Kforce Inc (KFRC) 2025 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the Kforce Q2 2025 earnings call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 Kforce 2025 年第二季財報電話會議。提醒一下，本次通話正在錄音。

At this time, I would like to hand things over to Mr. Joe Liberatore, President and CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，我想將事情交給總裁兼執行長喬·利伯拉托先生。先生，請繼續。

Good afternoon, and thank you for your time today. This call contains certain statements that are forward-looking, are based upon current assumptions and expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary materially from the factors listed in Kforce's public filings and other reports and filings with the SEC. We cannot undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. You can find additional information about our results in our earnings release and our SEC filings. In addition, we have published our prepared remarks within our Investor Relations portion of our website.

下午好，感謝您今天抽出時間。本次電話會議包含某些前瞻性陳述，這些陳述基於當前的假設和預期，可能存在風險和不確定性。實際結果可能與 Kforce 的公開文件以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他報告和文件中列出的因素有重大差異。我們不承擔更新任何前瞻性陳述的責任。您可以在我們的收益報告和美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 文件中找到有關我們業績的更多資訊。此外，我們也在我們網站的投資者關係部分發布了我們準備好的評論。

Against the backdrop of a macroeconomic environment that has faced heightened uncertainty for a prolonged period of time, we are pleased to have delivered sequential flex revenue growth in both our technology and finance and accounting businesses in the second quarter. Overall results were largely consistent with the expectations, and I'm proud of how our teams are continuing to execute and take market share.

在宏觀經濟環境長期面臨高度不確定性的背景下，我們很高興看到第二季度我們的技術和財務會計業務的彈性收入均實現了連續成長。整體結果與預期基本一致，我為我們的團隊繼續執行並佔領市場份額感到自豪。

While the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill removes some uncertainty related to tax policy, the global trade negotiations and potential retaliatory measures are far from settled, and the potential derivative negative effects on the US consumer and broader U.S. economy remain highly uncertain as exhibited by continued mix economic data. Conversations with our clients, which are predominantly market-leading companies and our operating trends, suggest that we are continuing to operate in a demand-constrained environment. With that said, our clients continue to carry a significant backlog of strategically imperative technology investment that they expect to execute once greater positive visibility exists.

雖然《一攬子美麗法案》的頒布消除了與稅收政策相關的一些不確定性，但全球貿易談判和潛在的報復措施遠未塵埃落定，而且持續波動的經濟數據表明，其對美國消費者和更廣泛的美國經濟的潛在衍生負面影響仍然具有高度不確定性。與我們的客戶（主要是市場領先的公司）的對話以及我們的營運趨勢表明，我們將繼續在需求受限的環境中運作。話雖如此，我們的客戶仍然積壓了大量具有戰略意義的技術投資，他們希望在出現更積極的可見性時執行這些投資。

Over the past three years, job gains have been concentrated in a handful of sectors: healthcare, leisure and hospitality, construction, education, and government. These areas have driven the bulk of the labor market growth. Outside of these sectors where our client presence is modest, job creation has been minimal to nonexistent. Unemployment claims have remained low, which suggest that companies, broadly speaking, continue to be reluctant to lay off workers after allowing natural attrition to downsize their workforce over the last three years. These data points when combined with the increasing backlog of critical technology initiatives suggest to us that companies may not have sufficient capacity and an expanding economic environment that is free of the current significant macro uncertainties.

過去三年，就業成長集中在幾個行業：醫療保健、休閒和酒店、建築、教育和政府。這些地區推動了大部分勞動市場的成長。在這些我們的客戶數量不多的行業之外，創造的就業機會很少甚至沒有。失業救濟申請人數一直保持在低位，這表明，在過去三年中，企業透過自然減員的方式縮減員工規模後，總體上仍然不願意裁員。這些數據點與關鍵技術計劃的不斷積壓相結合，向我們表明，公司可能沒有足夠的產能和擺脫當前重大宏觀不確定性的不斷擴張的經濟環境。

In addition, our historical experience that companies typically turn to flexible talent solutions as an initial step prior to making core hires while they assess the durability of the macroeconomic conditions. The emergence of AI may intensify this trend as companies prioritize agility until they gain clearer insight into how these technologies will reshape their overall talent strategies.

此外，根據我們的歷史經驗，公司在評估宏觀經濟條件的持久性時，通常會在招募核心員工之前先考慮靈活的人才解決方案。人工智慧的出現可能會加劇這一趨勢，因為公司優先考慮敏捷性，直到他們更清楚地了解這些技術將如何重塑他們的整體人才策略。

Generative AI continues to dominate the headlines as we become a fixture in conversations with our clients and our people. As we have previously articulated, over the long term, we believe that AI and other innovative technologies will continue to play an increasing role in powering businesses. This is informed by decades of experience operating in the technology sector, where we have seen new and disruptive technologies introduced such as the rise of the Internet, the mobility revolution and prolification of applications, and the transition to cloud-based technologies to name a few. Each of these technology evolutions went through similar phases where companies look to understand the technology, assess the implications on their business, determine their strategy, begin to assemble their road maps, and take advantage of the technology.

隨著我們成為與客戶和員工對話的固定話題，生成性人工智慧繼續佔​​據頭條新聞。正如我們之前所闡述的，從長遠來看，我們相信人工智慧和其他創新技術將繼續在推動企業發展方面發揮越來越重要的作用。這是基於我們在科技領域數十年的經驗，我們見證了新興顛覆性技術的出現，例如互聯網的興起、行動革命和應用程式的普及，以及向基於雲端的技術的過渡等等。每項技術的發展都經歷了類似的階段，公司需要了解技術、評估其對業務的影響、確定策略、開始製定路線圖並利用技術。

There were also concerns in the early phase of these evolutions of disruption to certain areas of the labor market. What eventually unfolded through each was the creation of new roles, expansion of existing roles, and redefinition of roles, which led to the acceleration of additional technology investment. We believe we are in the early phases of GenAI. And while the demand we are seeing is not yet evident at scale, we are seeing meaningful opportunities with market-leading companies to assist them in aspects of their overall GenAI journey. Dave Kelly will cover this in more detail.

在這些演變的早期階段，人們也擔心勞動市場的某些領域會受到干擾。最終，每個變革都帶來了新角色的創造、現有角色的擴展以及角色的重新定義，從而加速了額外的技術投資。我們相信我們正處於 GenAI 的早期階段。雖然我們看到的需求尚未大規模顯現，但我們看到與市場領先公司合作的有意義的機會，以協助他們完成整個 GenAI 之旅的各個方面。Dave Kelly 將對此進行更詳細的介紹。

Access to the right talent will be at the heart of company's success in preparing and utilizing these new tools. We are ideally positioned to meet what we expect to be increasing demand in AI foundational readiness work in combination with our ability to access evolving skill sets that will be required as companies move deeper into their AI road maps.

獲得合適的人才將是公司成功準備和利用這些新工具的關鍵。我們處於理想的位置，可以滿足我們預期的人工智慧基礎準備工作中不斷增長的需求，同時我們還能獲得公司深入人工智慧路線圖時所需的不斷發展的技能組合。

We remain strongly positioned to further expand our footprint within existing clients while continuing to expand in new clients to take additional market share as we've been doing successfully for years, reinforcing the foundation we are building to deliver substantial long-term value for our shareholders.

我們仍將保持強大的優勢，進一步擴大我們在現有客戶中的影響力，同時繼續拓展新客戶，以佔據更多的市場份額，正如我們多年來成功做到的那樣，鞏固我們正在建立的基礎，為股東創造長期的重大價值。

As we look ahead to the third quarter and the remainder of 2025, as has been the case over the last few years, we will continue to stay close to our clients and monitor our key performance indicators and make any necessary adjustments to our business while continuing to invest in our long-term strategic priorities with a keen focus on retention of our most productive associates. We remain encouraged by recent trends that continue to affirm the stability of our technology business.

展望第三季和 2025 年剩餘時間，正如過去幾年的情況一樣，我們將繼續密切關注客戶，監控關鍵績效指標，並對我們的業務進行任何必要的調整，同時繼續投資於我們的長期戰略重點，重點關注留住最有生產力的員工。最近的趨勢繼續肯定了我們技術業務的穩定性，這讓我們感到鼓舞。

We've established a strong foundation at Kforce and remain committed to investing in the transformation of our business through our strategic priorities, all of which are meaningfully progressing. Our domestically focused organic growth strategy continues to serve us well, minimizing distractions and enabling our people to fully concentrate on partnering with clients to solve their most critical business challenges.

我們在 Kforce 建立了堅實的基礎，並將繼續致力於透過我們的策略重點投資於業務轉型，所有這些都在取得有意義的進展。我們以國內為重點的有機成長策略繼續為我們提供良好的服務，最大限度地減少干擾，使我們的員工能夠全心全意地與客戶合作，解決他們最關鍵的業務挑戰。

Before turning the call over, I want to take a moment to recognize the incredible people who make up our Kforce team. I am deeply proud of the performance, resilience, and unwavering commitment shown across the organization. We're privileged to work alongside such talented, united, and passionate group of professionals. It's because of the people who make up Kforce we're in such a strong strategic position, one I wouldn't trade with anyone in our space. The future is bright, and I couldn't be more excited about what lies ahead.

在轉交電話之前，我想花點時間來認識一下組成我們 Kforce 團隊的那些出色的人。我為整個組織所展現的業績、韌性和堅定不移的承諾深感自豪。我們很榮幸能與這樣一群才華橫溢、團結一致、充滿熱情的專業人士一起工作。正是因為 Kforce 的員工，我們才擁有如此強大的策略地位，我不會與我們領域的任何人交換這一地位。未來是光明的，我對未來充滿期待。

Dave Kelly, our Chief Operating Officer, will now give greater insights into the performance and recent operating trends; Jeff Hackman, Kforce's Chief Financial Officer, will then provide additional detail on our financial results as well as our future financial expectations. Dave?

我們的營運長 Dave Kelly 現在將更深入地介紹業績和近期營運趨勢；Kforce 的財務長 Jeff Hackman 隨後將提供有關我們的財務業績以及未來財務預期的更多細節。戴夫？

Thank you, Joe. Total revenues of $334.3 million declined 6.2% year over year and were largely consistent with our expectations. Flex revenues in our Technology and Finance and Accounting businesses both improved slightly sequentially in the second quarter, while direct hire revenues were more challenged in the quarter, given the sensitivity in this line of business to macro conditions and came in below our expectations.

謝謝你，喬。總收入3.343億美元，年減6.2%，基本上符合我們的預期。我們的技術和財務與會計業務的彈性收入在第二季度均環比略有改善，而直接僱用收入在本季度面臨更大挑戰，因為該業務線對宏觀條件的敏感度低於我們的預期。

While macroeconomic uncertainties have largely persisted, our clients continue to prioritize mission-critical initiatives though given the backdrop continued to take a measured approach, while they await a period of greater confidence. As increasingly requested by our clients, we've continued to drive with strategic intent, a greater mix of our business through consulting-oriented solutions that align with the desire to access highly skilled talent in a cost-effective manner.

儘管宏觀經濟的不確定性在很大程度上持續存在，但我們的客戶仍然優先考慮關鍵任務計劃，儘管在這種背景下，他們繼續採取審慎的態度，同時等待一段信心增強的時期。隨著客戶日益增長的需求，我們繼續以戰略意圖推動業務的進一步發展，透過諮詢導向的解決方案來滿足以經濟高效的方式獲取高技能人才的願望。

Demand for our consulting led offerings remains strong as evidenced by continued sequential and year-over-year growth and a growing pipeline of qualified opportunities. This offering continued to be a key driver to our overall technology top-line outperformance versus our peers and stability in our margin profile and average bill rate. This growth highlights our adaptability and our success in meeting the changing needs of our clients. While our traditional staffing business has seen year-over-year revenue declines, the expansion of solutions-based engagement underscores our strategic shift and the increasing value clients place on our capability to provide talent through various delivery structures.

我們的諮詢主導產品的需求仍然強勁，這體現在持續的連續和同比增長以及合格機會的不斷增加。此次發行持續成為我們整體技術收入優於同業以及利潤率和平均收費率穩定的關鍵驅動因素。這一成長凸顯了我們的適應能力以及我們在滿足客戶不斷變化的需求方面的成功。雖然我們傳統的人員配備業務收入逐年下降，但基於解決方案的參與度的擴大凸顯了我們的策略轉變以及客戶對我們透過各種交付結構提供人才的能力的日益重視。

An increasingly important aspect of providing cost-effective solutions is our ability to source highly skilled talent from outside the United States. Our development center in Pune, combined with our robust US sales and delivery capabilities and a high-quality vendor network, enables us to comprehensively address the evolving needs of our clients whether onshore or blended onshore, nearshore, or offshore teams.

提供具有成本效益的解決方案的一個越來越重要的方面是我們從美國以外尋找高技能人才的能力。我們位於浦那的開發中心，結合我們強大的美國銷售和交付能力以及高品質的供應商網絡，使我們能夠全面滿足客戶不斷變化的需求，無論是在岸還是混合在岸、近岸或離岸團隊。

The overall average bill rate in our technology business of $90 has remained stable over the past three years despite the uncertain economic environment due to a higher mix of consulting-oriented engagements which carry a higher average bill rate and margin profile.

儘管經濟環境不確定，但我們技術業務的整體平均收費率在過去三年中一直保持穩定，為 90 美元，這是因為諮詢導向業務的比例較高，這些業務具有較高的平均收費率和利潤率。

The demand within each of our practice areas, data and AI, digital, application engineering, and cloud has continued to be strong, and the pipeline of consulting-oriented engagements has continued to improve. Each of these areas are critical to the preparation and implementation of AI tools and companies are expected to need access to critical talent to meet their objectives, which we believe provides significant opportunity for our firm. Joe referenced the opportunities we're seeing in the overall AI space. We thought it would be helpful to articulate a few examples on how we're partnering with clients.

我們每個實踐領域（數據和人工智慧、數位、應用工程和雲端）的需求持續強勁，面向諮詢的業務管道也不斷改善。這些領域對於人工智慧工具的準備和實施都至關重要，公司需要獲得關鍵人才來實現目標，我們相信這為我們公司提供了重要的機會。喬提到了我們在整個人工智慧領域看到的機會。我們認為闡明一些我們如何與客戶合作的例子會很有幫助。

In a recent engagement with a market-leading technology company, we're partnering with one of their key organizations to implement genic AI workflows. These AI-driven solutions enhance end user productivity and efficiency while also unlocking deeper insights through improved visibility into data patterns and trends. In another engagement with a top-tier networking technology company, we help drive measurable value by equipping their sales organization with agentic AI-powered workflows. These solutions are designed to sharpen pipeline visibility and guide sales teams toward the most strategic next actions, ultimately accelerating deal velocity and improving alignment with customer priorities.

在最近與一家市場領先的科技公司的合作中，我們正與他們的一個關鍵組織合作實施基因 AI 工作流程。這些人工智慧驅動的解決方案提高了最終用戶的生產力和效率，同時透過提高對數據模式和趨勢的可見性獲得了更深入的見解。在與一家頂級網路技術公司的另一次合作中，我們透過為他們的銷售組織配備代理人工智慧驅動的工作流程來幫助推動可衡量的價值。這些解決方案旨在提高通路可見度並指導銷售團隊採取最具策略性的下一步行動，最終加快交易速度並提高與客戶優先事項的一致性。

Our focus on providing flexible talent via traditional staff augmentation engagements or through our consulting-oriented engagements, especially in times of uncertainty, positions Kforce ideally to participate in the growing investments in AI, including the required readiness work in addition to more traditional areas of technology that are still progressing.

我們專注於透過傳統的人員擴充專案或透過諮詢導向的專案提供靈活的人才，尤其是在不確定的時期，這使 Kforce 能夠理想地參與人工智慧領域日益增長的投資，包括所需的準備工作以及仍在進步的更傳統的技術領域。

Our ability to source and provide top-tier professionals who can address complex technological challenges has ensured that our services remain indispensable even as overall industry trends have slowed. Our core competency lies in sourcing quality talent at scale for our clients adapting to evolving demand for various skill sets.

我們能夠尋找並提供能夠應對複雜技術挑戰的頂級專業人員，這確保了即使整個行業趨勢放緩，我們的服務仍然不可或缺。我們的核心競爭力在於為客戶大規模地尋找優質人才，以滿足不斷變化的各種技能需求。

As technology has evolved over the decades, we've efficiently adapted to the changing skill set demands of our clients, ensuring we remain a trusted partner in their technological advancements. Our client portfolio is diverse and is predominantly comprised of large market-leading companies. Our focus on addressing their needs continues to be critical to our ability to drive sustainable, long-term above-market performance.

隨著科技在過去幾十年的發展，我們已經有效地適應了客戶不斷變化的技能需求，確保我們仍然是他們技術進步中值得信賴的合作夥伴。我們的客戶組合多種多樣，主要由大型市場領先的公司組成。我們專注於滿足他們的需求，這對於我們實現可持續的、長期高於市場的業績至關重要。

Looking forward to Q3, the pace of overall new engagements in project gains remained stable with Q2 levels, though clients continue to reallocate spend within their businesses to areas they find most promising. As a result of such actions and a small number of clients at the end of Q2, we experienced some unanticipated project ends and therefore expect a modest sequential decline in our technology business in Q3.

展望第三季度，儘管客戶繼續將其業務中的支出重新分配到他們認為最有前景的領域，但專案收益的整體新參與速度與第二季度的水平保持穩定。由於此類行動以及第二季末客戶數量較少，我們經歷了一些意外的專案結束，因此預計第三季我們的技術業務將出現小幅環比下滑。

Flex revenues in our FA business, currently about 6% of revenues, declined 16.8% year over year. But as previously noted, we saw a sequential growth in the second quarter, the first time in several years that this quarter has seen expansion. Our average bill rate of approximately $54 per hour notably improved sequentially and year over year and is reflective of the higher skilled areas we are pursuing. We expect Q3 revenues in FA to be up sequentially on a billing day basis in the mid-single digits. I want to thank this team for their perseverance in driving positive momentum in this space.

我們 FA 業務中的 Flex 收入目前約佔總收入的 6%，年減了 16.8%。但如前所述，我們看到第二季出現了連續成長，這是幾年來本季首次出現擴張。我們的平均收費標準約為每小時 54 美元，與去年同期相比有顯著提高，這反映了我們正在追求更高技能的領域。我們預期 FA 第三季的營收將按結算日數較上季成長中個位數。我要感謝這個團隊堅持不懈地推動這一領域的積極勢頭。

An area where you've seen the most significant impact from the economic uncertainty is in Direct Hire, which represents approximately 2% of overall revenues. We expect Direct Hire to be relatively flat sequentially in Q3. We continue to align our associates a staffing levels with productivity expectations prioritizing the retention of our most productive associates while making targeted investments to ensure we are well prepared to capitalize on market demand as it accelerates.

受經濟不確定性影響最大的領域是直接僱用，它約佔總收入的 2%。我們預計第三季直接僱傭量將環比持平。我們繼續將員工的人員配備水準與生產力預期相結合，優先保留最有生產力的員工，同時進行有針對性的投資，以確保我們做好充分準備，充分利用不斷加速的市場需求。

Over the past three years, we selectively invested in our sales teams while rationalizing our delivery resources, which have decreased by close to 45% over that time period. Despite these reductions, we believe we've ample capacity to absorb several quarters of increased demand without adding significant resources.

在過去三年中，我們有選擇地投資於我們的銷售團隊，同時合理化我們的交付資源，在此期間交付資源減少了近 45%。儘管有這些削減，我們相信我們有足夠的能力來吸收幾個季度的成長需求，而無需增加大量資源。

Additionally, we continue to invest in our Consulting Solutions business. We believe the slight sequential growth we experienced in Q2 reflects the continued stabilization of demand. We remain tremendously excited about our strategic position and our ability to continue delivering above-market performance in our technology business as we have for well over a decade. The success we achieved as an organization is a testament to the unwavering trust that our clients, candidates, and consultants place in us.

此外，我們繼續投資於我們的諮詢解決方案業務。我們認為，第二季經歷的輕微環比成長反映了需求的持續穩定。我們對我們的戰略地位以及我們十多年來繼續在技術業務中提供高於市場表現的能力感到非常興奮。我們作為一個組織所取得的成功證明了我們的客戶、候選人和顧問對我們堅定不移的信任。

I'll now turn the call over to Jeff Hackman, Kforce's Chief Financial Officer.

現在我將把電話轉給 Kforce 的財務長 Jeff Hackman。

Thank you, Dave. Second-quarter revenue of $334 million and earnings per share of $0.59 were both largely consistent with our expectations. Overall gross margins increased 40 basis points sequentially to 27.1% due to an increase in Flex margins of 80 basis points, primarily resulting from the seasonal pickup in payroll taxes. This was partially offset by a lower-than-expected mix of direct hire revenues. On a year-over-year basis, overall spread and business mix have been stable though gross margins declined 70 basis points due to higher healthcare costs and lower direct hire mix.

謝謝你，戴夫。第二季營收為 3.34 億美元，每股收益為 0.59 美元，與我們的預期基本一致。整體毛利率季增 40 個基點，達到 27.1%，這主要是由於工資稅的季節性上漲導致 Flex 利潤率增加了 80 個基點。但低於預期的直接租賃收入部分抵消了這一影響。與去年同期相比，儘管由於醫療保健成本上升和直接僱用組合下降導致毛利率下降了 70 個基點，但整體利差和業務組合保持穩定。

Flex margins in our technology business increased 70 basis points sequentially due to the alleviation of Q1 payroll tax resets. Flex margins and Technology declined 30 basis points year-over-year due to higher healthcare costs, which were partially offset by slightly improved spreads. As we look forward to Q3, we expect Flex margins to remain stable.

由於第一季工資稅重置的緩解，我們技術業務的彈性利潤率環比增長了 70 個基點。由於醫療保健成本上升，靈活利潤率和技術同比下降了 30 個基點，但利差略有改善，部分抵消了這一影響。展望第三季度，我們預計 Flex 利潤率將保持穩定。

Overall, SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenue of 22.2% were within the range of our expectations as we have continued to manage productivity and profitability level as well. SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenue increased 40 basis points year over year, primarily driven by deleverage from lower revenue levels and higher healthcare costs, which were partially offset by leverage gained from continued refinements in our headcount and lower performance-based compensation. We are continuing to make targeted investments in our sales capabilities while tightly scrutinizing spend in all other areas of our business.

整體而言，銷售、一般及行政費用佔收入的 22.2% 在我們的預期範圍內，因為我們也持續管理生產力和獲利水準。銷售、一般及行政費用佔收入的百分比年增 40 個基點，主要原因是收入水準下降和醫療保健成本上升帶來的去槓桿化，但這些成本被我們持續精簡員工隊伍和降低績效薪酬所獲得的槓桿部分抵消。我們將繼續對銷售能力進行有針對性的投資，同時嚴格審查我們業務所有其他領域的支出。

We also continue to advance our enterprise initiatives, which contributes to some of the negative leverage we are seeing in SG&A costs, including the implementation of Workday, the maturation of our India development center, and further integration of our solutions offering, all of which are expected to significantly contribute to our longer-term financial objectives and prepare us well for when companies more aggressively invest in their technology initiatives. We expect to begin to realize the benefits of our Workday implementation towards the end of 2026 as we stabilize ourselves post go-live with 2027 as the year we would expect to begin to realize significant annualized benefits.

我們還將繼續推進企業計劃，這導致了我們在銷售、一般和行政費用中看到的一些負面槓桿，包括 Workday 的實施、印度開發中心的成熟以及解決方案產品的進一步整合，所有這些都有望顯著促進我們的長期財務目標，並為公司更積極地投資其技術計劃做好準備。我們預計，隨著上線後情況的穩定，我們將在 2026 年底開始實現 Workday 實施帶來的好處，並預計在 2027 年開始實現顯著的年度收益。

Our operating margin of 4.5% and our effective tax rate in the second quarter was 24.6%. The effective tax rate was slightly lower than we expected due to a favorable adjustment in certain 2025 tax credits in the second quarter. We also expect a lower effective tax rate in the third quarter related to the finalization of 2024 tax credits and our income tax returns.

我們第二季的營業利益率為 4.5%，有效稅率為 24.6%。由於第二季對某些 2025 年稅收抵免進行了有利調整，有效稅率略低於我們的預期。我們也預計，由於 2024 年稅收抵免和所得稅申報表的最終確定，第三季的有效稅率將會降低。

During the quarter, we remained active in returning capital to our shareholders with $17.4 million in capital being returned through dividends of $6.9 million and share repurchases of approximately $10.5 million. We continue to carry a very solid balance sheet and historically conservative leverage against trailing 12 months EBITDA levels.

在本季度，我們繼續積極向股東返還資本，透過 690 萬美元的股息和約 1,050 萬美元的股票回購返還了 1,740 萬美元的資本。我們繼續保持非常穩健的資產負債表和相對於過去 12 個月 EBITDA 水準的歷史保守槓桿率。

As we move forward, we intend to maintain net debt levels relatively consistent with where we ended the second quarter of roughly $67.5 million. Any excess cash the business generates beyond fulfilling our capital requirements and quarterly dividend program will be utilized to repurchase our shares. Of course, we have significant remaining availability under our credit facility to get more aggressive in repurchasing shares if we believe there is a disconnect between our operating trends and expectations and our valuation.

在未來的發展中，我們打算將淨債務水準維持在第二季末的約 6,750 萬美元的水準上。公司在滿足資本要求和季度股息計劃之外產生的任何多餘現金都將用於回購我們的股票。當然，如果我們認為我們的營運趨勢和預期與估值之間存在脫節，我們還有大量剩餘的信貸額度可用於更積極地回購股票。

Operating cash flows were $18.4 million, and our return on equity continues to exceed 30%. We continue to execute our organically driven business well, and we believe our industry-leading relative performance is a result of our intense focus and technology staffing and solutions in the US augmented by our nearshore and offshore capabilities.

經營現金流為 1,840 萬美元，股本回報率持續超過 30%。我們繼續良好地執行我們的有機驅動業務，我們相信我們行業領先的相對業績是我們在美國高度關注和技術人員配備及解決方案的結果，並得到了我們近岸和離岸能力的增強。

We continue to carry a pristine balance sheet with conservative debt levels and return significant capital to our shareholders. This consistent repurchase activity continues to be strongly accretive to earnings.

我們繼續保持著完美的資產負債表和保守的債務水平，並向股東返還大量資本。這種持續的回購活動持續大幅增加收益。

We have returned approximately $1 billion in capital to our shareholders since 2007, which has represented approximately 75% of the cash generated, while significantly growing our business and laying a foundation for significant profitability gains as revenues grow.

自 2007 年以來，我們已向股東返還了約 10 億美元的資本，約佔所產生現金的 75%，同時顯著發展了我們的業務，並為隨著收入增長而實現大幅盈利奠定了基礎。

Our threshold for any prospective acquisition remains very high. The third quarter has 64 billing days, which is the same as the second quarter of 2025 and the third quarter of 2024. We expect Q3 revenues to be in the range of $324 million to $332 million and earnings per share to be between $0.53 and $0.61.

我們對任何潛在收購的門檻仍然很高。第三季有64個計費日，與2025年第二季和2024年第三季相同。我們預計第三季營收將在 3.24 億美元至 3.32 億美元之間，每股收益將在 0.53 美元至 0.61 美元之間。

Our guidance is based upon the assumption of a continuation of a stable environment and does not consider the potential impact of any other unusual or nonrecurring items that may occur. We remain excited about our strategic position and prospects for continuing to deliver above-market results while continuing to make the necessary investments to help drive long-term growth and enable us to achieve our longer-term profitability objective of attaining double-digit operating margins.

我們的指導是基於穩定環境持續的假設，並沒有考慮可能發生的任何其他異常或非經常性事項的潛在影響。我們對我們的戰略地位和繼續提供高於市場業績的前景感到興奮，同時繼續進行必要的投資以幫助推動長期增長並使我們能夠實現實現兩位數營業利潤率的長期盈利目標。

As we mentioned previously, we expect operating margins to approximately 8% when we returned to $1.7 billion in annual revenues, which is more than 100 basis points higher than when that revenue level was achieved in 2022. This improvement is being driven by the expected benefits derived from investments in our strategic priorities, which will drive down operating costs.

正如我們之前提到的，我們預計，當我們的年收入恢復到 17 億美元時，營業利潤率將達到約 8%，這比 2022 年實現該收入水平時高出 100 多個基點。這項改善是由我們對策略重點的投資所帶來的預期收益所推動的，這將降低營運成本。

On behalf of our entire management team, I'd like to extend a sincere thank you to our teams for their efforts.

我謹代表我們整個管理團隊向我們的團隊所做的努力表示誠摯的感謝。

We would now like to turn the call over for questions.

現在我們想將電話轉交給提問者。

(Operator Instructions) Mark Marcon, Baird.

（操作員指示）馬克·馬孔，貝爾德。

Hi. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. Joe, you mentioned where we are in terms of AI and you mentioned a few projects that you guys have been working on, can you just talk a little bit more about the levels of discussion that you're having there? And when you think the spicket will actually turn up to a greater extent in terms of the areas that you can really assist clients in? Obviously, there's lots of questions about that.

你好。下午好，感謝您回答我的問題。喬，你提到了我們在人工智慧方面的現狀，並提到了你們一直在開展的一些項目，你能否再多談談你們正在進行的討論水平？您認為，就您真正能夠為客戶提供幫助的領域而言，spicket 實際上會出現在更大的範圍內嗎？顯然，對此存在著許多疑問。

Yeah, it's a great question, Mark. It's good to hear from you. I'd say, when we look at the external environment, the majority of the actual work our teams are focused on continue to be with clients in and around the foundational readiness aspects associated with governance, data, cloud, and security. Most organizations continue to remain in what I would call this preparation phase associated with AI.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，馬克。很高興收到你的來信。我想說，當我們審視外部環境時，我們團隊所關注的大部分實際工作仍然與客戶一起關注與治理、資料、雲端和安全相關的基礎準備方面。大多數組織仍然處於我所說的與人工智慧相關的準備階段。

On the use case side of things, we have worked, and I think Dave Kelly touched upon some of this in his opening comments with some technology clients, which are further ahead of the curve to leverage AI aspects really within their products. I would say -- I would really say that's the exception versus the norm right now.

在用例方面，我們已經開展了工作，我認為 Dave Kelly 在與一些技術客戶的開場發言中談到了其中的一些內容，這些客戶在利用人工智慧方面真正領先於其他客戶。我想說──我真的想說，這是目前的例外，而不是常態。

There's a couple of studies out there that kind of estimate that about 10% of organizations are really fully equipped to truly leverage AI. I would say those are really -- most of those organizations are on the technology. Of course, there are some that are outside of technology. But in general, that's what I would categorize it up.

有幾項研究估計，大約 10% 的組織確實具備充分利用人工智慧的能力。我想說的是，這些組織確實——大多數都採用技術。當然，還有一些與技術無關的。但總的來說，這就是我對它的分類。

So I think there's a significant opportunity, especially in and around data, which this is not going to be a short horizon for organizations to get their data organized, do everything they need to be able to leverage future AI opportunities and then the whole digital aspect. This is where we see a lot of modernization activity going on. similar to what we're doing here at Kforce, right? I mean, we're in the stages of implementing Workday from our legacy PeopleSoft environment, and that's going to prepare us so that we can fully take advantage and leverage AI down the road. And that's kind of what we're seeing within our particularly customer set. So hopefully, that gives you a little bit of flavor.

因此，我認為這裡存在著重大機遇，尤其是在數據及其相關領域，對於組織來說，這不是一個短期的機遇，他們需要整理數據，盡一切努力來利用未來的人工智慧機會以及整個數位化方面。我們看到這裡正在進行許多現代化活動。類似於我們在 Kforce 所做的，對嗎？我的意思是，我們正處於從傳統 PeopleSoft 環境實施 Workday 的階段，這將為我們做好準備，以便我們將來能夠充分利用和利用人工智慧。這就是我們在特定客戶群中看到的情況。希望這能帶給你一些啟發。

That's very helpful, thank you. And then there was a comment with regards to -- if we take a look at the sequential trend for Tech Flex going into Q3 where there was -- it sounded like there were a few project ends that came along unexpectedly. Can you talk a little bit about what you're seeing in terms of those early project ends. I've been hearing a number of comments from other companies along the same lines.

這非常有幫助，謝謝。然後有一條評論是關於——如果我們看一下 Tech Flex 進入第三季度的連續趨勢——聽起來好像有幾個項目的結束是意外發生的。您能否稍微談談您對這些早期項目結束的看法。我聽到其他公司也表達了類似的意見。

And I'm just wondering, are these projects that are ending because the budgets just don't allow for them to continue? Are they bringing those projects in-house? Any sort of color that you could provide would be really helpful. Or do you expect those projects to resume?

我只是想知道，這些項目是否因為預算不允許它們繼續下去而終止？他們將這些項目帶入公司內部嗎？您提供的任何顏色都會非常有幫助。或者您預計這些項目將會恢復嗎？

Yeah. Mark, this is Dave. You're alluding to the comment we made about this a couple of clients that we saw some unanticipated ends at the end of the year. So maybe again to give you a bit more color because we've made some commentary around what we see as some general stability in the marketplace to give you some perspective of ends and/or what we're seeing and have been seeing over the course of the last couple of quarters, and I'll share a little bit of color on these ends as well on these projects.

是的。馬克，這是戴夫。您指的是我們對此的評論，一些客戶表示我們在年底看到了一些意想不到的結局。因此，也許再次為您提供更多細節，因為我們已經對我們所看到的市場整體穩定性做了一些評論，以便為您提供一些關於結果和/或我們所看到的以及在過去幾個季度中一直看到的情況的觀點，並且我將在這些結果以及這些項目上分享一些細節。

So we've really seen over the course of the last couple of quarters, Q1, Q2 and certainly into the third quarter. Some real stability in the new assignments that we've seen, the new project wins that we've had, some stability in starts, if you will. And actually, clients looking to maintain the resources we've seen attrition levels be a little bit lower than we had anticipated.

因此，我們確實看到了過去幾個季度，第一季、第二季以及第三季的情況。我們所看到的新任務、我們所贏得的新項目都具有真正的穩定性，如果你願意的話，在開始時也具有一定的穩定性。實際上，客戶希望維持資源，我們發現流失率比我們預期的要低。

Frankly, that had resulted in as we were into -- other than the last couple of weeks of the second quarter, we'd actually seen mild increases in the amount of consultants that we have seen on assignment. So pretty consistent with what we had seen in the first quarter and then similar to what we've seen in the first few weeks of the third quarter as well.

坦白說，這導致了我們所處的局面——除了第二季的最後幾週，我們實際上看到執行任務的顧問數量略有增加。與我們在第一季看到的情況非常一致，也與我們在第三季前幾週看到的情況類似。

And then right at the end of the quarter, really, the last couple of weeks of the quarter, is when we saw these ends, just as a specific example, I would tell you, we were actually in the throes of discussing an extension and an increase in the number of consultants for the projects that we're undertaking.

然後就在本季度末，實際上，在本季度的最後幾週，我們看到了這些結局，作為一個具體的例子，我想告訴你，我們實際上正在努力討論延長和增加我們正在進行的項目的顧問數量。

And right at the end of the quarter, the client basically decided that they found a better utilization of that investment in another technology project and they ended our unexpectedly really ended this project as opposed to increasing it. So this was not a reduction in spend on technology spend. It was just a reallocation of spend. Unfortunately, it was in a project that we weren't participating in.

就在本季末，客戶基本上決定在另一個技術項目中更好地利用這筆投資，因此他們意外地結束了這個項目，而不是增加它。因此，這並不是技術支出的減少。這只是支出的重新分配。不幸的是，我們沒有參與這個計畫。

So I mean, I look at all of those things, those -- those data set that I just shared with you and what has happened here. And frankly, as we think about what we've listened to over the last couple of weeks, the general tonality is stability. And I think it really resonates with us that we're seeing very, very stable investment environment and technology.

所以我的意思是，我查看了所有這些事情，這些事情——我剛剛與你們分享的資料集以及這裡發生的事情。坦白說，當我們回顧過去幾週所聽到的內容時，整體基調是穩定的。我認為，我們看到非常非常穩定的投資環境和技術，這確實引起了我們的共鳴。

How would you characterize the pipeline right now?

您現在如何描述該管道？

That's a really good question. I would say the pipeline continues to be well strong. I think Jeff alluded to the fact that we still see a lot of pent-up demand on more of those legacy projects that clients are looking to invest in that they were looking for some greater insights as to an inflection. And I think we're benefiting potentially in the near term with some greater certainty in the marketplace.

這真是一個好問題。我想說的是，管道將繼續保持強勁。我認為傑夫暗示了這樣一個事實：我們仍然看到客戶希望投資的更多遺留項目存在大量被壓抑的需求，他們正在尋找一些關於拐點的更深入的見解。我認為，隨著市場更加確定，我們近期可能會受益。

But additionally, and maybe more specifically to your question, we have seen a pretty significant increase in the pipeline in the areas that Joe mentioned a minute ago, data digital, clearly, there's additional spend there. So there's building pipeline, I think, generally in the hopes that we see some improvement in the economic landscape for those projects that are waiting on the sidelines.

但此外，也許更具體地回答您的問題，我們看到喬剛才提到的數據數字領域的管道出現了相當顯著的增長，顯然，那裡有額外的支出。因此，我認為，我們正在建造管道，總體上是希望看到那些等待開工的項目的經濟狀況有所改善。

And then we're also seeing investments in areas that are essential. As we've always said, and data preparation and AI preparation is one of those areas where the pipeline actually is building. So I think, generally speaking, some promising some promising indicators for us.

我們也看到對重要領域的投資。正如我們一直所說，資料準備和人工智慧準備是管道實際正在建造的領域之一。所以我認為，總體而言，一些指標對我們來說是有希望的。

Great. And then can you just talk to what extent do you see companies potentially holding off on some legacy projects that they have on their pipeline just because they're uncertain about what the impact of AI is going to be in terms of potentially making those legacy solutions obsolete or really out of date and therefore, just being a little bit uncertain just from where we are from a technology development perspective.

偉大的。然後，您能否談談，您認為公司在多大程度上可能會推遲他們正在進行的一些遺留項目，僅僅是因為他們不確定人工智慧會產生什麼影響，即是否可能使這些遺留解決方案過時或真正過時，因此，從技術發展的角度來看，我們有點不確定。

Yeah. I don't think thematically that is what we're hearing, Mark, frankly. I think what we continue to hear. It's really the story remains the same. There's a lot of work that needs to be done, right? Everything that is being done in technology is not being done in AI.

是的。馬克，坦白說，我不認為我們聽到的是這個主題。我認為我們繼續聽到的是。故事確實還是老樣子。還有很多工作要做，對吧？科技領域所做的事情並不是人工智慧所能做到的。

Yes, there is investment there. But there's a lot of work, I can say that is true for our own shop. We are always looking for people to do a lot of work here. We've got a transformation in our back office. We've got a lot of resources that we are looking for internally as well as through third parties to help us with that.

是的，那裡有投資。但我可以說，對於我們自己的商店來說，還有很多工作要做。我們一直在尋找能在這裡做大量工作的人。我們的後台辦公室已經發生了轉變。我們擁有大量的資源，我們正在尋找內部資源以及透過第三方來幫助我們實現這一目標。

A lot of companies are going through the same thing. And what the hesitancy is saying, great, I can see value being derived from these investments, but they're looking for because of the economic uncertainty, a more immediate return and therefore, are hesitant to pull the trigger. So I don't think that really that story has changed. And it's not a matter of them saying, we're not going to really spend this money at great scale because we're waiting for AI to change everything.

許多公司都正在經歷同樣的事情。猶豫不決的意思是，很好，我可以看到這些投資的價值，但由於經濟的不確定性，他們尋求更直接的回報，因此，他們猶豫是否要採取行動。所以我並不認為這個故事真的改變了。他們並沒有說，我們不會大規模地花這筆錢，因為我們正在等待人工智慧改變一切。

As a matter of fact, as Joe alluded to, there's a lot of preparatory work. There's years we think of work that needs to happen in order for companies to realize those benefits. So you can't just wait years and I don't think companies are willing to do that as it relates to AI. It's more economically driven than anything else.

事實上，正如喬所提到的，還有很多準備工作要做。我們花了數年時間思考需要進行哪些工作才能使公司實現這些利益。所以你不能等待數年，而且我認為公司也不願意在人工智慧方面這樣做。它比其他任何因素都更受經濟驅動。

Yeah, Mark, I would add on to that, that a lot of what we're seeing is what I'll call for a broader term modernization organization, the legacy systems that you're talking about, yes, they're redirecting dollars to modernize those systems so that they can be positioned for AI. But the spend is still there. Our people continuing to maintain legacy systems only because they have to.

是的，馬克，我想補充一點，我們所看到的很多東西都是我所說的更廣泛的現代化組織，你所談論的遺留系統，是的，他們正在重新分配資金來現代化這些系統，以便它們能夠用於人工智慧。但支出仍然存在。我們的人員繼續維護遺留系統只是因為他們必須這樣做。

One of the hypothesis out there is AI could be the catalyst to one day retire the legacy COBOL systems that I used to place programmers in about 37 years ago, I think most of them are retired at this point in time. But I do think that AI can assist and there was a really good article Wall Street Journal, I think it was probably about a month, 1.5 months ago talking about Morgan Stanley's situation of migration of their COBOL and how they're leveraging AI. But it's not like you just throw this at AI and it rewrites the code and now you have a new system. What it's really helping them with is basically to get out all of the information so that now then they can start the development and migrate that to more modern systems.

其中一個假設是，人工智慧可能成為催化劑，有朝一日淘汰我大約 37 年前用來安排程式設計師使用的傳統 COBOL 系統，我認為現在大多數 COBOL 系統都已經退休了。但我確實認為人工智慧可以提供幫助，《華爾街日報》有一篇非常好的文章，我想大概是一個月前，一個半月前，討論了摩根士丹利的 COBOL 遷移情況以及他們如何利用人工智慧。但這並不意味著你只需將其扔給人工智慧，它就會重寫程式碼，然後你就有了一個新系統。它真正幫助他們的是獲取所有信息，以便他們現在可以開始開發並將其遷移到更現代的系統。

And then the next phase of that like we've seen with other situations with secular shifts, we're beginning now to hear about a lot of newer roles that are being introduced. In fact, there was an article just read recently that one out of every four jobs posted from a tech standpoint have something AI related. And we're seeing new jobs come out, not just the prompt engineers, but AI support specialists automation support managers, AI security engineers, AI project managers. And that will be that whole next wave as organizations get through the data and the modernization aspects, which is a long journey for most organizations to get there.

然後，下一階段，就像我們在其他長期變化的情況下看到的那樣，我們現在開始聽到許多正在引入的新角色。事實上，最近讀到的一篇文章指出，從技術角度發布的每四個職位中就有一個與人工智慧相關。我們看到新的工作出現，不僅是提示工程師，還有人工智慧支援專家、自動化支援經理、人工智慧安全工程師、人工智慧專案經理。隨著組織逐漸掌握數據和現代化，這將是下一波浪潮，對大多數組織來說，這將是一段漫長的旅程。

Trevor Romeo, William Blair.

特雷弗羅密歐、威廉布萊爾。

Hi, good evening, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. I had one to start on the FA business. I know it's a smaller part of the company, but you pointed out the sequential growth in Q2. I think you expect it to grow again in Q3, just given the trends have been, I guess, the reverse of that for a long time now. So any more color on what's driven the trends that flip positive there? And are we now at the point where you think the sort of repositioning you've been working on is fully done?

大家好，晚上好。感謝您回答這些問題。我有一個可以開始 FA 業務的人。我知道這只是公司較小的一部分，但您指出了第二季度的連續成長。我認為你預計它會在第三季再次成長，只是考慮到趨勢已經長期處於相反的狀態。那麼，您能進一步解釋一下是什麼推動了那裡的趨勢向好嗎？您認為您一直在努力進行的重新定位工作現在已經完全完成了嗎？

Yeah. Trevor, this is Dave. I appreciate the question. First of all, I think it goes without saying we're exceptionally proud of this team and the work that they have done. As you pointed out, it's been a couple of years here of probably some painful times for them and have really done a great job.

是的。特雷弗，這是戴夫。我很感謝你提出這個問題。首先，我想不用說，我們對這個團隊和他們所做的工作感到無比自豪。正如您所指出的，他們可能在過去的幾年裡經歷了一些痛苦的時期，但他們確實做得很好。

Yeah, we've been in the process, as you said, repositioning this business, the success here that we're seeing recently is a redoubling really a focus in building an executable model.

是的，正如您所說，我們一直在重新定位這項業務，我們最近看到的成功是加倍注重建立可執行模型。

We've got a highly tenured team, right, as you would imagine, over the course of time, given the size of the revenue stream, the best and brightest are still here. And obviously, you can rely upon them. They're executing well.

我們擁有一支資歷深厚的團隊，正如您所想像的那樣，隨著時間的推移，考慮到收入流的規模，最優秀、最聰明的人才仍然留在這裡。顯然，你可以信賴他們。他們表現得很好。

You'd mentioned that we saw sequential growth in the second quarter, and we're signaling again that we expect even stronger sequential growth. So I think the repositioning of the business to higher skill sets we're out of the administrative F&A work.

您曾提到，我們在第二季度實現了連續成長，我們再次暗示，我們預計連續成長將更加強勁。因此，我認為將業務重新定位到更高技能水平，我們就不再需要行政財務和會計工作了。

And we're clearly with an average bill rate in the mid-50s in the accountant and above analyst type of territory, which we think marries quite well to what the needs of our clients, our more sophisticated clients are in our technology footprint. So we're very pleased with that synergy. I think that we're going to see on a on a go-forward basis. I think it's fair to say with a couple of quarters of sequential improvement that certainly things have stabilized here. expect stability and great execution from the team.

顯然，我們在會計師和分析師以上級別領域的平均收費率在 50% 左右，我們認為這與我們的客戶的需求非常吻合，我們的技術覆蓋範圍內的客戶更為成熟。所以我們對這種協同作用感到非常滿意。我認為我們將會繼續觀察。我認為可以公平地說，經過幾個季度的連續改善，情況肯定已經穩定下來。期待團隊的穩定性和優秀的執行力。

Obviously, the market itself is going to be a factor in our continued success, but feel really good about where we are and the future of how F&A is.

顯然，市場本身將成為我們持續成功的一個因素，但我們對目前的狀況以及 F&A 的未來感到非常滿意。

That's great, Dave. Thanks. Would you say, I guess, that that's more reflective of, I guess, Kforce's specific execution in the area? Or any sort of uptick in demand that you're seeing or maybe a little bit of both?

太好了，戴夫。謝謝。我想，您是否會說這更能反映 Kforce 在該地區的具體執行情況？或者您看到需求有任何上升趨勢，或者兩者兼而有之？

Yeah. I think it's a couple of things, right? Like I said, we've got some exceptional people. We've got -- I think the average tenure of this group is more than 10 years, right? So -- so you got to have a lot of experienced people who are very good at what they do.

是的。我認為有幾件事，對嗎？正如我所說，我們有一些傑出的人才。我們有——我認為這個群體的平均任期超過 10 年，對嗎？所以——你必須擁有很多經驗豐富、擅長自己工作的人。

The market itself, I think it's fair to say it's not great per se, but they're executing well. We've got a great client base, right? One of the things that Kforce has the great benefit of his great relationships over a long period of time with nameplate companies. And so I think it's a function of our footprint, the simplicity of our model and the capability of our people more than the market.

就市場本身而言，我認為可以說它本身並不是很好，但他們的表現很好。我們擁有龐大的客戶群，對嗎？Kforce 的一大優勢在於與銘牌公司長期保持的良好關係。因此，我認為這更多地取決於我們的足跡、我們模型的簡單性以及我們員工的能力，而不是市場。

Okay. That's great. Thank you for that. And then I just wanted to ask quickly on -- I guess, on gross margin, I think it came in a little below your guidance in the past couple of quarters. So the question is, is the healthcare cost issue I guess, is it still unfavorable to your expectations? Is it primarily a direct hire mix issue because that has a big impact on the margins? Because I know you've said that the bill pay spreads have been pretty stable. So just any more color on the pieces there would be helpful.

好的。那太棒了。謝謝你。然後我想快速問一下——我想，就毛利率而言，我認為過去幾季的毛利率略低於您的預期。所以問題是，我猜醫療成本問題是否仍然不利於您的預期？這主要是直接僱傭組合問題嗎？因為這對利潤率有很大影響嗎？因為我知道您說過帳單支付利差一直相當穩定。因此，只要在這些部件上添加更多顏色就會有所幫助。

Yeah. Trevor, it's Jeff. I appreciate the question. Yeah, I think the net of the story when you look at second-quarter results is direct hire mix certainly came down in the second quarter, and that put a bit of pressure on overall gross margins. Really the story when you look at our -- both our technology and our FA Flex businesses, both are behaving somewhat similar from a stability standpoint.

是的。特雷弗，我是傑夫。我很感謝你提出這個問題。是的，我認為，當你查看第二季度的業績時，故事的重點是直接僱用組合在第二季度肯定下降了，這給整體毛利率帶來了一些壓力。事實上，當你觀察我們的情況時——我們的技術和 FA Flex 業務，從穩定性的角度來看，兩者的表現有些相似。

If you look back to the last 1.5 years and our Technology Flex margins have been very stable. Healthcare costs on a year-over-year basis were still up. But against our expectation that was not a driver positive or negative in the quarter. So the stability that we have been seeing in our Flex margin profile, we continue to see moving into the second quarter.

如果回顧過去 1.5 年，我們的 Technology Flex 利潤率一直非常穩定。醫療保健成本比去年同期仍然上漲。但與我們的預期相反，這並沒有為本季帶來正面或負面的影響。因此，我們一直看到的 Flex 利潤率狀況的穩定性，我們將繼續看到進入第二季。

Actually, when you look at a year-over-year basis, spreads are actually slightly improving and our technology businesses that helped to offset some of the increased healthcare costs year over year.

實際上，當你查看同比數據時，你會發現利差實際上略有改善，而且我們的技術業務有助於抵消同比增加的部分醫療保健成本。

Sequentially, we received the same seasonal payroll tax benefit that we traditionally see again, healthcare cost is not a driving factor sequentially and spreads improved very mildly at our technology business sequentially. And frankly, going forward, we've been seeing stability. We would expect stability moving forward.

連續地，我們獲得了與傳統上相同的季節性工資稅福利，醫療保健成本並不是連續的驅動因素，並且我們的技術業務的利差連續地略有改善。坦白說，展望未來，我們已經看到了穩定。我們期待未來能夠保持穩定。

We've talked part of the reason for that stability over a longer-term period of time is the progress of our consulting-oriented solutions. That continues to contribute positively to our financial performance and the gross margins in that line of business are still 400 to 600 basis points higher. So we certainly get the mix benefit up there. So a little bit longer, Trevor, than maybe what you're looking for, but hopefully, that helps.

我們已經討論過，長期穩定的部分原因是我們以諮詢為導向的解決方案的進步。這繼續對我們的財務業績產生積極影響，該業務線的毛利率仍然高出 400 至 600 個基點。因此我們肯定會獲得混合效益。特雷弗，這可能比你想要的要長一點，但希望這會有所幫助。

Tobey Sommer, Truist Securities.

托比‧索默 (Tobey Sommer)，Truist Securities。

Thank you. In terms of offshore, you mentioned that as a bright spot. Does the company have a wide enough array of sort of different price points because of the footprint that you have to be able to offer sort of as many menu choices as customers may want?

謝謝。在離岸方面，您提到這是一個亮點。由於業務範圍的原因，公司是否擁有足夠廣泛的不同價格點，以便能夠提供客戶可能需要的盡可能多的菜單選擇？

Yeah. Tobey, this is Dave. Our footprint in in Pune has been built specifically to complement the skill sets that we are utilizing and placing here domestically. So as we've mentioned before, clients obviously are looking for ways to be more cost effective or driving requests through blended models, both to provide talent onshore, nearshore, offshore. So the intent of this endeavor here has been to support the revenue footprint that we have in the United States.

是的。托比，這是戴夫。我們在浦那的業務足跡是專門為補充我們在國內使用和部署的技能而建立的。正如我們之前提到的，客戶顯然正在尋找更具成本效益的方法或透過混合模式推動請求，以在岸、近岸和離岸提供人才。因此，我們此項努力的目的是支持我們在美國的收入足跡。

So what I mean by that is we are not and we don't intend to build the delivery center in India to expand the type of roles that we are placing. We're not going to build helpdesk service centers to capture revenue. This objective here is meant to help drive revenue in the United States specifically. So it's relatively speaking, narrowly focused we are obviously narrowly focusing skill sets broadly focusing -- broadly focused as a bit of an oxymoron, the footprint to meet the needs of all of our clients, however, because I would say the vast majority of clients are looking for this type of service.

所以我的意思是，我們不會、也不打算在印度建立交付中心來擴大我們所安排的職位類型。我們不會為了獲取收入而建立服務台服務中心。此目標旨在幫助推動美國的收入成長。因此，相對而言，我們顯然會狹隘地專注於技能組合，而廣泛地關注——廣泛地關注有點矛盾，但是為了滿足所有客戶的需求，我想說絕大多數客戶都在尋找這種類型的服務。

Okay. From -- looking at your guidance, how would it compare, do you think, versus what would seasonally happen sequentially to your revenue gross margin and in bottom line in the third quarter. It's been a while since we've had a seasonal norm because the industry hasn't had a few years here declines and off the great resignation when things were crazy good. So what would it look like historically?

好的。從您的指導來看，您認為與第三季收入、毛利率和利潤的季節性變化相比，它會如何？我們已經有一段時間沒有出現季節性常態了，因為這個行業幾年來都沒有出現過衰退，也沒有出現過在情況非常好的時候出現大規模的辭職。那麼從歷史上看它會是什麼樣子呢？

Yeah. Tobey, this is Jeff. Totally fair question. I think I'll answer the third quarter. I think in the second quarter, when we were sequentially positive in both our Technology Flex and our FA Flex business what would typically be the case is somewhere probably closer to 3%. In the second quarter, we came in slightly positive.

是的。托比，這是傑夫。這是一個非常公平的問題。我想我會回答第三季。我認為在第二季度，當我們的 Technology Flex 和 FA Flex 業務連續呈現正成長時，通常的情況可能接近 3%。在第二季度，我們的表現略有改善。

Typically, for us, the second quarter is obviously the highest sequential billing day increase coming off the seasonally low first quarter. As you go into the third quarter, the growth there is certainly a bit more muted.

通常情況下，對我們來說，第二季顯然是繼季節性低迷的第一季之後，連續計費日增幅最高的季度。進入第三季度，那裡的成長肯定會變得更加緩慢。

I guess, Tobey, I'll give you a comparison maybe on pre-COVID, it was probably around 2% sequential might be an average free COVID because we had certainly 2020, which was anomalistic. And then we had the hyper growth in '21 and '22 and then relatively subdued growth since then. So what might be normal is maybe somewhere closer to 2% on an average for a third quarter sequential impact.

托比，我想給你做一個比較，也許與新冠疫情之前相比，大概是連續 2% 左右，這可能是平均的免費新冠疫情，因為我們肯定有 2020 年，這是異常的。然後我們在 21 年和 22 年經歷了超高速成長，之後增長相對緩慢。因此，第三季連續影響的平均值可能接近 2%，這才是正常的。

Okay. I appreciate that. And could you remind us on the cost saves associated with Workday in '27 and thereafter? And are there additional saves from the other internal investments that you'd care to quantify?

好的。我很感激。您能否提醒我們一下 27 年及以後使用 Workday 所帶來的成本節省情況？您是否願意量化其他內部投資帶來的額外節省？

Yeah. I think, Tobey, to answer your first question on our Workday implementation and we've given this comment. Over the years, certainly compared, Tobey to the level of investment that we currently have with our Workday implementation, we expect 100 basis points of net benefit throughout that Workday implementation.

是的。托比，我想回答你關於我們的 Workday 實施的第一個問題，我們已經給了這個評論。多年來，與我們目前在 Workday 實施中的投資水準相比，我們預計在整個 Workday 實施過程中將獲得 100 個基點的淨收益。

We've commented, and Dave Kelly I think mentioned it in his prepared remarks that we would expect to go live in 2026 and towards the end of the 2026 to start to ignore the benefits associated with that program, with a kind of a full annualized benefits post go-live in 2027. So about 100 basis points is the way to think about it from an operating margin standpoint, largely getting to that point in 2027.

我們已經評論過，我認為戴夫凱利在他準備好的發言中提到過，我們預計將於 2026 年上線，並在 2026 年底開始忽略與該計劃相關的收益，並在 2027 年上線後實現年度化收益。因此，從營業利益率的角度來看，大約需要 100 個基點，基本上在 2027 年達到這個水準。

As to the other enterprise priorities, certainly, and Dave commented on our Pune presence. We've talked there that the opportunity for us, certainly at a lower bill rate overall, but we would expect the Flex margin profile on that business to be better as we pursue a blended onshore and offshore mix business.

至於其他企業優先事項，當然，戴夫對我們在浦那的存在發表了評論。我們已經談到了對我們來說是一個機會，當然總體上來說收費率較低，但我們預計，隨著我們追求混合的在岸和離岸業務，該業務的 Flex 利潤率狀況會更好。

I would say, Tobey, that's -- yes, that's a contributor, but not a significant driver to our future profitability. And then certainly, the path for us on driving to a higher quality revenue stream through our integrated strategy efforts certainly is part of the overall equation and getting us to that. I'll give you the nearer term, though you have the $1.7 billion and 8%. So certainly some significant contributors there as we move forward that we didn't have when we reached that level in 2022.

我想說，托比，是的，這是一個貢獻因素，但並不是我們未來獲利能力的重要驅動力。當然，透過我們的綜合策略努力來推動更高品質的收入流的道路無疑是整體方程式的一部分，並幫助我們實現這一目標。我會給你一個更近期的期限，儘管你有 17 億美元和 8%。因此，隨著我們不斷前進，肯定會有一些重要的貢獻者，而當我們在 2022 年達到這一水平時，我們還沒有這些貢獻者。

(Operator Instructions) Josh Chan, UBS.

（操作員指示）Josh Chan，瑞銀。

Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess, Dave, you mentioned one example of a project end. But I guess as you think about the vitality of all the project ends that kind of are impacting this trend, is there any common thread that you can pull from just a combination of all the ends?

嗨，下午好。感謝您回答我的問題。我想，戴夫，你提到了一個專案結束的例子。但是我想，當您思考所有影響這一趨勢的項目結局的活力時，您是否可以從所有結局的組合中提取出任何共同點？

And then I just want to confirm that excluding those projects end, are you expecting the rest of the business to be in line with normal seasonality?

然後我只想確認一下，除了那些項目結束之外，您是否預計其餘業務將與正常的季節性相符？

Well, I don't know that there's a lot of seasonality in Q2 to Q3. But I would say, generally speaking, thematically, this is a matter of projects and ending, kind of normal in some respects, although in a couple of these cases, we didn't necessarily anticipate them to end when they did as a result. The other thing, I think important to note dramatically, these resulted in reallocation of technology investments with these companies to other projects that we weren't participating in.

嗯，我不知道第二季到第三季是否存在很大的季節性。但我想說，一般來說，從主題上講，這是一個項目和結局的問題，在某些方面很正常，儘管在其中一些情況下，我們並不一定預料到它們會在最終結束時結束。另一件事，我認為值得特別注意的是，這些導致這些公司將技術投資重新分配到我們沒有參與的其他項目。

So -- and then the other thing I would mention to you in terms of the portfolio as a whole, just to kind of reiterate what I was commenting about. Absent these couple I think for us, a bit of a surprise, ends at the end of the quarter, but we were actually trending positively in terms of what the revenue trajectory in technology was until literally the last couple of weeks, which is why we saw sequential growth from Q1 to Q2. And then our Q3 guide that's obviously coming off a lower baseline.

所以——然後我想就整個投資組合向您提及的另一件事，只是為了重申一下我所評論的內容。如果沒有這兩項，我想對我們來說有點意外，季度末就會結束，但實際上，直到最近幾週，我們在技術收入軌跡方面一直呈現積極趨勢，這就是為什麼我們看到從第一季到第二季度的連續增長。然後我們的第三季指南顯然是基於較低的基線。

So again, I think the sentiment here is one of stability. The sentiment here is one of companies engaging us at the same rate as we have. Again, you get surprises from time to time. This is just one of those.

因此，我再次認為這裡的情緒是穩定的。這裡的情緒是，公司會以與我們相同的速度與我們合作。再次，你時不時會得到驚喜。這只是其中之一。

Yeah. What I would add to that is I think what we're seeing from clients in general is a heightened strategic competitive evaluation on a regular basis, which is really driving the shift of spend. So it really -- it manifests itself in two ways.

是的。我想補充的是，我認為我們從客戶那裡看到的整體情況是定期加強策略競爭評估，這確實推動了支出的轉變。所以它實際上——它以兩種方式表現出來。

Inside, what I would say is the Fortune 500 where we work with 70%-plus of the Fortune 500. They may have a division or a product that they conclude they are not going to be competitive within and that's the example of what happened to us on the back end of Q2. The decision was made that we're not going to be competitive with this initiative. We're going to basically disband this, and we're going to redirect those dollars an area where we believe we can be competitive with the products that we're bringing to market.

在內部，我想說的是財富 500 強企業，我們與其中 70% 以上的企業合作。他們可能認為某個部門或產品不具備競爭力，這就是我們在第二季末發生的事情的例子。我們決定不利用這項措施進行競爭。我們將從根本上解散這個部門，並將把這些資金重新投入到我們認為能夠透過推向市場的產品來保持競爭力的領域。

I think you have that one phenomenon going on. And then the other phenomena is you do have unique clients in any given industry that are not par with their competitive landscape and they're adjusting accordingly. So those are really the two more, what I would say, macro drivers that we're seeing.

我認為你們正經歷這樣的現象。另一個現像是，在任何特定行業中，你確實會擁有與其競爭格局不相符的獨特客戶，並且他們會進行相應的調整。所以我想說，這實際上是我們看到的兩個宏觀驅動因素。

That's really helpful color. And then I guess -- yeah, of course. I guess my other question is on the nearshore, offshore dynamic. Obviously, it has some impact on your hourly rate, but is there a margin impact, too, is more of your business potentially shifts in that direction?

這顏色確實很有幫助。然後我想——是的，當然。我想我的另一個問題是關於近岸、離岸動態。顯然，這會對您的小時費率產生一定影響，但是否也會對利潤率產生影響，您的業務是否有可能朝這個方向轉變？

Yeah, Josh, actually, again, it's a small part of the business. So it's not having a meaningful impact on either bill rate or margin right now. But I can tell you, with the work that we have done over there, it has been actually slightly accretive to margin, right? So it has a positive impact, at least from what we've seen so far.

是的，喬希，實際上，這只是業務的一小部分。因此，目前它對票據利率或利潤率都沒有產生重大影響。但我可以告訴你，透過我們在那裡所做的工作，利潤實際上有所增加，對嗎？因此，至少從我們目前看到的情況來看，它產生了積極的影響。

But again, I would tell you at this point, I wouldn't dial that in, either it's been relatively neutral even though we've had some good early success.

但是，我再說一次，現在我要告訴你，我不會撥打這個電話，儘管我們取得了一些早期的成功，但它還是相對中立的。

Yeah. And Josh, the only thing I'd add to that, when you look at our average bill rate in technology, you look at Q1 was sequentially up from Q4. We had a very slight decline from Q1 to Q2. So I wouldn't read into that being the progress that we're making in our nearshore and offshore. That's just natural puts and takes, with the average bill rate.

是的。喬希，我唯一要補充的是，當你查看我們技術方面的平均帳單利率時，你會發現第一季的帳單利率比第四季有所上升。從第一季到第二季度，我們的下滑幅度非常小。因此，我不會將其解讀為我們在近岸和離岸領域的進展。這只是自然的投入和產出，具有平均帳單利率。

Think about that, Josh, as a stability over a very long period of time. I think if you go back, Josh, probably 3, 3.5 years, our average bill rate in our technology business has been hovering in that $90 an hour range, while we have been broken to offer a multi-shore delivery model to our clients leveraging nearshore and offshore. The balance of that is the more consulting-oriented engagements that we have been pursuing in earnest are representing a greater mix of the overall business as well, and those have not only a higher margin but also a higher bill rate so that's bringing a lot of stability to what you're seeing externally.

喬希，想想看，這是一種長期的穩定。喬希，我想如果你回顧一下，大概 3 年或 3.5 年前，我們技術業務的平均收費率一直徘徊在每小時 90 美元左右，而我們卻無法利用近岸和離岸為客戶提供多岸交付模式。平衡的是，我們一直在認真追求的更多以諮詢為導向的業務也代表了整體業務的更大組合，這些業務不僅具有更高的利潤率，而且具有更高的收費率，因此為您在外部看到的情況帶來了很大的穩定性。

And everyone, at this time, there are no further questions. I would like to hand the call back to Mr. Joe Liberatore for any additional or closing remarks.

各位，目前，沒有其他問題了。我想將電話轉回給喬·利伯拉托雷先生，讓他發表任何補充或結束語。

Well, thank you for your interest and support of Kforce. I'd like to express my gratitude to every Kforce for your efforts and to our consultants and our clients for the trust and faith you've placed with us in partnering with Kforce and allowing us the privilege to serve you. We look forward to talking with you again after third quarter 2025.

好的，感謝您對 Kforce 的關注與支持。我要向每位 Kforce 員工的努力表示感謝，並向我們的顧問和客戶表示感謝，感謝你們與 Kforce 合作並給予我們為您服務的榮幸和信任。我們期待在 2025 年第三季之後再次與您交談。

And again, everyone, that does conclude today's conference. We would like to thank you all for your participation. You may now disconnect.

各位，今天的會議到此結束。我們感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。