Matthews International Corp (MATW) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to Matthews International Fourth Quarter and Year-End Fiscal 2023 Financial Results Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this conference is being recorded.

問候。歡迎參加馬修斯國際 2023 財年第四季和年終財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄製中。

I will now turn the conference over to Steven Nicola, CFO. Thank you. You may begin.

我現在將會議交給財務長史蒂文·尼古拉 (Steven Nicola)。謝謝。你可以開始了。

Thank you, Sherry. Good morning. I'm Steve Nicola, Chief Financial Officer of Matthews. And with me on the call this morning is Joe Bartolacci, our company's President and CEO. For your reference in today's call, our earnings release has been posted to the Investors section of our website, www.matw.com, along with the presentation.

謝謝你，雪莉。早安.我是史蒂夫‧尼古拉 (Steve Nicola)，馬修斯 (Matthews) 財務長。今天早上與我一起參加電話會議的是我們公司的總裁兼執行長喬·巴托拉奇 (Joe Bartolacci)。為了供您在今天的電話會議中參考，我們的收益報告已與簡報一起發佈在我們網站 www.matw.com 的投資者部分。

Before we start, please note that any forward-looking statements in connection with this discussion are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Factors that could cause the company's results to differ from those discussed today are set forth in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and other periodic filings with the SEC. In addition, we will be discussing non-GAAP financial metrics and encourage you to read our disclosures and reconciliation tables carefully as you consider these metrics. In connection with any forward-looking statements and non-GAAP financial information, please read the disclaimer included in today's presentation materials located on our website.

在我們開始之前，請注意，與本次討論相關的任何前瞻性陳述都是根據1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款做出的。可能導致公司結果與今天討論的結果不同的因素是該公司的 10-K 表格年度報告和向 SEC 提交的其他定期文件中載有該規定。此外，我們將討論非公認會計準則財務指標，並鼓勵您在考慮這些指標時仔細閱讀我們的揭露和調節表。關於任何前瞻性陳述和非公認會計準則財務信息，請閱讀我們網站上今天演示材料中包含的免責聲明。

Now I will turn the call over to Joe.

現在我將把電話轉給喬。

Okay. Thank you, Steve. Good morning. Again, this quarter, we are very pleased with our results as the company has reported higher consolidated sales, while all of our business segments reported higher adjusted EBITDA. Our Industrial Technologies business again reported solid revenue growth in the fourth quarter, driven by the strong and ongoing interest in our Energy Solutions business. This growth enabled the segment to exceed the $500 million revenue target we set for the year. Industrial Technologies revenue for the full year increased by over 50% in fiscal '23 from last year's sales of $335 million. Our Memorialization business also performed well for the full year with stable revenues despite a continued decline in debt.

好的。謝謝你，史蒂夫。早安.同樣，本季度，我們對我們的業績感到非常滿意，因為公司報告了更高的綜合銷售額，而我們所有業務部門報告了更高的調整後 EBITDA。在人們對我們的能源解決方案業務的強烈和持續的興趣的推動下，我們的工業技術業務在第四季度再次實現了穩健的收入成長。這一成長使該部門超過了我們今年設定的 5 億美元收入目標。 2023 財年工業技術全年營收比去年 3.35 億美元的銷售額成長了 50% 以上。儘管債務持續下降，我們的紀念業務全年也表現良好，收入穩定。

Our sharp focus on improving productivity in the business, coupled with improved price realization led to an 8% increase in adjusted EBITDA for the full year. At SGK, as expected, cost reduction actions resulted in higher adjusted EBITDA for the quarter and improved margins despite market conditions in Europe that still continue to be challenging. Based on the strength of our operating results, we exceeded our target, reduced our net leverage ratio and also lowered our total debt outstanding as of year-end. We expect further debt reduction in the coming year as we convert our increased working capital results from our growing Industrial Technologies segment to cash.

我們高度重視提高業務生產力，加上價格實現的提高，導致全年調整後 EBITDA 成長 8%。在 SGK，正如預期的那樣，儘管歐洲市場狀況仍然充滿挑戰，但成本削減行動導致本季調整後 EBITDA 更高，利潤率也有所提高。基於我們強勁的營運業績，我們超越了目標，降低了淨槓桿率，並降低了截至年底的未償債務總額。我們預計，隨著我們將不斷增長的工業技術部門增加的營運資金轉化為現金，來年債務將進一步減少。

Consolidated sales for the company increased by 6.7% and adjusted EBITDA by 7% in fiscal 2023. Impressive results despite the sense of uncertainty hovering around the global markets fueled by geopolitical events and the interest rate concerns. We are poised to drive continued growth in sales and adjusted EBITDA from fiscal 2024, buoyed by the long-term opportunities being created by several of our businesses with special mention to our Industrial Technologies segment.

2023 財年，該公司的綜合銷售額成長了6.7%，調整後的EBITDA 成長了7%。儘管地緣政治事件和利率擔憂加劇了全球市場的不確定性，但該公司的業績仍令人印象深刻。由於我們的多項業務（特別是工業技術部門）創造的長期機會，我們準備從 2024 財年開始推動銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 的持續成長。

On a constant currency basis compared to prior year, our sales increased 8% and our EBITDA increased 9%, a strong performance in a challenging environment. Turning now to the performance of our individual businesses. Let's begin with Industrial Technologies, which had strong growth in fiscal 2023, primarily through higher sales in our energy storage solutions business included in the year-over-year improvement are also benefits gained from the acquisitions of OLBRICH and R+S Automotive that provided expanded capacity to execute and meet our growing demand for energy solutions.

與去年相比，以固定匯率計算，我們的銷售額成長了 8%，EBITDA 成長了 9%，在充滿挑戰的環境中表現強勁。現在轉向我們各個業務的表現。讓我們從工業技術公司開始，該公司在2023 財年實現了強勁增長，主要是透過我們的儲能解決方案業務銷售額的增加實現了同比改善，此外還從收購OLBRICH 和R+S Automotive 中獲得了收益，這些業務提供了擴大的執行和滿足我們對能源解決方案不斷增長的需求的能力。

On our last call, we discussed actions to be taken in OLBRICH and R+S that would ultimately improve their overall performance. As you can see from our strong fourth quarter results, those initiatives have begun and we expect significant improvement in the operating results of these businesses in the coming year. We continue to actively engage in multiple discussions with several OEMs and battery manufacturers across the world on our energy solutions services, and we expect to finalize orders for production scale equipment during 2024.

在上次電話會議中，我們討論了 OLBRICH 和 R+S 將採取的最終提高整體績效的行動。正如您從我們強勁的第四季度業績中看到的那樣，這些舉措已經開始，我們預計這些業務來年的營運業績將顯著改善。我們繼續積極與世界各地的多家 OEM 和電池製造商就我們的能源解決方案服務進行多次討論，我們預計在 2024 年完成生產規模設備的訂單。

We still have about 50% of the $200 million in energy orders announced this past January that we expect to fulfill during 2024 as customer delays have pushed out deliveries. We will continue to share our progress on any significant new orders as they are received. However, we exited 2023 with backlogs in our engineering and OLBRICH businesses that were $190 million higher than at the beginning of the year, including an increase of $80 million in our energy business.

今年 1 月宣布的 2 億美元能源訂單中，我們仍有約 50% 預計在 2024 年完成，因為客戶延誤導致交貨時間延後。我們將繼續分享收到的任何重大新訂單的進展。然而，2023 年結束時，我們的工程和 OLBRICH 業務積壓訂單比年初增加了 1.9 億美元，其中能源業務增加了 8,000 萬美元。

As for our product identification and warehouse automation businesses, let me lead off with an update on developments in our Product Identification business. As you know, this business provides a comprehensive suite of advanced marketing and printing technologies, consumables and software for industrial applications. These solutions include differentiated printing equipment, recurring consumables and critical controller software. As you may recall, we have identified an opportunity to displace incumbent continuous [inject] technology, which has proven to be too complex, environmentally challenged and costly.

至於我們的產品識別和倉庫自動化業務，讓我先介紹我們產品識別業務的最新發展。如您所知，該業務為工業應用提供一整套先進的行銷和列印技術、耗材和軟體。這些解決方案包括差異化列印設備、經常性耗材和關鍵控制器軟體。您可能還記得，我們​​已經找到了取代現有連續[注入]技術的機會，該技術已被證明過於複雜、對環境造成挑戰且成本高昂。

Our new solution addresses the market opportunity of about $2 billion using a disposable printhead that is maintenance free and reduces total cost of ownership significantly. The solution pairs flexibility, speed and performance with low maintenance, convenience and environmental friendliness. We continue to develop the economic performance model supporting the product and we believe it could be the only available product in the market, able to address the growing need for 2D codes that are delivered in high rates of speed. 2D codes are expected to replace barcodes and certain applications due to their ability, delivered greater track and trace information and we believe our product is perfectly positioned to meet this demand. We anticipate launching this solution sometime in the latter half of 2024 to early 2025.

我們的新解決方案利用免維護的一次性列印頭解決了約 20 億美元的市場機遇，並顯著降低了總擁有成本。該解決方案將靈活性、速度和效能與低維護、便利性和環境友善性結合在一起。我們繼續開發支持該產品的經濟性能模型，我們相信它可能是市場上唯一可用的產品，能夠滿足對高速交付的二維碼日益增長的需求。二維碼有望取代條碼和某些應用程序，因為它們能夠提供更強大的追蹤和追蹤訊息，我們相信我們的產品完全能夠滿足這一需求。我們預計在 2024 年下半年至 2025 年初的某個時間點推出此解決方案。

With respect to warehouse automation, we won our first European warehouse automation inflation project and our first factory automation order, which will be delivered in fiscal 2024. We are excited about the opportunity to expand our available market, both by industry and geography. Fueled by the continued growth of our Industrial Technologies segment, we are exploring ways to expand our product portfolio in this segment through acquisitions, which will augment our ability to grow each of the businesses with capacity, geography and technology.

在倉庫自動化方面，我們贏得了第一個歐洲倉庫自動化通膨項目和第一個工廠自動化訂單，該訂單將於2024 財年交付。我們對有機會擴大我們的可用市場（按行業和地理）感到興奮。在工業技術部門持續成長的推動下，我們正在探索透過收購擴大我們在該領域的產品組合的方法，這將增強我們在產能、地理位置和技術方面發展每項業務的能力。

As I've said before, our Memorialization segment has been reset to a higher level than before the pandemic. While fiscal year revenues for the business remained stable, we delivered an adjusted EBITDA number that exceeded the amount reported for the full fiscal year before the pandemic by (inaudible) million. Continued growth of our cremation products business in addition to market share gains, productivity improvements, acquisitions and pricing initiatives all contributed to the success.

正如我之前所說，我們的紀念部分已重置為比大流行之前更高的水平。雖然該業務的財年收入保持穩定，但我們公佈的調整後 EBITDA 數字比疫情爆發前整個財年報告的金額高出（聽不清楚）百萬。除了市場份額的成長、生產力的提高、收購和定價舉措之外，我們火葬產品業務的持續成長都為我們的成功做出了貢獻。

Moving on to SGK. This segment continues to be impacted by challenging market environment in Europe and unfavorable currency rate changes. With that said, we did see performance setting over the second half of fiscal 2023, and are also beginning to see the impact of cost reduction actions implemented recently as margins and adjusted EBITDA improved in all of the regions in which we operate. We are also initiating a more significant cost reduction effort in Europe which has been the most -- the merely challenged region for SGK. These actions include selective price increases and the closing of several sites, thus reducing our cost structure in Europe due to the impact of the current war between Russia and Ukraine.

繼續前往SGK。該細分市場繼續受到歐洲充滿挑戰的市場環境和不利的匯率變化的影響。話雖如此，我們確實看到了 2023 財年下半年的業績設定，並且也開始看到最近實施的成本削減行動的影響，因為我們運營的所有地區的利潤率和調整後 EBITDA 均有所改善。我們也在歐洲發起了更大​​規模的成本削減工作，歐洲是 SGK 面臨最大挑戰的地區。這些行動包括選擇性地提價和關閉多個基地，從而減少我們在歐洲的成本結構，以應對當前俄羅斯和烏克蘭之間戰爭的影響。

Looking ahead to next year, we are excited about the long-term opportunity for all of our businesses, but especially for our Industrial Technologies segment. We believe it can drive us to another year of growth in sales and adjusted EBITDA. We met our targets for the year, and we are well positioned for a solid start in fiscal '24 with good backlogs that -- in that business in particular. However, as I've advised on prior calls, there is a significant amount of project-related work in our Industrial Technologies segment, specifically in energy solutions, OLBRICH and warehouse automation.

展望明年，我們對所有業務的長期機會感到興奮，尤其是我們的工業技術部門。我們相信，它可以推動我們的銷售額和調整後 EBITDA 再次成長。我們實現了今年的目標，我們已做好充分準備，在 24 財年有一個良好的開端，尤其是在該業務中，積壓情況良好。然而，正如我在之前的電話中建議的那樣，我們的工業技術部門有大量與專案相關的工作，特別是在能源解決方案、OLBRICH 和倉庫自動化方面。

As these businesses continue to scale up, and account for a greater portion of our consolidated sales, it becomes more difficult to project timing of our growth, particularly on a quarterly basis. With this in mind, we will not provide specific fiscal '24 earnings guidance at this time. but I can think that we expect our 2024 results to exceed fiscal 2023. Note that we anticipate providing updated guidance as we have more clarity on the timing of orders as they come through.

隨著這些業務繼續擴大規模，並在我們的合併銷售額中佔據更大的比例，預測我們的成長時間變得更加困難，特別是按季度預測。考慮到這一點，我們目前不會提供具體的 24 財年獲利指引。但我認為我們預計 2024 年的業績將超過 2023 財年。請注意，我們預計會提供更新的指導，因為我們對訂單完成的時間有了更清晰的了解。

As for our capital allocation plans, we anticipate fiscal 2024 operating cash flow generation to be strong. Continued debt reduction remains a long-term focus, and as I mentioned earlier, we plan to explore acquisitions to support growth, particularly in our Industrial Technologies segment. In conclusion, we look forward to delivering another good year in 2024 as we continue the transformation of our Industrial Technologies segment into a more significant contributor to our overall results.

至於我們的資本配置計劃，我們預計 2024 財年的營運現金流量將會強勁。持續削減債務仍然是一個長期重點，正如我之前提到的，我們計劃探索收購以支持成長，特別是在我們的工業技術領域。總之，我們期待在 2024 年再創豐收之年，我們將繼續將產業技術部門轉型為對整體績效有更重要貢獻的部門。

Now let me turn it over to Steve, who will discuss the financial results for the quarter and the fiscal year in greater detail.

現在讓我將其交給史蒂夫，他將更詳細地討論本季和本財年的財務表現。

Thank you, Joe. I'll begin with Slide 7. Consolidated sales for the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter were $480 million compared to $457 million a year ago, representing an increase of $23 million or 5%. The increase primarily reflected higher sales for the Industrial Technologies segment. The Industrial Technologies segment reported a sales increase of $36 million or 34% compared to a year ago, primarily reflecting higher engineering energy storage sales and the impact of the acquisitions of OLBRICH GMBH and R+S Automotive GMBH in August last year.

謝謝你，喬。我將從投影片 7 開始。2023 財年第四季的綜合銷售額為 4.8 億美元，與去年同期的 4.57 億美元相比，增加了 2,300 萬美元，即 5%。這一增長主要反映了工業技術部門銷售額的增加。工業技術部門的銷售額年增 3,600 萬美元，即 34%，主要反映了工程儲能銷售額的增加以及去年 8 月收購 OLBRICH GMBH 和 R+S Automotive GMBH 的影響。

Memorialization segment sales were $204.9 million for the current quarter, which was relatively consistent compared with $206.3 million a year ago. And sales for the SGK Brand Solutions segment were $11.5 million lower than a year ago. On a consolidated basis, changes in currency rates had a favorable impact of $5 million on current quarter sales compared to a year ago. On a GAAP basis, the company's net income was $17.7 million or $0.56 per share for the current quarter compared to a loss of $81 million or $2.63 per share for the same quarter last year. The prior year loss on a GAAP basis reflected a goodwill impairment charge related to the SGK Brand Solutions segment.

本季紀念業務銷售額為 2.049 億美元，與去年同期的 2.063 億美元相比相對穩定。 SGK 品牌解決方案部門的銷售額比一年前減少了 1,150 萬美元。綜合來看，與去年同期相比，匯率變動對本季銷售額產生了 500 萬美元的有利影響。以 GAAP 計算，該公司本季淨利潤為 1,770 萬美元，即每股 0.56 美元，而去年同期虧損 8,100 萬美元，即每股 2.63 美元。以 GAAP 計算的上一年虧損反映了與 SGK Brand Solutions 部門相關的商譽減損費用。

On a non-GAAP basis, consolidated adjusted EBITDA which represents net income before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and other adjustments for the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter was $61.9 million, compared to $55.9 million a year ago, representing an increase of $6 million or 10.7%. The increase reflected higher adjusted EBITDA for all 3 of the company's reporting segments. Changes in currency rates had a favorable impact of approximately $422,000 on current quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA compared to a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share for the current quarter was $0.96 compared to $0.82 for the same quarter a year ago, representing an increase of $0.14 or 17.1%.

以非公認會計準則計算，2023 財年第四季合併調整後EBITDA（扣除利息費用、所得稅、折舊及攤提及其他調整前的淨利）為6,190 萬美元，較去年同期的5,590 萬美元增加了6 美元百萬或10.7%。這一增長反映了公司所有 3 個報告部門調整後 EBITDA 的提高。與去年同期相比，匯率變動對本季綜合調整後 EBITDA 產生了約 422,000 美元的有利影響。本季調整後每股收益為 0.96 美元，較去年同期的 0.82 美元增加 0.14 美元，或 17.1%。

The increase primarily reflected higher adjusted EBITDA for each of our business segments and a lower income tax expense impact for the current quarter, offset partially by higher interest expense. Please see the reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP adjusted earnings per share and constant currency sales and adjusted EBITDA provided in our earnings release.

這一增長主要反映了我們每個業務部門調整後 EBITDA 的提高以及本季所得稅費用影響的降低，但部分被利息費用的增加所抵消。請參閱我們的收益報告中提供的調整後 EBITDA、非 GAAP 調整後每股收益和固定貨幣銷售額以及調整後 EBITDA 的調整表。

Please turn to Slide 8 to begin a review of our segment results. Sales for the Industrial Technologies segment for the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter were $140.6 million, compared to $104.6 million a year ago, representing an increase of $36 million or 34%. Recent acquisitions, primarily OLBRICH and R+S Automotive contributed $14.8 million to the current quarter growth. The Engineering business reported higher sales for the current quarter compared to a year ago, primarily reflecting continued growth in our energy storage solutions business. Our Product Identification business also reported higher sales for the current quarter compared to last year, which was offset by lower sales for the Warehouse Automation business.

請翻到投影片 8 開始回顧我們的細分結果。 2023 財年第四季工業技術部門的銷售額為 1.406 億美元，較上年同期的 1.046 億美元成長 3,600 萬美元，成長 34%。最近的收購（主要是 OLBRICH 和 R+S Automotive）為本季的成長貢獻了 1,480 萬美元。工程業務本季的銷售額較上年同期增加，主要反映了我們的儲能解決方案業務的持續成長。我們的產品識別業務本季的銷售額也高於去年，但被倉庫自動化業務的銷售下降所抵銷。

For the year, sales for the Industrial Technologies segment were $505.8 million, exceeding the $500 million target we set at the beginning of the fiscal year, and $170.2 million or over 50% higher than last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the Industrial Technologies segment for the current quarter was $23.5 million compared to $23.4 million a year ago. The increase primarily reflected the benefit of the segment's sales growth for the current quarter, offset partially by the unfavorable impact of recent acquisitions. As we previously indicated, these acquisitions were not expected to contribute to adjusted EBITDA immediately, but the results are expected to improve with our integration actions. We are already starting to realize the benefits of these actions.

今年，工業技術部門的銷售額為 5.058 億美元，超出了我們在財年年初設定的 5 億美元目標，比去年增加了 1.702 億美元，增幅超過 50%。本季工業技術部門調整後 EBITDA 為 2,350 萬美元，去年同期為 2,340 萬美元。這一成長主要反映了該部門本季銷售成長的效益，部分被近期收購的不利影響所抵銷。正如我們之前指出的，這些收購預計不會立即為調整後的 EBITDA 做出貢獻，但隨著我們的整合行動，結果預計會有所改善。我們已經開始意識到這些行動的好處。

Please turn to Slide 9. Sales for the Memorialization segment for the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter were $204.9 million compared to $206.3 million for the same quarter a year ago. The recent quarter primarily reflected the benefits of improved pricing and the acquisition of Eagle Granite Company in February 2023, which were offset by lower unit sales of caskets and memorials reflecting lower COVID-related deaths. Memorialization segment adjusted EBITDA for the current quarter was $36.9 million compared to $33.4 million for the fourth fiscal quarter last year. The increase primarily resulted from improved pricing and benefits from operational cost savings initiatives. These increases were partially offset by the impact of lower casket and memorial sales volumes and increased labor costs.

請參閱投影片 9.2023 財年第四季紀念部門的銷售額為 2.049 億美元，而去年同期為 2.063 億美元。最近一個季度主要反映了定價改善和 2023 年 2 月收購 Eagle Granite Company 的好處，但棺材和紀念館單位銷售的下降（反映了與新冠病毒相關的死亡人數減少）抵消了這些好處。紀念部門本季調整後的 EBITDA 為 3,690 萬美元，去年第四財季為 3,340 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於定價的改善以及營運成本節約措施帶來的好處。這些增長被棺材和紀念館銷售下降以及勞動力成本增加的影響部分抵消。

Please turn to Slide 10. The SGK Brand Solutions segment reported sales of $134.7 million for the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter compared to $146.3 million a year ago. The decrease primarily reflected lower sales in the segment's European and U.S. markets, including a decline in retail base sales and the impact of several site closures. Changes in currency rates had a favorable impact of $1.8 million on current quarter sales compared to a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA for the SGK Brand Solutions segment was $17.5 million for the recent quarter compared to $16.7 million a year ago. Despite lower sales, adjusted EBITDA for the segment increased for the current quarter, primarily reflecting improvements in the ability to pass along cost increases and the benefits from the segment's recent cost reduction actions. Changes in currency rates had an unfavorable impact of $235,000 on adjusted EBITDA compared to a year ago.

請參閱投影片 10。SGK 品牌解決方案部門報告 2023 財年第四季的銷售額為 1.347 億美元，而去年同期為 1.463 億美元。這一下降主要反映了該部門歐洲和美國市場銷售額的下降，包括零售基礎銷售額的下降以及多個站點關閉的影響。與去年同期相比，匯率變動對本季銷售額產生了 180 萬美元的有利影響。最近一個季度 SGK 品牌解決方案部門的調整後 EBITDA 為 1,750 萬美元，而去年同期為 1,670 萬美元。儘管銷售額下降，但本季度該部門調整後的 EBITDA 有所增加，主要反映了轉嫁成本增加的能力的提高以及該部門近期成本削減行動帶來的好處。與一年前相比，匯率變動對調整後 EBITDA 產生了 235,000 美元的不利影響。

Please turn to Slide 11. For the year ended September 30, 2023, operating cash flow was $79.5 million compared to $126.9 million a year ago. The reduction from last year primarily resulted from an increase in working capital during fiscal 2023. Working capital in our energy storage solutions business was higher than a year ago, reflecting the significant growth in this business. Granted inventories also increased for the year, reflecting higher sales and increased costs. Operating cash flow for the 2023 and 2022 fiscal years reflected final payouts for the settlement of the company's U.S. retirement plan obligations. The final payouts for settlement of the supplemental plans totaled $24.2 million in the fiscal 2023 first quarter. Final payouts for settlement of the company's principal U.S. pension plan totaled $35.7 million in the first fiscal quarter last year.

請參閱投影片 11。截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的年度，營運現金流為 7,950 萬美元，而一年前為 1.269 億美元。較去年減少的主要原因是2023財年營運資金增加。我們的儲能解決方案業務的營運資金高於去年同期，反映出該業務的顯著成長。今年授予的庫存也有所增加，反映銷售額的增加和成本的增加。 2023 和 2022 財年的營運現金流反映了公司美國退休計畫債務結算的最終支出。 2023 財年第一季補充計畫結算的最終付款總額為 2,420 萬美元。去年第一財季，該公司美國主要退休金計畫的最終支付總額為 3,570 萬美元。

Outstanding debt was $790 million at September 30, 2023, compared to $799 million at the end of fiscal 2022. At September 30, 2023, the company's leverage ratio based on net debt, which represents outstanding debtless cash and trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA was 3.31, representing a reduction from 3.35 at June 30, 2023, and 3.5 at September 30, 2022. Approximately 30.5 million shares were outstanding as of September 30, 2023.

截至2023 年9 月30 日，未償債務為7.9 億美元，而2022 財年末為7.99 億美元。截至2023 年9 月30 日，該公司基於淨債務（代表未償無債現金和過去12 個月調整後EBITDA）的槓桿率為3.31 ，較2023年6月30日的3.3​​5和2022年9月30日的3.5有所減少。截至2023年9月30日，流通股約為3050萬股。

During the fiscal 2023 fourth quarter, the company purchased approximately 1,100 shares, which were in connection with withholding tax obligations on equity compensation. At September 30, 2023, the company had remaining authorization of approximately 1.2 million shares under its repurchase program. Finally, the board this week increased the quarterly dividend to $0.24 per share on the company's common stock, representing the 30th consecutive annual dividend increase since becoming a publicly traded company. The dividend is payable December 11, 2023, to stockholders of record November 27, 2023.

在2023財年第四季度，該公司購買了約1,100股股票，這些股票與股權補償的預扣稅義務有關。截至2023年9月30日，公司回購計畫剩餘授權約120萬股。最後，董事會本週將公司普通股季度股息提高至每股 0.24 美元，這是自成為上市公司以來連續 30 次提高年度股息。該股將於2023年12月11日支付給2023年11月27日登記在冊的股東。

This concludes the financial review, and we will now open the call to questions. Sherry?

財務審查到此結束，我們現在開始提問。雪莉酒？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Daniel Moore with CJS Securities.

（操作員指令）我們的第一個問題來自 CJS 證券的 Daniel Moore。

I will start with energy storage. Obviously, the big influx of orders last fiscal Q1 and appreciate the color, Joe. Just talk about the pipeline, what it looks like, and what your expectations for order intake would look like over the next maybe 4 quarters? I know that getting the exact timing is difficult, but what are you hearing from both your bigger customers and newer opportunity?

我將從能量儲存開始。顯然，上一財年第一季的訂單大量湧入，並且欣賞色彩，喬。只是談談管道，它是什麼樣子，以及您對未來 4 個季度的訂單量的預期會是什麼樣子？我知道獲得準確的時間很困難，但是您從更大的客戶和新的機會中聽到了什麼？

So our largest customer has pushed up, and that's more issues as it relates to them than as it relates to us. You can see by the working capital build that we have on our balance sheet. It's more the question of timing of delivery and hitting the milestones that will allow us to reduce that while there being ready for the equipment is the critical issue. They obviously -- we are aware of other projects that they are working on. I know they are substantially behind in those developments. But they -- we expect to hear something over the course of this year. Others, however, are moving forward.

因此，我們最大的客戶已經上漲，這與他們相關的問題比與我們相關的問題更多。您可以透過我們資產負債表上的營運資本建設看到。更重要的是交付時間和達到里程碑的問題，這將使我們能夠減少交付時間，而準備好設備是關鍵問題。顯然，我們知道他們正在進行其他項目。我知道他們在這些發展方面遠遠落後。但我們預計今年會聽到一些消息。然而，其他人正在向前邁進。

As I've said before, where we stand today with respect to our largest customers, our other customers are probably 2 to 3 years behind. So what we will expect to see this year are the first orders for production equipment and I would say we have at least 2, maybe 3 significant customers that will be -- we're in the midst of working on, what we call, specifications for those production pieces of equipment. But they will not be multi-hundred million dollar orders at this time. They will lead to multi-hundred million dollar orders over time. But today, the types of orders we're talking about are more in the line of $25 million to $50 million. And we will announce those as they go forward. We are also working on some very interesting things with some U.S. manufacturers on joint developments in the United States. So we'll see -- we'll have some announcements, I'm sure, over the coming months. But at this point in time, timing of that is our biggest issue.

正如我之前所說，就我們最大的客戶而言，我們今天所處的位置，我們的其他客戶可能落後 2 到 3 年。因此，我們今年預計會看到第一批生產設備訂單，我想說我們至少有 2 個，也許 3 個重要客戶，我們正在研究我們所說的規格。對於那些生產設備。但目前不會是數億美元的訂單。隨著時間的推移，它們將帶來數億美元的訂單。但今天，我們談論的訂單類型更多的是 2500 萬至 5000 萬美元。我們將在進展過程中宣布這些內容。我們也與一些美國製造商在美國共同開發一些非常有趣的事情。所以我們拭目以待——我確信，在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將會發布一些公告。但目前，時機是我們最大的問題。

Really helpful, Joe. I'm bouncing around a little bit here, but in Memorialization, you had the initial bump in casket sales from the pandemic, followed by delayed bump in memorials. Have we now essentially fully pass those more difficult comps? And what should sort of the organic rate look like in your mind over the next 3 to 5 years?

真的很有幫助，喬。我在這裡有點跳來跳去，但在紀念活動中，棺材銷售因大流行而出現最初的增長，隨後是紀念館銷售的延遲增長。我們現在基本上已經完全通過了那些更困難的比賽了嗎？您心目中未來 3 到 5 年的有機率應該是什麼樣的呢？

Yes, I would tell you that when it comes to Memorialization, the team has done an exceptional job and, what I would call, casketed deaths or the death rates are down materially from the peaks. Still had a few of those kind of off-normal kind of months throughout that period. But I would tell you, we're substantially back. As I look forward, I think the key to this story as it relates to Memorialization is we've picked up some share, we've picked up some pricing, and we've improved our productivity.

是的，我會告訴你，在紀念活動方面，該團隊做得非常出色，我稱之為棺材死亡或死亡率比高峰大幅下降。在那段時間裡，仍然有一些不正常的月份。但我想告訴你，我們基本上已經回來了。展望未來，我認為這個故事與紀念相關的關鍵是我們已經獲得了一些份額，我們已經獲得了一些定價，並且我們提高了我們的生產力。

And the last part of this, we've made several smaller acquisitions that have become extremely accretive to that overall business, and we have some strategies that we're looking at, which we hope will continue to build on that. So I -- again, I don't think this is a business that's going to grow double-digit top line or double-digit bottom line into the future, but we expect it to be a modest grower going into the future over the next 5 years.

最後一部分，我們進行了幾項規模較小的收購，這些收購對整體業務產生了極大的促進作用，我們正在考慮一些策略，我們希望這些策略將繼續在此基礎上發展。因此，我再次強調，我認為這家企業未來不會實現兩位數的營收或兩位數的利潤成長，但我們預計它將在未來成為一個適度的成長者5年。

Helpful. One more, and I'll jump back around cash flow and capital allocation. Maybe Steve, what are we looking at for CapEx for next year? If I missed it, forgive me. How much do you think we can pull out of working capital? And Joe, I heard acquisitions a couple of times, just talk about the -- your priorities delevering versus maybe some of that M&A, and what kind of size we might be looking at?

有幫助。再談一談，我將回到現金流和資本配置。也許史蒂夫，我們明年的資本支出是什麼？如果我錯過了，請原諒我。您認為我們可以從營運資金中提取多少資金？喬，我聽過幾次收購，請談談您的優先事項是去槓桿化與可能的一些併購，以及我們可能會考慮什麼樣的規模？

Yes. So Dan, I'll start with the first part of your question. So with CapEx, I think this year, we landed just a little bit over $50 million for the year. I do expect that to be a little bit higher next year. So just with some of the investments that we're making in our Industrial Technology segment, I expect that to be higher. And then with respect to working capital, although I think you heard Joe referenced a strong cash flow -- that we're expecting a strong cash flow year next year. And I do think an important piece of that is going to come from working capital reduction we had to build this year that we just talked about. I expect that to be realized to some degree in fiscal 2024, but again, the caution there is timing on that, Dan, just simply because of the project nature of the business.

是的。丹，我將從你問題的第一部分開始。因此，就資本支出而言，我認為今年我們的收入略高於 5,000 萬美元。我確實預計明年這個數字會更高一些。因此，僅考慮我們在工業技術領域進行的一些投資，我預計這一數字會更高。然後就營運資本而言，儘管我認為您聽說喬提到了強勁的現金流，但我們預計明年會有強勁的現金流。我確實認為其中一個重要部分將來自我們剛才談到的今年必須減少的營運資本。我預計這將在 2024 財年在某種程度上實現，但丹，再次強調，這只是因為業務的項目性質。

Yes. Dan, and I'll take the second half of your question. As it relates to acquisitions, you're right, I have been very consistent with couple of comments with respect to acquisitions. Let me put it by segment, that's a better way to do it. We expect to do a few things in our -- on our Memorialization business, but those are relatively small with big impacts potential to the bottom line. That's leveraging our -- what we're doing really is leveraging our platform, salesman across the United States, distribution centers across the United States, and we're in the cemeteries and funeral homes and literally every part of the country. So we'll continue to expand that, but those are relatively small.

是的。丹，我來回答你問題的後半部。因為它與收購有關，你是對的，我對收購方面的一些評論非常一致。讓我分段來說，這是一個更好的方法。我們希望在我們的紀念業務上做一些事情，但這些事情相對較小，但可能對利潤產生重大影響。這就是利用我們的——我們實際上正在做的是利用我們的平台、美國各地的銷售人員、美國各地的配送中心，我們在墓地和殯儀館以及全國各地。因此，我們將繼續擴大這一範圍，但這些規模相對​​較小。

What I think is what is important to hear in his commentary is that we're now focused on growing our Industrial Technologies segment as a whole. There are a couple of pieces of that puzzle that we have been working on. I'm not prepared today to kind of speak to them, but they're not insignificant acquisitions. One of the keys to the fact that we know based on what the working capital build and what we expect to collect this year, we're going to have a pretty significant difference in working capital over the course of the year. Timing of that really is not so much in our control because they've got to be willing to accept delivery. Just for purposes of those on the phone, revenue recognition is not necessarily the same as the timing of collections and billings.

我認為從他的評論中聽到的重要一點是，我們現在專注於發展整個工業技術部門。我們一直在研究這個難題的幾個部分。我今天不准備與他們交談，但它們並不是無關緊要的收購。事實的關鍵之一是，我們知道，根據今年的營運資金建設和我們預期收取的資金，我們在這一年中的營運資金將出現相當大的差異。時間確實不是我們能控制的，因為他們必須願意接受交付。僅就電話中的人員而言，收入確認不一定與收款和計費的時間相同。

Revenue recognition is done as work is performed versus billings and collections are based on the milestones in the contracts that are usually set around delivery timetables. So we know that's coming, and we expect that to be a fairly significant contributor to the overall. We will pay down debt as well as do some acquisitions in the process. So we're pretty -- we're working on some things. Hopefully, some of them come (inaudible) not prepared to talk about what they are.

收入確認是在工作完成時完成的，而帳單和收款則基於通常圍繞交付時間表設定的合約中的里程碑。所以我們知道這即將到來，我們預計這將對整體做出相當重要的貢獻。我們將償還債務，並在此過程中進行一些收購。所以我們很漂亮——我們正在做一些事情。希望他們中的一些人（聽不清楚）還沒準備好談論他們是什麼。

Our next question is from Liam Burke with B. Riley Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Liam Burke。

Joe, on Industrial Technologies, specifically energy, you talked about $190 million in backlog, that's for energy...

喬，關於工業技術，特別是能源，您談到了 1.9 億美元的積壓，這是用於能源的...

No, hold on, Liam. Just to be clear, that $190 million increase over prior year between OLBRICH and energy, of which $80 million of that was energy.

不，等一下，利亞姆。需要明確的是，OLBRICH 和能源之間的支出比前一年增加了 1.9 億美元，其中 8,000 萬美元是能源。

Okay. What is the cadence on shorter cycle orders? Are you having a lot of activity on research level types of systems?

好的。較短週期訂單的節奏是多少？您在研究級別類型的系統上有很多活動嗎？

We're receiving orders every day. I mean, some smaller, some larger, but not to this materiality that we would call them out. But as evidenced by the fact that our overall backlog between OLBRICH and energy, which is blended because of how they're managed, is about over $330 million today. We're getting orders all the time. So it's just we called out the magnitude of the $200 million order in early calendar '23 because of its magnitude, but we continue to receive orders as we speak.

我們每天都會收到訂單。我的意思是，有些較小，有些較大，但沒有達到我們所說的重要性。但事實證明，我們 OLBRICH 和能源之間的總積壓訂單（由於管理方式不同而混合在一起）目前大約超過 3.3 億美元。我們一直在接到訂單。因此，我們只是在 23 年初宣布了 2 億美元訂單的規模，因為它的規模很大，但就在我們說話的時候，我們仍在繼續收到訂單。

Great. And on the Memorialization, you have the readjustment of mortality rates. How did cremation do during the quarter?

偉大的。在紀念儀式上，你可以重新調整死亡率。本季火葬情況如何？

Our business or cremation rates?

我們的生意還是火葬率？

No, the business.

不，是生意。

The business did fine. We had some early challenges that we set over in the U.K., principally on some of these incineration works. But we are in the midst of landing 1 to 2 more decent sized incineration project here in the U.K., which should be -- add nicely to the performance for the overall group starting here, I would say, second half of our fiscal '24.

生意做得很好。我們在英國遇到了一些早期的挑戰，主要是一些焚燒工程。但我們正在英國實施 1 到 2 個規模更大的焚燒項目，我想說，這應該會很好地提高整個集團的業績，從這裡開始，我想說，是我們 24 財年下半年的業績。

Our next question is from Justin Bergner with Gabelli Funds.

我們的下一個問題來自 Gabelli Funds 的 Justin Bergner。

I guess, could you talk a bit about Warehouse Automation, how that performed in the fourth quarter, and how you see that performing over the course of fiscal year 2024?

我想，您能否談談倉庫自動化，其在第四季度的表現如何，以及您如何看待其在 2024 財年的表現？

So Warehouse Automation in the fourth quarter had a decent quarter. I would not say it was a strong quarter, but what was very positive for us in the fourth quarter was the mix of, what I would call, mix of revenue that was reported. The fourth quarter contained a lot of pure software. And as you know, software has better margins in some of the hardware that we sell associated with that. So I would say, it finished up the quarter and the year well. We -- as we said throughout the last 3 to 6 months, we've seen a slowing, and it's not just us, it's also others. We will know more about where that business will finish off the year probably after the holidays. What we're seeing is a lot of customers taking a wait and see how Christmas goes attitude. So we have quoting and we have other things of that activity going on. But finalization of orders are going to be -- are cautious right now, and I think that's economically sensitive today.

因此，第四季的倉庫自動化表現不錯。我不會說這是一個強勁的季度，但第四季度對我們來說非常積極的是我所說的混合收入。第四季包含很多純軟體。如您所知，軟體在我們銷售的一些與之相關的硬體中具有更高的利潤。所以我想說，這個季度和全年的表現都很好。正如我們在過去 3 到 6 個月中所說的那樣，我們看到了放緩，不僅僅是我們，其他人也是如此。我們可能會在假期後更多地了解該業務今年的收尾情況。我們看到很多顧客都持觀望態度，看看聖誕節會怎麼樣。所以我們有報價，我們還有該活動的其他事情正在進行中。但訂單的最終確定目前將是謹慎的，我認為這在當今的經濟上是敏感的。

Okay. That's helpful. Switching to the M&A -- with respect to M&A, I didn't catch how you saw the size of potential acquisitions on the Industrial Technology side. And what would you say distinguishes between nice to have and need to have assets given healthy leverage -- financial leverage ratio at the company and the high interest rate environment we're in?

好的。這很有幫助。轉向併購－關於併購，我不明白你如何看待工業科技方面潛在收購的規模。您認為擁有良好的資產和需要擁有健康的槓桿資產（公司的財務槓桿率和我們所處的高利率環境）之間的差異是什麼？

So I'll give you some examples of what we're looking at and how we're looking at it. We know that our software business is the linchpin to the automated warehouse. And there's a lot of activity in the marketplace today to be able to expand that portfolio. One of the things we're looking at for example is system integrators that allow us to integrate directly into the WMS or the ERP systems. These are businesses that allow us more access to markets that we're currently not performing, so bringing us along.

因此，我將舉一些例子來說明我們正在研究什麼以及我們如何看待它。我們知道我們的軟體業務是自動化倉庫的關鍵。如今市場上有許多活動可以擴展該產品組合。例如，我們正在關注的事情之一是系統整合商，它允許我們直接整合到 WMS 或 ERP 系統中。這些業務使我們能夠更多地進入我們目前尚未涉足的市場，因此請帶上我們。

Secondly, as a practical matter, Justin, everything is nice to have. I mean, we have a complete portfolio. But we would love to have more presence in Europe, frankly. And there are some small opportunities over there that allow us to expand what we do in the warehouse side in Europe. When it comes to energy, I would say, there's nothing that's necessarily and must have. There's a lot of nice to have, but they are extremely complementary as we move forward. So we will be very, very sensitive to our leverage ratio, but given the kind of cash flow that we expect over the course of the year, we should be able to do both.

其次，實際上，賈斯汀，擁有一切都很好。我的意思是，我們有完整的產品組合。但坦白說，我們希望在歐洲有更多的存在。那裡有一些小機會，使我們能夠擴大我們在歐洲倉庫方面的業務。當談到能源時，我想說，沒有什麼是必然的和必須的。有很多美好的東西，但隨著我們的前進，它們是非常互補的。因此，我們將對槓桿率非常非常敏感，但考慮到我們全年預期的現金流，我們應該能夠做到這兩點。

Our next question is a follow-up from Daniel Moore with CJS Securities.

我們的下一個問題是 CJS 證券的 Daniel Moore 的後續問題。

Yes. I just wanted to drill down a little bit more. Joe, you mentioned the printhead solution, maybe more today than over the last few quarters. So what's changed? Remind us where we are? Is it still beta customers pulling, you're seeing more demand customers pulling, or is it your capabilities? What's getting you more excited right now?

是的。我只是想再深入一點。喬，您提到了印字頭解決方案，今天可能比過去幾季提到的更多。那麼發生了什麼變化呢？提醒我們在哪裡？是否仍是測試版客戶的拉動，您看到更多需求客戶的拉動，還是您的能力？現在是什麼讓你更興奮？

The most exciting part of that is we continue to refine the -- both the economic model and customer desires through discussions. When we opened the (inaudible) through our customers and let them see what's coming. Their excitement is what's driving our enthusiasm. Where we stand from a timing standpoint, it's right on where we've kind of said the end of this fiscal year -- end of the calendar year, early next year, months are not things that we can control completely, but we're extremely bullish on this.

最令人興奮的部分是我們透過討論繼續完善經濟模型和客戶需求。當我們透過客戶打開（聽不清楚）並讓他們看到即將發生的事情時。他們的興奮正是我們熱情的動力。從時間的角度來看，我們所說的本財年結束是正確的——日曆年結束、明年初，幾個月不是我們可以完全控制的事情，但我們對此非常看好。

Second, Dan, we've hired a few folks, we've spoken to few folks about, what we call, alternative uses. And we think we have something that is unique. And I mean, when I say alternative uses, I'm not suggesting that we're going to go off into other areas that have nothing to do with what we do. We've got enough different kinds of businesses in our portfolio today, but we clearly can license or produce and sell the chip to alternative uses and give us a great opportunity long term to monetize what we think is a very, very unique solution.

其次，丹，我們僱用了一些人，我們已經與一些人討論了我們所說的替代用途。我們認為我們擁有獨特的東西。我的意思是，當我說替代用途時，我並不是建議我們進入與我們所做的事情無關的其他領域。今天，我們的投資組合中有足夠多不同類型的業務，但我們顯然可以許可或生產並將晶片出售給其他用途，這為我們提供了一個很好的長期機會，可以透過我們認為非常非常獨特的解決方案獲利。

Okay. And last, again, when you talk about M&A on the software side, are these kind of $20 million to $50 million deals, or could it be something more like up into the $100 million because those obviously, can be very powerful, but also tend to be dilutive relative to your current margin structure?

好的。最後，再一次，當你談論軟體方面的併購時，這些交易是 2000 萬至 5000 萬美元的交易，還是可能更像 1 億美元的交易，因為這些顯然可能非常強大，但也傾向於相對於您目前的利潤結構是否會攤薄？

Yes. I mean, from a margin standpoint, it been pushing up into the $100 million, Dan, because they're bringing pretty good margins. So I wouldn't be as much concerned about the margins. We are sensitive to our debt ratio. So our ability to do the size will be dependent on where our cash flows are coming in. We are focused on getting ourselves to under 3, and we will continue to be focused. There's a few things out there that we are aware of and we'll make the right call at the same time. There are a couple of them in the 20s or a couple of them pushing 70, 80. What they will do though is -- our focus is in trying to make our Industrial Technologies segment a more significant part of our overall portfolio.

是的。我的意思是，從利潤率的角度來看，它一直在推高到 1 億美元，丹，因為他們帶來了相當不錯的利潤率。所以我不會太擔心利潤。我們對債務比率很敏感。因此，我們實現規模的能力將取決於現金流的來源。我們的重點是讓自己的規模達到 3 以下，並且我們將繼續專注。我們知道一些事情，同時我們會做出正確的決定。他們中的一些人是20 多歲，或者有些人已經70 歲、80 歲了。不過他們會做的是——我們的重點是努力使我們的工業技術部門成為我們整體產品組合中更重要的一部分。

There are no more questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over for closing comments.

目前沒有更多問題。我想將會議轉回以供結束評論。

All right. Thank you, Sherry, and thank you all for joining us today and your interest in Matthews. Just a reminder for additional information about the company and our financial results, you can feel free to contact me or visit our website. Enjoy the rest of your day.

好的。謝謝雪莉，謝謝大家今天加入我們以及對馬修斯的興趣。只是提醒您有關公司和我們財務業績的更多信息，您可以隨時與我聯繫或訪問我們的網站。享受你一天剩下的時間。

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路，感謝您的參與。