導。我們預計第一季營收將在 36.50 億美元至 37.25 億美元之間。年初，與新冠病毒相關的工作量下降，第一季影響最大。此外，正如我們所說，我們預計市場狀況和 TAS 只會在今年下半年恢復。第一季調整後 EBITDA 預計在 8.5 億美元至 8.7 億美元之間，調整後稀釋後每股收益預計在 2.45 美元至 2.55 美元之間。現在請記住，由於我們在2023 年全年看到利率上漲，第一季是調整後稀釋每股盈餘最艱難的比較。正如我們所提到的，我們的指導假設截至2 月12 日的外幣匯率在今年剩餘時間內持續維持。

So let's summarize. Q4 was another strong quarter. R&DS delivered the second largest booking quarter in IQVIA history at over $2.8 billion, along with another quarter of double-digit RFC growth. For the full year of 2023, revenue grew 9% at constant currency, excluding COVID-related work. Our EBITDA margin expanded by 60 basis points and adjusted diluted EPS was up 12%, you exclude the year-over-year impact of interest rates and the increase in the U.K. tax rate. Free cash flow was strong in the quarter at $568 million, representing 109% of adjusted net income. IQVIA was named to Fortune's 2023 list of the World's most Admired Companies for the seventh consecutive year and earned the first place ranking within our industry group for the third consecutive year. And lastly, we issued full year 2024 guidance with underlying revenue growth of 5% to 7%, continued margin expansion and a resumption of EPS growth with adjusted diluted earnings per share expected to be up 7% to 10%.

那我們來總結一下。第四季是另一個強勁的季度。 R&DS 實現了 IQVIA 歷史上第二大預訂季度，銷售額超過 28 億美元，RFC 又實現了兩位數增長。 2023 年全年，以固定匯率計算，營收成長 9%，不包括與新冠病毒相關的工作。如果排除利率和英國稅率上升的年比影響，我們的 EBITDA 利潤率擴大了 60 個基點，調整後稀釋後每股盈餘成長了 12%。本季自由現金流強勁，達 5.68 億美元，佔調整後淨利的 109%。 IQVIA 連續第七年入選《財星》2023 年全球最受尊敬公司排行榜，並連續第三年獲得業界組別第一名。最後，我們發布了 2024 年全年指引，基本收入成長 5% 至 7%，利潤率持續擴張，每股盈餘恢復成長，調整後稀釋每股盈餘預計成長 7% 至 10%。

Now before we open the call to Q&A, I'd like to make you aware of the leadership change within IQVIA's finance organization, Nick Childs, who has led our Investor Relations and treasury functions very ably for the past 3 years, is moving on to become CFO of our North American business. He will be succeeded by Kerry Joseph, who has served as CFO of that business unit for the past 5 years. Kerry, who is a member of the global finance leadership team has had many finance roles of increasing responsibility during his 20-plus years with the company. Kerry and Nick have already been working together to transition responsibilities and Kerry will join Nick on our follow-up calls this quarter, so you all have a chance to meet them.

現在，在我們開始問答電話之前，我想讓您了解 IQVIA 財務組織內的領導層變動，Nick Childs 在過去 3 年中非常出色地領導了我們的投資者關係和財務職能部門，現在他將轉向成為我們北美業務的財務長。他將由過去 5 年擔任該業務部門財務長的 Kerry Joseph 接任。克里 (Kerry) 是全球財務領導團隊的成員，在公司工作的 20 多年中，他擔任過許多財務職務，職責也不斷增加。克里和尼克已經在共同努力移交職責，克里將在本季與尼克一起參加我們的後續電話會議，因此你們都有機會見到他們。

Now with that, let me hand it back over to the operator to begin our Q&A session.

現在，讓我將其交還給操作員以開始我們的問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Anne Samuel from JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Anne Samuel。

Congrats on the great [presence]. My first question was just on TAS. You spoke to expectations for a back half recovery in this business. It seems like based on your comments and some of those from others at our recent conference that others in the life sciences IT space are seeing some early optimism around that. And I was just wondering what do you expect to be the early indicators that the recovery is happening in that business? And what part of your TAS business will maybe start to see the first green shoots?

恭喜偉大的[存在]。我的第一個問題是關於 TAS 的。您談到了對該行業後半段復甦的期望。根據您的評論以及我們最近的會議上其他人的一些評論，生命科學 IT 領域的其他人似乎對此持樂觀態度。我只是想知道您認為該業務正在復甦的早期指標是什麼？您的 TAS 業務的哪一部分可能會開始看到第一批萌芽？

Well, thank you, Anne. I mean, look, we -- early last year, we were expecting that things would turn around second half of last year. And as you know, it didn't happen. Now it's got to happen at some point. So we then thought, well, by the second quarter of later -- at the end of last year's third quarter, I thought, okay, second quarter of '24. We are now expecting this to happen second half. And in support of all of these, I mentioned some data points in my introductory remarks. Look, the FDA approved 50% more molecules than last year and is the highest level since 2018. That really generally bodes well for the commercial business as our clients prepare for launching those drugs into the marketplace. And those launches come for significant support from the type of services that we provide, whether it's data, launch consulting, planning, market access, pricing support and so on and so forth. And in fact, our own market expectations of spend by pharma over the next few years, compares very favorably to the prior period.

嗯，謝謝你，安妮。我的意思是，你看，去年年初，我們預計情況會在去年下半年出現好轉。如你所知，這並沒有發生。現在它必須在某個時候發生。所以我們然後想，好吧，到後來的第二季——去年第三季末，我想，好吧，24 年第二季。我們現在預計這將在下半年發生。為了支持所有這些，我在介紹性發言中提到了一些數據點。看，FDA 批准的分子比去年多了 50%，是自 2018 年以來的最高水準。這對商業業務來說確實是個好兆頭，因為我們的客戶正在準備將這些藥物推向市場。這些發布都得到了我們提供的服務類型的大力支持，無論是數據、發布諮詢、規劃、市場准入、定價支援等等。事實上，我們自己的市場對未來幾年製藥支出的預期與先前時期相比非常有利。

Now in our own conversations with clients, we're noting more optimism on the outlook for 2024. But perhaps because we've been [burnt] before, we've tried to be appropriately cautious in planning. And really, when we build up the forecast for our TAS business based on the pipeline, I might note, I don't think we said that before or even if we report any of these numbers here, but we have a pipeline of opportunities with a very detailed methodology that's been proven over time. And I can tell you that our pipeline for the year -- for the 2024 year is higher than it has ever been on the TAS business. So that gives us comfort that the forecast is appropriately built and hopefully, we'll be -- we have upside favorability if things work out perfectly well. But we've built enough caution on the forecast here that we feel good about the TAS business for 2024 as we presented it.

現在，在我們與客戶的對話中，我們注意到對 2024 年的前景更加樂觀。但也許是因為我們之前已經[焦頭爛額]，所以我們在規劃時盡量保持適當的謹慎。事實上，當我們根據管道建立 TAS 業務的預測時，我可能會注意到，我認為我們之前沒有說過這些，即使我們在這裡報告了任何這些數字，但我們有一系列機會一種經過時間證明的非常詳細的方法。我可以告訴你，我們 2024 年的管道比 TAS 業務的以往任何時候都要高。因此，這讓我們感到安慰，因為預測是適當建立的，並且希望，如果事情進展順利，我們將會有上行的好感。但我們對這裡的預測已經足夠謹慎，正如我們所介紹的那樣，我們對 2024 年 TAS 業務感覺良好。

Now a word of caution, the business saw a decline in growth through 2023 with every quarter being worse than the previous one. We expect '24 to be sort of the mirror image of that. That is the first quarter to be more like last year's fourth quarter and the second quarter more like the third quarter, et cetera, with the ramp up through the year and hopefully building momentum as we progress through '24.

現在需要注意的是，到 2023 年，該業務的成長都在下降，每個季度都比上一個季度更糟。我們預計 24 年將是這段時期的鏡像。第一季更像是去年第四季度，第二季度更像是第三季度，等等，隨著全年的成長，希望隨著我們在 24 年的進展，能夠建立勢頭。

And then maybe on the R&DS side. I was hoping maybe you could just provide a little bit of color on just how to think about the cadence for 2024. Just given all the moving pieces.

然後也許是研發方面。我希望您能就如何思考 2024 年的節奏提供一些見解。只要給出所有令人感動的部分。

You mean the cadence? Yes, anyone has any...

你是說節奏嗎？是的，任何人都有...

The cadence of revenue, yes.

收入的節奏，是的。

Yes.

是的。

Yes. I mean I think you -- I mean I guess I would tell you to look at the linearity that you've seen in prior years (inaudible) any sort of drop off or a significant pickup either, no.

是的。我的意思是我認為你 - 我的意思是我想我會告訴你看看你在前幾年看到的線性（聽不清楚）任何形式的下降或顯著的上升，不。

Your next question comes from the line of Shlomo Rosenbaum from Stifel.

您的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Shlomo Rosenbaum。

Ari, can you talk a little bit about the significant contract signings in the quarter? A second largest in the company's history, were there certain really large deals that maybe boosted it? Were there certain therapeutic areas that might have boosted it? Maybe just give us a little bit of color about that.

阿里，您能談談本季的重要合約簽署嗎？作為該公司歷史上的第二大交易，是否有某些真正的大型交易可能會提振它？是否有某些治療領域可能會促進它的發展？也許只是給我們一點關於這一點的色彩。

Okay. Well, thank you, Shlomo, for the question. There was no specific contract or particular award or anything like that. I would just say that by segment, the EBP segment was particularly strong. I mentioned funding was very strong in the quarter, the highest on record. Again, if you exclude the COVID years. And so EBP was particularly strong. I'd say with -- again, we don't talk about book-to-bill per segment, but the EBP book-to-bill, if you will, was higher than our 1.31%. So comparatively, we had -- and I would say about 25%. Is that correct, guys? 25% of our bookings in the year were [EBP]. So that's a little bit of color that I can give you. But nothing -- no one time big award or anything that skewed the numbers pretty strong across the board.

好的。嗯，謝謝什洛莫提出的問題。沒有具體的合約或特別的獎勵或類似的東西。我只想說，從細分市場來看，EBP 細分市場尤其強勁。我提到本季的資金非常強勁，是有記錄以來的最高水準。再說一遍，如果你排除新冠疫情年份。所以EBP特別強。我想說的是——再說一次，我們不討論每個細分市場的訂單出貨比，但如果你願意的話，EBP 訂單出貨比高於我們的 1.31%。相比之下，我們有——我想說大約 25%。夥計們，這是正確的嗎？我們這一年的預訂中有 25% 是 [EBP]。這就是我可以給你的一點顏色。但什麼都沒有——沒有獲得過一次大獎，也沒有任何對整體數字產生相當大影響的事情。

(inaudible), we continue to excel in oncology and cell and gene therapy in a complex clinical trials, no change.

（聽不清楚），我們在複雜的臨床試驗中繼續在腫瘤學以及細胞和基因治療方面表現出色，沒有任何變化。

Is there -- can you just comment anything about competitively in the marketplace? Has there been any changes? I know it's a long cycle business. Anything you could talk about either on TAS or R&DS with any of the well-known competitors that are out there?

您能評論一下有關市場競爭的任何事情嗎？有什麼變化嗎？我知道這是一個長週期的業務。您可以在 TAS 或 R&DS 上與任何知名競爭對手談論什麼嗎？

Well, I don't generally like to comment on competitors. But yes, there have been a number of disruptions sort of -- the company is being acquired or spun off in the CRO space. And that always introduces some level of disruption. I mean some of these companies have been in trouble. The fact that they've been acquired by private equity or conversely spun off in the public markets. Does that mean that they'll be more competitive, less competitive? It's hard to tell. It's disruption often.

嗯，我通常不喜歡評論競爭對手。但是，是的，確實出現了一些顛覆——該公司正在 CRO 領域被收購或剝離。這總是會帶來一定程度的破壞。我的意思是其中一些公司遇到了麻煩。事實上，它們已被私募股權公司收購，或反過來在公開市場上被剝離。這是否意味著他們的競爭力會更強，或者競爭力會減弱？很難說。常會造成乾擾。

Happens. If you take a longer view of this question, we believe that our merger 7 years ago, significantly disrupted the industry and led to a large number of subsequent transactions which resulted from what we believe was reactions to the clear competitive advantage that we think we established, that enabled us over the past few years to gradually gain market share. But other than that, I mean, I don't have any further comments.

發生。如果你從更長遠的角度來看這個問題，我們認為我們七年前的合併極大地擾亂了行業，並導致了大量後續交易，我們認為這是對我們認為我們建立的明顯競爭優勢的反應。 ，這使我們在過去幾年中逐漸獲得了市場份額。但除此之外，我的意思是，我沒有任何進一步的評論。

Your next question comes from the line of Tejas Savant from Morgan Stanley.

您的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Tejas Savant。

So my first question here is on the R&D side of things. Ari, can you help us think through just a shift in mix in FSP versus hybrid versus full service work and the margin implications of that? And similarly, sort of any shift in the mix of work as you head into '24 on therapeutic area basis? And what that means -- what that might for your backlog burn rates?

所以我的第一個問題是關於研發方面的。 Ari，您能幫助我們思考一下 FSP 與混合型與全方位服務工作的組合轉變以及其對利潤的影響嗎？同樣，當您進入 24 世紀治療領域時，工作組合是否會發生任何變化？這意味著什麼—這對您的積壓工作消耗率有何影響？

(inaudible) Question was about the mix shift in margins between FSP and full service, correct?

（聽不清楚）問題是關於 FSP 和全方位服務之間的利潤混合變化，對嗎？

That's right.

這是正確的。

Yes. Look, FSP tends to be somewhat lower margin than full service. Now take into account, though, that full service comes with pass-through -- significant pass-through revenues that FSP doesn't. And so when you look at the average margins, including passers, they're not that different. But yes, in general, there has been -- there is some margin degradation as a result of the shift towards FSP.

是的。看，FSP 的利潤率往往比全方位服務低。但現在要考慮到，全方位服務伴隨著轉嫁——顯著的轉嫁收入，而 FSP 卻沒有。因此，當你觀察平均利潤率（包括傳球者）時，他們並沒有那麼不同。但是，是的，總的來說，由於轉向 FSP，利潤率出現了一些下降。

On the other hand, this shift is a very gradual shift that's going on. It's -- you're talking about points of single points of shift, not huge flight to FSP, and it takes place over time, remember, the average trial for plus years to complete. So there really hasn't been any dramatic impact on our margins as a result of that. And of course, we're working all the time to optimize and take costs out and do things to improve our margins independent of whatever contracts we happen to be signing.

另一方面，這種轉變是一個非常漸進的轉變。你說的是單點轉移，而不是大量飛往 FSP，它是隨著時間的推移而發生的，記住，平均試驗需要幾年的時間才能完成。因此，這確實沒有對我們的利潤率產生任何重大影響。當然，我們一直在努力優化和降低成本，並採取措施提高我們的利潤，無論我們簽訂什麼合約。

So I would say, not a big impact there. And you see in our EBITDA margins, they've actually continue to improve overall. And that's with R&DS being over 50% of our revenue.

所以我想說，那裡的影響並不大。從我們的 EBITDA 利潤率可以看出，它們實際上總體上在持續改善。其中研發占我們收入的 50% 以上。

Yes. (inaudible) And then your second question?

是的。 （聽不清楚）那你的第二個問題是什麼？

Yes. My second question -- my second question, actually, I'm going to switch to the TAS comments, guys. I mean, are you encouraging to see sort of expectations of a recovery in the back half of the year? And you talked about sort of your detailed bottom-up pipeline build there. But I just want to put a finer point on it in terms of just the timing of the recovery, right? So what gives you confidence comes through in 2H '24 versus getting pushed to '25? Is it something related to sort of contracted work that you have clear line of sight to versus work that could be sort of delayed? Or is it some large real-world evidence projects that you see coming through here in the back half?

是的。我的第二個問題——我的第二個問題，實際上，我要轉向 TAS 評論，夥計們。我的意思是，您對下半年的復甦預期感到鼓舞嗎？您在那裡談到了詳細的自下而上的管道構建。但我只是想在恢復的時間方面提出更具體的觀點，對嗎？那麼，是什麼讓你對 2H '24 充滿信心，而不是被推到 '25 呢？這是否與您有清晰視野的合約工作以及可能會被延遲的工作有關？或者是您在後半部分看到的一些大型現實世界證據項目？

Yes. Thank you, Tejas. No, it's not anything -- any one contract or a specific level, as I mentioned, the overall sentiment bubbling up into a pipeline that I mentioned, is the highest that we've had ever. Now the pipeline doesn't always translate exactly as it is. It's probability adjusted and so on and so forth, but that's a good indication from a metric standpoint that we should be up for the year. And we've built some level of cushion here because we've been burned flash delayed last year. And so that's what kind of gives us a little bit of confidence along with the conversations we're having with our clients.

是的。謝謝你，特哈斯。不，這不是什麼——正如我所提到的，任何一份合約或一個特定水平，整體情緒在我提到的管道中湧動，是我們有史以來最高的。現在管道並不總是完全按原樣平移。它經過了機率調整等等，但從指標的角度來看，這是一個很好的跡象，表明我們今年應該做好準備。我們已經在這裡建立了一定程度的緩衝，因為去年我們已經被燒毀了。這就是我們與客戶對話時給予我們的一點信心。

Again, I wouldn't -- this is not like -- we're not seeing a sharp uptick all of a sudden, okay? Our clients are -- especially large pharma, very, very focused on cost containments. They've all announced significant cost reduction programs. Some of them in anticipation of really unknown impact of the IRA, some in anticipation of some LOEs coming soon in the next few years or other variables, but the fact is there are these large pharma cost discussions that we're having with clients as well, and we are a significant vendor and therefore, those conversations have tended to be more difficult than they were in the past with respect to negotiations and pricing and so on. That is still there.

再說一遍，我不會——這不像——我們不會突然看到急劇上升，好嗎？我們的客戶，尤其是大型製藥公司，非常非常注重成本控制。他們都宣布了重大的成本削減計劃。其中一些人預計 IRA 會產生真正未知的影響，有些人預計未來幾年即將出現一些 LOE 或其他變量，但事實是我們也在與客戶進行這些大型製藥成本討論，而且我們是重要的供應商，因此，在談判和定價等方面，這些對話往往比過去更困難。那仍然存在。

The number of opportunities, the number of projects, the number of compensations, all of which translate into a pipeline, the request for proposals and so on that we're having are clearly up. And given the life cycle of the sales processes as we know them, we are anticipating that those would concretize into sales towards the back end of the year.

機會的數量、項目的數量、薪酬的數量，所有這些都轉化為我們正在處理的管道、徵求建議書等，這些都明顯增加了。考慮到我們所知的銷售流程的生命週期，我們預計這些流程將在今年年底具體化為銷售。

And Tejas, just one point of emphasis here, too. In the TAS business particularly is hundreds and hundreds of projects. You're not going to have any individual project move the needle there.

還有光輝號，這也只是這裡強調的一點。特別是在 TAS 業務中，有數百個項目。你不會讓任何單獨的項目推動這項進程。

Your next question comes from the line of Luke Sergott from Barclays.

您的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Luke Sergott。

Can you talk about the -- we keep talking about the TAS recovery, but -- and the big pipeline that you guys have, but can you kind of double-click into what that looks like versus discretionary versus the sticky side? I think there's a lot of confusion about where the weakness has been in TAS and where the strength has been? And if there's actually any change or improvement on the side of like regulatory and medical writing, things like that, to give more confidence in that back half recovery that you're talking about?

你能談談——我們一直在談論 TAS 的複蘇，但是——以及你們擁有的大型管道，但是你能雙擊一下看看這與可自由支配的一面和粘性的一面相比是什麼樣子嗎？我認為對於 TAS 的弱點在哪裡、優勢在哪裡，存在著許多困惑？如果在監管和醫學寫作等方面實際上有任何變化或改進，以使您對您所說的後半部分恢復更有信心？

Yes. Well, look, we ourselves are, as I mentioned before, I'm putting a fair amount of caution and conservatism, if you want to call it that way in our own forecast because of some of the factors you mentioned, that we've experienced last year. The business continues to grow.

是的。好吧，看，我們自己，正如我之前提到的，如果你想在我們自己的預測中這樣稱呼它，因為你提到的一些因素，我採取了相當謹慎和保守的態度，我們已經去年經歷過。業務持續成長。

Look, the general environment so far is consistent with what we were experiencing at the end of last year. And you've seen our large cap companies that operate in the same business actually forecast even declining sales for their own businesses for '24. Now we're not there because as you correctly point out, some of these services that we sell are not exactly discretionary, so look, the data business, for example, continues to hold up well. It's never been a fast growth business, but it's holding up.

你看，到目前為止的整體環境與我們去年底所經歷的情況是一致的。您已經看到，從事同一業務的大型公司實際上預測 24 年其自己業務的銷售額甚至會下降。現在我們還沒有做到這一點，因為正如您正確指出的那樣，我們銷售的某些服務並不完全是可自由裁量的，所以看起來，例如數據業務繼續保持良好的勢頭。它從來都不是一個快速成長的業務，但它正在持續發展。

We saw headwinds in the more discretionary part of the TAS segment, which is the analytics and consulting business. But I have to say that the business started to pick up a bit with sequential improvements in growth in Q4 compared to Q3. So even this more discretionary side, we saw an uptick, not -- again, not a steep curve up, but we saw a positive movement even on the discretionary side.

我們在 TAS 細分市場的更自由裁量部分（即分析和諮詢業務）中看到了阻力。但我不得不說，與第三季相比，第四季的業務成長開始有所回升。因此，即使在更自由裁量的方面，我們也看到了上升，而不是——再次，不是陡峭的曲線上升，但我們甚至在自由裁量方面也看到了積極的走勢。

Now the impact on the discretionary project part of the real-world business, that is a little bit of a longer cycle within TAS, is a little bit longer cycle. We started seeing that in Q3 and continued in Q4, and it did impact the performance of our real-world business in Q4.

現在，對現實世界業務的全權委託專案部分的影響，即 TAS 內的週期更長一點，週期更長一點。我們從第三季開始看到這一點，並在第四季度繼續出現這種情況，它確實影響了我們第四季實際業務的表現。

So if I might summarize the data business holding up maybe a little bit even better, doing a little bit better. The totally discretionary piece of analytics and consulting, little movement and some uptick that we are perceiving. The real-world piece, you've got the stuff that they need to do. That hasn't changed. And then there is a [stuff] that's more discretionary because it's more -- it's a longer cycle, the deceleration impacted our numbers more in Q3 and further in Q4. So the issues we saw in Analytics and Consulting in the early part of the year, we started seeing in real world in Q3 and Q4, and we expect that to continue in Q1. But if you -- I hope that gives you enough color here to get a sense for what we're seeing.

因此，如果我可以總結一下數據業務的表現可能會更好一點，做得更好一點。我們認為，分析和諮詢完全是自主決定的，幾乎沒有什麼變化，但有些上升。在現實世界中，您已經獲得了他們需要做的事情。這一點沒有改變。然後有一個[東西]更加可自由裁量，因為它的周期更長，減速對我們第三季和第四季的數字影響更大。因此，我們在今年稍早在分析和諮詢中看到的問題，我們在第三季和第四季開始在現實世界中看到，我們預計這種情況將在第一季繼續下去。但如果你——我希望這能給你足夠的色彩來了解我們所看到的。

It does, it does. And then I guess a follow-up on the -- there's a lot of concern here. Some of your peers talked about biotech RFP slowing in 4Q. But just as you look at the actual step-up needed to maintain the book-to-bills and the bookings levels that you guys have had. Do you see that, that level of RFP volume across all your segments is enough to sustain it over the next 6 months? Or could we see some softening here maybe in the 1Q? And obviously, this is just more of a quarterly dynamic as the full year kind of paces out as what you're talking about. But just when you're thinking about the actual bookings getting -- you're closing that sales cycle, could some stuff get pushed out to more of the back half of the year.

確實如此，確實如此。然後我想後續行動——這裡有很多擔憂。您的一些同行談到生物技術 RFP 在第四季度放緩。但正如您看到維持預訂量和預訂量所需的實際提升一樣。您是否認為，所有細分市場的 RFP 數量水準足以維持未來 6 個月的成長？或者我們可能會在第一季看到一些軟化嗎？顯然，這更多的是季度動態，因為全年的進展就像你所說的那樣。但當你考慮實際的預訂量時——你正在結束銷售週期，有些東西可能會被推遲到今年下半年的更多時間。

I mean, look, you've got a lot of hypothetical here. You're referring to a competitor commentary. I didn't hear any of that. And we're not seeing that again. This is interesting. People want to see badness and had their head on something. I would point to you that going back a couple of years at least, people who are competitors "whining about EBP falling" and you all see our stock suffered as a result of this whining, we kept telling the world that we weren't seeing it. We ended up being correct. There was no dramatic drop-off in funding. It didn't happen. If anything, now, as I mentioned, it's even going further at record levels. So EBP is good. That actually was very, very strong in terms of bookings. We see that trend continuing. When things get funded in a quarter, typically the bookings come in over the course of the following year. So I don't see that happening on the EBP segment.

我的意思是，你看，這裡有很多假設。您指的是競爭對手的評論。我什麼也沒聽到。我們不會再看到這種情況了。這很有趣。人們希望看到壞事，並熱衷於某些事物。我想向你們指出，至少回到幾年前，那些競爭對手“抱怨 EBP 下跌”，你們都看到我們的股票因這種抱怨而遭受損失，我們一直告訴世界我們沒有看到它。我們最終是正確的。資金沒有大幅下降。它沒有發生。如果有什麼不同的話，那就是現在，正如我所提到的，它甚至進一步達到了創紀錄的水平。所以EBP是好的。就預訂而言，實際上非常非常強勁。我們看到這種趨勢仍在持續。當一個季度內籌集到資金時，通常會在下一年收到預訂。所以我認為 EBP 部分不會發生這種情況。

Large pharma, yes, there is a little bit of reprioritization of projects. You've heard that from us, from others, looking at different programs, but it's not like people are saying, all of a sudden, we're not doing research anymore. There's a little bit of -- at the moment, as we discussed earlier Ron mentioned a bit of a pendulum moving more towards FSP. But again, we play in that segment, too. We play in every segment. But other than these dynamics, I don't see anything that would lead me to believe that all of a sudden, we have to be worried, quite the opposite.

大型製藥公司，是的，專案的優先順序有一些重新調整。你從我們、其他人那裡聽說過，在研究不同的項目時，但這並不像人們說的那樣，突然間，我們不再做研究了。目前，正如我們之前討論的那樣，Ron 提到了一點鐘擺會更傾向於 FSP。但同樣，我們也在這個領域發揮作用。我們參與每一個環節。但除了這些動態之外，我沒有看到任何能讓我相信突然間我們必須擔心的事情，恰恰相反。

As I said, our RFP flow was up 13% in Q4, and that's across the board, strong double digits in EBP and in large pharma as well. For the -- that was in Q4. Full year same thing, very strong and EBP even stronger for the full year. Awards, which is sort of, if you will, a leading indicator of bookings because as you know, we and maybe a small number of others actually report bookings and book to risk based on contracted work. Some still report only awards, which is kind of before contracted and awards are also at a record high level.

正如我所說，我們的 RFP 流量在第四季度增長了 13%，這是全面增長的，EBP 和大型製藥公司也實現了強勁的兩位數增長。對於 - 那是在第四季。全年也是如此，非常強勁，全年 EBP 甚至更強。如果你願意的話，獎項可以說是預訂的領先指標，因為如你所知，我們以及可能還有少數其他人實際上是根據合約工作報告預訂情況和預訂風險的。有些仍然只報告獎項，這有點像在簽約之前，而且獎項也處於創紀錄的高水平。

If you look at our pipeline, the total pipeline is up high single digits, in very high single digits, again, at a record level. Qualified pipeline, which is we look at -- we have our own methodology to screen all the opportunities and come down to those that we think are the ones we want to pursue and that are the most viable and the most likely to come to fruition. The qualified pipeline is up strong double digits, again, across the board. So I don't know what else to tell you. I don't -- you heard anything that I don't know, let me know.

如果你看看我們的管道，你會發現管道總數增加了高個位數，非常高的個位數，再次達到創紀錄的水平。我們關注的是合格的管道——我們有自己的方法來篩選所有機會，並歸結為那些我們認為我們想要追求的、最可行、最有可能實現的機會。合格的管道再次全面成長兩位數。所以我不知道還能告訴你什麼。我不知道——你聽到了任何我不知道的事情，請告訴我。

No. That's why I'm in my seat and you're in your seat.

不，這就是為什麼我坐在我的座位上而你坐在你的座位上。

Your next question comes from the line of Elizabeth Anderson from Evercore ISI.

您的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Elizabeth Anderson。

Thanks so much for the color on the complexity of the demand environment. I had a question about the 4Q bookings. Can you comment on sort of what percentage was FSP? I know you said it, obviously, with the revenue shift is very incremental over the course of the year. But I would just be curious to [sort of level] set what you're seeing in the current environment there?

非常感謝您對需求環境的複雜性的關注。我對第四季的預訂有疑問。您能評論一下 FSP 的百分比是多少嗎？我知道你說過，顯然，這一年收入的變化是非常增量的。但我只是好奇[某種程度上]設定你在當前環境中看到的內容？

The question is how much of our bookings was FSP. I think a little over 20%, is that correct,guys?

問題是我們的預訂中有多少是 FSP 的。我認為略高於 20%，對嗎，夥計們？

Yes. (inaudible) was the bookings in the quarter and that's -- that for the full year for FSP.

是的。 （聽不清楚）是該季度的預訂量，也就是 FSP 全年的預訂量。

How much -- can you be more -- Well, how much was EBP? 25%?

多少錢——你能更多嗎——嗯，EBP 多少錢？ 25%？

Total EBP is about 1/4 of our bookings for the year.

總 EBP 約為我們全年預訂量的 1/4。

And I think FSP is mostly large pharma, right?

我認為 FSP 主要是大型製藥公司，對吧？

Yes.

是的。

And then how would you comment on sort of the rate card as we think about 2024 in terms of both full service work and FSP?

然後，當我們考慮 2024 年的全方位服務工作和 FSP 時，您對價目表有何評論？

Talk about pricing?

談定價？

I don't know -- rate card, the rates, labor and so on. Yes. I mean, look, this continues to be pressure from clients and negotiate and tough negotiations that's been the biggest surprise for me over the past several years, and that is that you got a better (inaudible), you've got a better company, a better delivery system, better capabilities, then we should be able to actually charge more. But lo and behold, we've got competitors. And as I said before, clients are -- clients that we want to continue to have. With whom -- with whom we sell -- to whom we sell a lot of stuff. And we have strong relationships. And when the client tells you, listen, CEO calls you and tells you, I need you to lower the rate here on this because it's going to help me in my cost reduction program, it's hard to say [this that] I'm better than a competitor and the answer is no. So we don't say yes to everything, but this is part of managing our long-term relationships, and we -- I [wouldn't] hide the fact that we are having maybe more pressure than we had before, generally on pricing that's across the board. There's no secret there.

我不知道——價目表、費率、人工等等。是的。我的意思是，看，這仍然是來自客戶和談判的壓力，這是過去幾年裡我最大的驚喜，那就是你有一個更好的（聽不清楚），你有一個更好的公司，更好的交付系統、更好的能力，那麼我們實際上應該能夠收取更多費用。但你瞧，我們有競爭對手。正如我之前所說，客戶是我們希望繼續擁有的客戶。與誰一起——我們與誰一起銷售——我們向誰出售了很多東西。我們有著牢固的關係。當客戶告訴你時，聽著，執行長打電話給你並告訴你，我需要你降低這方面的費率，因為這將有助於我的成本削減計劃，很難說[這]我更好與競爭對手相比，答案是否定的。因此，我們不會對所有事情都說“是”，但這是管理我們長期關係的一部分，而且我們——我不會隱瞞這樣一個事實，即我們可能比以前面臨更大的壓力，通常是在定價方面這是全面的。那裡沒有秘密。

Our next question comes from the line of David Windley from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 David Windley。

A little bit of a follow-up to Elizabeth there. Ari we spent in December, quite a bit of time talking about the kind of decision cycle environment with, I think, principally large pharma. So I joined late, but I've heard you describe that your RFP flows look pretty good. Your awards look pretty good. Those things seem to be holding up, but you had described that whether it was IRA or pending loss of exclusivity of important products or whatever that clients were kind of mulling over their prioritizations and processes a lot longer than normal. And I suppose part of that is probably also a little bit of Elizabeth -- your answer to Elizabeth's question around pricing and trying to meet budget cut targets and things like that. How would you -- I'd love for you to elaborate on that environment? And do you feel like you're closer to the end of it? Or are we still in the middle of it? When do we think large pharma will be back to business, so to speak?

這是對伊莉莎白的一點後續行動。我們在 12 月花了很多時間討論 Ari，我認為主要是大型製藥公司的決策週期環境。所以我加入得很晚，但我聽你描述說你的 RFP 流程看起來相當不錯。你的獎品看起來不錯。這些事情似乎仍然存在，但你已經描述過，無論是 IRA 還是重要產品的排他性即將喪失，或者客戶在考慮優先順序和處理過程上的時間比正常情況要長得多。我想其中一部分可能也是伊莉莎白的一點——你對伊莉莎白關於定價和努力實現預算削減目標等問題的回答。我希望您能詳細說明一下那個環境，您會如何做？你覺得你已經接近結局了嗎？或者我們還處於其中嗎？可以這麼說，我們認為大型製藥公司什麼時候會恢復營業？

Well, again, I want to make sure -- I mean, it's not like back to business, not like people are on hold and they are not doing anything again. I mean, look, our backlog continues to grow. The RFP flow is up double digits.

好吧，我想再次確定——我的意思是，這不像是回到正題，不像人們被擱置，他們不再做任何事情。我的意思是，看，我們的積壓訂單繼續增加。 RFP 流量成長了兩位數。

Second highest bookings quarter ever.

有史以來第二高的預訂季度。

Right. We had the second highest bookings quarter ever and the first -- the one that was the highest, which was last year, I think that was -- we had a very big proportion of pass-throughs from specific large award. That's why it was like over $3 billion, if I recall, in that quarter. So this quarter, we had, what, [$2.8 billion]. I mean -- and that was like a regular quarter with nothing unusual, no big one-timer award or anything like that. So it's a pretty -- the numbers are the numbers. Now the conversations are more difficult, longer, more negotiations, but the volume -- the answer to your question is I think the volume and the number of opportunities, it keeps going up. And again, EBP funding very strong, all-time high. We saw particular strength on EBP, and we see that continuing this year.

正確的。我們的預訂量是有史以來第二高的季度，而第一個季度的預訂量是最高的，我認為是去年的——我們有很大一部分來自特定大獎項的轉手。如果我沒記錯的話，這就是為什麼該季度的銷售額超過 30 億美元。所以這個季度，我們有，[28 億美元]。我的意思是——這就像一個常規季度，沒有什麼異常，沒有大的一次性獎項或類似的東西。所以這很漂亮——數字就是數字。現在對話變得更加困難、更長、更多的談判，但是數量——你問題的答案是我認為數量和機會的數量不斷增加。再說一次，EBP 資金非常強勁，創歷史新高。我們看到 EBP 的特別強勁，我們預計今年這種勢頭將持續下去。

So not like we're on hold and thinking about when are we back to business. That's perhaps a question we were asking ourselves on the TAS segment, and that we are in the middle of, and we see some sign of green shoots as Elizabeth told us before, or Anne, I think, was the one who used that expression, some green shoots on the commercial side to the back end of the year. But on the R&DS side, we are experiencing the pressure, the more difficult environment with respect to pricing and negotiation and so on. We are in those conversations. But no one is saying, I'm going on hold, and I'm not doing anything. Again, the numbers showed, numbers of RFPs, the pipeline at an all-time high, the qualified pipeline up strong double digits and are going across the board. It's not like there's one segment or another. So I would say quite the opposite. I think the number of opportunities, the environment is very fertile in terms of chasing opportunities and responding to request for proposals, we are very, very busy.

所以我們並不是暫停工作並思考什麼時候才能恢復營業。這也許是我們在 TAS 部分問自己的問題，我們正處於其中，我們看到了一些萌芽的跡象，正如伊麗莎白之前告訴我們的那樣，或者安妮，我認為，是使用這個表達的人，到年底，商業方面將出現一些新芽。但在研發方面，我們正在經歷壓力，定價和談判等方面的環境更加困難。我們正在這些對話中。但沒有人說，我要暫停，而且我什麼都不做。數據再次顯示，RFP 數量、管道數量達到歷史最高水平，合格管道數量強勁增長兩位數，並且正在全面發展。並不是有一個或另一個部分。所以我想說的恰恰相反。我認為機會的數量、環境在追逐機會和回應提案請求方面非常豐富，我們非常非常忙碌。

Okay. So if I could follow up then. To go the next step and ask perhaps, what might be the factors that are influencing the disconnect between a high single-digit to double-digit RFP award pace with a below mid-single-digit revenue growth. So I understand part of that is TAS, I'm going to try to head off a little bit in the past. Part of that is TAS. I know that. So we'll set that aside. And I know you also attribute some to COVID, but COVID is now small enough that it is like any other big project that you would see come to a conclusion in any given year and ramp transition those people to a new project and ramp that up. So it would seem that you're to a point where the backlog growth should be translating to R&DS revenue growth, and there's a disconnect there. So to what would you attribute that?

好的。那如果我能跟進的話。下一步可能要問的是，可能有哪些因素會影響高個位數到兩位數的 RFP 授予速度與低於中個位數的收入成長之間的脫節。所以我知道其中一部分是 TAS，我會試著暫時避開過去。其中一部分是TAS。我知道。所以我們會把它放在一邊。我知道你也將一些歸因於新冠病毒，但新冠病毒現在已經足夠小了，就像任何其他大型項目一樣，你會看到在任何一年中都會得出結論，並將這些人過渡到新專案並加速推進。因此，看起來積壓訂單成長應該轉化為研發收入成長，但兩者之間存在脫節。那你認為這歸因於什麼呢？

Yes. So again, if you take R&DS, it's not -- it's not like one project like any other. It's not the case. We really have a (inaudible) very specific. It took specific resources, it's specific projects. And in '24, it's coming down by $300 million. That represents a direct headwind to growth of 350 basis points to R&DS growth, 350 basis points. In addition, and this is more of a mix issue I mentioned in my introductory remarks, a number of wins, and we continue to win in the oncology area. We're happy about that because that's the fastest-growing therapeutic area, hands down all around. It has been for a while and will continue to be. And we are winning in oncology.

是的。再說一次，如果你選擇 R&DS，它就不是一個項目，就像其他項目一樣。事實並非如此。我們確實有一個非常具體的（聽不清楚）。它需要特定的資源，特定的項目。 24 年，它減少了 3 億美元。這對 R&DS 成長 350 個基點構成直接阻力，即 350 個基點。此外，這更多的是我在介紹性發言中提到的混合問題，我們取得了一些勝利，我們繼續在腫瘤學領域取得勝利。我們對此感到高興，因為毫無疑問，這是成長最快的治療領域。這種情況已經有一段時間了，並將繼續如此。我們在腫瘤學領域取得了勝利。

The issue with that therapeutic area is that the burn rate is much lower. It takes time. It's more difficult to recruit patients. It's more complex. And therefore, it [translates] into revenue slower than anything else. And we have a disproportionate share in that market.

該治療區域的問題是燒傷率要低得多。這需要時間。招募患者更加困難。情況更複雜。因此，它轉化為收入的速度比其他任何東西都要慢。我們在這個市場上佔有不成比例的份額。

Third reason in the mix, we do have -- we happen to be, and that's just a consequence. It's hard to explain, but some years, we've got tailwinds from pass-throughs and some years, we have headwinds from pass-throughs. As you know, pass-throughs are -- I'm not going to say irrelevant, but they come with no profit. They come with -- it's just an artificial accounting add to our (inaudible) but the fact our buildup forecast for '24, pass-throughs will be a headwind to R&DS growth, and that represents 100 basis points approximately of headwind to top line growth of R&DS, again, inclusive of pass-throughs.

第三個原因，我們確實有──我們碰巧是，而這只是一個結果。這很難解釋，但有些年份，我們從傳遞中得到順風，有些年份，我們從傳遞中得到逆風。如您所知，傳遞是——我不會說無關緊要，但它們不會帶來任何利潤。它們只是一個人為的會計增加（聽不清楚），但事實上我們對 24 年的累積預測，傳遞將成為 R&DS 成長的阻力，這代表著頂線成長的阻力大約 100 個基點R&DS 再次包含傳遞。

So if you add 350 basis points of headwind from COVID, from the step down in COVID, and 100 basis points of headwind from the pass-through mix, that's 450 basis points. So you're right. But if you add back this and you normalize our underlying business is growing high single digits, very high single digits on the R&D side. So I think that's the reconciliation. You're right, Dave, you're smart analysts and you point to the apparent disconnect between the strong growth of our bookings and the reported growth in '24, which, again, we hope to be out of that in '25. It certainly bodes well. '25 should be a [sweet year]. I don't want to put actions for '25 here. We're barely talking about '24. But I think based on everything we're seeing, we should certainly be behind all of those issues. But thank you Dave, I think that was the last question.

因此，如果將新冠疫情帶來的 350 個基點、新冠疫情下降帶來的 350 個基點，以及傳導組合帶來的 100 個基點的逆風加上，那就是 450 個基點。所以你是對的。但如果你把這一點加回來，你會發現我們的基礎業務正以高個位數成長，研發方面的高個位數成長。所以我認為這就是和解。你是對的，戴夫，你是聰明的分析師，你指出了我們預訂量的強勁增長與 24 年報告的增長之間明顯的脫節，我們再次希望在 25 年擺脫這種增長。這當然是個好兆頭。 '25應該是[甜蜜的一年]。我不想在這裡列出 25 年的行動。我們幾乎沒有談論'24。但我認為，根據我們所看到的一切，我們當然應該支持所有這些問題。但謝謝戴夫，我想這是最後一個問題。

This ends our question-and-answer session. Mr. Childs, I turn the call back over to you.

我們的問答環節到此結束。蔡爾茲先生，我將電話轉回給您。

Thank you very much, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to speaking to you again on our first quarter earnings call in April. The team and I will be available the rest of the day to answer any follow-up questions you have. Thank you very much.

非常感謝你們，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在四月的第一季財報電話會議上再次與您交談。我和團隊將在當天剩餘時間回答您的任何後續問題。非常感謝。

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。