MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc (MSM) 2008 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, my name is Kristen and I'll be your conference operator today.

早上好，我叫克里斯汀，今天我將擔任您的會議接線員。

At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the MSC Industrial Direct fourth quarter 2008 earnings conference call.

在此，我想歡迎大家參加 MSC Industrial Direct 2008 年第四季度財報電話會議。

All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

所有線路都已靜音，以防止任何背景噪音。

After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.

講者致辭後，將進行問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Thank you, I would now like to turn the conference over to Eric Boyriven of FD.

謝謝，我現在想把會議交給 FD 的 Eric Boyriven。

Sir, you may begin your conference.

先生，您可以開始您的會議了。

Good morning everyone and welcome to the MSC Industrial Direct fiscal 2008 fourth quarter and full-year results conference call.

大家早上好，歡迎參加 MSC Industrial Direct 2008 財年第四季度和全年業績電話會議。

You should have received a copy of this morning's earnings announcement.

你應該已經收到了今天上午的收益公告的副本。

If you have not received a copy, please contact our offices at (212)580-5600 and a copy will be sent to you.

如果您沒有收到副本，請致電 (212)580-5600 聯繫我們的辦公室，我們將向您發送副本。

An online archive of this broadcast will be available one hour after the conclusion of this call and available for one week at www.mscdirect.com.

此廣播的在線存檔將在通話結束後一小時提供，並在 www.mscdirect.com 上提供一周。

Certain information pertaining to non-GAAP financial measures that may arise during this broadcast can also be found in the earnings announcement which is posted on the same website in the investor relations section.

在此廣播期間可能出現的與非公認會計原則財務措施有關的某些信息也可以在發佈在同一網站的投資者關係部分的收益公告中找到。

Which you can find under the tab About MSC.

您可以在關於 MSC 選項卡下找到它。

In addition, during the presentation, management will refer to financial and operating data included under the section Operational Statistics which you can also find under the tab About MSC on the company's website.

此外，在演示過程中，管理層將參考運營統計部分中包含的財務和運營數據，您也可以在公司網站上的關於 MSC 選項卡下找到這些數據。

Let me now take a minute to reference the Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

現在讓我花一點時間來參考 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》下的安全港聲明。

This call may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S.

本次電話會議可能包含美國含義內的某些前瞻性陳述。

securities laws including guidance about expected results for the next quarter; expected benefits from the company's recently-launched new customer enhancement; expectations regarding conversion of net income into operating cash flow; expectations regarding the company's ability to capture market share; the company's growth plans and expectations about the company's ability to manage costs.

證券法，包括關於下一季度預期結果的指導；公司最近推出的新客戶增強功能的預期收益；關於將淨收入轉化為經營現金流的預期；對公司獲取市場份額能力的期望；公司的增長計劃和對公司成本管理能力的期望。

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these statements.

這些前瞻性陳述涉及可能導致實際結果與這些陳述所預期的結果大不相同的風險和不確定性。

Information about these risks is noted in the earnings press release and in the Risk Factors and MD&A sections of the company's latest annual report filed with the SEC as well as in the company's other SEC filings.

有關這些風險的信息在收益新聞稿、公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新年度報告的風險因素和 MD&A 部分以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中都有說明。

These forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations and the company assumes no obligation to update these statements.

這些前瞻性陳述基於公司當前的預期，公司不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。

Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

告誡投資者不要過分依賴這些前瞻性陳述。

I would now like to introduce MSC Industrial Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, David Sandler.

我現在想介紹 MSC 工業總監、總裁兼首席執行官 David Sandler。

David, please go ahead.

大衛，請繼續。

Thanks, Eric and good morning everyone and thanks for joining us.

謝謝，埃里克，大家早上好，感謝您加入我們。

With me today are Chuck Boehlke, our Executive Vice President and CFO and Shelley Boxer, Vice President of Finance.

今天和我在一起的是我們的執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Chuck Boehlke 和財務副總裁 Shelley Boxer。

Earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter, exceeded our guidance range.

第四財季的收益超出了我們的指導範圍。

We executed on our gross margin initiatives and controlled operating expenses.

我們執行了我們的毛利率計劃並控制了運營費用。

There was a non-recurring gain in the sales of certain property that Jeff will expand upon later.

傑夫稍後將擴大銷售某些財產的非經常性收益。

For the year, we were gratified to see our operating margin reach 18% and earnings per share increase by 17% over last year, even though there was one less week in fiscal '08 than in fiscal '07.

今年，我們很高興看到我們的營業利潤率達到 18%，每股收益比去年增長了 17%，儘管 08 財年比 07 財年少一周。

But we understand that August was a very different time from today and in recognition on that, I am going to depart from our usual format.

但我們知道 8 月與今天是一個非常不同的時間，鑑於此，我將偏離我們通常的格式。

I want to make sure that I highlight three thoughts that I hope will help you understand where our company is today.

我想確保我強調三個想法，希望能幫助您了解我們公司今天的狀況。

First, is how we're positioned to take share as a result of the dislocations being caused by the seizure in the credit markets and the soft and likely worsening economy that will follow.

首先，由於信貸市場的失控以及隨之而來的疲軟和可能惡化的經濟造成的混亂，我們如何定位份額。

Secondly, I want to assure you that we are moving forward aggressively rather than watching things happen around us.

其次，我想向你們保證，我們正在積極地前進，而不是眼睜睜地看著周圍發生的事情。

Third, I want to provide you a realtime feeling for what we are hearing in the marketplace.

第三，我想為您提供我們在市場上聽到的實時感受。

MSC is on the move as we speak.

正如我們所說，MSC 正在行動中。

In September, we launched a new customer enhancement to our service levels.

9 月，我們針對我們的服務水平推出了一項新的客戶增強功能。

In fact, it's one of the more significant improvements in our history.

事實上，這是我們歷史上最重大的進步之一。

We have been investing in this initiative for almost a full year and while the service concept is easy to understand, building it required a huge cross functional effort of many associates and was actually quite complex.

我們已經對這項計劃進行了將近一整年的投資，雖然服務概念很容易理解，但構建它需要許多員工的巨大跨職能努力，而且實際上非常複雜。

I congratulate the team on its execution and am pleased to note that it took the market by surprise when we launched on Labor Day.

我祝賀團隊的執行，並高興地註意到，當我們在勞動節推出時，它讓市場感到意外。

To date, it has been extremely well-received.

迄今為止，它已經非常受歡迎。

Essentially, all qualified orders placed by 8:00 p.m.

基本上，所有合格的訂單都在晚上 8:00 之前下達。

eastern time in the lower 48 states, are now not only ship same day but delivered to our customer next day at no additional costs.

東部時間在美國東部 48 個州，現在不僅當天發貨，而且在第二天交付給我們的客戶，無需額外費用。

In order in to be sure that you all understand the magnitude of this improvement, I want to take a minute to explain its benefits to our customers.

為了確保你們都了解這種改進的重要性，我想花一點時間向我們的客戶解釋它的好處。

Your first reaction might be that, well, we ship same day with UPS and UPS delivers the next day, so what's the difference?

你的第一反應可能是，嗯，我們是 UPS 當天發貨，UPS 第二天發貨，那有什麼區別呢？

Well, there are a number of major differences that makes this an enormous value enhancement for our customers and vastly improves our logistics position versus our branch inventory base competition.

嗯，有許多主要差異使得這對我們的客戶來說是一個巨大的價值提升，並大大提高了我們的物流地位與我們的分支機構庫存基礎競爭。

For example, if you had a manufacturing facility in Boston, your cut off time for placing an order from our Harrisburg facility was 4:30 p.m.

例如，如果您在波士頓有一家製造工廠，您從我們的哈里斯堡工廠下訂單的截止時間是下午 4:30。

Now, it is 8:00 p.m.

現在是晚上 8:00。

Prior to the enhancement, even if you placed the order before the cutoff time for Harrisburg, if the item you that needed was non-Harrisburg, but in either one of our other fulfillment centers, ground shipment for that portion of the order took two to three days.

在增強功能之前，即使您在哈里斯堡的截止時間之前下訂單，如果您需要的商品不是哈里斯堡，但在我們的其他任一運營中心，該部分訂單的陸運需要兩到三天。

Now, if you place an order by 8:00 p.m.

現在，如果您在晚上 8:00 之前下訂單。

and the inventory is in any of our centers, you will receive the item next day.

並且庫存在我們的任何一個中心，您將在第二天收到該物品。

Our combined fill the rate across all of these facilities is 99% and our error rate is substantially less than 1%.

我們所有這些設施的總填充率為 99%，我們的錯誤率遠低於 1%。

Basically this means that almost anything ordered from MSC today will arrive flawlessly at our customers' door tomorrow.

基本上，這意味著今天從 MSC 訂購的幾乎所有東西明天都會完美地到達我們客戶的門口。

The difference is enormous.

差異是巨大的。

We can now firmly position ourselves as the first and only telephone call a customer makes rather than the customer taking the time to call a few local distributors and send their driver to spend precious time picking things up.

我們現在可以堅定地將自己定位為客戶撥打的第一個也是唯一一個電話，而不是客戶花時間打電話給幾個當地經銷商並派他們的司機花寶貴的時間來取貨。

Locking in our position as the first call will have an enormous long-term impact on revenue and gross margin.

鎖定我們作為第一個電話的位置將對收入和毛利率產生巨大的長期影響。

The story gets even more compelling if you're in places like Denver, where delivery was two days or more.

如果您在丹佛等地，交貨時間為兩天或更長時間，這個故事會變得更加引人入勝。

This improved service will greatly enhance our competitive position versus those with local inventory in former two-day markets.

這種改進的服務將大大增強我們在前兩天市場中與本地庫存相比的競爭地位。

By leveraging this service, we are sending a very strong message to our entire customer base, both large and small.

通過利用這項服務，我們向我們的整個客戶群（無論大小）發送了一個非常強烈的信息。

For our large customers, the strength of our balance sheet, our suite of services and this new logistics initiative enables us to position ourselves as protection against supply chain risk.

對於我們的大客戶，我們的資產負債表實力、我們的服務套件和這項新的物流計劃使我們能夠將自己定位為防範供應鏈風險。

Something that is very real in today's economy.

在當今經濟中非常真實的東西。

Many of our customers risk disruption from suppliers who have cash flow constraints that impact product flows.

我們的許多客戶都面臨著受到影響產品流動的現金流限制的供應商中斷的風險。

MRO supplies represents a very small percentage of the finished costs of the products that our customers sell, but an interruption in supplies can be extremely costly.

MRO 供應只占我們客戶銷售的產品成品成本的一小部分，但供應中斷可能會造成極其高昂的代價。

Our smaller competitors will not be able to maintain their inventory and will struggle to pay suppliers on time, as their balance sheets get squeezed.

由於資產負債表受到擠壓，我們較小的競爭對手將無法維持庫存，並且難以按時向供應商付款。

And let me remind you that this remains a very fragmented industry.

讓我提醒你，這仍然是一個非常分散的行業。

For our smaller customers, we have a very strong and compelling message.

對於我們較小的客戶，我們有一個非常強大和引人注目的信息。

We can extend credit as long as they remain creditworthy and give us a greater share of their spend.

只要他們保持信譽，我們就可以提供信貸，並在他們的支出中為我們提供更大的份額。

The smaller distributors can not afford to do this and will need faster payment to support their cash flow.

較小的分銷商負擔不起，需要更快的付款來支持他們的現金流。

Secondly, we are moving aggressively on the cost side.

其次，我們在成本方面積極行動。

We will use our strong balance sheet and cash flow with our suppliers to achieve better cash discounts from those who need swift cash flow and better volume discounts from those who need order flow.

我們將利用我們強大的資產負債表和與供應商的現金流，從需要快速現金流的人那裡獲得更好的現金折扣，從需要訂單流的人那裡獲得更好的批量折扣。

Since MSC's credit is excellent and considered to be very safe by suppliers, we will seek more field and more supplier preference for larger end users as well.

由於 MSC 的信用非常好，並且被供應商認為非常安全，我們也會為更大的最終用戶尋求更多的領域和更多的供應商偏好。

We will remind our suppliers that if the customers order for their goods goes through MSC, they will get paid quickly and reliably and their products will reach the customer quickly and without disruption.

我們會提醒我們的供應商，如果客戶通過 MSC 訂購他們的貨物，他們將快速可靠地獲得付款，他們的產品將快速無中斷地到達客戶手中。

On the expense side, we move very quickly to clamp down on discretionary spending several weeks ago as we sensed that the troubles in the credit market were escalating.

在支出方面，我們在幾週前迅速採取行動遏制可自由支配的支出，因為我們感覺到信貸市場的麻煩正在升級。

We continue to opportunistically seek great growth investments and outstanding field sales people who might lose confidence in the strength of the company that they currently work for.

我們繼續機會主義地尋求巨大的增長投資和優秀的現場銷售人員，他們可能會對他們目前工作的公司的實力失去信心。

Our field sales force grew to 912 associates at the end of Q4 and we expect to maintain this level throughout the first quarter.

我們的現場銷售人員在第四季度末增長到 912 名員工，我們預計在整個第一季度都將保持這一水平。

Finally, although the slowdown might be more severe than we have experienced in the past, our team has been through this before.

最後，雖然放緩可能比我們過去經歷的更嚴重，但我們的團隊之前已經經歷過這種情況。

We have navigated through tough economic periods and used them to position our company for rapid earnings growth once the economy turns.

我們已經度過了艱難的經濟時期，並利用它們為我們的公司定位，以便在經濟好轉時實現快速的盈利增長。

We've done this before and we'll do so again.

我們之前已經這樣做了，我們將再次這樣做。

In the last several weeks, customers' sentiment has turned dramatically downwards.

在過去的幾周里，客戶的情緒急劇下降。

Here are just a few of the things that we've recently heard and I'll quote a few of them.

這裡只是我們最近聽到的一些事情，我將引用其中的一些。

One quote is, "our new orders are down substantially in the last few weeks." Another is that corporate has told us to reduce inventory.

一種說法是，“我們的新訂單在過去幾周大幅下降。”另一個是公司告訴我們減少庫存。

What we've also heard is make due with what you have.

我們還聽到的是用你所擁有的來彌補。

And finally, another quote is capital expenditures are on hold.

最後，另一個引述是資本支出被擱置。

Customers are concerned about the economy and the lack of available credit.

客戶擔心經濟和可用信貸的缺乏。

They are reducing inventories, orders, and order size and they their has been a trend toward deferring capital expenditures.

他們正在減少庫存、訂單和訂單規模，而且他們一直是推遲資本支出的趨勢。

There is a lack of visibility and until that improves, customers will continue to act in this manner.

缺乏可見性，在這種情況有所改善之前，客戶將繼續以這種方式行事。

This has affected the smaller manufacturers and machine shops that still make up a significant portion of MSC sales to a greater extent than our larger customers.

與我們的大客戶相比，這在更大程度上影響了仍然佔 MSC 銷售額很大一部分的小型製造商和機械車間。

Before turning the mic over to Chuck to talk in more detail about the quarter and our cash flow and balance sheet, I would like to give some guidance for Q1.

在將麥克風交給查克更詳細地討論本季度以及我們的現金流和資產負債表之前，我想為第一季度提供一些指導。

The deterioration in the credit markets has exacerbated the effect of the slowing economy on the industrial sector.

信貸市場的惡化加劇了經濟放緩對工業部門的影響。

The ISM is at its low point since the post-9/11 time period and industrial production declined sharply in September.

ISM 處於自 9/11 後時期以來的低點，工業生產在 9 月急劇下降。

Our sales to the industrial sector, which accounts for about 75% of our total sales, has been declining as well.

我們對工業部門的銷售額（占我們總銷售額的 75% 左右）也在下降。

MSC continues to solidly grow it's sales to the non-industrial sector and to national and government accounts.

MSC 繼續穩步增長其對非工業部門以及國家和政府賬戶的銷售額。

Visibility is extremely limited at this point.

此時能見度極為有限。

We don't know when the credit markets will return to a more normal state nor do we know what effect, if any, that will have on the industrial marketplace.

我們不知道信貸市場何時會恢復到更正常的狀態，也不知道這將對工業市場產生什麼影響（如果有的話）。

Therefore, we have chosen to project Q1 results on the basis of the first seven weeks of Q1 being representative of the entire quarter.

因此，我們選擇在第一季度的前七周代表整個季度的基礎上預測第一季度的業績。

Based on that assumption, we project that first quarter sales will be between $436 and $446 million and fully diluted earnings per share will be between $0.68 and $0.72.

基於這一假設，我們預計第一季度銷售額將在 436 美元至 4.46 億美元之間，完全攤薄後的每股收益將在 0.68 美元至 0.72 美元之間。

However, again, we caution that this guidance should be viewed in the context of the unprecedented market conditions and the resulting variability in actual results versus expectations.

然而，我們再次警告說，應該在前所未有的市場條件以及由此產生的實際結果與預期之間的可變性的背景下看待這一指導。

Thanks and I will now turn the mic over to Chuck.

謝謝，我現在將麥克風交給查克。

Thank you, David.

謝謝你，大衛。

In Q4, MSC delivered excellent financial results given the market conditions.

鑑於市場狀況，MSC 在第四季度取得了出色的財務業績。

We came in at the top of our guidance range in sales and over the top of our range in EPS.

我們在銷售指導範圍內名列前茅，在每股收益範圍內名列前茅。

Included in our earnings is a non-recurring gain from the sales of certain real estate that we no longer utilize in the business and a tax benefit from the utilization of a capital laws carry-forward, which, taken together, improved earnings by $0.025.

我們的收益包括銷售我們不再在業務中使用的某些房地產的非經常性收益，以及利用資本法結轉帶來的稅收優惠，這些收益加起來提高了 0.025 美元。

We anticipate that the effective tax rate for fiscal 2009 will be approximately 38%.

我們預計 2009 財年的有效稅率約為 38%。

Gross margin came in as expected and we anticipate an increase in gross margin in Q1 of '09 to approximately 46.8% plus or minus 20 basis points as you realize the benefit of the price increase in the big book just published.

毛利率如期而至，我們預計 09 年第一季度的毛利率將增加至約 46.8% 上下 20 個基點，因為您意識到剛剛出版的大書價格上漲的好處。

Given the limited visibility in this environment, we will be guiding quarter-by-quarter on gross margin.

鑑於在這種環境下的知名度有限，我們將按季度指導毛利率。

We continue to maintain tight control over operating expenses in Q4.

我們繼續嚴格控制第四季度的運營費用。

As the macroenvironment continues to soften, we have aggressively reduced discretionary spending.

隨著宏觀環境繼續疲軟，我們已大幅減少可自由支配的支出。

This includes the obvious areas such as travel and entertainment and training, but also includes strategic and growth spending as evidenced by our flat guidance for sales head count.

這包括旅遊、娛樂和培訓等顯而易見的領域，但也包括戰略和增長支出，我們對銷售人數的統一指導證明了這一點。

These actions will serve to partially offset increased expenses associated with salary infringe increases, the full year impact of associates hired in FY'08 and other inflationary increases.

這些行動將用於部分抵消因工資違規增加而增加的費用、08 財年僱用的員工的全年影響以及其他通貨膨脹性增加。

Cash flow in Q4 and for all of fiscal '08 was outstanding.

第四季度和 08 財年的現金流都非常出色。

We generated free cash flow, which we define as net cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures of $198 million in fiscal '08, including $65 million in Q4.

我們產生了自由現金流，我們將其定義為運營活動提供的淨現金，減去 08 財年 1.98 億美元的資本支出，其中包括第四季度的 6500 萬美元。

That represents an all-time high for the year.

這代表了今年的歷史新高。

We purchased another $1.493 million shares of our stock at an average price of $44.70 in Q4, bringing our total stock purchases for fiscal year '08 to 4.621 shares at a total cost of $187 million.

我們在第四季度以平均 44.70 美元的價格又購買了 149.3 萬美元的股票，使我們 08 財年的總股票購買量達到 4.621 股，總成本為 1.87 億美元。

These purchases were funded out of our operating cash flow and through our revolving credit agreement.

這些購買的資金來自我們的經營現金流和我們的循環信貸協議。

We fully expect to continue to generate significant amounts of free cash flow from operations.

我們完全預計將繼續從運營中產生大量的自由現金流。

When sales growth slows, cash conversion improves at MSC as we're able to reduce working capital.

當銷售增長放緩時，MSC 的現金轉換率會提高，因為我們能夠減少營運資金。

We currently have significant cash reserves on hand as well as committed lines of credit from a syndicate of top banks.

我們目前手頭有大量現金儲備以及來自頂級銀行財團的承諾信貸額度。

As David noted, our strong cash flow and liquidity combined with a strong under leveraged balance sheet, gives us a powerful advantage against the small distributors who control the bulk of the market.

正如大衛所指出的，我們強勁的現金流和流動性加上強大的槓桿資產負債表，使我們對控制大部分市場的小型分銷商具有強大的優勢。

During these times, there may also be more acquisitions that make sense and generally in tough economic times, acquisition multiples tend to decline.

在這些時期，可能還會有更多有意義的收購，而且通常在經濟困難時期，收購倍數往往會下降。

Our balance sheet remains significantly under leveraged and as credit markets improve, we expect that we will have more freedom to utilize it as a weapon in the marketplace.

我們的資產負債表仍顯著低於槓桿，隨著信貸市場的改善，我們預計我們將有更多的自由將其用作市場上的武器。

Thank you and now I'll turn it back over to David.

謝謝你，現在我會把它還給大衛。

Thanks, Chuck.

謝謝，查克。

In conclusion, we at MSC are on the move.

總之，我們在 MSC 正在行動。

We fully expect MSC to emerge from this extraordinary time with increased market share, continued strong cash flow and a strong growth rate.

我們完全預計 MSC 將以增加的市場份額、持續強勁的現金流和強勁的增長率從這個不平凡的時期脫穎而出。

While this team is not experienced the depth and extent of the current crisis, I can assure you that we are managing through these unprecedented times and will emerge stronger than ever.

雖然這個團隊沒有經歷過當前危機的深度和程度，但我可以向你保證，我們正在度過這些前所未有的時期，並將變得比以往任何時候都更強大。

Our plan is very similar to how we manage during the post-9/11 period and that worked very well.

我們的計劃與我們在 9/11 後時期的管理方式非常相似，並且效果很好。

Today, we are a much stronger, better managed company with many more customers, including a vibrant large customer segment, many more skews to service our customers, extensive electronic tools that will enable our customers to reduce their costs, significantly improved service levels and a well-trained greatly expanded and highly motivated work force of associates ready to help our customers.

今天，我們是一家更強大、管理更完善的公司，擁有更多客戶，包括充滿活力的大型客戶群、更多為客戶提供服務的傾斜度、使我們的客戶能夠降低成本的廣泛電子工具、顯著提高的服務水平和訓練有素的員工隊伍大大擴展，積極性高，隨時準備幫助我們的客戶。

I offer my sincere thanks to all of our associates for their continued dedication, their hard work and tremendous flexibility in the face of adverse conditions.

我衷心感謝我們所有的員工在面對不利條件時的持續奉獻、辛勤工作和巨大的靈活性。

Thanks and I will now open the line for questions.

謝謝，我現在將打開問題線。

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS) The first question is from the line of Adam Uhlman with Cleveland Research Company.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Cleveland Research Company 的 Adam Uhlman。

Good morning.

早上好。

Morning.

早晨。

Hello, Adam.

你好，亞當。

Hello, Adam.

你好，亞當。

I guess, Chuck, the first question for on the guidance of next quarter sales up slightly but margin guided down quite a bit with gross margin expansion.

我猜，查克，第一個問題是關於下一季度銷售額的指導略有上升，但隨著毛利率的擴大，利潤率下降了很多。

You know, it sounds like there is going to be quite a bit of SG&A deleveraging -- SG&A growing perhaps 7% year-over-year.

你知道，聽起來會有相當多的 SG&A 去槓桿化——SG&A 可能同比增長 7%。

Could you talk about what's behind the SG&A growth?

您能談談 SG&A 增長背後的原因嗎？

Sure, Adam.

當然，亞當。

Well, first thing I would say, you saw that we significantly exceeded our expectations for sales head count in Q4.

好吧，首先我要說的是，您看到我們在第四季度的銷售人數大大超出了我們的預期。

So, the sales hires that were on board for a partial, if you will, Q4 Op-Ex [experience] are all imbedded and in for an entire quarter in Q1.

因此，如果您願意的話，Q4 Op-Ex [經驗] 的部分銷售人員都被嵌入並在 Q1 的整個季度中工作。

We also have an uneven distribution, if you will, of our annual merit review poll.

如果您願意的話，我們的年度績效評估民意調查也有不均衡的分佈。

A significant portion of our organization has their merit reviews done in the first quarter of every year.

我們組織的很大一部分人在每年的第一季度都會進行績效評估。

So, there is imbedded spending and salaries and fringe benefits, probably $2 million, if you will, Q1 versus where we were in Q4.

因此，第一季度與第四季度相比，有嵌入的支出、工資和附帶福利，如果你願意的話，可能是 200 萬美元。

You also have things like advertising in Q4, are at their low levels during the year, as plant shut downs and so forth, means we generally reduce circulation and advertising spending.

你也有像第四季度的廣告，在一年中處於低水平，因為工廠關閉等等，這意味著我們通常會減少流通和廣告支出。

Just getting that back to levels of last year or even slightly higher than that is about an additional $1 million and advertising spent above the Q4 levels here.

僅將其恢復到去年的水平，甚至略高於該水平，就需要額外增加 100 萬美元，並且廣告支出高於第四季度的水平。

So, there is some imbedded spending that's in place that, yes, there is a net increase in overall spending because of some of those imbedded things.

所以，有一些嵌入的支出，是的，由於一些嵌入的東西，總體支出淨增加。

But and anything that's discretionary, it should be very clear that Q1s spending numbers is not a function of adding stuff during Q1.

但是，任何可自由支配的事情，都應該非常清楚，第一季度的支出數字並不是在第一季度增加東西的功能。

It's a carry-in of what happened last year with a return of more normal levels at Q1 traditionally that we spend in advertising that's caused that number to be higher on the OpEx line.

這是去年發生的事情的延續，傳統上我們在廣告上的花費在第一季度恢復了更正常的水平，這導致該數字在 OpEx 線上更高。

The other piece, Adam, I need to point out is fright expense.

另一部分，亞當，我需要指出的是可怕的費用。

Both versus Q4 and versus last year.

與第四季度和去年相比。

Yes, over time this year with the reduction and oil we would expect some of the surcharges to hopefully evade a little bit.

是的，隨著時間的推移，隨著今年的減產和石油，我們預計一些附加費有望避免一點。

But, where we were in Q4 and, frankly, where we were in Q1 a year ago, the freight expense is much higher than it had been this time a year ago.

但是，我們在第四季度的情況，坦率地說，一年前我們在第一季度的情況，運費比一年前的這個時候要高得多。

So, those factors all net to an increase in Op-Ex over where we were in Q4.

因此，這些因素都使 Op-Ex 比第四季度有所增加。

Okay, it also sounds like you're absorbing some of this incremental expense for next-day delivery this year for your customers.

好的，聽起來您今年正在為您的客戶吸收一些用於次日交付的增量費用。

I guess, could you talk about what the expected benefit is in terms of revenue, the initial year that this new service is launched?

我想，你能談談在收入方面的預期收益嗎，這項新服務推出的第一年？

Adam, it's David.

亞當，是大衛。

You know, we want to be careful about how much we would share publicly with that.

你知道，我們要小心我們會公開分享多少。

Certainly, a point about a component of our freight expense coming from this program is part of our Op-Ex moving forward as Chuck had commented.

當然，正如 Chuck 評論的那樣，關於我們來自該計劃的運費費用的一部分是我們向前發展的 Op-Ex 的一部分。

You know, we're really excited about what this enhancement will mean.

你知道，我們對這種增強的意義感到非常興奮。

Understand that it's going to take time to actually work its way in.

明白要真正發揮作用需要時間。

Part of our expenses, frankly, one of our advertising expenses is going to be on marketing this new program.

坦率地說，我們的一部分費用將用於營銷這個新項目。

And it's going to take time for our customers that have been typically knowing that late in the day or for their second shift, they now need to either send a driver out or they need to start shopping around to another local distributor that they're going to be able to now rely on MSC up until very late in the day knowing that [parts] is going to come tomorrow.

對於我們的客戶來說，這將需要一些時間，他們通常知道在當天晚些時候或第二班時，他們現在需要派司機出去，或者他們需要開始四處尋找他們要去的另一個當地經銷商現在能夠依靠 MSC 直到很晚才知道 [parts] 明天會來。

We're excited because we have already started to see with some customers buying behavior where we're now able to reach the second shift and we're seeing our late orders start to rise, which is really indicative of the fact that we're now take business that we hadn't previously been able to take.

我們很興奮，因為我們已經開始看到一些客戶的購買行為，我們現在可以進入第二班，並且我們看到我們的延遲訂單開始增加，這確實表明我們正在現在承接我們以前無法承接的業務。

So, I'm not going share what our revenue projections are.

所以，我不會分享我們的收入預測。

I, you know, I will tell you that we think that the return on this investment is going to prove to be a really good one over time and that the competitive advantage is something that we're going be able to capitalize on to years to come.

我，你知道，我會告訴你，我們認為隨著時間的推移，這項投資的回報將被證明是一個非常好的回報，而且我們將能夠利用多年的競爭優勢來實現來。

Okay.

好的。

Great.

偉大的。

And then just the last question, a quick one.

然後是最後一個問題，一個快速的問題。

It looks like the active customer account slipped again sequentially this quarter.

看起來活躍客戶賬戶本季度再次下滑。

Can you talk about what is unfolding there?

你能談談那裡正在發生什麼嗎？

Yes, sure, happy to.

是的，當然，很高興。

To a larger degree, the customer count really is a part of managing really proactively and making choices proactively on our part.

在更大程度上，客戶數量確實是我們真正主動管理和主動做出選擇的一部分。

You know, we have said that we've tweaked the dials on where we see -- we want to spend our growth investment dollars and how we kind of shift those around.

你知道，我們已經說過我們已經調整了我們所看到的刻度盤——我們希望花費我們的增長投資資金以及我們如何轉移這些資金。

And one of the areas that we've cut back, at least a piece of, is in prospecting those areas where we tend to find that the pay back is going to take longer and, therefore, we get a lower return on that investment.

我們削減的領域之一，至少是一部分，是在那些我們傾向於發現回報需要更長的時間，因此，我們的投資回報率較低的領域。

That's something that we have cut back on because we think it makes good bottom-line sense to do that.

這是我們已經削減的東西，因為我們認為這樣做有很好的底線意義。

And so as a result of some of that, we have less new accounts being generated.

因此，由於其中一些原因，我們生成的新帳戶較少。

And we also adjust some of our circulation mailings as well.

我們還調整了一些流通郵件。

But I think the overall effect of these changes do represent a reduction in what we've really targeted the cutbacks in, which is that one-time small buyer where revenue implications are very, very small in the near-term and in the longer-term as well.

但我認為這些變化的總體影響確實代表了我們真正針對的削減目標的減少，即一次性小買家的收入影響在短期和長期內非常非常小 -術語也是如此。

Remember, the other thing that is a metric that we don't share that we do see continuing to grow is that our active customer base is based on "bill to," not on "ship to." And remember a large part of our focus for several years has been on that large customer segment which tends to have multi locational buyers.

請記住，另一個我們不分享但我們確實看到持續增長的指標是，我們的活躍客戶群基於“收單方”，而不是“發貨方”。請記住，幾年來我們的大部分重點都放在了往往擁有多地點買家的大型客戶群上。

Those multilocations, that ship to number, we do see growing but you're not able to actually see it in the way that we measure our active customer base.

那些按數量發貨的多地點，我們確實看到了增長，但您無法以我們衡量活躍客戶群的方式實際看到它。

That is helpful.

這很有幫助。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Sure.

當然。

You're next question is from the line of David Manthey with Robert W.

你的下一個問題來自 David Manthey 和 Robert W.

Baird.

貝爾德。

Hi, good morning, guys.

嗨，早安，伙計們。

Good morning, David.

早上好，大衛。

Hey, David.

嘿，大衛。

Just for clarification, could you let me know what the average daily sales growth was in the month of September?

為了澄清起見，您能否告訴我 9 月份的平均每日銷售額增長是多少？

ADS in September was 3.9.

9 月份的 ADS 為 3.9。

3.9.

3.9.

And are you releasing a schedule of the other months or -- that I haven't seen yet or is there --

你是否發布了其他月份的時間表，或者——我還沒有看到或在那裡——

It's on our website, David.

它在我們的網站上，大衛。

Yes, we'll read them to you right now though.

是的，我們現在就給你讀。

Chuck do you have them right there?

查克 你那裡有嗎？

Yes.

是的。

July was 8%; August was 4.7%; September 3.9% and again through a couple of weeks in October, it's basically flat.

7 月為 8%； 8 月為 4.7%； 9 月 3.9% 和 10 月的幾週後，基本持平。

Okay.

好的。

Great.

偉大的。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

And in terms of the environment we're dealing with here today, I am interested in all of your opinions; your viewpoint in terms of how does this current environment look to you relative to past down turns that we've?

就我們今天在這里處理的環境而言，我對您的所有意見都很感興趣；相對於我們過去的下滑趨勢，您對當前環境的看法如何？

Are there pros and cons?

有優點和缺點嗎？

And just how are you thinking about it as it relates to past slow downs?

您如何看待它與過去的放緩有關？

You know, David, I'll tell you one thing is that really we view this time as unprecedented in history.

你知道，大衛，我要告訴你一件事，我們真的認為這次是歷史上前所未有的。

The economy is undergoing a huge change, how that is going to shake out all remains to be seen, but I think what's important to note is that it's a huge fee change that, frankly, no one had a chance to really see coming.

經濟正在經歷巨大的變化，這將如何擺脫一切還有待觀察，但我認為需要注意的是，這是一個巨大的費用變化，坦率地說，沒有人有機會真正看到它的到來。

So, we know that specifically in our customer base there is a tremendous amount of fear that's gripping customers and evidenced by what we've seen the last couple of weeks in October, almost buying paralysis.

因此，我們知道，特別是在我們的客戶群中，有一種巨大的恐懼感籠罩著客戶，我們在 10 月的最後幾週看到的情況就是證明，幾乎購買癱瘓。

That's really the way that we think about it.

這就是我們的想法。

And frankly you know, in speaking to so many customers what we see happening.

坦率地說，您知道，在與這麼多客戶交談時，我們看到了正在發生的事情。

I think one of the things that even in the 9/11 period was that if you go back to 9/11 -- pre-9/11 the economy was coming down.

我認為即使在 9/11 期間，其中一件事是，如果你回到 9/11——9/11 之前的經濟正在下滑。

In fact on a sequential basis over a period of many, many months, it had slowed down and then there was the obvious tragic event of 9/11.

事實上，在很多很多個月的時間裡，它已經連續放緩，然後發生了明顯的 9/11 悲劇事件。

What's happened here with the credit crisis though, is that while the economy was by no means booming.

然而，在信貸危機中發生的情況是，儘管經濟並不繁榮。

It was kind of rolling along.

它有點像滾動。

And we almost think that 9 months of what would typically have taken six, seven, eight, nine, twelve months to actually start to come down, happened almost literally overnight.

我們幾乎認為，通常需要六、七、八、九、十二個月才能真正開始下降的 9 個月，幾乎是在一夜之間發生的。

If you think about the ISM and you look at the ISM being in a kind of a flat 49-ish - 50 range for many, many months, probably throughout the year.

如果您考慮 ISM，並且您會看到 ISM 在很多、很多個月甚至全年都處於一個 49-ish - 50 的平穩範圍內。

And then to have it swoon as it did in September at 43, which by the way as I am sure you know is at 9/11 levels.

然後讓它像 9 月一樣在 43 歲時昏倒，順便說一句，我相信你知道這是 9/11 的水平。

From all of the time that the ISM has even been tracked, I don't believe there's ever been a point where we've come upon, or the ISM measurement, has ever dropped off the cliff as fast.

從甚至跟踪 ISM 的所有時間來看，我不相信我們曾經遇到過這樣的點，或者 ISM 測量值曾經以如此快的速度從懸崖上掉下來。

Even pre-9/11, the ISM had been drifting downward to ultimately hit that level but it was not at kind of the steady state where it was which is with the slower economy.

即使在 9/11 之前，ISM 一直在向下漂移以最終達到該水平，但它並沒有處於經濟放緩的那種穩定狀態。

But, frankly, with the latest measurements shows is that things absolutely fell off a cliff.

但是，坦率地說，最新的測量結果表明，事情絕對是一落千丈。

So, until we can get some more visibility into this thing, we're just going to stay really fast and flexible.

因此，在我們對這件事有更多的了解之前，我們將保持非常快速和靈活。

And we're going to use this time.

我們將利用這個時間。

We intend to take share and leverage the great investments that we've been putting in place for the last few years.

我們打算分享並利用我們在過去幾年中進行的大量投資。

Hey, Dave, this is Chuck just one other thing.

嘿，戴夫，這是查克只是另一回事。

Compared to the last slowdown around 9/11, we were in single-digit operating income land.

與上次 9/11 左右的放緩相比，我們處於個位數的營業收入領域。

So, even a slowdown now, there would be a significantly more cash flow generation and more opportunity to use that cash in the most productive way that's very different than the environment we as a company experienced back in the 9/11 -- or the 2001 era.

因此，即使現在放緩，也會有更多的現金流產生和更多的機會以最有效的方式使用這些現金，這與我們作為一家公司在 9/11 或 2001 年所經歷的環境截然不同時代。

And I guess I will jump back in, David.

我想我會跳回去，大衛。

One more thing is to also note that our customer base is much more diversified.

另外還要注意的是，我們的客戶群更加多樣化。

Very different then it was back then.

和當時的情況很不一樣。

We were just getting started with our large customer segment.

我們剛剛開始處理我們的龐大客戶群。

For example, where today the large customer segment is a much larger and vibrant part of our growth equation.

例如，今天的大型客戶群是我們增長方程式中更大且充滿活力的部分。

And that will, as it's already shown, will help to diversify us from that small to midsized manufacturing customer where the pressure on them is just enormous.

正如已經表明的那樣，這將有助於使我們從那個壓力巨大的中小型製造客戶多樣化。

Okay guys.

好的，伙計們。

Thanks a lot for the color.

非常感謝顏色。

I know nobody knows for certain what's going happen here, but I appreciate your comments.

我知道沒有人確切地知道這裡會發生什麼，但我感謝您的評論。

Thanks a lot.

非常感謝。

Thanks, David.

謝謝，大衛。

Sure.

當然。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question is from the line of Brent Rakers with Morgan Keegan.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 Brent Rakers 和 Morgan Keegan。

Good morning.

早上好。

Chuck, I think in past calls you've given some information on the growth rate broken down into price increases, large account programs and other.

Chuck，我認為在過去的電話會議中，您已經提供了一些有關增長率的信息，這些信息分為價格上漲、大客戶計劃等。

Could you maybe provide that again for this fourth quarter?

您能否在第四季度再次提供該信息？

Sure, Brent.

當然，布倫特。

I'll take it -- I have it right in front of me.

我會接受它——我就在我面前。

So, growth in Q4 in an ADS basis was 5.8% and the breakdown of that is 3.9% or 68% of the growth came from our large customer segment.

因此，以 ADS 為基礎的第四季度增長為 5.8%，其中 3.9% 或 68% 的增長來自我們的大型客戶群。

Pricing encountered for 0.9 of a percent or 16% of the growth.

定價為 0.9% 或 16% 的增長。

And about 1% or 16% came from all other volume in the business.

大約 1% 或 16% 來自業務中的所有其他交易量。

Great, okay.

太好了，好吧。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Could you also maybe expand upon -- I know we saw some pretty sizeable price increases in the catalog, I think, effective at the end of August.

您能否進一步擴展——我知道我們在目錄中看到了一些相當大的價格上漲，我認為，從 8 月底開始生效。

Could you maybe comment what that price factor is looking like through the months of September and October?

您能否評論一下 9 月和 10 月的價格因素？

You know, I'm not going break out specifically September and October, Brent, but we did take about a 3.5% increase in the big book.

你知道，我不打算特別在 9 月和 10 月爆發，布倫特，但我們確實在大賬上增加了 3.5%。

What we are seeing on the cost side of the equation is that many raw materials have started to come down over the past few weeks as the economy has slowed.

我們在等式的成本方面看到的是，隨著經濟放緩，過去幾週許多原材料開始下降。

So, you know, things like aluminum and nickel and stainless and, obviously, petroleum and petroleum-based products have dropped.

所以，你知道，鋁、鎳和不銹鋼之類的東西，顯然，石油和石油基產品已經下降了。

But interestingly, cost pressure from suppliers have still remained high.

但有趣的是，來自供應商的成本壓力仍然很高。

So, you know, given the changing environment, we're certainly taking steps and some very aggressive actions on the supplier front to mitigate those increases by resisting any proposed incremental increases to where we are.

所以，你知道，鑑於不斷變化的環境，我們肯定會在供應商方面採取措施和一些非常積極的行動，通過抵制任何提議的增量增加來緩解這些增長。

And, frankly, based on what's happened to the raw materials and petroleum environment re-opening negotiations on previous increases, where with those increases that frankly drove or justified what was happening on that front.

而且，坦率地說，根據原材料和石油環境發生的情況，重新開始就先前的增長進行談判，坦率地說，這些增長推動或證明了這方面正在發生的事情。

And I guess finally, we're also starting to see opportunity buys where suppliers really need the volume.

我想最後，我們也開始看到供應商真正需要數量的機會購買。

They look to MSC to give us to provide some large orders at favorable pricing and we're also, you know, we'll use our strong balance sheet to use that as an opportunity for us.

他們希望 MSC 給我們以優惠的價格提供一些大訂單，我們也將利用我們強大的資產負債表將其作為我們的機會。

So, you know, you put all of that in the blender and that's where we come up with our gross margin guidance of 46.8 plus or minus.

因此，您知道，您將所有這些都放入攪拌機中，這就是我們提出 46.8 正負毛利率指導的地方。

Everything that we see right now is factored in.

我們現在看到的一切都被考慮在內。

Okay, great.

好，太棒了。

And then just last question.

然後只是最後一個問題。

And I think you talked about a $0.025 impact from the items in the quarter.

而且我認為您談到了本季度項目的 0.025 美元影響。

I guess I was computing closer to a $0.05 impact?

我想我計算的影響接近 0.05 美元？

Was there something with regards to the core tax rate that was also maybe lower than kind of that 38% that's kind of been normal lately?

核心稅率是否也低於最近正常的 38%？

Brent, it's Chuck, absolutely it was.

布倫特，是查克，絕對是。

The sale of the building the gain on that was in the neighborhood of $1.5, $1.6 million.

出售該建築物的收益約為 1.5 美元，160 萬美元。

That would normally after tax yield $0.015 in EPS.

這通常會在稅後產生 0.015 美元的每股收益。

So, there was other things going on there with the carry loss -- tax loss carry forward and some other true-up of tax reserves and State things that closed out that added -- basically provided the other $0.01.

因此，還有其他與套利損失有關的事情——稅收損失結轉和其他一些稅收準備金的調整以及關閉的州事務——基本上提供了其他 0.01 美元。

So, between the sale of the building and other tax things that were going on, that was about $0.025 of the $0.05 difference that we experienced above the midpoint of our guidance.

因此，在建築物的出售和正在進行的其他稅收事項之間，我們在指導中點以上所經歷的 0.05 美元差額中約為 0.025 美元。

And you add another $0.025 beyond that that was made up of the fact that we were at the top end of the sales range, which caused us to be in a better position and some other things imbedded in the business that provided that upside to the midpoint of our guidance.

再加上 0.025 美元，這是因為我們處於銷售範圍的頂端，這使我們處於更好的位置，並且業務中嵌入的其他一些因素為中點提供了上行空間我們的指導。

Great and I guess, Chuck, maybe one more question.

太好了，我猜，查克，也許還有一個問題。

It looks like from a cash flow statement that you had some true-ups, if you will, on the bad debt expense line in the quarter.

從現金流量表看來，如果你願意的話，你在本季度的壞賬費用線上做了一些調整。

Do you have a sense for where that trend might be occurring in the quarter?

您是否了解本季度可能出現的趨勢？

Yes, I would say, Brent, we did a great job in the fourth quarter.

是的，我想說，布倫特，我們在第四季度做得很好。

Our credit team and our collection team of actually collecting come moneys that we have previously thought were uncollectable and did a tremendous job cleaning up our outstanding receivables.

我們的信貸團隊和我們的收款團隊實際收取了我們以前認為無法收回的款項，並在清理我們未償還的應收賬款方面做得非常出色。

So, you're absolutely right in the fourth quarter.

所以，你在第四季度是絕對正確的。

We actually had virtually no expense for bad debt other than our normal accruals and that one got reversed out.

實際上，除了我們的正常應計費用外，我們幾乎沒有任何壞賬費用，而且這筆費用被沖銷了。

So, I wouldn't say that would be the trend going forward.

所以，我不會說這將是未來的趨勢。

I would say for the environment we're in right now, again, because of the lack of visibility, I wouldn't want to predict exactly where we'll be.

我想說的是，對於我們現在所處的環境，再次，由於缺乏可見性，我不想準確預測我們將在哪裡。

But at this point in time, we've seen no deterioration in the quality of our receivables at all.

但在這個時間點上，我們的應收賬款質量根本沒有惡化。

The fourth quarter, that was a one-time event, if you will, by collecting some moneys that we previously thought were not collectible and that's what you saw when the bad debt reserve reversal.

第四季度，如果你願意的話，那是一次性事件，通過收集一些我們以前認為無法收回的錢，這就是你在壞賬準備金逆轉時看到的。

Thanks a lot.

非常感謝。

Yes.

是的。

Thank you, Brent.

謝謝你，布倫特。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question is from the line of Holden Lewis with BB&T.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自 BB&T 的 Holden Lewis。

Good morning, thank you.

早上好，謝謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

I believe that you've sort of been going through your five-year planning, as you do every five years or so.

我相信你已經完成了你的五年計劃，就像你每五年左右做一次一樣。

And I just want to know if you would give any insight into sort of what elements may have come out of that represent, not necessarily the next quarter's benefit but over the next couple of years, initiatives that might support margins, you know, and that sort of thing.

我只是想知道您是否會深入了解可能會產生哪些元素，不一定是下一季度的收益，而是在接下來的幾年中，可能會支持利潤率的舉措，你知道，而且那類的東西。

Can you give any colors in terms of the initiative that will come out of that?

你能就由此產生的主動性給出任何顏色嗎？

You know, Holden, we've made a tremendous amount of investments in our website and in our service enhancements, to our customers, value-added services.

你知道，霍爾頓，我們在我們的網站和我們的服務增強、對我們的客戶、增值服務方面進行了大量投資。

Those are all things we've been investing in that are still core to our strategic plan.

這些都是我們一直在投資的東西，它們仍然是我們戰略計劃的核心。

We're also investing in our private brand products to help us bolster on the margin side.

我們還投資於我們的自有品牌產品，以幫助我們提高利潤率。

So, we're pretty comfortable that the plan that we're marching towards is going to give us the kind of results that over the long term, we aspire to deliver.

因此，我們很高興我們正在推進的計劃會給我們帶來我們渴望實現的長期結果。

Obviously in the short-term, we've pulled back and temporarily shut down spending on lots and lots of fronts.

顯然，在短期內，我們已經撤回並暫時關閉了許多方面的支出。

Just until we can kind of let the economy and customer base regain its footing so that we're able to regain our visibility.

直到我們可以讓經濟和客戶群重新站穩腳跟，以便我們能夠重新獲得知名度。

But we continue to now leverage the great investments that we've made on the customer front; on our service-enhancement front; sales force buildout; what we're doing with our product development area; and building out our private-branded products.

但我們現在繼續利用我們在客戶方面所做的大量投資；在我們的服務增強方面；銷售隊伍建設；我們在產品開發領域的工作；並打造我們的自有品牌產品。

All of which will help drive growth and revenues and profitability.

所有這些都將有助於推動增長、收入和盈利能力。

Holden, its Shelley.

霍爾頓，它的雪萊。

There's a lot of initiatives in that five-year plan as it stands right now.

就目前而言，該五年計劃中有很多舉措。

And our history has been that we don't tell you guys about them until they're actually getting initiated.

我們的歷史是，在他們真正開始之前，我們不會告訴你們這些人。

So, the service enhancement was in our strategic planning for awhile and went through a buildout and whatever.

因此，服務增強在我們的戰略規劃中有一段時間，並經歷了擴建等。

And we were able to initiate it over the Labor Day weekend along with improvements in our website that make transaction much easier for our customers.

我們能夠在勞動節週末啟動它，同時改進我們的網站，使我們的客戶更容易交易。

So, we would not normally share those types of things with you because of their competitive nature.

因此，由於它們的競爭性質，我們通常不會與您分享這些類型的東西。

If you take them over a long period of time, say the five-year period, and if you just lump them all together, so not distinguishing.

如果你把它們放在很長一段時間裡，比如說五年，如果你把它們放在一起，那麼就不區分了。

Do you know do you have a sense of what kind of savings you're expecting out of that?

您是否知道您期望從中節省多少？

Or what it could do to growth rates?

或者它對增長率有什麼影響？

And maybe compared to the last five year plan?

也許與過去的五年計劃相比？

Any guidance in terms of what we can expect or how we can expect these things to impact your model going forward?

關於我們可以期待什麼或我們可以期待這些事情如何影響您的模型的任何指導？

Can't really give you any guidance there.

那裡真的不能給你任何指導。

And, frankly, I don't know that I could say that let's use a quarter blip or two that would change that guidance in any way regardless.

而且，坦率地說，我不知道我可以說讓我們使用一個或兩個四分之一的時間點，無論如何都會以任何方式改變該指導。

So, I think right now we've to sea change, something that we're tightly managing to.

所以，我認為現在我們必須進行巨變，我們正在努力做到這一點。

We really feel very comfortable that we've got our hands on the wheel.

我們真的覺得很舒服，我們已經把手放在了方向盤上。

This ship was sailing through smooth seas taking a look at beautiful clouds and islands out there.

這艘船在平靜的海面上航行，看看那里美麗的雲彩和島嶼。

And all of a sudden now, there are glaciers and the water is very rough.

突然之間，有冰川，水很粗糙。

So, to the extent that that calms quickly, frankly I don't know that there is any change to the wonderful islands that are ultimately on that horizon.

因此，就其迅速平靜的程度而言，坦率地說，我不知道最終在那個地平線上的美妙島嶼是否有任何變化。

Okay, and then just taking sort of the full-year look at the balance sheet, the working capital assets, you know, it seems like you did a pretty good job.

好的，然後看看全年的資產負債表，營運資本資產，你知道的，看起來你做得很好。

Inventories, it looks like they were down year-to-year.

庫存，看起來他們逐年下降。

Not a lot of movement on the receivables.

應收賬款變動不大。

Your DSR growth and your total revenue growth was certainly up.

你的 DSR 增長和總收入增長肯定是上升的。

So, it seems like you did a pretty solid job on your working capital assets.

所以，看起來你在營運資本資產方面做得相當不錯。

You know, do you expect to continue to keep a lid on that or do you think that because of the opportunity buys and that sort of thing that maybe the working capital assets have become a bigger use of cash this year?

您知道，您是否希望繼續對此有所限制，或者您是否認為由於機會購買以及諸如營運資本資產今年可能成為現金的更大用途之類的事情？

How should we view that?

我們應該如何看待它？

Holden, this is Chuck.

霍爾頓，這是查克。

You're right.

你是對的。

First of all, let me just say fourth quarter over third quarter, we dropped the inventory by $27 million.

首先，讓我說第四季度比第三季度減少了 2700 萬美元的庫存。

Historically, in a down cycle or slower times, we've actually converted cash into better [rate] because our ability to manage working capital actually increases in a downturn.

從歷史上看，在下行週期或更慢的時期，我們實際上已經將現金轉化為更好的 [利率]，因為我們管理營運資金的能力實際上在經濟低迷時期增加。

But we've had these opportunities before in the downturn as it relates to opportunity buys.

但我們之前在經濟低迷時期就有過這些機會，因為它與機會購買有關。

To the extent they make a lot of economic sense for us, it's pretty easy to determine.

在某種程度上，它們對我們有很大的經濟意義，很容易確定。

We're willing to take a few more dollars in working capital on the inventory side for a big reduction in cost.

我們願意在庫存方面多花幾美元的營運資金，以大幅降低成本。

So, I would have to see every deal before I could tell you whether it's good enough to take advantage of or not.

因此，我必須先查看每筆交易，然後才能告訴您它是否足以利用。

But, I would say in general terms, you've seen in the past in slowdowns, even with opportunistic buys on the inventory side and with just a slight deterioration of the DSO's, we've converted a lot of our income into cash because we managed the working capital even in the downturn.

但是，我要籠統地說，你在過去看到過放緩，即使在庫存方面進行機會性購買並且 DSO 略有惡化，我們已經將大量收入轉化為現金，因為我們即使在經濟低迷時期也能管理營運資金。

So, I don't see any major change from where we're operating today in terms of management of working capital but we will take advantage of those economic opportunity buys that make tremendous sense for us.

因此，在營運資金管理方面，我認為我們今天的運營方式沒有任何重大變化，但我們將利用那些對我們非常有意義的經濟機會購買。

Yes, and Holden, the only thing I'll add to that is that the team -- in fact we met with many of the members last week on one of our review sessions.

是的，還有霍爾頓，我唯一要補充的是團隊——事實上，我們上週在一次審查會議上與許多成員會面。

The team has been through this many times.

團隊已經多次經歷過這種情況。

Both in the credit side, the inventory side, both understanding how to frankly mine the opportunities out there.

無論是在信貸方面，還是在庫存方面，都知道如何坦率地挖掘那裡的機會。

And at the same time doing a great job of managing our working capital.

同時在管理我們的營運資金方面做得很好。

And at the end of the day, it's that great management and execution that produces the solid cash flow generation and conversion that we have historically seen.

歸根結底，正是出色的管理和執行產生了我們歷史上所見的穩定現金流的產生和轉換。

So, while we'll take advantage of the opportunity, we think we'll manage that in conjunction with being able to still provide some great cash flow conversion.

因此，雖然我們將利用這個機會，但我們認為我們將在管理這一點的同時仍然能夠提供一些出色的現金流轉換。

Okay, and given the trends that you see in the inventory.

好的，鑑於您在庫存中看到的趨勢。

I mean, what have you seen in terms of rebate levels?

我的意思是，您在回扣水平方面看到了什麼？

Is gross margin pressured because you didn't clear the same sort of rebate thresholds?

毛利率是否因為您沒有清除相同類型的回扣門檻而受到壓力？

And, in 2009, can we kind of expect that rebates are going to be better or worse as a percentage of sales?

而且，在 2009 年，我們可以預期回扣佔銷售額的百分比會變好還是變壞？

How should we be looking at that variable?

我們應該如何看待這個變量？

You know, I'll give you -- you're pointing to an item that, as you know, there's lots of puts and takes in the gross margin line.

你知道，我會給你 - 你指向一個項目，如你所知，毛利率線有很多看跌期權。

Rebates are adding some downward pressure to margin.

回扣給利潤率增加了一些下行壓力。

Frankly, that's all factored into our guidance and I would rather not characterize or give you guidance into '09.

坦率地說，這一切都納入了我們的指導，我寧願不描述或指導你進入 09 年。

But, definitely that is a component.

但是，這絕對是一個組件。

One of the negative items are what puts pressure to the downward side on gross margin is rebates but that's all been factored into our guidance.

其中一個負面因素是給毛利率帶來下行壓力的是回扣，但這都已納入我們的指導。

Thanks, guys.

多謝你們。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

You're welcome, Holden.

不客氣，霍爾頓。

Your final question comes from the line of Susan McGwirey with Granaham.

您的最後一個問題來自 Susan McGwirey 與 Granaham 的對話。

Hi, I have two questions.

你好，我有兩個問題。

Sure.

當然。

The first is on your anecdotes about your customers.

首先是關於您的客戶的軼事。

And I was wondering if you're hearing from any customers, big or small, about funding constraints and whether their caution or their shock paralysis is based more just on fear and prudent measures or are they actually having difficulty accessing cash?

我想知道您是否從任何大小的客戶那裡聽到資金限制以及他們的謹慎或震驚癱瘓是否更多地基於恐懼和謹慎的措施，還是他們實際上難以獲得現金？

Susan, this is Chuck.

蘇珊，這是查克。

Again, we keep pretty close tabs through our feet on the street, which is our sales team.

同樣，我們在街上密切關注，這就是我們的銷售團隊。

And we're hearing basically things like, "I don't know where this is going so I'm going conserve cash." And one of the first things that would go is that, gee I might normally keep two in safety stock, I'm keeping only one in safety stock and things of that nature.

我們聽到的基本上是這樣的事情，“我不知道這是怎麼回事，所以我要節省現金。”首先要做的事情之一是，天哪，我通常會在安全庫存中保留兩個，我只在安全庫存中保留一個以及這種性質的東西。

Again, this is changing pretty quickly.

同樣，這種情況正在迅速改變。

We don't get, you know, instantaneous feedback, but I am saying the last couple of weeks -- the last five or six weeks, it's been more along the lines of cash conservation is the driver behind the lack of spending on MRO items and everything else they have to buy going forward.

你知道，我們沒有得到即時反饋，但我說的是過去幾週——過去五六週，更多的是節省現金是缺乏 MRO 項目支出的驅動因素以及他們未來必須購買的所有其他東西。

That may soon translate into, "I really can't get the credit I need," but it's been, so far, from what we've heard anecdotally has been, "I've got to sit on cash, because I don't know where this is going, I've got to make my payroll and I've got to do other things."

這可能很快就會轉化為，“我真的無法獲得我需要的信用”，但到目前為止，從我們聽到的傳聞中一直是，“我必須坐在現金上，因為我沒有”不知道這是怎麼回事，我必須支付我的工資，我必須做其他事情。”

Yes.

是的。

Then the other question is about stock repurchase and what your plans are for that in the current environment?

那麼另一個問題是關於股票回購以及在當前環境下您的計劃是什麼？

Susan, Chuck again.

蘇珊，查克。

We don't publicly advertise what we are or aren't going to do on our stock buyback.

我們不會公開宣傳我們在股票回購中將要做什麼或不打算做什麼。

We obviously have a strong operating cash flow.

我們顯然擁有強勁的經營現金流。

We tend to use that historically, opportunistically on stock buybacks.

從歷史上看，我們傾向於在股票回購中機會主義地使用它。

We periodically increase the dividends and we've got a reasonable war chest if we decide to go do something on the acquisition front.

我們會定期增加股息，如果我們決定在採購方面做點什麼，我們就有合理的資金儲備。

So, it's a combination of those events and those things that is where we would keep our cash without specifically talking about a plan that is already in mind to buy stock back.

因此，它是這些事件和那些事情的結合，我們可以保留我們的現金，而無需專門討論已經考慮的回購股票的計劃。

We do have 3 million shares left under our authorization, I'm sure if we needed more, the Board would consider that and typically has approved it.

我們確實有 300 萬股在我們的授權下，我敢肯定，如果我們需要更多，董事會會考慮這一點，並且通常會批准它。

But you haven't changed your thinking, kind of getting a bit more conservative given what is going about stock repurchases?

但是您並沒有改變您的想法，考慮到股票回購的情況，您會變得更加保守嗎？

I think that's fair.

我認為這是公平的。

I think like I mentioned on the customer side, given where the credit markets certainly were and are in the last few weeks, yes, we've -- you know, cash is king and we've kind of taken a more conservative approach until things settle down and the visibility comes about that clears out here, we're going to probably sit on some cash.

我想就像我在客戶方面提到的那樣，考慮到信貸市場在過去幾週內肯定是和現在的情況，是的，我們已經 - 你知道，現金為王，我們採取了一種更保守的方法，直到事情平息下來，能見度出現在這裡，我們可能會坐下來一些現金。

And, Susan, it's David.

還有，蘇珊，是大衛。

I guess the only thing I'll add is that as Chuck has mentioned, we've got a pretty conservative and under leveraged balance sheet.

我想我唯一要補充的是，正如查克所提到的，我們的資產負債表相當保守且槓桿率偏低。

And, frankly at times like this, it's nice to have an under leveraged balance sheet.

而且，坦率地說，在這樣的時候，擁有一個槓桿率不足的資產負債表是件好事。

So, that's not something that, you know, we're going to quickly be looking to change.

所以，這不是什麼，你知道，我們很快就會尋求改變。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Thank you, Susan.

謝謝你，蘇珊。

Okay, we have one final question from the line of Yvonne Varano with Jefferies.

好的，我們有一個來自 Yvonne Varano 和 Jefferies 的最後一個問題。

Thanks.

謝謝。

I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about your sales associates.

我想知道你是否可以談談你的銷售人員。

Because (inaudible) it came up in the quarter, its seems like you're on hold right now.

因為（聽不清）它是在本季度出現的，所以您現在似乎處於擱置狀態。

But as things get materially worse, do you think that that number is going to come down or do you want to maintain good people for the upside.

但隨著情況變得更糟，你認為這個數字會下降還是你想留住優秀的人才。

How should we think about that?

我們應該怎麼想？

Yvonne, no question we will always maintain and keep a great sales force.

Yvonne，毫無疑問，我們將永遠保持一支優秀的銷售隊伍。

But we're, you know, we're really going on to take this thing quarter-by-quarter.

但是我們，你知道，我們真的會一個季度一個季度地處理這個問題。

You can see that we added a new -- a lot of new associates that we were fortunate to have available in this marketplace that actually exceeded where we had initially targeted in Q4.

你可以看到我們添加了一個新的——我們有幸在這個市場上擁有的許多新員工，實際上超出了我們在第四季度最初的目標。

The associate flow and adding to our team actually exceeded -- pleasantly exceeded our expectations.

員工流和添加到我們的團隊實際上超出了 - 令人愉快地超出了我們的預期。

And for Q1, given how we pulled back, we absolutely want to maintain roughly the same number, which is the guidance that we've given.

對於第一季度，考慮到我們如何回撤，我們絕對希望保持大致相同的數字，這是我們給出的指導。

You know, having said that, as great people become available in a market that often times, you know, you work for a small local distributor for a long time.

你知道，話雖如此，當優秀人才經常出現在市場上時，你知道，你為當地的小型分銷商工作了很長時間。

And it's only during very stressful times where that distributor is no longer able to service their customer that one of the great folks that has been there finally says, "you know what it's time for me to move on." We'll certainly take advantage of those opportunities.

只有在經銷商無法再為客戶提供服務的壓力非常大的時候，一位曾經在那裡的偉人最終才會說：“你知道我該繼續前進了。”我們一定會利用這些機會。

Okay.

好的。

And then I would think at this point acquisitions are probably few and far between given the constraints in the credit market.

然後我會認為，鑑於信貸市場的限制，目前收購可能很少而且相差甚遠。

But, maybe talk a little bit about what you're seeing there.

但是，也許談談你在那裡看到的東西。

Are there companies that are in dire positions that are coming up and available and what would you be looking for?

是否有處於危險境地的公司即將出現並可用，您會尋找什麼？

You know, we're not going to specifically say what we're looking for other than to certainly characterize that the type of company that we would want to buy has got to be similar to J&L in terms of opportunity.

你知道，我們不會具體說明我們正在尋找什麼，只是明確描述我們想要收購的公司類型在機會方面必須與 J&L 相似。

Meaning, the thresholds that we would make this acquisition because we think it's going to position us five years out better than just maintaining status quo of our organic strategic plan.

意思是，我們進行此次收購的門檻，因為我們認為這將使我們在五年內定位得更好，而不僅僅是維持我們有機戰略計劃的現狀。

And so, we will continue to look for opportunities that way.

因此，我們將繼續以這種方式尋找機會。

We are seeing that deal flow had actually begun to pick up and we were starting to see some opportunities that may be attractive beginning to fill the pipeline.

我們看到交易流實際上已經開始回升，我們開始看到一些可能有吸引力的機會開始填補管道。

Having said that, some projects we even see be put on hold because of the credit crunch.

話雖如此，我們甚至看到一些項目由於信貸緊縮而被擱置。

And to your point of on -- until there's more liquidity out there we suspect that the deal pipeline is going to be pretty locked on.

就你而言——直到那裡有更多的流動性，我們懷疑交易渠道將被鎖定。

But that -- we expect that at some point that will change and we think that the acquisition valuations might also be attractive.

但是，我們預計這種情況會在某個時候發生變化，我們認為收購估值也可能具有吸引力。

That's certainly one of the opportunities that we're putting in the mix in terms of how we think about using our very strong balance sheet and building on our plan moving forward.

這當然是我們在考慮如何使用我們非常強大的資產負債表和建立我們的計劃向前發展方面投入的機會之一。

Okay, terrific.

好的，棒極了。

Thanks very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you, Yvonne.

謝謝你，伊馮娜。

Thanks, Yvonne.

謝謝，伊馮娜。

There are no further questions at this time.

目前沒有其他問題。

I will turn the call back to management for closing remarks.

我將把電話轉回管理層以結束髮言。

Okay.

好的。

Well, thank you, Kristen and thank you all for listening in today.

好吧，謝謝你，克里斯汀，謝謝大家今天的收聽。

We appreciate your attention and look forward to speaking to you next forward.

我們感謝您的關注，並期待下次與您交談。

Bye-bye now.

現在再見。

This concludes today's conference call, you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束，您現在可以斷開連接。