(MSM) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the MSC Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, today's event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 MSC 2024 年第二季財報業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的活動正在錄製中。

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Ryan Mills, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

現在我想將會議交給投資者關係主管 Ryan Mills。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. Erik Gershwind, our Chief Executive Officer; and Kristen Actis-Grande, our Chief Financial Officer, are both on the call with me today.

謝謝大家，大家早安。歡迎參加我們的 2024 財年第二季財報電話會議。艾瑞克‧格甚溫德 (Erik Gershwind)，我們的執行長；我們的財務長 Kristen Actis-Grande 今天都與我通話。

During today's call, we will refer to various financial data in the earnings presentation and operational statistics that accompany our comments, both of which can be found on our Investor Relations web page.

在今天的電話會議中，我們將參考收益演示中的各種財務數據和評論中附帶的營運統計數據，這兩者都可以在我們的投資者關係網頁上找到。

Let me reference our safe harbor statement, a summary of which is on Slide 2 of the earnings presentation. Our comments on this call as well as the supplemental information we are providing on the website contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these statements.

讓我參考一下我們的安全港聲明，其摘要位於收益簡報的幻燈片 2 中。我們對本次電話會議的評論以及我們在網站上提供的補充資訊包含美國證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些前瞻性陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與這些陳述預期的結果有重大差異。

Information about these risks is noted in our earnings press release and our other SEC filings. In addition, during this call, we may refer to certain adjusted financial results, which are non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the GAAP versus non-GAAP reconciliations in our presentation or on our website, which contain the reconciliation of the adjusted financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures.

有關這些風險的資訊已在我們的收益新聞稿和其他 SEC 文件中註明。此外，在本次電話會議中，我們可能會參考某些調整後的財務業績，這些都是非公認會計原則衡量標準。請參閱我們的簡報或網站上的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整表，其中包含調整後的財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調整表。

I will now turn the call over to Erik.

我現在將把電話轉給埃里克。

Thank you, Ryan, and good morning, everybody. Thank you for joining us today. As we move past the halfway point of fiscal 2024, our performance to date has been mixed. Our high-touch programs such as vending and implant solutions continue capturing share and they're performing ahead of expectations. On the other hand, growth has not yet inflected in our core customer base in the face of a sluggish macro environment, particularly in our heavy end manufacturing markets.

謝謝瑞安，大家早安。感謝您今天加入我們。隨著 2024 財年已過半，我們迄今的業績好壞參半。我們的高接觸性項目（例如自動販賣機和植入解決方案）繼續佔據市場份額，並且其表現超出了預期。另一方面，在宏觀環境低迷的情況下，我們的核心客戶群的成長尚未受到影響，特別是在我們的重型製造市場。

This can be evidenced in the performance of our top 100 national accounts, where only 45 were growing last quarter. As a result, revenue growth to date has been below our expectations. At the same time, I'm pleased with how we've been managing the business in a challenging environment.

這可以從我們前 100 個國民帳戶的表現中得到證明，其中只有 45 個在上個季度實現成長。因此，迄今為止的收入成長低於我們的預期。同時，我對我們在充滿挑戰的環境中管理業務的方式感到滿意。

Gross margin performance, our productivity efforts and cash flow generation have been strong, and they're expected to continue. And while our performance to date has been mixed, my conviction in our plan is as high as ever. We expect to improve the trend in revenues during the back half of our fiscal year and into fiscal 2025.

毛利率表現、我們的生產力努力和現金流產生一直很強勁，並且預計將繼續下去。雖然我們迄今為止的表現好壞參半，但我對我們的計劃的信心一如既往。我們預計本財年後半段和 2025 財年的營收趨勢將會改善。

And this belief is grounded in several factors: First, while macro conditions have not materially improved since the start of the calendar year, we continue to hear a more positive overall sentiment about the coming months from our team on the ground. Second, as I mentioned, our implant and vending signings continue to outpace our expectations. These signings should yield incremental growth through the balance of the fiscal year and beyond. Third, we successfully completed our web pricing realignment initiative as planned in late February, and the benefits are just starting to be felt. Fourth, our website improvements which are running slightly behind schedule are expected to roll out during the back half of the year and should yield further benefit. And fifth, we've increased our marketing efforts to generate awareness and demand by featuring the recent enhancements to our value proposition.

這種信念基於以下幾個因素：首先，雖然自年初以來宏觀狀況並未出現實質改善，但我們繼續從我們的現場團隊那裡聽到對未來幾個月更加積極的總體情緒。其次，正如我所提到的，我們的植入和自動販賣機簽名繼續超出我們的預期。這些簽約應該會在本財年剩餘時間及以後帶來增量成長。第三，我們在 2 月下旬按計劃成功完成了網路定價調整計劃，其好處才剛開始顯現。第四，我們的網站改善工作進度略落後於計劃，預計將在今年下半年推出，並應產生進一步的效益。第五，我們加大了行銷力度，透過最近對我們的價值主張的增強來提高知名度和需求。

My conviction is also derived from our ongoing gross margin execution and as you'll soon hear, a growing pipeline of productivity initiatives that provide runway for operating margin expansion as the business returns to growth.

我的信念也源自於我們持續的毛利率執行，以及您很快就會聽到的，不斷增長的生產力計劃管道，這些計劃為隨著業務恢復增長而擴大營業利潤率提供了跑道。

Before I turn it over to Kristen, I'll walk through our performance in more detail and provide a key initiative update along the way. And I'll begin with our first mission-critical priority, which was maintaining momentum in our high-touch programs, that mainly serve our larger customers.

在將其交給克里斯汀之前，我將更詳細地介紹我們的績效，並在此過程中提供關鍵的計劃更新。我將從我們的第一個關鍵任務優先事項開始，即保持我們的高接觸計劃的勢頭，主要為我們的大客戶服務。

We grew implant programs by 39% and our vending installed base by 11% as compared to prior year. Public Sector sales have also held up nicely with slight year-over-year growth despite temporary budget constraints.

與去年相比，我們的植入項目增加了 39%，自動販賣機安裝基數增加了 11%。儘管暫時受到預算限制，公共部門的銷售也表現良好，較去年同期略有成長。

Moving to our metalworking offering on the next slide. We strengthened our leadership position during the quarter with 2 exciting additions to the portfolio. The first is car industrial, a distributor supplying metal working and related MRO supplies into Eastern Canada. This acquisition brings in a highly technical sales force and strengthens our presence in the region which currently represents 2% of sales. We'll look to drive top line synergies by providing car and e-commerce sales channel and equipping it with MSC's large breadth of product.

轉到下一張投影片上我們的金屬加工產品。我們在本季度透過兩個令人興奮的產品組合補充，鞏固了我們的領導地位。第一個是汽車工業公司，這是一家向加拿大東部供應金屬加工和相關 MRO 用品的經銷商。此次收購帶來了一支技術精湛的銷售隊伍，並加強了我們在該地區的影響力（目前佔銷售額的 2%）。我們將尋求透過提供汽車和電子商務銷售管道並為其配備 MSC 的廣泛產品來推動營收協同效應。

The second deal is exciting from a longer-term perspective, with the just recently announced acquisition of the intellectual property assets from SMRT or S-M-R-T, which consists of technology assets developed by Dr. Tony Schmitz and his wife, Christine. This transaction brings to us one of the nation's foremost manufacturing mines in Tony, and it brings us new capabilities, such as the next generation of predictive milling technology, which underpins MSC MillMax.

從長遠來看，第二筆交易令人興奮，最近剛宣布收購 SMRT 或 S-M-R-T 的智慧財產權資產，其中包括 Tony Schmitz 博士和他的妻子 Christine 開發的技術資產。這項交易為我們帶來了位於托尼的全國最重要的製造礦場之一，並為我們帶來了新的能力，例如支援 MSC MillMax 的下一代預測銑削技術。

I'll now turn to our second growth priority on Slide 7, which is reenergizing our core customer. And clearly, that did not happen in the fiscal second quarter as seen by core customer average daily growth rates. That said, Q2 numbers did not reflect the benefits of the initiatives being put into action.

現在我將談談 Slide 7 的第二個成長重點，為我們的核心客戶注入活力。顯然，從核心客戶日均成長率來看，這種情況在第二財季並沒有發生。也就是說，第二季的數字並未反映正在實施的措施的好處。

The web pricing reset we've been describing was completed for the remaining 70% of SKUs near the end of February, with early indications boding well for future growth rates. We're seeing improvements already in customer Net Promoter Scores and improvements across several leading indicators on our website, such as how often do customers click on an item page, how often do they add to cart, and how often do those cards convert to order. All of these metrics are showing a nice uptick over the prelaunch baseline.

我們所描述的網路定價重置已於 2 月底完成，剩餘 70% 的 SKU 已完成，早期跡象預示著未來的成長率良好。我們看到客戶淨推薦值已經有所改善，並且我們網站上的幾個領先指標也有所改善，例如客戶點擊商品頁面的頻率、他們添加到購物車的頻率以及這些卡片轉換為訂單的頻率。所有這些指標都比發布前的基線有了良好的上升。

Moving to e-commerce, we prioritized several improvements to the platform in the second quarter to enhance the customer experience. So this delayed the full launch of the new search engine, which was planned for late in Q2 and the rollout of subsequent search enhancements which are now all expected to launch in the back half of the year. On the marketing front, as I mentioned earlier, we've launched a program, introducing customers to the exciting changes happening at the company. This initiative is aimed at generating awareness on our new web pricing and what's to come on the website.

轉向電子商務，我們在第二季優先考慮對平台進行多項改進，以增強客戶體驗。因此，這推遲了原計劃在第二季末推出的新搜尋引擎的全面推出，以及隨後的搜尋增強功能的推出，這些增強功能現在預計將在今年下半年推出。在行銷方面，正如我之前提到的，我們啟動了一項計劃，向客戶介紹公司正在發生的令人興奮的變化。該舉措旨在提高人們對我們新的網路定價以及網站上即將推出的內容的認識。

Our final mission critical growth priority is expanding our OEM fastener offering by leveraging the successful cross-selling formula developed through CCSG. And while OEM sales remained down year-over-year due to acute customer softness, we're encouraged by early cross-selling results. For instance, during the quarter, we achieved a sizable win from an existing MSC implant customer, serving the consumer leisure market by significantly improving their ability to manage inventory. I look forward to updating you on continued success as we build on this early momentum.

我們最後的關鍵任務成長優先事項是利用 CCSG 開發的成功交叉銷售模式來擴大我們的 OEM 緊固件產品。儘管由於客戶嚴重疲軟，OEM 銷售額仍同比下降，但早期的交叉銷售結果令我們感到鼓舞。例如，在本季度，我們從現有的 MSC 植入客戶那裡獲得了巨大的勝利，透過顯著提高他們管理庫存的能力來服務消費者休閒市場。我期待著向您通報我們在這早期勢頭的基礎上不斷取得的成功。

I'll now switch gears to profitability and begin with gross margin. We performed well again in Q2 due to a combination of maintaining strong price discipline, realizing benefits from our category line reviews and mix management efforts. Additionally, our refreshed purchasing approach is yielding results in the form of improved inventory efficiency and reduced inbound freight expense as a percentage of sales.

我現在將轉向盈利能力並從毛利率開始。由於保持嚴格的價格紀律、從我們的品類線審查和組合管理工作中實現效益，我們在第二季度再次表現出色。此外，我們更新的採購方法正在提高庫存效率並降低入境運費佔銷售額的百分比。

With respect to operating expenses, we're taking a continuous improvement approach to increase our productivity. This is going to play a crucial role in our path to mid-teens adjusted operating margins under our new set of mission-critical objectives, and I want to highlight for you this morning 4 proof points that demonstrate how momentum inside the company is accelerating on this front.

在營運費用方面，我們正在採取持續改進的方法來提高生產力。這將在我們根據新的關鍵任務目標實現調整後的營業利潤率的過程中發揮至關重要的作用，今天早上我想向您強調4 個證據點，這些證據點表明公司內部的勢頭正在加速增長。這前面。

First, on the next slide, you'll see that after extensive analysis, we made the decision to close our Columbus distribution center. While there are 2 factors that made this decision clear cut, it was nonetheless a difficult one because of our culture that places people as our top priority. The first factor was the explosion in our solutions business and that being vending, VMI and implant. That business went beyond what we could have envisioned when we opened the building just over a decade ago.

首先，在下一張投影片中，您將看到經過廣泛分析後，我們決定關閉哥倫布配送中心。儘管有兩個因素明確了這個決定，但這仍然是一個困難的決定，因為我們的文化將人們視為我們的首要任務。第一個因素是我們解決方案業務的爆炸性成長，即自動販賣、VMI 和植入。這項業務超越了我們十多年前開業時的設想。

Today, customers with solutions represent nearly 60% of our revenues. The implication here is that a greater portion of our business can be staged out and planned. And as a result, the operational needs of our distribution center footprint evolved as our revenue mix shifted. The other enabler of the move was the automation investments that we've made in recent years, primarily into our Elkhart, Indiana and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania facilities.

如今，提供解決方案的客戶占我們收入的近 60%。這裡的含義是，我們的大部分業務可以分階段進行和規劃。因此，隨著我們收入結構的變化，我們配送中心的營運需求也發生了變化。這項措施的另一個推動因素是我們近年來進行的自動化投資，主要是對印第安納州埃爾克哈特和賓州哈里斯堡工廠的投資。

As you can see on Slide 8, these investments not only allowed us to scale while easing the hiring burden, but they enhance efficiency and expand throughput capacity in both facilities. The closure of the Columbus facility will begin producing annualized operating savings of an expected $5 million to $7 million in fiscal '25 with upfront expenses during the back half of fiscal '24 in order to execute the plan while maintaining our highest customer service levels.

正如您在投影片 8 中看到的，這些投資不僅使我們能夠擴大規模，同時減輕招募負擔，而且還提高了效率並擴大了兩個設施的吞吐量。哥倫布工廠的關閉將在 25 財年開始產生預計每年 500 萬至 700 萬美元的營運節省，並在 24 財年後半段產生前期費用，以便在執行該計劃的同時保持我們最高的客戶服務水平。

Second, on the productivity front, we've recently launched an end-to-end supply chain network study, which is analyzing the entire flow of goods through our network. We're in the process of sizing the total profit improvement target from this, and we'll return with more details on it by fiscal year-end. Third, we've opened a new shared services center in Carretero, Mexico to reduce labor costs while maintaining talent across many of our key functions. Our early hires are in place, and we're pleased with the initial progress. And fourth, during our fiscal second quarter, we offered a voluntary separation package to associates across the company.

其次，在生產力方面，我們最近啟動了一項端到端供應鏈網路研究，該研究正在分析透過我們網路的整個貨物流。我們正在確定總利潤改善目標的大小，我們將在財政年度結束前提供更多細節。第三，我們在墨西哥卡雷特羅開設了一個新的共享服務中心，以降低勞動成本，同時保留許多關鍵職能部門的人才。我們的早期招聘已經就位，我們對初步進展感到滿意。第四，在第二財季，我們向全公司員工提供了自願離職方案。

The operating stats posted on the Investor Relations section of our website show a slight tick down in associate headcount from Q1. This is due primarily to departures from the voluntary separation, which were offset by headcount additions from the acquisition of KAR, a shared service center in Mexico, and continued support of implant growth.

我們網站投資者關係部分發布的營運統計數據顯示，員工人數較第一季略有下降。這主要是由於自願離職的偏離，但被收購墨西哥共享服務中心 KAR 所增加的人員數量以及對植體成長的持續支持所抵消。

Moving from our P&L. I'll now turn to our balance sheet and cash flow, which remains strong. I've been particularly pleased with our inventory reductions of $25 million during the quarter, which most importantly, was accomplished while maintaining our high customer service levels. Our balance sheet remains at low levels of leverage, providing us with plenty of flexibility to pursue the investments that I've just outlined.

從我們的損益表轉向。現在我將談談我們的資產負債表和現金流，它們仍然強勁。我對本季庫存減少 2500 萬美元感到特別滿意，最重要的是，這是在保持高客戶服務水準的同時實現的。我們的資產負債表仍然處於較低的槓桿水平，為我們提供了足夠的靈活性來進行我剛才概述的投資。

I'll now turn things over to Kristen to discuss our results and our updated guidance in more detail.

我現在將把事情交給克里斯汀，更詳細地討論我們的結果和更新的指導。

Thank you, Erik, , and good morning, everyone. Please turn to Slide 9, where you can see key metrics for the fiscal second quarter on both a reported and adjusted basis. Fiscal second quarter sales of $935 million declined 2.7% year-over-year with the same number of business days in both periods. Despite the sequential improvement in our sales within the quarter off a particularly soft December, volumes remained negative year-over-year through the quarter. This was partially offset by ongoing solutions momentum and more modest benefits from price and acquisitions.

謝謝你，艾瑞克，大家早安。請參閱投影片 9，您可以在其中查看第二財季報告和調整後的關鍵指標。第二財季銷售額為 9.35 億美元，年減 2.7%，兩期間的工作天數相同。儘管在 12 月特別疲軟的情況下，本季我們的銷售額環比有所改善，但整個季度的銷量同比仍為負值。這部分被持續的解決方案勢頭以及價格和收購帶來的適度收益所抵消。

By customer type, national accounts performed the best, with average daily sales up 1.1%, 45 of our top 100 national account customers grew in 2Q. When considering the macro challenges and significantly tougher comps in the first half of the year, I am encouraged by the resiliency despite here.

從客戶類型來看，國民帳戶表現最好，日均銷售額成長1.1%，國民帳戶前100名客戶中，第二季有45家成長。當考慮到上半年的宏觀挑戰和明顯更加嚴峻的競爭時，我對這裡的彈性感到鼓舞。

The public sector had slight year-over-year growth of 0.6%, driven by mid-single-digit growth from our federal customers. We experienced softness in the state and local portions of the public sector due to temporary budget constraints. Core and other customers, average daily sales were challenged during the quarter, declining 5.7%. From an end-market perspective, we experienced acute demand softness in heavy manufacturing verticals, including end markets and tiered suppliers that support the earlier stages of production and automotive.

在聯邦客戶中個位數成長的推動下，公部門年比小幅成長 0.6%。由於暫時的預算限制，我們經歷了州和地方公共部門的疲軟。核心客戶和其他客戶的日均銷售額在本季受到挑戰，下降了 5.7%。從終端市場的角度來看，我們在重型製造垂直領域經歷了嚴重的需求疲軟，包括終端市場和支援生產和汽車早期階段的分層供應商。

From a solution standpoint, we continue to take share during the quarter despite a challenging market. In vending, Q2 average daily sales improved 6% year-over-year, and represented 17% of total company net sales. Sales through our implant program grew approximately 10% year-over-year and represented approximately 16% of total company net sales despite only 46 of our top 100 implants showing growth in 2Q.

從解決方案的角度來看，儘管市場充滿挑戰，但我們在本季繼續佔據份額。在自動販賣機領域，第二季每日均銷售額年增 6%，占公司總淨銷售額的 17%。儘管我們的前 100 種植入物中只有 46 種在第二季度出現增長，但透過我們的植入物計劃實現的銷售額同比增長了約 10%，約占公司總淨銷售額的 16%。

Signing rates across both solutions remained at healthy levels during the quarter, especially in implants where fiscal year-to-date signings are exceeding our internal targets.

本季度，兩種解決方案的簽約率均保持在健康水平，尤其是在本財年迄今為止的簽約量超過我們內部目標的植入方面。

Moving to profitability for the quarter. Our gross margin of 41.5% improved 20 basis points year-over-year. The improvement in gross margin was largely driven by continued benefits from our countermeasure efforts, including category line reviews. These efforts were partially offset by price cost headwinds and acquisitions. Both reported and adjusted operating expenses for the quarter were approximately $291 million.

本季轉向獲利。我們的毛利率為 41.5%，年增 20 個基點。毛利率的改善很大程度上得益於我們的對策措施（包括品類審查）的持續收益。這些努力被價格成本逆風和收購部分抵銷。該季度報告和調整後的營運費用約為 2.91 億美元。

We recorded roughly $6 million in restructuring expense primarily related to the voluntary separation that Erik mentioned. On an adjusted basis, operating expenses were up $11 million compared to 2Q of last year. Combined with lower sales year-over-year, this resulted in a 200 basis point increase in adjusted operating expense as a percentage of sales.

我們記錄了大約 600 萬美元的重組費用，主要與艾瑞克提到的自願離職有關。調整後的營運費用比去年第二季增加了 1,100 萬美元。再加上銷售額年減，導致調整後營運費用佔銷售額的百分比增加了 200 個基點。

The year-over-year step-up in operating expenses was largely driven by merit of $6 million and approximately $10 million of costs associated with our strategic investments. Roughly 1/3 of this expense is associated with headcount to support our solutions growth and digital initiatives.

營運費用的同比增長主要是由 600 萬美元的效益和與我們的策略投資相關的約 1000 萬美元的成本推動的。大約 1/3 的費用與支持我們的解決方案成長和數位化計劃的員工人數有關。

Sequentially, adjusted operating expenses increased by a couple of million dollars as expected due to a full quarter of merit. Reported operating margin for the quarter was 9.7% compared to 11.9% in the prior year. On an adjusted basis, operating margin was 10.5%, a decline of 170 basis points compared to the prior year.

隨後，由於整個季度的業績，調整後的營運費用如預期增加了數百萬美元。本季報告的營業利潤率為 9.7%，而去年同期為 11.9%。調整後的營業利益率為10.5%，較上年下降170個基點。

The previously mentioned step-up in operating expenses combined with lower sales were the largest contributing factors to the year-over-year decline. GAAP earnings per share was $1.10 compared to $1.41 in the prior year period. On an adjusted basis, EPS was $1.18 versus $1.45 in the prior year.

前面提到的營運費用增加加上銷售額下降是導致年比下降的最大因素。 GAAP 每股收益為 1.10 美元，去年同期為 1.41 美元。調整後每股收益為 1.18 美元，前一年為 1.45 美元。

Turning to Slide 10 to review our balance sheet and cash flow performance. We continue to maintain a healthy balance sheet with net debt of approximately $530 million representing roughly 1x EBITDA.

請參閱投影片 10 回顧我們的資產負債表和現金流量表現。我們繼續保持健康的資產負債表，淨債務約 5.3 億美元，約 EBITDA 的 1 倍。

We made progress on our working capital during the quarter, including roughly $25 million in inventory reductions. This resulted in second quarter operating cash flow conversion of 128%, and 122% fiscal year-to-date, keeping us on track to achieve our target of greater than 125% for the full year.

本季我們的營運資金取得了進展，其中包括約 2500 萬美元的庫存削減。這導致第二季營運現金流轉換率為 128%，本財年迄今為 122%，使我們有望實現全年超過 125% 的目標。

Capital expenditures during the quarter of $25 million increased approximately $10 million year-over-year, primarily driven by investments tied to digital and ongoing solutions growth. Together, this drove strong free cash flow generation of approximately $53 million in fiscal 2Q and $116 million fiscal year-to-date.

本季的資本支出為 2,500 萬美元，年增約 1,000 萬美元，這主要是由與數位和持續解決方案成長相關的投資所推動的。總之，這推動了第二財季約 5,300 萬美元的強勁自由現金流和本財年迄今約 1.16 億美元的自由現金流。

Our balance sheet and cash generation remains strong and continues to fuel our capital allocation priorities shown on Slide 11. We deployed cash in several of these buckets during the quarter, including the strategic acquisition of KAR Industrial and the intellectual property assets from SMART that Erik alluded to earlier. We also repurchased $16 million of shares in the second quarter.

我們的資產負債表和現金產生能力仍然強勁，並繼續推動我們的資本配置優先事項（如幻燈片11 所示）。本季我們在其中幾個類別中部署了現金，包括策略性收購KAR Industrial 以及Erik提到的SMART 的智慧財產權資產到更早。我們也在第二季回購了 1,600 萬美元的股票。

Moving to our full year outlook on Slide 12. Given our performance halfway through the fiscal year, it is likely we will be at the bottom end of the range in both average daily sales and adjusted operating margin. There is some downside risk if the expectations for the remainder of the year, which I am about to outline, provide benefits later than anticipated.

前往投影片 12 上的全年展望。鑑於我們本財年已過半的業績，我們的日均銷售額和調整後營業利潤率很可能將處於該範圍的底部。如果我即將概述的今年剩餘時間的預期提供晚於預期的收益，則存在一些下行風險。

Starting with revenue. To achieve the lower end of our outlook, it would imply ADS improves meaningfully throughout the remainder of the year. This confidence is based on the following assumptions: Starting with what's not in our control is macro conditions, which we expect will begin to improve off of fiscal 2Q levels, particularly in heavy manufacturing verticals.

從收入開始。為了實現我們預期的下限，這意味著ADS在今年剩餘時間內將顯著改善。這種信心基於以下假設：首先是我們無法控制的宏觀狀況，我們預期宏觀狀況將開始改善，特別是在重型製造業垂直領域。

Additionally, we expect budget constraints in the public sector to ease as we progress through the fiscal year. Within our control, there are several factors driving expectations of improvement. First is the rate of signings for our solutions, especially in implants where momentum is particularly strong. This should drive growth in the second half as our recent wins ramp in revenue.

此外，我們預計隨著本財政年度的進展，公共部門的預算限制將會緩解。在我們的控制範圍內，有幾個因素推動了改進的預期。首先是我們解決方案的簽約率，特別是在勢頭特別強烈的植入領域。隨著我們最近的勝利增加了收入，這應該會推動下半年的成長。

Second, our benefits from our strategic investments as they begin rolling out in the second half. As Erik previously mentioned, our new web price strategy went into full effect at the end of February and is yielding favorable early results.

其次，我們從下半年開始推出的策略投資中受益。正如 Erik 之前提到的，我們的新網路價格策略已於 2 月底全面生效，並正在產生良好的早期結果。

Additionally, our enhanced product discovery platform will be fully launched in the second half. The effectiveness of both will be supported by our marketing campaign that kicked off this month.

此外，我們的增強型產品發現平台將於下半年全面推出。我們本月開始的行銷活動將支持兩者的有效性。

On the profitability side, our gross margin performance during the first half was better than expected and above our annual assumption. We expect second half gross margin to continue at or be slightly above 2Q levels. As it relates to operating expenses, we see benefits from our fixed costs and productivity being leveraged on higher volumes, driving improved profitability in the second half.

在獲利能力方面，我們上半年的毛利率表現優於預期，高於我們的年度假設。我們預計下半年毛利率將繼續保持或略高於第二季的水平。由於與營運費用相關，我們看到固定成本和生產力在提高產量上所帶來的好處，從而推動下半年獲利能力的提高。

Before I move on to expectations on other line items, the effectiveness of some of these second half drivers will increase throughout the remainder of the year. As a result, it will likely be the case that our second half doesn't follow historical patterns and will instead be more weighted on the fourth quarter. As it relates to the relationship between sales growth and profitability, the way that we're thinking about fiscal '24 is that every point of revenue growth is worth approximately 20 basis points of adjusted operating margin.

在我繼續對其他項目的預期之前，下半年一些驅動因素的有效性將在今年剩餘時間內提高。因此，我們的下半年可能不會遵循歷史模式，而是會更重視第四季。由於它涉及銷售成長和獲利能力之間的關係，我們對 24 財年的看法是，每個營收成長點都相當於調整後營業利潤率的約 20 個基點。

Regarding other assumptions in our updated outlook, I will highlight 2 minor adjustments. G&A expense will likely come in at the lower end of prior guidance of approximately $85 million. And lastly, our tax rate is now expected to be 24% to 24.5%.

關於我們更新的展望中的其他假設，我將強調兩個小調整。一般管理費用可能會低於先前指導的下限，約為 8500 萬美元。最後，我們的稅率目前預計為 24% 至 24.5%。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Erik for closing remarks.

現在，我將把電話轉給埃里克進行總結發言。

Thank you, Kristen. Our performance thus far in fiscal 2024 is mixed, both not yet meeting our expectations. Despite this, I remain confident. I see evidence of solid execution across our mission-critical initiatives, providing optimism for the back half of fiscal 2024. And longer term, we remain squarely focused on our objectives of 400 basis points or more of outgrowth above IP and operating margins in the mid-teens.

謝謝你，克里斯汀。迄今為止，我們 2024 財年的業績好壞參半，都未達到我們的預期。儘管如此，我仍然充滿信心。我看到我們的關鍵任務計劃得到了紮實執行，這為2024 財年下半年帶來了樂觀情緒。從長遠來看，我們仍然專注於中期增長高於IP 和營業利潤率400 個基點或更多的目標-青少年。

I want to thank our entire team for their dedication in supporting our customers and our mission. And we'll now open up the line for questions.

我要感謝我們整個團隊為支持我們的客戶和我們的使命所做的奉獻。現在我們將開放提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question comes from David Manthey with Baird.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 David Manthey 和 Baird。

Erik, Kristen, first question is on your outlook. What is the IP growth that you're assuming as you say, the acceleration into the back half? What's the underlying assumption for second half IP growth?

艾瑞克、克莉絲汀，第一個問題是關於你們的看法。正如您所說，您假設的智慧財產權成長是多少，即後半段的加速成長？下半年知識產權成長的基本假設是什麼？

Yes, Dave. So for the second half, I'll give you kind of overall, we're not expecting a significant inflection of where we've seen IP, some steady improvement, but the more meaningful thing to note is expected IP improvement particularly in machinery and equipment and fabricated metals.

是的，戴夫。因此，對於下半年，我將向您提供總體情況，我們預計知識產權不會出現重大變化，並且會出現一些穩定的改進，但更有意義的事情是值得注意的是預期知識產權的改進，特別是在機械和設備和金屬製品。

In 2Q, machinery and equipment was down about 5%, the subindex of IP and fabricated metals was down a little bit over 1 point. So when we look at sort of our exposure to given end markets, our top 5 end markets, which are roughly 50% of our revenue, 4 of those 5 were declining. Their IP index declined in our fiscal second quarter. And then if you think about how the IP index is weighted, while that's 50% of our revenue, it only makes up about 10% to 20% of the IP index.

第二季度，機械和設備下跌約5%，智慧財產權和金屬製品分類指數下跌略高於1點。因此，當我們查看我們對特定終端市場的曝險時，我們的前 5 個終端市場（約占我們收入的 50%），這 5 個終端市場中有 4 個正在下降。他們的智慧財產權指數在我們第二財季有所下降。然後，如果你考慮 IP 指數的加權方式，雖然它占我們收入的 50%，但它只佔 IP 指數的 10% 到 20% 左右。

So when we think about composition of improvement in macro, we are looking particularly within those top 5. And I guess just to add the one that is growing of our top 5 unsurprisingly is (inaudible).

因此，當我們考慮宏觀改進的組成時，我們特別關注前 5 名。我想只需添加前 5 名中不斷增長的一項，這並不令人意外（聽不清楚）。

Dave, I'll add -- Kristen summarized it beautifully. Just one other point to add, which is beyond the IP assumption. I'd say another factor going on is inventory burn and that we do expect that to be easing through the back half of the year. We've seen evidence of that, particularly in our national accounts area. And when we win accounts, for instance, a little bit of a slower ramp on implants that we expect to accelerate in the back half as inventory burning eases.

戴夫，我要補充一下——克里斯汀總結得很漂亮。還需要補充一點，這超出了 IP 假設。我想說的另一個因素是庫存消耗，我們確實預計這種情況將在今年下半年有所緩解。我們已經看到了這方面的證據，特別是在我們的國民帳戶領域。例如，當我們贏得客戶時，植入速度會稍微慢一些，我們預期隨著庫存燃燒的緩解，植入速度會在下半年加速。

Okay. Can you also help us bridge OpEx from where you sit today in the second quarter into the second half? You mentioned benefits from leverage, but there's a lot of moving parts here. You talked about the Columbus DC, voluntary separation, acquisitions, merit, other investments. I mean from the level we're at right now, can you sort of bridge us into the back half with the puts and takes.

好的。您能否幫助我們將營運支出從今天第二季的情況過渡到下半年？您提到了槓桿的好處，但這裡有很多活動部件。您談到了哥倫布特區、自願離職、收購、績效和其他投資。我的意思是，從我們現在所處的水平來看，你能否透過推桿和推桿將我們帶入後半場。

Yes, sure. So obviously, you're going to put in a variable OpEx assumption depending on how you're flowing revenue through the year, roughly, let's call it, 8% to 10%, and then if you're -- I'm not going to give quarterly OpEx guidance, but I will give a little guidance on how we're thinking about the cadence throughout the year because there are some differences there, too.

是的，當然。很明顯，你將根據一年中的收入流動方式，加入一個可變的營運支出假設，粗略地說，我們稱之為 8% 到 10%，然後如果你——我不是我將提供季度營運支出指導，但我將就我們如何考慮全年的節奏提供一些指導，因為那裡也存在一些差異。

As you mentioned, there are a lot of things that are happening in OpEx. So as we think about moving into the third quarter, we are going to be a little bit more weighted on investments in 3Q. Some of that is due to timing of expenses associated with the Columbus shutdown, which are not technically qualified restructuring expenses, and then there's also a heavier investment lift in 3Q tied to some of the efforts around advertising and the solutions growth.

正如您所提到的，營運支出中發生了很多事情。因此，當我們考慮進入第三季時，我們將更加重視第三季的投資。其中部分原因是與哥倫布停工相關的費用時間安排，這些費用在技術上不屬於合格的重組費用，此外，第三季度的投資也出現了較大的增長，這與圍繞廣告和解決方案增長的一些努力有關。

Q4, if you move from Q3 to Q4, what I would tell you to think about is you'll have obviously a step-up in variable expense, will offset a good chunk of that sequentially based on investments that don't repeat in the fourth quarter, and we have a bigger productivity target in 4Q. So if I step back broadly and think about expectations on OpEx on a year-over-year basis for the full year, to your point, there are a lot of moving pieces. The way that I would try to simplify the explanation, the 2 tallest candle sticks are merit, which is about half of the increase and strategic investments, which is the other half.

第四季度，如果你從第三季度轉向第四季度，我會告訴你要考慮的是，你的可變費用顯然會增加，將根據在第二季度中不重複的投資來抵消其中的很大一部分。第四季度，我們在第四季有更大的生產力目標。因此，如果我廣泛退後一步，考慮全年對營運支出的預期，那麼按照您的觀點，有很多變化。我試圖簡化解釋，兩個最高的燭台是優點，大約是增量和戰略投資的一半，另一半是增量和戰略投資。

To your point, a lot of moving pieces on D&A, on acquisitions. We're covering those with productivity, so to simplify the story, the things that emerge are merit and strategic investments that make up the year-over-year lift.

就你的觀點而言，有很多關於 D&A 和收購的感人故事。我們涵蓋了那些具有生產力的因素，因此為了簡化故事，出現的東西是構成同比增長的優點和戰略投資。

And our next question today comes from Tommy Moll with Stephens Inc.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 Stephens Inc. 的湯米·莫爾 (Tommy Moll)。

I wanted to drill down a bit on the revenue progression or more precisely the average daily sales progression you expect for the second half versus the first half. And as you mentioned, it does imply a pretty significant step-up on our math, it's approaching 10%, second half versus first half. So if there's anything you can quantify for us for that bridge or even just again, run through qualitatively the drivers there? And in particular, on the macro part of that bridge, what more can you tell us that gives you reason to be optimistic that you're going to see some improvement there, particularly given the March trend?

我想深入了解下半年與上半年的收入進展，或更準確地說是您預期的平均每日銷售進展。正如您所提到的，這確實意味著我們的數學已經有了相當大的進步，下半年與上半年相比接近 10%。那麼，您是否可以為我們量化這座橋的任何內容，甚至再次定性地了解那裡的驅動程式？特別是，在這座橋樑的宏觀部分，您還能告訴我們什麼，讓您有理由樂觀地認為，您將看到那裡的一些改善，特別是考慮到三月份的趨勢？

Yes, Tommy. So let me start and then Kristen will give you a more detailed breakout and a bridge because your numbers are exactly right. Our confidence, obviously, Q2 came in softer than we expected, primarily weighed down by macro. But clearly, you could see it in the core customer number. I mean the numbers came down across the board, which taught us was mostly macro. But obviously, we're not satisfied with what we're seeing in the core customer.

是的，湯米。所以讓我開始，然後克里斯汀會給你一個更詳細的突破和一座橋樑，因為你的數字是完全正確的。顯然，我們的信心第二季的表現比我們預期的要弱，主要是受到宏觀經濟的影響。但顯然，你可以從核心客戶數量中看到這一點。我的意思是，這些數字全面下降，這告訴我們主要是宏觀的。但顯然，我們對核心客戶的情況並不滿意。

I think the confidence is coming from, certainly, we'll touch on, and Kristen mentioned the assumptions behind some moderate improvements in the macro, but also the execution of the growth initiatives that we have that are tracking to plan. So we do have confidence that they're going to work. Obviously, there's a timing element on how quickly things come online. But Chris will take you through the math.

我認為信心當然來自於我們將談到的克里斯汀提到了宏觀經濟適度改善背後的假設，以及我們正在追蹤計劃的成長舉措的執行情況。所以我們確實有信心它們會發揮作用。顯然，上線速度存在時間因素。但克里斯會帶你完成數學計算。

The one other thing I'll say, Tommy, just a little color on March because obviously, the March number thus far is not a great data point. But a couple of things. One is, obviously, there's still just a reminder that we have through next week. So we're giving you an estimate with still a pretty good ways to go in the month.

湯米，我要說的另一件事是對三月份的情況進行一點說明，因為顯然，到目前為止，三月的數字並不是一個很好的數據點。但有幾件事。一是，顯然，仍然只是提醒我們下週要經歷的事情。所以我們給你一個估計，這個月還有很長的路要走。

The color that I give on March is a couple of things. One is it started out slower than it's been in the last part of the month. Obviously, again, we still have another week, but it started out slower and did pick up some momentum would be one.

我在三月給的顏色有幾件事。一是它的開始速度比本月下旬慢。顯然，我們還有一周的時間，但一開始進展較慢，並且確實取得了一些勢頭。

Two was interestingly, what we saw in March was actually a bit of an improvement in our core customer base performance. And where we saw the step-down was national accounts and public sector, I would say those are the 2 areas where our confidence is greatest, given performance and given our ability to sort of clearly size market share and what's going on. So we don't -- we're not concerned about either of those areas, but they did come down in March, whereas the core got a little bit better. So that is a little -- yes, obviously, it's early but a little sign of life there. I think I'm going to turn it over to Kristen who can do the math for you on the walk.

第二個有趣的是，我們在三月看到的其實是我們的核心客戶群績效的一點改善。我們看到國民帳戶和公共部門的下降，我想說，考慮到業績以及我們明確確定市場份額大小和正在發生的事情的能力，這是我們信心最大的兩個領域。所以我們不關心這兩個領域，但它們確實在三月下降了，而核心部分則好一點了。所以這有點——是的，顯然，現在還很早，但那裡有一點生命跡象。我想我要把它交給克里斯汀，她可以在步行時為你算算。

Sure. Yes. Thanks, Erik. So Tommy, the way that I would think about the 10%, to your point on the second half, I'll walk you through some of the big buckets and then elaborate a little bit on the growth side. So seasonality, we typically do have a stronger second half. I think last time we talked, we sized that at about 4 to 6 points of inflection. Based on what we're seeing in March, we certainly think that's going to be on the lower end. So apply about a 4-point assumption there.

當然。是的。謝謝，埃里克。湯米，按照我對 10% 的看法，就你下半年的觀點而言，我將引導你了解一些重要的方面，然後詳細闡述增長方面的情況。因此，從季節性來看，我們的下半年通常會表現強勁。我想上次我們討論時，我們將其調整為大約 4 到 6 個拐點。根據我們在三月看到的情況，我們當然認為這將處於較低水平。因此，在那裡應用大約 4 點假設。

On the macro side, what we're thinking about there, we touched a little bit on this with Dave's earlier question on the IP indices. But what we're looking at there is a 1- to 2-point improvement. On pricing, we do get a small benefit on price in the second half. Again, that's tied to the increase that we took in early 2Q. That's about a point, so the balance becomes the growth initiative, which would be 3 points, and I'm going to put those in kind of 3 buckets for you. The first is around solutions, which is about half of that 3 points. So if you look at our signings that we've had in FY '23 and FY '24, and we look at the maturity that is yet to come on those accounts, that would have contributed roughly $20 million more in Q2 if they were fully ramped up.

在宏觀方面，我們正在思考什麼，我們在戴夫之前關於知識產權指數的問題中對此進行了一些探討。但我們看到的是 1 到 2 點的改進。在定價方面，下半年我們確實在價格上獲得了一些小好處。同樣，這與我們在第二季初的成長有關。這大約是一個點，所以平衡就變成了成長主動性，也就是 3 個點，我會把它們分成 3 個桶子。第一個是解決方案，大約是這 3 點的一半。因此，如果你看看我們在 23 財年和 24 財年的簽約，以及這些帳戶尚未到期的情況，如果它們完全投入使用，那麼第二季度將貢獻大約 2000 萬美元。加速了。

So when we think of kind of progression around solutions, we're looking at benefits still to come on more recent signings as well as things that were signed in the first half of '24 and not yet implemented and those that we expect to sign in the second half of '24 that would have some in-year benefit still.

因此，當我們考慮解決方案的進展時，我們會考慮最近簽署的協議以及 24 年上半年簽署但尚未實施的協議以及我們希望簽署的協議帶來的好處24 年下半年仍將帶來一些年內效益。

The next 1/3 of that, I put on the demand generation efforts that Erik spoke about in the prepared remarks. And that's highlighting all the things that we're doing around web pricing, around the enhancements of the website. And then the balance of that is based on things that we have line of sight to within public sector, both kind of things that we do have that we're able to track in the pipeline and then expectations around some improvements on those state and local budgets.

接下來的 1/3，我投入了 Erik 在準備好的發言中談到的需求生成工作。這突顯了我們圍繞網路定價、網站增強所做的所有事情。然後，這種平衡是基於我們在公共部門內所關注的事情，這兩種事情都是我們能夠在管道中追蹤的事情，然後是對這些州和地方的一些改進的期望預算。

But what I want to be clear on, too, is it's not like we're sitting here waiting for the macro to improve or like relying on seasonality. Internally, when we target growth for our team, we don't say, go get 4 points of seasonality, everything that we're doing internally is based on a set of initiatives. So the ones I've given you are the ones that we have the highest degree of confidence on, but there are a lot of other great things happening inside the company that have inflection targets like OEM fasteners, for example, are touched on progress there. I just don't want to leave you with the idea that we're sitting here waiting on the economy to improve and not doing anything else from a countermeasure perspective on growth.

但我還想澄清的是，我們並不是坐在這裡等待宏觀經濟改善，也不是依賴季節性。在內部，當我們為團隊設定成長目標時，我們不會說，去獲得 4 個季節性點，我們內部所做的一切都是基於一系列舉措。所以我給你們的那些是我們最有信心的，但是公司內部還發生了很多其他偉大的事情，這些事情都有像 OEM 緊固件這樣的拐點目標，這些都涉及到那裡的進展。我只是不想讓你們認為我們坐在這裡等待經濟改善，而不從成長對策的角度採取任何其他行動。

Thank you for the comprehensive answer there. As a follow-up, I wanted to ask about the web pricing realignment, which it seems like you're discussing as a largely successful initiative completed in February. The KPIs you offered all sound pretty positive. But my question is just to drill a little bit deeper because there's often more than meets the eye in these kinds of initiatives and execution is not easy. So has there been anything that surprise you, is there some risk that the trends we're seeing for the core customer are reflecting some of the challenges with this initiative? Or is that not the case in your mind?

感謝您的全面回答。作為後續行動，我想詢問有關網路定價調整的問題，您似乎正在討論這是一項在二月完成的基本成功的舉措。您提供的 KPI 聽起來都很積極。但我的問題只是要更深入一些，因為這類措施往往比表面上看到的還要多，而且執行起來並不容易。那麼，有什麼事情讓您感到驚訝嗎？我們看到的核心客戶趨勢是否反映出該計畫面臨的一些挑戰？或者你心目中的情況並非如此？

So Tommy, let me take those in reverse order. So the challenges in the core customer, I absolutely would not link to this, if anything, because we realize that the bulk of the SKUs and the awareness campaign hit at the very end of Q2. If anything, early signs given that March got to tick better so far with core customers, we see it as a net positive.

湯米，讓我以相反的順序來談談這些。因此，如果有的話，我絕對不會將核心客戶的挑戰與此聯繫起來，因為我們意識到大部分 SKU 和意識活動是在第二季末發生的。如果有什麼不同的話，那就是考慮到 3 月迄今為止核心客戶的表現有所改善，我們認為這是一個淨積極的早期跡象。

Look, you're right to drill in here. It's easy for us sitting on a call to let this roll off the tongue, and it sounds like it's the click of a switch. It is a heavy effort inside the company. It was led by Martina and her team, I mean there are twice-a-day stand-ups on this. This has gotten a heck of a lot of attention. I think what we're saying is, I hesitate to declare anything of success because it is such early days.

瞧，你鑽進這裡是對的。對我們來說，在打電話時很容易就可以說出這樣的話，聽起來就像按下開關一樣。這是公司內部付出的巨大努力。它是由瑪蒂娜和她的團隊領導的，我的意思是每天有兩次關於這個問題的站立會議。這已經引起了很多關注。我想我們想說的是，我猶豫是否要宣布任何成功，因為現在還為時過早。

We are clearly encouraged by what we're seeing. And I think the execution has been really good. Have there been any surprises? Sure, there's always going to be surprised. I would say nothing though that rises to the level of kind of a big picture surprise. But in this kind of effort, the devil is in the details. And what I mean by details is down to -- we're managing this project at a SKU, at a customer level to make constantly there'll be fine-tuning that gets done through the balance of the fiscal year.

我們所看到的顯然令我們受到鼓舞。我認為執行得非常好。有沒有什麼驚喜？當然，總會有驚喜。我什麼也不想說，儘管這已經達到了令人驚訝的程度。但在這種努力中，問題在於細節。我所說的細節的意思是——我們在一個SKU、一個客戶層面上管理這個項目，以便在財政年度的餘額中不斷進行微調。

So again, this is not a light switch that goes on and it's done. This is an ongoing effort of refinement. But what you're hearing from us is early encouragement when we look across -- we have a scorecard that goes into a lot of detail, but gives us a very clear dashboard of how we're doing in terms of growth prospects, profitability measures, leading indicators like I talked about in terms of early customer behavior and voice of customer and what they're telling us, what you're hearing is encouragement that early signs are good, but by no means saying it's not.

再說一次，這不是一個電燈開關打開就完成了。這是一項持續不斷的改善工作。但是，當我們展望未來時，您從我們這裡聽到的是早期的鼓勵——我們有一個記分卡，其中包含很多細節，但為我們提供了一個非常清晰的儀表板，顯示我們在增長前景、獲利能力方面的表現，像我在早期客戶行為和客戶聲音方面談到的領先指標以及他們告訴我們的內容，您聽到的是早期跡象良好的鼓勵，但絕不是說它不是。

And our next question today comes from Stephen Volkmann from Jefferies.

今天我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Stephen Volkmann。

Kristen, you gave a pretty long laundry list of sort of what the inflection might be in the second half. But I was curious because you didn't mention the destock that Erik kind of called out. So is that part of the -- is that a fifth thing? Or is that part of the 4 things?

克里斯汀，你列出了一份很長的清單，列出了下半場可能出現的變化。但我很好奇，因為你沒有提到艾瑞克呼籲的去庫存。那麼這是第五件事的一部分嗎？還是這是四件事的一部分？

No, I'd say we're putting that in with macro, Steve.

不，我想說我們要把它放在宏觀上，史蒂夫。

Okay. So macro up 1 to 2 points, even with the end of the destock. Maybe that's...

好的。因此，即使去庫存結束，宏觀經濟仍會上漲 1 至 2 點。也許那是...

Yes. And I guess the other thing I'd add is like we have seen the last year or 2, I don't know if I'd call it just destocking, but sort of an end of calendar year sales pattern that it seems like it's sort of becoming the new normal. So I suppose if that's in your first half, the second half seasonality assumption, like when we calculate that, looking back at prior years, you probably are inherently picking up some of that in the seasonality number, too. It's probably just not destocking necessarily in prior years as much as just like year-end belt tightening.

是的。我想我要補充的另一件事就像我們在過去一年或兩年看到的那樣，我不知道我是否會稱其為去庫存，但似乎是日曆年末的銷售模式有點成為新常態。所以我想，如果這是你的上半年、下半年的季節性假設，就像我們計算時一樣，回顧前幾年，你可能本質上也在季節性數字中得到了一些。前幾年的去庫存可能不像年末勒緊帶那樣。

Got it. Okay. Great. And then slightly differently, just any evolution in how you're thinking about price cost for the rest of the year?

知道了。好的。偉大的。然後稍微不同的是，您對今年剩餘時間的價格成本的看法有何變化？

Yes. So broadly, we still expect price cost to be more favorable in the second half of the year. Feeling really good about pricing assumptions in the second half. And then if you kind of run out gross margin for the full year, which we now expect to be at Q2 levels or slightly above the -- really, with the countermeasures that we've had in place we've been largely successful in offsetting the transactional price cost headwind. So certainly happy that the worst of that headwind is behind us, but then broadly, just really pleased with how the countermeasures have been performing.

是的。總體而言，我們仍然預計下半年價格成本將更加有利。對下半年的定價假設感覺非常好。然後，如果你用完了全年的毛利率，我們現在預計將達到第二季度的水平或略高於——實際上，透過我們已經採取的對策，我們已經在很大程度上成功地抵消了交易價格成本逆風。我們當然很高興最糟糕的逆風已經過去，但總的來說，我們對對策的執行情況感到非常滿意。

And our next question comes from Chris Dankert with Loop Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 Loop Capital 的 Chris Dankert。

I guess hoping to dig in a little bit more on the product discovery and that digital revamp here. I mean any -- and you highlighted what the overall benefit is, I guess, but just what gives you confidence in that expected benefit into the back half and '25? Maybe what's been driving some of the delays there? If you could just give us a little bit more fleshed out color on that digital rollout, that would be great.

我想希望能在這裡深入了解產品發現和數位化改造。我的意思是任何 - 我猜你強調了整體收益是什麼，但是什麼讓你對後半段和 25 年的預期收益充滿信心？也許是什麼導致了一些延誤？如果你能為我們的數位化展示提供更豐富的色彩，那就太好了。

Yes, you got it, Chris. So we're -- there's basically 2 fronts that we're moving on in terms of our digital experience, our website, in particular. And those 2 fronts are the platform, meaning the transactional engine that customers go through and the search or product discovery function. And we have improvements lined up on both.

是的，你明白了，克里斯。因此，在我們的數位體驗方面，特別是我們的網站，我們基本上正在兩個方面取得進展。這兩個方面就是平台，即客戶使用的交易引擎以及搜尋或產品發現功能。我們在這兩方面都做了改進。

They're really aimed and anchored in 2 overarching principles. One is continuing to make the website the customer experience more frictionless, more seamless and just a great -- better and better experience as time goes on. And the second thing is to make it more personalized for the customer. Those are the overarching principles and those are the 2 areas in which we're moving.

它們的真正目標和基礎是兩個總體原則。一是繼續讓客戶體驗網站變得更加順暢、更加無縫，並且隨著時間的推移，提供越來越好的體驗。第二件事是為客戶提供更個人化的服務。這些是整體原則，也是我們正在努力的兩個領域。

On the platform front, we actually got a bunch of stuff over the finish line this month through Q2 and into this month. What we're tracking there Chris is metrics such as we're looking at basically conversion rate. So we're looking at customer sat numbers and then we're looking at conversion rate, which is for every 1,000 customers, 10,000 customers that come to the website, how many converts to an order, which is a good barometer for us, that ultimately leads to revenue improvements.

在平台方面，我們實際上在本月、第二季和本月完成了很多工作。克里斯，我們正在追蹤的是一些指標，例如我們正在關注的基本轉換率。因此，我們會查看客戶滿意度數據，然後查看轉換率，即每 1,000 名客戶、10,000 名訪問網站的客戶，有多少人轉換為訂單，這對我們來說是一個很好的晴雨表，最終帶來收入的改善。

On search, we are slightly delayed. We had expected all of the search changes or the bulk of the search changes to be in by Q2. Those are pushed out and will be done basically over the next quarter and into Q4, it's going to be a series of improvements. I would say there really 2 principles, Chris, first was we focused -- we saw some opportunities on the platform to make the experience better, wanted to nail those first. And the second kind of overarching principle that we have, while time lines are important, quality is more important. We've always felt that way. And what we found with search is the architecture is good. We're confident in the new platform, but there were refinements that we could do to make it better.

在搜尋方面，我們略有延遲。我們預計所有搜尋變更或大部分搜尋變更將在第二季完成。這些已被推出，基本上將在下個季度和第四季度完成，這將是一系列改進。我想說，確實有兩個原則，克里斯，首先是我們的重點——我們在平台上看到了一些可以改善體驗的機會，想要先解決這些問題。我們的第二種總體原則是，儘管時間安排很重要，但品質更重要。我們一直有這樣的感覺。我們透過搜尋發現架構很好。我們對新平台充滿信心，但我們可以進行一些改進以使其變得更好。

And so we went with the mantra of quality over time line. And so that will be rolling out in the back half. What we're going to be looking for internally there is we're going to be looking at the conversion metrics because we can get close line of sight, Chris, from conversion metrics into revenue performance?

因此，我們遵循「品質隨時間推移」的原則。這將在後半部分推出。克里斯，我們在內部要尋找的是我們將專注於轉換指標，因為我們可以近距離觀察轉換指標和收入績效？

That's really helpful. And then I guess, following the DC closure in Columbus, just what level of sales of the business currently set up for us is there's still some more efficiency programs and adjustments going on there. But make just a general sense for like what level of sales can we serve today following that closure?

這真的很有幫助。然後我想，在哥倫布的 DC 關閉之後，目前為我們設定的業務銷售水平是，那裡仍然有一些更多的效率計劃和調整正在進行中。但是，請大致了解一下，在關閉之後我們今天可以提供什麼水平的銷售？

Yes, Chris. So what I would say is this closure, obviously, a decision like this takes a lot of time with a very long time horizon in mind. The business with the 4 primary distribution centers that will remain post Columbus plus the rest of the network can support substantial growth, and really, we had already had from a geographic coverage standpoint, a pretty good situation.

是的，克里斯。所以我想說的是，顯然，這樣的決定需要花費很多時間，考慮到很長的時間範圍。哥倫布之後仍將保留的 4 個主要配送中心以及網路的其餘部分的業務可以支援大幅成長，而且實際上，從地理覆蓋範圍的角度來看，我們已經擁有了相當好的情況。

Columbus was around throughput. And I mentioned the 2 factors that had changed. So with those 2 factors, i.e., 1 being the mix of solutions business and 2 being automation, which there's plenty of still opportunity to go on the automation front that there is a lot of room for throughput capacity.

哥倫布關注的是吞吐量。我提到了兩個已經改變的因素。因此，有了這兩個因素，即 1 是解決方案業務的組合，2 是自動化，在自動化方面仍然有很多機會，因為吞吐能力有很大的空間。

The other point I would say is that we are -- this networks, I mentioned in addition to Columbus, we've launched a network study. So that network study really has 2 goals in mind. One is going to be around productivity. So you can expect us to come back with productivity targets and go gets that will be part of our self-help story here towards mid-teens operating margins.

我要說的另一點是，我們——這個網絡，除了哥倫布之外，我還提到過，我們已經啟動了一項網絡研究。因此網絡研究確實有兩個目標。其中之一是生產力。因此，您可以期待我們回來時提出生產力目標，並繼續努力，這將成為我們自助故事的一部分，實現十幾歲左右的營業利潤率。

The other part of that study though is how do we provide better customer service. So we expect the productivity opportunity. We also expect opportunities to provide even better service and allow the network to support us way into the future. So punchline is, we feel good about where we are now to support continued growth, and I think we're going to get more opportunities coming out of the network study.

研究的另一部分是我們如何提供更好的客戶服務。所以我們期待生產力機會。我們也期望有機會提供更好的服務，並讓網路支持我們走向未來。重點是，我們對現在支持持續成長的狀況感到滿意，我認為我們將從網路研究中獲得更多機會。

And our final question today comes from Ken Newman with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

今天我們的最後一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Ken Newman。

Good morning. I just wanted to take the back half bridge maybe a little bit differently. If you look in the operational statistics deck, you do have that historical monthly seasonality table in there. And I think if you just follow it from where you've got the preliminary March numbers, it does take you below the low end of your full year guide.

早安.我只是想以稍微不同的方式拍攝後半橋。如果您查看營運統計數據，您會發現其中確實有歷史月度季節性表。我認為，如果你只是根據三月份的初步數據來追踪，它確實會低於全年指南的低端。

Outside of the stuff that you kind of highlighted from first half to second half, I'm just curious if there's anything else in there that we should kind of be aware of, whether it's just timing of holidays. I think Good Friday is going to be here in March versus April typically. I don't know if there's a way you can help us quantify that impact? Or if there's anything else there that we should be aware of from a monthly seasonality perspective?

除了您從上半場到下半場強調的內容之外，我只是好奇是否還有其他我們應該注意的事情，是否只是假期時間。我認為耶穌受難日通常會在三月而不是四月舉行。我不知道是否有辦法幫助我們量化這種影響？或者從每月季節性的角度來看還有什麼我們應該注意的嗎？

Yes, Ken. So on the -- maybe I'll start with the second part of your question first on Good Friday. Because of our lovely since calendar, Good Friday was actually in the fiscal month of March, both last year and this year. So there's always a little bit of noise depending on whether that's the last day of the month or not, but I'd say largely a nonevent with March.

是的，肯。因此，也許我會在耶穌受難日首先從你問題的第二部分開始。由於我們可愛的日曆，耶穌受難日實際上是在三月的財政月份，去年和今年都是如此。因此，總是會有一些噪音，這取決於那一天是否是該月的最後一天，但我想說，對於三月來說，這基本上是無事可做。

To the first part of your question, yes, if you run out like the seasonality, kind of normal average seasonality for the year, to your point, you would end up at a number that's below the bottom of the guidance. And there's really 2 main buckets of things that we are looking at improving upon that would drive that inflection differently, sequentially, first half to second half than the normal seasonality month-over-month would imply if you run that out.

對於你問題的第一部分，是的，如果你像季節性一樣，一年中正常的平均季節性，就你的觀點而言，你最終會得到一個低於指導底部的數字。實際上，我們正​​在考慮改進兩個主要方面，這些方面將按順序以不同的方式推動上半年到下半年的拐點，而不是正常季節性逐月意味著如果你用完的話。

First is the macro recovery we talked about kind of lumpy, I guess, the destocking thing that Steve mentioned into that. And then 2 is the growth initiatives. And again, it's tough to peg exactly when -- which month they come online. If you think about all the items we outlined, solutions, good line of sight to public sector, pretty good line of sight to demand gen, we obviously have some assumptions on when that time, but if you think about the core customer energy or the reenergizing the core customer initiative and what you get on volume lift from the list price repositioning and then the improvements from web, those are really the 2 toughest to model from an inflection perspective because we don't have anything in our historical baseline that tells us how to think about those.

首先是我們談論的宏觀復甦，我想，史蒂夫提到的去庫存的事情有點不穩定。然後2是成長舉措。再說一遍，很難準確地確定他們何時上線。如果你考慮我們概述的所有項目、解決方案、對公共部門的良好視線、對需求世代的良好視線，我們顯然對那個時間有一些假設，但如果你考慮核心客戶能量或重新激發核心客戶的主動性，以及從標價重新定位中獲得的銷量提升以及網絡的改進，從拐點的角度來看，這些確實是最難建模的兩個，因為我們的歷史基線中沒有任何信息可以告訴我們如何思考這些。

So when you think about modeling kind of range of assumptions that you're putting on different initiatives, we have to make a pretty wide set of assumptions about those 2. So it does make the second half modeling tricky, and it's also why we're over-rotating on the 3 parts of the growth initiatives that I outlined earlier, again, the solutions, the demand gen, and the public sector line of sight. But yes, you absolutely have to have macro improvement and the inflection from the growth initiatives to drive a different expectation if you were to just -- I know what you're saying run out the month-over-month projection.

因此，當您考慮對不同舉措的一系列假設進行建模時，我們必須對這兩個假設做出相當廣泛的假設。因此，這確實使下半年的建模變得棘手，這也是我們「的原因」我們對我之前概述的成長舉措的三個部分進行了過度輪換，即解決方案、需求生成和公共部門的視線。但是，是的，如果你想完成逐月預測，你絕對必須有宏觀改善和成長計畫的變化才能推動不同的預期。

Yes. Okay. That's helpful. From a follow-up, obviously, others have touched on it earlier in the call, but obviously, you've got a lot of things going on in the OpEx line. I am curious if there's any expected impacts from any supply chain friction, whether that's from shipping lane dynamics, from stuff coming over the water or maybe even this Baltimore bridge, which I'm guessing is still maybe a nonevent for you guys as of now. But how do you think about transport logistic cost kind of flowing through the income statement into the back half?

是的。好的。這很有幫助。從後續行動來看，顯然其他人在電話會議的早些時候已經談到了這一點，但顯然，在營運支出方面發生了很多事情。我很好奇任何供應鏈摩擦是否會產生任何預期的影響，無論是來自航道動態、來自水上的東西，甚至是這座巴爾的摩大橋，我猜到目前為止，這對你們來說可能仍然是一個小事。但您如何看待運輸物流成本從損益表流入後半部的情況？

Yes, Ken, it's -- so I'll take it. Obviously, the Baltimore situation is so new and so tragic, too early there to say. But obviously, we're monitoring closely like events in the Middle East and some of the supply chain disruptions. I would say so far, impact is projected to be modest.

是的，肯，是－－所以我接受。顯然，巴爾的摩的情況是如此新穎、如此悲慘，現在說還為時過早。但顯然，我們正在密切監視中東的事件和一些供應鏈中斷。我想說，到目前為止，影響預計不大。

Obviously, that could change. But to date, the impact modest and sort of counterbalancing now, we have a lot of focus on freight. You heard us talk about some of the performance improvements there, the network study, we see a lot of opportunity on freight.

顯然，這可能會改變。但到目前為止，影響不大，而且有點平衡，我們非常關注貨運。您聽到我們談論那裡的一些性能改進，透過網路研究，我們看到了貨運方面的許多機會。

So it's possible that the headwinds could grow at this point, it's sort of modest in size, but we got a lot to offset it.

因此，目前的阻力可能會加大，雖然規模不大，但我們有很多東西可以抵消它。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Ryan Mills for closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議轉回瑞安米爾斯做閉幕詞。

Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. Our next earnings call will be on July 2, and I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming conferences this quarter. Goodbye.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們的下一次財報電話會議將於 7 月 2 日舉行，我期待在本季即將召開的會議上見到您。再見。

Thank you, sir. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝你，先生。今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝大家參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開線路，度過美好的一天。