Kelly Services Inc (KELYA) 2025 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Kelly Services fourth-quarter and full-year conference call. (Operator Instructions) Today's call is being recorded at the request of Kelly Services. (Operator Instructions)

早安，歡迎參加 Kelly Services 第四季及全年業績電話會議。（操作員指示）本次通話是應 Kelly Services 的要求進行錄音的。（操作說明）

I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host, Mr. Scott Thomas, Kelly's Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我將會議交給主持人，凱利投資者關係主管史考特·托馬斯先生。請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome to Kelly's fourth-quarter and full-year conference call. With me today are Kelly's Chief Executive Officer, Chris Layden; and our Chief Financial Officer, Troy Anderson.

早安，歡迎參加凱利第四季及全年業績電話會議。今天陪同我出席的有 Kelly 的執行長 Chris Layden 和財務長 Troy Anderson。

Before we begin, I'll remind you that the comments made during today's call, including the Q&A session, may include forward-looking statements about our expectations for future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those suggested by our comments. We do not assume any obligation to update the statements made on this call. Please refer to our SEC filings for a description of the risk factors that could influence the company's actual future performance.

在開始之前，我要提醒各位，今天電話會議期間（包括問答環節）發表的評論可能包含有關我們對未來業績預期的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與我們評論中提出的建議有重大差異。我們不承擔更新本次電話會議中所作聲明的任何義務。有關可能影響公司未來實際業績的風險因素的說明，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。

In addition, we'll discuss certain data on a reported and on an adjusted basis. Discussion of items on an adjusted basis are non-GAAP financial measures designed to give insight into certain trends in our operations. For more information regarding non-GAAP measures and other required disclosures, please refer to our earnings press release, presentation and once filed Form 10-K all of which can be accessed through our Investor Relations website at ir.kellyservices.com.

此外，我們將討論一些已報告和已調整的數據。對經調整的項目的討論屬於非公認會計準則財務指標，旨在反映我們營運中的某些趨勢。有關非GAAP指標和其他所需披露的更多信息，請參閱我們的收益新聞稿、演示文稿以及已提交的10-K表格，所有這些都可以通過我們的投資者關係網站ir.kellyservices.com訪問。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Chris.

接下來，我將把電話交給克里斯。

Thank you, Scott, and good morning, everyone. Before I discuss Kelly's performance in the fourth quarter, I'd like to reflect on the recent developments that mark an important moment on the company's journey. On January 30, we announced that Kelly had entered an agreement with Hunt companies related to its purchase of the controlling stake of our Class B common stock. In conversations with Hunt, it's clear they see many of the same opportunities I saw as I consider joining the company as CEO, an iconic brand to build upon, a strong balance sheet with consistent free cash flow, a clear pathway to accelerate growth and significant value to be unlocked. I welcome their support as we pursue these opportunities and realize Kelly's full potential.

謝謝你，斯科特，大家早安。在討論凱利第四季的表現之前，我想回顧一下最近發生的一些事件，這些事件標誌著公司發展歷程中的一個重要時刻。1 月 30 日，我們宣布 Kelly 已與 Hunt 公司達成協議，收購我們 B 類普通股的控股權。在與亨特的交談中，很明顯，他們看到了許多與我考慮加入該公司擔任首席執行官時所看到的相同機會：一個標誌性品牌可供發展，強勁的資產負債表和持續的自由現金流，清晰的加速增長路徑以及巨大的可釋放價值。我歡迎他們的支持，我們將把握這些機會，充分發揮凱莉的潛力。

As part of the agreement, our Board has been reconstituted and 4 new board members have been appointed. Our new directors bring extensive experience, which positions them to be strong contributors to the Board as we drive progress on Kelly's strategic journey. I look forward to engaging with them and continuing to work with the entire Board to create lasting value for all of our stakeholders. Now let's review the highlights from our performance in the fourth quarter. Starting first with the broader macroeconomic environment.

作為協議的一部分，我們的董事會已重組，並任命了 4 名新的董事會成員。我們的新董事們擁有豐富的經驗，這將使他們成為董事會的有力貢獻者，協助我們推動 Kelly 的策略發展。我期待與他們交流，並繼續與整個董事會合作，為我們所有的利害關係人創造持久價值。現在讓我們回顧一下第四季的精彩表現。首先從宏觀經濟環境入手。

The dynamics that shaped our results through the third quarter persisted in the fourth quarter. Employers continue to take a cautious approach to hiring amid a mixed labor market. At the same time, we capitalized on positive trends in each segment, which were reflected in our performance in the quarter. Kelly delivered revenue at the top end of our expectations as we doubled down on our commitment to stabilize the company's performance and enhance how we're going to market as one Kelly enterprise. We achieved continued year-over-year growth in Education, driven by solid demand for K-12 and therapy specialties.

影響我們第三季業績的各種因素在第四季依然存在。在勞動市場情勢不明朗的情況下，雇主們繼續採取謹慎的招募方式。同時，我們充分利用了各個細分市場的正面趨勢，這些趨勢反映在我們本季的業績中。Kelly 的收入達到了我們預期的最高水準，因為我們加倍致力於穩定公司業績，並加強我們作為一家 Kelly 企業進行行銷的方式。在 K-12 和治療專業領域強勁需求的推動下，我們在教育領域實現了持續的同比增長。

In SET, we delivered top line growth on a year-over-year basis in our telecom specialty and sequential revenue stability in Life Sciences. In an ETM, we achieved stable sequential revenue performance in our staffing, MSP and BPO specialties, excluding contact center solutions. Across the enterprise, we continue to align resources with demand and maintained a disciplined approach to expense management. These results also reflect our deliberate shift towards customer centricity. My time in the field with our customers and talent has reinforced how this approach unlocks value for employers and for Kelly.

在 SET 領域，我們在電信專業領域實現了年比營收成長，在生命科學領域實現了環比營收穩定。在 ETM 期間，我們在人員配備、MSP 和 BPO 專業領域（不包括呼叫中心解決方案）實現了穩定的連續收入表現。在整個企業範圍內，我們繼續使資源與需求相匹配，並維持嚴格的費用管理方法。這些結果也反映了我們向以客戶為中心的策略轉變。我在與客戶和人才的實地接觸中，更深刻地體會這種方法如何為雇主和 Kelly 創造價值。

Recently, I visited with the CEO of a consumer technology company that is designing and building some of the world's most advanced audio solutions. I had the opportunity to see firsthand how Kelly has helped evolve their workforce as they've scaled advanced manufacturing capacity in the U.S. to meet growing demand. When our relationship began 8 years ago, they produced 10,000 units a year. Today, that number has grown to 4 million with our team supporting key work streams from R&D to final production and distribution.

最近，我拜訪了一家消費科技公司的首席執行官，該公司正在設計和製造一些世界上最先進的音訊解決方案。我有幸親眼目睹了 Kelly 如何幫助他們在美國擴大先進製造能力以滿足不斷增長的需求，並幫助其員工隊伍的轉型升級。8年前我們開始合作時，他們每年生產1萬台設備。如今，這一數字已成長至 400 萬，我們的團隊為從研發到最終生產和分銷的關鍵工作流程提供支援。

As they have invested in advanced robotics and capital equipment, our workforce has evolved alongside them, learning new skills, adapting to new processes and helping them scale production in the U.S. As more manufacturers ramp up domestic capital investments and reshore operations, Kelly is well positioned to capitalize, leveraging our differentiated solutions, a customer-centric delivery model and market leadership in North America. Parallel to these efforts, we reached a significant milestone in our technology modernization initiative that will power our growth well into the future. In December, our acquisitions in SET successfully completed the cutover from their legacy technology stack to the modernized platform Kelly acquired through our acquisition of MRP. This marks the first of a multiphase strategy to move our enterprise from a fragmented and outdated mix of front, middle and back-office technologies to a unified best-in-class platform.

隨著他們對先進機器人和資本設備的投資，我們的員工也隨之發展，學習新技能，適應新流程，並幫助他們在美國擴大生產規模。隨著越來越多的製造商加大國內資本投資並將業務遷回國內，凱利憑藉其差異化的解決方案、以客戶為中心的交付模式以及在北美市場的領導地位，已做好充分準備抓住機會。同時，我們的技術現代化計畫也取得了重大里程碑式的進展，這將為我們未來的發展提供強勁動力。12 月，我們在 SET 的收購成功完成了從其傳統技術堆疊到 Kelly 透過我們收購 MRP 獲得的現代化平台的切換。這標誌著我們企業從分散過時的前台、中台和後台技術組合過渡到統一的一流平台的多階段策略的第一步。

With our SET acquisitions fully operational within the platform, the business is now benefiting from deeper data and insights, AI and automation at scale and enhance productivity. These benefits will extend across SET and the enterprise as we execute on our phased approach with the majority of Kelly's businesses and functions slated to be operational within the platform in 2027. With our technology modernization initiative gaining momentum, we also accelerated the integration of AI across the enterprise. In the fourth quarter, we launched a proprietary internal AI platform, GRACE boost, to every employee at Kelly. This is the latest iteration of GRACE, a stand-alone J&I tool, which we initially deployed nearly 2 years ago to simplify sales and recruiting workflows.

隨著我們收購的 SET 業務在平台內全面投入運營，該公司現在受益於更深入的數據和洞察、大規模的人工智慧和自動化，並提高了生產力。隨著我們分階段實施該計劃，這些益處將惠及整個 SET 和企業，Kelly 的大部分業務和職能部門計劃於 2027 年在該平台上投入營運。隨著科技現代化計畫的推進，我們也加快了人工智慧在企業內部的整合。第四季度，我們向 Kelly 的每位員工推出了專有的內部 AI 平台 GRACE boost。這是 GRACE 的最新版本，GRACE 是一款獨立的 J&I 工具，我們最初在近 2 年前部署它是為了簡化銷售和招募工作流程。

With Boost, we've taken its capabilities a step further including directly integrating AI into the applications our people use every day. This integration eliminates swivel chair processes a limited option while improving its ability to learn users' workflows, provide contextual assistance and ultimately enhance productivity. As we continue to double down on customer centricity, we're also leveraging AI to enhance the customer and talent experience directly. During the quarter, we deployed a tailored AI recruiting solution with a large multinational manufacturing customer, enabling them to rapidly staff a key assembly line. The AI agent calls, screens and answers questions from applicants helping our recruiters hone in on top candidates and accelerate the hiring process, and the results have exceeded our expectations.

借助 Boost，我們進一步提升了其功能，包括將 AI 直接整合到員工每天使用的應用程式中。這種整合消除了旋轉椅流程這一有限的選擇，同時提高了學習使用者工作流程、提供上下文幫助並最終提高生產力的能力。我們將繼續加倍努力以客戶為中心，並利用人工智慧直接提升客戶和人才體驗。本季度，我們為一家大型跨國製造客戶部署了客製化的 AI 招募解決方案，使他們能夠快速為一條關鍵組裝線配備人員。AI 代理商會打電話、篩選應徵者並回答他們的問題，幫助我們的招募人員鎖定優秀候選人，加快招募流程，其結果超出了我們的預期。

Talent feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Customer satisfaction has improved meaningfully, and we're meeting their needs faster and at a lower cost. The solution is highly configurable and scalable and we're pursuing opportunities to deploy it to additional customers. These examples reflect Kelly's focus on practical applications that put AI directly in the hands of our employees and our customers to solve real business challenges leveraging the combined power of people and technology to deliver results with clear alignment to our strategy. We're also aligning our leadership team to accelerate growth.

人才回饋絕大多數都是正面的。客戶滿意度顯著提高，我們能夠以更快的速度和更低的成本滿足他們的需求。該解決方案具有高度可配置性和可擴展性，我們正在尋求機會將其部署到更多客戶那裡。這些例子體現了凱利對實際應用的重視，即讓員工和客戶直接使用人工智慧來解決真正的業務挑戰，並利用人和技術的結合力量，在與我們的策略清晰一致的前提下取得成果。我們也在調整領導團隊，以加速成長。

Yesterday, we announced the appointment of Pat McCall as Kelly's Chief Growth Officer. Pat brings 30 years of sales and operations experience and a proven track record, accelerating profitable growth and leading global staffing and IT services firms. In this newly created role, he will help bring to bear the full strength of Kelly's portfolio, working across the enterprise to strengthen large enterprise account management and expand new customer acquisition. We're pleased to welcome him to the team, and we look forward to his contributions towards Kelly's growth strategy. Additionally, we announced in the fourth quarter the initiation of a comprehensive search for the next President of SET.

昨天，我們宣布任命 Pat McCall 為 Kelly 的首席成長長。Pat擁有30年的銷售和營運經驗，以及加速獲利成長和領導全球人力資源和IT服務公司的卓越表現。在這個新設立的職位上，他將協助充分發揮 Kelly 的產品組合優勢，與整個企業合作，加強大型企業客戶管理，並擴大新客戶的取得。我們很高興歡迎他加入團隊，並期待他為凱利的成長策略做出貢獻。此外，我們在第四季宣布啟動對SET下一任總裁的全面遴選工作。

Kelly has engaged a nationally recognized firm to conduct a search for a proven leader with significant experience in enhancing go-to-market strategies capitalizing on opportunities created by AI in driving profitable growth. I'm excited about the caliber of candidates we're speaking to, and I look forward to sharing an update soon when our process concludes. The positive momentum we generated in the fourth quarter has set Kelly on the right path entering 2026. As we carry forward this momentum, we remain confident in our strategy, underpinned by a strong balance sheet, healthy cash generation and a balanced approach to capital allocation. In a moment, I'll share more on our priorities for the year.

Kelly聘請了一家全國知名的公司，尋找一位在提升市場進入策略方面擁有豐富經驗的成熟領導者，利用人工智慧創造的機會推動獲利成長。我對我們接觸到的候選人的素質感到非常興奮，並期待招募流程結束後儘快與大家分享最新進展。我們在第四季度取得的積極勢頭，使凱利公司在進入 2026 年時走上了正確的道路。秉承這一發展勢頭，我們對我們的策略充滿信心，這得益於我們強勁的資產負債表、健康的現金流和均衡的資本配置方法。稍後，我將詳細介紹我們今年的工作重點。

First, I'll turn it over to Troy to provide more details on the results in the quarter and for the full year.

首先，我將把發言權交給特洛伊，讓他詳細介紹本季和全年的業績。

Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everybody. For the fiscal year, revenue totaled $4.25 billion which was down 1.9% overall and roughly flat, excluding acquisitions and discrete impacts from reduced demand from the federal government and 3 top customers, which we have discussed in prior quarters. For the fourth quarter of 2025, revenue totaled $1.1 billion, a decrease of 11.9% versus Q4 of last year or down 3.9% on an underlying basis, excluding the discrete impacts. As a reminder and brief update regarding these impacts, federal government demand largely stabilized in Q3 with a modest sequential decline in Q4, mainly due to seasonality. For the 3 top customers, one stabilized at the current reduced demand levels beginning in Q3, one fully ran off in August and the largest one remains one of our top customers and saw continued demand reductions throughout Q4, and could see some further reduction in 2026.

謝謝你，克里斯，大家早安。本財年總營收為 42.5 億美元，整體下降 1.9%，與上年同期基本持平，但不包括收購以及聯邦政府和三大客戶需求減少帶來的個別影響，我們在前幾個季度已經討論過這些問題。2025 年第四季，營收總計 11 億美元，較上年同期下降 11.9%，若不計特殊影響，則下降 3.9%。提醒並簡要更新這些影響，聯邦政府需求在第三季度基本上趨於穩定，第四季度略有環比下降，這主要是由於季節性因素造成的。對於前 3 位客戶，一位從第三季度開始穩定在目前的較低需求水平，一位在 8 月份完全停止了合作，而最大的一位仍然是我們的頂級客戶之一，在整個第四季度需求持續下降，並且可能會在 2026 年進一步下降。

At the segment level, Education grew 1.3% reflecting continued fill rate improvement. SET's underlying revenue declined 5.4% in the quarter, which was modestly better than our expectations and reflects demand pressure within information technology and other key specialties partially offset by growth in telecom. Underlying ETM also declined 5.4% and was modestly better than our expectations with varying levels of declines across the primary specialty areas. On an absolute basis, underlying ETM revenue has been relatively consistent across the quarters throughout 2025. For Q4 revenue by service type, staffing services reflects modest growth in our Education business and pressure from government, large customer and macro environment impacts in SET and ETM.

從細分市場來看，教育產業成長了 1.3%，反映出填充率持續提高。SET 的季度基礎收入下降了 5.4%，略優於我們的預期，反映出資訊科技和其他關鍵專業領域的需求壓力，部分被電信領域的成長所抵銷。基礎 ETM 也下降了 5.4%，略優於我們的預期，主要專科領域的下降幅度各不相同。從絕對值來看，2025 年各季 ETM 基礎營收一直相對穩定。按服務類型劃分的第四季度收入中，人員配備服務反映了我們教育業務的溫和增長，以及來自政府、大客戶和宏觀環境對 SET 和 ETM 業務的影響。

Our outcome-based offerings, excluding contact center solutions were down year-over-year, reflecting timing of project demand and new business within SET and ETM. Talent Solutions was down year-over-year, reflecting a mix of performance across the individual specialties. Perm fees represented approximately 1% of revenue, which was consistent with the prior year. Reported gross profit was $197 million, down 18.4% versus the prior year quarter reflecting the lower revenue performance, along with increased employee-related costs and business mix changes in the quarter. The employee-related costs were driven primarily by health care and workers' compensation claims expense as well as certain impacts related to the large customer runoffs.

除聯絡中心解決方案外，我們基於結果的產品/服務年減，反映了 SET 和 ETM 內部專案需求和新業務的時間表。人才解決方案業務年減，反映出各專業領域績效參差不齊。永久費用約佔收入的 1%，與前一年持平。報告顯示，毛利為 1.97 億美元，較上年同期下降 18.4%，反映出本季營收表現下降，以及員工相關成本增加和業務組合變化。與員工相關的成本主要由醫療保健和工傷賠償支出以及與大量客戶流失相關的某些影響所驅動。

The gross profit rate was 18.8%, a decrease of 150 basis points compared to the prior year quarter. Education's GP rate held flat at 14.2%, while SET at 24.2% declined 130 basis points and ETM at 18.1% declined 220 basis points. We made significant progress improving our SG&A expense profile in the quarter with reported SG&A expenses of $198.5 million, a decrease of 8.7%. On an adjusted basis, SG&A expenses decreased 11.1% year-over-year, reflecting the momentum we are gaining on structural and volume-related cost optimization efforts. Expenses decreased across all the segments as we continue to drive durable and sustainable efficiencies in our operating model through technology enhancements and process efficiencies, including leveraging AI.

毛利率為18.8%，較上年同期下降150個基點。教育的GP率維持在14.2%不變，而SET的GP率為24.2%，下降了130個基點，ETM的GP率為18.1%，下降了220個基點。本季度，我們在改善銷售、一般及行政費用狀況方面取得了顯著進展，報告的銷售、一般及行政費用為 1.985 億美元，下降了 8.7%。經調整後，銷售、一般及行政費用年減 11.1%，反映出我們在結構和銷售相關的成本優化工作方面所取得的進展。隨著我們不斷透過技術改進和流程效率提升（包括利用人工智慧）來推動營運模式的持久和永續效率，所有部門的支出均有所下降。

Reduced incentive compensation expenses also contributed to the decline in the quarter. Existing initiatives like the continued realignment within the ETM segment and integration of MRP and other acquisitions within SET are progressing well and will drive increased go-to-market and cost efficiencies going forward. In connection with our various efforts, we recognized $9.8 million of charges in the quarter. These included costs associated with improving technology and processes across the enterprise as well as severance expenses and executive transition costs. We expect to incur certain of these expenses through 2026 as we make continued progress and expand upon our various optimization efforts, including our technology modernization initiative.

激勵性薪酬支出減少也是本季業績下滑的原因之一。現有的舉措，例如 ETM 部門內部的持續重組以及 SET 內部 MRP 和其他收購的整合，進展順利，並將推動未來市場推廣和成本效益的提高。為配合各項工作，本季我們確認了980萬美元的費用。這些費用包括與改善企業技術和流程相關的成本，以及遣散費和高階主管過渡成本。我們預計到 2026 年，隨著我們不斷取得進展並擴大各項優化工作（包括技術現代化計劃），我們將產生其中一些費用。

As a result of the overall business performance and a $127.9 million increase to the tax valuation allowance, our reported loss per share was $3.69 for the quarter. On an adjusted basis, we delivered earnings per share of $0.16 compared to $0.79 in the prior year with the decline over the prior year primarily due to lower profitability and discrete tax items. For the full year, the reported loss per share was $7.24 including $7.61 of noncash negative impacts from goodwill impairments and tax valuation allowances. Full year adjusted earnings per share was $1.26. Adjusted EBITDA was $21 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 2%, which was down 170 basis points versus the prior year quarter and below our expectations.

由於整體業務表現不佳以及稅收估值準備金增加 1.279 億美元，我們本季報告的每股虧損為 3.69 美元。經調整後，我們每股收益為 0.16 美元，而去年同期為 0.79 美元，較上年同期下降的主要原因是盈利能力下降和個別稅務項目。全年報告的每股虧損為 7.24 美元，其中包括商譽減損和稅務估值準備金帶來的 7.61 美元非現金負面影響。全年調整後每股收益為 1.26 美元。調整後 EBITDA 為 2,100 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 2%，較上年同期下降 170 個基點，低於我們的預期。

The revenue and gross profit declines I previously noted, drove the decrease versus the prior year, while incremental GP rate pressure drove the shortfall versus expectations. Education margin expanded by 30 basis points year-over-year driven by the revenue growth and expense optimization efforts. ETM and SET saw margin pressure due to the elevated revenue gross profit declines despite substantial SG&A reductions. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow. We generated strong operating cash flow this year with $122.6 million through the fourth quarter, up significantly versus the prior year.

我之前提到的收入和毛利下降導致了與前一年相比的下降，而毛利率的逐步下降導致了與預期不符的情況。受收入成長和費用優化措施的推動，教育業務利潤率年增 30 個基點。儘管大幅削減了銷售、管理及行政費用，但由於收入毛利大幅下降，ETM 和 SET 的利潤率仍面臨壓力。接下來來看資產負債表和現金流量表。今年第四季度，我們的營運現金流強勁成長至 1.226 億美元，較上年同期大幅成長。

Total available liquidity as of the end of the quarter was $288 million, comprising $33 million in cash and $255 million on our credit facilities, leaving us ample capital allocation flexibility. Total borrowings of $102 million decreased $16 million versus the prior quarter and $137 million versus the prior year-end. Our debt-to-EBITDA leverage ratio was less than 1 at the end of the fiscal year. In addition to the debt repayment during the quarter, we completed $10 million of Class A share repurchases, leaving us with $30 million remaining on the current Class A share repurchase authorization. We also maintained our quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share.

截至季末，可用流動資金總額為 2.88 億美元，其中包括 3,300 萬美元現金和 2.55 億美元的信貸額度，使我們擁有充足的資本配置彈性。總借款額為 1.02 億美元，比上一季減少了 1,600 萬美元，比上年末減少了 1.37 億美元。在財政年度結束時，我們的債務與 EBITDA 槓桿率低於 1。除了本季償還債務外，我們還完成了 1,000 萬美元的 A 類股票回購，目前 A 類股票回購授權額度還剩 3,000 萬美元。我們也維持了每股 0.075 美元的季度股息。

Total capital deployed across these 3 areas was approximately $30 million in the quarter and $158 million for the fiscal year. These actions reflect our confidence in Kelly's strategy and cash flow generation and our commitment to opportunistically deploying capital in pursuit of attractive returns for shareholders. As we look ahead to 2026, we are assuming no material change in the macroeconomic or industry dynamics. Consistent with what we discussed last quarter, during the first half of 2026, we will still be experiencing the larger year-over-year effects of the discrete impacts from the federal government and the 3 large ETM customers with some residual impact into the third and fourth quarters. Given that, we expect Q1 to look very similar to Q4 with revenue declining between 11% and 13% year-over-year or an underlying decline of 3% to 5%, excluding discrete impacts and adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 1.5% which steps down from Q4, primarily due to payroll tax resets.

本季在這三個領域投入的總資本約為 3,000 萬美元，本財年約為 1.58 億美元。這些舉措體現了我們對凱利公司策略和現金流創造能力的信心，以及我們致力於抓住機會部署資本，為股東追求可觀回報的承諾。展望 2026 年，我們假設宏觀經濟或產業動態不會發生實質變化。正如我們上個季度討論的那樣，在 2026 年上半年，我們仍將感受到聯邦政府和 3 家大型 ETM 客戶帶來的較大同比影響，並且這些影響還會持續到第三季度和第四季度。有鑑於此，我們預計第一季將與第四季非常相似，營收年減 11% 至 13%，或基本下降 3% 至 5%（不包括特殊影響），調整後 EBITDA 利潤率約為 1.5%，較第四季有所下降，主要是由於工資稅重置。

As we progress through the year, assuming no new material impacts, we expect to see relative improvement in our year-over-year performance, each successive quarter for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin. That should translate to modest revenue growth in the second half of the year and a roughly mid-single-digit decline on a full year basis. For adjusted EBITDA margin, we expect to see measurable year-over-year margin expansion in the second half of the year and a modest increase on a full year basis. We are excited about the momentum we are building and the many opportunities that lie ahead in 2026. I'm grateful to all of the Kelly team members for their unwavering commitment and resilience as we position the company for growth and enhanced profitability over the long term.

隨著年內的發展，假設沒有新的重大影響，我們預計每季營收和調整後 EBITDA 利潤率都將比去年同期業績有所相對改善。這意味著下半年營收將溫和成長，而全年營收將出現大約中等個位數的下降。對於調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率，我們預計下半年將出現可衡量的同比利潤率擴張，全年利潤率也將略有增長。我們對目前的發展動能以及2026年即將到來的許多機會感到興奮。我衷心感謝 Kelly 團隊所有成員的堅定承諾和頑強拼搏，正是他們的努力才使公司得以長期發展並提高盈利能力。

I'll now turn the call back to Chris for his closing remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回給克里斯，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, Troy. The path to improve year-over-year performance becomes clear as we move through 2026 and the discrete impacts we've discussed begin to anniversary. The actions we're taking today are designed to ensure we capitalize on that inflection. Let me share more about our priorities for 2026, which build on the strategic pillars we discussed last quarter. First and foremost is growth.

謝謝你，特洛伊。隨著我們邁入 2026 年，以及我們討論過的各個具體影響開始陸續到期，提高年度業績的途徑將變得清晰起來。我們今天採取的行動旨在確保我們能夠抓住這一轉折點。讓我進一步介紹我們 2026 年的優先事項，這些事項建立在我們上個季度討論的戰略支柱之上。首要任務是成長。

Our focus on growth is reflected in the formation of a growth office, which under Pat's experienced leadership will work across our businesses to enhance how we go to market as one Kelly enterprise. And having identified organic growth drivers in each business, we have a clear path to improve top line performance as we progress through the year. In Education, our pipeline of net new K-12 staffing opportunities remain strong. We're well positioned to continue to gain share in this growing market as more schools seek to improve fill rates through our industry-leading offering. In districts where we already have strong relationships, we're driving penetration of our higher-margin pediatric therapy services to meet growing demand.

我們對成長的重視體現在成長辦公室的成立上，該辦公室將在 Pat 經驗豐富的領導下，與我們的各項業務合作，以提升我們作為一個 Kelly 企業進入市場的方式。我們已經確定了每個業務的內生成長驅動因素，因此我們有了明確的路徑，今年內可以逐步提高營收績效。在教育領域，我們新增的K-12教師招募機會依然強勁。隨著越來越多的學校尋求透過我們領先業界的產品和服務來提高入學率，我們已做好充分準備，繼續在這個不斷增長的市場中擴大份額。在我們已經建立起牢固關係的地區，我們正在努力提高利潤更高的兒科治療服務的滲透率，以滿足不斷增長的需求。

In SET, we're sharpening our focus on high-growth areas, including data centers, AI and cybersecurity, where our scale and expertise are uniquely suited to meet customers' evolving needs. We're also continuing to capitalize on the shift towards higher-margin statement of work and consulting engagements. As an example, in Life Sciences, where Kelly is already the second largest staffing provider in the U.S., we're capturing growth in the clinical trials market through our differentiated functional service provider solution or FSP. Our outsourcing model provides sponsors with specialized scalable expertise to more efficiently manage specific functions in clinical trials from data management and biostatistics to pharmacovigilance. With new deals coming online, including a multiyear contract with a global pharmaceutical company, we expect FSP will continue to be an important contributor to Kelly's top and bottom line going forward.

在 SET 領域，我們將更加專注於高成長領域，包括資料中心、人工智慧和網路安全，在這些領域，我們的規模和專業知識能夠獨特地滿足客戶不斷變化的需求。我們也持續利用向高利潤率的工作說明書和諮詢專案轉變的趨勢。例如，在生命科學領域，Kelly 已經是美國第二大人力資源供應商，我們正在透過我們差異化的功能服務提供者解決方案（FSP）在臨床試驗市場中實現成長。我們的外包模式為贊助商提供專業化的可擴展專業知識，以更有效地管理臨床試驗中的特定功能，從資料管理和生物統計到藥物警戒。隨著新交易的達成，包括與一家全球製藥公司簽訂的多年期合同，我們預計 FSP 將繼續為 Kelly 的營收和利潤做出重要貢獻。

In an ETM, we have several MSP and enterprise staffing wins slated to go live in the first quarter. This includes a new MSP program with a global financial services firm, one of the largest MSP deals Kelly has ever won. Our scale and capabilities which contributed to this win are reflected in our recent recognition by HRO Today as the #1 global provider of total workforce solutions, encompassing MSP, RPO and staffing. As we build on this momentum and enhance how we go to market as an enterprise, I expect our new business pipeline to continue to grow and our conversion of these opportunities to accelerate. Let me talk next about our second strategic priority, efficiency.

在 ETM 階段，我們有多個 MSP 和企業人員配置專案計劃在第一季上線。其中包括與全球金融服務公司合作推出的全新 MSP 計劃，這是 Kelly 迄今為止贏得的最大 MSP 交易之一。我們取得此次勝利的規模和能力也體現在我們最近被 HRO Today 評為全球排名第一的綜合勞動力解決方案提供商，涵蓋 MSP、RPO 和人員配置。隨著我們保持這一勢頭並加強企業市場拓展方式，我預計我們的新業務管道將繼續成長，這些機會的轉換速度也將加快。接下來我想談談我們的第二個策略重點——效率。

We'll continue to align resources with demand while reengineering our cost base to drive further structural efficiencies and enhance profitability. Our SG&A trajectory reflects the momentum we're building and our technology modernization initiative is central to this effort. And our enterprise AI strategy reflects a targeted approach to unlocking productivity and growth across the business. And finally, culture. Culture remains fundamental to how we'll achieve our growth and efficiency ambitions with an emphasis on customer centricity, visibility and accountability.

我們將繼續調整資源配置以適應需求，同時重新設計成本結構，以進一步提高結構效率並增強獲利能力。我們的銷售、一般及行政費用走勢反映了我們正在取得的進展，而我們的技術現代化計劃是這項工作的核心。我們的企業人工智慧策略體現了一種有針對性的方法，旨在釋放整個企業的生產力和成長潛力。最後，是文化。文化仍然是我們實現成長和效率目標的基礎，我們將重點放在以客戶為中心、透明度和問責制。

We'll continue making it easier to do business with Kelly spending time in the field to better understand the needs of our customers and talent and holding ourselves to the highest standard of execution across every part of the business. As we enter 2026, the investments we've made in our portfolio, our technology and our people have positioned us to emerge stronger on the other side. There is much work to be done but I am confident in our plan, our team and our ability to execute. I want to thank our shareholders for their support and trust at this important moment on Kelly's journey. I also want to express my gratitude to the Kelly team for their perseverance and resilience as we closed last year.

我們將繼續努力，讓與 Kelly 的業務往來更加便捷，我們會花時間深入一線，更好地了解客戶和人才的需求，並在業務的各個環節堅持最高的執行標準。進入 2026 年，我們對投資組合、技術和人才的投資使我們能夠變得更加強大。還有很多工作要做，但我對我們的計劃、團隊和執行能力充滿信心。我要感謝各位股東在這個凱莉人生重要時刻給予的支持與信任。我也要對 Kelly 團隊表示感謝，感謝他們在去年我們完成交易過程中所展現的毅力和韌性。

The fourth quarter was a sprint, and we ran through the tape. Now it's time to carry our momentum forward and deliver on the promise of 2026. I look forward to working alongside our team to realize our collective ambitions and create long-term value for our stakeholders.

第四節比賽就像一場衝刺，我們一路狂奔，直到終點。現在是時候乘勢而上，兌現2026年的承諾了。我期待與團隊攜手合作，實現我們的共同目標，並為我們的利害關係人創造長期價值。

Operator, you can now open the call to questions.

操作員，現在可以開始接受提問了。

(Operator Instructions) Joe Gomes, Noble Capital.

（操作說明）喬·戈麥斯，諾布爾資本。

So Chris, I appreciate your comments on Hunt and just kind of dig a little deeper here and see maybe you provide a little more insight. We've gone from a passive owner of control of Kelly to an active shareholder here. And trying to get a better handle on what Hunt is bringing to the table. Do they have expertise in the staffing business. Maybe you can talk some more about that.

克里斯，我很感謝你對亨特的評論，我想更深入地探討一下，看看你是否能提供更多見解。我們已經從被動持有 Kelly 股份轉變為積極持有股份。並試著更了解亨特能為團隊帶來什麼。他們是否具備人力資源的專業知識？或許你可以再多談談這個話題。

And then what does this mean for the A shareholders. If we look here, the B shares are -- have risen in price or they've now diverged fairly significantly from A. And historically, they've pretty much traded in tandem. I mean, obviously, there's been periods where they have diverged, but it's just trying to get a better handle of what all this can mean here for the A shareholders and what they could see here going forward.

那麼，這對A類股東意味著什麼？我們來看，B類股票的價格已經上漲，或者說它們現在與A類股票的價格已經出現了相當大的分歧。而從歷史上看，它們的交易走勢幾乎是同步的。我的意思是，很顯然，他們之間有過分歧，但我們現在只是想更了解這一切對A類股東意味著什麼，以及他們未來可能會看到什麼。

Yes, Joe, great question, and thank you for it. We're really excited to welcome the Hunt team. And as you heard in my prepared remarks and what we shared even last week, Hunt companies continue to express their support of our team and the focus that we have in accelerating growth. They saw a lot of the same opportunities that I've highlighted over my first 5 months. and the opportunity to unlock a lot more value here at Kelly.

是的，喬，問得好，謝謝你的提問。我們非常高興地歡迎Hunt團隊的加入。正如你們在我事先準備好的演講稿以及我們上週分享的內容中所聽到的那樣，亨特公司繼續表達了對我們團隊的支持，以及對我們專注於加速成長的重視。他們看到了許多與我過去五個月強調的相同的機遇，以及在凱利公司釋放更多價值的機會。

Now we continue to maintain a market-leading position across this diversified portfolio, the deep client relationships that continue to allow us to support global employers as their needs evolve. And we know that the Hunt team is committed to that. We are not expecting any -- or anticipating any changes to our business operation, our client relationships, our strategic initiatives, and we remain committed to continue to create lasting value for our shareholders, and we look forward to working with our new directors on that. There really is an opportunity for value for all shareholders and interests are aligned in that regard. Now specifically, maybe to the second half of your question on just some of the protections that were secured.

現在，我們繼續在這個多元化的業務組合中保持市場領先地位，與客戶建立的深厚關係使我們能夠繼續支持全球雇主滿足其不斷變化的需求。我們知道亨特團隊致力於此。我們預計，我們的業務營運、客戶關係、策略性舉措不會發生任何變化，我們將繼續致力於為股東創造持久價值，並期待與新董事們共同努力實現這一目標。這確實為所有股東創造了價值機會，在這方面大家的利益是一致的。現在，具體來說，我想回答您問題的後半部分，即關於已採取的一些保護措施。

The agreement that we have with the Hunt companies does include some governance protections and those governance protections, we think, really align to all shareholders and give us a benefit for our Class A and our Class B going forward, where we know there's a tremendous opportunity to unlock value.

我們與亨特公司達成的協議確實包含一些治理保護措施，我們認為這些治理保護措施真正符合所有股東的利益，並使我們未來的 A 類股和 B 類股受益，因為我們知道這方面存在著釋放價值的巨大機會。

Great for that. I appreciate it. And on the SET business, the underlying revenue trends have worsened the last 3 quarters. And maybe you could speak a little bit more to that? And what do we see here in that business that could change those trends here?

非常適合。謝謝。而SET業務方面，過去三個季度的基本營收趨勢已惡化。您能否就此再多談談？那麼，在這個產業中，我們看到了哪些可能改變這些趨勢的因素呢？

Yes. No, as you indicated, and I'll let Troy weigh in a little bit as well, right, underlying SET declined 5.4% in the quarter, but this was modestly better than our expectations. The decline reflects some continued demand pressure in the technology space, but we also saw that offset with really nice growth out of our telecom segment. As we indicated, the Life Sciences, our science segment where we're #2 continues to show a lot of positive momentum, large pharma companies leveraging our functional service provider offering, which leads the market, and we expect to continue to see demand for customers needing a more flexible, outcome-based solution in the science space. And in IT, right, that's our largest segment.

是的。不，正如你所指出的，我也讓 Troy 補充一點，沒錯，SET 基本面在本季度下降了 5.4%，但這略好於我們的預期。這一下滑反映了科技領域持續存在的需求壓力，但我們也看到電信業務的良好成長抵消了這一影響。正如我們所指出的，生命科學領域（我們在該領域排名第二）繼續展現出強勁的成長勢頭，大型製藥公司正在利用我們領先的功能性服務提供商產品，我們預計未來將繼續看到客戶對科學領域更靈活、以結果為導向的解決方案的需求。在IT領域，沒錯，這是我們最大的細分市場。

We continue to see some headwinds from AI-driven productivity increases, reducing some demand for roles like programmers or areas like quality assurance. But we're also seeing an increase and an uptick in roles directly related to the development and deployment of AI solutions. We expect that pipeline to continue to grow as well. And as we go throughout the year, continue to see sequential quarter-on-quarter improvement. Troy, anything else do you want to add?

我們持續看到人工智慧驅動的生產力提升帶來了一些不利因素，導致對程式設計師或品質保證等領域的職位需求下降。但我們也看到與人工智慧解決方案的開發和部署直接相關的職位數量增加。我們預計該業務管道也將持續成長。隨著年數的增加，我們將繼續看到每季都取得環比改善。特洛伊，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Sure. Yes. Thanks, Chris and Joe, for the question. The underlying has actually been -- we did have a little bit of an uptick here, 2 points or so relative to what we saw in the last 2 quarters. We were in the low 3s in Q2 and Q3 and around 4 in Q1.

當然。是的。謝謝克里斯和喬的提問。實際上，基本面有所好轉——我們這裡確實出現了一點小幅回升，相對於過去兩個季度的情況，大約上升了 2 個百分點。第二季和第三季我們的排名在 3% 左右，第一季在 4% 左右。

And similar to some comments we had offered last quarter. Last year, in the fourth quarter, we grew 4% organically overall. And a lot of that growth was in the -- at the time of the P&I segment, but SET held pretty firm as well, and we didn't see some of the normal seasonality we would see there where it does trend down a little bit in the fourth quarter given their professional roles. And so you tend to see some holidays and the like. So I think it's really more a function of a compare with SET and ETM as well versus really anything really changing in the business per se.

這與我們在上個季度提出的一些意見類似。去年第四季度，我們整體實現了 4% 的有機成長。當時，許多成長都來自 P&I 板塊，但 SET 板塊也保持得相當穩定，我們沒有看到一些通常情況下，由於他們的專業角色，SET 板塊會在第四季度略有下降的季節性波動。所以你會看到一些節日之類的。所以我認為這更多的是與 SET 和 ETM 進行比較的結果，而不是業務本身發生了任何真正的變化。

Kartik Mehta, Northcoast Research.

Kartik Mehta，北海岸研究公司。

Chris, I think you addressed a little bit of this question in the previous answer you gave, but I'm interested there's so much talk about AI and the impact that's having on many companies. And you've talked about using AI at Kelly. And I'm wondering if you kind of sit back and look, do you think the net impact of AI has been positive, negative or neutral for Kelly as far as demand for services compared to maybe what you've been able to do from AI, from efficiency and cost perspective?

克里斯，我覺得你在之前的回答中已經稍微談到了這個問題，但我很感興趣的是，現在有很多關於人工智慧及其對許多公司產生的影響的討論。你也談到在凱利公司使用人工智慧。我想知道，如果您冷靜下來仔細觀察，您認為人工智慧對 Kelly 的淨影響是積極的、消極的還是中性的，就服務需求而言，與您利用人工智慧所取得的成就（從效率和成本角度來看）相比呢？

Kartik, yes, no, absolutely. We remain confident that AI presents a net positive opportunity for Kelly. Employers continue to be increasingly focused on leveraging the power of AI to drive productivity improvements and accelerate growth. The AI-enabled recruiting solution I discussed in our prepared remarks is just one demonstration of the way that we're bringing that to market and differentiating. Our unique solutions also continue to provide employers, particularly big employers, global employers with the flexibility, the scalability that they need to bridge their workforces into a more AI-enabled workforce.

Kartik，是的，不，絕對的。我們仍然相信，人工智慧為凱利帶來了積極的機會。雇主們越來越注重利用人工智慧的力量來提高生產力並加速成長。我在事先準備好的演講稿中提到的AI賦能招募解決方案，只是我們將其推向市場並實現差異化的一個例證。我們獨特的解決方案也持續為雇主，特別是大型雇主和全球雇主，提供所需的靈活性和可擴展性，以幫助他們將員工隊伍轉型為更具人工智慧能力的員工隊伍。

And in that way, it unlocks really the power of people and technology and we think we'll unlock a lot of value for Kelly.

這樣一來，它就能真正釋放人與科技的力量，我們認為這將為凱利創造很多價值。

And then, Chris, as you kind of look at the trends for the first week of 2026 especially on the permanent hiring or the fee business. I'd be curious as to kind of what you're seeing in terms of demand from your customers and if that's giving you any kind of look forward into what 2026 could bring?

然後，克里斯，當你觀察 2026 年第一週的趨勢，特別是永久招募或收費業務方面。我很想知道您目前從客戶那裡了解到的需求狀況，以及這是否讓您對 2026 年的發展趨勢有所預期？

Yes, it's a good question, and we're really not seeing a significant change. It continues to be stable in that regard. Perm represents about 1% of total GP and we continue to see stability there.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，我們確實沒有看到任何顯著的變化。在這方面，它依然保持穩定。永久營業額約佔總營業額的 1%，而且我們看到這部分業務持續保持穩定。

Kevin Steinke, Barrington Research Associates.

Kevin Steinke，巴林頓研究協會。

Just one of the start out by exploring kind of the margin trend here in the fourth quarter. And as you move into 2026, specifically to the fourth quarter, where adjusted EBITDA margin came in relative to your expectations. I think you mentioned incremental gross margin pressure. Was that the primary reason for the variance versus expectations? And can you just dig a little bit more into the drivers of that?

首先，我們來探討一下第四季的利潤率趨勢。進入 2026 年，特別是第四季度，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率是否符合您的預期？我想你提到了毛利率面臨的逐步壓力。這是造成實際結果與預期結果差異的主要原因嗎？您能否更深入探討背後的驅動因素？

I know you called out the higher employee-related costs and also business mix. But maybe a little bit more detail on how those affected the margin relative to your expectations?

我知道你提到了較高的員工相關成本和業務組合問題。但能否更詳細地說明一下，這些因素如何影響了利潤率，使其與你的預期不符？

Yes, that sounds good. Well, I'll talk a little bit about the EBITDA margin performance, and I'll have Troy provide a little bit of color on just the kind of discrete impact on the GP side with some of the health care related costs. As you know and as we've talked about, our strategy continues to be centered around driving profitable growth. And EBITDA margin expansion has been it's going to continue to be an important part of that. Our EBITDA margin expansion in the fourth quarter and on a full year basis fell short of our expectations.

是的，聽起來不錯。好的，我將簡單談談 EBITDA 利潤率的表現，然後讓 Troy 詳細解釋一些醫療保健相關成本對普通合夥人方面的具體影響。如您所知，也正如我們之前討論過的，我們的策略仍然是以推動獲利成長為中心。EBITDA利潤率的擴張一直是其中的重要組成部分，並將繼續發揮重要作用。第四季和全年的 EBITDA 利潤率擴張均未達預期。

Troy talked in his prepared remarks. I know we talked over the last couple of quarters about some of the discrete customer impacts. But with this in mind, we continue, as we've shown, our focus on aligning expenses with demand is a real lever for us, and this is reflected in the SG&A and cost management reductions you saw both in the third quarter and the fourth quarter, and we'll continue to be very focused there. We also recognize the need to address longer-term opportunities to reengineer our cost base, shifting our business mix to higher margin markets, solutions and offerings, and that's a big part of our growth story. And I would say, just as I turn it over to Troy talk a little bit about the discrete GP impact.

特洛伊按照事先準備好的發言稿發表了演說。我知道在過去的幾個季度裡，我們討論過一些具體的客戶影響。但考慮到這一點，正如我們所展示的，我們將繼續專注於使支出與需求保持一致，這對我們來說是一個真正的槓桿，這一點體現在您在第三季度和第四季度看到的銷售、一般及行政費用和成本管理削減上，我們將繼續非常關注這一點。我們也意識到需要抓住長期機遇，重新調整成本結構，將業務組合轉向利潤率更高的市場、解決方案和產品，這是我們成長故事的重要組成部分。我想說，在我把麥克風交給 Troy 之前，讓他稍微談談離散 GP 的影響。

Some of this margin and the incremental expansion that we've talked about, it will play out as we move in the anniversary some of those discrete impacts the first half of the year, where we're going to see margin expansion in the second half of 2026 with a modest increase on a full year basis. But I'll have Troy give you a little bit more color on the GP impact.

我們之前討論過的利潤率和增量擴張，將在周年紀念日到來之際逐步顯現。其中一些離散的影響將在今年上半年顯現，我們將在 2026 年下半年看到利潤率擴張，全年成長幅度適中。但我會請特洛伊再詳細說說大獎賽的影響。

Yes. Thanks. Good coverage there, Chris. And Kevin, yes, the -- certainly, the 150 basis point decline on the GP rate was, again, incremental to what we expected. And you see the largest portion of that hitting ETM both at the GP level and at the EBITDA level and a little bit on SET as well.

是的。謝謝。報道得很好，克里斯。凱文，是的，當然，GP利率下降150個基點，再次超出了我們的預期。你會發現，其中大部分影響到了 ETM，無論是在 GP 層面還是 EBITDA 層面，還有一小部分影響了 SET 層面。

And we had some of this in Q3 also around the employee-related costs. We just had escalations, some changes as we pivot from '25 to '26 that drove some outsized utilization against the health care coverage. And then workers' comp is largely driven by health care costs, especially older claims that are still open and so periodically, we do have adjustments to those based upon the third-party estimates around those. So it's just a combination of factors as we came into the back part of the year here that put pressure on those 2 items that we expect we'll reset as we get into '26. And we've put some processes in place to have better visibility and better management there as we go forward.

第三季我們在員工相關成本也遇到了一些類似的問題。我們剛剛經歷了一些升級，從 2025 年過渡到 2026 年的過程中發生了一些變化，導致醫療保健覆蓋範圍出現了一些過度使用。而工傷賠償金主要受醫療保健成本的影響，尤其是那些尚未結案的舊索賠，因此我們會定期根據第三方對這些索賠的估算進行調整。所以，隨著我們進入今年下半年，多種因素共同作用，給這兩個項目帶來了壓力，我們預計到 2026 年我們將重新調整這兩個項目。我們已經制定了一些流程，以便在未來更好地了解情況並進行更好的管理。

Okay. That's helpful. And when we look ahead to 2026 here, just wanted to explore a little bit more the outlook you discussed in terms of successive improvement in quarterly performance as you move throughout 2026 on both, I guess, revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin. I guess, obviously, the comparisons get easier as you move throughout the year, but can you talk about the other factors that you expect to drive that progressive improvement, say, in terms of organic growth drivers, business mix, et cetera.

好的。那很有幫助。展望 2026 年，我想更深入地探討一下您之前提到的前景，即隨著 2026 年的推進，季度業績將持續改善，包括收入和調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率。我猜想，隨著時間的推移，比較顯然會變得更容易，但您能否談談您預期會推動這種逐步改善的其他因素，例如，在有機增長驅動因素、業務組合等方面。

Yes, sure. So I'll take that. And Chris, certainly add any color as I go through it. But the -- just Q4 to Q1, not a whole lot going to change in the business, still about an 8-point impact on those discrete items. The margin profile will not change dramatically.

當然可以。那我就接受吧。克里斯，我邊看邊補充顏色。但是——僅僅是第四季度到第一季度，業務方面不會有太大變化，這些獨立項目仍然會受到大約 8 個百分點的影響。利潤率結構不會有顯著變化。

We'll have the payroll tax reset, which is common across all the companies. And so that puts some incremental pressure on Q1 margins. But as we work through the year, the various growth initiatives, again, Pat coming on board, some of the things that Chris has talked about as far as our organic growth drivers, opportunities we have to bring full Kelly to our customers and to the market along with the work we're doing from a technology modernization perspective and the benefits we expect to continue realizing there through '26 and '27 along with just other efficiency and optimization initiatives that we have planned throughout the year. That should all be accumulating as we go through the year in addition to the easier comps, as you indicated, as we get into the back half of the year. But net returning to growth on an organic basis, again, assuming no new major material impacts, assuming no major change in the macro environment, returning to organic growth and measurable margin expansion in the back half of the year.

我們將重置工資稅，這在所有公司都是通用的。因此，這會給第一季的利潤率帶來一些額外的壓力。但隨著我們全年工作的推進，各種增長計劃，帕特的加入，克里斯談到的一些關於我們有機增長驅動因素的事情，我們有機會將完整的凱利產品帶給我們的客戶和市場，以及我們從技術現代化角度所做的工作，以及我們預計在 2026 年和 2027 年繼續實現的收益，還有我們計劃在全年實施的其他效率和計劃。正如你所指出的，隨著下半年比賽的進行，這些因素都會逐漸累積起來，再加上一些難度較低的比賽。但假設沒有新的重大實質影響，假設宏觀環境沒有重大變化，則淨成長將恢復到有機成長水平，並在下半年恢復有機成長並實現可衡量的利潤率擴張。

And look, if we get some positive tailwinds out of the economy, we should -- we would expect to take our fair share of that as well.

而且，如果經濟出現一些正面的利多因素，我們也應該——我們希望能夠從中獲得我們應得的一份。

Great. I just wanted to follow up there. You mentioned again the bringing on the Chief Growth Officer. And maybe you can just delve a little bit more into the opportunities you see by bringing on that role and where -- what sort of initiatives you can execute relative to maybe what the company had left on the table before.

偉大的。我只是想跟進一下。您再次提到了聘請首席成長長的事宜。或許你可以更深入地探討一下，透過擔任這個職位，你看到了哪些機會，以及你可以執行哪些舉措，而這些舉措可能是公司之前沒有考慮過的。

Yes, exactly. The growth, as you've heard me say, it's the single most important value creation lever at this stage of our journey. We're excited to welcome Pat in this new role, a newly created role. And he's going to have a clear mandate, and that's really to bring the full strength of Kelly's portfolio to the market. And we've got to go win more market share with our large customers, in particular.

是的，正是如此。正如我之前所說，成長是我們現階段最重要的價值創造槓桿。我們很高興歡迎 Pat 擔任這個新職位，這是一個新設立的職位。他將擁有明確的使命，那就是將凱利旗下所有資產組合的全部實力帶入市場。我們必須努力贏得更多大客戶的市場佔有率。

We got to build a much more unified client-centric go-to-market model, reduce some of the access points, as you've heard us talk about. And he's going to help us drive organic growth. We know how much opportunity there is, particularly with these large customers to do more with them. We've got really an unmatched product portfolio now in product mix, and we've got to make sure we're bringing that to all of our customers, both in the traditional ways where we do staffing, but also in more outcome-based and solution work. And so they'll be focused also on driving acquisition of new customers, driving pipeline acceleration across the enterprise, and we're excited to bring him into the leadership team starting this Monday.

正如我們之前談到的，我們需要建立一個更統一、以客戶為中心的市場推廣模式，減少一些接入點。他將幫助我們推動內生成長。我們知道有很多機會，尤其是在這些大客戶身上，我們可以做更多的事情。我們現在擁有無與倫比的產品組合，我們必須確保將這些產品帶給所有客戶，無論是在傳統的招募方式上，還是在更注重結果和解決方案的工作中。因此，他們也將專注於推動新客戶的獲取，並加快整個企業的銷售管道建設，我們很高興從本週一開始就讓他加入領導團隊。

Great. Lastly, I just wanted to ask about, Chris, you talked about in your prepared remarks a real-world example of an internal AI recruiting solution you built out, I think, for one particular customer. And I think you talked about looking to deploy that more broadly. What would that mean for Kelly from an efficiency and cost efficiency perspective?

偉大的。最後，克里斯，我想問一下，你在準備好的演講稿中提到了一個你為某個特定客戶建立的內部人工智慧招募解決方案的實際案例。我想你也提到要更廣泛地部署這項技術。從效率和成本效益的角度來看，這對凱利意味著什麼？

And is that -- do you think that's something could be meaningful in terms of the number of recruiters you employ or any other metrics that it could help on your journey to continue improving margins.

那麼——你認為這對於你僱用的招聘人員數量或其他任何指標，在你不斷提高利潤率的過程中是否有幫助？

Well, we really see a lot of customer impact. And what I'll start with is really to say that we believe that we can really deliver AI at scale, helping us provide deeper data and insights, AI and automation at scale. And some of that productivity is really a little borne out in the EBITDA margin expansion as you see us growing throughout the year. And particularly in the second half of the year as we have the benefits of the program that I mentioned before, the impact of products like GRACE Boost that are now deployed across all of our customer base and our employee base. And finally, our industry-leading talent management platform, Kelly Helix continues to lead the market helping customers with deep workforce insights around their workforce mix, integrating AI-based chatbot, to drive faster workflows and workforce decision-making.

確實，我們看到了對客戶的巨大影響。首先我想說的是，我們相信我們能夠真正大規模地交付人工智慧，幫助我們提供更深入的數據和見解，以及大規模的人工智慧和自動化。而這種生產力的提升確實在某種程度上體現在 EBITDA 利潤率的擴張上，正如你所看到的，我們全年都在成長。尤其是在下半年，正如我之前提到的，隨著該計劃的實施，以及像 GRACE Boost 這樣的產品在我們所有客戶和員工群體中推廣應用，我們將受益匪淺。最後，我們業界領先的人才管理平台 Kelly Helix 持續引領市場，幫助客戶深入了解其員工組成，並整合基於人工智慧的聊天機器人，從而加快工作流程和員工決策。

We really see that continuing to drive increased productivity and efficiency for us and again, we've -- we're showing some of that in the step-up you'll see throughout the year.

我們確實看到這將繼續推動我們提高生產力和效率，而且，我們將在今年的進步中看到這一點。

And I would now like to turn the conference back to Chris Layden for closing remarks.

現在我謹將會議交還給克里斯·萊登，請他作閉幕致詞。

Great. Well, thank you all. We look forward to seeing you next quarter.

偉大的。謝謝大家。我們期待下個季度再見您。

And this concludes today's program. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。