LeMaitre Vascular Inc (LMAT) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the LeMaitre Vascular Q4 2023 financial results conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Joseph Pellegrino, Chief Financial Officer of LeMaitre Vascular. Please go.

歡迎參加 LeMaitre Vascular 2023 年第四季財務業績電話會議。提醒一下，今天的通話正在錄音。現在，我想將電話轉給 LeMaitre Vascular 財務長 Joseph Pellegrino 先生。請離開。

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on our Q4 2023 conference call. With me on today's call is our CEO, George LeMaitre; and our President, Dave Roberts. Before we begin, I'll read our Safe Harbor statement. Today, we will make some forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is subject to risks and uncertainties wherever possible, we will tried to identify those forward-looking statements by using words such as believe, expect, anticipate, pursue, forecast and similar expressions. Our forward-looking statements are based on our estimates and assumptions as of today, February 27, 2024 and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates or views on any subsequent date.

謝謝你，接線生。下午好，感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第四季電話會議。與我一起參加今天電話會議的是我們的執行長 George LeMaitre；還有我們的總統戴夫羅伯茨。在我們開始之前，我將閱讀我們的安全港聲明。今天，我們將做出一些1995年美國私人證券訴訟改革法案含義內的前瞻性陳述，其準確性盡可能受到風險和不確定性的影響，我們將嘗試使用文字來識別這些前瞻性陳述例如相信、期望、預期、追求、預測以及類似的表達方式。我們的前瞻性聲明是基於我們截至今天（2024 年 2 月 27 日）的估計和假設，不應被視為代表我們對任何後續日期的估計或觀點。

Please refer to the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information and the risk factors in our most recent 10 K and subsequent SEC filings, including disclosure of the factors that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. During this call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which include organic sales growth as well as operating income, operating expense and EPS excluding special charges. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures discussed in this call is contained in the associated press release and is available in the Investor Relations section of our website, www.lemaitre.com. I'll now turn the call over to George Romaine.

請參閱我們最近的 10 K 和後續 SEC 文件中有關前瞻性資訊和風險因素的警示聲明，包括揭露可能導致結果與明示或暗示的結果有重大差異的因素。在本次電話會議中，我們將討論非公認會計準則財務指標，其中包括有機銷售成長以及營業收入、營業費用和不包括特殊費用的每股收益。本次電話會議中討論的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 措施的調整表包含在相關新聞稿中，也可在我們網站 www.lemaitre.com 的投資者關係部分查看。我現在將把電話轉給喬治·羅曼。

Thanks, JJ. Q4 was an excellent quarter with 19% sales growth of 68.1% gross margin and 46% op income growth. I'll focus my remarks on the top line sales force activities and some regulatory updates. Geographically, Amea was up 21% in Q4, the Americas, 20% and A-Pac 11% by product. Bovine patches were up 18%, allograft 52%, David Jones 12%, and carotid shunt, 16%. Distribution of porcine patch also added $1.5 million of sales in the quarter to return to hospital by staff and patients, ASP increases, ample product supply and the growth of our sales force drove Q4 sales growth. We ended 2023 with 136 reps worldwide by December 2024, we expect to employ approximately 150 reps to accommodate rep growth in North America. We recently promoted three regional sales managers to become area sales managers. This additional management bandwidth to enable us to hire, train and manage more RSMs and reps. The revenues from the 2020 Artegraft acquisition, coupled with recent sales growth have made our North American territories too large. In 2023, our average North American territory had $2 million in sales over the years. We found smaller territories enable tighter relationships with surgeons. So we've begun dividing some of the larger territories. This should reduce windshield time to in Europe.

謝謝，傑傑。第四季是一個出色的季度，銷售額成長 19%，毛利率 68.1%，營運收入成長 46%。我的評論將重點放在最重要的銷售人員活動和一些監管更新。從地理來看，以產品計算，Amea 在第四季度增長了 21%，美洲增長了 20%，A-Pac 增長了 11%。牛斑塊增加了 18%，同種異體移植增加了 52%，David Jones 增加了 12%，頸動脈分流增加了 16%。豬貼劑的分銷也增加了本季 150 萬美元的銷售額，以供工作人員和患者返回醫院，平均售價增加、充足的產品供應和我們銷售隊伍的成長推動了第四季度的銷售成長。截至 2023 年年底，我們在全球擁有 136 名代表，到 2024 年 12 月，我們預計將僱用約 150 名代表，以適應北美代表的成長。我們最近晉升了三位區域銷售經理為區域銷售經理。這些額外的管理頻寬使我們能夠僱用、培訓和管理更多的 RSM 和代表。2020 年收購 Artegraft 帶來的收入，加上最近的銷售成長，使我們的北美領土變得太大。2023 年，我們北美地區的歷年平均銷售額為 200 萬美元。我們發現較小的領土可以使與外科醫生的關係更緊密。所以我們已經開始劃分一些較大的領土。這應該會減少歐洲的擋風玻璃時間。

We also remain in growth mode. We plan to open a Paris office in Q2, which should improve our connections with France, surgeons and hospitals as well as our eight French sales reps. France is our sixth largest country by sales.

我們也仍處於成長模式。我們計劃在第二季開設巴黎辦事處，這將改善我們與法國、外科醫生和醫院以及八名法國銷售代表的聯繫。以銷售額計算，法國是我們第六大國。

Turning to Asia. I visited four of the six A-Pac offices in early February. Things were great over there. Our Tokyo branch is celebrating 20 years, and we just opened offices in Seoul and Bangkok. In our first direct here in Korea 2023, sales reached $1.7 million and our profits were $250,000. Both figures exceeded expectations in Thailand, our first full year of direct sales should be about $1.6 million in 2020 for our Chinese team is also performing well and grew 40% last year. The Artegraft CE. file was submitted in December 2023, and we also plan to file for Artegraft approval in Canada, Australia and several other Asia-Pac countries this year we also plan to make XenoSure filings for our peripheral and cardiac products by 2025 in China. And we're also making the MDR transition in Europe. As you know, Brussels has extended the MDR deadline to 2027. 22 of our product categories need this new MDRCE. mark. So this is a considerable undertaking. We currently own three of these new MDR CE marks also in Europe. Our Allegra filings have been made in Ireland and Germany and approval in either of those countries will be our first approval allograft in the European Union to conclude 19% sales growth and a gross margin recovery produced 46% op income growth in Q4. Our growing profitability and cash on hand provide safety and strategic optionality.

轉向亞洲。二月初，我參觀了 A-Pac 六個辦事處中的四個。那裡的事情很棒。我們的東京分公司正在慶祝 20 週年，我們剛剛在首爾和曼谷開設了辦公室。2023 年我們在韓國首次直營，銷售額達到 170 萬美元，利潤為 25 萬美元。這兩個數字都超出了泰國的預期，2020年我們第一個全年的直銷應該是160萬美元左右，因為我們中國團隊也表現不錯，去年增長了40%。Arteraft CE。文件於 2023 年 12 月提交，我們還計劃今年在加拿大、澳大利亞和其他幾個亞太國家申請 Artegraft 批准，我們還計劃到 2025 年在中國為我們的外周和心臟產品進行 XenoSure 備案。我們也在歐洲進行 MDR 過渡。如您所知，布魯塞爾已將 MDR 截止日期延長至 2027 年。我們的 22 個產品類別需要此新的 MDRCE。標記。所以這是一項艱鉅的任務。目前，我們在歐洲也有三個新的 MDR CE 標誌。我們的 Allegra 申請已在愛爾蘭和德國提交，這兩個國家的批准將是我們在歐盟首次批准的同種異體移植，其銷售額增長 19%，毛利率恢復使第四季度營業收入增長 46%。我們不斷增長的盈利能力和手頭現金提供了安全性和戰略選擇性。

With that, I'll turn it over to JJ.

有了這個，我就把它交給JJ。

Thanks, George.

謝謝，喬治。

2023 was an excellent year. We posted $193 million in sales, an increase of 20% on a reported basis and 17% organically. Our operating income increased 37% on a reported basis of 2022. As our post-COVID rehiring year with 141 ends in 2023 was the hiring constraint year with only 23 units. This headcount control, along with our strong sales results and an improved gross margin led to a 19% operating margin in 2023 versus 17% in 2022. Separately, our cash balances improved by $22 million in 2023 to $105 million.

2023 年是極好的一年。我們公佈的銷售額為 1.93 億美元，報告成長 20%，有機成長 17%。根據 2022 年報告，我們的營業收入成長了 37%。由於我們在 2023 年結束了新冠疫情後的重新招聘年（141 個單位），因此是招聘限制年，只有 23 個單位。這種人員控制，加上我們強勁的銷售業績和毛利率的提高，使得 2023 年的營業利潤率為 19%，而 2022 年為 17%。另外，我們的現金餘額在 2023 年增加了 2,200 萬美元，達到 1.05 億美元。

Turning to the quarter, in Q4 2023, we posted a gross margin of 68.1%, up 450 basis points year over year. This increase was driven by higher ASPs, productivity improvements and a weaker dollar benefits of a larger and more efficient manufacturing team have come onto the P&L. Our allograft manufacturing team had a strong Q4 and quality costs remain in check. In retrospect, our manufacturing hiring surge was well timed with the global return to hospital operating expenses in Q4 2023 were $23.1 million, an increase of 21% versus Q4 2022. The increase was driven largely by higher sales commissions, more sales professionals and $700,000 of one-time reversals in Q4 2020 to Q4 2023, operating income increased 46% year over year to $10.2 million, driven by higher sales and an improved gross margin. The operating margin in Q4 was 21%, up from 17% in the prior year period. Separately, we recently went live with a new ERP system in the United States. This system should improve real-time reporting, streamline financial financial processes and provide more sophisticated analytics implementation at our overseas entities will take place in 2025 and 2026, we estimate that we will spend approximately $7 million to $8 million on this project, and the annual P&L impact will be approximately $1 million per year.

轉向季度，2023 年第四季度，我們的毛利率為 68.1%，較去年同期成長 450 個基點。這一成長的推動因素包括平均售價的提高、生產力的提高以及規模更大、效率更高的製造團隊帶來的美元疲軟帶來的好處，這些都已計入損益表中。我們的同種異體移植製造團隊在第四季度表現強勁，品質成本仍受到控制。回想起來，我們的製造業招聘激增恰逢其時，2023 年第四季全球醫院營運費用恢復為 2,310 萬美元，比 2022 年第四季成長 21%。這一增長主要是由於更高的銷售佣金、更多的銷售專業人員以及2020 年第四季度至2023 年第四季度的700,000 美元一次性逆轉，在銷售額增加和毛利率提高的推動下，營業營收年增46% 至1,020 萬美元。第四季的營業利益率為 21%，高於去年同期的 17%。另外，我們最近在美國啟用了新的 ERP 系統。該系統將在 2025 年和 2026 年在我們的海外實體中改進即時報告、簡化財務流程並提供更複雜的分析實施，我們估計我們將在該專案上花費約 700 萬至 800 萬美元，每年每年損益影響約100 萬美元。

With respect to guidance, we are forecasting improved operating leverage in 2024, driven by restrained operating expense growth and an improved gross margin. Our guidance includes an operating margin of in 2024 of 21% versus 19% in 2023 and 17% reported in 2022. For more details, please see our business outlook issued in today's press release, but a few Q1 highlights include reported sales growth of 10%, gross margin of 68.5%, operating income growth of 33% and EPS growth of 42%. And for the full year 2024 guidance includes reported sales growth of 10%, gross margin of 68% operating income growth of 22% and EPS growth of 23%. With that, I'll turn it back over to the operator for questions.

在指導方面，我們預計，在營運費用成長受限和毛利率提高的推動下，2024 年營運槓桿將有所改善。我們的指導包括 2024 年的營業利潤率為 21%，而 2023 年為 19%，2022 年報告為 17%。欲了解更多詳情，請參閱我們在今天的新聞稿中發布的業務展望，但第一季的一些亮點包括報告的銷售額增長10%、毛利率68.5%、營業收入增長33% 和每股收益增長42%。2024 年全年指引包括報告的銷售額成長 10%、毛利率 68%、營業收入成長 22% 和每股盈餘成長 23%。這樣，我會將其轉回給接線員詢問問題。

(Operator Instructions) Suraj Kalia, Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）Suraj Kalia，奧本海默。

Hello, George, Jj, can you hear me? All right? Yes. Gentlemen, apologies for the background noise. So George, let me start out in your prepared remarks. You talked about care, Georgia, maybe for Jay, just comments, but when you split the territory let's say from $2 million to, let's say, $1 billion. Can you walk us through the thought process in terms of sales rep commissions, our retention going to? How do you how does the process go about?

你好，喬治，Jj，你聽得到我說話嗎？好的？是的。先生們，對背景噪音表示歉意。喬治，讓我從你準備好的發言開始。你談到了護理，Georgia，也許是針對 Jay，只是評論，但是當你將領土從 200 萬美元分割到 10 億美元時。您能否向我們介紹一下銷售代表佣金和保留率的思考過程？你覺得這個過程是如何進行的？

Okay, sure. And of course, Suraj, this is completely normal medical device activity, right? So this is how exactly how sales forces grow. They can remember the thing gets big. You've got to cut it in half and it becomes too big for them to handle it. If a rep is running around Ohio, trying to cover $2 million worth of medical device sales. Of course, some of the smaller hospitals start to feel ignored. And so very high level, you would clearly split it and put one guy and ticket bigger city, Cleveland and one guy in Columbus, and they would now split Ohio, if you will. So I think that's sort of the amoeba aspect that is perfectly normal arm and then what else would you like to know about what happens there?

好吧，當然。當然，Suraj，這完全是正常的醫療設備活動，對吧？這就是銷售團隊的成長方式。他們可以記住事情會變得很大。你必須把它切成兩半，但它太大了，他們無法處理。如果一名銷售代表在俄亥俄州各地奔波，試圖完成價值 200 萬美元的醫療設備銷售。當然，一些較小的醫院開始感到被忽視。如此高的水平，你顯然會分割它，並把一個人和門票更大的城市，克利夫蘭和哥倫布的一個人，如果你願意的話，他們現在會分割俄亥俄州。所以我認為這就是阿米巴原蟲的一面，是完全正常的手臂，那你還想知道那裡發生了什麼事嗎？

And I was just curious in terms of I understand it's a normal process in the industry for just more crews. Specifically curious in terms usually you encounter any sales force retention issues, hence by definition, any any churn concerns about churn?

我只是很好奇，因為我知道這對更多的工作人員來說是行業中的正常過程。特別好奇的是，通常您會遇到任何銷售人員保留問題，因此根據定義，有任何關於流失的流失問題嗎？

Sure. No, no, I don't have particular concern. I do agree with you anytime you touch anything near the sales force, you sort of get near a higher turnover button, but this is perfectly normal and you have to do it or else, you won't get good service to those surgeons in the hospital. So on And on that score, Suraj, maybe just I know you didn't exactly ask this question, but we're into this thing I read some article recently, it's called the Big stay. I don't know if anyone's heard that. And so as opposed to the great resignation, we're now into the big stay and we made experienced dramatically reduced turnover in last year. I think our number was like 7.5% down from somewhere. I'm going to get it wrong is around 14 or 15% the year before were always three or four points better than our Massachusetts manufacturing colleagues companies or peer companies, and but a major decrease in turnover and notably with the sales force.

當然。不不，我沒有特別擔心。我確實同意你的觀點，只要你接觸銷售人員附近的任何東西，你就接近了更高的營業額按鈕，但這是完全正常的，你必須這樣做，否則，你將無法為那些外科醫生提供良好的服務。醫院。就這一點而言，Suraj，也許我知道你並沒有確切地問這個問題，但我們正在研究這件事，我最近讀了一些文章，它被稱為「大住宿」。不知道有沒有人聽過。因此，與大辭職相反，我們現在進入了大留，去年我們的營業額大幅減少。我認為我們的數字比某個地方下降了 7.5% 左右。我會弄錯的是，前一年大約有14% 或15% ，總是比我們馬薩諸塞州的製造業同事公司或同行公司高出三到四個百分點，但營業額大幅下降，尤其是銷售人員。

One thing to further mention. So I specifically remember last year we had this massive surge in procedures and we grew organically 17%. Usually, let me before that had grown about 9% organically and on as a result, the W. twos and the sales force, how much we paid the sales reps was dramatically higher in 2023. And as a result, they stuck around to get those paychecks. And you would have seen them start leaving January 15th, January 25th when they were getting their final commissions and bonuses. And we haven't seen that at all. I mean, there's been one or two here and there, but we have not seen that at all. And so we're very, very happy time, in my opinion, in the sales force, a great result, commission checks are huge, et cetera, et cetera.

有一件事需要進一步提及。所以我特別記得去年我們的手術數量大幅增加，我們的有機增加了 17%。通常情況下，在此之前，我們的有機成長約為 9%，因此，W.two 和銷售人員，我們向銷售代表支付的費用在 2023 年大幅增加。結果，他們留下來領取薪水。你會看到他們在 1 月 15 日、1 月 25 日開始離開，當時他們正在領取最後的佣金和獎金。我們根本沒有看到這一點。我的意思是，到處都有一兩個，但我們根本沒有看到。因此，在我看來，我們在銷售隊伍中度過了非常非常愉快的時光，取得了很好的成績，佣金很高，等等。

And Suraj, part of your question was are the commissions change when you split the territories. And as you recall, we compensate the reps based on their performance versus a gross profit dollars quota. And so when the when the territory split, we obviously commensurately split the gross profit dollar quarters or change down based on whatever the new answer is and then their compensation, their tier that the that it gets paid doesn't change. But what it's linked to dose. So it's kind of quote-unquote, fair when you make the split, there isn't a big topic necessarily around that, that they're obviously also going to make half of what they were making before on that.

蘇拉傑，你的部分問題是，當你分割領土時，佣金是否會改變。正如您所記得的，我們根據銷售代表的績效與毛利美元配額來支付他們的報酬。因此，當領土分裂時，我們顯然會相應地分割毛利美元季度或根據新的答案進行下調，然後他們的報酬，他們獲得報酬的等級不會改變。但這與劑量有關。所以這是一種引用-反引用，公平的是，當你進行分割時，不一定有一個大的話題，他們顯然也會賺到之前賺的一半。

Fair enough, gentlemen, I'll quickly ask my two follow-ups to avoid the background noise. So George, I'd love to get your updated thoughts on your M&A strategy looking forward?

公平地說，先生們，我會很快要求我的兩個後續人員避免背景噪音。喬治，我很想了解您對未來併購策略的最新想法？

And the second question I have is I love to get your perspective. Our Belleville terms grew 12% year over year. Obviously, that was the best CLI study and that has really seen pull through for you guys in terms of growth, are you seeing any counterbalancing going on with the Basel two study again, which gives somewhat opposite results. Just curious if any on your thoughts on that front.

我的第二個問題是我喜歡聽你的觀點。我們的貝爾維爾條款年增 12%。顯然，這是最好的 CLI 研究，並且確實在成長方面對你們有所幫助，你們是否看到巴塞爾兩項研究再次出現任何平衡，這給出了一些相反的結果。只是好奇您對此有何想法。

Thank you for taking my questions again through. I'm going to pass or M&A call over to Dave. A question rather over to Dave, and then I'll and I'll come back to the Beltone questions.

感謝您再次回答我的問題。我將把併購電話轉給戴夫。這個問題應該交給戴夫，然後我會回到貝爾通的問題。

Hi, Suraj. Great to hear from you and idea with respect to the acquisition strategy, I'd say on the criteria are consistent from previous calls. Of course, we're focused on open vascular targets with more than $5 million of revenue on there, about 25 of them all together on beyond that, where we are and have been hunting in adjacent markets, maybe first, cardiac surgery and endovascular, if anything, I think we learned from the Artegraft acquisition a few years ago that hunting larger is probably a good thing. It will move the needle more.

嗨，蘇拉吉。很高興收到您關於收購策略的意見和想法，我想說的標準與先前的電話會議一致。當然，我們專注於收入超過 500 萬美元的開放血管目標，其中大約有 25 個目標，除此之外，我們正在並且一直在尋找鄰近市場，也許首先是心臟手術和血管內，如果說有什麼不同的話，我認為我們從幾年前收購Artegraft 中了解到，擴大規模可能是一件好事。它會讓針移動得更多。

So we've been looking at a little bit larger targets and also we have more cash of course to do an acquisition with the $105 million of cash and leaving $20 million on the balance sheet, plus maybe three times our $46 million LTM EBITDA we could fund $225 million of purchase price, excluding an equity raise or the target of EBITDA unlevered up. So I think it's we're just consistently looking out in the same hunting grounds where we have been and hopefully someday we'll be able to report back that we've done a transaction.

因此，我們一直在尋找更大的目標，當然我們也有更多的現金來進行收購，用1.05 億美元的現金進行收購，並在資產負債表上留下2000 萬美元，再加上我們可能是4600萬美元的LTM EBITDA 的三倍。為購買價格提供 2.25 億美元資金，不包括股權融資或無槓桿 EBITDA 目標。所以我認為我們只是一直在我們去過的同一個狩獵場中尋找，希望有一天我們能夠報告我們已經完成了一筆交易。

And Suraj, as your best CLI question. Yes, in the first half of the year. I feel like we got excited about the best CLI study as it relates to valvular times. And then, of course, Basel comes out the European study Basel two comes out and it's sort of the antidote to best CLI best deal. I've basically says, Do leg bypasses first open surgery. And then Basel two comes and says no, no, you can do stents and angioplasty are going to get great results that way, too. So in some ways, you do have surgeons that want to do open surgery saying I listen the best CLI and then you have surgeons and anesthesiologists who want to use and angioplasty and stent to come out and say, I heard about Basel two.

Suraj，作為您最好的 CLI 問題。是的，今年上半年。我覺得我們對最好的 CLI 研究感到興奮，因為它與瓣膜時間有關。然後，當然，巴塞爾的歐洲研究報告巴塞爾二號也出來了，這是最佳 CLI 最佳交易的解藥。我基本上是說，先進行腿部繞道手術。然後巴塞爾二號會議說不，不，你可以做支架，血管成形術也會有很好的效果。因此，在某些方面，確實有想要進行開放手術的外科醫生說我聽了最好的CLI，然後有想要使用血管成形術和支架的外科醫生和麻醉師出來說，我聽說過巴塞爾二號。

So there was a little bit of retrenchment, I would say for the exact fact here, yes, we grew valve tons 12% in dollars that's or 11% organic and units were up 5% last year. In fact, in general across our portfolio units were up 5%. So our 1st year with Basel two, I would say, you know, value terms didn't go crazy good, although that 5% was better than the slightly decreased units of 21 and 22. So 2021 and 22 decrease was around three or 4% in units and then it bounced up again post Basil, I guess I'd say make it what you will. It seems like it was a good thing, but it then got counteracted by Basel two.

因此，有一點緊縮，我要說的是，對於這裡的確切事實，是的，我們以美元計算的閥門噸數增長了 12%，即有機增長 11%，去年單位增長了 5%。事實上，我們的投資組合單位整體上漲了 5%。因此，我們在巴塞爾二號的第一年，我想說，你知道，價值條款並沒有變得瘋狂，儘管 5% 比 21 和 22 的略有下降的單位要好。因此，2021 年和 22 年的減少量約為 3% 或 4%，然後在 Basil 後再次反彈，我想我會說隨你所欲。看起來這是一件好事，但隨後被巴塞爾二號抵消了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks a lot, Suraj.

非常感謝，蘇拉吉。

(Operator Instructions) Dan Stauder, JMP Securities.

（操作員指令）Dan Stauder，JMP 證券。

Yes, Dan, great people. So first off, just wanted to ask on gross margins, very healthy gotten great to see. And you talked about some of the primary drivers there. But as you look out to 2024, could you give us an idea of how much of the contribution is coming from the manufacturing efficiencies versus some of the ASP gains? And then how should we think about cadence for gross margin 2024? Thanks.

是的，丹，偉大的人。首先，我只是想問毛利率，非常健康，很高興看到。您談到了一些主要驅動因素。但是，當您展望 2024 年時，您能否告訴我們有多少貢獻來自製造效率與部分平均售價收益？那我們該如何考慮2024年毛利率的節奏呢？謝謝。

Yes. So those are the two largest drivers. I would say that those manufacturing efficiencies I have been talking about for two or three quarters and at a time it is going to be an asset that could be. And the ASP.'s, you've heard us talk about those and it was really healthy ASP. or this year. And so I would say those two are battling for sure, the number one, physician, maybe there a third, each of the story or something like that in terms of in terms of the improvement and it depends what your comparison period is material year over year or sequential or whatever.

是的。這是兩個最大的驅動因素。我想說的是，我已經談論了兩三個季度的製造效率，有一天它將成為一項可能的資產。還有 ASP，您已經聽我們談論過這些，這確實是健康的 ASP。或今年。所以我想說，這兩個肯定是在戰鬥，第一，醫生，也許還有第三，每個故事或類似的東西在改進方面，這取決於你的比較期是一年多年或連續或其他什麼。

But at a high level, I would say general deal efficiencies and ASP.s battling through some other lesser lights in there. That said, Tom, maybe I didn't put in the script on that matter as well, like our quality costs are a big part of the story and they had been sort of growing at a pace that was accelerated from really, really wanted to be. And so we started monitoring them putting a little bit of a lid on that. And I think that's helped a lot as well.

但在較高的層面上，我想說的是整體交易效率和 ASP.s 正在與其他一些較小的因素進行鬥爭。也就是說，湯姆，也許我也沒有在這個問題上寫進劇本，就像我們的品質成本是故事的重要組成部分，而且它們的增長速度已經從真正非常想要的加速了。是。所以我們開始監控他們，並對此進行了一些限制。我認為這也有很大幫助。

And so to the extent that we can keep those quality costs in check that will help the market going forward as well and then restore flows had some really nice operational results on the sort of processing side as it relates to. Hopefully we can keep that going.

因此，在某種程度上，我們可以控制這些品質成本，這也將有助於市場向前發展，然後恢復流量，在與之相關的加工方面取得了一些非常好的營運結果。希望我們能夠繼續下去。

Great, thanks. And then just one follow-up related to M&A and cash generation has been very healthy this year and in 2022 and 23, just with the announcement of the share repurchase, $50 million, how should we think about the pecking order for use of cash? And does that change how you look at M&A this year? Or do you feel that you would be able to achieve both? And just kind of weighing your options? Any thoughts there would be great. Thank you.

萬分感謝。然後，今年以及 2022 年和 23 年，只有一項與併購和現金生成相關的後續行動非常健康，剛剛宣布了 5000 萬美元的股票回購，我們應該如何考慮現金使用的優先順序？這是否會改變您對今年併購的看法？或者你覺得你能夠實現這兩點嗎？只是權衡一下你的選擇？任何想法都會很棒。謝謝。

Yes, hey, Dan, it's Dave Roberts. I would say I think the doubling of the authorization on the share repurchase is just good. Corporate oatmeal. I mean, obviously, our cash balance is growing, as you mentioned, pretty healthily. So we thought increasing it from 25 to 50 is probably a good idea. But really at the end of the day, we're feeding on, we're taking cash and we're feeding the dividend. Obviously, you heard we just increased the dividend for Q1 from 14 to $0.16. So that's I think our 13th annual increase in a row.

是的，嘿，丹，我是戴夫羅伯茲。我想說，我認為股票回購授權增加一倍就很好了。公司燕麥片。我的意思是，正如您所提到的，顯然我們的現金餘額正在相當健康地增長。因此我們認為將其從 25 增加到 50 可能是一個好主意。但實際上，歸根結底，我們正在獲取現金，我們正在支付股息。顯然，您聽說我們剛剛將第一季的股息從 14 美元增加到 0.16 美元。我認為這是我們連續第 13 次年度增長。

So that's sort of the main stalemate and then excess cash on beyond that is set aside for acquisitions. We've been hunting for a while. On some point, we'll identify one. And if it's larger, we'll use more of the cash and beyond that on their other consumers of cash in terms of running the business, like some capital expenditures or when we buy out distributors as we did a couple of years ago in Korea and last year in Thailand, and those are users as well.

因此，這就是主要的僵局，然後多餘的現金將被留出用於收購。我們已經狩獵了一段時間了。在某些時候，我們會確定一個。如果規模更大，我們將在經營業務方面使用更多的現金，並在其他現金消費者身上使用更多的現金，例如一些資本支出或當我們像幾年前在韓國那樣收購分銷商時去年在泰國，這些也是使用者。

Great. Thank you very much.

偉大的。非常感謝。

Thanks, Dan.

謝謝，丹。

Rick Wise, Stifel Nicolaus and Company, Inc.

懷斯 (Rick Wise)，Stifel Nicolaus and Company, Inc.

Hey, this is John on for Rick. And to start off, I wanted to get a little bit better understanding guidance this year and maybe how prices contributing to the growth outlook in 2024 versus how it contributed in 2023?

嘿，這是約翰替瑞克發言。首先，我想更了解今年的指導，以及價格對 2024 年成長前景的貢獻與 2023 年的貢獻有何不同？

Yes. So and none in 2023. I mean, you've you've heard us talk about it quarterly. And I think George mentioned that for the full year 2023, it's about 1112% pricing answer. And I would say going forward in 2024, you know, maybe our default answer is sort of around five or 6%. Notably, that was kind of the default answer this past year. In 2023, we instituted something a little bit new called pricing floors. And I think we got more traction out of those than we thought we might get. And so maybe we'll do a little bit more of that this year, we'll see where that goes. But I would say if you want to sort of base case answer, it's probably in that mid mid high single digits range.

是的。所以到 2023 年就沒有了。我的意思是，您已經聽到我們每季談論一次。我認為 George 提到 2023 年全年的定價答案約為 1112%。我想說的是，展望 2024 年，我們的預設答案可能是 5% 或 6% 左右。值得注意的是，這是去年的預設答案。2023 年，我們制定了一些新的措施，稱為定價下限。我認為我們從這些中獲得的吸引力比我們想像的要大。所以也許今年我們會多做一點，我們會看看結果如何。但我想說，如果你想要某種基本情況的答案，它可能在中高個位數範圍內。

Thanks that's helpful. And just looking ahead, just focusing on the gross margin line, you're guiding to 68% for 24. That's pretty strong growth. You're talking a lot about manufacturing increases, manufacturing efficiencies and price increases definitely looked further ahead. I mean, how should we be thinking about the gross margin structure for the business going forward with higher with higher ASPs more efficient manufacturing, could we be thinking about potentially returning to sort of the pre-COVID 70% gross margins here?

謝謝，這很有幫助。展望未來，僅關注毛利率線，您將 24 的指導目標定為 68%。這是相當強勁的成長。您談論了很多關於製造業成長、製造效率和價格上漲的問題，這肯定會展望未來。我的意思是，我們應該如何考慮業務的毛利率結構，隨著平均售價更高、製造效率更高，我們是否可以考慮恢復到新冠疫情前 70% 的毛利率？

Yes. I mean, obviously, we're not we're not looking out that far with you guys right now on that score, I would say for right now, we're happy with that 68% sort of the next step in the evolution here.

是的。我的意思是，很明顯，我們現在並沒有在這方面與你們一起關注那麼遠，我想說的是，現在我們對 68% 的下一步發展感到滿意。

We'll see where it goes from there.

我們將看看它會走向何方。

If you keep getting those, you know, I don't know, call it 10% price hikes. Is that a 5% price hike that does bleed through and that is an incremental benefit that you will get. And if you can keep your direct labor folks efficient on as they are now or maybe a little bit more going forward that obviously is going to help, but there's so much other stuff that goes on a gross margin point on that.

如果你繼續得到這些，你知道，我不知道，稱之為 10% 的價格上漲。5% 的價格上漲確實會帶來影響，這是您將獲得的增量收益。如果你能讓你的直接勞動力保持現在的效率，或者未來可能再提高一點，這顯然會有所幫助，但還有很多其他因素會影響毛利率。

That's those aren't the only two answers even if they're the biggest cancers. Inventory is a topic for us whenever we do consolidations or or transfers or manufacturing or other issues with excess and obsolete, something gets here for a quarter or two of those issues come and go that quality topic, they expect quality expenses that I talked about.

即使它們是最大的癌症，這也不是唯一的兩個答案。每當我們進行整合、轉移、製造或其他過剩和過時的問題時，庫存就是我們的一個話題，其中四分之一或兩個問題出現在品質話題上，他們期望我談到的品質費用。

That's a topic transitions of manufacturing product lines like AMI flow and cardio. So which we've done recently, those can come in and out of it. We've built a couple of clean rooms over the last year or two, and those pieces come through in terms of depreciation and get us there and push the margin down a little bit. So I just I don't want to make it a clear line story for you. There's a lot going on in gross margin. We'll see what happens after this year.

這是 AMI flow 和有氧運動等製造產品線的主題轉變。所以我們最近所做的，這些可以進出。在過去的一兩年裡，我們建造了幾個潔淨室，這些零件在折舊方面得到了解決，使我們達到了目標，並將利潤率推低了一點。所以我只是不想跟你講一個清晰的故事線。毛利率發生了很多變化。我們將看看今年之後會發生什麼。

But Jay, I'd like to leave John with a little bit. I hope going forward. I think there are several shots on goal in that line item. We're just getting used to what it's like to be 68 again, but we need a lot of studying, et cetera. But I think there's some shots on goal.

但是傑伊，我想留給約翰一些。我希望繼續前進。我認為該行項目中有幾次射門。我們剛剛再次習慣 68 歲的感覺，但我們需要大量學習等等。但我認為有一些射門。

John, appreciate the color, guys. Thanks.

約翰，欣賞一下這個顏色，夥計們。謝謝。

Michael Petusky, Barrington Research.

邁克爾·佩塔斯基，巴靈頓研究中心。

Thank you. Good evening, CJJ., you get the 300 basis point improvement and people are asking for more than never satisfied. I know that it will last longer than I might have been really good. It wasn't from you had about an hour after that press release came out, I guess kind of hide.So I didn't catch us if you guys mentioned it. Did you guys mention what percentage of the Q4 sales growth was related to price and volume? How that's split out for Q4 specifically?

謝謝。晚上好，CJJ。您獲得了 300 個基點的改進，人們的要求永遠不會滿足。我知道它會持續比我真正優秀的時間更長的時間。這不是你們在新聞稿發布後大約一個小時發來的，我想有點隱藏。所以如果你們提到這件事，我沒有註意到我們。你們有沒有提到第四季銷售成長與價格和銷售相關的百分比是多少？第四季具體是如何劃分的？

We did not. It was 13 price one unit and for the year, again, to repeat, it was 12% price, five units and up.

我們沒有。一個單位的價格為 13%，而今年，再次重複，價格為 12%，五個單位及以上。

Is it possible? I know you guys don't always do this, but you've occasionally done this? Is it possible to get the Artegraft revenue for the quarter and for the year?

是否可以？我知道你們並不總是這樣做，但你們偶爾也這樣做過嗎？是否可以獲得 Arteraft 本季和全年的收入？

Yes, of course, some floods, floods tried to find it quickly for you here quarter I have I have Mike, it's Dave.

是的，當然，有些洪水，洪水試圖在這個季度為你快速找到它，我有麥克，這是戴夫。

It's a little under $8 million, $7.9 million, up 10% for the quarter, Q4. And what we're seeing for the year on I am going to be around $34 million. Something like that will go into our team and we can get to that while we're on the call.

第四季的銷售額略低於 800 萬美元至 790 萬美元，成長了 10%。我們預計今年的收入將達到 3,400 萬美元左右。類似的事情將進入我們的團隊，我們可以在通話時處理這些事情。

So I will have another question. So obviously, it's been a while and the Autograph steel has been successful. And I know Dave diligently, JJ, in terms of the your comfort level with leverage, you know, obviously, you guys said you could do a $225 million deal potentially. Where do you think you sort of top out in terms of your comfort level? Our leverage ratio growth opportunity from.

所以我還有一個問題。顯然，已經有一段時間了，Autograph 鋼已經取得了成功。我非常了解戴夫，JJ，就你對槓桿的舒適程度而言，你知道，顯然，你們說你們有可能完成一筆 2.25 億美元的交易。您認為您的舒適度在哪裡達到頂峰？我們的槓桿率成長機會來自。

Yes. So you're maybe three, 3.5 times EBITDA, maybe somewhere in that range before you talk about the EBITDA of the acquired company, and that's EBITDA sort of in the 45, 46 ish range these days, I'll maybe answer it. Maybe it's in that sort of one 31, 41, 50, somewhere in there, Mike I would say.

是的。所以，在你談論被收購公司的 EBITDA 之前，你的 EBITDA 可能是 3、3.5 倍，也許在這個範圍內，而現在的 EBITDA 大約在 45、46 左右，我可能會回答這個問題。也許是在 31、41、50 之類的地方，麥克，我會說。

Very good. And then just one more quick question. Is this pricing floor initiative? It does seem like it's really, really basis that I just curious, I suspect maybe you went after some of the easiest low-hanging fruit on that and maybe it's tougher going forward? Or is or is that not the case internally in terms of pricing floors and what you can do there.

非常好。然後還有一個簡單的問題。這是定價下限舉措嗎？我只是好奇，這似乎確實是非常非常基本的，我懷疑也許你在這方面追求了一些最容易實現的目標，也許未來會更困難？或者就定價下限以及您可以在那裡做什麼而言，內部情況是否如此。

Okay. Yes, that's a good question. And at a high level, what the management team has been trying to do over the last three years, sort of take the pricing lever away from individual reps and bring it back in house because, you know, as the previous questioner asked, the reps don't last forever here and sometimes they cut a deal at a low price, then we're left with it for X years.

好的。是的，這是一個好問題。從高水準來看，管理團隊在過去三年中一直在努力做的事情，就是將定價槓桿從個人代表手中奪走，並將其帶回內部，因為，正如前一個提問者所問的那樣，代表們這裡不會永遠持續下去，有時他們會以低價達成交易，然後我們就剩下 X 年了。

So we're kind of pulling back and this this all started, Mike about two years ago in the US with one or two products, and now it's become a full-blown effort. And for the first time ever this year, there's a there's a full set of pricing floors in Europe we've had some pricing floors in Europe before, but for the first time ever, it's drilled into what we call the Playing Card, which is this little goal set that we pass out to every single employee. So we've got a European plank set that has pricing floors. And then also again, for the first time ever being drilled into the Japanese planks and so in Japan, specifically, not all of Asia, just Japan, which is half of our Asia right now.

所以我們有點退縮，這一切都開始了，麥克大約兩年前在美國推出了一兩種產品，現在它已經成為一項全面的努力。今年有史以來第一次，歐洲有一套完整的定價下限，我們之前在歐洲也有過一些定價下限，但這是有史以​​來第一次，它被深入到我們所說的撲克牌中，即我們將這個小目標發給每一位員工。因此，我們有一套具有定價下限的歐洲木板套裝。而且，這是有史以​​來第一次鑽入日本的木板，所以在日本，具體來說，不是整個亞洲，只是日本，現在是我們亞洲的一半。

So we have it on the so I think you've still got some room to go here. I think you'll you'll start learning in nine weeks when we come back to you guys with Q. one as to, hey, what happened in Q. one relating to pricing on, but it's become a full-blown effort and it started with us dribs and drabs 2.5 years ago and now it's real and it's worldwide in my comments again, on your side to just follow up on that.

所以我們把它放在了所以我想你還有一些空間可以去這裡。我想你們會在九週後開始學習，當我們帶著第一個問題回到你們身邊時，嘿，第一個問題中發生了與定價有關的事情，但它已經成為一項全面的努力，它2.5 年前我們從點點滴滴開始，現在它是真實的，並且在我的評論中再次出現在全世界，您可以跟進。

I know you ahead on your Artegraft question. We have a category bovine grafts against nearly all the autograft and so it was $30 million, call it $33 million in the year and it was up 15% on a reported basis. And actually, can I just confirm, George, you were talking fast when you're talking about some of the our US development Artegraft Canada and Australia filings and 24. Is that correct?

我知道你在問 Arteraft 問題。我們有一個類別的牛移植物與幾乎所有的自體移植物相比，所以它是 3000 萬美元，今年稱為 3300 萬美元，據報道增長了 15%。事實上，我可以確認一下，喬治，當您談論我們在美國開發的一些 Artegraft 加拿大和澳大利亞文件以及 24 時，您說得很快。那是對的嗎？

That is correct. And then also we've thrown in roughly five more Asia Pac countries, we'll file over there as well.

那是對的。然後我們還添加了大約五個亞太國家/地區，我們也將在那裡歸檔。

And then not sure in XenoSure still a 2025.

然後不確定 XenoSure 是否仍然是 2025 年。

Yes, I mean, it just keeps pushing away. But yes, XenoSure, cardiac and peripheral in China 2025.

是的，我的意思是，它只是不斷地推開。但是，是的，XenoSure，2025 年在中國的心臟和周邊血管。

Great. Well, listen, congratulations and particularly congratulations, particularly JJ on that gross margin. I know you've been after that for a while, and congrats. Thanks.

偉大的。好吧，聽著，恭喜你，特別是恭喜 JJ 的毛利率。我知道你已經追求這個有一段時間了，恭喜你。謝謝。

It's a thankless job, Mike. That's okay.

這是一份吃力不討好的工作，麥克。沒關係。

James Sidoti, Sidoti & Co.

詹姆斯·西多蒂，西多蒂公司

Hi, good afternoon and thanks for taking the questions. Can you talk a little bit more about a little bit more about the sales force expansion? You said, I think you're going to add about 14 folks in 2024. So can you break that out internationally and domestically your it feels Jim, this is George.

你好，下午好，感謝您提出問題。能多談談銷售隊伍擴張的問題嗎？您說，我認為您將在 2024 年增加約 14 名員工。那麼你能在國際和國內方面打破這一點嗎？吉姆，這是喬治。

It feels largely like it's a domestic thing. We've got a bunch lined up to go in the U.S., less so in Canada, but call it a North American thing. And then a couple over in Asia-Pac where we have some of these newer subsidiaries where why would you start in Korea, if you didn't give the guy three or four sales reps, right, it was not worth going over there. I should do that. So mostly North America a little bit Asia, not much in Europe, oddly this year.

感覺很大程度就像是國內的事情。我們有很多人排隊去美國，加拿大的情況較少，但可以稱之為北美的事情。然後在亞太地區，我們有一些新的子公司，如果你不給那個人三到四個銷售代表，你為什麼要從韓國開始，對吧，不值得去那裡。我應該這樣做。所以今年很奇怪，主要是北美，還有一點亞洲，歐洲不多。

Okay. And you mentioned you are you opened offices in Korea and Thailand? What we are doing this year with those folks just working them in their home? Or what's what changed? Okay. So and 2023 was our 1st year of full year of operations in Korea?

好的。您有提到您在韓國和泰國開設了辦事處嗎？今年我們要為在家工作的人做什麼？或者說發生了什麼變化？好的。那麼 2023 年是我們在韓國全年營運的第一年？

No, we were going through a distributor and we sold items to that distributor and then she'll pass them along to Korean hospitals for actually from before I started Jim, 40 years later, she was still doing that. And we finally bought out her distributorship. We set up an office, hire a General Manager and then hired three sales reps for Korea. And now they're in our Seoul office and they've been operating for one year, same drill in Thailand.

不，我們當時是透過經銷商，我們把物品賣給那個經銷商，然後她會把它們傳遞給韓國醫院，因為實際上從我開始吉姆之前，40年後，她仍然這樣做。我們最後買下了她的經銷權。我們設立了一個辦事處，聘請了一名總經理，然後聘請了三名韓國銷售代表。現在他們在我們的首爾辦事處，已經運作一年了，在泰國也是如此。

Okay. All right. And for 2024, you guided for about 9% organic growth. Is it is it fair to say that a significant portion of that is from pricing.

好的。好的。到 2024 年，您預計有機成長約為 9%。公平地說，其中很大一部分是來自定價嗎？

I would say we tried not to guide on pricing because it's so variable what's happening. But if you look back to the 12 and five this past year and 2023, 12% price, 5% units. Maybe that relationship holds until we all know differently.

我想說的是，我們試著不指導定價，因為發生的事情變化很大。但如果你回顧過去一年和 2023 年的 12 和 5，價格上漲 12%，單位上漲 5%。也許這種關係會一直存在，直到我們都有不同的認知。

Okay. And then the last one. Can you J.J., can you tell me what you're assuming the tax rate will be for 2024 as for Q1 2024?

好的。然後是最後一張。J.J.，您能告訴我您假設 2024 年 2024 年第一季的稅率是多少嗎？

I see it but And then Tim, a 24.3 and then for the full year 24.1, well, can you be a little more specific than you had expected, but okay, you took 24 would have been good.

我看到了，但提姆，24.3，然後全年 24.1，好吧，你能比你預期的更具體一點嗎，但是好吧，你拿 24 就很好了。

All right. Thanks.

好的。謝謝。

Thanks, Jim.

謝謝，吉姆。

Brooks O'Neil, Lake Street Capital Markets.

布魯克斯·奧尼爾，湖街資本市場。

Yes, hey, good afternoon, guys. This is Aaron on the line for Brooks on. So you know, most of my questions have been addressed, but on. So I guess for 2024, you know, we're second solid pricing in and mainly solid volume. Tight expense control remain key priorities for you guys. Can you just give us a little more color and an updated sense for and the general environment in these areas.

是的，嘿，下午好，夥計們。這是阿倫接聽布魯克斯的電話。所以你知道，我的大部分問題已經解決，但還在繼續。所以我想，到 2024 年，我們的定價和銷售將處於第二位。嚴格的費用控制仍然是你們的首要任務。您能否為我們提供更多的色彩以及對這些區域的整體環境的最新認識？

Sure. And one of the folks on this call from KeyBank, they just pop up, Brett, we see him up on the screen, Keybanc just published a really nice report on about credit card swipes in USA hospitals. And also we're studying staffing in USA hospitals. And I would say it feels good from all the stuff we read we were not revealing what's going on in the business for the first eight weeks of the year, but it feels good mall stuff. We read that this quote return to hospital of staff and patients seems to be stretching out into 2024. And we were happy to see it take place in 2023. And we I feel like it really helped the business in 2023. So maybe more of the same procedure wise.

當然。KeyBank 電話中的一個人突然出現，布雷特，我們在螢幕上看到他，Keybanc 剛剛發布了一份關於美國醫院信用卡刷卡情況的非常好的報告。我們也正在研究美國醫院的人員配置。我想說，從我們讀到的所有內容來看，我們沒有透露今年前八週的業務情況，感覺很好，但購物中心的東西感覺很好。我們讀到，員工和病患返回醫院的這句話似乎會延續到 2024 年。我們很高興看到它在 2023 年發生。我覺得這對 2023 年的業務確實有幫助。所以也許更多的是相同的程序。

Great. Yes, that's helpful. And then last one for me. So you hired aggressively in sales and manufacturing last year, and this has been on brought up, but you plan to add 14 ish, Rob, so if you could just outline some of the priorities for 2024 and how you're thinking about those things priorities in terms of hiring is that we're going to try and track down opened up.

偉大的。是的，這很有幫助。然後是我的最後一張。所以你去年在銷售和製造方面積極招聘，這已經被提出來了，但你計劃增加 14 名左右的人，羅布，所以如果你能概述一下 2024 年的一些優先事項以及你如何考慮這些事情在招聘方面，我們的首要任務是嘗試尋找空缺人員。

Okay, great. So and just to sort of get in there on the on the beginning of that question, the big hiring spurt took place at this business in 2022. We put on 141 new headcount. And then in 2023, we really slowed down a lot. We only put in 23 new headcount. So we really put on the brakes last year, we wanted to catch up to all that post-COVID hiring. We think we did that and now we're back at it a little bit. And the other people we plan to hire this year feels like maybe we talk about 15 reps. You add five sales managers. There's 20 in the sales department maybe and maybe there's 2025 elsewhere. And maybe the biggest bucket of that is operations and manufacturing. So something like 40 ish, 50 ish. We're still working that out, but we know we're pretty tight. Vista's weren't a pay as you go plan here, our number one goal here is op income and then stuff come fills in after that.

好的，太好了。因此，為了解決這個問題，該公司在 2022 年出現了大規模的招募激增。我們新增了 141 名員工。然後到了 2023 年，我們的速度確實放慢了許多。我們只新增了 23 名員工。所以我們去年確實踩了煞車，我們想趕上新冠疫情後的招募情況。我們認為我們做到了，現在我們又回來了。我們今年計劃僱用的其他人感覺可能是 15 名代表。您新增五名銷售經理。銷售部門可能有 20 人，其他地方可能有 2025 人。也許其中最大的部分是營運和製造。所以大約 40 左右，50 左右。我們仍在解決這個問題，但我們知道我們的情況非常緊張。Vista並不是這裡的現收現付計劃，我們的首要目標是營運收入，然後其他的東西就會填補。

Great. Very helpful. Thanks for that clarification, and congrats on the quarter and your guys.

偉大的。很有幫助。感謝您的澄清，並祝賀本季和您的員工。

Thanks a lot.

多謝。

Brett Fishbin, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Brett Fishbin，KeyBanc 資本市場。

Yes, hi. This is actually Les on for Brian, thanks for taking the questions. And just to start off with the 9% growth for the year, how should we think about that amongst the different regions and where do you expect to drive them prem?

是的，嗨。這實際上是 Les 為 Brian 做的，感謝您提出問題。首先從今年 9% 的成長率開始，我們應該如何考慮不同地區的成長率？您預計在哪些方面推動它們成長？

Well, it's a good question. I would say generically, we always think Asia-Pac is going to grow faster. Europe is going to grow second fastest in North America is going to be a little bit slower. So that's generically. We don't really make guidance based on which region is going to happen. We'll be thrilled when we show up with that 9% organic growth, regardless of how it happens on 10% reported for the year as well. It's also what we guided on. Does that get at some of your question, Liz?

嗯，這是一個好問題。我想說，總的來說，我們一直認為亞太地區將會成長更快。歐洲的成長速度將是第二快，北美的成長速度將稍慢一些。所以這就是一般情況。我們並沒有真正根據哪個地區將要發生的情況來制定指導。當我們實現 9% 的有機成長時，我們會感到非常興奮，無論今年報告的 10% 有機成長是如何實現的。這也是我們指導的。莉茲，這能解答你的一些問題嗎？

Yes, that was really helpful. And then if I could ask on op leverage side, how are you thinking of balancing your R&D investments versus SG&A and how should we think about this going forward, right?

是的，這確實很有幫助。然後，如果我可以在營運槓桿方面詢問，您如何考慮平衡研發投資與銷售、一般管理費用以及我們未來應該如何考慮這一點，對嗎？

So sort of as all balancing down at some kind of margin numbers or something like that? I mean, R&D, we've been kind of building a little bit on a percent spent. I think we're up at 9% of sales on that. Maybe historically, we were sort of in the eights and now we're in the ninth. So maybe we've been cranking up a little bit on the R&D side. And specifically for us, R&D really means expanded regulatory and clinical efforts, not so much old fashioned R&D with new products. We tend to tried to bring the products in through acquisitions that may cover your R & D thing is a small part of your question, but the bigger part of the question is I think our guidance is implying 21% op margin for the year. Am I getting that right?

那麼，所有的一切都在某種保證金數字或類似的情況下保持平衡嗎？我的意思是，在研發方面，我們已經在一定比例的支出上進行了一些建設。我認為我們的銷售額因此成長了 9%。也許從歷史上看，我們排在第八位，現在我們排在第九位。所以也許我們在研發方面已經加大了一些力道。特別是對我們來說，研發實際上意味著擴大監管和臨床工作，而不是新產品的老式研發。我們傾向於嘗試透過收購引入產品，這可能涵蓋您的研發工作，這只是您問題的一小部分，但問題的更重要部分是我認為我們的指導意味著今年的營運利潤率為 21%。我說得對嗎？

Yes, 21% op margin for the year. And I think in 23, that same figure was 19%. And the year before that it was 17%. So I think we're seeing a little bit of operational leverage here, of course, we were helped out in a big way by that gross margin number. If that sticks around should make things pretty easy, not easy, but more doable around here. So a little bit of leverage coming from gross margin and still growing the sales force.

是的，今年營運利潤率為 21%。我想在 23 年，這個數字是 19%。而前一年這個數字是 17%。因此，我認為我們在這裡看到了一點營運槓桿，當然，毛利率數字對我們有很大幫助。如果這種情況持續下去，事情會變得相當容易，雖然不容易，但在這裡更可行。因此，一點點槓桿來自於毛利率，且銷售團隊仍在成長。

Okay, great. Thanks for taking the question.

好的，太好了。感謝您提出問題。

Thanks a lot, Liz.

非常感謝，莉茲。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference. I would like to thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect and have a great day.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。我要感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接並度過愉快的一天。