Mistras Group Inc (MG) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for joining Mistras Group's conference call for its first quarter ended March 31, 2023. My name is Jada and I'll be your event manager today. We'll be accepting questions after management's prepared remarks. Participating on the call for Mistras will be Dennis Bertolotti, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ed Prajzner, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

感謝您參加 Mistras Group 截至 2023 年 3 月 31 日的第一季度電話會議。我叫 Jada，今天我將擔任您的活動經理。我們將在管理層準備好的評論後接受提問。公司總裁兼首席執行官 Dennis Bertolotti 將參與 Mistras 的徵集；高級執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Ed Prajzner。

I'd like to remind everyone that remarks made during this conference call will include forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from those projected. Some of those factors that can cause actual results to differ are discussed in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other reports filed with the SEC. This discussion in this conference call will also include certain financial measures that were not prepared in accordance with US GAAP. Reconciliation of these non-US GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable US GAAP financial measures can be found in the tables contained in yesterday's press release and in the company's related current report on Form 8-K. These reports are available at the company's website in the Investors section and on the SEC's website. I will now turn the conference over to Dennis Bertolotti.

我想提醒大家，在本次電話會議中發表的言論將包含前瞻性陳述。公司的實際結果可能與預期結果存在重大差異。公司最近的 10-K 表格年度報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他報告中討論了其中一些可能導致實際結果不同的因素。本次電話會議中的討論還將包括某些未根據美國公認會計原則編制的財務措施。這些非美國 GAAP 財務措施與最直接可比的美國 GAAP 財務措施的調節可以在昨天的新聞稿和公司 8-K 表格的相關當前報告中的表格中找到。這些報告可在公司網站的投資者部分和美國證券交易委員會網站上獲取。我現在將會議轉交給 Dennis Bertolotti。

Thank you, Jada. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. We continue to make significant progress capitalizing on our strong market position and innovative new technologies to grow Mistras and improve profitability. As evidence of this, in the first quarter, our revenue grew 5.5% in constant currency. Our gross margin expanded 270 basis points and we drove SG&A as a percentage of revenue down by over 40 basis points, resulting in an adjusted EBITDA of 88% increase.

謝謝你，賈達。大家早上好，感謝今天加入我們。我們繼續利用我們強大的市場地位和創新的新技術取得重大進展，以發展 Mistras 並提高盈利能力。作為證明，在第一季度，我們的收入按固定匯率計算增長了 5.5%。我們的毛利率提高了 270 個基點，我們將 SG&A 佔收入的百分比降低了 40 多個基點，導致調整後的 EBITDA 增長了 88%。

These financial results were in line with our most recent outlook for the full year, which we are reaffirming today. And our overall financial condition also continued to improve, with our bank defined leverage ratio reduced to just under 3.25 as of quarter end, and we're well on our way to achieving our goal of being below 3.0 by year-end.

這些財務結果與我們今天重申的最新全年展望一致。我們的整體財務狀況也繼續改善，我們的銀行定義的槓桿率在季度末降至略低於 3.25，我們正在朝著年底前低於 3.0 的目標邁進。

We saw strength in our energy business in Q1, which is benefiting from the rapid growth of our data solution revenues. The organic growth in our business, in addition to lower health care expenses in the quarter, helped boost our gross profit margin by 270 basis points from the year ago quarter. While reported SG&A was up on an absolute basis due to a few infrequent items during the quarter, we are working hard in making progress in fundamentally lowering our overhead towards our longer-term aspirational target of 20% of revenue.

我們在第一季度看到了能源業務的實力，這得益於我們數據解決方案收入的快速增長。我們業務的有機增長，加上本季度較低的醫療保健費用，幫助我們的毛利率比去年同期提高了 270 個基點。雖然報告的 SG&A 由於本季度的一些不常見項目而在絕對基礎上有所增加，但我們正在努力取得進展，從根本上降低我們的管理費用，以實現我們 20% 收入的長期理想目標。

The first quarter represented a very solid start to a year in which we expect to drive growth, improve profitability and continue to invest across the organization to unlock the hidden value of our strong brand, products, service line capabilities and innovation. I'm particularly pleased with the growth of data solutions, which you can now see in the supplemental schedules included in our earnings release. Data Solutions includes our flagship OneSuite, PCMS, New Century, online monitoring and the majority of our Onstream business, along with various other data monitoring services, including Sensoria.

第一季度是一年的良好開端，我們希望在這一年中推動增長、提高盈利能力並繼續在整個組織內進行投資，以釋放我們強大品牌、產品、服務線能力和創新的隱藏價值。我對數據解決方案的增長感到特別高興，您現在可以在我們的收益發布中包含的補充時間表中看到這一點。數據解決方案包括我們的旗艦 OneSuite、PCMS、New Century、在線監控和我們的大部分 Onstream 業務，以及各種其他數據監控服務，包括 Sensoria。

We were early to invest in this exciting area and data solutions permeates throughout all Mistras' geographies and industries. Data Solutions revenue grew by over 35% in the quarter and now represents 10% of our total revenue as compared to about 7.7% of our total consolidated revenue for the first quarter of 2022. We believe that Data Solutions will grow quicker than the other service offerings during '23 and over the longer term. Note that Data Solutions revenue is higher than we previously described it, which is due to the current inclusion of Onstream's customer reporting via its Streamview software within the data solutions roll-up.

我們很早就投資於這個令人興奮的領域，數據解決方案滲透到 Mistras 的所有地區和行業。數據解決方案收入在本季度增長了 35% 以上，目前占我們總收入的 10%，而 2022 年第一季度占我們總合併收入的 7.7% 左右。我們相信數據解決方案將比其他服務增長更快23 年及更長期的產品。請注意，數據解決方案收入高於我們之前描述的收入，這是由於目前通過其 Streamview 軟件在數據解決方案匯總中包含了 Onstream 的客戶報告。

Nevertheless, the growth level of data solutions add credence to and is a substantial reason why we are confident that we can achieve the significant bottom line increases we are expecting in our full year guidance. We are continuing to see customers recognize the need to integrate data more fully to optimize their performance. Whether that involves getting data quicker or benefiting from the insights of data analytics, the markets have continued to increase their need to better capture and utilize the data generated by our facilities in order for them to stay competitive. Expect to see us continuing our investment in this area, responding to market demand and creating new growth opportunities by expanding within customers as well as new and existing customers.

儘管如此，數據解決方案的增長水平增加了可信度，也是我們有信心實現我們在全年指導中預期的顯著底線增長的重要原因。我們繼續看到客戶認識到需要更充分地集成數據以優化他們的性能。無論是更快地獲取數據還是從數據分析的洞察力中獲益，市場都在不斷增加對更好地捕獲和利用我們設施生成的數據的需求，以保持競爭力。期待看到我們繼續在這一領域的投資，響應市場需求並通過在客戶內部以及新老客戶中擴展來創造新的增長機會。

Similarly, our strategy to take on more of the machine, branding and other activities complementary to our testing and inspection services, particularly in Aerospace, is driving growth. As we address online customer needs, supply chain issues continue to challenge the industry, forcing customers to seek new ways to move faster and to simplify their logistics. For instance, in the Aerospace market, we are opening a new 20,000 square foot facility adjacent to our Heath, Ohio operations to accommodate the increased demand for our solutions.

同樣，我們的戰略是承擔更多的機器、品牌和其他活動，以補充我們的測試和檢驗服務，特別是在航空航天領域，這正在推動增長。在我們滿足在線客戶需求的同時，供應鏈問題繼續挑戰著行業，迫使客戶尋求新的方式來加快行動並簡化他們的物流。例如，在航空航天市場，我們將在俄亥俄州希思工廠附近開設一個 20,000 平方英尺的新設施，以滿足對我們解決方案不斷增長的需求。

In addition, other customers are supporting the installation of 4 new CNC machines in our Georgia location to expand capacity and increase the throughput for their products. We believe our continued ability to provide unique solutions will help alleviate some of the supply chain issues that our customers face, enabling us to grow and expand our solutions in Aerospace as well as other end markets.

此外，其他客戶支持在我們佐治亞州的工廠安裝 4 台新的 CNC 機器，以擴大產能並提高其產品的吞吐量。我們相信，我們持續提供獨特解決方案的能力將有助於緩解我們客戶面臨的一些供應鏈問題，使我們能夠在航空航天和其他終端市場發展和擴展我們的解決方案。

Note, there are still some isolated project delays in the Defense sector, which offset the progress being achieved in our overall Aerospace and Defense vertical. Nevertheless, we believe Defense is a large and growing opportunity over the long term, and we are aggressively seeking market share gains in this industry via our established relationships, utilizing our technical solutions consultants. Our Onstream in-line inspection testing business has continued its record growth of 2022 into the first quarter of '23.

請注意，國防部門仍有一些孤立的項目延遲，這抵消了我們在整個航空航天和國防垂直領域取得的進展。儘管如此，我們認為從長遠來看，國防是一個巨大且不斷增長的機會，我們正在通過我們建立的關係，利用我們的技術解決方案顧問，積極尋求該行業的市場份額增長。我們的 Onstream 在線檢驗測試業務在 2022 年的第一季度繼續保持創紀錄的增長。

Onstream generates a considerable portion of its revenues from data solutions, and it serves both the upstream and Midstream markets. This versatility is helping to generate robust growth and margins, which we expect to continue in '23.

Onstream 的很大一部分收入來自數據解決方案，它服務於上游和中游市場。這種多功能性有助於產生強勁的增長和利潤，我們預計這將在 23 年繼續。

There was also a significant progress achieved during the quarter, preparing for future growth towards improving operating leverage and profitability, such as investing in technology to digitize and standardize our processes. Finally, I would like to emphasize that our financial condition continues to improve with our leverage ratio at the lowest level since immediately prior to the Onstream acquisition in December of 2018. I would now like to turn the call over to Ed to give you more detail on our financial results for the first quarter.

本季度也取得了重大進展，為未來的增長做好準備，以提高運營槓桿和盈利能力，例如投資技術以數字化和標準化我們的流程。最後，我想強調的是，我們的財務狀況繼續改善，我們的槓桿率處於自 2018 年 12 月收購 Onstream 之前的最低水平。我現在想把電話轉給 Ed，向您提供更多詳細信息關於我們第一季度的財務業績。

Thank you, Dennis, and good morning, everyone. Results for the quarter met or exceeded our financial expectations. We continue to string together a record of consistent growth despite operating markets that continue to closely approach but have not yet fully returned to prepandemic levels while also working through significant foreign currency headwinds.

謝謝丹尼斯，大家早上好。本季度的業績達到或超過了我們的財務預期。儘管經營市場繼續接近但尚未完全恢復到大流行前的水平，同時還要克服重大的外匯逆風，但我們繼續保持持續增長的記錄。

Revenue growth was 5.5% on a constant currency basis in the quarter. This is a result of a combination of a stable and resilient oil and gas market, improving demand in commercial Aerospace and strong growth in private space in addition to significant growth of data solutions results across all markets. We are also benefiting from pricing actions initiated last year, which are now balanced with employee wage rate increases whereas we had been lagging last year with a more pronounced inflationary pressure than we anticipate this year.

按固定匯率計算，本季度收入增長 5.5%。這是穩定和有彈性的石油和天然氣市場、商業航空航天需求的改善和私人空間的強勁增長以及所有市場數據解決方案結果顯著增長的綜合結果。我們還受益於去年發起的定價行動，這些行動現在與員工工資率的增長相平衡，而去年我們的通脹壓力比我們今年預期的要大得多。

Gross profit margin for the quarter increased 270 basis points compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower health care expenses and an improved sales mix, specifically data solutions. Selling, general and administrative expenses in the first quarter were up $900,000 as compared to the prior year period due to a few infrequent items, but more importantly, down 40 basis points as a percentage of revenue. Cost containment remains a focus and is one of the main reasons we are confident that we can increase the operating leverage in our business model.

本季度的毛利率比去年同期增長 270 個基點，這主要是由於醫療保健費用降低和銷售組合改善，特別是數據解決方案。由於一些不常見的項目，第一季度的銷售、一般和管理費用比去年同期增加了 900,000 美元，但更重要的是，佔收入的百分比下降了 40 個基點。成本控制仍然是一個重點，這也是我們有信心可以提高業務模式中的運營槓桿的主要原因之一。

Our North American segment, which was formerly called Services, generated significant operating income in the first quarter of $9.4 million, up from $3.8 million a year ago, with the operating margin expanding 400 basis points. As Dennis mentioned earlier, in addition to the absolute revenue growth, North America's operating margin is also benefiting from the rapid growth in data solutions. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $10.4 million compared to $5.5 million a year ago, an increase of 88% due to the aforementioned gross profit expansion, and this was consistent with our most recent expectations.

我們的北美分部（以前稱為服務）在第一季度產生了 940 萬美元的可觀營業收入，高於一年前的 380 萬美元，營業利潤率擴大了 400 個基點。正如丹尼斯之前提到的，北美的營業利潤率除了絕對收入增長外，還受益於數據解決方案的快速增長。本季度調整後的 EBITDA 為 1040 萬美元，而一年前為 550 萬美元，由於上述毛利擴張，增長了 88%，這與我們最近的預期一致。

Our effective income tax rate actually a benefit for the quarter was 15.6%. For modeling purposes, we would anticipate an effective income tax rate of approximately 30% for the full year 2023. In an encouraging change from our historical trends, we saw a positive operating cash flow in the first quarter, primarily due to an improvement in DSO. Free cash flow was essentially flat in Q1 compared to a negative $8.6 million in the prior year period, which was a significant improvement year-over-year, despite incremental CapEx spending of $1.5 million for new projects commencing in the year. For the full year, we still expect CapEx of less than $20 million.

我們的有效所得稅率實際上為本季度帶來了好處，為 15.6%。出於建模目的，我們預計 2023 年全年的有效所得稅率約為 30%。與我們的歷史趨勢相比，這是一個令人鼓舞的變化，我們看到第一季度的運營現金流為正，這主要是由於 DSO 的改善.第一季度的自由現金流基本持平，而去年同期為負 860 萬美元，同比有了顯著改善，儘管今年開始的新項目增加了 150 萬美元的資本支出。對於全年，我們仍預計資本支出將低於 2000 萬美元。

We paid down almost $2 million of debt during the first quarter, lowering gross debt to $189.3 million with net debt of $172.6 million. As Dennis stated earlier, this is a milestone event as we haven't been operating cash flow positive or paid down debt in the first quarter since pre-pandemic levels, specifically back to Q1 of 2019. Keep in mind as well that our bank group consists of some of the largest U.S. banks. This provides us comfort regarding both availability and access to liquidity, and we have ample access under our existing credit agreement, which does not mature until July of 2027.

我們在第一季度償還了近 200 萬美元的債務，將總債務降至 1.893 億美元，淨債務為 1.726 億美元。正如丹尼斯之前所說，這是一個里程碑事件，因為自大流行前水平以來，我們在第一季度沒有經營現金流為正或償還債務，特別是回到 2019 年第一季度。還要記住，我們的銀行集團由一些美國最大的銀行組成。這讓我們對可用性和流動性的獲取感到放心，根據我們現有的信貸協議，我們有充足的機會，該協議要到 2027 年 7 月才到期。

Despite the recent increase in reference rates, we still expect total interest expense of around $13 million for the full year due to the recent step down in leverage and continuing deleveraging throughout the remainder of the year. Given the solid results in the first quarter, we are reaffirming guidance for the full year 2023, that being revenue of between $710 million and $740 million, adjusted EBITDA between $70 million to $75 million and free cash flow between $30 million to $35 million.

儘管最近參考利率有所上升，但由於近期槓桿率下降以及今年剩餘時間持續去槓桿化，我們仍預計全年總利息支出約為 1300 萬美元。鑑於第一季度的穩健業績，我們重申 2023 年全年的指導方針，即收入在 7.1 億美元至 7.4 億美元之間，調整後的 EBITDA 在 7,000 萬至 7,500 萬美元之間，自由現金流在 3,000 萬至 3,500 萬美元之間。

Given stable and resilient energy markets, improving Aerospace demand and continued data solutions growth, we are confident in achieving our outlook projections. Our business model is robust and sustainable through extremes of economic cycles, and we remain firmly committed to executing our plans, while maintaining our intense focus on cost containment while continuing to prudently invest in our business. That is our strategy, both today and over the long term. And with that, I will now turn the call back over to Dennis for his wrap up before we move on to take your questions.

鑑於穩定和有彈性的能源市場、不斷改善的航空航天需求和持續的數據解決方案增長，我們有信心實現我們的前景預測。我們的商業模式在極端的經濟周期中是穩健和可持續的，我們仍然堅定地致力於執行我們的計劃，同時保持我們對成本控制的高度關注，同時繼續審慎地投資於我們的業務。這是我們今天和長期的戰略。有了這個，我現在將把電話轉回給丹尼斯，讓他在我們繼續回答你的問題之前進行總結。

Okay. Thanks, Ed. To summarize, we had a strong first quarter to kick off the year, and we continue to be optimistic about Mistras' future in '23 and beyond. Data Solutions now represents 10% of our business, and this will continue to provide top and bottom line growth. We're making tremendous progress preparing Mistras to improve productivity and efficiency to better leverage our inherent strength to capitalize in the sectors of our markets that are the fastest growing, so we can serve our customers in this ever-changing environment.

好的。謝謝，埃德。總而言之，我們在今年第一季度表現強勁，我們繼續對 Mistras 在 23 年及以後的未來持樂觀態度。數據解決方案現在占我們業務的 10%，這將繼續提供收入和利潤增長。我們正在取得巨大進步，準備 Mistras 提高生產力和效率，以更好地利用我們的內在優勢，利用我們市場中增長最快的領域，這樣我們就可以在這個不斷變化的環境中為我們的客戶提供服務。

Before taking your questions, I would like to sincerely thank all the talented dedicated Mistras' employees out there for their continued focus on delivering a safe and superior service offering while meeting our customers' highest demands. And with that, Jada, please open up the lines for questions.

在回答您的問題之前，我要衷心感謝所有才華橫溢、敬業的 Mistras 員工，感謝他們一直專注於提供安全和優質的服務，同時滿足客戶的最高要求。 Jada，請打開問題熱線。

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Chris Sakai of Senior Research.

謝謝。這時候，我們將進行問答環節。 （操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自高級研究部的 Chris Sakai。

Could you talk about the growth into 2023 of Onstream and data solutions, will we see something similar to this quarter?

您能否談談 2023 年 Onstream 和數據解決方案的增長，我們會看到與本季度類似的情況嗎？

So we believe that both onstream itself, specifically in the larger data solutions are going to have a good growth year. We would think both of those should be in the double-digit range for the full year. Quarter-to-quarter, things will change obviously as projects move in and out. But there's a lot wrapped up in data solutions, the PCMS and new Century and Onstream and all those other ones, the online monitoring.

因此，我們相信，無論是 onstream 本身，特別是在更大的數據解決方案中，都將有一個良好的增長年。我們認為這兩者都應該在全年的兩位數範圍內。每個季度，隨著項目的進出，情況會發生明顯的變化。但是數據解決方案、PCMS 和 new Century 以及 Onstream 以及所有其他的在線監控解決方案中包含了很多內容。

So we believe there's enough of different service line offerings that as one goes up and down, the other more than make up for it. So yes, we see a good year for everything in there. Specific to Onstream, they had a great first quarter. Our growth as planned since the acquisition, they were a Canadian-based company and had a fairly strong representation in Canada before we acquired them. They're still doing well and growing in Canada. But the bulk of our growth has been in the U.S. as we had anticipated by leveraging off of our customers and things that we have as far as connections that we just didn't have that service line offer.

因此，我們相信有足夠多的不同服務線產品，隨著一個上升和下降，另一個可以彌補它。所以是的，我們看到那裡的一切都很好。具體到 Onstream，他們在第一季度表現出色。自收購以來，我們的增長按計劃進行，他們是一家加拿大公司，在我們收購他們之前在加拿大擁有相當強大的代表性。他們在加拿大仍然表現良好並不斷發展。但我們的大部分增長都在美國，正如我們預期的那樣，通過利用我們的客戶和我們擁有的連接，我們只是沒有提供該服務線提供的連接。

Okay. Sounds good. And can you talk about Sensoria this quarter? What would be -- what was the adoption rate there?

好的。聽起來不錯。你能談談這個季度的 Sensoria 嗎？會是什麼——那裡的採用率是多少？

The adoption rate hasn't been where we expected, but we've had as many, if not more, inquiries, and we're still doing tests. We still believe, for the full year, we'll be doing fine. It gets a little up and down on that quarter-by-quarter just because there's still some proof of concept out there. But we're not only doing much better on the proof of concept on the on-shore facilities or a piece of equipment. We're also getting the questions and inquiries about offshore as well. So we believe it's still on a very good trajectory. The full year for that should be good.

採用率沒有達到我們的預期，但我們已經收到了同樣多的詢問，如果不是更多的話，我們仍在進行測試。我們仍然相信，全年我們都會做得很好。只是因為仍然有一些概念證明，所以每個季度都有點上下波動。但我們不僅在陸上設施或設備的概念驗證方面做得更好。我們也收到了關於離岸的問題和詢問。所以我們相信它仍然處於非常好的軌道上。全年應該是好的。

And if I can add to that, Chris. Some of this just needs a little run time. Like we did -- as promised last year, we did the installations of Sensoria. It needs a little run time now. Some of these conditions that Sensoria can find on a blade, you need just some time to have that happen now in the field. Remember, this was all installed on real working wind farms with real turbines where you have to just have the conditions happen, Mother Nature has to kind of just cause the event that we can now see on the blade and help the customer through. So we need some of that time. So yes, so that will happen. Lots of quotes are happening out there.

如果我可以補充一點，克里斯。其中一些只需要一點運行時間。就像我們所做的那樣——正如去年承諾的那樣，我們安裝了 Sensoria。它現在需要一點運行時間。 Sensoria 可以在刀片上發現其中一些情況，您現在只需要一些時間就可以在現場實現這些情況。請記住，這一切都安裝在帶有真正渦輪機的真實工作風力發電場上，您必須讓條件發生，大自然母親必須某種程度上導致我們現在可以在葉片上看到的事件並幫助客戶度過難關。所以我們需要一些時間。所以是的，所以那會發生。那裡發生了很多報價。

It's similar to OneSuite. We gave you last year lots of numbers on how many customers, how many sites, how many subscriptions. Same thing this year. We need some run time for all those eyeballs to see things and learn things and expand things and get user groups going and then we'll go on another full court press on expanding further.

它類似於 OneSuite。去年我們給了你很多關於有多少客戶、多少網站、多少訂閱的數字。今年也一樣。我們需要一些運行時間讓所有這些眼球看到事物、學習事物、擴展事物並讓用戶組繼續前進，然後我們將繼續進行另一次全場新聞以進一步擴展。

But again, they're both -- Sensorium -- once we both rolled into data solutions now, the bigger envelope of the offering, which is moving forward in aggregate and by [gingival pieces] here. But some of our -- it will be a little, as Dennis said, ebb and flow there where you need to kind of let the customer absorb what you just gave them, learn from it, work with them to figure out how they get to a higher use of that going forward. So we'll work through some of that this year. But as Dennis said, Data Solutions will be growing in double digit. Please don't model 35% all year. It may modulate a little bit, but it will definitely be in a nice, solid double-digit territory, low double digits.

但同樣，他們都是——Sensorium——一旦我們現在都進入數據解決方案，更大的產品範圍，它正在總體上向前發展，並通過[牙齦碎片]在這裡。但我們的一些——正如丹尼斯所說，會有一點起伏，你需要讓客戶吸收你剛剛給他們的東西，從中學習，與他們合作，弄清楚他們是如何做到的以後會更多地使用它。所以我們將在今年解決其中的一些問題。但正如丹尼斯所說，數據解決方案將以兩位數的速度增長。請不要全年模擬 35%。它可能會稍微調整一下，但它肯定會處於一個不錯的、穩固的兩位數區域，低兩位數。

One moment, while we look for our next question. Our next question comes from Mitchell Pinheiro from Sturdivant & Company.

一會兒，當我們尋找下一個問題時。我們的下一個問題來自 Sturdivant & Company 的 Mitchell Pinheiro。

Just a clarification. So you talked about Onstream, I think, having a good quarter, but I'm looking at the overall Midstream revenue being down. How does that fit?

只是一個澄清。所以你談到了 Onstream，我認為，有一個很好的季度，但我看到整體 Midstream 收入下降。這怎麼合適？

Yes. And the easy answer, Mitch, is that there's 2 parts to that. One is that Onstream participates with its customers, both in mid and upstream depending on the customer; if it's coming from the gathering or going into the larger diameter, it could be a mid or an upstream.

是的。簡單的答案，米奇，有兩個部分。一是 Onstream 與客戶一起參與，包括中上游，具體取決於客戶；如果它來自收集或進入更大的直徑，它可能是中游或上游。

So while their quarter was good, it doesn't always flow only into Midstream. And the rest of Midstream for us is a lot of project-related things that just kind of vacillate with where to spend it. So for the rest of it, there's nothing really to be read there other than just capital projects coming in and out. But Onstream's revenue isn't just tied to one or the other of the two gas and oil, it is tied to the first two. We really don't see Onstream in refining. It's only the other two.

因此，雖然他們的季度很好，但它並不總是隻流入中游。對我們來說，中游的其餘部分是很多與項目相關的事情，只是在花錢的地方搖擺不定。所以對於它的其餘部分，除了進出的資本項目之外，沒有什麼可讀的。但是，Onstream 的收入不僅與天然氣和石油兩者中的一個有關，還與前兩者有關。我們真的沒有看到精煉中的 Onstream。這只是另外兩個。

Got it. And then so for -- as you look throughout the year, Midstream has been, I guess, down for a couple of quarters here in a row, 3 quarters. What's the outlook for the year there? Is this -- do we see a return to growth in Q2? Or is there some -- something else happening?

知道了。然後 - 正如你全年看到的那樣，我猜，Midstream 已經連續幾個季度下降，三個季度。那一年的前景如何？這是——我們是否看到第二季度恢復增長？還是有一些 - 其他事情正在發生？

So no, I mean there was nothing on a macro level, there's nothing major that's happening. On the micro level, it's just the capital projects. I'm not sure I don't have the Q2 in front of me from last year to see if we would exceed that or not given where it's at. But I would say we're -- the projects that we have are normal. There's a little bit less work in some areas and there's more in others. So on balance, we see that as just one market that's just moving up and down. Inside that, though, a lot of the growth from Onstream is going, like I say, to both. So you never know if they get more customers in Midstream next quarter, they could push a lot that way too.

所以不，我的意思是在宏觀層面上沒有任何事情發生，沒有什麼大事發生。在微觀層面上，它只是資本項目。我不確定我面前沒有去年的 Q2，看看我們是否會超過它，或者不會超過它的位置。但我會說我們 - 我們擁有的項目是正常的。某些領域的工作少了一點，而其他領域的工作更多了。因此，總的來說，我們認為這只是一個上下波動的市場。不過，在這裡面，正如我所說，來自 Onstream 的很多增長都流向了兩者。所以你永遠不知道他們下個季度是否會在 Midstream 獲得更多客戶，他們也可以通過這種方式推動很多。

There's a little bit of timing, Mitch, too in Q1. We had some permitting delays in the U.S. in Midstream, and we actually had -- we exited some Midstream in Canada at some lower margin in Midstream. So there's a few other timely matters there. But no, we feel confident for the full year in Midstream.

米奇，第一季度也有一些時機。我們在美國的 Midstream 有一些允許的延遲，我們實際上有 - 我們在 Midstream 以較低的利潤率退出了加拿大的一些 Midstream。所以還有其他一些及時的事情。但不，我們對 Midstream 的全年充滿信心。

Yes, it looks like you have a tough comp. I mean, the second quarter in Midstream was -- last year was the highest quarter and you're coming up against that. So I guess we could see another down quarter in Midstream this for Q2.

是的，看起來你的競爭很激烈。我的意思是，中游的第二季度是——去年是最高的季度，而你正面臨著這一點。所以我想我們可能會在第二季度看到中游的另一個下降季度。

Yes. It's the CapEx, as Dennis mentioned. You've got some lumpy CapEx on the new stuff that happens over time, that can distort any given quarter. But over the longer term, we like that Midstream ILI, in-line inspection testing in Midstream. We like that, Mitch, and it's a good one.

是的。正如丹尼斯提到的，這是資本支出。隨著時間的推移，新事物的資本支出會出現一些波動，這可能會扭曲任何給定的季度。但從長遠來看，我們喜歡 Midstream ILI，即 Midstream 的在線檢查測試。我們喜歡這樣，米奇，這是一個很好的。

Okay. And then as you know, we're maybe 5 weeks into the quarter, what's the prognosis for the Downstream turnarounds and things. What's the outlook for that for the upcoming quarter?

好的。然後如你所知，我們可能進入本季度 5 週，下游轉機和事情的預測是什麼。下個季度的前景如何？

So I guess where I'd put it is it's always the most volatile of the 3 segments of our gas and oil. But this year, we haven't seen any reason that they've really come off of anything planned that much. There's certainly people that are moving around. There's a couple that had changes from 2 to 3 weeks on start times and things like that. But we haven't seen any major delays, nothing like if you go back to the years of '20, '21 or '22 or because of high price and barrel or because they didn't have access to folks, we don't see anything of that. So I think they're into a more normal gradual in planning. This span, we'll see how the full year goes. But we don't see any disruptions that we've seen in the past.

所以我想我會把它放在哪裡，它始終是我們天然氣和石油的 3 個部分中最不穩定的部分。但今年，我們還沒有看到任何理由表明他們真的放棄了那麼多計劃。肯定有人在四處走動。有一對夫婦的開始時間從 2 周到 3 週不等。但我們沒有看到任何重大延遲，如果你回到 20 年、21 年或 22 年，或者因為價格和桶數高，或者因為他們無法接觸到人們，我們不會看到任何東西。所以我認為他們進入了一個更正常的漸進式規劃。這個跨度，我們將看到全年的情況。但我們沒有看到過去看到的任何中斷。

Okay. And then another revenue question on Aerospace and Defense. I guess, Aerospace was up and Defense was down. Is that what happened in the quarter?

好的。然後是關於航空航天和國防的另一個收入問題。我猜，航空航天在上升，而國防在下降。這就是本季度發生的事情嗎？

Yes, it is. Our Aerospace really has seen a lot of growth for us in a lot of the individual labs back in the COVID days and the year or two after that were still suppressed. I will say we're still seeing supply chain issues. We've got customers who have tens of millions of dollars more of orders than they have capacity to get it done through the supply chain and materials and all these are things that the other customers that are always trying to get more through.

是的。在 COVID 時代和之後的一兩年內，我們的航空航天確實在許多單獨的實驗室中看到了很大的增長。我會說我們仍然看到供應鏈問題。我們有客戶的訂單比他們通過供應鍊和材料完成訂單的能力多出數千萬美元，而所有這些都是其他客戶一直試圖獲得更多的東西。

So I think the demand, especially in the commercial and the space side of Aerospace, I think the demand is really starting to climb. I think there's a lagging in what the industry can get out from forgings and castings through all the other processes that it takes to get you there. But I think as far as the need for things to get done, yes, I think it's all there.

所以我認為需求，特別是在航空航天的商業和太空方面，我認為需求真的開始攀升。我認為該行業可以通過所有其他流程從鍛件和鑄件中獲得什麼是滯後的。但我認為就完成工作的必要性而言，是的，我認為它就在那裡。

Okay. And then I guess final question is, as you look at margins, the gross margin, I just on the call, just a touch late, so I apologize if you Dennis or -- and if you talked about this, but in the gross margin side, you talked about your cost being -- or your pricing has now sort of matched your labor increases. And so should we see the gross margin start to kind of normalize in that maybe 30% area for the rest of the year?

好的。然後我想最後一個問題是，當你看利潤率時，毛利率，我只是在打電話，只是有點晚了，所以我很抱歉，如果你丹尼斯或者 - 如果你談到這個，但在毛利率一方面，你談到了你的成本 - 或者你的定價現在已經與你的勞動力增長相匹配。那麼我們是否應該看到毛利率在今年剩餘時間裡開始在 30% 的區域正常化？

I'll take that, Dennis. Mitch, yes that's about right, yes. It does vacillate a little bit with volume. I mean Q1 is normally a little lower than the other 3 quarters. Q2 and Q3 can be a little higher and then it might level back out in Q4. But 30 for the full year, yes, feels about right. You've got mix helping us now, data solution, strength of growth. They're certainly helping. We had some lower health care costs in the quarter. It certainly helped as well.

我會接受的，丹尼斯。米奇，是的，差不多是這樣，是的。它確實會隨著音量的變化而搖擺不定。我的意思是 Q1 通常比其他 3 個季度低一點。 Q2 和 Q3 可能會高一點，然後可能會在第四季度回落。但是全年 30 歲，是的，感覺不錯。你現在有混合幫助我們，數據解決方案，增長的力量。他們肯定在幫忙。本季度我們的醫療保健費用有所降低。它當然也有幫助。

But yes, that bigger topic you just raised, though, this lagging effect. Last year, we saw inflationary pressure of the pay rates going up faster than the bill rates, that did kind of normalize, did kind of level off. So thankfully, thus far and for the remainder of the year, we're not sensing that inflationary pressure we dealt with all last year. We kind of caught up and that kind of crossed over. So yes, it should be a very normal year and a solid year in gross profit margin. We might not go up 100 bps here every year as we have done a couple of years ago, but we should definitely hold solid and maybe ever so slightly bring it up.

但是，是的，你剛剛提出的那個更大的話題，就是這種滯後效應。去年，我們看到工資率的通脹壓力上升速度快於票據利率，這確實有點正常化，確實有點趨於平穩。值得慶幸的是，到目前為止以及今年餘下的時間裡，我們都沒有感覺到去年全年都在應對的通脹壓力。我們有點趕上了，有點交叉了。所以是的，這應該是非常正常的一年，也是毛利率穩定的一年。我們可能不會像幾年前那樣每年都上漲 100 個基點，但我們絕對應該保持堅挺，並且可能會稍微提高一點。

But yes, we feel very confident that there's not any real headwinds there hitting us and maybe a little bit of tailwind helps us from balancing out pay rates and bill rates at this point. So we feel pretty good on gross profit. And certainly, sales mix is going to help us too.

但是，是的，我們非常有信心那裡沒有任何真正的逆風襲擊我們，也許一點順風幫助我們在這一點上平衡工資率和賬單率。所以我們對毛利潤感覺很好。當然，銷售組合也會幫助我們。

Is there anything -- one more question just on SG&A. Is there anything unusual going on SG&A for the full year?

有沒有什麼——還有一個關於 SG&A 的問題。全年的 SG&A 有什麼不尋常的事情發生嗎？

No, there should be pretty much, again, same as gross profit, normal year, no real headwinds, no tailwinds, all of our cost outs were recovered last year, and we were pleased. So yes, you have a pretty comparable year, normal year year-over-year, nothing unusually good or bad, it should be very comparable. And again, as we said earlier, in Q1 and Q4, we'll say it again, working very hard to keep overheads flat, if not lower. So we fully expect that for '23.

不，應該再次與毛利潤相同，正常年份，沒有真正的逆風，沒有順風，去年我們所有的成本支出都收回了，我們很高興。所以是的，你有一個相當可比的年份，年復一年正常，沒有異常好或壞，它應該非常可比。再一次，正如我們之前所說，在第一季度和第四季度，我們會再說一遍，非常努力地保持間接費用持平，如果不是更低的話。所以我們完全期待'23。

There's a little noise like in Europe, our energy costs are up. We budgeted for it, it's exceeding a little bit over what we budgeted for. For instance, in some countries, they went back to the previous year and charged [and added to] what happened in '22. So there is a little bit there, but it's not so much that we called it out per se.

在歐洲有一點噪音，我們的能源成本上升了。我們為此做了預算，它超出了我們的預算。例如，在某些國家/地區，他們回到前一年並指控 [並添加] 22 年發生的事情。所以那裡有一點點，但並沒有我們稱之為本身的那麼多。

One moment for our next question, please. Our next question comes from Brian Russo of Sidoti.

請稍等一下我們的下一個問題。我們的下一個問題來自 Sidoti 的 Brian Russo。

Sorry if I missed this because I got on the call a little late. But just on the oil and gas year-over-year revenue, Downstream and refining showed a nice, about $3 million pickup in revenue. I mean, is that -- I'm trying to recall, I believe that sector was somewhat depressed in first quarter '22, but is that kind of a quarterly year-over-year revenue run rate increase we might expect? Because I assume the turnaround season probably didn't start until late in the first quarter, it doesn't pick up until -- didn't pick up until April and into May?

對不起，如果我錯過了這個，因為我接電話有點晚了。但僅就石油和天然氣的同比收入而言，下游和煉油業務的收入就出現了不錯的增長，約為 300 萬美元。我的意思是，那是——我想回想一下，我認為該行業在 22 年第一季度有些低迷，但這種季度收入運行率是否會像我們預期的那樣增長？因為我認為轉機季節可能要到第一季度末才開始，直到 4 月和 5 月才開始好轉？

So you may want to talk a little bit about the restatement of some of the...

所以你可能想談談重述一些......

Yes. There was just -- one quick note there, Brian. If you noticed on the press release, there's a footnote 1 on that table. We had a small -- a small reclass last year between Up and Downstream. We had an account that was misclassified there. So we did restate the prior year breakdown of those 3 subsectors. So Downstream was not as down as we thought it was last year. The benefit went into Downstream from up. And you'll see that -- your comparison is right. It is up $3 million quarter-over-quarter. We did restate the prior year number there just to be comparative. So it wasn't down as much as we thought. But yes, that rate it is at now is ordinary, that increase you're seeing there, just under 10%, 9.3% is a good comparison, and we're seeing a very kind of solid, stable market there in the Downstream with some good growth to it.

是的。那裡只有 - 一張簡短的便條，布賴恩。如果您在新聞稿中註意到，該表上有一個腳註 1。去年我們在 Up 和 Downstream 之間進行了一次小規模的重新分類。我們有一個帳戶在那裡被錯誤分類。因此，我們確實重申了前一年對這 3 個子行業的細分。所以下游並不像我們去年想像的那樣低迷。利益從上游進入下游。你會看到——你的比較是正確的。環比增長 300 萬美元。我們確實重申了前一年的數字，只是為了進行比較。所以它沒有我們想像的那麼低。但是，是的，現在的增長率很普通，你在那裡看到的增長率不到 10%，9.3% 是一個很好的比較，我們在下游看到了一個非常穩固、穩定的市場一些良好的增長。

And to add a little color to that, Brian. There was more work in the January, February period this year than there was last. Again, typically, customers try to get a hold of a lot of the resources that are available in the market in the colder times because you don't have as many northern and colder facilities to try to take turnarounds then. So there was a little bit more work this year in January and February, which also helped the quarter-over-quarter for the year.

並為此添加一點顏色，布賴恩。今年一、二月份的工作量比去年多。同樣，通常情況下，客戶會嘗試在較冷的時期掌握市場上可用的大量資源，因為那時您沒有那麼多的北方和較冷的設施來嘗試進行周轉。因此，今年 1 月和 2 月的工作量有所增加，這也有助於實現今年的環比增長。

Okay. Great. And then on Aerospace and Defense, it's down year-over-year, which you discussed. But if I recall, there was one single Defense project that was delayed in the fourth quarter of 2022, and it was supposed to resume in the first quarter of '23. Did that actually occur?

好的。偉大的。然後在航空航天和國防方面，它同比下降，你已經討論過了。但如果我記得的話，有一個國防項目在 2022 年第四季度被推遲，它應該在 23 年第一季度恢復。那真的發生了嗎？

No. That's still vacillating, -- it's still -- we're still there. We're still working, but there's been changes and such. And we're still working on that. I'm leaving today, going to some conferences and such for the Defense sector. So there's still a lot of activity in there, and we still believe it's right, but how it is with the materials and government spending, sometimes things go up and down. But overall, we still see a huge potential in there, but it's still kind of bouncing around lower than what we expected, while we're -- although we're still there.

不，那還在搖擺不定，——它仍然——我們仍然在那裡。我們仍在工作，但已經發生了變化等等。我們仍在努力。我今天要離開，去參加國防部的一些會議等。所以那裡仍然有很多活動，我們仍然相信這是正確的，但是材料和政府支出的情況，有時情況會起伏不定。但總的來說，我們仍然看到了巨大的潛力，但它的反彈幅度仍然低於我們的預期，而我們——儘管我們仍然在那裡。

Okay. So that might be a contributor in -- later in the year. I guess...

好的。因此，這可能會在今年晚些時候做出貢獻。我猜...

Yes, absolutely. I didn't do anything for us per se in this quarter, but we still believe it will come back up.

是的，一點沒錯。本季度我沒有為我們本身做任何事情，但我們仍然相信它會恢復。

Okay. Great. And then we -- just trying to triangulate your top line revenue guidance, right, of a low end of 3 to maybe the high end of 7-plus percent. Where do you see the kind of the end market mix? Will it be comparable to where it was at the year-end of '22? Or are you expecting, say, high single-digit growth in O&G slower growth in Aerospace and Defense. Just trying to get a better feel for what that mix might look like? And then as it compares to say, pre-pandemic levels to kind of feel comfortable that things have normalized.

好的。偉大的。然後我們——只是試圖對你的收入指導進行三角測量，正確的，從 3% 的低端到 7% 以上的高端。您在哪裡看到終端市場的組合？它會與 22 年年底的情況相提並論嗎？或者你是否期望，比如說，O&G 的高個位數增長在航空航天和國防領域的增長放緩。只是想更好地了解這種混合可能是什麼樣子？然後，與大流行前的水平相比，事情已經正常化讓人感到舒服。

Yes. I would say the oil and gas probably is more of a solid mid-single digit, right? I would think the Aerospace and Aerospace Defense, we should be looking at from the Aerospace side alone, we should be looking at double-digit growth through most of the year. The Aerospace and Defense is getting bounced around a little bit by that one side up always. But for us, the Aerospace itself is going to -- we believe that segment of it will grow by double.

是的。我會說石油和天然氣可能更接近穩定的中個位數，對嗎？我認為航空航天和航空航天防禦，我們應該僅從航空航天方面來看，我們應該在今年的大部分時間裡實現兩位數的增長。航空航天和國防總是被這一面朝上反彈一點。但對我們來說，航空航天本身將——我們相信它的這一部分將增長一倍。

A lot of times when we're working on Aerospace components, we're not sure how much is military in that, so we throw it into that same bucket. But the Aerospace itself will be double-digit growth and Data Solutions will be double-digit growth, which is PCMS Onstream. So will put those below the oil and gas one to all be in double digits in Aero and in Data. The 3 different segments, that's just customer dependent, you get a big project in mid or down or something like that. I would say for us, while they're all going to have a chance of growing at different rates, you're probably seeing maybe a little bit more growth in the Upstream side than the other 2 this year, just depending on a lot of the contracts we have out now that will be come through.

很多時候，當我們在研究航空航天部件時，我們不確定其中有多少是軍用的，所以我們把它扔進同一個桶裡。但航空航天本身將實現兩位數增長，而數據解決方案將實現兩位數增長，即 PCMS Onstream。因此，將把那些低於石油和天然氣的人放在 Aero 和 Data 中都是兩位數。 3 個不同的細分市場，這只是取決於客戶，你會在中下或類似的地方得到一個大項目。我想對我們說，雖然他們都有機會以不同的速度增長，但今年你可能會看到上游方面的增長比其他兩個多一點，這取決於很多我們現在已經完成的合同將會完成。

So all the 3 are probably a little bit more in the Upstream. And those are nice because the Upstream is a lot more of a -- it's a less volatile revenue cycle. They really don't go up and down. The facilities are larger, and they try to keep on staff at a rate that is (inaudible) probably because of that space and incapabilities. They don't have a lot of room to go up and down anyway. So growing in that sector is good for us because it becomes a lot more [baseload] type of sales.

所以這 3 個可能都在上游。這些很好，因為上游更多的是 - 這是一個波動較小的收入周期。他們真的不漲不跌。設施更大，他們試圖以（聽不清）的速度留住員工，這可能是因為空間和能力不足。無論如何，他們沒有太多的上升和下降空間。因此，該領域的增長對我們有利，因為它成為了更多 [baseload] 類型的銷售。

Another important feature, Brian, is the balance we have there this year. Yes, oil and gas is strong. Yes, Aerospace will have another good year, not -- maybe not quite as good as last year, the growth it had. Data obviously is affecting all the end markets. That's a solid thing. But the other good element here is that all the other end markets, putting aside a couple of larger ones, although mostly up this year, they were all mostly down last year. So I think this better balance we have across the bigger end market portfolio is a real good strong point for us this year, where all geographies are doing very well. All service lines are doing well and all the markets and all the noncore markets are actually doing very well right now. That was not true last year.

布賴恩，另一個重要特徵是我們今年的平衡。是的，石油和天然氣很強勁。是的，航空業將迎來又一個美好的一年，但可能不如去年那麼好，它的增長。數據顯然正在影響所有終端市場。那是一件實實在在的事。但這裡的另一個好因素是所有其他終端市場，撇開幾個較大的市場，儘管今年大部分都在上漲，但去年它們大多都在下跌。因此，我認為我們在更大的終端市場投資組合中取得的這種更好的平衡對我們今年來說是一個真正好的優勢，所有地區都做得很好。所有服務線都做得很好，所有市場和所有非核心市場現在實際上都做得很好。去年情況並非如此。

So that's why I think (inaudible) this year has really the strength and balance across all the end markets, all the service offerings, all the geographies, all they're doing fairly well. And that's a really good thing for us. Defense will pick back up. Commercial Aerospace is very good right now as is private space. The Defense is probably the only one little sub-industry subsector that's having some delays right now. But it will, as Dennis said, it will get back in sync. But I think it's really a year of balance across any way you want to sort of bifurcate our revenue stream as we're giving you more ways to view it. I think they'll all be relatively balanced and robust this year, and that's -- we like that.

所以這就是為什麼我認為（聽不清）今年在所有終端市場、所有服務產品、所有地區都具有真正的實力和平衡，他們都做得很好。這對我們來說真的是一件好事。防守將恢復。商業航空航天和私人空間現在都非常好。國防可能是目前唯一有一些延誤的小子行業。但正如丹尼斯所說，它將恢復同步。但我認為今年真的是平衡的一年，因為我們為您提供了更多的查看方式，因此您希望將我們的收入來源分開。我認為他們今年都會相對平衡和強勁，那就是 - 我們喜歡這樣。

All right. Great. And then just one last question on SG&A. You said flat or down. I guess you mean flat or down on a full year basis relative to 2022, which was $166.5 million.

好的。偉大的。然後是關於 SG&A 的最後一個問題。你說持平或下跌。我猜你的意思是相對於 2022 年全年持平或下降，即 1.665 億美元。

Yes. Pretty hard to keep it flat, yes.

是的。很難保持平坦，是的。

Okay. So it's basically a $42 million or less run rate, regardless what the percentage it is of revenue. Is that how we should look at it? Or are you still targeting kind of low 20%.

好的。所以它基本上是一個 4200 萬美元或更少的運行率，不管它佔收入的百分比是多少。我們應該這樣看嗎？或者您的目標仍然是低 20%。

20% is a longer-term aspiration. Yes, it'll -- it's not particularly sensitive to revenue volume, the SG&A. But yes, it will level back out. Q1 will be the high number for the year. It will level back up throughout the year. And yes, we have every intention, and I believe we will keep it flat to slightly down with last year's number, absolutely. And it will be relatively flattish rest of the year. It's not particularly sensitive to revenue volumes.

20% 是一個長期目標。是的，它會——它對收入量 SG&A 不是特別敏感。但是，是的，它將趨於平穩。第一季度將是今年的最高數字。它將在全年恢復水平。是的，我們有充分的意圖，我相信我們絕對會保持與去年持平或略有下降。今年餘下時間將相對平穩。它對收入量不是特別敏感。

Got it. And one last question, I apologize. But you're at 3.25x leverage now, well on your way to 3x. Maybe can you just remind us what the priorities and use of your sustainable excess cash might be once that 3x leverage is comfortably intact.

知道了。最後一個問題，我很抱歉。但您現在的槓桿率為 3.25 倍，並且正在朝著 3 倍的方向發展。也許你能提醒我們，一旦 3 倍的槓桿率完好無損，你的可持續剩餘現金的優先事項和用途可能是什麼。

Sure. I'll start with that and Dennis can expand upon that. But obviously, job one right now is continue to knock back down the leverage below 3x. So we'll do that. That's where residual free cash flow is going to go until then. At that point, as we've said the last couple of quarters, we'll have some optionality. We'll consider other investment options. One, as Dennis mentioned in his prepared remarks, is investing in some of our shop labs on the Aerospace side, additional additive mechanical things, expanded capabilities for customers, that's a place I'd like to put some more capital and that is [underground] shop labs.

當然。我將從這個開始，丹尼斯可以對此進行擴展。但顯然，現在的第一項工作是繼續將槓桿率降至 3 倍以下。所以我們會那樣做。到那時，剩餘的自由現金流將流向那裡。到那時，正如我們在過去幾個季度所說的那樣，我們將有一些選擇權。我們會考慮其他投資選擇。一，正如丹尼斯在他準備好的發言中提到的，正在投資我們在航空航天方面的一些商店實驗室，額外的機械設備，為客戶擴展的能力，這是我想投入更多資金的地方，那就是[地下] 商店實驗室。

Other, direct returns to shareholders are clearly a capability as well. We can visit down the road. Maybe at some point, we would contemplate a tuck-in acquisition on the data side perhaps. But yes, all of that's in front of us, and we'll have that optionality and consider that. But I like -- we wanted to keep driving organic growth. We're really leaning into that now, keeping overheads calibrated, and we can invest selectively and our own capabilities organically is really where we're focused right now. But at some point, not in '23, but at some point out in the future, acquisitions may become relevant again. But right now, we're really focusing internally on what we're building and investing on for future growth.

其他，對股東的直接回報顯然也是一種能力。我們可以在路上參觀。也許在某個時候，我們可能會考慮在數據方面進行收購。但是，是的，所有這些都擺在我們面前，我們將有選擇權並考慮這一點。但我喜歡——我們希望繼續推動有機增長。我們現在真的很傾向於這一點，保持管理費用的校準，我們可以有選擇地投資，我們自己的能力有機地才是我們現在關注的重點。但在某個時候，不是在 23 年，而是在未來的某個時候，收購可能會再次變得重要。但現在，我們真的在內部專注於我們為未來增長而建設和投資的東西。

Yes, Brian, the things that we're doing in the data across all of our segments in shop where we're adding another smaller facility, we're adding more machining and all these -- they are really very good long-term [baseload] kind of investments that we're making now, and we'll continue to look at. Inside gas and oil, we have some very strong connections with some of our customers and some of the things we want to do there in growing. So we're being a little selective in making sure what we're doing aren't the things that we've seen others get themselves in trouble with and all that.

是的，布賴恩，我們在商店的所有部門的數據中所做的事情我們正在添加另一個更小的設施，我們正在添加更多的加工和所有這些 - 從長遠來看它們真的非常好 [ baseload] 我們現在正在進行的投資類型，我們將繼續關注。在天然氣和石油領域，我們與我們的一些客戶以及我們希望在增長過程中做的一些事情有著非常緊密的聯繫。因此，我們在確保我們正在做的事情不是我們看到其他人給自己帶來麻煩的事情時有點選擇性。

But I don't see any reason -- I mean, we do want to get below 3x because we do believe there's a tranche of investors out there that believe that's a magic number, we need to get back into the 2s. So until we get below that, we're going to pretty much stay focused on getting and paying you back down. But like you said, sometime this year, we'll go below that 3x is our belief. And then we'll have a lot more optionality. And it's going to make it a little bit more fun to see where the market is at and what else we can do within there.

但我看不出有任何理由——我的意思是，我們確實希望低於 3 倍，因為我們確實相信有一部分投資者認為這是一個神奇的數字，我們需要回到 2 倍。因此，在我們低於這個水平之前，我們將非常專注於讓你付出代價。但就像你說的，今年某個時候，我們將低於 3 倍是我們的信念。然後我們會有更多的選擇。看看市場在哪里以及我們可以在那裡做些什麼會讓它變得更加有趣。

I will now like to pass it back to Dennis Bertolotti for closing remarks.

我現在想把它傳回給 Dennis Bertolotti 作結束語。

All right. Thanks, Jada. I'd like to thank everyone for joining the call today and for your continued interest in Mistras. Everyone, please have a safe and prosperous day. Thank you.

好的。謝謝，賈達。我要感謝大家今天加入電話會議，感謝大家對 Mistras 的持續關注。每個人，請有一個安全和繁榮的一天。謝謝。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了程序。您現在可以斷開連接。