Kyndryl Holdings Inc (KD) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Kyndryl Fiscal Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Kyndryl 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Lori Chaitman, Global Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給演講者、投資者關係全球主管洛里·柴特曼 (Lori Chaitman)。請繼續。

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Kyndryl's earnings call for the third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2023. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that our remarks today will include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risk factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These forward-looking statements speak only to our expectations as of today, and we're under no obligation to update them. For more details on some of these risks, please see the Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2023.

大家早安，歡迎參加 Kyndryl 截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的第三財季財報電話會議。在開始之前，我想提醒您，我們今天的演講將包括前瞻性陳述。這些陳述受到風險因素的影響，可能導致我們的實際結果與明示或暗示的結果有重大差異。這些前瞻性陳述僅代表我們截至目前為止的預期，我們沒有義務更新它們。有關其中一些風險的更多詳細信息，請參閱我們截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的年度 10-K 表格年度報告的風險因素部分。

In today's remarks, we'll also refer to certain non-GAAP financial metrics. Corresponding GAAP metrics and a reconciliation of non-GAAP metrics to GAAP metrics for historical periods are provided in the presentation materials for today's event, which are available on our website at investors.kyndryl.com.

在今天的演講中，我們也將提及某些非公認會計準則財務指標。今天活動的簡報資料中提供了相應的 GAAP 指標以及歷史時期非 GAAP 指標與 GAAP 指標的調整表，這些資料可在我們的網站 Investors.kyndryl.com 上取得。

With me here today are Kyndryl's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Martin Schroeter; and Kyndryl's Chief Financial Officer, David Wyshner. Following our prepared remarks, we'll hold a Q&A session.

今天和我在一起的有 Kyndryl 董事長兼執行長 Martin Schroeter； Kyndryl 的財務長 David Wyshner。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將舉行問答環節。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Martin. Martin?

我現在想把電話轉給馬丁。馬丁？

Thank you, Lori, and thanks to each of you for joining us. Kyndryl continues to make great progress in delivering value to customers and to shareholders. Today, we'll provide an update on our strong execution and our accelerated progress as the leader in mission-critical IT infrastructure services. Our strategy centered around our alliances, advanced delivery and accounts initiatives, Kyndryl Consult and Kyndryl Bridge is paving the way for profitable growth. We're again raising our full year earnings outlook, which reflects our progress and our prospects.

謝謝你，洛瑞，也謝謝你們每個人加入我們。 Kyndryl 在為客戶和股東創造價值方面不斷取得巨大進步。今天，我們將提供有關我們作為關鍵任務 IT 基礎設施服務領導者的強大執行力和加速進步的最新資訊。我們的策略以我們的聯盟、先進的交付和客戶計劃為中心，Kyndryl Consult 和 Kyndryl Bridge 正在為獲利成長鋪平道路。我們再次上調全年獲利預期，這反映了我們的進步和前景。

To fully appreciate how we reached this point so quickly and to understand Kyndryl's growth potential, it's important to recognize the critical role we play for our customers and the leadership position we hold in our industry. We're a vital and trusted partner for our customers' current and future technology needs. We have a strong heritage in running complex applications that are highly dependent upon mission-critical infrastructure, such as the mainframe.

為了充分理解我們如何如此迅速地達到這一點並了解 Kyndryl 的成長潛力，重要的是要認識到我們為客戶發揮的關鍵作用以及我們在行業中的領導地位。我們是滿足客戶當前和未來技術需求的重要且值得信賴的合作夥伴。我們在運行高度依賴關鍵任務基礎架構（例如大型主機）的複雜應用程式方面擁有悠久的傳統。

And as an independent company, our freedom of action has allowed us to quickly capitalize on opportunities that are unique to Kyndryl. As a result, we're building a strong track record of successful execution that is clearly visible in our results. Benefits from our three-A's have driven and will continue to drive tangible financial progress. We formed alliances with key technology leaders, which has significantly increased our addressable market, and we continue to grow these relationships.

作為一家獨立公司，我們的行動自由使我們能夠快速利用 Kyndryl 獨有的機會。因此，我們正在建立良好的成功執行記錄，這在我們的結果中清晰可見。我們的 3A 效益已經並將繼續推動實際的財務進展。我們與關鍵技術領導者結盟，這顯著增加了我們的潛在市場，我們將繼續發展這些關係。

In November, we expanded our relationship with AWS on 2 fronts: first, to jointly develop and deliver generative AI; and the second to collaborate on mainframe modernization. We've announced similar alliances with Microsoft and will soon be announcing an expanded collaboration with Google Cloud on Gen AI.

11 月，我們在兩個方面拓展了與 AWS 的合作關係：第一，共同開發並提供生成式 AI；第二個是在大型主機現代化方面進行合作。我們已經宣布與 Microsoft 建立類似的聯盟，並將很快宣布與 Google Cloud 在 Gen AI 上擴大合作。

We've expanded our service delivery capabilities through Kyndryl Bridge. We're now performing over 1 billion automations each year, addressing risks before they become incidents and building resiliency. Our advanced delivery efforts are generating savings of $500 million a year for us. In our accounts initiative, we've engaged collaboratively with our customers and have already addressed roughly half of these accounts. And as a result, we've grown our aggregate margins on focus accounts by 7 points. Our progress extends beyond the three-A's as we leverage Kyndryl Bridge, our deep insights and the trust our customers have in us to drive growth in Kyndryl Consult.

我們透過 Kyndryl Bridge 擴展了我們的服務交付能力。現在，我們每年執行超過 10 億次自動化，在風險發生之前解決風險並建立彈性。我們先進的交付工作每年為我們節省 5 億美元。在我們的客戶計劃中，我們與客戶合作，並已經解決了大約一半的客戶問題。結果，我們的焦點帳戶總利潤增加了 7 個百分點。當我們利用 Kyndryl Bridge、我們的深刻見解以及客戶對我們的信任來推動 Kyndryl Consult 的成長時，我們的進步超越了 3A。

Consult revenues were up 16% year-to-date and we already have roughly 750 customers using Kyndryl Bridge, our AI-powered open integration platform. These areas are foundational to growing our business and fueling our long-term growth.

今年迄今為止，諮詢收入成長了 16%，我們已經有大約 750 名客戶使用我們的 AI 驅動的開放整合平台 Kyndryl Bridge。這些領域是我們業務發展和長期成長的基礎。

Importantly, our strategic progress is driving stronger financial results. We're now 3 quarters through our fiscal year, and it's clear that fiscal 2024 is a proof point for us. We grew signings in the first 10 months of the year with higher value services, earnings are expected to be up meaningfully this year compared to last, and we've generated positive adjusted free cash flow in the first 9 months of the year. We're enthusiastic about how our strategies and our approach to the market are driving performance. Our customers value the technical expertise and services we provide as they advance their own digital transformations. Our powerful business dynamics are creating significant value and will continue to be bold and ambitious about how we come together with our partners to deliver value for our customers. They already see us behaving as a flatter, faster and more focused organization, which is aligned to our new services culture, what we call the Kyndryl Way.

重要的是，我們的策略進展正在推動更強勁的財務表現。現在我們的財年已經過了 3 個季度，很明顯 2024 財年對我們來說是一個證明。今年前 10 個月，我們透過更高價值的服務增加了簽約量，預計今年的盈利將比去年大幅增長，並且我們在今年前 9 個月產生了正的調整後自由現金流。我們對我們的策略和市場方法如何推動業績充滿熱情。我們的客戶在推進自己的數位轉型時非常重視我們提供的技術專業知識和服務。我們強大的業務動力正在創造巨大的價值，並將繼續大膽而雄心勃勃地與合作夥伴攜手合作，為客戶創造價值。他們已經將我們視為一個更扁平、更快速、更專注的組織，這符合我們的新服務文化，也就是我們所謂的 Kyndryl Way。

We operate at the heart of large organizations technology estates, so it's natural for us to be at the center of the secular IT trends. Our customers look to us for capabilities and scale to address these trends from risks like cybersecurity and skill shortages to opportunities like cloud and AI.

我們在大型組織技術產業的核心開展業務，因此我們自然成為長期 IT 趨勢的中心。我們的客戶希望我們有能力和規模來應對這些趨勢，從網路安全和技能短缺等風險到雲端和人工智慧等機會。

Our success is fueled by providing customers with solutions that leverage both our own know-how and our alliance partners' capabilities. Our expanded hyperscaler relationships, combined with our extensive knowledge of complex hybrid IT estates, are why customers are partnering with Kyndryl to achieve their IT and business objectives as they address the larger forces shaping the evolution of IT, namely the adoption of artificial intelligence, which we know is top of mind for enterprise CIOs, technology skill shortages, the modernization needs to address aging infrastructure challenges and cloud migration.

我們的成功得益於為客戶提供利用我們自己的專業知識和聯盟合作夥伴的能力的解決方案。我們擴大的超大規模客戶關係，加上我們對複雜混合IT 資產的廣泛了解，是客戶與Kyndryl 合作以實現其IT 和業務目標的原因，因為他們解決了塑造IT 發展的更大力量，即採用人工智能，這我們知道，技術技能短缺、解決老化基礎設施挑戰和雲端遷移的現代化需求是企業首席資訊長最關心的問題。

Let me share a few examples. In the health care industry, where digital applications are scaling at a remarkable pace and privacy regulations present unique challenges, modernizing IT environments and moving workloads to the cloud are particularly complicated. We've been advising 2 large health care companies throughout the migration of their complex platform-based IT systems onto the cloud, including their patient record systems. This migration work is strengthening the user experience for patients and caregivers while generating meaningful operating efficiencies for our customers.

讓我分享幾個例子。在醫療保健產業，數位應用程式正在以驚人的速度擴展，隱私法規帶來了獨特的挑戰，IT 環境現代化和將工作負載轉移到雲端尤其複雜。我們一直在為 2 家大型醫療保健公司提供諮詢服務，幫助他們將複雜的基於平台的 IT 系統（包括病患記錄系統）遷移到雲端。這項遷移工作正在增強患者和照護者的使用者體驗，同時為我們的客戶帶來有意義的營運效率。

For a global auto manufacturer, we're using AI-enabled Kyndryl Bridge to deliver real-time insights and automate processes in order to enhance day-to-day IT performance. This work is not just about IT, it's also producing efficiencies across the customers' manufacturing facilities. And we're working with a large multinational communications provider to define and implement their strategy to modernize their IT estate and migrate applications to the cloud with the goal of reducing energy consumption by about 70%.

對於全球汽車製造商，我們正在使用支援 AI 的 Kyndryl Bridge 提供即時見解和自動化流程，以提高日常 IT 效能。這項工作不僅涉及 IT，還提高了客戶製造工廠的效率。我們正在與一家大型跨國通訊供應商合作，制定並實施他們的策略，以實現 IT 資產現代化並將應用程式遷移到雲端，目標是將能耗降低約 70%。

There are 2 key themes among these examples. Other new scope we're adding and other new customers we're bringing on. First, our capabilities and our technology alliances position us to do important work for important companies, many of which are household names. Second, the nature of the services we provide is evolving. Our independence is fueling mission-critical work that is more consultative, more multivendor, more hybrid and more value-added as we help customers address the trends shaping IT.

這些範例中有兩個關鍵主題。我們正在添加其他新範圍以及我們正在引入的其他新客戶。首先，我們的能力和技術聯盟使我們能夠為重要的公司（其中許多是家喻戶曉的公司）做重要的工作。其次，我們提供的服務的性質正在不斷發展。我們的獨立性正在推動關鍵任務工作的發展，這些工作更具諮詢性、更多供應商、更多混合性和更多附加價值，幫助客戶應對塑造 IT 的趨勢。

And if you want proof this quarter, Kyndryl Consult delivered its largest signings quarter yet with double-digit constant currency growth in both signings and revenue. And through our alliances, we've generated more than $300 million of hyperscaler related revenue so far this year and increasing our current target for this activity to $400 million.

如果你想知道本季的證據，Kyndryl Consult 實現了迄今為止最大的簽約季度，簽約人數和收入均以兩位數的貨幣匯率持續成長。透過我們的聯盟，今年到目前為止，我們已經創造了超過 3 億美元的超大規模相關收入，並將這項活動的當前目標提高到 4 億美元。

Let me also emphasize that Kyndryl is an AI beneficiary and AI enabler. As the largest infrastructure services provider in the world, we generate large amounts of data about IT systems. We're using artificial intelligence with this data in our Kyndryl Bridge platform to identify application performance patterns, produce actionable insights, reduce required maintenance and prevent incidents from occurring. And beyond our own use of AI, our customers know that their AI is only going to be as good as their data. So they're looking for Kyndryl's expertise and how to architect their data to set the foundation for the investments they're making in AI and Gen AI.

我還要強調一點，Kyndryl 是人工智慧的受益者和人工智慧的推動者。作為全球最大的基礎設施服務供應商，我們產生大量有關 IT 系統的數據。我們在 Kyndryl Bridge 平台中使用人工智慧和這些數據來識別應用程式效能模式、產生可操作的見解、減少所需的維護並防止事件發生。除了我們自己使用人工智慧之外，我們的客戶知道他們的人工智慧只會與他們的數據一樣好。因此，他們正在尋找 Kyndryl 的專業知識以及如何建立他們的數據，為他們在人工智慧和 Gen AI 方面的投資奠定基礎。

More generally, because we serve as an operator and integrator and adviser to our customers and their digital business transformations, we naturally find ourselves at the nexus of broader market trends. The unique combination of our advisory and engineering talent, intellectual property and vast amounts of operational data positions Kyndryl as an essential business and technology services partner. We're accessing incremental market opportunities, growing our share of wallet with existing customers, winning new customers and transforming Kyndryl.

更廣泛地說，由於我們作為客戶及其數位業務轉型的營運商、整合商和顧問，我們自然地發現自己處於更廣泛的市場趨勢的聯繫之中。我們的諮詢和工程人才、智慧財產權和大量營運數據的獨特結合使 Kyndryl 成為重要的業務和技術服務合作夥伴。我們正在獲取增量市場機會，增加現有客戶的錢包份額，贏得新客戶並實現 Kyndryl 轉型。

As our business evolves and we move further away from our spin, our revenue mix will continue to shift to higher-margin post-spin signings. This fiscal year, only 1/3 of our revenue is coming from postspin signings. Next year, we'll move to half of our revenue from coming from post-spin signings. And in fiscal 2026, it will be roughly 2/3. This inflection point when our P&L is largely determined by our higher-margin post-spin signings will dramatically change our earnings profile.

隨著我們業務的發展以及我們進一步遠離旋轉，我們的收入組合將繼續轉向利潤率更高的旋轉後簽約。本財年，我們只有 1/3 的收入來自後期簽約。明年，我們一半的收入將來自旋轉後簽約。到 2026 財年，這一數字將約為 2/3。當我們的損益主要由利潤率較高的旋轉後簽約決定時，這個拐點將極大地改變我們的獲利狀況。

As I highlighted earlier, our forecast for fiscal 2024 now implies more than $360 million of adjusted pretax income improvement this year compared to last. And while our efforts to shed low to no margin revenue will continue to impact top line growth this calendar year, we expect to deliver margin expansion and higher earnings each year with revenue growth returning in calendar 2025. As David will explain in more detail, the margins at which we're signing contracts and the other actions we're taking to increase our profitability have us on a path to deliver high single-digit adjusted pretax margins by fiscal 2027. And yes, the math associated with that is ultimately a $1 billion or more of adjusted pretax income with a high conversion of our net earnings into cash.

正如我之前強調的，我們對 2024 財年的預測意味著今年調整後的稅前收入比去年增加了超過 3.6 億美元。雖然我們削減低利潤甚至無利潤收入的努力將繼續影響本日曆年的營收成長，但我們預計每年都會實現利潤率擴張和更高的收益，並在2025 年恢復收入成長。正如David 將更詳細地解釋的那樣，我們簽署合約的利潤率以及我們為提高盈利能力而採取的其他行動，使我們能夠在2027 財年實現高個位數的調整後稅前利潤率。是的，與此相關的數學最終是1 美元十億或更多的調整後稅前收入，並將我們的淨利潤高度轉換為現金。

We're making substantial progress, earning the trust and respect of our customers and partners through exceptional and reliable delivery. We're providing innovative solutions that drive real business outcomes and earning stronger margins in our ROI from our work. We're driving powerful business dynamics for value creation, and we'll continue to be bold and ambitious about how we come together to deliver value with their partners for our customers.

我們正在取得實質進展，透過卓越而可靠的交付贏得了客戶和合作夥伴的信任和尊重。我們提供創新的解決方案，推動真正的業務成果，並從我們的工作中獲得更高的投資報酬率。我們正在推動強大的業務動力來創造價值，並且我們將繼續大膽而雄心勃勃地與合作夥伴一起為我們的客戶創造價值。

And with that, I'll hand over to David to take you through our results and our outlook.

接下來，我將請 David 向您介紹我們的成果和前景。

Thanks, Martin, and hello, everyone. Today, I'd like to discuss our quarterly results, the formidable progress we're making on our three-A's, the growth in gross profit that we've been building into our contracted book of business and our updated outlook for fiscal year 2024. We again have a lot of positive developments to share.

謝謝馬丁，大家好。今天，我想討論我們的季度業績、我們在 3A 方面取得的巨大進展、我們已納入合同業務賬簿的毛利潤增長以及我們對 2024 財年的最新展望.我們再次有很多積極的進展可以分享。

Our third quarter results reflect strong operational execution and continued progress on our key initiatives. In the quarter, revenue totaled $3.9 billion, a 10% decline in constant currency. The year-over-year decline in revenue was anticipated and primarily driven by our intentional exit from negative no and low margin revenue streams within ongoing customer relationships, not by macro factors. We continue to gain momentum in higher-margin advisory services.

我們第三季的業績反映了強大的營運執行力以及我們關鍵舉措的持續進展。本季營收總計 39 億美元，以固定匯率計算下降 10%。營收年減是預期的，主要是由於我們有意退出持續客戶關係中的負無利潤和低利潤收入流，而不是宏觀因素。我們在利潤率較高的諮詢服務領域持續保持強勁勢頭。

Kyndryl Consult revenues grew 11% year-over-year in constant currency, which highlights how we're growing our share in this higher-margin, higher value-add space. As Martin mentioned, Consult signings grew even faster. This performance reflects our unique opportunities for growth in advisory services due to our independence and our expanding alliances with third-party technology providers. Our total Q3 signings increased 13% year-over-year in constant currency and fiscal year-to-date signings through January are up 4%. Among our practices, the strongest growth this year has been in security and resiliency in apps, data and AI. Our year-to-date signings support our plan to return to revenue growth in calendar 2025 and fiscal 2026.

以固定匯率計算，Kyndryl Consult 營收年增 11%，這突顯了我們如何在這個利潤率更高、附加價值更高的領域擴大份額。正如馬丁所提到的，諮詢簽約的成長速度更快。這項業績反映了由於我們的獨立性以及與第三方技術提供者不斷擴大的聯盟，我們在諮詢服務領域獲得了獨特的成長機會。以固定匯率計算，我們第三季的簽約總數年增 13%，截至 1 月的財年迄今簽約人數增加了 4%。在我們的實踐中，今年成長最強勁的是應用程式、數據和人工智慧的安全性和彈性。我們今年迄今的簽約支持了我們在 2025 年和 2026 財年恢復收入成長的計畫。

Our third quarter adjusted EBITDA grew 6% to $615 million. As we've said previously, we had a tough comp in Q3 due to the exaggerated seasonality we saw last year, which included earnings from minimum annual revenue commitments. Despite the tough comp, though, our adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 210 basis points year-over-year to 15.6%.

第三季調整後 EBITDA 成長 6%，達到 6.15 億美元。正如我們之前所說，由於去年我們看到的誇大的季節性因素（其中包括最低年度收入承諾的收益），我們在第三季度的業績比較艱難。儘管競爭激烈，但我們調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率年增了 210 個基點，達到 15.6%。

Our continued margin expansion underscores our ability to drive meaningful profit growth in our business. Adjusted pretax income was $63 million, a $67 million improvement in profit year-over-year. Our continued progress on our three-A's is the key driver of our earnings growth. We address our customers' needs through our geographic operating segments and also through our 6 global practices: cloud, applications, data and AI, security and resiliency, network and edge, digital workplace and core enterprise. Our business mix continues to evolve to reflect demand with most of our signings, including Kyndryl Consult signings coming from cloud, apps, data and AI, security and other growth areas. More generally, as we look back on the quarter, we're elated to have delivered results that position us to exceed the full year adjusted pretax earnings target that we've already raised twice before.

我們持續的利潤率擴張凸顯了我們推動業務利潤大幅成長的能力。調整後稅前收入為 6,300 萬美元，利潤年增 6,700 萬美元。我們在 3A 方面的持續進步是我們獲利成長的關鍵驅動力。我們透過地理營運部門以及 6 個全球實踐來滿足客戶的需求：雲端、應用程式、資料和人工智慧、安全性和彈性、網路和邊緣、數位工作場所和核心企業。我們的業務組合不斷發展，以反映我們大多數簽約的需求，包括來自雲端、應用程式、資料和人工智慧、安全和其他成長領域的 Kyndryl Consult 簽約。更廣泛地說，當我們回顧本季度時，我們很高興所取得的業績使我們能夠超過我們之前已經兩次提高的全年調整後稅前盈利目標。

Our strategy is working. Our three-A initiatives are driving continuous improvement throughout our operations and fostering additional progress each quarter. As a reminder, at the start of the year, we provided fiscal 2024 targets of $300 million in revenue tied to hyperscaler alliances, $450 million in cumulative annualized savings from advanced delivery by fiscal year-end and $400 million of cumulative annualized pretax benefit from our accounts initiative. Halfway through the year, we raised our targets for advanced delivery and accounts initiatives by $100 million each. And with the continued strong execution we delivered in the third quarter, we're now raising our full year target for Alliances revenue by $100 million and are well positioned to meet or exceed our targets for advanced delivery and accounts.

我們的策略正在發揮作用。我們的 3A 計劃正在推動整個營運的持續改進，並促進每個季度取得額外進展。提醒一下，在今年年初，我們提出了2024 財年與超大規模聯盟相關的收入目標：3 億美元，到財年末透過提前交付實現累計年化節省4.5 億美元，以及透過我們的業務實現累計年化稅前收益4 億美元。帳戶倡議。今年中期，我們將提前交付和客戶計畫的目標分別提高了 1 億美元。憑藉我們在第三季度持續強勁的執行力，我們現在將聯盟收入的全年目標提高了 1 億美元，並且完全有能力達到或超過我們的提前交付和帳戶目標。

Through our alliances, we're building the portion of our customer relationships that include cloud-based content. In the third quarter, we recognized more than $100 million in hyperscaler related revenue, bringing our year-to-date total to more than $300 million. This surpasses our initial $300 million fiscal 2024 target. And because of this progress, we're raising our full year target for revenue tied to hyperscaler alliances to $400 million. Our hyperscaler certifications totaled more than 38,000, which is more than double what they were 2 years ago and now include even more advanced certifications.

透過我們的聯盟，我們正在建立包括基於雲端的內容的部分客戶關係。第三季度，我們確認了超過 1 億美元的超大規模相關收入，使我們年初至今的總收入超過 3 億美元。這超出了我們最初的 2024 財年 3 億美元目標。由於這一進展，我們將與超大規模聯盟相關的全年收入目標提高到 4 億美元。我們的超大規模認證總數超過 38,000 個，是 2 年前的兩倍多，現在還包括更高級的認證。

Our advanced delivery initiative is transforming the way we deliver our services, and Kyndryl Bridge is driving our progress. We continue to identify and realize significant automation opportunities across our delivery operations as we increase service levels, reduce our costs and incorporate more technology into our offerings. To date, we've been able to free up more than 8,500 delivery professionals to address new revenue opportunities in backfill attrition. This is worth roughly $500 million a year to us, representing a $75 million increase in our annual run rate this past quarter.

我們先進的交付計劃正在改變我們提供服務的方式，Kyndryl Bridge 正在推動我們的進步。隨著我們提高服務水準、降低成本並將更多技術融入我們的產品中，我們將繼續在整個交付業務中發現並實現重要的自動化機會。到目前為止，我們已經騰出了超過 8,500 名交付專業人員來解決回填人員流失的新收入機會。這對我們來說每年價值約 5 億美元，這意味著我們上個季度的年運行率增加了 7500 萬美元。

Our accounts initiative has been and will continue to be a global effort, focused on fixing elements of contracts with substandard margins. In the third quarter, we increased the cumulative annualized profit savings from our focus accounts by $75 million to $475 million. Our focus accounts program has been a galvanizing effort among Kyndryl professionals around the world in order to repair hundreds of profit-challenged relationships collaboratively with our customers, and it has been a resounding win for us as a team.

我們的帳戶計劃一直是並將繼續是一項全球性的努力，重點是修復利潤率不合格的合約要素。第三季度，我們的重點帳戶累計年化利潤節省增加了 7,500 萬美元，達到 4.75 億美元。我們的焦點客戶計畫一直是世界各地 Kyndryl 專業人士的一項激勵性努力，旨在與我們的客戶合作修復數百個利潤受到挑戰的關係，這對我們作為一個團隊來說是一次巨大的勝利。

Successful execution of our three-A's remains our fastest path toward achieving sustainable, profitable growth and the progress our teams have made on these initiatives has been and is an outstanding source of value creation for Kyndryl, our customers and our shareholders.

成功執行我們的 3A 仍然是我們實現可持續盈利增長的最快途徑，我們的團隊在這些舉措上所取得的進展一直是並且仍然是 Kyndryl、我們的客戶和股東創造價值的傑出源泉。

Turning to our cash flow and balance sheet. In the quarter, we generated positive adjusted free cash flow of $348 million. Our gross capital expenditures in the quarter were $174 million, and we received $15 million of proceeds from asset dispositions. Working capital was unusually strong in the quarter, and we expect some of these timing benefits to reverse in the March quarter. Our CapEx is also back-end weighted this year.

轉向我們的現金流和資產負債表。本季度，我們產生了 3.48 億美元的正向調整自由現金流。本季我們的總資本支出為 1.74 億美元，我們從資產處置中獲得了 1500 萬美元的收益。本季營運資金異常強勁，我們預計其中一些時機優勢將在三月季度逆轉。今年我們的資本支出也是後端加權的。

Our financial position remains strong, and we continue to expect that our full year adjusted free cash flow will be positive. We provided a bridge from our adjusted pretax income to our free cash flow as well as a bridge from our adjusted EBITDA to our free cash flow in the appendix.

我們的財務狀況依然強勁，我們繼續預計全年調整後的自由現金流將為正值。我們在附錄中提供了從調整後稅前收入到自由現金流的橋樑，以及從調整後 EBITDA 到自由現金流的橋樑。

Our cash balance at December 31 was $1.7 billion. Our cash, combined with available debt capacity under committed borrowing facilities gave us $4.8 billion of liquidity at quarter end. Our debt maturities are well laddered from late 2024 to 2041. We had no borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility, and our net debt at quarter end was $1.6 billion. As a result, our net leverage sits well within our target range. We're rated investment grade by Moody's, Fitch and S&P and our $500 million term loan matures in November, so it now shows up on our balance sheet as a current liability. We intend to refinance this debt in the first half of calendar 2024, subject to market conditions.

截至 12 月 31 日，我們的現金餘額為 17 億美元。我們的現金加上承諾借貸便利下的可用債務能力，在季度末為我們提供了 48 億美元的流動性。我們的債務到期日從 2024 年末一直到 2041 年。我們的循環信貸安排下沒有未償還的借款，季度末的淨債務為 16 億美元。因此，我們的淨槓桿率完全在我們的目標範圍內。我們被穆迪、惠譽和標準普爾評為投資級別，我們的 5 億美元定期貸款將於 11 月到期，因此現在它在我們的資產負債表上顯示為流動負債。我們打算根據市場狀況在 2024 年上半年為這筆債務進行再融資。

On capital allocation, our top priorities continue to be to maintain strong liquidity, remain investment grade and reinvest in our business. Our leadership position in IT infrastructure services combined with benefits from our three-A initiatives is significantly expanding our margins and will drive meaningful free cash flow growth. As a result, over time, we'll be in a position to consider regularly returning capital to shareholders, all while remaining investment grade.

在資本配置方面，我們的首要任務仍然是保持強勁的流動性、保持投資等級並對我們的業務進行再投資。我們在 IT 基礎設施服務領域的領先地位，加上我們 3A 計畫的優勢，正在顯著擴大我們的利潤，並將推動自由現金流的顯著成長。因此，隨著時間的推移，我們將能夠考慮定期向股東返還資本，同時保持投資等級。

As encouraged as I'm by the earnings growth we delivered in Q3 and so far this year, I'm even more enthusiastic about how we continue to position Kyndryl for future margin in profit growth. The December quarter was a continuation of us signing business with stronger margins. And as our business mix increasingly shifts towards more post-spin contracts, you'll see significant margin expansion in our reported results.

儘管我對第三季和今年迄今為止的獲利成長感到鼓舞，但我對我們如何繼續定位 Kyndryl 以實現未來利潤成長的利潤率更加充滿熱情。 12 月季度是我們簽約業務的延續，利潤率更高。隨著我們的業務組合越來越多地轉向更多的分拆後合同，您將在我們報告的結果中看到利潤率顯著擴大。

In the middle graph on Slide 12 of our earnings presentation, we've included a gross profit book-to-bill graph that accentuates how we've been creating and capturing value in our business. With an average projected gross margin of 26% on our $12.5 billion of signings over the last 12 months, we've added over $3 billion of projected gross profit to our backlog. Over the same period of time, we've reported gross profit of $2.8 billion. This means that we've been adding more gross profit to our backlog than our contracted book of business has been producing in our P&L. Having a gross profit book-to-bill ratio above 1 at 1.1x is a measure of how we're growing what matters most, the expected future profit from committed contracts and we've been doing this consistently over the last 18 months.

在我們的收益簡報第 12 張投影片的中間圖表中，我們包含了一個按訂單計算的毛利圖表，該圖表強調了我們如何在業務中創造和獲取價值。在過去 12 個月內，我們的簽約金額為 125 億美元，平均預期毛利率為 26%，因此我們的積壓訂單中增加了超過 30 億美元的預期毛利。同期，我們公佈的毛利為 28 億美元。這意味著我們在積壓訂單中增加的毛利比我們的合約業務帳簿在損益表中產生的毛利還要多。毛利帳面出貨比達到 1.1 倍以上，可以衡量我們如何成長最重要的業務，即承諾合約的預期未來利潤，我們在過去 18 個月裡一直這樣做。

I want to remind people who are familiar with our story and highlight for those just beginning to follow us that 2 years ago, we laid our bold ambitions that over the medium term, our alliances initiative will drive signings revenue in roughly $200 million in annual pretax income. Our advanced delivery initiative will drive cost savings equating to roughly $600 million in annual pretax income. And our accounts initiative will drive annual pretax income of $800 million or more. 2 years into this journey, our momentum clearly has us on track to achieve these goals.

我想提醒那些熟悉我們故事的人，並向那些剛開始關注我們的人強調，兩年前，我們制定了大膽的雄心壯志，從中期來看，我們的聯盟計劃將推動每年稅前約2 億美元的簽約收入收入。我們的先進交付計畫將節省成本，相當於每年稅前收入約 6 億美元。我們的帳戶計劃將帶來 8 億美元或更多的年稅前收入。兩年來，我們的勢頭顯然使我們走上了實現這些目標的軌道。

We're also driving growth in Kyndryl Consult and among our global practices, which is incremental to the benefits coming from our three-A initiatives and we're seizing opportunities to control expenses throughout our business. We expect that these efforts will contribute roughly $400 million in annual pretax income over the next few years. In total then, the magnitude of the earnings growth opportunity we're tackling and tackling successfully is tremendous relative to our current margins. Progress on our three-A's has been and will be a central source of value creation for Kyndryl.

我們也正在推動 Kyndryl Consult 和我們的全球實踐的成長，這對我們的 3A 計畫帶來的好處是增量的，我們正在抓住機會控制整個業務的費用。我們預計這些努力將在未來幾年貢獻約 4 億美元的年稅前收入。總的來說，相對於我們當前的利潤率，我們正在應對和成功應對的獲利成長機會的規模是巨大的。 3A 方面的進展已經並將成為 Kyndryl 價值創造的核心來源。

I mentioned earlier that transforming focus accounts into higher-margin relationships has been a big effort and big win for us. While pricing discipline is part of our approach, it is only a portion of our strategy. We're also expanding the scope of services we provide to our customers in order to strengthen our margins and the growth in our hyperscaler related revenues and consult revenues demonstrates this. We're removing low to no-margin third-party content from our deals, which, as you know, impacts our reported revenue. And we're driving efficiency in how we provide services with advanced delivery and Kyndryl Bridge, helping us reduce costs.

我之前提到，將焦點客戶轉變為利潤率更高的關係對我們來說是一項巨大的努力和巨大的勝利。雖然定價紀律是我們方法的一部分，但這只是我們策略的一部分。我們也擴大了為客戶提供的服務範圍，以提高我們的利潤率，我們的超大規模相關收入和諮詢收入的成長證明了這一點。我們正在從我們的交易中刪除低利潤甚至無利潤的第三方內容，如您所知，這會影響我們報告的收入。我們正在透過先進的交付和 Kyndryl Bridge 提高提供服務的效率，幫助我們降低成本。

In other words, turning our focus accounts into relationships that generate margins more like the blueprint portion of our revenues is a multifaceted, multiyear exercise that is about more than just pricing. I look at our progress to date as a good thing, but I also embrace the opportunity still available to us since the remaining focus accounts represent a significant opportunity to expand margins that is both specific to Kyndryl and something we've proven we can execute.

換句話說，將我們的重點客戶轉變為能夠產生利潤的關係，就像我們收入的藍圖部分一樣，是一項多方面的、多年的工作，而不僅僅是定價。我認為我們迄今為止的進展是一件好事，但我也擁抱我們仍然可以利用的機會，因為剩餘的重點客戶代表了擴大利潤的重要機會，這既是Kyndryl 特有的，也是我們已經證明我們可以執行的。

Our updated outlook is for adjusted pretax income to be at least $150 million versus our prior outlook of at least $140 million. This increase implies at least 220 basis points of margin expansion compared to last year. We now expect our fiscal 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin to be at least 14.5%, which represents an increase of at least 290 basis points versus fiscal 2023. Our outlook for revenue continues to be a decline of 6% to 7% in constant currency, which translates to $15.9 billion to $16.1 billion based on recent exchange rates.

我們更新後的預期是調整後稅前收入至少為 1.5 億美元，而先前的預期為至少 1.4 億美元。這一成長意味著利潤率比去年擴大至少 220 個基點。我們現在預計2024 財年調整後的EBITDA 利潤率將至少為14.5%，這意味著比2023 財年至少增加290 個基點。我們的收入前景繼續是按固定匯率計算下降6% 至7%，這意味著根據最近的匯率，這相當於 159 億至 161 億美元。

As a reminder, the year-over-year revenue decline we're projecting is primarily due to the soft backlog of fiscal 2024 revenue we were born with, plus intentional near-term actions we're taking to transform our business. These changes typically involve removing selected low or negative margin scope from ongoing customer relationships. We've accelerated these actions over the last 9 months, which is why the year-over-year revenue decline in the second half of our fiscal year is greater than in the first half.

提醒一下，我們預期的年比收入下降主要是由於我們固有的 2024 財年收入積壓不足，以及我們為業務轉型而採取的有意的近期行動。這些變化通常涉及從持續的客戶關係中刪除選定的低利潤或負利潤範圍。我們在過去 9 個月加快了這些行動，這就是為什麼我們財年下半年的營收年減幅度大於上半年。

For the March quarter, we expect year-over-year revenues to decline 9% to 11% in constant currency and for the revenue decline to be most pronounced in our U.S. and strategic market segments, where a reduction of lower margin elements is most impactful. We expect adjusted pretax income to be positive in the quarter. The sequential quarterly comp from Q3 to Q4 is a tough one due to the contractual $50 million quarter-over-quarter increase in IBM software costs that we face. Year-over-year, though, we expect our adjusted pretax margin to increase in the fourth quarter as it has in each of the first 3 quarters of fiscal 2024.

對於 3 月季度，我們預計以固定匯率計算，年比收入將下降 9% 至 11%，收入下降在我們的美國和戰略細分市場最為明顯，其中利潤率較低的因素的減少影響最大。我們預計本季調整後的稅前收入將為正值。由於我們面臨 IBM 軟體成本的合約成本較上季增加 5,000 萬美元，從第三季到第四季的連續季比較非常艱難。不過，我們預計第四季度調整後的稅前利潤率將與 2024 財年前三個季度一樣增加。

As I mentioned, we expect adjusted free cash flow to be positive this fiscal year. We now project roughly $650 million of net capital expenditures in fiscal 2024, we estimate roughly $825 million of depreciation expense and $1.25 billion of amortization expense this year. We still expect about $300 million of cash outlays for separation-related work, primarily systems migrations, and for our workforce rebalancing actions that are driving significant cost savings. We remain committed to our target of returning to revenue growth by calendar 2025 and over the medium term, delivering significant margin expansion and driving free cash flow growth.

正如我所提到的，我們預計本財年調整後的自由現金流將為正值。我們現在預計 2024 財年的淨資本支出約為 6.5 億美元，預計今年的折舊費用約為 8.25 億美元，攤提費用約為 12.5 億美元。我們仍預期約 3 億美元的現金支出將用於與離職相關的工作，主要是系統遷移，以及我們的勞動力重新平衡行動，這些行動正在推動顯著的成本節約。我們仍致力於實現到 2025 年和中期內恢復收入成長的目標，實現利潤率大幅擴張並推動自由現金流成長。

To wrap up, our business model centers around providing mission-critical services to large complex organizations that are dependent on technology and pursuing digital evolution. The mission-critical nature of what we do distinguishes us from other providers of IT services. Our scale, our know-how, our indispensability and our freedom of action as an independent company have given us opportunities to become a more profitable business while continuing to serve our customers extremely well. We've been successfully capitalizing on these opportunities in ways that position us for profitable growth in the future. We still have much to do and a lot of additional value that we can generate and our accomplishments to date, including in the most recent quarter, give us confidence in our ability to deliver continued substantial progress.

總而言之，我們的業務模式圍繞著為依賴技術並追求數位化發展的大型複雜組織提供關鍵任務服務。我們所做工作的關鍵任務性質使我們有別於其他 IT 服務提供者。作為一家獨立公司，我們的規模、我們的專業知識、我們的不可或缺性和我們的行動自由使我們有機會成為一家利潤更高的企業，同時繼續為我們的客戶提供優質服務。我們已經成功地利用這些機會，為我們未來的獲利成長奠定了基礎。我們仍然有很多事情要做，我們可以創造很多額外價值，而我們迄今為止所取得的成就，包括最近一個季度的成就，讓我們對我們持續取得實質進展的能力充滿信心。

With that, Martin and I would be pleased to take your questions.

馬丁和我很樂意回答您的問題。

Operator?

操作員？

Yes. Can you all hear me?

是的。你們都能聽到我說話嗎？

Now we can.

現在我們可以了。

(Operator Instructions) Martin, are you all ready for your first question?

（操作員指示）馬丁，你們準備好回答第一個問題了嗎？

We're ready, operator. Thank you.

我們準備好了，操作員。謝謝。

Our first question is from David Togut with Evercore ISI.

我們的第一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 David Togut。

Good to see a 13% year-over-year bookings growth in the quarter. Could you talk about the underlying strength in bookings, both at Kyndryl Consult and Alliances? And to what extent that strength is sustainable going forward?

很高興看到本季預訂量年增 13%。您能否談談 Kyndryl Consult 和 Alliances 在預訂方面的潛在優勢？這種力量在多大程度上可持續發展？

Yes. Thank you, David. Obviously, I'll ask David to join me if he had anything to supplement my answer with, but a few things I think about what we saw in the quarter. Obviously, as you said, well, good growth got us back not only in the quarter, but got us back to growth on a full year basis or year-to-date basis.

是的。謝謝你，大衛。顯然，如果大衛有什麼可以補充我的答案，我會請大衛加入我，但我對我們在本季看到的情況進行了一些思考。顯然，正如您所說，良好的成長不僅使我們在本季恢復了成長，而且使我們在全年或年初至今的基礎上恢復了成長。

And I think what's important are a couple of things. As you know, we have a headwind in growing signings, which is because we're being selective about the content. Having said that, we do have these growth factors that we've been talking about, including Kyndryl Consult, including our Alliance activity, which is, I think, demonstrative of the role we play in our customers' environments, and it shows how our customers trust us with their most challenging work. And the work we're doing in Consult, and the work we're doing with our partners is just evidence that the important role we play for our customers' future is now -- continues to play out, notwithstanding the headwind we have as we're more selective.

我認為重要的是幾件事。如您所知，我們在不斷增加的簽約方面遇到了阻力，這是因為我們對內容有選擇性。話雖如此，我們確實擁有我們一直在談論的這些成長因素，包括 Kyndryl Consult，包括我們的聯盟活動，我認為這表明了我們在客戶環境中所扮演的角色，並且表明了我們如何客戶相信我們可以完成最具挑戰性的工作。我們在 Consult 所做的工作以及我們與合作夥伴所做的工作都證明了我們為客戶的未來發揮的重要作用現在仍在繼續發揮作用，儘管我們遇到了阻力更有選擇性。

It also reflects the capabilities we've been building over the last couple of years and moving into the bigger total addressable market that we've talked about since we were spun out. As further signs, I guess I'll add one more data point because while we have good growth in Consult, also maintained good double-digit growth in the quarter and on a year-to-date basis and good growth in the Alliance activity, we also did see more larger deals. We saw 15 deals greater than $100 million through the end of the year, so the first 9 months of this year versus 8 deals greater than $100 million through the same time period the prior year.

它也反映了我們在過去幾年中一直在建立的能力，以及進入我們自從分拆以來我們一直在談論的更大的總體目標市場的能力。作為進一步的跡象，我想我會再添加一個數據點，因為雖然我們在諮詢方面有良好的增長，但在本季度和年初至今也保持了良好的兩位數增長，並且聯盟活動也有良好的增長，我們也確實看到了更多更大的交易。到今年年底，我們看到了 15 筆交易金額超過 1 億美元，因此今年前 9 個月，去年同期有 8 筆交易金額超過 1 億美元。

So again, all evidence, I think, of the trust and the confidence that our customer base has in us, even as we've kind of worked through the headwind of being selective about content.

再說一次，我認為所有證據都顯示我們的客戶群對我們的信任和信心，即使我們已經克服了對內容選擇性的逆風。

David, anything you'd add.

大衛，你想補充什麼就補充吧。

Just to add that year-to-date, Consults are on 14% of our revenue, in the quarter, it's in the range of 15% and that's really giving us confidence that we can ultimately move Consult up to being 20% or more of our aggregate revenue.

補充一下，今年迄今為止，諮詢服務占我們收入的 14%，本季度，這一比例在 15% 左右，這確實給了我們信心，我們最終可以將諮詢服務提高到收入的 20% 或更多。我們的總收入。

Just as a quick follow-up, if I could ask about the $348 million in free cash flow in the quarter. David, you called out some working capital benefits, which were mostly timing related, and it sounds like CapEx is more fourth quarter related. Would you still expect to be free cash flow positive in the fourth fiscal quarter of this year?

作為快速跟進，我能否詢問本季 3.48 億美元的自由現金流。大衛，您提到了一些營運資本收益，這些收益主要與時間相關，而且聽起來資本支出與第四季度更相關。您是否仍期望今年第四財季的自由現金流為正？

We expect to be free cash flow positive for the year as a whole, probably not in the fourth quarter itself. And as you mentioned, we had some working capital benefits that helped us in the third quarter, which made our free cash flow in the quarter, particularly strong. And our capital expenditures are back-end loaded this year. There's going to be more of that in the fourth quarter.

我們預計全年自由現金流將為正，但第四季可能不會。正如您所提到的，我們在第三季度獲得了一些營運資本收益，這對我們有所幫助，這使得我們本季的自由現金流特別強勁。今年我們的資本支出是後端加載的。第四季還會有更多這樣的事情發生。

And then we have the usual March quarter seasonality, where we have certain payments annual, biannual payments for things like software that tend to go out in the first quarter of the year. So the March quarter is typically a tougher working capital and free cash flow quarter for us. But there's no change in our outlook, our expectation that will be free cash flow positive for the year as a whole.

然後我們有通常的三月季度季節性，我們每年、每半年支付一定的費用，例如軟體，這些東西往往會在今年第一季推出。因此，對我們來說，三月的季度通常是營運資金和自由現金流較為緊張的季度。但我們的前景沒有變化，我們預計全年自由現金流將為正值。

Our next question comes from the line of Tien-Tsin Huang with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自黃天欽與摩根大通的對話。

Good results here. Just I like the gross profit book-to-bill metric here, greater than 1. I'm just curious, the risk of realization for that is what, maybe can you go through that contract execution, things like pricing, delivery, capability, things like that? Is there -- I'm just curious about the realization risk of that book-to-bill.

這裡有好的結果。只是我喜歡這裡的毛利指標，大於 1。我只是好奇，實現這一點的風險是什麼，也許你可以完成合約執行，例如定價、交付、能力等像這樣的東西？有沒有——我只是好奇從訂單到帳單的變現風險。

Sure. Our experience is good in terms of realization associated with our book-to-bill. We do an analysis of contracts that we priced that we call -- that measures the actual realized profit compared to what we had estimated. We call it our did versus bid analysis. And in the most recent version of that, most of the contracts we looked at averaged within a point of what we actually expected to generate. I think, it was around 0.7 point. So they're -- I think, our realization of the signings and the gross profit associated with them tends to be very good. We have, I'd say, good visibility and good confidence with respect to it.

當然。我們在實現訂單到帳單相關方面擁有良好的經驗。我們對我們定價的合約進行分析——衡量實際實現的利潤與我們估計的相比。我們稱之為「做與出價分析」。在最新版本中，我們查看的大多數合約的平均值都在我們實際預期生成的範圍內。我想，大約是0.7分。所以我認為，我們對簽約的實現以及與之相關的毛利往往非常好。我想說，我們對此有良好的知名度和信心。

Perfect. Just my quick follow-up then. Just you -- I think, Martin, you mentioned the 15 deals greater than $100 million. And I think industry-wide, we've been hearing a lot of mixed results on the short-term projects, the discretionary spend. Your Consult advisory business seems to be doing well. Just remind us sort of maybe the difference here. And I know you're somewhat bringing that up to a good standard here, but are you seeing any impact from demand as we cross over into the calendar year here on the short-term project stuff?

完美的。那隻是我的快速跟進。就你而言，馬丁，我想你提到了 15 筆價值超過 1 億美元的交易。我認為在整個行業範圍內，我們在短期專案和可自由支配支出方面聽到了很多好壞參半的結果。你們的 Consult 諮詢業務似乎表現不錯。只是提醒我們這裡可能存在差異。我知道您在某種程度上將其提高到了一個良好的標準，但是當我們進入日曆年時，您是否看到需求對短期專案的影響？

Yes. Thanks, Tien-Tsin. Look, I think again, and we've talked a bit about this in the past. The nature of what we're consulting on is probably less opportunistic or less variable because we're consulting on the things that we run, we're consulting on infrastructure. We're consulting and helping our customers on securing their data, making their systems more resilient, making sure that the data is architected in a way that they can get to it and protect it, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

是的。謝謝田津。聽著，我又想了一下，我們過去已經討論過這個問題。我們所諮詢的內容的本質可能較少機會主義或較少變化，因為我們正在諮詢我們運行的事物，我們正在諮詢基礎設施。我們正在諮詢並幫助我們的客戶保護他們的數據，使他們的系統更具彈性，確保數據的架構方式可以讓他們存取並保護它，等等。

So the mission-critical nature of our run business is also, I would say, the mission-critical nature of the Consult business. Companies have challenges and it's not -- we're not helping with science experiments. We're not helping with sort of the nice to haves. We're helping with how do you make sure your infrastructure is secure, resilient and able to meet the needs of the business. So I just think it's the nature of what we do that's different from a lot of others. And I think that's what drives Consult to be a solid double-digit performance. It's probably just unique to us.

因此，我想說，我們經營業務的關鍵任務本質也是諮詢業務的關鍵任務本質。公司面臨挑戰，但事實並非如此——我們沒有幫助進行科學實驗。我們並沒有幫助提供一些美好的東西。我們正在協助您確保您的基礎設施安全、有彈性並且能夠滿足業務需求。所以我認為我們所做的事情的本質與其他許多人不同。我認為這就是推動 Consult 取得穩定兩位數績效的原因。這可能對我們來說是獨一無二的。

Our next question comes from the line of Divya Goyal with Scotiabank.

我們的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的 Divya Goyal。

Great quarter. So Martin, further to this comment that you made, I was actually very curious to understand that how have these AI tailwinds been actually changing the way Kyndryl is now interacting with the clients per se, like in terms of your focus accounts, are they starting to prioritize Kyndryl? And actually, have you been seeing increased conversion there? And for that matter, your blueprint account, are you seeing increased conversion and obviously, Kyndryl Consult, I think is working alongside the client. But help us understand how has AI been a driver of these revenues as well?

很棒的季度。 Martin，除了您發表的評論之外，我實際上非常好奇這些人工智慧的推動力實際上如何改變了 Kyndryl 現在與客戶本身互動的方式，就像您的焦點帳戶一樣，他們是否開始優先考慮 Kyndryl？事實上，您是否看到那裡的轉換率有所提高？就此而言，您的藍圖帳戶是否看到轉換率增加，顯然，我認為 Kyndryl Consult 正在與客戶合作。但請幫助我們了解人工智慧如何成為這些收入的驅動力？

Yes. So thank you, Divya. A couple of things. First, AI is both something we use in how we deliver our services and Kyndryl Bridge has a massive machine learning model and more data than anybody else that helps customers get insights as we said in our prepared remarks, we've got over 750 customers now getting insights from Bridge on how to optimize those systems.

是的。謝謝你，迪維亞。有幾件事。首先，人工智慧是我們在提供服務時使用的東西，Kyndryl Bridge 擁有龐大的機器學習模型和比其他任何人都多的數據，可以幫助客戶獲得見解，正如我們在準備好的發言中所說，我們現在擁有超過750 名客戶從 Bridge 獲取有關如何優化這些系統的見解。

And what that work also allows us to do is then to help customers think through how to -- and which leads by the way, to consult opportunities for us. But it also helps customers as they think about now how they want to deploy AI and many are now starting to move into Gen AI, obviously. The work that has to happen around Gen AI, the work that has to happen around any AI is all about how do you architect your data, how do you get your data organized. And even though it's in an experimental phase, the work we do tends to precede the science experiments that have to happen. So we're at the front end of what customers are thinking about as they start to explore either for their systems, mostly for systems of engagement as they start to explore how to use their data to reach new customers, to reach their customers better.

這項工作也讓我們能夠幫助客戶思考如何為我們提供諮詢機會。但它也可以幫助客戶思考如何部署人工智慧，顯然，許多人現在開始轉向通用人工智慧。圍繞著 Gen AI 必須進行的工作，圍繞任何 AI 必須進行的工作都是關於如何建立資料、如何組織資料。即使它處於實驗階段，我們所做的工作往往先於必須進行的科學實驗。因此，當客戶開始探索他們的系統（主要是參與系統）時，我們處於客戶思考的前端，因為他們開始探索如何使用他們的資料來接觸新客戶，並更好地接觸他們的客戶。

But this has a long, long tail to it, even though we're at the front end as AI becomes more used in systems of engagement and systems of record, which is where our mission-critical work sits. I think we've got a very long tail to how our consultants and Kyndryl Consult help customers. So this is a long secular trend that I think is going to drive growth for quite a while for us.

但這有一個很長的尾巴，儘管我們處於前端，因為人工智慧越來越多地用於參與系統和記錄系統，而這正是我們的關鍵任務工作所在。我認為我們的顧問和 Kyndryl Consult 如何幫助客戶擁有很長的尾巴。因此，這是一個長期趨勢，我認為它將在相當長的一段時間內推動我們的成長。

That's very helpful. And just to understand and a quick one here. Kyndryl is a very mission-critical infrastructure services company. Do the global macro -- and we've talked about this in the past, but how exactly does the global macro conditions impact you? And to what extent could they negatively impact you, given the nature of work you do versus the application services companies that have been indicating slowdown in growth and a weak outlook for fiscal 2024 broadly speaking?

這非常有幫助。只是為了理解和快速理解。 Kyndryl 是一家非常關鍵的基礎設施服務公司。全球宏觀狀況－我們過去已經討論過這個問題，但全球宏觀狀況到底對您有何影響？考慮到您所做的工作性質與一直表明成長放緩以及 2024 財年前景疲弱的應用服務公司相比，它們會對您產生多大程度的負面影響？

Yes. Look, we're what I would say is insulated to the macro, but we're -- the macro is the world we live in, it's the world, our customers live in as well. So as their world changes, it will put different new pressures on how they run their infrastructure, what they might experience or what direction they may want to go.

是的。聽著，我想說的是，我們與宏觀隔絕，但我們——宏觀是我們生活的世界，也是我們的客戶生活的世界。因此，隨著他們的世界發生變化，這會對他們如何運行基礎設施、他們可能經歷什麼或他們可能想要走什麼方向帶來不同的新壓力。

So in the short term, we don't see much of an impact. As we've said in the past, we're fairly well insulated. But over the long term, as customers rethink the world, which leads maybe to industry consolidation, other things, we will experience that. So -- but that's over the longer term. And again, you -- in any macro environment, our customer bases and all customers are going to always be thinking about how do I take advantage of the innovation I see, how do I move into the world in order to serve my customers. And we just have to be able to keep up with them with the capabilities that they're looking for at any given time. But that's -- again, that's what we've been doing as moving, helping them move to the future in whatever macro environment we happen to be in.

因此，從短期來看，我們看不到太大的影響。正如我們過去所說，我們的隔離效果相當好。但從長遠來看，隨著客戶重新思考世界，這可能會導致行業整合或其他事情，我們將經歷這一點。所以——但那是從長遠來看。再說一遍，在任何宏觀環境中，我們的客戶群和所有客戶都將始終思考我如何利用我所看到的創新，如何進入世界以便為我的客戶提供服務。我們只需要能夠在任何特定時間跟上他們所尋求的能力。但這就是我們一直在做的事情，幫助他們在我們所處的宏觀環境中走向未來。

Operator, I believe we have one more question in the queue.

接線員，我相信我們還有一個問題需要解答。

Our last question comes from the line of Jamie Friedman with Susquehanna.

我們的最後一個問題來自傑米·弗里德曼 (Jamie Friedman) 與薩斯奎哈納 (Susquehanna) 的對話。

Let me echo the complements good results here. I was wondering, Dave, if you could help us bridge between Slides 12 and Slide 7. In other words, how to think about the timing related to the gross profit book-to-bill as it waterfalls over to the pretax margin? Any comment on that would be helpful.

讓我在這裡回應一下對良好結果的補充。我想知道，戴夫，你是否可以幫助我們在幻燈片12 和幻燈片7 之間建立橋樑。換句話說，當毛利下降到稅前利潤時，如何考慮與帳單到帳單毛利相關的時間安排？對此的任何評論都會有幫助。

Absolutely. Thanks. And I think Slide 7, the one that shows how our business mix is evolving really does operate as the bridge here. And as a reminder, that's the slide that shows that this year, only about 1/3 of our revenue and therefore, 1/3 of our P&L is really being driven by post-spin signings that have these attractive high single-digit margins associated with them. And we're still in a situation where 2/3 of our revenue is coming from older pre-spin signings that really aren't generating significant profit for us.

絕對地。謝謝。我認為幻燈片 7 展示了我們的業務組合如何演變，確實起到了橋樑的作用。提醒一下，這張投影片顯示，今年我們的收入只有約1/3，因此，我們的損益表的1/3 實際上是由旋轉後簽約推動的，這些簽約與這些有吸引力的高個位數利潤率相關跟他們。我們仍然處於這樣一種情況，即我們 2/3 的收入來自舊的預旋轉簽約，而這些簽約實際上並沒有為我們帶來可觀的利潤。

And in the inflection point that's really important for us is next year moving to that mix of revenues being kind of 50-50 between post-spin and pre-spin in the fiscal year after that. Our revenues and our P&L for the first time really sort of being dominated by the post-spin signings. And what -- we expect that to translate into -- and what I feel we have a good visibility around is the bars that you see on the right side of Page 7 that has the more profitable signings and more profitable book of business becomes a predominant part of our revenue, that really creates the opportunity for the margin improvement that we're looking for.

在轉折點上，對我們來說真正重要的是明年的收入組合將在之後的財政年度中分拆後和分拆前的收入比例達到 50-50。我們的收入和損益表第一次真正被旋轉後的簽約所主導。我們希望這轉化為——我覺得我們有很好的知名度，就是你在第 7 頁右側看到的酒吧，這些酒吧擁有更有利可圖的簽約和更有利可圖的業務簿，成為主導。我們收入的一部分，這確實為我們尋求的利潤率改善創造了機會。

And then by the time we get to fiscal '27, we're 85% or so of our revenues are coming from the business that we've signed post spin rather than what we inherited. That's how we deliver high single-digit margins. So this really -- the margins at which we're signing business just become a larger and larger part of our overall business mix. And by the time we get to fiscal '27 where it's 85% post spin, that's how we see ourselves at high single-digit pretax margins in aggregate.

然後，當我們進入 27 財年時，我們大約 85% 的收入來自我們分拆後簽署的業務，而不是我們繼承的業務。這就是我們實現高個位數利潤率的方式。所以這確實是——我們簽訂業務的利潤率正在成為我們整體業務組合中越來越大的一部分。當我們進入 27 財年時，分拆後的利潤率為 85%，這就是我們對自己總體稅前利潤率高個位數的看法。

Yes. I think that's well said. I guess when I think about it as we get into next year, I think we've got still the headwind that we had this year, which we obviously have been able to overcome, and that's the software cost increase that IBM created in the spin. So that's the headwind.

是的。我認為這句話說得很好。我想，當我們進入明年時，我認為我們仍然面臨今年的逆風，而我們顯然已經能夠克服這一點，這就是 IBM 在旋轉過程中造成的軟體成本增加。這就是逆風。

But the tailwinds we see -- David said it well, we get more of our post-spin backlog that comes through. We obviously get the full year benefit of everything we were able to execute this year, and we'll continue to execute next year. So we'll get the in-period execution benefits from that. And then we also get a tailwind, I think, from lower depreciation as we get into next year. So yes, we have headwinds as we go into it. David described that chart well, I think, but we've also got some tailwinds as we get into the year.

但我們看到了順風車——大衛說得好，我們得到了更多的旋轉後積壓訂單。顯然，我們從今年能夠執行的一切中獲得了全年收益，並且明年我們將繼續執行。因此，我們將從中獲得期間執行的好處。然後，我認為，隨著明年的到來，我們也會從較低的折舊中獲得順風。所以，是的，我們在進入這個領域時遇到了阻力。我認為，大衛很好地描述了該圖表，但隨著我們進入今年，我們也遇到了一些順風車。

And then for my follow-up, maybe for Martin. In terms of the projected revenue growth beginning in calendar 2025, how do you think about the factors that will help you stick that ever-important landing of actually growing at that. In other words, how much of that is impacted -- how much of that is under your own control? Is any of that at risk to discretionary or macro? How do you think about that?

然後是我的後續行動，也許是馬丁的。就 2025 年開始的預期收入成長而言，您如何看待能夠幫助您實現實際成長的重要目標的因素。換句話說，其中有多少受到影響──其中有多少是在你自己的控制之下？這些對自由裁量權或宏觀經濟是否有風險？您對此有何看法？

Yes. Look, we have -- as we've said a number of times, we have engineered a decline in our business. And I would say on the other side, where we focused on getting to growth like Kyndryl Consult and the Alliances activity, we're growing quite well. And as I sit here today, while we have many, many more quarters of signings to get under our belt, as I sit here today, I feel as good as ever that those 2 growth drivers, along with all the other things we're building our capabilities around that they get us back to growth in the time frames that we've said previously, with, as David said, well, the margin profile as more of that comes through our P&L.

是的。看，正如我們多次說過的那樣，我們已經導致了我們業務的下滑。我想說，另一方面，我們專注於實現像 Kyndryl Consult 和聯盟活動這樣的成長，我們發展得相當不錯。當我今天坐在這裡時，雖然我們還有很多很多季度的簽約需要完成，但當我今天坐在這裡時，我和以往一樣感覺良好，這兩個增長動力以及我們正在做的所有其他事情圍繞我們的能力建設，它們讓我們在我們之前說過的時間範圍內恢復成長，正如大衛所說，利潤率狀況更多地來自我們的損益表。

So as I sit here today, I still believe that our Alliance activity and our Kyndryl Consult, we've proven that we can grow where we want to grow. And we've proven that the customers are willing to and want to expand their work with us and their relationship with us even as we engineer this decline. Now the biggest chunk of that engineered decline is this fiscal year. As we move into next fiscal year, the engineer decline reduces. The OEM content becomes sort of what I'll call it neutral, right? We've taken a ton of it out, it becomes a neutral going forward. We still have more -- some more work to do to -- on focused accounts, which will have an impact. But the bulk of it is in this fiscal year.

因此，當我今天坐在這裡時，我仍然相信我們的聯盟活動和 Kyndryl Consult，我們已經證明我們可以在我們想要發展的地方發展。我們已經證明，即使我們策劃了這種下降，客戶也願意並且希望擴大與我們的合作以及與我們的關係。現在，這種人為造成的下降的最大部分是在本財年。當我們進入下一個財年時，工程師的人數減少了。 OEM 內容變得有點中立，對嗎？我們已經去掉了大量的內容，未來它會變成中性的。我們在重點客戶方面還有更多工作要做，這將會產生影響。但大部分發生在本財年。

And as we move into next year, then we'll have a reduced impact from that engineered decline and more impact from -- more benefit from Kyndryl Consult and the Alliances activity as it keeps going. So I feel really good about where we're and what we've described now for a bit over 2 years about getting back to growth in calendar year '25 and driving the profitability that we've been talking about and converting that in a very high rate to cash.

當我們進入明年時，我們將減少這種人為下降的影響，並從 Kyndryl Consult 和聯盟活動的持續發展中獲得更多的影響。因此，我對我們的現狀以及我們兩年多來所描述的關於在 25 日曆年恢復增長並推動我們一直在談論的盈利能力並將其轉化為非常好的方式感到非常滿意。現金兌換率高。

So thanks, everybody, for joining again today. We certainly appreciate the interest in Kyndryl. Look, I got to tell you, I'm very proud of the progress this team has delivered and continues to execute on the strategy that we laid out three-A's plus, plus. We're building this business the right way. We have the right strategy that is and can be and is being executed, and we have the right culture.

謝謝大家今天再次加入。我們當然感謝大家對 Kyndryl 的興趣。聽著，我必須告訴你，我對這個團隊所取得的進展感到非常自豪，並繼續執行我們所製定的 3A 的策略。我們正在以正確的方式開展這項業務。我們有正確的策略，可以執行，也正在執行，我們也有正確的文化。

So we, as a business, Kyndryl continues to solidify its leadership position, we continue to strengthen the relationships we have with our customers and our partners. You can see that spread throughout the financials. And now as we -- in our third year, third calendar year as a firm, I remain as excited as ever about the opportunity as we keep serving our customers' mission-critical needs and keep developing new capabilities to bring them into the future.

因此，作為一家企業，Kyndryl 繼續鞏固其領導地位，繼續加強與客戶和合作夥伴的關係。你可以看到這種情況遍佈整個財務部門。現在，在我們作為公司的第三年，第三個日曆年，我仍然對這個機會感到興奮，因為我們將繼續滿足客戶的關鍵任務需求，並不斷開發新功能，將他們帶入未來。

So thanks, everybody, for joining.

謝謝大家的加入。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。