高德納諮詢公司 (IT) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Gartner's Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. I'm David Cohen, SVP of Investor Relations. (Operator Instructions) After comments by Gene Hall, Gartner's Chief Executive Officer; and Craig Safian, Gartner's Chief Financial Officer, there'll be a question-and-answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

大家，早安。歡迎來到 Gartner 2022 年第四季度財報電話會議。我是投資者關係高級副總裁 David Cohen。 （操作員說明）根據 Gartner 首席執行官 Gene Hall 的評論；和 Gartner 的首席財務官 Craig Safian，將會有一個問答環節。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

This call will include a discussion of fourth quarter 2022 financial results and Gartner's outlook for 2023 as disclosed in today's earnings release and earnings supplement, both posted to our website, investor.gartner.com.

本次電話會議將討論 2022 年第四季度財務業績和 Gartner 對 2023 年的展望，這些展望在今天的收益發布和收益補充中披露，兩者均發佈在我們的網站 investor.gartner.com 上。

On the call, unless stated otherwise, all references to EBITDA are for adjusted EBITDA, with the adjustments as described in our earnings release and supplement. All growth rates in Gene's comments are FX neutral, unless stated otherwise, and his contract value comments exclude Russia from 2021. All references to share counts are for fully diluted weighted average share counts unless stated otherwise. Reconciliations for all non-GAAP numbers we use are available in the Investor Relations section of the gartner.com website. Finally, all contract values and associated growth rates we discuss are based on 2022 foreign exchange rates unless stated otherwise.

在電話會議上，除非另有說明，否則所有提及的 EBITDA 都是針對調整後的 EBITDA，調整如我們的收益發布和補充中所述。除非另有說明，否則 Gene 評論中的所有增長率都是外匯中性的，並且他的合同價值評論從 2021 年開始不包括俄羅斯。除非另有說明，否則所有提及的股票數量都是針對完全稀釋的加權平均股票數量。我們使用的所有非 GAAP 數字的調節可在 gartner.com 網站的投資者關係部分找到。最後，除非另有說明，否則我們討論的所有合同價值和相關增長率均基於 2022 年的外匯匯率。

As set forth in more detail in today's earnings release, certain statements made on this call may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can vary materially from actual results and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those contained in the company's 2021 annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as well as in other filings with the SEC. I encourage all of you to review the risk factors listed in these documents.

正如今天的收益發布中更詳細地闡述的那樣，在此次電話會議上所做的某些陳述可能構成前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述可能與實際結果存在重大差異，並受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，包括公司 2021 年 10-K 表年度報告、10-Q 表季度報告以及其他提交給美國證券交易委員會。我鼓勵大家查看這些文件中列出的風險因素。

Now I will turn the call over to Gartner's Chief Executive Officer, Gene Hall.

現在我將把電話轉給 Gartner 的首席執行官 Gene Hall。

Good morning, and thanks for joining us today. Gartner drove a strong performance in the fourth quarter with double-digit growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and EPS. We generated nearly $1 billion in free cash flow, and we returned even more than that to shareholders through our ongoing share repurchase program.

早上好，感謝您今天加入我們。 Gartner 在第四季度取得了強勁的業績，合同價值、收入、EBITDA 和 EPS 均實現兩位數增長。我們產生了近 10 億美元的自由現金流，而且我們通過正在進行的股票回購計劃向股東回報的回報甚至更多。

Enterprise leaders are dealing with high volatility and uncertainty. Inflation accelerated to the highest level in 40 years. The dollar was the strongest it's been in 20 years, and it remains extremely volatile. There are ongoing supply chain issues. Energy prices have been volatile. The labor market has been volatile. Enterprises are assessing the impact of remote versus hybrid versus in-person work. There are widespread concerns of a recession. All of these factors and more impact enterprises around the world.

企業領導者正在應對高波動性和不確定性。通貨膨脹加速至 40 年來的最高水平。美元是 20 年來最強勁的，而且仍然極度波動。存在持續的供應鏈問題。能源價格一直波動。勞動力市場一直不穩定。企業正在評估遠程工作、混合工作和麵對面工作的影響。人們普遍擔心經濟衰退。所有這些因素以及更多的因素影響著世界各地的企業。

Leaders need help navigating this turbulent time, and they know Gartner is the best source for that help. Our services often make the difference between success and failure for executives and their enterprises. We help clients succeed with their mission-critical clarities, whether they're in growth mode or cutting costs.

領導者需要幫助渡過這個動蕩的時代，他們知道 Gartner 是提供這種幫助的最佳來源。我們的服務往往決定著高管及其企業的成敗。我們幫助客戶在關鍵任務清晰度方面取得成功，無論他們處於增長模式還是削減成本。

With all this volatility, our most recent research shows that Chief Financial Officers are more carefully scrutinizing the expenses but at the same time are increasing investment in mission-critical priorities. Even in enterprises, they are under extreme financial pressure.

鑑於所有這些波動，我們最近的研究表明，首席財務官正在更仔細地審查費用，但同時也在增加對關鍵任務優先事項的投資。即使在企業中，他們也承受著極大的財務壓力。

Our research business continues to be our largest and most profitable segment. We help leaders across all major enterprise functions in every industry around the world. Our market opportunity is fast across all sectors, sizes and geographies. And we're delivering more value than ever. Research revenue grew 13% in the fourth quarter. Total contract value growth was 12%. Contract value growth was broad-based across practices, industry sectors, company sizes and geographic regions.

我們的研究業務仍然是我們最大和最賺錢的部門。我們幫助全球各行各業所有主要企業職能部門的領導者。我們的市場機遇遍及所有行業、規模和地域。我們正在提供比以往更多的價值。第四季度研究收入增長了 13%。合同總價值增長了 12%。合同價值增長的基礎廣泛，涉及實踐、行業、公司規模和地理區域。

We serve executives and their teams through two distinct sales channels. Global Technology Sales, or GTS is our largest sales force. GTS contract value grew 11%. The large majority of GTS serves IT leaders and their teams, and we saw double-digit growth with this client segment despite tough compares. GTS also serves leaders at technology vendors, including CEOs and product managers. In this segment, growth moderated but still grew at high single digits despite even tougher compares.

我們通過兩個不同的銷售渠道為高管及其團隊提供服務。全球技術銷售或 GTS 是我們最大的銷售團隊。 GTS 合同價值增長了 11%。大多數 GTS 服務於 IT 領導者和他們的團隊，儘管比較艱難，我們還是看到了這個客戶群的兩位數增長。 GTS 還為技術供應商的領導者提供服務，包括 CEO 和產品經理。在這個細分市場中，增長有所放緩，但儘管比較更為艱難，但仍以高個位數增長。

Global Business Sales, or GBS, serves leaders and their teams beyond IT. This includes HR, supply chain, finance, marketing, sales, legal and more. GBS contract value grew 19% in 2022. In the 5 years since we launched our GXL products within GBS, we have seen exceptional compound annual growth rates.

全球業務銷售 (GBS) 服務於 IT 以外的領導者及其團隊。這包括人力資源、供應鏈、財務、市場營銷、銷售、法律等。 GBS 合同價值在 2022 年增長了 19%。自從我們在 GBS 中推出 GXL 產品以來的 5 年裡，我們看到了非凡的複合年增長率。

Gartner Conferences deliver extraordinarily valuable insights to an engaged and qualified audience. In the first half of 2022, we delivered most of our conferences virtually. In the second half, we pivoted back to in-person for nearly all our conferences. Feedback has been excellent. Most in-person conferences were sold out in 2022, and we've sold significantly more than half of our exhibitor space for 2023.

Gartner 會議向參與和合格的觀眾提供非常有價值的見解。 2022 年上半年，我們以虛擬方式召開了大部分會議。在下半年，我們幾乎所有的會議都回到了面對面的方式。反饋非常好。大多數面對面的會議在 2022 年都已售罄，而我們在 2023 年已售出超過一半的參展商空間。

Gartner Consulting is an extension of Gartner Research. Consultant helps clients execute their most strategic initiatives through deeper, extended project-based work. Consulting is an important complement to our IT research business. Consulting revenue grew 24% in the fourth quarter.

Gartner 諮詢是 Gartner Research 的延伸。顧問通過更深入、擴展的基於項目的工作幫助客戶執行他們最具戰略意義的計劃。諮詢是我們 IT 研究業務的重要補充。諮詢收入在第四季度增長了 24%。

We exited the year with a strong backlog and pipeline. Our business is fueled by our highly talented associates. During 2022, we grew our team by about 2,900 associates. With this growth, we ended 2022 with the lowest percentage of open positions ever. When we're fully staffed, we provide our clients better service, which results in better retention. We also sell more in territories that are fully staffed. We have carefully aligned our hiring with recent demand and the long-term opportunity we have for growth.

我們以大量積壓和管道結束了這一年。我們的業務是由我們才華橫溢的員工推動的。 2022 年期間，我們的團隊增加了約 2,900 名員工。隨著這種增長，我們在 2022 年結束時的未平倉頭寸百分比是有史以來最低的。當我們人手充足時，我們會為客戶提供更好的服務，從而更好地保留客戶。我們還在人員配備齊全的地區銷售更多產品。我們已仔細調整我們的招聘與近期需求和我們擁有的長期增長機會。

Our 2023 outlook reflects our most recent experiences from Q4. We've also been prudent in considering the potential impact of volatility from the global environment. We expect to deliver at least 21.5% margins across a wide range of economic scenarios and our guidance has opportunity for upside if the business performs in line with historical trends. Craig will take you through our guidance in more detail.

我們的 2023 年展望反映了我們從第四季度開始的最新經驗。我們在考慮全球環境波動的潛在影響時也一直很謹慎。我們預計在廣泛的經濟情景中將實現至少 21.5% 的利潤率，如果業務表現符合歷史趨勢，我們的指導意見有機會上行。 Craig 將帶您更詳細地了解我們的指南。

One of the unique things about Gartner is that we provide value to enterprises that are thriving, struggling or anywhere in between. By being exceptionally agile and adapting to the changing world, we have sustained record of success. We're well prepared as we enter 2023. We've carefully aligned staffing levels with demand and we have the lowest percentage of open positions ever.

Gartner 的獨特之處之一是，我們為蓬勃發展、苦苦掙扎或介於兩者之間的企業提供價值。通過異常敏捷和適應不斷變化的世界，我們一直保持著成功的記錄。進入 2023 年，我們已做好充分準備。我們已根據需求仔細調整人員配備水平，並且我們的空缺職位比例是有史以來最低的。

Our content addresses today's mission-critical priorities, and we know the right things to do to be successful in any environment.

我們的內容解決了當今的關鍵任務優先事項，並且我們知道在任何環境中都應該做正確的事情才能取得成功。

In closing, we again saw strong growth across the business. Looking ahead, we are well-positioned to drive growth far into the future. Even as we invest for future growth, we expect margins to increase modestly over time, and we generate significant free cash flow well in excess of net income. We'll return capital to our shareholders through buybacks, which reduces shares outstanding and increases returns over time.

最後，我們再次看到整個業務的強勁增長。展望未來，我們已做好充分準備，推動未來的增長。即使我們為未來的增長進行投資，我們也預計利潤率會隨著時間的推移而適度增加，並且我們產生的自由現金流量遠遠超過淨收入。我們將通過回購將資本返還給我們的股東，這會減少流通股並隨著時間的推移增加回報。

With that, I'll hand the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Craig Safian.

有了這個，我會把電話交給我們的首席財務官克雷格薩菲安。

Thank you, Gene, and good morning. Fourth quarter results were strong with double-digit growth in contract value, revenue, EBITDA and adjusted EPS. FX-neutral growth was even stronger than our reported results. We also delivered better-than-planned EBITDA margins.

謝謝你，吉恩，早上好。第四季度業績強勁，合同價值、收入、EBITDA 和調整後每股收益均實現兩位數增長。外匯中性增長甚至比我們報告的結果更強勁。我們還實現了好於計劃的 EBITDA 利潤率。

During 2022, we generated almost $1 billion of free cash flow, and we returned more than that to shareholders through stock repurchases. Our financial performance for the full year 2022 included total contract value growth of 12%, total revenue growth of 16%, EBITDA growth of 14%, diluted adjusted EPS of $11.27 and free cash flow of $993 million.

2022 年期間，我們產生了近 10 億美元的自由現金流，而且我們通過股票回購向股東返還了比這更多的錢。我們 2022 年全年的財務業績包括合同總價值增長 12%、總收入增長 16%、EBITDA 增長 14%、攤薄調整後每股收益 11.27 美元和自由現金流 9.93 億美元。

We are introducing 2023 guidance, which reflects higher-than-normal variability in the set of reasonably likely outcomes. The guidance accounts for the tough compares at the start of the year and the opportunity for upside if near-term demand is stronger than we built into the outlook.

我們正在推出 2023 年指南，它反映了一組合理可能的結果中高於正常的可變性。該指引說明了年初的艱難比較，以及如果近期需求強於我們預期的情況，則有上行機會。

With the catch-up hiring we did last year, we are very well-positioned to add value to enterprise function leaders and their teams across all industries and around the world.

通過我們去年進行的追趕招聘，我們處於非常有利的位置，可以為全球所有行業的企業職能領導者及其團隊增加價值。

Fourth quarter revenue was $1.5 billion, up 15% year-over-year as reported and 20% FX neutral. In addition, total contribution margin was 68%, down 100 basis points versus the prior year. EBITDA was $421 million, up 37% year-over-year and up 44% FX neutral. Adjusted EPS was $3.70, up 24% and free cash flow in the quarter was $166 million.

第四季度收入為 15 億美元，同比增長 15%，與匯率保持中性關係 20%。此外，總邊際貢獻率為 68%，較上年下降 100 個基點。 EBITDA 為 4.21 億美元，同比增長 37%，在外匯中性增長 44%。調整後每股收益為 3.70 美元，增長 24%，本季度自由現金流為 1.66 億美元。

We finished the year with 19,505 associates, up 18% from the end of 2021. About 40% of the headcount growth was catch-up from prior years. Our hiring has been carefully calibrated to revenue growth and future demand, and we are well positioned from a talent perspective heading into 2023.

我們在這一年結束時擁有 19,505 名員工，比 2021 年底增長了 18%。約 40% 的員工人數增長是前幾年的追趕。我們的招聘已根據收入增長和未來需求進行了仔細調整，從人才的角度來看，我們在進入 2023 年時處於有利地位。

Research revenue in the fourth quarter grew 9% year-over-year as reported and 13% on an FX-neutral basis, driven by our strong contract value growth. Fourth quarter Research contribution margin was 74%, consistent with 2021. The contribution margin had a benefit during the quarter from somewhat lower headcount levels and travel expenses still modestly below our post-pandemic expectations. For the full year 2022, Research revenues increased by 12% on a reported basis and 16% FX neutral. The gross contribution margin for the year was 74%, in line with 2021.

在我們強勁的合同價值增長的推動下，第四季度的研究收入同比增長 9%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 13%。第四季度研究貢獻率為 74%，與 2021 年一致。該季度的貢獻率受益於員工人數有所減少，差旅費用仍略低於我們大流行後的預期。 2022 年全年，研究收入按報告基礎增長 12%，外匯中性增長 16%。全年毛利率為 74%，與 2021 年持平。

Contract value, or CV, represents the annualized revenue under contract at a point in time. And looking at our global contract value across both GTS and GBS, more than 75% of our CV is from enterprise function leaders and their teams with the bulk of the balance coming from leaders at tech vendors. Our enterprise function leaders business includes IT leaders who are end users of technology and who we serve through our GTS sales force, and leaders of other business functions who we serve through our GBS sales force. In both cases, we serve leaders around the world and across all industries. We're helping these enterprise function leaders address their most important mission-critical priorities.

合同價值或 CV 代表合同在某個時間點的年化收入。看看我們在 GTS 和 GBS 上的全球合同價值，我們 75% 以上的簡歷來自企業職能領導者及其團隊，其餘大部分來自技術供應商的領導者。我們的企業職能領導者業務包括 IT 領導者，他們是技術的最終用戶，我們通過 GTS 銷售人員為他們提供服務，以及我們通過 GBS 銷售人員為其他業務職能部門的領導者提供服務。在這兩種情況下，我們都為世界各地和所有行業的領導者提供服務。我們正在幫助這些企業職能領導者解決他們最重要的關鍵任務優先事項。

CV was $4.7 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, up 11.9% versus the prior year and up 12.3% adjusted for the impact of exiting Russia. CV from enterprise function leaders across GTS and GBS grew at strong double-digit rates. CV from tech vendors grew high single digits compared to a high teens growth rate in the fourth quarter of '21. Quarterly net contract value increase, or NCVI, was $189 million (inaudible) of almost $400 million.

第四季度末的 CV 為 47 億美元，較上年同期增長 11.9%，經退出俄羅斯的影響調整後增長 12.3%。 GTS 和 GBS 企業職能領導者的簡歷以兩位數的強勁速度增長。與 21 世紀第四季度的青少年高增長率相比，技術供應商的 CV 增長了高個位數。季度淨合同價值增長 (NCVI) 為 1.89 億美元（聽不清），接近 4 億美元。

CV growth was broad-based across practices, industry sectors, company sizes and geographic regions. Across our combined practices, all industry sectors grew at double-digit rates other than technology and media, which grew at high single-digit rates. The fastest growth was in the transportation, retail and manufacturing sectors. We had double-digit growth across all of our enterprise-size categories. We also drove double-digit growth in 9 of our top 10 countries with high single-digit growth in the 10th.

CV 增長的基礎廣泛，涉及實踐、行業部門、公司規模和地理區域。在我們的綜合實踐中，所有行業都以兩位數的速度增長，但技術和媒體除外，後者以高個位數的速度增長。增長最快的是運輸、零售和製造業。我們所有企業規模的類別都實現了兩位數的增長。我們還在前 10 個國家中的 9 個國家推動了兩位數的增長，其中第 10 個國家實現了高個位數增長。

Global Technology Sales CV was $3.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, up 10% versus the prior year and up 10.5% adjusted for the exit of Russia. GTS had quarterly NCVI of $138 million, while retention for GTS was 105% for the quarter. GTS new business was down 8.5% versus last year. New business with IT function leaders was up modestly year-over-year against the tough compare. New business with tech vendors facing tougher compare against Q4 of 2021, which was its strongest quarter ever. GTS quota-bearing headcount was up 18% compared to December of last year. About 40% of the growth was catch-up hiring from 2021. Our continued investments in our sales teams will drive long-term sustained double-digit growth. Our regular full set of GTS metrics can be found in the appendix of our earnings supplement.

第四季度末全球技術銷售額 CV 為 36 億美元，比上年增長 10%，並因俄羅斯退出調整後增長 10.5%。 GTS 的季度 NCVI 為 1.38 億美元，而 GTS 本季度的保留率為 105%。 GTS 新業務與去年相比下降了 8.5%。與艱難的比較相比，IT 職能領導者的新業務同比溫和增長。與 2021 年第四季度相比，技術供應商的新業務面臨更嚴峻的形勢，這是有史以來最強勁的一個季度。與去年 12 月相比，GTS 配額承擔人數增加了 18%。約 40% 的增長來自 2021 年的追趕性招聘。我們對銷售團隊的持續投資將推動長期持續的兩位數增長。我們的常規全套 GTS 指標可以在我們的收入補充附錄中找到。

Global Business Sales CV was over $1 billion at the end of the fourth quarter, up 19% year-over-year, which is above the high end of our medium-term outlook of 12% to 16%. All of our GBS practices, other than marketing, grew at double-digit growth rates led by supply chain and HR, which both continued to grow faster than 20%. GBS CV increased $52 million from the third quarter while retention for GBS was 112%. GBS new business was up 3% versus last year against a very strong compare. The 2-year compound annual growth rate for new business was 9%. GBS quota-bearing headcount increased 22% year-over-year with a little more than 50% of the growth being catch up from 2021. Headcount we hired in 2022 will help to position us for sustained double-digit growth in the future. As with GTS, a regular full set of GBS metrics can be found in the appendix of our earnings supplement.

第四季度末全球業務銷售額 CV 超過 10 億美元，同比增長 19%，高於我們 12% 至 16% 的中期展望的上限。我們所有的 GBS 實踐，除了市場營銷，都以兩位數的速度增長，供應鍊和人力資源的增長速度都超過 20%。 GBS CV 比第三季度增加了 5200 萬美元，而 GBS 的保留率為 112%。 GBS 新業務與去年相比增長了 3%，表現非常強勁。新業務2年復合年增長率為9%。 GBS 配額人數同比增長 22%，從 2021 年起將追趕略高於 50% 的增長。我們在 2022 年招聘的員工人數將有助於我們在未來實現持續的兩位數增長。與 GTS 一樣，可以在我們的收入補充附錄中找到一套完整的 GBS 指標。

Conferences revenue for the fourth quarter was $188 million. Contribution margin in the quarter was 53%. We held nine in-person conferences in quarter. It has been very exciting for our business to return to in-person conferences. For the full year 2022, revenue increased 82% on a reported basis and 90% FX neutral. Gross contribution margin was 54%.

第四季度的會議收入為 1.88 億美元。本季度的邊際貢獻率為 53%。我們在本季度舉行了九次面對面會議。對於我們的企業來說，重返面對面會議非常令人興奮。 2022 年全年，收入按報告增長 82%，外匯中性增長 90%。毛利率為 54%。

Fourth quarter Consulting revenues increased by 17% year-over-year to $138 million. On an FX-neutral basis, revenues were up 24%. Consulting contribution margin was 37% in the fourth quarter.

第四季度諮詢收入同比增長 17% 至 1.38 億美元。在外匯中性的基礎上，收入增長了 24%。第四季度諮詢貢獻率為 37%。

Labor-based revenues were $96 million, up 11% versus Q4 of last year and up 19% on an FX-neutral basis. Backlog at December 31 was $140 million, increasing 24% year-over-year on an FX-neutral basis with another strong bookings quarter. The inclusion of multiyear contracts in our backlog calculation, a change we described earlier last year, contributed about 13 percentage points to the year-over-year growth rate.

基於勞動力的收入為 9600 萬美元，比去年第四季度增長 11%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 19%。截至 12 月 31 日，積壓訂單為 1.4 億美元，在外匯中性基礎上同比增長 24%，預訂季度表現強勁。將多年期合同納入我們的積壓計算，這是我們去年早些時候描述的一項變化，為同比增長率貢獻了約 13 個百分點。

Our contract optimization business had a very strong quarter, increasing 36% as reported and 39% on an FX-neutral basis versus the prior year. As we have detailed in the past, this part of the consulting segment is highly variable.

我們的合同優化業務有一個非常強勁的季度，報告的增長了 36%，在外匯中性的基礎上比上一年增長了 39%。正如我們過去詳述的那樣，諮詢部門的這一部分變化很大。

Full year Consulting revenue was up 15% on a reported basis and 22% on an FX-neutral basis. Gross contribution margin of 39% was up 140 basis points from 2021. Consolidated cost of services increased 19% year-over-year in the fourth quarter as reported and 24% on an FX-neutral basis. The biggest drivers of the increase were higher headcount to support our continued strong growth and the return to in-person destination conferences.

全年諮詢收入在報告基礎上增長了 15%，在外匯中性基礎上增長了 22%。毛利率為 39%，比 2021 年上升了 140 個基點。報告的第四季度綜合服務成本同比增長 19%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 24%。增長的最大驅動力是增加了員工人數以支持我們持續強勁的增長以及重返面對面的目的地會議。

SG&A decreased 3% year-over-year in the fourth quarter as reported and increased 1% on an FX-neutral basis. We had lower noncash nonrecurring charges in 2022 compared to 2021. On a comparable basis, SG&A was up due to additional headcount for sales and G&A functions. For the full year, cost of services increased 17% on a reported basis and 21% on an FX-neutral basis. SG&A increased 15% on a reported basis and 19% on an FX-neutral basis in 2022.

據報告，第四季度 SG&A 同比下降 3%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 1%。與 2021 年相比，我們在 2022 年的非現金非經常性費用較低。在可比的基礎上，由於銷售和 G&A 職能部門的人員增加，SG&A 有所增加。全年，服務成本在報告基礎上增長了 17%，在外匯中性基礎上增長了 21%。到 2022 年，SG&A 在報告基礎上增長 15%，在外匯中性基礎上增長 19%。

EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $421 million, up 37% year-over-year on a reported basis and up 44% FX neutral. Fourth quarter EBITDA upside to our guidance reflected revenue exceeding our forecast, most notably in consulting and expenses at the low end of our expectations. EBITDA for the full year was $1.47 billion, a 14% increase over 2021 on a reported basis and up 19% FX neutral.

第四季度的 EBITDA 為 4.21 億美元，同比增長 37%，外匯中性增長 44%。第四季度 EBITDA 高於我們的指引，反映出收入超出了我們的預期，最顯著的是處於我們預期低端的諮詢和費用。全年 EBITDA 為 14.7 億美元，與 2021 年相比增長 14%，外匯中性增長 19%。

Depreciation was $24 million in the fourth quarter, down modestly versus 2021. Net interest expense, excluding deferred financing costs in the quarter was $29 million, about flat with the prior year. The modest floating rate debt we have is fully hedged through maturity.

第四季度折舊為 2400 萬美元，與 2021 年相比略有下降。本季度扣除遞延融資成本的淨利息支出為 2900 萬美元，與上年同期持平。我們擁有的適度浮動利率債務在到期前已完全對沖。

The Q4 adjusted tax rate, which we use for the calculation of adjusted net income, was 16.7% for the quarter. The tax rate for the items used to adjust net income was 23.2% for the quarter. The full year tax rate was 21.6% on the same basis.

我們用於計算調整後淨收入的第四季度調整後稅率為 16.7%。本季度用於調整淨收入的項目稅率為 23.2%。全年同口徑稅率為21.6%。

Adjusted EPS in Q4 was $3.70, up 19% year-over-year. The average share count for the fourth quarter was 80 million shares. This is a reduction of about 3.7 million shares or about 4% year-over-year. We exited the fourth quarter with about 80 million shares outstanding on an unweighted basis. For the full year, adjusted EPS was $11.27. EPS growth for the year was 22%.

第四季度調整後每股收益為 3.70 美元，同比增長 19%。第四季度的平均股數為 8000 萬股。這是減少約 370 萬股或同比減少約 4%。第四季度末，我們在未加權基礎上發行了約 8000 萬股流通股。全年調整後每股收益為 11.27 美元。全年每股收益增長 22%。

Operating cash flow for the quarter was $203 million. Excluding insurance proceeds in Q4 of 2021, operating cash flow is down about 7%. Q4 cash flow was impacted by Hurricane Ian, which hit our Center of Excellence in Fort Myers extremely hard in late September. While we were able to sell and service our clients from Fort Myers, we did have some delays in getting invoices out as quickly as we normally would. Elections for some of these delayed invoices slipped into January, but we are now caught up.

本季度的運營現金流為 2.03 億美元。剔除 2021 年第四季度的保險收益，經營現金流下降約 7%。第 4 季度的現金流受到颶風伊恩的影響，颶風伊恩在 9 月下旬對我們位於邁爾斯堡的卓越中心造成了極大的打擊。雖然我們能夠從邁爾斯堡銷售和服務我們的客戶，但我們確實在像往常一樣快速開具發票方面遇到了一些延誤。其中一些延遲發票的選舉推遲到了 1 月份，但我們現在趕上了。

CapEx for the quarter was $38 million, up about $16 million year-over-year, led by increases in capitalized technology labor costs and catch-up laptop spend. Free cash flow for the quarter was $166 million. Free cash flow growth continues to be an important part of our business model with modest CapEx needs and upfront client payments. As many of you know, we generate free cash flow well in excess of net income. Our conversion from EBITDA is also very strong with the differences being cash interest, cash taxes and modest CapEx, partially offset by strong working capital cash inflows.

本季度的資本支出為 3800 萬美元，同比增長約 1600 萬美元，主要原因是資本化技術勞動力成本和追趕筆記本電腦支出的增加。本季度的自由現金流為 1.66 億美元。自由現金流增長仍然是我們商業模式的重要組成部分，具有適度的資本支出需求和前期客戶付款。正如你們許多人所知，我們產生的自由現金流遠遠超過淨收入。我們從 EBITDA 的轉換也非常強勁，差異在於現金利息、現金稅和適度的資本支出，部分被強勁的營運資金現金流入所抵消。

Free cash flow as a percent of revenue or free cash flow margin was 18% on a rolling 4-quarter basis. On the same basis, free cash flow was 68% of EBITDA and 123% of GAAP net income. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had almost $700 million of cash. Our December 31 debt balance was $2.5 billion. Our reported gross debt to trailing 12-month EBITDA was under 2x. Our expected free cash flow generation, unused revolver and excess cash remaining on the balance sheet provide ample liquidity to deliver on our capital allocation strategy of share repurchases and strategic tuck-in M&A.

自由現金流佔收入的百分比或自由現金流利潤率在連續 4 個季度的基礎上為 18%。在相同的基礎上，自由現金流佔 EBITDA 的 68% 和 GAAP 淨收入的 123%。第四季度末，我們擁有近 7 億美元的現金。我們 12 月 31 日的債務餘額為 25 億美元。我們報告的總債務與過去 12 個月的 EBITDA 之比低於 2 倍。我們預期的自由現金流產生、未使用的循環和資產負債表上剩餘的多餘現金提供了充足的流動性，以實現我們的股票回購和戰略性併購的資本配置戰略。

Our balance sheet is very strong with $1.7 billion of liquidity, low levels of leverage and effectively fixed interest rates. We repurchased more than $1 billion of stock throughout 2022. We expect the Board will refresh our share repurchase authorization as needed, which they did earlier this month. We now have about $1 billion authorized for share repurchases.

我們的資產負債表非常強勁，擁有 17 億美元的流動性、低杠桿水平和有效的固定利率。我們在整個 2022 年回購了超過 10 億美元的股票。我們預計董事會將根據需要更新我們的股票回購授權，他們本月早些時候已經這樣做了。我們現在有大約 10 億美元的授權用於股票回購。

Across the past 2 years, we have returned $2.7 billion to shareholders by repurchasing more than 11 million shares. Over that time frame, we have reduced our shares outstanding by 11%. As we continue to repurchase shares, our capital base will shrink. This is accretive to earnings per share and combined with growing profits, also delivers increasing returns on invested capital over time.

在過去的 2 年裡，我們通過回購超過 1100 萬股股票向股東返還了 27 億美元。在此期間，我們已將已發行股票減少 11%。隨著我們繼續回購股票，我們的資本基礎將會縮小。這會增加每股收益，並結合不斷增長的利潤，隨著時間的推移也會增加投資資本的回報。

Before providing the 2023 guidance details, I want to discuss our base-level assumptions and planning philosophy for 2023. For research, we continue to innovate and provide a very compelling value proposition for clients and prospects. Executives and their teams face uncertainty and challenges, and they recognize how Gartner can help regardless of the economic environment. Our plan allows for a higher-than-normal level of uncertainty in the world, as Gene discussed. We've got tough compares across the business and particularly with tech vendors for another quarter or two. We've taken a prudent approach based on historical trends as well as more normal patterns, which we've reflected in the guidance.

在提供 2023 年指導細節之前，我想討論一下我們對 2023 年的基本假設和規劃理念。在研究方面，我們不斷創新並為客戶和潛在客戶提供非常有說服力的價值主張。高管和他們的團隊面臨著不確定性和挑戰，他們認識到 Gartner 如何在任何經濟環境下都能提供幫助。正如 Gene 所討論的，我們的計劃允許世界上存在高於正常水平的不確定性。我們在整個業務中進行了艱難的比較，特別是在接下來的一兩個季度中與技術供應商進行了比較。我們根據歷史趨勢和更正常的模式採取了謹慎的方法，我們已經在指南中反映了這一點。

If near-term demand is stronger than we've built into the outlook, and NCVI phasing, retention rates and nonsubscription growth performed closer to the way they have historically, there would be upside to our guidance. In addition, our teams are focused on driving greater growth than what's embedded in the guidance.

如果近期需求強於我們預測的預期，並且 NCVI 分階段、保留率和非訂閱增長的表現更接近歷史水平，那麼我們的指導會有上行空間。此外，我們的團隊專注於推動比指南中嵌入的更大的增長。

Finally, as you think about GBS, overall CV and revenue growth for 2023, please keep in mind that we closed on the divestiture of a small noncore asset last week. We sold TalentNeuron, which we acquired as part of the CEB transaction for $164 million. In the earnings supplement appendix, we've provided historical contract value updated for 2023 FX rates as well as the removal of TalentNeuron from prior years.

最後，當您考慮 2023 年的 GBS、整體 CV 和收入增長時，請記住我們上週結束了一項小型非核心資產的剝離。我們以 1.64 億美元的價格出售了作為 CEB 交易的一部分收購的 TalentNeuron。在收益補充附錄中，我們提供了針對 2023 年外匯匯率更新的歷史合同價值，以及從前幾年刪除 TalentNeuron。

For conferences, we are basing our guidance on being 100% in-person for the 47 destination conferences we have planned for 2023. We expect to return to more typical seasonality for the business with fourth quarter the largest, followed by the second quarter.

對於會議，我們的指導基於我們計劃在 2023 年舉行的 47 場目的地會議的 100% 面對面會議。我們預計業務將恢復到更典型的季節性，第四季度是最大的，其次是第二季度。

For Consulting revenues, we have more visibility into the first half based on the composition of our backlog and pipeline as usual. Contract optimization is seasonally slower in the first quarter and remains highly variable. We had a very strong year in 2022, especially in contract optimization in the fourth quarter.

對於諮詢收入，我們像往常一樣根據積壓和管道的構成對上半年有更多的了解。第一季度的合同優化季節性較慢，而且變化很大。我們在 2022 年表現強勁，尤其是在第四季度的合同優化方面。

Our base-level assumptions for consolidated expenses reflect significant headcount increases from 2022 annualizing into 2023. Our plan for headcount for 2023 is more in line with our normal model as we caught up on hiring last year. If demand is stronger than what's in the initial plan, we will have the opportunity to add even more great talent to our teams. We also expect T&E costs to more fully normalize this year.

我們對合併費用的基本假設反映了從 2022 年到 2023 年的員工人數大幅增加。我們的 2023 年員工人數計劃更符合我們的正常模型，因為我們去年趕上了招聘。如果需求比最初的計劃更強勁，我們將有機會為我們的團隊增加更多優秀人才。我們還預計 T&E 成本今年將更加完全正常化。

Finally, we continue to invest in our systems and process automation, both client-facing and internal applications as part of our innovation and continuous improvement programs. We will continue both to manage expenses prudently to support future growth and deliver strong margins. At current rates, FX will be a modest tailwind to growth for the full year with the benefit in the second half.

最後，我們繼續投資於我們的系統和流程自動化，包括面向客戶的應用程序和內部應用程序，作為我們創新和持續改進計劃的一部分。我們將繼續審慎地管理費用，以支持未來的增長並實現強勁的利潤率。按照目前的匯率，外匯將適度推動全年增長，並在下半年受益。

Our guidance for 2023 is as follows: We expect Research revenue of at least $4.92 billion, which is growth of about 7%. Excluding the effect of the divestiture, adds 1 percentage point to the year-over-year growth rate. We expect Conferences revenue of at least $445 million, which is growth of about 14%. We expect Consulting revenue of at least $500 million, which is growth of about 4%. The result is an outlook for consolidated revenue of at least $5.865 billion, which is growth of about 7%. Excluding the divested business from 2022, would add about 80 basis points to the growth rate.

我們對 2023 年的指導如下：我們預計研究收入至少為 49.2 億美元，增長率約為 7%。排除資產剝離的影響，同比增長率增加 1 個百分點。我們預計會議收入至少為 4.45 億美元，增長率約為 14%。我們預計諮詢收入至少為 5 億美元，增長率約為 4%。結果是綜合收入前景至少為 58.65 億美元，增長約 7%。剔除 2022 年剝離的業務，增長率將增加約 80 個基點。

As I've mentioned, we've taken a prudent approach to planning for 2023. This applies to revenue, operating expenses and free cash flow. We expect full year EBITDA of at least $1.26 billion. We expect to be able to deliver at least 21.5% margins in most economic scenarios. If revenue is stronger than our guidance, we expect upside to EBITDA and margins. Included in the guidance is equity comp of $132 million, up from 2022. We expect 2023 adjusted EPS of at least $8.80 per share. For 2023, we expect free cash flow of at least $920 million. Our EPS guidance is based on 80 million shares, which only assumes repurchases to offset dilution. Finally, for the first quarter of 2023, we expect to deliver at least $310 million of EBITDA. All the details of our full year guidance are included on our Investor Relations site.

正如我所提到的，我們對 2023 年的規劃採取了謹慎的方法。這適用於收入、運營支出和自由現金流。我們預計全年 EBITDA 至少為 12.6 億美元。我們預計在大多數經濟情景下能夠提供至少 21.5% 的利潤率。如果收入強於我們的指導，我們預計 EBITDA 和利潤率會有上升空間。指引中包括 1.32 億美元的股權，高於 2022 年。我們預計 2023 年調整後的每股收益至少為 8.80 美元。到 2023 年，我們預計自由現金流至少為 9.2 億美元。我們的 EPS 指引基於 8000 萬股，僅假設回購以抵消攤薄。最後，對於 2023 年第一季度，我們預計將實現至少 3.1 億美元的 EBITDA。我們全年指導的所有細節都包含在我們的投資者關係網站上。

Our strong performance in 2022 continued in the fourth quarter. Contract value grew 12%, adjusted EPS increased 19%, fueled in part by the significant reduction of shares in 2021 and 2022. Over the past few years, our hiring has been carefully calibrated to demand, and we are well-positioned from a talent perspective heading into 2023. Our continued investments in our teams will drive long-term sustained double-digit growth. We repurchased more than $1 billion in stock last year and remain committed to returning excess capital to our shareholders over time. As I mentioned, we expect to generate at least $920 million in free cash flow in 2023. In addition, we have ample liquidity and the net proceeds from last week's divestiture for capital deployment initiatives.

我們在 2022 年的強勁表現延續到第四季度。合同價值增長了 12%，調整後的每股收益增長了 19%，部分原因是 2021 年和 2022 年的股份大幅減少。在過去的幾年裡，我們的招聘已經根據需求進行了仔細調整，我們在人才方面處於有利地位展望進入 2023 年。我們對團隊的持續投資將推動長期持續的兩位數增長。我們去年回購了超過 10 億美元的股票，並繼續致力於隨著時間的推移將多餘的資本返還給我們的股東。正如我所提到的，我們預計到 2023 年將產生至少 9.2 億美元的自由現金流。此外，我們擁有充足的流動性和上周用於資本部署計劃的資產剝離的淨收益。

Looking out over the medium term, our financial model and expectations are unchanged. With 12% to 16% Research CV growth, we will deliver double-digit revenue growth. With gross margin expansion, sales costs growing in line with CV growth and G&A leverage, we can modestly expand margins. We can grow free cash flow at least as fast as EBITDA because of our modest CapEx needs and the benefits of our clients paying us upfront. And we'll continue to deploy our capital on share repurchases, which will lower the share count over time and on strategic value-enhancing tuck-in M&A.

展望中期，我們的財務模型和預期沒有改變。憑藉 12% 至 16% 的 Research CV 增長，我們將實現兩位數的收入增長。隨著毛利率的擴大、銷售成本的增長與 CV 增長和 G&A 槓桿率一致，我們可以適度擴大利潤率。由於我們適度的資本支出需求以及客戶預付給我們的好處，我們可以至少與 EBITDA 一樣快地增長自由現金流。我們將繼續將資金用於股票回購，這將隨著時間的推移減少股票數量，並用於提高戰略價值的併購。

With that, I'll turn the call back over to the operator, and we'll be happy to take your questions. Operator?

這樣，我會將電話轉回接線員，我們很樂意回答您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Jeff Meuler from Baird.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Baird 的 Jeff Meuler。

Maybe if you could talk through what you think for the outlook for the tech vendor channel just given the more recent risks and the need to cycle through kind of renewals on annual and multiyear contracts? And related to that, is there an opportunity or a plan to reallocate some of those sales resources into kind of the functional leader channels?

考慮到最近的風險以及需要通過年度和多年合同的續簽循環，也許您可以談談您對技術供應商渠道前景的看法？與此相關的是，是否有機會或計劃將其中一些銷售資源重新分配到某種職能領導渠道中？

Jeff, it's Gene. I'll get started. So as we think about the tech vendor channel, I'm going to start with the tech industry itself, the technology companies. And we think about those as being in two different segments. One is sort of enterprise IT and the other is consumer and devices, things like that.

傑夫，是吉恩。我會開始的。因此，當我們考慮技術供應商渠道時，我將從技術行業本身、技術公司開始。我們認為這些屬於兩個不同的部分。一種是企業 IT，另一種是消費者和設備，諸如此類。

On the enterprise IT, we're expecting the technology vendors to grow about 7.8% globally during '23. And the reason they're growing pretty robustly is that enterprise IT spending, that's the ones that are not certainly consumers is selling to large complex B2B sales and they tend to be multiyear contracts with annual increases, et cetera. So that's the technology vendors that are selling to enterprise IT. They're also seeing continued demand for cloud, security, digital monetization and so all those things are growing at a much higher rate than the general tech industry.

在企業 IT 方面，我們預計技術供應商在 23 世紀全球增長約 7.8%。他們增長非常強勁的原因是企業 IT 支出，即那些不確定消費者的支出正在向大型複雜的 B2B 銷售銷售，而且他們往往是多年期合同，每年都會增加，等等。這就是向企業 IT 銷售的技術供應商。他們還看到對雲、安全、數字貨幣化等方面的持續需求，因此所有這些東西的增長速度遠高於一般科技行業。

And when we surveyed CEOs, this is an end user, they're customers, they're buying this B2B equipment. They basically said they believe digital modernization is still really important to meet the economic situation as well as staffing situations they face as well as consumer requirements for more technology in the services they offer.

當我們調查 CEO 時，這是最終用戶，他們是客戶，他們正在購買這種 B2B 設備。他們基本上表示，他們認為數字現代化對於滿足他們面臨的經濟形勢和人員配置情況以及消費者對他們提供的服務中更多技術的需求仍然非常重要。

So on the enterprise IT -- to summarize, in the enterprise IT tech vendors, we have seen that growing about 7.8% globally in '23. On the consumer device side, that's going to be a lot worse in the sense that we expect demand to be lower there. And that's because a lot of demand was pulled forward during the recession and during the pandemic. And so, they're sort of the tale of two cities in the tech industry.

因此，在企業 IT 方面——總而言之，在企業 IT 技術供應商中，我們看到 23 年全球增長了約 7.8%。在消費設備方面，從我們預計那裡的需求會降低的意義上來說，情況會更糟。這是因為在經濟衰退和大流行期間，大量需求被拉高了。因此，它們有點像科技行業中兩個城市的故事。

So that's the tech vendors themselves. Our business is predominantly on the enterprise IT side. We disproportionately serve those. So looking forward, we expect actually the tech vendors that we serve to be doing okay, as opposed to the consumer and device manufacturers, which we expect to actually just shrink during 2023. And so that translates into our own business. We expect -- we had a -- as Craig mentioned in results, our vendor -- our sales force that sells to technology vendors actually went from very high teens growth -- I'm sorry, high-teens growth to low single-digit growth. So they actually got to a high single-digit growth. So they actually performed pretty well in the fourth quarter. Going forward, again, because our major business is selling to the enterprise IT technology vendors, we expect that business to do pretty well on a go-forward basis.

這就是技術供應商本身。我們的業務主要是在企業 IT 方面。我們不成比例地為那些人服務。因此，展望未來，我們實際上希望我們服務的技術供應商做得很好，而不是消費者和設備製造商，我們預計它們實際上只會在 2023 年萎縮。因此這會轉化為我們自己的業務。我們預計 - 我們有一個 - 正如克雷格在結果中提到的那樣，我們的供應商 - 我們向技術供應商銷售的銷售人員實際上從非常高的青少年增長 - 對不起，高青少年增長到低個位數生長。所以他們實際上實現了高個位數的增長。所以他們實際上在第四季度的表現相當不錯。再次展望未來，因為我們的主要業務是向企業 IT 技術供應商銷售，我們希望該業務在前進的基礎上做得很好。

And Jeff, the last part of your question on the territory assignment and where we're putting our growth. We've got a pretty robust territory optimization and analytics team that is always looking at this. And we have the ability to very quickly and with a lot of agility, flex up or down on where we're putting those territories. And so, obviously, as we're looking at our selling environment and the growth of the business, we're continuing to allocate those resources accordingly.

傑夫，你問題的最後一部分是關於區域分配以及我們將增長放在哪裡。我們有一個非常強大的區域優化和分析團隊，他們一直在關注這個問題。而且我們有能力非常快速且非常靈活地在我們放置這些區域的位置上下彎曲。因此，很明顯，當我們審視我們的銷售環境和業務增長時，我們將繼續相應地分配這些資源。

And then the last thing I'd mentioned and you sort of had this buried in your question, but I'll pull it out is our business selling to the enterprise functions, both in IT and outside of IT through GBS performed very, very well in Q4 and for the full year. And it was really the tech vendors that had, as Gene said, a very tough compare going from high-teens growth to high single-digit growth in the quarter.

然後我提到的最後一件事你有點把它埋在了你的問題中，但我會把它拉出來是我們通過 GBS 向 IT 內部和 IT 外部的企業職能部門銷售的業務表現非常非常好在第四季度和全年。正如 Gene 所說，真正的技術供應商在本季度從十幾歲的高增長到高個位數的增長進行了非常艱難的比較。

Appreciate that. And maybe just a follow-up, given that comment on the strength selling to the functional leader channel. Productivity metrics, I understand kind of the way the metric works and the year-over-year acceleration in sales headcount growth. But productivity was down and quarterly productivity was also quite a bit down year-over-year. Can you just kind of, like tease out 10-year mix impacts? I don't know if there's anything on -- anything further to say on the tech vendor channel, but just kind of like help us bridge that because it does look pretty soft.

感謝。考慮到對功能領導者渠道的力量銷售的評論，也許只是一個後續行動。生產力指標，我了解該指標的運作方式以及銷售人數增長的逐年加速。但是生產率下降了，季度生產率也同比下降了很多。你能不能梳理一下 10 年的混合影響？我不知道在技術供應商渠道上是否還有什麼要說的，但有點像幫助我們彌合它，因為它看起來確實很軟。

Yes. So Jeff, I mean, again, the way to kind of think about the results in quarter, and if you look at it on a rolling 4-quarter basis, is again that the end user side of the GTS business held up really, really well and performed really well in -- throughout the year and in the fourth quarter, including the productivity. And again, just we saw that deceleration and again, from high teens to high single digits, obviously impacting the productivity as well.

是的。所以傑夫，我的意思是，再一次，考慮季度結果的方式，如果你在滾動的 4 個季度的基礎上看它，再次是 GTS 業務的最終用戶方面真的，真的全年和第四季度表現非常好，包括生產力。再一次，我們再次看到這種減速，從十幾歲到高個位數，顯然也影響了生產力。

I think as we have brought in more and more new associates in the sales force, last year, we talked about -- in 2021, rather, we had the best tenure mix we've ever had. In 2022, we had really the highest proportion of new people we've ever had. That's obviously going to impact productivity. We'll start to see the benefits of the tenuring over the course of 2023 as all of those people we hired over the course of 2022 start getting up the productivity curves.

我認為，隨著我們在銷售團隊中引進了越來越多的新員工，去年我們談到了——相反，在 2021 年，我們擁有了有史以來最好的任期組合。 2022 年，我們的新員工比例真的是有史以來最高的。這顯然會影響生產力。我們將在 2023 年開始看到終身製的好處，因為我們在 2022 年期間僱用的所有人員都開始提高生產力曲線。

Our next question comes from Heather Balsky from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Heather Balsky。

I guess, first off, you've communicated a fair amount during the call that you're taking a prudent approach to guidance. And I know you just addressed the tech vendor piece of the business, but I'm curious if you can elaborate a little bit in terms of how you're thinking about the overall macro environment in your guide, especially on the Research side and then as well for Conferences and Consulting because it seems like the guide for those parts of the business imply the economy holds up pretty well. So just want to kind of get your deeper into your train of thought.

我想，首先，您在通話中已經傳達了相當多的信息，表明您正在採取謹慎的指導方法。我知道你剛剛談到了技術供應商的業務，但我很好奇你是否可以在你的指南中詳細說明你是如何考慮整體宏觀環境的，尤其是在研究方面，然後以及會議和諮詢，因為這部分業務的指南似乎暗示經濟保持良好。所以只想讓你更深入地了解你的思路。

Sure. Heather, and thanks for the questions. So I think a couple of thoughts there. So I'll start with Conferences and Consulting first. And so, as we look at those two businesses, again, coming off of a very strong 2022s, if you look at the backlog position in Consulting, we actually entered the year in really good shape. We had a very strong delivery quarter in the fourth quarter, but also a very strong bookings quarter. And again, based on the visibility that we have, roughly through the first half of the year, we feel really good about the Consulting business and the trending looks there.

當然。希瑟，謝謝你的提問。所以我想有幾個想法。所以我會先從會議和諮詢開始。因此，當我們再次審視這兩項業務時，從非常強勁的 2022 年開始，如果你看看諮詢領域的積壓情況，我們實際上以非常好的狀態進入了這一年。我們在第四季度的交付季度非常強勁，但預訂季度也非常強勁。再一次，根據我們的可見性，大約在今年上半年，我們對諮詢業務和那裡的趨勢看起來非常滿意。

And again, I think our client base, to Gene's earlier comments about the tech sector, are still embarking on a lot -- or embarking -- or continuing on a lot of digital transformation and major tech projects and programs where our consulting team really can help them get the most value out of that.

再一次，我認為我們的客戶群，根據 Gene 先前對科技行業的評論，仍在開展很多——或正在開展——或繼續開展大量數字化轉型以及我們的諮詢團隊真正可以做到的重大技術項目和計劃。幫助他們從中獲得最大價值。

On the Conferences side, again, we had a great year of returning to in-person conferences in 2022, and the team has done a fantastic job of driving, what we call, forward bookings but basically locking up the revenue from the exhibitor side into 2023. And so as Gene mentioned, we've got significantly more than 50% of our pre-bookings already under contract as we head into 2023. And so we feel very, very good about the Conferences business as well.

在會議方面，再次，我們在 2022 年恢復了面對面的會議，這是一個偉大的一年，團隊在推動我們所謂的轉發預訂方面做得非常出色，但基本上將參展商方面的收入鎖定在2023 年。正如 Gene 提到的那樣，到 2023 年，我們已經有超過 50% 的預訂已經簽訂合同。因此，我們對會議業務也感覺非常非常好。

On the Research side, again, our enterprise function leader business is performing very well, and we expect that to continue to perform well. We do have -- continue to have tough compares there. But we do -- we're driving great value for our clients and we expect that to continue.

在研究方面，我們的企業職能領導者業務表現非常好，我們預計它會繼續表現良好。我們確實有 - 繼續在那裡進行艱難的比較。但我們做到了——我們正在為我們的客戶創造巨大的價值，我們希望這種情況能夠繼續下去。

We have been thoughtful and prudent about our experience in the fourth quarter with our tech vendor clients and making sure that we don't assume just some magical return to high-teens growth right out of the gate. And so, we're trying to be prudent by making sure we use our most recent experience and rolling that through the 4 quarters from a Research perspective. But again, end-user enterprise function leader business, again, performing very strong, nice double-digit growth rates. The tech vendor business still at high single digits, just down from where we were a year ago.

對於我們在第四季度與我們的技術供應商客戶的經驗，我們一直深思熟慮和謹慎，並確保我們不會立即假設一些神奇的回歸到十幾歲的增長。因此，我們試圖通過確保我們使用我們最近的經驗並從研究的角度將其滾動到 4 個季度來保持謹慎。但同樣，最終用戶企業功能領導者業務再次表現非常強勁，兩位數的增長率。技術供應商業務仍處於高個位數，僅低於一年前的水平。

And as a follow-up question, sort of a follow-up on the last -- the earlier question with regards to the new associates, the hiring you've done. You're going into a potentially tougher environment in 2023 and you have kind of a relatively young sales force. How are you preparing your teams for this environment? And thoughts around ability to attract new customers in this environment with sort of associates who are, say, 1 year in?

作為一個後續問題，有點像上一個問題的後續問題——關於新員工的較早問題，你所做的招聘。您將在 2023 年進入一個可能更加艱難的環境，並且您擁有一支相對年輕的銷售隊伍。您如何讓您的團隊為這種環境做好準備？以及關於在這種環境中與工作 1 年的員工一起吸引新客戶的能力的想法？

Heather, it's Gene. So the -- we always train our associates on what are the most important mission-critical priorities with our clients and prospects today. One of the issues that's going to be on people's minds in some industries is going to be cost reduction. And so, we train our salespeople on, among other things, how to help clients with cost reduction. We're a very small proportion of cost for any client. They can't -- they're not going to save a lot of money by cutting our services. On the other hand, we can help them save a whole number of multiples of what they pay for us in their actual ongoing business.

希瑟，是吉恩。所以——我們總是對我們的員工進行培訓，讓他們了解當今客戶和潛在客戶最重要的關鍵任務優先事項。在某些行業中，人們關注的問題之一是降低成本。因此，我們對銷售人員進行培訓，其中包括如何幫助客戶降低成本。對於任何客戶來說，我們只佔成本的一小部分。他們不能——他們不會通過削減我們的服務來節省很多錢。另一方面，我們可以幫助他們節省他們在實際正在進行的業務中為我們支付的費用的整數倍。

In addition to that, as I mentioned earlier, most companies, even in a tough environment, still they want to invest in technology and it's on things like automation that helps with their own labor situation, their own labor costs, other kinds of costs. And again, the continuing transition to more and more digital services that are often in just about every single industry. So we train our new salespeople on both how to sell to clients that value proposition, which is the continuing transition to digital, but also how to save money on their IT purchases so that they actually get -- they could be more efficient over time.

除此之外，正如我之前提到的，大多數公司，即使在艱難的環境中，他們仍然希望投資於技術，比如自動化，這有助於改善他們自己的勞動力狀況、他們自己的勞動力成本和其他類型的成本。再一次，不斷過渡到越來越多的數字服務，而這些服務通常幾乎存在於每個行業中。因此，我們培訓新銷售人員如何向客戶推銷價值主張，即向數字化的持續過渡，以及如何在 IT 採購上節省資金，以便他們真正獲得——隨著時間的推移，他們可能會更有效率。

So the combination of those things, and of course, our traditional selling skills where we, I think, are quite good at training new salespeople in terms of how to sell effectively, you put those things together and it lets new salespeople -- they're not as productive as experienced salespeople, but they're actually quite good in the broad context.

所以結合這些東西，當然還有我們傳統的銷售技巧，我認為，我們非常擅長培訓新銷售人員如何有效地銷售，你把這些東西放在一起，它讓新的銷售人員——他們”他們的工作效率不如有經驗的銷售人員，但在廣泛的背景下他們實際上相當出色。

Our next question comes from Toni Kaplan from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Toni Kaplan。

Wanted to start out on the margins. Margins in the quarter, really exceptionally strong again. And obviously, the guide being 21.5% next year. You've had about 2.5 quarters, let's say, of this sort of higher sales headcount level. I guess, are you fully back on T&E? What's really going to drive the margins to that sort of low 20s level?

想從邊緣開始。本季度的利潤率真的異常強勁。顯然，明年的指南是 21.5%。比方說，你有大約 2.5 個季度的這種較高的銷售人數水平。我想，你完全回到 T&E 了嗎？是什麼真正將利潤率推至 20 多歲的低水平？

Toni, yes, I mean, the way to think about the bridge from 2022 to 2023 is consistent with the way we've been talking about it for the last several quarters. And so, the biggest piece of it is the annualization of all the hiring we did in 2022 and obviously, paying the full load for all those new associates over the course of 2023. So that's by far the biggest piece of it. A lot of our hiring was back-end loaded or second-half loaded, I should say. And so obviously, there's a pretty significant uplift in the annual cost as we annualize all of those individuals.

托尼，是的，我的意思是，考慮從 2022 年到 2023 年的橋樑的方式與我們在過去幾個季度一直在談論它的方式是一致的。因此，其中最大的一部分是我們在 2022 年所做的所有招聘的年度化，顯然，在 2023 年期間為所有這些新員工支付全部費用。所以這是迄今為止最大的一部分。我應該說，我們的很多招聘都是後端加載或下半年加載的。很明顯，隨著我們對所有這些人進行年度化，年度成本有了相當大的提高。

There's an element of T&E, to your point. And so, we're -- fourth quarter was kind of in line with where we expected to be. But obviously, the first part of 2022, we were still mostly in lockdown and not traveling. And so, there are incremental T&E expense that we expect in 2023 as we get to kind of the new normal of travel post-pandemic. And there's a few other nits here and there, but the two primary ones are really the annualization of the headcount and a little bit more on the T&E side.

就您的觀點而言，有一個 T&E 元素。因此，我們 - 第四季度有點符合我們的預期。但顯然，在 2022 年上半年，我們大部分時間仍處於封鎖狀態，沒有旅行。因此，隨著我們進入大流行後旅行的新常態，我們預計 2023 年的 T&E 費用會增加。還有一些其他的問題，但兩個主要的問題實際上是員工人數的年化以及 T&E 方面的更多問題。

Okay. Great. And wanted to ask about free cash flow. I know you mentioned a couple of things in the prepared remarks, but maybe just talk about why the free cash flow came in below the guidance and then the '23 guidance also looked a little bit lighter than I was thinking? So any puts and takes on free cash flow would be helpful.

好的。偉大的。並想詢問自由現金流。我知道你在準備好的評論中提到了幾件事，但也許只是談談為什麼自由現金流低於指導，然後 23 年的指導看起來也比我想像的要輕一些？因此，任何看跌期權和自由現金流都會有所幫助。

Yes, absolutely. So in 2022, the bulk of the story is what I discussed in my prepared remarks, which is just some invoicing delays coming out as a result of the hurricane. And we thought we would be able to get all caught up on that in 2022 and a bunch of it did slip into 2023. And actually, through the end of January, we actually are all caught up on that. So we feel good about both the '22 finish and getting that all behind us.

是的，一點沒錯。因此，在 2022 年，故事的大部分內容就是我在準備好的發言稿中討論的內容，這只是颶風導致的一些發票延遲。我們認為我們將能夠在 2022 年全部趕上，其中一些確實進入了 2023 年。實際上，到 1 月底，我們實際上都趕上了。因此，我們對 22 年的成績以及將其全部拋在腦後感到滿意。

In terms of 2023, obviously, there can be a lot of variability to the free cash flow numbers. If you look at it on the surface from the guidance, free cash flow margin is in line with what we'd expect free cash flow as a percent of EBITDA is roughly where we'd expect and the free cash flow conversion as a percent of GAAP net income is in the range as well. And so, I think the free cash flow guidance and the free cash flow expectation is sort of in line with the business performance.

顯然，就 2023 年而言，自由現金流量數字可能存在很大差異。如果你從指導的表面上看，自由現金流利潤率符合我們的預期自由現金流佔 EBITDA 的百分比大致在我們的預期範圍內，自由現金流轉換佔 EBITDA 的百分比GAAP 淨收入也在該範圍內。因此，我認為自由現金流量指導和自由現金流量預期與經營業績相符。

I do think there are a couple of things impacting '23 that potentially put it a little bit below your expectations, probably, most notably cash taxes. So because of all that extra earnings in 2022, we have more to pay in taxes, and that's obviously reflected into 2023 free cash flow guidance as well.

我確實認為有一些因素會影響 23 年，這可能會使其略低於您的預期，最顯著的可能是現金稅。因此，由於 2022 年的所有額外收入，我們要繳納更多的稅款，這顯然也反映在 2023 年的自由現金流指導中。

Our next question will come from Andrew Nicholas from William Blair.

我們的下一個問題將來自威廉布萊爾的安德魯尼古拉斯。

First one I wanted to ask was just on conferences. I think you said in your prepared remarks that there would be 47 conferences in '23, or at least that's what's planned at this point, and all in-person. Obviously, a decent bit lower than where you were running pre-pandemic. So just looking for an update in terms of strategy there. I know you've talked about adding conferences to different functional lines over the course of the next couple of years. Where does kind of '23 sit relative to your ultimate goal on conferences? And is there the potential for additional destination conferences to be added as we move through the year?

我想問的第一個問題只是關於會議。我想你在準備好的發言中說過，23 年將舉行 47 場會議，或者至少這是目前的計劃，而且都是面對面的。顯然，比大流行前的運行水平低了一點。所以只是在那裡尋找戰略方面的更新。我知道您已經談到在接下來的幾年中將會議添加到不同的職能部門。相對於您在會議上的最終目標，'23 的位置在哪裡？隨著這一年的推進，是否有可能增加更多的目的地會議？

So the -- our strategy is to have conferences for all the major functional areas in our businesses, in IT, HR, finance, et cetera, as well as within something like cybersecurity applications and so forth. And we're far from that now -- and sorry, and also each of those conferences in each of our major geographies. And so there's a -- it will take us a long time to get to the point where we have the aspiration I just said, which is to have a conference for every major functional areas in every major geographic region. And we're at -- because these conferences add so much value to our -- the attendees, our seat holders that actually go and attend these conferences, we really want to expand those as quickly as we can.

因此，我們的戰略是為我們業務的所有主要職能領域召開會議，包括 IT、人力資源、財務等領域，以及網絡安全應用程序等領域。我們現在離那個還很遠——抱歉，還有我們每個主要地區的每一個會議。因此，我們需要很長時間才能達到我剛才所說的願望，即為每個主要地理區域的每個主要職能領域召開一次會議。我們正在——因為這些會議為我們的——與會者、我們實際參加這些會議的席位持有者增加了很多價值，我們真的希望盡快擴大這些會議。

We're limited by what we do operationally, like how fast we can actually hire people and build these conferences. And so, we're going to continue on that path. We did that -- we've had as many as we think we can handle operationally in 2023. If we find during the year we can add more, we will do that. And certainly, in '24, '25, '26, we expect to have a continuing expansion of these conferences, again, because of the very high value they provide to our attendees, our seat holders and also our prospects.

我們受到運營方式的限制，例如我們實際僱用人員和建立這些會議的速度。因此，我們將繼續這條道路。我們做到了——我們已經擁有了我們認為在 2023 年可以處理的數量。如果我們在這一年發現我們可以增加更多，我們就會這樣做。當然，在 24 年、25 年、26 年，我們希望繼續擴大這些會議，因為它們為我們的與會者、我們的席位持有者以及我們的前景提供了非常高的價值。

Great. And then for my follow-up, switching gears a little bit. I just wanted to ask more specifically about growth in GBS. You talked about some of the things that have kind of evolved outside of the functional leader channel in GTS. But can you speak to the different businesses within GBS, how conversations with clients have evolved over the past couple of months there? And if there's any individual businesses there to call out either positively or negatively relative to last quarter?

偉大的。然後對於我的後續行動，稍微切換一下。我只是想更具體地詢問 GBS 的增長情況。您談到了一些在 GTS 的職能領導渠道之外發展的事情。但是，您能否談談 GBS 內部的不同業務，過去幾個月與客戶的對話是如何演變的？相對於上個季度，是否有任何個別企業可以提出正面或負面的看法？

Yes. We had great performance in GBS during 2022, including the fourth quarter. There's tremendous opportunity in GBS, as with the rest of our business, to really grow GBS as quickly as we can to capture that enormous opportunity. We had growth in -- across all the functional areas, very robust growth, actually.

是的。 2022 年，包括第四季度，我們在 GBS 方面表現出色。與我們的其他業務一樣，GBS 擁有巨大的機會，可以盡快真正發展 GBS 以抓住這個巨大的機會。實際上，我們在所有職能領域都有增長，增長非常強勁。

And the areas that we're slower, it was more internal operational things that we had. So for example, we might have had one area where we were a little slow in hiring than another area. And so the places that GBS was a little slower, we believe are more due to more internal operational things that we're working on. But again, the overall performance was very strong. We're very happy with that.

在我們速度較慢的領域，我們擁有更多的內部運營方面的東西。因此，例如，我們可能有一個領域的招聘速度比另一個領域慢一些。因此，GBS 速度稍慢的地方，我們認為更多是由於我們正在處理更多的內部運營問題。但同樣，整體表現非常強勁。我們對此非常滿意。

Yes. And Andrew, just to underscore that, I mean, 18.9% growth for the full year coming off of a 24% full year growth in 2021 is really, really strong, continued consistent growth. And as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, both supply chain and HR were well above 20% year-over-year growth, again, coming off of really strong years in 2021 as well. And so really strong demand there. It's indicative of the fact that across all of GBS, we are providing enormous value to the functional leaders that we serve in finance, HR, supply chain, marketing, sales, legal and so on.

是的。安德魯，只是為了強調，我的意思是，從 2021 年 24% 的全年增長到 18.9% 的全年增長是非常、非常強勁、持續的持續增長。正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，供應鍊和人力資源的同比增長率都遠高於 20%，同樣在 2021 年也表現強勁。那裡的需求非常強勁。這表明在整個 GBS 中，我們正在為我們在財務、人力資源、供應鏈、市場營銷、銷售、法律等領域服務的職能領導者提供巨大的價值。

Our next question comes from Seth Weber from Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Seth Weber。

Gene, in an answer to one of the prior questions, you mentioned customers looking to manage costs better. I'm wondering if you're getting any pushback on pricing, less appetite for multiyear contracts. Or can you just talk about the pricing environment and how perceptive customers are? And what you think that might look like in an environment where inflation starts to come down?

Gene，在回答之前的一個問題時，您提到客戶希望更好地管理成本。我想知道您是否在定價方面遇到任何阻力，對多年合同的興趣降低。或者你能談談定價環境和客戶的感知力嗎？你認為在通貨膨脹開始下降的環境中會是什麼樣子？

Yes. So we've had larger-than-usual price increases over the recent past because of accelerated inflation. And we've had, I'd say, essentially zero pushback from our clients on it. And if you look at the cost of Gartner for an individual user or for even a contract for the company, it's a small ticket item. And whether it increases 3% or 7% isn't a swing factor. The swing factor is the value we provide. And we provide a tremendous amount of value to these clients for the costs that they have to pay. It is better than any alternative and can provide some credible value. So we have had, I'd say, kind of no measurable pushback on our price increases, even though they're at higher rates.

是的。因此，由於通貨膨脹加速，我們最近的價格漲幅高於往常。我想說的是，我們的客戶對此基本上零阻力。而且，如果您查看 Gartner 為個人用戶或公司合同支付的費用，就會發現這是一筆很小的費用。它是增加 3% 還是 7% 不是一個搖擺因素。擺動係數是我們提供的價值。我們為這些客戶支付的費用提供了巨大的價值。它比任何替代方案都要好，並且可以提供一些可信的價值。因此，我想說，我們對價格上漲沒有任何可衡量的阻力，即使它們的利率更高。

Okay. And is there still appetite for multiyear contracts? Or is that...

好的。是否仍有對多年合同的興趣？還是那...

Absolutely. In fact, again, the -- many of our clients prefer multi-year contracts. It's a small ticket item and they have administrative costs in dealing with it. And so many, if not most of our clients actually prefer multi-years because the procurement people don't want to waste their time doing this over and over again. And so we actually see demand from our clients for multi-years as opposed to the other way around.

絕對地。事實上，我們的許多客戶再次喜歡多年期合同。這是一個小票項目，他們在處理它時有管理成本。這麼多，如果不是我們的大多數客戶實際上更喜歡多年，因為採購人員不想浪費時間一遍又一遍地做這件事。因此，我們實際上看到了客戶多年的需求，而不是相反。

Yes. And on top of that, obviously, their mission-critical priorities are not bounded by a contractual term. So they want to make sure that they have support and insight to support their mission-critical priorities. And so we've seen no pushback at all on our ability to sell multiyear contracts.

是的。顯然，最重要的是，他們的關鍵任務優先級不受合同條款的限制。因此，他們希望確保他們有支持和洞察力來支持他們的關鍵任務優先事項。因此，我們在出售多年期合同的能力方面沒有看到任何阻力。

Okay. And then Craig, you mentioned the 50% sign-up prebooking for the conference business. Can you just -- how does that compare to pre-COVID levels for this time of the year?

好的。然後克雷格，你提到了會議業務的 50% 註冊預訂。你能不能——這與一年中這個時候 COVID 之前的水平相比如何？

Yes, it's a great question. So actually, significantly greater than 50% is actually the -- what both Gene and I said. We're actually comparable or perhaps even a little bit stronger than we were pre-pandemic on that metric.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。所以實際上，顯著超過 50% 的比例實際上是 Gene 和我所說的。在該指標上，我們實際上與大流行前相比具有可比性，甚至可能更強一點。

Our next question comes from George Tong from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 George Tong。

You mentioned headcount growth in 2023 for Research will be more in line with the normal model. Can you discuss how hiring is progressing in GTS and GBS given the tight labor market? And what level of headcount growth do you think will be achievable this year?

您提到 2023 年研究人員的增長將更符合正常模式。在勞動力市場緊張的情況下，您能否談談 GTS 和 GBS 的招聘進展情況？您認為今年可以實現什麼水平的員工人數增長？

George, so the -- we are a very attractive employer. In the marketplace when we go for talent, we're a place that people want to work. And we -- it's -- we're actually a tough place to get a job and we're very selective as well. And so we've had no trouble hiring at all, which is why our growth rate in our associate body has accelerated so much as I talked about in my remarks. So again, we're an attractive place to work, people want to work here. And so we have a great associate value proposition. So we don't have any trouble hiring people.

喬治，所以 - 我們是一個非常有吸引力的雇主。在市場上，當我們尋找人才時，我們是人們想要工作的地方。而且我們 - 這是 - 我們實際上是一個很難找到工作的地方，而且我們也非常有選擇性。因此，我們在招聘方面完全沒有問題，這就是為什麼我們的附屬機構的增長率如我在發言中所說的那樣加快。因此，我們再次成為一個有吸引力的工作場所，人們想在這里工作。因此，我們有一個很好的關聯價值主張。所以我們在招人方面沒有任何問題。

And I think, George, the way to think about just building on Gene's comments, we've -- in '21 and '22, we invested to rebuild our recruiting function and recruiting capacity. And we have that now available rolling forward. As Gene mentioned, we have a great selling brand and associate brand more broadly for those recruiters to go out and attract people.

我認為，喬治，我們已經——在 21 年和 22 年投資重建我們的招聘職能和招聘能力，以吉恩的評論為基礎進行思考。我們現在可以向前滾動。正如 Gene 所提到的，我們有一個很棒的銷售品牌和更廣泛的關聯品牌，供那些招聘人員出去吸引人。

As we think about the headcount growth for this year, it is more in line with our kind of "normal algorithm" where we expect to grow headcount 4 to 5 points slower than CV growth. That being said, given the recruitment capacity we have and given our standing in the market,if we see our CV growth accelerating, it gives us the opportunity to potentially go a little bit faster there. And if we see challenges with the business, we can easily tap the breaks and slow down.

當我們考慮今年的員工人數增長時，它更符合我們的“正常算法”，我們預計員工人數增長比 CV 增長慢 4 到 5 個百分點。話雖這麼說，鑑於我們擁有的招聘能力和我們在市場上的地位，如果我們看到我們的 CV 增長加速，我們就有機會在這方面走得更快一些。而且，如果我們看到業務面臨挑戰，我們可以輕鬆地停下來並放慢速度。

So we've built a plan that we feel real comfortable with, that is in line with our normal -- or our go-forward model but also allows us the flexibility to flex up or flex down given what we're seeing from a demand perspective.

因此，我們制定了一個讓我們感到真正滿意的計劃，該計劃符合我們的正常 - 或我們的前進模式，但也允許我們根據我們從需求中看到的情況靈活地增加或減少看法。

Got it. That's helpful. And then as a follow-up, you're guiding to at least 21.5% EBITDA margins in 2023. Under what conditions could you outperform the 21.5% target?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後作為後續行動，您將指導 2023 年至少 21.5% 的 EBITDA 利潤率。在什麼條件下您可以超過 21.5% 的目標？

Yes. I mean I think that the major way would be from revenue upside. And as we mentioned in the prepared remarks, we've taken a prudent approach on the revenue, on the expenses and on the free cash flow. And if revenue does come in stronger, we would anticipate potential upside to the margins. That's probably the primary way that we see it.

是的。我的意思是我認為主要的方式是來自收入的增長。正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的，我們對收入、支出和自由現金流採取了審慎的態度。如果收入確實增加，我們預計利潤率可能會上升。這可能是我們看到它的主要方式。

We are, again, making sure that we are calibrating all of our expenses, most notably headcount, but all of our expenses with what we're seeing from a revenue perspective. And we're making sure that we're also seeing the right investments so that we can sustain growth into the future and also deliver really, really strong margins.

我們再次確保我們正在校准我們所有的費用，最顯著的是員工人數，但我們從收入的角度來看我們所有的費用。我們確保我們也看到了正確的投資，以便我們能夠在未來保持增長，並提供非常非常強勁的利潤率。

And so, we feel like we've got the balance right now. We're obviously -- our structural margins are significantly higher than they were pre-pandemic. And as we talk about, we believe we could modestly expand margins on a year-over-year-over-year basis moving forward.

因此，我們覺得我們現在已經取得了平衡。我們顯然 - 我們的結構利潤率明顯高於大流行前。正如我們所談論的那樣，我們相信我們可以在同比基礎上適度擴大利潤率。

Our next question comes from Jeff Silber from BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital Markets 的 Jeff Silber。

You mentioned the divestiture of the TalentNeutron (sic) [TalentNeuron] business. Can we get a little bit more color on that? It looks like you owned that business for about 5 or 6 years. What did it do? Why sell it now? And should we expect any other kind of divestitures?

你提到了 TalentNeutron (sic) [TalentNeuron] 業務的剝離。我們可以在上面添加更多顏色嗎？看起來您擁有該企業大約 5 或 6 年。它做了什麼？為什麼現在賣？我們應該期待任何其他類型的資產剝離嗎？

Jeff. So TalentNeuron is a business that provides data -- labor market data, principally to people that -- in companies that are doing long-term planning for where companies should have their workforce. And we've got the business when we bought CEB. It was an acquisition CEB had done. When we bought CEB, therefore, we acquired that business.

傑夫。因此，TalentNeuron 是一家提供數據的企業——勞動力市場數據，主要是提供給那些正在為公司應該在哪裡擁有勞動力的公司做長期規劃的人。當我們收購 CEB 時，我們就有了業務。這是 CEB 完成的一項收購。因此，當我們收購 CEB 時，我們就收購了該業務。

As we looked at it, we've been looking at the business to see does it really fit with our business on a go-forward basis, and it is strategic to us. We've looked at it in a lot of depth. We've looked for innovative ways we could use it. And at the other day, we decided that it was not a strategic bet and there were better owners for that business than us, which is why we divested it.

當我們審視它時，我們一直在研究這項業務，看看它是否真的適合我們的業務，並且對我們來說具有戰略意義。我們已經深入研究了它。我們一直在尋找可以使用它的創新方法。前幾天，我們決定這不是一個戰略性的賭注，而且該業務的所有者比我們更好，這就是我們剝離它的原因。

Let's just focus on the -- our core business in HR, which that was not really related to. In terms of other divestitures, again, if we see things that don't fit our core business, we would divest them. We'll discuss those when it's appropriate.

讓我們只關注 - 我們在人力資源方面的核心業務，這與它並沒有真正相關。在其他資產剝離方面，同樣，如果我們看到不適合我們核心業務的東西，我們就會剝離它們。我們會在適當的時候討論這些。

All right. Great. Sorry, I got the name mixed up with Jimmy Neutron. In terms of my follow-up, not to mistake here, you provided a tremendous amount of data. But in looking at wallet retention, it did decline slightly year-over-year. Is there anything to read into it? Are you giving pricing concessions or people pushing back on reordering, et cetera?

好的。偉大的。抱歉，我把這個名字和 Jimmy Neutron 搞混了。就我的後續行動而言，請不要誤會，您提供了大量數據。但從錢包保留率來看，它確實同比略有下降。有什麼可讀的嗎？您是否給予價格優惠或人們拒絕重新訂購等？

Jeff, I won't comment on your Jimmy Neutron comment. We'll save that for later. In terms of wallet retention, again, I think it's consistent with the way we talked about all of the GTS business earlier and the overall Research business as well. Our enterprise function leader business performed very, very well across GBS and GTS. And essentially, what you're seeing in the wallet is just that deceleration of the tech vendor business from high-teens growth to high single-digit growth.

傑夫，我不會評論你的 Jimmy Neutron 評論。我們將保存它以備後用。在錢包保留方面，我認為這與我們之前討論所有 GTS 業務以及整體研究業務的方式一致。我們的企業職能領導業務在 GBS 和 GTS 方面表現非常非常好。從本質上講，您在錢包中看到的只是技術供應商業務從高速增長到高個位數增長的減速。

Even with that, it's still really strong at 105%, obviously, well above 100% and significantly in excess of client retention. And so the core value is still there. But the slight deceleration or variance on a year-over-year basis can be completely attributed to the tech vendor business. And again, I underscore the enterprise function business and both GTS and GBS performed very well in the fourth quarter.

即便如此，它仍然非常強勁，達到 105%，顯然遠高於 100%，並且大大超過了客戶保留率。所以核心價值仍然存在。但同比略有減速或變化可完全歸因於技術供應商業務。我再次強調企業功能業務，GTS 和 GBS 在第四季度的表現都非常好。

Our next question comes from Manav Patnaik from Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Manav Patnaik。

I just wanted to clarify on the tech vendor side again. I think you said it was a quarter of your business. It grew high single digits. And did I hear you say that even for '23, you assume it's going to be growing high single digits? I was just curious if that decel was due to churn or new business, then how that's going to trend basically?

我只是想再次澄清技術供應商方面的問題。我想你說過這是你業務的四分之一。它增長了很高的個位數。我有沒有聽到你說即使是 23 年，你也認為它會以高個位數增長？我只是好奇，如果這種減速是由於客戶流失或新業務，那麼這基本上會如何發展？

So we didn't talk about the expectation from a CV growth perspective. For any part of the business, we don't provide CV guidance or anything like that. I think, again, it's -- as we built the plan and our guidance for 2023, we've utilized what we saw in the fourth quarter in terms of retention metrics, new business metrics and productivity metrics and things of that nature as some of the inputs to extrapolate out our expectation for 2023.

所以我們沒有從 CV 增長的角度談論期望。對於業務的任何部分，我們不提供 CV 指導或類似內容。我再次認為，在我們制定 2023 年計劃和指導方針時，我們利用了第四季度在保留指標、新業務指標和生產力指標以及類似性質方面所看到的情況作為一些推斷出我們對 2023 年的預期的輸入。

I think on the tech vendor side, in particular, obviously, there's a lot going on in that industry right now. We're still selling through it. High single-digit growth is still pretty nice growth, just not high teens growth. And so, we believe that given the value proposition that we have for even leaders in that space, that we've got a great value proposition and a great set of products, and we'll continue to serve those clients and help them with their mission-critical priorities in the same way that we help the enterprise function leaders across GTS and GBS.

我認為在技術供應商方面，特別是顯然，現在該行業正在發生很多事情。我們仍在通過它進行銷售。高個位數增長仍然是相當不錯的增長，只是不是十幾歲的高增長。因此，我們相信，考慮到我們甚至對該領域的領導者所擁有的價值主張，我們有一個很好的價值主張和一套很棒的產品，我們將繼續為這些客戶提供服務，並幫助他們解決他們的問題。關鍵任務優先級，就像我們幫助跨 GTS 和 GBS 的企業職能領導者一樣。

Okay. Got it. And then just on the sales -- the question around the sales force growth. You said 4 to 5 points below CV. I guess -- and I think you said lowest level of open position. So does that mean this year's growth is going to be less than the kind of -- maybe even much less than the kind of 10% to 15% we're used to historically?

好的。知道了。然後只是關於銷售——圍繞銷售人員增長的問題。你說比 CV 低 4 到 5 分。我猜——我想你說的是最低水平的未平倉頭寸。那麼，這是否意味著今年的增長率將低於——甚至可能遠低於我們過去習慣的 10% 至 15% 的增長率？

Yes. So we recalibrated the way that we were going to grow the sales force back in 2019. And essentially, the model -- obviously, 2022 is different because we had to do a lot of catch-up. But our model moving forward is we want to essentially not dilute our overall cost of sale. And the way we do that is grow the sales headcount, call it, 4 to 5 points, depending on wage inflation, slower than CV growth. That's our stated model moving forward. And so, that's what we've got in place for 2023.

是的。因此，我們重新調整了我們在 2019 年擴大銷售隊伍的方式。從本質上講，模型——顯然，2022 年是不同的，因為我們必須做很多追趕。但是我們前進的模式是我們基本上不想稀釋我們的整體銷售成本。我們這樣做的方法是增加銷售人數，稱之為 4 到 5 個百分點，具體取決於工資上漲，低於 CV 增長。這就是我們規定的前進模式。因此，這就是我們為 2023 年準備的。

And so -- yes, it will not be 10% to 15% headcount growth unless we see 15% to 20% CV growth. And again, as I mentioned, during George's question, we believe we are set up to speed up or slow down accordingly as needed. And so if we see CV growth start to accelerate, we have the recruitment capacity to be able to increase that. And if we see CV growth slowing, we obviously can tap the brakes as well.

所以——是的，除非我們看到 15% 到 20% 的 CV 增長，否則員工人數不會增長 10% 到 15%。而且，正如我提到的，在喬治的問題中，我們相信我們已經準備好根據需要相應地加快或放慢速度。因此，如果我們看到 CV 增長開始加速，我們就有能力增加它。如果我們看到 CV 增長放緩，我們顯然也可以踩剎車。

So we feel like we're in a really, really good place from a talent perspective. We are, as we both mentioned, Gene and I are carefully calibrating headcount growth and expenses. And we feel like we've struck the right balance between making sure we're investing for future growth and delivering strong margin performance.

所以我們覺得從人才的角度來看，我們處在一個非常非常好的地方。正如我們都提到的那樣，我和 Gene 正在仔細校準員工人數增長和支出。我們覺得我們已經在確保我們為未來增長進行投資和實現強勁的利潤率表現之間取得了適當的平衡。

And I am showing no further questions from our phone lines. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to Gene Hall for any closing remarks.

而且我不會再從我們的電話線上顯示更多問題。我現在想把會議轉回給 Gene Hall，聽取任何閉幕詞。

Here's what I'd like you to take away from today's call. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we again saw strong growth across the business. Gartner delivers incredible value to enterprises that are thriving, struggling or anywhere in between. By being exceptionally agile and adaptive to changing world, we've delivered a sustained record of success.

這是我希望您從今天的電話會議中拿走的內容。 2022 年第四季度，我們再次看到整個業務的強勁增長。 Gartner 為蓬勃發展、苦苦掙扎或介於兩者之間的企業提供難以置信的價值。通過異常敏捷和適應不斷變化的世界，我們已經取得了持續的成功記錄。

We're well prepared as we enter 2023. We've carefully aligned staffing levels with demand with the lowest percentage of open positions ever. Our content addresses today's mission-critical priorities. And we know the right things to do to be successful in any environment.

進入 2023 年，我們已做好充分準備。我們已仔細調整人員配置水平與需求，空缺職位比例降至有史以來最低。我們的內容解決了當今的關鍵任務優先事項。我們知道在任何環境下都應該做正確的事情才能取得成功。

Looking ahead, we're well-positioned to drive growth far into the future. And even as we invest for future growth, we expect margins to increase modestly over time. We generate significant free cash flow well in excess of net income. We'll return capital to our shareholders through buybacks, which reduced shares outstanding and increases returns over time.

展望未來，我們已準備好推動未來的增長。即使我們為未來的增長進行投資，我們也預計利潤率會隨著時間的推移而適度增長。我們產生的自由現金流量遠遠超過淨收入。我們將通過回購將資本返還給我們的股東，這會減少已發行股票並隨著時間的推移增加回報。

Thanks for joining us today, and we look forward to updating you again next quarter.

感謝您今天加入我們，我們期待下個季度再次為您更新。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a wonderful day.

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。每個人，祝你有美好的一天。